made themselves Owners of all by Force were now by the Law reduced to this point That wanting means to defray their ordinary charges they resorted ordinarily to the Lord Deputy and made Petition that by License and Warrant of the State they might take some aid and contribution from their people as well to discharge their former debts as for competent maintenance in time to come But some of them being impatient of this diminution fled out of the Realm to forreign Countreys Whereupon we may well observe That as Extortion did banish the old English Free-holder who could not live but under the Law So the Law did banish the Irish Lord who could not live but by Extortion Again these Circuits of Justice did upon the end of the War more terrifie the loose and idle persons than the execution of the Martial Law though it were more quick and sudden and in a short time after did so clear the the Kingdom of Thieves and other Capital Offendors as I dare affirm that for the space of five years last past there have not been found so many Malefactors worthy of death in all the six Circuits of this Realm which is now divided into thirty two shires at large as in one Circuit of six shires namely the Western Circuit in England for the truth is that in time of Peace the Irish are more fearful to offend the Law than the English or any other Nation whatsoever Again whereas the greatest advantage that the Irish had of us in all their Rebellions was Our Ignorance of their Countreys their Persons and their Actions Since the Law and her Ministers have had a passage among them all their places of Fastness have been discovered and laid open all their paces cleared and notice taken of every person that is able to do either good or hurt It is known not onely how they live and what they do but it is foreseen what they purpose or intend to do Insomuch as Tyrone hath been heard to complain that he had so many eyes watching over him as he could not drink a full Carouse of Sack but the State was advertized thereof within few hours after And therefore those allowances which I finde in the ancient Pipe Rolls Pro guidagio spiagio may be well spared at this day For the Under-Sheriffs and Bailiffs errant are better Guides and Spies in the time of Peace than any were found in the time of War Moreover these Civil Assemblies at Assizes and Sessions have reclaimed the Irish from their Wildness caused them to cut off their Glibs and long Hair to convert their Mantles into Cloaks to conform themselves to the manner of England in all their behaviour and outward forms And because they finde a great inconvenience in moving their suits by an Interpreter they do for the most part send their Children to Schools especially to learn the English Language so as we may conceive and hope that the next generation will in tongue and heart and every way else become English so as there will be no difference or distinction but the Irish Sea betwixt us And thus we see a good conversion and the Irish Game turned again For heretofore the neglect of the Law made the English degenerate and become Irish and now on the other side the execution of the Law doth make the Irish grow civil and become English Lastly these general Sessions now do teach the people more obedience and keep them more in awe than did the general Hostings in former times These Progresses of the Law renew and confirm the Conquest of Ireland every half year and supply the defect of the Kings absence in every part of the Realm In that every Judge sitting in the Seat of Justice doth represent the person of the King himself These effects hath the establishment of the Publick Peace and Justice produced since his Majesties happy Reign began Howbeit it was impossible to make a Common-Weal in Ireland without performing another service which was the setling of all the Estates and Possessions as well of Irish as English thoroughout the Kingdom For although that in the twelfth year of Queen ELIZABETH a special Law was made which did enable the Lord Deputy to take Surrenders and regrant Estates unto the Irishry upon signification of Her Majesties pleasure in that behalf yet were there but few of the Irish Lords that made offer to surrender during her Reign and they which made Surrenders of entire Countreys obtained Grants of the whole again to themselves onely and to no other and all in Demesn In passing of which Grants there was no care taken of the Inferiour Septs of people inhabiting and possessing these Countreys under them but they held their several portions in course of Tanistry and Gavelkinde and yielded the same Irish Duties or Exactions as they did before So that upon every such Surrender and Grant there was but one Free-holder made in a whole Countrey which was the Lord himself all the rest were but Tenants at Will or rather Tenants in Villenage and were neither fit to be sworn in Juries nor to perform any Publick service And by reason of the uncertainty of their Estates did utterly neglect to build or to plant or to improve the Land And therefore although the Lord were become the Kings Tenant his Countrey was no whit reformed thereby but remained in the former Barbarism and Desolation Again in the same Queens time there were many Irish Lords which did not surrender yet obtained Letters-Patents of the Captain-ships of their Countreys and of all Lands and duties belonging to those Captainships For the Statute which doth condemn and abolish these Captain-ries usurped by the Irish doth give power to the Lord Deputy to grant the same by Letters Patents Howbeit these Irish Captains and likewise the English which were made Seneschalles of the Irish Countries did by colour of these grants and under pretence of Government claim an Irish Seigniory and exercise plain tyranny over the Common people And this was the fruit that did arise of the Letters Patents granted of the Irish Countries in the time of Queen Elizabeth where before they did extort and oppress the people only by colour of a lewd and barbarous custom they did afterwards use the same Extortions and oppressions by warrant under the great Seal of the Realm But now since his Majesty came to the Crown two special Commissions have been sent out of England for the setling and quieting of all the possessions in Ireland The one for accepting Surrenders of the Irish and degenerate English and for regranting Estates unto them according to the course of the common Law The other for strengthening of defective Titles In the Execution of which Commissions there hath ever been had a special care to settle and secure the under-Tenants to the end there might be a repose and establishment of every Subjects Estate Lord and Tenant Free-holder and Farmer thoroughout the Kingdom Upon Surrenders this
