being doone it was neuer intended that these forces should stand till the rest of the kingdome were setled and reduced onely that army which was brought ouer by the Earle of Essex Lorde Lieutenant and Gouernor generall of this kingdom in the 39. yeare of Queen Elizabeth to suppresse the Rebellion of Tirone which was spred vniuersally ouer the whole Realme That armie I say the command whereof with the gouernment of the Realme was shortly after transferred to the commaund of the Lord Montioy afterwards Earl of Deuonshire who with singular wisedom valour and industry did prosecute finish the Warre did consist of such good men of warre and of such numbers being wel-ny 20000. by the Pol and was so royally supplied and paid and continued in ful strength so long a time as that it brake and absolutely subdued all the Lordes and Chiefetaines of the Irishry and degenerate or rebellious English Whereupon the multitude who euer loued to bee followers of such as could master and defend them admyring the power of the Crownc of England being brai'd as it were in a Morter with the Sword Famine Pestilence altogither submitted themselues to the English gouernment receiued the Lawes and Magistrates and most gladly embraced the Kings pardon and peace in all parts of the Realme with demonstration of ioy and comfort which made indeede an entire perfect and finall Conquest of Ireland And thogh vpon the finishing of the warre this great armie was reduced to lesse numbers yet hath his Maiestie in his wisedome thought it fit stil to maintaine such competent forces heere as the Law may make her progresse Circuit about the Realme vnder the protection of the sword as Virgo the figure of Iustice is by Leo in the Zodiack vntill the people haue perfectly learned the Lesson of Obedience the Conquest bee established in the hearts of all men THus farre haue I endeuoured to make it manifest that from the first aduenture and attempt of the English to subdue and conquer Ireland vntill the last warre with Tyrone which as it was royally vndertaken so it was really prosecuted to the end there hath bin foure maine defects in the carriage of the martiall affayres heere First the armies for the most part were too weake for a Conquest Secondly when they were of a competent strength as in both the iournies of Richard the second they were too soone broken vp and dissolued Thirdly they were ill paide And fourthly they were ill Gouerned which is alwayes a consequent of ill payment BVt why was not this great worke perfourmed before the latter end of Queene Elizabeths raigne considering that many of the Kings her Progenitors were as great Captaines as any in the world and had else-where larger Dominions and Territories First who can tell whither the Diuine Wisedom to abate the glory of those Kings did not reserue this Worke to be done by a Queen that it might rather appeare to be his owne imediate worke And yet for her greater Honor made it the last of her great actions as it were to Crowne al the rest And to the end â—hat a secure peace might settle the Conquest and make it firme and perpetuall to posteritie caused it to bee made in that fulnesse of time when England and Scotland became to be vnited vnder one imperiall Crowne and when the Monarchy of Great Britainy was in league amity with all the worlde Besides the Conquest at this time doth perhaps fulfill that prophesie wherin the four great Prophets of Ireland do concur as it is recorded by Giraldus CambreÌ„sis to this effect That after the first inuasion of the English they shold spend many ages in crebris conflictibus longoque certanime multis coedibus And that Omnes fere Anglici ab Hibernia turbabuntur nihilominus orientalia maritima semper obtinebunt Sed vix paulo anté diem Iuditij plenam Anglorum populo victoriam compromittunt Insula Hibernica de mari vsque ad mare de toto subacta incastellata If S. Patrick and thâ—… did not vtter this prophesy certainly Giraldus is a Prophet who hath reported it To this we may adde the prophesy of Merlin spoken of also by Giraldus Sextus moenia Hiberniae subuertet regiones in Regnum redigentur Which is performed in the time of King Iames the sixt in that all the paces are cleared and places of fastnesse laid open which are the proper Wals Castles of the Irish as they were of the British in the time of Agricola and withal the Irish Countries beeing reduced into Counties make but one entire and vndeuided kingdome But to leaue these high obscure causes the plaine and manifest trueth is that the Kings of England in al ages had bin powerfull enough to make an absolute conquest of Ireland if their whole power had been employed in that enterprize but still there arose sundry occasions which diuided and diâ—…ted their power som other way Let vs therefore take a briefe view of the seuerall impediments which arose in euery Kinges time since the first ouerture of the Conquest whereby they were so employed and busied as they could not intend the finall Conquest of Ireland KIng Henrie the second