disabled otherwise as shall be declared hereafter never sent over any Royal army or any numbers of men worthy to be called an army into Ireland untill the thirty sixth year of King Edward the third when Lionel Duke of Clarence the Kings second Son having married the Daughter and Heir of Vlster was sent over with an extraordinary power in respect of the time for the wars betwixt England and France were then in their heat as well to recover his Earldom of Vlster which was then over-run and possest by the Irish as to reform the English Colonies which were become strangely degenerate throughout the whole Kingdom FOr though King Henry the Third gave the whole Land of Ireland to Edward the Prince his eldest Son and his Heirs Ita quod non Separetur a Corona Angliae Whereupon it was styled the Land of the Lord Edward the Kings eldest Son and all the Officers of the Land were called the Officers of Edward Lord of Ireland and though this Edward were one of the most active Princes that ever lived in England yet did he not either in the life time of his father or during his own Raign come over in person or transmit any army into Ireland but on the other side he drew sundry aids and supplies of men out of Ireland to serve him in his wars in Scotland Wales and Gascoigne And again though King Edward the Second sent over Piers Gaveston with a great retinue it was never intended he should perfect the Conquest of Ireland for the King could not want his company so long a time as must have been spent in the finishing of so tedious a work So then in all that space of time between the twelfth year of King John and the 36. year of King Edward the Thâ—rd containing 150. years or thereabouts although there were a continual bordering war between the English and the Irish there came no Royal Army out of England to make an end of the War But the chief Governors of the Realm who were at first called Custodes Hiberniae and afterwards Lords Justices and the English Lords who had gotten so great possessions and Royalties as that they presumed to make war and peace without direction from the State did levy all their forces within the land But those forces were weakly supplied and ill governed as I said before Weakly supplyed with men and Mony and governed with the worst Discipline that ever was seen among men of war And no marvel for it is an infallible rule that an army ill paid is ever unruly and ill governed The standing forces here were seldom or never re-enforced out of England and such as were either sent from thence or raised here did commonly do more huâ—t and damage to the English Subjects than to the Irish enemies by their continual Sess and Extortion Which mischief did arise by reason that little or no Treasure was sent out of England to pay the soldiers wages Only the Kings revenue in Ireland was spent and wholly spent in the publick service and therefore in all the ancient Pipe-Rols in the times of Henry the Third Edward the first Edward the second and Edward the third between the Receipts and allowances there is this entrie In Thesauro nihil For the Officers of the State and the Army spent aâ—l so as there was no surplusage of Treasure and yet that All was not sufficient For in default of the Kings pay as well the ordinary Forces which stood continually as the extraordinary which were levied by the chief Governor upon journeys and general hoastings were for the most part laid upon the poor subject descended of English race howbeit this burthen was in some measure tolerable in the time of King Henry the third and King Edward the first but in the time of King Edward the second Maurice fitz-Thomas of Desmond being chief Commander of the Army against the Scots began that wicked extortion of Coigne and Livery and pay that is He and his Army took Horse meat and Mans meat and money at their pleasure without any Ticket or other satisfaction And this was after that time the general fault of all the Governors and Commanders of the Army in this Land Onely the Golden saying of Sir Thomas Rookesby who was Justice in the thirtieth year of King Edward the third is recorded in all the Annales of this Kingdom That he would eat in wodden dishes but would pay for his meat Gold and Silver Besides the English Colonies being dispersed in every Province of this Kingdom were enforced to keep continual guards upon the Borders and Marches round about them which Guards consisting of idle Souldiers were likewise imposed as a continual burthen upon the poor Engglish Freeholders whom they oppressed and impoverished in the same manner And because the great English Lords and Captains had power to impose this charge when and where they pleased many of the poor Freeholders were glad to give unto those Lords a great part of their Lands to hold the rest free from that extortion And many others not being able to endure that intolerable oppression did utterly quit their freeholds and returned into England By this mean the English Colonies grew poor and weak though the English Lords grew rich and mighty for they placed Irish Tenants upon the Lands relinquished by the English upon them they levied all Irish exactions with them they married and fostered and made Gossips so as within one age the English both Lords and Freeholders became degenerate and meer Irish in their Language in their apparel in their arms and manner of fight and all other Customes of life whatsoever By this it appeareth why the extortion of Coigne and Livery is called in the old Statutes of Ireland A damnable custom and the imposing and taking thereof made High Treason And it is said in an ancient Discourse Of the Decay of Ireland that though it were first invented in Hell yet if it had been used and practised there as it hath been in Ireland it had long since destroyed the very Kingdom of Belzebub In this manner was the War of Ireland carried before the coming over of Lionel Duke of Clarence This young Prince being Earl of Vlster and Lord of Conaght in right of his wife who was daughter and Heir of the Lord William Bourk the last Earl of Vlster of that Family slain by treachery at Knockefergus was made the Kings Lieutenant of Ireland and sent over with an Army in the six and thirtieth year of King Edward the third The Roll and List of which Army doth remain of Record in the Kings Remembrancers Office in England in the press de Rebus tangentibus Hiberniam and doth not contain above fifteen hundred men by the Poll which because it differs somewhat fâ—om the manner of this age both in respect of the Command and the Entertainment I think it not impertinent to take a brief view thereof The Lord Lionel was
