them to secure the Peace of the Nation And sent them farther private Instructions by Robert Waspail who carried those Letters to whom he commanded them to give Credit And not long after the Lord Justice was removed and David Barry the worthy Ancestor of the Noble Family of Barrymore was made Lord Justice 1267. he so managed the Giraldines that he took from them the Castle of Sligo and all their Lands in Connaught and thereby put an End to those Wars and Differences that were between them and the Burks And in his Time the Friers Preachers were setled at Ross Kilkenny and Clonmel Sir Robert de Vfford was made Lord Justice of Ireland 1268. and began to build the Castle of Roscomon In his Time Cnoghor O Brian of Thomond was slain i.e. murdered by Dermònd mac Monard and Maurice Fitz-Girald not of Desmond as the Annals say but Son of Maurice Lord Justice anno 1272 was drowned between Ireland and Wales And about this Time came over a Writ from the King to levy Aurum Reginae for Elianor the Prince's Wife as was used in England which you may read at large 4 Inst 357. On which I will make but this one Remark That if the Sovereignty of Ireland were in the Prince how comes the King to send the Writ But it will evidently appear by the following Writ That the Prince had not the Sovereignty of that Kingdom CVm Rex per Cartam suam concessit Edvardo 52 Hen. 3. primogenito suo Terram suam Hiberniae cum pertinentiis Lib. GGG c. habendum sibi haeredibus suis Lambeth ita quod non separetur a Corona Angliae idem Edvardus sine Licentia Regis alienationes quorundam terrarum tenementorum spectantium ad Terram praedictam fecerit contra tenorem feofamenti Regis quod idem rex sustinere voluit ideo nunc dedit potestatem mandatum nepoti suo filio Regis Alemani the Son of Richard Earl of Cornwal King of the Romans revocandi omnia maneria terras tenementa quae dictus Edvardus filius Regis sic alienavit post feofamentum praedict c. Richard de Excester 1269. Lord Justice In whose time Othobon the Pope's Legate made excellent Constitutions at London He made a more firm Peace and Reconciliation between the Burks and Giraldines And not long after died and Sir James Audly 1270. or de Aldethel was made Lord Justice and had a very unfortunate Government of it for the Irish were every where troublesome Fragm M. S. Quasi omnes Hiberni guerraverunt omnes munitiones Fortifications in Ophaly praeter Castrum de Lega Ley destructi sunt Anglici inde expulsi magna strages utriusque nationis facta est in Connacia The Irish burn'd spoil'd destroyed and slew as well Magistrates as others and the King of Connaught in plain Field defeated Walter Burk Hanmer 202. Earl of Vlster and killed a great number of Nobles and Knights and particularly the Lords Richard and John Verdon and a great Famine and Pestilence the natural Consequences of War spread over all Ireland and sorely afflicted the whole Kingdom The Castles of Aldleck Roscomon and Scheligah perhaps Sligo were destroyed Nevertheless the Pope without Regard to these Universal Calamities required the Tiths of all Spiritual Promotions for three Years to maintain his Wars against a Christian King viz. of Arragon and tho' the People murmured and their Poverty and Misery pleaded loudly for them yet the rapacious Nuntio would not go empty away On the 23 of June 1272. the Lord Justice was killed by a fall from his Horse in Thomond and Maurice Fitz-Maurice Fitz-Girald was made Lord Justice 1272. and so continued till the sixteenth Day of November at which time the King died in Peace and full of Days in his Palace at London having reigned longer than any King since the Conquest viz. six and fifty Years c. THE REIGN OF EDWARD I. King of England c. And LORD of IRELAND EDWARD the First from the Talness of his Person Nicknamed Long-shanks succeeded his Deceased Father in all his Dominions on the 16th Day of November 1272 but he being at that time absent in the Holy Land the Nobility took care to keep all quiet until his Return and then on the 15th Day of August 1274. he was Crowned by Robert Archbishop of Canterbury Maurice Fitz-Maurice Fitz-Girald continued Lord Justice and to him Ware de pres 34. and to Hugh Bishop of Meath Lord Treasurer and to John de Sandford Escheator was a Writ sent December 7. 1272 Commissioning them to receive the Oaths of Fealty and Allegiance to the new King of all the Nobility Gentry and Commons of Ireland And the Lord Justice had another Writ of the same Date to proclaim the Kings Peace and to preserve it wherein 't is said That the King is willing and able by Gods Help to defend and do Justice to his People great and small And the Government of England being informed Prin. 256. That Avelina Countess of Vlster and Widow of Walter de Burgo had been endowed illegally both as to Quantity and Quality a Writ issued in the Kings Name to the Seneschal of Vlster to rectifie that Matter according to the Law and Usage of England In the mean time the Irish took advantage of the Kings absence from England and thought it an opportune Season to rebel 1273. they destroyed the Castle of Roscomon Aldleek Scheligath and Randon and found means to corrupt some of the Lord Justice Followers whereby he was betrayed into their hands in Ophaly and there taken and imprisoned whereupon Walter Genevil newly returned from the Holy Land was sent over Lord Justice Octob. 1273. to him a Writ was sent not to molest the Archbishop of Cashel for any Debts due from him to the King till his Majesties Return to England The Islanders and Red-shank Scots made a sudden incursion into Ireland and burnt several Towns and Villages killing Man 1274. Woman and Child most inhumanely and got away with vast Booty before the Country could get together or put themselves in a posture to prevent or resist this unexpected Torrent but not long after Richard de Burgo and Sir Eustace le Poer served them in their kind and entred the Islands and burnt their Cabbins and Cottages slew all they met with and smoakt out those that had hid themselves in Caves after the same manner that is used in smoaking a Fox out of his Earth Rosâ—omon-Castle was once again repaired 1275. or rather reedified and Mortagh a strong Tory being taken Prisoner by Sir Walter le Faunt was executed but the Lord Justice being recalled Sir Robert de Vfford was made Lord Justice 1276. in whose time Thomas de Clare Son of the Earl of Glocester came into Ireland and married Juliana Daughter of Maurice Fitz-Maurice Fitz-Girald though some say it was anno 1274. There is little
annexed to the Crown But two of the Burks seized upon most part of the Estate and divided it between them and knowing they could not hold it by the Law of England they confederated with the Irish and changed their Language Apparel Customs and Manners Nay their very Names were altered into those of Mac William Eighter and Mac William Oughter and by these means they have made a shift to keep some part of that mighty Estate for many score years The Lord Justice to revenge the Murder of the Earl of Vlster which made a great noise in Ireland call'd a Parliament by whose advice he went by Sea to Carigfergus on the first of July and by help of the Country People he destroyed the Murderers and their Abettors and thence with his Army he sailed into Scotland where he did very good Service But the Parliament sitting in England Cottons Rec. the 15th of March it was there resolved That because the Kings Affairs required him in France his Irish Voyage should be postpon'd for a year so as Aid might be sent in the mean time but it seems that the Scots so allarm'd him in the North that he performed neither the one nor the other Voyage And though both Houses apart advised the King to send Supplies of Men and Money to Ireland and gave him one Disme and one Fifteenth to that purpose yet I do not find that any considerable Recruits were sent thither but instead of that a Commission was sent to treat with the Rebels Prin 270. Whilst the Lord Justice was beyond Seas the Government was managed by Thomas de Burgh Lord Treasurer but it was not long before Darcy return'd with honour and releas'd Walter de Birmingham out of Prison in February following and soon after Sir Simon Archdeacon and others were slain by the Irish in Leinster Ibid. And the young Lord Roch prevail'd with the King to reduce to ten pounds a Fine of two hundred Marks impos'd on his Father for absenting himself from the Parliaments of 20 Edw. 2. and 2 Edw. 3. to both which he was summoned Maurice Fitz-Girald broke his Leg by a Fall from his Horse and was thereby hindred from repairing to England as he had promised and designed 1335. but now being recovered he went thither and was well received by the King and created Earl of Desmond 1336. 9 Ed. 3. On the 9th of August the English gave the Irishmen a great Defeat in Connaught Campion 88. and with the loss of one man slew ten thousand of their enemies and not long after the Lord Justice was removed and Sir John Charleton came over Lord Justice 1337. and brought with him his Brother Thomas Bishop of Hereford Lord Chancellor John Rice or ap Rees Lord Treasurer and two hundred Welsh Soldiers he called a Parliament at Dublin to which the Archbishop of Armagh designed to come Pryn. 409. and in order to it made great Preparations at S. Mary Abby but the Archbishop of Dublin would not permit him to advance his Cross in that Diocess till the King sent his Writs as well to the Archbishop as to the Corporation of Dublin not to molest the Primate Thomas Charleton 1338. Bishop of Hereford Governour of Ireland he caused Sir Eustace Poer and Sir John Poer to be imprisoned in the Castle of Dublin on the third Day of February And this Winter there was so great Frost and Snow from the second Day of December to the tenth Day of February that they Plaid Danced and roasted Fish on the Ice upon the River of Liffy And now again 1339. were all the Irish in Arms especially in Munster but the Earl of Desmond so well managed Matters there that he slew one thousand two hundred Men in Kerry and took Nicholas Fitz-Maurice Lord of Kerry Prisoner and kept him in Durance till he died Cambden 187. because he had joyned with the Irish against the King and the Earl Nor had the Earl of Kildare worse Success in Leinster for he pursued the O Dempsies so close that many of them were drowned in the River Barrow and the greatest Booty that ever was taken in that Country was brought by the Lord Justice and the English from Idrone in the County of Caterlogh about the latter end of February and in April following the Lord Justice being sent for to England resigned to Roger Outlaw 1340. Prior of Kilmainham Lord Justice he died the February following and by the Kings Patent constituted John Lord Darcy L. Justice during Life but he came not afterwards into Ireland but in May following sent over Sir John Morris 1341. Lord Deputy to whom the Inhabitants of Ireland did not pay that respect which was due to his Character for the English Irish were how grown so proud that they disdain'd to be under the authority of a Knight And therefore to mortifie them it was resolved to make a general Resumption of all Lands Liberties Signiories and Jurisdictions which this King or his Father had granted in Ireland QVia plures excessivae Donationes Terrarum Tenement 15 E. 3. m. 14 Libertatum in Terra Hibern ad minus veracem subdolem suggestionem potentium quam per Ed. 2. quam per Regem nunâ— facta sunt c. Rex delusorias hujusmodi Machinationes volens elidere de concilio peritorum sibi assistent omnes donationes Terrarum Tenement Libertat praedict duxit 〈◊〉 c. quousque de meritis personarum ac de causis conditionibus donationum praedict fuerit informat ideo Mandâ—â— est Justiâ— regni Hibern quod omnia Terras Ienementa c. praedict perdict Reges Justic aut locum tenentes suos quibuscunque personis fact seisire facias c. It cannot be expressed what Fewds Davis 138. that it was by good advice Heart-burnings and Dissatisfactions this one unadvised Act did create it was the rise and occasion of a distinction between the English of Blood and the English of Birth which had like to be fatal to the whole Kingdom Pryn. 272. all the old English were disobliged by this procedure and without their assistance the King could not keep much less enlarge his Interest in Ireland To qualifie this Matter and to allay these Heats 1342. a Parliament was summoned to meet at Dublin in October but the Earl of Desmond and other Great Men of that Faction openly refused to come and on the contrary they confederated with the Corporations and some Cities and the rest of the Male-contents and without consulting the Government they appointed a General Assembly at Kilkenny in November following and there they did accordingly meet and the Lord Justice had not Power to hinder them nor did he dare to come to them This Assembly sent Messengers to the King with their Complaints couched in these three Queries I. How a Realm of War could be governed by a Man unskilful in all war-like Service II. How an
England There was also another Petition for a free intercourse of Trade between Ireland and Portugal Ibid. whereunto the King gave a Gracious Answer And it seems that the State of England was intent upon the Recovery and Improvement of Ireland for Sir Nicholas Dagworth was sent thither to survey the Possessions of the Crown Davis 201 and to call the Officers of the Irish Revenue to account and the more to humour the Irish who thiink themselves disgraced when ignoble Men are put in the highest Authority over them Edmond Mortimer Earl of March and Vlster Jan. 24. 1380. was sent over Lord Lieutenant Sometime before he came viz. in Jun. 1380. the French and Spanish Gallies which did much Mischief on the Coasts of Ireland were by the English Fleet forced to retire into the Harbour of Kinsale where they were assailed and vanquished by the English and Irish so that their Chief Captains were taken Paâ—ata Hiberniae 360. and four hundred of the Enemies slain there were also taken four of their Barges and one Ballenget and one and twenty English Prizes were recovered I cannot find but that Ireland was pretty quiet during the Government of this Lord Lieutenant which did not continue very long for he died at St. Dominicks Abby near Cork on the 26th of December 1381. and the next day John Cotton then Dean of St. Patricks Ware de Praesulibus 28. and Lord Chancellor afterwards Achbishop of Armagh was chosen and sworn Sord Justice 1381 in the Convent of Preaching Friars at Cork Pryn 309. but it seems he did not long exercise that Office for in Mr. Prins Animadversions on the 4th Institut we find a Writ Dated the 29th Day of March anno 1382. viz. 5 R. 2. Directed to Roger Mortimer Earl of March Lord Lieutenant of Ireland whereby he is directed to call a Parliament there for the good Government of that Country and the support of the Kings great Charge and Expence but it is probable that this young Lord could not manage that unruly Kingdom and therefore Philip de Courtny the Kings Cousin was sent over Lord Lieutenant 1383. he had a great Estate in Ireland and therefore was the fitter for that Government He came over on good terms for he had a Patent to hold that Office for ten years nevertheless he behaved himself so ill Lib. M. Lamb. that he was not only superseded but also was arrested whilst he was Lord Lieutenant and afterwards grievously punished for the wrongs and oppressions he had done in Ireland Davis 201. In his time hapned a great Mortality called the Fourth Pestilence and upon the removal of him the Government of Ireland was given to the great Favourite of that Age Robert de Vere Earl of Oxford afterwards Marquess of Dublin Decemb. 1384. and Duke of Ireland Lord Lieutenant The English Parliament to get rid of him gave him a Debt of thirty thousand Marks due from the French King upon condition that after Easter he should pass into Ireland to recover the Lands the King had given him there he had five hundred Men at Arms at twelve pence per diem and a thousand Archers at six pence apiece a day appointed him for two years super conquestum illius Terrae He was trusted with the whole Dominion of the Realm during his Life without paying any thing therefore or making any Account for it He had Power to pass all Writs under his own Test and to place and displace all Officers how great soever even the Chancellor Treasurer Admiral c. and to name his own Deputy and all other Ministers And it seems that he had afterwards a larger Patent 4th Instit 357 9 Rich. 2. whereby the King granted him Totam Terram Dominium Hiberniae Insulas eidem Terrae adjacentes ac omnia Castra Comitatus Burgos Villas Portus Maris c. una cum Homagiis Obedientiis Vassallis Servitiis Recognitionibus Praelatorum Comitum Baronum c. cum Regaliis Regalitatibus Libertatibus c. omnibus aliis qnae ad Regaliam Nostram pertinent cum Mero Mixto Imperio adeo plene integre perfecte sicut Nos ea tenuimus habuimus tenuerunt habuerunt Progenitorum nostrorum aliqui ullis unquam temporibus retroactis Tenendum per Homagium Ligeum tantum c. But that which is most strange is That those illegal Letters Patents should be authorized by Parliament Assensâ— Praelatorum Ducum aliorum Procerum Communitatis nostri Angliae in Parliamento but nullum violentum est perpetuum novus iste insolitus umbratilis honor cito evanuit But it is time to return to the great Minion the Earl of Oxford who came as far as Wales and the King with him but they could not be perswaded to part and therefore this Lord Lieutenant never went to Ireland but deputed Sir John Stanly 1385. Lord Deputy in whose time the Bridge of Dublin fell and at the Parliament held at Westminster Roger Mortimer Earl of March Son of Philippa Daughter of Lionel Duke of Clarence Third Son of Edward the Third was established and soon after proclaimed Heir Apparent to the Crown and yet he was but Heir Presumptive but this Lord Justice was sent for and Alexander de Balscot April 26. alias Petit 1387. Bishop of Meath who had been Treasurer and Chancellor did execute the Office of Lord Justice until the return of Sir John Stanly 1389. Lord Deputy to the aforesaid Earl of Oxford Lib. D. Lambeth to him O Neal and his Sons made an humble Submission in Writing wherein they renounced the Bonaught of Vlster they also promised Allegiance and gave Oaths and Hostages for the performance thereof And it is to be noted 1390. That almost in every Parliament of this Reign held in England the King did desire Aid from them for the carrying on the War in Ireland But at length the English Parliament did so vigorously prosecute the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland that he was forced to fly beyond Seas and not long after died miserably at Brussels and thereupon James Earl of Ormond July 25. was made Lord Justice and the Archbishop of Dublin was constituted Lord Chancellor 1392. This Lord Justice beat the Mac Moyns at Tascoffin in the County of Kilkenny and slew six hundred of them And now the State of England began to think seriously of the Recovery of Ireland and finding that that Country was poor and almost depopulated by the mighty Concourse of Irish into England whereby the Kings Revenue was decayed and the Power of the Irish Rebels increased it was thought fit to revive the Law against Absentees and to issue a Proclamation requiring all those whose Habitations were in that Kingdom to repair home Also some Recruits of Men and Money were sent to Ireland and the King had by Indenture agreed with Thomas Duke of Glocester to be Lord Lieutenant of
Resumption of all the Grants made by the Crown since the last day of the Reign of King Edward the Second Lib. G. except some Particulars mentioned in the Act and another Act Rot. Parl. c. 41. attaints the Earl of Kildare and his Brother James for High Treason for corresponding with O Hanlon and seizing the Castle of Caterlogh for extorting Coyn and Livery and for treating with the King of Scotland however he was afterward acquitted in England and received into favour and perhaps there was another Act to dissolve the Fraternity of S. George for it is certain that about this time that Brotherhood fell and so I have done with this Famous Parliament when I have told you that it is a Mistake in the Printed Statute-Book to place it anno 1495 because it is manifest That November 1494 was in the tenth Year of this King's Reign It is scarce worth mentioning Ware 43. That during this Parliament the Lord Deputy made another Expedition into Vlster because the Irish fled into their Fastnesses so that he reaped but small Fruit for his Journey In his Absence he left a Commission with the Chanchellor to continue adjourn prorogue or dissolve the Parliament as he saw cause About this time Cormock mac Teige mac Carthy of Muskry 1495. was basely murdered by his Brother Owen Ancestor of the Mac Carthyes of Cloghroe and was buried in the Abby of Kilcrea which he himself had founded But let us return to Perkin Werbeck who set sail from Flanders with about six hundred Men and arrived on the Coast of Kent but he found ill treatment there for one hundred and sixty of his Men were taken Prisoners and afterwards executed Thence he sailed to Ireland where he staid some time in Munster probably at Cork but finding the Irish unable to give him any considerable Assistance and fearing the Forces of the Lord Deputy he went thence into Scotland and by that King's Consent married the Earl of Huntly's Daughter who was nearly related to the Crown of Scotland The King of Scots did invade England in favour of Perkin but finding that none of the English came to assist the Impostor he wasted Northumberland and returned And thus Sir Edward Poynings drove Perkin out of Ireland and suppressed his Abettors and established many good Laws which though for the present they extended no further than the Pale yet their Effect and Influence increased and inlarged as fast as the King's Authority did so that those Statutes are at this day in full force over all the Kingdom And the King finding Ireland in so quiet a condition recalled the Lord Deputy and for his good Service made him Knight of the Garter And in his place appointed Henry Dean 1495. Bishop of Bangor Chancellor of Ireland and afterwards Archbishop of Canterbury 1496. to be Lord Justice and on the twenty sixth of April William Ratcliff was made Vice-Treasurer and John Pimp Treasurer at War and on the twenty fifth of June the Lord Delvin was made General for defence of the Pale and in July Octavianus Archbishop of Armagh held a Synod at Droghedah the Acts whereof are not to be found and in August Hugh O Donel being returned out of Scotland encountred and defeated O Connor near Sligo Whereupon he besieged the Castle of Sligo but without Success for being frightned with the News of the Approach of the Burks of Clanrickard he raised the Siege and retired in hast towards Tyrconnel But Burk was not so satisfied but burnt and destroyed all the adjacent Territories that belonged to O Donel's Partisans But the Earl of Kildare was still kept in Prison in England for Grief whereof his Countess died The Earl was accused of burning the Church of Cashel and many Witnesses were ready to prove it when contrary to all their Expectations he readily confessed the Fact and swore by Jesus That he would never have done it but that he thought the Archbishop was in it Which being uttered with a bluntless peculiar to this Lord did exceedingly work upon the King for whilst the Earl did so earnestly urge that for his Excuse which was the greatest Aggravation of his Crime the King easily perceived That a Person of that Natural Simplicity and Plainness could not be guilty of those Finesses and Intrigues that were objected against him It is reported of this Earl That he desired the King to permit him to have Council to manage his Cause since he was altogether unqualified to deal with such cunning Knaves as his Adversaries The King told him He should have what Counsel he would choose and that it concerned him to get Counsel that were very good for that he doubted his Cause was very bad The Earl replied That he would pitch upon the best Counsel in England Who is that said the King Marry even your Majesty quoth the Earl Whereat the King laughed But nevertheless he so requited Kildare for his Complement that when the Adversary concluded his Oration That all Ireland could not govern this Man the King took that occasion to make reply That therefore he was the fittest Man to govern Ireland Ware 49. And so for his Jest-sake made him Lord Lieutenant of that Kingdom by his Letters Patent of the sixth of August and restored him to his Honour and Estate Nevertheless the King kept the Earls eldest Son Girald as Hostage of the Father's Fidelity which proved to be a matter of Caution rather than of Necessity for no body could behave himself with more Loyalty to his Prince nor more Vigor against the Irish than the Earl of Kildare did from henceforward But to proceed Girald Earl of Kildare 1496. being made Lord Lieutenant in a short time after he had received the Sword marched towards Thomond against O Brian he went through the City of Limerick and took the Castle of Feyback from Finin Mac nâ—marra and afterwards took and rased the Castle of Ballyniti or Ballynice and so returned to Dublin and was reconciled to the Archbishop of Armagh to their mutual Ease and Quiet and to the great Advantage of Publick Affairs which often suffer especially in Ireland by the private Animosities of the Grandees But the Bishop of Bangor was recalled into England and Walter Archbishop of Dublin was made Lord Chancellor in his stead This good Archbishop in a Synod at Dublin anno 1492 procured a Pension for a Divinity-Reader there to be paid by him and his Suffragans and their Successors for ever And it is reported of him That being present when a famous Orator made a most eloquent Speech to the King his Majesty asked the Archbishop How he liked the Oration The good old Man replied That he saw no other Fault in it but Flattery As God shall love me quoth the King That is the very Fault I my self espied The King by advice of the Lord Lieutenant resolved to pardon those great Men that had been concerned with Perkin Warbeck lest Despair might induce
another Parliament at Dublin by the Title of Lord Deputy to Henry the King 's second Son who it seems was about this time made Lord Lieutenant but there is no Record remaining of what they did except some Amercements or Fines they imposed on some that were summoned to that Parliament and did not appear The Lord Deputy began the Year 1499 with an Expedition into Connaught 1499. where he took the Castles of Athleage Roscomon Tuilsk and Castlereagh and placed Garrisons in them And in the mean time Tirlagh O Brian who after the Death of Gil-duff was Chief or Lord of Thomond had great Contests with Sir Pierce Butler about Preys and Bounds of Land which according to the Custom of these Times centred in a Battle wherein the Butlers were defeated and the Sovereign of Kilkenny was slain It seems that there was another Parliament held at Castledermond which Town I suppose was then and still is belonging to the Earls of Kildare on the twenty sixth of August which gave the King and his Heirs an Impost of twelve Pence per Pound of all Merchandize imported to be sold here Irish Stat. 43. Wine and Oyl excepted And it is probable That there were some Orders if not Acts That the Nobility should ride on Saddles Ware 's An. 60. according to the English Custom and should wear their Robes in Parliament And both the Clergy and Laity gave the King a Subsidy The Printed Book of Statutes has only the first of these Acts and places the Parliament in anno 1500. which is undoubtedly a Mistake And Sir James Ware ascribes the aforesaid Act against Customers to this Parliament which is also a Mistake And both these Oversights will appear and 〈◊〉 rectified if you rightly consider the beginning of the King◠Reign the twenty second of August 1485. and that the Earl of Kildare was Lord Lieutenant 14 Hen. 7. when 〈…〉 Act was made and was Lord Deputy when the later 〈…〉 sate And that this change of his Title happened 〈…〉 later end of the Year 1498. It seems that the Male-contents in Ireland having los◠their beloved Idol Perkin Warbeck would not so give out but were active to set up the Bastard-Son of Richard the Third or some body that should personate him but it came to nothing And so we are come to the Year of Jubile 1500. which concludes the Fifteenth Century and brought with it large Indulgences from the Pope Alexander the Sixth to be distributed by his Agent Gasper Pow to all the King's Subjects who would contribute to the War against the Turks but if we may believe Polydor Virgil the Irish had the good Manners to thank the Pope for his Favour and the Wit to keep the Money in their Purses But the Lord Deputy made another Expedition into Vlster probably in favour of his Nephew Tyrlogh O Neal for as soon as he had taken the Castle of Kinard he made Tyrlogh Governor of it and returned On the First of August the Charter of Cork was restored and their Priviledges enlarged by a new Charter which was followed by a sad Accident for David Barry Arch-Deacon of Cork and Cloyne murdered his own Brother William Lord Barry and was himself serv'd in the same kind by Thomas Barry and his Body taken out of the Grave and burnt by Command of the Earl of Desmond And so we must close this Century with the accidental and unfortunate Conflagration of the Town of Galway which was first governed by a Provost then Sovereign and Bayliffs then Mayor and Bayliffs and now by Mayor and Sheriffs and with very wet and bad Weather which continued from the middle of September to the End of Winter Leinster and Munster were indifferent quiet all this Year 1501. but Vlster and Connaught were far otherwise one of the O Connors took the Castle of Sligo by Assault and many private Murders were committed in Vlster O Neal also and the Scots had some Bickerings near Armagh on the 17th of March to the Damage of the later who lost four Captains and sixty Souldiers and to this time we must refer these Bald Verses representing the miserable Estate of Armagh Civitas Armachana Civitas vana absque bonis moribus Mulieres nudae Carnes crudae Paupertas in Aedibus The next Year produced a General Murrain amongst the Cattel all over Ireland and many Murders in Vlster upon private and frivolous Quarrels But in the beginning of the Year 1503. 1503. the Lord Deputy went to England leaving Walter Fitz-Symons Archbishop of Dublin Lord Deputy but he staid not above three Months in England for having done his Business to his Mind he return'd in August with great Honour and new Instructions Girald Earl of Kildare Lord Deputy being returned did about the latter end of Autumn make another Expedition into Vlster where he took and destroyed the Castle of Belfast and placed one Stanton and a good Garrison in Carigfergus and then marched back to Dublin In the mean time Theobald Burk Proprietor of Muskry-Cuirk in Munster was slain in a Skirmish with Donough O Carol and Cornelius O Dwyer but another of the Burks had better Fortune in Connaught for he defeated Malachiah O Kelly and all his Party On the 18th of February Girald Fitz-Girald the Lord Deputy's Eldest Son was made Lord High Treasurer of Ireland of whom we shall read more hereafter But the Irish Lords finding themselves too weak separately to oppose Kildare as they used to do to other Governors many of them confederated together the Principal of them was Vlick Burk Chief of Clanricard commonly called Mac-William Tyrlogh O Brian Chief of Thomond Melrony O Carol c. and got together the greatest Army that had been in Ireland since the Conquest whereof the Lord Deputy having notice he also assembled his Forces and being accompanied by the Lords of Gormanstown Slane Delvin Killen Houth Trimletston and Dunsany John Blake Mayor of Dublin O Donel O Reyly Ware 71. the Bishop of Ardah the Gentlemen of Annaly now Longford and some Townsmen of Drogheda and some others from the North he marched into Connaught and on the 19th of August at Knocklow both Parties met and fought a bloody Battel 1504. which was for some hours very dubious but at last the Lord Deputy got the Victory with the Slaughter of four thousand of his Enemies nine thousand says the Book of Houth and he also took some Prisoners amongst whom the two Sons of Vlick Burk were the chiefest it is prodigious that not one Englishman should be so much as hurt in this mighty Battel and yet in the white Book of the Exchequer it is so recorded Holingshead 79 The Consequence of this great Victory was the Surrender of Gallaway and Athenry the Destruction of that whole Country and the overloading the Conquerors with Prey and Booty Kildare being returned bestowed thirty Tun of Wine upon his Souldiers and the King bestowed a Garter on him and made him a
of Fingal which was wholly a Stranger to Depredations now lay exposed to the Tools and other Irish wherein they were assisted by John Burnel a Gentleman of good Estate in Fingal who favoured this Rebellion But the City of Dublin could not suffer this without their own Destruction for Fingal was their Granary and most of their Provision came from thence wherefore a Body of the Citizens sallied to intercept a Prey at the Bridge of Kilmainham but in the Skirmish near the Wood of Salcock overpowered either in Number or Valour they were beaten and fourscore of the Citizens killed Fitz-Girald makes the best of this Victory and whilst the Consternation is on the City he sends them word that although he could destroy their City yet he will do them no harm if they will permit him to besiege the Castle The Citizens wisely send one of their Aldermen Francis Herbert to the King to know his Pleasure and another to the Constable of the Castle to have his Advice The Constable made a virtue of Necessity and not thinking it possible to defend the City consented to the Demand provided he were first furnished with Men and Victuals which was done and Alderman John Fitz Symons sent into the Castle twenty Tun of Wine twenty four Tun of Beer two thousand dry Ling sixteen Hogsheads of Beef twenty Chambers and an Iron Chain for the Draw-Bridg But the unfortunate Archbishop afraid of the Success of this Siege got on board a Ship that Night near Dames gate in order to pass for England but the Vessel was stranded at Clantarfe and the Archbishop was forced to a Village hard by called Tartain thither came Thomas Fitz-Girald and his Unkles John and Oliver Sir James Delahide and many others early the next Morning having first had notice of the Archbishops being there The Lord Thomas commands John Teling and Nicholas Wafer to bring out the Archbishop whom they haled out of his Bed naked in his Shirt as he was bare-footed and bare-headed The poor Bishop on his Knees and with a pitiful Voice and Countenance begged Pity for the Love of God on a Christian and an Archbishop The Noble Fitz-Girald was too generous to behold that Spectacle without Compassion and therefore turned aside saying Ber owm a Buddagh which is Take away the Clown intending to imprison him but the Servants wilfully misconstruing their Master's Words knockt out the Bishop's Brains and left a Revenge on themselves which overtook them all for Teling afterwards Died of the Leprosie and Wafer of the French Pox and Fitz Girald and all his Unkles were publickly executed by the Common Hangman Nor is it to be omitted that all the Murderers were excommunicated and in the Excommunication are these strange Passages That no man may be merciful to them but their Memory to be forgotten That God would rain Flames of Fire and Sulphur on them That they may cloath themselves with the Malediction and high Curse as they daily put on their Garments That the Water of Vengeance may be in their inner Parts as Marrow in their Bones Be they girded with the Girdles of Malediction and Partakers with Pharoah Nero Herod and Judas the Proditors of Jesus Christ and with Dathan and Abiram descend into Hell quick Good Lord send them Hunger and Thirst and strike them with Pestilence that they may be consumed and their Generation clear eradicate Strike them with Leprosie Madness Blindness c. And we Interdict all the Places where they go and the Place where the Archbishop was murdered But to proceed The Rebels took Prisoners from their own Houses the Lord of Howth and Luttrel Chief Justice of the Common Pleas and the Castle being furnished the Citizens of Dublin consented to Fitz Girald's former Demands Of Liberty to besiege the Castle Whereupon he sent James Field of Lusk Teling Wafer Broad Rouks and Purcel with one hundred Soldiers each attending on them as their Captains they planted two or three Falcons near Preston's Innes over against the Castle and entrenched themselves with strong Ramparts threatning to place the Youth of the City thereon if they in the Castle should shoot that way In the mean time Fitz-Girald accompanied with O Neal Sir Richard Walsh Parson of Loughsewdy Burnel of Ballygriffin and several others invaded and burnt the County of Kilkenny even to Thomas Town The Earl of Ossory and his Party were at the same time near Jeripont consulting what to do and during their Consultation one of the Butlers stole away with sixteen Horse to make a Bravado Fitz-Girald espying them sent an equal number which were soon followed with one hundred and forty Horse the Butlers retreated to their main Body which was surprized by this unexpected Accident and easily scattered The Lord Butler was hurt but made shift to escape to Dunmore where he was cured In the mean time Alderman Herbert returned with an Answer from the King encouraging the Citizens to a manly Defence and promising Aid immediately Whereupon it was resolved by the Citizens That Faith was not to be kept with Traytors That their League with Fitz-Girald was void And they ordered their Gates to be shut And that the Traytors that besieged the Castle should be apprehended Captain Field and his Companions having Notice hereof began to shift for themselves some swam over the River but the most of them were taken Prisoners Immediately Fitz-Girald leaves Kilkenny and summons the Pale to meet him with all their Power near Dublin And in his way he seized upon several Dublin-Children that were at School in the Country and particularly Fitz-Simons and Stainhurst and sent Doctor Traverse Peter Linch of the Knock and Oliver Grace to the Citizens to expostulate the Breach of the League and to require That it might be renewed or at the least the Prisoners enlarged but they met with a cross Answer to all their Demands Whereupon Fitz-Girald began in Sheep-street to besiege the Castle but was driven thence by the Ordnance and the Houses being thatcht were burnt by Wild-Fire cast in from the Castle he stopt all the Rivers about the Town and removed to Thomas-Court pulled down that Street and made a sort of a Gallery to shelter his Men he also burnt the New Street and planted a Gun against Newgate which pierced that Gate and killed an Apprentice of Alderman Stephens's fetching Water from the high Pipe Richard Stanton Goaler of Newgate being an excellent Marksman did great Damage to the Enemy and particularly perceiving one of the Rebels level his Gun at the Loop-Hole where he stood he was so nimble that he prevented him and shot the Rebel in the Forehad and was so hardy as to issue out at the Wicket and to strip the Varlet and brought in with him his Gun and his Cloaths This enraged the Rebels and excited them to Revenge wherefore they immediately brought Fire and Faggot to the Gate in hopes to burn it The Citizens wisely considered That Expectation of Spoil would encourage the
Portcorn that matter be likewise amended next Parliament VI. To Report to the Queen the Quality and Merit of those that have acted or suffered for her and the Quantity of the Reward fit to be given them out of the forfeited Lands and under what Covenants and Reservations and She thinks it better to give it to their younger Sons than themsevles to increase the number of Freeholders VII To the same Effect VIII To lessen or dissolve the Pensions and gratify the Parties with Portions of forfeited Lands certifying the Value and Condition of the same IX To grant no more Land to any Man than he shall be able to People X. To renew and observe the Directions to former Deputies in all things that are not contradicted hereby XI Because the Tenants of the Crown are disabled by the Rebellions of James Fitz-Morris and Desmond to pay their Arrears to let them have new Leases for the Remainder of the Terms at the old Rent the fourth Part of which shall be paid in Beeves at 9 s. a piece or Corn at the rate of Port-Corn and for the Arrearages to give Instalments or to remit part or all as you shall find requisite XII To resume by Act of Parliament or on Composition with the Parties the Demeasnes and Conveniences of Her Houses and Castles of Dublin Killmamham Athloan Caterlagh Leighlin Monasterevan c. and to annex them inseperably to the respective Castles or Houses by Act of Parliament reserving the Ancient Rent XIII To do the like by any of the forfeited Lands that lie convenient for those Castles c. XIV To preserve the Woods on any forfeited Lands near any Navigable River for her use XV. That no Man Ecclesiastical or Civil that has any Function or Office be suffer'd to be absent from his Charge above two Months without special License on pain of Forfeiture XVI To enquire with the Council what Outrages have been done since March the 25th 1583. and how redressed who of Quality are Loyal Disloyal or Suspected and to send Her an Account of the true Estate of every Province in that Realm XVII To inquire into all the Jurisdictions and Irish-Chieferies Exactions Cuttings and Spendings which the Attainted Rebels enjoyed that She may retain them or by relinquishing them manifest to Her Subjects the easiness of Her Government and their Happiness under it XVIII That Commissions do not issue for every trivial Concern and that the Allowance to Commissioners be not as great and burdensome as formerly XIX That the Establishment for Conaugh be lessened and that Richard Bingham be Chief Commissioner of Conaugh XX. To place John Norris Esquire President of Munster with the same Allowance your self had when President there XXI To make Thomas Jones Bishop of Meath Norris Bingham and Thomas L'Estrange Esquire of the Privy Council XXII To place such an Arch-Bishop at Armagh now void as you and the Council think fit XXIII To certify Quarterly the whole Expence in Ireland and what is sent hence and what is received there to defray it And afterwards additional Instructions were sent to him as followeth I. To endeavour to ease Her Majesties Charge in Victualling the Army Lib. C. by getting Victuals in Ireland and to save the charge and hazard of Transportation II. To consider how a College may be Erected and St. Patrick's Church and the Revenue thereof may be appropriated thereunto and every Diocess by Act of Parliament be made Contributary out of the Leases of Impropriations III. To Name some that may be made Lord Barons IV. In the next Parliament to revive the Impost which has been expir'd these two years V. To endeavour the getting in of the Debts due to Her Majesty VI. To Discharge such of the Pensioners or to Reward them in forfeited Lands as you shall think fit VII To Prefer the Ancient Officers and Soldiers before new Comers VIII To take off the Wards and Garison from Fernes and Iniscorthy and other unnecessary places IX To repair the Forts of Leix and Offaly at as small Charge as may be and to prevail with the Inhabitants of the Country for whose Defence they are made to provide Carriage and Labourers and to render an Account of the Condition of those Countries and the Causes of it X. To recompence Edward Waterhouse for the voluntary Surrender of his Patent for maintenance of Boats over the Sheuin such Entertainment as you and the Council shall think fit XI To suffer no Man that was in the late Rebellions of what Quality soever to keep any other Arms than Sword and Dagger XII To encourage the Loyal and protect the pardon'd People of Munster and send your best Advice how Munster may be Repeopled The Lord Deputy spent 18 days in close Consultation with the Privy Council who were the Arch-Bishop of Dublin Chancellor Earl of Ormond Treasurer the Bishops of Armagh Meath and Killmore Sir John Norris Lord President of Munster Sir Henry Wallop Treasurer of Wars Sir Nicholas Bagnall Knight Marshal Robert Gardener Chief Justice Sir Robert Dillon Chief Justice of Common Banc Sir Lucas Dillon Chief Baron Sir Nicholas White Master of the Rolls Sir Richard Bingham Chief Commissioner of Connaugh Sir Henry Cowley Sir Edward Waterhouse Sir Thomas L'Estrange Sir Edward Brabazon Jeffery Fenton Secretary of State Warham Saint Leger and Sir Valentine Brown And as soon as he understood the true State of the Kingdom and had laid down the Measures of his Government he issued a Proclamation of Oblivion and Indemnity and then he sent the Earl of Desmond's Son James into England On the 15th of July The Lord Deputy began his Progress and came to Molingar the 16th and thence sent a Cypher to the Lord Chancellor and Sir Henry Wallop to Dublin whereby they might easily Decipher and understand his Letters which would be unintelligible to the Rebels if they should happen to intercept them thence he proceeded to Connaugh where he endeavoured to reconcile all the great Men of that Country and put to Death Donogh beg O Bryan a bloody Murtherer in this Journey he converted Fryer Malachias a Malone Brother to Mac William Eughter and from Gallway he came to Limerick where he received the News that the Scots to the number of 1000. in favour of Surleboy had invaded Vlster and he also intercepted O Neals Fosterer returning out of Munster from exciting the Irish Lords and Gentlemen there to a new Rebellion but tho this Messenger upon Examination confessed his Errand yet he assured the Deputy that all those he had gone to refused to Rise as long as Sir John Perrot and the Earl of Ormond whom they deemed just Men continued in the Kingdom Hereupon the Deputy took Pledges from those he most suspected and leaving the County of Cork to the Justices Walsh and Miagh the Sheriff Sir William Stanley and the Lords Barry and Roch Limerick to the Provost Marshal Desmond to the Earl of Clancar 1584. Sir Owen O Sullevan and O Sullevan more
Fastnesses of that Country at a Place called the Earls Pace he was briskly assaulted by O Rian and his Followers but O Rian being slain by an Arrow shot at him by Nichol the Monk the rest were easily scattered and many of them slain It was here that Strongbow's only Son a Youth about seventeen Years old frighted with the Number and Ululations of the Irish run away from the Battle and made towards Dublin but being informed of his Fathers Victory he joyfully came back to congratulate that Success but the severe General having first reproach'd him with Cowardize caused him to be immediately executed by cutting him off in the Middle with a Sword so great an Abhorrence had they of Dastardliness in those Days that in imitation of the Old Romans they punish'd it with a Severity which how commendable soever it may be in a General was nevertheless unnatural in a Father The Tomb both of Father and Son is yet to be seen in the Body of Christ-Church in Dublin whereon formerly was this bald Epitaph alluding to this Story Nate ingrate Hanmer 147. mihi pugnanti Terga dedisti Non mihi sed Genti Regno quoque Terga dedisti When Strongbow came near Wexford he received the ill News of Fitz-Stephens his Misfortune as also that the Irish had burnt Wexford and were retired to the Island Begory or Betherni and were resolved to kill Fitz-Stephens if they were farther pursued Wherefore he turned aside towards Waterford and march'd to that City where he met Hervy who was returned with Letters from the King wherein the Earl was ordered immediately to repair into England Strongbow presently obeyed and met the King at Newnham near Glocester on his Journey towards Ireland with an Army The Earl behaved himself so dutifully that the King was soon appeased for Strongbow did not only renew his Fealty but did also surrender to the King the City of Dublin and two Cantreds adjoyning and all Forts and Towns bordering on the Sea And on the other side the King was contented that the Earl should enjoy all the rest to him and his Heirs to be held of his Majesty and his Successors and so they marched by Severn-side through South Wales to Pembrook August 1172. and at length embarqu'd at Milford Haven In the mean time O Rorick and the King of Meath took Advantage of Strongbow's Absence in England and Reymond's at Waterford and with their united Forces besieged Dublin But Miles Cogan had the Courage to sally and the Good Fortune to defeat them with the Slaughter of Orourk's Son and many of his Followers On the eighteenth of October Regan M. S. King Henry arrived at Waterford with four hundred Knights and four thousand Soldiers The People of Wexford came with the first to make their court and complimented him with their Prisoner Fitz-Stephens whom the King continued in Prison and smartly chid him for invading Ireland without his Majesties special Licence But this was but a piece of King-craft to ingratiate with the Irish and to get the City of Wexford which Fitz-Stephens was forc'd to part with and to make his humble Submission and then at the King 's second coming to Waterford he was restored to his Liberty and the rest of his Estate To the King at Waterford came Dermond Mac Carthy King of Cork and voluntarily submitted and swore Allegiance He also agreed to pay a certain annual Tribute which being done the King marched to Lismore and thence to Cashel near which on the Banks of the Shure came Daniel O Bryan Prince of Limerick who in like manner submitted and swore Allegiance Whereupon Garrisons were sent to Cork and Limerick and the King returned to Waterford In like manner submitted Daniel Prince of Ossory O Phelin Prince of Decyes and all the great Men of Munster And the King gave each of them a Present and to all of them gracious and kind Reception All the Archbishops Brady 360. Bishops and Abbots of Ireland came unto the King of England at Waterford and received him as King and Lord of Ireland and sware Fealty to him and his Heirs and from every Archbishop and Bishop he received a Chart by which they acknowledged and constituted him King and submitted unto him and his Heirs as their Kings for ever And according to their Example the foresaid Kings and Princes received him as King and Lord of Ireland and became his Men and swore Fealty to him and his Heirs against all Men. These Charters were transcrib'd and the King sent the Transcripts to Pope Alexander who confirm'd by Apostolick Authority to him and his Heirs the Kingdom of Ireland according to the Form of those Charters as aforesaid The King left Robert Fitz-Barnard and his Houshold at Waterford and marched to Dublin through Ossory by the way he received the Submissions of the Prince of Ossory O Carol O Rurk O Chadess O Toole and several others but Rotherick the Monarch came no nearer than the Shannon-Side where Hugh de Lacy and William Fzadeline by Commission received his Oath of Allegiance and agreeed with him for a Tribute and as the rest did he likewise gave Hostages for his Performance so that there was no Prince or great Man in any part of Ireland except Vlster but by his Deputies or in Person did submit to the King Then did the King command to assemble a Synod at Cashel whereunto the Archbishop of Armagh consented afterwards though by reason of his great Age he was not present at the Synod Where after Christmas appeared Christianus Bishop of Lismore the Pope's Legate Donagh Archbishop of Cashel Laurence Archbishop of Dublin and Catholicus Archbishop of Tuum with their Suffragans and Fellow Bishops with divers Abbots Archdeacons Priors Deans and other Prelates And the King sent thither Ralph Abbot of Buldewais Ralph Archdeacon of Landaff Nicholas the Chaplain and divers other good Clerks and they made these following Canons First Cambrensis cap. 35. It is Decreed That all Good Faithful and Christian People throughout Ireland should forbear and shun to marry with their near Kinsfolk and Cousins and marry with such as lawfully they should do Secondarily That Children shall be Catechiz'd without the Church Door and Baptiz'd in the Font appointed in the Churches for the same Thirdly That every Christian Body do Faithfully and Truly pay yearly the Tithes of his Cattle Corn and other his Increase and Profits to the Church or Parish where he is a Parishioner Fourthly That all the Church-Lands and Possessions throughout all Ireland shall be free from all Secular Exactions and Impositions and especially that no Lords Earls or Noblemen nor their Children nor Family shall extort or take any Coyn and Livery Cosheryes nor Cuddyes nor any other like Custom from thenceforth in or upon any of the Church-Lands and Territories And likewise That they nor no other Person do henceforth exact out of the said Church-Lands Old Wicked and Detestable Customs of Coyn and Livery
and believed Camden's Annals he was crowned on Ascension-Day by the said Archbishop 1199. at Westminster with great Solemnity and not long after he was girt with the Ducal Sword of Normandy by William Archbishop of Roan Hanno de Valois Lord Justice continued so the first Year of King John but then he fell into such Disgrace that he was not only remov'd from his Government Libb GGG but also was obliged to give the King a thousand Marks Lamberh for his Favour and for a Discharge of his Accounts about Ireland And Meyler Fitz-Henry 1200. Natural Son of King Henry I by Nesta Mother of Maurice Fitz-Gerald 1202. was made Lord Justice in whose Time May 4. 1202. King John granted that is confirmed the Archbishoprick of Armagh to Humphry de Tickhul but Ralph le Petit Archdeacon of Meath pretended that the Election fell on him and resolved to contest it with Tickhul 1203. In the mean Time the Pope appointed one Owen mac Gillevider but the King was so angry with him that he prohibited all the Clergy from owning him as Archbishop And to prevent him the King on the Death of Tickhul Ware de Presul 17. anno 1203. confirmed Ralph le Petit in the Archbishoprick Nevertheless Owen so managed the Matter that he enjoyed the Archbishoprick and was restored to the King's Favour He had the Character of an Honest and Worthy Prelate and was present at the Lateran Council in Quality of Primate of all Ireland The King had given to William de Braos and his Heirs the Honour of Limerick with the Appurtenances as Henry II gave it to Philip Unkle of William except the City of Limerick and the Donation of Abbies and Bishopricks the Cantred of the Oastmens and the Holy Island and the Services of William de Burgo which the King retained to be held by sixty Knights Fees But I do not find that William de Braosa had any great Benefit of this Grant for being a bold and a generous Man and abhorring the Murder of Duke Arthur the King's Nephew which he verily believed was done by the King's Command as did likewise John de Courcy they both spoke more than came to their Share And thereupon Braosa fled into Ireland with his Wife and Children from whence he afterwards removed to the Isle of Man and thence to France where he dyed but she and her Son were taken in a Castle in Meath Speed 508. and tho' she sent the Queen a strange Present of four hundred Cows and a Bull all White but their Ears which were Red yet that could not make her Peace but that she and her Son were sent Prisoners to Windsor where they were starv'd to Death as was said And as for Courcy the King to mortifie him appointed his Inveterate Enemy and Competitor Hugh de Lacy 1203. Lord Justice of Ireland and gave him Order to arrest Courcy and send him Prisoner to England But Courcy had some Intelligence or at least Jealousie of the Design and therefore kept upon his Guard so cautiously that Lacy could not surprize him Wherefore he levied an Army and invaded Vlster at Down both Parties met and the Valiant Courcy sent Lacy back with Blows and Shame enough After this Bloody Victory Courcy offered the Combat which the Lord Justice in his Politick Capacity refused to undergo against a Subject and a Traytor wherefore he took a wiser Course and by his Proclamation offered a large Reward to him that should bring in Courcy alive or dead But this not taking effect he dealt with some of Courcy's Servants to seize their Master on Good-Friday whilst unarmed he should be doing Penance and walking Bare-foot about the Church-Yard of Down as he was wont to do every Year They undertook the Matter and effected it with the Slaughter of two of the S. Lawrences who attended their Unkle Courcy that Day But the Traytors paid dear for their Perfidiousness for Courcy with a Wooden Cross which he got in the Church-Yard killed thirteen of them and the rest were sent by the Lord Justice into England with this Pasport which they were obliged not to open till they were in Necessity of it I Hugh de Lacy Lord Justice of Ireland Servant to my dread Sovereign Lord King John To all them that shall read these few Lines greet Know ye That these Men whose Names are underwritten sometimes served Sir John de Courcy late Earl of Ulster but now in Durance in the Tower of London and for a Sum of Mony betraied their own Master into my Hands I deem them no better than Judas the Traytor How hardly soever I have conceived of Courcy I hold them to be a thousand times more damnable Traytors Wherefore let no Subject in the King's Dominions give them any Entertainment but spit in their Faces and suffer them to rogue and wander about as Jews The Lord Justice provided a Barque and Victuals for them but denyed them Pilots or Seamen so that being sufficiently tossed at Sea they were driven into Cork and were there taken and afterward hanged by Order of Lacy who shewed himself Generous in this one thing That though he loved the Treason he hated the Traytor And thus was the Valiant Courcy condemned to perpetual Imprisonment in the Tower of London and that Lacy might personally solicit a Reward for this great Service he had leave to come to Court And Myler Fitz-Henry was again made Lord Justice April 3. 1205. The Historians of that Age make honourable Mention of him He died Anno 1220. and was buried in the Abby of Conal which himself had founded and on his Tomb was this bald Epitaph Conduntur Tumulo Meyleri Nobilis ossa Indomitus Domitor totius Gentis Hibernae But Hugh de Lacy's Services were so well accepted in England May 2. 1205. that the King gave him the Earldom of Vlster as fully as Courcy held it the day he was taken except the Donation of Bishopricks and Abbies and because the King had occasion of Lacy's personal Attendance in England therefore he gave Charge to the Lord Justice to defend and preserve Lacy's Lands as he would the Demesnes of the Crown On the 30th of August Lib. GGG 6. A Writ was sent to the Lord Justice commanding him to build a strong Castle at Dublin to defend that City and to preserve the King's Treasure and the Second of November following the King by Writ commanded Walter de Lacy to put Limerick into the Lord Justice's hands because without it he could neither keep the Peace in Cork nor Connaught The same Year the King of Connaught releas'd two Parts of that Country 1206. retaining the Third at the yearly Rent of an hundred Marks and the next Year offered to continue Tenant to the same Third part at the aforesaid Rent of one hundred Marks per Annum to be held per Baroniam and to pay a yearly Tribute of three hundred Marks per
Popes Familiar and Kinsman and both Bastards saith Bale fill'd in like sort his Fardles in Scotland These Nuncio's were so crafty that they needed no Brokers they secretly understood by Posts and Cursitors the State of the Court of Rome which quailed them full sore that the Pope was either gone or panted for Life secretly by the conduct of the Monks of Canterbury they were conveyed to Dover where they took Shipping and crost the Seas The Emperor Frederick against whom this Provision was made having intelligence thereof and secretly acquainted with the Popes state wrote to the King of England to apprehend such Prollers wherein he also reprov'd his Cowardize The Emperor when he understood that the Birds were flown away made search for the Nest yet overtook them in Italy where to be short he imprison'd them their Kindred and Favourites rifled them of their Money and sent them to Rome to sing for more He that will read the Story more at large let him repair to Matthew Paris In the Year 1242 1242. the Lord Justice built the Castle of Sligo in Connaught and plac'd in it able Warders and the next Year died Richard de Burgo and the famous Hugh de Lacy Earl of Vlster 1243. whose Daughter and Heir was married to Walter de Burgo in her Right Earl of Vlster The King sent to the Lord Justice for Aid against the Welsh 1244. which it seems was long a coming but at length it did come under the Conduct of the Lord Justice and Phelim O Connor they Landed in the Isle of Anglesey and pillaged the Island and were hastning to the Ships with their Prey but it seems the Welshmen overtook them and forced them to leave their Burdens behind However they afterwards joyn'd the Kings Army and did the Work they came for for the King discomfited the Welsh victualled his Castles and victoriously returned into England The Lord Justice being come back to Ireland 1245. found Vlster over-run by O Donel who took advantage of the Death of Lacy and the absence of the Lord Justice but by the assistance of Cormock mac Dermond ma◠Rory the Lord Justice invaded Tirconnel routed the Irish and slew many of the chief of them on the English side was lost William But by Cambden and others call'd Sheriff of Connaught and his Brother Cambden does also mention several Expeditions but the Issue of them all was this That the Lord Justice Manned his Castle of Sligo forced O Neal to give Hostages and then gave half Tyrconnel to the said Cormock ma◠Dermond and return'd with great Booty But the King was displeased with the Lord Justice for his slowness and delay in bringing Aid to him in Wales and therefore remov'd him from the Government Novemb. 4. 1245. and appointed Sir John Fitz Geofry de Marisco I suppose Lord Justice who receiv'd a Writ that the Executors of the Bishop of Ossory should be suffered to administer and dispose of the Testators Goods and Chattels the Debts due to the King being first Levied thereout and in September 1247. Prin H. 3. 107. the King directed a Writ to the Arch-Bishops and others in Ireland That the Laws of England should be strictly observed there as his Father King John had formerly commanded QVia pro communi utilitate Terrae Hiberniae Prin 254. unitate Terrarum Regis Rex vult de communi Concilio Regis provisum est quod omnes Leges Consuetudines quae in Regno Angliae tenentur in Hibernia teneantur eadem Terra eisdem Legibus subjaceat per easdem regatur sicut Dominus Johannes Rex cum ultimo esset in Hibernia statuit fieri mandavit Quia etiam Rex vult quod omnia Brevia de communi jure quae currunt in Anglia similiter currant in Hibernia sub novo Sigillo Regis Mandatum est Archiepiscopis c. quod pro pace tranquilitate ejusdem Terrae per easdem Leges eosdem regi deduci permittant eas in omnibus sequantur in cujus c. Teste Rege apud Wodestoke nono die Septembris anno Regni 30. Which Writ is imperfectly cited 1 Inst 141 b. Theobald Butler 1247. Lord of Carrick and John Cogan Lords Justices in whose Time the Popes Agent Johannes Refus was sent into Ireland clothed with Authority to collect the Popes Money Hanmer 198. my Author says that though he was not clad in Scarlet for fear of giving Offence yet he was such a Sophistical Legate and plied his business with that diligence that he extorted Six thousand Marks out of Ireland and by help of the Clergy transported it safely to London John Fitz Geofry was again Lord Justice 1248. in his time the King sent the following Writ Lib. P. Lambeth REX Justiciario Hibern Salutem Monstravit nobis Mamorch Offerthierun Rothericus Frater ejus quod antecessores sui ipsi licet Hibernenses semper tamen firmiter fuerunt ad fidem servitium nostram Prin 255. predecessorum nostrum it should be Nostrorum Regum Angl. 1253. ad conquestum una cum Anglicis faciendum super Hibernenses ideo vobis mandamus quod si ita est tunc non permittas ipsos M. R. repelli quin possint terras vindicare in quibus jus habent sicut quilibet Anglicus quia si ipsi antecessores sui sic se habuerunt cum Anglicis quamvis Hibernenses injustum esset licet Hibernenses sint quod exceptione qua repelluntur Hibernenses à vindicatione terrarum aliis repellantur c. By which Writ it appears that the King did design that all the Irish who would live as Subjects should have the benefit of the English Laws but that such of the Irish as were Enemies or Rebels and would not be Amesnable to Law should not have any Advantage by the Law But now the King to qualifie his Son for a Marriage with the Infanta of Spain Davis 22. amongst other things gave the Kingdom of Ireland to Prince Edward and his Heirs Lib. G. Lambeth in as ample manner as himself enjoyed it except the Cities of Dublin and Limrick nevertheless with this express Condition in the Patent 1254. Ita quod non separetur à Corona Angliae Whereupon Ireland was called the Land of the Lord Edward and the Officers there were stiled the Officers of Edward Lord of Ireland and the Writs did also run in the Name of the Prince In the same Year but I suppose before the Donation to the Prince the King sent a Writ to the Nobility of Ireland Prin 255. most earnestly desiring their Assistance with Men and Ships for his Wars in Gascony But the Prince had issued a Writ of Entry out of the Chancery of Ireland against the Bishop of Lismore which was illusory to the Laws of England established by the King and King John and therefore upon Complaint the King sent
recorded of the Battel of Glandelory or Glinbury as to the Captains Numbers or other Circumstances save that the English suffered a great Defeat there and that William Fitz Roger Prior of the Kings Hospitallers and many others were taken Prisoners Hanmer 203. and a great number slain which ill Success was somewhat ballanced by a sore Battel which Ralph Peppard and O Hanlon gave to the great O Neal. Thomas de Clare and O Bryan Roe King of Thomond were likewise at odds 1277. and the Briton had tho' the better of it at first so that he took O Bryan and beheaded him yet afterward the Irish drove Thomas and his Father-in-Law into the Mountains of Slevebloom M. S. Fragment 2. and kept them there till for want of better Victuals they fed upon Horse-flesh and thereupon they yielded themselves Prisoners and to obtain their Liberty were forced to give Hostages that they would make satisfaction for O Bryan's Death and surrender the Castle of Roscomon And as if some malignant Star had influenced all the Inhabitants of Ireland to contention the Irish also quarrelled with one another and Mac Diarmund of Mylurg encounter'd the King of Connaught and slew him and two thousand of his Men. Wherefore the Lord Justice was sent for over to give account of this Bustle and why he permitted it as also to answer why he did not in person assist Thomas de Clare against the O Bryans To the first he answered that it was no damage to the King that one Rebel destroy'd another and to the second he gave such an Answer as was satisfactory Stephen de Fulborne 1279. Bishop of Waterford was left Lord Justice till his Return In his time were coyned in England several round Pieces of Money viz. the Penny the Half-penny and the Farthing which by Proclamation were made current in England and Ireland and yet the old Money was not cried down About this time the Irish Petitioned the King that they might have the Benefit of the Laws of England extended to them which produced the following Writ REX Archiepisc Prin 257. Abbatib Comitib Baronib Militib omnibus Anglicis de terra Hiberniae Salutem Ex parte Hibernicorum de terra praedicta nobis extitit humiliter supplicatum quod sibi de gratia nostra concedere dignaremur ut eisdem Legibus Consuetudinibus communibus uti gaudere possint in terra quibus Anglici ibidem utuntur gaudent secundum easdem Leges Consuetudines deduci valeant in futurum Nos autem quia hujusmodi concessionem absque Conscientia vestra eis ad praesens non duximus faciendam Vobis mandamus quod ad certos dies quos ad hoc provideritis viz. citra Festum Nativitatis Beatae Mariae Virginis in aliquibus locis oportunis conveniatis inde diligentem tractatum inter vos habeatis Vtrum sine prejudicio vestri Libertatum Consuetudinum vestrarum etiam sine damno vestro dictam concessionem facere possumus eisdem necne de omnibus aliis circumstantiis hujusmodi concessionem contingentibus de hoc quod inde feceritis nobis citra proximum Parliamentum nostrum quod erit apud Westminster à die Sancti Michaelis in unum Mensem sub Sigillo Justic nostri Hiberniae vel ejus locum tenentis Sigillo dilecti fidelis nostri Roberti Baggot distincte aperte una cum concilio vestro constare faciatis hoc propter absentiam quorundam de paribus vestris quos ibidem interesse non contigerit vel illorum qui sunt infra atatem in custodia nullatenus omittatis ut nos ex tunc habita super hoc deliberatione pleniori inde provideri faciamus quod nobis concilio nostro magis videbitur expedire c. It is certain the Answer to this Writ was in the Negative and I suppose the Reason was That since the Irish generally were not amensnable to the Law but still used and would use their own Brehon-Law and Tanistry it was not fit they should have a general Benefit of the Laws of England but rather that every Person Family or Sept who would give some Assurance or at least Promise of Allegiance and Submission to the English Laws should by Special Writ be admitted to the Benefit of them and therefore we find a Multitude of such Writs and Licences from this time forward and many of them are in this Form viz. Quod ipse liberi sui de corpore suo legitime procreati hanc habeant libertatem And sometimes it is to Them and Their Heirs and sometimes to Them and Their Heirs of such a Sirname But the most memorable Writ of this Sort is that which follows REx omnibus ad quos Prin 258. 6. Rich. 2. c. Salutem sciatis quod de assensu concilii nostri concessimus pro nobis haeredibus nostr ad supplicationem Cornelii de Clone de Hibernia dicto of Fynatha militis Hibernici pro suo bono gestu erga nos pro bono servitio quod nobis impendit tempore praeterito tam praedicto Cornelio qui est de Natione Hibernica quam omnibus aliis de praedicta Natione qui sunt erunt ad obedientiam nostram de sanguine ipsius Cornelii existunt gerunt illud cognomen de Fynatha quod ipsi tempore quo ipsi sic obedientes nobis vel haeredibus nostris existunt uti gaudere possint omnimodis haereditatibus beneficiis libertatibus in Terra nostra Hiberniae predicta prout ligei nostri Anglicani obedientes nostri ibidem gaudent utuntur aliquo statuto vel ordinatione in contrarium edito non obstante c. Robert de Vfsord 1280. Lord Justice returned from England and kept all things in such good Order that nothing is recorded of the two following Years but the unfortunate burning the City of Waterford But he being removed Stephen Fulborn 1282. Bishop of Waterford afterwards Archbishop of Tuam was Lord Justice it seems he had been also Lord Treasurer And then the Irish made great Stirs in Connaught Arlow and Vpper Ossory which cost many Lives but the Loss fell heaviest upon the principal Rebels Mortagh and Art mac Morough were slain by Penquir◠at Arclow and Mac Gilpatrick also met with an untimely Death in Connaught And these Publick Contests were accompanied with Private Quarrels so that Adam Cusack slew William Barret and his Brethren about some Lands they contended for in Connaught It is to be remembred That the Oastmen or Easterlings had generally the benefit of the English Laws by Charters from King Henry to each City That of Waterford is to be seen in Sir John Davis his excellent Discourse pag. 94. And it was this Year confirmed by King Edward Great part of the City of Dublin was this Year burnt 1283. and the Steeple and Chapter-House of Christ Church did not escape the
Flames but the Devout Citizens first made a Collection for the Repair of the Church and then set themselves to the re-edifying their own Houses And so we come to a Trial 1284. very unusual in Courts of Justice in Ireland tho' too frequent in the Field viz. that of Battle Ware presul 142. for Jeofry Saintleger Bishop of Ossory in a Writ of Right for the Mannor of Sirekeran in Ely O Carol recovered the same and the Trial was by Battle between the Bishops Champion and the Champion of his Adversary The Lords and Potentates of Ophaly were grown strong enough to take and burn the Castle of Ley 1285. and it seems Theobald Verdon going to revenge that Injury lost both his Men and his Horses which was followed with a greater Misfortune for the next Morning Girald Fitz-Maurice was betrayed by his Followers and taken Prisoner Nor had the English better Success at Rathdod for in an unfortunate Skirmish there Sir Gerard Doget Ralph Petit and many more were slain and the Lord Geofry Genevil had much ado to save himself by Flight Amidst these Disturbances Burlace 31. the Lord Justice obtained from the King a Pension of five hundred Pound per annum for his Expence and Charge in the Government to continue as long as his Justiceship but if any extraordinary Accident should require more Expence than the Writ prescribes That a Vice-Treasurer be appointed to receive and pay the Revenue as the Lord Justice and the Court of Exchequer shall think fit But the next Year was more favourable 1286. so that Philip Stanton in November burnt Norwagh and Ardscol and other Towns and the great Rebel Calwagh was taken at Kildare which superseded these Stirs for a Time Nevertheless this Year was fatal to many Noblemen viz. Maurice Fitz-Maurice who died at Rosse as Girald Fitz-Maurice Oge did at Rathmore and the Lord Thomas de Clare could not escape the Common Fate to which the Lord Justice himself was forced to submit So that John Sandford 1287. Archbishop of Dublin was chosen Lord Justice His Government was the more uneasie to him because Richard Burk 1288. Earl of Vlster and Walter Lacy Lord of Meath confederated against Theobald de Verdon and Besieged him in the Castle of Athloan and came with a great Army as far as Trim However this was in a great measure recompenced by the Plenty of the Year which was so great even in England that a Bushel of Wheat was sold for four Pence It was usual in this King's Reign To send the new English Statutes in some reasonable time after they were made to be proclaimed and observed in Ireland Thus in the thirteenth Year of his Reign he sent by Roger Bretun the Statutes of Westminster the first of Glocester of Merchants and of Westminster the second to the Lord Justice Fulborne to publish and notifie them to the People And this Year the like was done by the Statute called Ordinatio pro Statu Hiberniae which was enacted in England and sent to Ireland to be observed there and is to be seen in French in the second part of the Ancient Statutes printed at London 1532. And the Statutes of Lincoln and of York were also sent to Ireland Ex lib. Alb. Scac. Hib. to be enrolled in the Chancery and to be published and notified to the People 20 Novemb. 17 Edw. 1. And it is to be observed That after Parliaments were held in Ireland yet the English Statutes did extend to Ireland as the eleventh of Edward III Lib. M. Lamb. of Drapery and the twenty seventh of Edward III of the Staple and the fourth of Henry V cap. 6-touching the Promotion of Clerks of the Irish Nation and many more But it is time to return to the Lord Justice whose Service the King had occasion to make use of in England and in several Foreign Embassies in all which he behaved himself honourably He was succeeded in Ireland by William Vescy 15 Novemb. 1290. Lord Justice Whose Government was disturbed by O Hanlon in Vlster and O Mlaghlin in Meath who were again in Rebellion but Richard Earl of Vlster had the good Fortune to suppress O Hanlon with a few Blows and the Lord Justice did as much for O Mlaghlin and pursued him so close that at last he was taken and slain by Mac Coughlan who grew so proud upon that Service that he set up for himself and gave a great Defeat to William Burk at Delvin and to the English in Ophaly And tho' the King in the thirteenth Year of his Reign had a Grant from the Pope of the Tenth of all Ecclesiastical Revenues in Ireland for seven Years toward the Holy War which was followed with a Grant of a Fifteenth from the Temporality yet now upon the Expiration of that Grant he wrote to the Bishops and Clergy for a Dism of their Spiritualities to defray his Debts in redeeming his Nephew Charles But they unanimously answered Quod concessioni petitionis praefatae minime supercederent But Cambden assures us That the Temporality granted another Fifteenth To this Lord Justice Cambden 78. Baliol King of Scotland did Homage for some Lands he held in Ireland and about the same time it was ordered 4 Inst 356. That the Treasurer of Ireland should account yearly at the Exchequer of England 1293. And the same Year came over Gilbert de Clare Earl of Glocester whose Wife Joan of Acres was the King's Daughter But now there arose great Feuds between John Fitz-Thomas Fitz-Girald Lord of Ophaly and the Lord Justice whereupon the Lord Justice did underhand encourage the Irish to do all the Prejudice they could to Fitz-Girald and his Partisans hence arose mutual Complaints and reciprocal Impeachments so that both of them went or were fent for into England But it will not be unpleasant to the Reader to have the Particulars of this famous Controversie in the Words of Holingshead The Lord Justice hearing many Complaints of the Oppressions the Country daily received Holingshead 35 which he thought reflected on him and insinuated his male Administration therefore to disburthen and excuse himself he began in misty Speeches to lay the Fault on the Lord John Fitz-Giralds Shoulders saying in parable wise That he was a great occasion of these Disorders in that he bare himself in Private Quarrels as fierce as a Lyon but in these Publick Injuries as meek as a Lamb. The Baron of Ophaly spelling and putting these Syllables together spake after this Manner My Lord I Am heartily sorry that among all this Noble Asembly you make me your only Butt whereat you shoot your Bolt and truly were my Deserts so hainous as I suppose you would wish them to be you would not labour to cloud your Talk with such dark Riddles as at this present you have done but with plain and flat English your Lordship would not stick to impeach me of Felony or Treason for as mine Ancestors with
the King appointed no small Provision was made for so eager a Combat as that was presupposed to have been But when the prefixed Day approached near Vescie turning his great Boast to small Roast began to cry Creak and secretly sailed into France King Edward thereof advertised bestowed Vescies Lordships of Kildare and Rathingan on the Baron of Ophaly saying That albeit Vescie conveyed his Person into France yet he left his Lands behind him in Ireland Mr. Pryn makes an Observation on this Case Pryn 259. as if an Appeal between Vescie and Fitz-Girald in Ireland had been adjourned to England But to make the Remark useful it is necessary not only to consider what he says but also to consult the Records which he cites William Hay 1294. Lord Deputy to whom a Writ was sent to admit Thomas Saintleger Bishop of Meath to be of the Privy Council And not long after John Fitz-Thomas return'd to Ireland big with Glory and Success which transported him to a Contempt of all his Opposers he began with Richard Burk Cambdens Ann. Earl of Vlster whom together with William Burk he took Prisoners in Meath by the assistance of John Delamere and confined them to the Castle of Ley. But he had not so good luck in Kildare which was made the Seat of the War so that between the English and Irish it was entirely wasted the Castle of Kildare was also taken and the Records of that County burnt by Calwagh Brother to the King of Ophaly And these Misfortunes were accompanied with great Dearth and Pestilence William Dodingzel Lord Justice found Work enough to struggle with these Difficulties and the rather because John Fitz-Thomas appeared again with a great Army in Meath But the Parliament soon after met at Kilkenny 1294. and obliged him to release the Earl of Vlster taking his two Sons Hostages for him And it seems that this did not satisfie the Complainants but that they impeached him at the Parliament in England Lib. GGG 23 E. 1. for divers Offences and Felonies done in Ireland Lambeth He protested he could clear himself by Law but because he would not Prin 259. cum ipso Domino Rege placitare he submits himself wholly to the King's Favour 1295. into which he was received upon Pledges for his future demeanour and 't is probable he was also obliged to release his Claim to the Castle of Sligo and other his Lands in Connaught which was the Occasion of all this Stir About Easter the King built the Castle of Beaumorris in Wales 1295. for the better security of a Passage to and from Ireland And about the same time Bishop Vsher's life 34. the King required Aid to marry his Sister to the Emperour and such as did contribute thereunto are mentioned in the Pipe-Rolls of the Exchequer In the mean time on the third Day of April the Lord Justice died and during the Interval of Government the Irish made use of the Opportunity and wasted great part of Leinster burnt Newcastle and many other Towns But at length the Council chose Thomas Fitz-Maurice Fitz-Girald Lord Justice he was nicknamed Nappagh Simiacus or the Ape because when his Father and Grand-Father were murdered Frier Russel M. S. at Calan the Servants on the news of it run out of the House as if distracted and left this Thomas in the Cradle whereupon an Ape which was kept in the House took up the Child and carried him to the top of the Castle of Traly and brought him down Safe and laid him in the Cradle to the admiration of all the Beholders This Lord Justice was Father of the first Earl of Desmond and was so great a Man that he is often styled Prince and Ruler of Munster But it seems he supplyed the Place of Lord Justice but a very short time for John Wogan 1295. Lord Justice arrived from England on the eighteenth of October He made a Truce for two Years between the Burks and the Giraldines and received a Writ to take the Fealty of the Abbot of Owny in the County of Limerick and having called a Parliament which it seems setled Matters to his Mind he went with a smart Party to aid the King in Scotland His Majesty nobly feasted them at Roxborough Castle and they in requital did the King very good Service But that you may see what sort of Parliaments were in Ireland in those Days I will present the Reader with a List of this Parliament Richard de Burgo Earl ofVlster Geofry de Genevil John Fitz-Thomas afterwards Earl of Kildare Thomas Fitz-Maurice Nappagh Theobald le Butler Theobald de Verdun Peter de Brimingham of Athenry Peter de Brimingham of Thetmoy Eustace de Poer John de Poer Hugh de Purcel John de Cogan John de Barry William de Barry Walter de Lacy. Richard de Excester John Pipard Water L'enfant Jordan de Exon. Adam de Stanton Symon de Phipo William Cadel John en Val. Morris de Carew George de la Roch. Maurice de Rochfort Maurice Fitz-Thomas of Kerry William de Ross 1296. Prior of Kilmainham was left Lord Deputy to Wogan but either the Irish did not fear him being a Clergyman or they thought this a time of Advantage whilst the Lord Justice and many of the Nobility and best Soldiers were in Scotland and therefore to improve it as they were used to do they rose in Rebellion in several Places Those of Slewmargy burnt Leighlin and other Towns 1297. But O Hanlon and Mac Mahon met with more Opposition in Vrgile for they were both slain John Wogan 1298. Lord Justice returned again from Scotland in October and throughly reconciled the Burks and the Giraldines and kept every thing so quiet that we hear of no Trouble in a great while except some Disturbance the Irish gave to the Lord Theobald de Verdun in attacking his Castle of Roch. Pollard Mony was now decryed both in England and Ireland 1300. and the King did again enter Scotland and sent to Ireland for Aid and wrote not only to the Lord Justice but also sent particular Letters to every one of the Nobility to attend him Whereupon the Lord Justice accompanied by John Fitz-Thomas Peirce Brimingham and many others made a second Expedition into Scotland with good Success In the mean time part of the City of Dublin and particularly S. Warberg's Church was burnt on S. Colme's Eve and the Irish were again at their usual Pranks taking Advantage of the Lord Justices absence who I suppose did again depute William de Ross and in Winter assaulted and burnt Wicklow and Rathdan 1301. but they were well paid for their pains and in Lent had been ruin'd but for the Dissention and Discord of the English and in the Harvest before some of the Irish also had their share of Civil Discord for they fell out amongst themselves so that the O Phelims and O Tools slew three hundred of the Birns
Whitsontide Prin 263. that Earl first taking an Oath on the Sacrament neither by himself his Friends or Followers to grieve those of Dublin for his Apprehension To all these Misfortunes was added that of a prodigious Dearth Wheat was sold for three and twenty Shillings the Cronoge Lib. P. Lambeth Oats six Shillings and Wine eighteen pence a Quart and other things proportionably so that many died for want The Lord Justice 1317. about Whitsontide marched to Tredagh and thence to Trim and sent for the Lacies who not only refused to come but murdered the worthy Messenger Sir Hugh Crofts but the Lord Justice soon revenged that Affront for he wasted the Lands and seized on the Goods of the Lacies slew many of their Men and drove themselves into Connaught and proclaim'd them Traytors and so return'd to Dublin by the way of Tredagh The Lord Justice had now leisure to assail O Fervil Cambd. whom he soon forced to submit as did also soon after O Birne tho' not till there was â—irst a Battle between the Lord Justice and the Irish of Omayle wherein the Irish were worsted In October the Archbales or Aspoles submitted to the Earl of Kildare and gave Hostages of their good Behaviour and in February Sir Hugh Canon Chief Justice of the Court of Common Pleas was murdered by Andrew Brimingham between the Naas and Castlemartin The Pope by his Bulls commanded a two years Truce betwixt the English and Scots but Bruce whose Quarters probably were so destroyed that they could not afford him subsistance refused to consent thereunto For about this time the Irish of Vlster were reduced to so great want that they took dead Folk out of their Graves Cambden and boyl'd their Flesh in their Skulls so that by reason of Famine and Sickness there escaped but three hundred of ten thousand men which were in Arms which my Author says was a Judgment on them for eating Flesh in Lent and other Wickednesses Not were the Men of Connaught in a mnch better condition for there happened a Feud between two of the Irish Princes there which occasioned the Slaughter of four thousand of their Followers On Shrove-Sunday the Lord Justice kept a great Feast in the Castle of Dublin and dubbed John Mortimer and four others Knights After Easter the Lord Justice received Command to repair to the King but before he went he had the bad News that the Lord Richard de Clare Sir Henry Capel Sir Thomas de Naas 1318. and two of the Cantons and fourscore others were slain by O Bryan and Macarthy on the 5th of May. This Lord Justice caused John de Lacy to be press'd to Death at Trim because he would not plead to the Indictment against him and then a Month after Easter he went for England being a thousand pound in debt to the Citizens of Dublin and he left in his room William Fitz-John 1318. Archbishop of Cashel Governor of Ireland in whose time great Plenty was again in that Kingdom and which was very strange new Bread was to be had on St. James's Day which was made of New Wheat of the same years growth Alexander Bicknor who was confirm'd Archbishop of Dublin was also sent over Lord Justice He landed at Youghal the 7th of October and soon after Bruce with about three thousand Men came to the Fagher within two Miles of Dundalk The Lord John Brimingham whom the Justice made General with many brave Captains and one thousand three hundred and twenty four good Souldiers marcht from Dublin to encounter him Cambd. 178. and they managed the Conflict so valiantly that they slew Bruce and two thousand of his Men On Calixâ—us Day and the General carried his Head to the King and was therefore made Earl of Louth and had twenty pound per annum Selden Titles of Honour Creation-Money and the Mannor of Athird granted to him Et sic per dextram Dei manus communis Populi liberatur populus Dei à servitute machinata praecogitata Lib. rub Scac. Dub. and so ended the Scotch Government in Ireland It is observable that the Primate of Armagb was at this Battel and came purposely to absolve bless and encourage the Royalists and it ought not to be forgot that a valiant Captain John Maupas was so resolute to destroy the usurping Prince that he rushed into the Battel with that Design and was after the Fight found dead stretcht on the dead Body of Bruce Roger Mortimer 1319. Lord Justice return'd from England and about Allhallontide the Pope sent over Bulls to excommunicate Bruce at every Mass The Towns of Atheisel and Plebs were burnt by John Fitz-Thomas Nappagh and the Bridges of Leighlin and Kilcullen were in this or the following year built by Maurice Jake Cannon of Kildare but it was not long before the Lord Justice made another Voyage to England and left in his room Thomas fitz-Fitz-John Fitz-Girald 1320. Earl of Kildare in whose time Bicknor Archbishop of Dublin obtained Bulls from Pope John 22th to erect an University at Dublin and St. Patrick's Church was appointed to be the publick place of their Exercise and it is observable that the King granted to this Earl of Kildare Lib. GGG Quod possit recipere ad Legem Angliae omnes homines Hibernos Tenentes suos qui ad eandem venire voluerunt Nor must it be forgotten 1319. That Pope John the 22th did by his Bull 12 Ed. 2. acquit and discharge the Crown of England from the Tribute or Peterâ— pence Lib. ZZ Lameth claim'd by the Holy See out of the Kingdoms of England and Ireland On the Ninth Day of May 1321. the People of Leinster and Meath gave a great Overthrow to the O Connors at Balibogan Frag. 7. and the Earl of Carrick died about the same time at London and was buried at Gauran not far from Kilkenny and not long after John Bermingham 1321. Earl of Louth was made Lord Justice Rex concessit Johanni Comiti Louth Officium Justiciarii Regis Hibern cum Castris aliis Pertinentiis 14 Ed. 2 par 2. Pat. in Tur. Lond. durante beneplacito Percipiendum per annum ad Scaccarium Regis Dublin 500 Marcas pro quibus Officium illud Terram custodiet erit ipse unus de viginti hominibus ad Arma cum tot equis coopertis continue durante custodio supradict The King on the Third of April 1322. in the 15th Year of his Reign wrote to the Lord Justice to meet him at Carlisle in Octab. Trin. following with three hundred Men at Arms a thousand Hoblers and six thousand Footmen armed with a Keton Lib. Lambeth a Sallet and Gloves of Mayl to serve against the Scots besides three hundred Men at Arms which Richard de Burgo Earl of Vlster had for his own share undertaken to conduct and though the English suffered a Defeat by O Nolan so that
Officer under the King that entred very poor could in one Year heap up more Wealth than Men of great Estates in many Years And III. How it chanced since they were all called Lords of their own that the Sovereign Lord of them all was never the richer for them The King who knew what they aimed at was very unwilling to restore the Lands and Jurisdictions he had resumed and therefore tryed all other ways to reform the Kingdom and please the People He turned out many of his Judges and Officers that were most obnoxious particularly Elias de Ashbourn whose Estate he caused to be seized Thomas de Montepessulano and Henry Baggott Judges of the Common Pleas He sent a Writ to the Lord Deputy to certifie the Qualities Services Fees Number and Behaviour of his Officers in Ireland He ordered that all Pardons or Suspensions of the King's Debts that were by green Wax or otherwise except Pardons or Releases under the great Seal should be vacated and the Debts levyed He also commanded the Lord Justice Darcy or his Deputy to employ no others in any considerable Office than such Englishmen as had Estates in England and to turn out all that were not so qualified And also enjoyned him not to alien or grant any of the King's Lands until he be fully informed of the Circumstances by Inquisition And whereas the Treasurer of the Exchequer did claim a Privilege to dispose of any Sum under one hundred Shillings toties quoties as he pleased without Voucher or Account the King supersedes that evil Custom and orders him to account for what is past since the beginning of his Reign and to issue no more Mony without the Presence or Consent of the Lord Justice Lord Chancellor and Council And whereas the Treasurer used to name Sheriffs that Nomination is conferred on the Chief Governour and Chancellor and Council who are enjoyned to put in Persons fit for the Office And whereas the Treasurer for Rewards used to forbear the King's Debts so that many of them were lost that Practice is also prohibited for the future And the Treasurer is ordered Not to receive the King's Mony in his Chamber or elsewhere privately but only in the publick Office The King also sent a Writ to be certified of the Particulars which were seized by virtue of the aforesaid Writ of Resumption And John Darcy Senior had an Order to have his Part of those Lands restored The Lord Justice the Deputy and the Chancellor or any two of them were authorized to supervise and regulate the Exchequer And yet all this and whatever else the King could do did not quiet the Kingdom until there was a general Restitution of these resumed Estates which was done 26 Edw. 3. And it must not be forgot that Walter Archbishop of Ardmagh Pryn 277. being in the time of Edw. 2. advanced to that See by the Popes Provision wherein were some Clauses prejudicial to the Crown the King refused to restore the Temporalities unto him until he had renounced all Clauses in the Pope's Bulls prejudicial to the King or his Kingdoms and engaged to pay a Fine of one thousand Crowns for that Misdemeanour but the Archbishop died before the Fine was paid And about this time Process issued to levy the same on the Temporalities of his Successor but it was irregular and illegal and therefore the King superseded that Process and directed that it should be levyed of the Heirs or Executors of the said Walter And about this time John Larch Prior of the Hospital of S. John of Jerusalem in Ireland and Mr. Thomas Wogan were sent to the King by the Prelates Earls Barons and Commons of Ireland with a long Catalogue of the Grievances of those Times to be seen at large together with the King's Answer in Mr. Pryns Animadversions 279. But Whether these Agents were sent from the Parliament at Dublin or the discontented Assembly at Kilkenny non constatâ— But 't is certain that not long after the Lord Justice was removed and Sir Ralph Vfford came over Lord Justice 1334. he married the Countess Dowager of Vlster and was a grave severe Man and the likeliest Person of that Age to reduce the Seditious to their Duty however the Irish and the old English speak very hardly of him and after they had given him the worst Character imaginable they add That there was a continual Tempest in Ireland from the time of his landing to the Day of his Death Camb. 189. 'T is certain they hated him so that in Sight of the People and at noon-day he was robbed of his Cloaths Mony Plate and Horses by Mac Cartane at Emerdullin no Body endeavouring to help or rescue him nevertheless he afterwards raised the Men of Vrgile and gained the Pass and entred Vlster On the twenty fourth of November the King and Parliament at Notingham made Ordinances for the Reformation of Ireland which are the same mentioned already 17 Edw. 2. ante pag. 112. which is there mistaken for 17 Edw. 3. as I suppose for though both my Lord Cook and Mr. Pryn quote 17 Edw. 2. yet I rather believe both their Books are misprinted than that the same Ordinances should be repeated at the same Place and in the same Year of both Kings But however that be my Lord Cook adds this Clause Volumus praecipimus quod Nostra Terrae nostrae negotia praesertim majora ardua per Peritos Conciliarios ac Praelatos 4 Inst 350 351. Magnates quosdam de discretioribus Hominibus i.e. the Commons in Parliamentis tractentur disâ—utiantur terminentur Vide postea ad annum 1357. And this he says does regulate the Parliaments of Ireland according to the Institution of England for before this time the great Meetings in Ireland were rather general Assemblies of the Great Men than properly Parliaments I find it asserted in the Argument of a Case about the Precedency of the Lord of Kerry before the Lord of Slane 12 Jac. 1. that the first regular Parliament in Ireland was held anno 12 Edw. 3. but I do not find any other Authority that there was any Parliament held that Year at all Certainly the greatest Assembly that was at any time in either of these King's Reigns at Parliament was anno 1302. being 30 Edw. 〈◊〉 the Number upon the Parliament Roll amounting to no less than one hundred fifty six The Parliament 8 Edw. 2. was nevertheless more considerable because of the Quality of the Persons for there were the four Archbishops ten Bishops the Abbot of S. Thomas the Prior of Kilmainham and the Dean and Chapter of Dublin There were also many Irish Lords as O Hanlon Duke i.e. Dux Captain or Chief of Orry O Donel Duke of Tyrconnel O Neal Duke of Tyrone c. and almost all the English Nobility in Ireland Others make a distinction between Grand and Petit Parliaments Lib. M. Lambetâ— the former were properly Parliaments and in them the
Deputy who held that Place and discharg'd it worthily until Sir Thomas Rokeby 1353. Lord Justice returned he brought with him ten men at Arms and twenty Archers which were allowed him by the King over and above the ordinary Retinue of twenty Men. About this time lived Sir Robert Savage a very considerable Gentleman in Vlster who began to fortifie his dwelling House with strong Walls and Bulwarks but his Son derided the Fathers Providence and Caution affirming that a Castle of Bones was better than a Castle of Stones and thereupon the old Gentleman put a stop to his Building It hapned that this brave Man with his Neighbors and Followers were to set out against a numerous Rabble of Irish that had made Incursions into their Territories And he gave Orders to provide plenty of good Cheer against his return but one of the Company reprov'd him for doing so alledging that he could not tell but the Enemy might eat what he should provide to whom the valiant old Gentleman replied That he hoped better from their Courage Camb. 193. but that if it should happen that his very Enemies should come to his House he should be asham'd if they should find it void of good Cheer The Event was suitable to the Bravery of the Undertaking Old Savage had the killing of three thousand of the Irish near Antrim and return'd joyfully home to Supper But let us return to the Lord Justice of whom it is recorded that he us'd to say That he would rather eat his Meat in wooden Dishes and pay Gold and Silver for it than to eat in Golden Dishes and make wooden Payment However on the 20th day of July 1355. he did resign to Maurice Fitz-Girald 1355. Earl of Desmond Lord Justice he obtained so much favour in England Lib. M. that he had this Office granted to him for Life which expired the 25th day of January he was so just a man that he spared not his very Relations when they were criminal And about this time the Barons of the Exchequer were reduced to Three Lib. CCC 10. 29 Ed. 3. and John de Pembrook Chancellor of the Exchequer was made the third Baron Sir Thomas Rokeby 1356. Lord Justice returned again to Ireland and held a Parliament at Kilkenny at which many good Laws were enacted In his time a Memorable Writ was sent to the Lord Justice and Chancellor reciting That whereas the Subject found great difficulty to get Restitution according to Law of such Lands as were at any time seized into the Kings Hands Prin. 286. 29 Ed. 3. And whereas they refused in Parliaments here to take cognizance of erronious Proceedings in the Kings Courts but put the Subject to the trouble and charge of prosecuting a Writ of Error in England the King orders amendment and Reformation in both those Cases And not long after this worthy Lord Justice died at the Castle of Kilkea and was succeeded by Almaricus de Sancto Amando 1337. Lord Justice in whose time a great Controversie happened between the Archbishop of Armagh and the Regulars but at length by the favour of the Pope the Friers got the better of the Bishop To this Lord Justice the King sent a Writ or Commission Prin 294. authorizing him with the Advice of the Chancellor and Treasurer to give a special Pardon to as many English or Irish as he shall think fit for all Crimes except Treason Moreover for the better instruction of the People and because of the Non-residence of their Pastors Ibid. the King by his Sovereign Ecclesiastical Jurisdiction Authoriz'd and Licenc'd the Archbishop of Dublin to constitute perpetual Vicars in all Benefices and Prebendaries belonging to his Archbishoprick and of the Kings Patronage with certain proportions of greater and lesser Tithes and other Profits to those who should reside upon them But which was more than all this the King by advice of his Council made most excellent Ordinances in England for the better Government of the Church and State of Ireland and the maintenance of the good Laws and Statutes of England there established they are to be found at large in Prins Animadversions on the 4th Instit pag. 287. and therefore are omitted here being very long though also very good only this must be observed that the Clause formerly quoted ad annum 1344 out of the 4th Instit is by my Lord Cooke mistaken both as to Time and Form as to the Time it was not 17 Edw. 3. as he says but it was 31 Edw. 3. And as to the Form it is thus VOlumus praecipimus quod Nostra ipsius terrae Negotiâ—a praesertim majora ardua in Conciliis per peritos Conciliarios nostros ac Praelatos Magnates quosdam de discretioribus probioribus hominibus de partibus vicinis ubi ipsa Concilia teneri contigerit propter hoc evocandos In Parliamentis vero per ipsos Conciliarios nostros ac Praelatos Proceres aliosque de Terra praedict prout Mos exigit secundum Justitiam Legem Consuetudinem Rationem tractentur c. But to return James 1359. Earl of Ormond Lord Justice was commonly stiled The Noble Earl because he was of the Royal Blood being great Grand-son to King Edward the first In his time 34 Edw. 3. the King ordered Proclamation to be made in Ireland That no Meer Irishman should be Mayor Bayliff or Officer of any Town within the English Dominion i.e. the Pale nor be advanced to any Ecclesiasâ—â—cal Benefice or Promotion 35 Edw. 3. but the next Year the King by his Writ explains the former Proclamation Pryn 296. and orders that it shall not extend to any Irish Clerks who have done him Service or are Loyal to him But it seems that the Lord Justice was sent for into England and until his Return Maurice Fitz-Girald March 30. Earl of Kildare was constituted Lord Justice 1360. by Patent under the Great Seal of Ireland he was to have the usual Sallary of five hundred pound per annum maintaining thereout Ninteen Horsemen besides himself but he did not continue long in this Station before James Earl of Ormond March 15. Lord Justice return'd and the King intending to send his Son to Ireland 1357. with a good Force summoned the Duchess of Norfolk and all other Noble and Gentle Men and Women that held Lands in Ireland to appear in Person or by Proxy 4 Instit. Pryn 296. before him and his Council to advise concerning the Defence of Ireland and to repair to that Kingdom in Person with all the Forces they could raise by a certain Day or to send their sufficient Deputies to assist the Kings Son in Defence of the Country And the same Day issued a Writ or Proclamation prohibiting the transporting of any Corn or Victuals out of Ireland on pain of Forfeiture and another Proclamation or Writ to seize all the Lands or Tenements purchased