was no sooner returned out of Ireland but all his foure Sonnes conspired with his enemies rose in Arrnes and moued warre against him both in France and in England This vnnaturall treason of his sons did the King expresse in an Embleme painted in his Chamber at winchester wherein was an Eagle with three Eglets tyring on her brest the fourth pecking at one of her eyes And the troth is these vngracious practises of his sonnes did impeach his iourney to the Holy-Land which he had once vowed vexed him all the dayes of his life and brought his gray haires with sorrow to the graue Besides this king hauing giuen the Lordship of Ireland to Iohn his youngest sonne his ingratitude afterwards made the king carelesse to settle him in the quiet and absolute possession of that kingdome RIchard the first which succeeded Henrie the second in the kingdom of England had lesse reason to bend his power towardes the Conquest of this Land which was giuen in perpetuity to the Lord Iohn his brother And therefore went hee in person to the holy warre by which iourney his captiuity in Austria and the heauy ransome that he paid for his libertie hee was hindred and vtterly disabled to pursue any so great an action as the Conquest of Ireland And after his deliuery and returne hardly was he able to maintaine a frontier warre in Normandy where by hard fortune he lost his life KIng Iohn his Brother had greatest reason to prosecute the Warre of Ireland because the Lordship thereof was the portion of his inheritance giuen vnto him when hee was called Iohn Sans-Terre Therefore hee made two iournies thither one when he was Earle of Morton and very yong about twelue
but one Parke stored with Deere in al this kingdom which is a Parke of the Earle of Ormonds neer Kilkenny It is then manifest by that which is before expressed that the not communicating of the English lawes to the Irish the ouer-large Grants of Lands and Liberties to the English the plantation made by the English in the Plaines and open Countreyes leauing the Woods and Mountaines to the Irish were great Defects in the Ciuill pollicy and hindered the perfection of the Conquest verie much Howbeit notwithstanding these Defects and Errours the English Colonies stood and maintained themselus in a reasonable good estate as long as they retained their owne auncient Lawes and Customes according to that of Ennius Moribus antiquis res stat Romana virisque But when the ciuil Gouernment grew so weake so loose as that the English Lords would not suffer the English Lawes to be put in execution within their Territories Seigniories but in place therof both they and their people embraced the Irish Customes Then the estate of things like a Game at Irish was so turned about as the English which hoped to make a perfect Conquest of the Irish were by them perfectly and absolutely conquered because Victi victoribus leges dedere A iust punnishment to our Nation that wold not giue Lawes to the Irish when they might and therefore nowe the Irish gaue Lawes to them Therefore this Defect and failing of the English Iustice in the English Colonies and the inducing of the Irish Customes in lieu thereof was the maine impediment that did arrest and stoppe the course of the Conquest and was the only meane that enabled the Irishrie to recouer their strength againe FOr if wee consider the Nature of the Irish Customes wee shall finde that the people which doth vse them must of necessitie bee Rebelles to all good Gouernment destroy the commonwealth wherein they liue and bring Barbarisme and desolation vpon the richest and most fruitfull Land of the world For whereas by the iust and Honourable Law of England by the Lawes of all other well-gouerned Kingdomes and Commonweals Murder Man-slaughter Rape Robbery and Theft are punnished with death By the Irish Custome or Brehon Law the highest of these offences was punished onely by Fine which they called an Ericke Therfore when Sir VVilliam Fitz-williams being Lord Deputy told Maguyre that hee was to send a Sheriffe into Fermaunagh being lately before made a County your Sheriffe saide Maguyre shall be welcome to me but let me knowe his Ericke or the price of his head afore hand that if my people cut it off I may cut the Ericke vpon the Countrey As for Oppression Extortion other trespasses the weaker had neuer anie remedy against the stronger whereby it came to passe that no man coulde enioy his Life his Wife his Lands or Goodes in safety if a mightier man then himselfe had an appetite to take the same from him Wherein they were little better then Canniballes who doe hunt one another and hee that hath most strength and swiftnes doth eate and deuoure all his fellowes Againe in England and all well ordered Common-weales men haue certaine estates in their Lands possessions and their inheritances discend from Father to Son which doth giue them encouragement to builde and to plant and to improoue their Landes and to make them better for their posterities But by the Irish Custome of Tanistry the