their homage to him who thereupon came and performed the same accordingly which was don in the year after our Saviour's nativitie 579 and this prove's a claim at least made by the Kings of great Britain to the Island of Ireland as part of their dominions Afterwards as is known to all men of anie reading the Saxons and Angles out of Germanie invaded great Britain and by manie contests in Arms and bloudie Battels obteined the Dominion thereof dividing it into several Kingdoms amongst themselvs which continued for manie years In all which times the Irish Inhabitants took more Libertie to root themselvs in their barbarous usurpation and tyrannie for wee cannot finde that then before or since they established anie certain Government either regal or otherwise neither are there extant anie authentick memories of anie certain or passable Laws ordeined by them for the regulating of anie Christian people yet soon after the Saxon's Heptarchie was reduced into an Entire Monarchie It is manifest by good Historie and Record that Edgar King of great Britain then and now called England not unmindful of that Kingdom 's ancient right and interest in Ireland labored and obteined another reducement and had the possession of most of that continent as appear's by the Books of that excellent writer Judg Cook extracted out of Records of the Tower Afterwards when the Danes obteined the Rule and power in great Britain they so little forgot the ancient and just challenge to Ireland as that they sent thither good numbers of men who gained large footing in several places of the best parts of the Island of whom there yet remain manie visible Monuments as their intrenchments and Fortifications to this daie called Danes Mounts or Rathes in Irish Lisses and round slender high Towers yet called Danes Steeples or Danes Towers yea the best and largest Suburbs about Dublin is yet called Ostmantown which term the Saxons gave to the Danes as Easterlings and doubtless it is their then access and som former incursions made by them as aforesaid which left manie of them there fixed who were the ancestors to the now pretended original Nation as pretended to bee given to them by God and Nature Afterwards the Norman William the Conqueror became possessed of the Dominions of England it is universally known what business hee had aswel to settle that so gained Land as to content his Allies and parties brought with him and to preserv what hee left behind him in France to which retrospect hee was enforced by manie disturbances and attempts neither is it unknown how unwarrantably his three next successors came to the Crown in England and against what counterworkings and heart-burnings they held Regencie there besides their distractions in their affairs and from their neighbors of France beeing not free from incumbrances of Scots and Welsh whereby all judicious men may conclude that none of them could safely embrace the restitution of Ireland howsoever it concerned them But assoon as one lineal descent had setled the Crown of England upon King Henry the second who was great Granchilde of the said William the Norman and who is recorded to bee the most powerful English Monarch both in England and France since the Normans coming in That King applied to the Pope for his consent to regain his said Land of Ireland who consenting thereunto to the end it might bee brought into orderly Government as well Ecclesiastical as Civil Hee yet suspended all action thither for som years beeing interrupted by his affairs in France and the disobedient combinations of his sons But after an occasion hapning by the invocation of one of the Irish pettie Kings hee permitted manie of his Subjects of England and Wales to pass thither who by their valor possessed themselvs of a good part of that Island Then in the year 1172 did that King with a competent Armie repair thither in person and resumed into his hands his ancient right of Dominion and interest there without much bloudshed and was therein confirmed by the absolute and free submissions of all the pettie Kings and other Rulers aswel Ecclesiastical as Temporal and by all others then of anie value there which they delivered unto him under their Seals There did hee also receiv the Homage Fealtie Allegiance and subjection of all those pettie usurping Princes and others as his Liege Subjects There did hee hold a great Council or general Assmblie of all the Prime inhabitants of that Island at Lismore which they called a Parlament and gave them the English Laws Vbi Leges Angliae ab omnibus sunt gratanter receptae juratoriâ cautioone praestitâ confirmatae There did hee send his Mandats to the Archbishops Bishops and Clergie of Ireland to assemble in a Synod at Cashel wherein Cbristianus Bishop of Lismore was President in which Synod that King's entrance actions and atchievments there were declared to bee lawful and it was there also concluded that it was most meet that as Ireland by God's appointment had recovered a lawful Lord and King from England so also they should from thence receiv a better from of living they also then established that all Divine Offices of holy Church should from thenceforth bee handled in all parts of Ireland according as the Church of England did observ them In that Synod also they made divers other Canons concerning the Church-Government there which Acts were ratified by the Regal Autoritie of the same Henrie the second To the same purposes another general Synod was soon after held at Armagh in Vlster where the same things and others for right ordering of that Government were resolved and agreed upon There was also placed Hugh Lacie Justice of Ireland for the Government of that Land wherein that Land then seemed to bee formally setled in a peaceable subject condition to England as it ought to bee Thus may the Querist and all others see that that Land and supposed original Nation did not continue manie hundreds or thousands of years nor was enjoied till these times without anie others laying claim to have right to the same It may bee demanded though standing thus how might King Henrie the second seiz all that Land into his own hands and grant it to adventurers as after hee did To this the answer is easie For in a short time after that King and the greatest part of his Army withdrew into England Then did all those pettie Kings Rulers and men of value and the other Inhabitants falsly and traiterously join in a Confederacie and action to extirpate and expuls all the English and Welsh then left there and did cast aside their dutie and obedience to England and the good order and Laws so freely and lately entertained by them breaking all Faith and Allegiance to him to whom they had formerly sworn it they murthered as manie as they could take at advantage and at last besieged Dublin and other Towns intending to destroie all the English But the valor of those men left there and the