time was securely setled in peace and Obedience and hath attained to that Civility of Manners and plenty of all things as now we find it not inferiour to the best parts of England I will therefore knit up this point with these conclusions First that the Kings of England which in former Ages attempted the Conquest of Ireland being ill advised and counselled by the great men here did not upon the submissions of the Irish communicate their Laws unto them nor admit them to the state and condition of Free-subjects Secondly that for the space of 200. years at â—east after the first arrival of Henry the second in Ireland the Irish would gladly have embraced the Laws of England and did earnestly desire the benefit and protection thereof which being denyed them did of necessity cause a continual bordering war between the English and the Irish And lastly if according to the examples before recited they had reduced as well the Irish Countries as the English Colonies under one form of civil government as now they are the Meers and Bounds of the Marches and Borders had been long since worne out and forgotten for it is not fit as Cambrensis writeth that a King of an Island should have any Marches or Borders but the four Seas both Nations had been incorporated and united Ireland had been entirely Conquered Planted and Improved and returned a rich Revenue to the Crâ—wn of England THE next error in the Civil pollicy which hindered the perfection of the Conquest of Ireland did consist in the Distribution of the Lands and Possessions which were won and conquered from the Irish For the Scopes of Land which were granted to the first Adventures were too large and the Liberties and Royalties which they obtained therein were too great for Subjects though it stood with reason that they should be rewarded liberally out of the fruits of their own Labours since they did Militare propriis stipendiis and received no pay from the Crown of England Notwithstanding there ensued divers inconveniences that gave great impediment to the Conquest FIrst the Earl Strongbow was entituled to the whole Kingdom of Leinster partly by Invasion and partly by Marriage albeit he surrendred the same entirely to King Henry the second his Soveraign for that with his license he came over and with the Ayd of his Subjects he had gained that great inheritance yet did the King regrant back again to him and his Heirs all that Province reserving onely the City of Dublin and the Cantreds next adjoyning with the Maritime Towns and principal Forts and Castles Next the same King granted to Robert Fitz-Stephen and Miles Cogan the whole Kingdom of Cork from Lismore to the Sea To Phillip Bruce he gave the whole Kingdom of Limerick with the Donation of Bishopwricks and Abbies except the City and one Cantred of land adjoyning To Sir Hugh de Lacy all Meath To Sir John de Courcy all Vlster To William Burke Fitz-Adelm the greatest part of Conaght In like manner Sir Thomas de Clare obtained a grant of all Thomond and Otho de Grandison of all Tipperary and Robert le Poer of the Territory of Waterford the City it self and the Cantred of the Oastmen only excepted And thus was all Ireland Cantonized among ten persons of the English Nation and though they had not gained the possession of one third part of the whole Kingdom yet in Title they were Owners and Lords of all so as nothing was left to be granted to the Natives And therefore we do not find in any Record or story for the space of three hundred years after these Adventurers first arived in Ireland that any Irish Lord obtained a grant of his Country from the Crown but onely the King of Thomond who had a grant but during King Henry the third his Minority and Rotherick O Connor King of Conaght to whom King Henry the second before this distribution made did grant as is before declared Vt sit Rex sub eo and moreover Vt teneat terram suam Conactiae it a bene in pace sicut tenuit antequam Dominus Rex intravit Hiberniam And whose Successor in the 24 of Henry the third when the Bourkes had made a strong Plantation there and had well-nigh expelled him out of his Territory he came over into England as Matth. Paris writeth and made complaint to King Henry the third of this Invasion made by the Bourkes upon his Land insisting upon the grants of King Henry the second and King John and affirming that he had duely paid an yearly tribute of five thousand marks for his Kingdom Whereupon the King called unto him the Lord Maurice fitz-Girald who was then Lord Justice of Ireland and President in the Court and commanded him that he should root out that unjust plantation which Hubert Earl of Kent had in the time of his greatness planted in those parts and wrote withal to the great men of Ireland to remove the Bourks and to establish the King of Conaght in the quiet possession of his Kingdom Howbeit I do not read that the King of Englands commandment or direction in this behalf was ever put in execution For the troth is Richard de Burgo had obtained