England and Gerard Fitz Maurice Earl of Desmond was made Lord Justice 1367. he procured a Parly between the Birminghams and some Commissioners he sent but they treacherously seized on Thomas Burly Prior of Kilmaynam and Chancellor the Sheriff of Meath 1368. and Sir Robert Tyrrel c. whereupon James Birmingham who was a Prisoner in Irons at Trim was exchanged for the Chancellor and the others were fain to pay their Ransoms 1369. But on the twelfth of July came over Sir William de Winsor Lord Lieuten who called a Parliament at Kilkenny which gave three thousand Pound Subsidy And soon after another at Ballydoil which gave two thousand Pound Subsidy Pryn 304. towards the Maintenance of the King's Wars Both which Sums were for some time forborn by the King's Order Prin 300 301 but were afterwards levied and paid to the Lord Lieutenant And the King would also have had a Law made against Absentees and sent Orders to that Purpose but it seems that he did not prevail in that Matter This Lord Lieutenant vigorously prosecuted the War against the O Tools and the Rebels of Leinster but was interrupted by a fatal Accident for on the sixth of July near the Monastery of Mayo in the Country of Limerick O Connor and O Bryan got the better of the English and slew the Earl of Desmond and took John Fitz Nicholas Lord of Kerry and the Lord Thomas fitz-Fitz-John and many others Prisoners Whereupon the Lord Lieutenant was obliged to march to the Defence of Munster where he behaved himself so well that John Macnamarra a great Man in Thomond was forced to submit Lib. D. and give Hostages for Performance of Covenants one of which was To keep the Peace especially towards the Bishops of Limerick and Killalow Another was Not to annoy the City or Castle of Limerick nor hinder that City in their Fishing or in cutting down Woods in Thomond to build or repair their Houses And a third was That he should restore the Books Ornaments and Chalices he had taken from the Church of Limerick From whence may be observed That Sacriledge was well known and practised in Ireland before the Reformation But to proceed The Lord Lieutenant was sent for to England and therefore on the twenty first of March he deputed Maurice 1371. Earl of Kildare Custos of Ireland and he was sworn the next Day and continued in that Office until Sir Robert de Ashton 1372. Lord Justice arrived In his time there were great Fewds between O Farrel and the English of Meath so that many were killed on each Side and particularly Hussy 1373. Baron of Galtrim the Sheriff of Meath and William Dalton were in May slain by the Irish in Kinaleagh And whereas the Court of Exchequer had issued Process to levy Escuage as well for the Lands seised by the Rebels as for those which the English kept in Possession the King on the twenty second of May sent a Writ to the Exchequer to order that Matter according to Reason and Equity And whereas he was informed That Customs and Impositions were laid upon them which the major Part of the Parliament had not consented to he sent the Lord Justice a strange sort of Writ Pryn 303. which shall therefore be recited REX dilecto sâ—ideli suo Roberto de Ashton Justic suo Hibern Salutem Ex gravi conquestione ligeorum nostrorum Terrae nostrae Hibern accepimus quod cum Willielmus de Winsore nuper locum nostrum tenens in Terra praedicta ad primum Parliamentum post adventum suum in Hibern tent apud Dublin diversa Custumas onera quae antea aliquo tempore concessa non fuerunt ab ipsis Ligeis nostris petiâ—isse viz. de quolibet lasto halecis tres solidos de qualibet centena grossi piscis duodecem denarios de qualibet Centena minoris piscis sex denarios de quolibet dolio Salmonis quatuor solidos de qualibet pipa Salmonis duos solidos de quolibet dolio Vini sex solidos octo denar de qualibet pipa vini tres solidos quatuor denar de qualibet libra â—arnium boum porcorum ovium sex denarios de qualibet weia frumenti sex solidos octo denarios de qualibet weia Brasei fabarum pisar hordei siliginis hastinel quinque solidos de qualibet weia salis sex solidos octo denaer de qualibet libra pellium equorum cervorum Aphrorum pillfell pannor laniar lineorum fuldingoram aliarum merchandizarum sex denarios licet Praelati Magnates alii ligei nostri pro majori parte in dicto Parliamento nostro existentes concessioni levationi solutioni custum onerum praedictorum expresse contradixerunt quidam Praelati de concilio assensu praefat Willielmi existentes aliae singulares personae pro minori parte ejusâ—em Parliamenti in quadam camera congregati custumam onera superdicta absque assensu majoris partis dicti Paliamenti per tres annos tantum non ultra concesserunt praefatus tamen Willielmus alii de concilio suo in rotulis Canc. nosâ—ri ejusdem irrotulari registrari fecerunt quod dicta custumae onera per omnes in dicto Parliamento presentes perpetuis temporibus percipienda concessa fuerunt in ipsorum ligeorum nostrorum Terrae nostrae praedictae destructionem depaâ—perationem manifestam unde nobis supplicarunt sibi per nos de remedio provideri nos nolentes ipsos ligeos nostros injuste onerari vobis mandamus quod premissa omnia eorum singula eisdem modo forma quibus gesta acta fuerunt in proximo Parliamento nostro in Terra praedicta tenendo coram Praelatis Magnatibus Communitate dicti Parliamenti recitari declarari si per expositionnem examinationem eorundem vobis constare poterit premissa veritatem continere tunc irrotulamentum ac record concessionis custumae onerum praedict de assenfu dicti Parliamenti sine dilatione cancellari damnari levationi exactioni custumae onerum praedict ratione concessionis antedict post dictum trientum faciend supersederi faciatis omnino Teste Rege apud Westm 28. die Maii. And now happened the famous Case of Sir Richard Pembridge who was the King's Servant and Warden of the Cinque Ports 2. Inst 47. and being ordered to go over Lord Deputy to Ireland he refused and it was adjudged he might because it was but an honourable Exile and no man can by Law be compelled Perdere Patriam except in the case of Abjuration for Felony or by Act of Parliament And therefore another was sent viz. Sir William Windsor 1374. Lord Lieutenant who arived at Waterford on the eighteenth Day of April 1374. and was sworn at Kilkenny the fourth of May He undertook the Custody or Government of Ireland for eleven thousand two hundred and thirteen
to and from England Fifthly That a certain Fund be appointed for their Pay Sixthly That at the King's Charge he might have a Family or two out of every Parish in England to inhabit Ireland Seventhly To have Power of granting Benefices and of making a Deputy And Lastly That the Demesnes of the Crown may be resumed and the Acts of Absentees may be executed The Lord Lieutenant within a Week after he came to Dublin caused the Earl of Kildare and three of his Family to be arrested and suffered the Earls Goods to be rifled and spoiled by the Duke's Servants and kept the Earl himself in Prison in Dublin Castle until he paid three hundred Marks It is recorded that the Lord Lieutenant was desperately wounded in an Encounter at Kilmainham and hardly escaped with Life but it is not mentioned how nor by whom but it seems he design'd to revenge it and to make a general Hosting for he made Proclamation that all such as ought by their Tenures to serve the King should assemble together at Ross He also held a Parliament at Kilkenny for a Tallage to be granted but what Success he had in these Assemblies is not so manifest as it is that he went to England on the 13th of March leaving Thomas Butler 1409. Prior of Kilmainham his Deputy in whose time the King gave the Sword to the City of Dublin and changed their PROVOST into a MAYOR and not long after the Barbarous Mac Gilmore being routed and pursued by the Savages fled to the Church of the Friers Minors at Carigfergus which he had formerly defaced but they got into the Windows whence this Tory had formerly taken the Iron Bars and there they put an end to his Villany and his Life In Vlster Jenico de Artois the famous Gascoigne behaved himself briskly and slew eighty of the Rebels in a Skirmish he had with them But on the twenty first of May or rather the thirteenth of June the Parliament began at Dublin 1410. and made it Treason to take Coyn and Livery Lib. D. and on the tenth of July the Lord Justice took the Castles of Mibraclide in Offerol and De-la-mare It seems he proceeded to invade O Birns Country with fifteen hundred Kerns or Irish Souldiers and the Consequence was that they betrayed him and half of them went over to the Enemy so that it had gone hard with the Lord Justice if the Power of Dublin had not been there and yet he escaped not without loss for John Derpatrick was there slain The next Year was probably more quiet 1411. for there is nothing recorded of it except some considerable Marriages amongst the Grandees On the tenth of April 1412. O Connor did much Mischief in Meath and took an hundred and forty English and O Tool and Thomas Fitz-Maurice Sheriss of Limerick kill'd each other in a Duel About this time the King granted the Town and Ferry of Inishonan Lib. G. to Philip de Barry and it is to be noted that almost in every Parliament holden in England during this Reign the danger of Ireland is remembred although very little was done for it because of the frequent Troubles in England and so we come to the 20th day of March on which the King died at the Abbot of Westminster's House in the fourteenâ—h Year of his Reign and of his Age the forty seventh He died so very poor that his Executors refused to administer and therefore the Archbishop of Canterbury who is Ordinary to the Court where-ever it is exposed the Kings Goods to Sale and King Henry the Fifth bought them for the value to be paid the Executors to be disposed of according to his Fathers Will Rolls Abr. 906. but it seems he never paid the Money for it was afterwards ordained in Parliament 4 Inst 335 that the Executors should not be sued by the Creditors The Bishop of Meath is said to have been Lord Justice about the Year 1402. But because I do find him omitted by others and do not find that he did any thing worth mention I have therefore not inserted him as Lord Justice in Order THE REIGN OF HENRY V. King of England c. And LORD of IRELAND HENRY the Fifth succeeded his Father without any opposition and all the Nobility taking it then for a Law that the Crown belonged to the Heir of him that died last seized swore Homage and Allegiance to him before Coronation 1412. which was not usual in those days but this Magnanimous Prince was so taken up with Designs against France that Ireland was but little regarded in his Reign For the present He continued in the Government Thomas 1413. Prior of Kilmainham who did not long remain therein before he surrendred unto Sir John Stanly Lord Lieutenant he Landed at Clantarf the 7th of October and on the 6th of January after died at Ardee whereupon on the 11th of February the Nobility elected Thomas Crawly Lord Justice He was twice Chancellor and then Archbishop of Dublin and was a Man of fingular Piety and Learning and it is to be noted That the Parliament sate at Dublin the 26th of February so that it could not have above fifteen days of Summons though the Day of the Lord Justice his Admittance to the Government and the Day of the Session be included the Irish burnt the Pale during this Parliament as they used to do and therefore a Tax or Tallage was demanded but not granted and so that Parliament was dissolved after it had sate fifteen Days However 1414. the valiant Jenico de Artois invaded the Territory of Macgenis but was so unfortunate to lose many of his Men at Inor whereupon the Irish grew so insolent that the Lord Justice was necessitated to go out in person However he went no farther than Castledermond and there entrusting the Army with the Military men he remained with his Clergy in Procession and at Prayers for the Success of his small Army and the Event answered his expectation for the English slew an hundred of the Irish near Kilkea but that small Victory was soon over-ballanced by a Defeat which the English of Meath received from O Connor on the 10th of May to the Loss of Tho. Maureverar Baron of Shrine and many others and to the imprisonment of Christopher Fleming and John Dardis This Loss discovered the necessity of sending a Martial Man to the Government of Ireland and therefore on the 10th day of September Sir John Talbot Lord Furnival Lord Lieutenant Landed at Dalkye and immediately made a Circular Progress round the Pale in warlike manner He began with the Birns Tools and Cavenaghs on the South and so passing to the O Moors O Connors and O Ferrals in the West and ending with the O Relyes Mac Mahons O Neals and O Hanlons in the North he brought them all to the Kings Peace but he brought no Forces with him out of England and therefore though he had Strength enough to
to the Lord Justice 1422. whose Servants were on the Seventh of May attacked and defeated by the Irish Purcel Grant and five and twenty English more were slain and ten taken Prisoners and two hundred escaped to the Abby of Leix and to revenge this the Lord Justice invaded O Mores Country and defeated his terrible Army in the red Bog of Asby he relieved his own Men and burnt and preyed the Rebels Lands for four days until themselves came and sued for Peace And it seems O Dempsy notwithstanding his Oath of Obedience invaded the Pale and took the Castle of Ley from the Earl of Kildare which the Lord Justice had justly restored to the Earl whereupon Campion makes a severe Remark on the Irish That notwithstanding their Oaths and their Pledges they are no longer true than they feel themselves the weaker In the mean time Mac Mahon play'd the Devil in Vrgile and burnt and spoil'd all before him Camp 97. but the Lord Justice also revenged that Prank and forced Mac Mahon to submit and many other Noble Exploits did this good Governor for whose Success the Clergy of Dublin went twice every week in solemn Procession praying for his Victory over those disordered Persons which now in every Quarter of Ireland had apostatiz'd to their old Trade of Life and repined at the English And when I have mentioned a Deed made 9 Hen. 5. which is to be found Lib. GGG 24. at Lambeth whereby this Earl of Ormond constituted James Fitz-Girald Earl of Desmond his Seneschal of the Baronies or Signiories of Imokilly Inchicoin and the Town of Youghal during his Life I have no more to add but that this Victorious King after he had conquered France submitted to the common Fate on the last Day of August 1422 in the Flower of his Age and the Tenth Year of his Reign THE REIGN OF HENRY VI. King of England c. And LORD of IRELAND HENRY the Sixth was but nine Months old at the Death of his Illustrious Father 1422. and therefore the deceased King had by his last Will appointed John Duke of Bedford to be Regent of France Humphry Duke of Glocester to be Governour of England and Thomas Duke of Excester and Henry Bishop of Winchester to be Guardians of the Young King's Person All which was duly observed and the Infant King was proclaimed in Paris and the Nobility that were there swore Allegiance to him James Earl of Ormond continued Lord Lieutenant of Ireland and upon a Petition preferred by the House of Commons to the King about the manifold Murders Robberies Rapes Riots and other Misdemeanours committed by the Irish in England Lib. M. it was enacted there That all Persons born in Ireland should quit England within a time limited except Graduates in either University Clergymen beneficed those that have Land in England or are married there or those whose Parents are English and even such are to give Security of their good Behaviour And not long after came over Edmond Mortimer 1422. Earl of March and Vlster Lord Lieutenant He died afterwards of the Plague at the Castle of Trym which was his own Inheritance And in his stead came John Lord Talbot 1425. Lord Justice In whose time the Barretts a Family of good account near Cork did by Indenture covenant to be obedient to the Earl of Desmond who was exceeding Powerful and lorded it over great part of Munster with a high Hand This Governour resigned to James Earl of Ormond 1426. Lord Justice In whose time John Duke of Bedford 4 Instit 360. Regent of France obtained a Patent for all the Mines of Gold and Silver within England Ireland c. rendring to the Church the tenth Part to the King the fifteenth Part and to the Owner of the Soil the twentieth part And then Sir John de Gray 1427. Lord Lieutenant landed at Hoâ—th the thirty first of July and was sworn the next Day but no mention is made of any thing he did but that he went for England and left Edward Dantzy Bishop of Meath 1428. his Deputy He was for a time Treasurer of Ireland and dyed the fourth of January 1428. Upon Notice whereof Sir John Sutton Lord Dudly was sent over Lord Lieutenant He held a Parliament in Dublin Friday next after the Feast of All Saints 1429. at which it was enacted That the Sheriff upon Pain of Amercement should add to the Panel of Jurors the Place Estate and Mistery of every Juror And in the Preamble to this Act the Lord Lieutenant is Styled The Right Noble and Right Gracious Lord. And on the sixth of the same November the King was crowned at Westminster And soon after the Lord Lieutenant returned and left Sir Thomas Strange 1429. Lord Deputy in whose time the King was crowned at Paris 1431. and took the Oaths and Homage of the Nobility and People there And now happened the famous Case of the Prior of Lanthony which was That a Judgment in the Common Pleas being removed to the Irish Parliament was affirmed there Whereupon a Writ of Error was sent from England but the King's Bench in England would not take cognizance of a Judgment in the Parliament of Ireland to reverse it And therefore the Prior petitions the King That the Record may be transmitted to the House of Lords in England to be examined there Sir Thomas Stanly was made Lord Lieutenant of Ireland 1432. and it seems that he called a Parliament which enacted two Statutes that were afterwards repealed by 11 Jac. 1 cap. 5. And then he went to England leaving Sir Christopher Plunket Lord Deputy 1432. he was afterwards Baron of Killine in Right of his Wife Heir of the Cusacks and his second Son became Baron of Dunsany But Sir Thomas Stanly 1435. Lord Lieutenant returned and gave a Check to the Irish who were insolent beyond Measure and incroaching everywhere on the Pale making the best Advantage of the King's Minority and the Absence of the Military Men in France but the Lord Lieutenant with the Power of Meath and Vriel took Moyle O Donel Prisoner and slew a great many of the Irish And afterwards about Michaelmas he went again to England and left Richard Talbot Archbishop of Dublin 1436. Brother to the Earl of Shrewsbury Lord Deputy he was sometime Lord Chancellor of Ireland and was elected Primate of Armagh but he refused to change his Bishoprick Lion Lord Wells 1438. Lord Lieutenant in whose time a second Law was made in England Lib. M. obliging the Irishmen to return into their Native Country And another Statute was made in Ireland to stop the Passage of any more into England And on the twelfth of June 17 Hen. 6. Robert Fitz-Geofry Cogan granted all his Lands in Ireland being half the Kingdom of Cork to James Earl of Desmond and gave a Letter of Attorney to put him in Possession of Kyrrygrohanmore Lib. G. Downdrinane
pain of loss of Life Lands and Goods that never any of them do make War upon another without Licence or Commandment of you my Lord Deputy and the Kings Council for the utter destruction of these parts is that only cause and once all the Irishmen and the Kings Enemies were driven into a great Vally called Glanehought betwixt two great Mountains called Maccorte or the Leprous Island and there they lived long and many years with their White-Meat till at the last these English Lords fell at variance among themselves and then the weakest part took certain Irishmen to take his part and so vanquished his Enemy and thus fell the English Lords at variance among themselves till the Irishmen were stronger than they and drave them away and now have the whole Country under them but that the Lord Roch the Lord Courcy and the Lord Barry only remain with the least part of their Ancestors Possessions and young Barry is there upon the Kings Portion paying his Grace never a penny of Rent wherefore We the Kings poor Subjects of the City of Cork Kinsale and Youghal desire your Lordship to send hither two good Justices to see this Matter ordered and some English Captains with twenty Englishmen that may be Captains over us all and we will rise with them to redress these Enormities all at our own Costs and if you do not we be all cast away and then farewel Munster for ever and if you will not come nor send we will send over to our Liege Lord the King and complain on you all However I will not pretend to be exact in the timing of this Letter This Lord Lieutenant had a Son born at Dublin well known afterwards by the Name of George Duke of Clarence to whom the Earls of Ormond and Desmond were Godfathers and thereupon Desmond grew so insolent and haughty that his Oppressions were the chief Cause of the aforesaid Letter from Cork but it is probable that the Lord Lieutenant return'd to England and left James Earl of Ormond afterward Earl of Wiltshire 1451. and Lord Treasurer of England Lord Deputy in whose time Sir John Talbot was made Lord Chancellor of Ireland and it seems Complaint was made against him because he put in a Deputy in his room absque Regis licentia Lib. CCC This Lord Deputy was made Lord Lieutenant and went for England leaving John Mey Archbishop of Armagh Lord Deputy 1453. wherewith the Government of England being dissatisfied a Writ was sent to the Earl of Ormond commanding him Quod circa praemissis intenderet I suppose the Reason might be because there was a Necessity for the Presence of a Military Governour of Power and Authority in that Kingdom to repel the daily Incursions of the Irish into the Pale and therefore Ormond not being willing to come over the Government was committed to Thomas Earl of Kildare 1454. Lord Deputy who held it only until the arrival of Sir Edward Fitz-Eustace Lord Deputy to the Duke of York Who held a Parliament in Dublin at which it was enacted I. That all Statutes against Provisors in England or Ireland should be held in Force II. That Inquests before Coroners shall be discharged after a second Verdict that they do not know the Felon III. That no Appeals shall be to England except for Treason against the King's Person and in all false Appeals the Plaintif shall pay Damages and twenty Pound and one hundred Shillings Fine In the mean time the Duke of York in England obtained a famous Victory over the King's Forces at S. Albans where the Duke of Somerset was slain and the King himself was wounded in the Neck and afterwards on the ninth of July he was made Protector of the King's Person by Parliament And in Ireland Thomas Earl of Kildare was Lord Deputy to the Duke of York 1455. and held a Parliament at Dublin wherein it was enacted I. That no Exigents nor Outlawries be made by Commissioners II. That the Recorder of Dublin and Drogheda shall have but two Pence for every Plaint III. That every Man shall answer for his Sons and waged Men. IV. An Act about Escheators V. That a Parliament should be held every Year And he held another Parliament at the Naas Lib. M. 48. Friday after All Saints which enacted I. That all Strangers pay forty Pence per Pound Custom for transporting Silver II. That every Man shall answer for his Sons except in Cases Capital III. That no Person not amesnable to Law shall distrain without Licence on pain of forfeiting his Title And he held another Parliament at Dublin Friday after the Purification at which it was established I. That Beneficed Persons should reside II. That the Inhabitants to enclose the Village might remove the High-way forty Perch Richard Duke of York 1459. upon the Revolt of Andrew Trollop and the Callicians broke up his Army and fled first to Wales and afterwards to Ireland where he was kindly received and by his Deputy the Earl of Kildare he held a Parliament at Dublin the third of February which enacted That Warrants to the Chancellor bear the Date of the Delivery and that the Patents be of the same Date or else be void And the same Day twelve month he held another Parliament at Drogheda 1460. wherein it was enacted That no Man should sue in the Exchequer but a Minister of that Court on pain of ten Pound This Duke and his Abettors were in a Parliament at Coventry declared Traytors and thereupon the Earl of March came to his Father into Ireland and soon after returned to Calice and thence invaded England at Sandwich and on the ninth of July he fought and defeated the King at Northampton and took him Prisoner whereupon the Duke of York went to England and called a Parliament in the King's Name and in that Parliament boldly claimed his Title and so it was enacted That King Henry should keep the Crown during his Life and the Duke should be declared Heir apparent and in case of Opposition or farther Bustle about it should have present Possession But not long after the Duke was defeated and slain at the Battle of Wakefield This Duke behaved himself exceeding well in Ireland he appeased the Tumults there and erected Castles on the Borders of Louth Meath and Kildare to stop the Irish Incursions and was so well esteemed in that Kingdom that Multitudes of the Irish Subjects attended him into England to pursue his Claim to the Crown Nevertheless the Publick Revenue was but very low because the whole Kingdom was in Possession of the Irish except the Pale and some few Places on the Sea-Coast in Vlster and even that was so far from being quiet that they were fain to buy their Peace by yearly Pensions to the Irish and to pay Tribute and Contributions to them for Protection which nevertheless was but very ill observed to the English It cannot be expected I should give the Reader an exact
Ireland they proceeded to crown this Impostor at Christ-Church in Dublin with a Crown which they took from the Statue of the Virgin Mary in S. Mary-Abby and this Ceremony was rendred more solemn by a Sermon preached by the Bishop of Meath on the occasion and by the Attendance of the Lord Deputy the Chancellor Treasurer and other the great Officers of State And after he was crowned they carried him in Triumph upon the Shoulders of Great Darcy of Platten But the good Archbishop of Armagh refused to be present at this ridiculous Pageantry for which they gave him all the Trouble they could But it seems they were conscious of their Misdemeanour in this Matter and they knew how to purchase Absolution and therefore they called a Parliament or Assembly in the Name of their new King and the Clergy gave the Pope a Subsidy to absolve them So eager were these People to follow the Fortunes of this Mock-King that Thomas Fitz-Girald resigned the Chancellorship to the Lord of Portlester the better to be at liberty and so together they went for England and landed in Lancashire where Sir Thomas Broughton and his Party joyned them they marched through Yorkshire to Newark and being stopt there they turned aside to Notinghamshire and near the Village of Stoke 1487. on the the eleventh of June after a desperate Fight for three Hours they were totally defeated and all the Commanders and four thousand Soldiers slain and Lambert and his Master Symon were taken Prisoners and the latter was imprisoned and the former made one of the King's Falconers In December James Fitz-Thomas Decemb. 7. Earl of Desmond in the twenty eighth Year of his Age was murdered at Rakele by his Servant Shane Maunta and others who were all taken and executed for it by Maurice his Brother and Successor in that Earldom The Earl of Kildare and the other Ministers of State that were Faulty sent Messengers to the King to implore his Pardon which after some exprobration and reprimand was obtained and he was still continued in his Office of Lord Deputy Ware 14 And the same Year the Inconveniences of Sanctuaries were somewhat lessned by the Pope's Bull for the better Regulation of them It seems strange That hitherto the King did not send any Soldiers into Ireland to suppress the remainder of the Faction of York perhaps he knew That if he took any severe course with them it would utterly destroy the Pale and by weakning the small Colony of English would turn to the Advantage of the Irish and therefore he contented himself with the Submission of those that had been Faulty and sent over Sir Richard Edgcomb to take new Oaths of Allegiance of the Nobility and Gentry and to bind them in Recognizance to performance and thereupon to give them a Pardon He brought with him five hundred Men which was rather a Guard than an Army and he arrived at Kingsale with five Ships on the twenty seventh Day of June he did not intend to come on Shoar there and therefore the Lord Thomas Barry i.e. Barry oge came on Board and there did his Homage for his Barony and took his Oath of Allegiance but the next Day Sir Richard Edgcomb at the Importunity of James Lord Courcy and the Inhabitants of Kingsale did come into the Town and in their Parish Church dedicated to S. Multotius the Lord Courcy did Homage and he and the Townsmen swore Allegiance and entred into Recognizance for the Observation of it whereupon they were pardoned And so after Dinner Edgcomb sailed toward Waterford where he arrived the last Day of June and having applauded the Loyalty of that City and assured them That the King would liberally remunerate their Fidelity he set Sail for Dublin and there he arrived the fifth Day of July and was received by the Mayor and Citizens in most humble and submissive manner at the Gate of the Abby of the Friers Preachers where he was to lodge The Earl of Kildare was then upon some Exploit against the Irish so that he did not come to Dublin until the twelfth of July and then he sent the Bishop of Meath the Lord Slane and others unto Edgcomb to conduct him to S. Thomas-Court where the Lord Deputy lay Thither did Sir Richard come and with a stern Countenance delivered the King's Letters to the Lord Deputy after which they had a Private Conference but many of the Nobility being absent nothing more was done at that time and so they departed the Lord Deputy went to Minooth and Sir Richard Edgcomb returned to the Abby The next Day being Sunday Edgcomb caused to be read in Christ Church after Sermon the Absolution of the former Excommunication which the Pope had lately granted at the King's Request unto all those that should thenceforward continue loyal to his Majesty and after some time and many Expostulations between the Commissioners and the Nobility they did at last agree on the Form of an Oath to be found at large in Sir James Wares Annals p. 17. Wherein this is observable that they swore not to hinder or disturb the excommunication of all such as should oppose the King of what Quality soever they should be And in the Oath of the Clergy it was added that they should publish the Popes Excommunication against all the Kings Rebels or Enemies in Ireland as often as they should be thereunto required Salvo Ordine Episcopali c. And so on the 21st of July the Earl of Kildare being first absolved from the former Excommunication after the usual manner in time of Divine Service did Homage to the Kings Commissioner in the great Chamber in Thomas Court and swore Allegiance and entred into Recognizance for the due Observation of it and then Edgecomb gave him his Pardon and put a Gold-Chain about his Neck which the King had sent him for a Present to signifie his Majesties entire Reconcilation to him The like Oaths and Recognizances were made by Rowland Eustace Baron of Portlester Lord High Treasurer Robert Preston Viscount Gormanstown James Fleming Baron of Slane Nicholas St. Laurence Baron of Houth Christopher Barnewal Baron of Trimletstown John Plunket Baron of Dunsany Walter Archbishop of Dublin John Walton who had resigned that Archbishoprick reserving the Mannor of Swords to live upon during Life John Bishop of Meath Edmond Bishop of Kildare John Purcell Abbot of St. Thomas Abby Walter Champflour Abbot of St. Maryes and James Cogan Prior of Holm-Patrick and then Sir Richard Edgecomb entertain'd them all at a splendid Banquet at his Lodgings and the next day the Mayor and Citizens of Dublin took their Oaths at the Tolsel and remitted a Copy of the Oath under the City-Seal to the King to certifie His Majesty that they had taken it And so on the 23d day of July Edgecomb went to Drogheda and thence to Trim and both those Towns as also the Prior of St. Peters near Trim and the Abbots of Navan and Beclif did in like manner
bind themselves to Allegiance by Oath and Recognizance and when he returned to Dublin on the 26th Octavianus Archbishop of Armagh Philip Birmingham Chief Justice of the Kings Bench and Thomas Dowdal Master of the Rolls followed the same Example There was great intercession made for Prior Keating and Thomas Plunket Chief Justice of the Common Pleas and at length Plunket was pardon'd but Keating was not only left unpardoned but was also removed from the Command of the Castle of Dublin whereof it seems he was Governour or Constable and Richard Archbold whom he had formerly ejected was now restored and perhaps Keating had been used worse if his Habit and Order had not protected him for the King hated him more than all the rest being as it seems one of the most violent and most powerful Abettors of the Impostor Symnel and so Sir Richard Edgecomb having faithfully executed his Commission embarked at Dalky the 29th of July and arrived in Cornwal on the 8th of August Soon after this the Lord Deputy and Council sent over the Bishop of Meath to obviate the Designs of their Enemies and to thank the King for his Favours and to assure him of their future Allegiance and he managed his Negotiation so successfully that although the Archbishop of Armagh who was of the Kings side and a Favourite did use his utmost Endeavours to get the Chancellorship yet he could not obtain it lest thereby Kildare and his Party might be disobliged and the Kingdom just now appeased and growing towards a Settlement might again be disturbed by new Jealousies and Commotions And now the Lord Deputy is at leisure to call Macgeoghan to account for all his Depredations in the Pale 1489. he invaded his Country and took the Castle of Bileragh and preyed and wasted the whole Territory of Moycassel and being loaden with Booty he returned to Dublin But the King being still jealous of the Nobility of Ireland whom he knew to be exceedingly addicted to the House of York sent for most of them to come over to him into England and thither went the Earl of Kildare the Viscounts Buttevant and Fermoy and the Lords of Athenry Kingsale Gormanstown Delvin Hoath Slane Killeen Trimleston and Dunsany They waited on the King at Greenwich where Lambert Symnel served as Butler purposely to ridicule and expose their Folly who would Crown such a Fellow for their King but after some sharp Reproofs they were all taken into Favour and graciously dismiss'd I suppose not without some Presents though only that of three hundred Pieces of Gold to the Lord of Hoath be mentioned But whilst these things were doing in England Maurice Buckagh Earl of Desmond obtained two Victories in Ireland the one against Morough O Carol who was slain in the Battel together with his Brother Moyl Murry and the other against Dermond Mac Teige Carty whom he also killed On the 6th of July a Provincial Synod was held at Athird Ware 24. by Octavianus Archbishop of Armagh at which were present the Bishops of Meath Clogher Ardagh Dromore Kildare Raphoe and Cluanmacnoise There was a great Contest at this Synod between Thomas Brady and one Cormock about the Bishoprick of Kilmore it was by common consent refer'd to the determination of the Bishops of Meath Clogher and Ardagh and what End they made of it non constat but six years after both of them were called Bishops of Kilmore and as such both of them were permitted to sit in the Synod of Drogheda The Summer and Harvest were so wet in Ireland 1491. that the Corn could not be saved and therefore a great Dearth ensued which was accompanied with a Disease called the Sweating Sickness which now came to be first felt and known in Ireland And it seems that a Parliament was held at Trim on Friday after Epiphany but none of their Acts are extant But in March a Proclamation issued against bad Money and Nicholas Flyn was made Supervisor of the Mints at Waterford and Dublin It was about this time that O Neal wrote this short and famous Letter to Hugh Roe O Donel from whom he demanded Chief-Rent which the other denied and refused to pay Cur hoom mi Keesh no monna Curhir i.e. Send me my Rent or if you don't as much as to say he would force him to it But O Donel replied Neel Reesh a gut urm agus dabeh i.e. I owe you no Rent and if I did meaning that he would not pay it so to Blows they go and after some Bickerings and Losses on both sides they agreed to refer all their Differences to the Lord Deputy but in vain for all that he could do could not reconcile them So to Blows they fall again and came to a bloody Battel wherein the Loss was almost equal but if there were any disadvantage in that Point it was of O Donel's side but that was more than balanced by the Death of O Neal who in January 1492 was Murdered by his Brother Henry so that Tyrone became divided between Henry and Daniel O Neal betwixt whom there was continual Wars until the year 1497. and then upon the Resignation of Daniel Henry became sole Proprietor and the same year of 1497 O Donel likewise being superannuated and decrepit gave up his Principality of Tirconnel to his Son Con. But the King finding that the Duchess of Burgundy was again busie at work about setting up another Impostor thought it necessary to put the Government of Ireland in the hands of such as he might confide in and therefore he removed the Earl of Kildare and Walter Fitz-Symons 1492. Archbishop of Dublin was made Lord Deputy to Jasper Dukâ— of Bedford and Sir James Ormond Natural Son to John Earl of Ormond was made Lord Treasurer in the room of Eustace Lord of Portlester who had enjoyed that Office eight and thirty years This new Lord Treasurer came to Ireland in June with a small Band of Souldiers and it so hapned that upon some Quarrel between him and the Earl of Kildare near Dublin there was a Skirmish which proved very prejudicial to both the Families of Butlers and Giraldines and the more because the Irish took advantage thereby to infest the Pale and to disturb the English Borders However in September following more Alterations were made in the great Offices of State Alexander Plunket was made Lord Chancelor Thomas Butler Master of the Rolls and Nicholas Turner was constituted Chief Justice of the Common Pleas in August before and the Earl of Ormond and the Prior of Canterbury were sent Ambassadors to the French King This Summer was so dry that abundance of Cattel perished for want of Water and the Air grew so Pestilential that a multitude of People and particularly the Lord of Slane died of the Plague But a greater Mischief than this hapned to the unfortunate Kingdom of Ireland by the Arrival of Perkin Warbeck who to supply the Defects of the former Imposture did pretend to be Richard Duke of
days But go too suppose he never be had What is Kildare to blame for it more than my good Brother of Ossory who notwithstanding his high Promises having also the Kings Power is yet content to bring him in at leisure Cannot the Earl of Desmond shift but I must be of Council Cannot he hide him except I wink If he be close am I his Mate If he be befriended am I a Traytor This is a doughty kind of Accusation which they urge against me wherein they are gravell'd and mir'd at my first denial You would not see him say they Who made them so familiar with mine Eye-sight Or when was the Earl within my view Or who stood by when I let him slip Or where are the Tokens of my wilful Hoodwink But you sent him word to beware of you Who was the Messenger Where are the Letters Convince my Negatives see how loose this idle Gear hangeth together Desmond is not taken well you are in fault Why Because you are Who proveth it No body What Conjectures So it seemeth To whom To your Enemies Who told it them They will swear it What other Ground None Will they swear it my Lord Why then of like they know it either they have my hand to shew or can bring forth the Messenger or were present at a Conference or privy to Desmond or some body bewrayed it to them or they themselves were my Carriers or Vicegerents therein Which of these Parts will they chuse For I know them too well To reckon my self convict by their bare Words or heedless Sayings or frantick Oaths were but meer Mockery My Letters were soon read were any such Writing extant my Servants and Friends are ready to be sifted Of my Cozen Desmond they may lie loudly since no man here can well contrary them Touching my self I never noted in them so much Wit or so fast Faith that I would have gaged on their silence the Life of a good Hound much less mine own I doubt not may it please your Honours to oppose them how they came to the knowledge of these Matters which they are so ready to depose but you shall find their Tongues chained to another mans Trencher and as it were Knights of the Post suborn'd to say swear and stare the utmost they can as those that pass not what they say nor with what face they say it so they say no truth But on the other side it grieveth me That your good Grace whom I take to be wise and sharp and who of your blessed disposition wisheth me well should be so far gone in crediting these corrupt Informers that abuse the ignorance of your State and Countrey to my peril Little know you my Lord how necessary it is not only for the Governor but also for every Nobleman in Ireland to hamper the uncivil Neighbors at discretion wherein if they waited for Process of Law and had not those Lives and Lands you speak of within their reach they might hap to lose their own Lives and Lands without Law You hear of a Case as it were in a Dream and feel not the smart that vexeth us In England there is not a mean Subject that dare extend his hand to fillip a Peer of the Realm In Ireland except the Lord have Cunning to his Strength and Strength to save his Crown and sufficient Authority to take Thieves and Varlets when they stir he shall find them swarm so fast that it will be too late to call for Justice If you will have our Service take effect you must not tie us always to those judicial Proceedings wherewith your Realm thanked be God is inured Touching my Kingdom I know not what your Lordship should mean thereby If your Grace imagine that a Kingdom consisteth in serving God in obeying the Prince in governing with Love the Commonwealth in supporting Subjects in suppressing Rebels in executing Justice in bridling blind Affections I would be willing to be invested with so Vertuous and Royal a Name but if therefore you term me a King in that you are perswaded that I repine at the Government of my Sovereign or wink at Malefactors or oppress civil Livers I utterly disclaim that odious Term marvelling greatly that one of your Graces profound Wisdom would seem to appropriate so sacred a Name to so wicked a thing But howsoever it be my Lord I would you and I had changed Kingdoms but for one Month I would trust to gather up more Crumbs in that space than twice the Revenues of my poor Earldom But you are well and warm and so hold you and upbraid not me with such an odious Term. I slumber in a hard Cabin when you sleep in a soft Bed of Down I serve under the King's Cope of Heaven when you are served under a Canopy I drink Water out of my Skull when you drink Wine out of Golden Cups my Courser is train'd to the Field when your Jennet is taught to Amble when you are Graced and Belorded and Crouched and Kneeled unto then find I small Grace with our Irish Borderers except I cut them off by the Knees Hereupon the Cardinal finding that Kildare was no Fool adjourned the Cause till farther Proof could be produced however being fretted at this Speech he remanded the Earl to the Tower contrary to the Opinion of most of the Council Speed 775. it seems he was afterwards Bayl'd on the Recognizance of the Duke of Norfolk and was again imprisoned upon some Light the Cardinal had gotten of the Message to O Neal and O Connor which Kildare had sent by his Daughter the Lady Slane It is reported That whilst the Earl and the Lieutenant of the Tower were at Play together at Slide-groat a Mandate was sent by the Cardinal to execute Kildare the next day Whereupon he changing Countenance the Earl swore by S. Bride That there was some mad Game in that Scroll but fall how it will this Throw is for a huddle says he Speed 775. And being told of the Contents of the Letter he desired the Lieutenant to know the King's Pleasure therein which he did and the King was surpriz'd at the thing for he knew nothing of it and to controll the Sawciness of the Priest as he phrased it gave the Lieutenant his Signet for a Countermand whereat the Cardinal stormed But it seems to me that this Story is a meer Fiction because I find not one Word of Kildare's Trial and it is not credible that they would execute a Man of his Quality before he was legally Tried and Condemned Afterwards this Earl was again enlarged out of Prison on very considerable Bayl viz. the Marchioness Dowager of Dorset Ware 119. the Marquess of Dorset the Lords Fitz-Walter and Mountjoy the Bishop of S. Asaph Richard Lord Grey John Lord Grey Leonard Lord Grey Sir Henry Gilford Sir John Zouch and John Abbot of Vale-Royal and was not long after restored to the King's Favour When the Earl of Kildare went to England
Faghil Abbot of Derry and Richard O Craghan 1531. who in the behalf of their Master perfected Indentures and swore Fealty to the King in presence of the Lord Deputy Davis 105. at Tredagh on the sixth of May 1531. And at the same time it is probable he made the Proposal mention by Sir John Davis Quod si Dominus Rex velit reformare Hiberniam He and His would gladly be governed by the Laws of England O Sullevan tells us a Story Sullevan 77. with great Ostentation That an English Ship took a Spanish Vessel that was fishing on the Coast of Ireland near the Dursies And that his Grand-Father Dermond O Sullevan Prince of Bear and Bantry having notice of it manned out a small Squadron of Ships and took both the Englishman and the Spaniard and hanged the English Captain but set the Spaniard at Liberty By which may be easily perceived What sort of Inclinations that sort of Men bear to an Englishman and what kind of Loyalty they paid to their King when they murdered his Subjects and cherished his Enemies But the Animosities and Feuds between the Lord Deputy and the Earl of Kildare did every Day increase and at length came to that height that they reciprocally impeached each other in England and Kildare did wisely to sail thither and personally solicite his own Affairs which he managed so successfully that Skeffington was superseded and Girald Earl of Kildare made Lord Deputy in his stead He also procured Alan the Lord Chancellor a Creature of Wolsies to be removed and Cromer Primate of Armagh to be placed in the Chancery July 5. 1532. in his room Nevertheless lest Kildare should grow too powerful the King to ballance him gave the Lord High Treasurers Staff to James Lord Butler who notwithstanding that he was Kildare's Nephew was nevertheless his bitter Enemy and heartily espoused the Quarrels of his Father the Earl of Ossory as it was his Interest and Duty to do But the Earl of Kildare having again gotten the Supreme Power into his Hands little valued the Opposition of his Enemies On the contrary he was transported with the Contemplation of the prodigious Success he had hitherto met with and presumed so far on its continuance that he precipitated himself into many vain and unaccountable Actions for he not only married two of his Daughters to O Connor and O Carol obstinate Enemies to the Crown of England but also with his Forces invaded Kilkenny and destroyed all he found belonging to the Earl of Ossory and his Friends he also persuaded his Brother John Fitz-Girald and O Neal to invade the County of Louth which they burned and preyed without Resistance And all these Extravagances contributed to the Destruction of a Noble Family and to leave this Earl of Kildare an Example to Posterity of the great folly of using Power immoderately On the nineteenth of May 25 Hen. 8. which was anno 1533 and not 1534 as is mistaken in the printed Statutes the Parliament met and enacted I. That sturdy Beggars should not leaze Corn nor any Body out of his Parish And that no Body should give Sheaves of Corn for Reaping or Binding And in all these cases the Corn may be taken away from the Transgressor II. That the Parsonage of Galtrim should be appropriated to the Priory of S. Peter's near Trim. III. That the Royal Fishing of the Banne be resumed into the King's Hands Ware 's Annals 130. But this last Act is not printed At this Parliament the Controversie was renewed between Cromer Primate of Armagh and Allan Archbishop of Dublin about Precedency in Dublin which was determined in favour of the Primate O Carol that married Kildare's Daughter was Tanist and Brother to the deceased O Carol and by the Law of Tanistry claimed the Signiory but the Son of the Desunct being of Age and a brisk Man would not be so served and therefore as Heir to his Father he seized on the Castle of Bi r which the Lord Deputy in favour of his Son-in-Law undertook to besiege and did so but it was in vain for at that Siege he received a Shot in his Head which sent him back faster than he came out and though he regained his Health yet he never recovered his Intellectuals but was ever after as we say A little crackbrained It is reported That when he was wounded he sighed deeply which a Soldier that was by observing he told his Lordship That himself had been shot three times and yet was recovered To whom the Earl replyed Would to God thou hadst also received the fourth Shot in my stead About this time John Allen who had been Clerk of the Council and was now Master of the Rolls a Creature of the deposed Chancellor Alans was sent by the Council into England about Publick Affairs Lib. 〈◊〉 His Instructions were To acquaint the King with the Decay of the Land and that neither English Order Tongue or Habit nor the King's Laws are used above twenty Miles in compass That this Decay is occasioned by the taking of Coyn and Livery without Order after Men's own sensual Appetites and taking Cuddees Garty and Caan for Felonies and Murder Alterages Bienges Saults and Slanciaghs c. And that they want English Inhabitants who formerly had Arms and Servants to defend the Country but of late the English Proprietor hath taken Irish Tenants that can live without Bread or good Victuals and some for Lucre to have more Rent and some for Impositions and Vassalage which the English cannot bear have expelled the English and made the Country all Irish without Order Security or Hospitality Formerly English Gentlemen kept a Retinue of English Yeomen according to the Custom of England to the great Security of the Country but now they keep Horsmen and Kernes who live by oppressing the poor People The great Jurisdiction of the Nobility is another Cause of destroying the King's Subjects and Revenue And the Black Rents which the Irish exact enriches them and impoverisheth the Englishman Also the making of a Native chief Governour and often change of the Lord Deputy are great Faults And ill keeping of the King's Records and putting unskilful Clerks in the Exchequer do occasion much Mischief But the Alienation of the Crown Lands so that the King's Revenue is not sufficient to defend the Realm is the greatest Grievance of all It is probable that these Instructions were kept secret from the Lord Deputy for it cannot be imagined That he would have consented that Articles which in effect were an Impeachment of himself should be communicated to the King and in truth Allen's Errand was to accuse the Deputy and he was imployed so to do by the Archbishop of Dublin the Earl of Ossory Ware 131. Sir William Skeffington and others and he performed his Commission so effectually that the Lord Deputy was sent for by the King's Letter to repair to England and answer the Crimes that were objected against him Kildare
indented with him That he should be Baron of Colthil and Castleton and have the Lands in Vpper Ossory granted to him at three Pound per annum And these Commissioners caused the Earl of Kildare's Estate to be surveyed Lib. H. and it amounted to eight hundred ninety three Pound eleven Shillings and eight Pence half Penny per annum which was a mighty Revenue in those Days And in the latter end of the Year viz. the twenty second of February the Earl of Ossory was restored to the Title of Earl of Ormond which was afterwards confirmed to that Noble Family by Act of Parliament anno 1541. On the twenty fifth of July 1538. 1538. the Lord of Trimletstown who was also Lord Chancellor departed this Life and in his stead Sir John Allen Master of the Rolls was first made Lord Keeper of the Great Seal by the Lord Deputy and Council and afterwards on the eigteenth Day of October was made Lord Chancellor by the King In the mean time in the beginning of May the Lord Deputy marched from Trim to pursue O Reyly but he prevented it by his Submission And thereupon the Deputy marched against Savage a degenerate Englishman into Ards and Lecale and there he took Mac Genis his Castle of Dundrum and seven Castles more and wasted and preyed all that Country and which was worse he burnt the Cathedral Church of Downe and defaced the Monuments of the Saints Patrick Bridget and Columbus and committed many other Sacriledges And about the same time Images were every where defaced or taken away and particularly the famous Image of the Blessed Virgin at Trim was burnt and the Oblations and Treasures which many superstitious Votaries had offered there were also taken and carried away And it seems That whilst the Lord Deputy was engaged in the North O Connor on the one side and O Toole on the other fell upon the Inhabitants of the Pale and committed what Robberies and Depredations they pleased and returned Home without Loss But when the Lord Deputy came back and understood what they had done he resolved to be revenged of O Connor and immediately invaded Ophaly and took the Castles of Braghnal and Dingen And in his Letter to the King of the twelfth of August he writes That he forced O Carol and O Magher to give Hostages and that O Carol paid him three hundred Marks to redeliver his Son and desired to take a Patent from the King for his Country but it is not fit to grant it to him because he is False And that the English do now so well understand the Irishmen and Country that if the King will send them Mony they will manage the Irish as he Pleases And in his Letter of the twenty first of March he acquaints the King That Brian O Connor submitted in the open Fild and that he pursued Cahir O Connor until he forced him to come to Dublin to make his Submission there In the mean time the Reformation of Religion went on but very slowly in Ireland for although Archbishop Brown was very zealous for it yet the Primate Cromer was as industrious against it as will appear by the following Letter from Archbishop Brown to the Lord Cromwel Right Honourable and my singular good Lord I Acknowledge my bounden Duty to your Lordships Good-Will to me April 8. 1538. next to my Saviour Christ's for the Place I now possess I pray God to give me his Grace to execute the same to his Glory and his Highness's Honour with your Lordship's Instructions The People of this Nation be Zealous yet Blind and Vnknowing Most of the Clergy as your Lordship hath had from me before being Ignorant and not able to speak right Words in the Mass or Liturgy as being not skilled in the Latin Grammar so that a Bird may be taught to speak with as much Sense as several of them do in this Country these Sorts though not Scholars yet crafty to cozen the poor Common People and to disswade them from following his Highness's Orders George my Brother of Armagh doth under-hand occasion Quarrels and is not active to execute his Highness's Orders in his Diocess I have observed your Lordship's Letter of Commission and do find several of my Pupils leave me for so doing I will not put others in their Livings till I do know your Lordship's Pleasure for it is meet I acquaint you first The Romish Reliques and Images of both my Cathedrals in Dublin took off the Common People from the true Worship but the Prior and the Dean find them so sweet for their Gain that they heed not my Words therefore send in your Lordship's next to me an Order more full and a Chide to them and their Canons that they might be removed Let the Order be That the Chief Governors may assist me in it The Prior and Dean have written to Rome to be encouraged and if it be not hindred before they have a Mandate from the Bishop of Rome the People will be bold and then tug long before his Highness can submit them to his Grace's Orders The country Folk here much hate your Lordship and despitefully call you in their Irish Tongue The Black-Smith's Son The Duke of Norfolk is by Armagh and the Clergy desired to assist them not to suffer his Highness to alter Church Rules here in Ireland As a Friend I desire your Lordship to look to your Noble Person for Rome hath a great Kindness for that Duke for it is so talked here and will reward him and his Children Rome hath great Favours for this Nation purposely to oppose his Highness and so have got since the Act passed great Indulgences for Rebellion therefore my Hopes are lost yet my Zeal is to do according to your Lordship's Orders God keep your Lordship from your Enemies here and in England And in May after he wrote the following Letter Right Honourable MY Duty premised It may please your Lordship to be advertized Sithence my last there has come to Armagh and his Clergy a private Commission from the Bishop of Rome prohibiting his Gracious Highness's People here in this Nation to own his Royal Supremacy and joyning a Curse to all them and theirs who shall not within forty Days confess to their Confessors after the publishing of it to them That they have done amiss in so doing the Substance as our Secretary hath translated the same into English is thus I A. B. from this present Hour forward in the presence of the Holy Trinity of the Blessed Virgin Mother of God of S. Peter of the Holy Apostles Archangels Angels Saints and of all the holy Host of Heaven shall and will be always obedient to the Holy See of S. Peter of Rome and to my Holy Lord the Pope of Rome and his Successors in all things as well Spiritual as Temporal not consenting in the least that his Holiness shall lose the least Title or Dignity belonging to the Papacy of our Mother Church or to
grand Captain four shillings a petit Captain two shillings and an hundred Harquebusses I suppose on Horseback half at eight pence and the other half at nine pence a day makes three pound sixteen shillings and ten pence per diem and an hundred and seven pound eleven shillings and four pence per mensem and per annum 1402 04 02. Mr. Brereton's Retinue a grand Captain four shillings a Captain three shillings a petit Captain two shillings and an hundred and fifty Archers at six pence apiece is four pound four shillings per diem and one hundred and seventeen pound twelve shillings per mensem and per annum 1533 00 00. The Knight Marshal's Retinue a grand Captain four shillings and twenty nine Horsemen at nine pence a day is one Pound eight shilling per diem eleven Pound eighteen shillings per mensem and per annum 0511 00 00. Clerk of the Cheques Retinue ten Horsemen at nine pence and himself a shilling is eight shillings six pence per diem eleven Pounds eighteen shillings per mensem and per annum 0155 02 06 The Treasurers Retinue forty Horse at nine pence and himself at six shillings and eight pence per diem is per annum 0669 03 04 The Lord Deputy's Stipend is per annum 0666 13 04 Master of the Ordnance's Stipend per annum 0048 13 04 Charge of the Ordnance besides what comes out of England is per annum 0040 00 00 7982 06 08 It seems the reason why they had so little Foot was because the Lords and Gentlemen of the Country were bound by their Tenures to assist the King with a certain number of Men at every Hosting or rising out as they call it and as for the Artillery it was so contemptible that I find by one of the Letters from the Council at the Camp that the Army had but one broken Piece and therefore they desire another may be sent them But before we proceed farther in the Affairs of Ireland it will be fit to pay that respect to the Memory of the late Lord Deputy the Lord Grey as to give some Account of his Misfortunes and Destiny He had certainly performed considerable Atchievments in Ireland and great Commendations of him are contained in most of the Letters from the Council to the King and his Majesty did so well approve of his good Services that he Created him Viscount Grany and although the Earl of Ormond the Lord Chancellor Allen the Vice-Treasurer Brabazon and Sir John Travers went with him or immediately followed him into England to impeach him yet he was kindly received by the King and and carried the Sword before him on Whitsunday Nevertheless he was in a short time after imprisoned in the Tower and accused of very many Articles the principal of which are these First That O Connor feasted him and mended Toghercroghan for him and that in favour of O Molloy a Rebel he took a Castle from Dermond O Molloy whose Father-in-Law O Carol was a good Subject for which the Lord Grey had a Bribe and Stephen ap Harry had twenty Cows Secondly That he took the Castle of Bi r from a Loyal O Carol and gave it to a Rebel O Carol who married the Earl of Kildare's Daughter and also took Moderhern a Castle belonging to the Earl of Ormond and gave it to the Rebel O Carol and wasted the Earl of Ormond's Lands for which he had an hundred and forty Kine and Stephen ap Harry had forty and Girald Mac Gerrot had a black Hackny Thirdly That he took forty Kine from O Kenedy a Tenant of the Earl of Ormond's and his Son for Hostage Fourthly That he held secret and private familiar Correspondence with James of Desmond and went to visit him in his Tents in his Night-Gown and forced the Abbot of Owny to give him forty Pounds sterling to preserve that Abby from Ruine and O Brian to give him thirty Kine and Hostages Vlick Bourk a Bastard gave him 100 Marks to have Ballimacleere-Castle and to be made Mac William and that he carried the Artillery in a small Vessel to Galway and made the Town of Galway pay thirty four Pounds for that Carriage Fifthly That the Exploits at Bryans Bridge c. were in favour of O Bryan a Rebel Desmond's Son-in-Law and to the prejudice of Donough O Bryan a good Subject and that he took a Bribe of eighty Kine from Macnemarra Sixthly That trusting Desmond and O Bryan he hazarded the King's Army in a long and dangerous Journy wherein Desmond quarrelled and deserted him and O Bryan sent but one man with a Battle-Ax to guide him Seventhly That he rifled the Abby of Ballyclare and left neither Chalice Cross nor Bell in it Eighthly That he destroyed the Castles of Lecagh and Derriviclaghny in favour of Vlick Burk though the rightful Proprietor offered Submission and Rent to the King Ninthly That he had secret Conference with and received a Horse from O Connor Roe who was the chief Instrument in conveying away the young Fitz-Girald Tenthly That he took eighty Kine from O Maddin and forced O Mlaghlin's Son from Mr. Dillon whose lawful Prisoner he was for which he had seventy Kine And there was a Commission sent to Ireland to examine Witnesses and they say that these Articles were proved by the testimony of above seventy Persons whereof some were of Quality that is some of them swore to one Article and some to another so that the Lord Grey who was Son to the Marquess of Dorset and Viscount Grany in Ireland but no Peer in England being tried by a common Jury thought it his best way to confess the Indictment in hopes of the King's Grace and Pardon but in that he was mistaken and although his Services did infinitely over-balance his Faults yet he was publickly Executed on the twenty eighth day of July 1541. There are four other Articles mentioned by others Holingsh 102. to be laid to his Charge Ware 162. 1. His Partiality to his Nephew Fitz-Girald afterwards Earl of Kildare whom they say he might have taken 2. That his Servants pillaged the Gentlemen in Munster that entertained them 3. That he had inveigled Thomas Fitz Girald to submit by Promises which he had no Commission to perform and that he did it to destroy that Lord that his own Nephew might come to be Earl of Kildare as afterwards he did 4. His Sacrilege at Down But however that be it was not long after his Execution before a Commission was directed to Archbishop Brown and Cowly Master of the Rolls to make an Estimate or Survey of the Lord Grey's Estate in Ireland and to deliver it to the Lord Deputy Saintleger to be disposed of as the King shall direct Sir William Brereton 1540. Marshal of Ireland was sent by the Lord Deputy into Munster to take the Submission of James fitz-Fitz-John Earl of Desmond and to bring him to Dublin but the Marshal died at Kilkenny nevertheless the Earl on the
the Ordinances already mentioned The Seventh Article is That if any of their Followers break the Peace they will prosecute and pursue him till he make amends And the Eighth is That they will not exact any Black Rents for the future from the Inhabitants of Cork Youghal or Kingsale And it seems that about this time Commissioners were appointed in every Province to decide the Controversies instead of Brehons viz. in Connaught the Bishops of Tuam and Clonfert and the Captains Wakely and Ovington in Munster the Bishops of Cork and Waterford and the Mayors of Cork and Youghal and in Vlster the Archbishop of Armagh and Lord of Louth And it is to be noted Davis 215. That these Submissions were so universally made all over the Kingdom that there was not a Lord or Chieftain of any note in Ireland but submitted in this or the like Form for they made no scruple to renounce the Pope when once they had resolved to obey the King And by these Means the Kingdom was so quiet and there was so great a Prospect of a Settlement that several of the Principal Lords of the Irish took Patents for their Estates and desired Titles of Honour according to the Law of England which hitherto they had despised But alass Ireland is an unfortunate Country that cannot be happy any considerable time and notwithstanding these dawnings of Felicity it must expect nothing but War and Desolation and this fourth general Submission of the Irish will be as vain and ineffectual as the other three and will manifest to the World That that Kingdom is not to be governed by Kindness but by Force But let us not anticipate our Misery by dreadful Prognostications of War but rather enquire into the management of Affairs during the short interval of Peace And first we shall find the great O Neal in September sailing toward England accompanied with the Bishop of Clogher and attended with many Gentlemen his Followers He came to the King at Greenwich where he was well received and having surrendred his Estate to the King and covenanted 1. To renounce the Name of O Neal. 2. That he he and his Followers should use English Habit Language and Manners 3. That their Children should learn English 4. That they should build Houses and husband their Land in English manner 5. That they should obey English Laws and not Cess their Tenants nor keep more Gallowglasses than the Lord Deputy allows And 6. That they should answer all general Hostings as those of the Pale do and shall not succour any of the King's Enemies On the first of October his Estate was regranted to him by Patent and he was created Earl of Tyrone for Life with remainder to his Son Matthew who for the present was made Baron of Dunganon in Tayl and two of his Followers Denis and Art Mac Genis were knighted and the Bishop of Clogher was confirmed and the Earl after his return was on the seventh Day of May sworn one of the Privy Council of Ireland In like manner the Earl of Desmond pursuant to his Promise repaired into England where he was graciously received and having made his Submission he returned with Orders likewise to be of the Privy Council In the mean time the Lord Deputy on the twenty fourth Day of May made an Order of Agreement between the Macgenis's and did the like between the O Carols on the second of July And on the fourth of July the O Birnes did submit by Indenture and granted the Town and Castle of Wicklow to the King and also surrendred to his Majesty the Castle of Mac Eningham and all spiritual Livings in their Possession Lib. D. They also covenanted to find one hundred and twenty Gallowglasses and their Servants for three Months when the Counties of Carlow and Kildare do so and twelve Horse and twenty four Foot at every Hosting and to raise their whole Force and keep them three days on any emergency And it is allowed by the Deputy that O Birn shall have twenty four Kerns called Kerne Tee for this year at the Charge of the Country as is usual wherewith he promises to aid the Sheriff and if O Birn misbehave himself the Lord Deputy may give the Kerns next year to whom he pleases And 't is agreed That no body shall keep Idlers but in his own House and concludes Quod si posthac ad morem Hibernicorum resilierit vel cum Hibernicis aliis susurraverit confederaverit vel consentierit impedire vel obstare Reformationi Hiberniae quam Dominus Rex intendit that then they will forfeit all And it seems that at the same time they proposed to have their Country made a County Davis 104. by the Name of the County of Wicklow and that in consideration thereof they would divide it into eight Plow-Lands and pay ten Groats per annum for ever to the King out of each Plow-Land On the 19th of November Thomas Butler was made Baron of Cahir and in the beginning of the next year Maurice O Bryan 1534. and Vlick Burk induced by the Example and Success of the Earl of Tyrone went to wait upon the King in England and having made their Submissions and surrendred their Estates O Brian obtained a Grant of all his Lands in Thomond and all the Abbies and Patronage of Benefices in the King's Gift within his Precincts to him and his Heirs Males and he was made Baron of Insiquine to him and his Heirs and Created Earl of Thomond for Life with a remainder to Donough O Bryan and his Heirs for ever who for the present was made Baron of Ibracane but whether this Donough were Nephew or Natural Son of the Earl's is not very plain This Lord of Ibrahcan had also an Annuity of twenty Pounds per annum granted to him in Tail and the Abby of Insula Canonicorum and half the Abby of Clare and the King bore the Earl of Thomond's Charges and gave him an Order to be of the Privy Council As for Vlick Burk he had likewise his Charges born and was Created Earl of Clanrickard and his Estate was regranted to him and the Abbies and Patronage of all Benefices within his Precincts The Cocquets of Galway were excepted in the Patent but in lieu of them the Earl had a Pension of thirty Pound per annum and the third part of the First-Fruits and the Abby of Via Nova or Confert And about the same time the Lord of Upper Ossory obtain'd a Grant for Fairs and Markets and the House of the Friars at Haghevo and the Monastery of Hackmacart and to each of these four Noblemen Davis 219. viz. the Earls of Desmond Tyrone Thomond and Clanrickard the King gave a House and a Parcel of Land near Dublin to encourage them to make their Appearance frequently at Court And it is to be noted Council Book of Ireland fol. 73. That many times the chief Governors of Ireland instead of Risings out and
incamped in Thomond and immediately sent the young Earl to take possession of the Country which he did and Daniel who was so brave a man that many of the old and new Irish courted him to be King of Ireland was forced to lie that tempestuous Night in a Cabbin but when according to the Irish fashion he thought to lead his Horse to stable in the same House with himself the proud Beast scorned to stoop until the Foot-boy whispered the Horse in the Ear and told him that his Master O Bryan would lodge that Night in that Cabbin Sullevan 80. and desired that he would lower his Crest and his Crupper and creep into the House to keep his Master company ut tu quoque equus suus capite dorso demisso inclinato Tygurium introeas and the Horse being well bred did very civilly comply in Matters of Ceremony but when he came to Supper he was at a loss for he was used to feed on Wheat and could not conform to Countryâ—entertainment until the Foot-boy whispered him once more that his Master O Bryan who fed on Oaten Cake did command Rosinante to be contented with the same Fare O Bryan Dominus tuus qui hac nocte Avenaceum panem comedit imperat ut tu quoque Avena vescaris and then he fell to it But to return Charles O Carol who had murdered Teig O Carol was himself murdered by William O Dar O Carol who thereupon took possession of that Signiory and held it for four years The Earl of Kildare and the Baron of Delvin at the request of Shane O Neal went into Vlster to aid him against Fylemy Roe O Neal they did no great Exploits but took a few Preys with the Loss of fifty of their own Men but a little after there was a smart Conflict between the Earl of Tyrone and Hugh Mac Neal of Clandeboy wherein the Earl was beaten and lost three hundred Men besides Prisoners In October Lib. CCC Sir William Fitz-Williams Sir John Allen and Valentine Brown were sent over Commissioners to assist the Lord Deputy in managing the Crown-Lands and afterwards in Queen Elizabeths Reign this Brown being a Protestant much employed by the Queen wrote a notable Tract for the Reformation of Ireland which I have seen and is to be found at Lambeth wherin there is nothing blame-worthy saving that he advises the extirpation of the Irish Papists and particularly of the Fitz-Giralds and therefore certainly did not foresee that his own Heir would degenerate into an Irish Papist and ungratefully oppose that English Interest upon which his own Estate is founded It is said That the Spaniards agreed to pay two thousand pound per annum for one and twenty years for leave to Fish on the Irish Coast but it seems there are no such Accounts in the Exchequer And now we are got there we ought to remember the Clerk of the Pipe Walter Hussy who died about this time at the Age of an hundred and seven years Bryan O Connor obtain'd so much Favour with the Queen that he had leave to come for Ireland Ware 211. and nevertheless to retain his Pension in England but he was not long at home before he was arrested upon Suspicion of new Combinations and imprisoned in the Castle of Dublin from whence he was not enlarged before he gave his Son Rotherick Hostage for his good Behaviour The Year 1555 1555. began with the Restoration of St. Patrick's Church in Dublin and Thomas Levereuse was made Dean thereof and held it in Commendam with the Bishoprick of Kildare And on the third of July Sir William Fitz-Williams was made Keeper of the Great Seal until the thirteenth of September Hugh Curvin who was Consecrated Archbishop of Dublin the Week before was made Lord Chancellor In Vlster the Scots Islanders besieged Carrigfergas in vain but Calvagh O Donel with another Party of Scots under Gilaspick Maccaline invaded Tirconel and took his own Father Prisoner at Rosragh and kept him in restraint till his Death he also took and demolished the new Castle of Inisowen and the Castle of Enagh and in the middle of May the next year he sent back his Auxiliary Scots Another Party of the Scots kill'd Hugh Mac Neal of Claneboy in a Skirmish whereupon that Territory was on the fifteenth of September divided by the Lord Deputy and Council between Fylemy Duff O Neal and the Sons of Fylemy Buckagh In May the Cavenaughs and their Complices invaded the North Part of the County of Dublin but the Citizens of Dublin with the Slaughter of many of the Rebels drove one hundred and forty to Powerscourt-Castle 1556. which they pretended to defend but upon the appearance of Sir George Stanly with Supplies they surrendred at Mercy and seventy four of them were hanged at Dublin and the rest were pardoned But the Lord Deputy's Enemies suggested at Court That he had formerly made some Rhymes ridiculing Transubstantiation and thereupon for that or for some other Reason he was soon after recalled and Thomas Ratcliff Lord Fitz-Walter Lord Deputy arrived on Whitsunday and on Tuesday after took the usual Oath at the Altar in Christ-Church on a Mass-book and Saintleger on his Knees surrendred the Sword and the Lord Deputy continued kneeling until Te Deum was sung He brought over with him Sir Henry Sydny Vice-Treasurer and twenty five thousand Pound in Money to provide against the Scots Islanders and the Irish Rebels The Instructions to the Lord Deputy and Council begin at the top Mary the Queen although she was married long before that to King Philip Lib. SSS 53. and the first Article is by their Example and all good means possible to advance the Honour of God and the Catholick Faith to set forth the Honour and Dignity of the Pope's Holiness and See Apostolick of Rome and from time to time to be ready with their Aid and Secular Force at the Request of all Spiritual Ministers and Ordinaries there to punish and repress all Hereticks and Lollards and their damnable Sects Opinions and Errors and to assist the Commissioners of the Legate Cardinal Poole which he designed to send into Ireland to visit the Clergy On the first Day of July the Lord Deputy marched to Vlster against the Scots Ware 216. and on the eighteenth of the same Month he defeated them with the slaughter of two hundred of them Sir Henry Sydny killed James Mac Connel with his own Hand and the Earl of Ormond and Sir John Stanly behaved themselves exceeding well and so the Lord Deputy having left Necessaries at Knockfergus and Stanly the Marshal Governour of Vlster returned to Dublin and not long after made a Journey to Munster where he received many English and Irish to Mercy Hereupon Shane O Neal came to the Lord Deputy to Kilmainham upon a Promise of Protection and made his humble Submission But since that time frequent Experience has convinced the Government That Protections have always
Enemy's Camp and it succeeded according to his Desire for O Neal's Army being over-confident of their Numbers and despising the Weakness of their Adversaries had made no preparation to resist an Assault which they did not suspect and wanting such Scouts Out-guards and Centinels as Martial Discipline required and as was usual in all well-governed Armies they were easily surprized and defeated and Shane O Neal himself was forced to make use of his Heels As to Ecclesiastical Affairs there was a Provincial Synod held at Dublin Anno 1555 which made some Constitutions about the Rites and Ceremonies to be used in the Church and afterwards the Church-Goods and Ornaments were restored and particularly those belonging to the Churches of Dublin and Drogheda and although many Gleabs continued Lay-Fees during all the Reign of Queen Mary yet at the Request of Cardinal Poole her Majesty restored the Possessions of the Priory of Kilmainham and Oswal Messemberg was confirmed Prior by Patent dated the eighth of March 1557. but afterwards he fled beyond Seas and the Possessions of that Priory and of that Order in Ireland were by Act of Parliament annexed to the Crown in Queen Elizabeth's Reign There was also a Provincial Synod held at Drogheda this Year by Archbishop Dowdal and therein Leave was given to Husbandmen to work certain Days in Harvest The Lord Justice having on the twenty fifth Day of April received the Submission of O Reyly and his Fealty or Oath of Allegiance 1558. did on the twenty seventh surrender the Sword to Thomas Earl of Sussex Lord Deputy who brought over with him five hundred Soldiers and an Order to coyne Brass-Money and to make it currant by Proclamation which he did On the fourteenth of June he began his March to Munster against Daniel O Brian he came to Limerick and advanced forwards into Thomond he scattered the Rebels and took the Castles of Bunratty and Clare and then restored the Country to the Earl of Thomond who together with the Freeholders of that Country did on Sunday the tenth day of July swear on the Sacrament Lib. NNN and by all the Relicks of the Church as Book Bell and Candelight they are the very Words of the Herald's Certificate to continue Loyal to the Queen and to perform their Agreements with the Lord Deputy On the twenty first of June the Earl of Desmond made his Submission to the Deputy at Limerick and on the twenty sixth the Lord Deputy was God-father to the Earl's Son whom he named James Sussex and gave the Child a Chain of Gold and gave another Chain and Pair of gilt Spurs to Dermond Mac Carthy of Muskry whom he also knighted The Lord Deputy caused a Soldier to be nailed to a Post for drawing his Sword in the Camp contrary to Proclamation and then marched to Galway where he was well received especially by the Archbishop of Tuam and the Bishops of Clonfert and Clonmacnoise who with the Clergy met him in Procession On the fifteenth day of September the Lord Deputy shipped his Army at Dalky and sailed to Raghline and though he lost one Ship in the Storm yet he pursued his Design and took the Island and placed a Colony and a small Garrison in it and thence he invaded and wasted Cantire in Scotland Nor did the Islands of Aran and Comber escape the like Desolation and he intended as much against the Island of Ila but he was by ill Weather forced to put in at Carigfergus and so having burnt many Villages which were possest by the Scots in Vlster he returned to Dublin on the eighth day of November Sir Henry Sydny was sworn Lord Justice on the eighteenth of September by virtue of a Patent dated at Richmond the fourth of August and now when the Earl of Sussex return'd he was sworn anew on the tenth of November and had a new Patent bearing date the seventeenth day of August 1558. The Lord Deputy had a new Great Seal sent him out of England and also new Seals to the other three Courts which he delivered to the Lord Chancellor Chief Justices and Chief Baron in the Council Chamber and about the same time a Party of the Islander Scots that came into Connaught to the Assistance of one of the Burks was defeated by the Earl of Clanrickard and most of them slain And because the Author quotes the Most Reverend and Learned Primate Vsher and the Memorials of the Most Noble and Industrious Richard Earl of Cork for the following Story I will insert it verbatim as it is already printed in the Life of Archbishop Brown Queen Mary having dealt severely with the Protestants in England about the latter end of her Reign signed a Commission for to take the same Course with them in Ireland and to execute the same with greater Force she nominates Dr. Cole one of the Commissioners Sending the Commission by this Doctor who in his Journey coming to Chester the Mayor of that City hearing that her Majesty was sending a Messenger into Ireland and he being a Church-Man waited on the Doctor who in discourse with the Mayor taketh out of a Cloak-Bag a Leather-Box saying unto him Here is a Commission that shall lash the Hereticks of Ireland calling the Protestants by that Title the good Woman of the House being well affected to the Protestant Religion and also having a Brother named John Edmunds of the same then a Citizen in Dublin was much troubled at the Doctor 's Words but watching her convenient time whilst the Mayor took his Leave and the Doctor complementing him down the Stairs she opens the Box and takes the Commission out placing in lieu thereof a Sheet of Paper with a Pack of Cards the Knave of Clubs faced uppermost wrap up The Doctor coming up to his Chamber suspecting nothing of what had been done put up the Box as formely The next day going to the Water-side Wind and Weather serving him he sails towards Ireland and landed on the seventh of October 1558. at Dublin then coming to the Castle the Lord Fitz-Walters being Lord Deputy sent for him to come before him and the Privy Council who coming in after he had made a Speech relating upon what account he came over he presents the Box unto the Lord Deputy who causing it to be opened that the Secretary might read the Commission there was nothing save a Pack of Cards with the Knave of Clubs uppermost which not only startled the Lord Deputy and Council but the Doctor who assured them He had a Commission but knew not how it was gone Then the Lord Deputy made answer Let us have another Commission and we will shuffle the Cards in the mean while The Doctor being troubled in Mind went his way and returned into England and coming to the Court obtained another Commission but staying for a Wind at the Water-side News came unto him That the Queen was dead And thus God preserved the Protestants in Ireland This Queen died on the seventeenth day of
Kine 500 Horses besides Sheep Goats Money Cloarsh and Victuals with which he supplied the Garrisons and return'd to Adaro where he left a Garrison and return'd to Cork this misfortune quite spoil'd the Lord of Lixnaw so that he was never more able to hold up his head but most submissively applied himself to the Earl of Ormond who got him a Pardon tho he had formerly suffered very great injuries from him No sooner was this storm of the Lord of Kerryes allayed but the Earl of Desmond appear'd again near Adare and Skirmished smartly with the English so that having lost many men they had much ado to recover the Abby of Adare where they lay in Garrison About this time a contention arose between the Macan Earla's Vlick and John Burk on the Death of their Father but it was refer'd to Commissioners who ordered that Vlick should have Loghreagh and the Earldom of Clanrickard Lib. H. and that John should have Leitrim and that the Commissioners should intercede to have him created Baron of Leitrim and both of them agreed that if either proved a Traytor to the Queen the other should have all One Birne a Rebel being weary of that sort of life offer'd to Captain George Carew to bring his Captain Fitz-Giralds Head to him on condition to have his own Pardon but Fitz-Girald had timely intelligence and prevented the Execution of that Plot by Executing Birne and his Complices nevertheless he was so frightned with this attempt that he offered to do the like by Pheagh Mac Hugh for his own Pardon but Pheagh also had seasonable notice or a strong suspicion of this design and fairly hanged his Friend Fitz-Girald in his stead But this good Deputy by the contrivance of the Rebels was represented at the Court of England as a bloody man that regarded not the lives of the Subjects any more than the lives of Dogs Spencer 73. but had tyrannized with that barbarity that there was little left for the Queen to Reign over but Carcasses and Ashes And this false Story being believed in England a general Pardon was sent over to such of the Rebels as would accept thereof 1582. and the Lord Deputy in the midst of his Victories was recalled so that in August he left Ireland to the care of Adam Loftus Archbishop of Dublin Lord Chancellour Sir Henry Wallop Treasurer at Wars Lords Justices two men very unfit to be yoak'd together Spencer ' s View 76. the difference between them being no less in their minds and affections than it was in their bodies and professions Their Government was auspicated with the Death of Dr. Saunders Sullevan 100. who died miserably of a Flux and Famine in the Woods of Clenlis whereby the Kingdom was rid of a malicious cunning and indefatigable Traytor And the Earl of Desmond was reduced to such streights that he was forced to keep his Christmass in Kilquegg Wood near Kilmallock whereof the Garrison of Kilmallock having Notice they were induced by the importunity of John Walsh to endeavour to surprize him 4 January and in order to it they March'd in the night under the conduct of the Captains Dowdal Bangor and Thornton and came before Day to the River side and by means of some Hurdles which tied together and fastned with Ropes to a Tree on this side the River and made one of their men Swim over with the end of a Rope which he also fastned on the other side they safely passed the River but made so much noise that Desmond and his Wife took the Alarm and got out of their Cabbin into the River where they stood up to the Chin in Water on the Bank-side and thereby were undiscovered and escaped but his Servants were all kill'd and what Goods they had were carried away Soon after this Fitzgirald of Ballimartir commonly call'd Seneschall of Imekilly surpriz'd Youghall and entred one end of the Town but was so warmly receiv'd by Lieutenant Calverleigh and forty Shot he had with him that the Seneschal was forced to Retreat and leave fifty of his Men dead behind him About the end of January the Earl of Ormond Landed at Waterford with 400 Men which were disposed of to the Captains Bourcher Stanley Barkley and Roberts This Earl was also made Governor of Munster and procured two Pence a Day to be added to the Soldiers pay which gain'd him abundance of Love and Respect from the Army Ormond's first Attempt was in Harlow Wood in Pursuit of the Earl of Desmond he divided his Party into four Squadrons and searcht the Wood throughly Slew many Rebels and so dispersed and frightned the rest that they never met in any considerable Body afterwards but most of them one after another submitted and had Pardon and on the 5th of June Desmond wrot a submissive Letter to the Earl of Ormond which is to be found in the Caballa of Letters 223. In August the Garrison of Killmallock had fresh Advice 1583. that Desmond with 60 Gallowglasses was come into Harlow Wood whereupon Captain Dowall so timed the matter that he took 25. of them asleep in their Cabbins and the rest who were boiling Horseflesh he quickly Discomsited and Slew In September some of the Lord Roches Men met the Earl of Desmond in Duhallow accompanied by three Horse-men and a Priest they endeavoured to take him but being well mounted they all escaped except the Priest who discovered what Misery the Earl was in and that he was supported chiefly by one Goron Mac Swiny who was in Protection whereof Ormond having notice sent Captain Dowdall and a Garrison to Dingle whereupon the Earl retired into the Country of Desmond and got the greatest number of his Followers together that he could and particularly the said Goron and his Brother Morrogh Mac Swiny by whose Assistance he hoped to renew the War But it fell out otherwise for Goron Mac Swiny having taken a great Prey in Carbry three Irishmen who owned some of the Cattle followed them at some distance expecting an opportunity at night to Steal back their own Cattle or an Equivalent and to that end they hid themselves within a Musket-shot of Goron's Camp or Lodgment and it so happened that Goron and a Servant both unarmed walkt that way and came near the place where the three Men were hid and as soon as they perceived that Goron and his Servant were unarmed they surprized them and cut off their Heads and being satisfied with this Revenge they ran away to shift for themselves Desmond was beyond measure dismayed at this loss and saw there was no way to recover it unless he could regain such of his Followers as had taken Protection of the English and therefore in order to it or to be revenged of them he sent some of his Servants over the Strand of Traly to take a Prey which they did but a poor Woman of the Moriartas whose small Stock was all taken away by these Tories immediately repair'd
them desired the Deputy that his Chaplain might walk the streets with him in Trouses For then said he the Boys will laugh at him as well as at me whereto the Deputy gravely replyed That the want of Order and Decency would be their Ruine and demonstrated to them the Benefits of this Conformity But before we come to the Parliament I must take notice of an Inquisition taken at Cork on the 4th of Nov. 1584. whereby it appears 1. That the Manour of Guisnes alias Cloghroe belonged to the Crown and was usurped by Lombard Constable of the Castle 2. That the Manour of Callâ—n alias Glyn containing eight Plowlands between Cork and Kingsale was the ancient Inheritance of the Earl of March and was intruded upon by Richard Roch of Kingsale and that Glanny was an ancient Corporation 3. That Ballynimony alias Mourne near Mallow was an ancient Corporation 4. That on the death of Matthew Shyne Bishop of Cork that See had the three Plowlands of Ballynaspig the Rent of Rochfort's Lands the Rent of Curickanaâ—y of Ringnaskiddy Downaghmore Ahabullugg and Kanivy the Profits and Rent of Ballivorny and Killinully c. 5. That the Island of Inchydiâ—â—y near Cloghnakillty is escheated to her Majesty for want of Heirs and that the Bishop of Ross ought to have but seaven Marks half-faced Money out of the same 7. That Kinalmeky was the ancient Inheritance of the Crown and Barry Oge Farmer of it paid the Rent to the Exchequer and about the year 1460. O Mahown Carbry intruded on it and gave Mac Carty Reagh half for protection 7. That Cnoghor O Mahony was slain in the Earl of Desmond's Rebellion and dyed seized of the Signiory of Kinalmeaky On the 26th of April the Parliament met according to appointment and the Upper-house was very full for there appeared four Archbishops twenty Bishops the Earls of Ormond Kildare Tyrone Twomond Clanrickard and Glencar the Viscounts Buttevant Gormanstowne Formoy and Mountgarret and the Lords Athenry Kingsale Slane Delvin Killeen Honth Trimletstowne Dunsany Dunboyn Vpper Ossory Louth Curraghmore Insiquine Castleconnell and Cahir but the Lower-house was as thin for there were but 26 Cities and Boroughs in the Kingdom that sent Members to Parliament It was endeavoured to pass a Law to try Accessaries in absence of the Principals but it could by no means be effected however this Parliament did enact many other good Laws as followeth 1. An Act to attaint James Eustace Spencer 19. Viscount Baltinglass and others which is commonly called the Statute of Baltinglass and makes Estates Tail any kind of Inheritance forfeitable for Treason and provides against the fraudulent Conveyances of the attainted 2. An Act for the Restitution in bloud of Lawrence Delahide And then the Parliament was prorogued on the 29th day of May. The Lord Deputy did intend to suspend Poyning's Act that he might the more speedily pass such Laws as he thought necessary but some Gentlemen of the Pale grew jealous of the design and overthrew the Bill at the third reading and although upon a conference they were persuaded to pass the Bill yet their jealousies returning they overthrew it a second time There were also other Bills proposed viz. that the Lands of persons attainted of Treason should be vested in the Queen without Office and every Plowland should pay 13 s. 4 d. subsidy and that all those who should rebelliously take or detain any of the Queen's Castles should be guilty of Treason but these Bills were all damned in the Lower-house and the Acts against fraudulent Conveyances and an Act to help mispleading and Jeoffails were stopt in the Upper-house and an Act to enable Tenant in Tail to make Leases for 21 years could not obtain the Royal Assent The second Session of this Parliament was on the 28th of April 1586. and then the following Laws being enacted it was dissolved on the 14th of May. 1. An Act against Perjury and Subornation 2. An Act against Witchcraft and Sorcery 3. An Act against forging of Evidences 4. An Act of Impost and Custome of Wines 5. That all Conveyances made or pretended to be made by any person attainted within thirteen years before the Act shall be entered on Record in the Exchequer within a year or be void This Act did not pass the Houses without great difficulty and perhaps had not passed at all if John Mac Edmond Fitz-girald to prevent the Earl of Desmond's forfeiture had not produced a Feoffment made by that Earl before he entered into Rebellion which had taken effect and baffled the expectations of the undertakers if Sir Henry Wallop had not by good luck gotten the aforesaid Association made the 18th of July 1578. which was two months before the pretended settlement and to which this John Fitz Edmond himself was a party but upon the producing of that Confederacy and the discovering of this fraud and subtilty the honest part of the House were ashamed to abet so ill a cause and so this Act was made to prevent the like contrivances 6. An Act against forging or counterfeiting Coin not current in Ireland and that it be Misprision of Treason 7. An Act for the Attainder of the Earl of Desmond and many others his Complices mentioned in the Act. 8. An Act for the Attainder of John Browne of Knockmonhie and others 9. An Act for the Restitution in bloud of Taaf's Wife But I should have given a list of the Militia of Munster as it was in the year 1584. as followeth  Shot Bill-men The City of Waterford 100 300 Cork 100 300 Limerick 200 600 Clonmell 040 200 Killmallock 020 100 Fethard 020 100 Cashell 020 140 Kingsale 020 100 Carrick 020 040  740 1840 The Barony of Muskry 020 300 Carbry 030 1000 the County of Typerary 050 400 the Barony of Decyes 020 200 Imokilly 012 080 Condoni 008 060 Lord Barry's Countrey 030 200 Mac Cartymorâ— c. 008 400  178 2640 On the 26th day of December O Conner Sligo who had formerly taken a Patent for the County of Sligo at the yearly Rent of 100 l. per Annum did covenant that in lieu of Cess he would pay every year a fine Horse and 100 large fat Bieves per Annum for three years and afterwards 130 Bieves per Annum at Michaelmas at the Castle of Athlâ—an and also that he would at all Hostings bring 20 Horse and 60 Foot and maintain them 40 days and would pay in Money 25 l. per Annum and that in cases of necessity he should assist the Queen with all his Forces and that he should make legal Estates to the Freeholders they paying their proportion of the aforesaid Contribution and the Queen granted O Conner all Forfeitures for Felony or by Outlawry or Recognisance and all Waifs Strays and Penalties for Bloudshed On the 23d of May was published an Act or rather Proclamation of Indemnity and Oblivion for all Preys Stealths Plunders and many other Crimes committed or done before the first day of that
