Ireland under the Tudors, with a Succinct Account of the Earlier History. Vol. 2 (of 3)

Sir Peter claimed a vast inheritance in Munster as heir to the conqueror Robert FitzStephen, whose only daughter was supposed to have married a Carew. Unfortunately for this theory Giraldus twice states in the plainest language that FitzStephen had no legitimate offspring, and it is hard to see how his testimony can possibly be shaken on such a point. Carew may perhaps have married his natural daughter, but that would give him no title at all under the grant of Henry II.; and his claims over the vast region between Lismore and St. Brandon’s Head in Kerry may therefore be dismissed. That the Carews did, however, by some means become possessed of much land in Munster is none the less clear. There was a Marquis Carew who, at some period before the accession of Henry IV., had a revenue of 2,200l. in the county of Cork, besides the possession and profits of Dursey and other havens there. The Carews seem to have left Ireland altogether in the time of Richard II., so that in any case there was a prescription of 170 years against Sir Peter. The English heralds manufactured a pedigree for him ‘in colours very orderly,’ bringing down his title from FitzStephen’s mythical daughter: and had not political considerations stood in the way, it is probable that his title would have been admitted by the Crown.[149 - Petition of the inhabitants of Cork in Graves’s Presentments; Hooker’s Life of Sir P. Carew; Campion; Thomas Wadding to Sir George Carew, March 12, 1603, in Carew. In Maclean’s edition of Hooker’s Life is a list of the Munster lands claimed by Carew. It comprises the greater part of Cork and Kerry, and a part of Waterford. It was computed that the actual holders of these lands in the sixteenth century could bring 3,000 men into the field. The Carews claim descent from Nesta’s son William, who was brother to Maurice Fitzgerald, half-brother to FitzStephen, and uncle to Giraldus Cambrensis. Wadding was a lawyer, who had thoroughly studied the whole matter.]

Carew comes to Ireland and claims Idrone

Hooker took a house in Dublin for his principal, and warned him that most things would have to be brought from England, and that it was difficult to raise even 20l. in the Irish capital. The raw material of good housekeeping – fish, flesh, and fowl – was to be had; but sugar and spices, a steward, a cook, a physician, and a surgeon, would all have to be imported. These preparations being at last completed, Carew set sail from Ilfracombe, and landed at Waterford, whither Hooker lost no time in repairing. Thither also came two other men of Devon, Thomas Stukeley, at this time Constable of Leighlin, the stormy petrel of Elizabeth’s time, and Henry Davells, afterwards the victim of a frightful tragedy. Both professed themselves anxious to help their countryman in his attempt to recover the Barony of Idrone in Carlow, which had formerly belonged to his family, and which Hooker had already inspected. Davells and Stukeley accompanied Carew to Leighlin, where the latter entertained him, and where he received several chiefmen of the Kavanaghs, which clan had been in possession of Idrone since Richard II.’s day at least. Sir Peter informed them that he was their lord, and was come to claim his own, ‘which speeches were not so hard unto them but they more hardly digested them.’[150 - Life, as above; Hooker to Carew, May 26, 1568.]

The Council allow Carew’s claim in the Cheevers case

Having so far advanced his claim to Idrone, Carew repaired to Dublin, where he kept open house pending Sidney’s arrival. His claim was naturally the general subject of conversation, and an old lady professed to see in his coming the fulfilment of a prophecy that the dead should rise again. He decided to make his first serious attack in Meath upon the manor of Maston, held by Sir Christopher Cheevers, a gentleman of old family, and connected with the principal people of the Pale and the principal lawyers in Dublin. But one Irish barrister could be got to take his brief, and it seems that he afterwards threw it up, for an Exeter man, William Peryam, of the Middle Temple, afterwards Chief Baron, was brought over specially for the occasion. A Bill was filed before the Lord Deputy and Council, but the common lawyers retained by Cheevers advised that the suit could not be maintained there. Peryam rested his case on naked prerogative, and the two Chief Justices gave a private opinion in his favour, on the ground that Carew could have no fair trial at law. Sir Christopher had no chance of a fair trial before the Council, and was therefore fain to compromise the case. The weight of documentary evidence, a prescription of at least 170 years being allowed no weight at all, seems to have been on Sir Peter’s side, and Cheevers offered him eighteen years’ purchase for the lands in dispute. Carew voluntarily offered them for fifteen, and he did not insist even on this. Cheevers seems to have worked on his generosity by talking of his wife and children, and in the end had ‘the whole land released unto him almost for nothing, saving a drinking nut of silver worth about 20l., and three or four horses worth about 30l.’ Carew’s adventurous nature may have been satisfied with the honours of war, or he may have thought it good policy to make friends in Dublin before embarking on the greater undertakings which he had in view.[151 - Hooker’s Life of Sir P. Carew; Carew to Cecil, Dec. 26, 1568.]

