Conclusion had destroyed three of his Objections for if the Irish were in almost continual Rebellions as he says and is true how could he expect they should enjoy Offices sit in Parliaments or have Benefit of the Kings Laws But the weakness of these Objections will yet more plainly appear by the following Answers To the First the Instances are few and it is bad Logick to draw general Consequences from the Actions of two or three particular Men especially such as so bitterly reflect on a Government or Nation besides all these three were Papists and their Sacrilege does not concern the Protestant Government of Ireland which is what Mr. Sullevan design'd to asperse To the Second If this Author had consulted the Ecclesiastical Catalogue he would have found that the Natives had more than their share of Bishopricks and Arch-Bishopricks and that to the ruine of most of the Sees and in the Military List he might have found the Baron of Dungannon Neal Garuff Macguire O Connor and many more who had Pay or Pension and yet it is so far from being criminal to prefer the Colony before the Native to Offices of Trust and Profit in a conquered Country that it is a necessary Duty to do it Ne Victi Victoribus Legem darent at most this Partiality is but in matters of Favour so that there is no wrong and 't is founded on good Law and sound Policy But what would this Objecter and his Companions say if they should see a Popish Governor in Ireland against all Law and Policy to make it criminal to be an Englishman and a cause of deprivation to profess the Religion by Law established To the Third Several of the Irish Potentates did sit in former Parliaments and particularly in the Parliaments of the 8th of Edw. 2. O Hanlon O Neal O Donnel Macgenis O Cahon Mac Mahon and many more Irish Lords were present but since the Parliaments are better regulated 't is true that none are suffered to sit in the House of Lords but such as are Lords of Parliament by Law viz. by Writ or Patent but 't is as true that the principal men of the Irish have or had Titles that qualifie them to sit there as O Neal Earl of Tyrone O Donel Earl of Tyrconnel O Bryan Earl of Thomond Mac Carthy Earl of Clancarthy O Bryan Earl of Insiquin The Lords Macguire Clare Glanmalira and Dungannon Kavenagh Baron of Balion O Carol Baron of Ely and many more To the Fourth Since the Irish would not admit their Countries to be made Shire-Ground nor suffer Sheriffs to exercise any Authority in them so that they were not amesnable to the Kings Laws but were governed by their own Brehon Laws so that the English could have no Justice against them nor could the King punish Murder without sending an Army to do it there was no reason they should have the Benefit of that Law they would not submit to And this I take to be the true Reason why it was denied them Davis 6. 'T is true they often Petitioned for the Liberty to be Plaintiffs but they would not at the same time put themselves in a condition to be Defendants nor come within the Jurisdiction of the Kings Courts but by starts and for their benefit and therefore assoon as the Kingdom was throughly subdued and reduced into Shires so that the Kings Writ did run throughout the Realm the Irish had also an equal Benefit of the Law and were received into the Condition of Subjects So that this Objection has been long since quite taken away As to the Fifth They were not so ignorant but that they knew the necessity of leaving a Tenure in the King besides there was some small Reservation or Crown-Rent reserv'd by Contract or Agreement in every Patent and therefore they did not expect it as free as they surrendred it however they got well enough by the bargain for in lieu of a precarious Estate for Life at most they got legal Titles of Inheritance by the Kings Grants and certainly they had little reason to complain whilst as our Author confesses they enjoy'd both the Profits and the Possession But let us return to King Henry the Second who found work enough in France and was advised by his Mother Maud the Empress and others at a great Council held on that occasion Speed at Winchester to postpone his Irish Designs until he could meet with a more favourable opportunity which not long after hapned For Dermond Mac Murrough King of Leinster Regan having forced O Neale O Mlaghalin and O Caroll to give him Hostages grew so insolent at these successes that he became oppressive to his Subjects and injurious to his Neighbours more especially by the Rape of the Wife of Orourk King of Brehny 1167. who was Daughter of O Mlaghlin King of Meath Stanihurst whereupon he was invaded by his Enemies Cambrensis and abandoned by his Subjects and Tributaries particularly by Morough O Borne Hasculphus Mac Turkil Governor of Dublin and Daniel Prince of Ossory and after many Disasters 1168. was forced to quit his Country and betake himself to the King of England for Assistance He was accompanied by his Trusty Servant Auliff O Kinade and sixty others and safely arrived at Bristol where he was generously entertain'd at S. Austin's Abbey by Robert Fitzharding Regan M. S. and so having refresh'd himself and Servants he went forward on his Voyage to Aquitain where the King then resided He appeared before the King in a most shabby Habit 1169. says Friar Clin Stanihurst 6â— suitable to the wretched condition of an Exile He fell at his Majesties feet and emphatically bewail'd his own Miseries and Misfortunes He represented the Malice of his Neighbours and the Treachery of his pretended Friends and the Rebellion of his Subjects in proper and lively Expressions he suggested that Kings were then most like Gods when they exercised themselves in succouring the Distressed and that the Fame of King Henry's Magnificence and Generosity had induced him to that Address for his Majesties Protection Assistance But the King being engaged in France could not aid him personally however being mov'd with Dermond's cunning Speeches submissive Deportment Hooker 1. he pitied his Misfortunes entertain'd him kindly and gave him some Presents and then took his Oath of Allegiance and gave him the following Patent HEnry Stainhurst 66. King of England Duke of Normandy and Aquitain Earl of Anjou c. Vnto all his Subjects English Normans Welsh and Scots and to all Nations and People being his Subjects Greeting Whereas Dermond Prince of Leinster most wrongfully as he informeth banished out of his one Country hath craved our Aid Therefore for asmuch as we have received him into our Protection Grace and Favour whosoever within our Realm subject to our Commands will Aid and Help him whom we have embraced as our Trusty Friend for the Recovery of his Land let him be
their Solicitations and Attempts with an unshaken Steadiness It was pity so true a Nobleman should not fall into better Times and among a better People he might then have been as Eminent for doing of Good as now he appears Valuable in the resisting of Evil. And thus we are come to the End of a War which as it was rashly and cruelly begun so was it by the Confederates with such Cowardise and Folly carried on that excepting One Defeat given to the Scots they never had Advantage in any One Pitch'd Battel over the British And what could be more Tragical and Infamous to them at last than that they should from the Hands of those they always villified be compell'd to beg and glad to accept the worst of all Terms namely Transplantation to such as staid and of Banishment and Transportation to the rest But how surprising are the Revolutions of this World that from these Ashes and thus scatter'd to the Four Winds there should be a Foundation laid for that Fortune which the wandring Irish found by meeting in Foreign Parts the succeeding King and the Duke of York and by their Indulgence to be able not only to set up again but as at this day to expel their Conquerors and even to menace the Tranquillity of England The Links of this Mysterious Chain are so wonderful that I can hardly forbear a short Prospect of them in the Particulars following As first to observe How the Monarch of Three Kingdoms King Charles the First sat peaceably here at Home when Scotland began to Invade him How a great Number in England siding with the Scots put His Majesty into some Straits How the Irish taking advantage hereof fell to the murthering of His Protestant Subjects in that Kingdom How his Majesty sent presently His Authority and Commissions to suppress those Rebels while He at home was by others opprest and at last overthrown and His Children driven into Banishment How in consequence hereof the same Usurpers pass into Ireland and there compleating what His said Majesty's Commission could not they there subdue and drive the Irish into the like Banishment Here then the Crysis began That both Prince and Rebel-Subjects being forced to depend on Strangers and both driven by the same Hand into a State of Common Misery it was natural enough to forget how Things before had stood between them and only to look forward either how to be reveng'd or how to subsist King Charles the Second being at the Usurper's Instance expelled also from France he makes Conditions with Spain and calls to Him from other Services all His scattered Subjects and in this it must be allow'd the Irish made a Considerable Part. But if it be true that with these New Friends He then secretly grew reconciled unto their Religion also 't is no wonder if they got farther into Favour than what before they had deserv'd 'T is also easie to believe That as His Majesty's Restauration drew nigh the Irish obtain'd from Him all the good Words imaginable so that when He came into England He lay under this Contradiction of having promis'd to the Protestants of Ireland whose Commissioners met Him at Breda the Security of all they had gotten as to the Irish before the Re-possession of all they had lost The English spared not on their part to fortifie the Promise they had by a Charge of general Guilt on the Irish And the Irish were as lowd in the Justification of their Innocence So that to reconcile this Perplexity there was Advantage taken from what Both averr'd in persuading the English to restore what might belong to an Innocent and the Irish to forego their Hopes if upon Trial they should appear to be Guilty However to make this go easier down on either side there was a Notion set up and strangely imbib'd of a prodigious Stock of undisposed Acres which were sufficient to satisfie not only the Disappointments of some but even the Expectations of all Upon this an Act is fram'd by the English and tho' by the Tenor and Contexture of it nothing was more improbable than the Qualifications of Innocence yet by Favour in a Majority of Commissioners sent and instructed how to execute that Law the Irish prov'd fortunate beyond all expectation The Duke of York was always more open and avowed in his Patronage of them from the beginning and frequent Essays were made by his Power with the King to advance and distinguish them by Marks of Favour But the King was so cautious of His own Safety and He Reigned so long that the English had time to flourish For there was an Army kept up of Seven thousand Protestants and all the Commands and Offices both Civil and Military were in the Hands of the English However as His Royal Highness drew nigher to the Throne and as his Influence with the King increas'd so began this Flourishing State of the Protestants to be undermin'd And no sooner had he gotten the Scepter but he began openly to execute what surely was before intended and the whole Frame and Contexture of the English Government was subverted and dissolv'd However we live to see as at this day how dearly King James hath paid for that Experiment and for the Hopes He had and the Attempts he made of an equal Success in England And this also is worthy of some Remark That those very Protestants in the Army of Ireland who were driven out by His Command and took Refuge in Holland should so soon return under the Prince of Orange out now Happy King and assist in driving Him not only out of England but to take Refuge in Ireland Where these Windings and Revolutions will end God Almighty only knows but since we have so hopeful a Prospect that they may determine to the Honor of His Majesty to the Advantage of the English Nation the Restauration of the Irish Protestants and the Re-establishment of True Religion in that Kingdom I see no Reason to doubt but that I may be able to give you a joyful Account of all these Things in my Third Part. AN APPARATUS OR Introductory Discourse TOUCHING The Controverted Points in this HISTORY BECAUSE contrary Interests have perplexed this Affair and prevailed with a Party sometimes to stifle and sometimes to disguise the Truth and because the Papists have represented several Parts of this History not only in another manner and in a more soft and palliating Stile than I have done but have reported sundry considerable Matters of Fact quite contrary to what I have related it will be necessary to make a particular Examination of their most material Allegations and a strict scrutiny into my Assertions and the Proofs of them or Reasons for them and because I would not interrupt the Series of the History with these inquiries I thought it convenient to insert them here by way of Introduction But before I descend to particulars it is necessary to settle this great Preliminary that will run through the whole and
the last Six years over and above 3 d. per Pound Impost and that he had the Consent of the principal of the Council and the Approbation of his Majesty who consented to an Act of Parliament for the Confirmation of it that the Council Sign'd the Proclamations and if any were Pillory'd Whipt c. it was for Perjury or like Crimes and the Fines were only in terrorem little of them being Levied and concludes that he is no Gainer by that Monopoly The Thirteenth Article was That he also Monopoliz'd all the Flax of the Kingdom by his Proclamations of 31st May 12 Car. 1. and 31st January in the same year prescribing and enjoyning Rules and Methods of making Yarn and Thread which the unskilful Natives could not Practise and ordering all Linen Yarn and Thread made in any other manner to be seized which was accordingly executed with Severity whereby multitudes were undone and many Starved To which he Answers That what he did was to incourage the Linen Manufacture in Ireland and to â—â—â—ing the Irish to a more Artificial way of making Linen Yarn Thread and Cloth that the Council concurr'd in the Proclamations which are Temporary Laws in Ireland and that he was a Loser of 3000 l. by this Project for the Good of that Country that the evil Consequences if any were Collateral and Accidental and that the misdemeanors of inferior Officers could not be Charged on him That he never used more than 400 l. worth of Yarn in a Year which could not undoe much less Starve such multitudes as they pretend The Fourteenth was That he impos'd a new Oath to make true Invoyce c. on Masters of Ships c. but the Managers declin'd this Article The Fifteenth was That he Arbitrarily impos'd Illegal Taxes on the Towns of Bandonbridge Baltimore Tallow c. and Cessed Souldiers on them till they paid them and by force of Arms expell'd Richard Butler from Castlecumber and imprison'd several of the O Brenans and their Wives and Children until they surrendred and releas'd their Rights and Estates To this the Earl Answers That when the Country granted the King 120000 l. in Nature of a Subsidy it was agreed between the Lord Deputy Falkland and Them that it should not be entered upon Record but be Levied by Captains by Paper Assignments by Warrant from the Lord Deputy and so it was done and the Money levied on Bandon c. was Arrears of that Contribution and it was levied without Force and that Castlecumber was Legally evicted and what Soldiers were sent there being but twelve were sent to Guard Mr. Wandesford's House against Tories but used no Force to Mr. Butler or any quiet Subject and that it was usual in Ireland to lay Soldiers on Delinquents The Sixteenth Article That he procured his Majesties Order 17th February 1631. that no Complaint should be received in England about Irish Affairs until it were first made in Ireland to the Lord Deputy and that by Proclamation of the 17th of September 11 Car. 1. All Persons that had Estate or Office in Ireland except such as had imployment in his Majesties Service in England or attended there by his special Command should reside in Ireland and not depart without Licence whereby People are hindred from complaining against the said Earl And One Parry hath been punish'd for so doing To this he Answers That it was by him and the Council conceived fit to prevent unnecessary Clamours here but that he never denied Licence except to the Lords of Cork Mountnorris and Roch because there were Suits against them in the Castlechamber and to Sir Frederick Hamilton by the Kings Command which was taken off when he knew the Design of his Voyage was to complain against him and to Lord Esmond for a short time because he was Major General of the Army and he saith that Parry was punish'd for other Misdemeanors by the Consent of the whole Council The Nineteenth was Rushw 494. That by Proclamation of May 20. 1639. he imposed a New Oath viz. I N. do faithfully swear profess and promise That I will honor and obey my Sovereign Lord King CHARLES and will bear Faith and true Allegiance to Him and will defend and maintain His Regal Power and Authority and that I will not bear Arms nor do any Rebellious or Hostile Act against him or protest against any his Royal Commands but submit my self in all due Obedience hereunto And that I will not enter into any Covenant Oath or Bond of mutual Defence or Assistance against all sorts of Persons whatsoever or into any Oath Covenant or mutual Defence or Assistance against any Person whatsoever by force without His Majesty's Sovereign and Regal Authority And I do renounce all Covenants contrary to what I have sworn and promised So help me God in Christ Jesus And that he grievously fined those that refused to take it and particularly Henry Stewart and his Wife were fined 5000 l. apiece and their two Daughters and James Gray Three thousand Pounds apiece and imprison'd them for not paying it and explain'd the Oath to oblige in point of Allegiance to the Ceremonies and Government of the Church establish'd and to be establish'd by His Majesty's Authority and that he would prosecute to the Blood such as should disobey c. whereby many were undone and more fled the Kingdom and that he said If he return'd again he would root out Stock and Branch of the Dissenting Scots To this he answers That it was in a dangerous Time and for the Security of the Kingdom and upon their own Petition and that he had His Majesty's Orders for it dated 16 January 1638. That as to the Fine of Stewart c. it was setled before it came to his Vote so that he did but concur with the rest and that he did not speak against the Scotish Nation but against the Scotch Faction of the Covenanters The Twenty second Article was That he procured the Irish Parliament to declare their Assistance in a War against the Scots and gave Directions for Raising Eight thousand Foot and One thousand Horse which were most Papists and confederated with Sir George Ratcliff to employ that Army to Invade England and subvert the Fundamental Laws and Establish'd Government thereof To this he answers That he rais'd that Army by His Majesty's Order and denies any other Design than to assist and serve the King as they ought There was also some mention made about one Trueman who was executed for a Plot to betray Carigfergus to the Scots touching whom Sir John Clotworthy made this Deposition That Trueman was an Englishman that dwelt not far from Carigfergus and one that was sent about the Country but by whom he knows not but there were vehement Suspicions that he was employ'd to find out those that would engage in Discourse concerning the Scotch Business He spake with one Captain Giles who feigned himself a great Friend of the Scotish Nation and said That he
