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HISTORY or IRELAND,
THE EARLIEST PERIOD TO THE PRESENT TIME;
DERIVED
FllOM NATIVE ANNANS, AND FROM THE RESEAUCHES OP
DR. O'DONOVAN, PROFESSOR EUGENE CURRY, THE REV C. P. MEEIIAN,
DR. R. R. MADDEN,
AND OTHER EMINENT 8C1IOLAE8;
AND FROM
ALL THE RESOURCES OF IRISH HISTORY NOW AVAILABLE.
M A ]{ T IN HA V V. R T Y.
NEW YORK :
THOMAS K E T. L Y,
17 BARCLAY STREET.
1871.
Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1SG7,
By Thomas Fakrell & Sox,
In the Clerk 8 Office of the District Court of the United States for the Southern District
PUBLISHERS' PREFACE.
TN presenting to his countrymen in America a new History op^
-■- Ireland, the publisher desires to call attention to its marked and
superior excellence as a history, and the number, beauty, and ele-
gance of its illustrations, maps, etc. The author stands prominent
among Irish scholars^f the present day, and he has devoted to his
work the labors of years in searching and examining into the archives
of Irish history, in presenting a clear and reliable narrative of events,
and in arousing and sustaining that patriotic love of their native land
which characterizes Irishmen wherever they may dwell. Mr. liav-
erty is a ripe scholar ; he discusses the varied topics before him in a
philosophical spirit. Out of the myths and romantic traditions of early
days, he extracts the essential, important truth ; and availing himself
of the valuable researches of living scholars and students of Irish
history, he gives his readers a most interesting and attractive work
in a style of eloquent and lofty-toned love for his native country and
its good name in the world.
There needs no commendation for such a work as this, at this day.
Iiishmen are world-noted as patriots and lovers of the soil which gave
them birth. Irishmen are always deeph' interested in the story of
tlie wrongs which their land has suffered from foreign oppression and
outrage, as well as in the glorious record which Ireland's annals pre-
sent of noble heroes, statesmen, poets, and philanthropists, for cen-
tury upon century past.
PUBLISHER'S PREFACE.
The publisher, therefore, is certain that he has done a good work in
presenting this History of Ireland to his countrymen in the attractive dress
in which it now appears. He has spared no expense in this undertaking ; he
appeals unhesitatingly to the volume itself in proof of his zeal and devotion in
order to render it in every respect worthy of the subject of which it treats.
And he confidently looks for the "extensive support of all those who would keep
alive the flame of patriotism in their children's hearts, and would furnish their
homes and their firesides with the latest, best, and most complete Histonj of
Ireland which is to be found in the English language.
THOMAS KFJ.LY.
New York, May 1871.
AUTHOR'S PREFACE.
rpHE work here brought to a close was undertaken witli a view to
-^ supply an impartial History of Ireland, according to the present
advanced state of knowledge on the subject. The labors of such
eminent Irish scholars as Dr. O'Donovan and Professor Curry have
opened to us new sources of information, and the researches of these
and other learned and indefatigable investigators have, of late years,
shed a flood of light upon our history and antiquities ; but the knowl-
edge thus developed was still unavailable for the general public ; and
it remained to collect, in a popular form, materials scattered through
the publications of learned societies, and the voluminous pages of our
native annals ; buried in collections of state papers, and in the cor-
respondence of statesmen ; or concealed from the world in the Gov-
ernment archives. We have been enabled to avail ourselves of a
mass of important original documents derived from the last-mentioned
source ; but with what success the task of converting aU these copious
materials to the object of producing a popular History of Ireland has
been performed in the present volume, the reader must judge : we
can only say that no pains have been spared to accomplish it con-
scientiously.
To identify the ancient topography of the country with the eventa
of its history is important and interesting; and the invaluable in-
formation accumulated bv Dr. O'Donovan in his annotations to the
AUrnOR'S PREFACE.
Annals of the Four blasters, and collected by him for the Ordnance
Survey, has been freely employed for that purpose in these pages.
The narrative has been interrupted as little as possible v^^ith discus-
sions of controverted points, and the space has not been unnecessarily
encumbered with extraneous matter. The authorities rehed on have
been sufficiently indicated in the marginal references, but the Author
here desires to express his deep obhgations to Dr. O'Donovan, Pro-
fessor Eugene Curry, the Rev. C. P. Meehan, Dr. Wilde, Dr. R. R.
Madden, and J. T. Gilbert, Esq., for the invaluable information they^
have kindly afforded him. in addition to that which he derived from
their published works.
MARTIN riAVERTY.
KiLBEHA-MulURE, AsKKATON.
CONTENTS
CHAPIER I.
The first inhabitants of Ireland — Whence they came — Supposed date, about B. C. 2500 — Colonj of Partha.
Ion — Whole colony perished in a pestilence, about B. C. 2300 — Ireland a waste for thirty years — Colony of
Nemedius — Occupied Ireland about two hundred years — Great Pestilence — The Fomorian pirates — Who
were the Fomorians? — Wanderings of Nemedians — The Firbolgs arrive from Greece — Theory as to the
origin of the Firbolgs and Damnonians^New Invaders — 'The Tuatha de Dananns — Conquer the Firbolgs —
Nuad of the " Silver Hand" — Killed in battle by Balor of the " Mighty Blows" — Another version of the
Tuatha de Dananns' invasion — Lugh Lamhfhada reigns forty years — Public games and fair — Pagda Mor
next king — Reigned eighty years — Other kings of this race — Bardic annals — The Lia Fail, or Stone of
Destiny — Its final resting-place — Ogma, inventor of occult writing — Orbsen, or Manauan, and Maclir — Note
from Doctor O'Donovan, O'Flaherty, etc .- 9
CHAPTER II.
The Milesian Colony — Opinions of modern writers respecting — The Duan Eireannach, or Poem of Ireland —
Wanderiugs of the Gadelians under Niul, son of Fenius, from Scythia into Egypt, etc. — Adventures of Sru,
son of Esru — Reaches Sjiain — Founds a city called Brigantia — Voyage of his son Ith to Ireland — Ith's death —
Expedition of the sons of Miledh or Milesius — Size and force of the expedition — Date of their arrival in
Ireland — Contests with the Tuatha de Dananns — Battle of Teltown in Meath — Division of Ireland by Here-
noB — 5Lo «i.'o. To*. Heremon, reigns fifteen years — Visit of the Cruithnians, or Picts, to Ireland, at this
date^Vener»ble Bede's account of their origin — The traditions of very little value 16
CHAPTER III.
Questions as to the credit of the Ancient Irish Annals — Tighernach of Clonmacnoise's statements — How far
doubts ought really to exist — The main facts reliable — Defective and improbable Chronology — Difficult
to credit it — The test of Science applied— Good results — Theories on the Ancient Inhabitants of Leland -
Where did they come from? — Authorities referred to — Intellectual qualities of the Firbolgs and Tuatha de
Dananns— Superiority of the latter — Movements of various sorts of the Tuatha do Dananns — Workers in
mines, builders of tumuli, et«. — Keltic origin doubtful — O'Flaherty 's Ogygia quoted — A Scytliian origin
claimed in the Irish traditions 21
CHAPTER IV.
The Milesian sovereigns of Ireland, one hundred and eighteen in number — Characteristics of their reigns -
Irial or Faidh the prophet — Struggles with the Firbolg tribes — Tiernmas, B. C. 1020 — Idol worship— Tho
Crom-Cruach in MaghSlecht — Paganism of tho Ancient Irish — Death of Tiernmas — Marks of his reign —
Social progress and civilization — The Feis Teavrach or Triennial Parliament of Tara — Instituted about B. C.
1300 — Members of this assembly or parliament, its meetings, etc. — Long reigns of Irish kiiigs — Ciml)aeth
B. C. 710, and his two brothers— Queen Macha — Curious story— Foundation of Emauia palace — Ugony the
Great — New division of Ireland — Famous pagan oath — Ugony's death — Cattle murrain, B. C. 200 — Eochy, or
Achy, r&<livide8 tho country— Maeve or Maude, queen of Connaught — Romantic history— Wars of Connaughi
and Uliiter — Bardic romance* — Origin of some of the worst ills of Ireland 2S
CONTENTS.
CHAPTEE V.
Pagan kings of Ireland, continued — Creevan Nianair — Incursions into Britain — Rich spoils obtained — Pro-
jected Roman invasion of Ireland — Hard lot of the jilebeian races — Revolt determined on — The Attacotti
or Aitheach-Tuatha massacre of Milesian nobles — Carbry, the Cat^Headed, elected king — His son Morann's
course — New troubles — 'I'uathal Teachtar, the legitiuuite— His proceedings — Felimy Rechtar. or the Law-
Maker — Conn of the Hundred Battles — Wars of Conn and Owen or Eugene the Great — New division of
Ireland— The battle of Magh Leana— Defeat and death of Eugene — Conary the Second — The three Carbrys —
The Dalriads ; first Irish settlement in Alba -or Scotland — Oiliol Olum, king of Munster — Outbreak of Lewy,
surnamed MacCon — The famous Irish Legion— Glorious reign of Cormac MacArt — Efforts in behalf of civili-
zation— Loses an eye, and abdicates — Carbry Liffechar — Bloody battle of Gavra, A. D. 284 — Finn MacCuaU
and the Fenian Militia— Macpherson's literary forgeries — The three Collas — Destruction of Emania palace —
Domestic tragedy — Niall of the Nine Hostages — Inroads of the Scots or Irish into Britain — Dathy and his
exploits — Patrick, son of Calphum, brought to Ireland as a captive from Gaul — Blessed fruits 33
CHAPTER VI.
Civilization of the pagan Irish — Its extent and value— Their knowledge of letters— Superior advancement
and preparation for Christianity — St. Patrick said to have given " alphabets" to some of his converts — The
Ogham Craev, or secret virgular writing — Religion of the pagan Irish, difficult to determine -Numerous
theories — The Brehnn Laws — The Tanaisteaclit or Tanistry, the Law of Succession — Its provisions — Gavail-
kinne or Gavel kind, law in regard to Inheritance and Division of property — Tenure of land, a tribe or
family right — Rights of clanship — Reciprocal privileges of the Irish kings — The law of Eric or Mulct —
Hereditary offices — Fosterage — Its obligations and sanctity 46
CHAPTER VII.
Social and intellectual state of the pagan Irish, continued — Weapons and implements of flint and stone —
Celts or stone dishes^Working in metals — Bronze swords, gold ornaments, etc. — Pursuits of the Primitive
Races — Agriculture, extensively carried on — Houses of the Ancient Irish — Materials of building — Raths or
earthen inclosures — Cahirs or stone inclosures and forts — Cranoques or stockaded islands in a lake — Canoes
and Curachs — Sepulchral monuments— Extensive in number and size — Cromlechs, what they were — Games
and amusements — Music, its touching character — Ornaments, evidence of luxury, etc. — Ce4ebrated pagan
legislators and poets — The Bearla Feine, etc— Language of Ancient Ireland — Value and importance of its
study, etc 53
CHAPTER VIII.
Christianity in Ireland before St. Patrick's days— Traditions— Pelagius and Celestius— St. Palladius sent by
Pope Celestine — Doubts as to St. Patrick's birth-place — His parentage— His captivity— His escape— His
vision — His studies — His consecration — How Christianity was received in Ireland — Date of St. Patrick's
arrival — First conversions — Unique glory— Visits Tara— Interviews with King Laoghaire— Description of
the scene — Invocation Hymn — Effects produced — Visits Tailtin, where the games were celebrated — Stays a
week — St. Patrick's journeys in Meath, Connaught, Ulster, Leinster, and Munster — Many years thus occu-
pied— Destruction of Crom-Cruach and other idols— St, Secundinus or Sechnail— St. Ficch— King ^Engus—
CaroticuB, British prince and pirate — Foundation of the See of Armagh— Death of St. Patrick— Length of
his life and labors 59
CHAPTEE IX.
♦■^vil History of Ireland during St. Patrick's life— The Seanchus Mor, or Great Book of Laws, A. D. 438— King
Laeghaire'i oath and death — Reign of OilioU Molt, son of Datlii, A. D. 4.')!) — Branches and greatness of the
Hy-Niall race — Reign of Lugaidh or Lewy — Foundation of the Scottish kingdom in North Britain — Falsifi
cation of the Scottish iVnnals by Macpherson and others- -Progress of Christianity and absence of persecu
CONTENTS.
tion— The first Order of Irisli saints— Great Ecclesiastical schools — Aran of the saints, or lona of Ireland—
St. Brigid — Her high origin, great labors, success, humility, etc — Great House of Kildare, or Church of the
Oak — Death of St. Brigid, A. D. 525 — Monastic tendency of the Primitive Church— iMuircheartaeh MacEarca,
the first Chriiitian king of Ireland, A. D. 504 — Succeeded by Tuathal Maelgarbh, grandson of Cairbre, per
Becutor of St. Patrick, A. D. 538 70
CHAPTEK X.
first visitation of the Buidhe Clionnaill, or Great Pestilence, A. D. 543— Terrible eflfects of this plague — Reign
of Diannaid, son of Kerval — His character and reign — Tara cursed and deserted — Reasons why — Account
of St. Columbkille's ediicatiun, learning, sanctity, miracles, etc. — Anoints Aidan, king of Scots — Animosity
of King Diarmaid towards St. Columbkille — Origin of his ill-feeling — Battle of Cuil-Dremni, or Cooldrevny —
Death of Diarmaid, A. D. 5G5 — Reign of Hugh, son of Ainmire — Foundation of lona, through St. Columb-
kille's influence — The Great Convention of Drumceat, or meeting of the States, A. D. 573 — Battle of Dun
bolg — Curious stratagem — Hugh .\inmire killed by Bran Dubh, king of Leinster — Deaths of Saints — Per.
petual feuds of the northern and southern Hy-Nialls— Great Battle of Magh Rath or Moyra — Congal and his
foreign helpers defeated, A. D. G34 — Second visitation of the Buidlio Chonnaill — Continued ten years, and
swept away two-thirds of the people — Finnachta Fleadhach, the Hospitable, A. D. 673 — Remits to Leinster
the Borumean tribute — Egfrid, the Saxon, invades Ireland — Bede's account quoted — St. Adamnan's pious
labors 78
CHAPTEK XI.
Tho Primitive Church in Ireland — Its monastic schools and communities celebrated — Vast numbers of monks,
anchorites, etc. — Missionary character of the Irish church — St. Columbanus, father of foreign missions — His
life and labors — Preaches in Gaul, A. D. 590 — Enmity of Theodoric and Brunehault, his queen dowager —
Columbanus founds great monastery at Bovium or Bobbio, A. D. 613 — Letter to Pope Boniface — Its tone,
etc.— Death at Bobbio, A. D. 615, aged 72— St. Gallus, or Gall— Death, A. D. 64.5— The Aidan and the church
of Lindisfarne — St. Colnian — The Paschal or Easter Controversy — National prejudices of the Irish — Sectarian
misrepresentation as to St. Patrick's preaching — Synod of Old Leighlin — Saint Cummian — Letter to the
Synod, A. D. G30 — The famous Conference at Whitby — St. Colman and Island of Innisbofin — St. Adamnan —
Visits the court of Alfred the Great — " The Law of the Innocents," or the law not to kill women — Cause
which led to passing the law — St. Adamnan's death, A. D. 704 — Irish saints on the Continent — The Frigid-
ian, St. Molua, St. Degan, St. Livinus, St. Fiacre, St. Fursey, St. Dicuil, St. Kilian — St. Cathaldus, patron
of Tarentum — His brother, St. Donatus — St. Cuthbert, bishop of Lindisfarne, died A. D. 687— St. Maccuthe-
nus — St. Sedulius, the Younger— At Rome, A. D. 721 — St. Virgilius — Saints Foiian and Ullan — St. FridolLn,
the Traveller — Clemens and Albinus — Dongal — St. Donatus — Irish missions to Ireland — John Scotus
Erigena — His character 87
CHAPTEE XII.
Christian Antiquities of Ireland — Testimonies on the subject of Ireland's pre-eminence for sanctity and learning —
Authorities given— The Culdees ; who were they ?— Professor Curry's note quoted— The Cele De or Colidei—
Hereditary transmission of church ollices — Lay bishops, abbots, priors, etc. — Comhorbas or successors —
Herenachs or Wardens — Tarmon lands of the monasteries — Doctrines, practices, etc., of the Irish church in
accord with that of Rome— Peculiarities in discipline — Materials used in building churches — Damliags or
stone churches — Duirachs or oratories — Cyclopean masonry — Tho Round Towt;r8 of Ireland — Remarkable
Btructures — Beds of saints. Holy Wells and Penitential Stations 103
CHAPTER XIII.
Character of Irish History in the seventh and eighth centuries— Internal wars and feuds — Piety of some Irish
kings— Renewed wars for tho Leinster Tribute— Terrible and bloody battles Rumann, called tlie Virgil of
Ireland — Death, A. D. 747 — Foundation of monastery of TaUaght, near Dublin, A. D. 760, by St. Maelruain—
St. Aengus the '"uldac— St. Colgu and Alcuin— Early Irish Prayer Book— Signs and prodigies at this period—
CONTENTS.
The Lavchomart or " clapping of hands" for fear and terror — The Lamhchomart or fire from Heaven - First
appearance of the Danish pirates — Chara-iter of these sea-rovers — Tlieir barliarism and Inhumanity — Their
plunderings and desecration — Heroic resistance of the Irisli — Turgesius goes to Ireland, A. D. 81o — Domestic
wars — Felim, king of Cashel — Plunderer and robber — Died, A. D. 84o — Malachy I., king of Meath — Kills
Turgesius— llassacre of the Danes — Retaliation of the Northmen, A. D. 851 — Danish settlements in Water-
ford and Limerick — Irish allies of the Danes — Hugh Finnliath — Battle of Lough Foyle— Cormac MacCui-
lenran, king and archbishop of Cashel, A. D. 896— Curious history— Niall Glundubh - Succeeds Flann, A. D.
914 — Muirkertaeh, sou of Niall, succeeds his father — Callaghan of C^ashel, king of Munster— Muirkertach's
Circuit of Irelaud- Killed, A. D. Oil at Ardee — Danish power in Ireland Ill
CHAPTEE XIV.
Sequel of the Danish wars — Limits of the Danish power in Ireland — Hiberno-Danish alliances — Danish expedi-
tions from Ireland into England, A. D. 91C, 925, 937 — Conversion of the Danes to Christianity— Consecration
of Dano-Irish bishops — Subdivision of territory in Ireland— Injurious eflFects— Alternate succession — Progiesa
and pretensions of the kingdom of Munster — Brian Borumha or Bora— Treacherous murder of his brother
Mahon at a banquet — Brian avenges his death— Accession of Malachy II., the Great, A. D. 979 — His victories
over the Danes -Intestine wars — Feuds between Brian and Malachy — Defeats of the Danes — Deposition of
Malachy — Character of Brian's reign — Defection of Brian from Malachy — Brian's piety and wise laws —
Institution of Surnames — Preparations for war, A. D. 1014, by the Danes, who determine to overrun Ire-
land— The famous Battle of Ci.ontarf — Immense preparation and power of the Danish force— DeiaUs of
the battle — Fierce and bloody contest - Brian killed in battle — The Danes routed — Consequences of tha
battle — Danish power reduced to almost nothing 125
CHAPTEE XV.
State of Learning in Ireland during and after the Danish Wars— Eminent Churchmen, Poets, and Antiquaries —
Tighernach and Marianus Scotus— Irishmen Abroad in the Tenth and Eleventh Centuries— The Monks of
the Middle Ages — Causes of Ignorance and Disorganization — Donough O'Brien in Rome — Turlough O'Brien —
Progress of Connaught — Wars of the North and South of Ireland— Destruction of the Rrianan of Aileach —
The Danes after Clontarf— Invasion and Fate of King Magnus— Relations with England— Letter ot Pope
Gregory VII — Murtough O'Brien and the Church — Remarkable Synods — Abuses in the Irish Church — Num-
ber of Bishops — St. Bernard's Denunciations — Palliations — St. Malachy — Misrepresentations — Progress of
Turlough O'Conor— Death of St. Celsua 143
CHAPTEE XVI.
St. Malachy— His Early Career — His Reforms in the Diocese of Connor — His Withdrawal to Kerry — His Gov-
ernment of the Church of Armagh — His Retirement to Down— Struggle of Conor O'Brien and Turlough
O'Conor — Synod at Cashel — Cormac's Chapel — Death of Cormac MacCarthy — Turlough O'Conor's Rigor to
his Sons— Crimes and Tyranny of Dermot MacMurrough — St. Malachy's Journey to Rome- Building of
Mellifont — Synod of Inis-Padraig — The Palliums— St. Malachy's Second Journey and Death — Political State
of Ireland — Arrival of Cardinal Pai)aro— Synod of Kells — Misrepresentations Corrected — The Battle of Moin-
Mor — Famine arising from Civil War in Mimster — Dismemberment of Meath — Elopement of Dervorgil —
Battle of Rahin — A Naval Engagement— Death of Turlough O'Conor, and Accession of Roderic— Synod of
Mellifont — Synod of Bri-Mic-Taidhg — Wars and Ambition of Roderic — St. Laurence O'Toole— Synod of
Clane— Zeal of the Irish Hierarchy — Death of O'Loughlin — Roderic O'Conor Monarch — Expulsion of Dermot
MacMurrough — Great Assembly at Athboy 156
CHAPTEE XVII.
The Akolo-Norman Invasion.- Derraot'a Appeal to Henry II— His Negotiations with Earl Strongbow and
others — Landing of the first English Adventurers in Ireland- Siege of Wexford — First Rewards of the
Adventurers— Apathy of the Irish — Incursion into Ossory — Savage Conduct of Dermot — His Vindictiveness —
Shameful Feebleness of Roderic — The Treaty of Ferns — Dermot aspires to the Sovereignty — Strongbow'i
CONTENTS.
Preparations for his Expedition — Landing of his Precursor, Raymond le Gros— Massacre of Prisoners by the
English — Arrival of Strongrbow, and Siege of Waterford — Marriage of Strongbow and Eva— March on Dub-
lin—Surprise of the City— Bratal Massacre — The English Garrison of Waterford cut off— Sacrilegious Spolia-
tions by Dermot and the English— Imbecility of Roderic — Execution of Dennot's Hostages — Synod of
Armagh— English Slaves, nefarious custom — Horrible Death of Dermot MacMurrough 170
CHAPTER XVIII.
Beign of Hensy II.— Difficulties of Strongbow— Order of Henry against the Adventurers— Danish attack on
Dublin— Patriotism of St. Laurence— Siege of Dublin by Roderic— Desperate state of the Garrison— Their
Bravery and Success— FitzStephen Captured by the Wexford People— Attack on Dublin by Tiernan
O'Roiirke— Henry's Expedition to Ireland— His Policy— The Irish Unprepared— Submission of several Irish
Princes — Henry fixes his Court in Dublin— Bold Attitude of Roderic — Independence of the Northern Princes —
Synod of Cashel— History of the Pope's Grant to Henry— This Grant not the Cause either of the Invasion or
its Success— Disorganized State of Ireland- Report of Prelates of Cashel, and Letters of Alexander Ill-
English Law extended to Ireland— The " five bloods"- Parallel of the Normans in England and the Anglo-
Normans in Ireland — Fate of the Irish Church — Final Arrangements and Departure of Henry 181
CHAPTER XIX.
Reign of Henkt U., coNTrKinsD.— Death of Tiernan O'Rourke and treachery of tlie Invaders— Strongbow-s
Expedition to Offaly, and Defeat— The Earl called to Normandy— His S|)eedy Return— Dissensions among
the Anglo-Normans— Raymond's Popularity with the Anny- His Spoliations in Offaly and Lismore— His
Ambition and Withdrawal from Ireland— An English Army cut to pieces at Thurles— Raymond's Return
and Marriage— Roderic's Expedition to Meath— The Bulls Promulgated— Limerick Captured by Raymond-
Serious Charges against him— His Success at Cashel, and Submission of O'Brien— Treaty between Roderic
and Henry II— Attempt to Murder St. Laurence O'TooIe— Death of St. Gelasi us— Episode of the Blessed
Cornelius— Raymond le Gros in Desmond— Hostile Proceedings of DonneU O'Brien— Death of Strongbow—
His Character— Massacre of the Invaders at Slane— De Courcy's Expedition to Ulster— Conduct of Cardinal
Vivian— Battles with the Ulidians— Supposed Fulfilment of Prophecies— The Legate's Proceedings in Dub-
lin—De Cogan's Expedition to Connaught, and Retreat— John made King of Ireland— Grants by Henty to
the Adventurers yj^
CHAPTER XX.
Rbion op Hentit II., CONCLUDED. Reiqn OP RicHARD I,— Reverses of De Courcy in the North— Feuds of
Desmond and Thomond— Unpopularity of Fitz.\delm with the Colonists— Irish Bishops at the Council of
Lateral!- Death of St Laurence OToole— His Charity and Poverty— De Lacy suspected by Hi'nrv II—
Death of Milo de Cogan-Arrival of Cambrensis— Death of Hervey of Monntmaurice— Roderic Abdicates
and Retires to Cong— Archbishop Comyn— Exactions of Philip of Worcester— Prince Jolm'a Expedition to
Ireland— His Failure and Recall— English Mercenaries in the Irish Service— Singular Death of Hugh de
Lacy— Synod in Christ Church— Translation of the Relics of SS. Patrick, Columba, and Brigid to Down-
Expedition of De Courcy to Connaught— His Retreat— Death of Henry II.— Death of Conor Moinmov, and
Fresh Tunmlts in Connaught— Last Exploits and Death of Donnell More O'Brien— Dissensions in the Eng-
Ush Colony— Successes of Donnell MacCarthy— Death of Roderic O'Conor— His Character— Foundation of
Churches, etc.— The Anglo-Irish and the "mere" Irish 208
CHAPTER XXI.
Rkion op .Joirn.- Renewed Wars of Cathal Carragh and Cathal Crovderg— Tergiversation of William de Burgo.
and Death of Cathal Carragh at Boyle Abbey— Massacre of the English Archers in Connaught— Wars in
Ulster— Fate of John De Courcy— Legends of the Book of Howth— Death and Character of William de Bur-
go— Tumults and Rebellions of the English Barons— Second Visit of King John to Ireland— Alarm of the
BiTons- Submiiision of Irish Princes— Independence of Hugli O'Neill Division of the English Pale into
CONTENTS.
Counties — Money Coined — Departure of John — The Bishop of Norwich Lord Justice — Exploits of Cormac
O'Melaghlin and Hugh O'Neill — War in the South — Catastrojihe at Athlone — Adventures of Murray O'Daly,
the Poet of Lisaadill — EcdesiasticaJ Occurrences 220
CHAPTER XXII.
Reign of Hesrt III. — Extension of Magna Charta to Ireland — Return of Hugh de Lacy — Wars between De
Lacy and Earl Marshall — Surrender of Territory to the Crown by Irish Princes — Connaught granted by
Henry to De Burgo — Domestic Wars in Connaught — Interference of the EngLisli — Famine and Pestilence —
Hugh O'Conor Seized in Dublin and Rescued by Earl Marshall — His Retaliation at Athloue — Death of Hugh,
and Fresh Wars for the Succession in Connaught^Felim O'Conor^English Castles in Connaught Demol-
ished— The Islands of Clew Bay Plundered — Melancholy Fate of Earl Marshall— Connaught Occupied by
the Anglo-Irish— Divisions and War in Ulster^Felim O'Conor Proceeds to England — Deaths of Remarkable
Men — Expeditions to France and Wales — The Geraldines make War at their own Discretion- Rising of tha
Young Men in Connaught^Submission of Brian O'Neill — Battle of Creadrankille and Defeat of the Eng-
lish— Death of FitzGerald and O'Donnell — Domestic War in the North — Battle of Downpatrick — Wars of
De BuTgo and FitzQerald — Defeat of the English near Carrick-on-Shannon— General View of this Reign. 228
CHAPTER XXIII.
Reion op Edward I. — State of Ireland on the Accession of Edward I. — Feuds of the Barons — Exploits of Hugh
O'Conor — Fearful Confusion in Connaught — Incursion from Scotland, and Retaliation — Irish Victory of Glen-
delory — Horrible Treachery of Thomas De Clare in Thomond — Contentions of the Clann Murtough in Con-
naught—English Policy in the Irish Feuds — Petition for English Laws — Characteristic Incidents — Victories
of Carbry O'Melaghlin over the English— Feuds of the De Burghs and Geraldines — The Red Earl — His great
Power — English Laws for Ireland— Death of O'Melaghlin — Disputes of De Vescy and FitzGerald of Offaly —
Singular Pleadings before the King — A Truce between the Geraldines and De Burghs — The Kilkenny Par-
liament of 1295 — Continued Tumults in Connaught — Expeditions against Scotland — Calvagh O'Conor —
Horrible Massacre of Irish Chieftains at an English Dinner-table — More Murders — Rising of the O'Kellys —
Foundation of Religious Houses 243
CHAPTER XXIV.
Reion op Edwaud II. — Piers Gaveston in Ireland— Fresh wars in Connaught — Tlie Clann Murtough — Civil
Broils in Thomond — Feud of De Clare and De Burgo— Growth of National Feelings — Invitation to King
Robert Bruce — Memorial of the Irish Princes to Pope John XXII. — The Pope's Letter to the English King —
The Scottish Expedition to Ireland— Landing of Edward Bruce — First Exploits of the Scottish Army — Pro-
ceedings of Felim and Rory O'Connor— Disastrous War in Connaught — The Battle of Athenry — Siege of
Carrickfergus — General Rising of the Irish — Campaign of 1317— Arrival of Robert Bruce — Arrest of the Earl
of Ulster — Consternation in Dublin — The Scots at Castleknock — Their March to the South — Their Retreat
from Limerick— EtTects of the Famine — Retreat of the Scots to Ulster — Robert Bruce Returns to Scotland —
Liberation of the Earl of Ulster — Battle of Faughard, and Death of Edward Bruce — National Prejudices. 252
CHAPTER XXV.
Beion of Edward III. — Position of the different Races — Great Feuds of the Anglo-Irish — Mnrder of Berming-
ham, Earl of Louth — Creation of the Earls of Ormond and Desmond — Counties Palatine — Rigor of Sir An-
thony Lucy — Murder of the Earl of Ulster — The Burkes of Connaught Abandon the English I^anguage and
Customs — Sacrilegious Outrages — Traces of Piety — Wars in Connaught — Crime and Punishment of Tur-
lough O'Conor — Proceedings in the Pale — English by Birth and by Descent — Ordinances against the Anglo-
Irish Arist<K;racy — Resistance of the latt<;r — Sir Raljjh Ufford's Harshness and Death — Change of Policy and
its results — The Black Death — Administration of the Duke of Clarence — His Animosity against the Irish —
The Statute of Kilkenny — Effects of that Atrocious Law— Exploits of Hugh O'Conor — Crime Punished by
the Irish Chieftains— Victories of Niall O'Neill— Difficulties of the Government of the Pale— Manly Conduct
of the Bishops — General Character of this Reign 265
CONTENTS.
CHAPTER XXVI.
Keiqn op Richaud n.— Law against Absentees— Events in Ireland at the Opening of the Reign— Partition of
Connaught between O'Conor Don and O'Conor Roe— The Earl of Oxford made Duke of Ireland — His Fate —
Battles between the English and Irish — Richard II. Visits Ireland with a Powerful Army — Submission of
Irish Princes— Hard Conditions— Henry Castide's Account of the Irish— Knighting of Four Irish Kings-
Departure of Richard II. and Rising of the Irish — Second Visit of King Richard— His Attack on Art MacMur-
rough's Stronghold — Disasters of the English Army — MacMurrongh's Heroism — Meeting of Art MacMur-
rough and the Earl of Gloucester— Richard Arrives in Dublin — Biid News from England — The King's
Departure from Ireland — His unhappy Fate — Death of Niall More O'NeUl, and Succession of Niall Oge —
Pilgrimages to Rome — Events Illustrating the Social State of Ireland 277
CHAPTER XXVII.
Reigns of Hknrt IV. and Henkt V.— State of the English Pale— The Duke of Lancaster in Ireland— Defeats
of the English — Retaliation — Lancaster again Lord Lieutenant — His Stipulations — AflFairs of Tyrone — Pri-
vateering— Com])Iaints from the Pale — Accession of Henry V. — Sir John Stanley's Government — Rhyming
to death — Exploits of Lord Furnival — Reaction of the Irish — Death of Art MacMurrough Kavanagh — I'eath
of Murrough O'Conor, or Offaly— Defeat of the O'Mores— Petition against the Irish — Persecution of an Irish
Archbishop — Complaint of the Anglo-Irish Commons — State of Religion and Learning 286
CHAPTER XXVIII.
Reigns of Henry VI., Edward IV., Edw^vrd V., and Richard III. — State of Ireland on the Accession of
Henry VI. — Liberation of Donough MacMurrough — Incursions of Owen O'Neill — His Inauguration— Fam.
ine — The " Summer of Slight Acquaintance" — Distressing State of Discord — Domestic War in England at
this Period — Dissensions in the Pale — Complaints against the Earl of Ormond — Proc(«dings of Lord FWni-
val — Pestilence — Devotedness of the Clergy -The Duke of York in Ireland — His Popularity — Confesses his
Inability to Subdue the Irish— His Subsequent Fortunes and Death in England — Irish Pilgrimages to Rome
and St. James of Compostella- Munificence of Margaret of OflFa'.y — Her Banquets to the Learned — The But
lers and Geraldines take opp<isite sides in the English Wars - Popular Government of the Earl of Desmond —
He is unjustly Executed — Wretched Condition of the English Pale — Fatal Feuds and Indifference of the
Irish, and Contemporary Disorders in England — Atrocious Laws against the Irish 2l\3
CHAPTER XXIX.
Reign op Henry VII.— Forbearance of Henry VII. towards the Yorkists in Ireland— The Earl of Kildare con-
tinues Lord Dei)uty — Arrival of Lambert Simnel — His Cause Espoused by the Lords of the Pale — Coronation
of Simnel in Christ's Church— His Expedition to England — Defeat of Simnel's Anny at Stoke — Pardon of
his Adherents — Loyalty of Waterford — First use of Fire-arms in Ireland— Murder of the Earl of Desmond —
Arrival of Sir Richard Edgecomb — .Another Mock Prince — Disgrace of the Earl of Kildare — His Quarrel w ith
Sir James Ormond — Perkin Warbeck at Cork — Sir Edward Poynings Arrives in Ireland as Governor — The
Parliament of Drogheda ; Poynings' Act — The Earl of Kildare Attainted and sent Prisoner to England — His
Vindication before Henry VII. — Returns as Lord Lieutenant of Ireland — Further Adventures of Warbeck —
His last Visit to Ireland — His Execution — Transactions of the Native Princes during this period — The battle
of Knocktow— Death of Hugh Boo O'Neill 303
CHAPTER XXX.
Ukiqn op Henby VIII. — Accession of Henry VIH.- Gerald, Earl of Kildare, still I^ord Deputy — His last Trans-
actions and Death — Hugh U'Donnell visits Scotland and prevents an Invasion of IrelanjI— Wars of Uie
Kinel-Connell and Kinel Owen — Proceedings of the new Earl of Kildare — The Earl of Surrey Lord Lieu-
tenant— His Opinion of Irish Warfare — His Advice to the King about Ireland — His Return — The Earl of
Ormond succeeds, and is made Earl of Ossory — Wars in Ulster- Battle of Kuockavoc — Triumph of Kildare —
CONTENTS.
Vain attempts to reconcile CNeill and O'Dounell — Treasonable correspondence of Desmond — Kildare again
in difficulties — Effect of his Irish popularity— Sir William Skeffington Lord Deputy — Discord between him
and Kildare — New Irish Alliance of Kildare — His fall — Reports of the Council to the King — The Schism in
England — Relwllion of SUken Thomas— Murder of Archbishop Allen— Siege of Maynooth — Surrender of
Silken Thomas, and arrest of his Uncles— Their cruel fate— Lord Leonard Gray in Ireland— Destruction of
O'Brien's Bridge — Interesting events in Offaly — Desolating War against the Irish — Confederation of Irish
Cliiefs— Fidelity of the Irish to their Faith— Rescue of young Gerald FitzGerald— Extension of the Geraldine
League — Desecration of sacred things — Battle of Belahoe — Sulimission of Southern Chiefs — Escape of young
Gerald to France — Effects of the " Reformation" on Ireland — Servility of Parliament — Henry's insidious
policy in Ireland— George Brown, first Protestant Archbishop of Dublin— His character— Failure of the
new creed in Ireland — Terrible spoliation 6f the Irish by the Lord Justice— Submission of Irish Princes —
Their acceptance of Englisli titles and surrender of Irish ones — Henry VIII. made King of Ireland — Sub-
mission of Desmond— First native Irish Lords in Pariiament— Execution of Lord Leonard Gray— O'Neill
surrenders his territory and is made Earl of Tyrone — Murrough O'Brien made Earl of Thomond — Confisca-
tion of convent lands — Effect of the policy of concession and corruption 315
CHAPTEE XXXI.
Reign op Edward VI. and Mary. — Accession of Edward VI. — Somerset's government — War of Extermina^
tion in Leix and Offaly — Fate of O'More and O'Conor — Rising of O'Carroll — Successes of the Lord Deputy
Bellingham — The adventurers Bryan and Fay — Rebellion of Calvagh O'Donnell against his father— Power
of the Northern Chiefs curtailed— Instance of Bellingham 's firmness— Intrigues and changes in the Irish
Government — Exploits of the Scots in Ulster — War between Ferdoragh and Shane O'Neill— French emis-
saries in Ulster— Failure of the efforts to establish the new religion in Ireland— Zeal and firmness of Arch-
bishop Dowdall — Conference at St. Mary's Abbey— Plunder of Clonmacnoise — Accession of Queen Mary —
Her efforts to restore religion — Her ditHoulties in England — Injustice to her character — The work of restora-
tion easy in Ireland — Her kind disposition to Ireland frustrated — Affecting incident — Strife in Thomond —
Continued war with the Scots in Ulster— Shane O'Neill defeated by Calvagh O'Donuell 341
CHAPTER XXXII.
Beign of Elizabeth.— Religious pliancy of Statesmen and fidelity of tlie people— Shane O'Neill— Acts of the
Parliament of 15'59 — Laws against the Catholic religion— Miserable condition of the Irish Church — Discord
in Thomond — Machinations of Government against Shane O'Neill — Capture of Calvagh O'Donnell by the
latter — War with Shane — Defeat of the English — Plan to assassinate the Tyrone Chief— Submission of
Shane, and his visit to the Court of Elizabeth — His return, further misunderstanding, and renewed peace
with the Government — O'Neill defeats the Scots of Clannaboy — Feud between the Earls of Ormond and
Desmond — The latter wounded and captured at Affane— The Earl of Sussex succeeded by Sir Henry Sid-
ney— Renewed war in Ulster — O'Neill invades the English Pale — Defeated at Derry — Burning of Derry and
withdrawal of the English garrison— Death of Calvagh O'Donnell— O'Neill defeated by Calvagh 's successor,
Hugh — His disastrous flight, appeal to the Scots, and murder— His character — Visitation of Munster and
Connaught by Sidney — Sidney's description of the State of the country — Uis character of the great nobles —
Baae policy of the Government confessed by him — His energy and severity — Arrest of Desmond — Commence-
ment of serious troubles in the South — Position of the Catholics— Sir James FitzMaurice — Parliament of
1569— Fraudulent elections — Attainder of O'Neill — Claims of Sir Peter Carew — Rebellion of Sir Edmund
Butler- Sidney's military expedition to Munster — Sir John Perrott Lord President of Munster, and Sir
Edward Fitton President of Connaught — Renewed war in the South — Rebellion of the Earl of Thomond —
Rebellion of the sons of the Earl of Clanrickard — Battle of Shrule — The Castle of Aughnanure taken — Siege
and Capture of Castlemaine— Submission of Sir James FitzMaurice— Attempted English settlements in
Ulster — Horrible Massacre of the Irish in Clannaboy — Failure and di-atli of the Earl of Essex — Sir Henry
Sidney makes another visitation of the South and West — Sir William Drury President of Munster, and Sir
Nicholas Malby in Connaught — Illegal Tax, difficulties iu the Pale — Career and death of Rory Oge O'More —
Tlie massacre of Mullaghmast 350
CONTENTS.
CHAPTER XXXIII.
Beign op Elizatjeth, coNTratJED.— Plans of James FitzMaurice on the Continent— Projected Italian expe.
dition to Ireland— Its singular fate— FitzMaurice lands with some Spaniards at Sraerwick— Conduct of tlie
Earl of Desmond — Savage treatment of a bishop and priest— The insurgents scattered— Murder of Davells
and Carter— Tragical death of James FitzMaurice— Proceedings of Drury and Malhy— Catholics in the royal
ranks — Defeat of tlie royal army by John of Desmond at Gort-na-Tiobrad — Death of Sir William Drury
Important battle at Monasteranena— Defeat of the Geraldines— Desmond treated as a rebel— Hostilities
against him— Sir Nicholas Malby at Askeaton— Desmond at length driven into rebellion— He plunders and
burns Toughal— The country devastated by Orniond— Humanity of a friar— James of Desmond cajitured
and executed — Campaign of Pelham and Ormond in Desmond's country — Capture of Carrigafoyle castle
Other castles surrendered to the Lord Justice— Narrow escape of the Earl of Desmond— Insurrection in
Wicklow— Arrival of Lord Gray— His disaster in Glenmalure— Landing of a large S])ani3h armament at
Sniei-wick harbor— Lord Gray besieges the foreigners- Horrible and treacherous slaughter in the Fort Del
Ore — Savage barbarity of Lord Gray and his captains — Butchery of women and children near Kildimo
Rumored plot in DubUn— Arrest of the Earl of Kildare and others— Premature executions— Forays of the
Earl of Desmond— Melancholy end of John of Desmond- The FitzMaurices of Kelly in rebellion— Battle of
Gort-na Pisi— The Glen of Aherlovv— Desperate state of Desmond— His murder— His character— MikI policy
of Perrott — The Parliament of 1585 — Composition in Connaught — Plantation of Munster — Brutal severity
of Sir Richard Bingham in Connaught 377
CHAPTER XXXIV.
Reign of Elizabeth, contiktibd.- Affaire of Ulster— Hugh, Earl of Tyrone— His visit to Elizabeth— His
growing power— Complaints against him- Sir Hugh O'Donnell— Capture of Hugh Roe ODonnell ; cunning
device— Sir William FitzWilliam Lord Deputy— The Spanish Armada— The wrecks on the Irish coast-
Disappointed avarice of the Lord Deputy— He oppresses the Irish chiefs— Murders MacMahon— Hugh Geimh-
leach hanged by Hugh O'Neill, who then revisits London, excuses himself to Elizabeth, and signs terms of
agreement— O'Neill returns to Ireland, and refuses to give his sureties until the government should fulfil its
engagements— Hugh Roe's first escape from Dublin Castle, and his recapture— Fresh charges against Hugli
O'Neill— He carries off and manies the sister of Marshal Bagnal— Brian O'Rourke hanged in London— Hugh
Roe'8_ second escape -Affecting incidents— His adventures and return to Tirconnell— Drives off an English
party— His father's abdicatiop, and his own election as Chieftain- -He assails Turlough Luineach, and com
pels him to resign the chieftaincy of Tyrone to Hugh O'Neill— An English sheriff hunted out of Fermanagh-
Rebellion of Maguire— Enniskillen taken by the English— Irish victory at the Ford of the Biscuits, and
recapture of Enniskillen— Sir William Russell Lord Deputy— Hugh O'Neill visits Dublin -Bagnal's charges
against him— Vindication of his policy— Fiagh MacHugh O'Byrne and Walter Riavagh FitzGerald— Arrival
of Sir John Norris— Hugh O'Neill rises in arms— Takes the Blackwater Fort— Protracted negotiations-
War in Connaught ; succ^'sses of O'DonneU— Bingham foiled at Sligo, and retreats— Differences between
Norris and the Deputy- Bingham disgraced and recalled— Fresh promises from Spain— Interesting events
in Connaught— Proceedings of the Leinster insurgents— Ormond appointed Lord-Lieutenant— Last truce
with O'Neill— Hostilities resumed in Ulster— Desperate plight of the Government— Great Irish victory of the
Yellow Ford— Onnond repulsed in Leix— War resumed in Munster, etc 402
CHAPTER XXXV.
RwoN OF Elizabeth, concluded.— The Earl of Essex Viceroy— His Incapacity— His fruitless expedition to
Munster— O'Conor Sligo besieged at Colloony— Sir Conyers Clifford marches against O'Donnell— Total defeat
of the English at the Curlieu mountains, and death of Clifford— Essex applies for reinforcements— His march
to the Lagan-His interview with O'Neill-IIis departure from Ireland, and unhappy fate— O'Neill's expe-
dition to Munster— Combat and death of Hugh Maguire and Sir VVarham Sentleger— Arrival of Lord Mount-
joy as Deputy— O'Neill returns to Ulster— Presents from the Pope and the King of Spain— Capture of
Ormond by Owny O'More— Sir George Carew president of Munster— His subtlety— His plots against the
Sugaae Earl and his brother— Capture of Glin Castle, and general submission of Desmond— Death of Owny
O'ilure — Barbarous desolation of the country bv the Denutv — The son of th« 'ate Fjir' of DnanionH aum •/.
CONTENTS.
Ireland — Failure of his migsion— Retribution on a traitor (note) — Docwra's expedition to Lough Foyle —
Defi-ctions from the Irish ranks — Predatory excursions of Red Hugh O'Donnell -Jlountjoy's expeditions
against O'Neill — Complicated misfortunes of the Irish — Niall Qarv besieged in the monastery of Donegal by
Hugh Roe— Arrival of the Spaniards at Kinsale— They are besieged by Mountjoy and Carew— Extraordi-
nary march of O'DonncU, and mustering of the Irish forces to assist them — Battle of Kinsale, and total rout
of the Irish army— Departure of Red Hugh O'Donnell for Spain— Surrender of Kinsale, and departure of the
Spaniards— Deplorable state of the Irish— Dreadful famine— Siege of Punboy Castle— Flight of O'Sullevan —
L of O'Neill— Death of Elizabeth 431
CHAPTER XXXVI.
Reign of Jambs I. — The Irish submit to James, as a prince of the Milesian race, and suppose him to be friendly
to their creed and country — They discover their mistake — Revolt of the Southern towns — Hugh O'Neill and
Rory O'Donnell accompany Mountjoy to England — Title of Earl of Tirconnell created — Religious character
of the Irish wars — Suspension of Penal Laws under Elizabeth — Persecution of the Catholics by James —
Remonstrance of the Anglolrish Catholics — Abolition of Irish laws and customs— O'Neill persecuted — In-
veigled into a sham plot — Flight of Tyrone and Tirconnell to Rome — Rising of Sir Cahir O'Doherty — His
fate, and that of NiaU Garv O'Donnell and others— The confiscation and plantation of Ulster — The Corpora-
tion of London receives a large share of the spoils — A Parliament convened after twenty-seven years —
Creation of boroughs— Disgraceful scene in the election of Speaker — Secession of the recusants — Prototyi)o
of the Catholic Association — Treatment of the Catholic Delegates by the king — Concessions — Act of Pardon
and Oblivion— Unanimity of the new Session of Parliament — Bill of attainder against O'Neill and O'Donnell
passed— First general admission of the Irish under English law — Renewed persecution of the Catholics —
The king's rapacity — Wholesale confiscations in Leinster— Inquiry into defective titles — Extension of the
inquiry to Connaught — Frightful system of legal oppression 455
CHAPTEE XXXVII.
Reion of Charles I. — Hopes of the Catholics on the accession of Charles, and corresponding alarm of the
Protestants — Intolerant declaration of the Protestant bishops — The " graces" — The royal promise broken —
Renewed persecution of the Catholics — Outrage on a Catholic congregation in Cook-street — Confiscation of
Catholic schools and chapels— Government of Lord Went worth or Strafford — He summons a Parliament—
His shameful duplicity — The Commission of " Defective Titles" for Connaught — Atrocious six)liation in tlu
name of Law — Jury-packing — Noble conduct of a Gal way jury — Their punishment— Plantation of Ormond,
etc. — Fresh subsidies by an Irish Parliament— Strafford raises an army of Irish Catholics — He is impeached
by Parliament — His execution— Causes of the great insurrection of 1641 — Threats of the Puritans to extir-
pate the Catholic religion in Ireland — The Irish abroad — Their numbers and influence — First movements
among the Irish gentry — Roger O'More — liord Maguire — Sir Phelim O'Neill — Promises from Cardinal Riche-
lieu— Officers in the king's interest combine with the Irish gentry — Discovery of the conspiracy — Arrest of
Lord Maguire and MacMahon— Alarm in Dublin — The outljreak iu Ulster — Its first successes — Proclamation
of Sir Phelim O'NeiU— Feigned commission from the king — Gross exaggeration of the cruelties of the Irish —
Bishop Bedell and the remonstrance from Cavan — The massacre of Island Magee — The fable of a general
massacre by the Catholics refuted — Proclamations of the lords^justices — The Catholic nobility and gentry of
the Pale insulted and repulsed — Scheme of a general confiscation — Approach of the northern Irish to the
Pale — They take Mellifont and lay siege to Drogheda — Sir Charles Coote's atrocities in Wicklow -Efforts of
the Catholic gentry to communicate with the king — Outrages of troopers — The gentry of the Pale compelled
to stand on their defence — Meeting on the Hill of Crofty — The lords of the Pale take up arras— The insur-
rection spreads into Munster and Connaught — Royal proclamation— Conduct of the English Parliament —
The insurrection general— Seige of Drogheda raised — The battle of Kilrush — The general Assembly, etc. . 466
CHAPTER XXXVIII.
Rkion of Charueb I.. CONCLUDED. — The arrival of Owen Roe O'NciU — He assumes the command of the Irish
army in Ulster- Conduct of the Scots in Ulster — Lord Lieven's opinion of Owen Roe— Colonel Preston's
arrival in Wexford with officers and arms — Position of the lords-justices — State of the belligerents in Con-
naight and Munster — Opening of the General Assembly — Outline of their proceedings — Constitution of the
CONTENTS.
Supreme Council — Appointment of generals, &c.— Levy of money and soldiers — Remittances from the Con-
tinent— Establishment of a Mint — Progress of the war— Overture from the king to the Confederates — Hos-
tile conduct of Ormond — Gallant defence of Ross— Preston defeated near Ross — Conference with the Royal
Commissioners at Trim— Remonstrance of grievances — Obstacles to negotiation— Success of the Confeder-
ates—Death of Lord Moore— Capture of Colonel Vavasour — Foreign envoys— Arrival of Father Scaramjii —
Divisions in the Supreme Council — Disgrace of Parsons — Treaty of Cessation signed — Its rejection by the
Puritans — The Scots in Ulster take the Covenant — Bravery of the Irish soldiers sent into Sc^itland for the
king Ormond appointed Lord-Lieutenant — His negotiations with the Confederates — Catholic and Protestant
deputations to the king— Infringement of the Cessation of the Scots— Abortive expedition of Castlehaven
against Monroe — The king's impatience for a peace in Ireland — Orniond's prevarication — Renewed hor.tilities
in the south and west — Death of Archbishop O'Kealy — Mission of Glamorgan— His secret treaty with the
Confederates — Mission of the Nuncio Rinuccini — His arrival in Ireland — Reception at Kilkenny — Renewed
discussion of the peace question— Arrest of Glamorgan — Division among the Confederates — Treaty ot peace
Bigned by Ormond — Not approved by the Nuncio — Siege of Bunratty— Battle of Benburb— Increasing oppo
sition to the peace — Ormond's visit to Munster — Glamorgan joins the Nuncio's party— Dublin besieged by
the Confederates— Given up to the Parliamentarians— Ormond leaves Ireland — Dissensions in the Assembly—
Battles of Dungan Hill and Knocknonos — O'Neill takes arms against the Confederates — Ormond returns —
The peace of 1649 — Departure of the Nuntio — Prince Rupert's expedition 494
O'JAPTEE XXXIX.
t'RosrwElx. — State of parties aft-^r ire i«Rtli of Cliarles I. — (XNcUl's services sought by Ormond and by the Par-
liamentarians— Ormond and I>»cliiquin take the field — Drogheda and other towns surrender to the latter —
Siege of Dublin by Ormond— Great defeat of the royalists at Rathraines— Arrival of Cromwell— Siege of
Drogheda — Horrible massacre— Wexford betrayed to Cromwell— Frightful massacre of the inhabitanis —
Death of Owen O'Neill — Ross surrendered — Siege of Waterford— Courageous conduct of the citizens — The
siege raised — The Southern garrisons revolt to Cromwell — Wretched position of Ormond — Meeting of the
bishops at Clonmacnoise — Their declaration — Kilkenny surrendered to Cromwell — Siege of Clonmel — Heroic
self-devotion of the Bishop of Rosa — Surrender of Cionmel — Cromwell embarks for England — Death of Ileber
MacMahon — Meeting of the bishops at Jamestown — Ormond excommunicated — The king subscribes to the
covenant — New general assembly — Ormond retires to France, and the Marquis of Clanrickard becomes Lord
Deputy — Negotiations with the Duke of Lorraine — Limerick besieged by Ireton — Valor of Henry O'Neill-
Limerick betrayed to the besiegers — Barbarous executions — Death of Ireton — Surrender of Galway — Clan-
rickard accepts terms and leaves the kingdom — Wholesale confiscation and plunder — Horrible attempts to
exterminate the people — Banishment to Connaught and the West Indies — Execution of Sir Phelim O'Neill —
Atrocious cruelties — Oliver proclaimed Lord Protector — Henry Cromwell in Ireland — Death of Oliver — Pro-
ceedings of the Royalists^The Restoration 527
CHAPTEE XL.
Reion op Chahles it. — Hopes of the Irish Catholics at the Restoration— Their grievous disappointment— An
Irish Parliament convoked after twenty years — Discussions on the Act of Settlement in Ireland and Eng-
land— The Act passed— Establishment of the Court of Claims — Partial success of the Irish Catholics— Con-
sequent indignation and alarm of the Protestants — Rumored conspiracies — Blood's |)lot— The Act of ex-
planation—Provisions of the Act grossly unjust to Catholics— The Irish Parliament desire to make them
more so — The Irish remonstrance— Synod of the clergy in Dublin — English prohibitory laws against tho
importation of Irish cattle — General disaffection— Alarming rumors — Oppression of the Catholics — Recall of
Ormond — Lord Berkley s administration— Catholic Petition of Grievances — Colonel Richard Talbot — Com-
mission of Inquiry — Great alarm i)roduccd by it among the Protestants and New Interest -Recall of Lord
Berkley and appointment of Lord Essex — Violent address of the English Parliament — Increased oppression
of the Catholics— Restoration of Ormond— The Popish Plot— Arrest of Archbisho]) Talbot— Proclamations
against the Catholics— Puritan attempts to raise a rebellion in Ireland— Arrest of Archbishop Plunkett —
Frightful demoralization and perjury— Memoir of Dr. Plunket (nntf) — Uis martyrdom— Turn in tho tide of
pemecutiou — Irish writers of the seventeenth century — State of the Irish — Death of Charles 11 555
CONTENTS.
CHAPTER XLI.
Reign of James II.— Temper of parties in Ireland at the Accession of James H.— Hopes of the Catholics and
alarm of the Protestants— Clarendon Lord-lieutenant. — Refusal to repeal the Acts of Settlement — ('olonel
Richard Talbot created Earl of TircouneU, and appointed to the command of the army in Ireland— Succeeds
Clarendon as Lord-Lieutenant- Numerous Catholic appointments — Alarming rumors — Increased disaffection
of the Protestants — Birth of the Prince of Wales — William Prince of Orange invited to England — The League
of Augsburg — William's dissimulation— His arrival at Torbay— James deserted by his English sulyects apd
obliged to fly to France— Disloyal Associatipn of the Protestants of Ulster— The Protestants in general refuse
to give up their arras — The Rapparees — Irish troops sent to England, and the consequence — Closing the gates
of Derry— The Irish alone faithful to King James— He lands at Kinsale and marches to Dublin— Siege of
Derry — The town relieved and the siege raised — Conduct of the Enniskilleners — James's Parliament in Dub-
lin— Act of Attainder — Large levies of the Irish- Landing of Schomberg — He encamps at Dundalls and
declines battle with James — Battle of Cavau — William lands at Carrickfergus — Marches to the Boyne —
Disposition of the hostile forces — The Battle of the Boyne— Orderly retreat of the Irisli — Flight of King
James — He escapes to France — William marches to Dublin — Waterford and Duncannon reduced — Gallant
defence of Athlone by the Irish — Retreat of the Wllliamite army under Douglass — WUliam besieges Limer-
ick— Noble defence of the garrison — The English ammunition and artillery blown up by Sarsfield — The city
stormed — Memorable heroism of the besieged — William raises the siege and returns to England — Arrival
of St. Ruth — Loss of Atlilone— Battle of Aughrim and death of St. Ruth— Siege and surrender of Qalway —
Second siege of Limerick — Honorable capitulation — The Irish army embark for France 5G9
CHAPTEE XLII.
From the teeaty of Limkriok to the Declaration of Independence. — State of Ireland after the de-
parture of the brigades — The Articles of Limerick violated— The Catholics reduced to a deplorable condi-
tion— Disposal of the forfeited estates — William HI. and his Parliament at issue — Enactment of penal lawr
in Ireland — Mol}neux's " case stated" — Destruction of the Irish woollen manufacture — Death of William-
Intolerance of the Protestant colonists — Penal laws of Queen Anne's reign — The sacramental test — Attempts
to extirpate the Catholics — The Palatines (note) — Accession of George I. — Rebellion in Scotland in Wl5 —
Profound tranquillity in Ireland^Rigorous executiou of the penal laws — Contests between the English and
Irish Parliaments — The latter deprived of its independence — BUI for more effectually preventing tue growth
of Popery— Rise of the patriots in the Irisli Parliament — Dean Swift. — Woods' half-pence — jiitraordinary
excitement — Frightful state of public murals — Cardinal Wiseman on the fidelity of the Irish (note) — Acces-
sion of George II. — An address from the Catholics treated with contempt— Primate Boulter— Caarter scliools
established to proselytize the Catholic children — Converted Papists suspected — Distress ana emigration —
Fresh rigors against the Catholics — Proposed massacre — The great Scottish rebellion of 1V45— Lord Ches-
terfield in Ireland — Disputes in the Irish Parliament about the surplus revenue — The patriots weakened by
the corrupting policy of the Government — First movements of the Catholics — First Catholic committee —
Discountenanced by the clergy and aristocracy — Thurot's expedition— Accession of George III. — The White,
boys — The Hearts-of Oak and Hearts-of-Steel Boys — Efforts of tlie patriots against the pension list — Execution
of Father Sheehy— Lord Townsend's administration — The Octennial Bill— The Irish Parliament struggles
for independence — Outbreak of the American war, and attempts to conciliate Ireland — Refusal to receive
foreign troojjs — The volunteers — Great distress and popular discontent — Mr. Grattan's resolution of inde-
pendence— Conduct and resolution of the volunteers — The Dungannon resolutions — Legislative independence
of Ireland voted — New measures of Catholic reUef — Influence of the volunteers 623
CHAPTER XLIII.
From the Dect,abation of Independence to the Union. — Sliort-comings of the volunteer movement —
Corruption of the Irish Parliament — The national convention of delegates at the Rotunda- -The Blsnop of
Derry — The Convention's Reform Bill — Bill reji^cted by Parliament- The convention dissolved and the fate
of the volunteers sealed — The Commercial Relations Bill — Orde's propositions — Great excitement in Parlia-
ment— Mr. Pitt's project abandoned— Popular discontent — Disorders in the South — The Right- boys— The
feud of the Peep-o'-day-boys and Defenders— Frightful atrocities of the former — The Orange Society -The
CONTENTS.
regency question — Political clubs — Ferment produced by the French Revolution — The Catholic committee —
Theobald Wolfe Tone— Formation of the Society of United Irishmen — Their principles— Catholic Relief
Bill ot 1793 — Trial of Archibald Hamilton Rowan — Mission of Jackson from the French Directory — His
conviction and suicide— Administration of Earl FitzWilliam— Great excitement at his recall— New organiza-
tion of the United Irishmen— Their revolutionary plans— Wolfe Tone's mission to France— The spy system —
Iniquitous proceedings of the Government — Efforts to accelerate an explosion— The Insurrection and Indem-
nity acts — The Bantry Bay expedition— Reynolds the informer — Arrest of the Executive of the United
Irishmen — Search for Lord Edward Fitzgerald — His arrest and death — The insurrection prematurely forced
to an explosion — Free quarters, torturings, and military executions — Progress of the insurrection — Battle of
Tara- Atrocities of the military and the magistrates — The insurrection in KiUIare. Wexford, and Wicklow —
Successes of the insurgents — Outrages of runaway troops — Siege of New Ross — Retaliation at ScuUabogue —
Battle of Arklow — Battle of Vinegar Hill — Lord Cornwallis assumes the gtvernment — Dispersion and sur
render of insurgents— The French at Killala— Flight of the English— The insurrection finally extinguished—
The Union proposed — Opposition to the measure — Pitt's perfidious policy successful — The Union carried. 6G3
CHAPTEE XLIV.
Catholic Emancipation— Two Yeaeb op the Union.— Influence of the Union measures upon politics-
Deception of the English Government — William Pitt and King George III. — Course of Lord Cornwallis^
Michael Dwyer in the mountains of Wicklow — Alarm as to French invasion — Catholic emancipation — Views
of the King and William Pitt — Pitt resigns— Cornwallis also — Addington ministry — General state of the
country — Military force in Ireland — Debates in Parliament as to martial law and suspension of habeas
corpus— Pence of Amiens— EffJjrts of United Irishmen in Paris— Lord Redesdale succeeds Earl of Clare —
Relief of disaliilities sought by Presbyterians and Catholics— Lord Castlereagh's statements on the subject —
Extracts from his letter to Mr. Addington — Apprehensions of a renewed invasion by the Frencli — Fears as
to Indand — Military force in the country — Outbreak in Limerick and Tipperary — Need of raising militia and
yeomanry — ^Doubts as to numbers to be sent by the French, and the effect produced 708
CHAPTER XLV.
iNsimnErTioN under Robekt Emmet. — Early life, family, and education of Robert Emmet — Visits the con-
tinent— Joins the United Irishmen in Paris— Fate of Colonel Despard's conspiracy — Emmet returns to Dub-
lin— His labors, resources, and hopes — Contrivances in his country-house and in Dublin— His confidants and
coworkers — .Michael Dwyer and his adventures— Emmet's expectations — Reasons for hastening the insur-
rection—Plans of Emmet — Remarkable address of the Provisional Government " to the people of Ireland " —
On the day appointed, few come forward to join in the outbreak — Events of the evening of July 33d— Cruel
murder of Lord Kilwarden — Course of the authorities — Emmet's flight — Arrested — Russell arrested and
executed — Trial of Emmet — Speech of Plunkett — The prisoner's eloquent address to the court — Executed
the next day— Numerous arrests and imprisonments ... 714
CHAPTER XLVI.
Lord Hardwicke's Administration— Policy op Pitt and Fox — Catholic Petition. — Suspension o{ habeas
corpus act — Martial law— Investigation into the state of Ireland called for — Pitt again in power — Disap-
pointment of the Catholics — Agitation in Ireland — Great meeting in Dublin Position of England — Debate
on renewing habeas corpus suspension act — Arguments advanced — Catholics determined to appeal to Parlia-
ment—The petition in full— .\ction in the House of Lords — Fox in the House of Commons— Strong vote
against t'lie petition— State of affairs — Death of William Pitt—" The ministry of all the talents" — Revival o{
spirit among Catholics — Dis]>ute8 as to the " Catholic committee" — Duke of Bedford Lord-Lieutenant — Cora-
plaints as to his administration — Disturbances in Ireland — " The Threshers," and their lawless course —
Death of Fox— Meetings in Dublin — Petition drawn up — The Maynooth grant— Course of the ministry in
favor of the Catholics— I/ud Ilowick's bill— Opiiosition of the king— Bill withdrawn— Ministers dismissed-
" No Popery cabinet" formed — Prospect in the future 7!tt
CONTENTS.
CHAPTER XLVII.
Proghess of Affairs — Dtjke of Richmond's Administration. — Opposition of tlie king — Presentation of
Catholic petition postponed — Duke of Kiclimond Lord-Lieutenant— Insurrection act — Sir Arthur Wellesley —
State of Ireland — The veto question — Course of tlie Catholics — Agitation renewed — Meeting in Dublin —
Oriinge lodges and doings — English Roman Catholics on veto question — Grattan's efforts — Government
policy — Question of the veto in 1810 — Catholic committee's circular — Extracts from — Movement for repent of
the Union — Meeting in Dublin— O'Connell's speech — Convention act enforced against Catholic committee —
Proceedings of Government — "Aggregate meetings" — Petition to prince regent proposed— Catholic board
organized^Mr. (Sir Robert) Peel, chief secretary in Ireland — His policy and acts — Famous Parliamentary
debate in 1812 — Position of Ireland at this date — Earnest working for the cause — The prince regent said to
be in favor of the Roman Catholic claims— Hopes and expectations excited— Ministry denounced— Protestants
roused — Feelings and views manifested — Various acts of outrage in Ireland — The state of things adverse to
Catholic claims — Mr. Perceval assassinated — Result in general 744
CHAPTER XLVIII.
Leadership of O'Conneli,— Emancipation Effected.— State of affairs at this date— Grattan's emanciiation
bill — Canning's clauses — Opinions in Ireland as to the veto — O'Connell's course — Speech at aggregate meeting
in Dublin — Prosecution of Maghee — Outrages in Ireland — Severe measures resorted to — Petitions — Veto
question- — Inquiries into the state of Ireland— Distress, discontent, etc. — O'Connell's statement as to veto
question— George IV. and his queen — Plunkett's motion — The king's visit to Ireland — Wellesley Lord-
Lieutenant — Whiteboys and Cajitain Rock's men— Their excesses and cruelties — Famine audits terrors —
Help afforded by England— Wellesley insulted in Dublin Theatre — Moral degradation of witnesses— Tithe
composition act — State of education in Ireland — Use of the Bible in schools — The Catholic association in
1823 — Its power and influence — Catholic rent — Association suppressed — New one formed — O'Connell's
threat — Sir F. Burdett's resolution — O'Connell's activity and influence — Canning's ministry and death —
March of events— O'Connell elected for County Clare — Test and corporation acts repealed — Wellington's
and Peel's policy — Measures adopted — Emancipation carried — O'Connell in the House — Seat denied him —
Re-elected, and victory at last complete 756
CHAPTER XLIX.
Ireland's Intellectual and Moral Position.— Ireland distinguished for brilliant orators, poets, writers,
etc. — Her contributions to literature and science — Her Burkes, ()rattans, Currans, Edgeworths, etc. — Tno.MAS
Moore, the poet pnr excellence of Ireland— Birth and educa ion — Visits America — Duel with Jeffrey — Mar-
riage— His " Irish Melodies" — " Lalla Rookh." and biographical and historical works — Receives a pension of
£300— Death, in 1852, and character— Thomas DA\^s, a poet and jirose writer of note— Connected with the
" Nation"— Object of this journal^Daviss labors— D.-ath in 1845— Extracts from his literary and historical
essays — Father M.\thew — Birth and education — Becomes a priest — Labors among the poor in and around
the city of Cork— Enters on the terajierance movement — Marvellous effects of his labors — Visits other cities
with great success — Goes to England — Thence visits the United States — Returns to Ireland, and dies in
1850 — Beneficial results of his life and career — Statements of Mr. Smyth on Father Matthew'!
temperance — All honor to his name 1
CHAPTER L.
O'Connell in Parliament, and Ireland's Struggles. — Position and influence of O'Connell in Parliament^
Death of George IV. — Succeeded by William IV. — Excitement aT)Out reform — Change of ministry — Marquis
of Anglesea Lord-Lieutenant— Decides against public meetings for repeal — O'Connell and others arrested,
tried, and convicted, but not sentenced — Reform-Bill introduced into Parliament — O'Connell's activity, i)o)>u-
larity, and demands — Reform Bill carried in 1832 — Not much satisfaction to Inland — .Vgitation on the
subject of tithes — Abolition of ten bishoprics, etc. — Earl Grey's coercion bill— .\gitation not elopix'd — Dia
CONTEXTS.
cussion in Parliament on the Repeal question— The "Experiment" proposed and attempted to be carried
out — Of no real benefit — Orange lodges and other societies suppressed — Bills for reform of municipal corpora-
tiouB, for poor-laws, for abolition of -tithes, etc., 1S3(> — Mr. Nichols' Report on the condition of tlie poor in
Ireland — Lord John Uussell's bill — Passed in ISJIS — Result — O'Connell's labors for years — Death of William
rV. — Accession of Queen Victoria — Expectations— Demands in behalf of Ireland — Keforra in Irish corporar
tions — Good results -Lord Fortescue Lord-Lieutenant — His policy — Repeal Association formed in 1840 —
O'ConneU Lord-Mayor of Dublin — Petition of city corporation for repeal of the Union — " Monster meetings" —
Immense gatherings — Bold language of O'Connell and Bishop Higgius — Government pre])aration8 — Meeting
»t Mullughmast— One appointed to be held at Clontarf— Forbidden by the Lord-Lieutenant— O'ConneU and
gix others arrested, tried, and convicted — Sentence and imprisonment, 1844 — III effects upon O'Connell — His
views as to using force in carrying forward repeal — The " Young Ireland" party — O'Connell's sickness and
death, 1847 - Estimate of his character and career — Determination of the British Government — Macaulay's
expressions — Eidogy on O'Coimell — ^The potato rot or disease — Terrible famine in Ireland^Maynootli
endowment, 184.5 — Queen's Colleges — Denounced by the Catholic hierarchy — Catholic University founded-
Oovernment eiforts to relieve distret^s — Bill for constructing public works so as to employ the poor— Tlio
famine of 184(i-7 — Poor-law amended — Large contril)utions for relief — Private benevolence — Sad picture of
tlie state of the country — Places for relief— Extensive emigration — Increased for years — Diminution of popu
lation between 1841 and 1851 777
CHAPTEE LI.
rm O'Brien'b iNstmnEcxroN — MoitE recent Histoht and Phookess. — The "Young Ireland" party and
the " Irish Confederation" — VViUiara Smith O'Brien — His co-workers, Meagher, Mitchell, and others — Tha
year 1848 a year of revolutions- O'Brien in Parliament — Goes to Paris — Sympathy of the French— O'Brien
prosecuted for sedition — Jury not agreed— Set at liberty — Mitchell transported— Condition of the country —
Affray at Dolly's Brae — Action now resolved upon by O'Brien, Duffy, O'Gorman, etc. — Measures of Govern-
ment— O'Brien's movements — March from Enniscorthy — Encounter with the police near Ballingar — The
contlict, and result — O'Brien and others arrested, tried, and condemned — Sent to Australia — Proposal
to abolish lord-lieutenancy — Eviction of small farmers and tenant-rights — Mr. Crawford's bills — "Irish
Tenant-league" — Further attempts at legislative settlement of the question — General face of the country
improved— Ireland's share in the Great Exhibition in Hyde Park in 1831 — Exhibition in Cork in 18.53 — Earl
of Eglintoun Lord-Lieutenant — Political excitement - Aggregate meeting in Dublin — Right Rev. Dr. C'ullen
presides— Resolutions ado|ited— Proposal of Mr. Gladstone, chancellor of the exchequer, to impose the income-
tax on Ireland — His statements and views -Two weeks' debate— Speeches and arguments of the opposition —
The Government plan supported by a majority of 71 — The result — Ecclesiastical affairs brought under dis-
cussion— Opposition to, and complaints of, the establishment — National system of education — Discussion in
Parliament — Ekrl Derby's speech — Testimony of a Catholic writer respecting the schools, the books used,
etc. — Mr. Dargan's public-spirited efforts to inaugurate the Industrial Exhibition of 1853 — The building,
contents, etc. — Opening of the Exhibition by Earl St. Germans — Visit of her majesty Queen Victoria to
Ireland — Her presence at the Exhibition — Results hoped for 7U6
CHAPTER LI I.
E Fenian BnoTHEnnooD — Ireland's Present Position and Prospects — Hope for the Futttre. —
Activity and zeal of the Irish patriots — The Fenian Brotherhood — Origin and purpose of this association— Its
scientific organization — First Fenian Cimgress at Chicago, 180.'!- Second Congress at Cincinnati, January,
1865 — Third Congress in Philadelphia, September, 18fi5 — Reorganization, steps taken of various kinds, etc. —
Course of the British (Jovernment- Martial law proclaimed in Ireland— James Stephens, the Head Centre
of the whole Brotherhood, arrested— His escape from prison— Visits the United States— The Queen's speech,
February, 1806 — Suspension of the haheax corpux act — .John Bright's views— S. Mill's remarks— Fenian
invasion of Canada — Mortifying failure— Course pursued by the President of the United States — Criticized
by the Irish patriots — Lord Derby's thanks to the United States Government — Fenians tried and condemned
in Canada — McMahon and Lynch sentenced to be hung — Mr. Seward's interposition — P'icitement among
the Irish— Stephen's speech at meeting held at Jones's Wood, New York— His bold announcement-
Opposition to the Fenian movement by bishops and priests of the Catholic Church— Extracts from a Cath-
CONTENTS.
olic paper on this subject — Meeting of Fenians in New York, November, 18G0— Resolution and ai-Te»l
adopted — Fatiier Vauglian's 8i)irited review of " English misrule in Ireland" — The rising in Ireland rei-
ported as having been entered upon at the close of November, 1800— Spirit and tone of the English press —
Threats of retaliation on the part of the Fenians — Fixed resolve of the British Government — Force nnaer
Stephens in Ireland — Sympathy in various quarters— Warren's address to Irishmen in America — Extracts
from an Irish New York journal on the position of affivirs and the prospects of success — Condition of tiangs
at the close of 1800 — Views and ojiinions of eminent Irishmen and Englishmen on the questions at iMue — ■
What has been done for the people's good — What remains to bo done — Ml despcrayidum — IrelaDJ must
be free 80»
THE
HISTORY OF IRELAND,
CHAPTER I.
The First Inliabitants of Ireland. — The Colonies of Parthalon and Nemedius.-
or Belgians.— The Tuatha do Dananns.— The Legend of Manar
-Tlie Fomorians.— The Firbclgs
in Mac Lir, &c.
ACCORDING to the ancient clironi-
cles of Ireland, the first inhabitants
of this country was a colony who ar-
rived here from Migdonia, supposed to
be Macedonia, in Greece, under a lead-
er whose name was Parthalon, about
300 years after the D"eluge, or, according
to the chronology adopted by the Four
Masters, iu the year of the world 2520.
Some ftxbles are related of persons hav-
ing found their way to Ireland before
tlie Flood, and also of a race of people,
who lived by fishing and hunting, having
l)een found here by Parthalon (or Par-
ralaun, as the name is pronounced) ; but
these are rejected by our ancient annal-
ists as unworthy of credit, and merit no
attention. It is said of Parthalon that
he fled from his own country, Avhere he
had been guilty of parricide; that he
landed at Inver Scene, now the Ken-
* Or, as some think, the river Corrano, in Kerry,
f The place in which this catastrojihe happened was
tUled S<-iut-ma!/h-Ei(!t'i.E(!mi; or " The Old Plain of the
2
mare river," accompanied by his three
sons, their wives, and a thousand fol-
lowers ; that he was the first who clear-
ed any part of Ireland of the primeval
woods which covered it ; that certain
lakes, namely, Lough Con and Lough
Mask, in Mayo, Lough Gara, on the bor-
ders of Roscommon and Sligo, two
others which cannot now be identified
by their ancient names, and Lough Cuan,
or Sti'angford Lough, in the county of
Down, were first formed during the
period of his colony; that he died in
the plain in which Dublin now stands,
thirty years after his landing; and that,
in the same plain, in a. m. 2820, that is,
300 years after their arrival, his entire
colony, then numbeiing 9,000 persons,
perished by a pestilence, in one week,
leaving the oountiy once more without
inhabitant?;.!
Flocks of Edair," a name which it received in after-tlnie«
from an Irish chieftain, from whom the Ilill of Ilowth wm
ralli'd Bon-Edair: and it cxtcndt'd from that hill to the
0
THE FIRST INHABITANTS.
It is said that Ireland remained waste
for thirty years, until the next colony,
which also came from the southeastern
part of Europe, or the vicinity of the
Euxine Sea, led by a chief called Neme-
dius, or Neimhidh (pronounced Nevy)^
ari'ived here, and occupied the country
for about 200 years. The annals record
the names of the raths or forts which
were constructed, and of the plains
which were cleared of wood during this
period ; and they also mention the erup-
tion, during the same time, of four lakes,
namely. Lakes Derryvarragh and Ennell
in "VVestmeath, and two others not iden-
tified. Nemedius, with 2,000 of his fol-
lowers, were carried off by a pestilence
in the island of Ard-Neimhidh, now the
Great Island of Barrymore, near Cork ;
and the remnant of his people, who ap-
pear to have been engaged in constant
conflicts with a race of pirates called
Fomorians, who infested the coast, were
at length nearly annihilated in a great
l)attle with these formidable enemies,
A. jr. 3066. They attacked and demol-
ished the principal Fomorian strong-
hold, called Tor-Conainn, or Conang's
base of the Dublin mountains, and along the banks of
the LiflFey. ,
The memory of this event is preserved in the name of
the village of Tallaght (Tamleacht), which signifies " the
plague monument," from Tamh, a plague, and Leacld, a
monument ; and in Irish books this place is sometimes
called Tamleacht Muintir Parthaloin, or "the plague
monument of Partholan's people," to distinguish it from
other plague monuments, also called Tamleachts, in
other parts of Ireland. (See O'Donovan's " Four Mas-
tiTs," and Doctor Wilde's "Report on- Tables of Deaths,"
ill the Census of 1851.) The pestilence which swept away
Parthalon's colony was the first that visited Ireland, and
le Hiid to have been caused by the corrupting bodies
Towei-, in Tory island, on the north-
west coast of Donegal ; but succor hav
ing arrived by sea to the pirates, the
battle was renewed on the strand, and
became so fierce that the combatants
suffered themselves to be surrounded by
the rising tide, so that most of those
who did not fall in the mutual slaughter
were ingulphed in the waves.* Three
captains of the Nemedians, with a hand-
ful of their men, survived, and, in a few
years after, made their escape from Ire-
land, with such of their countrymen as
chose to follow their fortunes. One
party, under Briotau Maol, a grandson
of Nemedius, sought refuge in the neigh-
boring island of Albion, in the north-
ern part of which their posterity remain-
ed until the invasion of the Picts, many
centuries after ; and that island, as some
will have it, took the name of Britain
from their leader, and not from the fiib-
ulous Brutus. Another portion of the
refugees passed, after many wanderings,
into the northern parts of Europe,
where they became the Tuatha de Da-
nann of a subsequent age ; and finally,
the third party of the scattered Neme-
of the dead slain in a battle with the people called
Fomorians.
* Who these Fomorians were, who are so often men-
tioned in Irish history, is a matter of speculation. They
are said by some of the old annalists to have been Afri-
can pirates of the race of Ham ; but O'Flalierty thinks
they were Northmen, or Scaudinarians. Some mmiern
writers will have it that they were Phoenicians; but
their name implies in Irish that they were sea-robbers,
and it is remarkable that their memory is preserved in
the Irish name of the G iant's Causeway, which is Cloghan-
na-Fomharaigh, or the causeway or stepping-stones of
the Fomorians. (See O'Brien's Diet.) The Fomorians
are by some called the aborigines of Ireland.
THE FIRBOLGS.
11
diaus made tlieir way, under their chief,
Simon Breac, another grandson of Ne-
medius, to Greece, where they were
kept in bondage, and compelled to carry
burdens in leathern bags, whence they
obtained the name of Firbolgs or Bag-
men*
For a long interval — 200 years, say
the bards — after the great battle of
Tory island, we are told that Ireland
remained almost a wilderness, the few
Nemedians who were left behind hav-
ing retired into the interior of the coun-
try, where they, nevertheless, were
made to feel the galling yoke of tlie
Fomorians, who were now the undis-
puted masters of the coast ; but at the
end of the interval just mentioned, the
island was restored to the former race,
although under a different name. The
Firbolgs having multiplied considerably
in Greece, resolved to escape from the
bondage under which thej^ groaned, and
for that purpose seized the ships of their
masters, and proceeding to sea, succeeded
in making their way to Ireland, where
they landed without opposition (a. ji.
3266), and divided the country between
their five leadei's, the five sons of Deala,
each of whom ruled in turn over the
entire island. The names of these bro-
thers were, Slainghe, Rury, Gann, Gea-
nann, and Seangann ; and from the first
of them the river Slaney, in Wexford,
is said to have derived its name. It
v/ould appear that there were several
*From Fir, "men," and holff, wliicli in Irish means a
"leathern hnp;."
t The Irish name of Leiniter was somcliniea written
trilies engaged in this e.xpeditiou, al-
though all belonged to the same race.
Thus, one section of them, called Fir-
Domhnan, or Damnonians, landed on
the coast of Erris, in Mayo, where they
became very powerful, giving their
name to the district, which has been
called, in Irish, larras-Domhnan, that is,
the western promontory or peninsula of
the Damnonians; while another tribe,
distinguished by the name of Fir-Gail-
lian, or Spearmen, landed on the eastern
coast, and from them some will have it
that the province of Leinster has been
so named. f
Such is the account of the origin of
the Firbolgs and Damnonians, given by
the bardic annalists; and of this and
similar I'elations, which we find in our
primeval history, we may remark in
general that, however they may be en-
veloped in fable, we have sufficient rea-
son for believing them to be founded in
historic truth ; and that they are not
lightly to be set aside, where nothing
better than conjecture can be substitu-
ted. The favorite modern theory is,
that the Firbolg colony came into this
country from the neighboring coasts of
Britain, and that they were identical in
race with the peoj)le of Belgic Gaul, and
with the Belgoe and Dumnonii of South-
ern Britain. Then ai'ises the question,
were these Belga? Celts, or were they of
Tuetonic or Gothic origin? To this we
can only answer that the Irish authorities
Coige Qaillian ; Coige being the word for a fifth part, or
one of the five provinces ; but it ia more generally caUod
Laij;liin, a word which signifies a spear or javelin.
THE FIRBOLGS.
are explicit iu stating that the Fii'bolgs
were of the same race with subsequent
colonies, who were confessedly Celtic,
and this seems to be the generally re-
ceived opinion.*
The Belgae, or Firbolgs, had only en-
joyed possession of the countiy for
tliirty-seven years, according to the
chronology of the Four Masters, or for
eighty years, according to that of
O'Flaherty, when their dominion was
disputed by a formidable enemy. The
new invaders were the celebrated Tua-
tha de Dananns, a people of whom such
strange things are recounted, that
modern writers were long uncertain
whether they should regard them as a
purely mythical race, or concede to
them a real existence, all Irish anti-
quaries, however, adopting at present
the latter alternative. The arrival of
the Tuatha de Dananns took place in
the year of the world 3303, the tenth
year of the reign of the ninth and last
of the Firbolgic kings, Eochy, son of
Ere. The leader of the invaders was
Nuadhat-Airgetlamh, or Nuad of the
Silver Hand, and their first proceeding
on landinc; was to burn their own fleet.
* In tlie Irish version of Nennius, published for the
Irish ArchjEological Society, the Firbolgs are termed
Viri Bullorum, which, as the learned editor, Dr. Todd,
remarks, might afford a derivation for the name not
previously noticed ; the word Dullum, in the Latinity
of the middle ages, signifying, according to Du Cange,
/?rtc«ZMOTp«stom, a shepherd's staff. In the additional
notes to that publication, by the Hon. Algernon Herbert,
many curious suggestions are made about these and the
other ancient inhabitants of Ireland, all which specula-
tions show how exceedingly vague and meagre is the
information that can be gleaned about these primitive
iT/5tP, and liow uncertain are the theories wliich have
in order to render all retreat impossi-
ble. According to the su])erstitious
ideas of the bards, these Tuatha de Da-
nanns were profoundly skilled in magic,
and rendered themselves invisible to
the inhabitants until they had penetra-
ted into the heart of the country. In
other words, they landed under cover
of a fog or mist ; and the Firbolgs, at
first taken by surprise, made no regular
stand, until the new-comei's had march-
ed almost across Ireland, when the two
armies met face to face on the plain oi
Moyturey, near the shore of Lough
Corrib, in part of the ancient territory
of Par try. Here a battle was fought
in which the Firbolgs were overthrown,
with "the greatest slaughter," says an
old writer,-)- "that was ever heard of in
Ireland at one meeting." Eochy, tho
Firbolg king, fled, and was overtaken
at a place in the present county of Sligo,
where he was slain, and where his cairn,
or the stone-heap raised over his grave,
is still to be seen on the sea-shore;
while the scattered fragments of his
army took refuge in the northern isle of
Aran, Rathlin island, the Hebrides, the
Isle of Man, and Britain. ;{:
been formed about them. Of the Firbolgs, however, as
we shall hereafter see, we find frequent mention in what
all admit to be authentic periods of Irish history ; and
their monuments, and even their race, still exist
among us.
t Connell Mageoghegan's "Annals of Clonmacnoise."
I Book of Leacan, fol. 277 ; quoted in the Ogygia, Part
iii.,c. 9.
The site of this battle is sometimes called Moyturey of
Cong, from its proximity to that town, and "it is still
pointed out," says Dr. O'Donovan (Four Masters, vol. L
p. IG), "in the parish of Cong, barony of Kiim.iino,
and county of Mayo, to the right of the road as you go
THE TUATHA DE DANANNS.
13
The victorious Nuadhat lost Ws hand
in this battle, and a silver hand was
made for him by Credne Cerd, the artifi-
cer, and fitted on him by the physician,
Dieucecht, whose son, Miach, improved
the work, according to the legend, by
infusing feeling and motion into every
joint of the artificial hand as if it had
been a natural one. Hence the surname
which the king received. The story
may be taken as an illustration of the
surgical and mechanical skill which the
Tuatha de Dananns were believed to
possess: and we are further told, that
for the seven years during which the
operation was in progress, a temporary
king was elected, Breas, Avhose father
was a Fomorian, and whose mother was
of the Tuatha de Dananns, having been
chosen for the purpose. At the end of
that period Nuadhat resumed the au-
thority; and in the twentieth year of
his reign, counting from this resumption,
he fell in a battle fought with the Fo-
morians, who took the field at the iusti:
gation of their countryman, the deposed
king, Breas, and were aided also, we
may suppose, by the Firbolg refugees.
This battle was fought at a place called
Northern Moyturey, or Moyturey of the
Fomorians; and its name is still pre-
served in that of a townland in the
barony of Tirerrill, in the county of Sli-
go, where several sepulchral monuments
from Cong to the village of tlie Neal. From the monu-
ments of tills battle still remaining, it is quite evident that
groat numbers were slain." The cairn of the Firbolg
king, Eocliy, is on the shore near Ballysadare, in the
county of Sligo; and, although not high above the
still mark the site of the ancient battle-
field. Nuadhat was killed in this con-
flict by Balor "of the mighty blows,"
the leader of the Fomorians, who is de-
scribed in old traditions as a monster
both in barbarity and strength, and as
having but one eye. Balor himself was
killed in the same battle by a stone cast
from a sling by his daughter's son, Lugh
Lamhfhada, or Lewy of the long hand,
in revenge for some of his crimes.
We have here followed the generall}'
received account of the fate of the Fir-
bolgs in the Tuatha de Danaiin invasion ;
but there is another version of it given
in an ancient Irish manuscript'"'' which
is much more consistent with subse-
quent history. According to this latter
account, the battle of Southern Moytu-
rey resulted in a compromise, rather than
in such a defeat as thatmentioued above;
and although the Firbolg king was slain,
another leader of the same peoj^le, named
Srang, was still at the head of a con-
siderable force ; and, after some nego-
tiations, a partition of the country was
agreed to, Srang and his people i-etain-
ing Connaught, and the Tuatha de Da-
nanns taking all the remaindei*. Mac-
Firbis, iu his tract on the Firbolgs,
seems to say that an account of the
afl:air to some such effect existed ; and
unless it be admitted, it is impossible
to account for the firm footinc: which
strand, it is the popular belief that the tide can never
cover it.
*The author is indebted to Professor Eugene Curry
for the purjwrt of this tract, which appears to have
esciped the attention of our other Irish scholars.
THE TUATHA DE DAXANXS.
we find these people all along holding
in Ireland, and for their position at the
Milesian epoch, when they were at first
received as allies by the invaders, and
were afterwards, for centuries, able to
resist them in war. Nor is this account
inconsistent with the statement that
many of the Fii'bolgs repaired, on the
arrival of the Tuatha de Dananns, to
the islands mentioned above.
Lugh Lamhf hada, the slayer of Balor,
succeeded Nuadhat as king of Ireland ;
and the fact that he was of Fomorian
origin, on his mother's side, and a
Tuatha de Danann on that of his father,
as well as a like mingling of races in
the person of Breas, the first king of
the Tuatha de Dananns, led to the con-
clusion that an affinity existed between
the two races, and afford an argument
to O'Flaherty, who held that both ra-
ces were Northmen, or Danes.* Lugh
reigned forty years, and instituted the
public games, or fair, of the hill of Taill-
tean, now Teltown, near the Blackwater,
in Meath, in commemoration of his
foster-mother, Taillte, the daughter of
]\Iaghmor, a Spanish, or Iberian king,
and wife of Eochy, son of Ere, the last
of the Firbolg kings, after whose death,
in the battle of Southern Moyturey, she
married a Tuatha de Danann chief, and
undertook the fostering, or education, of
the infant Lewy. This celebrated fair,
at which various sj^orts took place, con-
tinued to be held until the twelfth cen-
tury, on the 1st of August, which day
»Ogygia, part i., p. 13.
is still called, in Ii-ish, Lugh-Xasadh, or
Lugh's fail- ; and vivid traditions are yet
preserved of the pagan form of mari-iage.
andancient sports, of which the old latli
of Teltown was the scene.f
Lewy, having been killed by Mac-
Cuill at Caendruim, now the hill of Uis-
neach, in Westmeath, was succeeded by
Eochy Ollathair, who was surnamed the
Dagda Mor (the Great-good-fire), the
son of Ealathau. The Dagda reigned
eighty yeai's, and having died from the
efl:*ects of a wound inflicted 120 years
before at the battle of Northern INIoy-
turey, with a poisoned javelin, by Kath-
len, the wife of the Fomorian Balor, he
was interred at the Brugh, on the Boyne,
the great cemetery of the east of Ireland
in the pagan times. His monument is
mentioned in ancient Irish manuscri])ts
as one of those vast sepulchral mounds
which are at this day objects of wonder
and intei'est on the banks of the Boyne,
between Drogheda and Slane.
A. M. 3451. — Dealboeth, the son oi
Ogma, succeeded, and was followed
by Fiacha ; after whom three brothers,
named MacCuill, MacCeacht, and Mac-
Greine, the last of the Tuatha de Da-
nann kings, reigned conjointly for thir-
ty years, each exercising sovereign au-
thority in succession for the space of
one year. The real names of the
three brothers, according to an old po-
em quoted by Keating, w^ere, Eathur,
Teathur, and Geathur, and they were
called, the fii'st, MacCuill, because he
f Sec Wilde's Boyno and Blackwater, p. 150. Ogrgin,
part iii., c. 13 and 56.
THE TUATHA DE DANANNS.
15
worshipped the hazel-tree ; the second,
MacCeacht, because he worshipped the
plough, or rather, encouraged agricul-
ture ; and the third, MacGreine, because
lie made the sun the object of his devo-
tions. The old bardic annalists, who,
with a gallantry peculiar to their coun-
try, derive most of the names of places
from celebrated women, tell us that the
wives of these three kings were Eire,
Banba, and Fodhla, three sisters who
have given their names to Ireland ; and
they add that the country was called
after each queen during the year of her
husband's administration; and that if
the name of Eire has been since more
generally applied, it was because the
husband of qu^en Eire was the reigning
king when the Milesians arrived and
conquered the island. The names of
Banba and Fodhla are fi'equently giv-
en to Ireland in all the ancient Irish'
writings.
Before we leave the Tuatha de Da-
nanns, whose sway continued for 197
years— from a. ji. 3303 to a. m. 3500—
we may mention two or three remark-
able circumstances connected with the
accounts of that ancient people. By
them the Lia Fail, or Stone of Destiny,
on which the Irish kings were crowned
in subsequent ages, was brought into
[reland. This stone was said to emit
mysterious sounds when touched by the
♦ Dr. Petric, in liis History and Antiquities of Tara
Hill, controverts this account of the Lia Fail, and employs
some learned, though not conclusive, arguments to show
that that celebrated relic of pagan antiquity is the pres-
ent pillar-stone over the "Croppies' Grave" in one of
the grrat ratlis of Tara. O'Flalicrty (Ogygia, p. 4.-).)
rightful heir to the crown ; and when
an Irish colony invaded North Britain,
and founded the Scottish monarchy
there in the sixth century, the Lia Fail
was carried thither to give more solem-
nity to the coronation of the king, and
more security to his dynasty. It was
afterwards preserved for several ages in
the monastery of Scone, but Avas carried
into England by Edward I., in the year
1300, and deposited in Westminster
Abbey, and is believed to be identical
with the large block of stone now to be
seen under the coronation chair.*
Ogma, one of the Tuatha de Dananii
princes, is said to have invented the
Ogam Craove, or occult mode of writing
by notches on the edges of sticks or
stones; and Orbsen, another of them,
is celebrated as the mythical protector
of commerce and navigation. He was
commonly called Mananan^ from the
Isle of Man, of which he was king, and
MacUr, son of the sea, from his knowl-
edge of nautical affairs. He was killed
in a battle in the west of Ireland by
Ullin, grandson of King Nuad of the
Silver Hand, and was buried in an
island in the large lake, which from him
was called Lough Orbsen, since cor-
rupted into Lough Corrib, the place
where the battle was fought l)eing
still called Moyculleu, or the ])]ain of
Ullin.f
thinks the Stone of Destiny was not carried to Scot-
land until A. D. 850, when it was sent by Hugh Finnliath,
king of Ireland, to his father-in-law, Keneth MiicAlpinc,
wlio finally subjugated the Picts.
t Pr. ODonovau, in a note on the Tuatha db Dauanns
(Four M.istrrs, veil. i.. p. 'i\), says: — "In Mageoghegan '«
16
THE MILESIAN COLOXY.
CHAPTER II.
The Milesian Colony.— Wanderings of the Gadelians.— Voyage of Itli to Ireland.— Expedition of the Sons of
Miledh, or MUesius. — Contests vdih the Tuatha de Dananns. — Division of Ireland by Heremon. — The Cruith-
nians, or Picts.
THE old annalists preface the account
of the Milesian invasion of Ireland
by a long story of the origin of that
colony, and of its many wanderings, by
land and sea, for several hundred years,
until it arrived in Ireland from Sj^ain.
There is no part of our primitive history
that has been so frequently questioned,
or which modern writers so generally
reject as fabulous, as these first accounts
of the Milesian or Gadelian race ; yet
translation of the Annals of Clonmacnoise it is stated
that 'this people, Tuathy DeDanan, ruled Ireland for
197 years ; that they were most notable magicians, and
7\-ould work wonderful things by magick and other dia-
bolicale arts, wherein they were exceedingly well skilled,
and in these days accompted the chiefest in the world in
that profession.' From the many monuments ascribed
to this colony by tradition, and iu ancient Irish histori-
cal tales, it is quite evident that they were a real people ;
and from their having been considered gods and magi-
cians by the Gaedhil, or Scoti, who subdued them, it
maybe inferred that they were skilled in arts which the
latter did not understand. Among them was Danann,
the mother of the gods, from whom Da chicJi Danainne,
a mountain in Kerry (the Pap Mountain), was called ;
Buanann, the goddess that instructed the heroes in mili-
tary exercises, the Minerva of the ancient Irish ; Badhbh,
the Bellonaof the ancient Irish ; Abhortach, god of music
Ned, the god of war ; Nemon, his wife ; Manannan, the
god of the sea ; Diancecht, the god of physic ; Brioghit, the
goddess of poets and smiths, &c. It appears from a very
curious and ancient Irish tract, written in the shape of
a dialogue between St. Patrick and Caoilte MacRonain^
that there were very many places in Ireland where the
Tuatha de Dananns were then supposed to live as sprites
or fairies, with corporeal and material forms, but endued
with immortality. The inference naturally to be drawn
they are so mixed up with our authen-
tic history, and so frequently referred
to, that they cannot be passed over in
silence. We, therefore, give an outline
of the narrative, chiefly as we find it re-
lated in the Duan Eireannach, or Poem
of Ireland, Written by Maelmura of
Othain, one of the most ancient of our
authorities for the Milesian tradition.*
We are told in this poem that Feni-
us Farsaidh came out of Scythia to
from these stories is, that the Tuatha de Dananns lin
gered in the country for many centuries after their sub-
jugation by the Gaedhil, and that they lived in retired
situations, where they practised abstruse arts, which in-
duced the others to regard them as magicians It
looks very strange that our genealogists trace the pedi-
gree of no family living for the last thousand years to
any of the kings or chieftains of the Tuatha de Dananns,
while several families of Firbolgic descent are mentioned,
asinHy-Many, and other parts of Connaught. (SeeTribes
and Customs of Hy-Many, pp. 85-90; and O'Flaherty's
Ogygia, part iii., c. 11.")
Manannan MacLir is described in Cormac's Glossary as
"a famous merchant of the Isle of Man, and the best
navigator in the western world." Dr. O'Donovan (Four
Masters, vol. iii., p. 533, note) says : " There exists j. tra-
dition in the county of Londonderry that the spirit of
this celebrated navigator lives in an enchanted castle in
the tuns or waves of MagUligan, opposite Inishowen, and
that his magical ship is seen there once every seventh
year."
. * Maelmura of Othain (now Fahan, in Donegal) died
A. D. 884, and the historical poem referred to above was
printed, for the first time, in the Irish version of Nennius,
published in 1848 by the Irish Archaeological Society,
with copious notes by the Kev. Dr. Todd, S. P. T. C. D.,
and by the Hon. Algernon Herbert.
WANDERIXr.S OF THE GADELIANS.
17
Nembrotli (Nimrod), and tliut, some
time after " the building of the tower
(of Babel) by the men of the world,"
Nel, or Niul, the son of Feuius, who
possessed a knowledge of all the lan-
guages then spoken by mankind, left his
father and. travelled into Egypt, where
the fame of his learning came to the
ears of Forann (Pharaoh), who gave him
his daughter Scota in marriage. Niul
had a son named Gaedhuil Glas, or
Green Gael ; and we are told that it is
from him the Irish have been called
Gaedhil (Gael), or Gadelians, while
from his mother is derived the name of
Scoti, or Scots, and from Fenius that of
Feni, or Fenians. The iwem goes on to
say that after Forann, pursuing the peo-
ple of God, was drowned in the sea
Romhuir (Red sea) the people of Egypt
were angry with the children of Niul
for having declined to render any assist-
ance in the pursuit ; and that the latter,
through fear of being enslaved as the
Israelites had been, seized the deserted
ships of Pharaoh, and in the night-time
passed over the Red sea, " the way they
knew," by India and Asia, to Scythia,
their own country, over the surface of
the Caspian sea, leaving Glas, dead, at
Coronis (probably Cyrene, in the Lybian
sea), where they halted for a period.
* This name is j ust before written Qacdhiul Glas ; and,
in general, tliero appears to bo no fixed orthography for
those ancient Irish names.
f Sometimes ■written, in Irish MSS., Tipmdfane, that
Is, the Well of Fenius.
tThe Slievo IlilB, so often mentioned in Irish MSS.,
wero the Riphoan mountains, but It is by no means easy
to determine what was the position of these. That they
3
After some time, and with some vari-
ations in the different accounts, we find
Sru, son of Esru, or Asruth, son of Gadheal
Glas,* acting as leader of the descend-
ants of Niul, and proceeding to the isl-
and of Taprabaiia (Ceylon)f and Slieve
RiifijJ until he settled in "fiery Gol-
gatha," or Gaethligh, a place which is
variously supposed to be Gothia, or Ga-
latia, or Gethulia; and again, in two
hundred years after, that is, according to
O'Flaherty, about the time of the de-
struction of Tro}', Brath, the son of Dea-
gath, or Death a, and nineteenth in de-
scent from Fenius, led a fresh expedition
from this last-named place to "the north
of the Avorld, to the islands, ploughing
the Tarrian sea (Mediterranean or Tyr-
rhenian) with his fleet." He passed by
Creid (Crete), Sicil (Sicily), and the
columns of Hercules, to " Espain, the pe-
ninsular ;" and here he conquered a cer-
tain territorj', his son, Breogan, or Bre-
gond, succeeding him in the command.
The city which our wanderers built in
Spain was called Brigantia, believed to
be Betanzos, in Gallicia; and, from a
lofty tower erected on the coast, by
Breogan, it is said that his son, Ith, dis-
covered Eri, or Ireland, " as far as the
land of Luiinnech (as the country at the
mouth of the Shannon was called), on a
were situated in some part of the vast region anciently
called Scythia is tolerably certain, and the probablo
opinion is that they were the Ural mountains in Russia ;
but they are sometimes set down in old maps as occupy-
ing the place of the Carpathian moimtains, and even of
the Alps, and the vague accoimts wo have of them
would answer for any range of moimtains in northi'rn
Europe.
IS
THE VOYAGE OF ITII.
winters eveuing."* Itli apjiears to
liave been of an adventurous spirit, and
no doubt discovered the coast of Ireland,
not from the tower of Breogan, which
was impossible, but after having sailed
thither in search of the land, which,
according to the traditions of his race,
the children of Niul -were destined to
possess. He landed at a place since
called Magh Ithe, or the Plain of Ith,
near Laggan, in the county of Donegal ;
and having been taken for a spy or
pirate, by the Tuatha de Dananns, was
attacked and mortally wounded, when
he escaped to his ship and died at sea.f
The remains of Ith were carried to
Spain by his cre^v, now commanded by
his sou Lugaid, who stimulated his kins-
* Tlio lion. Algernon Herbert, in one of the additional
notes to the Irish Kenuius, shows how tliis legend of
Ireland having been seen from the tower of Betanzos (the
ancient Flavium Brigantium) may have arisen from pas-
sages of Orosius, the geographer, where mention is made
of a lofty Pharos erected on the coast of Spain, " ad specu-
lum Britannice," "for a watch-tower in the direction of
Britaui ;" and where again, describing the coasts of Ire-
land, the -writer says "procul spcctant Brigantiam, Gal-
licito civitatem," &c. — " they lie at a distance opposite
Brigantiam, a city of Qallicia," &c ; the words " specu-
lum" and " spectant" having apparently led to the ab-
surd notion that the coast of Ireland was visible from
the tower. See also Dr. Wilde's communication to the
Royal Irish Academy on the remains of the Pharos of
Corunna, which he believes to have been the tower of
Breogan.
f AVTioever attempts to trace on the map of the world
the route ascribed in the text to the ancestors of Mileeius,
will find himself seriovisly puzzled. In all the accounts
of these peregrinations two distinct expeditions are al-
I uded to, one by the east and north, and the other westerly,
that is, through the Mediterranean sea and the Pillars
of Hercules. The latter is intelligible enough, but the
former would imply a passage by water, from south to
north, through the central countries of Europe. The
Nemedians and Tuatha de Dananns would also appear
to have i^asscd freely in their shijis between Greece, or
Si-ythia, and the northern seas, without going through
men to avenge his death ; and such, ac-
cording to the chroniclers, was the prov-
ocation for the expedition which fol-
lowed. Accordingly, the sons of Gol-
1am (who is more generally known l)y
his surname of Miledh, or Milesius), the
son of Bile, son of Breogan, and hence the
nej^hew of Ith, manned thirty ships, and
prepared to set out for Inis Ealga, as
Ireland was at that time called. Mile-
sius himself, Avho was king of Spain, or
at least of the Gadelian province of it,
and who in his earlier life had travelled
into Scythia, and performed sundry ex-
ploits there, had died before the news
of the death of Ith arrived; and his
wife Scota, the second of the name we
have yet met in these annals, went with
the Straits of Gibraltar. Some get rid of tliis difficulty
by treating the whole story as a fable founded on the
Argonautic expedition and its river-ocean ; but even
that famous legend of classic antiquity stands itself in
need of explanation ; and with that view it has been
suggested that the Baltic and Euxine seas were at some
remote period connected, and that the vast, swampy
plains of Poland were covered with water. A connected
series of lakes may thus have extended across the conti-
nent of Europe from north to south ; and the lagtmes
along the present northern coast of the Black sea may
indicate what their appearance had been. Traditions ol
many of the physical changes which have taken place
from time to time in the surface of Ireland, since the
universal Deluge, such as the eruption of rivers, and the
formation of new lakes and inlets of the sea, are pre-
served in the Irish annals ; and it is probable that the
Greek traditions of Deucalion's Deluge, and the theories
respecting the eruption of the Euxine into the Archi-
pelago, and of a channel between the ocean and the
Mediterranean through ancient Aquitaiue, may refer to
a period when the ship Argo, and the barques of the de-
scendants of Kiul, might have passed from the shores
of Greece to the Hyperborean seas tlirough the heart ol
Sarmatia, as indicated above. — (See "A Vindication of .
the Bardic Accounts of the Early Invasions of Ireland,
and a Verification of the Eiver-ocean of the Greeks."
Dublin, 1852. Also the Dublin University Magazine for
March, 18o2.)
LANDING OF THE MILESIANS.
19
her six sons .at the head of the expedi-
tion. Some of the accounts mention
eight sons of Milesius, but the names
given in Maelmura's poem are Donn, or
lleber Donn, Colpa, Araergin, Ir, Heber
(that is, Heber Finn, or the fair), and
Heremon. Lugaid, the son of Ith, was
also a leader of the expedition, and the
names of several other chiefs are given;
and it is probable that the principal
portion of the Gadelian colony in Spain
sailed on the occasion.
A. M. 3500. — It was in the year of the
world 3500, and 1700 years before
Christ, according to the Four Masters, or
A. M. 2934, and b. c. 1015, according to
O'Flaherty's chronology, that the Mile-
sian colony arrived in Ireland. The
liardic legends say the island was at first
made invisible to them by the necro-
mancy of the inhabitants ; and that
wlien they at length effected a landing
and marched into the country, the Tua-
tl\u de Dananns confessed that they
were not prepared to resist them, having
no standing army, but that if they
Mgain embarked, and could make good
a landing according to the rules of war,
the country should be theirs. Amergin,
who was the ollav or learned man and
jndge of the expedition, having been
aj)pealed to, decided against his own
people, and they accordingly re-em-
])arked at the southern extremity of
Ireland, and withdrew "the distance of
nine waves" fi-om the shore. No sooner
had they done so than a terrific storm
commenced, raised by the magic arts of
rlio Tuatha de Dananns, and the J\[ile-
sian fleet was completely scattered.
Several of the ships, among them those
of Donn and Ir, were lost off dift'erent
parts of the coast. Heremon sailed
round by the northeast, and lauded at
the mouth of the Boyne (called Inver
Colpa, from one of the brothers who
was drowned there), and others landed
at Inver Scene, so called from Scene
Dubsaine, the wife of Amergin, who per-
ished in that river. In the first battle
fought with the Tuatha de Dananns, at
Slieve Mish, near Tralee, the latter were
defeated ; but among the killed were
Scota, the wife of Milesius, who was
buried in the place since called from
her, Glen-Scoheen, and Fas, the Avife of
Un, another of the Milesians, from whom
Glenofaush in the same neighborhood
has its name. After this the sons of
Milesius fought a battle at Tailtinn, or
Teltown, in Meath, where the three
kings of the Tuatha de Dananns wei-e
killed and their people completely
routed. The three queens, Eire, Fodhla,
and Banba, were also slain ; women
having been accustomed during the
pagan times in Ireland to take part per-
sonally in battles, and in many instances
to lead the hostile armies to the fight.
Among the Milesians killed in this bat-
tle, or ratlier in the pursuits of the Tua-
tha de Dananns, were Fnad (from whom
Slieve Fuad in Armagh, a place much
celebrated in Irish history, has derived
its name), and Cuailgne, who was killed
at Slieve Cuailgne, now the Cooley
mountains, near Carlingford, in thd
county of Louth.
20
HEREMON'S DIVISION OF IRELAND.
After the battle of Teltown the Mile-
sians enjoyed tLe undisturbed posses-
sion of the country, and formed alliances
witli the Firbolgs, the Tuatha de Da-
nanns, and other primitive races, but
more especially with the first, who
aided them willingly in the subjugation
of their late masters, and were allowed
to retain possession of certain territories,
where some of their posterity still re-
main. Heremon and Heber Finn di-
vided Ireland between them ; but a dis-
pute arising, owing to the covetousness
of the wife of Heber, who desired to
have all the finest vales in Erin for her-
self, a battle was "fought at Geashill, in
the present Kings county, in which
Heremon killed his brother Heber. In
the division of Ireland which followed,
Heremon, who retained the sovereignty
himself, gave Ulster to Heber, the son
of Ir; Munster to the four sons of Heber
Finn ; Connaught to TJn and Eadan ;
and Leiuster to Crivann Sciavel, a
Damnonian or Firbolg. The people of
the south of Ireland in general are
looked upon as the descendants of He-
lper; while the fixmilies of Leinster, many
of those of Connaught, the Hi Nialls of
Ulster, cfec, trace their pedigree to
Heremon. Families sprung from the
sons of Ir are to be found in dififerent
parts of Ireland ; but of Amergiu, the
jioL't and ollav, little is said in this dis-
triluition of the land. He is mentioned
as having constructed the causeway or
* The above etymology of Tara is evidently legendary ;
and aciording to Corniac's Glossary, quoted by O'Dono-
w.n (Four Masters, vol. i., p. 31), the name, which in
tochar of Inver Mor, or the mouth of
the Ovoca in Wicklow.
The wife of Heremon was Tea, the
daughter of Lugaid, the son of Ith, for
whom he Tepudiated his former wife
Ovey, who followed the expedition to
Ireland, and died of grief on finding
herself deserted ; and it was Tea who
selected for the royal residence the hill
of Druim Caein, called from her Tea-
mur or Tara — that is, the mound of
Tea.* In the second year of his reign
Heremon slew his brother Amergin in
battle, and in subsequent conflicts others
of his kinsmen fell by his hands ; and
having reigned fifteen years, he died at
Rath-Beothaigh, now Rathveagh on the
Nore, in Kilkenny.
About the period of the Milesian in-
vasion the Cruithnigh, Cruithnians, or
Picts, so called, according to the gener-
ally received opinion, from having their
bodies tattooed, or painted, are said to
have paid a visit to Ireland previous to
their final settlement in Alba, or Scot-
land. Having no wives, they obtained
Milesian women in marriage; that is,
according to some accounts, they mar-
ried the widows of those who had been
drowned with Heber Donn in the expe-
dition from Spain, making a solemn
compact that, should they succeed in
conquering the country they Avere about
to invade, the sovereignty should de-
scend in the female line. The Cruith-
nians were of a kindred race with the
Irish is Teamhair, merely signifies a hill commanding
a pleasant prospect.
CREDIT OF THE ANCIENT IRISH ANNALS.
21
Scots or Irish, and for many centuries
dwelt as a distinct people in tlie eastern
part of Ulster, where some of their de-
scendants were to be found at the time
of the confiscations under James I. ; but
the confused traditions about the visit
of a Pictish colony at the same time
with the children of Milesius are pro-
perly treated as apocryphal.*
CHAPTER III.
Questions as to the Credit of the Ancient Irish jVnnals.— Defective Chronology.— Tlie Test of Science applied.-
Theories on the Ancient Inhabitants of Ireland.— Intellectvial Qualities of Firbolgs and Tuatha de Dananns -
Monuments of the latter People. — Celts.
HAVIXG thus for followed the'
bardic chroniclers, or seanachies,
it is right to pause awhile to consider
what amount of credit we may place in
them ; and in the next place, what are
the opinions of those who reject their
authority. A judicious and accomplish-
ed Irish annalist, Tighernach, Abbot
of Clonmacnoise, who died so early as
A. D. 1088, has said that all the Scottish,
that is, Irish, records previous to the
reign of Cimbaeth, which he fixed at the
year b. c. 305, are doubtful; and Ave
have, therefore, good authority, inde-
pendent of internal evidence or of the
opinions of modern writers, for placing
on them but a modified reliance. We
* Bede (Ilist. Eccl., lib. i., c. 1) gives the following
account of the origin of the Picts : — " When the Hritons,
beginning at the south, had made themselves masters of
the greater part of the island, it happened that the nation
of the Picts, from Scythia, as is reported, putting to sea
In a few long ships, were driven by the winds beyond
the shores of Britain, and arrived on the northern coast
of Ireland, where, finding the nation of the Scots, they
begged to be allowed to settle among them, but could
not succeed in obtaining their request The Picts,
accordingly, sailing over into Britain, began to inhabit
must be careful, however, not to can-y
our doubts too far. These ancient rec-
ords claim our veneration for their great
antiquity, and are themselves but the
channels of still older traditions. Wi'i-
tings which date from the first ages of
Christianity in Ireland refer to facts
upon which all our pre-Christian his-
tory hinges, as the then fixed historical
tradition of the country; and the closest
study of the history of Ireland shows
the impossibility of fixing a period pre-
vious to which the main facts related
by the annalists should be rejected as
utterly ftibulous. There is no more
reason to deny the existence of such
men as Heber and Ileremon, and, there-
the northern parts thereof Now the Picts had no
wives, and asked them of the Scots, who would not con-
sent to grant them on any terms than that, when any
difficulty should arise, they should choose a king from
the female royal race, rather than from the male ; which
custom, as is well Known, has been observed among the
Picts to this day." See, for ample details about the
Cruithnians or Picts. and for all the traditions relative
to their intercourse with Ireland, the annotations to the
Irish Nennius.
DEFECTIVE CHRONOLOGY.
fore, of II iMilesian or Scottish colony,
tlian tliere is to question the occur-
rence of the battle of Clontarf ; and the
traditions of the Firbolgs and Tuatha
de Danauns are so mixed up with our
wiitten histoiy, so impressed on the
monuments and topography of the
country, and so illusti'ated in the char-
acteristics of its population, that no man
of learning who had thoroughly studied
the subject would now think of doubting
their existence. But, as we have said,
it is for the main facts that we claim
this credence. These facts are, of
course, mixed up with the quaint ro-
mance characteristic of the remote ages
in wdiich they were recorded, and the
chief difficulty, as in the ancient history
of most countries, is to trace out the
substratum of truth beneath the super-
incumbent mass of fable.
Tlie chronology of the pre-Christian
Irish annals is obviously erroneous, but
that does not affect their general au-
thenticity. They were compiled for the
most part from such materials as gen-
ealogical lists of kings, to whose reigns
disputed periods of duration were at-
tributed ; and those who, in subsequent
ages, endeavored to form regular series
of annals out of such data, and to mal
them synchronize with the history of
other countries, were unavoidably liable
to error. The Four Masters, adopting
the chronology of the Se2:»tuagint and
the Greeks, accordinsc to which tlie
world was 5,200 years old at the birth
of our Savioui', refer the occurrences
of Irish history, previous to the Chris-
tian era, to epochs so remote rfis to ex-
pose the whole history to ridicule ;
while O'Flaherty, endeavoring to arrive
at a more reasonable computation, and
taking for his standard the system of
Scaliger, which makes the age of the
world before Christ some 1250 years
less, reduces the dates given by the
Four Masters by many hundreds of
years; but the degree of antiquity
which even he allows to them surpasses
credibility. Thus, according to the au-
thor of the Ogygia, the arrival of the
Milesian colony took place 1015 years
before the Christian era ; that is, about
260 years before the building of Rome,
making it synchronize with the reign of
Saul in Israel ; while, according to the
Four Masters, that event occurred more
than six hundred years earlier ; that is,
many centuries before the foundation
of Troy, or the Argonautic expedition ;
and yet, at that remote period — sixteen
hundred years, according to one compu-
tation, and at least a thousand, accord-
ing to another, before Julius Caesar
found Britain still occupied by half-sav-
age and half-naked inhabitants — we are
asked to believe that a regular mon-
archy was established in Ireland, and
Avas continued through a known succes-
sion of kings, to the twelfth century !*
A chronology so improbable has
• Charles O'Connor, of Balenagar, says, in liis Dj
Uitions on the History of Ireland, that tlie Milesian ;
sion cannot havt
year B. c. 700.
been muoli earlier or later than the
THE TEST OP SCIENCE APPLIED.
23
li.aturally -weakened the credibility of
our older annals; but neither bardic
legends nor erroneous computations
can destroy the groundwork of truth
which we must recognize beneath them.
The ancient Irish attributed the ut-
most importance to the truth of their
historic compositions, for social reasons.
Their whole system of society — every
question as to the rights of property —
turned upon the descent of families and
the principle of clanship ; so that it can-
not be supposed that mere fables would
lie tolei'ated instead of facts, where
v^very social claim was to be decided
ou their authority. A man's name is
scarcely mentioned in our annals with-
out the addition of his forefathers for
several generations, a thing which rarely
occurs in those of other countries.
Again, when we arrive at the era of
Christianity in Ireland, we find that our
ancient annals stand the test of verifica-
tion by science with a success which not
only establishes their character for truth-
fulness at that period, but vindicates the
records of preceding dates involved in
it. Thus, in some of the annals, natural
ph(;nomena, such as eclipses, are record-
ed, and these are found to agree so ex-
actly Avith the calculations of astronomy.
* For observations on tlie comparison of the entries of
eclipses in the Irish annals with the calculations in the
great French work, I' Art de verifier let Dates, as a test
and correction of the former, see O'Donovan's Introdac-
tion to the Annals of tho Four Masters, and Doctor
Wilde's Report on the Tables of Deaths in the Census of
1S51, where the idea of the comparison has been fully
carried out. Thus, in tho Annals of Innisfallen wo find,
" A. D. 445, a solar eclipse at the ninth hour." This is
the first eclipse mentioned in the Irish annals, and it
as to leave no room whatever to doubt
the general accuracy of documents found
in these particulars to be so correct, at
least for periods after the Christian era.*
Now, coming to the theories of Irisli
origins entertained by those who reject
the authority of the old annalists either
wholly or on this particular point ; it is
certain, according to them, that Irelanel
has invariably derived her population
from the neighboring shores of Britain,
in the same way as Britain itself had
been peopled from those of Gaul. It
was thus, they tell us, that the Belg^e,
or Firbolgs, the Damuonians, and the
Dananns came successively into Erin, as
well as, in after times, that other race
called Scots, whose origin seems to set
speculation at defiance. Navigation
was so imperfectly understood in those
ages, that such a voyage as that from
Spain to Ireland, especially for a numer-
ous squadron of small craft, is treated
with ridicule. The knowledge of navi-
gation, Avhich all admit the Greeks, and
Trojans, and Phoenicians to have pos-
sessed, is not acceded to the early col-
onies of Ireland ; but it is argued that
as people spread naturally into adjoin-
ing countries visible from those whence
they proceeded, so it is only reasonable
agrees with the calculated date in I'Art de verifier Ics
Dates, where the corresponding entry is, " A solar eclipse
visible in northwestern Europe, July 20th, at half-past
five, A. M.'' And again, in the Annals of Tigernach,
"A. D. GG4. Darlvness at the ninth hour on the Calends ol
May ;" while in the French astronomical work already
quoted, there is noticed for that year, "A total eclipse of
the sun, visible to Europe and Africa, at half i»Bt three,
P.M., l.'^tof May."
THEORIES OF ETHNOLOGISTS.
to suppose that Ireland received inhabit--
ants from the coasts of Wales or Scot-
land, from which her shores could be
plainly seen, rather than from Thi-ace or
jMacedon, or even from Spain. Similar-
ity of names, also, comes to the aid of
this theory; for it seems probable
enough that the Belgse and Dumnonii
of Southern Britain were the same race
with those bearing almost identically
the same names in Ireland. As to the
name of Scots, it was never heard of
before the second or third century of
the Christian era, when it was given to
the tribes who aided the Picts in har-
assing the people of South Britain, and
their masters, the Romans. There is no
Ii-ish or any other authority of an older
date for the application of the name of
Scots to the people of Erin. Irish wri-
ters themselves suggest that sciot., a dart
or arrow, may have been the origin of
the word Scythia ; and with more prob-
ability might it have been that of the
name Scoti, or Scots, as applied to men
armed with weapons so called ; and
once the name, from this or any other
cause, came to be applied to the natives
of Ireland, it is easy, we are told, to im-
agine how the Irish bards built upon it
* Fiacli's hymn, admitted to be the composition of a
disciple of St. Patrick, refers to the Milesian traditions of
ihe Irish ; and among the authorities most frequently-
quoted by Keating, O'Flaherty, and other old writers, on
the period of the Tuatha de Danauns, Firbolgs, and the
Milesian colony, on account of their works being still
preserved, are Maebnura of Fathan, who died A. D. 884 ;
Eochy O'Flynn, who died A. D. 984 ; Flan Mainistreach,
who died A. D. 1030 ; and ClioUa Kevin, who died A. D.
1073 ; all of whom related in verse the written and oral
traditions received by themselves from preceding ages.
a fine romance, deriving it from an im-
aginary daughter of King Pharaoh, and
perhaps borrowing from it also the idea
of claiming for their nation descent from
Scythia, the region, at that time, of fobu-
lous heroism. These theories give wide
scope to the imagination, and would sub-
stitute for the traditions of the old annal-
ists conjectures quite as vague and in-
conclusive, however ingenious and learn-
ed they may be.*
It is generally agreed that the Fir-
bolgs, or Belgians, were a pastoral peo-
ple, inferior in knowledge to the Tuatha
de Dananns, by whom, although the
latter were less numerous, they were
kept in subjection. It is also admitted
that the Tuatha de Danann race were
superior in their knowledge of the use-
ful arts and in general information to
the Gadelian, or Scottish colony, who,
however, excelled them in energy, cour-
age, and probably in most physical qual-
ities. To their intellectual superiority
the Danann colony owed their character
of necromancers, as it was natural that
a rude and ignorant people at that age
should look upon skilled workmanship
and abstruse studies as associated with
the supernatural.
Shortly after the establishment of Christianity in Ireland,
the chronicles of the bards were replaced by regular an
nals, kept in several of the monasteries, and from this
period wc may look upon the record of events in our his-
tory as, morally speaking, accurate. The statement of
Mr. Moore, and of others of his school, that the primitive
traditions of Irish liistory were fabricated to please a fall-
en nation with delusions of past glories, is monstrously
absurd. They were in existence, and were cherished by
the people, ages before the fallen circumstances which
Mr. Jloore contemplates.
MOXUMENTS OF THE EARLY TIACES.
It is probable that l)y the Tuatha de
Dananns mines were first worked iu Ire-
land ; and it is generally believed that
they were the artificers of those beauti-
rully shaped bronze swords and spear-
heads that have been found iu Ireland,
and of which so many fine specimens
may be seen in the museum of the Royal
Irish Academy. The sepulchral monu-
ments,^lso, of this people evince extra-
ordinary'powers of mind on the part oi
those by whom they were erected.
There is evidence to show that the vjxst
mounds, or artificial hills, of Drogheda,
Knowth, Dowth, and New Grange,
along the banks of the Boyne, with sev-
eral minor tumuli in the same neighbor-
hood, were erected as the tombs of Tua-
tha de Danann kings and chieftains; and
as such thejr only rank after the pyra-
mids of Egypt for the stupendous efforts
which were required to raise them.*
As to the Firbolgs, it is doubtful
whether there are any monuments re-
maining of their first sway in Ireland ;
but the famous Dun Aengus and other
great stone forts in the islands of Aran
are well-authenticated remnants of their
military structures of the period of the
» See Dr. Petrie's " History of Tara IliU, " and Dr.
Wilde's " Beauties of the Boyne and Blackwater."
f In the Book of MacFirbis, written about the year
IGoO, it is said that " every one who is black, loquacious,
lying, tale-telling, or of low and grovelling mind, is of the
I'irbolg descent ;" and that " every one who is fair-lmired,
of large size, fond of music and horse-riding, and practises
the art of magic, is of Tuatlia de Danann descent." See
these passages quoted by Dr. Wilde in an ethnological
disquisition on these ancient races, founded on the
licculiarities of human crania discovered under circum-
stances that identify them as belonging to the two races
4
Christian era, or thereabouts. That the
Tuatha de Dananns were not a warlike
people appears from the ti-adition of
their remonstrance against the first land-
ing of the Milesians, when they admitted
that they had no standing ai'niy to resist
invasion.f
Again the question" is raised, were
these Firbolgs, and Tuatha de Dananns,
and Gadelians, all Celts? And, in re-
ply, it must be said that the term Celt,
or Kelt, as it is more correctly pro-
nounced, was unknown to the Irish
themselves ; that the word is of classic
origin, and was probably as indefinite
as most geograjihical names and dis-
tinctions at that period appear to have
been. Finally, it is suggested that in
all probability none of the immigra-
tions into Ireland were unmixed, ami
that the first population of the isl-
and was composed of Celtic, Slavonic,
and Teutonic races, mixed up in dif-
ferent proportions. A Scythian origin
is claimed for all in the Irish tradi-
tions, in which all are traced to Jajihet,
the son who received the blessing, and
through him to the cradle of our
race.J
respectively. " Beauties of the Boyne and Blackwater,"
pp. 213, 239.
I O'Flaherty, in the first part of the Ogygia, gives the
following as the results of his researches about the origi-
nal inhabitants of Ireland : — That the first four colonies
came into Ireland from Great Britain ; that t'artholaa
and Nemedius, descendants of Gomar by Riphat, came
from Northern, and the Firbolg colony from Southern
Britain ; that these races spoke difTerent languages ; that
the Tuatha de Dananns were the descendants of the Ne.
medians, who, after snjourning in Scandinavia, returned
int') Xortli Britain, and thenee, in the lapse of lime, into
26
THE MILESIAN inXGS OF IRELAND.
CHAPTER IV.
Tlie Jlilcsi.an Kings of Ireland.— Lrial the Prophet. — Tiernmas. — Crom-Cruach ; the Paganism of the Ancient
Irish. — Social Progress. — The Triennial Assembly or Parliament of Tara. — Cimbaeth. — Queen Macha. —
Foundation of Emania. — Ugony the Great. — New Division of Ireland.— Pagan Oath. — A Murrain. — Maeve,
Queen of Connaught. — Wars of Connaught and Ulster. — Bardic Romances.
FROM the conquest of Ireland (b. c.
1700*) by the sons of Gollamli, or
Milesius, to its conversion to Christian-
ity by St. Patrick (a. d. 432), one hun-
dred and eighteen sovereigns are enu-
merated, Avhose sway extended over the
whole island, independent of the petty
kings and chieftains of provinces and
particular districts. Of this number,
sixty were of the race of Heremon,
twenty-nine of the posterity of Heber
Finn, twenty-four of the line of Ir, three
were descended from Lugaid, the son
of Ith, one was a plebeian, or Firbolg',
and one was a woman. The history of
their reigns is, to a great extent, made
up of wars either among different
branches of their own race or against
the Firbolgs and others ; but numerous
events are also recorded which mark
the progress of civilization, such as the
the north of Ireland ; that the Dananns being subdued
by the Scots, the Firbolgs, under the latter, again flour-
ished in Ireland, and enjoyed the sovereignty of Con-
naught for several ages ; that the Fomorians, whether the
aborigines of Ireland or not, were not descendants of
Cliam, nor from the shores of Africa, but from that coun-
try whence the Danes, in after ages, invaded Ireland ; and
finally, that the Firbolgs .ind Tuatha do Dananns had
frequent intercourse with each other before the conquest
of Ireland by the latter.
clearing of plains from woods, the enact-
ment of laws, the erection of palaces,
&c. The breaking forth of several
rivers and other natural phenomena are
mentioned, and a great number of le-
gends are related, many of them curious
specimens of ancient romance.
lrial, surnamed Faidh, cr the Pi'oph
et, son of Heremon, began the struggle
against the Fomorians and Firbolgs, the
latter of whom kept the Milesian armies
occasionally occupied for centuries after.
The tribes of Firbolgs most frequently
mentioned are the Ernai and the Mar-
tinei, the former of whom are described
in one place as holding the present
county of Kerry, and the latter the
southern portion of the county of Lim-
erick ; and in the reign of Fiacha Lav-
rainne, who was killed in the year b. c.
1449, the Ernai are stated to have been
* We continue to employ the chronology of the Four
Masters, simply turning the years of the world into the
corresponding years before Christ, as being more intel-
ligible ; but the reader will observe that, as already
stated, no reliance is to be placed on these dates untU
wo arrive within a few centuries of the Christian era.
All the computations at this early period are equally
uncertain ; and .we insert the dates merely for the sake
of method, to mark the order of events, the relative dura-
tion of reigns, &c.
THE IDOL CRO:\I CRUACH.
routed ia battle oa a plain where Lough
Erne, go called from them, subsequent!}'
flowed oyer the slain. Irial Faidh died
an Magh Muai, whicli is supposed to be
the plain near Knock Moy, a few miles
from Tuam, after clearing a great many
extensive plains and erecting several
forts during the ten years of his reign.
B. c. 1620. — Among' the early Mile-
sian kings a prominent place is assigned
to Tiernmas, who is said to have been
the first to institute the public worship
of idols in Ireland. The notion which
we can form of the paganism of the
ancient Irish is extremely obscure. Ow-
ing to the scanty information which -the
old manuscripts afford us on the subject,
every one who has written about it has
had ample scope for his own favorite
theory, and some of these theories have
been advanced with scarcely a shadow
of foundation. We shall revert to this
subject again, and for the present shall
refer only to the worship of Crom-
Cruach, the chief idol of the Irish, which
stood in Magh-Slecht, or the Plain of
Adoration, in the ancient territory of
Breifny.* This idol, which was covered
with gold, was said to represent a hide-
ous monster, and its name implies that
it was stooped, or crooked, and also
that it was black, for it is sometimes
called Crom-Duv. It was surrounded
by twelve smaller idols, and was de-
stroyed by St. Patrick, who merely
* The village of Ballymagauran and the island of
Port, in the present county of Cavan, are situated in the
plain anciently called Magh-Slecht. The idol stood near
a nvcr caUe'l Gathard, and St. Patrick erected a church
stretched forth towards it, from a dis-
tance, his crozier, which was called the
Staff of Jesus. It is probable that Tiern-
mas only erected the rude statue, and
that he found the worship prevailing in
the country, and handed down, it may
be, fi-om the earliest Milesians ; but, at
all events, he was punished for his idol-
atry by a terrible judgment, having
been struck dead, with a great multi-
tude of his people, while prostrate be-
fore Crom-Cruach, on the Night of Sa-
vain, or All Hallow Eve. Tiernmas
reigned seventy-seven, or, according to
others, eighty years ; and it was under
him that gold was first smelted in Ire-
land, in the district of Foharta, east of
the river Liftey, and that goblets and
brooches were first covered with gold.
According to Keating, it was he who
first ordered that the rank of persons
should be distinguished by the number
of colors in their garments: thu.s, the
slave should have but one color, the
peasant two, the soldier three, the
keeper of a house of hospitality four,
the chieftain of a territory five, the
ollav, or man of learning, six; and in
the clothes of kings and queens seven
colors were allowed. This regulation is
attributed by the Four Masters to the
successor of Tiernmas, and the rule is
also somewhat differently stated.f
In the reign of Enna Airgeach, n. c.
1383, silver shields were first made at
called Donoghmore in tlie immediate vicinity of the
jjlace. (See O'Donovan's notes at reign of Tighemmos,
Four Masters, A. M. riG>")(l.)
■f The Scottisli plaid is traced to this early origin.
28
SOCIAL PROGRESS.
Airget-Ross, or the Silver Wood, on the
banks of the I'iver Nore. They were
given, together with horses and chariots,
to the heroes and nobility. King Mone-
mon, who died of plague, b. c. 1328, first
caused the nobility to wear chains of
gold on their necks, and rings of the
same metal on their fingers. Deep
wells were first dug in the reign of Fia-
cha Finailches, by whom the town of
Ceanannus, or Kells, was founded, b. c.
1200. Four-horsed chariots were first
used in the time of Roiachty, who was
killed by lightning at Dun Severick,
near the Giant's Causeway, b. c. 1024.
Stipends, or wages, were first paid to
soldiers, and probably to other persons
in public emploj'iuents, in the reign of
Sedna lunarry, b. c. 910 ; and silver
coin is stated to have been first struck
in Ii-eland, at the silver works of Air-
get-Ross, in the reign of Enda Dearg,
who, with many others, died of plague,
at Slieve Mish, b. c. 881.
But the greatest step in social prog-
i-ess at that remote period of Irish his-
tory was the institution of the Feis
Teavrach, or triennial assembly of Tara,
})y Ollav Fola (Ollamh Fodhla), the
beginning of whose reign is fixed by the
Four Masters at the year of the world
3883, corresponding Avith the year b. c.
1317. If we suppose the event ante-
dated even by several centuries, this as-
sembly would, nevertheless, appear to
be one of the earliest instances of a
national convocation or parliament in
any country. All the chieftains or
heads of septs, bards, historians, and
military leaders throughout the country
were regularly summoned, and Avere
required to attend under the penalty
of being treated as the king's enemies.
The meeting was held in a large oblong
hall, and the first three days were spent
in enjoying the hospitality of the king,
Avho entertained the entire assembly
during its sittings. The bards give long
and glowing accounts of the magnifi-
cence displayed on these occasions, of
the formalities employed, and of the
business transacted. Tables were ar-
I'anged along the centre of the hall, and
on the walls at either side were suspend-
ed the banners or arms of the chiefs, so
that each chief on entering might take
his seat under his own escutcheon. Or-
ders were issued by sound of trumpet,
and all the forms were characterized by
gi'eat solemnity. What may have been
the authority of this assembly, or
whether it had any power to enact laws,
is not clear; but it would appear that
one of its principal functions Avas the
inspection of the national records, the
Avriters of Avhich Avere obliged to the
strictest accuracy under the Aveightiest
penalties. These accounts of the Feis
of Tara must be taken with due allow-
ance for the coloring which the more
ancient traditions on the subject re-
ceived from the later writere who have
delivered them to us; but hoAvever
cautiously we regard them — and no
student of antiquity Avill now-a-days
venture wholly to reject them — they
should satisfy us that the pagan Irish
wtie acquainted with the art of writing.
CIMBAETH.
29
notwitbstauding the opiniou to the con-
trary of so many moderns, who hold
that letters were not introduced into
Ireland before the time of St. Patrick.
Besides the establishment of the trien-
nial assembly, Ollav Fola appears to
have instituted other wise regulations
for the government of the country.
Over every cantred, or hundred, he ap-
pointed a chieftain, and over each town-
land a kind of prefect or secondary
chief, all being the servants of the king
of Ireland. He constructed a rath on
Tara, called from him Mur-Ollavan, and
died there, after a useful reign of forty
years.*
A few of the Irish monarchs enjoyed
very long reigns. Thus, Sirna Selach
governed Ireland for 150 years ; and in
a battle which he fought against the
I'ace of Heber, the Fomorians having
been brought in to aid the latter, a
plague fell upon them during the fight,
and many thousands of his enemies
perished on the spot. And of king Sla-
noll (that is, all health) it is related
that there was no sickness in Ireland
during his reign ; that he himself died
without any apparent cause ; and that
his body remained uncorrupted and
without changing color for several years
after his death.
15. c. 71G. — The reiorn of Cimbaeth
* The real name of this king was Eochy (pronounced
Achy), but he is only known by his surname of Ollav
Fula, that is, the chief poet or learned man (Ollav) of
Ireland (Fola).
f The Four Masters assign the beginning ofliis reign
to \. u. 4-18-1, corresponding with the year B. c. 716.
brings us to the commencement of what,
according to Tigernach, may be consid-
ered as the authentic period of the
Irish annals.f It is also a remarkable
epoch for other reasons, and especially
for the foundation of Emania, the royal
palace of Ulster. The story of this
palace is curious. About this period
there lived three princes, Hugh Roe, or
the Red ; Dihorba, and Cimbaeth (pro-
nounced Kimbahe), the sons of three
brothers, and all three claimed equal
right to the crown. A contest conse-
quently arose, which was finally adjust-
ed by a solemn engagement that they
should reign in turn for seven years
each ; and this agreement was strictly
carried out, until, at the end of his third
period of seven years, Hugh Roe was
drowned at Easroe, or Red Hugh's Cat-
aract,:]: and left a daughter, Macha, sur-
named Mongroe, or the Red-haired, who,
when her father's turn to rule came
round again, claimed it in his stead, and
made war on the other two competitors
to assert her right. A battle was fought,
in which the red-haired lady Avas victori-
ous ; and Dihorba having been slain,
Macha arranged the dispute wdth the
survivor, Cimbaeth, by marrying him
and making him king. She then, as the
legend goes, followed the five sons of
Dihorba into Connaught, ca])tured them
O'Flaherty fixed it at the year B. c. 352 ; Keating about
B. c. 4G0 ; and Tigernach at B. c. 303. This diversity
exemplifies the uncertainty of early Irish chronology.
J Now Assaroe, or the Salmon Leap, on the river Erne
at Ballyshannon, where Hugh Roe was buried in th«
mound now called Mullaghshee.
30
UGONY THE GREAT.
by stratagem amoug the rocks of Burrin,
and compelled them to build her a
{Kilace, the site of which she herself
marked out with the bodkin or pin of
lier cloak, whence the name of the new
palace, Eamlmin^ which signifies a neck-
pin. At all events, it was at the desire
of Mucha, and in the reign of her hus-
band, Cimbaeth, that the palace of Ema-
nia, so celebrated in the history of Ire-
land for many centuries after, was con-
sti'ucted. This was the resort of the
Red-branch Knights, and the palace of
the kings of Ulster for 855 years,* until
finally destroyed, as we shall see, by
tlie three Collas. After the deatli of
Cimbaeth, Macha reigned as absolute
(pieen of Ireland for seven years, when
file was slain by her successor, Rachty
Itidearg, who, in his turn, was slain by
Ugaine Mor, or Ugony the Great, who
had lieen fostered by Cimbaeth and
Macha, and thus avenged the death of
his royal foster-mother.
B. c. 633. — Ugony, who reigned forty
years, is said to have carried his vic-
torious arms far out of Ireland, so that
his power was acknowledged "all over
the west of Europe, as far as Muir-Toir-
rian," or the Mediterranean sea. He
divided Ireland among his twenty-five
children, and exacted from the people
an oath, according to the ancient Irish
pagan form, " by the sun and moon, the
sea, the dew, and colors, and all the
elements visible and invisible," that the
sovereignty of Erin should not be ta-
ken from his descendants forever. This
mode of binding posterity appears to
have been a favorite one, as we find it
again adopted, in the same precise form,
by Tuathal Techtmar, one of Ugoiiy's
descendants. The subdivision of Ireland
into twenty-five parts was preserved for
300 years.f
Ugony the Great experienced the
same fate as nearly all these ancient
sovereigns, who, with very few excep-
tions, were slain each by his successor ;
and among the most remarkable of the
succeeding princes we find one named
Maen, better known as Lavry Long-
seach, or Lowry of the Ships, who,
having been driven into exile by his
uncle, Covagh, son of Ugony, lived some
time in Gaul, and returning thence with
2,000 foreigners, landed on the coast of
Wexford, and marched rapidly to the
royal residence at Dinrye, on the river
Barrow, which he attacked at night,
killing the king, his uncle, and thii-ty
of the nobles, and setting fire to the
palace, which was burned to the ground.
He then seized the crown, and having
reigned nineteen years, was, according
to the customary rule, killed by his
* Annals of Clonmacnoise. The remains of the palace
of Eamliuin, or Emania, is now a very large rath, cor-
ruptly called the Navan fort, situated about two miles
west of Armagh. Near the hill is a townland which
etill bears, in its name of Creeveroe (Craobh-ruadh), or
the Red-branch, a memorial of the ancient glory of
the place.— (See Stuart's " Historical Memoirs of Ar-
magh.")
t Of Ugony's children twenty-two were sons, and of
these only two left issue, all who claim to be of the race
ofHeremron tracing their descent through these two sons
of Ugonv.
MAEVE, QUEEN OF COXXAUGIIT.
31
successor (b. c. 523). Many legends are
related of this Lowiy of the Ships;
and it is said that the foreigners who
came with him from Gaul Tv-ere armed,
with broad-headed lances or javelins
(called in Irish lairjhne), whence the
province of Leinster has derived its
name.*
For some centuries, about this period,
few events of note are recorded. In
the reign of Bresail Bodivo (b. c. 200)
there was a mortality of kiue, so great
that, according to the Annals of Clon-
macnoise, " there were no more then
left alive but one bull and one heifer
m the whole kingdom, which bull and
heifer lived in a place called Gleann
Sawasge," that is, the Glen of the Heifer,
tlie name of a remarkable valley in the
county of Kei'ry, Avhere the tradition- is
still preserved.
B. c. 142. — Eochy, or Achy, surnamed
Feyleach (Feidhleach), from a habit of
constantly sighing, rescinded Ugony
More's division of Ireland into twenty-
five parts, and divided the island into
* This origin of the name is more generally received
than the similar one mentioned above, when treating of
the Firbolg immigration.
■f The return of a number of the Firbolga to Ireland,
in the time of Queen Maeve, is an interesting fact in our
liistory. It is staled in a MS. account of the Firliolgs. by
MacFirbis (for the translation of a portion of which, as
well as for the identification of the nanu'S that follow, we
are indebted to Professor Eugene Curry), that the rem-
nant of that people who continued in the Danish islands
(the Hebrides) were about this period banislied by the
Picts, and that they passed over to Ireland, where they
<)l)tained, upon rent, the lands of Rath-Cealtchair, Kath-
t'onrach, Ratli C'oiuar, ix., in Mcath. Tlie rent, however,
was too heavy, and they elojied with all their movables
over the Shannon, and received from Aiblc (as ho is here
sailed) and Mealih, the king and queen of that country
five provinces, over each of which he
appointed a minor king, tributary to
himself. To one of these, Tinne, the
king of Connaught, he gave in marriage
his daughter Maeve (Meadhbh) or Mab,
or Maude, celebrated in the old poetic
chronicles for her beauty and masculine
bravery, with which, it must be con-
fessed, she did not combine the quality
of feminine modesty. She figures as the
heroine in many of the strange romances
of the period ; among the peasantiy hei-
memory has descended to the present
day as that of the queen of the Fairies
of Connaught, and in her elfln character,
although greatly metamorphosed, she
is immortalized as the queen Mab of
English fairy mythology.
After the death of Tinne, Maeve
reigned alone as queen of Connaught
for ten years, and then married Oilioll,
commander of the martial tribe of the
Gamanradiaus, or Damnonian knights
of lorras, a Firbolgic sept, also cele-
brated by the bards as the Clanna
Morna.f She made him king of Con
(Connaught), lands running along the coast from Cruach
Patrick to Loop Head, and embracing the southern parts
ofGalwayand Roscommon, and all Clare. They were
called the Clann Umoir on their coming into Ireland en
this occasion, from Aengus, the son of Umor, who was
their king. The lands which they received in the west,
chiefly on the seaboard, continued to beai their names.
Here are a few of them : — " Aengus, the son of Umor. at
Dun Aengusa, in Arann ; Cutra, at Loch Cutra (near
Gort); Cime, at Loch Cime (now Lough Ilacket) ; Adhar.
son of Umor, at Magh Adhair (poetically for Thomond) ;
Mil, at Muirbhcach Mil (now Murvagh, near Oranmore);
Doolach,at DaoilC?); andEndach.hisbrotlier, atTeachan-
Eandaigh (?) : Bir, at Rinn Beara West (now Rinnbar-
row, in Lough Dergart, in the Shannon) ; Mogh, nt Inn-
sibh Mogh (Clew Bay islands): lorgus, at Ceann Boimf
(Black Head) ; Banne Badanbel, at Laighlinnc (?) ; Con
BAHDIC ROMANCES.
nanglit, and survived liini, altbougli lie
aived to au advanced age. The Con-
nauglit palace of Cruacbau was erected
by ber; and in ber time a war wbicb
lasted for seven years broke out between
Ulster and Oounaugbt, wben tbe Ga-
luanradians of lorras Douinan, and tbe
knigbts of tbe Craev Roe, or Red
Brancb of Emania,* were arrayed
against each otber, and performed won-
derful exploits of valor, queen Maeve
herself, at tbe bead of ber beroes, dash-
ing into Ulster witb ber war-cbariots,
and sweeping tbe cattle of tbe rich fields
of Louth before ber across tbe Shannon.
This deed has been celebrated in tbe
ancient historic tale of tbe Tain lo
Cuailgne^ or Cattle-spoil of Cooley.
Tbe bards bave indeed involved tbe
whole of this period in tbe wildest ro-
mance, tainted, as migbt be expected,
by pagan immorality, and darkened by
deeds of cruelty in warfare, f They
relate as tbe cause of tbis w^ar a moving
tale about the fair Deardry and tbe tbr'ee
sons of Uisneach, and tbe cruelty of
Connor MacNessa, king of Ulster ; but
tbe more probable account of tbe mat-
ter is, that Feargus Rogy, who was
4riven from Ulster by Connor in one of
tbeir intestine broils, fled into Con-
naugbt, and engaged tbe interest,
togetber witb tbe affections, of Queen
Maeve, and by ber assistance made in-
cursions into tbe territory of Connor
MacNessa. Among tbe cbampions of
Emania in tbis war were Cucbullainn,
and Conall Cearnacb ; and among tbe
Connaugbt beroes were Ceat MacMa
gacb, tbe brotber of King Oilioll, and
Ferdia MacDamain, all names of Os-
sianic celebrity.
Wben Maeve was considerably more
tban 100 years old she was treacherously
killed by tbe son of Connor, in revenge
for tbe deatb. of bis fatber, wbo was
slain by Maeve's people; and among
ber numerous children were tbree, ot
whom Feargus Rogy was tbe fatber,
named Kiar, Conmac, and Core, tbe
progenitors of many of tbe families of
tbe west and soutb of Ireland. Maeve
churn (not Concliubliar) on tte Sea, in Inis Meadhain
(one of tlie Arran islands) ; Lotbrach, at Tulaigli Lotli-
raigh (?) ; Taman, son of Umor, at Riun Tamain, in Mead-
raidhe (near Galway) ; Conall Caol, son of Aengus, son
of Umor, at Camconaill, in Aidhne (now tbe barony of Kil-
tartan in Galway); Measca, at Loch Measca ^LougU
Mask); Asal, tbe son of Umor, at Magb Asail, in Mun-
Bter (plain round Tory Hill, near Croom); Beus Beann,
son of Umor, tbe poet, &c."
* Tbat tbe ancient Irish in very remote times had
certain local orders of knighthood, cannot be denied ;
and tbe statement tbat Cucbullainn, was admitted
among the Red-branch Knigbts of Emania at tbe age of
Beveu, receives a curious illustration from an incident
recorded by Froissart, wbo relates tbat when four Irish
kugs were offered tbe honor of knighthood by Richard,
king of England, they stated tbat it bad been already
conferred on them, according to tbe custom of their own
countrj-, when they were but seven years of age. — (Frois-
sart, vol. iv., chap. Ixiv.)
f About tbis period popular resentment rose so high
throughout Ireland against the fileas or bards, for their
abuse of the numerous privileges which they enjoyed,
and tbeir perversion of tbe laws, tbat a general outbreak
against them took place, and they were expeUed, indis-
criminately, from a great part of tbe country ; but tbe
tide of excitement was stayed by Connor MacNessa, who
prevailed on both parties to agree to certain reforms,
and set the principal fileas to work upon a codification
of the laws, which was accepted by the coimtry at large,
together witb the reinstatement of the expelled fileas.—
(O'Conor's Dissertations, p. 131, ed. of 1812.)
TAGAX KINGS OF IRELAXD.
cn
lived about the comiueiicement of the
Christian era, her death, according to
Tigernach, having taken place in a. d.
70, although, according to the Four
]\Iasters, she flourished more than a
century before the birth of Christ.
This epoch is known in Irish history
as that of the provincial kings ; and
strange though it may seem, we have
to trace to that remote date the origin
of the worst ills of Ireland — namely,
the subdivision of territory, and the es-
tablishment of a sj'Stem of petty inde-
pendent toparchs, which involved the
country in perpetual local wars, and
gradually extinguished every trace of a
controlling power or central govern-
ment.
CHAPTER V
Pagan kings of Ireland, continued. — Creevan brings home rich spoils from Britian. — Insurrections of tlie Attacotti
— Massacre of the Milesian Nobles. — King Carbry the Cat-headed. — Reign of Tuathal Teachtar. — Felimy tlie
Lawgiver. — Conn of the Hundred Battles. — Wars of Conn and Eugene the Great. — New Division of Ireland.
— Battle of Moylena. — Conary the Second. — The three Carbrys. — The Dalriads ; first Irish Settlement in Alba
or Scotland. — Oiliol Glum, king of Munster. — Lewy MacCon. — Glorious Reign of Cormac MacArt. — His Abdi-
cation.— Carbry Liffechar. — The Battle of Gavra. — Finn SlacCuail and the Fenian Militia. — The three Collas
-Fall of Emania.— Niall of the Nine Ilostages, &c.
[Fkosi tub Birth op C'iuust to a. d. 400.]
■'T^PIERE is a difference of 02:)inion as
-L to what Irish king reigned at the
birth of Christ ; for while the Four
Masters, O'Flaherty, and others assign
that date to the reign of Creevan Nia-
nair, the hundred and elevei^tla mon-
arch of Ireland in O'Flaherty's list, other
calculations push forward the reign of
Conary the Great, the fourth pi-eced-
ing king, to the Christian era, and. make
Creevan a contemporary of Agricola, the
Roman governor of Britain. The latter
king has been fiimous for his predato-
ry excui"sions against the Britons, from
one of which he broucfht home several
"jewels," or precious objects; among
the rest, " a golden chariot ; a golden
chess-board, inlaid with a hundred
transparent gems ; a cloak embroidered
with gold ; a conquering sword, with
many serpents of refined, massy gold
inlaid thereon ; a shield with bosses of
bright silver; a spear, from the wound
inflicted by which no one recovered ; a
sling, from Avhich no erring shot was
discharged, &c. ;" and after depositing
these spoils in Dun Creevan,* at Bin
Edar, he died, as the Four ^Masters have
it, in the ninth year of Christ.
It is thousrht to hav^e been about this
* Dr. Petrto and Dr. O'Donovan think that the Dun jutting rock where the Bailey lighthouse now stand*
Crimhthuin, or Fort of Creevan, was situated on the at Ilowth.
.34
A PROJECTED ROMAK INVASION.
time that a certain recreant Irisli chief
waited on Agricola, in Britain, and in-
vited him to invade Ireland, stating
that one Roman legion and a few aux-
iliaries would be sufficient to conquer
and retain the island. Agricola saw
the importance of occupying a country
so favorably situated, and prepared an
expedition for the purpose; but the
project was abandoned for some cause
not known, probably owing to the
formidable military character of the
people of Ireland; and although Brit-
ain remained a province of the Koman
empire for centuries after, and the
natural Avealth of Hibernia was well
known, foreign merchants being even
more familiar Avith her ports than with
those of Britain, still a Roman soldier
never set hostile foot on her much-
coveted shores. The Scots of Ireland,
and their neighbors, the Picts, gave the
Roman legions quite enough to do to
defend Britain against them from be-
hind the ramparts of Adrian and Anto-
ninus.*
While the Milesians were exhausting
their strength in internecine wars at
home, or with incui-sions beyond the
seas, a large portion of the population
of Ireland, composed of various races.
* The passage of Tacitus in which the medittxted
Roman invasion of Ireland is mentioned is extremely
interesting. Describing the proceedings of Agricola in
tlie fiftli year of his compaigns in Britain, he says ; —
'■ Earn partem Britannise quae Hiberniam aspicit csepiis
instruxit, in spem magis quam ob formidinem ; siqiiidem
Hibernia medio inter Britanniam atque Hispaniam sita,
et Gallico quaeque mari oppnrtuna, valentissimam imperii
partem magnis invicem u&'bus misciierit. Spatium ejus,
and with different sympathies, was en-
gaged upon more peaceable j)ursuits.
Those Avho boasted of a descent from
the Scytho-Spanish hero, would have
considered themselves degraded were
they to devote themselves to any less
honorable profession than those of sol-
diers, ollavs, or physicians ; and hence
the cultivation of the soil and the ex-
ercise of the mechanic arts, were left
almost exclusively to the Firbolgs and
the Tuatha de Dananns; the former peo-
ple in particular being still very nlimer-
ous, and forming the great mass of the
population in the west. These were
ground down by high rents, and the
exorbitant exactions of the dominant
race, in order to support their un-
bounded hospitality, and defray the ex-
penses of their costly assemblies ; but
this oppression must have caused per-
petual discontent, and the hard-working
plebeians, as they were called, must
have easily perceived that their Gado-
lian masters were running headlong to
destruction, and that it only required a
bold effort to shake off their yoke. It
would 1)6 curious to know how this
feeliug developed itself, until it was
finally acted upon ; or whether the
popular discontent had .sny connection
si Britanniae comparetur, augustius, nostri maris insulae
superat. Solum, ccehimque et ingenia, cnltusque homi-
num, haud multum a Britannia differuut. Melius aditus
portusque per commercia et negotiatores cogniti. Agri-
cola expulsum seditione domestica unum ex regulis gen-
tis esceperat, ac specie amicitise in occasionem retineba't.
Saepb ex eo audivi, logione una et moedicia auxiliis de-
bellari obtinerique Hiberniam posse." — ^Vita Julii Agric,
c. 24.
INSUmiECTION OF THE ATTACOTTI.
35
witli the invitation to tlie Roman gen-
eral just referred to. Of the singular
and successful revolution which was the
result we have no accounts but such as
reach us from a hostile source, and ar*
colored by undisguised prejudice. Ac-
cording to these statements, the Ait-
heach-Tuatha, or Attacotti, as they are
called in Latin, that is, the plebeians
and helots of the conquered races, with
many also of the impoverished Milesians,
conspired to seize the country for them-
selves.* For this purpose they invited
all the .kings and noldes, and other
leading Milesians, to a grand feast at
IMagh Cro, the great plain near Knock-
ma, in the county of Galway ; and to
provide for a banquet on suck a scale,
the plebeians spent three years in prep-
arationSj during which time they saved
one-third of tkeir earnings, and of tke
produce of the land. A great meeting
and a feast seem to have had an irresist-
ible attraction for the Milesians, who
accordingly repaired to Magh Cro from
every part of Erin, and there, after
being feasted for nine days, they were
set upon by the Attacotti. and massacred
to a man. Only three chieftains, say
the seanachies, escaped, and these were
still unborn; their mothers, who were
the daughters of the kings of Alba, Brit-
ain, and Saxony, having been spared
* Several races were mixed up in the population of
Ireland at tlie time of tlie Aitlieacli-Tuatha. Some say
that their king, Carbry Ciuncoat, was a Scandinavian.
The TuatharEoluirg who lived at that time in Tyrone
were a Scandinavian race.
f Annals of the Four Masters.
i Flan of Monasterboice synchronizes the reigns of
in the general butchery, and having
found means to escape into Albion,
where the three young princes were
born and educated. It is plain, how-
ever, that many others also survived, as
several Milesian families, not descended
from these, are subsequently found in
Ireland. The annals do not say how
the conspiracy was hatched, and so
effectively concealed during the many
years required to bring it to maturity ;
but after the massacre the Attacotti
elected as their king, Carbiy, one of
their three leaders, who through con-
tempt is called Carbry Cinncait, or the
cat-headed, from having ears like those
of a cat. Carbry i-eigned five years,
during which time there was no rule or
order, and the country was a prey to
every misfortune. " Evil was the state
of Ireland during his reign ; fruitless
her corn, for there used to be but one
grain on the stalk ; fruitless her riv-
ers ; her cattle without milk ; her fruit
without plenty, for there used to be but
one acorn on the oak."f In fact, the
civil war was followed by one of its nat-
ural consequences, a famine.^
A. D. 14. — After the death of Carbry,
his son, the wise and prudent Morann,
refused the crown, and advised those
who pressed it on him to bring back the
rightful heirs. The young princes w-ere
Carbry Cinncait and his immediate successor with tlio
emperors Titus and Domitian. Fifty years before the
insurrection of tlie Attacotti, Conaire Mor, monarch of
Ireland, was killed by insurgents at Bruighean-da-
Dhearg, on the Dothair, or Dodder, a name which Dr.
O'Donovan believes to be preserved in that of Bohtr na-
Breena, the road of the Brujghean or fort.
36
INSURRECTION OF THE ATTACOTTI.
accordiugly invited Lome from their
exile ; Faradach Finnfeacbtnacli, or the
Righteous, the son of Creevan, was
elected king of Ireland ; and Morann,
the Just, administered the law during
his reign, so that peace and happiness
■were once more restored to Erin. " The
seasons were tranquil, and the earth
once more brought forth its fruit." It
was Morann who made the famous col-
lar or chain which judges after him
were compelled to wear on their necks,
and wliich, according to the legends,
contracted, and threatened to choke
them when they were about pronoun-
cing an unjust judgment. This collar is
mentioned, in several commentaries on
the Brehon laws, among the ordeals of
the ancient Irish, and was used to test
the guilt or innocence of accused per-
sons.
The Attacotti were now subjected to
more grievous oppression than ever;
and on the death of Faradach a fresh
rebellion broke forth. This time the
provincial kings were induced to join in
the outbreak, which resulted (a. d. 56)
in a desperate battle at Maghbolg, on
the bounds of the present counties of
Cavan and Meath, where the monarch
Fiacha Finfolay was killed. Elim, king
of Ulstei-, who had joined the plebeians,
was chosen monarch, and had a troubled
reign of twenty years, the people lead-
ing lawless lives, and the very elements,
as in the former case, being at war with
the usurper ; but at the end of this in-
terval Tuathal Teach tar, or the Legiti-
mate, the son of Fiacha Finfolay, and
born in exile, returned on the invitation
of a sufficiently powerful party, and
slew Elim in battle at Aichill, or the
hill of Skreen, in Meath, and once more
brought back prosperity and order to
the land. (a. r>. 76.)
A. D. 106. — Tuathal Teachtar reigned
thirty years, during which time he car-
ried on a war of extermination against
the ill-fated plebeians, no fewer than
133 battles having been fought with
them in the different provinces. He
established himself more firmly on the
throne by exacting from the people a
similar oath to that of Ugony Mor,
" by the sun, moon, and elements," that
his posterity should not be deprived of
the sovereignty. He cut of from each
of the other four provinces a portion of
territory, of which he formed the sepa-
rate province of Meath, as the mensal
lands of the chief king ; he celebrated
the Feis of Tara with great state, and
held provincial conventions at Tlachta,
Uisneach, and Tailltinn, in the Momo-
uian, Connacian, and Ultonian portions
of Meath, and he imposed on the prov-
ince of Leinster the degrading Boruwa,
or cow-tribute, which continued during
the reigns of forty succeeding monarchs
of Ireland, being inflicted as an eric, or
fine, on the king of Leinster, for having
taken Tuathal's two daughters as wives,
on the pretence, when he asked the
second one, that the former wife was
dead, the death of both being the con-
sequence.* Tuathal's great power, or
* The Boruwa, or Leinster cow-tribute, wliicli Wiis
the cause of uinuruerable wars, was levied everv second
CONN OP THE HUNDRED BATTLES.
37
the oath he exacted from his subjects,
did not save him from the usual fate of
the Irish kings, as he was killed in bat-
tle by his successor, Mai, who, in his
turn, Avas slain by Tuathal's son, Felimy
Rechtar, or the Law-maker. Felimy,
who died a. d. 119, was the son of a
Scandinavian princess, named Baine, the
daughter of Seal, king of Finland, and
this connection shows the intercourse
that existed between the Scots of Ire-
land and the Northmen at this early
])eriod. The great rath of Magh Leav-
na, in the present county of Tyrone, was
erected by this princess. . Felimy, the
Lawgiver, substituted for the principle
of retaliation the law of eric, or fine.
A. D. 123-157.— The reign of Conn of
the Hundred Battles forms one of the
most remarkable epochs in the ancient
history of Ireland. His surname suf-
ficiently indicates the military charac-
ter of his career, and his heroism and
exploits are a favorite theme of the
bards ; but Conn found a formidable
antagonist in the brave and adventur-
ous Moh Nuad (Mogh Nuadhat), other-
wise called Owen or Eugene the Great
(Eoghan Mor), son of Mogh Neit, king
year. Its amount is diii!;rently stated, but according to
Mageoghegan's Annals of Clonmacnoise, it consisted of
the following items ; " 150 cows, 100 liogs ; 150 coverlets,
or pieces of cloth to cover beds %\ithal ; 150 caldrons
with two passing-great caldrons, consisting in breadth
and deepness five fists, for the king's own brewing ; 150
couples of men and women in servitude, to draw water
on their backs for the said brewing ; together with 150
maids, with the king of Leinster'sown daughter, in like
bondage and servitude." The tribute was enforced for
500 years. According to Tigcrnacli, Tnnthiil was killed
in the last year of Antoninus I'ius, that is, about A. D.
of Munster, and the most distinguished
hero of the race of Heber Finn. It
would appear that tribes of the race of
Ir,* called Erneans, and of the line of
Ith,f gradually encroached on the ter-
ritory of Heber's posterity, the legiti-
mate possessors of the southern province,
until they were able to seize the regal
power, which they continued for some
time to hold alternately to the exclusion
of the line of Heber. When Eugeue was
still in his youth he was compelled to fly
from his own country, the sovereignty
of which -was claimed by three princes
of the hostile races, all of whom he re-
garded as usurpers; and having repaired
to his fosterer, Daii-e Barrach, son of
Cathaire Mor, king of Leinster, from
whom he obtained such aid as enabled
him to take the field in the assertion of
his rights ; and in a short time he drove
those of the Erneans as would not ac-
knowledge his authority out of Munster,
and struck up a temporary alliance with
the chiefs of the race of Ith. The Er-
neans appealed to Conn, who embraced
their cause, and thus a desperate war
broke out between Eugene and the
monarch of Ireland, in the course of
1G9, showing, as usual, an error of the Four Masters in
antedating.
* Ir, who was brother of Ileber and Heremon. was
ancestor of the old kings of Ulster, whose descendants
settled in various parts of Ireland, as the Magennises of
Iveagh, O'Connors of Corcomroe and Kerry, O'Loughlins
of Burren, O'Farrells of Longford, MacRannalls of I.ei-
trim ; the O'Mores and their correlatives, the seven septs
of Leix, now the Queen's county ; and all the Conuaught
septs called Conmaicne. — Du. O'Donovan.
f Ith, the uncle of Milesiiis, was the ancestor of tho
O'DriscoIIs, and all their correlatives in the territory of
58
THE BATTLE OF MAGII LEAXA.
which the latter was defeated in ten
pitched battles, and was so hard pi-essed
as to be compelled to divide Ireland
equally with the victorious Eugene;
the line of division being the chain of
sand-hills called the Esker Riada, one
extremity of which is the eminence on
the declivity of which Dublin Castle
stands, while its western terminus is at
the peninsula of Marey, at the head of
Galway bay. The country to the north
of this line was called Leatli Cuiun, or
Conn's half; and all to the south, Leatli
]\Iogha, or Moh Nuad's half; and al-
though this division held in reality only
for a very short time, some say for one
year, it has ever since been preserved
by Irish writers, who frequently em-
ploy these names for the northern and
southern halves of Ireland.
Eugene's ambition increased with his
success, and he hastened to pick another
quarrel with Conn, complaining that the
l>rincii:)al resort of shipping was on the
northern side of Dublin bay, in Conn's
half, and insisting on an equal division of
the advantages of the port. This demand
was indignantly rejected by Conn, and
both parties again took the field. A
vivid, but fabulous, account of the brief
campaign which ensued is given in the
Irish historical romance of the battle of
Corca-Luighe (originally coextensive with the diocese of
Ross in Cork), the MacClancys of Dartry, in Leitriui, and
other families. — Ihid.
* Tliis curious tract, which affords much interesting
information on tlie manners and customs of the ancient
pagan Irish, althougli its own antiquity is not very great,
has been translated by Eugene Curry, Esq., M. R. I. A.,
and, with a valuable introduction from that learned Irish
lillav, publislied by the Celtic Society. Magh Leana,
Magli Leana.* Eugene in his youth
had been obliged to fly to Spain, where
he obtained Bera, the king's daughter,
in marriage, and he was now, as tlie
story just mentioned relates, aided by
an army of Spaniards, commanded by
his brother-in-law, the Spanish prince
Frejus. The hostile armies were drawn
up in view of each other on Magh Lea-
na; but while an overweening confi-
dence had made Eugene careles.*, a
sense of inferiority in point of numbers
rendered his foe doubly wary. An at-
tack Avas made by the army of the north
at the dawn of day, while the southerns
were yet buried in sleep, and an utter
defeat and slaughter followed ; Eugene
and his Spanish ally being killed while
slumbering in their tents by Goll, the
son of jMorna, one of the Belgic cham-
pions of Connaught. Two small hil-
locks are shown to the present day,
which are said to cover the ashes of
the brave and ill-f;\ted Moha Nuad, and
his Iberian friend. f
After a i-eign of thirty-five years, and
in the hundredth year of his age (a. d.
151), while engaged in making prepa-
rations for the triennial convention or
Feis of Tara, Con of the Hundred Bat-
tles was murdered by Tibraid Tirach,
king of Ulster, whose grandfather had
where the battle was fought, is the present parish of
Moylana, or Kilbride, containing the town of Talljv
more in the King's county. Tigernach places the divi-
sion of Ireland between Conn and Eoghan Mor imder
the date A. D. IGG.
t One of the acts which have rendered the memory of
Jloha Nuad famous in our annals, was the saving of liia
kingdom of Munster from a famine by his foresight in
providing corn diu'ing years of abundance.
OILIOL OLUM.
39
been slain l)y Conn's father.* His suc-
cessor and son-in-law, Conary II., is re-
markable as the father of the three Car-
bi-ys, the j)rc)genitors of several impor-
tant tribes. Thus, from Carbry Muse,
six districts in Munster received the
name of Muskery, one of these being
the ]n'esent baronies of Upper and
Liiwer Oi'mond, in Tipperary ; and an-
otlier, the bai'ony of Muskery in Cork.
Carbry Bascain the second, gave his
name to the territory of Corcabaiscinn,
in the southwest of Clare ; and thirdly,
from Carbry Riada (Roigh-f hada,. i. e.,
(if tlie long wrist), were descended the
Dalriads of Antrim, and the ftiraous
tribe of the same name in Scotland.f
This Carbry Riada is mentioned under
the name of Reuda, by Venerable Bede,
as the leader of the Scots, who, coming
fi-om Hibornia into Alba, or Scotland,
* Conu of the Hundred Battles was tlie ancestor of tlie
most powerful families of Ireland, as the O'Neills, O'Don-
nells, O'MelagUUns, Mageogliegans, Maguires, Mac-
Malions, O'Kellys, O'Conors of Connauglit, O'Dowdas,
OMalleys, O'Flahertys, &c.
Cathaire Mor, king of Leinster, and Conn's immediate
predecessor as monarcli of Ireland, was the ancestor of
the great Leinster families of MacJIurrough, Kavanagh,
O'Couor Faly, O'Dempsey, O'Dunn, MacGornian, O'JIur-
roughou (Murphy), O'Toole, O'Bryne, &c. The Leinster
fuiuily of MaoGillapatrick, or Fitzpatrick, of Ossory, do
uot trace their descent to Cathair Mor, but they and all
the families mentioned in this note aro of the race of
lleremon, through Ugony Mor.
f- The territory called Dalriada comprised the northern
portion of the present county of Antrim, and it is proba^
ble that the name Route, applied to a part of the district,
is a corruption of the ancient word. Tlic name of Dal-
riada is not to be confounded with that of Dalaradia, also
called Ulidja, and comprising the southern portion of
.'Vntrim and the eastern part of the county of Down
Dalaradia, or Dalaraidh, takes its name from Fiacha
Araid, a kingof Ulster of the Irian race, and was peopled
\jy trihes of the lino of Ir, or Riidricians(<'lanna I{»ry\
obtained, either by alliance or by con-
quest, from the Picts, the territoi-y
which they continued in his time to
hold ; and as we shall hereafter see, it
was al)out thi'ee centuries from this
migration that a fresh colony from the
Dalriada of Ireland, under Fergus, the
son of Ere, invaded Scotland, and laid
the foundation of the Scottish mon-
archy.:];
In the reign of Oiliol Olum, who was
at this time king of Munster, a war
raged, in which this king's step-son,
Lewy, suruamed MacCon, was the ag-
gressor. MacCon was the head of the
descendants of Ith,§ and with him were
leagued the powerful tribe of the Er-
neans of Munster, and Dadei-a, the
Druid of the Ithian tribe of Dairinni ;
while on the other side were the King
Oiliol, his numerous sons, and the three
as they are frequently called from Rury, a kingof Ulster
of that race ; whereas Dalriada belonged to the race of
Heremon. A Pictish colony from Scotland settled in
Dalaradia about a century before the Cliristian era.
i The earliest mention of the name of Scots is by
Porphyry, in the third century ; and the first mention of
the Picts is by Eumenius, about the close of the same
century. The words of Porphyry are quoted by St.
Jerome — {Epist. ad Ctcsiphoutan contra Pdnyium.)
Both Scots and Picts are referred to as nations well
known at that time ; but then, and for many centuries
after, the name of Scots was only given to the inhabit-
ants of Ireland. Some modern writers insist that even
in the time of St. Patrick the Scots were only, a tribe or
section of the inhabitants of Ireland, and that the people
who composed the bulk of the population were those
called by the Apostle " Hibcrionaces." The territory
first acquired by the Gaels, or Scots, from the Picts, is
the present county of Argyle, tlie name of which is con-
tracted, says O'Donovan, from Airer-Oaeidheal, that is,
the region or district of the Gaeidliil.
§ From this MacCon are descended the O'Driscolls,
and others not reckoned among the Milesian families, as
thrv hrlc.n- to tin; rollcterid line of Itli.
40
miSII MILITIA.
Carl)rvs, sons of Couary, moiiarcli of
I n-land. A l)attle was fought at Ceann-
I'aviat,'-' ill which several of the leaders
on l)otli sides were slain, and MacCon
haviiiL,'- lieen worsted fled to Britain,
whence he returned in a few years, wdth
an army of foreigners, and again gave
battle to his foes on the plain then call-
ed JMagh Mucrive near Atlienry, Avhere
he gained a decided victory, the then
monarch of Ireland, Art the Melan-
choly, son of Conn of the Hundred
Battles, together with seven sons of
Oiliol Olum, fiilling in the conflict.f
Thus MacCon obtained for himself the
crown of Ardrigh, or chief king of Ire-
land.
At this period flourished Cual, or
Cumhal, father of the hero Finn Mac-
Cuail, and captain of the renowned
Irish legion, called the Fianna Eirion,
or Irish Militia, about which marvellous
stories are related by the bards and
seanachies. This famous corps is sup-
posed to have been organized after the
model of a Roman legion, and to have
been intended as a bulwark against
Roman or othei- invasion. There can
be no doubt that it was admirably
trained, and composed of the picked
men of Erin ; but for its discipline and
loyalty much cannot be said ; for after
frequent acts of treason and insubordi-
nation, the monarch was finally obliged,
as we shall presently see, to disband it,
and to call in the aid of other troops to
effect that object. To the treachery of
the Fianna Eirinn Keating attributes
the defeat and death of Art in the bat-
tle of IVfagh Mucrive.
A. T>. 227. — Cormac Ulfadha, the son
of Art and grandson of Conn of the
Hundred Battles, having removed the
usurper MacCon, and also another
usurper of lesser note, named Fergus,
ascended the throne of Tara ; and his
reign is generally regarded as the
brightest epoch in the entire history of
pagan Ireland. He set in earnest about
the task of reducing the several provin-
ces to a due submission to the sover-
eign ; beginning with the Ulidians, next
proceeding to Connaught, and subse-
quently to Munster, with occasional in-
cursions into all the provinces, gaining
many victories (although he had some
reverses in the early part of his career),
and establishing his authority and laws
everywhere at the point of the sword.
In that rude age, means so desperate
* It is probable that Ceann-ablirat, or Kenfebrat, was
the mountain now called Seefin, one of the Slieve Riach
or Castle Oliver group of mountains, on tlie borders of
the counties of Cork and Limerick. It is frequently
referred to in the most ancient Irish records, and its
position is indicated in the Book of Lismore, fol. 207 ;
and the Tripartite Life of St. Patrick, lib. ui., c. 48.
f Oiliol Olum, king of Munster, was the son of Jlogh
Nuadhat, or Eoghan Mor, and son-in-law of Conn of the
Hundred Battles. Of his numerous progeny of children,
tlvree are particularly remarkable in Irish family history ;
first, Eoghan Mor, or Eugene the Great, who must not
be confounded with his grandfather bearing the same
title. He was the progenitor of the great old South
Mimster families called by the genealogists Eoghanachts
or Eugenians, as the M'Carthys, O'Ponohoes, O'Koefs,
&c. ; secondly, Cormac Cas, king of Munster, and pro-
genitor of the Dal Cassians or Thomond families, as the
O'Briens, M'Mahons, M'Namaras, &c. ; and thirdly, Cian,
the ancestor of the families comprised under the tribe
name of Cianachta, as the O'Carrols of Ely O'Carrol,
O'Meagher, O'Connor of Glengiven, &c.
CORMAC ULFADHA.
41
may have been necessary to sustain any
authority at all ; but when Cormac es-
tablished his sway, he made it subserve
the cause of civilization and order in
manner never attempted by any of his
predecessors.
It is generally admitted that Chris-
tianity had even then penetrated into
Ireland, and that its benign influence
had reached this monarch's mind. Cor-
mac, it is said, at the close of his life,
adored the true God, and attempted to
put down druidism and idol worship.
It is at all events certain that he en-
deavored to promote education. He
established three colleges, one for war,
another for history, and the third for
jurisprudence. He collected and re-
modelled the laws, and published the
code which remained in force until the
English invasion, and outside the Eng-
lish Pale for many centuries after. He
assembled the bards and chroniclers at
Tara, and directed them to collect the
annals of Ireland, and to continue the
records of the country from year to
year, making them synchronize with
the history of other countries, — Cormac
himself, it is said, having been the in-
ventor of this kind of chronology.
These annals formed what Avas called
the Psalter of Tara, which also contain-
ed a description of the boundaries of
provinces, canthreds, and smaller divi-
sions of land throughout Ireland ; but
unfortunately this great record has been
lost, no vestige of it being now, it is
believed, in existence.
The magnificence of Cormac's palace
at Tara was commensurate with the
greatness of his power and the brillian-
cy of his actions ; and he fitted out a
fleet, which he sent to harass tlie shores
of Alba, or Scotland, until that countiy
also was compelled to acknowledge him
as sovereign. In his old age he wi-ote
a book or ti-act called Tearjusc-na-Rl^ or
the Institutions of a Prince, which is
still in existence, and which contains
admirable maxims on manners, morals,
and government. There are blemishes
on his character in the early part of his
life, such as the employment of assassins
to free himself from his enemies, and
some shameful breaches of his engage-
ments ; but he nevertheless stands forth
as the most accomplished of the pagan
monarchs of Ireland. As an instance
of the barbarous manners against which
he had to struggle, we read that (most
probably during one of Cormac's expe-
ditions to a distant locality) his own
father-in-law, Dunlong, king of Leinster,
made a descent upon Tara, and for some
cause which is not mentioned, massa-
cred all the inmates of a female college
or boarding-school, consisting of thirty
young ladies of noble rank, whom some
writers suppose to have been druidesses,
with their three hundred maids and at-
tendants. Cormac avenged this atro-
city by causing twelve dynasts or nobles
of Leinster, who had been engaged in
the massacre, to be executed, and by
exacting Tuatlial's Boarian tribute, with
an additional mulct, from the province.
Cormac, in the thirty-ninth year of
his reign, having had his ey(! thrust
THE BATTLE OF GAVRA.
out with a spear by Aengus, son of
Fiacha Suihe, brother of Conn of the
Hundred, Battles, abdicated, in com-
Dliance with a law which required that
the king should have no personal blem-
ish, and retired to a philosophical re-
treat ; but not until he had inflicted
chastisement on the tribe whose head
had thus maimed him.* He "died (a. d.
266) at Cleiteach (near Stackallan
Bridge, on the south bank of the
Bo3^ne), the bone of a salmon having
choked him, through the contrivances
of the Druids, as it was thought, for his
having abandoned their superstitions
for the adoration of the true God.
A. D. 268. — Carbry, son of Cormac
MacArt, and surnamed Liffechar, from
having been fostered on the banks of
the Liffey, was engaged during his
reign in a desperate war with Munster
" in defence of the rights of Leinster,"
and it Avas this quai-rel which led to the
battle of Gavra Aichill, celebrated in
Irish bardic story.
Finn MacCuail, and his Clanna Ba-
iscne, or legion of Finian Militia, were,
as we have said, but unsteady supporters
of the sovereign ; and that illustrious
warrior having been assassinated by a
fishei-man on the banks of the Boyne,
whither he had retired in his old acre.
* It was on tliis occasion that Cormac expelled the
tribe of the Deisi, the descendants of Fiacha Suihe, bro-
ther of Conn of the Hundred Battles, from the territory
which they held near Tara, now the barony of Deece, in
the coimty of Meath ; and it was only after a lapse of
some years that these people, afterwards so frequently
mentioned in Irish history, settled do-mi in that territory
of Munster, part of which has since borne their name,
viz., the present baronies of Deci-es in the comity of Wa-
the king took the opportunity to dis-
band the Finian Militia, while the lat-
ter, instead of submitting to the mon-
arch's commands, repaired to his enemy,
Mocorb, son of Cormac Cas, king of
Munster, and made an offer of their
services, Avhich was readily accepted.
Carbry, upon this, applied for succor to
Aedh, the last of the Domnonian kings
of Connaught, who sent a battalion of
his heroic militia, the Clanna Morna,
the deadly enemies both of the Clanna
Baiscne and of the Munster princes.
Such were the rival military tribes who
fought to mutual extermination in the
bloody battle of Gavra (a. d. 284).
Oisin, the warrior-poet, son of Finn
MacCuail, celebrated the deeds per-
formed on the occasion in verses which
tradition has preserved for more than
fifteen hundred years. Oscar, the son
of Oisin, met Carbry in the fight, and
fell iii the terrific single combat which
ensued between them. But Carbry did
not fare better; for, while exhausted
with fatigue and covered with wounds,
he was met by his own kinsman,
Semeou, one of the tribe of Foharta
which had been expelled into Leinster,
and fell an easy prey to his ven-
geance.f Thus ended the wild hero-
ism of Finn, the son of Cual, and
terford. The principal families of this tribe are the
O'Brics, O'Phelans, O'Mearas, and O'Keans. of Hy-
Folay, &c.
I The tribe of the Foharta were the descendants of
Eochy Finnfothart, uncle of Art, son of Conn of the Hun-
dred Battles, and who had been expelled by Art from
Meath. They obtained lands in Leinster, and gave their
name to the territories forming the baronies of Forth
in Wexford and Carlow.
FALL OF EMANIA.
43
of bis companions in arms, whose <
ploits were long the favorite theme of
the Irish bards, by whom they were
embellished with such fables and exag-
gerations, as have- removed them al-
most wholly into the region of mythol-
ogy and romance.*
A. D. 322. — Fiacha Sravtinne, son of
Carbry Liffechar, after reigning thirty-
seven years, was slain by the three Col-
las, the sons of his brother, Eochy Doiv-
len ; but when the eldest brother, Colla
Uais, had occupied the throne four
years he was deposed and expelled, to-
gether with his brothers and a few fol-
lowers, into Scotland, by Muireach
Tirach, King Fiacha's son, who subse-
quently reigned as Ardrigh thirty years.
In a short time the three Collas return-
ed, and were reconciled to their cousin.
King Muireach Tirach, who supplied
them with means to gratify their rest-
less ambition ; whereupon they entered
Ulster with an army composed partly
of auxiliaries from Counaught, and de-
* The reader will at once be reminded by tlic names
in the text of Macpbcrson's famous literary forgeries, tlie
object of which was to rob Ireland of her Ossianic heroes
and transfer them to the soil of Scotland. The cheat,
however, was exploded a great many years ago. It is
well known that Macpherson merely collected some of the
traditional poems, which had been preserved by the
Gaelic peasantry of the Scottish Highlands as well as in
Ireland ; and that partly by translation and partly by
imitation of these remains, and without any attention to
chronological order or correctness, but with iimumerablo
perversions of sense, he composed those pretended trans-
lations of the poems of Ossian, which, for somo time,
enjoyed such wonderful celebrity, and which might
always interest the world as curious and beautiful pro-
ductions, if they had not been utterly spoiled by the taint
of forgery and falsehood. Finn MacCuail was married
BucccBsivcIy to two daughters of the monarch Cormac
MacArt ; Ailvc, the second, having been given to him
feating the Ulster king in battle, in the
present barony of Farney, in Monaghan,
sacked and burned his palace of Emania,
— the Emania of Queen Macha, and of
the Red-branch knights — and seizing a
large territory for themselves, circum-
scribed the kingdom of Ulster within
much narrower limits than before. This
event took place in the year 331 ; and
the territory thus seized by the three
Collas, and from which they expelled
the old possessors, that is, the Clanna
Rory, or descendants of Ir, was called
Orgialla, or Oriel, and comprised the
present counties of Louth, Monaghan,
and Armagh .f
A. D. 378. — Under this date we read
of one of those domestic tragedies which
savor of a somewhat more advanced
age of civilization and intrigue. Eochy
Muivone, the son of Muireach Tirach,
had two queens, one of whom, Mongfinn,
or the Fair-haired, of the I'ace of Heber,
had four sons, the eldest of whom,
Brian, the ancestor of the O'Conoi-s of
after Graine, the former, had eloped with his lieuten-
ant, Diarmod O'Duivne. Gavra Aicldll, where the
battle was fought, is believed by Dr. O'Donovan (Ann.
Four Mast., vol i., p. 120, n. b), to have been contiguous
to the hill of Skreen, near Tara, in Meath. The name
is preserved in that of Gowra, a stream in the parish of
Skreen, which receives a tribute from the well of Neam-
hnach, on Tara Hill, and flows into the Boyne at Ardsal-
lagh. The publications of the Ossianic Society have
lately made the world familiar with many of the
poems and legends about Finn MacCuail and his
times.
f Colla Uais, the oldest of the brothers, was the ances-
tor of the MacDonuells, MacAllisters, and MacDugalda
of Scotland ; Colla Mean, of the ancient inhabitants of
the present district of Cremorne, in Monaghan ; and
Colla Dachrich, the youngest, of the MacMuhons of
Monaghan, the Maguircs of Fermanagh, the O'nanlons
and MacCanns of Armagli, &c.
44
NIALL OF THE NINE HOSTAGES.
Conuauglit, was her favorite, and, in
order to hasten his elevation to the
throne, she poisoned her brother Cree-
van, -who had succeeded Eochy ; but, as
the annalists observe, her crime did not
avail her, for Creevan was succeeded,
not by her son Brian, but by Niall of
the Nine Hostages, the son of her hus-
))aud Eochy by his former wife ; and
none of her descendants attained the sov-
ereignty, except Turlough More O'Con-
nor, and his son Roderick, the unhappy
king who witnessed the Anglo-Nor-
man invasion of Ireland. The wretched
Mongfiun tasted of the poisoned cup
herself, to remove her brother's suspi-
cious, and thus sacrificed her own life as
well as his.*
A. D. 379. — Niall, surnamed Naoi
Ghiallach, or of the Nine Hostages, the
ancestor of the illustrious tribe of Hy-
Niall, or O'Neill, was one of the most
famous of the pagan monarchs of Ire-
land, 1_)ut his energies appear to have
been wholly devoted to his hostile ex-
peditions against Albion or Britain, and
Gaul. In the history of those countries
we find evidence enough of the fearful
ravages inflicted in these expeditions.
The Scots (or Irish) were as formidable
at that time as the Northmen were in a
subsequent age. Their incursions -were
the scourge of all western Europe. Ac-
cording as Rome, in her decay, became
unable to protect her outlaying prov-
inces, these terrible Scots, with their
Pictish allies, plundered and laid waste
the rich countries thus abandoned by
the Roman eagle. The Britons were
unable to make any stand against them.
The Roman walls, when the Roman
garrisons were removed, ceased to be
any barrier; and while the Dalriadic
and Pictish armies poured into Britain
through the wide breaches made in the
walls of Antoninus and Severus, the
seas from north to south swarmed with
the fleets of the Irish invaders. For a
while Britain was wholly subdued, and
we know from the Britons' own account,
in their sad petition to Rome for aid, to
what a miserable plight they were re-
duced, flying for shelter to woods and
morasses, and fearing even to seek for
food, lest their hiding-places should be
discovered by the ruthless foe. It was
to resist these Irish invaders that Brit-
ain was obliged to become an Anglo-
Saxon nation. Yet, of the transactions
of that eventful period our Celtic annals
contain only the most meagre record.
We know from other sources that Chris-
tian missionaries had at that time al-
ready penetrated into Ireland, but our
annals pass over their presence in
silence ; and it is to the verses of the
Latin poet Claudian that we must refer
for the fact that troops were sent by
Stilicho, the general of Theodosius the
Great, to repel the Scottish hosts, led
by the brave and adventurous Niall.f
Durins: the three successive reigns of
* Creevan died in the SUev Oigliidh-.an-righ, c
" mountain of the king's death," now tlie Cratlo
mountains in the county of Clare near Limerick
t At the time of the Scottish incursions into the Ro-
man provinces, an important part was played by tho
people called Attacotti. a word which is lielieved to be a
ST. PATRICK'S CAPTIVITY.
Creevan, Niall of the Nine Hostages,
and Dath)'-, our annals record no re-
markable domestic -wars; but of the
first of these three kings we are told
f.hat in his short reign he brought over
numerous prisoners and hostages from
Scotland, Britain, and Gaul; of the
second, it is recorded that he was slain
by Eochy, the son of Enna Kinsellagh,
" at Muir-n-Icht, the sea between France
and England," supj^osed to be so called
from the Portus Iccius of Cajsar, near
the modern Boulogne ; Avhile Keating
says that it was on the banks of the
Loire he was treacherously killed by
the above-named domestic enemy, who
had found his way thither in the ranks
of Niall's Dalriadic allies from Scot-
land.* Finally, of Dathy it is related
that he was killed by lightning, at
Sliev Ealpa, or the Alps, and that his
body was Carried home by his soldiers.
corruption of their Irish name of Aitheach-Tuatha.
Some tribes of this great Firbolg race, in the covirse of
the frequent wars waged against them in Ireland, settled
in Scotland, not far from the Roman wall, and became
active participators in the depredations of the Scots and
Picts. Numerous bodies of them, who are supposed to
have deserted from their allies, were incorporated in
the Roman legions, and figured in the Roman wars on
the continent at that period.
One of the passages of Claudian, referred to above is
that in which the poet says :
" Totam cum Scotus leruem
Slovit, ct infesto spumavit reniige Tethys."
That is, as translated in Gibson's Camden :
" When Scots came thundering from the Irish shores.
And the ocean trembled, struck with hostile oars."
* This great monarch (Niall) had fourteen sons, of
whom eight left issue, who are set down in the following
order by O'Flaherty (Ogygia, iii. 85):— 1. Leaghaire,
from whom are descended the O'Coindhealbhains, or
Kendellans, of Ui Leaghaire ; 2. ConiiU CrimUthainne,
ancestor of the O'Melaghlius ; 3. Fiacha, a quo, the
and interred at Kathcroghan, in Con-
naught, under a red pillar stone. How
this Irish king, in the year of our Lord
428, penetrated to the foot of the Alps
with his armed bands, traversing Eu-
rope, as Rollo did long after him, his-
tory does not particularly tell us, but
it records enough about the devastating
inroads of the Scots to satisfy us of its
possibility.f
Dathy, although not the last pagan
king, was the last king of pagan Ire-
land, and after him we read no more
in the Irish annals of plundering expe-
ditions into foreign countries. It was
probably in the last descent of his pre-
decessor, Mall of the Nine Hostages,
upon Armoric Gaul, that the youth
Patrick, son of Calphurn, was, together
with bis sisters Darerca and Lupita, first
carried, among other captives, to Ire-
laud. Holy prize ! thrice happy expe-
Mageoghegans and O'JIolloys ; 4. Maine, o guo, O'Cah-
arny, now Fox, O'Breen, and Magawly, and their correla-
tives in Teffia. AU these remained in Meath. The
other four settled in Ulster, where they acquired exten-
sive territories, — viz., 1. Eoghan, the ancestor of O'Neill,
and various correlative families ; 2. Conell Qulban, the
ancestor of O'Donuell, &c. ; 3. Cairbre, whose posterity
settled in the barony of Carbery, in the now county of
Sligo, and in the barony of Granard, in the county of
Longford ; 4. Enda Finn, whose race settled in Tir Enda,
in Tirconnell, and in Kenel-Enda, near the hiU of Uis-
ncach, in Westmeath. — O'Dokovan.
f Abbe M'Geoghegan mentions a curious corrobora-
tion of this event. He says (page 94, Duffy 's ed.) :— " The
relation of this expedition of Dathy agrees with the
Piedmontese tradition, and a very ancient registry in th
archives of the house of Sales, in which it is said that
the king of Ii-eland remained some time in the Castle of
Sales. I received this account from Daniel O'Mulryan,
a captain in the regiment of Mountcashel, who assured
me that he was told it by the Marquis de Sales, at the
table of Lord Mountcashel, who had taken him prisoner
at the battle of Maraeilles."
46
CIVILIZATIOX OF THE PAGAN IRISH.
dition ! Irishmen may well exclaim ; for
.although the conversion of their coun-
try to Christianity, in common with the
rest of Europe, was an event that could
not have been delayed much beyond
the time at which it took place, who-
ever had been its apostle, it is impossi-
ble for any one who has considered,
with Catholic feelings, the history of
religion in Ireland, not to be impressed
with the conviction that this country
has been indebted in a special manner,
under God, to blessed Patrick, not only
for the mode in which she was con-
verted, but for the glorious harvest of
sanctity which her soil was made to pro-
duce, and for the influence of his inter-
cession in heaven from that day to the
present.
CHAPTER VI.
Civilization of the Pagan Irisli.— Their Knowledge of Letters.— The Ogham Craev.— Their Religion.— Tlie Brelion
Laws.-Tanistry.— Gavel-kind.— Tenure of Land.— Rights of Clanship.— Reciprocal Privileges of the Irish
Kings. — Th» Law of Eric. — Hereditary OfEces. — Fosterage.
T'^T'E have thus succinctly, but care-
' ' fully, analyzed the entire pagan
history of Ireland ; and before we pro-
ceed further, it is right to consider some
interesting questions which must have
suggested themselves to the reader, as
we went along. As, for instance, what
kind of civilization did the pagan Irish
enjoy? what knowledge of arts and
literature did they possess ? what was
the nature of their religion? what is
known of their laws and customs?
what monuments have they left to us ?
That the first migrations brought
with them into this island at least the
germs of social knowledge, appears to be
indisputable; and although these were
not developed into a civilization of arts
and literature, like that of Rome or
Greece, still, the social state which they
did produce was far removed from bar-
barism, in the sense in which that term
is usually understood. We have ample
reason to believe, not merely that Ire-
land in her days of paganism had reach-
ed a point relatively advanced in the
social scale, but that Christianity found
her in a state of intellectual and moral
preparation superior to that of most
other countries. How. otherwise indeed
should we account for the sudden lustre
of learning and sanctity, by which it is
confessed she became distinguished, al-
most as soon as she received the Gospel,
and which surely could not have been
so rapidly produced among a people so
barbarous as some writers would have
us believe the Irish to have been before
their conversion to Christianity ?
While Ireland, isolated and iudepen-
EARLY IRISH CIVILIZATION.
47
dent, had her own indigenous institu-
tions, and her own patriarchal system
of society, Britain and Gaul lay in sub-
jection at the feet of Korae, of ^yhose
arts and matured organization they thus
imbibed a knowledge. It is true, that
Avhat Celtic Britain thus learned she
subsequently lost in the invasions of
Saxons and Scandinavians, and that it
was Koman missionaries and a Norman
conquest that again restored to her the
arts of civilization ; but this civilization
it was, derived from Rome in the days
of her decline, and modified by the bar-
baric elements on which it was ingraft-
ed, that created the centralized power,
and sent out the mailed warriors, of the
feudal ages, and that gave to Anglo-
Noi'man England the advantages which
she enjoyed, in point of arms and disci-
pline, in her contest with a country
which had derived none of her military
art or of her political organization from
Rome. This connection with Imperial
Rome, on the one side, and its absence
on the other, were quite sufficient to
determine the destinies of the two coun-
tries. But the state of a people seclu-
ded from the rest of the world, whose
curious and interesting history we have
been tracing for a thousand years or
more before the history of Britain com-
mences, and whose copious and expres-
sive language, and domestic and mili-
* See the remarks on this subject in Dr. G'Donovan's
elaborate Introduction to liia Irish Grammar ; in which,
by quoting the opinions of Fatlicr Innes and Dr. OBrien,
without txpressing disst'nt. he seems to grant that the
tary arts, and costume, and laws, were
not borrowed from any exotic source, is
not to be held in contempt, although
unlike what had been built up else-
where on the substructui-e of Roman
civilization. Hence, if it be idle to
speculate on what Ireland, with her
physical and moral advantages, might
have risen to ere this in the career of
mankind, had her fiite never been link-
ed with that of England, it is, on the
other hand, unjust to argue as English
writers do, as to her fortunes and her
progress, from the defects of her primi-
tive and unmatured institutions, or from
the prostrate state of desolation to
which centuries of warfore in her strug-
gle with England and her own intestine
broils had reduced her. But here we
are anticipating.