Carew is adjudged entitled to Idrone

The ruling in the Cheevers case governed the others, and, Sidney having returned to his government, the Council assumed the power of dealing with Idrone. Three of the Kavanaghs appeared, but they had, of course, no documentary evidence to advance against Sir Peter, who was adjudged the heir of Dygon, Baron of Idrone in the early part of the fourteenth century. Prescription being again altogether ignored, it was assumed as incontestable that Eva’s marriage with Strongbow had carried the fee of Leinster with it. The Kavanaghs, descendants of the royal tribe, and by Irish law rightful owners of the land, were held common rebels and trespassers, and were strictly enjoined to allow Carew quiet possession. That the Crown had over and over again negotiated with the Kavanaghs, and had twice created baronies in their blood, was passed over as of no consequence. Most of the Kavanaghs bowed to fate, and accepted Carew as their landlord. The earth tillers had to pay him rent, but were not otherwise dissatisfied with him, for he maintained order in the district, and by the establishment of courts baron provided for the due course of local justice. But his name stank in the nostrils of those who had been accustomed to fish in troubled waters, the kernes and idlemen of Wexford and Carlow; and they watched for an opportunity to rid themselves of this old man of the sea. They were not long in finding a leader.[152 - Morrin’s Patent Rolls, Dec. 7, 1568. See the Carew pedigree printed by Macleane.]

James Fitzmaurice supreme in the Desmond country

About the time that Desmond was making his submission in London, James Fitzmaurice broke out in Kerry, having strengthened his usual band by enlisting malcontents from Limerick, Tipperary, and Cork. He began by taking 200 cows from Lord Fitzmaurice, wasting his country, and sitting down before his castle of Lixnaw, though straightly charged by the Lord Justice not to enter Clanmaurice. The cattle, he said, were but security for rent, the other damages were in return for those which the Lord of Lixnaw had previously committed in Desmond. Causes of quarrel were sure to be plentiful enough, and Lord Fitzmaurice had brought his wild Irish friends from beyond the Shannon, so that perhaps there was not much to choose between them. A battle followed, in which James Fitzmaurice was defeated. At least 300 lives were lost, and the sons of O’Callaghan, the White Knight, and others of his followers were taken. Finding himself too weak to do much without help, the Desmond leader sought allies both in and out of Ireland, living by plunder in the meantime, and totally disregarding all letters from the Government.[153 - James Fitzmaurice to the Lords Justices, July 27; Lord Fitzmaurice to same, Aug. 1; Sir Maurice Fitzgerald to same, July 29; Fitzwilliam to Cecil, Sept. 5.]

The Butlers oppose Carew. MacBrien Arra

On the very day that Sidney landed the Lords Justices wrote most gloomily of the political prospect. Tirlogh Luineach was in open rebellion; he had spoiled part of Louth, and it was thought fortunate that he had escaped, for he was in such force that had he turned upon Lord Louth and his party he would probably have beaten them. On all sides troubles were brewing; the Exchequer was empty, the army weak, and the dark nights which the Irish loved were coming on fast. But the greatest danger of all came from a quarter whence governors were accustomed to look for support only. The House of Ormonde itself seemed to have changed its nature; the rod upon which every Viceroy had leaned threatened to pierce the hand at last. Edward Butler, the Earl’s younger brother, was a turbulent and hot-headed youth. In the chief’s absence another brother, Sir Edmund, had the care of his country, but he was unable, and perhaps unwilling, to keep Edward properly in check. MacBrien Arra, the chief of a clan which in the later Middle Ages had wrested part of Tipperary from the Butlers, appears to have been at this time peaceable and loyal, looking only to the Government for protection against his greater neighbours. Edward Butler probably thought him fair game, and invaded Arra with 1,000 men, horse, foot, and camp followers – desperadoes apparently of the worst character. According to ancient Irish custom all movable property was stored in two churches, and thither the frightened women fled in the vain hope of sanctuary. The country was harried far and wide. The churches were broken open, and for forty-eight hours the invaders plundered and ravished, sparing neither age nor condition. The lately gathered corn was destroyed, and famine stared the whole population in the face. ‘As for me, my good lords, I do not a little marvel of such deeds and facts,’ said MacBrien, ‘true subjects robbed and spoiled daily, and poor tenants driven to beg their bread, banished from their dwellings, and notable malefactors succoured and maintained, contrary to the Queen’s Majesty’s good laws; assuring your honours, since Shane O’Neill died, there is not the like maintainer of rebels as Mr. Edward is; and although Sir Edmund doth say that he cannot rule Mr. Edward of his riotous doings, it is but a saying, and not true.’ He desired redress, or leave to revenge himself, and he went to Dublin to urge his suit. The result was not altogether encouraging; for in his absence Edward Butler visited his country a second time, killed his uncle, drove off his cattle, and burned a house full of women and children. Wearied with continual outrages, his wife wrote to beg that he would take a farm in the Pale, where there might be some chance of a quiet life. ‘When men go to England,’ she said, ‘or to Dublin, where the law is ministered, those who remain behind spoil them the more.’[154 - MacBrien Arra to the Lords Justices, Sept. 9, 1568. He calls Butler’s camp followers ‘slaves.’ More Ny Carroll to her husband MacBrien Arra, Nov. 12.]