annexed to the Crown But two of the Burks seized upon most part of the Estate and divided it between them and knowing they could not hold it by the Law of England they confederated with the Irish and changed their Language Apparel Customs and Manners Nay their very Names were altered into those of Mac William Eighter and Mac William Oughter and by these means they have made a shift to keep some part of that mighty Estate for many score years The Lord Justice to revenge the Murder of the Earl of Vlster which made a great noise in Ireland call'd a Parliament by whose advice he went by Sea to Carigfergus on the first of July and by help of the Country People he destroyed the Murderers and their Abettors and thence with his Army he sailed into Scotland where he did very good Service But the Parliament sitting in England Cottons Rec. the 15th of March it was there resolved That because the Kings Affairs required him in France his Irish Voyage should be postpon'd for a year so as Aid might be sent in the mean time but it seems that the Scots so allarm'd him in the North that he performed neither the one nor the other Voyage And though both Houses apart advised the King to send Supplies of Men and Money to Ireland and gave him one Disme and one Fifteenth to that purpose yet I do not find that any considerable Recruits were sent thither but instead of that a Commission was sent to treat with the Rebels Prin 270. Whilst the Lord Justice was beyond Seas the Government was managed by Thomas de Burgh Lord Treasurer but it was not long before Darcy return'd with honour and releas'd Walter de Birmingham out of Prison in February following and soon after Sir Simon Archdeacon and others were slain by the Irish in Leinster Ibid. And the young Lord Roch prevail'd with the King to reduce to ten pounds a Fine of two hundred Marks impos'd on his Father for absenting himself from the Parliaments of 20 Edw. 2. and 2 Edw. 3. to both which he was summoned Maurice Fitz-Girald broke his Leg by a Fall from his Horse and was thereby hindred from repairing to England as he had promised and designed 1335. but now being recovered he went thither and was well received by the King and created Earl of Desmond 1336. 9 Ed. 3. On the 9th of August the English gave the Irishmen a great Defeat in Connaught Campion 88. and with the loss of one man slew ten thousand of their enemies and not long after the Lord Justice was removed and Sir John Charleton came over Lord Justice 1337. and brought with him his Brother Thomas Bishop of Hereford Lord Chancellor John Rice or ap Rees Lord Treasurer and two hundred Welsh Soldiers he called a Parliament at Dublin to which the Archbishop of Armagh designed to come Pryn. 409. and in order to it made great Preparations at S. Mary Abby but the Archbishop of Dublin would not permit him to advance his Cross in that Diocess till the King sent his Writs as well to the Archbishop as to the Corporation of Dublin not to molest the Primate Thomas Charleton 1338. Bishop of Hereford Governour of Ireland he caused Sir Eustace Poer and Sir John Poer to be imprisoned in the Castle of Dublin on the third Day of February And this Winter there was so great Frost and Snow from the second Day of December to the tenth Day of February that they Plaid Danced and roasted Fish on the Ice upon the River of Liffy And now again 1339. were all the Irish in Arms especially in Munster but the Earl of Desmond so well managed Matters there that he slew one thousand two hundred Men in Kerry and took Nicholas Fitz-Maurice Lord of Kerry Prisoner and kept him in Durance till he died Cambden 187. because he had joyned with the Irish against the King and the Earl Nor had the Earl of Kildare worse Success in Leinster for he pursued the O Dempsies so close that many of them were drowned in the River Barrow and the greatest Booty that ever was taken in that Country was brought by the Lord Justice and the English from Idrone in the County of Caterlogh about the latter end of February and in April following the Lord Justice being sent for to England resigned to Roger Outlaw 1340. Prior of Kilmainham Lord Justice he died the February following and by the Kings Patent constituted John Lord Darcy L. Justice during Life but he came not afterwards into Ireland but in May following sent over Sir John Morris 1341. Lord Deputy to whom the Inhabitants of Ireland did not pay that respect which was due to his Character for the English Irish were how grown so proud that they disdain'd to be under the authority of a Knight And therefore to mortifie them it was resolved to make a general Resumption of all Lands Liberties Signiories and Jurisdictions which this King or his Father had granted in Ireland QVia plures excessivae Donationes Terrarum Tenement 15 E. 3. m. 14 Libertatum in Terra Hibern ad minus veracem subdolem suggestionem potentium quam per Ed. 2. quam per Regem nunâ— facta sunt c. Rex delusorias hujusmodi Machinationes volens elidere de concilio peritorum sibi assistent omnes donationes Terrarum Tenement Libertat praedict duxit 〈◊〉 c. quousque de meritis personarum ac de causis conditionibus donationum praedict fuerit informat ideo Mandâ—â— est Justiâ— regni Hibern quod omnia Terras Ienementa c. praedict perdict Reges Justic aut locum tenentes suos quibuscunque personis fact seisire facias c. It cannot be expressed what Fewds Davis 138. that it was by good advice Heart-burnings and Dissatisfactions this one unadvised Act did create it was the rise and occasion of a distinction between the English of Blood and the English of Birth which had like to be fatal to the whole Kingdom Pryn. 272. all the old English were disobliged by this procedure and without their assistance the King could not keep much less enlarge his Interest in Ireland To qualifie this Matter and to allay these Heats 1342. a Parliament was summoned to meet at Dublin in October but the Earl of Desmond and other Great Men of that Faction openly refused to come and on the contrary they confederated with the Corporations and some Cities and the rest of the Male-contents and without consulting the Government they appointed a General Assembly at Kilkenny in November following and there they did accordingly meet and the Lord Justice had not Power to hinder them nor did he dare to come to them This Assembly sent Messengers to the King with their Complaints couched in these three Queries I. How a Realm of War could be governed by a Man unskilful in all war-like Service II. How an
pain of loss of Life Lands and Goods that never any of them do make War upon another without Licence or Commandment of you my Lord Deputy and the Kings Council for the utter destruction of these parts is that only cause and once all the Irishmen and the Kings Enemies were driven into a great Vally called Glanehought betwixt two great Mountains called Maccorte or the Leprous Island and there they lived long and many years with their White-Meat till at the last these English Lords fell at variance among themselves and then the weakest part took certain Irishmen to take his part and so vanquished his Enemy and thus fell the English Lords at variance among themselves till the Irishmen were stronger than they and drave them away and now have the whole Country under them but that the Lord Roch the Lord Courcy and the Lord Barry only remain with the least part of their Ancestors Possessions and young Barry is there upon the Kings Portion paying his Grace never a penny of Rent wherefore We the Kings poor Subjects of the City of Cork Kinsale and Youghal desire your Lordship to send hither two good Justices to see this Matter ordered and some English Captains with twenty Englishmen that may be Captains over us all and we will rise with them to redress these Enormities all at our own Costs and if you do not we be all cast away and then farewel Munster for ever and if you will not come nor send we will send over to our Liege Lord the King and complain on you all However I will not pretend to be exact in the timing of this Letter This Lord Lieutenant had a Son born at Dublin well known afterwards by the Name of George Duke of Clarence to whom the Earls of Ormond and Desmond were Godfathers and thereupon Desmond grew so insolent and haughty that his Oppressions were the chief Cause of the aforesaid Letter from Cork but it is probable that the Lord Lieutenant return'd to England and left James Earl of Ormond afterward Earl of Wiltshire 1451. and Lord Treasurer of England Lord Deputy in whose time Sir John Talbot was made Lord Chancellor of Ireland and it seems Complaint was made against him because he put in a Deputy in his room absque Regis licentia Lib. CCC This Lord Deputy was made Lord Lieutenant and went for England leaving John Mey Archbishop of Armagh Lord Deputy 1453. wherewith the Government of England being dissatisfied a Writ was sent to the Earl of Ormond commanding him Quod circa praemissis intenderet I suppose the Reason might be because there was a Necessity for the Presence of a Military Governour of Power and Authority in that Kingdom to repel the daily Incursions of the Irish into the Pale and therefore Ormond not being willing to come over the Government was committed to Thomas Earl of Kildare 1454. Lord Deputy who held it only until the arrival of Sir Edward Fitz-Eustace Lord Deputy to the Duke of York Who held a Parliament in Dublin at which it was enacted I. That all Statutes against Provisors in England or Ireland should be held in Force II. That Inquests before Coroners shall be discharged after a second Verdict that they do not know the Felon III. That no Appeals shall be to England except for Treason against the King's Person and in all false Appeals the Plaintif shall pay Damages and twenty Pound and one hundred Shillings Fine In the mean time the Duke of York in England obtained a famous Victory over the King's Forces at S. Albans where the Duke of Somerset was slain and the King himself was wounded in the Neck and afterwards on the ninth of July he was made Protector of the King's Person by Parliament And in Ireland Thomas Earl of Kildare was Lord Deputy to the Duke of York 1455. and held a Parliament at Dublin wherein it was enacted I. That no Exigents nor Outlawries be made by Commissioners II. That the Recorder of Dublin and Drogheda shall have but two Pence for every Plaint III. That every Man shall answer for his Sons and waged Men. IV. An Act about Escheators V. That a Parliament should be held every Year And he held another Parliament at the Naas Lib. M. 48. Friday after All Saints which enacted I. That all Strangers pay forty Pence per Pound Custom for transporting Silver II. That every Man shall answer for his Sons except in Cases Capital III. That no Person not amesnable to Law shall distrain without Licence on pain of forfeiting his Title And he held another Parliament at Dublin Friday after the Purification at which it was established I. That Beneficed Persons should reside II. That the Inhabitants to enclose the Village might remove the High-way forty Perch Richard Duke of York 1459. upon the Revolt of Andrew Trollop and the Callicians broke up his Army and fled first to Wales and afterwards to Ireland where he was kindly received and by his Deputy the Earl of Kildare he held a Parliament at Dublin the third of February which enacted That Warrants to the Chancellor bear the Date of the Delivery and that the Patents be of the same Date or else be void And the same Day twelve month he held another Parliament at Drogheda 1460. wherein it was enacted That no Man should sue in the Exchequer but a Minister of that Court on pain of ten Pound This Duke and his Abettors were in a Parliament at Coventry declared Traytors and thereupon the Earl of March came to his Father into Ireland and soon after returned to Calice and thence invaded England at Sandwich and on the ninth of July he fought and defeated the King at Northampton and took him Prisoner whereupon the Duke of York went to England and called a Parliament in the King's Name and in that Parliament boldly claimed his Title and so it was enacted That King Henry should keep the Crown during his Life and the Duke should be declared Heir apparent and in case of Opposition or farther Bustle about it should have present Possession But not long after the Duke was defeated and slain at the Battle of Wakefield This Duke behaved himself exceeding well in Ireland he appeased the Tumults there and erected Castles on the Borders of Louth Meath and Kildare to stop the Irish Incursions and was so well esteemed in that Kingdom that Multitudes of the Irish Subjects attended him into England to pursue his Claim to the Crown Nevertheless the Publick Revenue was but very low because the whole Kingdom was in Possession of the Irish except the Pale and some few Places on the Sea-Coast in Vlster and even that was so far from being quiet that they were fain to buy their Peace by yearly Pensions to the Irish and to pay Tribute and Contributions to them for Protection which nevertheless was but very ill observed to the English It cannot be expected I should give the Reader an exact
bind themselves to Allegiance by Oath and Recognizance and when he returned to Dublin on the 26th Octavianus Archbishop of Armagh Philip Birmingham Chief Justice of the Kings Bench and Thomas Dowdal Master of the Rolls followed the same Example There was great intercession made for Prior Keating and Thomas Plunket Chief Justice of the Common Pleas and at length Plunket was pardon'd but Keating was not only left unpardoned but was also removed from the Command of the Castle of Dublin whereof it seems he was Governour or Constable and Richard Archbold whom he had formerly ejected was now restored and perhaps Keating had been used worse if his Habit and Order had not protected him for the King hated him more than all the rest being as it seems one of the most violent and most powerful Abettors of the Impostor Symnel and so Sir Richard Edgecomb having faithfully executed his Commission embarked at Dalky the 29th of July and arrived in Cornwal on the 8th of August Soon after this the Lord Deputy and Council sent over the Bishop of Meath to obviate the Designs of their Enemies and to thank the King for his Favours and to assure him of their future Allegiance and he managed his Negotiation so successfully that although the Archbishop of Armagh who was of the Kings side and a Favourite did use his utmost Endeavours to get the Chancellorship yet he could not obtain it lest thereby Kildare and his Party might be disobliged and the Kingdom just now appeased and growing towards a Settlement might again be disturbed by new Jealousies and Commotions And now the Lord Deputy is at leisure to call Macgeoghan to account for all his Depredations in the Pale 1489. he invaded his Country and took the Castle of Bileragh and preyed and wasted the whole Territory of Moycassel and being loaden with Booty he returned to Dublin But the King being still jealous of the Nobility of Ireland whom he knew to be exceedingly addicted to the House of York sent for most of them to come over to him into England and thither went the Earl of Kildare the Viscounts Buttevant and Fermoy and the Lords of Athenry Kingsale Gormanstown Delvin Hoath Slane Killeen Trimleston and Dunsany They waited on the King at Greenwich where Lambert Symnel served as Butler purposely to ridicule and expose their Folly who would Crown such a Fellow for their King but after some sharp Reproofs they were all taken into Favour and graciously dismiss'd I suppose not without some Presents though only that of three hundred Pieces of Gold to the Lord of Hoath be mentioned But whilst these things were doing in England Maurice Buckagh Earl of Desmond obtained two Victories in Ireland the one against Morough O Carol who was slain in the Battel together with his Brother Moyl Murry and the other against Dermond Mac Teige Carty whom he also killed On the 6th of July a Provincial Synod was held at Athird Ware 24. by Octavianus Archbishop of Armagh at which were present the Bishops of Meath Clogher Ardagh Dromore Kildare Raphoe and Cluanmacnoise There was a great Contest at this Synod between Thomas Brady and one Cormock about the Bishoprick of Kilmore it was by common consent refer'd to the determination of the Bishops of Meath Clogher and Ardagh and what End they made of it non constat but six years after both of them were called Bishops of Kilmore and as such both of them were permitted to sit in the Synod of Drogheda The Summer and Harvest were so wet in Ireland 1491. that the Corn could not be saved and therefore a great Dearth ensued which was accompanied with a Disease called the Sweating Sickness which now came to be first felt and known in Ireland And it seems that a Parliament was held at Trim on Friday after Epiphany but none of their Acts are extant But in March a Proclamation issued against bad Money and Nicholas Flyn was made Supervisor of the Mints at Waterford and Dublin It was about this time that O Neal wrote this short and famous Letter to Hugh Roe O Donel from whom he demanded Chief-Rent which the other denied and refused to pay Cur hoom mi Keesh no monna Curhir i.e. Send me my Rent or if you don't as much as to say he would force him to it But O Donel replied Neel Reesh a gut urm agus dabeh i.e. I owe you no Rent and if I did meaning that he would not pay it so to Blows they go and after some Bickerings and Losses on both sides they agreed to refer all their Differences to the Lord Deputy but in vain for all that he could do could not reconcile them So to Blows they fall again and came to a bloody Battel wherein the Loss was almost equal but if there were any disadvantage in that Point it was of O Donel's side but that was more than balanced by the Death of O Neal who in January 1492 was Murdered by his Brother Henry so that Tyrone became divided between Henry and Daniel O Neal betwixt whom there was continual Wars until the year 1497. and then upon the Resignation of Daniel Henry became sole Proprietor and the same year of 1497 O Donel likewise being superannuated and decrepit gave up his Principality of Tirconnel to his Son Con. But the King finding that the Duchess of Burgundy was again busie at work about setting up another Impostor thought it necessary to put the Government of Ireland in the hands of such as he might confide in and therefore he removed the Earl of Kildare and Walter Fitz-Symons 1492. Archbishop of Dublin was made Lord Deputy to Jasper Dukâ— of Bedford and Sir James Ormond Natural Son to John Earl of Ormond was made Lord Treasurer in the room of Eustace Lord of Portlester who had enjoyed that Office eight and thirty years This new Lord Treasurer came to Ireland in June with a small Band of Souldiers and it so hapned that upon some Quarrel between him and the Earl of Kildare near Dublin there was a Skirmish which proved very prejudicial to both the Families of Butlers and Giraldines and the more because the Irish took advantage thereby to infest the Pale and to disturb the English Borders However in September following more Alterations were made in the great Offices of State Alexander Plunket was made Lord Chancelor Thomas Butler Master of the Rolls and Nicholas Turner was constituted Chief Justice of the Common Pleas in August before and the Earl of Ormond and the Prior of Canterbury were sent Ambassadors to the French King This Summer was so dry that abundance of Cattel perished for want of Water and the Air grew so Pestilential that a multitude of People and particularly the Lord of Slane died of the Plague But a greater Mischief than this hapned to the unfortunate Kingdom of Ireland by the Arrival of Perkin Warbeck who to supply the Defects of the former Imposture did pretend to be Richard Duke of