and are of better credit than any Monks story that during the Reign of King Edward the third the Revenue of the Crown of Ireland both certain and casual did not rise unto Ten thousand pound per annum though the Medium be taken of the best seven years that are to be found in that Kings time The like Fable hath Hollingshead touching the Revenue of the Earldom of Vlster which saith he in the time of King Richard the second was thirty thousand Marks by the year whereas in truth though the Lordships of Conaght and Meath which were then parcel of the inheritance of the Earl of Vlster be added to the accompt the Revenue of that Earldom came not to the third part of that he writeth For the Accompt of the profits of Vlster yet remaining in Breminghams Tower made by William fitz-Warren Seneshal and Farmour of the Lands in Vlster seized into the Kings hands after the death of Walter de Burgo Earl of Vlster from the fifth year of Edward the third until the eight year do amount but to nine hundred and odde pounds at what time the Irishry had not made so great an invasion upon the Earldome of Vlster as they had done in the time of King Richard the second As vain a thing it is that I have seen written in an ancient Manuscript touching the Customs of this Realm in the time of King Edward the third that those duties in those days should yearly amount to Ten thousand Marks which by mine own search and view of the Records here I can justly control For upon the late reducing of this ancient Inheritance of the Crown which had been detained in most of the Port-Towns of this Realm for the space of a hundred years and upwards I took some pains according to the duty of my place to visit all the Pipe-Rolls wherein the Accompts of Customs are contained and found those duties answered in every Port for two hundred and fifty years together but did not finde that at any time they did exceed a thousand pound per annum and no marvel for the subsidy of Pondage was not then known and the greatest profit did arise by the Cocquet of Hides for Wool and Wool-fels were ever of little value in this Kingdom But now again let us see how the Martial affairs proceeded in Ireland Sir William Winsor continued his government till the latter end of the Reign of King Edward the third keeping but not enlarging the English borders IN the beginning of the Reign of King Richard the second the State of England began to think of the recovery of Ireland For then was the first Statute made against Absentes commanding all such as had Land in Ireland to return and reside thereupon upon pain to forfeit two third parts of the profit thereof Again this King before himself intended to pass over committed the Government of this Realm to such great Lords successively as he did most love and favour First to the Earl of Oxford and chief Minion whom he created Marquess of Dublin and Duke of Ireland next to the Duke of Surry his half Brother and lastly to the Lord Mortimer Earl of March and Vlster his Cosin and Heir apparent Among the Patent Rolls in the Tower the ninth year of Richard the second we find five hundred men at Arms at twelve pence a piece per diem and a thousand Archers at six pence a piece per diem appointed for the Duke of Ireland Super Conquestu illius terrae per duos annos For those are the words of that Record But for the other two Lieutenants I do not find the certain numbers whereof their Armies did consist But certain it is that they were scarce able to defend the English borders much less to reduce the whole Island For one of them namely the Earl of March was himself slain upon the borders of Meath for revenge of whose death the King himself made his second voyage into Ireland in the last year of his Reign For his first voyage in the eighteenth year of his Reign which was indeed a Voyage-Royal was made upon another motive and occasion which was this Upon the vacancy of the Empire this King having married the King of Bohemiahs Daughter whereby he had great alliance in Germany did by his Ambassadors solicite the Princes Electors to choose him Emperor but another being elected and his Ambassadors returned he would needs know of them the cause of his repulse in that Competition They told him plainly that the Princes of Germany did not think him fit to Command the Empire who was neither able to hold that which his Ancestors had gained in France nor to rule his insolent Subjects in England nor to Master his Rebellious people of Ireland This was enough to kindle in the heart of a young Prince a desire to perform some great enterprize And therefore finding it no fit time to attempt France he resolved to finish the Conquest of Ireland and to that end he levied a mighty Army consisting of four thousand men at Arms and thirty thousand Archers which was a sufficient power to have reduced the whole Island if he had first broken the Irish with a War and after established the English Laws among them and not have been satisfied with their light submissions onely