a grant of all Conaght after the death of the King of Conaght then living For which he gave a thousand pound as the Record in the Tower reciteth the third of Henry the third claus 2. And besides our great English Lords could not endure that any Kings should Reign in Ireland but themselves nay they could hardly endure that the Crown of England it self should have any Jurisdiction or Power over them For many of these Lords to whom our Kings had granted these petty Kingdoms did by vertue and colour of these Grants claim and exercise Jura Regalia within their Territories insomuch as there were no less than eight Counties Palatines in Ireland at one time For William Marshal Earl of Pembroke who married the Daughter and Heir of Strongbow being Lord of all Leinster had Royal Jurisdiction thoroughout all that Province This great Lord had five sons and five daughters every of his sons enjoyed that Seigniory successively and yet all dyed without issue Then this great Lordship was broken and divided and partition made between the five daughters who were married into the Noblest Houses of England The County of Catherlough was allotted to the eldest Wexford to the secâ—nd Kilkenny to the third Kildare to the fourth the greatest part of Leix now called the Queens County to the fifth In every of these portions the Ceparceners severally exercised the same Jurisdiction Royal which the Earl Marshal and his Sons had used in the whole Province Whereby it came to pass that there were five County Palatines erected in Leinster Then had the Lord of Meath the same Royal liberty in all that Territory the Earl of Vlster in all that Province and the
or read that it was in that use or reputation in any other Countrey Barbarous or Civil as it hath been and yet is in Ireland where they put away all their children to Fosterers the potent and rich men Sellings the meaneri sort Buying the alterage of their Children and the reason is because in the opinion of this people Fostering hath always been a stronger alliance than Blood and the Foster-Children do love and are beloved of their Foster-Fathers and their Sept more than of their own natural Parents and Kindred and do participate of their means more frankly and do adhere unto them in all Fortunes with more affection and constancy And though Tully in his Book of Friendship doth observe that children of Princes being sometimes in cases of necessity for saving of their lives delivered to Shepherds to be nourished and bred up when they have been restored to their great fortunes have still retained their love and affection to their Fosterers whom for many years they took to be their Parents yet this was a rare case and few examples are to be found thereof But such a general custom in a Kingdom in giving and taking children to Foster making such a firm alliance as it doth in Ireland was never seen or heard of in any other Countrey of the World besides THE like may be said of Gossipred or Compaternity which though by the Canon Law it be a Spiritual affinity and a Juror that was Goship to either of the parties might in former times have been challenged as not indifferent by our Law yet there was no Nation under the Sun that ever made so Religious account thereof as the Irish Now these two Customs which of themselves are indifferent in other Kingdoms became exceeding evil and full of mischief in this Realm by reason of the inconveniences which followed thereupon For they made as I said before strong parties and factions whereby the great men were enabled to oppress their Inferiors and to oppose their Equals and their followers were born out and countenanced in all their lewd and wicked actions For Fosterers and Gossips by the common custom of Ireland were to maintain one another in all causes lawful and unlawful which as it is a Combination and Confederacy punishable in all well-govern Commonweals so was it not one of the least causes of the common misery of this Kingdom I omit their common repudiation of their Wives their promiscuous generation of Children their neglect of lawful Matrimony their uncleanness in Apparel Diet and Lodging and their contempt and scorn of all things necessary for the civil life of man These were the Irish Customs which the English Colonies did embrace and use after they had rejected the Civil and Honorable Laws and Customs of England whereby they became Degenerate and Metamorphosed like Nebuchadnezzar who although he had the face of a man had the heart of a beast or like those who had drunk of Circes Cup and were turned into very Beasts and yet took such pleasure in their beastly manner of life as they would not return to their shape of men again Insomuch as within less time than the age of a man they had no marks or differences left amongst them of that Noble Nation from which they were descended For as they did not onely forget the English Language and scorn the use thereof but grew to be ashamed of their very English Names though they were Noble and of great Antiquity and took Irish Sirnames and Nick-names Namely the two most potent Families of the Bourks in Conaght after the House of the Red Earl failed of Heirs males called their Chiefs Mac William Fighter and Mac William Oughter In the same Province Bremingham Baron of Athenrie called himself Mac Yoris Dexecester or De'exon was called Mac Jordan Mangle or de Angulo took the name of Mac Costelo Of the Inferior families of the Bourkes one was called Mac Hubbard another Mac David In Munster of the great Families of the Geraldines planted there one was called Mac Morice chief of the House of Lixnaw and another Mac Gibbon who was also called the White Knight The chief of the Baron of Dunboynes house who is a branch of the House of Ormond took the Sirnames of Mac Pheris Condon of the County of Waterford was called Mac Maioge and the Arch-deacon of the County of Kilkenny Mac Odo