vigilance of that King to reliev them did stoutly beat them off and frustrated their unchristian intention Then that King finding them so embarked in their former rudeness and barbarisme as there was no faith or dutie to bee exspected from them and that they could not sit down in anie civil societie Hee by advice of his Council confiscated all their Estates and adjudged and declared the Irish generally to bee enemies and aliens in which condition they continued long after as is manifest by the Records and Statute-Laws of those times And then hee set his Subjects of England and Wales at full Libertie to win what they could in that Land towards the reducement thereof to his just Subjection for better accomplishment whereof hee made chois of ten special persons of qualitie and power in his other Dominions to whom by grant of inheritance hee divided the Lands of that whole Island who drawing together their several Alies friends and other adventurers they by that King's countenance and assistance so bestirred themselvs as within few years they became Masters and possessors of the whole Island and so continued quietly possessed for almost one hundred years without anie offence to England forcing the perfidious Irish who were then few in number after manie conflicts with them into Mountains Bogs and boggie woods there to wander up and down with the remain of their Cattel not daring to bee seen or to graze in anie of the more habitable parts where the English had footing special Statute-Laws prohibiting the same Laws also were made that upon pain of fellonie no Merchant or other liege person should trade with the Irish in market or otherwise It was also made fellonie to succor anie of the Irish enemies from the time of the foresaid division forward was that Island onely called the King's Land of Ireland till the reign of King Henrie the eighth as appear's by Acts of Parlament and all Records mentioning the same The division hee made was as followeth viz. To Richard Earl of Pembroke of Strigil called Strongbow he regranted the Kingdom or Territories of Leimster surrendred to him by the said Earl Richard whose it was pretended to bee in right of his wife sole daughter and heir of the last nominal or tributarie King thereof except Dublin and som lands thereunto lying part whereof is yet called the King's Land and beeing divided into Mannors the Free-holders paie chief rents into the Exchequer to this daie and except som maritim Towns Castles and som lands about them which hee reserved to himself To Bobert Fitz-Stephens and Myles Cogan hee granted the Territories called the Kingdom of Cork the Citie of Cork and som lands thereunto lying reserved as aforesaid excepted the heir of Cogan is yet possessor of som of those lands To Phillip le Bruce the Territories called the Kingdom of Limerick with donation of Bishopricks and Abbeies except the Citie of Limerick and a Cantred of Land adjoining reserved as aforesaid To Sr Hugh de Lacie Justice or as som write Custos of Ireland the territories called the Kingdom of Meath then of far greater extent then the name Meath now import's To Sr John de Coursie all Vlster which beeing a large continent was quietly possessed by him and his English tenements manie years After his death without heirs it was granted to Hugh Lacie who held it till forfeited then was it granted by King Edward the first to Walter de Burgo from whom it descended to William de Burgo And after those Lands and Signories were by Edward the fourth adjoined to the Demesne and Crown-Lands of England To William Fitz-Adelme de Burgo all Connaght except a small part for life given to Rotherick formerly nominal King thereof after whose death that Land also was by King Henrie the third granted to Richard de Burgo heir to William except the Cantreds of Roscomon Randon and two or three other Cantreds neer Athlon All which were after granted by succeeding Kings to other English onely Roscomon remained in the Crown till Queen Elizabeth granted the same to one Mr Malby This whole Countrie came after to the Crown by the marriage of Lionel Duke of Clarence son to King Edward the third with the Daughter and heir of de Burgo To Sr Thomas Clare of the stock of the Earl of Glocester all Ghomond now the Countie of Clare which was confirmed to the same Familie by grant from King Edward the first to Robert le Poer all the Countie of Waterford except the Citie and cantred about it the chief of the Familie of which Poers is now a Baron to Otho de Grandison all Tipperarie Afterwards King John having intelligence that the English began to bee at variance amongst themselvs by reason that the Laws were not so spread and administred as they should bee made a voiage in person thither with a competent force for his honor and safetie and then did hee divide the whole Land into Counties as they for the most part stand at this daie though Connaght and Vlster since are much subdivided hee carried over with him divers learned men for civil and ecclesiastical Notion hee ordered and established the Courts of Justice as in England viz. the Chancerie the Kings Bench Common Pleas and