Butlers and O’Carrolls

After his first attack on MacBrien, Edward Butler wandered away into the King’s County. There was a standing dispute between the O’Carrolls and the Butlers, the latter alleging that Ely was part of Tipperary, the former that it belonged to the more lately formed shire and was consequently outside Ormonde’s palatinate jurisdiction. Thady O’Carroll, one of the chief’s three sons, had married a Galway lady, and on his way towards the Shannon to visit his father-in-law was unlucky enough to come across Edward Butler’s band. O’Carroll had but a few men with him, and it is therefore not at all likely that he was the assailant in the skirmish which followed, and in which he was taken prisoner. As to the previous quarrels, which Butler alleged as a reason for keeping armed men, the Lords Justices seem to have thought there was much to be said on both sides, but they charged Butler to appear before them at once, and warned him of the danger of taking the law into his own hands. Sir William O’Carroll was also summoned, but neither were in any hurry to obey, and the matter was quite unsettled when Sidney landed at Carrickfergus.[155 - Lords Justices to the Queen, Oct. 8, with the enclosures.London, Longmans & Co.]

CHAPTER XXVI.

FROM 1568 TO 1570

Sidney’s plans for Ulster

Sidney lost no time in trying to realise his idea of bridling the North with forts and bridges. He surveyed Clandeboye and Ards, and declared them the shire of Carrickfergus – an arrangement afterwards departed from. He met Tirlogh Luineach at the Bann, and thought him inclined to obey. The various castles already garrisoned he found in good order, the people readily selling the soldiers a fat cow for 6s. 8d. and twenty-four eggs for 1d. In Carrickfergus a good market was kept twice a week, to which commodities were brought from the Pale, from Scotland and Man, and even from France. Three 40-ton cargoes of claret were sold at nine cowskins a hogshead. ‘The Archbishop of Armagh and the Bishop of Meath, with divers noblemen and gentlemen as well of England as the English Pale, lawyers, merchants, and others came from Dublin to Carrickfergus, only for visitation sake, the Bishops riding in their rochets, and the rest unarmed.’ A treaty was made with Sir Brian MacPhelim to build a proper carriage bridge over the Laggan at Belfast, to cut passes through the woods, to supply fuel for making bricks, and to protect men building or repairing ships in the Lough. On his road to Dublin most of the chiefs and gentlemen came to pay their respects to the Lord Deputy.[156 - Articles with Sir Brian MacPhelim O’Neill, Oct. 8, 1568; Sidney to Cecil, Nov. 12; Sidney’s Summary Relation, 1583, in Carew.]

The Scots

Sidney believed that all Ulster difficulties originated in Scotland. Argyle did not pretend to be guided by any rule but the good of his own country, and he had 5,000 men always ready to invade Ireland if he did not approve of Elizabeth’s policy. He loved Sidney, he said, better than any other Viceroy, and for that reason would rather see him anywhere than in Ulster. Sir Francis Knollys was Scotland’s bitterest enemy, but he would willingly put him in Sidney’s place, where he could do far less harm than at Court. Lord Herries was not even careful to use civil language. James MacDonnell’s widow professed herself friendly, but said the clan would never forego its Irish claims until it was quite extinct. Donnell Gorm, born in Ireland and friendly to England, claimed the lordship of the Isles, and was in alliance with the Campbells – a reluctant tie which might easily be cut. His ancestors had a pension of 200l. from England, and its renewal would be money well spent. Rathlin Island, which was full of cattle – the very stable and baiting-place of the Scots – should be fortified and held, and this might be done for 300l. a year. A regular military occupation of the whole province would be intolerably costly, but half a dozen strong places on the coast might be provided for 2,000l. yearly. A town at Armagh and a bridge at Blackwater were quite necessary. In the meantime Dundalk Bridge might be repaired, and Bagenal’s unfurnished castles at Newry, Carlingford, and Greencastle might be made tenable for 2,000l. If the Scots were once disposed of, it would be easy to govern Ireland; the O’Neills would then be shut up in their own province, and would have to work or to starve.[157 - Sidney to Cecil, Nov. 12, 1568; same to same, Nov. 8 (in the Sidney Papers); Argyle to Queen Elizabeth, Aug. 24 (in the Sidney Papers).]