Cheefetanes of euery Countrey and the chiefe of euery Sept had no longer estate then for life in their Cheeferies the inheritance whereof did rest in no man And these Cheeferies though they had some portions of Lande allotted vnto them did consist chiefely in cuttings and Cosheries and other Irish exactions whereby they did spoyle and impouerish the people at their pleasure And when their Chieftanes were dead their sonnes or next heires did not succeede them but their Tanistes who were Electiue and purchased their elections by strong hande And by the Irish Custome of Gauell-kinde the inferiour Tennanties were partible amongst all the Males of the Sept both Bastards and Legittimate and after partition made if any one of the Sept had died his portion was not diuided among his Sonnes but the cheefe of the sept made a new partition of all the Lands belonging to that Sept and gaue euerie one his part according to his antiquity THese two Irish Customes made all their possessions vncertain being shuffled and changed and remoued so often from one to another by new elections and partitions which vncertainty of estates hath bin the true cause of such Desolation Barbarism in this land as the like was neuer seen in any Countrey that professed the name of Christ. For though the Irishry be a Nation of great Antiquity and wanted neither wit nor valour and though they had receiued the Christian Faith aboue 1200. yeares since and were Louers of Musicke Poetry and all kinde of learning and possessed a Land abounding with all thinges necessary for the Ciuill life of man yet which is strange to bee related they did neuer builde any houses of Bricke or stone some few poor Religious Houses excepted before the raigne of King Henrie the second though they wer Lords of this Island for many hundred yeares before and since the Conquest attempted by the English Albeit when they sawe vs builde Castles vppon their borders they haue only in imitation of vs erected some few piles for the Captaines of the Country yet I dare boldly say that neuer any perticuler person eyther before or since did builde anie stone or bricke house for his priuate Habitation but such as haue latelie obtained estates according to the course of the Law of England Neither did any of them in all this time plant any Gardens or Orchards Inclose or improue their Lands liue together in setled Villages or Townes nor made any prouision for posterity which being against all common sense and reason must needes bee imputed to those vnreasonable Customes which made their estates so vncertaine and transitory in their possessions For who would plant or improoue or build vppon that Land which a stranger whom he knew not should possesse after his death For that as Salomon noteth is one of the strangest Vanities vnder the Sunne And this is the true reason why Vlster and all the Irish Countries are found so wast and desolate at this day and so wold they continue till the worlds end if these Customes were not abolished by the Law of England Againe that Irish Custom of Gauel-kinde did breede another mischiefe for thereby euery man being borne to Land aswell Bastard as Legitimate they al held thēselues to be Gentlemen And though their portions were neuer so small and them-selues neuer so poor For Gauelkind must needs in the end make a poore Gentility yet did they scorne to discend to Husbandry or Marchandize or to learn any Mechanicall Art or Science And this is the true
diem with an encrease of the number of his Archers viz 360 Archers on horsebacke out of Lancashire at vjd a peece per diem and 23. Archers out of Wales at ij d. a peece per diem The earle of Staffords entertainment was for himselfe vi s. viij d. per diem for a Banneret iiij s. per diem for xvij Knights ij s. a peece per diem for 78. esquires xij d. a peece per diem for 100 Archers on horsebacke vj d. a peece per diem Besides he had the command of 24. Archers out of Staffordshire 40. Archers out of worcestershire six Archers out of Shropshire at iiij d. a peece per diem The entertainment of Iames earle of Ormond was for himselfe iiij s. per diem for two Knights ij s. a peece per diem for 27 esquires xij d. a piece per diem for 20 Hoblers armed the Irish Horsemen were so called because they serued on Hobbies vj d. a peece per diem and for 20. Hoblers not armed iiij d. a peece per diem The entertainment of Sir Iohn Carew Banneret was for himselfe iiij s. perdiem for one Knight ij s. per diem for eight squires xij d. a peece per diem for ten Archers on horsebacke vj d. a peece per diem The entertainement of Sir william winsore was for himselfe ij s. per diem for two Knights ij s. a peece per diem for 49. Squiers xij d. a peece per diem for six Archers on horseback vj d. a piece per diem The like entertainment rateably were allowed to diuers Knightes and Gentlemen vpon that List for themselues and their seuerall retinewes whereof some were greater and some lesse as they themselues coulde raise them among their tenants and Followers FOr in ancient