And this they did in contempt and hatred of the English Name and Nation whereof these degenerate families became more mortal enemies than the meer Irish And whereas the State and Government being grown weak by their defection did to reduce them to Obedience grant them many Protections and Pardons The cheapness whereof in all ages hath brought great dishonor and damage to this Commonweal they grew so ungrateful and unnatural as in the end they scorned that gâ—ace and favour because the acceptance thereof did argue them to be sâ—bjects and they desired rather to be accounted Enemies than Rebels to the Crown of England Hereupon was that old Verse made which I finde written in the White Book of the Exchequer in a hand as ancient as the time of King Edward the third By granting Charters of peas To false English withouten les This Land shall be mich undoo But Gossipred and alterage And leesing of our Languge Have mickely holp theretoo And therefore in a Close Roll in the Tower bearing this title Articuli in Hibernia observandi we finde these two Articles among others 1. Justiciarius Hiberniae non concedat perdonationes de morte hominis nec de Roberiis seu incendiis quod de caetero certificet dominum regem de nominibus petentium 2. Item Quod nec Justiciarius nec aliquis Magnas Hiberniae concedat protectiones alicui contra pacem Regis existent c. But now it is fit to look back and consider when the old English Colonies became so degenerate and in what age they fell away into that Irish Barbarism rejecting the English Laws and Customes Assuredly by comparing the ancient Annales of Ireland with the Records remaining here and in the Tower of London I do finde that this general defection fell out in the latter end of the Reign of King Edward the second and in the beginning of the Reign of King Edward the third And all this great Innovation grew within the space of thirty years within the compass of which time there fell out divers mischievous accidents whereby the whole kingdom was in a manner lost For first Edward de Bruce invaded Ireland with the Scottish Army and prevailed so far as that he possessed the Maritime parts of Vlster marched up to the walls of Dublin spoiled the English Pale passed thorough Leinster and Munster as far as Limerick and was Master of the field in every part of the Kingdom This hapned in the tenth year of King Edward the second at what time the Crown of England was weaker and suffered more dishonour in
both Kingdoms than it did at any time since the Norman Conquest Then did the State of England send over John de Hotham to be Treasurer here with commission to call the great Lords of Ireland together and to take of them an Oath of Association that they should loyally joyn together in life and death to preserve the right of the King of England and to expel the common enemy But this Treasurer brought neither men nor mony to perform this service At that time though Richard Bourk Earl of Vlster commonly called the Red Earl were of greater power than any other Subject in Ireland yet was he so far stricken in years as that he was unable to manage the martial affairs as he had done during all the raign of King Edward the first having been General of the Irish forces not only in this Kingdom but in the Wars of Scotland Wales and Gascoign And therefore Maurice Fitz-Thomas of Desmond being then the most active Noble man in this Realm took upon him the chief command in this War for the support whereof the Revenue of this Land was farr too short and yet no supply of Treasure was sent out of England Then was there no means to maintain the Army but by Sessing the Soldiers upon the Subject as the Irish were wont to impose their Bonaught Whereupon grew that wicked Extortion of Coigne and Livery spoken of before which in short time banished the greatest part of the Free-holders out of the County of Kerry Limerirk Corke and Waterford Into whose possessions Desmond and his Kinsemen Allies and Followers which were then more Irish than English did enter and appropriate these Lands unto themselves Desmond himself taking what scopes he best liked for his demeasnes in every Countrey and reserving an Irish Seigniory out of the rest And here that I may verifie and maintain by matter of Record that which is before delivered touching the Nature of this wicked Extortion called Coigne and Livery and the manifold mischiefs it did produce I think it fit and pertinent to insert the preamble of the Statute of 10. of Henry seventh c. 4. not printed but recorded in Parliament Rols of Dublin in these words At the request and supplication of the Commons of this Land of Ireland that where of long time there hath been used and exacted by the Lords and Gentlemen of this Land many and divers damnable customs and usages which been called Coigne and Livery and Pay that is Horse meat and Mans meat for the finding of their Horsemen and Foot-men and over that 4. d. or 6. d. daily to every of them to be had and paid of the poor Earth Tillers and Tenants inhabitants of the said Land without any thing doing or paying therefore Besides many Murders Robberies Rapes and other manifold extortions and oppressions by the said Horsemen and Footmen daily and nightly committed and done which been the principal causes of the desolation and destruction of the said Land and hath brought the same into ruine and Decay so as the most part of the English Free-holders and Tenants of this Land been departed out thereof some into the Realm of England and other some to other strange Lands whereupon the foresaid Lords and Gentlemen of this Land have intruded into the said Free-holders and Tenants inheritances and the same keepeth and occupieth as their own inheritances and setten under them in the same Land the Kings Irish Enemies to the diminishing of Holy Churches Rites the disherison of the King and his obedient Subjects