Resumption of all the Grants made by the Crown since the last day of the Reign of King Edward the Second Lib. G. except some Particulars mentioned in the Act and another Act Rot. Parl. c. 41. attaints the Earl of Kildare and his Brother James for High Treason for corresponding with O Hanlon and seizing the Castle of Caterlogh for extorting Coyn and Livery and for treating with the King of Scotland however he was afterward acquitted in England and received into favour and perhaps there was another Act to dissolve the Fraternity of S. George for it is certain that about this time that Brotherhood fell and so I have done with this Famous Parliament when I have told you that it is a Mistake in the Printed Statute-Book to place it anno 1495 because it is manifest That November 1494 was in the tenth Year of this King's Reign It is scarce worth mentioning Ware 43. That during this Parliament the Lord Deputy made another Expedition into Vlster because the Irish fled into their Fastnesses so that he reaped but small Fruit for his Journey In his Absence he left a Commission with the Chanchellor to continue adjourn prorogue or dissolve the Parliament as he saw cause About this time Cormock mac Teige mac Carthy of Muskry 1495. was basely murdered by his Brother Owen Ancestor of the Mac Carthyes of Cloghroe and was buried in the Abby of Kilcrea which he himself had founded But let us return to Perkin Werbeck who set sail from Flanders with about six hundred Men and arrived on the Coast of Kent but he found ill treatment there for one hundred and sixty of his Men were taken Prisoners and afterwards executed Thence he sailed to Ireland where he staid some time in Munster probably at Cork but finding the Irish unable to give him any considerable Assistance and fearing the Forces of the Lord Deputy he went thence into Scotland and by that King's Consent married the Earl of Huntly's Daughter who was nearly related to the Crown of Scotland The King of Scots did invade England in favour of Perkin but finding that none of the English came to assist the Impostor he wasted Northumberland and returned And thus Sir Edward Poynings drove Perkin out of Ireland and suppressed his Abettors and established many good Laws which though for the present they extended no further than the Pale yet their Effect and Influence increased and inlarged as fast as the King's Authority did so that those Statutes are at this day in full force over all the Kingdom And the King finding Ireland in so quiet a condition recalled the Lord Deputy and for his good Service made him Knight of the Garter And in his place appointed Henry Dean 1495. Bishop of Bangor Chancellor of Ireland and afterwards Archbishop of Canterbury 1496. to be Lord Justice and on the twenty sixth of April William Ratcliff was made Vice-Treasurer and John Pimp Treasurer at War and on the twenty fifth of June the Lord Delvin was made General for defence of the Pale and in July Octavianus Archbishop of Armagh held a Synod at Droghedah the Acts whereof are not to be found and in August Hugh O Donel being returned out of Scotland encountred and defeated O Connor near Sligo Whereupon he besieged the Castle of Sligo but without Success for being frightned with the News of the Approach of the Burks of Clanrickard he raised the Siege and retired in hast towards Tyrconnel But Burk was not so satisfied but burnt and destroyed all the adjacent Territories that belonged to O Donel's Partisans But the Earl of Kildare was still kept in Prison in England for Grief whereof his Countess died The Earl was accused of burning the Church of Cashel and many Witnesses were ready to prove it when contrary to all their Expectations he readily confessed the Fact and swore by Jesus That he would never have done it but that he thought the Archbishop was in it Which being uttered with a bluntless peculiar to this Lord did exceedingly work upon the King for whilst the Earl did so earnestly urge that for his Excuse which was the greatest Aggravation of his Crime the King easily perceived That a Person of that Natural Simplicity and Plainness could not be guilty of those Finesses and Intrigues that were objected against him It is reported of this Earl That he desired the King to permit him to have Council to manage his Cause since he was altogether unqualified to deal with such cunning Knaves as his Adversaries The King told him He should have what Counsel he would choose and that it concerned him to get Counsel that were very good for that he doubted his Cause was very bad The Earl replied That he would pitch upon the best Counsel in England Who is that said the King Marry even your Majesty quoth the Earl Whereat the King laughed But nevertheless he so requited Kildare for his Complement that when the Adversary concluded his Oration That all Ireland could not govern this Man the King took that occasion to make reply That therefore he was the fittest Man to govern Ireland Ware 49. And so for his Jest-sake made him Lord Lieutenant of that Kingdom by his Letters Patent of the sixth of August and restored him to his Honour and Estate Nevertheless the King kept the Earls eldest Son Girald as Hostage of the Father's Fidelity which proved to be a matter of Caution rather than of Necessity for no body could behave himself with more Loyalty to his Prince nor more Vigor against the Irish than the Earl of Kildare did from henceforward But to proceed Girald Earl of Kildare 1496. being made Lord Lieutenant in a short time after he had received the Sword marched towards Thomond against O Brian he went through the City of Limerick and took the Castle of Feyback from Finin Mac nâ—marra and afterwards took and rased the Castle of Ballyniti or Ballynice and so returned to Dublin and was reconciled to the Archbishop of Armagh to their mutual Ease and Quiet and to the great Advantage of Publick Affairs which often suffer especially in Ireland by the private Animosities of the Grandees But the Bishop of Bangor was recalled into England and Walter Archbishop of Dublin was made Lord Chancellor in his stead This good Archbishop in a Synod at Dublin anno 1492 procured a Pension for a Divinity-Reader there to be paid by him and his Suffragans and their Successors for ever And it is reported of him That being present when a famous Orator made a most eloquent Speech to the King his Majesty asked the Archbishop How he liked the Oration The good old Man replied That he saw no other Fault in it but Flattery As God shall love me quoth the King That is the very Fault I my self espied The King by advice of the Lord Lieutenant resolved to pardon those great Men that had been concerned with Perkin Warbeck lest Despair might induce
H. Lambeth to this effect That the Irish were not to be reduced but by Conquest and that if the Army undertook but one Province at once then two thousand five hundred Men would suffice but their Conâ—ederacies would make it necessary to attack them in several Places at once and then less than six thousand would not do the Business all which must be paid and victualled out of England That Ireland is five times as big as Wales and therefore the Conquest would not be perfected in ten Years And that when it is conquered it must be inhabited by a new Colony of English for the Irish will relapse do what you can In Munster there were great Fewds between James Earl of Desmond and Cormock Oge Lader Mac Carthy of Muskry Ware 's Annals 104 says Mac Carty Riagh but is mistaken the Archbishop of Dublin and other Commissioners went to Waterford to appease them but in vain for Desmond persisted to burn and prey Mac Carthy's Lands And Cormock Oge was not backward to revenge the Injury for being Confederate with Sir Thomas Desmond the Earl's Unkle and yet implacable Enemy they fought a Battle with the Earl in September killed one thousand of his Men put himself to Flight and took two of his Unkles John and Gerard Prisoners But the Lord Lieutenant January 1521 Lib. H. being weary of the Government or indisposed in his Health obtained the King's leave to return and left behind him a good Reputation and by the King's Orders his intimate Friend Pierce Earl of Ormond February Lord Deputy who fearing the Defection of the Irish because the Earl of Surry had carryed with him all the Forces he brought out of England whereby the Army was left exceeding weak And being also doubtful of an Invasion from the Scots he desired of the Cardinal That six of the King's Ships might be ordered to cruise between Ireland and Scotland I have seen a Patent of Denization to Charles Mac Carthy of Castlemore too long here to be recited though there are many things observable in it particularly the Proviso Quod idem Cormacus homagium ligeum nobis faciet ut est justum And I suppose the like Proviso was in all other Patents of that sort and imported that the should have the Benefit of the Law no longer than they persisted in their Allegiance But though the King's Army was not in Action 1522. yet O Neal's and O Donel's were for the last Years Injury manet alta mente repositum However they managed their Wars rather like Tories than Soldiers for after some light Skirmishes O Neal pretending a Retreat on a sudden rushed into Tyrconnel where he burnt and demolished all he could find and particularly O Donel's best Castle of Ballyshanon Which he in the mean time revenged by an incursion into Tyrone and thence returned loaden with Prey and Prisoners And thus these valiant Princes made War almost fatal to both sides without Blows or Battle But let us leave the Camp and a while turn to the Court Lib. H. where we shall find an Irishman sent by Mac Gilpatrick Chief of Vpper Ossory to the King to complain against the Deputy He met the King going to Chapel and delivered his Embassie in these Words Sta pedibus Domine Rex Dominus meus Gillapatricus me misit ad te jussit dicere Quod si non vis castigare Petrum Rufum ipse faciet bellum contra te This Year was fatal to Ireland no less by the Plague than the Sword it raged especially at and about Limrick the Mayor whereof died of that Distemper And about this time died the famous Poynings and at Christmas the City of Rhodes was forced by the Turk The Earl of Kildare who returned in January last got leave of the Deputy to invade the Country of Leix 1523. and being accompanid with Jons Fitz-Simons Mayor of Dublin and some Citizens he entred the Country and burnt a few Villages but he was intercepted by an Ambush and lost a great many of his Followers and with some Difficulty made his Retreat And now Jealousies and Discords began to arise between the Earls of Ormond and Kildare which were so maliciously fomented by evil Instruments that the Affinity between them was little considered nor did their Animosities determine otherwise than by the Ruine of one Family and the Infancy of the other Among all their Followers James Fitz Gerald had most Credit with Kildare and Robert Talbot of Belgard was the chief Favorite of Ormond This Talbot was going to keep his Christmas at Kilkenny with the Deputy but being met by James Fitz Gerald near Ballymore was by him slain or rather murdered which so exasperated the Earl of Ormond that he immediately sent to England an Impeachment against Kildare Hereupon a Commission issued to Sir Ralph Egerton 1524. Sir Anthony Fitz-Herbert and James Denton Dean of Litchfield to examine that Matter with Instructions That if the Earl of Kildare purged himself of the Crimes objected that then they should depose the Deputy and place Kildare in his room This Commission and Instructions were procured by the Marquess of Dorset Kildare's Father-in-Law and the Success was according to his Desire for after a slight Enquiry into this Affair the Commissioners made a formal Agreement between both Earls by an Indenture dated the twenty eighth of July and in a little time after deprived Ormond of the Government and placed in his stead Gerald Earl of Kildare Lord Deputy It seems that his Patent and other necessary Circumstances were prepared beforehand for the Indentures made between the King and this Earl bear date the fourth of August 16 Hen. 8. and import That he took the Government as from Midsummer before and that the Earl of Ormond should receive the Revenue till that time That the Earl shall support the Government of Ireland with the Revenue of the Country and shall not take Coyn and Livery Lib. H. but at Hostings and then his Soldiers shall be content with Flesh Bread and Ale on Flesh-Days or two Pence in lieu of it and Fish or Butter on Fish-Days or two Pence in lieu of it the Foot Soldiers shall be content with three half Pence a Day in lieu of the said Allowance and Boys shall be content with what they can get or a Penny in lieu of it and each Trooper shall take but twelve Sheaves of Oats a Night or two Pence in lieu thereof The Day this Lord Deputy was sworn Con O Neal carried the Sword before him to Thomas-Court where he entertained the Commissioners at a splendid Banquet And so these Commissioners having determined this great and some lesser Controversies returned into England and according to their Instructions carried with them the aforesaid James Fitz-Gerald as a Prisoner The Cardinal Wolsy the implacable Enemy of the Giraldines was glad of this occasion to affront that Noble Family and therefore caused this James Fitz-Gerald to be carried through the
this Journey the Deputy received the Submissions of some of the Irish and drove others of them into Fastnesses About this time the Name of the King at Arms who was formerly called Ireland was changed to that of Vlster and Nicholas Narbon Richmond Herald in England was the first King at Arms by the Name of Vlster Ware 192. and upon his Death Bartholomew Butler succeeded him June 21. anno 1552. But upon the Lord Deputy's Return to Dublin Matthew Baron of Dungannon complained to him against his Father the Earl of Tyrone whereupon that Earl was imprisoned which enraged his other Sons to that degree that they burnt and destroyed that part of the Country which belonged to Matthew On the other side the Baron being assisted by the English resolved to revenge that Injury and at length it came to a Battel which was doubtful for some time but ended in the Defeat of Matthew and the Slaughter of two hundred of his Soldiers English and Irish Nevertheless the Earl of Tyrone remain'd confin'd to stay within the Pale until at the end of three Months he gave Hostages in February and returned to Vlster And about the same time O Connor made his escape out of the Tower of London but was retaken and again imprisoned but Mac Coghlan being weary of wandring in the Woods made his Submission and was restored to his Territory of Delvin And the Publick Records were removed from Birmingham's Tower to S. Patrick's Library in Dublin The Year 1552 1552. was propitious to the Noble Family of the Giraldines for Girald Son of the last Earl of Kildare whose miraculous Preservation hath been already mention'd was now received into Favour and on the twenty fifth of April was restored to Minooth and good part of his Estate and about two years after in the Reign of Queen Mary viz. on the thirteenth of May 1554. he was Created Earl of Kildare Lib. G. and Baron of Ophaly at Westminster But Donough Earl of Thomond who had that Title confirmed to him and his Heirs Males in January last had great Contests with his Unkle Daniel who claimed the Estate by Tanistry but at length by the Mediation of the Lord Deputy they came to an Agreement which is mentioned in an Indenture Tripartite between the Deputy the Earl and Daniel O Bryan Dated May 9 1552. In the mean time Sir Nicholas Bagnal was sent against Hugh Mac Morough and they came to a Battel which was so well fought on both sides that the Loss as well as the Victory is uncertain But the Garrison of Athloan had better Success at Cluan macnoise where they robbed or destroyed all they met with not sparing even the Church-Books The Lord Depury marched to Vlster and repaired and garrison'd the Castle of Belfast but it seems he brought but a small Army in expectation that the Baron of Dungannon would joyn him with his Forces and indeed the Baron designed it and endeavoured it but his Brother Shane O Neal surprized his Camp by night and routed his Army with a great Slaughter Whereupon the Lord Deputy returned to Dublin and intended for England but he was stopped for a while by Sir Henry Knolls whom the King sent over with Intelligence that the Queen of Scots had sent O Connor's son to Ireland to raise new Commotions but as soon as it was understood that his Negotiation was ineffectal the Lord Deputy prosecuted his former Resolution and embarked at Houth on the fourth of December and pursuant to the King's Letter of the seventh of November Sir Thomas Cusack Lord Chancellor and Sir Girald Ailmer Lord Chief Justice were chosen Lords Justices on the sixth of December and soon after one of the O Neals was imprisoned in Dublin for spreading false News about the late Lord Deputy but he was on the thirtieth of December enlarged on Bail In the mean time on the twenty eighth of December Lib. D. Hugh Mac Neal Oge of Clandeboy made his Submission to the Lords Justices or rather to the King and swore Allegiance and Agreed and Covenanted by Indenture to forfeit all if he ever relapsed or apostatized again Whereupon the King granted to him the Abby of Carrigfergus and Liberty to keep three Secular Priests as also the Castle of Belfast But Ireland was unhappy not only by the Civil Dissentions in Vlster between the Earl of Tyrone and his Son Shane O Neal and by the Scarcity of Provisions insomuch that a Kilderkin of Wheat was sold for four and twenty shillings which in the following year was sold for five shillings but also by the Death of Sir William Brabazon who died in July and was one of the most faithful men to the English Interest that had appeared in Ireland from the Conquest to that day The King was advised to lower the Value of Brass Money and to make the Bell-Groat currant at two pence and no more and also to build a Castle at Baltimore to oblige the Fishermen to pay Tribute the former he performed but the later as unpracticable was neglected or postponed The Earl of Thomond and his Unkles Donald and Trelagh were again at open Wars notwithstanding the aforesaid Agreement made between them by the Government February They took the Town of Cluanroad but the Earl defended the Castle for a time but not long after he was murdered by his Unkle Donald and was succeeded by his Son Cnogher whose Mother was Helen April Daughter of Pierce Earl of Ormond 1553. About the same time Teig Roe O Mlaghlin murdered Neal Mac Fylemy of the same Family coming from Molingar but the Murtherer was not long after slain in Battel by the Baron of Delvin and the Garrison of Athloan and in Connaught Richard Burk was at variance with the Sons of Thomas Burk Buckagh the issue whereof was that Richard was taken Prisoner and an hundred and an fifty of his Men slain Nor were the Contests less between Richard Earl of Clanrickard and John Burk the Earl besieged John's Castle but Daniel O Bryan came to John's Relief and forced the Earl to raise the Siege But whilst these things were doing the King died at Greenwich on the sixth Day of July in the seventh Year of his Reign aud the sixteenth Year of his Age. THE REIGN OF MARY QUEEN OF England France AND IRELAND MARY 1553. eldest Sister of the deceased King notwithstanding King Edward's Will and all the Endeavours that were used against her did succeed her Brother in the Throne and although she was Kept out of Possession by the Lady Jane about twelve Days so that she was not proclaimed at London until the nineteenth Day of July Yet there being no Interregnum in England her Reign must be computed from the sixth of July being the Day of her Brother's Death It may seem strange That the Protestants did so easily submit to her or that the Kingdom of Ireland should at all own her for their Queen Because I. She was the Issue