in many other high Regards 't is Expedition alone that can answer the Anxieties which England must be in for Your Majesty's Absence And seeing Your Majesty will leave behind that Great Pledge Your Royal Consort and our most Gracious Queen Your Majesty will not want Your own Anxieties also for a speedy Return But that it may be with such Laurels as may bring Terror to France with Triumph to Your own Kingdoms and a happy Restitution of Your poor Protestant Subjects of Ireland to their Native Homes is the most fervent Prayer of GREAT SIR Your Majesty's most Dutiful most Loyal and most Devoted Subject and Servant R. COX TO THE READER YOU have here a History of great Variety and much Intrigue It takes in a large Space of Time of above Fifty Years and begins at the End of one War and ends with the Close of another The long Interval between these Two Periods being almost Forty years was spent in a profound Peace the short Commotion of O Dogharty only excepted and in promoting all those Blessings of Plenty and Good Laws which the Industry of the English could accomplish But the subsequent Part of the Time was according to Bishop Usher's Prophetical Sermon Preach'd Anno 1601. turn'd into a Scene of Blood Treachery and Desolation which overturned all The Roots of that so great Cruelty and Universal Defection are already hinted at in the Preface of my Former Part by those Differences there set forth of Nation Interest and Religion Upon King James his Accession to the Crown the Irish were surfeited with War so that all things in that Kingdom had a tendency to Peace And tho' a Rumor spread abroad and believ'd by the Irish That the King was of their Religion put some of the principal Towns into a Commotion yet the Diligence and Expedition of the Lord Deputy did soon appease that Storm and reduce the Disobedient to their Duty And tho' the natural Inclination of that King to Peace was a great Temptation to the Irish to try their Fortune with him in a War and accordingly the Lords Tyrone and Tyrconell and Sir Cahir O Dogharty attempted it yet the Rebels were always baffled in their Undertakings by the Diligence Wisdom and Courage of those to whom the King entrusted his Irish Affairs And indeed both King James the First and King Charles the First did take a particular Care to put the Government of Ireland into such Hands as were worthy of it and underwent the Administration thereof with Advantage to that Kingdom and Honor to themselves The First was the Lord Montjoy whom King James found Deputy and soon after made Lord Lieutenant This Lord was thought in England to be a better Courtier than a Soldier but when he came to Ireland he proved the best Soldier that Kingdom had seen in many Years It was he that found out the true Way of making War with the Irish For being well supplied with Necessaries from England he plainly saw that if he could attack them at a time when they wanted all Conveniences to keep the Field he could meet with very little or no Resistance and therefore he supplied his Frontier Garisons with Men and Provisions and they by their frequent Excursions did such Execution on the Persons and Estates of the Irish that by One Winters War he reduc'd them to the Necessity of eating one another and forced their Ringleader the Earl of Tyrone to submit to his Mercy and so made an end of that Rebellion His Successor or rather Deputy Sir George Cary was Treasurer at Wars and a worthy Gentleman but nothing of extraordinary moment hapned during his Government The next was Sir Arthur Chichester afterwards Lord of Belfast one well experienc'd in the Affairs of Ireland whereof he held the Chief Government for Eleven Years He was a good Soldier and a true Englishman and did Three great Things towards a Reformation The First was his Management of the most stubborn Parliament that ever was in that Kingdom which nevertheless he prevail'd with to Attaint the Earls of Tyrone and Tyrconell Sir Cahir O Dogharty and others and to make an Act of Recognition and to give the King a Subsidy And the Second was the Plantation of the Forfeitâ—d Estates in Ulster which he very much influenc'd and promoted And the Third was the Reviving and Restoring the Circuits for Judges of Assize in both the Provinces of Conaught and Munster The Lords Justices Doctor Jones Archbishop of Dublin and Lord Chancellor and Sir Richard Wingfield were Men Famous in their respective Faculties and are Founders of the Noble Families of the Earl of Ranelagh and Viscount Powerscourt And Sir John Denham Lord Chief Justice was not less Renowned than either of Them by reason of his great Learning in his Profession to which the Crown owes the first Advancement of that Considerable Branch of the Revenue arising by the Customs in Ireland The next Lord Deputy was Sir Oliver Saint John afterwards Viscount Grandison a Person Nobly descended and of a generous Temper He had given great Proof of his Courage and Conduct at the Battel of Kinsale and was not inferior to any of his Predecessors in a sincere Concern for the Protestant Religion and the Good of the Kingdom but he hapned in an ill time as did also his Successor the Worthy Lord Falkland whilst the Spanish Match was in agitation So that both these brave Men by the Clamour of the Irish and the prevailing Power of their Popish Enemies came away in Disgrace But their Innocence being afterwards vindicated as it was this Affront was in some measure atton'd for by the subsequent Favour of the King The Lords Justices that received the Sword from the Lord Falkland were the Viscount Loftus of Ely Lord Chancellor one of great Parts and Merit and the Noble Earl of Cork Lord High Treasurer who was one of the most extraordinary Persons either That or any other Age hath produced with respect to the great and just Acquisitions of Estate that he made and the Publick Works that he began and finished for the advancement of the English Interest and the Protestant Religion in Ireland as Churches Alms-Houses Free-Schools Bridges Castles and * Lismore Tallow Cloghnakilty Iniâ—keen Castletown Bandon which last Place cost him 14000 l. Townsâ— Insomuch that when Cromwel saw these prodigious Improvements which he little expected to find in Ireland he declared That if there had been an Earl of Cork in every Province it would have been impossible for the Irish to have rais'd a Rebellion And whilst he was carrying on these solid Works he lived in his Family at a Rate of Plenty that exceeded those who consumed great Estates in the lavish ways of ill-ordered Excess His †God's Providence is my Inheritance Motto shews from whence he derived all his Blessings the greatest of which was the Numerous and Noble * Earl of Burlington and Cork Viscount Kinalmeky Earl of Orrery Viscount Shannon Robert
that is What credit the Irish Roman Catholick Historians deserve in these matters and certainly it is so very little that I hope the greatest fault that will be found with this Collection will be that I have honoured Mr. Sullevan and others of them with too large a Confutation for besides the direct Testimony of Peter Walsh that these Popish Authors do a P. W. Remonstrance 583. mingle Truth and Lyes indifferently whoever will take the Pains to read their Books will find that they understand one anothers failings so well that when they fall out they do little else but give one another the b Fryar Paul King published innumera mendacia Beling in pref mendacia horrenda ibidem indigesta mendaciorum moles Beling 1. Belingus mentitur quidem splendide says Father Ponce vindiciae Eversae 175. vel mentitus es vel mendacium protulisti ibid. 12. Similiter ibid. pag. 4. 17. 28 c. Lye in a word I have not found one of them tolerable or of any credit except Peter Walsh and Mr. Beling And do think that all the rest of them that I have seen do deserve that Character which Mr. Beling has given to Fryar Paul King Tanquam capis in cudendis Mendacâ—â—s voluptatem ut ab eis etiam ubi rem tuam nihil promovent abstinere teâ—nequeas Beling 69. viz. That they take so much delight in Lying that they cannot abstain from it even where it does them no Serviâ—e This being Premised the first Question will be whether the Irish or English began the Rebellion for beside that the Irish have published b Burlace Epist 120. abroad both by word and writing That the English were the Aggressors R. S. in his Collection of Murders pag. 1. affirms that the Murder of Three thousand Irish in the Isle of Magee was the first Massacre in Ireland on either side But certainly it is more difficult to believe that any one could be so shameless to make this Objection then it is to give it a full and undeniable Answer for the Slaughter at Magee did not happen until the latter end of November and in revenge of the many Murders committed by the Irish on the Scots whom they spared for the first Ten days whilst in the mean time they murdered the English and it is notorious to all the World that the Irish Rebellion broke out the 23d day of October and that there were many Murders committed even that very day and every day after for a long time all which is testified by a Cloud of Witnesses and that the Rebellion was contrived c Review 10. Vindicae eversae 2. plotted and begun by the Irish will appear from the Testimony of the Lord Macguire Macmahon Tirlogh Oge O Neal and Sir John Read in their respective Examinations and by the Confession of the Earl of Castlehaven Peter Walsh the Bishop of Fernes and Father Ponce which two last do endeavour to justifie it as a Holy and Just War And that leads me to the Second Question Sanctum justissimumque decenii bâ—llum vindiciae eversae 1. viz. Whether it were a Rebellion or not for there are some that call it a Holy and Just War others dwindle it to a Commotion and P. W. is reprimanded for calling it a Rebellion As if says the Bishop of Fernes Belli nostri honestas justitia summa est ibid. 35. Our taking up Arms for the necessary Defence of Lives and Religion against the Protestants our Fellow Subjects could be a Rebellion and in their National Synod or Convocation at Dublin Bleeding Iphigenia Anno 1666. the Popish Clergy tho' prest to it refused to beg his Majesties Pardon for that War P. W. Remonstrance 666. for they knew not of any Crime they had committed therein To which I Answer P. W. Letters pag. 33. I must Confess says he I had not that Brazen brow of Impudence to deny either the notoriousness of the Fact or the clearness of the Law in their Case That the Irish Procurator P. W. has not only confessed this horrid Rebellion and proved it to be so but has assured us that all their publick Agents and Commissioners Sir Robert Talbot Colonel Moor the Earl of Clancarty the Lord Birmingham Sir Nicholas Plunket c. and many Thousands of the Irish Nobility Gentry and Lay Proprietors both at Dublin and London in their Petitions Answers Certificates Claims and other Papers acknowledge this fatal Stain under the very Term and Name of Rebellion I should not mention the Act of Adventurers 17 Car. 1. in England which adjudged this War not only to be a Rebellion but also so general a One that they thought several Millions of Acres of Land would be as they were forfeited thereby nor the Act of Settlement in Ireland which stiles it An unnatural Insurrection and Rebellion but that the former shews the Judgment of the King and Parliament of England in the Point and this latter Act was exposed to the censure of the Irish Papists and every word was expung'd which they could contradict But if the Murder of the Kings Subjects in a Hostile manner the declaring against his Religion the Ejection of his Clergy the seizing of his Forts and Castles the besieging of his Towns the fighting of Battles with his Armies the Usurpation of all his Prerogatives the seizing of his Revenues and the Presumption to Act as a Separate State be not a Rebellion it is very difficult to define what is But they Reply The Third Question That if it be a Rebellion and not simply justifiable yet it ought to be excused because the Motives to it and the Causes of it were so pressing as that they were not to be resisted by sensible Men for they were afraid the Monarchy was to be supprest and consequently they Being the a Catholicos ceteris omnibus fideliores Stirpitus devellendos vindiciae Catholicorum 4. Loyalest Subjects to be extirpated by the Puritans and they say they intercepted Letters importing that they must abjure their Religion or be sent to Ameria and they suffered a Thousand Grievances upon Account of b In odium tam Nationis quam Religionis ibidem Nation and Religion and therefore the Congregation of the Clergy in May 1643. declared their Insurrection just To this I Answer That they thought and will ever think the English Government a Yoke of Slavery and they had no other cause to Rebel but to shake that off and so Mr. Bealing one of the greatest and wisest of them ingeniously Confesses Vindiciae Catholicorum 2. Grave jugum sub quo à centum quod excurrit annis tota Natio ingemiscit excutere Statuunt They that speak plain Truth in their Books Printed beyond Sea acknowledge that it was for the Liberty of their Religion Bellum fuit pro Religione susceptum says the Bishop of Fernes in his Epistle to the Archbishop of Paris p. 37. Pro defensione Restitutione Religionis
he was one of the forwardest in disturbing the Lord Deputy with importunate and impertinent Petitions and refused to carry the Sword before him to Church he had formerly mis-behaved himself before the Lord Duputy at the time of the Gun-powder-Treason and he quarrelled with the Lord Barry in the Deputies Presence and the Lord Roch Delvin Trimletsowne and Slane were not less troublesome Sir Walter Butler Girald Nugent Sir Thomas Burk John Moore Richard Wadding and Boetius Clancy had their share in these Seditions and Thomas Lutterell had the Confidence to make Comparisons with the Earl of Thomond even in the Lord Deputies Presence But it will be pertinent to our Design O Sullivan 237. and not unpleasant to the Reader to hear O Sullivan give an Account of this Parliament which he says was observable for the Cruelty of the Protestants and the Civil resistance of the Catholicks And first he tells you That when the Senate meddles with Religion it becomes a wicked Conventicle rather then a Parliament that the Old Irish Grandees had Hereditary Voices in Parliament long before the English Conquest but are now denied them unless they have English Titles which alone makes the English Parliament in Ireland void since the principal Members are excluded The Catholick Bishops are serv'd in the same manner and the Heretical Usurpers of their Sees and Titles vote in Parliament in their stead The Protestants thought the Advancement of those Laws which they had made against Christ in England to be the readiest way of suppressing the Catholick Religion in Ireland if they could get them Enacted here but knowing the Catholicks would be most numerous in Parliament they us'd all imaginable Artifices of force and fraud to get Protestants unduly return'd they Elected their new Colonies into Burroughs and Counties to encrease the number of Heretical Parliament men they made small Villages into Corporations and made Porters Barbers and Strangers Burgesses for those Corporations and caused four Ministers to represent the Clergy of every Diocess nevertheless many Irish Gentry were chosen whom the People Men Women and Children desir'd to take Care of Religion assuring them That all should be void that should be Enacted against the Catholick Faith and when the day came most of the Irish Gentry thô not Parliament men came to Dublin that they might be ready there upon the place where their highest Concern viz. Religion was to be debated least perhaps any thing should happen contrary to Expectation The Catholicks were troubled because they could not find out what was to to be treated of in Parliament till at length they got sight of a Bill to expel the Catholick Clergy and the Titles of eleven Bills more viz. 1. For the building a convenient Prison for Noble Men in the Castle of Dublin 2. For disarming Idlers 3. About O Murroughs Lands 4. Against Marriage between Irish and Scots I suppose says he for fear they should joyn against the English 5. For banishing Hamilton and Wart if they refuse the Oath of Supremacy 6. That the Sallaries be continued to the new Pensioners tho' they refuse the Oath 7. For the distribution of the Money forfeited by Recusants 8. That the Children of Noble Men be sent into England 9. That stubborn Corporations shall loose their Franchises 10. The Recusants shall pay two Shillings a Sunday 11. For the more Cautious issuing of Excommunications for before that Sullivan 241. English would kill an Excommunicated Catholick says he But the Cathalicks resolving to resist even to Death thought of two ways First To hinder the meeting of the Parliament if possible and Secondly If it met not to receive or admit of the Heretick Parliament men because not Inhabitants in the Towns that chose them And with this Design they went to Dublin where all the Catholick Clergy also went to encourage the Gentry in this Holy Resolution On 18th May 1619. Caecos diaboli ministros The Parliament met at the Castle of Dublin and first the Lord Botevant carried the Sword before the Deputy to Church to hear the blind Ministers of the Devil and that being over when they came to the Castle the Guard disarmed the Nobility and Gentry as they entered but some resisted and did not part with their Arms and others that did â—ad other Arms secretly about them No sooner they State but the Soldiers were drawn into a Body in the Yard to terrifie the Catholick Members who in the upper House were less in number then the Protestants however resolv'd rather to dye which they expected then to forsake the Catholick Religion but if they had died for it The Gentlemen and Citizens then in Dublin assembled from all parts of the Kingdom had certainly reveng'd their Deaths and now the Eyes even of the English Irish were open and they cursing their former Folly in helping the Heretick would have repair'd it by a hearly Conjunction with the Old Irish now 〈◊〉 And afterwards he says That when the Papists refus'd to sit in the Parliament the Deputy did not dare to proceed without them not did he dare to force them because the Papists had many Friends in Town ready armed and the Deputy feared a General defection if he had proceeded my farther and then he says the SOUNDER part of the Clergy always oppos'd the Attaindâ—re of O Neal O Donell c. And the Archbishop of Tuam wrote a notable Letter against it but the worser part of the Clergy he means those of English Extraction perswaded the Popish Members to Consent to that Act but it is time to leave this whilsting Fellow and return to the true History of this Affair The Lord Deputy having Notice that several Papists that were not duly chosen Lib. C. nor return'd Members of Parliament did nevertheless intend to intrude into the House did on the 17th day of May being the last day of the Term cause Proclamation to be made in the four Courts that all those who knew themselves to be duly Elected Parliament then should attend the Lord Deputy and Council at Three a Clock that Afternoon at the Castle and accordingly most of them came Whereupon the Lord Deputy and Council sitting in the open Court of the Castle caused the Chancery Clerk of the Crown to call over the Names of those that were returned to serve in the approaching Parliament and that being done they caused Proclamation to be made that no Body should presume to come into the Parliament House but such as were return'd as aforesaid And 〈◊〉 on the next day 1613. being the 18th day of May the Parliament met and the Lords House was supplyed by the Earls of Kildare Ormond Thomâ—â—â— and Clanrickâ—â—dâ— and Viscounts of Buttevant Formâ—â— Gormanstoâ—â—â—â— Mountgarrets and Tullagh and the Barons of Athenry Kingsale Kerry Slane Killeen Delvin Dunboyn Houth Triâ—â—etsowne Poer Cahir Dunsany Louth Uppâ—r Ossery Castle Connel and 〈◊〉 Besides Twenty five of Protestantâ— Archbishops and Bishops that were present and the
went into England to give his Majesty a full account of his happy and successful Administration of the Government for I find he was created Lord Baron of Belfast on the 23th of February 1615 and perhaps then made Lord High Treasurer THOMAS JONES Archbishop of Dublin Lord Chancellor Sir JOHN DENHAM Lord Chief Justice of the King's Bench were Sworn Lords Justices on the 11th of February 1615. The Archbishop was the worthy Ancestor of the Lords of Ranelagh And Sir John Denham was the first that raised any Profit to the Crown from the Customs in Ireland which were Lett for Five hundred Pounds the first Year and before his Death which happened the 6th of January 1638 they were improved to that degree that they were farmed at Fifty Four thousand Pounds per Annum But the Papists beginning again to grow very insolent it was necessary to hasten the new Lord-Deputy thither and therefore on the 30th of August 1616. Sir OLIVER SAINT JOHN afterwards Viscount Grandison 1616. was sworn Lord-Deputy he behaved himself briskly against the Papists who were at that time very high in Ireland Mr. Sullivan says He was a Bloody Man and that he swore he would in two Years banish all the Priests and that he levied 600000◠from the Papists for Fines and Forfeitures for not going to Church and that in Dublin only he imprisoned Ninety Citizens for denying the King's Supremacy all which is notoriously 〈◊〉 And about the same time a most Scandalous lying Book was published Entituled Annalecta Hiberniae written by David Rooth Vicar Apostolick at the Instigation and Charge of the Lord M And stuffed with innumerable Lyes and malicious Accusations of the King's Government in Ireland and yet dedicated to the Prince of Wales which is a high strain of Impudence and Folly to dedicate to the Son Reflections and Scandals upon the Father and as if that Author intended to mock the Son as well as to abuse the Father and that his Dedication to him should pass for nothing he has added another Dedication by way of Appeal to all Foreign Emperors Kings and Princes wherein he avers That the Irish look for nothing but that the King would use them like a King i. e. not like a Tyrant and when I have added that he compares the King to Julian the Apostate and Cajus Caligula and the English-men to Dogs and Wild-Beasts I have said enough of the Spirit and design of that malicious Author The Exorbitances of the Papists did indeed at this time oblige the Government to keep a stricter hand over them than hitherto they had done and two things were resolved on to humble them one was to banish all their Regulars which did in great numbers swarm almost every where in that Kingdom And the other was to suffer no Magistrates or Officers but what should take the Oath of Supremacy according to Law and in order thereunto there did issue a Proclamation against the Popish Clergy on the 13th of October 1617. Anno Dom. 1617. And afterwards on the 5th of March 1617 Donogh Earl of Twomond Lord President of Munster and Sir William Jones Lord Chief Justice of Ireland did by Virtue of a Commission under the Great Seal bearing date the 23d of January 1617 seize on the Liberties of Waterford and all their Rent Rolls Ensigns of Authority and their publick Revenues which amounted to Three Hundred and Four Pounds Ten Shillings per Annum and kept Assizes in the City for the County of Waterford The cause of this Seizure was because Nicholas White who from Michalmas 1615. to the 20th of October then next following did exercise the Office of Mayor of Waterford did on the 20th day of October 1615. refuse the Oath of Supremacy being then tendered to him by the Lord President by Virtue of a special Commission to that purpose and that upon his refusal the City Elected John Skiddy who Acted as Mayor till the 1st of May 1616. and then refused the same Oath being tendred to him by the Lord President whereupon the City chose Alexander Cuffe and swore him Mayor on the 27th of May who likewise on the 8th of July refused the aforesaid Oath of Supremacy before the Lords Justices whereupon he forbore to Act any farther in the Mayoralty and so it stood till the 1st of April 1617. at which time Walter Cleer was sworn Mayor and so continued Moreover the City had no Recorder since the Death of Nicholas Walsh Anno 1615 and yet in January 1616 there was a Goal Delivery held before the said John Skiddy without any Recorder and one William Person was then Condemned before him and afterwards by his Order executed for Felony And it appeared that the Statute of Elizabeth of Uniformity had not been given in Charge in their Sessions at Waterford for Two years past and all this was found by Inquisition taken the 5th day of September 1617. In the mean time there were sharp Contests between several great Families in Ireland about their Inheritance Lib. F. F. F. 199. the one was between Katherine Lady Power who was Heir General to the Deceased Lord Barry and the then Lord Barry Viscount Buttivant and that was happily Compos'd by the Kings Mediation and the Marriage of the Lord Barry with the Lady Power 's Daughter and the other was between Walter Earl of Ormond and the Lady Dingwell Heir General of Thomas Duff Earl of Ormond who died Anno 1614. Their Case is to be found the very last Case in my Lord Hobert's Reports and was refer'd to the King who Anno 1618. made his Award and divided the Estate between the contending Parties but the Earl of Ormond thought that Distribution so unequal that he refused to submit to it and therefore endured a long Imprisonment and many other Hardships from the Court but after his Death that Controversie was also happily Compos'd by the Marriage of his Grandson the young Earl of Ormond with the sole Daughter and Heir of the Lady Dingwell and that happy Couple improved that divided and shattered Estate to be the greatest and best belonging to any Subject in the Kings Dominions and are well known to the World by the Names of the first Duke and Dutchess of Ormond In the Year 1620. 1620. The famous Doctor Usher was made Bishop of Meath and not long after there arose a Dispute between the Archbishop of Armagh and the Bishop Elect of Clogher about the Exercise of Jurisdiction before Consecration but after some Expostulations the Controversie was peaceably Compos'd The Year 1621. 1621. was famous for the Congregation de Propaganda fide then Erected at Rome the influence whereof the Subjects of Great Britain and Ireland have felt to the purpose and in the same Year Thomas Viscount Thurles Father of the first Duke of Ormond was drowned It was in this Year that the King to mortifie some of the most active Members of the House of Commons that had fallen under his
for Sir William Saintleger to be Lord President of Munster And on the Fifteenth of March he ordered the Vice-Treasurer to pay what the Lord Deputy and Eight Privy-Counsellors should think fit for the Charges of the Lord Deputy's Progress On the Ninth of May 1627. upon Complaint of the Lord Courcy That Sir Dominick Sarsfeild had obtained the Title of Viscount Kinsale it was referred to the Lord president of the Council the Steward of the Houshold Earl of Totness Viscount Grandison and Chancellor of the Dutchy who report That the Lord Courcy and his Ancestors were Lords Courcy and Barons of Kinsale and Ringrone And thereupon the Defendant endeavor'd to carry the Barony to another Line and also alledged an Attainder but made out neither and then he propos'd That both Titles were consistent one to be Baron and the other to be Viscount of Kinsale But that being not thought convenient his Majesty orders That Sir Dominick quit the Title of Kinsale but retain the Name and Precedency of Viscount Sarsfeild and chuse some other Place to denominate his Honour and afterwards he did so and was created Viscount Killmallock And on the 24th of July the King orders That Nathaniel Catlin his second Serjeant at Law should have Precedence of the Attorney-General and Sollicitor-General and in February following his Majesty likewise gave Orders to make a new Examinator for the Court of Chancery there being but one Examinator in that Court before that time But in order to make the Papists the more willing to bear the great Charge of the Army and to consent to a constant Tax for its Support certain Propositions were set on foot in their favour viz. to suspend all Proceedings against them for Marriages and Christnings by Priests and to give them liberty of Suing out Liveries and Ouster le mains without taking the Oath of Supremacy with design to introduce a more Publick Toleration of Religion for which a good Sum of Money should be paid to his Majesty to maintain the Army to which end a Great Assembly of the Nation was Convok'd by the Lord Deputy But the Protestant Archbishops and Bishops abhorring this gross and scandalous Proposal did on the 26th day of November 1626. at the Lord Primate's House unanimously vote and subscribe the following Protestation viz. The Judgment of divers of the Archbishops and Bishops of Ireland Life of Archb. concerning Toleration of Religion Vsher 28. THe Religion of the Papists is Superstitious and Idolatrous their Faith and Doctrine Erroneous and Heretical their Church in respect of both Apostatical To give them therefore a Toleration or to consent that they may freely exercise their Religion and profess their Faith and Doctrine is a grievous Sin and that in two Respects For First It is to make our selves accessory not only to their Superstitions Idolatries and Heresies and in a word to all the Abominations of Popery but also which is a Consequent of the former to the Perdition of the seduced People which perish in the Deluge of the Catholick Apostacy Secondly To grant them a Toleration in respect of any Money to be given or Contribution to be made by them is to set Religion to sale and with it the Souls of the People whom Christ our Saviour hath redeemed with his most precious Blood And as it is a great Sin so it is also a Matter of most dangerous consequence the Consideration whereof we commit to the Wise and Judicious beseeching the God of Truth to make them who are in Authority zealous of God's Glory and of the Advancement of True Religion zealous resolute and couragious against all Popery Superstition and Idolatry Amen Ja. Armachanus Mal. Casellen Anth. Medensis Tho. Ferns Leghlin Ro. Dunensis Georg. Derensis Richard Cork c. Andr. Alachadens Tho. Kilmore Ardagh Theo. Dromore Mic. Waterford Lismore Fra. Limerick This zealous Protestation of the Bishops against Popery which Downham Bishop of Derry read to the State in the midst of his Sermon at Christchurch on the 23th day of April 1627. drew on a Remonstrance from the House of Commons in England to his Majesty to this effect That the Popish Religion was publickly profest in every Part of Ireland and that Monasteries and Nunneries were thsre newly erected and replenished with Votaries of both Sexes which would be of evil Consequence unless seasonably repress'd These two extraordinary Actions put a stop to any farther Endeavors for the publick Exercise of Popery at that time Nevertheless because the Irish Agents in England did consent to the payment of 120000 l. in three Year it was thought reasonable that the King should signifie his Gracious Acceptance thereof by conferring some extraordinary Favours on the Agents and Contributors And therefore the King did on the 24th day of May not only grant them the following Graces which were transmitted to Ireland by way of Instructions to the Lord Deputy and Council but also sent with it a Letter recommending the Lord of Killeen and the Lord Poer and the rest of the Irish Agents to the Lord Deputy's Favour desiring that he would order such Moneys to be paid them by the Country as they were promis'd for their Agency and that he should issue necessary Warrants and Directions for levying the same Instructions to be observed by Our Right Trusty and Well-beloved Cousin and Counsellor Henry Lord Viscount Falkland Our Deputy-General of Our-Realm of Ireland and by Our Council there and by the Deputy or other Chief Governor or Governors and Council there which hereafter for the time shall be and by all other Our Officers and Ministers whom it may severally or respectively concern I. AT the humble Requests presented unto Us on the behalf of Our Subjects of Ireland upon mature Consideration had thereof and by the Advice of Our Privy-Council We are graciously pleased in the first place to order and direct for the better Preservation and Ease of our said Subjects that Our Soldiers there be called in and limited to the most Serviceable Garrisons and that they be not called from thence upon any Pretence but against the Enemy or Rebel that makes Head II. For the Collection of Our Rents in case of Default That first a Summons Process shall issue Secondly That a Purâ—uivant be sent and Lastly If this be not sufficient in case the Sum be of value that then Our Vice-Treasurer by Warrant from Our Deputy and Council shall appoint a competent Number of Soldiers of the next adjoyning Garison to collect Our said Rents at the Charge of the Parties complained of having care that any Man be not burdened with a greater number of Soldiers than the Service shall necessarily require III. And when Necessity requires the Marching of Our said Soldiers against the Enemy or Rebel That the Officers imploy'd shall give Ready Money or Ticket to be defalked out of their Entertainment and duly paid into the Country upon demand without taking Money Pawns or Distresses but such Meat and
and Oliver Castells 1. That the Nobility wer over-taxed in the Subsidies 2. And were kept Close Prisoners tho' not Impeach'd of any Capital Crime 3. And could not get Licence to absent unless they leave their Proxy with one of the Chief Governors naming 4. That some have Titles of Honour that have no Lands in the Kingdom 5. That the Nobility were stop from going to Petition the King 6. That Trade is decayed by Illegal Taxes as Twelve pence apiece on Hides 7. That Causes are arbitrarily decided at Council-board and in other improper Judicatories 8. That Paâ—ents are made void extrajudicially on private Opinions 9. The Monopolies of Tobacco Starch Sope Glass Tobacco-pipes c. 10. The Procedings of the High-Commission 11. The exorbitant Fees and pretended Customs exacted by the Clergy 12. The Proclamation against buying Gunpowder but out of the Store and restraining Hunting within Seven Miles of Dublin 13. That the Parliament in its Members and Actions hath not had its natural Freedom 14. That the Subject is denied the Benefit of the Act of Limitation 15. The taking excessive Fees 16. The Seizing of Linen Yarn and Cloth for not being exact according to Rule 17. The Oppressions of Officers And in this Parliament on the Fourth of March Captain Audley Mervin brought up an Impeachment of High-Treason from the Commons to the Lords against Sir Richard Bolton Lord Chancellor John Lord Bishop of Derry Sir Gerrard Lowther Lord Chief Justice of the Common-Pleas and Sir George Ratcliff and made an eloquent Speech on that Occasion The Charge consisting of Three Articles was General for subverting the Laws and introducing Arbittary Government by extrajudicial and unjust Decrees for inflicting infamous Punishments by Pillory c. on Persons of Reputation and subverting the Rights of Parliament But it seems there was a Dispute raised Whether the House of Lords in Ireland had Power of Judicature in Capital Cases Whereupon Captain Audley Mervin made a most excellent Speech in the Lords House in Parliament 24 May 1641. And afterwards he Impeached Sir George Ratcliff then in the Gate-house Westminster in the Parliament of England of the aforesaid Articles and adds That he joyned with the Earl of Strafford in taking out Eighty thousand Pounds out of the Exchequer to buy Tobacco and that he countenanced Papists to build Monasteries c. On the Sixteenth of March 1640. Secretary Vane sent the Lords Justices the following Letter by His Majesty's Command Right Honorable HIS Majesty hath commanded me to acquaint your Lordships with an Advice given him from abroad and confirm'd by His Ministers in Spain and elsewhere which in this distemper'd Time and Conjuncture of Affairs deserves to be seriously considered and an especial Care and Watchfulness to be had therein Which is That of late there have passed from Spain and the like may well have been from other Parts an unspeakable number of Irish Churchmen for England and Ireland and some good old Soldiers under pretext of asking leave to raise Men for the King of Spain whereas it is observed among the Irish Fryars * * In Spain there a Whisper runs as if they expected a Rebellion in Ireland and particularly in Connaught Wherefore His Majesty thought fit to give your Lordships this notice that in your Wisdoms you might manage the same with that dexterity and secrefie as to discover and prevent so pernicious a Design if any such there should be and to have a watchful Eye on the Proceedings and Actions of those who come thither from abroad on what pretext soever And so herewith I rest Your Lordships most humble Servant HENRY VANE In the mean time the Earl of Strafford came to his Tryal in England and it was the most Solemn that ever was in that Kingdom and at length he was Attainted by Act of Parliament and accordingly beheaded on the 12th day of May 1641. and the Earl of Leicester was the same day appointed Lord Lieutenant of Ireland in his stead His Tryal is excellently wrote at large by Mr. Rushworth to which I must refer the curious Reader but because every Man has not that Book by him I have Cursorily extracted so much of it only as I thought pertinent to his History wherein if I have not been very exact it was because the Inquisitive may easily inform themselves as well as I by having recourse to the Original which I had not leisure to examine more carefully than I have done The Third Article which is the First relating to Ireland is that he should say That Ireland was a conquer'd Nation and that the King might do with them what he pleased and that the Charters of the Corporations were worth nothing and did bind the King no farther than he pleased To which the Earl Answers That he never spoke those words and that the Scope and Intent of what he did say was to ingratiate his Majesties Government to the People and that his words were well accepted at that time however they come to be resented now That the Charters of Dublin were Anno 1634. brought before the Council and still are in the hands of the Clerk of the Council because besides other Abuses the Papists of that City engrossed all the Trade and denied Liberty to such as came out of England to set up there which he hath so far remedied as that there are Three Englishmen now in Dublin for One that was there when he came to the Government and the Charters are not Condemned but enjoyed to this day so that he aim'd at a Reformation in favour of the English but did not design the Destruction of the Charters The Fourth Article was That the Earl of Cork having begun a Suit at Law to recover a Possession he had lost by Colour of an Order from the Lord Deputy and Council the Lord Deputy threatned to imprison him unless he would surcease his Suit saying That he would have neither Law nor Lawyers dispute or question his Orders and that he said upon another the like Occasion That he would make the Earl of Cork and all Ireland know that so long as he had the Government there any Act of State there made or to be made should be as binding to the Subjects of that Kingdom as an Act of Parliament and that he question'd that Earl in the Castle-Chamber upon Pretence of a Breach of an Order of Council-Table To this the Earl of Strafford answered That the Council-Table was a Court of Record in Ireland wherein they proceeded formally by Bill Answer Examination of Witnesses c. and therefore the Orders of it are binding and ought to be obey'd he denies he compar'd it to a Parliament and denies that the Earl of Cork was prosecuted for disobedience of an Order of Council only The Fifth Article was That in time of Peace 12th of December 1635. he did give and procure to be given Sentence of Death against the Lord Mountnorris at a Council of War for saying of an Accidental
Prisoners but he had not so good luck in his next attempt for a Party of his going to plunder the great Island were by Major Power who had not at first above 30 Horse but afterwards was reinforced by two Companies of Foot so handled that they left five hundred of their Companions dead upon the place however he afterwards took Castle-Lions Cony-Castle and Lismore which last place was bravely defended by the same Major Power and 100 of the Earl of Cork's Tenants to the Slaughter of 500 of the Besiegers until their Powder being spent they surrendred upon honourable Conditions After this Castleâ—aven went to besiege Youghall a weak and untenable place and lay before it many weeks and having received several considerable Baffles by the handful of Men that were within the Town he was at last forced to raise the Siege and close the Campagne with that misfortune And thus Matters stood in Munster till the latter end of the year at which time Inâ—iquin sent 500 Foot and 100 Troopers to seize upon the Castle of Bunratty which they performed and there found Horses enough to mount their Cavalry And as for Conaught it was under a Triumvirate of Presidents the Lord Dillon of Câ—stilo was the King's President and Sir Charles Coot was the Parliaments and the Titular Archbishop of Tuam was commissioned by the Confederates But Coot was too hard for both his Rivals and being united with the Lagan Forces under Sir Robert 〈◊〉 Colonel Awdly Mervin c. they made up in all 〈◊〉 Regiments with which they marched through Conaught and burnt the Country to within 6 miles of Galloway without meeting an Enemy in the Field they also took Sligo with the loss of Twenty of their own Men and the Slaughter of One hundred and twenty of the Rebels and Colonel Mervin being chosen by a Council of War to be Governour of Sligo as he well deserved was nevertheless by means of the Scots put by that Command which was given to Sir Robert Stewart whereupon Colonel Mervin came away discontented and notified to the Lord Lieutenant his Design of adhering to the King Hereupon the Confederates gave the Lord Taaf the Command of an Army to relieve Conaught and he issued forth a terrible Declaration That whoever did not submit to his Majesties Commission conferred on him within two days after Notice should be treated as an Enemy and on the 4th of August he summoned Castlecoot which returned this Answer That they neither broke the Cessation noâ— used Hostility at any time but when the Irish began That their misbehaviour forced them to correspond with the Scots whom they did not know or believe to be declared Enemies of the King That they would always submit to the Kings Pleasure but may not in any sort confide in such breach of Faith at they always find from the Irish Nation to their Party and instanced the burning of their Hay even then in the time of the Treaty and they desire a Copy of his Commission which his Lordship pretended was from the Lord Lieutenant And so his Lordship finding no good to be done upon Castlecoot at that time marched to Tulak which he took by Assault the 17th of August and having besieged Abby Boyle in vain after the Garison for their better defence were forced to burn the Town he agreed that upon an Oath of Fidelity and to observe the Cessation they should be no farther molested and the like Agreements were made with the Castles of Cambo and Lissidarne and it seems that afterwards the Irish Army returned to the Siege of Castlecoot and forced it to surrender about the 10th day of September In the mean time 1645. on the 16th of August the Bishop of Elphin and his Son Captain Tilson by Letter submitted to the Lord Dillon President of Conaught and on the 19th the Lord President at the Head of the Army came thither accompanied with the Lord Taaf and told the Bishop that Captain Tilson and his Foot Company must quit the Castle of Elphin within two hours and tho' they offered to take any Oath of Fidelity to His Majesties Service and the Bishop offered to stand obliged for the performance of what they should Promise or Swear yet all would not do but the Lord President and Lord Taaf having at length condescended to Sign some Articles for their Security they marcht out of the Castle into the Village and the Lord President and his Guard lodged in the Castle that Night and afterwards left it under the Command of Captain John Brown who admitted Boetius Egan the Titular Bishop of Elphin into the Castle on the 7th of September being accompanied with Sir Lucas Dillon and they made a Guard for the Bishop on the Knee from the Gate to the Church where the Bishop Rung one Bell and one of the Six Fryars accompanying him Rung another I suppose by way of Livery and Seizin they also burnt Incense and sprinkled Holy water and the next day being the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin they said several Masses in the Cathedral Church and the Bishop preached there and he was so vain and confident in his present Possession that he sent word to the Protestant Inhabitants That if they would continue his Tenants he would use them no worse than the former Bishop had done But that which the poor Bishop Tilson complained of in his Letter the 29th of December to the Lord Taaf is That none of the Conditions made with him and his Son were observed but that the Titular Bishop kept his Books and some of his Goods and turned out his Servant so that he was damnified to the value of Four hundred Pounds and it appears by another Letter of the Bishops that when the Titular Bishop was urged with the aforesaid Agreements and Articles He reply'd That that was past and out of date Upon complaint of these Matters to the Lord Lieutenant and that the Irish refused to permit the Clergy of the Diocess of Elphin to Levy any of their Dues alledging that the Bishop was outed by His Majesties Commission his Excellency did send positive Orders to restore the Bishop to the Castle of Elphin but in vain for the Lord President writes back That he had used his utmost indeavours with the Lord Taaf but could not prevail because of some Dangers he pretended from Sir Charles Coot and the Scots In the mean time the Titular Archbishop of Tuam was not idle but with Two thousand Foot and Three hundred Horse he surrounded and endeavoured to retake the Town of Sligo but there being about Two hundred Horse got into the Town under Captain Richard Coot and Captain Cole they Sallied out on the 17th of October and being well Seconded by Colonel Sanderson and a good Party of Foot they got a considerable Victory and by the help of Sir Francis Hamiltons Troop which came in the nick of time they did great Execution the Archbishop himself was slain and all the Baggage was taken
Name of ourselves and the rest of our Brethren the Archbishops and Bishops of this Kingdom whereby we avow testify declare and protest before GOD and the World That since our General Meeting at Clanmacnoise or here we have omitted nothing that did occur unto us tending to the advancement of his Majesty's Interest and the Good of the Kingdom generally but have there and then ordered and decreed all to us appertaining or which was in our power necessarily conducing to the publick Conservation of his Majesty and his Subjects Interest And also do and have endeavoured to root out of Mens hearts all Jealousies and sinister Opinions conceived either against your Excellency or the present Governmen as by our Acts there conceived maâ— appear And aster our parting from thence in pursuance of our unanimous Resolution taken in that place we have accordingly declared to our respective Flocks our happy Agreement amongst ourselves and our earnest desire to labour with them to those ends and made use of our best perswasions for the purchasing of their Alacrity and chearful Concurrence to the Advantage of that Service So that if any thing was wanting of due Correspondence sought by your Ezcellency we conceive it cannot be attributed to any want of care or diligence in us And for further intimation of our hearty desires on all occasions to serve our King and Country we declare That we are not yet deterred for want of good Success in the Affairs of the Kingdom but rather animated to give further Onsets and try all other possible Ways Wherefore we most humbly entreat your Excellency to give us some particular Instructions and to prescribe some Remedies for and touching the Grievances presented by us to your Excellency for pacifying of Discontented Minds and put us in a way how to labour further in so good a Cause And we do faithfully promife that no Industry or Care shall be wanting in us to receive and execute your Conditions And in conclusion We leave to all impartial judicious Persons sad and serious Considerations to think how incredible it is that we should fail to oppose to the uttermost of our power the fearful and inceasing Potency of a Rebellious and Malignant Murderer of our late Soveraign King Charles to which Enemy also nothing seemeth more odious than the Names of Kings and Bishops and who aims at nothing so much as the Dethroning of our now Gracious King Charles the Second and the final Extirpation of our Natives in case as God forbid Events and Successes would fall suitable to his most wicked Designs So far we thought necessary to declare to your Excellency from ourselves as the sence likewise and true meaning of the rest of our Brethren other Bishops of this Kingdom Dated at Loghreogh the 28th of March Anno Domini 1650. Jo. Archiepiscopus Tuamensis Wa. Episcopus Confert Fran. Aladensis Rob. Corcagen Cluanensis Fr. Hugo Episcopus Duacensis But notwithstanding the specious pretences and fair promises in this Declaration they verified Cromwell's observation of them That they prefer'd their own Interest before the King 's and that their professions in favour of Protestants were hypocritical For although they desired Instructions so earnestly as if they meant to observe them yet having received Instruction to bring the City of Limerick to a better temper they did nothing effectually in it though they did colourably send Sir Richard Everard and Doctor Fennell to treat with that City and they carried with them Letters from the Commissioners of Trust to the Mayor and from the Bishops to the Archbishop of Cashell and Bishop of Limerick which if sincerely wrote could not in reason fail of producing some effect But the cause of suspecting their sincerity did not proceed barely from the unsuccessfulness of their Endeavours but also from a discovery of the dishonest manner of their proceedings with the Lords of Ormond and Insiquin whilst they were at Limerick for whilst some of the Prelates and leading Men of that City came to his Excellency under shew of Friendship and Respect and informed him That the Waywardness and Dissatisfaction of the People proceeded from their Aversion to Insiquin who had always prosecuted the War against them with Rigour and Animosity and had defiled himself with the Blood of the Religious at Cashel and of whom they could have no Assurance since his Principal Confidents betrayed the Towns of Munster but if his Excellency would dismiss that Lord and disband his Troops that then the whole Nation as one Man would be at his disposal Another party of Popish Bishops and other leading Men addressed themselves to Insiquin and assured him That they expected no Success under the Conduct of Ormond because he was not of their Nation and was so indulgent to English Interest and English-men that he little regarded them or theirs But if his Lordship who was of the most Ancient and Noble Extraction of Ireland had the Supreme Command then all would be well But these two Lords compared Notes and thereby discovered the bottom of the Contrivance which was to create a Quarrel between them that so they might the easier get rid of them both And indeed from that time forward Ormond had so small hopes of the Irish that he employed the Bishop of Derry to treat with some forreign Prince about transporting 5 or 6000 Men into their Service at usual Rates and he designed to go with them himself and having no means to support Insiquin's Army he did at the importunity of the Commissioners of Trust who were as weary of the Engling as the English were of them disband Insiquin's Forces except Collonel Buller's Regiment which was designed to be sent to the King from Galway And on the first of May Dean Boyle now Lord Primate was employed by Ormond and Insiquin to treat with Cromwell Upon what Terms the Protestants of their Party might be received into Protection In the mean time the King by his Letter of the 11th of March from Beauvois informs the Lord-Lieutenant That one Rochfort from Lieutenant-General Farrell and one Daly disguised under the Name of Dominico de Rosario were with his Majesty and represented Ormond as backward in granting Graces and Favours to the Irish But the King advises him to persevere and if need be rather to exceed in Concessions about Civil Matters than in Matters of Religion and that if there must be farther Concessions in Religion that thâ—n they should be made in general Terms with reference to a future Parliament and gives him full power to do as he sees fit and desires to know whether if he fail with the Scots he may conveniently come for Ireland And indeed this had been the proper time for his Majesty to have come thither and the Marquess of Ormond did invite him to do so and the Queen Mother on the 10th of March 1649 sent the Lord Byron on purpose to press him to the Voyage and to get the Scotch Commissioners consent thereunto And it
Orrery Charles Earl of Montrath were appointed Lords Justices And the Lord Chancellor and Earl of Montrath were sworn on the 31 st day of December 1660. as the Earl of Orrery also was on the 17 th of January following Their Instructions were very short and to this effect 1. To read their Commission and Swear those Named for Privy-Councellors 2. To appoint Sheriffs and Justices of Peace by Advice of the Council and to Open the Courts of Justice 3. To promote Peace and Quietness as well in the Army as elsewhere and to hinder any Prejudice to His Majesty 4. To do what they could to encrease the Revenue and advance the Publick Service 5. To prepare such Bills as shall be thought by them and the Council to be for the good of the People and to transmit them to England pursuant to Poyning's Law in order to a Parliament 6. To reduce the King's Concessions to the Commissioners of the General Convention of Ireland into Bills to Pass next Parliament 7. To send over Names of fit Commissioners to Execute His Majesties Declaration for the Settlement of that Kingdom Lastly To cause the Oaths of Allegiance and Supremacy to be taken by all His Majesties Leige-Subjects of that Kingdom and to proceed according to Law against those that refuse And on the 27 th of January 1660. Dr. Michael Boyle now Lord Primate of all Ireland and Eleven others were Consecrated Bishops in St. Patrick's Church in Dublin with great Ceremony and Formality which I the rather mention because so numerous an Ordination of Bishops in one Day hath rarely if ever been heard of either before or since On the 8 th of May a Parliament was Summoned and Dr. Bramhall Arch-Bishop of Armagh was Speaker of the House of Lords as Sir Audley Mervin was of the House of Commons This Parliament as a Testimony of their Gratitude and Affection to the Duke of Ormond did present his Grace with a Gift of 30000 l. and when the Lords-Justices and Council understood that His Majesty on the 4 th of October 1661. had appointed the Duke of Ormond to be Lord Lieutenant of Ireland they ordered all publick Expressions of Joy to be made in Dublin upon that happy Occasion On January the 14 th 1661. the Lord Chancellor and Earl of Orrery were Sworn Lords Justices on the Death of the Earl of Montrath which happened the 18 th of October And on the 30 th of April 1662 they Published an Indulgence to Dissenters and continued in the Government until the 28 th of July 1662. at which time James Duke of Ormond was sworn Lord Lieutenant But the Session of Parliament begun the 17 th of April and on the 15 th of September the Bill of Settlement passed into an Act in the Parliament of Ireland by which Act and the rest of the Statutes passed that Parliament the King received more profit than all his Predecessors ever got out of that Kingdom This Bill had been exposed to the View and Scrutiny of the Irish and their Council for six Months together and altho they do so very confidently Clamour that they were never heard yet all that they could say was heard and debated even with Favour to them they had Agents there to whom they allowed three Pence per Acre for that purpose and every word in the Bill was Expung'd to which they had any just Exceptionl and at length the matter was determined by the King and Council and the following Order was made At the COURT at WHITE-HALL The 14th of March 1661. Present The Kings Most Excellent Majesty His R. H. the Duke of York Lord Chancellor Lord Privy-Seal Lord Duke of Ormond Lord Marquiss of Dorchester Lord Chamberlin Earl of Northumberland Earl of Norwich Earl of St. Alban Earl of Anglesey Earl of Carlisle Lord Seymore Lord Hatton Lord Holles Lord Ashley Mr. Trear Mr. Comptroller Mr. Vice-Chamberlain Mr. Secretary Nicholas Mr. Secretary Morrice THis day Mr. Sollicitor General making Report to His Majesty in Council from the Committee of this Board for the Affairs of Ireland upon Consideration of several Papers presented to the Board by Sir Nicholas Pluncket in the behalf of some of the Roman Catholicks of Ireland concerned in His Majesties Declaration according to an Order of the 12 th of this Instant That after the Committee had debated the said Papers the Commissioners from the Council and the Parliament of Ireland were called in and heard and presented to the Committee several Papers See them Appendix 40. viz. Instructions given by the Supreme Council and others of the Lords Spiritual and Temporal and the Commons of the Confederate Catholicks of Ireland to be observed by the Bp. of Fearnes and Nicholas Plunket Esq in the Court of Rome bearing date the 18 th of January 1647. and a Draught of Instructions to France and Spain and a Copy of the Excommunication Published at James-Town and that all the said Papers being read and the said Commissioners being withdrawn and the Committee then calling in the said Sir Nicholas Plunket and asking him whether the Signature of the Instructions to Rome by Command of the General Assembly were his Hand-writing and whether the Draught of the Instructions to France and Spain were his Writing also He acknowledged in the Presence of the Committee that they were and that hereupon it was the humble Opinion of the Committe that the Bill for the Common Settlement of that Kingdom should not be retarded but proceeded upon with all possible Expedition It was upon consideration of the said Report Ordered that in regard the said Romish Catholicks have been already several times fully heard at this Board as to the said Bill of Settlement no more Petitions or further Addresses be required or admitted from them for obstructing the same but the engrossing thereof be proceeded upon without any further delay according as the same is already prepà red and also that Mr. Sollicitor General do send all the Provisoes already allowed of by the said Committee to be likewise Engrossed And it is further Ordered That the Clerk of the Council attending do not only signify His Majesties Pleasure unto the said Sir Nicholas Pluncket that he do for bear coming into or appearing in His Majesties Presence or Court but also give Notice of this Order to the Committees imployed from the said Council and Parliament to be by them transmitted into Ireland Copia Vera Edw. Walker The Act of Settlement thus past there was a Court of Claims erected to adjudge Qualifications of Innocency and Nocency The Period for this Purpose was in Favour of the Nominees who were to attend till Innocents were first restored and by consent of the Irish Agents appointed by the Kings Declaration to be the 2 d of May 1661. but the Irish Parliament enlarged the time to the first of August 1662. and afterwards prolong'd it father to the 22 d of July 1663. And so the Commissioners viz. Sir Richard Rainsford Sir Thomas Beverly
delivered to the Commissioners of Trust in February last that the Clergy and Laity receiving Redress or Justice the Discontent of the Subject might be removed no Amendment appeared after eight Months effluxed but the Evil still continued that occasioned the Ruine of the Nation And we also protest to the whole World having done our best we have no Power to remove the Jealousies and Fears of the People Besides the above Injuries and Violation of the Articles of the Peace against Religion the King's Interest and the Nation nothing appearing before the Eyes of the People but Desolation Waste Burning and the Destruction of the Kingdom three parts of four thereof being come under Contribution to the Enemy Cities Towns and strong Holds taken from them Altars pulled down Churches lost Priests killed and banished Sacraments and Sacrifices and all things holy profaned and almost utterly extinguished Armies and great numbers of Souldiers by them maintained and the Enemy not fought withal those that would fight for them born down and those that would betray them cherished and advanced finally no visible Army or Defence appearing they are come to despair of recovering what is lost or defending what they hold and some inclining for safety of their Lives and Estates do compound with the Parliament perswading themselves no Safety can be to any living under the Government of the LORD LIEUTENANT attended by Fate and Disaster For prevention of these Evils and that the Kingdom may not be utterly lost to his Majesty and his Catholick Subjects this Congregation of Archbishops Bishops and other Prelates and Dignitaries of both Clergies of this Kingdom found our selves bound in Conscience after great Deliberation to declare against the continuance of his Majesty's Authority in the Person of the said Lord Marquess of Ormond premitting this Protestation to the World ☞ that we had never come to such Declaration but that we and the People of this Kingdom generally despair of the Kingdom 's Recovery under his Government as hereby we do declare as well in our own Names and behalf as in the Names and behalf of the rest of the Catholicks of this Kingdom against him the said Marquess of Ormond having by his Misgovernment ill Conduct of his Majesy's Army and the Breach of Publick Faith with the People in several particulars of the Articles of the Peace render'd himself uncapable of continuing that great Trust any longer being questionable before his Majesy for the said Injuries and ill Government to which effect we will joyn with other Members of this Kingdom in drawing a Charge against him and we do hereby manifest to the People they are no longer obliged to obey the Orders and Commands of the said Lord Marquess of Ormond but are until a general Assembly of the Nation can be conveniently called together unanimously to serve against the common Enemy for the Defence of the Catholick Religion his Majesty's Interest their Liberties ☞ Lives and Fortunes in pursuance of the Oath of Association and to observe and obey in the mean time the Form of Government the said Congregation shall prescribe until it be otherwise ordered by an Assembly or until upon application to his Majesty he settle the same otherise And we do fulminate the annexed Excommunication of one Date with this Declaration against all the Opposers of the same Declaration All the good Christians and Catholicks that shall read this our said Declaration forced from us by the Affliction and Disaster of distressed Ireland be pleased to know that we well understand the present Condition of this Nation is more inclining to Ruin and Despair than Recovery yet will we relie upon the Mercy of God who can and will take off from us the heavy Judgment of his Anger War and Plague if we shall amend our wicked Lives and lean like little ones upon the Arms of his Mercy as we cry to him for Remedy let us confess with Tears our Sins saying with the Prophet Isaiah Câ—cidimus quasi folium universi iniquitates nostrae quasi ventus abstulerunt nos non est qui invocet nomen taum Domine non est qui consurgat teneat te abscondisti faciem tuam à nobis allisisti nos in manu iniquitatis nostrae This Language from the Heart will reconcile Heaven to us Et quiescat ira Dei erit placabilis super neâ—uitia populâ— sui Though this Noble-Man hath left us nothing but Weakness and Want and Desolation and that the Enemy is rich strong and powerful God is stronger and can help us and for his own Name-sake will deliver us Dominus Eliae the God of Wonders and Miracles erit etiam nunc apud Hibernos if our Faith prove strong and our Actions sound and sincere We will conclude with St. Paul that Ocean of Wisdom and Doctor of Nations Si Deus pro nobis quis contra nos quis accusabit adversus electos Dei Deus est qui justificat quis est qui condemnat quis ergo nos separabit à charitate Christi Tribulatio an Angustia an Fames an Nuditas an Periculum an Persecutio an Gladius sed in his omnibus superamus propter â—um qui dilexit nos Let nothing separate you from that burning Charity of Christianity and God will ever preserve protect and bless you H. Ardmacan Jo. Archiâ—p Tuam Jo. Rapotens Eugen. Killmor Fran. Aladen Nic. Fermens Procurator Dublin Fr. Anton. Clonmacnocens Walt. Clonfert Procurator Leighlinens Fr. Artur Dunens Connor Procurator Dromorens Fr. Hugo Duacensis Fr. Gul. de Burgo Provincialis Hiberniae Ordinis prâ—â—dicat Jac. Abbas de Conga Comiss generalis Canon Reg. S. Aug. Fr. Thom. Keran Abbas de Duellio Carol. Kelly S. Theologiae Doctor Decan Tuam Fr. Bernard Egan Procurator R. admodum P. Provincial fratrum minorum Fr. Ricar O Kelly Procur Vic. Generalis Kildare Prior Rathbran Ord. predicat Thad Eganus S. Th. D. praepos Tuam Luc. Plunket S. Th. D. Proton Apostolicus Rector Collegii de Kellecu exercitus Lageniâ— Capellan major Jo. Doulaeus juris Doc. Abbas de Kilmanach unus ex procuratoribus Capit. Cler. Tuam Gual Enos S. T. D. Protonot Apostolicus Theâ—aur Fernen procurator prepositi Ecclesiae Collegiaâ—ae Galviensis And we the under-named sitting at Galloway with the Committee authorized by the Congregation held at James-Town 6. Augusti currentis do concur with the above Arch-bishops Bishops and other Prelates and Dignitaries in the above Declaration and withal do now make firm the same as an Act of our own by our several Subscriptions this 23d of August 1650. Thomas Cashell J. Laonen Episcopus Edmun. Limiricen Rob. Corcag Cluan Fr. Teren. Immolâ—cen Jac. Fallon Vic. Apostolicus Acaden The Excommunication mentioned in the above Declaration WHereas we the underwritten Arch-bishops Bishops and other Prelates and Dignitaries sitting in this our present Congregation at James-Town with the Consent and Approbation of the rest through the Dangers of these distracted Times
Favour and consequently luxurious they always followed the Court and hated to be put in Frontier Garrisons or Places of Danger They were says Cambrensis great Talkers Boasters and Swearers very Proud and Contemners of all others greedy of Places of Places of Honour and Profit but backward in undertaking any hazardous and dangerous Action or performing any Service that might deserve them Moreover many of the English and Welch were dispossest of their best and safest Castles to make Room for the Normans and forc'd to take others in Exchange on the Frontiers by which means they were impoverish'd and discourag'd Add to this That several of the faithful Irish who had submitted to the English Government and lived within their Quarters and thereby became acquainted with the English Conversations Humors Strength Policies Seats and Habitations were likewise dispossess'd to make Room for the Normans and thereby forced to revolt to the Irish and became the most Dangerous of all the Enemies as being most Knowing and most Provok'd And thus it came to pass that after Earl John had wasted his Army in small and unprofitable Skirmishes and had staid eight months and done no other Good than that he built the Castle of Tybrach perhaps Typerary Lismore and Ardfinin the King sent for him and his Beardless Counsellors and in his Room substituted John de Courcy Earl of Vlster Lord Lieutenant of Ireland he brought over with him about four hundred Volunteers 1185. September And soon after his arrival he made a Progress into Munster and Connaught to put those Countries in order but it seems he fell into an Ambush or had some Skirmish with the Irish for it is said That he lost twelve Knights in his Return from Connaught 1186. On Midsummer-day the Prime of Limerick slew four Knights and a great part of the Garrison of Ardfinin And soon after by a Slight drew that Garrison into an Ambush by exposing a Prey to their View which they thought to have taken but he fell upon them and surprized and slew most of them But the Irish had not so good luck in Meath where they of Kenally had made Incursions and taken a Prey for William Petit rescued the Prey defeated them with great Slaughter and sent an hundred of their Heads to Dublin Old Lacy was now busie building his Castle of Derwath and himself working with a Pick-ax for Diversion when one of the malicious and ungrateful Workmen took the Opportunity whilst he was stooping Cambden 151. and with another Pick-Ax knock'd out his Brains And it seems there was an Insurrection thereupon for it is said That Courcy and Young Lacy revenged the Murder and reduced all things to quiet But it seems afterwards there grew some Distast between Courcy and Lacy so that Lacy who was the better Courtier supplanted Courcy who was the better Soldier and got himself into his Room This Courcy came from Stoke-courcy commonly call'd Stogussy in the County of Somerset I find that Robert de Courcy was made a Baron at Westminster 33 Henry 1. but whether he was the Ancestor of this Family I will not determine This Earl of Vlster had a natural Son John Lord of Kilbarrock and Raheny who was murdered by the Lacyes so that it is the Brother of this Earl John that was the Ancestor of the Noble Family of Courcy Lord Baron of Kingsale In the mean time King Henry died in Normandy on the sixth Day of July 1189. He was so well pleased with the Conquest of Ireland Davis 11. that he placed the Title of Lord of Ireland in his Royal Style before his Hereditary Estates of Normandy and Aquitain Baron Finglas M. S. And yet that Country was at that Time so inconsiderable or so little improv'd that there were not five Castles or Piles for Defence of Irish building in the whole Kingdom Dublin Cork and Waterford were built by the Easterlings and all the rest have been built since the Reduction of Ireland This King was both Wise and Valiant he was also Generous to the highest Degree so that he deserved to be ranked among the bravest Princes of that or any other Age and perhaps had made as great a Figure in History as any of them if the Undutifulness of Becket and the Rebellion of his own Sons had not interrupted his Designs However there are some who will never forgive him the Conquest of Ireland and therefore do load his Memory with many Malicious Aspersions equally Ridiculous and False Polichronicon l. 7. c. 21. They say his Grandmother could not endure the Mass and that her Husband ordered four Knights to hold her by Force whilst the Priest was celebrating but in spight of them she flew out of the Window with two of her Sons and was never seen after And that 't is no Wonder they that come of the Devil should go to the Devil And that King Henry's Embassador urging the King's Son to have Peace with his Father was answered That it was Natural to their Brood to hate one another That Henry was a Bastard and that S. Bernard the Abbot prophesied of him That from the Devil he came and to the Devil he should go That his Father had gelded a Bishop and that himself had murdered S. Thomas of Canterbury That his Father had Carnal Knowledge of Henry's Queen Elianor and abundance more of such silly Stuff THE REIGN OF John Earl of Moreton LORD of IRELAND Afterwards King of England Duke of Normandy c. RICHARD I 1189. for his Valour Sirnamed Ceur de Lyon by unquestionable Right Succeeded his Father on the Throne of England and was crowned at Westminster the third Day of September 1189 but his Style was no more than Speed 482. Rex Anglor dux Normannor Acquitan comes Andegavor For John Earl of Moreton youngest Son of the deceased King by virtue of the aforesaid Donation at the Parliament at Oxford anno 1177 succeeded his Father in the Sovereignty of Ireland And therefore we find the Pope's Legate had Commission to exercise Jurisdiction in Anglia Davis 19. Wallia illis Hiberniae partibus in quibus Johanes Comes Moretonii potestatem habet dominium For tho' it be a Fundamental Maxim of State That Ireland must not be separated from the Crown of England And tho' it be also an undoubted Maxim of Law That the King cannot alien any part of his Dominions yet neither of these were thought to be transgressed by the aforesaid Donation because it was made to the King's Son whose Interest and Expectations in England were thought to be sufficient Security for his Good Behaviour What Controulment Earl John might have met with in the Soveraignty of Ireland if the King Richard had been at Leisure to inspect that Matter is incertain But it is manifest That the King was so taken up with his Voyage to the Holy Land and so embarassed by the unfortunate Consequences of it that he never did
take any notice of Ireland and therefore we take no further notice of him than to give this brief Account of the Reason of our Silence in that Particular Hugh de Lacy was made Lord Justice of Ireland as aforesaid And as soon as he arrived he sent Imperious Letters to Courcy to discharge him of his Command and behaved himself so insolently that all was in Disorder Which the Irish perceiving and also that the King of England was preparing for a Voyage to the Holy Land they thought this an happy Opportunity to extirpate the English to which End they had a General Meeting and resolved unanimously to fall upon them Hanmer 169. and in order to it they entred into a League or Association and solemnly swore First To be true to one another and to the common Cause Secondly Never to yield any Obedience to the English again Ibid 162. And to begin the Business they fell upon Roger Poer Governour of Leighlin and barbarously murdered him and most of the Garrison Cormock O Connor Son of Rotherick King of Connaught commonly called Crove Darig because his Hand was red was the chief of the Conspirators he was an Active Valiant Gentleman and of so great Reputation that he was able to assemble twenty thousand Men of his own and the Confederates with which Army he designed first to clear Connaught then Vlster and afterwards the whole Kingdom In the mean Time Courcy Lord of Connaught and Earl of Vlster considering that he should have no Aid nor Help from the Lord Justice endeavoured to strengthen himself the best he could and to that End sent for his Brother S. Lawrence who made more Haste than good Speed for he came away with thirty Horse and two hundred Foot and at Knockmoy in the County of Galway fell into an Ambush the King of Connaught had laid for him and tho' they fought so valiantly that they killed one thousand Irish Men yet the Issue was That this small Army was totally destroyed not one escaping And tho' O Connor in Remembrance and Ostentation of this Victory did there build the Abbey de Colle Victoriae yet when he had well considered the prodigious Valour of that Handful of Men and his own Loss he thought himself necessitated to sue to Lacy for Peace which he soon obtained upon reasonable Conditions About this Time Robin Hood and Litle John were Famous Robbers in England but their Company being dispersed and Robin Hood taken Litle John fled to Dublin and shot an Arrow from Dublin-Bridge to the litle Hill in Oxman-Town thence called Litle John's Shot He was called Litle John Ironically for he was not less than fourteen Foot long believe it who will Hector Boetius affirms The Hole of his Huckle Bone was so big that he could thrust his Hand through it He fled from Dublin to Scotland where he dyed This Year Isabel 1189. only Daughter of Strongbow by Eva Prencess of Leinster was married to William Lord Maxfield Earl Marshal of England He was a great Favourite to King Richard and at his Coronation carried the Regal Scepter whereon was a Cross of Gold He was afterward by King John Hanmer 177. created Earl of Pembrook and had five Sons who were successively Earls and all died without Issue and he had five Daughters among whom his Estate was divided viz. to Joan the County of Waxford to Matilda the County of Caterlough to Isabel the County of Kilkenny to Sybilla the County of Kildare and to Eva the Mannor of Downmass in Leix now the Queen's County in all which they exercised Palatine Jurisdiction Of this Family Thomas Mills in his Catalogue of Honour gives this Account That Richard Earl of Chepstow was nick-named Strongbow because of his exceeding Strength so that he drew an traordinary Srong Bow his Arms were so long that he could stand upright and with the Palms of his Hands touch his Knees That his Daughter Isabel was fourteen Years a Ward to Henry II That her Husband William Earl Marshal was created Earl of Pembrook 27 May 1199 and that she dyed anno 1221 and was buried at Tintern Abbey and that he dyed 16 March 1219. They had five Sons and five Daughters William married Elianor Sister of Henry III and died the sixth of April 1231. Richard died the sixteenth of April 1234. Gilbert married Margaret Daughter of William King of Scotland 1235 and died by a fall from his Horse the twenty eighth of May 1242. Walter died 1245 in Wales and Anselm died the same Month viz the twenty first of December Maud successively married Hugh Earl of Norfolk William Earl of Warren and Walier Lord Dunstanvil Joan married Warren Lord Montchensy the richest Baron in England Isabel married Gilbert Earl of Glocester and afterwards Richard Earl of Cornwal King of the Romans Sybil married William Earl of Ferrers and Darby and Eve married William de Brees Lord of Brecknock and Partition was made between these Noble Coparceners at Woodstock Lib. G. May 3. 31 Hen. 3. About this Time 1190. viz. Anno 1190 the City of Dublin was burnt by Accident 1191. so that it was almost totally destroyed and the Kingdom was governed by William Petit Burlace 11. who held it a very short Time before William Earl of Pembrook and Earl Marshal of England came over Lord Justice or Governour of Ireland he was the third of the Temporal Assistants King Richard had left to the Bishop of Ely for the Government of England he was a Valiant Man and had a great Estate in Ireland 1191. and therefore was thought the fittest Governour for that Country in this Critical Time whilst King Richard was Prisoner in Austria and Earl John was engaged in Troublesome and Ambitious Designs in England In the Year 1194. the Reliques of S. Malachy Bishop of Clareval Cambden 151. were brought into Ireland and with great Reverence and Devotion deposited in the Abby of Mellifont and other the Monasteries of the Cistersian Order It seems the Reputation or Power of this Noble Governour was sufficient to keep Ireland quiet 1197. for we read of little or no Disturbance there during his Time which was about six Years And then he resign'd to Hanno de valois a Gentleman of Suffolk Lord Justice of Ireland who continued in that Government until the Death of King Richard which happened at Chalons in France on the sixth Day of April anno 1199. John Earl of Moreton and Lord of Ireland did on the Death of King Richard without Title ascend the Throne of England Hubert Archbishop of Canterbury was a great assistant to this Usurpation he told the People That John had the Crown by Election which the King did not then gain-say it being no fit Time to dispute the MANNER so he had the THING he aimed at but the Right was in his Nephew Arthur whom he afterwards got into his Hands and caused him him to be murdered as was at that Time generally reported
Annum for the other two parts saving and reserving to the King two Cantreds with the Inhabitants and liberty of building Castles therein The King liked the Proposal well enough and communicated it to the Lord Justice and referr'd it to him adding That it would do well if the Lord Justice could squeeze a Fine of four hundred Marks from the King of Connaught together with a yearly Tribute of Cows 1208. to supply such Castles as should be built in those Cantreds Hugh de Lacy was made Lord Deputy upon the Lord Justice his going to England and soon after viz. the Eighth of November the King by Patent Dated at Woodstock whereunto Meyler Fitz-Henry Lord Justice is Witness did confirm to William Fitz Philip Barry the three Cantreds of Olethan Muskry Dunegan and Killedy which Fitz Stephens had given his Father in the Kingdom of Cork 4 Inst 359. to be held of the King by Ten Knights Fees Lib. GGG and he also granted to William Marshal the Marshalship of Ireland in Fee as also the Cantred of Kilkenny About this time Jeofry Morison or Mac Moris was troublesome in Munster wherefore the Lord Deputy invaded Typerary Hanmer 186. and took Thurles he also took Castlemeyler and demolished it but the Irish say he lost more men in this Expedition than he brought back And now the King finding many Complaints of Thieves Tories and Robbers which were become a Nusance in Ireland sent the following Writ for their expulsion REX Meyler Prin 250. fil Henr. Justic Hiberniae c. omnibus aliis Baron fidelibus suis Hibern c. Sciatis quod ad voluntatem consilium dilectorum fidelium nostrorum Com. W. Maresc Walteri de Lacy aliorum Baronum nostrorum Hibern qui nobiscum fuerunt in Angl. per consilium fidelium nostror Angl. volumus statuimus quod Latrones Hibern expellantur de Terra nostra Hibern quod ipsi receptores eorum deducantur secundum Legem Angl. ideo vobis mandamus quod ita fieri faciatis in hujus rei testimonium has Literas nostras Patent vobis mittimus Teste Meipso apud Southhampt 23 Die Martii But Lacy was so elevated with the aforesaid Victories how dear soever they were bought that he look'd on all below him with Contempt and became so impatient of Competition that he was outragious against all his Enemies and particularly against John de Courcy Lord of Raheny and Kilbarrock Natural Son of the great John de Courcy whom the Lacies basely and barbarously caused to be murdered whereupon great Stirs and Dissatisfactions arose in Ireland even among the British Temple 6. whereof the Irish made their advantage Hanmer 187. and under pretence of being burdened with Taxes there was a general Defection throughout all the Realm Dublin was inhabited mostly by a Colony of Bristol Men 1209. and it was customary with them for love of Sport and Air to walk abroad toward Cullenwood every Easter-Monday but now being unarmed they were surprized by the Mountaneers of Wicklow the Birnes and Tooles c. who murdered three hundred of the Citizens wherefore that Day is ever since called Black Monday and for a long time after was solemnly observed by the Mayor Sheriffs and Citizens of Dublin in a brave and splendid manner and to supply this Loss the City of Bristol sent a new Colony to replenish Dublin But the King as well to secure his goverment from the ambition of Lacy whereof he grew exceeding jealous as also to suppress the Rebellion of the Irish found it necessary to make a Voyage to that Countrey and therefore with a considerable Army he sailed thither and on the Eighth Day of June landed at Waterford 1210. where O Neal and above Twenty other Irish Potentates came and made their humble Submissions and did Homage and Fealty unto him The Lacies conscious of their Demerits durst not abide the Arrival of the King but secretly fled into France where in Disguise they served the Abbot of St. Taurin in the quality of Gardeners till their unskilfulness manifested they were not educated in that way which gave the Abbot some suspicion of them and that led him into so strict an Enquiry that to satisfie the Abbot they were obliged to discover the Truth Speed 508. The good man did so sympathize with their Misfortunes and pitied their Distress that he effectually interceded with the King for their Pardon which at length he obtain'd Walter paying for Meath 2500 and Hugh for Vlster 4000 Marks Cattalus or rather Carolus O Conner alias Crovederg the Valiant and Active King of Connaught was the only Man of Note that opposed King John but he was an unequal Match for the King of England Cambden 152. and therefore was easily subdued and taken Prisoner Wherefore the King having no more of Military Matters to execute in Ireland seriously set himself to mend the Civil State of that unfortunate Country and first he caused Money to be Coyned ad Pondus Nummi Angliae and made it currant in both Kingdoms by his Proclamation which was the first Sterling Money that was Coyned in Ireland Lib. M. 25. and this done he set himself to establish the English Laws in that Kingdom For though King Henry had done as much to introduce the English Laws there as that Season and other Circumstances would permit yet partly for want of Sheriffs and the Distribution of the Kingdom into Counties but chiefly because of the unsetledness of the Country and the rebellious humour of the Irish it could not at that time be fully effected Wherefore King John to supply those Defects as far as he was able divided Leinster and Munster the only part he had in quiet and actual possession into the Counties of Dublin Kildare Meath Vriel Caterlogh Kilkenny Wexford Waterford Cork Limerick Typerary and Kerry and appointed Sheriffs and other Officers for them after the manner of England He also caused an Abstract of the English Laws and Customs to be drawn in writing Inst 141. b. 4 Inst 349. whereunto he affixed his Seal and left it in the Exchequer in Dublin and by general consent in Parliament and at the instance of the Irish he ordained that the English Laws and Customs should thenceforward be observed in Ireland Temple 6. and in order to it he erected Courts of Judicature at Dublin But the Brehon Law and the other Irish Customs indulged more to the Tyrannie of the great Men and yet did not hold the Commons to a strict and regular Discipline as the Laws of England did and therefore the very English were so corrupted by ill Example that the English Laws were not regarded nor had in Estimation as they ought but were look'd upon both by the Irish and degenerate English Davis 90. lib. M. as a Yoke of Bondage so that Henry III was necessitated oftentimes to enjoyn the Observation of them In
the first and third Year of his Reign he did confirm them and in the eleventh Year he sent the following Writ which I recite at large because I find it curtail'd both in Calvin's Case and my Lord Cooks first Institutes 141. b. And what else King Henry did in this Matter shall be mentioned in the Account of his Reign REX Lib. GGG c. Baronibus militibus aliis libere tenentibus Lageniae salutem c. Satis ut credimus vestra audivit discretio quod cum bonae Memoriae Johannes quondam Rex Angliae pater noster venit in Hiberniam ipse duxit secum viros discretos legis peritos quorum communi consilio ad instantiam Hibernensium statuit praecepit Leges Anglicanas teneri in Hibernia ita quod leges easdem in scriptis redactas reliquit sub Sigillo suo ad Scaccar Dublin Cum igitur Consuetudo Lex Angliae fuerit quod si aliquis desponsaverit aliquam mulierem sive viduam sive aliam haereditatem habentem ipse postmodum ex ea prolem suscitaverit cujus clamor auditus fuerit infra quatuor parietes idem vir si supervixerit ipsam Vxorem suam habebit tota vita sua custodiam Haereditatis Vxoris suae licet ea forte habuerit Haeredem de primo viro suo qui fuerit plenae aetatis vobis mandamus injungentes quatenus in loquela quae est in Cur. Wilm Com. Maresc inter Mauritium Fitz-Gerrald petent Galfridum de Marisco Justiciarium nostrum Hiberniae tenentem vel in alia loquela quae fuerit in casu praedicto nullo modo justitiam in contrar facere presumatis Teste Rege apud W. decim Decemb. And thus King John having exceeding well acquitted himself in Ireland and thereby in a great measure attoned for Miscarriages of his former Voyage he departed thence on the thirtieth Day of August 1210. having first appointed John Gray Bishop of Norwich Lord Justice who kept the Kingdom in so good Order that he was able to spare three hundred Foot besides Horse 1211. to aid the King in France where they did good Service and yet most of them safely returned to Ireland About this Time happened the famous Story of John de Courcy 1212. which I will give you in the very Words of Hanmer because he expresses it much better than it is in Cambden's Annals Not long after Hanmer 184. there fell some Difference between John King of England and Philip King of France for the Right of some Fort in Normandy who to avoid the shedding of Christian Blood agreed of each Side to put it to a Combat Of King Philip's part there was a French-man in Readiness King John upon the sudden wist not what to do for a Champion to encounter with him at length one attending upon his Person enformed him That there was one Courcy in the Tower of London the only Man in his Dominions if he would undertake it to answer the Challenge King John joyful of this sent the first yea the second and third Time promising large Rewards and rich Gifts and that it stood him upon as far as the Honour of his Crown and Kingdom did reach to make good the Combat Courcy answered very frowardly the which was taken in good Part in regard of the urgent Necessity That he would never fight for him neither for any such as he was That he was not worthy to have one Drop of Blood spilt for him That he was not able to requite him the Wrongs he had done him neither to restore him the Hearts-Ease he had bereav'd him of Yet notwithstanding all the Premises he was willing and would with all Expedition be ready to venture his Life in Defence of the Crown and his Country Whereupon it was agreed He should be dyeted apparelled and armed to his Content and that his own Sword should be brought him out of Ireland The Day came the Place appointed the Lists provided the Scaffolds set up the Princes with their Nobility of each Side with thousands in Expectation forth comes the French Champion gave a turn and rests him in his Tent They sent for Courcy who all this while was trussing of himself about with strong Points and answered the Messengers That if any of their Company were to go to such a Banquet he would make no great haste However forth he comes gave a Turn and went into his Tent. When the Trumpets sounded to Battle forth came the Combitants and viewed each other Courcy beheld him with a wonderful stern Countenance and passed by The French-man not liking his grim Look the strong Proportion and Feature of his Person stalked still along and when the Trumpets sounded the last Charge Courcy drew out his Sword and the French-man ran away and conveyed himself to Spain Whereupon they sounded Victory the People clapt their Hands and cast up their Caps King Philip desired King John That Courcy might be called before them to shew some Part of his Strength and Manhood by a Blow upon a Helmet it was agreed a Stake was set in the Ground and a Shirt of Male and a Helmet thereon Courcy drew his Sword looked wonderful sternly upon the Princes cleft the Helmet Shirt of Mail and the Stake so far in that none could pull it out but himself Then the Princes demanded of him What he meant to look so sowerly upon them His answer was If he had missed his Blow upon the Block he would have cut off both the Kings Heads All that he said was taken in good Part and King John discharged him of all his Troubles gave him great Gifts and restored him to his former Possessions in Ireland It is written further That hereupon he sailed into England came to Westchester offered himself to the Sea and was put back again fifteen times by contrary Winds which rose upon a sudden to the English Shore And in the Book of Houth it is delivered That upon every Repulse the Night following he was admonished in a Vision Not to attempt the Seas for to sail into Ireland and that he should never set Foot upon any Land there and withal that the Reason was yielded thus Courcy thou hast done very ill for thou hast pulled down the Master and set up the Servant for he had translated the Cathedral Church and the Prebendaries of the Blessed Trinity in Dune into an Abbey of Black Monks brought thither from Chester and consecrated the same to the Honour of S. Patrick Whereupon remembring himself That he had done very ill in taking the Name from God and giving it to a Creature he gave Sentence upon himself That he was worthily punished and immediately he altered his Course went into France and there died But 't is Time to return to our Lord Justice who was sent for into England and ordered to leave the Government in the Hands of Henry de Londres Archbishop of Dublin Lord Justice July 23. he had
publickly opposed the King's Alienation or Resignation of his Dominions to the Pope 1213. He governed the Kingdom very well but at the end of two Years he went to Rome either to solicit Aid for the King against the Barons or to be present at a General Council He left Geofry de Marisco 1215. Lord Keeper of Ireland to whom nevertheless Sir Edmond Butler was Assistant or Coadjutor It was about this Time the Citizens of Dublin obtained a Licence to build a Bridge over the Liffy where they pleased And not long after they also got a Fee-Farm of the City of Dublin from the King at a certain Rent but I take that to have been anno 1217. and if so the King here meant must be Henry III. It seems these Times were very Quiet for I find no mention of any War or Rebellion except some small Stirs in Connaught which were not so Great or Considerable as that the Particulars should be transmitted to posterity In the mean Time William Earl Marshal who came to Ireland anno 1207. was employed in building his Castle of Kilkenny and the Abbey of Black-Fryers there He also incorporated that Town by the Name of Sovereign Burgesses and Communalty and granted them a Privilege to be quit of Toll Lastage and Pontage and all other Customs throughout Leinster and afterwards went to England And thus stood the Government of Ireland during the Life of King John who died at Newark the nineteenth Day of October 1216. 1216. THE REIGN OF HENRY III. King of England And LORD of IRELAND c. HENRY the Third not then Ten years old succeeded his Deceased Father in all his Titles and Estates 1216. and in the presence of the Popes Legate William Earl Marshal and others he was declared King and Crowned at Glocester by the Bishops of Winchester and Bath and at the same time he did Homage to Pope Innocent and the Church of Rome Brady 522. for the Kingdoms of England and Ireland and swore to pay yearly the Thousand Marks which his Father had promised to the Holy See William Earl Marshal who was also Earl of Pembrook was Protector of the King and Kingdom Ib. 523. and by Proclamation encouraged the Nobility Gentry and other the Kings Subjects to continue faithful to him which they were the more easily perswaded to because Lewis Prince of France and his Party began to decline and were solemnly excommunicated or rather the same Excommunication was published and denounced every Sunday and Holy-Day There likewise issued a Writ to the Kings Subjects in Ireland in haec verba REX Archiepiscopis Prin 250. Episcopis Abbatibus Comitibus Baronibus Militibus libere tenentibus omnibus fidelibus suis per Hibern constitutis Salutem Fidelitatem vestram in Domino commendantes quam Domino Patri nostro semper exhibuistis nobis estis diebus nostris exhibituri Volumus quod in signum Fidelitatis vestrae tam praeclarae tam insignis libertatibus Regno nostro Angl. Ã Patre nostro nobis concessis de gratia nostra dono in Regno nostro Hibern gaudeatis vos vestri Haeredes in perpetuum quas distincte in Scriptum redactas de communi consilio omnium fidelium nostrorum vobis mittimus signatas Sigillis Domini nostri G. Apostolicae Sedis Legati fidelis nostri Com. W. Maresc Rectoris nostri Regni nostri quia Sigillum nondum habuimus easdem processu temporis de majori Consilio proprio Sigillo signaturi Teste apud Glouc. 6 die Februar And the Entry on the Roll is Homines Hiberniae habent libertates Angliae And another Writ Brady Append. 143. under the Test of the Earl Marshal was sent to Hugh de Lacy to invite his Return in this Writ which runs in the Name of the King his Majesty condescends to expostulate with Lacy that he the King ought not to be blamed for his Fathers unkindness to Lacy and assures him that he shall have Restitution and Protection if he would come back and upon Receipt of it Lacy did readily comply with the Kings Desire Geofry de Marisco continued Lord Justice or Governor of Ireland Burlace 15. to whom on the 16th of April following Henry de Londres was added as Assistant or Co-adjutor at least in Ecclesiastical Matters 1217. and for the Reformation of the Church The King sent a Writ to the Lord Justice giving him thanks for his faithful Service to the deceased King John and desiring that he would persevere in the like to himself especially during his Monority when he stood in need of the Lord Justices assistance and advice Prin Hist H. 3. fol. 38. and requires him to take the Oath of Fealty of the Nobility of Ireland and all others that are obliged thereto and assures them they shall enjoy the same Liberties in Ireland as he hath granted to his Subjects in England There was also another Writ sent to the Lords Spiritual and Temporal to assist the Lord Justice in the Kings Service And there was yet another Writ for a thousand Bacons Lib. GGG Lambeth two Ship-load of Corn and a Ship-load of Oats Mandatum est Justiciario Hiberniae quid mittet in Angliam mille Bacones duas Navatas Frumenti unam Navatam Aveni So that England must not deny but that it has at some time been beholden to us About this time William Earl Marshal incorporated the Town of Calan and gave it the following Charter COncessi Burgensibus meis de Calan omnimodas Libertates quas decet Burgenses habere mihi licet conferre viz. quod nullus Burgensis trahatur in causam vel respondeat de ullo placito quod proveniat infra Metas Burgi in Castello Lib. in Lambeth vel alibi nisi in hundredo villae exceptis placitis quae sunt de hominibus hospitii mei Concessi etiam eisdem Burgensibus Matrimonium contrahere sibi filiis filiabus viduis sine licentia Dominorum suorum nisi forte forinseca tenementa teneant de me in capite extra Burgum Lucas de Netervil was chosen by the Chapter Archbishop of Armagh 1217. and went to the King for Confirmation but could not obtain it Ware de Fresul 17. because the Election was made without the Kings License Whereupon the Monks compounded with the King for three hundred Marks of Silver and three of Gold and so they took out a Conge de esâ—ier and repeated the Election and then Netervil was consecrated by Langton Archbishop of Canterbury About this Time viz. 2 Hen. 3. the King wrote to Ireland for Aid to pay off a Debt due from him to Lewis Son of the King of France Soon after Henry de Londres was by Pope Honorius the Third made Legate of Ireland and held a Synod at Dublin which made many good Canons But the Lord Justice had displeased the King by his male-administration of Affairs in Ireland or perhaps had
undertaken the Crusado I cannot determine which but for the one reason or the other he was removed and Henry de Londres Archbishop of Dublin April 23. 1219. was made Lord Justice and continued so for five years he was nick-named Scorchvillein Holingsh 32. by the Irish because they said he burnt his Tenants Leases and other Writings which they brought to shew him but this silly Story is not to be believ'd of so Learned a Man and so good a Governour as every body allows this Archbishop to have been especially since it is not denied but that he suffered all his Tenants to enjoy their Farms even according to their Claims It was this Lord Justice that built the Castle of Dublin anno 1220. 1220. And about the same time died at London William Earl Marshal Protector of the King and his Kingdoms Some Irish Antiquary was so silly to think he was call'd Marshal quas◠Mars his Seneschal for he was indeed a very warlike Man He was succeeded by his Son William against whom the Bishop of Fernes complained to the King That his Father had disseis'd the Church of two Mannors for which reason he was excommunicated and so died The King commanded the Bishop to go to the Earls Tomb and to absolve him and promis'd that he would endeavour his Satisfaction Hanmer 176. Whereupon the Bishop accompanied with the King went to the Grave and said O William that here liest wrapped in the Bonds of Excommunication if what thou hast injuriously taken be restored by the King or thy Heir or thy Friends with competent satisfaction I absolve thee otherwise I ratifie the Sentence that being wrapped in thy Sins thou maist remain damned in Hell for ever The King was dissatisfied with the rigour of the Bishop but could not prevail with the young Earl to part with any thing of his Estate wherefore the Bishop confirm'd his Curse and it brought no small Veneration to the Clergy that this Earl and his four Brethren died without Issue which the Superstitious People thought to be the Effect of that Execration The young Earl Marshal had great Contests with Hugh de Lacy Earl of Vlster 1221. so that Meath was wonderfully harass'd between them Trim was also besieged and reduced to an ill condition but it had the good Fortune to escape this Brush Hanmer 189. and to have a strong Castle built soon after to prevent the like Calamities for the future 6 Hen. 3. About this time Davis 15. 123. the King granted to O Brian King of Thomond the Country of Thomond habendum during the Kings Minority rendring an hundred and thirty Marks per annum which is the only Grant made by the Crown of England to any meer Irishman to that time except that to the King of Connaught And before this Davis 124. viz. 3 H. 3. Richard de Burgo for one thousand pound obtained a Grant of all Connaught to him and his Heirs after the Death of the then King of that Country The Lord Justice who was also Archbishop and Legate did in his Spiritual Capacity too much encroach on the Temporal Jurisdiction and therefore upon the Complaint of the Citizens of Dublin Aug. 9. 7 H. 3. he had a notable increpatory Writ sent to him 1222. which is to be found in Prin's Animadversions on the fourth Instit 251. And at the same time the King sent another Writ to the Justice to redress a Nusance to the Harbour and Citizens of Dublin Prin 251. according to the Law of England I find some Reasons to believe that the Lord Justice Londres was sent for to England anno 1220 and his Room supplied by Geofry de Marisco till his Return Octob. 28. the same Year but however that be it is certain that after this Justice had govern'd Ireland five Years he was removed And most probably was succeeded by 〈…〉 William Earl Marshal 1224. Lord Justice In whose Time in May 8 Hen. 3. Lacy was so effectually pursued that he was forced to submit and the same Year was pardoned About the same Time the King prohibited Appeals to be made to the Pope Lib. Z. Z. and by his Letter to the Archbishop of Armagh Lamb. 19. severely reprimanded him for sending to the Pope about Causes Ecclesiastick The King in the fifth Year of his Reign had granted to the Citizens of Dublin towards walling their City three Pence out of every Sack of Wool six Pence for every Last of Hides and two Pence out of every Barrel of Wine sold in their City 1225. and now 9 Hen. 3. he gave them fifty Marks in Mony to the same purpose On the tenth Day of June 10 Hen. 3. A Writ was sent to the Lord Justice to seize on the Country of Connaught forfeited by O Connor 1226. and to deliver it to Richard de Burgh at the Rent of three hundred Marks for the first five Years and afterwards of five hundred Pound per annum except five choice Cantreds near Athlone which I suppose were designed for the Conveniency and Support of that Garrison But on the first Day of August 10 Hen. 3. Geofry de Marisco was made Lord Justice and had a Sallary of five hundred Marks payable out of the Exchequer granted unto him It is probable That soon after his Arrival his Predecessor William Earl Marshal repaired to Court to give the King an Account of his Administration And the Irish were forward to take Advantage of his Absence and the ill Posture of the King's Affairs in Ireland and therefore to make the best Use they could of this Opportunity they made so general a Confederacy that their Army amounted to twenty thousand Men Sperantes says my Author se posse omne genus Anglorum ab Hiberniae finibus exterminare But all this Ostentation came to nothing and this numerous Rabble were without much Difficulty defeated by Hugh de Lacy and Richard de Burgh and their Followers And the Irish General O Connor King of Connaught was taken Prisoner The King Lib. GGG in the fifth Year of his Reign wrote to all the Ports of Ireland Lambeth To make some Gallies in their respective Havens for the Defence and Security of him and his Kingdom of Ireland And in the tenth Year of his Reign he prevailed with the Pope to write to the Irish Bishops to give him a Subsidy 1227. And now the eleventh Year of his Reign the Pope did write to the Clergy To give Subsidiary Aid to the King Which it seems was effectual for I find this Entry on the Roll. 11 Henric. 3. Rex habuit auxilium de Hibernia And the same Year the Lord Justice received a Writ To aid the Episcopal Excommunication with the Secular Arm as was usual in England which is to be found at large Prin's Animadversions Prin 252. 252 and bears Date the eighteenth of January And there was also a Writ or Charter enjoyning