times the King himselfe did not leuy his armies by his owne immediate authority or Commission but the Lords and Captaines did by Indenture Couenant with the King to serue him in his Wars with certaine numbers of men for certain wages entertainments which they raised in greater or lesse numbers as they had fauour or power with the people This course hath been changed in later times vpon good reason of State For the Barons and Chiefe Gentlemen of the realme hauing power to vse the Kings prerogatiue in that point became too popular whereby they were enabled to raise forces euen against the Crown it self which since the Statutes made for leuying and mustering of souldiers by the Kings speciall Commission they cannot so easily performe if they should forget their duties THis Lord Lieutenant with this small Army perfourmed no great seruice yet vpon his comming ouer all men who had Land in Ireland were by Proclamation re maunded backe out of England thither and both the Cleargy and Laity of this land gaue two yeares profits of all their Landes and Tithes towards the maintenance of the war heere only he suppressed some Rebels in Low Leinster and recouered the Maritime parts of his erldome of Vlster But his best seruice did consist in the well-gouerning of his army and in holding that famous Parliament at Kilkenny wherein the extortion of the souldier and the degenerat maners of the English briefly spoken of before were discouered and Lawes made to reforme the same which shall bee declared more at large heereafter THe next Lieutenant transmitted with any forces out of England was Sir VVilliam winsore who in the 47 yeare of King Edward the third vndertooke the Custodie not the Conquest of this Land for now the English made rather a Defensiue then an inuasiue war and withal to defray the whol charge of the kingdome for eleauen thousand two hundred thirteene pounds six shillings and eight pence as appeareth by the Indenture betweene him and the King remaining of Record in the Tower of London But it appeareth by that which Froissard reporteth that Sir william winsore was so farre from subduing the Irish as that himselfe reported That he could neuer haue accesse to vnderstande and know their Countries albeit he had spent more time in the seruice of Ireland then any Englishman then liuing ANd heere I may well take occasion to shewe the vanity of that which is reported in the Story of walsingham touching the reuennue of the Crown in Ireland in the time of king Edward the third For he setting forth the State of things there in the time of King Richard the 2. Writeth thus Cum Rex Angliae illustris Edwardus tertius illic posuisset Bancum suum at◠Iudices cum Scaccario percepit inde ad Regalem Fiscum annuatim triginta millia librarum modò propter absentiam ligeorum hostium potentiam nihil inde venit sed Rex per annos singulos de suo Marsupio terrae defensoribus soluit Triginta millia marcarum ad regni sui dedecus et fisci grauissimum detrimentū If this Writer had knowne that the Kings Courts had beene established in Ireland more then a hundred yeares before King Edw. 3. was borne or had seene eyther the Parliament Rols in England or the Records of the Receits and yssues in Ireland he had not left this vaine report to posterity For both the Benches and the Exchequer were erected in the twelfth year of King Iohn And it is recorded in the Parliament Rols of 21 of Edward the third remaining in the Tower that the Commons of England made petition that it might be enquired why the King receiued no benefit of his land of Ireland considering he possessed more there then any of his Ancestors had before him Now if the King at that time when there were no Standing forces maintained there had receiued 30000. pound yearely at his Exchequer in Ireland he must needes haue made profit by that land considering that the whole charge of the kingdome in the 47. yeare of Edward the third when the King did pay an army there did amount to no more then eleuen thousand and two hundred pounds per annum as appeareth by the contract of Sir VVilliam winsore Besides it is manifest by the Pipe-Rolles of that time wherof many are yet preserued in Breminghams Tower and are of better credite then any Monkes story that during the raigne of King Edward the third the reuenew of the Crowne of Ireland both certaine and casuall did not rise vnto 10000. li. per annum though the Medium be taken of the best seauen years that are to bee found in that Kinges time The like Fable hath Hollingshead touching the reuennue of the Earledome of Vlster which saith hee in the time of king Richard the second was thirty thousand Markes by the yeare whereas in truth though the Lordships of Conaght and Meth which were then parcell of the inheritaunce of the Earle of Vlster be added to the accompt the reuennew of that earledome came not to the thirde part of that he writeth For the Accompt of the profits of Vlster