Exchequer and other Ecclesiastical Judicatures and setled competent Judges in them hee appointed Justices Itinerant and all other Officers for Law and execution of Justice and four tearms in the year to bee kept as in England by which the people became subject to Law the Irish beeing still held as enemies and Aliens were better governed lived in peace and great prosperitie manie years save what ruptures it endured by their own dissentions as hereafter appeareth So as by what is above specified it appear's the English were made lawfully inheritable and became possessed of the whole continent wheresoever they could finde places anie waie fit for habitation And to prove their possessions as well as their grants besides that in all the ancient Records taking cognizance of all the habitable parts of that Land in which those English are named you shall finde no Juries upon Inquiries or trial of anie causes whatsoever Capital Criminal or common where is mentioned anie Irish name but all English All their Officers and Ministers of Justice beeing the same and beside several Statute-Laws do assert their universal possession It is undeniably evident that generally all the now Freeholders of several great continents in that Island are English either descendents or deriving from those first adventurers or by ancient grants from the Crown upon their forfeitures though the truth is manie of their laborers underfarmers and tennants which they call Churls are and still were Irish the territories and Countries which those English and som of late settlement did and do possess are viz. in the Countie of Down the Countries of little Ards the Duffrey Lecale Mourn the Newrie and several other places of lesser note all the Countie of Lowth the whole Countie of Dublin
the entire Countie of Meath the best and greatest part of the Countie of Westmeath all the Countie of Kildare the greatest and best part of the Countie of Catberlagh part of the Countie of Wickloe the greatest and best part of the Countie of Wexford all the Countie of Waterford the greatest and best part of the great Countie of Cork the greatest and best part of the Countie of Limerick a great part of the Countie of Kerrie the better half of the Countie of Tipperary all the Countie of Kilkennie all the Countie of Galwaie a good part of the Countie of Roscomon the most part of the Countie of Maye besides the large territories of Leix and Ophalie in the Queen's Countie and King's Countie planted in Queen Maries and the beginning of Queen Elizabeth's Reigns upon the Rebellion of the Mores and Conners the surnames of these old English so manie as of manie hundreds more can here bee remembred are annexed towards the end of this Answer to the first Quere Of these sirnames manie are spread into verie numerous Families and persons of which manie are advanced to degrees of Honor and verie manie possessed of great estates and further to prove that those English were so possessed of all those Lands King Henrie the second and som other succeeding Kings granted unto manie of those Adventurers Countie Palatines and unto manie other verie large Franchises and immunities for the better ordering of the Colonies those Adventurers divided the Lands generally into Mannors particular Freeholds and other English holdings which for the most part do so continue to this daie they granted all those Lands for easie rents and services to their Comilitants except som small parts which they kept in their own hands who or others deriving from them do still hold the same pro parte conquestus as generally appear's in their ancient evidences Yet further to prove the English great and general possessions there it is an apparent and unquestionable truth that the English and strangers onely did build all the Castles and stone-buildings which then and for som hundreds of years after were to bee seen in anie part of that Island neither had the Irish anie stone buildings of their own erecting till about the reign of King Henrie the eighth when som of them gained estates from the Crown howbeit it is related in Historie that the English built Castles from Sea to Sea beeing enjoined thereto by Law beside what was don by Kings great Lords and other principal adventurers It is further true that all the Cities Towns and Corporations throughout that Land are entirely English and onely and originally endowed with Charters Franchises and Lands by the English And howsoever som of the Maritim towns were at first planted as is traditioned from the Ancients by Owstmen or Easterlings who fully submitted to the English Law not suffering anie Irish to dwell amongst them yet those first Inhabitants were after either so retracted or so worne out as the Inhabitants became wholly English as they undoubtedly remained till the reign of Henrie the eighth and are for the most part hitherto the same where they have not in som parts of Ireland been ruined and corrupted by Irish Rebellions and insurrections It is true likewise that all the bridges and passages were built and made onely by the English of old and of late by the English autoritie And also that all Monasteries Religious Houses and Churches of anie good structure were founded built and endowed by the English only som few despicable Cels of Monks there were and some few poor Chappels dispised specially in some poore Islands thereof These being evident demonstrations of the universall possession of the English in that Island it is further verified by some of their Laws in that Land wherein mention is made of beautifull Cities and Townes planted by the English in that Island but destroyed by Irish Commotions and garboils And more particularly by the Statute of Absentees in tempore Henrie 8 and other Statutes wherein are expressions declaring the tranquillitie and good order of the English in that Land that the English long defended it in due subjection against the Irish enemies It is also much to be observed that it is not to be seen before the time of King Henry the 8 That the