and the Measures of the Rebellion were concerted and setled there tho it seems by the Lord Macguir's Examination that the Day was appointed at Loghross But as the Lords Justices and Council in their Letter express it none of the former Rebellions could parallel this either in the dangerous Original the unexampled Cruelty and extreme Hatred to the British Nation in the barbarous Progress or in the terrible Consequences aimed at therein being no less than to wrest from His Majesty His Scepter and Sovereignty to destroy and root out the British and Protestants and every Species of English out of the Kingdom to suppress God's Truth and set up Idolatry in the stead of it and finally to Invade the Realm of England And in another Letter they affirm That the barbarous and execrable Cruelty of the Irish exceeded any that ever was exercis'd by Turks or Infldels against Christians And even the Earl of Castlehaven Memoirs 25. P. W. Remonstrance 594. tho' a Papist and Peter Walsh tho' a Franciscan Friar do confess That the barbarous Design of this bloody Conspiracy was no less than to extirpate the Protestants and totally to root them out of that Kingdom And they intended to effect this by the most inhuman Methods Declaration of Parliament 21. viz. a General Massacre and Universal Plundring Nor did they come much short of attaining their End Dr. Maxwell's Examination for in the first Three Months of this Rebellion they murdered and otherwise destroyed One hundred fifty four thousand Protestants Lord Justices Letter of 16 March 42. Men Women and Children as the Priests themselves computed it and as one of their own Writers by way of ostentation hath published Bishop Bedell's Life 179. And without doubt Temple 16. no Nation can parallel the horrid Cruelties and abominable Murders without Number or Mercy committed on the British throughout the Land without distinction of Quality Sex or Age Memoirs Epist 1. and certainly it was bad enough when the Earl of Castlehaven himself confesseth That all the Water in the Sea cannot wash away the Guilt of the Rebels the Rebellion being begun most bloodily in a Time of Peace and without Occasion given They destroyed the Soul as well as the Body forcing many weak Christians to turn Papists and then murder'd them whilst they were in the Right Faith See Append. 10. as they said And the cruel Manner of their Torturing the English was more detestable than the Murder it self some being starved till they eat Pieces of their own Flesh broil'd upon Coals and others were used worse At Kilkenny the Lord Mountgarret and the Mayor and Aldermen and Three hundred Citizens in Arms stood by whilst the Protestants were plundered in that City Lord Justices Letter of 14 December And at Longford when the Castle was surrendred upon Quarter the Priest with his Skein in his Hand watched at the Gate till the Minister came forth and then stabbed him into the Guts and ripped up his Belly which Signal was observed by the rest who in like manner murdered all the English of that Garison Men and Women were stript stark naked and in that bitter Winter exposed to the Extremities of Hunger and Cold whereof many thousands died Sucking Children were haled from their Mothers Breasts Remonstrance of Dr. Jones pag. 8 9. and one of them was murdered whilst it was sucking its deceased Mother Nor were Women in Labor used any better One was delivered upon the Gallows another ript up and two Children she went with taken out of her Belly and thrown to the Swine who eat them Burlace 72. and a third the Wife of Mr. Oliphant a Minister being delivered on her Journey in the High-way was nevertheless forced to trot on and draw after her the Child and the Concomitants of so sad an Accident until she died But it would be endless to recount all the Instances of their wanton Cruelty and impossible to frame an Idea in the Mind of the Reader as horrid as their Actions Dr. Maxwell's Examination Appendix 10. which were rendred the more inhuman by the Mirth and Sport they made at the unspeakable Torments and Sufferings of the English And lest some amongst them should have more Bowels of Compassion than the rest Lord Justices and Councils Letter 22 November the Confederates did prohibit to harbour or relieve any Protestant on pain of Death and declared they would not lay down Arms whilst there was the Seed of an Englishman in Ireland And to leave no room for Reconcilation they put to death in Ulster a Messenger sent to them by the State The Motives to this Conspiracy were First The happy Conjuncture for such a Design whilst England and Scotland were embroil'd Secondly The Example of the Scots who had reaped Advantage by their Mutiny and the Irish expected as much at least And Thirdly The Number of able Men ready to enter into this Rebellion which they computed to be Two hundred thousand or more But the Pretences for this Rebellion were exceeding weak and such as manifest that they will rise as often as they get opportunity and in effect do upbraid the English with Stupidity that after so much Experience they should suffer them to be in a Condition to Rebel any more Memoirs 9. and they are briefly these 1. That the Irish were looked upon as a Conquered Nation 2. That the Six Counties in Ulster escheated to the King were disposed for the most part to British 3. That there was a Rumour that Seven Counties more would be seised by the King 4. That the Popish Religion was persecuted in England and they were afraid would be so in Ireland Thus Rumors and Fears tho' without Cause are by the Popish Advocates thought sufficent Justifications of an Irish Rebellion and the Author of the Bleeding Iphigenia assures us Pag. 23. That this War is justified by a Learned Pen and he wonders it should be called a Rebellion as if says he our taking up Arms for our necessary Defence of Lives and Religion against the Protestants our Fellow-Subjects were a Rebellion He argues from the Principle of Self-preservation and the Law in the Case of Homicide se defendendo That it is lawful to make War for Defence of Life or Estate and à fortiori for Religion and concludes That it may be done to prevent a Danger that is foreseen i. e. rumoured or feared And that was the Case of the Papists says he they were necessarily to be destroyed by the Presbyterians and therefore they did wisely to begin first But whoever considers the three Antipathies of Nation Interest and Religion already mentioned will easily find that the true Design of this Universal Rebellion was 1. To destroy the English 2. To regain their Estates And 3. To establish Popery And all other Pretences are without Foundation and vain This horrid Conspiracy was on the Twenty second of October discovered to the Lord Justice
them to secure the Peace of the Nation And sent them farther private Instructions by Robert Waspail who carried those Letters to whom he commanded them to give Credit And not long after the Lord Justice was removed and David Barry the worthy Ancestor of the Noble Family of Barrymore was made Lord Justice 1267. he so managed the Giraldines that he took from them the Castle of Sligo and all their Lands in Connaught and thereby put an End to those Wars and Differences that were between them and the Burks And in his Time the Friers Preachers were setled at Ross Kilkenny and Clonmel Sir Robert de Vfford was made Lord Justice of Ireland 1268. and began to build the Castle of Roscomon In his Time Cnoghor O Brian of Thomond was slain i.e. murdered by Dermònd mac Monard and Maurice Fitz-Girald not of Desmond as the Annals say but Son of Maurice Lord Justice anno 1272 was drowned between Ireland and Wales And about this Time came over a Writ from the King to levy Aurum Reginae for Elianor the Prince's Wife as was used in England which you may read at large 4 Inst 357. On which I will make but this one Remark That if the Sovereignty of Ireland were in the Prince how comes the King to send the Writ But it will evidently appear by the following Writ That the Prince had not the Sovereignty of that Kingdom CVm Rex per Cartam suam concessit Edvardo 52 Hen. 3. primogenito suo Terram suam Hiberniae cum pertinentiis Lib. GGG c. habendum sibi haeredibus suis Lambeth ita quod non separetur a Corona Angliae idem Edvardus sine Licentia Regis alienationes quorundam terrarum tenementorum spectantium ad Terram praedictam fecerit contra tenorem feofamenti Regis quod idem rex sustinere voluit ideo nunc dedit potestatem mandatum nepoti suo filio Regis Alemani the Son of Richard Earl of Cornwal King of the Romans revocandi omnia maneria terras tenementa quae dictus Edvardus filius Regis sic alienavit post feofamentum praedict c. Richard de Excester 1269. Lord Justice In whose time Othobon the Pope's Legate made excellent Constitutions at London He made a more firm Peace and Reconciliation between the Burks and Giraldines And not long after died and Sir James Audly 1270. or de Aldethel was made Lord Justice and had a very unfortunate Government of it for the Irish were every where troublesome Fragm M. S. Quasi omnes Hiberni guerraverunt omnes munitiones Fortifications in Ophaly praeter Castrum de Lega Ley destructi sunt Anglici inde expulsi magna strages utriusque nationis facta est in Connacia The Irish burn'd spoil'd destroyed and slew as well Magistrates as others and the King of Connaught in plain Field defeated Walter Burk Hanmer 202. Earl of Vlster and killed a great number of Nobles and Knights and particularly the Lords Richard and John Verdon and a great Famine and Pestilence the natural Consequences of War spread over all Ireland and sorely afflicted the whole Kingdom The Castles of Aldleck Roscomon and Scheligah perhaps Sligo were destroyed Nevertheless the Pope without Regard to these Universal Calamities required the Tiths of all Spiritual Promotions for three Years to maintain his Wars against a Christian King viz. of Arragon and tho' the People murmured and their Poverty and Misery pleaded loudly for them yet the rapacious Nuntio would not go empty away On the 23 of June 1272. the Lord Justice was killed by a fall from his Horse in Thomond and Maurice Fitz-Maurice Fitz-Girald was made Lord Justice 1272. and so continued till the sixteenth Day of November at which time the King died in Peace and full of Days in his Palace at London having reigned longer than any King since the Conquest viz. six and fifty Years c. THE REIGN OF EDWARD I. King of England c. And LORD of IRELAND EDWARD the First from the Talness of his Person Nicknamed Long-shanks succeeded his Deceased Father in all his Dominions on the 16th Day of November 1272 but he being at that time absent in the Holy Land the Nobility took care to keep all quiet until his Return and then on the 15th Day of August 1274. he was Crowned by Robert Archbishop of Canterbury Maurice Fitz-Maurice Fitz-Girald continued Lord Justice and to him Ware de pres 34. and to Hugh Bishop of Meath Lord Treasurer and to John de Sandford Escheator was a Writ sent December 7. 1272 Commissioning them to receive the Oaths of Fealty and Allegiance to the new King of all the Nobility Gentry and Commons of Ireland And the Lord Justice had another Writ of the same Date to proclaim the Kings Peace and to preserve it wherein 't is said That the King is willing and able by Gods Help to defend and do Justice to his People great and small And the Government of England being informed Prin. 256. That Avelina Countess of Vlster and Widow of Walter de Burgo had been endowed illegally both as to Quantity and Quality a Writ issued in the Kings Name to the Seneschal of Vlster to rectifie that Matter according to the Law and Usage of England In the mean time the Irish took advantage of the Kings absence from England and thought it an opportune Season to rebel 1273. they destroyed the Castle of Roscomon Aldleek Scheligath and Randon and found means to corrupt some of the Lord Justice Followers whereby he was betrayed into their hands in Ophaly and there taken and imprisoned whereupon Walter Genevil newly returned from the Holy Land was sent over Lord Justice Octob. 1273. to him a Writ was sent not to molest the Archbishop of Cashel for any Debts due from him to the King till his Majesties Return to England The Islanders and Red-shank Scots made a sudden incursion into Ireland and burnt several Towns and Villages killing Man 1274. Woman and Child most inhumanely and got away with vast Booty before the Country could get together or put themselves in a posture to prevent or resist this unexpected Torrent but not long after Richard de Burgo and Sir Eustace le Poer served them in their kind and entred the Islands and burnt their Cabbins and Cottages slew all they met with and smoakt out those that had hid themselves in Caves after the same manner that is used in smoaking a Fox out of his Earth Rosâ—omon-Castle was once again repaired 1275. or rather reedified and Mortagh a strong Tory being taken Prisoner by Sir Walter le Faunt was executed but the Lord Justice being recalled Sir Robert de Vfford was made Lord Justice 1276. in whose time Thomas de Clare Son of the Earl of Glocester came into Ireland and married Juliana Daughter of Maurice Fitz-Maurice Fitz-Girald though some say it was anno 1274. There is little
Pretence was Ridiculous because there were others of the same Lineage before him in the Pedigree and it was notorious That the Right of Succession was in Ann Daughter of Roger Mortimer Earl of March Son of Philippa Daughter of Lionel Duke of Clarence third Son of King Edward III. and accordingly her Grand-son afterwards possest the Kingdoms by the Name of Edward IV. And also finding that it was more vain to claim by Conquest when there was no fighting he was at last forced to rely on the Consent and Election of the People which was the Title his Embassadors insisted upon in the Courts of Foreign Princes Thus was the Foundation laid of those tedious and bloody Wars that afterwards ensued between the Houses of York and Lancaster commonly distinguished by the Appellations of the Red-Rose and the White that being the cognizance of the House of Lancaster and this the Badge of the Family of York This King was crowned on the thirteenth Day of October anno Dom. 1399. 1399. and Ireland was committed to the Care of Sir John Stanly 1399. Lord Lieutenant who came over thither Cotton's Records 390. on the tenth Day of December In his time the King obtained a Subsidy in England for three Years to provide for the Affairs of Ireland c. And about Whitsontide the Constable of Dublin-Castle and others near Strangford in Vlster encountred the Scots at Sea 1400. but with very ill Success for many Englishmen were there slain and drowned About this time the Town of Kilkenny was walled by Robert Talbot 1401. And about May the Lord Lieutenant repaired to England leaving his Brother Sir William Stanly Lord Deputy who on the twenty third Day of August surrendred unto Stephen Scroop Lord Deputy to the King's Son Thomas Duke of Lancaster who it seems came over only to provide and prepare for the Reception of Thomas Duke of Lancaster Seneschal of England and Lord Lieutenant of Ireland who landed on S. Bines-Day And on the fifth of July John Drake Mayor of Dublin with a Band of Citizens encountred and defeated four thousand Irish Outlaws near Bray in the Borders of Wicklow and slew four hundred ninety three of their best Men. This Lord Lieutenant held a Parliament in Dublin 1402. in September during which Sir Bartholomew Verdon James White Christopher White and Stephen Gernon slew John Dowdal Sheriff of Louth in Vrgile and committed sundry other Felonies and Robberies for which they were Outlawed and their Estates disposed of by Custodiam Cotton's Records 431. but afterwards the King pardoned them their Lives and restored them their Estates during their respective Lives only In October Daniel O Birne Lib. D. for him and his Sept or Nation submitted to the Lord Lieutenant and promised Allegiance and good Behaviour and to manifest his Sincerity he granted to the King the Castle of Mackenigan with the Apurtenances And on the thirteenth of December the Lord Lieutenant by Indenture set the Ferny in the County of Louth except the King's Castle to Aghy mac Mahon for Life Davis 48 at the Rent of ten Pound per Annum and Mac Mahon covenanted to be a good Subject And in February following O Reyly covenanted with the Lord Lieutenant and also swore to perform to the King during the minority of Mortimer all the Covenants he was obliged to perform to Roger Mortimer Earl of March and Vlster In May Sir Walter Betterly Steward of Vlster 1403. and thirty English were all slain And on the eleventh of November following the Duke returned to England and left Sir Stephen Scroop Lord Deputy 1404. who on the twenty sixth Day of October resigned to James Earl of Ormond 1405. Lord Justice who in April 1405 held a Parliament at Dublin and there the Statutes of Dublin and Kilkenny were confirmed as also the Charter of Ireland And this good Act was followed by good Success for in May two Scotch Barks were taken near Greencastle and another near Dalkye with their Captain Macgolagh Moreover the Merchants of Droghedae made Incursion into Scotland and brought thence both Pledges and Preys And the Dublinians also entred Scotland at S. Ninian and behaved themselves valiantly They also did the Welsh much harm and brought from thence the Shrine of S. Cubins which they placed in Christ-Church Dublin However the Irish burnt Oghgard and on the sixth of September the Lord Justice died at Gauran and was succeeded by Girald Earl of Kildare 1406. who probably was chosen Lord Justice by the Council In his time the Dublinians and their Neighbours on Corpus Christi-Day vanquished the Irish Enemies and took three Ensigns and brought to Dublin the Heads of those they had slain And the Prior of Conal had as good Success in the Plains of Kildare for with twenty Englishmen he defeated two hundred Irish and killed many of them But after Michaelmas came over Sir Stephen Scroop Lord Deputy He held a Parliament at Dublin in January which in the Lent after ended at Trim And about the latter end of February Meyler Birmingham slew Cathol O Connor About May the Lord Deputy 1407. accompanied with the Earls of Ormond and Desmond the Prior of Kilmainham and other Captains and Gentlemen of Meath set out from Dublin and invaded the Territory of Mac Morough at first the Irish had the better but at length the Constancy and Resolution of the English prevailed and O Nolan and his Son and others were taken Prisoners and after this was done they marched speedily to Calan in the County of Kikenny upon some Intelligence they had of the Rebels being thereabout and they so surprized them that the whole Party was routed and O Carol and eight hundred Men slain upon the Place But in June the Lord Deputy went to England and the Nobility and Council elected James Earl of Ormond Lord Justice In whose time a barbarous Tory called Mac Gilmore who is reported to have destroyed forty Churches and was never Christened had taken Prisoner Patrick Savage a Gentleman of great Esteem in Vlster they agreed upon his Ransome to be two thousand Marks and his Brother Richard was to become Hostage for it But this Subtle Barbarian managed the matter so that he received the Ransome according to Agreement and afterwards he murdered both the Brethren This Lord Justice held a Parliament at Dublin 1408. which confirmed the Statutes of Dublin and Kilkenny and also the Statute against Purveyors And on the second of August Thomas Duke of Lancaster came over Lord Lieutenant It seems that the Terms on which he undertook the Government were these First Lib. G. He was to hold the Place for seven Years Secondly He was to have five hundred Men at Arms and one thousand Archers for three Years Thirdly To have a Years Pay in Hand and afterwards to be paid every half Year Fourthly One thousand Marks per annum for himself and to be paid the Charge of Transportation