the Observation of the English Laws in Ireland which I have already recited in the Reign of King John Hubert de Burgo or Burgh Chief Justice of England and Earl of Kent Splem Gloss 340. was made Earl of Connaught and Lord Justice of Ireland during Life and because he could not personally attend he deputed Richard de Burgo Lord Justice or Deputy to whom the King sent the following Writ March 10. 1227. for establishing the English Laws in Ireland REX dilecto sideli suo Ricardo de Burgo Justiciario suo Hiberniae Prin. 252. salutem Mandamus vobis firmiter praecipientes quatenus certo die loco faciatis venire coram vobis Archiepiscopos Episcopos Abbates Priores Comites Barones Milites libere tenentes Balivos singulorum Comitatuum coram eis publice legi faciatis Cartam Domini J. Regis Patris nostri cui Sigillum suum appensum est quam fieri fecit jurari à Magnatibus Hiberniae de Legibus Consuetudinibus Anglorum observandis in Hibernia praecipiatis eis ex parte nostra quod Leges illas ad Consuetudines in Carta praedict ' contentas de cetero firmiter teneant observent Et hoc idem per singulos Comitatus Hiberniae clamari faciatis teneri prohibentes firmiter ex parte nostra Forisfacturam nostram ne quis contra hoc Mandatum nostrum venire praesumat ' Eo excepto quod nec de Morte nec de Catallis Hibernensium occisorum nihil statuatur ex parte nostra citra quindecem dies à die Sancti Michaelis anno regni nostri duodecimo super quo respectum dedimus Magnatibus nostris Hibern ' usque ad terminum praedict Teste meipso apud Westmonast oct die Maii anno regni nostri duodecimo And at the same Time he received two Writs about the Debts due from the King to the late Lord Justice Archbishop Londres Burlace 20 21. and a third Writ to pay him an hundred Pound per annum out of the Rent of the City of Limerick and fifty Pound per ann out of the Rent of Dublin But this Justice did not continue long in the Government for his Patron Hubert de Burgh falling into the King's Displeasure both the one and the other were remov'd And Maurice Fitz-Gerald was made Lord Justice 1229. In whose Time viz. 14 Hen. 3. happened the great Case of Coparceners to decide which the King sent over by way of Writ what in the printed Statues is called Statutum Hiberniae And tho' the Lord Justice is there named Girald yet it is by Mistake for Girald Fitz-Maurice who was the Lord Justice's Father died anno 1205. And there is another Mistake in that Statute for it is said to be made 24 Regis whereas the Year 1229. could be but the fourteenth Year of his Reign Now came over Stephen the Pope's Chaplain to demand the Tenths of all Moveables to support the Holy See against the Efforts of Frederick the Emperour Hanmer 191. It was so hard a Tax in Ireland that they were fain to part with not only their Cadows and Aquavitae but also with their Chalices and Altar-Cloaths Not long after died William Earl Marshal Prince or Lord of Leinster 1231. who anno 1223 gave a new Charter to his Town of Kilkenny he was buried in the Choire of the Friers Preachers at Kilkenny and was succeeded in his Estates and Titles by his Brother Richard On the second Day of September 1232. the Lord Justice returned out of England but when he went thither or who was Deputy in his Absence non constat On the seventh of April 1233 Holingshead 27. say some but I think 1234 the English and the O Connors c. had a Battle on the Curragh of Kildare 1234. wherein Richard Earl Marshal Prince of Leinster had very foul Play from those of his own Side so that he was there mortally wounded and died in five Days after To atone for this the Lord Justice who went into England to satisfie the King in that Matter offered to build a Monastery and endow it liberally to pray for the Soul of Earl Richard Hanmer 195. And so at length by the intercession of the King and the importunate Entreaties of the Nobility Gilbert Earl Marshal and the Lord Justice were reconciled 1235. It seems the Alarm was very great on Earl Richard's Death for the King to Comfort and Quiet the Citizens of Dublin assured them by his Writ That he summon'd the Great Men of England Pryn 253. to consult about the Safety of England and Ireland and that their Determinations should be speedily communicated to them at Dublin From whence Mr. Pryn observes That the Laws and Ordinances of the King and Parliament of England did bind Ireland in those Days But it seems that about this Time the Spiritual Courts did encroach too much on the Temporal Jurisdiction 1233. and therefore the King sent over the following Writ REX Co. Lit. 141. Comitibus Baronibus Militibus liberis Hominibus omnibus aliis de Terra Hibern ' salutem Quia manifeste esse dignoscitur contra Coronam Dignitatem nostram Consuetudines Leges Regni nostri Angl ' quas bonae memoriae Dominis Johannes Rex Pater noster de communi omnium de Hibern ' consensu teneri statuit in Terra illa quod placita teneantur in curia Christianitatis de advocationibus Ecclesiarum Capellarum vel de laico feodo vel de catallis quae non sunt de Testamento vel Matrimonio vobis mandamus prohibentes quatenus hujusmodi placita in curia Christianitatis nullatenus sequi presumatis in manifestum Dignitatis Coronae nostrae prejudicium scituri pro certo quod si feceritis dedimus in Mandatis Justiciario nostro Hiberniae statutae curiae nostra in Anglia contra transgressiones hujus Mandati nostri cum justicia procedat quod nostrum est exsequatur Teste Rege 28 Octobr. Decimo oct Regni nostri c. mandatum est Justiciario Hibern per literas clausas quod predictas Literas Patentes publice legi teneri faciat In the Year 1234 died Walter Lacy Lord of Meath without Issue Male so that his great Estate was divided between his two Daughters viz. Margaret married to the Lord Theobald Verdon and Matilda married to Geofry Geneville Whilst the Lord Justice was in England the King of Connaught exhibited a grievous Complaint against John de Burgo That he had entred his Country with Forces Hanmer 195. and wasted the same with Fire and Sword humbly beseeching his Majesty to do him Justice and to bridle such rash Attempts Alledging That he was a loyal Subject and payed for his Kingdom an annual Pension Davis 123. amounting in all from his first Subjection to five thousand Marks and desired the King That he would rid him of that base
Upstart or new-comer 1235. that sought to disinherit him Whereupon the King immediately ordered the Lord Justice To pluck up by the Root the Fruitless Plant which Hubert de Burgo whilst he was in Ruff had planted in those Parts that it might bud no more The King also wrote to the Nobility of Ireland That they should banish the said John and establish the King of Connaught in his Kingdom who returned very well satisfied with the Princely Favours he received at the Court of England It seems that in the Lord Justices Absence there was some Disorder among the Irish Doctor Hanmer says they rebelled but the speedy return of the Lord Justice probably gave a Check to their Intentions And to the End there might be a free Commerce between both Kingdoms the King sent over the following Writ REX Pryn. 253. dilecto fidelio suo Mauritio fili Giraldi Justiciario suo Hiberniae 19. Hen. 3. salutem Vestra non ignorare debet discretio quod dignum est id volumus quod Terra nostra Angliae Terra nostra Hiberniae communes sint ad invicem quod homines nostri Angliae Hiberniae hinc inde negotiari possunt ad comodum emendationem Terrarum praedictarum Et ideo vobis mandamus Quod homines de Terra Hiberniae volentes emere blada in Hibernia ducenda in Angliam in nulla impediatis vel impediri permittatis quin libere sine impedimento id facere possunt Teste Rege apud Westm 2. die Jun. Et vide ibidem de Galeis i.e. Gallies or Ships de Hibernia in Angliam mittendis to aid the King There being some Dispute in Ireland about the Law in Case of Bastardy 1236. the King sent this Writ to the Lord Justice and the Archbishop to observe the Statute of Merton in those Cases HEnricus Dei Gratia Rex Angliae Pyrn 253. c. venerabili Patri L. eadem gratia Archiepiscopo Dublin dilecto fideli suo M. fil Geraldi Justic suo Hiberniae salutem Accedens nuper ad curiam nostram Georgius de Laffidel nobis ex parte vestra supplicavit ut vobis scire faceremus quid juris sit secundum confuetudinem Angliae in casibus subscriptis viz. Cum contingat filium alicujus Nobilis natum ex matrimonio movere questionem fratri suo in fornicatione ante matrimonium de eadem matre progenito super paterna haereditate Item si contingat quod frater natus ante matrimonium defendendo dicat se esse ligitimum utrum in tali casu mittendus sit ad forum Ecclesiasticum Item fi mittendus sit in qua forma c. Item si contingit quod natus ante matrimonium fecerit homagium suum de terris suis post decessum patris sui ratione homagii sic facti vocaverit Dominum suum ad Warrantum quid juris sit de illa vocatione si warrantizare debeat aut velit sponte utrum duellum possit esse de jure inter natum ex matrimonio dominum warrantizantem cum inter ipsos fratres esse non possit Ad haec etiam vobis significamus de primo capitulo Quod si natus ante matrimonium cui movetur questio cognoscat se natum esse ante matrimonium nec petere potest haereditatem nec petitam retinere secundum Angl. consuetudinem Nec talis si dicat se natum esse post mittendus ad cur Christianitatis eo quod clerus talem habet pro legitimo Cum autem de casu illo anno preterito tractatum esset coram venerabili Patre Archiepiscopo Cantuariensi Coepiscopis suis Magnatibus nostris Angl. scilicet utrum inquisitio de tali nato deberet fieri in cur nostra vel in cur Christianitatis tandem predict Archiepiscopus Episcopi petierunt sibi dare potestatem inquirendi Postea vero processu temporis quia in forma Brevis nostri eis super hoc transmissi contentum fuit quod respondere deberent Vtrum talis natus esset ante matrimonium vel post videntes hoc esse contrarium legibus suis noluerunt ad hoc respondere sed reliquerunt nobis cur nostrae hoc inquirendum terminandum nondum provisum est in cur nostra sub qua forma hoc debeat inquiri vel per sacramentum 12 Jurat vel per probationem à partibus producendam Item de Domino si debet warrantizare tenenti contra fratrem suum vobis respondemus quod non eo quod tam natus post Matrimonium quam ante uno eodem jure utuntur Dominus in captione homagii potius circumventus fuit quam ratione astrictus Nec esse poterit duellum inter eos predicta ratione preterea quia Dominus tenetur plus warantizare petenti nato post matrimonium quam tenenti nato ante matrimonium hiis igitur intellectis secundum quod predictum est in partibus vestris faciatis Teste Rege apud Mortelac 9 die Maii. And he also sent this other Writ the same Time REX dilecto fideli suo Maur. fil Girald Justic suo Hibern salutem Monstravit nobis lator presentium quod ipse nuper in curia nostra coram Justic nostris ad hoc per vos nuper constitutis in Hibern recuperasset seisinan suam versus quendam hominem de libero tenemento suo idem adversarius suus postea de eodem tenemento iterum ipsum disseisivit ideo vobis mittimus sub sigillo nostro constitutionem nuper factam intellige Merton c. 3. coram nobis Magnatibus nostris Angl. de predicto casu similiter de aliis articulis ad emendationem Regn nostr Mandantes quatenus de Concilio venerabilis Patris L. Dublin Archiepisc constitutionem illam in curia nostra Hibern Legi de cetero firmiter observari facias secundum eadem predicto querenti plenam justiciam exhiberi faciatis Teste Rege ut supra King Henry kept his Christmas at Winchester 1239. anno 1239. where the Servants of Gilbert Earl Marshal were as they thought affronted not being suffered to enter into the King's Court with their Tip staves whereupon the Earl complained to the King but received an unexpected cross Answer whereat he was distasted to that degree that he left the Court and perhaps never afterwards came near it for the next Year he was slain by a Fall from his Horse 1240. at a Turnament at Hereford In the same Year Petrus de Supino came from Pope Gregory into Ireland with an Authentick Papal Mandate requiring under pain of Excommunication and other Censures Ecclesiastical Hanmer 196. the Twentieth part of the whole Land besides donatives and private Gratuities to the maintenance of his War against Frederick the Emperor where he extorted saith Matthew Paris a thousand and five hundred Marks and above saith Florilegus at which time also one Petrus Pubeus intitled the
the following Order to stop any farther Proceedings upon the aforesaid illegal Writ which I do the rather recite at large because it justifies my Assertion that Ireland is inseparable from the Crown of England since we find the King effectually interpose to rectifie Miscarriages there notwithstanding the aforesaid Donation to the Prince which was as full as it could be worded REX Thesaurario Baronibus de Scaccario Dublin Ibid. 255. Salutem Quia de assensu voluntate Praelatorum Magnatum Terrae Hiberniae dudum fuit provisum concessum quod eisdem Legibus tenerentur in Terra illa quibus homines Regni nostri utuntur in Regno nostro Angliae quod eadem Brevia quoad terras tenementa recuperanda teneant in terra illa quae tenentur in regno praedicto sicut justa Et dicta provisio concessio omnibus retroactis temporibus fuerunt obtenta approbata miramur quamplurimum quod sicut ex insinuatione venerabilis patris Thomae Lismorensis Episcopi accepimus emanare permisistis ex Cancellaria Edwardi filii nostri in Hibernia contra consuetudinem obtentam formam Brevium in regno nostro usitatam Breve infra-scriptum contra praefatum Episcopum in haec verba EDwardus Illustris Regis Angliae primogenitus ad Vic. Waterford Salutem Praecipe Thomae Lismorensi Episcopo quod juste sine dilatione reddat Waltero Episcopo Waterford Maneria de Archmurdeglan Kilmurdri Motha cum pertinentiis quae clamat esse jus Ecclesiae suae in quae idem Episcopus non habet ingressum nisi per Alanum quondam Lismorensem Episcopum cui Griffinus quondam Lismorensis Episcopus qui inde injuste sine judicio disseisivit Robertum quondam Waterford Episcopum predecessorem Episcopi post ultimum reditum c. QUia vero dictum Breve tam dissonum est Stat. Marlbridge cap. 30. contra Leges Consuetudines in regno nostro tentas formas Brevium nostrorum ibidem approbatas praesertim cum Breve ingressus non transeat tertiam personam nec ratione intrationis in terram aliquam post mortem alicujus comperat actio alicui de terra illa nisi illi cui per mortem illam jus debetur in eadem Nec enim dicitur intrusio qui jure haereditario vel ratione Ecclesiae suae succedit Predecessori suo in hiis de quibus idem Predeces fuit seisitus in Dominico suo ut de feodo die quo obiit Vobis mandamus quod si dictum Breve a Cancellaria praedicta in forma praedicta emanaverit executionem ejusdem Brevis supersedeatis revocantes sine dilatione quicquid per idem Breve actum fuerit in Curia praedicti Filii nostri Teste apud Windsor 27 die Januar. Et eodem modo scribitur Adamo le Sole Justiciario Hiberniae intellige de Banco Regis Waleranno de Willesby Sociis suis Itinerantibus ut supra Alan de la Zouch 1255. who had been Chief Justice of the Kings Bench in England Hanmer 199. 34. Hen. 3. was now made Lord Justice of Ireland he had the Misfortune to be slain in Westminster-Hall by John Earl of Warren and Surrey half Brother to the King In his time some Rebel Irishmen were coming to aid the Earl of Chester against the King but Prince Edward with the English Navy had the good Fortune to meet with the Irish Fleet and to sink most of their Ships so that few of the Men were left alive to return Now flourished that famous Mathematician Johannes de Sacrobosco who was born at Holywood in Fingal not far from Dublin and thence had his Name de sacrobosco i.e. Holy wood It seems that the Prince 1258. by Virtue of the aforesaid Grant would have removed the Lord Justice and put another in his Room But the King by the Advice of the Barons of England wrote to the Archbishops Bishops Abbots Priors Barons Brady 674. Knights c. That he heard his Son designed to make a new Justice in Ireland and to put his Castles into such Hands as it might be great Damage and not without fear of their disinheriting and therefore commands them not to obey such Justice Constables or Keepers of Castles made or appointed without his Letters Patents by Advice and Assent of his Council After the same manner he wrote to all the Mayors and Communities of Cities and Towns in Ireland and to the Constables of Castles and also commanded Alan de la Zouch his Justiciary not to obey or give up his Authority to any new Justiciary or Constable that should come without his Letters Patents But it seems this Matter was setled for the next Year we find Stephen de long Espee 1259. Lord Justice some call him Earl of Salisbury and Burlace stiles him Earl of Vlster but I think there is no Ground for either of the Titles he encountred O Neale and slew him and three hundred fifty two Irishmen in the Streets of Down 1260. but not long after the Lord Justice was betrayed and murdered by his own People And thereupon William Den was chosen Lord Justice In whose Time the Mac Carthyes plaid the Devil in Desmond they are the Words of my Author and by Ambuscade surprized and slew Thomas Fitz-Girald and John his Son 1261. at Calan in Desmond together with many Knights and Gentlemen of that Family whereupon the Carthyes grew so high that for the space of twelve Years the Giraldines durst not put a Plow in the Ground in Desmond Hanmer 201. until some Fewds arose between the Irish of Carby and Muskry and between the Carthyes Driscols Donovans Mahonyes and Swinyes so that they also weakned and destroyed one another and the Giraldines began to recover their Power and Authority again But the Lord Justice died this Year and Richard de Capella or Capel was made Lord Justice In his Time arose a great Contention between the Prior and Convent of Christ-Church and the Corporation of Dublin about the Tith-Fish of the River Liffy The Burks and the Geraldines quarrelled about some Lands in Connaught to that degree that they filled the whole Kingdom with War and Tumult and Maurice Fitz-Maurice Fitz-Girald not the Earl of Desmond but the same that afterwards anno 1272 was Lord Justice and John Fitz-Thomas afterwards Earl of Kildare at a Meeting at Castle-Dermond seized upon the Lord Justice and Richard Burk Heir apparent of Vlster afterwards called the Red Earl Theobald Butler 1264. Miles Cogan c. and imprisoned them in the Castle of Ley. But soon after a Parliament met at Kilkenny and ordered them all to be released which was done accordingly In the mean Time the King wrote to the Arcbishop of Dublin the Bishop of Meath his Treasurer Walter de Burg or Burk 1265. Maurice Fitz-Maurice Fitz-Girald That he heard there was like to be great Dissention between the great Men of Ireland and therefore ordered
under the Notion of Thieves or Tories Neither was Munster free from the like Calamity for it felt the heavy hand of Walter le Poer who burnt and wasted great part of it Davis 93. Nevertheless the Justices in Eyre sate this Year at Tredagh And it seems that in those days as well Common Pleas as those of the Crown were tried before the chief Governor for I find this Entry 32 Ed. 1. A die S. Martini in quindecim dies de Commun Placit apud Dublin coram Johanne Wogan Justiciar Lib. G. Lambeth Hiberniae and sometimes they did it by Commissioners as 6 Ed. 2. Coram Waltero de Thornbury Cancellario Willielmo Alexander assignatis loco Edmondi le Butler Custode Terrae Hiberniae alibi in remotis agendis John Wogan Lord Justice 1302. being return'd call'd a Parliament the Effects whereof I find not but on the 17th of January issued a Commission to Richard Earl of Vlster the Lord Justice and Tho. Cantock Lord Chancellor to ask a Subsidy from the Clergy pro salvatione Coronae suae c. And the King wrote particular Letters to them but all to no purpose Nevertheless Pope Boniface would not be so served for he obtain'd or exacted from them a three years Disme to aid the Church against the King of Aragon The Lord Edmond Butler recovered the Mannor of Holywood in Fingal from the Archbishop of Dublin by Fine or Concord between them in the Kings Bench says Cambden and the same Archbishop took great pains to reconcile the two Churches of St. Patrick's and Christ-Church in Dublin Ware de Presul 110. and made Articles between them which were not observed in the mean time Says an 1300. Hugh de Lacy preyed the Estate of Hugh Verneil I suppose for some private Injuries Richard Burk 1303. Earl of Vlster accompanied with Eustace le Poer and a good Army went to aid the King in Scotland and the Earl made thirty three Knights in the Castle of Dublin before he set out and it is observable that in all Commissions and even in the Parliament-Rolls this Earl is always named before the Lord Justice This Year died Gerald 1304. eldest Son of the Lord John Fitz-Thomas as also the Countess of Vlster and William de Wellesby and Sir Robert Percival were slain in October also an Order issued to pardon Maurice de Carew Four hundred pound Arrearages he owed the King for his Lands in Desmond Lib. F. Lambeth because he was serving the King in Scotland and now again was a great part of Dublin accidentally burnt The next Year produced abundance of Villany 1305. for Jordan Comin with his Complices murdered Mortagh O Connor King of Ophaly and Calwagh his Brother and some others at Pirece Brimingham's House in Carbry in the County of Kildare and some Irish-men did the like by Sir Gilber Sutton Seneschal of Wexford at the House of Heymond le Grace and Heymond himself had much ado to escape and this year there was an Inquest of Trailbaston It seems the Mayor of Dublin had made some Complaints to the Irish Parliament against the Treasurer and Barons of the Exchequer 4 Inst 350. which was adjourned or transmitted to England and the Mayor was committed to the Tower and fined because he could not make out his Acusation The Year 1306. 1306. was not less bloody than the former for on the 13th of April the O Dempsyes made great Slaughter of the O Connors near Geashil in Ophaly and O Dempsy Captain of the Regans was there slain Soon after which O Bryan King of Thomond was murdered and Daniel Oge Mac Carthy did as much for his Father Donald Roe King of Desmond to which we may add that Pierce Brimingham was defeated in Meath May 12 and Ballymore was burnt by the Irish and Henry Celse was there kill'd Hereupon great Wars ensued and the English were summoned out of other Provinces to the Relief of Leinster they had a notable Battel at Clenfel where Sir Thomas Mandeville fought valiantly till his Horse was kill'd under him but what the Event of the Battel was is not recorded About this time Thomas Cantock Chancellor being consecrated Bishop of Emly made the greatest Feast for poor and rich that ever was seen in Ireland to that day This Year Murchod Ballagh was beheaded near to Merton 1307. by Sir David Canton or Condon who was afterwards hang'd for it in Dublin anno 1309. And on the first of May the Oscheles perhaps O Kellyes in Connaught routed and slew many Englishmen and the Tories of Ophaly razed the Castle of Geashil and on the 6th of July burnt the Town of Ley and besieged the Castle but at length they were dispersed by John Fitz-Thomas and his Son-in-Law Edmond le Butler In the mean time on the 7th of July this Noble and Victorious King died of a Dysentery at Barough upon the Sand in the five and thirthieth year of his Reign and of his Age the sixty eighth THE REIGN OF EDWARD II. King of England c. And LORD of IRELAND EDWARD the Second stiled of Carnarvan 1307. the Place of his Birth began his Reign on the seventh Day of July 1307. with great Applause both of Nobility and People but he soon disappointed their good Expectations and not only recalled Gaveston contrary to his Fathers Express and Last Commands but also gave him the thirty two thousand Pound which his Father had specially appointed for the Holy War Baker 109. moreover he went to Bulloign and married Isabel Daughter of Philip the Fair King of France on the twenty second Day of January 1307 without any Portion in Mony And on the twenty fourth Day of February both he and she were crowned at Westminster by Henry Bishop of Winchester with exceeding Pomp. As to the Affairs of Ireland they were little regarded at this time so that there were small or no Alterations in that Government and Sir John Wogan still continued Lord Justice and in Decem. received an Order to suppress the Knights Templars which was effectually executed here on the third Day of February as it had been in England the seventeenth Day of January before Cambden 165. so that the King got four hundred Pounds Worth of their Goods which it seems was a great Sum in those Days This Year proved very unfortunate as well by the Death of the famous Peter de Breminghan on the twelfth of April as by the Rebellious Disturbances of the Irish amongst whom William mac Balthar was most active for he and his Complices burnt the Castle of Kenun on the eleventh of May and slew most of the Ward they also burnt the Town of Courcowly and on the sixth of June discomfited the Lord Justice near Glandelory where John de S. Hogeline John Norton and John Breton were slain and being elevated with this Success on the sixteenth of June they burnt Tobir Danlavan and many other Villages But the Lord
Justice was so vigilant that before the end of August the Rebels were dispersed and their Captain William mac Balthar was taken and hanged In the midst of these Disturbances John Decer Mayor of Dublin who had some time before built the Bridge over the Liffy Ibid. 166. near S. Wolstons and the Chappel of our Lady at the Friers Minors and had also repaired the Church of the Friers Preachers and every Friday feasted the Friars at his own Cost did now build the high Pipe in Dublin But the Lord Justice being sent for into England to give an Account there of the miserable State of Ireland substituted William Burk August 1308. Custos Warden or Deputy of Ireland He was Ancestor of many Noble Families and particularly of the Lords Castleconel and Leitrim In his time the Irish burnt Athy and Richard Talon was murthered by Maurice de Condon Cambden 166. and Candon was served in the same kind by the Roches and Odo mac Cathol O Connor slew Odo King of Conaught But in March following Peirce de Gaveston an insolent Frenchman was by the Nobility of England in Parliament banished that Kingdom whereupon the King to make this Exile of his Favorite as easie as he could gave him the Government of Ireland and assigned to him the Revenue and Royal Profits of that Realm so that thither he came with a great Retinue and he behaved himself so well that he broke and subdued the Rebels in the Mountains near Dublin He slew Dermond O Dempsy a great Irish Captain at Tully he marched into Munster and subdued O Brian in Thomond he rebuilt the new Castle of Mackingham in the Kevins Country and repaired the Castle of Kevin and cut and cleansed the Paces between that and Glendelough he was exceedingly beloved of the Soldiers both for his Liberality and Valour and might have done much Good there if he had staid longer Nevertheless he could not brook Richard Earl of Vlster who was the greatest Lord in Ireland This Earl as it were to nose Gaveston did at Whitsontide keep a great Feast at Trim Camb. 166. and dub'd two of the Lacies Knights and marched as far as Tredagh to encounter the Lord Lieutenant but on better Advertisement he returnd But the King impatient of Gaveston's longer Absence recalled him on the twenty third of June and sent in his Room Sir John Wogan 1309. Lord Justice M. S. Fragm and in October following the Noble Lord 4. says 1308 Roger Mortimer came over with his Wife Heiress of Meath and had quiet Possession of that Country the Grand-father Sir Geofry Genevil entring into a Monastery On the second of February Sir Arnold Poer slew Sir John Bonevil at Arstol but it was found to be in his own Defence Cambded 167. And in the same February there was a Parliament held at Kilkenny before the Earl of Ulster and the Lord Justice according to the Custom and Usage of those times which appeased many Civil Discords and enacted many good Laws which Mr. Pryn says Pryn 259. were printed in Bolton's Edition of the Irish Statutes 1621. And he reckons this to be the first Parliament that was held in Ireland except that of Henry II aforesaid but without question he is mistaken And it seems Pryn 259. That in the beginning of the next Year or the latter end of this there was another Parliament or Assembly of the great Men at Kildare where Poer was acquitted of the Death of Bonevil About this time Wheat was sold for twenty Shillings the Erane Cambded 167. and the Bakers were drawn on Hurdles through the Streets of Dublin for their Knavery In the Year 1310. Richard de Havering who under Pretence of the Popes Provision 1310. had assumed the Title of Arch bishop of Dublin and enjoyed all the Profits of that See without Consecration for four Years and upward was so terrified by a Dream that he resigned his Bishoprick to the Pope that gave it him Ware de praesul 111. And though Alexander Bricknor had the better in the Election the seventeenth of March 1610. yet John Lech by the Power and Favour of the King enjoyed the Bishoprick and begun the Controversie with Rowland Jorse Archbishop of Armagh about elevating his Crosier in the Province of Leinster and managed it so dextrously or rather so violently Hook 65. that he forced the Primate to fly by Night in his Pontificals from Howth to the Priory of Grace Dieu and thence chased him out of the Diocess or rather Province of Dublin and in the same year the Judges of the Court of Kings Bench were reduced to the number of Three The Year 1311 was troublesome enough 1311. for Frag. 4. in May Richard Earl of Vlster invaded Thomond Davis 134. and marched up to Bunratty where Richard de Clare met and defeated him and took him the Lord William Burk and others of his Kindred Prisoners and slew John de Lacy and many more of the Earls Followers and in November following the same Richad de Clare defeated the Irish and slew Six hundred Galloglasses Nor were the Civil Discords less amongst the Irish for Donough O Bryan was murdered by his own Men in Thomond and John Mac O Hedan was slain by O Molmoy and William Roch was murdered by a Tory However the Birnes and Tools were numerous enough to invade Taslagard and Rathcanle and to terrifie Dublin by lurking up and down the Woods of Glendelory Nor could the State suppress them because Robert Verdon began a Riot in Vrgile and was so powerful that he defeated the Lord Justice and his small Army 1312. July 7. 1312. but afterwards upon better consideration he voluntarily submitted himself to the Kings Mercy whereupon the Lord Justice went for England and left in his stead Sir Edmond Butler 1312. Lord Deputy who being now at leisure to deal with the Birnes and Tools he manag'd that Affair so well that he soon forc'd them to submit and then sent his Father-in-Law the Lord John Fitz Thomas afterwards Earl of Kildare General into Munster who at Adare Knighted Nicholas Fitz Maurice afterwards Lord of Kerry and others This Year was famous for two mighty Marriages of Maurice afterwards Earl of Desmond and Thomas Fitz John afterwards Second Earl of Kildare to the two Daughters of the Earl of Vlster But these Rejoycings were soon over 1313. and the Misfortunes of the English in Scotland drew on a Scotch Invasion of Ireland At first the Scots only sent some Boats to prey the Costs of Vlster which were well resisted but before the year was out Edward Bruce came in Person he forc'd and rob'd the Castle of Man and took the Lord O Donel Prisoner it seems he retir'd again to collect a greater Army and the Deputy after he had on Michaelmas day made one and thirty Knights in the Castle of Dublin 1314. and had taken the best care he could
to defend the Realm against the Scots was sent for to England and Sir Theobald de Verdon was made Lord Constable or Justice of Ireland Prin 259. 31 Dec. 1314. In whose time the King sent John de Hothum Clerk into Ireland to treat with the great Men there about the Kings Affairs and by him sent Writs in the Nature of Letters of Credence to Richard Earl of Vlster and all the rest of the Nobility by Name and a general Writ or Letter to the Lord Justice and the great Officers of State to the same effect Ibid. 260. and another Writ to assist him and to summon the Nobility to a general Meeting that Hothum might communicate the Kings Pleasure unto them He also sent Writs to the Lord Justice the Earl of Vlster and several other great Men to attend his Parliament in England and to appoint a sufficient Deputy or Keeper of Ireland till their Return Prin 261. And because the Words Vestrumque Concilium impensuri are omitted Mr. Prin observes rightly that these Irish Lords went as Commissioners or Agents from Ireland to inform the King and Parliament of the state of Affairs there and did not go to serve in Parliament as my Lord Cooke would have it 4 Inst 350. I do not find whether the Lord Justice went or not nor if he did what Deputy or Keeper of Ireland was appointed in his room but whoever had it did not keep the Office long for on the 27th of Febr. Sir Edmond Butler Frag. 5. 1315. Lord Justice returned and soon after viz. on the 25th of May 1315 Edward Bruce and six thousand Scots Landed near Carigfergus in Vlster with them joyned several of the Irish and together they marcht to Dundalk which they took and burnt on the 29th of June they also spoil'd Vrgile and drove most of the English out of Vlster To oppose them an Army was rais'd which rendezvouz'd at Dundalk July 22. But whether it were that the Scots were retired or that the English Commanders could not agree the Lord Justice return'd to Dublin and left the Earl of Vlster to pursue the Scots with whom that Earl had a Battel near Colrain Camb. 169. on the 10th of September and was defeated and many of the English slain and William Burk John Stanton and others were taken Prisoners This great Loss could not be recompensed with the slaughter of forty Scots which was performed by some English Mariners and therefore Bruce to follow his Blow caused his Army to besiege Carigfergus Septem 15. and sends his Brother William Bruce into Scotland for a Supply 1315. In the mean time the Irish every where insult over the unfortunate English and generally rebel throughout Vlster and Connaught they burnt Athloan October and Randan and Cathol Roe O Connor razed three Castles of the Earl of Vlster's in Connaught In November following the English under Roger Mortimer 1315. had another Battel with the Scots at Kenlis in Meath and were routed with great Slaughter by the Treachery of the Lacies Hereupon Bruce burnt Kenlis Granard Finagh and Newcastle and came to Loghsendy where he kept his Christmas and afterwards also burnt it thence he marched through the County of Kildare unto Rathingan Kildare Castle-Dermond Athy Raban and Sketheris where the Lord Justice accompanied by the Lord John Fitz-Thomas and many others encountred him on the 26th of January and was defeated by reason of some unhappy Fewds and Misunderstandings in the English Army Hereupon the Irish of Munster and Leinster rose in Rebellion and the Birns Tools and Moors burnt the Countrey from Arclow to Leix but the Lord Justice gave them a Rebuke and brought fourscore of their Heads to the Castle of Dublin Ireland being in so tottering a condition the King sent Sir John Hotham over again to take the Oaths and Hostages of the Nobility and Gentry that still remained loyal which was accordingly performed by the Lord John Fitz-Thomas afterwards Earl of Kildare Cambd. 171. Richard de Clare Maurice afterwards Earl of Desmond Thomas Fitz-John Poer Arnold le Poer Febr. 4. Maurice Rochford David and Miles de la Roch and many others 1315. And now both Armies were early abroad The Scots having burnt the Castle and Church of Ley did on the 14th of February rendezvouz at Geashil as the English did the same day at Kildare But the Scots for want of Provision were forced to return to Vlster nevertheless in their way they took Northburgh Castle and then sate down in their Quarters to that degree of quietness that Bruce kept Court and held Pleas there as if it were in times of the most profound Peace For the English Army had work enough nearer home and therefore the Lord Justice on the Scots retreat did likewise return to Dublin and there summoned a Parliament or general Assembly which reconciled some great Men then at odds cleared Walter Lacy of the Treachery imputed to him and established the Measures of carrying on the War And it was wisely done to begin with the Moroughs Tools and other Mountaineers of the County of Wicklow because they daily infested the City of Dublin and had destroyed both the Town and Country of Wicklow and because the Army was not strong enough to secure the City and at the same time to pursue the Scots 1316. the Success justified their Conduct for in April the Tories were defeated However the Scots were not so much neglected but that the Lord Thomas Mandevil was appointed to have an eye to them but he could but skirmish with them which he did valiantly Camb. 172. and kill'd Thirty Scots in one Encounter and was himself slain in another But Bruce came over with fresh Supplies from Scotland and so despised the small force of the English that in May he caused himself to be Crowned King at Dundalk 1316. and thereupon grew so insolent that he spared neither Churches nor Abbeys Women or Children found no Mercy at his hands but on the contrary he destroyed all that opposed him or that belonged to the English and he burnt great part of the Countrey as the Irish did the Church of Athird It was high time to encourage the English to their defence and the defence of the Kingdom and therefore as well to reward for Services past 1316. as to engage them for the time to come Selden 838. says Kildare's Patent is the ancientest Form of Creation he had seen the Lord Justice was made Earl of Carrick and John Fitz-Thomas was made Earl of Kildare May 14. 9 Ed. 2. and others received other Favours from the King The Burks and Geraldines were reconciled and every one in his station set himself manfully to the preservation of the Kingdom Richard de Clare and Bremingham had the better of the Irish in Connaught and slew many of them and about Whitsontide made a Sally into Munster and kill'd three hundred Irish there and the
Andrew Birmingham Nicholas de London and many others were slain and though the Lord Justice lost his Son Richard Lord of Athenry who died about this time yet all this did not hinder him from attending the King but he left in his place Ralph de Gorges Lord Deputy or Governor who continued so until the Second Day of February 1323. and then he was superseded by Sir John Darcy 1323. Lord Justice in whose time Philip Talon and his Son Fragm 7. and eight and twenty others were kill'd by Edmond Butler Rector of Tillagh and amongst the Records in the Tower of London Anno 15. E. 2. This notable Memorandum is to be found viz. In Abbathia Melifontis talis inolevit Error Lib. GGG quod nullus ibi admittatur in domum praedictam nisi primitus facta fide quod Non sit de genere Anglorum About this time Sir Henry Traherne took Mac Morough and kill'd O Nolan and four and twenty of his Followers It seems the King was muâ—h in the Favour of Pope John the twenty second for besides the aforesaid Release of the Peter-Pence the Pope did this Year 16 Edw. 2. impose a Disme on the Irish Clergy for two Years Lib. GGG payable to the King and commanded the Dean and Chapter of Dublin to levy it but the Prelates and Clergy refused to pay it to them unless they would shew the Original Bull. But on the the twenty fourth of November Vide postea ad annum 1344. at Notingham the King by assent of his Council made and published most excellent Ordinances for the Reformation of Ireland Pryn. 264. which are to be found at large in Mr. Pryns Animadversions on the fourth Institutes and are to this effect I. That no Officer of the Kings in Ireland whilst in Office shall purchase Lands or Tenements within their Jurisdiction on Pain of forfeiting the same II. That no Man by colour of his Office take Victuals or any other thing without the consent of the Party unless in case of Necessity for the Publick and then he must have the Advice of the greatest of the Council and a Writ out of the Chancery or unless he have the King's Letters or an Order from the Chancery of England III. That the Exportation of Corn to England or Wales be not hindered the Party paying the usual Customs be he Native or Stranger and giving Security not to carry it to our Enemies IV. That the Lord Justice take but four Pence for the Seal and two Pence for the writing of a Bill of Grace and that the Marshal take but four Pence for a Commitment V. No Protections or Pardons to be granted to Felons without special Order under one of the Seals of England VI. No Writs to be obeyed except such as are under the great Seal or the Seal of the Exchequer if the matter concerns that Court Lastly That the Lord Justice shall not adjourn Assizes before him unless he be present in the same County nor for any longer time than he continues there And at the same time a Writ issued to the Chancellor of Ireland Ibid. 26â— to Publish Enrol and Observe the aforesaid Ordinances and to send the Exemplifications of them to the rest of the Courts By reason of the fourteen Years Truce the King had made with the Scots 1325. there was not much other Disturbance in Ireland than what was occasioned by private Murders Walter de Valle and his Son were slain near Nenagh and the Lord John Barry of Hely a very stout Man was murthered by the O Kerals and therefore to fill up this Space I will insert the Famous or rather foolish Story of Alice Kettle in the Words of my Author In those Days lived in the Diocess of Ossory Holingshead 69. the Lady Alice Kettle whom the Bishop ascited to purge her self of the Fame of Inchantments and Witchcraft imposed unto her and to one Petronil and Basil her Complices She was charged to have nightly Conference with a Spirit called Robin Artisson to whom she sacrificed in the High-way nine red Cocks and nine Peacocks Eyes Also that she swept the Streets of Kilkenny between Complin and Twilight raking all the Filth towards the Doors of her Son William Outlaw murmuring and muttering secretly with her self these Words To the House of William my Son Hie all the Wealth of Kilkenny Town At the first Conviction they abjured and did Penance but shortly after they were found in Relapse and then was Petronil burnt at Kilkenny the other twain might not be heard of she at the Hour of her Death accused the said William as privy to their Sorceries whom the Bishop held in Durance nine Weeks forbidding his Keepers to eat or drink with him or to speak to him more than once in the Day but at length through the Suit and Instance of Arnold le Powre then Seneschal of Kilkenny he was delivered and afterwards he corrupted with Bribes the Seneschal to persecute the Bishop so that he thrust him into Prison for three Months In rifling the Closet of the Lady they found a Wafer of Sacramental Bread having the Devil's Name stamped thereon And a Pipe of Oyntment wherewith she greased a Staff upon which she ambled and galloped through thick and thin when and in what manner she listed This Business about these Witches troubled all the State of Ireland the more for that the Lady was supported by certain of the Nobility and lastly conveyed into England since which Time it could never be understood what became of her At Whitsontide 1326. the Parliament met at Kilkenny and thither the Earl of Vlster and most of the Nobility came what they did does not appear Lib. GGG saving that five thousand Quarters of Corn were sent out of Ireland to Aquitain for the King's use about this time and it is probable they raised Mony to pay for it Cambden tells us That the Earl of Vlster made a great Feast at this Parliament and that not long after he died But we must make a step to England before we can come to an end of this Unfortunate Reign and there we shall find the King for his Male administration in Disgrace with his People and which was worse reduced under the Power and Scorn of an Adulterous Wife the consequence of these things was That he was first imprisoned and afterwards murthered in Berkly Castle In this King's Reign flourished the famous Irish Philopher Johannes Dunus Scotus commonly stiled Doctor subtilis And it was in the same Reign that the Lord Mortimer Owner to Proprietor of Leix now Queens County being obliged by his Inclination or Business to reside in England did entrust one of the Omores with the management of his Estate but in process of time the Irishman sets up for himself and for a long time enjoyed that Country and still pretends a Right to it although his Claim is built on this perfidious and ungrateful Foundation Davis 198
175. In like manner did one of the Cavenaghs serve Carew about the Barony of Idrone and if I thought that no Body else would ever be served so hereafter I would have omitted this Remark In those Days there was small Respect paid to the Sabbath Fragm M. S. 4. in Ireland for the Markets were in several Places kept on Sundays but at Carlow the Market was about this time changed to another Day In England the sixth Penny of the Goods of Lay-men Baker 117. through England Ireland and Wales was granted to the King but how it was levied here non constat It appears by the Writ mentioned Pryn 263. that the denized Irish would not punish Felony with Death and therefore that Writ enjoyns them that are 14 Edw. 2. and them that shall be denized for the future to submit to the English Laws in that particular which confirms my former Observation That the Irish were fond of the Benefit of the English Laws but were very averse from the Penalties of them And by another Writ recited Pryn 263. it appears That Common Pleas were held before the chief Governour and because the Parties were poor and could not prosecute their Writ of Error in England according to Law the King did aâ—thorize the new Governour to examine the former Judgment and to reverse it if he found just cause c. And lastly we find a Writ which was sent to John Earl of Louth Pryn 264. whilst he was Lord Justice authorizing him to remove all such insufficient Persons as his Predecessor Mortimer had put into Office in that Kingdom which is a notable President worthy Imitation in all Places and Ages THE REIGN OF EDWARD III. King of England c. And LORD of IRELAND EDWARD the Third upon the Resignation of his Father was proclaimed King the twenty fifth day of January 1327. and Crowned the first day of February following 1327. and being but fifteen years old had twelve Governors of him and the Kingdom appointed but they were but Ciphers and only had the bare Name of Governors whilst Mortimer and the Queen-Mother usurp'd and exercis'd the Power As for Ireland Thomas Fitz-John Earl of Kildare was made Lord Justice and Letters were sent to the Great Men of Ireland by Name to swear Fealty to the new King and to continue their Loyalty as they had done to his Predecessors And in his Time Adam Duff of the Family of O Toole in the County of Wicklow was burnt at Hoggin-Green in Dublin for Heresie or rather for most horrid Blasphemy for he denied the Trinity and the Incarnation of our Blessed Saviour c. And because it may be pleasant and useful to a curious Reader Lib. H. Lambeth I will give you a short Account of the Great Officers and others of Ireland and their Salaries as they were 1 Ed. 3. Earl of Kildare Lord Justice 500 Lib. Roger Outlaw Chancellor 040 Lib. Elias de Ashborne Justice for holding Pleas before the Justice and Council of Ireland 040 Lib. Roger de Werthorp Justice Itinerant 040 Mar. A Second Justice Itinerant Nicholas Falstoff Chief Justice of the Bench 040 Lib. John de Granset Second Justice 040 Mar. Roger de Preston Third Justice John Battalk Custos Brevium Rot. de Banc. 005 Lib. John Garnon Narrator Domini Regis 005 Lib. Simon Fitz-Richard Secundus Narrator 005 Mar. Richard Mayning Kings Sergeant 005 Mar. Robert Poer Treasurer 040 Lib. Thomas de Monte Pessulano Chancellor of the Exchequer 010 Lib. Roger de Birthorp Chief Baron 010 Lib. The Second Baron 010 Lib. Two Chamberlains of Exchequer 010 Lib. Remembrancer 010 Lib. A Summoner 004 Mar. Two Ingrossers of the Rolls in Term-time five pence per diem The Treasurers Clerk five pence per diem whilst the Exchequer is open Usher of the Chequer three half pence per diem A Chaplain of the Castle fifty Shillings per annum For Wax two Shillings Note a pound of Wax cost nine pence It was a common thing for the Great Men of Ireland as well Irish as English upon private Quarrels to make War one with another and sometimes upon very slight occasions an Instance whereof happened at this time Fragm 8. for Maurice Fitz-Thomas afterwards Earl of Desmond being disgusted with the Lord Arnold Poer for calling him Rimer did associate with the Butlers and Birminghams as Poer did with the Burks and began a War Davis 134. says it was Kildare that had like to have been fatal to the Burks and the Poers many of them were slain and more of them driven into Connaught and their Lands were burnt and preyed In vain did the Lord Justice interpose in this bloody Quarrel he appointed a Day to hear both Parties but the Lord Arnold Poer was so far from attending the issue of such a Meeting as well knowing that he was the first Aggressor and therefore the unlucky Causer of all those Calamities and Desolations that ensued that he fled to Waterford and thence into England The Army of the Fitz-Giralds and their Confederates was mightily increased in expectation of a greater resistance than they found but assoon as they understood that Poer was fled they executed their Revenge upon the Lands of their Enemies which had been to that time left undestroyed Cambden 181 They grew so formidable even to the Cities and Towns that they fortified and provided against them but upon notice of this the Confederates immediately sent word to the Lord Justice that they design'd no prejudice to the King or his Towns but had assembled to revenge themselves of their Enemies and that they were ready to appear before him at Kilkenny to clear themselves And accordingly in Lent they did meet at Kilkenny with the Lord Justice and the Kings Council 1327. and humbly crav'd a Charter of Peace or Pardon whereon the Lord Justice took time to advise But the Irish of Leinster hoped to advantage themselves of these Commotions and therefore set up Donald Mac Art Mac Morough of the Family of Mac Morough formerly Kings of Leinster for their King It seems he led his Army within two Miles of Dublin but he was defeated and taken Prisoner by Sir Henry Traherne and Walter de Valle who had one hundred and ten pounds reward for their pains and many of the Irish were slain but Mac Morough in January 1329. escaped out of the Castle of Dublin by help of a Rope sent him by Adam Nangle for which Fact Nangle was afterwards condemned and hang'd In the mean time the Lord Justice died at Minooth on Easter-Tuesday and Roger Outlaw Prior of Kilmainham Lord Chancellor was made Lord Justice in whose time David O Tool a strong Thief who had been taken Prisoner by the Lord John Wellesly the Lent before was this Summer condemned and executed at Dublin At this time in the Second Year of this Reign the Noble James Butler married the Earl of Hereford's Daughter Bakâ— which he had by
Year And it seems there was also a Parliament at Dublin this Year Prin 266. wherein it was ordained That the King's Peace should be fully kept and that every Nobleman and Chieftain should keep in his own Sept. Retinue and Servants Roger Outlaw Prior of Kilmainham was made Lord Deputy 1330. and kept the Kingdom quiet ' all the Summer and the Winter was so stormy and wet that nothing could be done till January and then the Macoghegans began to be troublesome again in Meath but the Earls of Vlster and Ormond gave them a Defeat near Loghynerthy about Lent whereupon they were so enraged that they burnt fifteen Villages but they paid for it in another Skirmish wherein three Irish Lords Sons and one hundred of their Followers were slain This Year a Parliament was holden at Kilkenny Pryn 267. at which were present Alexander Archbishop of Dublin the Earls of Vlster and Ormond the Lord William Birmingham and the Lord Walter Burk of Connaught and each of these brought a considerable Power with him to pursue O Brian and expel him from Vrkiffe near Cashil It seems this great Army march'd to Limerick and that the Burks did prey some of the Giraldines Lands in their March whereupon such Fewds arose between those Families that the Lord Justice was necessitated to confine the Earl of Vlster and Maurice of Desmond to the Custody of the Marshal at Limerick but Maurice quickly found means to escape and thereupon 't is probable the Earl was also enâ—arged It seems that both of them went to England But what became of this mutinous Army Frag. 9. I find no mention save that an anonymous Author reports Quod nihil perfecerunt But the next Year was more propitious 1331. for on the twenty first of April the English gave the Irish an Overthrow in O Kensâ—le And in May the English at Thurles defeated O Brian and slew many of his Followers And about the same time O Tool came to Tullagh and robbed the Archbishop of Dublin took three hundred of his Sheep and killed some of his Servants Upon notice of it Sir Philip Britt and others sallied out of Dublin but they were too forward and careless so that they fell into an Ambush in Culiagh and were most of them slain whereupon the Irish were elevated to that degree Cambd. 184. that they attacked the Castle of Arklow and took it but the Lord Birmingham with a smart Party undertook them and mortified them to the lowest degree of Submission and might have ruined them if he had not trusted to their false Promises Sir Anthony Luey 3 June 1331. a Man of great Authority in England was sent over Lord Justice he brought with him the Lord Hugh de Lacy who was now pardoned and in some Favour He also brought the King's Letters to the Earl of Vlster and others of the Nobility to give their best assistance to him the Lord Justice The Lord Justice designed by a severe Government to correct and reform the Distempers of those Times but alass it was too great an Undertaking for one Man and required more time than he had to spend in Ireland However his Government was auspicated with a Victory which those of the English Pale on the eleventh of June obtained over the Irish at Finnagh in Meath And though there was a great Dearth and Scarcity still continuing yet it was somewhat moderated by the great Plenty of large Fishes called Thurlehides sent by Providence into the Bay of Dublin in a prodigious number for the relief of the Poor A Parliament was summoned to meet at Dublin at Mid-summer by which it is manifest that they did not hitherto practise the formality of forty Days Summons the Appearance was so thin that the Parliament was adjourned to Kilkenny to the seventh of July And thither came Thomas Earl of Kildare and others that were not at Dublin and were freely pardoned what was past being first sworn on the Holy Evangelists and the Reliques of the Saints to Allegiance and Preservation of the peace for the future But in August the Lord Justice received the bad News That the Irish had taken and burnt the Castle of Ferns Whereupon he grew jealous That some of those English Lords that absented themselves from the Parliament at Kilkenny did underhand abet the Irish or else they durst not so frequently rebel and therefore he resolved to apprehend as many of them as he could get And first Henry Mandevil was by Warrant from the Chief Justice taken in September and Maurice of Desmond being arrested in Limerick in the beginning of October was by warrant from the Lord Justice and Council brought to Dublin Walter Burk and his Brother were seised in November and William and Walter Birmingham were secured in Clonmel in February following and afterwards sent to Dublin It seems there was more than bare Suspicion in this Matter for the Lord William Birmingham who had often done good Service for his King and Country was nevertheless executed the eleventh of July 1332. and his Son Walter had not escaped but that he was in Orders and Maurice of Desmond was likewise kept in Prison a Year and a half and then discharg'd upon very great Bail and sent into England to the King But let us look back to the third of March 1331. at which time the King and Parliament of England made Ordinances and Articles for the Reformation and Tranquility of Ireland and sent them thither in haec verba REX Justic Pryn 267. Canc. Thes suis Hibern salutem Mandamus vobis quod articulos subscriptos quos pro emendatione status Terrae nostrae Hiberniae quiete tranquilitate populi nostri ibidem per advisamentum Concilii nostri in ultimo Parliamento nostro apud Westmon tento ordinavimus in dicta Terra Hiberniae quantum ad vos attinet teneatis observetis per alios fideles nostros dictae Terrae teneri observari faciatis Tenor autem articâ—â—â—orum praedictorum talis est Imprimis Justiciarius qui nunc est vel pro tempore fuerit non concedat Cartas Pardonationis de morte hominis nec roberiis incendiis aliquibus nisi de roberiis incendiis ante festum Paschae anno regni Domini Edwardi Regis Angliae tertii post Conquestum quinto perpetratis Et quod de caetero certificet Regem de nominibus hujusmodi Pardonationes petentium de avisamento suo quod Rex faciat inde voluntatem suam quod nullus in Terra Hiberniae ex nunc faciat tales Pardonationes infra libertatem extra sub gravi forisfactura Domini Regi Item Quod dictus Justic de caetero non concedat tuitionem pacis felonibus ad silvam existentibus Item Quod una eadem lex fiat tam Hibernicis quam Anglicis excepta servitute Betagiorum penes Dominos suos eodem modo quo usitatum est in Anglia de Villanis Item
Quod Justic nec aliquis alius Minister de caetero det alicui custodiam vel maritagium alicujus haeredis ad regem pertinentis nec pardonet debita Regis seu fines amerciamenta vel catalla forisfacta sed quod Justiciarii alii Ministri hujusmodi custodias maritagia vendant aliud comodum Regis inde fac juxta discretiones suas Item Quod Vic. Coronatores de caetero eligantur per Communitates Comit. non alio modo quod catalla forisfacta remaneant in custodia Villar Item Quod Justic seu aliquis alius Minister non recipiet aliquem magnatem in pleg vel manucaptor versus Dominum regem nisi quatenus pro commodo Regis viderint faciendum Item Quod Justic obsides pro conservatione pacis sive liberatos in carceris Domini Regis fac salvo custodire ad sumptus suos proprios quod si ipsi qui posuerunt hujusmodi obsides conditiones conventiones quas fecerunt non observent Justic faciant Judicium de hujusmodi obsidibus Item Quod Justic seu aliquis Magnus Hibern non concedat protectiones alicui contra pacem Regis existent Item Quod nullus Minister Regis de caetero recipiatur in pleg vel manucaptorem versus Dominum Regem Item Quod fines de vaccis de caetero pro redemptione non capiantur sed denarii Item Quod Treuga capta capienda inter Anglicos Hibernicos de caetero observetur quod neutra pars damnum alteri durante hujusmodi Treuga inferat si fecerit pro felone habeatur Item Quod nullus ut lagatus in Gildabili receptetur infra libertates nec e converso inde fiat Ordinatio per Justic alios Ministros Dominos libertatum Item Quod Vic. alii Ministri computent quolibet anno semel ad minus si comode fieri poterit Item Quod Seneschallus alicujus Domini in Hibern non ponatur in aliquo Officio Regis Item Quod Thes vel aliquis alius Minister Regis ubi ipse intendere non potest supervideat quolibet anno castra Regis statum eorundem quod emendare fac defectus eorundem Item Quod vic in Turnis quae faciunt de Brevibus Domini Regis ponant nomina sua ita quod quilibet Vic. de exitibus forisfacturis aliis proficuis quae requiruntur sub nomine Vic. oneretur ad Scac. pro tempore suo proprio Item Quod extranei non assignentur Collectores Custumorum Regis sed Burgenses Villarum ubi tales Custumae colligi debent assignentur ad eas colligendas hoc fiat de potentioribus discretiorbus Item Quod Justic fac inquirere quolibet anno de Ministris Domini Regis eorum factis quod puniat delinquentes pert concilium avisamentum Canc. Thes aliorum de concilio Regis amoveat insufficientes Item Quod nullus manuteneat neo ducat Kernes nec Gentes vocat Idle men nisi in Marchis suis propriis ad custus eorundem nec faciat prizas Item Quod omnes Ministri Regis qui tenentur ad computandum non habent Terras seu Tenementa sufficientia in Hibernia invenient manucaptionem in Hibern ad respondendum Regi de compotis suis ibidem Item Quod habentes Terras Tenementa in Hibernia tam religiosi quam alii praemuniantur quod resideant in iisdem si sint in Marchis vel alibi vel ponent sufficientem Custodiam pro conservatione pacis in iisdem citra Fest S. Petri ad vincula prox futur si non fecerint quod Rex in eorum defectum Terras Tenementa illa in manum suam capiet de sufficiente custodia eorundem ordinabit Item Quod nullus cujuscunque status seu conditionis manuteneaâ— foveat nec defendat Hibernicos seu alium quemcunque contra pacem Domini Regis insurgentem si aliquis sic fecerit inde convictus fuerit pro Felone habebitur c. And at the same time the King sent another Writ Prin 269. commanding them to observe the Law of England in case of wardships without regard to the Custom or Usage of Ireland In July the Irish razed the Castle of Bunratty to the ground but in lieu of that 1332. the English on the 8th of August took the Castle of Arcklow and re-edified it They had also the good fortune to defeat the O Bryans Mac Carthyes and other Irish in Munster and to kill a great many of their Men and they also took the Castle of Coolmore The Irish Hostages that were kept at Limerick and Nenagh made notable Attempts to surprize and seize both those Castles and they pursued the Project so far as to get both of them into their possession but the English were resolved to regain them which they perform'd in a very short time and the Hostages at Limerick were put to death for their Treachery and those at Nenagh were still kept in durance But the O Tools of Leinster made a more successful Attempt on the Town of Newcastle in the County of Wicklow for they not only took it but also burnt it In the mean time Cottons Rec. 9. at the English Parliament holden in September principally for the Affairs of Ireland and the Kings Expedition thither it was fully agreed that the King should pass to Ireland in person Ibid. 10. and that in the mean time a Power should be sent to that Country and Commandment was given that all such as have Lands there should repair thither for defence of that Kingdom and that all such Learned in the Law as shall be sent as Justices or otherwise to serve in Ireland shall have no Excuse and that Search be made amongst all the Kings Records to see what hath been done for the Amendment of the Irish Lib. Z Z. And soon after a Writ was sent to William de Burgo and others to attend the King to consult of his Voyage to Ireland but because the time of year did not serve for the Kings Voyage nothing more was done than that the Lord Justice was recalled in November and in February after came over Sir John Darcy Lord Justice to whom the King gave the Mannors of Louth and Ballyogany which Simon Earl of Eu had forfeited by adhering to the French King Soon after his coming the Birminghams took a Prey of two thousand Cows from the O Connors in the County of Sligo But this small Success was quickly over-ballanced by a great Misfortue 1333. for William Burk Earl of Vlster was on the 6th of June basely murdered by his own perfidious Servants at Carigfergus whereupon his Wife and only Daughter sailed to England the Daughter was afterwards Married to the Duke of Clarence and had one only Daughter who was Wife to Roger Mortimer Earl of March and Lord of Trim And from her the Earldom of Vlster and Lordship of Connaught came by descent to be
three Estates were assembled and this sort of Parliament is intended in the Submission of Mac. Mahon 25. Hen. 6. whereby he promiseth that in time of Arch-Parliaments he will carry nothing away out of the English Pale contrary to the Statutes Thus the Annals of Ross mention Quod Magnum Parliamentum tenetur apud Dublin 1333. And Mr. Cambden ad annum 1341 calls it Commune Parliamentum But after all there were but very few Cities or Corporations that were concerned in or summoned to an Irish Parliament until of later Days The Earl of Desmond did indeed associate with the Deputies of many Towns in his Assembly at Kilkenny but that was to strengthen his Party and to enlarge his Confederacy so that whoever will look for an Irish Parliament consisting of Lords Spiritual and Temporal Knights Citizens and Burgesses summoned by the King 's Writ on forty Days Notice and sitting in several Houses as the Custom is now must search the Parliament Rolls to satisfie himself which was the first Parliament of that sort in Ireland for he will not in any History find a sufficient Information in that Particular as I suppose But let us return to the Lord Justice 1345. who summoned a Parliament to meet at Dublin the seventh of June but the Earl of Desmond still refused to come thither and had appointed another Assembly at Calan at which Place several great Men had promised to come Fryar Clun ad annum 1344. but they were prohibited by the King 's Writ and therefore excused themselves to the Earl But the Lord Justice to abate the Insolence of the Earl of Desmond advanced the King's Standard into Mâ—nster he seized on the Earls Lands and gave them in custodiam to those that would take them He also by Stratagem took the Castles of Iniskilly and Island in October following and he hanged three Knights that commanded them viz. Poer Grant and Cotterel Ware antiq 69. Quia multas graves extraneas intolerabiles leges exercuissent tenuissent invenissent viz. Coyn and Livery c. It is probable that Desmond was so mortified with this Usage that he surrendred himself to the Lord Justice and was let to bail on the Recognizance of the Earls of Vlster and Ormond Lib. P. and twenty four Knights but finding the Severity of this Governor he thought it dangerous to appear according to the Condition of the Recognisance and therefore it was estreated into the Exchequer and though the Noblemen and some of the Knights made a shift to get rid of this matter yet eighteen of the Knights lost their Estates and were utterly ruined thereby This Lord Justice did also use means to apprehend the Earl of Kildare which at last he effected and kept him in Prison where he continued till the twenty sixth of May 1346. and then he was discharged by the new Justice on the Recognisance of twenty four Lords and Gentlemen About this time viz. 18 Edw. 3. Seals were made for the Courts of King's Bench and Common Pleas in Ireland And the King pardoned the Archbishop of Dublin late Treasurer of Ireland for sundry false Writs and Acquittances which he had put into his Treasurers Account in deceipt of the King But on Palm-Sunday being the ninth Day of April this severe Governor submitted to his Destiny 1346. to the great Joy of the generality of the People And it is observeable That his Lady who was received like an Empress and lived like a Queen was fain to steal away through a Postern-Gate of the Castle to shun the Curses of her Enemies and the Clamour of her Creditors Sir Roger Darcy was immediately appointed Lord Justice ex assensu ordinatione Regalium aliorum in Hibernia and sworn the 10th of April but he continued only till the 25â—h of May and then surrendred to Sir John Morris Lord Justice who met the bad News that in April before the O Mores had burnt the Castles of Ley and Kilmehide He released the Earl of Kildare out of Prison as aforesaid but continued not long in his Government so that there is little mention of what was done in his time saving that in June the Irish of Vlster slew three hundred of the English of Vrgile and immediately thereupon Sir Walter Birmingham 1346. Lord Justice landed in Ireland and was sworn the 19th of June he procured leave for the Earl of Desmond to manage his Cause in England where that Earl was kindly received and allowed by the King twenty Shillings per diem from the day he landed for his Expences his Estate being I suppose in Custodiam he was diligent in his business and followed the Law hard says my Author for satisfaction for the wrongs done him by Vfford The Lord Justice and the Earl of Kildare in November pursued the O Mores so effectually that they forced them to submit and give Hostages and thereupon the Earl of Kildare obliged by the kindness shewed to his Cozen Desmond in England went in May to serve the King at Calice 1347. where he was Knighted by the King for his good Service and the Lord Justice return'd to England leaving John Archer Prior of Kilmainham Lord Deputy in whose time Donald Oge mac Morrough call'd Prince of Leinster was murdered by his own Followers on the 5th of June and the Town of Nenagh was burnt by the Irish on St. Stephens Day Sir Walter Birmingham 1348. Lord Justice came again from England having first obtain'd for himself the Barony of Kenlis in Ossory which formerly belonged to Sir Eustace Poer one of the Knights taken by Vfford in the Earl of Desmonds Castle of Island and there executed It was about this time Cottons Rec. 66. viz. 21 Edw. 3. that the Commons in the English Parliament did petition the King that Enquiry might be made by good men why he taketh no Profit of what he hath in Ireland seeing he hath more there than any of his Ancestors had And if default be found in the Officers that then such others be put into their places as will answer the King of the reasonable Profit thereof and the King was pleased it should be so They also desire that the Estate of the Earl of Vlster which if the Kings Daughter-in-Law the Duchess of Clarence should die without issue might descend to Co-parceners some of which are the Kings Enemies might be setled otherwise And it seems that by the good usage Desmond and Kildare found in England and France and the daily expectation to have the resumed Lands and Jurisdictions restored which was done anno 1352. the Kingdom was so quiet that we find little or nothing recorded of these times except the alteration of the Governors viz. that The Lord Carew 1349. Lord Justice succeeded Birmingham and that Sir Thomas Rokeby 1349. Lord Justice came over the 20th of December and afterward he returned to England and left Maurice de Rochford 1351. Bishop of Limerick Lord
Pound six Shillings and eight Pence per annum Lib. G. and obtained an Order from the King and Council That all those who had Lands in Ireland should repair thither or send sufficient Men in their Room to defend the Country on Pain of forfeiting their Estates Nevertheless this Lord Justice was so far from subduing the Irish that he confessed he could never get access to know their Countries or Habitations and yet he had spent more time in the Service of Ireland than any Englishman then living So finding he could do no good he resigned to James Earl of Ormond July 24. 1376 Lord Justice In whose time the Counties Cities and Burroughs of Ireland sent Commissioners to the King to Treat and Advise about the Affairs of that Kingdom and not to the English Parliament as some have mistaken it Pryn. 305. And the King did Issue a Writ to the Lord Justice and the Chancellor requiring them to levy the reasonable Expences of these Commissioners from the respective Places that chose them by Writ under the great Seal of Ireland And accordingly John Draper who served for Cork had a particular Mandate to the Mayor and Bayliffs of that City to pay him his reasonable Expences as aforesaid It will not be unuseful to recite this Lord Justice his Commission because the Reader will thereby perceive what Authority he had and will also note the Difference between this brief Commission and the prolix Forms that are now used REX omnibus ad quos Ibid. c. Salutem Sciatis quod commisimus dilecto consanguineo nostro Jacobo le Bottiler Comiti de Ormond officium Justic nostr Hibern Terram nostram Hibern cum Castris aliis pertinentiis suis custodiend quamdiu nobis placuerit percipiend per ann ad Scac. nostrum Hibern quamdiu in Officio illo sic steterit quingent libras pro quibus Officium illud terram custodiet erit se vicessimus de hominibus ad arma cum tot equis coopertis continue durante commissione supradicta c. But by a subsequent Patent the sixth of August he had Power to Pardon all Offences generally or to particular Persons and by consent of the Council to remove or displace any Officer those made by Patent under the great Seal only excepted Ibid. 307. And by another Writ of the same date the former Commission was explained not to extend to the Pardon of any Prelate or Earl for any Offence punishable by loss of Life Member Lands or Goods And the same time Alexander Bishop of Ossory was made Treasurer of Ireland and a Guard of six Men at Arms and twelve Archers at the King's Pay allowed him I have seen a Copy of a Commission to Maurice Fitz-Thomas Lib. G. 13. Earl of Kildare to govern Ireland till Sir William Windsor's return it bore date the sixteenth of February 50 Edw. 3. and Stephen Bishop of Meath was appointed to oversee Munster but because I find no other mention of his being in the Government about this time I have therefore omitted to name him as Lord Justice And so we are come to the twenty first Day of June 1377. 1377. on which Day this victorious King died at Shene in Surry in the sixty fourth Year of his Age and of his Reign the one and fiftieth Lib. M. His Revenue in Ireland did not exceed ten thousand Pound per annum though the Medium be taken from the best seven Years of his Reign THE REIGN OF RICARD II. King of England c. And LORD of IRELAND RICHARD the Second only Son of Edward commonly called the Black Prince Eldest Son of King Edward the Third was by his Grandfather declared to be his Heir and lawful Successor and accordingly succeeded him in the Throne on the 21st of June and was Crowned at Westminster the 16th of July following 1377. His tender Age being but eleven years old required a Protector and because it seemed dangerous to commit that great Authority and Power to a single Person it was given to the Kings Unkles the Duke of Lancaster and the Earl of Cambridge and others who thought fit to continue in the Government of Ireland James Earl of Ormond Lord Justice he kept the Kingdom in as good order as those dangerous and troublesom Times would admit of Baker 141. for both the French and the Scots took advantage of the Kings Infancy to disquiet his Dominions but especially the Realm of England This Lord Justice according to the Usage in those days held Pleas of the Crown Lib. G. Lambeth and Gaol-delivery at the Naas on Monday after Valentines Day 1378. and not long after surrendred to Alexander Balscot Bishop of Ossory Lord Justice who continued in the Government until November following Lib. G. and then gave place to John de Bromwick 1379. Lord Justice in whose time Beauchamp Earl of Warwick was by the Parliament of England made sole Protector of the King and Kingdom And then was made that first Act or Ordinance against Absentees Lib. M. Lambeth 138. by the Assent and Advice of the Lords and Nobles of England Davis 38. 199 being in Parliament Whereby it is Ordained That all that have Lands 4th Instit. 356 360. Rents or Offices in Ireland shall return thither but if they have reasonable cause to absent that then they shall send sufficient Deputies to defend their Castles and Estates or contribute two Thirds of the yearly value towards the defence thereof but that Students and those in the Kings Service and those absent for reasonable Cause by Licence under the Great Seal of England shall be excused for one Third of the yearly Profit of their Estates This Act was confirmed afterwards Lib. F. 19 Edw. 4. and by vertue hereof the Mannor of Ballymaclo in Meath was seiz'd into the Kings Hands for the absence of William de Carew but was the next year restor'd to him on his Petition Prin 308. Septemb. 27. 1380. And it is to be remembred That this Act was occasioned by a Petition from Ireland and that it is mentioned in the Body of the Act that the Loss of Ireland would be a Disinherison to the King and his Crown of England Ibid. At the same Parliament at Westminster there was another Irish Petition for Mine and Coigne which I take to be a Liberty to dig Mines and a Mint to coyn Money For the Kings Answer is That for six years to come every one may dig in his own Grounds for any Mineral whatsoever even Gold and Silver paying the Ninth part thereof to the King and sending the rest to the Kings Mint at Divelin for the Coynage of which they shall pay the usual Rates but must transport none to any place except England on pain of forseiting it if it be seized or the Value if he be convict of it unless the Party had special Licence under the Great Seal of
Pretence was Ridiculous because there were others of the same Lineage before him in the Pedigree and it was notorious That the Right of Succession was in Ann Daughter of Roger Mortimer Earl of March Son of Philippa Daughter of Lionel Duke of Clarence third Son of King Edward III. and accordingly her Grand-son afterwards possest the Kingdoms by the Name of Edward IV. And also finding that it was more vain to claim by Conquest when there was no fighting he was at last forced to rely on the Consent and Election of the People which was the Title his Embassadors insisted upon in the Courts of Foreign Princes Thus was the Foundation laid of those tedious and bloody Wars that afterwards ensued between the Houses of York and Lancaster commonly distinguished by the Appellations of the Red-Rose and the White that being the cognizance of the House of Lancaster and this the Badge of the Family of York This King was crowned on the thirteenth Day of October anno Dom. 1399. 1399. and Ireland was committed to the Care of Sir John Stanly 1399. Lord Lieutenant who came over thither Cotton's Records 390. on the tenth Day of December In his time the King obtained a Subsidy in England for three Years to provide for the Affairs of Ireland c. And about Whitsontide the Constable of Dublin-Castle and others near Strangford in Vlster encountred the Scots at Sea 1400. but with very ill Success for many Englishmen were there slain and drowned About this time the Town of Kilkenny was walled by Robert Talbot 1401. And about May the Lord Lieutenant repaired to England leaving his Brother Sir William Stanly Lord Deputy who on the twenty third Day of August surrendred unto Stephen Scroop Lord Deputy to the King's Son Thomas Duke of Lancaster who it seems came over only to provide and prepare for the Reception of Thomas Duke of Lancaster Seneschal of England and Lord Lieutenant of Ireland who landed on S. Bines-Day And on the fifth of July John Drake Mayor of Dublin with a Band of Citizens encountred and defeated four thousand Irish Outlaws near Bray in the Borders of Wicklow and slew four hundred ninety three of their best Men. This Lord Lieutenant held a Parliament in Dublin 1402. in September during which Sir Bartholomew Verdon James White Christopher White and Stephen Gernon slew John Dowdal Sheriff of Louth in Vrgile and committed sundry other Felonies and Robberies for which they were Outlawed and their Estates disposed of by Custodiam Cotton's Records 431. but afterwards the King pardoned them their Lives and restored them their Estates during their respective Lives only In October Daniel O Birne Lib. D. for him and his Sept or Nation submitted to the Lord Lieutenant and promised Allegiance and good Behaviour and to manifest his Sincerity he granted to the King the Castle of Mackenigan with the Apurtenances And on the thirteenth of December the Lord Lieutenant by Indenture set the Ferny in the County of Louth except the King's Castle to Aghy mac Mahon for Life Davis 48 at the Rent of ten Pound per Annum and Mac Mahon covenanted to be a good Subject And in February following O Reyly covenanted with the Lord Lieutenant and also swore to perform to the King during the minority of Mortimer all the Covenants he was obliged to perform to Roger Mortimer Earl of March and Vlster In May Sir Walter Betterly Steward of Vlster 1403. and thirty English were all slain And on the eleventh of November following the Duke returned to England and left Sir Stephen Scroop Lord Deputy 1404. who on the twenty sixth Day of October resigned to James Earl of Ormond 1405. Lord Justice who in April 1405 held a Parliament at Dublin and there the Statutes of Dublin and Kilkenny were confirmed as also the Charter of Ireland And this good Act was followed by good Success for in May two Scotch Barks were taken near Greencastle and another near Dalkye with their Captain Macgolagh Moreover the Merchants of Droghedae made Incursion into Scotland and brought thence both Pledges and Preys And the Dublinians also entred Scotland at S. Ninian and behaved themselves valiantly They also did the Welsh much harm and brought from thence the Shrine of S. Cubins which they placed in Christ-Church Dublin However the Irish burnt Oghgard and on the sixth of September the Lord Justice died at Gauran and was succeeded by Girald Earl of Kildare 1406. who probably was chosen Lord Justice by the Council In his time the Dublinians and their Neighbours on Corpus Christi-Day vanquished the Irish Enemies and took three Ensigns and brought to Dublin the Heads of those they had slain And the Prior of Conal had as good Success in the Plains of Kildare for with twenty Englishmen he defeated two hundred Irish and killed many of them But after Michaelmas came over Sir Stephen Scroop Lord Deputy He held a Parliament at Dublin in January which in the Lent after ended at Trim And about the latter end of February Meyler Birmingham slew Cathol O Connor About May the Lord Deputy 1407. accompanied with the Earls of Ormond and Desmond the Prior of Kilmainham and other Captains and Gentlemen of Meath set out from Dublin and invaded the Territory of Mac Morough at first the Irish had the better but at length the Constancy and Resolution of the English prevailed and O Nolan and his Son and others were taken Prisoners and after this was done they marched speedily to Calan in the County of Kikenny upon some Intelligence they had of the Rebels being thereabout and they so surprized them that the whole Party was routed and O Carol and eight hundred Men slain upon the Place But in June the Lord Deputy went to England and the Nobility and Council elected James Earl of Ormond Lord Justice In whose time a barbarous Tory called Mac Gilmore who is reported to have destroyed forty Churches and was never Christened had taken Prisoner Patrick Savage a Gentleman of great Esteem in Vlster they agreed upon his Ransome to be two thousand Marks and his Brother Richard was to become Hostage for it But this Subtle Barbarian managed the matter so that he received the Ransome according to Agreement and afterwards he murdered both the Brethren This Lord Justice held a Parliament at Dublin 1408. which confirmed the Statutes of Dublin and Kilkenny and also the Statute against Purveyors And on the second of August Thomas Duke of Lancaster came over Lord Lieutenant It seems that the Terms on which he undertook the Government were these First Lib. G. He was to hold the Place for seven Years Secondly He was to have five hundred Men at Arms and one thousand Archers for three Years Thirdly To have a Years Pay in Hand and afterwards to be paid every half Year Fourthly One thousand Marks per annum for himself and to be paid the Charge of Transportation
make them seek Peace yet he was in no wise able to reduce them to the Obedience of Subjects or enlarge the Limits of the Pale however what he did was held so considerable that the Lords and Gentlemen of the Pale made Certificate of this great Service in French to the King Nevertheless the Army was so ill paid in this March that the Subject suffered more from the Cess of the Souldier than they gained by this small and temporary mortification of the Irish and this was the common Calamity from hence forward so that Necessity revived Coyn and Livery again by degrees notwithstanding that it remained Treason by Act of Parliament In August the Parliament met at Dublin 1415. and sate six weeks during which time the Irish followed their usual Course of falling upon the English and killed Thomas Ballymore of Ballyquelan and many others and on the 22th day of October the King obtained a most glorious and entire Victory over the French at the Battel of Agincourt But the Parliament was adjourned to Trym 1416. and there it sate on the 11th of May and continued seven days and gave the King a Subsidy of four hundred Marks in Money and the next year the Prior of Kilmainham with sixteen hundred Irish went to aid the King in France 1417. they Landed at Harslew in Normandy and did the King very good Service But I should have remembred That the King and Parliament at Westminster anno 1413. did Enact That for the Peace and Quietness of England and for the encrease and enstoring of Ireland That all Irishmen Irish Clerks Beggars and Chamberdekins be voided out of England before All-Saints next Lib. M. except Graduates in Schools Sergeants and Apprentices at Law and such as be Inheritors in England and Religious Persons professed and Merchants of good Name and Apprentices now dwelling in England and those whom the King will dispense with and that all Irishmen who have Offices or Benefices in Ireland shall dwell in Ireland for the defence of the Land And now 4 Hen. 5. Lib. M. It was likewise Enacted in England that all Archbishops Bishops Abbots and Priors of the Irish Nation Rebels to the King that shall make any Collation or Presentment to Benefices in Ireland or bring with them any Irish Rebels among the Englishmen to the Parliament Councils or other Assemblies within the same Land to know the Privities or States of the Englishmen their Temporalities shall be seized till they fine to the King and that the Governors of Ireland be defended and restrained to grant such Benefices or Pardons in the case to Irish Persons not English and that such Licenses shall be void There is very little recorded of the Year 1418 1418. and it is scarce worth mentioning That the Lord Lieutenant did spoil the Tenants of Henry Crus and Henry Bethel probably for some Misdemeanor by them committed against the Government But the Year 1419. 1419. will afford us more Matter for on the last Day of May the Lord Lieutenant accompanied by the Archbishop and Mayor of Dublin razed the Castle of Kenun having a little before in the same Month taken Prisoner Mac Morough the chief Captain of his Nation and on the 20th of June the Lord William de Burgh took O Kelly and slow five hundred Irish in Connaught but the Lord Lieutenant was sent for to England and substituted his Brother Richard Talbot Archbishop of Dublin Lord Justice or Deputy He held a Royal Council i. e. a Parliament at the Naas which gave a Subsidy of three hundred Marks On Maundy-Thursday O Tool took four hundred Kine from Ballymore and so broke the Peace contrary to his Oath but it fared worse with the Irish at Rodiston where thirty of them were slain by the English under the Command of the Lord Justice but on the 4th day of April Landed at Waterford James 1420. Earl of Ormond Lord Lieutenant His Commission is very large and beareth Date the 10th of Febr. 7 Hen. 5. and is to be seen Pryn 412. He held a Council at Dublin the 23th of April and summoned a Parliament to meet the 7th of June which did accordingly then meet and sate sixteen days and gave the King a Subsidy of seven hundred Marks and adjourned to Monday after S. Andrews Day and at that Session they gave another Subsidy of three hundred Marks and the publick Debts contracted by the Lord Talbot were paid and then they were Adjourned to the Monday after S. Ambrose's Day But it will be convenient to shew the Reader who paid these Subsidies and what their respective Proportions were and thereby he will perceive the vast Alteration for the better that is made in the State of Ireland since those Days This Subsidy was called Tertium Subsidium and was applotted thus Lib. CCC Â Lib. s. d. The Clergy of the County of Wexford 13 06 08 The Commons of Kildare 34 10 05 The Clergy of Kildare 04 02 10 Commons of Typerary 08 11 04 Clergy of Cashel 00 19 04 Commons of Limerick 02 03 00 Clergy of Limerick 00 08 01 Kingsale 01 16 08 Â Mar. s. d. Meath Liberty 83 00 00 Clergy of Meath 40 00 00 Clergy of Dublin 11 11 08 Drogehda 04 03 00 Commons of Carlow 04 01 04 Clergy of Ossory 02 00 11 Commons of Kilkenny 18 05 11 Commons of Louth 25 12 05 Clergy of Ardes 08 08 09 Commons of Dublin 40 10 00 City of Dublin 06 10 00 Clergy Cathedral of Dublin 11 11 08 Cork 02 02 00 On the 28th of October Thomas Fitz-Girald took Colmolin Castle and the Parliament met again according to Adjournment on Monday after S. Ambrose's Day and ordered that the Archbishop of Armagh Sir Christopher Preston and others should go Commissioners to the King to desire a Reformation of the State of the Land At this Parliament John Gese Bishop of Lismore and Waterford accused Richard O Hedian Archbishop of Cashel of Thirty Articles the Principal of which were First Ware de Praesul 170. That he loved none of the English Nation nor gave any Benefice to any Englishman and that he counselled other Bishops to do the like Secondly That he had counterfeited the Great Seal Thirdly That he designed to make himself King of Munster Fourthly That he had taken a Ring from the Image of S. Patrick which the Earl of Desmond had offered and gave it to his Concubine c. There was also a Contest between Adam Pory Bishop of Cloyne and another Bishop but it is probable that the former Accusation was suppressed because we find no farther Proceedings upon them and because the Archbishop seems to have been a more generous sort of Man for he not only repaired the Cathedral of Cashel and a Mansion-House or two for his Successors but also was otherwise a great Benefactor to that See and liberal to Pious Uses and the later Contest was transmitted to Rome But we should return
alias Castlemore Rathgogan Bever Shandon Dofglass Ocorbelethan Kyrricurry c. and though it is manifest by innumerable Records That the Kingdom of Cork did by the Heirs General descend to Carew and Courcy who are charged in the Exchequer for the Crown-Rent of it for many Years viz. sixty Pound a piece per annum yet this Conveyance from Cogan the Heir-Mail was Pretence enough in those Times for the powerful Earl of Desmond to seize on that great Estate Richard Talbot 1440. Archbishop of Dublin was again Lord Justice and held a Parliament at Dublin Friday after the Feast of S. Dunstan at which it was enacted I. That no Purveyor or Harbenger should take any thing without Payment And if he did the Proprietor might resist II. That Comrick or Protection of Tories be Treason III. That charging the Kings Subjects with Horse or Foot without Consent is Treason IV. That the Party who desires a Protection cum clausa Volumus shall make Oath in Chancery of the Truth of his Suggestion c. But to make Provision for War Davis 52. in lieu of the former Exactions it was enacted That every twenty Pound-worth of Land should be charged with the furnishing and maintaining an Archer on Horseback This Lord Justice resigned to James Eaâ—l of Ormond Lord Lieutenant who the same Year surrendred to Lion Lord Wells Lord Lieutenant who probably did not come to Ireland but deputed James Earl of Ormond Ware de Praesulibus 170. Lord Deputy He had the Temporalities of the See of Cashel granted to him for ten Years after the Death of O Hedian and kept the Government of Ireland until William Wells 1442. Esq was made Lord Deputy to his Brother the Lord Wells Ibid. 115. In his time a Parliament was held at Dublin which sent Richard Talbot Archbishop of Dublin and John White Abbot of S. Maries to the King to represent the Miserable Estate and Condition of Ireland whereby the Publick Revenue was reduced so low Lib G. that it was less than the necessary Charge of keeping the Kingdom by one thousand four hundred and fifty six Pounds per annum And soon after James Earl of Ormond was made Lord Lieutenant 1443. and 23 Hen. 6. obtained a Licence to be absent for many Years without incurring the Penalty of the Statute of 3 Rich. 2. of Absentees and to him a Writ was sent 20 H. 6. to eject John Cornwalsh and to place Michael Griffin Chief Baron in his room because the King had granted him that Office for Life though the other had a prior Patent from Ormond This Lord Lieutenant was a fast Friend to the Earl of Desmond who probably was of his Faction against the Talbots between whom and the Butlers the Feud was so great so general and so violent that no Justice could be had or any business done for a long time because either Party as it got Advantage oppressed the other 23 Hen. 6. in Turri London pars 2. m. 12. to the utmost degree It was about this time that James Earl of Desmond obtained a Patent for the Government or Custody of the Counties of Waterford Cork Limerick and Kerry And not long after for his good Service in keeping those Counties in Peace and upon Pretence that he could not conveniently be absent from that Charge and that it was dangerous for a Man so hated by the King's Enemies as he pretended to be to travail to Dublin he obtained a Licence To absent himself during Life from all future Parliaments sending a sufficient Proxy in his stead And also to purchase any Lands he pleased by whatsoever Service they were holden of the King And this is the true Foundation and all the Grounds of that fantastical Privilege claimed by the succeeding Earls of Desmond Of not coming into walled Towns nor to Parliament but when they please And since that time this Example has been so infectious that it is no strange thing in Ireland to find a Tenant at Will pretend a Title and a Lessee to claim an Inheritance and he that has a Right to something confidently to usurp more But the Faction of the Talbots began to get Ground among the People it being in the nature of Mankind to be mutinous against an uneasie Government be the Fault where it will for the Multitude consider what they feel and cannot penetrate into the Cause or Cure of their Grievances and therefore they naturally fall upon the most obvious Remedy which is the change of the Governour In order to remove the Lord Lieutenant some of the Lords and more of the Commons petitioned the King seting forth That the Earl of Ormond was old and feeble and had lost many of his own Castles for want of Defence and therefore was not likely to maintain much less enlarge the King's Possessions in Ireland Secondly That he made such of his Irish Servants Knights of Shires as would not consent to any good Law and that he dispensed with the Absence of the Lords from Parliament for Mony Thirdly That he sent several Subjects Prisoners to O Dempsy's Castle and forced them to pay Ransom Lib. M. And therefore they desired he might be superseded and at length prevailed to have it so although the Bishop of Cork and Cloyne the Dean and Chapter of Cork the Corporations of Cork and Youghal the Lords Barry Roch and others gave a full Testimonial of the great Services the Earl of Ormond had done And John Talbot 1446. Earl of Shrewsbury was not only made Lord Lieutenant but also on the seventeenth of July 24 Hen. 6. the King granted to him the City and County of Waterford and the Dignity and Stile of Earl of Waterford together with Jura Regalia Wreck c. from Youghal to Waterford because that Country is wast Et non ad proâ—icuum sed ad perditum nostrum redundat And the Patent is Per breve de Privato Sigillo authoritate Parliamenti This Lord Lieutenant held a Parliament at Trim 1447. on Friday after the Epiphany at which it was enacted I. That any Officer may travail by Sea from one Part of Ireland to another without forfeiture or any where with Licence II. That no Toll or Customs shall be taken in High-ways but only in Cities and Towns according to Right on Pain of paying twenty Shillings for every Peny III. Every Man must keep his Upper-Lip shaved Repealed 11 Car. 1. cap. 6 or else may be used as an Irish Enemy IV. If any Irishman that is denized Repeal ibid. kill or rob he may be used as an Irish Enemy and slain by this Act appears the Inconvenience of those Denizations V. Against unlawful coyn Repeal ibid. O Reyly's Mony clipt Mony and gilt Harness or Armour VI. That the Sons of Husbandmen and Labourers shall follow their Fathers Calling or Occupation VII That Lords of Parliament in Pleas Real or Personal shall not be amerced more than others VIII To
List of all that did pay this scandalous Contribution Lib. P. 174. and yet I am not willing to conceal from him the Account I have met with which is as follows lib. The Barony of Lecale to O Neal of Clandeboy per annum 20 The County of Vriel to O Neal 40 The County of Meath to O Connor 60 The County of Kildare to O Connor 20 The King's Exchequer to Mac Morough 80 Marks The County of Wexford to Mac Morough 40 The Counties of Kilkenny and Typerary to O Carol 40 The County of Limerick to O Bâ—â—an 40 The County of Cork to Mac Carty of Muskry 40 And whilst the English were engaged in England the Irish advantaged themselves of the Opportunity and without Colour of Right usurped many considerable Estates as they had done before in the time of Richard II and these two Seasons set them so afloat that they could never since be cast out of their forceable Possessions holding by plain Wrong the most part of Vlster and upon very frivolous Pretences great Portions of Laâ—d in Munster and Connaugh And so we are come to the end of this unfortunate Reign which determined some Years before the King's Life for he did not dye until the twenty first Day of May 1472. And it must not be forgot That one of the Articles against this King was That by the Instigation of divers Lords about him he had wrote Letters to some of the Irish Enemy whereby they were encouraged to attempt the Conquest of the said Land of Ireland THE REIGN OF EDWARD IV. King of England c. And LORD of IRELAND EDWARD Earl of March 1460. Son and Heir of Richard Duke of York immediately after his Fathers Death at the Battle of Wakefield betook himself with all Diligence to gather an Army near Shrewsbury and having got twenty three thousand Men together on the second of February he defeated the Earls of Ormond and Pembrook near Mortimers-Cross and killed three thousand eight hundred of their Soldiers and although the Queen not long afterward defeated the Earl of Warwick at Bernard-Heath near S. Albans yet he wisely made slight of that Misfortune and without any Regard to it marched directly to London where on the fourth Day of March by vertue of the aforementioned Act of Parliament he was proclaimed King by the Name of Edward the Fourth He was as to his Person the goodliest Man of his Time and he was not less Valiant than beautiful On the twelfth of March he advanced against his Enemies and on Palm-Sunday with an Army of forty thousand and six hundred Men he encountred with sixty thousand and obtained so great a Victory that thirty six thousand seven hundred and seventy two of his Adversaries were slain And so being safe in his Throne 1461. he thought it time to put the Crown upon his Head which was solemnly performed on the twenty eighth Day of June In the mean time Thomas Earl of Kildare was on the thirtieth of April chosen Lord Justice by the Council of Ireland and continued so until Sir Rowland Fitz-Eusâ—ace 1462. Lord of Portlester and Treasurer was appointed Deputy to the Duke of Clarence He held a Parliament at Dublin Friday before S. Luke's Day which enacted That ten Pound per annum Davis 96. be received out of the Profits of the Courts to repair the Castle hall It seems that one William O Bolgir was made Denizen about this time Lib. G. and that on the fourth of May 1463. Robert Barnwal was made Baron of Trimlets-Town and it must not be forgot That the Earl of Ormond was beheaded at Newcastle and attainted by Parliament in Englaâ—d ◠〈◊〉 4. and that that noble Family was in Disgrace all this â—eâ—gn for their firm adhesion to the House of Lancaster This Lord Justice was long after this in a very old Age made Viscount Baltinglass by King Henry VIII and now was forced to resign to George Duke of Clarence the King's Brother who was made Lord Lieutenant for Life and deputed his Godfather Thomas Earl of Desmond Lib. M. Lord Deputy in whose time Mints were established at Dublin Trim Drogheda Waterford and Galway to coyn Groats two Penny pieces Pence Halfpence and Farthings And not long after it was ordered That English Mony should advance a fourth Part in Ireland viz. That an English Nine Pence should pass for a Shilling in Ireland and a Shilling for sixteen Pence and so proportionably And it seems the Gold Noble coyned in the time of Edward III. was inhanced higher than the rest for it was ordered to pass for ten Shillings And this was the first time any difference was made in the value of Mony between England and Ireland This Lord Justice held a Parliament at Weys Friday before S. Martin's Day 1463. which the Thursday after was adjourned to Waterford to be held the Monday following It was again on Saturday before the Feast of Edward the Confessor adjourned to Naas Irish Statutes 19. to be held Monday before S. Matthias Day and thence on the Friday after it met there it was adjourned to Dublin to be held Monday before S. David's Day and there on the Saturday after it was dissolved having first enacted I. That all Parliament Men should have Priviledge forty Days before and forty Days after every Sessions And II. That the Attorneys Fees be regulated And III. That clipped Mony should not be currant He held another Parliament at Trim 1465. on Wednesday after S. Lawrence his Day at which it was enacted I. That the like Challenge may be had against the Feofee as against cestuy que use II. That any Body may kill Thieves or Robbers Repealed 11 Car. 1 c. 6. or any Person going to rob or steal having no faithful Men of Good Name in English Apparel in their Company III. That the Irish within Pale shall wear English Habit take English Names and swear Allegiance upon pain of forfeiture of Goods IV. That English and Irish speaking English and living with the English shall have an English Bow and Arrows on pain of two Pence V. That there be a Constable and Butts in every Town And Lastly That no Foreign Vessels fish on the Rebels Coast on pain of Forfeiture And every one that fisheth on the Coast of the Pale to pay a Duty But this Lord Justice who was the greatest Man that ever was of his Family began now to decline in the King's Favour and was obliged to give place to John Lord Tiptoft 1467. Earl of Worcester Treasurer of England and Constable of England for Life Lord Deputy of Ireland he was one of the most learned and eloquent Men in Christendom and held a Parliament at Drogheda At which it was enacted I. That the Governour for the time being may pass into Islands II. That none shall purchase Bulls for Benefices from Rome under great Penalty III. That the King's Pardon to Provisors be void IV. That the