Irish had either Charter evidence or authentick writings for any Lands or possessions neither could they have Interest they being no other till then but enemies and Aliens neither had they distinctions or degrees of honor or Gentrie neither Armenor other Enfigns or Officers of honours or gentrie as Duke Marquess Earl Viscount Baron Knight of any Order Esquire or Gentleman till the English introduced them neither had they Governors of any legal or orderlie form or Judges or Officers of any certaine Law or judicial cours neither had they Migistrates of anie Cities Burroughs or other Corporations or Courts of Justice Ecclesiastical or Civil or seals either of Justice or honour or other species of civil or certain Reglement And to give you these truths of the ancient and modern right and possession of the Britains and English in and to Ireland somwhat further ratified in all the parts of interest in jurisdiction and dependence it appear's by good antiquities that long before the entrance of William the Norman into England the Arch-Bishops of Canterburie had primacie over all Ireland and that the Bishops of Ireland according to the ancient usage and custome as is written received their consecrations from the Metropolitan of England it being declared in the time of the said King William and his Son that Canterburie was the Mother Church of England Scotland and Ireland and other Islands adjacent there being no Arch-Bishops in Ireland till about the yeer 1152. In justification of what is before premised it is recorded that Gotherick one of the pettie Kings in Ireland did write to Lanfrank Arch-Bishop of Canterburie for consecration to be granted to Patrick nominated for a Bishoprick Also that the said Arch-Bishop Lanfrank out of his authoritie there did write to Thurdelnack another pettie King there wherein he laie's to their charge That the Irish men at their pleasure did forsake their wedded wives without canonicall caus and match with any others even such as were neer a kin to themselvs or their abandoned wives and that if another man with like wickedness cast off a Wife her also rashly and hand over head they joined withal by lawes of marriage or rather fornication an abuse worthy to be punished Also that Murchertagh another pettie King of Ireland and the Citizens of Waterford addressed to Anselmus Arch-Bishop of Canterburie Anno Dom. 1095. for erecting and ordaining at Waterford a Bishop where no Bishop had been and for consecrating a Bishop there whose name was Malchus hee also wrot for consecrating another to be Bishop of Dublin much about the same time also that the Citizens of Dublin sent Gregorie chosen to bee Bishop there unto Ralph Arch-Bishop of
several Kings transmitting great numbers of them to assist in the warrs of France Scotland and Wales in several times In the former part of the reign of King Henrie the sixth Ireland continued In the same posture the English beeing now put to their defence in all parts but the greatest and most remarkable decaie and ruine of the prosperitie and possession of the English in Ireland began in the later end of the reign of King Henrie the sixt and in the beginning of King Edward the fourth For after the middle of the reign of King Henrie the sixt Richard Duke of York beginning to whisper his right to the Crown more audibly then before hee was soon after sent into Ireland Lievtenant which was somtimes usual as a removal of such as were dangerous or pretended trouble There hee had given him much regal autoritie more then might bee consonant to right reason had they well considered the place or the consequences hee was continued there nine or ten years by himself and his Deputies himself making starts into England which as it was handled amplified his power in Ireland hee had power to dispose the King's revenues as hee thought fit hee had power to grant and let the King's Lands in Ireland to place and displace officers and to wage what men hee thought good This Lord esteemed there a person of high blood having an eie more upon events in England then the reducement of Ireland applied himself for the most part towards his own pretentions hee entertained both parties English and Irish in a plausible waie travelling in his secret thoughts to fasten parties to him against the time hee might have use of them Hee tolerated the Irish to hold what they had formerly intruded unto not sparing favors where hee observed reason to oblige and they regarding somwhat his high birth a thing they seem most to adore were by those means held more quiet then in former times hee conteined the English by courtesie and fair entreatie and by bestowing of imploiments so as hee found great adherence by waie of personal affection hee made som journies into England always accompanied with som of the Gentrie of Ireland to propagate and ripen confederacie In England hee endured the changes of war At last hee was forced into Ireland where hee gather's more strength and hearing that Warwick and Salisburie had taken the King hee com's over attended with good numbers of the English Lords and others and som of the Irish Hee obtein's his ends in Parlament The Queen flie's into Scotland and coming back the Duke of York meet 's her at Wakefield where hee was slain and manie of those of Ireland with him the Earl of Ormond on the other side beeing a professor to the hous of Lancaster passed into England about the same time with manie of the English and som Irish the Earl of March encounter 's him and others at Mortimer's Cross in Wales there is Ormond and the rest defeated and manie of Ireland slain So as what by the companies which at times passed over with the Duke of York and what by such as voluntarily led themselvs into England on both sides during those combustions great consumptions of those of Ireland could not but bee the consequent especially the Gentrie and best men Hereupon did the Irish on all sides exspatiate and fasten upon the English possessions where they could reach and indeed in short