and the utter ruine and desolation of the Land For reformation whereof be it enacted That the King shall receive a Subsidy of 26. s. 8. d. out of every 120. acres of arable land manured c. But to return to Thomas Fitz-Maurice of Desmond By this extortion of Coigne and Livery he suddainly grew from a mean to a mighty estate insomuch as the Baron Finglas in his discourse of the decay of Ireland affirmeth that his ancient inheritance being not one thousand marks yearly he became able to dispend every way ten thousand pounds per annum These possessions being thus unlawfully gotten could not be maintained by the just and honourable Law of England which would have restored the true Owners to their Land again And therefore this Great man found no means to continue and uphold his ill-purchased greatness but by rejecting the English Law and Government and assuming in lieu thereof the barbarous customs of the Irish And hereupon followed the defection of those four shires containing the greatest part of Munster from the obedience of the Law In like manner saith Baron Finglas the Lord of Tipperary perceiving how well the house of Desmond had thrived by Coigne and Livery and other Irish exactions began to hold the like course in the Counties of Tipperary and Kilkenny whereby he got great scopes of Land especially in Ormond and raised many Irish exactions upon the English Free-holders there which made him so potent and absolute among them as at that time they knew no other Law than the will of their Lord. Besides finding that the Earl of Desmond excluded the ordinary Ministers of Justice under colour of a Royal liberty which he claimed in the Counties of Kerry Corke and Waterford by a grant of King Edward the first as appeareth in a Quo warranto brought against him Anno 12. Edw. 1. the Record whereof remaineth in Breminghams Tower among the common Plea-Rolls there This Lord also in the third of Edward the third obtained a Grant of the like liberty in the County of Tipperary whereby he got the Law into his own hands and shut out the Common Law and Justice of the Realm And thus we see that all Munster fell away from the English law and Government in the end of King Edward the second his raign and in the beginning of the raign of King Edward the third Again about the same time viz. in the 20. year of King Edward the second when the State of England was well-ny ruined by the Rebellion of the Barons and the Government of Ireland utterly neglected there arose in Leinster one of the Cavanaghes named Donald Mac Art who named himself Mac Murrogh King of Leinster and possessed himself of the County of Catherlogh and of the greatest part of the County of Wexford And shortly after Lisagh O Moore called himself O Moore took eight Castles in one Evening destroyed Duamase the principal house of the L. Mortimer in Leix recovered that whole Country De servo Dominus de subjecto princeps effectus saith Friar Clynn in his Annalls Besides the Earl of Kildare imitating his Cosin of Desmond did not omit to make the like use of Coigne and Livery in Kildare and the West part of Meath which brought the like Barbarisme into those parts And thus a great part of Leinster was lost and fell away from the Obedience of the Crown near about the time before expressed Again in the
all their Controversies In Conaght the Archbishop of Tuam the Bishop of Clonfert Captain Wakeley Captain Ovington In Munster the Bishop of Waterford the Bishop of Cork and Ross the Mayor of Cork and Mayor of Youghal In Vlster the Archbishop of Ardmagh and the Lord of Lowth And if any difference did arise which they could not end either for the difficulty of the cause or for the obstinacy of the parties they were to certifie the Lord Deputy Council who would decide the matter by their Authority Hereupon the Irish Captains of lesser Territories which had ever been oppressed by the greater and mightier some with risings out others with Bonaght and others with Cuttings and spendings at pleasure did appeal for Justice to the Lord Deputy who upon hearing their complaints did always order that they should all immediately depend upon the King and that the weaker should have no dependancy upon the stronger Lastly he prevailed so much with the greatest of them namely O Neal O Brien and Mac William as that they willingly did pass into England and presented themselves to the King who thereupon was pleased to advance them to the degree and honor of Earls and to grant unto them their several Countreys by Letters-patents Besides that they might learn Obedience and Civility of manners by often repairing unto the State the King upon the motion of the same Deputy gave each of them a house and lands neer Dublin for the entertainment of their several trains This course did this Governor take to reform the Irishry but withal he did not omit to advance both the honor and profit of the King For in the Parliament which he held the 33 of Hen. the eighth he caused an Act to pass which gave unto K. Henry the eighth his Heirs and Successors the Name Stile and Title of King of Ireland whereas before that time the Kings of England were stiled but Lords of Ireland albeit indeed they were absolute Monarchs thereof and had in right all Royal and Imperial Jurisdiction and power there as they had in the Realm of England And yet because in the vulgar conceit the name of King is higher than the name of Lord Assuredly the assuming of this Title hath not a little raised the Soveraignty of the King of England in the mindes of this people lastly this Deputy brought a great augmentation to the Kings Revenue by dissolving of all the Monasteries and Religious Houses in Ireland which was done in the same Parliament and afterward by procuring Min and Cavendish two skilful Auditors to be sent over out of England Who took an exact survey of all the possessions of the Crown and brought