wherewith in all ages they have mockt and abused the State of England But the Irish Lords knowing this to be a sure pollicy to dissolve the forces which they were not able to resist for their Ancestors had put the same trick and imposture upon King John and King Henry the second as soon as the King was arrived with his army which he brought over under S. Edwards Banner whose name was had in great veneration amongst the Irish they all made offer to submit themselves Whereupon the Lord Thomas Mowbray Earl of Nottingham and Marshal of England was authorized by special Commission to receive the homages and Oaths of fidelity of all the Irishry of Leinster And the King himself having received humble Letters from Oneal wherein he stileth himself Prince of the Irishry in Vlster and yet acknowledgeth the King to be his Soveraign Lord perpetuus Dominus Hiberniae removed to Droghedah to accept the like submissions from the Irish of Vlster The Men of Leinster namely Mac Murrogh O Byrne O Moore O Murrogh O Nolan and the chief of the Kinshelaghes in an humble and solemn manner did their homages and made their Oaths of fidelity to the Earl Marshal laying aside their girdles their skeins and their Caps and falling down at his feet upon their knees Which when they had performed the Earl gave unto each of them Osculum pacis Besides they were bound by several Indentures upon great pains to be paid to the Apostolick Chamber not only to continue loyal subjects but that by a certain day prefixed they and all their Sword-men should clearly relinquish and give up unto the
Lord of Desmond and Kerry within that County All these appear upon Record and were all as ancient as the time of King John onely the liberty of Tipperary which is the onely Liberty that remaineth at this day was granted to James Butler the first Earl of Ormond in the third year of King Edward the third These absolute Palatines made Barons and Knights did exercise high Justice in all points within their Territories erected Courts for Criminal and Civil Causes and for their own Revenues in the same form as the Kings Courts were established at Dublin made their own Judges Seneshals Sheriffs Coroners and Escheators so as the Kings Writ did not run in these Counties which took up more than two parts of the English Colonies but onely in the Church Lands lying within the same which were called the Cross wherein the King made a Sheriff And so in each of these Counties Palatines there were two Sheriffs One of the Liberty and another of the Cross As in Meath we find a Sheriff of the Liberty and a Sheriff of the Cross And so in Vlster and so in Wexford And so at this day the Earl of Ormond maketh a Sheriff of the Liberty and the King a Sheriff of the Cross of Tipperary Hereby it is manifest how much the Kings Jurisdiction was restrained and the power of these Lords enlarged by these High Priviledges And it doth further appear by one Article among others preferred to King Edward the third touching the Reformation of the state of Ireland which we find in the Tower in these words Item les Francheses grantes in Ireland que sont Roialles telles come Duresme Cestre vous oustont cybien de les profits Come de graunde partie de Obeisance des persons enfrancheses en quescum frenchese est Chancellerie Chequer conusans de pleas cybien de la Coronne Come autres communes grantont auxi Charters de pardon sont sovent per ley et reasonable cause seisses en vostre main a grand profit de vous leigerment restitues per maundement hors de Englettere a damage c. Unto which Article the King made answer Le Roy voet que les franchese que sont et serront per juste cause prises en sa main ne soent my restitues auant que le Roy soit certifie de la cause de la prise de acelles 26 Ed. 3. claus m. 1. Again these great Undertakers were not tied to any form of Plantation but all was left to their discretion and pleasure And although they builded Castles and made Free-holders yet were there no Tenures or Services reserved to the Crown but the Lords drew all the respect and dependancy of the common people unto Themselves Now let us see what inconveniences did arise by these large and ample Grants of Lands and Liberties to the first Adventurers in the Conquest ASsuredly by these Grants of whole Provinces and petty Kingdoms those few English Lords pretended to be Proprietors of all the Land so as there was no possibility left of settling the Natives in their Possessions and by consequence the conquest became impossible without the utter extirpation of all the Irish which these English Lords were not able to do nor perhaps willing if they had been able Notwithstanding because they did still hope to become Lords of those Lands which were possessed by the Irish whereunto they pretended Title by their large Grants and because they did fear that if the Irish were received into the Kings protection and made Liege-men and Free-Subjects the State of England would establish them in their Possessions by Grants from the Crown reduce their Countreys into Counties ennoble some of them and enfranchise all and make them amesueable to the Law which would have abridged and cut off a great part of that greatness which they had promised unto themselves they perswaded the King of England that it was unfit to communicate the Laws of England unto them that it was the best policy to hold them as Aliens and Enemies and to prosecute them with a continual War Hereby they obtained another Royal Prerogative and Power which was to make War and Peace at their pleasure in every part of the Kingdom Which gave them an absolute command over the bodies lands and goods of the English Subjects here And besides the Irish inhabiting the lands fully conquered and reduced being in condition of Slaves and Villains did render a greater Profit and Revenue