Courts of Exchequer and Commonpleas be removeable at the Discretion of the chief Governour on twenty eight Days notice V. That the Earls of Desmond and Kildare and Edward Plunket Esq as well for Alliances Fosterage and Alterage with the King's Irish Enemies as in furnishing them with Horse and Arms and supporting them against the King's Subjects which is notoriously known to be against the Kings Laws and the laudable Statutes of the Land Lib. D. be attainted of Treason and that whoever hath any of their Goods or Lands and doth not discover it to the Deputy within fourteen Days shall be attainted of Felony By vertue of this Act of Parliament Davis 186. the great Earl of Desmond was beheaded at Drogheda the fifteenth of February 1467. Report makes his Crime to be That of extorting Coyn and Livery And the Irish say it was for an affront he put upon the Queen for being of a noble Race and a generous or rather proud Spirit he despised the King's Marriage with so mean a Subject as the Lady Elizabeth Grey and often said She was a Taylors Widow Perhaps he had more reason than any Man to speak bitterly against such Matches because he had no other Title to the Earldom of Desmond than by the Marriage of his Nephew Thomas the fifth Earl of Desmond to Katherin ni William mac Cormock one of his Vassals for which that Earl was so persecuted by his Relations that he was forced to resign his Earldom to this his Unkle who is commonly called by the Irish Thomas of Drogheda And it would be a very hard case that the Nephew should be so abused for an Act which the King had justified by following the Example and therefore the Unkle exclaimed against that Action as a thing too base to be imitated or excus'd There is also another Vulgar Tradition about this matter which seems very unlikely Lib. P. if not impossible and that is That the Queen should steal the Privy Signet and put it to an Order for his Execution But it is well worth our Observation Davis 185. That as the Earls of Desmond were the first Introducers of Coyn and Livery among the English and the first that broached the distinction between English of Birth and English of Blood and the first Peers that refused to come to Parliament upon Summons so they were the only Peers that ever were executed in Ireland and the only Noble English Family that was by the Hand of Justice extinguished there so that this degenerate Family which of all others was most injurious and ungrateful to the English Government did suffer more by the same Government than any other Family in that Kingdom and those Exactions of Coyn and Livery which were the Foundations of their Grandure did at last prove the cause or occasion of their Ruine in the person of Gerald the fifteenth Earl of Desmond On the twenty sixth of February Edmond Lord Dunboyn Lib. G. for taking Con O Connor Prisoner and delivering him to the Lord Deputy and for other Services he had done the State obtained a Patent for ten Pound per annum payable out of the Fee farm Rents of Waterford forfeited by the Attainder of James Earl of Ormond and also the Prisage of Limerick Cork Ross Galway Youghal Kingsale Dungarvan and Dingle and the Lands of Castle-Richard in Meath habendum during his Life It is plain by many Circumstances and particularly that of his short stay in Ireland that this Lord Deputy came over meerly to serve a turn for as soon as the Earl of Desmond was executed the Earl of Kildare was not only pardoned but also the Lord Deputy hastned to England and left Thomas Earl of Kildare 1467. Lord Justice and afterward Lord Deputy to the Duke of Clarence Selden 841. In whose time John Bold was made Baron of Ratooth This Lord Justice held a Parliament at Drogheda which enacted I. That whereas it was doubted October 1468. whether the Act of 6 Rich. 2. That Women consenting to Ravishers should forfeit their Inheritance were of Force in Ireland it is now put out of Doubt and that and all other English Statutes made before that time are confirmed here II. Against Regrators and Ingrossers He also held another Parliament at the Naas Friday after S. Andrew's Day 1472. which was adjourned to Dublin to the Friday after S. Gregory's Day and enacted I. That Staple Wares be not transported to Scotland without payment of the Custom called the Coquet upon Pain of Forfeiture of the same II. That every Merchant shall bring twenty Shillings worth of Bows and Arrows into Ireland Repeal 10 Car. 1. ch 22. for every twenty Pounds worth of other Goods he imports from England III. That no Grain be transported out of Ireland if the Market Price exceed ten Pence a Peck on pain of forfeiting Ship and Goods But it was all repealed by the Parliament Lib. G. 18 Edw. 4. Nevertheless there was an Act of Parliament this Year of 12 Edw. 4. to this effect That there should be a Fraternity of Arms of the number of thirteen Persons Ex offic magistr Rot. in Castr Dublin Davis 55. of the most Honourable and faithfully disposed in the Counties of Kildare Dublin Meath and Louth viz. three out of each County and four from Meath that is to say Thomas Earl of Kildare Rowland Eustace Lord of Portlester Sir Rowland Eustace Knight for the County of Kildare Robert Lord of Hoath the Mayor of Dublin for the time being and Sir Robert Dowdal Knight for the County of Dublin the Lord Gormanstown Edward Plunket Seneschal of Meath Alexander Plunket Esq and Barnaby Barnewal Esq for the County of Meath and the Mayor of Drogheda Sir Lawrence Taaf Knight and Richard Bellew Esq for the County of Louth And that they and their Successors should yearly assemble at Dublin on S. George's Day and there chuse one of them to be Captain for the next year the which Captain and Brethren shall be created a Society by the Name of the Captain and Brethren at Arms the Captain shall have an hundred and twenty Archers on Horseback at six pence a Day for Meat Drink and Wages and forty Horsemen and forty Pages at five pence a day for him and his Page and four Marks per annum Wages the Captain and Brethren and their Successors to support this Charge shall have twelve pence per Pound out of all Merchandize sold in Ireland whether it be imported or exported except Hides and the Goods of the Free-men of Drogheda and Dublin and the Mayors of Dublin and Drogheda to be the Receivers of the foresaid Poundage the Fraternity shall have Power to make Laws for the good Governance of the Society and to elect a new Brother in the place of any deceasing and the Captain shall have Authority to apprehend all Out-law'd Rebels and others that will not be justified by Law And this was the Original of the
BROTHERHOOD of St. George But to proceed William Sherwood 1475. Bishop of Meath was Lord Deputy to the Duke of Clarence he held a Parliament at Dublin Friday after the Feast of St. Margaret which makes it Treason to bring Bulls or Apostiles from Rome and orders the Lords of Parliament to wear Robes on pain of one hundred Shillings and enjoyns the Barons of the Exchequer to wear their Habits in Term-time and Enacts That if any Englishman be damnified by an Irishman not amesnable to Law he may reprize himself upon the whole Sept or Nation And that it shall be Felony to take a Distress contrary to Common Law which was a very necessary Act in those Times and is the only Act of this Parliament that is printed and though it be an English Case yet it may be useful in other Countries and therefore we will mention That George Nevil Duke of Bedford was this Year degraded 4th Instit. 355. because he had not any Estate left to support the Dignity Henry 1478. Lord Grey of Ruthen Lord Deputy held a Parliament a Drogheda which repeal'd all the Acts of the aforesaid Parliament of 12 Edw. 4. and then he resigned to Sir Robert Preston Lib. G. Lord Deputy who on the 7th of August was created Viscount Gormanston but he held the Government but a little time before he surrendred to Girald Earl of Kildare Lord Deputy he held a Parliament at Naas Friday after the Feast of St. Petronilla which Enacted 1478. 1. That Distresses taken for Rent might be sold And 2. That Non-Residents might be chosen Parliament-men 1480. but on the twelfth of August the Earl of Kildare was made Deputy to the Kings Son Richard Duke of York for four years from the fifth of May following Lib. M. by the Dukes Patent under the Kings Privy Seal quod nota and the Earl by Indenture with the King did Covenant to keep the Realm surely and safely to his power and was to have eighty Archers on Horse-back and forty other Horsemen called Spears and six hundred pound per annum to maintain them and if the Irish Revenue cannot pay it it shall be sent out of England This Lord Deputy held another Parliament on Monday after the Translation of St. Thomas at which it was Ordained 1. That no Hawks should be carried out of the Kingdom without great Custom And 2. That the Pale should have no correspondence with the Irish and it seems this Parliament Naturaliz'd Con O Neal Davis 93â— who had married the Lord Deputy's Daughter What the incomparable Spencer in his View of Ireland relates of the Duke of Clarence and Moroughen Ranagh O Brian is not to be placed in the Reign of Edward the Fourth because George Duke of Clarence was never actually in Ireland whilst he was Lord Lieutenant of that Kingdom but always managed that Province by Deputies and therefore I suppose that what Spencer has related will better suit with the Government of Lionel Duke of Clarence in the Reign of Edward the Third who did indeed marry the Heiress of Vlster and performed the other Atchievements Mr. Spencer writes of It was in this Kings Reign that the Jubile which before was every Fiftieth Year was by Pope Sixtus the Fourth brought to be every five and twentieth year and that the Primacy of Scotland was setled upon the Archbishop of St. Andrews And thus stood the Government of Ireland during the Reign of King Edward the Fourth who between the French King the troublesome Earl of Warwick the discontented Lords and the Attempts of the Wife and Friends of Henry the Sixth found so much work at home that Ireland was in a manner neglected and left to the Protection of the Fraternity of St. George when on the ninth Day of April 1483 the King died in the two and fortieth Year of his Age and of his Reign the three and twentieth THE REIGN OF RICHARD III. King of England c. And LORD of IRELAND UPon the Death of King Edward his Son the Prince of Wales being then at Ludlow was Proclaimed King by the Name of Edward the Fifth and in his way to London was perswaded by the means of his Unkle the Duke of Glocester to dismiss great part of his Guards as well to save the Charge as to avoid giving Cause of Suspicion and Reasons of Jealousie to such as doubted that so numerous an Attendance was entertain'd upon Designs prejudicial to them And so having luckily mounted this first step to the Throne the Duke of Glocester proceeded to confederate with the Duke of Buckingham and the Lord Hastings and by their assistance he first seized on the Earl Rivers and others of the Kings Relations and Friends and then got the King himself into his power and brought him to London using a thousand Artifices to make the People believe that the Queen-Mothers Kindred designed the extirpation of the Ancient Nobility the Slavery of the People and the Ruine of the Kingdom This Duke of Glocester wheedled or bribed to that degree that he was chosen Protector by the unanimous Consent of the Council and afterwards got the Kings Brother out of Sanctuary at Westminster and under specious Pretences of their Security both the Princes were conveyed to the Tower of London in a most pompous and splendid manner and there they were afterwards murdered by the Appointment if not by the Hands of their Unkle King Richard took upon him the Regal Office on the 18th day of June 1483. and before the Murder of his Nephews and he was Crowned together with his Queen on the 6th day of July 1483. and being very busie in England to establish the Crown he had usurped he did not think it advisable to make any Alterations in Ireland but continued in that Government Gerald Earl of Kildare Lord Deputy to Edward the Kings Son who held a Parliament at Dublin wherein it was Enacted That the Mayor and Bayliffs of Waterford might go in Pilgrimage to St. James of Compostella in Spain leaving sufficient Deputies to govern that City in their absence 2. That the Corporation of Ross might reprize themselves against Robbers and that no Persons should alien their Free-hold in Ross to a Foreigner without the Licence of the Portriff and Council of that Town but these being private Acts are not Printed It seems that the next Year the Earl of Kildare as Deputy to the Earl of Lincoln 1484. Lord Lieutenant did hold another Parliament at Dublin wherein six private Acts only were made and not long after conven'd another Parliament at Trim which either did nothing at all or nothing worth mentioning but a subsequent Parliament at Dublin gave a Subsidy of Thirteen shillings and four pence out of every Plow-Land to the Deputy towards his Charges in the Service he did against the Irish wherein O Connor it seems was a Partner or Co-adjutor for he also had ten Groats out of every Plow-Land in Meath for
York Second Son of Edward the Fourth to whom the Crown did really belong if he were living and this Perkin did personate him so well that there remains some doubt to this day whether he were an Impostor or not but supposing he was it was cunningly contrived to let him first appear in Portugal as a Child that had in a skulking manner fled from the Cruelty of his usurping Unkle besides Portugal was a Place with which the Duchess of Burgundy had not much Correspondence and therefore it could not be suspected that she had a hand in the Cheat but however that be young Perkin set Sail from Lisbon and arrived safely at Cork where he was kindly received by the Citizens and particularly by John Walters an eminent Merchant of Cork who probably was then Mayor and whose Apprentice Perkin had been as they say he wrote Letters to the Earls of Kildare and Desmond for their Assistance against King Henry but before he received their Answers he received Letters from the French King inviting him thither and so to France he went and was royally received and entertained until that King made Peace with King Henry and then Perkin made a seasonable Retreat into Flanders where he was exceeding welcome to his supposed Aunt the Duchess of Burgundy and there we will leave him for a while and return to our â—ord Deputy He held a Parliament at Dublin 1493. on Friday after Midsummer which it seems vacated some Indictments and Inquisitions that had formerly been made to the prejudice of this Lord Deputy by the Means of the Lord Portlester and now the Tables being turn'd and the Votaries of the House of Lancaster at Helm the Lord Portlester himself was questioned in the Exchequer for the miss-management of his Office of Treasurer This Parliament did also repeal a former Act made against the City of Waterford and restored that City to all its ancient Liberties and Priviledges and it is probable that there was also an Act of Parliament now made for the general Resumption of all the Crown Lands that were alienated or granted away since the first year of King Henry the Sixth but none of the Acts of this Parliament are Printed except one for the cleansing of the Water-Course in St. Patrick-street in Dublin and so this Parliament being dissolved in August the Lord Deputy on the sixth of September following resigned to Robert Preston Viscount Gormanstown Lord Deputy to the Duke of Bedford who it seems had not Commission to call a Parliament nevertheless he did call one which met at Drogheda and made several Statutes which were absolutely void for the Defect aforesaid however they were expresly repeal'd by 10 Hen. 7. cap. 23. And these farther Reasons were given for it 1. That the Lord Lieutenant had surrendred his Patent before the Summons And 2. Because the Parliamentary Summons did not issue to all the Shires but to four Shires only On the Twelfth of September this Lord Deputy called several of the Nobility to Trim where they subscribed Articles for the Peace of the Kingdom viz. That no man should make War without the Deputies Consent and that several Extortions and Tributes that were used and demanded should be abrogated and suppressed and that Murderers Thieves and Vagabonds should be punished c. There were present at this Assembly Alexander Plunket L. Chancellor Girald Earl of Kildare the Bishops of Meath Kildare the Lords of Slane Delvin Killeen Houth Trimletston and Dunsany c. And they gave Recognizanse and Hostages for the observation of those Articles and after this he called the Parliament aforesaid In October the late Lord Deputy Fitz-Symons went into England to give the King a full Account as well of his own Government as of the present State of the Kingdom of Ireland and not long after viz. in November following the Earl of Kildare hearing he was impeach'd in England went also thither to justifie himself before the King but the L. Deputy leaving the Government in the Hands of his Son followed the Earl to England and by the Assistance of Sir James Ormond Lord Treasurer of Ireland he so far prevailed that Kildare's Justification was rejected and himself sent over Prisoner to Ireland to the end the Matter might be more fully examined upon the place 1494. by Sir Edward Poynings Knight of the Garter Lord Deputy whose chief Errand was to suppress the Abettors of Perkin Warbeck he came over the thirteenth of September and immediately made great Alterations amongst the Ministers of State Henry Dean Bishop of Bangor he constituted Lord Chancellor Sir Hugh Conway was appointed Treasurer Thomas Bouring was made Chief Justice of the Kings Bench as John Topcliff was of the Common Pleas and Walter Ever was made Chief Baron of the Exchequer all which were Englishmen born and good Lawyers and were sworn of the Privy Council of Ireland This Deputy brought over with him about one thousand Souldiers and resolved to invade Vlster to pursue some of Perkins's Friends that fled thither it is strange he should use the Earl of Kildare's assistance in this Expedition however together they went accompanied with Sir James Ormond who had resigned the Office of High Treasurer they did great Execution on the Irish and harass'd the Territories of O Hanlon and Mac Genis and others It was suggested That Kildare did secretly treat and conspire with O Hanlon to destroy the Lord Deputy for which he was Attainted as shall be shewn hereafter but it seems he was innocent of that Matter not only because O Hanlon cleared him upon Oath two years after but also because he was acquitted in England upon full hearing before the King Nevertheless Kildare's Brother did at this time seize on the Castle of Caterlogh whereupon the Lord Deputy was necessitated to clap up a sort of a Peace with O Hanlon and Macgenis and so having taken their Oaths and Hostages he immediately marched to Caterlogh which after ten days Siege 1494. was surrendred unto him And so in November on Monday before the Feast of St. Andrew sate that famous Parliament at Drogheda which Enacted I. That the Treasurer might appoint his under-Officers here as is used in England and shall account once a year here before the Barons of the Exchequer and such of the Council as the Lord Deputy shall appoint and the same Accounts to be certified into England and finally determined and setled there II. That no Minister of Justice viz. The Chancellor Treasurer Judges Clerk or Master of the Rolls nor any Officer Accomptant shall have their Places but during the King's Pleasure III. An Act adnulling a Prescription which Traytors and Rebels claimed in Ireland The Reason of this Act was because Richard Duke of York at his last being in Ireland did Cause an Act to be made That Ireland should be a Sanctuary for Refugees and that it should be Treason to disturb any body there by any Writ Privy Seal or other Matter from England and
this he did because he was then in Rebellion against Henry the Sixth and to encourage his Partizans to repair to him in Ireland and by vertue of this Act he Executed William Overy Esq who was Servant to the Earl of Ormond And now the Abettors of Lambert Symnel and Perkin Warbeck which are the Lads mentioned in the new Statute excused themselves upon the aforesaid Act and therefore it was now repealed and all Receivers and Maintainers of Traytors are by this Act made guilty of Treason and Obedience is commanded to be paid to the Great Seal and Privy Seal of England and to Letters Missive under the Kings Signet IV. The Famous Statute commonly called Poyning's Act That no Parliament should for the future be holden in Ireland until the Chief Governor and Council do first certifie the King under the Great Seal of that Land as well the Causes and Considerations as the Acts they design to pass and till the same be approv'd by the King and Council and a Licence thereupon do issue from the King to summon a Parliament and that all Parliaments hereafter holden in other manner be void and of none effect And it is to be noted That this Act was by the Statutes of 28 Hen. 8. c. 4. c. 20. suspended as to that Parliament and by the Statute of 3 4. Philip and Mary it is very excellently and at large explained and by the Statute of 11 Eliz. c. 1. Poyning's Act was again suspended or superseded as to that Parliament in confidence that their most worthy Governour Sir Henry Sydny would not pass any Bills prejudicial to the Queen or the Kingdom but because they had not the same Assurance of their future Governours they did upon second thoughts and in another Session make a Law 11 Eliz. c. 8. That no Bill should for the future be certified into England for the Repeal of Poyning's Act until first such Bill should be approved of by the Majority of both Houses of Parliament in Ireland nevertheless whenever it shall happen that the English and Protestant Interest in Ireland shall overtop its Enemies and make a Majority in Parliamentary Assemblies that Act of Poyning's which was made only to help the English when too weak for the Irish will be obsolete and useless when the Irish Popish Interest becomes inconsiderable V. That all the Statutes against Provisors made in England or Ireland be put in execution here VI. That no Citizen or Townsman receive Livery or Wages from any Nobleman or Gentleman neither engage themselves by Indenture or otherwise to any Lord or Gentleman on pain of being disfranchis'd and expell'd the Corporation and the chief Magistrate to forfeit Twenty Pounds if he fail to punish the Transgressors of this Law and that no Lord or Gentleman shall retain any other but his Officers and Menial Servants on pain of Twenty Pounds VII That none be Aldermen Jurors or Free-men in any Town but such as have been Apprentices or constant Inhabitants there and that no man be Mayor but one known to be Loyal nor no Lord or other be made privy to their Consultations except their Recorder on pain of an hundred Marks and all their By-Laws contrary to the Kings Prerogative and Jurisdiction to be void and that this Act be recorded in every Corporation VIII That the Statutes of Kilkenny be confirm'd and executed except those about the Irish Language and riding on Saddles IX That the Subjects keep Bows and Arrows X. That the Captains of Marches do present the Names of their Retinue by Indenture that they may answer for their Defaults and that it be Felony to succour or willingly suffer Rebels or Enemies to pass and re-pass the Marches and that every Proprietor of Land in the Marches do reside thereon or appoint a sufficient Deputy to do so on pain of losing his Estate during his Absence and that all People near the Marches from Sixteen to Sixty be ready on warning in their best defensible Array to defend the same XI That no man compound for the Death or Murder of his Friend or Relation nor revenge it but according to Law XII That no man keep Fire-Arms after Proclamation on pain of Twenty Pounds XIII That it be Treason to stir up the Irishry to make War on the English or any body to make war against the chief Governour of Ireland XIV That one of the Realm of England be Constable of the Castle of Dublin and the like of Trim Lexlip Athlone Wicklow Green-Castle Carlingford Castlefergus repeal'd 11 Car. 1. c. 6. And hence arose the vulgar Error That no man can be Lord Lieutenant of Ireland but an Englishman born XV. An Act about the Records of Vlster Conaught and Trim. XVI That the Lords appear in their Robes every Parliament on pain of one hundred Shillings XVII That no man shall make Peace or War without the Consent of the Chief Governour on pain of one hundred Pounds c. for it is to be noted that before this time every Lord made War or Peace as he pleased without Pay or Commission XVIII That no man take Money or Horsemeat by colour of Gift Reward or otherwise by reason of any Menace and if he do the Giver is to forfeit an hundred Shillings unless he complains seasonably and the Taker is to suffer the Punishment appointed for the Takers of Coyn and Livery XIX That the Souldier shall pay three halfpence a Meal and his Man a Penny and a Penny for six Field-sheaves of Oats and Litter according and whoever refuses to quarter Souldiers at this Rate forfeits twelve pence a time unless he be a Man of twenty Marks Estate per annum and except Cities and Corporate Towns XX. That the Words Cromabo and Butlerabo and such like Words of Faction be abolished XXI That wilful Murder be High Treason XXII That all the Statutes late made in England concerning or belonging to the Publick Weal be henceforth good and effectual in Ireland And XXIII That the Statutes made by the Lord Gormanstown aforesaid he repeal'd and null There were many other Statutes made at this Parliament Lib. D. although they are not Printed Davis 171. One was That the King should have a Subsidy of twenty six shillings and eight pence out of every sixscore Acres of Arable Land in lieu of Purveyance which it seems was together with Coyn and Livery supprest by that Act Rot. Parl. c. 4. And another Act gave Power to the Lord Treasurer to govern the Kingdom on the Death or Surrender of the Chief Governor until the Kings Pleasure were known There was also an Act made in favour of the Knights of St. John's of Jerusalem to resume all their Possessions alienated by Prior Keating or his Predecessor Thomas Talbot and to restore the Jewels and Reliques they had pawn'd to depose the Preceptors they had placed in the Commanderies and that no man but an Englishman should be Prior for the future Another Act made a general
Companion of The Order and though some say Davis 59. this War was commenced on private Distaste yet it is more certain that it determined to the Publick Advantage Walter Fitz-Symons Archbishop of Dublin was sent by the Lord Deputy and Council to give his Majesty an Account of this prodigious Success and to treat with his Majesty about other Matters of State He departed the 20th of September and performed what he had in Charge to the great satisfaction as well of the King as of those that sent him and in a little time return'd to Ireland with honour and applause In the mean time the King was importunate with Pope Julius the Second to Canonize his Predecessor King Henry the Sixth and in order to it he caused a Book to be written of his Virtues and Miracles and had it Printed And the Pope recommended the Examination of the Matter to the Bishops of Canterbury London Durham and Winchester by his Bull which the Curious may find at large in Sir James Ware 's Annals pag. 73. But it seems nothing farther was done in it and this is certain That those who say he was a Good Christian do nevertheless allow that he was a bad King for first he lost France from England and then he lost England from himself And now a Provincial was indicted to meet at Tredagh in July but the Pestilence raging almost every where in Ireland but especially in Vlster the Synod was therefore translated to Ardee in the County of Louth and there for the same reason was suddenly dissolved This Plague was followed with a Famine 1505. by reason of the Wetness both of Summer and Autumn and it was but small Relief the great Charities of Walter Archbishop of Dublin and John Allen Dean of St. Patricks could at that time administer in the noble Foundation of a Hospital at S. Kevins in Dublin to which the Archbishop gave Ground and the Dean gave considerable Revenues The next Year was also unfortunate 1506. not only by the Death of John Payne Bishop of Meath who was a very hospitable Man but also by the accidental Burning of great part of Trim they say by Lightning which was at that time the most considerable Town in Meath But the Lord Deputy summoned a Parliament to meet at Dublin in October 1508. 1508. which it accordingly did and both the Clergy and Laity gave the King a Subsidy of thirteen shillings and four pence out of every hundred and twenty Acres of Arable Land Ware 81. The Deputy once more invaded Vlster in favour of his Kinsmen the O Neals 1509. he design'd to recover the Castles of Dungannon and Owny which he effected for the Castle of Dungannon surrendred upon the first Summons and the other he took and demolished and set at liberty Art Mac Con O Neal who was Prisoner there and thus stood the Kingdom of Ireland which Kildare kept in a better condition than it had formerly been in for he awed the Rebels by his Reputation which was obtained partly by his courage and the fierceness of his Humour and partly by his great and frequent Success and he secured the Pale by Castles and Fortifications built on the Borders which kind of Defence former Ages had too much neglected And so on the 22th day of April the King died at his Palace of Richmond in the four and twentieth Year of his Reign and the three and fiftieth Year of his Age. THE REIGN OF HENRY VIII KING OF England and France Lord and afterward King of IRELAND HENRY the Eighth the only surviving Son of his Father succeeded peaceably to the Throne of his Ancestors April 22. 1509. in the eighteenth Year of his Age In him both Roses were united for by his Father he was Heir to the Lancastrian Line and by his Mother to the House of York and so being without Competitor was the more capable to effect those great Designs which he afterwards undertook He found in the Government of Ireland Gerald Earl of Kildare whom he continued Lord Justice and the Year following made him Lord Deputy and on good Reasons for though Kildare was counted Rash and Unpolitick yet he was a Man of great Interest and Courage and his Name was more terrible to the Irish than an Army And here let me observe once for all That no Nation in the Word is more governed by Reputation and Appearance than the Irish the Common People are dejected by a Trifle and elevated for less than nothing And this Observation is manifestly justified by their frequent Submissions and their as frequent Rebellions and if any object their continued Obstinacy to the Irish Interest and Popish Religion it is easily answered That as their Fears are without Cause so their Hopes are without Reason and that their Hope 's exceeded their Fears is partly to be attributed to the Nature of Man facile credimus quod volumus but chiefly to the Noblemen and Clergy whose Interest and Business it was to keep the Mobile always in Expectation and to make them believe That one Day or other the Popish Interest would prevail The King unwilling to disturb an infant Government by unnecessary and disobliging Changes did likewise continue all the Officers of State in their Dignities who together with the Deputy and the Mayor Aldermen and Citizens of Dublin immediately proclaimed him King of England and France and Lord of Ireland with as much Formality and State as the time could afford which was followed with the Shouts of the People ringing of Bells and Bonfires as is usual and the like was done in the other chief Cities and Towns After which on the twenty fourth Day of June the King and the Queen were crowned at Westminster by Warham Archbishop of Canterbury Kildare being now made Deputy designed an Expedition into Munster 1510. he levied an Army in the Counties of Dublin Louth Meath and Kildare and was also assisted by Hugh O Donel Lord of Tyrconnel they marched into Desmond without Opposition burning and spoiling all as they went and there they took some Castles but as they returned slowly being loaden with Prey at Monetrar in the County of Limerick Ware 's Annals 87. they met with a great number of their Enemies led by James eldest Son of the Earl of Desmond Tirlagh O Bryan Chief of Thomond and Mac William a Lord of the Burks both Sides were resolved to fight which they did desperately to the great loss of both Parties especially of the Royalists who were tired with long Marches and overburthened with too much Prey and perhaps it had been fatal to them if the Night had not ended the Conflict which gave Kildare the Opportunity to make a safe Retreat the next Day without further Damage This Year there were so great Floods and Inundations 1511. that Trees Houses and Bridges were overturned in several Places Cahir O Connor Prince of Offaly was murdered by his own Followers near the Abby called
Monasterpheoris in the King's County And this Year began the Lateran Council under Julius II which ended under Leo X anno 1518. Kildare having the last Year put himself into a Condition of appearing early and formidably abroad this Spring 1512. undertook an Expedition into Vlster the Castle of Belfast which he had demolished nine Years since was now again repaired but unable to resist the Power of the Deputy it was again the second time taken and destroyed It is not recorded that Kildare met with much opposition so that he had little to do but to burn and waste the Country and to gather the Preys together most part whereof he divided among his Soldiers Rokeby Archbishop of Dublin held a provincial Synod at Dublin but what they did non constat for the Canons are lost And the Lord Deputy built the new Chappel in the Choir of Christ Church Dublin where himself was afterward buried About this time the Citizens of Dublin did assault the Earl of Ormond in S. Patrick's Church and shooting at random defaced Images c. For which Sacrilege they were enjoyned this Penance by a Legate sent on purpose viz. That the Mayor should go barefoot through the City before the Eucharist on Corpus Christi Day which was performed accordingly But because of the manner of Expression used in those Days and some other Curiosities in the Story I will insert it at large in the Words of Holingshead Between Gerald Earl of Kildare and James Butler Hâ—â—ingshead 82. Earl of Ormond their own Jealousies â—ed with Envy and Ambition kindled with certain lewd factious Abetters on either side as generally to all Noblemen so especially to both those Houses very incident ever since the ninth Year of Henry the Seventh bred some trouble in Ireland The Plot of which mutual Grudge was grounded upon the factious Dissention which was in England between the Houses of York and Lancaster Kildare cleaving to York and Ormond relying to Lancaster to the upholding of which Discord both these Noblemen laboured with Tooth and Nail to overcrow and consequently to overthrow one the other And for so much as they were in Honour Peers they wrought by Hook and by Crook to be in Authority Superiors The Government therefore in the Reign of Henry the Seventh being cast on the House of Kildare James Earl of Ormond a deep and far reaching Man giving back like a butting Ram to strike the harder Push devised to inveagle his Adversary by Submission and Courtesie being not then able to over-match him with Stoutness or Preheminence Whereupon Ormond addressed his Letters to the Deputy specifying a Slander raised on him and his That he purposed to deface his Government and to withstand his Authority And for the clearing of himself and his Adherent so it stood with the Deputy his Pleasure he would make his speedy Repair to Dublin and there in an open Audience would purge himself of all such odious Crimes of which he was wrongfully Suspected To this reasonable Request had the Lord Deputy no sooner condescended than Ormond with a puissant Army marched towards Dublin incamping in an Abby in the Suburbs of the City named S. Thomas Court The approaching of so great an Army of the Citizens suspected and also of Kildare's Counsellors greatly disliked Lastly the Extortion that the lawless Soldiers used in the Pale by several Complaints detected These three Points with divers other suspicious Circumstances laid and put together did minister occasion rather of further Discord than of any present Agreement Ormond persisting still in his humble Suit sent his Messenger to the Lord Deputy declaring That he was prest and ready to accomplish the Tenor of his Letters and there did attend as became him his Lordship his Pleasure and as for the Company he brought with him from Munster albeit suspicious Brains did rather of a malicious craftiness surmise the worst than of charitable Wisdom did judge the best yet notwithstanding upon Conference had with his Lordship he would not doubt to satisfie him at full in all Points wherewith he could be with any Colour charged and so to stop up the Spring from whence all the envious Suspicions gushed Kildare with this mild Message intreated appointed the Meeting to be at S. Patrick his Church where they were ripping up one to another their Mutual Quarrels rather recounting the Damages they sustained than acknowledging the Injuries they offered The Citizens and Ormond his Army fell at some jar for the Oppression and Exaction with which the Soldiers surcharged them with whom as part of the Citizens bickered so a round knot of Archers rushed into the Church meaning to have murthered Ormond as the Captain and Bell-Wether of all this lawless Rabble The Earl of Ormond suspecting that he had been betraied fled to the Chapter-House put too the Door sparring it with Might and Main The Citizens in their Rage imagining That every Post in the Church had been one of the Soldiers shot hab nab at random up to the Rood-Loft and to the Chancel leaving some of their Arrows sticking in the Images Kildare pursuing Ormond to the Chapiter-House-door undertook on his Honour That he should receive no Villany Whereupon the recluse craving his Lordships Hand to assure him his Life there was a Clift in the Chapiter-House-Door pierced at a trice to the end both the Earls should have shaken Hands and be reconciled But Ormond surmising that this Drift was intended for some further Treachery that if he would stretch out his Hand it had been percase chopt off refused that Profer vntil Kildare stretch'd in his Hand to him and so the Door was opened they both embraced the Storm appeased and all their Quarrels for that present rather discontinued than ended In this Garboil one of the Citizens surnamed Blanchfield was slain This latter Quarrel being like a green Wound rather bungerly botcht than soundly cured in that Kildare suspected That so great an Army which the other alledged to be brought for the Guard of his Person to have been of purpose assembled to outface him and his Power in his own Country and Ormond mistrusted That this tracherous Practice of the Dublinians was by Kildare devised These and the like Surmises lightly by both the Noblemen misdeemed and by the continual twatling of Fliring Clawbacks in their Ears whispered bred and fostered a Malice betwixt them and their Posterity many Years incurable which caused much Stir and Unquietness in the Realm until the Confusion of the one House and the nonage of the other ended and buried their mutual Quarrels Ormond was nothing inferior to the other in Stomach and in reach of Policy far beyond him Kildare was in Government mild to his Enemies stern to the Irish such a Scourge that rather for despite of him than for Favour of any part they relyed for a time to Ormond came under his Protection served at his Call performed by Starts as their manner is the Duty of good Subjects Ormond was
And so having wasted that Country he marched into Tyrone where he took and burnt the Castle of Dungannon and preyed and burnt all the Country thereabouts But the Citizens of Dublin had not so good luck for a Company of them thinking that the very Name of the King's Forces could obtain Victories over the Irish made an Incursion into Imaly but being as we say Fresh-Water Soldiers upon the Slaughter of a few of them the rest were frightned back to their Shops The Winter this Year was exceeding Cold and the Ice strong enough to bear all manner of Carriages which is very unusual in Ireland And this Winter Queen Mary was born whose Superstitious Zeal proved as extream Hot as the Weather was Cold. The Fortune and Victories of the Lord Deputy influenced the Irish to be quiet this Year and the Reputation of the Government was somewhat augmented by the Honourable Peace which the King made with the French 1518. in September which was afterwards proclaimed in Dublin In the mean time Ware 54. places this Anno 1597. but is mistaken great were the Dissentions in Ireland between Sir James Ormond a Man of great Courage and Reputation and Sir Pierce Butler a valiant Gentleman about the Earldom of Ormond the former was a Natural Son of John by some called Earl of Ormond elder Brother of Thomas the last Earl and the other was Son of Sir James Butler Son of Sir Edmund Son of Sir Richard Butler who was Brother to James the Fifth Earl of Ormond so that Pierce his Grandfather Sir Edmond was Cozen German to the Deceased Earl Thomas Hereby it appears that the Right to that Earldom was in Sir Pierce who had married the Lady Margaret Fitz-Girald the Lord Deputies Sister nevertheless Sir James having formerly been Lord Treasurer and a very popular Man and probably the Manager of this Estate for his Unkle Thomas who always resided in England by the help of the Tenants got into possession and by the same assistance and his own vigor he kept what he had got without allowing any thing to the right Heir towards his maintenance whereby that Noble Pair Sir Pierce and his Wife were reduced to great extremity It is scarce credible that Persons of that Quality and so well allied should be forced to lurk in Woods and want a Bottle of Wine for their Refreshment Holingsh 84. and yet Stanyhurst reports a formal Story That the Lady Margaret Fitz-Girald Wife of Sir Pierce Butler being great with Child complained to her Husband and their Servant James White that she could no longer live on Milk and therefore earnestly desired them to get her some Wine whereto Sir Pierce replied That she should have Wine enough within twenty four hours or feed alone on Milk for him and immediately he went away with his Page to lie in wait for his Competitor whom he met the next day riding with six Horsemen Attendants between Drumore and Kilkenny March 17. and upon a sudden Sir Pierce rushed in upon him and kill'd him with his Spear and thenceforward enjoyed the Estate in quiet This Year Rokeby Archbishop of Dublin who was likewise Lord Chancellor held a Provincial Synod at Dublin the Canons whereof are to be found in the Registry of the Bishop of Clogker And this Year or the next Art O Neal invaded and wasted O Dogherty's Island of Inisowen in the County of Donegal The Enemies of the Earl of Kildare had the last year done what they could underhand to disgrace him in England but he had so well defended himself by his Friends there 1519. that their Design was ineffectual wherefore they address'd themselves to Cardinal Wolsey and by his means procur'd Kildare to be recalled to answer Articles exhibited against him for Male-administration First Ware 98. That he had enriched himself and Followers by the King's Revenue and Land Secondly That he had Alliance and Correspondence with several Irish he had the King's Leave to substitute a Deputy so he appointed Sir Thomas Fitz-Girald of Lackagh a Knight of his own Family Lord Justice in the mean time Kildare marries in England with Elizabeth Grey Daughter of the Marquess of Dorset by whose means he got favour in England and was dismiss'd but Cardinal Wolsey suggesting the King had neglected Ireland too long and that some worthy man ought to be sent over that was impartial to any Faction or Party and was able to keep them not only more peaceable amongst themselves but also more serviceable to the King to the end that the Blood and Vigor which else would be spent in their Civil Dissentions might be opposed to the common Enemy he procured to be sent into Ireland Thomas Howard Earl of Surrey Lord Admiral of England Wales and Ireland Knight of the Garter Lord Lieutenant 1520. he came over the Wednesday before Whitsontide with an hundred of the Guards and a thousand others Horse and Foot by this the Cardinal obtained a double Advantage first In disappointing his Enemy the Earl of Kildare of the Government of Ireland and secondly In removing the Earl of Surry from the Court of England where he was a great Favourite On Whitsunday the Lord Lieutenant was alarum'd with a Report That Con Buckah O Neal who by Popular Election succeeded his Brother Art had invaded Meath with four thousand Horse and twelve thousand Foot says Paulus Jovius but falsly Surry was in haste to encounter the Rebel not doubting but that the Victory would be an honourable and happy Omen of his future Government and therefore adding to his small Army such of the Militia called The Risings out of City and Country as he could get on so short warning he marched to Slane but O Neal was frightned with the Name of this General and retir'd so fast that the Lord Lieutenant could neither find him nor his Army but not long after O Neal sent Letters to implore Pardon which was granted him on promise of future Obedience On the sixth of September the Lord Lieutenant wrote to the Cardinal That some Soldiers had seized on a Boat with design to be Pyrates but being prevented and apprehended they continued in Gaol because they could not be capitally punished by the Common Law and he had no Clause of Martial Law in his Commission as indeed he had not nor of conferring Knighthood which is strange and the better to ingratiate with the Cardinal he added That the Earl of Kildare will be found guilty of sending Letters to O Carol to raise a Rebellion and that if Kildare should be suffered to come to Ireland the whole Kingdom will be undone and he concludes That there is so great a Scarcity and Dearth in Ireland that the Soldier cannot live on four pence a day and therefore desires that a penny a day may be added to their Pay In October Lib. CCC the King wrote to the Lord Lieutenant That there will never be a thorough Reformation in Ireland until all
did all he could to evade or at least procrastinate that Voyage which was to be fatal to him and his Family he sent his Wife to use the Interest of her Friends in England and to alledg several vain Pretences and particularly That the ill Posture of Affairs in Ireland could not permit his Absence But all these Contrivances proving ineffectual at last he seriously prepared to begin the Voyage But before he went he furnished all his Castles especially Minooth and Ley with Guns and Ammunition out of the King's Store although he had the King 's express Command to the contrary imparted to him by the Master of the Rolls Allen in the presence of the Bishop of Meath and others and the Act of Attainder also mentions That he furnished the Wild Irishmen being the King 's Mortal Enemies with Arms and Ammunition out of his Majesty's Stores which is not improbable because of his Allyance with O Connor and O Carol. It is certain That Quos Deus vult perdere dementat and the brave Earl of Kildare is a plain Example of it for being ordered by the King to leave a Deputy for whose Fidelity he would answer he substitutes his own Son Thomas Fitz-Girald 1534. a forward rash Youth scarce one and twenty Years old who nevertheless had Qualities worthy of his House and perhaps would in time have exceeded all his Ancestors if by laying this too great Burthen on his weak Shoulders so early they had not broken his Back in the beginning It seems the Earl had some Jealousies of what afterwards hapned and therefore to qualifie his Son 's youthful Passions in some measure before he delivered him the Sword he spoke to him as followeth before the Council at Drogheda where he presently after imbarqued and set sail for England Son Thomas Holingsh 88. I doubt not but you know That my Sovereign Lord the King hath sent for me into England and what shall betide me God knoweth for I know not but howsoever it falleth both you and I know That I am well stept in Years And as I may shortly dye for that I am Mortal so I must in haste decease because I am old Wherefore insomuch as my Winter is well near ended and the Spring of your Age now buddeth my Will is That you behave your self so wisely in these your Green Years as that to the Comfort of your Friends you may enjoy the Pleasures of Summer glean and reap the Fruits of your Harvest that with Honour you may grow to the catching of that hoary Winter on which you see me your Father fast pricking And whereas it pleaseth the King his Majesty That upon my Departure here hence I should substitute in my room such a one for whose Government I would answer Albeit I know that your Years are tender your Wit not setled your Judgment not fully rectified and therefore I might be with good cause reclaimed from putting a naked Sword in a young Mans Hand Yet notwithstanding forsomuch as I am your Father and you my Son I am well assured to bear that Stroke with you in steering your Ship as that upon any Information I may command you as your Father and correct you as my Son for the wrong handling of your Helm There be here that sit at this Board far more sufficient Personages for so great Charge than you are But what then If I should cast this Burthen on their Shoulders it might be That hereafter they would be so far with Envy carried as they would percase hazzard the loss of one of their own Eyes to be assured that I should be deprived of both mine But forsomuch as the case toucheth your Skin as near as mine because as I said before I rest in the Winter and you in the Spring of your Years and now I am resolved Day by Day to learn rather How to die in the Fear of God than to live in the Pomp of the World I think you will not be so brain-sick as to stab your self through the Body only to scarifie my Skin with the Point of your Blade wherefore my Son consider That it is easie to raze and hard to build and in all your Affairs be ruled by this Board that for Wisdom is able and for entire Affection it beareth to your House will be found willing to lesson you with Sound and Sage Advice for albeit in authority you rule them yet in Council they must rule you My Son you know that my late Maims stifle my talk otherwise I would have grated longer on this Matter for a good Tale may be twice told and a sound Advice eftsoons iterated taketh the deeper Impression in the attentive Hearer's Mind But although my fatherly Affection requireth my Discourse to be longer yet I trust your good Inclination asketh it to be shorter And upon that Assurance here in the presence of this Honourable Assembly I deliver you this Sword Thus he spake for his last Fare-well with trickling Tears and having ended he rose up imbraced the Council committed them to God and immediately after imbarked leaving Thomas Fitz-Girald Lord Deputy 1534. to whom both the Allens were bitter Enemies One of them being Master of the Rolls told the Lord Deputy at a Banquet where they were discoursing of Heraldry That his Lordships House gave a Marmoset whose Property it was to eat her Tail To whom the Deputy replyed That he had been fed by his Tail and should take care that his Tail did not eat him Another time the Council waited three or four Hours for the Lord Deputy's coming whereat the Archbishop being dissatisfied he asked the Lords Whether it were not a pretty Matter that all they should stay so long for a Boy Which Words the Lord Deputy over-heard being just coming up Stairs and as soon as he entred he told their Lordships He was sorry they should stay so long for a Boy whereat the Archbishop was somewhat out of countenance The Enemies of the Giraldines had spread abroad a Report that the Earl of Kildare was Beheaded in the Tower and that the same Fate was designed for the Lord Deputy and all his Unkles and Letters were purposely spread abroad to that effect one of which by a strange Accident came to the hands of James de la Hide Principal Counsellor to the Lord Deputy by whose perswasion the Lord Deputy consederated with O Neal O Connor and others and on the eleventh day of June rode through the City of Dublin to Damsgate accompanied with seven score Horsemen in their Shirts of Mayl and there crossed the River and went to S. Mary Abby where the Council according to Appointment waited his coming and whilst he was sitting in Council some of his Followers rudely rush'd into the Council-Chamber Armed as they were and fell to talking aloud until at length Silence being commanded the Lord Deputy spake as followeth Howsoever injuriously we be handled Holingshead 90. and forced to defend our selves in Arms when neither
But it may be that I am some frantick Cassandra being Partner of her Spirit in telling the Truth and Partaker of her Misfortune in that I am not when I tell the Truth believed of your Lordship whom God defend from being Priamus Weigh therefore my Lord the Nobility of your Ancestors remember your Father's late Exhortation forget not your Duty to your Prince consider the Estate of this poor Country with what heaps of Curses you shall be loaden when your Souldiers shall rifle the poor Subjects and so far endamage the whole Realm as they are not yet born that shall hereafter feel the smart of this Uproar You have not gone so far but you may turn home the King is merciful your Offence as yet not over-heinous cleave to his Clemency abandon this headlong Folly which I crave in most humble wise of your Lordship for the Love of God for the Duty you ow to your Prince for the Affection you bear the Country and for the respect you have to your own Safety whom God defend from all traiterous and wicked Attempts Having ended his Oration which he set forth with such a lamentable countenance as his Cheeks were all blubber'd with Tears the Horsemen namely such as understood not English began to divine what the Lord Chancellor meant with all this long Circumstance some of them reporting that he was preaching a Sermon others said that he stood making some Heroical Poetry in the praise of the Lord Thomas And thus as every Ideot shot his foolish Bolt at the wise Chancellor's Discourse who in effect did nought else but drop precious Stones before Hogs Holingsh 91. one Bard de Nelan an Irish Rithmer and a rotten Sheep able to infect a whole Flock was chatting of Irish Verses as though his Tongue had run on Pattens in commendation of the Lord Thomas investing him with the Title of Silken Thomas because his Horsemens Jacks were gorgeously embroidered with Silk and in the end he told him That he lingred there over-long Whereat the Lord Thomas being quickned did cast his Eye towards the Lord Chancellor and said thus My Lord Chancellor I come not hither to take Advice what I should do but to give you to understand what I mind to do It is easie for the sound to counsel the sick but if the Sore had smarted you as much as it festereth me you would be percase as impatient as I am As you would wish me to honour my Prince so Duty willeth me to reverence my Father Wherefore he that will with such Tyranny execute my innocent Parent and withal threaten my destruction I may not nor will not hold him for my King And yet in truth he was never our King but our Lord as his Progenitors have been before him But if it be my hap to miscarry as you seem to prognosticate catch that catch may I will take the Market as it riseth and will chuse rather to die with Valiantness and Liberty than to live under King Henry in Bondage and Villany And yet it may be as strong as he is and as weak as I am I shall be able like a Flesh-worm to itch the Body of his Kingdom and force him to scratch deeply before he be able to pick me out of my Seam Wherefore my Lord I thank you for your good Counsel and were it not that I am too crabbed a Note in descant to be now tuned it might be that I would have warbled sweeter Harmony than at this instant I mean to sing With these Words he rendred up the Sword and flung away like a Bedlam being guarded with his bruitish Drove of Brain-sick Rebels Mr. Sullevan blames him very much for surrendring the Sword Sullevan 78. and says it was foolishly done for under pretence of Authority had he kept it he might have held what Castles and Fortifications he pleas'd and put in what Governours he would he might have seduced many of the King's Subjects and have cut the Throat of Alan and the rest of his Enemies but I suppose that Author did not duly consider the Perfidiousness and Treachery of the Action he advises The Council sent private Orders to the Mayor to apprehend the Lord Thomas but the City being depopulated by the Plague was too weak for such an Attempt and therefore Archbishop Alan and Chief Baron Finglass for their security got into the Castle under the Protection of the Constable thereof John White who was afterwards Knighted for his Service in this Uproar Now was the Sword drawn and the Scabbard flung away and no room left for an Accommodation and therefore Fitz Girald did all he could to strengthen his Party and thinking that if his Cozen the Lord Butler could be perswaded to enter into the Confederacy that all the Kingdom would either side with them or fall before them he wrote a pressing Letter stuffed with large Premises to invite the Lord Butler into the Association to which the Loyal Butler returned this unexpected Answer Taking Pen in hand to write you my resolute Answer Holingsh 9â— I muse in the very first Line by what Name to call you My Lord or My Cozen seeing your notorious Treason hath distain'd your Honour and your desperate Lewdness shamed your Kindred you are so liberal in parting Stakes with me that a man would ween you had no Right to the Game so importunate in craving my company as if you would perswade me to hang with you for good Fellowship Do you think that James was so mad as to gape for Gudgeons or so ungracious as to sell his Truth for a piece of Ireland Were it so as it cannot be that the Chickens you reckon were both hatched and feathered yet be thou sure I had rather in this Quarrel die thine Enemy than live thy Partner For the Kindness you proffer me and good Love in the end of your Letter the best way I can propose to requite that is in advising you though you have fetch'd your Feaze yet to look well ere you leap Ignorance and Error with a certain Opinion of Duty have carried you unawares to this Folly not yet so rank but it may be cured The King is a Vessel of Bounty and Mercy your Words against his Majesty shall not be counted Malicious but rather belched out for Heat and Impotence except your self by heaping Offences discover a mischievous and wilful meaning Netled with this round Answer Fitz-Girald designs to invade the County of Kilkenny but first he forces an Oath of Fidelity on the Inhabitants of the Pale and those who refused he imprisoned as fast as he caught them and sends Charles Rynold Arch Deacon of Kells his Ambassador to Pope Paul the Third and Dominick Poer to the Emperor Charles the Fifth to whom he sent twelve great Hawks and fourteen fair Hobbies but these Ambassadors came too late and not till their Master was executed And so great was this Rebellion and the King's Authority so weak that even the Territory
Rebels to enter the City and animate them more to fight within than without the Walls and they also believed That very many of Fitz-Girald's Army being Inhabitants of the Pale and forced to the Camp were in their Hearts for the City and this they were induced to believe because most part of the Arrows shot over the Walls were unheaded Upon these Considerations they resolved to sally and gave out from the Walls That new Succours were come from England and as if it had been so immediately rushed out through Fire and Flame and the Enemy believing they were new-arrived Soldiers and that the Citizens durst not adventure so briskly immediately fled leaving one hundred Gallowglasses slain and their Falcon taken Thomas Fitz-Girald himself lurked at the Grey-Fryers in Francis-street till next morning and then he got to the remainder of his shattered Army In the mean time the Earl of Kildare was committed to the Tower Holingshead 88 because he had contrary to the King 's express Command furnished his Castles out of his Majesty's Stores And though he answered That it was done to defend the Pale against the Borderers and that if he designed Treason he was not such a Fool as to fortifie his Castles and at the same time to adventure his Person into their Hands however he stuttered so much and delivered his Speech in such staggering and maffling manner that they concluded him Guilty and committed him And now hearing of his Son's Extravagancies he broke his Heart and died in the Tower in September Fitz-Girald being in great want of Artillery and Ammunition and somewhat cooled by the late defeat sent James Delahide and others to treat with the City upon these Articles I. That his Men that were Prisoners should be enlarged II. That the City should pay one thousand Pound in Mony and five hundred Pound in Wares III. To furnish him Ammunition and Artillery IV. To interceed with the King for his Pardon and his Followers Mr Fitz-Symons Recorder was appointed to answer to the I. That if he would deliver their Children they would enlarge his Men. To the II. That they were impoverished with his Wars and could not spare either Wares or Mony To the III. If he intended to submit he had no need of them if he did not they would not give him Rods to whip themselves That they expected he would request good Vellam Parchment to ingross his Pardon and not Artillery to withstand his Prince To the IV. They promised all Intercession they could by Word or Letter Whilst they were treating thus one William Bath of Dollars-Town a Lawyer stepped forward and said My Masters What need all these Circumstances Let us all drink of one Cup Which Words cost him his Life the next year It seems Fitz-Girald agreed with the Citizens on their own Terms and Hostages being given on both sides he raised his Siege and sent his Artillery to Houth but went himself to Minnooth to see that Castle fortified and furnished In the mean time the two Hamertons with one hundred and eighty Soldiers arrived out of England at Houth and on their March to Dublin were encountred near Clantarf by Thomas Fitz-Girald and two hundred Horsemen and though they fought valiantly and one of the Hamertons wounded Fitz-Girald in the Forehead yet being over-powered they were all slain or taken Prisoners and their Ships were forced from Houth and a Vessel freighted with choice English Geldings was also taken by Captain Rouks Fitz-Girald's Pirate and the Horses were sent to Fitz Girald And not long after landed both the Eglebees and Dacres with their Horsemen at the Skerries and Sir William Brereton and his Son John with two hundred and fifty Soldiers well appointed and Captain Salisbury with two hundred Archers lastly Landed at the Slip near the Bridge of Dublin Sir William Skeffington Lord Deputy he was Master of the Ordnance in England and therefore was by the Irish who put Nick-names upon every Body even of themselves as Dermond Buckagh Tiege Mauntagh c. in derision called The Gunner he was received with great Joy by the City and had the Sword delivered to him by the Lord of Trimletstone who was made Chancellor in the place of Archbishop Cromer Baron Finglass who wrote a M. S. Treatise of the Decay of Ireland was made Chief Justice of the King's Bench as Luttrel was of the Common Pleas and Girald Ailmer Chief Baron of the Exchequer and William Brabazon Vice-Treasurer This Deputy also brought with him Leonard Lord Grey designed Marshal of Ireland and Gracious Letters from the King to the City of Dublin That part of the English Fleet which sailed near Tredagh met with Brode the Pyrate and forced him a Ground so that he and nine of his Men were taken at Tredagh and sent Prisoners to Dublin whereat Fitz-Girald was so much enraged that he threatned to besiege Tredagh and it is probable he marched that way for it was averr'd at Dublin That he was actually before the Town And therefore the Lord Deputy immediatly viz. the twenty eighth of October marched out to raise the Siege of Tredagh and he staied in and about that Town till the fourth of November and then finding no Enemy near that Place he returned to Dublin having first proclaimed Fitz-Girald Traytor at the High Cross of Tredagh The Lord Deputy would have pursued Fitz-Girald and his Confederates but that the Winter was too near and himself was indisposed moreover he daily expected Supplies of Men and Mony from England and he knew that Fitz Girald had strengthned his Party by a new Confederacy with O Neal and O Connor And therefore being necessitated to postpone his Designs till the Spring some say he made a Truce with Fitz-Girald until January but that seems improbable because the Pale suffered exceedingly this Winter the Preservation of which must have been the chief Consideration for a Truce if there were any Fitz-Girald had in his Possession six principal Castles viz Minooth Portlester Rathingan Catherlagh Ley and Athy and having well manned and furnished them he took a Journey into Connaught not doubting but that his Castle of Minooth would hold out till his Return but he was very much out in his Calculation for the Lord Deputy on the fifteenth of March laid Siege to that Castle and placed his Battery on the North Side of the same towards the Park and Sir William Brereton who had slain one hundred of Fitz-Girald's Men on the sixth of March did now summon the Castle of Minooth with Offers of Pardon and Reward to which a scoffing and ludibrious Answer was returned with much boasting after the Irish manner Whereupon the Artillery began to play but made no considerable Breach in a Fortnights time and therefore though it was so closely besieged that there was neither egress or regress from or to the Castle yet being sufficiently provided of all Necessaries and particularly of a good Garrison of an hundred choice men it might have held out
and after half a years abode there they went to Kilbritton in the County of Cork where Elianor Fitz-Girald Mac Carty Riagh's Widow then lived Soon after she married with O Donel and made it one of the Articles of her Agreement That he should protect her Nephew the young Fitz-Girald which he faithfully promised and thereupon they went together to Vlster but they were not there a Twelve-month before the Lady understood that her perfidious Husband had agreed to betray her Nephew and therefore she sent him privately into France and gave him sevenscore Pieces of Gold call'd Portugueses to bear his Charge and afterwards upbraided O Donel with his Treachery and told him That as nothing but the Preservation of her Nephew could have prevailed with her to marry such a clownish Curmudgen so since he villanously endeavoured to betray her in that Particular she would stay with him no longer and so away she went and never saw him more But the Young Fitz-Girald arrived safely at S. Maloes and being sent for up to Paris the English Embassador there demanded him of the French King by virtue of the Peace lately concluded The French King gave him a dilatory Answer and in the mean time Fitz Girald escaped to Flanders at Valencienes he was overtaken by James Sherlock whom the Embassador sent to pursue him but the Governour of that Town committed Sherlock and so Fitz-Girald got safe to Brussels but the English Embassador demanded him there also so that he was forced to remove to Leige and was by the Emperor recommended to the Bishop of Leige and allowed a hundred Crowns a Month for his Expence But he staid there not above half a Year before his Kinsman Cardinal Poole sent for him to Rome and placed him successively with the Bishop of Verona the Cardinal of Mantua and the Duke of Mantua and allowed him an Annuity of three hundred Crowns per annum and the Duke of Mantua gave him the like Pension With them he staid a Year and a half and then removed to Cardinal Poole's Palace in Rome where he continued three Years The next Year after he spent in Service with the Knights of Malta and behaved himself exceeding valiantly Then he became Master of the Horse to the Great Duke of Tuscany and continued in that Office three Years One Day as he was hunting Holingshead 99. in the company of Cardinal Farneze he fell into a Pit twenty nine Fathom deep and had the good Luck within two Fathom of the Bottom to quit his Horse and take hold of some Roots or Bushes that were on the Side of the Pit and by degrees he let go his Hold and gently descended upon his Horse which was dead in the Bottom of the Pit and there he stood three Hours up to the Ankles in Water until his Grey-hound called Griff-hound missing his Master hunted him to the Pit and there fell a howling till the Company came in and with a Rope and a Basket drew him up alive and well to all their Admirations to mine too if I did not think this part of the Story to be a little Monkish And since I am upon Digressions Analecta Hib. Sullevan Cath. Hist. 71. it will be fit to remember That Doctor Traverse who was an active Man in Fitz-Girald's Rebellion and was therefore executed at Tyburn as the Traytor well deserved has nevertheless found a Room in the Irish Martyrology and is mentioned as an Instance of the English Cruelty by the Irish Historians And so we will conclude the Year 1535 with the Consecration of George Brown Archbishop of Dublin Ware de Praesulibs which was performed by the Archbishop of Canterbury and the Bishops of Rochester and Salisbury on the nineteenth or rather twenty ninth of March he had formerly been Provincial of the Fryers of the Order of S. Augustine Bish Brown's Life in England And whilst he was so he used to Preach That Salvation was to be obtained by the Merits of Christ and advised to make Application to him only for which Doctrine he was much taken notice of He became the first Protestant Convert of the Clergy in Ireland and was an exceeding Charitable and Meek Man He was the first that caused Images and other Superstitious Reliques to be removed out of the two Cathedrals in Dublin and out of the rest of the Churches within his Diocess And he caused the Ten Commandments the Lord's Prayer and the Creed to be placed in gilded Frames about the Altar in Christ-Church Dublin It seems that the King did send Commissioners into Ireland to remove the Pope's Authority thence and to reduce it to conformity with England if so undoubtedly Archbishop Browne was one of the Commissioners as will appear by the following Letter sent by him to Cromwel Lord Privy Seal who was the chief Mannager of that Matter My Most Honoured Lord YOVR humble Servant receiving your Mandate Septemb. 4. 1535. as one of His Highnesses Commissioners hath endeavoured almost to the Danger and Hazard of this Temporal Life to procure the Nobility and Gentry of this Nation to due Obedience in owning of his Highness their Supreme Head as well Spiritual as Temporal and do find much oppugning therein especially by my Brother Armagh who hath been the main Oppugner and so hath withdrawn most of his Suffragans and Clergy within his See and Jurisdiction He made a speech to them laying a Curse on the People whosoever should own his Highness's Supremacy saying That this Isle as it is in their Irish Chronicles Insula Sacra belongs to none but the Bishop of Rome and that it was the Bishop of Rome's Predecessors gave it to the King's Ancestors There be two Messengers by the Priests of Armagh and by that Archbishop now lately sent to the Bishop of Rome Your Lordship may inform his Highness That it is convenient to call a Parliament in this Nation to pass the Supremacy by Act for they do not much matter his Highness's Commission which your Lordship sent us over This Island hath been for a long time held in Ignorance by the Romish Orders And as for their Secular Orders they be in a manner as ignorant as the People being not able to say Mass or pronounce the Words they not knowing what they themselves say in the Roman Tongue The common People of this Isle are more Zealous in their Blindness than the Saints and Martyrs were in the Truth at the beginning of the Gospel I send to you my very good Lord these things that your Lordship and his Highness may consult what is to be done It is feared O Neal will be ordered by the Bishop of Rome to oppose your Lordships Order from the King's Highness for the Natives are much in Numbers within his Powers I do pray the Lord Christ to defend your Lordship from your Enemies On the twenty eighth of April the King sent Orders to the Town of Galway to use the English Order 1536. Lib. H. Habit
and Language and not to forestal the Markets of Limerick nor correspond with the Irish And so we come to the Parliament which began at Dublin on the first Day of May and on the last Day of that Month was adjourned to Kilkenny and did there sit the twenty fifth Day of July and on the twenty first was adjourned to Cashel and on the twenty eighth was from Cashel adjourned to Limerick and there it sat on the second of August and continued until the nineteenth and then was adjourned to Dublin to meet the fifteenth Day of September and so after several Prorogations it was finally dissolved the twentyeth Day of December 1537 and enacted as followeth I. The Attainder of the Earl of Kildare and his Complices This Act recites all their Treasons and Retrospects to the eighth Day of July 20 Hen. 8. II. The Parliament reciting That Ireland is appending and belonging to the Crown of England doth make void and nullifie the King's Marriage with the Princess Katharine his Brother's Wife and doth ratifie the Divorce judicially made between them by the Archbishop of Canterbury It also confirms the King's Marriage with Anne Bullen and prohibits Marriage within the Levitical Degrees and orders that Persons so married shall be divorced and their Children after such Divorce shall be illegitimate Then it entails the Crown on the King's Heir Males by Queen Anne and for want of such to his Heirs Males by any other Wife and for want of such to the King's Heirs Female by Queen Anne and particularizes the Princess Elizabeth and the Heirs of her Body c. And that it shall be Treason to Write or Act against the aforesaid Marriage or the Settlement of the Crown and Misprision of Treason to speak against either of those things and deprives the Offenders of Benefit of Sanctuary it makes the Queen and such Counsellors as the King shall appoint Guardians of the Infant King or Queen if it so happen till their respective Ages of sixteen if a Queen and eighteen if a King and prescribes an Oath for the Observation of this Settlement to be taken by the Subject and makes it Misprision of Treason to refuse it III. The Act of Absentees recites the Inconveniences that have happened by reason of the Absence of those that have Estates in Ireland and then vests in the King the Honours and Estates of the Duke of Norfolk the Lord Berkly the Earl of Waterford and Shrewsbury the Heirs General of the Earl of Ormond the Abbot of Furnes the Abbot of S. Augustins of Bristol the Prior of Christ-Church of Canterbury the Prior of Lanthony the Prior of Cartinel the Abbot of Kentesham the Abbot of Osny the Abbot of Bath and the Master of S. Thomas of Dacres 4 Inst 354. And it was resolved anno 1612. That the Earl of Shrewsbury did lose the Title of Earl of Waterford and Viscount Dungarvan by this Statute Nevertheless he had a very good Recompence in England for his Losses in Ireland And it is not unworthy our Remembrance How this Statute came to be made and the Occasion was thus The King being inclined to make Mr. Ailmer who was then Lord Chief justice of the Common Pleas Lord Chief Justice of the King's Bench the Earl of Shrewsbury at the instance of some of his Tenants in Waterford or Wexford opposed his Preferment alledging That Ailmer was a silly fellow and unfit for such a Place whereupon the King repremanded the Lord Cromwel for recommending such a Coxcomb to him the Lord Cromwel begs the King to discourse with Ailmer assuring his Majesty That he was misinformed The King consented and Ailmer being come the King asked the true reason of the Decay of Ireland Ailmer Answered That it was because the Estated Men who used to Reside and Defend their own Estates and countenance their Tenants did now generally dwell in England and left Ireland a Prey to the Natives But that if his Majesty would oblige the Estated Men to Residence or seize their Estates to his own use he would soon find a Reformation The King tickled with this Advice gave Ailmer Thanks and assured him Care should be taken of it next Parliament IV. A Suspension or Repeal of Poyning's Act pro hac Vice V. That the King his Heirs and Successors be Supreme Head on Earth of the Church of Ireland and shall have Power to reform redress c. Heresies Errors and Offences c. And that his Commissioners shall take no Proxies for their Visitations but convenient Meat Drink and Lodging on pain of four times the value VI. That there shall be no Appeals to Rome on Pain of Premunire and that the Chancellor with the Consent of the two Chief Justices the Master of the Rolls and the Vice-Treasurer or any two of them may assign Delegates to Hear and Determine all Appeals to the Chief Governour VII An Act against slandering the King or Queen or their Title c. And that those guilty of High Treason shall not have the Benefit of Sanctuary and that Treasons committed beyond Seas may be tried in Ireland and that all Estates of Inheritance ergo Estates Tail shall be forfeited for High-Treason VIII That the Clergy shall pay Annates or First-Fruits i.e. a Years Profit and shall pay or compound before Possession The Chancellor Master of the Rolls and Vice-Treasurer or any two of them whereof the Vice-Treasurer to be one or any others commissioned by the King may compound and give Instalments That the Bonds for First-Fruits shall have the Effect of Bonds of the Staple and eight Pence to be paid for a Bond and four Pence for an Acquittance and no more IX An Act to vest in the King Sir Walter Delahide's Lands in Carbry in the County of Kildare X. That if the Robber or Felon be found Guilty upon an Indictment by means or Prosecution of the Party robbed that then he shall have Restitution as if it had been done upon an Appeal XI An Act to suppress all Tributes Pensions and Irish Exactions claimed by the Irish from Towns or Persons for Protection XII An Act against the Pope to suppress his Usurpations and that it shall be Premunire to defend or assert his usurped Authority or Jurisdiction and that all Persons Ecclesiastical or Lay That have Office or Benefice c. shall take the Oath of Supremacy mentioned in the Act and the Refusal of that Oath shall be Treason It seems there was much Difficulty to get this Act and the former Act for the King's Supremacy to pass both Houses many of the Clergy opposing them stifly until the Archbishop Brown made the following Speech which being well sconded by Justice Brabazon so startled the rest that at length both Bills passed The Archbishop's Speech was thus My Lords and Gentry of his Majesty's Kingdom of Ireland BEhold your Obedience to your King is the observing of your Lord and Saviour Christ Bish Brown's Life 7. for He that High-Priest of our
they were Lords of Parliament The Abbot of Mellifont S. Thomas-Abby near Dublin S. Mary Abby near Dublin Baltinglass Jeripont Tintern in the County of Wexford Douske Tracton in the County of Cork Dunbrody Dunbrodiae Mage alias Nenai in the County of Limerick Wony alias Wethney in the County of Limerick Rosglass alias Monaster Evan Bectif Rathto in the County of Kerry The Priors of S. John of Jerusalem Christ-Church Dublin S. Peters near Trim Conal Kells in Ossory Kenlisae S. Patricks in Down All-Saints near Dublin Athassel Killagh S. Marys in Louth In the close of the last Year Ware 154 it happened that a Waterford-Ship loaden with one hundred Tun of Wine was in her return from Portugal put into Baltimore no sooner was it heard of but Finil O Driscol came on Board and very kindly invited the Merchant and Mariners on shoar to refresh themselves at his House after the Hardships they had suffered at Sea they readily accepted of his Invitation but met with another sort of entertainment than they expected for contrary to the Rules of Hospitality he most perfidiously kept them all Prisoners and distributed most part of the Cargo between himself and his Followers as he thought fit But as soon as the Citizens of Waterford were inform'd of this Treachery they mann'd two Sips and a long Boat and although Captain Dobins did easily recover the former Ship and all the Goods that were left which were about the fourth part of the whole and all the Prisoners yet the Citizens of Waterford were not contented with that but sayl'd to Inisherkin and took O Driscol's Castle there and razed it to the ground and destroyed the Island as much as they could and thence they went to Inchypyle which they served in the same manner and at length after they had destroyed Baltymore and the Country adjacent they carried away O Driscol's best Boat and abundance of Plunder and returned safely to Waterford In the mean time Ware 155. the King that he might not be thought to abandon the Religion of his Ancestors enacted in England the Bloody Law of the Six Articles and not long after revoked the Lord Deputy who left Ireland early in the Spring having first substituted Sir William Brereton 1540. Lord Justice in whose time the Irish Potentates began generally and publickly to own themselves Champions of the Papacy and to assume the specious Pretences of Liberty and Religion the better to cloak their Designs of Robbery and Rebellion Ware 156. for some of them being of a temper impatient to live as Subjects any longer than they are disabled to be Rebels were glad of any Pretence that might seem to justifie their illegal Proceedings and therefore many of them confederated together and especially O Neal O Bryan O Donel and O Carol and in the beginning of July appointed their Rendezvouz all four in West-Meath in order to invade and plunder the Pale but the Lord Justice got his small Army together and was joyned by two thousand of the Inhabitants of the Pale whereof many were Clergy-men who very well knew That whatever was pretended by the Irish yet Plunder and Depredation was meant and intended and therefore they were forward and active to defend their Country but as soon as the Rebels had notice of this Preparation which was counted great in those days those holy Champions dispersed their Forces into Woods and Fastnesses so that this terrible Bugbear vanished without Blows But the Lord Justice would not be so satisfied for he pursued O Connor into Ophaly and made several of the Fastnesses of that Country passable for Carriages and brought O Connor to that pass that he was forced to give his Son Cnoghor for a Hostage of his future Behaviour but not long after viz. on the 25th of the same Month of July Sir Anthony Saintleger Knight of the Garter Lord Deputy was sworn as was usual in Christ-Church Dublin and the Form of his Oath is to be found in Burlace's Reduction of Ireland pag. 106. and Ware 's Annals 157. This Lord Deputy by the help of Thomas Walsh one of the Barons of the Exchequer John Myn and William Cavendish two Auditors well vers'd in the Treasury did bring the publick Revenue into good Order and more to the King's advantage than ever it had been before But because some People have written extravagantly Present State of Ireland 12. That the Revenue in King Edward the Third's Days amounted unto thirty thousand pounds per annum and that the Earl of Desmond was able to expend ten thousand pounds per annum it will not be inconvenient to give the Reader an Account both of the publick Expence and Income for one Year during Saintleger's Government viz. for the Year 1543.  l. s. d. The King's Mannors and Lands per annum 6069 02 07 Customs of Dublin Droghedah Dundalk   and Trim 0319 13 04 The Fee Fee-Farms of Dublin and Droghedah 0200 00 00 Pâ—â—ty Farms Profits and Homages 0011 05 08 The twentieth part of the Spirituality 0287 02 01 ½ The King's Subsidy Spiritual and Temporal 0613 08 03  7500 11 11 ½    Irish Money Deduct 182 13 09 ½ for yearly Annuities and Proxies perpetual    and 1131 12 06 for Judges Clerks of Courts Customers Controllers Constables of the King's Castle of Dublin c. and Officers of the County and Liberty of Wexford and there remains 6186 05 08 Besides there were some Temporary Payments to be deducted viz. 500 l. per annum Pension to the late Prior of St John of Jerusalem and 759 l. 3 s. 4 d. per annum Pensions to the Religious Persons belonging to the suppressed Monasteries c. So that there remain'd clear to the King but 4927 l. 2 s. 4 d. For as on the one side there were some uncertain Profits that are not included in this Computation as Liveries Wardships First-Fruits the Profits of the Hanaper and the Tributes of Irishmen and likewise the Mannor of Dungarvan and some other small things not then setled are not in charge so on the other side there were some casual Expences for Buildings Reparations Concordatums Inquisitions Messengers c. that did more than tantamount the casual Branches of the Revenue The Charge of the Military List although the Army consisted of no more than three hundred seventy nine Horse and one hundred and fifty Foot amounted to almost eight thousaud Pounds besides Artillery and some other things that were constantly supplied from England that is to say The Lord Deputy's Retinue A Captain at four shillings a day a petit Captain at two shillings and an hundred Horsemen at ninepence apiece makes four pound twelve shillings per diem and that is an hundred and thirteen Pound eight shillings per mensem and per annum 1478 05 00. Mr. Robert Saintleger for the like Retinue for a year being thirteen months and one day 1478 05 00. Master of the Ordinance his Retinue a
Title of Captain General brought over six hundred Horse and four hundred Foot whose Pay came to twelve hundred and twenty six Pound per Month viz seven hundred and seventy Pound for the Horse and four hundred fifty six Pound for the Foot and about Midsummer they landed at Waterford and being joyned by the Lord Deputy they invaded the Countries of Leix and Offaly and proclaimed O More and O Connor Traytors and having dispersed the Forces of the Rebels the Lord Deputy repaired the Fort of Dingen and built the Fort of Campaum alias Prolector now called Maryburgh whereupon O More and O connor were forced to submit and Bellingham was knighted and made Marshal of Ireland The Castle of Athloan was likewise repaired and garrisoned by Special Orders from England and the Vice-Treasurer Brabazon had the Care and management thereof and performed it effectually in spight of the great Opposition he met with from Dominick O Kelly and other Great Men of Connaught And this auspicious Year did also produce the mighty Victory which the English obtained over the Scots at Mussleburgh But as the Reformation proceeded in England 1538. so the Popish Zeal and Superstition increased in Ireland Ware 180. and the Pale it self began to be disturbed with it for Richard Fitz-Eustace and Alexander his Brother Sons of the Viscount Baltinglass were busie forming a Rebellion in the County of Kildare but the Presence of the Lord Deputy without Blows brought them to a Submissiom and stifled this Infant Conspiracy in the Cradle and it was well it did for this rebellious Distemper was very infectious and in a little time would have spread over the whole Kingdom the Lord of Baltinglass himself was a little tainted with it but by the means of Sir Edward Bellingham when Lord Deputy the Viscount was pardoned In the mean time the Lord Deputy Saintleger was sent for to England and carried with him O More and O Connor as Prisoners but upon their Submission they were received into Favour and honoured with a Pension of one hundred Pound per annum out of the Exchequer during their Lives which O More enjoyed not very long for he died within the Year suddainly at London Sir Edward Bellingham who had been sent into England with an Account of the Submission of the County of Kildare was now sent back Lord Deputy he landed at Dalkye on Whitson-Eve and two Days after he received the Sword at Christ-Church according to Custom He was a Zealous Protestant and a brave Soldier and by his means Sir John Allen was again made Lord Chancellor As soon as he was setled Davis 62. he marched into Leix and Offaly against Cahir O Connor and others that were brewing new Treasons there and forced them to submit and brought the Country to that degree of Subjection that he is said to be the first Man since Edward the third's time that enlarged the English Borders beyond the Pale and from Offaly the Lord Deputy marched to Delvin against Mac Coughlan whose Country he totally destroyed The Lord Deputy had express Orders to set up a Mint at Dublin which he did but it continued but a very little time for want of Bullion And this Year on the twenty second Day of April the City of Dublin which at first was governed by a Provost and by King Henry the Third subjected to a Mayor and Bayliffs and by Henry the Fourth was honoured with a Sword obtained their Bayliffs to be changed into Sheriffs and John Rians and Robert Eyons were the first two Sheriffs that were chosen or appointed for that City In the mean time Sir Francis Bryan who had married the Countess Dowager of Ormond and was made Marshal of Ireland and Governour of the Counties of Typerary and Kilkenny could by no means agree with the Lord Deputy their Differences grew at length to that height that Sir Francis impeached the Lord Deputy in England and prevailed to have him sent for to answer the Accusation But whilst that affair was transacting Ware 182. Teige O Carol plyed his own Business diligently and after a stout Defence he took and demolished the strong Castle of Nenagh and drove the English out of that Country In Vlster Manus O Donel quarrelled with his Son Calvagh and at length it came to Blows so that on the seventh Day of February Calvagh was routed and Manus Mac Donough O Cahan and many of his Followers were slain In the Lower Delvin Teige Mac Mlaghlin and Edmond Fahy with their united Forces did all the Mischief they could and almost totally destroyed that part of Mac Coughlans Country Nevertheless the Lord Deputy sent an Irish Brigade under the command of Donough O Conner accompanied with the Sons of Cahir O Connor to aid the King in his War against Scotland On the eighteenth of November Cormock Roe O Connor who was proclaimed Traytor came to Dublin and with Tears in his Eyes begged Pardon of the Lord Deputy and Council in Christ-Church and had it But being of a turbulent Spirit he soon after relapsed into Rebellion and being taken by the Earl of Clanrickard he was sent to Dublin and hanged so true is that Observation of Caesar Williamsons Nec gentem ullam reperies Cui peccare slere magis naturale est It is worthy Observation Holingsh 109. That though the Earl of Desmond for his Quality and vast Estate was made Lord High Treasurer yet he was not of the Privy Council nor indeed qualified to be so for he was Rude and Savage both in Apparel and Behaviour he had neither Learning nor Manners but lived after a barbarous fashion in the Country among the Wild-Irish and perhaps had not so much as a Glass-Window to his Houses and yet he was the best landed Subject in the King's Dominions About Christmas the Deputy sent for him to Dublin but he refusing the Lord Deputy himself with about twenty Horse made that haste to Munster that he took the Earl sitting by the Fire in his own House not at all suspecting that Expedition And it was well for him that he was so surprized for he was not only brought to Dublin and instructed in his Duty to his Prince and in good Manners and Civility towards his Fellow-Subjects but was also by the Lord Deputy's means pardoned and restored to the King's Favour so that he continued a good Subject ever afterwards during his Life and was so grateful to his Benefactor the Lord Deputy that he would pray for him constantly after every Meal And now it happened that the Earl of Tyrone Macguire Fylemy Roe O Neal 1549. and others referr'd all their Differences to the Lord Deputy and Council who on the twentieth day of June made their Decree wisely ordering Independency on O Neal. Therere are Copies of all these Decrees at Lambeth Lib. D. And they are to the same effect as that of Macguire's viz. Quod erit liber Ware 184. exemptus ab omni subjectione
within his Dominions for his faithful Subjects to increase their Knowledge of God and of our Saviour Jesus Christ We therefore for the general Benefit of our well beloved Subjects Vnderstandings whenever assembled or met together in the said several Parish-Churches either to Pray or hear Prayers read that they may the better joyn therein in Vnity Hearts and Voice have caused the Liturgy and Prayers of the Church to be Translated into our Mother-Tongue of this Realm of England according to the Assembly of Divines lately met within the same for that purpose We therefore Will and Command as also Authorize you Sir Anthony Saint-Leger Knight our Vice-Roy of that our Kingdom of Ireland to give special Notice to all our Clergy as well Arch-Bishops Bishops Deans Arch-Deacons as others our Secular Parish-Priests within that our said Kingdom of Ireland to perfect execute and obey this our Royal Will and Pleasure accordingly But before Proclamations were issued out Sir Anthony Saint-Leger upon receipt of this Order call'd an Assembly of the Archbishops and Bishops together with the then Clergy of Ireland in which Assembly he signified to them as well his Majesties Order aforesaid as also the Opinions of those Bishops and Clergy of England who had adhered unto the Order saying That it was his Majesties Will and Pleasure consenting unto their serious Considerations and Opinions then acted and agreed on in England as to Ecclesiastical Matters that the same be in Ireland so likewise celebrated and performed Sir Anthony Saint-Leger having spoken to this effect George Dowdal who succeeded George Cromer in the Primacy of Armagh stood up and through his Romish Zeal to the Pope laboured with all his power and force to oppose the Liturgy of the Church that it might not be read or sung in the Church saying Then shall every illiterate Fellow read Service or Mass as he in those Days termed the Word Service To this Saying of the Archbishop's Sir Anthony replied No your Grace is mistaken for we have too many illiterate Priests amongst us already who neither can pronounce the Latin nor know what it means no more than the Common People that hear them but when the People hear the Liturgy in English they and the Priest will then understand what they pray for Upon this Reply George Dowdal bid Sir Anthony beware of the Clergy's Curse Sir Anthony made Answer I fear no strange Curse so long as I have the Blessing of that Church which I believe to be the true one The Archbishop again said Can there be a truer Church than the Church of St. Peter the Mother Church of Rome Sir Anthony return'd this Answer I thought we had all been of the Church of Christ for he calls all true Believers in him his Church and himself the Head thereof The Archbishop replied And is not St. Peter's Church the Church of Christ Sir Anthony return'd this Answer St. Peter was a Memher of Christ's Church but the Church was not St. Peter's neither was St. Peter but Christ the Head thereof Then George Dowdal the Primate of Armagh rose up and several of the Suffragan Bishops under his Jurisdiction saving only Edward Staples then Bishop of Meath who tarried with the rest of the Clergy then assembled on the Kalends of March 1550. Sir Anthony then took up the Order and held it forth to George Brown Archbishop of Dublin who standing up received it saying This Order good Brethren is from our Gracious King and from the rest of our Brethren the Fathers and Clergy of England who have consulted herein and compared the Holy Scriptures with what they have done unto whom I submit as Jesus did to Caesar in all things just and lawful making no question why or wherefore as we own him our true and lawful King And it seems that on Easter-Sunday the Liturgy in the English Tongue was read in Christ-Curch according to the King's Order and the Archbishop Brown Preached an excellent Sermon on these Words Open mine Eyes that I may see the Wonders of thy Law Psal 119. ver 18. But whether the Lord Deputy were not zealous in propagating the Reformation or what other Differences there were between him and the Archbishop I cannot find but it is certain the Archbishop sent Complaints against him into England Ware 190. and thereupon he was recalled and Sir James Crofts was made Lord Deputy by Patent 1551. Dated the twenty ninth day of April and the Instructions to him and the Council were 1. To propagate the Worship of God in the English Tongue and the Service to be translated into Irish to those places which need it 2. To prevent the Sale of Bells Church-Goods Chantry-Lands c. and to Inventory them 3. To execute the Laws justly collect the Revenue carefully and muster the Army honestly 4. To get the Ports into the King's possession that his Customs may be duly answered 5. To search for a Mine of Allum 6. To Lett the King's Lands especially Leix and Offaly for one and twenty years to such as will live upon them 7. To enquire into the Conveniency of Building Ships in Ireland 8. To endeavour to perswade the Nobility to exchange some Irish Land for the like value in England 9. That the Soldier be not sued except before the Deputy or Marshal but if Justice be not done in three Months then to remit them to the Common Law 10. To allow Trade to all Foreigners though Enemies 11. Above all to reduce the Birns and Tools and their Country When the Lord Deputy Landed he was informed That his Predecessor Saint-Leger was gone to Munster and thereupon he rode directly to Cork and on the twenty third of May he was sworn and received the Sword there and one of the Cavenaghs or Mac Moroughs for some Crime was there hanged The Lord Deputy who was a zealous Protestant endeavoured all he could to perswade the Primate Dowdal to observe the King's Order about the Liturgy but he continued obstinate and therefore the King and Council of England on the twentieth day of October deprived him of the Title of Primate of all Ireland and annexed it to the See of Dublin for ever whereupon Dowdal withdrew beyond the Seas and Hugh Goodacre was made Archbishop of Armagh in his room being together with John Bale Bishop of Ossory consecrated in Christ-Church Dublin by the Archbishop of Dublin and the Bishops of Kildare and Down on the second day of February 1552. About which time the English Liturgy with Orders and Rules for Ecclesiastical Habits and Ceremonies was reprinted at Dublin by Humyhry Powel But it is time to return to the Army which under the Command of the Lord Deputy marched into Vlster against the Scotch Islanders the English invaded the Isle of Raghlin but were forced to retreat with the Loss of one Ship and several Men Captain Bagnal also was taken Prisoner but he was afterwards exchanged for Surly buy Mac Donald who was then Prisoner at Dublin in
proved disadvantagious to the State and that lenity to the Irish Rebels has produced no other Effects than that it has encouraged them to relapse and others to follow their Example And of this Shane O Neal affords us one Instance for notwithstanding this Submission it was not long before he rebelled again and Rory O Connor and Donough O Connor followed the same Copy for though they submitted at Dingen and put in Hostages for their Loyalty yet they rebelled once more and therefore were on the twenty fifth Day of February proclaimed Traytors and at length were slain and their Country wasted 1557. In like manner William Odare O Carol was made Governour of Ely O Carol under certain Conditions one of which was To send a certain number of Soldiers to every Hosting but this Condescention and Kindness could not oblige him but that the ungrateful Traytor rebelled next Year and was routed and Thady O Carol was put in his Place And so we are come to the Parliament which began the nineteenth day of June and on the second day of July was adjourned to the tenth day of November to Limerick and then was adjourned to the first day of March to Drogheda but the Lord Deputy who by the Death of his Father was Earl of Sussex went to England on the fourth day of December and not returning before the first day of March the Parliament by his Absence became dissolved It seems that besides the Statutes that are in Print this Parliament enacted 1. That the Queen was Legitimate 2. That the Royal Power was vested in her 3. That her Issue should inherit the Crown and Kingdoms of England and Ireland 4. That Heresies should be punished and three Statutes to that effect were revived 5. That all Acts against the Pope made since 20 Hen. 8. be repealed 6. That the Grants made by Archbishop Brown be void and cap. 12. that First-Fruits be released But afterwards by the Act of the second of Elizabeth cap. 1. the Act of Repeal was repealed and the revived Statutes against Heresie were suppressed the Jurisdiction of the Pope was abolished and cap. 3. the First-Fruits and twentieth Part were restored to the Crown There was also an Act to give the Queen a Subsidy of thirteen Shillings and four Pence out of every Plow-land for ten Years And another to make it Treason to introduce or receive armed Scots into Ireland or to marry with a Scot without Licence under the great Seal The printed Acts of this Parliament are I. For the Disposition of Leix and Offaly II. For making the King's County and Queens County Shire-Ground and entituling their Majesties thereunto III. For making other Counties into Shire-Ground IV. To explain Poynings Act that new Bills whilst the Irish Parliament sits may be transmitted into England for Approbation as well as if they had been sent before the Parliament met V. That Labourers or Cottiers shall not buy Horses more than is absolutely necessary VI. That the Owners of stolen Goods using their best Endeavours to prosecute the Felon shall be reprized out of the Felons Goods if they cannot get their own again VII That no Body shall make Aquavitae without Licence under the great Seal except Noblemen Gentlemen and Freemen of Towns that send Members to Parliament And it is to be noted That this Act which was designed to spare Corn and prevent a Dearth was necessary at that time Yet now the Kingdom is better improved and consequently abounds in Corn this Act though not repealed is become obsolete and a quite contrary Act viz. To encourage the Making and Exportation of Aquavitae would tend very much to the Advantage of Ireland In July the Lord Deputy made an Expedition against the O Maddens whose Country called Silanchia now the Barony of Longford in the County of Galway was last Year on the Murder of John O Madden divided between Malachy Modhar and the Murderer Brasil Duff the Deputy sent a Summons to the Castle of Melik but the valiant Warders not only boasted how stoutly they would defend it but also believing that every Summons was an Affront and as it were a Suspicion of their Courage they assured the Herald That it should not be safe for him to come with any more such Messages to them It is hardly credible That after all this Ostentation these Men of War should desert the Castle the very next Night however they certainly did so and the Lord Deputy placed a Garrison in it and returned On the tenth of August the Lord Deputy advanced into Vlster Ware 220. being accompanied by the Lords of Kildare Ormond Baltinglass Delvin Dnnboyne and Dunsany his Design was against the Scots but they sheltered themselves in the Woods and Bogs so that he did them no other Mischief than that he took some Preys however some of them were thereby perswaded to submit and Daniel Mac Conel and Richard Mac Guilliam received the Honour of Knighthood On the twenty second Day of October the Lord Deputy made another Journey into Vlster And on the twenty fourth day he came to Dundalk and on the twenty fifth he took a Prey and came to Armagh the Rebels still flying before him on the twenty seventh he burnt Armagh except the Church and marched to Newry and so on the thirtieth day of the same Month returned to Dublin And being ordered to attend the Queen in England he first obliged O Carol O Molloy Macgehogan O Doyne Mac Coughlan the two O Maddens and Fylemy Duff to gives Hostages of their Good Behaviour And then on the fourth of December he set sail for England leaving Hugh Curvin 1557. Lord Chancellor and Sir Henry Sydny Treasurer at Wars Lords Justices by Patent dated at Westminster the twelfth of November after they were censed and sprinkled with Holy Water and Mass was celebrated they were sworn at Christ-Church on Sunday the fifth of December and received the Sword from Sir John Stanly the Marshal with whom it was left to that Purpose and they continued in their Office until Sir Henry Sydny Ware 222. Lord Justice was sworn on the sixth of February by the Queen's Command and by virtue of a Commission bearing date the eighteenth day of January he attacked Arthur O Molloy Chief of Fercalia who was brewing new Treasons and favoured and cherished those that were in Rebellion But the Lord Deputy did soon over-run his Country and made Theobald O Molloy Governour thereof and took his Son for a Hostage of the Father's Fidelity and then by Cess in the Pale the Deputy furnished the Forts of Maryburgh and Philipsburgh with Victuals and returned to Dublin where he made Proclamation That no Corn should be carried out of the Pale In the mean time Shane O Neal invaded Tyrconnel designing to reduce it to the former Tribute and Dependance it paid to his House Calvagh O Donel being too weak to resist by Force betook himself to his Politicks and made an Essay by Night on the