St. Patrick, according to the old
biographers, gave " alphabets" to some
of those whom he converted, and this
statement, coupled with the facts that
we have no existing Irish manusci-ipt
older than his time — nor indeed any so
old — and that our ordinary Irish char-
acters, although unlike Roman printed
letters, are only those of Latin MSS. of
the fifth and sixth centuries, have led
some Irish scholars to concede too easily
the disputed point, that the pagan Ii-ish
were unacquainted with alphabetic
writing.* The Ogham Craev, or secret
Iriah liud
before St. Pi
lie also virgular i
quotes, without comment, Charles OConor of Belanagar,
10, in fiis introductory disquisition to the Ogj-gia Vin-
dicated, abandons the whole story of the Milesian colony,
&c., but holds that the pagan Irish had the Ogham, or
48
RELIGION OF THE PAGAX IRISH.
virgular writing, formed by notches or
marks along the arnos edges of stones,
i<v jm-ci-s of timber, or ou either side of
any st<^m line on a plane surface, was
only ap]»lifab]e to brief inscriptions,
such as a name on the head-stone of a
gi-ave : and the pagan antiquity of even
this rude style of alphabet has been dis-
puted by some ;* but innumerable pas-
sages in our most ancient annals and
liistoric poems show that not only the
Ogham, which was considered to be an
occult mode of writing, but a style of
alphabetic characters suited for the
preservation of public records, and for
general literary purposes, was known in
Ireland many centuries before the intro-
duction of Christianity. This fact is so
blended with the old historic traditions
of -the country, that it is hard to see
how the one can be given up without
abandoning the other also. There are
indisputable authorities to prove that
the Latin mode of writing was known
in Ireland some time before St. Patrick's
ai-rival, as there were unquestionably
Christians in the country before that
time, and as Celestius, the Irish disciple
.'•f the heresiarch Pelagius, is stated to
have written epistles to his family in
Iicland, at least thirty years before the
preaching of St. Patrick; but we go
further, for we hold, on the authority
of Cuan O'Lochain, who held a distin-
guished position in this country in the
beginning of the eleventh century, that
the Psalter of Tara did exist, and was
compiled by Cormac MacArt in the
third century, and consequently that
the pagan Irish possessed a knowledge
of alphabetic writing at least in that
age.f
One of the questions with reference
to the pagan inhabitants of Ireland, ou
which it is most difficult to arrive at a
satisfactory conclusion, is the nature of
their religion. The Tuatha de Da-
nanns are said to have had divinities
who presided over different arts and
professions. We have seen that Tiern-
mas, a Milesian king (a. m. 3580), was
the first who publicly practised the wor-
ship of Crom Cruach. It is quite prob-
able that he was the first who set up
rude idols for adoration in Ireland, but
Crom Cruach is referred to as a divinity
which the Milesians had always wor-
shipped.;]: That a superstitious venera-
tion was paid to the sun, wind, and ele-
ments, is obvious from the solemn forms
of oath which some of the Irish kings
took and administered; and that fires
were lighted, on certain occasions, for
religious purposes, is also certain ; but
• Tlic Oglinm inecriptions found in the cave of Dunloe,
in Kerry. derUl.-dly of a dote anterior to Christianity,
nuRht to be conclusive on tliis point.
\ Thr passage from Cuan O'Lochain's poem referring
to th.- ■• Pxalt.r of Tara," wiU bo found in Petrie's " His-
tory of Tara Hill."
} Tho riocA-oir, or golden stone, from which Qogher
in Tyrone is snid to take its name, would appear to have
been another of the ancient Irish idols. Cathal Magiiire,
compiler of the " Annals of Ulster" (A. D. 1490), is quoted
in tlie '• Ogygia," part iii., c. 23, as stating that a stone
covered with gold was preserved at Clogher, at the
right sideoftlie church entrance, and that in that stone
Kermand Kdstcu/i, the principal idol of the northeru
parts, was worshipped.
THE BREHOX LAWS.
49
beyond these and a few othei- facts, we
liave nothing on Irish authority to
define the reh'gious system of our pagan
ancestors. They had topical divinities
wlio pi-esided over hills, rivers, and par-
ticular localities, but there is no men-
tion of any general deity recognized by
the whole people, unless the obscure,
and not very old references to a god
Beall, or Bel, be understood in that
sense ; nor is there any trace of a pro-
pitiatory sacrifice used by them. Their
druids combined the offices of philoso-
phers, judges, and magicians, but do
not appear to have been sacrificing
priests, so far as the mention of them
to be found in purely Irish authorities
would lead us to conjecture.* Th
writings transmitted to us by the
ancient Irish were not composed foi
the use of strangers, and hence the
scantiness of their information on sub-
jects which must have been well known
to those for whom they were written.
Tile religion and customs of the Celts
of Gaul were minutely described by
Caesar; but whether his desci'iptiou of
the druidical religion of that country
was applicable to the Irish druids and
their form of worship, we have no cer-
* From drai, or draoidh, a druid, comes the word
draoidheacht (pronounced dreeaeht), the ordinary Irish
term for magic or sorcery. O'Reilly says (" Irish Wri-
ters," p. Ixxix.) that druidism cannot be proved to have
been the ntligion of tin; pagan Irish, from the use of the
word drai, which means only a sage, a magician, or a sor-
cerer ; and he shows that Morogh O'Cairthe, a Connaught
writer, who died a. d. 1007, is called by Tigernach " Ard
draei agus ard Ollamh." "chief druid and oUav." The
word may come from the Greek ^put, or the Irish dair,
an oiik.
tain authority to enable us to judge.
On this subject a great deal is left to
conjecture, and the result is that we
have had the wildest theories pro
pounded, with the most positive asser-
tions about fire Avorship, pillar temples,
budhism, druids' altars, human sacrifi-
ces, and sundry strange m3'steries, as if
these things had been accurately set
forth in sonae authentic description of
ancient Ireland; whereas the fact is
that not one word about them can be
discovered in any of the numerous Ii'ish
manuscripts that have been so fully
elucidated up to the present day.
The laws of the ancient Irish formed
a vast body of jurisprudence, of whicli
only recent researches have enabled the
world to appreciate the merits. Several
collections and revisions of these law^
were made by successive kings, from
the decisions of eminent judges, and
these are what are now known as the
Brehon laws.f
One of the most peculiar of the
ancient native laws of Ireland was that
of succession, called tanaisteacht, or tan-
istry. This law was a compound of
the hereditary and the elective princi-
ples, and is thus briefly explained by
t The labors of the Brehon Law Commission are still
in progress as this History is going to press, and their
result will throw, no doubt, a great deal of light upon
the ancient customs and manners of Ireland. To tlio
enlightened views and persevering exertions of the Rov.
Dr. Graves, F. T. C. D., so ably sustained by the Kev.
Dr. Todd, the counlrj- is indebted for obtaining this com-
mission from the government ; and to the great Irish
learning of Dr. 0 'Donovan and Professor Eugene Curry,
for carrying out its object successfully.
50
THE LAW OF TANISTRY.
Professor Curry :*—" There was no in-
variable rale of succession in the Mile-
sian times, but according to the general
tenor of our ancient accounts the eldest
son succeeded the father to the exclu-
sion of all collateral claimants, unless it
happened that he was disqualified by
some pei-sonal deformity, or blemish, or
by natural imbecility, or crime ; or un-
less (as happened in after ages), by
parental testament, or mutual compact,
the succession was made alternate in
two or more families. The eldest son,
being thus recognized as the presump-
tive heir and successor to the dignity,
was denominated tanaiste, that is, minor
or second, while all the other sons, or
persons that were eligible in case of his
failure, were simply called righdhamhna,
that is, king-material, or king-makings.
This was the origin of tanaiste, a success-
or, and tanaisteacht, successorship. The
tanaiste, had a separate maintenance
and establishment, as well as distinct
privileges and liabilities. He was in-
ferior to the king or chief, but above
all the other dignitaries of the State.
From all this it will be seen that tauis-
try, in the Anglo-Norman sense, was
not an original, essential element of the
law of succession, but a condition that
might be adopted or abandoned at any
time by the parties concerned ; and it
does not appear that it was at any time
univei-sal in Erinn, although it prevailed
in many parts of it. It is to be noticed
• IntrodncUon to the battle of MagU Lcana, printed
or tLa Celtic Society, Dublin, 1855.
also, that alternate tanaisteacht did not
involve any disturbance of property, or
of the people, but only effected the
position of the person himself, whether
king, chief, or professor of any of the
liberal arts, as the case might be ; and
that it was often set aside by force."
The j^rimitive intention was, that the
inheritance should descend " to the old-
est and most worthy man of the same
name and blood," but practically this
Avas giving it to the strongest, and fam-
ily feuds and intestine wars were the
inevitable consequence.
As tanistry regulated the transmission
of titles, offices, and authority, so the
custom of gavel-kind (or gavail-kinne),
another of the ancient institutions of
Ireland, but which was also common to
the Britons, Anglo-Saxons, Franks, and
other primitive people, adjusted the
partition and inheritance of landed pro-
perty. By gavel-kind the property was
divided equally between all the sons,
whether legitimate or otherwise, to the
exclusion of the daughters ; but in addi-
tion to his own equal share, which the
eldest son obtained in common with his
brothers, he received the dwelling-house
and other buildings, which would have
been retained by the father or kenfine,
if the division were made, as it fre-
quently was, in his own lifetime. This
extra share was given to the eldest bro-
ther as head of the family, and in con-
sideration of certain liabilities which he
incurred for the security of the family
in general. If there were no sons, the
property was divided equally amouf^
TENURE OF LAND.
51
the next male lieirs of the deceased,
whether uncles, brothers, nephews, or
cousins ; but the female line, as in the
Salic law, was excluded from the inher-
itance. Sometimes a repartition of the
lands of a whole tribe, or ftimily of sev-
eral branches, became necessary, owing
to the extinction of some of the
branches; but it does not appear that
any such confusion or injustice resulted
fi'om the law, as is represented by Sir
John Davies and by other English
lawyere who have adopted his account
of it.*
The tenure of land in Ireland was es-
sentially a tribe or family right. In
contradistinction to the Teutonic, or
feudal system, which vested the land in
a single person, who was lord of the
soil, all the members of a tribe or fam-
ily in Ireland had an equal right to
their proportionate share of the land
occupied by the whole. The equality
of title and blood thus enjoyed by all
must have created a sense of individual
self-respect and mutual dependence,
that could not have existed under the
Germanic and Anglo-Norman system of
vassalage. The tenures of whole tribes
were of course frequently disturbed by
war ; and whenever a tribe was driven
or emigrated into a district where it
had no hereditary claim, if it obtained
* See Dissertation on the Laws of the ancient Irish,
written by Dr. O'Brien, author of the Dictionary, but
published anonymously by Vallencey in the third num-
ber of the " Collectanea do Reb. Hib." In correction of
what is 8tat<:d above, we may incntiou, on the authority
of Mr. Curry, tl-.at in default of any male issue daughters
land it was on the j^aymeut of a rent to
the king of the district; these rents
being in some instances so heavy as to
compel the strangers to seek for a home
elsewhere. f It is within the memory
of the present generation how the popu-
lation of a large territoiy in the High-
lands of Scotland continued to hold by
the ancient Irish clannish tenure, and
were dispossessed and swept from the
land, on the ground that the English
system gave the owner the right to re-
move them.
The dignity of Ardrigh, or monarch
of Ireland, w'as one rather of title and
position than of actual power; and was
always supported by alliances with
some of the provincial kings to secure
the respect of the others. It Avas thus
that the chief king was enabled to as-
sert his will outside his own mensal
province or kingdom of Meath ; but, in
process of time, the kings of other pro-
vinces as well as Meath became the
monarchs. There was a reciprocity of
obligations between the several kings
and their subordinate chieftains; the
superiors granting certain subsidies or
stipends to the inferiors, while the latter
paid tributes to support the magnifi-
cence or the military power of the for-
mer.J It sometimes happened that the
succession to the sovereignty was alter-
finfe, or Cean-fine, used above, was only applied to the
heads of minor families, and never to any kind of chief-
tains.— See Four Must., vol. iv., p. 1147, note f.
f Vide supra, page Ul, note.
X These mutual privileges and restrictions, tributes
and stipends, whether consisting of bondmen or bond-
vcre iiUowcd a life-interest in property. The term Ken- | maids, cattle, silver shields, weapons, embroidered cloaks^
/)2
FOSTERAGE.
nate between two families, as that of
Munster was between the Dalcassians
aiiJ the Eugenians, both the posterity
of Oiliol Oluui ; but this kiud of suc-
cession almost always led to war.
Xone of the ancient Irisli laws has
been so n)uch decried by English wri-
tei's as that of eric, or mulct, by which
crimes, including that of mur.der, were
punished by fines; these writei's for-
getting that a similar law existed among
their own British and Anglo-Saxon an-
cestors. Punishment of murder by fine
also prevailed under the Salic law ; so
that if the principle be abhorrent to our
ideas at the present day, we know, at
least, that it existed in other countries
at the same remote period in which it
was acted upon in Ireland.* It is not
generally known that in cases of mur-
der the eric might be refused by the
friends of the deceased, a'nd punishment
by death insisted on ; yet such was the
refections on visitations, drinking-horns, corn, or con-
tributions in any other sliape, will be found set down in
the Leabhar na g-Ceart, or Book of Eights, edited for
the Celtic Society by Dr. O'Donovan. AJthougli a com-
pilation of Cliristian times, being attributed to St. Benig-
nus, the disciple and successor of St. Patrick, it describes
the customs of the kings of Ireland as they existed in
llie ages of paganism.
• Sec the laws of Athelstan ; Ilowell Dda's Leges Wal-
Uca ; tlie Salic law, and other authorities quoted in Dr.
O'Brien's Dissertation, already referred to, pp. 394, &c.
The law of eric was abrogated before the English inva-
sion, in the senate held by the Irish clergy, and Mor-
tough More O'Brien, king of Munster and monarch of
Ireland, A. D. 1111.
case. The law of eric was, therefore,
conditional.
All offices and professions, such as
those of druid, brehon, bard, physician,
cfec, were hereditary ; yet not absolutely
so, as others might also be introduced
into these professions. Among the re-
mai'kaT>le customs of the ancient Irish
those concerning fosterage prevailed, up
to a comparatively recent period, and
the English government frequently
made stringent laws against them, to
prevent the intimate friendships which
sprung up between the Anglo-Irish
families and their "mere" Irish fos-
terers.f It -was usual for families of
high rank among tbe ancient Irish to
undertake the nursing and education
of the children of tlielr chiefs, one royal
family sometimes fostering the children
of another ; and the bonds "which uni-
ted the fosterers and the fostered were
held to be as sacred as those of blood.;};
f Fosterage and gossipred, as well as intermarriages,
with the native Irish, was declared to be treason by the
Statute of Kilkenny, 40th Ed. III., A. D. 1367.
J Giraldus Cambrensis, who rarely says a kind word
of the Irish, observes, with an il-natured reservation,
" That if any love or faith is to be found among them,
you must look for it among the fosterers and their foster-
children." — Top. Rib. Bist. 3, ch. 23. Stanihurst says,
the Irish loved and confided in their foster-brothers
more than their brothers by blood : " Singula illis cre-
dunt ; in eorum spe requiescunt ; omnium conciliorum
sunt maxime conscii. CoUactanei etiam eos fidelissime
et amantissimfe observant." — De Rd. Sib., ^p. id. See
also Harris's Ware, vol. ii., p. 72.
lai^M
WEAPONS AND IMPLE>rENTS.
5S
CHAPTER VII.
Social and Intellectual State of the Pagan Irish, continued. — Weapons and ImplemeB.s of Flint and Stone. — Celts.
— Working in Jletal.— Bronze Swords, &c. — Pursuits of the Primitive Races. — Agriculture. — Houses. — Ratlis.
— Cahirs. — Cranogues. — Canoes and Curaclis. — Sepulchres. — Cromlechs. — Games and Amusements. — Music.
— Ornaments, &c. — Celebrated Pagan Legislators and Poets. — The Bearla Peine, &c.
IN some compartments of the Museum
of the Royal Irish Academy the vis-
itor will see beautifully shaped swords,
spear-heads, aud javelins of bronze; and
in others he will find a great variety of
weapons and tools composed of flint and
stone, from the rudely formed stone celt
and hammer, and the small chip of flint
that served for an arrow-head, to the
finely fashioned barbed spear-head of
the latter material, and the highly pol-
ished and well-shaped celt of hard stone.
Both classes of objects belong to the
pre-Christian ages of Irish history ; and
the questions arise — what time elapsed
between the use of the one and of the
other ? or what races employed each ?
or were both kinds of materials in use
among the inhabitants Of Ireland simul-
taneously, and from their first arrival in
the island ? The ancient annalists as-
sure us that at least the Tuatha de Da-
nann colony were acquainted with the
use of metal when they first came to
Ireland; and this account is now so
generally received, that wherever bronze
weapons are found in sepulchral mounds
with human remains, tlie latter are
looked upon as those of the Tuatha de
Danann race. Making every allowance,
however, for the amplifications of the
bards, and for the gradual progress
which the arts must have made among
all primitive races, we may take it for
granted that the early inhabitants of
Ireland employed such materials as flint
flakes and stone in the construction of
their weapons and iustrumeuts for cut-
ting; and stone, timber, and sun-baked
earthenware, for domestic uses; first,
perhaps, exclusively, and to a greater
or less extent for a long time after the
use of metals became familiar, — as the
latter material luust have been scarce
for many ages, while the former were
always at hand, and required compara-
tively little skill in their adaptation.
That the Irish became expert work-
ers in metal at a very early period there
can be no doubt, several specimens of
their skill, besides bronze weapons, be-
ing preserved in the great national col-
lection of antiquities just referred to.
The occupation of smith, Avhich includ-
ed that of armorei', ranked next to the
learned professions among them ; aud at
54
AGRICULTURE.
Airgatros or the Silver^^-ood* forges and
smelting works for tlie precious metals
were established, where silver shields,
which an Irish king presented to his
chieftains or nobles, long before the
Christian era, M-ere made; and where, no
doubt, some of those costly gold torques,
and other ornaments of the same metal
that enrich our museum, and, that were
worn by the pagan Irish princes and
judges, Avere so skilfully manufactured.-]-
The early inhabitants of Ireland were,
like most primitive races, more devoted
at fii-st to nomadic than to agricultural
pursuits ; but while they contented
themselves in the latter, for a long time,
with the cultivation of only so much
grain as served for their immediate
wants, in the former they were restrain-
ed within certain bounds, as each tribe
and family had only an allotted portion
of land over which they could allow
their flocks and herds to range. In
process of time the population became
so multiplied, and the resources of agri-
culture so important, that almost every
available spot would appear to have
been cultivated ; and we now see traces
* Now Rathveagh, on the River Nore, in Kilkenny.
t The quantity of gold ornaments that have been dis-
covered in Ireland is almost incredible. In digging for
a railway cutting in Clare, in the year 1855, a hoard of
these ancient treasures was found, worth, it is said,
alxjut £2.000 as bullion. They are frequently found in
almost every part of Ireland, and besides the number
accumulated in the Museimi of the Royal Irish Academy,
many are also to be seen in the windows of goldsmiths'
•hops, and unknown quantities of them have found their
way into the crucible. "We know enough," observed
the Rev. Dr. Todd, in his inaugural address as Presi-
dent of the Royal Irish xVcademy, in 185G, " to be assured
that the use of gold rings, and torques, and circlets, muat
of the husbandman's labor on the tops
of hills, and in other places in Ireland
that have ceased to be under cultivation
beyond the range of the oldest tradi-
tion. Between the periods when those
mountain tracts, now covered with
heath or moss, were made to produce
the annual grain-crop, and those far
remoter ages Avhen the first colony be-
gan to clear some of the impenetrable
forests covering the surftice of the then
nameless island of Erin, there must have
been a vast interval and many phases
of society — pastoral Firbolg, mechan-
ical Tuatha de Danann, and warlike Scot
or Gael, occupied the stage ; yet to all
of these our old annals, with the ancient
historical poems which serve to illus-
trate them, seem to be tolerably faith-
ful guides, showing us the hosts of rude
warriors going to battle with slings,
and w^ith stone disks for casting, as well
as the serried array of glittering spears,
and the gold and silver breastplates,
and the embroidered and many-colored
cloaks of the later, yet still pagan,
times. J
The houses of the ancient Irish were
have been a characteristic of some of the aboriginal set-
tlers of Ireland. Wliere did this gold come from?
There is no evidence of any trade at so early a period
between the natives of Ireland and any gold-producing
clime. Geology assures us that there are no auriferous
streams or veins in Ireland capable of supplj-ing so very
large a mass of gold. It follows, then, that some tribe
or colony who migrated into this country must have car-
ried these ornaments on their persons."
I See a minute description of the weapons and do-
mestic implements used by the ancient Irish, so far as
they Were composed of stone, earthen, or vegetable
materials, in the first part of the Catalogue of Antiqui
ties in the Museum of the Royal Irish Academy, by \V
HOUSES, RATHS, AND CAIIIRS.
55
constructed for the most part of wood,
or of hurdles and wicker-work plastered
with tempered clay, and thatched with
rushes. This use of timber for building
was so genei'al, that even the churches
for a long time after the introduction
of Christianity were usually constructed
of planed boards, which was desci'ibed
by Venerable Bede, in the eighth cen-
tury, as a peculiar Scottish (that is,
Irish) fashion ;* building with stone and
cement being regarded as a Roman cus-
tom, and too expensive to be under-
taken by the first Christian monks in
Ireland.
These wooden or hurdle houses Avere
surrounded by strong fences of earth
or stone, of which great numbei-s are
yet to be found in every part of the
island : althou^jh all traces of the actual
R. Wilde, Esq. Those peculiar objects, called Celts —
not from the name of the people, but from the Latin
word celtis, a chisel — still puzzle the antiquaries to de-
fine their use. Proft'ssor Curry has communicated, from
the Book of Ballymote and other ancient Irish manu-
scripts, an account (published at pp. 73, 74, of the Cata-
logue) of the manner in which the Lia Miledh or " war-
rior's stone" — whether that be the celt, or the round, flat,
sharp-edged disk, of which there are some specimens in
the Museum — was used in battle. The following legend-
ary account is one of the three or four examples given :
" In the record of the battle of the Ford ofComar, near
■^ore, in the county of Westmeath, and which is sup-
posed to have occurred in the century before the Chris-
tian era, it is said that, ' there came not a man of Lobars
people without a broad, green spear, nor without a
dazzling shield, nor without a LiugJUamha-laich (a
champion's hand stone), stowed away in the hoUow cav-
ity of his shield. . . . And Lobar carried his stone like
each of his men ; and seeing the monarch, his father,
standing in the ford with Ceat, son of Magach, at one
side, and Conuall Cearnach at the other, to guard him,
he grasf.ed his battle-stone quickly and dexterously, .vnd
threw it with all his strength, and with unerring aim, at
the king, his father ; and the massive stone passed with
SL swift rotatory motion towards the king, and despite
dwellings have disappeared, owing to
the perishable nature of the materials
of which they consisted ; unless in some
^Qw places, where small stone houses,
now called cloghauns, with beehive
roofs, are still preserved. The inclo-
sures were generally circular, but some-
times oval or polj'gonal ; and when they
surrounded the habitations of chiefs or
other important persons, or were sit-
uated in places exposed to hostile incur-
sions, they were double or triple, the
concentric lines of defence being sepa-
rated by dikes. An earthen inclosure
of this kind is usually called a rath,
or lios ; and one of stone, a cathair (pr.
cahir), or caishal ; both being vulgarly
called Danish forts, or simply forts.
The stone forts are attributed by some
antiquaries to the Firbolgs, at least in
the efforts of his two brave guardians, it struck him on
the breast, and laid him prostrate in the ford. The
king, however, recovered from the shock, arose, and
placing his foot upon the formidable stone, pressed it
into the earth, where it remains to this day, with a third
part of it over ground, aud the print of the king's foot
visible on it.' "
* Thus, when St. Finian of lona becaine bishop of
Lindisfarne, he "built a church fit for his episcopal see,
not of stone, but altogether of sawn wood, covered with
reeds, after the Scotic fashion (More Scuttornm.)" Bede,
Eccl. Hist, iii., c. 25. The extensive use of timber for
building can be no matter of surprise when we lecollect
that Ireland was, at the time, abundantly supplied with
primeval forests ; and among the trees which seem to
have been most numerous, and of course indigenous,
were the oak, pine, fir, birch, and yew. It is not long
sincealarge portion of some old English and continental
towns consisted of wooden houses ; and it will be long ere
the method of constructing houses of wood be abandoned
in America. There is mention of a " pillared house" (ttiire-
adoig) in a poem quoted by Tigernach. under the year
GOl, and attributed by him to Caillach Laighncach,
who wrote in tlie time of Hugh Allan, in the early
part of the 8th century. (See Four Mastere, vol. i., p
230.)
56
SEPULCHRAL MONUMENTS.
those parts of Ireland where that people
v.-ere longest to be found as a distinct
]-nce, as in the western province; and
the (^irthen forts are supposed to have
l)ren the- work of the Milesians. Most
proliaMy both races employed indiffer-
ently such materials as were most con-
venient to tlieir hand. Of tlie earthen
intrenchments, the w^alls have, in the
lapse of centuries, been so washed into
the dikes as partly to efface both; while
in innumerable cases the hand of the
agriculturist has been more ruthless
than that of time, in obliterating these
vestiges of our ancestors.*
Another kind of fortified retreat or
dwelling used by the ancient Irish was
that called a cranogue, or stockaded
island, generally situated in some small
lake, where a little islet or bank of
gravel was taken advantage of, and by
being surrounded with stakes or other
defences, was made a safe retreat for
either the lawless or timid. In the vicin-
ity of these cranogues are often found
the remains of -canoes, or shallow flat-
bottomed boats, cut out of a single tree.
The boats used by the Irish on the sea-
coast w^ere chiefly those called curraghs
or coracles, which were composed of a
fi-ame of wicker-work, covered with
skins. Boats of this type, save that
pitched canvas has been substituted
for the hides, are still used on the
* Among tlie most remarkable of the caishels or
stone forts, are Don Aengus, Dun Conchum, and otlier
duns of the Isles of Aran, Staigue Fort in Kerry, and
the Grianan of Aileach, in Donegal ; and of the earthen
'orts, some of the most celebrated are the royal ratlxs of
coast of Clare, in the islands of Aran,
and in some few other j^laces in Ire
land.
Fi'om the dwellings of the ancient
inhabitants we naturally turn to their
sepulchral remains, of which there are
different kinds. The most frequent are
the mounds or tumuli, called barrows in
England, which were common to all
ancient nations who interred their dead.
They varied in -size according to the
importance of the individual over whose
remains they were raised, and in some
instances they assumed the dimensions
of considerable hills ; as those of New
Grange and Dowth on the banks of the
Boyne. Of these vast tumuli, which
there are good grounds for regarding
as the tombs of the Tuatha de Danann
kings, the most famous is that of New
Grange, with its long gallery, and lofty,
dome-shaped chamber ; and it may be
observed that in any of those mounds
that have been examined, sepulchral
chambers, or kists, have been invariably
found, and frequently human remains.
Monuments composed of stone-heaps
are called leachts or earns, but many of
these latter are modern, and are mere
cenotaphs or memorials of an accidental
or violent death.
The monuments called cromlechs,
which are met in Wales and Brittany
as well as in Ireland, and which belong
Tara Hill, Emania, Croghan, and Tailtin, and the great
rath of Mullaghmast ; but there are few districts of Ir»
land in which several remains of this character are rot
to be found.
GAMES AND MUSIC.
57
unquestionably to pagan times, have
Leen popularly regarded as druids' al-
tars ; but the correct opinion, founded
on ancient Irish authorities, that they
were intended for sepulchral purposes,
is now generally received ; and it is
])robable that they may have been in
some cases the chambers of sepulchral
mounds, from which the covering of
earth has been removed. The examina-
tion of a tumulus, opened in May, 1838,
in the Phoenix Park, near Dublin, would
seem to confirm this opinion ; as the
internal chamber, in which two human
skeletons were found, was covered with
a large, flat stone, in every respect like
a cromlech.*
Chess was a favorite game of the
Irish from very early times, but it is
uncertain whether the rules of the play
weie the same as those known to
luoderns. In all ages the Irish were
passionately fond of their own sweet,
heart-touching, and expressive music,
* These monuments are invariably referred to in old
Irish writings as sepulchres ; and in later ages they
were called leahacha nafeinne, or the beds (i. e., graves)
of the Fenians — the term cromlech being a recent impor-
lation into the Irish language, and still quite unknown
to the Irish-speaking population. It is not unusual at
present to combine the two hypotheses by calling these
mysterious remains altar-graves. For a great deal of
valuable research about the cemeteries and sepulchres
of tho pagan Irish, and in particular about the liill-mon-
uments near the Boyne ; and also for imiiortant and
authentic information touching the manners of the
jirimitive races of Ireland, the reader is referred to Dr.
Petrii^'s learned Essay on Tara Hill.
t Giraldus Camlircnsis (Tup. I/ib., dist. in., c. 11), de-
scribing the performance of the Irish harpers, pays them
the following tribute : — "In musicis instrumentis com-
mendabilem invenio istius gentis diligentiara ; in quibus
prae omni natione quam vidimus, incomparabiliter est
instructa." " The attention of tliis people to musical
and possessed both stringed and wind
instruments ; and a number of bards or
musicians, who sometimes played in
harmony, but generally accompanied
their songs with instrumental music
singly, were always in attendance at
the feasts of the chiefs and public en-
tertainments.f The gold ornaments
which are still preserved, the crowns of
gold, worn, at least in some instances,
by the Irish kings, and the accounts
given by the bards of their " high
drinking-cups of gold," and other ob-
jects of luxury, would show that a cer-
tain amount of splendor had been at-
tained in the rude society of even the
pagan ages of Ireland.
The names of several persons who
had distinguished themselves as poets
or legislators in Ireland, in the time of
paganism, are still preserved, as well as
some of the compositions attributed to
them. Among those most remarkable
in the latter class were Ollav Fola, by
instruments I find worthy of commendation ; their skill
in these matters being incomparably superior to that of
any other nation I have seen." He then goes on to com-
pare the Irish music with that of the Welsh, to which
he was accvistomed, describing the former as rapid and
precipitate, yet sweet and pleasing, while the latter is
slow and solemn. He was amazed at " the rapidity of
execution," "the intricate arrangement of tho notes,"
and " the melody so hannonious and perfect" ■which
Irish music displayed ; and was struck with the per-
formance of the Irish musicians, who knew liow " to
delight with so much delicacy, and sootlic so softly, that
the excellence of their art seemed to lie in concealing
it." Such was tho impression which the music of Ire-
land could produce on the soul even of an enemy seven
hundred years ago. Warton (History of English Poo-
try) says ; — " Even so late as the eleventh century the
practice was continued among the AVelsh bards of
receiving instructions in the bardic profession from Ire-
land."
68
THE LANGUAGE OF ANCIENT IRELAND.
whom the Feis of Tara was instituted ;
Cimbaeth, and other kings of his period ;
Moran, the chief judge of Ferach, the
Fair and Just, at the close of the first
century ; and, above all, Cormac, son of
Art, who has left us a tract or book of
" Eoyal Precepts," and who, about the
middle of the third century, caused the
Psalter of Tara to be compiled.
Of the pre-Christian bards or poets
we have a tolerably large list, in which,
selecting the most remarkable names,
we find Amergin, brother of Heber and
Heremon, to whom three poems still
existing are attributed ; Congal, the son
and poet of King Eochy Feilach, who
flourished a. m. 505S ; and just before
the Christian era a whole group of poets,
among whom were Adhna, chief poet
of Ireland, Forchern, and Fercirtne, the
author of the Tlraicaclit na n-Eigeas^ or
* Vide O'ReiUy's Irish Writers.
\ Of the social and political system which prevailed
among the ancient Irish, a distingmshed authority on
Irish historical matters, thus writes : — " Of our society,
the type was not an army (as in the feudal system) but
a family. Such a system, doubtless, was subject to
many inconveniences. The breaking up of all general
authority, and the multiplication of petty independent
principalities, was an abuse incident to the feudal system ;
it was inherent in the very essence of the patriarchal or
famUy system. That system began as the feudal system
primer of the learned ; while towards
the close of the third century flourished
Oisin, and at the beginning of the fifth
century Torna Eigeas, or Torna the
Learned* Men like these would not
have been produced in an entii-ely un-
civilized state of society. The noble
language of ancient L-eland had already
in their time attained a high degree of
perfection, being most copious in primi-
tive roots and expressive compounds;
and the productions that are attributed
to the writers enumerated above, are
written in a dialect which would be al
most wholly unintelligible to the best
Irish scholars for centuries past, wei'e
it not for the very ancient glosses that
accompany them, which glosses can
themselves be understood by those few
only who are profoundly skilled in the
Irish manuscripts.f
ended, with small independent societies, each with its
own separate centre of attraction ; each clustering round
the lord or the chief; and each rather repelling than at-
tracting all similar societies. Yet the patriarchal system
was not without its advantages. If the feudal system
gave more strength to attack a foreign enemy, the pat-
riarchal system secured more happiness at home. The
one system implied inequality among the few, and
slavery among the many : the other system gave a feel-
ing of equality to all."— (The Very Rev. Dean Butler'i
Introduction to Clyn's Annals, p. 17).
IRISH CHRISTIANS BEFORE ST. PATRICK.
59
CHAPTER VIII.
Irish Clu'istians before St. Patrick.— Pelagius and Celestius.— The Mission of St. Palladius.— St. Patrick's
birth-place — his parentage — his captivity — his escape — his vision— his studies — his consecration. — How
Christianity was received in Ireland. — St. Patrick's arrival. — The first conversions. — Interviews with King
Laeghaire. — Visits Tailtin. — The Apostle's journeys in Meath, Connaught, Ulster, Leinster, and Munster. —
Destruction of Crom Cruach. — St. Secundinus. — St. Fiach. — Caroticus. — Foundation of Armagh. — Death of
St. Patrick.
Contemporary Sovereigns and Eoentt. — Popes : St. Celestine and St. Sixtus III. — Theodosius the Great, Emperor of tho
East.— Valentinian III., Emperor of the West.— Attila, King of the Huns.— Genseric, King of the Vandals.— Clovis, son of
Pliurainond, King of the Franks. — Britain abandoned by the Romans (a. d. 423), and tlie aid of the Saxons invited. — Gen-
eral Council of Ephesus (a. d. 431). St. Augustin died (a. d. 431).
(A. D. 400 TO A. D. 500.)
THAT Christianity had found its
way into Ireland shortly before
the ])reaching of St. Patrick appears to
l)e Leyond doubt, although the manner
in which it was introduced, and the ex-
tent to which it had spread, are matters
of mere conjecture. The neighboring
island of Britain had, long before this
period, received the light of faith
through its Roman masters; and it is
probable that there was sufficient inter-
course between the two countries to
enable some few of the natives of Ire-
land to become acquainted with the
Christian religion. It is, moreover, pro-
bable that these few isolated Chris-
tains were confined to the south of Ire-
land, and that there was no bishop in
the country until St. Palladius was
sent there by St. Celestine. Frequent
mention is made in Irish records and
Lives of saints of four bishops having
been in Ireland before St. Patrick's ar-
rival, namely, St. Ailbe of Eraly, St.
Declan of Ardmore, St. Ibar of Begery,
and St. Kieran of Saigir ; but it never-
theless appears extremely probable that
these holy prelates were not the pre-
decessors of St. Patrick in the Irish
mission, although they may not have
been his disciples, or have derived their
authority from him.*
It is not denied that some Irishmen
eminent for holiness, and who flourished
on the continent about this time, had
received the light of Christianity either
at home or abroad, before St. Patrick's
preaching. St. Mansuetus, the first
• Dr. Lanagan (Eccl. Hist, of Ireland, chap, i.) has tion of the above-named four bishops having preceded
controverted with his usual learnmg tho received no- St. Patrick's mission.
MISSION OF ST. PALLADIUS.
bishop of Toiil, iu Lon-aine, and St.
Sedulius, or Sbiel, the author of some
beautiful chuich hymns still extant,
were of this number. The fact that
Celestius, the chief disciple of the here-
siarch Pelagius, was a Scot or Irishman,
shows that Christianity was known in
this island previous to St. Patrick. Be-
fore falling into heresy, Celestius resided
in a monastery either in Britain or on
the continent, and thence, as has been
already stated, addressed to his friends
in Ii-eland some religious essays or epis-
tles that were highly lauded at the
time.* As to Pelagius, it is generally
admitted that he was a Briton, and that
the Latin form of his name was but the
translation of his British name of Mor-
<5an. He was a lay monk, taught school
at Rome, and imbibed from Rufinus, a
Syrian priest, and disciple of Theodorus
of ]\Iopsuesta, the errors of that here-
siarch on grace and original sin.
While the great apostle of Ireland
was yet preparing himself for the mis-
sion to which tended all the aspirations
of his heart, his friend St. Germain of
Auxerre, under whose guidance and in-
struction he had placed himself for
some years before his consecration,
was sent, together with Lupus, another
missionary, by Pope Celestine into Brit-
ain, to expel the Pelagian heresy from
the church in that country, and it is
conjectured that St. Patrick accom-
panied them on that mission. It is
* QennaiUus de Script. Eccl., c. 44. The native coun-
try of Celestius is alluded to by St. Jerome in the Pro-
also supposed, that it was in conse-
quence of information obtained during
that British mission on the destitute
state of Ireland for want of Christian
preachers, that St. Palladius, archdeacon
of Rome, was immediately after (a. d.
431) sent by St. Celestine to Ireland as
a bishop " to those believing in Chri.st ;"
namely, to the few scattered Christians
we have alluded to ; and to propagate
the faith in that country. This mission,
however, was unsuccessful. Palladius
was repulsed by the people of Leinster
and their king Nathi, and after erecting
three small wooden churches, he em-
barked to return to Rome, and was
driven by a storm on the coast of Scot-
land, where he died after having made
his way as far as Fordun.
In entering upon an account of St.
Patrick's life and mission, we are met
at the threshold by a controversy about
his birth-place. St. Fiech, a disciple of
St. Patrick, and bishop of Sletty, wrote
a metrical account of the apostle's life,
known as Fiech's hyrnn, in which he
states that the saint was born at Nem-
thur, which name a scholiast, who is
believed to have been nearly contempo-
rary with Fiech himself, explains by the
name Alcluith, a place well known to
the ancient Irish, and which became
the Dunbritton or Dunbarton of mod-
ern times. The old traditions of Ire-
land point to this locality, or to some
spot in its vicinity, as the birth-place
legomena to the first and the third books of his Com-
mentaries on Jeremias.
ST. PATRICK'S BIRTH-PLACE.
61
of St. Patrick, and such was the idea
received by Ussher, Colgan, Ware, and
other eminent antiquaries of their times.
Alcluith, at the time of St. Patrick's
birth, was within the territory of Brit-
ain, tlie Picts being then on the north
side of tlie Clyde, and by all the old
authorities we find the saint called a
Briton. Some statements assigning
Wales or Coi'nwall as the birth-place of
the Irish apostle, and others calling him
a Scot, that is, an Irishman, are easily
shown' to have been erroneous; but
another old tradition, which makes him
a native of Armorica, or Brittany, has
been of late generally received, and Dr.
Lanigau has employed a great deal of
learning and ingenuity to establish its
accuracy. In his " Confession," St. Pat-
rick says he was born at " Bonaven of
Tabernia," which names it is impossible
to identify as connected with any places
in Britain or Scotland ; while Dr. Lani-
gan argues
with great probability that
Bonaven is the present town of Bou-
logne (Bononia,) in that part of ancient
Belgic Gaul which had at one time the
sub-denomination of Britain, and which
was also a part of the territory called
Armorica, a word signifying in Celtic
" the Sea Coast." The name Tabernia
he shows to have been changed into
the modern one of Terouanne, a city
whence the district in which Boulogne
is situated took its name.*
One thing quite cei'tain is, that St.
Patrick was in various ways intimately
connected with Gaul. His mother, Con-
chessa, is distinctly stated to have been
a native of Gaul, being, according to
some traditions, a sister or niece of St.
Martin of Tours ; and from Gaul, Pat-
rick, when a youth of sixteen years of
ao-e, was carried captive into Ireland, in
a plundering expedition of Niall of the
Nine Hostages. His father was Cal-
phurnius, a deacon, the son of Potitus,
a priest, and their rank was that of
Decurio, or member of the municipal
council, under the Roman law. These
men had entered into holy orders after
the death of their wives, as it was not
unusual at that time to do ; or, as is
stated to have occurred in the case of
Calphurnius, the husband and wife
separated voluntarily, and entered into
religion. The apostle received in bap-
tism the name of Succath, which is said
to signify "brave in battle," and the
name of Patrick or Patricius was con-
ferred on him by St. Celestine as indi-
cative of his rank.
There are various opinions as to the
year of St. Patrick's birth, the most
probable being that he was born in
387, and that in 403 he was made cap-
tive and carried into Ireland. Those
who hold that he was born at Alcluith,
or Dunbarton, account for his being
made captive in Armorica by supposing
that his ftither and family had gone
into Gaul to visit his friends of Con-
* There is. another theory not worth mentioning, ac-
cording to wliich St. Patrick was born at Tours ; the
word Nemthur being explained as " Heavenly Tours."
See Mr. Patrick Lynch's Life of St. Patrick. Dr. Lani-
gan is the only writer who explains all the names men.
tioned as applicable to his theory of Boulogne.
ST. PATRICK'S BONDAGE AND ESCAPE.
chessa. Be that as it may, the holy
youth when carried into Irehand was
sold as a slave in that part of Dala-
radia comprised in the county of An-
trim, to four men, one of whom, named
Milcho, bought up their right from
the other three, and employed the saint
111 attending his sheep, oi-, as some say,
his swine. His sufferings were very
great, as he was exposed to all the in-
clemency of the weather in the moun-
tains; but he himself tells us that it
was in this suffering he began to know
and love God. He performed all his
duties to his harsh master with punctu-
ality, yet he found a great deal of time
for prayer, and was in the habit of pray-
ing to God a hundred times in a day,
and as many times at night, and that in
the midst of frost and snow. After six
yeai-s spent in this bondage, he was
warned in a vision that the time had
come for him to depart, and that a ship
was ready in a certain poi't to take him
to his own countiy. He i-ose up accord-
ingly, and leaving Milcho, he travelled
two hundred miles to a part of Ireland
of which he had pi'eviously known
nothing, and here he found the ship
that had been indicated to him ready
to sail. He was first rudely repulsed
by the master of the vessel, but was
at length taken on board, and after a
voyage of three days reached shore,
but only to find himself in a desert
countiy, where the whole party were
on the point of dying of hunger, until,
through the prayers of Patrick, food
was obtained ; and ultimately, after a
journey of twenty-eight days, he reach-
ed his native place.
It is stated that St. Patrick suffered
a second captivity, but of this little is
known, except that it lasted for only
sixty days; and Ave are led to con-
clude that about this time he resolved
to enter the ecclesiastical stale, and for
that purpose went to study in the fa-
mous college or monastery of St. Mar-
tin, near Tours, — subsequently, when
thirty years of age, placing himself un-
der the direction of St. Germain of Aux-
erre. In or about this period the saint
had a remarkable dream or vision, in
which a man named Victoricius appear-
ed, to present him with a large parcel
of letters, one of which was inscribed,
"The voice of the Irish ;" and while read-
ing it, St. Patrick thought he heard the
cries of a multitude of people near the
wood of Foclut, in the district now
called Tirawley, in Mayo, saying: "We
entreat thee to come, holy youth, and
walk still amongst us." The saint's
mind had been previously filled with a
love of the Iiish, and a desire for their
conversion, and this vision fixed his at-
tention more earnestly on that object.
There is some obscurity in this part
of the Lives of the apostle, as he is rep-
resented as spending a great many
yeai's in study and religious retreat in
Italy, and in some islands of the Med-
iterranean, especially Lerins ; while, ac-
cording to other accounts, he was con-
stantly with St. Germain ; but the
probability is that he Avas all the time
acting under the guidance of that illus-
HIS ARRIVAL IN IRELAND.
63
trious mastei-. At length, after much
preparation, about the year 431, and
within some veiy l)rief space after the
departure of St. Palladius on his mis-
sion to Ireland, St. Pati'ick visited
Rome, accompanied by a priest named
Segetius, who was sent with him by St.
Germain to vouch for the sanctity of
his character and for his fitness for the
Irish mission ; and having remained a
shoi-t time, ami I'eceived the approba-
tion and benediction of the holy pon-
tiff, St. Celestine, tlien within a few
weeks of his death, oui- apostle retui'ned
to his friend and master, St. Germain,
at Au.\ei-re, and thence to the noith of
Gaul, wiiei'e, news of the death of St.
Palhidius being received aVjout the
same time, Pati'ck immediately was
consecrated bishop by a certain hoi}'
])relate named Amato, in a town called
EI)ovia; Auxilius, Isei'ninus, and other
disciples of St. Patrick receiving cleri-
cal oi-ders on the same occasion. The
apostle and his companions sailed forth-
with for Biiton, on their way to Ire-
land, where they ari-ived safely (a. d.
4o'2), in the first year of the pontificate
of St. Sixtus III., the successor of St.
Celestine, and in the fourth year of the
reign of Laeghaire,* son of Niall of the
Nine Hostages, king of Ireland.
Ireland, in its reception of the Chris-
tian religion, presents an example unique
in the history of nations. " While in all
other countries," observes an eloquent
* Tliis name, called in Latin Lagariua, is pronounced
u if written Lerey.
f Moore's History of Ireland, toI. i., p. 203.
writer, " the introduction of Christianity
has been the slow work of time, has
been resisted by either government or
people, and seldom effected without
lavish effusion of blood, in Ireland, on
the contrary, by the influence of one
zealous missionary, and with but little
previous preparation of the soil by other
hands, Christianity burst forth at the
first ray of apostolic light, and with
the sudden ripeness of a northern sum-
mer at once covered the whole land.
Kings and princes, when not themselves
among the ranks of the converted, saw
their sons and daughtei-s joining in the
train without a mui-mur. Chiefs, at vari-
ance in all else, agreed in meeting be-
neath the Christian banner; and the
proud druid and bard laid their super-
stitions meekly at the foot of the cross ;
nor, by a singular blessing of providence
— unexampled, indeed, in the whole his-
tory of the Church — was there a single
drop of blood shed, on account of reli-
gion, through the entire course of this
mild Christian revolution, by which, in
the space of a few yeai-s, all Ireland
was brought tranquilly under the do-
minion of the Gospel."f
It is strange that even the glorious
distinction thus referred to was made a
charge against Ireland by a Chi'istian
writer; Giraldus Cambrensis asserting
that " there "was not one among them
found ready to shed his blood for the
church of Christ.''^ "Whether the soil
X Topograpliia Hiberniie, dist. iii., c. 28. Cambrensis
holds the unenviable position of being at the head of the
list of the British calumniators of Ireland.
P4
LANDS OF INIS-PATRICK.
of Ireland was capable of producing
martyrs after ages showed ; but it must
be observed that Christianity was not
established in Ireland altogether with-
out resistance, some of the pagan Irish
having shown an inveterate hostility to
its progress, and several attempts having
been made on the life of St. Patrick
himself.*
St. Patrick first landed at a place
called Inver De, which is supposed to
he the mouth of the Bray river, in
Wicklow; but having been repulsed
by the inhabitants, he returned to his
ship, and sailing towards the north,
landed on the little island of Inis-Pat-
rick, near Skerries, off the north coast
of Dublin, where he made a short stay
for the pui'pose of refreshing the crew
and the companions of his voyage. He
then resumed his voyage, and proceeded
as far as the coast of the present county
of Down, where, entering Strangford
Lough, he landed in a district called
Magh-inis, in the present barony of Le-
cale. On the appearance of the strangers
an alarm was raised that pii-ates had ar-
rived, and Dicho, the lord of that place,
came at the head of his people ; but the
moment he saw the apostle he perceiv-
ed that he was no pirate, and he invited
the saint and his companions to his
house, where, on hearing the true re-
ligion announced, he and all his family
believed and were baptized. This was
the first fruit of St. Patrick's mission in
Ireland.
• O'Donovan's Four Masters, an. 433 (note).
The apostle celebrated the Divine
Mysteries in a barn belonging to Di-
cho, which was henceforth used as a
church, and was called Sabhall Padru-
ic, or Patrick's Barn, a name that has
been still preserved in that of Saul.
A church and monastery were after-
wards founded there, and the place al-
ways continued to be a favorite retreat
of St. Patrick's.
After a stay of a few days with
Dicho, the apostle set out by land for
the habitation of his old master, Milcho,
who resided somewhere near Slieve Mis,
in the present county of Antrim, then
part of the territory called Dalaraida,
in a portion of which dwelt a tribe of
the Cruithnians, or Picts. Milcho's
heart was hardened* and rather than
allow St. Patrick to approach his house,
he set fire to it in a fit of passion, and
was himself consumed in its ruins, to-
gether with his family, except, as some
say, a son and two daughters, who
subsequently became converts and em-
braced a religious life.
St. Patrick returned to Saul, and the
next important event we meet is his
journey by water, in the early part of
the next year (a. d. 433), southward,
to the mouth of the Boyne, where he
landed at a small port called Colp, and
thence set out, through the plain of
Bregia, in the direction of the royal
palace of Tara. On his way thither,
he stayed a night in the house of a re-
spectable man named Seschnan, who
was converted and baptized, with his
whole family, one of his sons receiving
TIIE APOSTLE AT SLANE.
65
from the apostle the name of Benignus,
as iutlicating the gentleness of his man-
ners. This hol}^ youth attached him-
self from that moment to St. Patrick,
and became famous in the history of
the Irish Church as St. Benan, or Be-
nignus, the successor of the apostle in
the primatial see of Armagh.
The next day was Holy Saturday,
and St. Patrick, on reaching the place
now called Slane, caused a tent to be
erected, and lighted the paschal fire
about night-fall, preparatory to the cel-
ebration of the Easter solemnity. It so
happened that the princes and chief-
tains of Meath were at this time assem-
bled at Tara, with King Laeghaire, for
the purpose of holding a pagan festival,
Avhich some writers suppose to have
been that of Beltinne, or the fire of Bal
or Baa], as the kindling of a great fire
formed a portion of the rites ;* and as
it was contrary to the law to light any
fire, on that occasion, in the surround-
ing country until the fire from the top
of Tara hill was first visible, the king
became indignant on seeing the flame
which the saint had kindled, and which
his druids, who had, no doubt, ascer-
tained who it w^as that had come into
their neighborhood, told him would
cause the destruction of his and their
])()wer if not immediately extinguished.
* Dr. O'Conor (Rer. Hib. Scrip, vol. 1) labors to show
that tliis festival was that of Beltinne or Bealtaine, and
Dr. Petrie, in his Essay on Tara Hill, appears to adopt
that view ; but Dr. O'Donavan, in his remarks on the
division of the year among the ancient Irish, in the in-
troduction to tlie Book of liights, proves tliat there i.s no
Accordingly, Laeghaire, with his druids,
chieftains, and attendants went to ascer-
tain the cause, and, on approaching the
place, ordered the apostle to be brought
before him, having first given directions
that no one should rise, or show the
stranger any mark of respect. When
St. Patrick with his attendant priests
appeared, notwithstanding the king's
mandate. Ere, the son of Dego, rose to
salute him, and was converted; and
this Ere was subsequently bishop of
Slane, where his hei-mitage is an object
of interest to the present day. The re-
sult of the interview was an invitation
to the saint to come next day to Tara,
for the purpose of holding a discussion
with the magi or druids; the king
secretly resolving to place men in am
bush who would murder the Christain
missionaries on the way.
The scene which passed next morning
— Easter Sunday — in the royal rath of
Tara, was one on which it is impossible
to reflect without a lively interest. The
king, conscious of the treacherous prep-
arations which he had ordered to be
made along the road, could hardly have
expected to see the strangers come, but
was nevertheless seated in barbaric state
in the midst of his satraps and nobles
to receive them. St. Patrick, on his
side, was not unaware of the pagan per-
authority for this opinion, and that in fact the fire of
Beltinne was always lighted at the hill of Uisneach, in
Westmeath. The festivitj' which Laeghaire was cele-
brating was probably that of his own birth-day, ag
is stated in the Life of St. Patrick in the Book of Lis-
66
ST. PATRICK'S JOURNEYIXGS.
fidy practised against Lira, but placing
his confidence in the protecting power
of God, and chanting a solemn Irish
hyran of invocation,* which he com-
posed for the occasion, he advanced at
the head of his priests in processional
order, along one of the five ancient
roads that led to the top of the royal
hill, where he arrived unharmed. The
old authorities describe the appearance
of the saint as characterized by singular
meekness and dignity. He was always
clothed in white robes, and on this oc-
casion he wore his mitre, and carried
in his hand the crozier called the staff
of Jesus.f Eight priests who attended
him were also robed in white, and along
with them came the youthful Benignus,
the son of Sechnan. Thus, confronted
with the monarch and his druids, and
objects of wonder to the pagan assem-
bly, stood the illustrious apostle and
his train of missionaries, come from afar
to plant Christ's religion in Ireland.
Here, as on the evening before, it had
been arranged that no mark of honor
should be shown to him ; but, as on the
previous occasion, there was one found
to disobey the tyrant's instructions, —
Dubtach, the arch poet, or head of the
* Tliig liynin is preserved ia the celebrated Liber Hym-
norum, a MS. in the Library of Trinity College, Dublin,
and whicli Ussher pronounced to liave been a thousand
years old in his time. It is published with a translation
and notes by Dr. Petrie, in his Essay on the History and
Antiquities of Tara Hill, pp. 57, &c., of the Academy's
Edition. This hymn, which is -m-itten in the Bearln-
Feine, or language of the Brehon Laws, is a singular
relic of ecclesiastical antiquity, and Dr. Petrie describes
it as " the oldest undoubted monument of the Irish Ian
guage remaining "
bards of Erin, rising, and paying his
respects to the venerable stranger.
Dubtach was the first convert that day.
St. Patrick became greatly attached to
him, and his name is afterwards men-
tioned with honor.
Having soon silenced the druids in
argument, the saint expounded the doc-
trines of Christianity to the monarch
and his assembly, and made many con-
verts; but notwithstanding some state-
ments to the contrary, it appears cei'tain
that Laeghaire himself was not among
these, but remained an obstinate pagau
to the last. It is stated with more
probability that the queen was con-
verted on this occasion; and it also
appears that St. Patrick made so favor-
al)le an impression even on Laegliaire, as
to obtain from him permission to preach
wherever he chose, on condition that he
did not disturb the peace or deprive
him of his kingdom.
From Tara St. Patrick repaired next
day to Tailtiu, where the public games
were commencing, and where he had an
opportunity of preaching to a great as-
semblage of people, including, most pro-
bably, those whom he had met the day
before at Tara ; and he remained for a
f This crozier is said to hare been given to St. Patrick
while secluded in an Island of the Mediterranean, by
some mysterious person who received it, for that pur]K)se,
from our Lord himself. The staff of Jesus was burned,
along with several other sacred relies of the greatest
antiqmty, among the rest, a statue of the Blessed Vir-
gin, in High-street, Dublin, in the year 1538, by order
of George Brown, the first Protestant Archbishop of
Dublin. — (See Ware's Annals ■ Daltou's Archbishops,
&c.)
HE VISITS CONXAUGIIT.
67
week, making many converts. Oa this
occasion he Tvas repulsed and his life
threatened by Carbry, a brother of
King Laeghaire; but another of the
royal brothers, uamed Conall Creevan,
was shortly after converted, and at his
desire the apostle founded the church of
Donough Patrick in Meath.*
Such was the commencement of St.
Fati'ick's mission, in which he continued
to labor with unremitting zeal for more
than thirty years. We shall not at-
tempt to follow him through the intri-
cacies of his many journeys into every
part of Ireland, or to enumerate the
number of churches which rose up every-
where in his track, and the multitude
of holy j)astor3 Avhom he prepared by
Iiis instructions and placed over them.
The diversity of accounts given by his
hiogi'aphers and by other old authorities
has involved the subject in much ob-
scurity, which is increased by eri'oneous
dates and doubtful topograpliy ; and to
enter minutely into it would be impos-
sible in a work of this nature.
The apostle preached for some time
in the western part of the territory of
Meath, and on this occasion proceeded
* According to the Tripartite Life of St. Patrick, every
cluircU in Ireland of which the name begins with Don-
ow/A was founded by that apostle: and they were so
calleJ because the saint marked out their foundations on
a Sunday, in Irish Domhiuich. {Trias Thnum., p. 14G.)
The Conall mentioned al)ove became a great friend of
the apostle's ; but when he wished to enter the church
as au ecclesiastic, St. Patrick told him that his vocation
was to be a military man, adding that although he was
not to be a churcliman ho would bo a defender of the
Church ; and the holy prelate thereupon marked on
Conall's shield the figure of a cross with his crozier, and
as far as Magh Sleaghta, in the present
county of Cavan, where the idol Crom
Cruach was worshipped, and by his
prayers caused the destruction of that
abomination and of the smaller idols by
which it was surrounded. He then set
out for Connaught, and when near Rath
Cruaghan, he met at a well, whither
they had come in patriarchal fashion to
perform their ablutions, the princesses
Ethnea and Fethlimia, daughters of King
Laeghaire, Avho were there under the
tuition of certain druids or magi, and
who acquired from the saint at that
meeting a thorough knowledge of the
truths of religion, and subsequently took
the veil in a nunnery which he estab-
lished.f He then traversed almost
every part of Connaught, preaching, as
he did on all occasions, with the sanc-
tion of miraculous power, converting the
people, and founding churches. He
fasted during a Lent on the mountain
in Mayo then called Cruachan Aichle,
or Mount Eagle, and since known as
Cruach Patrick. In the land of Tiraw-
ley \ he converted and baptized the
seven sons of King Amalgaidh, together
with twelve thousand i:)eople ; this oc-
the shield was ever after called Sciath-IiacMach, or tho
shield of the crozier. (Trias Thaum., 142 ; also Jocelyn,
c. 138.) Dr. O'Donovan says this is the earliest authentic
notice he has found of armorial bearings in Ireland.
f St. Patrick tells us in his "Confession" that a great
number of women embraced a religious life in Ireland,
notwithstanding the harsh opposition which they often
encountered from their unconverted parents.
X Tirawley (Tir-Amhalghaidh) was so called from the
jVmhalghaidh or Awley, son of Fiachra, son of Eochy-
Muivone, and king of northern Connaught, whose sons
were converted by St. Patrick on this occasion.
BAPTISM OF KING AENGUS.
currence taking place uot far from the
wood of Foclut, whence the voices in-
viting him to Ireland appeared to come
in the vision which he had in Gaul.
After seven years thus spent in Con-
naiight, he passed by a northern route
hito Ulster, and there made many con-
verts, especially in the present county
of Monaghan ; meeting, however, as was
also the case in Connaught, several re-
pulses, accompanied sometimes with
danger to his life.
Returning into Meath, St. Patrick
appears to have appointed, about this
time, his nephew, St. Secundinus, or
Sechnal, who was bishop of the place
which has been called after him Dom-
nach-Sechnail, or Dunshaghlen, to pre-
side, during his own absence in the
southern half of Ireland, over the north-
ern churches, the see of Armagh not
having been yet founded.* The apos-
tle then directed his steps southward,
and visited several parts of Leinster,
making numerous converts, and laying
the foundations of churches wherever
he went. He placed his companions,
bishops Auxilius and Isserninus, the
former at Killossy, near Naas, and the
latter at Kilcullen, both in the present
county of Kildare. In the territory of
Hy-Kinsellagh, comprising parts of the
counties of "Wexford, Kilkenny, and
Carlow, he visited his friend, the poet
Dubtach, who introduced to the saint
his disciple, Fiech, who was "already
* See the interesting account of St. Seclinal, and the
hyvan wliicli he composed in honor of St. Patrick, in the
acquainted with Christianity, and was
admitted into the ecclesiastical state by
the apostle.
This Fiech was subsequently the
holy bishoj) of Sletty, in the Queen's
county, with jurisdiction over all Lein-
ster, and to him the famous metrical life
of St. Patrick, known as FiecK-s Hijmn^
is attributed. He was the first Lein-
ster man who was raised to the epis-
copacy.
A. D. 445. — After passing through Os-
sory, where he converted great num-
bers of people, and founded many
churches, St. Patrick entered Munster,
and bent his steps towards the royal
city of Cashel, whence King Aengns,
the son of Natfraich, who had already
obtained a knowledge of Christianity,
came forth to meet him, receiving him
with the utmost veneration. At this
king's baptism an incident occuri-ed
which is often mentioned as an interest-
ing example of fortitude. The pastoral
staff which the saint carried terminated
at the bottom in a spike, by which he
could fasten it erect in the ground, and
it appears that on this occasion he
planted it inadvertently on the king's
foot, which it penetrated. Aengus boi'e
the wound without the slightest move-
ment, supposing that it was a part of
the ceremony, and being, no doubt, ani-
mated at the moment with an ardent
feeling of devotion. This good king, in
the course of a long reign, afforded ma-
first fasciculus of the Liher Hymnorum, edited by the
Rev. Dr. Todd for the AichEeological and Celtic Society.
i
DEATH OF ST. PATRICK.
G9
terial aid to tbe cause of religion in tliis
part of Ireland.*
The apostle spent seven years in
jMunster, visiting various parts of Or-
mo.ud and the territories corresponding
with the present counties of Limerick,
Keriy, Cork, Waterford, and Tipperarj^
receiving everywhere vast multitudes
into the fold of Christ. A great num-
Ler of people from Corca Baiscin, the
southwestern part of Clare, crossed the
Shannon in their curaghs, or hide-cov-
ered boats, when the saint was on the
southern side, in Hy-Figeinte, and were
baptized by him in the waters of that
mighty river; and at their entreaty the
apostle then ascended a hill which com-
manded a view of their country, and
gave his benediction to the whole terri-
to]'y of the Dalcassians.f
It was probably during St. Patrick's
stay in Munster, that a British prince,
Caroticus, who, although nominally a
Christian, was a pirate and a very wick-
ed man, made a descent on the south-
eastern coast of Ireland, and carried off
a number of Christian captives who had
just received baptism, for the purpose
of selling them as slaves to pagans in
Noi-th Britain. This outivage elicited
from the saint a j)astoral, or circular
epistle, still extant, in which he pro-
* Dr. Lanigiin Ciilculatcs with much probability that
Aengus had not yet succeodod his I'atlier at the time of
his baptism, and that he was, therefore, only tanLste, or
heir apparent, of Munster; he was, at all events, still
very young at the time of St. Patrick's visit.
f There can be no doubt that the hill from which the
apostle gave his blessing to the territory of Thomond,
01 Clare, is that now called Cnoc Patrick, near Foynes
nounced excommunication against Ca-
roticus, and stigmatized him with the
odium which he deserved. We may
also presume that it was about the time
of his return from Munster, and while
visiting a territory now comprised in
the King's county, that a certain pagan
chieftain named Failge formed a plan
to murdei'' the apostle, which, coming
to the knowledge of Odran, the saint's
charioteer, this good man managed to
change seats with St. Patrick, and thus
received the fatal blow that was in-
tended for his master. Odran was the
only martyr who suffered death for the
faith at the hands of an Irishman, dar-
ing the conversion of this countiy from
paganism.
About the year 455, St. Patrick
founded the see of Armagh, and the
remaining years of his life he passed
between that city and his fjivorite re-
treat of Saul, in the county of Down, at
which latter place he died, according to
the Annals of Ulster, the Four Masters,
Ussher, Ware, and Colgan, on the 17th
of March, a. d. 493, but accoi'ding to
the very ably argued inference of Dr.
Lanigan, in a. d. 465. The duration of
his mission in Ireland was, according to
this latter opinion, thirty-three years,
while, according to the former, it would
Island. The local traditions are quite positive on the
subject ; and it answers, besides, the conditions of situ-
ation and purpose, and is the only hill in view of Clare
with which the name of St. Patrick is associated. In
the prose Life of St. Sinanus, translated by Colgan from
the Irish, its site is particularly described, but butli
there and in the Tripartite Life of St. Patrick, it is called
the Ilill of Findine, a name now obsolete.
70
CIVIL HISTORY OF IRELAND.
have lieen alxnit sixty years, ami liis
age, which tlie old authoi-it.ies represent
as 120 years, is reduced to 78 years by
Dr. Lanigan's process of reasoning. His
i>l)sequies continued for twelve da3'S,
(lining which the light of innumerable
tapeis seemed to turn night into day,
and the bishops and priests of all Ire-
huid congregated together on the occa-
sion. A fierce contest ensued between
the people of Down and Armagh for
the possession of his sacred remains,
Init it was finally settled by his body
being deposited in Down, while a
poi-tion of the holy ]-elics were con-
veyed to his metropolitan church of
Armagh.*
Thus was the feitli planted in Erin
by St. Patrick, and from that day to
the present it has never failed. In this
respect Ireland has been exempt from
the changes which so many other coun-
ti'ies have undei-goue ; and a large and
interesting portion of our liistory will
relate to the sti'uggles which that stead-
fastness entailed upon her.
CHAPTER IX.
'ivil History of Ireland during St. Patrick's Life. — The Seancliu8 Mor. — King Laeghaire's Oath and Death. —
Heign of OilioU Molt. — Branches and Greatness of the Hy-Niall Race. — Reign of Lughaidh. — Foundation of
the Scottish Kingdom in North Britain. — Falsification of the Scottish Annals. — Progress of Christianity and
absence of Persecution. — The First Order of Irish Saints. — Great Ecclesiastical Schools. — Aran of the Saints
— St. Brigld. — Her great Labors. — Her Death. — Monastic tendency of the Primitive Church. — Muircheartach
Mac Earca and Tuathal Maelgarbh.
(A. D. 433 TO A. D. 538).
FEW events are recorded in the civil
history of this country during the
l)eri()d of St. Patrick's mission; the
uKJst remarkable being the revision of
* Each of the events in the life of our Apostle, briefly
narrated in the text, has been made a subject of discus-
sion among antiquaries and hagiologists ; but we have
given what we deemed the most reasonable results with-
out the arguments. Nor have we entered into the con-
troversy respecting the existence of other saints of the
same name, as Sen-Patrick, or Patrick Senior, who was
venerated on the 2-lth of August ; or the Abbot Patrick,
who was buried and subsequently venerated at Glaston-
bury ; or St. Patrick of Auvergne. Whether some of
the acts of one of these saints mav have been attributed
the laws of Ii'eland, and the compilation
of the Seanchu-s Moi\ or great book of
laws, in the year 438. The annalists
say that three kings, three Chi'istian
to another of them, would involve an inquiry unsuited to
our pages. It is enough that the identity of our Ajiostle
and of the leading events of his life have been establish-
ed beyond the reach of all doubt. Those who would euter
more deeply into the subject, are referred to Colgan's
T)-ias Thaumaturga ; Messingham's FloHlegium ; O Sul-
livan's Decas Pati-iciana ; Harris's Ware's Irish Bishops ;
Lanigan's Ecclesiastical History of Ireland ; Keating's
History of Ireland ; Mageoghegan's History of Ireland ;
Lynch 's Life of St. Patrick ; Petrie's History of Tara
mil, &c., &c.
DEATH OF KING LAEGHAIRE.
71
bishops, of whom St. Patrick was one,
and three bai'ds or antiquaries, con-
ducted this revision ; bub this account
is obviously a poetic figment.* It is
probal)le that as soon as the Christian
religion began to prevail extensively in
Ireland, a modification of the ancient
pagan laws became necessary ; and aL
that St. Patrick himself, assisted by a
converted bard, may have laid the
foundation of such revision, his name
being subsequently employed to give
it a sanction ; but it is plain that the
apostle did not sit on a committee for
the purpose with pagan kings, even if
his authority had been so recognized at
the time assigned for the event.f Frag-
ments of the Seanchus Mor are still pi-e-
served in the manuscript library of
Trinity College, and in the British
IMuseum, and the entire work is known
to have existed at least as late as the
12tli or 13th century.
It has been erroneously stated by
some old writers that St. Patrick puri-
fied the annals as well as the laws of
li-eland ; and this probably led to the
assertion that "he destroyed a large
number of the druidical books which
had been delivered to him. O'Flaherty
gives this statement on the authority
of the eminent antiquary, Duald Mac-
Firbis, and mentions it to account for
the ignorance in which we are left of
ti.e religion of the pagan Irish ;;]; but
» This conclusion may be justly disputed, as St. Pat-
rick nect'ssarily associatid with pagans in many transac-
tions of that time. Dairo was still a pagan when he
bestowtd Ard-Macha on the apostle long aftcrwiu-ds.
nothing has been discovered in the
writings of MacFirbis to justify O'Flali-
erty's reference to his authority.
King Laeghaire waged war against
the Leinster men to enforce payment of
the Borumean tribute, and in the year
453 he is said to have gained a battle
over them; but this success was fol-
lowed, in A. D. 457, by a defeat at Ath-
dara, on the river Ban-ow, where he
was made prisoner, being afterwards
liberated on sweai'ing by " the sun and
moon, water and aii-, night and day, sea
and land," that during his life he would
not again demand the tribute. This
was the old pagan oath ; and from its
use, as well as from other circumstances,
it is concluded that Laeghaire had not,
up to that time, embraced Christianity.
In the next year, regaixUess of his en-
gagement, he made an incursion into
Leinster, and carried off a prey of cattle
for the tribute; and as he was struck
dead by lightning, or died in some sud-
den manner while returning home, the
bards say that he was killed by the sun
and the elements for breaking the outli
which he had taken on them.
A. D. 459.— Oilioll Molt, son of Dathi,
and who had been king of Connaught,§
succeeded as monarch, and, according to
the Four Mastei-s, celebrated the Feis,
or gi-eat feast and convocation of Tara,
in 463, and again in 4(;5, which is ju'ob-
ably a double entry of the same event,
t Petrie's " Tara Hill," p. 70.
I Ogygia, part iii., c. 30, p. 219.
g Ogygia, part iii., c. 93, p. 429.
72
DEATH OF OILIOLL MOLT AND LUGHAIDH.
as tLese meetings were not held so fre-
quently. Nothing certain is known of
the religion of this prince, but it is pre-
sumed that he lived and died a pagan,
as his successor certainly did.
Two men, remarkable as the ances-
tors of some of the most celebrated clans
mentioned in subsequent Irish history,
died in this reign, namely, Conall Gul-
ban, and Eoghan, sons of Niall of the
Xine Hostages; the former of whom
was the ancestor of the Kinel-Connell,
or I'ace of Conall, that is, of the O'Don-
nells and their correlative families in
Tii'connell ; whilst from the latter are
descended the Kinel-Owen, or O'Neills,
and some other families of Tyrone.
All of the race of Niall come under the
great tribe-name of Hy-Niall; but the
illustrious fiimilies we have mentioned,
that is, the O'Neills and O'Donnells,
descendants of Eoghan and Conall Gul-
ban, are styled the northern Hy-Niall,
to distinguish them from the southern
Hy-Niall, who were descended from
Conall Creevainu, another son of Niall
of the Nine Hostages, as the O'Melagh-
lins, &c., who were located in Meath.
Of Conall Gulban, who received his
sui-name from Benbulben, formerly
called Ben Gulban, in Sligo, where he
was fostered, and whose exploits rank
Avith those of the Ossianic heroes, the
annalists tell us that he was slain by
* " This Aenglius, wlio was the first Christian king of
Munster, is the common ancestor of the families of Mac
Cartliy, O'Keeffe, O'CaUaghan, and O'Sullivan."— O'Don-
ovan ; Foiir Masters, anno, 489 (note). ,
The Four Miisters record the death of St. Patricli
the " old tribes of Magh Slecht," that
is, by descendants of the Firbolgs who
occupied the district in the present
county of Cavan where the idol Crom
Cruach was Avorshipped, while he was
returning from a predatory excursion
with a great prey of horses ; and they
say that Eoghan died of grief for his bro-
ther and was buried at Eskaheen in In-
nishowen.
A. D. 478. — Oilioll Molt, after a reign
of twenty years, was slain in the battle
of Ocha, by Lughaidh or Lewy, the son
of Laeghaire, who was too young at his
father's demise to compete for the suc-
cession, and who now obtained the
crown by the aid of a strong confederacy
of provincial kings and toparchs. The
battle of Ocha forms an epoch in this
period of Irish history, and took place,
according to the Annals of Ulster, a. d.
482 or 483. Lughaidh died an inveter-
ate pagan, having, after a reign of
twenty-five years, been killed by a
thunderbolt while uttering, some blas-
phemy at the sight of a chui'ch erected
by St. Patrick, at a jjlace called Ach-
adhfarcha, or the field of lightning, near
Slane. In his reign, Aengus, the good
king of Munster, and his queen Eithne
were killed in battle, at a place now
called Kellistou, in the county of Car-
low ;* and St. Ibar, of Beg-Eriu, one of
the four bishops who are said to have
under the date of 493, adding that he was then 123 years
old ; that he had erected 700 churches, consecrated 700
bishops, and ordained 3,000 priests. Dr. Laui^ran, how-
ever, shows very clearly that no reliance is to be placed
on these dates and numbers.
THE NAME OF SCOTIA.
73
been in Ii-elaud before St. Patrick, died
A. D. .500.
A. D. 503. — The foundation of the
kingdom of Scotland by a colony from
Ireland, is set down by most cbronolo-
gists under this date.* It has been al-
I'eady mentioned in the reign of Conaire
II., towards the close of the second cen-
tuiy of the Christian era, that a colony
of Scots was led into Alba or Albany
by Carbry-Riada, from whom the Dal-
riads both of Antrim and Scotland took
tlieir name. Notwithstanding the op-
position of the Picts, they still retained
theii- footing in their new territory, but
did not receive much aid from Ireland
until the period at which we have now
arrived. At this time, however, after a
defeat by the Picts, who drove them
fi-om the country, a strong force of the
Iiish Dalriads, under the leadership of
Loarn, Aengus, and Fergus, the three
sons of Ere, son of Eochadh Muinram-
liair, invaded Alba, and gradually sub-
jugating the -Picts, established the Scot-
tish monarch)^ Muircheartach or Mur-
tough, who succeeded Lughaidh as king
of Ireland, wa-s a relative of the sons of
Ere, his mother being Erca, the daughter
of Loarn ; and he stimulated the adven-
turers in their enterprise ; as some say.
* Tlie event is entered by the Pour Masters at the
yiar 498 ; but Dr. O'Donovan shows from the authority
of'Tigliernach and r)f Flan of Monastcrboico, that the true
date of the Dalriadic invasion was most probably A. D.
am.
t Ofxygia, i)art i., j). 45.
J Ireland was known by many names from very early
ages. Thus, in the Celtic it was called Inis-Fail, the
isle of.destiny ; Inis-Eal<ra, the noble island ; Fiodli-Inis,
the woody island ; and Eire, Fodhla, and Banba. By the
10
sending the Lia Fail, cr stone of destiny,
to Scotland, in order that his kinsman,
Feargus, might be crowned upon it with
all the traditional solemnity.f It is re-
markable that the present reigning fixm-
ily of England owes its right to the
throne to its descent, through the Stuart
family, from these Irish Dalriads. From
that people also North Britain derives
its name of Scotia or Scotland ; a name
which, from the first mention we find of
it in the third century, was, for several
hundred years, exclusively applied to
Ireland ; w^hile, on its being at length
given to the country acquired by the
Scots in Alba, Ireland was still for a
long time called Scotia Magna, to dis-
tinguish it from the lesser Scotland, and
its people termed Hibernian Scots, those
of the latter country being called Allja-
nian or British Scots.J The Scottish
colony in Britain was at first confined
to the Western Highlands, now called
Argyle, and to the islands; and it was
only in the year 850 that the Picts were
finally subdued by Keneth MacAl])iii,
who was the first king of all Scotland,
and who removed the seat of power to
Scone, in the southern part of that
country.
On the subject of this settlement of
Greeks it waa called lerne, probably from the vernacular
name of Eire, by inflection Erin; whence also, no doubt,
its Latin name of Juverna; Plutarch calls it Ogygria, or
the ancient land ; the early Roman writers generally
called it Hibernia, probably from its Iberian inhabitants,
and the later Romans and mediaival writers, Scotia and
sometimes Ilibernia ; and finally its name of Ireland
was formed by the Anglo-Normans frOra its native
name of Eire.
74
PROGRESS OF CHRISTIANITY.
the Scottish race in North Britain, one
of the most remarkable impostures ever
attempted in the history of any country
^yas successfully practised, and passed
current for several centuries. The origi-
nal records of Scotland were wholly
destroyed by Edward I. of England,
when he overran that country in the
year 1300, for the purpose, if possible,
of oblitei'ating by their destruction the
nationality of the people : but before
the close of the same century a new ac-
count of the history of Scotland was
given to the world ; a long series of
Scottish kings, who never had any ex-
istence, being coined to fill up an inter-
val of some hundred years before the
time of Fergus, the son of Ere, men-
tioned above. The first name on the
spurious list was also Fergus, and the
real person of that name was, therefore,
called Fei'gus II. ; and in support of the
fictitious catalogue a great many state-
ments were invented, and were adopted
by subsequent Scottish historians. Fi-
nally, Macpherson, the forger of Ossian,
carried the fraud so far, although it had
been rejected by the Scottish antiquary.
Father Innes, as to assert that North
Britain was the original Scotland, and
Ireland only the colony, with no title
to the name of Scotia, and consequently
that all the ancient saints and celebra-
ted persons who are called Scots by
foreign writers, were really natives of
the modern Scotland. It may be ea-
sily imagined that such an assumption,
put forward in the face of the most
positive evidence, and repeated liy
scores of able writers, century after cen-
turjr, almost up to the last generation,
was very provoking to Irish historians,
and that an angry and protracted con-
troversy was the result. All that has
])een written on the subject is now,
however, so much waste-paper, as the
ancient fraud has been long since aban-
doned, and the true history of the rela-
tion between the two counti-ies is re-
ceived in Scotland as well as in Ire-
land.
From the meagre records of the civil
history of the period, we turn with
pleasure to the accounts of the great
religious change which was then pass
ing in Ireland, and which was entirely
independent of the course of civil events
While pagan kings still ruled at Tara,
surrounded by their di-uids, and still
upheld at least the semblance of theii
ancient superstition, Chiistian bishops
were preaching in every coi-ner of the
land ; Christian churches, although ol
humble dimensions, everywhere appear-
ed ; monasteries and nunneries sprung
up in many places; Christian schools,
which were destined in a little while
to shed a lustre on all Europe, began
to fill with students ; and above all, a
host of saints, who became the wonder
of after ages, diffused throughout Ireland
an odor of holiness. To this age 1)6-
longed the first and most perfect of the
three orders of Irish saints, mentioned
in the old catalogue published by Us-
sher and Father Fleming, and whose
characteristics are desciubed in the pro-
phetic vision which St. Patrick is said
MOXASTIC SCHOOLS.
by some of liis biographers to have
had, when IieLand first appeared to the
apostle as if enveloped in a flame, then
the mountains only seemed to be on
fire, and finally there was only a glim-
mering, as it were, of lamps in the val-
leys. All the disciples and attendants
of Sf. Patrick have obtained places in
the calendar of the ancient Irish Church ;
and it is probable that almost all those
who I'eceived ordination at his hands,
or who first ministered in the Church
of Ireland, have merited the same hon-
or; so intense was the devotion with
which the Irish people opened their
Avhole hearts to the faith of Christ, and
so abundant was the grace which flowed
ever3'where from the preaching of their
great apostle. Nor should it be forgot-
ten as a proof of the existence of a hu-
manized state of society in Ireland, not-
withstanding its feuds and wars, that
tliis great movement was allowed to
advance without any attempt on the
part of the pagan princes to impede it
by persecution. It is argued, indeed,
that if there had been any thing very
gross or sensuous in the paganism of
the Irish, as in that of other nations,
the triumph of Christianity among
them would not have been so easily
accomplished.
Among the great ecclesiastical schools
or monasteries founded in Ireland about
this time, were those of St. Ailbe of Em-
ly, of St. Beuignus of Armagh, of St.
Fiech of Sletty, of St. Mel of Ardagh,
of St. Mochay of Antrim, of St. Moc-
theus of Louth, of St. Ibar of Beg-Eriu,
of St. Asicus of Elphin, and of St. Cl-
ean of Derkan. To this same fifth cen-
tury, which Colgan calls the golden age
of the Irish church, belongs the founda
tion of the celebrated monastic institu-
tions of Aran of the Saints, by St. End a,
or Eudeus. This holy Archimandrite,
who was of a noble family of Oriel,
obtained the island of Aranmore, at the
entrance to Galway bay, from Aengus,
the king of Munster, through the inter-
position of St. Ailbe, and founded there
those primitive communities who lived
in groups of monastic cells or cloghans,
of which the traces are still to be seen
in many parts of the island. Aran,
the lona of Ireland, became for the
next couple of centuries the resort of
several of the Irish saints, and of holy
men from other countries, who repair-
ed to it for the pui-pose of practising
extreme penitential austerities; and an
ancient biographer of St. Kieran, found-
er of Clonmacnoise, described it as a
place in which there lay the remains of
"innumerable saints, unknown to all
save Almighty God alone."
Of St. Ailbe, the great bishop of
Eraly, it is related that after many
years of arduous labor in converting
the people from paganism, and. estab-
lishing the Church in his diocese, he was
about to retire into solitude, and to fly
for that purpose to Thule, or Iceland,
when he was respectfully coerced Ijy
King Aengus to remain in Ireland,
where he died in 525.
But of all the Irish saints of the first
century of Christianity in this countrv
76
ST. BRIGID OF KILDARE.
the highest position, next to that of St.
Patrick himself, is unanimously yield-
ed to St. Brigid. This extraordinary
woman belonged to an illustrious race,
being lineally descended from Eochad,
a brothel- of Conn of the Hundred Bat-
tles, monarch of Ireland in the second
centiii-y, and was born about the year
453, at Fochard, to the north of Diin-
dalk, where her parents, although a
Leinster family, and therefore belong-
ing to Leath Mogha, or the southern
part of Ireland, were then sojourning.
As she was remarkable for sanctity
from her childhood, it is possible that
she had become known to St. Patrick,
by whom her biographers say she was
baptized. She received the veil from
St. Maccaille, in one of the earliest con-
vents for religious women founded in
Ireland, and her zeal for establishing
nunneries was exercised throughout her
life with wonderful results. She trav-
elled into various parts of Ireland for
this purpose, being invited by many
bishops to found religious houses in
their dioceses: and at length the peo-
ple of Leinster became jealous of her
attention to the other provinces, and
sent a deputation to her in Connaught
entre?iting her to return, and offering
land for the purpose of founding a large
uunner}'. This was about the year
480, or shortly after; and it was then
that she commenced her great house of
Kildare, or the Church of the Oak,
which soon became the most famous
and extensive nunnery that has ever ex-
isted in Ireland. A bishop -was appoint-
ed to perform the pontifical duties con-
nected with it, an humble anchorite
named Conlaeth being chosen for that
office ; and the concourse of religious
and pilgrims who flocked to it from all
quarters, soon created in the solitude a
city which became the chief town of all
Leinster. The vast numbers of young
women and pious widows who thronged
round St. Brigid for admission into her
convent, present a singular feature in a
country just emerging from paganism ;
and the identity of that monastic and
ascetic form which Christianity, in all
the purity and fervor of its infancy,
thus assumed in Ireland, as in all other
countries, with the form which it has
continued to retain, in all ages, in the
Catholic Church, must strike every stu-
dent of history. St. Brigid has been
often called " The Mary of Ireland ;" a
circumstance which shows, not that the
primitive Irish Christians confounded
her with the Mother of Our Lord — a
silly mistake which some modern wri-
ters have thoughtlessly attributed to
them — but that they felt that the most
exaggerated praise which they could be-
stow upon their own great saint was to
compare her with the Blessed Virgin.*
One of the most distinguishing virtues
of St. Brigid was her humility. It is
related that she sometimes attended the
cattle on her own fields ; and whatever
may have been the extent of the land
bestowed upon her, it is also certain
* See first part of the Liber Hymnorvm, edited by Dt,
Todd for the Archaeological and Celtic Society.
FIRST CHRISTIAN MONARCH OF mELAXD.
that a principal source of subsistence
for her nuns was tlie alms whicli she re-
ceived. The habit of her oi'der was
white, and for centuries after her time
her rule was followed in all the nun-
neries of Ireland.
The Four Masters record the death of
St. Brigid at the year 525 ; and accord-
ing to Cogitosus, one of her biogra-
phers, her remains were buried at the
side of the altar, in the Cathedral
Church of Kildare, and not, as some
late traditions have it, in the same
tomb with the ajDOstle of Ireland in
Dovvnpatrick.
During the first years of the sixth
century the galaxy of holy j^ersons
whose sanctity shed such effulgence on
tlie dawn of Christianity in Ireland was
gradually disappearing, to be succeeded
b}' the no less brilliant constellations of
the second and third centuries of the
Irish Church. Many of the venerable
bishops who had received consecration
from the hands of St. Patrick were still
alive, and had the happiness to see the
religion of Christ on the throne of Tara,
and firmly established in all the prov-
inces. Muircheartacii MacEarca, who
succeeded Lughaidh, the son of Laeg-
haire, a. d. 504, was the first Christian
monarch of Ireland. He was, however,
engaged in perpetual warfare, fought
several bloody battles with the Lein-
ster men to enforce that most oppressive
and unjust of imposts, the Borumean
tribute, and ultimately was drowned in
a butt of wine, into which he had thrown
himself to escape from the flames of his
house at Cletty, near the Boyne. De-
scended fi-om Niall of tlie Nine Host-
ages, by his son Eoghan, he belonged to
the race of northern Hy-Nialls, but on
his death (a. d. 528) the crown revert-
ed to the southei-n Hy-Nialls, in the per-
son of Tuathal Maelgarbh, grandson of
Cairbre, by whom St. Patiick had been
persecuted. Tuathal reigned eleven
years, and was killed treacherously by
the tutor of his successor.
78
REIGN OF DIARMAID.
CHAPTER X.
First Visitation of the Buidlie Clionnaill. — Reign of Diarmaid, son of Kerval. — Tara cursed and deserted. — As
count of St. Columbkille. — Persecution of the Saint by Diarmaid. — Battle of Cuil Dremni. — Foundation tf
lona. — Reign of Hugh, son of Ainmire., — Convention of Drumceat. — Battle of Dunbolg. — Deaths of Saints. —
Feuds of the Northern and Southern Hy-Nialls.— Battle of Magh Rath.— The Second Buidhe Chonnaill.— Re
mission of the Borumean Tribute.
o'oni!<fmpffra/7 £»««<«.— The Justinian Code promulgated, A. D. 529.— Tlie Flight of Ma , .. _ _
' ~ - ~. - ■ inity._Co„qi,es(, of Q.j,,i i,y ti,e jTruuks.— Kingdom of tile VanJUa
Jeatroj
ilislied.— The Sax
L. D. 532.— The Vi
. D. 622.-Tii
t converted to Clir
gotlis in Spain. — The Lombarda
(The Sixth and Seventh Centuries.)
A TERRIBLE and mysterious pes-
tilence marks the year 543 as an
epoch in our history, " an extraordinary
universal phigue," as the old annalists
express it, " liaving prevailed through-
out the world, and swept away the no-
blest third part of the human race." This
plague is called in the Irish annals B!e-
fed, or Cro7n Chonnaill, or Buidhe Clion-
vaill, names implying a sickness which
pi'oduced yellowness of the skin, resem-
bling in color stubble or withered stalks
of corn, which in Irish were called Con-
ncdV^ It appears to have been general
thi-oughout Europe, originating in the
East ; and in Ii-eland, where it prevail-
ed for about ten years, it was preced-
ed by dearth, and followed by leprosy.
Several saints and other eminent per-
* See the accounts of this pestilence collected from an-
cient records by Dr. Wilde in his Report on the Tables
of Deaths in the Irish Census for 18.51, where he gives.
sons wei'e swept off by this plague in
Ireland ; St. Berchan of Glasnevin, also
called Moblii Clarineach, or Movi of the
Flatfiice, and St. Finnen of Clonaixl,
who, fi'ora the multitude of holy per-
sons among his discijiles, was called the
pi-eceptor of the saints of Ireland, be-
ing among its first victims.
Diarmaid, son of Feargus Ken-val, of
the southern Hy-Niall race, was Ard-
righ of Ireland during thrs period, hav-
ing succeeded Tuathal Maelgai-bh, in
538, and reigned at least twenty years.
He is highly praised by some Irish wri-
ters for his spirit of justice, but this
quality was not unaccompanied by
faults, and his reign is marked by sever-
al misfortunes. Notwithstanding the
pestilence which was desolating the
on the authority of Mr. Eugene Curry, as above, the first
explanation that has been afforded of the name of the
sickness.
ST. COLUMBKILLE.
Y9
country, domestic wars and dissensions
were not suspended. Diarraaid waged
war against Guaii-e, king of Connaugbt,
probahly to enforce payment of a trib-
ute; although it is stated that the mon-
arch's object was to chastise Guaire for
an alleged act of injustice, Avhich is
quite inconsistent with the character
for piety and fabulous generosity which
this latter king bears in Irish history.
Diai'maid was the last king who resi-
ded at Tara. He held the last feast
or convention of t"pe states there in the
year 554: ; and shortly j^fter that date,
owing to a S'j'.epin malediction pronoun-
ced on the place by St. Rodanus of Lo-
thia, in T.iiperary, in punishment for
tlie viultuiou of the saint's sanctuary by
the king, the ro3-al hill was deserted.
No subsequent king dared reside there,
Imt each selected his abode according
to tile dynasty to which he belonged.
Thus, the princes of the northern Hy-
Niail family resided in the ancient for-
<;ress of Aileach, near Deny; and the
southern liy-Niall kings lived at one
time at the Rath, near Castlepollard,
now called Dun-Turgeis, from having
* KL-neth O'Hartigan, who died in 975, described the
Hill of Tara as even then a desert, overgrown with grass
and weeds. Among the ancient remains which have
Ijni'n identified by Dr. Petrie on the royal hill of Tara,
by the aid of such venerable Irish authorities as the
Dinnseanchus, the poems of Cuan O'Loeliain and others,
are — the Rath na liiogh, or rath of the kings, which
embraces within its great external circumvallation the
ruins of the house of Coriiiac, the rath called Foradh.
and the Mound of the Hostages ; the Hath of the Synods,
near which were the Cross of Adamnan, and the Mound
of Adamnan, the latter being now effaced; the Teach
Michuarta, or great banqueting hall ; the Mounds of the
IlcruinLS. or women-soldiers: the Rath of Graine, the
fcalhle^:s wife of Fmn MacCoul ; the Triple Mound of
become the residence of the Danish
king Turgesius, and sub'^-quently at
Dun-na-Sciath, on the margin of Lough
Ainninn, now Lough Ennell, near Mul-
lingar. Thus, thirteen hundred yeai-s
ago, the royal raths of Tara were con-
demned to desolation, although, even
yet, their venerable traces have not
been eflr;^ced from the grassy surfiice of
the hill.*
The crowning misforttnie of Dlar-
raaid's reign appears, however, to have
been his hostility to St. Columbkille,
and the unhappy consequences result-
ing from it; and this subject leads us
to an account of one of the most illus-
trious persons of whom we read in the
histoiy of Ireland.
St. Columba, or, as he is gener;dlv
called, Columbkille, that is Coliimba-of
the-church, was born in Gartan, a wild
district of the county of Donegal, abdut
the year TjIS or 521, and was connected
with the royal families of Ireland and
British Dalriada.f On leaving his tns-
terage), Colutnl)a oomineiiced his stud-
ies at Movill, at the head of SMrmgf .i-,l
Lough, where he became a pupil nf tin-
Nesi, the mother of Conor MacNesa ; the rath of king
Laeghaire, in which St. Patrick preached ; and the Will
of Neavnach, the stream of which turned the first wa-
ter-mill, erected by Cormae MacArt, in the third centu-
ry.— {S<e PtUiea Enmiy on the History tiiid Antiq>iilits
of Tnrn Hill.)
f St. Columba's father, Fedlime, was the grandson of
Conall Gulhan, son of Niall of the Nine Hostages, and
(Ijy his mother Erca) grandson of Loam, one of the sons
of Ere, who planted the Dalriadic colony in Scothiufl
and the saint's mother, Ethnea, was descended from Ca
thair Mor, king of Irehtnd, A. D. 120, and was thus of the
royiil race of Leinster. Such being the saint's parentage
and connections, it is no wonder that his name sliouid b«
mixed up in the state affairs of liis time.
80
ST. COLUMBKILLE.
fjunous bishop St. Finnian ; aud from
this seminary, when in deacon's orders,
he proceeded to Leiuster, where, after
lemaining some short time with an old
bard named German, he entered the
monastery or college founded by anoth-
er St. Fiuuian at Clouard. Thence he
|)rnct'eded to the monastery of Mobhi
Claraiiiach at Glas Naoidhen, the pres-
ent Glasnevin, near Dublin ; but this
community being broken up by the
pestilence, which carried off its princi-
])al, in 544, he returned to the north,
having previously been ordained priest
]>y the bishop of Cloufad. Already
Cohimba was distinguished, not only
for talent and learning, but for extra-
ordinary sanctity; and some miracles
are said to have been performed by
him before this time. In 545 or 546
lie founded the monastery of Doire-
Chalgaigh, the Deny of modern times,
and about the year 553 laid the foun-
dation of his great monastery of Darn-
liagli, now Durrow, in the King's coun-
ty, the chief house of his order in Ire-
land.* The battle of Cooldrevny,
which is popularly said to have taken
jilace on his account, as we shall pres-
ently see, was fought, according to the
Annals of Ulster, in 561 ; and two years
after, Ijeing then forty-two years of age.
* The name Doire signifies an " Oak wood" (Rohore-
tnm), and that of Darmhagh signifies the " Plain of the
Oak," Campus Roborum, as Bede (Hist. Eccl., Lib. iii. c.
i) translates it.
f Bode and the Saxon chronicle say that lona belonged
to the Picts when St. Columba came there.
t When he first went to announce the faith to the
Pictish king Brudc, he was refused admission to the
interior of the ro\-al fort ; but at the saint's command
he left Ireland, accompanied by twelve
chosen disciples, for the island of Hy, or
lona, which was given to him by his
relative, Conall, the king of the Allia-
uian Scots,f and which became the seat
of one of the most celebrated monastic
institutions of Northern Europe, and the
head of his order. From this St. Co-
lumba proceeded on missionary jour-
neys with his monks into the country
of the Picts, whom he converted to
Christianity.;]: Innumerable miracles
are related of him, and even without
these marks of divine favor, the ac-
count which is left to us by his biogra-
pher, St. Adamnan, of his singular ho-
liness and many exalted qualities, is
sufficient to enrol his name on the cal-
endar as that of a great saint. St. Co-
lumba is regarded as the apostle of both
the Picts and Scots of North Britain-
although the latter had brought with
them some knowledge of Christianity
from Ireland, and he has shared with
St. Patrick and St. Brigid the honor of
being the joint patron of his native
country. lona for a long time furnished
missionaries and bishops for many parts
of Britain, and its monks took a lead-
ing part in the conversion of the Sax-
ons, supplying the Saxon Church with
many prelates and priests, for at least
the gates miraculously flew open, and the king, filled
with wonder at the event, came forth to receive him
and was converted by his preaching. It is a remarkable
circumstance, noticed more than once in the lives of the
saint, that when he preached to the Picts he employed
an interpreter to explain his words, thus showing that
the Picts and Scots were not identical in race aud did
not speak the same languaga
ST. COLUMBKILLE.
81
a couple of centuries. This relation
between pastors and their spiritual
children produced the friendly feeling
of the Irish towards the Saxons of
which Venerable Bede makes mention ;
and when the Christian Britons, in their
hati-ed of their Saxon conquerors, re-
fused to preach Christianity to them,
or hold any communion with them after
their conversion, their Scottish or Irish
neighbors willingly performed that
Christian duty for them. Aidan, king
of the Scots of Britain, came to St.
Columba in lona to be inaugurated;
and the saint having received instruc-
tions from heaven in a vision to perform
the ceremony, anointed and blessed
him ; this being the first recorded in-
stance, not only in these countries, but
in Euroi')e, of the Christian ceremony
of anointing kings at their inaugura-
tion. In Ireland, forms handed down
from pagan times remained still in use,
while the kingdom of the Scots in Al-
bion, commencing under Christain aus-
pices, was more suited for a new order
of things.*
As to the quarrel with the king of
Ireland and the battle of Cooldrevny,
various cii'curastances are related by
the old annalists, which show a degree
of animosity against the saint on the
part of the king. It is stated that St.
Columbkille copied a portion of the
sacred Scripture from a book "which
had been lent to him l)y St. Finnen,
♦ See Adamnan's Life of St. Columba, edited for the
Archaeological and Celtic Society, by Dr. Reeves of Bal-
lymena. Also Colgan'a Trias Thanmaturga.
without having the permission of the
latter to do so. At that time a book
was a most important object, and a
discussion arising on the subject, King
Diarmaid was chosen arbitrator, and
decided against St. Columbkille, giving
the copy as well as the book to St. Fin-
nen, and assigning, as a ground for his
unjust judgment, the maxim that "the
calf should follow the cow." Another
opportunity of showing Diarmaid's ill-
feeling towards Columba presented it-
self about the same time. At the last
assembly at Tara, already mentioned, a
dispute took place between Curnan, a
son of the king of Connaught, and an-
other person, in which the latter was kill-
ed. Curnan fled for refuge to Columb-
kille, but Diarmaid dragged him from
his sanctuary, and, notwithstanding the
intercession of the saint, got him instant-
ly put to death. It is said that St. Co-
lumba upon this threatened the king
with the vengeance of his relatives, the
Hy-Nialls of the north ; but this is
scarceljr j^i'obable, as the saint endeav-
ored to effect his escape, which Diar-
maid tried to prevent, ordering the
frontiers of Meath to be watched. Co-
lumba first retired to Monasterboise.
and then made his way across the hills
into Oriel; and with the provocation
which, had been offered, it must have
been easy to stir up the hot blood of
the warlike clans of Tirconnell, Tyrone,
and Connaught. St. Columba may
only have related what occurred, and
then prayed for the success of his friends
when they went to battle. IMoreover,
82
THE CONVENTION OF DRUMCEAT.
IS Cooldrevny, or Cuil-Dremni, the site
of tlie battk, was in Carbuiy, to the
north of SLgo, the very position of
the armies would show that Diarmaid
Avas all through the aggressor. This
king's ideas of religion may be conjec-
tured from the fact that he had druids
in his camp, and trusted to th,eir magic
for success ; but he was vanquished, with
a slaughter of 3,000 of his men, Avhile
the army which was protected by the
prayei's of St. Columba came off with
scarcely any loss.* A lai-ge number of
the clergy of Meath were induced by
the representations of Diarmaid to hold
a synod at Teltown for the purpose of
excommunicating St. Columba; but St.
Brendan of Birr, St. Finnian of Moville,
and- other eminent ecclesiastics who
were present, protested against their
proceedings, and the object of the syn-
od was not cari'ied out. It is said that
battles were fought about the year 580
or 587, in which St. Columba also felt
an interest ; but the allusions to them
are very obscure. His departure from
Ireland was voluntary, and he returned
there some years after to attend the con-
vention of Drumceat, and to visit his
house of Burrow, and St. Kiaran's fa-
mous monastery of Clonmacnoise. He
died in lona, about the year 597 (the
* After this battle the copy of St. Finnen's book was
restored to St. Columba.
" This manuscript," says Dr. O'Donovan, " which is a
copy of the Psalter, was ever after known by the name
of CatMch (Praeliator).
"It was preserved for ages in the famOy ofO'Don-
nell, and has been deposited in the Museimi of the
Boyal Irish Academy, by Sir Richard O'DonneU, its
Four Masters erroneously have it 592),
in the 77th year of his age .and the
35th year of his pilgrimage to that
island.
On the death of Diarmaid, who was
killed (a. d. 565) by Black Hugh, a
prince of the Pictish race of Dalaradia,
against whom both the northern and
southern Hy-Nialls waged w^ar, Ireland
was ruled by two kings, reigning joint-
ly, as frequently happened in subse-
quent times.
After some short and unimportant
reigns, Aedh, or Hugh, son of Ainmire,
came to the throne, and reigned twen-
ty-seven years. By him was summoned,
in 573, the great convention of Drum-
ceat, the first meeting of the States of
Ireland held after the abandonment of
Tara.f The leading members of the
clergy attended, and among them wa.s
St. Columbkille, who came from lona
for the purpose, accompanied by a
great number of bishops and monks;
the saint, although a simple priest, tak-
ing precedence of all the prelates of
North Britain, in his capacity of Apos-
tle or founder of the Church in that
country. The king was friendly to St.
Columba, being of the same family, but
some of his court had little welcome
for the saint, and a mob was employed
present owner." — (Four Masters, an. 555, note, and an.
1497, note.)
t The namo of Drumceat is translated dorsum Cete—
" The Whale's Back." The place where the synod, or
convention, was held was a long mound in Roe Park,
near Newtown Limavaddy, now called the Mullagh,
and sometimes Daisy-hiU. — (Ordnance Surrey of Lon-
donderry.)
THE BATTLE OF DUNBOLG.
83
to insult bis clergy. Partl)^, however,
through the veneratiou in which he
was held, and partly by the terror of
the Avouders which it pleased God to
work by his hands among the rude
people whom he taught, the saint in-
duced King Hugh and his convention
to decide as he recommended. One of
the points to be settled concerned the
relations between the Scottish colony
of Alba (of which the king Aidan, St.
Columba's friend, was present) and the
mother country ; and the saint, foresee-
ing the wars to which this matter would
give rise, prevailed on the king of Ire-
land to abandon his claims against Al-
l)a, thus establishing the independence
of the Scottish colony, and severing
it forever from the mother country.
Another question related to the im-
mense number of bards, or, according
to others, of idle, worthless persons un-
der the name of students, with which
the country was incumbered. The
king wished to get rid of them alto-
gether by a sweeping measure ; but
St. Columba induced him to adopt the
wiser and more moderate course of
merely dii»inishing their number, and
limiting it for the future by certain
rules.
A. D. 594. — Hugh Ainmire, while en-
deavoring to enforce that perpetual
j)lague of ancient Ireland, the Leinster
tribute, Avas killed in battle at Dun-
l)o]g,'* or the fort of the bags, a place so
* Now Dunboyke, near Hollywood, ia the county of
Wicklow.— O'DONOVAN.
called from a memorable circumstance
connected with it. Bran Dubh, then
king of Leinster, finding his army on
this occasion unequal to that of the
monarch in point of numbers, had re-
course to stratagem, and entering
Hugh's camp disguised as a leper, he
sj^read a report that the Leinster men
were prepared to submit, and were in
fact coming with provisions and pres-
ents for the king's army. In the dusk
of the evening a vast number of bul-
locks laden with leathern bags were
seen approaching, and the drivers be-
ing challenged by the sentinels, an-
nounced that they were coming with
provisions for the army of the king of
Ireland ; and this statement bearing out
the story of the pretended lepei-, they
were allowed to enter the camp, and to
deposit their burdens without furtlier
inquiry until morning. Each bag, how-
ever, contained an armed man, and in
the course of the night the chosen band
thus introduced into the camp fell upon
their enemies, and the slaughter lasted
until morning, when the monarch was
killed by Bran Dubh himself, and the
remnant of his army put to flight.
Thus was the Borumean tribute for-
feited for that occasion. In the year
597 the annalists mention "the sword-
blows of Bran Dubh in Bregia," show-
ing that he had carried hostilities into
the territory of Meath ; but in four
years after we find him ci-ushed by the
combined power of the Ily-Niall races
at the battle of Slaibhre, where he was
defeated ; and after tlie battle he was
84
THE BATTLE OF MAGH RATH.
treacherously killed by one of his own
tribe, the herenach, or hereditary war-
den of Senboth-Siue.*
The Irish annals, about this time, i-e-
cord the deaths of several holy persons.
Thus, St. Brendan of Birr died in 571 ;
St. Brendan of Clonfert, who in his
seven years' voyage in the Western
Ocean is believed to have been the first
European discoverer of America, died
at Enach Duin, or Annadown, near
Lough Corrib, in the county of Galway,
in 577 ; St. Canice, or Cainnech, to whom
Kilkenny owes its origin and its name,
died in 598 ; St. Kevin of Glendalough,
who is said to have reached the age of
120 years, died in 617.
The Hy-Niall dynasty had now for a
long time enjoyed the sovereignty of
Ireland, but as the northern and south-
ern branches of the race were almost
constantly engaged in wars against each
other, their broils lowered the position
and weakened the power of the mon-
arch. In process of time the southern
Hy-Malls, or Meath femily, fell greatly
in the estimation of the country, while
of the northern Hy-Nialls it must be
said, that whatever were the faults of
some of their princes, they always main-
tained a character for the most chival-
rous bravery. About this time, two
kings who ruled the island jointly were
murdered by Conall Guthviu, a prince
of the southern Hy-Nialls ; and the in-
dignation of the countiy was so excited
\ Now Tcmpleslianbo, at tlie foot of Mount Leinster,
in Wexford.
by the crime, that his family was ex-
cluded from the throne of monarch for
several generations. Congal Caech, king
of Ulidia, of the Rudrician line, also
drew upon himself public abhorrence by
the crime of murder. He killed the
reigning sovereign, Suivne Meann (a. d.
623), and was vanquished in the battle
of Dunkeheru, the following year, by
Suivne's successor, son of Hugh Ain-
mire, and obliged to fly into Britain,
where he remained nine yeare, and
where he ingratiated himself so well
with Saxons, Britons, Picts, and Alba-
nian Scots, as to secure their aid against
his countrymen.
Congal began (a. d. 634) the fotal
game of introducing foreign auxiliaries
into Ireland, and of showing them the
weakness to which factions Avere ca-
pable of reducing his native country.
It so happened, however, that in this
instance there was no weakness dis-
played. Donnell, the reigning monarch
of the northern H3''-Mall race, was able
to muster an army capable of meeting
the invading force together with Con-
gal's own Ulidians, and in the battle
whicb ensued, and which was renewed
for six successive days, Congal's com-
bined forces were almost annihilated
and he himself slain, so that the rem-
nant of his foreign auxiliaries found it
difficult to escape back to their respec-
tive countries. This was the great bat-
tle of Magh Eath, or Moyra, in the
county of Down, one of the most fa-
mous and important conflicts men-
tioned in the ancient annals of Ire-
THE SECOND BUIDHE CIIONNAILL.
land.* St. Adamnau laments the part
wliicli Donuell Breac, then the king of
the Albanian Scots, took in that war,
combining as he did with foreigners to
invade the country of his ancestors, and,
by breaking the bond between them,
paving the way to future calamities for
both countries.
A. D. 656. — This year commenced the
second visitation of the Hiddlie, Clioii-
naill, which had ravaged the country a
little more than a hundred years before,
and which on the present occasion is
said to have swept away two-thirds of
the whole population. It was ushered
in by a total eclipse of the sun the pre-
ceding year ; and as at its former visit,
it continued for about ten years, making
its .appearance about the beginning of
August each year. After the year 667,
this sickness is not again mentioned in
the Irish annals. An improbable fable
is related by some annalists to account
for this visitation. It is said that the
population had become so dense that
food enough could not be produced by
the entire soil of the country ; and that,
apprehending a famine, the rulers in-
vited the clergy to meet together and
pray that the lower class, or " inferior
multitude," might be thinned, lest all
of them should starve. The dis2)leasure
of heaven was intimated through an
angel, and the pestilence was sent to
sweep away the higher as well as the
lower classes. The two joint mouarchs
♦ Soo tlie ancient historic tale of tlio Battle of Magh
Riitli, translatid and edited by Dr. O'Donovan, for the
Iri^ili ArcIia;ological Society, 1843.
of Ireland, the kings of Ulster and
Munster, and many other persons of
rank, were among its victims; and we
read also that it carried off several ab-
bots and holy personages, as St. Fechin
of Fobhar, St. Ronan, St. Aileran the
Wise, St. Crouan, St. Manchan, St. Ul-
tan of Clonard, and others. Another
St. Ultau, bishop of Ardbraccan, col-
lected the infants who had been tle-
prived of their mothers by the plague,
and caused them to be fed with milk
through the teats of cows, cut off for
the purpose. This is the first instance
we have of an hospital for orphan chil-
dren founded in Ireland. Venerable
Bede describes the ravages of the pes-
tilence at the same time in Britain, and
in doing so bears most interesting testi-
mony to the learning, enlightened gen-
erosity, and hospitality of Ireland. He
says: — "This pestilence did no less harm
in the island of Ireland. Many of the
nobility and of the lower ranks of the
English nation were there at that time,
who, in the days of bishops Finan and
Colman, forsaking their native land, re-
tired thither, either for the sake of
divine studies, or of a more continent
life. The Scots (that is, the Scoti of
Ireland) willingly received them all,
and took care to supply them with food,
as also to furnish them with books to
read, and their teaching, gratis."f
Finnachta Fleadhach, or the Hosj^i-
table, who began his reign in the year
t All the authorities on this pestilence are collected
by Dr. Wilde, in his Report on tlxo Tables of Deaths,
pp. 49, &c., Census of 1851.
86
DESCENT OF THE SAXONS ON IRELAND.
673, rendered Lis name memorable by-
yielding to tlie 23rayers and representa-
tions of St. Moling, and remitting tbe
Borumean tribute, whicli lie had just
succeeded in forcing from the Leinster
men in a bloody battle. After this act
of piety and generosity we are not sur-
prised to find, by the Annals of Ulster,
that Finnachta in the same year (687)
al)dicated, and embraced a religious life.
In the year 684 an army sent by Egfrid,
the Saxon king of Northumbria, made
an unexpected and unprovoked descent
on the Irish coast, and laid waste the
ricli lands of Bregia, that is, the terri-
to!y extendhig between the Liffey and
the Boyne, sparing neither churches nor
* Bede tlius describes the event : — " In tbe year of
GUI' Lord's lucaruation G84, Egfrid, king of tlie North-
umbrians, sending Berctus, his general, witli an army
into Ireland (Hiberniam) miserably wasted that inoffen-
sive nation, which had always been most freindly to the
English (nation! anglorum semper amicissimam) ; inso-
much that in their hostile rage they spared not even the
churches or monasteries. The islanders, to tlie utmost
of their power, repelled force with force, and imploring
the assistance of the Divine mercy, prayed long and fer-
vently for vengeance ; and though such as curse cannot
possess the kingdom of God, it is believed that those who
were justly cursed on account of their impiety did soon
after suffer the penalty of their guilt from the avenging
hand of God ; for the very nest year that same king,
rashly leading his army against the Picts was
drawn into the straits of inaccessible mountains, and
monasteries in their sacrilegious plun-
der, and carrying off a great number of
the inhabitants as slaves to Britain.
Venerable Bede denounces and laments
this act of rapine, and attributes the
defeat and death of King Egfrid, the
following year, in an expedition against
the Picts, to the just vengeance of heav-
en for this aggression.* St. Adamnan,
the celebrated abbot of lona, went on
a mission into Northumbria, on the
death of Egfrid, to reclaim the captives
who had been taken from Ireland the
preceding year. He Avas received ^\ ith
great honor, performed many miracles,
and liis application was granted with-
out difficulty.f
slain, with the greater part of his forces, in the fortieth
year of his age, and the fifteenth of liis reign." — Eccl.
Ilist., lib. iv., c. 20.
f The dates of several of the events mentioned in this
chapter are thus fixed in the Leabhar Breac, or Speckled
Book, an Irish MS. preserved in the Royal Irish Acad-
emy : — " 03 years from the death of Patrick (493) to the
death of Bridget, in her 70th year (.'533) ; 30 years from
the death of Bridget to the battle of Cuil Dremni (5.59) ;
35 years from the battle of Cuil Dremni to the death of
CoIumbkUle, in the 7Gth year of his age (59-t) ; 40 years
from the death of ColumbkiUe, to the battle of Moira
(037) ; 25 years from the battle of Moira to the (second)
Buidho Chonaill (003, reeie 008); 25 years from the
Buidhe Chonaill till Finachta, son of Maelduin, son of
Aedh Slaine, remitted the Boru to Moling (087)."
THE PRIMITIVE CHURCn IN IRELAND.
CHAPTER XI.
3 Primitivo Cburcli in Ireland. — Its Monasticism. — Its Missionary Cliaracter. — St. Columbanus, Ws liifo and
Labors. — Foundation of Bobbio. — His Letter to tlie Pope. — Unity with Rome. — St. Gallus. — St. Aidau and
tlie Cliurcli of Lindisfarne. — St. Colman. — The Paschal Controversy. — National Prejudices of the Irish.— Sec-
tarian Misrepresentation.— Synod of Old Leighlin. — Saint Cummian. — Conference of Whitby. — Innisbofin. —
Saint Adamnan. — "The Law of the Innocents." — Saint Frigidian. — Saint Degan. — Saint Livinus. — Saint
Fiacre. — Saint Fursey. — Saint Dicuil. — Saint Killian. — Saint Sedulius the Younger. — Saint Virgilius. — SS.
Foilan and Ultan. — Saint Fridolin "the Traveller." — Clemens and Albinus. — Dungal. — Donatus. — Irish Mis-
sions to Iceland.
SCARCELY was Ireland tborougli-
ly converted to Christianity, when,
as already observed, great monastic
schools began to spring u-p in various
jiarts of the country. The most cele-
brated of them, after that of Armagh,
were Clonard, in Meath, founded early
in the sixth century by St. Finau, or
Finian; Clonmacnoise, on the banks of
the Shannon, in the King's county,
founded in the same centuiy by St.
Kiaran, called the Carpenter's Son ;
Bennchor, or Bangor,* in the Ards of
Ulster, founded by St. Comgall in the
year 558 ; and Lismore, in Waterford,
founded by St. Carthach, or Mochuda,
about the year 633. These, and many
other Irish schools, attracted a vast
concourse of students, the pupils of a
single school often numbering from one
to three thousand, several of whom
came from Britain, Gaul, and other
* This celebrated monastery and school, of which all
that now remains is the churchyard, was situated on the
south Bide of Lough Laigh (Stagnura Vituli), now Bil-
10
countries, drawn hither by the reputa-
tion for sanctity and learning which
Ireland enjoyed throughout Europe.
The course of instruction embraced all
branches of knowledge as it then exist-
ed, and more especially the study of
the Holy Scriptures; and as the stu-
dents w^ere not only taught, but sup-
ported gratuitously, their numbers be-
came so burdensome to the country —
whose hospitality indolent laymen often
abused, under the pretext of seeking
after knowledge — that legislation on
the subject became necessary so early
as the synod or convention of Drum-
ceat (a. d. 575).
The number of monasteries, the ex-
tent to which religious education was
carried^ but, above all, the fervor which
characterized the early ages of the Irish
Church, had the effect of filling Ireland
with holy ascetics, living either in com-
fast Lough, in the coimty of Down, and must not
be confounded witli the place of the same name in
Wales.
88
FARLY IRISH MONASTICISM.
munities or in total solitude; so that
scarcely an island round the coast or in
the lakes of the interior, or a valley, or
any solitary spot, could be found which,
like the deserts of Egypt and Palestine,
was not inhabited by fervent coenobites
and anchorites. In the lives of some of
these holy persons who thus peopled
the wild tempest-beaten rocks round
the Irish coast, it is not unusual to read
of others again who were found occa-
sionally tossed on the waves in the
frail boats of that period, " seeking," as
the phrase was, "for a desert in the
ocean ;" and when, at length, they came
to a resting place on earth, they only
looked upon it as their " locus re-sur-
vectionh^'' — the place where their ashes
should await the day of the resurrec-
tion. It was an age of simplicity and
fervor, and may, well be called the
golden age of Ireland; for while bar-
barian swarms were inundating Europe,
each Avave of desolation plunging the
nations over which it passed in social
chaos and demoralization, Erin was en-
gaged in prayer and study, and the
general gloom of Euroj)e only made
her light shine the more brilliantly by
the contrast, and enhanced her glorious
distinction as the " Island of Saints."
As soon as religion had been thus
matured by sacred study in the schools,
and by divine contemplation and peni-
tential discipline in the cloisters and in
* The Scottisli colony in Nortli Britain, owing to vari-
ous causes, does not appear to have devoted much atten-
tion either to religion or learning for a long time after
this period ; and hence arc tlio unfounded assumptions
the cells and caves of anchorites, it
quickly assumed a more active devel-
opment, for which the Irish mind ex-
hibited an equally happy adaptation.
We refer to the missionary career of
the Irish Church, which dates from the
time of St. Columbkille. A few Irish-
men prior to that epoch were engaged
in the diffusion of Christianity in other
countries, but it was only then that the
missionary duty may be said to have
been taken up by them with a steady
and organized zeal. We have seen how
St. Columba himself preached Christian-
ity to the Picts. For that purpose he
often crossed from lona into Albion ;
and passing the Dorsum Britannice, or
Grampian Hills, accompanied by his
monks, travelled into the northern re-
gions of that country. After his death
(a. d. 59Y), his institution of lona, and
his other monasteries in those parts,
continued to be supplied Avith Scottish
monks from Ireland, who were the or-
dinary missionaries of the Picts and
British Scots ;* their mission being ex-
tended still further south, when they
were invited into Northumberland in
G35 by king Oswald, and founded there
the diocese and Columbian monastery
of Lindisfarne.
The great father, however, of Irish
foreign missions into countries beyond
Britain, was St. Columbanus.f This il-
lustrious saint was a native of Leinster,
of Dempster, and modern Scotch writers, in claiming all
the celebrated Scots of those early agca as their own
countrymen, the more absurd.
\ The name of this saint is sometimes ^vrittcn Colum-
ST. COLUMBANUS.
89
and was of noble extraction. He was
born about the 3'ear 539, studied under
St. Comgall in Bangor, and, according
to the most probable account, left Ire-
land in the year 589, accompanied by
twelve other monks, for Gaul, passing
thiough Britain, where he made only a
Ijrief stay. The former country being
then in the possession of the Franks,
we may call it by its modern name of
France. Here our Scottic missionaries
having penetrated into the territory
which formed the kingdom of Burgun-
dy, then ruled by King Thieiiy, or
Theodoric, tlaey (a. d. 590) founded
the monastery of Luxovium, or Liix-
euil, in the midst of a forest at the foot
of the Vosges, where St. Columbanus
established the rigid discipline of his
native country, as he had received it
from his master, St. Comgall. The
fame of our countryman's sanctity soon
spread to a distance, and the concourse
of those who came to join his order, or
to seek instruction, was so great that
he was obliged, in a short time, to es-
tablish another monastery, to which he
gave the name of Fontaines. Religion
having been totally neglected under
the barbarian sway of the Franks, the
active zeal and rigorous life of the Irish
monks strangely contrasted with the lax
and torpid Christianity of all classes of
the jjopulation by whom they were sur-
rounded ; and in denouncing the preva-
lent vices, our saint did not spare those
ba ; and lio lias been often confounded, especially by
foreign writers, with tlio great Apostle of the Picts and
founder of lona
of King Theodoric himself or of his de-
moralized coui't. This zeal drew upon
him the wrath both of the king and of
the evil-minded queen dowager, Brune-
hault, and St. Columbanus became an
object of relentless persecution. The
privileges originally conceded to his
monasteries were withdrawn, and his
rule for excluding the laity from the
interior of the cloisters having given
offence, the king went himself, accom-
panied by a retinue of nobles, to in-
trude forcibly into the sacred inclo-
sures. Having penetrated some dis-
tance, however, Theodoric became ter-
rified at the prophetic denunciation of
the saint, and desisted, contenting him-
self with ordering St. Columbanus to
leave the country, and permitting only
the Irish and British monks to accom-
pany hira.
A. D. 610. — The heroic Scot refused
to leave his beloved monks unless torn
from them by force ; whereupon a com-
pany of soldiers were sent to carry out
the tyrant's orders, and St. Columl)anu3
was dragged from his cloister at Lux-
euil, where he had spent twenty years,
and conveyed with those monks who
were allowed to share his fortunes as
far as Nantes, where an attempt to
ship them off to Ireland having been,
as it would seem, miraculously frustra-
ted, they were permitted to go at large.
St. Columbanus then repaired to the
court of Clothaire, king of Soissons, by
whom he was entertained in the most
friendly manner. Thence he passed
through the territory of Theodobert,
90
ST. COLUMBANUS IN ITx\LT.
king of Austrasia, who, altliongli the
brother of Theodoric, treated our saint
with the utmost kindness and distinc-
tion ; and ascending by the Rhine into
the country now called Switzerland, he
there found that the population, who
were Alenianni, had relapsed into idol-
atry, and that the Christian churches
were converted into temples for idols.
St. Columbanus preached here in differ-
ent places, and sojourned for a year at
Breo-eutz, at the southeastern extrem-
ity of the lake of Constance, where he
left one of his Irish disciples, St. Gallus,
or Gall, who was then sick, setting out
himself with the remainder of his com-
panions for Italy.
A. D. 613. — In the third year after
his expulsion from the Vosges, St. Co-
lumbanus arrived at Milan, where he
was received in the kindest manner by
Agilulph, king of the Lombards, and
his accomplished queen, Theodolinda.
He was permitted to choose a site for
a monastery, and selected for that pur-
pose a place in the Apennines called
Bovium or Bobbio, where he founded
a great monastery, and built near his
church an oratory dedicated to the
Blessed Virgin. By this time his
friend Clothaire had become king of
all France, having seized the domin-
ions of Theodoric after the death of the
latter, who had only just before slain
his brother Theodobert and taken his
kingdom. St. Columbanus was there-
upon pressingly invited by Clothaire to
return to Luxeuil ; but he declined, and
contented himself with trausmittinc: his
advice for the government of his old
monasteries, where his rule continued
to be strictly adhered to.
St. Columbanus found Northern Italy
in a state of schism, owing to a theo-
logical controversy, known as that of
the " Three Chapters ;" and he was pre-
vailed on by King Agilulph to write to
Pope Boniface on the subject. The free
tone of this epistle, so consistent with
the unflinching character of the man, as
well as with the spirit of those rude
times; and also our saint's unaltered
adhesion to the mode of computing
Easter, and to the form of liturgy which
he had learned in his own-country, and
which had been introduced there by
St. Patrick, are particularly dwelt on
by those who wish to draAV a distinction
between the religion of the ancient Irish
and that of Rome ; but the attempts
to show any such distinction are utterly
fruitless. The discrepancies on points
of discipline were only such as might
have existed without detriment to the
unity of the Church ; and St. Columba-
nus, as well as every other Irish eccle-
siastic who visited the continent of
Europe in those early ages, found him-
self in the most perfect unison in matters
of faith with the Church of Rome, that
is, with the Universal Christian Church
of that age. St. Columbanus told the
Pope, " that although dwelling at the ex-
tremity of the world, all the Irish Avere
disciples of SS. Peter and Paul, receiv-
ing no other than the evangelical and
apostolical doctrine ; that no heretic, or
Jew, or schismatic, was to be found
DEATH OF ST. COLUMBANUS.
91
among them, but that they still clung to
the Catholic faith, as it was first deliv-
ered to them by his (the Pope's) pre-
decessors, that is, the successors of the
holy apostles; that the Irish were at-
tached to the chair of St. Peter, and that
although Rome was great and renowned,
it was only on account of that chair it
was so with. them. Through the two
apostles of Christ," he added, " you are
almost celestial, and Rome is the head
of all churches, as well as of the
world." *
St. Columbanus died at Bobbio, on
the 21st of November, 615, at the age
of 72 years; and his memory is still
highly venerated both in France and
Italy. In the latter country his name
is preserved in that of a small town in
the district of Lodi, called from him S.
Colombano. Fi'om his writings it is
obvious that he was acquainted with
Greek and Hebrew, besides being an
accomplished scholar in other respects ;
and as he did not leave his own coun-
try until he was about fifty years of
age, and was afterwards occupied con-
stantly in active duties, we may infer
that he acquired all his knowledge in
the schools of Ireland.f
We have seen that Gallus or Gall,
* Tlie letters and other WTitings of St. Cohunbanus
that have been preserved may be seen in Fleming's
Uullectanen, and in the BMiotheca Patrum, torn. 12,
ed. 1G77. Some of them are published in UssUer's
t The Benedictines, in the JEst. LUteraire dc la
France, say : — '■ The light which St. Columbanus dis-
seminated, by his knowledge and doctrine, wherever he
presented himself, caused a contemporary writer to com-
paro him to the sun in his course from east to west ; and
one of the disciples of St. Columbanus,
was left in Helvetia, being prevented
by sickness from accompanying his mas-
tei-. He was an eloquent preacher, and
being acquainted with their language,
a dialect of that of the Franks which
he had acquired in Burgundy, he evan-
gelized the Alemanni, and is called their
apostle. He died on the IGth of Octo-
ber, about the year 645, in the 95th
year of his age ; and over his ashes rose
a monastery which became the nucleus,
first of an important town, and then oi
a small State, with the rank of a princi-
pality, called after the holy Irish monk.
It was not until the year 1798 that the
abbey lands of St. Gall, as the territory
was called, were aggregated to the
Swiss Confederation as one of the can-
tons. The old abbey church is one of
the chief attractions jn the city of St.
Gall, and for the Irish traveller there
are many objects of interest there in the
relics of his ancient national literature
and piety, and in the various associations
with his country. The life of St. G:ill
was written by Walafridus Strabus, a
writer of the ninth century.
A. D. 635. — Meanwhile St. Aidan, a
monk of lona, chosen by his brethren
as a missionary for Northumbria, on the
ho continued after his death to shine forth in numerous
disciples whom ho had trained in learning and piety."
See also Muratori, AnnaU di Ilal., ad an. G13, where ho-
describes the monastery of Bobbio as one of the most
celebrated in Italy ; Fleury, Hist. Eccl., Liv. xxxvii., and
all writers who have treated of the religious and literary
history of Europe during the period in question. The
life of St. Columbanus was written by louas, an Irish or
Briti.sh monk, the contemporary of some of the saint's
disciples.
92
THE PASCHAL QUESTION.
invitation of King Oswald, who had
been for some time a refugee in Ireland,
converted the Saxons of that country
to Christianity, and established the see
of Liudisfarne, of which he was the first
bishop. He was accompanied by many
of his countrymen on this mission, A
monastery of the Columbian order was
founded at Liudisfarne, and Irish mas-
ters were also obtained to instruct the
children of the Northumbrian nobles in
the rudiments of learning. St. Aidan,
A. D. 651, was succeeded by St. Fintan
or Finan, another Irishman and monk of
Hy, who sent missionaries to preach the
Gospel to the Middle and East Angles,
and consecrated as first bishop of the
former, and also of Mercia, Diuma, an
Irishman, who was succeeded by an-
other Irishman, named Kellach. St.
Fintan, who died about the year 660,
was succeeded, as bishop of Liudisfarne,
by his countryman St. Colman ; so that
the church of the northei'u Saxon king-
doms was for a long time, at that period,
almost wholly in the charge of Irish
ecclesiastics. Colman was deeply in-
volved in the controversy about the
celebration of Easter, which had for
some time been a subject of anxious dis-
cussion in Ireland and Britain ; and as
the question holds a prominent place in
the history of the Irish Church of that
age, it is necessary to enter into a brief
explanation of it here.
It must be premised that a wide dif-
ference existed between the practice
with regard to Easter as upheld so long
in Britain and Ireland, and that which
formed a matter of dispute some cen-
turies before with the churches of the
East. A question arose in the very in-
fancy of Christianity, whether the Chris-
tian Pasch should be solemnized, like
that of the Old Law, on the fourteenth
day of the moon which falls next after
the vernal equinox, whatever day of
the week that might be; or whether
it should not always be observed on a
Sunday, the day which our Lord had
consecrated by His resurrection. The
former practice was invariably disap-
proved of in the Western Church, and
was condemned in the Council of Nice
(a. d. 325) ; and a few churches of Mes-
opotamia, which persisted in it, and
which were besides infected with Nesto-
rianism, were consequently pronounced
heretical. This constituted the Quarto-
deciman heresy; but in the Catholic
Church there still remained some ob-
stacles to uniformity in the computa-
tion of Easter. Thus, while at Alexan-
dria, which had the best astronomers,
the cycle of nineteen yeai's was employ-
ed for ascertaining the moon's age, the
old Jewish cycle of eighty-four years
continued to be received for a long time
at Eome ; and a difference of opinion
also prevailed as to whether Easter-day
should be held on the fourteenth of the
moon when it fell on Sunday, or on
the next succeeding Sunday ; but these
and some other details were finally ad-
justed between Kome and the principal
churches of the East; the main point
thus settled being that the fourteenth
day should under no circumstances be
THE PASCHAL QUESTION.
93
taken for Easter. General harmony
now prevailed on the subject tbrough-
out Europe and the East, when it was
found that the insulated Scottish (that
is, Irish) Church still adhered to the old
practice that had been introduced by
St. Patrick, and that, apparently quite
unaware of the discussion on the subject
which had foi-raerly agitated the rest of
the world, and had been long since dis-
posed of, the Irish clei'gy still celebra-
ted Easter on the fourteenth day, if
that day happened to be Sunday, and
were only acquainted with the anti-
quated cycle of eighty-four years which
St. Patrick had been taught to use in
his time, both in GaUl and Rome, but
which had been since laid aside for a
computation of greater scientific ac-
curacy.
Veneration for the customs of their
. fathers has always been a characteristic
of the Scottic race. In this case they
held on to the tradition of the great
saints who planted Christianity in their
country, and enriched it with their vir-
tues, and no arguments could for a long
time convince them that a usage sancti-
fied by Patrick, Brigid, and Columb-
kille, was erroneous. They were cer-
tainly guilty of obstinacy, and for that
they deserve no praise. It is amusing
to observe how little weight either
* It is a remarkable fact that thus, some two hundred
yi-ars after tlie xircaching of St. Patrick, no point of dif-
fi.-rence could bo found between the faith and discipline
of the Church of Ireland and tlie faith and discipline of
the Cliurch of Home, except this sliglit one of the com-
putation of Easter, and tliat of tlie tonsure, or mode of
Bha.ving the heads of the monks ; a pretty conclusive
science or authority had with them
against the tradition Avhich they held
from those whom they loved and ven-
erated ; but there cannot be a greater
perversion of the truth than to pretend
that this usage of the Irish Church in-
dicated an Eastern origin, or an essen-
tial negation of conformity with Kome,
seeing that that very usage had been
brought from Rome itself. This point
is important, as gross misrejiresentatiou
has been practised on the subject. Per-
fect uniformity, even in matters of disci-
pline, was desirable ; and a diversity of
practice, from which it often followed
that while some were still observing
the fast of Lent, others in the same
community or household were chanting
the alleluias of Easter, was most objec-
tionable ; but the Irish and their breth-
ren of Britain could not be brought for
some time to yield up an old custom
for the sake of uniformity in such mat-
ters; while on the other hand, their
adhesion to that custom did not exclude
them from the unity of the Catholic
Church, or prevent some of its warmest
advocates, such as St. Columbanus, who
wrote a strong letter on the subject to
St. Gregoi-y, from ranking as saints in
the Roman martyrology.*
A. D. 630. — This year, in consequence
of an admonitory letter from Pope
evidence that whatever the religion of Rome was in the
sixth and seventh centuries, such was also the religion of
Ireland found to be at the same period ; and it is humili-
ating to find some writers at the present day so blinded
by sectarianism as to assert the contrary, and to prctind
that the religion which St. Patrick brought into lrelan<l
was not the religion of the Western Church !
94
THE CONFERENCE OF WHITBY.
Honoi-ius I., a synod was held by the
Iiisli clergy at Lena or old Leighlin, to
consider the jiascbal question. St. Lase-
rian advocated the Roman practice, and
St. Fintan Munnu, the Irish one ; and
both, it will be observed, are saints of
the Catholic Church'. It was decided
that messengers should be sent to Rome
to consult " the head of cities," and the
ecclesiastics so deputed brought back
word, after three years' absence, that
the Roman discipline was that of the
whole world. From the date of this
announcement (633), the new Roman
cycle and rules for Easter were received
in the southern half of Ireland, embra-
cing with Munster the greater part of
Leinster, and part of Connaught. The
attachment of the Columbian monks
to the old practice still retarded the
adoption of the correct one in the north-
ern half of Ireland ; and it was nearly a
century after when the wrong method
of finding Easter was finally abandoned
by the community of Hy. St. Cum-
mian, who belonged to the Columbian
order, embraced the Roman custom at
the synod of G30, and addressed a learn-
ed epistle to the abbot and monks of
Hy, in vindication of himself, and of
the practice of the Universal Church ;*
and a few years after the cleigy of Ul-
ster addressed a letter to the Holy See,
which was received there a little before
the death of Pope Severinus, and was
replied to by the Roman clergy while
* This celebrated letter is published in Ussher's Si/l-
loge ; and its style and the learning it disjJays arc
the see was vacant ; but the admonition
of these latter on the Easter cpiestion
appears to have had no effect upon their
Scottish correspondents.
Such was the state of the controversy
when it was renewed with increased
vehemence in Northumbria, at the time
(a. d. 664) that Colman succeeded Fi-
nau in the see of Lindisfarne. A con-
ference was held that year at "Whitby,
at which kings Oswin and Alcfrid pre-
sided ; St. Wilfrid, a learned Saxon
bishop, advocating the Roman obser-
vance, and St. Colman with the Irish
clergy supporting their own national
practice, while St. Ceadda, bishop of
Mercia, and an adherent of the Scots,
acted as interpreter between the par-
ties.
The proceedings of this conference
were most interesting, and resulted in
a decision against St. Colman's usage ;-
the kings and the bulk of the assembly
declaring in fiivor of St. Wilfrid, St.
Colman consequently resigned the see
of Lindisfarne, and taking with him
all tlie Irish and about thirty of the
English monks of his establishment,
he withdrew to the remote island of
Inuisbofin, or the " island of the white
cow," off the western coast of Ireland,
where he founded a monastery for
his Irish monks, building another
shortly after for his English followers
on the plain of Mayo, called on that
account Mayo-of-the-Saxons. He liim-
liiglily creditable to the venerable Irish ecclesiastic by
whom it was %vritten.
THE LAW OF THE INNOCENTS.
self resided in Innisbofin, imtil his deatb,
in the year G76 *
A. D. 684. — It was related at the
close of the preceding chapter how Eg-
frid, king of Northumbria, sent an army
on a piratic excursion into Ireland, to
gratify, as it is believed, his private re-
sentment; his brother Alfred having
sought refuge in Ireland from his
treachery, and been hos2:)itably receiv-
ed there.f The next year, or the fol-
lowing <me, Alfred succeeded him on
the throne ; and it was then (a. d. 685
or 686) that St. Adamnan, the ninth
abbot of Hy, who is celebrated not
only for his sanctity, but as the accom-
plished biographer of the great St. Co-
liimba, was sent into England to recov-
er the caj^tives and property of which
Ireland had been plundered. Adam-
nan's mission to the friendly court of
Alfred was most successful; and he
appears to have repeated his visits
there more than once in after years.
This holy and learned abbot was one
* Venerable Bede (Ec. Hist., b. iii., chap. 2.5) gives a
detailed account of the important conference of Whitby.
Describing, in the following chapter, the departure of
St. Coluian and the Irish monks from Lindisfiirne, he
pays them the following tribute, which may be received
as applicable to the Irish monks in general of that
period : " The place which he (Colman) governed, shows
how frugal he and his predecessors were, for there were
very few houses besides the church found at their de-
parture, indeed no more than were barely sufficient for
their daily residence : they had also no money, but only
some cattle ; for if they received any money from rich
persons they immediately gave it or the poor ; there
being no need to gather money to provide houses for
the entertainment of the great men of the world ; for
such never resorted t o the church except to pray and
hear the word of God For tho wTiole
care of those teachers was to serve (Jod, not the world—
of the most strenuous promoters of the
new paschal computation, Avhicli he suc-
ceeded in introducing into the northern
parts of Ireland, although his own mon-
astery of Hy persisted in declining it
for some years longer. In the year
697, he proceeded to Ireland from Hy,
and took j^art in a synod or legislative
council, held at Tara, which place, al-
though it had ceased to be a royal resi-
dence, was still occasionally used as the
seat of legislation. On this occasion
he procured the enactment of a law,
which was called the Canon of Adam-
nan, or the " Law of the Innocents," and
sometimes " the law not to kill women."
It was usual amongst the pagan Irish,
as we have seen, for women to go with
the men to battle ; but as we generally
read of one woman being killed by
another, it is probable that the female
combatants of opposite armies encoun-
tered each other. This barbarous cus-
tom may have fallen partially into dis-
use after the conversion of the country
to feed the soul, and not the stomach." And again (b.
iii., chap. 27) — "During tho time of Finan and Colman,
many nobles and others of the English nation were liv-
ing in Ireland, whither they had repaired either to cul-
tivate tho sacred studies, or to lead a life of greater
strictness. Some of them soon became monks ; others
were better pleased to apply to reading and study, go-
ing about from school to school through the cells of the
masters ; and all of them were most cheerfully received
by the Irish, who supplied them gratia with good books
and instruction."
f Alfred and Oswald were not the only foreign princes
ho had been sheltered in Ireland; Dagobert II., king
of Austrasia, having, in his youth, lived for fifteen years
(63.5 to G70) in the monastery of Slane on tho Boyno,
hither he had been sent on the death of his father by
Grimoald, mayor of the palace.
9G
IRISH SAINTS ON THE CONTINENT.
to Christianity, altliougli we are not
told that such was the case; but there
was certainly uo law against it, or any
to exempt women from attending host-
iugs in warfare until the time of St.
Adamnan; and a characteristic inci-
dent is i-elated in the Leabhar Breac,
and the Book of Lecan, to account for
that saint's interference in this matter.
It happened, according to the storj?,
that Adamnan was travelling one day
through the plain of Bregia, Avhile yet
a young man, with his mother, Ronait,
on his back, when they saw two armies
engaged in conflict. The mother of
Adamnan observed a woman with a
sickle plunged into the breast of anoth-
er woman, and thus dragging her about
the field ; and horrified at the spectacle,
she exacted a solemn promise from her
son that he would obtain a law to ex-
empt women from warfare. Adamnan
did not lose sight of the injunction of
his parent, and it is likely that he em-
ployed his influence, as soon as it was
powerful enough, to introduce the law
in question.* He celebrated Easter,
according to the canonical computation,
in the northern half of Ireland, in the
year YOS, and died the following year;
and it Avas reserved for a Northum-
brian monk, named Egbert, to In-ing the
community of Hy to uniformity on this
point, in the year 716, a hundred and
fifty years, according to Bede, after the
* This law protected women and children against the
barbarities of war, and hence it was called the lex iiuio-
ccntium, or law of the innocent or weak. The assembly
in which it was enacted was held in the " Rath of the
controversy on the subject had com-
menced in these countries.
Returning to those Irish saints who,
by their virtues and learning, spread
the fame of their native land into for-
eign countries, we shall only enumerate
the more celebrated of them. St. Fri-
gid ian was bishop of Lucca for twenty-
eight years in the sixth century, and his
memory is still held in great veneration
in that part of Italy. Of St. Molua, or
Lugld, it was said by the great Pope
St. Gregory, that his monastic rule was
like a hedge which reached to heaven.
St. Degan travelled to Rome early in
the seventh century, at the commence-
ment of the paschal controversy, and
embraced the canonical mode of compu-
tation. St. Livinus, an Irish bishop,
erroneously called archbishop of Dub-
lin, sufl^ered martyrdom in Flanders, in
the year 633, and his memory has al-
ways been vener^ed in that country,
whither he had gone to preach the Gos-
pel. Some beautiful verses, written by
him in good classic Latin, have been
preserved. St. Fiacre, who flourished
in the year 622, erected a monastery in
honor of the Blessed Virgin Mary, in a
forest near Meaux, in France, and the
fome of his sanctity rendered the pil-
grimage to his tomb or hermitage so
popular, that his name was given to the
hackney coaches of Paris, of which so
many were employed in conveying the
Sj-nods," on Tara Hill, near which rath, according to the
Dinnseanchus, was the Lathrach Pupaill Adarmuiin,
or " Site of the tent of Adamnan."
SS. CATIIALDUS, CUTHBERT, ETC.
97
citizens tliitlier. St. Fursey, who died
ill the year 648, founded a monastery
ill England, and another at Lagny, in
France ; and his disciples, St. Foilan,
St. Gobban, and St. Diciiil, were the
companions of his labors in those coun-
tries. St. Arbogast, an Irishman, was
consecrated bishop of Strasburg in 646.
St. Kilian, the illustrious apostle of
Franconia, was martyred with his two
companions, in the year 689. This
great saint, faithful to the spirit of the
Irish Church, would not commence his
mission among the pagans of Wurtz-
burg, although he saw its necessity, un-
til he had gone to Kome to obtain the
sanction and blessing of the Pope. Two
other saints of the same name flourish-
ed on the continent, one a discij)le of
St. Columbanus, and the other abbot
of St. Mai'tin's monastery at Cologne.
To this period belongs the illustrious
patron of the metropolitan city of Ta-
rentum, St. Cathaldus, whom some old
continental writera erroneously sup-
posed to have flourished in the second
century. He was a native of Munster ;
was first a student, and then a professor
at Lismore, where he is said to have
* The life of St. C.itlialdus was written in prose by
Bartholomeo Moroni, of Tarentum, and in verso by his
brother, Bonaventiira. Ilis acts, written by others, are
also extant. See them collected by Colgan, AA. SS.
Hib. at the 8th of March ; and a great deal concerning
him in Ussher's Primordia, pp. 302, &c., folio edition.
Tko poetic lifo of St. Cathaldus describes in beautiful
language the conllux of students from different parts of
Europe to the school at Lismore.
t Colgan, Ussher, Ware, and Harris, make St. Cutli-
bert an Irishman, but there does not appear to be any
Irish autlmrity for the story of his birth related in the
13
erected a church in honor of the Blessed
Virgin ; and as that renowned seminary
was not founded until the year 633, it
must have been some years later, pei--
haps about 650, when he left Ireland.
Eeturning from a pilgrimage to Jeru-
salem, he passed through Tarentum, and
having performed some miracles as he
approached the town, he was received
by the inhabitants with veneration,
unanimously chosen as their bishop, and
continued to govern the diocese with
great zeal for many years. His brother,
St. Donatus, probably travelled Mith
him, as we find that he was bishop of
Lecce, another city of the kingdom of
Naples, and both are said to have lived
for many years as hermits near a small
town now called San Cataldo.*
St. Cuthbert, the celebrated bishop of
Lindisfarne, who died in the year 687,
was, according to many distinguished
authorities, an Irishman, but it is at
least certain that he was educated l)y
Irishmen.f St. Maccuthenus, who died
about this time (a. d. 698), composed a
hymn in praise of the Blessed Virgin.
St. Sedulius, the younger, assisted at a
council held in Rome, in the year 721,
life quoted by Colgan from Capgrave. Professor Eugeuo
Curry, in a note addressed to the author, says, " St. Cuth-
bert's name is not to bo found in the lists of Irish Saints
preserved in the Books of Leinster, BaUymote, Lccan,
M'Firbis, or tho Calendar of the Four Masters ; but it
does appear in wliat is called the Martyrology of Tam-
lacht, copied by Father Michael O'Cleary. In this he is
set down, at March 20th, as Cubrichta Saxonis, of Inis
Menoc; .and in tho Festology of Aengus Cdo Do, Inis
Menoc, or rather luis Mcdcoit, is explained as an island
on the north coast of Little Britain (recti; Great Britain),
in whicli St. Aedau lived."
98
ST. VIRGILIUS.
during tlie pontificate of Gregory II.,
and was sent on an ecclesiastical mission
from Eorae into Spain, being previously
consecrated bishop of Oreto in that
country. On his arrival in Spain, in or-
der to show his claim to the regard
and attention of the people, he wrote a
book to prove that, being of Irish birth,
he was consequently of Spanish descent,
thus satisfactorily showing bow fixed
the traditions of the Milesian colony
were at that early age on the minds of
Irishmen.* It is generally admitted
that there were two Irish saints of this
name: the elder Sedulius, called the
Venerable, Avho flourished in the fifth
century, and is celebrated for his sacred
poetry, still used in the church offices ;
and the younger Sedulius, just men-
tioned, who wrote commentaries on
some portions of the Scriptures.
Few of these ancient Irish mission-
aries have excited more interest than
St. Virgilius, who is called "Ferghil the
Geometer," in the Irish annals, and Soli-
vagus, or, the " solitary wanderer," by
Latin writers. He startled Europe by
his scientific opinions in the eighth cen-
tury, teaching that the earth was a
sphere, and consequently that there
were antipodes ; but it is utterly false
that, as some say, he was persecuted by
the Church for this opinion. This re-
markable Irishman set out from his own
country, where he had been abbot of
Aghaboe, in Ossory ; and on his arrival
in France he was graciously received
Harris's Ware's Irish Writers, p. 47
by Pepin, then mayor of the palace, and
afterwards king of France. Our saint
next travelled into Bavaria, about the
year 745, and while on the mission at
Saltzburg, a theological question arose
between him and St. Boniface, a bishop
whose jurisdiction extended to that
place. The latter required that bap-
tism, which had been administered in
an uugrammatical form of words, should
be repeated, and St. Virgilius held the
contrary opinion, which is the correct
one. The question was referred to Pope
Zachary, who decided with St. Virgilius.
But soon after a complaint was for-
warded to the Sovereign Pontift' against
the distinguished Irishman, accusing
him of teaching that there was another
world under this one, inhabited by men
who were not of the race of Adam, and
who consequently were not redeemed
by Christ. That St. Virgilius gave a
satisfactory explanation in answer to
the charge is obvious, as in 756 he was
appointed bishop of Saltzburg by Pope
Stephen II. and King Pepin, a sufficient
proof that his character was not stained
by any blemish in the eyes of these high
authorities. This Irish saint died at
Saltzburg in the year 785, after a visi-
tation of his vast diocese, which included
Cariuthia. He obtained his philosophi-
cal knowledge in the schools of his na-
tive land, as did also St. Dicuil, another
Irishman, Avho about the close of the
eighth century wrote a treatise, "De
mensura orbis terrse," describing the
then known world, upon the authority
of the earlier geographers and of the
ST. FRIDOLIN.— SCHOOLS OF CHARLEMAGNE.
99
commissiouers apj^ointed by the em-
peror Theoclosius to measure the prov-
inces of the Roman empire.*
Even then Irehmd was famed in for-
eign countries for its sweet and ex-
pressive music ; and we find that saints
Foilan and Ultan, the brothers of St.
Fursey, were invited along with other
Irishmen, by St. Gertrude, daughter
of Pepin and abbess of Nivelle, in
Brabant, to instruct her community
in sacred psalmody. These holy men
erected a monastery at Fosse, near Ni-
velle, and the religious houses at both
places were considered to be Irish. St.
Ultan also became the first superior of
the monastery of St. Quintin, near Pe-
ronne, and lived until about the year
G7G.
St> Fridolin, " the Traveller," the son
of an Irish king, founded monasteries
in various parts of France, in Helvetia,
and on the Rhine. He flourished about
the close of the seventh and the com-
mencement of the eighth century'-, and
his memory has been preserved with ven-
eration in many parts of the continent.
A little later flourished Albuin, called
also by the Saxon name of Wittan, or
White, who preached the Gospel in
Thuringia, or Upper Saxony, and was
appointed by the pope bishop of Bura-
burgh, near Fritzlar, in the year 7-11.
About a year after Charlemagne had
become sole monarch of France — that
u, A. D. V72 — two remarkable Irish-
* This ancient geographical treatise was published,
with a critical dissertation and copioua notes, by M. Le-
tronne, in Paris, A. D. 1814.
men made their appearance in his terri-
tories. Their names were Clemens and
Albinus; and the method which they
adopted to attract attention is related
as a curious sample of the manners of
the times. Observing that commerce
of one kind or other occupied the peo-
ple, they went about announcing that
they had wisdom to sell, and thus col-
lected crowds to hear their instructions.
Their fame soon reached the ears of the
great monarch, who was just then intent
on the intellectual improvement of his
people. He sent for them ; entertained
them for some time in his palace, and
then placed them over two public
schools whick he founded, commit-
ting that of Paris to Clemens, and one
founded at Pavia, in Italy, to his com-
panion, Albinus. The names of these
two eminent Irishmen were subse-
quently thrown partly into the shade
by that of Alcuin, a Saxon, who, accord-
ing to the custom of the age of taking
Roman names, assumed the name of
Albinus Flaccus. Alcuin arrived in
France several years after our country-
men, Clemens and Albinus ; he aftbrded
great assistance to Charlemagne in his
eftbrts to revive learning, accompanied
him for the purpose of teaching a school
of nobles in his palace, and has been
rendered famous by his correspondence
with the emperor and Avith other illus-
trious persons of his time. Charle-
magne, however, patronized all the
learned foreigners Avhom he could at-
tract to his court, and, while he lived,
repaid Avith his friendship and sup
100
IRISH MISSIONARIES IN ICELAND.
port tlie two IrisLmeii we have men-
tioued."
A few years after Albinus, Dongal,
another Irishman, and one of the most
learned men of his time, was appointed
professor of the school of Pavia by-
King Lothaire. He is celebrated, among
other things, for an epistle which he
wrote to Charlemagne on the two solar
eclipses of 810; for a valuable gift of
books, some of them relating to seculai*
literature, which he made to the mon-
astery of Bobbio; and for a work in
defence of the use of sacred images in
churches, against Clodius of Turin. St.
Donatus, an Irishman, who flourished in
the middle of the same (ninth) centu-
ry, was made bishop of Fiesole, in Ita-
ly, and his disciple, Andrew, who had
accompanied him on a pilgrimage to
Home, was deacon of the same church.f
Turning, finally, towards the north,
we find that Irish monks were not only
the first Christians, but most probable
the first inhabitants, of the inhospita-
ble region of Iceland, which they called
Thule, or Tyle. Dicuil, who, as we
* The Monk of St. Gall, wlio wrote the life of Cliarle-
magno in the ninth century, and who is believed to
have been the celebrated Notkerua Balbulus, makes
particular mention of Clemens and Albinus as " Scots of
Ireland." Muratori, Annali di Italia, anno 781, refers
to the learning aud teaching of Albinus in Italy. See
Lanigan, Ware, &c. Guizot omits all mention of them
in his History of Civilization ; he and some other modern
writers, who have only glanced at the subject, having
confined their attention to Alcuin and his disciples.
\ To Donatus, the holy bishop of Fiesole, wo are in-
debted for the graceful tribute to Ireland contained in
the well-known lines : —
Finibus occiduis describitur optima tellus,
Nomine et antiquis Scotia scripta libris. '
Insula dives opum gemraarum, vestis, et auri :
have seen, flourished iu the latter part
of the eighth and beginning of the
ninth century, states that thirty years
before he wrote his geograj)hical woi'k,
he had got an account of Thule from
some ecclesiastics who had been so-
journing there ; and when, in the latter
part of the ninth century, the pagan
Norwegians planted a colony in Ice
land, the Irish monks, who fled on
their arrival, left behind them sundry
memorials of their religion, such as
Irish books, small bells, and pastoral
stafts.
The above circumstance is related by
various Icelandic writers, who add that
these Irish monks were called ^^rt_p«-5
by the Norwegian settlers. When the
first effort was made to introduce
Christianity among the pagan colonists,
two Irishmen, who are called Ernulph
and Buo by their Icelandic biographer,
Arngrim Jonas, were the missionaries ;
and another old Icelandic writer, Ara
Multiscius, mentions an Irishman named
John, in his enumeration of early Ice-
landic bishops. :t
Commoda corporibus acre, sole, solo.
Melle fluit pulchris, et lacteis Scotia campis,
Vestibus, atque armis, frugibus, arte, viria.
In qua Scotorum gentes habitare merentur,
Inclyta gens hominum, milite, pace, fide.
X Some accoimt of Ernulph and Buo is given in Col-
gan's AA: SS. Hib., Feb. 3 and 5. Ara Multiscius
(Sclicdce de Islandia, cap. 2) relates how, in the first years
of Harold Harfagro, who became king of Norway A. D.
885, Ingulph, the first Norwegian, fled into Iceland, and
was soon followed by so many of his countrymen that
it was feared Norway would be left desert, and he says : —
•' At that time Iceland was covered with woods, and there
were then in it Christian men whom the Norwegians cull
papas ; and these, being unwiUing to i
JOHANNES SCOTUS ERIGENA.
101
In the preceding account of the Irish
saints and schoLars of those early ages,
we have omitted the name of one most
remarkable Irishman, who could scarce-
ly be placed in the same category with
any of those whom we have mentioned.
This was the celebrated John Scotus Eri-
geua, or "the Irishman," who flourished
in the middle of the ninth century, and
whose extraordinary learning and ec-
centric genius filled Europe with amaze-
ment. John was not an ecclesiastic,
•nor was he a sound theologian. He
mingled divinity with Platonic philoso-
phy, and fell into the wildest errors
about the nature and attributes of the
Deity, grace and jiredestiuation, the
future state of reward and punishment.
tlieas, went away forthwith, leaving behind them Irish
books, and small bells, and (pastoral) staffs ; whence it
was easy to perceive that they were of the Irish na-
tion." This is told in somewhat similar terms in the
Laiidnainaboc, quoted by Johnston, Antiq. Celto-Scand.,
p. 14.
* Of this singular man Tennemann says ; — " John
Scotus, an Irishman, belonged to a much higher order
(than Alcuin) ; a man of great learning, and of a philo-
sophical and original mind ; whose means of attaining
and other subjects ; and some of his
books were condemned by the Church.
He resided chiefly in Paris, where he
taught philosophy, and was on terms of
friendship with the emperor Charles
the Bald, at whose desire he translated
the supposed works of Dionysius the
Areopagite from Greek into Latin. He
was the first who combined scholastic
and mystic theology ; and notwithstand-
ing his pantheistic and other errors, he
is said to have led an exemplary life.
He died in France some short time be-
fore the year 875 ; and no other school-
man of his age attracted so much notice,
or was the object of such diversity of
opinions, both during his life and in
after acres.*
to such superiority we are ignorant of. His acquaint-
ance with Latin and Greek, to which some assert he
added the Arabic ; his love for the philosophy of Aristo-
tle and Plato; his translation, exceedingly esteemed
throughout the West, of Dionysius the Areopagite;
his liberal and enlightened (heretical) views respecting
predestination and the Eucharist; all these entitle
Mm to bo considered a phenomenon for the times in
which he lived." — Hist, of Philosophy, p. 215 .(Bolm e
edition).
102
CHRISTIAN ANTIQUITIES OF IRELAND.
CHAPTER XII.
istiaii Antiquities of Ireland. — Testimonies on the suljject of Ireland's Pre-eminence for Sanctity and Learning.
— Tlie Culdecs. — Hereditary Transmission of Church Offices. — Lay Bishojis and Abbots. — ComUorbas and
Herenachs. — Termon Lands. — Characteristics of the Primitive Church in Ireland. — Inference therefrom. —
Peculiarities in Discipline. — Materials used iu building Churches. — Damliags and Doireachs. — Cyclopean
Masonry. — The Round Towers. — Saints' Beds, Holy Wells, and Penitential Stations.
A T the risk of trenching on the du-
-^-^ ties of the ecclesiastical historian,
the preceding chapter has been extend-
ed beyond its due proportion ; yet
the object in view — namely, that of
exhibiting the aspect of Christian Ire-
land, as it was presented to Europe in
the centuries preceding the Danish in-
vasion— has been but imperfectly ac-
complished. Our list of the illustrious
Irishmen who spread the fame of their
country for learning and holiness into
foreign lands, is far from being com-
plete, and the subject is on the whole
little more than glanced at. But even
this slight sketch will show that there
is sufficient ground for what has been
so often said about the eminent posi-
tion which Ireland once held in rela-
tion to the other countries of Christen-
dom. That pre-eminence i.s no idle
dream — no creation of the national im-
agination. It is as much a reality as
any other fact in the range of history,
* Marianus Scotus ; Chronicon. ad an. 074 Ussher
remarks that the saints of this period might be grouped
into a fourth order of the Irish saints.
and may be, assuredly, a legitimate
source of national pride. During the
period which extended from the in-
roads of the barbarians iu Europe in
the sixth century, to the partial revival
of education and mental energy under
Charlemagne, in the ninth, this island
was unquestionably the retreat and nur-
sery of learning and piety, and the centre
of intellectual activity. An old writei
speaks of Ii-eland having been at this
time reputed to be full of saints.*
Venerable Bede informs us that num-
bers were daily coming into Britain
from the country of the Scots (Ire-
land), preaching the Word of God
with great devotion.f " What shall I
say of Ireland," says Eric of Auxerre,
a Fi-ench writer of the ninth century,
" which, despising the dangers of the
deep, is migrating, with almost her
whole train of philosophers, to our
coasts ?" J Thierry, after describing
the poetry and literature of ancient
f Eccl. Hist., Lib. iii., chap.
t Letter to Charles the Bald,
IRISH MISSIONS AND SCHOOLS.
103
Irelaud as perhaps tlie most cultivated
of all Western Europe, adds that Ire-
land "counted a host of saints and
learned men, venerated in England
and Gaul, for no country had furnished
more Christian missionaries, uninflu-
enced by other motives than pure zeal
to communicate to foreign nations the
opinions and faith of their own land."*
Testimonies of ancient and modern wri-
ters to the same eftect might be multi-
plied indefinitely, all representing (in
the words of Dr. Lanigan) the migra-
tion which took place at that period
from Ireland, as a swarm of holy and
learned men, by whom foreign nations
were instructed and edified. f
Then, as to the resort of foreigners to
Ireland for the purposes of education,
and of leading a life of greater perfec-
tion, Ave have also copious and conclu-
sive evidence. St. Aengus the Culdee,
in his litany written at the end of the
eighth century, invokes the intercession
of many hundreds of saints, Romans,
Italians, Egyptians, Gauls, Germans,
Britons, Picts, Saxons, and natives of
other countries, who were buried and
* IBst. do la Conquete de I'Angleterre, Liv. x.
f Stephen AVTiito (Ajxjlogia, p. 24) thus sums up tho
hibora of tho Irish saints on tho continent : — " Among
tho names of saints ■(\'hom Ireland formerly sent forth,
there were, as I have learned from tho trustworthy
writings of the ancients, 150 now honored as patrons of
places in Germany, of whom SO were martyrs ; 45 Irish
patrons in tho Gauls, of whom G were martyrs ; at least
30 in Belgiiun ; 44 in England ; 13 in Italy ; and in
Iceland and Norway 8 martyrs ; besides many others. "
" Ono singular and extraordinary fact may be noted
hero," observes the lato Kcv. Dr. Kelly (Camb. Ever.,
Tol. ii., p. C53), " namely, that to foreign sources almost
exclusively are we indebted for a knowledge of those
venerated in Ireland, and whom he
divided into groups, chiefly according
to the localities of Ireland in which they
had sojourned and died. The lives of
St. Patrick, St. Kieran, St. Declan, St.
Albeus, St. Euda, St. Maidoc, St. Senan,
St. Brendan, and other Irish saints, fur-
nish testimonies to the same eftect.;];
Camden, in his description of Ireland,
says : — " At that age our Anglo-Saxons
repaired on all sides to Ireland as to a
general mart of learning. Whence we
read, in our writers, of holy men, that
' they went to study in Ireland ;' Aman-
datus est ad di-sdiMnam in HiherniamP
We are told that three thousand stu-
dents at a time attended the great
schools of Armagh alone, and that many
of these had come from other countries ;
but after making due alloAvance for ex-
aggeration in such statements as this,
we have still an overwhelming mass of
evidence to show that Ireland was, in
those remote ages, a nursery of saints
and scholars; and such being her ac-
knowledged character so soon after re-
ceiving Christianity, it would be, to say
the least, rash to deny that she had
Ii'ish saints. From oar native annals wo could not know
even tlieir aames, with very few exceptions, such a.s St.
Virgilius, &c., &c."
It -has been calculated that tho ancient Irish monlis
had 13 monastic foundations in Scotland, 12 in England,
7 in France, 13 in Annoric Qaul, 7 in Lotharingia, 11 in
Burgimdy, 9 in Belgium, 10 in Alsatia, 16 in Bavaria^
0 in Italy, and lo in Rhetia, Helvetia, and Suevia, be-
sides many in Tliuringia, and on the left margin of the
Rhine, between Gucl.lrrs and Alsatia.
X Dr. Petrie ( /■.''. ■ ■; ; ' .1 r.-hiUrttire of Ireland, p.
133) gives an ii: ■ , . . ;' m ■ stone which marks tho
grave of the " ^^^ v. n i; •;:,:i:;^," near the church of SL
Brecan, in the great island of Aran.
104
THE CULDEES.
made any progress previously iu the
march of civilization.*
We have now a few words of explan-
ation to offer on some points of interest
relating to our ecclesiastical antiquities,
before we resume our civil history.
Tlie question, Who were the Culdees ?
is one that has been often asl^ed, and
upon which many serious errors have
Ix'en current. These errors seem to'
have originated in Scotland, the ancient
history of which country is a tissue of
anachronisms and fabrications. It has
been asserted tliat the Culdees were an
order of priests or monks Avho taught
Chi'istianity and ruled the Church with-
out bishops, in North Britain and Ire-
laud, before the time of St. Palladius
and St. Patrick, — a fallacy which was
embraced with avidity by the Scottish
Presbyteriims. But this notion was sub-
sequently modified, especially after Dr.
Ledwich had promulgated his false and
silly statements on the subject; audit
was then pretended that Culdees was
only another name for the order of
monks founded by St. Columbkille;
that they were married men ; that their
religion was pure, compared with that
of Rome ; that they rejected the author-
ity of the Pope, together with much
more to the same effect.f This is sim-
2>ly a mass of groundless and shameful
falsehood, without one word of truth,
* Dr. Johnson, in a letter addressed to Charles
O'Conor, of Belanagar, dated 1777, alluding to the
period of Irish history which he wished to see devel-
oped, writes : — " Dr. Leland begins his history too late ;
tho ages which deserve an exact inquiry are those times,
or the slightest authority of antiquity to
support it. As to the fanciful theory of
the Culdees having been founded Ijy
St. Columbkille, Dr. Lanigan % correctly
observes that " in none of the lives of
that saint, nor in Bede, who very often
treats of the Columbian order and
monks, nor in the whole history of the
monastery of Hy (loua) and its depend-
encies, does the name of Culdees or
any name tantamount to it ever once
occur," a circumstance which, as he
justly concludes, "would have been im-
possible, had the Culdees been Colum-
bians or members of the order or con-
gregation of Hy."
The true character of the Culdees
may be gathered from the' following
note upon them, with which the author
has been favored by that profound
Irish scholar, Professor Eugene Curry,
of the Catholic University. " The Cul-
dees," says Mr. Curry, " as far as I have
been able to trace them, were to be
found in Ireland since St. Patrick's time,
as the Tripartite Life of the apostle ,
mentions that one of them attended him
in his visit to Munster ; that his name
was Malach Brit, and that his church
was subsequently built in the north-
eastern angle of the southern Decies —
namely, Cill Malach. They appear to
have been originally mendicant monks,
but had no communities until the mid-
for such there were, when Ireland was the school of tho
West, the quiet habitation of sanctity and learning." —
BosweU's Life of Johnson.
f Ledwich's Antiquities, p. 113, &c. second edition.
X Hist. Eccl., chap, xxxi., sec. 1
CHURCH OFFICES HEREDITARY.
105
die of the eighth century, when St.
Maeh-uan, of Tamlacht (Tallaght, near
Dublin), drew up a rule for them in
Irish. Of this rule I have an ancient
copy, which I am now preparing for
publication. Aengus Cele De was for
some time in Maelruan's establishment,
and was a priest, but he does not ap-
pear to have before that belonged to
any community of Culdees. They had
a separate house at Clonmacnoise, a. d.
1031, of which Conn-na-mbocht (Con-
of-the-poor) was head ; but these were
lay monks of the order, as was their
prior or economist, Conn, who, it ap-
pears, was the first that collected a herd
of cows for them there. Iseal Ciarain
(their house at Clonmacnoise) was not
founded at this time, but very long
before, and the Cele De were attached
to the church as lay monks. They are
often mentioned in the Brehon laws as
the recipients of certain unappropriated
church dues or income ; and they were
at Armagh down to the year 1600, but
appear to have been masons, carpenters,
and men of other trades ; all laymen, bujt
unmarried."
From these facts it is clear that the
Cele De (servants of God), called in
♦ Dr. Lanigan has collected a great deal of matter
about the Culdees in the first six sections of chap. xxxi.
of Ills Ecclesiastical History ; hut he was wrong in sup-
posing them to be secular clergy or canons. Dr. Reeves,
a Protestant clergyman.'in his copious and learned anno-
tations to Adamnan's Life of St. Columba (p. 3G8), says,
tho Celodei " had no particular connection with this (the
Columbian) order, any more than had the Deoradhs, or
the other developments of conventual observance ; and
in a foot-note he adds, that " Culdee is the most abused
term in Scottic Church history." Dr. O'Donovan {Four
Latin Keledei, and afterwards corruptly
Colidei, were religious persons resem-
bling very much members of the ter-
tiary orders of St. Dominic and St.
Francis, in the Catholic Church at the
present day, or one of the great relig-
ious confraternities of modern times.
Their society was widely spread in
Scotland, and was known in Wales about
the same time ; and it is scarcely neces-
sary to add that their religious princi-
ples were identical with those of the
Universal Church at that period.*
The hereditary, or clannish principle,
prevailed from a very early age in the
transmission of ecclesiastical offices and
property in Ireland, and became in
course of time a fruitful source of
abuses. Bishoprics, abbacies, and other
benefices were thus, as it were, entailed
on particular families, whether those of
the founders or of local chiefs, so that
on the failure of clergymen in these
families or clans, laymen of the same
families were invested with the titles
and emoluments of the offices, while ec-
clesiastics of the projDer order were
delegated to perform the clerical func-
tions belonging to them. Hence, we
hear of laymen as nominally archbish-
Masters, an. 1479, note I) says, " Cele De is often used as
if it were a generic term applied to Calibites, or religious
persons in general, and this is the sense in which Giral-
dus Cambrensis used Colidei. From all that ho says
about them no one could infer that they were any thing
but Calibitesoi lay-monks. Tho term was, however, used
in a restricted sense in Archbishop Ussher's memory,
and applied to tho priests, ' qui choro inservicntes divina
celebrabant oiEcia.' The Scotch historians have \vritten a
vast deal of intolerable nonsense about tho Culdees of the
Columbian order, but they are entirely beneath c
106
COMHORBAS AND HERENACHS.
ops and bishops, and also as abbots
and prioi-3 of monasteries ; that is, wbo
enjoyed the emoluments, temporalities,
and privileges of these offices, and who,
not being in holy orders, may have been
married men. This custom often led to
intolerable confusion; and it has been
seized by some modern writers, either
ignorant of its nature, or too anxious to
make it answer their own prejudices, for
the purpose of showing that the clergy
were not bound to celibacy in the Irish
Church. A more intimate knowledge
of Irish authorities has, however, shown
these wi'iters that this was a grievous
mistake, as every one who had studied
the history of the Irish Church with a
judgment unwai-ped by sectai'ian bias
must have known. In no single in-
stance does it appear that the marriage
of any one in priest's orders was ever
tolerated in the Church of Ireland.
The holders of the higher ecclesias-
tical offices, whether clerics or laymen,
were, in the original foundations, called
comhorbas, or successors. Thus, the
archbishop of Armagh was comhorba
of Patrick ; the archbishop of Tuam, or
*Dr. Reeves, in a note on "Hereditary Abbacies"
(Vita S. Colomb., p. 335), says : " Tlie Book of Armagh
gives us a most valuable insight into the ancient econo-
my of the Irisb monasteries, in its account of the en-
dowment of Trim. In that church there was an ccclc~
siastica progenus, and a jjJeMts progenies, a religious
and secular succession ; the former of office in spirituals,
the latter of blood in temporals, and both descended from
the original grantor The iineal transmission of
the abbatical office, which appears in the Irish annals,
towards the close of the eighth century, probably had its
origin in the usurpation of the plcbilis progenies connect-
ed with the various monasteries of the functions of the
ecdenastica progenies, which would bo the necessary re-
of Connaught, as he was often called,
was comhorba of Jarlath; the abbot
of Hy was comhorba of Columbkille ;
the abbot of Aran was comhorba of
Enda, <fec. The lands belonging to a
church or monastery were rented or
administered by an official, called a
herenach, or airchinneach ; that is, a
warden who originally dispensed the
profits of the lands for the support of
the church and the relief of the poor.
After a time the herenachs were all lay-
men. The office was genei'ally heredi-
tary in the family or sept of the founder:
but if the sept could not agree in the
election of a herenach, or if the sept oi
family became extinct, then the bishop
and clergy elected one under certain
conditions, the herenach being in such
a case the tenant of the church lands
for a stipulated rent or contribution.
Herenachs were numerous, and were to
be found in every part of Ireland.*
The office of comhorba (or, as the
name is often corruptly written, corba,
corbes, or corbanus) was essentially
different from that of herenach, and
was originally one of dignity and juris-
sult of the former omitting to keep up the succession of
the latter. In each case the tenant in possession might
maintain a semblance of the clerical character by taking
tonsure and a low degree of orders. This is very much
what Giraldus Cambrensis states concerning the Abba-
teslaici of Ireland and "Wales (Itincrar. ii., 4.)" Dr.
Reeves proceeds to explain on this ground the rec-
ognition, in the Canons of St. Patrick, of the relation
of the "Clericus et uxor ejus" (Canon G) ; and it is to
bo hoped that after this candid expression by so emi-
nent a Protestant divine of the result of his researchea
on this subject, wo shall hear no more of the mon-
strous falsehood about married abbots, &c., in the Irish
Church.
DOCTRINES OF THE EARLY IRISH CHRISTIANS.
107
diction ; and, altliougli Colgan says that
in bis time (the lYth century) very few
of the comhorbas were in holy orders,
the contrary was certainly the case in
the middle ages. "When ecclesiastical
dignities and benefices were held by
men not in the proper orders, the ton-
sure or one of the minor orders was
usually conferred, so that the holders
were entitled to be called clerics.
The lands belonging to churches or
monasteries were called Tarmon, or Ter-
mon lands, that is, lands of sanctuary
or refuge ; and their termini^ or bounds,
were defined by terminal crosses or
other distinguishing objects. Hence,
such names as Terraonfechan, Termon-
finean, Termonderry, <fec., to be met
with in some parts of Ireland.*
In such literary monuments as re-
main to us of the primitive Irish Church
formal expositions of doctrine are not to
be expected. Where no diversity of
creed was thought of, such expositions
were not required: formularies of be-
lief having been generally drawn up
by the Church to oppose the erroneous
teachmg of sectaries. Of the religion
of the early Lish Christians, however,
we have written, as well as other mon-
uments in abundance, which show that
it was strongly marked by all the most
* For explanations of tlio offices and terms mentioned
atove, Bee CoIgan"s Ti-iaa Thaum., pp. 8, 293, C30 ;
Harris's Ware, vol. ii., p. 234 ; Lanigan, vol. iv., p. 80.
Throughout the Four Musters the term comhorba is
rendered "successor." It is derived from the words
comh and forb/i, signifying tlie possessor of the game land
or patrimony. Dr. O'Donavan explains the term Airch-
inncaeh (Ercnach) as signifying the hereditary ^Varden
characteristic features of Catholic Chris-
tianity. From the conversion of the
country by St. Patrick, the Irish Chris-
tians were devoted to monastic disci-
pline. They practised celibacy, made
long fasts, rose at night for prayer, lay
on penitential beds of stone, and, in
fact, habitually exercised all those aus-
terities which Catholic ascetic writers
have in all ages commended. They
adored the Holy Eucharist, which they
called the Body of Christ ; they believ-
ed in the gift of miracles remaining in
the Church, and, indeed, in the very fre-
quent recurrence of miraculous inter-
vention ; they invoked the intercession
of the saints, and venerated their relics ;
they prayed for the dead; instituted
festivals in honor of the saints, and of-
fered up the Mass on those festivals;
they made very frequent use of the sign
of the cross, and erected numerous pub-
lic crosses ; finally, they acknowledged
Rome, as St. Columbanus wrote, to be
" the head of all churches ;" and as St.
Cummian wrote, they looked to Rome
"as children to their mother." In a
word, they showed themselves to be
identical in faith with all the other mem-
bers of the Western Church, during
the same ages.*
The diiference about the computation
of a church (Four Masters, an. 601, ncte). The tenants
of church landa were called Tcrmoners.
f For evidence on all these points, we need only refer
to Adamnan's Life of St. Columba, which high Protes-
tant authority has pronounced to Tjo " perhaps the most
valuable monument of that institution (the Irish Church)
that has escaped the ravages of time" (Reeves), and " the
most complete piece of such biography .hat all Europe
108
EAELY CHRISTIAN ARCHITECTURE OF THE IRISH.
of Easter, which caused so much con-
troversy in Ireland and Britain for a
century and a half, has been fully ex-
plained in the jDreceding chapter. Be-
sides this, there was a peculiarity in the
form of the Irish tonsure. Thus, while
the Greek monks shaved the whole
head, and the Roman monks only the
srown, leaving a circle of hair all round,
the Irish monks and clerics shaved or
clipped the front part of the head from
ear to ear. One mode of sha\'ing the
head appears quite as harmless as the
others, but the subject was, nevertheless,
made one of warm debate at the synod
of Whitby, by St. Wilfrid, and other
Saxon converts, who strenuously advo-
cated the Roman custom, and the Irish
monks ultimately abandoned their own
method. From such disputes as these,
and from any peculiarities of the Irish
liturgy, which were only such as have
been tolerated in various ancient Cath-
olic liturgies, nothing can be more ab-
surd than to argue that the primitive
church of Ireland was not united in
faith with the other churches in the
communion of the see of Rome.
Hewn timber, wattles, and earth were,
as we have seen, the ordinary building
materials used for the dwellings of the
ancient Irish ; and we have the author-
ity of Venerable Bede, and of some of
the oldest lives of Irish saints, for the
fact that these materials were also em-
ployed in the construction of their
churches and oratories in the seventh,
eighth, and ninth centuries. We are
told by St. Bernard that such contin-
ued to be the case, even in the time of
St. Malachy, in the twelfth century;
but there is also evidence enough to
show that churches were frequently
built in Ireland of stone and cement,
even from the time of St. Patrick. As
characteristic examples of the oldest
style of our ecclesiastical architecture
still in good preservation. Dr. Petrie, in
his learned work on that subject, in-
stances the monastic establishment of
St. Molaise, on Inishmurray (Inis Muir-
eadliaigh), in the bay of Sligo, erected
in the sixth centmy ; that of St. Bren-
dan, on Inishglory, off the coast of Erris,
in Mayo, of the beginning of the same
century ; and that of St. Fechin, on
High Island, off thd coast of Conuema-
ra, erected in the seventh century ; and
to these he elsewhere adds, as remains
of the sixth century, some of the ora-
tories and cells of the Isles of Aran, in
Galway bay. In all these examples
we find that mortar was only used in
the churches ; the houses or cells of the
abbots and monks being invariably
built of dry stone, without any kind of
can boast of, not only at eo early a period, but even
tliTougb tbe whole middle ages" (Pinkerton). Also to
various other lives of Irish saints, which the learned
Usshcr and others have shown to belong to the sixth,
seventh, and eighth centuries ; to the portions of the
Liber Ilymnonun edited by the Rev. Dr. Todd ; to the
Antiphouarium Bcnchorenae, a monument of the sev-
enth century ; to ancient monumental inscriptions ;
to various passages of the Brehon Laws, and other
authorities yet impubliahed ; and, indeed, to all that
is most venerable in the written and monumental
antiquities of Ireland, to which the scope and limits of
this work vriU only allow us to make this general ref
;yi'aL! f^Fr'i :|iiJ)y nj-
CRANOGUE.
-:*^fe ■■.^^'
ROUND TOWERS.
109
cement, and in that style of masonry
vrliicli antiquaries call cyclopeau, or Pe-
lasgic, like the primitive stone houses
and military structui'es of the Firbolgs,
which" we have already noticed. The
cells were generally circular or oval,
with dome-shaped roofs, constructed,
not on the principle of the arch, but
Ijy the gradual overlapping of the
stones; and the cluster of cells, with
their oratory, were surrounded by a
thick wall of the same rude cyclopean
masomy.*
At various periods between the sixth
and twelfth centuries (some of them still
later, but the greater number, perhaps,
in the ninth and tenth centuries), were
erected those singular buildings, the
round towers, which have been so envel-
oped in mystery by the arguments and
conjectures of modern antiquaries. It is
only in recent times that people have
thought of ascribing to these towel's any
other than a Christian and ecclesiastical
Qi'igiu; but of late years a variety of
theories have been started about them,
and they have been alternately made-
fire-temples and shrines of other kinds
of pagan worship, anchorites' cells, or
places for penitential seclusion, and
beacons. The real uses of the Irish
round towers, both as belfries and as
ecclesiastical keeps or castles, have been
satisfactorily established by Dr. Petrie,
* Tho stone churches wcro called damliags, from dom
or domnach, a church, and liag a stono. Thus, from the
damliag of St. ICianan, who was consecrated bishop by
St. Patrick, and who died in tho year 4'JO, Duleek„ in
Meath, has derived its name. Tho oratories, or smaller
10
in his important and erudite work on
the ecclesiastical architecture of L'e-
land. For this twofold purpose they
were admirably adapted. In a woody
country, such as Ireland was in remote
times, they may also have been useful
as beacons, and may, moreover, have
served as watch-towers. In fine, the
wants and tastes of the country led to
the adoption of a peculiar style in their-
structure, as we find to have been the
case in most old Christian countries,
where some local singularity in the de-
sign and structure of church towers is
sure to attract the traveller's attention,
although it might be now difficult to
determine what circumstances led to
the local adoption of each peculiarity.
The style of our ancient round towei-s
seems to have been peculiar to the
Irish or Scottish race. These build-
ings were well contrived to supply the
clergy with a place of safety for them-
selves, the sacred vessels, and other
objects of value, during the incursions
of the Danes, and other foes ; and the
upper stories, in which were four win-
dows, were perfectly well adapted for
the ringing of the largest bells then
used in Ireland. We must refer to Dr.
Petrie's work for an exposition of the
principal theories that have been start-
ed about these round towei-s, and for
the arguments in support of the true
churches, were called duirachs (duirtluficTia), a name
wliich, as some think, implies that they were construct-
ed of oak, although many of thorn also were built of
stone and mortar.
no
SAINTS' BEDS AND HOLY WELLS.
explauatioii of their use; but this much
may be added here, namely, that the
closest study of Irish antiquities leaves
no doubt whatever that the principle
of the arch, and the use of lime ce-
ment— both of which are to be foimd
in the round towers — cannot be traced
in any Ii'ish remains which eithe.r histori-
cal evidence or popular tradition as-
cribes to a period anterior to the intro-
duction of Christianity.*
Those sacred remains called by the
Irish peasantry " saints' beds," may
have been, in some instances, the j^eni-
tential stone beds used by the ancient
ascetics ; while others of them were, no
doubt, the graves of the holy persons
after whom they have been called.
Some of these places, now frequented
by the peasantry for the purposes of
prayer, were unquestionably the peni-
* Qoban Saer, to wliom tradition points as the arelii-
tect of some of the Round Towers, flourislied early in tlie
seventh century, and was the son of Turvi, from whom
Traigh Tuirbi, on the north coast of Dublin, takes its
name. Of what race Turvi was is not known, but lie is
supposed to have been descended from the Tuatha de
Dananns, who are said to have left Tara with Lewry of
the Long Hand, A. M. 2704, according to the chronology
of the Ogygia. He was, at all events, not of Milesian
descent. The round towers built by Goban, were, accord-
tential stations of the ancient monas-
teries, or were at some time resorted to
by the Irish saints for prayer, fasting,
and mortification. Such places were
the Skellig Mihil, on the coast of Ker-
ry ; Crunch Patrick, in Mayo ; and the
island of St. Patrick's Purgatory, in
Lough Dearg; and many spots from
which veneration has thus been pre-
served by the popular traditions, such
as these saints' beds and holy wells,
were consecrated in distant ages by
some I'elations with the blessed ser-
vants of God. It is not necessary here
to consider the question whether or
not they merit our respect as memori-
als of the primitive saints of Ireland,
and whether it be better to regulate
the popular devotion which they in-
spire, rather than condemn them as ob-
jects of superstition.
iug to tradition, those of Kilmacduach, Killala, and
Antrim. See Petrie's Roxmd Towers, p. 385, &c., second
edition, in which the Dinnsenchus is quoted on the sub-
ject. Adamnan's Life of St. Columba mentions, accord-
ing to the general acceptation of the word, the erection
of a round tower (monasterii rotundi) in the sixth
century ; and passages are quoted by Dr. Petrio (pp.
390, &c.) from the Irisli annals, showing the erection of
round towers in the tenth, eleventh and twelfth cen-
turies.
CHARACTER OF IRISH HISTORY.
Ill
CHAPTER XIII.
aiaracter of Irish History in tho Seventh and Eighth Centuries.— Piety of some Irish Kings.— Renewed Wars
for the Leinster Tribute.— The Poet Eumann.— Foundation of TaUaght.— St. Aengns the Culdee.— St. Colgu
and Alcuin.— An Early Irish Prayer-book.— Signs and Prodigies.— The Lavchomart.— First Appearance of
the Danish Pirates.— Their Character.— Their Barbarism and Inhumanity.— Heroic Resistance of the Irisli.—
Tixrgesius.- Domestic Wars.- Felim, King of Cashel.— Malachy I.— Danish Settlements in Watcrford and
Limerick.— Irish Allies of the Danes.— Cormac MacCuilenan.- Niall Glundubh.— Muirkertach and Callaghan
Caishil.
Contemporary Sovereigns and Events.— A. d. 800, Charlemagne crowned emperor of the West.— 827, Dissolution of the Saxon
heptarchy ; Egbert sole king of England.— 872-900. Alfred the Great ; Danish invasions of England.— 850, Final siib.in-
gation of the Picts by Kenneth, king of the Soots of Albany.— 921, The Moors victorious in Spain.— 932, Eollo, the Nor-
man, founds the Duchy of Normandy.— 987, Hugh Capet, king of France.- 995, the Danegelt, or Iand-ta.x, paid in EMg-
land to the Danes.
(The eighth, ntnth, akd first half of the tenth CENTtmrES.)
"O ESUMING the thread of our civil
-^*^ history, we may glide rapidly over
the events which intervene between the
commencement of the seventh century
and the epoch of the Danish invasions
— the next era of great importance in
our annals. During that interval, com-
prising a couple of centuries, the facts
recorded are sufficiently numerous, but
the details are meagre, and rarely afford
a clew to the motives of the actors, or to
the causes or consequences of events.
The obituaries of ecclesiastics, eminent
• As to this frequent recurrence of petty wars, we
must recollect that other countries present similar blood-
stained annals in the same ages. The wars of the Saxon
heptarchy were as numerous as the contemporary ones of
the Irish pentarchy. Writing of Northumbria in the
eighth century, Lingard says that " it exliibited succes-
sive instances of treachery and murder, to which no
other country, perhaps, can furnish a parallel." Its kings
were engaged in perpetual strife ; and Charlemagne pro-
for learning or holiness, and for their
exalted po.sitiou in the Church, occupy
a leading j^lace in the chronicles of the
times. The demise of kings, chieftains,
and tanists, is also set down with fidelity ;
dearths, epidemics, and portentous phe-
nomena, are duly recorded ; and these,
with the brief mention of battles, which
would indicate an almost perj^etual war-
fare between the several provinces, and
between different districts of the same
province, make up the staple of the
venerable annals of the period.* With
nounced them to be "a perfidious and perverse race,
worse than pagans." The English Saxons seem to have
fallen at this epoch into a state of utter demobilization ;
so much BO that their ovnx historians affirm that tho
crimes of both princes and people had drawn down upon
them the merited scourge of tho Danish wars. See tho
testimonies of Henry of Huntingdon, and others, to this
effect, collected by Mr. MacCabe, in his Catholic History
of England, vol. ii. chap. 1.
112
THE BORUMEAN TRIBUTE RENEWED
all their liereditaiy feuds there was still
mixed up a spirit of primitive chivalry.
As a general rule, human life was safe
except in the field of battle ; and their
pitched battles were usually prearrang-
ed, sometimes for a year or more, both
as to time and place; so that both
parties had an opportunity to collect
their forces, and the conflict which en-
sued was a fair trial of strength. Sev-
eral Irish kings, at this period, were
remarkable for piety, and not a few of
them ended their days in religious
houses; and the same pages which
record the carnage of battle, often show
that distinguished saints were then
dwelling in our monasteries and ancho-
rites' cells. With such living examples
in the midst of them, the people cannot
have been destitute of piety and moral-
ity ; and in the picture which that rude
age presents we find a beautiful illus-
tration of the way in which religion
stood between society and barbarism, as
it did at that time throughout Europe
in general.
The pious generosity of Finachta, in
relinquishing his claim to the Leinster
tribute^ at the prayer of St. Moling
(about 687) was of little avail, as most
of his successors waged war to renew it.
The monarch Congal, of the race of
Conal Gulban, scourged Leinster with
his armies, either for this purpose, or, as
some say, to avenge the death of his
grandfather, Hugh, son of Ainmire,
who was slain in the battle of Dunbolg.
Congal died suddenly, in the year 708 ;
and by liis successor, Fergal, of the
Cinel-Eoghain branch of the Hy-Nialls,
Leinster was "five times wasted and
preyed in one year." In one of these
inroads (a. d. 772) a great battle was
fought at the celebrated hill of Allen,
in the county of Kildare, when Fergal,
and the chiefs of Leath Cuinn brought
21,000 men into the field, and the Lein-
ster men could only muster 9,000. The
latter, however, made up by their bra-
very for the disproportion of their num-
bers, and the slaughter which followed
was terrific, the total amount of slain
on both sides being seven thousand
men, among whom was Fergal, king of
Ireland. The annalists attribute the
defeat of the northerns to the denuncia-
tions of a hermit who upbraided the
king with violating the solemn engage-
ments of his predecessor, Finachta, by
endeavoring to reimpose the Borumean
tribute.
In a battle fought in 730, between
the men of Leinster and Munster, 3,000
of the latter were slain ; and imniedi-
ately after another invasion of Leinster
by Hugh Allen, king of Ireland, and
the Hy-Nialls of the north, took place,
when, in a battle fought at a place now
called Ballyronan, in the county of Kil-
dare, the monarch, and Hugh, son of
Colgan, king of Leinster, met in single
combat. The latter was slain, and the
Leinster army almost wholly extermin-
ated.* It is added that the people of
the north rejoiced in thus wreaking
* Four Masters, A. D.
the Annals of Ulster, is
Tlie date of this battle, in
PIETY OF IRISH KINGS.
113
their vengeance on the Leinster men,
nine thousand of whom fell in the car-
nage that day.
While recording these battles, the
annals tell us that Beg Boirche, king of
Ulidia (a. d. 704), "took a pilgrim's
staff, and died on his pilgrimage ;" that
Flahertach, king of Ireland, having re-
tired from the sovereignty in 729, em-
braced a monastic life, and died at
Armagh in 760 ; that Donal, son of
Murchad, after a reign of twenty years
as king of Ireland, died on a pilgrimage
in lona, in 75S* (7G3) ; and that his
successor, Niall Frassagh, retired from
the throne in 765 (770), and became
a monk at lona, where he died in 778,
and was buried in the tomb of the Irish
kings in that island. Two or three of
the next succeeding monarchs are also
mentioned as remarkable for their re-
pentance and religious preparation for
death.f
In the year 742 (747) died Ilumann,
son of Colman, whom the annalists de-
scribe as an " adept in wisdom, chronol-
ogy, and poetry," and who, in the Book
of Ballymote, is called the " Virgil of
Ireland." We mention him on account
of a remarkable fact, namely, that he
corajiosed a poem for the Galls, or for-
eigners, of Dublin (Ath Cliach), and,
by a ruse, contrived to get well paid for
it in pinginns, or pennies ; whence we
* The events about tliis period are all antedated four
or five years by tbe Four Musters ; the dates given by
Tigliemacli being proved to be correct.
f Cambrensis Eversus, cap. is.
X See some account of Kumaiin, quoted in Petrio's
Ecclesi<i3tk((l Architecture of Ireland, pp. 303, &c. The
may conclude that, as the Danes had
not yet visited Ireland, the foreigners
in question were Saxons, of whom great
numbers were then in this country.'];
It is added, in the account of Rumann,
that a British king named Constantine,
who had become a monk, was at that
time abbot of Kahen, in the King's
county ; and that at Cell-Belaigh, which
appears to have been in the same neigh-
borhood, there were " seven streets" of
these foreigners. We know that, at
the same period, Gallen, in the King's
county, was called " Galin of the Brit-
ons," as Mayo was "Mayo of the
Saxons," on account of the monasteries
of those nations founded there.
The monastery of Tamlacht, or Tal-
laght, nea.r Dublin, was founded in the
year 769, by St. Maelruain ; and in the
lifetime of the founder, St. Aengus the
Culdee, the femous Irish hagiologist,
flourished there. St. Colgu, suruamed
the wise, lector of Clonmacnoise, and
who appears to have been the tutor of
many eminent Irish and foreign scholars,
died about the year 791. By him was
written the first prayer-book which we
find mentioned in the Irish annals. It
was called the "Besom of Devotion"
(Scuaip-chrabhaidh), and Colgan said
he had a copy of it, which he describes
as a collection of very ardent prayei s
in the shape of litanies, and as a woi-k
Galls having first refused any remuneration for the
poem, Rumaua said ho would expect two pinginns from
every good man, and would bo content with ooe from
each bad one. The result was, that all of them sought
to be placed in the former category.
L14
FIRST VISIT OF THE DANES.
Iji-eathiug fervent piety and elevation
of the soul to God.* Up to the close
of this century we find the great abbey
of Peronne, in France, founded about
two centuries before by St. Fursey, still
supplied with abbots from Ireland, and
the city itself called, in the Irish an-
nals, Cahii'-Forsa, or Fursey's city.
Portentous signs and prodigies are
frequently mentioned in the Irish annals
at this period, such as showers of blood,
and the darkening of the sun or moon,
or the moon appearing as blood. In
the reign of Niall Frassach there hap-
pened a dreadful famine ; the monarch
humbled himself, and in answer to his
prayei-s there fell showers of sdver,
honey, and wheat. Hence his surname
of Frassach, signifying " of the showers."
M'Curtin, who wrote about a century
ago, says that in his time some of the
coin made of the celestial silver was still
preserved. As we approach the coming
of the Danes the portents become more
frequent and alarming. Eclipses of the
sun and moon, pillars of fire in the sky,
dragons seen in the air, and fleets of
ships sailing through the clouds, filled
the people with gloomy forebodings.
In the year 767, and again in 799, oc-
curred certain teriible fits of j)anic feai'.
* Acta SS. Hib. p. 379, n. 9. Alcuin calls St. Colgu
" master," and addresses Mm witli great affection and ven-
eration in a letter wMcli is printed in Usslier's Sylhge.
\ The annals mention a terrific storm -n-ith thunder
ind lightning, which occurred on the eve of St. Patrick's
day, A. D. 799 ; and by which a thousand and ten per-
sons were killed on the coast of Corcabaiscin, in Clare ;
ind the island of Fitha (believed to bo Inis-caerach, or
Mutton island, opposite Kilmurry-Ibrickan, on that
which are called in the annals Lavcho-
mart, or the " clapping of hands," " so
called," say the Four Masters, " because
terrific and horrible signs appeared at
the time, which were like unto the signs
of the Day of Judgment, namely, great
thunder and lightning, so that it was
insufierable to all to hear the one and
see the other. Fear and horror seized
the men of Ireland, so that their reli-
gious seniors ordered them to make two
fasts, together with fervent prayer, and
one meal between them, to protect and
save them from a pestilence precisely at
Michaelmas. Hence came the Lamliclio-
mart^ which was called the fire from
heaven." f
The first descent of the Danish pirates
on the coast of Ireland is mentioned thus
by the Four Masters under the year
790: "The burning of ReachrannJ by
the Gentiles, and its shrines broken and
plundered." England had been visited
by them a few years earlier, and they
did not again appear on the Irish coast
until 793, when another party of them
plundered and burned the church of St.
Patrick's Island, near Skerries, on the
Dublin coast, and carried off the shrine
of St. Dochanna, committing other dep-
redations on the sea-board of Ireland
coast) was partly submerged and divided into three isl-
ands.
X The island of Rathlin, on the coast of Antrim, and
that of Lambay, in the bay of Dublin, were both
anciently called Eechreinn, or Reachrann. The latter
is the one here referred to. Tho date of the event, ac-
cording to the Annals of Ulster, is 793 ; according to
Tighernach, 793 ; and according to O'Fhiherty'B calcnla.
tion, 795.
THE DANISH WARS.
115
and Scotland. Henceforward their
visits were repeated at shorter inter-
vals, but for many years they came in
small detached parties, apparently not
acting in concert, but for the sole pur-
pose of plunder, and without any view
to a permanent settlement.
The people, popularly known in our
history as Danes, comprised swarms
from various countries in the north of
Europe, from Norway, Sweden, Zea-
land, Jutland, and, in general, from all
the shores and islands of the Baltic,
who, compelled by their inhospitable
soil to depend chiefly on the sea for a
livelihood, devoted themselves, from an
early period, to the adventurous and
lialf-savage life of pirates or sea-rovers.
In the Irish annals they are variously
called Galls, or foreigners; Geiuti, or
Gentiles ; and Lochlanni, or inhabitants
of Lochlann, or Lake-land, that is, Nor-
way ; and they are distinguished as the
Finn Galls, or White Foreigners, who
are supposed to have been the inhabit-
ants of Norway; and the Dubh Galls,
or Black Foreigners, who were probably
the people of Jutland, and of the south-
ern shores of the Baltic Sea. A large
tract of country, north of Dublin, still
retains the name of the former. By
English writers they have been called
Ostmen and Vikings, and are known
by the generic terms of Northmen or
Scandinavians. They are scarcely heard
* According to English writers, tho butchery of chil-
dren was a common practice with the Northmen in their
first des<-ents ; their soldiers made a .sport of flinging
infants from the point of one spear to another, so ag to
13
of in history until about the time their
cruel depredations were first inflicted
on southern nations, and long after that
period they continued utterly illiterate,
and seemed quite impervious to the
light of Christianity. Their bold, ad-
venturous, and ruthless spirit in the
pursuit of jiillage ; the command of the
ocean which their habits and numbers
gave them; the combination in which
they soon learned to act in their plun-
dering excursions ; the fierce barbarity
with which they treated their victims ;
and, above all, the disunited and feebld
state in which they found those coun-
tries upon which they preyed, gave
them foi-midable advantages. Thus, for
upwards of two centuries were they a
scom-ge of the most fearful kind to Brit-
ain and Ireland, and to some of thii
maritime countries of Southern Europe.
They were characterized by unparallel-
ed daring, perseverance, and inhuman-
ity. They seemed to have no tie of
common humanity with those who feH
into their power. With them there was
no mercy for captives. At least such is
the character which they receive from
contemporary Saxon and French his-
torians, for the Irish writers do not de-
pict the atrocities of the Danes in the
same colors, although the vivid tradi-
tions preserved even to the present
day iu Ireland show that their cruelties
must have been appalling.*
show their dexterity in catching the writhing bodies ir.
midair; and one of tlio Vildug chiefs, described na a
"brave pirate," received a nickname for hi3 humanity
in opposing this revolting pastime. See the authorities
116
THE DANISH WARS.
But the plunder and desecration of
cliurches and monasteries, and the
slaughter of ecclesiastics, were the favor-
ite ex^Dloits of these fierce pagans. Their
descent upon any j^oint was sure to be
signalized by this sacrilegious rapine,
lona, or I-Columbkill, was laid waste
by them in YOT, and again in 801, when
sixty-eight of its clergy and laity were
massacred ; the monastery of Inishmur-
ray, off the coast of Sligo, was sacked
and burned by them in 802, when they
also penetrated into Roscommon; and
in succeeding years, as these incursions
became more frequent, all the religious
houses of Ireland were subjected in
their turn to the same process of devas-
tation, and sometimes repeatedly within
the same year. Armagh, with its ca-
thedral and monasteries, was plundered
by the Danes four times in one month ;
and in Bangor, 900 monks, with their
abbot, were massacred by them in one
day. " As few things of any value,"
observes a late writer, " could have sur-
vived such conflagrations, the mere
wantonness of barbarity alone could
have tempted them so often to repeat
the outrage. The devoted courage, how-
ever, of those crowds of martyrs who
still returned undismayed to the same
on these and many otlier atrocities of the Danes quoted
in Sharon Turner's History of the Anglo-Saxons, vol. i. ;
and in MacCabe's Catholic History of England, vol. ii.,
in which latter work tho reader will find some just ani-
madversions on Laing's " Chronicle of the Kings of Nor-
way," in which Mr. Laing seems to like tho northern
pirates all the better for their paganism and fierceness,
and attributes the easy conquest by them of the English
SaxoiB to the effect upon tho latter of " Romish supcr-
etition and church influence."
spot, choosing rather to encounter suf-
ferings and death than leave the holy
place untenanted, presents one of those
affecting pictures of quiet heroism with
which the history of the Christian
Church abounds."*
Dismayed, at first, and confounded
by the assaults of the fierce and merci-
less invaders, who appeared at the same
moment at several points, and the time
and place of whose return could never
be calculated, it was some time before
the Irish made any regular stand against
them. They soon, hoAvever, rallied from
their panic, and discovered that their
mysterious foes were as vulnerable as
other men. "When parties of the Danes
landed unexpectedly, and were engaged
in their Avork of pillage, a force was
generally mustered in the neighborhood
to resist them, and in innumerable in-
stances the marauders were successfully
attacked and driven back with slaughter
to their ships. But these partial de-
feats had no efifect on the desperate
energies of the Northmen, AAdio always
returned in greater numbers the folloAA'-
ing year ; and who, from their command
of the sea, had their choice on all occa-
sions of a landing-place, running up by
the rivers into the heart of the country.