time so dilated themselvs as they for the time forced the English into their strengths and into narrow rooms they confirmed themselvs in their formerly erected and usurped Captainships which before the reign of King Henrie the eight were far to manie and most of them so continued till the end of the reign of Queen Elizabeth therein exercising an absolute tyrannical power over all inferiors aswell all such English as hazarded to continue amongst them as the Irish And here may the Querist and all others take full view of the progress foot-steps and means of the Irish incroachments upon the English possessions though it is true that in after times manie of the English became repossessed of much of their antient Lands except in Vlster and Connaght in which Provinces manie of the old English are now as barbarous as the meer Irish hardly to bee distinguished yet by what is above written it grow's more lucid and cleer that the Inhabitants of that Island who now stand in arms against England who in several successions setled them there are not such an entire nation fixed there by God and Nature free from anie other power and challenge as the Querist propound's them and where the entiretie of such a Nation footed there as is pretended is to bee found as things are before discovered will require a verie wearisom scrutinie and at last satisfie no understanding man Nay it is avouched by several good writers and may bee truly asserted in the experience of such as well understand Ireland that setting aside the first Inhabitants from Britain and other Nations inserted there by the permission of the Britains and such as had power in Britain and such as of themselvs intruded before the entrance of King Henrie the second promiscuously laced amongst them who all now pass under the Notion and style of the old Irish the verie English sent in thither by King Henrie the second and other Kings succeeding him before King James and who at the beginning of this Rebellion were really stated and vested in Lands in that Island though not in numbers and bodies of men becaus most of the Churls and laborers as aforesaid were Irish nor perhaps in quantities and extents of Lands yet in true value and command over others did far exceed and were far more estimable and powerful in that Island then those denominated the old Irish besides the the great towns which as is above said are wholly in a manner English for consider their present composure of persons and affairs even after this late horrid and inhumane eradication of the new English and protestants First Their Nobilitie now in rebellion are all old English except a verie few which were and yet are both weak in power and strength Their supream Council as they call it and other Provincial and Countie Councils and their general Assemblie are for the most part old English most of the best Commanders in the war are of the same most of their hors and manie of their foot who have been most daring in the Rebellion are of the same the whole frame of their new-Modelled-Government was at first digested and is ever since countenanced and enlivened by the old English they seem in their constitutions to put themselvs for the most part in waie of policie at present into the frame of the English Laws becaus they well know how uncertain and barbarous their supposed Irish Laws were though verie manie of them rather desire the old Irish Tyrannie and rude exorbitancie And were it not that the old English were and still are
uncertainely and falsly grounded are worthie of no answer at all having all along the plain marks of insoliditie and sedition upon them yet to satisfie the doubts of such judicious and upright men as onely desire to know the truth and com not with a minde pre-occupate and suborned by injurious principles I shall indeavor to lay open the Querist's errors and delirements resolve the Queres hee makes and discover the truth in the things hee most harp's upon for his advantage and becaus I conceiv the Jesuit's first Quere though not in plain words yet implicitely by insinuation intend's principally Ireland and the pretended interest of the Irish as hee in som of them after expresseth And although also my short and weak wings are farr deficient to soar so high a pitch as to cite all or neer the sum of all authentick Authors and Records manifesting the proprietie right and interest of the Land of Ireland to be originally in the British yet becaus those of the Nation of England already led away with the aërie and vain pretenses of the Irish and who never yet scrutinized the English interest may bee undeceived made sensible of their former errors possessed with the English right bee acquainted with the iterated rebellions of the Irish in manie ages the often reducing and bringing them to subjection by the British or English and with other things by these Queres made disputable I shall freely contribute my Talent to this so necessarie work and first set down the Queres in order and then answer them severally AN ANSWER TO THE Irish Queres The first Quere WHether the Land or inheritance that a Nation hath for som hundreds or thousands of yeers enjoyed and possessed without any others laying claim to have a more special right to the same bee not their special right which God and nature hath given them The first Answer IN this first Quere the Querist desire 's to have it inferred and also granted that the Irish Inhabitants as they now stand in opposition to England are an entire Nation and that they were the first and sole Proprietors of Ireland as given unto them by God and nature whereas in truth they are a people composed partly of the old Britains the first Inhabitants thereof partly of Scythians and Gothes sent thither out of Biscaie in Spain partly of Danes and other Easterlings som sent in by the Kings of Britain and others intruding themselvs and principallly of English sent thither by the Kings of England in several ages as in the ensuing discours shall appear so as the fraud and fallacie of this