than if they had been made the Kings Free-Subjects And for these two causes last expressed they were not willing to root out all the Irishry We may not therefore marvel that when King Edward the third upon the Petition of the Irish as is before remembred was desirous to be certified De voluntate magnatum suorum in proximo Parliamento in Hibernia tenend si sine alieno praejudicio concedere possit quod per statut inde fact Hibernici utantur legibus Anglicanis sive Chartis Regiis inde Impetrandis that there was never any Statute made to that effect For the troth is that those great English Lords did to the uttermost of their power cross and withstand the enfranchisement of the Irish for the causes before expressed Wherein I must still clear and acquit the Crown and State of England of negligence or ill policy and lay the fault upon the Pride Covetousness and ill counsel of the English planted here which in all former ages have been the chief impediments of the final conquest of Ireland AGain those large scopes of Land and great Liberties with the absolute power to make War and Peace did raise the English Lords to that height of Pride and Ambition as that they could not endure one another but grew to a mortal War and Dissention among themselves as appeareth by all the Records and Stories of this Kingdom First in the year 1204. the Lacies of Meath made War upon Sir John Courcy who having taken him by treachery sent him prisoner into England In the year 1210. King John coming over in person expelled the Lacies out of the Kingdom for their Tyrannie and oppression of the English howbeit upon payment of great Fines they were afterward restored In the year 1228. that family being risen to a greater heighth for Hugh de Lacy the younger was created Earl of Vlster after the death of Courcy without issue there arose dissention and War between that house and William Marshal Lord of Leinster whereby all Meath was destroyed and laid waste In the year 1264. Sir Walter Bourke having married the Daughter and Heir of Lacy whereby he was Earl of Vlster in right of his Wife had mortal debate with Maurice Fitz-Morice the Geraldine for certain Lands in Conaght So as all Ireland was full of Wars between the Bourkes and the Geraldines say our Annals Wherein Maurice Fitz-Morice grew so insolent as that upon a meeting at Thistledermot he took the Lord Justice himself
General and under him Raulf Earl of Stafford James Earl of Ormond Sir John Carew Banneret Sir William Winsor and other Knights were Commanders The entertainment of the General upon his first arrival was but six shillings eight pence per diem for himself for five Knights two shillings a piece per diem for sixty four Esquires twelve pence a piece per diem for 70 Archers six pence a piece per diem But being shortly after created Duke of Clarence which honour was conferred upon him being here in Ireland his entertainment was raised to thirteen shillings four pence per diem for himself and for eight Knights two shillings a piece per diem with an encrease of the number of his Archers viz. three hundred and sixty Archers on horseback out of Lancashire at six pence a piece per diem and twenty three Archers out of Wales at two pence a piece per diem The Earl of Staffords entertainment was for himself six shillings eight pence per diem for a Banneret four shillings per diem for seventeen Knâ—ghts two shillings a piece per diem for seventy eight Esquires twelve pence a piece per diem for one hundred Archers on Horseback six pence a piece per diem Besides he had the command of four and twenty Archers out Staffordshire fourty Archers out of Worcestershire and six Archers out of Shropshire at four pence a piece per diem The entertainment of James Earl of Ormond was for himself four shillings per diem for two Knights two shillings a piece per diem for seven and twenty Esquires twelve pence a piece per diem for twenty Hoblers armed the Irish Horsemen were so called because they served on Hobbies six pence a piece per diem and for twenty Hoblers not armed four pence a piece per diem The entertainment of Sir John Carew Banneret was for himself four shillings per diem for one Knight two shillings per diem for eight Esquires twelve pence a piece per diem for ten Archers on Horseback six pence a piece per diem The entertainment of Sir William Winsore was for himself two shillings per diem for two Knights two shillings a piece per diem for forty nine Squires twelve pence a piece per diem for six Archers on Horseback six pence a piece per diem The like entertainment rateably were allowed to divers Knights and Gentlemen upon that List for themselves and their several retinues whereof some were greater and some less as they themselves could raise them among their Tenents and Followers FOr in ancient times the King himself did not levy his Armies by his own immediate Authority or Commission but the Lords and Captains did by Indenture Covenant with the King to serve him in his Wars with certain numbers of men for certain wages and entertainments which they raised in greater or less numbers as they had favour or power with the people This course hath been changed in latter times upon good reason of State For the Barons and Chief Gentlemen of the Realm having power to use the Kings Prerogative in that point became too popular whereby they were enabled to raise Forces even against the Crown it self which since the Statutes made for levying and mustering of Souldiers by the Kings special Commission tâ—ey cannot so easily perform if they should forget their duties THis Lord Lieutenant with this small Army performed no great service and yet upon his coming over all men who had Land in Ireland were by Proclamation remanded back out of England thither and both the Clergy and Laity of this Land gave two