* Moore's History of Ireland, vol. ii., p. 30. The ap-
pearance of some mysterious preacher is thus referred to
in the Irish Annals under the year 806 (811) :— " In this
year the Ceile-Dei (euldee) came over the sea with dry
feet, without a vessel ; and a written roU was given him
from heaven, out of which he preached to tho Irish, and
it was carried up again when the sermon was finished.
This ecclesiastic used to go every day southwards across
the sea, after finishing his exhortation."
TIIE DANISH WAES.
117
and constructing fleets of small craft on
the lakes in the interior, whence they
were able, at any moment, to devastate
the surrounding country.
The annals tell us that the foreigners
were slaughtered by the men of Um-
hall, in Mayo, in 812 ; by Covach, lord
of Loch-Lein (Killarney), in the same
year; by the king of Ulidia, and by
Carbry, lord of Hy-Kinsella (south Lein-
ster), in 827 ; by the men of Hy-Figeinte,
in the west of Limerick, in 834, tfec, but
these and many similar defeats were of
no avail, other parties of the adven-
turers being at the very same moment
victorious at several points.* After some
twenty or thirty years Lad been con-
sumed in these desultory attacks, the
Danes determined on a more extensive
scheme of invasion, and, combining their
forces under one commander, fitted out
large fleets for the purpose; but un-
fortunately, while the enemy were thus
carrying out their plans for the subju-
gation of Ireland, the Irish princes and
chieftains were wasting the energies of
the country in wars among themselves,
so that no combined eftbrt against the
common foe was ever even thought of.
Hugh (Aedh) surnamed Oirduigh, or
the legislator, son of Niall Frassach, of
the northern Hy-Niall race, became
monarch of Ireland in 793, and com-
menced his reign by desolating the
l)rovince of Meath, then turning his
arms against Leinster, which he devas-
* Eginhart, the historian of Charlemagne, clearly
refers to the defeat of the Norsemen in Mayo, in 812, in
the fgllowing passage : — " Classis Nordmannonun Iliber-
tated twice in one month. When sum-
moned to one of these sanguinary forays,
the archbishop of Armagh and his
clergy protested against the monstrous
impropriety of the ministers of peace
being obliged to attend their war-host-
ings. Such had hitherto been the cus-
tom ; but Hugh now consented to leave
the question to the decision of a holy
and wise man called, from his know-
ledge of canon law, Fohy (Fothah) of
the Canons ; and the latter immediately
prepared a statement, or essay, on the
subject, the result being that ecclesias-
tics were henceforth exempted from the
duties of war in Ireland.
A. D. 817. — Hugh Oirdnigh, after a
reign of twenty-five years, was succeed-
ed by Conor, who reigned fourteen
years, during which period the Danish
power was placed on a firm footing in
many parts of Ireland, under a chief
known in these countries as Tuirges, or
Turgesius, but who cannot be traced by
that name in any Scandinavian chroni-
cles. He came to Ireland in 815, and
fortified himself at Rinuduin, on the
west side of Lough Ree, an expansion of
the Shannon in Roscommon. All this
time L-eland was laid waste as much by
domestic wars as by the exactions, pil-
lage, and burnings of the jSTorthnien.
While the latter were engaged in plun-
dering Louth and some other districts,
the men of Munster were at the work of
plunder in Bregia, and Conor, the king
niam, Scotorum insulam, aggreesa, commisso prselio cum
Scotis, parte non modica Nordmanuorum interfecti,
turpiter fugiendo domum reversa est."
US
THE DANISH WARS.
of Ireland, instead of defending any of
these ten-itoi-ies, was himself busy plun-
dering Leinster to the banks of the river
Liffey.
A. D. 831.— Niall Caille, son of Hugh
Oirdnigh, on assuming the now almost
nominal sovereignty of Ireland, led an
army against the Danes, whom he de-
feated at Derry, but his efforts were
soon paralyzed. While the country was
a scene of devastation from north
to south — her people prostrate and
hemmed in by foreign foes who ex-
tracted the marrow of the land — Felim
(Feidhlimidh), king of Cashel, of the
race of the Eoghauachts of South Mun-
ster, thought it a favorable opportunity
to assert his own right to a share in the
spoils. This selfish prince accordingly
mustered an army and marched into
Leinster to levy tribute, reviving the
ancient claim of Eoghan Mor. The
country must have been already little
l^etter than a wilderness, yet lie found
some work left for iire and sword ; and
went on in his career of plunder through
the length of Ireland, till he reposed
for a year in the primatial city of Ar-
magh, having previously taken hostages
from the unhappy monarch Niall, and
from the king of Connaught. The an-
nals of Innisfallen boast, on this account,
that he was king of all Ireland. He
also stopped at Tara; and on his re-
turn to the south, plundered and laid
* There is a romantic story told of tlie manner in
wliich Melouglilin got Turgesius into his power. It is
said tliat lie pretended to give Ms daughter to the pi-
rate chief, but sent with her fifteen young men disguised
waste the termon lands of Clonmacnoise,
" up to the church door ;" but he only
survived this sacrilege one year, and
died in 845, on his return to Munster.
It does not appear from any ancient
authority that this man's parricidal
arms were ever once turned against the
Danes.
A. D. 843. — At this gloomy period
appeared Meloughlin (Maelseachlaiun)
or Malachy, king of Meath, and mon-
arch of Ireland, whose bravery and
ability materially helped to save his
country. His first exploit, while yet
only king of Meath, was to get the ty-
rant Turgesius into his power, and
make him pay the penalty of his atro-
cities by drowning him in Lough Owel,
in Westmeath.* This success was the
signal for a general onslaught upon the
foreigners in every part of Ireland.
The people rose simultaneously, and
either massacred them in their towns,
or defeated them in the field ; so that
with the exception of some few strong-
holds, like that of Dublin (which they
had seized in 836), the land of Ireland
was freed from the Northmen. Wher-
ever they could escape they sought ref-
uge in their ships, but only to return
in more numerous swarms than before.
A. D. 846. — Meloughlin being now
monarch of Ireland, defeated the Danes
at Farragh, near Skreeu, in Meath,
slaying 700 of them ; while, in the
in female attire, who seized the tyrant and slew his at-
tendants. This tale, however, only rests on the authori-
ty of Qiraldus Cambrensis, and is rejected by Irish his.
torians.
THE DANISH WARS.
119
same year, Oldiovar, the successoi" of
Felira iu Munster, aided by the Lein-
ster men, inflicted another defeat, and a
loss of 1 ,200 men on the Danes in Kil-
dare. The foreigners suffered some
further losses in that year, although
they had at this time got some traitor-
ous Irishmen into their ranks ; and the
following year, Meloughlin, assisted by
Tighernach, lord of Lough Gower (near
Dunshaughlin), plundered the Danes in
their stronghold of Dublin.
A. D. 849. — Two contending parties
now appeared among the Danes them-
selves. The Dubh Galls, or "Black
Gentiles," made a descent upon Ireland
with a fleet of seven score ships, and
assailed the Finngalls at different points,
making an immense slaughter of them,
and sacking their fortresses, so that the
power of the white foreigners was quite
crushed, until a reinforcement arrived
to them in a fleet of one hundred and
sixty sail (a. t>. 850), when the conflict
was renewed. The battle which ensued
l)etween them lasted three days and
as many nights ; and victory at length
deciding in favor of the Black Galls,
their opponents abandoned their ship-
ping and fled inland. Next year, how-
ever (S51),we find that all the foreign-
ei's in Ireland submitted to one chief-
tain, Amlaff, son of the king of Loch-
lann, or Norway, and that the Danish
power was thus once more consolidated.
* In one of the earliest of tlie alliances alluded to
above, Kinna (Clneadli), lord of Cinnachta Breagli, iu
tlie cast of Meath, rebelled, with a Gentile force at his
back, against Meloughlin, and, in the course of his dep-
redations, burned the oratory of Trcvet (Treoit), with
Amlaff lived in Dublin, and his brothers
Sitric and Ivar fixed themselves, the for-
mer in "Waterford, and the latter in
Limerick; which towns, previously
places of some note, were soon raised
to considerable importance as Danish
stations and commercial depots. An op-
pressive tax was now levied . on the
country by the Danes, in lieu of their
previous system of predatory exactions,
which, nevertheless, was not yet wholly
abandoned.
Notwithstanding this tyranny and
rapine on the one side, and indomitable
resistance on the other, some symptoms
of amalgamation between the Norse-
men and natives are now visible, so
that we begin to hear of the Dano-Irish,
who partly adopted the Irish customs,
and even the Irish language. During
the remaining hundred and sixty years
that the Northmen continued in Ireland
on a hostile footing, we find them con-
stantly in alliance with some recreant
Irish chieftains, who aided them in their
wars, both in Ireland and England, and
availed themselves, in their turn, of
their help to avenge private quarrels."
The strangers, however, still continued
inveterate heathens, and several persons
who were put to death by them about
this time are styled martyrs by the Irish
annalists, intimating that they were slain
for the sake of the Christian religion.
A. D. 857. — A ffreat meeting of the
two hundred and sixty persons who had sought refuge
in it ; but, in the following year, he was captured by the
monarch, and drowned iu the river Nanny (AingeJ
which flows through his own district.
120
THE DANISH WARS.
cliieftains of Ireland, witli the archbish-
op of Armagh and other distinguished
ecclesiastics, was collected this year by
Meloughlin, at llathugh, iu Westmeath,
" to establish peace and concord among
the men of Ireland." Two chiefs who
had been in temj)orary league with the
Danes tendered their allegiance to the
king on the occasion ; namely, Kervall,
or Carroll, lord of Ossory, and Mael-
gualai, king of Munster, the latter of
whom was soon after stoned to death
by the Danes. The first result of this
meeting was a movement against the
Hy-Nialls of the north, in which the
monarch was aided by the other four
l^rovinces; and Hugh Finuliath, chief
of the northern Hy-Nialls entered, in
consequence, into au alliance with Am-
laff, the Danish king of Dublin, and
with his aid overran the territory of
Meath. Three years later (860) the
brave and magnanimous Meloughlin
died, after a reign of sixteen years.
In the reign of this king the Irish
historians mention an embassy from
the king of Ireland to the emperor
Charles the Bald, to inform him of the
victories gained over the northern
pirates, and to ask permission for the
Irish monarch to pass through France
on an intended pilgrimage to Rome.
The name of Ireland was long before
this time familiar in France; and it
would even appear, from the statement
* Abbo MacGooglicgan, History of Ireland, p. 213. —
Tlio alliance between France and Ireland is said to have
continued up to tho English invasion ; but Scottish
writers, as in bo many other instances, erroneously ap-
of Eginhart, the secretary and historian
of Charlemagne, that the Irish kings
had acknowledged that great monarch
as their feudal lord.*
Hugh Finnliath succeeded Melough-
lin, and although we saw him just now an
ally of the Danes, it was only a tempo- '
rary necessity that made him such, for
no sooner had he established his author-
ity by exacting submission and hostages
from the chiefs of the several territories,
than he directed his arms vigorously
against the invaders, on whom he in-
flicted several discomfitures. The first
of these was iu 864, at Lough Foyle,
where, after a sanguinaiy battle, the
heads of twelve score Danes were piled
in a heap before him ; and again, two
years after, he gained a decisive victory,
with a band of one thousand men, over
five thousand Danes and rebel Irish, at
Cill-ua-nDaighre.f This battle, and
other exploits of Hugh Finnliath, were
favorite themes of the bards ; and some
beautiful Iiish verses, quoted by the
Four Masters in recording his death in
the year 8V6, show with what feelings of
enthusiasm this chivalrous Irish prince
was regarded by his contemporaries.
He was married to the daughter of the
celebrated Kenneth MacAlpine, who
conquered the Picts, and who became
first sole king of Scotland, about the
year 850 ; and after Hugh's death that
lady married his successor, Flanu, sur-
propriato to their own country this incident of Irish
history.
f Probably Kiladerry, in the county of Dublin.—
O'DONOTAN.
CORilAC MacCUILENNAN".
121
named Sinna, or of the Sliannon, the son
Meloughlin, and chief of the southern
Ily-Nialls.*
The monotonous tale of wars in which
the several provinces are wasted and
plundered by the Irish themselves, or
by the Danes, or by Danes and Irish
acting in concert, is varied during the
long reign of Flann Sinna by two or
three episodes, one of which, relating to
the brief and eventful career of Cormac
MacCuilennan, king and archbishop of
Cashel, is worthy of particular men-
tiou.-j-
A. 1). 896. — From a life of peace, de-
voted to the advancement of religion
and the cultivation of literature, this
holy prelate was taken, in one of the
sudden political changes of the times,
and compelled to ascend the throne of
Munster, as chief of the Desmond sept
of the Eoghanachts. To his horror, the
good prelate found himself all at once
involved inextricably in war. The ter-
ritory of his friend, Lorcan, king of
Thonioiid, was threatened with invasion
by the king of Conuaught, and repeated
inroads were made about the same time
into his own territories, as far as Lim-
erick, by Flann, the monarch, who Avas
in leagile with the men of Leinster. To
make matters worse, his chief adviser or
* In tlio reign of Ilugli (801), tlio Danes bethought
themselves of opening the vast seiiulchral mounds of
the Tuatha de Dananns, along the Boyne, in search of
plunder. The caves under the great tumuli of New
Grange, Knowth, Dowtli, and Drogheda, were thus ex-
amined by them, we are not told with what success ; but
the record of the event is of interest in Irish antiquities,
as fixing the sepulchral characti'r of these remarkable
10
minister, Flahertach, abbot of Innis-
cathy, who was also of the royal family
of South Munster, was a man, according
to all accounts, of a violent and obsti-
nate temper, and of a disposition better
suited to the field of battle than to the
cloister. Impelled by the advice of this
hot-headed counsellor, and by the cir-
cumstances in which he was placed,
Cormac made two campaigns against
the combined forces of Connaught,
Leinster, and Meath, in both of which
he was victorious. In the first the en-
gagement took place on the old battle-
ground of Moy Lena, in the King's
county ; and in the second, Cormac's
army marched as far as Roscommon,
and was supported by a fleet of small
vessels on the Shannon. These wars
seemed so for just and inevitable ; but
they were followed by one of a more
questionable kind. According to some,
this latter war was undertaken at the
instigation of Flahertach, and the chiefs
of Munster, to enforce the tribute im-
posed on Leinster, as part of Leath
Mogha in the days of Conary the Great;
the same for which Felim laid Avaste
the lauds of Leinster some time before ;
but others assert that it was only in-
tended to protect the abbey of Monas-
tereviu, founded by Evinus, a Munster
monuments. — See note of Dr. O'Donovan in the Four
Masters, ad an., and the arguments founded by Dr.
Petrio on the fact in his " Essay on Tiira Hill."
f Keating (Hist, of Ireland, part 2) has preserved from
an ancient tract, now lost, a curious account of the reiga
of Ckjrmac, and details of the battle in which he lost his
life. — See Dr. Lynch's Latin translation of this accoimt,
Four Matters, vol. ii. p. 50 1, note b.
BATTLE OF BEALAGH MUGHNA.
saint, on tlie confines of Leinster, and
which the king of Leinster had now
seized for his own people. Be this, how-
evei', as it may, Cormac was utterly
opposed to this war. He referred the
subject to a council of the chiefs, but
their voice being unanimously for war,
he made the necessary arrangements to
carry out their wishes, at the same time
that he tried sundry expedients to pre-
vent hostilities. The men of Leinster
were equally reluctant to go to battle,
and sent ambassadors with very fair
propositions, which the obstinacy of
Flahertach and of those who agreed
with him caused to be rejected. Cor-
mac was grieved at this perversity, but
was obliged to let things proceed. He
foretold his own death, and made his
will, beq-ueathing a number of valuable
objects to Armagh, Inniscathy, and
other chiirches and abbeys. He en-
deavored to conceal his forebodings
from the soldiers, that they might not
be dispirited : but the men had no con-
fidence in their cause or theii" numbers ;
several fled before the battle, and many
more at the beginning of the conflict ;
and when the combined forces of Lein-
ster, Meath, and Connaught, with Flann
at their head, met the small army of
Munster, the victory was not long un-
* The Annals of the Four Masters, whose chronology
ia generally followed in this history, unless when tho
contrary is stated, are here ante-dated five years, and
the date of the death of Cormac was consequently 908.
Cormac MacCuilennan has left a valuable Irish glossary,
and is said to have been the compiler of the Psalter of
Cashel. The number of scholars and eminent church-
men whose deaths are recorded in the Irish annals at
this period, show that all the wasting warfare and bar-
certain. Cormac was killed, his horse
rolling over him down the side of a de-
clivity, rendered slippery by the blood
of the slain ; and a common soldier, dis-
covering his body, cut off the head, and
presented it to Flann, who only bewail-
ed the death of so good and learned a
man, and blamed the indignity with
which his remains had been treated.
Six thousand of ^the men of Munster,
with a great number of their princes
and chieftains, fell in this battle, which
was fought (a. d. 903) at a place called
Bealagh Mughna, now Ballaghmoon,
in the county of Kildare, two or three
miles north of the town of Carlow. Fla-
hertach, who led one of the three divi-
sions in which the Munster army was
marshalled, survived the battle, and
after some years spent in penance, be-
came once more minister, and ultimately
king of Munster, but entertained calmer
views as he advanced in life.*
■ A. D. 913. — Flann in his old age had
the afiliction to see his two sons, Don-
ough and Conor, rebel against him ; but
Niall, surnamed Glundubh, or of the
Black-Knee, son of Hugh Finnlaith, the
northern Hy-Niall chief, led an army
against them, and compelled them to
give hostages for their submission to
their father. Flann died the following
barities of the Danes, had not been able to extirpate
piety or learning from the land of Erin. Among the
distinguished names which wo thus find, may be men-
tioned those of Maelmura of Fahan, who died in 885,
and who has been already referred to in these pages as
one of the oldest of the ancient poetic chroniclers of Ire-
land whoso productions stiU survive ; and Suivne, an-
chorite and scribe of Clonmacnoise, whose death occurred
in 887.
MUIRKERTACH AND CEALLACHAN CAISIL.
123
year (914), after a reign of tliirty-eight
years, and was succeeded by tlie chival-
rous Niall Glundubb. About this time
fresh forces of Northmen poured into
Irejand, and they established an in-
trenched camp at Ceann Fuait (now
Confey, near Leixlip), whence they sent
out parties to pillage the country to a
considerable distance. The spirit of
unanimity which the men of Ireland ex-
hibited on the occasion was cheering.
A Munster army gained a victory over
the Danes near the frontier of the
southern province ; and the gallant
Niall Glundubh, notwithstanding the
strong poa'tion which the foreigners
then held in and around Dublin, was
resolved to assail them in their princi-
jial fastnesses; but this attempt, al-
though bravely made, was unsuccessful.
In an assault on the Danish camp at
Ceann Fuait, in 915, the Irish army was
repulsed with great slaughter ; and two
years after the Irish received a disas-
trous defeat at Cill-Mosamhog or Kil-
mashoge, near Rathfarnham, where they
pressed upon the Northmen close to
tlieir stronghold of Ath-Cliath.* Here
Niall, with several Irish chieftains, fell,
and his loss was bewailed long after by
the bards in verses full of pathos and
lioauty. His reign was unfortunately
h)o short for him to render his country
the services for which his noble and
heroic spirit so well fitted him.
Donough, sou of Flann Sinna, succeed-
* Tlie true date of this battle is 910, the Annals of the
b'our Masters, which have it under 917, being at this
period two years antedated.
10
ed, and began his reign under favorable
auspices, by slaughtering a great num-
ber of the Danes in Bregia; but he
passed the remainder of it in compara-
tive obscurity, one of the acts recorded
of him being the slaying of his brother
Donal treacherously. Godfred, the
Danish chief of Dublin, plundered Ar-
magh (a. d. 919), sparing the oratories
with their Culdees ; and from this clem-
ency some infer that he had embraced
Christianity, but we have no positive
authority on the subject.
Two remarkable men, strongly con-
trasted in many points, now appeared
on the scene in Ireland. These were
Muirkertach, son of Niall Glundubh,
next heir to the throne, and Callaghan
of Cashel (Ceallachan Caisil), the king
of Munster. The northern chieftain
was a man of heroic and generous spirit,
willing to sacrifice every personal feel-
ing for his country. Twice did he find
himself arrayed in arms against the
worthless monarch Donough, but, as
the annalists express it, " God pacified
them ;" or, in other words, Muirkertach
was induced to yield for the sake of
peace. Hitherto the Danish invaders
had met no enemy so formidable as him
in Ireland. Callaghan of Cashel was
also renowned for heroism in war, but
the love of country was no element in
his character. The hereditary feud of
the south and north was, in his mind, as
strong an incentive to war as all the
ravages of the heathen Danes ; and we
find him sometimes acting in concert
with these plunderers, and souietimes
l24
MUTRKERTACH'S CIRCUIT OF IRELAND.
against them. In the year 934, Cal-
laghau, with his Muuster army, pillaged
Clonmacnoise a few months after it had
suffered the same treatment from Am-
laff and the Danes of Dublin; and again,
iu 937, he invaded Meath and Ossory
iu concert with the foreign enemy, lay-
ing waste the country without mercy.
Two years after, Muirkertach took hos-
tages from the men of Ossory and the
Deisi, and forthwith Callaghan entered
then- territory and punished them for
this act of compulsory submission to the
Hy-Niall chieftain.
A. D. 939. — Muirkertach, having re-
turned from an ex])edition against the
Norsemen of the Hebrides, resolved to
strike a desperate blow against the Dan-
ish power in Ireland, and to bring those
who had acted with the enemy into
submission to the monarch ; and accord-
ingly he set out, with an army of one
thousand chosen heroes, on his famous
circuit of Ireland. He commenced by
carrying off, from Ath Cliath, Sitric,
brother of Godfred, then king of the
Danes, as a hostage, and proceeded on
his march to the south. The men of
Leinster mustered to oppose his prog-
ress, and assembled overnight in Glen-
Mama near Dunlaven, through which
liis route lay ; but as soon as they saw
the northern warriors by the light of
morning, they prudently retired, and
MiiiikcM-tacli marched onto Dun-Aillinn
near uM Kilcullen, where he took Lor-
* Connacan Eigeas, poet of Ulster, and the friend and
counsellor of Muirkertach, celebrated this " circuit of Iri^
land" in a poem which has been published by the
can, king of Leinster, and fettered him
as a hostage. The army of Munstei
was next in readiness to give battle to
the warrior band; but they eithei
thought better of it, and determined to
surrender their king, Callaghan ; or, ac
cording to other authorities, Callaghan
himself requested them rather to give
him up than to fight the Hy-Nialls.
The king of Cashel was accordingly
taken and put in fetters as Lorcan had
been. Muirkertach then marched to-
wards Connaught, when young Con-
or, son of Teige of the Three Towei-s,
king of that province, presented himself
as a hostage, and was carried off, but
not fettered. The son of Niall finally
returned to Aileach with all his royai
hostages, and having spent five months
there in feasting, he handed them over
to Donough the monarch, as his liege
lord.*
The heroic Muirkertach, called by
our annalists " the Hector of the West
of Europe," was slain by Blacaire, son
of Godfred, king of the Danes, at Ar-
dee, in Louth (941), in less than two
years after this triumphant progress ;
and about ten years later (952), we find
recorded the death of his old foe, Cal-
laghan of Cashel, who had been per-
mitted to return to his kingdom. This
latter prince, who is celebrated in the
romantic chronicles of the time, was tlie
ancestor of the O'Callaghans, MacCar-
thys, and O'Keeflfes.
ArchcBological Society of Ireland in the first volume
their Miscellany, 1841.
SEQUEL OF THE DANISH WARS.
125
Donougli, the feeble monarcli of Tara,
was succeeded iu 942, after a reign of
twenty-five years, by another nominal
chief king, Congallacb, who, having fall-
en into a Danish ambuscade, in 954,
was in his turn succeeded by Donnel
O'Neill,* son of Muirkertacb.
The power of the Danes had greatly
increased at this period, and was exer-
cised with as much barbarity as evei",
and the victories gained over thorn liy
the Irish were comparatively few. But
we have now arrived at an important
epoch in the history of these Danish
wars, which shall be developed in the
next chapter.
CHAPTER XIV.
Sequel of tho Danisli Wars. — Limits of the Danish iwvrer in Ireland. — Hiberno-Danisli Alliances. — Danish Expe-
ditions from Ireland into England, &c. — Conversion of the Danes to Christianity. — Consecration of Dauo-Irish
Bishops. — Subdivision of Territory in Ireland. — Alternate Succession. — Progress and Pretensions of Mimster.
— Brian Borumha. — Episodo of his Brother's Murder. — Malachy II., Monarch of Ireland. — His victories over
the Danes. — Wars of Brian and Malachy.— Deposition of Malachy. — Character of Brian's Reign. — His Piety
and Wise Laws. — TuE Battle op Clontaef. — Death of Brian. — Consequences of tho Battle.
[From the middle of the tenth to the beqinntng op the eletenth Century.]
THE Danes never obtained the do-
minion of Ireland as they did that
of England ; nor was there consequent-
ly any Danish king of Ireland such as
England had in her Canute or Harold.
The first really formidable impression
made by the Norsemen on L'eland was
at the opening of the ninth century,
when Cambrensis and Jocelin mention
the viking Turgeis, or Turgesius, as
kiiifr of Ireland. These writers also
* This is one of the first instances we meet of an he-
reditary surname in Ireland. It was assumed from
Donal's grandfather, Niall Qlundubh.
t Tile Danes were called Africans, or Saracens, in the
inrdieval romances.
t Colgau ( Tnai. Thaum., note on cap. 175, of Joceliu's
Life of St. Patrick), says : — " Neither Qildas Moduda,
nor John O'Dugan, in the catalogue of the kings of Ire-
make some obscure allusion to Gur-
mundus, the son of an African prince
as a conqueror of Ireland ;f but this
latter personage would appear to be
purely fabulous, and the Irish annals
clearly show that Turgesius never could
have been justly styled king of Ire-
land.J Indeed, the authority of the
Northmen in Ireland could not at any
time be said to have extended beyond
the ground occupied by their marauding
land, nor the Four Masters in tho same catalogue or in
the Annals, nor any other writer of Irish liistory, native,
or foreign either, as far as I know, before Giraldus Cam-
brensis, enumerates Ciurmuudus or Turgesius among
the kings of Ireland, althougli they make mention of
Turgesius and other Normans as having, in S36 and tho
following years, disturbed tho peace of [hat country by
continual battles, and spoliations, and incursions."
10
1'2C>
SEQUEL OF THE DANISH WARS.
armies. The Irisli did not, like the
Saxons, attempt to purchase peace fi-om
the Danes by money, but fought with
desperate resolution in defence of them-
selves and their property, and generally
made the northern freebooters pay dear-
ly for the spoils they took. The latter
were, however, permitted to establish
themselves along the coast in Dublin,
Wexford, Waterford, Youghal, Cork,
and Limerick ; and when some of
these strongholds were occasionally ta-
ken by the Irish, the Danish inhabit-
ants nevertheless purchased safety on
easy terms. In these important sea-
ports they became transformed from
pirates to merchants, occupying small
districts in their neighborhood for pur-
poses of agriculture, and keeping up
well-trained armies to levy black-mail
in the interior. Sometimes they re-
ceived such overthrows that the Irish
annalists describe them as wholly driv-
en from the country ; but they invaria-
bly reappeared in greater force and
with greater ferocity than before ; and
it is obvious that the expulsion was not
on those occasions complete.
Thus, by degrees, did the Northmen
become, as it were, a part of the recog-
nized population of the country. They
formed alliances, and made themselves
indispensable as allies to one or other
* This battle is celebrated in verse in the Saxon ckroni-
:le; but on tlie death of Athelstan ia 941, Amlaff re-
turned to England and became king of Northumbria.
Edgar, one of Athelstan 's successors, in a charter dated
at Gloucester, 904, boasts of having subdued " a great
part of Ireland witli its most noble city of Dublin," as
well as " the Kingdoms of the Islands of the Ocean, with
of the Irish toparchs in every local
quarrel. By their assistance the kings
of Leinster were frequently able to re-
sist the demands made for tribute both
by the monarch and by the kings of
Cashel. Sometimes the Danish chiefs
of Dublin or Waterford left Ireland
with their entire forces, apparently
abandoning the country, for the pur-
pose of making descents on England or
Scotland, and in these excursions they
were occasionaly aided by Irish allies.
In 916 there was an expedition by the
Danes of Waterford against Alba, or
Scotland, of which Constantine was then
king, and the invadei-s were beaten.
Again, in 925, the Danes are said to
have left Dublin for six months; and
in 93Y they once more abandoned Dub-
lin, led by Amlaff, or Olave, king of the
Danes of Dublin and of the islands, and
with numerous Irish auxiliaries invad-
ed England. Constantine of Scotland,
whose daughter was married to Amlaff,
was this time an ally of the Northmen,
who were also supported by the Welsh
or Britons ; but they were defeated by
Athelstan, king of England, in the
memorable battle of Brunanburgh in
Northumbria.*
The period of the conversion of the
Danes to Christianity cannot be fixed
with precision ; but the general opinion
their fierce kings ; but as far as Ireland is concerned
there is no ground whatever for the assertion, unless
some defeat inflicted by Edgar on the Danes, not alluded
to in our annals, be referred to. The charter is publish-
ed in tJssher's SyUoge, p. 131. See also Ware's Anti-
quities, p. 14 (London, 1714).
SUBDIVISION OP TERRITORY.
121
is, that those of Dublin became Chris-
tians about the year 948, a date which
is assigned to the foundation of St.
INIary's Abbey, on the north side of the
Lifl'ey.* Whatever time the change took
])lace, the annals do not indicate any
mitigation of cruelty on the part of the
Danes to mark the period. In the very
year in which the Danes of Dublin are
said to have been converted, they burned
tlie belfry of Slane, while filled with ec-
clesiastics and others, who had sought
refuge there with some precious relics,
among which was the staff of the holy
founder, St. Ercf At a later period it
was usual for the Danish bishops of
Dublin and Limerick to be consecrated
Iiy the archbishops of Canterbury,
wliose jurisdiction they acknowledged,
so little was there of the community of
Christian charity ■ between them and
theii' fellow-Christians in Ireland.
While matters were proceeding thus
with the Danes in Ireland, the native
political system of the Irish themselves
was producing its worst fruits. An un-
limited subdivision of territory was
taking place, and the number of inde-
pendent dynasts multiplying according-
ly. The time had passed away when
the division of the island into five prov-
inces could be said to hold good.
There were kings of North and South
* The death of an abbot of Clonmacnoiso named Conn-
vaoli, said to bo one of the Finngalls, is mentioned in
our nnnals so early as 800 ; and tlio Danish chief God-
frril, wlio "sjiared the oratories and ('uldees of Ar-
nmgli" in Oil), is conjectured by some to have been a
t'hristiau ; but not ujKin sufficiint grounds.
f Among the persons burned in tlie tower was Coen-
Munster, besides independent lords of
various territories in the southern prov-
ince. Connaught was divided among
two or three independent princes. Lein-
ster, the battlefield of all the provinces,
was at this time almost constantly in al-
liance with the Danes. Bregia Avas able
to rebel against Meath, of which it was
only a portion. The Hy-Nialls of tlie
north were subdivided into Kinel-Con-
nell and Kinel-Owen. The former of
these were excluded from the sovereign-
ty since the death of Flahertach in 700 ;
and the dignity of monarch alternated
from that time with tolerable regularity
between the Kinel-Owen branch and the
southern or Meath branch of the race of
Niall of the Nine Hostages. The Uli-
dians, or i^eople of eastern Ulster, had
their own king, and were rarely on ami-
cable terms with their Hy-Niall neigh-
bors.
If the principle of alternate succession
worked smoothly enough between the
northern and southern houses of Hy-
Niall, there was still no cordiality ])e-
tween them. One branch when in au-
thority frequently devastated tlie terri-
tory of the other, to obtain hostages or
enforce payment of tribute. But when
the southern Hy-Niall, or Meath branch,
was in possession of the crown, there was
generally a palpable inferiority of power
eachair, prefect of the school of Slane, whom Colgan
(Trills Thaum. p. 219) believes to have bei.'n Probus,
one of the biographers of St. Patrick. The event affords
an illustration of one of the uses to which the Irish bel-
fries or round towers were applied — namely, as places
of retreat in time of war. No trace of the Blano t<iwer
is now vi.sible.
125
THE DANISH WARS.
displayed. Meath did not possess the
resources of men, nor her princes often
the vigorous activity and heroism which
characterized the Iviuel-Owen.
For some time the kingdom of Mun-
ster had been gradually attaining the
importance to which its extent and re-
sources entitled it. It suffered, to this
time, less from war than any of the
other provinces, and was thus rising not
only within itself, but relatively by rea-
son of the greater injury which the
others underwent. The time had, there-
fore, arrived for its kings to reassert
the old claim to the sovereignty of
Leath Mogha, a claim which was the
real cause of all the recent wars be-
tween Munster and Leath Cuinn ; which
served as a pretext for the aggressions of
Felim, Cormac MacCuilennan, and Cal-
laghan Cashel; and which was now
about to rouse the energies of a more
eminent man, whose career we are ap-
proaching— namely, Brian Borumha or
Boru.*
The sovereignty of Munster was to
have alternated between the two great
tribes of the Dalcasslans, or North Mun-
ster race, and the Eoganachts, or race
of South Munster; the former, as we
have seen, descended from Cormac Cas,
and the latter from Eoghan Mor, both
sons of Oiliol Olum. But this rule was
not observed; and for a long interval
* The sumamo of BorumJui, or Boraimhe, is usually
Bupposud to have been given from the tributes which
Brian exacted ; but its most probable derivation is from
Boromha, now Bcal-Borumha, an ancient fort on the
Bliannon, about a mile north of Brian's palace of liin-
the jwovincial crown was monopolized
by the chiefs of Desmond, or South
Munster. Cormac MacCuilennan wish-
ed to correct this injustice, although
himself of the Eoganacht, or Eugenian
line; and his friend Lorcan, king of
Thomond, did succeed to the crown of
Munster, or rather of all Leath Mogha,
after two intervening Eugenian reigns.
On the death of Lorcan, his son Ken-
nedy (Cineidi) contested, in 942, the
succession with the Eugenian prince,
Callaghan Cashel, but yielded in a chiv-
alrous spirit, and co-operated with him
in some of his wars against the Danes
and others. This Kennedy was the
father of the illustrious Brian Borumha.
Mahon, the eldest son of Kennedy,
successfully asserted his right to the
crown of all Munster in 960, and per-
formed many heroic exploits against
the Danes of Limerick, and against the
Connaught men, who had invaded Tho-
mond. In his wars he was gallantly
aided by his brother Brian, who distin-
guished himself for deeds of valor from
his youth. Mahon's brilliant career
filled his hereditary rivals of South Mun-
ster with envy and alarm, and a plot
against his life was formed, a. d. 978, by
Maelmhuaidh, or MoUoy (ancestor of the
O'Mahonys), king of Desmond, Dono-
van (ancestor of the O'Donovans), lord
of PIy-Figeinte,f and Ivor, king of the
cora, or the present KiUaloe. — Four Masters, vol. ii., p.
1003, n. e.
\ This important territory comprised the western part
of the county of Limerick, and extended somewhat into
the counties of Cork to the south, and Kerry to the west
*'^-,VfJu.K^^'^'
AlkiLj^ iS'Q)
ACCESSION OF MALACHY THE CHEAT.
129
Danes, of Limerick ; this last-named per-
son having, it is said, suggested the
tieacherous scheme. Mahou was invit-
ed to a banquet at the house of Dono-
van, at Bruree on the Maigue, and the
bijhop of Cork, with several others of
the clergy, were induced to give him a
solemn guarantee for his safety. He
accordingly went, but was immedi-
ately seized by a band of Donovan's
armed men, who handed him over to
Molloy, who with a strong party lay in
wait in the neighborhood; and next
morning, in violation of the sacred
pledge that had been given to him, he
was basely put to death, a sword being
plunged into his bosom.* Brian took
amjile vengeance on the murderers of
his brother. He slaughtered the Danes
of Limerick in several battles,f slew the
treacherous lord of Hy-Figeinte, and
finally overthrew JMolloy, who was
killed in a battle at Ballagh Leachta,
the scene of the murder, l)y Brian's son,
Morough, then only fifteen years of age.
Brian, on this, became king of both
Munsters, and a few years later was
acknowledged king of all Leath Mogha.
A. T>. 979. — A battle was fought this
3 ear near Tara, in which the Danes of
Dublin and the Islands were defeated
with terrible slaughter, by Malachy, or
jVIaelseachlainn, the king of Meath.
The rivers Maigue and Morning Star appear to have
formed its boundary to tlie cast as the Shannon did to
the nortli.
* This crime was perpetrated at a hiU called Ballagh
Leachta, which, according to some accounts, was at
Redchair, on the confines of Limerick and Cork, but ac
cording to another authority, was in the vicinity of Slac
ir
Ragnal or Randal, son of Amlave, the
Danish king of Dublin, was slain, with
a vast number of his trooj^s, and Am
lave himself, soon after the defeat, went
on a pilgrimage to lona, where he died
broken-hearted. Dounell O'Neill, son
of Muirkertach, the monarch of Ireland,
also died this year, after a reign of
twenty-four years, and was succeeded
by the king of Meath, Malachy II., some-
times styled the Great.
A. D. 980. — Flushed with success after
the battle of Tara, Malachy, immedi-
ately on his accession to the sovereignty,
marched against the Danes of Dublin,
laid siege to the city, which he captured
after being three days before its walls,
and liberated two thousand Irish pris-
onei's whom he found there, including
the king of Leiuster, besides taking a
large amount of rich spoils. It was
stipulated that all the race of Niall
should be henceforth free from tribute to
the foreigners; and Malachy issued a
proclamation declaring every Irishman
then in bondage to the Danes released
from captivity.
Unfortunately, this auspicious com-
mencement of Malachy's reign Avas soon
marred by the bane of ancient Ireland
— intestine wars. The successes and
pretensions of the enterprising king of
Munster excited the monarch's jealousy.
room, in Cork. See note by Dr. O'Donovan, Four Mas-
ters, an. 974 (rests 970).
•f One of these battles was fought (a. d. 977) on Inis
Cathy, where Brian made a fearful slaughter of the
Danes ; and he followed up this success by driving them
from all the other islands of the Shannon.
130
REPEATED DEFEATS OF THE DANES.
Brian's claim to the sovereignty of Leath
Mo"-ha was, in fact, an imperative call
to arms. Malacby accordingly entered
the territory of the Dalcassians (a. d.
981), and, while laying waste the coun-
try, caused the great oak-tree of Magh
Adhair,* under which the kings of Tho-
mond were inaugurated, to be taken up
by the roots and destroyed. This was
an unnecessary outrage, not easily to be
foi-given, and showed tlie bitterness by
whicb Malachy was animated.
The annals of the period present a
chequered enumeration of plundering
excursions, in which no party seems to
have been free from blame. On various
occasions Malachy showed his resent-
ment against Brian. He sent a hostile
army into Leinster in defiance of bim,
but this act was followed by a treaty, in
which Brian's claim as king of Leath
Mogha was admitted. Recalled from
one of his forays by the reviving power
of the Danes, Malachy again (a. d. 989)
led an array against Dublin, defeated
the Danes in battle, and laid siege " for
twenty nights" to the Danish citadel,
reducing the garrison to such straits
tliat they were obliged to drink the
salt water which they could procure
when the tide rose in the river. At
length he accepted terms, the Danes, m
addition to former tributes, undertaking
to pay him, annually on Christmas night
during his reign, an ounce of gold for
every garden attached to a dwelling in
Dublin. A few years later, Malachy
and Brian were again at war, the latter
being now, as far as we can judge, the
aggressor ; for, while the monarch was
engaged in Connaught, Brian sent an
army up the Shannon in boats and made
an inroad into Meath, burning the royal
rath of Dun Sciath. Upon this, Ma-
lachy, recrossing the Shannon, marched
towards the south, burned Nenagh
(Aenach-Tete), plundered all Ormoud,
and defeated Brian himself in battle
(a. d. 994). He then marched once
more against the Danes of Dublin, car-
rying away, among other spoils, the ring
or chain of Tomar, a Scandinavian chief,
who was killed, a. d. 846, in the battle
of Sciath Neachtaiu, near Calstleder-
mot.f
Three years after these events (a. d.
997 according to the Irish annals, but
A. r». 998 according to our modern com-
putation), we find Malachy and Brian,
with the men of Meath and Munster,
acting in conjunction, "to the great joy
of the Irish," as the annalists tell us,
and attacking the Danes of Dublin,
whom they plundered of a great por-
tion of their wealth. The following
year the two kings gained an impor-
tant victory over the Danes, who were
led by Harold, son of Amlave, at Glen
Mama, a valley near Dunlaven, iu
Wicklow, where Prince Harold was
slain. The Irish army then marched
to Dublin, where they remained for a
• This is a place now called Moyre, near Tullagh, in
the county of Clare. It derives its name from a Firbolg
chief, Adhar, fide supra, p. 31, note.
I Tills exploit is the theme of Moore's popular melody,
' Let Erin remember the days of old," &c.
DEFECTION OF BRIAN.
ISl
week, buruecl tte citadel, expelled Sit-
ric, sou of Aralave, the Danish king,
and took a number of prisoners and a
large quantity of gold and silver. Af-
ter so many defeats the Danish power
must have been in a very feeble state ;
indeed, it only required unanimity,
vigoi', and foresight, on the part of the
Irish princes, to ex^Del all the Northmen
from Ireland; but short-sighted policy
still prevailed, and the tribute ob-
tained from the Danes, together with
the wealth brought by their merchants
into the country, now made them ob-
jects of avarice rather than fear to the
native kings.
A. D. 999 (1000).— This year is re-
markable for the revolution which de-
posed Malachy,and raised Brian Borum-
ha to the dignity of monarch of Ireland
in his stead ; but the accounts of the
disputes between these two kings are
so distorted by provincial partisanship
that we can do no more than guess at
the truth. The southern annalists rep-
resent Malachy as quite incapable of
ruling Ireland, and Brian as only yield-
ing to the solicitations of the other Irish
princes in assuming the reins of govern-
ment. They speak of general councils
of the nation, and of a year's grace
given in vain to Malachy to retrieve his
credit. But the authentic annals of
the Four Masters have not one word
about all this, which, besides, is incon-
sistent with the active career of war
and victory which we have seen Mala-
chy thus far pursue. The character of
Brian is popularly described as fault-
less; and if the unprejudiced mind
finds it difficult to acquit him altogeth-
er of ambition and usurpation, still the
use to which he converted the power
he acquired, and the benefits, though
transitory, which redounded from it to
his country, to religion, and to civili-
zation, may palliate faults not very
heinous in themselves, considering the
spirit and circumstances of the age in
which he lived.
In the year last referred to the Four
Masters say that Brian collected an army,
composed, in addition to his own Dal-
cassians and the men of Munster in
general, of the forces of South Oon-
naught, Ossorjr and Leinster, and of
the Danes of Dublin, and marched
against Malachy, with whom he is not
stated to have had any cause of quarrel
on this occasion. The Danish contin-
gent, consisting of cavalry, dashed ahead
into Bregia, to enjoy the first-fruits of
the plunder, but they were encountered
by the monarch himself, and cut oif al-
most to a man. This sturdy reception
which indicated no want of vitality or
the part of Malachy, had its due effect,
and Brian's invading army returned
home without fighting or pillaging ;
but some assert that Malachy made
concessions, and that Brian, though
sure of victory, did not urge a battle.
"This," say the northern annalists,
" was the first turning of Brian and the
Connaught men against Malachy.""
* Dr. O'Donovan, in tho Annals of tho Four Masters,
vol. ii., p. 742, note d, observes on this passage, that Ti-
ghernncli, wUo lived very near tlio period, calls Brian's
DEPOSITION OF MALACIIY.
Nest year a Munster army commit-
ted some depredations in Meatb, and
was compelled to relinquish its plun-
der. But the star of Malacby had
waned, and, seeing that the feeling of
the country was favorable to his rival,
he submitted to his fate. Hence, when
Brian, Avith an army composed partly
of Danes, marched the following year,
A. D. 1001 (1003 of the common era),
to Athlone, Malachy gave him hosta-
ges, or in other words, surrendered to
him the crown of Ireland.* At the
same time Brian received the hostages
of Connaught; and then with a com-
biaed force, a section of which was led
by Malachy himself, who followed Bri-
an's standard as one of his lieges, he
proceeded northward to bring Ulster
into subjection. The northern Hy-Ni-
alls, were not, however, yet prepared
to acquiesce in the revolution ; and
Hugh, son of Donuell O'Neill, heir ap-
parent to the sovereignty, with other
nortliern chieftains marched out to op-
pose him, but the armies having met at
opposition to Malachy " turning tlirough guile or treach-
ery :" and in a preceding note he remarks : — " Dr. O'Bri-
en, in his Law of Taiiistry, and others, assert that Mael-
seachlainn resigned the monarchy of Ireland to Brian
because he was not able to master the Danes ; but this
is all provincial fabrication, for Maelseachlainn had
the Danes of Dublin, Meath, and Leinster completely
mastered, until Brian, whose daughter was married to
Sitric, Danish king of Dublin, joined the Danes against
him. Never was there a character so historically ma-
ligned as that of Maelseachlainn II. by Munster fabrica-
tors of history."
* Mr. Moore (Hist, of Ireland, vol. ii., p. 101), says :
" Tlie ready acquiescence with which, in general, so
violent a change in the polity of the country was sub-
mitted to, may be in a great degree attributed to the
example of patience and disinterestedness exhibited liy
the immediate victim of this revolution, the deposed
Dundalk (Dun Dealgan) separated
without fighting, chiefly, as we ai-e led
to suppose, from Brian's unwillingness
to shed the blood of his countrymen.
It was some years, indeed, before he suc-
ceeded in reducing the Hy-Nialls of the
north to submission; but in 1010 he
compelled the Kinel Eoghain and the
Ulidians to give him hostages, and in
the following year he took the lord of
Kinel Connell prisoner, and carried
him to his palace at Kincora.f Hith-
er he also conducted other refractory
princes, and he at length succeeded in
reducing the numerous petty kings and
dynasts, whose mutuals quarrels and
aggressions were the curse of Ireland,
into complete subordination. This led
to that happy state of tranquillity and
obedience to the laws which the bards
have illustrated by the well-known fa-
ble of a beautiful lady carrying a gold
ring on a white Avand, and passing un-
molested though the land.
What Brian had effected for his own
province of Munster, before he became
Malachy himself. Nor, in forming our estimate of this
prince's character, from a general view of his whole
career,. can we well hesitate in coming to the conclu-
sion, that not to any backwardness in the field, or want
of vigor in council, is his tranquil submission to the
violent encroachments of his rival to be attributed ; but
to a regard, rare at such an imripe period of civilization,
for the real interests of the public weal, and an unwil-
lingness to risk, for his own personal views, the explo-
sive burst of discord which, in so inflammable a state of
the political atmosphere, a struggle for the monarchy
would, he knew, infallibly provoke."
f The name Ceann Coradh signifies the Head of the
Weir, and the site of this celebrated fortress and palace
of Brian Borumha is comprised in the present town of
Killaloe, that is, Cill Dalua, or the Church of St. Lua or
Molua, a saint of the seventh century.
INSTITUTION OF SURNAMES.
133
mouarch of Ireland, he now, as far as
possible, did for the whole country.
He restored monastferies and. schools
destroyed by the Danes ; caused the
desecrated churches to be rebuilt and
consecrated, and founded new ones; but,
among the latter, the only ones men-
tioned by name are those of Killaloe
and Iniscealtra. He built the round
tower of Tuanigrcine (Tomgrany) in the
present county of Clare ; erected new
forts and strengthened old ones ; en-
couraged commerce and promoted learn-
ing and piety. On visiting Armagh, at
the commencement of his reign, he laid
an offering on the principal altar there
of twenty ounces of gold — a large
* Oa tliis visit to Armagli in 1004, Brian got his secre-
tary, Maelsutliaiu {Caleus-pcrcnnis) to write in his pre-
sonc:", in the Book of Armagh, a confirmation of certain
dues to that church, which had been paid since the time
of St. Patrick ; and in tlie entry, which still exists, Brian
is etyled Imperatoris Seotorum. On this occasion ho
encamped for a week in the great fort of Emania the
ancient palace of tlie kings of Ulster.
f The most ancient account, says Dr. O'Douovau, of
tlio fact of Brian first establishing surnames, is found in
a fragment of a MS. in the Library of Trinity College,
Dublin (H. 3, IG), supposed to be part of MacLiag's Life
of Brian Borumha, in which the following passage oc-
curs : — " It was Brian that gave out seven monasteries
both furniture, and cattle, and laud ; and thirty-two
Cloictheachs (or Round Tower belfries) ; and it was by
hini the marriage ceremony was confirmed (made bind-
ing) : and it was during his time that surnames were
first given, and territories were allotted to the sur-
names, and the boundaries of every territory and cantred
were fixed." The following is the origin of some of these
surnames: — Tho MacCarthys of Desmond, from Car-
thach, who was slain in 1015 ; the Fitzpatricks, or Mac-
Gillapatricks of Ossory, from Gillaphadarig, lord of Os-
sory, who was slain in 995 ; O'Phelan, from Faelan, lord
of the Deisi, whose son Donnell was one of those by whom
the aforesaid Gillaphadarig was killed ; ilacMurrough
of Leinster, from Murchadh (son Diarmaid, son of Mael-
na-mbo, king of Leinster), who died in 1070 ; MacNa-
mara of Thomond, from < 'imiara (dog of tho sea), who
amount at that period — and niad^ gen-
erous presents for the support of our
religion in other churches.*
Among the useful laws which Brian
instituted was one for fixing surnames.
Before this time (a. d. 1002) a few sur-
names, as that of O'Neill, were coming
into use ; but from Brian's reign they
became imperative, and each family
selected the name of some distinguished
ancestor, which, with the prefix Mac or
0, ".son," or "grandson," was to be
thenceforth the family name. With few
exceptions, the ancestors thus clioser.
were men who flourished in the tentli,
or the beginning of the eleventh, cen-
turies.f
flourished in 1074 ; O'Brien of Thomond, from Brian
Borumha ; OCallaghan of Desmond, from Ceallachan,
who flourished in 1093, and was the fourth in descent.
from Ceallachan CaisU, king of Munster, and common
ancestor of the MacCarthys ; O'Conor of Counaught,
from Conchobhar, or Conor, king of Connaught, who
died in 974 ; O'Conor of Corcomxoe, from Conor who
was slain m 1003 ; O'Conor Kerry, from Conor, whose
gr.andson, MacBeatha, was slain at Clontarf ; G'DonneU
of Tirconnell, from an ancestor who flourished in 950 ;
O'Donoghue of Kerry, from an ancestor who flourished
in 1050 ; O'Donovan, from Donovan, king of Hy-Fidh-
gcinte, slain by Brian Borumha in 97(5 ; O'Dowda of
Mayo, from an ancestor in S7C ; O'Dugan, or Duggan of
Fermoy, from Dubhagan, killed at Clontarf ; OTIcyne, or
Hynes of Galway, from Eidhin, whose grandson was
killed at Clontarf ; O'Kelly of Hy-Many, from an ancestor
who flourished in 874 ; O'Madden of Hy-Many, from Jla-
dudhan, slain in 1008 ; O'Mahony of Desmond, descended
from Kian (son of MoUoy, who was present at ClontarO ;
O'Mclaghlin of Meath, from JIaelseachlain, or Malachy
II., king of Ireland ; O'MoUoy of the King's county, from
an ancestor in 1019 ; O'Neill of Tyrone, frftm Niall Glun-
dubh, king of Ireland, in 919 ; O'Quin of Thomond, from
Niall O'CuJnn, slain at Clontarf; O'Rourke of Brefl'ny,
from Ruarc, son of Tighcarnan, who died in 893 ; O'Sulli-
van of Desmond, from Suillevan, about 050 ; and O'Toole
of Leinster, from Tuathal, son of Ugairc, who flourislicd
in 935. — (Chief y from Kitsays, by Dr. (y Donovan, on
Irifh 7iam(S.) Surnames were generally introduced
134
PREPARATIONS FOR WAR.
A. D. 1013. — Sucli is tlie glowing pic-
ture drawn by Irish historians of the
vic'toi'ies, wise government, and many
virtues of Brian Borumha ; but the
interval of tranquillity which he had
created was brief, and the odium of
violating it is cast upon Maelmordha
MacMurrough,* who, through the as-
sistance of the Danes, had some years
previously usurped the throne of Lein-
ster. It is said that this prince received
some offence from Brian's son Murrough,
at the court of Kincora, and that in
order to be revenged he stirred up his
allies, the Danes of Dublin, to acts of
aggression. Be the cause what it may,
a storm was raised, which, though short,
was the most serious in its results that
Ii-eland had yet witnessed. The Danes
and Leinster men commenced it (a. d.
1013) by an inroad into Meath, where
they were routed by Malachy, who is
then said to have solicited the assist-
ance of Brian, but unsuccessfully;, and
it w^as only after another conflict near
Ben Edar, or Howth, in which Malachy
lost his son, Flann, and two hundred
men, that the venerable hero of Kin-
throughout Europe in tbe tentli, eleventh, and twelfth
centuries. The custom of the Irish was not to take
names or titles from places, as ia other countries ; but,
on the contraiy, to give the family names to the .ands
or seigniories they- held. See Ogygia Vindicated, p.
170 ; Four Masters, vol iii. p. 90, n. p.
* This king was the ancestor, not of the MacMur-
roughs or Kavanaghs, as some suppose, but of the
O'Beirnes of Leinster. His sister, Gormliath, was first
the wife of Amlave the Dane, by whom she had Sitric,
king of Dublin ; and she then became the second wife of
Brian Borumha, who soon after repudiated her ; and,
according to the Niala Saga, in which she is called the
beautiful Kormloda, it was she who, in revenge, stirred
cora became sensible of the menacing
nature of the new outbreak. Brian now
sent an army under his son, Morough,
into Leinster to make reprisals, and they
plundered the country " from Glenda
lough to Kilmaiuham (Cill-Maigh-
neann);" and later in the year he him-
self marched at the head of a consider-
able force to the vicinity of Dublin,
where he remained encamped for three
months ; but the enemy not venturing
out, he returned to the south about
Christmas, contenting himself with
plundering the territ-or] of the traitor
Maelmordha.
A. D. 1014. — Meanwt lie, the Danes
had been making extrao; dinarj^ prepar
ations for war. Envoys ^ ere despatched
for aid into Norway, th. Orkneys, and
the Baltic Islands; and the foreigner;
gathered, as the annals 'ell us, "frou
all the west of Europe." i\^ was re^.-i'o
sented that an opportuuiv) offered, fo:.
obtaining complete possessie ,\ of Irei^.-uo'..
and great numbers of the diking.', ar
cordingly came with their faiu\l:';'j \o.
the purpose of taking up their re3)'Aeacc
permanently.f At this momei/t the
up the northern sea-kings against Brian, and brought
about the battle of Clontarf.
f In the chronicle of Adcmar, monk of St. Kparchius
of Anguoleme, quoted by Lanigan from Labbe (Nova
Bibl. MSS. torn. 2, p. 177), it is stated that the Northmen
came at that time to Ireland with an immense fleet,
conveying their wives and children, with a view of ex-
tirpating the Irish and occupying in their stead " that
very wealthy country in which there were twelve citie3_
with extensive bishoprics and a king, and which had its
own language and Latin letters, and was converted by
St. Patrick," &e. Labbe thinks the Chronicle was writ-
ten before 1031, in which case the writer was contempo-
rary with Brian Borumha, and the document the oldest
THE BATTLE OF CLONTARF.
135
same people were effectually making
themselves masters of England. Sweyn
was proclaimed king of England in
1013, and Canute the Great became un-
disputed monarch of England in 1017;
so that it is little wonder if, flushed with
a career of such triurnph elsewhere, the
Danes should have reckoned with cer-
tainty on finally obtaining the coveted
soil of Ireland, on which they had now
had a j^artial footing for two hundred
years. A thousand Northmen, encased
in ringed armor from head to foot, came
under the command of Anrud and Car-
lus, sons of the king of Norway ; Sigurd,
son of Lodar, earl of the Orkneys, ar-
rived at the head of a powerful band ;
and a numerous fleet of the northern
vikings was under the command of their
admiral, Brodar, who, according to Scan-
dinavian accounts, was an apostate from
Chi'istianity, a great blasphemer, and an
adept in magic. Neither was the king
of Leinster idle, for he mustered all his
fighting-raen, to the number, it is said, of
9,000; and the Danes of all Ireland were
prepared to strike a desperate blow for
tlie recovery of their former power.
Brian could not have been aware of
the full extent of these preparations;
yet he, too, was resolved to make a gal-
lant effort, and collected a considerable
army, chiefly from the south and Avest.
The year was ushered in with depreda-
tions by the Danes and Leinster men in
Meath and Bregia, and a challenge from
as Dr. Lanigan thinks, in which the name of Irlanda is
apx>lic(l to tliis country.
* Claain Tarbh, the lawn or meadow of the bulls.
Maelmordha to Brian to meet him with
his army on the spacious plain of Moy-
nealta, or, rather, on that part of it
called Clontarf.*
The Irish army arrived about the
middle of April, a. d. 1014, at their
usual camping ground of Kilmainham,
which extended on both sides of the
Liftey, and comprised the land now
called the Phcenix Park ; and Brian
detached a body of his Dalcassians, un-
der his son Donough, to devastate Lein-
ster, which was unprotected in the ab-
sence of Maelmordha and his army.
The Danish admiral, Brodar, with his
auxiliaries, entered Dublin bay on
Palm Sunday, the 18th of April, and
Donough's movement having been com-
municated to Maelmordha by some
traitor in Brian's camp, it was resolved
that the battle should be hastened while
the Irish army was weakened by his
absence. According to a Danish legend,
Brodar had been informed by some
pagan oracle that if the battle took
place on Friday Brian would fall, al-
though victorious, while if it were
fought on any other day of the week
all his assailants would be slain ; and it
is said that the Danes therefore resolved
to make the attack on Good Friday.
The exact site of the battle seems to
be tolerably well defioed. In Dr.
O'Conor's edition of the Four Masters
it is called " the battle of the fi.shing
weir of Clontarf ;f and the weir in
f Cai/i Coradh Cluana tarbh — which Dr. O'Conor
erroneously translates, " Praiium luroieum Cluan
tarbhia."
136
THE BATTLE OF CLONTARF.
question was at the mouth of the Tolka
01- Tulcainn, Avhere Ballybough bridge
now stands. It also ajipears that the
pi'incipal destruction of the Danes took
pLace when in their flight they endeav-
ored to cross the Tolka, no doubt at
the moment of high water, when num-
bers of them were drowned ; it is ex-
pressly stated that they were -pursued
^Ylth. great slaughter " from the Tolka
to Dublin." We may, therefore, pre-
sume that their lines extended along
the coast, with their left wing resting
on the little river just mentioned, and
protected by the marshes which then
covered the low ground between that
and the mouth of the Liffey; while their
right wing extended in the direction of
Dollymount ; the newly-arrived Danish
fleet being anchored either at Howth oi-
iu the rear of the army.
Tlie Danish and Leinster forces, num-
bering together about 21,000 men, were
disposed in three divisions, of which the
first, or that nearest to Dublin, was com-
posed of the Danes of Dublin, under
their king, Sitric, and the princes Dolat
and Conmael, with the thousand mailed
Norwegians under the youthful warriors
Carlus and Anrud. The second, or cen-
tral division, was composed chiefly of
the Lagenians, commanded by Mael-
mordha himself, and the princes of Of-
faly and of the territory of the Liflfey ;*
and the third division, or right wing,
was made up of the auxiliaries from the
* The Annals of Clonmacnoise Bay tte O'Mores and
O'Nolans did not join the other Leinster septs at Clon-
tarf.
Baltic and the Islands, under Brodar,
admiral of the fleet, and Sigurd, son of
Lodar, earl of the Orkneys, together
with some auxiliaries tVom Wales and
Cornwall.
To oppose these the Irish monarch also
marshalled his forces in three corps or
divisions. The first, composed chiefly
of the diminished legion of the brave
Dalcassians, was under the command of
his son Morough, who had also with
him his four brothers, Teige, Donnell,
Conor, and Flann, sons of Brian, and
his own sou, Turlough, who was Init
fifteen years of age. In this division
was placed Malachy, with his contin-
gent of a thousand Meath men ; and
here we may refer to the dishonorable
charges made against this deposed king
by all the southern chroniclers, who as-
sert that he was the traitor who had
apprised Maelmordha of Donough's de-
parture from the camp with a large
detachment of the Dalgais into Leinster
and that on the morning of the battle
he withdrew his troops from the Irish
lines, and remained inactive throughout
the day. This unworthy conduct is so
inconsistent with the whole career of
Malachy that the charge has been re-
jected by Mr. Moore in his History of
Ireland, and by Dr. O'Donovan in his
notes to the Four Masters ; yet we
believe it has not been imputed to him
without sufiicient grounds, and that
more recent researches will be found to
establish the fact that Malachy made
overtures to Teige O'Kell}', the com-
mander of the Connaught army, to
THE BATTLE OF CLOXTARF.
abandon Brian on the eve of the battle.
Malachy's sympathies were Meathian
rather than national, and, considering
the provocation which he had received
from the man who usurped his crown,
■we may find some excuse for him in the
circumstances ; even admitting, what ap-
pears to be the fact, that he held aloof
with the army of Meath during the
early pai't of the fight. We shall pres-
ently see that before the close of the
day he made amends for the morning's
dereliction of duty.
Brian's central division comprised the
troops of Desmond, under the command
of Cian, son of Molloy (ancestor of
O'Mahony), and Donnell, son of Duv-
davoran (ancestor of O'Donoghoe), both
of the Eugenian line ; together with the
other septs of the south, under their
respective chiefs, viz. : Mothla, son of
Faelan, king of the Desies ; Muirker-
tach, son of Anmcha, chief of Hy-Lia-
thain (a territory in Cork) ; Scaunlan,
son of Cathal, chief of Loch Lein, or
Killarney ; Loingseach, son of Dunlaing,
chief of the territory of Hy-Conall Gav-
ra, comprised in the present baronies of
Upper and Lower Connello, in the
county of Limerick ; Cathal, son of
Donovan, chief of Carbry-Eva (Keury,
in the same county) ; MacBeatha, chief
of Kerry Luachra ; Geivennacb, son of
Dugan, chief of Fermoy ; O'Carroll, king
* The Danes were Ijetter equipped in tho battle than
tlicir antagonists, and the fame of their ringed and
scaled armor was spread far through Ireland. In an
Irish legend of the time, tho Banshee, Ecvin of Craglea,
Is represented as endeavoring to keep OTTartagan from
the fight hv reminding him that while the (laels were
of Eile ; and, according to some accounts,
O'Carroll, king of Oriel, in Ulster.
The remaining L'ish division, which
formed the left wing opposed to the
great body of the newly-arrived for-
eigners in the Danish right wing, was
composed mainly of the forces of Con-
naught, under Teige O'Kelly, king of
Hy-Many ; O'Heyne, or Hynes, king of
Hy-Fiachra Aidhna; Dunlaing O'Har-
tagan; Echtigern, king of Dal Aradia,
and some others. Under the standard
of Brian Borumha also fought that day
the Maermors, or great stewards of
Lennox and Mar, with a contingent of
the brave Gaels of Alba. It would even
appear, from a Danish account, that
some of the Northmen who had always
been friendly to Brian fought on his
side at Clontarf. Some other Irish chief-
tains besides those enumerated above
are mentioned in the Innisfallen Annals,
as those of Teffia, &c. A large body of
hardy men came from the distant mari-
time district of Connemara; many w^ar-
riors flocked from other territories, and,
on the whole, the rallying of the men
of Ireland in the cause of their country
on that memorable occasion, as much
as the victory which their gallantry
achieved, renders the event a proud and
cheering one in Irish history. It is sujv
posed that Brian's army numbered
about twenty thousand men.*
only dressed in "satin shirts," the Danes were enveloped
in "coats of iron." But the Irish battle-axes wore bet
ter than any defi-nsivo armor. Cambrensis tells us that
these terrible weapons were wielded by the Irish with
one hand, and thus descended from a greater height and
with greater velocity, " so that neither tho crested hel
138
THE BATTLE OF CLONTARF.
The Danes having resolved to fight
on Good Friday, contrary to the wishes
of Brian — who was unwilling to dese-
crate that day with a scene of carnage,
and who also desired to await the re-
turn of his son Donough — and the re-
spective armies being marshalled as we
have described, the venerable Irish mon-
arch appeared on horseback' at break of
day, and rode along the lines, animating
the spirits of his men. While he grasped
his sword in the right hand, he held a
crucifix in the left, and addressing the
troops, reminded them of all the tyran-
ny and oppression of the hateful enemy
who stood against them ; of all their
sacrilegious outrages; their church-burn-
ings and desecration of sacred relics;
their murders and plunder, and innu-
merable perfidies. "The great God,"
he continued, "hath at length looked
down upon our sufferings, and endued
you Avith the power and the courage
this day to destroy forever the tyranny
of the Danes, and thus to punish them
for their innumerable crimes and sacri-
leges, by the avenging power of the
sword ;" and raising aloft the crucifix,
he exclaimed, " was it not on this day
met could defend the head, nor the iron folds of the
armor the body. Whence it has happened, even in our
times," he continues, " that the whole thigh of a soldier,
though cased in well-tempered armor, has been lopped
off by a single blow of the axe, the limb falling on one
side of the horse, and the expiring body on the other."
Besides these broad axes, which were exceedingly well
steeled, the Irish, according to Cambreasis, used short
lances and darts, and they were " very dexterous, be-
yond other nations, in slinging stones in battle, when
other weapons failed them." Top. Hib. dist. 3, cap. 10.
Their swords were ponderous, of great length, and edged
only on one side. Harris's Ware, vol. ii., p. 163.
that Christ himself suffered death for
you ?"
He then gave the signal for action,
and the venerable king Avas about to
lead his Dalcassian phalanx to the
charge, but the general voice of the
chieftains compelled him to retire into
the rear, and to leave the chief com-
mand to his son Morough.'*
The battle then commenced, " a spir-
ited, fierce, violent, vengeful, and fu-
rious battle, the likeness of which was
not to be found in that time," as the
old annalists quaintly describe it. It
was a conflict of heroes. The chieftains
engaged at every point in single com-
bat, and the greater part of them on
both sides fell. The impetuosity of the
Irish was irresistible, and their battle-
axes did fearful execution, every man
of the ten hundred mailed warriors of
Norway having been cut doAvn by the
Dalcassians. The heroic Morough per-
formed prodigies of valor throughout
the day. Ranks of men fell before
him ; and hewing his way to the Dan-
ish standard, he cut down two success-
ive bearers of it Avith his battle-axe. f
Two Danish leaders, Carlus and Con-
♦ The age of Brian, according to the usually received
accounts, was eighty-eight, and that of Morough sixty-
three ; but the date (941) given for the birth of Brian,
in the Annals of Ulster, -would make his age at the bat-
tle of Clontarf only seventy-three ; and Dr. O'Donovau,
who thinks that to be the true account, conjectures that
his son Morough was no more than forty-three years of
age. Morough's son Turlough was a youth of only fif-
teen years.
f This achievement is mentioned in tho Danish ac-
count of the battle, in which Morough is called Ker.
thialfadr.
n»)rr>Hem wore
by a 1 ^^'houi Iv- mitl gi
■rook But the chiei
s the mains to be rei
u the I rate admiral, sex
'tendants.
now ;ii;-
to wax
fatigue, but who with tl
arras, and died ewor
THE BATTLE OF CLONTARF.
139
mael, enraged at this success, rushed on
him together, but both fell in rapid
succession by his sword. Twice, Mor-
ough and some of his chiefs retired to
slake their thirst and cool their hands,
swollen from the violent use of the
sword and battle-axe, and the Danes,
observing the vigor with which they
returned to the conflict, succeeded by a
desperate eflbrt in filling up the brook
which had refreshed them. Thus the
battle raged from an early hour in the
morning, innumerable deeds of valor
being performed on both sides, and
victory appearing still doubtful, until
the third or fourth hour in the after-
noon, when a fresh and des2:)ei'ate effort
was made by the Irish ; and the Danes,
now almost destitute of leaders, began
to waver and give way at every point.
Just at this moment the Norwegian
prince, Anrud, encountered Morough,
^vho was unable to raise his arms from
fatigue, but who with the left hand
seized Anrud, aud, shaking him out of
his armor, hurled him to the earth,
while with the other he placed the
point of his sword on the breast of the
prostrate Northmen, and leaning on it
plunged it though his body. While
IVIorough, however, was stooping for
this purpose, Anrud contrived to in-
flict on him a mortal wound with a
dagger, and the Irish warrior fell in
tlie arms of victory. This disaster had
not the effect of turning the fortune of
the day, for the Danes and their allies
were in a state of utter disorder, and
along their whole line had commenced
flying towards the city or to their ships.
They plunged into the Tolka at a time
when the river must have been swollen
with the tide, as great numbers were
drowned. The body of young Tur-
lough was found after the battle " at
the weir of Clontarf," with his hands
entangled in the hair of a Dane with
whom he had grappled in the pursuit.
But the chief tragedy of the day re-
mains to be related. Brodar, the pi-
rate admiral, seeing the route general,
was making his way through some
thickets with only a few attendants,
when he came upon the tent of Brian
Borumha, left at that moment without
his guards. The fierce viking rushed
in and found the aged monarch at
prayer before the crucifix, which he
had that morning held up to the view
of his troops, and attended only by a
boy, Conaing, the son of his brother
Duncuan. Brian, however, had time
to seize his arras, and died sword in
hand. The Irish accounts say, that he
killed Brodar, and was only overcome
by numbers; but the Danish version
in the Niala Saga is more probable,
and in this Brodar is represented as
holding up his reeking sword and cry-
ing : — " Let it be proclaimed from man
to man that Brian has been slain by
Brodar." It is added on the same au-
thority that the ferocious pirate was
then hemmed in by Brian's returning
guards, and captured alive, and that he
was hanged upon a tree, aud continued
to rage like a beast of prey until he
was eviscerated ; the Irish soldiers thus
140
THE BATTLE OF CLONTARF.
taking savage vengeance for the death
of their king, Avho but for their own
neglect would have been safe.
To this period of the battle may be
applied the statement of the Four Mas-
ters to which we have already alluded,
namely, that the foreigners and Lein-
ster men "were afterwards routed by
dint of battling, bravery, and striking,
by Maelseachlainn (Malachy) from Tul-
cainn (the Tolca) to Ath-Cliath (Dub-
lin)." According to the account insert-
ed in the Dublin copy of the Annals
of Inuisfallen, thirteen thousand Danes
and three thousand Leinster men fell in
the battle and the flight, but this is a
modern exaggeration. The authentic
Annals of the Four Masters say, that
•' the ten hundred in armor were cut
to pieces, and at least three thousand
of the foreigners slain ;" the Annals of
Ulster state that seven thousand of the
Danes perished by field and flood ; the
Annals of Boyle, which are very an-
cient, count the mimber of Danes slain
in the same way as the Four Masters
do ; so that, in all probability, the Ul-
ster Annals include the Leinster men in
their sum total of the Danish side. The
loss of the Irish is also variously stated,
but it cannot have been much less than
that of the enemy. Ware seems to
doubt whether the Irish had a decided
victory, and mentions a report that the
Danes rallied at the close of the battle ;
but the doubt which he raises merits
no attention, seeing that even the Da-
nish accounts admit the total rout, and
tlie great slaughter of their own troops.
The Scalds of Norway sang dismal
strains about the conflict, which they
always call " Brian's Battle ;" and a
Scandinavian chieftain, who remained
at home, is represented as inquiring
from one of the few who had returned,
what had become of his men? and re-
ceiving, for answer, " that all of them
had fallen by the sword !" A contem-
porary French chronicler describes the
defeat of the Noi'thmen as even more
sanguinary than it really was, stating
that all of them were slain, and that a
number of their women threw them-
selves in despair into the sea.*
According to the Annals of Ulster,
and other Irish authorities, there were
among the slain on the side of the ene-
my, Maelmordha, son of Murchadh, king
of Leinster; Brogovan, tanist of Hy-
Falgia ; Dunlaing, son of Tuathal, tan-
ist of Leinster; Donnell O'Farrell, king
of the Fortuaths of Leinster; Duvgall,
son of Amlave, and Gillakieran, son of
Gluniarn, two tanists of the Danes;
Sigurd, son of Lodar ; Brodar, w^ho had
killed Brian; Ottlr Duv; Suartgar:
Duncha O'Herailv; Grisane; Luimni
and Amlave, sons of Lagmainu, &c.
* Ademar's Clironicle, as quoted above. This -writer
adds, what we know to be au error, that the battle last,
ed three days. The preceding details of the battle of
Clontarf are collected from the Annals of Innisfallen,
and other Southern authorities, quoted by O'Halloran,
Keating, &c. ; the Annals of the Four Masters with
O'Donovan's annotations ; the Mala Saga, as given
mth a Latin version in Jolmstone's Antiquitatcs Cdto
Scandicw; and other sources.
BURIAL OF BRIAN.
Ul
Among the slfiiu, on the IrisU side,
besides Brian, his son Morough, and
his grandson Turlough, are mentioned
Conaing, son of Doucuan, Brian's
nephew ; Cuduiligh, son of Kennedy ;.
Mothhx, lord of the Desies ; Eocha, chief
of the Claun ScannLiin ; Niall O'Cuinn*
— the three latter being the king's aides-
de-camp or companions — Teige O'Kel-
ly; Mulroney O'Heyne; Gevnach, son
of Dugan ; MacBeatha of Kerry Luach-
ra, ancestors of the O'Conors-Kerry ;
Dounell, lord of Corcabaiscin ; Dun-
laing O'Hartagan; the great stewards
Mar and Levin (Lennox), and many
others. The annals add that Brian
and Morough both lived to receive the
last rites of the church, f and that their
remains, together with the heads of Co-
naing and Mothla, were conveyed by
the monks to Sord Columb Cille
(Swords), and from thence, through
Duleek and Louth, to Armagh, by
jNLaelmuire (servant of Mary) the Coarb
of St. Patrick ; and that their obsequies
was celebrated for twelve days and
nights with great splendor by the cler-
gy of Armagh; after which the body
of Brian was deposited in a stone coffin
on the north side of the high altar in
the cathedral; the body of his son be-
ing interred on the south side of the
same church. The remains of Turlough,
and of several of the other chieftains,
were buried in the old church-yard of
Ivilmainham, commonly known as " Bui-
* Ancestor of tho O'Quinns of Thomond, of whom
the earl of Dunraven is the present head.— O'Donovan.
f Marianus Scotus thus records the death of Brian in
ly's Acre," where the shaft of an ancient
Irish cross still marks the spot.
The day after the battle, Donough,
son of Brian, arrived with the spoils of
Leinster, and met his brother Teige
with the surviving L-ish chieftains and
the remains of their victorious army.
He made rich presents to the clergy of
Armagh, and to those of other church-
es ; and about Easter Monday the camp
broke up, and the chiefs with their re-
spective forces took each the road to-
wards his own territory. It is related
that while the Dalcassians were on their
mai'ch home through the territory of
Ossory, MacGillapatrick, the prince of
that country, attempted to oppose their
progress and demanded hostages; but
the sons of Brian, with their shattered
battalion, prepared to give him battle ;
and the Dalcassians are said to have af-
forded on the occasion a memorable
example of heroism. The wounded
warrioi's were tied to stakes in the
front ranks, each wounded man be-
tween two of his sound companions ;
but the men of Ossory, appalled by so
desperate a preparation for resistance,
or moved by some more honorable feel-
ing, refused to fight against such an
enemy, and the heroes of Thomond were
allowed to proceed in peace.
Soon after we read of fresh instances
of discord in the southern province.
The two Desmonian chiefs, Cian and
Donnell, son of Duvdavorau, fought
his chronicles; — "Brian, king of Hibernia, slain
Good Friday, the 9th of the Calends of May (April 23
\rith hia mind and hii hands t iruod towards God."
142
DEATH OF MALACHT II.
after their return from Cloutarf, and
the former, wlio was celebrated by the
bards for his beauty and stature, was
sLiiu, together with some chiefs who
were on his side ; while the following
year (1015), Donuell, who asserted his
claim to the throne of all Munster even
on the day after the battle of Clontarf,
led an army to Limerick, where he was
encountered and slain by the two sons
of Brian, Donough and Teige.
Meanwhile Malachy resumed the au-
thoi'ity of monarch with the tacit con-
sent of the Irish chiefs, and by his fre-
(juent and successful attacks on the
Danes of Dublin, and his onslaughts
on the 23eople of Leiuster and of other
ten-itories, in the assertion of his sover-
eignty, he proved that he still jjossessed
energy enough to rule the country. A
mouth before his death he gained an
important victory over the Danes of
Dublin, at Athboy, or the Yellow
Ford of Tlachta, in Meath, and died a. d.
1022, in Cro Inis, an island of Lough
Ennel in Westmeath, opposite the fort
of Dun Sciath, which had been his res-
idence; having reigned eight years af-
ter the battle of Clontarf, and reached
the seventy-third year of his age.
The Annals of Clonraacnoise state
that Malachy " was the last king of Ire-
hind of Irish blood that had the crown :
* Cuan O'Loclian -was killed by the people of Teffia,
in the year 1024, and it is added in the Annals of Kil-
roiian " that his murderers met tragical deaths, and that
their bodies were not interred until the wolves and
birds had preyed upon them ;" moreover, it was said,
that their posterity were known by an offensive odor ;
but that there wei-e seven kings after
without crown, before the coming of
the English." Two of these kings,
however, were acknowledged by the
whole of Ireland. An interregnum of
twenty years followed the death of
Malachy, during part of which interval
the country is stated, in some of the
old annals, to have been governed by
two learned men, "the one," say the
Annals of Clonmacnoise, " called Cuan
O'Lochan, a well learned temporal
(lay) man, and chief poet of Ireland ;
the other, Corcran Cleireach (the
Cleric), a devout and holy man, that
was anchorite of all Ireland, and whose
most abiding was at Lismore. The
land was governed like a free state,
and not like a monarchy by them." *
As to the Danes, their power, though
not annihilated in the battle of Clon-
tarf, was so crushed by that memorable
victory that they never after attempted
hostilities on a lai-ge scale in Ireland,
and were content to hold their position
chiefly as merchants in Dublin, and the
other ports already occupied by them.
Their inability to avail themselves of
the shattered and distracted condition
in which Ireland remained for a long
time after that bloody conflict is the
best proof of the fearful amount of loss
which they there sustained.
being what the Irish called a " poet's miracle," that j survived him many years.
is, a punishment drawn down by the malediction of a
poet, or for an injury inflicted on a poet. Several of
these "poetic miracles" are mentioned in the Irish an-
nals of the middle ages. Three of the compositions of
Cuan O'Lochan are mentioned in O'Heilly's Irish Writ-
(p. To) as stUJ existing. His colleague, Corcran,
LEARNING AFTER THE DANISH WARS.
143
CHAPTER XV.
State of Learning in Ireland during and after the Dauisli Wars. — Eminent Churchmen, Poets and Antiquaries. —
Tighernach and Marianus Scotus. — Irishmen Abroad in the Tenth and Eleventh Centuries. — The Monks of
the Middle Ages. — Causes of Ignorance and Disorganization. — Donough O'Brien in Eome. — Tarlough
O'Brien. — Progress of Connaught. — Wars of the North and South of Ireland. — Destruction of the Grianan of
Aileach. — The Danes after Clontarf — Invasion and Fate of King Magnus. — Relations with England. — Letter
of Pope Gregory VII. — Murtough O'Brien and the Church. — Remarkable Synods. — Abuses in the Irish Church.
— Number of Bishops, — St. Bernard's Denunciations. — Palliations. — St. Malachy. — Misrepresentations. — Pro-
gress of Turlough O'Conor.— Death of St. Celsus.
Contemporary Sovereigns and Etienis. —Vopti Gregory YU., from 1073 to 1035.— Henry I'V., Emperor of the West, diec
1106.— Sii.xnn line restored in England uuder Edward tlie Confessor, 1042.— England conquered by the Normans, 1066.-
Philip the Fair, Khig of France, 1059.
The eletekth Centuey aito first THiBTy teaes op '
DURING the long reigu of yvav .ind
rapine which prevailed from the
first coming of the Danes into Ireland
till their great overthrow at Clontarf,
and the gloomy period of domestic dis-
organization which followed, it would be
Httle wonder if learning had quite dis-
appeared from this country. That such,
however, was not the case, we have am-
ple proofs in the frequent obituaries of
men described in our authentic annals
as eminent for learning as well as piety
during that dreary lapse of ages ; in the
constant revival of plundered monaster-
ies and schools, which these chronicles
record ; and in the number of distin-
guished Irishmen who still continued
to flourish in France, Germany, and
other parts of the continent. It
would be easy to make out a tol-
erably long list of the men who thus
vindicate their age and country, from
the charge of barbarism, but a few
names will sufiice for our purpose.
Beginning with the tenth century,
which "modern writers generally style
the " darkest of the middle ages," we
might commence our list with Cormac
MacCuilennan, whose career has been
already described in the proper place.
We might also enumerate, among other
names already mentioned, those of Cor-
macan Eigeas, the chief poet of Ulster
in the time of Muirkertach O'Neill,
whose memorable circuit he celebrated ;
and of the lector Probus or Coenachair
the biographer of St. Patrick, who was
burned by the Danes in a round tower
144
TIGHERNACH THE ANNALIST.
at Slane. A little before tliis time,
wLeu the monastic institutions had been
destroyed, and with them learning and
relio-ion almost wholly extinguished in
England, a few Irish monks settled at
Glastonbury, and for their support be-
gan to teach the rudiments of sacred
and secular knowledge* One of the
earliest and most illustrious "of their
pupils was the great St. Dunstan, who,
under the tuition of these Irishmen, be-
came skilled in philosophy, painting,
music, and other accomplishments, a
proof that education had made consid-
erable progress among the Irish monks.
St. Cadroe, the son of a king of the Al-
banian Scots, was at the same time in
Ireland, studying in the schools of Ar-
magh, where he acquired a knowledge
of arithmetic, astronomy, natural his-
tory, &c. And the name of Trian Sax-
on, then applied to one of the quarters
of that city, shows that thus, long be-
fore the English invasion, it must have
been frequented by a large number of
Saxon students.f St. Maccallin, an
Irishman, flourished in France at the
same period, as did also another, St.
Columbanus, an Irish saint, whose
memory has been preserved Avith great
veneration in Belgium. In the same
century Duncan, an Irish bishop, taught
in the monastery of St. Remigius, at
Rheims, and wrote, for the use of his
* These were tlie " viri sanctissimi, pr^cipufe Hiber-
nici," of whom Camden writes, who, in process of time,
received a salary from the king and educated youth in
piety and the liberal arts. " They embraced a solitary
life that they might devote themselves more tranquilly
to sacred literature, and by their austerities they accus-
students, some works, of which two, on
the liberal arts, and geography, are still
extant.
At home, poetry, especially as applied
to history, was a favorite pursuit. Ken-
neth O'Hartagan, who died in 975, is
described as a famous poet of Leath
Cuinn, and many of his compositions
are to be found in Irish MS. collections.
Eochy O'Flynn, who died in 984, has
left us several historical poems of merit.
He is frequently quoted as an authority
for accounts of the early colonists of
Ireland; having on these subjects em-
bodied in his verses traditions of an age
much older than his own. The names
of MacLiag, the secretary of Brian Bo-
rumha; and of Cuan O'Lochan, one of
the co-regents of Ireland, have been al-
ready introduced in these pages; and
following up the list of those who be-
long to this class, we have Flann Main-
istreach, the abbot of Monasterboice,
who died in 1056, and GioUa Keevin,
who died in 1072 ; both famous as bar-
dic chroniclers, many of whose produc-
tions still survive.
The most accurate and judicious of
our ancient annalists was Tighernach
(Tieruach), abbot of Clonmacnoise, who
wrote the Annals of Ireland from the
reign of Cimbaeth, that is, from about
the year before Christ, 305, to the
period of his death, in 1088, His com-
tomed themselves to carry the cross." — Brit. p. 193,
London, 1600. Glastonbury, according to Camden, was
anciently called " the first land of the saints in Eng.
land."
f Annals of the Four Masters, ad. an. 1093 ; Colgau,
Trias Thaum.
THE MONKS OF THE MffiDLE AGES.
14.'
piliition, -vvliich is partly in Latin and
]iartly in Irish, evinces a familiarity
with Greek and Eonian writers that is
highly creditable to the Irish monk of
that age.
It is remarkable that contemporary
with this eminent domestic chronicler
another Irishman, celebrated in the
same department of literature, flour-
ished abroad ; the fomous Marianus
Scotns — -whose great chronicles are the
most perfect composition of the kind
which the middle ages produced — hav-
ing died in 1086, two years before his
countryman Tighernach. National vani-
ty induced some Scottish writers to
claim Marianus as their countryman,
but without a shadow of foundation.*
The name is the usual Latin form of
Maelmuire, " the servant of Mary," a
name then common in Ireland; and
there is reason to believe that the fa-
mous chronographer w-as first a monk
of Clouard, in Meath. Having gone, as
many learned Irishmen did in his time,
to Germany, he first entered the Irish
convent near Cologne, but subsequently
became a recluse at Fulda, and was
finally sent by his superiors to Metz,
whei'e he died. The existence of such
men as IVIarianus Scotus and Tigher-
nach, in the eleventh century, are facts
■■' See the autliorities on this point eoUected by Lani-
gan, vol. iii., pp. 447, 448, nnd iv., pp. 5, 7, 8. AVTien
Heury IV. of England urged the authority of Marianus
lu support of his claim to the crown of Scotland, as Ed-
ward 1. liad done before, the Scottish States replied that
the writer wa.s a Hibernian not an Albanian Scot. Ma-
rianus is the first who is known to have applied the
came of Scotia to the modern Scotland, which was pre-
19
of great importance for their age and
country.
When St. Fingen, an Irishman, who
succeeded the Albanian Scot, St. Cad-
roe, as abbot of the monastery of St.
Felix, at Metz, was also invested, in 991,
with the government of the monastery
of St. Symphorian in that city, it was
ordered by the bishop that none but
Irish monks should be admitted into
this latter house, while they could be
found ; but when these failed the monks
of other nations might be received.f
The monastery of St. Martin, on the
Rhine, near Cologne, was made over to
the Irish for ever, in 975 ; and several
other monasteries, either wholly or
partially occupied by Irish monks, such
as those of Erfurt, Fulda, &c., are known
to have existed at that period in Ger-
many and the Netherlands. Some
Irishmen were associated with a com-
munity of Greek monks established at
Toul, in France, by the bishop, St.
Gerard, and are stated to have joined
them in the performance of the Church
service in the Greek language. J
St. Dunchadh, abbot of Clonmac-
noise, who died at Armagh, in 988, and
was held there in great veneration, is
said by Tighernach to have been the
last of the Irish saints who resuscitated
vionsly only called Alba, an appellation which, in this
form, or in that of Albuinn, or Albainn, lias ever
been the only Celtic name for North Britain.
■f Sco a copy of the original diploma to that effect, pub-
lished by Colgan, with the acts of St. Fingen in the AA.
SS. Hib. p. 258.
X This curious fact is mentioned by the Benedictines
in their Histoirc Lileraire.
146
THE SONS OF BRIAN BORUMHA.
the dead.* St. Aedli, or Hugh, lector
of Ti-evet, in Meatb, died at Armagb, in
1C04, after affording for many years a
bright example of holiness of life ; and,
under the date 1018, is recorded the
death of St. Gormghal of Ardoilean, the
remains of whose humLle oratory and
cloghau cell are still to be seen on that
rocky islet, amid the surges of the At-
lantic, off the wild coast of Counemara.f
Did we not bear in mind the fact, that
such men as these — and many others
like them might be enumerated — lived,
and taught, and, prayed at that period,
we would be apt, in wading through
the chaos of war and anarchy which the
chronicles of the tenth and eleventh
centuries present, to think that it was
indeed the age of utter darkness and
barbarism, which some writers unjustly
represent it to have been.*
Whether ignorance and vice pre-
vailed on the continent to a greater ex-
tent before Charlemagne, or after that
great monarch's reforms became obliter-
ated in the tenth century, is a matter
of discussion. In the former case they
were produced by the deluge of bar-
barism from the north and east, and
they resulted in the latter from the
* In the Acts of St. Dunchadh it is stated that the mir-
acle of restoring a dead chUd to life was jierfonned
through his prayers. AA. SS. Hib. Jan. 10.
•|- St. Gormghal is called " chief anmchara of Ireland.' '
The word aamchara means "spiritual director," and is
not to be confounded with angcore, " an anchorite or re-
duse."
X It may be well to remind some readers, that war,
rapine, and social confusion make up the great bulk of
the history of other countries as well aa that of Ireland,
durJDf; the a^cs of which we are here treating. In those
rank growth of the feudal system with
its abuses.
In Ireland disorganizing agencies,
analogous though not identical nor con-
temporary, were in operation. Thus,
although Ireland was not conquered by
barbarians, the Danish wars — which
raged without intermission for two cen-
turies— were well calculated to produce
the same ruinous results; and if the
feudal system did not exist, one equally
pregnant with political mischief pre
vailed. The numerous small and inde-
pendent principalities into which the
island was parceled out were perpetu-
ally engaged in mutual strife. They
formed -daily new complications ; and
as they increased in strength a central
controlling power became more and
more impracticable, and if raised up oc-
casionally by force of arms, required
incessant recourse to the same violent
means to enforce even a formal recogni-
tion of its authority. Such, unhappily,
was the state of things which prevailed
without amelioration from the death
of Malachy II. to the coming of the
English in the latter part of the twelfth
century.
Donous'h, son of Brian Borumha, hav-
turhulent times, the sole conservators of human know-
ledge as well as of religion in Christendom (for we ex-
cept the Arabs), were the much abused monks; and
those who vmgratefully blame these for having kept all
knowledge to themselves, forget that this was not the
monks' fault. The laity were too intent upon war and
other pursuits, and despised learning too much to devote
attention to it ; and the alternative was, the preserva^
tion of literature by ecclesiastics, or its final estino
tion.
TURLOUGH O'BRIEN.
147
iug, by the defeat of tlie Desmonians,
Jind subsequentlj^ by the death of his
Ti rother, Teige (who was in 1023 treach-
erously slaiu, at his instigation, by the
people of Ely O'Carroll), obtained the
undisputed sovereignty of Munster,
marched an army northward, and took
the hostages of Meath, Bregia, Os-
sory, and Leinster. This was a step
towards asserting hig claim to the sov-
ereignty of all Ireland ; but his contem-
porary, Derjuot MacMael-na-mbo, king
of Leinster, had a suj^erior title to that
honor* Donoiigh assembled a meeting
of the clergy and chieftains of Munster
at Killaloe, in the year 1050, to pass
laws for the protection of life and pro-
perty, against which outrages had been
rendered more frer[ueut in consequence
of a dearth which then prevailed ; and
in 1063, being defeated in battle by his
nephew Turlough, son of Teige, who
was aided by the forces of Connaught
and Leinster, he went on a pilgrimage
to Rome, where he died the following
year, after doing penance for the crime
of implication in his brother's murder.
It is stated that he took with him to
Rome the crown of Ireland, probably
the same which had been worn by his
father, and that he presented it to the
pope ; and it is added, but not on good
* Connell Mageoghegan, in liis tranBlation of the An-
nals of Clonmacnoise, A. D. 1041, sars : — " Tlio kings, or
cliicf monarchs of Ireland, -n-ure reputed to l)o absolute
(supreme) monarclis in this manner : if he were of Leigh-
Con, or Con's halfo in deale, and one pro\-inco in Leath-
Moye, or Moy's halfe in dealo, at his command, he was
coumpted to bu of sufficient power to be king of Taragli,
or Ireland ; but if the party were of Leatli-Moyo, if he
authority, that this crown was given by
Pope Adrian to Henry II., on the oc-
casion of that king's invasion of Ire-
land.
Turlough O'Brien now became the
most potent among the Irish princes,
and on the death of Dermot MacMael-
na-mbo, who was killed in battle to-
gether with a number of his allies or
vassals, the Danes of Dublin, by the
king of Meath, in 1072, the Dalcassian
king was regarded as his successor in
the rank of monarch of Ireland. Tur-
lough proceeded to assert his authoiity
by exacting hostages from the other
kings ; but in 1075 he received a check
from the men of the north, at Ardee
At this time theMacLoughlius,a branch
of the Hy-Nialls of Tyrone, reigned at
Aileach, and the O'Melaghlins in Meath.
The former retained their traditional
character for indomitable bravery, and
could rarely be compelled to admit the
supremacy of any southern i^rince.
The power of Connaught had of late
made considerable advances under the
O'Conors ; and Rory, or Eoderic O'Con-
or, its present king, having evinced an
aspiring disposition, Turlough O'Brien
was resolved to humble him, and for
that purpose led a powerful army into
Connaught, in 1079, plundered the
could not command all Leath-Moyo and Taragli, with
the lordshipp thereunto belonging, and the province of
Ulster or Connaught (if not both) ho would not be
thought sufficient to be king of all. Dcrmott MacMoy-
lenemo cou'd command Leath-Moye, Meath, Connaught,
and Ulster, and therefore, by the judgment of all, he
was reputed sufficient monarch of the whole" (of Ire-
land).
148
WARS BETWEEN THE NORTH AND SOUTH.
connti'y as far as Croagli Patrick, and
expelled Rory from Lis kingdom. Next
year lie led an army to Dublin, where
the people of Meath, who were accom-
panied by the successor of St. Patrick,
bearing the staff of Jesus, made their
submission to him; and he appointed
his son, Murtough, lord of the Danes of
Dublin, a position which had some time
before been held by a prince of Lein-
ster. As to Rory O'Conor, after carry-
ing on several petty wars successfully,
he at length (1012) fell into the hands
of the O'Flaherties of West Conuaught,
who always resisted the authority of
the O'Conor family, and was by them
treacherously blinded, the barbarous
practice of that age being to put out
the eyes of cajjtive princes, in order to
unfit them to command.
Turlough O'Brien* was succeeded by
his son Murtough, who subsequently
became king of all Ireland ; but in the
mean time that honor devolved upon
another prince ; for in 1090 a great
meeting took place between Donuell,
sou of MacLoughlin, king of Aileach;
Murtough O'Brien, king of Cashel;
Donnell O'Melaghliu, king of Meath ;
and Rory O'Conor, king of Connaught,
besides other princes ; and it was agreed
tliat the king of Aileach should be ac-
Icnowledged lord paramount, and host
ages were accordingly delivered to him
* A ludicrous story is told by the Four Masters of the
remote cause of Turlough O'Brien's deatli. It is said
tliat after an old enemy, Conor CMelaghlin, king of
Meatli, had been killed, and his remains deposited at
Clonmacnoise, Turlough ordered the head of tlie dead
man to be taken away ibrcibly from the church and
as such by the other kings and chief-
tains.
The peace thus brought about was,
however, of short duration, if indeed
there were any tranquil interval at all ;
for the provinces not only continued at
war with each other, but were split up
by internal divisions; and more than
once, about this time, the church
threw itself into the breach between
opposing armies, and caused a truce to
be made. A pestilence raged in 1095,
and a great part of the following year
was spent in fasting and Avorks of chai'-
ity, in order to avert a mysterious
scourge from heaven which the nation
believed to be impending. Donnell
O'Loughlin and the Clann O'lSTeill
invaded the Ulidians in 1099, and
there is an account of a decisive cav-
alry battle between them, in which
the latter Avere defeated; while Mur-
tough O'Brien had some trouble in
contending with the Connaught men on
one side, and with an insurrection of
his own relatives, the sons of Teige
O'Brien, on the other.
But the great struggle was between
the south and the north, and Murtough
directed all his resources and his great
military ability to the one object of
establishing his own power as monarch
of Ireland. Twice— in 1097 and 1099
— did the archbishop of Armagh and
brought to him. While feasting his eyes on that grim
object, a mouse issued from it, and leaped into his
bosom, and tliis gave him such a .sliock that he became
ill, his hair fell off, and he remained in bad health from
tlial time (1073) until deaUi, in 108G.
FRESH ATTEMPTS OF THE DANES.
149
the clergy of Ireland interpose between
the two armies, Avben foce to face, to
avert the threatened blow; but Mur-
tough was not to be diverted from his
purpose. In 1100 he brought a fleet,
chiefly composed of Danish ships, to
Derry, but O'Loughlin succeeded in
destroying them ; and the following-
year (1101), a twelve-months' truce
which the clergy had negotiated having
expired, Murtough led a powerful army,
composed of liostings from all the other
provinces, to the north, and devastated
the whole of Inis Eoghain, without
meeting any opposition. He demolished
the palace or stronghold of the north-
ei-n Hy-Nialls, " called the Grianan of
Aileach,* in revenge for a similar act of
hostility inflicted on O'Brien's palace of
Kincora, by O'Loughlin, sevei'al years
before ; and to raze it the more effectu-
ally, he commanded that in every sack
which had been used to carry provi-
sions for the army, a stone of the de-
molished building should be placed,
that the materials of it might be con-
veyed to Limerick. JNIurtough next
took hostages of Ulidia and returned to
the south, having made the entire cir-
cuit of Ireland, as the annals tell us, in
si.K weeks, Avithout encountering any
army to dispute his progress.
The reader has observed that the
overthrow of the Danes at Clontarf by
no means implied their expulsion from
* Tlie remains of this celebrated strongliold are still
visible on tbe summit of a small hill in the county of
Donegal, about four and alialf miles N. W. of the cit
:. f Londonderry, and are called OreenanEly. — Ordnance
Uttrcey vf Londonderry.
Ireland. They still continued to hold
Dublin and the other maritime cities
previously occupied by them ; but
chiefly in the capacity of merchants.
Their subsequent predatory inroads
were few; one of the last being in
1031, when they burned the great
church of Ardbraccan, in Meath, to-
gether with 200 persons who had
sought refuge in it, and carried off 200
more as captives. Afterwards these
acts of aggression on their part were
rare. The Danes of Dublin sent, at
different times, expeditions against their
countrymen in Waterford and Cork,
which shewed that they had ceased to
co-oi:)erate as a nation ; and at length
tlieir lords or kings were occasionally
expelled by the Irish, and Irish princes
substituted for them.f
The Northmen, nevertheless, had not
yet abandoned their old idea of con-
cpiering Ireland. Godfrey Crovan took
possession of Dublin and part of Lein-
stei', f )r a time, and a new expedition
was set on foot by Magnus, king of
Norway, after he had subdued the
Danes of the Orkneys and of tlie Isle
of Man, about the year of 1101. It is
related in the Chronicle of Man, that
Magnus sent his shoes to Murtough
O'Brien, king of Ireland, commanding
him, in token of subjection, to cany
them on his shoulders, in his house on
Christmas day. The news of so iuso-
f It -n-ould appear that in the beginning of the
eleventh century Ireland gave a king to Norway, in the
person of Harold (iillo, who was an Irisluuan. See Pr
Latham's KdU and Northmen.
150
INTERCOURSE BETWEEN IRELAND AND ENGLAND.
lent .1 message roused the indignation
of the Irish ; Ijut Murtougb, according
to tLis very improbable story, enter-
tained the Norwegian ambassadors
sumptuously ; told them he would not
only carry their master's shoes, but eat
them rather than that one province of
Ireland should be laid waste by an in-
vasion ; and having complied with the
haughty demand of the barbarian, dis-
missed his messengers with rich presents.
The report made by the ambassadors
only strengthened the desire of Magnus
to obtain a footing in Ireland. He made
a truce of one year with king Murtough,
the hand of whose daughter he obtained
in marriage for his son Sigurd ; but all
his ambitious projects were frustrated
the following year (1103) ; for, on land-
ing to explore the country he and his
party were cut off by the Ulidians, af-
ter some hard fighting, and his remains
were respectfully interred near St. Pat-
rick's church, in Down.'"
We meet many instances of inter-
course with England during the period
* Mr. Moore (Hist, of Ireland, vol. ii., p. 137) contrast-
ing the resistance -wliicU the Danes encountered in Ire-
land, with the ineffective efforts made against them in
England, says : — " The very same year (that of the bat-
tle of Clontarf), which saw Ireland pouring forth her
assembled princes and clans to confront the invader on
the sea-shore, and there make of his myriads a warning
example to all future intruders, beheld England un-
worthily cowering under a similar visitation, her king
a fugitive from the scourge in foreign lands, and her
nobles purchasing by inglorious tribute, a short respite
from aggression ; and while, in the English annals for
this year, we find little else than piteous lamentations
over the fallen and broken spirit both of rulers and peo-
ple, in the records of Ireland the only sorrows which
appear to have mingled with the general triuiniih are
those breathed at the tombs of the veteran monarch and
of which we have been lately treating.
Driella, daughter of earl Godwin and
sister of Editha, the queen of Edward
the Confessor, was married to Donough
O'Brien, the Irish king ; and during the
rebellion of Godwin and his sons against
king Edward, Harold, one of the sons,
afterwards king of England, took refuge
in Ireland. He remained during a win-
ter with his brother-in-law, Donough,
who gave him, on his return to Eug-
and, nine ships to aid him in his enter-
prise. The Irish lent assistance in sev-
eral other feuds of the Anglo-Saxons at
this period. Lanfranc, the great arch-
bishop of Canterbury, appears to have
directed a watchful eye towards the
Church of Ireland. He heard of irregu-
larities of discipline, which gave hira
much uneasiness, and as he was in con-
stant intercourse with the Danish bish-
ops of Ireland, who had gone to him for
consecration and promised obedience to
him, the accounts which he received
were sure not to diminish the evil. Lan-
fra-uc wrote an earnest epistle on the
the numerous chieftains who fell in that struggle by his
side."
And William of Newbury, an old English historian,
who was born in the year 113G, candidly says : — " It is a
matter of wonder that Britain, which is of larger extent,
and equally an island of the ocean, should have been
so often, by the chances of war, made the prey of for-
eign nations, and subjected to foreign rule, having
been first subdued and possessed by the Romans, then
by the Germans, afterwards by the Danes, and lastly
by the Normans ; while her neighbor, Hibernia, inacces-
sible to the Romans themselves, even when the Orkneys
were in their power, has been but rarely, and then im-
perfectly, subdued ; nor ever, in reality, has been brought
to submit to foreign domination, till the year of our
Lord mi."— Berum Angl. 1. 3. c. sxxi.
STATE OF RELIGION.
1.51
subject to king Turlougli O'Brien, ad-
dressing liim as tlie king of Ireland, and
lauding his virtues as a Christian prince
in flattering and encouraging terms.
The great Pope Gregoiy VII. also hon-
ored king Turlough with a letter, pub-
lished, as well as the last-mentioned one,
in Ussher's Sylloge, and addressed him
as "The illustrious king of Ireland."
It is stated in Haumer's Chi'onicle that
William Rufus obtained from Turlough
O'Brien a quantity of oak timber for
the roof of Westminster Hall, and that
the trees cut down for the purpose grew
on Oxmantown Green, then in the north-
ern suburbs of Dublin, but now form-
ing part of the city. A deputation of
the nobles of Man and other islands
waited on Mwrtough O'Brien, and soli-
cited him to send them a king, and he
accordingly sent his nephew, Donnell,
who, however, was soon expelled on ac-
count of his tyranny ; while another
Donuell O'Brien, his cousin, was, at the
same time, lord of the Danes of Dublin.
Among the high qualities which
marked the character of Mur tough
O'Brien were his attachment to re-
ligion and his generosity to the church.
In the year 1101 he summoned a
meeting of the clergy and chiefs of
Leath Mogha, to give due solemnity to
an act of extraordinary munificence —
namely, that of granting the city of Cas-
hel-of-the-kings for ever to the religious
* It is said tlmt Gilbert, bishop of Limerick, and first
legate apostolic in Ireland, presided on this latter occa-
sion ; but although Dr. Lanigan holds the contrary opin-
ion, it has been conjectured with great probability that
of Ireland, free from all dues and from
all lay authority — a grant, say the an-
nalists, "such as no king had ever made
before." The words in which the gift
is recorded would seem to imply that
the royal city was given to the monas-
tic orders exclusively.
In 1111 a s)'nod was convened at
Fidh-Aengussa, or Aengus's Grove, de-
scribed by Colgan as near the hill of
Uisneach, in Westmeath. It was at-
tended by .50 bishops, 300 priests, and
3,000 other ecclesiastics; and also by
Murtough O'Brien, king of Leath ]\Iog-
ha, and by the nobles of his provinces.
Among the heads of the clergy wei'e
St. Celsus, or Ceallach, archbishop of
Armagh, and Maelmuire, or Marianus
O'Dunain, archbishop of Cashel, who is
styled " most noble senior of the clergy
of Ireland ;" the object of the synod be-
ing " to institute rules of life and man-
ners for clergy and people." Thei'e is
also mention of a synod of Rathbreasaii
held about this time, the particular year
not being specified, nor the place identi-
fied by its ancient name.* The abuses in
matters of discipline which had grown
out of old customs, and which the se-
cluded position of Ireland had gradual-
ly allowed to extend themselves, had
begun to give much uneasiness at this
time in the Irish Church. One of these
abuses was the excessive multij^licatiou
of the episcopal dignitj'-, owing to the
the synods of Fidh-Aengussa, or rather Fidh-mic-Aen-
gussa, and Kathbreasil are ono and the sjime — Eccl.
Hist, of Ireland, chap, xxv., sec. xiii. ; also Dr. Eelly'a
edition of Camtjrcntis Eccnus, vol. iii pp. DO and 783.
152
STATE OF ItELIGION.
custom of creating cliorepiscopi or rural
bisliops ; and a principal object of the
synod or .synods in question was to limit
the numljer of prelates and define the
bounds of dioceses. It was decided that
there should be but twenty-four bishops
and archbishops : that is, twelve in the
northern and twelve in the southern
half of Ireland ; but this regulation was
not carried out for some time. The dio-
cese of Cash el, as well as that of Ar-
magh, was, at that time, fully recognized
as archiepiscopal, and the successor of
St. Jarlath was sometimes called arch-
bishop of Connaught, although the
formal recognition of the see of Tuam
as an archbishopric did not take place
until several years after.
Besides the practice of unnecessarily
multiplying bishops, which was one that
had been abolished in other churches
centuries before this time, the more
serious abuse prevailed in Ireland of al-
lowing laymen to intrude themselves
into church dignities, and to assume the
title and revenues of bishops. These
men, as we have already explained when
treating of coarbs or comorbans, were
obliged to transfer to ecclesiastics, regu-
larly ordained and consecrated, the
functions of the sacred olBces which
they usurped. Vie have no reason to
believe that the practice was a general
one ; but we are told that in the church
of Armagh there was a succession of
eight lay and married intruders usurp-
ing the title of St. Patrick's successors.
The father was succeeded by his son,
and the highest dignity in the Irish
church was treated as a mere temporal
inheritance. Some other corruptions of
discipline liad also crept in ; such as the
practice of consecrating bishops witliout
the assistance of moi-e than one prelate ;
and some irregularities in contracting
marriage within prohibited degrees of
kindred and affinity, and also in the
form of marriage. But on these subjects
our principal source of information is
St. Bernard's Life of St. Malachy ; and
it is now universally admitted that as
the illustrious abbot of Clairvaux knew
nothing about Ireland or its usages, ex-
cept what he learned from a few Irish-
men who described to him partial or
isolated abuses, and was besides an
unsparing and zealous denouncer of all
corruptions, he allowed his horror of
everything that infringed upon the
sanctity of religion to carry him too far
in his description of the state of religion
and morals in Ireland as they were
found there by his friend St. Malachy.
The history of the Irish Church dur-
ing the twelfth century, into which we
have now entered, is replete with the
deepest interest. The abuses which
cast over it a temporary shade are to
be deplored ; but in the lives of such
illustrious men as St. Celsus, St. Ma-
lacliy, St. Gelasius, and St. Laurence
O'Toole, we find an abundant source of
consolation. These holy men were raised
up at a favorable moment to crush the
evil, and under Providence they re-
stored to the Church of Ireland much
of its pristine lustre.
When St. Malachy undertook the
STATE OF RELIGION.
153
care of the diocese of Connor, be found,
it is true, a most deplorable i-elaxatiou
of discipline prevailing; but it would
be no wonder if the perpetual warfare,
in Avhich that and some other portions
of Ireland were more especially involved
during that turbulent period, had quite
disorganized society. The monstrous
abuse, too, of tolerating laymen in the
see of St. Patrick, and that on the mere
right of inheritance, may well have
filled such a mind as that of St. Bernard
with inexpressible grief and horror ; yet
such was the effect of usage upon men's
opinions, that we find these very lay
intruders mentioned by our annalists —
themselves ecclesiastics — without any
mariced condemnation, and generally as
having performed exemplaiy peuance
before their death. We may, therefore,
seek for some charitable palliation of
the usage in the insolence of the few
powerful families who, in that rude age,
were guilty of the usurpation.* St. An-
selm, the great archbishop of Canter-
bury, in his correspondence with the
prelates of the south of Ireland, and
with king Murtough O'Brien, in the
years 1095 and 1100, although he evin-
ces extreme anxiety for the interests of
♦ This abuse was not confined to Ire'.and. A canon
of the Council of London was framed against a precisely
Bimilar abuse in 1125 ; a!ld in the time of Cambrcnsis
there were lay abbots in Wales who took all the real
property of the monasteries into tlielr own hands, leav-
ing the clcrg}' only the altars and their dues, and placing
children or relatives of their own in tho church for the
purpose of enjoying even these. — Itin. Cambr., b. c. 4.
t See this corespondence printed in Ussher's Syllogc.
X The former of those charges is the mere suggestion
of sectarian bias, without any foundation. Thus it is
religion, indicating that there were some
irregularities to be reformed, still com-
pliments the king on his excellent ad-
ministration, and passes a high eulogium
upon those bishops of whom he seems
to have had any knowledge, namely,
those of the southern dioceses.f We
may, indeed, from this and many other
circumstances, conclude, that the evils
of which St. Bernard so eloquent!}^
complained, were at least not so general
as his denunciations would imply, and
did not continue for any lengthened
period. It should be also observed
that they have reference solely to mat-
ters of discipline and morality, and by
no means to faith or doctrine. So that
we must be on our guard against two
very grievous misrepresentations of
which the Irish Church of the eleventh
and twelfth centuries has been the ob-
ject; fii-st, that there was some devia-
tion from the faith of the Catholic or
Roman Church in Ireland at that time;
and, secondly, that the moral disorders
which it must be admitted did exist,
were general, or continued down to the
time of the English invasion. J
Resuming our civil history, and pass-
ing in silence over a number of petty
falsely pretended that it was St. Slalachy who actually
brought the Irish church into communion with Rome,
and that this arrangement was only made effective by
Cardinal Paparo at the Synod of Kells in 1152. The
other charge has been made by various writers who
took it up at second-hand, and were actuated by un-
friendly feelings towards Ireland. Dr. Milner, in par-
ticular, in his work on Ireland fell into the injurious er-
ror of supposing tliat tho English on their arrival liero
found the abuses of wluch St. Bernard complained \itll
a century before still prevalent.
154
DEATH OF MURTOUGH O'BRIAN.
wars, in which many districts, especially
in the centre of Ireland, were desolated,
we find that Murtough O'Brien was
seized with illness, which in 1114 com-
pelled him to retire from active life.
His brother, Dermot, an ambitious man,
took the opportunity to declare himself
king of Munster ; but this act recalled
fi'om his retreat Murtough, who, al-
though reduced by age and sickness to
the appearance of a skeleton, put him-
self at the head of his army, caused his
unnatural brother to be made prisoner,
and marched once more into Leinster
and Bregia. This, however, was a last
and feeble effort. He was obliged to
relinquish the kingdom to his brother;
and retiring into the monastery of Lis-
more, where he embraced the ecclesias-
tical state, he died in 1119. His old
competitor, Donnell O'Loughlin, sur-
vived him two years, and in 1120 led
an army in defence of the king of Meath
against the forces of Connaught ; when
feeling his end approach, he retired into
the Columbian monastery of Dei-ry, and,
after penitential exercises, died there
the following year, in the 73d year of
his age. It is remarkable that, although
the power of his southern rival was, at
least for many years, more extensively
recognized than his, still O'Loughlin
receives the title of king of Ireland
more generally fi'om the annalists; so
much did the legitimate principle weigh
with the Irish in favor of the ancient
royal house of Hy-Niall. The contest
between these two princes was never
regularly fought out; for even in 1118,
the last time they confronted each other
at the head of their respective armies,
St. Celsus, archbishop of Armagh, with
the crozier of St. Patrick, interposed,
and brought about a truce.
Two other princes who had played
important parts in Irish affairs alsc
closed their career in an exemplary
manner about this time. These were
Rory O'Conor, who had been king of
Connaught, but who having been blind-
ed by the O'Flaherties many yeai's be-
fore, entered into religion in the mon-
astery of Clonmacnoise, and died there
in 1118 ; and Teige MacCarthy, king of
Desmond, who died at Cashel, in 1124,
after affording many proofs of earnest
piety.
A new set of characters now appear
on the stage of Irish history. Of these,
the leading part was taken by Turlough
or Turdelvach O'Conor, son of the
above-mentioned Rory, who found a
clear stage for his ambition, and made
rapid strides in raising himself to the
sovereignty of Ireland. He plundered
Thomoud as fiir as Limerick in 1116,
when Dermot O'Bi'ien was able to make
but a feeble resistance, trying to avenge
himself by an inroad into Connaught
during Turlough's absence. In 1118,
Turlough O'Conor, aided by Murrougli
O'Melaghliu, king of Meath, and Hugh
O'Rourke, lord of Breffny, led an army
as fin- as Gleann-Maghair (Glanmire),
near Cork, and divided Munster, giving
Desmond to MacCarthy, and Thomond
to the sons of Dermot O'Brien, and car-
rins:' off hostafres from both. He eu-
TURLOUGH O'CONOR.
If) 5
deavored to crush the power of O'Briea
by exalting that of the Eoghanachts or
Desmoniaa family, who had been ex-
cluded since the time of Briau Borumha.
He then marched without delay to
Dublin, and took hostages from the
Danes, from Ossory, and from Leinster,
liberating Donnell, son of the king of
Meath, whom the Danes held in captiv-
ity. The following year he scoured the
Shannon with a fleet, hurled the royal
palace of Kincora into the river, " both
stones and timber," and remained there
some time with his numerous allies, of
Ossory, Leinster, and Dublin, consuming
the pi'ovisions of Munster. These ex-
treme acts of sovereign authority, or
rather of unresisted aggression, were fol-
lowed by others, such as the expulsion of
his late ally and father-in-law, Murrough
O'Melaghlin, from Meath, in 1120; the
wholesale plundering of Desmond, from
Traigh Li (Tralee) to the termon, or
sanctuary land of Lismore, in 1121 ; and
the giving of the kingdom of Dublin, as
it was called, to his own son, Conor, in
1126; all the intermediate time being
devoted to various acts of hostility
which it is needless to enumerate.
" There was," say the annalists, " a great
Btorm of war throughout Ireland, in gen-
eral, so that Ceallach (St. Celsus) suc-
cessor of Patrick, was obliged to be for
one month and a year absent from Ard
Macha, establishing," or rather endea-
• He is called St. Cormac by Lynch. — CanJtrenm
Ecenus, cliap. xsi.
f Bishop Maelcolum O'Brolchan of Armagh, who died
la IVi'i, in the reputation of sanctity, and who is usu-
voring to establish, "peace among the
men of Ireland, and promulgating rules
and good customs everywhere among
the laity and clergy."
In 1127, Turlough O'Conor led his
forces, both by sea and land, to Cork,
and driving Cormac MacCarthy from
his kingdom, divided Munster into
three parts. Cormac retired to Lismore,
where it is supposed by some that he
assumed holy orders, being a prince of
a religious disposition ;* but being
urged to leave his retreat he resumed
the reins of government on Turlough's
Avithdrawal, and his brother, Donough,
who had been placed on the throne by
that king, fled to his patron in Con-
naught, with 2,000 followers.
At length (1128) a year's truce be-
tween Connaught and Munster was
made by St. Celsus ; and the following
year that holy archbishop, worn out by
his austerities and indefatigable labors
in the cause of religion and peace, al-
though onl}' fifty years of age, died at
Ardpatrick, in the southern part of the
present county of Limerick, where he
was on his visitation ; and his remains,
having been conveyed to Lismore, were
interred there in the cemetery of the
bishops.f
In the year 1129 the great church of
Clonmacnoise was robbed of several
objects of value, among which was a
model of Solomon's Temple, presented
ally descriljed as the suffragan or coadjutor of St. Colsua,
had been, no doubt, one of the acting bishops who
officiated for the lay iutrudera during their incum-
bency.
156
ST. MALACHY.
by a prince of Meatb, and a silver
chalice plated with gold, and beautiful-
ly engraved with her own hand, by a
sister of king Turlough O'Conor. The
enumeration of the articles stolen affords
an illustration of the taste and luxury
displayed by Irish princes in objects of
domestic use or ornament, and of the
accomplishments of an Irish princess.
The robber was a Dane of Limerick,
who haviucr been arrested while at-
tempting to escape from the countiy,
was hanged for the crime the following
year.
Having now approached the eve of
the most eventful epoch of Irish history,
that of the Anglo-Norman invasion, we
shall reserve for the next chapter a
summary of the events which may ex-
plain the circumstances, moral and
political, in which the country was
found on that occasion.
CHAPTER XVI.
St. MfJacliy. — Ilis Early Career. — His Reforms in the Diocese of Connor. — His Witlidrawal to Kerry. — His
Government of tlie Cliurcli of Armagh. — His Retirement to Down. — Struggle of Conor O'Brien and Turlough
O'Conor.— Synod at Cashel.— Cormac's Chapel.— Death of Cormao MacCarthy.— Turlough O'Conor's Rigor to
liis Sons. — Crimes and Tyranny of Dermot MacMurrough. — St. Malacliy's Journey to Rome. — Building of
Mellifont. — Synod of Inis-Padraig. — The Palliums. — St. Malachy's Second Journey and Death. — Political
State of Ireland.— Arrival of Cardinal Paparo.— Synod of Kells.— Misrepresentations Corrected.— The Battle
of Moin-Mor. — Famine arising from Civil War in Munster. — Dismemberment of Meath. — Elopement of Der
vorgil.— Battle of Rahin— A Naval Engagement.— Death of Turlough O'Conor, and Accession of Roderic—
Synod of Mellifont.— Synod of Bri-Mic-Taidhg.— Wars and Ambition of Roderic— St. Laurence O'Toole.—
Synod of Clane. — Zeal of the Irish Hierarchy. — Death of O'Loughlin. — Roderic O'Conor Monarch, — Expulsion
of Dermot MacMurrough. — Great Assembly at Athboy.
Conlimporarj/ Sovereigns.— Fopos: Innocent II., Celestine II., Lucius II., Eugenius III., Anastiisiu
Kings of England : Stephen, 1135, Henry II., 1154.— King of France : Louis VIL, 1137.
(A. D. 1180 TO A. D. 1108).
ST. CELSUS, or Ceallach, the arch-
bishop of Armagh, although a
member of the ursurping family, was
deeply impressed with the enormous
irregularity of making the see a family
inheritance; and desired by his will
that St. Malachy should be chosen his
successor. This latter holy personage
(whose name in Irish was Maelmaedhog
O'Morgair) was known to St. Celsus
from his youth. He belonged to a
noble fiimily, although it is believed
that his father filled the office of lector,
or professor, in the school of Armagh.
The account of his early training under
the abbot Imar O'Hagan, of Armagh,
ST. MALACHY.
157
shows that sufficient resources for the
pious and enlightened education of
youth had still survived the past cen-
turies of foreign invasion and domestic
tumult in Ireland. "While yet a young
man he undertook the restoration of
the famous monastery of Bangor, of
which only a few crumbling ruins then
remained, the abbey lands being pos-
sessed by a layman who enjoyed the
title of abbot. St. Malachy associated
with himself a few religious men, and
having constructed a small oratory of
timber, they entered into the true spirit
of monastic life. Soon, however, this
tranquil existence was interrupted by
his election as bishop of Connor ; and
the episcopal duties which he was com-
pelled to assume were of the most ardu-
ous nature, as he found his diocese in a
deplorable state of disorder. In fact,
little more than the traces of religion
were left among the people; but St.
Malachy went zealously to Avork, and
by God's blessing, and the assistance of
his little community of monks, who ac-
companied him from Bangor, he soon
succeeded in restoring discipline and
reviving religion among his flock.
Scarcely had he effected this happy
result when war destroyed the fruits of
his labor. Some hostile prince invaded
the territory, and St. Malachy, driven
from his diocese, repaired, with 120
monks, to the territory of Corraac Mac
Carthy, king of Desmond, whose friend-
sliil) he had acquired in the monaster}^ of
Lismore where he was at the time that
Cormac made it his retreat on beiuc:
driven from his kingdom by Turlough
O'Conor. The withdrawal of St. Ma-
lachy to Munster took place some short
time after the death of St. Celsus at
Ardpatrick in 1129 ; and as soon as the
death of that holy prelate was known
in Armagh, a layman, named Muirker-
tach, or Maurice, claimed the see as his
inheritance, and, by the aid of his pow-
erful clan, got himself proclaimed suc-
cessor of St. Patrick, and maintained
himself in the sacrilegious usurpation.
This Maurice was son of Donald, the
predecessor of St. Celsus, and grandson
of Amalgid, another of the nominal
archbishops, or comorbans.*
In the year 1132, bishop Gilbert, of
Limerick, apostolic delegate, and bish-
op Malchus, of Lismore, assembled sev-
eral bishops and chieftains, who went
in a body to St. Malachy, in the mon-
astery which he had erected at Ibrach,f
in Munster; and partly by entreaties
in the name of the clergy and people,
partly even by threats of excommunica-
tion, compelled him to leave his re
treat and assume the government of
the church of Armagh, on the condi-
tion, however, that he might retire
when he had restored order in the
diocese. For the next two years a
melancholy schism prevailed; the in-
truder still persevering in his occupa-
tion of the see with its revenues, and
St. Malachy performing the functions
of archbishop without venturing into
* This family belonged to the royal house of Oriel,
■f Supposed by Dr. lianigan to be Ivragh, in Kerry,
part of Cormack MacCarthy's kingdom.
156
WARS OF TURLOUGH O'CONOR.
the city, lest a tumult should take
place, and human life be sacrificed.
Consi:)iracieg against his life were
formed, but he was providentially de-
fended against them; and, at length,
in 1134, the usurper died, after, as it
Is stated, giving tokens of sincere re-
pentance. Another intruder, however,
arose in the person of one Nlell, or Ni-
gellus. Against this man popular feel-
ing became so strong, that he was
obliged to fly; but he contrived to
take with him St. Patrick's crozier and
that apostle's book of the Gospels, and,
by the aid of these venerable relics, he
continued for a while to impose on
some persons, with the pretence that
he Avas the rightful successor of St.
Patrick.*
Ecclesiastical discipline having been
restored, and the independence of the
church vindicated in Armagh, through
the indefatigable zeal of Malachy, that
holy pontifl; made a visitation of Mun-
ster in 1136; and the following year
he resigned the primatial dignity,
which, after another attempt of Nigel-
lus, as some annalists say, to intrude
himself, was conferred on Gelasius, or
Gilla MacLiag, " the son of the poet,"
then abbot of the great Columbian
monastery of Derry,f St. Malachy,
himself, being installed as bishop of
Down, Avhich had previously been
* The Four Masters, an. 1135, say : " Maelmaedhog
Ua Morgair (St. Malachy), successor of Patrick, pur-
chased the Bachall-Isa (staff of Jesus), and took it from
its cave on the 7th day of the month of July." Whence
it appears, that NigeUus extorted a sum of money for
united to his old diocese of Con-
noi', over which another prelate now
presided.
Returning to Turlough O'Conor,
whom we left extending his sway Avith
little impediment to his ambition, since
the death of his northern rival, Don-
nell O'Loughlin, we find him, at length,
receiving a serious check from Conor
O'Brien, who had succeeded his father,
Dermot, on the throne of North Mun-
ster. Conor O'Brien, in 1131, carried
off hostages from Leinster and Meath,
and defeated the cavalry of Connaught ;
and the following year he sent a fleet
to the coast of Connaught, destroyed
the castle of Bun Gaillve, or Galway,
and i^lundered West Connaught. In the
former of these years the men of the
north also invaded Connaught ; and in
1133, Conor O'Brien and Cormac Mac
Carthy made an incursion there, on
both which occasions Turlough O'Con-
or was glad to make a year's truce
with his opj3onents.
A synod of the bishops and clergy
of Munster was held in Cashel in 1134,
to celebrate, with special pomp, the
consecration of a church just erected
there by Cormac MacCarthy. This
was the building now so well known
as Cormac's Chapel, on the rock of
Cashel, one of the most beautiful speci-
mens of Romanesque architecture in
its restoration. The death of that wretched man is re-
corded in the year 1139.
f The name of tliis prelate appears as St. Gelasius in the
JIarty rology of Marianus Gorman, and his life is publish-
ed by Colgan in the Acta. SS. Mib. at the 27th of March
DERMOT MACMURROUGH.
159
these countries, and the erection of
which has been erroneously ascribed
to Cormac MacCuilennan in the tenth
century.* Cormac MacCarthy was,
in 1138, treacherously killed in his
house by Turlough, son of Derniot
O'Brien, and by the two sons of the
O'Conor Kerry.
Turlough O'Conor is described by
our annalists as a stern vindicator of
justice ; but the justice of that age was
not very refined in its judgments. For
some offence, the nature of which we
are not told, he caused the eyes of his
son, Aedh, or Hugh, to be put out, in
113G ; and the same year he cast Rod-
eric, or Rory (Ruaidhri), another of his
sons, into prison. It would appear that
Roderic was liberated chiefly through
the interference of the clergy ; but seven
years later he was again imprisoned by
his inexorable father, "in violation of
the most solemn pledges and guaran-
tees." On this latter occasion the pre-
lates and clergy, with the chieftains of
Conuaught, finding all their entreaties
to obtain his liberation in vain, held a
public fast at Rathbrendan, praying
heaven to mollify the father's heart,
but it was not until the following year
that Roderic was released from his fet-
ters. Murrough O'Melaghlin, king of
Meath, was seized at the same time
with Roderic in spite of solemn guar-
antees, but was set at liberty through
the interference of his sureties, who
* See Dr. Petrie'g Ecclesiastical Architecture, &c. pp.
290, &c., where tlie question whether Cormac MacCar-
thy were a biahop as well as Jung is discussed.
conveyed him into Munster, and his
territory was given by Turlough to
his own son, Conor, who was killed the
following year by the men of Meath as
a usurper. No tie or obligation was
now allowed by Turlough O'Conor to
stand in the way of his caprice or am-
bition.
Dermot MacMurrough, or Diarmaid-
na-Gall, that is, Dermot of the foreign-
ers, as he is often called, the infamous
king of Leinster who betrayed his
country to the English, now appears
on the scene, and, from the commence-
ment, his ill-omened career is marked
by crime. In the year 1135, according
to Mageoghegan's Annals of Clonmac-
noise, he took the abbess of Kildare
from her cloister, and compelled her to
marry one of his men, at the same time
killing 170 of the people of Kildare
who attempted to prevent the sacri-
legious outrage. After being involved
in various feuds in the interval, he en-
deavored, in 1141, to crush all resis-
tance to his tyranny by a barbarous
onslaught upon the nobles of his jjrov-
ince. He killed Donnell, lord of Hy-
Faelain, and Murrough O'Tuathail;
put out the eyes of Muirkertach Mac
Gillamochalmog, lord of Feara Cual-
ann, or AVicklow, and killed or blinded
seventeen other chieftains, besides ma-
ny of inferior rank.
Conor O'Brien died in 11-12, at Kil-
laloe, after rigid jienance, and was suc-
ceeded by his brother Turlough, who
commenced his reign by a war with
Turlough O'Conor, and an invasion of
160
ST. MALACHY APPLIES FOR THE PALLIUMS.
Leinster * In 1144, O'Conor and O'Bri-
en held a peace conference, but their
truce did not extend beyond a year;
and in 1145 the Four Masters intro-
duce a long catalogue of predatory in-
cursions in every part of the country,
by the expressive words, that this year
Ireland was made "a trembling sod."
The O'Loughlins of Tyrone were at
war with their neighbours, the Ulidi-
ans ; a deadly feud was carried on be-
tween Meath and Breffny; O'Conor
and O'Brien were engaged in hostili-
ties; and Teffia and other territories
were also scenes of bloodshed and de-
vastation.
In the midst of these tumults, the
church endeavored to carry on its ac-
tion— internally, by the promotion of
discipline and morality, and externally
by efforts, often fruitless, for the res-
toration of peace. It had long been a
favorite project with St. Malachy to
obtain from the Holy See a formal rec-
ognition of archi episcopal sees in Ire-
land, by the granting of palliuras. For
that purpose he proceeded to Rome
shortly after he had become bishop of
Down ; and as the fame of his sanctity
and zeal had gone before him — a char-
acter which his mortified appearance
was well calculated to sustain — he was
received with every mark of love and ven-
eration by the reigning pontiff, luno-
* Wlien Turlougli O'Brien invaded Connauglit in
1143, he cut down the Euaidh-Bheithigli, or red birch
tree of Hy-Fiachra Aidhne, which was probably one of
those trees under which the Irish kings were inaugura-
ted ; like tlie Bile Maighe Adhair, of Thomond, which
cent II. The Pope, descending from
his throne, placed his own mitre on the
head of the Irish saint, presented him
with his own vestments and other re-
ligous gifts and appointed hira apostol-
ic legate, instead of Gilbert, bishop of
Limerick, who was then a very old
man. When St. Malachy, however,
asked for the palliums, the Holy Fath-
er prudently observed that that was a
matter of great moment, and that the
demand should have come from a syn-
od of the Irish church, which should,
he suggested, be held for that purpose.
After a stay of one month, visiting the
holy places in Rome, St. Malachy set
out on his return to Ireland ; having,
both going and returning, paid visits
to the great St. Bernard, at Clairvaux,
and laid the foundation of that friend-
ship which forms so remarkable an in-
cident in the lives of both these emi-
nent saints, and in the history of the
Irish Church.
On his arrival in Ireland, St. Malachy
set earnestly about his favorite mission
for the more regular organization of
church affairs. By virtue of his lega-
tine powers he held local synods in sev-
eral places, and travelled on foot all
through Ireland. He rebuilt and re-
stored many churches that had, in vari-
ous parts of the country, been destroyed
by the Danes, or fallen into decay dur-
Avas destroyed by Malachy II. in 918 ; and the tree of Craev
Tulcha (now C'reeve, near Glenavy, in Antrim), under
which the kings of Ulidia were inauguarated, and which
was destroyed by Donnell O'Loughlin, in 1099.
DEATH OP ST. MALACIIY.
161
ing the constant wars of those times.
In 1142, he founded, near Drogheda,
the famous Cistercian abbey of Melli-
font, which was liberally endowed by
O'Carroll, king of Orghial (Oriel), and
was supplied with monks from Clair-
vaux, whither St. Malachy had sent
some Irishmen to be trained for the
purpose.*
The synod from which the formal
application for the palliums emanated
was convened by St. Malachy as legate,
and Gelasius as primate, in 1148. It
was held in Inis-Padriag, or St. Patrick's
Island, near Skerries,f and was attended
by fifteen bishops, two hundred priests,
and several other ecclesiastics. After
three days spent in the consideration
of other matters, the synod treated of
the palliums on the fourth ; and, al-
though unwilling that St. Malachy
should again leave Ireland, the assem-
bled clergy consented to his departure
on this occasion, as it was known that
Eugene III., Avho had been a Cistercian
monk, was visiting Clairvaux, and that,
therefore, St. Malachy would not have
* St. Bernard's letters to St. Malacliy on this subject
are printed in Usslier's Sylloge. On tlio occasion of
buUding the church of this monastery, some wrong-
headed person opposed St. Malachy'a plan, urging that
the undertaking greatly exceeded the means at his dis-
posal ; that none of them would ever see the work com-
pleted ; that a wooden oratory in the old Irish fashion
would suiBcc, and that it was wrong to introduce the
customs of other countries, even in the shape of fme
architecture for God's house, adding : — "we are Scots,
not Frenchmen." The saint persevered successfully,
and the objector's prophecy was only verified in himself,
as he died before a year, and did not see the work fin-
ished.
\ The Synod was held in the island above mentioned,
and not at Holm Patrick, on tlie mainland, as Dr. Lani-
21
to travel farther than France to see the
sovereign pontiff. The saint set out
immediately on his journey ; but hav-
ing been detained some time in Eng-
land, owing to a i')rohibition issued by
King Stephen against bishops leaving
the country, he found on arriving at
Clairvaux, that the Pope had returned
to Rome. St. Malachy was not permit-
ted to carry out his cherished project ;
he was seized with his death-sickness
four or five days after his arrival at
Clairvaux, and exjaired there, on the
2d of November that year (1148), at-
tended by St. Bernard, and surrounded
by a number of the abbots and religi-
ous of the order. J
All this time a fierce warfare was
carried on among the chieftains of the
north, but the primate brought about
a meeting between them at Armagh, in
the latter part of 1148, and arranged
terms of peace, to which they bound
themselves on the crozier of St. Patrick ;
the chieftains of Oriel, Ulidia, and the
other northern territories, giving host-
ages to Muirkertach, Murtough, or
gan supposes ; the monastic establishment not having
been transferred to the latter place until some time be-
tween 1213 and 1228. Archdall, Monast. HU). p.
218.
X The festival of St. Malachy was transferred from
2d of November, the day of his death, to the following
day, owing to the commemoration of All Souls, which
would interfere with its due solemnization. This illus-
trious man is admitted to have been one of the greatest
saints not only of the Irish but of the universal Church.
His life, by St. Bernard, which is an important authority
in our ecclesiastical history, was written not later than
the year 1151 ; and ho was solemnly cammized in 1190
by Pope Clement III. We may here remark that the
pretended prophecy about the Popes, formerly attrilmtej
to St. Malachy, has been long rejected as aprocryplial.
162
THE SYNOD OF KELLS.
Maurice O'Louglilin, king of Tyrone, in |
token of submission. O'Loughlin pro-
ceeded to Dublin the following year,
accompanied by O'Carroll, when Dermot
MacMurrough also paid homage to him,
and peace was established in that part
of Ireland. In 1150, the hostages of
Connaught were brought to O'Loughlin,
without a necessity for any hostile de-
monstration, and his sovereignty was
thus acknowledged by all Ireland, with
the exception of the southern pro-
vince.
Murrough O'Melaghliu, king of
Meath, having by his crimes incurred
general odium, was anathematized by
the primate, and expelled from his
kingdom by the monarch, O'Loughlin,
who divided Meath into three parts,
giving one to Turlough O'Conor, king
of Connaught, another to O'Rourke of
Breffny, and the third to O'Carroll of
Oriel. Immediately after this, Tur-
lough O'Brien, king of Munster, led an
army to Dublin, where he received the
submission of the Dano-Irish ; and he
was proceeding to avenge a defeat
which some of his subjects had received
shortly before from the men of Breffny
and Oriel, when O'Loughlin marched
from the north to the aid of the latter,
and the forces of Leath Cuinn and
Leath Mogha met at Dun Lochad
near Tara, but the Dano-Irish inter-
fered, and arranged a year's truce be-
tween them.
A. D. 1152. — Cardinal John Paparo
arrived in Ireland about the close of
1151, bringing the palliums which had
been solicited by St. Malachy ; and the
following year was rendered memorable
by the national council of Ceananus, or
Kells, at which these insignia of the
archiepiscopal dignity Avere confered.
The palliums were for the archbishops of
Armagh, Cashel, Tuam, and Dublin, the
two latter sees being then for the first
time regularly created archbishoprics;
although, as already stated, we find the
bishops of Tuam often styled archbish-
ops long before that period. Dissatis-
faction was felt in other parts of Ireland
that this honor should be conferred on
Dublin and Tuam, and it is stated that
some of the Irish prelates remained
away from the council on that account.
The bishops who attended ■ were those
of Armagh (St. Gelasius) ; Lismore
(Christian, the Pope's legate for Ire-
land) ; Cashel (Donald O'Lonergan) ;
Dublin (Gregory) ; Glendalough ;
Leighlin ; Portlargy, or Waterford ;
the vicar-general of the bishop of Os-
sory ; the bishop of Kildare ; the vicar-
general of the bishop of Emly; the
bishops of Cork, Clonfert, Kerry, Lime-
rick, Clonmacnoise, East Connaught, or
Roscommon; Lugnia, or Achonry;
Conmacne Hy Briuin, or Ardagh ; Kin-
el Eoghain ; Dalaradia, or Conor ; and
Ulidia, or Down. Cardinal Paparo pre-
sided, and about 300 clergy of the
second order, and monks, were also
present. The suffragan sees for each
metropolitan were named ; several laws
against simony, usury, and other abuses,
were framed : and the payment of tithes
for the support of the church was or-
BATTLE OF MOIX MOR.
16a
dained. This was the first introduction
of tithes into Ireland ; but they were
not enforced until after the English in-
vasion. This synod of Kells is one
of the incidents of Irish history which
have been most frequently misrepre-
sented by English historians, and by
Irish Protestant Avriters, who pretend
to trace to it the connection of Ireland
with Rome, or the establishment of
" Popery," as they call it, in this coun-
try ; but how utterly unfounded such
an inference is we need not impress
upon the unpi-ejudiced reader, who has
followed with us the thread of our his-
tor}^ thus far.*
While the heads of the Church were
thus occupied a civil war raged in Mun-
ster. Turlough O'Brien was, in 1151,
dejjosed by Teige, another son of Der-
mot O'Brien, and the aid of Turlough
O'Conor being solicited by Teige, the
king of Connaught speedily availed
himself of the opportunity to carry
desolation into the southern province.
O'Conor's forces were joined by those
of Dermot MacMurrough ; and they
plundered Munster before them, as the
annalists say, until they reached Moin
* We could not expreas ourselves more to the purpose
on tills subject than in the words of Moore : — " It is
true," observes this writer, "from the secluded position
of Ireland, and still more from the ruin brought upon
nil her religious cstablisliments during the long period
of the Danish wars, the intercourse with Rome must
have been not unfrequently interrupted, and the pow-
ers delegated to the prelate of Armagh, as legatus natus,
or, hy virtue of Ids office, legato of the Holy See, may, in
such intervals, have served as a substitute for the direct
exercise of the Papal authority. But that the Irish
Church has ever, at any period, been independent of the
Mor,f where they encountered the Dal-
cassian army, under Turlough O'Brien,
returning from the plunder of Des-
mond ; and a dreadful battle was fought,
in which the men of North Munster suf-
fered a fearful slaughter, leaving 7,000
dead upon the field, and among them sev-
eral of their chieftains. This terrible
sacrifice of life is attributed to the ob-
stinate bravery of the Dalcassians, who
would never either demand quarter or
fly from the field of battle. On this
occasion Turlough O'Brien was banish-
ed, and Turlough O'Conor assumed the
sovereignty of Munster ; his son, Rode-
ric, making another raid into Tho-
mond, and carrying fire and sword as
far as Cromadh, or Croom, in Lime
rick.
A. D. 1152. — O'Conor led a second
army into Munster this year, and divid-
ed the country, giving Desmond to the
sou of Cormac MacCarthy, and Tho-
mond to Teige and Turlough O'Brien ;
and the annalists say that both Tho-
mond and Desmond had now suftered
so fearfully from their mutual wars,
that a dearth followed, and that the
peasantry were dispersed into Leath
spiritual power of Rome, is a supposition which the
whole course of our ecclesiastical history contradicts.
On tho contrary, it has frequently been a theme of
high eulogium upon this country, as well among for-
eign as domestic writers, that hers is the only national
Church in the world which has kept itself pure from
tho taint of heresy and schism." — lliatort/ of Ireland
vol. ii., p. 190.
f Dr. O'Donovan (Four Masters, an. 1151, note), sug-
gests, with great probability, that this may have been
the place now called Moanmore, in the parish of Emiy
county of Tipperary.
]':.4
ABDUCTION OF DERVORGIL.
Cuiun, after many of tliem liad perished
by the famiue.
This year, also, Meath was dismem-
bered by the monarch, O'Loughlin,
aided by Turlough O'Conor, Dermot
MacMurrough, and other princes. From
Clonard westward was given to Mur-
rongh O'Melaghlin, who had been
formerly deposed, and from -the same
point eastward to Murrongh's son,
Melaghlin. Tiernan O'Rourke, lord of
Breffny, was also dispossessed of his
territory by this host of confederated
princes ; and at the same time another
mortal injury was inflicted on him, his
wife, Dervorgil (Dearbhforgaill), being
carried off by MacMurrough the king
of Leinster.
The time and other circumstances of
this abduction have been strangely dis-
torted by historians to give a coloring
of romance to the account of the Eng-
lish invasion, with which it cannot have
had the least connection. It occurred,
according to our authentic annals, in
1152, and Dermot's flight to England,
and invitation to the invaders, did not
take place till 1166. Dervorgil was at
the former of these dates forty-four
years of age, and her paramour sixty-
two. She was shamefully encouraged
by her brother, Melaghlin O'Melaghlin,
just then made lord of East Meath, to
* The Four Masters relate, under the year 1128, that
n sacrilegious attack ■n'as mado on St. Celsus by this
Tigheaman G'Ruarke and his people, who robbed the
primate and killed one of his clergy ; and that Conor
MacLoughlin, then lord of Cinel Koghain, sent his
cavalry, -who attacked and defeated the cavalry of
O'Ruarke, ai)d killed many of his partisans.
abandon her husband, who appears to
have treated lier harshly before that,
and to have deserved little sympathy
as a hero of romance.* On leaving
O'Rourke, she took with her the cattle
and articles which formed her dowry ;
and the following year, when she was
rescued from MacMurrough by Tur-
lough O'Conor, and restored to her
family, the same cattle and other pro-
perty were also restored. It is probable '
that she did not reside again with her
husband, but retired immediately to
Mellifont, where she endeavored by
charity and rigid penance during the
remainder of a long life, to expiate her
misconduct.f
A. D. 1153. — The monarch, Murtough
O'Loughlin, espoused the cause of Tur-
lough O'Brien, and led an army towards
the south, to reinstate him in his terri-
tories. Teige O'Brien, the usurper, and
his ally, Turlough O'Conor, marched
to oppose the northern army ; but be-
fore their forces could form a junction,
near Rahin, in the King's county,
O'Loughlin, by a rapid movement with
two battalions of picked men, encoun-
tered Teige O'Brien's small force, which
he cut to pieces. Turlough O'Conor
was then glad to retreat into Con-
naught by Athlone ; and while his son,
Roderick O'Conor, with a portion of
f Dervorgil performed many acts of generosity to the
Church ; and in 11G7 erected a chapel for the convent
of nuns at Clonmacnoise. She died in 1193 at the ven-
erable age of 85, and her brother died of poison, at Dur
row, m 1155
SYXOD OF MELLIFONT.
1G5
his army, was preparing to encamp,
O'Loiighlin, with liis northern heroes,
poured in upon them unexpectedly,
and, slaughtering great numbers, put
the rest to flight.
A. D. 1154. — Turlough O'Conor now
collected all the ships of Dun Gaillve,
Conmacna-mara, Umhall, or the O'Mal-
leys' country, Tir-Awley and Tir-Fia-
chrach, in northern Connanght, and
with this fleet, which was under the
command of O'Dowda, he plundered
the coasts of Tir-Couaill, and luis Eog-
hain. To meet this aggression, Mur-
tough O'Loughlin hired ships from the
Gall-Gael or Scoto-Danes, of the He-
brides, from Ara, Ceanntire, Manainn,
or Man, and " the borders of Alba in
general ;" and the fleet thus mustered
was commanded by MacScelling, a
Dano-Gael. The two fleets engaged
near Inis Eoghain, and fought with des-
perate fierceness. A great number of
Connaught men, with their admiral,
O'Dowda, were slain, but the victory
was nevertheless on their side; the
foreign ships being completely shat-
tered, so that their crews were, for the
most part, obliged to abandon them,
and, as many as could, to escape on
shore. MacScelling came ofl:' with the
loss of his teeth.
Hostilities between O'Loughliu and
O'Conor were still carried on by land,
and the corn-croj^s of a great part of
Connaught were destroj^ed by the for-
mer in the harvest of this year; but
* SjTiods, or rather mixed conventions, had become
very frequent about tliis time, being often, as in this case,
two years after (1156), Turlough
O'Conor closed his turbulent career in
death, and Murtough O'Loughlin then
became the unopposed monarch of Ire-
land ; his claims to that honor, pre-
viously, having been sturdily contested
by the king of Connaught. Turlough
died in the sixty-eighth year of his age,
and reigned over Connaught fifty years.
He distributed, by his will, a large
amount of gold and silver, with many
cows and horses, among the churches
of Ireland, and was buried beside the
altar of St. Kieran at Clonmacnoise.
His son, Roderic, succeeded as king of
Connaught, and began his ill-ftited
reign by imprisoning three of his
brothers, one of whom he blinded.
During this time Ulidia, Meath, Breft'-
ny, and Leinster were all disturbed by
war.
A. D. 1157. — A synod, which was at-
tended by the primate, the bishop of
Lismore, who was legate, and seventeen
other bishops, and at which there were
also present the monarch, with tht
kings of Ulidia, Oriel, BreS"ny (Tier-
nan O'Rourke), and a great number of
the inferior clergy and nobility, togeth-
er with a multitude of the people who
assembled to witness the proceedings,
was held this year iu the abbey of Mel-
lifont.* The primate having solemnly
consecrated the abbey church, the lay
princes consulted with the bishops on
the conduct of Donongh O'^Ielaghlin,
prince of Meath, who had become the
attended by lay princes for the purpose of consulting
on measures for the general management jf the state.
166
RODEPJC O'COXOR.
common pest of the country. He was
the friend and ally of Dermot Mac-
Murrougb, by whose aid he had usurped
the kingdom of Meath ; just before the
assembling of the synod he murdered
Cu-ulla O'Kynelvan, a neighboring
chief, in violation of solemn guaran-
tees ; and in an old translation of the
Annals of Ulster he is called a " cursed
atheist." This bad man was according-
ly excommunicated by the clergy, and
sentence of deposition being then pro-
nounced against him by the king of
Ireland and the other princes, his
brother, Dermot, was made king of
Meath in his place. At this synod the
monarch, O'Loughlin, granted " to God
and to the monastery of Mellifont" the
lands of Finnavar-na-niughean, a town-
land on the south side of the Boyne,
opposite the river Mattock, together
with one hundred and forty cows and
sixty ounces of gold. O'CarroU, prince
of Oriel, also presented the monastery,
on the same occasion, with sixty ounces
of gold ; and Dervorgil, the wife of
0'K.ourke, presented as many ounces,
together with a golden chalice for the
altar of Mary, and cloth, or sacred
vestments, for each of the other nine
altars of the church.
A synod of the clergy was convened
the following year (1158) at Bri-mlc-
Taidhg, near Trim, and was attended
by the legate and twenty-five other
bishops. Derry was on this occasion
erected into an episcopal see ; Flaher-
tach O'Brolchain, the abbot of St. Col-
umbkille's monastery, there, being con-
secrated the first bishop. The bishops
of Connaught, while proceeding to this
synod, AA'ere intercepted and plundered
by the soldiers of Dermot, king of
Meath, on crossing the Shannon, near
Clonmacnoise, and two of their atten-
dants were killed. They therefore re-
turned to Connnaught, and held a
synod of their own province in Eos-
common.
Roderlc, king of Connaught, exhib-
ited great activity, and spared no pains
to attain the position which his father,
Turlough, had held, aud to divide the
sovereignty of Ireland with O'Loughlin.
While the latter was engaged in Mun-
ster, in 1157, expelling Turlough
O'Brien (whom he had formerly sup-
ported) from Thomond, and dividing
Munster between Dermot, son of Cor-
mac MacCarthy, as king of Desmond,
and Conor, son of Donnell O'Brien,
whom he made king of Thomond, Ro-
derlc O'Conor led an army to plunder
and lay waste Tyi'one, and, as soon as
O'Loughlin had left the south, proceed-
ed thither to reinstate Turlough
O'Brien. MacCarthy promised Roderlc
a conditional submission; that is, in
case O'Loughlin should not be able to
support him against Roderlc. An of-
fensive and defensive league was en-
tered into between O'Conor and Tier-
nan O'Rourke; and their combined
forces, with a battalion of the men of
Thomond, marched in 1159, into Oriel,
as far as Ardee, when they were met
by Murtough O'Loughlin with the army
of Kluel Connell and Klnel Eoghain,
ST. LAURENCE O'TOOLE.
167
and of the north in general. A battle
ensued, in wlaich the Connauglit men
and their allies were defeated with
great slaughter ; and the northern army,
after returning home in triumph, sub-
sequently entered Connaught and de-
vastated a great portion of that coun-
try.
During the next two years commo-
tion and disorder reigned in various
parts of Ireland. An insurrection of
the Kinel Eoghaiu was put down by
O'Loughlin, with the aid of the men of
Oriel and Ulidia ; and a fresh partition
was made of Meath. In the latter part
of llGl a general meeting of the clergy
and chieftains of Ireland took place at
Dervor, in Meath, when all the other
princes gave hostages to Murtough
O'Loughlin.
A. D. 1162.— The Irish Church, fertile
in saints, now presents to us another of
the most illustrious of her sons, in the
person of St. Laurence O'Toole (or, as
his name is called in Irish, Lorcan
O'Tuathal), who was chosen this year
to succeed Greine, or Gregory, the
Danish archbishop of Dublin. This
great saint, whom patriotism as well as
religion endears to the hearts of Irish-
men, belonged to one of the noblest
families of Leinster, whose patrimonial
territory, of which his father was chief-
tain, was called Ily-Muirahy, a district
nearly conterminous with the southern
* The true position of Hy-Muireadhaigh (Hy-Muira-
liy, or Ily-Marray), the ancient territory of the O'TooIes,
Is shown by O'Donovan, in a valuable note to the Four
Msaters, a. d. 1180. Tlio mountain district of Imailc, in
half of the present county of Kildare.*
In his youth he entered the monastery
of St. Kevin, at Glendalough, of which
he was chosen abbot when only twenty-
five years old ; and even after his eleva-
tion to the episcopacy — a dignity which
he most reluctantly accepted — he con-
tinued to practice all the austerities of
monastic discipline. His predecessors
in the see of Dublin had been conse-
crated by the archbishops of Canter-
bury, to whose jurisdiction they sub-
jected themselves; but this external
authority was not resorted to in his
case, as he was consecrated by St. Gela-
sius, successor of St. Patrick. St. Lau-
rence O'Toole was one of twenty-six
prelates, who, with a large number of
abbots and inferior clergy, attended a
synod held at Clane, in Kildare, the
year of his consecration.. At this synod
the college of Armagh was virtually
raised to the rank of a university, as it
was decreed that no one who had not
been an alumnus of Armagh should be
appointed lector or theological profes-
sor in any of the other diocesan schools
of Irelaud.
The extraordinary energy displayed
at this period by the hierarchy and
clergy of Irelaud, in restoring discipline
and promoting reforms, must soon have
produced the most salutaiy effect on
society, and raised the country to its
just position among nations; but, un-
Wicklow, -was not occupied by them nntil after the Eng
lish invasion, when they were driven from their origi-
nal territory.
168
RODERIC O'COXOR MONARCH OF IRELAND.
happilj^, their efforts were about to be
interrujDted and frustrated. Eveu then
the scheme was hatched which was so
soon to crush all these generous ten-
dencies, and extinguish for centuries
every native germ of social progress.*
Sundry wars and hostile inroads oc-
curred about this time, presenting no
peculiar feature; but in the year 1166
a fatal outrage was committed by the
monarch, O'Loughlin, on Eochy Mac-
Dunlevy, prince of Dalaradia. One of
the petty ware, so usual at that period,
having been arranged between these
two princes the preceding year, a
peace was ratified by the successor of
St. Patrick and some of the neighboring
chieftains. Urged, however, by some
new feeling of exasperation, from what
cause we are not told, O'Loughlin came
suddenly upon, the Dalaradian chief,
put out his eyes, and killed three of
his principal men. This savage aggi-es-
sion so provoked the princes who had
been guarantees for the treaty, that
they mustered an army, composed of
choice battalions of the men of Oriel,
Breffny, and Conmacue, under the com-
mand of Donough O'Carroll, and
* The rcbmlding of the great cliurcli of Derry, des-
troyed by fire many years before, was completed, in
1164, by Flaliertach O'Brolchain, bishop, and formerly
abbot of Derry, with funds which he had collected in
the course of a mission that he had imdertaken through
a part of Ireland for that purpose. The primate had
also, about this time, made a visitation of Ireland to col-
lect funds for rebuilding the religious establishments of
Armagh destroyed by fire in 1150. The contributions
■which the primate received in his visitation of Tyrone
on this occasion, were a cow from every biatach or far-
mer, a horse from every cliieftaiu, and twenty cows
from the liing ; and when Flahertach O'Brolchain made
marched to the north. At Leiter Luiii,
a place in the present barony of Upper
Fews, county of Armagh, and then
part of Tir Eoghaiu, they encountered
O'Loughlin, who, although he had but
a few troops, gave battle. In the fierce
contest which ensued the Kinel Eog-
haiu were defeated, and the monarch
himself slain ; and thus fell Murtough
O'Loughlin, who, of all the Irish kings
since the days of Malachy II. had the
most unquestionable right to the title
of monarch of Ireland.
A. D. 1166. — Roderic O'Conor lost no
time in getting himself recognized as
sovereign, on the death of O'Loughlin ;
and this appears to have been a mere
matter of j^arade in his case, as there
was no serious opposition to his claim.
He first led an army to Easrua, in Done-
gal, and took the hostages of Kinel
Connell. Thence he marched across
Ireland to Dublin, being joined on the
way by the men of Meath and Teflia,
and he was there inaugurated with
more pomp than any Irish king had
ever been before. This was, indeed, the
first solemn act in which we see Dublin
treated as a metropolis, and on this oc-
a visitation of the same territory to repair his monastery,
he obtained a horse from every chieftain, a cow from
every two biatachs, a cow from every three freeholders,
the same from every four viUains, and twenty cows
from the king. He also got a gold ring of five ounces,
Ids horse and his battle axe, as a personal gift from the
king (Murtough O'Louglilinl. A "wonderful castle'
was buUt this year (1164) by Roderic O'Conor, at Tuani,
but as the castle of Galway, and other similar strong-
holds, had been erected in Connaught long before, the
term " wonderful" must have been applied rather on
account of the strength of the building than of its
singularity.
GREAT MEETING OF ATIIBOY.
1()9
casion Roderic paid the Dauo-Irisli of
that city a stipend in cattle, aud levied
for tLeiu a tax of 4,000 cows ou Ireland
at large.
From Duljlia be proceeded to Drog-
heda (Droicbeat-atha), where O'Carroll
and the men of Oriel paid homage, and
gave him hostages. Attended by a
great hosting of the men of Connaught,
Breffuy, and Meath, he marched back
to Leinster, advancing into Hy-Kinsella,
where Derraot INIacMurrough gave him
hostages ; and submission was made in
a similar form by the various chiefs of
Leinster and Ossory, aud of North and
South Munster.
By the death of the late monarch,
Dermot MacMurrough was deprived of
his only supporter ; and on the accession
of Roderic — the firm ally of his old ene-
my, O'Rourke — he saw what his fate
must inevitably be. According to the
friendly authority of Giraldus Cambren-
sis, this prince was destested by all.
Equally hateful to strangers and to his
own people "his hand was against
every man, and every man's hand
against him." He accordingly prepared
for the worst by burning his castle of
Ferns, and soon saw his fears realized
by the approach of an army conducted
by Tiernan O'Rourke, and composed of
the men of Breffny and Meath, of the
Dano-Irish of Dublin, and of the chiefs
of his own kingdom of Leinster. A pre-
cipitate flight was his only resource, and
while he sought refuge in England his
kingdom was given to another member
of his fiimily.
A. D. 1167. — A great assembly of the
clergy and chieftains of Leath Cuinn,
or the northern half of Ireland, was
convened by Roderic, at Athboy, in
Meath. Among those who attended
were the primate; St. Laurence O'Toole,
archbishop of Dublin ; Catholicus
O'Dufty, archbishop of Tuam ; and
the chieftains of Breffny, Oriel, Ulidia,
Meath, aud Dublin. Thirteen thousand
horsemen are said to have assembled
on this occasion ; and the meeting, from
its magnitude, has been supposed by
some, although incorrectly, to have been
a revival of the ancient Feis of Tara.
It has been also remarked how sadly
this display of the resources, and awak-
ening of the olden glories of the coun-
try, contrasted with the fatal circum-
stances of the moment ; and how little
the men then congregated at Athboy
could anticipate the ruin which was
just about to come upon themselves and
upon their nation ! Several useful regu-
lations, affecting the social and religious
interests of the people, were adopted
on this occasion, and the convention
tended matei-ially to promote respect
for the laws, and to give eclat to the
commencement of the new sovereign's
reign.
Roderic, with a large army composed
of contingents fi'om every other part of
Ireland, entered the territory of Tyrone
(Tir-Eoghain) and divided it between
Niall O'Lougliliu and Hugh O'Neill,
giving to the former the country lying
to the north of Slieve Gallion, in the
present county of Londonderry, and to
170
THE AXGLO-XORMAN IXVASIOX.
the latter the territory south of that
mountain. This might he considered
as the last act of undisputed sover-
eignty exercised by a native king of
Ireland. Roderic was a man of parade,
not of action, and totally unfit for the
emergency in which the unhacpy des-
tiny of Ireland had placed him. No
monarch of Ireland, up to his time, was
ever more implicitly obeyed, or could
command more numerous hostings of
brave men ; yet in his hands all this
power was miserably worthless and in-
operative.
CHAPTER XVII.
THE Als'GLO-NOKMAN INVASION.
Dermot's Appeal to Henry U. — His Negotiations with Earl Strongbow and others. — Landing of the first English
Adventurers in Ireland. — Siege of Wexford. — First Rewards of the Adventurers. — Apathy of the Irish. — In-
cursion into Ossory. — Sa%-age Conduct of Dermot. — His Vindictiveness . — Shameful Feebleness of Roderic. —
The Treaty of Ferns. — Dermot aspires to the Sovereignty. — Strongbow's Preparations for his Expedition. —
Landing of his Precursor, Raymond le Gros. — Massacre of Prisoners by the English. — Arrival of Strongbow,
and Siege of Waterford. — Marriage of Strongbow and Eva. — March on Dublin. — Surprise of the City. — Brutal
Massacre. — The English Garrison of Waterford cut oflf. — Sacrilegious Spoliations by Dermot and the English.
— Imbecility of Roderic. — Execution of Dermot's Hostages. — Synod of Armagh. — English Slaves, nefariona
custom. — Horrible Death of Dermot MacMurrough.
(A. D. 11G8— 1171.)
MEDITATING vengeance against
the country from which he was
compelled to fly in disgrace, the fugi-
tive king of Leinster arrived at Bristol,
where he learned that Henry II., to
whom he had determined to apply for
aid, was absent in Aquitaine. Thither
he immediately proceeded ; and having
at length found the English king, he
laid before him such a statement of his
grievances as he thought fit. He of-
fered to become Henry's vassal, should
he, through his assistance, be reinstated
in his kingdom, and made the most ab-
ject protestations of reverence and sub-
mission. Henry lent a willing ear to
his statement, and must have been for-
cibly struck by this invitation to carry
out a project which he himself had long
entertained, and for which he had been
making grave preparations many years
before. That project was the invasion
of Ireland. As his hands were, how-
ever, just then full of business — for he
was engaged in bringing into submis-
sion the proud nobles of the province
in which he then was, while at home
the resistance of St. Thomas a Becket,
who would not suffer him to trample
on the rights of the church with impu-
DERMOT'S ALLIES.
Ill
nity, was become daily more irksome —
he could not occupy himself personally
in Dermot's aifairs, but gave him let-
ters patent, addressed to all his sub-
jects— English, French, and Welsh —
recommending Dermot to them, and
granting them a general license to aid
that prince in the recovery of his tei'-
ritory by force of arms.
A. D. 1168. — With this authorization
Dermot hastened back to Wales, where
he gave it due publicity, but for some
time his efforts to induce any one to es-
pouse his cause were unavailing. At
length, he was fortunate enough to find
some needy military adventurers suited
to his purpose. The chief of these was
Richard de Clare, commonly called
Strongbow (as his father, Gilbert, also
had been), from his skill with the cross-
bow. This man, who was earl of Pem-
broke and Strigul, or Chepstow, being
of a brave and enterprising spirit, and
of ruined fortune, entered warmly into
Dermot's design. He undertook to
raise a sufficient force to aid the king
of Leinster in the recovery of his king-
dom, for which Dermot promised him
his daughter, Eva, in marriage, and the
succession to the throne of Leinster.
Two Anglo-Norman knights, Maurice
FitzGerald and Robert FitzStephen, al-
so enlisted themselves in the cause of
Dermot. These men were half-broth-
ers, being the sons of Nesta, who had
been first the mistress of Henry I., then
the wife of Gerald of Windsor, gover-
nor of Pembroke and lord of Carew, to
whom she bore the former of these ad-
venturers, and finally the mistress of
constable Stephen de Marisco, who was
the father of Robert FitzStephen.
These knights were men of needy cir-
cumstances, and Dermot promised to
reu^ard them liberally for theii servi-
ces, by granting them the city of Wex-
ford with certain lands adjoining.
Such were the obscure individuals by
whom the first introduction of English
power into Ireland was planned and car-
ried out.
The year was now drawing to a
close, and Dermot MacMurrough, re-
lying on the promises which he had
obtained, ventured back to Ireland,
and remained, during the winter, con-
cealed in a monastery of Augustinian
canons which he had founded at Fl-i'us
There is some uncertainty as to the
date of the first landing of the Anglo-
Normans in Ireland ; and it may also
be doubted, whether some of the pro-
ceedings of Dermot and his foreign
auxiliaries, mentioned obscurely in the
native annals, occurred previous to the
arrival of FitzStephen, and the surren-
der of Wexford, in May, 1169, or were
identical with those recorded after that
time. Thus it is stated, that early in
the year a few of Dermot's Welsh aux-
iliaries arrived, and that with their aid
he recovered possession of Hy-Kinsel-
lagh ; but that this movement on his
part was premature, and that at the
approach of a force, liastily collected by
Roderic O'Conor and Tiernan O'Rourke,
a battle in which some of the Welsh
were killed, having been fought at Cill
1V2
THE AXGLO-NORMAN INVASION.
Osnadh, now Kellistown, in the county
of Carlo\v, Dermot, who only wanted
to gain time, made a hypocritical peace
with the monarch, giving him seven
hostages for ten cantreds of his former
territory. It is added, that he gave a
hundred ounces of gold to O'Kourke,
as an atonement for the injury he had
formerly inflicted on him ; but all this
seems to be only a confused version of
some of the events which Ave are now
about to relate in order, on the author-
ity of Giraldus Cambrensis and Mau-
rice Regan.*
A. D. 1169. — According to the most
probable account of the first Anglo-
Norman descent, Robert FitzStephen,
with 30 knights all his own kinsmen,
60 men-at-arms, and 300 skillful arch-
ers, disembarked in May, this year,
at Bannow,f near Wexford. One of
the knights was Hervey de Montemar-
isco, or Mountmaurice, a paternal un-
cle of earl Strongbow ; and the next
day, at the same place, landed Maurice
de Prendergast, a "Welsh gentleman,
with 10 knights and 60 archers. Der-
mot, on receiving notice of their arrival,
marched with the utmost speed to join
them with 500 men, being all that he
could then muster; and with the joint
force, he proceeded immediately to lay
* The authority referred to as tliat of Maurice Regan
is a metrical narrative -written by as anonymous Nor-
man rhymer from the oral account ■which he received
from Regan, the secretary and " Lattimer," or interpre-
ter, of Dermot MacMurrough. An old translation into
English, by Sir George Carew, was published in Harris's
Jlibcrnica.
\ Cuananbbainbh, "the creek of the sucking pigs."
siege to the town of Wexford, the in-
habitants of which were Dauo-Irish.
The first assault was repelled with
great bravery, the inhabitants having
previously set fire to the suburbs, that
they might not afford a cover to the
enemy ; but when the Anglo-Normans
were preparing to renew the attack
next morning, the townspeople deman-
ded a parley, and terms of capitulation
were negotiated by the clergy; Der-
mot, though with great reluctance, con-
senting to pardon the inhabitants on
their returning to their allegiance. In
the first day's assault eighteen of the
English had been slain, and only three
of the brave garrison. FitzStephen
burned the shipping which lay before
the town ; and it is said that he des-
troyed also the vessels which had con-
veyed his own troops from England, to
show that they were resolved never to
retreat. The lordship of the town was
then, according to the contract, made
over to him and to FitzGerald, who had
not yet arrived, and two cantreds of land,
lying between the towns of Wexford
and Waterford, were granted by Der-
mot to Hervey of Mountmaurice.J
Dermot now conducted his allies to
Ferns, where they remained inactive for
three weeks, without molestation, and
The place of FitzStephen's debarkation is caUed Bagan.
bum by the Anglo-Irish historians.
I This land is comprised in the present baronies ol
Forth and Bargie, county of Wexford, and was the first
place in Ireland colonized by the English. The isolation
of its inhabitants for centuries after that time, and the
peculiarities of manner and language, of which the rem
nant is still preserved among them, are well known facts
BRUTALITY OF DERMOT.
173
indeed without appearing to excite any
attention on tlie part of king Roderic
and tlie other Irish princes. This ap-
athy of the Irish, which appears to us
so unaccountable, and which was so
Lamentable in its consequences, jDartly
arose, no doubt, from the insignificance
of the invaders, in j^oint of numbers.
Never did a national calamity, so
mighty and so deplorable, proceed
from a commencement more contempti-
ble than did the English occupation of
Ireland. The Irish were accustomed
to employ parties of Danish mercena-
ries in their feuds. They had also
mixed themselves up more than once
in the quarrels of the Welsh ; and they
looked upon MacMnrrougli's handful
of Welsh and Normans as casual auxil-
iaries who came on a special duty and
would depart when it was performed.
The Irish annalists expressly state that
the monarch, with a number of subor-
dinate princes and a large army, en-
tered Leinster at this very time, aud
"went to meet the men of Munster,
Leinster, and Ossory," but " set nothing
by the Flemings," as the first party of
the invaders are called in these records.*
As to Roderic, he showed no fore-
* Four Masters, A. D. 1169. No English or Anglo-
Irisli authority makes any mention of these Flemings ;
yet, obseyres Dr. O'Donovan, certain analogies as -neU
as the existence of an ancient Flemish colony in Pem-
brokeshire, whence the first adventurers came, would
show that the Irish annalists had some grounds for the
application of the name.
f Tho annalists say that this year (11C9), "Eory
O'Conor granted an (increase of) pension of ten cows
yearly, from liimself and his successors, to tho lector
(chief master) of Armagh (seminary), in honor .)f Pat-
sight or prudence, no energy of char-
acter or real bravery, and no regard
for the interests of Ireland as an inte-
gral nation, throughout the Avhole of
this most fatal crisis in his country's
fortunes. About this time he celebra-
ted the fair of Tailtin, when the con-
course assembled was so great that the
horsemen are said to have been spread
over the tract of country from Mullach
Aiti, now the hill of Lloyd, west of
Kells, to Mullach Tailtin, a distance of
about six and a half miles ; yet, while
this display of numbers was made with-
in a couple of days' march, Dermot,
with his handful of foreign auxiliai-ies,
was permitted to overrun tlie province
of Leinster, and to brave the anger of
the imbecile monarch.f
Emboldened by the inactivity of his
enemies, Dermot resolved to act on the
offensive; and as he had a cause of
quarrel with MacGilla Patrick, prince
of Ossory, wlio, actuated bj^ a feeling
of jealousj^, had put out the eyes of
Enna, a son of MacMurrough's who was
in his power as a hostage, he determined
to make him the first object of his ven-
geance. J Between the forces of his
province and the garrison of Wexford,
rick, to instruct tho youth of Ireland and Alba in liter-
ature."
i The barbarous custom of blinding was a mode of
punishment common to other nations at that period.
It was indeed only three or four years before the lime
at which we have arrived when Henry II., king of Eng-
land, took vengeance on the people of Wales by causing
the children of tho noblest families of that country,
whom he held as hostages, to be treated in the samo
manner ; ordering the eyes of the males to be rooted out,
and the ears aud lips of the females to bo amputated.
174
THE ANGLO-NORMAN INVASION.
Dermot was enabled to muster 3,000
men, but bis principal reliance was on
bis foreign friends, in wbose ranks be
cbiefly remained; and tbe Wexford
men were so bated and distrusted by
bim, tbat tbey were not allowed to en-
camp at nigbt witb tbe rest of tbe
armj^. Tbus Dermot marcbed into Os-
sory, wbere tbe inbabitants made a
brave stand ; but after a good deal of
figbting, baving been decoyed from a
strong i^osition into one wbere tbey
were exposed to tbe Norman cavalry,
tbey were ultimately defeated, and
tbree bundred of tbeir beads were piled
up before Dermot as a tropby of vic-
tory. Tbis ferocious monster is said to
bave leaped and clapped bis bands witb
joy at tbe sigbt ; and Cambrensis adds
tbat be turned over tbe beads in tbe
gbastly beap, and tbat recognizing one
of tbem as tbe bead of a man to wbom
be bad particular aversion, be seized it
by botb ears, and witb brutal frenzy
bit off tbe nose and lips of bis dead en-
emy. Sucb is tbe character wbicb we
receive of tbis detestable tyrant, even
from contemporary English authori-
ties.
Koderic, awakening at length to a
sense of tbe duty wbicb devolved on
him, convened a meeting of the Irish
princes at Tara, and, in obedience to
tbe summons, a large army was mus-
tered ; while Dermot, who bad already
carried desolation through a great por-
Hence, -wlien we read of such tortures in Irisli Ustory,
we are not to conclude that they were indicative of any
peculiar barbarity. More than two hundred years after,
tion of Ossory, became dismayed at the
first symptoms of preparations against
him, and. baiting with bis English
friends in tbeir career of havoc, return-
ed to Ferns, and hastily entrenched
himself there. Scarcely, however, bad
the Irish army assembled, when dissen-
sions broke out in its ranks, and on
marching as for as Dublin, Roderic
thought fit to dispense witb tbe services
of MacDunlevy of Ulidia, and of O'Car-
roll of Oriel, Avho accordingly drew off
their resj^ective contingents, and re-
turned home. Still the monarch ar-
rived before Ferns with an army suffi-
cient to annihilate the small force which
be found collected there round Der-
mot ; for it must be observed, that on
the news of an Irish army being in the
field, the king of Leinster was aban-
doned by a great number of bis Irish
followers.
The conduct of Koderic on this occa-
sion lamentably illustrates the weakness
of bis character. Instead of proceeding
at once to crush tbe dangerous foe, or in-
sisting on the unconditional submission
of Dermot, be entered into private ne-
gotiations, first witb FitzStephen, and
then witb Dermot ; endeavoring to in-
duce tbe former to abandon tbe king
of Leinster, and to return to bis own
country, or to detach tbe latter from
his foreign allies, and bring bim to an
humble admission of his allegiance.
Sucb attempts showed tbe feebleness of
in tbe reign of Henry IV., this barbarous practice pre
vailed in England, and it was necessary to make a 1ft v^
against it— Hume, c. 18.
DERMOT ASPIRES TO THE SOVEREIGNITY.
175
his councils, and only excited the con-
tempt of both FitzStephen and Derraot.
Roderic's overtures -were therefore re-
jected with disdain, and preparations
were made on both sides for battle. We
cannot now judge how far the strength
of the position occupied by the enemy
justified the reluctance of the Irish
monarch to attack; but we find him
again endeavoring to avert the neces-
sity of fighting by further treating with
the perfidious Dermot, so that it was
Roderic, and not the besieged, who ap-
peared to supplicate for peace. At
length terms were agreed on, Roderic
consenting to give the full sovereignty
of Leinster to Dermot and to his heirs,
on his own supremacy being acknow-
ledged ; and Dermot on the other part,
giving his fevorite son, Conor, as a host-
age to the monarch, and binding him-
self solemnly by a secret treaty to bring
over no more foreign auxiliaries, and to
dismiss those now in his service, so soon
as circumstances Avould permit him to
do so.
About this time Maurice de Pren-
dergast withdrew from Dermot, with
his followers, to the number of 200;
and finding that his departure from
Ireland was prevented, he offered his
services to the king of Ossory. This
defection alarmed Derraot, and enabled
his enemy, MacGilla Patrick, to make
some reprisals ; but Maurice soon aban-
doned the latter also, and returned for a
short time to Wales.
Dermot, who only desired to gain
time, soon betrayed the insincerity of
his consessions to Roderic ; for Maurice
FitzGerald having in a few days after
arrived with a small party of knights
and archers at Wexford, he hastened to
meet his new ally, regardless of his
treaty, and, with this addition to his
force, marched to attack Dublin, Avhich
had thrown ofi:' its allegiance to him,
and was then governed by Hasculf Mac-
Turkill, a prince of Danish descent.
The territory around the city was soon
laid waste in so merciless a way, that
the inhabitants were obliged to sue for
peace ; and the king of Leinster having
glutted his revenge, accepted their sub-
mission, for the purpose of being free
to lend assistance to Donnell O'Brien,
prince of Thomond, who had married a
daughter of Dermot's, and half sister of
Eva, and had just then rebelled against
the monarch, Roderic. This opportu-
nity of weakening the power of the lat-
ter was, to the vindictive king of Lein-
ster, too gratifying to be neglected ; and
Dermot felt so elated by repeated suc-
cesses, that he was no longer content
with his position as a provincial prince,
but set up a claim to the sovereignty of
Ireland, which he grounded on the
right of an ancestor. In this ambitious
aim he was encouraged by his English
auxiliaries ; and in a consultation with
FitzStephen and FitzGerald, it was
resolved that a message should be sent
immediately to Strongbow, pressing
him to fulfill his engagements, and to
come to their aid with as little delay as
posible.
A. D. 1170. — Strongbow on his part
176
THE ANGLO-NORMAN INVASION.
felt himself in a difficult position. He
could no loHger act upon Henry's let-
ters patent, Dermot being now reinstat-
ed in bis kingdom ; and a new sanction
being necessary to authorize a hostile
expedition to Ireland, he repaired to
Normandy, where the English king
then was, to solicit his permission.
Henry, who was naturally jealous and
suspicious, and entertained a particular
aversion to the ambitous earl of Pem-
broke, in order to rid himself of his
importunity, gave him an equivocal an-
swer, which Strongbow pretended to
understand as the required permission.
He thereupon returned to Wales, set
about collecting men with all possible
diligence, and sent Raymond le Gros
with ten knights and seventy archers
as his advanced guard. This party
landed at a small rocky promontory
then called Dundolf, or Downdonnell,
near Waterford, and being joined by
Hervey of Mountmaurice, they con-
structed a temporary fort, to enable
them to retain their position until
Strongbow should arrive. The citizens
of "Waterford, aided by O'Faelain, or
O'Phelan, prince of the Deisi, and
O'Ryan, of Idrone, sent a hastily col-
lected force to dislodge the invaders ;
but through the bravery of Raymond,
aided by accident, the besieged were
not only able to defend themselves, but
effectually to rout the undisciplined mul-
* Tho Euglish, on their landing, liad, it appears,
swept off a largo number of cattle from the surromiding
country, and placed them in the outer enclosure of their
camp ; and these, terrified by the noise of tho battle,
titude who came against them, killing,
it is said, 500 men, and taking seventy
of the principal citizens prisoners.*
Large sums of money were offered to
ransom the latter, but the English, as
some sajT, swayed by the sanguinary
counsel of Hervey of Mountmaurice, re-
jected these offers; and for the purpose
of striking terror into the Irish, brutally
massacred the prisoners by breaking
their limbs, and hurling them from the
summit of the precipice into the sea.
This atrocity was a fitting prelude to
the English wars in Ireland ; but most
historians vindicate Raymond le Gros
from the stigma which it cast upon the
English arms.
In the mean time Strongbow had as-
sembled his army of adventurers and
mercenaries at Milford, and was about
to embark, when he received a perempt-
ory order from Henry forbidding the ex-
pedition. What was to be done ? His
hesitation, if any, was very brief, and
he adopted the desperate alternative of
disobeying his king. He accordingly
sailed, and with an army of about 1,200
men, of whom 200 were knights, landed
near Waterford on the 23d of August,
the eve of St. Bartholomew's day. Here
he was immediately joined by his friend
Raymond le Gros, who had been then
three months in Ireland ; and the very
next day he proceeded to lay siege to
Waterford. The citizens displayed
and rushing furiously out through the Irish assailants,
spread confusion in their ranks, of which their enemy
took deadly advantage.
SIEGE OF DUBLIN.
in
great heroism in their defence, find
twice repulsed the attempts of the as-
saiLants. At lengtli a Large breach was
made in the wall by the fall of a house
which projected over it, and which
came toppling down when the props by
which it had been supported were cut
by Raymond's knights; and the be-
siegers pouring into the city made a
dreadful slaughter of the inhabitants.
A tower in which Reginald, or Gille-
maire, as the Irish annalists call him,
a lord of Danish extraction, and O'Phe-
lan, prince of the Deisi, continued to
defend themselves, was taken; and
these two brave men were on the
point of being massacred by their piti-
less captors, when Dermot MacMur-
rough arrived, and for the first and
only time we see mercy exercised at
his request. The carnage of the now
unresisting inhalntants was suspended.
Dermot expressed great exultation at
the arrival of earl Strougbow, and in-
sisted upon paying him at once his
promised guerdon. He had taken his
daughter, Eva, with him for that j^ur-
pose ; the marriage ceremony was hasti-
ly performed, and the wedding cortege
passed through streets reeking with the
still warm blood of the brave and un-
happy citizens.
Immediately after the nuptials of
Strongbow and Eva, Dermot and his
allies set out on a rapid march to Dub-
lin, leaving a small party to garrison
Waterford. Roderic had collected a
large army and encamped at Clondal-
Ivin near Dublin ; and Ilasculf, the gov-
23
ernor of that city, encouraged by their
presence, revolted against Dermot.
Hence the haste of the confederate
army to reach Dublin ; and as they
proceded along the high ridges of the
Wicklow mountains in order to escape
the fortified passes by which their
march would have been impeded in the
valleys, they arrived under the walls of
Dublin long before their presence there
could be calculated on. This rapid
movement, and the now formidable ar-
ray of the Auglo-Normau armj^, filled
the citizens with consternation, and re-
course was had to negotiation ; the il-
lustrious archbishop of Dublin, St. Lau-
rence O'Toole, being commissioned to
arrange terms of peace wnth Dermot.
While the parley, however, Avas still
proceding in Strongbow's camp, two of
the English leaders, Raymond le Gros
and Milo de Cogan, regardless of the
usages of civilized warfare — though
some say the time for the conference
had expired — led their troops respec-
tively against the weakest or most neg-
lected parts of the fortifications, and
obtained an entrance. The inhabitants,
relying on the negotiations which were
going forward, were quite unj")repared
for this assault, and flying panic-strick-
en, were butchered in the most merci-
less manner. We may conceive the hor-
ror with which St. Laurence, hastening
back to the city, found its streets filled
with carnage. He exposed his life in
the midst of the massacre, endeavoring
to appease the finy of the soldiers ; and
subsequently he had the bodies of the
17S
THE AXGLO-NORMAN INVASIOX
slain collected for decent burial, inter-
ceded for the clergy of the city, and
procured the restoration of the books
and ornaments of which the churches
had been jjlundered.
Eoderic would appear to have had
some skirmishes with the enemy for
two or three successive days previous
to this, and then to have withdrawn
with his large but ill-organized army ;
but the Irish annalists, in mentioning
the transaction, accuse the citizens of
Dublin of bad faith, probably for refu-
sing to act in concert with the Irish, or
for endeavoring to make a peace for
themselves; and they also allude to a
conflagration produced in the city by
lightning, which, no doubt, added to
the panic. " As a judgment upon
them," say the Four Masters, "Mac-
Murrough and the Saxons acted treach-
erously towards them, and made a
slaughter of them in their own fortress,
in consequence of the violation of their
word to the men of Ireland." Hasculf
and a number of the principal citizens
made their escape in ships, and repaired
to the Hebrides and Orkneys; and
Eoderic, without striking a blow,
drew off his army into Meath to sustain
O'Rourke, to whom he had given the
eastern portion of that territory. About
the same time the English garrison,
which had been left in Waterford, was
attacked and defeated by Cormac Mac-
Carthy, king of Desmond, but we are
not told of :niy consequence which re-
sulted.
The government of Dublin Avas now
entrusted to Milo de Cogan ; and Der-
mot, with his allies, marched into Meath,
which they ravaged and laid waste with
an animosity perfectly diabolical. Tne
churches of Clonard, Kells, Teltown,
Dowth, Slane, Kilskeery, and Desert-
Kieran, were plundered and burned,
and, as a matter of course, the towns
or villages which surrounded them
were not treated with greater mercy.
This predatory incursion was extended
into Tir Briuin, or the country of the
O'Rourkes and O'Reillys in Leitrim and
Cavan ; and although the monarch him-
self appears to have avoided all collision
with the enemy, we are told that at last
a portion of the latter were twice de-
feated in Breifny by O'Rourke. Don-
nell, prince of Bregia, who had been
deposed by Roderic, sided with Mac-
Murrough, as did also Donnell's adher-
ents among the people of East Meath,
and some of the men of Oriel.*
Alarmed at these events, Roderic
foolishly imagined that he could arrest
the progress of Dermot by threatening
him with the death of his hostages.
He accordingly sent ambassadors to re-
monstrate with him for his perfidy in
breaking his engagements, and for his
unprovoked aggressions, and to an-
nounce that if he did not withdraw his
army within his own frontier, and dis-
miss his foreign auxiliaries, the heads of
his hostages should be forfeited. Der-
mot treated this menace with derision.
As far as we can judge of his character,
■ Four Masters.
SYNOD OF AIIMAGII.
179
he would have preferred the gratification
of Lis revenge to the lives of all his
children, liad tLey been at stake. And
he sent back word to Roderic that he
would not desist until he had fully as-
serted his claim to the sovereignty of
all Ireland, and bad dispossessed Rod-
eric of his kingdom of Conuaught in-
to the bargain.
There is a difference of opinion as to
whether Roderic fulfilled his threat.
Cambrensis, a contemporary writer, in-
forms us that he did. Keating says
that he would not expose himself to so
much odium as the execution of the
hostages would entail ; but the Four
Masters, who are a much better author-
ity, and would not have made the state-
ment without sufficient grounds, say
that " the three roj^al hostages" were
put to death at Athlone. These were
Conor, the sou of Dermot ; his grand-
son (the son of Donuell Kavanagh) ;
and the son of his foster-brother,
O'Caellaighe. The act was cruel, but
in it Roderic did not exceed his strict
right ; and the same year Tiernan
O'Rourke put to death the hostages of
East Meath, which had rebelled against
him.
Giraldus Cambrensis* furnishes some
interesting particulars of a synod held
at Armagh about the close of this year
(1170). It appears from it that there
prevailed in England a barbarous cus-
tom of selling children as slaves, and
that the Irish were the principal pur-
chasers in that abominable market.
ffib. Erpug. i. 18.
There are other authorities also to
show this nefarious practice was preva-
lent in England ; the twenty-eighth
canon of the council of London, held in
1102 having been enacted for its i')ro-
hibition.f The custom of buying
English slaves was held by the Irish
clergy to be so wicked, that, after
deliberating on the subject, the synod
of Armagh pronounced the invasion
of Ireland by Englishmen to be a just
judgment upon the country on account
of it; and decreed that any of the
English who were held as slaves in
Ireland should immediately be set free.
It was a curious and characteristic
coincidence that an Irish deliberative
assembly should thus by an act of hu-
manity to Englishmen, have met tlie
merciless aggressions which the latter
had just then commenced against this
country.
A. D. 1171. — In the midst of his am-
bitious and vindictive projects, Der-
mot MacMurrough died at Ferns, on
the 4th of May, 1171. His death,
which took place in less than a year
after his sacrilegious church-bnrnings in
Meath, is described as accompanied by
fearful evidence of divine displeasure.
He died intestate, and without the sac-
raments of the church. His disease
was of some unknown and loathsome
kind, and was attended with insuflfera-
ble pain, which, acting on the natural-
ly savage violence of his temper, ren-
dered him so furious that his ordinary
attendants were compelled to abandon
f WUkins' Consilia, :
also Howel, p.
180
THE ANGLO-NORMAN INVASION.
liim ; and Lis body became at once a
putrid mass, so that its presence above
ground could not be endured. Some
historians suggest that this account of
his death may have been the invention
of enemies ; yet it is so consistent with
what we know of MacMurrough's char-
acter and career, from other sources, as
to be nowise incredible. He reached
the age of eighty-one years, and is
known in Irish history as Dinrmaid-na-
Gall, or Dermot of the Foreigners.
On the death of Dermot, earl Strong-
bow, regardless of his duty as an Eng-
lish subject, got himself proclaimed
king of Leinster ; and as his marriage
with Eva could not under the Irish
law confer any right of succession, he
grounded his claim on the engagement
made by the late king, when he first
agreed to undertake his cause. As
this was the first step in the establish-
ment of English power in Ireland, it
is well the reader should bear in mind
the way it was efifected. There was
here no conquest. The only fighting
which the invaders yet had was with
the Dano-Irish of Wexford, Waterfoi-d,
and Dublin ; and against these, as well
as in their predatory excursions, the
Anglo-Normans acted in conjunction
with their Irish allies in Leinster.
They can hardly be said, so far, to
have come in collision with an Irish
army at all, and most certainly, as Le-
land observes, "the power of the na-
tion they did not contend with." " The
settlement of a Welsh colony in Lein-
ster," as the same historian, notwith-
standing his strong anti-Irish preju-
dice, continues, " was an incident
neither interesting nor alarming to
any, except, perhaps, a few of most
reflection and discernment. Even the
Irish annalists speak with a careless
indiflference of the event;" but "had
these first adventurers conceived that
they had nothing more to do but to
march through the land, and terrify a
whole nation of timid savages by the
glitter of their armor, they must have
speedily experienced the eftects of such
romantic madness."*
Leland's History of Ireland, b. i., chap. i.
DIFFICULTIES OF STRONGBOW.
181
CPIAPTER XVIII.
REIGN OF IIENKY II.
Difficulties of Strongbow.— Order of Henry against the Adventurers.— Dauisk attack on Dublin.— Patriotism of
St. Laurence.— Siege of Dublin by Roderic- Desperate state of tbe Garrison.— Their Bravery and Success.—
FitzStephen Captured by the Wexford People. — Attack on Dublin by Tiernan O'Rourke. — Henrys Expedi-
tion to Ireland.— His Policy.— The Irish Unprepared.— Submission of several Irish Princes.— Henry fixes his
Court in Dublin.— Bold Attitude of Roderic— Independence of the Northern Princes.— Synod of Cashel.—
History of the Pope's Grant to Henry.— This Grant not the Cause either of the Invasion or its Success.— Dis
organized State of Ireland.— Report of Prelates of Cashel, and Letters of Alexander HI.— English Law
extended to Ireland. — The "five bloods." — Parallel of the Normans in England and the Anglo-Normans in
Ireland. — Fate of the Irish. Church. — Final Arrangements and Departure of Henry.
(A. D. 1171 AJO) 1173.)
T?ORTUNE thus seemed iu many
-*- respects to favor Strongbow and
his band of Anglo-Norman and Welsh
adventurers, yet their position was one
of considerable embarrassment. The
king of England was jealous of their
success, and indignant at the slight
which they had put upon his authority.
He was also annoyed at finding his own
designs against Ireland anticipated by
men who were likely to become insolent
and troublesome ; and he accordingly
(a. d. 1171) issued a peremptory man-
date, ordering every English subject
then iu Ireland to return within a cer-
tain time, and prohibiting the sending
thither of any further aid or supplies.
Alarmed at this edict, Strongbow dis-
patched Raymond le Gros to Henry
with a letter couched in the most sub-
missive terms ; placing at the king's
disposal all the lands which he had ac-
quired in Ireland. Henry was at the
moment absorbed in the difficulties in
which the murder of St. Thomas k Bec-
ket — if not at his command, at least
at his implied desire, and by his myr-
midons— had involved him, and he
neither deigned to notice the earl's let-
ter, nor paid any further attention to
the Irish affiiir for some time ; so that
Strongbow, still tempting fate, contin-
ued his course without regarding the
royal edict. To add to his difficulties,
his standard was deserted by nearly all
his Irish adherents, on the death of
Dermot, which took place soon after
the date of the royal mandate ; and
during his absence from Dublin that
city was besieged by a Scandinavian
force, which was collected by Ilasculf,
in the Orkneys, and conveyed in sixty
182
REIGX OF HENRY 11.
ships, under tlie command of a Dane
called John the Furious. Milo de Co-
gan, whom Strougbow had left as gover-
nor, bravely repulsed the besiegers, but
was near being cut off outside the east-
ern gate, until his brother Kichard came
to his relief with a troop of cavalry,
whereupon the Norwegians were de-
feated with great slaughter, John the
Furious being slaiu, and Hasculf made
captive. The latter was at first reserved
for ransom, but on threatening his cap-
tors with a more desperate and success-
ful attack on a future occasion, they
basely put him to death.
The great archbishop of Dublin, St.
Lorcan, or Laurence O'Toole, whose
llustrious example has consecrated Irish
patriotism, perceiving the straits to
which the Anglo-Normans were re-
duced, and judging rightly that it only
required an energetic effort, for Avhich
a favorable moment had arrived, to rid
the country of the dangerous intruders,
went among the Irish princes to rouse
them into action. For this purpose he
proceeded from province to province,
addressing the nobles and people in
spirit-stirring words, and urging the
necessity for an immediate and com-
bined struggle for independence. Emis-
saries were also sent to Godfred, king
of the Isle of Man, and to some of the
northern islands, inviting co-operation
against the common enemy.
Earl Strongbow, becoming aware of
the impending danger, repaired in haste
to Dublin, and prepared to defend him-
self; nor was he long there when he saw
the city invested on all sides by a
numerous army. A fleet of thirty ships
from the isles blocked up the harbor,
and the besieged were so effectually
hemmed in that it was imj^ossible for
them to obtain fresb supplies of men or
provisions. Eoderic O'Conor, who com-
manded in person, and had his own
camj) at Castleknock, was supported by
Tiernan O'Rourke and Murrough O'Car-
roll with their respective forces, aud St
Laurence was present in the camp ani-
mating the men, or, as some pretend,
though very improbably, even bearing
arms himself The Irish chiefs, relying
ou their numbers, contented themselves
with an inactive blockade, and for a
time their tactics promised to be success-
ful; the besieged being soon reduced
to extremities from want of food. Strong-
bow solicited a parley, and requested
that St. Laurence should be the medium
of communication. He offered to hold
the kingdom of Leinster as the vassal
of Roderic ; but the Irish monarch re-
jected such terms indignantly, and re-
quired that the invaders should imme-
diately surrender the towns of Dublin,
Wexford, and Waterford, and under-
take to depart from Ireland by a certain
day. It is generally admitted that under
the circumstances, the propositions of
Roderic were even merciful, and for a
while it was probable that they would,
however unpalatable, be accepted.
At this crisis, Donnell Kavanagh,
son of the late king of Leinster, con-
trived to penetrate in disguise into the
city, and brought Strongbow the iutel
CAPTURE OF FITZSTEPHEN.
183
iigence that bis friend FitzSteplien was,
together with his family and a few fol-
lowers, shut up in the Castle of Carrig,
near Wexford, where he was closely
besieged, and must, unless immediately
relieved, fall into the hands of his exas-
perated enemies. This sad news drove
the garrison of Dublin to desperation ;
and at the suggestion of Maurice Fitz-
Gerald it was determined that they
should make a sortie with their whole
force, and attempt the daring exploit of
cutting their way through the besiegers.
To carry out this enterprise. Strong-
bow disposed his men in the following
order ; Raymond le Gros, with twenty
knights on horseback, led the van ; to
these succeeded thirty knights under
Milo de Cogan ; and this body was fol-
lowed by a third, consisting of about
forty knights, commanded by Strong-
bow himself and FitzGerald; the re-
mainder of their force, said to consist
only of 600 men, bringing up the rear.
It was about three in the afternoon
when this well organized body of des-
perate men sallied forth ; and the Irish
army, lulled in false security, and ex-
pecting a surrender rather than a sortie,
was taken wholly by surprise. A
great number were slaughtered at the
first onset; and the panic which was
produced spreading to the entire be-
sieging army, a general retreat from
* Leland supposes tliat the Irish annalists passed over
tlio whole of this transaction in silence ; but the Four
Masters mention the siege, and their version is as fol-
lows : — " There were conflicts and skirmishes between
them" (i. c. the besiegers and besieged) " for a fortnight.
before the city commenced ; so that
Roderic, who with many of his men was
enjoying a bath in the Liftey, had some
difficulty in eflfecting his escape. The
English, on their side, astonished at
their own unexpected success, returned
to the city laden with spoils, and with
an unlimited supply of provisions.*
Strongbow once more committed the
government of Dublin to Milo de Cogan,
and set out with a strong detachment
for Wexford to relieve FitzStephen ;
but after overcoming some difiiculty in
the territory of Idrone, where his
march was opposed by the local chief-
tain, O'Regan, he learned on approach-
ing Wexford that he came too late to
assist his friend. Carrig Castle had al-
ready fallen, and it is said that the Wex-
ford men were not very scrupulous on
the occasion in their treatment of foes
who had proved themselves sufiiciently
capable of treachery and cruelty. The
story is, that FitzStephen and his little
garrison were deceived by the false in-
telligence that Dublin had been cap-
tured by the Irish army, that the Eng-
lish, including Strongbow, FitzGerald,
and Raymond le Gros, had been cut to
pieces, and that the only chance of
safety was in immediate surrender ; the
Dano-Irish besiegers undertaking to
send FitzStephen with his family and
followers unharmed to Ensjland. It is
O'Conor then went against the Leinster men to cut
down and burn the corn of the Saxons. The earl and
Milo afterwards entered the camp of Leith Cuinn, and
slew many of the commonaity, and carried off their pio-
visions, armor, and horses. '
184
REIGN OF HENRY IT.
added, that the bisliops of Wexford and
Kildare presented themselves before
the castle to confirm this false report
by a solemn assurance ; but this circum-
stance, if not a groundless addition,
would only show that a rumor, by
which the bishops themselves had been
deceived, jirevailed about the capture
of Dublin, a thing not at all improba-
ble. False news of a similar kind is
sometimes circulated even in our own
times. At all events, the stratagem, if
it was one, succeeded ; and FitzStephen
on yielding himself to his enemies was
cast into prison, and some of his follow-
ei's were put to death. Scarcely was
this accomplished, when intelligence
arrived that Strongbow was approach-
ing, and the Wexford men, finding
themselves unable to cope with him
single-handed, and feai-ing his ven-
geance, set fire to their town, and
sought refuge with their prisoners in
the little island of Beg-Erin, whence
they sent word to the earl that if he
made any attempt to reach them in
their retreat they would instantly cut
off the heads of FitzStephen and the
other English prisoners.* Thus foiled in
his purpose, Strongbow with a heavy
heart directed his course to Waterford,
and immediately after invaded the ter-
* Regan, or the Norman rlij-mer, relates an honor-
ftblo trait of Maurice do Prcndergast on tliia occasion.