And so having wasted that Country he marched into Tyrone where he took and burnt the Castle of Dungannon and preyed and burnt all the Country thereabouts But the Citizens of Dublin had not so good luck for a Company of them thinking that the very Name of the King's Forces could obtain Victories over the Irish made an Incursion into Imaly but being as we say Fresh-Water Soldiers upon the Slaughter of a few of them the rest were frightned back to their Shops The Winter this Year was exceeding Cold and the Ice strong enough to bear all manner of Carriages which is very unusual in Ireland And this Winter Queen Mary was born whose Superstitious Zeal proved as extream Hot as the Weather was Cold. The Fortune and Victories of the Lord Deputy influenced the Irish to be quiet this Year and the Reputation of the Government was somewhat augmented by the Honourable Peace which the King made with the French 1518. in September which was afterwards proclaimed in Dublin In the mean time Ware 54. places this Anno 1597. but is mistaken great were the Dissentions in Ireland between Sir James Ormond a Man of great Courage and Reputation and Sir Pierce Butler a valiant Gentleman about the Earldom of Ormond the former was a Natural Son of John by some called Earl of Ormond elder Brother of Thomas the last Earl and the other was Son of Sir James Butler Son of Sir Edmund Son of Sir Richard Butler who was Brother to James the Fifth Earl of Ormond so that Pierce his Grandfather Sir Edmond was Cozen German to the Deceased Earl Thomas Hereby it appears that the Right to that Earldom was in Sir Pierce who had married the Lady Margaret Fitz-Girald the Lord Deputies Sister nevertheless Sir James having formerly been Lord Treasurer and a very popular Man and probably the Manager of this Estate for his Unkle Thomas who always resided in England by the help of the Tenants got into possession and by the same assistance and his own vigor he kept what he had got without allowing any thing to the right Heir towards his maintenance whereby that Noble Pair Sir Pierce and his Wife were reduced to great extremity It is scarce credible that Persons of that Quality and so well allied should be forced to lurk in Woods and want a Bottle of Wine for their Refreshment Holingsh 84. and yet Stanyhurst reports a formal Story That the Lady Margaret Fitz-Girald Wife of Sir Pierce Butler being great with Child complained to her Husband and their Servant James White that she could no longer live on Milk and therefore earnestly desired them to get her some Wine whereto Sir Pierce replied That she should have Wine enough within twenty four hours or feed alone on Milk for him and immediately he went away with his Page to lie in wait for his Competitor whom he met the next day riding with six Horsemen Attendants between Drumore and Kilkenny March 17. and upon a sudden Sir Pierce rushed in upon him and kill'd him with his Spear and thenceforward enjoyed the Estate in quiet This Year Rokeby Archbishop of Dublin who was likewise Lord Chancellor held a Provincial Synod at Dublin the Canons whereof are to be found in the Registry of the Bishop of Clogker And this Year or the next Art O Neal invaded and wasted O Dogherty's Island of Inisowen in the County of Donegal The Enemies of the Earl of Kildare had the last year done what they could underhand to disgrace him in England but he had so well defended himself by his Friends there 1519. that their Design was ineffectual wherefore they address'd themselves to Cardinal Wolsey and by his means procur'd Kildare to be recalled to answer Articles exhibited against him for Male-administration First Ware 98. That he had enriched himself and Followers by the King's Revenue and Land Secondly That he had Alliance and Correspondence with several Irish he had the King's Leave to substitute a Deputy so he appointed Sir Thomas Fitz-Girald of Lackagh a Knight of his own Family Lord Justice in the mean time Kildare marries in England with Elizabeth Grey Daughter of the Marquess of Dorset by whose means he got favour in England and was dismiss'd but Cardinal Wolsey suggesting the King had neglected Ireland too long and that some worthy man ought to be sent over that was impartial to any Faction or Party and was able to keep them not only more peaceable amongst themselves but also more serviceable to the King to the end that the Blood and Vigor which else would be spent in their Civil Dissentions might be opposed to the common Enemy he procured to be sent into Ireland Thomas Howard Earl of Surrey Lord Admiral of England Wales and Ireland Knight of the Garter Lord Lieutenant 1520. he came over the Wednesday before Whitsontide with an hundred of the Guards and a thousand others Horse and Foot by this the Cardinal obtained a double Advantage first In disappointing his Enemy the Earl of Kildare of the Government of Ireland and secondly In removing the Earl of Surry from the Court of England where he was a great Favourite On Whitsunday the Lord Lieutenant was alarum'd with a Report That Con Buckah O Neal who by Popular Election succeeded his Brother Art had invaded Meath with four thousand Horse and twelve thousand Foot says Paulus Jovius but falsly Surry was in haste to encounter the Rebel not doubting but that the Victory would be an honourable and happy Omen of his future Government and therefore adding to his small Army such of the Militia called The Risings out of City and Country as he could get on so short warning he marched to Slane but O Neal was frightned with the Name of this General and retir'd so fast that the Lord Lieutenant could neither find him nor his Army but not long after O Neal sent Letters to implore Pardon which was granted him on promise of future Obedience On the sixth of September the Lord Lieutenant wrote to the Cardinal That some Soldiers had seized on a Boat with design to be Pyrates but being prevented and apprehended they continued in Gaol because they could not be capitally punished by the Common Law and he had no Clause of Martial Law in his Commission as indeed he had not nor of conferring Knighthood which is strange and the better to ingratiate with the Cardinal he added That the Earl of Kildare will be found guilty of sending Letters to O Carol to raise a Rebellion and that if Kildare should be suffered to come to Ireland the whole Kingdom will be undone and he concludes That there is so great a Scarcity and Dearth in Ireland that the Soldier cannot live on four pence a day and therefore desires that a penny a day may be added to their Pay In October Lib. CCC the King wrote to the Lord Lieutenant That there will never be a thorough Reformation in Ireland until all
the Regality of S. Peter I do Vow and Swear to Maintain Help and Assist the just Laws Liberties and Rights of the Mother Church of Rome I do likewise promise to confer defend and promote if not personally yet willingly as in Ability able either by Advice Skill Estate Mony or otherwise the Church of Rome and her Laws against all whatsoever resisting the same I further vow to oppugn all Hereticks either in making or setting forth Edicts or Commands contrary to the Mother Church of Rome and in case any such to be moved or composed to resist it to the uttermost of my Power with the first Convenience and Opportunity I can possible I count all Acts made or to be made by Heretical Powers of no force or to be practised or obeyed by my self or by any other Son of the Mother Church of Rome I do further declare him or her Father or Mother Brother or Sister Son or Daughter Husband or Wife Unkle or Ant Nephew or Neece Kinsman or Kinswoman Master or Mistriss and all others nearest or dearest Relations Friend or Acquaintance whatsoever accursed that either do or shall hold for time to come any Ecclesiastical or Civil above the Authority of the Mother Church or that do or shall obey for the time to come any of her the Mother Church's Opposers or Enemies or contrary to the same of which I have here sworn unto so God the Blessed Virgin S. Peter S. Paul and the Holy Evangelists help c. His Highness the Vice-roy of this Nation is of little or no Power with the Old Natives therefore your Lordship will expect of me no more than I am able This Nation is poor in Wealth and not sufficient now at present to oppose them It is observed That ever since his Highness ' s Ancestors had this Nation in Possession the Old Natives have been craving Foreign Powers to assist and rute them and now both English Race and Irish begin to oppose your Lordship's Orders and do lay aside their National old Quarrels which I fear will if any thing will cause a Foreigner to invade this Nation I pray God I may be a false Prophet yet your good Lordship must pardon mine Opinion for I write it to your Lordship as a warning And about Midsummer one Thady Birne a Franciscan Fryer was apprehended and was to be sent Prisoner into England to the Lord Privy Seal but the cowardly Sophister being told That he would certainly be hanged was seized with such a pannick Fear that he murdered himself in the Castle of Dublin on the twenty fourth Day of July and among other Papers the following Letter was found about him My Son O Neal THou and thy Fathers were all along faithful to the Mother Church of Rome Life of Bishop Brown 11. His Holiness Paul now Pope and the Council of the Holy Fathers there have lately found out a Prophecy there remaining of one S. Laserianus an Irish Bishop of Cashel Wherein he saith That the Mother Church of Rome falleth when in Ireland the Catholick Faith is overcome Therefore for the Glory of the Mother Church the Honour of S. Peter and your own Secureness suppress Heresie and his Holiness's Enemies for when the Roman Faith there perisheth the See of Rome falleth also Therefore the Council of Cardinals have thought fit to encourage your Country of Ireland as a Sacred Island being certified whilst the Mother Church hath a Son of Worth as your self and those that shall succour you and joyn therein that she will never fall but have more or less a holding in Britain in spite of Fate Thus having obeyed the Order of the most Sacred Council we recommend your Princely Person to the Holy Trinity of the Blessed Virgin of S. Peter S. Paul and all the Heavenly Host of Heaven Amen Episcopus Metensis And it is not to be doubted Ware 151. but the Irish had Solicitations from many others besides the Bishop of Mets for in the beginning of the following Year O Neal began to declare himself the Champion of the Papacy and having entred into a Confederacy with O Donel Macgenis Ocahane Mac William O Hanlon and others they joyntly invaded the Pale and marched to Navan burning that and Athirde and all the Country as they marched and thence they came to the Hill of Taragh where they mustered their Army with great Ostentation and so having taken a vast Prey and done abundance of Mischief they designed to return home But the Lord Deputy who foresaw this Storm 1539. had sent to England for Aid Holingsh 101. and Sir William Brereton who was newly returned to England was immediately sent back with two hundred and fifty Cheshire-Men It is reported of him That he broke his Thigh in two Places by a Fall from his Horse as he was exercising his Men and that nevertheless he was so Valiant and Zealous that he caused himself to be halled into the Ship by Pullies that the Succours might not be detained any longer In the mean time the Deputy Ibid. with the Forces of the Pale and the Mayors and Citizens of Dublin and Drogheda in May marched to Bellahoa where O Neal was encamped on the other side the River they marched all Night to surprize the Enemy and came to the River by break of Day The valiant Baron of Slane led the forlorn and having first substituted Robert Betoa his Standard-bearer instead of the cowardly Robert Halfpenny who declined the Adventure because of the Danger he rushed into the River and being well seconded by Mabe of Mabestown who was there slain though the Inconveniencies of passing the River were very great yet they at length got over routed the Gallowglasses slew Macgenis defeated O Neal and recovered all the Prey of the Pale and continued the Pursuit till Sunset The Deputy exceeded the rest as much in Courage as Authority and behaved himself exceeding bravely and after the Battle knighted Chief Justice Ailmer Talbot of Malahide Fitz-Simons Mayor of Dublin and Michael Cursy Mayor of Drogheda in the Field and well they deserved it for their good Service in obtaining so great a Victory which broke the Power of the North and quitted the Borders for some Years and yet there were not above four hundred of the Rebels slain But whilst the Deputy was in Vlster O Connor and O Toole made Incursions into the Pale and though they did much Mischief yet the Country suffered more by unseasonable Weather for the Summer was so hot that even some Rivers were almost dried up and the Autumn was very Sickly and Unwholesome and the Winter so excessive cold that multitudes of Cattle perished by reason thereof And now began the Abbots and Priors upon Assurance of Pensions Ware 152. during their respective Lives to surrender their Abbies and other Religious Houses to the King it would be too tedious to give a Catalogue of all that did so but these following should not be pretermitted because
they procur'd as good a Bed-fellow for the Ambassador though she was of meaner Quality this Liquorish Harlot unfortunately met with a small Bottle of choice Balm valued at two thousand Crowns which was given to the Bishop by Solyman the Magnificent when he was Ambassador in Turky she was invited by its Odour to try its Relish and it seems liked it so well that she licked it all out whereat the Bishop grew so outragious and loud that he discovered his Debauchery frightned the Woman away and made sport for the Irishmen and his own Servants After this the Bishop met with O Neal and the Titular Primate Robert Wachop in a secret place and heard the Overâ—ures of them and their Confederates and it is not to be doubted but they came to an Agreement because the Bishop soon after went to Rome but being unable to separate the Pope from the Interests of the Emperor this Negotiation had no effect In the mean time two of the Cavenaghs viz. Cahir Mac Art of Polmonty and Girald Mac Cahir of Garochil had fierce Contests about their Territory at length it came to a Battel as it were by consent and about an hundred on each side were slain but Cahir Mac Art had the better of it and finally obtain'd that Signiory But the Exchequer being empty the Lord Deputy designed to levy a Tax upon the People but the Earl of Ormond would by no means suffer that 〈…〉 whereupon the difference grew so high between him and the Lord Deputy that at last it came to mutual Impeachments whereupon both of them were sent for to England and by the King's Mediation were reconciled whilst the ambodexter Allen was imprison'd in the Fleet and deprived of the Great Seal and Sir Thomas Cusack was made Lord Keeper and not long after viz. about the twenty eighth day of October the Earl of Ormond and thirty five of his Servants were poyson'd at a Feast at Ely-House in Holborn so that he and sixteen of them died but whether this hapned by Accident or Mistake or were done designedly could not be discovered Sir William Brabazon was sworn Lord Justice on the first of April 1546. although his Patent bore Date the sixteenth of February Ware 174. In his time hapned a strange and unnatural Action for Bryan Lord of Upper Ossory sent his own Son Teige Prisoner to Dublin where he was executed and in July Patrick O More and Bryan O Connor with joint Forces invaded the County of Kildare and burnt Athy but the Lord Justice immediately pursued them and leaving a Garrison at Athy he marched into Offaly and made a Fort at Dingen now Philipstown and forced O Connor to fly into Connaught But the Necessities of the State obliged the King to Coyn Brass or mixt Moneys and to make it currant in Ireland by Proclamation to the great dissatisfaction of all the People especially the Soldiers and about the same time Edward Basnet Dean of St. Patrick's in Dublin and the Chapter after some Reluctancy surrendred their Possessions to the King Three Things are observable in the Letters during this King's Reign 1. None of them do mention either the Year of our Lord or the Year of the King's Reign though all of them do take notice of the Day of the Month whereby this Part of the History was so perplex'd and confus'd that I will not promise that I have always guess'd the time aright though I have used my utmost diligence and endeavours to do so 2. All the Letters of this Reign conclude thus So knoweth God to whom we pray for your Graccs Prosperity or to that effect but these Words So knoweth God are always in although in the subsequent Words there is some Variation according to the Fancy of the Writer 3. Most of the Letters from the great Irish Lords even some of English Extraction are subscribed with a Mark very few of thembeing able to write their Names Sir Anthony Saintleger Lord Deputy returned on the sixteenth day of December with Sir Richard Read who was made Lord Chancellor in the room of Cusack and Cusack was made Master of the Rolls And thus stood the Government of Ireland during the Reign of King Henry the Eighth who Died on the twenty eighth day of January in the thirty eighth Year of his Reign and of his Age the fifty sixth THE REIGN OF EDWARD VI. KING OF England France AND IRELAND EDWARD 1546. the Sixth of that Name since the Norman Conquest was born at Hampton Court on the twelfth Day of October 1537. and succeeded his Father in the tenth Year of his Age on the twenty eighth Day of January 1546. and on the first of February Edward Seymour who was the King's Unkle by the Mother was made Protector of the King and Kingdoms and was afterwards created Duke of Somerset and on the twentieth Day of February the King was crowned at Westminster with great Solemnity Sir Anthony Saintleger continued in the Government of Ireland Ware 177. at first by the name of Lord Justice and afterwards by the Title of Lord Deputy and he proclaimed the new King on the twenty sixth Day of February 1547. and not long after Sir Richard Read was made first Lord Keeper and afterwards Lord Chancellor and the Earl of Desmond was constituted Lord Treasurer of Ireland on the twenty ninth Day of March and on the seventh Day of April the Privy Council was sworn viz. Sir Richard Read Chancellor George Archbishop of Dublin Edward Bishop of Meath Sir William Brabazon Vice-Treasurer Sir Girald Ailmer Lord Chief Justice of the King's Bench Sir Thomas Luttrel Lord Chief Justice of the Common Pleas James Bath Esq Lord chief Baron of the Exchequer Sir Thomas Cusack Master of the Rolls and Thomas Houth Esq one of the Judges of the King's Bench to whom afterwards others were added But the O Birnes took advantage of the Change of the Government and hoping that the Infancy of the King would occasion Disturbances in the State they began to be very unruly and troublesome insomuch that the Lord Deputy was necessitated to invade their Country he pursued them so close that he slew their Captain and drove themselves into the Woods and Fastnesses He also took two of the Fitz-Giralds who had formerly been Proscribed and now joyned with O Toole and he brought them and other Prisoners to Dublin where they were executed Nor were Patrick O More and Brian O Connor less forward than the rest but briskly invaded the County of Kildare and loaded themselves with Prey and Plunder but the Lord Deputy came seasonably to intercept them and having killed two hundred of the Rebels upon the Place the rest of them with their light-footed Captains fairly ran away But the Government of England wisely considering the fickle Inclinations of the Irish and the danger of a general Defection of that Nation from a Protestant King seasonably provided for that Kingdom so that Edward Bellingham with the