Irish nor the benefit and protection therof allowed vnto them though they earnestly desired and sought the same For as long as they were out of the protection of the Lawe so as euery English-man might oppresse spoyle and kill them without controulment howe was it possible they shoulde bee other then Out-Lawes Enemies to the Crown of England If the King woulde not admit them to the condition of Subiects how could they learn to acknoledge and obey him as their Soueraigne When they might not conuerse or Commerce with any Ciuill men nor enter into any Towne or Citty without perrill of their Liues whither should they flye but into the Woods and Mountaines and there liue in a wilde and barbarous maner If the English Magistrates would not rule them by the Law which doth punish Treason and Murder Thest with death but leaue them to be ruled by their owne Lords and Lawes why shoulde they not embrace their owne Brebon Lawe which punnisheth no offence but with a Fine or Ericke If the Irish bee not permitted to purchase estates of Free-holds or Inheritance which might discend to their Children according to the course of our Common Lawe must they not continue their custome of Tanistrie which makes all their possessions vncertaine and brings Confusion Barbarisme and Inciuility In a word if the English woulde neither in peace Gouerne them by the Law nor could in War root them out by the sword must they not needes bee prickes in their eyes and thornes in their sides till the worlds end and so the Conquest neuer bee brought to perfection BVton the other side If from the beginning the Lawes of England had beene established and the Brehon or Irish Law vtterly abolished aswell in the Irish Countries as the English Colonies If there had been no difference made betweene the Nations in point of Iustice and protection but al had beene gouerned by one Equall Iust and Honourable Lawe as Dido speaketh in Virgill Tros Tyriusuè mihi nullo discrimine habetur If vpon the first submission made by the Irish Lordes to King Henry the second Quem in Regem Dominum receperunt saith Matth. Paris or vpon the second submission made to King Iohn when Plusquam viginti Reguli maximo timore perterriti homagium ei fidelitatem fecerunt as the same Author writeth or vppon the third general submission made to King Richard the second when they did not only do homage fealty but bound themselues by Indentures and Oaths as is before expressed to becom and continue loyall subiects to the crown of England If any of these three Kings who came each of them twice in person into this kingdome had vppon these submissions of the Irishry receiued them all both Lords Tenants into their mediate protection deuided their seuerall Countries into Counties made Sheriffes Coroners and Wardens of the peace therein sent Iustices Itinerants halfe yearely into euerie part of the Kingdome aswell to punish Malefactors as to heare and determine causes betweene party and party according to the course of the Lawes of England taken surrenders of their Lands and territories graunted estates vnto them to holde by English Tenures graunted them Markets Fayres and other Franchises and erected Corporate Townes among them all which hath bin performed since his Maiesty came to the Crowne assuredly the Irish Countries had long since beene reformed and reduced to Peace Plenty and Ciuility which are the effects of Lawes and good Gouernment they hadde builded Houses planted Orchards Gardens erected Towne-shippes and made prouision for their posterities there had beene a perfect Vnion betwixt the Nations and consequently a perfect Conquest of Ireland For the Conquest is neuer perfect till the war be at an end and the war is not at an end till there be peace and vnity and there can neuer be vnity Concord in any one Kingdom but where there is but one King one Allegiance and one Law TRue it is that King Iohn made xii shires in Leinster Mounster namely Dublin Kildare Meth Vriel Catherlogh Kilkenny VVexford waterford Corke Limeric Kerrie and Tipperary Yet these Counties did stretch no farther then the Landes of the English Colonies did extend In them only were the English Lawes published and put in Execution and in them only did the Itinerant Iudges make their circuits and yisitations of Iustice and not in the countries possessed by the Irishry which contained two third partes of the Kingdome at least And thâ—…â—…re King Edward the first before the court of Parliament was established in Ireland did transmit the Statures of England in this forme Dominus Rex mandauit Breue suum in haec verba Edwardus Dei gratia Rex Angliae Dominus Hiberniae c. Cancellario suo Hiberniae Salutem Quaedam statutaper nos de assensil Praelatorum ComituÌ„ BaronuÌ„ Communitat regni nostri nuper apud Lincolne quaedam alia statuta postmodum apud Eborum facta quae in dicta terrae nostra Hiberniae ad Communem vtilitateÌ„ populi nostri eiusdem terrae obseruari volumus vobis mittimus sub sigillo nostro mandantes quod statuta illa in dict a Cancellaria nostra Custodiri ac in rotulis eiusdem Cancellariae irrotulari adsingulas place as nostras in