James Fitzmaurice. The Butlers

When James Fitzmaurice found that Sidney had not brought either the Earl or Sir John of Desmond with him, he called a meeting of Geraldines, and informed them that their chief and his brother were condemned to death, or at least to perpetual imprisonment. He reminded them that when the good Earl Thomas had been murdered by the tyrant Earl of Worcester his followers had chosen a captain for themselves, and he advised a like course. He was immediately chosen by acclamation, and unhesitatingly accepted the position in spite of Sidney’s threats. He was soon afterwards proclaimed a traitor. The wise Earl of Clancare, as Shane O’Neill had in derision called him, placed himself about the same time at the head of a Celtic confederacy, plundered Lord Roche’s country, drove off the cattle, burned the sheep and the corn, and killed men, women, and children. Neither wheat nor oats were to be had for love or money west of Youghal: the combined result of drought from heaven and heat from the Earl of Clancare. Spanish ships supplied the MacCarthies with arms. Edward Butler told Sidney’s messenger, who found him at Thurles with 1,000 men, that no man of Irish birth could be safe since Sir John of Desmond had been sent to the Tower for little or nothing. He knew that he himself had deeply offended his brother the Earl, and was therefore afraid of Sir Edmund, who had also 1,000 men with him. ‘Your secret conference, brother,’ he said in the messenger’s presence, ‘hath brought me to this mischief.’ To Dublin he refused to go without pardon or protection, and Shane O’Neill hardly claimed more, even in his proudest days.

Ormonde’s presence declared indispensable

The presence of Ormonde alone could settle his country, and he, in Sidney’s opinion, ‘politicly kept himself in England, as well for duty’s sake to the Queen as ancient and innate malice to the Earl of Desmond and all Desmondians.’ Sir Edmund could not brook the notion of dismissing his armed followers, and, as he himself expressed it, ‘riding up and down the country like a priest.’ No brother or lieutenant was of any use, and if Ormonde would not come Sidney would have to go himself; and he begged for a strongly-worded letter to show to the people. The report was that he was not allowed to interfere with the Butler districts, and indeed he was loth to do so, knowing that the Earl bore him little goodwill, and that he had the Queen’s ear. ‘Though never so upright,’ he said, ‘I shall not escape slander.’[158 - Lord Roche to the Lords Justices, Sept. 14; Wingfield to Cecil, Nov. 12; Sidney to Cecil, Nov. 8 and 12; Hamlet’s warning to Ophelia is applicable to all Irish Governors.]

Lawless conduct of Ormonde’s brethren

Both Butlers continued their lawless practices; indeed, Lady Dunboyne, who was a chief sufferer, declared that Edward was ‘but a patch to Sir Edmund in extortion and spoil.’ He threatened her with yet worse things for having brought Sidney’s letters to him; and in the meantime seized her cattle, nominally for the purpose of maintaining himself against the White Knight, with whom he had picked a quarrel to give an excuse for keeping his ragged battalion together. Ormonde still lingering in England, the Lord Deputy was obliged to go to Kilkenny himself, where he hanged several of Edward Butler’s men, not by martial law, as Sir Peter Carew proudly pointed out, but ‘by the verdict of twelve men orderly.’ A similar example was made at Waterford, and Sidney returned to Dublin to make preparations for holding a Parliament, in which he secured a majority by interfering in elections.[159 - Lady Dunboyne to Luke Dillon, A.G., Nov. 22; Carew to Cecil, Dec. 26.]