was not to be given to Irish or Scots The Earl was to be Captain-General for seven years and was to plant his Part as well as the Queen should hers until there should be a thousand English Inhabitants on each Moyety And so being made Earl-Marshal of Ireland he set about the necessary Preparations for his Irish Voyage and to that end borrowed ten thousand Pounds of the Queen on a Mortgage of his Lands in Essex But the Lord Deputy being unwilling to have any body independent on him in that Kingdom especially so great a man cloathed with such a large Authority and accompanied with such considerable Forces gave all the opposition he could to this Noble Undertaking of the Earls until at length this Medium was found out That the Earl of Essex should take a Commission from the Lord Deputy to be Governor of Vlster wherewith both Parties were satisfied or at least they acquiesced in the Expedient In the mean time Mr. Edward Tremain was sent over to the Lord Deputy 1. To know why he desired so earnestly to return to England Lib. c. 2. To enquire what was the yearly Charge of that Kingdom what number of Men in Pay and how disposed of when any were disbanded or dead and when their rooms supplied and how many more there be than was appointed in March was twelve-month 3. To know what has been received of the Impost of Wines since Michaelmas last and what is in Arrear and if he could not discover it then to move the Deputy to certifie the Quantum of each 4. To know of the Deputy and Lord President in what state Munster is and how to be preserv'd 5. To know what is done or intended to be done with Desmond and his Brother John and how their Creditors in England shall be paid 6. To enquire how Connaught stands and how the Castles of Athlone and Roscomon are and the condition of the Earl of Thomond and Clanrickard and his Sons 7. To enquire into the Outrage committed against Sir Barnaby Fitz Patrick and the taking away his Wife and Children and how the Offenders are punished and how the Birns and Cavenaghs stand affected 8. To tell the Deputy that the Earl of Essex with two thousand Men will in August next come to inhabit the forfeited Lands in the Glins Routs and Clandeboy that in the mean time the Deputy guard the Frontiers of the Pale that way and Publish that Essex comes to repel the Scots and not to hurt the Irish 9. To tell the Deputy not to raise more Forces but if his Ormond's and Kildare's Forces are not sufficient against the O Mores and Connors to borrow two or three hundred from Essex for that Expedition and pay them 10. To preserve the Corn c. in the Ardes till Essex comes 11. To know why he gave Commission to Sir John Perrot to sell Marul's Ship wherein was Goods of all Nations The English had a very hopeful Prospect of the Earl of Essex's undertaking in Vlster so that many Persons of Quality and abundance of Gentlemen concerned themselves in the Expedition The Lords Darcy and Rich Sir Henry Knowles and four of his Brothers Michael Carves and his Brother John and Henry William and John three Sons of the Lord Norris and many others accompanied the Earl in this Voyage and they Landed together at Carrigfergus in the latter end of August 1573 and assoon as they Landed Bryan Mac Phelimy waited on the Earl and in most submissive manner tendred his Duty to the Queen and his Service to Essex but assoon as he perceived that the Earl's Forces were not so considerable as was reported he presently apostatized and joyned in Rebellion with Turlogh Lynogh About the same time or rather a year sooner Sir Thomas Smith sent his Natural Son together with one Chatterton to make a Plantation in the Ardes Cambd. Eliz. 190. but young Smith was murdered by Neal Bryan Artho who was afterwards killed by Sir Nicholas Malby and so that Design became unsuccessful and the Earl did not speed much better for after the Expence of much Treasure and a years time he returned to England This year the Money sent by the Queen into Ireland Lib. H. since she came to the Crown was computed and it amounted to four hundred and ninety thousand seven hundred and seventy nine Pounds seven shillings and six pence halfpeny and the Revenue of Ireland in the same period of time came to no more than one hundred and twenty thousand Pounds It is reported of Bryan Mac Fylemy that he had thirty thousand Cows besides other Cattel and it is certain that the Lord Rich within a Month after he came to Ireland returned to England on his private Occasions and Henry Knolls was by Sickness forced to do the like and many others upon frivolous Pretences left the Earl of Essex and went back to England Cambd. Eliz. 202. besides his Soldiers were raw and it was late in the Year and his Commission was not yet sent him being purposely delayed by the Deputy so that all these and some other Difficulties concurr'd to make Essex's Expedition unfortunate Nevertheless he took the Castle of Liffer from Con O Doâ—el and in a Skirmish he killed two hundred Irish and took Bryan Mac Fylemy and his Wife and his Brother Rory Oge Prisoners In the mean time 1574. the Earl of Desmond notwithstanding his Oath to be a true Prisoners made his escape out of the Castle of Dublin whereupon the Deputy marched into Munster to prevent new Coâ—â—â—otions and ordered the Earl of Essex to guard the Borders of Vlster which very much hindred his Progress in building Fortifications in Clandeboy however he obeyed and at length the Earl of Desmond was prevailed upon to reconcile himself to the Government Sir Henry Sydny 1575. Lord Deputy arrived on the twelfth of September and was sworn on the eighteenth at Tredagh to which Place he went directly from the Skyrries because the Plague raged in Dublin It is observable of this great and good man that although he did most excellent Service in Ireland yet he was but ill rewarded for it in England and therefore he was with great difficulty prevailed with to accept the Government this seventh and last time for as he expressed himself in his Letter he cursed hated and detested Ireland above all other Countries not that he had any dislike of the Country but that it was most difficult to do any Service there where a Man must struggle with Famine and Fastnesses inaccessible Bogs and light-footed Tories and yet when these and all other Difficulties were surmounted no Service in the world was less reputed valued or requited than that and it is farther remarkable of him that though he was four times Lord Justice and three times Lord Deputy of Ireland yet he never purchased a Foot of Land in that Kingdom The Lord Deputy's Instructions were to find means to pay the Queens Debts if possible
and sixty Horse and thence he went to Connaught to settle the new President Sir Nicholas Malby and so on the sixth of September he came to Dublin and on the fourteenth of the same Month at St. Patrick's Church he surrendred the Sword to Arthur Lord Grey Baron of Wilton Knight of the Garter 1580. Lord Deputy whose Instructions bearing date in July were 1. To observe former Instructions whereof he shall have a Copy 2. To assure the Irish of the Queens Protection and Favour if they deserve it 3. To hinder the Soldier from oppressing the Subject and to notifie this by Proclamation and to punish the Offenders though Captains 4. To shorten the War by effectual Prosecution 5. To continue the Justice of Munster and to encrease his Allowance as you and the Council think fit 6. After All-hollantide to disband as many of the new Soldiers as can be well spared and secure their Arms. 7. Not to grant Pardons and Protections but upon especial reasons and to mention the Crime in the Pardon This Lord Grey before he was sworn viz. in August having notice that one Fitz Girald with his Company which he had in the Quens Pay was revolted to the Lord Baltinglass and being joyned with Pheagh Mac Hugh and other Rebels had secured themselves in the fastnesses of Glendilogh in the County of Wicklow and did daily encrease both in number and mischief ordered a smart Party to attack them Cosby an experienced Soldier disswaded the Attempt but having positive Orders the Foot entred the Glins whilst the Lord Grey with the Horse scowred the Plains but the Rebels being well acquainted with these Woods Camb. Eliz. 241. laid their Ambushes so cunningly that the English could neither fight in that divelish place nor retire out of it Courage could but little avail them whilst being mired in the Bogs they were forced to stand still like Butts to be shot at Discipline or Conduct were of no use in that place where it could not be practised in short the English were defeated and the whole Company slain except some few that were rescued by the Horsemen August 25. and amongst the rest Sir Peter Carew Collonel Moor and the valiant Captains Audely and Cosby were killed in this unfortunate Conflict About the latter end of September seven hundred Spaniards and Italians under the Command of San Joseph an Italian landed at Smerwick in Kerry being sent by the Pope and King of Spain to propagate Catholick Religion in Ireland they immediately built a Fort and called it Fort del ore and they fortified and furnished it the best they could having brought with them Money and Ammunition and Arms enough for five thousand Men. Ormond encamped at Traley and the next day marched toward the Fort which the Spaniards deserted and retired to the fastness of Glanigall Cambd. Eliz. 242. but finding the English Army was small three hundred of them went to their Fort again and the next day sallied on the English who came to view the Fort whereupon Ormond finding he was not sufficiently provided with Artillery and other Necessaries retired to Rakele where he met the Lord Deputy The Deputy accompanied with the Captains Zouch Rawleigh Denny Macworth c. and about eight hundred Men discamped from Rakele and marched towards the Enemy but Captain Rawleigh well knowing the Customs of the Irish stayed some hours behind in Ambush till several Kearns came into the forsaken Camp as they were accustomed to scrape up what was left-behind but he surprized them all and punished them according to their Deserts Now was Sir William Winter return'd with his Fleet out of England so that he by Sea and the Lord Deputy by Land laid close Siege to the Fort having first summoned it and received for Answer That they held it for the Pope and the King of Spain to whom the Pope had given the Kingdom of Ireland and not long after the Spaniards made a Sally which was well received by Captain Denny and the Assailants were forced to retire That Night the English raised a Battery with great dexterity Cambd. Eliz. 242. which was ready by Break of Day nevertheless the Spaniards made a Sally but very faintly and without effect nor did they do any thing the third Day worthy their Reputation and on the fourth Day being close pressed from Land and Sea and all Conditions refused they yielded at Mercy which was too sparingly extended to them every one being put to death except the Commanders which very much displeased the Queen although there was a necessity for it by reason of the paucity of the English Army and the number of the Rebels approaching Sir John Fitz-Girald Lord of the Decies being a Prisoner to the Earl of Desmond was here found and set at Liberty the Fort was razed and the Army dispersed into Garrisons the Lord Deputy returned to Dingle where Ormond met him with Supplies and there Captain Zouch with four hundred and fifty Men was left Governor of Kerry and Desmond and had all the Victuals given him that were found in the Fort and then the Deputy returned to Limerick Now came out of England six new Companies under Barkley Cruse and others whereof Barkly and two hundred Men were placed at Askeaton and the rest were sent into Connaught where the Mac an Earla's or Clanrickard's Sons began to be unruly as the Lord Baltinglass and his Complices were in Leinster The Deputy having left Ormond Governor of Munster returned to Dublin where he took care of the other Provinces and being supplied with an hundred and fifty Horse out of England which were set out by the English Clergy under the Command of William Russel Son to the Earl of Bedford and Bryan Fitz-Williams he committed to the Custody of Wingfield Master of the Ordnance the Earl of Kildare and his Son in Law the Lord Delvin who were suspected to favour the Leinster Rebels whereupon the Lord Henry Fitz-Girald retired into Ophalia and was detained by the O Connors till the Deputy sent Ormond and several Persons of Quality for him to whom after much ado he was delivered and with his Father sent into England together with the said Baron of Delvin There was certainly a Plot to surprize the Lord Deputy Camb. Eliz. 257. and to seize on the Castle of Dublin Sullevan 93 and to Massacre the English and John Nogent one of the Barons of the Exchequer and others were Executed for it but whether they were guilty or not I leave as I found it doubtful however it seems that this severity frightned Thurlogh Lynogh O More O Brine and the Cavenaghs into a Submission In the mean time Captain Raleigh went to Dublin to complain of the Barryes and Condons Hooker 173. and obtained a Commission to seize upon Barryescourt and the rest of Barryes Estate and had some Horsemen added to his Company to enable him thereunto but Barry had notice of it and to prevent him Burned
Barryescourt and the Seneschall of Imokelly placed an Ambush for him at Corabby which Captain Raleigh manfully Encountred and Defeated or at least broke through them so that he came safe to Corke On the 25th of July one Eve Published Seditious Letters at Waterford importing that the Pope and the King of Spain and Duke of Florence had made a League to assist the Irish with Ten thousand Foot and a thousand Horse of the Popes Fifteen thousand Foot and a thousand five hundred Horse of the Spaniards and Eight thousand Foot and an hundred Horse of the Florentines and that the Irish should Elect a King of their own Nation and reject Elizabeth as a Bastard and a Heretick and republish the Bulls of Pius Quintus against her c. And it was true that the Prince of Conde brought such a League to the Queen which he said was made at Rome the 20th of February 1580. About the same time the Lord Baltinglass wrote an Answer to the Earl of Ormond assuring his Lordship that he had but two Councellors one that said Fear not those that can kill the Body only c. and the other bids us obey the higher Power for he that resisteth it resisteth God seeing then the highest Power upon Earth Commands us to take the Sword and to Fight and Defend our selves against Traytors and Rebels which do seek only the Murdering of our Souls he is no Christian that will not obey Questionless it is a great want of Knowledge and more of Grace to believe that a Woman Incapax of Holy Orders should be the Supream Governour of Christ's Church a Term that Christ did not grant to his own Mother You should consider that if Thomas of Becket Bishop of Canterbury had never suffered Death in the defence of the Church tho Butler alias Becket had never been Earl of Ormond c. and about the same time he wrote to a Merchant of Waterford to provide him Ammunition and Arms for which he would pay him to content In the mean time Captain Zouch who lay at Dingle lost a great many of his Men by sickness nevertheless when he understood that the Earl of Desmond and David Barry had assembled three thousand Men near Ahado in Kerry he Marched with the Remainder of his small Brigade to Castlemange and upon a sudden surprized them so that the Earl was fain to fly in his Shirt and shift for himself as well as he could he fled to Herlow-wood a very great fastness but being Necessitated to pass near Killmallock the Garrison there under Bourcher Dowdall Macworth and Norris pursued them into the Wood and were like to take the Earl but did take a great Pery and some of his Carriages and killed a great many of his Followers About the same time Fitzgirald commonly called Seneschaâ— of Imokilly preyed the Country about Lissmore and slew twenty five of the Garrison that sallied to recover the Prey The Lord Deputy appointed Archbishop Loftus and the Earl of Kildare Governours of the Pale during his intended Progress and they had a General Rendevouz at the Hill of Taragh in July and then the Earl with two hundred Horse and seven hundred Foot by the order of the Council went to Parly with the Lord of Baltinglass but to no purpose and thereupon the Earl unadvisedly returned to Dublin and the Enemy taking advantage of his Retreat Burnt Newcastle in the County of Wicklow 1581. In the mean time the Lord Deputy Marched to Munster and made Captain Zouch Governour of that Province and then returned to Dublin by the way of Connaugh Zouch kept his head Quarters at Corke and had Intelligencil that there was a great Feud between David Barry and the Seneschall of Imokelly and that they both lay on Dunfrinâ—en side of the Blackwater and that the Earl of Desmond and his Brother John lay on the other side of the River in Condens Country and that they were very active by their Messengers to procure a Reconcillation between Barry and the Seneschall but were hindred by the great Floods from Negotiating it personally as they designed whereupon Captain Dowdall sent one Richard Mac-James to the Irish Camp as a Spy to whom one of the Desmonds Messengers not mistrusting him discovered that Sir John Desmond designed to come and reconcile the aforesaid Parties the next Morning but I know not by what Artifice the Spy perswaded the Messenger to go to Corke and tell his own Story but 't is certain thereupon Zouch and Dowdall leaving the Government of Corke to Captain Raleigh Marcht on Hooker 175 pretending for Lymerick and by break of Day they got to Castlelyons and so Marching forwards to an Wood and placing some Shot between the Wood and Sâ—â—anâ—cally adjacent Bogg they met two Gentlemen in the Wood who happened to be Sir John of Desmond and James Fitz John of 〈◊〉 both which they took and Executed and which is most strange as Mr. Sullivane tells the Story 〈◊〉 great Hero was so daunted at the sight of the English Sullivan 99 that he was not able to mount his Horse tho at other times he was an active man But Zouch not contented herewith but remembring that David Barry and Gorin Mac Swiny had lately prayed Carbery and passing by Bantry had encountred the Garrison which Sallyed and kill'd every one of them but one was now resolved to revenge it and therefore fell upon their Army and routed them and this Defeat reduced Barry to the necessity of begging pardon which at length he obtain'd And so Munster being pretty quiet and no news of the Earl of Desmond the Munster Forces were reduced to four hundred Foot and fifty Horse But the Lord of Lixnaw and his Son pretending injuries from the Governour took advantage of the reducement of the Army and boldly went into Rebellion again and his beginning was very successful for he slew Captain Achin and the Garrison of Adare except some few that saved themselves in the Abby and recovered that Fortress also he took the strong Castle of Lisconnell by Stratagem and threw the Garrison over the Walls and tho he fall'd in his cunning design on the Castle of Adnagh yet he ranged over the Countries of Ormond Tipperary and Waterford without resistance Wherefore Zouch not able to endure these affronts with his small Army of four hundred Men March'd into Kerry and came to Adare which the Lord Lixnaw had forsaken and thence he March'd to Lisconnell Wood where he met the Baron with about 700 Men who upon the first Charge â—led and left their Goods and Cattle behind them Thence the Army March'd to Glyn Castle where Sir Henry Wallopps and Captain Norris's Companies being 200 men came to them from the Lord Deputy hence the Governour went to Lymerick leaving Captain Powdall to pursue the Baron who soon met with him near Glanflisk and defeated his Forces again Hooker 177. killing â—n hundred and forty of them and taking a Prey of 800
to her Brother Owen O Moriarta al 's Droghbearla and made such piteous Complaint that he resolved to get her her Cattle again if possible wherefore he addressed himself to the English Governor of Castlemange so effectually that he obtain'd 7. Musketteers and 12. Kearne and with them he followed the Tract of the Cattle that night they came to the Wood of Clawniginky four Miles from Traley where they resolved to lodg but about Midnight seeing a Fire they drew towards it and so came to a Cabbin where they found an old Man alone sitting by the Fire the Servants having ran away on their Approach Kolly who led the Soldiers Cambd. Eliz. 290. and was bred by the English altho a Native Irishman struck the old Man with his Sword and almost cut off his Arm whereupon the old Man cried out that he was Earl of Desmond and Kolly would have spared him but finding that he bled so fast that he could not live he immediately cut off the Earls Head which was sent afterwards into England and placed on a Pole on Londonbridge and for this exploit the Family of the Moriarta's are in disgrace amongst the Irish to this Day Sullivan 100. and Mr. Sullivan says the place where his Blood was Spilt doth still continue red Nor had John Burk better Success for he being in Protection did nevertheless make an Attempt upon Adare and endeavoured to Prey and Plunder the Country thereabout but as he passed by a Boy from the Castle discharged his Gun and shot him Dead And thus ended the Rebellion of Desmond Cambden says The Eleventh in the Ruin of Girald the fifteenth Earl of that Family after whose Death the common People did manifest such Desires of living in Peace that the Forces of Munster were reduced to 200. And not long after a Commission issued to Sir Henry Wallop Sir Valentine Brown and others to take a Survey of all such Lands as had been forfeited within the four years last past And in Vlster Lib. C. Sir Nicholas Bagnall Sir Lucas Dillon and James Dowdall Commissioners of Vlster on the 22d day of October 1583 in the presence of the Baron of Dungannon and the Agents of Turlogh Lynogh and O Donell and by their Consent made these Orders between them 1. That the Truce between them be continued till the 17th of March next 2. That on the 2d day of December each of them shall put in Pledges at Dundalk to keep the Peace towards the Queen and each other 3. That the Controversies between the said Parties shall then be determined 4. That if either Injure the other during the Truce the Queen shall assist the Sufferer and Punish the Delinquent 5. That they shall chuse indifferent Arbitrators to examine Witnesses and determine the Differences between them if they can and if not then to Report the State of the Case to the Commissioners And in Leinster things were so quiet that two of the O Conners determined a Controversy in a form of Justice which being a matter extraordinary shall be related at large Teig Mac Gilpatrick O Connor was accused by Connor Mac Cormâ—ck O Connor Septemb. 1583. before the Lord Deputy and Council for Killing and Murdering his Men being under Protection Teig answered That they had since the Protection confederated with the Rebel Cahill O Connor and therefore were also Rebels and that he was ready to justify his Assertion by Combal Connor accepted the Motion and the Weapons which were Sword and Target being chosen by the Defendant the next day was appointed for the Battle and Patrons were assigned to each of them to introduce them into the Lists the Day being come and the Court sat the Combatants were likewise seated on two Stools one at each end of the Inner Court of the Castle of Dublin most of the Military Officers were present to render this Action the more Solemn and then the Pleadings being read the Combatants were stript to their Shirts and searched by Secretary Fenton and then each of them took a corporal Oath that his Quarrel was true and that he would justify the same with his Blood and then at the Sound of the Trumpets they began the Fight with great Resolution but at length Conner was twice wounded in his Leg and once in his Eye and thereupon design'd to close with his Adversary but Teige being too strong for him pummell'd him till he loosned his Murriâ—n and then he easily Stunn'd him and with Conner's own Sword cut off his Head and brought it to the Lords Justices But Mr. Sullevan Sullevan 108. who exclaims against this barbarous way of Tryal commits three Mistakes in this one Story First he says That this happened in Sir John Perot's time And 2dly That he forced the Parties to the Combat and that they were asham'd to refuse it And 3dly That it was in a Controversy about Lands in Ophaly But to proceed The Viscount Ballinglass that great Incendiary of Leinster was so totally dismayed at the News of the Death of the Earl of Desmond that he also privately Embarked for Spain where not long afterwards he died for grief So that the Kingdom being thus quieted the publick Revenue for the year 1583. Lib. M. amounted unto 23565 l. 12 s. Sir John Perrot Lord Deputy was Sworn the 26th of June 1584. his Commission was as usual during Pleasure 〈◊〉 make War and Peace Caballa of Letters 336. and to punish Offences or 〈◊〉 them Treason against the Queen's Person or Counterfeiting Money only excepted to make Orders and Proclamations to Impose Fines and Dispose of Rebels Estates to exercise Martial Law and to Assemble the Parliament with her Majesties Privity to confer all Offices except Chancellor Treasurer three Chief Judges and Master of the Rolls and to collate and confer all Spiritual Promotions except Arch-Bishops and Bishops to do all things relating to Justice and Government that the Queen could do if present The Lord Deputies Instructions were as followeth I. To Assemble and Consult the Council how the Government may be managed that Justice may take place the Charge lessened the Revenue increas'd and the Subject not oppressed II. To reduce the Army and the Pay as formerly especially in the Countries not wasted and to prevail with the Country to contribute as Carbury heretofore hath done III. To keep the Army in Discipline that they do not oppress the Subject and that the Companies be kept Compleat and Full. IV. To consider how Munster may be Repeopled and how the forfeited Lands in Ireland may be disposed of to the Advantage of Queen and Subject but first they must be Surveyed by Commissioners now sent over to that purpose and for the Encouragemennt of the Undertakers and to avoid Fraudulent Conveyances by the Rebels let there be a Parliament in a proper Season to pass Acts of Attaindure of fraudulent Conveyances and of Qualifying Uses V. That where Leases have been made without usual Reservation of
the Crane in Dublin and did much harm On the seventh of May the Deputy made another journey into Pheagh Mac Hugh's Country 1597 and on the eighth had the good fortune to kill that Arch Rebel Ibid. and to take a Prey of 200 Cows which were divided amongst the Soldiers But the Queen believing that her Affairs were prejudiced by the disagreement between the Deputy and the General did at his own Request revoke the Lord Deputy and to supply his Place sent over Thomas Lord Burrough Lord Deputy who landed on the 15th of May and received the Sword in St. Patrick's Church on Sunday the 22d Camb. Eliz. 543. he had supreme Authority in Martial as well as Civil Causes and immediately ordered General Norris to his Presidency of Munster which Affront together with the Disappointment of the chief Government which he knew he merited and earnestly expected and the many baffles Tyrone had put upon him broke his Heart The Lord Deputy amongst other Instructions had charge to enquire what English Undertakers had ☜ contrary to their Covenants suffered Irishmen to inhabit their Lands and to enquire into the Earl of Glancar's Estate which for want of Heirs Males was devolved to the Crown After a Month's Truce with Tyrone the Deputy marched to Vlster where the Crown retained only Newry Knockfergus Greencastle Armagh Dundrum and Olderfleet Connaugh was likewise in Rebellion and so were some of the Butlers in Munster The Deputy met some opposition at a Pass near Armagh but he gallantly forced his way and thereby was convinced that the Irish would run if resolutely assaulted he soon took the Fort of Blackwater and garison'd it with English but whilst they were giving thanks to God for this Victory they were called from Prayers to Arms upon the appearance of the Irish Forces with whom they skirmished successfully yet so as that the Deputy's Brother-in-Law Vaughan and several others were slain and particularly two Foster-brothers of Henry Earl of Kildare for grief whereof the Earl soon after dyed Clifford Governour of Connaugh was ordered to advance with the Forces of his Province to the borders of Vlster wherefore with 700 old Soldiers he attempted it bravely but being opposed by a numerous Enemy he nevertheless made a gallant retreat above 30 Miles and in the face of 2000 Rebels without any considerable loss Upon the Lord Deputy's return towards the Pale the Earl of Tyrone immediately besieged the Fort of Blackwater and the Deputy as nimbly marched to its relief and having raised the Siege he designed to march to Dungannon and so to clear the way thither that on any occasion the Army might march that way but he fell 〈◊〉 and was forced to return and dyed in the way to Dublin and Sir Thomas Norris President of Munster was provisionally made Lord Justice on the 30th of August but he being melancholy at the death of his Brother soon grew weary of the Office and at his Request the Government was committed to Adam Loftus Lord Chancellour and Archbishop of Dublin and Sir Robert Gardiner Lord Chief Justice Lords Justices who were sworn on the 15th of November and the same day the Council gave in writing an account of the State of the Kingdom and concluded that it was an universal Irish Rebellion intended to shake off all English Government The Earl of Ormond was made Lieutenant General of the Army and he was to have 100 Marks per mensem and 30 Horse and 30 Foot and the Lords Justices were to have 33 l. 6 s. 8 d. per mensem and 20 Horse and 20 Foot equally divided between them The Earl of Ormond upon application made to him by Tyrone procured a Commission to himself the Bishop of Meath and Secretary Fenton to treat with that Rebel and on the 22d day of December they met at Dundalk and agreed to a Cessation for eight weeks on Tyrone's engagement to furnish the Fort of Blackwater with 50 Bieves and to give the Garison liberty of Forage and other Articles recited at large Morison 22. On the 18th of February O Rourk submitted to the Lieutenant General and subscribed the Agreement likewise mentioned at large Morison 22. and on the 15th of March Ormond proposed to Tyrone 13 Conditions of Pardon mentioned Morison 23. to most of which he agreed but because O Donell and some others did not appear that matter was adjourned to the 10th of April in the mean time the Pardon was drawn and bears date the 11th of April but I do not believe that Tyrone ever came for it both because he was Anno 1600. outlawed on the former Indictment and because he immediately relapsed into his former Disloyalties and not only sent aid to Phelim mac Feagh but also laid close Siege to the Fort of Blackwater but the defence made by Captain Thomas Williams was so considerable that Tyrone despair'd of effecting his design by Force and therefore resolved to starve them and indeed they were reduced to great necessity when in August Marshal Bagnall with 14 Ensigns of Foot and a choice Party of Horse was sent to relieve them The Rebels Camd. Eliz. 565. being a vast number fell upon the English in a Wood half a Mile beyond Armagh and the Earl of Tyrone having a particular spight against the Marshal Bâ—gnall he bent all his Force that way and had the good fortune to kill the Marshal and to rout the English Army with the slaughter of 13 Captains and 1500 Soldiers whereupon the shattered remnant of the English retired to Armagh and sent to Captain Williams to surrender the Fort of Blackwater that he might reinforce and preserve the rest of the Army By this Victory the Irish got Arms Ammunition and Victuals and which was more so much Reputation that the English could act only on the defensive part and not that it self without continual fear and danger But the Queen was nettled at this Defeat and by the 12th of September 1598. blam'd Ormond that he was not there and ordered him to reduce the old List to 8000 and to clear the Army from Irish and she also sent over Sir Richard Bingham to succeed Bagnall in the Office of Marshal but as soon as he landed he dyed at Dublin and Sir Samuel Bagnall was sent with 2000 Foot and 100 Horse which though at first designed to plant a Garison at Loghfoyle were on the aforesaid all news ordered to land at Carlingford In the mean time Tyrone sends Owny mac Rory Oge and Tirrel into Munster with 4000 Kernes 598. the President Sir Thomas Norris opposed them but was forced by necessary occasions or rather by reason of the weakness of his Forces to return to Cork whereupon the Munsterians generally rebell in October and kill murther ravish and spoil without Mercy and Tyrone made James Fitz Thomas Earl of Desmond on condition to be tributary to him He was the handsomest Man of his time and is commonly called the Sugan Earl And the Queen
more and on the 30th of July the Deputy march'd to the new Fort at Blackwater and beyond it and spent two days in cutting the Woods and clearing the Paces and whilst they were doing so on the first of August the Rebels made an Alarum whereat the English Horses were frightned broke their Headstals and ran away some to Armagh and some to Newry but the Troopers recovered them all again by the cowardize and negligence of the Irish Horse-men who might easily have pursued and taken them all On the second of August the Deputy return'd to Armagh and march three miles farther to Ralawtany and sent out Sir Henry Danvers with 300 Foot to burn about 20 Houses which he effected but in his return was assaulted by Tyrene's Army However being succour'd from the Camp he made a safe Retreat though the Rebels pursued him even so far as to pour a Volly of Shot into the Camp and by reason of the adjacent Wood they also got away safe The next day the Deputy marched North of Armagh for convenience of Forage and to secure the Convoys and the Rebels being numerous drew down thorough the Woods near the Army which by Poll was but 1728 foot and above half of them Irish The fourth of August the Deputy drew out some Companies to cut down the Woods and they were not interrupted all day but after they were return'd to the Camp in the Evening the Rebels appear'd in a Meadow below the Camp with Drums and Bagpipes and pretended to assault the Camp but the Lord Deputy plac'd 400 men in Ambush and order'd them not to fire till the Enemy was very near The Rebels were encourag'd by their not firing so that they poured 2 or 3000 Shot into the Camp but the Ambush finding their opportunity gave them such a Volley in their teeth that turn'd their Musick to Allogone and slew many of their best men and particularly Peirce Lacy of the Brough one of the greatest Rebels in Munster But because Tyrone who had 3640 Foot and 400 Horse was strengthned by the access of Maguire mac Mahon and Cormack mac Baron and their Followers and was also elevated with the expectation of Spanish Succours the Deputy sent for Sir John Barkly's Regiment from Annaly and spent two days in cutting the Paces and on the 7th march'd to Mount Norris where he staid the 8th 9th 10th 11th and 12th and on the 13th came within three mile of Armagh and on the 14th victualled the Abby of Armagh and the Fort of Blackwater and return'd to his Camp and on the 15th he march'd to Mount Norris and on the 16th to Carrickbane near the Newry and on the 24th his Lordship left the Field and came to the Newry having plac'd his Forces in Garrison  Foot Horse  Viz. at Carigfergus 850 125 Sir Arth. Chichester Lecale 300  Sir Rich. Morison Newry 450 50 Sir Fran. Stafford Mount Norris 600 50 Sir Sam. Bagnal Armagh 800 125 Sir Hen. Danvers Blackwater 350  Capt. Williams But let us return to the Lord President of Munster who was alarum'd from Conaugh for in the latter end of March Redmond Burk and Hugh Mostian with 800 Canaugh-men and Teig Bourk John Fitz Thomas Donough mac Cormock and Peirce Lacy with 700 Vlster-men design'd to invade Munster by the way of Conaugh and the Lord of Kerry Teig Reagh mac Mahon and others were providing a Bark to come by Sea Sir John Barkly Governour of Conaugh in absence of Sir Arthur Savage was too weak to resist this Force and therefore the President sent him 1000 Foot under Sergeant-Major Flower in hopes to interrupt their passage over the Shenin Flower assisted by the Lord Twomond's Foot-Company on the 29th of March came to Quin in Thomond and hearing the Rebels were not far off notwithstanding that Teig mac Tirlogh O Brian and Walter Burk Son of the blind Abbot had three days before joyn'd them he drew towards them and so valiantly manag'd the Encounter that Teig and Walter were both slain and their Forces totally routed The remainder of the Rebels finding that the President had taken care to stop their passage by Sea retir'd into Tough Kinalehim a strong Fastness betwixt Clanrickard and Thomond where they continued till the 13th of April then being half starved and dispairing of assistance from O Donnel who had promis'd it they stole away in the Night to O Maddins Country the English pursued them several Nights till they pass'd the River Suck wherein 200 Irish were drowned and the rest dispers'd in the mean time the President himself came to Lymerick to countenance and be ready to assist the English Forces he also order'd the chief Irish Subjects with their risings out to meet at Galbally in the County of Lymerick under the Lord Barry where 1300 Foot and 120 Horse of the County of Cork only appeared The Rebels thus scattered Captain Flower returned to Lymerick the 21st of April and on the 26th the President returned to Cork in order to use all possible means to secure the Sugan Earl and Florence Mac Carty which not long after he luckily effected for on the 29th of May the White Knight alias Fitz Gibbon took James the Sugan Earl of Desmond prisoner in a Cave in the Mountain of Slevegrot and sent him to the President at Cork for which good service he had 1000 l. This Earl was arraign'd and condemn'd at Cork and afterwards sent into England together with Florence Mac Carty whom the President caus'd to be arrested in Cork in the beginning of June upon notice of his manifold Treasons and Breaches of his Protection which may be found at large in Pacata Hiberniae p. 164. both of them afterwards died in the Tower of London One of these was the most potent of all the Earls of Desmond having at one time 8000 armed Men under his command And the other had been the most considerable of the Mac Carties since the Conquest The President Pa◠Hib. 17◠to farther the intended Plantation at Ballishanon sent Sir Francis Barkley and 1000 Foot and 50 Horse to Conaugh by the Deputy's order where they did very good service On the 28th of July the President held Sessions of Goal-delivery at Cork where all the Freeholders were summon'd to appear and then he intended to seize upon the most suspicious persons in hopes that the News thereof would prevent the Spanish Invasion and accordingly he caus'd to be arrested Mac Donogh alias Dermond Mac Owen Teig Mac Dermond Carty Brother of the Lord of Muskry and Moyle more O Mahon of Kinalmeaky all which were fully resolved to joyn with the Spaniards and had license from the Priests to temporize till their deliverance should come About this time the Earl of Ormond did good service in Kilkenny and Tipperary and slew several considerable Rebels and near 100 others of lesser note But let us return to the Lord Deputy 1601. whom we left at the Newry where he receiv'd News that
the Lord Dunsany who had a Company of Kernes in the Queens Pay at Liscannon a Fort in the Brenny took a Prey of 1600 Cows from Macmahon but being pursued by 140 Men they left their Prey and ran away to the Fort in this small Skirmish about 50 of each side were slain but never a good Subject amongst them But much better did Sir Henry Dockwra behave himself in Vlster for he not only regain'd the Castle of Derry which some of his Irish Soldiers had betray'd to the Rebels but he also surpriz'd Donegal and tho' O Donel besieg'd it full thirty days using many horrible Howlings and Outcries to terrifie the Garison and altho' the Abby by accident was burnt yet did the English Soldiers manfully defend it until O Donel drew off to the Relief of Kingsale and then Sir Henry marched to Donegal by land and Edward Diggs with two Companies quartered at a place called Asherow had the good fortune to surprize and take Ballyshannon a place very much coveted by the English for the advantage of its situation On the 29th of August the Deputy came to Trim where the Privy-Council from Dublin met him Camb. Eliz. 638. to consult of Affairs in general and particularly how to deal with Tyrrel who projected an Incursion into Munster In September the Lord President receiv'd 2000 fresh Men landed at Waterford and Cork from England and thereof gave account to the Deputy whereupon Mountjoy went to Kilkenny with one Troop only on the 13th of September in order to confer with the President about the Queens Service but the President was then hindred by the noise of the Spanish Invasion but that being cooled again the President leaving Sir Charles Wilmot in Cork met the Lord Deputy at Leighlin on the 19th of September There were Posts newly erected for the more speedy conveying of Intelligence so that on the 22d of September sitting at Council in Kilkenny they received News by the Post that the Spaniards were discover'd near the Old-head of Kingsale and on the 23d another Letter from Sir Charles Wilmot was brought them signifying That they were landed at Kingsale but they were not landed when the Post came away but landed that very day being the 23th of September 1601. Hereupon the Marshal Wingfield was sent to the Pale to assemble those Forces Sept. 24. and to get what Necessaries the Council could supply the Army with and Sir Henry Danvers was sent for the Garrison of Armagh and Sir John Berkly for that of Navan and the Deputy and President rode that night to Kiltenan my Lord of Dunboyn's Castle and the 25th to Clonmel the 26th to Glannor and 27th to Cork where they found a large Magazine of Victuals preserv'd by the President 's fortunate providence against this time of great necessity Captain Slingsby 24. with his Foot-Company and some of Sir Anthony Cook 's Horse march'd to view the Enemy and entertain'd a small Skirmish with them Capt. Flower 28. with some Companies went to view the Enemy who sallied and were beaten back by the English The Deputy 29. President and Council went to view Kingsale Fortescue and Berry brought two Companies to Cork Octob. 3. The Marshal and Sir John Barkly came to Cork with more Forces 8. Danvers 10. Folliot and Blany also came and the Marshal and Berkly went to view a fit place to encamp in Proclamation against assisting the Invaders 15. and the great Cities sent some Militia to the Army The Deputy encamp'd at Owneboy 16. At Knockrobin 17. Sir John Berkly alarum'd Kingsale 19. and beat the Spaniards into their Trenches A Sally of 1000 Spaniards repell'd by 200 English 20. The Lord of Muskry and his rising on 't 21. was order'd to skirmish with the Spaniards and were effectually assisted from the Camp Capt. Button's Ship keeps the Harbour of Kingsale 22. Sir John Berkly made a successful Attack on the Spaniards 25. and beat them out of their Trenches The Camp remov'd to Spittle-hill 26. and Capt. Harvy went eight miles about over the River of Bandon and recovered a Prey from under Castlenipark The Artillery was mounted against Rincorran-Castle 29. the Spaniards attempted to relieve it by Sea but were hindred by Capt. Button's Ship The Spaniards mounted Artillery 30. which played into the Camp and did some mischief in the Lord Deputy's Quarter The Spaniards attempted with 500 men to relieve Rincorran 31. but could not though they entertain'd a smart Skirmish with the English The Castle of Rincoran was surrendered Nov. 1. Four Barks with Ammunition Victuals arrived for the English at Kingsale 5. The President with two Regiments of Foot 7. and 250 Horse march'd to intercept Tyrone he afterwards met with Saint Laurence's Regiment and tho' he was once within four miles of the Irish yet they marching 32 miles in one day were too nimble for him so that he could never engage them The President had Notice â— that the Lord of Muskry had undertaken to Don John that he would send him the President alive or dead and that all the Irish being half the Army would turn Renagadoes when a fit opportunity presented Yet he manag'd this matter so wisely that neither of them found opportunity of executing their devilish Designs The Spaniards made a resolute Sally Nov. 10. and were beaten back with loss Sir Anthony Cook 11. and Patrick Atthur landed with 2000 Foot at Waterford and some Horse Levison and Preston with 10 Ships of War 12. and 2000 Foot arrived at Cork They came into Kingsale Harbour 14. The English attempted Castlenipark ineffectually 17. Earl of Thomond with 100 Horse 18. and 1000 Foot arrived at Kingsale Harbour Castlenipark surrendred 20. and Don John's House shot thorough The Deputy went to Castlenipark 21. Four Men in the Market-place slain by the Artillery from the Camp 22. The Artillery plaid on the Town 23. and more Guns were planted at Castlenipark Also the Ships came between Castlenipark and the Town Earl of Clanrickard and his Regiment came to the Camp 25 26 And So did the President And the Spaniards made an ineffectual Sally Spent in playing the Artillery 27. Kingsale was summon'd And St. Lawrence beat the Spaniards out of their Trenches 28. The Artillery plaid with success 29. The Marshal viewed the Town 30. to find a place of Battery and made a Breach Berkly with 2000 Foot sent to view whether the Breach was assaultable Decemb. 1. and found that it was not That Night a Camp was planted near the Town on the West side of it Nine English killed ten Spaniards in the Trenches 2. and that Night the Spaniards made a furious Sally on the new Camp but were repulsed with the loss of 200 Men. News of a supply of Spaniards landed at Castlehaven 3. Sir Charles Wilmot and his Regiment
and publickly celebrated Mass This City is seated in an Island surrounded with the River Shenin and joyned to the Continent by two stately Bridges of Stone it is fortified with good Walls and a strong Castle and is justly esteem'd the most Impregnable Town in Ireland and certainly its Strength and Reputation has often prov'd a Snare to the Inhabitants and prompted them to such Acts of Disloyalty as otherwise they would not have dared to perpetrate And tho' at this time Limerick did submâ—t without a Siege because all its Accomplices had first done so yet in the succeeding Rebellion it not only defied all His Majesty's Forces abus'd His Herald and affronted His Lord Lieutenant but at last put the whole Power of England to the Necessity of making a Second Tedious and Bloody Siege before they could reduce it which I have observed in this place because I would lose no Opportunity to put the English in mind how much it does import them upon a new Settlement that care be taken that those Strong Places should be inhabited only by a People faithful to the Crown But to proceed The Religious at Kilkenny were not less precipitate and insolent than their Brethren elsewhere Edmond Raughter a Dominican headed the Sedition in that City and broke open the Black-Friers which had for some time been used as a Court-house and pulled down the Seats and erected an Altar and forced the Keys of his House from one Mr. Bishop that lived in part of that Abby and gave Possession of the whole Abby to the Friers altho' by Act of Parliament it was turned to a Lay-Fee and by Legal Conveyances became the Propriety of other Men. These Rebellious Proceedings in so many principal Cities and Towns necessitated the Lord Deputy to undertake a Progress to Munster and on the Fifth of May he came to Gracedea near Waterford and summon'd the Mayor and his Brethren to open their Gates and receive him into the City with His Majesty's Army and tho' at first they refused to admit any Forces into the Town except the Lord Deputy and his Retinue alledging some Privilege or Exemption to that purpose by vertue of an Ancient Charter from King John yet when the Lord Deputy had told them That no King could give that Privilege to his Subjects whereby his Successors should be prejudiced in the due Obedience they were to expect from them and that if they did not open their Gates immediately but put him to the Necessity of entring by Force he would cut King John ' s Charter with King James ' s Sword and ruin their City and strew it with Salt they tamely opened their Gates notwithstanding their former boasting and the Lord Deputy and the Army march'd into the City But whilst he was in his Camp at Gracedea the Mayor at his Excellencies Request sent out Doctor White and a young pert Dominican Frier to discourse with his Lordship in Matters of Religion and to shew him the Grounds and Reasons of these Proceedings which his Lordship thought so temerarious and unaccountable And the Friers had the confidence to come in their Habits with the Crucifix exalted before them Sullivan 199. and to tell the Deputy That the Citizens of Waterford could not in Conscience obey any Prince that persecuted the Catholick Faith This led them into Discourse wherein at length Doctor White cited a Passage in St. Austin for the Proof of something he asserted and it hapning that the Lord Deputy had the Book in his Tent he caus'd it to be sent for and publickly shew'd to all the Company that the Words cited by the Doctor were not St. Austin's Opinion but were quoted by him as an Objection which in the same place he opposes and confutes and inferr'd That it was highly disingenuous in the Doctor to quote that Sentence as St. Austin's Judgment when he knew that his Opinion was directly contrary to it Whereupon the Doctor was confounded the Citizens were ashamed and the Conference ended In the mean time the Lord Deputy to prevent farther Mischief at Cork and to humble them with the certain notice of his Approach sent the Mayor of that City the following Letter FOr the dispatch of Your Messenger and not to omit any thing that lieth in me to make you understand your dutiful Obedience to His Majesty and the great Errors and insolent Demeanour you have of Self-will or Malice entred into I am content to write unto you tho' I know not well in what sort to write For by your Courses I cannot take you for Subjects and out of my desire to interpret your Actions to the best I could wish not to have cause to repute you Rebels To deal plainly with you for any thing that your selves inform or I can otherwise learn I see not that Sir Charles Wilmot hath done but as in his Duty he was tied to do But I am presently drawing down to the City of Cork and having reserved one Ear for any your just Complaints will judge of your Proceedings as I shall find them I have let you understand my Pleasure by my Letters one sent by Master Meade which if he have not delivered he is more to blame and I assure my self some of them came to your Hands and in all I have charged you upon your Allegiance as again by these I do to desist from Publick Breach of His Majesty's Laws in the Celebration of the Mass prohibited by the same and to yield due Obedience to His Magistrates and especially upon your extreamest Perils not to presume to make any stay of His Majesty's Victuals and Munition left upon especial Trust on your Fidelity within the Walls of that City but to suffer it by His Majesty's Commissioners of that Province to be issued to the Forts or where they shall think meet for the present Service I shall be glad to find that you conform your selves to due Obedience in all these and other Duties of Good Subjects if otherwise you obstinately persist in the contrary I must needs hold you for Enemies to the King and the Peace of these His Realms and as such think you fit to be prosecuted by the revenging Sword of these and other His Majesty's Forces From the Camp at Gracedea near Waterford the Fourth of May 1603. And on the Eleventh of May the Lord Deputy came with his Forces to Cork which had for some days been blocked up by the Commissioners of Munster Nevertheless he had immediate admittance into the City without any previous Capitulation whereby it is manifest That some who have but small regard to Dangers that are remote have a delicate sense of those that are near Would any Man believe that these insolent Rebels that refus'd to proclaim the King and seiz'd on His Stores threatned to murder the Bishop and shot at the Lord President 's Lady and the Commissionerâ—s and had kill'd a Minister and several others of the King's Subjects so that Mr. Sullivan brags That they
slew more than they lost should yet tamely resign upon the first approach of the Army and surrender their City to the Mercy of an incensed General without making Conditions for their own Indemnity However thus they did and relied only upon a very slight Stratagem to preserve themselves which was that at the Lord Deputy's Entry into the City they placed Plow-shares on each side of the Street intimating thereby that the Oppression of the Soldiers had occasioned so many Plows to lie idle and them to mutiny But the Lord Deputy took little notice of that silly Contrivance however he was resolv'd in his Mind to extend Mercy to the Generality and to make Examples of some few only of the Ringleaders of this Rebellion Oâ— this Number was the Recorder William Miagh who was the Chief Incendiary and Christopher Morough the Lieutenant that seised on the Stores and one Owen a Schoolmaster that had publish'd and preach'd up the Title of the Infanta and William Buler a bigotted Broguemaker that had been exceeding malicious and active in this Sedition These last Three having no Freehold were probably tried by Martial Law condemned and executed But the Recorder had better Luck for he was some time afterwards tried by a Jury of the County of Cork consisting altogether of Irish Papists who against full and undeniable Evidence and his own Confession acquitted him Whereupon the Foreman was fined Two hundred Pounds and the rest One hundred Pounds apiece and Master Miagh being set at Liberty became a Pensioner to the King of Spain and died at Naples But the Lord Deputy having put good Garisons into Cork and Waterford and forced the Inhabitants of each Place to take the Oath of Allegiance and to abjure Foreign Dependencies marched to Limerick and did the like there And on the Twentieth of May the Deputy came to Cashell and there he understood that a certain Priest had bound a Protestant Goldsmith of that City to a Tree threatning to burn him and his Heretical Books and that he did really burn some of the Books and kept the Man in that miserable condition for Six hours together expecting every Minute when Fire should be set to the â—aggots But it is probable the Priest made his Escape because I find nothing of his Punishment From Cashell the Lord Deputy by easie Journies return'd to Dublin and sent his Secretary Mr. Cook to give the King an Account of his Proceedings and gave him a Charge to solicit His Majesty that the Lord Deputy might keep his Place with Two thirds of the Allowance and that he might have leave to wait on the King in England leaving the Government and the other Third of the Allowance with Sir George Cary during his Absence And the better to quiet the People and to oblige them to Loyalty if possible and to induce them to an industrious and regular way of living Temple 11. the Lord Deputy issued a Proclamation of General Indemnity and Oblivion and restored every body not attainted to their former Possessions and prohibited Private Actions for Trespasses committed in the War-time and then being made Lord Lieutenant of Ireland and a Privy Counsellor in England he sailed thither with the King's leave and carried with him the Earl of Tyrone and Rory O Donell Competitor with Neal Gâ—ruff who were not only well received at Court but also highly honoured and respected and Rory O Donel was created Earl of Tyrconel and had a considerable Estate in that Territory granted to him And about the same time the King granted to Sir Randal Mac Donald the Territory of the Rout in the County of Antrim Lib. M. saving Three parts of the Fishing of the River Ban and by these Concessions and Favours which the Irish commonly interpret to be granted to them more for Fear than for Love the Earl of Tyrone Lib. C. and all the principal Irishmen except the Earl of Thomond were encourag'd to petition the King for Toleration of the Popish Religion But the King thought it enough that the Penal Laws against that Religion were not put in execution but rather were in effect suspended by a Connivance that differed little from a Toleration and finding he had to do with a People that never missed any thing for want of asking but were apt to take the Ell if he gave the Inch he became the more reserved in his Concessions to the Irish from thenceforward And altho the King and his Ministers did all he could to bring Ireland into a Method of Government and to reduce the Publick Charge that it might hold some proportion with the Revenue yet because it was not reasonable to disband the Army till the Kingdom was better setled they could not bring the Charge for the Year 1603. lower than 163315 l. 18 s. 3 ¼ d. And that the World may see that the Irish Rebels have justly forfeited those Estates that have been at any time seised by the Crown of England and that it cost England infinitely more Money to reduce them than their Lands were worth to be purchas'd and that the Protestants of Ireland may be sensible of their Obligations to England for its liberal Contributions for their Preservation I must add That the Charge of the War for Four years and a half from the First of October 1598. to the First of April 1603. amounted to Eleven hundred ninety eight thousand seven hundred and seventeen Pounds nineteen Shillings and a Penny Sir GEORGE CARY Treasurer at Wars was sworn Lord Deputy on the First day of June and had but one third of the Deputies allowance 1603. the other two thirds being appointed for the Lord Lieutenant Mountjoy in liew of which this Deputy kept his place of Treasurer at Wars he appointed the first Sheriffs that ever were in Tyrone or Tyrconnel and this very Year he sent Sir Edward Pelhan and Sir John Davis Judges of Assize to those Counties Davis 264. and they were welcome to the Commons but distasteful to the Irish Lords But it seems Neal Garuff was highly dissatisfied with the Conduct of the English in preferring Rory O Donell before him to the Earldom of Tyrconnel Sullivan 201. and therefore Mr. Sullivan introduces that barbarous Hero into the Parliament House and says he spoke boldly and roundly to the Senate and tells us That tho he was offered to be confirmed in his former Possessions and dignâ—fied with the Title of Baron yet he disdained those mean Proposals and Couragiously upbraided the English Nation with Dishonesty and Perfidiousness and says it was he and not they that subdued the Catholicks and curses himself for giving Assistance to the English or trusting to their Promises and he says further That the King of England to obtain Peace from the Spaniard did dissemble his Religion and pretend to be a Papist But this Catholick Author is of no Credit and it is enough to discover the Forgery of this ostentatious Story that there was not really any
House of Commons consisted of Two hundred thirty two Members whereof about Six were absent so that of sitting Members One hundred twenty five were Protestants and 〈◊〉 were Pâ—pists But the List of the Commons being called over by the Clerk of the Crown No others but such as were return'd as aforesaid were suffered to enter the House of Lords to hear the Lord Chancellors Speech but that being ended the Commons were ordered to their own House to chuse a Speaker whom they were to Present to the Lord Deputy the Friday following and the Lord Deputy told them that the King had recommended a Speaker to them one his Lordship thought beyond exception and should be named to them by some of the Privy Council when they should come to their House And accordingly the House being sate Sir Thomas Ridgway Vice-Treasurer and Treasurer at Wars made a storid Speech and in the end proposed Sir John Davis for their Speaker and that he was the Man the King and Deputy thought fittest for that Office which was answered with a great Acclamation of Consent Hereupon Sir James Gough stept out disorderly into the midst of the House and offered to make a Speech there but being ordered by the House to go back to his place and speak there he did so and then stragling from the Matter in question which was the Choice of a Speaker he alledged that the new Corporations had no Right to chuse nor could any Body not resident or inhabiting in any Corporation be chosen Citizen or Burgess of it and therefore desir'd that Matter might be examined but concluded nothing as to the Speaker till being demanded for whom he gave his Voice He answered for Sir John Everard late one of the Judges of the Kings-Bench but being an obstinate Recusant was by his Majesties special Orders removed Gough was seconded by Sir Christopher Nugent and William Talbot late Recorder of Dublin who moved to the same Effect that the House should he first purged of illegal Members before they proceeded to the Choice of a Speaker Sir Oliver Saint John Master of the Ordnance reply'd That he knew by experience in sundry Parliaments in England that the Course and Usage was first to chuse a Speaker and then to settle Committees and examine Elections and that in their proper Season all Disputes about Elections or returns should be decided according to 〈◊〉 and to the Satisfaction of all good Men and concluded in 〈◊〉 of Davis and gave his Vote for him Hereupon the House was in a confusion Some crying Davis others 〈◊〉 but this noise being over Sir Oliver Saint John said It was the Usage of Parliament to decide Controversies by Questions and Questions by Votes that the Affirmative party usually 〈◊〉 out of the House and the Negative staid behind and so he 〈…〉 were for Sir John Davis to follow him out 〈…〉 to the number of One hundred twenty five The Treasurer and Marshal 〈…〉 Sir Christopher 〈◊〉 and Sir Christopher Nugent to joyn with them in numbering each Party on the contrary those in the House gathered themselves into a 〈◊〉 that so they could 〈…〉 however the whole number of the House 〈…〉 Two hundred thirty two where of Six were absent it was manifest that Sir John Davis had the Major Vote the Papists knowing this thourght to gain their point by a Trick and therefore whilst the Protestants were numbering without the Papists within that the Door and pretending themselves because Actually fitting in the House to be the House of 〈◊〉 they unanimously chose 〈◊〉 and 〈…〉 The Protestants being return'd 〈…〉 contemptuous Proceeding and declar'd the Election of Davis and desir'd 〈◊〉 to leave the Chair but 〈…〉 still and thereupon Sir Oliver Saint John told him that if he would not come out they should be oblig'd to pull him out and accordingly the Treasurer and Marshal did take Davis and fet him in the Chair on Everand's Lap but Everard continued obstinate and therefore the Treasurer Master of Ordnance and others did gently remove him and did place Davis in the Chair altho Sir Daniel O Brian and Sir William Bank endeavored to keep him in Hereupon all the Papists departed the House into an outward Room for the outer Door was shut by Orders of the House on their first sitting and Sir John Bleverhasset and Sergeant Beer being sent to them to desire their return to the House were answered that they would not return but would appeal to the Lord Deputy then Mr. Treasurer and Sir Henry Power went to them again and Mr. Talbot in the Name of the rest told them That those within the House were No House nor their Speaker No Speaker but that They were the House and Sir John Everard their Speaker and they would complain to the Lord Deputy and the King After this Sir John Davis began his Speech to excuse himself c. but Sir William 〈◊〉 and Sir Christopher Nugent interrupted him and rudely rushed in to call for the Keys of the outer Door and being ordered to take their Places they refused and contempruously went out again and the outer Door being opened all the Papists went out and protested they would return to the House no more On Friday after the House sat to the number of 130 whereof 14 Privy Counsellors and the Lord-Deputy sent for Mr. Marshal and the Master of the Ordnance and told them That William Talbot had been with his Lordship and receiv'd Commands that the Papists should return to the House and that Talbot had desir'd an hours time to return an Answer and that his Lordship had given time till Three in the Afternoon and therefore desir'd that the Commons would send their Sergeant at Arms to summon the Recusants to be at the House at that time but the House refused to send their Sergeant at Arms because the Recusants had appeal'd to the Deputy so they rose and met again at Three a Clock but no Papists came near them and therefore they went by themselves to the Deputy and presented their Speaker and being ask'd whether they were the greater number of the House and unanimous in the Election They answered in the Affirmative so their Speaker having made the usual Speech was approved of and then he made an excellent Discourse about Parliaments in general and This in particular and then the Commons went to their own House and adjourned to the next day In the mean time on the 19th of May the Popish Lords wrote a Letter to the King full of Complaints of the strange and preposterous Proceedings as they term'd it about the Speaker they express'd their Passions with moving Epithits stiling their Sedition Pins dolor and Justa-Iracundia they did not vouchsafe to give the Parliament that Name but called that Assembly An intended Action they also called the New Burroughs Titulâ— sine re and sigmenta sine rebus nor did they spare to reffect on the Persons of some of the new Burgesses of the new Corporations and
Lord Deputy He was sworn on the Third of April and was an intimate Friend of the Lord Lieutenants and was suspected to have imployed Agents to raze out of the Journal-Book of the House of Commons some Instructions that were agreed upon by that House for a Committee to Impeach the Earl of Strafford but it is certain he did what he could to hinder that Committee from going to England And besides Persuasions Rushw 469. he proceeded to forbid them that voyage upon their Allegiance Nevertheless they all got away privately some from one Port and some from another and came safely to England This Committe were the Lords Gormanstowne Killmallock Costilo and Baltinglass for the Upper House Nicholas Plunket Sir Robert Digby Richard Fitz-Gerrald and Nicholas Barnwall for Leinster Sir Hardress Waller John Welsh Sir Donough mac Cartby for Munster Robert Linch Geoffry Browne and Thomas Burk for Connught and Sir William Cole and Sir James Mountgomery for Ulster and they carried with them a Remonstrance from the Irish Parliament against the Earl of Strafford whom they prosecuted effectually and were under-hand so to do by the Discontented part of the Parliament of England And because this Remonstrance contains a great part of the History of those Times I have thought necessary to add it in haec verba To the Right Honourable the Lord Deputy The Humble and Just Remonstrance of the Knights Citizens and Burgesses of the Parliament Assembled SHEWING THat in all Ages since the happy Subjection of this Kingdom to the Imperial Crown of England Rushw 11. it was and is a Principal Study and Princely Care of His Majesty and His Noble Progenitors Kings and Queens of England and Ireland to the vast Expence of Treasure and Blood that their Loyal and Dutiful People of this Land of Ireland being now for the most part derived from British Ancestors should be Governed according to the Municipal and Fundamental Laws of England that the Statute of Magna Charta or the Great Charter of the Liberties of England and other Laudable Laws and Statutes were in several Parliaments here Enacted and Declared that by the means thereof and of the most prudent and benign Government of His Majesty and His Royal Progenitors this Kingdom was until of late in its growth a flourishing Estate whereby the said People were heretofore enabled to answer their humble and natural Desires 〈◊〉 comply with His Majesty's Princely and Royal Occasions by their Free Gift of One hundred and fifty thousand pounds Sterling and likewise by another Free Gift of One hundred and twenty thousand pounds more during the Government of the Lord Viscount Faulkland and after by the Gift of Forty thousand pounds and their free and chearful Gift of Six intire Subsidies in the Tenth Year of His Majesty's Reign which to comply with His Majesty 's then Occasions signified to the them House of Commons they did allow should amount in the Collections unto Two hundred and Fifty thousand pounds although as they confidently believe if the Subsidies had been Levied in a moderate Parliamentary way they would not have amounted to much more than half the Sum aforesaid besides the Four intire Subsides granted in this present Parliament So it is may it please Your Lordship by the occasion of the ensuing and other Grievances and Innovations though to His Majesty no considerable Profit this Kingdom is reduced to that extream and universal Poverty that the same is lesâ— able to pay Subsidies than it was heretofore to satisfie all the before-recited great Payments And His Majesty's most Faithful People of the Land do conceive great Fears that the said Grievances and Consequences thereof may be hereafter drawn into Precedents to be perpetuated upon their Posterity which in their great Hopes and strong Beliefs they are persuaded is contrary to His Royal and Princely Intention towards His said People Some of which said Grievances are as followeth I. The general apparent Decay of Trades occasioned by the new and illegal raising of the Book of Rates and Impositions upon Native and other Commodities exported and imported by reason whereof and of extreme Usage and Censures Merchants are beggar'd and both disenabled and discouraged to Trade and some of the Honourable Persons who gain thereby are often Judges and Parties and that in the conclusion His Majesty's Profit thereby is not considerably advanced II. The Arbitrary Decision of all Civil Causes and Controversies by Paper Petitions before the Lord Lieutenant and Lord Deputy and infinite other Judicatories upon Reference from them derived in the nature of all Actions determinable at the Common Law not limited into certain Time Cause Season or Thing whatsoever and the Consequences of such Proceedings by receiving immoderate and unlawful Fees by Secretaries Clerks Pursuivants Serjeants at Arms and otherwise by which kind of Proceedings His Majesty loseth a great part of His Revenue upon Original Writs and otherwise and the Subject loseth the Benefit of his Writ of Error Bill of Reversâ—l Vouchers and other legal and just Advantages and the ordinary Course and Courts of Justice declined III. The Proceedings in Civil Causes at Council-board contrary to the Law and Great Charter not limited to any certain Time or Season IV. That the Subject is in all the Material Parts thereof denied the Benefit of the Princely Graces and more especially of the Statute of Limitations of 24 Jac. granted by His Majesty in the Fourth Year of His Reign upon great Advice of the Councils of England and Ireland and for great Consideration and then published in all the Courts of Dublin and in all the Counties of this Kingdom in open Assizes whereby all Persons do take notice that contrary to His Majesty's Pious Intentions His Subjects of this Land have not enjoyed the Benefit of His Majesty ' Princely Promise thereby made V. The Extrajudicial Avoiding of Letters Patents of Estates of a very great part of His Majesty's Subjects under the Great Seal the Publick Faith 〈◊〉 the Kingdom by Private Opinions delivered at the Council-board without Legal Evictions of their Estates contrary to Law and without Precedent or Example of any former Age. VI. The Proclamation for the Sole Emption and Uttering of Tobacco which is bought at very low Rates and uttered at high and excessive Rates by means whereof thousands of Families within this Kingdom and of His Majesty's Subjects in several Islands and other Parts of the West-Indies as your Petitioners are informed are destroyed and the most part of the Coin of this Kingdom is engrossed into particular Hands insomuch that your Petitioners do conceive that the Profit arising and engrossed thereby doth surmount His Majesty's Revenue Certain or Casual within this Kingdom and yet His Majesty receiveth but very little Profit by the same VII The universal and unlawful Encreasing of Monopolies to the Advantage of a Few the Disprofit of His Majesty and Impoverishment of His People VIII And the extreme cruel Usage of certain late Commissioners and
other Stewards of the British Farmers and Inhabitants of the City and County of London-Derry ☞ by means whereof the worthy Plantation of that Country is almost destroyed and the Inhabitants are reduced to great Poverty and many of them forced to forsake the Country the same being the first and most useful Plantation in the large Province of Ulster to the great weakning of the Kingdom in this Time of Danger the said Plantation being the principal Strength of those Parts IX The late Erection of the Court of High-Commission for Causes Ecclesiastical in these necessitous Times the Proceedings of the said Court ' in many Causes without Legal Warrant and yet so supported as Prohibitions have not been obtained though legally sought for And the excessive Fees exacted by the Ministers thereof and the Encroaching of the some upon the Jurisdiction of other Ecclesiastical Courts of this Kingdom X. The exorbitant Fees and pretended Customs exacted by the Clergy against the Law some of which have been formerly represented to your Lordship XI The Petitioners do most heartily bemoan that His Majesty's Service and Profit are much more impaired than advanced by the Grievances aforesaid and the Subsidies granted in the last Parliament having much increased His Majesty's Revenue by the buying of Grants and otherwise And that all His Majesty's Debts then due in this Kingdom were satisfied out of the said Subsidies and yet His Majesty is of late as the Petitoners have been informed in the House of Commons become indebted in this Kingdom in great Sums And they do therefore humbly beseech That an exact Account may be sent to His Majesty how and in what manner his Treasure is issued XII The Petitioners do humbly conceive just and great Fears at a Proclamation published in this Kingdom in Anno Domini 1635. prohibiting Men of Quality or Estates to depart this Kingdom into England without the Lord Deputy's Licence whereby the Subjects of this Kingdom are hindred and interrupted from free Access to Address to His Sacred Majesty and Privy-Council of England so declare their just Grievances or to obtain Remedies for them in such sort as their Ancestors have done in all Ages since the Reign of King Henry the Second and great Fees exacted for every of the said Licences XIII That of late His Majesty's Attorney-General hath exhibited Informations against many ancient Burroughs of this Kingdom into His Majesty's Court of Exchequer ☜ to shew cause by what Warrant the said Burroughs who heretofore sent Burgesses to Parliament should send Burgesses to the Parliament And thereupon for want of an Answer the said Privileges of sending Burgesses were seised by the said Court Which Proceedings were altogether coram non Judice and contrary to the Laws and Privileges of the House of Parliament and if way should be given thereunto would tend to the Subversion of Parliaments and by consequence to the Ruin and Destruction of the Commonwealth And that the House of Commons hath hitherto in this present Parliament been deprived of the Advice and Counsel of many profitable and good Members by means thereof XIV By the Powerfulness of some Ministers of State in this Kingdom the Parliament in its Members and Actions hath not its natural Freedom XV. And lastly That the Gentry and Merchants and other His Majesty's Subjects of this Kingdom are of late by the Grievances and Pressures before said and other the like brought very near to Ruin and Destruction And the Farmers of Customs Customers Waiters Searchers Clerks of Unwarrantable Proceedings Pursuivants and Gaolers and sundry others very much enriched whereby and by the slow Redress of the Petitioners Grievances His Majesty's most faithful and dutiful People of this Kingdom do conceive great Fears that their Readiness approved upon all Occasions hath not been of late rightly represented to His Sacred Majesty For remedy whereof the said Petitioners do humbly and of right beseach your Lordship That the said Grievances and Pressures may be speedily redressed and if your Lordship shall not think fit to afford present Relief that your Lordship might admit a select Committee of this House of Persons uninteressed in the Benefit arising of the aforesaid Grievances to be licensed by your Lordship to repair to his Sacred Majesty in England for to pursue the same and to obtain fitting Remedy for their aforesaid and other just Grievances and Oppressions And upon all just and honourable Occasions they will without respect of particular Interest or Profit to be raised thereby most humbly and readily in Parliament extend their utmost Endeavors to serve His Majesty and comply with His Royal and Princely Occasions And shall pray c. As soon as the Lord Deputy had notice of this Remonstrance and perceived the Fury of the Irish Parliament he took occasion to Prorogue it on the Twelfth day of November but whatever he could do was ineffectual to stem the Tide which now ran too violent against him And therefore being heart-broken with his own and the Earl of Strafford's Misfortunes he died suddenly on the Third day of December 1640. Whereupon ROBERT Lord DILLON of Killkenny-West afterwards Earl of Roscomon Sir WILLIAM PARSONS Knight and Baronet Master of the Court of Wards were on the Thirtieth of December sworn Lords Justices 1640. But the Lord Dillon beings for his Intimacy and Alliance with the Earl of Strafford obnoxious to the aforesaid Irish Committee he was at their Instance removed and Sir WILLIAM PARSONS Master of the Court of Wards Sir JOHN BORLACE Master of the Ordnance were sworn Lords Justices on the Tenth of February to whom the King by his Letters of the Fourth of January before sent Orders at the Request of the Irish Committee That the Irish Subsidies which heretofore were Forty thousand Pounds should be reduced to a less Sum than formerly and that all Letter 's sent to the Chief Governor or other Publick Officers touching Publick Affairs or the Subjects Private Interests should be entred in the Signer-Office in England to the end the Subjects upon occasion might take Copies thereof and that all Dispatches from Ireland should be safely kept apart for the easier and readier recourse thereto and that His Majesty approves of the Repair of His Subjects to appeal to Him notwithstanding any Prohibition in Ireland to the contrary and orders That no body be prosecuted or molested on that score and that the Irish Committee shall have Copies of all Records Certificates Orders of Council Publick Letters or other Entries that are necessary to manifest or prove their Grievances And this Letter was on the Tenth of February 1640. by the Irish Parliament then sitting ordered to be entred amongst the Records and Ordinances of that House And soon after Rushw 15. the Irish Parliament did vote the following Grievances to be transmitted to their Committee in England which it seems were couched in Two Petitions one to the King and the other to the Parliament and both carried over by John Bellew
had scarce a fair Pretence for that Cavil yet to satisfie them those words were by a Second Proclamation of the 29th of October explain'd to extend to none but such as were in Rebellion Their Second Attempt was at the Session of Parliament on the Sixteenth of November where they endeavoured to Palliate the Rebellion and smooth and soften their Protestation against it and complain'd at the Shortness of the Session whereby they were hindred as they said of means to suppress the Insurrection But finding neither of these sufficient they had afterwards Recourse to other as ill grounded Complaints hereafter mentioned and in the mean time they excused themselves to the State that they were not able to raise Men according to their Commissions of Government by which Answer and some other Passages the Lord Justices perceived That even those of the Pale were Tainted with the infection and therefore they recalled the Arms they had delivered out to them and by a great deal of industry they recovered about Nine hundred of them and the rest were treacherously made use of against the State that had too credulously trusted the Roman Catholicks with them at so critical a Juncture In this extremity and want of all things especially Money Application was made to the Corporation of Dublin but that famous City the Metropolis of the Kingdom would not advance more than Fifty Pounds tho' upon so great an Emergency whereby the State was convinc'd that the Rebellion was Universal and that even those the Citizens that did not dare to appear openly in it were yet secretly Well-wishers to the Cause and in their Hearts devoted to the Persons and Designs of the Rebels And this was the more manifest because the Popish Citizens did rarely if at all administer any the least Comfort to the poor and plunder'd English insomuch that the Protestants perished in such Multitudes at Dublin that the Church-yards being full of Graves the Lords Justices were fain to provide two large Pieces of Ground for new Burying-places for them The Lords Justices by their Proclamation of the Twenty seventh of October caused Michaelmas Term to be adjourned and sent Four hundred Musquets by Sea to the Lords Viscounts of Clandeboys and Ardes and also sent Commissions to them to raise the Scots and to receive Submitting Rebels to Mercy and they also wrote to the Lords President of Munster and Connaught to be on their Defence And because of the great Concourse to Dublin and the danger that City was in upon the Complaint of the Magistrates thereof all Strangers were commanded by Proclamation to depart the City upon pain of Death but no body was punished for disobeying that Order altho' there was a second Proclamation against the Harbourers of such Strangers But how general soever this Rebellion was and how cruel soever the Authors of it were Vid. Appendix 10. altho' the very Women and Children were active in stripping and murdering the distressed English yet the Execution could not be so great nor with so little Loss to the Irish but that the English were wheedled to put a Confidence in their Irish Landlords Tenants Servants and Neighbors with whom they had lived kindly and to whom they had given no manner of Provocation and so neglecting the proper Means of defending themselves they were miserably betrayed and perfidiously destroyed by those they trusted it being esteemed a Mortal Sin amongst most of the Rebels to relieve or protect a Heretick But in some places the English to considerable Numbers were embodied together and being in a condition to make some Resistance were promised Quarter and good Articles upon Oath But as soon as they submitted they were also treacherously murdered And thus they were served at Loughell Temple 41. Armagh Belturbet Longford Tullogh New-Town Burlace 71. Sligo and many other Places At first the Rebels did pretend to spare the Scots and to make a Difference between them whom they professed a Kindness for because they were Strangers and their Religion likewise persecuted by the parliament and the English against whom they expressed a most bitter and inveterate Hatred and to disguise their Designs they did actually Forbear them for about ten days till the English were destroyed and then they fell upon the Scots also and made no farther distinction between British Protestants By the First of November the Protestants had very little left in Ulster except Londonderry Colerain and Iniskilling and half the County of Down and part of the County of Antrim which the Government was in an ill Condition to provide for or relieve and had no hopes of retrieving that part of Ulster which was lost and so deeply drench'd in innocent Blood otherwise than by Force of Arms but as to the Counties of Meath West-Meath Longford and Louth which were not yet so deeply plung'd in Robberies and Murthers the Lords Justices had hopes of their Submission and therefore did issue their Proclamation of Pardon to all that would submit within Ten days Freeholders and Murderers only excepted But whilst these things were doing viz. on the First of November the Parliament of England voted a Supply of Fifty thousand Pounds for the Relief of Ireland and that all the Papists of Quality in England be secured and that none except Merchants shall pass to Ireland without a Certificate and that a Pardon be offered to the Irish Rebels and that Owen O Conally the Discoverer of the Plot should have Five hundred Pounds in Money and Lands worth Two hundred Pounds per Annum setled upon him And this Order was 12 November printed in Dublin and dispersed all over the Kingdom but without any Effect For now the Rebels were elevated and had formed a Design against Tredagh whereof Doctor Jones afterwards Bishop of Meath gave timely notice so that it was prevented for tho' the Lord Moor had made a seasonable Entry into that Town nevertheless the Inclination of the Townsmen and of Sir John Nettervill who had a Foot Company there in the King's Pay being manifestly favourable to the Rebels the Place was not safe without a stronger Garison and therefore Sir Henry Tichbourn with a Regiment of Foot and two Troops of Horse was sent from Dublin the third day of November and came safe to Tredagh the next day On the Fourth of November Sir Phelim O Neale and Rory Macguire from their Camp at Newry published That they had a Commission from the King under the Great Seal of England for this Insurrection And one Harison having taken the Seal from an old Patent of the Lord Cawfeild's at Charlemont and fixed it to a forged Commission they sent attested Copies of it in Letters to their Confederates thereby blacking their Insurrection with the worst of Circumstances viz. by laying it to the Charge of His Majesty who upon all Occasions expressed his Detestation of it and by this means they raised more Enemies to the King and created more Jealousies in the Minds of His Protestant Subjects
English Pikes were longer than the Rebels Pikes they charged home and the Lord Moor coming in seasonably with 15 Horse only they put the Rebels to flight and beat them quite out of the Town with the Slaughter of above 200 of them and some of their best Officers nor must it be forgotten that the Popish Houses in the Town were marked with Chalk that so the Rebels if they had prevailed might distinguish them from those they intended to murder Neither will I pretermit a Stratagem used by the Garison in placing some Pipers upon the Walls to play and others to toss up their Caps and cry The Town is our own make hast in and the like by which means many of the Rebels that still waited to have a Gate opened for them ran hastily into the Town and were made Prisoners The Pinnace that came with the first Relief hapned unfortunately to run aground and was briskly attackt by the Rebels who desperately came with Pickaxes and Iron Barrs even to her very Stern but Captain Stutfield threw some Granadoes amongst them and by that means got rid of them with much ado and killed above Threescore of the Irish But after a while Necessities and Diseases began to return upon the Garison so that many dyed daily in the Town and therefore a diligent Search was made for Provisions and the Fryers contrary to their Vow of Poverty were found to have great Quantities of Money Plate and other Treasure which they not owning most of it probably belonging to the Rebels it was divided amongst the Soldiers but that was no Relief to a hungry Belly when Victuals could not be had for Money and therefore the Governor made a hard shift to send a Boat to Dublin to hasten Supplies And tho' the Governor did by frequent Sallies incommode the Enemy and sometimes recover a little Provisions yet that did not so recruit the Garison but that they were reduced to the greatest Extremities even to the eating of Horses Dogs and Cats when on the Thirteenth of February they Sallied and took from the Rebels a considerable Booty of 80 Cows and 200 Sheep and the Twentieth day being Sunday at four a Clock in the Morning Sir Philemy O Neal with all his Strength made so bold an Attempt as to apply Scaling Ladders to the Wall and the Sentinel's Gun missing Fire they made good Progress before the Garison took the Alarm but as soon as the Soldiers came to the Walls they did such Execution upon the Irish that their Officers could by no means oblige the Soldiers to return to the Assault And the same day two Pinnaces and several other Vessels notwithstanding the Boom at Tredagh which broke the day before came up to the Town with a plentiful Supply of all Necessaries Encouraged by this Recruit and these Successes the Governor of Tredagh with 220 Foot and 120 Horse Sallied to Beaubeck on the Twenty sixth of February and secured some Corn and Hay for the Garison and then advanced to Smiths Town where they defeated a Party of Rebels and slew 300 And about the same time Major Fortescue had good Success near Gellingston against Colonel Preston in the same Field the English had formerly suffered a Defeat and to follow the Blow the Lord Moor with 600 Foot and 120 Horse and two Field-Pieces Sallied out the Twenty eighth of February and assailed Stainime but finding it fortified they took some Corn at Colp and returned On the First of March the Lord Moor and Sir John Burlace made another Sally and took the Castle of Colp and killed many of the Rebels And on the Second of March Colonel Wainman made another Sally as far as Marlengton burned Mr. Draicot's House and some other considerable places and return'd home with good store of Corn and on the Fourth the brave Lord Moor made another Sally towards Tullagh-hallon amongst his traiterous and ungrateful Tenants and routed the Rebels killing seven Captains and 400 Soldiers and took Capt. Mac Mahon and Barnwell of Rahasket Prisoners and got good store of Arms whereby the Siege of Tredagh was raised and the Garison was at leisure to visit the Enemies Quarters and soon forced Darcy of Platten his Servants to surrender his House and obliged some of the Lord of the Pale to write Letters of Excuse to the State and to desire to know upon what Terms they might come in but the Lords Justices despis'd that Insolence and the case being alter'd did not think fit without new Orders to prostitute His Majesties Mercy to such as had no other sense of their Duty than that was taught them by necessity But whilst some of them desired to be pardoned others of them committed barbarous Crimes that were unpardonable and murdered all the Protestants at Atherdee to be revenged for their Losses before Tredagh and it ought never to be forgotten as an especial Providence of God that during this long Siege and in all these Sallies there were but Twelve Protestants that fell by the Sword or were slain which nevertheless is very believable because the like hath lately hapned in proportion at the famous Siege of Londonderry On Munday the Seventh of March the Earl of Ormond with Three thousand Foot and Five hundred Horse marched out of Dublin to relieve Tredagh not knowing the Siege was rais'd and having burned Feildstown Kilsalan and Ratooth and several Houses in the County of Meath he came to Tredagh on the Eleventh and having recruited the Governor and the Lord Moor with Four hundred Foot and Two Troops of Horse and burnt and pillaged great part of the Pale he return'd to Dublin on Business of Importance by the special Order of the Lords Justices Nevertheless the Lord Moor and Sir Henry Tichburne on the Twenty first of the same Month marched out with One thousand Foot and Two hundred Horse and having burnt the Country about Slane on the Twenty third advanced to Atherdee and having discovered the Enemy to the number of near Fifteen hundred they sent out their Forlorn which stumbled on an Irish Ambuscade and drove them to the Main Body of whom they killed about Four hundred At the Foot of the Bridge the Irish did again make some Resistance but some of the English found a Passage over the River and galled them in the 〈◊〉 and forced them to abandon that Post and then forced their way into the Town In this Skirmish one Irish Lieutenant-Colonel and five Captains were slain besides what fell of the Common Soldiers The English encourag'd with this Success advanc'd to Dundalk on the Twenty sixth of March and tho' the Town was fortified with a double Wall and a double Ditch and had a Bog on the one side and the Sea on the other yet a Party of the English led by Lieutenant-Colonel Wainmâ—â— forced the Gate with Pickaxes and entred the Town with their Horse and pursued the Enemy on a full Gallop but at the turn of a Street were warmly received by Five hundred
Commission to the Earl of Ormond and him to Govern the County of Kilkenny of the same Tenor as Appendix 8. they thought to colour their Proceedings thereby and therefore invited him to be their General And it seems his Lordship was ready to embrace the Offer for in the latter end of January he came with Fifteen Companies to Cashell and being assisted by Purcell Titular Baron of Loghmore to whom likewise the Lords Justices had sent Arms and by the Lords of Ikerin Dunboyn Cahir and Castleconell they took Ballyowen and blockt up Gowlin and Knockordan and then marched to Kilmallock and so towards Mallow but near the Mountain above Donerayl the Lord president faced the Rebels He had with him the Lords Barymore Dungarvan and Broghill Sir Hardress Waller Sir Edward Denny Sir John Brown Major Searle and Captain Kingsmill and about Six hundred Foot and Three hundred Horse Whilst he staid there the Rebels did not dare to advance but his Presence being necessary at Cork he was after eight days stay thereabouts obliged to retire to that City whereupon the Irish advanc'd to Mallow and took the short Castle there upon Articles which they did not perform At Mallow there arose a Difference amongst the Irish about the Supreme Command of the Army The Lord Roch and others of Munster thought they ought to have a General of their own Province and to avoid Competition amongst the Lords they pitch'd upon Garret Barry and appointed the Lord Muskery and other Great Men to be the Council of War Hereupon the Lord Mountgarret return'd to Typerary where he met the News That the Men which were in Gowlin Castle had escaped into the Mountains where most of them were murdered by James Butler of Ruskagh for which Fact he was tried before Colonel Sanky Anno 1653. and afterwards hang'd and that the Women and Children left in the Castle were likewise inhumanly butcher'd by the Irish for which Barbarity Peirce Butler and his Son Thomas James Butler of Boyton-Rath and Thomas Kent were likewise tried condemned and executed Anno 1653. As for the County of Cork which by the noble Plantations made by the Earl of that Name became the best inhabited with English of any County in that Kingdom it was in a great measure preserv'd by the Generosity and Diligence of that Earl who was then newly return'd out of England he rais'd Two Troops of Horse under his Sons the Lords of Kinalmeky and Broghil and Four hundred Foot all which he maintained for some Months as his own Charge and sent a hundred of them to Asketon a hundred to Lismore and kept Two hundred with himself at Youghall Nevertheless that County was not without its share of Disturbance tho' it was the last County wherein the Rebellion broke out and they began it as elsewhere by robbing and plundring bare-fac'd and at Noon-day and in Multitudes and afterwards committed some Murders but not so many as in other Places because the English were powerful in this County and therefore the Rebels were in more fear to be called to account for their Exorbitances However at Glandore they gagg'd several English to death and in another place they ty'd an Englishman's Guts to the Post and made him dance round it till he died they broil'd a piece of a Scotch Minister's Breech and made him eat it they hang'd Robert Scot of Newcestown and his two Daughters in Muskery tho' he went voluntarily there to a Friend for Protection and in like manner John Burrows was serv'd at Ballynorohur by his Landlord Mac-ni-crimin who was tried and executed for it afterwards at Bandon They hang'd Andrew a Servant of Mr. Hazell's and which was worse than all he rest Mr. Linscomb Sovereign of Cloghnikilty having much Intimacy with the Irish staid behind his Neighbors in confidence of Protection but contrary to his Expectation and their Promises they first made him drunk till he vomited and then made him eat it up and immediately hang'd him at his own Door and having by Promises of sending her safe to Kinsale persuaded his Wife to discover 120 l. in Money she had hid at Muckrus as soon as they got it they threw her and her Sister into a deep Pit and there they left them till they were starved And altho' there were not many downright Murthers committed in this County yet by reason of the universal Robbing and Plundring and the great Want and Hardships this Insurrection exposed the miserable English to many thousands of them perished and particularly in the Town of Bandon there died above a Thousand in the first Year of this Rebellion and great Numbers likewise met with the same Fate at Cork Kinsale and Youghall To stop this Torrent the Lord President raised a Regiment of Foot and Two Troops of Horse and did what he could to prepare for his Defence And it was but needful to do so for the Rebels being extraordinary numerous thought themselves able to besiege Cork Kinsale and Bandon at the same time In order to this Mr. Long High Sheriff of the County of Cork form'd a Camp at Belgooly about Two Miles from Kinsale and to him came Mac-Finin's Brother called Captain Sugane and march'd from Kerry through Muskery and Carbery to the Camp and Dermond ni Glack of Littergorman with another Party march'd down to Kilgoban-Castle on the River of Bandon and surprized it This Camp at Belgooly continued the rest of this Winter and was supplied with Ammunition and other Necessaries even from some of the Popish Inhabitants of Kinsale but at length half the Lord Baltinglass his Company being Forty five Men arrived by Sea at Kinsale on the Fifth of April and brought with them Eight Barrels of Powder whereof Six were the next day sent to Bandon guarded by the Bandon Troop which fell into an Ambuscade but the Kinsale Troop just then parted from them return'd seasonably to their Succour and between them they kill'd Eighty of the Rebels and then each Troop return'd safe to their respective Garisons and the next day the Camp at Belgooly was dissolv'd and most of the Soldiers went to reinforce the Blockade at Cork And about the same time viz. in February Mac Carthy Riagh who had dissembled the Matter and pretended Loyalty and that he would side with the English until he got some Arms from the Lord Viscount Kinalmeky and then declared the very next day with about Three thousand raw Men and ill armed came to besiege the Town of Bandon But the valiant Bandonians scorned to be pent up by such a pitiful Rabble and therefore having form'd themselves into Four Companies under the Captains Watkins Woodhouse Jefford and Hooper and One Troop Battel of Knockagarane under their Governor the Lord Kinalmeky they sallied out and whilst the Foot marched up the direct Road to Cloghnakilty the Horse went round by Castlemahon so to fall on the Rear but the Foot came up first and one Company led by Captain Watkins within-side the Ditch