many things into charge which had been concealed and substracted for many years before And thus far did Sir Anthony Saint Leger proceed in the course of Reformation which though it were a good beginning yet was it far from reducing Ireland to the perfect obedience of the Crown of England For all this while the Provinces of Conaght and Vlster and a good part of Leinster were not reduced to Shire-ground And though Munster were anciently divided into Counties the people were so degenerate as no Justice of Assize durst execute his Commission amongst them None of the Irish Lords or Tenants were setled in their possessions by any Grant or Confirmation from the Crown except the three great Earls before named who notwithstanding did govern their Tenants and Followers by the Irish or Brehon Law so as no treason murther rape or theft committed in those Countries was inquired of or punisht by the Law of England and consequently no Escheat Forfeiture or Fine no Revenue certain or casual did accrew to the Crown out of those Provinces The next worthy Governor that endeavoured to advance this Reformation was Thomas Earl of Sussex who having throughly broken and subdued the two most rebellious and powerful Irish Septs in Leinster namely the Moores and O Connors possessing the Territories of Leix and Offaly did by Act of Parliament 3. and 4. Phil. and Mariae reduce those Countries into two several Counties naming the one the Kings and the other the Queens County which were the first two Counties that had been made in this Kingdom since the twelfth year of King John at what time the Territories then possessed by the English Colonies were reduced into twelve Shires as is before expressed This Noble Earl having thus extended the Jurisdiction of the English Law into two Counties more was not satisfied with that addition but took a resolution to divide all the rest of the Irish Countries un-reduced into several Shires and to that end he caused an Act to pass in the same Parliament authorising the Lord Chancellor from time to time to award Commissions to such Persons as the Lord Deputy should nominate and appoint to view and perambulate those Irish Territories and thereupon to divide and limit the same into such and so many several Counties as they should think meet which being certified to the Lord Deputy and approved by him should be returned and enrolled in the Chancery and from thenceforth be of like force and effect as if it were done by Act of Parliament Thus did the Earl of Sussex lay open a passage for the Civil Government into the unreformed parts of this Kingdom but himself proceeded no further than is before delared HOwbeit afterwards during the Raign of Queen Elizabeth Sir Henry Sidney who hath left behind him many Monuments of a good Governour in this Land did not only pursue that course which the Earl of Sussex began in reducing the Irish Countries into Shires and placing therein Sheriffs and other Ministers of the Law for first he made the Annaly a Territory in Leinster possessed by the Sept of Offerralles one entire Shire by it self and called it the County of Longford and after that he divided the whole Province of Conaght into six Counties more namely Clare which containeth all Thomond Gallaway Sligo Mayo Roscomon and Leytrim But he also had caused divers good Laws to be made and performed sundry other services tending greatly to the reformation of this Kingdom For first to diminish the greatness of the Irish Lords and to take from them the dependancy of the Common people in the Parliament which he held 11. Eliz. He did abolish their pretended and usurped Captain-ships and all exactions and extortions incident thereunto Next to settle their Seigniories and possessions in a course of inheritance according to the course of the Common law he caused an Act to pass whereby the Lord Deputy was authorised to accept their Surrenders and to regrant estates unto them to hold of the Crown by English tenures and services Again because the inferiour sort were loose and poor and not amesuable to the law he provided by another Act that five of the best and eldest persons of every Sept should bring in all the idle persons of their surname to be justified by the law Moreover
course hath been held from the beginning when an Irish Lord doth offer to surrender his Country his surrender is not immediately accepted but a Commission is first awarded to enquire of three speciall points First of the quantity and limits of the Land whereof he is reputed owner Next how much himself doth hold in demeasne and how much is possest by his Tenants and Followers And thirdly what customs Duties and services he doth yearly receive out of those lands This Inquisition being made and returned the Lands which are found to be the Lords proper possessions in demeasne are drawn into a Particular and his Irish duties as Cosherings Sessings Rents of Butter and Oatmeal and the like are reasonably valued and reduced into certain sums of mony to be paid yearly in lieu thereof This being done the surrender is accepted and thereupon a grant passed not of the whole Country as was used in former times but of those Lands only which are found in the Lords possession and of those certain sums of Mony as Rents issuing out of the rest But the Lands which are found to be possest by the Tenants are left unto them respectively charged with these certain Rents only in lieu of all uncertain Irish exactions In like manner upon all grants which have past by vertue of the commission for defective Titles the Commissioners have taken special caution for preservation of the Estates of all particular Tenants And as for Grants of Captain-ships or Seneschal-ships in the Irish Countries albeit this Deputy had as much power and authority to grant the same as any other Governors had before him and might have raised as much profit by bestowing the