Title of Captain General brought over six hundred Horse and four hundred Foot whose Pay came to twelve hundred and twenty six Pound per Month viz seven hundred and seventy Pound for the Horse and four hundred fifty six Pound for the Foot and about Midsummer they landed at Waterford and being joyned by the Lord Deputy they invaded the Countries of Leix and Offaly and proclaimed O More and O Connor Traytors and having dispersed the Forces of the Rebels the Lord Deputy repaired the Fort of Dingen and built the Fort of Campaum alias Prolector now called Maryburgh whereupon O More and O connor were forced to submit and Bellingham was knighted and made Marshal of Ireland The Castle of Athloan was likewise repaired and garrisoned by Special Orders from England and the Vice-Treasurer Brabazon had the Care and management thereof and performed it effectually in spight of the great Opposition he met with from Dominick O Kelly and other Great Men of Connaught And this auspicious Year did also produce the mighty Victory which the English obtained over the Scots at Mussleburgh But as the Reformation proceeded in England 1538. so the Popish Zeal and Superstition increased in Ireland Ware 180. and the Pale it self began to be disturbed with it for Richard Fitz-Eustace and Alexander his Brother Sons of the Viscount Baltinglass were busie forming a Rebellion in the County of Kildare but the Presence of the Lord Deputy without Blows brought them to a Submissiom and stifled this Infant Conspiracy in the Cradle and it was well it did for this rebellious Distemper was very infectious and in a little time would have spread over the whole Kingdom the Lord of Baltinglass himself was a little tainted with it but by the means of Sir Edward Bellingham when Lord Deputy the Viscount was pardoned In the mean time the Lord Deputy Saintleger was sent for to England and carried with him O More and O Connor as Prisoners but upon their Submission they were received into Favour and honoured with a Pension of one hundred Pound per annum out of the Exchequer during their Lives which O More enjoyed not very long for he died within the Year suddainly at London Sir Edward Bellingham who had been sent into England with an Account of the Submission of the County of Kildare was now sent back Lord Deputy he landed at Dalkye on Whitson-Eve and two Days after he received the Sword at Christ-Church according to Custom He was a Zealous Protestant and a brave Soldier and by his means Sir John Allen was again made Lord Chancellor As soon as he was setled Davis 62. he marched into Leix and Offaly against Cahir O Connor and others that were brewing new Treasons there and forced them to submit and brought the Country to that degree of Subjection that he is said to be the first Man since Edward the third's time that enlarged the English Borders beyond the Pale and from Offaly the Lord Deputy marched to Delvin against Mac Coughlan whose Country he totally destroyed The Lord Deputy had express Orders to set up a Mint at Dublin which he did but it continued but a very little time for want of Bullion And this Year on the twenty second Day of April the City of Dublin which at first was governed by a Provost and by King Henry the Third subjected to a Mayor and Bayliffs and by Henry the Fourth was honoured with a Sword obtained their Bayliffs to be changed into Sheriffs and John Rians and Robert Eyons were the first two Sheriffs that were chosen or appointed for that City In the mean time Sir Francis Bryan who had married the Countess Dowager of Ormond and was made Marshal of Ireland and Governour of the Counties of Typerary and Kilkenny could by no means agree with the Lord Deputy their Differences grew at length to that height that Sir Francis impeached the Lord Deputy in England and prevailed to have him sent for to answer the Accusation But whilst that affair was transacting Ware 182. Teige O Carol plyed his own Business diligently and after a stout Defence he took and demolished the strong Castle of Nenagh and drove the English out of that Country In Vlster Manus O Donel quarrelled with his Son Calvagh and at length it came to Blows so that on the seventh Day of February Calvagh was routed and Manus Mac Donough O Cahan and many of his Followers were slain In the Lower Delvin Teige Mac Mlaghlin and Edmond Fahy with their united Forces did all the Mischief they could and almost totally destroyed that part of Mac Coughlans Country Nevertheless the Lord Deputy sent an Irish Brigade under the command of Donough O Conner accompanied with the Sons of Cahir O Connor to aid the King in his War against Scotland On the eighteenth of November Cormock Roe O Connor who was proclaimed Traytor came to Dublin and with Tears in his Eyes begged Pardon of the Lord Deputy and Council in Christ-Church and had it But being of a turbulent Spirit he soon after relapsed into Rebellion and being taken by the Earl of Clanrickard he was sent to Dublin and hanged so true is that Observation of Caesar Williamsons Nec gentem ullam reperies Cui peccare slere magis naturale est It is worthy Observation Holingsh 109. That though the Earl of Desmond for his Quality and vast Estate was made Lord High Treasurer yet he was not of the Privy Council nor indeed qualified to be so for he was Rude and Savage both in Apparel and Behaviour he had neither Learning nor Manners but lived after a barbarous fashion in the Country among the Wild-Irish and perhaps had not so much as a Glass-Window to his Houses and yet he was the best landed Subject in the King's Dominions About Christmas the Deputy sent for him to Dublin but he refusing the Lord Deputy himself with about twenty Horse made that haste to Munster that he took the Earl sitting by the Fire in his own House not at all suspecting that Expedition And it was well for him that he was so surprized for he was not only brought to Dublin and instructed in his Duty to his Prince and in good Manners and Civility towards his Fellow-Subjects but was also by the Lord Deputy's means pardoned and restored to the King's Favour so that he continued a good Subject ever afterwards during his Life and was so grateful to his Benefactor the Lord Deputy that he would pray for him constantly after every Meal And now it happened that the Earl of Tyrone Macguire Fylemy Roe O Neal 1549. and others referr'd all their Differences to the Lord Deputy and Council who on the twentieth day of June made their Decree wisely ordering Independency on O Neal. Therere are Copies of all these Decrees at Lambeth Lib. D. And they are to the same effect as that of Macguire's viz. Quod erit liber Ware 184. exemptus ab omni subjectione
Enemy's Camp and it succeeded according to his Desire for O Neal's Army being over-confident of their Numbers and despising the Weakness of their Adversaries had made no preparation to resist an Assault which they did not suspect and wanting such Scouts Out-guards and Centinels as Martial Discipline required and as was usual in all well-governed Armies they were easily surprized and defeated and Shane O Neal himself was forced to make use of his Heels As to Ecclesiastical Affairs there was a Provincial Synod held at Dublin Anno 1555 which made some Constitutions about the Rites and Ceremonies to be used in the Church and afterwards the Church-Goods and Ornaments were restored and particularly those belonging to the Churches of Dublin and Drogheda and although many Gleabs continued Lay-Fees during all the Reign of Queen Mary yet at the Request of Cardinal Poole her Majesty restored the Possessions of the Priory of Kilmainham and Oswal Messemberg was confirmed Prior by Patent dated the eighth of March 1557. but afterwards he fled beyond Seas and the Possessions of that Priory and of that Order in Ireland were by Act of Parliament annexed to the Crown in Queen Elizabeth's Reign There was also a Provincial Synod held at Drogheda this Year by Archbishop Dowdal and therein Leave was given to Husbandmen to work certain Days in Harvest The Lord Justice having on the twenty fifth Day of April received the Submission of O Reyly and his Fealty or Oath of Allegiance 1558. did on the twenty seventh surrender the Sword to Thomas Earl of Sussex Lord Deputy who brought over with him five hundred Soldiers and an Order to coyne Brass-Money and to make it currant by Proclamation which he did On the fourteenth of June he began his March to Munster against Daniel O Brian he came to Limerick and advanced forwards into Thomond he scattered the Rebels and took the Castles of Bunratty and Clare and then restored the Country to the Earl of Thomond who together with the Freeholders of that Country did on Sunday the tenth day of July swear on the Sacrament Lib. NNN and by all the Relicks of the Church as Book Bell and Candelight they are the very Words of the Herald's Certificate to continue Loyal to the Queen and to perform their Agreements with the Lord Deputy On the twenty first of June the Earl of Desmond made his Submission to the Deputy at Limerick and on the twenty sixth the Lord Deputy was God-father to the Earl's Son whom he named James Sussex and gave the Child a Chain of Gold and gave another Chain and Pair of gilt Spurs to Dermond Mac Carthy of Muskry whom he also knighted The Lord Deputy caused a Soldier to be nailed to a Post for drawing his Sword in the Camp contrary to Proclamation and then marched to Galway where he was well received especially by the Archbishop of Tuam and the Bishops of Clonfert and Clonmacnoise who with the Clergy met him in Procession On the fifteenth day of September the Lord Deputy shipped his Army at Dalky and sailed to Raghline and though he lost one Ship in the Storm yet he pursued his Design and took the Island and placed a Colony and a small Garrison in it and thence he invaded and wasted Cantire in Scotland Nor did the Islands of Aran and Comber escape the like Desolation and he intended as much against the Island of Ila but he was by ill Weather forced to put in at Carigfergus and so having burnt many Villages which were possest by the Scots in Vlster he returned to Dublin on the eighth day of November Sir Henry Sydny was sworn Lord Justice on the eighteenth of September by virtue of a Patent dated at Richmond the fourth of August and now when the Earl of Sussex return'd he was sworn anew on the tenth of November and had a new Patent bearing date the seventeenth day of August 1558. The Lord Deputy had a new Great Seal sent him out of England and also new Seals to the other three Courts which he delivered to the Lord Chancellor Chief Justices and Chief Baron in the Council Chamber and about the same time a Party of the Islander Scots that came into Connaught to the Assistance of one of the Burks was defeated by the Earl of Clanrickard and most of them slain And because the Author quotes the Most Reverend and Learned Primate Vsher and the Memorials of the Most Noble and Industrious Richard Earl of Cork for the following Story I will insert it verbatim as it is already printed in the Life of Archbishop Brown Queen Mary having dealt severely with the Protestants in England about the latter end of her Reign signed a Commission for to take the same Course with them in Ireland and to execute the same with greater Force she nominates Dr. Cole one of the Commissioners Sending the Commission by this Doctor who in his Journey coming to Chester the Mayor of that City hearing that her Majesty was sending a Messenger into Ireland and he being a Church-Man waited on the Doctor who in discourse with the Mayor taketh out of a Cloak-Bag a Leather-Box saying unto him Here is a Commission that shall lash the Hereticks of Ireland calling the Protestants by that Title the good Woman of the House being well affected to the Protestant Religion and also having a Brother named John Edmunds of the same then a Citizen in Dublin was much troubled at the Doctor 's Words but watching her convenient time whilst the Mayor took his Leave and the Doctor complementing him down the Stairs she opens the Box and takes the Commission out placing in lieu thereof a Sheet of Paper with a Pack of Cards the Knave of Clubs faced uppermost wrap up The Doctor coming up to his Chamber suspecting nothing of what had been done put up the Box as formely The next day going to the Water-side Wind and Weather serving him he sails towards Ireland and landed on the seventh of October 1558. at Dublin then coming to the Castle the Lord Fitz-Walters being Lord Deputy sent for him to come before him and the Privy Council who coming in after he had made a Speech relating upon what account he came over he presents the Box unto the Lord Deputy who causing it to be opened that the Secretary might read the Commission there was nothing save a Pack of Cards with the Knave of Clubs uppermost which not only startled the Lord Deputy and Council but the Doctor who assured them He had a Commission but knew not how it was gone Then the Lord Deputy made answer Let us have another Commission and we will shuffle the Cards in the mean while The Doctor being troubled in Mind went his way and returned into England and coming to the Court obtained another Commission but staying for a Wind at the Water-side News came unto him That the Queen was dead And thus God preserved the Protestants in Ireland This Queen died on the seventeenth day of
Assistance of the Lord Digby they brought the matter so far to bear that on the 12th of November the Lord Digby writes thus to the Lord Lieutenant Yesterday the Lord Clanrickard and I finished our Negotiations to which Preston and his Army and Sir Philem O Neal and part of Owen Roes Army will submit You may depend on this Engagement of Preston and his Army since it cannot be violated without such a Perâ—idy ☞ as certainly the Profession of Soldiers and Gentlemen hath never been guilty of The most that will be expected from you is a Declaration to this effect That whereas it is well known even by His Majesties Printed Letters that His gracious Intentions were to secure His Catholick Subjects of this Kingdom in the free Exercise of their Religion by repeal of the Penalties of the Law against them which in the last Articles was left out by the Subtilty of some of their own Party who intended to found this late mischief upon it that it was far from His Majesties intention or Yours to take advantage of that Omission but that they may rest as secure of His Majesties Favour in the repeal of the said Penalties as if it had been positively exprest in the Articles and that for matter of their Churches and Ecclesiastical Possessions it being referred to the King it was far from Your intentions to molest them therein till you knew His Majesties Pleasure in that particular As for your Engagement to obey His Majesties free Commands the Queen and Prince of Wales and my Significations to the advantage of the Catholicks during His Majesties want of Freedom and that you will not obey such Commands to the prejudice of what is undertaken as shall be procured by advantage of His Majesties want of Freedom Your Letter to the Marquis of Clanrickard will suffice you must proceed frankly c. And this was the Posture of Affairs when on the 14th of November Commissioners arrived from the Parliament with Fourteen hundred Foot and other Necessaries for the Preservation of Dublin which they expected to be given up to them upon the Terms proposed In what Condition was the Marquiss of Ormond now he had two inconsistent Treaties upon his hands and both well nigh concluded and he was in Danger least his own Army who abhorred any farther Correspondence with the Irish would with the Assistance of the Fourteen hundred Men newly come Deliver up both Dublin and him to the Parliament of England It is certain he had need of all that Dexterity and Presence of mind that he was Master of to extricate himself out of these Difficulties as he afterwards did It was never a Doubt with him whether he should preserve the Kingdom for his Majesty or submit it to the Parliament but the Question was whether an Union with the Irish would do the former since their Levity was such as that there could be no dependance upon them I have seen all the dispatches between Ormond and Digby upon this occasion and can assure the Reader that the Lord Lieutenant was prevailed upon against his own Judgment by the Lord Digby's importunity and when he did Consent he foretold the issue of that Reconciliation But we will first give an Account of the Treaty with the Parliament Commissioners and then discover the farther Proceedings with the Irish The Lord Lieutenant and Council being pressed by Enemies without and Necessities and intolerable Wants in the City did on the 26th day of September by Letters to the King and to the Lord Mayor of London represent the miserable Condition they were in and did also send over the Lord Chief Justice Lowther Sir Francis Willoughby and Sir Paul Davis in one of the Parliaments ships to the Parliament of England with Instructions from himself and the Council and other Instructions from the Council only The Instructions from the Lord Lieutenant and Council were 1. That a Difference ought to be made the between those that were Contrivers and first Actors of the Rebellion and those that by the Torrent of that Rebellion were afterwards accidently engaged therein and that the Confiscatitions of the former were sufficient to satisfie the Adventurers 2. That they demonstrate the necessity of making the late Peace for the Preservation of the Protestants for tho' the Protestants do survive the breach of the Peace the Reason is because the Irish are now divided and their Frame of Government dissolved 3. That before the Peace they the Lord Lieutenant and Council did enter into a Treaty with the Parliament Commissioners in Ulster to prevent it but by the Departure of the Marquis of Argile into Scotland and of Sir Robert King into England that Treaty fell for want of a sufficient number of the Commissioners and that misfortune was followed by the defeat of Monroe and the Scots at Bemburb 4. That England has receiv'd advantage by the Peace First by their experience of the perfidiousness and Treachery of the Irish ☞ And Secondly by obtaining just cause to use them severely 5. That the Covenant may not be impos'd until it be done by Act of Parliament that nothing of it may be now imposed lest it divide the Protestants and hinder them from a joynt prosecution of the War and for the same Reason the Book of Common Prayer be not suppressed but let those use the Directory that will 6. To â—ustifie the Goverment and Conduct of His Majesties Servants and to wipe off all Scandals 7. To preserve the Estates Persons and Imployments of all those that went hence to serve His Majesty in England and did not joyn with the Rebels at least to get them Liberty to compound or to transport themselves and their Goods 8. That it be immediately published we have free Commerce and Traffick with the Parliaments Towns and Allies and that three or four Ships be sent to Guard our Coasts from the Rebels 9. That Magazines of all sorts be speedily prepared at Liverpool Chester c. 10. To advise them that if Succours be not immediately sent all will be lost and the recovery of it will cost ten times as much Blood and Treasure as it will to keep it now 11. That if the Soldier be not constantly Paid he will revolt to the better Pay-master and that the Revenue here does not keep the publick Persons and Clergy from want 11. That Directions be sent to the Parliaments Forces in Ulster Munster and Conaught to correspond and joyn with Us. 12. That if they send Forces under their own Officers Care be taken to Pay ours equally with theirs to prevent Difference and Mutiny 13. That Sir Francis Butler Colonel Richard Gibson Colonel Henry Warren Colonel Monk and Lieutenant Colonel Gibs now Prisoners with the Parliament Being Men that know the Country and are experienced in the Service may be rather sent than Novices and Strangers or any others Lastly Men without Money and Victuals will do us more harm than good And if as soon as you are