Tlie Welsh knight undertook to bring the king of Os-
Rory to a conference, on obtaining the word of Strong-
bow and O'Brien that he should be allowed to return in
safety. Understanding, however, during the conference,
that treachery was about to be used towards MacGilla
Patrick, he rushed into the earl's presence, " and Bware
ritory of Ossory, in conjunction with
Donnell O'Brien.
During the earl's absence, Tiernau
O'Rourke hastily collected an army of
the men of Breffny and Oriel, and
made an attack on Dublin, but he was
repulsed by Milo, and lost his son
under the walls. With this exception,
no attempt was made to molest the
invaders at a period Avhen they could
have been so easily annihilated; and
intestine wars were carried on among
the northern tribes, and also between
Connaught and Thomond, as if there
had been no foreign enemy in the coun-
try.
Strongbow, on the other side, learnt
at Waterford, from emissaries whom he
had sent to plead his cause with Henry,
that his own presence for that purj^ose
was indispensable, and he accordingly
set out in haste for England. He found
the English monarch at Newnham in
Gloucestershire, making active prepara
tions for an expedition to Ireland.
Henry at first refused to admit him to
his presence ; but at length suftered
himself to be influenced by the earl's
unconditional submission, and by the
mediation of Hervey of Mountmaurice ;
and consented to accept his homage
and oath of fealty, and to confirm him
by the cross of his sword that no man there that day
should dare lay hands handes on the kyng of Ossery."
Having redeemed his word to the Irish prince by con-
ducting him back in safety, and defeated some of
O'Brien's men whem they met on the way with the
spoils of Ossory, he spent that night with MacQilla
Patrick in the woods, and returned next day to the
earl.
HENRY'S EXrEDITIOX TO IRELAND.
185
iu tlitj possession of his Irish acquisi-
tions, with the excejition of Dublin and
the other seaport towns and forts,
which were to be surrendered to him-
self. He also restored the earl's Eng-
lish estates, whicli had been forfeited
on his disobedience to the king's man-
date ; but, as it were to mark his dis-
pleasure at the whole proceeding of the
invasion of Ireland by his subjects, he
seized the castles of the Welsh lords to
punish them for allowing the expedition
to sail from their coasts contrary to his
commands. It is probable tliat in all
this hypocrisy and tyranny were the
king's ruling motives. He hated the
"Welsh, and took the opportunity to
crush them still more, and to garrison
their castles with his own men. These
events took place not many months
after the murder of St. Thomas a Beck-
et, and it is generally admitted that the
king's expedition to Ireland, if not pro-
jected, was at least hastened, iu order
to withdraw public attention from that
atrocity, and to make a demonstration
of his power before the country at a
moment when his name was covered
with the odium which the crime in-
volved.
Henry II., attended by Strongbow,
William FitzAdelm de Burgo, Humphry
de Bohen, Hugh de Lacy, Robert Fitz-
Bernard, and other knights and noble-
men, embarked at Milford, in Pem-
brokeshire, with a powerful armament,
and landed at a jjlace, called by the
Anglo-Norman chroniclers, Croch — pro-
bably the present Crook — near Water-
ford, on St. Luke's da}-, October 18th,
A. D. 1171. His army consisted, it is
said, of 500 knights, and about 4,000
men-at-arms ; but it was probably much
more numerous, as it was transported,
according to the English accounts, in
400 ships.
Henry assumed in Ireland the plaus-
ible policy which seemed so natural to
him. He j)retended to have come rath er
to protect the people from the aggres-
sions of his own subjects than to acquire
any advantage for himself; but at the
same time, as a powerful yet friendly
sovereign, to receive the homage of vas-
sal princes, and to claim feudal juris-
diction in their country. It is impossible,
of course, to reconcile pretences so in-
consistent in themselves ; but they serv-
ed the purpose for which they were
invented. He put on an air of extreme
affability, accompanied by a great show
of dignity, and paraded a brilliant and
well-discijilined army with all jiossible
pomp and display of power.
The Irish, on the other hand, seemed
at a loss what to think or how to act.
An event had occurred for which they
were not pyrepared by any parallel case
in their history. They neither under-
stood the character nor the system of
their new foes. Perpetually immersed
in local feuds, they had not gained
ground either in military or national
spirit since their old wars with the
Danes. The men of one province cared
little what misfortune befel those of
another, provided their own territor}'
was safe. Singly, each of them had
186
REIGN OF HENRY I!
been hitherto able to cope with such
foes as they were accustomed to ; but
where combined action could alone
suffice there was nothing to unite them ;
they had no sentiment in common — no
centre, no rallying j^rinciple.
MacCarthy, king of Desmond, was the
fii'st Irish prince who paid homage to
Henry. Marching from Waterford to
Lismore, and thence to Cashe], Henry
was met near the latter town by Donnell
O'Brien, king of Thomond, who swore
fealty to him, and surrendered to him
his city of Limerick. Afterwards there
came in succession to do homage, Mac-
Gilla Patrick, prince of Ossory, O'Phe-
lan, prince of the Deisies, and various
other chieftains of Leath Mogha. All
were most courteously received ; many
of them were of course not a little daz-
zled by the splendor of Henry's court
and his array of steel-clad knights; some
were perhaps glad to acknowledge a
sovereign powerful enough to deliver
them from the petty warfare with which
they were harassed and exhausted ; but
none of them understood Anglo-Norman
rapacity, or could have imagined that
in paying homage to Henry as a liege
lord they were conveying to him the
absolute dominion and ownership of
their ancestral territories.
So well was it known in Ireland that
Henry disapproved of the invasion of
that country by Strongbow and the
other adventurers, that the people of
Wexford, who had got FitzStepheu
into their bauds, pretended to make a
merit of their own exploit, and sent a
deputation to Henry on his arrival to
deliver to him the captive knight as
one who had made war without his
sovereign's permission. Henry kept uj:)
the farce by retaining FitzStephen for
some time in chains and then restored
him to liberty.
From Cashel Henry returned to
Waterford, and thence proceeded to
Dublin, where he was received in great
state, and where a temporary pavillion,
constructed in the Irish foshion of twigs
or wickerwork, was erected for him out-
side the walls,* no building in the city
being spacious enough to accommodate
his court. Here he remained to pass
the festival of Christmas, and such of
the Irish as were attracted thither by
curiosity were entertained by him with
a degree of magnificence and urbanity
well calculated to win their admiration.
Among the Irish princes who paid theii
homage to the English king in Dublin,
were O'Carroll of Oriel, and the veteran
O'Rourke ; but the monarch Roderic,
though thus abandoned by his oldest and
most j^owerful ally, the chief of Breffny,
as he had been already by so many
others of his vassals, still continued
to maintain an independent attitude.
He collected an army on the banks of
the Shannon, and seemed resolved to de-
fend the frontiers of his kingdom of Con-
naught to the last ; thus regaining by
this bold and dignified demeanor some
at least of the esteem and sympathy
* " Near the cliurcli of St. Andrew, on the southern
side of the ground now known as Dame street." —OH
bc7-rs Eist. of Dublin, vol. ii. p. 258.
THE SYNOD OF CASHEL.
187
wbicli by his former weakness of char-
acter he had forfeited. Heniy, whose
object appeared to be not fighting, but
parade, did not march against the Irish
monarch, but sent De Lacy and Fitz-
Adelm* to treat with him ; and Roderic,
on his own so ver^gnty being recognized,
was, it is said, induced to pay homage
to Henry through liis ambassadors, as
it was customary in that age for one
king to pay to another and more potent
sovereign. "We have no Irish authority,
howevei', for this act of submission ; and
as to the northern princes, they still
withheld all recognition of the invader's
sway.
A. D. 11T2. — At Henry's desire, a syn-
od was held at Cashel in the beginning
of this year. It was presided over by
Christian, bishop of Lismore, who was
then apostolic legate, and was attended
by St. Laurence O'Toole, of Dublin,
Catholicus O'Duffy, of Tuam, and Do-
nald O'Hullucan, of Cashel, with their
suffragan bishops, together with abbots,
archdeacons, &c. ; Ralph, archdeacon of
Landaff, and Nicholas, a royal chaplain,
being present on the part of the king.
It was decreed at this synod that the
prohibition of marriage within the can-
onical degrees of consanguinity and af-
finity should be more strictly enforced ;
that children should be catechised before
the church door, and baptized in the
fonts in those churches appointed for
the purpose ; that tithes of all the pro-
duce of the land should be paid to the
clergy; that church lands and other
ecclesiastical property should be exempt
from the exactions of laymen in the
shape of periodical entertainment and
livery, &c. ; and that the clergy should
not be liable to any share of the eric or
blood fine levied on the kindred of a
man guilty of homicide. There was also
a decree regulating wills, by which one-
third of a man's movable property,
after payment of his debts, was to be
left to his legitimate children, if he had
any ; another third to his wife, if she
survived ; and the remaining third for
his funeral obsequies.f
These decrees constitute the boasted
reform of the Irish Church introduced
by Henry II. It will be observed that
they indicate no trace of doctrinal error
to be corrected, or even of gross abuse
in discipline, unless it be the too general
use of private baptism, and the celebra-
tion of marriage within the prohibited
degrees, which at that time extended to
very remote relationships. But the
subject of this synod leads us to an
incident of the Anglo-Norman invasion
of Ireland, which has been a fertile
source of controversy — namely, the so-
* This name is variously written Aldelm, Andelm,
and Adelm.
f Tlie decrees of this synod refer solely to matters of
9(jp!esiastical law, or church temporalities ; and the im-
munity which they grant in one case to the clergy, as
well as the setting apart of a portion of each testator's
property for the church, or for the " good of his soul," aa
it was generally expressed, were usages which existed
in Ireland before the coming of tlie Anglo-Normans. As
to tithes, they had also been introduced by the Irish
synod of Kells. See the observations on this subject in
Dr. Kelly s Cumbrensii Ecersus, vol. ii., p. 5-16, &c., note.
)SS
REIGX OF HEXKY II.
ealled subjection of Ireland to the do-
rainiou of the king of England, by the
bulls of Adrian IV. and Alexander III.
The temporal power exercised by the
popes in the middle ages opens up a
question too general for discussion here.
It is enough for us to know that modern
investigation has removed much of the
misrepresentation by which it was as--
sailed. Irrespective of religious con-
siderations, we see in the Eotnau pon-
tiffs of that period the steadfast friends
of order and enlightenment ; in their
power tlie buhvark of the oppressed
people against feudal tyranny, of civili-
zation against barbarism ; and we should
consider well the circumstances under
which they acted, and the received
opinions of the age, before we condemn
fhese vicegerents of Christ for proceed-
ings in which their authority was in-
voked in the temporal affairs of nations.
If this authority was sometimes per-
verted to their own purposes by ambi-
tious kings, or its exercise surreptitious-
ly obtained, that was not the fault of
the poj^es nor of the principle ; as we
shall find illustrated in the case Ave are
now about to consider.
Nicholas Breakspere, an Englishman,
was elected pope under the title of Adri-
an IV., December 3d, 1154, and Hen-
ry II., who had come to the throne of
England about a month earlier, sent
soon after to congratulate his countrv-
* From an obscure expression used by a contemporary
writer in the Saxon Chronicle under the date of 10S7,
!>. may be inferred that even William the Conqueror had
come idea of invading Ireland ; as it is said that tliat
man on his elevation. This embassy
was followed by another insidious one,
the object of -which was to represent to
the pope that religion and morality
were reduced to the lowest ebb in the
neighboring island of Ireland ; that so-
ciety there was torn to pieces by fac-
tions, and plunged in the most barbar-
ous excesses ; that there was no res-
pect for spiritual authority; and that
the king of England solicited the sanc-
tion of his Holiness to visit that un-
happjr country in order to restore dis-
cipline and morals, and to compel the
Irish to make a I'espectable provision
for the church, such as already existed
in England. This negotiation, which
indicates how- long the idea of invading
Ireland Avas entei-tained by the English
king,* was entrusted by Henry to John
of Salisbury, chaplain to Theobald,
archbishop of Canterbury, who urged,
according to an opinion then received,
that Coustautiue the Great had made a
donation of all Christian islands to the
successor of St. Peter ; that, therefore,
the pope, as owner of the island of Ire-
land, had the power to place it under
the dominion of Henry ; an.d that he
was bound to exercise that power in
the interests of religion and morality.
A hostile authority confesses that
" the popes were in general superior to
the age in which they lived ;"f but we
have no right to expect that, on a sub-
liiug, " if he had lived two years longer would have
subdued Ireland by his prowess, and that without a
battle ;" that is, that the terror of his name would bava
been sufficient. i Koscoo, " Leo X."
BULL OF ADPJAN IV.
189
ject of this temporal and iDolitical nature,
they should have been so far in advance
of the ideas of their times as to antici-
pate the political knowledge and dis-
coveries of subsequent ages. We must
also recollect that, however exaggerated
the statements made to Adrian about
Ireland may have been, they were not
wholly without foundation. It is not
consistent with human nature that so-
ciety should not have been disorganized
more or less by the state of turbulence
iu which we know, from our authentic
history, that this country was so long
jDlunged at that period. It was precisely
the period when the moral character of
Ireland had suffered most in the estima-
tion of foreign nations. St. Bernard's
vivid picture of the vices and abuses
against which St. Malachy had to strug-
gle, in one part of Ireland, had only just
then been presented to the world. St.
Malachy was not long dead, and his re-
forms were less known than the abuses
* Tlie following is tlie bull of Pope Adrian, as trans-
lated by Dr. Kelly from tbe Vatican version, publisbed
liy Lynch in tlie Cambrenais Eoereus, (voL ii., p. 410, ed.
of ISoO) :—
"Adrian, bishop, servant of the servants of God, to his
most dear son in Christ, the illustrious king of the Eng-
lish, greeting and apostolical benediction.
" The design of your Greatness is praiseworthy and
most useful, to extend the glory of your name on earth
and to increase the reward of your eternal happiness in
neaven ; for, as becomes a Catholic prince, you intend to
extend the limits of the Church, to announce the truth
of the Cliristian religion to an ignorant and barbarous
people, and to pluck up the seeds of vice from the field
of the Lord, while, to accomplish j'our design more
effectually, you implore the counsel and aid of the
Apostolic See. The more exalted your views and the
greater your discretion iu tliis matter, the more confi-
dent are our hopes, that witli the help of God, the result
wUl be more favorable to vou ; because whatever has its
which had so loudly called for them.
The recent efforts of the Irish prelates
and clergy to restore discipline in the
church, and piety and morals among the
people, had only begun to produce their
effects. Vices may have been as prev-
alent in other countries, but this did not
render Ireland stainless. In fact, al-
though Pope Adrian IV. had been him-
self the pupil of a learned Irish monk,
named Marianus, at Paris, and had other
sources of information on the subject,
we are not to wonder that he should
have formed a low estimate of the state
of religion and morals in Ireland, and
lent a credulous ear to the exaggerated
representations of Henry's emissary.
Little knowing the mind of the ambi-
tious king, he, therefore, addressed to
him his memorable letter, or bull, Avhich
was accompanied by a gold ring en-
riched with a jirecious emerald, as a
sign of investiture.*
The importance of this bull in our
origin in ardent faith and in love of religion, always has
a prosperous end and issue. Certainly it is beyond a
doubt (and thy nobility itself has recognized the truth
of it), that Ireland, and all the islands upon which
Christ, the sun of justice, has shone, and which have
embraced the doctrines of the Christian faith, belong of
right to St. Peter and the holy Roman Church. We,
therefore, the more willingly plant them with a faithful
plantation, and a seed pleasing to the Lord, as we know
by internal examination, that a very rigorous account
must be rendered of them. Thou hast communicated
to us, our very dear son in Christ, that thou wouldst
enter the island of Ireland, to subject its people to obe-
dience of laws, to eradicate the seeds of vice, and also to
make every house pay the annual tribute of one penny
to the Blessed Peter, and preserve tho rights of the
Clmrch of that hand whole and entire. Receiving your
laudable and pious desire with the favor it merits, and
granting our kind consent to your petition, it is our
wish and desire that, for the extension of the limits of
190
REIGN OF HENRY II.
history lias been monstrously exagger-
ated. It can have had little, if anj^,
influence on the destinies of Ireland.
After the bull had been obtained on a
false pretence, and to give a color to an
ambitious design, a council of state was
held in England to consider the pro-
jected invasion; but partly through
deference to his mother, the empress,
who was opposed to it, and partly from
the pressure of other affairs, the project
was for the present abandoned by Hen-
ly, and the papal document deposited
in the archives of Winchester. Thir-
teen years after we Lave seen Dermot
MacMurrough at the feet of Henry, im-
ploring English aid. A few years more
pass away, and we behold the English
monarch making a triumphant progress
through Leinster, and receiving the sub-
mission of the kings of Desmond and
Thomond, and Ossory, and Breffny, and
Oriel, if not that of Eoderic himself;
yet, not one word is breathed, all this
time, about the grant from Adrian IV.
We Lave no ground for supposing that
the existence of that errant was even
the Church, the checking of the torrent of vice, the cor-
rection of morals, the sowing of the seeds of virtue, and
the propagation of the religion of Christ, thou shoiddst
enter that island, and there execute whatever thou shalt
think conducive to the honor of God and the salvation
of that land, and let the people of that land receive thee
vrith honor, and venerate thee as their lord, saving the
right of tlie Church, which must remain untouched and
entire, and the annual payment of one penny from each
house to Saint Peter and the holy Church of Rome. If
then thou wishest to carry into execution what thou
hast conceived in thy mind, endeavor to form that
people to good morals ; and botli by thyself and those
men whom thou hast proved duly qualified in faith, in
words, and in lifj, let the Church of that country be
fidorned, let the religion of the faith of Christ be planted
known to the Irish prelates, ^vho, fol-
lowing the example of their respective
princes, also paid their homage, and
assembled at the call of Henry in the
synod of Cashel ; nor does one word
about it appear to have transpired
among the clergy or people of Ireland
until it was promulgated, together with
a confirmatory bull of Alexander HI.,
at a synod held in Waterford in 1175,
some twenty years after the grant had
been originally made, and when the
success of the invasion had been an
accoinplisLed fact. Some Irish Listori-
ans have questioned the authenticity of
Pope Adrian's bull ; but there aj^pears
to be no solid reason for doubt upon
the subject.* Others, like Di-. Keating,
assign, as a ground for the right assumed
by the pope, a tradition that Donough,
son of Brian Borumha, had made a
present of tLe crown of Ireland to the
reigning pontiff, when he went on a
pilgrimage to Rome about the year
1064; but this story merits no atten-
tion. The equally fabulous donation of
Constantine the Great, even if it had
and increased, and all that concerns the glory of God
and the salvation of souls be so ordained by thee, that
thou mayest deserve to obtain from God an increase of
thy everlasting reward, and a glorious name on earth
in all ages. Given at Rome, &c., &e."
* See this point ably handled by Br. Lanigan, Eccl.
Hist., vol. iv. p. 1C4, &c., also the notes and illustrations
of the Macarim Excidium, p. 345, &c. Adrian's bull ap-
pears in the BuUarium liomanum, though Alexander's
buU does not. It was inserted by Radulfus of Diceto, a
contemporary -writer, in his Ymagines EistoHarum, and
was published by Cardinal Baronius from a Codex
Vaticanus. It was recited by the Irish princes in their
remonstrance to John XXII., in the reign of Edward II.,
and appears in the Scoti-Chronicen of John of Fordun,
and in other old writers.
BULL OF ADRIAN IV.
191
been made, could not have included
Ireland, to wliicli the power of the
Roman empire never had extended.
Irish Catholic historians have always
been sufficiently free in their animad-
versions on the "English pope," as
Adrian IV. is styled, for his grant ; but
a consideration of the real circumstan-
ces, as we have endeavored to explain
them, would show how unwarrantable
such severity has been. The character of
that pontiff Avas altogether too exalted
to afford any ground for supposing that
he acted from an unworthy motive.
We have no reason to think that his
intentions were other than the religious
ones he expresses, or that they were not
wholly opposed to the ambitious views
of the English monarch ; and we know
how utterly the conditions si^ecified in
the bull were disregarded in the Anglo-
Norman invasion and subsequent gov-
ernment of Ireland. Some show of ful-
filling these conditions was necessary,
and hence the pretended reform of the
Irish Church, which the synod of Cashel
was summoned to effect. We have
enumerated the decrees of that synod
to show in what the reform consisted.
The prelates assembled at Cashel, and
who acted only from a sense of duty,
joined in a report or wrote letters for
transmission to the then pope, Alexan-
der III., and it would appear that what-
ever faults were laid to the charge of
the Irish were, in this document or
documents, neither diminished nor ex-
cused. The Archdeacon of Llandaff ac-
companied this report by a more ample
one, in which the representat-Ions as to
the vices of the people, the power and
magnanimity of the king, and the salu-
tary effect which his authority had al-
ready produced, were no doubt highly
colored. Just as Adrian's letter had
been granted to Henry before that
prince's vicious character was developed,
and before he had begun to wage war
on the church in England ; so had the
same unprincipled and hypocritical mo-
narch contrived to expiate his crimes in
the eyes of the pope, and to exhibit
himself as an humble son of the church
before Alexander was called upon to
interpose in his favor. Hence, appeased
by the king's submission, which was the
humblest and seemingly the most con-
trite possible, and with the bull of his
predecessor, Adrian, and the reports he
had just received from Ireland before
him, the sovereign pontiff was induced
to confirm the former grant. At the
same time he issued three other letters,
dated September 20th, one addressed
to Henry himself, approving of his
proceedings ; another to " the kings
and princes of Hibernia," commending
them for their " voluntary" and "pru-
dent" submission to Henry, admonish-
ing them to preserve unshaken the
fealty which they had sworn to him.
and expressing joy at the prospect of
peace and tranquillity for their country,
" with God's help, through the power
of the same king." The third letter
was addressed to the four archbishops
of Ireland and their suflVagans ; and in
it the pope refers to the information
19i
REIGN OF IIEXRY II.
M'bicli he hnd received fi'om "other
reliable sources," as well as from their
communications relative to "the enor-
mous vices with which the Irish people
were infected ;" he designates that
people as "barbarous, rude, and ig-
norant of the divine law;" rejoices at
the improvement which had already-
begun to manifest itself in their man-
ners; and exhorts and commands the
prelates to use all diligence in promot-
ing and maintaining a reform so happi-
ly commenced, and in taking care that
the fidelity plighted to the king should
not be violated.'" Such is the history
of those famous papal grants, of which
sectarian industry^, as well as wounded
national feelings, has greatly magnified
the importance and misrepresented the
origin.
Besides the synod of Cashel, which
was convoked for ecclesiastical purpo-
ses, a council was held about this time
at Lismore, in which it was decreed that
the laws and customs of England should
be introduced into Ireland, for the use
of the British subjects settling there.
The native Irish, however, still lived
under their own laws and traditional
usages; but the protection and benefits
of English law were extended in process
of time to five Irish septs or families,
who in the law documents of the peri-
od are called the " five bloods." These
were the O'Neills of Ulster, the O'Me-
laghlins of Meath, the O'Conors of Con-
* These three letters, which escaped the attention of
preceding Irish historians, are pubUshed in Mr. O'Cal-
laghan's Macarm Excidium, p. 225, ct acq., and again
naught, the O'Briens of Thomond, and
the MacMurroughs of Leinstei-. It Avas
several hundred years later, namely,
in the reign of James I., when English
law Avas extended to Ireland in general,
and even then it was found necessary
to modify it for the purpose of adapta-
tion.
Henry made a new grant of the
principality of Leinster to Strongbow,
subject to the feudal condition of hom-
age and military service. He aj)point-
ed Hugh de Lacy justiciary of Ireland,
and granted him the territory of Meath,
to be held by similar feudal service.
A large territory in the south of Ire-
land was conferred about this time on
FitzGerald, the ancestor of the earls of
Desmond ; and thus was commenced, on
a large scale, that wholesale confiscation
by which the land of Ireland was taken
indiscriminately from its ancient pos-
sessors, and granted, without any show
of title, to the Anglo-Norman adven-
turers. This was only a repetition of
what had taken place in England itself
on the conquest of that country by Wil-
liam the Norman. The Saxons in-
curred the contempt of their invaders
from the facility with which they suf-
fered themselves to be subdued, and
their property was everywhere confis
cated ; so that the Saxon element in the
English character aflfords, historically
speaking, no ground for national boast-
ing. The descendants of the plunder
from another source in the Appendix to that learned anJ
laborious work.
SPOLIATION OF THE IRISH.
193
ers, equally riipacious, found a new field
for spoliation in Ireland, and carried
out their old system there with a total
disregard of both mercy and justice.
Subduing a territory generally signified
among the ancient Irish only a transi-
tory act of plunder or the exacting of
hostages. With the Anglo-Normans of
the days of Henry 11. and of after times,
to obtain superiority of power in a
country, whether by conquest or other-
wise, signified, on the contrary, the com-
plete transfer to themselves of every
foot of laud in the country, and the
plunder, and, if possible, extermination
of its ancient population.
Nor did the Church of Ireland fiire
better than the laity, notwithstanding
the provision of Pope Adrian's bull,
that it should be preserved intact and
inviolate. Giraldus Cambrensis, des-
cribing what he witnessed himself, and
certainly without any friendly leaning
towards the Irish, says : — " The misera-
ble clergy are reduced to beggary in
the island. The cathedral churches
mourn, having been robbed by the
aforesaid persons (the leading adventu-
rers) and others along with them, or
who came over after them, of the lands
and amj^le estates, which had been for-
merly granted to them faithfully and
devoutly. And thus the exalting of
the church has been changed into the
despoiling or plundering of the church."
And again he confesses that " while we
(the Anglo-Normans) conferred nothing
on the church of Clirist in our new prin-
cipality, wo not only did not think it wor-
thy of any important bounty, or of due
honor; but even, having immediately
taken away the lands and possessions,
have exerted ourselves either to muti-
late or abrogate its former dignities
and ancient privileges."'"'
Besides the princely rewards bes-
towed on Hugh de Lacy, as already
mentioned, he was also appointed lord
constable ; Strongbow is supposed to
have borne the dignity of lord marshal ;
the ofiice of high steward or seneschal
was conferred on Sir Bertram de Ver-
non ; and Sir Theobald Walter, ances-
tor of the earls of Ormonde, was ap-
pointed to the then high ofiice of king's
butler, whence his descendants derived
their family name. By the creation of
these and other offices, the king organ^
ized a system of colonial government
in Ireland.
Intercourse Avith England having
been for a long while interrupted by
tempestuous weather, Henry, while at
Wexford, whither he had removed from
Dublin, at length received alarming in-
telligence, to the efifect that an investi-
gation relative to the murder of St.
Thomas h Becket was proceeding by
the pope's orders in Normandy, and
that if he did not speedily appear there
to defend himself, his dominions were
threatened with an interdict. He ac-
cordingly prepared to depart from Ire-
land without waiting to complete his
arrangements there, and sailed on Eas-
ter Monday, April 17th. On landing
* Ilib. Expng., as quoted by Dr. Lanigan. Ecd. Hitt.
vol. iv. p. ^50.
194
REIGN OF HEXRY II.
the same day iu Wales, lie went as a
pilgrim to St. David's church, and thence
hastened to Normandy, where he hum-
bled himself in the presence of the pa-
pal legates and of the bishops and bar-
ons; sparing no humiliation to purge
himself of his crimes in the eyes of the
sovereign pontiff, who thus, as we have
already seen, became reconciled to him.
The city of Dublin was granted by
Henry to the inhabitants of Bristol,
and Hugh de Lacy left as governor,
with Maurice FitzGerald and Robert
Fitz Stephen to assist him, each of the
three having a guard of twenty knights.
The city of Waterford waa given in
charge to Humphry de Bohen, who
had under him Robert FitzBeruard
and Hugh de Guudeville, with a com-
pany 'of twenty knights ; while Wex
ford was committed to William Fitz-
Adelm, whose lieutenants were Philip
de Hastings and Philip de Breuse, with
a similar guard. Henry also ordered
strong castles to be built Avithout delay
in these towns ; and thus after a six-
months' stay in Ireland, did he aban-
don that unhappy country as a prey to
a host of greedy, upstart adventurers,
whom he enriched with its spoils, that
they might have an interest in defend-
ing their common plunder.
CHAPTER XIX.
REIGN OF HENRY II. CONTINUED.
Death of Tiernan O'Rourke and treachery of the Invaders.— Strongbow's Expedition to Offaly, and Defeat.— The
earl called to Normandy. — His speedy Return. — Dissensions among the Anglo-Normans. — Raymond's
Popularity -nith the Army. — His Spoliations in Offaly and Lismore. — His Ambition and ■Withdrawal from
Ireland. — An English Army cut to pieces at Thurles. — Raymond's Return and Marriage. — Roderic's Expe-
dition to Meath. — The BuUs Promulgated. — Limerick Captured by Raymond. — Serious Charges against him.
— His Success at Cashel, and Submission of O'Brien. — Treaty between Roderic and Henry II. — Attempt to
Miuder St. Laurence O'Toole.— Death of St. Gelasius.— Episode of the Blessed Cornelius.— Raymond le Qros
in Desmond. — Hostile Proceedings of DonneU O'Brien. — Death of Strongbow. — His Character. — Massacre of
the Invaders at Slane.— De Courcy's Expedition to Ulster.— Conduct of Cardinal Vivian.— Battles with the
UTidians.- Supposed Fulfilment of Prophecies.— The Legate's Proceedings in Dublin De Cogan's Expe-
dition to Connaught, and Retreat.— John made King of Ireland.— Grants by Henry to the Adventurers.
(A. D. 1173 TO A. D. 1178.)
/^'ROURKE, to whom the territory without remonstrance to the eucroach-
^-^ of East Meath had been given by ments of Hugh De Lacy ; who, by no
the monarch, Roderic, on the expulsion other title than that which he obtained
of the usurper O'IMelaghlin, called Don- from the king of England, claimed the
nell of Bregia, in 1169, did not submit whole of the ancient kingdom of INIeatL
MURDER OF TIERNAN O'ROURKE.
195
as liis property ; aud a conference was
arranged between them shortly after
the departure of Henry. The interview
took place at Tlachtgha, now the Hill
of Ward, near Athboy, and it was set-
tled that the two chieftains should meet
alone and unarmed on the summit of
the hill. The Irish prince had left the
party of foot soldiers by whom he was
escorted at some distance from the foot
of the hill ; but De Lacy came attended
by a small band of well-mounted knights
in armor, who tilted around the hill and
on its side ; but while displaying, as it
were, their skill with lance and buckler,
were intent upon a more serious game.
Maurice Fitzgerald, whose nephew, Grif-
fith, Avas in command of thia guard, also
accompanied De Lacy. Wo are told by
Giraldus that this Griffith dreamt the
preceding night that O'Rourke would
attack his master; that the movements
of the mounted troop were consequently
directed to gU3.rd against such a con-
tingency ; and that the dream was, in
fact, on the point of being fulfilled, as
they saw O'Rourke beckon to his men
to approach, and then raise a battle-axe
to strike De Lacy. The chiefs having
met without arms, we should have been
told where O'Eourke found the battle-
axe. It is said that De Lacy fell twice
in his endeavors to escape — a circum-
stance not much to his credit, consider-
ing that his antagonist was a very old
* Tho Four Masters, under the year 1175, say that
" Man us OJIelaghlin, lord of East Meath, was hanged by
tho English after they had acted treacherously towards
him at Trim ;" and it appears that some writers have
man. The arm of the interpreter was cut
off by a blow from O'Rourke's battle-
axe aimed at De Lacy, and it was only
then, forsooth, that the knights rushed
to the rescue, cut down O'Rourke, and
slaughtered the party of Irish infantry,
who were coming to their prince's aid.
As related thus by their own historian,
the story indicates a premeditated act
of treachery on the part of the Anglo-
Normans ; and the Four Masters are, we
may be sure, justified in saying that
O'Rourke was treacherously slain by
Hugh De Lacy and Donnell O'Rourke,
his own kinsman, who was probably
the interpreter alluded to. He was be-
headed, and his remains conveyed igno-
miniously to Dublin, where his head
was placed over the gate of the fortress,
and his body gibbeted with the feet
upwards on the northern side of the
city. The English account adds, that
the head, after this insulting treatment,
was sent into England to Henry. Thus
perished the brave and unfortunate
Tiernan O'Rourke, after a long and
eventful career.*
About this time Strongbow led an
army of 1,000 horse and foot into Of-
filly, to lay waste the territory of
O'Dempsey, who had refused to attend
his court ; and meeting with no opposi-
tion, he spread desolation wherever he
came. Returning, however through a
defile, lad'ii with spoils, he was set
confounded this act of treachery with that mentioned
above. Mooro charges MacGeoghegan with an in-
tentional error on this subject; but unjustly, for Ware
and Cox had fallen into the same mistake before him.
196
EEIGN OF IIEXRY II.
U150I1 in tLe rear by O'Dempsey, who
had been collecting his adherents, and
who gave the English a serious over-
throTV, slaying several of their knights,
and among them yovmg Robert De
Quiucy, who had only just been married
to Strongbow's daughter by a former
marriage, with whom he had obtained a
large territory in "Wexford as a dowry.
Befoi-e he could take any step to repair
this defeat, the earl received an order
from Henry to attend him with a rein-
forcement of men in jSI'ormandy, where
the king was endeavoring to make head
against a formidable league entei'ed into
against him by his own sons. The
prompt obedience of Strongbow on this
occasion was commended and rewarded
by Henry; but as the Irish chieftains
had begun to repent of their hasty and
humiliating submission, and disunion
had appeared in the Anglo-Norman
ranks in Ireland, the king thought it
better to send the earl back, and in
doing so invested him with the rank of
viceroy, and granted to him, in addition
to his other possessions, the city of
Waterford, and a castle at Wicklow.
A. D. 1173. — A jealousy had arisen
between StrongboAv's uncle, Hervey of
Mountmaurice, Avho held chief com-
mand in the army of Ireland, and
his lieutenant, Raymond le Gros. The
latter was the favorite of the soldiers,
who presented themselves in a body
before the earl on his return, and threat-
ened that if Raymond did not get the
command, they Avould either abandon
thff country or go over to the Irish.
Strongbow was compelled to yield to
their mutinous demand, and Raymond,
who understood their wishes and was
willing to indulge them, led them forth
to plunder the Irish, They first marched
into the centre of Oflfaly, and having
ravaged that territory, they next en-
tered Munster, and proceeded as far as
the ancient town of Lismore, which, as
well as the surrounding districts, was
also abandoned to their merciless spolia-
tion. Of the immense quantity of plun-
der collected, a large portion was placed
on board some boats which had just
arrived at Lismore from Waterford, for
conveyance to the latter city. The
convoy was attacked at the mouth of
the river by a squadron of small vessels
sent for the purpose by the Ostmen of
Cork, but after a sharp conflict the
latter were defeated, and the booty was
carried off in triumph. MacCarthy,
prince of Desmond, was coming to the
aid of his subjects of Cork, when Ray-
mond, with a strong body of cavalry,
encountered him on the waj^, and fortune
again favored the Anglo-Normans, who
drove before them 4,000 cows and sheep
along the coast to Waterford. Upon
this, Raymond, w^hose ambition rose
Avith his success, demanded of Strong-
bow his sister, Basilia, in marriage,
and the appointment of constable and
standard-bearer of Leinster, that is, the
civil and military command of that
province, Avhich had been held by the
earl's son-in-law, De Quiucy; but the
haughty request Avas rejected, and Ray-
mond retired in discjust to Wales,
^
THE ENGLISH DEFEATED AT TIIUIILES.
197
where Lis father had died about this
time.
A. D. 1174. — On the departure of
Raymond, the command of the army
once more devolved on Hervey, by
whose advice an expedition, with Strong-
bow himself at its head, was undertaken
against Donnell O'Brien. This cam-
paign was disastrous to the English.
The earl, finding that he had a more
powerful army than he expected to
contend with, sent to Dublin for rein-
forcements, which were to meet him at
Cashel; but, according to the Anglo-
Norman accounts, these fresh troops,
which, say they, consisted of the Ostmen
of Dublin in the English service, were
set upon by O'Brien in their march,
and while overcome by sleep at their
quarters, were cut off almost to a man,
400 of them having been slaughtered
nearly without resistance. This account
is framed to conceal the disgrace of the
defeat; but the Irish annalists give a
different version. They say tliat king
Roderic marched to the aid of the king
of Thomond, and that the English on
hearing of his arrival in Munster solici-
ted the assistance of the Ostmen of
Dublin, who obeyed the summons, and
made no delay till they came to Durlas
of Eliogarty, the modern Thurles. Here
they were attacked by Donnell O'Brien,
with liis Dalcassians, who were sup-
ported by the battalions of West Con-
naught and of the Sil-Murray, or
O'Conor's country, and, after hard
■ The Four Masters say tliat Donnell Kavanagli, who
3 BO called from Kilcavan, near Oorcy, in Wexford,
fighting, the English (or, rather, Ost-
men) were defeated, seventeen hundred
of them according to the Four Masters,
or seven hundred, according to the annals
of Innisfallen — which is probably the
correct number — having been slain in
the battle. Strongbow fled, Avith the
few men who remained, to Waterford,
where — or as some say, in the Little
Island near that city — he shut himself
up in a state of deep affliction.
This success over the invaders was a
signal to the Irish chieftains in general
to throw off the foreign yoke. Even
Donnell Kavauagh set up a claim to his
father's territory ,"■'' and Gillamochalmog,
and other Leinster chiefs Avho had been
in alliance with the English, revolted.
The loss of their properties and tlie
system of military rapine to which their
country was subjected, drove them to
this course. At the same time Roderic
O'Couor, with a numerous army, invaded
Meath, causing the Anglo-Norman gar-
risons to fly in trepidation from the
castles which they had erected at Trim
and Duleek. In this emergency Strong-
bow had no resource but to send to
Raymond le Gros in Wales, inviting
him to return speedily with all the
troops he could raise, and promising
him the hand of Basilia and the offices
which he had demanded. Raymond
joyfully obeyed this summons, and
arrived in Waterford Avith the least
possible delay, accompanied by a force
of thirty knights, all of his own kin-
where lie was fostered, was treacherously slain, in 1175,
by O'Foirtdicrn and O'Nolau.
19S
REIGN OF HENRY II.
dretl, 100 meu-at-arms, and 300 arcliei'S.
This succor was most timely, as the
Ostmeu of Waterford were meditating
a massacre of the Anglo-Normans, which
was actually carried into execution after
Strougbow and his immediate followers
had left the city to accompany the
newly-arrived force to Wexford. From
the Annals of Innisfallen it would ap-
pear that this massacre, in which 200
of the Anglo-I^ornian garrison "fell, took
place immediately after the battle of
Thurles, but the more consistent ac-
count is that just given ; and it happened
that a number of the garrison escaped
into Reginald's tower, from which they
were subsequently able to recover pos-
session of the city, compelling the Ost-
men to submit to severe terms.
The nuptials of Basilia and Raymond
were celebrated with great pomp and
rejoicings at Wexford, but in the midst
of the festivities news of Roderic's ad-
vance almost to the gates of Dublin was
received, and the next morning the
bridegroom was obliged to march with
all the available troops towards the
north. Accustomed only to desultory
warfare, the Irish were always content
with the success of the moment, and
rarely thought of following up a blow ;
so that Roderic's army, satisfied with
the destruction of a few of the enemy's
strongholds, and with the devastation
of the territory, had already broken up,
and each detachment had withdrawn to
its own district before Raymond could
arrive ; although it is said the latter fell
on the rear of some of the retiriu;^
parties and cut off 150 men. Hugh
Tyrrel, Avho had been left by de Lacy
in command of the castle of Trim, Avas
now ordered to restore the forts which
the Irish army had demolished ; and
thus Roderic's expedition ended like
any ordinary foray.
A. D. 1175. — In this posture of affairs
Henry II. thought it high time to try
the effect of the Papal bulls, which,
although mentioned already in connec-
tion with the events of a preceding
year, noAV came, for the first time, to
the knowledge of either the clergy or
the people of Ireland. For this purpose
he commissioned William FitzAdelm
and Nicholas, prior of Wallingford, to
carry these documents to Ireland, where
they were publiclj'- read at a synod of
the bishops convened for the occasion
at Waterford ; but how the bulls were
received, or what effect they produced
at the moment, we are not told.
For the twofold j)urpose of gratifying
the insatiable rapacity of the soldieiy
and of taking revenge on Donnell
O'Brien for the defeat at Thurles, Ray-
mond led an army against Limerick,
which was captured through the gallant
conduct of his nephews and himself in
fording the Shannon, and was then
abandoned to carnage and plunder.
But on the return of FitzAdelm and
Nicholas of Wallingford, they repre-
sented to Henry that these sanguinary
exploits of Raymond's led to the disor-
ganization of the army, and to outbreaks
and resistance on the part of the Irish.
I The soldiers, they said, were converted
CAPTURE OF LIMERICK BY RAYMOND.
199
info mere rapacious marauders, and the
liastility of the Irish rendered doubly
inveterate ; while, to make the complaint
more serious, it was stated that the
popular general had formed a plan to
usurp, by the aid of the army, the
dominion of the island. This report
emanated from Hervey, who detested
Raymond ; but there can be no doubt
that a great portion of it was strictly
true, although the last-mentioned charge
was probably malicious and unfounded.
Commissioners were immediately des-
patched by the king to bring Raymond
before him in Normandy ; but at this
juncture, and when Raymond seemed
most desirous to obey the summons in
order to vindicate his character, news
arrived that the ever-active king of
Thomond had laid siege to Limerick,
where the Anglo-Norman garrison could
not long hold out. Strongbow ordered
an army to march from Dublin to their
lelief, but the men refused to move un-
less their favorite general was put at
their head. The royal commissioners
were consulted, and, by their advice,
Raymond Avas once more placed in com-
mand, and marched towaixls Limerick
with a force consisting of neai-ly 300
cavalry, of whom fourscore were heavy
* Although tho signature of St. Laurence was one of
those attached to the treaty of Windsor, Dr. Lanigan
does not seem to think he was identical witli " Master
lyaurence," Roderic's chancellor. — (Eccl. Hist., chap,
xxix., sec. ix.) It is probable that the good archbishop
Imd gone to England, on business connected with his
diocese ; and it was on tliis occasion, while proceeding
one day to celebrate mass in tlio cathedral of Cantor-
bury, where he was received with great veneration by
tho monks, that a madman who had heard a groat deal
of his sanctiiy, and tliought it would be a good action to
armed, and 300 archers, a lai-ge body of
L'ish infantry under the princes of Ossory
and Hy-Kinsellagh joining them on tlie
route. At the approach of this army,
O'Brieik, raised the siege, and took up a
position in a pass near Cashel, where he
hoped to intercept their march. The
prince of Ossory, seeing his Anglo-
Norman allies, as he thought, hesitate
in the face of the enemy, addressed them
menacingly, and told them that if they
allowed themselves to be vanquished
they would have to fight against the
men of Ossory as well as against those
of Thomond. Meyler FitzHenry led
the vanguard, and forced the pass, and
the Thomond army was routed with
considerable slaughter.
The result of this defeat was the sub-
mission of O'Brien, and some negotia-
tions on the part of Roderic with
Raymond. But the L-ish monarch,
instead of treating definitively with a
subordinate, sent ambassadors to Henry
IL himself, and in September, 1175,
Cadhla or Catholicus O'Dufi'y, arch-
bishojD of Tuam, Concors, abbot of St.
Brendan's of Clonfert, and the illustri-
ous archbishop of Dublin, who is here
called "Master Laurence, his chancel-
lor,"* proceeded to England as his
confer on him the crown of martyrdom, attempted to
kill him at the foot of the altar, by striking him on the
head with a huge club. The monks, in great alarm,
believed that the holy archbishop was mortally woimded,
but he desired them to wash the woimd on his head ■
with some water, over which he had previously said the
Lord's Prayer and made the sign of tlie cross, and he was
immediately healed and enabled to go through the sacred
ceremonies. The king, who was then at Canterbury,
condemned the intended assassin to be hanged, and St.
Laurence had great difficulty in obtaining his pardon.
200
REIGX OF IIEXUY 11.
plenipotentiaries. A council was held
at Windsor, witliin the octave of
]\Iichaelmas, and a treaty was agreed
on, the articles of which were to the
effect that Roderic was to be kiflg under
Henrj-, rendering him service as his
vassal ; that he was to hold his heredi-
tary territory of Connaught in the same
way as before the coming of Henry into
Ireland; that he was to have jurisdic-
tion and dominion over the rest of the
island, including its kings and princes,
whom he should oblige to pay tribute,
through his hands, to the king of
England ; that these kings and princes
were also to bold their respective
territories as long as they remained
faithful to the king of England and
paid their tribute to him; that if
they departed from their fealty to the
king of England, Eoderic vras to judge
and depose them, either by his own
power, or, if that were not sufficient,
by the aid of the Anglo-Norman
authorities; but that his jurisdiction
should not extend to the territories
occupied by the English settlers, which
at a later jieriod was called the English
Pule, and then comprised Meath and
Leinster, Dublin, with its dependent
district, "Waterford, and the countiy
thence to Dungarvan. The annual trib-
ute required from the Irish was a
merchantable hide for every tenth head
of cattle killed in Ireland; and the
princes who gave hostages were, besides,
for feudal service, to give jiresents of
Irish wolf-dogs and hawks ; any of the
Irish who had fled from the territories
occupied by the English bai-ons were to
be at liberty to return and to reside
there in peace ; and the king of Con-
naught might compel any of his own
subjects to come back from the other
territories, and to remain quietly in his
land.
The terms of this remarkable treaty
fix the nature and extent of the power
which Henry II. claimed in Ireland.
Nothing was added to it to the extent
of territory within which the dominion
of the king of England was acknowl-
edged. He was I'ecognized as a superior
feudal sovereign ; but, as we have al-
ready remarked, the Irish princes did
not conceive that by these new relations
the fee-simple of the soil was transferred
to Henry. So far, the territory over
which his actual dominion extended,
seems to have been almost unresistingly
yielded up to him ; but, as if to compen-
sate for the fatal apathy with which
this intrusion was allowed to take place,
every further encroachment was resisted
by the Irish of that and of subsequent
times with manful and desperate en-
ergy. Thus, not only was the English
colony long circumscribed within its
first limits, which comprised less than a
third of the island, but it became
after a few reigns much more re-
stricted ; while throughout the rest of
the country the Irish language, laws,
and usages prevailed as they had
hitherto done. Yet we constantly
hear of the " conquest" of Ireland by
Henry II.
As the first exercise of his authority
THE BLESSED CORNELIUS.
iOl
luider the treaty, Henry appointed an
Irishman named Augustin to the then
vacant see of Waterford, and sent him,
under the care of St. Laurence, to receive
consecration from- the archbishop of
Cashel, as his metropolitan. This act
was intended as a concession to the
Irish clergy.
The venerable primate, Giolla Mac-
liag, or St. Gelasius, as he is called by
Colgan, died in the year 1173, at the
patriarchal age of eighty-seven years.
He did not attend the synod of Cashel
in 1172, although he went on a visitation
of Connaught, and presided at a synod
of that province the same year, on which
occasion three churches were conse-
crated. He, however, paid his respects
to Henry II. in Dublin, and the circum-
stance of his having in his train a white
cow, on the milk of which he chiefly
* Very soon after hia consecration as arcUbishop,
Conor or Conctobbar MacConcoille proceeded, on the
affairs of liis diocese, to Eome, and was supposed to have
died tliere, his death being recorded in the Irish chron-
icles as having occurred in Rome in 1175 or 117G. It
appears, however, that the holy prelate had left Rome,
where he was treated with great distinction by Pope
Alexander III., and that hastening towards his own
afilicted country, he had got on his return as far as Sa-
voy, where he fell sick, and died in 117G, in the monas-
tery of St. Peter of Lemenc, near the city of Chambcrry.
The sanctity of his manners and of his death inspired
both the monks and the people with singular veneration
for his memory. Several miracles are recorded as hav-
ing been perfonned at his shrine, from the time imme-
diately following his death down to a very recent date,
and his festival is annually celebrated there, with great
solemnitv, on the 4th of June, the anniversary of his
death. By providential circumstances, the fact of this
veneration for an ancient arclibishop of Armagh, in a
distant country, was brought to tho knowledge of the
jircsent distinguished successor of St. Patrick, tho Jlost
Uov. Dr. Dixon, while visiting Rome in IS'ti, to bo pres-
ent at the declaration of the dogma of the Immaculate
subsisted, is mentioned by Cambrensis.
He was succeeded in the see of Armagh
by Conor MacConcoille, previously ab-
bot of the church of SS: Peter and Paul
in that city, and who has recently
become familiar to Irish readers as the
Blessed Cornelius, under circumstances
of an interesting character.* Among
other remarkable Irish ecclesiastics who
closed their career about this time, was
Flahertach O'Brollachan, comharb of
St. Colurabkille, and first bishoji of
Deny, a man eminent for his learning
and liberality. He died in 1175, having
resigned his see some years before and
retired to his monastery ; and from
his time the ancient Columl)ian order
would seem to have almost wholly
given way to the coutineutal religious
orders.f
On the overthrow of O'Brien, near
Conception. His Grace directed his homeward route
through Chamberry, obtained some of the relics of his
sainted predecessor for his own ancient church of Ar-
magh, and, on his return, wrote a very interesting book^
in which all the facts relating to this subject, so full
both of historical and religious interest, are detailed.
[Sec " The Blessed Cornelius ; or, some tidings of an
archbishop of Armagh who went to Rome in the 12th
century, and did not return," &c. By tho Most Rev.
Joseph Dixon, archbishop of Armagh. Dublin: James
Duify .] The Irish name of Conchobhar, now pronounced
Conor, soimded to foreign ears like the French word
Concord, which is tho name by which this holy Irish
prelate has been known in Savoy. It has been tradi-
tionally Latinized Cornelius. The circumstances con-
nected with the Blessed Cornelius afford n striking
illustration of the veneration paid in foreign countries
to Irish saints, whose names have almost dropped from
the memory of their own.
f A holy person, whose name appears in the Irish
Calendars as St. Gjlda-Mocliaibeo, and who is praised
for superior learning, and wisdom as well as piety, died
the preceding year. He was a contemporary of St. Mal-
achy, and was abbot of tho Augustinian Canons Regular
202
REIGX OF HENRY II.
Casbel, ia 1175, Eayiuoud was invited
into Desmond by Dermot MacCarthy,
to aid him in j^utting down the rebel-
lion of his son Cormac. The invitation
was eagerly accepted. Dermot was re-
instated, and he rewarded Kaymond
with the district in Kerry of which
Lixnaw is the centre, where his young-
est son, Maurice, became the founder of
the family of Fitzmaurice,* while the
troops returned to Limerick, glutted
with i^lunder. MacCarthy was again
assailed by his unnatural son, and cast
into prison ; but, while there, he found
means to procure the death of the rebel
Cormac, whose head was cut oflf. The
Anglo-Normans, as we shall see in the
sequel, sided with equal readiness with
a son against his father, or with a father
against his son. They only sought pay
and plunder, and increase of territory
for themselves.
The Irish Annals, under the date of
1175, accuse Donnell O'Brien of sundry
acts of aggression. Donald MacGilla-
patrick, son of the prince of Ossory, was
slain by him, and he also slew the son
of O'Conor of Corcomroe, a Thomond
prince ; and put out the eyes of his own
relatives, Dermot, son of Tiege O'Brien,
and Mahon, son of Turlough O'Brien,
in their house at Castleconnell, the
death of Dermot following from the
outrage. Upon this Roderic O'Connor
marched into Muuster, and expelled
Donnell O'Brien from Thomond, which
he laid waste. It has been suggested
that this expedition was undertaken by
Roderic in compliance with the terms
of his treaty with Henry; but it was
only the course which his duties as
monarch, even without that treaty, re-
quired him to adopt. As to the expul-
sion, it was of short duration.
A. D. 1176. — While Raymond was
still at Limerick, earl Strongbow died
in Dublin ; and as it was important, in
the precarious state of the colony, to
keep his death a secret until some one
adequate to fill his place should be at
hand, his sister Basilia sent an enigmati-
cal message to Raymond, stating that
"her great tooth, which had ached so
long, had fallen out," and begging him
to return to Dublin with all possible
speed. Raymond understood the mes-
sage, and perceived that not a moment
was to be lost ; but he could not afford
to leave a garrison behind in Limerick,
and how was he to abandon a place
which had cost so dearly? In this
emergency he applied to Donnell
O'Brien, whom he solicited to take
charge of the city as one of the king's
barons ! The mockery of a formal sur-
render of trust was gone through ; but
as the last man of the Anglo-Norman
garrison had recrossed the Shannon,
they saw the bridge broken down be-
hind them, and the city in flames in
of SS. Peter and Taul, Armagli ; and in the Bame year,
1174, in recorded tlio death of Flann O'Qorman, chief
lecturer of Armagh, "a learned sage, versed in sacred
and profane philosophy ;" and who is said to have spent
twenty-one years studying in France and England, and
twenty years in the direction of the schools of Ireland.
* The Marquis of Laudso'VTne is the present repro.
sentativo of this family.
DEATH OF STRONGBOW.
20o
four different points. English historians
have accused O'Brien of perfidy for this
act ; but the mock trust could have de-
ceived uo man. It was an insult which
the warlike prince of Thomond was not
likely to brook; and, in destroying
Limerick, he said it should never again
be made a nest of foreigners.*
On Raymond's arrival in Dublin the
obsequies of earl Strongbow were per-
formed with great solemnity. St. Lau-
rence, as archbishop of Dublin, presided
at the ceremony ; and the remains were
deposited in the Cathedral Church of
the Holy Trinity, now Christ's Church.
Strongbow's celebrity has been entirely
due to his fortuitous position. He pos-
sessed none of the qualities of mind
that constitute a great man. Even his
eulogist, Cambreusis, states that he
formed no plans of his own, but exe-
cuted those of others. ' To the Irish he
was a rapacious and a merciless foe. The
native annalists call him "the greatest
destroyer of the clergy and laity that
came to Ireland since the time of Tur-
gesius;" and they attribute his death,
which was caused __by an ulcer in his
foot, to a judgment of heaven.f He
died about the 1st of May, according to
some authorities, and about the last of
that month, according to others ; and
left, by his wife Eva, daughter of Mac-
Murrough, an infant daughter, Isabel,
who was heiress to his vast possessions,
and was afterwards married to William
Marshal, earl of Pembroke. Strouo-bow
founded and richly endowed a priory
for the knights of St. John of Jerusalem,
at Kilmainham, near Dublin.
As soon as Henry II. received notice
of the earl's death, he appointed William
FitzAndelm seneschal, or justiciary, with
John de Courcy, Robert FitzStephen,
and Milo de Cogan as coadjutors, and a
suitable number of knights to serve as
a guard for each. Raymond, who was
still an object of jealousy and suspicion
to the king, hastened to Wexford to
meet the new viceroy, and surrendered
to him, with good grace, the authority
which he had temporarily held. It is
said, that on seeing Raymond approach
at the head of a numerous and brilliant
staff of knights, all of his own kindred,
and with the same arms blazoned on
their shields, FitzAdelm vowed that he
would check that pride and disperse
those shields; and even to that early
period is traced the origin of the jeal-
ousy so often exhibited by the British
government, in after times, towards the
illustrious family of the Geraldines, of
which Raymond was a member.
Meanwhile a disaster befel the in-
vaders in Meath. The Hy-Niall prince,
MacLoughlin, with the men of Kinel-
Owen and Oriel, attacked the castle of
Slane, which was held for De Lacy by
Richard le Fleming, and from which it
was usual to send parties to plunder the
neighboring territories. The garrison
* The Four Masters state that he recovered Limerick f Annals of Innisfallen, and Annnlij of the Feu.
by siege, but this is evidently a mistake. | Masters.
204
REIGN OF HENRY II.
and inmates, to tlie number of five liun-
dred, were all put to the sword ; and
til is act of vengeance so terrified the
adventurers, that next day they aban-
doned three other castles which they
had erected in Meath, namely, those of
Kells, Galtrim, and Derrypatrick.
A. D. 1177. — FitzAdelm's administra-
tion soon became unpoj)ular with the
colony. Whether his jDolicy was dic-
tated by king Henry himself or not, it
is certain that he was now decidedly op-
posed to the system of military plunder
and aggression which had hitherto been
the only principle recognized by the
Anglo-Normans in Ireland. He dis-
countenanced spoliation, and was open-
ly accused of partiality to the Irish. De
Courcy, one of his aids in the govern-
ment, became so disgusted with his in-
activity, that he set out, in open defiance
of the viceroy's prohibition, on an expe-
dition to the north, having selected a
small army of 22 knights and 300 sol-
diers, all picked men, to accompany
him. It is said that he obtained a con-
ditional grant of Ulster from Henry II.,
though by what right the grant was
made it would be difiicult to determine,
as the northern princes had never given
the English king even a colorable pre-
tence for dominion over them. John
De Coui'cy was a man of great stature
and enormous physical sti'ength ; to
which qualities he added great courage
and daring, with military ardor and im-
petuosity fitted for the most desperate
enterprise. By rapid marches he arrived
the fourth day at Downpatrick, the chief
city of Uladh or Ulidia, and the clangor
of his bugles ringing through the streets,
at the break of day, was the first inti-
mation which the inhabitants received
of this wholly unexpected incursion. In
the alarm and confusion which ensued
the people became easy victims; and
the English, after indulging their rage
and rapacity, entrenched themselves in
a corner of the city. Cardinal Vivian,
who had come as legate fi'om pope
Alexander III. to the nations of Scot-
laud and Ireland, and who had only
recently arrived from the Isle of Man,
happened to be then in Down, and was
horrified at this act of aggression. He
attempted to negotiate terms of peace,
and proposed that De Courcy should
withdraw his army on condition that
the Ulidians paid tribute to the English
king ; but any such terms being sternly
rejected by De Courcy, the cardinal en-
couraged and exhorted MacDuulevy,*
the king of Ulidia or Dalaradia, to de-
fend his territories manfully against the
invaders. Coming, as this advice did,
from the pope's legate, we may judge
in what light the grant of Ireland to
Henry II. was regarded by the pope
himself.
Dunlevy returned at the end of a
week with a large undisciplined force,
which he had collected in the mean
time ; and the English took their stand
in a favorable position outside the town,
to give him battle. The Irish fought
* The original name of tlie TJlidian kings was
O'Haugliy (Uali Eocbadlia), wliicli from Dunslevj
O'Haugliy became MacDimslevy, or Dunlevy.
DE COURCY'S INVASION OF ULSTEU.
205
with great bravery, but owing to the
tumultuary nature of their army, to the
effect of their former panic, which had
not yet wholly subsided, and, in a great
measure also, to the singular personal
strength and prowess of De Courcy
himself, who Avas bravely seconded by
a young man named Eoger le Poer, they
were vanquished in the conflict. This
battle was fought about the beginning
of February, and, on the 24th of the fol-
lowing June, De Courcy again defeated
the Ulidians ; one of his knights, who
was wounded in this second conflict,
lieiug Armoric de St. Lawrence, ancestor
of the noble family of Howth.
A notion prevailed, among both Irish
and English, that certain prophecies of
INIerlin and of Saint Columbkille were
fulfilled in this invasion of Down, and
while the idea encouraged the latter it
liad a contrary effect on the former. De
Courcy assumed that he was "theWhite
Knight, mounted on a white steed, with
birds upon his shield," as desciibed by
the British prophet, and he took care
that the resemblance should be as per-
fect as possible. It was also understood
that he answered the description of the
" certain poor and needy fugitive from
abroad," who, according to the words
ascribed to the Irish saint, was to be
the conqueror of Down. De Courcy
carried about with him a book of St.
Columbkille's prophecies, and turned
the popular interpretation of them to
his account.
Cardinal Vivian, having proceeded to
Dublin, held a synod of bishops and
abbots, at which he set forth the obli-
gation of yielding obedience to the
authority of Henry, in virtue of tlie
papal bulls. He was probably induced
by the English functionaries to take
this step, as it does not appear that he
had any commission from the pope to
do so. On his passage through Eng-
land, when coming from Eome, he had
even been treated with much discour-
tesy, and was not permitted to proceed
on his mission until he had bound him-
self by oath to do nothing against the
king's interests. He was further in-
duced, at the synod, to grant a general
leave to the English soldiers to take
whatever provisions they might want
on their expeditions out of the churches,
in which the Irish were accustomed to
deposit them as in an inviolable sanctu-
ary; but he required that a reasonable
price should be paid to the rectors of
these churches for what might be thus
taken away.
The celebrated abbey of St. Thomas
the Martyr (a Becket), was founded in
Dublin by FitzAdelm, by order of
Henry II. The site was the place now
called Thomas'-court ; and in the pres-
ence of cardinal Vivian and St. Laurence
O'Toole, the deputy endowed it with a
carueate of land called Donore, in the
Liberties of the city. After the synod
the cardinal passed over to Chester on
his way to Scotland.
MuiTough, one of the sons of Roderic
O'Conor, rebelled against his fother,
and, at his solicitation, Milo de Cogan
was sent by the deputy with a liostiio
206
REIGN OF HENRY II.
foi'ce into Connauglit, iu direct violation
of the treaty of Windsor. Roderic was
then iu lar Connaught, and De Cogan,
iu his progress, found the country
abandoned ; the inhabitants having
burned the houses and fled to their
woods or mountains, taking with them,
or concealing in subterranean granaries,
all their provisions, so that the English
could find neither food nor plunder.
Having penetrated as far as Tuara, which
they found also deserted, the invaders
were obliged to retrace their steps ; but
Roderic hastened from the west, j^ressed
on their rear, and at length came np
with them, or, as others say, lay in wait
for them, in a wood near the banks of
the Shannon, where he defeated them
with considerable slaughter. The un-
natural Murrough, who had acted as a
guide to the English, was made prisoner,
and being condemned by the Connacians
with the consent of his father his eyes
were put out — a punishment which, iu
the case of this traitor, was too merciful.
To the credit of the men of Connaught,
not one of them joined the rebellious
son on this occasion.
Iu the course of May, this year (1177),
Henry II., having previously obtained
the sanction of pope Alexander HI., as-
sembled a council of prelates and barons
at Oxford, and in their presence solemn-
ly constituted his youngest son, John,
still only a child, "king in Ireland."
This step, which was another violation
of the treaty of Windsor, by conferring
on John a title recognized as belonging
to lloderic O'Conor, did not lead to the
settlement of Irish affairs, which Henry
may have anticipated from it; nor did
John ever assume any other title in this
country but that of lord of Ireland and
earl of Moreton.
A new grant of Meath to Hugh de
Lacy was made out in the joint names
of Henry II. and John ; and Desmond,
or, as it was then called, the kingdom
of Cork, was granted by charter to
Robert FitzStephen and Milo de Cogan,
with the exception of the city of Cork
and the adjoining cantreds, which the
king reserved to himself. For some
years after, however, they were able to
obtain possession of only seven cantreds
in the neighborhood of the city. In. the
same way the kingdom of Limerick, or
Thomond, was granted to two English
noblemen, brothers of the earl of Corn-
wall, who declined the dangerous gift.
It was then given by Henry to another
baron, Philip de Braosa ; and this new
claimant, on coming in sight of the city,
accompanied by De Cogan and Fitz-
Stephen, with an army to put him in
possession, was seized with such fear,
that, notwithstanding the entreaties of
his confederates, he fled to Cork and
left the country.
De Braosa was not a coward, as his
actions in subsequent years clearly
proved; but the deteinuination exhi-
bited by the inhabitants of Limerick,
who fired their city on his approach,
that it might not fall into the hands of
the invaders, inspired him with awe;
and he had no confidence in his own
followers, who are said to have been
GRANTS TO ADVENTURERS.
. 207
the scum of society from the "Welsh
marches. Tlie territory of Waterford
was granted to Roger le Poer, the an-
cestor of the le Poers, or Powers ; but,
as in other cases, the city, with the dis-
trict immediately adjoining, Avas re-
served by Henry for himself.
Grants were also made to other
hungry adventurers, with total indiflPer-
ence, as in the case of those already
mentioned, to the rights of the Irish
themselves, or to any treaty existing
* A family connection existed between several of the
first English invaders, as appears from the following
account : — Nesta, daughter of Rees ap T\vyder, prince
of South Wales, had, while mistress of king Ilenry I., a
son, Henry, who was the fatlier of Meyler arid Robert
FitzIIenry. While wife (or, as some say, mistress) of
Stephen, constable of Cardigan, she bore Robert Fitz-
Stephen ; and, finally, when married to Gerald of
Windsor, she had three sons : first, William, the father
of Raymond le Gros, or the Corpulent (who married
Basilia, Strongbow's sister, and was the ancestor of the
Graces of Wexford, and of the FitzMaurices of Kerry),
and of QriiEth ; second, Maurice FitzQerald (ancestor of
the Geraldines of Kildare and Desmond), who had four
sons, William, who married Ellen, another sister of
Strongbow, or, as some say. Alma, a daughter of Strong-
bow, Gerald, Alexander, and Milo ; and third, David,
bishop of St. David's. There was another Nesta, the
daughter, according to some, and tlie grand-daughter,
according to others, of the former one, and she was
married to Hcrvey of Mountmaurice, the undo of
Strongbow. A daughter of the first Nesta was married
to William de Barri, a Pembrokeshire knight, by whom
she had four sons, Robert, Philip, Walter, and Gerald,
the last-named being the well-known chronicler of the
invasion, Giraldua Cambrensis. The other leading men
with them, and even without any right
established by force of arms; so that
Sir John Davies, the English attorney-
general of James I., remarked, that "all
Ireland was, by Henry II., cantonized
among ten of the English nation ; and
though they had not gained possession
of one-third of the kingdom, yet in title
they were owners and lords of all, so as
nothing was left to be granted to the
natives."*
of the early adventurers, not mentioned among the pre-
ceding, were: Robert de Bermingham, Walter Bluet,
Humphrey de Bohuu, William and Pliilip de Braosa,
Adam Chamberlain, Milo and Richard de Cogan, Ray-
mond Canteton, or Kantune, Hugh Cantwcll (according
to Ilanmer), or Gundeville (according to Camden) or
Hugh Cantilon (according to Cambrensis), John de
Courcy, Reginald de Courtenay, Adam Dullard, William'
FitzAdebn de Burgo (ancestor of the Burkes), William
Ferrand, Robert FitzBernard, Richard and Robert Fitz-
Godobert, Ra}Tnond FitzHugh, Theobald FitzWalter
(ancestor of the Butlers), Richard and Thomas le
Fleming, Adam de Gernemie, Reginald de Glanvil,
Geoffry de Hay, Philip do Hastings, Adam de Hereford,
Hugh de Lacy, William Makrell, Gilbert Nangle, or de
Angulo, William Nott, Gilbert de Nugent, Richard and
William Petit, Robert, Roger, and William le Poer,
Maurice and Philip de Prendergast, Purcell, Robert de
Quiney, or Quincy, John and Walter de Ridclsford, or
Ridensford, Adam de Rupe, or Roche, Robert de Salis-
bury, Robert Smith, Almeric de St. Laurence (ancestor
of the Ilowth family), Hugh Tyrrell, Richard Tuite,
Bertram de Verdon, Philip Welsh, Philip de Worcester,
&c., &c. — Vide Giraldus Cambrensis, Camden's Hibernia,
Hanmer's Chronicle, Harris's HHjcrnica, and the Rev.
C. P. Meehan's translation of The Gera]dincs. p. 23.
208
REIGN OF HENRY II.
CHAPTER XX.
EEIGN OF IIEI^RY 11. CONCLUDED. EEIGN OF EICIIAED I.
Reverses of De Courcy in the North. — Feuds of Desmond and Thomond. — Unpopularity of FitzAdelm -with the
Colonists. — Irish Bishops at the Council of Lateran. — Death of St. Laurence O'Toole. — His Charity and
Poverty. — De Lacy suspected by Henry 11. — Death of Milo de Cogan. — Arrival of Cambrensis. — Death of
Hervey of Mountmaurice. — Eoderic Abdicates and Retires to Cong. — Archbishop Comyn. — Exactions of
Philip of Worcester. — Prince John's Expedition to Ireland. — His Failure and Eecall. — English Mercenaries
in the Irish Service. — Singular Death of Hugh de Lacy. — Synod in Christ Church. — Translation of the Relics
of SS. Patriclj, Columba, and Brigid to Down. — Expedition of De Courcy to Connaught. — His Eetreat. —
Death of Henry H. — Death of Conor Moinmoy, and Fresh Tumults ia Connaught. — Last Exploits and Death
of Donnell More O'Brien. — Dissensions in the English Colony. — Successes of DonneU MacCarthy. — Death of
Eoderic O'Conor. — His Character. — Foundation of Churches, &c. — The Anglo-Irish and the " mere" Irish.
Contemporary Sovereigns and Events. — Popes Lucius III., Urban III., Gregory VIII., Clement III., and Celestine III.-
King of Fr.ince, Philip Augustus.— Tliird Crusade (llS8-119i).
(A. D. 1178 TO 1199.)
TOHN DE COURCY, notwithstand-
^ ing the prestige of his successes in
the north, was not invincible. After
sweeping off, in 1178, a large spoil of
cattle from Machaire Conaille, or the
plain of Louth, he encamped, on his
return to Down, in Gleuree, the vale of
Newry river, and was there attacked by
O'Carroll of Oriel, and MacDunlevy of
Ulidia, and defeated with great slaugh-
ter. On this occasion he lost 450 men,
many of whom were drowned in at-
tempting to cross the river, while the
Irish had only 100 killed. Some time
after he went on a plundering excursion
into Dalaradia, and was defeated by
Cumee O'Flynn, lord of Hy-Tuirtre and
Firlee, in Antrim, Avhen, according to
Giraldus, he escaped from the field on
foot, with only eleven followers, and
reached his camp after a flight of two
days and nights without food. The
English historians attribute this disaster
to the number of cattle which he was
carrying away, and which, being driven
back upon his ranks by the Irish, caused
such confusion that his men fell an easy
prey to the enemy.
The Annals of Innisfallen mention a
desolating war which raged this year
between the Irish of Thomond and Des-
mond, in which the latter territory was
so wasted that some of its ancient fami-
lies, as the O'Donovans, princes of Hy-
THE COUNCIL OF LATERAN.
209
Figeiute, and the O'Collinses, subordi-
nate chiefs of Hy-Conail Gavra, an
ancient sub-division of the former terri-
tory, were driven from their patrimonies
to seek refuge in the southern parts of
the present county of Cork. The native
chroniclers also record internecine quar-
rels, at the same period, between the
Irish of Ulster and those of West Meath
and Offiily, the English acting as allies
in the ranks of the latter.
FitzAdelm, as already observed, had
become so unpopular with the English
colonists, from his opposition to rapine
and suspected partiality to the Irish,
that Henry found it necessary to remove
him, and aj^pointed De Lacy in his stead,
with the title of procurator. FitzAdelm
was, however, made constable of Lein-
ster; Wexford was entrusted to his
care, and Waterford to that of Robert
le Poer.
A. D. 11*79. — Several Irish bishops
proceeded this year to Eome, on the
summons of Alexander III., to attend
the third general council of Laterau.
These prelates were — St. Lorcan, or Lau-
rence, of Dublin ; O'Duffy, of Tuam ;
O'Brien, of Killaloe ; Felix, of Lismore ;
Augustine, of Waterford ; and Brictius,
of Limerick. In passing through Eng-
land thej were obliged to take an oath
not to act in any manner prejudicial to
that country or its king. The j^jope
treated St. Laurence with special kind-
ness, appointed him his legate for Ire-
land, and conferred particular favors on
the diocese of Dublin, confirming its
jurisdiction over the suffragan sees of its
province. There can be no doubt that
the Holy Father learned, on this occa-
sion, the unhappy results which had
followed from the Anglo-Norman inva-
sion of Ireland.
A. D. 1180. — Having returned from
Rome, St. Laurence devoted himself,
with his accustomed zeal, to his archi-
episcopal and legatiuo duties; and he
was particularly strict in punishing the
lax manners of some of the Anglo-Nor-
man and Welsh clergy who had come
over with the adventurers. In the
course of this year he went to England
on a mission from Roderic O'Conor, one
of Avhose sons accompanied him as a
hostage ; but the English king refused
either to listen to his i-epreseutations or
to permit him to return to Ireland, and
left for Normandy, whither the saint,
after a few weeks' stay at the monastery
of Abingdon, in Berkshire, set out to
follow him. The holy archbishop, how-
ever, was able to proceed no further
than Augum, or Eu, on the borders of
Normandy, in a monastery, at which
place he fell sick, and died on the llth
of November, 1180. When asked by
the monks to make his will, he called
God to witness that "he had not as
much as one penny under the sun;"
and a little before he expired he said in
Irish, speaking of his unhappy country-
men, "Alas, foolish and senseless people !
What will you now do ? Who will heal
your differences ? Who will have pity
on you ?" His charity was unbounded.
During a famine which i)revailed for
three years in Dublin, he made extra-
210
REIGN OF HENRY II.
ordinary sacrifices to relieve the j^oor.
His spirit of mortification was worthy
of the primitive saints. His love for
-his ill-fated country was that of an
ardent patriot, yet his country's enemies
were compelled to confess and revere
his virtues. Several miracles are re-
corded of him, and he was canonized
by Honorius ITT., in the year 1226.*
At this time the power of Hugh de
Lacy greatly exceeded that of any other
English baron in Ireland. Giraldus
observes that " he amply enriched him-
self and his followers by oppressing
others with a strong hand ;" yet he was
less hateful to the Irish than most of
the other foreigners. He married, as
his second wife, a daughter of Roderic
O'Conor, without previously asking the
permission of Henry II. ; and this alli-
ance, together with the popularity
which he enjoyed, excited the jealousy
of the English monarch, who abruptly
removed him from the government.
De Lacy's ready obedience in yielding
up his ofiice restored him, however, to
the king's confidence, and he was rein-
stated in power with Robert, bishop of
Shrewsbury, as his counsellor, or rather
as a spy on his pi-oceedings.
A. D. 1182 — Milo de Cogan, one of
the most chivalrous of the first adven
turers, fell a victim this year to the
* See liis life, by the Rev. John O'Hanlon, of Dublin
also Surius, quoted by Ussher, in the Sylloge, note to
Epist. xlviii. " The beautiful church of Eu, in which
the remains of St. Laurence are preserved, has been
recently restored, and on the walls of the little oratory
which marks on the lull over the to-ivn the spot where
the saint exclaimed, ' lunc est requies mea,' &c., the names
hostility which the aggressions of the
English stirred, up in every quarter.
He was proceeding from Cork to Lis-
more, accompanied by a son of Robert
FitzStephen and a few other knights, to
hold a conference with some of the people
of Waterford, when he was set upon by
MacTire, prince of Imokilly, and cut off
with aP his party. Giraldus says that
he was invited by MacTire to pass the
night in his house, and that he was
treacherously murdered when seated
with hig knights in a field ; but this
statement ajDpearing, as it does, in the
midst of a tissue of slanders, merits
little credit. The event was a signal
for a general rising »of the chieftains of
Munster, and FitzStephen was so close-
ly besieged by them in the city of Cork,
that he was on the point of succumbing,
when his nephew, Raymond le Gros,
brought succor by sea from Wexford,
and raised the siege. Richard de Cogan
brother of Milo, was sent over by Hcury
to aid FitzStephen in the government
of Cork, and was accompanied by two
of FitzStephen's nephews, Philip and
Gerald Barry.*
As new adventurers appear, the earl-
ier ones vanish from the scene. Among
the latter was Hervey of Mountmaui-
ice, whose opposition to the more war-
like Raymond has been so often noticed.
of several Irishmen are inscribed." (Dr. Kelly's Camh.
Ecer., vol. ii., p. 648, d.)
♦ The latter was the oft-quote<5 Giraldus Cambrensis,
a vain, conceited writer, and compiler of silly fables and
malicious calumnies about Ireland and her people,
although his EHicrnia Exptignata is by far the most im- <
portant record we possess of the Anglo-Norman invasion
ABDICATION OF RODERIC O'CONOR.
He founded the beautiful abbey of
Duubrody, in Wexford ; and disgusted,
as it would seem, with the scenes of ra-
pine which he had witnessed in Ireland,
he retired from the strife of the world,
and became a monk at Canterbury,
giving to the abbey there a portion of
the property which he had acquired in
Ireland. We find De Lacy, in Meath,
and De Courcy, in Ulster, also founding
religious houses with a jiortion of the
plunder which they had unscrupulously
taken from the native clergy and peo-
ple of Ireland.
De Courcy obtained, this year, at
Dunbo, in Dalaradia, a decisive victory
over Donnell O'Loughlin and the Kiuel
Owen, which, for some time, checked
the heroism, of the northern chieftains,
and enabled him to strengthen his
position and overrun the province
without opposition.
A. D. 1183. — The Irish annals are
filled, at this, as at other periods, with
accounts of feuds among the native
princes, but such of them as left no
visible traces on our history we pass in
silence. The strife which had long
existed in the family of the unhappy
monarch, Roderic, broke out now with
increased violence; and after vain
efforts, on the part of neighboring
princes, to settle the differences, even
at the point of the sword, the wi-etched
king, according to the annals Kilronan,
retired this year to the abbey of Cong,
leaving the kingdom of Connaught to
his son, Conor Moimiioy.
A. r>. 11S4.— On the death of St.
Laurence O'Toole, Henry sent a com-
missioner to collect the revenues of the
diocese of Dublin into the royal coffers.
He then caused a numbev of the Dub-
lin clergy to assemble at Evesham, in
Worcestershire, and at his recommen-
dation they elected John Comyn, or
Cumming, an Englishman, to the vacant
see. Comyn proceeded to Rome, and
was ordained priest, and subsequently
consecrated archbishop, by pope Lu-
cius HI., at Veletri. The pope also
granted him a bull, exempting the dio-
cese of Dublin from the exercise of any
other episcopal authority within its
limits and without the permission of its
archbishop. This privilege was intended
as a protection against the power of the
primate, who could not, at that time, be
considered as a subject of the English
king ; and it was the first of a series oi
acts, upon which the controversy which
subsequently arose as to the relative
prerogatives of the sees of Armagh and
Dublin was founded. The new arch-
bishop did not come to Dublin until
118-4, and his presence then was in-
tended as <i preparation for the ap-
proaching visit of i^rince John.
^. T>. 1185. — Henry's suspicions of De
Lacy were not, it appears, unfounded,
as that ambitious baron is understood
to have really aspired to the sovereignty
of Ireland. He was, therefore, once
more deprived of the government, in
1184, and in his stead was sent over
Philip of Worcester, who eclipsed all
his i")redecessors by his exactions and
injustice. This man's first act was to
212
REIGN OF HENRY II.
resume, for the king's use, lands which
had been sold to O'Casey by his prede-
cessor. He levied contributions without
regard to justice or mercy; and pro-
ceeding with an army to Ulster, a terri-
tory which had been hitherto left ex-
clusively to De Courcy's enterprise, he
exacted money from all parties, but
chiefly from the clergy. He was ac-
companied by a worthy coadjutor, Hugh
Tyrrel, who stripped the clergy of Ar-
magh by his extortions, carrying off,
among other things, their large brewing
pan, which he was obliged to abandon
on the way, as the horses which drew,
it were burned in a stable where they
halted for the night, and he himself was
seized with violent griping pains, which,
in the opinion of his contemporaries,
were a just punishment for his rapine.*
This year is memorable for the
wretclied experiment which Henry
made to govern Ireland through his
sou John, a step which proved utterly
inconsistent with the king's boasted
wisdom. The young prince, then in
his nineteenth year, arrived at Water-
ford from Milford Haven the week
after Easter, with 400 knights and a
well-equipped force of horse and foot,
conveyed in sixty transports. He as-
sumed simply the title of earl of More-
* This plunder of tlie dergy of Armagli took place in
tte course of tlie Lent, and it is probable tliat it was
then the celebrated crozier of St. Patrick, called the
Staff of Jesus, was removed from the primatial city to
Dublin, although it is usually stated that this transfer
was made by FitzAdelm, who does not appear to have
exercised any authority in the north.
t 'When John Vras about to proceed to Ireland, in
1185, his father applied to pope Lucius III for permis-
ton and lord of Ireland, although he
had been invested some years before
with the nominal rank of king.f tie
was attended by Gerald Barry, or Cam-
brensis, as his tutor, and by Eanulph
de Glanville, justiciary of England ; but
he was surrounded by a retinue of in-
solent young Norman courtiers of as
profligate manners as he notoriously was
himself The proceedings of the new
visitors were most inauspiciously com-
menced. Some Leinster chieftains
waited upon John, at his arrival, to
pay their respects, but their costume
and appearance excited the mirth of
him and his brainless attendants, who
treated them with derision, and went so
far as to pluck their beards. Justly
incensed at the insults offered them, the
Irish princes hastily quitted the camp
and removing their families and follow-
ers from the territory occupied by the
English, repaired to Connaught and
those parts of Munster yet free from
the foreign yoke, proclaiming every-
where the insolent treatment which
they had received, and stirring up their
countrymen to resistance.
John and his courtiers pursued their
mad career, regardless of the storm
which was gathering. Some Irish septs,
who had hitherto remained peaceably
sion to crown tlie young prince, but the Pope declined
giving his sanction. On the accession of Urban III., at
the close of the same year, the application was renewed,
and this time the required leave was granted, and a
crown, made of peacock's feathers interwoven with gold,
was sent fi-om Rome by the Pontiff, on the occasion ; but
John's expedition having in the mean time failed, hia
Lateuded coronation was abandoned.
PRINCE JOHN m IRELAND.
213
in tlie English territory, were expelled,
jind driven to swell the ranks of their
disaffected countrymen, their lands
being given to the new comers; the
old Welsh settlers were forced to leave
the towns and reside in the marches,
and the early Anglo-Norman colonists
were harassed with exactions. Castles
were erected by John's orders at Tip-
raid-Fachtna, now Til)raglmy, in the
county of Kilkenny, at Ardfinau, over-
looking the Suir, in Tipperary, and at
Lismore; and from these strongholds
parties were sent to plunder the lands
of Munster. But the indomitable Don-
nell O'Brien took the field, and the
English were defeated by him in several
encounters. He took the castle of Ard-
finau, by stratagem, and put the garrison
to the sword. Several of the bravest
English knights were cut off in battle :
Roger le Poer was slain in Ossory,
Robert Barry at Lismore, Raymond
FitzHugh at Olechan, and Raymond
Canton in Idrone. After being deci-
mated in detail, the remnant of John's
discomfited army retired to the cities,
where the men, following the example
of their captains, indulged in every vice,
and left the surrounding country ex-
posed to the incursions of the Irish, who
destroyed the crops of the colonists.
The money collected by oppressive exac-
tions was squandered in dissipation by
John, while the troops were left unpaid,
and the whole colony was reduced by
famine and losses to the very brink of
ruin.
Thinojs had been goiiifr on thus for
several months before king Henry
became aware of the real state of affairs.
He then hastily recalled his hopeful
son, who, on his return to England,
threw the whole blame of his disasters
upon De Lacy, whom he represented as
leagued with the L-ish, and as setting
himself up for king. It is indeed as-
serted that De Lacy had at this period
assumed the title of king of Meath, and
that he received tribute as such from
Conuaught, and had got a diadem made
for himself; but so far from his being
on friendly terms with the native Irish,
the territory of Meath was, at this very
period, invaded by an Irish army, which
was defeated by William Petit, a feuda-
tory, or liegeman of De Lacy. Al)0ut
this time Dermot MacCarthy, king ot
Desmond, was killed at a conference in
Cork, by Theobald FitzWalter, the chief
butler.*
Parties of the older English adven-
turers were now in the habit of hii-ing
themselves as auxiliaries to difierent
Irish princes, Thus some English aided
Donuell O'Brien in an inroad which he
made this year into West Connaught,
while another party of them served in
the army of Conor Moiumoy, when he
retaliated l)y plundering Killaloe and
pillaging Thomond. "The English,"
say our annalists, on this latter occasion,
"came as far as Roscommon with the
son of Roderic, who gave them 3,000
cows as wases."
* MacCarthy was not, as Moore says, defeated in battln
-See Ware's Annals.
214
REIGN OF HENRY II.
A. D. 1186.— Hugli cle Lacy did not
live to vindicate himself from the
charges laid against him by prince
John. This remarkable man, whom the
Irish annals describe as the "profaner
and destroyer of many churches," and
the " lord (or king) of the English of
Meath, Breffny, and Oriel; of whose
English castles all Meath, from the
Shannon to the sea, was full," was killed
this year while inspecting the works of
a castle which he had just completed on
the site of St. Columbkille's great mon-
astery of Durrow, in the present King's
county. He was accompanied by thi'ee
Englishmen, and was stoojiing to direct
the operations of the workmen, when a
young man named O'Meyey, or Meey,
belonging to an ancient family of that
country, finding the enemy of his race
in his power, smote him with a battle-
axe which he had carried concealed, and
with one blow severed his head from
his body, both head and trunk rolling
into the castle ditch. Fleet as a grey-
hound, the young man bounded away,
and was soon safe from pursuit in the
wood of Killcare; nor did he stop
until he announced his success to the
Sinnagh (the Fox) O'Caharny, whose
* Sir Hugli de Lacy left two sons by his first wife,
Rosa de Munemene, Walter, lord of Sleatli, and Hugh,
earl of Ulster ; by his second wife, the daughter of Rod-
eric O'Conor, he had a son called William Gorm, from
whom (according to Duald MacFirbis) the celebrated
rebel. Pierce Oge Lacy of Bruree and Bruff, in the reign
of Elizabeth, -was the eighteenth in descent, and from
whom also the Lynches of Galway are descended. AVal-
ter and Hugh left no male issue, but Walter had two
daughters, who were married, one to Lord Theobald
Verdon, and the ether to Geoffry GeneviUe ; and Hugh
territory of Teffia at one time included
Durrow; and at whose instigation, the
annalists say, this perilous exploit was
undertaken.
Thus perished the most powerful of
the English invaders; and Henry II.,
who feared or suspected him, did not
conceal his satisfaction at his death.
The king's first step, on hearing the
news, was to order his son, John, to
return to Ireland and take possession of
De Lacy's lauds and castles during the
minority of the late baron's eldest son,
but the death of the king's third son,
Geoffry, duke of Bretagne, caused this
arrangement to be abandoned.*
Archbishop Comyn held a provincial
synod this year in the church «f the
Holy Trinity in Dublin.f This yeai-,
also, oil the 9th of June, the solemn
translation of the relics of SS. Patrick,
Colomba, and Brigid, took place in the
cathedral of Down. The remains of
these great saints of the primitive church
of Ireland were, it is alleged, discovered
in a miraculous manner in an obscure
part of that church the preceding year ,
and the permission of the pope having
been obtained for the purpose, they
■frere solemnly transferred to one suita-
had one daughter, Maude, who married Walter de Bur.
go (grandson of FitzAdelm de Burgo), who became, in
her right, earl of Ulster. See Four Masters, vol. iii., p.
75, note ; also, O'Flaherty's lar Cotmavght, p. 30.
f The synod was opened on the fourth Sunday in
Lent, and the canons which were adopted at it, and were
soon after confirmed by Pope Urban III., are, says Har-
ris, extant among the archives of Christ Church. See
abstracts of these canons by Harris, in Ware's Bish-
ops, p. 316; and by Lanigan, Eccl. Hist., ch. xxs.,
sect. 7.
DEATH OF HENRY II.
21;.
ble monument, • cardinal Vivian, wbo
was sent over on the occasion, being
present at the ceremony.
A. D. 1188. — Divided and weakened
by mutual and implacable dissensions,
the northei'u chieftains were yet able to
check the foreigners by some serious
defeats. On one of these occasions a
strong force of the invaders issued from
their castle of Moy Cova in Down, and
were plundering the territory of Ty-
rone, "\fhen they Avere met at a place
called Cavan na Crann-ard, or the hol-
low of the lofty trees, by Donnell
O'Loughlin, lord of Aileach, and de-
feated with great slaughter, although
the brave Irish chieftain himself fell in
the couflict. The death of this gallant
chief left De Courcy at liberty to turn
his arms against Conuaught ; Conor
Moiumoy, with Melaghliu Beg, of Meath,
having burnt the English castle of Kil-
lare in West Meath, and cut off its
garrison the preceding year. The Con-
naught chieftains rallied at the call of
their prince, who also obtained the aid
of Donnell O'Brien, and Conor Moiu-
moy was thus able to present such an
array that De Courcy avoided a col-
lision with him. The English army
then marched northward with the in-
tention of penetrating into Tirconuell,
and had advanced as far as Easdara, or
Ballysadere, in Sligo, when they found
the Tirconnellian chief, Flaherty O'Mul-
dory, prepared with a sufficient force to
receive them. De Courcy once more
made a disgraceful* retreat, having first
burnt the town, but in crossing the
Curlieu mountains he was attacked by
the Conuaught men and the Dalcassians,
and after suffering considerable loss,
escaped to Leinster with difficulty.
A. D. 1189. — The troubled and event-
ful career of Henry II. was at length
brought to a close. That profligate and
ambitious monarch died in France,
broken-hearted and defeated, cursing
his rebellious sons with his dying words.
Some think that it was unfortunate for
Ireland that the pressure of other cares
had prevented Henry from devoting
more attention to the government of
that country ; and regret that he was
unable to follow up his invasion by a
comjjlete conquest. " The world would
in that case," observes Mr. Moore,
" have been spared the anomalous spec
tacle that has been ever since jiresented
by the two nations: the one, subjected,
without being subdued ; the other, rulers
but not masters ; the one doomed to all
that is tumultuous in independence,
without its freedom ; the other endued
with every attribute of despotism ex-
cept its 230wer."*
But we cannot sympathize in any
such vain regret. Divided as the Irish
were, Henry might have done much to
exterminate or crush them in detail.
But that he, or any Englisli king of his
period, would have governed them with
justice and moderation, or that tlie
Irish chieftains would have patiently
submitted to the wholesale sjioliatiou
of their country, are h}'i3otheses which
* History of Ireland, vol. ii., p. 299.
216
REIGN OF RICHARD I.
we cannot make. Had the native Irish
race been extinct, Ireland would not
the less have been ruled as a colony
and for the supposed interests of Eng-
land exclusively; and the subsequent
history of the Anglo-Irish will show us,
that the happiness or tranquillity of
this country would not have been a
whit more secure.
The chivalrous Richard I., occupied,
during his short reign, with the Cru-
sades, left Ireland wholly to the man-
agement of his unprincipled brother,
John, who does not seem to have given
himself much trouble about its affairs.
John api^ointed as lord justice Hugh
de Lacy, son of the former lord of
Meath, to the great disgust of John de
Courcy, who felt himself slighted, and
retired to Ulster; but the English bar-
ons were allowed to prey on the Irish
as best they could, and this they con-
trived to do effectually by enlisting in
the service of the Irish princes indis-
criminately, scarcely any battle being
fought in which English and Irish were
not in the armies on both sides.
Conor Moinmoy, as a just punish-
ment for his rebellion against his father,
fell a victim, in 1189, to a conspiracy of
* Moore and some otlier Irish liistoriaus would make
it appear, that it was to commemorate a victory on this
occasion that Cathal Crovderg founded the celebrated
abbey of Knoc Moy, or Do Colic Victors, in the county
of Galway ; and Hanmer, Leland, and others after the
Book of Howth, which Leland only knew as " Lambeth
MSS.," repeat a romantic story about Sir Armoric St.
Lawrence, to account for the origin of the same abbey ;
but Dr. O'Donavan (Four Masters, an. 1218, note q), ex-
plodcs tlic popular errors on this subject, and shows that
the name was Cuoc Muaidhe, or the liill of Muaidhe (a
his own chieftains. He was, however,
distinguished by courage and generosity,
and was acknowledged as sovereign by
the majority of the Irish princes, who
accepted stipends from him, even the
unhappy Roderic submitting patiently
to his usurpation. On his death Con-
naught was once more plunged into
domestic strife. Roderic was recall-
ed, and received homage from severa.
chiefs; but his brother, Cathal Crov-
derg (Croibhdhearg), or the Redhanded,
and his grandson, Cathal Carragh, the
son of Conor Moinmoy, were rival
claimants for the sovereignty. The
attempt to settle the matter by nego-
tiation proving fruitless, Cathal Crov-
derg next year established his rights
either by battle or by the show of
superior force, there being some ob-
scurity in our annals as to the manner
in which the event was brought about.*
As to Roderic, he went from province
to province among the Irish chieftains
and the English barons, soliciting help
to restore him to the throne of Con-
naught, but his applications were re-
jected by all; and he was at length
recalled by his sept and received the
lands of Tir Fiachrach Aidhue and
s name), and that " CoUis Victoria," by which
the stories in question were suggested, is but a fanciful
translation of the name, as if it had been Cnoc mbuaidh.
It may be well to correct another popular error with
reference to this abbey, viz., the idea that the almost ob-
hterated frescoes stUl traceable on the walls of the sanc-
tuary, represent the execution of MacMurrough's son and
other points of Irish history; the subjects being un-
questionably those favorite on«s of the mediaeval artists,
the martyrdom of St Sebastian," the " Three Kings/
&c.
DEATH OF DONNELL MORE O'BRIEK
2ir
Kinelea of Anglity, or the O'Sliauglines-
sy's country, in the southwestern part of
the present county of Galway.
A. D. 1192.— The indomitable king of
Thomond again appears in arms against
the English, who, with a powerful army
collected from all Leinster, marched as
far as Killaloe. Here they were re-
pulsed by O'Brien and his Dalcassians;
and at Thurles, in Eliogarty, they were
completely overthrown by the same
brave men of Thomond. In the course
of this expedition the English erected
the castles of Kilfeakle and Knock-
grafon, in Tipperary.
Two years after, the Euglish were de-
livered by the death of Donnell More
O'Brien from the most formidable anta-
gonist whom they had yet met in Ire-
laud. Brave and liberal, but capricious,
this prince, as soon as the real intentions
of the invaders became obvious, was the
first to break through the formal sub-
mission which had been made to the
English king ; and with few and brief
intervals he continued ever after in
arms against the enemies of his country.
About the same time fell two other fa-
mous Irish chieftains : Cumee O'Flj'nn,
who had defeated De Courcy at Firlee,
was slain by the English in 1194; and
O'Carroll, prince of Oriel, having been
taken by them the year before, was first
deprived of his eyes and then hanged.
The affairs of the English colony were
at this time any thing but prosperous.
New_ lords justices followed each other
in quick succession. Hugh de Lacy was
succeeded by William Petit, in 1191,
and he again, the same year, by William,
earl of Pembroke, and earl marshal of
England, who had married Isabel, the
daughter of Strongbow, and obtained
all the Irish possessions of that noble-
man. The insolence of this latter gover-
nor did more to rouse the Irish princes
to resistance than the spoliation to
which they had been subjected by
others, and it was during his adminis-
tration that Donnell O'Brien, as we
have seen, so severely chastised the
invaders in Thomond. Peter Pipard
succeeded him as lord deputy, and
was followed by Hamon de Valois,
who, finding the treasury empty, seized
without scruple the church property.
Archbishop Comyn strenuously remon-
strated, but seeing that the pillage of
the church went on, and that he could
obtain no redress from the Irish govern-
ment, he laid the diocese under an inter-
dict, and proceeded to England to make
complaints, which were equally un-
heeded there.
Meanwhile the fatal dissensions of the
Irish princes continued to do the work
of the common enemy most eftectually ;
Mur tough O'Loughlin, lord of Kinel-
Owen, was slain, in 1196, by Blosky
O'Kane, a subordinate chief ; and E,ory
MacDunlevy having thereupon raised
an army, composed partly of English
and Counaught auxiliaries, marched
against the Kinel-Owen, but was de-
feated with dreadful slaughter, on the
plain of Armagh. The men of the south,
however, at this moment exhibited a
brilliant exception to this state of parri-
218
REIGN OF RICHARD I.
cidal warfare. Doiinell M'Carthy, son of
Dermot, the late king of Desmond, aided
by the forces of Catbal Crovderg, and of
Donogh Cairbrach O'Brien, defeated tlie
Englisli in several battles in the course
of the year 1196. He destroyed their
castles of Kilfeacle and Imokilly, for
some time held possession of the city of
Limerick, and it is asserted that he re-
duced the English of Cork to submission.
The Englisb had also some reverses
in the north. One Rotsel, or Russel,
whom De Courcy had left in command
of a castle at Eas Creeva, or the Salmon
Leap, near Coleraine, was defeated on
the strand of Lough Foyle by Flaherty
O'Muldory, who was now recognized as
chief of both Kinel-Conell and Kinel-
Owen. O'Muldory, however, died very
soon after (in 1197), and Eachmarcach
O'Doherty, who then assumed the chief-
tainship of Kinel-Conell, was killed in a
fortnight after this event, together with
200 of his people, in a sanguinary en-
gagement with De Courcy, at the hill
of Knoc Nascain, near Lough Swilly, in
Inishowen.
A. D. 1198. — This year died the de^
posed and unfortunate monarch, Roderic
O'Conor. If individual misfortune could
have expiated the fatal imbecility of his
earlier life, he suffered enous;li to merit
* Hist, of Ireland, vol. ii., p. 340. It is only fair to
state that a different estimate of Roderic's character is
formed by some ; and an accomplished writer has not
hesitated to describe his efforts against the Norman
power as heroic and self-devoted, and himself as " a
great warrior and a fervent patriot." " Brave, learned,
just, and enlightened beyond his age," writes his ami-
able apologist, " he alone, of all the Irish princes, saw
the direful tendency of the Norra;,n inroad. All the
our fgrgiveness. The unnatural rebel-
lion of his children, and the irretrievable
downfall of his country, which lie wit
nessed, and which a few years before he
could so easily have prevented, might
well have broken a more manly heart
than his. " The only feeling his name
awakens," oToserves Moore, " is that of
pity for the doomed country which at
such a crisis in its fortunes, when honor,
safety, independence, national existence,
were all at stake, was cursed, for the
crowning of its evil destiny, with a rule"
and leader so utterly unworthy of his
high calling."* He died at the advanced
age of 82, after several years spent in pen-
itential exercises in the beautiful abbey
which he had founded himself at Cong,
on the shores of Lough Corrib, and his
remains were conveyed toClonmacnoise,
where they v/ere interred at the nortli
side of , the altar of the great church.
To the events connected with our
ecclesiastical history, which have been
mentioned in the course of this chapter,
may be*added the building of St. Pat-
rick's cathedral, in Dublin, by arch-
bishop Corny n, in 1190 ; the translation
of a large portion of the relics of St.
Malachy from Clairvaux to Ireland in
1194 ;f the building of the cathedrals
of Limerick and Cashel, and the founda-
records of his reign prove that he was a wise and power-
ful monarch." — Diiblin Univerdty Mag. for 'Ma.Tch, 185G.
The descendants of Roderic, in the male line, have been
long extinct ; but it is said that the Lynches of Galway
descend from him in the female line, as also the Lacies
of Limtu-ick. — Tide supra, page 233, note.
f For the disposal of the relics of St. Malachy, see the
Rev. Mr. O'Hanlon's admirable life of that great saint
chap, xviii.
FOUNDATION OF MONASTERIES.
219
tion of several religious houses by Don-
nell More O'Brien. Several of the
Dohlest religious foundations of Ireland
date from this period ; and, if some of
them were the offeriags made by rapine
to religion, or were erected by such men
as Dermot MacMurrough, the fact only
illustrates one point of distinction be-
tween the bad men of that age who may
have founded monasteries, and those of
the present who do not ; namely, that
the former were not able, lik« the latter,
wholly to throw off the trammels of
faith, to which they, sooner or later,
repentantly returned, or, at least, offered
a tribute of recognition.*^"
Henceforth we shall have to treat of
* From the list of the Cistercian Abbeys of Ireland
lireserved in Trinity College library, and published in
an appendix to Grace's annals (p. 1G9), it appears that
many of them were founded before the English invasion.
They appear in the following order in this list, but the
founders' names, and some of the dates, are added from
other authorities : — St. Mary's, Dublin (founded by the
Danes for Benedictines in 948, and reformed to Cistercian
in 1139); Mellifont, m Louth, by O'Carroll of Oriel, in
1U3 ; Bective, Meath, by O'Melaghlin, in 1148 ; Baltin-
glass, Wicklow, bj Dermot MacMurrough, in 1148 or
1151 ; Boyle, Roscommon, in 1148 ; Slonasternenagb, or,
de Maggio, Limerick, by O'Brien, in 1148 ; Athloue,
Roscpmmon, in 1153 ; Newry, Down, by MacLoughliu,
king of Ireland, in 1153 ; Odomey, Kerry, in 1154 ;
Inislouuagh, Tippcrary, by Donnell O'Brien, in 1159;
Fcrmoy, in 1170 ; Maur, in Cork, by Dermot MacCarthy,
in 1173 ; Inis Samer, Donegal, by Rory O'Canannan, in
1179 ; Jerpoint, KUkenny, by MacGiUapatrick of Ossory,
in 1180 ; Middleton, Cork, by the Barrys, in 1180 ; Holy
Cross, Tipperary, by Donnell O'Brien, in 1181 ; Dun-
brody, Wexford, by Hervey of Mountmaurice, in 1183 ;
Abbeyleix, Queen's Co., by Cuchry O'More, in 1183 ;
Inis Courcy, Down, by John de Courcy, in 1188, as
restitution for the Irisl abbey of Carraig, destroyed by
him ; Monastcrevan, Kildare, by O'Dempsey of Offaly,
in 1189 ; Knockmoy, Gahvay, by Cathal Crovdcrg
O'Conor, in 1190 ; Grey Abbey, Down, by Alfrica, wife
of John de Courcy, in 1193; Cumber, Down, in 1198 ;
Tintern, Wexford, by William Marshall, in IJOO ; Cor-
0, Clare, by Donat O'Brien, in 110-1 ; Kilcooly,
two races as constituting the, population
of Ireland, namely, the Anglo-Irish and
the " mere Irish." The latter were, with
certain exceptions, excluded from the
privileges and protection of the English
law, and were legally known, even
during peace, as the " Irish enemy."
Dissensions were constantly fomented*
among them by the powerful English
barons, who thus made them an easy
prejr, and stripped them gradually of
their territories ; while the Anglo-Irish,
especially when residing beyond the
English Pale, often shared the fate of
the original Irish, with whom they be-
came, in course of time, identified in
language, manners, and interests.
Tipperary, by Donat O'Brien, in 1300 ; Kilbeggan,
West Meath, by the Daltons, about 1300; Douske,
Kilkenny, by William Marshall, about 1300 ; Abingdon,
or Wothenay, Limerick, by Theobald Fitz Walter, in
1305 ; Abbeylorha, Longford, about 1305 ; Tracton,
Cork, by the MacCarthys, about 1305, or 1334 ; Moycos-
quin, Derry, about 1305 ; Loughseudy, West Meath,
about 1305 ; and Cashel, Tipperary, by Archbishop Mac-
Carwell, in 1273. All these Cistercian abbeys were
dedicated to the Blessed Virgin, except that of Holy
Cross, and the abbey of Athlone, dedicated to St. Peter
and St. Benedict. There were, also, minor houses, cells
to some of the preceding. Archdeacon Lynch enumerates
about 40 monasteries erected by Irishmen about the
period of the invasion, several of them being included
in the preceding list. One was the Dominican house of
Derry, founded by Donnell Oge O'Donnell, prince of
Tirconnell, at the request of St. Dominic himself, who
sent liim two brothers of the order. Vide Camhrensia
Eccrsus, ii., 535, &c. ; O'SuUivan's Dceas Patriciana,
lib. 9, c. 3 ; and Lanigan, vol. iv. The last-named
•writer enumerates the following primitive monastic
institutions as existing at the close of the twelfth cen-
tury:— viz., Armagh, Derry, Bangor, Maghbile, or
Moville, Devenish, Clogher, Clones, Louth, Cloufort,
Inchmacnerin, Aran Isles, Cong, Mayo, Clonard, KcUs,
Lusk, Kildare, Trim, Clonmacnoise, Killeigh, Glenda-
lough, Saiger, Isle of All Saints on Lough Ree, Roscom-
mon, Ballysadare, DrumclitT, Aghaboe, Lorra, Lismore,
Molana, Cork, Iniscathy, Inisfallen, &c., &c.
220
REIGN OF JOHN.
CHAPTER XXI.
KEIGN OF JOHN.
Renewed Wars of Cathal Carragh and Catbal Crovderg. — Tergiversation of William de Burgo, and Deatli of
Cathal Carragh at Boyle Abbey. — Massacre of the English Archers in Connaught. — Wars in Ulster. — Fate of
John de Courcy. — Legends of the -Boolf of Ilowth. — Death and Cliaracter of William de Burgo. — Tumidts
and Rebellions of the English Barons. — Second Visit of King John to Ireland. — .'Vlarm of the Barons.—
Submission of Irish Princes. — Independence of Hugh O'Neill. — Divisjpn of the English Pale into Counties. —
Money Coined. — Departure of John. — The Bishop of Norwich Lord Justice. — Exploits of Cormac O'Melaghlin
and Hugh O'Neill. — War in the South. — Catastrophe at Athlone. — Adventures of Murray O'Daly, the Poet of
Lissadill.— Ecclesiastical Occurrences.
Contemporary Sovereigns and Siients. — Pope Innocent III. — King of France, riiilip Augu.stns. — Emperor of Germany,
Frederick II. — King John resigned bis dominiona to the Pope, and did homage for tliem, 1213. — Magna Charta signed at
Kunnyme.id, 1215.]
(A. D. 1199 TO A. D. 121G.)
ONE of the first acts of Jobu, on
ascending the throne of England,
in 1199, was to appoint Meyler Fitz-
Heniy chief governor of Ireland. At
that time a fierce war Avas raging in
Connaught between the rival factious of
the O'Conor fjimily. Cathal Carragh,
son of Conor Moinmoy, engaged the
services of William Burke, or De Burgo,
better known to the reader as William
FitzAdelm, and of the English of Lim-
erick, and by their aid he expelled
Cathal Crovderg, and re-established
himself on the throne of Connauffht.
* The collateral Hy-NiaU branch of MacLoughlin
(sometimes also called O'Loughlin), which had taken its
name from Lochlainn, the fourth in descent from NiaU
Qlundubh, and had given two distinguished monarchs
to Ireland, disappears in the books of genealogy with
The expelled prince enlisted the sym-
pathy of Hugh O'Neill, who had recent-
ly appeared as chief of Tyrone, and had
distinguished himself both in 1198 and
1199, by successes against De Courcy
and the English of Ulster.* Cathal Crov-
derg and Hugh entered Connaught with
an army, but finding their force inade-
quate, commenced a retreat, when they
were overtaken at Ballysadare* in Sligo
by Cathal Carragh and his English auxil-
iaries, and routed with great loss ; O'Heg-
ny, then chief of Oriel, being among the
slain in the northern army.
Muircheartach, or Murtough MacLoughlin, monarch of
Ireland, who was slain 1166. With the Hugh mentioned
above, called Aedh Toinleasc, the CNdlla resume their
sway as chiefs of Tyrone.
TERGIVERSATION OF DE BURGO.
221
Catlial Crovderg next succeeded in
securing the aid of Jolinr de Courcy and
of young De Lacy, and marched with a
strong English force as far as Kilmac-
duagh, where Cathal Carragh and the
Connacians gave them battle. Cathal
of the Red Hand was once more un-
fortunate, and his army was defeated
with such slaughter that only two out
of five battalions, of which it consisted,
escaped, and these were pursued as far
as the peninsula of Rinn-duiu, or Rin-
down* on the shore of Lough Ree,
where they were hemmed in and many
of them killed, others being drowned in
endeavoring to cross the lake in boats.
Meyler, the lord justice, now marched
against Cathal Carragh, and plundered
Clonmacnoise ; and Cathal Crovderg,
undaunted by his former losses, resolved
to try the expedient of detaching De
Burgo from the side of his 'enemj^, and
of purchasing his services for himself.
The result proved that he calculated
rightly on the mercenary character of
the Anglo-Norman. The English barons
recognized no principle in these wars
but their own interest, and were only
too glad to help the Irish in extermi-
nating each other, while at the same
time they could aggrandize and enrich
themselves. Crovderg proceeded to
Munster, where, by large promises, he
purchased the aid of De Burgo, and
obtained also that of MacCarthy of
Desmond. Some of our annals state
that a war raged about this very time
* This point is now called St. John's, and contains the
magnificent ruins of a castle built in 1237, by Qeoffry
between the O'Briens and the Desmond
families, and that William de Burgo
with all the English of Munster joined
the former ; but the contest to which
this account refers did not interfere
with that between the O'Conors, and
most probably followed it.
A. D. 1201. — Cathal Crovderg, with
William de Burgo, the sons of Donnell
O'Brien and Fineen or Florence Mac-
Carthy, and their respective forces,
marched from Limerick to Roscommon,
where the army took up its quai'tei-s in
the abbey of Boyle. Every part of the
sacred precincts was desecrated by the
soldiery, and nothing was left of the
abbey but the walls and roof, even
these being partially destroyed. De
Burgo had begun to suri'ound the mon-
astery with an entrenchment, when
Cathal Carragh arrived, and sevei'al
skirmishes took place between the two
armies, in one of which Cathal Carragh
himself, having got mixed up with some
retreating soldiers, was slain in the
melee. This event decided the struggle ;
Crovderg's Munster auxiliaries were dis-
missed to their koines, and Cathal and
De Burgo repaired to the abbey of
Cong, where they passed the Eastei',
having first billeted the English archers
through Counaught for the purpose, as
some accounts express it, of "distraining
for their wages." The Four Mastei's
say that De Burgo and O'Flaherty of
West Connaught entered into a con-
spiracy against Cathal the Red Handed,
Mares, or De Marisco. — See Dr. Petrie'a account of it i
the Irish Penny Journal, pp. 73. &c.
REIGN OF JOHN".
which the latter timely discovered ; and
that De Burgo having then demanded
the wages of his men, the Connacians
rose upon them and killed 700 of them.
The Annals of Kilronan, however, ex-
l^lain the event differently, for they say
that a rumor got abroad in some mys-
terious manner to the effect that De
Burgo was killed, and that by a simul-
taneous impulse the whole population
rose and slew all the English soldiers
who were dispersed among them. De
Burgo then demanded an interview with
Cathal, but the latter avoided seeing
him; and the Anglo-Norman, whose
rapacity was foiled for once in so fearful
a manner, set off for Munster with such
of his men as had escaped the massacre.
Three years after he took ample ven-
geance by the plunder of the whole of
Connaught, " both lay and ecclesi-
astical."
Ulster during this time was a scene
of constant warfare between the Kinel-
Connell and the Kinel-Owen, and of
domestic strife among the latter. Hugh
O'Neill was deposed and Conor O'Lough-
lin substituted ; but the former appears
to have been restored in a few years,
after some sanguinary conflicts.
A. D. 1204. — This year exhibited, in
the downfall of John De Courcy, one of
the many instances of retribution with
which the history of the first English
settlers in Ireland is filled. It is said
that De Courcy incurred the anger of
John, by openly speaking of him as a
usurper, and as the murderer of the
young prince Arthur, the rightful heir
to the crown of England; but at all
events the " Conqueror of Ulidia" was
proclaimed a rebel, and his old enemies,
the De Lacys, were ordered to deprive
him of his lands, and seize his person.
The English army of Meath, therefore,
marched against him, and he was driven
to seek protection from the Irish of
Tyrone. It would appear that he was
ultimately captured at Downpatrick,
after a long siege, and sent to London,
where he was confined in the tower for
the remainder of his life. The Book of
Howth relates how he was treacherously
taken on Good Friday, when unarmed
and engaged in his devotions in the
church-yard of Downpatrick ; how he
seized a wooden cross and slew thirteen
of his assailants on that occasion ; how
De Lacy punished, instead of rewarding,
these persons who had betrayed their
master by indicating when he might be
found without arms ; how De Courcy
was afterwards liberated from the tower
to fight a French champion, who fled
from the lists on beholding him ; how
he then showed his strength by cleaving
a helmet and coat of mail with his sword ;
how John thereupon pardoned him, and
granted him the privilege which he
asked for himself and his successors, to
remain with his head covered in the
royal presence ; and how, by some mys-
terious agency, he was prevented from
returning to Ireland; but it is needless
to say that all this is mere fiction, al-
though it has been mixed up with real
history by Hanmer, and subsequent
Irish historians, on no better authority
DEATH AND CHARACTER OF DE BURGO.
223
tban that repertory of Anglo-Irish le-
gends the Book of Howth. As to Hugh
De Lacy, who was then lord justice, he
was rewarded by John with the pos-
sessions of De Courcy and the title of
earl of Ulster.*
The same year our annals record the
death of the famous William FitzAdelm
de Burgo, the ancestor of the Burke
family in Ireland. Giraldus Cambrensis
describes him as a man addicted to many
vices; bland and. crafty ; sweet-tongued
to an enemy, and oppressive to those
under him : as a man full of wiles, and
concealing enmity under a smooth ex-
terior. The Four Masters state that he
died unshriven, and of some disgusting
disease, in punishment of his sacrilegious
plundering of churches ; but other old
writers, as Duald MacFirbis, and the
translator of the Annals of Clonmac-
noise, endeavor to vindicate his char-
acter.f
About this period the utmost disor-
ganization prevailed among the English
barons in Ireland, their mutual feuds
* Nothing authentic is known of the fate of Sir Jolm
Do Courcy, save that he fell into the hands of De Lacy,
who took him by the king's orders, and that he was
confined in the tower of Loudon. His wife, AfFrica,
daughter of Godfred, king of the Islo of Man, died A. D.
119;3, and he left no male issue ; the MacPatricks or Do
Courcys of Cork, who claim descent from hira, being
possibly the descendants of his brother who was kUled
during Sir John's lifetime. The privilege claimed by
the barons of Kinsale, as De Courcys, to wear their hats
in tlio presence of royalty is only supported by modern
practice suggested by tlie above-mentioned h'gend. —
See the subject amply discussed by Dr. O'Donovan,
Four Masters, vol. iii., pp. 139-14-1 note n.
f Giraldus, who was prejudiced against FitzAdelm,
Bays he was: — "Vir corpulentus, tarn staturos quam
ficlunB — vir dapsilis et curialis Iiubellium
being as capricious and sanguinary as
any which we have had to lament
among the native Irish. In 1201,
Philip of Wigornia, or Worcester, and
William de Braose, laid waste a great
part of Munster in their broils. King
John sold to the latter for four thou-
sand marks the lands of the former and
of Theobald Walter; but Walter re-
deemed his own for five hundred marks,
and Philip re-entered upon his by force
of arms. A few years later, the tables
are turned, and De Braose appears as a
defeated rebel, flying from the countiy,
and his family falling into the hands of
the tyrant John, who barbarously caused
his wife and his son to be starved to
death in Coi'fe castle. J Geoffrey Mares,
orDeMarisco,also rebelled, and Munster
was once more laid waste by contending
English armies. Confusion w:as worse
confounded by the rebellion of the De
Lacys, between whom and Meyler a
bloody civil war was - waged, until
"Leinster and Munster," as our annals
say, " were brought to utter destruc-
debellator, rcbellium blanditor ; indomitis domitus,
domitis iudomitus ; hosti suavissimus, subdito gravissi-
mus : nee illi formidabilis, nee isti fidelis. A'ir dolosus,
blandus, meticulosus, vir vino Vcnerique datus, &c." —
nib. Exp., ii., cap. xvi. The Annals of Kilronan mention,
under the date of 1203, the erection of a castle at Meelick.
on the Shannon, in the eastern extremity of the present
county of Galway, by William Burke, who had been
previously seated at Limerick, and the English of
Mimster, and that in constructing the castle they fillcil
up a church with stones and earth. This would appear
to liave been De Burgo 's only occupation of territory in
Connaught, although he is called the conqueror of that
province.
t On returning from Ireland, in August, 1210, John
took with him the captives, Maude, wife of William de
Breusa, or Braose, and her son, the father having somo
224
REIGN OF JOHN.
tion." Cathal Crovderg and O'Brien
of Tliomond aided the lord justice,
Mej^ler, in besieging Limerick and re-
ducing De Burgo to subjection. Some
of the English fortified themselves in
their castles, and plundered the country
indiscriminately like highwaymen, as we
find one Gilbert Nangle to have done
until he was obliged to fly from Ireland.
A. D. 1209. — Dublin having been des-
olated by pestilence, was partly re-
peopled from Bristol, to which city the
Irish metropolis had been capriciously
granted by Henry 11. The new colo-
nists not understanding, as it would
seem, the actual state, of society in Ire-
land, were in the habit of resorting on
holidays for amusement to Culleu's
Wood, in the southern suburbs. A
great number were thus assembled on
Easter Monday, this year, when a party
of the Irish septs of O'Byrne and
O'Toole, who had been deprived of
their patrimonies, and forced into the
the mountains of Wicklow by the Eng-
lish, poured down upon them, and cut
to i^ieces some three hundred men.
The citizens of Bristol repaired the loss
by a fresh supply of colonists, but for
hundreds of years after. Black Monday,
as it was called, was commemorated as
time before having escaped to France. Tliey were com-
mitted to Corfe Castle, in the Isle of Purbeck, wbere, by
the king's orders, they were confined in a room, with a
sheaf of wheat and a piece of raw bacon for their only
pro\-isions. On the eleventh day their prison was opened
and both were foimd dead, in a sitting posture, the
mother between her son's legs, with her head leaning
on his breast. In the last pangs of hunger she had
gnawed her son's cheeks, probably after his' death.
When William de Braose heard the tragical end of his
a festival by the citizens, who paraded
in arms on the field of slaughter, and
made a show of challenging the Irish
enemy to the fight.
A. D. 1210. — While matters were go-
ing on thus in Ireland — England, all
this while lying under the spiritual
horrors of an interdict, or deprivation
of the sacraments, and the king himself
under a sentence of excommunication in
punishment of his sacrileges and his
contumacy against the church — John
resolved to visit his Irish dominions for
the purpose of restoring order there.
Some of the oppressive exactions, under
which the unhappy Jews groaned in
this tyrant's reign, were levied for the
expenses of this expedition. He landed
at Crook, near Waterford, on the 20th
June, this year, with a numerous and
well-equipped army, which was con
veyed in 700 ships. The presence of
the king, with so powerful a force,
struck awe into his rebellious sub-
jects, and produced an immediate calm
throughout the land. The De Lacys
fled to France at his approach.* Others,
like De Braose, followed their example.
As to the Irish, they were, in fact, not at
war with the English government at
that moment, and as many as twenty
wife and son, he died in a few days. Such is the ac-
count given by a contemporary Flemish writer, who
appears to have been in the service of John. — See
Wright, History of Ireland, vol. 1., p. 129.
* One of the crimes Avith which the De Lacys were
charged was the murder of Sir John Do Courcy, lord of
Rahcny and Kilbarrack, near Dublin, a relative of the
famous earl of Ulster, says Ware (Annals, an. 1213).
See O'Donovan's note on the De Courcys, quotfld
above.
Divisioisr Gf counties.
225
Irish chieftains are said to have done
homage to him during his stay in this
country. He proceeded to Dublin, and
thence to Meath, where Cathal Crov-
derg made his submission to him.* In
compliance with the king's summons,
Hugh O'Neill also repaired to the royal
presence ; but departed without agree-
ing to any terms of submission. He
aj:)23ears to have encamped with a
numerous force near the English camp,
and on leaving carried off considerable
spoils from the neighboring country.
John took Carrickfergus Castle, after a
short siege, from De Lacy's people, and
placed a garrison of his own there ; and
the king of Connaught, who had accom-
panied him with a great retinue, then
returned home. Shortly after, John
was at Rathguaire, now Rathwire, near
Kinnegad, in West Meath, and Cathal
Crovderg again came, bringing four
hostages, but not his son, whom it
appears he had promised to bring, and
whom John was to have taken under
his special charge.
There being no military operations
to occupy the king, he set about intro-
ducing English laws and customs into
Ireland. He divided Leiuster and
Munster into twelve shires or counties,
namely, Dublin, Kildare, Meath, Uriel
(Louth), Catherlough (Carlow), Kil-
* Catbal Croydorg, appears to have entered into terms
with Meyler FitzIIcnry a few ycara beforo this, and to
have consented to yield two parts of Connaught to the
English king, retaining the third part as his feudatory,
and paying for it an annual sum of one hundred marks.
The Close rolls contain an entry of the letter, in which
John expresses his satisfaction to Meyler at tliisarrange-
keuny, Wexford, Waterford, Cork, Lim-
erick, Kerry, and Tipperary ; but, as Sir
John Davies observes, "these counties
stretched no further than the lands of
the English colonists extended. In
them only were the English laws pub-
lished and put into execution ; and iu
them only did the itinerant judges make
their circuits, and not in the countries
possessed by the Irish, which contaiijed
two-thirds of the kingdom at least." f
John also caused sterling money to be
coined in Ireland of the same standard
as that of England, and took his de-
parture from this country iu the last
week of August, leaving as lord justice,
John de Gray, bishop of Norwich, the
man whom he wished to make arch-
bishop of Canterbury in spite of the
pope, and who was thus the cause of his
quarrel with the Holy See.
The remaining events of our history
during John's reign are not of much
importance, and have uo relation to the
memorable transactions of which Eng-
land was at that j)eriod the scene — the
final submission of John to the pope,
his war with the barons, the granting
of the magna charta, &c. Cormac, head
of the ancient Meath ftxmily of O'Me-
laghlin, wrested Delvin,'in West Meath,
from the English, and carried on -i long
war with them and their auxiliaries; and
ment. On John's arrival at iVaterford, in 1210, Don-
ough Cairbreagh O'Brien, son of DonncU More, made his
submission, and received a charter for Carrigogonnell
and the lordslup thereto belonging, for which ho was to
pay sixty marks.
f Tavis' Hist. Tracts, p. 03.
22G
REIGN OF JOHN.
Hugli O'Neill of Tyrone, and Donnell
O'Donuell of Tyrconuell, having settled
their old differences, co-operated in beat-
ing the English on two or three occa-
sions. The castle erected by the Eng-
lish at Caol Uisge, on the Erne, was
captured by them, and its commandant,
MacCostello, slain ; and Hugh O'Neill
burned the castle of Carlingford and
slaughtered its garrison.
A. D. 1215. — In the south, we are
told by the Annals of Innisfidlen, that
a war in which the English took part,
as usual, on both sides, and which was
probably fomented by them, raged be-
tween the two brothers, Dermot and
Cormac Finn MacCarthy, princes of
Desmond ; and that the result was the
acquisition by the English of an enor-
mous increase of territory in that quarter,
where they fortified themselves by the
erection of about twenty strong castles
in Cork and Kerry.
The " English bishop," as De Gray is
called, built a bridge of stone over the
Shannon at Athlone in 1210 (1211),
and erected a castle there on the site of
one which had been built by Turlough
More O'Conor in 1129 ; but one of the
towers, when just finished, fell and
crushed beneath its ruins Eichard Tuite,
the most powerful of the English barons
since the departure of the De Lacys,
together with his chaplain and seven
other Englishmen. The outworks of
the castle extended into the sanctuaries
of St. Peter and St. Kiernan, and the
Irish attributed the catastrophe to this
desecration.
The Four Masters, under the date of
1213, relate a story which curiously
illustrates the manners of the period.
Donnell More O'Donnell, lord of Tir-
connell, sent a steward named Finn
O'Brallaghan into Connaught to collect
a tribute which he claimed in the north-
ern portion of that province. One of
the first places which the steward vis-
ited was the house of the poet, Murray
O'Daly, at Lissadill, in Sligo ; and being
a coarse, ignorant fellow, he began ta
wrangle with the poet, who, enraged at
his conduct, seized a battle-axe and
killed him on the spot. To escape the
anger of O'Donnell, the poet fled to
Clanrickard in the present county of
Galway, whither he was pursued by the
angry prince of Kinel-Connell, so that
Mac William (that is, Eichard Burke,
son of the late William de Burgo) was
obliged to send him to seek refuge else-
where. Thus was the unfortunate
O'Daly compelled to fly to Limerick,
and thence to Dublin, and finally to
Scotland ; O'Donnell pursuing him with
an army, besieging towns, and plunder-
ing the country to compel the inhab-
itants to surrender the fugitive. In his
last asylum O'Daly found time to com-
pose three poems in praise of O'Donnell,
which soothed the anger of the latter,
and procured the poet's pardon. In one
of these poems he complains that the
cause of the hostility against him was
very small indeed, namely, the killing
of a clown who had insulted him !
Cadhla, or Catholicus O'Dufly, the
venerable archbishop of Tuam, a con-
ECCLESIASTICAL AFFAIRS.
22*7
temporary of St. Malachy and St. Lau-
rence O'Toole, died at an advanced age
in the abbey of Cong, in 1201 ; and the
same year Jolm de Monte Celio, the
pope's legate, came to Ireland, and held
synods at Dublin and Athlone. John
Comyn, the fii-st English archbishop of
Dublin, died in 1213, and was interred
in Christ Church; and his successor
was Henry de Londres, a great friend
and adherent of king John's, through
all his troubles, and who, with William
Marshall, earl of Pembroke, was among
* Besides several of the religious houses enumerated
in tlie note at the end of the last chapter, the following
Were also founded in Ireland, about the period treated
of in the present chapter ; viz. :
The Priory of Kells, in Kilkenny, founded In 1193, by
GeoflFry FitzRobert, for canons regular of St. Augustin,
under the Invocation of the Blessed Virgin Mary ; the
Priory of Kilrush, in Kildare, for canons regular, and
the commandery of St. John and St. Brigid, in Wexford,
for knights hospitallers, by William Marshall, earl of
Pembroke ; the Priory of Tristernagh, in West Mcath,
for canons regular, by Geoflfry Do Constantine, in 1200 ;
the few on the king's side at Kuuney-
mead, and signed the magna charta as
such. Some Irish bishops attended the
fourth general council of Lateran, in
1215 ; as Ave find that Dionysius O'Lon-
ergan, archbishop of Cashel, died at
Rome that year; that Cornelius O'He-
ney, bishop of Killaloe, died on his
return from Rome ; and that the death
of Eugene MacGillavider, archbishop of
Armagh, took place in the Eternal City
the following year.*
the Priory of Great ConaU, on the bants of the Liffey, in
I Kildare, for the same, by Meyler FitzHenry, in 1202 ;
the Priory of Canons Regular, at Inistiogue in Kilkenny
by Thomas, Seneschal of Loinster, in 1300 ; and the
Priory of the same order at Newtown, on the north
bank of the Boyne, by Simon Rochford, bishop of Meath,
in the same year. Earl Marshall founded tlie Convent
1 of St. Saviour on the site occupied by the present Law
' Courts in Dublin, m 1316— it was first held by the Cia-
: tercians, but was transferred eight years after to the Do
TTii'mV^^Ti friars.
228
REIGN OF HENRY III.
CHAPTER XXII.
KEIGN OF HENKY in.
Extension of Magna Charta to Ireland. — Return of Hugli de Lacy. — Wars between De Lacy and Earl Marsliall. —
Surrender of Territory to the Crown by Irish Princes.— Connaught granted by Henry to De Burgo.— Domestic
Wars in Connaught. — Literference of the English. — Famine and Pestilence. — Hugh O'Conor Seized in Dublin
and Rescued by Earl Marshall.— His Retaliation at Athlone.— Death of Hugh, and Fresh Wars for the
Succession in Connaught. — Felim O'Conor. — English Castles jn Connaught Demolished. — The Islands of
Clew Bay Plundered.— Melancholy Fate of Earl Marshall.- Connaught Occupied by the Anglo-Irish.—
Divisions and War in Ulster. — Felim O'Conor Proceeds to England. — Deaths of Remarkable men. — Expe-
ditions to France and Wales. — The Geraldines make War at their own Discretion. — Rising of the Young
Men in Connaught. — Submission of Brian O'Neill. — Battle of Creadrankille and Defeat of the English. —
Death of PitzGerald and O'DonneU.— Domestic War in the North.— Battle of Downpatrick.— Wars of De
Burgo and FitzGerald. — Defeat of the English near Carrick-on-Shaimon. — General View of this Eeign.
Contemporary Sovereigns and Events.— Vo'^is. : Gregory IX. to Clement IV.— St. Louis IX., king of Fr.ince, died 1270 ;
St. Domiaick died 1221 ; St. Francis died 1220.— Guelphs and Guibelines in Italy, 1230.- Seventh Crusade, 1218; Eighth
Crusade, 1268.
(A. D. 1216 TO 1372.)
HENRY III., on the deatli of his
father, John, in 1216, ascended
the throne, while yet in his tenth year,
and William Marshall, earl of Pembroke
and lord of Leinster, Avas appointed
protector both of the king and kiug-
dom; Geoffry de Marisco being con-
tinued in the office of custos, or chief
governor of Ireland. The great power
enjoyed by earl Marshall, his intimate
ties, both of family and property, with
Ireland, and his wisdom in the manage-
ment of the state, secured special at-
tention at court to the affairs of this
country ; and, accordingly, we find that
a statement of grievances, made by the
English settlers, was immediately fol-
lowed by the transmission to Ireland of
a duplicate of the magna charta, altered
in some points to suit the difference of
circumstances. Legal privileges were,
however, only conceded to persons of
English 'descent, and general extension
of them to the Irish being opposed by
the barons; although, in individual
cases, charters of " English law and
liberty" were granted to some Irish
who applied for them.
One of the first acts of the reign was
the pardon of Hugh de Lacy, aud an
invitation to him to return to his Irish
estates; but William Marshall, who
performed this service for him, having
died soon after (a. d. 1221), and being
RETURN OF HUGH DE LACY.
229
succeeded by liis son, William, a feud
arose between De Lacy and the latter,
wbose father bad obtained some of De
Lacy's lauds while this nobleman was
in exile, and all Meath was ravaged in
the fierce war which raged between
them. The fact of Hugh de Lacy being
supported by Hugh O'Neill in this con-
test, led the L-ish annalists to sujDpose
that the former had returned to Ireland
without the king's permission, aud that
he Jiad joined O'Neill in a war against
the English. " The English of L-eland,"
they tell us, "mustered twenty-four
battalions at Duudalk, whither Hugh
O'Neill and De Lacy came against them
with four battalions ; and on this occa-
sion the English conceded his own de-
mands to O'Neill." In this war Trim
was gallantly defended by De Lacy
against William Marshall ; and imme-
diately after the war, a strong castle
was erected there.
About this time died Henry de Lou-
dres, archbishop of Dublin, and lord
justice of Ireland, by whom the chief
part of Dublin Castle was erected.*-
There is great confusion as to the order
in which the lords justices then suc-
ceeded ; the names of William Marshall,
Geoffry de Marisco, and Maurice Fitz-
Gei-ald, appearing in a different order,
accordinc: to different authorities.
* This English prelate was nick-named " Burn-bill,"
from a very improbable circumstance related of him.
It 13 said that, having got all the instruments by
wliich the tenants of the Irish archicpiscopal estates
held their lands into his hands, on the pretence of
examining them, he cast them into the firo ; but that
a tumult thereupon arose which compelled him to
By, and that ho was subsequently obliged to confirm
The Anglo-Irish historians tell us
that several of the Irish chieftains sur-
rendered their territories to the English
king, receiving back a portion of their
lands, for which they j^aid rent as
tenants of the crown. Thus O'Brien,
of Thomond, made a formal surrender,
and received from Henry this year
(1221) a great part of his own terri-
tory, for which he was to pay an annual
rent of one hundred and thirty marks ;
this desperate course being resorted to
by the Irish chiefs for the purpose of
obtaining the protection of government
against the aggressions of the unprin-
cipled and rapacious barons. How
futile, however, their hopes of security
against wrong were, even purchased by
such sacrifices, was soon evinced in the
treatment of the Connacians by Henry
HI., who, notwithstanding such an ar-
rangement with Cathal Crovdeig, made
a grant of the whole province of Con-
naught to Richard de Burgo, to take
eftect on the death of Cathal.f
A. D. 1224. — ^This year, in which an
awful shower is said to have fallen in
Conuaught, and to have been followed
by murrain, Cathal Crovderg, who was
distinguished not less for the purity of
his morals than for his valor, died in the
habit of a grey friar at Knockmoy, oi-,
as the Annals of Clonmacnoise have it, at
the tenants' tenures. The story rests on an old tra-
dition.
\ Cos, Leland, &c. Tho Irish annalists make no
mention of this surrender of their territories by the
Irish princes. The particulars of the Connaught war,
which follow in the text, are taken exclusively from
our native annals, the accounts of it published on Anglo-
Irish authority being full of error
230
REIGN OF HENRY IH.
TJriola, near the Suck, in Koscommon,
and bis son, Hugh, assumed the govern-
iiieut of Connaught ; but the succession
became the source of a most lamentable
and desolating war. Henry issued a
mandate, dated June, 1225, to earl
Marshal], ordering him to seize the
whole country of Connaught, as for-
feited by O'Conor, and to deliver it to
Richard de Burgo ; but the Irish appear
not to have been aware of any sucli
order, or, if they were, to have treated
it with contempt. Alas ! there needed
not the mandate of the English king to
kindle the flame of war on the occasion,
or to instigate the destruction which the
infetuated people were too ready to
execute upon themselves !
A. D. 1225. — The claims of Hugh, son
of Cathal Crovderg, to the crown of
Connaught, were immediately disputed
by his cousins, Turlough and Hugh,
sons of Roderic ; and O'Neill, urged by
Mageraghty, chief of Sil-Murray, from
motives of private vengeance, mustered
a large force and marched into Con-
naught to assist the two latter princes.
Upon this all the Connaught chieftains,
with the exception of MacDermot, of
Moylurg, and a few minor chiefs, rose
against Hugh, son of Cathal; and
O'Neill, having inaugurated Turlough
at Carnfree,* and paid himself by the
plunder of Hugh's house at Lough Nen,
returned with his army to Tyrone, The
English barons had a large army assem-
* Tills was the usnal inauguration place of the
O'Conors, and has been identified by Dr. O'Donovau as
a Email cairn ot stones and earth near the village of
bled at this time at Athlone, either for
the purpose of executing king Henry's
orders, or of watching the progress of
affairs in Connaught. To them Hugh,
the son of Cathal, repaired, and he was
received with open arms. Most of them
had already been bountifully rewarded
by his father or himself for military
services, and they rejoiced at the present
prospect of an inroad into Connaught
under his standard. A strong English
army, with the lord justice himself at its
head, and Donough Cairbrach O'Brien,
and O'Melaghlin, with theu* forces, as
auxiliaries, besides the forces of Mac-
Donough and other friends of Hugh,
now entered Connaught, where, after
the departure of O'Neill, there was no
adequate force to oppose them, and the
enemies of Hugh fled in various direc-
tions at their approach, carrying off their
families, cattle, and other movables.
After some sku-mishing with detached
parties, Hugh led the English army in
pursuit of the sons of Roderic, by a
route which they could not have dis-
covered themselves, as far as Attymas,
in the north-east of Mayo, and they
plundered and depopulated several dis-
tricts. Numbei'S of fugitives, endeavor-
ing to effect their escaj^e across Bally-
more Lough, in the present parish of
Attymas, were drowned, and the baskets
of the fishing weire were found filled
with the bodies of children. " Such of
them," say the Annals, " as escaped, on
Tulsk, about three miles S. E. of Rathcroghan, in the
county of Roscommon. — Four Masters, vol. iii., p. 221,
note (a).
THE WARS OF THE O'CONORS.
231
this occasion, from the English and from
drowning, passed into Tirawley, where
they were attacked by O'Dowda, who
left them not a single cow." The sons
of Roderic now resolved to defer any
further effort until Hugh's English allies
should have left him ; and some of their
stauuchest adherents accordingly made
a feigned submission to Hugh, who soon
after dismissed the English battalions,
to whom he delivered, as hostages for
their wages, several of the Connaught
chiefs, who were subsequently obliged
to ransom themselves, while he himself
remained with his Irish friends to watch
the O'Flahertys and others, whose fidel-
ity he with good reason suspected.
During these hostilities, the English
of Desmond and Murtough O'Brien,
one of the Thomond princes, without
any invitation from Hugh O'Conor,
made an irruption into the south of
Connaught, burning villages and slay-
ing the inhabitants where they could
be found, and all this only to share in
the spoils which the lord justice and
his followers were enjoying in the
northern part of the province. " Wo-
ful, indeed, was the misfortune," as the
annalists exclaim, " which God permit-
ted to fall upon the best province in
Ireland at that time ! For the young
•warriors did not spare each other, but
preyed on aud plundered each other to
the iitmost of their power. Women
and children, the feeble and the lowly
* Annals of Kilronan and of tlio Four Masters. Dr.
Wilde thinks "the liot, heavy death-sickness which
gucceedd to the war and famine, that desolated largo
poor, j^erislied of cold and famine in
that war !"
The respite which ensued was very
brief. As soon as the main body of
the English army had left, the Con-
naught chieftains again revolted, aud
again Hugh, son of Cathal, was obliged
to call on the foreigners for help. The
call was responded to cheerfully and
without delay ; and well was the
promptitude of the English rewarded,
"for their spoil was great, and their
struggle trifliug." The country was once
more overrun with armies ; but the sons
of Roderic were ultimately deserted by
their adherents, who judged their cause
to be hopeless, and they sought refuge,
together with Donn Oge Mageraghty,
at the court of Hugh O'Neill.
Year after year the crops had been
left on the ground all the winter : " the
corn remained unreaped until after the
festival of St. Bridget" (the 1st of Feb-
ruary), " when the ploughing had com-
menced ;" fearful dearth and sickness
were the consequence; and, as the
words of the old chronicles affectingly
describe it, " the tranquillity which now
followed was wanting, for there was
not a church or territory in Connaught
which had not been destroyed by that
day. After the plundering aud killing
of the cattle, people were broken down
by cold and hunger, and a violent dis-
temper* raged throughout the whole
country — a kind of burning disease by
portions of Ireland at this jieriod, was our Irish ty-
phvLs."— C€?wu« of Ireland for 1852 ; lieport on Tablet
of Deaths.
232
REIGN OF HENRY HI.
-.vhicli the towns were desolated, and
left without a single living being."
A. D. 1227.— Very soon after the
events just described — some say in
1226 — Hugh O'Conor was inveigled
into the power of his late English allies
in Dublin ; and under the form of some
pretended criminal proceedings they
were about to take away his life, when
earl Marshall came to his rescue, and
taking him by force out of the court,
escorted him safely to Connaught — his
son and daughter remaining in the
hands of the English. The king of
Connaught found an opportunity in a
week after to retaliate, and he availed
himself of it without scruple. A con-
ference between him and William de
Marisco, son of Geoffry, the lord justice,
was appointed to take place at the
Lathach, or slough, to the west of Ath-
lone. Hugh was accompanied by a few
chosen men, and William came to the
rendezvous attended by eight mounted
knights. As soon, as they met, Hugh
seized De Marisco, and the other Irish
chiefs rushing upon his companions,
overpowered them, one English knight,
the constable of Athlone, being killed
in the fray. Hugh then proceeded to
plunder and burn the market-place of
Athlone, which had become an En-
glish garrison ; and in exchange for his
prisoners he obtained his own son and
" The cause of killing the king of Connaught," Bay
Magcoghegan's Annals of Clonmacnoise, " was that after
the wifo of an Englishman" (who was an attendant in
the deputy's house) " had so washed his head and body
with sweet balls and other things, he, to gratifie her for
her service, kissed her, which the Englishman seeing,
daughter, and some Connaught chiefs
whom the English had got in their
power.
A. D. 1228.— The career of Hugh
O'Conor was as brief as it was troubled.
Before the close of 1227, the sons of
Roderic, to whose side the English had
turned, once more made their appear-
ance in Connaught ; Hugh, the younger
brother, with Richard de Burgo and a
great army, in the northern districts, and
Turlough, with the lord deputy, in the
central plain of Connaught, where they
erected a strong castle on the peninsula
of Rindown in Lough Ree. The son of
Crovderg fled to Tu-connell, but his re-
ception there was not encouraging ; and
returning with his family, almost unat-
tended, he had.a narrow escape from his
enemies near the Curlieu mountains, his
wife foiling into their hands, and being
delivered by them to the English. Next
year (1228) he and the lord deputy,
GeofFry de Marisco, were apparently
reconciled, and he was in the house of
the latter when an Englishman, inflamed
with jealousy at an act of levity on
Hugh's part, rushed ujjon him and slew
him on the spot.*
The removal of one competitor for
the crown of Connaught left the aftairs
of that unhappy province as complicated
as ever. The brothers Hugh and Tur-
lough now struggled against each other
for mere jealosie, killed O'Conor presently at unawares."
The murderer was hanged next day by the deputy's or-
ders. The Four Masters say Hugh " was treacherously
killed by the English in the mansion of Geoffrey Mares
(de Marisco), after he had been expelled by the Comia-
.,—--<^4..,6---W-
C<WM'Mi<.Sl
THE WARS OF CONNAUGHT.
233
for the prize — so completely had the
principle of succession, according to the
Irish law, ceased to be respected. Hugh,
the younger brother, was supported by
Richard de Burgo, now justiciary of Ire-
land, and he was also recognized by the
majority of the Connaught chieftains
as their king,' although Turlough had
been already inaugurated by O'Neill.
There was also a new competitor in the
person of Felim, brother of the late
king, Hugh, son of Cathal Crovderg.
" An intolerable dearth," say the Four
Masters, "prevailed in Connaught in
consequence of the war of the sons of
Roderic. They plundered churches
and territories (that is, the property of
the church and of the laity) ; they ban-
ished the clergy and ollaves into foreign
and remote countries, and others of them
perished of cold and famine."
A. D. 1229 (or 1230).— The scene in
Connaught now presents some redeem-
ing features, although it is still one of
bloodshed and anarchy. . Several of the
chieftains declared that they would not
serve a prince who would keep them in
subjection to the English ; and Hugh,
^vho had just received his crown at the
hands of Englishmen, complied, not un-
willingly perhaps, with their wishes.
But this step comes to late, after exaust-
ing themselves by so much mutual
slaughter. Hostilities ensue. Richard
de Burgo enters Connaught with au
overwhelming force ; desolates a large
portion of the country; slays, among
many others, Donn Oge Mageraghty,
the most indomitable of the chieftains :
hurls Hugh, son of Roderic, from his
precarious throne, and proclaims Felim,
son of Cathal Crovderg, king in his
stead. Hugh finally seeks refuge with
Hugh O'Neill, king of Tyrone — a prince
who had never yielded hostages or tri-
bute to the foreigners, nor indeed ac-
knowledged any superior, Irish or En-
glish, and whose death, in 1230, removed
another bulwark of Irish independence.
Thus does this sad and dreary Con-
naught history proceed. Insane coun-
sels, hopeless strife, pitiless devastation,
make up the sickening tale ; while the
foreign enemj^, who has been goading on
the infatuated combatants, and aiding
them in their work of mutual destruc-
tion, strides in grim triumph over the
wreck Avhich he and they conspired to
make, uses the rival princes as puppets,
and seizes their territories with impuni-
ty. In 1231 Felim was taken prisoner
at Meelick, in violation of solemn guar-
antees, by Richard de Burgo, who had
two years before made him king ; and
next year Hugh, sou of Roderic, went
through the mockery of recognition as
king of Connaught, although before the
end of the year Felim was set at liberty
by the English, and thus placed in a
position to re-assert his rights.
A. D. 1233. — ^Felim O'Conor once more
raised his standard, round which his
friends soon rallied in suificient numbers
to enable him to take the field. He went
in pursuit of Hugh, and in his encounter
with him slew that prince, together with
one of his brothers, his son, and many of
his leading men, both English and Irish.
REIGN OF HENRY III.
He next demolished the castle Bua-
galvy, or Galway, which had been
ei-ected the precediug year by Eichard
de Burgo, and also castle Kirk, on
Lough Corrib, the Hag'a castle on
Lough Mask, and the castle of Duna-
mou on the river Suck, in Eoscommon,
all of which had been built or fortified
by the sons of Eoderic and the Euglish.
A. D. 1235. — Felim's hardihood, how-
ever, was speedily punished ; for Eichard
de Burgo entered Connaught with an
enormous force, and plundered the
country without mercy. Not meeting
any resistance, he proceeded to Tho-
mond, at the instigation of O'Heyne,
who desired to be revenged on Donough
Cairbrach O'Brien, and was committing
great depredations there, when Felim,
although he could not save his own ter-
ritory, flew to the aid of his southern
ally. A pitched battle was fought.
Their cavalry, archers, and coats of
mail, gave the English an advantage ;
and O'Brien, to whose rashness the de-
feat was partly due, having made peace
with the invaders, the Connacians re-
turned home, the English army follow-
ing close in their rear. Felira now fled
with his cattle, and all those who chose
to follow his fortunes, to the north, and
souglit refuge with O'Donnell of Tircon-
nel], while the English scoured the entire
province for spoils. O'Flaherty, who
had been all along hostile to Felim,
joined the Euglish (who would other-
wise have plundered his own territory),
and conveyed his flotilla of war boats
from Lough Corrib, by land, to the sea
at Leenaun, the head of Killery bay.
With these boats the Euglish, who had
already marched as far as Achil, which
they plundered, were enabled to lay
waste the Insi Modh, or islands of Clew
bay, in which Manus O'Conor, son of
Murtough Muimhneach had, with many
others from the main land, sought re-
fuge. Numbers were thus slaughtered
on the islands, but Manus fled in his
vessels; the O'Malleys, who always
possessed a numerous fleet, remaining
inactive spectators of the scene, as they
were not on friendly terms with him.
There was not a cow left on the islands,
and those to whom the cows belouged
would have been compelled by hunger
and thirst, say the annalists, to abandon
them, had they not been themselves
killed by the English, or carried ofl^ as
prisoners. After devastating all Umal-
lia, and taking a prey from O'Donnell
at Easdara, the English army laid siege
to the castle held for O'Conor by Mac-
Dermot on the Rock of Lough Key, in
Roscommon, and captured it by the aid
of " wonderful machines ;" but a few
nights after MacDermot recovered the
castle by the help of an Irishman, who
closed the gate against the English
garrison when they had left on a
marauding party ; and the fortress was
then demolished, that it might not again
fall into the hands of the English. By
this expedition the English left the
Connacians " without food, raiment, or
cattle, and the country without peace,
the Irish themselves plundering and
destroying one another ; but they did
THE WARS OF CONNAUGIIT.
235
not obtain hostages or submission. Felim
made peace tbe same year with the lord
justice, and was left in possession of
" the king's five cantreds" (or baronies),
which were probably the mensal lands
of the kings of Connaught.
We now turn to an episode in the
history of the Pale.
William Marshall, the powerful earl
of Pembroke, and protector of the realm
during the king's minority, left at his
death five sons, all of whom inherited
in succession his title and estates ; but
as all died childless, the family became
extinct in the male line. It is said that
the father died under the ban of ex-
communication, inflicted on him by an
Irish bishop for his plunder of the
church, and that the sons refused to
yield up any of the wealth which their
sire had taken by the sword, whether
sacrilegiously or otherwise. Be this as
it may, misfortunes fell heavily upon
them in the sequel. Earl Richard, one
of the brothers, having taken a leading
part in the rebellious proceedings of the
English barons, was deprived of his
vast possessions, and, taking up arms,
he joined the standard of Llewellyn,
the heroic prince of Wales. He de-
fended himself successfully against the
royal troops in one of his own castles ;
but a most vile and treacherous con-
spiracy, to which he fell a victim, was
now formed against him. Maurice Fitz-
Gerald (the lord justice), Hugh and
Walter de Lacy, Richard de Burgo,
Geoffry de Marisco, and in fact all the
leading Anglo-Irish barons, are said to
have been led by the English "minister
into this nefarious plot, the object of
which was, to inveigle earl Richard to
Ireland, and to get him by some means
into the hands of his enemies, the bribe
offered being no less than the distribu-
tion among them of all the earl's Irish
possessions. The plan succeeded so
well that in 1234 the earl came' to Ire-
land with a few followers, and took the
field in the assertion of his rights. He
recovered some of his own castles, and
captured Limerick after a siege of four
days ; but this was all brought about
to hasten his ruin. A truce was now
proposed, and a mock conference took
place on the Curragh of Kildare. At a
signal given, the great body of his fol-
lowers suddenly deserted, di-awn off by
De Marisco, who is called a deceitful
old man, and who had treacherously
urged him on from the beginning.
Seeing that he was betrayed, he took an
aftectionate leave of his young brothei-,
Walter, who is described as a youth of
beautiful mien, and whom he directed a
servant to conduct from the field ; and
then, with scarcely any one by him l)ut
fifteen knights who had accompanied
him from England, and assailed by
overwhelming numbers, he continued
bravely to defend himself; until at
length, after being unhorsed, a traitor
from behind plunged a knife into Iiis
back. He was then conveyed, all but
lifeless, to one of his own castles, of
which Maurice FitzGerald was in pos-
session, and there he expired in the
midst of his enemies. Thus perished
236
REIGN OF. HENRY III.
" the floorer of the chivalry of his time."
His sad end, and the base means em-
ployed against him, excited a strong
feeling both in England and Ireland ;
tumults took place in London ; the king
became alarmed, as it was discovered
that the royal seal had been employed
to give sanction to the first suggestion
of the plan; and Maurice FitzGerald
repaired to England to clear himself by
oath from the guilt of the foul trans-
action. But the affair merits our at-
tention chiefly as illustrating the char-
acter of the men who then held in their
hands the destinies of Ireland.
A. D. 1236. — A conference was the
usual mode vpith the unprincipled men
of that time to get an enemy into their
power, and Felim O'Conor was invited,
for that purpose, to attend a meeting of
the English at Athlone. He came, but
having received timely intimation of
their object, he made his escape, al-
though pursued as far as Sligo, and
repaired to Tirconnell, his usual asylum
on such occasions. The government of
Connaught was then committed by the
English to Brian O'Conor, son of Tur-
lough, son of Roderic ; but all the power
of his foreign patrons was insufficient to
keep him in the office. Felim returned
the following year, and took the field
against his competitors. His first en-
counter was with the soldiers of the
lord justice, who were overwhelmed at
the onset by the impetus of Felim's
attack ; and Brian's people, seeing the
English soldiers routed, took to flight
themselves, and were so dispersed that.
after that day, none of the descendants
of Roderic had a home in their ancestral
territory of the Sil-Murray. Felim
plundered their lands, and, among other
deeds of vengeance, expelled Corraac
MacDerraot, chief of Moylurg, from his
territory.
A. D. 12 38. — About this time we find
in our annals the significant entry that
"the barons of Ireland went to Con-
naught, and commenced erecting castles
there." The country had been made a
wilderness, and they had little more to
do than to enter and take jjossession.
The expulsion of the O'Flahertys from
their hereditary territory of Muintir-
Morroughoe, on the east shores of Lough
Corrib, to the bogs and mountains west
of that lake, where they became very
powerful in after times, (lates from this
year, but they are styled lords of West
Connaught, long before this period.
A. D. 1239. — ^The scene now shifts
from Connaught to Ulster, where Fitz-
Gerald, the lord justice, with Hugh de
Lacy, and others, entered with a large
army, deposed Donnell MacLoughlin,
who had succeeded Hugh O'Neill, as
lord of Tyrcme, and placed Brian O'Neill
in his stead ; but the former recovered
his position after a battle fought the
same year at Carateel. This was the
game which the English had played so
successfully in Connaught. In that
period of disorganization there were
always half a dozen claimants for the
chieftaincy in each territory, and it was
only necessary to pit them against each
other to secure the ruin of all.
EXPEDITIONS TO FRANCE AND WALES..
237
A. D. 1240. — Wearied with the ag-
• gressions of Eicliard de Burgo, and
witli the elements of strife, English and
Irish, which that nobleman kept con-
stantly in motion, the unhappy king of
Connaught proceeded to England, and
complained bitterly to Henry III. of the
injustice with which he had to contend.
The English king soothed him with
empty honors, confirmed to him the
five cautreds already mentioned, aild
soon after wrote to Maurice FitzGerald,
the lord justice, ordering him "to pluck
out by the root that fruitless sycamore,
De Burgo, which the earl of Kent, in
the insolence of his power, had planted
in those parts."*
A. D. 1241.— Donnell More O'Donuell,
the warlike lord of Tirconnell, who also
asserted the right of chieftainship over
Lower, or Northern Connaught, as far
as the Curlieu mountains, died in the
monastic habit, among the monks of
Assaroe, and was succeeded by Melagh-
lin O'Donuell, who aided Brian O'Neill
in recovering Tyrone from MacLoughlin,
the latter chieftain being killed in battle,
with ten of his family, and several chiefs
of the Kiuel-Owen. Some other cele-
brities of Irish history made their exit
about the same time. Walter de Lacy
died this year; Donough Cairbrach
O'Brien, son of Donnell More, lord of
Thomond, the following year; and the
* The earl of Kent hero mentioned was Hubert de
Burgo, who had been chief justice of England. There
is extant a letter from Felim OConor to Henry III.,
thankinjr him for tlie many favors wliich he had con-
ferred upon him, aad especially for havin;; written in
great earl, Eichard de Burgo, the year
after (1243), while proceeding with
some troops to join Henry III. in an
expedition against the king of France.
A. D. 1245.— The king of England
being hard pressed in a war with the
Welsh, summoned, or rather invited,
the Irish chiefs, and the Anglo-Irish
barons, to muster round his standard
in the principality. At this 4ime these
barons claimed exemption from attend-
ing the king outside the realm of Ire-
land, and Henry would appear to have
conceded the privilege, as, in his writ of
suramous, he expressly stated that their
attendance on that occasion should not
be made a precedent against them.
Felim O'Conor accompanied the lord
justice, FitzGerald, on this expedition,
and was treated with great honor by
Henry; but FitzGerald incurred the
king's weighty displeasure by the tardi-
ness of his attendance, and was conse-
quently deprived of office ; Sir John, sou
of Geoffry de Marisco, being appointed
justiciary in his stead. The English
army in Wales had suffered a great
deal, waiting for the Irish reinforcement,
and. the king's feelings were embittered
by the subsequent failure of the expedi-
tion. After this time we find the Ger-
aldines in Ireland acting independently
of the royal authority, and making Avar
and peace at their own di.scretinii.
his behalf against Walter de Burgo, to liis justiciary
William Dene ; but this letter, although published in
Rymer (vol. i., p. 240) uader the date of 1240, must refer
to a period not earlier than 12C0, when WiUiam Dene
was justiciary.
238
REIGN OF HENRY III.
A. D. 1247. — Maurice FitzGerald led
an army this year into Tirconnell, and
hy a stratagem, cleverly carried out by
one of his Irish auxiliaries, Cormac, a
grandson of Roderic O'Conor, he gained
a victory at the ford of Ballyshannon
over O'Donuell, who was slain. A great
number of FitzGerald's men were, how-
ever, killed in the fight or drowned. A
rivalry for the chieftainship of Tircon-
nell was then promoted between God-
frey O'Donnell and Rory O'Canannan,
and in the domestic strife which ensued
the English Avere able for a while to
crush the patriotic ardor of the Tircon-
nellians. Meanwhile another army
penetrated into Tyrone under Theobald
Butler, now lord justice ; and the Kinel-
Owen held a council, at which they
came to the prudent conclusion, " that
the English having now the ascendency
over the Irish, it Avas advisable to give
them hostages, and to make peace with
them for the sake of their country."
A. D. 1248.— Urged by the frightful
state of oppression under which their
country groaned, the young men of the
ancient families of Connaughnas rose in
arms against the English, devastated
their possessions, and left them no se-
curity outside the walls of their castles.
Turlough, son of Hugh O'Conor, and
FitzPatrick, of Ossory, entered Con-
naught, and burned the town and castle
of Galway, and the O'Flaherties de-
feated an English plundering- party,
who had penetrated into Connemara.
The leader 'of the youthful warriors,
who thus harassed the invaders in Con-
naught, was Hugh, son of Felim ; and
when Maurice FitzGerald a'rnved, in
1249, with two armies, to avenge the
English settlers, Felim, dreading the
storm which his son's rash heroism had
brpught about his ears, retired, as usual,
to the north, with his movable proper-
ty ; and his nephew Turlough accepted,
at the hands of the English, the ofiice
of ruler in his stead. N'ext year Felim
came back with a numerous force, ex-
jielled Turlough, and was again return-
ing northward, across the Curlieu moun-
tains, sweeping off all the cattle of the
land, when the English, thinking it
better to make peace on any terms,
sent after him to offer propositions, and
restored him to his kingdom.
Florence or Fineen MacCarthy, who
had given the English very little rest
in Desmond, was slain by them this
year, and, after long and sanguinary
hostilities, peace Avas restored for a
while in that quarter. In the north,
Brian O'Neill, lord of Tyrone, made his
submission to the lord justice in 1252 ;
yet, the very next year his territory was
invaded by Maurice FitzGerald, Avith a
great hosting of the English, who, how-
eA^er, were defeated with considerable
slaughter.
Felim O'Conor held a friendly confer-
ence in 1255, Avith MacWilliam Burke,
as Walter, the son of Richard More, and
chief of the De Burgo family, was styled ;
and the following year Ilugh, son of
Felim, who appears to have participated
in his father's authority at this time,
met Alan de la Zouch, the justiciaiy, at
DEATH OF FITZGERALD AND O'DONNELL.
239
Riun Duiu, aud ratified a peace with
him. The next year, Felim got a charter
for his five cantreds. Thus, the English
always contrived to keep some of the
Irish princes on their hands, while they
carried on an exterminating war against
others, and at this moment their main
ol)ject was to crush the independence of
Tircounell. A furious battle was fought
in 1257, between Godfrey O'Donnell,
lord of that territory, aud a numerous
Eoglish army, under the command of
Maurice FitzGerald, who was once more
lord justice. The armies engaged at
Creadran-Kille, in a district to the north
of Sligo, now called the Rosses. O'Don-
nell and FitzGerald met in single com-
bat, and severely wounded each other ;
and after a fierce and protracted struggle
the English were defeated, the result
being their expulsion from Lower Con-
naught. Godfrey was unable, from his
wound, to follow up his success ; but he
demolished the castle which the Eng-
lish, to overawe the Kinel-Connell, had
erected at Caol Uisge, now Belleek, on
the Erne river.
The deaths of the two chiefs who
fought so bi'avely against each other, at
this battle, followed soon after. Maurice
FitzGerald retired into a Franciscan
monastery which he had founded at
Youghal, and, after putting on the habit
of a monk, departed tranquilly in the
bosom of religion ; the only stain which
historians have observed in his character,
being the part, whatever that may have
been, which he took in the ruin and
death of llichaixl, earl Marshall. The
death of Godfrey O'Donnell was not so
peaceable. liearing that O'Donnell was
on his death-bed, from the wound he re-
ceived at Creadran-Kille, Brian O'Neill
sent to require hostages from the Kinel-
Coanell, but the messengers who carried
the insolent demand, fled the moment
they delivered their errand, and the
dying chieftain only auswered it by
ordering a general muster of his peoj^le.
He then directed his men to place him
on the bier which should take him to
the grave, and to carry him on it at the
head of his forces. Thus did the Tir-
connelliau army march to meet that of
Tyrone. A sanguinary battle was fought
on the banks of the river Swilly, in Don-
egal, and victory declared for O'Don-
nell, whose bier was then laid down in
the ojDcn street of a village, which, at
that time, existed at the place now called
Conwal, near Letterkenuy, and there he
exj^ired. What a pity that such heroism
should have been perverted by Irishmen
to their mutual destruction, while the
common enemy was driving them from
the green fields of their forefathers ! On
hearing of O'Donnell's death, CNeill
sent again to demand hostages, but
while the men of Tircounell were de-
liberating on an answer, a youth only
eighteen years of age, the son of Don-
uellMore O'Donnell, having just arrived
from Scotland, presented himself .in the
council and was elected chieftain. He
is called Donnell Oge ia tlie Irish an-
nals.
That O'Neill's pretensions wore not
without some foundation may be con-
240
REIGN OF HENRY III.
eluded from the fact, that the same
year (1259) these transactions took
place, Hugh, son of Felim, and Teige
O'Brien, of Thomond, probably with
other chieftains, met him at Caol Uisge,
and conferred on him the sovereigTity
of Ireland — an empty title, it is true, at
that time*
A. D. 1260. — The result of the con-
ference of Irish chiefs at Caol Uisge,
was that O'Neill and O'Cobor turned
whatever forces they coiild muster
against the English, and that a battle,
in which the Iiish were defeated, was
fought at Druim-dearg, near Dowu-
patrick. Brian himself was killed,
together with fifteen of the O'Kanes,
and many other chiefs, both of Ulster
and Conuaught. Cox says, the battle
took place in the streets of Down,
and that three hundred and fifty-two
of the Irish were killed. The English
were commanded in this encounter by
the lord justice, Stephen Longespe.
A. D. 1261.— In the south the English
were not so fortunate. The Geraldines
were defeated in Thomond by Conor
O'Brien, and sufifered fearful loss in an-
other battle at Kilgarvan, near Ken-
mare, in which they were defeated by
MacCarthy; their loss, according to
English accounts, including Thomas
FitzThomas FitzGerald and his son,
eight, barons, fifteen knights, and a
countless number besides. William
Deun, the justiciary, Walter de Burgo,
* Somo Munster liistorians deny that Teige O'Brien
joined in conferring this distinction on O'Neill.
\ See note, page 237.
earl of Ulster, and Donnell Roe, sou of
Cormac Finn MacCarthy, with several
other leading men, aided the Geraldines
in this battle. Nearly all the English
castles of Hy Conaill Gavra, and other
parts of Desmond, were demolished by
the Irish after this victory; and Han-
mer says, "the Geraldines durst not
l^ut a plough into the ground in
Desmond." The next j^ear (1262) an-
other sanguinary struggle took place
between the English under Mac William
Burke and MacCarthy at Mangerton, in
Kerry, and both sides suffered severely.
A. D. 1264.— Walter de Burgo (who
was earl of Ulster by right of his wife,
the daughter of Hugh de Lacy) and
FitzGerald now Avaged war against each
other, and a great j^art of Ireland was
desolated in their hostilities. The lord
justice took part against De Burgo, and
this circumstance drev/ from Felim
O'Conor the expression of gratitude to
Henry III. already alluded to.f De
Burgo, however, succeeded in taking
all FitzGerald's Connaught castles. To
such a i^itch did the feuds among the
Anglo-Irish barons proceed at this
time, that, in one of them, Maurice
FitzMaurice FitzGerald, aided by others
of his fixmily, seized, at a conference,
the i^ersons of the lord justice and
other noblemen, and confined them in
castles until they were released by a
parliament or council, held in Kilkenny
for the purpose.;]:
J For a most interesting illustration of the state of
society at this turbulent period, we may refer the reader
to the Anfflo-Nonnan ballad of the " Entrenchment of
ENGLISH DEFEATED NEAR CARRICK-ON-SHANNON.
241
"War and peace continued to alternate
in rapid succession in Connauglit until
1265, when Felim O'Gonor died, and
was succeeded by his son, Hugh, who,
in the following year, having recovered
from an illness, during which Connaught
was trodden under foot by the English,
mustered a large force, and with re-
newed energy carried on the war against
"Walter de Burgo. The lord justice. Sir
James Audley, alarmed at the formid-
able rising of the Irish, at length came
to the aid of De Burgo with an army,
and some Irish auxiliaries also fought
under his standard. De Burgo thought
to patch up a peace in the usual way,
until a better opportunity to strike
would offer; but Hugh was a match
for him in the treacherous diplomacy
of the time. "When the two armies were
in the vicinity of a ford near the modern
New Ross," published in Crofton Croker's '■ Popular
Songs of Ireland," from Harlcian MSS., 913, in the
British Museum, with a translation by the gifted Mrs.
Maclean (L. E. L.), and introductory observations by Sir
Frederick Madden and Mr. Croker himself. The ballad
describes how the burgesses of Ne.w Eos9 resolved, in
the year 1205, to fortify their town with a wall and foss,
to protect it against the hostile inroads of the contending
barons ; how a widow, named Rose, first suggested the
plan, and offered largo contributions to carry it out;
how the burgesses subscribed liberally for the purpose,
and, finding that the work proceeded too slowly, labored
at it with their own hands ; the different professions and
guilds working in companies with banners flying and
music playing ; and how the ladies worked on Sundays,
carrying stones while the men reposed. New Ross,
which was called by the Irish, Ros-mic-Triuin, appea,rs
to have been at that time a considerable town.
* The following account of this transaction is given
in Conncl Magcoghegau's translation of the Annals of
Clonmacnoise : — After relating how the carl of Ulster
(Walter Burke), with the lord deputy, and all the Eng-
lish forces of Ireland, marched against O'Conor, and
describing the position of the armies near Ath-Cora-
Coimell, a ford on the Sliannon, near C'arrick-on-Shannon
Carrick-on-Shannon, De Burgo proposed
negotiations ; but Hugh contrived to get
the earl's brother, "William Oge, into his
hands before the parley commenced, and
then treated him as a prisoner, and slew
some of the English. The earl flew into
a rage, and an obstinate battle ensued.
Turlough O'Brien, who was coming to
the aid of the Connacians, was met be-
fore he could form a junction with them,
and slain in single combat by De Burgo ;
but Hugh's people avenged his death
by a fearful onslaught, in which great
numbers of the English were slain, and
immense spoils taken from them. Wil-
liam Oge, the earl's brother, was put to
death after the battle, which was, on
the whole, a disastrous one to the Eng-
lish-.* Walter Burke died the following
year in the castle of Gal way, and Hugh
O'Connor survived him three years.
(the name being now obsolete), the annalist proceeds :
•■ The Englishmen advised the Earle to make peace
with Hugh O'Connor, and to yeald his brother, WUliam
Oge mac William More mac William the Conqueror, in
hostage to O'Connor, duieing the time he shou'd remain
in the Earles's house concluding the said peace, which
was accordingly condescended and done. As soono as
William came to O'Connor's house he was taken, and
also John Dolphin and his son were killed. When
tydiug came to the ears of the Earle how his brother
was thus taken, he took his journey to Athenkip (the
name, now obsolete, of a ford on the Shannon, near
Carrick-on-Shannon), where O'Connor behcaved himself
as a fierce and froward lyou about his prey, without
sleeping or taking any rest ; and the next day, soon in
the morning, gott upp and betook him to his arms : the
Eaglishmen, the same morning, came to the same
foorde, called Athenkip, where they were overtaken by
Terlogh O'Bryen. The Earle returned upon him and
killed the said Terlogh, without the help of any other
in tliat pressenco. The Connoughtmen pursued the
Englishmen, and made their hindcrmost part runu and
break upon their outguard and foremost in such manner
and foul discomfiture, that in that instant nine of their
chiefest men were killed upon the bogge about Richai-d
242
DEATH OF HENRY IH.
This long reign was at length brought
to a close by the death of Henry HI, in
1272. During its troubled course, the
feuds of the native Irish among them-
selves had done more to establish the
English power in this country than all
that could be effected merely by Eng-
lish arms. Above all, the insane and
deadly contention of the O'Conors was
most fatal to Ireland. Connaugbt was
for the first time overrun by the new
settlers; the first submission was ob-
tained from the princes of Tyrone ; and
in the soutb the Geraldines had begun
to assume the title — as yet an unsub-
stantial one — of lords of Desmond.
Henry changed his viceroys frequently,
ne Koylle (Richard of tlie Wood) and John Butler, -who
were kUled over and above the said knights. It is
unknown how many were slain in that conflict, save
only that a hundred horses with their saddles and
furniture, and a hundred shirts of mail were left. After
these things were thus done, O'Connor killed William
Oge, the Earle's brother, that was given him before in
hostage, because the Earle killed Terlogh O'Bryen." —
See Foitr Masters, vol. iii., pp. 408, &c., note.
* A great many religious houses were founded in
Ireland during the -reign of Henry III. Among them
were, a priory of canons regular at Tuam, by the De
Burgos, about 1220 ; one at Mullingar, in 1227, by Ralph
le Petit, bishop of Meath ; one at Aughrim, in the county
of Galway, by Theobald Butler; also the priories of
BaUybeg, in Cork ; Athassal and Nenagh, in Tipperary ;
Enniscorthy, St. Wolstan's, Carrick-on-Suir, and St.
John's, in the city of Kilkenny ; the Cistercian Abbey
of Tracton, in Cork, by Maurice MacCarthy, in 1224 ;
the Dominican convent of Drogheda, by Luke Netter-
Tiile, archbishop of Armagh, in 1224 ; the Black Abbey
(Dominican) in Kilkenny, by Wm. Marshall, jun., in
1335 ; the Dominican convent of St. Saviour, Waterford,
by the citizens, in 1226 ; the Dominican convent of St.
Mary, in Cork, by Philip Bany, in 1229 ; the convents
of the same order in Mullingar (A. D. 1237), by the
family of Nugent : Atheury (1241), by Meyler de Bir-
mingham ; Cashel (1243), by JIacKelly, archbishop of
but with little advantage to his Irish
colony. "With some difficulty he estab-
lished a free commerce between the
colony and England ; but his eflforts to
introduce the English laws into Ireland
were sternly resisted by his own refrac-
tory barons. In 1254 he made a grant
of Ireland to his son Edward, with the
express condition, that it was not to be
separated from the crown of England ;
and, lest the grant might lead to any
sucb result, he took care to assert his
own paramount authority by super-
seding some of the acts done by his sou
in virtue of his title of lord of Ireland.
It is generally understood that prince
Edward visited Ireland in 1255.*
Cashel ; Tralee (1343), by lord John FitzThomas ; Col-
eraine (1344), by the MacEvelins; Sligo (1353), by
Maurice FitzGerald ; St. Mary, Roscommon (1353), by
Felim O'Conor ; Athy (1357), by the families of Boi(;eles
and Hogans ; St. Mary, Trim (1363), by Geoff-ry de
Gcneville; Arklow (1364), by Theobald Fitz Walter ;
Rosbcrcan, in Kilkenny (1368) ; Youghal (1368), by the
baron of Ofiiily and Lorrah, in Tipperary (1260), by
Walter Burke, earl of Ulster ; the Franciscan convents
of Youghal (1331), by Maurice FitzGerald ; Carrick-
fergas (1232), by Hugh de Lacy ; Kilkenny (1334), by
Richard Marshall ; St. Francis, in Dublin (1336) ; Multi-
farnham, in West Meath (1236), by William Delamer ;
Cork (1240), by Philip Prendergast ; Drogheda (1240),
by the Plunkets ; Waterford (1240), by Sir Hugh Pur-
cel ; Ennis (1240), by Donough Carbreach O'Brien ;
Athlone (1241), by Cathal O'Conor; Wexford, .ibout
the middle of the thirteenth century; Limerick, by
Walter de Burgh ; Cashel, by William Hackett ; Dun-
dalk, by De Verdon ; Ardfert (1253), by Thomas, lord
of Kerry ; KUdare (1260), by De Vescy; Clane (1260), by
Gerald FitzMaurice ; Armagh (1263), by Seanlan, arch-
bishop of Armagh ; Clonmel (1369), by Otho de Granison ,
Nenagh, by the Butlers ; Wicklow, by the O'Byrnes and
O'Tooles, and Trim, by the family of Phmket. The Au-
gustinian convent of the Holy Trinity, in Crow-street,
Dublin, was founded by the Talbot family in 1359, and
that of Tipperary, also in the course of this reign.
STATE OF IRELAND ON ACCESSION OF EDWARD I.
243
CHAPTER XXIII.
REIGN OF EDWARD I.
State of Ireland on the Accession of Edward I. — Feuds of the Barons. — Exploits of Hugh O'Conor. — Fearful Con-
fusion in Connaught. — Incursion from Scotland, and Ketaliation. — Irish Victory of Glendelory. — Horrible
Treachery of Thomas De Clare in Thomond.— Contentions of the Qann Murtough in Connaught.— English
Policy in the Irish Feuds.— Petition for English Laws.— Characteristic Incidents.— Victories of Carbry O'Me-
laghliu over the English.— Feuds of the Do Burglis and Geraldincs.— The Red Earl.— His great Power.—
English Laws for Ireland.- Death of O'Melaghlin.- Disputes of De Vescy and FitzGerald of Offaly.— Singular
Pleadings before the King.— A Truce between the Geraldines and De Burghs. — The Kilkenny Parliament of
li:95. — Continued Tumults in Connaught. — Expeditions against Scotland. — Calvagh O'Conor. — Horrible Mas-
sacre of Irish Chieftains at an English Dinner-table. — More Murders. — Rising of the O'KeUys. — Foundation
of Religious Houses.
Contemporary Sovereigns and EvenU. — Popes: Gregory X. died 1276 ; Innocent V. and Adrian V. the same year ; John
XXL, 1277; Nicholas III., 12S1 ; Martin I>., 1285 ; Honorius IV., 1237 ; Nicholas IV., 1292; Celestino V., 1291; Bouifuce
VIII., 1003; and Benedict XI., 1304.— King of France, Philip IV. ; Emperor of Germany, Rodolph of Ilapsburg (first of
the Austrian Family), died 1291.— Kings of Scotland, John Baliol and Kobert Bruce. — Llewellyn Killed, and Wales sub-
jected to the Power of England, 12S2. — St. Thomas Aquinas and St. Bonaventure died, 1274. — Albenus Magnus died,
1282.- Roger B:icon died, 1284.— Uninterrupted Series of Parliaments Commenced in England, 1293.— William Wallace,
the Scottish hero, executed, 1304.
(A. D. 1373 TO A. D. 1307.)
EDWARD I., surnamed Longshanks,
was proclaimed king on the death
of his father, Henry III., iu 1272, while
on a crusade in the Holy Land, and
until his return to England, in July,
1274, the government was administered
by lords justices. The new king's ab-
sence gave free scope to strife in Ire-
land ; but in general the movements in
this country depended but little on the
course of events in England. Just a
century had elapsed from the coming
of the Anglo-Normans into Ireland, and
their power was scarcely acknowledged
beyond the limits which it had reached
in the days of Strongbow. The resist-
ance to it was, on the contrary, becom-
ing more formidable ; and the English
suffered numerous defeats on a smal]
scale, which showed how easily a com-
bined action of the Irish might have
overthrown their settlement, had these
seriously contemplated any thing more
than the temporary liberation of their
respective territories from the foreign
yoke, or the gratification of enmity by
some local act of spoliation. The do-
mestic feuds of the Irish were as rife as
ever, but the English barons were
equally prone to strife ; and the o|>
244
REIGN OF EDWARD I.
pressiou and rapacity of the latter did
more than the turbulence of the former,
to produce the miserable disorders by
which the whole country was laid waste.
No attempt was made to reconcile the
native race to the new order of things,
or to consolidate the two races into one
nation. To supplant or exterminate
the old Celtic population had all along
been the policy of the invaders ; and, to
effect this object, means more diabolical
than human were resorted to : feuds
were fomented ; under the pretence of
crushing rebellion, incessant hostilities
were kept up"; and by every kind of
provocation and injustice, national ran-
cor was perpetrated. Three or four
times the English monarch urged the
expediency of extending the laws and,
constitution of England to the Irish ;
but this attempt was always sternly
resisted by the Anglo-Irish oligarchy
who ruled the country. The barons
found their account in their own lawless
and inhuman system of war and raj)ine.
Hugh O'Conor was at this time the
most formidable champion of the Irish
cause, and in 1272 he renewed hostili-
ties by demolishing the English castle
of Koscommon. He then crossed the
Shannon into Meath, Avhere he carried
desolation as far as Granard, and oh his
return burned Athlone, and broke down
its bridge. Two years after, this prince,
who was son of Felim, son of Cathal
Crovderg, died, and another Hugh
O'Conor, grandson of Hugh, the brother
of Felim, was elected king. His reign
was short, for in three months he w^as
slain by a kinsman in the Dominican
church of Roscommon, and anotlier
Hugh, soH of Cathal Dall, or the blind,
son of Hugh, son of Cathal Crovdei'g,
was chosen his successor. A fortnight
after, this prince was slain by Tomal-
tagh Mageraghty and O'Beirne; and
Teige, son of Turlough, son of Hugh,
son of Cathal Crovderg, was elected
king. Such was the state of anarchy in
which the royal succession was at that
time involved in Connaught; and it
became still more complicated in 1276,
when Hugh Muineagh, or the Munster
man, an illegitimate and posthumous
son of Felim, son of Cathal Crovdei'g,
arrived from Munster, and, by the aid
of O'Donnell, assumed the ^government
of Connaught. In the midst of incessant
contentious he retained his power until
1280, when he was slain by another
branch of the O'Conor family.
Sir James Audley, the lord justice,
was, accoi'ding to Irish accounts, slain
by the Connacians, in 1272, although
the English say he was killed by a fall
from his horse in Thomond. The same
year his successor, Maurice FitzMaurice
FitzGerald, was betrayed by his follow-
ers, and seized in Offaly by the Irish, in
whose hands he remained for some time.
Lord Walter Geneville, recently re-
turned from the Holy Land, succeeded
to the office, and during his administi-a-
tion there was an incursion of the
" Scots and liedshanks" from the high-
lands of Scotland; Richard de Burgo,
with Sir Eustace le Poer, retaliating
with an Anglo-Irish army, when he
DE CLARE IN THOMOND.
245
carried fire and sword iuto the Scottisli
islands and bigLlands, and smoked out
or suffocated those who had sought
refuge in rocks and caverns.
A. D. 1275. — Our annals mention a
victory gained this year over the Eng-
lish in Ulidia, " when 200 horses and
200 heads were counted (on the field),
besides all who fell of their plebeians ;"
l)ut this is believed to be identical with
a slaughter of the English at Glande-
lory, now Glanmalure, in Wicklow,
which is recorded by Anglo-Irish chroni-
clers about this time. The same year
the Kinel-Connell and the Kinel-Owen
Avasted each other's territories by mu-
tual depredations.
A. D. 1277. — One of the blackest epi-
sodes of even that dark age of Irish
liistor}' was enacted about this time in
Thomond. Thomas, son of Gilbert de
Chu-t',=^= and? sou-iu-law of Maurice Fitz
Maurice FitzGerald, obtained from Ed-
wavd I. a grant of Thomond, or of some
considerable portion of it ; the deed by
which it was secured, by a former Eng-
lish king, to its rightful owners the
O'Briens being wholly overlooked on
the occasion. De Clare had little chance
of asserting his unjust claim against the
heroic princes of the Dalgais in the open
field, and he had recourse to the favor-
ite English policy of that time. He
entered into an intimate alliance with
* Gilbert de Clare, earl of Gloucester, was one of the
lords justices to whom the government of England was
intrusted, on the accessiou of Edward I, then absent on
the Crusades.
\ The Irish annalists say that De C'laro bound him-
Bolf to Brian Roe O'Brien, by ties of gossiprcd and vows
Brian Roe O'Brien against Turlough,
son of Teige Caoluisge O'Brien, another
competitor for the crown of Thomond ;
and the latter having been defeated in
battle, he turned suddenly to the side
of Turlough, and getting Brian Roe
treacherously into his hands, put him to
death in a most inhuman manner, caus-
ing him, it is said, to be dragged be-
tween horses until he died. This atrocity,
it is added, was 2:)erpetrated at the
instance of De Clare's wife and father-
in-law.f He then dispossessed the old
inhabitants of that part of Thomond
east of the Fergus called Tradry, giving
the land to his OAvn followers, and
erected the strong castles of Bunratty
and Clare. His power was, however,
short-lived. The sous of Brian Roe
gained a victory over him the following
year at Quinn, where several of liis
people were burned to death in an old
Irish church, which was set on fire over
their heads. At another time De Clare
and FitzGerald were so hard pressed iu
a pass of Slieve Bloom, as to be com-
pelled to surrender at discretion, after
being obliged to subsist some days on
horse-flesh. The captives were subse-
quently liberated on undertaking to
make satisfaction for O'Brien's death
and to surrender the castle of Ros-
common. The unprincipled earl next
(1281) set up Donough, son of the
of friendship, ratified by the ceremony of mingling their
blood together in a vessel. In the remonstrance sent
by the Irish chieftains to jxjpe John XXII., this mur-
der was referred to as a striking instance of English
treachery
246
REIGiir OF EDWARD I
murdered Brian Koe, against Turlongli ;
but two years after his protege was
slain by Turlough, who continued in
possession
in Thomond until his death
in 1306.* De Clare himself was slain
by tbe O'Briens in 1286.
A. D. 1280. — We are again recalled to
the dissensions in Conuaught, where
Hugh Muineach, son of Felim, was
slain in the wood of Dangan, by the
sept of Murtough Muineach O'Conor,
one of whom, Cathal, son of Conor Eoe,
son of Murtough Muineach,f was inau-
gurated king. This sept, henceforth
called in the annals the Clann Mur-
tough or Muircheartaigh, was excessively
contentious, and kept the province in
turmoil for many years after.J
About this time a petition was pre-
sented to the English king, from what
he calls " the community of Ireland" —
most probably from the native Irish
dwelling in the vicinity of the English
settlements — praying that the privileges
of England might be extended to them.
Edward, who wished to see that object
effected, issued a writ to the lord justice,
Ufford, directing him to summon the
lords spiritual and temporal of the
" Land of Ireland" — as the English ter-
ritory in this country was then called —
to deliberate on the prayer of the peti-
* These transactions are related in full in the Annuls
of Innisfallen from the work called Caithreim Thoird-
hecdb/iaigh, or the Wars of Turlough 0 Brien.
■)■ Murtough Muineach (Muircheartach Muimhneach)
was son of Turlough More O'Conor, and brother of
Roderic.
t Apropos of the feuds which existed this year in
Connaught, between the O'Conors and MacDermots, au
Incident is related by Hanmer and Ware, highly char-
tiou. He insultingly describes the Irish
or Brehon laws as " hateful to God, and
repugnant to all justice;" and, inform-
ing the lord justice that the petitioners
had offered 8,000 marks for the conces-
sion which they demanded, urges him
to obtain the best terms he can from
them ; stipulating in particular that they
should hold a certain number of soldiers
in readiness to attend him in his wars.
The writ does not appear to have been
attended to, and no further step seems
to have been taken in the matter. The
Irish continued to feel the English law
only as au instrument of oj^pression, and
were excluded wholly from its privileges
— a mode of treatment, as it has been
justly remarked, wholly different from
that adopted by the Romans in their
conquered provinces.
Among the detached occurrences
which indicate the character of the
times, we find that in 1281 a bloody
battle was fought between the Barretts
and the Cusacks, at Moyne, near the
old church of Kilroe, in the barony of
Tirawly in Mayo. William Barrett
and Adam Fleming were slain, and
O'Boyd and O'Dowda, two Irish chief-
tains, who helped Adam Cusack to gain
the victory, are described as having
" excelled all the rest that day in deeds
acteristic of the spirit of English rule in those days.
Edward summoned the lord justice, TJfFord, to account
for his permitting such "shameful enormities," and the
latter pleaded, through Fulburn, bishop of Waterford,
whom he had deputed in his stead, '• that in policie, he
thought it expedient to winke at one knave cutting off
another, and that would save the king's coffers and pur-
chase peace to the land ; whereat the king svtiled and
bid him return to Ireland!"
DEFEATS OF THE ENGLISH.
247
of prowess;" yet the very next year
. O'Dowda was killed by Adam Cusack.
This year is also remarkable for a battle
fought at Desertcreaght, in Tyrone,
between the Kinel-Connell and the
Kinel-Owen, in which the former were
defeated, and their chieftain, Dounell
Oge O'Dounell, slain ; Hugh, his son,
being afterwards inaugurated in his
stead. The English of Ulster took part
with the men of Tyrone. Murrough
MacMurrough, whom the annalists style
" king of Leiuster," and his brother Art,
were taken by the English, and put to
death at Arklow in 1282; Hugh Boy
O'Neill, lord of Kinel-Owen, was slain
by Brian MacMahon and the men of
Oriel, in 1283 ; Art O'Melaghlin, the
native prince of Meath, who had de-
molished twenty-seven castles in his
wars, died penitently that year ; and in
the same year a great part of Dublin,
and the tower and other parts of Christ
Church were burned, the citizens show-
ing their piety by restoring the sacred
edifice before they set about rebuilding
their own houses after the fire.
A. D. 1285.— Theobald Butler, with
some Irish auxiliaries, invaded Delvin
MacCoghlan, and was defeated at Lum-
cloon by Carbry O'Melaghlin ; Sir
William de la Rochelle and other
English knights being among the slain.
Butler died soon after at Beerehaven.
A large army was then mustered by
lord Geoffry Geueville, Theobald Ver-
don, and others, and they marched into
This incident, it will bo observed, is mentioned al-
st iu the Bame terms as n Bimilar ono in 1272.
Offixly, where the Irish had just seized
the castle of Ley. The people of Offidy
solicited the aid of Carbry O'Melaghlin,
and he, with his gallant followere, re-
sponded to their call. The Lish army
poured down impetuously upon the
English, who were overthrown with
great slaughter, and according to the
English accounts, "Theobald de Ver-
don lost both his men and horses;"
Gerald FitzMaurice also falling into the
hands of the Irish the day after the
battle, owdng it is said, to the treachery
of his followers.* The Anglo-Irish ac-
counts also mention another defeat; oi
the English about the same year, but
they add that these losses were followed
by some compensating successes the next
year.
A. D. 1286. — The country had been
for a long period convulsed by the feuda
of the two great Anglo-Norman families,
the Geraldines and De Burgos ; but the
death of Maurice FitzMaurice FitzGer-
ald and of his son-in-law, lord Thomas
de Clare, which took place this year,
turned the scale decidedly in favor of
the De Burgos. Richard de Burgo,
earl of Ulster, commonly known as the
red earl, whose power was so generally
recognized, that even in ofiicial docu-
ments his name took precedence of that
of the lord deputy himself, now led his
armies through the country almost
^v'ithout meeting any resistance.f In
Connaught he plundered several church-
es and monasteries, and compelled the
f Tho red earl, who CUs so prominent a place in onr
history at this early period, was son of Walter do Burgo
248
REIGN OF EDWARD I.
Coniiaciaus to nccompany Lini to the
uortL, ^vbere he took hostages from the
Kiuel-Connell and Kinel-Owen, depos-
ing Donnell O'JSTeill, lord of the Latter,
and substituting Niall Culanagh O'Neill
in his stead. He laid claim to the
portion of Meath which Theobald de
Verdon held in right of his mother, the
daughter of Walter de Lacy, and be-
sieged that nobleman (a. d. 1288) in
the castle of Athlone, but with what
result we are not informed. In Con-
nanght Cathal O'Conor was deposed by
his brother Manus, and the red earl
marched against the lattei', who had the
Geraldines on his side, but the contest
was not brought to the issue of a
battle.
A.D. 1289.— Carbry O'Melaghlin, who
is styled, in the Anglo-Irish chronicles,
"king of the Irish ry of Meath," gave
great trouble to the English authorities
at this period ; and overrun as his ter-
ritory was, by the foreign race, retained
nevertheless a considerable amount of
power. An army, composed of the
English of Meath, under Richard Tuite,
called the great baron, with Manus
O'Conor, king of Connaught, as an
auxiliary, marched this year against
him, and was defeated in battle ; Tuite,
Avith several of his adherents, being
slain. The following year, however.
first earl of Ulster of that family, son of RieTiard, -svlio
was called the great lord of Connaught, and was the son
of William FitzAdelm do Burgo by Isabelle, natural
daughter of Richard Cosur-dc-lion, and widow of Lle-
weUyn, prince of Wales. Walter had become etirl of
Ulster in right of his wife, Maud, daughter of the
younger Hugh de Lacy. The red carl's grandson, Wil-
O'Melaghlin — "the most noble-deeded
youth in Ireland in his time" — -was"
slain, by his gossip, David MacCoghlan,
prince of Delviu ; David himself deal-
ing the first blow, which was followed
up by wounds from seventeen other
members of the MacCoghlan family.
The lord of Delviu now in his turn be-
came troublesome, and defeated William
Burke, who had marched against him ;
but in 1293 he was taken prisoner by
MacFeorais,* or Bermingham, and put
to death by order of the red earl.
A. D. 1290.-1293.— Sir William de
Vescy, a Yorkshire man, and a great
favorite of king Edward, having been
sent over as lord justice, a quarrel appears
to have immediately sprung up between
him and John FitzThomas FitzGeralcl,
baron of Offaly. To such a height did
their mutual animosity rise, that De
Vescy charged the baron with being
" a supporter of thieves, a bolsterer of
the king's enemies, an upholder of trait-
ors, a murderer of subjects, a firebrand
of dissention, a rank thief, an arrant
traytor," adding, "before I eat these
words, I will make thee eat a piece of
my blade." FitzThomas retorted in an
equally courteous strain ; and both paa*-
ties having appeared before the king
with their complaints, maintained their
respective causes in the royal j^resence
Ijam, who was murdered in 1333, was the third and last
of the De Biixgo earls of Ulster. The Burkes of Con-
naught descend from William, the younger brother of
Walter, the first earl of Ulster.
* This name, now pronounced Keorish, was the Irish
surname assumed by the Berminghams, from Kerce, or
Piarus, son of Meylt-r Bermingham, thoir ancestor.
FEUD OF DE VESCY AND FITZGERALD.
249
with tirades worthy of Billingsgate ; if
we may credit tlie annalist Holiuslied,
who pretends to record the proceedings
with accuracy. FitzThomas concluded
his speech with a defiance, saying —
" wherefore, to justify that I am a true
subject, aud that thou, Vescy, art au
arch traytor to God aud my king, I
here, iu the presence of his highness,
and iu the hearing of this honorable
assembly, challenge the combat." The
council shouted applause ; the appeal
to single comliat was admitted ; but
when the day, named by the king, had
arrived, it was found that De Vescy
had fled to France. Edward then be-
stowed on the baron of Offaly the lord-
ships of Kildare and Kathaugau, which
had beeu held by his antagonist, ob-
serving, that " although De Vescy had
conveyed his person to France, he had
left his lands behind him iu Ireland."*
A. T>. 1294 — For some years Kichard,
the red earl, had been riding rough-
shod over the necks of the people, both
within the English territory and out-
side. He created and deposed the Y>v'm-
ces of Ulster, plundered Connaught
more than once, and was mixed up in
various feuds through the country ; but
the great accession of power which the
chief of the Geraldines had acquired, by
Ills triumph over De Vescy, placed an
old rival, once more, iu a position to
* The above mentioned John FitzThomas FitzGer.ald,
baron of Offaly, was tho common ancestor of the two
great branches of the Geraldines ; one of his two sons,
John, the eighth lord of Offaly, being created earl of
Kildare, aud the other, Maurice, earl of Desmond. —
See Archdall's Lodr/c's Irish Peerage, vol. i., 03 ; also
cope with him. FitzThomas seized the
earl aud his brother, William de Burgo,
in Meath, and confined them in the cas-
tle of Ley, an event which threw the
whole country into commotion ; aud
immediately after, along with MacFeo-
rais, he made an inroad into Connaught,
and devastated the country. The fol-
lowing year De Burgo was liberated
by the king's order, or, as Grace says,
by that of the king's parliament, at Kil-
kenny ; the lord of Offaly, as the same
annalist tells us, forfeiting his castles of
Sligo and Kildare, aud his possessions
iu Connaught, as a penalty for his ag-
gression.
A. D. 1295. — Sir John Wogan was
appointed lord justice, aud having, by
his Avise and conciliatory policy, brought
about a truce for two years between
the Geraldines and De Burgos, he sum-
moned a parliament which met this
year at Kilkenny. The roll of this
parliament contains only twenty-seven
uames, Richard, earl of Ulster, being
first on the list ; and among the acts
passed was one revising king John's
division of the country into counties;
another provided for a more strict
guarding of the marches or boundaries
against the Irish ; by a third a tax w^as
levied on absentees, to support a mili-
tary force to defend the colony ; and a
fourth enacted that private or separate
O'Daly's Oeraldines, by the Hev. M. Meehan. Tho
lands which were delivered to FitzThomas on this
occasion appear to have been the principal subject
of dispute between him and De Vescy, who claimed
them in right of his wife, an heiress of the MarshnL
family.
REIGN OF EDWAED I.
truces should not be made with the
Irish, or war waged by the barons,
without the license of the lord justice,
or the mandate of the king. Other
laws restricted the number of retainers
whom the barons should keep, and en-
acted other regulations.*
All this time Connaught and Ulster
continued to be desolated by fearful
discord among the Irish themselves ;
but the narrative would be too monot-
onous were we to mention each melan-
choly feud as it is recorded in the faith-
ful j:)ages of our annalists. The whole
country was laid waste; neither the
property of church nor laymen was
spared; and dearth and pestilence
stalked through the land. The feuds
of the De Burgos and the Geraldiues
were once more arranged, in 1298, and
among the Anglo-Irish peace for a while
prevailed.
A. P. 1303. — King Edward's expedi-
tions against Scotland were attended by
many of the native Irish, as well as by
the principal barons of the Pale, with
their troops. The earl of Ulster and
John FitzThomas FitzGerald accompa-
nied the lord justice Wogan on the
expedition of 1296. It is said that king
Edward's army, in 1299, was composed
chiefly of Irish and Welsh. They all
came in their best array, and were
royally feasted at Roxburgh castle.
The Irish also mustered very strong on
• A statute framed in England, and entitled "an Or-
dinance for the state of Ireland," was sent over, ia
1289, to bo acted upon as law in this country; and
diortly after (in 1293) it was enacted that the treas-
the expedition of 1303, when the sub-
jugation of Scotland was temporarily
effected. Before leaving Ireland on this
occasion, the red earl created thirty-
three knights in Dublin castle. On his
departure for the Scottish wars, lord
justice "Wogan left as his deputy Wil-
liam de Ross, prior of Kilmainhara ; but
the absence of so many of the leading
men invariably gave occasion to insur-
rectionary movements; and Leland re-
marks that at this time "the utmost
efforts of the chief governor and of
the well-affected lords were scarcely
sufficient to defend the province of
Leinster."
A. D. 1305. — The warlike sept of
O'Conor Faly, princes of Offalj', had
for some time shown themselves to be
among the most dangerous of the " Iiish
enemies," and the heroic, but hopeless
struggle, which they continued to sus-
tain for more thau two hundred years
after, in their ancestral woods and fast-
nesses, against the foreign enemy, had
begun to occupy a prominent place in
the records of the time. Maurice
O'Conor Faly, and his brother Calvagh,
were now the chiefs of the sept, and
the latter in particular was called '• the
Great Rebel." At one time he defeated
the English in a battle in which Meyler
de Exeter and several others were slain ;
at another he took the castle of Kildare,
and burned all the records and accounts
urer of Ireland should account annually to the exche-
quer of England — proceedings wliich show that on one
side, at least, the opinion was then held that Ireland
might be bound by laws made in England.