first Quere being cleerly laid open strike's farr to the answering of all the rest And first to say somthing of the soil and Island now called Ireland which by several ancient writers hath been rendred by several other names signifying for the most part that it is a Western part of Britain which the very name now given unto it by the Irish viz. Eirin signifying a western Countrie doth much demonstrate and besides at this day a part of Mounster in Ireland is called Hiermoun in English West-Mounster which shew the name Eirin to bee derived from Hier which is west as appear's plainly by Mr Cambden a faithful relater of the best antiquities extant the ancient Geographer writeth in these words of Islands for greatness the Indian Taprobane is prime and principal next after it Britain and in third degree another British Island called Hibernia that is Ireland whereupon Ptolomie in his writings of Geographie call's it in plain words Britannia parva the old Geographers called it the Britains Island Strabo called the Inhabitants Britains Diodorus Siculus termed Irin a part of Britain and Aristotle in his book de mundo Cap. 3. hath these words as they stand translated viz. Ibi sunt Insulae quae quantitate maximae habentur numero verò duae sunt Britanicae dicuntur Albion Hibernia By all which it fall's cleer that by the most ancient and authentick writers the Island of Ireland was ever taken and accounted a British Island only belonging to great Britain neither is it found in any approved Writer or Record that ever any King or Potentate claimed right or interest in the soil or Land of that Island save only the Kings of great Britain in right of their Kingdom now called England which in several ages they have not failed to doe by reducing and subduing the unjust rebellion and usurpation of those unrulie Inhabitants and if you look into Monuments or Records of later time you shall never finde it called a Kingdom or a Realm till in the reign of Henrie the 8. when by Act of Parlament it was made and styled a Kingdom and that King declared and confessed King thereof unanimously agreed by all the Inhabitants of that Island But that by all Acts of Parlament in that Land and other Records it was alwaies till then for 400 yeers or thereabouts called the King's land of Ireland and by several Acts of Parlament viz. one Act in the twentie eighth yeer of that King Henry the 8 reign Cap. 2. That Land is declared to be appending and belonging to England And by another Act there made in that King's reign the said Island is declared to be a Member appending and rightfully belonging to England and united to the same and in severall other Acts there the same in substance is asserted and ordained and all this agreed and assented unto by the very Ancestors of those now in Arms there against England and the Governors thereof and yet by this Querist it is esteemed to bee an Original entire Nation distinct from any Conqueror yea such as hee scruple 's to have them call'd Rebels Thus having given you the opinion and report of the ancient and som modern proofs of the denomination and full relation of that Island to Great Britain it will bee requisite that by the like ancient and modern evidence the just right and proprietie of the English to that Land and to the dominion thereof and to the naturall subjection of all the Inhabitants thereof to England bee also manifested and avowed the better to let the world see the Querist's fraud and subtiltie in this general vast Quere and indeed throughout all the rest of his abusive Queres and insinuations Mr Cambden that faithfull searcher into Antiquities affirmeth that most of the best approved and knowing Writers out of Antiquities do determin that the first known Inhabitants of Ireland were Britains sent thither by the Kings of Great Britain of which opinion he conclude's himself to bee but that they could not send sufficient Inhabitants to replenish such a Continent and that by a great mortalitie happening among them they were much diminished and you may perceiv by a Statute made in Ireland in the 11. yeer of Queen Elizabeth that Gormond by som Writers called Gorgund Son to Belin King of Great Britain was Lord of Biscaie in Spain as his posteritie long after him
the Irish Partisans fell into the more northern parts of Connaght as the Counties of Sligo and Leitrim and also the Northern parts of the Countie of Roscomon who so fully accomplished the expulsion of the English as in the time of King Charls an intention beeing to plant that Province upon Inquirie made into everie particular man's holding there could not bee shewed anie antient Evidence for anie Land holden amongst them as in the other Provinces of Mounster and Leimster are to bee shewed in great numbers About the twentie fifth year of King Edward the third was Richard de Clare murthered by the men of Thomond at what time and after the Irish so insulted there as the English were either in short time massacred or forced into other parts for their more safetie And thus is plainly evidenced in brief part of the means of the great incroachments of the Irish upon the English possessions especially in the remote parts and now were the English Lords and such of the English Freeholders as they could draw or force with them arrived at a great height of degeneration Now had they for the most part betaken themselvs to the Brehan or Tanistree Law as they called it and other Irish usages and customs so destructive to themselvs and repudiated the English Laws brought with them under which they happily lived and under which the people of England had and have so manie ages florished and been famous through providence except what remained in the five shiers of the Pale and in som small circuits about the walled-Towns which reteined in som measure the English Laws Now did they generally embrace the Irish garb of licentiousnes and tyrannie over the inferiors They erected amongst themselvs Captain-ships in their Countries after the Irish fashion and unwisely