and attacked them so briskly that they quickly fled but by reason of the adjacent Bog and the harrass'd Condition of the English Horse there was not much Execution done the number of the Slain not exceeding Five hundred amongst which were the Lord Dunboyn's Brother the Lord Ikerin's Son and Colonel â—â—vâ—nagh and on the English side not above Twenty killed and Forty wounded However it was an entire Victory all their Powder and Amunition the Generals Waggon drawn with Eight Oxen his and the Lords of Ikerin's Sumptures and Twenty Colours being taken and for this great Service the Lieutenant General had a Letter of thanks from the Parliament of England and a Jewel worth 500 l. Soon after arrived at Dublin Philip Lord Lisle Lieutenant General of the Horse and his first Essay was to relieve the Castle of Geashill which with Three hundred Horse and One hundred and twenty Foot he easily effected he was accompanied by old Sir Charles Coot in this Action who at a Council of War told the rest that if they made haste they might easily pass the Defiles and Causeways before the Enemy could get together to oppose them whereto another reply'd that perhaps that might be so but when the Countrey was Alarm'd how should they get back I protest said Sir Charles Coot I never thought of that in my Life I always considered how to do my business and when that was done I got home again as well as I could and hitherto I have not mist of forcing my way and accordingly they went and their march was so swift that they came unexpectedly to Phillipstowne and took it and on their return they followed some of the Popish Lords of the Pale to Trim and forced that place likewise and by Coot's advice resolved to make it a Garison and therefore in order to settle this Affair with the Lords Justices the Lord Lisle guarded by some of the Horse went to Dublin but the next night after he was gone the Irish to the number of Three thousand came in the dead of the night to surprise Trim but the Centinel gave the Alarm and thereupon Sir Charles Coot with all the Horse he could get being not above Seventeen issued out of the Gate and was followed by others as fast as they could get ready The Success was answerable to so generous an Undertaking and the Irish were routed without any other considerable Loss on the English Side except that of Sir Charles Coot himself who was shot dead but whether by the Enemy or one of his own Troopers is variously reported Upon his Death the Government of Dublin was given to the Lord Lambert on the Twelfth of May and tho' in July Colonel Monk had it by the Lord Lieutenant's Order yet as soon as the King was informed that it had been predisposed to the Lord Lambert Monk was removed and the Lord Lambert was confirmed And on the Twenty third of May the Marquis of Ormond publish'd a Proclamation against the Exorbitances of the Soldiers and to supply their Necessities the Lords Justices gave them Custodiums on the Villages in the Irish Quarters which produced good Effects both in relieving the Soldiers and in annoying the Rebels On the first of June came over some Regiments under the Conduct of Sir Foulk Hunks and Lieutenant Colonel Kirke whereupon the Earl of Ormond with Four thousand five hundred Foot and Six hundred Horse marched to the Relief of Athlone and in his way took in the Castles of Knocklinch Trimletstown and Kinkelfe and beat Five hundred Rebels from Ballynecurr but upon his approach the Rebels burnt Molingar and Bullymore and Sir James Dillon and the Irish Army thought fit to withdraw so that the Lord President of Connaught with Fifty Horse and Two hundred Foot met the Marquis of Ormond Five Miles from Athlone and received from him Two Regiments of Foot and Two Troops of Horse and then both these Lords return'd the one to Athlone and the other to Dublin About the same time viz. in June Colonel Monk marching to reinforce the Lieutenant-General took Castleknock and killed Eighty Rebels besides some that he hanged and a while after he took the Castles of Rathroffy and Clongowswood in the County of Kildare and did good Execution upon the Enemy and of Seventy which he had taken Prisoners most of them being murdering Rebels were afterwards executed at Dublin And on the Twentieth of the same Month Colonel Gibson made a prosperous Incursion into Wicklow and killed many of the Confederates and brought home a considerable Prey But on the Twenty first of June the Irish Parliament sat according to the Prorogation and the Lower House voted That the Oath of Supremacy should be tendred to all their Members that so the Rotten ones may be cut off and new ones chosen in their room and to that purpose a Bill was prepar'd and sent into England and it seems that they did proceed to chuse new Members for the Corporations and Counties within their power in stead of those that were in actual Rebellion which was one of the Grievances the Confederates afterwards complain'd of And it is worthy Observation The Proclamation Burlace Append. p. 57. That the Lords Justices and Council finding the Rebellion to be so general that all Degrees and Conditions of the Irish had with hateful and bloody obstinacy either publickly or privately contributed to the Destruction and Extirpation of the Protestants and that those under Protection abused that Favour to murder and rob the English the more slily and securely they did by their Order of the Nineteenth of August revoke repeal and annul all Protections that had been given to any Rebel before that time which was one of the wisest Acts that was done in the whole War for nothing is more experimentally true than this That the English never or very seldom suffered by the Irish at open Defiance but have been often destroyed by their Perfidiousness and Treachery But to proceed In August the Lord Moor Sir John Burlace junior and Colonel Gibson with Fifteen hundred Men two Pieces of Battery and two Field-pieces marched into the Counties of Louth and Meath and took the strong Castle of Sedan with the Slaughter of Five hundred Rebels whereat the Lords Gormanstown and Nettervill were so frightned that the former quitted the Fort of Nabar and the other deserted the Castle of Newtown whereby those Counties of Louth and Meath were cleared of the Enemy And this good Success was followed by more of the same sort for the Captains Piggot and Grimâ—s defeated a Party of Eight hundred Rebels near Athy and killed Two hundred of them and the Lord Lisle in the midst of September marched without controul through West-Meath and Cavan and destroyed the Country burnt the Earl of Fingall's House and his Town of Virginia and at last sat down before Carrickmacross which after one days Battery was deserted by the Cowardly Ward But in October the Rebels to the number of Two
thousand did again besiege it and tho' Captain Vaughan with One hundred Foot and Fifty Horse did kill Forty of the Enemy and raise the Siege yet the Place being so remote could not at all times be relieved and therefore by Order of Council was demolished But the Parliament of England were desirous to manage the War of Ireland by a Committee at least till the Lord Lieutenant should go over but the King opposed that as needless because the Lord Lieutenant was just then ready for the Voyage But whether it was thought that he would not be propitious to the Cessation and Peace with the Irish which were then in design or for what other Reasons he was delay'd it is hard to determine but this is certain That tho' he was always going yet he never went And indeed the Differences between the King and the Parliament were grown to that heighth that each Side prepared for War and at length it came to a Battel at Edge-hill that very day Twelve-month on which the Irish Rebellion broke out viz. 23 October 1642. And in this Fight the Loss seem'd equal and each Party boasted of the Victory whilst both of them were thereby hindred from sending necessary Relief to Ireland and so the unfortunate English suffered every where and were destroy'd by one another in the Civil War in England and by the Common Enemy in that of Ireland However the Parliament did not totally neglect Ireland but on the Fourteenth of October sent over Mr. Robert Godwin and Mr. Robert Reynolds Husbands's Collections 2 part 249. Two Parliament-men and one Captain Tucker from the City of London to inquire into the Condition of the Army and the State of the Kingdom and to see how their Money was disposed of They brought with them Twenty thousand Pounds in Money and some Ammunition and arrived safe on the Twenty ninth of October and on the Second of November presented themselves to the State and being received with Respect were placed on a Form behind the Council and sate covered They did good Service in Ireland and particularly gave great satisfaction to the Army that Care was taken for Pay and Supplies They also made a Book which contained a Subscription of most of the Officers in the Army to take Debentures on the Forfeited Lands for a certain Proportion of their Pay as believing they would fight the better and end the War the sooner if they were interested in the Fruits of the Victory as well as in the Quarrel But the King disliked that Course because it might take up so much of the Rebels Lands that would hinder all Hopes of a peace with them which His Majesty began to have some Hopes of and therefore several Officers well enough inclined to the Proposal omitted to subscribe and some that had subscribed desired to retract So that at length these Commissioners were so sharply threatned that they delivered up the Book to be cancelled Nevertheless they promoted the March of the Army to enlarge their Quarters which afterwards produced the Battel of Ross but some of the Cavalier-party looking upon these Commissioners as Spies procured a Reprimand to the Lords Justices for suffering them to sit covered in the Council-chamber and the King 's positive Orders for their Return which was performed the Twenty seventh of February to the very great prejudice of the Affairs of Ireland and to the great disgust of the Parliament of England In the mean time the Irish under their General Preston had besieged Ballynakill and Colonel Monk with Six hundred Foot and Two Troops of Horse was sent to relieve it He marched out of Dublin the Fifth day of December and upon his approach the Enemy withdrew from the Siege and politickly marched to a Place of Advantage between the English Army and Dublin Battel of Tymachoo to intercept them in their Return But the Rebels had not so much Courage as Cunning for tho' they were Fourteen hundred Foot and Three hundred Horse yet upon the loss of about Threescore that were slain upon the first Volley they basely ran away and left the Road open for Monk to march to Dublin In like manner Sir Richard Greenvill with Two hundred Horse and One thousand Foot on the Twentieth of January marched to raise the Siege of Athloan and carry Supplies to that Garison both which he effected but in his Return he was encountred by Three thousand four hundred Foot Battel of Raconell and Six Troops of Horse at Raconell in a place of great disadvantage to him Nevertheless he had the good fortune to defeat the Rebels with the slaughter of Two hundred and fifty of their Men and to take the General Preston's eldest Son and some other Prisoners But that which rendred this Victory the more valuable was an ancient Prophecy That whoever won the Battel of Raconell should gain all Ireland therefore this Victory troubled and discouraged the Superstitious Irish exceedingly But we must return to the Lords Justices who in November 1642. transmitted to His Majesty a Petition from the Confederates by the Name of The Roman Catholicks of Ireland desiring His Majesty to appoint Commissioners to hear their Grievances And accordingly a Commission was brought over by Thomas Burk one of the first Rebels and by him confidently delivered at the Council-Board to the admiration of the State It impowered the Marquis of Ormond the Earls of Clanrickard and Roscomon Sir Maurice Eustace and others to hear and report their Complaints and in order to it the Three last went to Trim where the Lord Gormanstown Sir Lucas Dillon Sir Robert Talbot and John Walsh the Confederates Agents on the Seventeenth of March 1642. presented a Remonstrance of Grievances which one truly calls an Infamous Pamphlet and contains so much false Reasoning and Arguments ex post facto and downright Untruths as clearly manifests That the Irish first resolved to rebel and then set their Lawyers and Divines on work to fish for Arguments to justifie or at least excuse it But there was an Answer printed 1644. entitled An Answer to the false and scandalous Remonstrance of the inhuman and bloody Rebels of Ireland which sufficiently confuted all their vain Pretences and both of them being essentially necessary to this History are in substance added Appendix 5 6. But this Remonstrance met with better Fortune in the Irish Parliament which sat the Ninth of April for the English were then unluckily dividing into the Factions of Protestant and Puritan and some of the former very unwisely to back their Arguments against that Remonstrance compared it with the Scots Covenant which engendred such Heats in the House that the Parliament was prorogued to the Sixth of May 1643. However the Protestant Army did not neglect to sollicit their Affairs in England but by their Agents Sir James Mongomery Sir Hardress Waller Colonel Hill and Colonel Mervin they Addressed first to the Parliament to whom the King had committed the Care of Ireland and afterwards
they presented a handsom Address to His Majesty at Oxford quod vide Burlace 112. and on the First of December they received the following Gracious Answer from the King THat His Majesty hath since the beginning of that monstrous Rebellion had no greater Sorrow than for the Bleeding Condition of that His Kingdom and as He hath by all Means laboured that timely Relief might be afforded to the same and consented to all Propositions how disadvantagious soever to Himself that have been offered Him for that purpose and at first recommended their Condition to Both Houses of Parliament and immediately of His own mere Motion sent over several Commissions and caused some Proportion of Arms and Ammunition which the Petitioners well know to have been a great Support to the Northern Parts of that Kingdom to be conveyed to them out of Scotland and offered to find Ten thousand Voluntiers to undertake that War but hath often since prest by many several Messages that sufficient Succours might be hastned thither and other Matters of smaller Importance laid by which did divert it and offered and most really intended in His own Royal Person to have undergone the Danger of that War for the Defence of His Good Subjects and the Chastisement of those perfidious and barbarous Rebels and in His several Expressions of His Desires of Treaty and Peace hath declared the miserable present Condition and certain future Loss of Ireland to be one of His principal Motives most earnestly to desire that the present Distraction of this Kingdom might be compos'd and that others would concur with Him to the same End So His Majesty is well pleased that His Offers Concurrence Actions and Expressions are so rightly understood by the Petitioners and those who have imployed them notwithstanding the groundless and horrid Aspersions which have been cast upon Him but wishes That instead of a mere General Complaint to which His Majesty can make no Return but of Compassion they could have digested and offered to Him any such Desires by consenting to which He might convey at least in some degree Comfort and Life to that gasping Kingdom preserve His Distressed and Loyal Subjects of the same from inevitable perishing and the True Protestant Religion from being scorn'd and trampled on by those Merciless and Idolatrous Rebels And if the Petitioners can yet think on any such and propose to his Majesty He assures them That by his readiness to Consent and his Thanks to them for the Proposal he will make it appear to them that their most pressing personal Sufferings cannot make them more desirous of relief than his Care of the true Religion and of his faithful Subjects and of that Duty which obliges him to his Power to protect both renders him desirous to afford it to them But whatever good words the Irish Protestant Committee met with it is certain they got but very little Assistance so that the Lords Justices were reduced to the last Extremity whereupon they ordered the Citizens of Dublin to bring in half their Plate to be Coyned promising that they should be satisfied for it out of the next Supply and upon this Proclamation Twelve hundred Pounds worth of Plate was brought in Tho there were but three Papists that sent in any But it is time to return to the Army which was in great straits in Dublin and exceedingly oppressive to the Inhabitants it was therefore ordered they should enlarge their Quarters and the Lords Justices and some others having Coyned their own Plate to enable it to march It did accordingly issue out of Dublin to the number of Two thousand five hundred Foot and Five hundred Horse under the Marquess of Ormond on the Second of March and on the Third took Castlemartin and Tully and on the Fourth took Tymolin with the Slaughter of One hundred Rebels and on the Twelfth they came before the Town of Ross and having made a Breach in the Walls they assaulted it but without effect whereupon the Irish Army under General Preston consisting of Six thousand Foot and Six hundred and fifty Horse drew so near that they sent a considerable Supply into the Town and put a necessity upon the English Army not only to draw off from the Siege but also to give them Battel whereupon some of the Horse really suspected that Ormond had betrayed them and tho' most of them were Men of known Courage yet they fled very early and before the Battel was well begun however Ormond maintained the fight with his Infantry and the Horse that staid with him and at the same time gave Demonstration both of his Integrity Battel of Ross 18th of March 1642. and of that Presence of mind which was natural to him and never left him in the greatest Adversity and the issue was a compleat and entire Victory over the Irish Army whereof Lieutenant General Cullen and the rest of the Prisoners and the Baggage that was taken were undeniable Evidences nevertheless there were not above Three hundred of the Rebels slain in this Battel but many of them were principal Commanders and Persons of Note In Munster 1642. Affairs were managed this Year with alternate Success the English prospered well enough in the County of Cork but suffered in most other parts of the Province in April the valiant Bandonians took the Castle of Downdaniel and killed One hundred Rebels near Powlalong and got considerable Booty in both places and afterwards being assisted by the English at Kinsale they did on the Fourth of May take the strong Castle of Carriginass and the next day the Castle of Powlalong was surrendred to them and the Castle of Kilgoban was deserted by the Ward And about the same time Captain Scurlock with about Seven hundred Rebels of the County of Waterford made a brisk Attempt on Capoquin but the valiant Governour Captain Crocker with One hundred Men encountred him in the Town and killed Scurlock and routed his Forces On the Eighteenth of May the Lord of Insiquin defeated a Party of Irish in the Barony of Fermoy and killed above One hundred of them and on the Nineteenth Colonel Brocket Landed at Kinsale with Four hundred and sixty Men of Sir John Pawlett's Regiment of Foot whereupon Mountlong was deserted by the Irish on the Twenty fifth and the same day the Castle of Ballincolly was taken by the Lord President and on the Twenty ninth the Castles of Coolmain and Kilbrittain were taken by the Bandonians as the Castle of Cloleigh was on the Twenty third of July by the Earl of Barrymore But in the midst of these small Victories the Lord President Saintleger died at Cork on the Second of July whereupon the Government of that Province in civil Matters was committed to the Earl of Barymore and Lord of Insiquin but the Military Affairs were subjected to the Lord of Insiquin's sole Command And on the Fourth of July the Lord Broghill on his return from the relief of Knockmone met a Party of Rebels strongly
posted near Capoquin with a small Wood at their Backs and tho' he had but Sixty Horse and One hundred and forty Foot yet he boldly Charged them and killed two of their best Captains and Two hundred of their Soldiers with the loss of onely one English Man On the Ninth of August the Castle of Glin was taken by the Lord Forbes who came with his Fleet from before Gallway and Sailed up the River of Shanon and on the Twenty first the Lords Dungarvan and Broghill took the Castle of Ardmore with the Saughter of One hundred and forty of the Rebels But Provisions beginning to grow scant the Lord Insiquin drew out One thousand eight hundred Foot and Three hundred and sixty Horse and near Liscaroll met with the Irish Army under the Lord Mountgarret who was accompanied by the Lords Muskery Roch Ikerin Dunboin Castleconnel and Brittas and it came 〈◊〉 a smart Battel on the Third of September wherein the English were Victorious and killed Seven hundred of the Rebels and took Fifty â—sisoners and one piece of Cannon and two Field Pieces without any loss on the English side except that of the valiant Lord Viscount Kinalmeaky who was slain in the beginning of the Fight by a shot in his Neck and Sixteen private Soldiers In this Battel the noble Earl of Cork who never begrudged what he ventured for the Service of his King and Country had no less than four Sons viz. the Lords of Dungarvan Kinalmeky and Broghill and Mr. Francis Boyle since Viscount Shanon About the same time the Lord Forbes with his Regiment Landed at Kinsale and marched to Bandon and being joyned with Three Bandon Companies of Foot and some Horse they went to Rathbarry to relieve Captain Freak who had been besieged there since the Fourteenth of February but when they came to Cloghnikilty on the Eighteenth of October they thought fit to leave Two Scotch Companies and one Bandon Company there to secure that Town till their Return but it was not long after their Departure before a numerous Rabble of the Irish rushed upon them from all sides whereupon Groves who Commanded the Bandon Company advised to retreat towards their main Body which was not above four Miles from them but the Scots thought that dishonourable and refused and the Consequence was That the two Companies of Scots were cut in pieces but Groves valiantly made good his retreat a full Mile to an Old Danes Fort in the way to Ross which he justified manfully till the rest of the Forces came up to him and then they fell upon the Irish and forced them into the Island of 〈◊〉 and the Tide being in above Six hundred of them were killed and drowned whereupon the English marched to Cloghnikilty and relieved a great number of Men Women and Children which were imprison'd in the Market-house purposely to be burnt together â—ith the House to make a Bonâ—iâ—e for joy of the easie Victory they promised themselves over the rest of the Lord Forbes his Party After the Death of the Lord of Kinalmeaky Colonel Râ—â—land Saintleger was made Governour of Bandon in whose time it happened that the Troops of Bandon and Kingsale had appointed to meet at a day prefixed and to take a Prey but the Rebels who were at Kilcrea had notice of it and believing that the Troop had marched abroad according to the Appointment they boldly came to Bandon and took away the Cattel belonging to the Town but the Troop being by some Accident delayed in Town longer than they designed were just ready mounted when this Adventure happened so that they immediately issued out and recovered the Prey at Brinny Bridge and slew Fifty of the Tories in Killmore Bog without the loss of one Man But these small Victories were balanced by some considerable Successes of the Irish for the strong Castle of Limerick which had been besieged since the Fifteenth of January was surrendred to them on the Twenty third of June and the Castle of Askeaton submitted to the same Fate on the Fourteenth of August after nine Months Siege as Castlematrix likewise did not long after Neither was it a small Misfortune to the English that about this time both Dean Gray and Archdeacon Byss who were Commissioners to enquire into the English Losses in Munster met with their Destiny the former dying at Bandon and Byss the Survivor who had all the Papers and Examinations was murdered by the Rebels on the Way to Youghall ☜ and this is the true Reason why there is no particular full Account extant of the Murders and Losses in Munster And it is very observable that the Rebels took very few places by force but either want of Necessaries or Promise of good Conditions prevail'd with the English to surrender and it is no less wonder that the English would trust to any Articles from a perfidious People that had so often violated their Faith Nevertheless every day afforded Instances of their sâ—â—essful Treachery and besides what is already mentioned Gloghleigâ— and Cool are additional Examples in the former was a considerable Garison to whom Richard Condon promised Quarter and Convoy to Castlelyons whereupon they surrendred and for their Folly were every one murdered wounded or kept Prisoners And in Cool were 36 Troopers of the Earl of Barrimores to whom the same Condon promised the like Quarter Upon the Faith of a Soldier and a Christian but nevertheless murdered them all except one who had 36 Wounds and was left for dead And in Connaught the Town of Gallway did in the later end of April submit unto the Earl of Clanrickard who was Governor of that County and was by him taken into Protection until the Pleasure of his Majesty then expected over should be known but the Lords Justices did not approve of that Protection unless the Town would admit of an English Garison However Clanrickard made use of that Opportunity to relieve the Fort of Galway wherein the Archbishop of Tuam and 36 Ministers and many more English were in very great distress And about the middle of July the Lord President drew out his small Forces into the County of Mâ—yo Battle of Ballintobber where not far from Ballintobber they met with the Irish Army which was more than double their Number Nevertheless the English obtained an easie Victory over them and killed near 2000 of the Enemy and on the First day of the same Month Sir Frederick Hamilton took the Town of Sligo and slew 300 of the Rebels and afterwards routed Owen O Rourk who in his Absence had with 1000 Men besieged his Castle of Mannor Hamilton And about August the Lord Forbes came into the Bay of Gaâ—â—ay and landed some Guns and seized on the Abby and being joyn'd by the Lord President and the Earl of Clanrickard they pretended to besiege the Town but they wanted Necessaries and therefore the Lord Forbes compounded with the Town for a Sum of Money which was never paid and drew off from
Warrant from Mr. Nicholas Plunket And on the Fourteenth of November they nam'd their Supreme Council viz. LEINSTER Archbishop of Dublin jurat Viscount Gormanstown jurat Viscount Mountgarret jur resid Nicholas Plunket jur resid Richard Beling jur resident James Cusack jur resid CONAUGH Archbishop of Tuam jur Viscount Mayo Bishop of Clonfert jur resid Sir Lucas Dillon jur Patrick Darcy jur resident Jeofry Brown jur resident MUNSTER Viscount Roch jur resid Sir Daniel O Bryan Edmond Fitzmorris jur Doctor Fennell jur Robert Lambart jur resid Geo. Comyn jur ULSTER Archbishop of Armagh jur resid Bishop of Down jur resid Philip O Reyly jur resid Colonel Mac Mahon jur Ever Macgenis jur Tirlagh O Neal. They also appointed Provincial Councils and ordered That the Supreme Council may authorise One or more to sollicit Aid of Foreign Princes to advance this Common and Holy Cause and may give them Instructions And on the Fifteenth of November they appointed the Lord Mountgarret to be president and Richard Shea to be Clerk of the Supreme Council And that the Officers of the Army calling to their Assistance one or more of each Province should concert the Measures of carrying on the War And that the Supreme Council shall send an Agent to the King to inform Him of the Motives and Causes of this Holy War and of the Grievances of the Kingdom And they appoint Sir Richard Barmwall Muster-master General and order Four thousand Pounds in Money to be new Coined And on the Sixteenth of November they ordered 31700 Men to be raised in the following Counties whereof 5300 Foot and 520 Horse were to go to the Army and the rest to be for the Defence of the Country and the Garisons viz. Â Â Â Foot Horse West-Meath 3000 whereof for the Army 500 50 Meath 3000 Â 500 50 Kildare 3000 Â 500 50 Wexford 3000 Â 500 50 Kings County 2800 Â 500 30 Queens County 2400 Â 400 40 Wickloe 2400 Â 400 40 Dublin 2000 Â 300 50 Kilkenny City 3000 Â 500 50 Louth 1700 Â 300 20 Longford 3000 Â 500 50 Catherlogh 2400 Â 400 40 Â 31700 Â 5300 520 And on the Nineteenth of November they order'd That the King's Revenue be duly gathered up for the making a Common Stock for the Use of the Kingdom And on the Twentieth they appointed the Lord Brittas John Kelly John Baggot James Darcy Maurice Fitzharris and Maurice Baggot a Committee to enquire after Protestants Goods and Lands in the County of Limerick And on the 21th day James Cusack who before the Rebellion was one of the King's Council and Clerk to the Commission of Grace was appointed Attorney-General And it was ordered That Soldiers be Cessed on all Persons and Places that are refractory in paying their Quotâ— of the Contribution and that every Burgess shall have Five shillings per diem and every Knight of a Shire Ten shillings per diem during the Assembly and for Ten days before and after it and that the Earl of Castlehaven devise an Order of Knighthood concerning the Honor of St. Patrick and the Glory of the Kingdom And so on the Ninth of January this Assembly was Dissolved leaving the Government in the Hands of The Supreme Council who notwithstanding his Majesty's Proclamation of 1 January 1641. under His own Signet to the contrary acted as a SEPARATE STATE and contrary to their own Oath of Maintaining the King's Prerogative and their Pretence of taking Arms for it they usurped all the King's Prerogatives even to that of Coining Money and sending Ambassadors to Foreign Princes and to the Granting of Letters of Mart and Reprisalâ— whereof the Reader may see a Precedent Burlace pag. 97. And thus Matters â—ood in Ireland in the Year 1642. In the close of the last Year we left our small Army near Ross 1643. which tho' Victorious was nevertheless in a sad Condition being meanly â—â—oatlied in Fed and worse Paid so that tho' the Lords Justices and Council did send a pressing Letter to the Lieutenant General to keep the Army abroad because there was no Subsistence for them in Dublin and the better to enable him thereunto they sent him Six thousand Pound of Bisket and Ten Barrels of Powder and the like quantity of Match and Musket Bullet yet the Wants of the Army were so great in all manner of Necessaries that it was impossible to keep the Field and therefore they returned to Dublin It is one of the most difficult things in the World to keep an ill-paid Army in exact Discipline for the Soldier that is denied his Due will expect a Connivance upon any Extortion that is less than Equivalent to his Pay and from one Degree it passes to another till it Centers in Licentiousness and thus it happened in Dublin the Officers at first winked at the little Rapines of the Soldiers till at length they openly plundered the Markets but this was the way to spoil all and by discouraging the Market Folks to starve themselves therefore it was strictly prohibited by a severe Proclamation and some Offenders were made Examples whereupon many of the Officers of the Army on the Fourth of April 1643 presented the Government with a very bold and threatning Remonstrance quod vide Appendix 20. which they say was another Cause of the ensuing Cessation But General Preston having again besieged Ballynakill Colonel Crawford on the Eleventh of April marched from Dublin with Thirteen hundred Foot and One hundred and thirty Horse to raise that Siege but he could not perform it and so that place was surrendred But I should have mentioned that the Lords Justices and Council to prevent any Peace or Cessation with the Irish did send His Majesty a most excellent Letter of the Sixteenth of March 1642. recited at large here Appendix 4. which it seems was not well relished at Court for not long after Sir William Parsons who was a great Promoter of that Letter was removed and thereupon accused of Treasonable misdemeanours by Major Butler and Sir Francis Warren but there being more of Malice than Truth in that Impeachment it came to nothing however Sir JOHN BURLACE and Sir HENRY TICHBURNE were Sworn Lords Justices on the Twelfth of May and on the Twenty fifth of the same Month the Pope sent over his Bull of Indulgence to the Confederates which is to be found here Appendix 15 and was published by the Irish even after the Cessation was concluded But the Lords Justices and Council were tyred in contriving ways to support the Soldiery and at length they thought upon an Excise and by their proclamation of the Twenty fourth day of June imposed it for Six Months unless other relief for the Army should be sent in the mean time This Excise was exceeding high amounting to half the value of the Commodity in lieu whereof the Retailer was permitted to advance his Price a Moiety more than
it was before The Protestants considered the necessity of this Tax and patiently submitted to it but the Papists made all the opposition they could but in vain for there was no other way left and this it self was not sufficient to prevent the mutiny and the ruin of the Army All these things tended to draw on the Cessation which the Marquess of Ormond by His Majesties Letter of the Twenty third of April was ordered to make with the Irish and was by a Second Letter from His Majesty of the Third of May brought to him by Mr. Brent pressed to hasten and by a Third Letter of the Second of July and a Fourth of the Seventh of September he was farther importuned in that Matter nevertheless there was a Party in the Council upon whom the Villanies of the Rebels had made so deep an Impression that they could not endure to hear of any Treaty with the Confederates and therefore the Marquess of Ormond on the Twenty second of June made a Motion in Council which is Entered in the Council-Book as followeth viz. By the Lords Justices and Council Jo. Borlace Hen. Tichburne THE Lord Marquess of Ormond this day moving at this Board that if Ten thousand Pounds may be raised whereof the one half to be in Money and the other in Victuals and to be brought in within a Fortnight that his Lordship would in such Case proceed in the War and immediately endeavour to take in Wexford and forbear to prooceed in the intended Treaty of Cessation of Arms with the Rebels It was thought fit to call before Us the Mayor of this City of Dublin and others who appearing We had Conference with them at this Board concerning the same and find that such is the Poverty of this Place and People as that Sum of Money or Proportion of Victual cannot be raised Given at His Majesties Castle of Dublin 22d June 1643. La. Dublin Roscommon Edw. Brabazon Char. Lambert Adam Loftus William Parsons Thomas Lucas Francis Willoughby G. Wentworth But whether they thought that Supplies would be sent from England or that they were willing to struggle with any Extremities rather than to have Correspondence with the Murderers of their Friends and Relations and the Plunderers of themselves it is certain that Part of the Council still continued averse to the Cessation Hereupon Sir Robert Meredith Sir William Parsons Sir John Temple and Sir Adam Loftus were Committed to Prison by His Majesties Order on the Second of July and on their Petition they were refus'd to be Bayl'd but they had the Liberty of the Castle with a Keeper But on the 4th of July the Lords Justices and Council received a smart Letter from the two Houses of Parliament in England taxing them with Publishing That their present Difficulties were occasioned by the Failures of the English Parliament To which they returned as Tart an Answer on the Twenty eighth of October importing That they gave full frequent and seasonable Notice of all their Wants from time to time to the English Parliament and therefore did not know where else to lay the blame In the mean time there hapned a pleasant Passage on the Eighth of July at which time the Lords Justices and Council sent a Message in writing to the Confederates Purporting that if the Rebels would release Captain Farrer they would exchange Captain Synot for him but the Confederates were so distasted at the word Rebels that they sent back this Answer We do not know to whom this Certificate is directed and we will avow Our selves in all Our Actions Bur. 128. to be His Majesties Loyal Subjects neither shall it be safe henceforth for any Messenger to bring any Paper to Us containing other Language than such as Suits with Our Duty and the Affections We bear to His Majesties Service wherein some may pretend but none shall have more real Desires to farther His Majesties interest than His Majesties Loyal and Obedient Subjects Mountgarret Muskery Fr. Thom. Dublin Malachias Tuamen Castlehaven Audley R. Bealing Torlo O Neile Patr. Darcy And it is observable Lords Justices Letter of 29. July 4â— that Sir John Netervill being indicted of Treason Petitioned the King setting forth that his Witnesses were forced by the Rack to swear more than was true and instances Cornelius Moran and that his own Examination was mutilated of all Matters that might excuse or lessen his Crime but upon Search it appeared that Cornelius Moran was not made use of as an Evidence against him at all and that the Clauses he mentioned to be expung'd were found uncancell'd in his Examination It seems that the Treaty about the Cessation so influenced the Army that it did little this Summer only Colonel Monk on the 27th of June issued out with a Party of Thirteen hundred Foot and 140 Horse and he had the good Fortune at a Pass on the Boyne near Castlejordan to encounter Four thousand Irish Foot and Six hundred Horse under General Preston and to get the better of them however for want of Provisions he was fain to march to Wickloe and was afterwards Commanded thence into Meath to attend Owen Roe O Neal whose Army was near Portlester and there he joyned the Lord Moor who was Commander in chief of this Party and tho' it did not come to a Battel yet the valiant Lord Moor was unfortunately Slain by a Shot from a great Gun not many days before the Cessation was concluded Neither was there much done in the rest of the Provinces for the same Reason but the little that was done ought to be mentioned before we touch the Cessation that so we may take that Treaty entire And first in Munster the Lord of Insiquin divided his Army in the beginning of May and himself marched westward Battel of Killworth whilst Sir CHARLES VAVASOR went Eastward and took Mac Thomas's Castle and other Castles in the County of Waterford But on the Twenty seventh of May the Army to the number of Four hundred Horse and Four thousand Foot rendevouzed at Bottivant from whence Lieutenant Colonel Story with Two hundred Horse and Twelve hundred Foot was detached into Kerry where they got a Considerable Prey and also rescued some English and on the Twenty eighth the Lord Insiquin with the rest of the Army marched to Killmallock and ranged to and fro thereabouts whilst on the Thirty first of May Sir Charles Vavasor with another Detachment attacked the strong Castle of Cloghleagh which he took on the Third of June but on the Fourth of June by great negligence and want of Conduct he was well beaten by the Earl of Castlehaven on the Plain between Formoy and Killworth and Six hundred English were there slain and Sir Charles and others were taken Prisoners which was a just Judgment upon them for suffering some inferiour Officers to violate the Quarter they had given to the Garrison of Cloghleagh and by this Considerable Victory the Rebels were so elevated that they made a brisk
Attempt upon Cappoquin but were on the Twenty Seventh of June repulsed thence with Loss and on the Second of July the Earl of Castlehaven met with the same Fate at Lismore and then marched towards Leinster And on the First of July Colonel Myn beat the Irish on the Plain on the Northside of Tymoleague River and soon after took the Castles of Tymoleague Aghamilly and Rathbarry But in Connaught the Protestant Affairs were in a worse Condition for tho' they made a shift to repell the Incursions of Owen Roe and at lenghth to drive him out of that Province yet in August the Fort of Gallway was surrendred to the Irish whereupon the Rebels marched to the Siege of Castlecoot to which the Town of Gallway contributed Three hundred Pound and altho' the Irish had Notice of a Cessation by a Messenger sent on purpose yet they imprisoned him as a Spy and shot the more furiously against the Castle ☞ until at length perceiving their Labour was in vain they claimed the benefit of the Cessation to secure their retreat And in Ulster I find no other Account than what Monroe gives in his Letter of the Twenty third of May viz. that with Two thousand Foot and Three hundred Horse he did beat Owen Roe and his Son and Sir Phelim O Neal being joyned together with their Forces and compelled them to return to Charlemont after quitting the Generals House to be burnt and spoiled by them with all the Houses in Loghgall being the best Plantation in Ulster and the straightest for defence of the Rebels Peview 81. only that my Lord of Castlehaven says that Colonel Mervin and Sir Theophilus Jones and the English had a hand in this Victory and so we are come to the Treaty of the Cessation which was managed in this manner On the Twenty third of June 1643. the Irish Commissioners viz. the Lord Gormanstown the Lord Muskery Sir Lucas Dillon Sir Robert Talbot Tirlogh O Neil Geoffery Brown Ever Macgenis and John Walsh presented themselves unto the Marquess of Ormond in his Tent near Castlemartin his Lordship sitting in his Chair covered and they uncovered his Lordship told them He was come according to their Desires and expected their Propositions in writing and the next day they desired a sight of his Commission alledging that they were ready to shew theirs and give a Copy and since no Body was named in the Kings Commission but his Lordship and their Authority was likewise to treat with him only they desired The Negotiation might be kept secret and concealed from all others till the matter be fully concluded To which the Marquess replyed That for the way of proceeding he was by his Majesty trusted therewith and should do nothing therein but what he conceived to be fit then having received a Copy of their Commission and sent them a Copy of His Majesties Letter of the Third of May 1643 and Promised them upon conclusion of the Treaty a Copy of his Majesties Letter of the Twenty third of April 1643 they tendered Propositions and having agreed that the time of the Cessation should be a Twelvemonth the Marquess proposed that they would first declare what they would contribute towards the support of His Majesties Army during the Cessation to which they Answer That when they know what they have to give they assist His Majesty according to their utmost Abilities as upon all occasions they have heretofore done The next meeting was at Siggingstown where on the Twenty eighth of June they declared That the Cessation being first agreed upon they will treat of Supply and not before on the Twenty ninth the Marquess not admitting the Name or Title attributed by the Commissioners to their Party nor the Protestation That they took Arms in defence of their Religion His Majesties Rights and Prerogatives and the Liberties of this Kingdom and no ways to oppose His Majesties Authority gave an Answer in writing to their Proposals and Tacked to it Four demands viz. 1. For supply 2. A Declaration how far the Quarters of each Party extended 3. For Caution of Payment of such Supply as they should Promise And 4. That all Castles Towns Forts and Houses that may be taken during the Treaty should be restor'd on the Cessation Hereupon the Treaty was adjourn'd that the Commissioners might consult their Principals and then 12 July from Kilkenny they answer to the First That 't is not warranted by His Majesty's Letter however on the Conclusion of the Cessation they will do what is fit To the Second They agree to settle that Point To the Third That a Free Gift needs no Caution and for performance of Articles they will agree to an Equal Course at Meeting And to the Fourth if reduc'd to Particulars they will answer it at the next Congress On the Fifteenth of July Ormond writes to them That tho' their Answers are neither so particular nor so satisfactory as he expected yet he design'd to meet them but that his necessary Attendance on other Business prevents it which being over they shall have timely notice of a Day of Meeting To this on the Nineteenth of July the Irish Commissioners reply That they are loth to give an ill Construction of this Delay until they know of that Service that taketh place of This but must take notice that they meet in These as in all other Proceedings whereby they may have any expectation to enjoy the Benefit of His Majesty's Grace and Favour some Interruption and Slackness in conveying any part of His Good Intentions to His Faithful Subjects the Catholicks of Ireland which they may add to their other Grievances and will endeavour in discharge of the many Harms which may ensue by reason of this Protraction to have it rightly represented to His Majesty To this smart Reply Ormond on the Twenty first of July return'd this Answer That he was not accountable with the Knowledge of any of his Majesty's Services wherewith he had the Honor to be intrusted to any but His Majesty That nevertheless they were not ignorant of the Cause of that Interruption since their General Preston with their Forces approach'd so near as Castle Carbery in the County of Kildare But on the Fifth of August the Lords Justices Borlace and Titchborn together with the Marquis of Ormond sent the Commissioners a Letter importing That they had received His Majesty's Letter authorizing Them to conclude a Cessation for a Year and that pursuant to it Ormond would meet the Commissioners at Sigginstown on the Seventeenth of August and proceed where he left off But afterwards at the desire of the Confederates Note In the New Commission Lord Gormanstown was omitted and Nicholas Plunket and Sir Richard Barnwall were added their Commissioners being dispersed the Meeting was appointed the Twenty sixth of August and then insisting upon the Title Name and Protestation aforesaid they give a Reply in Writing to the Answers formerly given by the Marquis On the Twenty eighth of August
necessities of his Army forced him to withdraw thither where he stayed to expect his Lordships farther Commands And the same day Ormond replyed That he would certainly meet him at Castledermond that day sevenight with 600 Horse and 600 Musquetiers and that he will cause Commissions to be prepared with blanks for the Names of Preston's Officers to whom he will give proof of his full confidence in them and value of their Merit and loyal Affections and for Preston himself that he should have all the Power with the Lord Lieutenant that he could desire And thus Matters stood in a fair Correspondence between his Excellency and General Preston when on the 9th of December the Marquis of Ormond accompanied with the Marquis of Clanrickard marched out of Dublin with his small Party in the nature of Guards towards the place of Rendezvous and I doubt not but the Reader is full of Expectation to find General Preston there also but alas the Scene was changed and the Case was altered for the Council and Congregation at Kilkenny had on the 24th of November declared against this new Reconciliation as Appendix 35 and the Nuncio did so influence General Preston and his Officers by alledging That the former Treaty and Engagement were not binding being concluded without the Consent of a General Assembly which only had the Cognisance of Matters of so great Importance that he prevailed with them to Apostatize from their Solemn Engagement so lately entered into and to write this bald Excuse to the Marquis of Clanrickard That his Officers were not Excommunication-Proof And on the 15th of December the Council and Congregation of the Confederates not taking any notice of any Peace or Agreement that had intervened 1646. published the following Declaration By the Council and Congregation WHEREAS the Cessation of Arms between us and the adverse Party is long since determined and for that the Enemy in Dublin is now advanced into the Field committing daily acts of * * * Though really they committed none but paid for whatever they had Hostility We therefore Declare Order and Appoint That all Generals Captains and other Officers and Soldiers whatsoever of all and every the Armies of the Confederate Catholicks of Ireland and all and every Party and Parties of them either now together in Body or in their Winter Quarters shall and may KILL and Endamage the most they or any of them may of the Enemy aforesaid and against them or any of them use and exercise all manner of acts of Hostility But General Preston by his Letter of the 19th of December from Waterford endeavoured to excuse this Apostacy and laid the fault upon his Officers and yet on the 22th of the same Month he published a Declaration in Print against the lately renewed Peace ☞ to this effect That since the Engagement made by the Marquis of Clanrickard doth not yield sufficient Security for the Free Exercise of Religion c. as by the Congregations * * Appendix 35. Annotations thereon doth appear and since a Resolution was taken not to receive any of his Forces into the Garison of Dublin according to Agreement unless these Objections may be satisfied by the Enlargement of farther Grants that may satisfy the Council and Congregation he thinks himself obliged by the Oath of Association to obey the Council Congregation and General Assembly Whereupon the Lord Lieutenant by his Letter of the 5th of January acquaints him That however things have not sorted to his Expectation or to what he understood to be Preston's Obligation yet he was far from believing that Preston had any design so unbecoming a Man of Honour as to make use of the Credit given by Ormond to his Invitation to the Lord Lieutenants Prejudice or for the Improvement of Preston's Conditions with another Party which makes him confident that a Printed Paper Entituled Preston's Declaration c. and dated but three days after the former Letter of the 19th of December being so contrary to the Expressions therein must be a Forgery at also the Reports that some of Preston's Forces are gathering together at Castledermond to interrupt his Return or destroy the remainder of his Quarters yet he desires Satisfaction from Preston's own hand in those Particulars And accordingly General Preston did by his Letter of the 15th of January own his Declaration for which he writes he had good Reasons to be imparted at a more convenient time but disowned that he had any hand in disturbing his Excellency's Quarters or interrupting his Return But that the Reader may perceive that this Perfidiousness was not unexpected I must insert a short Passage in a Letter of the Lord Lieutenants to Colonel John Humilton dated at Lucan before he knew of Preston ' s Relapse and it was thus That I may leave no means unattempted to prevent the Ruin of His Majesty's Affairs whilst I have a hand in them I have undertaken an Expedition whereunto I was invited by a considerable Party of the Irish but I confess I go rather to leave them for ever unexcusable if they should fail me than that I have any assured Confidence of Performance such are the Impressions their former Failures have left in me But because it may be thought hard that the Confederates should be judged by the Sentiments of Protestants it is therefore necessary to shew what Opinion such of the Roman Catholicks as were loyal had of their Proceedings and the Reader may find it at large in the Marquis of Clanrickard's Letter Appendix 37. But Ormond either because he considered the Poverty of the City of Dublin or that being thus a second time deceived by the Confederates he was ashamed to return hither did march his small Army into Westmeath being the Enemies Quarters and there he kept a melancholy Christmas and though he used no Hostility but paid for every thing so that the Country seemed pleased with them yet the Captain and Lieutenant of his Excellency's Guards staâ—ing behind the rest were murdered upon the Highway by some of the Irish and on Christmas Day the Lord Lieutenant wrote to the Lord Digby then intended for France as followeth I Shall beseech you to be careful of one thing which is to take Order that the Commands that shall be directed to me touching this People if any be thwart not the Grounds I have laid to my self in point of Religion for in that and in that only I shall resort to the liberty left to a Subject to Obey by Suffering and particularly that there be no Concession to the Papists to perpetuate Churches or Church-livings to them or to take Ecclesiastical Jurisdiction from us And as for other Freedoms from Penalties for thâ— Quiet Exercise of their Religion I am clear of Opinion it not only may but ought to be given them if his Majesty shall find cause to own them for any thing but Rebels However whilst Ormond continued at Trim the Lord Muskry and some others that
abhorred the breach of the Peace gave him hopes That in the General Assembly which was to meet the 10th of January Matters would be better ordered and desired him patiently to expect that and proposed a short Cessation which was afterwards at Dublin agreed unto To this Assembly the Lord Lieutenant sent the Lord Taaf and Colonel John Barry with a most excellent Letter expostulating the Violation of the Peace and telling them That they were irrecoverably betrayed to Infamy if they neglect this opportunity offered to vindicate themselves and exhorting them to a speedy and effectual Confirmation of the Peace but the Assembly had determined the Point the day before they came and so the Letter was never delivered For this extraordinary Juncto or General Assembly which was totally governed by the Nuncio did on the very first day of their Meeting receive a Paper of Unreasonable Proposals from the Congregation of their Clergy viz. To have all manner of Jurisdictions Privileges and Immunities as amply as they had in the Time of Hen. VII and to have all the Church-Livings c. conferred upon them And on the Fifteenth day of January they wrote to the Lord Lieutenant to keep his Forces within his own Quarters and on the Second of February they published a frantick Mixture of a Declaration containing Two very contradictory things Vide the Declaration Appendix 36. viz. First That the Commissioners had acted honestly and pursuant to their Instructions in making the Peace and Secondly That the Nuncio and Clergy had done well in breaking it And they farther declar'd That they might not accept of that Peace but did protest against it and declare the same invalid and of no force to all intents and purposes As also That the Nation would not accept of any Peace not containing a sufficient and satisfactory Security for the Religion Lives Estates and Liberties of the Confederate Catholicks And what they understood to be sufficient appears by the Propositions published by the Congregation at Waterford which they had caused the People to swear they would insist upon And the Reason they gave for this Procedure was as strange as the Act viz. That Glamorgan ' s Articles gave them better Conditions Whereas those Articles were disavowed and rejected by the King and even by the Earl himself acknowledg'd not to be binding both because of the Defezance and the Failure in sending Succors according to Promise And the Confederates likewise had admitted that Agreement void by embracing a subsequent Peace on other Terms Nevertheless this Assembly was so violent against the Peace that some of them attempted to Disband General Preston because he was more moderate and better inclin'd to it than they And to that end the Bishop of Fornes brought in an Impeachment against him but Preston's Friends were so loud upon that Point that the Bishop was fain to withdraw his Accusation Ad gladios pugiles in ipso Senatu ventum fuisset Beling 39. or else they had gone to Cuffs even in the very Assembly Nevertheless when they had talk'd themselves out of breath they began to find the Necessity of putting a better Gloss upon what they had done and therefore they resolv'd to propose Terms of Accommodation that at least they might have it to say that Peace was refus'd them And so on the last of February they sent Dr. Fennell and another with sufficient Credentials to Treat with the Lord Lieutenant and to make Proposals unto him but it was plain that their Design was to amuse the World and to asperse his Excellency with the Noise of this Treaty and the Pretence that they offered Reasonable Conditions and that therefore he was not necessitated to surrender to the Parliament but should rather have complied with them for they not only refus'd to reduce those Proposals into Writing but also denied to sign the Substance or Extract of them when written altho' they could not deny but that it was truly taken as they had dictated But it is fit that the World should know the Unreasonableness of these very Proposals which were to this effect 1. That each Party should continue Independent 2. That they should joyn in a War against the Common Enemy meaning the English Protestants that adhered to the Parliament and that neither Party should make Peace or Cessation or use Traffick or Commerce with them without the others Consent 3. That Dublin and other Garisons might be secur'd by their Soldiers against the Common Enemy 4. That all Papists in English Quarters have free Exercise of their Religion that is as they afterwards explain'd it the Churches and Church-livings and Exemption from the Jurisdiction of the Protestant Clergy in all Places except Dublin where the greater number of the Inhabitants are Catholicks 5. That no body be permitted to live within English Quarters but such as will swear to this Accommodation And 6. That if both Armies joyn in any Expedition nevertheless they are to be Commanded by their own respective Commanders c. But these Proposals being made known to the Privy-Council they did unanimously and with scorn reject them and the Lord Lieutenant did on the 22th of March 1646. write to the Supreme Council That he could not comply with their Propositions in the manner they were propos'd And so the Assembly was on the Third of April adjourn'd to the Twentieth day of November following And now what could be more amazing than to see a People and especially the Nobility and Gentry of a whole Kingdom many of which had good Breeding and good Fortunes give up the Conduct of their Reason as well as their Consciences to the wild Ambition and Covetousness of the Clergy Men who ventur'd nothing by their preposterous Attempts to set up their Religion for in all Events they were to find Welcome abroad and to be reverenc'd even for being vanquish'd But for those Gentlemen who had no certainty of Subsistence elsewhere how imprudent was it towards their lawful and indulgent King whose Pardon they so much needed to require from Him such Conditions in Matters of Religion as by the Advantage it gave to His other Enemies in whose Hands he was must take from Him more than their Assistance could afford and by this foolish Stratagem weaken and diminish that Power by which only they could be saved Nevertheless they did in this manner trample upon the Peace not only in a Heat but in Cold Blood and thereby rendred all future Expectations vain and their own Condition irreparable But let us return to the Marquis of Ormond who was astonish'd at this foolish Procedure of the Irish He had already received Orders from His Majesty That if he could not keep Dublin he should rather surrender it to the Parliament than to the Irish and he very well understood the Sentiments of the Protestants of Ireland For altho' some of them were very fearful of the Covenant and many of them had great Jealousies and Suspicions of each other yet all
France in their favour and therefore were loth to foreclose themselves of Assistance abroad or Complices at home by taking an Oath of Allegiance at that time And accordingly on the 19th of June 1666. the Lord-Lieutenant wrote thus to the Secretary of State There is hardly an hour in a day wherein I have not hot alarums of Conspiracies ready to he executed by the Irish and such concurrent Intelligence from several places and persons concerning it that I now really believe they are put into a disposition of rebelling by some employed out of France I will according to Instructions keep the Irish Clergy to the letter of the Remonstrance or to a sense equivalent Most part of this Summer was spent in ordering the Militia and on the 7th of August the Parliament was dissolved having enacted as in the Irish Statute-Book and the Lord-Lieutenant made a progress into Munster and after his return viz. on the 27th of September Edmond Riley Titular Archbishop of Armagh was by the Lord-Lieutenant and Council sent Prisoner into England And at the same time the second Court of Claims sate in Dublin and were busie disposing of Lands and Houses by lot to the 49 Officers and in ordering Reprisals c. And on the 1st of October the Lord-Lieutenant and Council considered of a way to send 15000 Bullocks for the relief of the City of London then lately burnt And in March the notable Tory Collonel Costilo was killed and a Proclamation issued to appoint Granaries for Wheat and Oatmeal in several parts of the Kingdom The year 1667. was troublesom enough in Ireland that Kingdom being frequently alarum'd with Reports of a French Invasion so that the Militia was raised in all parts of the Kingdom and those of Leinster the City of Dublin excepted did rendesvouz on the Curragh of Kildare and thither the Lord-Lieutenant came to view them on the 13th of July And in the same month a considerable Squadron of Ships appearing upon the South-Coast very much frightned the Inhabitants thereabouts but it proved â—o be an English Fleet under Sir Jeremy Smith which came into the Harbour of Kingsale on the 11th of July And in the beginning of the year 1668. the Lord-Lieutenant embarqued for England and left his Son the Earl of Ossory Lord Deputy and he continued so until the 18th day of September 1669. at which time he surrendred the Sword to John Lord Roberts of Truro who staid but a very little time before the Popish Interest then prevailing at Court got him removed and placed in his stead John Lord Berkly Baron of Stratton who was sworn Lord-Lieutenant on the 21st day of May 1670. and whose Instructions were to the effect following viz. 1. The Introduction and first Instruction is in usual form That he is appointed Lord-Lieutenant and to receive the Sword of State and take the accustomed Oath 2 dly And forasmuch as all good success doth rest upon the Service of God above all things you are to settle good Orders in the Church that God may be better served in the true established Religion and the People by that means by reduced from their Errors in Religion wherein they have been too long most unhappily and perniciously seduced and never more than since the late fatal Rebellion which hath produc'd too plentiful a Seed-time of Atheism Superstition and Schism But in your care of Religion be sure to moderate the precipitation and preposterous Zeal of any on what specious pretences soever who under the name of Christ's Kingdom the Church and Religion disturb both Church and State and may endanger the peace thereof whereas by Wisdom and Moderation the Established Religion will not only be more firmly setled again but by a wise and diligent hand the Tares and Cocle which many years War and Confusion have sowed will be most safely pick'd out In order to this proceed as in the beginning of the Lord Chichester's time to the Building and Repair of Churches And because good Preachers will be difficultly obtained without competent Means inspect the Ecclesiastical Livings with assistance of some of the Church and others of skill and raise them as you can and supply those in Our Gift with pious apt and able persons Men of good respect and credit and Residents and persuade all Patrons to do the like and to eschew Corruption observe the Directions about the Church of Ireland Anno 1623. and see that the Clergy lose nothing designed for them in the several Plantations And that fit and diligent Schoolmasters may have the benefit of our Donations and the Act of Parliament And that you encourage the People to send their Youth to the College of Dublin 3dly Send us an account of the state of the Kingdom what is wanting and how it may be supplied 4thly Enquire diligently how Our Judges Officers and Ministers behave themselves in discharge of their respective Trusts and that faulty persons may be succeeded by better 5thly Take exact Musters and administer the Oaths of Allegiance and Supremacy to all Officers and Soldiers and Cashier such as refuse 6thly To prevent false Musters and the mustering of Servants and Tenants c. change Quarters often even to remote Provinces renewing in this particular the printed Instructions and Rules to the Commissaries in the Duke of Ormond's time with such Alterations and Additions as shall be found requisite 7thly Quarter the Soldiers most conveniently for our Service and the least burthensom to the Subjects and give strict directions that they live orderly and according to Discipline and that the Officer may not detain the Soldiers Pay nor absent himself without license which must not exceed three months 8thly Inspect the Revenue c. exactly as it was 20 January 1669. and is now 9thly And improve it by increase of the Income and abatement of the Charge 10thly If any Orders under Great or Privy-Seal Privy-Signet or Sign-Manual or from Privy-Council shall come unto you contrary to these Instructions or in your opinion unfit to be obeyed you may suspend your Obedience until you signifie your Reasons sor so doing and receive Our Answer 11thly Make no Grant or Lease of any thing of Ours till Office be found or Record entred and an indifferent Survey or Valuation thereof made and that then the same be put in charge in the proper Offices and the Grantee give good Security for Rents and Covenants 12thly That new Surveys be made of all forfeited escheated and concealed Lands c. 13thly Improve Trade as far as you can without breach of the Acts of Navigation and Transportation of Irish Cattel particularly incourage Fishery Linnen Manufactury the resort of Protestant Strangers and if they amount to any Number we will order them such Priviledges for their Religion as will best consist with the Peace of that Kingdom Have a strict eye to the Transportation of Wooll take Bonds Diligently and Prosecute them Severely and the better to discover Frauds Transmit your Bonds hither to be
compared with the Certificates here Also prevent the abuse in Coyning Vending annd Vttering small Moneys 14thly Endeavour to bring all to a Conformity in the Religion by Law Established and acquaint us with what difficulties you meet with therein 15thly Inspect our Forts Castles Magazines and Stores and endeavour to make Salt-Petre 16thly We are informed That small Profit hath heretofore come to our Exchequer by Castle-Chamber Fines tho Misdemeanors proper for punishment in that Court were many we would therefore have you look into the reasons thereof and to resettle and uphold the Honour and Jurisdiction of that Court for the repressing exorbitant Offences wherein our Learned Council are to do their Duty faithfully 17thly The Vice-Treasurer or his Deputy to receive all Money 18thly Reduce the Moneys there to the condition of Sterling and establish a Mint there 19thly Finding some Propositions of the Duke of Ormond recorded in the Register of Council-Causes 1662. fit to be observed we have renewed them with reference to your Government therefore observe them Lastly Several Popish Clergy since the return of the Duke of Ormond hither have exerâ—â—ed their Jurisdictions to the great grief of the Remonstrants If so execute the Laws against the Titular Archbishops Bishops and Vicar-Generals that have threatned or excommunicated the Remonstrants and that you protect such Remonstrants as have not withdrawn their Subscriptions These were the publick Instructions but the Administration of the Government seem'd to have another Foundation for now the Mystery of Iniquity began to appear and the Papists were publickly countenanc'd and indulg'd in Ireland many of them got into the Commission of the Peace and it was attempted also to bring them into the Army but Matters not running so smoothly as the Lord Lieutenant expected he returned to England for new Instructions and left the Government in the Hands of the Lord Chancellor and Sir Arthur Forbus Lords Justices who were Sworn on the 12 th of June and continued in that Office until his Excellency's return which was on the 23 d day of September 1671. In the mean time on the 21 st of February 1670. Collonel Richard Talbot Petitioned His Majesty in the behalf of His most distressed Subjects of Ireland who were outed of their Estates by the late Vsurped Powers which Petition was referr'd to a Committe of the Council to Examine and Report and a State of their Case was given to the Committee in Writing Whereupon on the 28 th of January the Kings Solicitor attended the Committe at the Council-Chamber His Majesty being present and there the Petition and Talbot's Commission from the Irish the State of their Case and the Paper of Instances were read On the 1 st of February the King being present Sir George Lane was call'd in and the first Instance being the Case of Mr. Hore was objected against him but Sir George baffled the Petitioners in that Matter and having prov'd an Agreement with Mr. Hore which His Majesty was pleased to say He remembred That Affair was clear'd to the satisfaction of the King and the Committee much contrary to the Expectation of the Petitioners who perhaps had prevail'd with the King to be there that he might be an Ear-witness of the Wrong that was done them But the King being weary of such Debates did on the 4 th of February in Council appoint the Lords Buckingham Anglesy Hollis and Ashley and Secretary Trevor or any three of them to be a Committee to Peruse and Revise all the Papers and Writings concerning the Settlement of Ireland from the first to the last and to take an Abstract of the State thereof in Writing And accordingly on the 12 th of June 1671. they made their Report at large which was the Foundation of a Commission dated the 1 st of August 1671. under the great Seal to Prince Rupert the Dukes of Buckingham and Lauderdale Earl of Anglesy Lords Ashley and Hollis Sir John Trevor and Sir Thomas Chichly to Inspect the Settlement of Ireland and all Proceedings from first to last in Order thereunto And this was followed by another Commission of the 17 th of January 1672. to Prince Rupert Earl of Shaftsbury the Lord Treasurer Clifford and others amongst whom the Dukes of Ormond was one to inspect the Affairs of Ireland viz. the Acts of Settlement and Explanation and the Execution of them and the disposing of Forfeited Lands and the State of His Majesties Revenue c. But how specious soever the Pretences were for these Commissions the secret Design was to unravel the Settlement and to humble the Duke of Ormond upon whom they always fell when the Popish Interest prevailed for otherwise the pretended Grievances if they had been really true were few and small and it were much better for the publick That even greater Irregularities than were complain'd of should remain unremedied than that the great and common Security of the Nation should be shaken And of this Opinion was the Parliament of England who always concern'd themselves effectually for the English Interest and the Protestant Religion in Ireland and accordingly on the 9th day of March 1673 they Address'd to His Majesty as followeth And this Address occasion'd that the aforesaid Commission of Inspection was Superseded on the 2d of July 1673. WE Your Majesties most Loyal Subjects the Commons in this Present Parliament Assembled taking into Consideration the great Calamities which have formerly befallen Your Majesties Subjects of the Kingdom of Ireland from the Popish Recausants there who for the most part are profest Enemies to the Protestant Religion and the English Interest and how they make use of Your Majesties Gracious Disposition and Clemency are at this time grown more Insolent and Presumptuous than formerly to the apparent Danger of that Kingdom and Your Majesties Protestant Subjects there the consequence whereof may likewise prove very fatal to this Your Majesties Kingdom of England if not timely prevented And having seriously weighed what Remedies may be most properly applied to those growing Distempers do in all Humility present Your Majesty with these our Petitions 1. That for the Establishment and Quieting the possessions of Your Majesties Subjects in that Kingdom Your Majesty would be pleased to maintain the Act of Settlement and Explanatory Act thereupon and to recall the Commission of Enquiry into Irish Affairs bearing date the 17 th of January last as containing many new and extraordinary Powers not only to the Prejudice of particular Persons whose Estates and Titles are thereby made liable to be questioned but in a manner to the overthrow of the Acts of Settlement and if pursued may be the occasion of great Charge and Attendance to many of Your Subjects in Ireland and shake the Peace and Security of the whole 2. That Your Majesty would give order that no Papist be either continued or hereafter admitted to be Judges Justices of the Peace Sheriffs Coroners or Mayors Sovereigns or Portreeves in that Kingdom 3. That the Titular Popish Archbishops
the Pale from appearing at Dublin and forc'd them to defend themselves however they sent his Majesties sworn Servant Lieutenant Collonel Read to represent their Case to his Majesty but he was not only stopped but also Racked at Dublin 10. That the Lord President of Munster by direction of the Lords Justices that Province being quiet put to death Men Women and Children without distinction and mistrusted and threatned the Catholick Nobles and Gentry and Arm'd inferior fellows and the Province of Conaught was used in like manner so that in these Provinces the Catholicks were forc'd on their defence still waiting his Majesties Pleasure and ready to obey his Commands whilst the Lords Justices c. were busie by Addresses to the Malignant Party in England to deprive the Irish of all hopes of his Majesties Justice and Mercy and to plant a perpetual enmity between the Enemy and them 11. That whereas Ireland since the Reign of Hen 2. hath had its own Parliament with equal Power Priviledges c. to that of England and only dependant on the Crown in all which time there is no President that a Statute made in England had any force in Ireland until Enacted there Now by false suggestions an Act of Adventurers 17 Car. hath past in England whereby the Irish unsummon'd and unhear'd are declared Rebels and two Millions and a half of Acres of their Land dispos'd of which Act tho' forc'd on his Majesty and in it self unjust and void yet continues of evil consequence and extream prejudice to his Majesty and totally destructive to the Irish Nation for tho' the scope seems to aim at Rebels only yet the words include all the Irish and takes away many of his Majesties Tenures and much of his Revenue and therefore they protest against it as an Act without President and against the Kings Prerogative and the Fundamental Laws of the Kingdom and by colour whereof the Protestant Army disavow his Majesties Authority and depend on the Parliament 12. That strangers in Dublin being banish'd thence by Proclamation were by direction of the Lords Justices pillaged as soon as they got without the Town and what they left in the Town was confiscated and their desire to return under Protection was denyed that Catholicks quiet and under Protection were by the Lords Justices Order sooner destroy'd plundered or killed than those in Action and Quarter daily violated and others that came to Dublin for retreat and shelter were Imprisoned and Tryed for their Lives and Dublin Cork Youghall Kinsale and Tredagh that opened their Gates to his Majesties Forces are worse us'd than the Israelites in Egypt so that it will be made appear that more murthers breaches of publick Faith and Quarter more destruction and desolation and more cruelty not fit to be nam'd were committed in less than Eighteen Months by the direction and advice of the Lords Justices and their Party of the Council than can be parallel'd to have been done by any Christian people 13. That the Lords Justices have against the fundamental Laws procured several Sessions of Parliament tho' Nine parts of Ten of the genuine Members are absent it being inconsistent with their safety to come under the Power of the Lords Justices and in their room are Clerks Soldiers and Serving-men introduc'd into the House of Commons not at all Elected or not Legally Chosen and not having Estates however they have made Orders and releas'd Traytors Impeach'd in full Parliament and passed or might have passed some Acts against Law and prejudicial to his Majesty and the Nation and have also kept Terms only by false and illegal Judgments and Outlaries to Attaint many thousand good Subjects without Summons or Notice and obscure Men are made Sheriffs and Servants and Mechanicks are made Jurors to pass upon the Lives and Estates of those who came in upon Protection and publick Faith Wherefore and to settle the Revenue and prevent desolation and effusion of Blood and to procure the satisfaction of his Subjects who were willing to imploy 10000 men in defence of his Royal Rights they pray his Majesty to give gracious Answers to these Just complaints and to call a Free Parliament in an indifferent place before some Person of Honor and Fortune of approved Faith to his Majesty and acceptable to the People of Ireland who may be speedily Invested with the Government and that in such Parliament their grievances may be redress'd and Poynings Act suspended pro hac vice and either continued or Repeal'd as shall be thought fit and that no matter whereof complaint is made in this Remonstance may debar Catholicks from Sitting and Voting in such Parliament c. Delivered by the Lord Gormanstown Sir Lucas Dillon Sir Robert Talbot John Welsh Authorized by the Confederates 17 March 1642. to his Majesties Commissioners at Trim to be presented to the King Appendix VI. The Substance of the Answer of the Protestant Committee to the false and scandalous Remonstrance of the inhumane and bloody Rebels of Ireland given unto His Majesty at Oxford in May 1644. THAT the Remonstrants were not necessitated to take up Arms for their Religion for they were not troubled or so much as questioned about it for a long time before the Rebellion nor for His Majesties Prerogative for there were no Opponents of it in Ireland except the Remonstrants who have usurped all the King's Prerogatives as well as the Subjects Estates and have printed an Order of their general Assembly to exclude all Temporal Government and Jurisdiction but what is approved or instituted by that Assembly or the supream Council nor for their Lives Liberties and Estates because they had the Protection of the Law and His Majesties Government and not one Instance can be produced that a Papist quatenus a Papist ever suffered unpunished Violence from a Protestant either in Person or Estate except in open Rebellion And as to the just Liberties of Subjects wherein the Protestants are as much concerned as the Remonstrants they were never so fully and freely enjoyed in Ireland as at the Time of the Insurrection so that there was no Necessity to murther and rob the Protestants for the Preservation of the Confederates Nor have any of their Addresses since the Rebellion been slighted or suppressed Their first was from Cavan of the Sixth of November and received a mild and favourable Answer and was forthwith certified to the Lord Lieutenant The second was from seven Lords of the Pale then in Rebellion who refused upon safe Conduct to come to the State but desired Commissioners might be appointed to confer with them and though such a Condescention was thought dishonorable since it was the others duty to come to the Government yet both the Request and Answer were transmitted to the Lord Lieutenant Their third Address was from the united Lords by the Mediation of the Earl of Castlehaven 23 d. of March when His Majesties Army had raised the Siege of Tredagh and were Masters of the Field however
rid of some of His Majesties English Judges and Officers whom they cannot endure to bear rule over them though they saw the Kingdom prospered above any former Times under their Labour and Travel And it is untrue that the Protestants did envy the good Union of both Houses on the contrary they laboured to cherish and confirm it but if any Protestant opposed the Remonstrants upon any point how reasonable soever they presently clamour that it is done out of Malice against them and the Nation which is an unjust Obloquy and though the Pupists made daily Cabals yet the Protestant Members never had but one private Meeting and that without the Lords Justices knowledge and at that Meeting there were some Papists and the Design of it was to prevent an Impeachment intended by some of the Irish against those that were concerned in the Grand Inquisition of the Kings Title to Conaugth the Plantation of which Province with English the Natives abhorred as that which would have frustrated all their Evil Designs And as to the Session of the 11 th of May 1641 it continued very long viz. to the 7 th of August and was unprofitably spent in Protestations Declarations Votes upon Queries the Stay of Soldiers from going over Seas and private Petitions and it is untrue that there was any Certainty of the Committees being at the Water-side at the Time of Adjornment so on the 14 th of July the Lords Justices sent to both Houses to consider of a Time of Adjornment because the Harvest was approaching and the House was thin and on the 30 th of July the Commons desired the Adjornment might be delayed till the 7 th of August and on the 2 d. of August the Lords licensed the Judges to go their Circuits and the same Day the Commons desired the Adjornment might be from the 7 th of August to the 9 th of November to which the Lords agreed and on the 5 th of August a Committee of both Houses attended the Lords Justices with notice thereof and they consented thereunto by Order to be entred in the Houses as by their consent On the 6 th of August there arrived the Earl of Roscomon with a Letter from the Committee importing that they were busie about their Dispatch at London whereupon the Lords sent to the Commons that they continued their Opinion for the Adjornment and accordingly they did adjourn the next Day so that there is no Ground for the Calumny on the Lords Justices that they threatned to prorogue them or purposed to prevent the passing the Graces not then arrived into Acts. But those Remonstrants having broken Faith with His Majesty and all his faithful Subjects do take liberty to asperse his Governors and well affected Officers whom they desire for ill Ends to make odious to the People Lastly They close this Article with an Untruth for the Lords Justices did immediatly after the Arrival of the Committee write to all the Ports of the Kingdom with Briefs of the Graces concerning matters of Customs commanding the Officers to obey those Directions they also published Proclamations for transporting Wool and what Customs were payable for the same They sent Warrants for free Entries of Tobacco and what Customs were payable for it they gave Order for a Bill to be drawn for a Repeal of the preamble of the Act of Subsidies they also desired Sir James Mongomery and Sir William Cole to give notice to the Undertakers of Vlster of the Graces intended to them and they had formerly sent over the Bill for a General pardon and most of the rest of the Graces were to be executed in Dublin and respected the Regulation of the Courts there for which the Approaching Term was the proper Season But the Remonstrants had not patience to expect that but resolved to be their own Carvers and dispose of the King's Revenue and the Protestants Estates as they thought fit As to the Eighth Article the prodigious Tale of the Petition is untrue And but that these Remonstrants care not what Detractions how untrue and improbable soever they print or publish against those they hate they would not have averred this Story without producing a Copy of a Petition signed by so many Thousands but the Truth is the four Persous named had no hand in any Petition but there was indeed a Petition which reflected more upon the Protestant than the Popish Clergy but as soon as the Lords Justices had notice of it they got the Original into the Clerk of the Councils Office where it still lies What Sir John Clotworthy did or said in the Parliament of England was not known to the Protestants of Ireland nor is it material nor do they believe that any thing was then moved plotted or contrived against the Remonstrants or that the English Parliament resolved any destructive Course against them till after the Rebellion begun though the Remonstrants by confounding Times would use it as a Cover for their inhuman Perpetrations As for the Statute of 2 Eliz. the Remonstrants find fault with it because by repealing by Queen Mary's Act of Repeal it revives the necessary Statutes made by Henry 8 th against Papal Incroachments and Usurpations without which the Papists being dissolved from their dependence on the King's Auchority in matters Ecclesiastical would transfer that half of his Sovereignty to the Pope who might discharge their Allegiance in civil Causes as he hath often done here and elsewhere for as to the Penal part that Statute mitigates the Crime of Advancing foreign Jurisdiction which being Treason before is by that Act not made Treason till the third Offence after two Convictions and as to that part of the Statute about Officers and suers of Livery to take the Oath of Supremacy they have found so many Instances of His Majesties indulgence to them in that particular that it is ingratitude in them to complain And if they mean the second Chapter of secundo Eliz. it is answered that what Noise soever that Statute hath made yet it hath done very little Execution but the Complaint as if those Statutes were forged or had lain dormant till most of the Members of that Parliament were dead is of all other the most shameless for those Statutes were published in print with the rest Anno 16 Eliz. and were soon after too sparingly indeed put in Execution as appears by the Records but 't is true the second Chapter could not be executed because the Papists universally came to Church till of later Days and the Name of Recusant was not then known But afterwards when Popery became more bold and dangerous that Act was sometimes put in Execution but without danger to any Man's Life or Estate for the Penalty was but Nine Pence a Sunday and the Laws in England against Popery are very much more severe and yet upon this slender Ground and the vile Fiction of sending 10000 Scots which was never thought of till long after the Rebellion broke out do these
Remonstrants pretend to justify their Insurrection which nevertheless themselves in their Declaration in Parliament the 16 th of November 1641. have confessed to be traiterous and rebellions and at the same time pretended an Abhorrence of the abominable Murthers and Outrages of the Rebels which now they palliate as a forced taking up of Arms in their own own Defence by discontented Gentlemen Neither was that Declaration forced from them but passed in due course and order and at their own request tho' some of them would have couch'd it in softer terms for fear the Rebels might recriminate but they were outvoted without either violence or threatnings as is most falsly suggested Neither is it true that the Northern Rebels ever sent any Address to the State except the presumptuous Proposition from those of Cavan which was favourably received as hath been already related but it is wisely done of the Remonstrants to pass slightly over the Massacre in Vlster since it is not possible to justifie that barbarous Cruelty In the Proclamation of the 23 of October there is no mention of the Proroguing the Parliament and because some of the Pale did quarrel at the words Irish Papists as if themselves were included therein the Lords Justices issued a Second Proclamation to satisfie them in that Point and tho' there was a necessity of Proroguing the Parliament to avoid concourse to Dublin in that dangerous time yet it was not done without the Kings special Warrant for it who design'd that the Lord Lieutenant should be present at the Session and tho' the Kings Order was to Prorogue it to the latter end of February yet to comply with the Importunity of some of the Remonstrants who were then thought Faithful to the Government the Members were permitted to meet the 9 th of November and Adjorn'd to the 16 th and then Sat two days and shortned the Prorogation to the 11 th of January and tho' in that short Session and that troublesome time it was impossible to pass any of the Graces into Acts yet the Lords Justices did then acquaint the Houses That His Majesty would not depart from any of his former favours promised to them for setling their Estates to such as should remain faithful and Loyal That as to Armed men it was no other than hath been in all Parliaments there before and since viz. the Garrison of the Castle of Dublin in which the Parliament sits always makes a Guard for the Chief Governor and Members of Parliament but neither used Threats committed Violence or presented their Musquets as is unsincerly and untruly suggested nor could the Remonstrants apprehend any danger from this mark of respect shewn them by the Guard if their own inward Guilt had not begat Jealousies in them of what others never thought of for if the Lords Justices would have seiz'd the Persons of some of the Remonstrants upon just Suspitions and violent Presumptions what hindred them certainly nothing but a hopes by mildness and good usage to settle and fix their staggering Loyalty And it is strange that the Remonstrants pretend that any part of the Kingdom was quiet when it appears by Mac Mahon's Examination that the Conspiracy was universal and that the great Towns and Cities would revolt as soon after they did except where the Protestant Inhabitants or his Majesties Soldiers were too strong for them and Collonel Plunket aver'd That all the Catholick Lords had contracted under their hands to joyn in this Insurrection which indefinite expression must be understood to intend all those that did afterwards unite with the Rebels which were indeed all but a very few and he wrote to the Lord Abbot of Melifont that he had been a means to incite the Lords and Gentlemen of the Pale to appear in the blessed Cause then in hand and would use his endeavours night and day ad majorem Dei gloriam And it is to be observ'd that the Collonels John Barry Taaf Garret Barry and Porter who had Warrants to transport four Regiments and were therein Assisted by the Lords Justices did upon several pretences defer it till the 23 d. of October and soon after Garret Barret and his whole Regiment and most of the rest of the Soldiers went into Rebellion and if we add the general discourse amongst the Rebels in Vlster on the 23 d. and 24 th of October exfressing to the plunder'd English an assurance that Dublin was taken and the like mutterings in Munster and Conaught and the antecedent Threats of a general Rebellion and their Consultations at Multifernam mentioned in Doctor Jones his Examination it will be manifest that the Conspiracy was general and premeditated But the Remonstrants suggest that the Lords Justices applied themselves to such powerful Members of Parliament as opposed his Majesty which is like the rest for at that time the King was in Scotland and there was no difference between his Majesty and the Parliament except in relation to the Earl of Strafford whom the Remonstrants most violently prosecuted besides the Lords Justices did not sent to the Parliament at first but on the 25 th of October sent one Express to the King and another to the Lord Lieutenant according to his Majesties former Orders and seeing themselves by the generality of the Rebellion necessitated to invoke all Powers that could Assist them they did on the 5 th of November and not before write to the Privy Council and to the Speakers of both Houses and they sent Duplicates of those dispatches to his Majesty the very same day And tho' it was the highest reason that could be that the Lords Justices should first Arm the Protestant Subjects whom they might confidein for the defence of their own Lives and the Government yet they did also issue Arms to such Papists as they had any hope of and particularly 1700 Arms to those of the Pale some of which were recovered again but most of them were perfidiously made use of against the State neither were the Catholick Inhabitants of Dublin Disarm'd until those of the Pale had declared themselves in Rebellion and then their Alliance and Correspondence with the others made that Action necessary Arms were likewise sent to Wexford Waterford and Trim and Letters of Encouragement to those places and to Gallway The Order of Parliament to Pardon the Irish was publish'd in Print the 12 th of November and dispersed into all parts of the Kingdom but without any more effect than the Lords Justices Proclamation of Pardon of the 30 th of October met with and the Lords Justices Proclamation of the First of November to Pardon those of the Counties of Louth Westmeath Meath and Longford except Freeholders and Murderers was drawn by Mr. Nicholas Plunket and other Members of Parliament and thereupon some few submitted but never restor'd what they had plunder'd from the Protestants but soon after Apostatiz'd into Rebellion again neither did they shew any more respect to his Majesties own Proclamation under his Royal Signet nor
angry at the Sitting of the Parliament and the Courts of Justice and have overturn'd all Laws and plucked them up by the Roots should yet keep such a stir about Fundamental Laws or that they should think themselves genuine Members of Parliament which is a Court of Peace and Order who have rent asunder all Bonds of Peace Order and Humane Society can they imagine that because they will Rebel we must have no Courts of Justice will nothing satisfy them but an universal concurrence in Confusion and is it because they are guilty of so many crimes themselves that they take liberty to speak evil of all others If this be the Liberty they Fight for certainly they espouse a very bad cause however it is better than Liberty of extirpating the Protestants which is what they really aimed at But they have no reason to complain of the Protestant Members of Parliaments either of his Majesties or his Fathers time they have Repealed many Acts that were prejudicial to the Natives but never made any that were so Are not the Persons they complain to have been Indicted in the King's Bench guilty of the Crimes they are accused of Have not those Soldiers that were Jurors Free-hold in the proper Counties and are they not capable to be Jurors according to Law These Remonstrants cannot deny these things and that their Rebellion forced these Gentlemen to be Soldiers and yet they complain as if it were unjust and a grievance But the allegation that any body under Protection or the Publick Faith was tryed for his Life is not true nor can they instance one and their Protestation against the Proceedings of Parliament is frivilous and vain And their desire to have a New which they call a Free Parliament whereunto they may be chose hath infinite inconveniences in it for then these Criminals will be acquitted and manage the most weighty affairs and either exclude or outvote the Loyal Protestant Subjects which have stuck by the Crown in this time of danger But the truth is that the Rebels have Murdered and Banished so many of the Protestant Free-holders and Inhabitants of Corporations that there can be very few if any Protestants in a new Parliament at this time whereby it would happen that what Protestants are left undevoured by the Sword ☜ should be destroyed by colour of Justice pursuant to their Oath of Confederacy And as to the place Dublin wants no other convenience but that of giving opportunity to Awe or Surprize the Chief Governour and the Members of Parliament and as to the Person that Nation doth not yield a Person of more honour and fortune than the present Lord Lieutenant the Marquess of Ormond And as to Poynings Act the Repeal or Suspension of it is desired to deprive the King of the Advice of his Privy Councils of England and Ireland and if it were done perhaps they would without his Majesties Knowledge transfer the Spiritual half of his Sovereignty to the Pope and attaint his Protestant Subjects and establish their Supream Council and alter the very form of Government but to be sure they would acquit themselves and deprive his Majesty of all the Forfeitures belonging to him by their attainders and therefore it is unfit at this time by suspending that Act to make such criminous Parties their own Judges Lastly These Remonstrants who so loudly clamour against others have nevertheless violated their own Publick Faith ☜ in breach of their Articles of the Cessation by taking and detaining several Places and Estates they were to restore by that agreement and by not paying any part of 30800 l. payable by those Articles at the time stipulated and in not paying above half of it yet to the Ruine of the Army that wanted it and depended upon it Appendix VII The Substance of the Lord Macguires Examination HE Saith Burlace Appendix 2 this Examination at large That the Inhabitants of Lainster were first engaged in the Rebellion and that Mr. Roger Moor first moved it to him that the design was to maintain their Religion and recover their Estates that the Lord of Mayo was in the First Conspiracy that they sent to consult the Irish in Spain and Flanders and received assurance of their assistance that the Earl of Tyrone sent them a Message that Cardinal Richlieu had promised him Aid and they sent him word that they would rise Twelve or Fourteen days before Alhollontide that the Gentry of the Pale were very loath that any of the Irish Army should be sent to Spain and opposed what they could in both Houses and had several consultations about that and to prepare for an Insurrection and that Colonel Plunket and the rest that were to carry Four Thousand Men to Spain proposed to Seize the Castle of Dublin with those Men and consulted with the Lord Macguire about it That the Lord Gormanstown was acquainted with the Plot and consented to it that the 5 th of October was the First day appointed and because all were not then ready it was changed to the 23 d. That Owen Roe had his Agent Captain Brian O Neal to promote the Conspiracy that they were all to rise on the same day that Mr. Moor and the Lord Macguire and the Colonels Plunket and Birne were with Two Hundred Men to Seize the Castle of Dublin and Sir Philem O Neale was to Surprize Londonderry and Sir Henry O Neale was to do the like to Carigfergus and Sir Con mac genis was to Seize the Newry and all were to carry it fair to the Scots till the business should be secure That Captain Con O Neal came to Dublin with fresh assurance of assistance from Owen Roe and Cardinal Richlieu and that but Eighty of the Two Hundred were come to Dublin the 22 th and therefore they intended to defer their Attempt until the Afternoon of the next day Appendix VIII The Lord of Gormanstown's Commission By the Lords Justices and Council William Parsons John Borlase Right trusty and well-beloved We greet you well WHereas divers most disloyal and malignant Persons within this Kingdom have tratierously conspired against His Majesty his Peace Crown and Dignity and many of them in execution of their Conspiracy are traiterously assembled together In a Warlike manner and have most inhumanly made Destruction and Devastation of the Persons and Estates of divers of His Majesties good and loyal Subjects of this Kingdom and taken slain and imprisoned great Numbers of them We out of our Care and Zeal for the common good being desirous by all means to suppress the said Treasons and Traitors and to conserve the Persons and Fortunes of His Majesties loving Subjects here in Safety and to prevent the further Spoil and Devastation of His Majesties good People here do therefore hereby require and authorize you to Levy Raise and Assemble all every and any the Forces as well Footmen as Horsemen within the County of Meath giving you hereby the Command in chief of all the