MURDER OF THE CHIEFS OF OFFALY.
251
relating to the county. In order to get
rid of so dangerous a foe, a deed of the
blackest treachery was resorted to. The
chiefs of Offaly were invited to dinner
on Trinity Sunday this year, in the
castle of Peter, or Piei-ce Berminghani,
at Carrick-Carbury, in Kildare ; the
feast proceeded, but at its conclusion,
as the guests were rising from the table,
every man of them was basely murdered.
In this way fell Maurice O'Conor, his
Ijrother Calvagh, and in all about thirty
chiefs of his clan. Grace says the mas-
sacre was perpetrated by Jordan Cumin
and his comrades at the court of Peter
Bermingham. This Peter was ever after
nicknamed the "treacherous baron." Pie
was arraigned before king Edward ; but
no justice was ever obtained for this
most nefarious and treacherous murder.*
The Anglo-Irish chronicles record
sevei-al other deeds of blood about the
conclusion of this reign, such as the
murder of Sir Gilbert Sutton, in the
house of Hamon le Gras, or Grace, at
Wexford; the murder of O'Brien, of
Thomond ; the slaying of Donnell, king
of Desmond, by his son ; the slaughter
* In the Harleian MS., whicli contains the contem-
porary Anglo-Irish song, on the walling of New Ross,
already referred to, there is preserved an old ballad
celebrating the praises of the above-named Pierce
Bermingham, as a famous " hunter of the Irish ;" he
was killed in 1308, in battle with the Irish.
f Amongst the religious houses founded in Ireland,
in the course of the first Edward's reign, were the
Dominican convent of KilmaUock, founded by Gilbert,
son of John FitzThomas, lord of Ofialy, in 1291 ; that of
Derry, by Donnell Ogo O'DonneU, in 1274 ; and that of
Rathbran, in Mayo, the same year, by Sir William de
Burgo; the Franciscan convent of Clare-Galway, by
John de Cogan, in 1290 ; that of Buttevant, the same
year, by David Oge Barry ; that of Galway, by Sir
of the O'Conors, of OflFaly, by the
O'Dempseys, near Geashill ; the defeat
of Pierce Bermingham in Meath, and
the burning of the town of Ballymore
by the Irish ; the narrow escape of the
English from defeat in a well-contested
battle at Glenfell ; and the execution
of an English knight. Sir David Canton,
or Condon, for the murder of an Irish-
man, named Murtough Balloch. The
O'Kellys, of Hy-Manj^, rose and took
vengeance on Edmund Butler, for the
burning of their town of Ahascragh, in
the east of the present county of Gal-
way, the English being defeated on this
occasion with considerable slaughter.
The coin struck in England in the
seventh year of the reign of Edward I.
was made current in Ireland; and in .1
few years after, the base money called
crockards and pollards was condemned
by proclamation.
The events in our church history
during this reign are not very impor-
tant.f The Four Masters and the An-
nals of Ulster mention the discovery of
the relics of SS. Patrick, Bridget, and
Columbkille, at Sabhall, or Saul, in
WUliam de Burgo, in 129G; and those of Galbally, in
Limerick, by the O'Briens ; Killeigh, in the King's
county, by the O'Conors Faly ; and Ross, in Wexford, ■
by Sir John Devereus ; the Augustinian convents of the
Red Abbey in Cork ; Limerick (by the O'Briens)
Drogheda ; Clonmines, in Wexford (by the Kavanaghs) ;
and Dungarvan, by FitzThomas, of Offaly ; and finally
the Carmelite convents of Dublin (Whitefriar-strectl, by
Sir Richard Bagot ; Ardee, by Ralph Peppard ; Drogh-
eda, by the inhabitants of the town ; Galway, by the De
Burgos ; Rathmullin, in Donegal ; Castle Lyons, in
Cork, by the Barrys ; Kildare, by De Vescy, in 1290 ;
and Thurles, by the Butler family, about the close of
the thirteenth century.
REIGN OF EDWARD 11.
Down, by Nicholas MacMaelisa, arcL-
bisliop of Armagh, in 1293; whence it
is clear that our native annalists either
had not heard of, or did not believe,
the statement which has already been
noticed on the authority of Cambrensis,
of the discovery of these relics in the
cathedral of Down, in the year 1185.
CHAPTER XXIV.
EEIGK OF EDWARD 11.
I'iers G.ivtston in Ireland. — Fresh "Wars in Connauglit — the Clann Murtougli. — Civil Broils in Tliomond. — Feud
of De Clare and De Burgo. — GroTrth of Nation.al Feelings. — Invitation to Bang Robert Bruce. — Memorial of
the Irish Princes to Pope John XXIf.'— The Pope's Letter to the English king.— The Scottish Expedition to
Ireland. — Landing of Edward Bruce. — First Exploits of the Scottish Army. — Proceedings of Felim and Rory
O'Connor.— Disastrous War in Connaught.— The Battle of Athenry.— Siege of Carrickfergus.— General Rising
of the Irish.- Campaign of 1317.— Arrival of Robert Bruce.— Arrest of the Earl of Lester.— Consternation in
Dublin. — The Scots at Castleknock. — Their March to the South. — Their Retreat from Limerick. — Effects of
the Famine. — Retreat of the Scots to Ulster. — Robert Bruce Returns to Scotland. — Liberation of the eail of
Ulster.- Battle of Faughard, and Death of Edward Bruce.- National Prejudices.
Contemporary Sovereigns and Eiients.—Po-pa John XXII.— Kings of France: Louis X., Philip V., and Charles IV.—
King of Scotland, Robert Bruce.— Suppression of tlie Knights Templars, 1312.— AVilliiim Tell flourished, and Switzerland
became Independent, 1315.— Dante died, 1321.
(A. D. 1307 TO A. D. 1327.)
TNDIGNANT at the honors conferred
-^ by Edward II. on his favorite, Piers
Gaveston, -who was recalled from ban-
ishment by that weak-minded prince on
his accession to the throne, the barons
loudly expressed their anger and dis-
gust; and parliament demanded, in a
peremptory tone, the expulsion of the
royal minion. Edward made a show of
compliance, but it was soon discovered
that the place he had selected for his
favorite's exile -was Ireland, where, in
1308, he invested him with the dignity
of lord lieutenant, accompanying him
on his journey as far as Bristol. Not-
withstanding his vices, Gaveston pos-
sessed some of the qualities of a good
soldier. In the lists he had shown him-
self a match for any knight in England,
and in his Irish office he displayed no
small amount of energy. He led an
army against the O'Dempseys of Clan-
malier, in Leinster, and killed their chief,
Dermot, at TuUow. He next defeated
FRESH WARS IX COXNAUGHT.
253
the O'Byrnes, of Wicklow, ani opened
a road between castle Kevin and Glen-
dalongh, in that territoiy. He also
rebuilt some castles whicli the Irish
had demolished ; but his career in this
country was brief. Twelve months
after his arrival he was recalled to
England by his royal mastei-, and three
years later was taken prisoner by the
l)arons, at Scarborough castle, and with
their sanction beheaded by the earl of
Warwick.'"'
A. D. 1309. — Connaught still contin-
ued to be torn by discord. Hugh, son
of Owen, of the race of Cathal Crovderg,
was slain this year by Hugh O'Conor,
surnamed Breifneach, one of the restless
and ambitious Clann Murtough, and a
fresh war arose for the succession. Mac-
William, as the head of the Burkes of
Connaught, espoused the cause of the
Cathal Crovderg branch. A conference
was held near Elphin between him and
Roiy, Hugh Breifneach's brother, who
had assumed the title of king of Con-
naught; but, as often ha2:)pened on
these occasions, the conference was con-
verted into a battle, and Rory being
defeated, was driven beyond the Curlieu
* Piers Qaveston, though of humble birth, was mar-
ried to a niece of the king's, that is, to a sister of De
Clare, earl of Gloucester. De Clare's second wife was a
daughter of the earl of Ulster ; and De Clare's daughter,
by a former marriage, was married to the earl of Ulster's
son. Notwitlistanding these alliances, Gavcston was
despised and Iiated by the haughty Anglo-Irish barons ;
and the earl of Ulster, in order to despite him, kept up
a kind of royal state at Ti-im. — See Grace's Annals.
t Grace's Annals, p. 50, note k. The principle of ex-
cluding those of the hostile race, was acted upon in the
religious cBtablishmcnts of both Irislx and English ; but
in the former it evinced no little courage on the part of
mountains. Next year Hugh Breifneach
was treacherously killed by one Johuock
MacQuillan, who ■was on bonaght with
him, and was hired by Mac William
Burke to commit the murder ; but Mac-
Quillan himself was slain the following
year at Ballintubber wdth the same axe
which he had used in killing the Clann
Murtough prince. Felira, son of Hugh,
son of Owen O'Conor, of the race of
Cathal Crovderg, was now, by the in-
fluence of his foster-father, Mulrony
MacDermot, chief of Moylurg, inau-
gurated king of Connaught Avhile still
almost in his boyhood ; and was, for
several years, maintained in his author-
ity by that clan.
Sir John Wogan being re-appointed
lord justice for the third time, sum-
moned a jDarliament, which met this
year (1309) at Kilkenny. Some strin-
gent laws were here made to repress
robbery, particularly that committed
by persons of noble birth, and their
retainers ; forestalling was prohibited ;
and it is supposed that the law by
which Irish monks were excluded from
religious houses within the English
pale, was repealed on this occasion.-]-
the defenceless monks. " In the abbey of Jlellifont,"
says Co;;, quoting from a record in the Tower of Lon-
don, "a regulation was made in 1323 that no person
should be admitted into that liouse until he had made
oath that he was not of English descent." Dr. Kelly
{Ciimh. Ecer., ii., p. 543, note) says, " In 1250, Innocent
IV. addressed a letter to the archbishop of Dublin and
the bishop of Ossory, complaining that Irish bishops
excluded all Anglo-Irish from canonries in their
churches: ho ordered them to rescind that rale one
month after the receipt of his letter, on the Christian
principle that the sanctuary of God should not be held
by hereditary right. Tliia principle, however, became
254
REIGN OF EDWAED II.
A scarcity prevailed the following
yeai-, when a crannoc, .or bushel, of
wheat sold for 20s., and the bakers
■were dragged on hurdles through the
streets for using false weights.
A. D. 1311. — Civil broils raged in
Thomond betAveen the MacNamaras
and O'Briens, the former being defeated;
and subsequently the chieftain Don-
nough O'Brien was treacherously slain
by Murrough, son of Mahou O'Brien ;
but these feuds were thrown into the
shade by those which prevailed in the
same province between De Clare and
William de Burgo, the latter and John
Fitz Walter Lacy being made prisoners
at Bunratty by De Clare.* The lord
justice was defeated in attempting to
put down a revolt of Sir Robert Verdon ;
and the O'Byrues and O'Tooles of
Wicklow menaced the walls of Dub-
lin.
A. D. 1315. — We have arrived at an
epoch in our historj', memorable not
only for the importance of its events,
but for the dawn of an intelligible
national feeling among the Irish princes,
and for the first movement which merits
the exception in Ireland, in all clmrclies and religious
houses under the English power, down to the Reforma-
tion ; the contrary principle was enacted as the rule by
the statute of Kilkenny (of A. D. 1367), which excluded
all Irish from English churches and religious houses,
unless they had been qualified by a royal letter of
denizenship. The effect of this law was to exclude the
Irish not only from almost all the houses founded by
the Anglo-Irish, but from a very great number founded
by themselves, which had fallen under the English
power. A few years (1515) before Luther began to
preach his opinions, Leo X. Issued a bull confirming the
exclusion of the native Irish, even though qualified by
a royal letter, from St. Patrick's Cathedral, Dublin;
und on the same principle, a few years before. Dean
the name of a patriotic effort to shake
off the English yoke. The Scots had
just set a noble example by their suc-
cessful struggle for national indepen-
dence. By their glorious victory at
Bannockburn, on June 25th, 1314, they
had effectually rid their country of
English bondage. A strong sympathy
had been excited in the north of Ireland
for their cause. In the early days of
his struggle (1306), Robert Bruce, the
now triumphant king of Scotland, had
found shelter and succor in the island
of Rathlin, on the Irish coast. Some of
theUlster chieftains subsequently joined
in an expedition in his aid; but their
attempt was abortive, for on landing in
Scotland, they were encountered by the
English army, and almost all cut to
pieces. The summons of the English
king, Avhen mustering an army against
Scotland, in this wai', was not responded
to by the native Ii'ish ; and when the
Scots were triumphant, the Irish of the
northern province lost no time in ap-
pealing to them, as a kindred people,
to help them in ridding themselves of
the same foreign thraldom, and proposed
Allen bequeathed charities to the poor, provided they
were Anglo-Irish.
■* Connell Mageoghegan, who translated the Annals
of Clonmacnoise in 1627, appends to the record of the
last event mentioned above, the foUomng note : —
"This much I gather out of tlds historian, whom
I take to be an authentic and worthy prelate of the
church, that would tell nothing but truth, that there
reigned more dissensions, strife, warrs, and debates, be-
tween the English themselves in the beginning of the
conquest of this kingdome, than between the Irishmen,
as by perusing the warrs between the Lacies of Mcath,
John Courcey, earle of Ulster, William Marshall, and
the English of Meath and Munster, MacGerald, the
Burkes, Butler and Cogan, may appear."
MEMORIAL TO THE POPE.
to Eobert Brace to make his brother,
Edward, king of Ireland.
About this time Donnell O'Neill,
king of Ulster, with other Irish princes
of that province, acting in the name of
the Iiish in general, addressed a me-
morial, or remonstrance, to the sover-
eign pontiff, John XXII., setting forth
the grievances which their country suf-
fered under the English yoke.* This
interesting document glances at the
early history of Ireland, to show the
right of the Irish to national indej^en-
dence ; it then refers to the false state-
ments by which his Holiness's predeces-
sor, Adrian IV., had been induced to
transfer the sovereignty of their country
to Henry II. ; it points out how utterly
unworthy that impious king was of the
confidence which pope Adrian had re-
posed in him — how he had perverted
the papal grant to his own unjust pur-
poses ; how he and his successors had
violated the conditions under which his
entrance into the kingdom of Ireland
had been sanctioned ; how the church
of Ireland had been plundered by the
English, the church lands confiscated,
and the persons of the clei-gy as little
respected as their property ; how vices
had been imported, and the Irish, in-
stead of being reformed, dej^rived of
their primitive candor and simplicity;
how the protection of the English laws
was denied to them, so that Avheu an
Enfrlishman murdered an Irishman, as
* This memorial would appear to liavo been written
during tlie period of Brace's invasion, and after the pope
had been induced li.v the English government to cou-
frequently happened, his crime Avas not
punishable before an' English tribunal;
and how the English clergy trej.ted
them with shameful injustice by refusing
to Irish religious admission even into
the monastic institutions which had
been founded and endowed by their
Irish ancestors. The memorial enumer-
ates some of the atrocities of the Eng-
lish in Ireland, such as the treacherous
massacre of the chiefs of Offaly at the
dinner-table of Pierce Bermingham, and
the murder of Brian Roe O'Brien by
Thomas de Clare: and it proceeds: —
"Let no person, then, wonder if we
endeavor to preserve our lives and
defend our liberties, as best we can,
against those cruel tyrants, usurpers of
our just properties, and murderers of
our persons. So far from thinking it
unlawful, we hold it to be a meritorious
act ; nor can Ave be accused of pei-jmy
or rebellion, since neither our fathers
nor Ave did at any time bind ourselves,
by any oath of allegiance, to their
fathers or to them ; Avherefore, Avithout
the least remorse of conscience, Avhile
breath remains, aa'c shall attack them in
defence of our just rights, and never lay
down our arms until we force them to
desist." In conclusion, the Irish princes
inform his Holiness, "that in oi'der
to attain their object the more sjDeedily
and surely, they had invited the gallant
Edward Bruce, to Avhom, being de-
scended from their most noble ancestors.
deum the proceedings of the Scots. It makes no allu-
sion to this condemnation, but adopts a dignified tone
of justification.
REIGX OF EDWARD II.
they had transferi-ed, as tLey justly
miglit, tlieir own right of royal domin-
ion."'"
3Ioved l)y the representations con-
tained in this memorial, iwpe John
addressed, a few years later, a strong
letter to Edward III., in which, refer-
ring to the bull granted hy pope Adrian
to Henry II., his Holiness says, that " to
the object of that bull neither Henry
nor his successors paid any regard, but
that, passing the bounds that had been
prescribed to them, they had heaped
upon the Irish the most rmheard of
miseries and j)er3ecution, and had, during
a long peiiod, imposed on them a yoke
of slavery which could not be borne."
His Holiness earnestly urges the Eng-
lish king to adopt a different policy ;
to reform as speedily as possible, and in
a suitable manner, the evils under which
the Irish labored, and to remove their
just causes of complaint, "lest it might
be too late hereafter to apply a remedy,
when the spirit of revolt has grown
stronger." f
Eobert Bruce received with avidity
the invitation of the Irish, as it promised
a favorable field for the military energy
and ambition of his brother, Edward,
who had already begun to demand a
share in the sovereignty of Scotland.
An expedition to Ireland was, there-
fore, prepared as soon as circumstances
would permit, and on the 26th of May,
* The original Latin of tliis memorial is preserved by
Fordun.
Translations of the memorial wiU be found in Ploic-
dcn'smstoHeainenew,CMrlesO'Con<n-'s Suppressed Jife-
131.5, Edward Bruce, who was styled
earl of Cai'rick, arrived off the coast of
Antrim with a fleet of 300 sail, from
which an army of 6,000 men was disem-
barked at Larne — or as some say, at the
mouth of the Glendun river, in the
county of Antrim, He was accompa-
nied by the earl of Moray, John Mon-
teith, John Stewart, John Campbell,
Thomas Randolph, son of the earl of
Moray, Fergus of xVrdossan, John de
Bosco, tfec. This event filled the coun-
try with excitement and consternation.
The Irish flocked in great numbers to
Bruce's standard, and the Anglo-Irish
of Ulster were quickly defeated in sev-
eral encounters. There is great confu-
sion in the accounts given of the first
exploits of Edward Bruce in Ireland ;
apparently not arising from intentional
misstatement, but from a transposition
in the order of events by some of the
old chroniclers. It would appear that
Dundalk, Ardee, and some other places
in Oriel were taken and destroyed in
rapid succession by the invaders, and
that the church of the Carmelite fi-iary
of Ardee was burned, with a number of
the Anglo-Irish who had sought refuge
in it. The red earl raised a powerful
army, chiefly in Connaught, and marched
against Bruce ; and on meeting the lord
justice, Sir Edmund Butler, with a
Leinster army, also proceeding against
the Scots, he told him rather haughtily
moirs, Taafe's History, and the Abbe Maocoghegan, p.
323. Duffy's Edition.
t See tills letter of pope Jolin's in O'Sullivan's Hist
Cath. Hib., p. 70, Dublin, 1850.
DISASTROUS WAR IN CONNAUGIIT.
257
that be would take the -work upon him-
self, which, as earl of Ulster, he con-
ceived it to be his duty to do, and
would deliver Edward Bruce, dead or
alive, into the hands of the justiciary.
The two Anglo-Irish armies, neverthe-
less, formed a junction somewhere near
Dundalk. Previous to this, as it would
ajipear from some accounts, Bruce was
induced by O'Neill to march northward,
and to cross the Bann at Coleraine,
breaking down the bridge after him;
but this move, whether made at this
time or subsequent!}'-, Avas found to have
been a wrong one, and the Scottish
army was afterwards ferried across the
river at a more southerly point, by one
Thomas of Down, who employed four
small vessels for the purpose. Accord-
ing to an Irish authority,'"' the earl of
Ulster's army marched on one side of
the Bann, and the Scottish army on the
other, so that the archers on both sides
could exchange shots; and soon after
the Scots had been ferried over the
river, as just mentioned, the English
army, weakened by the defection of
Felim, the king of Connaught, who had
hitherto acted as an auxiliary to the red
earl, was routed near Connor, and Wil-
liam de Burgo, the earl's brother, with
several of the English knights, taken
prisoners. This battle, according to
Grace, was fought on the 10th of Sep-
tember, and Dundalk had been captured
on SS. Peter and Paul's day, the 29th
* Annals of Clonmacnoise.
I See the accounts of these transactions from Mageo-
gliogan's translation of the Annals of Cloninacnoise, in
33
of June. After the battle of Connor,
the red earl fled to Connaught, where
he remained for that year without a
vestige of an army; and a portion or
the defeated English made their way to
Carrickfergus, where some of them en-
tered the castle, and bravely defended
it against the Scots. Edward Bruce,
who had already caused himself to be
proclaimed king of Ireland, left some
men to carry on the siege of Carrick-
fei-gus, and marched with the main
body of his small army towards the
south. f
A. D. 1316. — We are now compelled
to follow our annalists into Connaught,
Avhere events most disastrous to the
Irish cause were taking place. Felim
O'Conor having, as we have seen, ac-
companied the red earl of Ulster, had
entered into correspondence with Ed-
ward Bruce, and consented to hold
from him his kingdom of Connaught;
but in the meantime, Rory, son of Ca-
thal Roe O'Conor, head of the Clanu
Murtough, had taken up arms and kin-
dled the flames of war throughout
Connaught. He destroyed some En-
glish castles in Roscommon, and sent
off emissaries to Bruce, who had already
come to an understanding with Felim,
and who now authorized Rory to carry
on war against the English, but not to
meddle with Felim's lands. Rory lit-
tle heeded this injunction; and Felim
found a sufficient excuse to return home
Ihicr Masters, vol. i
Annals, pp. 63, &c.
i., pp. 504, &c., note; also Gruce'i
258
REIGN OF EDWARD II.
to defend his territory figainst the dep-
redations of the Claun Murtougli chief.
A series of sanguinary conflicts took
place between them. Several chiefs
fell on both sides; and great cattle
spoils were lost and won. Even Fe-
lim's foster-father, Mulrony MacDer-
mot, turned for a while to Rory's side,
ashamed at seeing himself one of a
crowd of crest-fallen chieftains at the
house of the red earl, who had just re-
turned from his defeat at Connor. The
result was still doubtful, when Felim,
early in the present year (1316), mus-
tered a numerous army, composed part-
ly of Englishmen under Bermingham,
and penetrated, in pursuit of Rory,
through the bogs in the north-east of
the present county of Galway, by the
causeway then called Togher-mona-Con-
nee. Rory, who had been watching
his movements from the summit of a
hill, here gave him battle, but was
slain, and his army routed with terrible
slaughter.
Felim having thus disj^osed of his ri-
val, lost no time in fulfiliug his engage-
ment to Bruce and turned his arms
against the English. He burned the
town of Ballyhan, in the east of Mayo,
and slew De Exeter and De Cogan.
Co-operating with the chiefs of all the
* The Qalloglasscs (Qall-Oglach), who were the heavy-
armed foot soldiers of the Irish, wore an iron head piece'
and a coat of defence stuck with iron nails, and the
weapons they carried were a long sword and a broad
keen-edged axe. The Kerns, or Keherns, were the
iglit-anued infantry, who fought with darts or javelins,
and also carried swords and knives. — Hariis' Ware,
vol. ii., p. 161. Dr. O'Conor, in his suppresed work,
west of Ireland, including the O'Briens
of Thomond, he mustered a numerous
army, with which he marched to
Athenry, where a large and well-
armed Anglo-Irish force under William
de Burgo and Richard Bermingham,
lord of the town, was entrenched. A
fierce and desperate battle ensued.
The coats of mail and the skill of the
crossbow-men gave the English a great
superiority; but the Irish, whose best
soldiers were the Galloglasses,* fought
with unflinching bravery, and by their
own accounts lost that day 11,000 men,
among whom was their gallant and
youthful king, Felim, then only in his
twenty-third year. Cox says that 8,000
of the Irish were slain. Some of the
ancient families of Connaught were
almost exterminated, so great was the
slaughter of the native Irish gentry,
and it was said that no man of the
O'Conors was left in all Connaught
capable of bearing arms except Felim's
brother. This battle was fought on St.
Laurence's day, the 10 th of August, and
was the most sanguinary that had taken
place since the Anglo-Norman invasion.
In it the chivalry of Connaught was
crushed, and irretrievable injury inflict-
ed on the Irish cause.f
The Scots seem to have wasted the
Memoirs of the Life and Wrilings of Charles O'Conor
of Belanagaer, observes that the English were, at tlie
battle of Athenry, well .armed and drawn up in regular
systematic array, and that the Irish fought without
armor.
f A story is told of a young man of the Anglo-Irish oi
Athenry, named Hussey, who is called by Grace a butch-
er, going out after the battle to search for the body o.'
BRUCE BEFORE CARRICKFERGUS.
remaiuder of the year 1315 in a fruit-
less siege of Carrickfergus castle ; hut
on receiving a reinforcement of 500
men, on St. Nicholas' day (December
6 th), Bruce set out on his march to the
south. His route was apparently by
the north of Meath, through Nobber
and Kells to Finnagh in West Meath,
thence to Granard in Longford, and
Lough Seudy, where he spent Christ-
mas. Thence he passed through West
Meath and part of the King's county
into Kildare, to Rathangan, Castleder-
mot, Athy, Rhebau, and Arscoll, where
he was opposed by Edniond Butler, the
justiciary, whom he defeated. Pie then
returned towards Ulster, burning in his
way the castle of Ley, and passing
through Geashill and Fowre to Kells,
his army spreading desolation along its
I'oute."" At the last-named town, Sir
Roger Mortimer met him with an army
of 1 5,000 men, which was put shame-
fully to flight ; the defeat being attrib-
uted by the English to the defection of
some of their men, especially the De
Lacys. Mortimer fled to Dublin, and
others made their escape to Trim ; and
in the mean time, the Irish everywhere
rose in arms. In the heart of the Eng-
lish territory the O'Tooles and O'Byrnes
burnt Arklow, Newcastle, and Bray ;
and the O'Mores rose in Leix, where,
however, they were soon after defeated
O'Kelly, the chief of Hy-Many, and of his meeting that
chieftain still alive, and killing him under very improb-
able circumstances. It ia added that ho brought O'Kel-
ly's head to Berraingham, u-ho knighted Hussey on tlie
spot, and that the latter subsequently obtained the lands
with great slaughter by Edmond Butler.
The Anglo-Irish barons were at length
thoroughly aroused to the danger of
their position, and gathering round
Lord John Hotham, who was deputed
specially to them on the occasion by
the king of England, the)'' agreed to
forego their private quarrels and to act
together for the defence of the realm.
Famine had at this time begun to rav-
age the country, and the Scots felt it
severely. Edward Bruce retired into
Ulster, where he exercised all the au-
thority of a king, holding parliaments,
deciding causes, and levying supplies,
without any attempt on the part of the
English to disturb him.
As summer advanced, Edward Bruce
made his appearance once more before
Carrickfergus, where Thomas Mande-
ville had succeeded in throwing in re-
inforcements, and the garrison had been
thus enabled constantly to annoy the
Scots in the neighborhood. The siege
was piv.Iouged until September, when
king Robert Bruce, finding that his
brother was not making the progress
which he had expected in Ireland, came
over himself; and the operations of the
besiegers being conducted with fresh
energy, the garrison at length surren-
dered on honorable terms, having been,
in the course of the siege, so hard jiressed
by hunger, that they ate hides and fed
of Galtrim, of which his family became barons. Richard
Bermingham was created baron of Athcnry for his ser-
vices that day, and the walls of the town were rebuilt
out of part of the spoils of the Irish.
* Grace's Annals, p. G7, note u.
2fiO
REIGN OF EDWARD II.
ou the bodies of eight Scots whom they
had made prisoners. The remainder of
316 Avas consumed in desultory efforts,
in which the English gained some ad-
vantao-es against the Irish in the centre
and the west, and in one instance
ao-ainst the Scots, of whom John Logan
and Hugh Bisset slew 300 in Ulster, on
the 1st of Novem'ber.
A. D. 1317. — All parties prepared to
put forth their utmost strength at the
commencement of the year. The Scot-
tish army in Ireland at this time was
computed at 20,000 men, besides an
irregular force of Irish ; and with this
army king Robert Bruce and his broth-
er crossed the Boyne, at Slane, after
Shrovetide. They marched to Castle-
knock, near Dublin, on the 24th of
February, and took Hugh Tyrrel, the
lord of that fortress, prisoner, making
the castle their own quarters. All was
consternation in Dublin. The Anglo-
Irish distrusted each other. About
two months before this, the De Lacys,
having been charged with treasonably
aiding the Scots, called for an investi-
gation, in which they were acquitted,
and they then gave the most solemn
pledges of their fidelity ; yet now they
were actually under Bruce's standard.
Richard, earl of Ulster, who was far
advanced in years, and had lost all his
former energy, Avas also suspected by
* Before tliis time, the town-walls were carried by St.
Owen's, or Audoen's, cliurcli, along tlie brow of tlie
jvigli ground, some 400 feet from the river. The mayor
and citizens were afterwards compelled to restore the
clrarch of St. Saviour ; but they received aid from public
eources to repair the losses by the burnmg of the sub-
the English. His daughter, Elizabetli
— or, as some say, his sister — was mar-
ried to Robert Bruce in 1302, and this
connection naturally gave ground for
suspicion against him. When the Scots
were approaching Dublin, the earl, who
was living retired in St. Mary's Abbey,
was suddenly arrested by the mayor,
Robert de Nottingham, and confined in
Dublin castle ; seven of his servants
being killed in the fray at his arrest,
and the abbey pillaged by the soldiery
and partly burned down. The citizens,
led ou by the mayor, acted with a
frantic spirit, which may be called in-
trepidity or desperation. To prepare
for the expected siege, they burned the
suburbs, and among the rest Thomas-
street, with the priory of St. John the
Baptist, which stood there; and the
populace plundered the monastery of
St. Mary, and St. Patrick's church,
which were outside the city. They
went so far as to demolish the church
of St. Saviour, on the north side of the
river, and to use the materials in con-
structing an outer wall close by the
river side, along the present line of
Merchaut's-quay and the "Wood-quay,
which were then in the suburbs."
Robert Bruce, learning that Dublin
was strongly fortified, and judging of
the determination of the citizens from
the flames of the burning suburbs.
urbs, and were forgiven half their fee-farm rent. They
were also pardoned for the depredations which they
committed in so urgent a necessity. It has been said
that the existence of the English government in Ire
land depended upon the fate of Dublin on this oo-
AN ANGLO-IRISH ARMY MARCH AGAINST BRUCE.
261
whicli he witnessed from a distance,
tbouglit it better not to risk the delay
of a siege, to carry on which effectually,
a considerable army, and shipping to
cut off supplies by water, would have
been i-equired. He therefore marched
towards the Salmon Leap, on the Liffey,
a locality which had been famous in the
Danish wars, and having encamped
there four days, he led his forces to
Naas, and in succession to Tristle Der-
mot (castle Dermot), Gowran, and
Callau, reaching the last-named place
about the 12th of March. He burnt
the towns and plundered the churches
along the line of march, and the English
chroniclers say that even the tombs
were opened by the Scots, in search of
treasure. An Ulster army of 2,000 men
offered their services to the English
authorities ; but when the king's banner
was given to them, they did more harm,
saj^s Grace, than all the Scots together,
burning and destroying wherever they
came. Bruce proceeded as far as Lim-
erick without meeting any opposition ;
but learning that active preparations
were making in his rear — Murtough
O'Brien, say the Annals of Innisfallen,
having joined the English* — he re-
treated by night from castle Connell,
and on Palm Sunday (March 27th) Avas
at Kells, in Ossory. Thence he marched
to Cashel and Neuagh, laying waste,
with fire and swoi-d, the Enerlish settle-
* Donough O'Brien, chief of Thomond, who died in
1U17, was on tho side of Bruce.
f To this period may be referred an incident related
in Illustration of the humanity of Robert Bruce. It is
lid that " while relreatiuj:, iu circumstance
great
raents as he passed. All this time his
army was sorely j^ressed by famine;
and to tills cause, and his efforts to
procure food, may be attributed some
of his marches, which it would be other-
wise hard to account for.f On the 30th
of March (Holy Thursday), a well-equip-
ped Anglo-Irish army, mustering 30,000
men, marched against Bruce. Thomas
FitzGerald, earl of Kildare, Ricliard de
Clare, Arnold Power (Le Poer), baron
of Donnoil (Dunhill, in Waterford),
Maurice Rochfort, Thomas FitzMaurice,
and the Cantetons, took the field with
their numerous followers on the occa-
sion : yet this powerful force hung
round the camp of the half-starved and
diminished Scottish army without dar-
ing to attack them, such was the dread
with which Bruce's name inspired them.
Sir Roger Mortimer returned from Eng-
land, as justiciary, and a council was
held at Kilkenny, to deliberate on their
position, but no determination was ar-
rived at. Messengers were despatched
to explain to the king the desperate
state of affairs in Ireland ; and in the
mean time, the English having moved
towards Naas, Bruce marched to Kil-
dare, and from thence, in the mouth
after Eastei', to a wood four miles from
Trim, where he halted for seven days to
refresh his men, exhausted by hunger
and fatigue. On the 1st of May the
Scots retired to Ulster; and Robert
difficulty, he halted the army on liearing the cries of a
poor lavandiero, who had been seized with labor, com-
manding a tent to be pitched for her, and taking
measures for her to pursue her journey when she was
able to travel.— Ty tier, Uid. of Scollaud, vol. ii.
262
REIGN OF EDWARD 11.
Bruce, who saw tliat uature itself was
against liiin, and that the Irish were not
organized to give the support which he
expected, returned to Scotland with
earl Moray, leaving behind his brother
Edward, who was resolved to maintain
his position as king of Ireland.
Famine and pestilence at this time
devastated both England and Ireland.
Many of the rich were reduced to
penurj^, and great numbers of persons
pei'ished of hunger. Mothers, it was
said, were known to devour their own
children. People stole the children of
others to eat them. Prisoners in jails
killed and ate new comers sent in among
them ; and dead bodies were taken from
the grave to be used for food.'^
An order was received from the king
of England for the liberation of the earl
of Ulster, but several months elapsed
and the question had to be debated in
a parliament held at Kilmainham, before
the order was complied with, the earl
giving pledges that he would not re-
venge himself on the citizens of Dublin.
The retirement of the Scots to Ulster,
and Robert Bruce's return to Scotland,
having relieved the English from their
chief source of alarm, the justiciary
directed his efforts asyaiust the Irish
septs, who had risen in arms in different
parts of the country, and against whom
he was, in general, successful. The
O'Farrells, O'Tooles, O'Byrues, and the
Irish of Hy-Kinsellagh were subdued
for the time ; and in the course of this
year some sanguniiiry battles Avere
fought in Counaught between the rival
parties of the O'Conor family. The De
Lacys were summoned to appear before
the lord justice: and on their refusal,
lord Hugh de Custes, or Crofts, was
sent to them, but they put the envoy to
death. Mortimer then plundered their
lands, and they fled, some to Connaught,
and others to Bruce, in Ulster. One of
them, John de Lac}^, who had fallen
into the hands of the justiciary, was
sentenced to be pressed to death. Two
cardinals arrived from Rome in England
to bring about a peace between the
Scots aud English, but their efforts were
ineffectual.
A. D. 1318. — -Roger Mortimer again
returned to England, leaving his debts
unpaid, and Alexander Bicknor, arch-
bishop of Dublin, Avas appointed justi-
ciary in his stead. A good harvest
relieved the country from famine, and
the hostile armies Avere once more able
to take the field. Edward Bruce had
* " The pestilential period of the fouvteontli century,"
says Dr. Wilde, " was, both in duration and intensity,
tlie most remarkably calamitous in these annals. It
dates from 1315, and lasted almost without interruption
for 85 years. It commenced with the foreign invasion
of the Scots, under Edward Bruce, at a time when the
country was laboring under the double scourge of
famine and partial civU war, and its effects were to
increase the one and to render the other general.
Epizootics succeeded, followed by small-pox; then
dearth again, with unusual severity of the seasons, and
intense frosts, accompanied by the first appearance of
influenza, and an outbreak of the Barking Mania. Sub-
sequently appeared the Black Death, the King's Game,
and the Third Pestilence, portions of the five general
and fatal epidemics which commenced in the reign of
Edward III., and the Fourth and Fifth Pestilences in
the beginning of the reign of Richard 11." — Census of
Ireland for 1851. l^cihlc of deaths. See also Butler's
note to Grace's AnnaU. An. 1317.
DEATH OF EDWARD BRUCE.
2G3
at this time, according to some accounts,
an effective force of three thousand men.
Scottish historians say he had only two
thousand besides an irregular force of
Irish ; and those who make his army
considerably more numerous, include,
no doubt, his Irish auxiliaries. He
marched southwards as far as Dundalk,
and encamjjed at the hill of Faughard,
within two miles of that town. Under
his banner were Philip lord Mowbray,
Walter lord de Soulis, Alan lord Stew-
art, the three De Lacys, tfec. The Eng-
lish array which marched from Dublin
to encounter this force was commanded
by lord John Bermingham. Its num-
l)ers are A'ariously stated, but they were
probably much larger than that of
Bruce's efittctive men. The memorable
Ijattle which ensued, and Avhich resulted
in the death of the gallant Bruce and
the overthrow of his army, was fought
at Faughard, ou the 14th of October.
John Maupas, an Anglo-Irish knight,
convinced that the fate of the day de-
pended on the life of Bruce, rushed
into the thick of the enemy, and, en-
gaging with Edward Bruce, slew him ;
his own body, covered with wounds,
being afterwards found lying ou that
of the Scottisli chief* This feat deter-
* The circumstance is differently related by Lodge, who
says, " Sir John Bermingham, encamping about half a
milo from tho enemy, Roger do Maupas, a burgess of
Dundalk, disguised himself in a fool's dress, and in that
character entering their camp, killed Bruce by striking
out his brains with a plummet of lead ; he was instantly
cut to pieces and his body found stretclicd over that of
Bruce, but for this service his heir was rewarded with
40 marks a year." — ArchdalVs Ledge, vol. iii., p. 33.
f The Four Masters record tho death of Bruce in the
following terms : — " Edward Bruce, the destroyer of the
mined the victory at the very outset ;
and Bermingham, causing the body of
Bruce to be cut in pieces, sent the head,
or, as some say, carried it himself, to
Edward II., and other portions to be
exhibited in different parts of the
country. How unlike the chivalrous
courtesy exhibited by king Eobert
Bruce to his conquered enemies at
Bannockburn ! Scottish, historians say
the body of Gib Harper was mistaken
for that of Edward Bruce, and that the
remains of the latter are interred in
Faughard churchyard, where the peas-
antry point out his grave ; but the
other story is more probable ; and Ber-
mingham, as a reward for Bruce's head,
obtained the earldom of Louth and the
manor of Ardee. From the terms in
which the death of Bruce is recorded
by the Irish annalists, it is evident that
their sympathies were not with him.
They erroneously attribute to the Scot-
tish invasion the famine and its conse-
quences, although these calamities were
at the time universal ; and the old
Scottish chroniclers throw, ou their
part, so muck blame on the Irish as to
show that national j^rejudices and selfish
views existed on both sides.f
Bruce's invasion failed in its object.
people of Ireland in general, both English and Irish,
was slain by the English through dint of battle and
bravery, at Dundalk, where also MacRory, lord of tho
Inse-Gall (Hebrides), MacDonnell, lord of Argyle, aud
many others of the cliiefs of Scotland were slain ; and
no achievement had been performed in Ireland for a
long time before from which greater benefit had accrued
to tho country than from this ; for during the three
years and a-half that this Edward spent in it, a uni
versal famine prevailed to such a degree that men were
wont to devour one another."
2G4
REIGX OF EDWARD 11.
aud the gleam of hojie which had shoue
forth for a while rendered the darkness
that followed more disheartening; but
the Irish were far from being subdued.
They seemed, on the conti-ary, to have
acquired a confidence in their own
strength which they had not before.
Feuds prevailed among conflicting sec-
tions of the English, as well as of the
Irish. The former suffered some serious
defeats in Breffny, Ely O'Carrqll, Offaly,
and Thomond. In Conuaught, after
many vicissitudes aud great waste of
human life, Turlough O'Conor, of the
race of Cathal Crovderg, succeeded, in
132J:, in establishing his right as king.
Richard de Burgo, the fomous red earl,
died in 1326. In England, the wretched
Edward II., after a long war with his
rebellious barons — who in the end were
* Great commotion -was excited among tlie Anglo-
Irish in 1325, by the prosecution of a respectable woman,
named Alice Kyteler, for witchcraft, in Kilkenny. She
had married four husbands, and the last of these, with
some of her children by former husbands, were her chief
accusers. She had accumulated enormous wealth, all
of which was conferred on her favorite son, Robert Out-
lawe ; and by the aid of powerful friends, among whom
were some of the civil authorities, she managed to es-
cape to England. One of her accomplices, named Pe-
tronilla, of Meath, who confessed her participation in
several acts of foul and impious superstition, was, in
compliance with the ideas of the age, burnt as a sorce-
ress. See Oracc's Annuls ; nlso a Contemporary Nar-
rative, edited for the Camden Society, by Thomas
Wright, 1843.
A university was founded in Dublin, in 1320, by
archbishop Bicknor, by the authority of a bull of jrope
Clement v., dated 1310; but the circumstances of the
times and the want of funds prevented its success.
Some vestiges of it still remained at the beginning of
the sixteenth century ; and the jmiversity which Eliza-
leagued with his profligate queen aud
her paramour, Roger Mortimer — was
finally most cruelly murdered, in 1327.
It was a j)eriod when men's minds
were unsettled, and their manners de-
moralized ; and for the first time heresy
appears to have made some inroads in
Ireland. One Adam Duff, a Leinster
man, was, in 1327, convicted of pro-
fessing certain blasphemous and anti-
christian doctiines, and being handed
over to the civil tribunal, was sentenced
to be burned on Hogges'-green, now
College-green, in Dublin. About the
same time, some persons taught heretical
opinions in the diocese of Ossory, where
they gained over the seneschal of Kil-
kenny, and other official persons ; bnt
their doctrines did not spread among
the people, and soon disappeared.*
beth subsequently founded, and which TVaa so amply
endowed with the confiscated church lands, has been
regarded by some people as a revival of that institution.
The number of religious foundations diminishes rapidly
as we advance. Among those traced to the reign of
Edward II., are the Franciscan convents of Castle Ly-
ons, in Cork, founded by John de Barry, m 1307 ; and
of Bantry, founded by O'SuUivan, in 1320 ; the Augus-
tinian convent of Adare, in Limerick, founded by John,
carl of Kildare, 1315 ; that of TuUow, in Carlow, by
Simon Lombard and Hugh Tallon, in 1312 ; and the
Carmelite convent of Athboy, in Meath, by William de
Londres, in 1317. The famous John Duns Scotus, a
native of Down, in Ulster, died at Cologne in the year
1308, in the thirty -fourth year of his age. He was a
Franciscan friar of extraordinary learning, and from the
acuteness of his mind, was called in the schools the
" Subtle Doctor." John Clyn, the author of a chronicle
of great value in Irish liistory, also flourished about this
time. He, too, was a Franciscan friar, and was the first
guardian of the convent of Carrick-on-S uir, founded in
133G.
POSITION OF THE DIFFERENT RACES.
265
CHAPTER XXV.
EEIGN OF EDWAKD lU.
Position of the different Races. — Great Feuds of the Anglo-Irish. — Murder of Bermingham, Earl of Louth. — Crea-
tion of the Earls of Ormond and Desmond. — Counties Palatine. — Rigor of Sir Anthony Lucy. — Murder of the
Earl of Ulster. — The Burkes of Connaught abandon the English Language and Customs. — Sacrilegious
Outrages. — Traces of Piety. — Wars in Connaught. — Crime and Punishment of Turlough O'Conor. — Proceed-
ings in the Pale. — English by Birth and by Descent. — Ordinances against the Anglo-Irish Aristocracy. —
Resistance of the latter. — Sir Ralph Ufford's Harshness and Death. — Change of Policy and its results. — The
Black Death. — Administration of the Duke of Clarence. — His Animosity against the Irish. — The Statute of
Kilkenny. — Effects of that Atrocious Law. — Exploits of Hugh O'Conor.— Crime Punished by the Irish Chief-
tains.— Victories of Niall O'Neill. — Difficulties of the Government of the Pale. — Manly Conduct of the I '
— General Character of this Reign.
Contemporary Sovereigns and Events.— Vo-pas: Benedict XII., Clement VI., Innocent VI., Urban VI., Gregory XI.—
mgs of France: Philip VI. of Vnlois, John II., Charles the Wise.— Kings of Scotland : David II., Edward Baliol, Robert
iiart.— Gunpowder invented, :330.— Statute of Prfermmire, 1344— Gold first coined in England, 134i.— Order of tlio
ntcr, 1319.— 'Wickliffe's tenets prop.igatcd, :3G9.— Petrarcli died, 1374.
{K. D. 1327 TO A. D. 1377.)
THE decay of the English power in
Ireland, the narrowing of the
English Pale, and the fusion of the
older English settlers, or as they had
begun to be called, the "degenerate
English," ■\vith the native population,
are marked characteristics of the period
of our history which we have now
reached. The authority of the crown
had been declining throughout the two
preceding reigns ; during Bruce's inva-
sion it was shaken to its foundation ;
but the alienation of the Anglo-Irish,
arising from the impolitic distinction
made by government between the Eng-
lish by birth and the English by de-
scent ; the identification, in some in-
stances, of the latter with the native
Irish, and the recovery of large portions
of their original territories by several
of the Irish chieftains, are all distin-
guishing features of the era which
commences with the reign of Edward
III. The great Anglo-Irish families had
become septs. They confederated with
the Irish against their own countrymen,
or the contrary, almost indifferently;
but whether the administration of af-
fairs was intrusted to them, or to the
English by birth, it was invariably em-
ployed for purposes of personal aggran-
dizement or revenge; and the nativb
?66
REIGN OF EDWARD III.
population were still only recognized by
the government as the " Irish enemy,"
— a legitimate prey for all i:)lunderers.
A. T>. 1328. — A violent feud broke
out at the commencement of this reign
between Maurice FitzThomas, after-
wards earl of Desmond, assisted by
the Butlers and Berminghams, and lord
Arnold Poer, who was aided by the
great family of the De Burgos. Poer
called FitzGerald a " rhymer," -and thus
the quarrel arose; the former was
forced to fly to England ; his lands, and
those of his adherents, were laid waste,
and torrents of blood flowed on both
sides. Government became alarmed at
tJie rebellious spirit manifested on the
occasion, and issued orders for the de-
fence of the princij^al towns ; but the
confederates allayed this disquiet by
protesting that they only required ven-
geance on their enemies ; and having
submitted and sued for pardon, a
council was held at Kilkenny by the
justiciary, Koger Outlawe, prior of Kil-
mainham, to consider the case. The
following year (1329) the justiciary
effected a reconciliation between the
parties, and although it was the season
of Lent, the event was celebrated by
grand banquets in Dublin, the Geral-
dines giving their feast in the church
of St. Patrick.
A. D. 1329. — Another sanguinaiy fray
among the Anglo-Irish took place this
year ; Bermingham, earl of Louth, with
several of his relatives and followers, to
the number in all of one hundred and
sixty, or, as others say, two hundred
Englishmen, being slaughtered by their
own countrymen, the Gernons, Savages,
and others, at Balebragan, now Brag-
ganstown, in the county of Loath.*
About the same time Munster witnessed
another scene of mutual carnage among
the Anglo-Irish; the Barrys, Roches,
and others slaying Lord Philip Boduet,
Hugh Condon, and about one hundred
and forty of their followers. Mean-
while several Irish septs were up in
arms. Lord Thomas Butler was, in
1328, defeated with considerable loss by
Mageoghegan in West Meath ; and the
young earl of Ulster, with his Irish aux-
iliaries, sustained a great defeat the same
year from Brian Bane O'Brien in Tho-
mond. Donnell MacMurrough, of the
ancient royal stock of Leinster, led au
army close to Dublin, but he was defeat-
ed and made prisoner by Sir Henry
Treherne. This oflacer spared the Irish
chieftain's life for a sum of £200, and
Adam Nangle, another Englishman,
afterwards assisted him with a rope to
escape over the walls of Dublin castle ;
but for this kindness Nangle lost his
head.
James Butler, second earl of Carrick,
was, in 1328, created earl of Orraoud,
and in 1330 Maurice FitzThomas Fitz-
Gerald was created earl of Desmond ;
Tipperary, in the former case, and Kei-ry
in the latter, being erected into counties
palatine. The lords palatine, of whom
there were now eisfht or nine in Ireland,
* Among the victims in tliis massacre, were Carroll a
famous harper, and, as Clyn adds, twenty other harpers,
his pupils.
MURDER OF THE EARL OF ULSTER.
2G7
were endowed witli a kind of royal
power. They created barons and
knights, erected courts for civil and
criminal causes, appointed their own
judges, sheriffs, and coroners, and, like
so many petty kings, were able to ex-
ercise a most oppressive tyranny over
the population of their respective terri-
tories.
A. D. 1330. — The new earl of Des-
mond at first rendered good service to
the government by his successes against
some of the Irish septs in Leinster ; but
the old feuds between him and the earl
of Ulster were soon revived, and were
carried to such lengths, at a time when
they were in the field against the O'Bri-
ens, that the lord justice found it neces-
sary to make both earls prisoners, and
to commit them to the custody of the
marshal of Limerick.
A. D. 1331. — Sir Anthony Lucy, a
Northumbrian baron, famous for his
sternness of character, was now sent
over as justiciary, to curb the arrogance
and violence of the great Anglo-Irish
lords. He summoned a parliament in
Dublin, and adjourned it to Kilkenny,
owing to the non-attendance of the bar-
ons. Again his summons was disregard-
ed ; and, in order to make an example
of the most powerful, he seized the eai'l
of Desmond in Limerick, and carried
him a prisoner to Dublin. Several other
lords were arrested in a similar manner.
* At this time the country was suffering severely from
£amine, and a shoal of large fish, of the whale species,
which entered Dublin bay on the evening of the 27th
of June, 1331, and of which two hundred were killed
and among them Sir William Berming-
hara, who was confined with his son in
the keep of Dublin castle, called from
him the Bermingham tower, and was
hanged in the course of the following
year. This nobleman was popular on
account of his bravery and gallant de-
meanor ; and the feeling excited by the
severity of his sentence was probably
the cause of Lucy's recall, which fol-
lowed soon after, when Sir John Darcy,
a more moderate man, was appointed
to succeed him.*
A. D. 1333 — A crime, which pro-
duced immense sensation among the
Anglo-Irish, and led to some important
results, was committed this year in the
north. William, earl of Ulster, called
the dun earl, grandson of the famous
red earl, seized Walter, one of the lead-
ing members of the De Burgo family,
and confined him in the stronghold
called the Green castle, in Inishowen,
where he was starved to death. Wal-
ter's sister. Gyle, was married to Sir
Richard Mandeville, and at her instiga-
tion, it is believed, her brother's death
was soon after avenged by the murder
of the dun earl. This latter nobleman,
who was then only in his twenty-first
year, was proceeding on a Sunday morn-
ing towards Carrickfergus, in company
with Robert FitzRichard Mandeville
and others, who basely rose against
him and killed him while he was ford
by the lord justice and his servants, afforded the poor of
the city a providential supply of food. The next year the
dearth continued, and the people were attacked by an epi-
demic called the Manaes, supposed to have been influenza.
2G8
REIGN OF EDWARD III.
ing a stream, or, as Grace says, while
lie was repeating his morning prayers
on his way to the church, Maudeville
giving him the first wound. A feeling
of violent indignation was aroused by
this outrage, and the people of the
neighborhood rose spontaneously and
slew all whom they suspected of being
abettors of the crime, to the number of
over 300; so that when the justiciary
arrived with an army to punish the
murderers, he found that justice had
already been vindicated in a fearful
and summary manner.* The earl's
wife, Maud, on hearing of the murder,
fled in terror to England, taking with
her her only child, a daughter, named
Elizabeth, then only one year old; and
the Burkes of Connaught being the
junior branch of the De Burgo family,
and fearing that the earl's vast posses-
sions would be transferred to other
hands by the marriage of the heiress,
immediately seized on his Connaught
estates and declared themselves inde-
jjeudent of English law, renouncing at
the same time the English language
and costume. Sir William, or Ulick,f
the ancestor of the earls of Clanrickard,
assumed the Irish title of MacWilliam
Oughter, or the Upper, and Sir Edmond
* For many years after it was usual in public pardons
to make a formaJ exception of all wlio miglit liave been
inplicated in the murder of the earl of Ulster.
f The name Vlick, or Uliog, is a contraction of WilUam-
Or/e, that is, William Junior, or young William. It
would appear to have been long peculiar to the Burkes
of Connaught.
X In 1352, the heiress Elizabeth, then twenty years
of age, was married to Lionel, duke of Clarence, third
Albanagh Burke, the progenitor of the
Viscounts of Mayo, took that of Mac-
William Eighter, or the Lower Mac-
William.t
A. D. 1334. — Of the crimes we read
of in the histoiy of that lawless period,
none indicate more vividly the anarchy
which prevailed than the sacrilegious
outrages which are related of the Irish,
as well as of their opponents. Inces-
sant war had so degraded some that
they rivalled the ferocity of wild
beasts; and, in many instances, the
natural gentleness, generosity, and pie-
ty of the Irish character seem to have
been wholly laid aside. Thus, our an-
nals relate how a great army of the
English and Irish of Connaught hav-
ing marched this year against the Mac-
Namaras of Thomond, a party of them
set fire to a church, in which were two
priests and 180 other persons, and
did not suffer one to escape from the
conflagration. It is not said whether
the party who committed this barbarity
belonged to the English or the Irish -gox-
tion of the army ; but a similar outrage,
three years before, is attributed by the
Anglo-Irish chroniclers to an Irish sept
in Leinster, who, they say, burned the
church of Frej-nstown, now Friends-
son of king Edward IE!., and that prince was created,
in her right, earl of Ulster and lord of Connaught, titles
which thus became attached to the royal family of Eng-
land ; but he was unable to recover the possessions which
the Iliac Williams had usurped in Connaught, and the
government not being strong enough to assert the au-
thority of the English law on the occasion, the territor-
ies of the Burkes in that province were allowed to de-
scend according to the Irish custom.
SACRILEGES.
269
town, in Wicklo\v, with a congregation
of eighty persons and their priest, who
Tvas clothed in his vestments, and car-
ried the Sacred Host in his hands. The
uuhappj^ people in the church asked no
mercy for themselves, but only that the
priest might be allowed to depart ; yet
the infuriated assailants drove him back
from the door with their javelins, and
he was consumed with his flock in the
burning pile. This aj^palllng atrocity
drew down an interdict from the Pope
on its perjietrators ; and an army of
them was soon after cut to pieces or
driven into the Slauey by the citizens
of Wexford. Sujoposing, however, these
statements not to have been the fabri-
cations of enemies, of which we cannot
be quite sure, we have, nevertheless,
ample evidence that religion was not,
even in those evil days, extinct among
the bulk of the population. Thus, we
read that the veteran w\arrior Mulrony
MacDermot, lord of Moylurg, took the
habit of a monk in the abbey of Boyle,
in 1331 ; and that in 1333, Hugh
O'Donnell, son of the famous Donnell
Oge, and lord of Tirconnell, died in the
habit of a Franciscan monk in Inis Sai-
mer, in the river Erne. Most of the
Irish chieftains who were not killed in
battle, are described as dying "after
the victory of penance ;" and numerous
pilgrimages, in which the clergy and
people were united, were made to avert
calamities which they apprehended.
A. D. 1338. — Edmond Burke, sur-
named " na-Feisoge," or " the bearded,"
a younger son of the red earl, was this
year drowned by his kinsman, Edmond
Burke, surnamed MacWilliam Eighter,
who fastened a stone to his neck, and
immersed him in Lough Mask ; and a
war followed, in which the partisans
of MacWilliam Eighter and the Eng-
lish of Connaught in general, suffered
enormous losses; Turlough O'Conor
succeeding, after a sanguinary struggle,
in driving Edmond Burke altogether
out of the province. The English
were, on this occasion, expelled from
the territories of Leyney and Corran in
Sligo, and the hereditary Irish chief-
tains resumed their own lauds there and
in other parts of Connaught. As for
Edmond Burke, he collected a fleet of
shijjs or boats, with which he remained
for some time among the islands on the
coast of Mayo, but from these Turlough
drove him the following year, and
obliged him to withdraw to Ulster.
A. D. 1339.— Turlough O'Conor, thus
far crowned with success, brought ruin
upon himself by his domestic misdeeds.
Despising the laws of the Church and
of society, he put away his wife Der-
vall, daughter of Hugh O'Donnell, the
lord of Tirconnell, and married the
daughter of Turlough O'Brien, the wid-
ow of Edmond Burke who had been
drowned in Lough Mask. This act
alienated from him the Connaught chief
tains, and after an interval of three
years spent in constant warfare, he was,
in 134:2, deposed by the Sil-Murray and
other septs, and Hugh, the son of Hugh
Briefneach O'Conor, one of the Clann
Murtough, chosen kmg in his stead.
REIGN OF EDWARD III.
Notwithstanding tliis election, liowever,
it is stated that when the unhappy Tur-
lough was killed with an arrow in 1345,
his son, Hugh, was inaugurated king of
Connaught after him.
Keverting to the affairs of the Pale,
we find that Desmond, who had been
released from prison on bail in 1333,
after eighteen months' captivity, re-
paired to Scotland wdth some troops,
in obedience to a summons _ from the
king, and was probably present at the
decisive battle gained by Edward over
the Scots at Hallidou Hill ; the famous
expedition of Edward HI. into Scotland
on this occasion, having been cloaked
up to the last moment by a pretence
that the preparations he was making
were for a visit to Ireland. Subsequent-
ly, the earl of Desmond was actively
engaged against the Irish in Kerry, as
the earl of Kildare was against the
O'Dempseys and other septs, in Leinster.
Twelve hundred of the men of Kerry
were slain in one battle, in 1339, and
Maurice FitzNicholas, lord of Kerry,
who had been fighting in their ranks,
was taken and confined in prison, where
he died.*
A. D. 1341. — Plans which Edward
had long since formed for breaking
down the ascendency of the great
Anglo-Irish lords were now matured,
and he sent over Sir John Morris, as
lord deputy, to carry them into execu-
* This Engljsli knight had, many years before,
rusUed into tho assize court at Tralee, and killed
Dermot, heir of the MacCarthy More, while sitting with
the judge on the bench ; yet the law suffered this crime
to go unexpiated.
tion. His first sweeping measure was
the resumption of all the lands, liberties,
seigniories, and jurisdictions which eith-
er he or his father had granted in
Ireland. Another ordinance recalled
any remission which had been made by
himself or his predecessors, of debts
due to the crown, and decreed that all
such debts should be levied without
delay. Other rigorous and arbitrary
measures were also adopted, but that
which indicated most clearly the design
of the king was an ordinance declaring
that, whereas it had appeared to him
and his council that they would be
better and more usefully served in
Ireland by Englishmen, whose revenues
were derived from England, than by
Irish or English who possessed estates
only in Ireland, or were married there,
his justiciary should, after diligent inqui-
ries, remove all such officers as were
married or held estates in Ireland, and
replace them by fit Englishmen hav-
ing no personal interest whatever in
Ireland.f
A. D, 1342. — ^This declaration of the
royal views and intentions aroused the
indignation of the proud Anglo-Irish
nobles, who had been allowed to be-
come much too powerful before this at-
tempt was made to humble them. It
was the first public avowal of a jealous
distinction between the English by
birth and the English by descent, and
was subsequently condemned as a fa-
tal mistake. To allay the excite-
f Close Roll, 15 Edward in. Prynne's Collections
Cox, vol. i., p. 118.
REMONSTRANCE OF THE BARONS.
271
meut which was produced by it, the
lord deputy summoued a parliament to
meet in Dublin, in October; but the
earl of Desmond and many other lords
peremptorily refused to attend, and
held a general assembly, or convention,
of. their own, at Ki-lkennj^, in Novem-
ber, where they adopted a long and
spirited remonstrance to the king, set-
ting forth the rights which they had
inherited from their ancestors, their
claims to the favor and protection of
the king, and the injustice and unrea-
sonableness of the ordinances now is-
sued against them. They complained
bitterly of the neglect, peculation, fraud,
and mismanagement of the English of-
ficials sent over to this country ; enu-
merated a long catalogue of charges, at-
tributing, among other things, to the mal-
administration of those Englishmen, the
unguarded state of the country, the loss
of one-third part of the territories which,
they said, had been conquered by the
king's progenitors, and were now reta-
ken by his Irish enemies, and the aban-
donment to the Irish of the strong cas-
tles of Koscommon, Kandown, Athlone,
and Bunratty ; and, in conclusion, they
prayed that they might not be deprived
of their free holdings without being
called in judgment, pursuant to the
provision of Magna Charta. The king's
answer to the remonstrants was favora-
ble on most points; in particular, he
* " Coyn and livery," was an exaction of money, food,
and entertainment for the soldiers, and of forage for
their horses. A tax of a similar kind, under the name
of bonaght, existed among the Irish, but it was regulated
confirmed the grants of his predecessors,
and in the case of lands granted by
himself, he restored those which had
been resumed, on security being given
that they should be surrendered if found
to have been granted without cause.
He was just then entering upon a war
with France, and this circumstance
suggested the propriety of a more concil-
iatory policy towards the Anglo-Irish
barons.
A. D. 1344.— Sir Ealph Uflbrd, who
had married the widow of the mur-
dered earl of Ulster, was now appoint-
ed to the oflSce of lord justice, and
exercised his authority with a harsh-
ness and rigor that drew upon him
general odium. His first efforts were
directed against the power of Desmond.
Tliat haughty earl refused to attend a
parliament, called by Uflford, in Dublin,
and attempted to assemble one of his
own at Callan, but the new deputy
soon showed that this game could not
be played with him. He proceeded to
Munster with an armed force, seized
the eaiTs lands, and farmed them at
rents to be paid to the king. He next
got possession, by stratagem, of the
strongholds of Castle-island and Iniskis-
ty, in Keny, and hanged Sir Eustace
Poer, Sir William Grant, and Sir John
Cottrel, who held command in them,
charging them with the illegal exaction
of coyn and livery.* The bail which
by fixed rules, and was part of the ordinary tribute pa'd
to the chief. Among the Anglo-Irish it became a source
of the most grievous oppression, without any just meas-
ure, or any compensating consideration ; and as it
UEIGN OF EDWARD III.
had been given for the earl, when he
was liberated in 1333, was dedared to
be forfeited, and thus eighteen knights
lost their estates.* Ufford contrived,
and again by the emploj^ment of strat-
agem, to get the earl of Kildare into
his custody ; but the war which he thus
waged so successfully against the proud
and powerful aristocracy was cut short
by his own death, in the mouth of
April, 1346. Some of his • harshness
was attributed to the ijersuasion of his
wife ; and it is said, that this lady, who
was received like an empress on her ar-
rival, Avas obliged to retire clandestinely,
amidst the execrations of the people and
the clamor of creditors, carrying with
her the body of her husband, in a lead-
en coffin, to England.
The policy of the king towards the
Anglo-Irish was now modified; the
severity of UiFord was condemned;
the earl of Desmond was suffered to
repair to England to plead his cause
before the king, and Avas allowed 20s.
2)6)' diem for his expenses while detained
there ; the estreated recognizances were
restored; the Anglo-Irish nobles were
invited to aid the king in his expedition
against France, and the earl of Kildare
earned the honor of knighthood from
Edward by his gallant conduct at the
siege of Calais in 1347. Thus, after a
few years the struggle between the
pressed heavily upon the English as well as Irish popu-
lation, it became necessary to prohibit it by stringent
laws. The earl of Desmond referred to above is said to
have been the first who introduced this exaction in its
Anglo-Irish form. See Harris's Ware, vol. i., chap. xii.
crown and the great lords of the Pale
ceased for a time, all the lands and jur-
isdictions of which the latter had been
for a while deprived being restored.
Desmond rose to such favor with the
king that, in 1355, he was entrusted
with the office of lord justice for life ;
but he died five months after this honor
had been conferred upon him, and his
body was removed from Dublin castle
to Tralee, where it was interred in the
church of the Dominican friars. Thus
ended the career of Maurice FitzThom-
as FitzGerald, the first earl of Desmond.
About this time Brien MacMahon
gained an important victory over the
English in Oriel, more than 300 of them
having been slain, according to their
own historians. In Leinster the colon-
ists were not allowed much rest by the
O'Tooles and O'Byrnes, on one side, or
by the septs of Leix and Ofi^aly on the
other. Lysaght O'More, chief of Leix,
took and burned in one night ten Eng-
lish castles, destroyed Dunamace, and
expelled nearly all the English fi-om his
ancestral territory. The MacMurrough
was also in the field with a large follow-
ing, as were also O'Melaghlin and the
Irish of Meath. These latter were de-
feated by the lord justice, in 1349, with
the slaughter of several of their chiefs.
Need we wonder at finding that about
this time a royal commission was issued
* According to some accounts, the earl surrendered
himself to UiTord, and the recognizances estreated as
mentioned above were those entered into for his libera
tion on this occasion.
THE BLACK DEATH.
273
to inquire why tlie king derived no rev-
enues from his Irish dominions.
A. T>. 1348. — This year is memorable
for the outbreak of the terrible pesti-
lence called the Black Death. That
age was, indeed, one of fearful visita-
tions. Our annals record about that
period several years of famine from un-
genial seasons. In 1341, an epidemic,
called the barking disease, prevailed,
when persons of both sexes and all ages
Avent about the country barking like
dogs. But the most awful of all these
visitations Was the Black Death.* For
some years, duiiug which the pestilence
continued, our annals record few events
save the deaths of remarkable persons
^y]lo fell victims to it. Then followed,
in 1361, another visitation called the
"King's Game" or second pestilence,
the exact nature of which is not known,
* Friar Clyn, who was an eye-witness of its ravages,
and is believed to have fallen a victim to it himself the
following year, describes the Black Death in his annals
under the year 1348, in the following expressive terms : — •
" It first," he says, " broke out near Dublin, at Howth
and Dalkey ; it almost destroyed and laid waste the
cities of Dublin and Drogheda, insomuch that in Dublin
alone, from the beginning of August to Christmas, 14,000
souls perished The pestilence deprived of human
inhabitants villages and cities, castles and towns, so
that there was scarcely found a man to dwell therein ;
the pestilence was so contagious, that whosoever touched
the sick or the dead was immediately affected and died,
and the penitent and the confessor were carried togeth-
er to the grave." And after describing the terror it
jiroduced and the symptoms of the disease, which sliow
it to have been the real eastern plague, he adds : — " That
year was beyond measure wonderful, unusual, and in
many things prodigious, yet was sufficiently abundant
and fruitful, however sickly and deadly. That pestilence
was rife in Kilkenny in Lent. Scarcely one ever died
alone in a liouso ; commonly husband, wife, children,
and ser\'ants, went the one way — tho way of death."
See tho authorities on this subject collected by Dr.
although it was possibly only a return
of the Black Death ; and in 1370 ap-
peared the third great plague, which
lasted for a period of three or foui
years, and produced a fearful mortality.
There can be little doubt that this
series of calamities paralyzed the coun-
try, and left its marks upon the history
of the times.f
A. D. 1361. — Lionel, third son of Ed-
ward III., and earl of Ulster by right
of his wife, Elizabeth, daughter of the
murdered earl, was now appointed to
the government of Ireland, wnth extra-
ordinary authority, as lord lieutenant.
He landed in Dublin on the 15th of
September, 1360, with an army of 1,500
men, and evinced from tlie first bitter ani-
mosity towards the Irish, reviving more-
over the distinction between the English
by birth and by descent. A royal man-
"Wilde, in his important report on the Table of Deaths ;
Census of 1801. This plague, which originated in the
east, ravaged the whole of Europe. Dr. Hecker says it
must have swept away at least twenty-five millions of
the human race. Stow, in his Clirouicles, says, that in
Ireland it destroyed a great number of English people
that dwelt there ; but such that were Irish born, that
dwelt in tho hill coimtry, it scarcely touched. This,
observe.o Dr. Wilde, was here called " the first great pes-
tilence," being the first of tho five remarkable plagues of
the fourteenth century, three of which occurred in the
reign of Edward III.
f During this dreary period the following entry oc-
curs in the Annals of Clonmacnoise, under the year
1351, " WOliam MacDonough Mo_i,-neach O'Kelly (chief
of Hy-Many) invited all tho Irish poets, brehons, bards,
harpers, gamesters, or common kcarroghs, jesters, and
others of their kind in Ireland, to his house upon a
Christmas this year, where every one of them was well
used during Christmas holidays, and gave contentment
to each other at the time of their departure, so as every
one of them was wtU pleased, and extolled William for
his bounty."
REIGN OF EDWARD III.
date had been issued a short time before,
ordering that no "mere Irishman"
should be appointed mayor, bailiff, or
other officer of any town within the
English dominion; or be received
through any motives of consanguinity,
affinity, or other causes, into holy or-
ders, or be advanced to any ecclesiasti-
cal benefice or promotion.* But the
principle of interdiction was carried
much further by duke Lionel. In a
war which he had to carry on against
the O'Byrnes, just after his arrival,
he issued a proclamation "forbidding
any of Irish birth to come near his ar-
my ;" thus excluding from his ranks all
the old colonists, to their infinite dis-
gust. After this gross insult a hundred
of his best soldiers appear to have been
slain at night in some unaccountable
manner, whereupon, he abandoned the
distinction of English by birth and
English by descent, and summoned all
the king's subjects to his standard.f
Subsequently he endeavored to estab-
lish discipline in the army; expended
£500 in walling the town of Carlow,
whither he removed the exchequer, and
ingratiated himself by other acts with
the colonists, who granted him two
years' revenue of all their lands towards
the prosecution of the war against the
Irish.
A. D. 1367. — Having returned to Eng-
gland in 1364, Lionel was created duke
of Clarence, and twice in the three fol-
lowing years he was again entrusted
llyi
with the office of lord lieutenant. In
the year 1367, during the last period of
his administration, was held the memor-
able parliament at Kilkenny, in which
was passed the execrable act known as
the " Statute of Kilkenny." It is said
that Lionel's chief object in his later
visits to Ireland was to regain the pos-
sessions usurped by the Burkes of Con-
naught, and that his failure to attain
that end was the real cause of the bit-
terness of the act in question. The fol-
lowing are the principal provisions of
this statute : — That intermarriage with
the natives, or any connections with
them in the shape of fostering, or gos-
sipred, should be dealt with and pun-
ished as high treason ; that any man of
English race assuming an Irish name,
or using the Irish language, apparel or
customs, should forfeit all his lands and
tenements ; that to adopt the Brehou
law, or submit to it, was treason ; that
without the permission of the govern-
ment the English should not make war
or peace with the Irish ; that the Eng-
lish should not permit the Irish to pas-
ture cattle on their lands, nor admit
them to any ecclesiastical benefices or
to religious houses ; nor entertain their
minstrels, rhymei-s, or news-tellers.
There were also enactments against
the oppressive tax of coyn and liveiy,
against the abuse of royal franchises
and liberties, and upon some other mat-
ters; but the principal and manifest
object of this most tyrannical and insult-
•f Grace's Annals.
DIFFICULTIES WITHIN THE PALE.
275
ing statute was to keep the English aud
Irish forever separate, and to wage a
perpetual war against those of the Eng-
lish race, wlio, holding lauds aud resi-
ding among the Irish, were necessitated,
more or less, to adopt the Irish customs
and laws.* It was impossible to enforce
sucli a law, and practically it became
a dead letter ; but the distrust and na-
tional enmity which it created were
kept alive, and in the reign of Henry
VII. (a. d. 1494) it was to a great ex-
tent revived and confirmed. As to
duke Lionel, he left Ireland in 1367,
and died next year in Italy, where he
had just taken as his second wife the
daughter of the duke of Milan.
While the Anglo-Irish Avere strug-
gling with enemies in the very bosom
of their colony, and praying by a peti-
iou to the king for relief from the pay-
ment of scutage upon the lands of which
the Irish had deprived them in their
daily encroachments upon the bounds
of the Pale,* we see the native chief-
tains acting in their respective territor-
* " The result," says the late eminent antiquary and
liistoriau, Mr. Hardiman, describing the effect of this
statute, " was such as might be expected. English
power and influence continued to decrease, insomuch
that at the closo of the succeeding century they were
nearly annihilated in Ireland. At the beginning, the
native Irish, apprehending that the real object of a law
enacted and proclaimed with so much jwrnp aud ap-
pearance of authority was to root them altogether out
of the land, naturally combined together for safety, and
some of the more powerful chieftains resolved upon
immediate hostilities. O'Conor of Connaught and O'Bri-
en of Tliomond for the moment laid aside their private
feuds, and imited against the common foe. The earl of
Desmond, lord justice, marched against them with a
considerable army, but was defeated and slain (captured)
In a sanguinary engagement, fought A. D. 13G9, in the
ies without any reference whatever to
English authorit}', aud without appear-
ing to recognize its j^resence iii the
country. Hugh O'Conor, king of Con-
naught,, and Cathal O'Conor (Sligo),
led an army into Meath, in 1362, and
laid waste the English lands, burning
no less than fifteen churches which had
been used by their enemies for garri-
sons; but Cathal died of the plague
the same year. In 1365, Brian Mac-
Mahou, lord of Oriel, induced Sorly
MacDonuell, a prince of the Hebrides,
to i^ut away his wife, the daughter of
O'Reilly, and to marry Brian's own
daughter. Soon after he added anoth-
er crime to this, by drowning his son-
in-law, whom he had invited to drink
wine in his house. The O'Neills,
O'Donnells, and other Ulster chieftains
confederated to punish the oftending
chief; MacMahon was driven froiu
Oriel, and having returned, was again
attacked, aud ultimately slain by a gal-
lowglass of his own followers when
marching with them against the Eng-
county of Limerick. O'Farrel, the cliieftain of Annaly,
committed great slaughter in Meath. The O'MorcB,
Cavanaghs, O'Byrnes, and O'Tooles, pressed upon Lein-
ster, and the O'Neills raised tlie red arm in the north.
The English of the Pale were seized with consternation
and dismay, and terror and confusion reigned in their
councils, while the natives continued to gain ground
upon them in every direction. At this crisis an oppor-
tmiity offered, such as had never before occurred, of ter-
minating the dominion of the English in Ireland ; but
if the natives had ever conceived such a project, they
were never sufficiently united to achieve it. The op
portimity passed away, and the disunion of the Irish
saved the colony." — Statute of Kilkenny, published by
the Irish Archseological Society, with introduction and
notes by the late James Hardiman, Esq., M.R.I.A. Dub-
lin, 1843. Close Roll, 40 Ed. III. Pyrnne, 303.
2TG
REIGN OF EDWARD III.
lisL. Ilis fate aud that of Turlougli
O'Conor, already related, show that the
Irish chieftains, even in that age of
anarchy, and among men of their own
order, would not suffer glaring crimes
to go unpunished.
Garrett, earl of Desmond, at the
head of an Anglo-Lish army suifered
a great overthrow from Brian O'Brien,
chief of Thomond, in 1369. Garrett
himself was made prisoner; _his army
was slaughtered, and Limerick was
burned by the men of Thomond. ISTi-
all O'Neill defeated the English, in
1374, and again gained an important
victoiy over them the following year
in Down, slaying several of their
knights ; but the native septs of Lein-
ster were not so successful at this time
in the harassing war which they had
to sustain against the forces of the
English government. Melaghlin O'Far-
rell was slain in 1374. Donough Kav-
auagh MacMurrough, king of the Irish
of Leinster, was cut off by stratagem in
1375. The MacTiernaus were defeated
the same year, aud Hugh O'Toole, lord
of Imaile, was killed in 1376. There
was the usual amount of discord among
the Irish themselves ; but the broils
among the English at the same time,
and especially the sanguinary feuds
which raged between the different sec-
tions of the Burkes in Counaught, show
that the curse of dissension was not
confined to the native race.
So difficult aud odious had the task
of governing Ireland become, that we
find Sir Eichard Pembridge, the warden
of the cinque ports, positively refusing
the office of lord justice, which he was
ordered to undertake, in 1369 ; and his
refusal was not adjudged an offence, on
the ground that the law required no
man, not condemned for a crime, to go
into exile, which a residence in Ireland,
even in so honorable a position, was ad-
mitted to be. When Sir William de
Windsor was then appointed to the
office, he undertook to carry on the
government for £11,213 Gs. 8d. per
annum, but Sir John Davies assures us
that the whole revenue of Ireland at
that time did not amount to £10,000
annually in the best years. Previously
the salary of the lord justice used to be
=£500 a year, out of which sum he
should support a certain number ot
armed men. The subsidies which Ed-
ward III. was obliged to levy in Ireland,
not only for the wars in this country,
but for those in France and Scotland,
were intolerably oppressive, and were
exacted from ecclesiastical as well as
lay property. Kalph Kelly, archbishop
of Cashel, opposed the collection of one
of these imposts, as far as it affected
the church lands in his province, and,
accomj^anied hj the suffragan bishops
of Limerick, Emly, and Lismore, dressed
in their pontifical robes, appeared in
the streets of Clonmel, and solemnly
excommunicated the king's commis-
sioner of revenue, and all persons
concerned in advising, contributing to,
or levying the tax. When cited to
answer for this conduct, the prelates
pleaded the Magna Charta, which de-
ACCESSION OF RICHARD II.
277
creed the exemption of cLurch property;
and althoiigli the cause was given against
them, no judgment appears to have been
executed in the case. On the Avhole, it
may be said of the reign of Edward III.,
that, however brilliant it was in English
history, it was most disastrous to the En-
glish interests in this country; and as
far as Irish interests were concerned,
Mr. Moore has well observed, that, dur-
ing it, were laid " the foundations of
that monstrous system of raisgovern-
meut in Ireland to which no parallel
exists in the history of the whole civil-
ized world ; its dark and towering in-
iquity having projected its shadow so
far forward as even to the times immedi-
ately bordering upon our own. "*
CHAPTER XXVI.
KEIGX OF RICIIAKD II.
L.W against Absentees. — Uvenvs »a Ireland at the Opening of the Reign. — Partition of Connaught between
O'Conor Don and O'Conor Roe. — Tlie Earl of Oxford made Duke of Ireland — His Fate. — Battles between the
English and Irish. — Richard II. visits Ireland with a Powerful Army. — Submission of Irish Princes — Hard
Conditions. — Henry Castide's Account of the Irish. — Knighting of Four Iri.sh Kings. — Departure of Richard II.
and Rising of the Irish. — Second Visit of King Richard — His Attack on Art MacMurrough's Stronghold. —
Disasters of the English Army. — MacMurrough's Heroism. — Meeting of Art MacMurrough and the Earl of
Gloucester. — Richard Arrives in Dublin. — Bad News from England. — The King's Departure from Ireland — His
unhappy Fate. — Death of Niall More O'Noill, and Succession of Niall Oge. — Pilgrimages to Rome. — Events
Illustrating the Social State of Ireland.
Coniemporanj 5of««i>is.— Popes : Urban VI., Boiufuce IX.— King of France, Chaiies VI.— King of Scotland, Kobcrt III-
—Emperor of tho Tiirk.s, Bajazet I.
D. 1309.)
RICHARD II., only surviving child
of Edward the Black Prince, suc-
ceeded his grandfather, Edward III., as
king of England, when only in his
eleventh year, and the government of
the state was carried on by the young
* Hist, of Ireland, vol. iii., p. 118. — A curious entry
on the Exchequer Issue Roll for the year 1370 refers to
the close of this reign, and has often been quoted as
f ingiilarly expressive ; it is to the effect that Richard
king's uncles. One of the first measures
of his reign relating to Ireland was a
stringent law against absenteeism, oblig-
ing all persons who possessed lands,
rents, or other income in Ireland, to
reside there, or to send proper persons
Dere and WlUiam Stapolyn came over to England to
inform the king how very badly Ireland was governed ;
and that the king ordered them to be paid ten pounds
for their trouble.
278
REIGN OF RICHARD II.
to defend their possessions, or else to
pay a tax to the amount of two-thirds
of their Irish revenues; those who
attended the English universities, or
were absent by special license, being
excepted.
A. D. 1380. — Edraond, grandson of
Roger Mortimer, earl of March, came
to Ireland with extraordinary powers
as lord lieutenant. Having married
Philippa, the daughter of Lionel, duke
of Clarence, and of Elizabeth, daughter
of the dun earl, he became in her right
earl of Ulster ; and several of the native
Irish princes paid court to him on his
arrival; among others, Niall O'Neill,
O'Hanlon, O'Farrell, O'Reilly, O'Mol-
loy, Mageoghegan, and the Sinnagh or
Fox. One of the Irish nobles who thus
visited the earl was Art Magennis, lord
of Iveagh, in Ulster, Avho, for some
charge trumped up against him, while
thus within the grasp of his enemies,
was seized and cast into prison. This
act destroyed the confidence not only of
the Irish, but, as we are told, of many
of the English, who consequently kept
aloof from the deputy. Mortimer in-
vaded Ulster shortly after, destroying
much property, lay and ecclesiastical,
and the following year he died in
Cork.*
A. D. 1383.— Roger Mortimer, the
youthful son of the late earl, was nomi-
* In 1380, before the arrival of Edmond Mortimer, a
number of French and Sjianish galleys retired from the
English fleet into the harbor of Kinsale, where they
were attacked by ftio inhabitants, English and Irish,
400 of their men being killed, and their principal ofS-
<:crs captured. Holinshed gives this statement on the
nated in his father's place, his uncle Sir
Thomas Mortimer, chief justice of the
common pleas in England, administering
affairs for him as deputy. In so absurd
a way was the office of lord justice of
Ireland disposed of at that time, that a
grant of it was next made for ten years
to Philip de Courtney, a cousin of the
king's, Avho abused his power by such
gross peculation and injustice, that the
council of regency had him taken into
custody and punished for his crimes.
An army was this year led by Niall
O'Neill against the English of Antrim ;
and the following year that j^rince took
and burned Carrickfergus, and, as the
annals say, " gained great power over
the English."
At this period the country was
desolated b}^ plague as well as by war
the fourth great pestilence of the foui
teenth century having broken out in
1382; and the ravages of the disease
may be .traced for some years in the
numerous obituaries which our annalists
record.f
A. D. 1384. — A fresh source of dis-
order now arose in Connaught. Rory,
son of Turlough O'Conor, and last king
of that province, died, after a stormy
reign of over sixteen years, and two
rival chieftains were set up in his place.
One of these, Turlough. Oge, a nephew
of the late chief, was inaugurated king
authority of Thomas Walsingham, but it is not alluded
to in the Irish or Anglo-Irish chronicles.
f This pestilence Dr. Wilde suspects to have been a
visitation of typhus fever. — See Report on TaMe oj
Deaths.
EXPEDITION TO IRELAND.
by O'Kelly of Ily-Mauy, Clanrickard,
aucl some of the O'Conors ; aud Tur-
lougli Koe, son of Hugh, sou of Feliui
O'Conor, the other competitor, was,
about the same time, installed by
IMacDermot, of Moylurg, the Clann
Murtough, and all the chiefs of the
Sil-Murray. The former was the an-
cestor of the sept of O'Conor Don (the
brown), and the latter of that of O'Co-
nor Roe (the red); and between these
two branches of the O'Conor family
and their respective adherents impla-
cable hostility prevailed for many years
after. The territory of Counaught was
divided between them, by which parti-
tion the ancient power of that province
was crushed for ever, while the country
was laid waste by feuds, which seldom
allowed any interval of re2:)ose.
A. D. 1385. — In a moment of puerile
caprice, Richard, who had been heap-
ing honors upon Robert de Vere, earl
of Oxford, bestowed Ireland upon that
young favorite. He created him mar-
pis of Dublin and duke of Ireland,
transferring to him for life the sover-
eignty of that kingdom, such as he
possessed it himself; and the parlia-
ment, which confirmed this grant, also
voted a sum of money for the ftivorite's
intended expedition to Ireland. Hav-
ing accompanied De Vere as far as
Wales, the youthful monarch changed
his mind, and sending Sir John Stanley
to Ireland as his deputy, he kept his
lavorite near himself. Like that of all
royal minions, the fate of the young
duke of Ireland was unfortunate. The
irritated nobles took up arms ; the duke
of Gloucester, one of the king's uncles,
joined them, and De Vere, defeated in
battle, was driven into exile, and died
in Belgium, in 1396.
A. D. 1392. — Our annals mention a
victory gained by O'Conor, of Offaly,
in 1385, over the English, at the tochar,
or pass, near the hill of Oroghan, in the
King's county; and the Anglo-Irish
chronicles record a battle, in which
600 of the Irish were slain, in the coun-
ty of Kilkenny, iu the year 1392. In
this latter year Niall O'Xeill led an ar-
my to Dundalk, where he defeated the
English ; he himself, although far ad-
vanced in years, killing Seffin White in
single combat. This year died O'Neill's
eldest son, Henry, who was distin-
guished for his justice and munificence,
but was surnamed, by autiphrasis, Av-
rey (Aimhreidh) or the Contentious.
Henry's sons wei'e warlike, and their
names long occupy a conspicuous place
in the annals of the northern province.
A. D. 1394. — Richard having suddenly
formed a project of visiting Ireland in
pereon, countermanded the preparations
whick the duke of Gloucester was ma-
king by his orders to come to this coun-
trj'. Ii'eland had become a perpetual
drain on the royal exchequer. Not-
withstanding the absentee laws, a great
number of the Anglo-Irish proprietors
resided in England, and the power and
daring of the neighboring Irish septs
were daily increasing. The king was
resolved to take into his own hands the
subjugation of the country; but this
280
REIGN OF RICHARD II.
was not the sole motive for liis expedi-
tion. He bad just suffered a mortifying
repulse in German)^ where he hoped to
be elected emperor, and had also lost
his queen; and he sought by excite-
ment and change of scene to heal his
wounded feelings. Richard landed at
Waterford, on the 2d of October, with
an army of 4,000 men-at-arms and 30,000
archers, which had been conveyed in
a fleet of 200 ships. This was the lar-
gest force ever landed on the coast of
Ireland ; and the Irish, after retiring for
awhile to their fastnesses, prudently
judged that resistance to sucli an army
was Avorse than useless, whereupon their
chiefs came in considerable numbers to
yield him homage. Beyond this show
of submission, however, and a parade
of his power which gratified his vanity,
Richard, with his splendid and costly
armament, effected nothing. No meas-
ure of justice or conciliation was thought
of; nothing was done to gain the confi-
dence and esteem of the Irish, the laws
of England were not extended to them,
in fact every law was framed against
them ; and there was no idea of treating
them as subjects of the crown, on equal
terms with the English, or of securing
to them the possession of such portions
of their ancient patrimonies as had not
yet been wrested from them.
O'Neill and other lords of Ulster met
* It must have been immediately before this that
Art MacMurrough, according to tlie Irish annals, burned
the town of New Ross (Rosmic-Triuin) in Wexford,
carried off a large quantity of valuable proix;rty, and
Blew a great number of the English. It was with
the king at Drogheda, and there did
homage in the usual form. Mowbraj^,
earl of Nottingham and lord marshal of
England, was commissioned to receive
the fealty and homage of the Irish of
Leinster ; and on an open plain at Bal-
ligorey, near Carlow, he held an inter-
view with the famous Art MacMur-
rough, heir of the ancient Leinster
kings, who was at this time the most
dreaded enemy of the English, and was
accompanied at this meeting by several
of the southern chiefs.* The terms
exacted from these chieftains were that
they should not only continue loyal
subjects, but engage, for themselves and
their swordsmen, that on a certain fixed
day they would surrender to the king
of England all their lands and posses-
sions in Leinster, taking with them only
their moveable goods, and that they
would serve him in his wars against
any other of his countrymen. In re-
turn for their hereditary rights and
territories they were to receive pen-
sions during their lives, and the inher-
itance of such lands as they could seize
from the " rebels" in other parts of the
realm, and for the fulfilment of these
hard terms they were severally bound
by indentures and in heavy penalties.
No less than seventy-five chieftains
from different parts of Ireland appear
to have proffered their homage to
difficulty this chief was pursuaded to offer his sub-
mission, and when the English had hira in their
hands there was some attempt made to detain him,
O'Byrne, O'More, and O'Nolan being finally kept as
hostages for him.
FIlOISSArvT'S ACCOUNT OF THE IRISH.
281
Ricbard or bis coniuiissiouer on this
occasiou ; and it is curious that tlie
king iu a letter, written at the time, to
his council iu Euglaud, after classifying
the population of the English Pale un-
der the three heads of " wild Irish, or
enemies," "Irish rebels," and "English
subjects," admits that the "rebels" had
been made such by wrongs and Eng-
lish misrule, and that if not wisely
treated they might enter the ranks of
the "enemies," whence he thought it
right to grant them a general pardon,
and to take them under his special pro-
tection.* The council thought the
king's treatment of the Irish too leni-
ent, and suggested that he should exact
large fines and ransoms for the pardons
which he granted ; but his experience
taught him otherwise.
When Sir John Froissart, the French
chronicler, was, in 1395, at the court
of Richard II. in England, he met there
an English gentleman, named Henry
Castide, or Castile, who told him that
he had lived for many years iu Ireland ;
that he had been captured by the Irish
in a skirmish, but had been well treated
by the Irish gentleman who took him
prisoner, and who afterwards gave him
his daughter in marriage ; that he had
thus acquu'ed a knowledge of the Irish
language, and was, on that account,
employed by king Richard to instruct
four Irish kings, on whom he desired
to confer the honor of knighthocrd, iu
* Proceedings of the Prity Council, edited by Sir
Harris Nicliolas.
t The names of the Irislx kings are strangely mcta-
such things as might be necessary for
the ceremony. A courtier like Frois-
sart \vas not apt to favor a people such
as the Irish were then represented to be,
nor was his informant prejudiced in
their favor ; but the details transmitted
to us through such hands are extremely
curious. " To tell you the truth," said
Castide, "Ireland is one of the worst
countries to make w^ar in or to conquer,
for there are such impenetrable and ex-
tensive forests, lakes, and bogs, there
is no knowing how to pass them. It
is so thinly inhabited that whenever
the Irish jilease they desert the towns
and take refuge in these forests, and
live in huts made of boughs, like wild
beasts; and whenever they perceive
any parties advancing with hostile dis-
position, and about to enter their coun-
try, they fly to such narrow passes it is
impossible to follow them .... And
no man-at-arms, be he ever so well
mounted, can overtake them, so light
are they of foot. Sometimes they leap
from the ground behind a horseman,
and embrace the rider (for they are
very strong in their arms) so tightly
that he can no way get rid of them."
Sir Henry then proceeds to relate,
among other things, how "four of the
most potent kings of Ireland had sub-
mitted to the king of England, but
more though love and good humor than
by battle or force ;"f how they were
placed for about a month under his
morpliosed in tlie orthography of Froissart, but tlioy apv
pear to have been O'Neill, O'Conor, O'Brien, and Mac
Jlurrough. — Chron,, booli v., c. G4. Johns' Translation.
2S2
REIGN OF RICHARD II.
'cave and governance at Dublin, to teach
tbera the usages of England ; how they
refused to sit to dinner unless their
minstrels and attendants were allowed
Beats with them at the same table, ac-
cording to the custom of their own
country; how they at first objected to
receive knighthood, observing that
they had been created knights already
when they were only seven years of age,
such being the custom of their'country,
especially with the sons of kings; how
they ultimately acceded to the wishes
of king Richard in eveiy thing and were
knighted by him in the cathedral of
Dublin, on the feast of Our Lady, in
March ; and dined that day, in robes
of state, at the table of king Richard,
" where they were much stared at by
the lords and those present, not, indeed,
without reason, for they were strange
figures, and differently countenanced
to the English and other nations." So
the courtly Sir John reports the words
of Master Castide, and he adds that
the success of Richard II. in Ireland on
this occasion was partly owing to the
veneration in which the natives held
the cross of St. Edward, which the
king embhazoned on all his banners, in-
stead of his own leopards and fleurs
de ?/.y.
A. D. 1 395. — After nine months passed
in Ireland, chiefly in those displays of
pomp and pastimes which he so much
loved, Richard was recalled to England
by aftViirs of state early in the summer
of this year, and left young Roger Mor-
timer, who had been declared heir-pi-e-
sumptive to the crown, as his viceroy in
Ireland. Scarcely, however, had the
king departed, when several of the Irish
chiefs cast off the allegiance to which
they had submitted for the moment.
It would appear that even before he
left the English suffered partial defeats
in Offaly and Ely O'Carroll. We ai-e
told, on English authority, that Sir
Thomas Burke and Walter Bei-mingham
slew 600 of the Irish this year, and that
the O'Byrnes of Wicklow wei'e defeated
by the viceroy and the earl of Ormond.
But, on the other hand, MacCarthy
gained a victory over the English in
Munster; O'Toole slaughtered them
fearfully in a battle in 1396, six score
heads of the foreign foe being counted
before the chief after the conflict ; the
earl of Kildare was taken prisoner by
Calvagh O'Conor of Off'aly, in 1398:
and the same year the O'Byrnes and
O'Tooles avenged many of their former
losses by a victory at Kenlis in Ossory,
in which young Mortimer was slain and
a great number of the English cut to
pieces.
A. r>. 1399. — King Richard, who had
of late incurred great popular odium in
England by his exactions and oppres-
sion, undertook the mad project of
another expedition to Ireland ; and set
out at a moment Avhen his government
was surrounded by perils at home,
leaving his uncle, the Duke of York,
regent in his absence. He once more
landed at AVaterford with another
magnificent army, which, like the
former one, was transported in a fleet
ATTACK ON MACMURROUGIl'S STROXGIIOLD.
2sa
of 200 ships ; and it is curious tLat on
this occasion Ave are again iuclebted to
a French chronicler for an account of
the royal transactions in Ireland. A
French gentleman named Creton, who
was induced to accompany a friend on
Richard's second expedition, has left us,
in a metrical account of the last days of
that unfortunate monarch's reign, some
highly interesting details of what he
witnessed in this country.*
After six days' delay in Waterford
the king marched to Kilkenny, where
he remained fourteen days waiting for
the arrival of the duke of Albemarle,
who still disappointed him ; but, in the
mean time, Jariico d'Artois, a foreign
officer of great tact and bravery, and
who performed many important services
for the Euglish, defeated the Irish at
Kells, in Ossory. On the eve of St.
John the Baptist, Richard departed
from the city of St. Canice, victualling
his army as best he could, and marched
against MacMurrough, the indomitable
king of Leinster. The main object of
the expedition was, indeed, to conquer,
if possible, this celebrated chieftain, the
most heroic of the Irish princes of his
time, who, in a territory surrounded by
the settlements of his English foes, and
spite of all the lords justices sent
against him with armies of mail-clad
Avarriors and archers, and all the chiv-
alry of the earls of the Pale, was able
* See the Histoire du Rny d'AngUterre, Richard;
translated by the Rev. J. Webb, in the twentieth vol.
of the ArdiffiologiA : London, 1821. The portion of it
relating to Ireland was translated long before by Sir
George Carew, and published in Harris's Ilibcrnica.
to hold his position as an independent
king, to keep the Anglo-Irish govern-
ment in perpetual terror, and to afford
a rallying point to his oppressed
countrymen, and an example of pa-
triotic horoism to the native chieftains
of all Ii'eland.f MacMurrough's strong-
hold was in a wood, "guarded by 3,000
stout men, such, as it seemed to me,"
says the narrator, "were very little
astonished at the sight of the English."
The king marshalled his array in battle
array before the wood, the standard
being, this time, not St. Edward's gold
cross on a red field and four white
doves, but his own three leopards ; and
the Irish not choosing to leave their
defences and meet him in the plain, he
ordered the 'villages in the wood to be
set on fire, and compelled 2,500 of the
peasantry to cut a passage for his army
through the wood. Meanwhile he
amused himself Avith one of his favorite
pageants, going through the ceremony
of knighting his cousin, the duke of
Lancaster's son, " a fair and puny
youth, " who was afterwards king
Henry V. of England, together with
eight or ten other knights. While
marching through the passage opened
for them his army was constantly as-
sailed both in the van and rear by
MacMurrough's soldiers, who attacked
them Avith loud shouts, casting their
javelins Avith such might " as no haber-
f See, for an interesting account of this Irish hero
and his exploits, Mr. T. Darey M'Gee's "Life and
Conquests of Art MacMurrouglt," in Duffy a Library of
Lxland.
284
REIGN OF RICHARD II.
f^eoii or coat of mail was of sufficient
proof to .resist their force ; " and who
were " so nimble and swift of foot that
like iiuto stags they ran over mountains
and valleys. " MacMurrough's uncle
and some others came forward in an
abject manner to make their submission
to Richard, who thereupon sent a mes-
sage to the king of Leiuster himself
uivitiug him to follow his uncle's
example, and promising not only to
pardon him but " to bestow upon him
castles, towns, and ample territories. "
The answer of the heroic Art was that
" for all the gold in the world he would
not submit himself, but would continue
to war, and endamage the king in all
that he could. " This defiant message
was delivei-ed at a time when king-
Richard's army was in the utmost
straits for want of food. The sur-
rounding country had been ravaged
over and over, and no provisions were
to be found. Several men had perished
of famine, and even the horses were
without fodder. " A biscuit in one day
between five men was thought good
allowance, and some in five days to-
gether had not a bit of bread ! " At
length three ships arrived with provis-
ions from Dublin, the army being
encamped somewhere near the coast in
Wexford; but the starving soldiers
plunged into the sea and rifled the ves-
sels without waiting for a regular distri-
bution of food, so that much of it was de-
stroyed and many lives in the confusion ;
and the men indulged to intoxication in
the M'ine which they found in the ships.
Covered with humiliation, king Rich-
ard decamped, and marched towards
Dublin, the Irish hovering on his rear
and skirmishing with the same j^rovok-
ing eifect as hitherto ; but soon after
his departure MacMurrough sent after
him to make overtures of peace and to
propose a conference. This filled the
English camp with delight, and Richard
gladly commissioned the earl of Glou-
cester, who commanded in the rear, to
meet MacMurrough. For this purpose
the earl took with him a guard of 200
lances and 1,000 good archers; and
among the gentlemen who accompanied
him to see the Irish king was our
French friend who relates the circum-
stance : — " From a mountain, between
two woods, not far from the sea, we
saw MacMurrough descending, ac-
companied by multitudes of the Irish,
and mounted upon a horse, without a
saddle, which cost him, it was repoi-ted,
400 cows. His horse was fair, and in
his descent from the hill to us, ran as
swiftly as any stag, hare, or the swiftest
beast I have ever seen. In his right
hand he bore a long spear, which,
when near the spot where he was to
meet the earl, he cast from him with
much dexterity. The crowd that fol-
lowed him then remained behind, while
he advanced to meet the earl near a
small brook. He was tall of stature,
well composed, strong, and active ; his
countenance fierce and cruel." The
parley was a protracted one, but led
to no reconciliation. Such terms as the
earl was empowered to ofi^er were
FATE OF RICHARD.
285
h.iiightily spui'iied by MacMurrongh,
who declared that he would not submit
to them while he had life. Eichard, on
hearing the result, " flew into a violent
rage, and swore by St. Edward he would
not depart out of Ireland until he had
MacMurrough in his hands, living or
dead."
Dublin was at that time so prosperous
that the arrival of the English king,
with an army of 30,000 hungry men,
produced no change in the price of pro-
visions. The duke of Albemarle next
arrived with his reinforcements, and
Richard, forming his army into three
divisions, resolved to renew the war
against MacMurrough, and at the same
time offered a reward of 100 marks to
aay one who would deliver that chief-
tain to him dead or alive. His own
fate, however, was nearer at hand than
tliat of Art MacMurrough. After an
ominous interruption of news from Eng-
land for six weeks, owing to stormy
weather, disastrous accounts reached
him from that couutry. His cousin, the
son of John of Gaunt, duke of Lancastei',
was up in rebellion, and had been joined
by the barons and a lai-ge portion of the
population. All his Irish schemes were
in a moment crushed. The duke of
Albemarle, in whom he trusted, put
him on a wrong course. His de2:)arture
from Ireland was delayed until his
Welsh friends were scattered, and he
* Two plaintive quatrains in Norman French, ■written
by this earl while a prisoner, are printed in Croker's
popular songs of Ireland, p. 287. Earl Garrett is the
theme of many legends still prescTvcd in the south of
only arrived in England to become a
prisoner. Ultimately he was murdered
in Pontefract castle; and thus to this
second ill-omened expedition of king
Richard to Ireland may be traced the
fate of that unfortunate monarch, and
the origin of the war between the houses
of York and Lancaster, which so long
continued to deluge England with
blood.
Niall More O'Neill died at an ad-
vanced age, in 1397, and was succeeded
by his son, Niall Oge, who chastised
the O'Donnells for some of their late
aggressions, and made war upon the
English so effectually, in 1399, as to
plunder or expel nearly all of them
whom he found in Ulster. Garrett,
fourth earl of Desmond, who died in
1398, and was called the poet, is de-
scribed as excelling "all the English
and many of the Irish in the knowledge
of the Irish language."* He was a great
patron of learned men, who, even in
that age of anarch)', found many friends
among the Irish chieftains. Thus Niall
O'Neill, whose death we have just
mentioned, built a house for the ollavs
and poets on the site of the famous
jDalace of Emania, near Armagh. We
begin at this time to meet frequent
mention of pilgrimages to Rome. In
1396, Thadeus O'Carroll, lord of Ely,
repaired, says an Irish chronicler, to the
threshold of the apostles on a religious
Ireland ; according to one of which, his spirit appears
once in seven years on Lough Qur, in the county of
Limerick, where he ]>ad a castle. See Faur Masters,
vol. v., p. 7U1, note.
2S6
REIGX OF HENRY IV.
pilgrimage ; and, ou his return through
England, he presented himself, with
three other Irish gentlemen, O'Brien,
Gerald, and Thomas Calvagh MacMur-
rough, of the royal race of Leinster, to
king Richard, who received them in the
most courteous manner, and took them
with him on a visit to the kincr of France.
CHAPTER XXVII.
PvEIGNS OF IIENUY IV. AND HENRY Y.
State of tlie English Pale. — The Duke of Lancaster in Ireland. — Defeats of the English. — Retaliation. — Lancastei
again Lord Lieutenant. — His Stipulations. — Affairs of Tyrone. — Privateering. — Complaints from the Pale. —
Accession of Henry V. — Sir John Stanley's government. — Rhj-ming to death. — Exploits of Lord Furnival. —
Reaction of the Irish. — Death of Art MacMurrough Kavanagh. — Death of Murrough O'Conor, of Offaly. —
Defeat of the O'Mores. — Petition against the Irish. — Persecution of an Irish Archbishop. — Complaint of the
Anglo-Irish Commons. — State of Religion and Learning.
Coiitemporarij Sovereigns and Events.— Fopes: Innocent VII., Gregory XII., Alexander V., John XXIII., Martin V.—
King of Franco, Clmrles VI.— King of Scothmd, Eobert III.— Eevolt of Owen Glendower in Wales, 1401.- Death of
Tamarlanc, tlio Taitar Conqueror, li03.— Cannon first used in England, 1405.— Battle of Azincourt, 1415.— Paper first
miide of linen rags, 1117.
(a. d. 1399 TO A. D. 1422.)
WE have already remarked that
the reigns of the English kings
form no epochs in Irish history. In
England the struggles between the
crown and the parliament, the conse-
quent growth of popular liberty, the
alternate wars and alliances \vith other
countries, and events of like importance,
sufficiently distinguish one reign from
another. In Ireland the scene varied
but little. It was one of continuous
* To that territory within which the English retreated
and fortified themselves when a reaction began to set in
after their first success in Ireland, we have all along
strife and warfare ; the only redeeming
feature being the indomitable heroism
with w^hich the native Irish not only
maintained their ground against their
powerful and rapacious enemies, but
gradually regained territories that had
been wrested from their ancestors, and
even succeeded, as was now the case,
in levying tribute within the English
Pale.*
A. D. 1402. — Thomas, the young duke
applied the name of Pale, although that term did not
really come into use until about the beginning of tha
IGth century. In earlier times this territory was called
DUKE OF LANCASTER IN IRELAND.
287
of Laucaster, second son of Henry IV.,
was sent over as lord lieutenant, tliongh
not yet of age, and landed at Bullock,
near Dalkey. Soon after his arrival,
Jolm Drake, then mayor of Dublin,
marched against the O'Byrnes of Wick-
low, whom he routed at Bray, slaying
500 ; and as a recognition of this and
other similar services, the privilege of
having the sword borne before the
mayor M'as granted to the city of
Dublin. John Dowdal, sheriff of Louth,
was publicly murdered in Dublin, by
Sir Bartholomew Vernon and three
other English gentlemen, for which and
other crimes they were outlawed and
their estates forfeited; but soon after
they received the king's pardon and
had their lands restored. The duke of
Lancaster remained two years, and left
as deputy Sir Stephen Scroop, who soon
after resigned the office to the earl of
Ormond, but on the death of the latter
in 1405, the earl of Kildare was elected.
the English Land. It is generally called Ffine-Ghall
in the Irisli annals (see Fuvr Masters, v. lG3o, note I,)
where the term Galls comes to be applied to the
descendants of the early adventurers, and that of
Saxons to Englishmen newly arrived. The formation
of the Pale is generally considered to date from the
reign of Edward I. About the period of which we
are now treating, it began to be limited to the four
counties of Louth, Meath, Kildare, and Dublin, which
formed its utmost extent in the reign of Henry VIIL
Beyond this the authority of the king of England
was a nullity. The border lands were called the
Marches. Campion describes the Pale as the place
" whereout they (the English) durst not peepe." The
Wicklow septs of O'Toole and O'Byrne frequently
scoured the country as far as Clondalkin, Saggard, and
other places in the immediate vicinity of Dublin. An
authority of the reign of Henry VHL complains that
even the four counties of Dubhn, Kildare, Meath, and
Uriel, or Louth, were not " free from Irish invasions,
and wore so weakened, withal, and corrupted, that
and he was followed in quick succession
by Scroop, and the new earl of Ormond,
as deputies to the duke.
Gillapatrick O'More, lord of Leix,
defeated the English in battle at Ath-
duv, in 1404, killing great numbers,
and taking a large amount of spoils.
The following year Art MacMurrough
renewed hostilities by plundering Wex-
ford, Carlow, and Castledermot ; and in
1406 the English of Meath were de-
feated by Murrough O'Conor, lord of
Offiily, and his son Calvagh. Three
hundred of the English were killed on
this occasion.
A. D. 1407.— This year the English
avenged some of their recent losses.
The lord deputy Scroop, with the eails
of Desmond and Ormond, and the prioi-
of Kilmainham, led an army against
MacMurrough, who made so gallant a
stand that victory for some time seemed
to be on his side, although it ultimately
declared for the English. The latter
scant four persons in any parish wore English habits ;
and coine and liverie were as current as in the Irish
counties." — The same authority (a lieport on tht con-
dition of Ireland in 1513, preserved in the English State
Paper Office, and printed in the first volume of the
" State Papers" relating to Ireland) states that but half
of each of the four counties just mentioned was subject
to the king's laws, and that " all the comyn PeopUe of
the said Ilalff Countyes that obcyeth the Kinges Laws,
for the more part ben of Iryshe Byrthe, of Irvshe
Habyte, and of Iryshe Language ;" and in enumerating
the English territories which paid tribute, or " Black
Rent," to the " wylde Irish," it is stated that the county
of Uriel (Louth) paid yearly to the "great Oneyir' .£40 ;
the county of Meath, to O'Conor of Offaly, £U00 ; the
county of Kildare, to the same O'Conor, £20 ; the King's
Exchequer to MacMurrough, 80 marks ; busides the
tributes paid by English settlements outside the Pale to
their respective Irish chieftains Such was the statu
of things more than oOO years after the so-called con
quest.
2SS
r.ElGN OF IIEXRY IV
then made a rapid raarcli to Callan, in
the countj^ of Kilkenny, where they
came by surprise npou Teige O'CarroU,
lord of Ely, and his adherents, and slew
800 of them in the panic which eu-
siied.'"^
Teige O'Carroll, who was killed in
the fray, was a generous patron of
learning; and it will be remembered
that a few years before this time, when
returning from a pilgrimage, to Rome,
he was honorably received at the court
of Richard IL, iu "Westminster. A par-
liament was held this year at Dublin
in which the statute of Kilkenny was
confirmed, but the insolence which
prompted this 2:)roceeding was soon
after humbled.
A. D. 1408. — The duke of Lancaster
again assumed the reins of government
in person ; but stipulated that he should
be allowed to transport into Ireland, at
the king's exjiense, one or two families
from every parish in England, that the
demesnes of the crown should be re-
sumed, and the laws against absenteeism
enf(»'ced. Soon after his arrival he
seized the earl of Kildare in an arbi-
trary manner, and demanded 300 marks
* Botli English and Irisli accounts agree as to the
number of slain, hut the former add " that the sun stood
still that day for a space, until the Englishmen had
ridden six miles !" a prodigj- on which the Irish annals
are silent.
About this time the first notice of usquebagh, or
wliiskey, occurs in the Irish annals, -which mention
that Richard MacRannal, chief of Muintir-Eolais in
Leitrim, died from drinking soipe at Christmas, in the
year 1405. Connell Mageoghegan (Ann. of Clon.) play-
ing upon the name, says " mine author sayeth that it
was not aqua vitce to him, but aqua 'mortis." Fynes
Morryson, a writer of the reign of Queen Elizabeth,
for his ransom. Meanwhile Slac^Iur-
rough, who had again taken the field,
was victorious in battle, and O'Conor
Faly carried off enormous spoils from
the English in the lands bordering on
his OAvn territory. The royal duke
finally left Ireland in 1409, after ap-
pointing Thomas Butler, prior of Kil-
maiuham, as his deputy. The latter
held a parliament in Dublin the follow-
ing year, when the law against coyn
and livery Avas further confirmed ; he
also made an incursion into O'Byrne's
country, with a force of 1,500 kernes
or light-armed infantiy, but without
success.-}-
A. D. 1412. — Tyrone was for many
years, about this period, a scene of
contention between different sections of
the O'Neill family, and the neighboring
chieftains were generally involved in
the strife. When Niall Oge O'Neill
died, in 1402, his son Owen Avas unable
to enforce his right of succession, and
Donnell, of the Henry O'Neill branch,
was recognized as chieftain. In 1410
Donnell was made prisoner by Brian
MacMahon of Oriel, Avho delivered him
up to his enemy, Owen O'Neill, and
lauds the ustjuebagh or aqtia vitm of Ireland, aa better
than that of Eagla.ni.— History of Ireland, vol. ii.,
p. 360.
f An Act passed in the parliament held in the year
1411, affords a striking example of the malevolence with
which the legislature of the Pale was animated towards
the Irish. It was enacted that none of the "Irish
enemy" should be allowed to depart from the realm,
without special leave under the great seal of Ireland ;
and that any one who seized the person or goods of a
native thus attempting to depart should be rewarded
with one-half of the aforesaid goods, the remainder to
be forfeited to the State.
ACCESSION OF HENRY V.
!S9
through the agency of the latter he was
transferred to the English, who already
had iu their hands Hugh, another of
the Henry O'Neill faction. Hugh made
his escape from Dublin iu 1412, after
ten years' imprisonment, and contrived
to take with him several other captives ;
among others, his kinsman Donnell.
This escape created great alarm in the
Pale, and threw Ulster once more into
confusion. Seven years later Donnell
O'Neill was expelled by Owen and the
other northern chiefs ; and the following
year we find the earl of Ormoud, then
justiciary, acting vf'iih. an English army
against the Ultouians on his behalf.
Donnell and his Anglo-Irish auxiliaries
were, however, unsuccessful, and the
former was then obliged to fly for shel-
ter to the O'Conors of Sligo.
A piratical warfare was carried on
at this period between the Scots and
the English merchants of Dublin and
Drogheda. The latter were obliged to
arm iu their own defence, as govern-
ment was unable to protect them, and
they fitted out privateers and plundered
the Scottish and the Welsh coasts in-
discriminately. MacMurrough gained
a victory over the English of Wexford
in 1413, and the O'Byrnes another over
those of Dublin the same year. A little
before this, the sheriff of Meath was
taken prisoner by O'Couor Faly, and a
large ransom exacted for him. In fact,
the state of the English Pale was at this
time such that it was necessary to re-
• Prooecdings, &c., of the Prinj Council, edited by
Sir II. Nicliolas, vol. ii.
move the prohibition of trading with
the Irish of the Marches. Permission
was granted to take Irish tenants on
the border lands, and licenses were
given to place English children with
Irish nurses, and even to intermarry
with the Irish. The English of Meath
were obliged to purchase peace from
the Irish by annual tributes or black
rent. The English of Louth complained
that the king's commissioners had bil-
leted or assessed Eochy MacMahou and
other " Irish enemies" upon them, and
that these men were prying into all the
woods and strong places about the
country. A petition was presented by
the commons to the king, complaining
that even the king's ministers frequent-
ly committed open acts of spoliation on
the English subjects.'"' In a word, the
speaker of the English House of Com-
mons, Sir John Tibetot, broadly asserted
" that the greater part of the lordship
of Ireland (that is, the English territory
there) had been conquered by the na-
tives."!
A. D. 1413. — Henry V. succeeded to
the crown of England on the death of
his father this year; but although he
made his first essay iu arms in Ireland,
having been knighted when a boy by
Richard II., in a camp in Wexford, he
does not appear to have ever taken
much interest in Irish affiiirs. The Eng-
lish overthrew the Irish in a battle at
Kilkea in Kildare ; but in the following
year they were defeated in Meath by
REIGN OF HENRY V.
Murrougli O'Couor, lord of Offiily, wben
the baron of Skreen and many of the
English gentry were killed, and the
sum of 1,400 marks exacted as a ran-
som for the son of the baron of Slane,
who was juade prisoner. Sir John Stan-
ley, who was now sent over as lord
deputy, rendered himself odious by his
cruelties and exactions ; and the Irish
aunals say that he was "rhymed to
death" by the poet Niall O'Higgin of
Usuagh, whom he plundered in a foray,
and who then lampooned him so severe-
ly that he only survived five weeks !*
He is accused of having enriched him-
self by extortion and oppression, and of
having incurred enormous debts, which
his executors refused to liquidate ; and
it was said that he " gave neither money
nor protection to clergy, laity, or men
of science, but subjected them to cold,
hardship, and famine."
A. D. U15.— Sir John Tiilbot of Hall-
amshire, who was called lord Furnival,
in right of his wife, and was subse-
quently rewarded for his services with
the title of earl of Shrewsbury, was sent
* This was the second " poetic miracle" performed by
tills Niall O'Higgin by means of his satire and impre-
cations, the former being " the discomfiture of the
Clanu Conway tlie night tliey plundered Niall at Clix-
dann." In the case mentioned above, one of the Anglo-
Irish, Henry Dalton, took up the bard's cause, and
plundered " James Tuite and the king's people," giving
the O'Higgins out of the prey a cow for every one that
had been taken from them, and then escorting them to
Connaught.
t The oppressive nature of coyn and livery is thus
explained in the preamble to the statute (not printed) of
10 Hen. VII.. c. 4 :— " That of long there hath been used
and exacted by the lords and gentlemen of tliis land,
many and divers damnable customs and usages, which
being called coyn and livery and pay— that is, horse
to Ireland as loi-d justice at the close of
1414, and entered on the duties of his
office with determined energy. Setting
out on a martial circuit of the borders
of the Pale, he first invaded the terri-
tory of Leix, took two of O'More's
castles, and laid waste the whole of his
lands in so merciless a way, that that
chief was obliged to sue for peace, and
to deliver up his son as a hostage. The
hardest of his terms was, that O'More
should fight under the English standard
against his brother chieftains, as he was
compelled to do immediately after
against MacMahou of Oriel, who was
likewise subdued and compelled to
yield to similar terms ; so that it was
said lord Furnival " obliged one Irish
enemy to serve upon the other." These
successes, achieved in the space of a few
months, gained for him the approbation
of the inhabitants of the Pale ; but as it
was necessary to revive the exaction of
coyn and liveiy to support the soldier)^,
the advantages were more than counter-
balanced by the losses.f
A. D. 1416. — No sooner had this
meat and man's meat for the finding of their horsemen
and footmen, and over that, 4d. or 6d. daily to every of
them, to be had and paid of the poor earth-tillers and
tenants, without any thing doing or paying therefor.
Besides, many murders, robberies, raj^es, and other
manifold oppressions by the said horsemen and footmen
daily and nightly committed and done, which have
been the principal causes of the desolation and destruc-
tion of the said land, so as the most part of the English
freeholders and tenants be departed out of the land." —
Grace's Annals, p. 1-17, note ; Davis' Discovert/, pp. 143,
144; also. Printed Statutes, 10 Hen. Vll., cc. xviii. and
six The exactions of the Irish cliiefs were remodelled
after the English invasion, and soon became totally
diffL-rent from those set down in the Book of Rights.— Sec
O'Donuvan's Introduction to the Book of Ri'jMs, p. xvili.
DEATH OF ART MACMURROUGH.
291
foin]idal>le deputy departed to attend
bis royal master in France, where he
became the most distinguished of the
English commanders, than the Irish
again rose and made ample rej^risals.
O'Conor Faly took large spoils from the
Pale's men ; and the invincible king of
Leinster overran the English settlements
in Wexford, killing or taking prisoners
in one day 340 men. The next day the
English sued for peace and delivered
hostages to him. This was the last
exploit of Art MacMurrough Kavanagl).
That Irish j^rince, the most illustrious of
the ancient royal line to which he be-
longed, died in 141Y. Our native annals
say " he nobly defended his own pro-
vince against the invaders from his
sixteenth to his sixtieth year." He was
distinguished for his hospitality and his
patronage of learning, as well as for his
chivalry, and was a munificent bene-
factor of churches and religious houses.
He is supposed to have been poisoned
along with his chief brehon, O'Dorau,
by a drink administered to him by a
woman at New Ross the week after
Christmas, and was succeeded by his
son Donough, who was worthy of his
father's military fame. Two years after
this, Donough was made prisoner by
Richard Talbot, then lord deputy, and
sent to London, where he was confined
in the Tower.
A. D. 1421. — Murrough O'Conor, lord
of OfFaly, whom we have seen so often
victorious over the English, died this
* A email body of Irish troops, under the command of
Thomas Butler, prior of Ealmainham, attended king
year, having assumed the habit of a
grey friar a month before his death in
the monastery of Killeigh, near Geashill.
The same year the earl of Ormond, then
lord deputy, defeated O'More in " the
red bog of Athy," the historian. Campi-
on, relating on this occasion the prodigy
which Ware refers to a former one,
namely, that the sun stood still to ac-
commodate the victorious English !
Thus war was carried on with invetei-ate
animosity on both sides ; but unfortun-
ately it was not confined to the hostile
races of Celt and Saxon, for during the
whole of this time our annals teem with
accounts of internecine quarrels among
the Irish chiefs themselves in almost
every part of the country.*
A petition was presented to parlia-
ment in 1417, praying that as Ireland
was divided into two nations, the Eng-
lish subjects and the Irish enemies, no
Iiishman should be presented to any
office or benefice in the church ; and
that no bishop, who was of the Irish
nation, should, under pain of forfeiting
his temporalities, collate any Irish cleric
to a benefice ; moreover, that he should
not be allowed to bring any Irish ser-
vant with hira when he came to attend
parliament or council. The prayer of
this atrocious petition was granted ; and
soon after we find an attempt made to
carry out the principle in a prosecution
against Richard O'PIedian, archbishop
of Cashel, who was distinguished for his
zeal and bounty in promoting religion
Henry V. in one of his French wars, and gained great
eclat by their wild impetuosity and heroism in battle.
292
REIGN OF HEXRY V.
and fostering its establishments, but
who was now impeached for showing
favor to Irishmen ; for giving no bene-
fice to English ecclesiastics ; for advising
other bishops to follow his exami^le, and
for some other trumpery charges ; but
the matter does not appear to have been
followed up. It is plain, that the only
real cause of accusation against this
prelate was the display of some kindness
and generosity towards his persecuted
countrymen.
About the close of this reign, the
Irish commons presented a petition to
the king, complaining of several mon-
strous grievances and abuses on the
part of his ofiicers in Ireland. Among
them were the cruelty, oppression, and
extortion practised by several of the
lord deputies, some of Avhom, like Sir
John Stanley, and lord Furnival, in-
curred enormous debts which they left
unpaid. They complained also of the
hostility shown to the Anglo-Irish in
England, however loyal they might be
as subjects, hostility which was carried
so far as to exclude Irish law students
from the Inns of Court in London, and
to cause a variety of obstructions and
annoyances to Irish students attending
the English schools, although the sta-
tutes concerning absentees contained an
express exception in favor of studious
persons. Thus were even those of Eng-
lish descent made to feel daily more and
more painfully the alien and unkind sen
timents with which every thing pertain-
ing to Ireland was regarded in England
Many entries meet us in our searches
through the Irish annals, which show
that even in the dreary period that we
have been just exploring, men were not
always occupied with war and rapine.
The magnificent Franciscan monastery
of Quin, in Clare, was founded by
Sheeda Cam MacNamara in 1402 ; and
in 1420, James, earl of Desmond, erected
the abbey of the same order at Eas
Gephtine or Askeaton, where the noble
ruins, washed by the tide of the Deel,
still remind us of days when religion
exulted in its pomp as well as in its
fervor. Several of the Irish chiefs gave
edifying evidence of repentance in their
deaths ; and some of them assumed the
religious habit, as Turlough, son of Ni-
all Garv O'Donnell, lord of Tirconnell,
who died in the monastery of Assaroe
in 1422, causing his son, another Niall
Garv, to be inaugurated in the chief-
tainship. Gilla-na-neev O'Heerin, the
author of a valuable Irish topographical
poem, pften quoted by our antiquaries,
died in 1420, and the obituaries of some
other persons, distinguished for histor-
ical knowledge, are mentioned under
that and the following year, as David
O'Duigennan, Farrell O'Daly, ollav of
Corcomroe, and Gillareagh O'Clery of
TirconneU
ACCESSION OF HENRY VI.
293
CHAPTER XXVIII.
KEIGNS OF HENRY VI., EDAVAED IV., EDWARD V., AND RICHARD HI.
State of Ireland on the Accession of Henry VI. — Liberation of Donougli MacMurrough. — Incursions of Owen
O'NeiU. — His Inauguration. — Famine. — The " Summer of slight acquaintance." — Distressing State of Discord.
— Domestic War in England at this Period. — Dissensions in the Pale. — Complaints against the Earl of
Ormond. — Proceedings of Lord Furnival. — Pestilence. — Devotedncss of the Clergy. — The Duke of York in
Ireland. — His Popularity. — Confesses his Inability to Subdue the Irish. — His Subsequent Fortunes and Death
in England. — Irish Pilgrimages to Rome and St. James of ComposteUa.— Munificence of Margaret of Offaly.
— Her Banquets to the Learned. — The Butlers and Qeraldines take opposite sides in the English Wars. —
Popular Government of the Earl of Desmond. — He is unjustly Executed. — Wretched Condition of the English
Pale. — Fatal Feuds and Indifference of the Irish, and Contemporary Disorders in England. — Atrocious Laws
against the Irish.
Conhmporanj Sovereigns and £eents.—¥op(is: Eugeniu.s IV., Cali.xtus III., Tius II., Paul III., Sixtus IV., Innncenl
VIII.— Kings of Fr.ince : Charles VII., Louis XL, Charles VIII.— Kings of Scotland : the First, Second, and Third Jame.s.
Joan of Are Burned by the English as a Sorceress, 1434.— Constantinople taken by the Turks, 1453.— Printing Inveiitetl
by Gutteuberg, 1440, and introduced into England by Ca.xton, 1471.— St. Thomas a Kempis died, 1471.
(A. D. 1423 TO A. D. 1485.)
HENRY VI. was proclaimed king
of England while yet an infant,
not quite nine months old ; and those
who governed during his minority found
the English colony in Ireland in a very
precarious state at the time they entered
on their duties. In 1423, Donuell
O'Neill, chief of Tyrone ; his old com-
I)etitor for the chieftaincy, Owen, son
of Niall Oge O'Neill ; Niall O'Donnell,
chief of Tirconuell, and several other
princes of Ulster, laid aside their feuds
for the moment in order to make a
combined inroad on the English of that
province. They marched first to Duu-
dalk, thence to the town of Louth, and
subsequently into Meath, where Richard
Talbot, archbishop of Dublin, who tlien
filled the ofiice of lord deputy, attempted
to arrest their progress, but in vain, liis
army having been routed with consider-
able loss. Finally, peace was made with
the Irish after they had obtained enor-
mous spoils, and levied a tribute or
black rent on the wealthy burgesses of
Dundalk. The following year James,
earl of Ormond, came to Ireland as lord
lieutenant with an English army, and
mustering a strong force he hastened to
avenge the colonists on the northern
chieftains. He ravaged the plains of
Armagh and part of Monaghau. Tlie
294
REIGX OF HENRY VI.
O'Neills of Claunabo)^, O'Hanlon, and
MacMabou ivere driven, either by ne-
cessity or private jealousy, to figbt on
the English side, and the men of Tyrone
and Tirconuell retired to their own ter-
ritories.
A. D. 1425. — Edward Mortimer, earl
of March, having assumed the govern-
ment of Ireland, landed here with a
large army, according to the Irish an-
nals, in September, 1424, but according
to English authorities, in the preceding
year. The year after his arrival he died
of the plague at his residence in Trim ;
and Talbot, lord Furnival, who suc-
ceeded him in office, came suddenly on
a number of Ulster chieftains, who were
negotiating peace with earl Mortimer at
the time of his unexpected death. These
chiefs wei-e carried prisoners to Dublin,
and their seizure produced the utmost
excitement in the north. Owen O'Neill
was ransomed, but how the other pris-
oners eventually got off we are not told.
The annals add that the Clann Neill
then arranged their mutual difterences,
and recovered by their united force all
the lands which they had lost in their
contentions.
A. D. 1428. — Douough MacMurrough,
son of the celebrated Art MacMurrough
Kavanagh, was this year liberated from
the Tower, after an imprisonment of
nine years. The Irish annals say he was
ransomed by his people, the Irish of
Leinster. On his return to Ireland he
resumed the honors of his hereditary
chieftaincy, aud with its honors its chiv-
ilrous resistance to the Engflish ; as we
find that in 1431 he made an incursion
into the county of Dublin, and that in
a battle fought on that occasion he was
victorious in the early part of the day,
although in the evening the English
rallied, regained the captured spoils,
and killed many of his men. One of
the O'Briens and two sons of O'Conor
Kerry were in MacMurrough's army at
the battle, and the O'Toole fell into the
hands of the English. MacMurrough
took revenge the following year by an-
other incursion, and a battle in which
he routed the English and made several
prisoners.
A. r>. 1430.— Owen O'Neill led an
army this year into Louth and devas-
tated the English settlements there. He
burned the castles which defended Dun-
dalk, and made the inhabitants of that
town pay tribute. He then marched
into Auualy and West Meath, spreading
desolation wherever he went ; the Eng-
lish Avere obliged to purchase mercy at
a dear rate, and several Irish chiefs, as
O'Conor Faly, O'Molloy, O'Madden,
Mageoghegan, and O'Melaghliu, ac-
knowledged him as their lord para-
mount by the old form of accepting
stipends from him. The history of the
time is made up of such driftless hostil-
ities, which served only the purposes of
personal revenge or plunder, and left
the fate of the country untouched. On
the death of Donnell O'Neill, of the
Henry Avry branch, who was killed by
the O'lvanes, in 1432, Owen O'Neill was
regularly inaugurated at Tullaghoge as
chief of the Kinel-Owen. This year
FEUDS AND ALLIANCES.
295
M.inus MacMahou committed frequent
depredations on the Englisli, and was
in the Labit of placing their heads on
the stakes which enclosed his garden at
Eaile-na-Lurgan, where the town of Car-
rickmacross now stands.
In 1433 the O'Neills and O'Donnells
waged a terrific war against each other ;
and to add to the misfortunes of the
country, a famine prevailed; so that
the season was afterwards known as
"the summer of slight acquaintance,"
from the selfish distance and reserve
which the dearth created among friends.
In 1434 the chiefs of Tyrone and Tir-
connell once more combined to invade
the English districts and to enforce the
Jtribute which they had imposed on
Dundalk", but, on this occasion a rash
movement on the part of some of the
young O'Neills led to the loss of a
battle and to the capture of Niall Garv
O'Donnell, who was taken off to Eng-
land and confined in the tower. In
1439 this heroic chieftain was removed
to the Isle of Man to negotiate for his
ransom, but he died there, and, to the
exclusion of his sons, his bi'other Nagh-
tan O'Donnell was installed chief of
Tirconnell.
The feuds and alliances which alter-
nated in such rapid succession among
the Irish chieftains appear to us, at this
distance, to have been in the utmost
degree capricious and uncertain; but
the most melacholy feature in the social
picture was the unprincipled competi-
tion for the chieftaincy by which the
ruling families in almost all the inde-
pendent territories were torn into fac-
tions. The old law of tanistry was
perverted or trampled under foot by
the ambitious. Brothers were arrayed
against each other, and uncles and
nephews were engaged in perpetual
warfare. At the time we are treating
of, Owen O'Neill, prince of Tyrone, had
to defend himself against his kinsman
Brian Oge O'Neill, and was ultimately
banished by his own sou Henry. A
few years later (1452) Naghtan O'Don-
nell was murdered at night by the two
sons of his brother Niall Garv, whom
he had disinherited. In 1437 the in-
domitable O'Couor Faly had the morti-
fication to see his brother Cahir leagued
against him for a time with the English.
Brian and Manus MacMahon contended
for the chieftaincy of Oriel, and in the
south, Tiege O'Brien, chief of Thomond
was in" 1438 deposed by his broth ei
Mahon. In Connaught the insignifi-
cance to which the leading septs had
been reduced by their family divisions
has rendered it unnecessary for us for
some time past to notice their still
uninterrupted broils. That such a state
of things should have prevailed in Ire-
land, Avhere anarchy was rendered in a
manner inevitable by the conflicts of
the hostile races and the absence of a
controlling power, is perhaps not to be
wondered at. But at this period Eng-
land herself presented in the struggle
between the houses of York and Lan-
caster an example of the same kind of
family warfare, on a gigantic scale, and
at an enormous sacrifice of human life.
29r>
REIGX OF IIEXRY VI.
Nor was the English Pale at this
time free from dissension. About the
beginning of this reign a violent feud
broke out between the earl of Ormoud
and the Talbots, and continued to
disturb the country for many years.
A parliament, held in Dublin, iu 1441,
acting under the influence of Richard
Tal])ot, archbishop of Dublin, and
brother of Lord Furnival, adopted
certain statements or articles, the ob-
ject of which was to jirevent the re-
appointment of the earl as lord-lieuten-
ant. They prayed the king to appoint
a " mighty lord of England" to the
office, on the ground that the people
would more readily fixvor and obey him
than any man of Irish birth ; as Eng-
jishmen "keep better justice, execute
the laws, and favor more the common
people than any Irishman ever did, or
is ever likely to do." They urged that
the earl of Ormond had lost all his
castles, towns, and lordshii^s in Ireland ;
that he was too old and feeble to take
the field against the king's enemies, and
made sundry other charges to show his
unfitness for the office.* These accusa-
tions did not appear to weigh with
king Henry, for the earl, who M'as a
staunch supporter of the house of Lan-
* Procpcdings of the Privy Council, vol. vi.
f In the letters conferring these honors the country
from Youghal to Waterford is described as waste, and
redounding more to the king's loss than to his profit ;
but the barony of Dungarvan was soon after restored to
the earl of Desmond, from whom it had been taken on
that occasion on some unexplained grovxnds. As an in-
stance of the i)retext3 for which the petty wars of the
period were sometimes carried on, we are told that the
son of IJerniingham, lord of Louth, was, in 14-13, offended
caster, Avas re-appointed lord-lieutenant
the next year. Sir Giles Thorndon was,
however, sent over to observe how
things were going on, and he made a
report, although only iu general terms,
on the factions which distracted the
king's subjects in Ireland. Two years
later (1444) he made a second report,
in which the earl of Ormond was
directly charged with misappropriating
part of the public revenue, with com-
promising crown debts for his own
benefit, and with sundry acts of corrup-
tion, peculation, <fec. The earl was,
upon this, arrested and confined in the
tower on a charge of high treason, and
Sir John Talbot, then earl of Shrews-
bury, but better known to the reader
as Lord Furnival, was made lord-
lieutenant (1446), and soon after cre-
ated earl of "VVaterford and baron of
Dungarvau.f
A. D. 1446. — The earl of Shrewsbury
succeeded in establishing peace on the
borders of the Pale. This remarkable
man always achieved some important
ex2:)loits on his appointment to the gov-
ernment of Ireland. His fame was
world-wide. The English boasted that
he won for them the kingdom of
France : and all the English power in
at Trim by the son of Barnwell, treasurer of Meath,
who gave him a eaimin or filip on the nose. Enraged
at the insult, young Bermingham left the town privately
and repaired to O'Conor Faly, who was only too happy
to have one English party to aid him against another.
A plundering foray ensued, and Bermingham obtained
ample satisfaction, at the same timo that Calvagh
O'Conor secured his own dues from the English of Of-
faly. "Never was such abuse better revenged," says
Dudley Firbis, " than the said eaimin."
THE DUKE OF YORK IN IRELAND.
297
that countiy was niiquestionably cen-
tered ill liim. Yet tliis great captain
and extraordinary man was able to do
no more on this occasion in Ireland,
with the aid of an army which he had
brought with him from England, than
to compel O'Conor Faly, an Irish
chieftain in the very heart of Leinster,
to make peace with the English gov-
ernment, to pay for the ransom of his
son, and to send some beeves for the
use of the king's kitchen ! A fiict
worth volumes in illustrating the pre-
cise extent of the English power in
Ireland more than 270 years after the
invasion by Henry II.*
A. D. 1447. — Ireland was at this period
seldom free from pestilence, but this
year a destructive plague raged in the
summer and autumn, and carried off, it
was said, 700 priests who had fearlessly
exposed .themselves to its fury in the
discharge of their sacred duties.f The
plague was also rife the folhn\iug year
ui Meath.
A. D. 1449.— The duke of York, who
was nephew of the last earl of March,
and inherited his right to the earldom
of Ulster and other Irish titles, was
appointed lord lieutenant for a period
of ten years with extraordinary powers
and privileges, and with a grant of
money from England to carry on the
* The Irisli nnaals add tlut the earl of Shrewsbury
look the lands ol several Englishmen for the king's use,
and that he made the Dal ton jirisoner, and turned him
Into Lougli Dull". — Dudley FirOis's AniiaU, quokd in
note to h'aur Masters, vol. iv.. p. 051.
+ In this year an absurd law was passed by a parlia-
ment held in Dublin, which enacted tliat any man who
government, in addition to the crown
revenues of Ireland. J The appoint-
ment of a prince of the royal blood to
the government of Ireland was always
sure to be popular ; and in the case of
the duke of York, the connection of
his family with this country, and his
own honest principles and amiable
disposition, procured for him the sym-
pathy and confidence of all parties in
Ireland. Some of the native chiefs
showed him the most marked respect,
and gave him, say our annals, as many
beeves for the use of his kitchen as he
chose to demand.
A. D. 1450. — The sou of the chief
Mageoghegau was at this time com-
mitting great depredations on the Eng-
lish at Meath. He burnt Kathguaire,
or Eathmore, Killucan, and several
other places in that territory, and at
length the duke of York led an army
against him, under the royal standard,
to INIullingar, where Mageoghegau came
at the head of a strong body of cavalry
to oppose him. The duke chose not to
risk a conflict, and agreed to terms ot
peace, forgiving Mageoghegau for all
his aggressions. He then wrote to
his brother, the earl of Salisbury, to
state that unless he received an imme-
diate supply of money from England,
and was enabled to increase his army,
did not shave his upper lip might bo treated as an
" Irish enemy," and this law remained unrepealed until
the second year of Charles I.
X In 1442 the Irish parliament, representing to the
king tho miserable state of tho country, alleged that
the public revenues fell short of tho necessary expend!
ture by £1, IjC.
20S
REIGN OF HEXRY YI.
he could not defend the land against the
Irish, or keep it in subjection to the king;
and that i-ather than Ireland should
be lost tlirough any fault or inability
on his part, he would return to Eng-
land and live on his own slender means.
The main object of the English gov-
ernment in sending the duke to Ireland,
was to remove him to a distance from a
scene where his presence was dangerous
to the reigning house of Lancaster; but
the adherents of his party did not for-
get him in what was intended to be his
exile. In the insurrection of Jack Cade,
who was an Irishman, one of the objects
professed by the insurgents was to place
Richard, duke of York, on the throne.
The duke now (1451) thought it right
to return to England and put himself
at the head of his friends, having pre-
viously appointed as his deputy the earl
of Ormond, who although of the Lan-
castrian party, was personally attached
to him. It is not our business to follow
him in his proceedings in England;
but when his party Avas defeated and
broken up for a time in 1459, he fled
to Ireland with his two sons, and was
received with enthusiasm in the Pale,
resuming the functions of viceroy at the
very time that an act of attainder was
passed against him and his family by
the English parliament. How he could
remain at the head of the government
of Ii'eland under such circumstances, is
one of the anomalies of which our his-
tory affords so many instances. Sub-
sequently, thi-ough the energy of the
earl of Warwick, who visited Ireland
in the course of this war, the white rose
of York Avas again in the ascendant.
At the battle of Northampton, in 1460,
king Henry was' made prisoner, and a
compromise was entered into Avhich se-
cured the succession, on the king's
death, to the duke of York and his
heirs ; the duke, in the mean time,
being appointed protector; but the
queen contrived to rally her party once
more, and in the battle of Wakefield,
Avhich was fought on the last day of
the year 1460, York Avas killed, together
Avith 3,000 of his followers, among
Avhom were several Irish chiefs from
Meath and Ulster.
The events recorded in the Irish an-
nals during the years OA'-er which we
have just glanced, are, in many cases,
full of interest, and serve to throAV light
upon the state of society. Several pil-
gi'images to Rome are mentioned almost
every year. In 1444 we are told, that
the bishop of Elphin and many of the
clergy of Connaught and of other parts
of Ireland repaired to the eternal city,
and that several of them died there.
Pilgrimages to St. James of Compostella
Avere also frequent among the Irish
chieftains at that period, and even some
of the Irish ladies accompanied their
lords on that long journey. Calvagh
O'Conor, the veteran chief of Offaly,
went on the great Spanish pilgrimage
in 1451, and in the same year is recorded
the death of his Avife, Margaret, daughter
of O'Carroll, king of Ely, a Avoman in
whose praises the Irish annalists are
enthusiastic. Calvagh himself died in
ACCESSIOX OF EDWARD IV
>99
1458, and was succeeded by his son, Con,
who inherited his father's chivalry.*
The Geraldines adhered to the house
of Yoi-k and the Butlers to that of Lan-
caster, " whereby," says Sir John Davies,
" it came to pass that not only the prin-
cipal gentlemen of both those surnames,
but all their friends and dependants did
pass into England, leaving their lands
and possessions to be ovei-run by the
Irish."f In this manner the Pale became
more and more restricted, until half of
Dublin, half of Meath, and a third part
of Kildare were reckoned in the border
territories, where the English law ^yas
not fully in Ibi-ce.
A. D. 1462. — On the accession of Ed-
ward IV., son of Richard, duke of York,
to the throne, in 1461, the earl of Kil-
dare was lord justice of Ireland. The
king's brother, the duke of Clarence,
* The literati of Ireland and Scotland were enter-
tained by this Margaret at two memorable feasts. At
t!ie first, which was held at Killeigh, in the present
King's county, 2,700 guests, all skilled in poetry, or
music, or historic lore, were present. The nave of the
great church of Da Smchell (St. Seanchan) was con-
verted, for the occasion, into a banquetting hall, where
Margaret herself inaugmuted the proceedings by placing
two massive chalices of gold, as offering's, on the high
altar, and committing two orphan children to the charge
of nurses to be fostered at her expense. Robed in cloth
of gold, this illustrious lady, who was as distinguished
fur her beauty as for her generosity, sat in queenly state
in one of the galleries of the church, surrounded by the
clergy, the brehong, and her private friends, shedding a
lustre on the scene which was passing below ; while her
liusband, who had often encountered England's greatest
generals in battle, remained mounted on a charger out-
si ie the church to bid tlie guests welcome and see that
order was preserved. Tlie invitations were issued and
the guests arranged according to a list prepared by
O'Conor's chief brelion ; and the second entertainment,
which took place at Kathangan, was a. supplemental
one, to embrace such men of learning as had not been
was then ajjpointed lord lieutenant, and
FitzEustace, afterwards lord Portlester,
was sent over as his deputy. He found
Ireland plunged in a war between the
young earl of Ormoud and the earl of
Desmond. A pitched battle was fought
between them at Baile-an-phoill, now
Pilltown, in the county of Kilkenny,
when the earl of Ormond's army was
defeated with a loss of four or five hun-
dred men. His kinsman, MacRichard
Butler, was taken prisoner, and part of
the ransom given for him was the copy
of the Psalter of Cashel now preserved
in the Bodleian library.^ After the
battle the Geraldines took Kilkenny
and other towns of the Butlers' country ;
but the earl of Orraond shut himself up
in a strong position, and soon after re-
ceived some aid from England, under
one of his brothers, who captured four
brought together at the former feast. Dudley Firbiss
Annals, quoted in note to Four Masters, vol. iv., p. 972.
This queen of Offaly is also celebrated for constructing
roads and bridges, building churches, and causing
illuminated missaJs to be written. Her daughter. Finola,
tooli the veil in the convent of Cill-Achaidli (Killeigh, in
the King's county), in 1447, after having been the
wife, first of O'DonneU, and then of Hugh Boy O'Neill.
She was, say the annalists, " the most beautiful and
stately, and the most renowned and illustrious woman
of her time in all Ireland, her own mother only ex-
cepted."
■f Discovert/, &c., p. ().).
I The following memorandum, made in Irish by Mac-
Richard himself, appears as fol. 115 of the above-men-
tioned interesting MS. "A blessing on the soul of the
archbishop of Cashel, i. e. Richard O'lledignn, for it was
by him the owner of this book was educated, namely,
Edmond, son of Richard, son of James, son of James
(the first carl of Ormond). This is the Sunday before
Christmas, and Kt all those who shall read this give a
blessing on the souls of both." Tlie archbishop here
alluded to is the same mentioned, ante, p. 291. Mac
Richard Butler died in 1604.
:'00
REIGN OF EDWARD IV.
ships belonging to the eai-1 of Desmond,
and thus the power and courage of the
Butlers once more revived.
Tliomas, who had succeeded as eighth
earl of Desmond, on the death of his
father, James,* in 1462, and Avas ap-
pointed lord deputy the following year,
was a great favorite of king Edward's.
Several of the Irish chieftains, and such
Anglo-Irish lords as the Burkes, who
seldom had any intercourse with the
English authorities, came to Dublin to
meet him, and entered into fi-iendly
relations "with him. In 1466 he com-
manded an array of the English of Meath
and Leinster against Cou O'Couor Faly ;
but his army was routed, and he him-
self, with several of his leading men,
were taken prisoners. Among these
were Christopher Plunket, William Oge
Nugent, Barnwell, and the jirior of the
monastery of our Lady of Trim. Teige
O'Conor, who was the earl's brother-in-
law, conveyed the captives to Carberry
castle, in Kildare, where they were sub-
sequently rescued by the English of
* Tliia James, wLo increased enormously tlie Tvealtli
and power of his family, obtained the earldom by the
expulsion of his nephew, Thomas, the sixth earl, who
incurred the displeasure of his friends and retainers by
a romantic marriage. It appears that earl Thomas,
being benighted while hunting in the neighborhood of
Abbeyfeale, obtained a lodging in the house of William
MacCormic, the owner of that place and a member of
tlie ancient family of MacCarthy. MacCormic had a
daughter, Catherine, with whose beauty the young earl
was so captivated that he married her in spite of the
remonstrance of his friends ; but this union was treated
as derogatory to the honor of the Geraldines ; ho was
abandoned even by his retainers, and having been
thrice expelled by his uncle, he formally surrendered
the earldom to him, in 1418, and retired to France,
where he died at Rouen, in 1420. Such is the story
Dublin. Plundering parties from Offiily
were now iu the habit of scouring the
country as far as Tara to the north and
Naas to the south; and the men of
Breffny and Oriel devastated all Meath,
without any attempt on the part of the
English to oppose or pursue them. In
the south, Teige O'Brien, lord of Tho-
mond, crossed the Shannon and plun-
dered the territory of Desmond. He
made himself master of the county of
Limerick, obtained a tribute of sixty
marks from the citizens of Limerick for
sparing their city, and compelled the
Burkes of Clanwilliamf to acknowledge
his authority.
A college, which was afterwards mu-
nificently endowed by his successors,
was founded at Youghal, in 1464, by
the earl of Desmond, who next set on
foot g) project for establishing an uni-
versity at Drogheda. But, while thus
intent on the social improvement of the
country, and acquiring deserved popu-
larity for himself, the career of this
nobleman w"as cut short by a foul act of
given by Lodge and traditionally preserved ; but O'Daly
(p. 3G of the Rev. Mr. Meehan's translation) assigns
rebellion as the cause of earl Thomas's expulsion.
James then procured the confirmation of the earldom to
himself and his heirs by act of parliament. He pur-
chased from Robert FitzGeofiry Cogan a grant of all his
lands, comprising about half the kingdom of Cork, as
that part of ancient Desmond was then called ; and in
1444 he obtained a patent for the government or custody
of the counties of Limerick, Waterford, Cork, and Kerry,
with a license exempting him for life from attending
parliament in person, and from entering walled towns.
— Four Masters ; Cox ; ArcMaU's Lodge, &c.
f The baronies of Clanwilliam in the counties of
Limerick and Tipperary are contiguous, and take their
name from a branch of the Burke family.
CONDITION OF THE ENGLISH PALE.
301
legalized murder. It is stated that he
incurred tlie enmity of the queen, Eliza-
beth Woodville, for having advised
Edward IV. to divorce her, on account
of the lowness of her birth, and that it
was by secret instructions from her that
he was put to death.* The story is very
probable ; but it is at all events certain
that iu 1467 he was superseded in office
by John Tiptoft, earl of Worcestei-, and
that iu the February of the following
year he ^va3 seized and beheaded at
Drogheda, on the flimsy charge of alli-
ance, fostering, etc., with the Irish.f
This monstrous crime, committed iu the
name of authority, astounded the coun-
try, and the earl's sons took uj) arms
against the government. Tiptoft re-
turned to England soon after, as if he
had fulfilled a specific mission ; and the
earl of Kildare, who had been included
with the earl of Desmond in the act of
attainder, made his escape to England,
and pleaded his cause before the king,
who pardoned him, and appointed him
lord deputy. Tiptoft soon after suffered
by the same kind of death which he had
inflicted on Desmond.
During the remainder of the reign ot
Edward IV. and those of his nominal
successor, Edward V., and of the usur-
per, Richard III., our annals still abound
in materials, although the numerous
* See the Rev. C. P. Meelian's translation of O'Daly's
Geraldines, in Duffy's Library of Ireland, where the
story is circumstantially related, pp. 39, 40. Also Cox
and IloUinshcad. Mr. Moore, however, holds, " that by
no other crimes than those of being too Irish and too
popular did Desmond draw upon himself persecution."
—But. of Ireland, vol. iii., p. 189.
events recorded in them at this time
form no connecting links of importance
in the chain of our history. The Eng-
lish power in the Pale was reduced to
its lowest point of weakness. Sundry
plans for defence were suggested in the
wretched condition into which the colo-
nists had fallen. A military society or
confraternity, under the name of the
Brothers of St. George, was got up ;
but the whole of the standing army of
the English in Ireland, even with their
assistance, amounted only to about 200
men. At another time they were re-
duced to so low an ebb that a force of
eighty archers on horseback and forty
mounted sj^earsmen constituted the
whole of their military establishment;
and as it was doubtful whether the
revenue of the Pale could furnish the
sum of j£600, necessary for the main-
tenance of this little band, it was pro-
vided that England should contribute
the balance. Yet the native Irish never
thought of using such an opportunity
for a national purpose. They made
several inroads on the English settle-
ments, which were completely at their
mei'cy ; but the animosity with which
the Irish septs fought against each other
was fully equal to what they exhibited
against the Clann Saxon, who were, in
fact, treated as a portion of the original
■f Ware and several others give Feb. 13th, 14G7, as
the date of the carl's execution ; but it was ouly in Oc-
tober that year that Tiptoft came to Ireland. (See
Harris's Table.) The Four Masters, and the Addenda
to Grace's Annals, have tho date 1478, being the na-
tural year, the other tho legal. The latter then began
iu March.
302
ATROCIOUS LAWS.
population of the country. The Irish
had no leader, no rallying point, no
national princi])le. They were still in
a state of jjolitical chaos; but things
were at this time not much better in
England, where, two kings alternately
exchanged places on the throne and in
the dungeon, parliaments were making
contradictory enactments with servile
pliability, the heads of princes and
nobles were daily falling under the
executioner's axe, and where in the
space of thirty years, in the family-
quarrel of the houses of York and Lan-
caster, more than 100,000 Englishmen
were slain.
By a law passed in the tenth year of
Henry VI., it was made a felony for
any subject of the king to sell merchan-
dise in a fair or market among the
" Irish enemies," in time either of peace
or war ; it was also enacted that any of
the " Irish enemies," that is, Irish living
beyond the bounds of the Pale, who, in
time of j:>eace or truce, came and con-
versed among the "English lieges"
might be treated as the king's enemies.
By a law of the fifth of Edward IV.
* " From various licenses for absence, to avoid tlie
penalties against absentees, granted to beneficed clergy-
men in tbe reigns of Richard II., and the subsequent
liings, it appears that the English universities, and more
particularly Oxford, were much resorted to by Irisli
scholars. (In 1375 two Franciscans of Ennis were sent
by the chapter to study at Strasbourg.— Rot. Pat. 49,
Ed. III., 273)." Grace's annals, p. 07, note. Some mag-
nificent monasteries founded about this period by Irish
princes, attest the wealth as well as the piety of the
(a. d. 1465), any Irishman found with-
out a "faithfull man of good name in
his company, in English apparel," and
whom an Englishman should choose to
suspect of being a thief, or an " intend-
ed" thief, might be lawfully killed and
his head cut oflp. And a parliament
held in 1475 enacted a law by Avhich
any Englishman who suffered injury
from a native Irishman belonging to an
independent sept, might reprise himself
on the whole sept or nation. These
infamous laws were directed against the
native Irish ; but there were others of
which the Anglo-Irish might bitterly
complain. Thus, in 1438, a law was
made in England obliging all persons
born in Ireland to quit the former
country within a certain time, except
graduates of universities,'"' &c.; while
another statute was made in Ireland to
prevent persons from emigrating into
EugLand. Thus did the legislature
ingeniously labor to pei-petuate hostility
between the two races, while even the
old English settlers were made to
feel that they were under an alien
sway.
native population. Thus, the Franciscan monastery of
Monhagan was founded by the MacMahons of Oriel, in
1-1C3 ; that of Lis-laichtain, or Ballylongford, on the
lower Shannon, by O'Conor, Kerry, in 1470 ; that of
Donegal by Hugh Roe O'Donnell, in 1474 ; that of Mee-
lick, by O'JIadden, in 1479 ; that of KUlcrea in East
Muskerry, by Cormac MacCarthy, in 1495 ; and that of
Creevlea in Leitrim, by Owen O'Rourke and his wife,
in 1508.
ACCESSION OF HENRY VII.
303
CHAPTER XXIX.
REIGN OF HENET VH.
Ftjrbearance of Henry VII. towards the Yorkists in Ireland. — The Earl of Kildare continues Lord Deptit}-. — Arri-
val of Lambert Simnel. — His Cause Espoused by the Lords of the Pale. — Coronation of Simnel in Christ's
Church. — His Expedition to England. — Defeat of Simnel's Army at Stoke. — Pardon of his Adherents. — Loy-
alty of Waterford. — First use of Fire-arms in Ii'eland. — Murder of the Earl of Desmond. — Arrival of Sir
Richard Edgecomb. — Another Slock Prince. — Disgrace of the Earl of Kildare. — His Quarrel with Sir Jamea
Ormond.— Perkin Warbeck at Cork. — Sir Edward Poynings Arrives in Ireland as Governor. — The Parliament
of Drogheda ; Poyings' Act. — The Earl of Kildare Attainted and sent Prisoner to England. — His Vindication
before Henry VII. — Returns as Lord Lieutenant of Ireland. — Further Adventures of Warbeck. — His last
Visit to Ireland. — His Execution. — Transactions of the Native Princes during this period. — The battle oi
Knocktow.— Death of Hugh Roe O'Neill.
Conlemporai->/ i'overeiyns and .Ffirnfo.— Popes : Innocent VIII., Alexander VI., Pius III.,
Cliarles VIII., Louis XII.— Sovereigns of Soain : Ferdin.nml and Isabella.— Kings of Scotia
Discovery of Americi by Columbns, 1402.
-Kings of France .
, III., James IV.-
(A. D. 1485 TO A. D. 1509.)
ON the accession of Henry VH.,
Gerald, earl of Kildare, was con-
tinued in the office of lord deputj^, as
his brother, Thomas FitzGerald, was in
that of chancellor, and his father-in-law,
Roland FitzEustace, baron of Portlester,
in that of lord treasurer, although these
noblemen, like the great majority of
the population of the Pale, were avowed
partisans of the House of York*
Throughout his reign -we find Henry
pursuing this temjiorizing policy to-
wards the enemies of his house in
Ireland — a policy so different fi'om that
which he adopted in England, and
* The king's uncle, the duke of Bedford, was ap-
pointed lord lieutenant of Ireland in the room of the
which his cold, calculating, and politic
character forbids us to attribute to mo-
tives of a generous nature. The result
proved that his usual sagacity failed
him in this instance, as his Anglo-Irish
subjects were not the less disaffected,
and were the willing dupes of every
plot contrived against him. At first he
introduced none of the Lancastrian
party into his Irish councils ; but, in
November, 1-485, the head of this party
in Ireland, Thomas Butler, seventh earl
of Ormond, who had been attainted
under Edward IV., was restored to his
honors and land?, and sub.sequently
earl of Lincoln ; but in such a case the lord deputy, who
resided in the country, was the actual governor of Ireland,
304
REIGN or HENRY YII.
rendered imjwrtaut services to Henry
as a diplomatist and general.'"'
A. D. 1486. — A contemporary Irish
clironicler,f recording the accession of
this first of the Tudors, says : " The sou
of a Welshman, by whom the battle
(of Bosworth field) was fought, was
made king ; and there lived not of the
royal blood at that time but one youth,
who came the next year (1486) in exile
to Ireland." So thought the native
Irish writers, who were but imperfectly
informed on the affairs of the Pale, and
who believed the youth here referred
to, namely, Lambert Siranel, the mock
earl of Warwick, to have been a genu-
ine prince. Young Simuel, the sou of
a tradesman at Oxford, arrived in Dub-
lin this year, in charge of a priest,
named Richard Symons, who acted as
his tutor. He is described as a boy of
prepossessing appearance and princely
manners ; and according to some ac-
counts he was only eleven years of age,
although the prince he was chosen to
personate, and who was then a prisoner
in the Tower, was in his fifteenth year.
Henry had before this some suspicion
that the lord deputy was plotting
against him ; and earlj" this year he in-
* Thomas Butler, tlie seventli earl, was the youngest
brother of James, the fifth earl, who was a distinguished
commander of the Lancastrians, and was beheaded by
the Yorkists after the battle of Towton field, in 1461.
The second brother, John, was sixth earl, and although
true to the principles of his party, was in favor with the
Yorkist king, Edward IV., who used to say that " he
was the goodliest knight he ever beheld, and the finest
gentleman in Christendom." He spoko aU the langua-
ges of Europe ; was sent as ambassador to several
courts, and died unmarried, on a pilgrim.ige in the
vited him to England on tlie 2')i'etence
of consulting him on Irish affairs ; but
Kildare mistrusted the king's object,
and as an apology for not complying
with the royal summons, called a par-
liament and obtained from the chief
lords letters which he transmitted to
the king, importing that his presence
was indispensable at that juncture in
Ireland. The next moment we find
the earl I'eceiving young Simnel as
a true prince, and embarking in his
cause. His example was almost uni-
versally followed by the inhabitants of
the Pale, who still cherished the mem-
ory of the popular favorite, Richard,
duke of York. In vain did Henry
exhibit the real earl of Warwick to the
gaze of the citizens of London. These
were convinced; but the Anglo-Irish
were not yet undeceived, and insisted
that the person whom Henry had put
forward was the counterfeit, and theirs
the genuine prince. Octavianus de
Palatiojj archbishop of Armagh, saw
through the Simnel imposture, and
endeavored, but in vain, to expose it.
The bishoj) of Clogher, the families of
Butler and St. Laurence, and the citi-
zens of Waterford, also remained faith-
Holy Land in 1478. The third, or youngest brother,
Thomas, mentioned above, was ambassador to the courts
of France and Burgundy, and died in 1515, the most
wealthy subject of the crown of England. He left no
sons, and his second daughter, Margaret, was the mother
of Sir Thomas Boleyn, father of the famous Anne Boleyn.
f Cathal MacManus Magiiire, canon of Arm.igh and
dean of Clsgher, the original compiler of the Annals of
Ulster, who died in 1498.
i He is also called Octavianus ItaUcu.s, and was a native
of riorencc.
LAMBERT SIMXEL.
305
fill to the king. IMaigaret, duchess of
Burgmidy, sister of Edward IV., was
supposed to be tlie chief contiiver of
the scheme; aud lords Lovell and Lin-
coln, the latter a nephew of the late
king, arrived from her court in Ireland,
in 1487, with an army of 2,000 Ger-
mans, enlisted in Simnel's cause, under
the command of a veteran soldier,
named Martin Schwartz. Simnel was
then solemnly crowned in Christ's
Church on Whitsunday, with the title
of Edward VI., iu the presence of the
lord deputy, the chancellor, the treasu-
rer, the earl of Lincoln, lord Lovell,
and many of the chief men of the king-
dom, as well ecclesiastical as secular.
The diadem used in the ceremony is
said to have been taken from a statue
of the Blessed Virgin, in the church of
Saiutc Marie del Dam ;■'•' aud the mock
king was then carried in triumph from
Christ's church to Dublin castle on
the shoulders of a gigantic Anglo-Irish-
man, popularly called Great Darcy of
Flatten.
Simnel was next convej'ed to Eng-
land, where he landed on the coast of
Lancashire with an army composed of
some Anglo-Irish and of the Germans
already mentioned. Here they were
joined by Sir Thomas Broughton with
a small force, but iu their march through
Yorkshire the aid which they expected
* For the identification of the name of this church,
situated near Dames-gate, see Gilbert's History of Dub-
lin, vol. ii., pp. 1 and 25(i.
f It was on this occasion that the title of Urhs intacta
was conferred by Heury on Waterford. A contemporary
metrical version, or rathcir amplification of the letter
did not appear; and in a desperate
battle at Stoke, in Nottinghamshire,
they were utterly routed by the van-
guard of king Henry's array. Simnel's
army consisted of only 8,000 men, of
whom 4,000 were slain, with all the
leaders, including the earl of Lincoln,
lords Thomas and Maurice FitzGerald,
Sir Thomas Broughton, and Schwartz.
Simnel himself and Richard Symons
were made prisoners and dealt with
rather mercifully ; for while the latter
was consigned to perpetual imprison-
ment, the youthful tool of the conspira-
tors was only condemned to act as
turnspit in the king's kitchen, and was
subsequently jDromoted to the rank of
falconer. The earl of Kildare and other
Anglo-Irish lords involved in the mad
scheme, but who did not accompany
Simnel to England, sent messengers to
crave the king's pardon, and Henry
seems to have contented himself for
that time by sending them a sharp re]>
rimand. He was unwilling to dispense
with the earl's services, or drive him
into determined hostility, so he retained
him in his office of lord deputy. To
the citizens of Waterford Henry wrote
commending their loyalty, and giving
them leave to seize for the use of their
city the ships and merchandise of the
rebel citizens of Dublin ;f and when
the latter applied in abject terms for
addressed by the mayor of Waterford, in the name of
the citizens, in reply to the summons received from the
earl of Kildare, to recognize the mock king, Simnel, is
published from a MS. in the State-paper Office, in Cro-
ker'a " Popular Songs of Ireland."
306
REIGN OF HENRY VII.
forgiveness, and endeavored to excul-
pate themselves by throwing the blame
of their ridiculous revolt on the earl of
Kildare, Henry does not appear to have
noticed their communication.
The first mention of fire-arms in the
Irish annals occurs in the year 1487,
ivhen one Brian O'Rourke was slain by
Hugh O'Donnell, surnamed Gallda, or
the Anglicized, "with a ball from a
gun ;" and the following year cnnnon
make their appearance, the earl of Kil-
daie having, in an incursion into Mage-
oghegan's territory, demolished the
castle of Balrath (Bile-ratha), in the
present barony of Moycashel, in West
Meath, with ordnance. James, the
ninth earl of Desmond, was murdered
"n his castle, at Rathkeale, in 1487, by
lis own attendants, at the instigation,
as the Ii'ish annals say, of his brother
John, who, as well as the others impli-
cated in the murder, w-as banished by
his brother Maurice, who succeeded to
the earldom. The new earl was nick-
named " baccagh," or the lame, but his
martial career soon caused this epithet
to be changed into that of " warlike,"
as he was engaged in constant wars
with his Irish neighboi-s, although it
was necessary to carry him to the bat-
tlefield in a litter.
A. D. 1488. — Sir Eichard Edgecomb
now came on a special commission from
king Henry, to exact new oaths of alle-
giance from the lords and others, and
to fix the conditions on Avhich the king s
pardon was to be granted to them. He
was attenled by a guard of 500 men.
conveyed in four ships, and landed at
Kinsale on the 27th of June, where he
received the homage of lords Barry and
Coui'cey, and administered the oath of
fidelity to the inhabitants. At AYater-
ford, where he next arrived. Sir Richard
was received with great honor by the
citizens, who urgently entreated that if
the earl of Kildare were again to be
invested with authority, their city, to
which for its loj'alty he w^as always
hostile, might be exempted from his
jurisdiction, and from that "of all othei
Irish lords who should ever bear any
rule in that land ; and might hold im-
mediately of the king, or of such Eng-
lish lords as shall fortune hereafter to
have rule in Ireland." The commissioner
next proceeded to Dublin, and took up
his lodgings in the convent of the Friars
Preachers. He was informed that the
earl of Kildare \vas absent on a pil-
grimage, and his first interview with
that nobleman did not take place until
seven days after, in St. Thomas's abbey,
Thomas-court, when the commissioner
read the king's letters to him and intro-
duced the object of his mission. This
parley did not end satisfactorily, and
the earl retired to his house at May-
nooth, where Sir Richard was subse-
quently induced to visit him, and was
splendidly entertained. But the polite-
ness and hospitality shown to him did
not prevent the commissioner from re-
monstrating against the delays which
took place, and the obstacles thrown in
the way of an arrangement. He used
strong and threatening words, but the
PERKIX WARCECK.
307
lords of the Pale, on their side, told
biiii, at one of their interviews, that
ajoner than submit to the terms he
proposed they would join the Irish.
At length there was an amicable settle-
ment. The earl did homage before the
commissioner in the great chamber of
St. Thomas's abbey. He was then ab-
solved from the excommunication which
he had incurred by his rebellion ; and
during the celebration of mass in a pri-
vate chapel of the abbey, he took the
oath of allegiance on the Most Holy
Sacrament. The bishops and nobles
who were implicated with him in the
late revolt took the same oath. Sir
Richard then suspended round the earl's
neck a gold chain M'hich the king had
sent him ; and all proceeded from the
private chapel to the church of the ab-
bey, where a Te Deum was chanted by
the choir.* With great difficulty the
commissioner was subsequently induced
to grant the royal pardon to Thomas
Phmket, chief justice of the Common
Pleas, who had been one of the most
active of Simnel's ijartisans; but uo
solicitation could induce him to extend
the amnesty to Keating, the refractory
prior of the knights of St. John of Kil-
uiainham, who had committed innumer-
able frauds and outrages, had expelled
and im])i-isoned Marmaduke Lomley,
the lawful prior, and continued to usui'j")
that dignity, as well as the office of con-
stable, or governor of Dublin castle.
* See the Diary of Sir Ricliard Edgeromb's Voyage
Mo Ireland, published in Harris's Hibcrnica. Sir
Richard sailed from Dalkey on the 30th of July.
The following year Kildare and se\'e<:al
other Anglo-Irish lords waited on the
king at Greenwich, in obedience to a
royal summons; and at a banquet to
which Henry invited them they were
attended at table by their late idol,
Lambert Simnel, who was taken for
that occasion from his duties in the
kitchen.
A. D. 1492. — After what had so re-
cently passed, it is hard to imagine how
sane men could have allowed themselves
to be duped by another plot of a mock
prince ; yet the intriguing duchess of
Burgundy tried the experiment once
more, and with some success. On this
occasion she selected a boy named Peter
Osbeck, but commonly called Perkiu
Warbeck, a native of Tournay, in Flan-
ders, and had him trained to represent
Richard, duke of York, one of the two
young princes, sons of Edward IV., who
were murdered by Richard III. in the
tower. He was sent into Portugal in
1490 to await a favorable opportunity
for introduction to the public, and this
occasion seemed to present itself in 1492.
The king, urged by some suspicions
which appear to have been groundless,
had deprived Kildare of the office of
deputy, and serious disturbances had
followed in the Pale. Sir James Butler,
or Ormond, as he is called in the annals,
natural son of John, earl of Ormond,
who died in Jerusalem on a pilgrimage
in 1478, came to Ireland about this
time, after a long absence, and by the
aid of the O'Briens, the Mac Williams
of Clauricard, and others, endeavored
308
REIGN OF HENRY VII.
to get himself acknowledged head of
the Butlers, while his uncle, Thomas,
earl of Ormond, was on diplomatic ser-
vice for the king in France. This illegal
conduct did not prevent king Henry
from appointing Sir James lord treasurer
of Ireland, in the room of FitzEustace,
while Walter Fitzsimons, archbishop of
Dublin, was appointed lord deputy.
The earl of Kildare did not submit
peaceably to the indignity to which,
through the medium of Sir James Or-
mond, he was subjected ; and, in some
tumults which ensued, he burned Sheep-
street, now called Ship-street, which ad-
joined the castle of Dublin, but was
then outside the city walls. He also
withdrew his protection from the Eng-
lish of Meath, who had refused to take
part in his quarrel, and the spoliation
of their territory in every direction, by
the Irish, was the consequence.
At this juncture, when England Avas
besides involved in a war with France,
young Warbeck made his appearance
at Cork, where he arrived in a merchant
vessel from Lisbon, and announced him-
self as Richard, duke of York. He was
well received by the citizens, and John
Water, or Walters, a respectable mer-
chant who had been mayor of the city,
warmly espoused his cause, which soon
after excited great enthusiasm on an
invitation being received by Warbeck
from the king of France to visit his
court. At the French court Warbeck
was received with royal honors, but this
demonstration was speedily followed by
the result which it was intended to pro-
duce, namel}', a peace with Henry; and
the impostor retired to Flanders, where
the duchess of Burgundy welcomed him
as her nejihew, and called him " the
White Rose of England."
A. D. 1493. — Towards the close of this
year Sir Robert Preston, first viscount
Gormaustown, was made lord deputy
in the absence of the archbishop of
Dublin, who was sent for by the king
to give him an account of the state of
Ireland. Sir James Ormond also re-
paired to England, and the earl of Kil-
dare, fearing the machinations of such
enemies, hastened thither, but did not
on that occasion succeed in vindicating
himself from the charges made against
him.
A. D. 1494. — -Alarmed at the state of
things in Ireland, Henry now sent over
Sir Edward Poyuings, a knight of the
garter and privy councillor, to under-
take the government. Sir Edward was
accompanied by some eminent English
lawyers to act as his council, and brought
with him a force of 1,000 men. Deter-
mined in the fir-st instance to extirpate
the abettors of Warbeck, the leaders of
whom it was understood had fled to
Ulster, he marched with a large army
to the north ; the earl of Kildare, not-
withstanding his equivocal position
towards government, being invited to
accompany him. Not long before this,
in an inroad by Hugh Oge MacMahon
and John O'Reilly, sixty English gentle-
men had been killed and many taken
prisoners ; but on the deputy's approach
the Irish chiefs retired to their fastness-
POYNINGS' ACT.
309
es, and finding no enemy to figUt with
be laid waste their hmds. A report was
then spread that the earl of Kildare was
conspiring with O'Hanlon to cut off the
English lord deputy, and news arrived
that the earl's brother had risen in re-
bellion and captured the castle of Car-
low. Under these circumstances Sir
Edward made peace on any terms with
O'Hanlon and Mageunis, into whose
territory he had entered, and returning
to the south, recovered the possession
of Carlow castle after a siege of ten
days.
In the month of November this year
was held at Drogheda the memorable
parliament, at which the statute, called
after the lord deputy, Poynings' law,
was passed. By this parliament it was
enacted that all the statutes lately made
in England affecting the public weal
should be good and effectual in Ireland ;
the odious statutes of Kilkenny were
confirmed, with the exception of that
which prohibited the use of the Irish
language, which had at that time be-
come the prevailing language even of
the Pule; laws were framed for the
defence of the marches ; it was made a
felony to permit " enemies or rebels"
to pass through those border lands;
the general use of bows and arrows was
enjoined, and the war cries which some
* See the Irish and Anglo-Irish War cries, explained
in Harris's Ware, ii. 1G3 ; and O'Donovan's Irish Qram-
niar, p. 327. They were chielly composed of tlio ex-
clamation of defiance, abu ! or dbo ! and the name, or
crest of the family, or' place of residence, as Lamli-
dearg-dbu! the O'Neill's war cry, from their crest of
Uie Red-hand ; Lamh-LUdcr^hu ! that of the O'Briens,
of the great English families had adopted
in imitation of the Irish were strictly
forbidden." The old law, called the
statute of Henry FitzEmpress (Henry
II.), which enabled the council to elect
a lord deputy on the office becoming
suddenly vacant by death, was repealed,
and it was enacted that the government
should in such a case be entrusted to
the lord treasurer, until a successor
could be appointed by the king. But
the particular statute known as Poyn-
ings' act was one which provided that
henceforth no parliament should be held
in Ireland until the chief governor and
council had first certified to the king,
under the great seal, " as well the causes
and considerations, as the acts they de-
signed to pass, and till the same should
be approved by the king and council."
This act virtually made the Irish par-
liament a nullity; and when, in after
times, it came to affect, not merely the
English Pale, for which it was originally
framed, but the whole of Ireland when
brought under English law, it was felt
to be one of the most intolerable griev-
ances under which this country suffered.
A. D. 1496. — Sir Edward Poynings'
parliament passed an act of attainder
against the earl of Kildare, his brother
James, and other members of his fam-
ily. The charges against the earl
MacCarthys, and FitzMaurices, from the crest of the
Right-arm (LamhMiidcr, the "strong hand"), issuing
from a cloud ; the war cry of the Geraldincs of Kil-
dare, Cromadh-(d)U ! from Croom castle in Limerick,
and that of the Desmond Geraldines, Seanaid-abu !
from their strong castlo of Shannid, in the same
countr, &c.
310
REIGX OF HENRY VII.
appear to have been grounded ou mere
suspicion, but he was sent to England,
and detained there a prisoner; and his
countess, it is said, was so deeply af-
fected by the event that she died of
grief. At length an opportunity was
afforded him to plead his cause before
the king, and the frankness and sim-
plicity of his manner at once convinced
that astute observer of character that he
could not have been the political in-
triguer which his accusers pretended.
One of the charges against him was,
that he had sacrilegiously burned the
church of Cashel; but to this the
earl bluntly replied, that he never
would have done so " had he not been
told that the archbishop was in it."
This novel defence amused the king;
and by-and-by, when the counsel against
Kildare wound up his charge by vehe-
mently protesting that " not all Ireland
could govern this man," Henry ob-
served, " then he is the fittest man to
govern all Ireland." Thus the earl
triumphed; and the chieftain, OTIau-
lou, having come forward to clear him
upon oath of the charge of conspiring
with him against the English lord
deputy, Kildare was not only fully
pardoned and restored to his honors
and estates, but by letters patent was
made lord lieutenant of Ireland, and
returned home with greater powers
* The accounts of these movements are obscure, but
it would appear that Warbeck in 1495 visited Ireland
with eleven ships supplied by the archduke ; that by
the aid of the earl of Desmond an undisciplined army
was raised for him in Ireland ; that he then laid siege
to Wa*.i,Tford, and that the citizens, on the approach of
than he had ever before possessed ; his
eldest son, Gerald, being, however, re-
tained as a hostage.
A. T>. 1197. — To return to the im-
postor "Warbeck, he was obliged in
1495 to leave Flanders on the conclu-
sion of a treaty between that country
and England. He then returned to his
former friends in Cork, but not seeing
an encouraging prospect there,* he went
to Scotland, where he was introduced
at the court of James IV. on the recom-
mendation of the duchess of Burgundy,
with all the honors due to his assumed
rank. He even obtained in marriage
the hand of Catherine Gordon, a lady
remarkable for her beauty, and related
to the royal family, being the daughter
of the earl of Huntley, and granddaugh-
ter of James I. Again, however, he
was driven from his asylum, James and
Henry having agreed to a treaty : but
the Scottish king generously furnished
him with a ship to take himself and
his M'ife away, and also a small party
of armed men ; and once more the ad-
venturer was landed at Cork. Here he
found no further support, and availing
himself of an invitation from Cornwall,
he proceeded thither with his wife, four
Waterford ships sailing in pursuit of the
fugitives. Further than this it is unne-
cessary for us to trace the impostor's for-
tunes, except to state that he closed his
the lord deputy to their assistance, sallied forth and
compelled Warbeck to raise the siege, three cf liis ships
being captured by the townspeople, and he himself
forced to return to Cork. " Former historians," says
Mr. Wright, " have erroneously placed this siege under
the year 1497." Sist. of Ireland, vol. i., p. 2GG.
FEUDS OF THE NATIVE CHIEFS.
11]
career at Tyburn, in 1499, the infatuated
John Water, maj'or of Cork, sharing
his fate on the scaffold."'
We have pursued the course of events
in the Pale without turning aside to
those in which the native Irish were
exclusively engaged. These latter car-
ried on their mutual wars as usual
without seeming to regard the English
as a common enemy. A great war
broke out in 1491 between Con O'Neill
and Hugh Roe O'Donnell. In 1493
Tyrone was laid waste by a contest for
the succession among the O'Neills
themselves ; and in a sanguinary battle
at Glasdrummond Con O'Neill tri-
umphed over his opponent, Donuell
O'Neill. Hugli Roe O'Donnell then
mustered a large army in Tircounell
and Connaught, marched into Tyrone,
and after a furious battle Avith Henry
Oge O'Neill, at Beanna Boirche, in the
i\[ourne mountains, returned home vic-
torious. In 1495, O'Donnell went on
a visit to the king of Scotland, and was
received with great honors. In the
Scottish accounts he is called the Great
O'Donnell ;f but nothing certain is
known of the object of his visit. On
his return he defeated the O'Conors at
Sligo, but raised the siege of that town
on the approach of MacWilliam (Burke)
of Clanricard. In 1497, provoked by
the dissensions between his sons, Huq-h
* It is "worthy of remark that tho Four Masters make
no mention whatever of either Simnel or Warbcck, or
of any proceedings relating to them.
t Tytler, Hist. Scot., vol. iv., c. 3.
i The Cdlhach (Prcliator), tho metallic reliquary or
box, in which a portion of tho Psalms of David, trau-
Roe ]-esigned the lordship of Tirconnell,
which was then assumed by his son
Con; but his second son, Hugh Oge,
would not consent to this arrangement,
and got some of the Burkes to assist
him with a fleet. Con was defeated in
battle, but two days after he succeeded
in capturing his brother Hugh, and
sent him to be confined in the castle of
Conmaicne Guile, in Connaught. Con
now invaded Moylurg, but was de-
feated with terrible slaughter by Mac-
Dermot, in the Pass of Ballaghboy, in
the Curlieu mountains ; the famous Ca-
thach, Avhich the O'Donnells always
carried before them into battle, being
among the spoils which he lost on that
occasion.^ Con's misfortunes did not
terminate here. Henry Oge O'Neill
judged the opportunity a favorable one
to avenge the defeat he recently received
from Hugh Roe, and led an army into
Tirconnell. He first laid waste the land
of Fanad, and in a battle which he then
fought with Con O'Donnell, the latter
turbulent and ambitious young chief-
tain was slain and his forces routed.
Ui^on this Hugh Roe resumed the lord-
ship ; and Hugh Oge who was now
liberated, having declined the chief-
taincy which his father offered him,
lather and son appear to have ruled
their principality with joint sway.
Erer since the pardon accorded to
scribed by St. Columbkille, was preserved. It has re
cently been deposited by its owner, Sir Richard O'Don-
nell, in the museum of the Koyal Irish Academy. The
Cathach was recovered from tho MacDormotts In 1499,
by Hugh Roe O'Donnell, who entered Moylurg with an
armv for the purpose.
31:
REIGxV OF HENRY VII.
him ill 1494, Garrett, earl of Kildare,
was constautly engaged in war with
some of the Irish septs ; but on most of
these occasions he acted rather as an
Ii'ish chieftain than as the deputy of
the Englisli king. His sister, Eleonora,
was married to Con O'Neill, and this
alliance involved him in the numerous
feuds of which Tyrone was the theatre.
At the instance of his nephew, Tur-
lough O'Neill, and of Hugh Roe O'Don-
uell, an ally of Turlough's, he marched
to the north in 1498, and took the
castle of Dunganuon by the aid of
ordnance. The following year Hugh
Roe came to the Pale to visit the earl,
who gave him his son Henry in foster-
age, notwithstanding the stringent laws
against this kind of an alliance with
the Irish. This year (1499) the earl
marched into Connaught, but only to
take part in the quarrels of some of the
Irish chieftains, for the castles which
he took from one rival chief he deliv-
ered to another, and Mac William Burke
soon after restored them to their former
possessors. In 1500 Hugh Roe O'Don-
nell and the lord justice marched in
concert into Tyrone to co-operate against
John Boy O'Neill, from whom they
took the castle of Kinard, or Caledon,
which was then delivered up to the
earl's nephew, Turlough O'Neill.
A. D. 1504. — For some time an in-
veterate warfare had been carried on
between MacWilliam (Burke) of Clan-
rickard, styled Ulick HI., and Melagh-
lin O'Kelly, the Irish chief of Hy-Many,
Burke was the aggressor, and the more
powerful. This year he captured and
demolished O'Kelly's castles of Garbh-
dhoire, now Garbally; Muine-anmhe-
adha, or Monivea, and Gallach, now
called Castleblakeny, in the county of
Galway; and the Irish chief, then on
the brink of ruin, had recourse to the
earl of Kildare for protection. The
latter, more desirous of curbing the
growing power of Clanrickard, with
whom he had a personal feud, than of
restoring peace in Connaught, mustered
a powerful army, and crossed the Shan-
non. He was joined by Hugh Roe
O'Donnell and his son, and the other
chiefs of Kinel-Connell ; by O'Conor
Roe of Northern Connaught ; MacDer-
mot of Moylurg ; the Avarlike chiefs
Magennis, MacMahon, and O'Hanlon ;
O'Reilly ; the bishop of Ardagh, who
was then the chief of the O'Farrells of
Annaly ; O'Conor Faly ; the O'Kellys ;
the lower Mac Williams, or Burkes of
Mayo; and, in fact, by the forces of
nearly all Leath-Chuinu, or the northern
half of Ireland, with the exception of
O'Neill. Besides these he was attended
hj viscount Gormanstown, the barons
of Slane, Delviuj Howth, Kileen, Trim-
leston, and Dunsaney, and by John
Blake, mayor of Dublin, at the head of
an armed force. Clanrickard, on his
side, also assembled a very numerous
army, his allies being Teige O'Brien,
lord of Thomond, the MacNamaras and
other North Munster chiefs ; Mac-I-Brien
of Ara ; O'Kennedy of Oi'uiond ; and
O'Carroll of Ely, One of Clanrickard's
chief stronirholds at this time was the
THE BATTLE OF KNOCKTOW.
313
castle of Claregalwny, or Baile-an-clalair,
and about two raik-; to the north-east of
this place, on some elevated rocky laud
called Kuoc-tuagh (Knocktow), or the
Hill of Axes, his army was drawn up
to await the enemy. The battle Avhich
ensued was one of the most sanguinary
and decisive that had taken place in
Ireland since the invasion; but there
cannot be a greater perversion of the
truth than to represent it, as English
historians have done, as a battle be-
tween the English and Irish, or between
the forces of the English government
and the " Irish rebels." For some hours
the issue seemed doubtful, but ultimate-
ly Clanrickard and his allies suffered a
total overthroAV. Their loss in the bat-
tle and flight, according to Ware, was
2,000 men ; Cox makes it amount to
4,000 ; and that fabulous Anglo-Iris'h
compilation, the Book of Howth, raises
the loss to 9,000 ! The white book of
the Exchequer asserted, according to
Ware, as a kind of miracle, that not one
Englishman Avas even hurt in the battle,
a thing which is quite possible, as there
were probably no Englishmen actually
engaged on either side; but although
nothing can be more silly than to boast
of the victory as if won by Englishmen,
it was in its results a most important
* Sir John Davis admits that this battle arose out of a
private quarrel of the earl of Kildare. Ware does not
discredit tlie report that it owed its origin to "a private
grudge between Kililarc and Uliclj ;" Cox alludes to such
an opinion in similar terms ; and tlie Four Masters, who
wer« not accessible to tlieso writers, record the circum-
etancca as we have relatc^d tliem. and in a way which
leaves no doubt upon tlie matter. Dr. O'Donovan, who
•10
one for English interests, by establishing
the power of the Pale, and inflicting a
blow on the Irish chieftains from which
they never recovered.* The Book of
E[owtli attributes an atrocious exjjres-
sion to viscount Gormanstown after the
battle. " We have slaughtered our ene-
mies," said he to the earl of Kildare,
according to this veracious authority ;
"but to complete the good deed we
must do the like with all the Irish of
our own party." As a contrast to which
insolence of success, Leland candidly ob-
serves, that " in the remains of the old
Irish annalists we do not find any con-
siderable rancor expressed against the
English ; but they even speak of the
actions and fortunes of great English
lords with affection and sympathy."!
Kildare, with his usual imjjetuosity,
wished to push on to Galway, eight
miles distant, the evening of the battle,
but the veteran O'Donnell recommended
him to eucamp that night on the field,
until the troops, scattered in pursuit of
the enemy, should be collected. The
battle was fought on the 19th of Aug-
ust, 1504, and the next day Galway and
Athenry surrendered to the earl with-
out resistance. Kildare distributed
thirty tuns of wine among his army,
but whether he paid the merchants of
had every existing record of this transaction before him,
says the conflict at Knoclitow was, in fact, a battle be-
tween Leath-Chuiun and Lealh-Mliogha, the northern
and southern lialves of Ireland, lilio the battles of Moy
Lena, 5Ioy Mucniimhe, and Moy Alvy, where the
southerns were as usual defeated. The name of the place
is at present written either Knocktow or Knockdoe.
f Hist, of Ireland, book iii., c. 5.
314
REIGN OF HENRY VII.
Gal way for it we are not told. Ke
himself, as a reward for the victory,
Avas made a knight of the garter. As
to Ulick Burke, he escaped, but his two
sons, and some say his two daughters
also, were made prisoners.
The only event of interest recorded
in the remainder of this reign is the
death of Hugh Roe O'Donnell, Avhich
took place in 1505, in the 78th year of
his age, and the 44th of his reign over
TirconnelL He was the son of the cele-
brated Niall Garv O'Donnell, and was
one of a long line of heroes. " In his
time," say the annalists, " there was no
need of defence for the houses in Tir-
eonnell, except to close the doors against
the wind." He was succeeded by his
son, Hugh Oge. During the reign of
Henry VH. the country was frequently
visited by pestilence, and the fearful
visitation, called the sweating sickness
raged for several years.
ACCESSION OF HENRY VIII.
315
CHAPTER XXX.
REIGN OF HENKY VIH.
Accession of Henry VIII. — Gerald, earl of Kildare, still Lord Deputy. — His last Transactions and Death. — Hugh
ODonnell visits Scotland and prevents an Invasion of Ireland. — Wars of the Kinel-Connell and Kinul-Owen.
— Proceedings of the new Earl of Kildare. — The Earl of Surrey Lord Lieutenant. — His Opinion of Irish
Warfare. — His Advice to the King about Ireland. — His Return. — The Earl of Ormond succeeds and is made
Earl of Ossory. — Wars in/iJlster. — Battle of Knockavoe. — Triumph of Kildare. — Vain attempts to reconcile
O'Neill and O'Donnell. — Treasonable Correspondence of Desmond. — Kildare again in Difficulties. — Effect of
his Irish Popularity. — Sir William Skeffington Lord Deputy. — Discord between him and Kildare. — New Irish
Alliances of Kildare. — His Fall. — Reports of the Council to the King. — The Schism in England. — Rebellion
of Silken Thomas. — Murder of Archbishop Allen. — Siege of Maynooth. — Surrender of Silken Thomas and
Arrest of his Uncles. — Their Cruel Fate. — Lord Leonard Gray in Ireland. — Destruction of O'Brien's Bridge. —
Interesting Events in Offaly. — Desolating War against the Irish. — Confederation of Irish Chiefs. — Fidelity of
the Irish to their Faith. — Rescue of young Gerald FitzGerald. — Extension of the Gei-aldine League. —
Desecration of Sacred Things. — Battle of Belahoe. — Submission of Southern Chiefs. — Escape of young Gerald
to Prance. — Effects of the " Keformatiou" on Ireland. — Servility of Parliament. — Henry's Insidious Policy in
Ireland. — George Brown, first Protestant Archbishop of Dublin. — His Character. — Failure of the New Creed
in Ireland. — Terrible Spoliation of the Irish by the Lord Justice. — Submission of Irish Princes. — Their
Acceptance of English Titles and Surrender of Irish cues. — Henry VIII. made King of Ireland. — Submission
of Desmond. — First Native Irish Lords In Parliament. — Execution of Lord Leonard Gray. — O'Neill Surrenders
his Territory and is made Earl of Tyrone. — Murrough O'Brien made Earl of Thomond. — Confiscation of
Convent Lands. — Effect of the Policy of Concession and Corruption.
Contemporary Severelgns and .FMnte.— Popes : Julius II., Leo X., Adrian VI., Clement VII., Paul III.— Kings of Franco :
Louis XII., Francis I.— Emperors of Germany: lln.\imiliun I., Cliarles V.— Sovereigns of Scotland: James IV., James V.,
Queen Mary.— Tlje " Keformation" preached in Germany, 1517.— Foundation oi' the Society of Jesus, 153-1.- Opening of
the Council of Trent, 1545.— Death of Luther, 15-lG.
(A. D. 1509 TO A. D. 1547.)
NO chauge -was made in the Irish
governmeut on the accession of
Henry VIII. Gerald, the veteran earl
of Kildare, was confirmed in his office
as lord deputy, and still carried on his
forays against various Irish septs. In
1510 he proceeded with a numerous
army into south Munster against the
MacCarthys, and was joined by James,
son of the earl of Desmond. In Ealla,
now Duhallow, he took the castle of
Kanturk, and in Kerry the castle of
Pailis, near Laune Bridge, and Castle-
maine. Returning to the county of
Limerick he was joined by Hugh, lord
of Tircounell, the son of his old ally,
Hugh Roe O'Donnell, with a small, but
efficient body of troops. He crossed
31G
REIGX OF HENRY VIII.
the Shannon and destroyed a wooden
bridge which stood over that river at
Portcrusha, j^robably somewhere near
Castleconne]], but here his progress was
checked. Turlongh O'Brien had col-
lected a large army composed of the
septs of North Munster and Clanrickard,
and at this point approached so close
that the men's voices could be heard
fi'om the opposite camps during the
night ; but the morning after this bold
advance of O'Brien found Kildare pre-
paring to retreat. The Leinster and
Meath troops, Avith O'Donnell's small
contingent, were placed in the rear, and
James of Desmond, with the Munster
forces, led the van.* While retiring in
this order he was attacked by O'Brien,
who took large spoils and slew several
of the English, among others Barnwell,
of Crickstown, in Meath, and a baron
Kent ; but the earl succeeded, with the
main body of his army, in reaching
Limerick through Monabraher, on the
north side of the Shannon, and soon
after he left Munster.
A. D. 1512. — The earl once more
crossed the Shannon into Connaught,
and took the castle of Roscommon and
that of Cavetown, in Moylurg. O'Don-
nell, who had spent the year 1511 on a
pilgrimage to Kome, and was engaged
since his return in making reprisals on
O'Neill for depredations committed by
the latter in Tirconnell during his ab-
sence, came to the Curlieu mountains to
• Ware says that James of Desmond was with O'Brien
on tliis occasion, but tlie context sliows the Four Masters,
whom we have followed, to he correct.
meet Kildare, and renewed the friendly
relations which must have been dis-
turbed by O'Donnell's hostilities iu
Ulster. Apparently as one of the con-
sequences of this conference the earl
soon after marched to the north, entered
Clannaboy, and took the castle of Bel-
fiist, and other strongholds. In the
course of the following year O'Donnell
appears to have rendered an important
service to the English interest. He
visited Scotland ou the invitation of
James IV., who treated him with -great
honor, during three months which he
stayed there, and as we are told that
"he changed the king's resolution of
coming to Ireland as he intended," we
may conclude that James meditated an
invasion, from which he was deterred
by O'Donnell's advice, and by the re-
collection, probably, of the fate of Ed-
ward Bruce.
The earl of Kildare made his last
compaign in Ely O'Carroll, where he
laid siege to the castle of O'Banau's-
leap ; but failing to take this stronghold,
he retired to Athy, where he died ; his
death, as some say, being caused by a
wound which he had received long be-
fore iu O'More's country. The Irish
annalists style him the Great Earl, and
describe him as " valorous, princely, and
religious." He was interred iu Christ
Church, and his son, Garrett Oge, or
Gerald the younger, was chosen by the
privy council to succeed him as lord
justice, and soon after was created lord
deputy by letters patent. The new earl
rivalled his father's zeal against the
FEUDS AND ALLIANCES.
317
border Irish, and inaugurated his ad-
ministration by defeating the O'Mores,
and sLaying in battle fourteen of the
chief men of the O'Reillys, including
the head of the sept.
A. D. 1514. — When Art, son of Con,
who had succeeded Art, son of Hugh
O'Neill, and Hugh O'Dounell, met this
year at Ardsi-atha, or Ardstraw-biidge,
in Tyrone, at the head of hostile armies,
and separated in peace, the annalists
attribute the fortunate issue to the
interposition of heaven. Few, indeed,
and brief were the intervals in the
mutual warfare of the Kiuel-Connell
and the Kinel-Owen; but if we judge
from the changes wliich had by this
time taken place in their respective
territorial boundaries, we may conclude
that the former of these great septs
were generally the aggressors. The
chiefs of Tircounell had succeeded in
wresting very large territories from the
O'Neills; and by the treaty made on
this occasion the charters by Avhich
O'Dounell claimed sovereignty over
Inishowen, Fermanagh, and other tracts
of country formerly belonging to the
Kiuel-Oweu, were confirmed. The j^lace
where the armies met was also consider-
ably within the frontier of Tyrone. As
to the peace, it was of short duration.,
for two years after we find the same
parties again at war.*
A. D. 1516. — A feud broke out be-
tween James, son of Maurice, earl of Des-
mond, and his uncle, John. The former
was supported by MacCarthy More
(Cormac Ladhrach, or the "hasty"),
Donnell MacCarthy of Carberry, and
other chieftains of that sept, and also
by the white knight, the knight of
Glinn, the knight of Keri'y, FitzMau-
rice, and O'Conor-Kerry ; while John
was aided by the Dalcassians, Avitli
whose chiefs he was allied by his mar-
riage with More, daughter of Donough,
son of Brian Duv O'Brien, lord of Car-
rigogonuell and Pobblebrien. James
laid siege to the castle of Lough Gur,
but on the ap^^roach of John with the
army of Thomond, reinforced by that
of the Butlers, he retreated without
fighting. This feud was followed by
one between Pierse Butler, claiming to
be earl of Ormond, and other members
of his family.
In the mean time the young earl of
Kildare succeeded in taking the castle
of O'Banan's-leap, which his father had
besieged in vain; and the following
year (1517) he led an army to Tyrone
at the instance of his kinsmen, the
O'Neills, who were as usual in arras
against other branches of their sept.
Having retaken Dundrum castle, in Le-
cale, from which the English had been
expelled, and vanquished the Mageuises,
he proceeded to desolate Tyrone, and
captured and burned the fort of Dun-
* On this latter occasion O'Dounell also carried his
arms into Coniiaiiglit, and took the castle of Siigo by
the aid of some cannon 'vvhicU liad been sent to him by
a French knight who made a pilgrimage to St. Patrick's
purgatory in Lough Derg, and had been hospitably
entertained by the chief of Tirconnell. Several other
castles in northern Conuaught were surrendered to
O'Donnell immediately after his captm-e of Sligo.
31S
REIGN OF HENRY VIII.
gannon. On the iavitatiou of O'Melagh-
lin he led his army to. Delviu, where
jMulrony O'Carroll had committed great
dejiredations, and had takea the castle
of Ceann-Cora. But while he was thxis
occupied, enemies was busily engaged
in undermining his position with the
Idng ; the prime movers of the mischief
a<^ainst him "being his hereditary foes,
the Butlers. At first he was able to
vindicate himself without much difii-
culty. He repaired to England for that
purpose in 1515, and was successful;
but cardinal Wolsey, who had now
I'isen to great power, was insj)ired with
an implacable enmity towards him, and
caused him to be again summoned to
England, in 1519; the earl appointing
his kinsman, Sir Thomas FitzGerald of
Laccagh, as his deputy during his ab-
sence.
A. D. 1520. — Thomas Howard, earl of
Surrey, a man equally eminent as a
wai'rior and a statesman, was now sent
as lord lieutenant to Ireland, where he
landed with a force of 1,000 men and
100 of the king's guard. Kildare was
still kept in England, where he remained
in ignorance of the machinations going
forward in Ireland to collect evidence
against him. One of the principal
charges was, that he had Avritten to
O'Carroll of Ely, advising him to keep
peace with the Pale until an English
deputy should be sent over, but " when
* O'Donnell waited on tho earl of Surrey at this
time in Dublin, and told him that he had been invited
to take up arms against the English government by
Con O'Neill, who said he did so at the suggestion of I may be to your conteutacion and pleasure
the earl of Kildare ; Surrey, who mentions the circmn- 1 him to bee."
any English deputy shall come thither,"
he added, " then do your best to make
war on the English." There was little
doubt that the earl had written to this
effect, O'Carroll's brothers having con-
fessed that such a letter had been re-
ceived, but the evidence was not con-
clusive; and Kildare, whose former
wife had died, having married Elizabeth
Gray, daughter of the marquis of Dorset,
acquired influence at court, through the
powerful English friends whom this al-
liance procured him, and escaped for the
present. Though treated with honor,
he was not, however, restored to favor,
and spies were employed to collect evi-
dence against him in Ireland at the very
time that he formed one of king Henry's
retinue in France, at the famous meeting
of the "field of the cloth of gold."