Parliament of 1569. Opposition to Government

No list has been preserved of the members who sat in either House of Elizabeth’s second Irish Parliament. Many Englishmen had, by Government influence, been returned for remote places. Sidney, who had a taste for heraldic pomp, was in some anxiety as to what dress he ought to wear. He was told to do as St. Leger had done. If he could not find whether St. Leger had used a garter or a Parliament robe, he might do as he pleased. Princely robes of crimson velvet lined with ermine were provided in due course, and the Lord Deputy took his seat under the cloth of estate. Lord Chancellor Weston made an eloquent speech on the advantages of law and order. The House then separated, and James Stanihurst, Recorder of Dublin, was again chosen Speaker of the House of Commons by a large majority over Sir Christopher Barnewall, who was also a lawyer and the candidate favoured by the gentlemen of the Pale. After the usual protestations of unfitness, Stanihurst was accepted by Sidney, and made a speech in which he claimed personal inviolability for the members, freedom of speech, and power for the House to punish breaches of its own orders. The Lord Deputy, having granted these suits, addressed the whole Parliament at great length. None knew better, he said, than those in Ireland the advantages of law and order; let them act according to that knowledge, and be careful lest in defending their own privileges they should tread upon her Majesty’s prerogative. On the following day business began, and it soon appeared that the House of Commons was divided into two parties bitterly hostile to each other. The Court, or English party, consisted chiefly of officials and of the Lord Deputy’s nominees, men who might be trusted not to exhibit too much independence. On the other side were the gentry of the Pale, the burgesses returned by the old corporate towns, and the common lawyers generally, who had been roughly handled by Sidney in Sir Peter Carew’s case, and who asserted that some of the English members were returned for towns not incorporated, that sheriffs and mayors had returned themselves, and that others were ignorant of their constituencies and non-resident. The Judges held that the first and second objections were good, but that there was nothing in the third. The Attorney-General having reported this decision, which still left the Government a majority, the Irish party professed not to believe him, and demanded that the Judges themselves should come down. The Speaker called for the orders of the day, but the malcontents refused to listen to the first readings of any bills. Next day the Judges came and confirmed their former decision, but the Irish party, headed by Sir Edmund Butler, still obstructed the business, and opposed the introduction of a Bill for suspending Poyning’s Law and allowing Bills to proceed without being first certified under the Great Seal of England. This Bill was obviously for the enlargement of their own jurisdiction, and passed in the end, as did another which provided that the Great Seal of Ireland should not be affixed to any further Suspension Bill until it had been passed by the majority of both Irish Houses. After some days spent in these bickerings, Hooker, who sat for Athenry – an ancient borough certainly, but at this time containing only four freeholders – made a long prerogative speech. He had formerly represented Exeter and had a taste for antiquities, and he proved to his own entire satisfaction that Moses and Pythagoras, Camillus and Mithridates, had created precedents on his side of the question. ‘The minority,’ he says, ‘did not hear the same so attentively as they did digest it most unquietly.’ The debate was adjourned, and Hooker had to be escorted by his friends to Sir Peter Carew’s house. The next day Sir Christopher Barnewall and other lawyers inveighed against Hooker, but the Speaker silenced them, and desired them to put their complaints into writing. Hooker, who says that the proceedings were more like bear-baiting than the deliberations of a Senate, then presented a treatise on the Order of Parliament, which closely followed English precedents, and asserted the power of the Speaker to hold members to the question, and to reform, correct, and punish disorder with the advice of the House. The contest was not renewed, and after the first fortnight matters settled down considerably.[160 - Hooker, in Holinshed; for the state of Athenry, see Sidney to the Queen, April 20, 1567.]

Legislation. Attainder of Shane O’Neill

Sir Edmund Butler was openly censured by Sidney in the Council Chamber, and withdrew in high dudgeon to his own country. The House of Lords showed a mutinous spirit as well as the Commons. The Gentleman Usher seems to have occupied a position within the bar, and this being objected to, Sidney withdrew the cloth of State, but it does not appear that the punishment weighed very heavily on the delinquents. Several Acts of great political importance were passed. A subsidy of 13s. 4d. on every plough land was granted for ten years in consideration of the abolition of coyne and livery. This was for the public benefit, but was very unpleasing to many noblemen. The five principal men of each shire were made responsible for the rest, Shane O’Neill was attainted, the name of O’Neill extinguished, and the Queen entitled to Tyrone. Irish captainries were abolished unless established by patent. For the infringement of this law death without benefit of clergy was provided by the draftsman in England, but the House of Lords substituted a fine of 100 l. for each offence by a peer, and 100 marks for men of lesser degree. Even after this amendment there was much opposition, which, as the Chancellor observed, argued that ‘the matter misliked them more than the pain.’ An Act was also passed to enable the chief Governor, on certain conditions, to make the remaining Irish countries into shire ground.[161 - Hooker, in Holinshed; Weston to Cecil, Feb. 17 and March 18, 1569. The Parliament 11 Eliz. sat almost continuously from Jan. 17 to March 11, 1569, but three sessions are counted within this period. On March 11, a prorogation took place till Oct. 10.]

Wine duties

A Bill for imposing a heavy import duty on wines borne in foreign bottoms was thrown out by the Commons, the members for the port towns declaring that it would beggar them utterly. The Bill was afterwards passed in a modified form for ten years, Sidney having refused the enormous bribe of 2,000l. in gold offered him to procure its withdrawal.