World upon whose Loyalty and Conduct in the Affairs of Ireland His Majesty did most depend But there is yet a greater Mystery in the matter and it was thus Whilst Ormond was in England the Scots * Earl of Lanerick Earl of Lauderdale 〈…〉 Commissioners finding what usage was design'd to the King did endeavour to retreive the Honour of their Nation by doing something extraordinary in his Favour and the Presbyterians every where finding the prevailing Independents did despise the Sanctity of the Covenant and the Supporters thereof began to be Alarm'd so a proper Juncture of doing Service to the King was suddenly expected hereupon Ormond by the Kings Order met the Scotch Commissioners near Marlow and they for Scotland and he for Ireland undertook to promote His Majesties Service and in order to it he went to France and so into Ireland to prosecute this Design and not in Answer to the Irish Ambassy as they sancied and the same Reason prevailed upon Insiquin to joyn with him and it was pursuant to this Treaty that the Earl of Lanerick then Duke Hamilton invaded the Kingdom of England But as soon as the Parliament Commissioners in Ireland understood 27th July that the Marquiss of Ormond intended to return to that Kingdom they did all that was possible to prevent his Design and upon bare Suspicion seized upon Sir Maurice Eustace Sir John Gifford Sir Francis Willoughby Colonel William Flower the Lieutenant Colonels Ryves Capron and Smith Major John Stephens and Captain Peirce and kept them Prisoners in the Castle for some days and then sent them in Custody to Chester and they also kept Sir Thomas Lucas and Colonel Byron Prisoners at Tredagh As for the Military Motions this Year tho' they were not many nor in many Places Munster being entirely quiet and very little either of Leinster or Ulster disturbed yet they may be esteemed very considerable because they were between the Irish themselves for Insiquin had managed his Affairs so prudently by assisting the weaker side and the Nuncio had Acted so rashly in Excommunicating the Supream Council and their Adherents that Owen Roe and Preston and their Followers were engaged in as * Quod quidem ille acrius quam unquam fecerat in communes Religionis Regni hostes in Confederatos presecutus est Beling 118. fierce and as spiteful a War as any that had been since the Rebellion broke out so that Preston assisted by the Marquiss of Clanrickard took Athâ—one and besieged Athy and Insiquin in favour of the Supream Council besieged Fortfalkland and tho' Owen Roe came to relieve it and posted his Army so advantagiously between Insiquin and Munster that the English had certainly been starved if the generous Bounty of the Marquiss of Clanrickard had not supplyed them with Necessaries yet at length Owen Roe was forced to a retreat not much different from a Flight and the Fort was surrendered to Insiquiâ— and with these Losses November and this Disgrace Owen Roe was so netled that he ravaged over the whole County of Roscomon and took Jamestown and so obstinately Stormed Carigdrumrusk that Rory Macguire and most of his Regiment were there slain and in revenge of it the Garison being all Papists were put to the Sword And by this Campaign Owen Roe was so weakned that he offered a Cessation to Colonel Jones and to carry his Army to Spain if Jones would give him Liberty to do so And it seems That the Marquiss of Antrim had some Highlanders in the Counties of Wicklow and Wexford which being joyned with the Birnes and Cavenaghs who were of the Nuncio Faction and rejected the Peace gave such Disturbance to the Supream Council that they were fain to send Sir Edmond Butler and Sir Thomas Esmond to suppress them which at last they effected tho' not without considerable Slaughter on both sides In the mean time Jones took Ballysannon Nabber and Ballyho and many of the Scots being gone to assist Duke Hamilton's Invasion of England Colonel Monk by the means of Sir Price Coghrun and Lieutenant Colonel Cunningham surprized Carigfergus and in it Monroe September whom he sent Prisoner to London and then had an easie Conquest of Belfast and Colerain and Sir Charles Coot had no very hard one of the Fort of Culmore and for those good Services the Parliament Presented Colonel Monk with 500 l. and made him Governour of Carigfergus But in November the Irish Ambassadours to the Pope returned to Ireland and brought with them abundance of Relicks but no Money Beling 196. as may be easily gathered from the following Letter from Sir Richard Blake to Sir Robuck Linch Sir THIS day the Lord Bishop of Fernes and Mr. Plunket gave an account of their Negotiation to the House they made a full Representation to his Holiness of the desperate Condition of the Kingdom that without present and good Supplies which they expected from his Holiness there was no hope of the Preservation of the Catholick Religion or Nation That his Holiness was bound in Justice to do it his Nuncio here having in a General Assembly of the Confederates undertaken That the Sum promised Sir Kenelm Digby for the Wars of England upon good Conditions for Catholicks would be applied to the Service of the Catholick Confederates of Ireland but after four Months attendance their Answer was there being no Intelligence then of our Distance or Divisions with the Lord Nuncio or Owen O Neal That his Holiness hath sent by the Dean of Firmo a considerable Help unto us and that he had no account how that was disposed of That the Turks were in Candia and threatened Italy That there was great Scarcity of Corn in Rome and the adjoyning Territories and that a great Sum of Money must be issued to satisfy the Commoners That his Predecessor Pope Urban had left the Treasury empty and the See deeply charged with Debt That the Cardinals and others who had Pious Intentions to advance our Holy Cause were Poor and hardly able to maintain their own Ports so that nothing could be expected from them And for the Conditions the Agents expected from his Holiness for Religion upon our Treaty with the Queen and Prince he said that it was not proper for the See Apostolick to grant any Articles to Hereticks though it be true that Catholick Princes in Germany and other Kingdoms do it As for the Nuncio's Engagement That the Catholicks of Ireland should be Supplied by his Holiness in their Maintenance of the War that he had no such Commission though it was true that his Holiness would give Money for Conditions of Religion but none upon the Event of War Our Agents heard not of our Disunion and Raptures in this Kingdom until after their taking leave of his Holiness and then when the same was known and published in Rome they heard from some eminent Persons That what his Holiness was resolved to give for our Support he knew not to what Party he
Guilt of the innocent Blood they most barbarously in time of open and setled Peace without any Provocation or Offence given falling with armed Force upon the unarmed and harmless British and Protestants Murthering hanging drawing burying alive and starving them Men Women and Children of all Ages and Conditions to the Number of 154000. before the End of March last as is testified was acknowledged by their Priests appointed to collect their Numbers besides many thousand others since that Time so used in all Parts of the Kingdom Sometimes they profess they took up Arms to exalt and establish the Romish Catholick Religion throughout this Kingdom and they have taken a Publick and Universal Oath to maintain and defend the publick Exercise thereof but in this particular as in that of Prerogative we crave leave to affirm that we well know and their Actions and Infidelity do abundantly demonstrate that many of them especially the Irish have little sense or inward Touch of Religon other than what is pressed upon them by their Traiterous Clergy for their Pride and Avarice and the sottish Superstition of their Women and that those Irish assumed this only as another Cover for their bloody and most unchristian Execution of their antient and never ceasing hatred to the Kings of England and the English Nation which doth now and hath heretofore in all Ages undeniably appeared in their many furious Insults and Murthers upon their Persons and Devastation of the Possessions of the English ever since their first Entrance into this Kingdom Even in the several Ages when no difference was between the two Nations in matters of Religion In the Conjuncture of Affairs here in these Times we may not in Duty to your Royal Throne and in the Trust of your Affairs laid upon us forbear to let your Majesty know what divers Apprehensions seem to be entertained in the mind of this People On the one side the Papists here with us and the Papist Rebels do with great Boldness and Alacrity give out that they shall have present Peace in that Peace they presume shall be wound up all the bloody Massacres and fearful Destruction committed on the Persons and Estates of the British and Protestants having now extirpated or banished them which was part of their Work intended and demolished their costly Houses and Buildings throughout the whole Kingdom except the Persons and but the Persons only of a few which we have in Oarrisons and Forts their intent being to become sole Masters of the Kingdom and they farther adjudge that they have gained so strong a Bar of Terror against any coming of New English hither or their inhabiting amongst them as if those Rebels in the Strength and Numbers they now stand may gain Liberty and Freedom of Estates and Security of their Persons they shall hold themselves for ever freed from the Cohabitation of English or the Subjection to any English Government which whatsoever in their frantick Apprehensions they now imagine would soon make them a slavish distracted miserable People as did well appear in the late former Age before which by their continual Assaults on the English in several Kings Reigns and their strugling to expel them they almost got all into their own hands in which Times the few old English Colonies were driven almost Night and Day with their Swords in their hands to peserve their Lives and small Livelyhood On the other side the little Remnant of Protestants are strucken into such Astonishment at these Presumptions of the other party and the foresight of their own Destruction if your Majesties Armies be suddenly laid down as they began to despair of Safety ever to be had here and are therefore ready to forsake the Kingdom and then the Kingdom being left wholly to Irish and so bloody malicious Papists as the Rebels now are it will be very questionable how your Majesty and your Kingdom of England can have safety by them they having boasted that after this Conquest they will invade England and it will be as questionable how England can make a New Conquest without more Charge and Danger than this Kingdom is worth this Kingdom now being in far other case for Towns Forts Ordinances and Places of Strength and Men trained to Wars than in the Times of any former Conquest of this Kingdom The English do fear that if Peace should now be treated of here it would give a stop of farther Supplies of Men Munition Arms or Victuals to be sent hither which the Rebels have long threatned against us and so the Stores being kept weak here the Rebels would not doubt speedily to bring the Protestants into their merciless Power and fall upon them to the full Execution of their former Intendments They consider also besides what they know of former Ages that seeing the Papists and Irish before the Rebellion could not abide to see the English dwell by them and under them when there was full amity and agreement between them all manner of Obligations of Affinity Consanguinity Marriage Friendly Society and Commerce no Oppression Injury or Offence offered to any of them Rents of their Land and all other Profits of the Kingdom raised far higher than in any former Age by the Husbandry and Industry of the English Now after so great encouragement on both sides and so great rancour and malice raised between them by the acts of Cruelty and Violence on all Parties the British and Protestants stand most assured to be devoured by the Irish if they shall stand in strength and numbâ—â— they now do when the English shall offer to disperse and inhabâ—â—â— among them in the way of Peace Besides if Arms could now be safely laid down on both sides and if then the English should adventure to disperse themselves among them though no other violence should be offered them they would be destroyed by very Stealths and Robberies their Remedy being only by Tryal of Juries all Irish who by Positions of Law lately broach'd by Popish Lawyers upon their Queries a little before this Rebellion are not as formerly to be questioned for false Verdicts They consider likewise that the Irish now combin'd in this Rebellion are a Slothful People naturally inclin'd to Spoil Ravage Stealth and Oppression bred in no Trades Manufactures or other civil Industry to live by in Peace wherein they never did nor can endure long to continue naturally loving a Savage and Unbridled course of Life though in these last Thirty Years God blessed your most Renowned Father and your Royal Majesty with a more setled Peace here than had been seen in Ireland for above Two Hundred Years before whereby it is evident that if they were suffered to live alone here they would not nor ever could raise any considerable Revenue to their Prince their Nature being to live ever in Blood and Contention one with another as they always were before the late Peace and setled English Government among them And it is observable that the English now see that
here These things most Dread Sovereign are of so great and important consideration towards securing the future Peace and Safety of your Sacred Majesty your Royal Posterity your Kingdoms and good Subjects as we could not without breach of Faith and Loyalty to your Majesty forbear thus truly and plainly to represent them and howsoever the Rebels are pleased unjustly to traduce and calumniate us and our proceedings without any cause given on our parts other then our Faithfulness to you our most Dear and Gracious Lord and Master which Reproaches from them we are content for your sake to bear as we are ready to Sacrifice our Lives for you Yet we humbly beseech your Majesty to give us leave with the freedom of Faithful Servants to affirm to your Majesty in the presence of God to whom and to your Majesty we are accountable for uprightness in all our Councils and Actions that we fall upon no Expressions herein out of any hatred to the Persons of them or any of them or out of any sinister ends of advantage to our selves but only out of necessary duty to God and to your Majesty for whom we hope God hath reserved the high honour of that great work of full settlement and reformation of this your Kingdom to which none of your Royal Ancestors could attain although your Royal Father King James of Blessed memory made a fair entrance towards it by a sweet and peaceable way which glorious beginning of his the Rebels have quite overturned and defac'd And now having clearly and in zealous duty laid open our hearts to your Royal Majesty we in all humility submit and intirely depend on your Majesties Commands whether for Peace or War and shall with all fervency imploy our Bodies and Minds to execute whatsoever you shall in your high Wisdom prescribe humbly beseeching the Almighty Guider of all Humane Councils to grant you his Divine Assistance from the Wisdom which is ever about his Throne And so we humbly remain from your Majesties Castle of Dublin the 16th day of March 1642. Your Majesties most Loyal and most Faithful Subjects and Servants William Parsons Jo. Borlace La. Dublin Cha. Lambart Ad. Loftus Ge. Shurley Ger. Lowther J. Temple Tho. Rotheram Rob. Meredith Appendix V. An Abridgement of the Irish Remonstrance of Grievances THAT they being necessitated to take Arms for the Preservation of their Religion the Maintenance of His Majesties Rights and Prerogatives the natural and just Defence of their own Lives and Estates and the Liberties of their Country have often attempted to present their humble Complaints to His Majesty but were prevented therein by the Power and Vigilancy of the Lords Justices c. Who by the Assistance of the Malignant party now in Rebellion in England the better to accomplish the Extirpation of their Religion and Nation have hindred their Access to the Kings Justice which might have prevented much mischief and having notice now of a Commission to hear their Proposals in which are these words albeit we do extreamly detest the odious Rebellion which the Recusants of Ireland have without Ground or Colour raised against us our Crown and Dignity they conceive them to have proceeded from the misrepresentation of their Enemies and do protest they have been therein traduced to the King for that they never entertained any Rebellious thought against His Majesty his Crown or Dignity but are his faithful Loyal Subjects and desire to be owned so and as such they present the ensuing Grievances and Causes of the then present Distempers 1. That the Catholicks whom neither Reward nor Persecution could tempt from their Religion these 1300 Years are by the Statute of 2 Eliz. made incapable of Places of Honour or Trust their Nobles are become contemptible their Gentry debar'd from Learning in the Universities or Publick Schools and their younger Brothers for want of imployment are forced to live in Ignorance and Contempt at home or to their great discomfort and impoverishing of the Country to seek Education and Fortune abroad Misfortunes made incident to the Catholicks only their Number Quality and Loyalty considered of all the Nations in Christendom 2. That Men of mean Condition and Quality for the most part were placed in all Offices of Trust and Honour who being to begin a Fortune built it on the Ruines of the Catholicks and to ingratiate themselves scandalized the Papists and rendered them suspected and odious in England whereby arose the Opposition to the Graces promised or intended to the Natives by His Majesty or his Father and the false Inquisitions on feigned Titles against many Hundred years Possession and no Travers or Petition of Right admitted thereunto nor any Bar to it except Letters Patents which when produced were also declared void so that 150 of them were avoided in one Morning so little regard was had to the great Seal which is the publick Faith of the Kingdom And the Jurors were forced even by infamous Punishments to find such Inquisitions against their Consciences 3. That the Graces granted by the King and his Father were rendered unprofitable and fruitless to the Natives by the immortal Hatred of Sir William Parsons and the impeached Judges and their Adherents so that the publick Faith involved in those Grants was violated 4. That by the many wilful and erronious Decrees in the Court of Wards the Heirs of Catholicks were cruelly dealt with destroyed in their Estates and bred in Dissolution and Ignorance their Parents debts unsatisfied their Brothers and Sisters unprovided for Mesne Tenures unregarded Conveyances for valuable consideration avoided against Law and the whole Kingdom filled with Swarms of Escheators Feodaries Pursivants e. 5. That the Catholicks have without Reluctancy or repining contributed to all the Subsidies Loans and extraordinary Grants made to His Majesty amounting to Well near One Million of Pounds over and above his Revenue and thereunto were the most forward and thereof bore nine parts of Ten yet their Adversaries by the Opportunity of their continual Addresses to His Majesty to increase their Reputation in getting in of those Moneys and their Authority in distribution thereof to His Majesties great Disservice assumed to themselves to be procurers thereof and represented the Catholicks as obistnate and refractory 6. That the Army raised here with great charge was disbanded by the pressing importunity of the Malignant Party in England because they said it was Popish and therefore not to be trusted and although that Malignant Party did invade his Majesties Prerogative and Sir William Parsons and Sir Adam Loftus did declare that an Army of Ten Thousand Scots would come to Ireland to force the Catholicks to change their Religion and that Ireland would never do well without a Rebellion to extirpate the Remainder of the Natives and though Wagers were laid at the Assizes that within a Year no Catholick should be left in Ireland and though they saw the Irish Parliament unjustly incroach'd upon by the Acts and Orders of the Parliament of