A. D. 1521. — Whether Kildare urged
the Irish chieftains to rebel, as he was
accused of doing, or not,'"' it was evident
that a general and formidable rising
was contemplated, although the energy
and raioid movements of Surrey crushed
the attempt. The viceroy first marched
against O'More, demolished his castles,
laid waste his country, burned the ripen-
ing crops, and finally compelled him to
submit ; but in this expedition he nar-
rowly escaped falling into the hands of
the Irish. O'Carroll also submitted, and
Con O'Neill having threatened Meath
with invasion, Surrey, by a timely march
stance in a letter to the king (State Papers, p. 37), says :
— " I fynde him (O'DonneU) a right wise man, and as
well determyned to doo to your grace all things that
I can wysh
COURSE OF THE EARL OF SURREY.
319
to the north, averted tlie blow. How-
ever, he soon became weaned with the
Irish warfare. It seemed hopeless and
interminable. He had a well appointed
army furnished with artillery, but
amidst bogs and forests, and against an
enemy who, while they yielded in front,
perpetually harassed him in the flank
and rear, he could effect nothing. He
assured the king, as tke result of his
experience in Ireland, that by conquest
alone could that country be reduced to
peace and order, while he admitted that
* State Papers, sx. — Tho names and position of the
principal independent Irish septs at this period, with
many otiier particulars of interest on the condition of the
country, are set forth in an official document of the year
1515, preserved in the English State Paper Office, and
printed in the first volume of the State Papers relating
to Ireland. In this document it is stated that the Eng-
lish rule only extended over one-half of the five counties
of Uriel (Louth), Mcath, Dublin, Kildare, and Wexford,
and that even within those narrow limits, the great
mass of the population consisted of native Irish ; the
English having deserted the country on account of the
oppressive exactions to which they were exposed. The
greater part of Ireland was still in tho hands of the
" Irish enemies," and was divided into more than sixty
separate States or " regions," " some as big as a shire,
some more, some less;" and these regions were ruled
by as many " chief captains, whereof some called them-
selves kings, some king's peers in their language, some
princes, some dukes, some archdukes, that live only by
tho sword, and obey no other temporal person but only
him that is strong." These independent " captains" or
heads of septs were as foUows : — in Ulstek : O'Neill of
Tyrone, O'Donnell of Tirconnell, O'Neill of Clannaboy,
O'Cahan of Kenoght, in Derry, O'Dogherty of Inishowen,
Maguire of Fermanagh, Magennis of Upper Iveagh, in
Down, O'Hanlon of Armagh, and MacMahon of Irish
Uriel (Monaghan). In Lelnster: — MacMurrough of
Hy-Drone, in C'arlow, O'Murroughu (or Murjjhy) in
Wexford, O'Byrno and O'Tholo (O'Toole) in Wicklow,
O'Nolan in Carlow, MacGillapatrick in Upper Ossory,
O'iloro of Leix, O'Derapsy of Glenmaliry, O'Conor of
Offaly, and O'Doyne (or Dunn) of Oregan, in the Queen's
County. In Munster: — MacCarthy More of Kerry,
Cormac MacTeige MacCarthy of Cork, O'Donoghue of
Killainey, O'Sullivan of Beare, O'Conor of Kerry, Mac-
Carthy Keagh of Carberry, in Cork, O'Driscol of Corca-
there were serious obstacles in the way
of sucb a conquest. It would require
much time and money, and if an attempt
were made to reduce the Irish by force,
they would combine for defence ; Avhich
union his knowledge of their warlike
habits, and of the military resources of
the country, made him apprehend as a
formidable danger.* His representa-
tions had, perhaps, some effect in bring-
ing about the policy of conciliation
which Henry subsequently carried to
such an extent in his government of Ire-
Laighe, in Cork, two O'Mahonys of Carberry, in Cork,
O'Brien of Thomond, O'Kennedy of Lower Ormond,
O'Carroll of Ely, O'Meagher of Ikerin, in Tipperary,
MacMahon of Corcavaskin in Clare, O'Conor of Corcom-
roe, in Clare, O'Loughlin of Burrin, in Clare, O'Grady of
Bunratty, in Clare, Mac-I-Brien of Ara, in Tipperary,
O'Mulrian (or Ryan) of O^vney, O'Dwyer of Tipperary,
and O'Brien of Coonagh, in Limerick. In Cojjnacght :
— O'Conor Roe and MacDermot in Roscommon, O'Kelly,
O'Madden, and O'Flaherty in Galway, O'Farrell of An-
naly (Longford), O'Reilly and O'Rourke of Breffny,
O'Malley of Mayo, MacDonough of Tiragrill, O'Qara of
Coolavin, O'Hara of Leney, O'Dowda of Tireragh, Mac-
Donough of Corran, and MacManus O'Conor of Carbury,
in Sligo. In Meath : — O'Melaghlin, Mageoghegan, and
O'MoUoy.
The heads of the " Degenerate English," or " great
captains of the English noble folks," that followed " the
Irish nUe," according to the same report, were, in
MuKSTER : the earl of Desmond, the knight of Kerry,
FitzMaurice, Sir Thomas of Desmond, Sir John of Des-
mond, and Sir Gerald of Desmond, the white knight,
the knight of Glynn, and other Geraldines ; lord Barry,
lord Roche, lord Courcy, lord Cogan, lord Barrett, the
Powers of Waterford, Sir William Burke in the county
of Limerick, Sir Pierse Butler (claiming to be earl of
Ormond), " and all the captains of the Butlers of the
county of Kilkenny, and of the county of Fethard."
In CoKNAUGHT: — lord Burke of Mayo, lord Burku
of Clanrickard, lord Bermingham of Athenry, the
Stauntons of Clonmorris, in Mayo, the MacJordans,
or descendants of Jordan D'Exeter in Mayo, MacCostello
in Mayo, and the Barretts of Tirawley. In ULSTER :
— tho Savages of Lecale in Down, tho FitzIIowlins
of Tuscard, and tho Bissctts of the Qlinns of Antrim.
In Meath: — the Dillons, Dal tons, Tyrrells, and Dcla-
mares.
?,-20
REIGN- OF IIEXRY VIII.
land, aud employed so successfully for
the corniption of the native chieftains.
Surrey was empowered by the king to
confer knighthood on such of the Irish
chiefs as he deemed fit, and Henry
sent a collar of gold to be presented,
together with the honor of knighthood,
to O'Neill. A reconciliation was ef-
fected by the deputy between James,
who, in 1520, had succeeded his father,
Maurice, as earl of Desmond,- and the
earl of Ormond ; and a peace was also
arranged by him between the former
and the MacCarthys, who, aided by
Thomas of Desmond, had in September,
this year, overthrown the aforesaid earl
James with great slaughter at Mourne-
Abbey, in Muskerry, slaying 2,000 of
his men, and taking several of his lead-
ers prisoners. This defeat of Desmond
afforded real satisfaction to Surrey, who,
on proceeding to Munster, found the
proud earl thoroughly humbled; and
he informed Wolsey in a letter, written
about this time, that the successful Irish
chiefs Cormac Oge MacCarthy and Mac-
Carthy Reagh were "two Avise men,"
whom he found " more coraformable to
order than some Englishmen here."*
So much did the politic English viceroy
* State Papers, xiii.
t On the death of Thomas, the seventh carl of Or-
mond, witliout male issue, in 1515, his English estates,
amounting to £30,000 a year, and his vast personal
property in plate, jewels, and money, were bequeathed
to his two daughters, of whom Margaret, the elder, was
married to Sir James St. Leger, and Anne, the younger,
to Sir William Boleyn or Bullen, by whom she had Sir
Thomas, the father of Anne Boleyn. The earl's Irish
Inheritance was warmly disputed between his next
male heirs, Sir Pierse Butler of Carrick — whose grand-
father was cousin german to earl Thomas, — and Sir
dread a good understanding of the Irish
among themselves, that he preferred
allowing O'Donnell to employ some
Scottish auxiliaries rather than that
there should be peace between him and
O'Neill ; for, as he wrote to the king,
" it would be dangerful to have them
both agreed and joined together," and
" the longer they continue in war the
better it should be for your grace's
poor subjects here." In the summer of
1521 he was obliged to take the field
against O'Conor of Offaly, whose castle
of Monasteroris he captured ; but while
he w^as thus engaged O'Conor was plun-
dering West Meath, aud subsequently
routed a portion of the earl's array. At
length Surrey importuned the king on
the ground of ill health to relieve him
fi'om his arduous and hopeless charge in
Ireland, and being permitted to with-
draw, he returned to England at the
close of 1521, taking with him the
troops which he had brought into Ire-
land; his intimate friend and adviser,
Pierse Butler, being appointed lord
deputy.f
A. D. 1522. — The Pale was at this
time in a wretched state, and the Irish
privy council applied to Wolsey, to have
James Ormond, the natural son of John, the sixth earl,
who died in Palestine ; but by the death of Sir Jamea,
who was kiUed by his opponent between Dromore and
Kilkenny, Pierse was left in quiet possession of the title
of earl of Ormond, which, however, he did not long en-
joy, as he was induced to relinquish his claim in favor
of Anna Boleyn 's father ; Pierse was then (1527) created
earl of Ossory, but Sir Thomas Bolej-n having died
without an heir, the earldom of Ormond was restored to
Butler, and the title of Ossory laid aside. See Abbe
JIageoghegan Hist, of Ireland, pp. 381, 383 (Duffy's ed.),
also Archdall's Lodge, vol. iv., pp. IG, 17.
O'NEILL AND O'DONNELL AT WAR.
321
six ships of war sent to cruise between
Scotland and Irelaiul, to awe tlie north-
ern Irish and prevent an invasion from
the former country, as the Scots were at
that time immigrating in large numbers
into Ulster and acquiring tei'ritories
there.
The dissensions between O'Neill and
O'Donnell now broke out into a san-
guinary war. MacWilliam of Clau-
rickard, with the English and Irish of
Connaught, the O'Briens, O'Kennedys,
and O'Carrolls, joined the standard of
O'Neill, under which rallied, besides,
the Magennises, the men of Oriel and
Fermanagh, the O'Reillys, and other
northern septs, together with a Scottish
iTgion under Alexander MacDonnell of
the Isles. Several of the English of
Meath and Leinster were also induced
I)y their attachment to the earl of Kil-
dave, the kinsman of O'Neill, to take
part with the latter. Under O'Don-
nell's banners were ranged the O'Boyles,
O'Dohertys, MacSweeneys, O'Gallagh-
ers, <fec. ; and what was wanted in point
of numbers was made up by mutual
fidelity and bravery in their small pha-
lanx. O'Donnell marched to Port-na-
dtri-namhad, on the eastern side of the
river Foyle, opposite Lifford, to await
the enemy, that being the usual pass
between Tyrone and Tirconnell; but
O'Neill entered the latter territory by
* The carl of Orinoud (tlio lord deputy), who was
called by the Irish Red Pierse, was engaged at tkis
time in war with septs bordering on liis own territory,
and a well-known anecdote is related of the ambassador
wliom MacGillapatrick sent to England to complain
of Ids aggressions. Electing king ll'^nry ;it the chapel
41
another route, and laid waste the coun-
try as far as Ballyshannou. O'Donnell
upon this sent his son Manus into Ty-
rone, while he himself folio-wed O'Neill
into Tirhugh, but O'Neill retired within
his own territory and encamped at
Cnoc-Buidhbh, or Knockavoe, near
Strabane, where he was attacked at
night by O'Donnell's army, which had
approached so silently as to be able to
enter the Tyrone camp pell-mell with
the sentinels, and a total route of
O'Neill's people followed, with a loss
of 900 men. The annalists say this was
one of the most bloody engagements
that had ever been fought between the
Kinel-Counell and the Kinel-Owen.
O'Donnell then marched with extraor-
dinary rapidity across the country to
Sligo, to which town the Connaught
allies of O'Neill were laying siege ; but
the news of his victory had just reached
before him, and struck such terror into
the western army that they sent in all
haste to sue for peace, and at the same
time fled so precipitately that their own
messengers were not able to come up
with them till they had re-crossed the
Curlieu mountains, where they broke
up, each party returning home. This
last bloodless victory added greatl}^ to
the renown of O'Donnell, but his war
with O'Neill continued '"or years.'==
A. D. 1523. — The earl of Kildare, Avho
door, says Leland, quoting the Lambeth MS., the
Irish envoy addressed him iu the following words:
" Sta pedibus domino rex ! Dominus meus Gilla-
patricius mo misit ad to, ct jussit dicere quod si
non vis castigare Petrum Rufum, ipse faciet belliun
contra tc."
REIGX OF IIEXRY VIII.
had returned from England at the close
of the preceding year, obtained permis-
sion to lead, an army against O'Conor
Faly, Connell O'More, and other border
chieftains. He. was accompanied by Con
O'Neill, who made peace between the
parties; but Ware says the earl fell
into an ambuscade on the occasion, and
having lost several of his men, was glad
to come to tei'ms and i-etire.
A, D. 1524. — The old feuds between
Kildare and Orraond broke out with
fresh animosity, which was not a whit
diminished by the circumstance that
the latter magnate had recently married
the earl of Kildare's sister. Ormond
transmitted new complaints to England ;
one of them being that his friend, Robert
Talbot of Belgard, had been treacher-
ously slain by James FitzGerald, near
Ballymore. Thereupon commissioners
wei-e sent over, but the inquiry which
followed resulted in the vindication of
Kildare, who was reinstated as lord de-
puty in the room of his enemy ; and at
his inauguration, his kinsman, Con
O'Neill, carried the sword of state be-
fore him to St. Thomas's abbey, where
he entertained the commissioners and
others at a sumptuous banquet. After
this he accompanied O'Neill on an ex-
pedition against O'Donnell, who had
been committing fearful depredations
in Tyrone ; but he made peace between
these chieftains without a battle. Two
* \Vc arc told tliat ISIanus O'Donnell succeeded, in
bpito of O'Xeill's opposition, in erecting a strong frontier
castlo at tlie pass already mentioned of Port^na-dtri-
namlKiil (the fort of the three enemies) on the east side
yeai-s after (1526), O'Neill and O'Don-
nell were invited by the earl to attend
a meeting of nobles in Dublin for the
purpose, if possible, of arranging the
old causes of contention between them.
Hugh O'Donnell was represented in the
conference by his son Manus; but all
the arguments for peace were of no
avail, and the northern chiefs returned
home to muster fresh armies against
each other."'
James, earl of Desmond, was a man
of lofty and ambitious views, and held
a secret correspondence with Francis I.
of France, as he did at a subsequent
period with the emperor Charles V., for
the purpose of bringing about an in-
vasion of Ireland. His treasonable pro-
jects came to the ears of Wolsey and
Henry. He was summoned to London
and refused to obey. Orders were then
sent to the earl of Kildare, as loi'd de-
puty, to arrest him, and the latter led
an army into Munster for that purpose ;
but whether there was any collusion
between the two illustrious Geraldines
on the occasion, as alleged, or not, Kil-
dare did not succeed in carrying out the
royal mandate. These events, which
took place in 1524, were the prelude to
Kildare's ruin. In 1526 he was sum-
moned to England to answer an im-
peachment charging him with (] ) failing
to apprehend the earl of Desmond ; (2)
forming: alliances with several of the
of the Foyle near Strabane ; and in this castle, a few
years later (1532), he wrote the Irish life of St. Columb-
kilie, of which Colgan has published an abridged Latin
translation.
KILDARE AGAIN IN DIFFICULTIES.
323
king's Irish enemies; (3) causing cer-
tain loyal subjects to be hanged because
they were dependents of the Butlers ;
and (4) confederating with O'Neill,
O'Conor, and other Irish lords to invade
the territories of the earl of Oi-mond.
The enmity of Wolsey is said to have
been at the bottom of these perse-
cutions, but Kildare's good fortune had
not yet finally deserted him, and after
an imprisonment for some time in the
Tower, he was liberated on the bail of
the earl of Surrey, then duke of Nor-
folk, the marquis of Dorset, and other
persons of distinction.
A. D. 1528. — Kildare had appointed
his brother James FitzGerald, of Leix-
lip, vice-deputy on his departure for
England, on this occasion; but this
nobleman was soon replaced by Nugent,
baron of Delvin, and while the latter
was in office the chief of OfFaly made a
descent upon the Pale, and cai'ried off a
prey of cattle. The deputy was too
weak to punish O'Conor for this ag-
gression, except by withholding the
annual tribute which the English set-
tlers were accustomed to pay to him as
to other border chieftains. O'Conor
remonstrated, and a parley between him
and the deputy was arranged to take
place at Sir William Darcy's castle, near
Ruthen ; but the baron of Delvin was
taken in an ambuscade while proceeding
to the conference, and carried oflf by
O'Conor as his prisoner. Threats and
arguments to obtain his liberation were
alike in vain, and the Pale was filled
with alarm at the occurrence. The earl
of Ossory (as Pierse, earl of Ormond,
was then styled) was appointed lord
justice by the council, and with some
difficulty obtained an interview with
Delvin, O'Conor himself being present,
and Irish the only language allowed to
be used on the occasion ; or, as some
accounts have it, it was Pierse Butler's
son, James, his father being absent in
the South, who had the interview with
the captive baron and O'Conor. Ossory
and the privy council were obliged to
sanction the payment of the tribute to
O'Conor, but soon after an act of pai-lia-
ment was passed prohibiting altogethei
the payment of black rent to the Irish
chiefs. An envoy was sent this year by
the emperor Charles V. to the earl of
Desmond to negotiate a plan for the
invasion of Ireland, but the earl died
the following year, and the project fell
to the ground. The aspirations of the
Irish chieftains for the liberation of their
country from the English yoke, were,
however, becoming more defined ; and
the chief of Offiily openly expressed his
determination to make Ireland inde-
pendent.
A. D. 1530. — x\ll this time the earl of
Kildare remained in England, yet the
aggressions of O'Conor were laid to his
charge. He was accused of fomenting
a general rising of the Irish ; and it is
said that he sent his daughter, Alice,
wife of the baron of Slane, who was
then at Newington, to Ireland, to in-
fluence his brothers and the O'Neills,
O'Conors, and others, to oppose the
deputy. This lady's mission, it is added,
REIGN OF HENRY VIII.
was so successful, that the lands of the
Butlers were unmercifully pillaged by
the Geraldiue jiarty. Nevertheless the
eai-l's vast influence and j^opularity
saved him from destruction. He was
not deprived of the title of lord deputy
during his imijrisoumeut, and was sent
this year to Ireland, as coadjutor to Sir
William Skeffingtou, who was appointed
deputy to Henry Fitzroy, duke of Rich-
mond and Somerset, the king's illegi-
timate son, on whom the dignity of lord
lieutenant was conferred. The earl was
received iu Duljliu with the warmest
demonstrations of jo}-.
A. D. 1531. — Kildare continued for a
\vhile to co-operate with the English
deputy. At the instance of O'Donnell
and Niall Oge O'Neill, they invaded
Tyrone, Avhich they laid waste with fire
and sword, and the whole population
of Monaghan fled before them, leaving
the country a desert. "While the deputy
with the Anglo-Irish advanced from
one side, their Irish confederates ap-
proached from another; and they de-
molished the castle of Kinard, now
Caledon, but at this point a strong
muster of the men of Tyrone checked
their further progress.
A. D. 1532.— While Kildare and
Skeffington appeared thus to act iu
concert, a deadly enmity had grown up
between them. They forwarded mu-
tual complaints to England. The earl
proceeded there to defend himself, and
M-as again successful. Skefiington was
superseded and Kildare appointed dep-
uty. The earl unfortunately made an
imprudent use of his triumph by treat-
ing his enemies, and more esjiiecially
Skeffington, with harshness and con-
tempt. He deprived John Allen, arch-
bishop of Dublin, of the chancellorship,
and conferred it on George Cromei-,
archbishop of Armagh, who was at-
tached to his i^arty. He entered into
more intimate relations with the Irish ;
gave one of his daughters in marriage
to O'Conor of Ofialy, and another to
Fergananim O'CarroU, tanist of Ossory ;
and, aided by these two Irish princes,
he invaded the territories of the earl of
Ossory, from Avhich he carried off large
spoils. At the siege of Birr castle, in
one of these wars, the earl received a
ball in the left side, which was ex-
tracted from the opposite side the
following year, and he never fully re-
covered from the wound. About the
same time Con O'Neill, at his persua-
sion, and assisted by John FitzGerald,
the earl's brother, plundered the Eng-
lish villages of the county of Louth.
It is probable that Kildare anticipated
the fatal consequences of these violent
proceedings, and meditated some des-
perate resistance, as he furnished his
castles, especially those of Maynooth
and Ley, with cannon, pikes, and ammu-
nition, from the stores in Dublin castle,
notwithstanding the remonstrances of
the council.
A. D. 153^ — Under such circumstan-
ces we need not wonder that fresh
accusations were sent forward against
Kildare, and that he Avas once more
summoned to the king's presence. John
IlEPOUT OF THE COUXCIL.
325
Allen, who had come over as secretary
to archbishop Allen, and was now sec-
retary to the council (and who subse-
quently became master of the rolls, and
for a short time also lord chancellor),
was sent by the council to England, in
the latter part of 1533, to report to the
king on the state of his territories. He
had also secret instructions to make cer-
tain charges against the earl of Kiklare.
The report of the council stated, that
ihe English laws, manners, and lan-
guage, were confined within the narrow
compass of twenty miles, and that unless
the laws were duly enforced, the " little
place," as the Pale was termed, would
be reduced to the same condition as
the remainder of the kingdom. -This
state of tilings was attributed partly to
the illegal exactions and oppressions by
which the English tenantry had been
driven from their settlements; to the
tribute and black rent paid to the Irish
chiefs; to the enormous jurisdictions
granted to the lords of English race,
and especially to the three earls of
Desmond, Ossory, and Kildare; to the
substitution by these lords of " a rabble
of disaffected Irish," for the well-con-
ditioned yeomanry, Avhom they had
formerly under their roofs ; in fine, to
the alienation of crown lands, the fre-
quent change of government, the neglect
of the records of the exchequer, and
other causes. At the same time a
report was transmitted to Cromwell,
who had succeeded Wolsey as chancel-
lor of England, complaining that the
O'Briens hud been enabled by a bridge
lately built by them across the Shannon,
to make such inroads that they had " in
a manner subdued all the Englisli
thereto adjoining, and especially the
country of Limerick;" and that one
Edmond Oge O'Byrne had made a
forcible entry by night into Dublin
castle, and carried away from thence
prisoners and plunder, to the great
alarm of the citizens, who long after
continued to keep nightly watch against
a similar incursion. And in a third
report, referring to the enormous power
of the earls of Desmond, Kildare, and
Ossory, the council stated that the earl
of Desmond alone, and his kinsmen,
possessed the counties of Kerry, Cork,
Limerick and Waterford, from none of
which did the king derive "a single
groat of yearly profit or revenue," and
that in any one of them the king's laws
were not observed or executed. As to
the earl of Ossory, the counties of Kil-
kenny and Tipperary were under his
dominion, and their wretched poj^ula-
tion was harassed by coyn and livery.
From these and other facts the rejDort
concluded, that although popular opin-
ion attributed " to the wild Irish lords
and captains the destruction of the land
of Ireland (the Pale), it was not they
only, but the treason, rebellion, extor-
tion, and wilful war of the aforesaid
earls and other English lords," that
were answerable for so much ruin.*
Every reader of history is aware of
the events which had been occurrinf'
* state Papers, Ixiii., Ixiv., liii.
326
REIGX OF HENRY VIII.
about this time iu Eugland, and for
wliicli, although they deeply affect
Irish history also, we have not thought
it necessary to interrupt the chain of
our narrative. The tyrant who occu-
pied the English throne had been dis-
turbing Christendom by his efforts to
break the marriage bonds iu which he
had lived for twenty years with his law-
ful queen, in order to take another
wife, who soon after was to suffer on a
scaffold, charged with infamous crimes,
that she might make way for the next
in succession of this monster's six wives.
To overcome the obstacles to his pas-
sions he had flung off the authority of
the Pope, assumed to himself a spiritual
supremacy, and plunged England into a
schism which flowed naturally into the
wider gulf of heresy, iu which the na-
tion was soon merged. "VVolsey, who
was responsible for much of the evil at
its commencement, had fallen from his
high estate, and sunk into a miserable
grave ; the English church was already
in ruins ; parliament had been trans-
formed into a mere instrument of the
tyrant's will ; religious j)ersecutiou had
commenced, and in a word, the coun-
try was committed to all the horrors,
and all the crimes, wdiich constitute
the dismal epoch of tlie "reforma-
tion."
Such was the state of England when
Kildare was summoned to answer the
grave charges made against him. He
seized various pretences for delay,
and in November, 1533, sent his
countess to England, hoping, through
the influence of her familj^, to avert the
blow ; but excuses were in vain ; and,
in obedience to fresh and peremptory
orders, he set out himself in the follow-
ing February, embarking at Drogheda,
where he had summoned the council to
meet him, and where, in their presence,
he appointed his son, Thomas, not yet
twenty-one years of age, to act as dep-
uty in his absence. On the earl's
arrival in London he M'as immediately
arrested, by the king's order, and com-
mitted to the Tower.
The enemies of the Geraldines now
resorted to most unprincipled meaus to
bring about the destruction of that
family. Keports and letters were cir-
culated to the effect that the earl of
Kildare was beheaded in the Tower,
and that the same fate was intended for
all his family in Ireland. To urge lord
Thomas into some illegal act was the
object iu view, and this was easily
accomplished, as the j'oung lord was
rash and impetuous iu the extreme.
Believing the false rumors, and acting
on the indiscreet counsel of James De-
lahide and others, whom his father had
commended to him as advisers, the hot-
headed youth flew to arms. On the
11th of June, he proceeded through
Dublin, at the head of a guard of 140
horsemen, to St. Mary's abbey, where
he had appointed to meet the council ;
and there, surrounded by his armed
followers, who entered the council
chamber with him, he surrendered the
sword and robes of state to Cromer,
the chancellor, and renounced his alle-
REBELLION OF SILKEX TII03L\S.
giaiice to the king. Arclibishop Cro-
mer iiuplored him with tears to revoke
his pui-pose, but entreaties were iu
vaiu. The young Geraldine rushed
forth on his wild career, which speedily-
led to the destruction of himself and
his fjimily.
Copious details of the rebellion of
this rash young loi'd, who from the
rich trappings of his followers, was
popularly styled " Silken Thomas," are
given by Anglo-Irish historians, but
they rest, for the most part, on no bet-
ter authority than that of Stanihurst
and the Book of Howth. It appears,
however, that after despoiling the lauds
of several leading persons who were
opposed to his enterprise, he laid siege
to Dublin. The city was at that time
weakened by jjestilence, and the citi-
zens having just suffered a serious loss
in an attempt to intercept a party of
the O'Tooles and O'Byrnes, who were
carrying off spoils from Fingal to Wick-
low, were not in a state to resist, so
that after some negotiation they admit-
ted his soldiei-s within the walls to
besiege the castle, in which archbishop
Allen, Patrick Finglass, chief baron of
the exchequer, and other leading per-
sons had taken refuge. The archbishop,
feeling himself to be the most obnox-
ious to the Geraldiues, endeavored to
effect his escape to England, and for
that purpose embarked at night in a
* Tliis prelate, who was an Englisliman, was raised
to the SCO of Dublin by Wolsey, whoso chaplain he had
been, and whom he had served as an agent in the sup-
pression of forty English monasteries to found his col-
leges at Ipswich and Oxford, years before Henry VIII.
ship which lay in the river off Dame's
gate ; but whether by accident or de-
sign, the vessel was run ashore at
Clontarf, and the archbishop sought
refuge in the neighboring village of
Artane. News of the circumstance was
quickly conveyed to lord Thomas, who,
with two of his uncles, John and Oliver,
repaired to the spot at the dawn of
day, and had the unhappy Allen taken
from his bed, and dragged half naked
as he was before them. Falling on his
knees the prelate begged hard for his
life ; but finding his entreaties fruitless,
he addressed his jjrayers to Heaven,
and was then murdered in a brutal
manner iu the Geraldiue's presence.
It is said that lord Thomas merely di-
rected his attendants in Irish to " take
the clown away," and that they under-
stood him to mean that they should
kill the archbishop.* This atrocity,
which was committed on the 2Sth oi
July, cast a blight upon the insurrec-
tion, and drew down a sentence ol
excommunication, accompanied by fear-
ful maledictions, upon all who had
jiarticipated iu the crime. The ecclesi-
astical sentence was transmitted to the
Tower, that it might be seen by the
unhappy earl of Kildare, whose heart
was already rent with afiliction by the
news of his son's rash rebellion. lie
lingered until September, when he died,
and was buried in the Tower chapel.
had taken up the work of spoliation. (Mageoghegan's
Hist, of Ireland, p. 403, Duffy's edition). Mien was the
author of the JjImIc Book of Christ's church, and the
Repertorium Viride, both well known to antiquaries
(Ware's Bishops and Annais.)
IlEIGN OF HENRY VIII.
Lord Thomas endeavored in vain to
induce his cousin, James Butler, sou of
the earl of Ossory, to join him. He
then invaded Butler's territory, whence
lie carried off some spoils; but he was
losino- ground in Dublin, where his
men, who had been admitted within
the walls, were cut off or captured by
the citizens, and he himself repulsed in
two or three assaults upon the city. A
truce for six weeks was then agreed on ;
and Sir William Skefflngton, who had
been reappointed lord deputy when the
news of the insurrection reached Eng-
land, arrived on the coast, but in such
infirm health that for several months
he was unable to take the field. Lord
Tiiomas burned Duuboyne, and threat-
ened the destruction of Trim, and other
towns. He sent Delahide and others
to solicit aid from the emperor, Charles
v., and desjiatched envoys to Rome ;
but his hopes from these quarters were
not realized ; and at home few of the
native Lish, save O'Carroll, O'More,
and O'Conor of Offixly ranged them-
selves under his banner. All the north-
ern chieftains except O'Neill and Ma-
nns, son of the chief of Tirconnell, were
on friendly terms with the government,
and even the warlike septs of Wicklow
took the royal side.
A. D. 1535. — The protracted inactivity
of Skeffiugton emboldened the rebels ;
l)nt about the middle of March the
feeble deputy proceeded to lay siege to
Maynooth castle, which, from the mag-
nificence of its furniture, was deemed one
of the richest houses under the crown
of England, and which was so strongly
fortified that lord Thomas entrusted its
defence to the garrison, while he himself
endeavored to rally his friends in other
parts of the country. Besides Maynooth,
he had the strongholds of Rathangan,
CarloAV, Portlester, Athy, and Ley, and
had removed to the last-mentioned castle
the principal part of his ammunition,
hoping to be able to hold out until suc-
cor arrived from Spain or Scotland.
Stanihurst tells a story of the betrayal
of Maynooth into the hands of Skefflng-
ton by its constable, Christopher Parese;
but it appears from the deputy's des-
patches that the castle was taken by
assault, the remnant of the garrison,
when reduced from over a hundred to
thirty-seven effective men, surrendering
at discretion, and twenty-five of these
being executed as traitors the following
day before the castle.
Lord Thomas, who had collected a
small army by the help of the chief of
Offal}', was approaching to relieve Maj--
nooth, when he received the news of its
fall. His followers, struck with dismay,
then deserted him, and witli a company
of only sixteen friends he took refuge
in Thomond, whose chief was prepared
long before to come to his aid, had he
not been kept at home by the rebellion
of his son, Donough O'Brien, who had
been stirred up and assisted against him
by the earl of Ossoiy. In the same
way, the other adherents of the Gerald-
iue had been paralyzed by domestic
dissensions.
Skeffiugton being laid up by illness
LORD LEONARD GRAY IIs^ IRELAND.
32^
at Maynootb, while the Pale was threat-
ened with invasion I'V O'Brien, O'Conor
Faly, and O'Kelly, Allen, master of the
rolls, and chief justice Aylmer were
despatched to England to represent the
critical state of affairs, and lord Leonard
Gray, son of the marquis of Dorset, was
thereupon seut over to take the com-
mand of the army, as marshal of Ireland.
He landed on the 28th of July, and
adopting vigorous means to comjjlete
the suppression of the revolt, found the
task an easy one. Lord Thomas lost his
allies one by one. O'More abandoned
him, and O'Conor was compelled to
submit, and about the end of xlugust
he sought a parley, confessed his offence,
casting the blame on his advisers, and
])raying that his life might be spared ;
he surrendered himself to lord Gray.
The Lish annalists expressly state that
he received a promise that his life would
not be forfeited, and the State Papers
furnish undeniable proof that such was
the case. Lord Leonard himself con-
ducted him to England, where he was
seized on his way to Windsor, and com-
mitted to the Tower by order of the
king, who was enraged that any terms
should have been made with him.
About a year before this time a com-
mission was sent to Ireland to prepare
the Avay for the introduction there of
Henry's spiritual supremacy. George
Browne, an Augustinian friar of Lon-
don, and the confidential agent of Cran-
mer, was one of its pi-incipal members,
and was soon after made archbishop of
Dublin, in succession to the ill-f;xted
John Allen. The commission was a
total failure, but among its few fruits
may be counted the accession to the
English schism, of Peter, or Pierse But-
ler, earl of Ossory, and his son James,
who was then created viscount Thurles.
These noblemen were, in May, 1534,
charged with the government of Kil-
kenny, Waterford, and Tipperary, and
on receiving this appointment pledged
themselves " to resist the usurpation of
the bishop of Eome ;" this being, as Cox
observes, the first engagement of that
kind to be met with in our history. The
document signed by them on the occa-
sion contains a falsehood as absurd as
it is flagitious, attributing all the evils
under which Ireland suffered to the
manner in which the pope had exer-
cised his authority in filling up the Irish
benefices !
A. D. 1536. — Exasperated at the ex-
pense which the rebellion in Ireland
had caused, Henry affected to regard its
suppression as a conquest of the coun-
try, and pi'oposed it as a question for
discussion by his council whether he
had not thereby acquired a right to
seize on all the estates of that kingdom,
both spiritual and temporal. He ordered
lord Gray, who, on the death of Skefi-
ington at the close of the preceding
year, was appointed lord deputy, to
arrest the five uncles of Silken Thomas ;
and as it was rumored in Ireland that
an amnesty would be granted, three
of the uncles, besides, having openly
discountenanced the rebellion at the
comm-'ucement, the five uoblcmou made
REIGN OF IIENUY VIII.
ao great difficul(_y of surrendering them-
?elvos to the deputy. They wei'e accord-
ingly attainted by the Irish parliament
and conveyed to London, where, with
their ill-fated nephew, they were exe-
cuted at Tyburn on the 3d of February,
1537.*
This sweeping act of vengeance scat-
tered and dismayed the Geraldine
party; but there still remained two
scions of the noble house of KiMare —
namely, the sons of the late earl Gerald
by his second wife, lady Elizabeth Gray.
Of these, Edward, the younger, who
Avas "still an infant, was conveyed by
some means to his mother in England,
and the elder, Gerald, then about twelve
or thirteen years old, found an asylum
for a time in Thomond, whence he was
conveyed to Kilbritain, in Carbery, to
his aunt, lady Eleanor, widow of Mac-
Cartliy Keagh. His subsequent fortunes
we shall hereafter relate.
O'Brien's bridge, which opened a
highway from Thomond into the Eng-
lish tei-i'itories, was a constant source of
alarm to the inhabitants of the latter,
and its destruction was au object of so
much importance to the government of
the Pale as to enter into all their plans
at this period. To demolish it, there-
fore, lord Gray led an army to the south
in July this year, and several of the
native sejjts of Leinster sent him their
contingents. The earl of Ossory joined
him in Kilkenny at the head of a con-
• From a letter written by the unhappy lord Thomas
we leara that during his imprisonment he was not
allowed the commonest necessaries of life. lie was left
siderable force ; and, as he approached
the Shannon, Donough O'Brien, the
same whom we have seen rising in
rebellion against his father, the chief of
Thomond, at the desire of the eai-1 of
Ossory, presented himself and offered
to conduct the army to the bridge by a
secret and undefended path. This trai-
tor, who. was married to the earl of
Ossory's daughter, complained that he
had not been sufficiently rewarded for
his former services, and stipulated that
for his new act of treachery he should
be put in possession of Carrigogonnell
castle, which, he said, the English had
not held for two hundred years. Having
arrived before the bridge, the deputy
found it strongly built of stone, and
defended at either end by a tower
standing in the river. The nearer
tower was taken by assault, the gar-
rison escaping in the rear ; and the
bridge being then demolished, lord
Gray proceeded to Limerick. He next
took the castle of Carrigogonnell, which
was bravely defended by some men of
the earl of Desmond and O'Brien, and
having put the garrison to the sword,
delivered that famous stronghold to
Donough. In his despatch announcing
the destruction of O'Brien's bridge, the
lord deputy complains bitterly of the
insubordination of his English soldiers,
who frequently mutinied in the field to
obtain money or plunder. " I am in
more dread of my life amongst them
during the printer "barefoot and barelegged, depending
on the charity of his fellow-prisoners for a few tattered
garments to defend hini against the cold."
EVENTS IN OFFALY.
331
jiiat l)e soldiers," he wrote, " than I ain
of tliem that be the king's Irish ene-
mies."
A. D. 1537.— Cahir O'Conor Faly
having given the Pale nuieh trouble, as
his sept had always done, it was pro-
posed to ci'eate him baron of Ofl'aly,
and to allow him to hold his lands by
English tenure, on the ground, say the
council, that " Irishmen would so hate
him afterwards that he would have but
little comfort of them, and so must look
to the king's subjects for protection
against them." But this mean and insid-
ious policy defeated itself; for scarcely
had the proposed arrangement been
effected, when Cahir's brother, Brian,
whom the lord deputy boasted that he
had reduced to the condition of a beg-
gar expelled the protege of the English
and took possession of his territory.
This drew from secretary Cromwell an
order to the lord deputy to " hang the
traitor" as an example to others, and
" never to trust to a traitor after, but to
use them without treating after their
dements." Nevertheless we find that
in a parley, which was conducted with
extraordinary precautions on both sides.
Brian soon after obtained favorable
terms from the lord deputy, so that it
was Cahir O'Conor's turn then to re-
volt, and again, after some fighting, to
submit.
Instead of attempting to heal the
disorders of the country on any prin-
ciple of even-handed justice, it was now
seriously proposed by the Irish govern-
ment to exterminate the native popu-
lation in all those districts bordering
on the Pale, which, from the nature of
the country, aiforded the people means
of self defence ; and this was to be
effected by starvation. The corn was
to be destroyed when ripe, the cattle
killed or carried away, or, by an in-
genious system of harassing, gradually
wasted from the land.*
Young Gerald, heir to the earldom
of Kildare, still escaped the numerous
attempts made to capture him, although
no pains were spared for that purpose
on the part of the government. Threats
and bribes were held out to the Irish
chieftains who were suspected of shelter-
ing him; and in many instances their
territories were laid waste by lord Le-
onard Graj'. Manus O'Donuell, who,
* The words in whicli this diabolical scheme was
propounded to secretary Cromwell by his Irish agents
deserve to be transcribed: "The very living of the
Irishry," it is said, " doth clearly consist in two things ;
ttnd take away the same from them and they are past
for ever to recover, or yet to annoy any subject in Ire-
land. Take first from them their corn, and as much as
cannot be husbanded and had into the hands of such as
ihall dwell and inhabit in their lands, to burn and
destroy the same, so as the Irishry shall not live there-
upon ; and then to have their cattle and beasts which
shall be most hardest to come by, and yet witli guides
and policy they be oft had and taken. And, by reason
that the several armies, as I devised in ray other papsr,
should proceed at once, it is not possible for the said
Irishry to put or flee their cattle from one country into
another, but that one of the armies shall come thereby ;
and admitting the impossibility so that tlieir cattle were
saved, yet in the conimuance of one year, the same
cattle shall be dead, destroyed, stolen, strayed, or eaten,
by reason of the continual removing of them, going
from one wood to another, their lying out all the winter,
their narrow pastures Aud then they (the
Irishry) shall be without corn, victuals, or cattle, and
thereof shall ensue the putting in elTt'ct all these wars
against them." S. P.
3r>2
REIGX OF HENRY VIII.
on the death of his father in 1537, had
succeeded to the chieftaincy of Tircou-
nell,* made proposals of marriage to
the boy's aunt, tlie lady Eleanor Mac-
Carthy, who consented the more will-
ingly to secure the protection of so
powei'ful a chief for her nephew ; and
she was able to pass in safety Avith her
young charge from the south to the
north of Ireland, so steadftist was the
sympathy of the people for the house
of Kildare. The northern chieftains
confederated for the restoration of the
young Geraldine to his paternal estates ;
and. when the lord deputy sought to
treat with them for his surrender, they
refused to meet him. Another hostile
inroad by lord Gray into Tyrone was
the consequence. The castle of Dun-
gannon was taken, and the surrounding
country abandoned for six days to pil-
lage and devastation. But as time
pi-ogressed the aim of tlie confederates
became more lofty and sacred ; and
they now aspired to nothing less than
the liberation of tbeir country from the
English yoke ; religion lending an ad-
ditional and j)Owerful impulse to their
old cause of enmity against England.
Fortunately it is not our duty to
* Hngli Duv O'Donnell, tlie veteran cHef of Tircon-
i.ell (son of Hugli Roe, son of Niall Garv), died in the
Franciscan monastery of Donegal, 1537. The Four
Masters state that he was " a man who did not suffer
the power of the English to come into his country, for
he formed a league of peace and friendship with the
king of England when he saw that the Irish would not
yield superiority to any one among themselves, but that
friends and blood-relations contended against each other."
lie was a successful warrior and a politic ruler ; but suf-
fered a good deal from dissensions in his own family.
trace tlie history of the religious changes
which at this time were taking place in
the neighboring country. "We are only
concerned at present vith the fact that
these changes were wholly repugnant
to the feelings of the Irish people, who
remained firmly attached to their an-
cient faith and traditions. While Eng-
land exhibited such pliancy and ingrat-
itude, in turning against an indulgent
raothei', Ireland — cast by her position
into the shade, calumniated, desjiised
and abandoned for centuries to a hope-
less struggle with a powerful and
merciless foe — still, in the hour of trial,
remained faithful. And when her fidel-
ity was appreciated, and she began to
be recognized as a champion of . the
Catholic fiiith, and words of encourage-
ment reached her from that Eomo
against which the enemies of both
would have inspired her with jealousy
she responded Avith devotion and en-
thusiasm. Henceforth Ireland jiresents
to us a spectacle, deplorable indeed
when we consider her unexampled suf-
ferings, but worthy the admiration of
Christendom, when we contemplate her
enduring and unsubdued heroism in
the cause of religion.
Two of his sons, Niall Garv and Owen, slew each othei
in a domestic feud, in 152 -1 ; and the enmity between
his two remaining sons, Hugh Boy and Manus, was
such that in 1531 he was obliged to call in the aid of
Maguire to crush their strife. On that occasion, Manus,
the younger brother, was compelled to fly and entered
into an alliance with Con O'NieU, showing himself to
be decidedly hostile to the English. The popularity of
Manus, therefore, became very great, and on the death
of his father he was unanimously chosen his succes
SCHISMATIC TROCEEDINGS IN IRELAND.
333
Arclibisliop Browne found all his
efforts to propagate the new doctrines
fruitless even in the Pale. In a letter
to Cromwell he complained bitterly
that even the common people were
more zealous in what he termed their
blindness " than the saints and martyrs
in truth in the beginning of the gos-
pel ; that the hostility against himself
was such that his life was in danger ;
that he received the most strenuous
opposition from Cromer, archbishop of
Armagh. Primate Cromer was an Eng-
lishman, but from the first he protested
against the impious attempt to enforce
the king's supremacy in spirituals ; he
pronounced an anathema against those
who would acknowledge it ; convoked
the suffragans and clergy of his prov-
ince to address them on the subject;
and sent two jDriests to Rome to repre-
sent the danger of the church, and to
entreat the interposition of the sover-
eign jDontiff. This conscientious and
manly discharge of his duty was called
treason, and he was cast into prison.
Browne feared that the pope would or-
der O'Neill to take up arras in the name
of Catholicity ; and knowing how easy
it was to get any law the king might
choose passed by parliament, in the
servile and degraded state to which it
was then reduced, he urged Cromwell
to have one convened in Dublin with-
out delaj-. This was accordingly done,
and a parliament which met in Dublin
on the 1st of May, 1536, followed with
obsequious readiness in the footsteps of
the English parliament — making laws
and annulling them, to suit the cajirice
of the tyrant. The marriage of the
king M'ith Catherine of Arragon was
declared null and void, and the succes-
sion to the crown limited to his children
by Anne Boleyn; but this act was
scarcely passed when news arrived that
the lady Anne was beheaded, and that
Henry had married the lady Jane Sey-
mour ; so that it was necessary immedi-
ately to rescind the former act, and to
jjass another attainting Anne Boleyn
and her alleged paramours !
There was, however, more difficulty
in getting the Irish parliament to pass
the acts relating to religion, chiefly
owing to the strenuous opposition given
to them by the proctors, of whom there
were three from each diocese, who,
from time immemorial, had exercised
the right of voting. These were not so
timid or pliant as the men of property^
who feared attainders and confiscations,
and it was therefore resolved that they
should be got rid of By an act ol
despotic o}5pression the proctors were
accordingly excluded from parliament,
which then became a ready tool in the
hands of the officials. Several proroga-
tions took place before all this could be
effected, and at length, in 1537, it was
enacted that the king was the supreme
head on earth of the church of Ireland ;
that no appeal lay to Rome in spiritual
matters ; and that first fruits were to
be paid to the king, not only from all
bishoprics and other secular offices in
the church, but from all abbeys, prior-
ies, colleges and hosj^itals. The author-
334
REIGX OF HENRY VIII.
ity of tlie Pope was solemnly reuounced,
and all who maintained, it in Ireland
were made liable to premunire. Offi-
cers of every kind, and degree were
required to take the oath of supremacy,
and all who refused to take it were
declared guilty of high treason. Sev-
eral of the religious houses were suj)-
pressed, and their demesnes confiscated
to the crown ; and other laws similar
to those already passed, in .England
were enacted to gratify the resentment,
avarice, or capricious passions of Henry,
A. D. 1538. — The Geraldine league at
this time comprised O'Neill, O'Donnell,
O'Bi-ien, the earl of Desmond, O'Neill
of ClannaLoy, O'Rourke, MacDermot,
and several minor chieftains ; but there
was no active co-operation among them,
and their projects were never carried
into actual effect. Lord Gray invaded
Lecale this year, and took the strong
castle of Dundrum from Magennis, de-
stroying seven other castles in Ulster in
the same expedition. He is accused of
having burnt, on this occasion, the
cathedral of Down, and demolished the
monuments of SS. Patrick, Bridget and
Columbkille which it contained ; but it
is certain, nevertheless, that he at no
time ceased to profess the Catholic
faith. On this very expedition he gave
great offence to Browne's party by
hearing several masses one day before
the statue of the Blessed Virgin, at
Trim ; and his dislike of the Lutherans
* These venerable relics were of great antiquity ; and
several miracles are recorded in the Irish annals as hav-
ing been performed through the means of the crucifix
was, we may be sure, the true cause of
the enmity against him ; although we
are told he made enemies of the But-
lers and their clique by his severe and
overbearing disposition. Browne at
this time gave full scoj)e to his secta-
rian zeal, and caused several objects of
Catholic veneration to be destroyed.
The famous statue of the Blessed Vir-
gin, just mentioned, which he insult-
ingly called "the idol of Trim," was
publicly burned ; and the holy crucifix
of the abbey of Ballybogan, with the
crozier of St. Patrick, called the staff of
Jesus, underwent the same fate.*
A. D. 1539. — Early in May this year
lord Gray led an expedition against
Con O'Neill, and remained two days at
Armagh burning and pillaging the sur-
rounding country without resistance.
The following August, O'Neill and
O'Donnell combined to invade the Eng-
lish borders, and proceeded as far as
Navan and Ardee. They were return-
ing home, encumbered with enormous
spoils, when they were overtaken by
lord Gra}', with a strong force, at Bela-
hoe, on the borders of Farney in Oriel,
and routed with great slaughter. The
Irish lost 400 men, together with all
the spoils. EitzSimon, mayor of Dub-
lin, Com-cy, mayor of Drogheda, Gerald
Aylmer, chief justice of the king's
bench, and Thomas Talbot, of Malahide,
were dubbed knights for the imj^ortaut
services they rendered in the encounter.
and statue here referred to. See Four Masters,
1381, 1397, 1411, 1413, 1444, 1464, 1483.
FEUDS AXD ALLIAXCES.
335
Tlie deputy next proceeded to Mon-
ster, in order to break up the league
wLicli existed between O'Brien and
Desmond. Pierse Butler, to whom by
this time had been restored his title of
earl of Ormond, cordially co-operated
with him for this object; and a violent
feud which had long prevailed between
Butler and Gray was now ai-ranged. In
his march through O'Carroll's country,
and thence to Cork, the deputy received
the submission of several chiefs of Irish
and English descent; as O'Brien of
Ara, O'Regan of Owney, O'Dwyer of
Kilnamona, MacCarthy Eeagh, the
White Knight, lord Barry, Eed Barry,
<fec. James FitzMaurice FitzGerald, a
claimant to the earldom of Desmond,
accompanied the deputy's ai'niy, and
was i5ut in possession of several castles
in the county of Cork ; but James Fitz-
John, the actual earl, treated this pro-
ceeding with scorn, and approaching the
deputy's camp when near the Blackwa-
ter, stood on the opposite bank of that
river and announced his determination
to adhere still to O'Brien ; adding, that
" all the Irishry of Ireland would do so ;"
at which words the lord deputy " was
sore moved, and withdrew to Cork.'"'
* There is great confusion in the history of the earls
of Desmond, owing to the frequent disturbance of the
succession by usurpation. At the period referred to in
the test, there were two claimants to the earldom;
James, son of Maurice, son of Thomas, the twelfth earl ;
whose father (Maurice) died during the lifetime of the
said carl Thomas, and who was himself absent in Eng-
land, where he was page of honor to Henry VIII., when
his grandfather died in 1534. His granduncle, John,
(son of Thomas, the eighth carl, who was beheaded at
Droglieda in 1467), usurped tlie earldom in his absence,
Imt being advanced in nge died in loOG leaving five
A commission was appointed this
year to carry into effect the act ^^assed
in the jDarliament of 1537 for the sup-
pression of religious houses, and the
formality of an official inquiry was
adopted for the purpose, as in England ;
but this country was fortunate enough
to escape the sanguinary persecution
which was carried on, in the name of
religion, at the other side of the channel
during this reign. Dr. John Travers,
who had written a book in defence of
the papal supremacy, and who is said
to have been implicated in the rebellion
of Silken Thomas, was hanged this year
at Tyburn ; but it would not appear
from the Anglo-Irish historians that any
other Irish clergyman suffered death in
the reign of Henry VIII.; although
several, who were subsequently liber-
ated by lord Gray, were arrested at the
instigation of Archbishop Browne. The
Four Masters, however, inform us, un-
der the date of 1540, that the guardian
and some of the friars of the Franciscan
monastery of Monaghan were put to
death, and that " the English, through-
out every part of Ireland, where their
power extended, were persecuting and
banishing the (religious) orders."f
sons ; of -whom James, tho second sou, called James
FitzJohn, continued the usurpation. JamesFitzMaurico
was regarded by the English as the legitimate heir, and
was also strenuously supported by his futher-iu-Iaw,
Cormac Ogo MacCarthy ; but ho never recovered the
possession of the ancestral estates, and was at length
killed in 1.540 by Maurice, son of liis grand-uncle John,
whereupon his opponent, James FitzJohu, was left in
quiet occupation of title and estates.
t The number of monasteries and other religious
houses destroyed during this reign in Ireland has never
been ascertained ; but it appears from various inquisi-
336
KEIGX OF IIEXRY VIII.
A. D. 1540.— Early in the spring of
this year lord Leonard Gray ^yas re-
called to England, and Sir William
Brei-eton appointed, for the time, lord
justice. Lord Gray was graciously re-
ceived by the king; but his enemies,
the earl of Ormond, John Allen (who,
on the death of Barnwell, baron of
Trimbleston, in 1538, had been made
chancellor) and Sir William Brabazon,
the vice-treasurer, followed him, and
made such charges against him that he
was committed to the Tower for high
treason. Among other things alleged
against him was his open partiality
for the Geraldines ; his suffering young
Gerald of Kildare, his nephew, to es-
cape from Ireland ;* his forbearance
towards certain Irish chieftains, and the
confidence which he reposed in them —
which was such that he traversed the
territorj^ of Thomoud, the preceding
year, with no other escort than a single
tions tliat many, especially in places inaccessible to the
EJiglish, ivere concealed for a long time after, and the
friars continued to live in the neighborhood of several
up to a recent period. Four blasters, vol. v., p. 1440,
note e. " Some of the social advantages of the religious
houses in Ireland are alluded to iacidentaUy, in a letter
of the lord deputy Gray and council, to Cromwell,
March Slst, 1539, requesting that six houses should be
exempted from the general suppression — St. Mary's
abbey and Clirist church, Dublin^ the Nunnery of
Grace Dieu, Fingall, Co. Dublin ; Connell abbey, Co.
Kildare ; and Kells and Jerpoint, Co. Kilkenny ; — ' For
in these houses commonly and other such like, in de-
fault of common inns which are not in this land, the
king's deputy, and all other his grace's councU and
officers, and Irishmen coming to the deputy, have been
commonly lodged at the cost of said houses.' Also in
them ' yonge men and childer, both gentlemen childer
and other, both of man kynd and woman kynd, be
brought up in virtue, learning, and the English tongue :'
the ladies all in the nunnery of Grace Dieu ; the young
men in the other houses. St. Mary's abbev was tlie
gallowglass of O'Briens. Ultimately
his enemies prevailed, and he was exe-
cuted as a traitor on Tower-hill, in June,
1541.
During the interval which elapsed
before the appointment of a successor
to lord Graj^, the Pale was threatened
on all sides by Irish foes. Incursions
were made bj O'Toole, MacMurrough,
and O'Conor; an intimate correspon-
dence was carried on between the prin-
cipal Ulster chieftains and James V. of
Scotland; and the eyes of the Irish were
directed with hope towards the foes of
England on the continent. It was re-
ported that a general muster of the
forces of O'Neill, O'Donnell, O'Brien,
and other Irish lords, was about to take
place at Foure, in West Meath ; the in-
habitants of the Pale were seized with
alarm ; and men of every class and
station flew to arms. Bishops, temporal
peers, priests, judges, lawyers, and men
hotel of all people of quality coming from England, and
Christ church was at once the parliament house, the
council house, and ' the common resort in Term tyme
for definitions of all matters by the judges.' State
Papers, Henry viii., vol. iii., part iii., p. 130. The abbot
of St. Mary's, petitioning some time after against the
suppression, pleads, ' verily we be but stewards and
purveyors to other men's uses for the king's honour :
keeping hospitality and many poor men, scholars, and
orphans.' " Camb. Ear., vol. ii., p. 545, note.
'■' The friends of young Gerald deeming it unsafe for
him to remain any longer in Ireland, he sailed in
March, 1540, from Donegal, accompanied by his tutor,
Leverou.s, afterwards bishop of Kildare, and a Father
Walsh, and lauded at St. Male's. After many inter-
mediate journeyings he at length reached Rome in
safety, and was affectionately received by his kinsman,
cardinal Pole, who had him carefully educated. Sub-
sequently he was taken to the court of Cosmo de Medici,
grand duke of Tuscany, and in the reign of Edward VI.
was restored to his estates. Finallj' he was re-established
in all the honors of his family by queen Mary.
^>#
t-^fe
\^...-,^> ,j^ '1^.
CONCESSIOX AXD SUBMISSION.
337
of every profession mingled in the armed
throng* and Brereton was soon at the
head of a hastily collected force of ten
thousand men, with which he marched
to Foure, w^here he found no trace of
the rumored Irish congress. In fact the
Irish annalists make no allusion what-
ever to any such intended meeting, and
the rumor was doubtless without foun-
dation ; but the lord justice and his
militia were resolved that they should
not be called out in vain. " We con-
cluded to do some exploit," he writes ;
and he then proceeds to tell us how the
army entered the neighboring territory
of Offaly, and "encamping in sundry
places, destroyed O'Couor's habitations,
corn, and fortilices, so long as their vic-
tuals endured," that is, for a period of
twenty days !
The long and harassing Avars waged
by the English government against the
Irish, and the fatal dissensions of the
latter among themselves, produced their
inevitable results. The chiefs and great
lords, both of English and Irish descent,
were reduced to a state of deplorable
misery and exhaustion. Every thing de-
structable had been wasted and bui-ned
until the country became a howling wil-
derness. It was high time, therefore, on
the one side to think of submission, and
prudent on the other to propose con-
cession. Things had reached a turning
point, and Henry was just then fortun-
ate in selecting a governor for Ireland
who knew how to take advantage of the
favorable circumstances. This prudent
statesman was Sir Anthony Sentleger,
43
who came over as deputy in August,
1540, a moment when the Irish chief-
tains manifested most peaceable dispo-
sitions. O'Donnell wrote to the king
expressing his repentance in humble
terms, and acknowledging the royal
supremacy. A letter was also addressed
by O'Neill to Henry, accompanied by
gifts ; it was written in Latin and bore
the chieftain's mark, for few in those
turbulent times had either leisure or
taste to acquire the first rudiments of
learning; but as it was couched in in-
dependent terms, and complained of the
aggressions of English viceroj^s, Henry's
reply to it was less condescending than
that to O'Donnell's epistle.
MacMurrough submitted after his
territory, which was then limited lo
Idrone in the west of Carlow, had been
devastated for ten days by the earl of
Ormond. He adopted the name of
Kavenagh, and renounced the title of
MacMurrough, which he engaged on
the part of his sept that no ojie should
henceforth assume. The submission of
the O'Mores, O'Dempseys, and other
Leiuster septs followed. Henry di-
rected that no favor should be shown
to O'Conor of Offidy, who, if possible,
should be expe^'ed from his country;
j^et when that < lief, seeing himself al-
most alone, proffered his submission, it
was gladly received ; and his adherents,
O'Molloy, O'Melaghlin, and Megeoghe-
gan, followed his example. Even Tur-
lough O'Toole, the head of the warlike
sept which still maintained its inde
pendence amidst the wildest glens and
338
REIGN OF HENRY VIII.
mountain passes of Wicklow, now re-
quested a parley with the lord deputy,
and asked permission to visit the king,
that he might petition him for certain
lands to which he laid claim. Sentleger
acceded to his request, and supplied
hhu with £20 from his own purse for
the expenses of his journey, together
with a letter of introduction to the
duke of Norfolk."
A. D. 1541. — ^The earl of Desmond at
length consented to submit, but when
proceeding to Cahir to meet the lord
deputy for that purpose, the archbishop
of Dul)lin, the master of the ordnance,
and the deputy's brother, were given as
hostages for his safety. The earl agreed
to renounce his privilege of not attend-
ing ])arliament or entering walled towns.
A difference between him and the earl
of Ormond, who set up a claim to the
eaildom of Desmond in I'ight of his
wife, the only daughter and heir general
of the eleventh earl, was arranged by
an undertaking that an intermai'riage
sliould take place between the children
of the two earls ; and Sentleger and the
* The Wicklow chieftain above referred to had, some
time before, in a chivalrous spirit, lent his aid to the
deputy when he saw that all the leading Irish chiefs
were leagued against him ; observing, " that as soon as
the others made peace then would he alone make war
with him !" This was really the spirit by which the
Irish chieftains were most frequently actuated in their
wars with the English government.
f No better illustration of the impoverished state to
which the great lords and cliieftains, as well of the
English as of the native race, were at this time reduced,
could be required than that aflbrded by Sentleger's
letters to the king relative to their submission. The
deputy tells us that Desmond, " the noblest man in all
the realm," required to be provided by the king not
only with robes to wear in parliament, but even with
lord chancellor accompanied Desmond
to his town of Kilmallock, where they
were most hospitably entertained. Sent-
leger, in a letter to the king, describes
Desmond as " undoubtedly a very wise
and discreet gentleman."-!-
After Desmond's submission, a con-
ference was held at Limerick Avith
O'Brien, " the greatest Irishman of the
west of this land;" but it led to no
immediate result ; the chief of Thomoncl
saying that " although the captain of his
nation he was still but one man,'' and
should take time to consult his kinsmen
and followers. The chieftain's excuse
throws a curious light on the internal
government of the independent Irish
septs.
On the 12th of June, a parliament
was held in Dublin, at which the novel
sight was witnessed of Irish chieftains
sitting, for the first time, with English
lords. O'Brien appeared there by his
procurators or attorneys; and Kaven-
agh, O'More, O'Reilly, MacWilliam, and
others, took their seats in person, the
speeches of the speaker and the lord
apparel for his daily use, " whereof he had great lack."
Sentleger himself had already given him a gown,
jacket, doublet, hose, and other articles of dress, " for
which he was thankful ;" the earl accounting for his
want of means to provide these necessaries, by the
wasting wars in which he had been engaged. MacGilla-
patrick (who was soon after created baron of CTpjier
Ossory, and changed his name into Fitzpatrick) and
O'Reilly were in like manner provided with parlia-
mentary robes at the king's expense ; while O'Rourke
petitioned for a suit of ordinary clothes, " as he was a
man somewhat gross, and not trained to repair unto his
majesty." The wealth of these chiefs did not consist of
money, of which they had scarcely any, but in the num-
ber of men whose services they could command in their
hostings, and whose support was levied on the country
COXFERRING OF EXGLISII TITLES.
330
cbancellor being interpreted to them in
Irish by the earl of Ormoud. Au act
was unanimously passed by this parlia-
ment conferring on Henry VIIL, and
his successors, the title of king of Ire-
lanrl, instead of that of lord of Ireland,
which the English kings since the days
of John had hitherto borne. This act,
which seemed to give a better security
of peace, was hailed with great rejoicings
in Dublin ; and on the following Sunday
the lords and gentlemen of parliament
went in procession to St. Patrick's cathe-
dral, where solemn mass was sung b}'
archbishop Browne, after which the law
was proclaimed, and a Te Deum cliaunt-
ed. A general pardon was issued, and,
as Sentleger writes to Henry VIIL,
"there were made in the city great
bonfires, wine Avas set in the streets,
and there were great feastings in the
houses.'"
A. D. 1542. — It was now about two
years since Con O'Neill and Manus
O'Donnell had written submissive let-
ters to the king, yet, in the rage for
court favor which prevailed in the in-
terval, these two great northern chiefs
still held aloof. At length O'Donnell,
w'ho had of late years exhibited a
marked leaning towards the English,
took the initiative, and O'Neill follow-
ed ; but not until his territor}' had been
* As a contrast to the other chieftains in point of
dress, Sentleger, describing that worn by O'Donnell,
says it consisted of a coat of crimson velvet, with twenty
or thirty pairs of golden aiglets ; over that a great double
cloak of crimson satin, bordered with black velvet ; and
in his bonnet a feather, set full of aiglets of gold ; so
that ha was more richly dressed than any other Irish-
subjected to spoliatiou fur twenty-two
days by the deputy. The chief of Ty-
rone repaired to England, accompanied
by O'Kervellan, bishop of Clogher, and
was graciously received by the king at
Greenwich. He renounced the title of
jarince and the name of O'Neill, and
surrendered his territories into the
king's hands, receiving them back un-
der letters patent, together with the
title of earl of Tyrone. He had asked
the king to make him earl of Ulster,
but Henry explained that this request
was somewhat presumptuous, the earl-
dom of Ulster being one of the greatest
in Christendom, and being besides at-
tached to the royal fjimily. Mathew,
or Ferdoragh, the natural son of Con
O'Neill, was created baron of Dun-
gannon ; Uwo of the Mageunises were
dubbed knights; and the bishop of
Clogher was confirmed in his diocese
by the king's patent. As to O'Donnell,
he desired to be made earl either of
Sligo or Tirconnell; the latter title was
granted, but w\as not conferred until
the year 1603.*
Murrough O'Brien, who succeeded
his brother Conor as chief of North
Muuster in 1539, was created earl of
Thomond, with the title of baron of
Inchiquin for his heirs male ; while his
nephew, Donough, whose friendship to
man ; but to him also a suit of parliamentary robes was
given. AVe should perhaps understand the deficiency
of those chieftains in apparel as confined to the matter
of English fashions ; for the profusion of materials used
in the native Irish costumes of the period was such, that
a law was made in this reign to restrain it within luoro
reasonable bounda
340
REIGN- OF HENRY VIII.
the English aud treason to his own
nation have been already noticed, was
re^varded with the title of baron of
Ibrickan, aud the reversion of the earl-
dom of Thomond on his uncle's death.
Fiuall)^, De Burgo, or MacWilliam,
who, from the number of persons whom
he decapitated in his wars, is usually
known as Ulick-na-gceann, or " of the
heads," Avas created earl of Clanrickard,
aud baron of Dunkellin. The ceremony
of conferring these titles took place with
great pomp &t Greenwich, on the 1st of
July, 1543 ; and to each of the newly-
created lords the king granted a house
and small piece of land near Dublin,
for the accommodation of their retinues
when they came to attend parliament
)v council.
A. D. 1543. — However mortifying the
fact, it must, nevertheless, be remem-
bered that the acceptance of these royal
favors was generally, if not invariably,
accompanied by an admission of the
royal supremacy — a circumstance that
adds to the humiliating nature of these
submissions. Some of the Irish lords —
as Murrough O'Brien — showed them-
selves even zealous in the cause of the
English schism, and hankered for a
share in the sacrilegious spoils of the
convent lands ; but as yet it was only
schism (and not heresy) which was in-
troduced into Ireland, and even that was
* Robert Cowley, master of the rolls, reported In 1540
that he could find no account whatever, in the king's
exchequer, of the produce of the confiscated estates,
either of the Geraldines or of the suppressed monasteries.
There was no memorandum of the revenues or of the
v;ay in -which they had been employed.
confined to the few who accepted office
or honors from Henry, or who hoped to
share in the plunder of the confiscated
church lands,* while it obtained no
footing whatever among the humble
classes.
In 1544 an Irish corps of 1,000 meu
proceeded, under two nephews of the
earl of Ormond, to join the English
army in France, where they soon were
distinguished by their valor and the
rapidity of their movements at the siege
of Bologne ; and the following year the
services of an Irish contingent were re-
quired in Scotland. In 1546 the earl of
Ormond and seventeen of his friends
were poisoned at a banquet in Ely
house, London, whither-he had gone to
settle a quarrel with lord deputy Sent-
leger.f This earl (James, son of Pierse
Roe) had been a great enemy to the
Catholic cause in Ireland. Some young
men of the Geraldine party took up
arms this year in Kildare, but their
insurrection was easily put down by
Sentleger; and only resulted in the
spoliation of a large tract of country
O'Conor and O'More were proclaimed
traitors, and were the principal suft'erers.
A new coin was struck at this time
in Ireland, but of so base a description,
that a law was made prohibiting its
introduction into England, under severe
penalties. " At this time," say the
■)■ The intriguing chancellor, AUen, -was at the bot-
tom of the strife between Ormond and Sentleger,
and was, on this occasion, committed a prisoner to
the fleet.
ACCESSIOX OF EDWARD VI.
341
Four Masters, "the power of the Eng-
lish was great and immense in Ireland,
so that the bondage in which the people
of Leath Mogha (the southern half)
were, had scarcely been ever equalled
before that time."
CHAPTER XXXI.
REIGN OF EDWARD VI. AND JIARY.
Accession of Edward VI.— Somerset's government. — War of Extermination in Leix and Ofifaly. — Fate of O'More
and O'Conor.— Rising of O'Carroll.— Successes of the lord deputy Bellingbam.— Tlie adventurers Bryan and
Fay.— Rebellion of Calvagh O'Donnell against bis father.— Power of the Northern Chiefs curtailed.— Instance
of Bellingham's firmness. — Intrigues and changes in the Irish government. — Exploits of the &ots in Ulster.
—War between Ferdoragh and Shane O'Neill.— French emissaries in Ulster.— Failure of tlie efforts to establish
the new religion in Ireland. — Zeal and firmness of Archbishop Dowdall, — Conference at St. Mary's Abbey.—
Plunder of Clonmacnoise. — Accession of Queen Mary. — Her efforts to restore religion. — Her diiBculties in
England. — Injustice to her character. — The work of restoration easy in Ireland. — Her kind disposition to Ire-
land frustrated. — Affecting incident.— Strife in Thomond. — Continued War with the Scots in Ulster. — Shane
O'Neill defeated by Calvagh O'Donnell.
Contemporary Sovereigns mid Events.— Vo^a: Pa\;l III., Jq11u3 III., Maroclliis V., P.ial IV.— Emperor of Gevmaivy,
Charles V.— King of France, Henry II.— King of Spsin, Pliilip II.— Queen of Scotland, Mary.— Death of St. Francis
Savier, 1552 — Death of St. Ignatius of Loyola^lSoS.
(A. D. 1:47 TO A. D. 1358.)
EDWARD VI., the son of Henry
VIII. and of his third wife, Jane
Seymour, was proclaimed king, on his
father's death, while yet only nine years
of age. His maternal uncle, Edward
Seymour, earl of Hertford, and after-
wards duke of Somerset, usurped the
sole guardianship of the young king,
and the government of the kingdom,
■with the title of lord protector ; setting
aside the council of regency appointed
by the late king's ■will. Somerset was
a zealous partisan of the new creed,
and, aided by Cranmer, caused it to be
established as the religion of the state.
In Ireland Sentleger continued to hold
office as lord dejDuty ; James, earl of
Desmond, was appointed lord treasurer;
and, owing to the increased disturbances
in Leinster, Sir Edward Bellingham
was sent over in the course of the year
(1547) as captain general, with a rein-
forcement of 600 horse and 400 foot, to
aid the deputy. Before his arrival
Sentleger had gained a battle at the
Three Castle?, near Blessington, over
the O'Byrnes, taking two of the Fitz-
Geralds, who had joined the Wicklow
342
REIGX OF EDWARD VI.
insurgents, prisoners. These were exe-
cuted in Dublin, and the Four Masters,
who call them " plunderers and rebels,"
tell us that Brian, son of Turlough
O'Toole,- was on the lord deputy's side.
A. D. 1548. — The territories of Leix
and Offiily had been hj this time ut-
terly wasted by inroads from the Pale ;
and the unhappy chieftains, Gillapat-
rick O'More and Brian O'Connor, hav-
ing been brought so low that none of
the Irish dared to give them food or
shelter, had surrendered themselves to
Francis Bryan, an Englishman, who
just then began to occupy a prominent
place in this country. This happened
in 1547, and in 1548 the two chiefs
were taken to England l)y Sentleger,
who ^Yas i-ecalled. Their lives were
spared, a pension of £100 each being
allowed for their maintenance ; but
they were detained as prisoners, and
their patrimonies given to Bryan and
others, who set about expelling the
old inhabitants, and disposing of the
lands as their own. O'More died in
his Saxon exile before the end of the
year.
Sir Edward Belliugham, the succes-
sor to Sentleger, was a man of enei'gy
and decision, and gained sundry suc-
cesses over the Irish." A number of
* An incident is related wliicli sufficiently illustrates
the energetic cliaracter of Bellingbam. At tlie close of
1549 the carl of Desmond refused to attend a council to
wbicli he was summoned in Dublin, on the plea that ho
was celebrating Christmas. The lord deputy upon re-
ceiving this answer, set out with a small party of horse,
and by forced marches reached the castle where the
earl was enjoying himself; and entering without previ-
ous notice seized Desmond while sitting by the fire and
the men of Ofialy were sent to England
under the command of a son of their
old chieftain, to join an array preparing
against Scotland ; but the chief object
aimed at was their expatriation. Cahir
Roe O'Conor, one of the same warlike
sept, was brought to Dublin and exe-
cuted ; and some troubles created in
Kildare by the sons of viscount Bait-
inglass were speedily ci-ushed by the
vigorous arm of the new dei3uty.
O'Carroll of Ely had I'isen, and burned
the town of Nenagh and. the English
monastery of Abingdon, in Limerick,
threatening to expel all the English
from his territory; but at a council
held the following jeai in Limerick, he
made favorable terms with the deputy
for himself and his confederates, Mac-
Murrough, O'Kclly, O'Melaghlin, and
others, and a forn?,Idable movement waa
thus tranquillized. An English adven
turer named Edmund Fay was invited
into Delvin by O'Melaghlin to aid him
in a quari-el with MacCoghlan ; but the
annalists tell ks that O'Melaghlin had
got "a rod to strike himself;" for Fay
took possession of the territory on his
own account, and was supported in his
usurpation by Francis Bryan.f
A. D. 1549. — Tirconnell had been for
some time disturbed by the unnatural
carried him to Dublin. Subsequently lie obtained par-
don for the earl.
■)• This Bryan had married the dowager countess of
Ormond, and was made marshal of Ireland, and govern-
or of Tippcrary. On the 2Tth of December, 1549, ho
was chosen lord justice on an emergency, but died in
the following February at Clonmel, where he had gone
to repel an invasion of O'Carroll's. The name Fay,
mentioned in the text, lias sometimes been written
POLITICAL INTRIGUES IX DUBLIN.
343
rebellion of Calvagli O'Donnell against
his falLer, Mauus. In 1548 a battle was
fought between them at Strath-bo-Fiach,
now Bally bofey on the river Finn, when
Calvagh and his ally, O'Kaue, were de-
feated ; but the dissensions still con-
tinued. Some of the Ulster chieftains
about this time appealed for the settle-
ment of their disputes to the govern-
ment of the Pale, and the latter took
advantage of their position as arbitrators
to strike a fixtal blow at the power of
the superior dynasts, by making the in-
ferior chiefs independent of them. Ma-
geunis was freed from all subjection to
O'Neill, and the power of O'Donuell
was restricted by similar means.
A. D. 1550. — One government after
another was sacrificed to political cabals
in Dublin. Bellingham was recalled in
"December, 1549; and Bryan, who was
appointed to succeed him, having died
at Clonmel in less than two months
aftei-, Sentleger returned to Ireland as
viceroy for the fourth time. Archbishop
Browne, however, hated this statesman,
and made charges against him amount-
ing to treason, so that he was once more
recalled, and Sir James Crofts appointed
in his stead, John Allen, who for many
years had been mixed up in every jio-
litical intrigue, and had been deprived
Fahy, by mistake (see Cose's Sib. Anrjl); but Dr.
O'Donovan remarks that the O'Fahys are Irish, and
were seated in the county of Qalway, while the Fays
are iVnglo-Normans and were seated in West Meath. —
Four Masters, vol. v., p. Io0(i, note (t).
* Matliew, as he is called by English writers, although
he is almost invariably styled FerdoragU by the Irish,
was the son of Alison, the wife of a blacksmith of Dun-
dalk, named O'KeUy; and although affiliated to tlic
of the chancellorship at the close of
Henry's reign, and restored to it in
1548, was now once more removed from
his post, and Thomas Cusack, master of
the rolls, substituted.
A. D. 1551. — Lord deputy Crofts led
an army into Ulster against the island
Scots, whose increasing power in Ireland
had long been a source of anxiety to
the English government, and who were
now leagued with some of the northern
Irish. He sent four ships to Rathlin,
where the young MacDonnells of the
Hebrides had a much larger force than
he anticipated, and only one man of his
four crews is said to have escaped. A
second hosting of the English to the
north this year was also unsuccessful,
the deputy having been defeated in
battle with the loss of 200 men.
Con O'Neill, surnamed Bacagh, or
" the lame," having grown old and
infirm, regretted his unjust partiality
to his illegitimate son, Ferdoragh, or
Mathew, for whom he had procured
from the late king the title of baron of
Dungannon and the entail of the earl-
dom of Tyrone ; and wished to make
his eldest legitimate son, John, or Shane,
as he is fjimiliarly called in history, heir
to all his honors.* Ferdoragh took the
alarm, and made such charges against
chief of TjTone by Irish law, and adopted by him, John
and the other members of Con's family insisted that the
afliliation was deceptive and unjust, and that Ferdoragh
was really the blacksmith's son, which, in fact, ho was
considered to be until he was fifteen years old, when liia
reputed father, O'KeUy, died. It has been said, but we
are not aware whether there be any old authority for
the statement, that Alison's only claim on the first
baron of Dung;innon was that of fosterage.
344
REIGN OF EDWARD VI.
his father that the old man was seized
and impi-isoned by the lord deputj-, and
Shane, who on coming to man's estate
disjila3-ed a warlike and indomitable
spirit worthy of his illustrious race, flew
to arms, and plunged Ulster once more
in war.
At this time the king of France
looked to Ireland as a jioint through
V. hich England could easily be wound-
ed ; and shortly before this had sent
two envoys to make overtures to the
northern chieftains. They landed first
at Green castle, on Lough Foyle, and
were subsequently detained for some
time by stress of weather at the castle
called Culmore Fort, which was in
charge of O'Doherty. Here they re-
ceived a visit from Robert Waucop,
archbishop of Armagh,* and they
next proceeded to Donegal. The Irish
chiefs agreed on this occasion to
place their country under the jiro-
tection of France; but the peace which
ensued between that country and
England rendered these negotiations
abortive.
A. D. 1552. — The deputy proceeded
with an army to Tyrone to aid Fer-
doragh against Shane, who on his side
* This remarkable man, who is also called Venantius,
was a Scot. He was blind from his youth, but became
one of the most learned men of his age, and was doctor
of the university of Paris. When George Dowdall suc-
ceeded Cromer as archbishop of Armagh, pursuant to
letters patent of Henry VUI., in 1543, England being
then in a state of schism, pope Paul III. nominated
Waucop t<\ that dignity ; but it soon became obvious
that DowdaU was a staunch Catliolic, and Waucop, who
retired to the continent, does not appear to have inter-
lured in any way with his duties as a prelate. The So-
was assisted by the island Scots, and
the country was ravaged between tliera.
While endeavoring to form a junction
with the English, Ferdoragh's army was
routed in a night attack by Shane, and
the deputy having retired for that oc-
casion without gaining any advantage,
returned again to Antrim in autumn,
when he only succeeded in destroying
the standing corn.
All the efforts made during this reign
to establish the new religion in Ireland
were unsuccessful. It was adopted by
some officials and by a few of the Eng-
lish within the Pale ; but while the
government, which changed with the
whim of the day, was Protestant, the
people adhered immovably to the faith
of their forefathers. Even the ruling
powers had not yet been able to make
a well-defined distinction between Prot-
estant and Catholic; for we find that
when Arthur Magennis was nominated
bishop of Dromore by the pope in 1550,
his appointment was confirmed by king
Edward, while George Dowdall, -^vho
was advanced to the see of Armagh by
Henry VIII., at the request of Sir
Anthony Sentleger, was a zealous de-
fender of the doctrines and rights of
ciety of Jesus was first introduced into Ireland by
Waucop in 1541, with the sanction of Paul III. ; the
first member of the society who came to Ireland being
F. John Codur, who was followed by FF. Salmcron,
Brouet, and Zapata. Dr. Waucop assisted at the council
of Trent from the first session, in 1545, to the eleventh,
in 1547. He was sent as legate d latere to Germany, and
died in the Jesuits' Convent in Paris, in 1551. See
Harris's Ware's Bishops, p. 93 ; and O'SuUkaii's Hist.
Cath., p. 89 (Dublin, 18a0>
ACCESSION OF MART.
345
the Catholic church.* The neAV liturgy-
was publicly read in Christ's church in
1551 ; and the same year, at the solici-
tation of lord deputy Crofts, archbishop
Dowdall consented to hold a conference
with the Protestant authorities at St.
Mary's abbey, Avhen Staples, bishop of
Meath, acted as the Protestant cham-
pion. The discussion, as might be ex-
pected, led to no modification of views
on either side ; but Browne was so
enraged at the opposition given by the
archbishop of Armagh to the intro-
duction of the new liturgy, that he ob-
tained a royal charter transferring to
himself the primacy of all Ireland ; and
Dowdall, feeling that his liberty and
perhaps his life were insecure, fled to
the continent, one Hugh Goodacre, a
Protestant, being intruded in his stead.
The Irish annalists tell us that the
venerable churches of Clonmacnoise
were plundered in 1552 by the English
garrison of Athlone, and that " there
was not left a bell small or large, an
image, an altar, a book, a gem, or even
glass in the window, which was not
carried off;" and they add, "lamentable
was this deed, the plundering of the
city of Kieran !"
A. D. 1553. — Such was the state of
things on the accession of Mary, whose
short reign was a continued effoi't to
restore what had been unsettled in the
religious and moral state of England
during the two preceding reigns. The
* See note on preceding page. At this period we be-
gin to hear of " titular bishops," tliat name being applied
to the Catholic prelates, who were appointed by the
new creed had made considerable way
among both clergy and laity in that
country, many of the former having
committed themselves irretrievably by
entering into the marrietl state. A vast
number of Lutherans had arrived from
the continent, and were zealous in the
propagation of their doctrines; and
those into whose hands the confiscated
church property had come, resisted any
change which might oblige them to
disgorge the sacrilegious spoils. In a
state of society so disorganized, and
with precedents of government such as
then existed, it is not marvellous that
Mary's ministers should have resorted
to severity. The Anabaptists were
burned during her brother's reign, and
even the lord protector Somei-set, and
the husband of the queen dowager,
both of them the king's uncles, were
brought to the block. We shudder
now-a-days at such barbarities; but it
is only miserable prejudice which would
afiix to Mary a stigma that belongs with
infinitely more justice to her sister Eli-
zabeth, or to the iuf:\mous monster her
father.
In Ireland, where the " lleforraation"
had in truth gained no ground among
the jDCople, the restoration of the old
order of things was effected without
difficulty, and was hailed with popular
joy. Here, as in England, those of the
laity who had obtained possession of
church property, were, by the sanction
pope to sees in which married men or professors of the
Lutheran creed were placed by the secular authority
The latter enjoyed the revenues and emoluments.
346
REIGN OF MARY.
of the pope, left in the enjoyment of it ;
and the Irish parliament, following that
of England, expressed their repentance
for the schism of which they had been
guilty. Archbishop Dowdall being re-
called and restored to the primacy, held
a provincial Synod at Drogheda, and
was placed at the head of a commission
to deprive married bishops and priests ;
but the only prelates whom it was
necessary to remove, were Browne of
Dublin, Staples of Meath, Lancaster of
Kildare, and Travers of Leighliu. Good-
acre had died a few months after his
intrusion into the see of Armagh ; Bale
of Ossory — a fiery bigot and a coarse,
unscrupulous writer — had fled, of his
own accord, beyond the seas, on Mary's
accession; and Casey of Limerick, an-
other of Edward's bishops, had also
made a voluntary exit. All of these,
except Casey, were Englishmen, and all
except Staples were professing Prot-
estants at the time of their consecra-
tion.* It is well known that there was
no persecution on account of religion in
Ireland during the reign of Mary, and
that some Protestant families came to
* Besides the prelates mentioned above, a few others
had given evidence of tlieir servility by the recognition
of Henry VIII.'s sehismatical claim. These were Hugh
O'Kervallan, bishop of Clogher, who accompanied
O'Neill to England in 1542 ; Mathew Saunders, bishop
of Lcighlin ; Florence Gerawan or Kirwan, bishop of
Clonmacnoise ; Eugene Magennis, bishop of Down and
Connor ; and Rowland Burke, bishop of Clonfert.
(Liber Mun. Pub. Hib., v. ii., p. 17, &c.) The two last-
mentioned, together with Staples of Meath (for it is
unnecessary to include Browne), were the only members
of the episcopal body in Ireland, as it stood at the be-
ginning of the reign of Edward VI., who could be
induced to abandon the Catholic faith even in those
this country from England about that
time in oixler to follow their religious
persuasion undisturbed. f
Mary was inclined to deal mercifully
with the Irish, but her ministers and
her Irish council would not depart from
the traditional principles upon which
this country had been governed, and
which recognized neither mercy nor
justice in their relations with the native
population. Hence the same cruel wars
were waged against the latter in her
reign as previously; and the work of
extermination having made sufficient
progress in Leix and Offaly during the
reign of Edward, it remained for Mary's
deputy to form into counties these an-
cient territories which had already been
annexed to the Pale. This was the only
new shire land marked out since the
reign of John. Leix was designated the
Queen's county, and its old fort of Cam-
pa became the modern Maryborough,
while Offaly was transformed into the
King's county, and its fortress of Dain-
gean into Philipstown, in compliment
to the queen and her husband, Philip
of Spain.:}:
days of deplorable degenerticy. (Vide the Rev. M. Q
Brenan's Eccl. Hist, of Ireland, vol. ii., pp. 93, 102.)
\ The Protestants who came to Ireland on this occa-
sion were John Harvey, Abel Ellis, John Edmonds, and
Henry Haugh, with their families. They were from
Cheshire, and were accompanied by a Welsh Protestant
clergyman named Thomas Jones, whom the earl of
Sussex subsequently toot into his houseliold. Sec
Ware's Annah, An. 1554. These men were the
founders of respectable mercantile families in Dublin.
i In addition to the territory of Leix, the present
Queen's county comprises a portion of ancient Ossory,
constituting the barony of Upper Ossory, besides the
baronies of Portnahinch and Tinnahinch which were
STRIFE IN THOMOND.
347
' Mary's kindness, as contrasted with
the harshness of her Irish government,
was illustrated by an affecting incident
in the first year of her reign. Margaret,
the daughter of O'Conor Faly, inspired
with hope on hearing that a queen oc-
cupied the throne, hastened to England,
where her father was a prisoner, and at
Mary's feet begged his liberation. Her
prayer was granted, and she returned
with her father to Ireland; but the
lords justices, presuming to manage
Irish affaii-s in their own way, seized
the chieftain and cast him once more
into prison.* This year also (1553)
Garret, or Gerald, and his brother Ed-
ward, the sons of the earl of Kildare,
returned to Ireland after their long
exile, and were restored to all the
honors and possessions of their family.
There were great rejoicings, say the
annalists, " because it was thought that
not one of the descendants of the eai-ls
of Kildare or of the O'Conors Faly
would ever return to Ireland."
Murrough O'Brien, died in 155l, and
his nephew, Donough, the son of Mur-
rough's elder brother, Conor, and the
rightful heir in the eyes of the English
law, assumed the title of earl of Tho-
part of Offaly, and belonged to O'Dunno and O'Dempsey.
O0aly, before the English invasion, comprised the terri-
tories which constitute tho baronies of East and West
Offaly in Kildare ; those of upper and lower PMlips-
town, Geashill, Warrenstown. and Coolestown in tho
King's county ; and those already mentioned in the
Queen's county. It is not therefore correct to say, as is
usually done, that Lcix and Offaly were respectively
transformed into the Queen's and King's counties. See
notes to O'Donovan's Four Masters, vol. iii., pp. 44, 105,
&c. Tho same year (1556) in wluch Leix and Offaly
mond. He surrendered his patent,
which was only for his own life, and
obtained a new one from Edward VI.,
securing to his heirs male the title of
earl, ajid all the lands and honors be-
longing to his uncle. His brothers,
Donnell and Turlough, objected to this
mode of fixing the inheritance, which
was at direct variance with their own
law of tanistry; and on Donough's
death, in 1553, Donnell claimed the
right of succession to the chieftaincy,
and dispossessed Donough's son, Conor.
This created violent strife ; Donnell,
despising the foreign title of earl, as-
sumed that of the O'Brien, amid the
acclamations of the people, and Conor
depended on the English arms to sup-
port his claim. He was besieged by
Donnell in 1554, in the castle of Doon-
mulvihil, and was only saved by the
timely arrival of the earl of Ormond.
Ultimately, Donnell was banished by
the earl of Sussex, lord lieutenant, in
1558, and Conor was left in possession
of the earldom.
Sentleger, who was appointed lord
deputy for the fifth time in 1553, was
again recalled, through the intrigues of
the extreme anti-Irish party, in 1555.
were converted into shires, the pope sanctioned tho
assumption by Mary of tho title of queen of Ireland,
having previously disapproved of it when only author-
ized by tho Act 33d Henry VIII., passed {A. D. 1541)
after the commencement of the schism. Tho massacre
of MuUaghmast, erroneously connected by some modern
writers with tho annexation of Leix and Offaly, did not
occur until tho 19th year of queen Elizabeth, and will
be mentioned in its proper place.
* Compare Four Masters, A. d. 1553, and the Abbi
Mageoglugan, p. 443 (Duffy's edition.)
348
REIGX OF MARY.
His popularity with the Irish was the
only ground of hostility against him;
and he was succeeded by Thomas Ead-
cliffe, viscount FitzWilliam and after-
wards earl of Sussex, who led au army
into Ulster against the Scots, then very
powerful in the districts of the Koute
and Clannal)03^ He was aided by Con
O'Neill, but returned after a campaign
of three months without bringing the
war to a conclusion. Con O'Neill was
again unfortunate in an expedition
against the same dangerous intruders
in Clannaboy, and was defeated by
them, with the loss of 300 men.* In
1555 Calvagh O'Donnell employed
some Scottish auxiliaries against his
father, Manus, whom he made prisoner
and detained in captivity until his
death. In 1557 the Scots penetrated
to Armagh, which was plundered twice
in one month by the earl of Sussex.
The same year Shane O'Neill, observ-
ing the weak condition to which Cal-
vagh's rebellion had reduced Tirconnell,
thought the opportunity a favorable
one to recover the power of which his
ancestors had been deprived by the
O'Donnells. He accordingly mustered
a numerous army, and pitched his camp
at Carrigliath, between the rivers Finn
and Mourne, where he was joined by
Hugh, the brother of Calvagh O'Don-
nell, and several of the men of Tircon-
nell who were disaffected towards their
* A large body of these Scottish adventuTers pene-
trated into Connaught in 1058, and were hired by the
northern MacWiUiam, who was called Eichard-of-the-
iron. But the earl of Clanrickard, Richard, son of
chief for his rebellion. Calvagh in this
emergency consulted his father, and by
his advice resolved to avoid a pitched
battle, and to have recourse to strata
gem. He caused his cattle to be driven
to a distance, and when O'Neill entered
his territory, and marched as far as the
place now called Balleeghan, near
Raphoe, he sent two spies into the
Kiuel-Owen camp, while he himself
hovered not far off with his small force
The spies mixed with O'Neill's soldiers,
received rations, which they carried
back as evidence of their success, and
undertook to guide O'Donnell's army
that night to O'Neill's tent, which is
described as being distinguished by a
great watchfire, a huge torch burning
outside, sixty grim gallowglasses on one
side of the entrance, with sharp, keen
axes, ready for action, and as many stern
and terrific Scots on the other, with
their broadswords in hand. Overween-
ing confidence had rendered O'Neill
careless. He boasted that no one
should be king in Ulster but himself,
and despised the power of his crafty
foe; but O'Donnell penetrated under
cover of the darkness into the heart
of O'Neill's camp, and proceeded to
slaughter the men of Tyrone without
resistance, so that the whole were
routed or cut to pieces, while Shane
himself escaping through the back of
his tent, fled unattended except by two
Ulick-na-gceann (the first earl), son of Richard, son of
UUck of Knackdoe, hearing of the arrival of this foreign
host, marched against them and cut them to piecea on
the banks of the Moy.
DEATH OF MARY.
3'^.
of Hugh O'Donnell's men, aud by swim-
ming across three rivers made his way
to his own territory covered with con-
fusion. The following year he procured
the murder of Ferdoragh, baron of
Dungannon, and his ftither Con dying
in captivity in Dublin, he assumed the
chieftaincy without opposition.
Meantime the Avar of extermination
was carried on against the remnant of
the old race in the territories which we
may still call Leix and Offaly. The
heart sickens at the narrative of merci-
less aggression on the one side, and of
indomitable resistance on the other.
The O'Conors, O'Mores, O'Molloys,
O'Carrolls, and the rest of them, were
unrelentingly hunted down, and the
whole country was made a scene of de-
solation from the Shannon to the Wick-
low mountains. But dark as this period
is, we have arrived at one infinitely more
gloomy in our history — the sanguinary
reign of Elizabeth, which commenced
on the day of Mary's death, November
17th, 1558.
ACCESSION OF ELIZABETH.
CHAPTER XXXII.
REIGN OF ELIZABETH.
Religious pliancy of Statesmen and fidelity of tlie people. — Shane O'Neill. — Acts of the Parliament of 1559 —
Laws against the Catholic religion. — Miserable condition of the Irish Church. — Discord in Thomond —
Machinations of Government against Shane O'Neill. — Capture of Calvagh O'Donnell by the latter. — War
with Shane. — Defeat of the English. — 'Plan to assassinate the Tyrone Chief — Submission of Shane, and his
visit to the Court of Elizabeth. — His return, further misunderstanding, and renewed peace with the Govern-
ment.— O'NeiU defeats the Scots of Clannaboy. — Feud between the Earls of Ormond and Desmond. — The
latter wounded and captured at Affane. — The Earl of Sussex succeeded by Sir Henry Sidney. — Renewed war
in Ulster. — O'Neill invades the English Pale. — Defeated at Derry. — Burning of Derry and withdrawal of the
English garrison. — Death of Calvagh O'Donnell. — O'Neill defeated by Calvagh's successor, Hugh. — Hia
disastrous flight. Appeal to the Scots, and Slurder. — His character. — Visitation of Munster and Connaught, by
Sidney. — Sidney's description of the State of the country. — His character of the great Nobles. — Base policy of
the Government confessed by him. — His energy and severity. — Arrest of Desmond. — Commencement of
serious troubles in the South. — Position of the Catholics. — Sir James FitzMaurice. — Parliament of 1.569.—
Fraudulent elections. — Attainder of O'NciU. — Claims of Sir Peter Carew. — Rebellion of Sir Edmund Butler.
— Sidney's military Expedition to Munster. — Sir John Perrott Lord President of Munster, and Sir Edward
Fittou President of Connaught. — Renewed war in the South. — Rebellion of the Earl of Thomond. — Rebellion
of the sons of the Earl of Clanrickard.— Battle of Shrule.— The Castle of Aughnanure taken.— Siege and
Capture of Castlemaine. — Submission of Sir James FitzMaurice. — Attempted English settlements in Ulster. —
Horrible Massacre of the Irish in Clannaboy.— Failure and Death of the Earl of Essex.— Sir Henry Sidney
makes another visitation of the South and West.— Sir William Drury President of Munster, and Sir Nicholas
Malby in Connaught.— lUegal Tax, Difficulties in the Pale.— Career and Death of Rory Oge O'More.— The
Massacre of Mullaghmast.
Contemporary Sovereigns and Events.— Topes : Paul IV., Pius IV., Pius V., Gregory XIII.— Kings of France : Francia
II., Charles IX., Henry III.— King of Spain, Philip II.— King of Portugal, Sebastian.— Sovereigns of Scotland: Mary.
James VI.— Battle of Lepanto, 1571.— Massacre of St. Bartholomew's Day, 1572.
(A. D. 1558 TO A. D. 1578.)
"pLIANCY of conscience character-
-*- ized in a remarkable degree the
statesmen of the age of -which it is now
our duty to treat. There appears to
have been no fixed principles of religion
or politics among them, and the men
who undertook to restore the ancient
religion to its original state under the
Catholic queen Mary, were found as
ready and suitable instruments for its
destruction at the beck of her Protes-
tant sister and successor, Elizabeth
Thus, Thomas Radcliffe, earl of Sussex,
who had been lord lieutenant of Ireland
under the former sovereign, continued
in office under the latter, revei-sins:,
SHANE O'NEILL..
351
under the altered rule, his own previous
acts ; and Sir Henry Sidney, the treas-
urer, who acted as deputy in the
absence of Sussex, before the close of
Mary's reign, Avas also appointed to the
same charge, although to peiform con-
trary duties, when Sussex went to Eng-
land after Elizabeth ascended the throne.
But if those who lived within the sphere
of court influence exhibited this lubri-
city in their religious principles, it was
not so with the general population of
Ireland, who viewed such fickleness
with horror, and who were roused to a
sense of their own danger by the meas-
ures taken, on the accession of the new
queen, to subvert their religion and to
enforce the new creed and form of
worship. Thus was a fresh element of
strife introduced into this unhappy
country. The native population had
hitherto seen in their English rulers
the plunderers of their ancestral lands
and the exterminators of their race;
but to this character was now super-
added that of the revilers and per-
secutors of their religion ; while in
regarding the English government in
this latter point of view, a vast majority
of the people of English descent in
Ireland were now identified in senti-
ment with the native Irish. On the
other hand, the fidelity of the Irish to
the religion of their fathers became
branded with the stigma of rebellion ;
their memories were blackened and their
actions distorted by their successful ene-
mies, and calumny was unspai-ingly add-
ed to spoliation and pei-secution.
Of this ungenerous conduct we have
a marked instance in the case of Shane
O'Neill, the prince of Tyrone, whose
character has been depicted in revolt-
ing colors by English historians. They
describe him as a barbarian and as one
addicted to every vice ; but if he had
faults some of which we do not excuse,
we know at least that he was chival-
rous, confiding, and generous; that
with the exhausted resources of his
small territory he was able to keep the
power of England at bay; that he de-
feated her experienced generals in the
field, and foiled her statesmen in nego-
tiation ; and that he combined with no
ordinary qualities of mind an undaunted
bravery, and an ardent love of his
country. We have already seen how
he assumed the chieftaincy on the death
of his father, who closed his life in
captivity, and how he thus set aside
the claims of the sons of his elder but
illegitimate brother, Mathew, or Fer-
doragh, the late baron of Dungannon,
who was slain at his instigation ; and
this course being in open defiance of
English authority, which had always
made common cause with Mathew, Sir
Henry Sidney, as lord deputy in the
absence of Sussex, now led an army to
Duudalk, and summoned Shane to ac-
count for his proceedings. The haughty
chief of Tyrone replied to the summons
by inviting the deputy to come to his
court, and stand as sponsor to his
child. Whatever motive may have
actuated Sidney he accepted the in-
vitation, and was so influenced by the
352
REIGN OF ELIZABETH.
arguments urged by O'Neill in support
of his rights, aud by bis protestations
of loyalty, that he withdrew his army,
aud promised to lay the matter before
the queen. Thus for the moment were
friendly relations established between
the Ulster chieftain and the Pale ; but
the government of the latter soon found
sources of uneasiness in other quarters.
Rumors of invasion from France and
Spain became current; the earls of
Kildare aud Desmond held conferences
of a suspicious nature, and disaffection
was more general and apparent as the
principles of Elizabeth's government
became intelligible to the country.
A. D. 1560. — A parliament composed
of seventy-six members was summoned
to meet in Dublin on the 12th of Jan-
uary this year.* It comprised the
representatives of ten counties,f the
remainder being "citizens and bur-
gesses," says Leland, " of these towns in
which the royal authority wiis predom-
inant ; and with such a parliament," as
the same Protestant historian admits,
" it is little wonder that, in despite of
clamor and Disposition, in a session of a
few weeks, the whole ecclesiastical sys-
tem of queen Mary -was entirely revers-
ed." X The proceedings are involved in
mystery, and the principal measures
are believed to have been carried by
* Aa tliG legal year, at this time, commenced la
March, the months of January and February of the natu-
ral year belonged to the common or preceding legal year ;
licnce this parliament of 2d Elizabeth, which was held
in January, 1560, is often called the parliament of 1559.
f The counties to which the writs were issued were
Dublin, Weath, West Meath, Louth, Kildare, Cather-
lougli, Kilkenny, Waterford, Tipperary aud Wexford.
means fraudulent and clandestine ; but
at all events it was enacted that the
queen was the head of the church of
Ireland, the reformed worship was re-
established as under Edward VI., and
the book of common prayer, with
further alterations, re-introduced. Eve-
ry person was bound to attend the new
service under pain of ecclesiastical cen-
sures and of a fine of twelve pence for
each offence ; the first fruits and twen-
tieths of the church revenue were re-
stored to the crown ; and the right of
collating to all vacant sees by royal
letters patent was established instead
of the form of a writ of coiige cVelire,
the prelates being ordered to consecrate
the person thus appointed within the
space of twenty days under the penalty
of premunire. The laws made in Mary's
reign restoring the civil establishment
of the Catholic religion were repealed ;
all officers and ministerb', ecclesiastical
or lay, were bound to take the oath of
supremacy under pain of forfeiture and
total incapacity; and any one who
maintained the spiritual supremacy of
the pope was to forfeit for the first
offence all his estates real and personal,
or be imprisoned for one year if not
worth £20 ; for the second offence to be
liable to premunire ; and for the third
to be guilty of high treason.§
X Leland, Hist, of Ireland, vol. ii., p. 234.
§ As the statute of supremacy, 28th Henry VIIL, chap.
5 (A. D. 1536), was passed by the illegal and arbitrary
exclusion of the proctors from parliament, and by the
preliminary dragooning of the nation by lord Leonard
Gray, who, as Sir John Davis says, " to prepare the
minds of the people to obey this statute, began first with
a martial course, and by making a victorious circuit
PENAL LAWS.
353
These laws against the religion of
the people had little effect beyond the
hounds of the Pale, while even within
its precincts they were generally met
by passive resistance, and became in
many instances a dead letter. When
the Catholic clergy were obliged to flee
from their churches, their places were
in a majority of cases left unsujDplied,
or ignorant and worthless men, who
abandoned their religion for temporal
advantages, were substituted. Even
those who enjoyed the rank of bishops
under the Reformation, showed them-
roand the kingdom, whereby the principal septs of the
Irish were all terrified and most of them broken ;" (Hist.
Rel.) ; so is there sufficient reason to believe that the
statute of uniformity of the 2d of Elizabeth was obtained
forcibly or surreptitiously from the parliament of 1560.
" In the very beginning of that parliament," says Ware,
'■ most of the nobility and gentry were so divided in
opinion about ecclesiastical government that the ear.l of
Susses dissolved them, and went over to England to
consult her majesty on the affairs of this kingdom."
From this and subsequent proceedings of the vice-
roy, it may be inferred that the act was not carried in
a regidar manner. It is even said that the earl of Sus-
sex, to calm the protests which were made in parlia-
ment when it was found that the law had been passed
by a few members assembled privately, pledged himself
solemnly that it would not generally be enforced during
" the reign of Elizabeth. (See Camhrensis Eccr., also Aii-
alccta Sacra, p. 431.) Dr. Curry (fiicil Wars, book ii.
chap, iii.) has collected some curious facts in illustration
of tills point ; but it is not true that the statute of uni-
formity was kept in abeyance until the beginning of the
roigu of James I., although not generally enforced until
that lime. On the 23d May, 15G1, commissioners were
appointed to enforce the 2d Eliz. against Catholics in
West Mcath ; in December, 15C2, a commission with
similar jurisdiction was appointed for .(Vrmagh and
Meath; and in 1564, commissioners were appointed for
the whole kingdom, to inquire into all offences or mis-
demeanors contrary to the statutes of 2d Elizabeth, and
concerning all heretical opinions, &c., against said stat-
utes.
Other commissions were appointed in subsequent
years, but the proceedings of none of these appear to be
now ascertainable.
45
selves in many instances so notoriously
devoid of honesty, by making away with
the temporalities of their sees, that it
was soon necessary to enact a law break
ing the fraudulent leases which they
had made, and prohibiting for the
future sucli alienations.* The sacred
edifices fell into ruins, and the people
were obliged to worship God in secret
and retired jilaces; so that in half-a-
dozen years from Elizabeth's accession,
her deputy. Sir Henry Sidnej^, was able
to describe the miserable condition of
the Irish church, as "spoiled, as well
* See Harris's Ware's Irish Bishops, from which it
would appear that the new Protestant bishops of Eliza-
beth's time very generally plundered the sees into which
they were introduced by bartering away the revenues
" through fear of another change." Sec more particu-
larly the articles on Miler Magrath, archbishop of
Cashel; Alexander Craik, bishop of Kildare; bishop
Lyon, of Ross ; bishop Field, of Leighlin ; bishop Deve-
reux, of Ferns, &c. Some of these men " by most scan-
dalous wastes and alienations," reduced their sees to
such a state that their successors were scarcely left
means to subsist, and a union of sees became necessary.
The conduct of some of the iirst of these " reformed"
bishops appears to have been in other respects also any
thing but exemplary. Thus William Knight, the co-
adjutor of Miler Magrath in Cashel, having excited " the
scorn and derision of the people" by his public drunken-
ness, was obliged to fly to England (Ware, p. 484).
Marmaduke Middleton, of Waterford, translated to St.
David's, was degraded for the forgery of a will (Peter
Heylin's Exainen Sid.). Richard Dixon, of Cloyue and
Ross, was deprived " propter adulterium manifestum et
confessum" (official paper quoted in Gilbert's Sid. o/
Suh., vol. i., p. 114), i&c. As to archbishop Browne,
Henry VIII. charged him with " lightness in behavior,"
and said that " all virtue and honesty were almost van-
ished from him" (State P., clxxiv.) ; while Bale in his
own gross manner accused him of " drunkenness and
gluttony," calling him an " epicurious archbishop, " a
"brockish swine," a "dissembling proselite," and a
"pernicious papist" {The Vocacyon of Johi'i Bai/le, re-
printed in the Sarleian, Miscellany, vol. vi.). And Dow-
ling, in one pithy sentence, describes Travels, Edward
VI.'s bishop of LeiglJin, as " cruel, covetous, vexing hia
1 clergy" {An. Sib., p. 38, ed. of 1840).
354
REIGN OF ELIZABETH.
•by the ruin of the temples as the dissi-
pation and embezzlement of the patri-
mony, and most of all for want of suffi-
cient ministers;" adding, that "so de-
formed and overthi-own a church there
is not, I am sure, in any region where
Christ is professed !" *
Meanwhile, the Irish were, as usual,
a prey to discord among themselves.
In Thomond, great confusion prevailed,
owing to the efforts of Teige and Don-
ough, sons of Murrough O'Brien, to
wrest the chieftaincy from Conor O'Bri-
en, earl of Thomond. Garrett, who
had succeeded his father, James, as earl
of Desmond, sided with the former,'
while Conor called in the aid of his
friend, the earl of Clanrickard. The
three earls, with their respective armies,
met at Bally- Ally, a few miles north of
Ennis, and after an obstinate fight the
combined forces of Conor O'Brien and
the Burkes were defeated. The in-o-
ceeding of the earl of Desmond on this
occasion was regarded by the English
government as an act of rebellion. As
to Thomond, it continued to be for
some years disturbed by the rival fac-
tions. Among the claimants to the
chieftaincy, under the law of tanistry,
were Donnell and Teige, uncles of
* Sir Henry Sidney's Despatches. In a letter to the
queen, that deputy draws a melancholy picture of the
ruinous state of the church : In Mcath, which he refers
to as '■ the best peopled diocese and the best governed
country" of Ireland, he states that out of 224 parish
churches 105 had fallen wholly into decay, without
roofs, doors or windows, tho very walls in many places
being down ; while tho revenues were confiscated to the
crown. Fifty-two others had incumbents, and as many
more wore pn vate property. By a curious inconsisten
Conor; but in 1560 a partial settle-
ment of these disputes was effected by
a grant of the district of Corcomroe,
with certain church lands, to Sir Don-
nell, who, some years after, served the
queen efficiently as sheriff of Thomond.
The English government evinced its
distrust of Shane O'Neill by a course
of action well calculated to excite that
chieftain's hostilitj^ Efforts were made
to alienate the neighboring chiefs from
him, and for that purpose honors were
conferred on some, and promises held
out to othei-s. O'Reilly Avas created
earl of Brenny, or Breffny, and baron
of Cavan ; and a messenger was sent
by a circuitous route to Calvagh O'Don-
nell, bearing letters from the queen,
offering to create him earl of Tirconnell,
together with letters from the earl of
Sussex to O'Donnell's wife — a Scottish
lady, who is generally called the coun-
tess of Argyle — informing her that the
queen was about to send her some
costly presents. O'Neill who well un-
derstood this indirect mode of showing
enmity against himself, soon made the
recipients of English fiivors rue the
friendship which was only intended to
wean them from the interests of their
country. He invaded the teri'itoiy of
cy, at the commencement of Elizabeth's reign, those
ministers who had no knowledge of the English lan-
guage were allowed to read the Liturgy in Latin ; and
Peter Lombard, the Catholic archbishop of Armagh,
tells us, that in the five years of Elizabeth's reign many
of the Irish, from ignorance, attended the new service,
taking with them their rosaries and crucifixes, but that
as soon as they became fully aware of the religious
changes that had taken place, they shunned the ch\irches
with horror. {Commentaries, p. 282.)
AGGRESSIONS OF SHANE O'NEILL.
355
the new eail of Brenny, and after lay-
ing it waste, compelled O'Reilly to be-
come his vassal. Against O'Donnell his
enmity was not of recent date, and he
seized an opportunity which now pre-
sented itself of gratifying all his ven-
geance. He learned that the principal
part of O'Donnell's army was absent on
a hostile excursion to Lough Veagh, in
Donegal, while Calvagh himself was
almost unattended at the monastery of
Killodonnell, near the upper part of
Lough S willy ; and making a sudden
descent, he carried off Calvagh and his
wife prisoners. The former he incarce-
rated in one of his strongholds, and the
latter, whose subsequent shameless con-
duct has made some suspect that it was
she who betrayed her husband into
O'Neill's hands, he made his mistress.*
He now declared himself chief of all
Ulster.
O'Neill, in fine, no longer disguised
his hatred of England, but openly de-
clared his determination to contend
against English power, not only in his
own province of Ulster, but in Leinster
and Munster. He led an army into
Bregia, plundered the teri'itory of the
Pale, and only returned to the north at
the aj^proach of winter, when he had
destroyed the corn, and left no food in
* The circumstan'ce mentioned above leaves a blemish
on the character of Shane O'Neill which even the man-
ners of tlie age and the life of violence -which he was
fated to pass cannot jialliate. The woman who thus
oecame his mistress was the slcivmother of his wife, the
latter boing the daug:ht( r of Calvagh O'Donnell, by a
former wife. The Four Masters, who record the seizure
of Calvagh under the year 1559, state, under the date
of 1501 , that " Mary, the daughter of Calvagh and wife of
the country to support his army. Eliza-
beth had caused an assembly of the
Irish clergy to be held this year for the
purpose of enforcing the Protestant
worship throughout the kingdom, and
had given a foretaste of the persecution
which might be expected by casting
William Walsh, then bishop of Meath,
into prison, for his opposition to the
newly-imported liturgy. These pro-
ceedings filled the couutry with disaf-
fection, which was stimulated by hopes
of aid from foreign princes — a course
for which Elizabeth^s government af-
forded the amplest justification by the
aid whicli it lent to the rebellious sub-
jects of other countries. Shane O'Neill
asked the king of France to send him
five or six thousand men, and with such
assistance at that moment he would
have had little difficulty in liberating
his country from the English yoke.
A. T>. 156L — It is said that Elizabeth
had, at this time, designed to try the
effect of a conciliatory policy with
O'Neill, and that Sussex, when return-
ing from England, in June this year,
had received instructions to that effect ;
but, be that as it may, the contrary
course was pursued. The lord lieuten-
ant had brought reinforcements from
England, and, with as powerful an army
CNiell, died of horror, loathing, grief, and deep anguish,
in consequence of the severity of the imprisonment inflict-
ed on her father by O'Neill in her presence." About the
latter year, O'Neill, in his letters to queen Elizabeth,
frequently expressed a wish that " some English gentle-
woman of noble blood," might be given to him as wife ;
the lady whose hand he desired thus to obtain being
the sister of his most inveterate foe, the earl of Su»-
356
REIGN OF ELIZABETH.
as he, could collect, includiug tlie forces
of the earl of Ormond, lie 'marched to
Armagh, where he threw up eutrench-
meuts round the cathedral with the
view of establishing a strong garrison
there. He sent a large body of troops
into Tyrone, and these were returning
laden with spoils when O'Neill set upon
them, defeated them with slaughter, and
retook the bootj^ This defeat produced
intense alarm in the Pale, and created
no slight uneasiness even in England,
while it proportionately increased the
confidence of the Irish. Sussex had re-
course to negotiations, but O'Neill de-
clared that he Avould listen to no terms
until the English troops were with-
drawn from Armagh. Fresh reinforce-
ments were poured in from England,
and the earls of Desmond, Ormond,
Kildare, Thomond, and Claurickard,
are said to have all assembled in the
lord lieutenant's camp, in obedience to
his call. With a large and well-equipped
army Sussex now advanced into Tyrone
as far as Lough Foyle, and devastated
the country ; but O'Neill, adopting the
tactics which had always frustrated the
English when their greatest efforts were
made in the way of preparation, with-
drew beyond their reach to his foi'ests
* The letter of Sussex to the queen, in which this
atrocious plot is fully developed, concludes thus : — "In
fine I brake with hira to kill Shane, and hound myself
by my oatli to see him have a hundred marks of land, to
hira and his heirs, for reward. Ho seemed desirous to
serve your highness, and to have the land, but fearful
to do it. doubting his own escape after. I told lum the
ways he might do it, and how to escape after with
safety, which ho offered and promised to do ;" and from
the next sentence it may be inferred either that the
and mountains. To rid himself of a
brave enemy, whom he was thus unable
to subdue, the viceroy now had recourse
to the darkest treachery. He hired an
assassin to muixler Shane O'Neill, and
this with the cognizance and sanction
of queen Elizabeth ; but, as the atroci-
ous project did not succeed, we should ,
probably be left in ignorance of the
fact that it was ever contemplated, were
it not for the evidence preserved in the
State Paper Office. The name of the
intended murderer was Nele Gray ; but
he either lacked courage or the obstacles
in his way were too great, and the deed
was not perpetrated.*
AVhat the lord lieutenant did not
succeed in effecting with his army was
brought about through the mediation
of the earl of Kildare, whose family
connection with O'Neill gave him con-
siderable influence with that chief The
persuasions of Kildare were backed by
a pressing letter of invitation from Eli-
zabeth to Shane to I'epair to her court ;
and that redoubtable chieftain was in-
duced to make his submission and sign
articles of peace. Calvagh O'Donnell
had, a short time before this, been
ransomed from captivity by the Kinel-
Connell, and Sussex having now march-
assassin would forfeit his own life if he failed to perform
his task, or that other assassins could be found for tlie
purpose, as the lord lieutenant adds : — " I assure your
highness he may do it without danger, if he will, and if
he will not do what he may in your service, there wUl be
done to him what others may." Throughout the letter,
as Mr. Moore observes, there is not a single hint of doubt
or scruple as to the moral justifiableness of the trans-
action— such was " the frightful familiarity with deeds of
blood which then prevailed in the highest stations."
SHANE O'NEILL CONCILIATED.
357
ed tlirough Tirconnell to restore bim to
his principal castles and strongholds,
brought the Ulster campaign to a satis-
factory conclusion. O'Neill, on his part,
repaired to Dublin, and desired to pro-
ceed to England, but Sussex threw
various obstacles in the way ; one cause
of delay relating to the loan of a sum of
three thousand pounds for the expenses
of the journey. Sussex also wrote to
Cecil, suggesting that the queen should
give O'Neill a cool reception, or "show-
strangeness" to him ; but in this the
enmity of the lord lieutenant was not
gratified, for Elizabeth received Shane
very graciously, and in return he made
strong protestations of friendship and
loyalty to her. The decision on his
claims was at first deferred by the
queen, until Hugh, the young baron of
Dungauuou, should arrive and plead
* The Four Masters say that O'Neill went to England
about AU-HaUowtide, in 1501, and that he returned to
Ireland in May, in following year ; but Ware, Cos, and
others, who have followed them, speak obscurely of two
journeys of Shane O'Neill to England, one in 1561, and
the other in 1563. Camden refers to that chieftain's
visit under the date of 1562, at the beginning of which
year O'NeUl certainly was in London. The articles by
which O'Neill bound himself to serve the queen are
dated at Benburb, 18th November, 1563, as appears
from the Patent Roll of that date ; and they cite the
articles indented between the queen and him, and dated
at \\ indsor, lotli January, 1563. By these articles, in
consideration of his becoming a faithful subject, he was
constituted " captain or governor" of Tyrone "in the
same manner as other captains (chiefs) of the said
nation, called O'Ncles, had rightfully executed that
office in the time of King llenry 8. ;" and, moreover, lie
was " to enjoy and have the name and title of O'Nele,
with the like authority, &c., as any other of his an-
cestors, with the service and homage of all the lords
and captains called Urraughts, and other nobles of the
said nation of O'Nele," upon condition " that he and his
said nobles should truly and faithfully, from time to
his own cause ; but an unfounded re-
port having reached that Hugh was
killed in a feud, Elizabeth no longer
hesitated to grant Shane a full pardon
and to recognize his right of succession
to the chieftaincy.*
A. D. 1562. — Well pleased with his
visit, O'Neill returned to Dublin, where
he arrived on the 26th of May, having
obtained a further loan of j£300 from
the queen for his journey home ; but
learning thatTurlough Luineach O'Neill
was setting himself ujd as chieftain, he
caused proclamation to be made in the
streets of the recognition of his title bj'
Elizabeth, and hastened to the north,
where he was received in triumph by
the men of Tyrone.
A. D. 1564. — Ulster continued, nev-
ertheless, in an unsettled state ; the
neighboring chieftains complained of
time, serve her majesty, and where necessary wage war
against all her enemies, in such manner as the lord
lieutenant for the time being should direct." The name
or title of O'Neill was to be contingent on the decision
of parliament, which should inquire concerning the
letters patent granted by Henry VIII. to his father, and
if these were to be adjudged void, or revoked, "then he
should forbear to use the title of O'Nele, and should bo
created and named earl of Tirone," and " all his follow-
ers, called Urraughts, who belonged to him or his
predecessors, should be assigned to him by authority of
said parliament, &c." Camden describes the rude pomp
with which Shane O'Neill appeared in London, escorted
by a body-guard of gallowglasses, with bare heads, long
and dishevelled hair, crocus dyed shirts, wide sleeves,
short jackets, shaggy cloaks, and broad battle-axes ; and
he tells us that they were objects of great wonder to
the EngUsh (Annaks, p. 09, ed. 1639) ; while we learn
from Campion (page 189, ed. 1809) that the hauteur
of the Irish prince excited the merriment of the
affected gallants of Elizabeth's court, who styled
him " O'Neale the great, cousin to S. Patricke, friend
to the Queene of England, enemy to all the world
besides 1"
858
REIGN OF ELIZABETPI.
aofgressious ou the part of Shane, and
the English government pursued its
insidious policy of division by setting
uj) the former against him. Maguire of
Fermanagh rendered himself particular-
ly obnoxious to the chief of Tyrone, by
his alliance with O'Donnell, and his
subservience to the English, and O'Neill
accordingly laid waste his territory by
repeated incursions.* Manus O'Donnell
died ia 1563, and Calvagh repaired to
Dublin to complain to the lord lieuten-
ant against O'Neill. The government
charged O'Neill with bad faith, but the
latter flung back the imputation, and
with good reason, for the English do
not appear to have kept any of their
promises to him. He refused to meet
the viceroy at Duudalk, and was in fact
once more at war with England; but
after some fruitless attempts at media-
tion Ijy the earls of Kildare and Or-
mond, Sir Thomas Cusack succeeded in
restoring peace, and articles were signed
by Shane, at his house at Benburb, in
November, 1563.f For some time Shane
O'Neill governed Tyrone with such
order, that if a robbery was committed
within his territory, he either caused
the property to be restored, or reim-
bursed the loser out of his own treasury.
He made war upon the Scots who had
settled inClannaboy, and defeated them
* Some of Maguire's letters to the earl of Sussex are
printed in tlie collection of State Papers. In cue of
these lie requests the lord lieutenant to write to him in
English, and not in Latin, as the latter language was
well known, and but few of the Irish had any knowl-
edge of the former, in which, therefore, the secrets of
their correspondence could be best preserved.
in a succession of attacks, slaying TOO oi
them in the last battle at Glenflesk, in
1566, and taking among other prisoners
their leader, James MacDonnell, who
died of his wounds, and his brother
Soiiey Boj^ This victory, while it in-
creased his power, only excited still
more the jealousy and suspicions of the
government, to whom Shane refused to
surrender the charge of his prisoners:
and, as the sequel will show, it proved
ere long ftital to himself.
The importance of the events in the
north has for some time withdrawn our
attention from the feuds which prevailed
in other parts of the country, and which
for the most part were but of local in-
terest. Such were the dissensions of
which Thomond had been so long the
theatre, and the partial settlement of
which, by the grant of Corcomroe to
Donnell O'Brien, in 1564, we have al-
ready mentioned; but a violent feud,
which broke out between the earls of
Ormond and Desmond, caused more
anxiety to government. The former of
these noblemen had embraced the new
creed, and following the traditions of
his family, was a fiiithful supporter of
English interests;;}; while the Geraldine
chief was firm in his attachment to
Catholicity, and was stigmatized with
the name of rebel. In 1562 both earls
f An outline of these articles has been given in a note
on the preceding page.
I Queen Elizabeth, who was related to the Butlers by
her mother, used to boast of the loyalty of the house of
Ormond.
FEUDS OF DESMOND AND ORMOND.
359
appeared at court in obedience to a
summons from the queen ; and while
Ormond was sent back to take part in
the proceedings against O'Neill, Des-
mond was pardoned on certain condi-
tions, the principal of which was that
he should abolish coyn and livery, and
abrogate all Irish laws and customs
within his territory The old strife,
however, soon broke out more fiercely
than ever. In the beginning of 1565
the earl of Desmond proceeded with a
small force to levy coyn and livery, and
some other tax which he claimed from
his kinsman Sir Maurice FitzGerald of
Decies, a nobleman who was also related
to the Butlers. Sir Maurice applied to
these latter for aid, and the earl of Or-
mond came with an army twice as
numerous as that which Desmond had
brought. A battle was fought at Affane,
a little to the south of Cappoquin, in
Waterford, when the earl of Desmond
was wounded and made prisoner.*
A. D. 1566. — About the close of 1564
the earl of Sussex obtained his final
recall from Ireland, where his unconcili-
ating temper, and personal animosities
had rendered the duties of government
exceedingly irksome ; and Sir Henry
Sidney arrived in Dublin in January,
this year, with ample powers as the
queen's representative. The new lord
deputy was received with extravagant
demonstrations of joy by the jwpulation
of the Pale ; and by the introduction of
* It was on this occasion that Desmond, while being
carried from the field, and tauntingly asked by his
enemies, " Where now was the proud earl of Desmond ?"
a new set of people into office he pre-
pared for a more vigorous administra-
tion of affiiirs. On his arrival he found
Shane O'Neill again in open hostility to
England, and he at once collected a
powerful army to take the field against
him. He stirred up the minor chieftains
of Ulster to resist O'Neill's claims of
suzerainty, and we are told that the
arrogance and violence of Shane ren-
dered this task an easy one. Commis-
sioners were, however, sent to O'Neill
himself, to try what might still be
eftected by negotiation, but he treated
their overtures with scorn, and said
that as Ulster had belonged to his an-
cestors, so it now belonged to him, and •
having won it by the sword, by the
sword he was resolved to keep it. He
boasted that " he could bring into the
field 1,000 horse and 4,000 foot, and
that he was able to burn and spoil to
Dublin gates, and come away unfought."
If he had been as prudent as he was
valiant, this defiance might have been
of more avail. He led an army to the
vicinity of Dundalk about the end of
July, and Sidney marched with a large
force to meet him ; but with the ex-
ception of some skirmishing, no collision
took place between them, and the dep-
uty returned to Dublin. O'Neill now
invaded the English Pale, and wasted
the country, but he was successfully
resisted by the garrison which had been
left by Sidney in Dundalk, and received
haughtily replied, " AYhere he ought to be, upon the
necks of tho Butlers !" Tiic carl appears to have been
soon after liberated.
560
REIGN OF ELIZABETH.
a still more serious repulse from an
English garrison, placed, at the solici-
tation of Calvagh O'Donnell, in Derry,
Liuder a brave and experienced officer,
Colonel Randolph, who is said to have
been the only person killed on the Eng-
lish side in O'Neill's attack.* Sidney, at
the head of a powerful army, marched
through Tyrone and Tirconnell, and
thence through Connaught to the Pale,
A. D. 1567. — Hugh O'Donnell suc-
ceeded to the chieftaincy of Tirconnell
on the siidden death of his brother Cal-
vagh, and proved to be a more danger-
ous and energetic foe to Shane O'Neill
than any of the others Avhom the policy
of the deputy had raised up against him
among the Ulster chiefs ; although in his
brother's life-time he had been Shane's
friend, and was in that chief's camp
when he invaded Tirconnell in 1557.
After the old Irish fashion Hugh inau-
gurated his rule by a " chieftain's first
hosting" into Shane's territory, and this
was followed by another in the follow-
ing year (1567), which so exasperated
the chief of Tyrone that he collected a
numerous army, and invaded Tirconnell,
crossing the estuary of the river Swilly,
at low water, a short distance below
Letterkenny, and attacking the small
* Shortly after the defeat of Shane O'NeiU before
Derry, that town -was destroyed by fire, and the cathe-
dral, -which had been converted by the English into an
arsenal, fell a prey to the flames. The powder magazine
was blown up, the provisions destroyed, the sick soldiers
killed in the hospital, and the English garrison com-
pelled to abandon the place. The cause of this fire,
which occurred in April, 150G, could not be explained ;
forces of Hugh, who was encamped at
Ardnagarry, on the north side of the
river. The position of Hugh was for a
moment desperate, but skilful general-
ship and impetuosity made up for the
smallness of his numbers, and the total
rout of O'Neill's army was the result.
During the battle the returning tide
had covered the sands which a little
before had affijrded so ready a passage,
and a great number of O'Neill's 2:)anic-
stricken men plunging into the waves
were drowned, their loss by flood and
by the sword being variously stated at
1,300 or 3,000 men. O'Neill himself
fled alone along the banks of the river,
westward, to a ford near Scarrifi"hol]is,
about two miles higher up than Letter-
kenny, where he crossed under the
guidance of a party of the O'Gallaghers,
subjects of O'Donnell, to whom he was
probably unknown, and thence he found
his way back, quite crest-fallen, to Ty-
rone. The annalists say, "his reason
and senses became deranged after this
defeat." He hesitated a moment whether
he should offer his submission to the
lord deputy, or apply for aid to the
Scots, but by the advice of his secretary
he adopted the latter alternative. An
army of the Clann Donnell had just
arrived from the Hebrides, under some
of the very leaders whom Shane had
and the Irish attributed it to the desecration of St.
Columbkille's- sacred precincts by a heretical garrison ;
as they also did the death of Calvagh O'Donnell, who
had brought the English there, and who fell dead from
his horse, in the midst of his cavalry, on the 26th ol
October that year.— See O'Sullivan's Hist. Cath., p. 96,
Dublin, 1850.
MURDER OF SHANE O'NEILL.
]CA
defeated not quite two years before at
Gleuflesk, and who thirsted for revenge.
They gladly accepted his invitation, and
he proceeded to meet them at Cushen-
duu (Bun-abhan-Duine), in Antrim,
s-euding his prisoner, Sorley Boy Mac-
Donnell, before him, the better to
propitiate them should any of their
old enmity remain. The Scots invited
O'Neill to their camp, which he entered
unsuspectingly, accompanied only by
his mistress, the wife (now widow) of
Calvagh O'Donnell, his secretary, and
fifty horsemen. A banquet was pre-
pared, but in the midst of the carousal
a brawl was purposely got up, and
several Scots rushing simultaneously
ujion O'Neill, despatched him with in-
numerable wounds, his followers being
subsequently cut to pieces. Plis body,
wrapt in the yellow shirt of a kerne.
* The character of Shane O'Neill has been blackened
by English historian?, but to accounts from sources so
hostile little credit is due. Camden describes him as
" homicidiis et adulteriis contaniinatissimus, helluo
maximus, ebrietato adeo insigni, ut ad corpus, vino et
aqua vitEe immodic6 hausta intlammatum, refrigeran-
(lum, sepius mento tcniis terra conderetur." {Annales,
kc, p. 130.) Hooker speaks of his cellar at Dundrum,
in which he is said to have kept a stock of 200 tuns of
wine. He possessed singular strength of character.
Sir Henry Sidney, in one of his letters, says he "is the
only strong man in Ireland." Campion, who was liis
contemporary, and who writes as his enemy, stUl gives
him credit for great charity. " Sitting at meate, before
lie put one morseU into his moutli, lie used to slice a
jiortion above tlio dayly almes, and send it namely to
some beggcr at his gate, saying, it was meeto to serve
Christ first." (Campion, Hist, of Ireland, p. 189, ed.
1809) But one of the most remarkable circumstances
connected with this extraordinary man was the strong
and favor.abIe impression which he had made on the
mind of queen Elizabeth ; a feeling which, says Jloore,
' was shown by her retaining towards liim the same
friendly bearing through all the strife, confusion, and —
what, in hei eyes, was even still worse — lavish expendi-
was cast into au open pit, whence it was
soon after taken by Captain Pierse, an
Englishman, who is suspected of having
suggested the murder, or of being in
some way concerned in the deed ; and
the head having been cut ojff was taken
to the lord deputy, who caused it to be
placed on a spike on the highest tower
of Dublin castle, and rewarded Pierse
with a thousand marks, the sum offered
by proclamation for the head of the
northern chieftain. Such was the tragic
and unworthy end of Shane O'Neill,
whom English arms had not been able
to subdue, but who fell a victim to his
own rashness, to the treachery of pre-
tended fi-iends, and the unprincipled
policy of the English government.*
About the end of January, 1567, Sir
Henry Sidney set out on a visitation of
Munster and Connaught, and the account
ture, of which he continued, for several years to be the
unceasing cause.'' She freqiiently discountenanced the
hostile movements against him, and so well was Iier
leniency towards him understood that, in loGG, Sir
William FitzWilliam complained in a letter to Cecil
that " the council are not permitted to write the truth
of O'Neill's evil doings." He was popular even in tlio
Pale, for his generous and high spirit commanded the
respect both of friends and foes. By the Irish he w as
usually styled Shane-an-diotnais, i. c. " John of the am
bition or pride ;" and he is also called Dongaikach, or
the Donnellian, as he was fostered by an O'Donnell.
(Four Masters, vol. v., p. 1569, note.) Ware says, on the
authority of ofBcial papers, that the wars of Shane
O'NeiU cost Elizabeth the sum of £147,407 " over and
above the cesses laid on the country ;" and that " 3,.500
of her majesty's soldiers were slain by him and his
party, besides what they slew of the Scots and Irish."
(Annals, A. D. 1508.) The interval between his defeat
by Hugh O'Donnell and Ids murder by tlio Scots was
from the 8th of May to the middle of June. The circum-
stances of liis death are minutely related by Campion
(pp. 189-192); and, also, witli some sliglit discrepancy
by Camden (ubi supr<i).
REIGN OF ELIZABETH.
transmitted by him to Elizabeth of the
state of these two provinces aifords a
frio-htful i:)icture of the eiFects of misrule.
Tlie country was everywhere reduced to
utter ruin. Thus, describing Munster, he
writes : — " Like as I never was in a more
pleasant country in all my life, so never
saw I a more waste and desolate land.
Such horrible and lamentable
sj)ectacles are there to behold as the
burning of villages, the ruin of churches,
the wasting of such as have been good
towns and castles ; yea, the view of the
bones and skulls of the dead subjects
who, partly by murder, partly by fa-
mine, have died in the fields, as in troth
hardly any christian with dry eyes could
behold." Even in the territory subject
to the earl of Ormond he witnessed a
" want of justice, judgement, and stout-
ness to execute." Tipperary and Lim-
erick were in a horrible state of deso-
lation. The earl of Desmond was " a
mau both devoid of judgment to govern
and will to be ruled." MacCarthy More,
who two years before had surrendered
his territories to the queen, receiving
them back by letters patent, with the
titles of earl of Clancare* and baron of
Valentia, was "willing enough to be
ruled, but wanted force and credit to
rule." The earl of Thomond "had
neither wit of himself to govern, nor
grace or capacity to learn of others ;"
and the lord deputy confessed that he
would most willingly have committed
* TUs title has beea variously written Clancare,
Qlencar (by Cox), and Clancarrha ; the last form nearly
expresses the sound of the Irish name, Clancarthig or
the said earl to prison if he could find
any person in whom he could confide to
put in his place. The earl of Claurickard
was well-intentioned, and otherwise met
the deputy's approbation, but " he was
so overruled by a putative wife as oft
times when he best intendeth she forceth
him to do the worst ;" and his sons were
so turbulent that they kept the whole
country in disorder. He found Galway
like a frontier town in an enemy's
country, the inhabitants obliged to keep
watch and ward to protect themselves
against their dangerous neighboi-s ; and
Athenry was reduced so low that there
were then in it but four respectable
house-holders, who presented the dep-
uty with the rusty keys of their town
— " a pitiful and lamentable present" —
requesting him to keep the keys, " inas-
much as they were so impoverished by
the extortion of the lords about them
as they were no longer able to keep
that town."
Such was the state in which Sir
Henry Sidney found the country — a
state which might be traced to what he
designates the " cowardly policy'' that
would rule the nation by sowing di-
visions among the people, or, as he
himself expresses it, " by keeping them
in continual dissension, for fear lest
through their quiet might follow I wot
not what." And he adds: — "so far hath
that policy, or rather lack of policy, in
keeping dissension among them, pre-
Clancarthy, and
orthography.
probably the correct Anglo-Irish
POLITICAL INTRIGUES IN DUBLIN.
363
vailed, as now, albeit all that are alive
would become honest and live m quiet,
yet are there not left alive, in these two
provinces, the twentieth person neces-
sary to inhabit the same !"
Sidney encountered, the difficulties of
his position with energy which was un-
restrained by either prudence or human-
ity, and which alarmed even Elizabeth,
who -would have preferred dealing with
them in an indirect manner. He sternly
reproved the nobles for the mismanage-
ment of their respective districts ; but
against Desmond he was particularly
severe. The great power of that noble-
man, and his high position in the esteem
of the Catholics, rendered him a special
object of the deputy's hostility. He was
accordingly summoned to attend the
latter in his visitation of Munster, and
after being unknowingly guarded for
some days, was at length publicly seized
in Kilmallock, and carried about as a
prisoner by Sidney during the remainder
of his progress. The sons of the earl of
Claurickard were also taken up in Con-
naught, and the lord deputy returned
to Dublin with his captives on the 16th
of Aj^ril, having caused unnumbered
otfenders to be executed in the course
of his visitation.* The queen was un-
easy at the tumults which these strong
* In ono of Ms despatches, Sidney thus alludes to the
countless executions which graced his progress on this
o.'casion. "I write not," ho says, "the names of each
particular varlot that hath died since I arrived, as well
by the ordinary course of the law, and the martial law,
as flat fighting with them, when they would take food
without the good will of the giver, for I think it no
Btuff worthy the loading of my letters witli ; but I do
measures produced, especially in Mun
stei", and Sidney having sought permis-
sion to explain his conduct in person,
proceeded to England for that purpose,
in October, taking with him the earl of
Desmond and his brother, John, who
was sent for and then arrested; and
being also accompanied by Hugh
O'Neill, baron of Dungannon, the
O'Conor Sligo, and other Irish chief-
tains; Dr. Robert Weston, lord chan-
cellor, and Sir William FitzWilliam,
treasurer, being left in charge of the
government as lords justices.
A. D. 1568. — Scarcely was Ulster tem-
porarily pacified by the death of Shane
O'Neill when the southern province be-
came the scene of troubles of a most
formidable character. During the im-
prisonment of Gerald, earl of Desmond,
and his brother. Sir John, the leadership
of the Geraldines was assumed, at the
desire, it is said, of the captives, by their
cousin. Sir James FitzGerald — son of
Maurice of Desmond, brother of the late
earl, James. Sir James FitzMaurice, as
he is usually called, Avas warlike and en-
terprising. He resisted successfully the
pretensions to the earldom put forward
by Thomas Rua, an elder, but illegiti-
mate brother of earl Gerald's, although
this claimant was supported by the But-
assure you the number of them is great and some of the
best, and the rest tremble ; for most part they fight for
their dinner, and many of them lose their heads before
they bo served with supper. Down they go in every
comer, and down they shall go, God willing !" (Sidney's
Despatches, preserved in the BritLh Museum, MSS.
Cot. Titus B. X.)
REIGN OF ELIZABETH.
Ilts, iuv\ l)y FitzMaurice of Kerry, and
others.* Ill the course of this quarrel,
Sir James besieged FitzMaurice of Kerry
iu his castle of Lixnaw, but was defeated
aiul compelled to raise tlie siege.
About the same time the newly-
created earl of Clancare threw off tbe
Euglisli yoke and asserted liis hereditary
riglits to South Munster ; while in the
absence of the earl of Ormond in Eng-
land, his ])rother, Sir Edmond Butler,
involved himself in dissensions with the
Geraldines. The attachment to their
ancient faith evinced by the Irish had
long since attracted the attention of the
Catholic potentates of Europe, and
promises of aid were held out to them
both by France and Spain. The sover-
eign pontiff, on his side, felt it his duty
to encourage and sustain, by every
means in his power, those Catholics
who were engaged in a life-and-death
struggle for their religion against the
innovators ; so that to him also we find
the Irish applying, not only for spiritual
succour, but for men, arms, and money,
during the wars of Elizabeth. The po-
sition of the Irish Catholics had become
intolerable. If the yoke of the stranger
* Tliomas Rua, or the red, -was the son of the late
earl, James, by his first wife, Johanna, daughter of
Maurice Roche, viscount Fernioy ; but as his mother's
marriage was pronounced invalid, on the ground of
consanguinity, Thomas was reckoned illegitimate. On
failing in his attempt to gain the earldom he lived
(juietly in his castle of Conoha, County of Cork, where
ho died, Junuai-y 18th, 1595. (Lodge.) His son became
famous as the so-called " Sugan earl," and will be
mentioned in our pages hereafter.
t We are unwilling to infringe in the slightest degree
on the field of polemics, but the student of history can-
not but observe in passing how men with whom private
had been hitherto hard enough to bear,
it was infinitely more so now, when the
oppressor added to his ancient, unre-
lenting, national animosity, the fierce
spirit of religious persecution which the
Reformation had everywhere enkindled
in its iDartlsans.f The people saw their
churches desolate — their monasteries
confiscated — their j^riests proscribed —
and their religion trampled under foot.
They were swayed to and fro by un-
steady leaders — they were disorganized
by their ancient strife — -but now they
rallied to more sacred watchwords, and
while they fought with the chivalry of
crusaders, thej^ died with the heroism
of martyrs. Such was the general chai--
acter of the struggle which had now
commenced in the southern province,
and which was sustained for many
years, and spread more or less through-
out all Ireland.
A. D. 1569.— In September, 1568, Sir
Henry Sidney returned to Ireland as
lord deputy, and landed at Cariickfer-
gus, where he received the submission
of Turlough Luineach O'Neill, who, ou
the death of Shane, had been elected to
the chieftaincy.:}: The deputy came pre-
judgment in matters of faith was a fundamental prin-
ciple, would monopolize that privilege for themselves,
and, with such arguments as the sword and the halter,
compel other men to surrender their private judgment
to thorn. Yet such was the case iu every country where
the professors of the refoniied creed gained the ascen-
dency, and where the rest of the population -Hished to
persevere in the faith of their fathers — but nowhere was
this spirit of persecution productive of more melancholy
results than in Ireland.
t Sir Turlough, who assumed the title of the O'NeiU
after the death of Shane an Diomais, was tl>e son of
Niall Culanagh, who was the son of Art Oge, a younger
STRIFE IN THOMOND.
365
paved with tVesli instructions to cany
out the policy of his royal mistress, and
summoned a parliament to meet in
Dublin on the iTth of January, 1569.
The history of this body is memorable
for the unscrupulous and unconstitu-
tional means resorted to in order to
secure its subserviency to the crown.
Members were returned for towns not
incorjDorated ; mayors and sheriffs in
some cases returned themselves; and
several Englishmen were elected as bur-
gesses for towns which they had never
seen. These monstrous irregularities
gave rise to violent opposition. The
iudges were consulted, and declared
that those who were returned for non-
corporate towns, and those who had
returned themselves, were disqualified
fi'om sitting as members, but the elec-
tions of the non-resident Englishmen
were held to be valid ; and this decision
still left the court party in a majority.
By these Stanihurst, recorder of Dublin,
was chosen speaker, and Sir Christopher
Barnwell led the opposition. The first
pi'oceedings were stormy in the extreme,
and the popular excitement out of doors
was so great that Hooker, an English-
man, who was returned for the dilapi-
brotlier of Con Bacagh O'Neill, tho first carl of Tyrone,
llo was called Lynoch (Luineach) from having been
fostered by O'Luinigli of Tyrone. He was the most
)iowerful member of the O'Neill sept after the death of
John, and was therefore elected to succeed him, although
John had left sons. lie had proved liimself on sundry
occasions a friend of the English, during Jolrn's wars ;
but this assumption of tho title of O'Neill was deemed
im act of rebellion, and hence the necessity of his sub-
mis.sion to the deputy.
* Leland (vol. ii., p. 241) describes the proceedings of
this packed parliament.
dated borough of Athenry, and who has
left us a chronicle of the period, had to
be protected by a guard in going to his
residence.'^' In this parliament, in which
the majority was a mere English faction,
an act was passed attainting the late
Shane O'Neill, suppressing the name of
O'Neill, and entitling the queen and her
heirs to the territory of Tyrone and
other parts of Ulster. Laws Avere also
enacted imposing a duty on wine ; giv-
ing the lord deputy the nomination to
church dignities in Munster and Con-
naught for ten years ; and for erecting
in the various dioceses charter schools,
of which the teachers were to be Eng-
lish, and, of course, Protestants. A law
was also passed abolishing captaincies
or chieftaincies of septs, unless when
allowed by special patent.f
A little before this, Sir Peter Carew,
a Devonshire knight, came to Ireland
and set up a claim of hereditary right
to vast territories in the south of this
couuti-y. He revived, in fact, a claim
which had been investigated and re-
jected in the reign of Edward HI., but
produced as fresh evidence a forged
roll, which he alleged had been discov-
ered ; and the corrupt administration of
f It was in the act of attauider against O'Neill, passed
in this parliament, tha,t queen Elizabeth's ministers
affected to trace her title to the realm of Ireland to
an origin anterior to that of the Milesian race of kings ;
setting forth a ludicrous tale of a king Gurmondus,
"son to tho noble king Belan of Great Britain, who
was lord of Bayon in Spain, as many of his successors
were to the time of Henry II., who possessed the island
afore tho comeing of Irishmen into the said lande !"
(See Plowdon's Mst. liec, Append.. No. vii. Irish
Statutes, 11th Eliz., sess. 3, cap. I. O'Connell's .Vc'hi.
\ of Ireland, :>. 110.)
366
REIGN OF ELIZABETPI.
the day admitted the title and ordered
him to be put in possession ; rather, as
it would appear, to frighten the Mac-
Cai-thys, FitzGeralds, Kavanaglis, and
others, to whose lands he laid claim,
tlian with any other view* Some of
these lands belonged to Sir Edraond
Butler, a man of a restless spirit, and
perpetually involved in strife, and who
now joined the southern insui'gents,
more from private jiique than fur public
UKitives, if we may judge from his sub-
sequent conduct. Sir Peter Carew was
ordered to take the field against him,
and is said to have slain in one en-
counter 400 of the Irish, with no other
loss on his side than one man wounded ;
a statement from which, if true, it would
follow that the affair was not a battle,
liut tlie massacre of an unarmed multi-
tude. Sir Edmoud then induced his
younger brothers, Pierce and Edward,
to enter with him into an alliance with
Sir James FitzMaurice ; and the con-
federates despatched the archbishop of
Cashel, the bishop of Emly, and Sir
James Sussex FitzGerald, youngest
brother of the earl of Desmond, as
emissaries to the pope, imploring as-
sistance. They laid siege to Kilkenny,
which was successfully defended by
Carew. They then proceeded to over-
run the country in various directions.
The Butlers sacked the town of Enuis-
* Sir Peter Carew daimed the barony of Idrone in
Carlow, and one-half of the "kingdom of Cork," or
South Munster, in right of Robert FitzStephen, one of
tlie first adventurers; but as the said FitzStephen was
a bastard, and left no children, it was decided bv the
corthy, and marched into 0>sory and
the Queen's county, where they are
accused of committing every kind of
outrage. Ultimately they i-eturned to
the south and rejoined the forces of
FitzMaurice and the earl of Claneare,
when the confederates sent messengei's
to Turlough Luineach, inviting him to
join their standard, and to secure the
assistance of some Scottish auxiliaries.
At this juncture Sidney set out on a
military expedition into Munster, and
the earl of Ormond was sent over by
the queen to bring his refractory broth-
ers to order. This he easily effected ;
inducing them to accompany him to
Limerick and there submit to the lord
deputy, Avho consented to their pardon,
although Sir Edmond was detained for
some time in prison to await the queen's
pleasure, as he persisted in making
personal charges against Sidney him-
self The ranks of the insurgents being
thus broken up, James FitzMaurice re-
tired with a few followers to the moun-
tains, and Sidney, having taken those
castles which still held out, proceeded
through Thomond to Connaught, and
thence to Dublin ; having on this occa-
sion put into effective oj^eration the
new form of local government, by pres-
idents and councils, which he himselr
had devised for the two provinces of
Connaught and Munster. Sir Edward
inquisition of the 5th Edward III. that the claim of the
Carews to be his heirs cotJd not be true. See Four
Masters, vol. v., pp. 1737, 1838, note, for some curious
particulars on this subject.
TUMULTS IN CONXAUGHT.
3G7
Fittou, a mean well qualified to crush
the people by his excessive rigor and
overbearing insolence, was appointed
first president of Counaught; and Sir
John Perrot, who was said to be a
natural son of Henry VIIL, and was
also distinguished for his extreme stern-
ness and terrible activity, was placed
early in the following year in the gov-
ernment of Munster.* In the north
Turlough Luiueach evinced an intention
of joining the Southern insurgents, but
an injury which he received from the
accidental explosion of a gun obliged
him to remain inactive, and on his re-
covery he found himself deserted by
many of his adherents, and deemed it
prudent to submit and sue for pardon.
A. D. 1570. — Sir James FitzMaurice
renewed the war early this year. On
the second of March he attacked Kil-
malluck, in which an English garrison
had been j^laced, and scaling the walls
obtained possession of the town, which
was then plundered and committed to
the flames, so that nothing was left of
it but the blackened walls. In Con-
naught, to which Thomond had recent-
ly been added as a county,f the rigor
of Sir Edward Fittou had goaded the
people into resistance; even the old
and hitherto faithful friend of the Enar-
» Sir Warliam St. Leger was appointed president of
Munster in 1 5C7, but the system of provincial presidents
does not appear to liave been fully carried out until two
years later, as stated above.
I A few years before this Connauglit had been dirided
by the earl of Susses into sis counties, viz. : — Clare,
Galway, Mayo, Sligo, Roscomn<-in, and Leltrim. The
territory comprised in the present county of Clare formed
a part of Connaught in the time of queen Maeve, that is,
lish, Conor O'Brien, earl of Thomond,
being obliged to resist the president's
authority. Fitton appointed a court to
meet this year in the abbey of Ennis,
but the earl refused to .attend, and the
president was obliged to fly, committing
himself to the safe keeping of Teige
O'Brien, sheriff of Thomond, who con-
ducted him to Galway. The earl of
Ormond was, upon this, sent into
Thomond to vindicate the authority of
government, and the refractory Conor
O'Brien surrendered to him all his cas-
tles except that of Ibrickan ; but sub-
sequently he regretted his too easy
submission, and preferring any sacrifice
rather than placing himself at the mercy
of the president, he fled to Kerry, and
thence to France, where Norris, the
English ambassador, negotiated his par-
don with Elizabeth, enabling him to
return to Ireland, where he afterwards
remained a faithful subject.
In the summer of this year a sanguin-
ary and memorable battle was fought
at Shrule, a village on the borders of
Mayo and Galway, between tiie north-
ern MacWilliams (Burkes) on the one
side, and the earl of Clanrickard and
Sir Edward Fitton on the other. Mac-
William had collected a large army by
the aid of his allies in lower Connaught,
about the Christian era, and so continued until it was
conquered by Lugaidh Mcnn, fourth in descent from
Cormac Cas, son of Oiliol Ollum, king of Munster, when
it became Thomond or North Munster. It was restored
for a short time to Connaught in the division of shire
land under queen Elizabeth, but was again added to
Munster. See note in Battle of Magh Lena, p. 157.
By Sussex, also, tho ancient territory of Anally was
formed into the county of Longford.
REIGN OF ELIZABETH.
and of the O'Flaherties ; and tlie lord
president's infantry were routed with
great slaughter, although his cavalry re-
mained firm, and inflicted such damage
on the Irish, in their turn, that both par-
ties were able to claim the victory. In
the south the earl of Ormond pursued
his way from Thomond through Hy-
Connell Gavj-a, in Limerick, into Kerry,
as far as Dunlo castle, whicli he de-
molished, without meeting an • enemy
throughout his march ; and among the
Irish chieftains who made their submis-
sion about the same time, were Brian
Kavanagh, of Ballyanne, in Wexford,
MacVaddock, MacEdmond Duif, and
MacDavid More, heads of other branch-
es of the MacMurroughs, in the same
county; besides O'Farrell Bane, and
O'Farrell Boy, of Longford.*
A. D. 1571. — Sir John Perrot entered
this year on his first campaign against
the insurgents of Munster, with extra-
ordinary vigor and activity. He was
on the alert night and day. Boasting
that he would " hunt the fox out of his
hole," he scoured the woods in the wild
and picturesque gien of Aherlow, where
Sir James FitzMaurice had sheltered
himself with a few followers, but not-
withstanding all this energy the Ger-
aldine chief remained unsubdued.
A. D. 1572. — Neither did the "strong
measures" of Sir Edward Fitton produce
the expected result. His ferocity and
iiBolence fired, instead of subduine: the
* See the indentures of their submission published,
for the first time, by Dr. O'Donovan, Four Masters, vol.
v., pp. lG-18, &<:.
spirit of Connaught. He called a court
in Galway, to be held in March this
year, and to serve for his whole juris-
diction, from Sligo to Limerick. The
sons of the earl of Clanrickard, on
arriving in the town, heard rumors of
some sinister design on the part of the
president, and took to flight; where-
upon Fitton arrested the earl, their
father, and carried him to Dublin,
where he committed him to the charge
of the lord deputy, returning himself
to Athlone. Other popular chiefs of
Connaught were also seized by him,
and left in durance in Galway ; and
then, collecting a sufiicient force, he
marched through Galway to the castle
of Aughnanure, on the shoi'C of Lough
Corrib, and after a siege, in which a
great portion of tl^e castle Avas de-
stroyed, took it from the sons of Donnell
O'Flaherty, and gave it up to Murrough
O'FIaherty, surnamed Na-d-tuadh, or ot
the battle-axes, who had been taken
into favor by the government, and
acknowledged as chieftain of all lar-
Connaught. The earl's sons were again
in arms ; multitudes of the disafi^ected
rallied to their standard,,, and among
the rest Fitz-Maurice of Desmond ; they
destroyed nearly all the castles of Clan-
rickard to render them untenable by
English garrisons ; they crossed the
Shannon into West Meath, burned part
of Athlone, demolished the walls and
stone houses of Athenry, passed twice
into lar-Connaught in defiance of the
garrison of Galway and of the forces of
Murrough O'FIaherty, and had overrun
TUMULTS IN C0NNAU6HT.
3G9
a great part of the west of Ireland,
Avbeii Sir William FitzWilliam, now
lord deputy, thought it prudent to try
conciliation, and liberating the earl of
Clanrickard, sent him down to pacify
his sous. This course had the desired
effect, and the Connaught insurgents
having dispersed to their homes, Sir
James FitzMaurice, who had been
waiting for an expected reinforcement
of Scots, set out for Kerry, where he
arrived after encountering innumerable
perils, only in time to find that Castle-
maine, the last of his strongholds, after
a long and brave resistance, had been
compelled, through famine, to capitu-
late to the lord president. In his
present kopeless state, FitzMaurice with
his party of Scots, repaired to the wilds
of Aherlow, where, about the end of
October, he was surprised and attacked
at night by a garrison which Perrot
bad placed in Kilmallock, now jjartly
rebuilt. Thirty of the Scots were slain,
and the spirit of FitzMaurice was com-
pletely crushed by the blow; yet he
remained in the woods until the fol-
lowing February, when he sent Fitz-
Gerald, seneschal of Imokilly, and Owen
MacRichard Burke, with his own sou,
as a hostage, to proffer his submission
to the lord president, then stopping
with lord Roche, at Castletown Roche,
in Cork.
A. D. 1573. — Humbled as he was, the
Geraldine was still an object of fear,
and the offer of his submission was re-
ceived with welcome. The ruined
church of Kilmallock, which had been
47
the scene of his principal, aggression,
was appropriately selected for the cer-
emony of reconciliation ; and there, on
his knees, and, according to the account
preserved in the state-paper office, in
most abject terms, he confessed his guilt,
and craved the pardon of the lord pres-
ident, who held his naked sword all the
while with the point towards the fallen
chieftain's breast. The latter kissed
the weapon, and falling on his face ex-
claimed : " And now this earth of
Kilmallock, which town I have most
traitorously sacked and burnt, I kiss, and
on the same lie prostrate, overfraught
with sorrow upon this present view of
my most mischievous part ?" On this
tei-mination of the insurrection, the earl
of Desmond and his brother, John, who
had been detained captives in England
for six years, were set free. The earl
was even graciously treated by the
queen; and his manners as a gentle-
man distinguished hira at her court. A
ship was fui-nished to convey the broth-
ers to Ireland; but for some reason,
suggested by the tortuous policy of
Elizabeth, the earl was again put under
arrest -on his arrival in Dublin, John
being permitted to I'eturn to Munster,
In Cannaught Sir Edward Fittou was
removed from office, owing to the re-
monstrances of the earl of Clanrickard
against his overbearing harshness.
That the project of planting Ulster
from England, though not fully carried
out until the next reign, was present to
the mind of Elizabeth even in the war
of Shane O'Neil, is evident from the
370
REIGN OF ELIZABETH.
hints thrown out by her to the effect
that the insurrection was all the better
for the loyalists, as it would leave plenty
of lands for them. In 1570 the district
of Ards, in Down, was granted by her
to her secretary, Sir Thomas Smith, and
was described in the preamble to the
grant as belonging to " divers parts and
parcels of her highness's earldom of
Ulster, that lay waste, or else were in-
habited with a wicked, barbarous, and
uncivil people ; some Scottish, and some
wild Irish, and such as lately had been
rebellious to her." Smith sent over his
natural son with a colony to this dis-
trict, but the young man was soon after
killed in a fray by the O'Neills of Clan-
naboy, the native owners of the soil,
and the new settlement lingered feebly
for some yeare. The Scots who had
settled in Clannaboy under their chief,
Sorley Boy MacDounell, were for a
while countenanced by the English gov-
ernment as useful allies in removing or
crushing the native inhabitants, who in
order to be " humanized," were to be
first despoiled of their ancestral lands :
but that territory was now thrown
open to a more favored class of adven-
turers. Walter Devereux, earl of Essex,
received a grant of a moiety of the
seigniories of Clannaboy, Farney, &c.,
provided he could expel the "rebels"
■who dwelt there, any rights on the
part of the native septs being wholly
overlooked. An army of 1,200 men
was to be placed at the earl's disposal,
one-half to be provided and maintained
at the queen's expense and the other at
that of the earl ; eveiy horseman who
volunteered in the expedition for two
years was to receive 400 acres of land
at two pence per acre, and every foot-
man 200 acres at a like rate ; and the
earl was to be commander-in-chief, or
earl-marshal of Ireland for seven years.
Several English gentlemen of distinc-
tion, among others lords Dacres and
Rich, Sir Henry Knollys, and the three
sons of Lord Norris, joined the adven-
turers ; and Essex mortgaged his estates
to the queen to raise funds for the
entei'prise. But it was, nevertheless,
well known that the project was devised
and promoted by his enemy, the earl of
Leicester, in order to remove him from
the court. Sir William FitzWilliam,
the lord deputy, complained of the ex-
cessive power about to be conferred on
Essex as incompatible with his own au-
thority, and it was accordingly arranged
that the earl should receive his com-
mission from the deputy, to make it
appear that he acted under him. Essex
at length arrived, in the summer of
1573, and notified, by proclamation,
that he came to take possession of the
forfeited lands of Clannaboy, the Glyns,
the Route, &c., but, that he merely
intended to expel the Scots, and not to
act with hostility to the Irish. Soon,
however, the nature of the expedition
became known to these latter ; a'nd the
native race of Clannaboy, under their
chief, Brian, sou of Felim Baccagh
O'Neill, and supported by Hugh O'Neill
of Dungannon, and by Turlough Lui-
neach himself, rose in arms. Several
SIDNEY RETURNS TO IRELAND.
371
conflicts ensued, and Essex soon found
himself in a very embarrassing position.
Many of his men were not fit for the
hard service on which they had entered,
and some of his leaders deserted and
returned to England. He invited the
aid of Con, son of Calvagh O'Donnell,
but when that chief had joined, he seized
him on some frivolous pretence and sent
him a prisoner to Dublin, at the same
time taking possession of O'Donnell's
castle of Lifford.
A.D. 1574. — Camden tells us that Essex
defeated Brian O'Neill in battle, and slew
two hundred of his men ; but the Irish
chroniclers give a very different account
of this transaction. They say that,
peace having been agreed upon between
Brian and the earl, a feast was prepared
by the former, to which Essex and the
chiefs of his people were invited, but that
after three days and nights spent in so-
cial convivialit}^, "as they were agree-
ably drinking and making merry, Brian,
his brother, and his wife, were seized
upon by the earl, and all his people put
to the sword, men, women, youths, and
maidens, in Brian's own presence ;" and
* We can haro no hesitation as to tho authority on
wliich we should rely relative to this nefarious trans-
action. Camden, wlio (Annaks ad an. 1574) omits all
allusion to treachery in the affair, frequently suffers
himself to display his prejudice against tho Irish ;
wliereas the Four Blasters, who give tho other version,
are remarkable, as even Leland confesses, for their free-
dom from all virulence against tho EngUsh or their
government. " Sometimes, on the contrary," continues
tUat very anti-Irish historian, " they expressly condemn
their countrymen for their rebellion against their prince."
(Lei. Hist, of Ireland, B. iv., c. 2, note.)
f Camden informs us that the poisoner of Essex had
been pointed out to him in public ; but Hooker in his
that " Brian was afterwards sent to
Dublin, together with his wife and bro-
ther, where they were cut in quarters." *
This horrible act of perfidy filled the
Irish, as the annalists add, with hatred
and disgust for their foes, and the whole
boasted scheme of colonization soon
after fell to the ground. Essex went to
England in 1575, to induce the queen
to lend additional support, but she dis-
liked the project and refused. He then
returned to Ireland, abandoned his
settlement, and i-epaired to Dublin,
where he died on the 2 2d of Septem-
ber, 1576, the general opinion being
that his death was caused by poison,
administered at the desire of the earl of
Leicester, who soon after divorced his
own wife and married the widow of
Essex.f
A.D. 1575. — Sir Henry Sidney once
more resumed the reins of government-
He landed at Skerries on the 12th
of September this year, and having been
sworn in at Drogheda, as the plague at
that time raged in Dublin,;]: he marched
with six hundred horse and foot against
Sorley Boy and the Scots who were just
chronicle, asserts that that nobleman died not of poison,
but of an attack of dysentery, to which he was subject.
Esses complained bitterly, in his letters to Sir Henry
Sidney, of tho queen's bad faith with him in the affair
of the projected plantation of Clannaboy, and protested
against the injustice which had been inflicted, through
him, on such loyal lords of 1'l.ster as O'Donnell,
MacMahon, and others, " whom he had, on the pledged
word of the queen, undone with fair promises."
I Dublin, and many parts of tho Pale, were devastated
by plague in the summer and autumn of 1075. The
Four Masters say : — " Intense heat and extreme drought
iji the summer of this year ; there was no rain for one
hour by night or day from Bcaltome (Ist of May) to
372
REIGX OF ELIZABETH.
then besieging Carrickfergus ; and hav-
ino- compelled tliem to submit, he re-
ceived about tbe same time tbe submis-
sion of Turlough Luineacb and other
Ulster chieftains. Con O'Donneli, and
Con, son of Niall Oge O'Neill, had, a
little before, made their escape from
Dublin, and the lord-deputy sent a par-
don to the former, showing his disap-
proval of the unjust treatment he had
received from Essex. He thea set out
on a progress through Leinster and
Munster. At Dungarvan the earl of
Desmond, ^vho had made his escape in
1573 fi-om his detention in Dublin, came
in and offered the deputy his services.
At Cork Sir Henry held a session, at
which several persons were tried, and
twenty-three offenders executed. Here
he passed the Christmas, Avhich was
celebrated with unwonted gaiety and
magnificence, several of the leading
men, both of English and Irish descent,
having come accompanied by their
wives to attend the deputy's court. In
Limerick he also held sessions, but as
his stay there was brief he aj^pointed
commissioners to carry on the proceed-
ings after his departure. He next pro-
ceeded to Galway, where the sons of
the earl of Clanrickard came into church
during divine service, and on their
knees supplicated pardon; and finally
he arrived in Dublin on the 13th of
April. At this time Sir James Fitz-
Lammas (1st of August). A loatlisome disease and a
dreadful malady rose from this heat, namely, the plague.
This malady raged virulently among the English and
Irish in Dublin, in Naas of Leinster, Ardee, Mullingar,
Maurice resided with his family at St.
Malo's in France, Avhich he visited after
passing through Spain, and Munster
seemed for a moment to enjoy profound
tranquillity.
A. D. 157G. — Sir Henry Sidney had
taken with him to Dublin, as captives,
the sons of the earl of Clanrickard, and
some of the O'Brien's, but having ad-
ministered to them a severe reproof
and exacted a promise that they would
not return to their respective countries,
he now set them free and commenced
another progress to the south. He had
not, however, proceeded far when he
learned that the reckless De Burgos
had recrossed the Shannon, cast oS
their English costume, and once more
raised the standard of revolt. The de-
puty upon this hastened back to Dublin,
collected the available troops, 'and
marched with great celerity into Con-
naught, where he took posession of the
towns and castles of Clanrickard in the
queen's name, and seizing the earl him-
self, whom he suspected of conniving at
his son's rebellion, sent him to be im-
prisoned in Dublin castle. Confounded
by the rapid movements of the deputy,
the earl's sons fled to the woods and
mountains, and Sidney was able to
resume his intended progress to Mun-
ster, although by a different route from
that he had originally laid down. He
proceeded from Galway, through Clare,
and Athboy. Between these places many a castle was
left without a guard, many a flock without a shepherd,
and many a noble corpse -(rithout burial, in consequence
of this distemper."
AGITATION IX THE PALE.
to Limerick, wliere he installed Sir
William Di'ury in the office of Lord-
presideut of Munster, formerly held by
Sir John Perrot, and shortly after Sir
Nicholas Malby was placed with. similar
authority over Connanght; but the in-
human ferocity of Fitton had rendered
the name of president so odious in this
latter province, that Sidney thought it
prudent to invest Malby with the title
of " Colonel of Connaught."
The earl of Desmond was soon
brought into collision with the new pres-
ident of Munster. He protested against
the holding of courts, by the latter,
within his palatinate of Kerry ; but
finding that Drury disregarded his priv-
ilege, and was about proceeding to
Tralee to hold a session there, lie made
a virtue of necessity, and offered the
hospitality of his castle to the stern
representative of power. The invita-
tion was accepted, but on approaching
the chief town of Kerry, the president,
who, as usual in these judicial visita-
tions, was attended by an armed retinue
of some six or seven score men, per-
ceived that seven or eight hundred
armed men were assembled, as he
thought, in a hostile attitude. His
appreliensions may have been well
founded, or his bravery only Quixotic ;
but he drew up his party in battle
array, marched resolutely forward, and
the real or supposed enemy fled to the
woods. The countess of Desmond came
out of town in a state of distraction,
and on her knees assured the doughty
president that her lord had no hostile
intention, but that, the lord-president's
visit being just then expected, these
men had assembled for a general hunt-
ing. Drury appeared to accept the
explanation, and went on to hold his
sessions, while the earl forwarded to the
government, in Dublin, an indignant
comjilaiut against the president's offen-
sive proceedings. Shortly after this.
Sir William Drury seized the earl's
brother John, in Cork, on suspicion of
some treasonable practices, and sent him
under an escort to Dublin.
In the mean time Sir Henry Sidney,
having learned that a large body of
Scots were about to join the still un-
subdued sons of the earl of Clanrickard,
marched into Connaught, where Mac-
William lochter, who had deserted the
cause of the young De Burgos, came to
his standard ; and the Scots being dis-
couraged by the prospect of affiiirs, on
their arrival in the west, abandoned
their friends without fighting, and re-
turned to Ulster. Thus deserted, the
earl's sons continued to hide themselves
in the wildest recesses of the woods and
hills, and Sidney, having left some troops
to hunt them down, returned to Dub-
lin.
A. D. 1577. — Difficulties of another
kind now disturbed the Pale, owing to
the arbitrary exercise of power by the
lord-deputy, who, by the sole authority
of the privy council, and without the
intervention of parliament, converted
the occasional subsidy, which was grant-
ed in emergencies for the support of the
government and army, into a regular
374
REIGN OF ELIZABETH.
tax, abolished local and jjersoiial privi-
leges of exemption, and decreed that
the assessment should be levied on all
subjects of the crown. This proceeding
received the warmest approval of the
queen, who had always most reluctantly
granted the supplies necessary for the
Irish establishment; but it aroused a
general and violent feeling of discon-
tent throughout the Pale. The most
loyal joined iu remonstrances against
an exercise of despotic power so odious
and oppressive. The people pleaded
constitutional rights, but the only reply
to this "was the queen's pre-rogative.
The collection of the cess was resisted,
and agents were sent in the name of the
lords, and other leading inhabitants of
the Pale, to represent the grievance to
the queen and the English privy coun-
cil. Their remonstrance was anticipated
by letters from the lord deputy, and
after a partial hearing of their complaint
by the queen, in person, the agents
were committed to the tower for con-
tumacy, and Sidney was reprimanded,
by letter, for not having immediately
punished those who presumed to ques-
tion the prerogative of the crown. This
stretch of despotism augmented the
popular indignation ; and Elizabeth and
her ministers, alarmed at the clamor
which was raised, and sensible of the
danger of alienating the few in Ireland
who were friendly to the government,
thought it better to accommodate mat-
ters. A composition for seven years'
purveyance, payable by instalments,
was agreed to; the agents and others
who were imprisoned, were liberated,
arid the question was set at rest.
The wars of so many generations bad
not been able to exterminate the an-
cient race of Leix and Offally, where
some sturdy representatives of the
O'Mores, O'Conors and others, had
grown lip since the thinning of their
septs in the late reigns. These shared
in the general disaffection, and were
roused into action by the wild heroism
of the famous outlaw chieftain, Rory
Oge O'More, who at this time, kept the
borders of the Pale in perpetual alarm
by the daring of his exploits. With a
few followers he was generally a match
for the small garrisons by whom the
border-towns were guarded. This year
he surprised Naas, the night after the
annual festival, or " patron" day, of the
town, when the inhabitants were buried
in sleep after their festivities, and had for-
gotten to set the uaual watch on the town-
walls. Plis men carried lighted brands
on poles, and with these set the low
thatched houses on fire, so that the
town was in a few minutes one sheet of
flames, and the terrified inhabitants,
roused from their slumbers, were unable
to make any resistance. The Anglo-
Irish chroniclers, who make Rory the
hero of the wildest adventures, tell us
that he sat for some time at the market-
cross to enjoy the spectacle, and then
departed in triumph without taking any
life. Thus was Rory Oge for some
time the terror of the Pale, making
nightly attacks on the towns and vil-
larres, and haviner himself numerous
THE MASSACRE OF MtJLLAMAST.
Sli
hair-breadth escapes from the attempts
to kill or capture him. Many persons
in Kilkenny and other towns were sus-
pected of being friendly to him, and of
furnishing liim with information which
enabled him to escape the snares laid
against him. On one occasion he got
two English officers, Captains Harring-
ton and Cosby, into his power, and
took them to his retreat in a wood near
Carlow, where, through the treachery
of a servant, he was soon after surprised
at night by Kobert Hartpool, the con-
stable of Carlow, and had a narrow
escape, having had to cut his way
through the ranks of the soldiers who
surrounded the cabin where he slept.
His two English prisoners were rescued
on this occasion, and his wife and six-
teen or seventeen of his men slain ; and
the following year he vpas cut off by
MacGilla Patrick, baron of Upper Os-
sory, who watched his movements with
a strong detachment of the queen's
ti'oops and a party of Irish kernes.
O'More came out of a wood to parley
with MacGilla Patrick's kerne, when
one of the latter ran him through with
his sword. Thus, on the 30th of June,
1578, was the Pale relieved from its
deadliest source of feai", and the Irish
deprived of a brave soldier, who with a
* Dowling, according to whom O'More was slain in
IS?", asserts that the chief maintained his independence
during eighteen years, in the course of which time ho
burnt Naas, Athr, Carlow, Leighlin bridge, Rathcool,
and other jilaces ; but tho injury he inflicted on some of
these towns must have been very slight. Tlie Four
Masters, who record his death (as does also Ware), in
1578, describe him as " the head of the plunderers and
better organized system of opposition
might have proved a very dangei'ous
foe to Elizabeth's government.*
This year, the nineteenth of queen
Elizabeth, is marked by a frightful
transaction, the recital of which has
often in late times made men shudder,
while its gloomy interest has been en-
hanced by the mystery in which it has
been shrouded. It would appear that
the heads of the Irish families of Leix
and Offaly were invited in the queen's
name, and under her protection, to
attend a meeting or conference in the
great rath on the hill of Mullamast
(Mullach-Maistean), in the county of
Kildare, and that about four hundred
of them obeyed the summons. The
Irish annalists assert that they were peo-
ple w^ho had remained on friendly terms
with the English, and that they had
been " summoned to show themselves
with the greatest numbers they could
bring with them." Some of them may
have been implicated in the revolt of
Rory Oge, who was then verging to-
wards his fall ; but no special provoca-
tion is alleged against them, and, at all
events, they came to the meeting under
the guarantee of the royal protection.
No sooner, however, had they assem-
bled in the great rath than they were
insurgents of the men of Ireland in his time." The
baron of Ossory was offered one thousand marks which
had been promised ns a reward for the head of O'More ;
but he only accepted one hundred pounds, which lie di-
vided among his men. Owen, or Owny, the son of Rory
Oge, was also a valiant captain, and became celebra-
ted as a soldier in the subsequent wars against Kliza-
beth.
376
REIGN OF ELIZABETH.
encompassed by a treble line of the
queen's garrison soldiers, and all of them,
to a man, most inhumanly butchered in
cold blood — and this atrocious act was
committed with the cognizance and ap-
proval of the queen's deputy in Ireland,
Sir Henry Sidney ! * In this horrible
massacre, coming so soon after the mur-
der of O'Neill of Clannaboy and his
fiunily, and the slaughter of his follow-
ers, by the earl of Essex, and followed
* According to a traditional account of tlie massacre
of MuUamast, given on the authority of " an old gentle-
man named Cullen, of the county of Kildare, tvho -was
living in 1705, and had frequently discoursed with one
D%vyer and one Cowling actually living at Mullamast
when this horrid murder was committed," as published
by Dr. O'Donovan (Fouj- Masters, vol. v., pp. 1695, 1096)
from a MS. in the handwriting of the late Laurence
Byrne, of Fallybeg, in the Queen's comity, it appears
that the victims belonged to the seven septs of Leix,
numely, the O'Mores, O'Kelly's, O'Lalors, Devoys, Maca^
boys, O'Dorans, and O'Dowlings, with some of the fam-
ily of Keating ; and that the persons concerned in the
commission of the murder were the DeavUs, Grahams,
Cosbys, Pigotts, Bowens, Hartpoles, Hovendons, Demp-
seys, and Fitzgeralds — the five last-named families being
at that time Catholics. Tradition attaches the most
blame in the matter to the O'Dempseys, because they
were not only Catholics but Irish ; and " the inhabitants
of the district," says Dr. O'Donovan," now believe that a
curse has followed this great Irish family ever since." It
is probable that Cosby was the officer in command of the
military party called in to execute the massacre ; the
chief command of all the kerne in the queen's pay hav-
ing been committed by lord-deputy Susses to Francis
Cosby ; one Edmond O'Dempsey being a captain of
kerne Tinder him (Patent Roll, 5th & 0th Philip and
Mary). Captain Thomas Lee, an officer of government.
who, in 1594, addressed a memorial to Elizabeth entitled
" a brief declaration of the government of Ireland" (pre-
served in Trinity College, Dublin, and printed in the
Desiderata Curiosa Jlibernica, vol. ii., p. 91, and in the
appendix to Dr. Curry's Cieil Wars in Ireland), mentions
in that tract, among other acts of oppression, cruelty,
rapine, and injustice, the massacre of Mullamast, in the
following words : — " They have drawn imto them by
protection three or four hundred of these country people,
under color to do your majesty ser^ce, and brought
them to a place of meeting, where your garrison sol-
by other like acts of inhumanity and
perfidy on the part of the government,
in the south, and in the merciless rigor
with which the laws Avere enforced
against the Irish, we obtain a fright-
fux idea of the principles then acted
upon in the government of this coun-
try.
The affair of Mullamast and the pros-
ecution of some citizens of Kilkenny,
who were suspected of holding commu-
diers were appointed to be, who have there most dishon-
orably put them all to the sword ; and this hath been
by the consent and practise of the lord deputy for the
time being." Thady Dowling, the contemporary Prot-
estant chancellor of Leighlin, thus records the massacre :
" 1577. — Morris MacLasy MacConyU (O'More), lord of
Merggi, as he asserted, and successor of the baron of
Omergi, with 40 (query ? a mistake for 40Q) of his fol-
lowers, after his confederation with Rory O'More, and
after a certain promise of protection, was slain at
Mullaghmastyn, in the coimty of Kildare, the place ap-
pointed for it by Master Cosby and Robert Hartpole,
having been summoned there treacherously, under pre-
tence of performing service :" and at the end of this
entry, which is in Latin, some zealous Protestant has in-
terpolated the following words in English : — " IlarpoU
excused it that Moris had geven vUlanous wordes to the
breach of his protection," which might mean that, in
order to commence the slaughter, a pretended riot was
raised, on the occasion of some hasty words extracted from
O'More. O'Sullivan {Hist. Cath., p.99, ed. 1850) says that
ISO men of the family of O'More were slain in the r» assacre.
According to some traditions only one O'More escaped
from the slaughter ; but according to the MS. of La-svrence
Byrne, above referred to, the popular tradition was that
the lives of several others were preserved through the
means of one Harry Lalor, who " remarking that none oJ
those returned who had entered the fort before him,
desired his companions to make ofi" as fast as they could
in case they did not see him come back. Said Lalor, as
he was entering the fort, saw the carcasses of his slaugh-
tered companions ; then drew his sword and fought his
way back to those tliat survived, along with whom he
made his escape to Dysart, without seeing the Barrow."
MuUamast (Mullach-Mainstean) is a large but not lofty
hill, situated about five miles from the town of Athy, in
the county of Kildare, and in our times has been ren-
dered further remarkable as the scene of one of Mr.
O'Connell's most celebrated repeal meetings in 1843.
PLANS OF FITZMAUmCE OX THE CONTINENT.
577
nicatioQ with Roiy Oge O'More, are the
last incidents iu the government of Sir
Henry Sidney. That statesman had
been four times api^ointed lord justice
of Ireland, and three times lord deputy ;
and it is remarkable that notwithstand-
ing his excessive rigor, he is mentioned
in the Irish annals in terms which imply
respect. In compliance with his re-
peated and earnest applications for
permission to retire, he surrendered the
sword of state to Sir William Drury,
the lord president of Munster, on the
26th of May. 1578
CHAPTER XXXIII.
KEIGN OF ELIZABETH CONTINUATION.
Plans of James FitzMaurice on the Continent. — Projected Italian expedition to Ireland. — Its singular fate.—
FitzMaurice lands with some Spaniards at Smerwick. — Conduct of the earl of Desmond. — Savage treatment
of a bishop and priest. — The insurgents scattered. — Murder of Davells and Carter. — Tragical death of James
FitzMaurice. — Proceedings of Drury and Malby. — Catholics in the royal ranks. — Dufeat of the royal army by
John of Desmond at Gort-na-Tiobrad. — Death of Sir William Drury. — Important battle at Monasteranena. —
Defeat of the Geraldines. — Desmond treated as a rebel. — Hostilities against him. — Sir Nicholas Malby at
Askeaton. — Desmond at length driven into rebellion. — He plunders and bums Youghal. — The country devas-
tated by Ormond. — Humanity of a friar. — James of Desmond captured and executed. — Campaign of Pelham
and Ormond in Desmond's country. — Capture of Carrigafoyle castle. — Other castles surrendered to the lord
justice. — Narrow escape of the earl of Desmond.— Insurrection in Wicklow. — Arrival of Lord Gray. — His dis-
aster in Glenmalure. — Landing of a large Spanish armament at Smerwick liarbor.— Lord Gray besieges the
foreigners.— Horrible and treacherous slaughter in the Fort Del Ore.— Savage barbarity of Lord Gray and his
captains.— Butchery of women and children near Kildimo.— Rumored plot in Dublin.— Arrest of the earl of
Kildare and others.— Premature executions.— Forays of the earl of Desmond. — Melancholy end of John of
Desmond.— The FitzMaurices of Kelly in rebellion.— Battle of Gort-na Pisi. — The Glen of Aherlow.— Despe-
rate state of Desmond. — His murder. — His character. — Mild policy of Perrott. — The Parliament of 1585. —
Composition in Connaught. — Plantation of Munster. — Brutal severity of Sir Richard Bingham in Con-
naught.
(A. D. 1579 TO A. D. 1587.)
JAMES FITZMAURICE, the most
earnest and consistent of the Irish
patriots of his time, was not inactive
during the long sojourn he had been
making on the Continent. While stay-
ing with his family at St. Male's, his
movements were closely watched by
* Sidney at this time calls Sir James FitzMaurice,
a papist in extremity (t. e., an extreme Catholic),
the spies of Sir Philip Sidney.* At
that moment, however, the relations
between England and France w«re un-
favorable to his purpose, and when he
applied to Henry HI. for help for the
Irish Catholics, he was merely told by
that monarch that he would use his
well esteemed, and of good credit among the people."
—S.P.
378
REIGN OF ELIZABETH.
interference with Elizabeth to procure
pardon for him. Reconciliation with
the queen of England was the Last thing
that FitzMaurice desired; so he next
repaired to Philip II. of Spain, who,
being also then at peace with Elizabeth,
appears to have done no more than
refer him to Pope Gregory XIII. Leav-
ing his two sons in Spain, Sir James
proceeded to Rome, where he was most
favorably received by the pontiff, and
where his solicitations were warmly
seconded by Cornelius O'Mulrian, O.S.F.,
bishop of Killaloe, Dr. Allen, called by
some an Irish Jesuit, and Dr. Saunders,
an eminent English ecclesiastic. The
pope granted a bull encouraging the
Irish to fight for the recovery of their
liberty and the defence of their religion ;
and an expedition Avas fitted out at the
cost of the holy father, to be maintained
subsequently by Philip II. ; and, at the
earnest wish of FitzMaurice, it was
intrusted to an English adventurer
named Stukely,'"" as admiral, while Her-
cules Pisano, an experienced soldier,
■* Thomas Stukely, to wlioso charge this ill-fated ex-
pedition was intrusted, was a native of DevonsMre, and
was distinguished for Ids reckless and enterprising dis-
position. Some assert that he was a natural son of
Henry VIII., and he claimed descent maternally from
Dcrmott MacMurrough. In 1563 he projected a compa.
ny to prosecute discoveries in Terra Florida, and obtained
tlie queen's approbation ; but the scheme was not car-
ried out for want of funds. In Ireland ho ingratiated
nimselfwith Sir Henry Sidney, and in 1567 was em-
ployed to negotiate, on the part of the government, with
Shane O'Neill, but Elizabeth expressed her disapproval
of the choice made of him on that occasion. Soon after
ho became disgusted with government, because, it is
Baid, ho was refused the offico of steward of Wexford.
Ue then expressed his sympathy for the disaffected
Irish, and went to the Continent to propose plans to the
had the military command. Stukely
sailed with his squadron from Civita
Vecchia, and touched at Lisbon at the
very moment when Sebastian, the chiv-
alrous and romantic king of Portugal,
was setting out on his expedition to
Morocco, and was easily persuaded to
join in that wild project, on receiving a
promise from the king that after return-
ing from Africa he would either go
himself to Ireland, or give him a larger
force for the purpose. Stukely forgot
his engagement to the jDoj^e and to the
Irish, and sailed to Morocco, where he
with the greater number of his luckless
men were slain in the famous battle of
Alcazar, in Avhich Sebastian and two
Moorish kings also fell.
James FitzMaurice, instead of accom-
panying Stukely, travelled through
France to Spain, and embarked for
Ireland with about fourscore Spaniards
on board three small vessels. He was
accompanied by Dr. Saunders, in the
capacity of legate, the bishop of Killa-
loe, and Dr. Allen, and was at this
pope and the king of Spain for the invasion of Ireland.
It is impossible to say whether his conduct ultimately
was the result of his wild love of adventure, or of per-
fidy to the Irish cause which he had espoused. The
expediiion placed under his care is generally stated to
have consisted of 800 men. Muratori says 600. O'Daly
exaggerates the number when he says the pope gave
3,000 soldiers. (Gcraldincs, p. 75, Duffy's ed.) O'Sulli-
van {Sist. Cath., p. 113) says there were about 1,000
soldiers, and that a number of these consisted of bands
of highwaymen, who had been pardoned on condition
of their joining the Iiish expedition. O'Daly adds that
the pope doubted Stukely's fidelity, but yielded to
the solicitation of FitzMaurice, and invested Stukely
with tlio title of lord of Idrone; English writers
mention other titles conferred on him also by his holi
DESCENT OF SPANIARDS AT SMERWICK.
379
time wholly ignorant of the fate of
Stukely's expedition. His little squad-
ron made the harbor of Dingle on the
17th of July, 1579, and so frequent was
the intercourse between that locality
and Spain, that some of the Spanish
mariners were recognized by persons
from the town, who came alongside but
were not permitted to board the ships.
The vessels were then brought round to
Smerwick harbor, another small haven
in the extremity of the peninsula in
which Dingle is situated, and here Fitz-
Maurice and his handful of Sjjaniards
disembarked next day, and took posses-
sion of the almost insulated rock of
Oilen-an-oir, usually called Fort-del-ore,
which juts into the bay. A rude kind
of fort, belonging to one Peter Kice, of
Dingle, already existed on this small
peninsula, and FitzMaurice caused it to
be strengthened by a trench and curtain-
wall across the neck of land by which
the rock is joined to the mainland.*
The news of these armaments, grossly
exaggerated by rumor, created extraor-
dinary excitement throughout Munster,
where the embers of civil war were yet
I smouldering ; but the old curse of
I division and misunderstanding still over-
I hung the country. The earl of Desmond,
to whom the people looked as a leader,
was utterly unfit for that position. His
heart was undoubtedly with the popular
cause, but he was weak-minded and
vacillating, and mistrusted those with
whom it would have been his duty to
act. Pie disliked James FitzMaurice,
whose active and inspiring spirit was
so wholly opposed to his. It is said
that he also feared his ambition; for
the line of succession had often before
been rudely changed in the eai-ldom of
Desmond. His apprehension, not for
his life but for his family, where pos-
sessions as vast as his were at stake,
was also an excusable cause for his long
hesitation before he involved himself in
rebellion. In a word, he was either
induced by personal considerations to
discountenance the foreign invasion and
the proceedings of his cousin, Sir James
FitzMaurice, or at least he made a show
of acting in that sense, and vainly en-
deavored to convince the government
ofiicials of his loyalty, while they, by
* Dingle, or Dingle-I-Coucb, near the extremity of tlie
peninsula of Corkaguiney, in tlio west of Kerry, was
once a town of great importance, and from an early pe-
riod carried on an extensive commerce with Spain. Its
name Daingean-ui-Chuis, signifies the fortress of O'Cais,
the ancient proprietor of the place before the English
invasion, not of O'llussey, as Dr. Smith {Hist, of Kerry)
and others have asserted. {See Four Masters, vol. v., p.
1714, z.) As to the Danolrish name of Smerwick,
which Camden supposed to be a corruption of St. Mary-
wick, a local antiquary suggests that it may mean the
" spreading harbor," from the Irish smearam, to spread.
(Kerry Magazine). Its name was originally Ardnacaunt
or Ardcanny B.iy, " frojn a certayn devout man's name,
called Cauntus," says an old writer. {Journal of Pel-
ham's Expedition to Dingle in 1580, kept by Nicholas
White, Master of the Rolls, and forwarded to Lord
Burghley).
The Spanish name Fortrdel-ore is synonymous with
the Irish Dun-an-oir, the " fort of the gold," and was
given to the rock in question from the circumstance
that ono of the ships of the celebrated navigator,
Frobisher, laden with gold ore from the newly discov-
ered land which ho called Meta. Incognita, the present
Greenland, had been wrecked there about a year before
the landing of FitzMaurice and his Spaniards, when the
was stowed away in Peter Kico's aforesaid strong-
hold by the directions of the earl of Desmond.
REIGN OF ELIZABETH.
tlieir insulting taunts and doubts,
seemed determined to drive him into
open revolt. Shortly before the arrival
of FitzMaui-ice three persons in disguise
landed at Dingle from a Spanish ship,
riiey were seized by government spies,
and carried first before the earl of Des-
mond, who afterwards took credit to
himself with the State for transmitting
them to the authorities in Limerick. It
turned out that one of them- was Dr.
Patrick O'Haly, bishop of Mayo, and
another Father Cornelius O'Rourke, the
name of the third not being mentioned ;
and on Sir William Drury's arrival at
Kilmallock that year, he caused both
the bishop and the priest to be subjected
to frightful torture in order to extract
some confession from them. Ultimately
they were hanged as traitors from a
tree, and their bodies remained sus-
pended for fourteen days, to be used as
targets by the soldiery.* At the same
time that these ecclesiastics were handed
over by the earl as an evidence of his
loyalty, as we are led by himself to
understand, he mustered an army to
resist the invasion. The earl of Clan-
care also held aloof, and the people
were deterred either by the control or
example of their great lords from join-
ing the standard of FitzMaurice. It is
true that John and James of Desmond,
the earl's T)rothers, hastened to meet
their Spanish allies, and that some two
hundred of the O'Flaherties of West
* Wadding ; Arthur 4 Monasterio ; and Bruodin, Pas-
(do Mart., p. 437.
Connaught came by sea to rally under
the Catholic standard if but the Span-
iards were justly disheartened at the
prospect before them. They were led
to expect a general rising of the people,
and there was no such thing. They
were told that the earl of Desmond
would be their leader, and they saw
him arrayed against them: while on
the other hand it must be observed
that their appearance, numerically so
contemptible, only committed the Irish
Catholics, without being capable of in-
spiring them with confidence.
On the 26th of July, eight days from
their landing, the Spaniards saw their
transports captured by Captain Courte-
nay, who had come from Kinsale with
a small ship of war and a pinnace ; and
the O'Flaherties having made their es-
cape with their own galleys, the stran-
gers were left without means of retreat,
and to avoid being starved on the rock
of Oileau-an-oir they marched into the
interior under the three Geraldines.
The earl of Desmond, in his defence of
himself, asserts that he pursued them to
Kilmore, or the Great Wood, in the north
of the county of Cork, bordering on
Limerick, and that he pressed them so
hard that on the 17th of August they
were obliged to separate into small par-
ties; John retiring to the fastness of
Lynamore ; James, his other brother,
to that of Glenflesk ; while FitzMaurice,
accompanied by a dozen horsemen and
■j- Stated by Desmond in his defence of himself
served in the State Paper Office.
MURDER OF DAVELLS.
381
a few kernes, proceeded towards Tippe-
rary, oii the jiretence of making a pil-
grimage to the relic of the Holy Cross,
but in reality to try to rally the disaf-
fected in Connaught and the north.*
A few incidents connected with this
wretched attempt remain to be related.
On the news of FitzMaurice's arrival
the lord justice, Sir William Drury,
who was in Cork, accompanied by Sir
Nicholas Malby, dispatched, in all haste,
Henry Davells, constable of Dungarvan,
and Arthur Carter, provost-marshal of
Munster, to summon Desmond and his
brothers to attack the fort at Smerwick.
These men were extremely officious,
blustered a good deal with the earl
about his duty, and after reconnoitering
the fort, were returning to the deputy
to accuse Desmond of disloyalty, when
the earl's brother, John, followed them
to Tralee, and slew both of them at
night in a little inn where they had put
up, near the castle.f This murder was
aggravated by tlie fact that John and
Davells were intimate friends, and by
the English it is said that John did the
act in order to show FitzMaurice and
the Spaniards that he irretrievably
committed himself to their cause. A
gi-eat deal of indignation has been vented
* Before this separation some misunderstanding is
said to have taken place between Jolin of Desmond and
FitzMaurice, owing to the latter refusing to punish one
of his men for a gross act of violence which he commit-
ted— so little of cohesion was there among the lead-
ers.
f So says Hooker ; but most writers state that Davells
was slain in the castle of Tralee.
t " Desmond," says O'Daly, " only slew an avowed
nnemy, who not only sought to crush the causa of lib-
about this crime, but we have a right
to measure it by the standard of that
day, and should bear in mind the exam-
ple set by the State itself in the com-
mission of many fearful atrocities. The
rath of Mullamast was still reeking
with the blood of its victims; and as
the reader proceeds he will find how
little reason there is to select this action
of the insurgent leader for special
obloquy.J
To return to James FitzMaurice, he
continued his way through Hy-Connell-
Gavra (Conello) and Clanwilliam, in
the county of Limerick, and in the latter
of these districts seized some horses
from the plough to replace the jaded
steeds of his part)^. This depredation
was committed on the lands of William
Burke of Castle-Connell, whose sons,
Theobald and Ulick, obtained the aid of
Mac-I-Brien-Ara, and pursued the fugi-
tives, with whom they came up at a
place a few miles east of Limerick.§
FitzMaurice remonstrated with his as-
sailants, who were his own kinsmen, but
was fired at and mortally wounded.
He then rushed into the thick of the
fight ; with one blow cleft the head of
Theobald Burke, and with another in-
flicted a mortal wound on his brother,
erty, but did signal injury to John himself in the house
of Lord Muskerry." (Gcraldiiies, p. 78.) Smith, In his
History of Kerry, p. 163, says "the pretence was Sir
Henry Danvers holdinjj ses.sion of gaol delivery in Des-
mond's palatinate." The name is called Daversius by
O'Sullivan, and Danversius by O'Daly ; but the correct
form is Davells.
§ " Ad Vadum semitie," or Beal-atharan-Bhorin, says
O'Sullivan. The place is believed to be the present
Barrington's bridge, six miles east from Limerick.
382
REIGJ^ OF ELIZABETH.
50 that his enemies, though more nu-
merons, were more speedily put to flight.
James expired in a few hours, and his
head was cut off by his cousin, Maurice
FitzJohn, as some say, at his own re-
quest, that his remains might not be
recognized by the English; but not
long after his body, buried at the foot
of a tree, was discovered by a hunter,
taken to Kilmallock, and there sus-
pended from a gallows.*
The death of FitzMaurice Avas a f;ital
blow to the cause of the insurgents, and
a source of great joy to government.
Sir William Drury came with Malby,
about the beginning of September, to
Kilmallock, where the earl of Desmond
met him and endeavored to exculpate
liimself from any implication in the
proceedings of his Ijrothers. He was,
nevertheless, kept under arrest for three
days ; but, on undertaking to send his
only son, James, then a child, as a host-
age, he was liberated. He also received
a promise that his lands and tenants
should be respected ; but this engage-
ment was violated as soon as made, for
some of his lands were immediately
after plundered by Drury's soldiers;
and at the same time all his men de-
serted to his brother, John, who, on the
death of FitzMaurice, succeeded to the
command of the insurgents, and collect-
ed a respectable force, into which the
Spanish ofllcers introduced a regular
* This conflict took place on the ISth of August. It
is said that Dr. Allen was present and administered the
lost rites of religion to FitzMaurice. Ware says that
Sir Willi.am Burke, father of Theobald and Ulick, Avas
military discipline. Drury summoned
all the nobility of Munster, on their
allegiance, to rally under the royal
standard, and thus gathered a consider-
able Jfi'my, composed to a great extent
of Irish and Catholics, who, partly
through fear and partly through the
indecision or jealousy of their lords,
found themselves thus serving against
the very cause to which all their na-
tional and religious sentiments would
have naturally attracted them. This
army the lord justice sent in large
divisions to search tbe wood of Kilmore
and the surrounding country for John
of Desmond. One of the parties, num-
bering several hundred men, fell in
with the Irish army, under John and
James of Desmond, at a place called
Gort-na-Tiobrad — in English, Sj)ring-
field — in tlie south of the county of
Limerick, and in a desperate encounter
was cut to pieces ; captains Herbert and
Price, the officers in command, and a
captain Eustace, being among the slain.
This success cheered the spirits of the
Irish ; and immediately after Sir Wil-
liam Drury, Avhile encamped at Antho-
ny (Beal-atha-na-Deise), a. ford about
four miles east of Kilmallock, sickened
from incessant fatigue, and intrusting
the command of the army to Sir Nicholas
Malby, got himself carried by easy
stages to W^aterford, wliere he died on
the 30th of September.
created baron of Castleconnell, and was awarded an an-
nual pension of 100 marks; and Camden tells us that
he died of joy at the royal favors showered on him in
reward for the loyalty of his family.
BATTLE OF MONASTERANENA.
383
A reinforcement of 600 troops had
just then readied Waterford from
Devonshire ; a fleet had arrived on the
coast under the command of Sir John
Perrott, the former president of Mun-
ster; and on the news of Drury's death
being received in Dublin, Sir William
Pelham, who had recently come to Ire-
land, was chosen lord justice by the
council. Sir Nicholas Malby was not
idle in the south. Having left a gar-
rison of 300 foot and 50 horse at Kil-
mallock, he marched with the bulk of
his army to Limerick, and then return-
ing towards the south^ on learning the
position of Sir John of Desmond, he en-
countei-ed that chief on the plain near
the magnificent ancient abbey of Mon-
asteranena,* about two miles from
Croom and nine south by west from
Limerick. It is said that John hesi-
tated to give battle, but yielded to the
opinion of Dr. Allen, and that he then
left the disposition of the army to the
foreign officers, who had disciplined
the irregular masses of Irish so well as
to excite the surprise of the English.