terra nostra Hiberniae sing ulos Commitatus eiusdem terrae mittifaciatis ministris nostris placearum illa rum et Vicecomitibus dictorum ComitatuuÌ„ mandantes quod statuta illa coram ipsis publicari ea in omnibus et singulis Articulis suis obseruari firmiter faciatis Teste meipso apud Nottingham c By which Writt and by all the Pipe-Rolles of that time it is manifest that the Lawes of England were published and put in execution onely in the Counties which were then made and limited not in the Irish Countries which were neglected and left wilde and haue but of late yeares bin deuided in one and twenty Counties more Againe true it is that by the Statute of Kilkenny enacted in this kingdome in the fortith yeare of King Edward the thirde the Brehon Law was condemned and abolished and the vse and practise thereof made High-Treason But this Lawe extended to the English onely and not to the Irish For the Lawe is penned in this forme Item Forasmuch as the diuersitie of Gouernment by diuers Lawes in one Land doth make diuersity of ligeance and dehates between the people It is accorded and established that heereafter no Englishman haue debate with another Englishman but according to the course of the Common Law And that no Englishman be ruled in the definition of their debates by the March-Law or the Brehon Law which by reason ought not to bee named a Law but an euill Custome but that they be ruled as right is by the common Lawe of the land as the Lieges of our Soueraigne LORD the King And if any do to the contrary thereof be attainted that he be taken and
Ireland a Gouernor much feared of the Kings Enemies and exceedingly honored and beloued of the Kings subiects And the instructions giuen by the state of Ireland to Iohn Allen Maister of the Rols employed into England neere about the same time doe declare as much wherein among other things hee is required to aduertise the King that his Land of Ireland was so much decayed as that the Kings Lawes were not obeyed twenty miles in compas Whereupon grew that By-word vsed by the Irish viz That they dwelt By-west the Law which dwelt beyond the Riuer of the Barrow which is within 30. Miles of Dublin The same is testified by Baron Finglas in his Discourse of the decay of Ireland which hee wrote about the 20. yeare of King Henry 8. And thus we see the effect of the Reformation which was intended by Sir Edward Poynings THE next Attempt of Reformation was made in the 28. yeare of King Henry 8. by the Lorde Leonard Gray who was created Viscount of Garny in this Kingdome and helde a Parliament wherein many excellent Lawes were made But to prepare the mindes of the people to obey these Lawes he began first with a Martiall course For being sent ouer to suppresse the Rebellion of the Giraldines which he performed in few months he afterwards made a victorious Circuit round about the Kingdome beginning in Offaly against O Connor who had ayded the Giralà ines in their Rebellion and from thence passing along through all the Irish Countries in Leinster and so into Mounster wher hee tooke pledges of the degenerate Earle of Desmond and thence into Conaght and thence into Vlster then concluded this warlicke Progresse with the Battell of Belahoo in the Borders of Meth as is before remembred The principall Septs of the Irishry beeing all terrified and most of them broken in this iourney manie of their chiefe Lords vppon this Deputies returne came to Dublin and made their submissions to the crown of England Namely the O Neales O Relies of Vlster Mac Murrogh O Birne and O Carrol of Leinster and the Bourks of Conaght This preparation being made he first propounded and passed in Parlament these Lawes which made the great alteration in the State Ecclesiastical Namely the Act which declared King Henry the eight to bee supreame Head of the Church of Ireland The Act probibiting Apeales to the church of Rome the Act for first fruites and twentith part to be paid to the King the Act for Faculties and Dispensations And lastly the Act that did vtterly abolish the vsurped Authoritie of the Pope Next for the encrease of the Kings Reuennew By one Act he suppressed sundry Abbeyes and Religious Houses and by another Acte resumed the Lands of the Absentees as is before remembred And for the Ciuill Gouernment a speciall Statute was made to abolish the Black-Rents and tributes exacted by the Irish vpon the English Colonies and another Law enacted that the English Apparrell Language manner of liuing should bee vsed by all such as would acknoledge themselues the Kings Subiects This Parliament being ended the Lord Leonard Gray was suddenly reuokt and put to death in England so as hee liued not to finish the woorke of Reformation which he had begun which notwithstanding was well pursued by his successors Sir Anthony Saint-Leger Vnto whom all the Lords and Chiefetanes of the Irishry and of the degenerate English throughout the Kingdome made their seueral submissions by Indenture which was the fourth general submission of the Irish made since