Schools

A Bill for the erection and maintenance of schools with English masters by a charge on ecclesiastical property was thrown out by the Bishops, who thought that they and not the Lord Deputy should have the patronage in their own hands, and with better reason demurred to the exemption of impropriated lands, which were often the richest part of what had belonged to the Church. A Bill for repairing churches was thrown out by the Commons, the Catholics not caring to provide for the Establishment, and no one wishing to bear taxation. ‘Churches and schools,’ said Weston, ‘still find no favour among us, yet, in my opinion, the reformation of Ireland must come from churches and schools.’[162 - Hooker, in Holinshed; two letters of Weston to Cecil already quoted; Sir N. White to Cecil, March 10; and Sidney’s Summary Relation in Carew, 1583.]

The Queen decides to erect a Presidency in Munster

The Queen’s consent for Ormonde’s departure had been some time obtained before he actually started. He had to raise money to pay his debts, but it is plain that Cecil thought he delayed unnecessarily. He shone at Court, and was perhaps in no haste to leave while the Queen’s manner encouraged him to stay. In the meantime the state of the South became daily worse, Sidney complaining bitterly that Sir Warham St. Leger would have prevented all these troubles had not Ormonde’s influence prevented him from being armed with the necessary powers. The Queen selected Sir John Pollard for the office of President of Munster, and Mr. Peryam, Carew’s counsel, for his Chief Justice. The establishment was fixed at 13s. 4d. a day for the President, with one Justice at 100l. a year and another at 40l., and a clerk at 20l. The whole expense with petty officers and soldiers was estimated at 1,400l. Bacon and Winchester then suggested that there need be no surgeon, and that fewer soldiers would do; which cut down the estimate by one half. The Queen was delighted, but Cecil, who had persuaded Pollard to accept the appointment, was disgusted at the proposed breach of faith. In the end he had his way, and Elizabeth sanctioned the higher scale. Neither Pollard nor Peryam liked the work, and the latter, who had had enough of Ireland, bitterly complained that he would lose his practice at the bar, and that his family would starve. His own stomach too was delicate, and ‘not to be forced to any ordinary diet.’ The Queen was inexorable, but promised him leave to retire after two years’ service. He accompanied Pollard to Ilfracombe, where the Lord President had a bad attack of gout. Peryam was glad of an excuse to stay on the right side of the Channel. In the end both escaped the dreaded duty, and another Devonshire gentleman, Edmund Tremayne, went over to explain matters to Sidney. Tremayne, to use his own language, had forsaken a quiet life, and cared little for peace so he might fight in the good quarrel. His voyage was dangerous enough to satisfy the most adventurous man in Devon. The ship was first driven into Milford Haven, and afterwards blown on to the Wexford coast; and Tremayne and his party were attacked by the armed natives, who were prepared to resist Sir Edmund Butler, now in open rebellion. Finding that the castaways were Englishmen they received them joyfully, and forwarded them to Ferns, where Bishop Devereux gave them a most hospitable reception. Tremayne reached Waterford safely, where he found it generally reported that Ormonde was dead.[163 - Cecil to Sidney, Nov. 5, 1568; Queen to Sidney, Feb. 10, 1569; Peryam’s Petition, Feb. 19; Tremayne to Pollard and to Cecil, July 7.]

The rebellion of James Fitzmaurice continues, 1569

Fifteen months elapsed between the date of Pollard’s abortive commission and the appointment of Sir John Perrott; and for a long time the southern rebels met with no effectual resistance. A cloud might at any time gather abroad; for the papal Archbishop of Cashel and the papal Archbishop of Ross were already in Spain with full powers to treat on behalf of the confederated Catholics of Ireland, consisting of three archbishops, eight bishops, and most of the lords and chieftains outside the Pale. The sheriff of Cork at this time was the renowned Richard Grenville, who had made a practical beginning of colonisation by seizing lands to the west of Cork Harbour. His martial prowess was no doubt feared, but no sooner was his back turned than the country was in a flame. On the very day after he sailed for England, Clancare and Fitzmaurice appeared at Tracton with the seneschal of Imokilly, the White Knight, and other chiefs. The garrison appears to have been small, for the assailants were able to undermine the walls with pickaxes, and to kill all the inmates except three or four English soldiers, who were hanged next day. James Fitzmaurice declared that help was coming from Spain, swore on a book that Sir Edmund Butler was heartily on his side, and boasted that he could take the artillery at Kinsale when he pleased. The citizens of Cork were robbed whenever they ventured out, and all the lords of the county were either overawed or in sympathy with Fitzmaurice, who vowed to give no peace to Cork until all the English, including Lady St. Leger and Lady Grenville, were given up, as well as some Irish prisoners. The city was in want both of provisions and powder, and the town of Youghal hourly expected an attack. English farmers in the immediate neighbourhood had been already put to the sword.[164 - Letters to the Lord Deputy, June 17 to 20, from Lady St. Leger, J. Horsey, the Mayors of Cork, Waterford, and Youghal, and Andrew Skiddy. St. Leger to Sidney, February 14; see Froude, vol. x. p. 495, from Simancas.]