rid of some of His Majesties English Judges and Officers whom they cannot endure to bear rule over them though they saw the Kingdom prospered above any former Times under their Labour and Travel And it is untrue that the Protestants did envy the good Union of both Houses on the contrary they laboured to cherish and confirm it but if any Protestant opposed the Remonstrants upon any point how reasonable soever they presently clamour that it is done out of Malice against them and the Nation which is an unjust Obloquy and though the Pupists made daily Cabals yet the Protestant Members never had but one private Meeting and that without the Lords Justices knowledge and at that Meeting there were some Papists and the Design of it was to prevent an Impeachment intended by some of the Irish against those that were concerned in the Grand Inquisition of the Kings Title to Conaugth the Plantation of which Province with English the Natives abhorred as that which would have frustrated all their Evil Designs And as to the Session of the 11 th of May 1641 it continued very long viz. to the 7 th of August and was unprofitably spent in Protestations Declarations Votes upon Queries the Stay of Soldiers from going over Seas and private Petitions and it is untrue that there was any Certainty of the Committees being at the Water-side at the Time of Adjornment so on the 14 th of July the Lords Justices sent to both Houses to consider of a Time of Adjornment because the Harvest was approaching and the House was thin and on the 30 th of July the Commons desired the Adjornment might be delayed till the 7 th of August and on the 2 d. of August the Lords licensed the Judges to go their Circuits and the same Day the Commons desired the Adjornment might be from the 7 th of August to the 9 th of November to which the Lords agreed and on the 5 th of August a Committee of both Houses attended the Lords Justices with notice thereof and they consented thereunto by Order to be entred in the Houses as by their consent On the 6 th of August there arrived the Earl of Roscomon with a Letter from the Committee importing that they were busie about their Dispatch at London whereupon the Lords sent to the Commons that they continued their Opinion for the Adjornment and accordingly they did adjourn the next Day so that there is no Ground for the Calumny on the Lords Justices that they threatned to prorogue them or purposed to prevent the passing the Graces not then arrived into Acts. But those Remonstrants having broken Faith with His Majesty and all his faithful Subjects do take liberty to asperse his Governors and well affected Officers whom they desire for ill Ends to make odious to the People Lastly They close this Article with an Untruth for the Lords Justices did immediatly after the Arrival of the Committee write to all the Ports of the Kingdom with Briefs of the Graces concerning matters of Customs commanding the Officers to obey those Directions they also published Proclamations for transporting Wool and what Customs were payable for the same They sent Warrants for free Entries of Tobacco and what Customs were payable for it they gave Order for a Bill to be drawn for a Repeal of the preamble of the Act of Subsidies they also desired Sir James Mongomery and Sir William Cole to give notice to the Undertakers of Vlster of the Graces intended to them and they had formerly sent over the Bill for a General pardon and most of the rest of the Graces were to be executed in Dublin and respected the Regulation of the Courts there for which the Approaching Term was the proper Season But the Remonstrants had not patience to expect that but resolved to be their own Carvers and dispose of the King's Revenue and the Protestants Estates as they thought fit As to the Eighth Article the prodigious Tale of the Petition is untrue And but that these Remonstrants care not what Detractions how untrue and improbable soever they print or publish against those they hate they would not have averred this Story without producing a Copy of a Petition signed by so many Thousands but the Truth is the four Persous named had no hand in any Petition but there was indeed a Petition which reflected more upon the Protestant than the Popish Clergy but as soon as the Lords Justices had notice of it they got the Original into the Clerk of the Councils Office where it still lies What Sir John Clotworthy did or said in the Parliament of England was not known to the Protestants of Ireland nor is it material nor do they believe that any thing was then moved plotted or contrived against the Remonstrants or that the English Parliament resolved any destructive Course against them till after the Rebellion begun though the Remonstrants by confounding Times would use it as a Cover for their inhuman Perpetrations As for the Statute of 2 Eliz. the Remonstrants find fault with it because by repealing by Queen Mary's Act of Repeal it revives the necessary Statutes made by Henry 8 th against Papal Incroachments and Usurpations without which the Papists being dissolved from their dependence on the King's Auchority in matters Ecclesiastical would transfer that half of his Sovereignty to the Pope who might discharge their Allegiance in civil Causes as he hath often done here and elsewhere for as to the Penal part that Statute mitigates the Crime of Advancing foreign Jurisdiction which being Treason before is by that Act not made Treason till the third Offence after two Convictions and as to that part of the Statute about Officers and suers of Livery to take the Oath of Supremacy they have found so many Instances of His Majesties indulgence to them in that particular that it is ingratitude in them to complain And if they mean the second Chapter of secundo Eliz. it is answered that what Noise soever that Statute hath made yet it hath done very little Execution but the Complaint as if those Statutes were forged or had lain dormant till most of the Members of that Parliament were dead is of all other the most shameless for those Statutes were published in print with the rest Anno 16 Eliz. and were soon after too sparingly indeed put in Execution as appears by the Records but 't is true the second Chapter could not be executed because the Papists universally came to Church till of later Days and the Name of Recusant was not then known But afterwards when Popery became more bold and dangerous that Act was sometimes put in Execution but without danger to any Man's Life or Estate for the Penalty was but Nine Pence a Sunday and the Laws in England against Popery are very much more severe and yet upon this slender Ground and the vile Fiction of sending 10000 Scots which was never thought of till long after the Rebellion broke out do these
was taken at such a day and hour with all the circumstances at large and Letters to that purpose dated from Drogheda by the Rebels that that besieged it That Dublin was taken and being infinitely Ambitious of gaining the Earl of Ormond to their Part for the greater countenance to their Cause giving out that he was their own which was so long believed by the said followers until that Noble Earl giving daily those Honorable Testimonies to the contrary and they finding it to their cost tho' with the hazard of his own Person further than his place might well allow they are now otherwise satisfied and place him in the rank of their mortal Enemies together with that terror to them Sir Charles Coot and others And thus have I laid down all that I have heard to me related omitting what I find others more largely to insist upon All which their Treacherous vain and Airy projects God disappoint As for my own private sufferings by the present Rebellion I refer them to another Schedule this being so far taken up Hen. Jones Deposed before us March 3d. 1641. Roger Puttock John Stern John Watson William Aldrich William Hitchcock Appendix X. An Abstract of the Examination of Doctor Robert Maxwell afterwards Bishop of Kilmore THAT he observed Sir Phelim O Neal and other Irish overjoy'd at the Scots Invasion of England and as much dejected at the Pacification calling the English base degenerate Cowards and the Scots dishonorable Bragodochios that merchandiz'd their Honor for Mony and being asked the reason of their joy at bad news and their sorrow at good answered That if the Fewd had continued they hoped the Earl of Strafford would have perished in the Combustion That the Irish had frequent meetings Two or Three thousand in a company before the Rebellion and borrowed great Sums of Mony of the English without any apparent necessity but paid little or none that one Mac Case a Priest being disoblig'd by Sir Phelim inform'd the Lord Deputy Wandesford of a Plot but either he was not believ'd or said nothing to the purpose That Phelim O Neal brought home two Hogsheads of Powder under colour of Wine a little before the Rebellion and the Powder was bought by small parcels Ten or Twelve pound at a time in the Names of several Gentlemen and he brag'd that his Servants James Warren and Paul O Neal were in the Plot and apprehended but contrary to his expectation were dismiss'd at Council Table and that some Lord or other spoke for them there That Sir Phelim O Neal said that the Plot was in his Head Five or Six years before he could bring it to maturity and dissembled himself as a Fool to bring it about but since it was concluded on by the Catholick Members of the Parliament he was one of the last it was communicated to That Tirlogh O Neal Sir Phelim's Brother said that the business was communicated by the Irish Committee to the Papists in England who promis'd their Assistance and that by their advice some things formerly resolved on were alter'd and that it was a good Omen and Sign of Divine Approbation that the major part of the Irish Committee were Papists and that whilst the Protestants retir'd to a separate meeting at Chichester-Hall the remaining Papists sign'd a Combinatory writing of this Rebellion in the Tolsel which that Session drew on sooner than was at first intended That Sir Phelim said That if the Lords and Gentlemen of the other Provinces then not in Arms would not rise but leave them in the Lurch for all he would produce their Warrant Signed with their Hands and Written in their own Blood that should bring them to the Gallows and that they Sate every day at Council Board and whispered the Lords Justices in the Ear who were as deep in that business as himself That the Earl of Antrims Sister said Her Brother had taken Dublin Castle being removed thither to that purpose and her Brother Alexander had taken Carigfergus and that all Ireland was in the same Case with Vlster That the British should be preserv'd as long as it was consistent with publick safety and when not ' t is better an Enemy perish than ones self That Alexander Hovenden half Brother to Sir Phelim told him that the Fryers of Drogheda by Father Thomas Brother to the Lord of Slane had the Second time invited Sir Phelim and offered to betray the Town to him and Sir Phelim said of the same Fryer that he said Mass at Finglass on Sunday morning and in the afternoon did beat Sir Charles Coot at Swords and the Fryar being by answered that he hoped to say Mass at Christchurch Dublin within eight Weeks That several of the Irish Officers and Fryers said Why may not we as well fight for Religion which is the Substance as the Scots fight for Ceremonies which are but Shadows and that Straffords Government was intollerable and being answered that it lay no heavier on them than on the British they replied the British were no considerable part of the Kingdom and besides they were certainly inform'd that the Parliament of England had a Plot to bring the Papists to Church or cut them off viz. in England by English and in Ireland by the Scots that they were sure of aid next Spring from the Pope France and Spain and that the Clergy of Spain had already contributed Five thousand Arms and Powder for a whole Year then in readiness That the Priests and Fryers were their best Agents especially Paul O Neal upon whose arrival with advice from Spain the War broke out and since that he had gone to Spain with Letters and return'd back again with instructions in a Month. That being asked why they pretended a Commission from the King and at other times from the Queen they answer'd That it was Lawful for them to pretend what they could in advancement of their Cause and that in all Wars Rumours and Lies served to as good purpose as Arms. That Sir Phelim at first pretended only to Liberty of Conscience but as his Success so his Demands increased viz. To have all Offices of State and Justice in Irish hands and no Army Tithes and Church-Lands be restor'd to the Papists all Plantations since 1 Jacobi Dissanul'd no payment of Debts nor restitution of Goods to the Protestants all Fortiffcations in Popish hands British to be restrain'd from coming over Poynings Act and all Statues against Papists repealed and the Irish Parliament made Independent and even all this would not reduce Sir Phelim without a grant of the Earldom of Tyrone and the Priviledges of O Neal. That Sir Phelim pretended to a Prophesie that he should drive King Charles and his whole Posterity out of England to be profugi in terta aliena in aeternum and that several great Men drank a Health on the Knee to Sir Phelim O Neal Lord General of the Catholick Army in Vlster Earl of Tyrone and King of Ireland That he was informed That
within his Dominions for his faithful Subjects to increase their Knowledge of God and of our Saviour Jesus Christ We therefore for the general Benefit of our well beloved Subjects Vnderstandings whenever assembled or met together in the said several Parish-Churches either to Pray or hear Prayers read that they may the better joyn therein in Vnity Hearts and Voice have caused the Liturgy and Prayers of the Church to be Translated into our Mother-Tongue of this Realm of England according to the Assembly of Divines lately met within the same for that purpose We therefore Will and Command as also Authorize you Sir Anthony Saint-Leger Knight our Vice-Roy of that our Kingdom of Ireland to give special Notice to all our Clergy as well Arch-Bishops Bishops Deans Arch-Deacons as others our Secular Parish-Priests within that our said Kingdom of Ireland to perfect execute and obey this our Royal Will and Pleasure accordingly But before Proclamations were issued out Sir Anthony Saint-Leger upon receipt of this Order call'd an Assembly of the Archbishops and Bishops together with the then Clergy of Ireland in which Assembly he signified to them as well his Majesties Order aforesaid as also the Opinions of those Bishops and Clergy of England who had adhered unto the Order saying That it was his Majesties Will and Pleasure consenting unto their serious Considerations and Opinions then acted and agreed on in England as to Ecclesiastical Matters that the same be in Ireland so likewise celebrated and performed Sir Anthony Saint-Leger having spoken to this effect George Dowdal who succeeded George Cromer in the Primacy of Armagh stood up and through his Romish Zeal to the Pope laboured with all his power and force to oppose the Liturgy of the Church that it might not be read or sung in the Church saying Then shall every illiterate Fellow read Service or Mass as he in those Days termed the Word Service To this Saying of the Archbishop's Sir Anthony replied No your Grace is mistaken for we have too many illiterate Priests amongst us already who neither can pronounce the Latin nor know what it means no more than the Common People that hear them but when the People hear the Liturgy in English they and the Priest will then understand what they pray for Upon this Reply George Dowdal bid Sir Anthony beware of the Clergy's Curse Sir Anthony made Answer I fear no strange Curse so long as I have the Blessing of that Church which I believe to be the true one The Archbishop again said Can there be a truer Church than the Church of St. Peter the Mother Church of Rome Sir Anthony return'd this Answer I thought we had all been of the Church of Christ for he calls all true Believers in him his Church and himself the Head thereof The Archbishop replied And is not St. Peter's Church the Church of Christ Sir Anthony return'd this Answer St. Peter was a Memher of Christ's Church but the Church was not St. Peter's neither was St. Peter but Christ the Head thereof Then George Dowdal the Primate of Armagh rose up and several of the Suffragan Bishops under his Jurisdiction saving only Edward Staples then Bishop of Meath who tarried with the rest of the Clergy then assembled on the Kalends of March 1550. Sir Anthony then took up the Order and held it forth to George Brown Archbishop of Dublin who standing up received it saying This Order good Brethren is from our Gracious King and from the rest of our Brethren the Fathers and Clergy of England who have consulted herein and compared the Holy Scriptures with what they have done unto whom I submit as Jesus did to Caesar in all things just and lawful making no question why or wherefore as we own him our true and lawful King And it seems that on Easter-Sunday the Liturgy in the English Tongue was read in Christ-Curch according to the King's Order and the Archbishop Brown Preached an excellent Sermon on these Words Open mine Eyes that I may see the Wonders of thy Law Psal 119. ver 18. But whether the Lord Deputy were not zealous in propagating the Reformation or what other Differences there were between him and the Archbishop I cannot find but it is certain the Archbishop sent Complaints against him into England Ware 190. and thereupon he was recalled and Sir James Crofts was made Lord Deputy by Patent 1551. Dated the twenty ninth day of April and the Instructions to him and the Council were 1. To propagate the Worship of God in the English Tongue and the Service to be translated into Irish to those places which need it 2. To prevent the Sale of Bells Church-Goods Chantry-Lands c. and to Inventory them 3. To execute the Laws justly collect the Revenue carefully and muster the Army honestly 4. To get the Ports into the King's possession that his Customs may be duly answered 5. To search for a Mine of Allum 6. To Lett the King's Lands especially Leix and Offaly for one and twenty years to such as will live upon them 7. To enquire into the Conveniency of Building Ships in Ireland 8. To endeavour to perswade the Nobility to exchange some Irish Land for the like value in England 9. That the Soldier be not sued except before the Deputy or Marshal but if Justice be not done in three Months then to remit them to the Common Law 10. To allow Trade to all Foreigners though Enemies 11. Above all to reduce the Birns and Tools and their Country When the Lord Deputy Landed he was informed That his Predecessor Saint-Leger was gone to Munster and thereupon he rode directly to Cork and on the twenty third of May he was sworn and received the Sword there and one of the Cavenaghs or Mac Moroughs for some Crime was there hanged The Lord Deputy who was a zealous Protestant endeavoured all he could to perswade the Primate Dowdal to observe the King's Order about the Liturgy but he continued obstinate and therefore the King and Council of England on the twentieth day of October deprived him of the Title of Primate of all Ireland and annexed it to the See of Dublin for ever whereupon Dowdal withdrew beyond the Seas and Hugh Goodacre was made Archbishop of Armagh in his room being together with John Bale Bishop of Ossory consecrated in Christ-Church Dublin by the Archbishop of Dublin and the Bishops of Kildare and Down on the second day of February 1552. About which time the English Liturgy with Orders and Rules for Ecclesiastical Habits and Ceremonies was reprinted at Dublin by Humyhry Powel But it is time to return to the Army which under the Command of the Lord Deputy marched into Vlster against the Scotch Islanders the English invaded the Isle of Raghlin but were forced to retreat with the Loss of one Ship and several Men Captain Bagnal also was taken Prisoner but he was afterwards exchanged for Surly buy Mac Donald who was then Prisoner at Dublin in