years profits of all their Lands and Tythes towards the maintenance of the War here onely he suppressed some Rebeâ—s in low Leinster and recovered the Maritime parts of his Earldome of Vlster But his best service did consist in the well-governing of his Army and in holding that famous Parliament at Kilkenny wherein the extortion of the Souldier and the degenerate manners of the English briefly spoken of before were discovered and Laws made to reform the same which shall be declared more at large hereafter THe next Lieutenant transmitted with any Forces out of England was Sir William Winsore who in the 47 year of King Edward the third undertook the Custody not the Conquest of this Land for now the English made rather a Defensive than an Invasive war and withal to defray the whole charge of the Kingdom for eleven thousand two hundred thirteen pounds six shillings and eight pence as appeareth by the Indenture between him and the King remaining of Record in the Tower of London But it appeareth by that which Froissard reporteth that Sir William Winsore was so far from subduing the Irish as that himself reported That he could never have access to understand and know their Countries albeit he had spent more time in the service of Ireland than any Englishman then living AND here I may well take occasion to shew the vanity of that which is reported in the Story of Walsingham touching the Revenue of the Crown in Ireland in the time of King Edward the third For he setting forth the state of things there in the time of King Richard the second writeth thus Cum Rex Angliae illusiris Edwardus tertius illic posuisset Bancum suum atque Judices cum Scaccario percepit inde ad Regalem Fisâ—um annuatim triginta millia librarum modò propter absentiam ligeorum hostium potentiam nihil inde venit sed Rex per annos singulos de suo Marsupio terrae defensoribus solvit Triginta millia marcarum ad regni sui dedecus fisci gravissimum detrimentum If this Writer had known that the Kings Courts had been established in Ireland more than a hundred years before King Edward the third was born or had seen either the Parliament Rolls in England or the Records of the Receipts and Issues in Ireland he had not left this vain report to posterity For both the Benches and the Exchequer were erected in the twelfth year of King John And it is recorded in the Parliament Rolls of 21 of Edward the third remaining in the Tower that the Commons of England made petition that it might be enquired why the King received no benefit of his Land of Ireland considering he possessed more there than any of his Ancestors had before him Now if the King at that time when there were no standing Forces maintained there had received Thirty thousand pound yearly at his Exchequer in Ireland he must needs have made profit by that Land considering that the whole charge of the Kingdom in the 47 year of Edward the third when the King did pay an Army there did amount to no more than Eleven thousand and two hundred pounds per annum as appeareth by the Contract of Sir William Winsore Besides it is manifest by the Pipe-Rolls of that time whereof many are yet preserved in Breminghams Tower
enemies for a time DUring the minority of King Henry the sixth and for the space of seven or eight years after the Lieutenants and Deputies made only a bordering war upon the Irish with small and scattered forces howbeit because there came no Treasure out of England to pay the Souâ—dier the poor English Subject did bear the burthen of the men of war in every place and were thereby so weakned and impoverished as the State of things in Ireland stood very desperately Whereupon the Cardinal of Winchester who after the death of Humfrey Duke of Glocester did wholly sway the State of England being desirous to place the Duke of Somerset in the Regency of France took occasion to remove Richard Duke of York from that Government and to send him into Ireland pretending that he was a most able and willing person to perform service there because he had a great inheritance of his own in Ireland namely the Earldom of Vlster and the Lordships of Conaght and Meth by discent from Lionel Duke of Clarence We do not finde that this great Lord came over with any numbers of waged Souldiers but it appeareth upon what good terms he took that Government by the Covenants between the King and him which are recorded and confirmed by Act of Parliament in Ireland and were to this effect 1. That he should be the Kings Lieutenant of Ireland for ten years 2. That to support the charge of that Country he should receive all the Kings Revenues there both certain and casual without accompt 3. That he should be supplyed also with treasure out of England in this manner he should have four thousand Marks for the first year whereof he should be imprested 2000. li. before hand and for the other nine years he should receive 2000. li. per annum 4. That he might Let to Ferm the Kings Lands and place and dis-place all Officers at his pleasure 5. That he might levy and wage what numbers of men he thought fit 6. That he might make a Deputy and return at his pleasure We cannot presume that this Prince kept any great army on foot as well because his means out of England were so mean and those ill paid as appeareth by his passionate letter written to the Earl of Salisbury his Brother in Law the Copy whereof is Registred in the Story of this time as also because the whole Land except the English Pale and some part of the Earldome of Vlster upon the Sea-Coasts were possest by the Irish So as the Revenue of the Kingdom which he was to receive dâ—d amount to little He kept the borders and Marches of the Pale with much adoe he held many Parliaments wherein sundry Laws were made for erecting of Castles in Louth Meath and Kildare to stop the incursions of the