For a long time victory seemed to be
with the Geraldines. Malby's lines
were twice broken, and compelled to
]-etreat in order to reform ; but ulti-
mately the Irish were routed with the
loss of Thomas FitzGerald, son of the
earl's uncle, John Oge, and of many of
the warlike Clann-Sheehy, and other
followers of the Geraldines, to the num-
ber in all of 260 men killed.f
This battle was fought about the be-
ginning of October. The earl of Des-
mond and FitzMaurice, lord of Lixnaw,
watched its progress from the top of
Tory Hill, little more than a mile dis-
tant, and late in the evening sent to
congratulate Malby on his victory. At
least, so the English chroniclers tell us,
adding that the message was treated
with the contempt which it deserved ;
and as soon as his army was ready to
march, the implacable English command-
er proceeded to lay waste Desmond's ter-
ritory in the neighborhood. He burned
the abbey of Askeaton, wasted Eath-
keale and the surrounding district, and
despoiled Adare in the same manner.
He was then joined by the Lord-justice
Pelham, and by the earls of Ormond
and Kildare ; and the earl of Desmond
having, after such provocation and with
such good reason to fear personal re-
straint or violence, refused to come to
their camp, they resolved to place gar-
risons in several of his castles. On the
30th Octobei", the earl of Ormond was
sent to summon Desmond to give up
the papal nuncio. Dr. Saunders, and to
surrender his castles of Carrigafoyle
and Askeaton to the lord justice. The
reply of Desmond consisted of fresh
representations of his own wrongs ; and
on the 2d of ISTovember Pelham issued
a proclamation declaring him a traitor
unless he came in and submitted within
twenty days ; and, without waiting for
any of that interval to elapse, marched
* Locally it is called Manistcr, the ancient addition to \ O'Sullivan Beare and O'Daly represent this battle
the name being almost quite disused. as gained by John of Desmond, but the Four Masters
384
REIGN OF ELIZABETH.
the very next day with a hostle army
into the earFs palatinate of Kerry ; con-
stituted bis hereditary foe the earl of
Ormond, governor of Munster, and re-
turned to Limerick on his way to Dub-
lin.*
Thus was the vacillating Desmond at
length determined as to the course he
should j^ursue. He took the field with
his brothers, invaded the territories of
the Roches and Barrys in Cork,f and
siezed the town of Youghal, which he
plundered and committed to the flames,
so that not a single habitable house
was left in it. This occurred at Christ-
mas ; and at the same time the earl of
Ormond was invading Desmond's ter-
ritory of Hy Connello, where he ad-
vanced as far as Newcastle, burning
agree with Camden, ■who is followed by Ware and
the other English historians, in giving the victory to
Malby.
The English say that Dr. AUen was among the slain,
l)ut none of the Irish authorities mention this fact.
O'Sullivan tells us that Ulick and John Burke, sons of
the earl of Clanrickard, and Peter and John Lacy, were
among the Irish auxiliaries of Malby at Monaster.
O'Daly also mentions the Burkes, but the Four Masters
do not, although they tell us, under the date of 1580,
that " the sons of the earl were both at peace with the
English."
* In a letter, dated from his castle of Askeaton, Oc-
tober 10th, 1579, in which he attempts to vindicate
himself with the government, the earl of Desmond thus
describes the outrageous proceedings of Malby against
him : " The 4th of this present month, Sir Nicholas
Malbie being in campe at the abbeye Nenaghe (Monas-
ter), sent certeyn of his menno to enter into Rathmore,
a manor of myue, and there murdered the keepers, spoil-
ed the towne and castel, and tooke awaie from thence
certayn of my evidences and other writings. On the
Ctli of the same, ho not only spoyled Rath-Keally (Rath-
kcile), a town of myne, but also tyranously burned both
houses and corne. Upon the 7th of the same month,
the said Sir Nicholas encamped within the abbey of
Asketyn, and there most maliciously defaced the ould
monumenta of my ancestors, fired both the abbie, the
the towns and villages, slaughtering
the inhabitants, and reducing the coun-
try to a desert. Ormond next marched
to Cork, and then returned towards
Cashel, treating every district through
which he passed, if occupied by Irish
or Catholics, in the same inhuman man-
ner, "burning every house and every
stack of corn." He discovered the
mayor of Youghal, who was accused of
having betrayed his trust to the earl of
Desmond, and taking him to the ruined
town, he caused him to be hanged at
the door of his own house. No human
being was found in that unhappy town
except a poor friar, who had conveyed
the body of Henry Davells from Tralee
to Watei'ford to procure for it decent
interment.
whole towne, and the come thereabouts, and ceased not
to shoote at my menne within Asketyn castel." By such
acts as these the officials sought to urge the unfortu
nate earl into an open participation in the rebellion,
that there might be no obstacle to his attainder and
the confiscation of his vast estates. Foreseeing that such
a result would be inevitable, Desmond executed a deed
of feoflfinent before this time, conveying his lands to
trustees for his heirs ; but this deed was unavailable,
as it was pronounced to have been executed seven weeks
after his treasonable combination, the said combination
dating from the 18th of July, 1578, when the earl signed
a document along with his brothers, the lord of Lix-
naw, and many other leading men of Munster, pledg-
ing themselves to resist the violence of the lord deputy.
Indeed, this latter document is rather an advice to the
earl not to yield to the unreasonable requirements of
the lord deputy, and a pledge on the part of the sub-
scribers to " aid, help, and assist, the said Erie to mayn
tain and defend this their advice against the said lord
deputy, or any other that shall covet the said Erie's in
heritance ;" and there seemed to be no reason why his
own name should be affixed to it except that he miglit
be committed to the consequences. Lords Germans-
town and Delvin refused to countersign Pelham's pro-
clamation declaring Desmond a traitor.
f Ily MacaiUe, or Imokilly, and Hy Liathain, in
which latter Castle Lyons is situated.
ORMOND'S DEVASTATIONS.
385
A. D. 1580.-— la the mean time John
of Desmond had been able to harass
the English garrisons of several small
towns ; and the Irish annalists, describ-
ing the desolation produced by so much
mutual destruction, say that " the coun-
try was left one levelled plain, without
corn or edifices." James, Desmond's
youngest brother, made an incursion
about the beginning of the year into
the lands of Sir Cormac MacTeige Mac-
Carthy of Muskerry, the sheriff of
Cork,* and, while carrying off a prey
of cattle, was pursued and captured by
MacCormac's brother, Donnell, who
took him to Cork, where he was hanged
and quartered by Sir Warham St. Leg-
er, marshal of Munster, and captain,
afterwards the famous Sir "Walter, Ra-
leigh, who had recently entered the
queen's service in Ireland. His head
was spiked over one of the city gates ;
and about the same time another James
FitzGerald, son of the earl's uncle, John
Oge, was slain by Brian Duv O'Brien,
lord of Pobble Brien and Carrigo-
gunnell.
Sir William Pelham and the earl of
Ormond set out early this year on a
fresh campaign in Desmond's country ;
the former marching first to Limerick in
the beginning of February, and the latter
to Cork, and both subsequently form-
ing a junction at the foot of Slieve Mis,
near Tralee. They spared neither age
nor sex in their march, and, owing to
the state of desolation to which the
* This Sir Cormac Macarthy was so distinguished for
his loyalty, that Sir Henry Sidney pronounced him to
49
country had been reduced, suffered not
a little inconvenience themselves from
want of provisions. They then marched
northward, to destroy the castles still
garrisoned by Desmond's men, and first
laid siege to the strong castle of Carri-
gafoyle (Carrig-au-phuill), situated on
an island in the Shannon, on the coast
of Kerry. The Four Masters say that
Pelham landed some heavy ordnance
from Sir William Winter's fleet, which
arrived on the Irish coast about this
time, and battered down a portion of
the castle, crushing some of the warders
beneath the ruins ; but other annalists
make no mention of cannon landed from
the ships. The castle Avas bravely
defended by fifty Irishmen and nine-
teen Spaniards, under the command of
Count Julio, an Italian officer, who,
when summoned to surrender, said he
held his trust in the name of the king
of Spain. A large breach having been
made the castle was taken by storm ;
fifty of the garrison were put to the
sword, and six hanged in the camp;
and Julio being kept for two or three
days was then hanged. The remainder
of the number had been already slain.
The fate of Carriagafoyle filled the other
garrisons with consternation. The ward-
ers of Ballinloughane (Baile-ui-Gheile-
achain) destroyed their castle before
deserting it, and those of Askeaton
attempted to do the same by a train of
gunpowder, when abandoning that cas-
tle at night, but did not succeed iu
be " the rarest man that ever was born (if the Irifih.
386
REIGN OF ELIZABETH.
injuring tbe principal parts of the
edifice, which was taken possession of
next morning by the lord justice. This
was the last castle held for the earl of
Desmond. Pelham proceeded to Lim-
erick, where he remained forty days,
and again returned to Askeaton, making
another long stay there, during which
" he never ceased by day or night from
persecuting and extirpating the Gerald-
ines." He put to death, among others,
an aged gentleman named Wall, of
Dunmoylan, who was blind from his
birth, and Supple, of Kilmacow, who
was over a hundred years old ; and on
the 12th of June he and Ormond set
out with his whole army to explore the
dreaded strongholds of Kerry, and to
take precautions against another ex-
pected landing of the Spaniards at
Diugle. Ormond's route was through
Cork to Kerry, while Pelham marched
through the monntain district of Sleive-
loger, and by Castleisland to Castle-
maine (Castle-Mague), near which he
found Ormond encamped. While trav-
ersing Slievelogher, he seized a prey of
1,500 cows belonging to the earl of
Desmond, who had a narrow escape
of falling, together with his countess
and Dr. Saunders, into the hands of the
lord-deputy, having passed that way
only about an hour before. Some of
the vestments and sacred vessels be-
* The earl of Desmond -was now reduced bo low, tbat
about this time his countess sought tbe lord justice, and
on her knees implored mercy for her husband ; but ber
prayers would not be listened to ; and we are told tbat
tlie unhappy carl proposed to surrender himself to ad-
miral ^\ inter, on tbe sole condition of being carried as
longing to the legate were taken by the
soldiers ; but excepting the fresh spolia-
tion to which it gave occasion, this
exploration would not appear to have
led to any important result.^'^
At this time the O'Byrnes and James
Eustace, Viscount Baltiuglass, were in
arms in Wicklow, but, like the insur-
gents of the south, they were isolated.
Sir William Pelham was recalled, and
succeeded by Arthur, Lord Gray, of
Wilton, who arrived at Howth on the
12th of August, and was so eager to en-
ter upon the duties of his office, that he
did not wait for the return of his pre
decessor to Dublin, in order to be in
stalled in the usual way, but hastily set
out with an army against the Wicklow
insurgents, who were encamped in the
strong passes of Glenmalure and Sliev-
eroe. Those who had some experience
in Irish warfare cautioned the new lord
deputy against the rashness of his pro-
ceeding ; but with the self-confidence so
usual with his countrymen on coming
to Ireland, he haughtily rejected their
advice, and, on the 25th of August, en-
tered the famous defile of Glenmalure.
The deputy himself, with the earl of
Kildare, James Wingfield, and George
(afterwards Sir George) Carew, occu-
pied an eminence at the entrance to the
valley with their reserve, while the re-
mainder of the army advanced into the
a prisoner to England, but that this desperate expedient
was also unsuccessful. Tlie admiral appears to have
been a merciful man, and Hoolier grumbles that he bad
given protection to some Irish who had presented them-
selves to him — a savage sentiment which tbe historiaJi
Leland properly rebukes.
LANDING OF SPANISH ARMAMENT.
387
defile. A deep and mysterious silence
prevailed as tliey made tbeii* way ovei*
the boggy ground wbicli separated the
woods covering the lofty hills on either
side ; but they had scarcely penetrated
half a mile, when a smart fire was opened
on them from the underwood. They
were immediately thrown into disorder,
and the Irish, rushing from their cover,
soon completed with spear and sword,
what had been so well begun with their
fire-arms ; so that few of those who had
advanced into the fatal valley lived to
return to the lord deputy, who, covered
with confusion, and vowing vengeance
against the Irish race, made a hasty re-
treat to Dublin, where he received the
sword of state from Pelhaiu on the Vth
of September.*
The long expected aid from the Con-
tinent was at this moment approaching
the Irish coast, and Sir William Winter
having returned to England from his
cruise, no impediment was ofiered to
* Among those slain on this occasion in Glenmalure,
were Colonel John Moor, Francis Cosby, commander of
the kerne of Leix, another experienced ofBcer named
Audley, and Sir Peter Carew, elder brother of the Geo.
Carsw mentioned above, and both the sons of Sir Peter,
who claimed the inheritance of Idrono and of the so-
called kingdom of Cork. Hooker describes the famous
valley of Glenmalure as "lying in the middle of the
wood, of great length, between two hill.s, and no other
w.iy is there to pass through. Under foot it is boggy
and soft, and full of great stones and slippery rocks,
very hard and evU to pass tlu'ough ; the sides are full
of great and mighty trees upon the sides of the hills,
and fuU of brushments and underwoods." jVniong the
Ii'ish who flocked to the standard of viscount Baltin-
glass in this rising, the Four Masters enumerate " the
Kavanaghs, Kinsellaglis, Byrnes, Tooles, Gaval-RanneU
(the branch of the O'Byrnes who possessed the district
in Wicklow called Kanelagh), and the mirviving parts
of the inhabitants of Offaly and Leix."
the descent, which accordingly took
place on the beach of Smerwick harbor,
where about 700 Spaniards and Italians
landed, early this month, from four
Spanish vessels, of which, the largest
was of 400 tons burden, the others be-
ing small craft of 60 and 80 tons. The
expedition was under the command of
Sebastian de San Josef, a Spaniard, the
other principal officers being Hercules
Pisano, and the duke of Biscay ; and in
the contemporary documents it is called
the pope's army.f A supply of arms
for 5,000 men was brought, together
with a large sum of money and a prom-
ise of future succor, and Fort del Ore
was once more occupied and its works
repaired and strengthened^ The Four
Masters say the name of the invaders
" was greater than their importance, for
their fame was at first so great, that,
had they come to Limerick, Galway, or
Cork, these great towns would have
been left wide open to them."
t The bull of Gregory XIII., sent with this expedition,
was dated from St. Peter's, May 13th, 1580, and was
the second issued by that pontiff in favor of the perse-
cuted Irish Catholics. His Holiness mentions with re-
gret the death of James FitzMauricc, and refers to John
of Desmond as his successor in tho leadership ; and in
case of John's demise, appoints his youngest brother,
James, gcneral-in-cliief : but no mention of the earl of
Desmond is made in tho document. (See the bull in
O'SuUivan's Hist. Cath., and a translation in Meehan's
Gcraldincs).
X It is strange how the fatal rock of Dunan-Oir
should have been selected by tho Spaniards in both ex-
peditions. It could scarcely have afforded standing
room for those who came on the second occasion, its di-
ameter not being more than two chains. (Four Masters,
vol. v., p. 1739, n.) It rises about fifty feet from the sea,
with perpendicular sides, but it was commanded by a
neighboring hill, and was pronounced by English offi-
cers quite untenable. O'Sullivan, who gives a very con
388
REIGN OF ELIZABETH.
The earl of Desmond hastened to
meet his foreign auxiliaries, but his
brother John was then with Viscount
Baltiiiglass in Leinster, although the
English chroniclers represent him as
having joined the Spaniards* The
earl led his allies upon some excursions
into the neighborhood, in one of which
they exchanged a few shots with the
army of Ormond, who had come, with
all the troops he could collect, .to recon-
noitre the invaders. Desmond appears
to have then left them to go and raise
the country ; and Ormond, finding that
he could do nothing until he received
assistance, marched to Eathkeale to
await the lord deputy. Thus was
the time wasted till the close of Oc-
tober.
Burning to retrieve his disgrace at
Glenmalure, Lord Gray made all the
haste he could to collect his forces and
march to the south. On the 31st of
October he encamped about eight or
ten miles from the fort at Smerwick
harbor, accompanied by the earl of
Ormond, Captains Zouch, Raleigh, Den-
ny, Macworth, and other experienced
ofiicers ; Vice-admiral Sir Richard Bing-
ham had reached Dingle before him ;
and on the 5th of November Admiral
fused account of these proceedings, confounds tlie expe-
ditions of 1579, and 1580.
* Tlie Four Masters give an interesting account, at
tliis dale, of tlie adventures of Jolin of Desmond, from
his Betting out in July, from the woods of Aharlagh
(Aherlow) until ho reached Eustace in "Wicklow ; how
he took numerous spoils; how he was joined by "the
eons of MacG ilia-Patrick, the sou of O'Carrol, and a
great number of evil-doers and plunderers ;" and how
ho lived on Slicvo Bloom in a manner " worthy of a
true plunderer," " for he slept but upon couches of stone
Winter arrived with his fleet from
Kinsale. Heavy guns were landed
from the ships to attack the fort; on
the evening of the Yth the trenches
were opened, and the works were car-
ried on so actively that on the third
day the besiegers had advanced within
a hundred and twenty paces of the
curtain. The accounts of the sequel
are contradictoiy in some of the partic-
ulars. Sir Richard Bingham, in his
report of the transaction, says the gar-
rison demanded a parley on the evening
of the third day, and were then pre-
pared to surrender at discretion, but
that it being night they were allowed
until next morning, the besiegers in the
mean time continuing their trenches to
within sixty paces of the fort. On the
morning of the 10th, officers were sent
into the fort to take an inventory of
the ammunition and provision for the
queen's use, and the foreign commander
and his captains were ordered to come
forth and deliver up their ensigns. Ac-
cording to Bingham's account. Captain
Denny's company then entered the fort
on one side, and some sailors on an-
other— Hooker says it was Captains
Raleigh and Macworth who commanded
the bands of executioners — and they
or earth, he drank but of the pure cold streams, and
that, from the palms of his hands or from his shoes ;
and his only cooking utensils were the long twigs of
the forest for dressing the flesh-meats carried away
from his enemies." He set out with Eustace and
others to join the Spaniards about Michaelmas, but
only arrived in Kerry to find that they had been all cut
off by Lord Gray. It is possible that the passage of
John and his confederates was intercepted by the earl
of Ormond ; and Leland (B. iv., c. 2.) makes his ap
proach an excuse for the massacre of Fort del Ore.
MASSACRE OF THE FORT DEL ORE.
fell to, slaughtering the unarmed for-
eigners in cold blood, " in which they
never ceased while there lived one," the
number thus inhumanly butchered be-
ing, as some judged, between 500 and
GOO." Sir Eichard Bingham's object is
to insinuate that the atrocious massacre
was perpetrated without orders; but
this shameless misrepresentation is con-
tradicted, not only by the Irish accounts,
but by the dispatch of Lord Gray him-
self, addressed to the queen, " from the
camp before Smerwick, November 12th,
1580." Gray asserts that in the parley
which took place, he told the Spanish
commander that " no condition or com-
position were they to expect, other than
they should simplie render me the
forte, and yield themselves to my will
for lyf or deth." He then proceeds : —
" Morning came, I presented my forces
in bataille before the forte. The coro-
nel, with ten or twelve of his chief
gentlemen came trayling their ensigns
rolled up, and presented them to me
* The life of tlie Spanish commander -was spared, but
on his return home he was disgraced, and is universally
charged with cowardice or treason in surrendering the
fort. Muratori {AnnalC) says it was surrendered " shame-
fully." It was at all events capable of a better defence.
Two days after the massacre, an Englishman, who had
served Dr. Saunders, a Mr. Plunkot, who had acted as
inlorpreter, and an Irish priest taken in the fort, were
executed. Bingham, in a letter to Walsingham, says,
" their arms and legs were first broken, and they were
then hanged on a gibbet on the walls of the fort."
Gray, in the dispatch in which ho coolly avows the
commission of so atrocious a crime, dwells with 'great
unction on the " divine confession of his faith" made by
" good John Cheeke," who was woimded by a ball from
the fort ; " so wrought in him God's Spirit, plainlie dc-
clairing him a child of His elected ;" and he assures her
Majesty that in his own parley with the Spaniards he
took care to call tho Pope " a dotcstablo shaveling, the
with their lives and the forte. ... I sent
streighte certeyne gentlemen to see their
weapons and armoires laid down, and
to guard the munition and victual then
left from spoyle; then put I in certeyne
handes who streighte fell to execution.
There were 600 slaynP'' This is the
lord deputy's own account. There is
no attempt made to excuse the horrible
murder, or transfer it to other shoulders ;
but a most important circumstance is
falsified in this ofiicial statement, for we
are assured by all the Irish authorities
that the lives and liberties of the for-
eign soldiers were guarantied by the
deputy, nor is there any reason why
they should have otherwise surrendered
without striking a blow, while they had
an abundant supply of ammunition and
provisions. O'Sullivan tells us that
" Gray's faith" — " Graia fides" — became
proverbial through the Continent, where
this inhuman massacre was reprobated
as an outrage against humanity and the
riarhts of nations.*
right Antichrist, and general ambitious tyrant over all
right principalities" — thus showing by his words how
much his mind mtist have been biased by sectarian
animosity. It is generally admitted that the number
slaughtered in cold blood was seven hundred, and that
the execution of the butchery was intrusted to the after-
wards famous (Sir) Walter Raleigh, who fleshed his
maiden sword on the occasion. The Denny mentioned
in the text was " Ned Dennye," who was sent by Lord
Gray as a bearer of dispatches to the queen. He after-
wards married tho " queen's own favorite maid of hon-
or," and "obtained plentiful estate in Ireland." No
attention whatever is due to tho statement that the
foreign ofBcers, being unable to produce any written
commission from tho Pope or the king of Spain, were
on that accoimt not treated by Lord Gray according to
the laws of nations. This excuse was subsequently put
forward by the poet Spencer, who was Lord Gray's sec-
retary, and who tells us that he himself was " not feu
S90
REIGN OF ELIZABETH.
A. D. 15S1. — The war in Munster had
assumed a savage character, of which
it is almost impossible to convey any-
adequate idea. The brutal barbarities
of Lord Gray and his captains had driv-
en many of the most loyal of the Irish
and old English to espouse the now
desperate cause of the insurgents. Each
official endeavored "to do some ex-
ploit," as it was phrased ; and Ealeigh,
who received the command iji Cork,
was one of those who evinced the most
fiendish activity in tracking and hunt-
ing down the miserable Catholics. He
repaired to Dublin for enlarged powers
to proceed against the old English fam-
ilies of the Barrys and Roches, against
whom some charges of treason had been
trumped up. Lord Barry indignantly
set fire to his castle rather than allow it
to be overrun by the soldiery, and re-
paired to the w^oods, where he joined
John of Desmond; but Lord Roche,
who, along with his lady, was seized
and carried prisoner to Cork, estab-
lished his innocence and escaped. Some
eff." It -was a notorious fact that the expedition was
•ent by the king of Spain, as Camden says, to divert the
attention of Elizabeth from the affairs of Belgium ; and
Cox further assures us that the massacre " very much
displeased the queen." See the valuable notes of O'Don-
ovan in the Four Masters, O'Sullivan's Hist. Cath.,
Meehan's Geraldines, Spencer's View of Ireland, Hooker,
Ware, Cox, Leland, &c. A valuable collection of ex-
tracts from State papers relative to the affair of the
Fort Del Ore appeared in Nos. vui., xiii., xiv. sv., and
xvi. of the Kerry Magazine, for 1854 and 1855.
* The fate of David Purcell is related by the Four
Masters. He descended the Shannon some time after
this with a few foUowcre, and sought to conceal himself
for a night on Scattery island. Here, however, he was
immediately pursued by Turlough MacMahon of Clon-
derakw in Clare, who took PurccU and his men to his
soldiers from Adare going on a maraud-
ing excursion into the barony of Kenry
were cut off by David Purcell, the
representative of an ancient Anglo-
L-ish family who had hitherto been an
exemplary loyalist. Captain Achin, the
officer in command of the station at
Adare, obtained some troops at Kilmal-
lock, and entering Kenry to wreak his
vengeance on tlie people, came to Pur-
cell's castle of Ballycalhane near Kildimo,
where, finding that David with his men
had fled to the woods, he massacred
one hundred and fifty women and chil-
dren who had sought refuge in the
castle.* Foremost among the captains
who distinguished themselves at this
time were Zouch and Dowdall, but
the former soon became so prominent
for his services that ite was appoint
ed governor or president of Mun-
ster.
In Connaught, William Burke, one
of the sons of the earl of Clara-Icard, Lav-
ing surrendered on a promise oi protec-
tion, as our annalists say, was hanged in
castle of Colmanston, where the latter were hanged on
the nearest trees, Purcell himself being taken sick in
Limerick and executed there. Yet this Purcell " had
assisted the crown from the very commencement of the
Geraldine war." (Four Masters, vol. v., p. 1750.) Arch-
bishop Lombard {De Regno Sib. Comment., p. 535) re-
lates some horrible cruelties similar to that mentioned
above, as perpetrated by the government officials in
Munster even after Desmond's death and the suppression
of hi^rebellion ; such as the forcing of people into castles
and houses, which were then set on fire ; " and if any of
them attempted to escape from the flames they were
shot or stabbed by the soldiers who guarded them. It
was a diversion," he continues, " to these monsters of
men to take up infants on the points of their spears and
whirl them about in their agony," &c. See Dr. Curry's
Ciiil Wars, p. 27.
prematuhe executions.
391
Galway on the 29th of May, aud all his
followers who had rashly relied on the
same promise, were treated in like man-
ner ; aud about the same time Turlough
O'Brien, who had been a year in prison,
was hanged in Clare. Nor did Dublin
escape the rage for executions. It was
said that some conspiracy was on foot,
and that a plot was formed to capture
the castle, massacre the English, and
overturn the government. We are told
that forty-five persons were brought to
the scaffold for this imaginary treason,
Nugent, who had been chief-j ustice of the
Common Pleas, being one of the number.
The earl of Kildare, his son, and the lord
of Devlin, were arrested and sent for
trial to England, where the groundless-
ness of the charge against them was
proved; and then it became obvious
that the execution of Nugent and the
others had been prematura. This over-
hasty "vindication of justice" excited
some displeasure in England, where the
affair of Smerwick Harbor made an im-
pression not at all f;xvorable to Lord
Gray's humanity; but the custom of
hanging men in hot haste prevailed to
a fearful extent in Ii'eland then, and for
centuries after.
The hopeless struggle of the Geral-
dines was still protracted. John of
Desmond made a successful foray bc-
* Dr. Nicholas Saunders, or Sandcrus, was anati%-o of
Charlewood in England, and had been professor of canon
law at Oxford ; but Hying from England on the acces-
sion of Elizabeth, he repaired to Home, where he re-
ceived priest's orders and the degree of doctor of divin-
ity. He taught theology at Louvain, and was sent by
the Pope as nuncio to Spain, where he wrote his fa-
yond the Suir in May, slaying several
of his pursuers and carrying off tlie
spoils to the fastnesses of Claenglass, in
the south of the county of Limerick,
and to the neighboring woods of Kil-
more. In June he took spoils from
MacCarthy More, and again, about
Christmas, Kilfeakle, in Tipperary, was
plundered by him, or, as some accounts
have it, by the earl of Desmond. A
large number of faithful followers still
surrounded the unhappy earl, but while
encamped at Aghadoe, near Killarney,
he was attacked unawares, on a Sunday
morning, by Captain Zouch, and many
of his men were slain. About the end
of September he penetrated as far as
Cashel, and carried off a large spoil of
cattle and other property to the woods of
^Lherlow, after slaying, say our annalists,
four hundred of his pui'suers. Some
time in the winter of this year. Dr.
Saunders, the Pope's legate, died in cold
and wretchedness in a miserable hovel
in the woods of Claenglass. This illus-
trious aud heroic ecclesiastic, for whom
the government would have given a
large reward, was worn out by fatigue
and privation, and died the death of a
confessor, attended in his last moments
by Cornelius, bishop of Killaloe, who
administered to him the last sacia-
ments.*
mous " Ilistory of the Rise and Progress of the English
Reformation ;" but before that work was published, he
proceeded, by orders of Gregory XIII., to Ireland. Cox
called him " a malicious, cunning, and indefatigable
rebel ;" but Magcoghan more truly describes him as
"a man of exemplary life, and most zealous in the
Catholic cause." Ho died of dysentery; and English
392
REIGN OF ELIZABETH.
A.D. 1582.— The fidelity of the peas-
antry to the Geraldines was one of the
most interesting features of this heart-
sickening war. Great rewards were
offered for the heads of the leaders;
but the humblest of their followers
were still faithful to the last. An Irish-
man was, nevertheless, found to act as
a spy on the footsteps of John of Des-
mond, and information obtained by this
man from an unsuspecting messenger
enabled Zouch to intercept John near
Castle Lyons (Castle Hy-Liathain),
while on his way to meet Lord Barry,
between whom and FitzGei'ald of Imo-
killy there had arisen a misunderstand-
ing, which John wished to arrange.
The latter was accompanied only by
his kinsman, James FitzGerald of Stran-
cally, and four or five horsemen ; and
when he unexpectedly came face to face
with Zouch and his troops, whom, in a
dark and misty day, he had first sup-
posed to be Barry's men, he saw imme-
diately that escape was impossible. He
desired his companions to fly, as their
enemies only sought for him ; but the
lord of Strancally refused to abandon his
leader. They made a fruitless attempt
to gain a wood, and were surrounded
by the soldiers, one of whom, named
Thomas Fleming, said to have been
once in the service of John of Desmond,
plunged a spear into that chief's throat,
writers, vrho abhorred him, say that his body -when
found, was half devoured by wolves, while O'SuUivan
tells us that he was carried to the grave by four Irish
knights, of whom one was his (O'Sullivan's) own father,
Dermot ; and that liis venerated remains were privately
Interred at night by priests. (Iliit. Caih., p. 121). His
ere Zouch, who wished to capture him
alive, could ward off the blow. The
noble Geraldine expired before his ene-
mies had carried him a mile, and his
body was then thrown across his own
steed and conveyed thus to Cork, when
his head being cut off, was sent to Dub-
lin to be spiked in front of the castle ;
while his mutilated trunk was hung in
chains at one of the gates of Cork,
"where it remained," says O'Daly,
"nearly three years, till, on a tempest-
uous night, it was blown into the sea."
His kinsman, James, was hanged soon
after, together with his two sons ; but
Lord Barry made his peace with the
government.*
With the gallant John of Desmond
departed the last hope of the Gerald-
ines ; but the unhappy earl himself was
still in arms. The three sons of Fitz-
Maui-ice of Lixnaw escajDed from cap-
tivity iu Limerick, and fled to their
paternal woods. They attacked the
garrison of Ardfert, and slew its cap-
tain, Hatsim.f The lord of Lixnaw,
who had hitherto committed no overt
act of treason, now joined his infatuated
sons, destroyed his principal castles, that
they might not fall into the hands of
the English, and retired to the woods
at the head of a large body of follow-
ers ; and Zouch, on coming to Ardfert,
finding the FitzMaurices were beyond
companion in suffering, the bishop of KiUaloe, escaped
to Spain, and diedia Lisbon, A.D. 1G17.
* Four Masters.
f This was no doubt the same person as the " Captain
Achin" who slaughtered the women and children in
Purcell's castle. {Supra, p. 425).
MASSACRE OF WOMEX AND CIIILDREX.
303
his reach, avenged the death of Ilats^ira
by hanging a number of hostages whom
he held, although, say the Four Mas-
tei's, they were mere children. Soon
after this, FitzMaurice repented of his
rashness, and pleading as an excuse that
the oppression of the queen's officers
had driven him into rebellion, he ob-
tained his pardon thi'ough the media-
tion of the earl of Ormond.
By this time Munster had been con-
vei'ted into such a solitude that, as our
annalists tell us, the lowing of a cow or
the voice of the ploughman, could
scarcely be heard from Dunqueen, in
tlie west of Keny, to Cashel, in Tip-
perai'y. That fair province now pre-
sented the hideous spectacle of desola-
tion which Spencer so graphically de-
* Aftej developing his remedy for the ills of Ire-
land, namelj", the employment of large masses of troops
" to tread down all that Btandeth before them on foot,
ajid lay on the ground all the stiffnecked people of that
land," and advising that war should be carried on against
them not in summer only, but in winter ; " for then the
trees are bare and naked, which .use both to clothe and
house the kerne ; the ground is cold and wet, which
useth to be liis bedding ; the air is sharp and bitter, to
blow through hie naked sides and legs ; the kine are
barren and without milk, which useth to be his food,
Ijesides being all with calf (for the most part) they will,
through much chasing and driving, cast all their
"alves and lose their milk, wliich should relieve him in
the next summer'' {State of Ireland, pp. 158, &c.) ;
Spencer proceeds to say that " the end will be very
short," and in proof he describeg what he himself had
witnessed in " the late wars of Munster ;" " for notwith-
standing that the same was a most rich and plentiful
country, full of corne and cattle yet ere one
years and a halfe they (the Irish) were brought to such
wretchednesse as that any stony heart wimld have rued
the same. Out of every comer of the woods anfl glynnes
they came creeping forth upon their hands, for their
legges could not bear them ; they looked like anatomies
of death ; they spake like ghosts crj-ing out of their
graves ; they did eate the dead carrions, happy where
they could findo them ; yea, and one another soone after,
scribes.* It was repoi-tcd that tlie
earl of Desmond was dead, and the
army was thereupon considerably re-
duced. Complaints, in the mean time,
dail)- reached Elizabeth, of the inhuman
rigor of Gray. That viceroy was truly
described as a man of blood, who liad
alienated the hearts of all the Irish
subjects by his barbarities, and who
"left her majesty little to reign over
but carcasses and ashes ;"f and he was
at length recalled" in August, and Loft-
us, archbishop of Dublin, and Sii- Hen-
ry Wallop, the treasurer at war, ap-
pointed loi'd justices. A moi'e modei--
ate policy was determined on, and sev-
eral who had been involved in the in-
surrection were amnestied; the earl of
Desmond, however, being excluded from
insomuch as the very carcasses they spared not to
scrape out of their graves ; and if they found a plot of
water-crosses or shamrocks, there they flocked as to a
feast for the time, yet not able long to continue there-
withall : that in short space there were none almost left,
and a most poj^ulous and plentifull country suddainly
left voyde of man and beast." (.State of Ireland, p. 166.)
Similar pictures of the frightful state to which the
south of Ireland was reduced at this period may be
seen in IloUinshed, vi., 459 ; Ft/nea Morrison, p. 273
(folio) ; and Cox, p. 449.
But the poet Spencer, who could suggest no bett<-r
means for the subjugation of a race with such kind
hearts and gentle natures as the Irish, still saw that
the scene of all this horrible waste and devastation was
beautiful — too beautiful, alas! for those whose exter-
mination was a necessary step to its enjoyment by
others. " And sure it is yet a most beautiful and sweete
country as any is under heaven." he says, " being stored
throughout with many goodly rivers, replenished with
all sorts of fish most abundantly ; sprinkled with many
very sweete islands and goodly lakes, like little inland
seas, adorned with goodly woods : also full of very
good ports and havens opening' upon England, as in-
viting us to come unto them ; besides the soyle itseU'o
is most fertile, and lastly, the heavens most milde and
temperate." (State nf Ireland, p. 28.)
t Ojx, nUi. Angl. Leland, vol. ii., p. 287 (8vo. ed.)
394
REIGN OF ELIZABETH.
nieivy. Two or tliree times in the
coarse of this year, this unhapj)y noble-
man .ehowed himself at the head of sev-
eral hundi-ed men. Ho despoiled the
territory of the earl of Ormond, during
the absence of the latter in England ;
defeated some English ti'oops in a des-
perate conflict at Gort-na-pisi, or Pea-
field, in Tippei'ary ; and almost annihil-
ated a large irregular force led against
liim by the brothers and sons of the
earl of Ormond, at Knockgraffon, in
the same county. He carried off spoils
from MacCarthy and other hostile
parties; but these few predatory suc-
cesses only helped to prolong the mis-
erable struggle. By degrees his fol-
lowers dwindled away, and with the
few faithful adherents who remained
he was hunted like a beast of the forest
fi-om one wood or mountain cavern to
another. The glen of Aheilow, which
the conteraporai-y English wiiters some-
times call Harlow, was one of his favoi--
ite retreats; at other times he fre-
quented woods in the southwest of tlie
cnunty of Limerick ; and often he sought
slielter among the woods and mountains
of his own palatinate of Kerry.*
• Tlie unhappy earl, we are told, passed the Christ-
mas of this year in great distress in the wood of Kil-
quane, near Kilmallock, and on the 4th of January a plan
WHS laid by one John Welsh to gain the large ri^anl
oft'i-red for his capture. Hooker relates the circuin-
siances. Captains Dowdall and Bangor, and George
Thorington, provost marshal of Munster, led a chosen
band of soldiers from the garrison of Kilmallock. and
every thing was so well arranged that they arrived by
break of day at the carl's cabin, which was close by a
river, then swollen from the rains. Desmond's watch-
ful ear caught an approaching sound of footsteps or
breaking twigs, and he and the countess rushed from
A. D. 1583. — In the summer and au-
tumn of this year, say the Four Masters,
the eai'l of Desmond was attended by
only four persons, who accompanied
him " from one cavern of a rock, or
hollow of a tree, to another." They
were so hunted from place to place, that
" where they did di-ess their meat," says
Hooker, "thence they would remove to
eat it in another place, and fi'om thence
go to another place to lie. In the
nights they would watch ; in the fore-
noon they would be upon the hills and
mountains to descry the country ; and
in the afternoon they would sleep."
Their enemies were well apprised of
these movements ; and, on one occasion,
in the autumn of this year, when so
many as three score gallowglasses mus-
tered round the earl in Aherlow, Cap-
tain Dowdall, with a troop of soldiers,
surprised him while they were cooking
a horse to eat. It was their hour of
i-est — the afternoon — and five and twen-
ty of the gallowglasses were taken in
their cabins and put to the sword,
many others having been slain in at-
tempting to defend themselves. The
eail escaped and fled to Kei-ry, whither
their wretched couch into the river, in which they re-
mained concealed under a bank, with only their heads
over the water, until Welsh and his disappointed party
had left. The unhappy Desmond more than once hum-
bled himself to sue for pardon ; and his countess, Elea-
nor, who was a I3utler, being the daughter of Lord
Danboyne, and who, although she disapproved from the
beginning of his resistance to government, still shared
all his privations and sulferings, freiiuently supplicated
for mercy for him in vain. His imconditional surren-
der would alone be accepted, but we are assured by
O'Daly that he was offered pardon if he gave up Dr.
Saunders, a stipulation which he spurned.
■"-^ '"'C
f^-
DEATH OF THE EARL OF DESMOND.
895
we must follow to relate the last act in
this hari'owing tragedy.
On the 9th of November the earl of
1/esmond left his retreat in the woods
near Castle-island, and went westwaixls
towai'ds the bay of Tralee. He Sfut
two horsemen with eighteen kernes to
carry off a prey from the Moriartys,
who would appear to have been hostile
to him ; he himself and John MacEligot,
with two or three footmen, staying for
them at a place then called Doiremore.
The predatory party proceeded to Ca-
^■■rnifahy, lying by the seaside west of
>ry, in the peninsula of
and there took a prey
y cows, nine horses, and
^, from Mauiice Mac-
announcing at the
earl of Desmond
t it was for him
r ed. MacOwen
to Lieutenant
bis brothers-
)us of Don-
wo latter
■ey with
in two
•istle-
the
Luachra, and, about five miles east of
Tralee, entering late in the evening the
vale of Glanageenty (Gleann-an-Ghinn-
tigh), in that mountain district, they
ascended an eminence, and observed a
fire in the glen beneath them. Donnell
O'Moriarty explored the place under
cover of the darkness, and reported
that the party they were in search of
were there, but had not the prey with
them, and he suggested that they should
wait until morning to make the attack.
At the dawn of day Owen and Donnell
O'Moriarty, with Daniel O'Kelly, one
of the soldiers, who had served some
time in England, took the lead of the
band, the kerne following next, and the
soldiei's bringing up the rear. They
rushed with a loud shout to the cabin
where the earl's party had lain, but the
latter had fled on the first sound of the
enemy's approach, with the exception
of a venerable looking man, a woman,
and a boy. O'Kelly, who entered first,
aimed a blow with his sword at the old
man and almost severed his arm. The
old man then exclaimed, " I am the
earl of De/ ' ''uire my life." Don-
nell 0'M(/
and car
his back.
-ly cut
ity's de-
-ue same month of Novombor.
.re to be found in a raro work by
avard, entitled " A Scouriro for Hc-liels,"
.oSi, and liave been reprinted in the Kcrrf
\^-.
-v^
,^r
DEATH OF THE EARL OF DESMOND.
895
we must follow to relate tlie last act in
this bai'iowing tragedy.
On the 9th of November the earl of
1/esmond left his retreat in the woods
near Castle-island, and went westwards
towards the bay of Tralee. He st'ut
two horsemen with eighteen kernes to
carry off a prey from the Moriartys,
who would appear to have been hostile
to him ; he himself and John MacEligot,
with two or three footmen, staying for
them at a place then called Doiremore.
The predatory party pi-oceeded to Ca-
hirnifahy, lying by the seaside west of
Castle Gregory, in the peninsula of
Corkaguiuey, and there took a prey
consisting of forty cows, nine horses, and
some other goods, from Maurice Mac-
Owen and another, announcing at the
same time that the earl of Desmond
was hard by, and that it was foi- him
the cattle were required. MacOwen
dispatched messengers to Lieutenant
Stanley, at Dingle, and. to his brothei's-
in-law, Owen and Donnell, sons of Don-
nell O'Moriarty ; and the two latter
followed in the track of the prey with
a band of eighteen kernes, of whom two
were armed with muskets. At Castle-
maine they applied for aid to the
wai-der, Cheston, on the I'ecommenda-
tion of Lieutenant Stanley, and obtained
a reinforcement of five soldiers. On
arriving at Tralee they traced the prey
in the direction of Slieve Locrher or
• The circumstances above related are taki^n almost
Ttrbally from the di'|Kwitions of Owen MacOonnell
O'Moriarty (Miiirchertaich), sworn before the earl of
Oniiond, the bishop of Ossory, and the sovereign of Kil-
Luachra, and, about five miles east of
Tralee, entering late in the evening the
vale of Glanageenty (Gleann-an-Ghiun-
tigh), in that mountain district, they
ascended an eminence, and observed a
fire in the glen beneath them. Donnell
O'Moriarty explored the place under
cover of the darkness, and reported
that the party they were in search of
were there, but had not the prey with
them, and he suggested that they should
wait until morning to make the attack.
At the dawn of day Owen and Donnell
O'Moriarty, with Daniel O'Kelly, one
of the soldiers, who had served some
time in England, took the lead of the
band, the kerne following next, and the
soldiers bringing up the rear. They
rushed with a loud shout to the cabin
where the earl's party had lain, but the
latter had fled on the first sound of the
enemy's approach, with the exception
of a venerable looking man, a woman,
and a boy. O'Kelly, who entered first,
aimed a blow with his swoi-d at the old
man and almost severed his arm. The
old man then exclaimed, " I am the
earl of Desmond, spare my life." Don-
nell O'Moriarty took him on his back,
and cari'ied him a short distance,
but, according to their own account,
they feared the earl's party might re-
turn and rescue him, and O'Kelly cut
off his head at Owen Moriarty's de-
kenny on the 26th of the same month of November.
'I'hcsB depositions are to be found in a rare work by
Thomas Churchyard, entitled " A Scourge for Uebels,"
printed in 1584, and have been reprinted in the Kerrf
396
REIGX OF ELIZABETH.
Thus, ou tbe raoruiiig of the lltli of
November, 1583, perished Gerald, the
great eai-l of Desmond — " ingeus rebel-
libus exemplar," as some English writers
call him. Most assuredly this unfoi'tu-
nate nobleman was driven into rebellion
in order, once for all, to crush the power
of his family, and for the baser purpose
of seizing and partitioning his vast do-
mains. He wanted the most es"sential
qualities of a popular leader ; and when
the time requii'ed decision and action
he was vacillating, and therefore power-
less. His jealousy and pride would not
suffer him to be guided by his cousin,
James FitzMaurice, or by his brothej',
John, both of whom possessed superior
mental and physical energy ; and when
they took the leadership he could not
play a subservient part. Yet he pos-
sessed courage and military ability, as
he proved in several hard-fought con-
flicts after the death of James and John ;
his sympathies wei-e always with tbe
Mngazine for July, 1854. Tbe story of the earl's men
having shamefully robbed "a poor widow named Mori-
arty" is untrue, the woman in question being ihe wife
of the man called Maurice MacOwen, and the sister of
DonneU O'Moriarty. The two horsemen sent with the
kerne on this expedition are called in Owen's deposi-
tions " Corroghore ne Scolly and Shane Deleo," names
I which have been identified as " Conor O'Driscol and
John Daly." Brother Dominic O'Daly, bishop elect of
Coinibra, and author of " Incrementum, &c., Geraldino-
Tura," was a near relative of this Daly, and tells us that
" Cornelius O'Daly and a few othere were at a short dis-
tance from the earl in the valley, watching the cattle
that ha<l been seized the day before," and that " John
MacWilliam and James MacDavid were the only com-
panions who partooli of his miserable hut (and who de-
BiTted himi at the time of his death." (Meehan's Trans-
lation, p. 108.) O'Kelly, who was in such haste to mur-
der the old earl, was rewarded by government with a
pension of £30 a-year, but was hanged in London for
Catholic cause; and his heroic endu-
rance of long and cruel sufferings, his
unparalleled misfortunes and melancholy;
end, obliterated his faults, and have
caused his memoi-y to be venerated \v
the traditions of the country. His.
head was carried to Castlemaiue, and
thence forwarded to Queen Eliza
beth, who caused it to be impaled in
an iron cage on London bridge ; and
his body having been concealed foi
some time by the peasantry, was ulti-
mately interred in the little chapel ol
Kilnamanagh, near Castleisland.
During the great Geraldine rebellioc
the rest of Ireland was compai-ativel}
tranquil. The earl of Clani-ickard —
called, by the Irish, Richard Saxonagh
— I'eturned from his long captivity in
London to breathe his native air foi
the last time before he expired in Gal-
way, in August, 1582; and a violent
contention then arose between his tui--
bulent sons, Ulick and Jobn-of-the Sham-
highway robbery ; and Owen O'Moriarty was also hanged
some years after, in the insurrection of Hugh O'Neill, by
FitzMaurice of Lixnaw, the whole family becoming ob-
jects of popular detestation on account of tlie pan ho
took in the earl's death. Long after Desmond's death it
was a popular belief that the place where he was slain
was still red \vith his blood. The spot is still called
Bothar-an-Iarla. and an old tree used to be shown under
which, it was said, his body was first buried. In addi
tion to the authorities already quoted, see O'SulIivac's
HUt. Cath., Coxes Hib. Aug!., Hooker, &c. We are
grieved to add that the Four Masters evince an abject,
time-serving spirit, in all their entries about the Ger-
aldine war. Tlieir patron, Farrell O'Gara, was, as Dr.
O'Donovan observes in his just animadversions on these
passages, an eleve of Trinity College, and they wrote for
him and for the loyalists of the reign of Charles I. Hence
they constantly stigmatize the struggles of the Catholics
of the south as treason, and apply disparaging epithets
to their leaders.
MILD POLICY OF PERIIOTT.
397
rocks. The former succeeded as eai-1,
and the latter received for his patrimo-
ny the barony of Leitrira, in the south-
east of the county of Galway; but the
next year Ulick slew his brother, John,
at night, and was thus left in the ex-
clusive enjoyment of the territory of
Clani'ickai-d. Viscount Baltinglass es-
caped to Spain, where he died in misery ;
and Captain Brabazou " pacified" the
north of Connaught in 1582 by a series
of sanguinary devastations.
A. D. 1584. — Following the ordinary
rule, that a calm succeeds a storm, an
interval of moderation and me-rcy suc-
ceeded the fierce pei'secution of the war
in Munster, and Sir John Perrott was
the man selected by Elizabeth to carry
out the new jxJicy. He arrived in
Iieland on the 21st of June, and was
sworn in on the 26th ; and with him
came Sir Thomas Non-eys, or Norris, as
president of Munster, and Sir Kichard
Bingham as governor of Connaught, in
the place of Sir Nicholas Malby, who
had recently died at Athloue. The
new deputy set out on a circuit, com-
mencing at Galway, where he was
j-eceiveil with welcome by the leading
* On this occasion seven counties were marked out in
Ulster, viz. : — Armagh, Monaghan, Tyrone, Colcraine,
Donegal, Fermanagh, and Cavan ; for eacli of which
sherifls, commissioners of the peace, and coroners, were
nominated.
f The Four Masters give a list of the chieltains and
heads of septs who attended this parliament. They ap-
])i'ar in the following order, those who had scats, as we
find by the official list published in the third appen-
dix to ilardiman's edition of the Statute of Kilkenny,
beintj distinguislied by an (*), viz. : — Turlough Luin-
eacluth(i) O'Neill : * llugli O'Neill, baron of Uunganiion,
eri»tui earl of 'i'yroue in thia parliameut; * Hugh
men of Connaught. He next proceeded
to Limerick, and at Quin, on his way
through Thomond, Donough Beg O'Bri-
en, who had taken an active part in the
late insuri-ections, was first hanged from
a car, then taken down before he was
dead, and his bones broken with the
back of au axe ; and finally his bruised
body was hoisted to the top of the
church steeple, to feed the birds and
"serve as a warning to future evil-
doers." The Four Masters add, that
Perrott was " resolved to destroy and
reduce a great number of gentlemen"
in Limerick, when he was suddenly
called away to repress a movement of
Sorley Boy MacDonnell, who had lately
obtained an accession of strength from
Scotland. This duty, however, was
easily performed, and the year passed
away without any event of importance.*
A. D. 1585. — Perrott summoned a pai-
liament, which met in Dublin on the
26th of April, this year, and was memo-
rable for the great number of Irish
lords and heads of septs who attended,
either as members or without the I'ight
to vote, to give the proceedings the
sanction of tlieir presence.f The first
O'Donnell, chief of Tirconnell ; Cuconnaught Maguire,
chief of Fermanagh ; Jolin Oge O'Doherty, chief of In-
ishowen ; Turlough O'Boyle, chief of Boylagh, in Done-
gal ; Owen O'Uallagher, O'Donnell's marehal ; Uosa
MacMahon, chief of Oriel ; Rory O'Kane, chief of Oire-
achtrO'Cahane ; Con O'Neill, chief of Climuaboy (his
nephew, * Shane MacBrien O'Neill, was one of the
knights for the county Antrim) : * Hugh Magonnis,
chief of Iveagh (one of the knights for the county of
Down) ; Brian ORourko; * John lioe O'Reilly (the offi-
cial list has it Philip) and his uncle, * Edmund O'Reilly
(knights for the comity of Cavan) ; * O'Farrell Bane and
O'Fai-rell Boy (knighte for the county of Longford) ;
398
REIGN OF ELIZABETH.
Bessiou closed on the 29tli of May, and
was a very stormy one, owing to violent
debates between the court party and
the counti-y party, into which the mem-
bers for the Pale were divided. Acts
were passed to attaint James Eustace,
Viscount Baltiuglass ; to make estates
tail forfeitable for treason ; and to re-
store in blood Laurence Delahide, whose
ancestor had been attainted duiing the
rebellion of Silken Thomas. The second
session was held on the 28th of April,
1586, when the late earl of Desmond
and a hundred and forty of his adhe-
rents were attainted. A strong opposi-
tion was given to Desmond's attainder,
on the ground that he had executed a
conveyance of his estates to trustees
several yeai-s before ; but the govern-
ment officers pretended to show that
an act of treason preceded this convey-
ance; and it was then provided that any
such instrument made for the last thir-
teen years should be entered on record
in the Exchequer, within a year, or be
Hugh, son of O'Conor Don ; Tiege Oge O'Conor Hoe ;
Donnell O'Conor Sligo ; Brian MacDermot, deputed by
MacDermot of Moylurg : Carbry O'Beirn, chief of Tir-
Briuin-na-Sinna, in Koscommon ; Tiege O'Kelly, of Mul-
laghmore in Galway ; Donnell O'Madden ; * Ulick, earl
of Clanrickard ; John and Dermot O'Shaughnessy ; Mur-
rough-of-the-battle-axes O'Flaherty ; * Donough O'Brien,
earl of Thomond ; * Sir Turlough O'Brien (knight for
the county of Clare) ; Turlough, son of Tiege O'Brien ;
John MacNamara ; * Boetius MacClancy, the brehon of
Thomond (knight for the county of Clare); Rossa
O'Loughlin of Burren ; * Mac-I-Brien Ara, (Protestant)
bishop of KUlaloe, and chief of his family ; Calvagh
O'Carroll ; John MacCoghlan ; Pliilip O'Dwyer, of Kil-
namanagh in Tippcrary; MacBrien, of Coonagh in Lim-
erick ; Brian Duv O'Brien, lord of Carrigogunnell ; Conor
O'Mulryan (O'Ryan), chief of the two Owners ; * Donnell
MacCarthy More, earl of Clancare ; Sir Owen MacCarthy
void. Thus were lands then estimated at
574,628 acres — but containing, in truth,
a great deal more — confiscated to the
crown, to be distributed among English
undertakers.
The Scots, under a son of Sorley Boy,
again excited troubles in Ulster; but
the lord deputy on proceeding against
them found that they had already been
defeated. Their leader was hanged,
Sorley Boy was taken by Sir John
Peri-ott to Dublin, and the government
of the northern province was intrusted
to Turlough Luineach O'Neil, Hugh,
baron of Dungannon, and Marshal Bag-
nal. Meanwhile the English of the
Pale had begun to show an invetej-ate
opposition to Perrott. His indulgence
and courtesy towards the Irish had ex-
cited the jealousy and displeasure of
the new English. The army was also
dissatisfied with his pacific policy.
Archbishop Loftus gave every possible
opposition to his favorite pioject of
establishing a university iu Dublin.*
Eeagh, of Carbery in the county Cork, and his two
nephews ; Dermot and Donough MacCarthy of Duhal-
low; Owen O'Sullevan Beare, and Owen O'Sullivan
More ; Conor O'Mahony, of Ivahagh iu Carbery, county of
Cork ; Sir Fineen O'Driscol More ; * Fineen MacQilla-
Patrick, lord of Upper Ossory ; Conla Mageoghegan, of
Kineleagh in West Meath ; Connell O'Molloy of the
King's county ; and Fiagh MacHugh O'Byrne, chief of
the Gaval-Ranuall, in Wicklow. There were none of
the other O'Byrnes, Kavanaghs, O'Tooles, O'Conors Faly,
O'Mores, O'Dimns, or O'Dempseys. See Dr. O'Donovau's
invaluable notes to the Four Masters, under the year
1585 (vol. v., pp. 1837 to 1841), in which the existing
or last known representative of each of the above heads
of septs is identified.
* The University of Trinity College was afterwarda
foanded by Luftus hunself, in 1593.
SIR RICHARD BIXGIIAM.
399
The macliinations against liim devel-
oped an incredible amount of hatred
and baseness. It was even pretended
that he purposed to throw off the Eng-
lish authority ; letters were forged in
the name of Turlough Luineach, and
others, and sent to the queen to under-
mine him in her confidence ; and when
he applied fur lyave to justify himself
in person, before the queen and council,
hit> re(juest was i-e fused. He was, how-
eve. , diligent in his duties, and succeeded
in inducing the chiefs and lords of
Connaught to adopt a composition in
lieu of the foi'mer irregular assessments,
the a nount being ten shillings English,
or a mark Irish, on every quarter of
land, tvhether arable or pasture.*
Th ! project for repeopling from Eng-
land^ the depopulated districts of Mun-
Bter, \fas now taken up with extraordi-
nary zeal. Great inducements were
held ■ -ut to younger brothers to become
undei takers. Estates were offered for
three- pence, and in some places for two-
pence, per acre, rent to commence only
at the end of three years, and only half
the sum to be payable for three yeai-s
more. Seven years were allowed to
each undertaker to complete his plan-
tation. Garrisons were to be placed on
the borders, and commissioners appoint-
ed to decide differences. Each person
obtaining 12,000 acres was to plant
eight} -six English fiimilies on his estate,
* The cartron, or quarter, like other old denominations
of land used in Ireland, contained no definite num-
ber of acres. " Some cartrons," says Ware, " contained
one hundred, some one hundred and twelve, some one
hundred and twenty, and the largest of all one huu-
and for lesser quantities in proportion.
The native Ii'ish might be employed as
laborers — they might become " the hew-
ers of wood and drawers of water" in
their own country — but on no account
were they to be admitted as tenants!
Sir Walter Raleigh, Sir Christopher
Hatton, Sir Thomas Norris, Sir Ware-
ham Sentleger, and Sir George Bourchier,
were among those who obtained large
and early grants. It was expected that
above 20,000 English would be planted
in Munster in a few years; but this
fine scheme failed in its most material
points. The stipulations were evaded
in a vai'iety of ways by the undertakers ;
and the government on its side failed
to provide therequisite defences. Above
all, the Irish in many cases obtained
leases and conveyances, and in some
places the lands were abandoned to the
old possessors.f
A.D. 1586. — Our attention is now de-
manded for a while by the affairs of
Connaught, where the bi-utal severity
of the president or governor, Sii- Rich-
ard Bingham, was wholly opposed to
the policy of moderation professed by
the lord deputy. At a session held in
Galway, in January this year, seventy
persons, men and women, some of thera
people of distinction, were executed ;
and on the 1st of March, Bingham laid
siege to the strong castle of Cloonoan,
in Clare, which was held by Mahon
dred and sixty acres." See Harris's Ware's Atitiq., vol.
ii., p. 228.
t See Fynes Moryson, Smith's Cork and Kerry, and
Fitzgerald's Limerick, for the names of the priucijial
undertakers in Munster.
400
REIGN OF ELIZABETH.
O'Brien, "a chiejfte cliampion of the
pope's, and a greate practizer with for-
eign powers." On the seventh day
Mahon was shot on the battlements
while bravely defending his castle, and
the gai'i-ison having then surrendered,
were all put to the sword without
mercy. The president next marched
into Mayo, whei'e the Burkes had shut
themselves up in their castles for pro-
tection agaiiist his oppression. Richard
Burke, surnaraed Deamhan-an-Choirain,
or the " demon of the reaping-hook,"
and his kinsman, Walter Burke, had
fortified themselves in the stronghold
of the Hag's castle (caislean-na-cail-
lighe), built on an aitificial island in
Lough Mask. Bingham pitched his
camp on the shore, and went with a
party in four or five boats to attack the
castle ; but a storm coming on, one of
tlie boats was capsized, and Bingham
himself had a narrow escape. A few of
his men wei'e killed or drowned, and
the boat fell into the hands of the
Burkes, who used it the next night in
escaping to the opposite shore.* Bing-
ham then demolished the castle, and
hanged Richard Oge, suruamed Fal-fo-
Eirin, or the " fence of Ireland," son of
MacWilliam Burke, who had come vol-
untarily to the camp, and several other
sti'ougholds shared the fate of the Hag's
castle. Soldiers were sent into West
Connaught in search of "rebels," and
they spared none who came in their
* Docwra's Relation, published in the Miscellany of
the Celtic Society.
f Four MaaUn. On this occasion they hanged Theo- j
way, slaying " women, bo3's, and aged
men," many of their victims being pei-
sons who considered themselves under
the protection of government, as the
tenants of Murrough-ua-duagh O'Fla-
herty.f
This career of carnage in cold blood
provoked Sir John Perrott, who had
more than once endeavored to interrupt
it. Bingham went to Dublin to defend
his violent measures, and words of angry
recrimination passed between him and
Perrott, the council taking part with
the former. Unfortunately, while the
matter was still under consideration,
news arrived that the Burkes had con-
federated to resist the extortions of the
sheritfs, as well as to protect themselves
against the monstrous tyi-anny of the
president. In fact, they had broken
out into open i-ebelliou, so that Biiig-
liam, whose cruelty had produced that
result, enjoyed a complete triumph over
the pacific deputy. Perrott himself
wished to proceed against the unruly
MacWilliams, but the council would
not allow him, and Bingham, returning
to Connaught to exercise his severity
with redoubled fury, commenced with
the execution of the hostages whom the
Burkes had given for their allegiance.
A fleet of highland Scots arrived at
Inishowen, and the Burkes sent to them
for help, promising large spoils and ex-
tensive lands in Connaught, should they
succeed in resistinsr Bim^rham. The
bald O'Toole, the proprietor of the distant island of
Omey, on the coast of Connemara — a man " who eup-
ported the destitute, and practised hospitality."
DEFEAT AND SLAUGHTER OF TIIE SCOTS.
401
Scuts embraced the opportunity, and
Sir Richard finding that the insui-gents
were too powerful ia the field, tried
what might be done by stratagem. He
feigned a retreat, and leaving the Scots
under the impression that he fled from
them, he collected what troojjs he could,
and by a long, forced march on a dark
night, surprised the enemy on the
morning of September 2i2d, at Ard-
naree, a suburb of Ballina-Tyrawly, on
the Sligo side of the Moy. The Bui-kes
were absent on a foraging excursion,
and the Scots made an attempt to pre-
sent a face to the foe, but they were
routed with frightful slaughter, and
compelled in their flight to plunge into
the wide and rapid river. Few of them
escaped, and the Irish annalists say that
2,000 of them were killed or drowned.
Most of the flying Scots were captured
and hanged, or otherwise cut oflf; and Ed-
mond Burke, an aged gentleman, whose
sons were in arms, was hanged by Bing-
ham, although he was "a withered, gray
old man," without strength to walk to the
gallows. Sessions were again held in
Galway in December, and a large num-
ber of people were handed over to the
executioner, among others, some of the
MacSheehys of Munster, who had fought
in the Geraldine war.
402
REIGN OF ELIZABETH.
CHAPTER XXXIV.
REIGN OF ELIZABETH CONTINUED.
Affairs of Ulster. — Hugh, earl of Tyrone — His .visit to Elizabeth — His growing power — Complaints against him. —
Sir Hugh O'Donnell. — Capture of Hugh Roe O'Donnell ; cunning device. — Sir William FitzWilliam, lord
deputy. — The Spanish armada — The wrecks on the Irish coast. — Disappointed avarice of the Lord-deputy —
He oppresses the Irish cliiefs — Murders MacMahon. — Hugh Geimhleach hanged by Hugh O'NeiU, who
then revisits London, excuses himself to Elizabeth, and signs terms of agreement. — O'NeiU returns to Ire-
land, and refuses to give Ids sureties until the government should fulfil its engagements. — Hugh Roe's first
escape from Dublin Castle, and his recapture. — Fresh charges against Hugh O'Neill — He carries off and marries
the sister of Marshal Bagnal.— Brian O'Rourke hanged in London. — Hugh Roe's second escape — Affecting
incidents — His adventures and return to Tirconnell — Drives off an English party — His father's abdication,
and his own election as chieftain — He assails Turlough Luineach, and compels him to resign the chief-
taincy of Tyrone to Hugh O'NeiU. — An English sheriff hunted out of Fermanagh. — Rebellion of Magmre —
EuniskUlen taken by the English — Irish victory at the Ford of the Biscuits, and recapture of Enniskillen.—
Sir William Russell, lord deputy.— Hugh O'NeUl visits Dublin— Bagnal's charges against him— 'Vindication
of his policy. — Fiagh MacHugh O'Byrne and Walter Riavagh FitzOerald. — Arrival of Sir John Norris. —
Hugh O'NejU rises in arms^Takes the Blackwater Fort. — Protracted negotiations. — War in Connaught ;
successes of O'Donnell— Bingham foiled at Sligo, amd retreats.— Differences between Norris imd the deputy.—
Bingliam disgraced and recalled. — Fresh promises from Spain. — Interesting events in Connaught. — Proceed-
ings of the Leinster insurgents. — Ormond appointed lord lieutenant. — Last truce with O'NeiU. — Hostilities
resumed in Ulster. — Desperate plight of the government. — Great Irish \ictory of the TeUow Ford. — Ormond
repulsed in Leis. — War resumed in Munster, &c.
(A. D. 1587 TO A. D. 1599.)
SYMPTOMS of approaching storm
were now (1587) visible in Ulster,
where the exactions and oppi'ession of
the English sheriffs excited wide-spread
disaffection. Turlough Luineach had
become old and feeble, and enjoyed lit-
tle influence in his sept. On the other
hand, Hugh O'Neill, the son of Mathew,
was daily advancing in power and pop-
ularity. Like Turlough, he had been
hitherto distinguished for his loyalty.
He had, as it were, an hereditary claim
to the support of the English goveru-
luent ; and in return he had given the
aid of his sword, and had fought under
the English standard in the Geraldiue
war ; but his valor and military hal')its
inspired his countrymen with confi-
dence and respect ; he was in the vigor
of his age, and was looked to naturally
as the successor to the chieftaincy of
Tyrone. In the parliament of 1 585 he
took his seat as baron of Dungannon;
and ere the proceedings had termin-
ated, obtained the title of earl of Tyrone,
in virtue of the grants made to his
grandfather, Con Bacagh, and to his
father, by Henry VIII. ; but on the ques-
HUGH, EARL OF TYRONK
403
tioii of the inlieiitance annexed to the
earldom he was referred to the queen.
He accordingly repaired to England,
carrying the warmest recommendations
from the lord deputy, Sir John Perrott,
and he gained the good graces of Eliz-
abeth so effectually, by his courtly
manners, and his skill in flattering her
vanity, that she sent him back with
letters patent under the great seal,
granting him the earldom and inherit-
ance in the amplest manner. He was,
however, required to define clearly the
bounds of Tyrone ; to set apart 240
acres on the banks of the Blackwater,
for the erection of an English fort ; to
exercise no authoi'ity over the neigh-
boring chieftains; and to make suffi-
cient provision for the sons of Shane
O'Ntill and Turlough Liiineach — Tur-
lough himself continuing, for the re-
mainder of his life, to enjoy the title
of Irish chieftain of Tyrone, with
right of superioiity over Maguire and
O'Cahaue, or O'Kanc. On his return
Hugh was received with enthusiasm by
his countrymen, and the confidence re-
posed in him by government was such
that his pi-oposal to keep up a standing
foi-ce of six companies of well-trained
soldiei's, to ])reserve the peace of the
north, was gladly accepted ; a step
which proved to be incautious on the
part of the English authorities.
With such power thrown into his
hands, both by liish and English, and
with all the traditions of his ancient
race, and all the wi'ongs of his oppressed
country before him, it was not to be
expected that Hugh O'Neill would qui-
etly sink into the sul)servient minister
of his country's foreign masters; or
that he would stifle every impulse of
hereditai-y ambition within him. Such
a course would have been revolting to
liis aspiring nature. From time to time
complaints reached government from
minor chiefs, over whom Hugh soon
began to extend his power. Turlough,
and the sons of Shane-an-Diomais, ap-
pealed against him. He kept up ami-
cable relations with the Ulster Scots,
and secured the fiiendship of the
powerful and hitherto hostile sept of
O'Cahaue, by giving them the fosterage
of his sou. All these circumstances
caused uneasiness to the government of
the Pale, which had suflPered a consid-
erable diminution of strength by the
withdrawal of a thousand soldiers fron
Ireland to serve the queeu in the Low
Couutries, at the close of 1586. The
chief of Tirconnell, hitherto steadfast
in his allegiance, also exhibited a grow-
ing sj)irit of independence which was
sufficiently alarming. There was an in-
timacy between him and Hugh O'Neill
which boded no good for the English.
The earl of Tyrone had mari'ied a
daughter of Sir Hugh O'Donnell, and
the families were di'avvn together by
friendly ties. O'Donnell refused to ad-
mit an English sheriff into his territory,
and the traffic carried on l)etween ids
i-emote coasts and those of Spain estab-
lished relations between the countries
not at all satisfactoiy to the EMgli>h
authorities.
404
REIGN OF ELIZABETH.
The course which the government
adopted under these circumstances was
as exti-aordinary as it was infamous. It
was known that Hugh Roe, or the
"red," the eldest son of Sir Hugh O'Don-
nell, was a youth of rare abilities and
aspiring mind ; and it was resolved that
by some means the council should get
possession of this boy as a hostage. To
accomplish this openly would, however,
require a large army, and rouse the
northern chiefs to resistance, and Sir
John Perrott proposed a plan by which
such danger and expense would be
avoided. How the act of treac-heiy,
which he suggested, is to be reconciled
with his general character for partiality
to the old Irish race, seems puzzling;
but he may have thought that a plan
which avoided bloodshed, though not
the most honorable, was the most hu-
mane means of attaining the end that
had been resolved on.
A vessel, laden with Sj^anish wines,
was sent round from Dublin to the coast
of Donegal, on the pretence of traffic,
and of having come direct from Spain.
The commander was one John I5erming-
ham, a Dublin merchant, and the crew
j consisted of fifty ai'med men. The
ship arrived with a favorable wind in
Lough Svvilly, and anchored opposite
I llathmullen, a castle built by Mac-
Sweeny of Fanad, one of O'Donnell's
commanders of gallowglasses ; it being
])reviously ascertained that Hugh Roe
was not far off with his foster-father.
♦ Four Masters, who abstracted the account from the
life ol Uugh lioc O'DoaneU, written by Cuchory, or Per-
MacSweeny-na-tuath. A party of the
sailors landed, and while they pretended
to sell their wine they took care to
explore the country. The neighboring
people flocked to the shore ; abundance
of the liquor was distributed aiuong
them ; and when Hugh Roe came to
MacSweeny's castle, and his host sent
to the ship for wine, it was answered
that none remained for sale, but that if
a few gentlemen came on board all that
was left would be willingly given to
them. The unsuspecting Irish chiefs
fell into the snare. Hugh Roe, then
scarcely fifteen years of age, with Mac-
Sweeny and his J^arty, proceeded in a
small boat to the ship, were ushered
into the cabin, and served with wine,
until they became, as the annalists tell
us, "jolly and cheerful ;" then their
arms were stealthily removed, tlie
hatches closed down, the cable cut, and
the prize secured. An alarm was in-
stantly raised, and the people crowded
from all quarters to the beach, but the
ship was in deep water, and there were
no boats by which she could be attacked.
Young Hugh's foster-fiither i-ushed to
the shore, and offered any ransom, but
none of course would be accepted. The
guests who were not required were put
ashore, and the ship sailed for Dul)lin,
where the young scion of the house of
O'Donnell was safely lodged in Ber-
mingham tower, along with sevei'al other
State prisonei-8 of the Milesian and old
English races already confined there.*
egrine O'CIery, one of themselves, and preserved in the
library of the Royal Irish Academy.
THE SPANISH ARMADA.
405
A. D. 1588.— Hugh, earl of Tyrone,
led an array, at the close of April,
against Turlough Liiiueach O'Neill, and
encamped at Cori-icklea, between the
j'ivers Finn and Mourne. Sir Hugh
O'Donnell joined his son-in-law, the
earl, while the family of Sir Hugh's
brother, Calvagh, took the side of Tur-
lough, who was also supported by
auxiliaries from Conn.iugbt and l)y
Hugh O'Gallagher. A battle, in which
the earl was defeated, was fought l)e-
tween them on the first of May. In
the mean time, the importunities of Sir
John Pei-rott to be relieved from his
chai'ge in Ireland, were at length J_is-
tened to. His enemies had become
insupportable, and he was brow-beaten
at the council-boai'd by subordinates.*
On the 30th of June he was succeeded
by Sir William FitzWilliam — a man of
a ci'uel and sordid disposition, without
any redeeming quality in his character.
* See in Ware's annals, under A. D. 1587, an account
of an altercation between the lord deputy and Sir
Nicholas Bagnal, the marshal ; Perrott was in the habit
of saying that he could jilease the Irish better than the
English. Many of the former lamented his departure ;
and old Turlough Luineach, who accompanied him to
the water's^ide, wept in taking leave. See Ware.
f The loss of the Sjianish armada, on the coast of Ire-
land, according to Thady Dowling, was 17 ships and
5.o94 men — the numbers generally given by historians ;
but it appears from a. document in the State-paper Office,
London, .signed by Geoflfiry Fenlon, the Irish secretary
of State, that the total numbers were 18 ships and 6,194
men, viz. : — in Lough Foyle, 1 ship and 1,100 men ; in
S igii, 3 ships and L.'iOO men : in Tirawley, 1 ship and
400 men ; on Clare Island, 1 ship and 300 men ; " in
Fynglaese, O'Male's country," 1 ship and 400 men ; in
O'Flaherty's country, 1 ship and 200 men ; in the Shan-
non, 2 ships and (iOO men ; at Tralee, 1 ship and 24
men ; at Dingle, 1 ship and 500 men ; in Desmond, 1
ship and 300 men ; in Erris, 2 ships, no men lost, these
being taken into other vessels ; in " Shunnau, 1 burnt,
who had already filled the office of lord
justice more than once.
The preparations that had been mak-
ing for some time in Spain, for a de-
scent on the English coasts, had excited
much of hope and of fear among tlie
difi'erent classes of the population in
this countiy. The abortive result is
familiar to the world. Scattei-ed by the
winds of heaven, the "invincible arma-
da" made this year memorable by the
example which it affoi'ded of one of man's
proudest efforts collapsing into nothing-
ness. Many of the ships were wrecked
on the coast of Ireland in September,
and their crews, too frequently, only
escaped from the dangei's of the deep to
fall into the hands of the queen's offi-
cers, by whom they were executed with-
out mercy.f The ruling passion of the
new deputy was avarice, and unfortu-
nately for the Spanish sailors, and for
the Irish on whose shores they wei-e
none lost, because the men were likewise embarked in
other shrpps ;" in " Gallway Haven, 1 ship which escajied
and left prisoners. 70 ;" " drowned and sunk in the
N. W. sea of Scotland, as appeareth by the confession
of the Spanish prisoners (but in truth they were lost In
Ireland), 1 shipp, called St. Mathew, 500 tons, men 450 ;
one of Byshey of St. Sebastian's, 400 tons, men 330 ;
total of shipps, 18 : men 6.194." — (See Four Maulers, vol.
v., p. 1870, n.) " The Spaniards cast ashore at Galway,"
says Dr. Lynch, in the Icon Antistitis, " were doomed to
perish; and the Augustinian friars, who served them as
chaplains, exhorted them to meet the death-strugglo
bravely, when they were led out, south of the city, to
St. Augustin's hill, then sunnounted by a monastery,
where they were decapitated. The matrons of Galway
piously prepared winding-sheets for the bodies, and we
have heard that two of the Sjianish sailors escajied de-
struction by lurking a long time in Galway .and after-
wards got back to their own coimtr)-." — Pii Antin. [ron
edited and translated by the licv C. P. JJethan, p. 27
also p. 170.
406
REIGN OF ELIZABETH.
cast away, rumor attributed to the
former the possession of fabulous treas-
ures. A thousand Spaniards, under an
officer named Antonio de Leva, found
refuge with O'Rourke and MacSweeny-
na-tuath, the foster-father of young
O'Donnell, and were urged to commence
hostilities, but their instructions did not
apply to such a contingency, and they
determined on retui-ning for orders to
Spain. For this purpose they re-
embarked, but a fresh storm arose and
the ship, with all on board, went down
within sight of the Irish coast. A com-
mission was issued by FitzWilliam to
search for the treasui-e which these Span-
iai-ds were supposed to have brought,
but none, of course, could be found, and
the deputy, not content with this result,
resolved to visit the locality himself,
" in hopes to finger some of it," as Ware
tells us. He was accompanied by Bing-
ham, and laid waste the territories of
the Irish chiefs who had harbored the
sti-angers. O'Rourke escaped to Scot-
land, but was delivered up to Elizabeth,
and subsequently executed in London ;
and FitzWilliam, disappointed in his
search for Spanish gold, carrie<l off
John Oge O'Doherty and Sir John Mac-
Tuathal O'Gallagher, " two of the most
loyal subjects in Ulster," and threw
them into prison in Dublin castle. The
latter died from the rigor of his impris-
onment, and the former remained two
years in captivity, and owed his libera-
tion, in the end, to the payment of a
lai'ge bribe to the corrupt viceroy.
A. D. 1589. — That the hatred and
distrust of the Irish towards the Eng-
lish government were kept alive by
such oppressive acts as these cannot be
a matter of wonder ; but at every step,
as we proceed, we meet similar outrages.
A very remarkable and atrocious in-
stance occurred this year. Rosa Mac-
Mahon, chief of Monaghan, having
abandoned the principle of tanistry,
and taken a re-grant of his territory
from Elizabeth, by English tenure, died
without issue male, and his brother,
Hugh Roe MacMahon, went to Dublin
to be settled in the inheritance as his
heir-at-law. His case was perfectly
legal, but he found that a bribe to the
venal lord deputy was, nevertheless,
necessary, and six hundred cows were
the stipulated douceur. He was, how-
ever, thrown into prison because some
of the cows, it was said, were not forth-
coming; but, in a few days, all was
made right, and FitzWilliam set out
with him for Monaghan, to give him
possession of his estate. The sequel
would seem almost incredible. Mac-
Mahon was suddenly arrested on a
charge of treason, because he had era-
ployed an armed force, two yeai'S befoi-e,
to recover rents due to him in Farney ;
he was tried by a jury of common sol-
diers, some of whom being Irish were
shut up without food until they agreed
to a verdict, while the English soldiers
on the jury were allowed free egi-ess
and ingress, as they had immediately
agreed to convict him ; and, in short,
within two days from his unexpected
arrest he was indicted, tried, and exe-
HUGH O'NEILL MURDERS MACMAIIOX.
407
cuted at bis own Louse. Fitz William's
object in proceeding into the country
was to get rid of the obstacles which
the forms of law would have thrown in
his way in Dublin ; and he now has-
tened to partition the vast estates of
the murdered chieftain. Sir Henry
Bagnal, who was wading to enormous
Irish possessions through the blood of
their owners, received a portion. This
man was established at Newiy, and had
succeeded his father, Sir Nicholas, as
marshal. MacMahon's chief residence
and some lands were bestowed upon
Captain Henslowe, who was apj)ointed
seneschal ; and the bulk of the pi-operty
was, on payment of " a good fine under-
hand'' to the lord deputy, divided among
four of the MacMahon sept, subject to
an annual rent to the queen.* The
northern chieftains must have been
devoid of human feelings if such pro-
ceedings did not confirm them in their
aversion to English rule ; nor can we
be surprised that they were unanimous
in i-efusiiig to admit English sheriffs, or
other officials, into their lands, or that
such officei's, when forced upon them,
required the constant presence of strong
guards to protect tliem.f
A. D. \F,90. — Hugh Geimhleach, /. e.,
Hugh-of'the-fetters, an illegitimate son
of Shane-an-dioraais, communicated to
* So far we take the facts froimjCamden and Fyrxea
Moryson, but the infamy of FitzWilliam is still more
apparent from the State I'apers, where that monster's
own correspondenee with Burghley shows that be was
in treaty with one Brian Maclliitth Oge MacMahon. to
get liini appointed to the ehieltaincy for enormous bribes,
which he calls Uod to witness " he meant for the profit
the lord deputy charges of treason
against the earl of Tyrone, alleging,
among other things, that he had plotted
with the shipwrecked Spaniards to ob-
tain help from the king of Spain to
levy war against the queen. The earl
denied the charges, and soon after con-
ti'ived to seize his accuser, whom he
hanged as a traitoi-, after some form of
trial. The respect for the memory of
Shane O'Neill was such that, it is said,
no man in Tyrone would act as the
executioner of his son, and the earl had
to procure one from. Meath, though
Camden maliciously a.sserts that the
earl himself acted as the hangman.
This proceeding exasperated the gov-
ernment, and Hugh having no confi-
dence in the officials of the Pale, set out
for England in May, in order to vindi-
cate himself before Elizabeth. This
step, however, was itself illegal, as he
left Ireland without the licence of the
viceroy, and he was accoi'dingly cast
into prison in London, but his incarce-
ration was neither long nor rigorous,
and in the following month his submis-
sion was graciously received, and articles
by which he bound himself anew to his
former engagements were signed by
him. He renounced the title of O'Neill ;
consented that Tyi'one should be made
shii-e-ground ; that gaols should be
of her m^esty, and not his own I" — See Shirley's Ae-
count of Fame;/, pp. 88 to 98.
f Wlien Majjuire received notice from the viceroy
that a sheriff would be sent into Fermanagli, lie an-
swered significantly : — " Your sheriff will be welcome,
but let me know his eric, that, if my i)eople cut off hi*
head, I may levy it upon the country."
408
REIGN OF ELIZABETH.
erected there ; that a composition simi-
lar to that agreed on in Connaught, in
1577, should be paid within ten months ;
that he should levy no armed force, or
make any incursion into a neighboring
territory except to follow a prey within
five days after the capture of such prey
from his own lands, or to prevent dep-
redations from without. He un^lertook
to execute no man without a commis-
sion from the lord deputy, except in
cases of martial law, and to keep his
troop of horsemen in the queen's pay
ready for service. Further, he promised
not to admit monks or friars into his
territory ; nor to correspond with for-
eign traitors; to promote the use of
English apparel ; to sell provisions to
the fort of the Blackwater, «fec. For
the fulfilment of these conditions he
pledged his honor, and promised to
send unexceptionable sureties, who were,
however, not to be detained as prison-
ers in Dublin castle, but to be commit-
ted to the care of merchants in the city,
or of gentlemen of the Pale. The sure-
ties might also be changed every three
months. Government, on the other
side, engaged to secure the eai'l from
all molestation, by requiring similar
conditions from the neighboring chief-
tains ; and Hugh, on returning to Ire-
land, confirmed the above articles before
the lord deputy and council ; but very
prudently excused himsef from the exe-
cution of them until the neighboring
Irish lords had given securities to fulfil
the conditions on their part, as it was
stipulated they should be obliged to do.
Camden tells us that for some time the
earl omitted nothing, that could be
expected from a most dutiful subject.
Hugh Roe O'Donnell had now pinea
for three years and three months in
captivity, when, in concert with some
of his fellow prisoners, he resolved on
a desperate effort to escape. On a
dark evening towards the close of win-
ter, he and his chosen companions let
themselves down by a rope from one
of the windows of Dublin castle, crossed
the drawbridge, and passed through
the city gate unobserved. They fled
towards Slieve Rua, or the Three-
Rock mountain, which they crossed ;
but young O'Donnell became too fa^
tigued to advance another step. Hi?
shoes were worn out, and his feet toi-n
by the brambles in the rugged path-
ways which they had selected; and
sinking down quite exhausted, he lay
concealed in a wood while his compan-
ions reluctantly departed. One of these
was Art Kavanagh, who was recap-
tured the following year and hung at
Carlow. A faithful servant, who had
been in the secret of Hugh's escape,
still remained with him, and repaired
for succor to the house of Felim O'Toole,
chief of Feara Cualann, who resided in
the place now called Powerscourt, and
who had visited Hugh in prison. In
the mean time, the flight of the prisoners
had created great excitement in Dub-
lin, and numerous hands were dispatch-
ed in pursuit of them. Felim O'Toole
would have willingly protected young
O'Donnell, but his fi-iends persuaded
O'NEILL'S ROMANTIC MARRIAGE.
409
him tliat the attempt, would be useless
to the latter, and disastrous to himself
and family; and finding that the sol-
diers were approaching, they went in
search of the fugitive in the woods, and
made a merit of giving him up to his
pursuers. Thus was Red Hugh con-
signed once more to the dungeons of
Dublin castle, to be guarded more
strictly than befoi-e.
A.D. 1591. — During this time many
acts of the earl of Tyrone tended to
place hira in an equivocal position with
the government, and enemies wei-e not
wanting to urge every charge that
could be made against him. He was
accused of having attacked and wound-
ed Turlough Luineaoh ; but he replied
that the latter was the aggressor, and
had been making an inroad into his
lands at the time he was hurt. The
earl permitted Tyi'one to be mai-ked
out as 'ihire land, and Dungannon to be
made the county town in which crim-
inals were to be imprisoned and tried ;
and the govei-nment was so pleased
with this concession, that it would have
overlooked a more serious charge on
the occasion.
The earl, however, now involved
himself in a proceeding which raised up
for hira the bitterest enemy of all.
We have already made some mention
of the marshal. Sir Henry Begnal.
This man hated the Irish with a rancoi-
which bad men are known to feel to-
wai-ds those whom they have mortally
injured. He had shed a great deal of
theii- blood, obtained a great deal of
their lands, and was the swoi-n enemy
of the whole race. Sir Henry had a
sister who was young and exceedingly
beautiful. The wife of the earl of Ty-
rone, the daughter of Sir Hugh Mac-
Manus O'Donnell, had died, and the
heart of the Ij'ish chieftain was capti-
vated by the beautiful English girl.
His love .was recipi'ocated, and he be-
came in due form a suitor for her hand,
but all his efforts to gain her bi'other's
consent to their mari'iage were in vain.
The story, indeed, is one which might
seem to have been borrowed from some
old romance, if we did not find it cir-
cumstantially detailed in the mattei'-of-
fact documents of the State Paper Of-
fice. The Ii'ish prince and the English
maiden mutually plighted their vows,
and O'Neill presented to the lady a
gold chain worth £100; but the inex-
oi-able Sir Henry removed his sister
from Newry to the house of Sir Patrick
Barnwell, who was mairied to another
of his sisters, and who lived about seven
miles from Dublin. Thither the earl
followed her. He was courteously re-
ceived by Sir Pati-ick, and seems to
have had many friends among the Eng-
lish. One of these, a gentleman named
William Warren, acted as his confidant;
and at a party at Barnwell's house, the
earl engaged the rest of the company
in conversation while Warien rode otf
with the lady behind him, accompanied
by two servants, and cai'iied her satVly
to the residence of a friend at Drum-
condra, near Dul)lin. Here O'Neill
soon followed, and the Protestant bish- ,
410
REIGN OF ELIZABETH.
9p of Meath, Tlioraas Jones, a Lanca-
shire man, was easily induced to come
and nnite them in niai'riage the same
evening. This elopement and marriage,
which took place ou the 3d of August,
1.591, were made the subject of violent
accusations against O'Neill. Sir Henry
Bagnal was furious. " I cannot but
accui-se myself and fortune," he wrote
to the lord ti-easurer, " that my bloude,
which, in my father and myselfe hath
often beene spilled in repressinge this
lebellious race, should no we be mingled
with so traiterous a stocke and kindred."
He cbai-ged the eai'l with having an-
other wife living; but this point was
explained, as O'Neill showed that this
lady who was his first wife, the daugh-
ter of Sir Brian MacFelim O'Neill, had
been divorced previous to his mai'riage
with the daughter of O'Donnell. Alto-
gether, the government would appeai-
to have viewed the conduct of O'Neill
in this matter rather leniently ; but
Bagnal was henceforth his most impla-
cable foe, and the cii'cumstance was not
without its influence on succeeding
events.*
* The countess of Tyrone died in January, 1596, some
years before the last scene of deadly strife between her
brother and her husband.
f This Irish chieftain was famous for his personal
beauty as well as for his firmness and haughty bearing.
He could not imderstand English, and refused to plead
before an English tribunal ; but when told that the
court would try him and condemn liim whether he
pleaded or not, he merely said, " if it must be, let it be."
Miler Magrath, the apostate friar who had been made
archbishop of Cashel, was sent to him just before his
execution, to induce him to conform ; but the heroic
cWieltain told Magrath rather to learn a lesson from his
fortitude, and return to the bosom of the Church. Lord
A pei'petual recurrence of outrages
against the northern chieftains served
effectually to prepare the way for the
crisis which was now fast approaching
in their province. This year Brian-ua-
Murtha O'Rouke, whose flight to Scot-
land we have already mentioned, was
put to death in London, under circum-
stances that excited deep sympathy for
him. The principal charge against him
was, that he had sheltered some of the
shipwi'ecked Spaniards, and refused to
sui-render them to government. He
was given up by the Scots, and being
taken to London, was tried, condemned,
and executed .f
A.D. 1592 — Once more Hugh O'Don-
nell shook oft' his fetters, and in a dark
night of Christmas escaped for the sec-
ond time, from the dungeons of Dublin
castle. Henry and Art O'Neill, sons of
Shane-an-diomais, wei'e companions of
his flight, and it was said that the lord
deputy, FitzWilliam, winked at their
escape, being bribed by the earl of Ty-
rone, who wished to get the sons of
Shane into his own hands, as the Eng-
lish might at any moment have set them
Bacon says that O'Rouke " gravely petitioned the queen
that he might be hanged with a gad or withe, after his
own country fashion, which doubtless was readily
granted him." Walker in his Irish Bards, and Har-
diman in his Irish Minstrelsy, mention an extraordinary
interview between Queen Elizabeth and O'Kuuke, but
the story appears to rest on no solid foundation. Dr.
U'Donovan (Four Musters, vol. vi., p. 1907, note) says
" the family of O'Rouke seems to have been the proud-
est and most inflexible of all the Irish race," and ad-
duces the example of this chieftain's father, of whom
Sir Henry Sidney said :— " 1 foimd hym the proudesl
man that ever I dealt with in Ireland."
HUGH ROE'S ESCAPE FROM PRISON.
ill
up as rivals against bim.* They de-
Bci'iided liy a rope through the privy,
•whicli opened into the castle ditch ; and
leaving there their soiled outer gar-
ments, they were conducted by a young
mau named Turlough Roe O'Hagan,
the confidential servant or emissaj-y of
the eai-1 of Tyrone, who was sent to act
as their guide. Passing through the
gates of the city, which were still open,
three of the party reached the same
Slieve Rua which Hugh had visited on
the former occasion. The fourth, Heniy
O'Neill, strayed from his companions
in some way — pi'obably before they left
the city — but eventually he reached
Tyrone, where the earl seized and im-
prisoned him. Hugh Roe and Art
O'Neill, with their faithful guide, pro-
ceeded on their way over the Wicklow
mountains towards Glenmalure, to Fiagh
MacHugh O'Byrne, a chief famous for
his heroism, and who was then in arms
against the government. Art O'Neill
had grown corpulent in prison, and had
besides been hurt in descending fi'oin
the castle, so that he became quite worn
out with fiitigue. The party were also
exhausted with hunger, and as the
snow fell thickly, and tlieii' flutliing
was very scanty, they sulFered addiliou-
ally from intense cold.
For a while Red Hugh and the ser-
vant supported Art between them; but
tliis exertion could not lono; be sustained.
and at length Red Hugh and Art lay
down exhausted under a lofty rock, and
sent the servant to Glenmalui-e for help.
With all possible speed Fiagh O'Byrne,
on receiving the message, dispatched
some of his trusty men to carry the
necessaiy succor; but they arrived al-
most too late at the precipice under
which the two youths lay. "Their
bodies," say the Four Masters, " were
covered with white-bordered shrouds of
hailstones fi-eezing round them, and
their light clothes adhered to their skin,
so that, covered as they were with the
snow, it did not appear to the men who
had arrived that they were human
beings at all, for they found no life in
their members, but just as if they were
dead." On being raised up Art O'Neill
fell back and expired, and was bui-ied
on the spot ; but Red Hugh was revived
with some difficulty and carried to Glen-
malure, where he was secreted in a
sequestered cabin and attended by a
physician. Hei-e he remained until a
messenger came from the earl of Tyi-one,
with whom he departed, though still in
such a state that it was necessary to lift
him on and oft" his horse. Fiagh sent
an arnu'd troop to escort him to the
Lift'cy, which he crossed near Dublin,
although all the fords were guarded by
English soldiers, and among his escort
were Felim O'TooIe and his brother,
who did their best to make amends for
• Camden and Fyni-s Moryson, who confound the two wholly ignorant. If the corrnpfon did not eiist
eicapesof II ugh Roo, intimate that the connivance of tlie both cases, it did at least in that of the second escapn,
corrupt lor<l deputy was obtaine<l by a bribe, of which, when an object of importance to the earl of 'f^rono waj
aowever, Hugh Ho>^ luoise'i and Iub biographer were | efiected.
412
REIGN OF ELIZABETH.
their inability to shelter hi:u in his
<l)riner flight. Hugh crossed the Boyne
in a boat, while the servant conveyed
the horses through the town, and at
Mellifont abbey they reposed for a day
and a night at the house of an English
friend of the eai'l of Tyrone. At Dun-
dalk they rode fearlessly through the
town, thus disarming the suspicion of
those who were watching for them along
the borders of the Pale. On entering
the Fews they halted for a day at the
house of the chief. Sir Tui-lough, son of
Henry O'Neill ; thence they crossed
Slieve Fuaid to Armagh, where they
remained for a night in disguise, and the
following day found them at Dungan-
non, where Red Hugh was hospitably
received by the earl of Tyrone. Ulti-
mately, young O'Dounell arriv^ed in
safety at his father's castle in Bally-
shannon, where he found the country
ovei-awed and plundei-ed by a pai'ty of
200 English, who, under captains Willis
and Conwell, occupied the monastery
of Donegal, and had also fortified them-
selves in a place now called Ballyweel.
A large assemblage of people having
collected to greet Red Hugh on his
arrival, he invited them to march with
him to Donegal, and there intimated to
the English that they should leave —
but might depart in safety, provided
they left behind any prisoners or cattle
they had seized in the neighborhood.
Our annalists tell us that "they did as
they were ordei-ed, and thankful that
tlu-y escaped with their lives, they went
back tu CuuiiauLi'ht," while the friai
retui'ned to their monastery in Done-
gal. Red Hugh still suffered from the
effects of the frost of the Wicklow
mountains, and the physicians finding
it necessaiy to amputate the great toes
of both his feet, he remained at Bally-
shannon under their cai-e from the 1st
of February until April. A general
meeting of the Kinel Connel was then
summoned, and all having met except
the partisans of Calvagh O'Donnel's
fiimily, Sir Hugh abdicated the chief-
taincy, which was then conferred amid
the acclamations of the meeting on his
son, Red Hugh. The young chieftain
was inaugurated on the 3d of May^
and according to the ancient usage,
proceeded at once to made a hostile
incursion. He entered the lands of Sir
Turlough Luineach, which he laid
waste; and this old chief having ap-
plied for the aid of some English
soldiers. Red Hugh paid him another
visit, and drove his adherents to seek
an asylum in the castle of O'Kane of
Glengiveen, where, being under the
pi'otection of a friendly chief, he would
not molest them. Soon after, he be-
sieged Sir Tui'lough and his Englishmen
in the castle of Strabane, and burned
the town up to the walls of the fortress;
but as these proceedings amounted to
an open defiance of English authority,
his friend, the earl of Tyrone, feared
that a premature and fi'uitless war
would be the result, and brought about
a meeting between Hugh Roe and the
lord deputy at Dundalk, so arranging
matters that the former obtained a full
TROUBLES IN ULSTER.
413
pardon for all that was passed, in-
cluding his escape fi-oni Dublin castle.
This i-ecognition of Hugh Roe's chief-
taincy by the government induced the
adherents of Calvagh O'Doniiell's sons to
adiuithim as their chief, so that his power
at home was consideiably augmented. *
A. D. 1593. — O'Donnell collected an-
other army, this year, at Lifford, and
under his influence Turlough Luineach
surrendei'ed the chieftaincy of Tyrone
to Hugh O'Neill, who now became the
O'Neill, as well as earl of Tyrone ; and
Tui-lough further consented to dismiss
his English guaixl, so that Ulster was
left, once more, subject only to its
ancient Irish dynasts, O'Neill and
O'Donnell. This took place in May,
but in the same month sei'ious dis-
tuibances broke out in Breffny and
Fermanagh, George Bingham, the
brother of Sir Richard, entei'ed the
former district, with an armed force,
to distrain for rents claimed for the
queen. Brian Oge O'Rourke asserted
that no rents were unpaid except for
lands lying -waste, and which ought not
to be rated. Bingham, nevertheless,
seized the cattle of O'Rourke, and the
latter took up arms, and marching to
♦ Under this year (1592) Ware tells ds that ' eleven
priests and Jesuits were seized in Connaught and Mun.
Btor, and brought up to Dublin, where they were ex-
aminid before the lord deputy." The usual charge
ngainst ■' i)opi8h priests"' at that time was, " that tliey
Bowed sedition and reliellion in tlie kingdom ;" and
among the witnesses against them in tlie present in-
stance was one James Kaily, or Riily, who swore that
"Michael Fitzsiraons, one of the said priests, stirred up
above a hundred persons, amongst whom he himself
was one, to assist Biiltinglass in his rebellion." The
witness— a true tj-pe of his uliuiii — said he was sure he
would be murdered if he went back to Connaught ; and
being asked by the lord deputy " if he wuuld go to
churcli and servo her majesty against the rebels," he
answered, " Tlien truly I will forsake the de\il and serve
Uod and the queen." Wiiereupon the lord deputy
clothed him, and made him turnkey of the prison of
Dulilin castle. Father Fitzsimons. who was the son of
an alderman of Dublin, was executed in the corn market,
but Ware does not mention the fate of the other priests.
A great many of the Catholic clergy were, however, at
that time pining in the government prisons, where thoy
were left to die.
Ballymote, where Bingham lesided, re-
taliated by acts of j)lunder. O'Rourke'a
neighbor, Hugh Maguire, was next
provoked into hostilities. He had pur-
chased exemption from the presence of
an English sheriff, during FitzWil-
liam's administration, by a bribe of
three hundred cows, which he had
given that deputy ; yet Captain Willis
— the same whom young O'Donnell had
ignoraiuiously driven fi-om Donegal —
was appointed sheriff of Fermanagh,
and went about the country with one
hundred armed men, and as many
women and children, who were all sup-
ported on the spoils of the district.
Maguire hunted Willis and his retinue
into a church, where he would assuredly
have put them to the sword had not
Hugh O'Neill interfered, and saved
their lives on condition that they im-
mediately quitted the country. The
lord deputy was enraged because O'Neill
did not punish Maguire, and he even
called him a traitor; and O'Neill's mor-
tal enemy, Marshal Bagnal, seized the
ojiportunity to forwai'd fresh impeach-
ments against him.
Meanwhile Maguire joined O'Rourke
in open rebellion. At that moment
414
REIGN OF ELIZABETH.
Ed ward IMacGaurau, who had been ap-
pointed by the pope archbishop of
Armagh, i-eturned to Ii-eland as the
bearer of promises from the king of
S]iain to the Irish Catholics. A re-
wai'd was offered by the deputy for his
apprehension, but the primate repaired
to Maguii'e, whom he encouraged by
his exhortations, and accompanied in an
incursion into Northern Connaught,
against Sir Richard Bingham. They
had pi-oceeded as far as Tulsk, in
Roscommon, when they uuexjDCctedJy
encountered the foi'ces of the pi-esident,
whom they put to flight, slaying one of
the English officers, Sir William Clif-'
ford ; but, unhappily. Archbishop Mao-
Guuran and the abbot, Cathal Maguire,
were killed, on the Irish side, while
miuisteriiig to the wounded. The lord
deputy now collected all the troops of
the Pale, and marched into Fei-managh,
where he was joined by the earl of
Tyi-one and Marshal Bagnal. To the
latter he committed the chief command,
and, at the same time, Sir Richard
Bingham and the earl of Thomond
approached from Connaught. For Ma-
guire to attempt resisting such an over-
whelming force was madness; yet,
having sent his cattle into Tirconnell,
he defended, with great bravery, a ford
on the river Erne, to the west of Bal-
leek, and lost two hundred of his men
before the passage was forced. The
earl of Tyrone, who crossed the river
at the head of the cavalry, was wound-
ed in the thigh, in the conflict; and
O'Sullivan Beare tells us that Red
Hugh O'Donnell was marching to the
aid of Magiiire, and would have at-
tacked the English the night after the
battle of the ford, had not O'Neill
privately requested him to refi-ain from
doing so while he was in their ranks.
£)'Neill wished to abide his time, but
was heartily disgusted with tlie part
which circumstances, for the moment,
obliged him to play. The campaign
led to no result except the raising up
of Conor Oge Maguire, in opposition to
the legitimate chief of Fermanagh, ac-
cording to the old policy of England,
which would rule Ireland by the divis-
ions of her people.
A. D. 1594. — The lord deputy again
came to Fermanagh this year, took the
town of Enuiskillen, and having placed
an English gai'i-ison there, retui-ned to
Dublin ; but scarcely had he departed
when Maguire appealed to O'Donnell,
who, throwing off all semblance of alle-
giance, led an army to the aid of his
friend, besieged the English gai-risou in
Enniskillen, and plundered all who
lived under English jurisdiction in the
surrounding territory. The k>rd dep-
uty ordered the gentlemen of the Pale,
with O'Reilly and Bingham, to revictual
the fort of Enniskillen, where the garri-
son had already begun to sufter severely
from hunger; and the force collected
for this purpose was placed under the
command of Sir Edward Hei'bert, Sir
Henry Duke, and Geoi'ge Bingham.
Maguire, with such men as had been
left with him by O'Donnell, and Cor-
mac O'Neill, brother of the earl of
VINDICATION OF TYRONE.
415
Tyrone,* set out to intercept them, and
encountered them at a ford about five
miles from the town, where he routed
them with the slaughter, according to
O'Sulli van, of four hundred of their men.
All the provisions intended for the
beleaguered foi-tress were taken, so tliat
the place was called Bel-atha-na-mBri-
osgadh, or, the "ford of the biscuits," f
and as soon as the news of the defeat
reached Enniskillen tlie garrison capitu-
lated, and were suffered, by Maguire, to
depart in safety.
The victoi'ious Irish left a sufficient
garrison at Enniskillen, and marched
into Northein Connaught, where Sir
liichard Bingham exercised intolerable
oppression. They laid waste all the
English settlements, and slew every
man from the age of fifteen to sixty
whom they found who could not speak
Irish, so that no Englishman remained
in the country,* except in a few fortified
towns and castles ; and O'Sullivan tells
us that the severity of the Irish on this
occasiou was in retaliation for the truc-
ulence of the English, who hurled old
men, women, and childi-eu from the
bridge of Enniskillen, when it fell into
their power.
♦ O'Sullivan tells us that O'DonncU, on hearing that
a force was about to march to relieve Enniskillen, sent
word to O'Neill that he would regard him as an enemy
unless he lent hie aid at such a juncture. Tyrone was
convinced that a rebellion at that moment, before the
appearance of the expected aid from Spain, would rashly
peril the Catholic cause ; yet, he also knew tliat he gained
little by holding aloof himself, as he was already an object
of susi)icion to the English government. He was perplex-
ed how to act, but the matter seems to have been ctim-
promist'd by the departure of Ids brother, Cormac. with
a cuniin^jent of one hundred horse and three hundred
On the 11th of August, this year, a
new lord deputy was sworn into office.
Sir William Russell, youngest son of
the earl of Bedford, having been sent
over to replace Sir William FitzWil-
liam, of whose qualities, as a man or a
governor, the reader must have formed
a low estimate.
The earl of Tyrone, whose loyalty
had, of late, become more dubious than
ever, made his appearance, unexpected-
ly, in Dublin, a few weeks after the in-
stalment of the new deputy. He com-
plained of the unworthy suspicions en-
tertained against him ; and in vindica-
tion of himself, appealed to the many
services which he had rendered to the
goveinment, moi'e especially to that
which he had so lately performed against
Maguire, and in which he had received
a serious wound. It is thought that
the lord deputy was inclined to receive
his justification, but his old enemy,
Bagnal, renewed his charges of high
treason, with more energy than ever,
against him. He assei'ted that O'Neill
had entertained the late archbishop
MacGauran, knowing him to be a trai-
tor; that he corresponded with O'Dou
uell while the latter was levying war
disciplined musketeers, to join Maguire, at the same
time that it did not publicly appear whether they were
sent by O'Neill or went spontaneously. (Hint. Cath.. p.
166.) O'Sullivan, who gives a sjiirited description of
the battle at the ford, says the army sent to relieve En-
niskillen comprised four hundred horse and over two
thousand loot ; whereas Cox makes it only forty-six
horse and six himdred foot.
f This name is now obsoK-te, but the tradition of the
site of the battle is still preserved. It was fought where
Drumane bridge, on the river Aruey, now stands. —
Foar Musters, p. loUi, note.
416
REIGN OF ELIZABETH.
against the queen; that, .being allowed
to keep six companies in the queen's
service, he had contrived, by constantly
changing them, to discipline to arms all
the men in Tyrone; and that, under
the pretence of building a castle for
himself, in the English fashion, he had
pui'chased a large quantity of lead,
which he kept stored up at Dungannon,
as material for bullets.
O'Neill's attempt to vindicate him-
self on this occasion, was a last alter-
native to avoid rebellion. English
writers, and those who adopt their
views, constantly accuse him of dissim-
ulation and duplicity ; yet the conduct
to which these opprobrious terms are
applied, would appear to have been, in
him, only the result of sound policy and
prudence. He must, at all times, have
resented the oppression of his countrj'
by the English. The English rulers of
Ireland were still regarded as strangers
and invaders ; while he, the representa-
tive of a long line of Irish ki
nsrs. con-
tinued to preserve a remnant of heredi-
tary independence which must have
rendered him an object of hatred and
suspicion to the foreign government.
Sooner or later that vestige of ancient
Irish royalty should be extinguished,
and his own personal enemy, marshal
Bagnal, was the man whose mission- it
was to work out that end. At the
same time that O'Neill knew all this,
the wisdom and depth of mind for
which he was so remarkable, taught
* Captain Thomas Lee, who at this very time wai
writing she " memorial" which he addressed to Queen
him the futility of waging war against
England in the old-fashioned piecemeal
style. He knew that the aid of foreign
Catholic powers was indispensaV)le. and
that a favorable opportunity should be
awaited ; and hence, while he would
promote a spirit of nationality among
the neighboring chiefs, he discouraged
the rashness which would plunge the
country into a premature civil war. It
was not duplicity, but common pru-
dence, therefore, which prevented him
from hastily flying to arms; and not
only does it seem certain that when he
entered the field against the govern-
ment, he was goaded into that course
by insults and injustice, but it cannot
be positively asserted that he would
not have lived all his life in passive
submission to the English crown had
he not been ultimately driven to resist-
ance. He foresaw this contingency
fi-om a distance, and wa'S prepared for
it ; and, if he was slow in rising, he, at
least, approached nearer than any other
Irishman to the liberation of his coun-
try from a foreign yoke.
Tyrone despised the malignity of
Bagnal, and offei-ed to prove the injus-
tice of his charges by the ordeal of
single combat; but his enemy added
cowardice to his malice, and declined.
The council deliberated whether they
should seize the earl while he was in
their power, but some of the memliers
were friendly to him, and he was per-
mitted to depart in safety.*
Elizabeth, and who was intimately acquainted with the
characieis of all the parties concomjd, says: — Ho
THE WICKLOW INSUEGENTS.
417
A. D. 1595.— Sir William Kussell's
first exploit was an attack upon Fiagh
M.-icHugh O'Byrne, who was called
" the firebi-and of the mountains," and
whose castle of Ballinacor (Baile-na-
cuirre), in Glenmalure, he took by
surprise in January. Fiagh, however,
escaped with his family, having been
alarmed by the accidental sound of
a drum, just as the deputy's troops
reached the outer I'arapart. Wal-
ter Riavagh, oi' the swarthy, one of the
Kildare Geraldines, was goaded into re-
bellion, and joined Fiagh ; and scarce-
ly had Russell returned to Dublin
from Ballinacor, wheie he placed an
English garrison, when Walter made a
nocturnal excursion to the vicinity of
the metropolis, and burned the suburb-
(O'NfiiU) will, if it so stand with your majesty's pleasure,
offer himself to the marshal, who hath been the cliiefest
Instrument against him, to prove with his sword that
he hath most wrongfully accused him ; and because it
is no conquest fur him to overthrow a man ever held in
the world to be of most cowardly behavior, he will, in
defence of liis innocuncy, allow his adversary to come
armed against him naked, to encourage him the rather
to accept of his challenge." — See the Dcgiderat. Cur.
Hib., vol. ii,, pp. ill., &c. ; and apjjendix to Curry's Renew.
Camden, in his character of Hugh O'Neill, gives him
credit for " great physicjil powers of endurance, in-
defatigable Industry, mental qualities suited to the
greatest undertakings, great military knowledge, and a
profound depth of mind to dissemble (ad dtmilandum)."
Annalcs, an. 1590, p. 572, ed. of lCa9. Dr. O'Donovan,
in his notes to the Four Masters, (vol. vi., p. 1888,) says
of this most remarkable man : — "Whether this earl,
Hugh, was an O'Neill or not — and the editor feels satis-
fied that Sliane-an-diomais proved in England that he
was not — he was the cleverest man that ever bore that
name. The O'Kellys of Bregia, of whom tliis Hugh must
have been (if he were not of the blood of the O'Neills),
were descended from Hugh Slain(?, monarch of Ireland
from 599 till 605. Connell Mageoghegan says that there
reigned, of King Hugh Shiine's race, as monarchs of tliis
kingdom, nine kings we may, therefore, well
believe that the blood of Hugh Slaine, which was
an village of Crumlin, carrying off the
leaden roof of the church to make
bullets, while the garrison of Dublin
witnessed the conflagration without be-
ing able to render any assistance. This
happened on the 30th of January, and
in the following April he was taken
treacherously and executed in Dublin.*
The Irish had been goaded by op-
pressions under which human nature
could not long writhe without resist-
ance; and disaffection had become so
general, especially in Ulster and Con-
naught, that there could be no longer
any dou])t that a great civil war was
imminent. The lord deputy solicited
reinforcements from England, and it
was resolved that Sir John Noi-ris, or
Noi-reys, an officer of gi-eat experience
brought so low in the grandfather, foimd its level in
the military genius and towering ambition of Plugh,
earl of Tyrone."
* O'Sullevan, in his History of the Irish Catholics,
(p. 162, ed. of 1850,) gives an interesting account of the
fate of this Walter Reagh, or Riavagh. One Peter
Fitzgerald, who had become a Protestant, and who was
in the employment of the government, was his great ene-
my, and attacked his house of Gloran. Walter, soon
after, with Terence, Felim, and Raymond O'Tiyrne, the
sons of Fiagh, attacked Peter's castle, and setting it on
fire, burned it with its inmates. This, according to
O'Sullevan, was the beginning of Walter's rebellion.
Subsequently he was besieged in his castle by the Eng-
lish, and his brothers, Gerald and James, slain, some
say hanged, when he cut his way through the enemy
and escaped. Not long after he was wounded in a con-
flict with a party who were in pursuit of him, but was
carried off by a companion named George O'More, who
secreted him in a cavern, where he was betrayed by his
attendant, and, being conveyed to Dublin, was impaled
— other accounts say hanged and quartered, or hanged
in chains. Terence O'Byrne was, some time after, de-
livered to the English by his own fatlier, Fiagh, who
was wrongfully persuaded that he had formed a plot to
betray him. O'Sullevan says that Terence was exe-
cuted in Dublin, after being offered his life if he ctonged
his religion.
418
REIGN OF ELIZABETH.
and celelii-ity, and whose brother, Sir
Thomas, was president of Munster,
eliouhl be sent over as lord general
with 2,000 veteran troops who . had
distinguished tliemselves in Brittany,
together with 1,000 men of a fresh
levy. The earl of Tyrone now thought
it high time to declare himself. He
found liiniself already treated as an
enemy by the government on the one
side, while on the other his countrymen
could bear their galling yoke no longei-.
He accordingly seized the fort of the
Blackwater, commanding the passage
into his own territory, while O'Donnell,
who had never faltered in his hostility
to England, and burned to avenge his
own and his country's wrongs, made
incursions, in March and April, into
Connaught and Annally O'Farrell, to
plunder the recent English settlements
there, and to burn and destroy their
castles. These movements Red Hugh
executed with such rapidity that he
escaped any serious collision with the
English foi-ces.
As soon as Sir John Norris and his
troops arrived, an expedition to the
noi'th was prepai'ed, and O'Neill re-
linquished the Blackwater fort, after
destroying the works and burning the
* There are some important circumstances connKCted
with these first movements in the north. The Four
Masters state that O'Neill had invited O'Donnell to join
hira, and that they marched to Faughard. near Dundalk,
to have a parley with the deputy, who, however, did not
come ; while from the English accoimts it would appear
that O'Ni.'ill had written letters both to Russell and to
Norris, proposing to meet and confer with them on the
occasion, but that the letters were intercepted by Bag-
nal. Thus the lord deputy proclaimed O'Neill a traitor,
in ignorance of the overtures which the latter had made.
town of Dungannon, including his own
house. Our annalists say that the
English ai-my marched beyond Armagh
until they came in view of the in-
trenched camp of the Ii-ish, when they
retui-ned to Armagh, where they placed
a sti'ong garrison in the cathedi-al, and
strengthened the fortifications; and that
Sir William Russell having then com-
mitted the command to Norris I'eturned
to Dublin, where he proclaimed O'Neill
a traitor by the name of Hugh O'Neill,
son of Mathew Fei'darough, or the
blacksmith.*
O'Donnell, in the mean time, obtain-
ed in the west many successes, which
raised the confidence of the Irish. The
castle of Sligo was given up to him by
Ulick Burke, who had held it for the
English, and who took this important
step after slaying George Bingham in
a private fray ; f the people of Northern
Connaught who had been dispossessed
of their lands by Bingham and his myr-
raydons, returned to their patrimonies ;
six hundred Scots arrived in Lough
Foyle, under MacLeod of Ara, and en-
tered into O'Donuell's service, and with
these he scoured Connaught as far as
Tuam and' Dunmore, returning into
Donegal through Costello and Sligo,
f George Bingham manned and armed a ship, with
which he pillaged the coast of Tirconnell. plundering
the Carmelite monastery of the Blessed Virgin, at Ratlv-
mullen, and the church of St. ColumbkiUe, on Tory-
island ; but on his return from the expedition, an alter-
cation took place between him and Click Burke, son of
Kedmond-na-Scuab, who was in charge of the fortress of
Sligo, relative to the share of the spoils to which tlie
Irish section of the crew were entitled, and Burke bav-
ing slain his antagonist, gave up the castle to Ked Hugh
O'Donnell. — Four Masters.
NEGOTIATIONS WITH O'NEILL.
419
and thusavuidiiig Bingham, who thought
to intercej3t him in the Cuilieu mount-
ains. Sir Richard, who was accompa-
nied l)y the earls of Thomond and
Chinrickard, with their contingents, fol-
lowed Red Hugh as far as Sligo, and
laid siege to the castle, which was
bravely defended by O'Donnell's garri-
Bon. He attempted to sap the walls
under cover of a testudo or penthouse,
constructed of the timber taken from a
neighboring monastery; but the ward-
ers hurled down i-ocks and fired upon
them from the battlements, destroying
their machinery, and compelling them
to raise the siege and depart. O'Don-
nell then demolished the castle, that it
might not fall at a future time into the
hands of the English, dismissed his Scot-
tish mercenaries, and i-eturned home.
An attempt made l>y Sir John JS or-
ris and his bi'other, to revictual Ar-
magh, was defeated by O'Neill. Both
Norrises were wounded and obliged to
]-etreat to Newry ; but they succeed-
ed soon after in throwing relief into
Monaghan, where an English garrison
had fortified themselves in the monas-
teiy. In the return march from Mon-
aghan, the royal troops wei'e attacked
at Clontibret, and a desperate fight
* O'SuUevan Beare (Hist. Cath., torn 3, Ub. 3, c. ii.)
gives a detailed account of this battle at Clontibret, in
the course of which James Segrave (Sedgreius) of Meath
encountered O'Neill in single combat. Segrave was a
man of great stature and strengtli, and the lances of
both combatants having bei^n shivered, he trusted to
his enormous physical |)Ower, and grasping O'Neill by
the neck, pulled liim from his horse. Both fell to the
ground and rolled over and over in the deadly struggle ;
but U'Neill contrived to seize his dagger, which he I
took place, in which sevei-al of the Ei g-
lish were slain, and the remainder es-
caped with difl[iculty to Newry, from
which town a party had come to succor
them.*
O'Neill had hitherto acted chiefly on
the defensive, and when commissioners
were appointed by the queen to treat
with the confederated chiefs, he entered
into the negotiations with alaci-ity.
The commissioners were the treasurer,
Wallop, and Chief-justice Gardiner, with
whom the northern leaders conferi-ed
in an open field near Dundalk. The
Irish chiefs made such representations
of their grievances, that the commis-
sioners confessed some of them were rea-
sonable enough, but said these should
be refeired to the queen ; and the confed-
eiates having no confidence in the Eng-
lish govei-nment, and being now taught
reliance on themselves, bi'oke off the
conference. This occurred in July, and
unless some of the incidents already
noticed took place subsequent to that
date, Hugh O'Neill remained inactive
during the rest of the year;f but on
the death of Turlough Luineach, in the
coui'se of the summei-, he assumed the
liish title of the O'Neill in addition to
the English one of eail of Tyrone.
plunged into the abdomen of his antagonist, and
thus ended a combat of which both armies stood spec-
tators.
f There is some discrepancy in the dates of these
events ; for while the Irish accounts place the affair of
Clontibret in May, the English fix the revictualling of
Armagh and Monaghan in the beginning of September,
and therefore, after the first attempt (in July) to come
to terms with the confederates. (See Wright's H'lstorj
of Ireland.)
420
REIGN OF ELIZABETH.
O'Donnell retui'iied to Counaiiglit in
December, and appeared to exercise
reo-al powers in that province. He de-
termined some disputed titles to chief-
taincy, confeiring that of the'O'Dowda
on Tiege, the legitimate heir, and form-
ally inaugurating Theobald Burke, son
of Walter Kittagh, as the Mac William.*
He destroyed thirteen castles. on this
occasion, and i-eturned in triumph to
Tirconnell. All the Irish of northei-n
and eastern Connaught had joined in
the insurrection ; and the hostages of
the province having, in August this
year, broken from their pi-ison in Gal-
way, after drinking some wine, were
all either shot by their guard, who
stopped them at the west bridge in
that town, or taken and hanged by
Bingham.f
A.D. 1596.— Differences had long pre-
vailed between the lord genei'al, Mor-
ris, and the lord deputy, Russell. " The
former," says Leland, "had judgment
and equity to discern that the hostili-
ties of the Irish had been provoked by
several instances of wanton insolence
• This Theobald, whose father, Walter Kittagh or
the "left-handed," was the son of the MacWiUiam
who defeated Sir Edward Fitton at the battle of Shrule
in 1 750, was, according to the pedigree in Archdall's
Lodge, vol. iii., pp. 414, &c., the representative of the
eldest branch of the MacWiUiam lochtar, or Lower
Burkes. In 1.59.'), he took the castle of Belleck, near
Ballina. from Bingham's garrison, and routed a txxly of
troops sent to relieve it. His opponent in the claim to
the chieftaincy was another Theobald Burke, better
known as Tioboit-na-Long, of whom presently. It may
be observed here that Lodge incorrectly writes the title
of the lower or northern MacWilliams Ovghter instead
of lochtar, and that of the upper or southern branch,
Eigkter instead of Uachtar, and tliat the mistake has
crept into many works on Irish history.
and oppression." The deputj', who
was jealous of the fame of Noi-ris,
adopted opposite views, and insisted on
a " rigorous persecution of the rebels."
The opinions of Norris became popular
in England, and a commission was
issued to him and Sir Geoffrey Fenton
to ti'eat with the confederates. Tei-ms
of submission were agreed on, and pro-
mises of pardon given; but our annal-
ists tell us that the Irish did not re-
gard this arrangement of differences as
conclusive. O'Neill's first demand was
for religious liberty, and this would not
be conceded. Norris, who had re-
mained inactive during the winter, took
the opportunity, however, to withdraw
his troops from Ulster, and marched to
suppress the commotion in Connanght;
but with the exception of placing gar-
risons in some sti'ong castles abandoned
by the Irish, nothing decisive was ef-
fected there. The repeated complaints
of the bm-barities of Bingham had at
length made some impression on the
queen and her council. Sir Richard
left Ireland without permission to an-
f Among the chiefs of Eastern Connaught who had
revolted at this time, was DonneU O'Madden, chief of
O'Madden's country, on the Shannon. Cloghan, one
of his castles in the district of Lusmagh, was sum-
moned to surrender by the lord deputy, RusseU, in
March, 159G, and we mention the circumstance on ac-
count of the memorable reply of the Irish garrison.
O'Madden himself was absent, but his brave warders
told Captain Thomas Lee, who was sent by the deputy
to summon them, that " if every man in his lordshiji's
company were a lord deputy, still they would not sur-
render." Next day, however, the castle was captured,
and forty-six i)ersons slain ; those who were taken,
being hurled from the battlements and thus killed
(See the extract from Sir William UvtssaWs Jounial,
published in Dr. O'Donovau's Hy Many, pp. 149, 150.)
Fr.ESII PROMISES FROM SPAI>f.
421
swer the cliai'ges agaiust him, and on
])resentiug himself at court was com-
mitted to piisou, and Sir Couyei's Clif-
ford, a just and humane man, was
aj)i)ointed in his stead j)resident of
Connaught.
Scarcely had the cessation of arms
been agi'eed to between the Ulstei-
chiefs and the queen's commissioners,
when three S{,anish pinnaces arrived
on the coast of Donegal, bi'inging en-
couraging letters from the king of
Spain, and a supply of militai-y stores, ad-
dressed specially to O'Duiinell. O'Neill
is chai'ged by the English with having
communicated to Fiagh MacHugh, and
the other Leinster insurgents, the news
of the promises held out by Spain, at
the same time that he sent to the lord
deputy, as an evidence of the sincerity
of his submission, the letter which he
had i-eceived from the Spanish monai-ch.
Such charges of dissimulation, so fre-
quently reiterated against the earl of
Tyrone, by English writers, deserve
little attention. It is natural that he
should have wished to deceive the Eng-
lish government, and to gain time until
his plans were matured and expected
succor had ariived ; and it may be
questioned wliether any means he em-
])loyed foi- this pui-pose were not, under
the circumstances, quite legitinuite. It
was understood that several Irish chiefs
• Several conflicts, not recorded, indeed, with any
minute attenticm to chronology, would nevertheless ap-
l>eur from O'Sullevan Beare's Catholic nistvry to have
taken place between O'Neill and the English before the
close of tliis year. Owny . son of Kory Oge O'More, was,
at this time, plundering the Eugliuh ol Leix, and Fiugh
MacHugh carried terror and desolation through a great
part of Leinster. The former slew Alexander and Fran-
cis Cosby, the son and grandson of the Francis Cosby of
MuUamast notoriety, and route<i their troops at Sinid-
bally Bridge, on the litth of May. — See Uardimau'*
IrUk MiimtrcUy, vol. ii., p. ltJ5.
now signed an invitation to the king of
Spain to invade Ireland, but that
O'Neill only intimated verbally his
accession to the league. He remonstra-
ted against the hostilities carried on
against his friend, Fiagh MacHugh
O'Bynie, and made these, soon after; a
pi'etext for marching suddenly on Ar-
magh, and forcing that garrison to sur-
render, before Sir John Norris could j
come to its relief. Yet strange to say, I
another commission, to treat once more i
with O'Neill, arrived after this from
England. English writers exj)ress pro-
found disgust at these repeated over
tures of peace on the part of the
government, and there is no doubt that
the course pursued impressed the Irish
with the idea of great weakness in their
opponents. O'Neill refused, as usual,
to confer with the commissioners in a
town, and the meeting, like the former
ones, took place in a field near Dun-
dalk ; but the other confederates do not
appear to have been present, and the
only result was a renewal of former
terms with the earl of Tyrone.*
A. D. 1597.— While O'Neill was in-
active in Tyrone, Connaught was the
scene of the wildest commotions. To-
wards the close of the last year O'Conoi
Sligo retui-ned, after a long stay in
England, and manifested a zealous and
ostentatious loyalty. His old feudato-
422
REIGN OF QUEEN ELIZABETH.
ries, MacDuuough of Tii-eiill, aud
O'Hart, were detached, by his influence,
from the Catholic cause, and these ex-
anii)]es, together with the popularity of
Sir Conyei-s Clifford, gi-eatly strength-
ened the English ranks in the west.
Red Hugh O'Donnell took immediate
steps to punish the defection. In De-
cember he crossed the river of Sligo,
and swept off every head of cattle
belonging to the friends of O'Conor;
aud the following January he returned
with a much larger force, and overran
all Connaught. He burned the gates
of Athenry and pillaged the town ;
and all the territory of Clanrickard was
plundered by him as far as Maree, Orau-
luore, and the walls of Galway. He
then I'eturued home laden with spoils,
routing, on his way, a force which
O'Conor Sligo had collected to intercept
him. Theobald Buike, surnamed Na-
Long, or " of the ships," who claimed
the title and estates of MacWilliam, in
opposition to Theobald, son of Walter
Kittagh, succeeded, by the aid of Clif-
ford and O'Conor Sligo, in expelling his
rival, who, in his turn, was restored by
O'Donnell, and once more expelled by
the power of the English aud of the
* Theobald-na-Long, mentioned in the text, was the
son of Risdiard-an-Iarain, or " Iron Richard," who was
highly praised by Sir Henry Sidney, and died in 1585.
Theobald's mother was the famous Grace O'Malley, or
Orainf-ni-Mhaile(Qranu-Weal), daughter of Owen O'Mal-
ley, chief of the Owles, or Uniaile, in Mayo. This sin-
gular woman was married first to O'Flaherty, chief of
West Connaught, and during the minority of her brother
took the command of a fleet of galleys on several pirati-
cal excursions. She was then outlawed, and defeated
some troops sent to besiege her castle of Carrigahooly ;
Ii-ish loyalists. Thus was the whole
province plunged in disorder.*
In Leinster, Fiagh MacIIugh O'Byrne
was betrayed into the hands of the
English through the jealousy of some
of his kinsmen, aud slain in May this
year; and on the 22d of the same month,
Sir William Russell was removed fi-om
the government, and Thomas, Lord
Borough, or Bui'gh, sent ovei- to replace
him. One of the first acts of the new
deputy was to deprive Sir John Nori-is
of the generalship, and send him to
govern Munster with his brother. The
gallant veteran, who while in office had
indeed performed no service worthy of
his great military reputation, soon after
died broken-hearted. Lord Borough
next ordered a great muster of forces
at Drogheda, on the 20th of July, and
marching at their head, crossed the
Blackwater without opposition ; demol-
ished a small fort which O'Neill had
raised, and erected a stroiag one in
which he placed a garrison of 300 men,
under the command of a brave officer
named Williams. O'Neill, who would
a])pear to have been at first taken by
surprise, vigorously assailed the lord
dejjuty's camp, and sent reinforcements
but, on her marriage with Sir Richard Burke, she was
reconciled to government, and subsequently performed
some valuable services for the queen. Many traditions
are preserved in the west about her exploits, her visits to
Elizabeth, &c. On her voyage to London, at the queen's
invitation, about 1575, her son Theobald was born;
hence his sobriquet " Na-Long" — " of the ships." He
was knighted, it is said, by Elizabeth while an infant,
and was created first Viscount Mayo, by Charles I. — See
Lodge ; also, the AiUhologia Hibcrnica for 1793 and
1794.
DEATH OF mJOn O'NEILL.
423
to Tyrrell, who carried on the war in
Leinster.*
Loi'<l Borougli had dii'ected Sir Con-
yers Cliiford to make a simultaneous
movement against O'Donnell, and ac-
cordingly the loyalist forces of Con-
naught assembled at the monastery of
Boyle, on the 24th of July. They
marched to Sligo, and thence to the
Erne, which, after some hard fighting,
they crossed at the ford of Atli-cul-uain,
about half a mile west of Belleek ;
Murrongh O'Brien, baron of Inchiquin,
was shot by the Irish wliile in the cen-
tre of the ford ; and Clifford having
obtained some cannon by sea from Gal-
way, laid siege to the castle of Bally-
ehannon, which was defended with
great bi-avery for O'Donnell by Hugh
Crawford, a Scot, with eighty soldiers,
of whom some were Spaniards, and the
rest Irish. An incessant fire was kept
up on the castle for three days, and
under the shelter of a testudo an attempt
was made to sap the walls; but the
beams and rocks hurled from the bat-
tlements by the defenders demolished
the works of the assailants, and O'Don-
nell arriving with a considera})le force,
besieged the royal army in their own
camp. At the dawn of daj-, on the
* About this time Captain Tyrrell cut off a detach-
ment of 1,000 men of the royal anny sent agrainst him
from Mullingar, under the command of young Barnwell,
son of Lord Trimblestone. Tyrrell had a much smaller
force under his command, but prepared an ambuscade
with great skill at the place since cjilled Tyrrell's Pass, in
West Meath, and it is said that only one man of the
enemy escaped to relate the disaster at the English
headquarters. (See the Abbii Mageoghegan's Hi-ttory
of Ireland, p. 505, Duffy's ed.) It is probable, however.
15th of August, Clifford silently re-
crossed the Erne at a foi'd immediately
above the cataract of Assaroe, over
which several of his men wei-e washed
by the impetuosity of the torrent ; and
O'Donnell, regretting the remissness
which suffei-ed the enemy to escaj)e,
pursued him over the river. The pow-
der of the Irish was, liowevei-, spoiled
by a heavy shower of rain, and the
royal ai-my was enabled to retreat in
safety to Sligo, having abandoned thi'ee
pieces of ordnance and a quantity of
stores.
The spirits of the Irish were elated
by so many successes. O'Neill laid
siege to the new Blackwater fort ; but
in storming it by the aid of scaling
ladders — which proved to be too shoi-t
— he lost thirty of his men, and then
I'esolved to starve the gariison into
submission. This would have been
soon effected had not Lord Borough
marched witn a strong force, and suc-
ceeded in raising the siege, and throwing
in lelief both in men and pi'ovisions.
The lord deputy, however, fell danger-
ously ill before the walls, or, as the
Irish accounts say, was mortally wound-
ed, and died in a litter before he could
be carried as far as Nevvry.f On the
that Tyrrell's Pass owes its name not to this conflict,
but to the castle of the Tyrrells which stood near.
t Either on this or on his former march to the Black-
water, the lord deputy lost liis wife's brother, Sir Francis
Vaughan, who was killed by the Irish ; and the earl of
Kildare died at Drogheda of the wounds which he re-
ceived, or, as others say, of chagrin for his two foster-
brothers, who were killed before the Blackwater fort.
This earl was Henry, who succeeded on the death (in
15851 of his father Garrett, brother of Silken Thomas,
424
REIGN OF ELIZABETH.
news of his death reaching Dublin the
council chose as his successor Sii- Thomas
Nori'is, the president of Munster; but
this selection was provisional, for in a
month after, the civil duties of the gov-
ernment were committed to Ai-chbishop
Loftus, who was also lord chancellor,
and Sir Robert Gardinei-, chief justice
of the queen's bench, as lords justices,
and the military government to the
earl of Ormond, as lord lieutenant.
Meanwhile O'Donnell plundered the
lands of O'Conor Roe, who had joined
the English party, and this produced
some jealousy between O'Donnell and
O'Rourke, who w;is friendly to O'Conor.
Hugh Maguire and Cormac, brother of
O'Neill, entered West Meath and sacked
and burned Mullingar. Theobald, son
of Walter Kittagh Burke, retook the
territory of MacWilliam, and plundered
the Owles or O'Malley's country; Tyr-
rell, at the head of the Leiuster insur-
gents, devastated Ormond, and cut to
pieces a large body of the royal ti'oops
at Maryborough ; Sir John Chichester,
governor of Canickfergus, with thi-ee
companies of his garrison, was cut off
by Sorley Boy MacDonnell ; in short,
the country was almost wholly in the
hands of the Catholics, when the ap-
pointment of the earl of Ormond opened
a new door for negotiations with the
Ii'ish chieftains. Our annalists say that
shoi-tly before Christmas the earls of
and he was succeeded in Ms turn by his brother, Wil-
liam. Among the losses of the government about this
period, it may be stated that on the 11th of March, 1597,
144 barrels of gunpowder, just received from England,
Ormond and Thomond went to Ulster
and remained three days in a conference
with O'Neill and O'Donnell ; that they
agreed to the terms of a treaty, which
were to be submitted to the queen, and
that a truce was to be observed until
May, when the royal decision on the
points at issue would be made known.
A.D. 1598. — The modifications which
Elizabeth required in the terms of
peace were received earlier than was
expected, and another conference was
held with O'Neill on the 15th of March,
to communicate them to him. The
chief of Tyrone discussed the several
points with a fi-eedom which stowed
that he well knew the weakness of the
government and his own increased
strength. He refused to desert his con-
federates until they had time allowed
them to come in and submit; he con-
sented to renounce the title of O'Neill,
but would reserve the substantial rights
of the chieftaincy ; he would not give
up the sons of Shane O'Neill, as he had
not received them into his charge from
the State : he would admit a sheriff into
Tyrone, provided he was a gentleman
of the country, and not appointed im-
mediately ; he would surrender political
refugees, but not such as fled to Tyrone
on account of religious persecution : in
fine, refused to give up his eldest son
as a hostage. The independent tone of
O'Neill was deeply galling to the Eng-
exploded in Winetavern-street, Dublin, producinfr fear
ful havoc in the neighborhood. (See Gilbert's Hint, oj
Dublin, vol. j., p. 154.)
O'NEILL REJECTS THE TERMS OF PEACE.
425
lish, but the earls of Tlioinoiid and
Clanrickard, with other distinguished
Irishmen, were nevertheless delegated
to submit his propositions anew to
Elizabeth, and that haughty prin-
cess not only consented to abate some
of her claims, but O'Neill's pardon
was actually drawn up, bearing date
A]>ril 11th, 1598, and sealed with
the great seal of Ireland. These hol-
low concessions, however, came too late.
O'Neill believed that the oppoi;tunity
had arrived to obtain infinitely more —
the liberation of his country itself. He
expected the long-pi'omised succor from
Spain ; the national cause was progress-
ing favorably at home, and he dreaded
lest further delay should cool the ardor
of the Irish chieftains. He therefore
broke oiF the negotiations, and rejected
the proffered pardon, by avoiding the
messenger sent to convey it to him.*
On the 7th of June, the last ti'uce
expired, and two days after, O'Neill
appeared with a division of his army
before the Blackwater fort, "swearing
by his barbarous hand that he would
not depart until he had cai-i'ied it;f
while he sent another division into
Breffny, to attack the castle of Cavan.
There could be no more valiant man
* O'Neill afterwards scorned to plead tliis pardon, so
that ho was outlawed in 1600, says Moryson, on the in-
dictment of 1595. It may be here added that, during
the truce, James, brother of the earl of Orniond, with
other gentlemen, made an incursion into Ikerrin against
Brian Ueagh O'More, but lost several of their m^n.
James Butler was made prisoner, but O'More gener-
ously gave him up to the earl of Ormond in a weik
nl'ler. Kedmond Biu-ke, son of John-of-the- Shamrocks,
owing to the injustice of his uncle, the earl of C'lau-
than Captain Thoma.s Williams, who
commanded in the unhappy fort of the
Blackwater, and who was resolved to
defend his charge to the last man ; and
O'Neill, profiting by the lesson which
the former vigorous defence had taught
him, resolved to make no more assaults,
but set about inclosing the fort with
vast trenches, to prevent the sorties of
foraging parties. These trenches, which
were connected with great tracts of
bog, were more than a mile in length,
and several feet deep, "with a thorny
hedge at the top." The approaches to
the fort wei'e " plashed," the roads
rendered impassable to artillei'y by
trenches, and the Ii'ish army so posted
that no foi'ce could advance to relieve
the garrison without fighting a battle.
The fort was scarcely victualled to the
end of June, and would have been soon
forced by hunger to surrender, had not
the besieged had the good fortune to
seize "divers horees and mares," on the
flesh of which they sul)sisted.
Long and anxious was the debate at
the council-board in Dublin, as to the
course now to be pursued. The Eng-
lish power in Ireland was in a most
ci'itical position. Only a few garrisons
remained in all Ulster. Connaufflit
rickard, joined the insurgents, and received the com-
mand of 100 men from O'Ne'dl, who sent him with
others to 6glit under Tyrrell's standard in Leinster ;
and in Connaught, O'Kourke, who had made his sub-
mission to riiiTord on account of liis friendship for O'Con-
or Roe, returned to the national caiise. for, as the Four
Masters say, it was at that time thought safer in Con-
naught " to have the governor in opposition than to
be pursued by O'Dounell's vengeance."
t Sir Guofl-rey Feuton to Cecil, Jime 11th, 1598.
42G
REIGN OF ELIZABETH.
was in amis. A well-organized Irish
army, under Captain Tyrrell, and other
brave and experienced leaders, threat-
ened the seat of govei-nment in Leinstei-.
The prestige of O'Neill and O'Dounell
was becoming every day greater. The
latter entertained a hatred of England
which nothing could mitigate; while
the former was more formidable for his
knowledge of raodei'n warfare, his con-
summate prudence, and his subtlety as
a statesman. Reinforcements of troops
arrived at Dungarvan from England,
but in attempting to reach Dublin, they
were attacked by the Irish, and lost
over 400 men.* The English govern-
ment of Ireland was never in more
pusillanimous hands than those of the
present lord justices; and the iron-heart-
ed Ormond himself — " a man of great
energy and boldness," as Camden de-
scribes hira — was dismayed at the strug-
gle before him. The council had writ-
ten to England for help and advice.
The civil members strongly urged that
Captain Williams should be directed
to surrender the Blackwater fort to
O'Neill on the best conditions that he
could obtain. Even Ormond would
reluctantly yield to this view, but Bag-
nal ci-ied shame at such timidity, and
insisted that an army, which he him-
self undertook to command, should be
dispatched immediately to revictual the
fort. At this critical moment, Ormond
took the fatal resolution to divide his
* See Four Masters, vol. vi., p. 2056, note,
f Letter of tlie LL. JJ. to the privy council of
16th, 1398.
forces, and to march himself at the
head of one division against the Lein-
ster insurgents, while Bagnal led the
other to relieve the fort of the Black-
water. This course was taken contrary
to the pressing advice of the council ;
but Ormond considered that the active
hostilities of Tyrrell and his confederates
in Leinster, involving as they did the
devastation of his own county palatine
of Tipperary, demanded the most stren-
uous operations ; while the other duty
only concerned what he styled "the
scurvie fort of Blackwater," Bagnal,
too, was earnest in soliciting for him-
self the task of taking vengeance ou
the man whom, of all others, he hated
with a deadly hatred ; and so the plan
was persevered in. At the last moment
the lords justices sent a message to the
commander to surrender the fort; but
Bagnal, according to his old custom,
intei'cepted the letter, and took it back
to the council.f
On the morning of Monday, August
14th, the army, which had reached
Armagh from Newry, with some slight
losses the preceding day, set out from
the former city for the Blackwater.
It amounted, by the English accounts,
to about 4,000 foot and 350 horse; J
the infantry comprising six regiments,
and the whole were disposed in throe
divisions, the van being led by Colonel
Percy, supported by the marshal's own
regiment, while the regiments of Colonel
J Captain Montague's report to the council says 3,500
infantry and 300 cavalry ; but O'SuUevan Beare makes
the numbers 4,500 foot and 500 horse.
@ 5
THE « JOURNEY OF THE BLACKWATER;
Cosby and Sir Thomas Wingfield came
next, and those of captains Cunis, or
Cuynis, and Billings, brought up the
rear. The cavalry was commanded by
Sir Calisthenes Brooke and * captains
Montague and Fleming. The main
body of the Irish, whose infiintry was
about as numerous as that of the enemy,
and the cavalry a little more so, but
who in point of arms and equipments
were greatly inferior to the royal army,
occupied an intrenched position near
the small river Callan, about two miles
from Armagh, at a place called Beal-
an-atha-buy, or the mouth of the Yel-
low ford. Bogs and woods extended
on either side ; a part of the way was
broken by small hills, and deep trenches
and pitfalls were dug in the road and
neighboring fields. The leaders on
both sides harangued their respective
forces, and the Irish were, moreover,
encouraged by O'Donnell's poet, Feai--
feasa O'Clery, who produced the words
of an ancient prophecy attributed to
St Bearchan, foretelling that at a place
called the Yellow ford, the foreigner
would be defeated by a Hugh O'Neill.
The morning, says O'Sullevan, was
calm and beautiful, and the English
army advanced from Armagh, before
the rising of the-sun, with colors flying,
drums beating, and trumpets sounding,
in all the pomp and pride of war; but
their fiont had not proceeded more
than half a mile, when the Iiish skir-
mishers began to gall them severely
from the brushwood on eitlier flank.
The most circumstantial account of the
sequel is that which we obtain from
the English official reports. The van-
guard of the royal army advanced gal-
lantly, and after a desperate struggle
gained possession of the first Irish I'n-
treuchments, about two miles from
Armagh. They then pushed forward
and reached an eminence, where they
were vigorously charged by the Irish,
and driven back beyond the trench.
Bagnal's tactics were a miserable fail-
ure. His divisions were too far sepa-
rated to support each other; and his
leading regiment was cut to pieces
befoi-e the second had come to the
charge. The marshal himself came up
at the head of his own regiment, and
behaved with exti-aordinary valor, gain-
ing the trench a second time ; but the
Irish were now engaged with the royal
ti'oops at every point, and the fighting
was so hot in the reai-, where Red
Hugh O'Donnell, Maguire, and James
MacSorley MacDonnell chai-ged the
English, that it was impossible for the
reserve regiments to support their front
Bagnal raised the visor of his helmet,
to gaze more freely about him, when a
musket-ball pierced his forehead and he
rolled lifeless to the earth. Almost
at the same time an ammunition wag-
on exploded in the central corps of
the English, and scattered destruction
around, killing and wounding several ;
and one of the cannon got into a pit or
bog-hole, and defied all their efforts to
extricate it. O'Neill, who had the
Irish centre under his own special com-
mand, saw that the moment was de-
REIGN OF ELIZABETH.
cisive. Confusion had already seized
the Euglish ranks ; and riding up with
forty hoi-semen, followed by a body of
spearmen, he plunged with a loud shout
into the melee, and made the enemy
fly in disorder. All this time the
battle raged so fiercely in the rear that
the English, according to their own
account, had not been able to advance
a quarter of a mile in an hour and a
half, and the death of the marshal was
not known at that point when the fight
had begun. Maelmuire O'Reilly, who
was called " the handsome," and, as
being a royalist, was styled " the queen's
O'Reilly," made a desj)ei'ate effort to
rally the royal troops, but he himself
was soon numbered with the slain.
About one o'clock the route became
genei-al, and the pits and trenches
along the way caused more mischief to
the flying English than even in the
morning march. The new levies cast
away their arms, and if they had not
* Tlie Irish and English contemporary accounts of the
battle are collected by Dr. O'Donovan in his notes to
the Four Masters, an. 1598 ; and all the documents con-
nected with it preserved in the State-paper OtEce, have
been published in the Transactions of the Kilkenny
Archseological Society for January, 1857. John Mitchell
describes it in his own nervous and eloquent style, in
his "Life and Times of Aodh O'Neill," in Dulfy's
Library of Ireland. The battle is sometimes desig-
nated the '■journey of the Blackwater," but by the
Irish is usually called the battle of Athbuidhe, or the
Yellow ford. Its site is marked on the Ordnance map
of Armagh, sheet 13 ; and the name of Ballinaboy is
Btiil applied to a small marsh or cutout bog in the
townland of Cabragh, aliout a mile and three-quarters
north of the city of Armagh {Four Masters, vi., p. 2061,
note.) The Blackwater fort is called Portnua by the
Four Masters, and Portmore by O'SuUevan Bcare and
other c<>utemix)rary writers. The number slain on the
P^nglish side is, by the Irish jinnalists, reckoned 3,500,
Including the general and \S captains ; and the first
been so near Armagh, scarcely a man
would have escaped. As it was, the
flight was not a long one ; the ammu-
nition of the Lish was nearly exhausted,
and the shattered remains of the Eng-
lish array shut themselves up in the
fortified cathedral, leaving their gen-
eral, 23 officers, and about 1,700 of
their rank and file, on the field ; to-
gether with their artillery, and bag-
gage, a great portion of their arras and
colors, their drums, &c., in the hands
of the Irish. The loss of the confeder-
ates was estimated, at the highest, as
from seven to eight hundred. Never
since the English set foot on Irish soil
had they received such an overthrow
in this country. "It was a glorious
victory for the rebels," says Camden,
" and of sjjecial advantage ; for hereby
they got both arms and provisions,
and Tyrone's name was cried up all
over Ireland as the author of their
liberty.*
English accounts vary the loss from 2,000 to 1,500 ; but
tlie official list forwarded to the privy council a few
days after the battle, gives the numbers thus, viz. ;
killed, the general, 14 colonels and captains, 9 lieuten-
ants, and 855 rank and file ; wounded, 3G3 ; captain
Closby taken prisoner, and 12 stands of colors lost.
About 300 Irish in the queen's pay and 2 Englishmen
deserted to the confederates. O'Sullevan states the
loss of the Irish to have been less tlian 200 killed, and
over 600 wounded. Ormond, in a letter to Cecil, of
September 15, referring to the bad tactics of Bagnal, in
placing the divisions at such intervals, writes : — " Suei
the devill bewiched them that none of them did pre-
vent this grose error !" The Four Masters give Aug.
10th as the date of the battle, but from the State-papers
the correct date appears to be that given in the tost,
Aug. 14th. O'SuU-evan says O'Donnell commanded the
left wing, and Maguire, the Irish cavalry ; the whole
being under the conmiand of O'NeiU. Cucogry O'Clery^
in his life of Hugh Koe O'Donnell, tells us that very
few of the Irish were dressed in armor like the Ehg-
\j
.^ L
ft
REVOLT IN MUNSTER.
4t>':>
Tlie English cavalry, which had suf-
fered least, escaped the night after the
battle to Duiidalk, under Captain Mon-
tage, pursued for a little way by Ter-
ence O'Hanlon ; and a few days after
the garrisons of Armagh and the Black-
water fort capitulated, and were allowed
to march to Dundalk with their wounded
men, leaving their arms and ammunition
behind them. O'Neill suj)posed that
Ai'magh was provisioned for a longer
time than it really was, while his own
supplies were running short, and he
knew that an English force of 2,000
men was daily expected in his rear at
Lough Foyle ; and hence the favorable
conditions which he granted. The Ul-
ster chiefs returned to their respective
homes, for it never had been the cus-
tom of the Irish to follow up a victory.
Their hostings were temporary, and
their commissariat imperfect. O'Neill
knew the helpless state of the govern-
ment at that moment, and it is not
probable that he retired to Dungannon
at such an important juncture without
solid reasons. Ormond was at this
time shut up in Kilkenny, whither he
had retired after the discomfiture of
his men in Leix; and the trembling
lord justices were obligtjd to send out
some six or seven hundred armed citi-
zens, on the ITtli of August, to prevent
the approach of the Leinster insurgents,
who were expected before the walls of
liah, but that they had a sufflcient supply of spears
ami lances with strong liandli-s of ash : struight, keen-
edged swords, and thin, polished battle-axes. Dr.
I U'Douovan tliinks that the prophecy wliich Fejirfeasa
Dublin. Elizabeth was enraged at the
losses which her arms had sustained in
Ireland, and wrote upbraiding letters
to her Irish council. She sent Sir
Richard Bingham to replace Marshal
Bagiial ; and she could not have shown
her exasperation better than by renew-
ing her commission to the man who had
been disgraced for his butcheries of the
Irish in cold blood. Bingham, how-
ever, died immediately after his return
to Ii-eland, and Sir Samuel Bagnal was
then sent to DuVjlin as marshal, with
the 2,000 men who had been originally
intended for Lough Foyle.
O'Neill wrote to Capt. Tyrrell, Owiiy
O'More, and Redmond Burke, to hasten
into Munster, where the sons of Thomas
Roe, brother of the late earl of Desmond,
were prepared to raise the standard of
revolt; and his orders were immedi-
ately carried out. The Leinster insur-
gents plundered Ormond in their march
to the south, and a great number of
Irish chieftains came to swell their
ranks. The new Munster rebellion broke
out, says Fynes Moryson, like lightning.
Sir Thomas Norris was at Killmallock,
but as soon as the confederates entered
the county of Limerick he withdrew
hastily to Coik. James, son of Thomas
Roe, joined the Confederate army in
Connello, and they pi-oceeded to desti-oy
the settlements of the English under-
takers who occupied the lauds of the
O'Clery turned to such good account on this memora
ble occasion, was origianlly intended for the Danes,
as the word "Daiiair" is in it applied to th» foreign-
430
REIGN OF ELIZABETH.
late earl of Desmond. Their castles
and houses were pulled down, their
farms desolated, and they themselves
—cast out naked — were all either
slain or expelled ; while, as our annal-
ists say, the spoils were so great that
an in-calf cow was sold for sixpence, a
brood mare for threepence, and the
best hog for one penny, in the Irish
camp. Ormond marched to Killmal-
lock, where he was joined by Norris ;
but the Irish army presented so formi-
dable a front that he thought it well to
return to his own palatinate, while the
president retired to Mallow. The title
of earl of Desmond was conferred, by
the authority of O'Neill, on James, son
of Thomas Roe;* all the castles of
Desmond were recovered except those
of Askeaton, Castlemaine, and Mallow ;
and matters being thus advanced in
Munster, the Leinster and Ulster con-
federates returned home, with the ex-
ception of Tyrrell — who remained to
organize the forces of the newly-created
earl. Among those who had now risen
in arms in the south were Patrick Fitz-
Maurice, lord of Lixnaw ; the knight
of Glynn ; the white knight, and most
* This James is better known by the title of the
Sugane (straw-rope) earl, contemptuously applied to him
by Mb enemies. For his parentage, vide supra, p. 396,
n. Cox says, he was " the handsomest man of his
time ;" but Camden calls him, " lunninem obscanim.
of the other Geraldines ; some of the
MacCarthys ; the O'Donohoes ; the Con-
dons; Lord Roche; Butler, lord of
Mountgarrett, who had married a
daughter of O'Neill; Butler of Ca-
hir, and other members of that fam-
O'Donnell, who had purchased the
castle of Ballymote from MacDonough
of Corran, and made it his principal
residence,f proceeded with a great host-
ing, at the close of the year, into Clan-
i-ickard, slaying several, and carrying off
immense booty ; and the following
spring (1599) he made an incursion on
a large scale into Thomond, and swept
away such enormous spoils that the
hills of Burren were black with the
droves of cattle which were driven to
the north. Thomond was at that time
the scene of intestine broils among va
rious parties of the O'Briens, and when
O'Donnell had left, Clifford proceeded
there to punish those who had given
evidence of disloyalty. The earl of
Thomond, who had i-eturned lately from
England, also came with some ordnance
from Limeiick, and inflicted vengeance
on the obnoxious.
fThe price paid for the castle was £400 and 800
cows, and Sir Conyers Clifford, president of Connaught,
was bidding for it in oiiposition to O'Donnell. For thir-
teen years before it had been in the hands of the royal.
ists, and it is curious to find any thing like a commer-
cial transaction carried on under the circumstances.
THE EARL OF ESSEX VICEROY.
431
CHAPTER XXXV.
KEIGN OF ELIZABETH CONCLUDED.
The Earl of Essex Viceroy — His incapacity — His fruitless exi)editlon to Munstor. — O'Conor Sligo bosioged at Ool-
loony. — Sir Conyers ClitFord marches against O'DonneU. — Total defeat of the English at the Curlieu mountains
and death of Clifford.^Essex applies for reinforcements — His march to the Lagan — His interview with
O'Neill — His departure from Ireland, and unhappy fate. — O'Neill's expedition to Munster— Combat and death
of Hugh Maguire and Sir Warham Sentleger. — Arrival of Lord Mountjoy as Deputy. — O'Neill returns to
Ulster. — Presents from the Pope and the Kiug of Spain. — Capture of Ormond by Owny O'More. — Sir George
Carew president of Munster. — His subtlety — His plots against the Sugane Earl and his brother. — Capture of
Glin Castle and general submission of Desmond.^Death of Owny O'More. — Barbarous desolation of the
country by the deputy. — The son of the late earl of Desmond sent to Ireland — F.ailure of his mission. — Retri-
bution on a traitor (note). — Docwra's expedition to Lough Foyle. — Defections from the Irish ranks. — Preda-
tory excursions of Red Hugh O'Donnc-ll. — Moimtjoy's expeditions against O'Neill. — Complicated misfortunea
of the Irish. — Niall Garv besieged in the monastery of Donegal by Hugh Roe. — Arrival of the Spaniards
at Kinsale — They are besieged by Mountjoy and Carew. — Extraordinary march of O'DonneU and mustering
of the Irish forces to assist them. — Battle of Kinsale, and total tmxte of the Irish army. — Departure of Red
Hugh O'DonneU for Spain. — Surrender of Kinsale, and departure of the Spaniards. — Deplorable state of the
Irish. — Dreadful famine — Siege of Dunboy Castle. — Flight of O'SuUevan. — Submission of O'NeUl. — Death of
Elizabeth.
(A. D. 1599 TO A. D. 1603.)
T NVESTED with more ample powers,
-^ and endowed with a more splendid
allowance than any of his predecessors,
the earl of Essex landed in Ireland, as
lord lieutenant, on the 15th of April,
l.'i99, and was sworn in the same day.
He was provided with an army of 20,000
foot and 2,000 horse — the most powei'-
ful and best equipped force ever sent
into this country — and his instructions
were to prosecute the war sti'enuously
against the Ulster insurgents, and to
])laiit garrisons at Lough Foyle and
Ballyshannon. This was, indeed, the
course which he himself had warmly
advocated in those discussions at the
council-board, in one of which his dis-
respectful manner extracted one of her
habitual oaths and a box from the
withered hand of his royal mistress;
yet these commands, however explicit,
and however obvious the end to be
attained, were, through some unaccount-
able infatuation, wholly overlooked by
this unfortunate favorite of Elizabeth.
Essex issued a proclamation on his
arrival, offering pardon and restoration of
their property to such of the Ii'ish as sub-
mitted, but very few availed themselves
of the proffered favors. He sent rein-
forcements to the garrisons of Carrickfer-
gus, Newry, Dundalk, Drogheda, Wick-
low, and Naas ; and then instead of
marching with the main body of his
432
REIGN OF ELIZABETH.
army towards Ulster, he proceeded to
the south with 7,000 of his best soldiers.
He was repeatedly attacked along the
]-oute by Owny* O'More and the other
Leinster Confederates; and in one of
these conflicts, at a place called Bearna-
na-gCleti, or, the gap or defile of the
feathers, from the number of plumes
collected there after the battle, he lost,
according to O'Sullevan Beare, five hun-
dred men. In Orraond Lord Mount-
garrett made his submission, and Essex
then besieged the castle of Cahir, which
was held by another of the insurgent
Butlers, and was surrendered after part
of the building had been demolished.
Sir Thomas Norris, president of Munster,
while waiting for the viceroy, at Kil-
mallock exercised his men in forays
against the Irish ; but in one of these
he was mortally wounded by Thomas
Burke, brother of the baron of Castle-
connell, and died a few weeks after at
Mallow.f Near Limerick, Essex, who
was accompanied on this expedition by
the earl of Ormond, was joined by Sir
Conyers Clifford, president of Con-
naught, the earls of Thomond and
Clani'ickard, and Donough O'Conor
Sligo. Clifford and Clanrickard, re-
turned to Connanght, and Essex with
tlie other commanders marched against
the Geraldines, who gave them a warmer
reception than was anticipated. After
some hard fighting, in his second day's
maj-ch from Limerick, the viceroy
pitched his camp a little to the east of
Askeaton ; and having succeeded in
conveying some ammunition to that
garrison, he was again attacked in
marching to Adare, at a place called
Finneterstown, where he lost several
men, among othei-s Sir Henry Norris.
Then, without even attempting any
further service with his fine army, he
returned by a circuitous route, through
Fermoy and Lismore, into Leinster;
the Geraldines hovering on his rear
and cutting off several of his men
in the early part of the march, while
the Leinster insurgents were equally
unmerciful to him in the latter portion
of it.
O'Conor Sligo, on returning from
Munster, was blockaded in his only
remaining castle of Coloony, by O'Don-
nell, and Essex directed Sir Conyei's
Clifford to hasten with all his available
forces to relieve him, and to dispatch
by sea, fi-om Galway, materials for the
construction and fortification of a strong
castle at Sligo, to defend that passage
against the men of Tirconnell. Clifford
pioceeded to obey these orders, and
while the naval expedition sailed round
the coast, under the command of Theo-
bald-na-long, he, himself, with a welb
appointed army, advanced from Ath-
lone toAvards the Curlieu mountains,
beyond which in the famous pass of Ba)
laghboy, Red Hugh O'Donnell awaited
him, with such men as he could spare,
after leaving a sufficient force under
his kinsman, Niall Garv O'Donnell, to
* The Irish name Uaithno is sometimes anglicized
Anthony, but more frequently Owny.
t O'Sullevan Beare places the death of Sir Thomas
Norriis two years earlier.
VICEROTALTY OF ESSEX.
433
continue the blockade of Coloony
castle.
The eve of the 15th of August was
passed by Red Hugh in fasting and
j)rayer, and on the morning of that
festival of the Blessed Virgin mass
was celebrated in the Iiish camp, and
the Holy Communion administered to
O'Donnell and several of his men. The
day was already far advanced when
the Irish scouts from the hill-tops
signalled the approach of the rojal
army from the a})bey of Boyle, where
it had encamped the previous night;
and O'Donnell having addressed his
peoj)le in a few spii-it-stirring words,
invoking all the religious ideas which
the occasion suggested, to encoui'age
them, sent the youngest and most ath-
letic of his men, armed with javelins,
bows, and muskets, to attack the enemy
as soon as they should reach the I'ugged
part of the mountain, the way having
been ali'eady impeded by felled trees
and other obstructions ; while he him-
self followed with the remainder of his
small force, marching with a steady
pace, and more heavily armed for close
fighting. The English say that Sir
Conyers Clifford was deceived and did
not expect any resistance here ; but,
that a quai'ter of a mile before he en-
tered the defde he found a bai-ricade
defended by some of the Irish, who ran
as soon as they discharged their javelins
and other missiles. The J^nglish army
* O'SuUevan probably exaggerates the lose of the
queen's forces, although Fynes Moryson, who passes
very lightly over this battle, decidedly underrates it
55
continued to advance in a solid column
by a i-oad which permitted twelve men
to march abreast, and which led through
a small wood, and then thi-ough some
bogs, where the Irish made their prin-
cipal stand. It is clear that the latter
behaved with desperate bravery from
the outset. Their musketeers were few,
but they made up for the smallness of
their number by the steadiness of their
aim. Several English officers fell, and
the Irish fought with such fury that the
English leaders had great difficulty in
bringing their men to the charge. Sir
Alexander Radcliff was slain early in
in the fight, and the English vanguard
was soon after thi-own into such disor-
der that it fell back upon the centre,
and in a little while the whole army
was flying panic-stricken from the field.
Indignant at the ignominicms retreat of
his troops. Sir Conyei-s Clifford refused
to join the flying throng, and breaking
from those who would have forced him
from the field, even after he was wound-
ed, he sought his death from the foe.
The Four Masters say he was killed by
a musket ball, but according to O'Sul-
levan Beare and Dymmock, he was
pierced through the body with a spear.
O'Rourke, who was encamped to the
eiist of the Curlieus, arrived -vith his
hosting in time to join in the pursuit
and slaughter of the queen's army, which
lost, according to O'Sullevan, 1,400
men ;* the English and the Anglo-Irish
when he says that the English lost only 130 men. John
Dymmock, a contemporary writer, in his " Brief Kela-
tion of the Defeat in the Corleus," state? that beside*
434
REIGN OF ELIZABETH.
of Meath having suffei-ed most, as the
Ooniianght royalists were better able
to avail themselves of the nature of the
countrj^ in the flight. The body of
Cliiford was recognized, after the battle,
by O'Ronrke, and his death excited a
feeling of regret among the Irish, who
esteemed him for his exalted principles
of honor and humanity. His .decapi-
tated body was sent to be honorably
interred in the old monastery of the
Holy Trinity, in Lough Key, and his
head was taken to Coloony, and shown
to O'Conor, who, on receiving this evi-
dence of the failure of his friends to
relieve him, surrendered his castle to
O'DonnelljWrho magnanimously restored
his lands to the fallen chief, together
with cattle to stock them. Red Hugh
and his late foe seemed now to be
on friendly terms, and Theobald-na-
long, before returning with his fleet to
Gal way, also made peace with the
triumphant chief of Tirconnell.
Essex had been wi-iting to Elizabeth
repoj'ts of his experience in the aflfairs
of Ireland which quite exhausted her
patience. Slie was amazed at the inca-
pacity and infatuation which he mani-
fested ; and his enemies, who were
numerous in the council, and who had
originally encoui-aged his appointment
to the government of Ireland in the
hope that it would lead to his destruc-
tion, besides removing him from the
court, where his personal influence with
the queen was so powerful, now secretly
rejoiced at every fresh evidence of his
folly. His splendid ai-my was wasted
away to a few thousand men, and he
wrote to England for two thousand
fresh troops, without which he said he
could take no step against the Ulster
chiefs. The reinforcement he demanded
came, and he then wrote over to say he
could do no more that year than march
to the frontier of Ulster with 1,300 foot
and 300 horse. When Essex arrived
at the Lagan, where it bounds Louth
and Monaghan, O'Neill appeared with
his forces on the opposite hills. The
chief of Tyrone sent O'Hagan to de-
mand a confeience, which the aspiring
viceroy at first refused but next day
consented to grant. This memorable
meeting took place at Ballyclinch, now
Anaghclart-bridge, on the Lagan. Essex
cautiously sent persons first to explore
the place, and then posting some cavalry
on a rising ground at hand, i-ode alone
to the bank of the river. O'Neill ap-
proached unattended on the opposite
side, and uiging his steed into the
stream, up to the saddle-girths, saluted
the officers, there were slain two hundred men, whom
he calls " base and cowardlye raskalls" because they
ran from the Irish, — See Irish Archspological Society's
Tracts for 1843. D\Tnmock adds that the rest of the
royal army would have inevitably perished had not Sir
Griffin Markham charged the pursuers with Lord South-
ampton's cavalry, and thus covered the retreat to Boyle
Abbey. The English, according to their own accounts,
broaght 2,100 men into the field, under twenty-five en-
signs, and lost all their military stores, and nearly all
their arms, colors, &c. The Irish, whose loss is stated
by O'Sullevan to have been only 1 40 killed and wounded,
gave thanks to God and the Blessed V^irgin, attributing
their victory, with such inequality of numbers and
equipments, to the special intervention of heaven. — Seo
O'Sullevan's Hist. Cath., torn. 3 lib. 5, c. x. ; Cucogry
celery's Life of Hugh Roe O'Donnell, MS. ; and notes
to the Four Masters, vol. vi., pp. 2124, &c
O'NEILL'S EXPEDITION TO MUNSTER.
435
the viceroy, says Caimlen, with great
respect. Tlie interview lasted nearly
an hour without witnesses, and it hiis
been genei'ally sujjposed that during
that time O'Neill, who possessed a pro-
found knowledge of character, was aide
to make on the mind of the vain and
ambitious Essex an impression by no
means favorable to English interests.
The meeting was then, after a pause,
resumed, with the addition of six lead-
ing men on each side; and the result
was a truce until the Ist of the ensuing
May, with a clause that either party
might at any time renew the war, after
a ft)rtnight's notice. It is evident that
O'Neill's tone at the meeting was higher
and more decisive than English writers
pretend, for he demand(!d that the
Catholic religion be tolerated ; that the
principal officei'S of state and the judges
should be natives of Ireland ; that he
himself, O'Donnell, and the earl of Des-
mond (whom O'Neill had cieated)
fihould enjoy the lands of their ances-
tor ; and that half the army in Ireland
should consist of Irishmen.
This conference hastened the down-
fall of Essex. He left Ireland suddenly,
and without permission, to exjflain his
conduct, and on presenting himself
before the queen was thi wn into
•Essex appears to have been more tolerant to the
Irish Catholics than liis predecessors. He allowed the
public celebration of masa in chapels and other Iiouses,
although not in the parish churches. He also conferred
honors on some Catholics, and liN-ruted some priests
from prison ; such being the extent of the Uileration
granted to Catholics in return for tlie loyalty dis])layi'd
oy so many of them who fought, under the standard of
prison. His subsequent proceedings—
his insane attempt to cause a popular
outbreak, his trial, his execution in the
tower on the 25th of February, 1601,
and Elizabeth's remorse and sorrow, are
familiar to evei'y reader of English
history.*
A.D. 1600. — In the undisturbed pos-
session of its native princes, Ulstei- had
now enjoyed some yeai's of internal
peace, and O'Neill resolved to make a
journey to the south, that he might as-
certain, by his own observation, what
were the hopes and prospects of the
country. For this purpose, having left
gari-isons at the principal points along
his own frontier, he set out in January
with a force of nearly 3,000 men. He
marched through Westmeath, wasting,
as he passed, the lands of Lord Delvin
and Theobald Dillon, till their owners
submitted to him. He next ravaged
the territory of O'Carroll of Ely, to
punish him for the base mui'der of some
of the MacMahons, of Oriel, whom he
had slain, after inviting them into his
service as soldiers. He then continued
his march by Roscrea and the pi'esent
Templemore, to the abbey of Holy
Cross, where the sacred I'elic, whence
that monasteiy took its name, was
brought forth and venei'ated by the
Elizabeth. See primate Lombard's Commentaria, p. 4X3,
&c., and O'SulIevans Hut. Cath.. p. 206, note, ed. 1850.
Captain Thomas Lee, who wrote in 1594 " a brief declar-
ation of the government of. Ireland," &c., became a der
voted partisan of the earl of Essex, and was implicated
in some of the insane plots of that nobleman after hii
departure from Ireland, for which 1 e was anested in
the palace, tried, and hanged at Tyburn.
436
REIGN OF ELIZABETH.
liortliern chief and his ai'iuy ; O'Neill
presenting many rich gifts to the monks,
and extending his protection to the
lands of the abbey. The eaid of Or-
niond, at the head of the royal army,
approached O'Neill in his passage
through Eliogarty, but avoided a colli-
sion. At Cashel James FitzThomas,
whom he had created earl of Desmond,
joined O'Neill with some men, and'
accompanied him through the county
of Limerick, into Cork, by the pass of
Bearua-dhearg, or Red Chair. O'Neill
laid waste the lands of the loyalist loi-d
Barry, but those of the Roches, and
other friendly families, wei-e respected ;
and, in the beginning of March he en-
camped at Inishcarra, between the rivers
Lee and Bandou, about eight miles from
Coi'k ; whei-e he remained twenty days,
during which Florence MacCarthy, of
Carberry, together with the O'Dono-
hoes, O'Donovans, Donnell O'SuUevan
Beare, the O'Mahonys, and others,
either submitted and paid homage to
him in person, as our annalists say, or
sent tokens of submission and presents.
While O'Neill was thus encamped at
Liishcarra it happened that one of his
most valiant warriors, Hugh Maguire,
while exploring the countrjf, accompar
nied only by a priest and two horsemen
named MacCaffry and O'Durneen, met
Sir Warhara Sentleger, president of
Munster, liding in advance of a part}'
* Such is the account given by O'Sullevan Beare of
this encounter. The English say the meeting was acci-
di-ntal ; but the Irish assurt that Sentleger had informa-
tion that Ma^re wan attended only by a small party,
of sixty horse. Maguire was renowned
among the Ii'ish for his prowess and
skill as a champion, and Sir Warhara
enjoyed the same reputation among the
English. Not dismayed by the number
of the enemy, the Irish chief, poising
his spear, spuired his horse towards
Sentleger, but the latter fii-ed a pistol
and wounded him mortally as he ap-
proached. Maguire still urged his
horse ouward, and transfixed Sentleger
with his spear, while the latter exposed
himself by turning his head to avoid,
the blow. Then, leaving the weapon
in the body of his antagonist, he drew
his sword and fouglit his way through
the English cavalry, returning to the
camp of O'Neill, where he expired, after
receiving the last sacraments from the
intrepid priest who had witnessed the
struggle. Sentleger survived the com-
bat only a few days.*
The death of Maguire, aud the news
that a new viceroy was marching against
him from Dublin, determined O'Neill
to withdraw rather precipitately from
Munster. The new English governor
was Sir Charles Blunt, Lord Mountjoy,
who airived at Howth, with the title of
lord deputy, on the 24th of February.
He was known to Elizabeth as a man
of prudence and experience, and had
been designed by her for the oflice
before she made the imprudent choice
of her favorite Essex. Mountjoy was
and, therefore, had come out from Cork with the design
of cutting ofiT the Irish warrior. Compare the Pacata
Hibernia with the Four Masters, and O'Sullevan's Hint.
Cath.
CAPTURE OF THE EARL OF ORMOND.
437
accompanied by Sir Geoi-ge Carew, or
Cai-ey, soon after appointed to succeed
Sir Warham Sentleger as president of
]\Iunster; and, while the earls of Or-
mond and Thomoud guarded the passes
near Limerick and west of the Shannon,
he thought he should find it easy to cut
off O'Neill's retreat to Ulster. In this,
however, he was mistaken. Notwith-
standing the precautions taken to inter-
cept his mai'ch, O'Neill arrived in Ty-
rone without meeting the slightest ob-
stacle, having left some forces with
Dermot O'Conor Don and Redmond
Burke to aid the eai-1 of Desmond in
carrying on the war in Muster. . O'Neill's
position was now, in some respects, that
of uncrowned king of Ireland. The
fame of his victory at the Blackwater
had spread throughout the continent,
and had given the best contradiction to
the talse reports industriously circulated
by the English government, of the total
subjugation of the Irish. Matthew of
Oviedo, a Spaniard, who had been
named archbishop of Dublin by the
Pope, brought fi-oiu the holy father in-
dulgences to all those who had fought
for the Catholic faith in Ireland, and to
O'Neill himself a crown of phoenix
feathers : while from Philip III., who
had succeeded Philip II., as king of
Spain, in 1598, he brought a sum of
22,000 golden pieces to pay the Irish
soldiers.*
* Tlio letter of Clement VIII. to O'NeLll is dated Rome,
April lOth, ICiOO, and could not have been conveyed to
him by Matthew of Ovicdo until some liiue after his re-
turn from the M uuster expedition ; but a Spanish captain
Meantime, Owny O'More fought with
great bravery and frequent success,
against the royal troops, in defence of
his ancestral territory of Leix. Ormond
came to a conference with him a few
miles from Kilkenny, and was attended,
at the interview, by the earl of Tho-
mond and Sir Geoi-ge Carew. Father
James Archer, an Irish Jesuit, famous
for his hei'oic zeal in the cause of I'e-
ligion and his country, accompanied
O'More, and entered into an animated
discussion with Ormond. They spoke
in English, and as their words were
warm, the earl calling the father a
traitor, while the latter, who was old
and unarmed, emphatically raised his
cane, a young man named Melaghlin
O'More, di'eading, perhaps, some vio-
lence to the priest, I'ushed forwai-d and
seized th% reins of the earl's horse,
and, almost at the same moment, one
or two other Irishmen pulled the earl
from his saddle. The earl of Thomoud
and Sir George Carew immediately
put spurs to their steeds, and getting
clear of the throng which gathered
ai'ouud, escaped to Kilkenny ; but, in
the melee which took place, one man was
slain on each side, and fourteen of Or-
mond's people made prisoners. The
Irish accounts do not intimate that the
affair was premeditated, while the Eng-
lish not only assert that it was, but
would lead us to suppose that it was
had arrived, with two ships, immediately after O'Neill's
conference with Essex. C<;rda, or Ijcrda, another envoy
from the king of Spiiin. arrived in the l>eglnning of 1 Ii03.
Luinbard, p. 452 ; O'SuMmn p. -12, n. It is possible
438
REIGN OF ELIZABETH.
pi'e-ananged with Ormoud himself.
Tlie eail appears to liave acted rashly,
but it is impossible to suggest any rea-
sonable object he could have in surren-
dering himself to the Irish. He re-
mained in their hands from the 10th of
April, the day of the meeting, until the
12th of J.une, when he was set at lib-
erty at the desire of O'Neill, to whom
the countess of Ormond applied for his
liberation; and Mouutjoy, who was
iealous that the military command had
not been withdrawn from Ormond,
would, probably, have been well pleased
had he remained a captive.*
Sir George Carew prided himself on
his powers of " wit and cunning." In
the " Pacata Hibernia," he or his secre-
taiy, Stafford, has left us many curious
and frightful examples of his subtlety.
Indeed, craft and treacheuy seem to
have been in such constant requisition
on the royal side in these wars, that we
can set but little value on any charges
made against the Irish of employing
the same unworthy weapons. Some of
Carew's i-efined strokes of policy now
present themselves. Dej-mot O'Conor,
who has been already mentioned, and
who commanded 1,400 bonnaught^nen,
or mercenary soldiers, chiefly from Con-
naught, in the service of James Fitz-
Thomas, whom we may here designate
that the present called the phoenix feather was simi-
lar to that sent by a former pontiff to Prince John,
on his being made nominal king of Ireland. Vide
mpm, p. 230, a.
* The Four Masters say the capture of Ormond took
place at Ballyragget (Bel-atharRaghat) ; and, in the
Pacata Uiberiiia, the place is called Corronneduffe.
by his popular though derisive title o\
the "sugane earl," was married to Mar
garet, daugliter of the late unfortunate
earl of Desmond. This lady naturallj
disliked the sugane earl as the usurper
of her brothei-'s rights. To her, there-
fore, the lord president proposed, chief
ly through the agency of Miler Ma-
grath, the Protestant archbishop of
Cashel, that her husband should take
the sugane earl prisoner, and deliver
him into his (the president's) hands,
for which act a sum of £1,000 and 8
commission in the queen's pay would
be his rewai-d. Other conditions flat-
tei-ing to her and hei- brother, who
from his childhood had been in the
queen's custody in London, were added,
and the Lady Margaret prevailed upon
her husband to accept the lord presi
dent's proposition. About the same
time, a miscreant named Nugent, who
had first been servant to Sir Thomas
Norris, and had then tui'ned over to
the insurgents, presented himself to
Caiew, and oftered, as the price of his
pardon, to assassinate either the sugane
earl or his brother John. A plot hav-
ing been already laid against the former,
Nugent was instructed to murder John ;
but when in the act of levelhng his
pistol at John's back, he was seized,
and being sentenced by the Irish lead-
See in the latter work, lib. i., c. iii., the joint account of
the affair given by Carew and the earl of Thomond ;
also, O'SuUevan's Hist. Oath., torn, iii., lib. v., c. viii., p. ;
Lombard's Comment., pp. 436, &c. ; and Ledwich, p.
375, 2d ed.
Ormond gave sixteen hostages for the payment of
£3,000, should he seek any retaliation.
DEATH OF OWNY O'MORE.
439
ers to die, he confessed his design, add-
ing that the president had hired several
others, who were sworn to commit the
deed, Carew then proceeded to carry
out his scheme against the siigane earl.
He dispersed his troops among differ-
ent garrisons, to give the Irish confi-
dence, and then wrote a feigned letter
to his intended victim, implying that
an understanding existed between them,
and that there was a plan which he
uiged him to execute for delivering up
Dermot O'Conor dead or alive ! This
letter was conveyed to Dermot, who
pretended that he had intercepted it,
and made it a pretext to seize the su-
gane earl, after employing some inge-
nious excuses to separate him from his
followers. This was effected on the
18th of June. Dermot arrested the
sugane earl in the name of O'Neill;
produced the counterfeit correspon-
dence; and charged the earl and hii
brother John with treason to the Cath
olio cause. He then imprisoned his
captive in Castlelishin,* and sent intel-
ligence of his success to Carew, addin,
that he was ready to deliver to him
James FitzThomas as soon as he was
paid the stipulated reward. However,
before this part of the dastardly scheme
could be executed, John FitzThomas
and Pierce Lacy, peneti'ating O'Conor's
bfiseness, mustered 4,000 men and res-
cued the sugane earl; whereupon O'Con-
or was obliged to withdraw with his
provincials into his own country. Thus
the plan failed in its primary object,
but it had the effect of breaking up
the confederacy which O'Neill had es-
tablished in Munster.f
Early in July the castle of Glin, on
the banks of the Shannon, was taken
after an obstinate defence, and the gar-
rison put to the sword, by Sir George
Carew and the earl of Thomond, who
marched on the Clare side of the
river fi'om Limerick, and crossing at
a convenient point attacked the castle
with ordnance conveyed by shipping.
O'Connor Kerry then surrendei-ed his
castle of Cai'riagafoyle, and the popula-
tion of Desmond in general having fled
to the woods and mountains, the presi-
dent planted gai'risons in their castles
and returned with the earl of Thomond
to Limerick; while in a short time the
sugane earl found himself abandoned
by the great bulk of his followers,
who made theii- submission to govern-
ment.
During this time Lord INIountjoy was
engaged in making some incui-sions to
the borders of Tyrone, and in cari-ying
on a war of extermination against the
people of Leix, who, under their brave
chieftain, Owny O'More, had recovered
all their ancestral possessions except
Port-Leix, or Maryborough ; but the
intre])id Owny, having exposed himself
incautiously, was killed by a musket-
shot, on the 17th of August, and Leix
* In the townland of Castle-Ishjn, parish of Knock-
temple, county of Cork, not far from the borders of the
county of Umenck.—Four Masters, p. 2173, note.
t St-e all the details of these base plans related with
shameless i)arade in the Pacata Hiberitia, pp. (55, 91,
97, 193, ed. 1810.
440
REIGN OF ELIZABETH.
fell once more into the bands of the
invaders.*
Elizabeth's wily secretary, Cecil, be-
thought himself of a plan to render the
youthful James, son of Gerald, earl of
Desmond, useful in the present Irish
war. For this purpose it was resolved
that he should be released from his
captivity for a space, and sent over to
Ireland, apparently, but not really, re-
stored to his title and inheritance, in
order to draw off the followers of his
house from the usurper, James Fitz-
Thomas. Great precaution was em-
ployed. A letter was written in the
queen's name to Sir George Carew, to
whom also were sent the patents for
the young earl's restoration, to be used
only as might be found expedient.
Reports of the expected arrival of the
Geraldine were circulated ; a servant
wearing the well-known livery of the
fiimily was sent through the country
with the news; and at length, on the
14th of October, the young earl landed
at Youghal, attended by a Captain
Price, who was directed to watch all
his movements, and to report cai-eful-
]y every circumstance to government.
From Youghal he proceeded to Mallow,
* We are told by Fynes Moryson, who was Mounts
joy's secretary, that when the government troops pene-
trated into Leix, on this occasion, they fViund the land
well manured, the fields well fenced, the towns populous,
and the roads and pathways well beaten, so that it
seemed incredible, as he insolently observes, that this
should have been done " by so barbarous inhabitants ;"
and he adds, " the reason whereof was, that the queens
forces, during these wars, never, till then, came amongst
them." They came, alas ! soon enough, for the same
historian tells us, "our captains, and by their example,
the common soldiers, did cut down with their sword all
where he was met by the lord presi-
dent, Cai'ew; and thence accompanied
by Miler Magrath and Master Boyle —
then clerk of the council, and after-
wards the great earl of Cork — he went
to Kilmallock, whither the people
flocked in great multitudes, not only
filling the streets and the windows, but
the vei-y roofs of the houses, to greet
the heir of ancient Desmond. It re-
quired the efforts of a guai'd of soldiei'S
to make a passage for him through the
crowd ; but this popular enthusiasm
was soon rudely checked. The next
morning being Sunday, the young earl,
who was educated in the religion of
the State, went to the Protestant ser-
vice ; numbers, who met him on the
way, implored him in Irish, not to
desert the faith of his fathers ; but the
sad truth now broke upon them — the
son of the earl of Desmond was a rene-
gade, and those who saluted him with
reverence and affection the day before,
groaned and reviled him as he returned
from the Protestant church. Shunned
by the people, the unhappy youth, be-
ing useless to his employers, was recalled
to his London exile, where he sunk into
the grave a few months after.f
the rebels' corn, to the value of £10,000 and upwards
the only means by which they were to live." Who
were the barbarians in this Instance ? — the men who, in
a few short years of precarious security, gave such evi-
dence of industry and progress, or Mountjoy's soldiers?
About this time the same viceroy invaded Ofl'aly, and
with a kind of harrows called praeas, constructed with
long pins, tore up from the roots all the unripe corn, and
thus prepared the way for one of the most horrible fam-
ines which ever visited this unhappy country. — See Four
Masters, vol. vi., p. 3187.
t The young earl of Desmond got possession of Castle-
DOCWRA'S EXPEDITION- TO LOUGU FOYLE.
441
We have now to go back a little, ia
point of time, in order to trace the
progress of events in Ulster. On the
IGth of May a fleet arrived in Lough
Foyle from England, having touched,
ill its passage, at Carrickfergus, to take
up some troops that had marched from
Dublin. This fleet conveyed an army
of 4,000 foot and 200 horse, under the
command of Sir Heniy Docwra, to-
g.ether with lai-ge supplies of military
stores, building materials, and other
necessaries. The troops disembarked at
Culmore, on the Donegal side of the
bay, and constructed a fort there, in
which Captain Lancelot Atford was
left with six hundred men ; and after
visiting Ellogh, or Aileach, where Cap-
tain Ellis Flood was placed Avith 150
men. Sir Henry marched on the 22d to
Deny, where he resolved to erect two
forts, and to make a chief plantation.
His buildings were constructed chiefly
from the materials of the ancient
churches which he found there, and of
the monastery of St. Columbkille. Lord
maine for tlie president through his influence, with the
warders, but this was the only service which lie was
able to perform ; and Listowel, the last castle held for
the sugane earl, was taken by Sir Charles Wilmot, in
November. See Pacata Hib. b. i., c. xvi. Coimscted
with this visit of the young earl to Irc-.and, we find a
remarkable instance of retribution in the case of the
traitor Dermot O'Conor Don. O'Conor being married
to the sister of the young earl of Desmond, wished to
visit his broUier-in-law on liis arrival in Munster, and
for this purpose procured safe-conducts from the lord
deputy and from Sir George C'arew. Thus prepared,
and accompanied by an escort of armed men, he set out
from the country of O'Conor Roe ; but in his route to-
wards Thomond, he was attacked near Gort, in the
county of Gahvay, by Theobald-na-long, who had the
rommand of a hundred men in the queen's pay. Der-
moi and his party sought refuge in a church, but Theo-
Mountjoy made a feint of entering Ty-
rone by the Blackwater, and thus drew
ofi^ the attention of O'Neill and O'Don-
nell, until Docwra's expedition had
secured the required ground, when the
deputy returned to Dublin,* and the
L'ish chiefs hastened to attack the in-
vaders at Lough Foyle. The latter only
stood on the defensive, and, having
intrenched themselves behind strong
works, were able to resist the assaults
of the L-ish with little loss. A part of
the original plan was, that one thou-
sand foot and fifty horse, under the
command of Captain Mathew Morgan,
should be detached from the expedition
and sail to Ballyshannon, to form an-
other fort there; but this idea was
abandoned, and all the troops were
found few enough for Docwra's enter-
prise. Their ranks were soon greatly
strengthened by the accession of some
renegade Irish, the first to come in be-
ing Art O'lSTeill, son of Turlough Luin-
each, who joined Docwra, with a few
followers on the first of June.
bald set fire to the building, slew about forty of Dermot 's
men as they issued from the burning pUe, and having
taken the. traitor himself prisoner, had him beheaded
the following day. Theobald may have been actuated
by some patriotic motive in this proceeding, but he ex-
cused himself on the plea that he only avenged the
death of a kinsman, Lord Burke, who was slain by
O'Conor in Munster. The act greatly annoyed the gov-
ernment, and he was deprived of the queen's comrais
sion. — See Pacata Sib., b. i., c. svii.
* The lord deputy marched to the confines of Tyrone,
in May, July, and September, this year. On the last of
these occasions he was repulsed by O'Neill, at the Moyry
Pass, between Dundalk and Ncwry ; but, owing to some
remissness on the side of the Irish, he penetrated soon
after beyond the pass. Ucre, however, he was vigorous-
ly attacked by O'Neill, and returned to Dublin without
effecting any object for that time.
442
REIGX OF ELIZABETH.
Red Hugh O'Donnell soon grew
wenry of the slow work of besieging
tlie Eiiglisli in their forts at Lough
Foj'le. His taste was for a inoi-e
active and desultory warfare, and leav-
ing the task of watching the move-
ments of Docwra to Niall Garv O'Don-
nell and O'Doherty of Inishowen he
set out himself, with the hosting of
North Connaught, and such men as
could be s])ared from Tirconnell, and
marched into the territories of Clan-
rickard and Thomond. His plundering
parties visited almost the whole of
Clare, and the work of pillage having
been completed without any opposition,
by the 24th of June, he returned home.
On the 28th of that month some Eng-
lish troops were defeated, and their
leader, Sir John Chamberlaine, slain in
an attack on O'Doherty ; and, on the
29th of July, O'Donnell drove off from
their pasture before Derry, a great
number of the English horses, and re-
pulsed Sir Henry Docwra, who went in
pursuit with a strong force; Docwra
himself receiving a wound in the foi-e-
head, which obliged him to return to
his fortress.
In October, O'Donnell set out on an-
other plundering excursion to Thomond,
leaving the command at home to his
kinsman and brother-in-law, Niall Garv ;
but Niall, who was the son of Con, son
of Calvagh O'Donnell, turned traitor
and went over to the English, -with his
three brothei-s, Hugh Boy, Donnell, and
• Mageoglian snys it -was by these vessels that Matli-
of Oviedo and Cerda ari;ved in Ireland
Con. Niall marched with one thousand
men to Lifford, which he took for the
English, who set about constructing a
fort there ; and Red Hugh heaiing of
this defection before he had passed Bal-
lymote, hastened back and besieged his
false cousin in Lifford. Thus he re-
mained thirty days, when he thought
it time to secure his army in winter-
quarters. Two Spanish ships arrived
off the Connaught coast, about Christ-
mas, and put into the harbor of Killi-
begs, at the desire of O'Donnell, who
sent immediate notice to O'Neill. The
latter hastened to Donegal, where the
treasure and military stores sent to
them from Spain were divided among
the two chiefs and their adherents.*
During the winter various services
were rendered to the English by their
new adherents, Niall Garv O'Donnell
and Art O'Neill ; so that Docwra con-
fesses that but for the " intelligence and
guidance" of these L'ish allies, little or
nothing could have been done by the
English troops at Lough Foyle.f
A. D. 1601. — Disasters now began to
rain thickly upon the Ii-ish in every
part of the country. Mountjoy once
more crossed the Pass of Moyry, in
June, this year, through the negligence
of the Irish, and erected a strong castle
on the northern side. He next mai'ched
beyond Slieve Fuaid and the Black-
water, burning and destroying the crops
as he passed. From this he threatened
O'Neill's castle of Benburb, but en-
f See Docwra's Narrat'u
luy of the Celtic Society.
published in tlie Miucul-
DECLINING POWER OF THE IRISH.
443
countering a desperate resistance on liis
niarcli,lie returned to Dublin in August,
aftei- placing gariisons at several strong
])(}ints. Twice did Mountjoy proclaim
O'Neill. lie offered a reward of £2,000
to any one who would capture liira
alive, and £1,000 for Lis head ; yet, the
English writers complain that these
promises did not induce a single Irish-
man to raise his hand against the sacred
person of his chief. An Englishman,
however, whose name is not mentioned,
undertook to assassinate O'Neill, and
obtained, for that purpose, from Sir
Charles Danvers, governor of Armagh,
leave +o pass the English sentinels, on
his way to Tyrone's camp. The assas-
sin subsequently boasted that he had
drawn his sword to slay the chief. But,
he M-as pronounced to be of unsound
mind, " although," says the lord deputy,
" not the less fit on that account for
such a ])urpose."
The wretched sugane earl sent his
brother John, and Pierce Lacy, to
Ulster, to sue for aid from O'Neill, while
he himself, deserted by all his followers,
save a poor harper named Dermot
O'Dugan, sought lefuge in the wilds of
Aherlow. He was chased from this
place, and subsequently taken in a cave
by his old adherent, the white knight,
who delivered him to Sir George Carew,
for a reward of £1,000. He was then
tried at Cork, and convicted of high
treason, but his life was spared, lest his
brother, John, should be set up as earl
after him ; and, about the end of Au-
gust, he was sent in chains to London,
along with Fineen, or Florence, MacCar-
thy, who had placed himself incautiously
in the hands of the president. Both were
confined in the tower until their death.
In Connaught, Ulick, earl of Clan-
rickard, who was such an exemplary
loyalist from the time he murdered his
brother, died, and was succeeded by his
son Rickard, who became a most active
leader in the queen's sei'vice. Some of
the smaller chieftains in Tirconnell went
over to the English, and O'Donnell was
kept in constant motion by enemies on
every side. The young earl of Clan-
rickard marched against iiim, but was
compelled to retire; and Niall Garv was
next sent by Docwra, with five hundred
English troops, to occupy the monasteiy
of Donegal, where he was' besieged by
Red Hugh.* Ou the evening of the
29th of September, some gunpowder in
the monastery having exploded, the
buildimj took fire, and this was a sicrnal
♦ F. Donatus Moony, who was the sacristan of the
Donegal monastery, and afterwards provincial of his
order for Ireland, gives, in his MS. history of the Irish
Franciscans, compiled in 1017, some curious details of
the arrival of tho English soldiers at Donegal, and of
til e siege which followed. Up to that time there were
forty brothers in the house, and tho sacred ceremonies
were performed there with great solemnity. lie enu-
merates the suits of vestments, many of which were
of cloth of gold or silver ; and tho sacred utensils,
among which were sixteen large chalices of silver, only
two of which were not gilt. Notice being received of
the approach of the military, all those valuables were
removed in a boat to a place of safety in the woods, but
in some time after they fell into tho liands of Oliver
Lambert, when governor of Connaught, and were eon-
verted to profane uses. See appendix to O'SulliTan's
Hist. Cath., cd. of 1650.
444
REIGN OF ELIZABETH.
to O'Donnell to attack the garrison. A
struijo^le, of wliicb the horrors were in-
tensified by the conflagration and the
snrronnding darkness, was kept np
during the night, but Niall Garv held
out with indomitable obstinacy. He
was supported by an English ship in
the harbor, and retreated next morning,
with the remnant of his troops, to the
monastery of Mngherabeg, which he
fortified, and defended against the re-
newed attacks of Red Hugh.
The long-expected aid from Spain at
length arrived. A Spanish fleet, con-
veying an army of about 3,000 infantry,
under the command of Don Juan del
Aguila, entered the harbor of Kinsale,
on the 23d of September, and the Eng-
lish garrison Laving i-etired to Cork on
their approach, the Spaniards took pos-
session of the town, and proceeded to
fortify themselves there, and in two
castles which defended the harbor ; that
of Rincorran, on the east, and Castle-ni-
Park, on the west of the mouth. Lord
Mountjoy was at Kilkenny when he re-
ceived news of the invasion, and with
Sir George Carew, lord president of
Munster, hastened to reconnoitre the
enemy. The army, which Carew had
under his command, consisted of 3,000
men, of whom at least 2,000 were Irish ;
and the entire royal army, at this time,
mustered about 7,000 men. The
Sjianiards wei-e not more 1^an about
half the number originally destined for
Ireland ; but ill-luck seemed to attend
this expedition from the beginning.
Owing to the absence of the fleet at
Terceira, its departure was retarded
until the 6,000 men, originally com-
posing the armament, were diminished
to less than 4,000 ; and when the expe-
dition did sail it encountered a storm
that compelled seven of the ships, con-
veying a chief part of the artillery and
military stores, and the arms intended
for distribution to the Irish, to put back
to Corunna. O'Neill and O'Donnell
had besought King Philip to send his
aid to Ulster, where they would be pre-
pared to co-operate with their Spanish
allies, and where a smaller force would
thus suffice, while in Munster they could
give no help ; and yet this small army
was thrown into an inconsiderable port
of the southern province, long after the
war there had been totally extinguished.
Mathew of Oviedo, who arrived in
the Spanish fleet, as well as the general,
del Aguila, sent notice to the northern
chiefs, who, notwithstanding the dis-
tance and the difficulties of so long a
journey in winter, prepared with de-
voted bravery to set out to join their
allies. O'Donnell, with his habitual
ardor, was first on the way. He was
joined by Felim O'Doherty, Mac-
Sweeny-na-tuath, O'Boyle, O'Rourke,
the brother of O'Conor Sligo, the
O'Conor Roe, MacDermot, O'Kelly,
some of the O'Flaherties, William and
Redmond Burke, and others, and mus-
tered about 2,500 hardy men. Fitz-
Maurice of Kerry, and the Knight of
Glin, who had been for some time with
him, were also in this corps. He set out
about the end of October, and had
THE SPANIARDS AT KINSALE,
445
reached Ikerrin, in Tipperaiy, wliere lie
purposed to await O'Neill, when be found
that Sir George Carew was encamped
ill the plains of Cashel, to cut off his
advance to the south, while St. Law-
rence, with the army of the Pale, was
approaching from Leinster, and the
lofty mountains, which lay to west, were
impassable at that season for an army
incumbered with baggage. Fortunate-
ly a frost of unusual intensity set in, and
opened a firm road over the bogs, of
which O'Donnell availed himself; and
by a circuitous route, across Slieve
Phelim, and by the abbey of Owney, he
reached Groom, after a march of thirty-
two Irish miles in one day, on the 23d
of November. Garew, still attempting
to intercept him, only succeeded in
reaching Kilraallock the same day ; but
despairing of being able to cope with
" so swift-footed a general," he rejoined
the lord deputy, then besieging Kin-
sale, and left O'Donnell to pursue his
march.
The English carried on the siege
with great activity during the month
of November, and the Spaniards, on
their side, behaved with admirable
bravery. On the 1st of that month
the besiegers took the castle of Rincor-
ran, and made eighty-six Spaniards
prisoners, besides a number of Irish
" churls," and women and children ; and
on the 20th, Gastle-ui-Park fell into
their hands. The Spaniards made sev-
* The English army was about this time considerably
augmented. Sir Christopher St. Lawrence arrived with
the levy of the Pale ; the earl of Claarickar J, with his re-
eral desperate sorties, in which great
numbers were slain on both sides ; but
as the chief part of their artillery was
in those ships which had put back to
Spain, they had only three or four
cannon to defend the fortifications,
while the English had about twenty
pieces of ordnance constantly playing
on the walls of the town, and an army
which amounted on the 20th, according
to Moryson, to 11,800 foot and 857
horse, but which was probably in the
gross nearer to 15,000 men.* On the
1st of December, a breach having been
made practicable, the English sent for-
ward a storming party of 2,000 men,
who were repulsed with great gallantry
by the Spaniards. On the 3d, the miss-
ing portion of the S2>anish fleet, under
Don Pedro Zubiaur, arrived at Gastle-
haven, some twenty-five Irish miles
west from Kinsale, and landed over
700 men, parties of whom wei'e put in
possession of Fiueen O'Driscoll's castle of
Baltimore, Donuell O'Sullevan Beare's
castle of Dunbo}-, at Bearehaven, and
the fort of Gastlehaven. Part of the
English fleet, under Admiral Sir Rich-
ard Levison, was sent from Kinsale to
attack the Spaniards at Gastlehaven,
and an action ensued on the 6th, the
English losing over 300 men, and be-
ing obliged to return to Kinsale next
day, although IMoryson, as usual, claims
the victory fOr them.
O'Neill, who had tarried on his way
the earl of Thomond with 1,000 men imm
England ; and 2,000 infantry, with some cavalry, which
had been lauded at \Vaterford. wui'o all recent additiona.
446
REIGN OF ELIZABETH.
to phuuler ]\Ie.itli, iit leugth arrived,
<uul on tlie 2 1st of December showed
himself, witli all his forces, on a hill to
the north of Kinsale, about a mile from
the English camp, at a place called
Bel"-oley. His own division must have
been under 4,000 men, seeing that with
O'Donnell's 2,500, O'SuUevan Beare's
retainers, and the few others Avhom
the shattered resources of Munster
could supply, the whole Irish army
amounted, even according to the Eng-
lish accounts, to only 6,000 foot and
500 horse, with 300 Spaniards from
Castlehaven, under Captain Alphonso
Ocampo; while the English force at
this time, allowing for losses, must have
been at least 10,000 strong. The posi-
tion of the English was now veiy crit-
ical. They were losing great numbers
by sickness and desertion, and were so
closely hemmed iu between the Irish
on one side and the town on the other,
that they could procure no fodder for
their liorses, and were threatened with
famine, so that Mountjoy thought seri-
ously of i-aising the siege and retiring
to Cork for the winter. But on the
other hand, the Spaniards in Kinsale
had lost all patience. They had been
in error as to the state of the country,
and learned with chagrin, on their arri-
val, that Florence MacCarthy and the
earl of Desmond were prisoners in Lon-
don; that the Catholics of Munster could
afford them no active co-operation ; and
that a large portion of the army arrayed
against them consisted of Catholic Irish.