the first attempt of the Conquest of Ireland whereof the first was made to King Henry 2. the second to k. Iohn the third to K. Richard 2. and his last to Sir Anthony Saint-Leger in 33. of Hen. 8. IN these Indentures of submission all the Irish Lords do acknowledge K. Henry the eight to be their Soueraign Lord and King and desire to bee accepted of him as subiects They confesse the Kings supremacy in all causes do vtterly renounce the Popes Jurisdiction which I conceiue to bee worth the noting because when the Irish had once resolued to obey the king they made no scruple to renounce the Pope And this was not only done by the meere Irish but the chiefe of the degenerate English Families did perfourme the same as Desmond Barry and Roche in Mounster and the Bourkes which bore the Title of Mac william in Conaght These submissions being thus taken the Lorde Deputy and Counsell for the present Gouernment of those Irish Countries made certaine Ordinances of state not agreeable altogither with the Rules of the Law of England the reason whereof is exprest in the preamble of those Ordinances Quia nondum sic sapiunt leges Iura vt secundū ea iam immediatè viuere regipossint The chiefe points or Articles of which Orders registred in the Counsel Booke are these That King Henrie the eight shold be accepted reputed and named King of Ireland by all the Inhabitants of the Kingdome that al Archbishops and Bishops should bee permitted to exercise their Iurisdiction in euery Diocesse throughout the Land that tithes should be duely set out and paide that Children should not be admitted to Benefices that for euery Manslaughter and theft aboue 14 d committed in the Irish Contries the offender shold pay a fine of 40. li. twenty pound to the King and 20. li. to the Captaine of the Country and for euery thefte vnder 14. d. a fine of fiue markes should be paid 46. s. viij d to the Captaine and 20. s. to the Tanister That Horsemen and Kearn shold not be imposed vppon the Common people to beefed and maintained by them That the Maister shold answer for his seruants and the Father for his Children That Cuttinges should not be made by the Lorde vppon his Tenants to maintaine war with his neighbors but only to beare his necessary expences c. These ordinances of state being made and published there were nominated and appointed in euery prouince certaine Orderers or Arbitraters who instead of these Irish Erehons should heare and determine all their Controuersies In Conaght the Arch-Bishop of Tuam the Bishop of Clonfert Captaine wakeley and Captaine Ouington In Munster the Bishop of VVaterford the Bishop of Corke and Rosse the Maior of Corke and Maior of Yough-hall In Vlster the Archbishop of Ardmagh the Lord of Lowth And if any difference did arise which they could not end either for the difficultie of the cause or for the obstinacy of the parties they were to certifie the Lord Deputy and Counsell who would decide the matter by their authority Heereuppon the Irish Captaines of lesser Territories which had euer bin oppressed by the greater mightier some with Risings out others with Bonaght and others with Cuttings and spendings at pleasure did appeale for Iustice to the Lorde Deputy who vpon hearing their Complaints did alwayes order that they should all imediatly depend vpon the King and
former times but of those Lands only which are found in the Lords possession of those certaine summes of Money as Rents issuing out of the rest But the Lands which are found to be possest by the Tenants are left vnto them respectiuely charged with these certain Rents only in lieu of all vncertaine Irish exactions In like manner vpon all Grants which haue past by vertue of the commission for defectiue Titles the Cōmissioners haue taken speciall Caution for preseruation of the Estates of all particular Tenants And as for Graunts of Captaineshippes or Seneschal-shippes in the Irish Countries albeit this Deputy had as much power and authority to graunt the same as any other Gouernors had before him and might haue raised as much profit by bestowing the same if he had respected his priuate more then the publicke good yet hath he bin so farre from passing any such in all his time as he hath endeuoured to resume all the Graunts of that kinde that haue bin made by his Predecessors to the end the inferiour subiects of the Realme should make their only and imediate dependancie vppon the Crowne And thus we see how the greatest part of the possessions aswell of the Irish as of the English in Leinster Conaght and Mounster are setled and secured since his Maiestie came to the Crowne whereby the harts of the people are also setled not only to liue in peace but raised incouraged to builde to plant to giue better education to their children to improue the commodities of their Landes whereby the yearely value thereof is already encreased double of that it was within these few yeares and is like daily to rise higher till it amount to the price of our Lande in England LAstly the possessions of the