Irishry And because the Souldiers for want of pay were sessed and laid upon the Subjects against their wills upon the prayer and importunity of the Commons this extortion was declared to be High-Treason But to the end that some means might be raised to nourish some forces for defence of the Pale by another Act of Parliament every twenty pound Land was charged with the furnishing and maintenance of one Archer on horseback Besides the native subjects of Ireland seeing the Kingdom utterly ruined did pass in such numbers into England as one Law was made in England to transmit them back again and another Law made here to stop their passage in every Port and Creek Yet afterwards the greatest parts of the Nobility and Gentry of Meth past over into England and were slain with him at Wakefield in Yorkshire Lastly the State of England was so farr from sending an army to subdue the Irish at this time as among the Articles of grievances exhibited by the Duke of Yorke against King Henry the sixth this was one That divers Lords about the King had caused his Highness to write Letters unto some of his Irish enemies whereby they were encouraged to attempt the conquest of the said Land Which Letters the same Irish enemies had sent unto the Duke marvailing greatly that such Letters should be sent unto them and speaking therein great shame of the Realm of England After this when this great Lord was returned into England and making claim to the Crown began the War betwixt the two Houses It cannot he conceived but that the Kingdom fell into a worse and weaker estate WHen Edward the fourth was setled in the Kingdome of England he made his Brother George Duke of Clarence Lieutenant of Ireland This Prince was born in the Castle of Dublin during the Government of his father the Duke of York yet did he never pass over into this Kingdom to govern it in person though he held the Lieutenancy many years But it is manifest that King Edward the fourth did not pay any Army in Ireland during his Reign but the Men of War did pay themselves by taking Coigne and Livery upon the Country which extortion grew so excesssive and intolerable as the Lord Tiptoft being Deputy to the Duke of Clarence was enforced to execute the Law upon the greatest Earl in the Kingdom namely Desmond who lost his head at Droghedagh for this offence Howbeit that the State might not seem utterly to neglect the defence of the Pale there was a fraternity of men at armes called the Brother-hood of St. George erected by Parliament the 14. of Edward the fourth consisting of thirteen the most Noble and worthy persons within the four shires Of the first foundation were Thomas Earl of Kildare Sir Rowland Eustace Lord of Port-lester and Sir Robert Eustace for the County of Kildare Robert Lord of Howth the Mayor of Dublin and Sir Robert Dowdal for the County of Dublin the Viscount of Gormanston Edward Plunket Senesha I of Meth Alexander Plunket and Barnabe Barnewale for the County of Meth the Mayor of Droghedagh Sir Lawrence Taaffe and Richard Bellewe for the County of Lowth These and their Successors were to meet yearly upon St. Georges day and to choose one of themselves to be Captain of that Brother-hood for the next year to come Which Captain should have at his command 120. Archers on horseback forty horsemen and forty Pages to suppress Out-laws and rebels The wages of every Archer should be six pence Per diem and every Horseman five pence Per diem and four marks Per annum And to pay these entertainments and to maintain this new fraternity there was granted unto them by the same Act of Parliament a subsidy of Poundage out of all Marchandizes exported or imported thoroughout the Realm hydes and the goods of Free-men of Dublin and Droghedah only excepted These 200. men were all the standing forces that were then maintained in Ireland And as they were Natives of the Kingdom so the Kingdom it self did pay their wages without expecting any treasure out of England BUt now the wars of Lancaster
both Kingdoms than it did at any time since the Norman Conquest Then did the State of England send over John de Hotham to be Treasurer here with commission to call the great Lords of Ireland together and to take of them an Oath of Association that they should loyally joyn together in life and death to preserve the right of the King of England and to expel the common enemy But this Treasurer brought neither men nor mony to perform this service At that time though Richard Bourk Earl of Vlster commonly called the Red Earl were of greater power than any other Subject in Ireland yet was he so far stricken in years as that he was unable to manage the martial affairs as he had done during all the raign of King Edward the first having been General of the Irish forces not only in this Kingdom but in the Wars of Scotland Wales and Gascoign And therefore Maurice Fitz-Thomas of Desmond being then the most active Noble man in this Realm took upon him the chief command in this War for the support whereof the Revenue of this Land was farr too short and yet no supply of Treasure was sent out of England Then was there no means to maintain the Army but by Sessing the Soldiers upon the Subject as the Irish were wont to impose their Bonaught Whereupon grew that wicked Extortion of Coigne and Livery spoken of before which in short time banished the greatest part of the Free-holders out of the County of Kerry Limerirk Corke and Waterford Into whose possessions Desmond and his Kinsemen Allies and Followers which were then more Irish than English did enter and appropriate these Lands unto themselves Desmond himself taking what scopes he best liked for his demeasnes in every Countrey and reserving an Irish Seigniory out of the rest And here that I may verifie and maintain by matter of Record that which is before delivered