same if he had respected his private more than the publick good yet hath he been so far from passing any such in all his time as he hath endeavoured to resume all the Grants of that kind that have been made by his Predecessors to the end the inferiour Subjects of the Realm should make their only and immediate dependency upon the Crown And thus we see how the greatest part of the possessions as well of the Irish as of the English in Leinster Conaght and Munster are setled and secured since his Majesty came to the Crown whereby the hearts of the people are also setled not only to live in peace but raised and encouraged to build to pâ—ant to give better education to their children and to improve the commodities of their Lands whereby the yearly value thereof is already encreased double of that it was within these few years and is like daily to rise higher till it amount to the price of our Land in England LAstly the possessions of the Irishry in the Province of Vlster though it were the most rude and unreformed part of Ireland and the Seat and Nest of the last great Rebellion are now better disposed and established than any the Lands in the other Provinces which have been past and setled upon Surrenders For as the occasion of the disposing of those Lands did not happen without the special providence and finger of God which did cast out those wicked and ungrateful Traitors who were the only enemies of the reformation of Ireland so the distribution and plantation thereof hath been projected and prosecuted by the special direction and care of the King himself wherein his Majesty hath corrected the errors before spoken of committed by King Henry 2. and K. John in distributing and planting the first conquered Lands For although there were six whole Shires to be disposed His Majesty gave not an entire Country or County to any particular person much less did he grant Jura Regalia or any extraordinary Liberties For the best Brittish undertaker had but a proportion of 3000. Acres for himself with power to create a Mannor and hold a Court Baron Albeit many of these undertakers were of as great birth and quality as the best Adventurers in the first conquest Again his Majesty did not utterly exclude the Natives out of this plantation with a purpose to root them ouâ— as the Irish were excluded out of the first English Colonies but made mixt plantation of Brittish and Irish that they might grow up together in one Nation Only the Irish were in some places transplanted from the Woods and Mountains into the Plains and open countries that being removed like wild fruit-trees they might grow the milder and bear the better and sweeter fruit And this truly is the Master-piece and most excellent part of the work of Reformation and is worthy indeed of His Majesties royal pains For when this plantation hath taken root and been fixt and setled but a few years with the favour and blessing of God for the Son of God himself hath said in the Gospel Omnis plantatio quam non plantavit pater meus eradicabitur it will secure the peace of Ireland assure it to the Crown of England for ever and finally make it a civil and a Rich a Mighty and a Flourishing Kingdom I omit to speak of the increase of the Revenue of the Crown both certain and casual which is raised to a double proportion at lest above that it was by deriving the publick Justice into all parts of the Realm by setling all the possessions of both of the Irish and English by re-establishing the compositions by restoring and resuming the customs by reviving the Tenures in Capite and Knights-service and reducing many other things into charge which by the confusion and negligence of former times became concealed and subtracted from the Crown I forbear likewise to speak of the due and ready bringing in of the Revenue which is brought to pass by the well ordering of the Court of Exchequer and the authority and pains of the Commissioners for Accompts I might also add hereunto the encouragement that hath been given to the Maritime Towns and Citties as well to increase their Trade of Merchandize as to cherish Mechanical Arts and Sciences in that all their Charters have been renewed and their Liberties more inlarged by His Majesty than by any of his Progenitors since the Conquest As likewise the care and course that hath been taken to make Civil Commerce and entercourse between the Subjects newly reformed and brought under Obedience by granting Markets and Fairs to be holden in their Countries and by erecting of corporate Towns among them Briefly the clock of the civil Government is now well set and all the wheels thereof do move in Order The strings of this Irish Harp which the Civil Magistrate doth finger are all in tune for I omit to speak of the State Ecclesiastical and make a good Harmony in this Common-weal So as we may well conceive a hope that Ireland which heretofore might properly be called the Land of Ire because the Irascible power was predominant there for the space of 400. years together will from henceforth prove a Land of Peace and Concord And though heretofore it hath been like the lean Cow of