doing us Justice nor indeed will any Man in the Country since my Lord of Muskery's departure own a Power of doing right to us But by their diversity of Governments and uncertainty of Governours the Parties Injured are posted from place to place and put to circular and formal courses of Petitioning and Prosecuting by the delay and discouragement whereof they incline rather to sit down with an Injury sustained than to pursue a reparation more grievous in obtaining than the wrong it being in many places unsafe to Travel in their Quarters for any cause whatsoever a Servant of my own being assaulted and attempted to be Murdered in Imokilly for going about my occasions Twelfthly That in November last at a Meeting which I procured in Cappaquin betwixt my Lord of Muskery and John Welsh on their part and other Commissioners on Ours my self being present sundry of these particulars were debated and several of them as the First Second and Fifth sufficiently cleared and evidenced to be injurious to us and that at that time they promised to send unto me within Eight or Ten days such positive orders for redress in those manifest particulars as we could reasonably expect and that in those which were then left doubtful and disputable I should receive the answer of their Supream Council And in all matters besides Commissioners should be assigned to meet with ours within Eight or Nine days to redress all Grievances and to determine all differences But from thenceforth I could never receive any performance of that promise or other satisfaction but having importuned them thereunto I received answer from one of them That more weighty business would not give admission to mine whilst in the interim they keep all things in difference within their own possession and so think it less necessary to descend to any determination By means whereof and of their willful withholding of those Rights whereout I should have raised some reasonable support for His Majesties Forces here more especially by their deteiner of the Three Houndred Pounds worth of Cattle ordered unto me by your Lordship they have driven me to so great Streights and Exigencies that of Nine Hundred Men which I had ready a few Weeks since to send unto his Majesty there remained not Two Hundred to be sent away on Munday last with the Shipping the rest being dispresed through meer want Besides which disadvantage to His Majesties Service the many Injuries Insolencies and Pressures obtruded and Multiplied daily on the poor English doth beget so many heavy clamours and complaints such disencouragements anguish and vexation of Spirit as makes the wretched Souls weary of their Lives and me of the sad and perplexed condition whereunto I am put by having these insufferable and insupportble affronts and difficulties to struggle with whence I implore some immediate rescue suitable to the nature they are of c. Appendix XVIII The Declaration of the Parliament against the Cessation AS it is evident to all the World that this late horrid Rebellion of the Papists in Ireland did without any colour or pretext of Provocation professedly and boldly aim at the destruction of the Protestant Religion the rejecting of the Laws of England and the Extirpation of the British Inhabitants out of that Kingdom So it is no less manifest that this Parliament of England to whom his Majesty hath left the managing of the War against those Rebels hath taken the Troubles of Ireland to heart with that resentment and compassion as may evidence their Zeal to Religion their Love to their Distressed Country-men and Brethren there in these times when the like Jesuitical Practices have cast England into woful Distractions and Unnatural War notwithstanding which the Reducing of Ireland hath still been a chief part of the care of this Parliament and God hath been pleased to bless our endeavours with such success as that those furious Blood-thirsty Papists have been stopped in the carier of their cruelty some part of the Protestant Blood which at first was spilt like Water upon the Ground hath been revenged their Massacres Burnings and Famishings have by a Divine retaliation been repaid into their Bosom and the Protestant Party hath been erected to that condition of Strength and Hope that their Enemies are constrained distrusting their Forces to have recourse to their Craft and Policies and therefore by their subtil Agents at Court and their active Instruments elsewhere have been endeavouring now of a long time to make our Armies in Ireland disaffected to the Parliament what by occasion of their wants not so readily supplyed as their need required what by amusing them with these unhappy differences fallen in here between King and People labouring by that means to divide those Forces into Factions to the end the main work they have in hand might be neglected which is the Prosecuting the War against the Rebels so far brought low in some parts of Ireland that if they can be deprived of the benefit of this Harvest they are not likely to see the next Summer And therefore the Rebels finding that notwithstanding the Distractions here occasioning the slowneâ—s and scarceness of Supplies yet they themselves are in a far worse condition being in a want of most things necessary not only for the maintaining of a War but even of Life the Judgment of God being remarkable upon them in this that as their Bloody and Treacherous Religion made them inhumanely cruel in shedding the Protestants Blood so now the Famine amongst many of them hath made them unnaturally and Canibal-like ☜ Eat and Feed one upon another Therefore that they may have time to expect from their Friends abroad new Supplies both of Victuals and Ammunition and may without molestation reap the Fruit of this Harvest they have laboured a Treaty for a Cessation which Project of theirs doth no less aim at the overthrow of the remainder of the Protestants in that Kingdom than their treacherous taking of Arms at first did intend the destruction of them all for their Cessation and Hostility their War and Peace ☜ are alike to be esteemed of and with those that neither in Peace nor War keep any Faith it is best to be in perpetual Defiance Therefore the Lords and Commons in Parliament assembled according to the continued care of that Kingdom of Ireland do in a special manner take into their consideration the condition thereof upon this occasion of an intended Cessation and so much the rather because it is feared that the Protestant Forces through want of Provisions for their Armies may at last if not relieved be perswaded to admit of this course in hope thereby to procure some means for their subsisting as also because there is too much ground to suspect that if this Cessation should be agreed unto they might have opportunity to joyn with the Popish Party here for their greater strengthning And though it were to have no influence upon this Kingdom yet the evil consequences of it are so
many and pernicious to Ireland that this Parliament should betray the trust reposed in them if they did not declare against this Cessation and use all means in time to make it abortive and therefore they desire that it may be observed and taken notice of First From whence the Counsel and Design of this Cessation ariseth even from the Rebels and Papists themselves for their own Preservation for soon after they had missed of their intent to make themselves absolute Masters of that Kingdom of Ireland by their treacherous Surprises and seeing that this Kingdom did with most Christian and Generous Resolutions undertake the Charges of the War for the Relief and Recovery of Ireland Propositions were brought over from the Rebels by the Lords Dillon and Tafe at which time they were intercepted and restrained by the Order of the House of Commons after that they had the boldness even while their Hands were still imbrued in the Protestants Blood to petition his Majesty that their demands might be heard And for this purpose they obtained a Commission to be sent over into Ireland to divers Persons of Qality whereof some were Papists to Hear Receive and Transmit to his Majesty their Demands which was done accordingly and one Master Burk a Notorious Pragmatick Irish Papist was the chief Sollicitor in this business After this the Just Revenging God giving daily success to handfuls of the Protestant Forces against their great numbers so that by a wonderful Blessing from Heaven they were in most parts put to the worst Then did they begin to set on Foot an Overture for a Cessation of Arms concerning which what going and coming hath been between the Court and the Rebels is very well known and what Meetings and Treatties have been held about it in Ireland by Warrant of his Majesties Ample Commission sent to that effect and what Reception and Countenance most Pragmatical Papists negotiating the business have found at Court and that those of the State in Dublin who had so much Religion and Honesty as to disswade the Cessation were first discountenanced and at last put out of their Places and restrained to Prison as Sir William Parsons One of the Lords Justices there Sir John Temple Master of the Rolls Sir Adam Loftus Vice-Treasurer of Ireland and Treasurer at Wars and Sir Robert Meredith one also of the Council Table Secondly The Lords and Commons desire it may be observed that during all these Passages and Negotiations the Houses of Parliament were never acquainted by the State of Ireland with the Treaty of a Cessation much less was their Advice or Counsel demanded notwithstanding that the care and managing of the War was devolved on them both by Act of Parliament and by his Majesties Commission under the Great Seal to Advise Order and Dispose of all things concerning the Government and Defence of that Kingdom But the wants of the Army were often represented and complained of whereby with much craft a ground was preparing for the Pretext wherewith now they would cover the Counsels of this Cessation as if nothing had drawn it on but the extream Wants of their Armies whereas it is evident that the Reports of such a Treaty have been in a great part the cause of their wants for thereby the Adventurers were disheartened Contributions were stopped and by the admittance to Court of the Negotiators of this Cessation their wicked Councels have had that influence as to procure the Intercepting of much Provisions which were sent for Ireland so that Ships going for Ireland with Victuals and others coming from thence with Commodities to exchange for Victuals have been taken not only by Dunkirkers having his Majesties Warrant but also by English Ships commanded by Sir John Pennington under his Majesty And moreover the Parliament Messengers sent into several Counties with the Ordinance of January last for Loans and Contributions have been taken and imprisoned their Money taken from them and not one Peny either Loan or Contribution hath been suffered to be sent for for Ireland from these Counties which were under the power of the Kings Army while in the mean time the Houses of Parliament by their Ordinances Declarations and Solicitations to the City of London and the Counties free from the terror of the Kings Forces were still procuring not contemptible Aid and Relief for the distresses of Ireland Thirdly As the Lords and Commons have reason to declare against this Plot and Design of a Cessation of Arms as being treated and carryed on without their Advice so also because of the great prejudice which will thereby redound to the Protestant Religion and the encouragement and advancement which it will give to the practice of Popery when these Rebellious Papists shall by this agreement continue and set up with more freedom their Idolatrous Worship their Popish Superstitions and Romish Abominations in all the places of their Command to the dishonouring of God the grieving of all true Protestant Hearts the disposing of the Laws of the Crown of England and to the provoking of the wrath of a Jealous God as if both Kingdoms not smarted enough already for this sin of too much conniving at and tolerating of Antichristian Idolatry under pretext of Civil Contracts and Politick Agreements Fourthly In the Fourth place they desire it may be observed that this Cessation will prove dishonourable to the Publick Faith of this Kingdom it will elude and make null the Acts and Ordinances of Parliament made for the forfeiting of the Rebels Lands at the passing of which Acts it was represented that such a course would drive the Rebels to Despair and it proves so but otherways than was meant for despairing of their Force and Courage they go about to overcome us with their Craft Fifthly and Lastly What shall become of the many Poor Exiled Protestants turned out of their Estates by this Rebellion who must now continue begging their Bread while the Rebels shall enjoy their Lands and Houses And who shall secure the rest of the Protestants that either by their own Courage Industry and great Charges have kept their Possessions or by the success of our Armies have been restored Can there be any assurance gotten from a Perfidious Enemy of a Cossation from Treachery and breach of Agreement when they shall see a fit time and opportunity These and many other considerations being well weighed it will appear evidently that this Design of a Cessacion is a deep Plot laid by the Rebels and really invented for their own Safety and falsly pretended to be for the benefit of the Armies And whereas the Lords and Commons have no certain Information that the Treaty is concluded but are informed by several Letters that all the Protestants as well Inhabitants as Soldiers in that Kingdom are resolved to withstand that proceeding and to adventure on the greatest extremities rather than have any sort of peace with that generation who have so cruelly in time of Peace Murdered many Thousands of our Countreymen
and if the Confederates be so desirous to try their innocency as they pretend they need not stay for another Parliament in Ireland but submit to that which is now in being which is an equal and just Parliament as in some of our Reasons touching that point is expressed ☞ and the offering to draw it to a new Parliament is in effect to desire that they may be their own Judges For as that Kingdom is now imbroiled and wasted the chief Delinquents or their Confederates will be so prevalent a Faction in the next Parliament that they will be able and doubtless will clear all the Popish Party how guilty soever and condemn all the Protestants how innocent soever These Answers to the high and unexpected demands of the Confederates we have framed in humble obedience to your Majesties directions but being very sensible as of the weight and great importance of the business so also of our own weakness and want of time and well knowing that some of your Majesties Privy-Counsellors Judges and Officers of that Kingdom are now in Town sent for over and here attending by your Majesties Command who by their long observationsâ— and experience of the aâ—aâ—rs and state of Ireland are better ablâ— to give your Majesty morâ— full and satisfactory answers touching the premises than we can and conceiving that the Collection in answer to the said Confederates Remonstrance which we humbly presented to your Majesty the Seventeenth of the last Month of April may in many things give your Majesty more light than these our answers do or can We humbly beseech your Majesty that the said Privy-Counsellors Judges and Officers as occasion shall require may be called upon and heard to give your Majesty the more satisfaction in these particulars and that to the same purpose the Book of the said Collections may be perused and considered of as your Majesty shall find most requisite Append. XXIV Articles of Peace made concluded accorded and agreed upon by and between his Excellency James Lord Marquess of Ormond Lord Lieutenant General and General Governour of his Majesties Kingdom of Ireland for and on the behalf of His most Excellent Majesty of the one part And Richard Lord Viscount Mountgarret Donogh Lord Viscount Muskery Sir Robert Talbot Baronet Dermot O Bryen Patrick Darcy Geffery Brown and John Dillon Esquires Appointed and Authorised for and in the behalf of His Majesties said Roman-Catholick Subjects on the other part 1. IT is concluded accorded and agreed upon by his Majesties said Commissioner for and on the behalf of His most Excellent Majesty and the said Richard Lord Viscount Mountgarret Donogh Lord Viscount Muskery Sir Robert Talbot Baronet Dermot O Bryen Patrick Darcy Geffery Brown and John Dillon Esquires on the behalf of the said Roman Catholick Subjects and his Majesty is graciously pleased that it shall be provided by Act of Parliament to be passed in the next Parliament to be held in this Kingdom That the Professors of the Roman Catholick Religion in the said Kingdom or any of them be not bound or obliged to take the Oath expressed in the Statute of Secundo Eliz. commonly called the Oath of Supremacy and that the said Oath shall not be tendred unto them and that the refusal of the said Oath shall not redound to the prejudice of them or any of them they taking the Oath of Allegiance in haec verba I A. B. do truly acknowledge confess testify and declare in my conscience before God and the World That our Sovereign Lord King CHARLES is Lawful and Rightful King of this Realm and of other His Majesties Dominions and Countries and I will bear Faith and true Allegiance to His Majesty and His Heirs and Successors and him and them will defend to the uttermost of my power against all Conspiracies and Attempts whatsoever which shall be made against His or their Crown or Dignity and do my best endeavour to disclose and make known unto His Majesty His Heirs and Successors or to the Lord Deputy or other Governour for the time being all Treasons or Trayterout Conspiracies which I shall know or hear to be intended against his Majesty or any of them and I do make this recognition and acknowledgement heartily willingly and truly upon the true faith of a Christian So help me God c. So as by the same Act it be further Provided and Enacted that if any Roman-Catholick happen to be promoted presented or advanced to any Ecclesiastical Promotion Dignity or Benifice according to the form now used in the Protestant Church of Ireland that the freedom and exemption aforesaid shall not extend to any such Roman-Catholick Or if any being a Protestant be advanced promoted or presented to any Ecclesiastical Benefice Dignity or Promotion shall afterwards happen to become a Roman-Catholick that the freedom and exemption aforesaid shall not so far extend to any such Roman-Catholick but that upon tender of the said Oath and refusal thereof he be for that cause left subject to privation of the said Benefice Dignity or Promotion according to the said Statue and it is further concluded accorded and agreed by and between the said Parties that for all matters concerning the first Proposition of the said Catholicks viz. That all Acts made against the Professors of the Roman-Catholick Faith whereby any restraint penalty mulct or incapacity may be laid upon any Roman-Catholick within the Kingdom of Ireland may be Repealed and the said Catholicks to be allowed the freedom of the Roman Catholick Religion That His Majesties said Roman-Catholick Subjects be referred to His Majesties gracious Favour and further Concessions and that no clause in these Articles shall or may hinder His Majesties said Roman-Catholick Subjects or any of them from the benefit of His Majesties further Graces and Concessions and that no use shall be made of the Papers past on this Treaty or any of them concerning the said first Proposition which may in any sort hinder the said Roman-Catholick Subjects or any of them from His Majesties further Concessions And that His Majesties said Commissioner and other chief Governour or Governours of this Kingdom for the time being shall cause whatsoever shall be further directed by His Majesty to be passed in Parliament for and on the behalf of His said Roman Catholick Subjects to be accordingly drawn into Bills and transmitted according to the usual manner to be afterwards passed as Acts in the said Parliament 2. It is further concluded accorded and agreed upon by and between the said Parties and his Majesty is graciously pleased to call a new Parliament to be held in this Kingdom on or before the last day of November next ensuing and that all matters agreed on by these Articles to be passed in Parliament shall be transmitted into England according to the usual form to be passed in the said Parliament and that the said Acts so to be agreed upon and so to be passed shall receive no alteration or diminution here or
Great Britain France and Ireland c. for the Treating and Concluding of a Peace in the said Kingdom with His Majesties Humble and Loyal Subjects the Confederate and Roman Catholicks of the said Kingdom of Ireland of the one part and the Right Honourable Donnogh Lord Viscount Muskerry and others Commissioners Deputed and Authorized by the said Confederate Roman Catholick Subjects of the other part and thereupon many Difficulties did arise by occasion whereof sundry matters of great weight and consequence necessarily requisite to be condescended unto by His Majesties said Commissioners for the safety of the said Confederate Roman Catholicks were not hitherto agreed upon which retarded and doth as yet retard the Conclusion of a firm Peace and Settlement in the said Kingdom And whereas the Right Honourable Edward Earl of Glamorgan is intrusted and authorized by His most Excellent Majesty to grant and assure to the said Confederate Catholick Subjects further Grace and Favours which the said Lord Lieutenant did not as yet in that Latitude as they expected grant unto them and the said Earl having seriously considered of all matters and due Cirouâ—istances of the great Affairs now in agitation which is the peace and quiet of the said Kingdom and the importance thereof in order to His Majesties Service and in relation to a Peace and Settlement in His other Kingdoms and here upon the place having seen the Ardent desire of the said Catholicks to assist His Majesty against all that do or shall oppress His Royal Right or Monarchick Government and having discerned the Alacrity and Cheerfulness of the said Catholicks to embrace Honourable conditions of Peace which may preserve their Religion and other just Interests In pursuance therefore of His Majesties Authority under His Highness Signature Royal and Signes bearing Date at Oxon the Twelfth Day of March in the twentieth Year of His Reign Granted unto the said Earl of Glamorgan the Tenure whereof is as followeth Viz. Charles Rex Charles by the Grace of God King of England Scotland France and Ireland Defender of the Faith c. To our trusty and right welbeloved Cosen Edward Earl of Glamorgan greeting We reposing great and especial Trust and Confidence in your approved wisdom and fidelity Do by these as firmly as under Our Great Seal to all intents and purposes Authorise and give you Power to treat and conclude with the Confederate Roman Catholicks in Our Kingdom of Ireland if upon necessity any thing be to be condescended unto wherein our Lieutenant cannot so well be seen in as not fit for Vs at the present publickly to own Therefore We charge you to proceed according to this our Warrant with all possible secrecy and for whatsoever you shall engage your self upon such valuable considerations as you in your judgment shall deem fit We promise on the word of a King and a Christian to ratifie and perform the same that shall be granted by you and under your Hand and Seal the said Confederate Catholicks having by their Supplies testified their Zeal to Our Service and this shall be in each particular to you a sufficient Warrant Given at Our Court at Oxford under Our Signet and Royal Signature the 12 th day of March in the 20 th year of Our Reign 1644. To our right trusty and right well-beloved Cosen Edward Earl of Glamorgan It is therefore granted accorded and agreed by and between the said Earl of Glamorgan for and on the behalf of His most Excellent Majesty His Heirs and Successors on the one part and the Right Honourable Richard Lord Viscount Mountgarret Lord President of the Supream Council of the said Confederate Catholicks the said Donogh Lord Viscount Muskerry Alexander mac Donnel and Nicholas Plunket Esquires Sir Robert Talbot Baronet Dermot O Brien John Dillon Patrick Darcy and Geffery Brown Esquires Commissioners in that behalf appointed by the said Confederate Roman Catholick Subject of Ireland for and on the behalf of the said Confederate Roman Catholick Subjects of the other part in manner and form following that is to say 1. IT is granted accorded and agreed by the said Earl for and in the behalf of His most Excellent Majesty His Heirs and Successors That all and every the Professors of the Roman Catholick Religion in the Kingdom of Ireland of whatever estate degree or quality soever he or they be or shall be shall for ever more hereafter have and enjoy within the said Kingdom the free and publick use and exercise of the said Roman Catholick Religion and of their respectives function therein 2. It is granted accorded and agreed by the said Earl for and on the behalf of His Majesty His Heirs and Successors That the said Professors of the Roman Catholick Religion shall hold and enjoy all and every the Churches by them enjoyed within this Kingdom or by them possessed at any time since the Twenty Third of October 1641 and all other Churches in the said Kingdom other than such as are now actually enjoyed by His Majesties Protestant Subjects 3. It is granted accorded and agreed by the said Earl for and in the behalf of His most Excellent Majesty His Heirs and Successors That all and every the Roman Catholick Subjects of Ireland of what estate condition degree or quality soever shall be free and exempted from the Jurisdiction of the Protestant Clergy and every of them and that the Roman Catholick Clergy of this Kingdom shall not be punished troubled or molested for the exercise of their Jurisdiction over their respective Catholick Flocks in matters Spiritual and Ecclesiastical 4. It is further granted accorded and agreed by the said Earl for and on the behalf of His most Excellent Majesty His Heirs and Successors that an Act shall be passed in the next Parliament to be holden in this Kingdom the tenour and purport whereof shall be as followeth Viz. An Act for the Relief of His Majesties Catholick Subjects of His Highnesses Kingdom of Ireland Whereas by an Act made in Parliament held in Dublin the Second Year of the Reign of the late Queen Elizabeth Intituled An Act restoring to the Crown the ancient Jurisdiction over the State Ecclesiastical and Spiritual and abolishing all Foreign Power repugnant to the same And by one other Statue made in the said last mentioned Parliament Intituled An Act for the Vniformity of Common-Prayer and Service in the Church and the Administration of the Sacrament Sundry Mulcts Penalties Restraints and Incapacities are and have been laid upon the Professors of the Roman Catholick Religion in this Kingdom in for and concerning the use profession and exercise of their Religion and their Function therein to the great prejudice trouble and disquiet of the Roman Catholicks in their Liberties and Estates and a general disturbance of the whole Kingdom For remedy whereof and for the better setling increase and continuance of the Peace Unity and Tranquility of this Kingdom of Ireland His Majesty at the humble suit and request of the Lords and Commons
in this present Parliament assembled is graciously pleased that it may be Enacted And be it Enacted by the King 's most Excellent Majesty the Lords Spiritual and Temporal and Commons in this present Parliament assembled and by Authority of the same That from and after the First day of this Session of Parliament it shall and may be lawful to and for all the Professors of the Roman Catholick Religion of what degree condition or quality to have use and enjoy the free and publick exercise and profession of the said Roman Catholick Religion and of their several and respective functions therein without incurring any Mulct or Penalty whatsoever or being subject to any restraint or incapacity concerning the same any Article or Clause Sentence or Provision in the said last mentioned Acts of Parliament or in any other Act or Acts of Parliament Ordinances Law or usage to the contrary or in any wise notwithstanding And be it also further Enacted That neither the said Statutes or any other Statute Acts or Ordinances hereafter made in Your Majesties Reign or in the Reign of any of Your Highnesses most Noble Progenitors or Ancestors and now of Force in this Kingdom nor all nor any Branch Article Clause and Sentence in them or any of them contained or specified shall be of force or validity in this Realm to extend to be construed or adjudged to extend in any wise to inquiet prejudice vex or molest the Professors of the said Roman Catholick Religion in their Persons Lands Hereditaments or Goods or any thing matter or cause whatsoever touching and concerning the free and publick use exercise and enjoyings of their said Religion function and profession And be it also further Enacted and Declared by the Authority aforesaid That Your Majesties Roman Catholick Subjects in the said Realm of Ireland from the first day of this Session of Parliament shall be and be taken deemed and adjudged capable of all Offices of Trust and Advancement Places Degrees and Dignities and perferment whatsoever within your said Realm of Ireland Any Acts Statutes Vsage or Law to the contrary notwithstanding And that other Acts shall be passed in the said Parliament according to the tenour of such Agreement or Concessions as herein are expressed and that in the mean time the said Roman Catholick Subjects and every of them shall enjoy the full benefit freedom and advantage of the said Agreement and Concessions and of every of them 5. It is Accorded Granted and Agreed by the said Earl for and in the bâ—â—â—lf of His Majesty His Heirs and Successors That his Excellency the Lord Marques of Ormond Lord Lieutenant of Ireland or any other or others Authorized or to be Authorized by His Majesty shall not disturb the professors of the Roman Catholick Religion in their present possession and continuance of the profession of their said Churches Jurisdiction or any other the matters aforesaid in these Articles agreed and condescended unto by the said Earl until His Majesties pleasure be signified for confirming and publishing the Grants and Agreements hereby Articled for and Condescended unto by the said Earl 6. And the said Earl of Glamorgan doth hereby engage His Majesty's Royal Word and Publick Faith unto all and singular the professors of the said Roman Catholick Religion within the said Kingdom of Ireland for the due observance and performance of all and every the Articles Grants and Clauses therein contained and the Concessions herein mentioned to be performed to them 7. It is Accorded and Argeed That the said publick Faith of the Kingdom shall be ingaged unto the said Earl by the said Commissioners of the said Confederate Catholicks for sending Ten thousand men to serve His Majesty by order and publick Declaration of the General Assembly now sitting And that the Supream Council of the said Confederate Catholicks shall engage themselves to bring the said number of Men Armed the one half with Musquets and the other half with Pikes unto any Port within this Realm at the Election of the said Earl and at such time as he shall appoint to be by him Shipped and Transported to serve His Majesty in England Wales or Scotland under the Command of the said Earl of Glamorgan as the Lord General of the said Army which Army is to be kept together in one intire Body and all other the Officers and Commanders of the said Army are to be named by the Supream Council of the said Confederate Catholicks or by such others as the General Assembly of the said Confederate Catholicks of this Kingdom shall intrust therewith In witness whereof the Parties to these Presents have hereunto interchangeably put their Hands and Seals the 25 th day of August 1645. Glamorgan Signed Sealed and Delivered in the Presence of John Somerset Jeffery Barron Robert Barry Articles of Agreement made and concluded upon by and between the Right Honourable Edward Earl of Glamorgan and in pursuance and by vertue of His Majesty's Authority under His Signet and Royal Signature bearing Date at Oxford the Twelfth day of March in the Twentieth Year of His Reign for and on the behalf of His Most Excellent Majesty of the one part and the Right Honourable Richard Lord Viscount Mountgarret Lord President of the Supream Council of the Confederate Catholicks of Ireland Donnogh Lord Viscount Muskerry Alex. M. Donnell and Nicholas Plunket Esquires Sir Robert Talbot Baronet Dermot O Brien John Dillon Patrick Darcy and Jeffery Browne Esquires for and on the behalf of His Majesty's Roman Catholick Subjects and the Catholick Clergy of Ireland of the other part 1. THE said Earl doth Grant Conclude and Agree on the behalf of His Majesty His Heirs and Successors to and with the said Richard Lord Viscount Mountgarret Donnogh Lord Viscount Muskerry Alex. Mac Donnell and Nicholas Plunket Esquires Sir Robert Talbot Baronet Dermot O Brien John Dillon Patrick Darcy and Jeffery Browne Esquires That the Roman Catholick Clergy of the said Kingdom shall and may from henceforth for ever hold and enjoy all such Lands Tenements Tyths and Hereâ—itaments whatsoever by them respectively enjoyed within this Kingdom or by them possessed at any time since the Three and twentieth of October 1641. And all other such Lands Tenements Tyths and Hereditaments belonging to the Clergy within this Kingdom other than such as are actually enjoyed by His Majesty's Protestant Clergy 2. It is Granted Concluded and Agreed on by the said Richard Lord Viscount Mountgarret c. on the behalf of the Confederate Roman Catholicks of Ireland that Two parts in Three parts to be divided of all the said Lands Tyths and Hereditaments whatsoever mentioned in the precedent Articles shall for Three Years next ensuing the Feast of Easter which shall be in the Year of our Lord God 1646. be disposed of and converted for and to the Use of His Majesty's Forces employed or to be employed in His Service and the other Third part to the Use of the said Clergy resepectively and so the like
disposition to be renewed from Three Years to Three Years by the said Clergy during the Wars 3. It is Accorded and Agreed by the said Earl of Galmorgan for and in the behalf of His Majesty His Heirs and Successors that his Excellency the Lord Marquess of Ormond Lord Lieutenant of Ireland or any other or others Authorized or to be Authorized by His Majsty shall not disturb the Professors of the Roman Catholick Religion in their present Possession of their Churches Lands Tenements Tyths Hereditaments Jurisdiction or any other the matters aforesaid in these Articles agreed and condescended to by the said Earl until His Majesty's pleasure be signified for confirming and publishing the Grants herein Articled for and condescended unto by the said Earl 4. It is Accorded Granted and Agreed by the said Earl for and in the behalf of His Majesty His Heirs and Successors that an Act shall be Passed in the next Parliament to be held in this Kingdom acccording to the Tenour of such Agreements or Concessions as herein are expressed and that in the mean time the said Clergy shall enjoy the full benefit freedom and advantage of the said Agreements and Concessions and every of them And the said Earl of Galmorgan doth hereby engage His Majesty's Royal Word and Publick Faith unto the said Lord Viscount Mountgarret and the rest of the said Commissioners for the due Observance and Performance of all and every the Articles Agreements and Concessions herein contained and mentioned to be performed to the said Roman Catholick Clergy and every of them In Witness whereof the Parties to these Presents have hereunto interchageably put their Hands and Seals the 25 th day of August Anno Dom. 1645. Glamorgan Signed Sealed and Dilivered in the presence of Glamorgan John Summerset Jeffery Barron Robert Barry Whereas in these Articles touching the Clergy Livings the Right Honourable the Earl of Glamorgan is obliged in His Majesty's behalf to secure the Concessions in these Articles by Act of Parliament We holding that manner of securing those Grants as to the Clergy Livings to prove more difficult and prejudicial to His Majesty than by doing thereof and securing those Concessions otherwise as to the said Livings the said Earl undertaking and promising in the behalf of His Majesty His Heirs and Successors as hereby he doth undertake to settle the said Concessions and secure them to the Clergy and their respective Successors in another secure way other than by Parliament at present till a fit opportunity be offered for securing the same do agree and condescend thereunto And this Instrument by his Lordship Signed was before the perfecting thereof intended to that purpose as to the said Livings to which purpose We have mutually Signed this Endorsement And it is further intended that the Catholick Clergy shall not be interrupted by Parliament or otherwise as to the said Livings Contrary to the meaning of these Articles Glamorgan I Edward Earl of Glamorgan do Protest and Swear Faithfully to acquaint the Kings most Excellent Majesty with the proceedings of this Kingdom in Order to His Service and to the indearment of this Nation and punctual performance of what I have as Authoriseed by His Majesty obliged my self to see performed and in default not to permit the Army intrusted into my Charge to adventure it self or any considerable part thereof until Conditions from His Majesty and by His Majesty be performed Glamorgan The Defezance to the Earl of Glamorgan KNOW all Men by these Presents That whereas We the Right Honourable Richard Lord Viscount Mountgarret Donnogh Lord viscount Muskerry Alexander Mac Donnel Nicholas Plunket Esquires Sir Robert Talbot Baronet Dermot O Brien John Dillon Patrick Darcy and Jeffery Brown Esquires appointed by the Confederate Catholicks of Ireland to treat and conclude with the Right Honourable Edward Earl of Glamorgan for and in behalf of His most Excellent Majesty our dread Sovereign King Charles And having treated and concluded with the said Earl of Glamorgan as by the Articles of Agreement to which we have interchangealy set our Hands and Seals more at lage appeareth Yet it is to be understood that by the said Agreement the Right Honourable Edward Earl of Glamorgan doth no way intend to oblige His Excellent Majesty other than he himself shall please after he hath received these Ten thousand Men being a Pledge and Testimony of our Loyalty and Fidelity to His Majesty yet the said Earl of Glamorgan doth Faithfully promise upon his Word and Honour not to acquaint His most Excellent Majesty with this Defesance until his Lordship hath endeavour'd as far as in him lies to induce His Majesty to the granting of the particulars in the said Articles of Agreement but that done according to the Trust we repose in our very good Lord the Earl of Glamorgan We the said Richard Lord Viscount Mountgarret c. and every of Us for and in the behalf of the Confederate Catholicks of Ireland who have intrusted Us do discharge the said Earl of Glamorgan both in Honour and Conscience of any further ingagement to Us herein though His Majesty be not pleased to grant the said Particulars in the Articles of Agreement mentioned and this we are induced to do by the particular Trust and Confidence the said Earl of Glamorgan hath reposed in Us for the draught of the Act of Parliament inserted within the Articles of our Agreement We assuring upon our Words and Honours that it is the most moderate of Three which we brought up for the Assent of the Right Honourable the Lord Marquess of Ormond Lord Lieutenant of Ireland his Excellency and without which we cannot be satisfied and we are also induced hereunto in regard the said Earl of Glamorgan hath given us Assurance upon his Word and Honour and upon a voluntary Oath of his that he would never to any Person whatsoever discover the Defezance in the interim without our consents And in confidence thereof We have hereunto set our Hands and Seals the 26 th day of August Anno Dom. 1645. Glamorgan Signed Sealed and Delivered in the Presence of the Lord John Somerset who knew nothing of the Contents thereof F. Oliver Darcy Peter Bath Appen XXVIII His Majesties Letter about the Earl of Glamorgan's Peace Right Trusty c. We greet you well WE have seen and considered the dispatch directed from you and our Council there to our Trusty and Well-beloved Counsellor Sir Edward Nicholas one of our Privy Council of State concerning the Earl of Glamorgan's Accusation and your Proceedings thereupon and as we could not receive the one without extraordinary amazement that any mans folly and presumption could carry him to such a degree of abusing our trust how little soever so we could not but be very sensible of the great affection and zeal to our service which you have expressed in putting our honour so highly traduced into so speedy and effectual way of Vindication by the proceeding against the said Earl of Glamorgan and though we
Fitz Girald at Kilkenny Noble Sir I Am now advanced thus far on my way home after my accustomed long fruitlessâ—attendance upon the publick affairs being hopeful that in all this time some good effects would have been produced out of the forward and chearful Resolutions and Endeavours observed in you and many other Noble Persons upon your departure from hence and the good concurrence that was expected from many others well affected to a happy and speedy settlement but after Nine Weeks expectation there hath nothing occurred to my knowledge but the following particulars which I shall distinctly set down both to prevent mistakes in you and clear the aspersions that may be cast upon others 1. By Vote of the Assembly the total rejection of the Peace and of all other both publick and private overtures and undertakings that had relation thereto destroying the only possible means that could have united the Kingdom unto any hopeful way of preservation as affairs now stand in the Kings Dominions 2. A new Union Sworn grounded upon impossible undertakings if not in the Propositions themselves at least in the most material circumstances of securing them thereby excluding all hopes of Peace and setling and confirming a lasting divided Government 3. That being compassed for some seeming satisfaction to those that were drawn into it a plausible shew of some other accommodation was contrived but that being brought up to Dublin by Mr. Doctor Fennel and Mr. Geffery Barron with much assurance given by divers of all the satisfaction that such a change of resolutions could produce there appeared but a Verbal Message of some few general Heads they refusing to give it in Writing or to testify under their Hands what they acknowledgd my Lord Lieutenant took Verbatim from them neither would they assume any Power to make any particular explanations and yet earnestly demanded Resolutions with expedition This unexpected delay and continued uncertainty in such a nick of time after so many former breaches on your parts and so many warnings and true intelligence given you by others of the King 's being delivered up to the Parliament the vast Preparations by them made for Reducing this Kingdom and even those most faithful to his Majesties Service in England as forward as any to joyn therein finding themselves destroyed by the failing of the Peace here and the promised Assistance thereupon Your not long since invading and destroying the only remaining Party Obedient to the Kings Authority the small regard had by you of the approaching dangers and the divisions fomented and still encreasing amongst your selves did by an unavoidable necessity as I conceive beget a resolution in my Lord Lieutenant and those of his Party about Dublin to try some other expedient for their preservation and redemption out of the languishing starving condition they have these many Years with much patience endured and for my own part having long observed the high Affronts and Disrespects put upon my Lord Lieutenant and many other of His Majesty's Ministers and Servants and the largest proportion of Malice cast upon them when they were most industrious in the preservation of the Kingdom hath produced the like resolutions in me to try my Fortune in some other Climate since my Three Years constant expence of time health and fortune for the advantage of the publick hath gained no other recompence than to be Printed against by Declarations Books and several other Papers the Forces of other Provinces poured down upon me to destroy my whole Estate those Forces under my Command thereby inforced to Disband the Officers and all other of my Servants and Followers prosecuted and nothing of means or quarter left me to maintain a Guard of Horse for my own Person my Wife and Family readily permitted to repair to Dublin but no allowance to return all which particulars put together I leave it freely to you to judge whether it be not high time for me to depart when the voice of the Kingdom represented in the Assembly have by a clear implication in their safe conduct declared their desires therein Since my coming hither I have seen some Letters and find much confidence in many that the whole Assembly and Clergy are now united to put a full power into my Lord Lieutenants hands and to make provision for his Lordship and his Party both for subsistence and maintenance of a War to which I may not presume to frame any Judgment at so late an hour of the day but this I conceive is most certain that if it doth not appear suddenly unanimously and clearly with a full power and trust and apparent provision to make it good it will hardly be relied upon and that failing there remains nothing for me to do but in another Country to labour the perfection of Praying as well for my Persecutors as Benefactors amongst the last of which you shall be still acknowledged and remembred by Tecrogham the 15th of March 1646. Your Affectionate Friend to Serve you Clanrickard Appen XXXVIII Articles of Agreement made concluded and agreed on at Dublin the Eighteenth day of June 1647. By and between the most Honourable James Lord Marquess of Ormond of the one part and Arthur Annesley Esquire Sir Robert King Knight Sir Robert Meredith Knight Collonel John Moore and Collonel Michael Jones Commissioners from the Parliament of England on the other part Not signed till the 19th FIrst it is agreed and concluded and the said Lord Marquess of Ormond doth conclude agree and undertake to and with the said Arthur Annesley c. That upon the nineteenth day of this month of June he will leave or cause to be left in the possession of the said Arthur Annesley c. the City of Dublin and all the rest of the places and Garrisons in his power and under his Command and the Ordnance Artillery Amunition Magazines and Stores there and likewise it is further agreed and concluded and the said Lord Marquess of Ormond doth conclude agree and undertake that upon the 28. of July next he will leave or cause to be left in the possession of the said Arthur Annesley c. Or any four of them the Sword and all other Ensignes of Royalty with all other things belonging to the Lord Lievtenant or Leivtenancy of the Kingdom of Ireland that shall be demanded before the said twenty eighth day of July and that in the mean time he will not intermeddle or take upon him to Command in any of the said Garrisons or places 2. Item It is agreed and concluded and the said Arthur Annesley c. do for and in behalf of the Parliament of England conclude agree and undertake to and with the said Lord Marquess of Ormond in the behalf of himself and others his Majesties Subjects that all Protestants whatsoever of the Kingdom of Ireland not having been in the Irish Rebellion though they have of late consented or submitted either to the Cessation of Arms or the Peace concluded with the Irish Rebels shall be
conventionem dicti Reverendissimus D. Nicolaus D. Hugo Procuratores nostri aut quilibet illorum aget concludet aut determinabit virtute hujus nostrae Commissionis Dat. Galuiae quinto Octobris anno Domini 1650. Franciscus Aladensis Episcopus Procurator D. Joannis Archiepiscopi Tuamensis Fr. Thomas Archiep. Dublimensis Hiberniae Primas Joan. Rapotensis Episcopus Procurator Primatis Ardmachani Walterus Clonfertensis Episcopus Procurator Lacghiniensis Episcopi Fr. Antonius Episcopus Clanmacnosensis Fr. Arthurus Dunen Coneren The Commission to the Bishop of Fernes and Sir James Preston In Dei Nomine Amen MEmorandum quod anno Domini 1651. die vero mensis Aprilis septimo nos infra scripti tam nostro quam omnium fere Procerum Nobilium ac Popularium Catholicorum Regni Hiberniae Nominâ— nominibus quorum sensuum in hac parte consensuum certam exploratam notitiam habemus nominavimus constituimus elegimus deputamus omnibus quibus possumus modo via jure ac ratione Procuratores Agentes negotiorum nostrorum Gestores generales speciales ita ut specialitas generalitati non deroget aut è contra conjunctim etiam divisim si ita opus fuerit in casu mortis aut alterius inevitabilis necessitatis Reverendissimum in Christo Patrem ac Dominum D. Episcopum Fernensem clarissimum ac nâ—bilissimum D. D. Jacobum Prestonium Equitem Auratum ut supra ad agendum tractandum consulendum ac firmiter concludendum cum serenissimo Principe Carolo Duce Lotharingiae quem in Regium Protectorem Regni Hiberniae eligimus nostro omniumque praefarorum nominibus ad agendum cum praefata sua Celsitudine tam in super negotio principâ—li Protectionis memoratae quam in de aliis articulis propositionibus postulatis nostris conventis non conventis tale negotium quomodo concernentibus cum omnibus annexis connexis emergentibus dependentibus aliqua ratione concernentibus generaliter omnia alia in praemissis agendi faciendi ac si nos ipsi praesentes essemus Et quicquid in praedictis fecerint concluserint tractaverint consenserint convenerint cum praefato serenissimo Duce Lotharingiae seu cum ejus haeredibus aut assignatis suis seu cum ejus eorumque agentibus legatis procuratoribus seu aliis quibuscunque mandatum potestatem ad id specialem habentibus uno vel pluribus nos ratum gratum aeceptum habituros promittimus per presentes Et ad id nos ipsos Successores Haeredes nostros aliosque quos possumus in perpetuum obligamus Datum sub signis sigillis nostris anno dieque quibus supra in Praesentia testium infra scriptorum Galviae in Provincia Conaciae Regno Hiberniae praesentis mansionis nostrae seu refugii loco Fr. Thomas Archiepiscopus Dubliniensis Hiberniae Primas Robertus Corcagien Cloanen Episcopus Fr. Antonius Clunamacnosensis Episc Procurator Primatis Hiberniae Walterus Cluanfertensis Procurator Laghlinensis Franciscus Aladensis Episcopus Et nos major seu praetor Galuiensis confirmamus nostris Suffragriis ratificamus praedictum procuratorium et personas in eo nominatas nostros etiam procuratores ut supra constituimus die anno quibus supra cum infra scriptis de concilio nostro Append. XLVIII The Declaration and Excommunication of the Popish Clergy at Jamestown A DECLARATION of the Archbishops and other Prelates and Dignitaries of the Secular and Regular Clergy of the Kingdom of Ireland against the Continuance of his Majesty's Authority in the Person of the Marquess of Ormond Lord Lieutenant of Ireland for the Misgovernment of the Subject the ill Conduct of his Majesty's Army and the Violation of the Articles of Peace Dated at Jamestown in the Convent of the Friars Minors August 12. 1650. THE Catholick People of Ireland in the Year 1641 forced to take up Arms for the Defence of Holy Religion their Lives and Liberties the Parliament of England having taken a Resolution to extinguish the Catholick Faith and pluck up the Nation root and branch a powerful Army being prepared and designed to execute their black rage and cruel Intention made a Peace and published the same the 17th of January 1648 with James Lord Marquess of Ormond Commissioner to that effect from his Majesty or from his Royal Queen and Son Prince of Wales now Charles II hereby manifesting their Loyal Thoughts to Royal Authority This Peace or Pacification being consented to by the Confederate Catholicks when his Majesty was in Restraint and neither He nor his Queen or Prince of Wales in condition to send any Supply or Relief to them when also the said Confederate Catholicks could have agreed with the Parliament of England upon as good or better Conditions for Religion and the Lives Liberties and Estates of the People than were obtained by the above Pacification and thereby freed themselves from the Danger of any Invasion or War to be made upon them by the Power or England where notwithstanding the Pacification with His Majesty they were to dispute and fight with their and his Enemies in the three Kingdoms Let the World judg if this be not an undeniable Argument of Loyalty This Peace being so concluded the Catholick Confederates ran sincerely and cheerfully under his Majesty's Authority in the Person of the said Marquess of Ormond Lord Lieutenant of Ireland plentifully providing vast Sums of Moneys well nigh half a Million of English Pounds besides several Magazines of Corn with a fair Train of Artillery great Quantity of Powder Match Amunition with other Materials for War After his Excellency the said Lord Lieutenant frustrating the Expectation the Nation had of his Fidelity Gallantry and Ability became the Author of almost losing the whole Kingdom to God King and Natives which he began by violating the Peace in many Parts thereof as may be clearly evidenced and made good to the World I. The foresaid Catholicks having furnished his Excellency with the aforesaid Sum of Mony which was sufficient to make up the Army of 15000 Foot and 2500 Horse agreed upon by the Peace for the preservation of the Catholick Religion our Sovereign's Interest and the Nation his Excellency gave Patents of Colonels and other Commanders over and above the Party under the Lord Baron of Inchiquin to Protestants and upon them consumed the Substance of the Kingdom who most of them afterwards betrayed or deserted us II. That the Holds and Ports of Munster as Cork Youghall Kingsale c. were put in the Hands of faithless Men of the Lord of Inchiquin's Party that betrayed the Places to the Enemy to the utter endangering of the King's Interest in the whole Kingdom This good Service they did his Majesty after soaking up the Sweat and Substance of his Catholick Subjects of Munster where it is remarkaable that upon making the Peace his Excellency would no way allow his Loyal Catholick Subjects of Cork Youghall Kingsale and other Garisons
signing this Declaration were actually there consenting to the Peace and all the Congregation either at or after the conclusion of the Peace subscribed to it So that by the general Consent of the Congregation first or last Thomas Lord Viscount Dillon Donogh Lord Viscount Muskery c. were to look to the performance of the Articles of Peace and thereby had greater pretence to be proper Judges of the Violation of the said Articles than this Congregation Yet without consulting them they publish this Declaration and fulminate their Excommunication against any that should adhere to Us among other things for pretended Violation of the Peace and would not by the said Commissioners be perswaded to retract it Where they say We neither did nor could demonstrate unto them any way of preserving the Remainder of the Kingdom under Our Government it was a Question never asked of Us either by the Bishop of Dromore and Dr. Charles Kelly who brought Us the Message or by the Bishops of Cork and Clonfert that were sent to Us for Our Answer or indeed by any other If such a Question had been moved to Us We should doubtless have answered That the most probable way of preserving the Remainder of the Kingdom was by the chearful Submission of the Cities Towns and People to the rightful Authority placed over them And if the Congregation or as many of them as are now there should be put to shew a more probable way or to quit the Kingdom it is possible it might be fit for them to think of their Voyage as it might in such case be reasonably hoped the Kingdom might be preserved Thus have We gone through and answered all that we could ever see or hear objected against us by the Congregation and acquainted you by what Steps they have proceeded to their Declaration and Excommunication wherein we have recited their own Words and related their own Actions so truly that they cannot if they would deny any part of what we have set down as theirs and therein also we have been the more particular because it is doubtful whether ever we shall have another Opportunity of vindicating our Self from false Aspersions cast upon our Person and Actions Appendix XLIX The Information of the Marquess of Antrim MY Lord of Antrim by Letters earnestly pressing to a Conference with us whose Names are underwritten being then at the Camp of Killahan in the County of Meath there was a Meeting with his Lordship assented unto and accordingly we this Day being the 9th of May 1650 met him at Miltown between Killahan and Killehan in the said County where and when amongst other Discourses and particularly concerning a Commission supposed to have been by the late King given to the Irish for their rising and acting as they have done in Ireland on the 23d Day of October 1641 and after he the said Lord of Antrim said that he knew nothing of any such Commission but that the late King before the said rising of the Irish in Ireland sent one Thomas Bourk Kinsman to the Earl of Clanrickard to the Lord of Ormond and to him the Lord of Antrim with a Message That it was the King's Pleasure and Command that those eight thousand Men raised by the Earl of Strafford in Ireland should be continued without disbanding and that they should be made up twenty Thousand and that they should be armed out of the Store of Dublin and imployed against the Parliament and particularly that the Castle of Dublin should be surprized and secured which the said Lord of Antrim's Discourse in Substance aforesaid was delivered at the Time and Place before mentioned in the Presence of us Signed John Reynolds Henry Clogher The 11th of May 1650 another Meeting was given by us undernamed to the Lord of Antrim at the aforesaid Place when and where amongst other Discourses and in pursuance of that formerly by his Lordship delivered of the King's Instructions concerning the rising of the Irish in Ireland the Lord of Antrim further added That the Letters of Credence by the late King to Thomas Bourke before mentioned were in Substance as followeth Thomas Bourk you are to repair to Ormond and Antrim in Ireland who are to give Credit to what you are to say to them from Us. C. R. Which Letter of Credit being by the said Bourk shewed to Ormond and to him the Lord of Antrim he the said Bourk declared the King's Pleasure concerning the said eight thousand Men and what is before particularly mentioned in his Lordship's Discourse on the 9th Instant which we the Subscribers have read the same in Substance being repeated to us by the Lord of Antrim The said Lord of Antrim further said in our Presence That after the Declaration to the Lord of Ormond and to him the Lord of Antrim made by the said Bourk of the King's Pleasure as aforesaid they the Lords of Ormond and Antrim endeavoured a Meeting with each other for ordering Affairs accordingly but there being as they supposed jealous Eyes over them they could not for a time compass it conveniently he said that in the Parliament then sitting at Dublin they would often take occasion to retire into the withdrawing Room belonging to the Lords House of Parliament in the Castle of Dublin but being followed by others they had not their Conveniency for Discourse which they desired That having appointed a Meeting at the Bowling-Ally in the Colledg-green in Dublin they would there sometimes exchange some Words but having at length gained a fit Opportunity for a Meeting after some Debates it was by them concluded That present Dispatch should be made and sent to the King of that resolved on for his Service Ormond asking Antrim Whom he would employ in that Business to the King he answered that he would send the Lord Macgnire And I said Ormond will send over my Lord of Muskery and a time being appointed for preparing the said Dispatches they then parted but after some Days Ormond again meeting with him the Lord of Antrim told him that Dublin was no convenient Place for their Business that therefore the Lord of Ormond would retire into the Country for preparing of the said Dispatches desiring him the Lord of Antrim to meet him at a time appointed at Kilka in the County of Kildare belonging to the late Countess-Dowager of Kildare whither Ormond said he would come on Pretence of a hawking Recreation and that there they might discourse of all things freely That the time of meeting drawing nigh and the Lord of Antrim prepared for it he was therein prevented by a Message from Ormond wherewithal Colonel John Barry was sent intimating that the Lord of Ormond having considered of the Business he conceived it convenient that one of them two should repair to the King immediately rather than so great an Affair should be trusted by any other That for himself he said that being a Stranger at Court his going thither could not be without Suspicion but that he the
Antrim himself confesses to be a Trustee and therefore we may be sure the King wrote sincerely to him ORMOND THough I am sorry for this Occasion I have to send unto you which is the sudden and unexpected Rebellion of a great and considerable Part of Ireland yet I am glad to have so faithful and able a Servant as you are to whom I may freely and confidently write in so Important a Business This is therefore to desire you to accept that Charge over this which you lately had over the former Army the which though ye may have some Reason to excuse as not being so well acquainted with this Lord-Lieutenant as ye was with the last yet I am confident that my Desire and the Importance of the Business will easily overcome that Difficulty which laid aside for my sake I shall accept as a great renewed Testimony of that Affection which I know ye have to my Service So referring what I have else to say to Captain Weemes Relation I rest Edinb 31 Octob. 1641. Your most assured Friend CHARLES R. Lastly The Credential which Burk had was not until the 8th day of February 1641. And that the Reader may see the bottom of this Intrigue I have added it verbatim copied from the Original ORMOND BEing well satisfied of the Fidelity of this Bearer Mr. Burk I have thought fit not only to recommend him to you but also to tell you that I have commanded him to impart to you what I have not time to write which I think will much conduce to the reducing of the Rebels which I know none desires more than your self and so I rest Windsor Feb. 8 1641-42 Your most assured Friend CHARLES R. FINIS ERRATA In the Apparatus Page 2. in margine for tanquam read tantam p. 3. l 28. f. 1643. r. 1642. In the History PAge 12. line 50. for dead read ready p. 21. l. 51. dele of p. 28. l. 23. dele besides p. 29. l. 40. r. returned to p. 44. l. 32. r. May 1628. p. 60. l. 23. f. was r. were p. 66. l. 9. f. his r. this p. 72. l. 42. f. 64. r. 65. p. 73. l. 49. f. trot r. go p. 75. l. 51. f. December r. November p. 77. l. 45. f. their Religion likewise persecuted by the Parliament r. of the same Extraction with themselves p. 86. l. 30. f. October r. December p. 95. l. 46. f. he r. the. p. 98. l. 42. f. alias r. Mac. ibid. l. 39. dele also p. 115. l. 6. f. hundred r. thousand p. 130. l. 6. f. A r. the. ibid. l. 44. r. they will p. 139. l. 37. r. and relieve p. 148. l. 49. f. Jany r. Inny p. 156. f. on r. in p. 175. l. 52. dele the. p. 177. l. 16. f. fifteen r. five p. 192. l. 39. r. for p. 193. l. 20. r. 38. p. 196. l. 30. l. 〈…〉 dele part of the 15th and all the 16th 17th and 18th Lines The Reign of King Charles the Second PAge 3. in margine r. Temerarie p. 6. l. 49. f. Batalia r. Readiness p. 136. l. 51. for all r. good part of the. In the Appendix Page 165. l. 40. f. 1641. r. 1648. p. 209. l. 29. f. was r. were Books printed for and sold by Joseph Watts at the Angel in St. Paul's Church-Yard THE History of Ireland from the Conquest to the End of the Reign of Queen Elizabeth By Richard Cox Esquire the first Part. Folio Chardyn's Travels into Persia and the East-Indies Folio The Trial of the Lord Russel c. Folio Diary of the late Expedition of his Majesty into England Quarto Representation of the threatning Dangers Impending over Great Britain before the coming of their Majesties King William and Queen Mary Quarto Treatise of Monarchy in two Parts By Hunton Quarto Discourse of the Opposition of the Doctrine Worship and Practice of the Roman Church to the Nature Designs and Characters of the Christian Faith By Gilbert Lord Bishop of Salisbury Quarto The True Test of the Jesuits or the Spirit of that Society disloyal to God their King and Neighbour 4 o. Sure and Honest means for the Conversion of Hereticks Published by a Protestant 4 o. The present Settlement vindicated and the late Misgovernment proved In Answer to a seditious Letter from a pretended Loyal Member of the Church to a Relenting Abdicator with the said Letter Quarto Journals of the House of Commons in 1680 and 1681. Octavo Treatise of the Corruption of Scriptures Councils and Fathers By the Prelates and Pastors of the Church of Rome for the maintenance of Popery By Thomas James 8 o. The True Nature of the Divine Law Octavo A Discourse of the Nature Use and right managing the Baroscope or Quick-silver Weather-Glass With the true Equation of Natural Days for the better ordering Pendulum Clocks and Watches By John Smith Octavo Reform'd Devotions in Meditations Hymns and Petitions for every Day in the Week By Theophilus Dorrington Twelves An Earnest Invitation to the Sacrament of the Lord's Supper By Jos Glanvill The 7th Edition 12 o. The Mystery of Iniquity By Dr. Burnet Octavo Serious Reflections on Time and Eternity By John Shower 12 o. Expostulation with the Whigs in Scotland 4 o. The Earl of Rochester's Funeral Sermon 〈◊〉 Likewise Acts of Parliament Proclamations Declarations Orders of King and Council Speeches of the Kings c. in Parliament Pamphlets of all sorts Sermons on all Occasions Trials Narratives and Gazettes c. are sold by the said Joseph Watts A Table of the most Material Passages of this Book Note C 2. signifies that part of this History which contains the Reign of King Charles the Second A. Pag. ANalecta Hiberniae when published 33 Army encreased to 5000 Foot 500 Horse 41 and quartred upon the Country 42 and encreased to 8000 Foot and 1000 Horse more 51 but this Addition disbanded 71 Atherton Bp of Waterford executed 58 Adair Bishop of Killalla deprived and why 60 Athlone surpriz'd by Friar Dillon 170 Assembly General of the Irish sit 123 and make Orders 163 and declare against the Peace of 1646. 185 their Declaration previous to the Peace of 1648. 205 B. Baronets instituted 17 Bishops their Protestation against Toleration of Popery 43 Battel at Gelingston Bridg 82 in County of Wicklow 83 at Swords 87 of Kilrush 106 of Tymachoo 109 of Raconell ibid. of Ross 111 of Ballintober 114 of Rapho 115 of Killworth 129 of Castlelyons 158 of Bemburb 165 of Dunganhill 195 of Knocknanoss 197 of Rathmines C. 2. 7 on Wexford-strand 11 at Macrâ—ome 16 at Skirfolas 24 Knocknaclashy C. 2. 68 C. Cities of Munster rebel 4 5 and submit 7 8 have their Charters renewed 15 Cary Sir George Lord Deputy 9 Chichester Sir Arthur Lord Deputy 9 goes to England 25 and returns successfully 29 and is made Lord of Bellfast 33 Commissioners sent to inspect the Affairs of Ireland 36 their Computation mistaken 37 City of Cork made a distinct County 10 destroyed by Fire 39 Customs
of Tanistry and Gavelkind abolished 10 Commission of Grace 11 15 32 Case of Tâ—nures 56 Conaught Transactions there An. 1641 97 Anno 1642. 113 Anno 1643. 113 Anno 1644. 146 Anno 1645. 159 Anno 1646. 190 Anno 1647. 198 Anno 1648. 203 Coot Sir Charles slain at Trim 107 Committee of English Parliament sent over and what they did 108 109. Cessation treated of 130 and concluded 133 how resented 133 wherein violated 135 Cessation between the Irish Insiquin 199 Cromwel landed at Dublin C. 2. 7 and takes Tredagh C. 2. 8 and Wexford C. 2. 9 and Ross ibid. 10 and Clonmell ibid. 10 returns to England ibid. 17 Clanrickard Marquess made Lord-Deputy C. 2. 52 High Commission Court and what they did C. 2. 70 D. O Dogharty rebells 13 and is slain 14 E. Earls of Tyrconnell and Antrim created 8 Earl of Castlehaven executed 54 F. Lord Falkland Lord-Deputy 39 has a Controversy with the Chancellor 42 is removed 53 G. Glamorgan Earl sent to Ireland 150 makes a secret Peace with the Irish 154 is committed 155 his Opinion of the Irish 157 Grant Winter his Negotiation 194 Galloway surrendred C. 2. 69 H. Hartegan's Letter 149 I. Irish demand Toleration of Religion 8 43 and obtain Graces 45 whereupon they grow 〈◊〉 53 they desire to inspect the Store 71 and universally rebel 72 and enter into an Association 123 and appoint a Government 125 and send Ambassadors to Foreign Princes 149 197. Instances of their Disloyalty C. 2. 54 Lords Justices Jones and Denham 33 Ely and Powerscourt 36 Ely and Cork 53 Ely and Wandesford 59 Dillon and Parsons 64 Parsons and Burlace ibid. Burlace and Titchburn 127 Inquisitions into the King's Title 56 Ireton has command of the Army C. 2. 17 and takes Waterford C. 2. 56 and Limerick ibid. 69 and dies ibid. K. King James of Irish Extraction 1 his Title to the Crown 2 his Declaration against the Rebel Earls of Tyrone and Tyrconnel 12 his Speech to the 〈◊〉 Irish 25 his Answer about Sir Oliver St. John â— 35 King Charles Crowned 41 sends notice of the Irish Conspiracy 65 and Proclamations against the Rebels 86 and surrenders himself to the Scots 164 King Charles II. proclaimed C. 2. 1 declares against the Peace of 1648. C. 2. 34 L. Lalor the Priest indicted of Premunirâ— 11 his Equivocation ibid. London City their Articles with the King about their Plantation in Ulster 16 Lords of Kerâ—y and Slane dispute Precedency 29 Lords Courcey and Saâ—sfield dispute the Title of Kingsale 43 Lord High Steward appointed to try Lord Dunboyn by his Peers 42 Limerick deals barbarously with the Heralds 166 and as bad by the Ld Lieut. C. 2. 21 is taken by Ireton C. 2. 69 Lorrain Duke his Negotiation 25 27 M. Mountjoy Lord made Lord Lieutenant 8 goes to England ibid. Monasteries rebuilt 10 Meleâ—ont surrender'd 82 Munster the Transactions there An. 41. 93 Anno 1642. iii 1643. 129 143 1644. 144 1645. 157 1646. 189 1647. 196 1648. 203 Munster Towns revolt C. 2. 12 Mahonyes libellous Book publish'd 198 N. O-Neil Sir Phelim repuls'd at Lisnegarvy 82 yet refused to treat of Peace 87 Nuncio arriâ—es 153 and opposes conclusion of the Peace 155 and delares against it when made 166 and endeavours to intercept the Lord Lieutenant 169 is Generalissimo of two Armies C. 2. 17 which he march'd to Dublin 17 and prefers a 〈◊〉 Wrâ—tch to a 〈◊〉 20â— and Excommunicateâ— the Supram Council c. 199 and leaves the Kingdom C. 2. 3 O. Ormond comes to Dublin 75 obtâ—â—â—â— a Victory in Kilrush 106 and another at Roâ—â— 3 is made Lord Lieutenant 137 is like to be intercepted by the Nâ—â—â—â—io's Party 169 therefore Treate with the Parliament of England 179 and renews that Treaty 187 and surrenders Dublin 193 but returns to Ireland 202 and concludes the Peace of 1648. 204 marches towards Dublin C. 2. 4 is defeated at Rathmines C. 2. 7 Excommunicated by the Irish C. 2. 31 and leaves the Kingdom C. 2. 5â— Oxford the Negotiation of the Irish Agâ—nts there 138 139 140 141. 〈◊〉 P. Papists generally come to Church 9 are mutinous in the Parliament 23 send Agents to England 25 revolâ—e from the Army 86 Parliament intended in Ireland 18 and called 21 disturb'd by the Papists 22 but 〈◊〉 with Effect 30 Plot of the Irish of Ulster discovered 33 another Plot discovered 56 Pope forbids the Oath of Allegiance 141 sende a Bull to the Irish 12â— Proclamation against Popish Clergy 53 St. Patricks Purgatory discovered to be a Cheat 54 Parliament of Ireland sâ—â—d a Râ—monstrance to England 61 and a Petition with a Schedule of Grievances 164 and impeach the Bishop of Derry 〈◊〉 Lord Chanceller c. 65 i◠〈◊〉 Annâ— 1644. 137 and makes a Remonstrance of Thanks to Ormond 188 Pale Lords and 〈◊〉 of it rebel 76 83 are ill used by the Irish of Ulster 93 Peace 〈◊〉 of Anno 1644. 143 the Treaty resum'd Anno 1645. 150 Lord Digby's Letter to hasten it 151 the Assâ—â—blies Declaration concerning it 152 it is opposed by the Nuntio 155 and â—â—butâ—d in the Assembly 156 but is concluded 162 and published 165 and immediately broken 166 and rejected by the Assembly 185 Peace of 1648 made 204 Preston General proclaims the Peace 165 and breaks it 170 his Letter on that Occasion 170 his O-Neals 〈◊〉 Propositions 173 his Engagement and Oath to the Nuntio 170 yet he agrees with Ormond 181 and breaks that Agreement 182 for which Ormond reproaches him 183 Popish Clergy meet at Kilkenny 123 and at Waterford 166 and at Clâ—anmacnoise C. 2. 14 and deal deceitfully with Insiquin and Ormond C. 2. 19 they meet at Jamesâ—Town C. 2. 25 and Excommunicate the Lord Lieutenant and endeavour to revive their first Confederacy C. 2. 50 53 R. Rebellion of the Irish 1641. 72 â—ruel beyond Example 73 93 and no less treacherous 77 79 82 discovered by Owen Oâ—Conally 74 Lords of the Pale engaged in it 76 Irish pretend the Kings Commission 78 Declarat of Irish Parlm against it 80 the King's Proclamation against it 86 Read Sir John rackâ— and why 104 Remonstrance from Longford 80 from the Irish at Trim 110 Rupert Prince at Kingâ—ale C. 2. 1 S. St. John Sir Olâ—ver Lord Deputy 33 is removed 36 and made Lord Grandison c. 36 Spanlard has liberty to raise 4000 Men in Ireland 71 Supream Council appointed 126 are imprisoned by the Nuntio 170 make Cessation with Insiquin 199 are Excommunicat by the Nuntio ib. T. Tyrone Earl renews his submission â— rebels again 12 and is attaâ—â—â—ed ibid. Tredagh besieged by the Irish 88 taken by Insiquin Cromwel C. 2. 4 8 V. Vniversities of Valadolid and Salamanca their judgment 3 Usher Bishop of Meath preaches before the State 39 but is forced to explain his Sermon ib. Ulster Transactions Anno 1641. 98 Anno 1642. 114 1644. 147 1645. 160 1646. 190 1647. 198 1648. 203 W. Waterford loses its Liberties 34 Wentworth Lord made Ld Deputy 55 calls a Parliament ibid. which gave six Subsidies ibid. be returns to England 57 his Speech at the Council-Board ibid. he returns to Ireland 58 and back to England 59 and returns Earl of Strafford and Lord Lieutenant ibid. holds a Parliament which grants four Subsidies ibid. his Impeachment and Defence 66 A Table to the Appendix I. A Letter from the City of Cork II. Owen O-Conally's Examination III. The Irish Remonstrance from Longford IV. The Lords Justices and Councils Letter to the King V. The Irish 〈…〉 VI. An excellent Answer to it VII The Lord Macgâ—â—re's Examination VIII The Lord of Gâ—rmanstown's Commission IX Dr. Jones's Examination X. Dr. Maxwell's Examination XI The Irish Declaration upon what Terms Protestants might live in their Quarters XII The Declaration of the Irish Parliament against the Rebellion XIII The King 's Proclamat against the Rebellion XIV The Irish Oath of Association XV. The Pope's Bull. XVI The Articles of Cessation XVII The Lord Insiquin's Complaint for the Breaches thereof XVIII The Declaration of the English Parliament against the Cessation XIX A Proclamation of an Irish Governor against Commerce with the English XX. The Army's Remonstrance XXI 〈◊〉 Propositions of the Irish Protestants to the King at Oxford XXII Instructions on which they were founded XXIII The Irish Propositions at Oxford and the Answers 〈◊〉 them XXIV The 〈◊〉 of Peace 1646. XXV The Munster â—â—tition against that Peace XXVI The Articles between Sir Kenelm Digby and the Pope XXVII Articles made with the E. of Glamorgaâ— XXVIII The Kings Letter about Glamorgans Peace XXIX The Determination of the Popish Clergy about restoring Churches to the Protestants XXX The Declaration of the Congregation at Waterford against the Peace of 1646. XXXI The Nuncio's Excommunication of the Aâ—â—erents to the 〈◊〉 of 1646. XXXII Preston's Engagement Oath to Nuncio XXXIII Marquesâ— of Clanrickard's Engagement XXXIV Preston's Engagement to the L. Lieutenant XXXV The Declaration of the Papists against the renewed Peace XXXVI The Declaration of the Assembly against the Peace of 1646. XXXVII Clanrickard's Letter about the Proceedings of the Irish XXXVIII Articles between the Mâ—rquesâ— of Ormond and the Parliament Commissioners XXXIX The Remonstrance of the Army in Munster January 1647. XL. Instructions for the Irish Ambassadors 〈◊〉 Foreign Princes XLI Friar King's Letter to the Tâ—t 〈…〉 XLII Ormond's Declaration on his arrival 1648. XLIII Articles of Peace 1648. XLIV A Circular Letter from the Popish Clergy in approbation thereof XLV Remedies proposed by the Popish Clergy and the Answer XLVI The Address of the Popish Clergy to the Lord Lieutenant and the Answer XLVII The Commissions to the Titular Bishop of Fâ—rns c. to treat with Foreign Princes XLVIII The Declaration and Excommunication of the Lord Lieutenant by the Popish Clergy at James-Town XLIX Marquess of 〈◊〉 Information and the Observations thereupon Errata in the Letter Page 14. line 29. dele fourty Page 17. dele 1678 in the Margent
May 〈◊〉 requiring him to stay till the Lord Chancellor Gerard to whom the Queen had granted Licence to transport Yarn non obstante the Statute and whom she commends exceedingly should arrive which hapning in August the Deputy by the Queens Orders surrendred to Sir William Drury on the twelfth of September and had Leave to go for England Henry the Eighth was this Godfather and Edward the Sixth his Companion and so fond of him that he died in his Arms And undoubtedly he was Cambd. Eliz. 231. as Cambden says One of the most commendable Deputies that ever was in Ireland Sir William Drury Lord Deputy was sworn in Christ-Church Dublin on the fourteenth day of September and on the twenty ninth he began his Journey to Munster being accompanied by Sir Edward Fitton and others of the Council and by their Letter to the Queen of the twentieth of November they shew the necessity of a President of Munster and that upon the 〈◊〉 of its Suspension the Irish Lords thought they lost time if they did not immediately resort to their former Tyranny Lib. S. S. S. they give some Instances and particularly of the Lord Roch who kept a Freeholder who had eight Plow-lands Prisoner and Hand-locked him until he had surrendred or released seven Plow-lands and an half of them upon agreement to keep the remaining half Plow-land free but when this was done the Lord Roch extorted as many exactions from that half Plow-land as from any other half Plow-land in his Country and that both the Lords Barry and Roch without Right or Process that very Harvest took away all the Corn from the Farms of those Tenants they had Controversy with or spight to and even the great Men were under the same Oppressions from the greater for the Earl of Desmond forcibly took away the Seneschal of Imokilly's Corn from his own Land although he was one of the most considerable Gentlemen in Munster which I observe to shew the difference between English Government and Irish Tyranny And it must not be forgotten that in October Matthew Sheyn Bishop of Cork burnt St. Dominick's Image at the high Cross of Cork to the great grief of the superstitious People there The Lord Deputy in his way to Limerick lay at Castleton Roch but the Earl of Desmond being at odds with the Lord Roch would not got go thither and the Deputy was afterwards troubled that he went thither when he understood that the Lorch Roch cessed his Tenants for the Deputies Entertainment The Deputy found the Earl of Desmond and the Earl of Glencar at so great difference that they were almost ready to draw into the Field as was usual their contest was about the Bounds of Kerry viz. Whether Macarty's Lands were within the County Palatine of Kerry or not Neither were the feuds between the Butlers and Giraldines any thing less than the other October 1578. both sides had made great Preparations for Battle but the Lord Deputy interposed effectually to determine or at least suspend these Controversies and he also perswaded Desmond to take a certain Rent of his Tenants instead of Coin and Livery and he Executed twenty two Criminals at Limerick and thirty six at Kilkenny one of which was a Blackamoor and two others were Witches and were condemned by the Law of Nature for there was no positive Law against Witchcraft in those Days Moreover the Lord Deputy bound several Citizens by Recognizance of forty Pound to come to Church to hear divine Service every Sunday pursuant to the Queen's Injunctions and he advised the Bishop of Ossory to make a Rate for the repair of the Church and to distrain for it and so having punished some Townsmen of Cork and Kilmallock for abusing the Soldiers and having received the Submission of Sir James Desmond Sir Pierce Butler and all the Cavenaughs he returned to Dublin In the mean time that indefatigable Rebel James Fitz-Morris nowithstanding his Oath of Allegiance taken before Sir John Perrot at Kilmallock went over to France Camb. Eliz. 236. and having two Years sollicited that King in vain he made a more successful Address to the Pope and the King of Spain by whom being furnished with a few Men and some Money 1579. he came accompanied with the Jesuits Allen and Sanders who was also Legate and out of his three Ships Landed fourscore Spaniards and some Irish and English Papists at Smerwick in Kerry in the latter end of July 1579. Immediately they built a small Fort and drew up their Ships under it and the Legate Sanders hallowed the place and promised them success but Captain Thomas Courtny being at Kinsale with one of the Queens Ships at the perswasion of Henry Davells doubled the Point and took the three Ships in the Bay and put the Spaniards into a Pannick Fear notwithstanding the Pope's Blessing However Sir John and James of Desmond as soon as they had not notice of the Invasion hastned to their Cozen James Fitz Morris and were at first kindly received but Sir John easily perceived a coldness towards him and that the Rebels entertained some Jealousies of him because of his Familiarity with his old Friend Henry Davells and therefore to establish his Reputation with them Sullevan 95. Camb. Eliz. 237. per aliquod facinus dignum as Mr. Sullivan phrases it he basely and perfidiously Murthered his Bosom-Friend Dâ—vells and one Carter at Traley and left a fair Caution to Posterity which has been simply and fatally neglected by those that pay dear for it at this Day however the Legate Sanders commended the Fact and said it was a sweet Sacrifice in the Sight of God The Earl of Desmond was as deep in this Rebellion as any body as is manifest from the following Confederacy WHereas the Right Honourable Garret Lib. C. Earl of Desmond hath Assembled us his Kinsmen Followers Friends and Servants about him after his coming out of Dublin and made us privy to such Articles as by the Lord Deputy and Council was delivered 〈…〉 eighth of July 1579. To be performed as also his 〈…〉 the said Articles which said Answers we find so 〈…〉 with one accord do counsel and advise the said 〈…〉 nor yield to any more than in his Letter is 〈…〉 and further the said Earl declared unto us that if he do not yield presently to the Performance of the same Articles and put in his pledges for observation thereof that then the Lord Deputy will bend his force and make War against him We the Persons underwritten do advise and Counsel the said Earl to defend himself from the violence of the said Lord Deputy that doth ask so unreasonable a Demand as in the said Articles is contained and for to defend and stick to this our Advice and Council we renounce God if we do spare Life Body Lands and Goods but will be aiding helping and assisting the said Earl to maintain and defend this our Advice against the said Lord Deputy or any
other that will covet the said Earl's Inheritance In witness whereof that this is our Counsel to the said Earl we have hereunto put our Hands the 18th of July 1578. Garret Desmond Thomas Lixnaw John Desmond John Fitz James Rory Mac Shehey Morrogh O Bryan Moriarta Mac Bryan of Loncorthe Fa K. E Fa D. K. B Theobald Burk Daniel O Brian Richard Burk John Brown Daniel Mac Canna of Dumbrain James Russell Richard Fitz Edmund Girald Vlick Mac Thomas of Ballincarrigy Vlick Burk John Fitz William of Karnederry Teig O Heyn of Chairely Nevertheless the Earl dissembled the Matter and temporized for a long time he was building a Castle when the news first came of James's Arrival and immediately he discharged the Workmen and pretending to oppose the Spaniards he sent to Mac Carthy More to summon him to assist him Mac Carthy came accordingly and shewed himself forward in the Matter but as soon as he discovered Desmond's Inclinations he took his leave and returned Nevertheless the Earl of Desmond at the perswasion of Captain Appesly was against his Will obliged to remove to Askeaton however he suffered and secretly encouraged many of his Followers to go over to the Spaniards but that did not satisfie them for when they found themselves disappointed of those great Aids that were promised them their Courage began to abate and they entertained Thoughts of returning home and undoubtedly they had done so but that James Fitz Maurice kept up their Spirits by large Promises of speedy Assistance and in order to procure it he undertook a Journey to Connaught but pretended only to go in Pilgrimage to pay his Devotions to the Holy Cross in Typerary he took with him four Horse and twelve Kerns and being come into Burk's Country in the County of Limerick Cambd. Eliz. 237. and wanting a Horse he ordered his Men to take the first they met with which they did out of a Plow of Burk's the Plowmen raise the Hue-and-Cry whereupon Sir William Burk's Sons pursued them and at length overtook them Headed by Fitz Morris with whom their Father had formerly joined in Rebellion Fitz Morris immediately calls out Coz Theodore Two Garons shall make no Breach between you and I I hope you will do as I do Burk replied He had too much of Rebellion already and had sworn the contrary and therefore would have his Horses Fitz Morris thought it dishonourable to part with what he had gotten and so to Skirmish they go which was brisk enough and ended in the slaughter of both of them Fitz Morris was quartered at Kilmallock and Sir William Burk was afterwards made Baron of Castleconnel with Joy whereof he died Upon notice that James Fitz Maurice and the Spaniards were arrived the Lord Deputy with the Army which was but four hundred Foot and two hundred Horse marched to Munster accompanied by the Marshal Bagnal Malby Wingfeild Waterhouse Fitton Masterson and others of that sort and by the Lords of Kildare Moungarret Upper Ossory and Dunboyn who brought two hundred Horse of their own besides Kern when they came to Kilmallock the Deputy sent Messengers for the Earl of Desmond and some others whom he suspected Desmond after much lingring and many vain excuses came to the Camp well attended but some of his tricks being discovered he was committed to Prison and thereupon being fearful lest all his secret Treasons and Combinations might be unravelled he so passionately humbled himself to the Deputy that upon the renewal of his oath of Allegiance he was set at Liberty In the mean time his Brother Sir John Desmond was at the head of the Rebels and encamped near Sleavelogher but the Deputy quickly feased them thence and having divided his small Army into three Parts he pursued the Irish so close that he often lay in the place where they had lain the night before nevertheless he could never overtake these light footed Enemies and therefore having destroyed the Forage he returned to Kilmallock and Encamped at Gibbings-Town and continued nine Weeks marching up and down thereabouts with very great toil but to no great purpose Only the Captains Herbert and Price being detached with two hundred Men did some Execution on the Rebels at a place called the Blackwood But in their return homeward they were surprized by an Ambush of Sir John Desmond's and themselves and most of their Company slain without any great dammage to the Irish saving that their Commander Sir John Desmond was wounded in the Nose But the Army being recruited by the arrival of the Captains 1579. Bourchier Carew and Dowdall with six hundred Men to Waterford and of Sir John Perrot with six Ships to Cork the Deputy made another incursion into Connilo but could not meet with the Rebels and so finding himself Sick he left the Army with Sir Nicholas Malby and retired to Waterford and having Knighted Bourchier Stanly Carew More Pelham Gorge Perrot and Walsh he died the last day of September 1579. The Earl of Desmond continued his Profession of Loyalty and pretended to act separately but would not by any means venture himself in the Camp or in any walled Town however he sent his only Son to be a hostage of his fidelity and the Countess brought the Child to the Deputy a little before his Death During the Interval between the Deputies sickness and the Election of a new one the Marshal Malby managed the Army which consisted of nine hundred Foot and an hundred and fifty Horse whereof he left fifty Horse and three hundred Foot with Captain Bourchier at Killmallock and marched with the rest to refresh them at Limerick After they had a little Rest the Marshal made an incursion into Connilo Cambd. Eliz. 338. and at Monaster Neva about nine Miles from Limerick he met with Sir John of Desmond and two Thousand Rebels and it came to a Battle wherein the Irish behaved themselves valiantly and with great resolution received the first and second Charge however they could not forget the known Maxim of some Men That if the Enemy wont run they will and therefore at the third Charge their Stomachs came down and their General Sir John was as nimble as any of them to shelter himself in a Bog however he left two hundred and sixty of his Myrmidons behind him who were killed upon the Spot and amongst them the famous Legat Doctor Allen. The Earl of Desmond and the Lord of Kerry from a little Hill hard by were the Melancholy Spectators of this Battle and although Desmond did the next day send a Messenger to Malby to congratulate his Victory and had put in his Son as a pledge for his Loyalty and although the Lord of Kerry's Son Patrick was a sworn Officer to the Queen in England and was now come over by her Majesties Leave only to see his Father and although all of them are of the noble Family of Fitz Girald and consequently of English Extraction yet they were so bigotted with sensless
and the Measures of the Rebellion were concerted and setled there tho it seems by the Lord Macguir's Examination that the Day was appointed at Loghross But as the Lords Justices and Council in their Letter express it none of the former Rebellions could parallel this either in the dangerous Original the unexampled Cruelty and extreme Hatred to the British Nation in the barbarous Progress or in the terrible Consequences aimed at therein being no less than to wrest from His Majesty His Scepter and Sovereignty to destroy and root out the British and Protestants and every Species of English out of the Kingdom to suppress God's Truth and set up Idolatry in the stead of it and finally to Invade the Realm of England And in another Letter they affirm That the barbarous and execrable Cruelty of the Irish exceeded any that ever was exercis'd by Turks or Infldels against Christians And even the Earl of Castlehaven Memoirs 25. P. W. Remonstrance 594. tho' a Papist and Peter Walsh tho' a Franciscan Friar do confess That the barbarous Design of this bloody Conspiracy was no less than to extirpate the Protestants and totally to root them out of that Kingdom And they intended to effect this by the most inhuman Methods Declaration of Parliament 21. viz. a General Massacre and Universal Plundring Nor did they come much short of attaining their End Dr. Maxwell's Examination for in the first Three Months of this Rebellion they murdered and otherwise destroyed One hundred fifty four thousand Protestants Lord Justices Letter of 16 March 42. Men Women and Children as the Priests themselves computed it and as one of their own Writers by way of ostentation hath published Bishop Bedell's Life 179. And without doubt Temple 16. no Nation can parallel the horrid Cruelties and abominable Murders without Number or Mercy committed on the British throughout the Land without distinction of Quality Sex or Age Memoirs Epist 1. and certainly it was bad enough when the Earl of Castlehaven himself confesseth That all the Water in the Sea cannot wash away the Guilt of the Rebels the Rebellion being begun most bloodily in a Time of Peace and without Occasion given They destroyed the Soul as well as the Body forcing many weak Christians to turn Papists and then murder'd them whilst they were in the Right Faith See Append. 10. as they said And the cruel Manner of their Torturing the English was more detestable than the Murder it self some being starved till they eat Pieces of their own Flesh broil'd upon Coals and others were used worse At Kilkenny the Lord Mountgarret and the Mayor and Aldermen and Three hundred Citizens in Arms stood by whilst the Protestants were plundered in that City Lord Justices Letter of 14 December And at Longford when the Castle was surrendred upon Quarter the Priest with his Skein in his Hand watched at the Gate till the Minister came forth and then stabbed him into the Guts and ripped up his Belly which Signal was observed by the rest who in like manner murdered all the English of that Garison Men and Women were stript stark naked and in that bitter Winter exposed to the Extremities of Hunger and Cold whereof many thousands died Sucking Children were haled from their Mothers Breasts Remonstrance of Dr. Jones pag. 8 9. and one of them was murdered whilst it was sucking its deceased Mother Nor were Women in Labor used any better One was delivered upon the Gallows another ript up and two Children she went with taken out of her Belly and thrown to the Swine who eat them Burlace 72. and a third the Wife of Mr. Oliphant a Minister being delivered on her Journey in the High-way was nevertheless forced to trot on and draw after her the Child and the Concomitants of so sad an Accident until she died But it would be endless to recount all the Instances of their wanton Cruelty and impossible to frame an Idea in the Mind of the Reader as horrid as their Actions Dr. Maxwell's Examination Appendix 10. which were rendred the more inhuman by the Mirth and Sport they made at the unspeakable Torments and Sufferings of the English And lest some amongst them should have more Bowels of Compassion than the rest Lord Justices and Councils Letter 22 November the Confederates did prohibit to harbour or relieve any Protestant on pain of Death and declared they would not lay down Arms whilst there was the Seed of an Englishman in Ireland And to leave no room for Reconcilation they put to death in Ulster a Messenger sent to them by the State The Motives to this Conspiracy were First The happy Conjuncture for such a Design whilst England and Scotland were embroil'd Secondly The Example of the Scots who had reaped Advantage by their Mutiny and the Irish expected as much at least And Thirdly The Number of able Men ready to enter into this Rebellion which they computed to be Two hundred thousand or more But the Pretences for this Rebellion were exceeding weak and such as manifest that they will rise as often as they get opportunity and in effect do upbraid the English with Stupidity that after so much Experience they should suffer them to be in a Condition to Rebel any more Memoirs 9. and they are briefly these 1. That the Irish were looked upon as a Conquered Nation 2. That the Six Counties in Ulster escheated to the King were disposed for the most part to British 3. That there was a Rumour that Seven Counties more would be seised by the King 4. That the Popish Religion was persecuted in England and they were afraid would be so in Ireland Thus Rumors and Fears tho' without Cause are by the Popish Advocates thought sufficent Justifications of an Irish Rebellion and the Author of the Bleeding Iphigenia assures us Pag. 23. That this War is justified by a Learned Pen and he wonders it should be called a Rebellion as if says he our taking up Arms for our necessary Defence of Lives and Religion against the Protestants our Fellow-Subjects were a Rebellion He argues from the Principle of Self-preservation and the Law in the Case of Homicide se defendendo That it is lawful to make War for Defence of Life or Estate and à fortiori for Religion and concludes That it may be done to prevent a Danger that is foreseen i. e. rumoured or feared And that was the Case of the Papists says he they were necessarily to be destroyed by the Presbyterians and therefore they did wisely to begin first But whoever considers the three Antipathies of Nation Interest and Religion already mentioned will easily find that the true Design of this Universal Rebellion was 1. To destroy the English 2. To regain their Estates And 3. To establish Popery And all other Pretences are without Foundation and vain This horrid Conspiracy was on the Twenty second of October discovered to the Lord Justice
Parsons by Owen O Conally an Irishman but bred a Protestant by Sir John Clotworthy and he being drunk told his Story so odly and delivered this surprizing Information so incoherently that small regard was had to what he said and therefore he was dismissed with Directions to make farther Discoveries if he could Nevertheless the Lord Parsons went to his Collegue Burlace at Chichester-house to communicate Conally's Intelligence unto him and whilst the Lord Justice Burlace was fretting that Conally should be so slightly dismiss'd Vide his Examination Append 2. behold about Ten a Clock at Night he came again and confirm'd his former Story Whereupon several of the Conspirators were that Night apprehended and tho' James Warren and Paul Neale found means to escape out of Custody yet the Lord Macguire in whose Lodgings were found many Hatchets Skeins and Hammers and Mac Mahon were taken and kept safe until their Execution It was about Five a Clock in the Morning 23d of October when Mac Mahon was Examined and Confessed That on that very day all the Forts and strong Places in Ireland would be taken that he with the Lord Macguire Hugh Brine Captain Bryan O Neale and several other Irish Gentlemen were come expresly to surprize the Castle of Dablin and that Twenty men out of each County were to be here to joyn with them That all the Papist Lords and Gentlemen in the Kingdom were engaged in this Plot That what was to be done in other parts of the Country was so far advanced by that time as it was impossible for the Wit of Man to prevent it that they had him in their Power and might use him as they pleased but he was sure be should be revenged And it is observable that Mac Mahon's Fancy was so full of the Bloody Tragedy which was to be Acted that day that during Owen O Conallies Examination as he walked in Chichester-Hall he drew with Chalk several postures of Men some on Gibbets and some groveling on the Ground so much was he delighted with what he thought or rather knew would soon be the Condition of the miserable English Nor is it to be omitted that Sir William Cole upon the Information of John Cormuck and Flagharty Mac Hugh that the Irish did design to seize on the Castle of Dublin and murder the Lords Justices and Council and the Protestants there did on the 21. of October send Letters with an Account of that Matter to the Lords Justices but how they mis carried is not known but it is certain those Letters never came to hand On this First day of the Rebellion the Irish surprized the Lord Blaney's House his Wife and Children and seized the Newry and the Magazine there See it Burlace 22. wherein were Seventy Barrels of Powder they also took Dungannon Fort Mountjoy Charlemont Tonrage Carrickmacross Cloghouter in the County of Cavan and Castlemonaghan and committed many Murders and the Lords Justices issued a Proclamation to encourage the English to defend themselves which were immediately Printed and sent to several places by Expresses and from this time forward there was not a day and scarce an hour wherein the dismal Tidings of some new Outrage or Barbarity did not arrive On the 24th the Alarms and Fears were so great at Dublin that the Castle Drawbridge was once let down and some of the State went to the Platform of the Castle to view the Irish Army which was falsly said to be approaching The Lords Justices being in this deplorable Condition did turn themselves to all the Methods of preserving the Kingdom which so great a Danger did require and their small Materials would allow but tho' their Industry was great their means were inconsiderable the whole standing Army did not exceed Two thousand ninety seven Foot and Nine hundred Horse Officers included and these were scattered in Single Troops and Companies or small Parties into places remote from Dublin and far distant from one another so that some of them were cut off by the Enemy and more of them being Irish Papists did revolt to the Rebels however they did send Potents for as many as they thought could safely March and particularly for the Earl of Ormond's Troop which came with himself to Dublin on the Second day of December and they made Sir Francis Willoughby Commander of the Castle These Letters are at large Temple 25. and Sir Charles Coot Governour of the City and on the 25th of October sent Owen O Conally with Letters to the Lord Lieutenant and Sir Henry Spotswood with an Express to the King But their main hope was that the Papists of the Pale who were of English Extraction and had signalized their Loyalty in all former Rebellions would also stand firm to the Crown in This and therefore the Lords Justices and Council sent Letters to the Sheriffs of those five Counties to make their best defence against the Rebels and to do all that was necessary for their own Preservation And to encourage as well as enable those Papists that the State had a good Opinion of the Lords Justices dispersed Seventeen hundred Arms to the Lords of Fingall Gormanstown Dunsany Slane Netervill Merion Hoath and other Roman Catholick Gentlemen for the Guard of the Pale and Arms were likewise sent to the Towns of Waterford Wexford and Trim with a Licence to import more they issued also Commissions of Martial Law for the more speedy Execution of the Rebels and thereby the more Expeditious Suppressing of the Rebellion Temple 55. and these Commissions were directed to Papists viz. to Henry Talbot for the County of Dublin John Bellew Esquire for the County of Louth Richard Dalton and James Tuit in Westmeath and James Talbot in the County of Cavan They also gave Commissions of Government of the respective Counties to several Roman Catholicks viz. the Lords Mountgarret Gormanstown Mayo Costilo Walter Bagnall Sir James Dillon Sir Robert Talbot Sir Christopher Bellew Sir Thomas Nugent and Mr. Nicholas Barnewall and by these Commissions these Lords and Gentlemen in their respective Districts had power to Levy and raise Forces to Arm and Array and conduct them and to prosecute the Rebels with Fire and Sword to use Martial Law and to Pardon and receive into his Majesties mercy as they should think fit as may be seen more at large in the Lord Gormanstowns Commission Postea Appendix 8. But the Lords and Gentlemen of the Pale were deeper in this General Conspiracy than the Lords Justices suspected and therefore were so far from being wrought upon by these Kindnesses and the Confidence the State placed in them that on the contrary from the very beginning they industriously sought for Pretences to break out into Action Their first Essay was on the 27th day of October at which time they picked a Quarrel at the words Irish Papists in the Proclamation against the Rebels as being Terms so General and Comprehensive that themselves might seem included and tho' they being Old English