Sidney and the Butlers. Sir P. Carew

The unnatural alliance between Butlers and Geraldines which made the insurrection formidable was in part at least caused by Sidney’s harsh treatment of Sir Edmund Butler. Not only did he use strong language himself, but he allowed Sir Barnaby Fitzpatrick to do the like. Sir Edmund withdrew from Dublin vowing vengeance against Fitzpatrick and against Sir Henry Sidney personally; though he was at all times careful to respect him in his official capacity. Sir Edmund was driven to desperation by the success of Sir Peter Carew and by the countenance which he received from the Lord Deputy; for his own castle of Clogrennan and the lands attached formed part of Idrone, and having been originally conquered from the Kavanaghs were included in the decision of the Privy Council, which ousted their title to the whole barony. Seeing that Sir Edmund would rebel, Sidney sent to him Lord Baltinglass and Richard Shee, the latter a devoted adherent of the House of Ormonde, with instructions to talk him over if possible. They went from place to place looking for him while he plundered the country, and when they at last came up with him his conduct was not particularly edifying. He bade them give over their flattery, bragging, and dissimulation, and declared that neither he nor his brethren would come near the Lord Deputy without pardon or protection for all concerned, that the Deputy’s object was to chop off their heads, and that all the mischief had been caused by the machinations of Carew and of Sir Barnaby Fitzpatrick. The Queen herself, said Sir Edmund, was the only judge by whom he would submit to be tried; to her he was more loyal than they who accused him, and if he were proclaimed rebel he would make the heads of those who caused it fly from their bodies. If he and his men had pardon and protection he would be ready to attend the Lord Deputy in all wars; but if any of the Queen’s men helped Sir Barnaby or his other enemies, so her Highness or her Governor were not personally in the field, then he would do them all the mischief he could. Similar offers were made through a private messenger, and Sidney’s answer was to send Carew and Humphrey Gilbert, who now makes his first appearance in Irish history, with orders to apprehend Sir Edmund. A country neighbour afterwards tried to bring him into a more prudent frame of mind, but again the answer was, ‘I do not make war against the Queen, but against those that banish Ireland, and mean conquest… If my lord my brother come to apprehend me, I will not in this quarrel be ruled by him nor come in his hands.’ If anything would have persuaded him it was Mr. Sweetman’s taunt that he was more a Desmond than a Butler; but he was past caring for this, and boasted that if Sidney invaded the South, Tirlogh Luineach would invade the Pale. He was already proclaimed rebel, and as if to prove the justice of that measure he exhibited letters from O’Neill and Fitzmaurice.[165 - Depositions of Lord Baltinglass and Richard Shee, June 19; Information of William Sweetman, July 27.]

The Geraldines are unchecked

The Queen chided Sidney for coupling Sir Edmund’s name with Fitzmaurice’s and MacCarthymore’s, for which, however, there was abundant justification, and she let Ormonde go as the only chance of restoring peace. Before he could leave London, his brothers Edmund, Piers, and Edward had joined Fitzmaurice, with whom MacCarthy had made plans for concerted action. The Butlers had done their own part by devastating the eastern part of the Queen’s County, and killing the warders of Balliknockane. Fitzmaurice followed up the blow by attacking Kilmallock and extorting a ransom of 160l., the townsmen fearing that they would after all have to receive a Geraldine garrison. He met the Earl of Thomond and John Burke close to Limerick, and the citizens, who feared to lose all their cattle, were in some doubt as to the proper course. The men of Waterford, as became the city’s ancient reputation, did not wait for orders, but worked hard at their fortifications, sent provisions to Cork and Youghal, and gave shelter to the miserable inhabitants of the country. They reported that the Geraldine rebels burned and slew where they listed, stripping honest men and women naked and using more cruel tortures ‘than either Phalaris or any of the old tyrants could invent.’ Even before the open rebellion great disorders had been caused by the general poverty. On Good Friday the city, according to ancient custom, opened its gates to 1,100 poor men, who, when they had eaten, fell to plundering and housebreaking; and it took three weeks to get rid of them by beating out the sturdy beggars, and coaxing out those of a weaker sort. Corn was daily growing dearer, and ‘the caterpillars’ boasted that they would reap the next harvest. The kine, ‘which by milk used to keep the poor wretches alive,’ were killed or driven away. Edward Butler had devastated Waterford County, but the citizens feared nothing. To attack them without the aid of a foreign prince would be to ‘spurn against a wall,’ and Spain was of no such force in Ireland as their own sovereign liege.[166 - N. White to Cecil, April 18; Mayor and Corporation of Waterford to Cecil, July 8; Corporation of Kilmallock and Limerick to Sidney, July 2 and 10; the Queen to Sidney, July 9.]