disabled otherwise as shall be declared hereafter never sent over any Royal army or any numbers of men worthy to be called an army into Ireland untill the thirty sixth year of King Edward the third when Lionel Duke of Clarence the Kings second Son having married the Daughter and Heir of Vlster was sent over with an extraordinary power in respect of the time for the wars betwixt England and France were then in their heat as well to recover his Earldom of Vlster which was then over-run and possest by the Irish as to reform the English Colonies which were become strangely degenerate throughout the whole Kingdom FOr though King Henry the Third gave the whole Land of Ireland to Edward the Prince his eldest Son and his Heirs Ita quod non Separetur a Corona Angliae Whereupon it was styled the Land of the Lord Edward the Kings eldest Son and all the Officers of the Land were called the Officers of Edward Lord of Ireland and though this Edward were one of the most active Princes that ever lived in England yet did he not either in the life time of his father or during his own Raign come over in person or transmit any army into Ireland but on the other side he drew sundry aids and supplies of men out of Ireland to serve him in his wars in Scotland Wales and Gascoigne And again though King Edward the Second sent over Piers Gaveston with a great retinue it was never intended he should perfect the Conquest of Ireland for the King could not want his company so long a time as must have been spent in the finishing of so tedious a work So then in all that space of time between the twelfth year of King John and the 36. year of King Edward the Thâ—rd containing 150. years or thereabouts although there were a continual bordering war between the English and the Irish there came no Royal Army out of England to make an end of the War But the chief Governors of the Realm who were at first called Custodes Hiberniae and afterwards Lords Justices and the English Lords who had gotten so great possessions and Royalties as that they presumed to make war and peace without direction from the State did levy all their forces within the land But those forces were weakly supplied and ill governed as I said before Weakly supplyed with men and Mony and governed with the worst Discipline that ever was seen among men of war And no marvel for it is an infallible rule that an army ill paid is ever unruly and ill governed The standing forces here were seldom or never re-enforced out of England and such as were either sent from thence or raised here did commonly do more huâ—t and damage to the English Subjects than to the Irish enemies by their continual Sess and Extortion Which mischief did arise by reason that little or no Treasure was sent out of England to pay the soldiers wages Only the Kings revenue in Ireland was spent and wholly spent in the publick service and therefore in all the ancient Pipe-Rols in the times of Henry the Third Edward the first Edward the second and Edward the third between the Receipts and allowances there is this entrie In Thesauro nihil For the Officers of the State and the Army spent aâ—l so as there was no surplusage of Treasure and yet that All was not sufficient For in default of the Kings pay as well the ordinary Forces which stood continually as the extraordinary which were levied by the chief Governor upon journeys and general hoastings were for the most part laid upon the poor subject descended of English race howbeit this burthen was in some measure tolerable in the time of King Henry the third and King Edward the first but in the time of King Edward the second Maurice fitz-Thomas of Desmond being chief Commander of the Army against the Scots began that wicked extortion of Coigne and Livery and pay that is He and his Army took Horse meat and Mans meat and money at their pleasure without any Ticket or other satisfaction And this was after that time the general fault of all the Governors and Commanders of the Army in this Land Onely the Golden saying of Sir Thomas Rookesby who was Justice in the thirtieth year of King Edward the third is recorded in all the Annales of this Kingdom That he would eat in wodden dishes but would pay for his meat Gold and Silver Besides the English Colonies being dispersed in every Province of this Kingdom were enforced to keep continual guards upon the Borders and Marches round about them which Guards consisting of idle Souldiers were likewise imposed as a continual burthen upon the poor Engglish Freeholders whom they oppressed and impoverished in the same manner And because the great English Lords and Captains had power to impose this charge when and where they pleased many of the poor Freeholders were glad to give unto those Lords a great part of their Lands to hold the rest free from that extortion And many others not being able to endure that intolerable oppression did utterly quit their freeholds and returned into England By this mean the English Colonies grew poor and weak though the English Lords grew rich and mighty for they placed Irish Tenants upon the Lands relinquished by the English upon them they levied all Irish exactions with them they married and fostered and made Gossips so as within one age the English both Lords and Freeholders became degenerate and meer Irish in their Language in their apparel in their arms and manner of fight and all other Customes of life whatsoever By this it appeareth why the extortion of Coigne and Livery is called in the old Statutes of Ireland A damnable custom and the imposing and taking thereof made High Treason And it is said in an ancient Discourse Of the Decay of Ireland that though it were first invented in Hell yet if it had been used and practised there as it hath been in Ireland it had long since destroyed the very Kingdom of Belzebub In this manner was the War of Ireland carried before the coming over of Lionel Duke of Clarence This young Prince being Earl of Vlster and Lord of Conaght in right of his wife who was daughter and Heir of the Lord William Bourk the last Earl of Vlster of that Family slain by treachery at Knockefergus was made the Kings Lieutenant of Ireland and sent over with an Army in the six and thirtieth year of King Edward the third The Roll and List of which Army doth remain of Record in the Kings Remembrancers Office in England in the press de Rebus tangentibus Hiberniam and doth not contain above fifteen hundred men by the Poll which because it differs somewhat fâ—om the manner of this age both in respect of the Command and the Entertainment I think it not impertinent to take a brief view thereof The Lord Lionel was