touching the Nature of this wicked Extortion called Coigne and Livery and the manifold mischiefs it did produce I think it fit and pertinent to insert the preamble of the Statute of 10. of Henry seventh c. 4. not printed but recorded in Parliament Rols of Dublin in these words At the request and supplication of the Commons of this Land of Ireland that where of long time there hath been used and exacted by the Lords and Gentlemen of this Land many and divers damnable customs and usages which been called Coigne and Livery and Pay that is Horse meat and Mans meat for the finding of their Horsemen and Foot-men and over that 4. d. or 6. d. daily to every of them to be had and paid of the poor Earth Tillers and Tenants inhabitants of the said Land without any thing doing or paying therefore Besides many Murders Robberies Rapes and other manifold extortions and oppressions by the said Horsemen and Footmen daily and nightly committed and done which been the principal causes of the desolation and destruction of the said Land and hath brought the same into ruine and Decay so as the most part of the English Free-holders and Tenants of this Land been departed out thereof some into the Realm of England and other some to other strange Lands whereupon the foresaid Lords and Gentlemen of this Land have intruded into the said Free-holders and Tenants inheritances and the same keepeth and occupieth as their own inheritances and setten under them in the same Land the Kings Irish Enemies to the diminishing of Holy Churches Rites the disherison of the King and his obedient Subjects and the utter ruine and desolation of the Land For reformation whereof be it enacted That the King shall receive a Subsidy of 26. s. 8. d. out of every 120. acres of arable land manured c. But to return to Thomas Fitz-Maurice of Desmond By this extortion of Coigne and Livery he suddainly grew from a mean to a mighty estate insomuch as the Baron Finglas in his discourse of the decay of Ireland affirmeth that his ancient inheritance being not one thousand marks yearly he became able to dispend every way ten thousand pounds per annum These possessions being thus unlawfully gotten could not be maintained by the just and honourable Law of England which would have restored the true Owners to their Land again And therefore this Great man found no means to continue and uphold his ill-purchased greatness but by rejecting the English Law and Government and assuming in lieu thereof the barbarous customs of the Irish And hereupon followed the defection of those four shires containing the greatest part of Munster from the obedience of the Law In like manner saith Baron Finglas the Lord of Tipperary perceiving how well the house of Desmond had thrived by Coigne and Livery and other Irish exactions began to hold the like course in the Counties of Tipperary and Kilkenny whereby he got great scopes of Land especially in Ormond and raised many Irish exactions upon the English Free-holders there which made him so potent and absolute among them as at that time they knew no other Law than the will of their Lord. Besides finding that the Earl of Desmond excluded the ordinary Ministers of Justice under colour of a Royal liberty which he claimed in the Counties of Kerry Corke and Waterford by a grant of King Edward the first as appeareth in a Quo warranto brought against him Anno 12. Edw. 1. the Record whereof remaineth in Breminghams Tower among the common Plea-Rolls there This Lord also in the third of Edward the third obtained a Grant of the like liberty in the County of Tipperary whereby he got the Law into his own hands and shut out the Common Law and Justice of the Realm And thus we see that all Munster fell away from the English law and Government in the end of King Edward the second his raign and in the beginning of the raign of King Edward the third Again about the same time viz. in the 20. year of King Edward the second when the State of England was well-ny ruined by the Rebellion of the Barons and the Government of Ireland utterly neglected there arose in Leinster one of the Cavanaghes named Donald Mac Art who named himself Mac Murrogh King of Leinster and possessed himself of the County of Catherlogh and of the greatest part of the County of Wexford And shortly after Lisagh O Moore called himself O Moore took eight Castles in one Evening destroyed Duamase the principal house of the L. Mortimer in Leix recovered that whole Country De servo Dominus de subjecto princeps effectus saith Friar Clynn in his Annalls Besides the Earl of Kildare imitating his Cosin of Desmond did not omit to make the like use of Coigne and Livery in Kildare and the West part of Meath which brought the like Barbarisme into those parts And thus a great part of Leinster was lost and fell away from the Obedience of the Crown near about the time before expressed Again in the
of King Henry the third for the eldest being married to Hugh Bigot Earl of Norfolk who in right of his wife had the Marshalship of England The second to Warren de Mountchensey whose sole Daughter and Heir was match to William de Valentia half Brother to King Henry the third who by that match was made Earl of Pembroke the third to Gilbert de Clare Earl of Gloucester The fourth to William Ferrers Earl of Darby The fifth to William de Bruce Lord of Brecknock These great Lords having greater inheritances in their own right in England than they had in Ireland in right of their Wives and yet each of the Coparceners had an entire County allotted for her purparty as is before declared could not be drawn to make their personal residence in this Kingdom but managed their Estates here by their Seneschals and Servants And to defend their Territories against the bordering Irish they entertained some of the Natives who pretended a perpetual