suffered the Irish to do the like where they had gotten footing applauding them in all things whereby the Irish were raised into a kinde of Dominion they little obeied or regarded the Governors sent out of England though for their onely good and manie times to rescue them from the Irish outrages and furie and reconcile their own unnatural jars they suffered not the King's Writs to run in their Countries but they would undertake in a summarie waie to answer for their followers as they now call them for what wrong or crime soever committed they assumed Irish nicknames as the chief of the Burks Mr William Brimingham Mr Yoris Mangle Mr Costelo Dexeter Mr Jorden Archdeacon Mr Odo Condon Mr Maiog one of the Garaldines Mr Gibbon and som hundreds the like in that Land and this they did in contempt of the English name and Nation They went to the wars in Irish furniture to their horses and Irish arms defensive and offensive shearing their horses mains after the Irish manner Insomuch as afterwards there was necessitie by Laws to enforce them to ride in saddles the Irish riding onely on small quilted pillions fastned onely with a sursingle they combined in sull complacencie for cours of life with the Irish in all things even to rebellious actions several times yea so far were they sunck in this base degeneration and defection as the Earl of Desmond claimed privilege never to com to Parlament or within walled Town but at his own pleasure which privilege hee in Queen Elizabeth's time surrendred and renounced And it was resolved amongst them that becaus they by violence and oppression had intruded into the Lands of the inferior English and given the Irish libertie to dwell there first at will though it proved otherwise after and finding the power out of England slack to controul them by reason of other imploiments They at length judged it most preservative to incorporate with the Irish and so cast off the English Law and Loialtie presuming thereby the better to keep what they had so ravished knowing well that if the English Law gained concurrencie amongst them the parties wronged or their descendents removed as aforesaid would doubtles recover their own and so shorten the great revenues and cuttings wherein they thought they had ascertained a compleat interest by those waies of confusion But it fell out otherwise in shor time for by God's just avengement on their wickedness the Irish who manie years lived in the Island as aforesaid by their sufferance neither of force nor anie waie deterred by the English daily increasing in numbers actuated in Martial Discipline possessed also though but at will of great quantities of Land they as opportunities offered part whereof is after herein expressed rose up against their Lords especially in the Woodland Countries and called the Lands their own and in short time became formidable to the English who began now to finde their error in so prodigiously forgetting themselvs their noble ancestors and originals and the glorious Kingdom from whence they came putting themselvs in a manner into the hands of their slavish enemies and as may bee said were transformed into another people These disorders fractures and insolencies and the great pressures and detriments of the English crying loud into England at last the noble and victorious Prince King Edward the third pitying their deformed and lapsed condition in the thirtie sixth year of his reign though his forrein engagements were great and heavie at that time sent thither as his Lieutenant Lionel Duke of Clarence his third son above mentioned with a competent strength to reduce things to some better form this young Lord continued there for the most part seven yeers brought with him a good and honorable Council both for peace and warr set himself with all zeal and affection specially to reorder the English Colonies if it might be to reintegrate them in their pristin estates freedom and government himself having good interest there as is above touched To this Livetenant manie of the Irish made submissions as they had manie times don before to King Henrie the second King John and after to King Richard the second and others authorised by the Kings of England he had sundrie conflicts with the Irish verie manie of the English after a short time siding with him About the 40 yeer of King Edward the third he held that famous Parlament at Kilkenny wherein plainly appear's by the Lawes made there and som others formerly enacted by Rockesby Justice of Ireland 25 E. 3 the great degeneration and deformitie of the old English above specified Laws and Statutes being the best Dictates of the maladies of times and that the principal labour was to reform and bring into temper and rule of Law the old English Colonies Som particulars of which Laws were viz. Against Parlies with the Irish without leave That Chieftains should assist and apprehend Felons Against barbarous Fees and extortions of the Lord's Officers called Marshals Against the English calling the Irish to help them in their quarrels Against the Lords distreining contrarie to the English Law That the English should only use the English Law and not the custom called the Brehan Law