Irishry in the Prouince of Vlster though it were the most rude and vnreformed part of Ireland and the Seat and Nest of the last great Rebellion are now better disposed and established then any the Lands in the other Prouinces which haue bin past and setled vpon Surrenders For as the occasion of the disposing of those Lands did not happen without the speciall prouidence and finger of God which did cast out those wicked and vngratefull Traitors who were the only enemies of the reformation of Ireland so the distribution and plantation thereof hath bin proiected prosecuted by the speciall direction and care of the K. himselfe wherein his Maiesty hath corrected the Errors before spoken of committed by K. Henry 2. k. Iohn in distributing and planting the first conquered Landes For although there were six whole Shires to be disposed his Maiesty gaue not an entire Country or County to any particular person much lesse did he grant lura Regalia or any extraordinary Liberties For the best British Vndertaker had but a proportion of 3000. Acres for himself with power to create a Mannor and hold a Court Baron Albeit many of these Vndertakers were of as great birth quality as the best Aduenturers in the first conquest Again his Maiesty did not vtterly exclude the Natiues out of this plantatiō with a purpose to roote them out as the Irish wer excluded out of the first English Colonies but made a mixt plantation of Brittish Irish that they might grow vp togither in one Nation Only the Irish were in some places transplanted from the Woods Mountaines into the Plaines open Countries that being remoued like wild fruit trees they might grow the milder and beare the better sweeter fruit And this truly is the Maister-piece and most excellent part of the worke of Reformation and is worthy indeed of his Maiesties royall paines For when this Plantation hath taken root and bin fixt and setled but a few yeares with the fauour and blessing of God for the son of God himselfe hath said in the Gospell Omnis Plantatio quam non plantauit pater meus eradicabitur it will secure the peace of Irelād assure it to the Crowne of England for euer and finally make it a Ciuill and a Rich a Mighty and a Flourishing Kingdome I omit to speake of the increase of the Reuenew of the Crown both certaine and casuall which is raised to a double proportion at lest aboue that it was by deriuing the publick Iustice into all parts of the Realm by setling all the possessions both of the Irish English by re-establishing the compositions by restoring and resuming the Customes by reuiuing the Tenures in Capite and Knights-Seruice reducing many other thinges into charge which by the confusion and negligence offormer times became concealed and subtracted from the Crowne I forbeare likewise to speak of the due and ready bringing in of the Reuenue which is broght to passe by the well-ordering of the Court of Exchequer and the Authority paines of the Commissioners for Accompts I might also adde heereunto the encouragement that hath bin giuen to the Maritime Townes and Citties as well to increase their trade of Marchandize as to cherrish Mechanicall Arts and Sciences in that all their Charters haue bin renued their Liberties more inlarged by his Maiesty then by any of his Progenitors since the Conquest As likewise the care course that hath been taken to make Ciuil Commerce and enter course betweene the Subiects newly reformed and brought vnder Obedience by granting Markets and Faires to bee holden in their Countries and by erecting of corporate Townes among them Briefly the clock of the ciuil Gouernment is now well set and all the wheeles thereof doemoue in Order The strings of this Irish Harpe which the Ciuill Magistrate doth finger are all in tune for I omit to speak of the State Ecclesiasticall and make a good Harmony in this Commonweale So as we may well conceiue a hope that Ireland which heertofore might properly be called the Land of Ire because the Irascible power was predominant there for the space of 400. yeares together will from henceforth prooue a Land of Peace and Concorde And though heeretofore it hath bin like the leane Cow of Egypt in Pharaohs Dreame deuouring the fat of England and yet remaining as leane as it was before it will heereafter bee as fruitfull as the land of Canaan the description whereof in the 8. of Deutronomie doth in euery part agree with Ireland being Terra Riuorum aquarumque Iontium in cuius Campis Montibus erumpunt fluviorum abyssi Terra frumenti hordei Terralactis mellis vbi absque vlla penuria comedes panemtuum rerum abundantia perfrueris And thus I haue discouered and expressed the Defects and Errors aswell in the mannaging of the Martiall Affaires as Of the Ciuil which in former Ages gaue impediment to the reducing of all Ireland to the Obedience Subiection of the Crowne of England I haue likewise obserued what courses haue bin taken to Reforme the Defects and Errors in Gouernment and to reduce the People of this Land to Obedience since the beginning of