Waterford and Cork

Waterford was a stronghold for its own people, and a city of refuge for many others, but the rebels had complete possession of the open country. English settlers were plundered and killed, or led about with halters round their necks. Sir Edmund Butler and his brother Piers devoted themselves to the district between Waterford and the Pale, of which the northern boundary was threatened by Tirlogh Luineach. Edward Butler was busy south-west of Waterford, and Fitzmaurice preached a crusade in the Desmond country, calling upon the citizens of Cork and the clergy of the diocese to send away all Protestants by the next wind. ‘The Queen,’ he said, ‘is not satisfied with our worldly goods, bellies, and lives, but must also counsel us to forsake the Catholic faith by God unto His Church given, and by the See of Rome hitherto prescribed to all Christian men… If you follow not this Catholic and wholesome exhortation, I will not nor may not be your friend.’[167 - James Fitzmaurice to the Corporation of Cork, July 12. He calls the Protestants ‘Hugnettes.’]

Carew and the Butlers

Unable for the moment to visit the South, Sidney sent Carew and Gilbert to Kilkenny, in a sally from which town they inflicted a severe defeat on Sir Edmund Butler. In a second encounter Carew was less successful, but was able, within a few days, to lay siege to Clogrennan, which the garrison had orders to defend against all but the Lord Deputy himself. Hooker represents the capture of this castle as a great feat of arms, but Ormonde says that it contained only eight armed men. Being hard pressed, the commandant asked if Sidney was present, and being told that he was, went out on safe-conduct. Finding himself deceived, he returned into the house, but a soldier named Baker followed, shot or stabbed him in the back, and threw a log of wood between the doors, so that they could not be shut. Carew’s men then poured in, and killed not only the garrison but the women and children, including ‘an honest gentleman’s son, not three years old.’ This rascally breach of faith is represented by Hooker as fair stratagem of war.[168 - Life of Carew; Ormonde to Cecil, July 24; Sir Edmund Butler to Ormonde, Aug. 23.]

Atrocities on both sides

It is needless to recapitulate all the outrages committed on either side, or to inquire whether certain attempts on Carew’s life were instigated by Sir Edmund Butler or not; but Enniscorthy was remarkable for the rapes and murders committed on the merchants and their families frequenting the great annual fair on August 15. Agriculture was quite neglected, and few houses were inhabited except those belonging to Ormonde. Carew laid all the blame on Irish ferocity, but Ormonde declared that the mischief was caused by rash attacks on landed property, which were shaking the loyalty of the highest and noblest. Sir Edmund had been a good subject, and was rewarded by losing his estate. He tried to defend his property, and was proclaimed a traitor. ‘A wiser man than he,’ said his brother, ‘might be brought beside himself thus.’ The following is too interesting to omit: —

Sinister rumours

‘Old Grace, my man,’ the Earl wrote, ‘landed three weeks ago in Waterford sore handled with gout; my brother hearing of his being there came to the waterside to talk with him. Grace was carried between men to his boat, and in the boat talked with my brother, who asked very earnestly of the Queen’s Majesty. The other told him she was in health and very well. "No, no," says he, "I know well enough she is poisoned, and my brother put into the Tower and there put to death." My man told him he might know my handwriting: he answered my letter bore an old date. He asked again twice if the Queen were alive. The other sware she was alive and in as good health as ever she was. "Well," said my brother, "if my lord is alive and that I may see him, I will believe his word, and then will I go into England and let her Highness know how I am dealt withal by my Lord Deputy and Sir Peter Carew."’

Fitzmaurice, Clancare, and the Butlers between them had near 4,500 men, with whom they laid siege to Kilkenny. The townsmen had been reinforced by Captain Collyer’s company, but they gave hostages to prevent the suburbs from being burned. Without artillery the rebels could hardly take a well-defended walled town, and they could not keep the field long enough to starve out such a good soldier as Collyer. Piers Butler burned all the houses at Leighlin, and killed even children, but he did not attack the castle, which contained twelve able men. The roads were so closely beset that communication with Dublin was almost impossible. But Sir Edmund’s heart was not entirely in the business. He told Fitzwilliam that he would oppose neither the Queen nor her Deputy if they appeared in person, that he would not meddle in matters of religion, and that he would have nothing to do with the introduction of Spaniards.[169 - Ormonde to Cecil, July 24; Corporation of Kilkenny to Sidney, July 2 and 29; Roger Hooker (Richard Hooker’s father) to Weston, Aug. 10.]