or Marcheor Law That if anie of the English race should use an Irish name Irish language Irish apparrel or anie other guise or fashion of the Irish his Lands should bee seised till hee conformed Or if he no Land then other mulcts were appointed That the Lords should not disturb the King's Officers in executing their Offices That Serjeants Bailiffs should execute the commands of the King and of the Sheriffs that the Sheriffs and Serjeants of Franchises should give acquittances for the Kings money received of Debtors and receiv and pay by Indenture That no Sheriffs should hold Courts contrarie to the Common Law That the English should not marrie nor Gossip with the Irish That the English should use the English language and nurture That old and new English should all alike be called Lieges of the King That no English should use Irish or barbarous sports that no Irish Pipers Rimers bablers Skelaghs Ferdanes Carraghs or news-tellers should bee suffered to com amongst the English That no Kearns Hoblers nor idle men should range take meat c of the people against their wills but hue and crie to be made after them That no Irish should be admitted to benefits or entred into religious houses That Judges should travel half yeerly to enquire of offences and to execute the Law That four Justices of peace of and in each Countie should charge the Inhabitants with hors and foot to defend themselvs against Irish enemies That robberies committed in the guildable should not be protected in the franchises and so on the contrarie but the theeves to be delivered up to the proper officers and many other like Laws were then made towards restauration and recomposing of the then deformed and adulterated English and for the further redress divers other Laws som before and som after were made viz. One to take away protections which with frequent pardons were observed to be pestilent Remora's to the English restitution and secure peace insomuch as King Edward the third towards the later end of his reign sent two Ordinances into Ireland viz. First Justitiarius Hiberniae non concedat pardonationes de morte hominis nec de roberiis seu incendiis et quòd de caetero certificet dominum Regem de nominibus petentium Secondly Item quòd nec Justitiarius nec aliquis magnas Hiberniae concedat protectiones alicui contra pacem regis existentis And the experience of the common dammage by such pardons and protections ever since prove's the malignancie of them that being charged by divers good authors conversant in Irish affairs to be the dishonour and ruine of the Common-wealth Other Laws were also made viz. One to distinguish betwixt the English and Irish by the cutting off their beards Another against the taking of amends for the murther of a friend Another That no man should stirr up the Irish to assist in their warr Another Against taking Theeves into Comerick in English protection All which Laws at Kilkenny were after confirmed and revived by another Law made in the tenth yeer of King Henrie the seventh Chap. 8 Wherein are these words viz. As long as those Laws were put in ure and execution this Land continued in prosperitie and honor and since they were not executed the people rebelled and digressed from their obedience and the Land fell to ruine and desolation c. And the truth is it appear's by good Histories of those times and more authentically by Records both of the Exchequer Common-pleas of those yeers that by practice of these Lawes and the industrie travel of the said Lionel notable alteration was made in the manners of the people and much don of value towards the restitution of the English Government in the English Colonies That the Crown-Revenues both certain and casuall were duly accompted for in all the Provinces and that the King's Writ did run the Common-Law executed in all parts amongst the English This Duke built the wals of Catherlagh hee also reduced much lands in Connaght and Vlster into the English mens hands and this good order continued all the residue of that King's reign and part of the reign of King Richard the second but towards the middle of his time the Irish and som farr degenerate English hearing of the Duke of Clarence his death in Italie and finding great dissentions to arise in England combined themselvs to the fresh annoiance of the English and prosecuting their long intendment to exstirpate them And now did the English finde caus to rais themselvs into defens against the Irish which they were afterwards dangerously put unto thereupon that King having received repuls in his affectation to bee Emperor and desirous to act somthing of glorie and satisfaction to his people about the 18 yeer of his reign undertook a roial expedition into Ireland transporting with him 30000 foot and 4000 men at Arms as the Chronicles relate whereat the Irish being terrified fell into their old lock of submissions the verie gulf which hath hitherto swallowed up all the essaies and labors of reformation there hoping thereby to dissolv that force and frustrate his good design and to insist on the verie truth that cours of pardons upon submissions of the Irish hath for at least three hundred yeers past bottomed all the combustions and insults of the Irish That King being not in case to be long absent was perswaded to accept of their submissions which hee did from all the powerful men of the Irish and som degenerate English Lords those Irish of Leimster taking Oath to leav the Land to his free dispose by a certain time Great quantities of the Leimster land were granted to Sir John de Bellomonto and others whose issues long after enjoyed it he also conditioned with the Irish of Connaght and Ulster upon their submissions to restore the Lands to the English which the Irish never performed So this young Prince abused by the fraudulent submissions of the Irish as others before and after were returned with his men into England leaving the English in Ireland in but a little better case then he found them Soon after his departure the Irish brake forth and stood up for their ends as high as ever whereupon ensued great conflicts between them and the English in one of which was slain Mortimer Earl of March the King's Lievtenant thereupon did many of the English overhaled with burthens and harrowings relinquish their estates and resort into England to side with Parties there as their affections did lead them though Lawes were in Ireland and Ordinances in England as well to stop their going as to return them back It is not recorded nor known as is conceived that in the reigns of King Henrie the fourth or King Henrie the fifth who were much taken up in other business any forces were sent into Ireland whereby the Irish inlarged much partly through the departure of the English and chiefly by the great devastations they formerly suffered besides what diminutions they endured by