Title to those great Lordships For the Irish after a thousand conquests and Attainders by our Law would in those days pretend title still because by the Irish Law no man could forfeit his Land These natives taking the opportunity in weak and desperate times usurped those Seigniories and so Donald mac Art Cavanagh being entertained by the Earl of Nolfork made himself Lord of the County of Catherlough And Lisagh O Moor being trusted by the Lord Mortimer who married the Daughter and Heir of the Lord Bruce made himself Lord of the lands in Leix in the latter end of King Edward the seconds Reign as is before declared Again the decay and loss of Vlster and Connaught is attributed to this that the Lord William Bourk the last Earl of that name died without issue male whose Ancestors namely the Red Earl and Sir Hugh de Lacy before him being personally resident held up their greatness there and kept the English in peace and the Irish in awe But when those Provinces descended upon an Heir Female and an Infant the Irish over-ran Vlster and the younger branches of the Bourkes usurped Connaught And therefore the Ordinance made in England the third of Richard the second against such as were absent from their Lands in Ireland and gave two third parts of the profits thereof unto the King until they returned or placed a sufficient number of men to defend the same was grounded upon good reason of State which Ordinance was put in execution for many years after as appeareth by sundry seizures made thereupon in the time of K. Richard the second Henry the fourth Henry the fifth Henry the sixth whereof there remain Records in the Remembrancers Office here Among the rest the Duke of Norfolk himself was not spared but was impleaded upon this Ordinance for two parts of the profits of Dorburies Island and other Lands in the County of Wexford in the time of King Henry the sixth And afterwards upon the same reason of State all the lands of the house of Norfolk of the Earl of Shrewsbury the Lord Barkley and others who having lands in Ireland kept their continual residence in England were entirely resumed by the Act of Absentees made in the 28 year of King Henry the eigth But now again let us look back and see how long the effect of that Reformation did continue which was begun by Lionel Duke of Clarence in the fortieth year of King Edward the third and what courses have been held to reduce and reform this people by other Lieutenants and Governors since that time The English Colonies being in some good measure reformed by the Statutes of Kilkenny did not utterly fall away into Barbarism again till the Wars of the two Houses had almost destroyed both these Kingdoms for in that miserable time the Irish found opportunity without opposition to banish the English Law and Government out of all the Provinces and to confine it onely to the English Pale Howbeit in the mean time between the Government of the Duke of Clarence and the beginning of those Civil Wars of York and Lancaster we find that the State of England did sundry times resolve to proceed in this work of reformation For first King Richard 2. sent over Sir Nicholas Dagworth to survey the possessions of the Crown and to call to accompt the Officers of the revenue Next to draw his English Subjects to manure and defend their lands in Ireland he made that Ordinance against Absentees spoken of before Again he shewed an excellent example of Justice upon Sir Philip Courtney being his Lieutenant of that Kingdom when he caused him to be arrested by special Commissioners upon complaint made of sundry grievous oppressions and wrongs which during his Government he had done unto that people After this the Parliament of England did resolve that Thomas Duke of Glocester the Kings Uncle should be imployed in the reformation and reducing of that Kingdom the Fame whereof was no sooner bruted in Ireland but all the Irishry were ready to submit themselves before his coming so much the very Name of a great personage specially of a Prince of the blood did ever prevail with this people But the King and his Minions who were ever jealous of this Duke of Glocester would not suffer him to have the honour of that service But the King himself thought it a work worthy of his own presence and pains and thereupon Himself in person made those two royal journeys mentioned before At what time he received the submissions of all the Irish Lords and Captains who bound themselves both by Indenture and oath to become and continue his Loyal Subjects And withall laid a particular project for a civil plantation of the Mountains and Maritime Counties between Dublin and Wexford by removing all the Irish Septs from thence as appeareth by the covenants between the Earl Marshal of England and those Irish Septs which are before remembred and are yet preserved and remain of Record in the Kings Remembrancers Office at Westminster Lastly this King being present in Ireland took special care to supply and furnish the Courts of Justice with able and sufficient Judges And to that end he made that Grave and Learned Judge Sir William Hankeford Chief Justice of the Kings Bench here who afterwards for his service in this Realm was made chief Justice of the Kings Bench in England by King Henry 4. and did withall associate unto him William Sturmy a well Learned man in the law who likewise came out of England with the King that the legal proceedings which were out of order too as all other things in that Realm were might be amended and made formal according to the course and Presidents of England But all the good purposes and projects of this King were interrupted and utterly defeated by his suddain departure out of Ireland and unhappy deposition from the Crown of England HOwbeit King Henry the fourth intending likewise to prosecute this Noble