Their own shijiping had been sent back
to Spain, and the harbor was block-
aded by an English sqiiadi-on, which
cut off all hope of succor from abroad.
Under these circumstances, Don Juan
del Aguila wrote pressing letters to the
Irish chiefs, importuning them to come
to his assistance without further delay.
He was a brave soldier, but an incom-
petent general ; and in his self-conceit
and ignorance of their real circum-
stances, had conceived a disgust and
pei'sonal enmity for the Irish, that un-
fitted him to act effectively with them.
He urged them to attack the English
camp on a certain night, and promised
on his side to make a sortie in full
force simultaneously; but when this
plan was discussed in the council of the
Irish chiefs, it was opposed by O'Neill,
Avho well knew that with delay the
destruction of the English army by dis-
ease and famine was certain. O'Don-
nell, however, took a different view,
and thought they were bound in honor
to meet the wishes of their allies; and
the majority of the leaders agreeing
with him, the immediate attack was
resolved on.
It happened, for the ill-luck of the
Ii-ish, that Brian MacHugh Oge Mac-
Mahon, whose son had been a page in
England with the president, Carew,
sent a boy, on the night of the 22d of
December, to the English camp to I'e-
quest Captain William Taafe to pro-
cure for him from the president a bot-
tle of aquavitse or usquebagh. The
favor was granted, and next day JVIac-
]\Iahon again sent the boy with a letter
THE BATTT.E OF KINSALE.
447
to thank Carew for his present, and to
warn him of the attack wliicli the Irish
were to make on the Englisli lines that
night. This message, Avhich was con-
firmed by a letter fiom Don Juan,
which the English intercepted, was
acted on, and thns the English were
perfectly prepared against the intended
surprise. After some dispute about
the command — for it would appear that
O'Neill and O'Donnell were not at all
in accord on this ill-concerted enterprise
— the Irish army set out under cover
of the darkness on the night of the 23d
in three divisions. Captain Tyi-rell lead-
ing the vanguard, O'Neill the centre, and
O'Donnell the rear. The obscurity was
broken by frequent flashes of lightning,
but their lurid and fitful glare only
rendered the way more doubtful. The
guides missed their course, and after wan-
dering throughout the night, O'Neill,
accompanied by O'Sullevan and the
Spanish captain, Ocampo, ascended a
small hill at the dawn of day, and saw
the English intrenchments close at
hand, with the men under arms, the
cavalry mounted and iu advance of
their quarters, and all in readiness for
battle. His owu men were at the time
in the utmost disordei-, and O'Donnell's
division was at a considerable distance.
It was therefore determined that the
* Tliia fivtal conflict took pla,ce on tlie morning of tlio
-1th of Uecenibcr, 1001, nccordiug to the old mode of
comimtation, which was still in use among the Englisli,
but on tliiit of the od of January, 1002, according to the
ruformi'd calend;ir, which the Irish and Spaniards had
ad(JiitL-d. Fvnrs Moryson asserts that 1,200 of the Irish
were left d(!ad upon the field, besides those slain iu tlie
attack should, under the circumstances,
be postponed, or, as others say, that
the men should i-etire a little that they
might be put into order; but this
moment of hesitation Avas fatal. The
English cavalry poured out upon them,
and chai'ged the broken masses. For
an hour a portion of the Irish strug-
gled to maintain their ground ; but the
scene was one of frightful carnage and
confusion, and the retreat, which had
actually commenced before the charge,
was soon turned into a total rout.
Ocampo's Spaniards made a gallant
stand ; but he himself was taken pris-
oner, and most of his men were cut to
pieces. O'Donnell's division came at
length into the field, and repulsed a
wing of the English cavalry; but the
panic became general, and in vain did
Red Hugh strain his lungs to rally the
flying multitude. O'Neill exerted his
wonted bravery, but all his efforts were
fruitless. At least a thousand of the
Irish were slain in that disastrous over-
throw, and all of them who were taken
prisoners were hanged without mercy ;
while the loss of the English was very
trifling, and the pureuit Avas only aban-
doned through fear of an ambuscade,
or, as Moryson sa3's, through the fatigue
of the horses, which had been exhaust-
ed for Avant of fodder.*
pursuit ; while on the£ngli»h side, Sir Ricliard Greomo
was killed, and Captains Danvers and Godolphin
wounded; but Camden says that several of the Englisli
were wounded. No reliance, however, can bo placed
on these numbers, and it is probable that the English
loss was much greater than was thus assumed. The
earl of Clanrickard iistinguishud himself by his zeal,
448
REIGN OF ELIZABETH.
A.D. 1602. — The niglit after their de-
feat, the Irish army halted at Iiiishan-
non, near Bandon, and bitter was the
anguish in which their leaders indulged
for the misfortunes of that day. They
attributed it, say the annalists, to the
anger of God, and deemed the number
of the slain a trifling loss compared to
the irreparable injury inflicted on theii-
cause. O'Neill, more especially, was
plunged in the deepest dejection. He
was already advanced in years, and
seemed to have no hope of retrieving
their lost fortunes ; yet gloomy though
killing twenty of the Irish kerne with his own hand,
crying out to " spare no rebel ;" for which services the
lord deputy knighted him on the field. That Mac-
Mahon, who betrayed to the enemy the secret of the
intended attack, may have also hastened the disastrous
flight is not improbable, but history is silent on this
point. Carew, or his secretary, StaflFord, states in the
Pacata Hihcrnia, tliat the carl of Thomond often men-
tioned an old prophecy, which foretold that the Irish
would be defeated near Kinsale, and Moryson says an
old manuscript, containing the prophecy, was shown to
Lord Mountjoy on tlie day of the battle. Both English
and Irish accounts refer to some deception which led
the Irish and Spaniards into error as to their respective
movements ; and the English horsemen, says the Pa-
cata, imagined that they saw " lamps at the points of
their spears" that night. For the details of this un-
fortunate aflair, the reader may consult the Hist. Cath.
Compend. of P. O'SuIlevan Beare, Fynes Morj-son's Eis-
tory of Ireland, the Pacata Hibcrnia, Camden, and the
Four Masters.
* O'Donnell landed at Corunna on the 14th of Janu-
ary, and was received with great honor by the Count
Caracena, governor of Galicia, who treated him as a
prince, and with higher honor than would have been
bestowed on any of the grandees of Spain. The count
presented him at his departure, on the 2Tth, with the
sum of a thousand ducats, and accompanied him as far
as Santa Lucia. Nest day O'Donnell proceeded to the
city of CompostcUa, where the highest honor was paid
to him by the Urchbishop, clergy, and citizens. The
archbishop invited him to lodge in his own palace, but
O'Donnell respectfully declined ; and on the 29th, the
prelate celebrated mass with pontifical solemnity, and
the Holy Sacrament to O'Donnell. He af-
the forebodings of the Irish chiefs must
have been that night, darker far was
the fixte of their country than they
could have foreseen. It was resolved
that O'Donnell should proceed to Spain
to explain their position to King Philip ;
and on the sixth of January, 1602
(new style), that is, three days after
the battle of Kinsale, Red Hugh sailed
in a Spanish ship from Castlehaven,
accompanied by Redmond Burke, Hugh
Mostian or Mostyn, and father Flaithry
or Florence, O'Mulcoury ; and followed
by the loud wailings of his peo^jle.*
terwards entertained the Irish chief at dinner with
great magnificence, and presented him on his departure,
as the count of Caracena had done, with a thousand
ducats. " The king," says F. Patrick Sinnot, an Irish
priest (whose letter from Corunna, relating these cir-
cumstances, to F. Dominic Collins, a Jesuit in the cas-
tle of Dunboy, is published in the Pacata Hibcrnia),
"understanding of O'Donnell's arrival, wrote unto the
Earle of Caraijena concerning the reception of him,
and the aifairs of Ireland, which was one of the most
gracious Letters that ever King directed ; for by it
plainely appeared that hee would endanger his king-
dome to succor the Catholickes of Ireland, for the per-
fecting whereof great preparations were in hand."
O'Donnell repaired to Zamora, where the king then was,
and was graciously received by Philip III., by whose
desire he returned to Corunna, to wait until the prep-
arations for another armament for Ireland could be com-
pleted. Spring and summer wore away, and O'Don-
nell, whose impatience would let him wait no longer,
set out for Valladolid, where the court was then held ;
but fell sick on the way and died at Simancas on the
10th of September, 1G02, in the twenty-ninth year of his
age. IIo was buried in the cathedral of VaUadolid,
where the king caused a suitable monument to bo
erected over him. Thus died one of the most illustri
ous heroes that Ireland had produced, and with him
perished the last hope of succor for his country. In
his last illness he was attended by his confessor, F.
Florence O'Mulconry, or Conroy, and by F. Maurice
ritagh, or Donlevy, both Franciscan friars. The latter
was from the convent of O'DonneU's town of Donegal ;
and the former, who was highly distinguished for his
learning among the schoolmen of Spain, was, in 1610,
made archbishop of Tuam by the pope, and obtained,
CAPITULATION OF THE SPANIARDS.
449
O'Neill returned by a rapid luarcb
to Ulster, and Rory O'Donnell, to whom
the chieftaincy of Tirconnell had been
delegated by his brother, Red Hugh,
proceeded with his followers to North
Connaught. In the mean time Don
Juan del Aguila, after some other fruit-
less sallies, sent proposals of capitulation,
■which were accepted by Mountjoy on
the 2d of January, old style, or the 12th,
new style. They were very honorable
to the Spaniards, who evacuated Kin-
sale with their colors flying, and with
their arms, ammunition, and valuables,
and were to be conveyed back to Spain
on giving up their other garrisons of
Dun^ioy, Baltimore, and Castlehaven.
The siege had lasted for more than ten
weeks, from the l7th of October; and
in it the Spaniards, who displayed great
bravery, lost about 1,000 men ; while
the loss of the English, by fighting and
by disease, must have been at least
4,000 men. Don Juan's chivalry was
of the quixotic kind. He challenged
lord Mountjoy to settle by single com-
bat the questions at issue between king
Philip and Queen Elizabeth ; but the
offer was of course rejected ; and after
the surrender of Kinsale an intimate
fi-iendship grew up between him and
Sir George Carew. The Irish, for whom'
Don Juan expressed contempt, believed
hiin to be guilty of perfidy or cowardice ;
and Donnell O'SuUevan Beare, acting
on this impression, contrived to recover
possession of his own castle of Dunboy,
by causing an aperture to be made in
the wall, and entering it with eighty
men, at the dead of night, while the
Spanish garrison were asleep ; and then
declaring that he held it for the king of
Spain, to whom he had formally trans-
ferred his allegiance. Don Juan was
enraged when he heard of this proceed-
ing, which he considered a violation of
the capitulation, and offered to go him-
self to dispossess O'SuUevan; but
Mountjoy was more desirous for his de-
parture than his assistance, and the
Spaniards re-embarked for their own
country, some on the 20tli of February,
and the remainder on the 16th of March.
Don Juan, on his return, was placed
under arrest, and died of grief.
The castle of Dunboy (Dunbaoi) was
deemed from its position to be almost
impregnable. Situated on a point of
land separated by a narrow channel
from Bear Island, in Bantry Bay, it
could only be approached on the land
side through a vast extent of mountain-
ous aed boggy couutay, while by sea it
was also difiicult of access, owing to the
extreme ruggedness of the coast. Its
capture was therefore regarded as an
enterprise full of danger and difficulties,
and many were the arguments used with
Sir George Carew to dissuade him from
undertaking it. The lord president had
resolvetl, however, upon the project, and
set out from Cork on the 23d of April,
accompanied by the eai'l of Thomond,
who had been sent a little before to re-
in IGIC, from Philip III., tlio foundation of the college
of St. Antliony of P;idua, at Louvain, for Irish FranciR-
07
cans. Sec his life in T. Darcy Mageo's Irish WriCert ;
also in the Iriah Writers of Ware and of O'Reilly.
450
REIGN OF ELIZABETH.
connoitre the Irish position. Carew's
army amounted to about 3,000 men,
although he himself says the efficient
me» Avere not above half that numbei' ;
and to these was soon after added a
force with which Sir Charles Wilmot
had been hunting down the scattered
" rebels" in Keriy, and with which he
had forced his way across Mangerton,
in spite of the resistance of Tyriell.
Various causes protracted Carew's
march and the preparations for the
siege, but especially the delay in the ar-
rival of the shipping which conveyed
the ordnance; so that it was only on
the Ist and 2d of June that the army
landed on Bear Island, and on the 6th
that they crossed to the main land on
the western shore of Bearehaven, and
commenced the operations of the siege.
The defence of the castle was intrusted
by O'Sullevan to Richaixl Mageoghegan,
while O'Sullevan himself and TjM-rell,
with their forces, were encamped at
some distance in the interior. There
were a few Spanish gunners in the
castle, and Carew contrived to have a
letter in Spanish conveyed to them,
tempting them to desert, but ineffectu-
ally. The earl of Thomond also, by
Carew's directions, held a parley with
Mageoghegan on Bear Island, on the
5th of June ; but all the offers held out
to him, and all the earl's "eloquence
and ai'tifice," failed to turn that brave
and fiiithful soldier from his duty. The
siege was now carried on with unre-
lenting vigor, but the heroism of the
besieged could not be subdued. The
gar]-ison consisted at the commencement
of only 143 chosen fighting men, who
had but a few small cannon, while the
comparatively large army which as-
sailed them were well supplied with
artillery and all the means of attack.
At length, on the 17th of June, when
the castle had been nearly shattered to
pieces, the garrison offered to surrender
if allowed to depart with their arms;
but their messenger was immediately
hanged, and the order for the assault was
given. Although the proportion of the
assailants in point of numbers was over-
whelming, the storming party were re-
sisted with the most desperate bravery.
From turret to turret, and in fevery
part of the crumbling ruins, the struggle
was successively maintained throughout
the livelong day; thirty of the gallant
defenders attempted to escape by swim-
ming, but soldiers had been posted in
boats, who killed them in the water;
and at length the surviving portion of
the garrison retreated into a cellar, into
which the only access was by a narrow,
winding flight of stone steps. Their
leader, Mageoghegan, being mortally
wounded, the command was given to
Thomas Taylor, the son of an English-
man, and the intimate friend of Captain
Tyrrell, to whose niece he was married.
Nine barrels of gunpowder were stowed
in the cellar, and with these Taylor de-
clared he would blow up all that
remained of the castle, burying himself
and his companions, with their enemies,
in the ruins, unless they received a
promise of life. This was refused by
THE FALL OF DUN BOY.
451
the savage Carew, Avho, placing a guard
upon the entrance to the cellar, as it
M as then after sunset, retui-ned to the
work of slaughter next morning. Can-
non l)alls were then discharged among
the Irish in their last dark retreat, and
Taylor was forced by his companions
to surrender unconditionally ; but when
some of the English officers descended
into the cellar, the}^ found the wounded
Mageogliegan with a lighted candle in
his hand, staggering to throw it into
the gunpowder. Captain Power there-
upon seized him by the arms, and the
others dispatched him with their
swoi'ds; but the work of death was not
yet completed. Fifty-eight of those
who had surrendered were hanged that
day in the English camp, and some
otheis who were then reserved were
hanged a few days after; so that not
one of the one hundred and forty-thi-ee
heroic defenders of Dunboy survived.
On the 22d of June the remains of the
castle were blown up by Carew with the
gunpowder found there.*
The fall of Dunboy was of fatal im-
portance to the Irish cause. As soon
as the news reached Spain, the prepar-
* See minute details of the siege in the Pacata Ili-
liernia, and in O'Sullevan's Hist. Cath. Among tlie
prisoners taken in Dunlioy was Father Dominic Collins,
or O'CoUane, who is called in the Pacata a friar, and
by P. O'SuUevan Bearo " a lay religious of the Society
of Jesus." In his youth ho was an officer in the French
service, but abandoned the world and became a Jesuit.
He was taken to Youghal, his native town, and executed
there. Father Archer, another Irish Jesuit, was at that
time in O'Sullevan's camp ; and in one of the attacks
made by Tyrrell on the English during the siege of Dun-
boy, had a narrow escape from falling into the hands
of his bitter enemies. Among the incidents of the
ations for a new expedition to this
country Avere suspended, and on the
death of Red Hugh O'Donnell, a few
months later, the project was wholly
abandoned. The war was over in Mun-
ster, but the woi'k of extermination
was only well begun. Captain Rogei
Harvey was sent into Carbei'ry to
"purge the country of rebels" by mar-
tial law, and Wilmot returned to Ker-
ry with instructions to remove the
whole population of certain districts.
All suspected persons of the poorer
class were to be executed without
mercy ;f and in one instance we find a
number of sick and wounded, who were
left behind on the I'eraoval of an Irish
camp, massacred, " to put them out of
pain !"J The crops were destroyed,
and in fact, Sir George Carew set about
reducing the comitry to a desei-t. O'Sul-
levan's castle on Dursey island, which
was intended as a last retreat, fell even
before Dunboy, and its garrison were put
to death ; but Donnell O'Sullevan still
continued to maintain his independence,
surrounded at first by a numerous host
of followers in the wild recesses of Glen-
gariff". Encouraging promises, together
siege it should bo stated that the sons and retainers of
Owen O'Sullevan, who claimed the right of chieftaincy
against Donnell O'Sullevan, were actively engaged on
the English side. We may also take this opportunity
to mention, with reference to the orthography of this
name, that although the commonly received form bo
" O'SulIivan," it was written " O'Sullevan" by the au-
thor of the Uistora CathoUcai Ibernia Compendium, the
latter being also nearer to the Irish Ua Suilleab/iain
Both spellings are used by Dr. O'Donovan in the Four
Masters.
f Pacata ITibernia, p. -149 (od. 1810).
t Ibid., p. 659.
452
REIGN OF ELIZABETH.
with a large amount of gold — which
had been brought this summer from
Spain by Owen MacEgan, viear ajios-
tolic and bishop of Ross""'" — had helped to
sustain them; but O'Donuell's adher-
ents gradually deserted him, and even
the gallant Tyrrell separated from him.
At length, on the 31st December, 1602,
he set out from Glengariff with nearly
1,000 followers, of whom about 400
were fighting men, the rest being ser-
vants, women, and children ; and after
one of the most extraordinary retreats
recorded in histoiy, reached O'Rourke's
castle in Leitrim. Along their entire
route they were pursued and attacked
by the population of the countiy, Irish
as well as English; and what with
fighting all day and marching all night,
there was scarcely any time for repose.
They crossed the Shannon at Portland,
in Tipperary, by means of curraghs,
which they constructed of twigs covered
with the skins of their horses; and
having been attacked near Aughrim by
a considerable force, under the com-
mand of the earl of Clanrickard's
brother, and of Henry Malby and oth-
ers they fought with such desperation
* Tliis prelate was slain by the English, in a skinuish
with some of the fugitive insurgents in Carberry, ou
the 15th of January, 1G03, new style. He was clothed
in his pontifical robes, and carried liis breviary in one
hand and his rosary in 'the other, at the time he was
struck down by a soldier. He was regarded by the
Catholics as a martyr, and his remains were interred
in the abbey of Timoeague. A priest, who acted as his
chaplain, was taken at the same time, and hanged
soon after, at Cork. Vide, O'Sullevan's Hist. Cath , p.
SIS, and Pac. Hib, p. GGl.
f In the party who reached O'Rourke's castle, were
that they routed the enemy, and slew
Malby and several of the officers.
A great many fell in the perpetual
fight which they had to sustain ; several
who were wounded or exhausted by
fatigue, had to be abandoned along the
way; and at length their number, on
arriving in Leitrim, was reduced to
thirty-five, of whom eighteen were fight-
ing men, sixteen servants, and one
womau.f
Words cannot adequately describe
the state to which Ireland was reduced
before the close of this eventful year.
A horrible famine, brought on by the
repeated destruction of the crops by
Mountjoy, was wasting the country,
and unnumbered carcases of its victims
lay unburied by the way-side. Sir
Henry Docwra, governor of Derry, had
been planting garrisons at all the points
he chose, without opposition; and
Mountjoy traversed Ulster, during the
summer, erecting forts, while O'Neill,
driven into his last fastnesses, with a few
followers, stood merely on the defensive.
About the 10th of August, Mountjoy's
forces, augmented by those of Docwra
from Derry, Chichester from Carrick-
the father and mother of the historian ; Dermot, the
father, being then nearly seventy years of age. Philip,
the author of the HistoricB CathoiiccB Ibemim Compen-
dium, had been sent out to Spain while a boy, in the
beginning of 1G03, and was then at Corunna, under the
tuition of Father Sinnott. He was soon joined, in
Spain, by his whole surviving family ; his father,
mother, brother, and two sisters, together with Donnell
O'Sullevan Beare himself When Plulip grew up he en-
tered the Spanish navy, and while thus serving wrote
his invaluable Catholic history, which was published in
O'NEILL AT BAT.
453
fergus, Danvers from Armagb, and of
some from the Mountjoy, Mountnor-
ris, Blackwater, and CLarlemont forts
which he had erected, amounting, on
the whole, to at least 8,000 men, were
prepared to act against O'Neill. Their
first exploit was to take a stronghold
or cranoge called Inisloghlin, situated
in a great bog on the borders of Down
and Antrim, and which was defended
by only a few men, but contained a
great quantity of valuables belonging
to O'Neill. Mountjoy then proceeded,
as he states in a letter to Cecil, "by the
grace of God, as near as he could, ut-
tei'ly to waste the country of Tyrone ;"
and his secretary, Fynes Moryson, tells
us that on the 20th, hearing that
O'Neill had passed from O'Kane's terri-
tory into Fermanagh, he was resolved
to spoil the entire country, and to ban-
ish the inhabitants to the south side of
the Blackwater, " so that if O'Neill re-
turned he would find nothing in the
country but the queen's garrisons."
O'Neill had now retired to a great fast-
ness near the extremity of Lough Erne,
accompanied by his brother Cormac, Art
O'Neill of Clannaboy, and IMacMahon,
with a muster of some six hundred foot
and sixty horse; and Mountjoy fol-
lowed him in the beginning of Septem-
ber with his army, but could get no
* Among other examples of the " unspeakable extrem-
ities" to which the population was driven by famine,
Mountjoy's secretary, Kynes Moryson, relates how Sir
Arthur Chichester, Sir Kichard Jloryson, and other
Engliah commanders in Ulster, witnessed "a most
horrible spectacle of three children (whereof the eldest
was not above ten years oldi all catmg and knawing
with llicii- teeth tlie entrails of their dead mother, upon
nearer than twelve miles; besides which
the confederates had a means of retreat
into O'Rourke's country. Henry and
Con, the sons of Shane O'Neill, Avho
were in the English service, and were
followed by some of the men of Ty-
rone, were permitted by Mountjoy to
remain with their creaghts or herds-
men in the territory, which was other-
wise wholly depopulated ; and the lord
deputy returned, on the 11th of Sep-
tember, to Newry. Describing this
march, in his letters to Cecil and the
privy council, he says — "We found
eveiywhere men dead of famine, inso-
much that O'Hagan protested to us, that
between Tullaghoge and Toome there
lay unburied 1,000 dead, and that since
our first drawing this year to Black-
water there were about 3,000 starved
in Tyrone."*
Mountjoy proceeded to Connaught
in the latter end of Novembei-, and at
Athlone, on the 14th of the following
month, received the submission of Rory,
the brother of Red Hugh O'Donnell,
and of O'Conor Sligo. "With the
news of Red Hugh's death in Spain,
on the 10th of September, every
vestige of hope was indeed destroyed,
and none of the Irish chiefs now re-
mained in arms except O'Neill, with his
companions, and the chief of Leitrim,
whose flesh they had fed twenty days past." The de-
tails which follow in this horrible description are too
disgusting in their minuteness for quotation. And ho
adds that "no Bi)ectacle was more frequent, in the
ditches of townes, and espcciallie in wasted countries,
than to see multitudes of these poore people di?ad, with
their mouthes all coloured greenc, by eating nettles,
doclvs, and all things they could rend up above ground."
454
REIGN OF ELIZABETH.
whom Moryson calls "the proud and
insolent O'Rourke." At the close of Jan-
uary, the lord deputy retui-ned to Dub-
lin, and from his correspondence with the
queen and council in England, during
that and the following month, it is evi-
dent that O'Neill was still considered
formidable, and that unscrupulous means
for his destruction were contemplated.
A.D. 1G03. — At length negotiations
were entered into between O'Neill and
JNIountjoy, through the medium of Sir
Gan-ett Moore. Elizabeth was so exas-
perated against the Tyrone chief, whom
she called " a most ungrateful viper,"
that she could with difficulty be in-
duced to grant him any terms ; but she
died on the 24th of March, and Mount-
joy receiving private intelligence of this
event on the 27th, while at Garrett
Moore's castle at Mellifont, hastened the
an-angement with O'Neill, who repaired
to Mellifont and made his submission
there in the usual form, to the lord
* After his submission, O'Neill wrote to the king of
Spain, requesting him to send home his son, Henry,
but the boy never returned. He was page to the arch-
duke Albert, and was strangled at Brussels, in 1617,
the year after his father's death. The murder was en-
veloped in the profoundest mystery, but there can be
no doubt that it was contrived by English influence, as
the youth's great ability gave reason to fear that he
would yet be dangerous in Ireland. See Mooney's ac-
deputy, on the 31st of March. He ab-
jured all foi'eign power and jurisdic-
tion, especially that of the king vi
Spain; I'enounced the title of O'Neill
and all his lands, except such as should
be granted to him under the crown ;
and promised future obedience, and to
di.scover his correspondence with the
Spaniards; but he received a full par-
don, was restored in blood, and allowed
the free exercise of his religion. It was
only on the 5th of April that the
queen's death was publicly announced,
and that O'Neill di-scovered he had
made his submission to a dead sove-
reign, and lost the opportunity of
continuing the war against her weak
successor, or of making more fiivor-
able terms for himself. Soon after
O'Neill's submission, Cerda arrived
with two ships conveying ammunition
and money; which were, however,
returned to King Philip, as no longer
available.*
count, quoted by Dr. Kelly, in note to the Hist. Caih.,
p. 33G, where the murdered youth is called Bernard.
The last year of O'NeiU's war cost the English treas-
ury £200,733, besides " contingencies," which would
appear from Cox to have been at least £50,000 more,
making the last year's expenditure for this Irish
war at least £340,733, while the revenue of Eng-
land at this period was not more than £-150,000 per
Rnnnm
ACCESSION OF JAMES I.
455
CHAPTER XXXVI.
KEIGK OF JAMES I.
The Irish submit to James, as a prince of the Milesian race, and suppose him to be friendly to their creed and
country — They discover their mistake. — Revolt of the southern towns. — Hugh O'Neill and Rory O'Donnell
accompany Mountjoy to England. — Title of Earl of Tirconnell created. — Religious character of the Irish
wars. — Suspension of penal laws under Elizabeth. — Persecution of the Catholics by James. — Remonstrance
of the Anglo-Irish Catholics. — Abolition of Irish laws and customs. — O'Neill persecuted— Inveigled into a
sham plot. — Flight of Tyrone and Tirconnell to Rome. — Rising of Sir Caliir O'Doherty — His fiite, and that
of Niall Garv O'Donnell and others. — The confiscation and plantation of Ulster — The Corporation of London
receives a large share of the spoils. — A Parliament convened after twenty -seven years. — Creation of boroughs.
— Disgraceful scene in the election of Speaker. — Secession of the recusants. — Prototype of the Catholic Asbo-
ciation.— Trea'.ment of the Catholic Delegates by the king. — Concessions— Act of Pardon and Oblivion. —
Cn»;nimity of the new Session of Parliament.— Bill of attainder against O'Neill and O'Donnell, passed. —
First general admission of the Irish under English law. — Renewed persecution of the Catholics. — The king's
rapacity. — Wholesale confiscations in Leinster. — Inquiry into defective titles — Extension of the inquiry to
Corinaugh'i.— Frightful system of legal oppression.
Cmkmpcrary S'Aie'Hgns.—VofCii: Clement 'VIII., Leo XL, Paul V., Gregory X"V., Urban ■VIII.— Kings of France :
Ucnry IV., Lo-.is XUI.— Kings of Spain: Pliilip III., Philip IV.
JAMES X. may be regarded as the
fii-.st sovereign of England who
was undisputed monarch of Ireland.
The Irish willingly submitted to him
as the direct descendant of their own
ancient Milesian kings ; they also be-
lieved him to be in secret friendly to
the Catholic religion — an ojiinion which
* It -was the policy of James, before his accession, to
gain the friendship of the Catholic potentates, and to
weaken the power of England. " Lord Home — who
was himself a Roman Catholic— was intrusted," says
Robertson {Hist, of Scot.), " with a secret commission to
the I'opc. The archbishop of Glascow, another Roman
Catholic, W.1S very active with those of his own religion.
Sir James Lindsay made great progress in gaining thir
he had himself encouraged — and thus
they hailed his accession as a new and
happier era for their country and their
creed.* It was generally supposed by
Catholics that the ancient faith would
be restored under him as it had been
under Mai'y; and so strong was this
delusion, that the people of the southern
English papists." As to his intrigues for facilitating
his own approach to the throne by " wasting the vigor
of the state of England." they were suspected by
Elizabeth herself (ride Robertson) ; and Dr. Anderson
(lioi/'il Genealogifs, p. TSO, says, that during the reign
of Elizabeth, James " assisted the Irish privately more
than Spain did publicly."
456
REIGN OF JAMES I.
towns, who, altLough Anglo-Irish, .iiul
wholly free hitherto from any "taint
of rebellion," were almost universally
Catholic, thought they might resume
with impunity the public exercise of
their religious worship. In some places
they took possession of their own ancient
cliurches, which had been appropriated
to the Protestant service, and once
more celebrated in them the Divine
Mysteries ; and in others they thought
of repairing the ruined abbeys and mon-
asteries. Moreover, the mayors of Cork
and Waterford, supposing the authority
of Elizabeth's deputy to be no longer
valid, delayed obeying his orders for
the proclamation of the new king.
The news of these proceedings came by
surprise upon Mountjoy. He was pro-
voked at such " simplicity," as he called
it, and marching with a formidable
army to the south, speedily convinced
the Catholic townspeople of their error.
Cork first submitted. The citizens of
Wateiford closed their gates, pleading
the privilege of an ancient charter
which exempted them from receiving
soldiers; but the lord deputy threat-
ened to "cut to pieces the charter of
King John with the sword of King
James," and to " strew salt" on the ruins
of their town. No further show of resist-
ance was made ; and the towns of Kil-
kenny, Wexford, Cashel, and Limerick
were compelled in their turn to submit.
* Sir JoUa Davis, who was king James's attorney-
general for Ireland, referring, in his Historical Bcla-
tii/n», to his cspericuco on these Irish circuits, says:
" The truth is, that in time of peace the Irish are more
To allay the ferment in the popular mind,
the king published an act of general
indemnity and oblivion, and a brief
period of profound tranquillity followed.
Mountjoy, on whom James conferred
the higher dignity of lord lieutenant of
Ireland, with the privilege of residing
in England, left Sir George Carew as
lord deputy, and proceeded to England
in May, 1603, accompanied by Hugh
O'Neill, Rory (or Roderick) O'Don-
nell, and other Irish gentlemen. The
king received the two Ulster chieftains
very graciously, and confirmed the for-
mer in his restored title of earl of Ty-
rone, while he granted to O'Donnell
that of earl of Tirconnell. Niall Garv,
it must be observed, had forfeited all
claim to reward for his former services
to the government against- Red Hugh.
Docwra had found his insolence and am-
bition intolerable ; and on the submission
and reconciliation of Rory to the State,
Niall threw oif all restraint and got
himself proclaimed the O'Donnell. His
revolt, however, was easily put down,
and he was content to receive pardon
and his patrimonial inheritance. Eng-
lish law was now for the first time in-
ti'oduced into the territories of Tyrone
and Tirconnell. The first sherifi"s were
appointed for them by Carew ; and Sir
Edward Pelham and Sir John Davis
were the first to administer justice there
accordins: to the English forms.*
fearful to offend the law than the English, or any other
nation whatsoever ;" and in concluding that tract, he
observes : " There is no nation of people under the sun,
that doth love equal and indifferent justice better than
RELIGIOUS CHARACTER OF THE WARS.
457
Tliat the Irish fought for the free-
dom of tlie Catholic religion as well as
for their national independence, in the
reign of Elizabeth, there cannot be any
reasonable doubt. All the contempo-
rary authorities show that the wars
both of Ulster and Munster were es-
sentially religious wars. The English
writers pretend that they were chiefly
fomented by the priests ; and most of
the Irish writers of that period express-
ly distinguish the national forces as the
Catholic army. Nevertheless, a vast
number of Catholics, Irish as well as
Anglo-Irish, from one cause or another,
fought under the royal standard, and
their services could not be dispensed
with by Elizabeth. Hence, while a san-
guinary and unrelenting persecution was
canied on agaiust Catholics in England
during her reigii, it was necessary in Ire-
land to suspend to a great extent the
operation of her persecuting laws. This
did not amount to toleration. Simplj^,
it was not convenient in many cases to
put in force the existing laws against
Catholicism. Under James, however,
the case was different. Ireland had at
leiigtii been conquered ; a large portion
of the Irish race had been exterminated;
all was profound peace ; the services of
Catholics were no longer required ;
and, in fine, there was no reason in the
the Irish ; or will rest better satisfied with the execu-
tion thereof, although it be against themselves, so that
they may have the protection and benefits of the law,
when, upon just cause, they do desire it."
• Plowden, History of Ireland, vol. i., ji. 338.
f Sliortly after he came to the throne, James sent
orders to Dublin that the oath of supreniacv should be
shape of expediency, why religious
persecution should be longer delayed.
The puritan party was rising into power,
and James, who, as a Stuart, was " ever
forward in sacrificing his friend to the
fear of his enemy,"* thought the time
favorable for dissipating the illusions of
the Irisli Catholics about the public tol-
eration of their faith.f Accordingly, on
the 4th of July, 1605, he issued a procla-
mation, formally promulgating the Act
of Uniformity (2 Eliz.), and command-
ing the " Popish clergy" to depart from
the realm ; and an insulting commis-
sion was issued to certain respectable
Catholics, requiring them, under the
title of inquisitors, to watcli and in-
form against those of their own faith
who did not frequent the Protestant
churches on the appointed days. The
great Anglo-Irisli families of the Pale
remonstrated agaiust this severity, and
presented a petition for freedom of re-
ligious worship ; but the leading peti-
tioners were confined in the castle of
Dublin, and their principal agent. Sir
Patrick Barnwell, was sent to England
and committed to the tower. The
same year the ancient Irisli customs of
tanistry and gavelkind were abolished
by a judgment of the Court of King's
Bench, and the inheritance of property
was subjected to the rules of English law.
administered to all Catholic lawyers and justices of tho
peace, and that tho laws against recusants should be
strictly enforced. Accordingly, sixteen Catholic alder-
nien and citizens of Dublin were summoned before tho
Privy Council, and six of them were fined £100 each,
and three others £"10 each, while all were committed
prisoners to the castle during the pleasure of the court
458
REIGN OF JAMES I.
A.D. 1607. — While the Irish feelings
and institutions were thus trampled
under foot, it was not to be expected
that O'Neill and O'Donnell would be
left in the quiet enjoyment of the vast
tracts of country which they still con-
tinued to possess. The former illustri-
ous chief was persecuted in a variety of
ways. He himself complained that he
was so watched by the spies of the gov-
ernment that the slightest of his actions
could not escape their notice. His
claims to portions of his ancestral lands
were disputed under the English law,
and he was harassed by legal inquiries
into title, and processes issued from the
courts in Dublin. George Montgomery,
the Protestant bishop of Deny, was
his chief pei-secutor in this way, and
obtained against him the aid of O'Ca-
hane, or O'Kane, with whom O'Neill
had a dispute about certain boundaries.
Finally, a conspiracy, devised most
probably by Cecil himself, was resorted
to. Christopher St. Lawrence, baron
of Howth, was employed to carry the
scheme into execution, Avhich he did
by enti-apping the earls of Tyrone and
* Mr. Moore, who read the correspondence of Lord
Howth, and the depositions of Lord Devlin, taken on
the Gth of November, 1G07, came to the conclusion that
the earls of Tyrone and Tircounell had really entered
into the conspiracy. Ilist. of Irel., vol. iv., pp. 453, &c.
This, considering all the circumstances, is extremely
probable, for the religious persecution at that time had
become intolerable. See some of its features set forth
in a Latin letter dated May, 1607, and signed by a
bishop, a vicar-general, six priests, and a knight. Tliis
document, published for the first time by Dr. Kelly, in
his edition of O'Sullevan's Catholic Hhtory, p. 371, has
the following passage : " Even the illustrious earl of
Tyrone, the Catholic Mardochai, already oppressed in
Tirconnell, the baron of Devlin, and
O'Cahane, into a sham plot. Their
meetings were held at Maynooth, the
ancient seat of the earls of Kildare;
but none of the Kildai-e family Avere
cognizant of their proceedings. It is
possible that the Ii-ish chieftains may
have entered seriously into the plans
proposed to them, St. Lawrence having
kindled their auger by the statement
that he had private information of fresh
persecution intended against their re-
ligion ; but the plot was, nevertheless,
a sham. On a certain day an anony-
mous letter, addressed to Sir William
Ussher, clerk of the privy council, was
dropped at the door of the council
chamber, mentioning a design, then in
contemplation, for seizing the castle of
Dublin, murdering the lo^'d deputy,
and raising a general revolt, ^,'y be aided
by Spanish forces. This >.trer came
from Lord Howth ; and, although it
mentioned no names, it M'as pretended
that government was already in posses-
sion of information that fixed the guilt
of the conspiracy on the earl of Tj'-
rone.* Shortly after, the country was
various ways, is now coming to Dublin, under a cita-
tion from the viceroy. It is not pleasant to foretell evil :
but the malice of the heretics towards him, and their
inveterate guile, compel us, at least, to have some fear
for him." The account of the so-caUed conspiracy, pre-
served by tradition in his time, is briefly mentioned by
Dr. Anderson, an English Protestant divine, in his
Royal Genealogies, a work printed in London in 173G,
and dedicated to the Prince of Wales. In page 786, he
says : " Artful Cecil employed one St. Laurence to en-
trap the earls of Tyrone and Tirconnell, the lord of
Devlin, and other Irish chiefs, into a sham plot which
had no evidence but liis. But these chiefs being basely
informed that witnesses were to be hired against them,
THE "FLIGHT OF THE EARLS.'
459
startled by the news tliat O'Neill and
O'Donnell, with their families, had fled
piivately from Ireland. They took
sliippiiig at Rathmullen, on Lough
Swilly, in Donegal, on the 14th of
September, and sailed to Normandy,
whence they proceeded through Flan-
ders to Rome, where they lived on a
pension from the pope and the king of
Spain. O'Donnell died the following
year; but O'Neill survived until 1G16,
when he died at an advanced age,
having become blind towards the close
of his life. Less impulsive and enter-
prising than Red Hugh O'Donnell,
but equally valiant and devoted, Hugh
foolishly fled from Dublin, and so taking guilt upon
them, they were declared rebels, and six entire coun-
ties in Ulster were at once forfeited to the crown, which
was what their enemies wanted." That this Christo-
pher St. Laurence, baron of Howth, who had embraced
the new doctrines, was a fit person to carry out tlie ne-
farious plan, appears from tlie statement of Camden,
who says (Eliz. p. 741), that he offered his services to
the earl of Essex to murder Lord Grey de Wilton and
the Secretary, lest they should prejudice the queen
against the earl, but that the latter declined availing
himself of such means. Lord Delvin was arrested, but
contrived to escape by means of a rope, conveyed to
him by a friend, and was afterwards pardoned. Cor-
mac, the brother of O'Neill and O'Kane, were gent to
the tower of London.
* Some curious particulars about the departure of
O'Neill from Ireland are given by Sir John Davis (Ilixt.
Itel.), agreeing very nearly with those which appear in
an Irish MS. at St. Isidore's, of which an extract has
been published by Dr. O'Douovan, in the Four Masters,
p. 2353, &c. In the beginning of September, 1007,
nearly four montlis after the pretended discovery of St.
Laurence's plot by the anonymous letter, O'Neill was at
Slane with the lord deputy. Sir Arthur Chichester, and
they conferred relative to a journey which the former
^cas to make to London, before Michaelmas, in compli
ance with a summons from the Icing. While here, a
letter was delivered to O'Neill from one John Bath, in-
forming him that Maguire had arrived in a French ship
In Lough Swilly. He then parted from the deputy in
eadnefs, and was observed to weep bitterly on leaving
O'Neill was a better strategist and
commander. His tastes were enlight-
ened ; his manner dignified, polished,
and agreeable ; his habits temperate ;
his powers of endurance very great.
He possessed an acute understanding
and great prudence; and while he was
generally an overmatch for English
statesmen in council, he was decidedly
the most formidable adversary in the
field which the English power ever en-
countered in this country. With the
heroic struggles of O'Neill and O'Don-
nell terminated the power of the L-isli
chiefs, and the national independence
of the Milesian race.*
the house of his old friend. Sir Garrett Moore, at Melli-
font, where he took his leave even of the children and
the servants. On his way northward, ho remained two
days at his own residence in Dungannon, and proceeded
thence hastily to HathrauUen. on the shore of Lough
Swilly, %vhere he found O'Donnell and several of his
friends waiting and laying up stores in the French ship.
The Four Masters enumerate the principal companions
of his voyage. There were his countess, Catherine,
daugiiter of Magennis (O'NeiU's fourth wife) ; his three
sons, Hugh, baron of Dungannon, John, and Brian : Art
Oge, the son of his brother Cormac, and others of his
relatives: Rory, or Koderic, O'Donnell, earl of Tir-
connell ; Caffar, or Cathbar, his brother, and his
sister, Nuala, who was married to Niall Garv O'Don-
nell, but abandoned her husband when he be
came a traitor to his country ; Hugh O'Donnell, the
earl's son, and other members of his family ; C'ucon
naught Maguire ; Owen Roe MacWard, chief bard ot
Tirconnell, &c. "Woe to the heart that meditated,
woe to the mind that conceived, woo to the council that
decided on the project of their setting out on this voy-
age !" exclaim the annalists of Donegal, tlras intima
ting that the flight of the Irish princes was, in the
opinion of their contemporaries, a rash proceeding, or
that it was artfully prompti'd by their enemies. On
the arrival of the earls in France, the English minister
demanded their surrender as relels, but Henry IV.
would not give them up. In passing thence through the
Netherlands, they were honorably received by the Arch-
duke Albert ; and in Rome, " the eommrn asylum of all
Catholics," as it is called in the epitapL m young Hugh
4G0
REIGN OF JAMES I.
A. D. 1608. — The slumber which fol-
lowed these sad events was soon and
nidely broken. Sir Cahir O'Doherty,
chief of luishowen, had hitherto lived
on terras of friendship wdth the Eng-
lish authorities, but he was taunted
with being privy to the escape of
O'Neill ; and Sir George Paulett, who
had succeeded Sir Henry Docwra as
governor of Derry, carried his insults
so fcir as to strike him on the face. The
blood of the young chieftain, who was
only in his twenty-first year, boiled with
]-age at this indignity. The annalists
say he was driven almost to madness,
and rested not till he took fearful ven-
geance. He got possession of Culmore
fort by stratagem at night, the 3d of
May. Cox adds that he put its garrison
to the sword ; and before morning he
marched to Derry, which he took by
surprise ; he slew Paulett and some
other leading persons, slaughtered the
garrison, and sacked and burned the
town. Thus, his revolt was kindled in
a moment. He was joined by several
of the northern chieftains, and expect-
O'Neill's tomb, they met au affectionate and honorable
welcome from Pope Pius V. The venerable pontiff re-
garded them as confessors, and, in conjunction with the
king of Spain, afforded them liberal pensions for their
support. But these illustrious exiles soon dropped into
their foreign graves. O'Donnell died July 28th, 1008 ;
his brother, Caffar, September 17th, the same year ;
Hugh, the baron, son of O'Neill, died the 23d of Sep-
tember, the following year, in the 24th year of his age ;
and, lastly, the renowned Tyrone himself departed on
the 20th of July, IGIG. Their way to death was
Braoothed by all the consolations of religion, and their
ashes repose together in the Franciscan church of St.
PetL>r-in-Montorio, on the Janiculum. The murder of
Henry (or Bernard), another sou of O'Neill's, at Brussels,
ing foreign aid through the intervention
of the Irish princes abroad, held out
until July, when he was killed by au
accidental shot in a conflict with Wing-
field, the marshal, and Sir Oliver Lam-
bert, and his head sent to Dublin.
Niall Garv O'Donnell, his son Naughtau,
and his brothers, were arrested as con-
federates of O'Doherty's, and the two
former were sent to London and confined
in the Tower, until their death in 1620.
Felim MacDevit and others were exe-
cuted.*
All this seemed to happen most op-
portunely for King James, who was now
enabled to carry out his favorite scheme
of colonization to his heart's content.
Six counties of Ulster, Tyrone, Derry,
Donegal, Fermanagh, Armagh, and
Cavan, were confiscated to the crown,
and were parcelled out among adventu-
rers from England and Scotland. Vari-
ous plans were proposed for the purpose,
and among others. Lord Bacon was con-
sulted ; but his plan was disapproved
of. Sir Arthur Chichester, the lord
deputy, was found to be more useful
has been already mentioned. Maguire died at Genoa,
on his way to Spain, August 12, 1G08. Of the elegy
composed for the earls by Mac Ward, a beautiful Eng-
lish version, by Clarence Mangan, will be found in the
Ballad Poetry of Ireland, "Duffy's Library of Ireland."
* It is clear from statements in Sir Henry Docwra's
Narration, that Sir Cahir O'Doherty had been goaded
into resistance by acts of legal spoliation, mider which
he suffered before he was charged with rebellion or
publicly insulted by Paulett. He had been induced to
make some conveyances, probably during his minority,
and endeavored, in vain, to have them rescinded. Ac-
cording to tradition in the country, says Dr. O'Donovan,
Sir Cahir O'Doherty was killed under the rock of Dooni
near Kilmacrouan. Four Masters, p. 2302, n.
RELIGIOUS PERSECUTION.
461
and practical in liis views, and richly
was he rewarded for the assistance
which he rendered to his royal master.
He received the wide lands of Sir Cahir
O'Doherty for his share in this whole-
sale spoliation. But the wealthy citi-
zens of London were the lai'gest parti-
cipators in tlie plunder. They obtained
209,800 acres, and rebuilt the city,
which, since then, lias been called Lon-
donderry. According to the plan final-
ly adopted for the "plantation of Ul-
ster," as this scheme was called, the lots
into whicU the lands were divided were
classified into those containing 2,000
acres, which were reserved for rich un-
dertakers and tlie great servitors of the
crown; those containing 1,500 acres,
which were allotted to servitors of the
crown in Ireland, with permission to
take either English or L'ish tenants;
and thirdl}^, those containing 1,000 acres,
which were to be distributed with still
less restriction. The exclusion of the
ancient inhabitants, and the proscrip-
tion of the Catholic religion, were the
fundamental principles which were to
be acted on as far as practicable in this
settlement.*
A. D. 1611. — The persecution of the
Catholics was becoming daily more
sanguinary and relentless, but the exe-
cution of the venerable Conor O'Devany,
bishop of Down and Connor, which
took place this year in Dublin, affords
* See Pynnar'a Survey of Ulster, and other original
documents published in Harris's Hibernica ; also, lite
Confiactition of UUtcr, by Tliomas MacXevin, in Duffy's
Library of Ireland. Cos says, that in the instructions.
the most striking example of the extent
to which it was carried at this time.
This venerable prelate, who was tlien
about eighty years of age, Avas originally
a Franciscan friar, and was condemned
to death on the nominal chai'ge of hav-
ing been with O'Neill in Ulster; and
at the same time a priest named Pat-
rick O'Loughrane was tried and con-
demned for having sailed in the same
ship with O'Neill and O'Donnell to
France, although it appeared that he
was only accidentally their fellow-pas-
senger, the real ofience of these pious
men being the rank which they held in
the Catholic Church. The sentence
was that they be first hanged, then cut
down alive, their bowels cast iuto the
fire, and their bodies quartered. When
the hangman, who was an Irishman,
heard that the bishop was condemned,
he fled from the city, and no other
Irishman could be found to execute the
atrocious sentence, so that it was neces-
sary to release and forgive an English
murderer, that he might hang the bish-
op. The old prelate, fearing that the
horrible spectacle of his torments might
cause the priest to waver, retpested the
executioner to put the latter to death
first ; but the priest said " he need not
be in dread on his account, that he
would follow him without fear ; remark-
ing, that it was not meet a bishop
should be Avithout a priest to attend
printed for the direction of the settlers, it was especially
mentioned " that they should not suffer any laborer,
that would not take the oath of supremacy, to dwell
upon their land."
i62
REIGN OF JAMES I.
hiin. This he fulfilled, for he suffered
the like torture with fortitude, for the
sake of the kingdom of heaveu and for
his soul."* These executions produced
great excitement among the people.
The Catholics collected the blood of
the victims, whom they justly regarded
as uiartyrs, and the next day they con-
trived to procure the mangled remains,
and to inter them in a becoming man-
ner.f
A. D. 1613. — Sir Arthur Chichester,
who still held the reins of government
in Ireland, was resolved to carry out
Ills puritanical principles J to the utmost,
and conceived a plan for erecting a
" Piotestaut ascendency" in this coun-
try. The plantation of Ulster with
English Pi'otestants and Scotch Presby-
terians had paved the way for this pro-
ject, but the work was as yet only half
done. The deputy persuaded James
that a parliament should be called. It
was twenty-seven years since one had
been held in Ireland; but the vast pre-
ponderance of population, property,
and influence was still on the side of
the Catholics, and to break that down
* Four Masters.
f P. O'Sullevau Beare, who gives an interesting ac-
count of the trial of the bishop and priest, mentions
several other cases of the execution of Catholics about
this period ; among others, that of the prior of Lough
Derg, who was hanged and quartered. Vide Bist.
Cath., p. 2G9.
\ This Sir Arthur Chichester was a pupil of the fa-
mous Puritan minister, Cartwright, who was in the habit
of praying in his sermons : " 0 Lord, give us grace and
power OS one man to set ourselves against them " (the
bishops). " At this time," says Plowden (History of
Ireland, vol. i., p. 338), " the general body of the re-
formed clergy in Ireland was Pui-itan ; the most eminent
a great deal was to be done in the shape
of preliminary arrangements. The
deputy demanded, and easily obtained
from the king, ample powers for these
preparations, with which he undertook
to secure a sufficient majority in both
houses. Seventeen new counties had
been formed since the last parliament ;
but many of these would send Catholic
representatives, and it was by the crea-
tion of new boroughs that Chichester
proposed to overwhelm the Catholic
rank and population of the country.
Forty new boroughs were accordingly
created, many of them paltry villages
or scattered houses, inhabited only by
some half dozen of the new Ulster set-
tlers, and several of them not being in-
corporated until after the writs had
been issued. No previous communica-
tion of the design to summon parliament,
or of the laws intended to be enacted,
had been made pursuant to Poyning's
act, and the Catholics justly appre-
hended a design to impose fresh griev-
ances upon them. A letter signed by
six Catholic lords of the Pale was ac-
cordingly addressed to the king, but he
of whom for learning was Ussher, then (1610) Provost
of Trinity College, Dublin, and afterwards (1034) Arch-
bishop of Armagh, who by his management and contri-
vance procured the whole doctrine of Calvin to be re-
ceived as the public belief of the Church of Ireland, and
ratified by Chichester in the king's name. Not only the
famous Lambeth articles concerning predestination,
grace, and justifying faith, sent down as a standard oJ
doctrine to Cambridge, but immediately suppressed by-
Queen Elizabeth, and afterwards rejected by King
James, but also several particular fancies and notions
of his own were (in 1615) incorporated, says Carte
(Orm., vol. i., p. 73), into the articles of the Church of
Ireland."
VIOLENT PROCEEDINGS IN PARLIAMENT.
4G3
treated tlieir remonstrance witli con-
tempt. He pronounced their memorial
to be a rash and insolent interference
with his authority, and tlie lord deputy
was allowed to pack his parliament as
he pleased.* The first trial of strength
was in the election of a speaker. Sir
John Evevard, who had resigned his
position as justice of the kings bench,
i-ather than take the oath of supremacy,
was proposed by the recusants, and Sir
John Davis, the attorney-general, by the
court party. The proceedings which
ensued were scandalous. The recusants
deemed the numerical majority of their
opponents to be factious and illegal, as
it really was, and in the absence of the
court party in another room to be
counted, according to the forms then in
use, they placed their own candidate in
the speaker's chair. On the return of
the court party into the house a tumul-
tuous scene took place. These placed
Sir John Davis in the lap of Sir John
* Of the 232 members returned, 125 were Protestants,
101 belonged to the " recusant" or Catholic party, and
G were absent. The Upper House consisted of l(i tem-
poral barons, 25 Protestant prelates, 5 viscounts, and 4
earls, of whom a considerable majority belonged to tlie
court party. The wonder, observes Plowden, is how so
large a majority of Protestants was obtained, consider-
ing how very few of the Irish had adopted the new
doctrines ; hot sixty, says the Abbe JIageoghegan, down
to the reign of James.
f " It may be here remarked," observes Sir. Moore,
" as one of the proofs of the sad sameness of Irish his-
tory, that nearly 200 years after these events, when, by
the descendants of these Catholic lords and gentry, the
same wrongs «oro still suffered, the eamo riglitsous
cause to be upheld, it was by expedients nearly Eimilar
that th:>y contrived to resist peaceably their persecutors.
In the separate assembly formed by the recusants we
Ond the i)rototyp<! of the Catholic Association ; wlulo
Everard, and then pulled the latter out
of the chair, tearing his garments in the
act. The Catholic party thereupon
seceded from parliament, and sent a
deputation to London to lay their com-
plaints before the king, eight peers and
about twice as many commoners being
chosen for this purpose, parliament
having in the mean time been pro-
rogued.f
The reception given to the Catholic
delegates was harsh and insulting.
Two of the members, Talbot and Lut-
trell, were committed, one to the Tower,
and the other to the Fleet prison ; but
ultimately James dismissed them after
a severe rating in his own peculiar
style, J and a commission of inquiry was
granted ; one of the concessions made
being, that the members for boroughs
incorporated after the writs Averei.ssued
had no right to sit. In the subsequent
sessions of this parliament, until it was
dissolved in October, 1615, no furthei
the large funds so promptly raised to defray the cost of
the deputation to England was, in its spirit and national
purpose, a forerunner of the Catholic Rent." — History
of Ireland, vol. iv., p. 100.
} This silly, pedantic despot, whom his flatterers styled
tho " British Solomon," and who has been lauded by
Hume and others for his Irish legislation, taunted the
Irish agents as " a body without a head ; a headless
body ; you would be afraid to meet such a body in the
streets ; a body Avithout ahead to speak !" and he asked,
"VVliatisittoyou whether I make many or few boroughs?
My council may consider the fitness if I require it ; but
if I made forty noblemen and four hundred boroughs —
the more tho merrier, tho fewer the better cheer." .As to
his Irish government, he told them there was nothing
faulty in it, " unless they would have the kingdom of Ire.
land like the kingdom of heaven !" See his incoherent
speech, which «-ns addressed to the lords of the council in
presence of the Irish delegates, given in fuU by Cox.
4G4
REIGN OF JAMES I.
display of angry feelings between the
two. parties took place. There appeared,
indeed, to have been mutual concessions.
An .intended penal law, of a very
sweeping character, was not brought
forward;" and while, on the other hand,
large subsidies, which gratified the in-
satiable rapacity of the monarch, were
voted, an act of oblivion and general
pardon was passed in return ; and the
Irish in general were, for the first time,
taken within the pale of the English
law. But the measure which renders
this parliament of James's most memo-
rable, was that for the attainder of
Hugh O'Neill, Hugh Roe O'Donnell,
Sir Cahir O'Doherty, and several other
Irish chiefs, — an unjust and vindictive
act for which the grounds were never
proved, and which, as being sanctioned
by the Catholic party in a suicidal spirit
of compromise, assumed, remarks Mr.
Moore, " a still more odious character,
and left a stain upon the record of their
proceedings during this reign."f
A. D. 1616.J— Sir Arthur Chichester
having completed his task, and received
as his reward an additional grant of
Irish lauds, together with the title of
baron of Belfast, withdrew from the
Irish governmeut, and was replaced by
♦ See O'Sullevan's nist. Cath., pp. 310-313. Ed. 1850.
\ It has been argued that the Irish chieftains pos-
sessed only the suzeraintc, and not the property of the
soil ; and that therefore tlie rights of their feudatories
to the latter could not have been forfeited by the rebel-
lion of the chiefs. See translator's note to De Beati-
moiU's Ivdand. p. 57. Mr. O'Connell, in his Memoir of
Ireland {p. 172), argues that James undermined his own
title to tho six confiscated counties of Ulster by declar-
Sir Oliver St. John, afterwards created
Viscount Grandison, whose instructions
were to enforce with e.xtreme rigor the
fine inflicted on Catliolics for absence
from the Protestant service. This
penal tax was not only most galling to
the feelings of Catholics, but was most
oppressive in a pecuniary point of view;
for while the sum levied each time was
only twelve pence according to the law,
it was swelled up to ten shillings by
the fees always exacted for clerks and
officers; and the appropriation of the
penalty to works of charity, as the act
required, was shamefully evaded, as it
was argued that the poor being Catho-
lics themselves were not fit to receive
the money, but " ought to pay the like
penalty themselves."
In 1617 a proclamation was issued
for the expulsion of the Catholic regu-
lar clergy, and the city of Waterford
was deprived of its charter and liberties
in consequence of the spirited and
steadfiist rejection of the oath of su-
premacy by its corporation. In 1622
Henry Carey, Viscount Faulkland, was
sent over as lord deputy, and at the
ceremony of his inauguration, the cele-
brated James Ussher, then Pi-otestant
bishop of Meath, and soon after made
ing that ihe exiled earls had no title whatever to the pos-
sessions forfeited. These, however, are but speculative
objections. As to tho Catholics who voted the attainder
of O'Neill, they were chiefly Anglo-Irish.
t The Four Masters desert us at this date, under
which they give tlieir last entry : the death of Hugh
O'Neill; and for the few preceding years, from tho
death of Red Hugh O'Donnell, the informalion they
afford is very scanty.
WHOI,ESALE SPOLIATION IN LEINSTER.
465
archbishop of Armagh, taking as his
text the words of St. Paul, " He bear-
eth not the sword in vain,"* delivered
a fanatical harangue, which filled the
Catholics with alarm; and finally, in
the following j^ear, another proclama-
tion was issued for the banishment of
all the "Popish clergy," regular and
secular, ordering them to depart from
the kingdom within forty days, and
ferbidding any one to hold intercourse
with tliem after that period. f Thus
was the penal code, although then only
in its infancy, rapidly approaching that
acme of cruelty which it afterwards
reached.
The systematic rapine called "plan-
tation" was so successful in Ulster, that
James was resolved to extend it into
other parts of the kingdom. For this
purpose he appointed a commission of
inquiry to scrutinize the titles and de
* Rou. xiii. 4. For Ussher's Puritanism, see note,
p. 501.
t P. O'SuUevan Beare, who wrote towards- tlie close
of the reign of James I., says lie did not know the
nimiber of ecclesiastics then in Ireland ; but ho was
aware that government had, through its spies, ascer-
tained the names of 11 GO priests, regular and secular;
and Dr. Kelly, in his note on this passage {Hist. Cat?!..,
p. 298), says he once saw a list of all the Catholic clergy
in Ireljud at this time, but that at present it is not
easily accessibl-e. F. Moony says there were 120
Franciscan friars, of whom 35 were preachers. In Ire-
land ; besides 40 more engaged in their studies at Lou-
vain when he wrote (about 1G16). It is said in the
Hibernia Dominicana that there were but four Domini-
cans in Ireland at the time of Elizabeth's death. The
Jesuits, though not numerous, were exceedingly active.
F. V(!rdier reported that there were 53 Fathers, 3 coad-
jutors, and 11 novices of the Company of Jesus in Ire-
land in ICoO. Thj affairs of the Irish Church were
chiefly managed by the four Archbishops, the succession
of whom was well kept up by the Pope. These ap-
pointed Vicars-Gcncral, with Apostolic authority in the
terraine the rights of all the lands in
Leinster, tkat province being the next
theatre of this iniquitous spoliation ;
and so rapid was the progress of the
commissioners, that in a little time land
to the extent of 385,000 acres more
was placed at the king's disposal for
distribution. Old and obsolete claims,
some of tkem dating as far back as
Henry II., were revived; advantage
was taken of trivial flaws and minute
informalities. The ordinary principles
of justice were set at naught ; perjury,
fraud, and the most infamous arts of
deceit were resorted to ; and, as even
Leland tells us, " there are not wanting
proo& of the most iniquitous practices
of hardened cruelty, of vile perjury,
and scandalous subornation employed
to despoil the fair and unfortunate pro-
prietor of his inheritance.":]: From
Leinster the system was extended into
suffragan dioceses, and these, again, appointed the par.
ish priests. O'Sullevan gives the names of the four
Archbishops when ho wrote (1G18) as : Eugene Magau-
ran, of Dublin ; David O'Carny, of Cashel; Peter Lom-
bard, of Armagh ; and Florence O'Mulconry, of Tuam.
He mentions, as then established, the Irish seminaries
of Salamanca, Compostella, and Seville, in Spain ; Lis-
bon, in Portugal ; Louvain, Antwerp, and Tournay, in
Flanders ; and Bordeaux, Touloxise, and Paris, in France.
Irish students were also received in other colleges, and
in some cf the places just mentioned the seminaries for
the Irish were not yet regularly founded. — Hutm-y of
Ireland, B. iv., c. 8.
I See as an illustration of this scandalous plunder, and
of the unprincipled ingenuity and perseverance of the
" discoverers," as they were called, the account of the
spoliation of the O'Bymes of Ranelagh, in Wicklow, as
given in Taylor's History of the Cinl Wars in Ireland,
vol i., pp. 243, 24G, and quoted in full in O'Connell's
Memoirs of Ireland, p. 161, &c. The native septs of
the Queen's county were transplanted to Kerry : and in
many instances proprietors, as in the cise of the Farralls,
were dispossessed without receiving any compensation.
466
REIGN OF CHARLES I.
Connaught, but its principal operation
in the latter province was reserved for
tLe next reign. James I. died on the
27th of March, 1625; and in conse-
* Some of the minor crimes of James's government
against the Irish, are thus summed up by Leiand (B. iv.,
c. 8) : " Extortions and oppressions of the soldiers in
various excursions from their quarters, for levying the
king's rents, or supporting the civil power ; a rigorous
and tyrannical execution of martial law in time of peace ;
a dangerous and unconstitutional power assumed by the
Privy Council in deciding causes determinable by com-
mon law ; the severe treatment of witnesses and jurors
in the Castle-chamber, whoso evidence or verdicts had
quence of his wholesale ])lunder, op-
pi'ession, and persecution of the Irish,
left a woeful legacy to his unfortunate
successol'.*
been displeasing to the State ; the grievous exaction of
the established clergy for the occasional duties of their
functions ; and the severity of the ecclesiastical courts."
As to the punishment of jurors, it was laid down as a
principle by Chichester that the proper tribunal to pun-
ish jurors, who would not find for the king on "suffi-
cient evidence," was the Star-chamber ; sometimes they
were " pilloried vrith loss of ears, and bored through the
tongue, and sometimes marked on the forehead with a
hot iron, &c." — Commons' Journal, vol. i., p. 307.
CHAPTER XXXVII.
REIGN OF CHARLES I.
Hopes of the Catholics on the accession of Charles, and corresponding alarm of the Protestants — Intolerant
declaration of the Protestant bishops. — The "graces." — The royal promise broken.— Renewed persecution of
the Catholics. — Outrage on a Catholic congregation in Cook-street.^Confiscation of Catholic schools and
chapels. — Government of Lord Wentworth or Strafford — He summons a Parliament — His shameful duplicity.
— The Commission of "Defective Titles" for Connaught. — Atrocious spoliation in the name of law. — Jury-
packing.— Noble conduct of a Galway jury— Their punishment.— Plantation of Ormond, &c.— Fresh subsidies
by an Irish Parliament. — Strafford raises an army of Irish Catholics — He is impeached by Parliament — His
execution.— Causes of the great insurrection of 1C41.— Threats of the Puritans to extirpate the Catholic reli-
gion in Ireland.— The Irish abroad— Their numbers and influence.— First movements among the Irish
gentry — Roger O'More — Lord Maguire— Sir Phelim CNeUl. — Promises from Cardinal Richelieu. — Officers in
the king's interest combine with the Irish gentry— Discovery Of the conspiracy.— Arrest of Lord Maguire and
MacMahon.— Alarm in Dublin.— The outbreak in Ulster— Its first successes— Proclamation of Sir Phelim
O'Neill— Feigned commission from the king.— Gross exaggeration of the cruelties of the Irish.- Bishop
Bedell and the remonstrance from Cavan.— The massacre of Island Magee.— The fable of a general massacre
by the Catholics refuted. — Proclamations of the lords justices.— The Catholic nobility and gentry of the Palo
insulted and repulsed.— Scheme of a general confiscation.— Approach of the northern Irish to the Pale— They
take Jlelliibnt and lay siege to Drogheda.-Sir Charies Coote's atrocities in Wicklow.— Efforts of the Catholic
gentry to communicate with the king.— Outrages of troopers— The gentry of the Pale compelled to stand op
their defence.— Meeting on the ffill of Crofty.— The lords of the Pale take up arms.- The insurrection spreads
into Munster and Connaught.— Royal proclamation.— Conduct of the English parUoment.- The insurrection
general— S2ige of Drogheda raised.— The battle of Kilrush.— The general Assembly, &c.
(FROM A. D. 1626 TO A. D. 1642.)
'' I "'IIE well known moderation of
-^ Charles I. inspired the Irish Cath-
olics M'ith hope of a mitigation of the
intolerance under which they groaned,
but a corresponding alarm was mani-
fested by the Protestants lest any such
SUBSIDY OF THE IRISH CATHOLICS TO CHARLES I.
467
mercy should be extended to their
opponents. In 1626 Faulkhxnd, who
was still lord deputy, advised the
Catholics to send agents to the king,
encouraging them to expect some favor
in retui-n for pecuniary support; and
taking this implied promise for a reali-
ty, they are said to have boasted too
readily of the relief which they antici-
pated. This kindled the zeal of all
classes of Protestants. The Protestant
pulpits resounded with declamations on
the sultject; and Archbishop Ussher,
with all the prelates of the state church,
joined in protest, declaring that " to
grant the papists a toleration, or to
consent that they may freely exercise
their religion and profess their faith
and doctrines, was a grievous sin," and
"a matter of most dangerous conse-
quence;" wherefore they prayed God
" to make those in authority zealous,
resolute, and courageous against all
popery, superstition, and idolatr}-."
No political, or any other than theo-
logical grounds, were put forward for
this ebullition of bigotry; but in the
mean time the Catholic agents perse-
vered in their negotiations with the
king, whose exigencies were well un-
derstood. The prodigality of his father
had burdened him with a heavy debt,
and foreign wars demanded supplies
which his parliament refused to grant,
except on hard and dishonorable
terms. He was therefore glad to ac-
cept from the Irish Catholics the oftei-
of a voluntary subsidy of £120,000, to
be paid in three annual instalments,
and in return he undertook to grant
them certain concessions or immunities
which are known in the history of the
period as the " graces." Many of these
" graces" applied to others in Ireland
besides Catholics. The more important
were those which provided " that recu-
sants should be allowed to practise in
the courts of law, and to sue out the
livery of their lands on taking an oath
of civil allegiance in lieu of the oath of
supremacy ; that the undertakers in the
several plantations should have time al-
lowed them to fulfil the conditions of
their tenures ; that the claims of the
crown should be limited to the last
sixty years; and that the inhabitants
of Connaught should be permitted to
make a new ennolment of their estates."
The contract was duly ratified by a
royal proclamation, in which the con-
cessions were accompanied by a promise
that a parliament should be held to con-
firm them. The first instalment of the
money was paid, and the Irish agents
returned home, but only to learn that
an order had been issued against " the
popish regular clergy," and that the
royal promise was to be evaded in the
most shameful manner. When the
Catholics pressed for the fulfilment of
the compact, the essential formalities
for calling an Irish parliament were
found to have been omitted by the offi-
cials, and thus the matter fell to the
ground for the present. Lord Faulk-
hind was recalled at the representation
of the Puritans ; and viscount Ely (the
chancellor) and the earl of Cork (lord
468
REIGN OF CHARLES I.
high treasurer) having beeu ajjpoiuted
lords justices, the penalties against recu-
sants, under the 2d of Elizabeth, were,
without any instructions from the king,
put in force with extreme rigor, and a
sjwtem of frightful terrorism carried
out.*
A single fact will show the nature of
the persecution to which the Catholics
were subjected at this time iu Dub-
lin. The protestant archbishop, doctor
Lauucelot Bulkeley, being informed
that a fraternity of Carmelites had the
temei'ity to celebrate Mass publicly in
their chapel in Cook-street, proceeded
thither with the mayor and a file of
soldiers, during the celebration of High
Mass, on St. Stephen's Day, December,
1629, dispersed the congregation, pro-
faned the altar, and heaved down the
statue of St. Francis, and arrested some
of the friars. These were, however,
rescued by the people, who did not
hesitate to jiursue even the archbishop
* Sir Richard Boyle, commonly called the " great"
earl of Cork, one of the lords justices mentioned above,
and one of the most fortunate of all English adventurers
in Ireland, loft an autobiography which he called his
" True Remembrances," and of which a portion has
been printed in Lodge's Irish Peerage, (Archdall's Lodge,
vol. i., p. 150, &c.) He was second son of a Mr. Roger
Boyle, of Herefordshire, and being too poor to support
himself as a student iu the Middle Teniple, became a
clerk to the chief baron of tlie English Court of Ex-
chequer ; but he says " it pleased Divine Providence to
lead him into Ireland," where he arrived in 1588, being
then in his twenty-second year. He was a lucky and a
prudent man, and opportunities were not wanting at
that time in Ireland for such a person to make a large
fortune. He was made clerk of the coimcil in Munster ;
was the bearer of the news of the English victory at
Kin.sale to Elizabeth ; purcliased the Irish estates of Sir
Walter Raleigh, amounting to many thousand acres in
Cork and Waterford, for £1,500 ; married as his second
wife (his first being a Mrs. Apsley, a Limerick lady.
himself and compel him to seek shelter
in a house. A few days after an order
arrived from the English council to
have the chapel demolished, and three
other chapels and a Catholic seminary
in Dublin seized and converted to the
king's use.f Eight Catholic aldermen
of Dublin were arrested for not assist-
ing the mayor, and the persecution was
afterwards extended over the kingdom ;
yet at this time the Catholics formed a
majority of at least a hundred to one of
the population of Ireland.
In July, 1633, viscount Wentworth,
whose hateful memory is better pre-
served by his subsequent title of earl of
Strafford, commenced his duties as lord
deputy of Ireland. He had recently
abandoned the popular cause in Eng-
land, and attached himself to the king,
to whom he became a most devoted, but
most unprincipled, minister. He came
to Ireland with feelings of thorough
contempt for all classes here, and his
who brought him £500 a-year), the daughter of Sir
Geoffrey Fenton, the potent and despotic secretary of
state for Ireland ; and obtained a variety of titles, vmtil
he became earl of Cork, lord high treasurer, and lord
justice of Ireland. " At great expense," says the memoir,
" he encouraged the settlement of Protestants, the sup-
pression of popery, the regulation of the army, the in-
crease of the public revenue, and the transplantation of
many septs and barbarous clans from the fruitful prov-
ince of Leinster into the wilds of Kerry." Robert
Boyle, the philosopher, was the youngest of his sons.
f The circumstances are thus related by Harris and
others on the authority of a publication called Foxes
and Firebrands; but the Carmelite and Franciscan
chapels were both at this time in Cook street, and Mr.
Gilbert {Hist, of Bub., vol. i., p. 299) says it wjis in the
latter this outrage was committed. He adds, that con-
sequent upon this affair the Franciscan schools through-
out Ireland were dissolved, and F. Valentine Browne, the
provincial, sent the novices to complete their studies in
foreign countries.
DUPLICITY OF WENTWORTH..
469
supercilious bearing gave great offence
to the council and the nobility. In
July, 1634, he assembled a parliament,
the subserviency of which he en-
deavored to secure by having a number
of persons in the pay of the crown,
chiefly military officers, returned as
members. The question of the " graces"
still agitated the public mind ; and he
£,'ave the strongest assurances that those
concessions would be confirmed, pro-
vided the supplies, demanded by the
king, Avere readily voted. "Surely,"
said he, in his speech from the throne,
" so great a meanness cannot enter your
hearts, as once to suspect his majesty's
gracious regards of you, and perform-
ance with you, where you affie your-
selves upon his grace." The supplies
were accordingly granted, and with so
generous a hand, that six subsidies of
X'50,000 each were voted, although
Wentworth tells us that "he never
propounded more to the king than
£30,000." But while parliament acted
thus, relying on the promises of the
king and his deputy, the latter had
basely resolved that those promises
never should be fulfilled, and contrived
to evade them in such a way as to re-
move the odium of doing so from his
royal master, who, however, unfortu-
nately for his own fame, fully sanc-
* The king writes thus to the deputy : — " Wentworth :
Before I answer any of your particular letters to me I
must tell you that your last public despatch has given
mv. a great deal of contentment ; and especially for keep-
ing off the envy" (odium) " of a necessary negative from
me, of those unreasonable graces that people expected
tioned fhe scandalous treachery of his
servant.*
The "grace" to which Wentworth
had the strongest objection was that
Avhich would make sixty years of un-
disputed possession a bar to the claims
of the crown, in cases of landed
property — and with good reason, as he
showed ; for as soon as parliament was
dissolved in April, 1635, a commission
of "defective titles" was issued for
Connaught, with the design of confis-
cating the whole of that province to
the crown by fictitious forms of law.
James I. having extended the system of
spoliation called "planting" wherever
the native Irish continued to hold their
own, first, in the six counties of Ulster,
and then in the Irish parts of Leinster,
as Longford, which was the O'Fariell's
country ; Wicklow, which w\as held by
the O'Tooles and O'Byrnes ; the north
part of Wexford, which belonged to
the Kavanagh's ; Iregan, in the Queen's
County, which belonged to the Mageo-
ghegans ; and Kilcoursey, in the King's
County, belonging to the O'Molloys ;
and having also replanted Desmond,
which had been desolated in the last
war in Munster, it now remained, in
order to find fresh ground for a Protest-
ant colonization from England and
Scotland, to hunt out old claims, or
from me." Strafford's State Letters, vol. i. p. o31 . Went-
worth describes how Sir John Kadcliffe and two of the
j udges assisted him in his plan ; and how, through the
medium of a committee, a positive refus;d to recommend
the passing of the "graces" into law was conveyed to
parliament at its next session." lltid., vol. i., p. 279, &c
470
REIGX OF CHARLES I.
supposed claims, of tlie crown, and thus
to reach lands long held under the se-
curity of the English law.* Went-
worth commenced the work of plunder
with Koscommon, and, as a preliminary
step, directed the sheriif to select such
jurors as might be made amenable, "in
case they should prevaricate;" or, in
other woixls, they might be ruined, by
enormous fines, if they refused to find a
verdict for the king.f The jurors were
told that the object of the commission
was to find "a clear and undoubted
title in the crown to the province of
Connaught," and to make them " a civil
and rich peopjle" by means of a planta-
tion ; for which purpose his majesty
should, of course, have the land in his
own hands to disti'ibute to fit and
proper persons. Under threats which
could not be misunderstood the jury
found for the king, whereu2:)on Went-
worth commended the foreman, Sir
Lucas Dillon, to his majesty, that " he
might be remembered upon the dividing
* Leland describes VP'entwortli's project in the follow-
ing words : " His project was notMng less than to sub-
vert the title to every estate in every part of Connaught,
and to establish a new plantation through this whole
province ; a project which, when first proposed in the
late reign, was received with horror and amazement,
but which suited the undismayed and enterprising
genius of Lord Wentworth. For this he had opposed
the confirmation of the royal graces, and taken to him-
self the odium of so flagrant a violation of the royal
promise. Tlie parliament was at an end, and the deputy
at leisure to execute a scheme, which, as it was offensive
and alarming, required a cautious and deliberate proce-
dure. Old records of state and the memorials of ancient
monasteries were ransacked to ascertain the king's
original title to Connaught. It was soon discovered
that in the grant of Henry 111. to Richard de Burgo, five
cantreds were reserved to the crown, adjacent to the
of the lands," and also obtained a com-
petent reward for the judges.^
Similar means had a like success in
Mayo and Sligo ; but when it came to
the tui"n of the more wealthy and popu
lous county of Galway, the jury refused
to sanction the nefarious robbery by
their verdict. Wentworth was furious
at this rebufi', and the uuhappyjurors
were punished without mercy for their
" contumac3^" They wei-e compelled
to appear in the castle chamber, Avhere
each of them was fined j£4,000, and
their estates were seized and they
themselves imprisoned until these fines
should be paid ; while the sheriff was
fined £1,000, and being unable to pay
that sum, died in prison. "Wentworth
proposed to seize the lands, not only of
the jurors, but of all the gentry who
neglected " to lay hold on his majesty's
grace ;" he called for an increase of the
army " until the intended plantation
should be settled ;" and recommended
that the counsel who ara:ued the cases
castle of Athlone ; that this grant included the whole
remainder of the province, which was now alleged to
have been forfeited by Aedh O'Connor, the Irish pro.
vincial chieftain ; that the land and lordship of De
Burgo descended, lineally, to Edward IV., and were
confirmed to the crovpn by a statute of Henry VII.
The ingenuity of court lawyers was employed to invali-
date all patents granted to the possessors of these lands,
from the reign of Queen Elizabeth." Hist, of D. B
iv., c. i.
t Strafford's Letters, I, p. 443.
I Sir Lucas DUlon received a large estate, probably
out of his own lands ; and we are told by Strafford
(Letters, ii., p. 241) that Sir Gerard Lowtber, chief-justice
of the Common Pleas, and the cliief baron, got four
shillings in the pound of the first year's rent raised
under the commissioners of " Defective Titles." Never
was j ustice more disgraced.
LIBERALITY OF THE IRISH PARLIAMENT.
471
agaiust the king before the commission-
ers should be silenced until they took
the oath of supremacy, which was ac-
cordingly done.* A title in the crown
to the baronies of Upper and Lower
Ormond, in the county of Tipperary,
and to some adjacent territories, all be-
longing to the earls of Ormond, was
also set up, and an inquisition for try-
ing the claim ordered ; but Lord
Ormond prudently compromised the
matter, although he knew that his own
case was perfectly good, and that the
crown would have an insuperable diffi-
culty in the production of the ancient
title-deeds. He thus secured a large
proportion of the lands for himself and
his friends. f Besides this scandalous
system of spoliation, other modes of
legal persecution were resorted to. A
Court of Wards, by which the heirs of
estates were reared up in the Protestant
religion, was instituted; also a high
commission court, which exercised a
fearful tyranny over all classes ; and the
extortions practised by the ecclesiastical
courts were wholly intolerable.
Matters proceeded thus for a few
years, and in 1640 we find another L'ish
parliament appealed to for subsidies
under the pressure of the Scottish rebel-
lion, and a voluntary contribution.
* " The gentlemen of Connaught," Bays Carte (Life of
Ormo?i(f, vol. i.) " labored under a particular hardship on
this occasion ; for their not having enrolled their patents
and surrenders of the 13th Jacobi (which was what alone
rendered their titles defective) was not their fault, but the
neglect of a clerk intrusted by them. For they had paid
near £3,000 to tho ofBces at Dublin for the enrolment of
these surrenders and jiatcnts, which was never made."
headed by £20,000 from Wentworth
himself, raised to meet the immediate
wants of the monarch. Though not a
warm nor generous patron, Chai-les
could not ftiil to recognize so much de-
votedness on the part of the deputy,
who was accordingly rewarded with the
titles of earl of Strafford and baron of
Raby, and with the dignity of lord lieu-
tenant of Ireland. As on the last occa-
sion, the L'ish parliament was loyal and
liberal in the extreme, and voted four
entire subsidies ; some of the members
protesting, with characteristic warmth,
that six or seven more ought to be given,
and others declaring that " their hearts
contained mines of subsidies for his
majesty." The annual revenue of Ire-
land had been increased under Strafford's
management to over £80,000. The
trade of the country had considerably
improved ; and although he destroyed
the Irish woollen manufocture, which
threatened to affect the staple of Eng-
land, he attempted to give a substitute
by encouraging the growth of flax and
the manufacture of linen, for which pur-
pose he expended large sums of money.
He raised an army of 8,000 foot and
1,000 horse in Ireland, at least nine-
tenths of this force being Catholic, and
committing the government to his fi-iend
The same authority tells us that all these proceedings of
Wentworth were sanctioned by the king ; his majesty
having assured the deputy before the English council in
103G that his trcatmentof the Gal way jurors "was no se-
verity," and wished him " to go on in that way ;" adding
" that if he served him otherwise he would not serve
him as he expected." (Carte's Orm^ad iii., p. 11.)
t Carte, vol. i., p. 59.
472
REIGN OF CHARLES I.
Sir Christopher Wandesford, as his
deputy, he went to England, and took
the command of the army sent against
the Scots. Fortune now turned against
him ; he was unsuccessful as a com-
mander, and had incurred the hatred of
the Scots and English to even a greater
extent than that of the Irish. The long
parliament was opened on the 3d No-
vember, 1640, and one of its first acts
was the impeachment of Strafford.
Many of the -charges against him re-
lated to his Irish administration, but
the most serious of them in the eyes of
the Puritans were his attempts to estab-
lish the arbitrary power of the crown,
and his enrolment of an army of " Irish
Papists," which he was accused of in-
tending to bring over to support the
king against his subjects in England.
A deputation from the Irish parliament
arrived with a " remonstrance of griev-
ances" against him ; and he was con-
victed of offences amounting in the ag-
gregate to constructive treason. The
wretched king was compelled to sign
his death-warrant, and on the 12th of
May, 1641, Strafford was beheaded on
Tower-hill, a fate which he deserved,
if not for the charges laid against him,
at least for the horrible injustice that
he exercised during the eight years of
his administration in Ireland.*
A. D. 1641. — With the forty preced-
ing years' continuity of wholesale spoli-
ation, galling oppression, terrorism, re-
* It should be mentioned as a reaeeming feature in
Strafford's character that he persecuted no man solely
ligious proscription, and national degra-
dation still present to us, and with a
due consideration of the traditions of
the people on the one side, and of the
passing events in surrounding countries
on the other, the reader will not be at
a loss to account for the events which it
now becomes our duty to relate. The
royalist earl of Castlehaven, who writes
as an eyewitness, and was not preju-
diced in favor of the native Irish, tells
us that these latter assigned as the
causes of the civil war of 1641, first,
that " they were generally looked upon
as a conquered nation, seldom or never
treated like natural or free-born sub-
jects;" secondly, "that six whole coun-
ties in Ulster were escheated to the
crown, and little or nothing restored
to the natives, but a great part be-
stowed by king James on his country-
men ;" thirdly, " that in Strafford's time
the crown laid claim also to the coun-
ties of Roscommon, Mayo, Galway, and
Cork, with some parts of Tipperary,
Limerick, Wicklow, and others ;" fourth-
ly, that "great severities were used
against the Roman Catholics in England,
and that both houses (of the Irish par-
liament) solicited by several petitions
out of Ireland to have those of that
kingdom treated with the like rigor;
which," he adds, " to a people so fond
of their religion as the Irish, was no
small inducement to make them, while
there was an opportunity offered, to
on account of his religion, and that he disliked the Puri
tans quite as much as he did the Catholics.
CAUSES OF DISCONTENT AMONG THE IRISH.
473
stand upon their guard;" fifthly, "that
they saw how the Scots, by pretending
grievances, and taking up arms to get
them redressed, had not only gained
divers privileges and immunities, but
got £300,000 for their visit (to Eng-
land), besides £850 a day for several
months together ;" and lastly, " that
they saw a storm draw on, and such
misunderstandings daily arise between
the king and parliament as portended no
less than a sudden rupture between
them," and therefore they believed that
" the king thus engaged, partly at home
and partly with the Scotch, could not
be able to suppress them so far off,"
but " would grant them any thing they
could in reason demand, at least more
than otherwise they could expect."*
One point, put only obscurely among
the preceding reasons, was in reality of
considerable importance, namely, the
dread which the Irish Catholics at this
time entertained of the extirpation of
♦ Castlehaven's Memoirs, pp. 8, 11 ; ed. 1819. An Eng-
lish contemporary Protestant writer represents the mo-
tives of the Irish much in the same way, and particu-
larly observes that they considered " that they also had
sundry grievances and grounds of complaint, both
touching their estates and consciences, which they pre-
tended to be far greater than those of the Scotch. For
they fell to think that if the Scotch were suffered to in-
troduce a new religion, it was reason they should not be
punished in the exercise of their old, which thry glory
never to have altered." — Rowel's Mercurius Iliberniciis
for 10«.
f See somo of the authorities on this point, collected
by Dr. Curry in his RevUio of the Civil Wars, pp. 14
148 ; ed. 1810. " Some time before the rebellion broke
out," says Carte, " it was confidently reported that Sir
John Clotwortny, who well knew the designs of the fac-
tion that governed the House of Commons in England,
hud declared there in a speech that the conversion of the
l'a!)if la in Ireland was only to bo effected by the Bible
their religion. This appears from a
multitude of authorities. Petitions
which tended to nothing less than the
destruction of the Catholic religion, and
of the lives and estates of Catholics,
were privately circulated among the Pro-
testants, and were countenanced by the
very men who had the government of Ire-
land then, in their hands ; it was confi-
dently reported that the Scottish army
had threatened never to lay down their
arms until the Catholic religion had
been suppressed, and a uniformity of
worship established in the three king-
doms. Letters to that effect were inter-
cepted; and it cannot be denied that
the course which events were then
taking beyond the channel rendered
the very worst of these apprehensions
probable.f
Another circumstance that presents
itself in a strong light to us, while in-
vestigating the causes of the great out-
break which renders this year so mem-
in one hand, and the sword in the other ; and Mr. PjTie
gave out that they would not leave a priest in Ireland.
To the like effect Sir William Parsons (one of the lords
justices of Ireland), out of a strange weakness, or detest-
able policy, positively asserted before so many witnesses
at a public entertainment, that within a twelvemonth
no Catholic should be seen in Ireland. lie had senso
enough to know the consequences that would naturally
arise from such a declaration ; which, however it might
contribute to his own selfish views, ho would hardly
have ventured to make so openly and without disguise,
if it had not been agreeable to the politics and measures
of the English faction whose party he espoused."—
Carte's Ormond, vol i., p. 2;!u. Dr. Warner, a Protest-
ant writer, observes (Hist. «f the Irish Rebel.) that it
was evident from a letter of tlie lord justice to the earl
of Leicester, then lord lieutenant, " that they hoped for
an extirpation, not of the more Irish only, but of
all the old English families also, that were Boman
Catholics."
4T4
REIGN OF CHARLES I.
enable in our history, is the position,
in point of numbers nnd influence, which
Irishmen then occupied on the conti-
nent. In their struggles for national
and religious iudejiendence, during the
reign of Elizabeth, the Irisli looked for
help to the great Catholic powers ; but
now theil" own countrymen in Spain,
France, and the Low Countries had ac-
* Early in the reign of James I. the Irish began to
seek refuge in foreign countries from the ruin and deso-
lation which had overspread their own. A great many,
says O'Sullivan, speaking of his own times, went to
France, but by far the greater number flocked to Spain ;
and everywhere, he adds, those exOes for their fiiith
were received most hospitably and coiirteously by Cath-
olics. The king of Spain, in particular, was most
generous to them, assigning monthly pensions to their
principal men, according to their rank, and putting
others under military pay. He formed an Irish legion,
which served with great bravery in Belgium, first under
Henry O'NoUl, and after his death, under his brother,
John— both sons of the illustrious Hugh O'Neill. (Hist.
Cath., p. 263.) The number of Irish soldiers abroad
was very much increased by the licence which James I.
granted in 1633 for the enlistment of Irish for the
Spanish service ; and on that occasion great terror was
excited in the Palo by the assembling of bands of Irish-
men, preparatory to their embarkation, under the sons
of their ancient chieftains then acknowledging allegi-
ance to a foreign king. Such Was the origin of the
Irish Brigade, afterwards so celebrated in the history of
Europe. It was a little before the date at which we
have now arrived, namely in June, 15o0, that an Irish
regiment in the Spanish service, under their colonel,
Preston, immortalized themselves by their heroic de-
fence of Louvain, one of the most remarkable incidents
in the history of the time. (See it related in O'Contrfs
Military Memoirs of the Irish, and in the introduction
of Dr. French's works in Duffy's Library of Ireland.)
The great Irish Franciscan, Father Luke "Wadding, was
at this time a centre of intellectual attraction among
the learned and the pious in Rome. But not to dwell
on those children of the Green Isle, who, by attaining
to distinction in the cliurch and the court among the
most enlightened nations of the world, vindicated in
that age the character of their country as the missionary
Irish saints and scholars on the continent had done a
thousand years before ; we come to an important and
significant list of " Irishmen abroad," made out, about
the very time referred to in the text, by some indus-
quired great militaiy eminence, many
of whom were able, of themselves, to
furnish armies and money. These
friends abroad were not unmindful of
their suffering fatherland, and during
the whole of 1640 and 1641 the pros-
pect of an invasion of Ireland seems to
have agitated their minds.*
Early in the latter of these yeai's we
trious spy of the English government. The compiler
of this list, after observing that the dangers of Ireland
" doe depend most on the practices of their Eomish
priests, the plots and purposes of Irish commanders
serving foreign princes, and the discontentment of the
people, especially the Irish natives ;" and stating that
" the Romish priests were much multiplied of late years
iu number, power, and countenance," proceeds to enu-
merate the chief men of Irish and Anglo-Irish extraction
then serving foreign princes, in Spain, Italy, France,
Germany, Poland, and the Low, Countries. The list
begins with Don Richardo Burke, " a man. much expe-
rienced in martial affairs," and " a good inginiere." He
served many years under the Spaniards in Naples and
the West Indies, and was the governor of Leghorn for
the duke of Florence. Next, "Phellomy O'Neill, neph-
ew unto old Tyrone, liveth in great respect (in Milan),
and is a captaine of a troop of horse." Then comes
James Rowthe or Rothe, an alfaros, or standard-bearer
in the Spanish army, and his brother, Captain John
Rothe, " a pensioner in Naples, -who carried Tyrone out
of Ireland." One Captain Soloman MacDa, a Geraldine-
resided at Florence, and Sir Thomas Talbot, a knight
of Malta, and " a resolute and well-beloved man," lived
at Naples, in which latter city " there were some other
Irish captaines and officers." The list then proceeds :
" In Spain, Captain Phellomy Cavanagh, son-in-law to
Donell Spaniagh, serveth under the king by sea. Cap-
tain Somlevayne (O'Sullivan), a man of noted courage.
These live commonly at Lisbonne. and are sea-captaines.
Besides others of the Irish, Captain DriscoU, the younger,
Sonne to old Captain DriscoU, both men reckoned val-
ourous. In the court of Spaine livetli the Sonne of
Richard Bourke, which was nephew untoe AVilliam. who
died at Valladolid he is in high favour with the
king, and (as it is reported) is to be made a marquis.
Captain Toby Bourke, a pensioner in the court of Spain,
another nephew of the said WiUiam, deceased, Captain
John Bourke M'Shane, who served long time in Flan-
ders, and now liveth on his pension, assigned on the
Groyne. Captain Daniell, a pensioner at Antwerp. In
the Low Coimtries, under the Archduke: Jolin O'Neill,
MEETING OF THE IlilSII GENTRY.
475
find a few of the native Irish gentry at
home, meeting together to talk over a
plJh for redressing their grievances by
insurrection. The first movement is
traced to Mr. Roger O'More, or Moore,
a member of the ancient family of the
chiefs of Leix : and with him we find
a&sociated by degrees, Lord Maguire, an
Irish nobleman who retained a small
fragment of the ancient patrimony of
his family in Fermanagh, and who was
overwhelmed with debt; his brother,
Roger Maguire ; Sir Phelim O'Neill of
Kinuaird, of the illustrious stock of
Tyrone ;* Turlough O'Neill, brother of
the last-named ; Sir Con Magennis ;
Philip MacHugh O'Reilly; Colonel
Hugh Oge MacMahon; Collo Mac-
Briau MacMahon ; Evan MacMahon,
vicar-general of Clogher, and othei's.
To enforce his views, O'More employed
ai'guments similar to those which we
have quoted from Lord Castlehaven.
He spoke of the afflictions and suffer-
ings of the native Irish, and of the
general discontent which pi-evailed
Bonne of the arclitraitor, Tyrone, colonel of the Irish
regiment. Young O'Donnel, sonno of the late traitor-
ous Earl of Tirconnel. Owen O'Neill (Owen Roe), ser-
geant-major (equivalentto the present lieutenant-colonel)
of the Irish regiment. Captain Art O'Neill, Captain
Cormack O'Neill, Captain Doncl O'Donel, Captain Thady
O'Sullevane, Captain Preston, Captain FitzGerrott ; old
Captain FitzGcrrott continues sergeant-major, now a
pensioner; Captain Edmond O'Mor, Captain Bryan
O'Kelly, Captain Stanihurst, Captain Corton, Captain
Daniell, Captain Walshe. There are diverse other Cap-
taines and officers of the Irish under the Archduchess
(IsiihellaX some of whose companies are cast, and they
aaade pensioners. Of these serving under tlie Arch-
dacliess there are about 100 able to command companies,
and 20 fitt to be colonels. Many of them are descended
of gentlemen's families and some of noblemen. These
Irish soldiers and pensioners doe stay their resolutions
among the new as well as the old Irish.
He dwelt particularly on the injury
done to the Catholic Church, and alluded
to the well-grounded rumor that parlia-
ment intended the utter subversion of
their i-eligion. He had already, he said,
ascertained that the principal Irish gen-
try of Leinster and Connaught were
favorable to the design of taking up
arms ; and urged that they never would
have a better opportunity of improving
their condition and recovering at least
a portion of their ancient estates than
during the present Scottish troubles.
O'More was a man of handsome person
and fascinating manners, as well as of
gi-eat bravery and undoubted honor,
and we need not wonder that he became
one of the most popular leaders of the
exciting time which followed. Lord
Maguire was active as a medium of com-
munication between the confederates ;
but among those we have yet men-
tioned. Sir Phelim O'Neill was destined
to play the most important part in their
future proceedings.
until they see whether England makes peace or war with
Spaine. If peace, they have practised already with other
soveraine princes, from whom they have received hopes
of assistance : if war doe ensue they are confident of
greater ayde. They have been long providing of arms
for any attempt against Ireland, and had in readiness five
or six tliousand arms laid up in Antwerp for that pur-
pose, bought out of the deduction of their monthly pay,
as will be proved, and it is thought they have now
doubled that proportion by these means." Tliis ex-
tremely curious document, which is preserved in the
State-paper Office, and was first brought to light in the
N'lition of February 5tli, 18.59, would appear to have been
prepared very shortly before 1G40, and throws consider-
able light on some facts in the sequel of our history.
* He was fourth in descent from John of Kinnaird,
youngest brother qf Coi) Baccagh O'Neill, first earl ot
Tyrone.
476
REIGN OF CHARLES I.
About May, 1641, Nial O'Neill ar-
rived in Ireland as a messenger from
the titular earl of Tyrone (John, son
of Hugh O'Neill) in Spain, to inform
his friends that he had obtained from
Cardinal Richelieu, prime minister of
France, a promise of arms, ammunition,
and money for Ireland, when required,
and desiring them to hold themselv^es
in readiness. The confederates sent
back the messenger with information
as to their proceedings, and announcing
that they would be j^repared to rise a
few days before or after AU-hallow-tide,
according as the opportunity answered ;
but scarcely was the messenger dis-
patched when news was received that
the earl of Tyrone was killed, and an-
other messenger was sent with all speed
into the Low Countries to Colonel Owen
O'Neill, who was the next entitled to
be their leader* Orders had been is-
sued by the English parliament to dis-
band the " popish" array raised by
Strafford in Ireland ; and that the men
might be removed from the country,
license was given that they might enter
into foreign service. Certain officers
were ostensibly commissioned to enrol
them for that purpose. But here we
have a double plot ; for the real object
of these officers was to keep the men
collected at home ready to be employed
* Colonel Owen Roe O'Neill was son of Art, tho
youngest brotlier of Hugh O'Neill, earl of Tyrone, and
was, therefore, first cousin of the titular earl, John,
■whose death has been just mentioned. Some have er-
roneously called him the grand-nephew of Tj-rone, and
others, without any authority, make him illegitimate
for three successive generations. See the Rev. J. Wil-
lis's Life of Owen Roe, and a paper by II. F. Ilore, Esq.,
in the king's interest. Among those
sent to Ireland for this purpose ijj'ere
Colonels Plunket, Bourn, or Byrne^nd
Sir James Dillon, and Captain Brian
O'Neill, and it required little ingenuity
to bring about a common understanding
between the gentlemen thus interested
for the king and the Irisli associates of
Roger O'More. Conferences were held
between a few of either side, and Colo-
nel Plunket and his friends were the
first to suggest that Dublin castle should
be seized by surprise, and the arms, of
whicli a large quantity were stored
there, distributed among the insurgents.
In the course of September their plans
were matured, and after some changes
as to the day, the 23d of October was
finally fixed on for the execution of
them. There was to be a simultaneous
movement throughout the country, and
at the same time that Dublin castle was
to be taken, with two hundred men
counted off for that purpose, all the
strong places in the kingdom were to
be attacked or surprised. They were
to seize on the forts and arms, and to
make the gentry prisoners, but it was
particularly directed that none should
be killed,f " but where of necessity they
must be forced thereunto by opposi-
tion." It was also resolved that noth-
insr should be done to attract the ani-
in the Ulster Journal of Archaology. This is decidedly
erroneous, the only case of illegitimacy in his pedigreo
being that of Ferdoragh. The name of Colonel Owen
O'Neill appears in the list given in the note in the last
page.
t See Relation of Lord Maguire, from which the
above particulars of the conspiracy are taken. Bor-
lasc's HUt. of tU Irish Rebell. App.
IRISH PARLIAMENT PROROGUED.
4Y7
mosity of the Scots. Encouragiug news
was received from Colonel Owen
O'Neill, holding out hopes of aid from
Cardinal Richelieu, and desiring that
the rising should take place as speedily
as possible.
Sir William Parsons and Sir John
Borlase, who were at this time lords
justices, were violent partisans of the
English parliament.* They were men
of narrow minds, violent prejudices,
and the meanest intellect, and were ca-
pable of acting for the basest motives.
They received sundry intimations of the
approach of danger, but treated them
with stolid indifference ; and it soon
became apparent that nothing could
have gratified them more than a move-
ment which would place the Catholic
landed gentry at their mercy.f In
compliance with a petition of griev-
ances from the Irish parliament, the
king ordered the lords justices to assure
his Irish subjects that his former
promises should be speedily performed,
and to prepare for that purpose two
bills for securing the titles of estates,
and limiting the claims of the crown to
sixty years. This was an effort on the
part of the unfortunate Charles to re-
cover the confidence and affection of
the Irish people, but nothing could be
* The earl of Liecester, who was appointed lord-lieu-
tenant of Ireland, after the execution of Strafford, also
Decame a partisan of the parliamentary faction. He
never came to Ireland.
f So early as the 16th of March, 1C41, the king
ordered secretary Vane to send notice to tlie lords
justices of an intended rebellion in Ireland ; his majesty
having received advices to that eficct from his minister
in Spain, who had observed the movements among the
further from the intention of Parsons
and Borlase than any such consumma-
tion. When it was known that the
Irish agents were returning with the
royal answer, the lords justices, not-
withstanding entreaty and remon-
strance, prorogued parliament for three
months, and refused to issue a procla-
mation announcing the wishes of the
king. This proceeding greatly exaspe-
rated the gentry of the Pale, and
helped to hasten and extend the subse-
quent outbreak. J
At length the eve of the 23d of
October arrived, and several of the con-
federates assembled in Dublin, accord-
ing to appointment. Among these
were Lord Maguire, Roger O'More,
Colonels Plunket, Bourn, and Hugh
MacMahon, Captains Brian O'Neill and
Fox, and others ; but it was found that
some were not punctual in sending their
contingents of men, and that of two
hundred who were to seize the castle
next day, only eighty were in towu
that afternoon. Still, they resolved on
carrying out their plan ; but in an evil
hour Hugh MacMahon revealed their
project to one Owen O'Connolly, who
had been reared a Protestant, and was
a servant to the fanatical Sir John
Clotworthy. This infatuation of Mac-
Irish refugees. This, however, did not disturb the
security of Parsons and Borlase.
i Such was the opinion of the king himself, who,
in answer to a declaration of the English parliament,
said: "If he had been obeyed in tlie Irish affairs
before he went to Scotland, there had been no Irish
rebellion ; or after it had begun, it would have been
in a few months suppressed." — licUq. Sac. Carolina,
478
REIGN OF CHARLES I.
Mahou's, at the last moment, has not
been explained. O'Connolly hastened
to denounce the conspiracy to Sir
William Parsons, who, perceiving that
he was partly intoxicated, did not
credit his story. On reflection, how-
ever, the lord justice went to consult
with his colleague, Sir John Borlase,
who resided at Chichester House, in
College Green. It was then ten o'clock
at night, and O'Connolly having been
brought before them, and repeating his
statement, immediate steps were taken
to arrest the conspirators. The city
gates were closed, and search made for
the confederates, but O'More and some
of the others, having timely notice of
the discovery, contrived to escape across
the Liffey. MacMahon was taken in
his lodgings near the King's Inns, but
seemed to feel little concern at his posi-
tion ; for he passed the time during the
night, in the hall of Chichester House,
sketching with chalk the figures of men
on gibbets, or slain in various postures,
and observing that it was too late to
stop the rising, which had already
taken place, and that he would be
amply revenged. Lord Maguire was
captured in the morning in a loft in
Cook-street, and he and MacMahon
were subsequently taken to London,
where they were tried and hanged at
Tyburn.
All was now alarm in the city. Early
in the morning a proclamation was
issued, announcing the discovery of a
"detestable conspiracy, intended by
some evil affected Irish papists, against
the lives of the lords justices and
council, and many other of his majesty's
faithful subjects, universally through-
out the kingdom." The Castle w*as
put into a state of defence, under Sir
Francis Willoughby, the governor of
Galwajr, who had arrived the preceding
night; Sir Charles Coote was made
governor of the city; the earl of
Ormond, then at Carrick-on-Suir, i-e-
ceived notice to repair to Dublin with
his troop ; arms were distributed among
the Protestants, and also to some Catho-
lics; commissions of martial law were
issued ; and all persons not residing in
Dublin or the suburbs were ordered to
depart under pain of death. The lords
and gentlemen of the Pale, who were
almost to a man Catholics, complained
that the words " Irish papists" in the
proclamation appeared to involve them
in the charge of rebellion, and accord-
ingly, on the 29th, another proclama-
tion was published explaining that
these words were only intended to
designate " such of the old mere Irish
in the province of Ulster as had
plotted, contrived, and been actors in
that treason, and others that adhered
to them, and none of the old English
of the Pale."
The failure of the plot in Dublin did
not prevent its success in the north,
where several important places were
surprised or captured by the confeder-
ates before the news of the premature
discovery in Dublin could penetrate so
far. Sir Phelim O'Neill got possession
by stratagem of Charlemont Fort, and
PROCLAMATION OF SIR PHELIM O'NEILL.
4Y9
of its commander, Sir Tobias Caulfield ;
Newry was seized by Sir Con Mageunis,
and the arms and ammunition stored
up there were distributed among the
people; Roger Maguire overran Fer-
managh; Castleblaney, Carrickmacross,
Dungannon, Mountjoy Fort, and a great
number of small stations fell into the
hands of the insurgents, who so far
contented themselves with plunder,
stripping and turning out the English
occupiers. Sir Phelim O'Neill issued
the following proclamation :
" These are to intimate and make
known unto all persons whatsoever in
and through the Avhole country, that
the true intent and meaning of us
whose names are hereunto subscribed,
that the first assembling of us is nowise
intended against our sovereign loi'd the
king, nor hurt of any of his subjects,
either English or Scotch ; but only for
the defence and libertie of ourselves
and the Irish natives of this kingdom.
And we further declare that whatso-
ever hurt hitherto hath been done to
* The subjoined published letter, written by Sir Con
Magennis two days after the rising, shows the spirit in
which the Irish tooli up arms. It is preserved in the
Custom-house, Dublin, with some other papers of
historical interest, in llio same place with the Down
survey : —
" To my lovoingo fricndcs, Capt. Vaughan, Marcus
Trevor, and other commanders of Down these be.
Deere fricndes, — My love to you all, although you
thinke it as yet other'ivise. Sure it is, I have broken
Sir Edward Trevor's letter, fearing that any thinge
sliould bo written against us. Wo are for our lives and
liberties, as you may understand out of that letter. We
desire no blood to be shed, but if you meane to shed our
blood, bo sure we will be as ready as you for the pur-
pose. I rest your assured friende, Connor Magneisse.
Newry, 2jth October, 1(511."
any person shall be presently repaired,
and we will that every person forth-
with, after proclamation hereof, make
their speedy I'epaire unto their own
houses under paine of death, that no
further hurt be done unto any one
under the like paine, and that this be
proclaimed in all places. — At Dungan-
non, the 23d October, 1641.
Phelim O'Neill."*
A few days after, Sir Phelim ex-
hibited a commission which he pre-
tended to have received from the king;
having taken for that purpose a seal
from an old patent found in Charleraont
Fort, and attached it to the fictitious
royal commission. The ruse had the
desired effect in inducing some royalists
to join his standard ; but it was also
laid hold on by the king's enemies as a
charge against that unfortunate prince.
Sir Phelim afterwards declared in the
most solemn manner that he never
received any commission or other au-
thorization from the king.f
There were few places of strength in
f Atthe trial of Sir Phelim O'Neill in Februair, 1G53,
an infamous attempt was made by the judges to blacken
the memory of the lato king by endeavoring to elicit
from the prisoner tliat he really had a commission from
the unfortunate Charles. They first in private, and
afterwards publicly, offered him his pardon and the
restitution ot his estates if he made a public confession
to that effect, but he protested that he covJd not do so.
At the conclusion of the trial the sentence was deferred
to the next day, to give him an opportunity of consider-
ing the tempting offer. But Sir Phelim persevered in
asserting that tlie king had no hand in tlie matter, and
he called witnesses to prove that he himself had attachea
the seal to the pretended document. Finally, on the
scaffold, the offer was repeated to him by the order of
Ludlow, and, raising his voice, Sir Phelim said : " I de-
clare, good people, before God and his angels, and all
480
REIGN OF CHARLES I.
Ulster wliicli had not fallen by the end
of the first week into the hands of the
insurgents. Sir Phelim O'Neill already
found himself at the head of some
30,000 men, as yet of course undisci-
plined, and but few of them efficiently
armed; and it is not to be expected
that sucli an irregular multitude, with
wild passions let loose, and so many
wrongs and insults to be avenged, could
have been engaged in scenes of war,
even so long, without committing some
deeds of blood which the laws of regu-
lar waifare would not sanction. In
some cases resistance was punished by
them with little humanity; they had
little compassion for the English settlers
and undertakers ; and life was taken in
some few instances where the act de-
served the name of murder; but the
cases of this nature, on the Irish side,
at the commencement of the rebellion,
were isolated ones ; and nothing can be
more unjust and folse than to describe
the outbreak of this war as a " massa-
cre." A single murder is a disgrace to
our nature, and it is most painful to
have to refer to such a crime in a way
that sounds like palliation ; but the foul
misrepresentation which has sought to
blacken the character of the northern
jou that hear me, that I never had any commission
from the king in what I hae dovne in levying and
prosecuting tliis war." (Carte's Ormond, vol. ii., p. 181.
Nalson'a Historical Collections.) We have thought it
needless to allude in the text to the statement of tlie
earl of Antrim, that before the breaking out of the
rebellion, orders had been conveyed to him and to the
earl of Ormond to seize the castle of Dublin, and to
raise an army of 20,000 men in Ireland to make war
against the parliament. The earl of Antrim (Randal
Irish by charging them with prear-
ranged and systematic murder in this
insurrection, is no less a disgrace to his-
tory. The cruelties which may be ob-
jected to the Irish insurgents belong to
a somewhat later period of the war.
" It was as yet" — observes a recent wri-
ter, of undoubted learning and research,
but of the strongest bias against the
Irish Catholics — "an insurrection of
lords and gentlemen ; nor is there any
reason to believe that any thing more
was designed by these than a partial
transfer of property, and certain stipu-
lations in favor of the Church of Rome."*
But the successes of the Irish were soon
interrupted by serious reverses, in which
they were treated with barbarous se-
verity; several strong places were re-
taken from them, and in their attacks
on others they were repulsed. Sir
Charles Coote, the most truculent and
merciless of the Puritan commanders,
had very early commenced his work of
carnage in the vicinity of Dublin ; and
a numerous body of the plundered Eng-
lish Protestants, uniting with the Scot-
tish garrison of Carrickfergus, with
whom they had sought shelter, wreaked
their vengeance on the unprotected and
unoffending peasantry of the neighbor-
MacDonnell, grandson of Sorley Boy, and second of that
title) was notoriously a vain and frivolous man, and was
either deceived by a Mr. Burke, a relative of the earl of
Clanrickard, who pretended to bring such a message
from the king ; or else, in order to increase his im-
portance, magnified some silly circumstance into the
story in question. See his statement and the remarks
on it in Clarendon's Vindication of Ormond.
* The Rev. James WUls' Illustrious and Distinguished
Irishmen, vol. ii., p. 437.
REMONSTRANCE OF THE CATHOLIC GENTRY.
481
hood by a fearful massacre. These cir-
cumstances and many local causes com-
bined to exasperate the Irish, and to
elicit I'ctaliation at which the heart
sickens. Sir Phelim O'Neill, who was
somewhat volatile and was subject to
violent fits of passion, was not the man
to control, as he should have done, the
irregular masses which he commanded ;
and at a later period he lamented the
cruelties which he had tolerated or or-
dered, but from the beginning, Roger
O'More, and other leaders, set their
faces against the commission of any act
of unnecessary severity.'"'
It was about this time that the
learned and amiable William Bedell,
Protestant bishop of Kilmore, drew up
a remonstrance for the Catholic gentry
and people of Cavan, among whom he
continued to reside in safety; the re-
spect and affection entertained for him
by his Catholic neighbors rendering his
house an inviolable sanctuary for all
those who sought shelter in it.f Dr.
Bedell would not have sanctioned what
he did not believe to be the truth, yet
this remonstrance, prepared by him,
after alluding to the causes of fear
which the Catholics believed themselves
♦ A contemporary writer, unfriendly to the native Irish,
says : — " The truth is, they were very bloody on both
sides, and though some will throw all on the Irish, yet
'tis well known who they were that used to give orders
to their parties, sent into enemies' quarters, to spare
neither man, woman, or child. And the leading men
among the Irish have this to say for themselves, that
they were all along so for from favoring any of the mur-
derers, that ilot only their agents, soon after the king's
restoration, but even in their remonstrance, presented
by the Lord Vi.scount Gormanstown and Sir Kobcrt Tal-
bot, on the ITth ol March, 1042, the nobility and gentry
justified in entertaining, namely, " of in-
vasion from other parts (Scotland) to
the dissolving of the bond of mutual
agreement which hitherto hath been
held inviolable between the several sub-
jects of the kingdom," thus continues :
— "For the preventing of such evils
growing upon us in this kingdom we
have, for the preservation of his majes-
ty's honor and our own liberties, thought
fit to take into our own hands, for his
highness's use and service, such forts
and other places of strength as coming
into the possession of others, might
prove disadvantageous and tend to the
utter undoing of the kingdom." And
it thus refers to the acts of violence al-
ready committed, in terms that would
not seem to imply that any " massacre"
was among the number : — " As for the
mischiefs and inconveniences that have
already happened, through the disorder
of the common sort of people against
the Eugli.sh inhabitants, or any other,
we, with the nobility and gentlemen,
and such others of the several counties of
this kingdom, are most willing and ready
to use our and their best endeavors in
causing restitution and satisfaction to be
made, as in part we have already done." J
of the nation desired that the murders on both sides
committed should be strictly examined, and the authors
of them punished, according to the utmost severity o(
the law ; which proposal, certainly, their adversaries
could never have rejected, but that they were conscious
to themselves of being deeper in the mire than they
would have the world believe." — Castlehaven's Memoirt,
p. 21, ed. 1815.
f Ho, and all those within his walls, says his biogra-
pher. Bishop Burnet, " enjoyed, to a miiade, perfect
quiet."
+ Burnet's Life of Beddl.
482
REIGN OF CHARLES I.
There appears to be good reason for
the assertion that the outrage near
Canickfei-gus, already alluded to, was
the " first massacre" pei-petrated at this
dismal period. The statement is, that
about the beginning of November,
1641, the English settlers, who, being
plundered by the Irish, sought refuge
in Carrickfergus, sallied forth at night
with the Scotch garrison, and murdered
all the people whom they found in the
neighboring peninsula called Island
Magee, to the number of about 3,000,
men, women, and childi-en, all innocent
persons, as none of the Catholics of the
county of Antrim had yet taken up
arms. As to the fact of this massacre
there is no doubt, but some question
has been raised as to the time and
the number. Protestant historians
would make it appear that it took
place a few mouths later, and they also
argue on the improbability of so many
persons residing in so small a district,
the length of the peninsula being little
* See the " Collection of some of the massacres and
murders committed on the Irish in Ireland, since the 33(i
of Oct. 1641," appended to Clarendon's Vindication of
the Earl of Ormond, and to Curry's Review of tlie Civil
Wars, p. 633. It was first published in London in 1603,
and its truth has never been disproved, although it
makes frequent appeals to the testimony of enemies
then living.
f That there was no premeditated design of a general
massacre, in the great Irish rebellion of 1041, and that
no such, massacre took place, are facts that by the closest
investigation of the subject may be established. How
the monstrous falsehoods and exaggerations on this
matter first got into circulation is a curious subject of
inquiry. Clarendon, in his history, loosely asserted that
40 or 50,000 Protestants were murdered at the com-
mencement of this rebellion, before they suspected any
danger, whicli must have been within the first three or
four days, at the farthest. Sir John Temple exaggerates
more than five Irish miles, and its
greatest width only a mile and a half.
Leland's statement is that only thirty
families were butchered on the occa-
sion ; but the contemporary authority
which we have for the number and
time first stated appears to be undeni-
able ; the population of the place may
have been increased at the moment by
many persons flying to that remote
locaFity from danger in other quarters ;
and it is expressly added, that "this
was the first massacre committed in
Ireland of either side."* The subject
of these massacres is revolting to human
nature, and we cordially agree with
those who wish that it could be eflfaced
from the page of Irish history ; but as
long as the calumnies of Sir John
Temple and Borlase remain in print,
and as the character of Ireland is held
up to execration for a " universal mas-
sacre of .Protestants," Avhich never took
place, so long will it be necessary to
discuss these horrible details.f
the number to 150,000 ! Sir WiUiam Petty made it a
subject of statistical estimate, and fixed the number,
more moderately, at upwards of 30,000. A writer
named May has raised it to 200,0001 The Rev. Dr.
Warner, an English Protestant clergyman, in his Histo-
ry of tlie Rebellion in Ireland, took great pains to ascer-
tain the truth out of " authentic documents," and the
result of his minute inquiry was, " that the number of
persons killed out of war, not at the beginning only, but
in the course of the two first years of the rebellion,
amounted, altogether, to 2,109 ; on the report of other
Protestants, 1,019 more ; and on the report of some of
the rebels themselves, a further number of 300; the
whole making 4028 ;" besides 8,000 more killed by ill
usage ; and he adds : " If we allow that the cruelties of •
the Irish out of war extended to these numbers, which,
considering the nature of several of the di.'positions, I
think, in my conscience, wo cannot, yet, to be impartial
we must allow that there is no pretence for laying j
PROCLAMATIONS OF THE LORDS JUSTICES.
483
The lords justices published a procla-
mation on the 30th of October, to con-
tradict the statement that Sir Phelira
O'Neill held any commission from the
king ; and another on the 1st of
November, offering pardon to such of
the insurgents as would come in within
two days, and were not freeholders;
but the conditions were clearly intend-
ed to prevent the pardon from having
any effect. The lords and gentlemen
of the Pale, although not yet involved
in any disloyalty, were treated with
coldness and suspicion. Parliament
met, according to adjournment, on the
16th of November, but was again pro-
rogued, and the lords justices plainly
intimated that they required neither
the advice nor the co-operation of any
beyond the small clique of Puritans
who acted as their council. It was
obviously the design of these men to
urge the Catholic landed gentry into
rebellion, for the purpose of confiscating
their property, and "they were often
heard to say," as we are told by one
well acquainted with them, "that the
more were in rebellion, the more lauds
greater number to their charge." This account, he tells
us, was corroborated by a letter which he copied out of
the council books at Dublin, and which was written ten
years alter the beginning of tlie rebellion, from the
parliament commissioners in Ireland to the English par-
liament. The commissioners expressly say in this letter
" that it then appeared that, besides 848 families, there
were killed, hanged, and burnt G,0G3." There is a great
difference between these numbers and those quoted
above, which vary from Petty 's 30,000 to Mr. May's
200,000 ; but an examination of the " authentic docu-
ments," on which both Dr. Warner and the parlia-
mentary commissioners grounded their calculations, will
show that little or no reliance can be placed upon them,
and that the very lowest estimate is most probably a
monstrous exaggeration. A commission was issued by
the lords j ustices in IC-W, to " inquire what lands had
been seized ; what murders committed by the rebels ;
what number of British Protestants had perished on the
way to any place whither they fled, &c.," and the com-
missioners continued from March till October to take
depositions. Crowds came with their stories, but their
evidence was nearly all a hearsay, and but few of them
were sworn. Great numbers of them were poor women
and servants, illiterate persons unable to sign their
names ; and it may bo suspected that the mere parole
evidence of such persons, under the circumstances, could
bo of little value. They allowed free scope to their
imagination ; every one wished to exceed his neighbor's
story ; and most of them could only tell what they heard
others say while they were prisoners with the Papists.
If a Protestant girl heard a Papist cow-boy boast of the
number of murders that he and his friends committed
making no allowance at all for the grim waggery of such
a jjersou wishing to frighten the poor Protestant prii
ers out of their wits — the horrible tale was brought to
the commissioners, and a deposition taken to that effect.
Sometimes the examinations related to the ghosts of the
murdered Protestants who appeared walking on tlie
water, brandishing spectre swords, and raising their
hands to heaven. A great part of the deposition of the
Rev. Robert Maxwell, afterwards Protestant bishop of
Kilmore, is actually taken up with these dreadful appa-
ritions? Many of the deponents described the same
murders as if committed in different places ; and many
also deposed to numbers of persons who were known to
be alive several years after. However, all tlie depositions
were collected and carefully bound up in thirty-two folio
volumes, which are still preserved in the library of
Trinity College, Dublin, and these are the precious docu-
ments on which, and on some official reports. Dr. Warner
made his calculations. Sir John Temple collected from
them the best extracts he could for his history, and these
have been republished innumerable times as authentic
evidence, but the whole together are of little historic
value except as a curious monument of the times. Dr.
Lingard (vol. vii., note NNN. Cth ed.) quotes several dis-
patclies, letters, and commissions from the lords justices
to the English parliament, privy council, &c., written
within thfi first two months after the outbreak, which
either make no allusion at all to murders, or do so in
terms which plainly indicate that there was no general
massacre ; and that profound historian argues — " If we
consider the language of these dispatches, and at the
same time recollect who were the writers, and what an
interest they had in exaggerating the excesses of the in-
surgents, we must, I think, concludo that hitherto no
general massacre had been made or attemi)ted," — that
is, the reader will observe, no massacre of the Prot.
CEtants by the Catholicp.
484
REIGN OF CHARLES I.
chould be forfeited, to them."* This
nefarious scheme of forfeiture was,
indeed, scarcely concealed from the
beginning. The greedy lords justices
exulted openly at the rich harvest
which they anticipated ; and not later
than two months after this time a com-
pany of adventurers was formed in
London, who calculated on the confisca-
tion of ten millions of acres in Ireland,
as soon as the work of reduction could
be completed.
The state of feeling thus produced
in the Pale encouraged the northern
Irish, who marched towards Drogheda,
under the command of Sir Phelim
O'Neill, now invested with the title of
" lord general of the Catholic army in
Ulster." On the 24th of November
uhey took Lord Moore's house at Melli-
font, and put the foot-soldiers who de-
fended it to the sword, the cavalry hav-
ing cut their way through to Drogheda.
This latter town was now closely be-
sieged, the garrison being under the
command of Sir Henry Tichbourne, who
Avas ably assisted by Lord Moore.
About this time the Irish were repulsed
in an assault on Lisburn, then called
Lisnagarvy ; but their loss was repaired
soon after by a victory over an English
detachment of six hundred or seven
hundred men, who were sent from Dub-
lin to relieve Drogheda, and were cut
to pieces at the bridge of Gillianstown,
near Julianstown, one hundred only,
with three of the officei's, making their
■ Castlehavr.n's Memoirs, p. 28.
escape to Drogheda. This success gave
fresh courage to the insurgents, who
levied contributions in the surrounding
country, and caused no slight alarm to
the government. Some of the nobility
joined in an address to the lords jus-
tices, but their remonstrances were
treated with contempt. Lords Dillon
and Taaffe had been sent with letters
to the king from the Irish parliament,
but they were made prisoners at Ware,
and their papers seized. The arms that
had been given in the first alarm to the
Catholic nobility and gentry were re-
called, and they themselves were or-
dered to withdraw to their respective
habitations, which were thus rendered
defenceless.
The same day that the detachment
was defeated by the Irish on the march
to Drogheda, Sir Charles Coote was
sent into Wicklow, where it was said
the people had risen, and seized several
strong places. The sanguinary charac-
ter of this officer has been already al-
luded to. In the town of Wicklow he
cruelly put to death several innocent
persons, Avithout distinction of age or
sex, and is charged with saying, when
he saw a soldier carrying an infant on
the point of his pike, " that he liked
such frolics."* On his return to Dub-
lin, his conduct was highly approved
by the lords justices ; and a rumor was
spread that he made a proposal at the
council-board to execute a general mas-
sacre of the Catholics. "The character
Carte's Ormond, i., p. 2'13.
CRUELTY OF THE LORDS JUSTICES.
485
of tlie man," says Dr. Curry, " was such,
that this report, whether true or not,
was easily credited."* " All this while,"
says Lord Castlehaven, "parties were
sent out by the lords justices and coun-
cil from Dublin, and most gariisons
throughout the kingdom, to kill and
destroy the rebels ; but the officers and
soldiers took little or no care to distin-
guish between rebels and subjects, but
kilkd in many places promiscuously
men, women, and children ; which pro-
cedure not only exasperated the rebels,
and induced them to commit the like
cruelties upon the English, but fright-
ened the nobility and gentry about;
who, seeing the harmless country people,
without respect to age or sex, thus bar-
barously murdered, and themselves
openly threatened as favorers of the
rebellion, for paying the contributions
they could not possibly refuse, resolved
to stand upon their guard."f
These gentlemen, however, made an-
other attempt to convey their loyal
sentiments to the king, before they
would commit themselves in any way
with his majesty's Irish government.
For that purpose they prevailed on Sir
John Read, a gentleman in the king's
service, to take a memorial from them
* " Sir Charles Coote," says Leland, " in revenge of
the depredations of tlio Irish, committed such unpro-
voked, such ruthless and indiscriminate carnage in the
towu of Wicklow, as rivalled the utmost extravagan-
cies of the nortbi.-rns," — Jlist. of Ir., vol. iii., p. MO.
" He was a stranger to mercy," says Warner, " and com-
mitted many acts of cruelty, without distinction, equal
in that respect to any of the rebels." — IlUt. of the Ir.
Bcb., p. 135. Borlase tells us that he was "as terrible
to the enemy, as hia very name was formidable to them."
into his charge ; but Read was arrested
and imprisoned, and soon after put to
the rack, one of the questions which he
was pressed to answer being, whether
the king and queen were privy to the
Irish rebellion. About this time, also,
Patrick Barnwell of Kilbrew, a man
sixty-six years of age, was also put to
the rack to extort similar information.
At length, op the 3d of December, the
lords justices summoned several of the
noblemen and gentlemen of the Pale to
attend in Dublin on the 8th, on the
pretence of holding a conference with
them ; but suspecting that this was only
an artifice to draw them within the
clutches of those fimctionaries, and de-
prive them of their liberty, these gen-
tlemen replied by a letter, which they
agreed to at a meeting held at Swords,
stating that they had cause to think
that their loyalty was suspected by the
loi'ds justices, and "that they had re-
ceived certain advertisement that Sir
Charles Coote, at the council-board, had
uttered certain speeches, tending to a
purpose to execute upon those of their
religion a general massacre, by which
they were deterred from waiting on
their lordships, not having any security
for their safety." The same day this
Lord Castlehaven calls him "a hot-headed and bloody
man, and as such accounted even by the English Pro-
testants ; yet," he adds, " this was the man whom the
lords j ustices picked out to intrust with a commission of
martial law to put to death rebels or traitors, that is, all
such as he should deem to be so ; which he performed with
delight, and with a wanton kind of cruelty." — Vide Carte's
Ormond, i., pp. 279, 2S0. It was after his brutal massa-
cre in Wicklow that he was made governor of Dublin,
t CastUluLun'a Memoir; p. 30.
iSG
REIGN OF CHARLES I.
letter was dispatched to the lords jus-
tices a party of troopers slaughtered
four poor nieu at Santry, in the vicinity
of Dublin, one of the four happening
to be a Protestant. On the 15th Coote
was sent with a troop of horse to Clon-
tarf, Raheny, and Kilbarrack, where
they burned the houses, and among
others the house of Mr. King at Clon-
tarf.
It was a few days previously that, on
the invitation of Lord Gormanston, a
meeting of Catholic noblemen and gen-
try was held on the hill of Crofty, in
Meath. Among those who attended
were the earl of Fingal, Loixls Gor-
manston, Slane, Louth, Dunsany, Trim-
leston, and Netterville ; Sir Patrick
Barnwell, Sir Christopher Bellew, Pat-
rick Barnwell of Kilbrew, Nicholas
Dai-cy of Platten, James Bath, Gerald
Aylmer, Cusack of Gormanston, Ma-
lone of Lismullen, Segrave of Kileglan,
(fee. After being there a few hours a
party of armed men on horseback, with
a guard of musketeers, were seen to
approach. The former were the insur-
gent leaders, Roger O'More, Philip
O'Reilly, MacMahon, Captains Byrne
and Fox, &c. The lords and geJitry
rode towards them, and Lord Gormans-
ton, as spokesman, demanded, "•for
what reason they came armed into the
Pale?" O'More answered, "that the
ground of their coming thither, and
taking up arms, was for the freedom
and liberty of their consciences, the
maintenance of his majesty's preroga-
tive, in which they understood he was
abridged, and the making the subjects of
this kingdom as free as those of Eng-
land." Lord Gormanston then said —
" Seeing these be j^our true ends, we will
likewise join with you therein."* This
is the first act of combination between
the nobility and gentry of the Pale and
the northern insurgents of which we
have any authentic account. The meet-
ing, which of course was prearranged,
was one deeply interesting; and in a
week after a more numerous meeting
of the gentry was held on the hill of
Tai-a.
A. D. 1642. — On the first of January
the king issued a proclamation against
the " Irish rebels," and on several occa-
sions, both before and after that date,
he pro2:)osed to come to Ireland himself,
to take the command against them.
He complained of the negligence of the
parliament to adopt proper measures to
put down the insurrection ; but that
bodywas too much occupied with other-
views. On no account would the parlia-
ment suft'er Charles to visit Ireland ;
and, notwithstanding all his protesta-
tions, and all his denunciations of his
"rebellious Irish subjects," they pre-
tended to believe that the unfortunate
monarch was, himself, at the bottom of
the Irish movement. He had committed
the aftairs of Ireland entirely to their
charge, and on the 8th of the preceding
month they had plainly indicated upon
what principle they were resolved to act,
* Examination of Edward Dowdall, one of the gen.
tlemen who attended the meeting. Borlase's Mist, of
the Irish lasurr., p. 39.
REWARDS FOR THE HEADS OF THE [RISH LEADERS.
487
by voting that " they would nevei- con-
sent to any toleration of the Popish reli-
gion in Ireland, or in any other part of "his
majesty's dominions."* They calculated,
with confidence, on being able to crush
the Irish when they chose, and, after a
little while, proceeded to vote the con-
fiscation of some millions of Irish acres,
and to promise Irish estates for the pay
of their troopers; but, although they
sent over several large reinforcements
to the lords justices, they were chiefly
concerned, at present, in preparing for
the war which they themselves were
about to levy against their king ; and
throughout the progress of the Irish
troubles they continued to make these
a pretence for raising men and money
to be employed in their own rebellion.
For that purpose, also, they encouraged,
by eveiy i^eans in their power, the most
false and extravagant reports of "Po-
pish massacres and outrages," which
they turned to good account in appeal-
ing to the pockets and prejudices of the
affrighted people of England. f
Meanwhile matters Avent on but in-
difierently with Sir Phelim O'Neill and
the northern Irish. The}^ were repulsed
in several assaults Ity the garrison of
Drogheda, and some powerful reinforce-
ments having reached that town, they
p. 34.
f The first cnmmission to collect depositions on the sub-
ject of the crimes imputed to the Irish was issued on
the 23d of December, 1(141, to Dr. Jones, dean of Kil-
more, and six other Protestant rierpj-men ; a fresh
commission for the same purpose being issued in
1G44. We have already seen what amount of credit is
due to the information obtained, by the commissioners,
on these occasions.
finally raised the siege on the 3d of
March. On the '26th the English re-
covered possession of Dundalk. The
lords justices, by a proclamation of the
8th of February, had offered large re-
wards for the heads of the Irish leaders :
a thousand pounds being offered for that
of Sir Phelim ; six hundred pounds
each for several of the others; and
smaller sums for the men of less impor-
tance.
Notwithstanding the numerous rein-
forcements which arrived to them from
England, Parsons and Borlase were
afraid to allow their army to pursue
the Irish to any distance. Ormond had
been sent to overawe the Irish force
collected before Drogheda, but was
sti'ictly prohibited from crossing the
Boyue ; and Tichburne, who now found
himself at the head of a very efficient
force in Drogheda, was ordered not to
pursue the Irish so far that he could not
return to that town in the evening.
But the lords justices were fully as bru-
tal as they were pusillanimous in their
orders. The instructions to their com-
manders to pillage, burn, and slay were
most imperative, and their lieutenant-
general, the earl of Ormond,;]: more than
once incurred their displeasure for what
was thought to be too much leniency
I The earl of Ormond, so familiar to the reader as a
captain and a statesman, during the wars of Elizabeth's
reign, and who was known among the Irish as " Black
Thomas," died in 1(U4, at the advarccd ago of 82 years,
having been old enough to have been tho playmate of
Edward VI. At the close of his life he became blind,
and died a Catholic, lamenting the part which he had
taken against tho Catholic religion and his country.
{O'SuL Eist. Cath., p. 200 ; and Lj-nch's AUthonologia)
488
REIGN OF CHARLES I.
in tlie execution of these horrible com-
mands. Orm-ond, however, was gener-
ally accompanied by Sir Charles Coote,
whose thirst for blood could not be
easily restrained, were the commander-
in-chief even inclined to be merciful.
This was instanced in the case of Father
Higgius, of Naas, who, although under
Ormond's protection, was executed,
without trial, by Coote ; and in that of
Father "White, to whom Ormond had
also extended his protection, until he
could be taken to Dublin to be im-
piisoned, but who was brutally put to
death by the soldiers, who mutinously
demanded the priest's life.*
It was some weeks before the insur-
rection peneti-ated into Munster ; but
about the middle of December Sir
William St. Leger, lord president, com-
It was generally supposed that he ■was converted by
Father Archer during his captivity with Owny O'More.
This extraordinary man was succeeded by his nephew,
Sir Walter, the 11th earl of Ormond, who was a Cath-
olic, and received the nick-name of " Walter of the
Rosaries," from his piety. {Dr. French's Unkind Desert-
er, p. 20). His vast estates were most unjustly seques-
trated by James I. In favor of Preston, who had beeo
made earl of Desmond ; but they were restored to his
grandson, James, who succeeded to the earldom on
Walter's death in 1C33, and had married the daughter
of Preston, in 1029. This James, who was born in
England in 1G07, was educated as a Protestant by the arch-
bishop of Canterbury, to whose care he had been corn-
netted by the king, on the death of his father. Sir
Thomas, who was a Catholic, and was drowned at Sker-
ries, returning from England in 1C19 ; and it is to him
— " the great duke of Ormond" of a subsequent date —
that we are introduced at the present epoch. He was a
Ditter enemy of the Irish, and of the CathoUcs. The
able author of the Confederation of Kilkenny, describ-
ing his character, writes : — " With military talents of
a superior order, ho was in every respect equal to many
of the generals of his time. In diplomacy, however, he
excelled them all. With the most fascinating and art-
ful address, he easily worked himself into the confidence
menced a series of atrocities which soon
kindled the flame of civil war in that
province. In retaliation for some wan-
ton outrage, the peasantry drove off in
a tumultuous Avay a number of cattle
from the lands of his brother-in-law :
and to avenge this indignity Sir Wil-
liam sallied forth with two troop of
horse, and slaughtered a great number
of men and women wholly innocent of
the offence. Lord Muskerry and other
noblemen, who had. made thankless
offers of their services to preserve the
peace, respectfully remonstrated against
these cruelties; but their friendly in-
terference was treated with insult, and
the lord president told them " that
they were all rebels, and he would not
trust one of them, and that he thought
it most prudent to hang the best of
of friends and foes ; hut under the guise of simplicity and
candor he covered a heart w hich was full of treachery
and craft." (The Rev. C. P. Meehan's Confcd. of Kil.,
p. 23.)
* The case of Father Higgins excited a great deal of
interest. He had been extremely kind to the English
and the Protestants, having, says Carte, saved many of
them from the fury of the Irish, and atforded them sub-
sequent relief; and relying upon this conduct on his
part, and on his own unblemished character, he pre-
sented himself before Ormond at Naas, instead of at-
tempting to escape, and only besought his lordship to
preserve him from the violence of the soldiery, for they
might then try him in Dublin, on any charge they could
bring against him. The historian tells us that " when
it was spread abroad among the soldiers that he was a
Papist, the officer in whose custody he was, was assaulted
by them, and it was as much as the earl could do to
compose the mutiny Within a few days after,
when the earl did not suspect the poor man's being in
danger, he heard that Sir Charles Coote had taken him
out of prison, and caused him to be put to death in the
morning before, or as soon as it was light." The earl
complained of this barbarity, but the lords justices did
not seem to think that the provost-marshal had ex-
ceeded his duty.
HUMANITY OF THE IRISH CLERGY.
489
them." These proceedings had the de-
sired effect, and the people rose in arms.*
They first took possession of Cashel, on
which occasion. Philip O'Dwyer and
the other popular leaders acted in the
most friendly manner towards the Eng-
lish, protecting them against the vio-
lence of those whom St. Leger's brutal-
ity had exasperated ; but the human-
ity displayed by the Catholic clergy
was particularly praiseworthy. Father
James Saul, a Jesuit, sheltered several
persons, and among others the Rev.
Dr. Samuel Pullen, Protestant chancel-
lor of Cashel and dean of Clonfert, with
his family; Fathers Joseph Everard
and Redmond English, Franciscan friars,
concealed some of the Protestant fugi-
tives in their chapel, and even under
the altar; and others of the Catholic
clergy exhibited the like generous com-
passion.*
In Connaught the exertions and
influence of the earl of Clanrickard,
who was a Catholic, but was devotedly
* The particular views for goading this province into
rebellion," observes Plowden, " are fidly laid open in
Lord Cork's letter to the speaker of the English Ilouse
of Commons, whicli he sent, together with 1,100 indicts
ments against persons of property in that province, to
have them settled by crown lawyers and returned to
him ; ' and so,' says he, ' if the house please to direct
to have them all proceeded against to outlawry, -where-
by his majesty may be entitled to their lands and pos-
srssions, which I daro boldly affirm was, at the begin-
ning of this insurrection, not of so little yearly value as
£iOO,000.' Tills earl of Cork was notorious for his
rapacity, but this last effort he called ' tho work of
works.' In Dublin many were put to the rack, in order
to extort confessions ; and, in the short space of two
days, upwards of 4,000 indictments were found against
landholders and other men of property in Leinster." —
mat. of Ireland, vol. i., p. 375.
f Various other instances are on record of the hu-
attached to the cause of the king and
to the English interests, stayed for a
long time the progress of the insurrec-
tion ; and even when the movement
had reached Galway, he nevertheless
procured the submission of the town
without bloodshed. But all his active
loyalty did not obtain for him the
confidence of the lords justices, and
he himself complained that these offi-
cials acted towards him "as if their
design were to force him and his into
resistance."-]-
The discordant elements of old and
new Irish, nationalists and royalists,
now involved in the insurrection, were
at length about to be amalgamated,
and organization introduced into the
movement. This was to be eftected by
the Catholic clergy, whose influence
these various parties recognized; for
whatever might have been their other
principles of action, they had at least
one in common, namely, a devoted at-
tachment to the Catholic Church. A
manity of the Catholic priests at this disastrous period,
notwithstanding the persecution which then raged
against themselves. Mr. Ilardiman (lar Connaught, p.
406) quotes, from the famous depositions in Trinity Col-
lege, extracts which show the exertions of the clergy of
Qalway to save the Protestants -when the O'Flahertii's
entered that town, in tho beginning of 1043, with several
hundred men, and laid siege to the fort. Among others,
Mary Bowler, servant to Lieutenant John GeU, who
commanded in the fort, deposed " that she herself saw
tho prieats of the towne and other priests, being about
eight in number, going about the towne in their vest-
ments, with tapers burning and the Sacrament borne
before them, and exhorting tho said Murrough-7ia-ma;'<
(O'Flahcrty) and his company, for Christ's sake and our
Lady's and St. Patrick's, that they would shed no more
blood, and if they did they would never have mercy."
f Mem. of the Marq. of CUtnricard-c. This earl was
tlio son of him who fought against the Irisli at Kinsalo
490
REIGN OF CHARLES
provincial synod, convened by Hugh
O'Keilly, archbishop of Armagh, was
the first step in this direction. It was
Jield at Kells, on 2 2d of March, and
was attended by all the bishops of the
province, except Thomas Dease, bishop
of Meath, who had opposed the rising
as premature, and wh-o, by preventing
supplies of men and provisions from
being sent to Sir Phelim O'Neil, had,
it was considered, caused the. failure of
the siege of Drogheda. The synod
pronounced the war undertaken by the
Catholics of Ireland lawful and pious ;
issued an address denouncing murders,
and the usurpation of other men's es-
tates ; and took steps for convoking a
national synod, to be held at Kilkenny,
on the 10th of May.
Reinforcements arrived, almost every
week, of Scots in Ulster, or of English
troops at Dublin; but the lords jus-
tices continued to call for more, and
to appeal to the generosity of the Eng-
lish people on behalf of the numerous
plundered English Protestants who
crowded the streets of Dublin and
other towns. On the 15th of April an
additional detachment of 2,500 Scots
arrived at Carrickfergus, under the
command of General Monroe, a man of
violent sectarian feelings, and of a
savage, unrelenting nature, who now
placed himself at the head of a nu-
merous and powerful army, composed
chiefly of Scots, with an admixture of
the despoiled English settlers, who
took the field with accumulated rancor
against their Irish Catholic foes.
Meanwhile the Irish throughout the
country acted without plan or co-opera-
tion, and were consequently defeated
in detail. Lord Mountgarret, whose
family and personal interest was very
great, seized Kilkenny without any
bloodshed, and through his exertions
almost every place of strength in the
counties of Kilkenny, Waterford, and
Tipperary fell into the power of the
Irish in the space of a week. He then
marched to the south, and took several
places in the county of Cork ; but the
people of that county preferred Gerald
Bariy as their leader, and for want of
unanimity they failed in their attempts
on Youghal, Bandon, and Kinsale, and
were successfully repulsed before Cork,
by St. Leger and Lord Inchiquin.
Lord Mountgarret returned to Lein-
ster, and having mustered a numerous,
but ill-armed and undisciplined force,
thought to intercept the earl of Or-
mond, who was returning to Dublin
after some services in the south of the
county of Kildare. The two armies
were in view of each other at Athy,
when Ormond wished to avoid a
battle; but after a parallel march of
both armies for a few miles, an action
took place near Kilrush, about twenty
miles from Dublin, when the Irish
were totally routed, and driven into
a bog at their rear, having lost about
six hundred men, with all their am-
munition, and twenty pair of colors.
Among the killed on the Irish side
were the sons of Lord Dunboyne and
Lord Ikerrin ; and after this the gallant
SYNOD OF KILKENNY.
491
Roger O'More ceased to appear oa tlie
scene.* Ormond, who was accompa-
nied by Sir Charles Coote, Colonel
Monck, Sir Thomas Lncas, and other
officers of note, was received with great
triumph in Dublin, and the English
parliament voted £500 to purchase a
jewel to be presented to him as a mark
of their esteem. Lord Mountgarret re-
turned to Kilkenny.f
At length the 10th of May arrived,
and the national synod met at Kil-
kenny. It was attended by the arch-
bishops of Armagh, Cashel, and Tuam ;
the bishops of Ossory, Elphiu, Water-
ford and Lismore, Kildare, Clonfert,
and Down and Connor; the proctors
of the archbishoj) of Dublin, and of the
bishops of Lidlerick, Emly, and Killa-
loe; and by sixteen other dignitaries
and heads of religious orders. The
occasion was most solemn, and the
proceedings were characterized by
calm dignity and an enlightened tone.
An oath, of association, which all
Catholics throughout the land were
enjoined to take, was framed; and
* According to other accounts O'More retired, disap-
pointed, to Flanders, after tlie failure of the siege of
Drogheda, but returned to Ireland at the time of the
Synod of Kilkenny, and died in the latter town. See
Wills' UlusC. Irishmen, vol. ii., part ii., p. 433.
t The pedigrees of this nobleman (Richard, third
Viscount Mountgarret) and of James, twelfth carl (and
afterwards duke) of Ormond, the commander of the
English at the battle of Kilrush, meet in Pierce
Butler, eighth earl of Ormond, who died in 1539 ; the
former being the third and the latter fifth in descent
from Pierce through his two sons. Lord Mountgarret,
whoso first wife was Margaret, eldest daughter of the
great Hugh, earl of Tyrone, was always found on the
Irish side, and distinguished himself in the last war of
Elizabeth's reign.
i The Acts of the Synod decreed, among other things.
those who were bound together by
this solemn tie were called the " Con-
federate Catholics of Ireland." Such
a bond of union and expression of
opinion was essential where parties so
different Avere to act in concert. A
manifesto explanatory of their motives,
and containing rules to guide the con-
federation, and an admirable plan of
provisional government, was issued. It
was ordained that a General Assembly,
comprising all the lords, spiritual and
temporal, and the gentry of their
party, should be held; and that the
Assembly should select members from
its body to represent the different
provinces and principal cities, and to
be called the Supreme Council, which
would sit from day to day, dispense
justice, appoint to offices, and carry on,
as it were, the executive government
of the country. Severe penalties were
pronounced against all who made the
war an excuse for the commission of
crime; and after three days' sittings
this important conference brought its
labore to a close.J
that " whereas the war which now in Ireland the
Catholics do maintain against sectaries, and chiefly
against Puritans, (is) for the defence of the Catholic re-
ligion, for the maintenance of the prerogative and royal
rights of our gracious king, Charles — of our gracious
queen, so unworthily abused by the Puritans, and
lastly, for the defence of their own lives, lands, and pos-
sessions, we, therefore, declare that war, openiy
Catholic, to be lawful and j ust ; in which war, if some
of the Catholics bo found to proceed out of some particu-
lar (private) and unjust title — covetousness, cruelty, re
venge, or hatred, or any such unlawful jirivate intentions
— we declare therein grievously to sin," &c. That
nothing be done to excite emulation or comparison be-
tween the different provinces, towns, families, &c. That
a council, composed of the clergy, nobility, &c., be con-
stituted in each province ; the provincial councils to bo
493
REIGN OF CHARLES I.
Although the war during this time
was not carried on with much activity
on either side, several incidents took
place worthy of note. Lord Lisle, son
of the earl of Leicester, having arrived
in Dublin a few days after the battle
of Kilrush, with his own regiment of
600 horse carbiniers and 300 dragoons,
went, with Sir Charles Coote, to the
relief of Letitia, baroness of Offaly,
who was besieged, in her • castle of
Geashill, in the king's county, by the
O'Dempseys. This lady, who was
grand-daughter of Gerald, earl of Kil-
dare, the brother of Silken Thomas,
showed much heroism in defying the
menaces of the assailants: and the
siege having been raised, Coote and
Lord Lisle, burning the country as
Bubordinate to fhe general or national councU. That
an inventory be kept in each province " of the murders,
burnings, and other cruelties which are committed by
the Piiritau enemies, ■with a quotation of the place, day,
cause, &c., subscribed by one of public authority." That
" all who forsake this union, fight for our enemies, and
accompany them in their war, defend or in any way as-
sist them, bo excommunicated ;" and also that " all those
that murder, dismember, or grievously strike ; all
thieves, unlawful spoilers, &c., be excommunicated."
The following was the " oath of association," as given
by Lord Castlebaven, the form, according to Borlase,
being substantially the same : — " I, A. B., do profess,
swear, and protest before God, and his saints and angels,
that I will, during my life, bear true faith and allegiance
to my sovereign lord, Charles, by the grace of God
king of Great Britain, France, and Ireland, and to his
heirs and lawful successors ; and that I wiU, to my
power, during my life, defend, uphold, and maintain all
his and their just prerogatives, estates, and rights, the
power and privilege of the parliament of this realm, the
fundamental laws of Ireland, the free exercise of the
Roman Catholic faith and religion throughout this land ;
and the lives, just liberties, possessions, estates, and
rights of all those that have taken, or that shall take,
this oath, and perform the contents thereof; and that I
•n-ill obey and ratify all the orders and decrees made, or
to be made, by the supremo councU of the confederate
they proceeded, marched to Trim, of
which they took possession, the Catho-
lic army having retired at their ap-
proach. Lord Lisle now set out for
Dublin, Sir Charles Coote remaining
to place Trim castle, of which the waUs
were quite dilapidated, in a state of
defence ; and the Irish returned, on the
7th of May, and attempted to regain
the place. They were unsuccessful in
their effort, but Coote was killed on
the occasion, as it was supposed by a
shot from one of his own troopers, and
the death of a foe so merciless and
active was deemed in itself a sufficient
triumph. Coote's son was appointed
provost-marshal of Connaught.*
Limerick had opened its gates to
General Barry and Ifcrd Muskerry
Catholics of this kingdom, concerning the said public
cause, and will not seek, directly or indirectly, any
pardon or protection for any act done or to be done,
touching this general cause, without the consent of the
major part of the said council ; and that I will not, di-
rectly or indirectly, do any act or acta that shall preju-
dice the said cause, but wUl, at the hazard of my life and
estate, assist, prosecute, and maintain the same. More-
over, I do further swear that I vriU not accept of, or sub-
mit unto any peace made, or to be made, with the said
confederate Catholics, without the consent and approba-
tion of the general assembly of the said confederate
Catholics So help me God and his holy gospel."
* An incident mentioned by the earl of Castlebaven
occurred probably a few weeks before this time. The
earl gives it on the authority of his brother, who relates
how, while accompanying a party sent out by the earl
of Ormond, they met Sir Arthur Loftus, governor of
Naas, returning with a party of horse and dragoons
after having killed such of the Irish as they met. " But
the most considerable slaughter," he proceeds, " was in
the great strait of furze, seated on a hiU, where the peo-
ple of several villages, taking the alarm, had sheltered
themselves. Now, Sir Arthur, having invested the hiU,
set the furze on fire on aU sides, where the peopie, being
a considerable number, were all burnt or killed, men,
women, and children. I saw the bodies and furze still
burning." {Castkliaun's Memoirs, p. 38).
SUCCESS OF THE CONFEDERATES.
493
long before this time, but Captain
Coui'tenay continued to defend himself,
in the castle, with great bravery, and
the protracted siege was not brought
to a close until the 23d of June, when
the garrison capitulated. The cannon
and ammunition taken by the confeder-
ates on this occasion were of great im-
portance ; and most of the neighboring
castles surrendered to them. One of
the guns was a thirty-two pounder,
and required twenty-five yoke of oxen
to draw it. Sir William St. Leger
died at his house near Cork on the 2d
of July ; and his son-in-law, Lord Inchi-
quin, was appointed to succeed him as
lord president of Munster. This de-
generate descendant of the great Brian
rivalled the most sanguinary of the
Puritan generals in the cruelties which
he executed upon his Catholic country-
men, and, in the traditions of the
peasantry, his name w\i3 long preserved
as " Murrough of the burnings."
494
REIGN OP CHARLES I.
CHAPTER XXXVIII.
REIGX OF CHARLES I. CONCLUDED.
The arrival of Owen Roe O'NeOl— He assumes the command of the Irish army in Ulster.— Conduct of the Scots in
Ulster. — Lord Lieven's opinion of Owen Roe. — Colonel Preston's arrival in Wexford with officers and arms.
— Position of the lords justices. — State of the belligerents in Connaught and Munster. — Opening of the
General Assembly — Outline of their Jiroceedings.— Constitution of the Supreme Council — Appointment of
generals, &c. — Levy of money and soldiers. — Remittances from the Continent — Establishment of a Mint. —
Progress of the war.— Overture from the king to the Confederates.— Hostile conduct of Ormond.— Gallant
defence of Ross. — Preston defeated near Ross. — Conference with the Royal Commissioners at Trim — Re-
monstrance of grievances — Obstacles to negotiation. — Success of the Confederates. — Death of Lord Moore. —
Capture of Colonel Vavasour. — Foreign envoys. — Arrival of Father Scarampi. — Divisions in the Supreme
Council.— Disgrace of Parsons.— Treaty of Cessation signed— Its rejection by the Puritans.— The Scots in
Ulster take the Covenant. — Bravery of the Irish soldiers sent into Scotland for the king. — Ormond appointed
lord lieutenant.— His negotiations with the Confederates.— Catholic and Protestant deputations to the king.
—Infringement of the Cessation by the Scots.— Abortive expedition of Castlehaven against Monroe.- The
king's impatience for a peace in Ireland. — Ormond's prevarication. — Renewed hostilities in the south and
west.— Death of Archbishop O'Kealy.— Mission of Glamorgan— His secret treaty with the Confederates.-
Mission of the Nuncio Rinuccini — His arrival in Ireland — Reception at Kilkenny. — Renewed discussion of the
peace question. — Arrest of Glamorgan. — Division among the Confederates. — Treaty of peace signed by
Ormond — Not approved by the Nuncio. — Siege of Bunratty. — Battle of Benburb. — Increasing opposition to
the peace. — Ormond's visit to Munster. — Glamorgan joins the Nuncio's party, — DubUn besieged by the Con-
federates.— Given up to tho Parliamentarians. — Ormond leaves Ireland. — Dissensionn in the Assembly. —
Battles of Dungan HiU and Knocknonos. — O'NeUl takes arms against the Confederate? — Ormond returns. —
The peace of 1649. — Departure of the Nuncio. — Prince Rupert's expedition.
(from a. d. 1G43 TO A. D. 1649.)
nnilE position of the confederate
-*- Catholics at the time to Avhich
the preceding chapter has brought us
was discouraging enough, but brighter
prospects were about to dawn upon
them. The organization, of which they
were yet destitute, was soon to be sup-
plied by the General Assembly, and
their want of military leadei-s was
about to be filled up by the arrival of
Colonel Owen Roe O'Neill and Colonel
• These occurrences are thus recorded in Sir Phelim
CNeUl's journal : " Ho (Owen Roe) came with a single
Thomas Preston. The f.>Nmer of these
distinguished commandera landed near
Castle Doe, in Donegal, about the
middle of July, 1642, accompanied by
a hundred officers, and having with
him a quantity of arms and ammuni-
tion. Sir Phelim O'Neill went to re-
ceive him, and, at a meeting of the
Irish gentry, resigned to him the com-
mand of the Catholic army of Ulster.*
Endowed with a high sense of honor.
ship, commanded by Captain Antony Fleming, and one
company of soldiers. He landed at the castle of Doe.
495
nd inured to the strict ". the as-
1,,., «,->i-'!-- -' .' .>.'■',, : r,;,>„,.o
OWEN ROE O'NEILL.
495
and inured to the strict discipline of
the soldier, the gallant defender of
Arras expressed the strongest disap-
probation of the retaliatory cruelties
which had been tolerated by Sir
A day of general meeting was appointed at Clones. The
clan of the O'NeiUs came ivith the general (Sir Phelim)
and Owen; also, the ■ O'Reillys, O'Kanos, MacRorys,
O'Dalys, MacMahons, and the MacDonneUs with Sir
James MacAlister. Sir Phelim resigned the general-
ship, which was conferred on Owen ; Sir Phelim being
nominated President of Ulster."
* Owen O'Neill, says Carte, who writes in no friendly
spirit, " was a man of clear head and good judgment,
sober, moderate, silent, excellent in disguising his senti-
ments, and well versed in the arts and intrigues of
courts." As to the cruelty attributed to his predecessor
in the command. Sir Phelim, it has been grossly exag-
gerated, although his character was far from .being
faultless. One of the principal crimes laid to Sir
Phelim "a charge was the murder of Lord Charlemont,
when removed from Charlemont fort to Kinard, on the
• Dunlnce Castle is sltaated three miles to the east of Portrtuh. It
l3 famous for its situation, the picturesqneness of which is hardly ex-
Cflleil by that of any other ruin in the world. On the top of a per-
pendicular rock which rises upwards of a hundred feet from the sea,
tills venerable remains of antiquity looks prondly out on the occaa,
the waves of which girdle the rock on which it stands, except where a
deep chflsm separates the rock from the mainland— a junction being
formed at its bottom by a narrow wall. The yawning chasm above is
spanned by a bridge which forms the only entrance to the castle, which,
so long as the bridge is secured, is impregnable. The ruins cover a
considerable space, and so accurately has the building been framed to
tho rock that the whole looks like one formation, and it appears
rather to hare been constructed by the hand of nature than by tbat of
man. When the castle was entire it must have contained a great
many apartments. One of its vaulted chambers Is said to be inhabited
by a bauslice, the legend having probably arisen from the cleanness
and freedom from dust in which it is kept by the wind. There is
another remarkable chamber. Tho rock on which it was originally
built and on which it rested has fallen away, and tho apartment now
bangs suspended in the air like a dove-cot. A long narrow cave per-
f.in.tes the rock on which the castle is built, at its base, from the sea
to tho rocky basin on the land side. Into it the sea rolls Incessantly,
the waves of which have polished through their action tho stones that
ririn its floor perfectly round, as may be soon at low-water, when a
considerable part of It is left. dry. Tho lloor and the roof arc com-
posed of basalt. When tho sea is calm there Is a good echo In the
cave. Tho ejection of Danluco castle Is said to have been the work
of Do Courcy, earl of Ulster, although tho evidence on which this re-
port rests Is not entirely satisfactory. History, however. Informs us
tliat it was in the hands of the English during the fifteenth century.
In tho following century, and somewhere about tho year lOSO, the
cautle came to be the scene of an incident which has given rise to nu-
merous traditions. Colonel MacDonald, the founder of tho MacDon-
lu'tls of Antrim, came over from Scotland to render assistance to
Tyrconnell at the timo when ho was hard pressed by his enemy, tho
pi.wcrril O'Neill. MacDonnell was hospitably entertained by Mac-
Phelim; and ha,stened, witli the as-
sistance of the experienced officers
whom he had brought with him, to
strengthen Charlemont fort, and to
organize a disciplined army.* The
Ist of March, 1G41 ; yet it appears certain that this deed
was done without his orders. The journal quoted in the
last note tells us expressly that " ho hanged and be-
headed six persons for the murder of Lord Caulfield,''
and that " this execution was done at Armagh." Sir
Phelim 's attempt to inilict punishment for the murder
of this English nobleman is referred to in one of the de-
positions in Trinity College, quoted in Archdall's Lodge,
(vol. iii., p. 1-11), but in a way evidently not intended to
clear the character of the Irish leader. As to the strat-
agem by which Sir Phelim got possession of the fort
and its commander, we find tho same artifice resorted
to by Monroe to seize Lord Antrim at Dunluce Castle* —
namely, by inviting himself and a party to the intended
victim's table to dinner— and yet we never hear of any
odium thrown on the Scottish general on that ac
coimt.
Qaillan, the lord of Dunluco, to whom he rendered material aiil in
bringing his enemies in the neighborhood of the castle to terms. On
their return from the foray, MacDonnell was invited to spend the
winter in the castle, and ho accepted tho invitation, his men being at
the same time quartered on tho viissols of MacQuillan. During the
visit MacDonnell ingratiated himself into tho alTections of the daughter
of his host, and induced her to contract with him a private mar-
riage. The discovery of his marriage incensed the Irish to such a de-
gree that they resolved to put the Scottish chief and the whole of his
followers to the sword, and they entered into a conspiracy to this end.
It came, however, to the knowledge of tho daughter of MacQuitlan,
who immediately disclosed It to her husband, and MacDonnell and his
wife and retainers, or clansmen, made their escape from the castle.
At a subsequent date, however, they returned, and in process of time
they came into the possession of a considerable portion of county An-
trim. The wars, the successes, and the misfortunes of tho MacQuillana
and their successors, the MacDonneir.s, form tho subjectof many tra-
ditions. The descendants of tho MacQuillan family have fallen from
the high estate which their ancestors possessed, and are now unknown
In the aristocracy of the country. Tho lordship of Antrim and Dun-
luco has remained in the family of tho wily Scotchman who won the
love of MacQuilian's daughter, and the MacDonnells are lords of An-
trim and Dunluco. In tho succeeding century, and in the year 1G42,
an act of treachery of a much more Infamous character was perpe-
trated at tho same castle, and what Is remarkable enough, also i>y a
Scotchman. In April of that year General Monroe, with a de-
tachment of troops, paid a visit to tho earl of Antrim at Dunluce
Castle, and was received with the highest demonstrations of hospilali
ty and festivity ; tho carl at the same time offering bim a contrlbulioii
of men and money to reduce the country, which was in a disturbet)
stale, to tranquillity. Monroe repaid this friendship on the part of the
carl by seizing his person and imprisoning him In the caslleof Car-
rickforgus, while at the same timo bo took possession of all his oih.r
castles, putting them into llio hands of Argylo. Tho earl, however,
not long afterwards effected bis escape from Carrickfergus, and l-»ik
refugo in England.
496
REIGN OF CHARLES I.
Scots ill Ulster were, at this time, a
sort of iudependent power, equally
opposed to the king and to the Cath-
olics. Left to their own resources by
the ]Onglish parliament, which was
now too much occupied witli its own
war against its sovereign, they plun-
dered both parties, and, according to
Warner, " wasted Down and Antrim
more than the rebels had done."*
Lord Lieven arrived in August with
fresh supplies from Scotland, which
raised the Scottish army in Ulster to
10,000 men; the whole force of Scots
and English in that province amount-
ing now to 20,000 foot and 1,000 horse.
Lieven crossed the Bann at the head of
a formidable army, but retired without
performing any service, and soon after
i-eturned to Scotland, leaving to Mon-
roe the sole command. Lieven enter-
tained a high opinion of Owen Roe, to
whom he wrote expressing his concern
"that a man of his reputation should
be engaged in so bad a cause ;" but
O'Neill justly replied that he had a
better right to come to the relief of his
country than his lordship could plead
for marching into England against his
king. Lieven warned Monroe that he
might expect a total overthrow should
Owen O'Neill once collect an army.
Colonel Preston, the brother of Lord
Gormanston, and ranking next to Owen
Roe in military skill and reputation,
landed early in autumn on the coast of
Wexfoi-d. He came in a ship of war.
Warner, vol. i., p. 237.
attended by two frigates, and some
transports bringing a few siege-guns,
field-pieces, and other warlike stores,
together with 500 officers and a number
of engineers. Shortly after other ships
arrived with further supplies of artillery,
arras, and ammunition, and a consider-
able number of experienced Irish offi-
cers and veteran soldiers, discharged
from the French service by Cardinal
Richelieu, with the obvious view of
their coming to the aid of their coun-
trymen at home. These important ac-
cessions of strength, if well applied,
might have been made decisive of the
war, but as yet the Irish leaders acted
without unity of plan or purpose, and
the whole work of organization was
still to be effected. The lords justices
were all this time cooped up in Dublin,
trembling with fear, and incapable of
making any effort which required man-
liness or wisdom. The earl of Clau-
rickard co-operated with Lord Rane-
lagh, president of Connaught, against
the Catholics of that province, and
drew u2:)on himself particular odium by
countenancing the Puritan' garrison of
the fort of Gal way, in their outrages
against the people of the town and
neighborhood ; while in the south Lord
Inchiquin, with an army of 2,000 foot
and 400 horse, defeated the confeder-
ates, under General Barry, on the 3d
of September, near Liscarroll in the
county of Cork ; the Irish having only
just before succeeded in capturing that
strong castle after a siege of thirteen
days.
PROCEEDINGS OF THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY.
497
The 24tli of October, 1G42, will ever
be memorable in our history as the day
oa which the General Assembly, pro-
jected by the national synod of the
10th of May, commenced its sittings in
the ancient city of Kilkenny. Eleven
spii'itual and fourteen temporal peers,
with two hundred and twenty-six com-
monei's, representing the Catholic popu-
lation of Ireland, of both races, assem-
bled on this occasion. Patriotism and
loyalty, religion and enlightened lib-
erality, were the principles which
drew together this national convention.
Meeting in that old town where Clar-
ence's parliament passed the infamous
anti-Irish statute, with which the name
of Kilkenny has thus been connected,
this great national assembly, a true
Irish parliament in all but name, must
have suggested many strange associa-
tions ; while its own existence, almost
realiziag in its form and its object the
fond dream of Irish independence, con-
stitutes one of the most intei'esting facts
of our history.* The assembly is said
to have held its first meeting in the
house of Sir Richard Shea, in the mar-
ket-place of Kilkenny. Peers and com-
moners sat in the one hall, the forms of
parliament being in this respect de-
parted from ; but an upper or private
room was provided for the consultations
of the loj-ds. Those of the clergy who
were not qualified to sit as prelates or
* For a vivid and detailed account of the first meet-
ing of the assembly, and of its subsequent proceed-
ings, as well as for a minute and accurate elucidation
of this complicated and important epoch of our his-
03
abbots met in " convocation," in an ad-
joining house. ;Mr. Patrick Darcy, an
eminent lawyer, who had been perse-
cuted by Strafford, sat bareheaded,
representing the chancellor and the
judges; and Mr. Nicholas Plunket acted
as the speaker of the House of Com-
mons, both lords and commons address-
ing their speeches to him. The Rev.
Thomas O'Quirke, an eloquent and
learned Dominican friar of Tralee, was
appointed chaplain to both houses.
One of the first acts of the assembly
was to declare that they did not intend
their body as a parliament, lest they
might infringe on the prerogative of
the crown ; but as a provincial govern-
ment " to consult of an order for their
own affairs, till his majesty's wisdom
had settled the present troubles." The
preliminary arrangements and adminis-
tration of the oath of association oc-
cupied the interval to the 1st of No-
vember, when a committee was ap-
pointed to draw up a form of the
confederate government, and on the 4th
the acts of the committee were formally
sanctioned by the two houses. " Magna
Charta and the common and statute
laws of England, in all points not con-
trary to the Roman Catholic religion,
or inconsistent with the liberty of Ire-
land, were," says Carte, " acknowledged
as the basis of the new government ;
and," continues the same writer, " as the
tory, Tve must refer the reader to the Rev. C. P.
Mcehan"3 ConfcdcratUn of Kilkenny— hy far the
best ■work which wo possess on the history of the
period.
498
REIGN OF CHARLES I.
administrative authority was to be
vested in the supreme council, it was
decreed that at the end of every gen-
eral assembly the supreme council
should be confirmed or changed as the
general body thought fit."*
The supreme council was then chosen,
and having elected Lord Mouutgarret
as its presideut,f it commenced the ex-
ercise of its executive functions by the
appointment of generals to take the
command of the army. These were —
Owen Eoe O'Neill for the forces of
Ulster; Thomas Preston for those of
Leiuster; Gerald Barry for Munster;
and John Burke as lieutenant-general
for Connaught, the chief command in
that province being reserved for the
earl of Clanrickard, in the hope that he
might at some time be induced to join
the confederation. Lord Castleharen
• See the orders of the assembly, published in full in
the appendix to Borlase.
•j- The supreme councU was composed of the following
members, there being six from each province, viz. : — For
Leinster ; the archbishop of Dublin, Viscount Gormans-
ton. Viscount Mountgarret, Nicholas Plunket, Richard
Belling, and James Cusack. For Ulster ; the archbishop
of Armagh, the bishop of Down, PhUip O'Reilly, Colo-
nel MacMahon, Heber Mageonis, and Turlough O'Neill.
For Munster ; Viscount Roche, Sir Daniel O'Brien, Ed-
mond FitzMaurice, Dr. Fennell, Robert Lambert, and
George Comyn. For Connaught ; the archbishop of
Tuam, Viscount Mayo, the bishop of Clonfert, Sir Lucas
Dillon, Geoffrey Brown, and Patrick Darcy. To these
twenty-four the carl of Castlehaven was added as a
twenty-fifth _ member, not representing any particu-
lar province. He liad just made his escape from
Dublin, where he was imprisoned by the lords jus-
tices on suspicion of being concerned in the insur-
rection; and arriving in Kilkenny during the sit-
ting of the assembly, he joined the confederates after
a little hesitation, and took the oath of associa-
tion.
i " The total abaenco of embellishment or legend
got the command of the Leinster horse,
under General Preston. A great seal
was ordered to be made ; a press was
set up to print the acts and proclama-
tions of the assembly, — for every thing
was done openly before the world ; and
a mint was established, in which, in a
very short time, half-crown pieces, of
full sterling value, to the amount of
£4,000 were coined, besides a large
quantity of copper mouey.J It was
ordained that corn might be imported
duty free until the present exigencies
were removed, and that lead, iron, arms,
and ammunition might also be intro-
duced free ; the privileges of free citi-
zens were granted to ship-builders and
mariners from other countries, and vari-
ous other encouragements to commerce
were held out. One of the first acts
passed under the new great seal was
on the sU'ver coin," observes Mr. Meehan, " is evidence
of the haste with which it was struck, for the half-
crown piece bears no mark save that of the cross, and
the figures indicating its value. The copper money
subsequently produced and circulated is far more elabo-
rate, and the legend ' Ecce Grex,' ' Floreat Rex,' to-
gether with the beautiful device, must be convincing
proofs of a more prosperous moment in the affairs of
the confederates."— Ci>/i/t'(i. of Kil, p. 45. The hali-
penny has on one side the figure of a king kneeling and
playing on a harp, over which is a crown, with the in-
scription " Floreat Res ;" on the reverse the figure of
St. Patrick, with a crozicr in his right hand and a
shamrock in his left, extended over the people ; on liis
left are the arms of Dublin, with the inscription " Ecce
Grex." The farthing was similar, except that behind
St. Patrick, in the reverse, was a church, and a parcel
of serpents as if driven from it, with the inscription
"Quiescat Plcbs."(See Simon's ^*7^ o;i IrUh Coi/is.)
The great seal of the confederation had in its centre a
long cross, resting on a flaming heart ; a dove with out-
spread wings above, a harp on the left hand, and a
crown on the right ; with the legend. Pro Deo, liege,
et Patria, Hibertii JJnanimes.
SUCCESSES OF THE CONFEDEP.ATES.
490
an order to raise a sum of £30,000
in Leinster, and a levy of 31,T00 men,
who were to be drilled with all possible
expedition by the officers whom Preston
had brought from the continent. A
guard of 500 foot and 200 horse was
appointed to attend upon the supreme
council. The bishops and clergy agreed
to pay a large sum out of the ecclesias-
tical revenues, and envoys were sent to
the Catholic courts of Europe to solicit
aid. The learned and gifted Father
Luke Wadding, who was appointed
their agent for Rome, applied himself
to their cause with all his heart and
soul. He sent memorials on their be-
half to all the Catholic courts, and was
soon enabled to remit to Ireland 2,000
muskets and a sum of 26,000 dollars.
Father James Talbot, their agent in
Spain, collected in a short time 20,000
dollars in that country, and procured
in France another large sum, together
with two iron cannons carrying twenty-
four pound balls. The assembly seem-
ed at that time to appreciate the radical
evil of Ireland, and prohibited, under
severe penalties, all distinction and
comparison between " old Irish, and
old and new English, or between septs or
families," &c. Finally, a remonstrance
to the king was adopted, as a declara-
tion of their loyalty and an exposition
of their grievances ; and the assembly
broke up on the 9th of January, lG-i3,
fixing the 20th of the following May
for their next meeting.
A. D. 1643. — At the close of the last
and the beginning of the present year
there was fighting in every direction,
and with various success on both sides ;
but with the discipline and experience
gained in the war, the Irish were im-
proving rapidly as soldiers, and it was
obvious that their resources in all that
constitutes the sinews of war were
vastly superior to those of the enemy.
The strong places of the King's county,
as Borris, Birr, Banagher, and others,
fell in quick succession into the hands
of Preston ; some after a siege, and
others without firing a shot. From
Birr eight hundred English prisoners
were escorted in safety by Lord Castle-
haven, and given up to their friends at
Athy. On the other hand. Colonel
Monck (afterwards duke of Albemarle^
relieved Ballinakil, in the Queen's
county, besieged by Preston, and de-
feated the latter when he attempted to
intercept him at Timahoe, in the same
county. At this time circumstances
enabled Preston to distinguish himself
by a great number of exploits ; but as
a general he was too volatile and im-
pulsive, and was therefore often unfor-
tunate ; while Owen O'Neill, having
the powerful army of Monroe to keep
him in check, had enough to do to hold
his ground in the north, and retired
into Leitrim and Longford to train up
soldiers for future victories. The gen-
eral assembly committed many faults,
and assuredly one of the most fatal was
the division of the military command,
resulting, as it did, in want of union
and co-operation.
The very power of the confederates
500
REIGN OF CHARLES I.
now became the root of their misfor-
tunes. It led the king to desire to come
to terms with them, not from any in-
tention to do them justice, but with the
hope of deriving assistance from them
in his difficulties ; and it exposed them
to all those assaults of diplomatic craft,
and that policy of fomenting internal
division, which ultimately proved their
ruin. For some time Borlase and Par-
sons, for their own base purposes, con-
trived to counteract the king's designs.
Any amicable arrangement with the
Irish would have frustrated all their
hopes of plunder ;* but the delays thus
caused only provoked Charles, who is-
sued a commission to the (now) marquis
of Ormond, the earl of St. Alban's and
Clanrickard, the earl of Roscommon,
Lord Moore, Sir Thomas Lucas, Sir
Maurice Eustace, and Thomas Burke,
Esq., to receive propositions from the
confederates, to be transmitted for his
majesty's consideration.
Goodwin and Reynolds, who had
been sent over by the English parlia-
ment to watch the progress of affairs in
Ireland, took alarm at this proceeding,
and returned in haste to England ; and
the lords justices, as a further expedient
for delay, sent the marquis of Ormond
on an expedition against the confeder-
ates in Wexford. Whatever his apolo-
gists may say, Ormond was never either
* So early as the 11th of May, 1643, consequent on
the English vote for the confiscation of two and a-half
millions of Irish acres, " the lords j ustices wrote a pri-
vate letter to the speaker of the house of commons in
England, without the rest of the council, beseeching the
slow or merciful in the execution of his
duties against the Catholics. On the
4th of March he took Timolin on his
way to the south, and the brave garri-
son, after surrendering on promise of
quarter, were inhumanly butchered.
On the 11th he laid siege to Ross, and
having made a breach stormed the
place, but was gallantly repulsed by
the inhabitants ; and Purcell, coming
up with a strong detachment of the
confederates, compelled him to raise
the siege. Chagrined beyond measure
at the position in which he was placed
by the lords justices, and at their failure
to send him succor by sea, which they
had promised, Ormond prepared to re-
turn to Dublin, when he found his
march intercepted by Preston with a
numerous army. In this strait Ormond
owed his safety to the bad generalship
of his antagonist. Preston, despising
the small force which he saw arrayed
against him, left a strong position which
he had first taken up, and so exposed
his raw levies to the concentrated at-
tack of Ormond's veterans, as to cause
a total defeat and the loss of five hun-
dred of his men. This conduct should
have been fatal to Preston as a general,
but he was only reprimanded by the
supreme council.
This battle of Ross, as it is called,
took i^lace on the 18th of March, the
commons to assist them with a grant of some compe-
tent proportion of the rebels' lands. Here," says War-
ner, " the reader wiU find a key that unlocks the secret
of their iniquitous proceedings." (History of tJie Irish
ReieUion.)
SUCCESSES OF THE CONFEDERATES.
501
very day oa which Ormond's fellow-
commissioners held a conference with
the committee of the confederation at
Trim. Those who represented the con-
federates on this occasion were Lord
Gormanston, Sir Lucas Dillon, Sir
Robert Talbot, and John Walsh, Esq.,
and the remonstrance of grievances
which they presented in the name of
the Catholics of Ireland, was duly re-
ceived and transmitted to the king.*
A fresh commission was next issued by
Charles to Ormond to conclude a cessa-
tion of arms for a year with the con-
federates; but various obstacles were
thrown in the way of this arrangement,
fii-st by the lords justices, who tried
every means which baseness and craft
could suggest to prevent a pacification ;
next by Ormond, who was most re-
luctant to treat with the Catholics,
except as a conquered people ; and
thirdly, by the Catholics themselves,
who were divided into two parties —
the old L'ish, who were utterly opposed
to any terms short of perfect religious
liberty, and the old English or gentry
of the Pale, who longed for peace with
more moderate views, but felt them-
selves repelled by the insolence em-
ployed towards them by the govern-
ment.
Meantime the arms of the confed-
erates were prosperous in several
quarters. Lord Castlehaven defeated
Colonel Lawrence Crawford at Mo-
* This document, which contains a clear and able
statement of the principal grievances under which the
Catholics of Ireland labored, and of the causes which
nasterevan, and other successes were
obtained by the Catholics in Leinster.
In the beginning. of May, Monroe at-
tempted to surprise Owen Roe at
Charlemout, and so stealthily did he
approach that he nearly succeeded;
but O'Neill, who was out hunting
when the advance guard of the Scots
came upon him, repulsed them with
slaughter in a narrow lane near the
fort, and defeated them again the fol-
lowing day. O'Neill then marched
towards Leitrim, but at Clones, on the
borders of Fermanagh and Monaghan,
he was defeated by Sir Robert Stewart.
His loss, however, was not very serious,
and soon after he gained an important
victory over the English at Portlester
Mill, about five miles from Trim, when
Lord Moore, the English comraandei-,
was killed by a cannon ball. In the
west, the parliamentary general, Wil-
loughby, after a long and obstinate de-
fence, surrendered the forts of Galway
and Oranmore to the confederates on
the 20th of June ; and in the south an
important victory was gained by the
Catholics, near Fermoy, under Lord
Castlehaven, General Barry, and Lieu-
tenant-General Purcell. On this occa-
sion Sir Charles Vavasour, the English
commander, was taken prisoner, and
about 600 of his men slain, besides the
loss of his cannon, colors, &c.; and it
appears that the battle was decided by
the impetuosity of a troop of young
led to the outbreak of 1G41, aa well as of the course
tfhich events had since taken, will be found in full in
the Appendix to Curry's Jievkw of the Citil Wars.
REIGN OF CHARLES I.
Irish boys mounted on fleet horses,
who bore down on the forlorn hope of
the English with a velocity that was
irresistible* At such a moment, with
an army thus training up to victory,
and abundantly supplied with money,
arms, and provisions, while thQ English
army was in want of every thing —
ragged, barefoot, and almost starving
in the few garrisons which it held —
negotiations for peace only tended to
damp the ardor of the confederates.
Peace could then only mean the ruin of
the Irish cause.
In return for the envoys sent by the
supreme council to the Catholic powers,
the king of France sent, in the first in-
stance, M. La Monarie, who was suc-
ceeded by M. Du Moulin, after whom
came M. Talon ; the king of Spain sent,
first, M. Fuissot, a Burgundian, and
then O'SuUivan, count of Beerhaven,
who was succeeded by Don Diego de
los Torres ; but the most important of
the foreign envoys at this time was
Father Peter Francis Scarampi, a priest
of the oratory, whom Pope Urban
VIII. sent to report to him on the state
of Irish affairs. Scarampi was the
bearer of a bull of indulgences to the
Irish Catholics, and he also brought
with him from Father Wadding a sum
of 30,000 dollars, with a quantity of
arms and ammunition. He found the
general assembly at Kilkenny engaged
in discussing the question of a cessation
• Tho very day buforo this battle, Colonel Vavasour
Uavinp; taken tlie castle of Cloghlcigli, commanded by
one Condon, twenty men, eleven women, and seven
of arms, and he must very soon have
perceived to which side he should ad-
here. The Catholics of the Pale, or
Anglo-Irish, showed a marked distaste
for the continuance of the war; while
the old Irish, bent on establishing their
independence, were opposed to all over-
tures that did not include perfect free-
dom of conscience. With these latter
the bishops and clergy agreed, and it
was only natural that the papal envoy
should also adopt their views. But the
political opinions of these men were for
in advance of the age.
Well aware of these divisions, Or-
mond exerted his skill to foment them,
A supersedeas had been granted by the
king long before to remove Sir William
Parsons from the post of lord justice,
but it had not been acted on. Ormon-d
thought the opportunity a favorable
one to make the confederates sujjpose
that a concession was intended to them-
selves, and he obtained an order for
the arrest of Parsons, Loftus, Meredith,
and Sir John Temple, on a charge of
contravening the royal will in the man-
agement of public affairs. Parsons es-
caped imprisonment on the plea of ill
health, but the others were committed
to custody; and Sir Henry Tichburn,
governor of Drogheda, another bigot,
though of a different stamp, was given
as a colleague to Sir John Borlase in
the government.
At length, on the 15th of Septem-
cliildren were stripped and massacred in cold blood by
the brutal troopers. These are the numbers given by
Borlase.
RESULTS OF THE CESSATION.
503
ber, 1643, after Ormond bad been per-
emptorily required by the king to bring
the matter to a conclusion, a cessation
of arms for one year was signed in Or-
mond's tent at Siggiustown, near Naas ;
the commissioners of the confederation
being Lord Muskerry, Sir Lucas Dillon,
Nicholas Plunket, Sir R. Talbot, Sir
Richard Barnwell, Turlongh O'Neill,
Geoffry Browne, Heber Magennis, and
John Walshe, Esqrs. The confederates
were bareheaded, and Ormond, as the
royal commissioner, alone wore his hat
and plume. On the following day the
instrument, by which the confederates
engaged to pay the king £30,800, as a
free contribution, in certain instalments,
was also signed."*
If the old Irish were dissatisfied with
the cessation, they, at all events, ob-
served it honorably ; but not so the
Puritan party, who wholly repudiated
any concession to the Catholics, and re-
garded the cessation as a monstrous
iniquity.-)- In the beginning of Novem-
ber, Owen O'Connolly, whose name is
* According to the treaty of cessation, the quarters of
the different armies in the several provinces were to be
as follows : — In Connaiight, tin; county and town of Gal-
way, the counties of Mayo, Roscommon, Sligo, and
Leitrim, to remain in the possession of the Catholics ; in
Lcinstcr, the county and city of Dublin, tho city of
Drogheda, and tho coimty of Louth, to remain in pos-
session of the Protestants ; the counties of Tipperary,
Limerick, Kerry, Waterford, and Clare, except KnocU-
mornc, Ardmore, Pilltown, Cappocjuin, Balinatra, Stron-
cally, Lismore, and Lisfinny, to remain in the possession
of the Catholics ; in Ulster each ])arty was to remain in
the possession of such places as they happened to hold
at tho time the.treaty was signed.
f The English parliament showed its appreciation of
the truce by ordering, on tho 24th of September, eight
duys after tho cessation had been signed, " that no
infamous as the betrayer of Lord Ma-
guire and his associates,^ came over
with orders from the EngHsh parlia-
ment to the Scotch troops in Ulster, to
take the covenant, as the parliament
had done on the 25th of September ;
and this mandate was gladly obeyed,
and with due solemnity, at Carrickfer-
gus. At the same time the Scots were
enjoined by the parliament to treat as
enemies all who should observe the
cessation.
One of the first results of the cessa-
tion was the arrival of the marquis of
Antrim to treat with the supreme
council for supplies of men, to proceed
to Scotland, in the king's service. The
valor displayed by the brave Irishmen
who were sent on this expedition, under
Alexander MacDonnell, surnamed Col-
kitto, and who fought under Montrose
at St. Johnston's in Athol, at Aberdeen,
and elsewhere, was such as to call forth
the admiration of English and Scotch
historians. In their first battle, although
without a single horse, even their gen-
Irishman or Papist, born in Ireland, should have quarter
in England * {Cox, vol. ii., p. 137) ; and to show how this
brutal order was understood, it is recorded by Carte
(Ormond, vol. iii., p. 480, &c.) that Captain Swanly, tho
commander of one of the parliamentarian cruisers in
the Channel, having taken a transport conveying troops,
sent by the marquis of Ormond for the king's use, se-
looted from the prisoners seventy men and two women
of Irish birth, and threw them overboard. .;Vnd it is
worthy of remark that these men had faithfully served
the king, their only " crime" being that they were
Irish. See tho incident related by Leland, vol. iii.,
p. 227.
X Owen O'Connolly then held tho comnussion of a
captain, and subsequently served as a colonel under tho
parliament. IIo was rewarded with a pension of £500
a-ycar for the discovery of Lord Maguire's plot.
504
REIGN OF CHARLES I.
eral being obliged to march on foot,
and the numbers being three or four to
one against them, they routed the
enemy with such slaughter "that men
might have walked upon the dead
corpses to the town, being two miles
from the place where the battle was
fought.""
A. D. 1644. — The marquis of Ormond
w.as appointed lord lieutenant, and was
sworn into office on the 21st of January
this year ; but although such men as
Borlase and his colleagues no longer
had the government in their own hands,
several of their clique continued to act
as members of the council. A deputa-
tion from the supreme council of the
confederates waited on the king at Ox-
ford, in the beginning of April, to pre-
sent a statement of their grievances,
and to pray for a repeal of the penal
restrictions under which they labored ;
but they obtained nothing mo4'e than
empty assurances of his majesty's kind
intentions, the utmost extent of which
was, that he was willing to remove
from them any incapacity to purchase
lands or hold offices, and to allow them
to have their own seminaries for the
education of their youth. Scarcely had
the Catholic commissioners departed,
when Sir Charles Coote and others,
deputed by the Protestants of Ireland,
arrived, to present to the king counter
propositions. They demanded that his
majesty should "encourage and enable
Protestants to replant the kingdom, and
♦See "Intelligence from his Majesty's Army in
Scotland," &c., in Carte's Collection of Original Let-
cause a good walled town to be built in
every county for their security, no Pa-
pist being allowed to dwell therein ;"
and they further prayed his majesty
" to continue the penal laws, and to dis-
solve, forthwith, the assumed power of
the confederates ; to banish all Popish
priests out of Ireland, and that no Po-
pish recusant should be allowed to sit
or vote in parliament." The extrava-
gance of these propositions and the
peremptory manner in which they were
enforced astounded the king, but he
was somewhat relieved by the arrival
of Archbishop Ussher and other com-
missioue-rs, sent by the council in Dub-
lin, to require Coote to withdraw his
fanatical proposals, and to present prop-
ositions a little less intolerant. This
new scheme submitted to his majesty
required, however, " that all the penal
laws should be enforced, and that all
Papists should be disarmed."
Complaints were made on both sides
of infringement of the cessation ; but
Monroe's disregard of it was such that
it became necessary to take immediate
steps against his aggressions. For this
purpose Owen O'Neill was summoned
to consult with the supreme council, at
Kilkenny. He complained bitterly of
the state of his men, left as they were
without supplies ; but he undertook to
raise a levy of 4,000 foot and 400 horse
in Ulster, if properly seconded by the
council, who, on their side, promised to
send 6,000 foot and 600 horse against
ters, vol.
No. viii.
i., p. 73 ; also Carry's Review, Append.,
DESIRE OF THE KING FOR PEACE.
505
Monroe. However, when the choice of
a commander came to be considered,
the council, on which the gentry of the
Pale had an overwhelming majority,
voted the chief command to the earl of
Castlehaven — a man who was wholly
incompetent for such a duty, and was
besides utterly opposed to the views of
the old Irish and to the continuaiice of
the war. O'jS'eill was deeply hurt at
this unjust preference, but his generous
nature overcame his personal feelings
for the sake of their common cause, and
he congratulated Castlehaven on the
distinction conferred on him. That
vainglorious nobleman marched to
Longford, whither Monroe had ad-
vanced; but he avoided a collision
with the Scots, and suffered them to
carry oif large preys of cattle to Ulster.
Inchiquiu and Lord Broghil, in the
south, also treated the cessation with
contempt; and in August, the former
expelled all the Catholics from Cork,
Yonghal, and Kiusale ; Ormoud, in the
mean time, refusing to enforce the ob-
servance of the cessation by Monroe or
luchiquin, although bound by the
terms of the treaty to do so. In Au-
gust the cessation was renewed by the
general assembly to the 1st of Decem-
ber, and subsequently for a longer pe-
riod ; and Inchiquiu made a truce on
his own part with General Purcell,
until the 10th of April, 1645. Thus
the remainder of the year was wasted
iu inaction.
A. D. 164'). — The king became more
impatient for a definite peace with his
64
Irish subjects, and sent express orders
for that purpose to Ormond. Loi-d
MuskQrry and Sir Nicholas Plunket
were sent by the supreme council, on
the 6th of March, 1645, to confer with
Ormond on the subject. The wily
viceroy concealed from the confederates
the ample powers with which he was
vested by the king to remove their re-
ligious grievances, and cajoled them
with assurances of Charles's determina-
tion not to put the jienal laws in force ;
to abolish all outlawries and attainders
which might have been passed against
them ; and to confer places of trust and
honor on Catholics and Protestants in-
discriminately.* The great majority of
the assembly would not be satisfied
with a peace which did not include a
guarantee for the free exercise of their
religion, and on receiving the report of
their commissioners, rejected Ormond's
terms with scorn. The clergy were
unanimous in taking this course, being
secretly acquainted with the intention
of the king to grant much more than
Ormond stipulated for. Thus was the
agitation of the qiiestion protracted,
and the animosity which was growing
up between the old Irish and the lords
of the Pale every day strengthened.
Inchiquin having set out in the
course of the summer to destroy the
growing crops, the supreme council sent
Castlehaven, with an army of 5,000
foot and 1,000 horse against him, and,
having reduced several castles and
compelled Inchiquin to shut himself up
within the walls of Cork, the confed-
■)06
REIGN OF CHARLES I.
erate general disbanded bis troops and
I'etunied to Kilkenny. At the same
time Sir Charles Coote, Sir Robert
SteAvart, and Sir Frederick Hamilton,
with an army of Scots and English,
mercilessly wasted Connaught, and
took possession of Sligo. The supreme
council directed Sir James Dillon and
Malachy O'Kealy (or Queely), arch-
bishop of Tuam, to recover that im-
portant town. They did so; but the
Irish again abandoned the place on
healing that a large force of Scots was
approaching ; and on this occasion the
heroic prelate — who was as pious and
learned as he was brave — underrating
the strength of the enemy, suffered
himself incautiously to fall into their
hands, and although quarter had been
given him, was, together with two
friare who accompanied him, brutally
slaughtered, his body being cut into
small fragments by the soldiery.*
Despairing of being able to induce
the unbending Ormond to offer such
terms to the Catholics as they might
with consistency accept, and feeling his
difficulties in England daily increase,
the king now resolved to try another
expedient to bring about a jDeace in
Ireland. This he hoped to do by em-
ploying a Catholic envoy to treat se-
cretly with the confederates, and he
sent over for that purpose Lord
Herbert, whom he created earl of
Glamorgan, the sou of the marquis of
Worcester. This young nobleman
* See the notices of bis deatli in Hardiman's History
of Galway, Meehan'i Confederation of Kilkenny, and the
who was married to the daughter of
the earl of Thomond, entertained a
chivalrous devotion for the king, and
had already, in conjunction Avith his
father, advanced £200,000 for the
maintenance of the royal cause. On
arriving in Dublin he liad a conference
with the marquis of Ormond, to whom,
therefore, the nature of his mission could
not have been a secret; and he then
proceeded to Kilkenny, where he fully
explained to the supreme council the
powers with which he had been in-
vested. The terms which he offered
were unexceptionable, and a treaty was
therefore entered into between him, on
the part of the king, and Lords Mount-
garret and Muskerry on the part of the
confederation, by which it was stipu-
lated that the Catholics of Ireland
should enjoy the free and public ex-
ercise of their religion ; that they
should hold for their use all the
churches of Ireland not then in the
actual possession of the Protestants;
that they should be exempt from the
jurisdiction of the Protestant clergy ;
that neither the marquis of Ormond,
nor any other person, should have
power to disturb them in these privi-
leges ; and that, while the earl of Gla-
morgan engaged his majesty's word for
the performance of these articles, the
confederate Catholics should pledge
the faith of the kingdom to him for
sending 10,000 men armed, one half
wdth muskets and the other half with
notes of the latter author to his translation of Lyiiche's
Icon Antistilia.
ARRIVAL OF THE PAPAL NUNCIO.
)07
pikes, to serve the king in England,
under the said earl of Glamorgan.
There was, however, another condition
which the king's position rendered in-
dispensable, namely, that these conces-
sions should be kept secret until the
forces designed for his majesty should
arrive in England; then the king en-
gaged publicly to avow and confirm
the treaty. We shall presently see
how it was prematurely divulged and
rendered nugatoi-y; but in the mean
time other important events were pass-
ing.
Belling, the secretary of the supi-eme
council, was sent on a mission to Rome,
where he ai-rived about the end of
February, 1G45, and was presented by
Father Luke Wadding to the then
sovereign pontilf. Innocent X., by
whom he was i-eceived as the accred-
ited envoy of the confederate Catholics.
On receiving his report of the state of
Irish afi^airs, the Pope resolved to send
an envoy to Ireland qualified with the
powers of nuncio extraordinary ; and
chose for that purpose John Baptist
Rinuccini, archbishop of Fermo. This
distinguished prelate set out on his ar-
duous mission early in 1645, and ar-
rived in Paris, where he was detained
about three months, chiefly by negotia-
tions with the English queen, then at
St. Germains. The communications be-
tween them were exchanged thi-ough
the medium of Sir Dudley Wyat and
the queen's chaplain, as they had no in-
terview'; and the queen's feelings being
einliit terctl l.y tlie impression that the
Irish Catholics only desired to take ad-
vantage of the difficulties of her un-
happy consort to exact concessions, the
nuncio failed to obtain for them any
favorable terms. She regarded the
nuncio's mission as unfriendly, and her
cause being espoused by the French
court, it is natural to think that the
same view of the subject was enter-
tained there; and there is no doubt
that Cardinal Mazarin was but little
inclined to expedite the journey of the
Papal envoy, although he gave him
20,000 livres for the use of the Irish,
and 5,000 more to fit out a ship for his
expedition. At Rochelle the nuncio
purchased a frigate of twenty-six guns,
called the San Pietro, in which he em-
barked at St. Martin, in the Isle of Rlie
with a retinue of twenty-six Italians,
several Irish officers, and the secretary,
Belling. He took with him a large
quantity of arms and warlike stores, —
among the rest, 2,000 muskets and car-
touch belts, 4,000 swords, 2,000 pike-
heads, 400 brace of pistols, and 20,000
lbs. of powder. In addi4:ion to the
money furnished by the Pope, Father
Wadding had given a sum of 36,000
dollars. The San Pietro was chased
by some parliamentary cruisers on her
passage ; but a fire having broken out
providentially, on board a large vessel
which was foremost in pursuit, and
which was thus obliged to slacken
sail, the frigate anchored safely in the
bay of Kenmare on the 21st of October,
1645. On landing, the nuncio took up
his abode in a shepherd's hut, where
508
REIGN OF CHARLES I.
he celebrated Mass, surrounded by
peasantry from the neighboring moun-
tains. The arms were landed at Ard-
tuUy, and the frigate having been sent
round to Duncannon, which the confed-
erates had taken, the nuncio journeyed
by Macroom and Kilmallock to Limer-
ick. Here he celebrated the obsequies
of the archbishop of Tuam, the news of
whose death, at Sligo, had just been
received. From Limerick he-proceeded
to Kilkenny, where he was received
with great honor by many thousands
of the gentry and people. He entered
the city riding on a richly caparisoned
horse, and wearing the pontifical hat
and cape as insignia of his office, while
the secular and regular clergy Avalked
iu processional order before him, pre-
ceded by their several standard-bearers.
At the entrance to the old cathedral of
St. Canice he was received by the ven-
erable David Rothe, bishop of Ossory,
who was too feeble to walk in the pro-
cession, and then advancing to the altar
he intoned the Te Deum, after the
chanting of which he pronounced a
blessing on the vast congregation.
After the religious ceremony he was
received iu the castle by the general
assembly, the archbishops of Dublin
and Cashel meeting him at the foot of
the grand staircase, and Lord Mount-
garret, president of the assembly, re-
ceiving him standing, but without ad-
vancing a step from his chair; and a
seat, richly decorated with crimson
damask, was fixed for him at the presi-
dent's right hand, yet so that it was
difficult to say which of the seats occu-
pied the centre. The nuncio then ad-
dressed the president in Latin, declaring
the object of his mission, which was : —
"to sustain the king, then so perilously
circumstanced ; but above all, to rescue
from pains and penalties the people of
Ireland, and to assist them in securing
the free and public exercise of the
Catholic religion, and the restoration of
the churches and church property, of
which fraud and violence had so long
deprived their rightful inheritors."*
Heber MacMahon, bishop of Clogher,
next addressed the assembly, and the
nuncio then retired to the residence
prepared for him, attended by Preston,
Lord Mu skerry, and the troops.
The peace discussions were now con-
tinued with more earnestness than ever :
the two parties in the assembly began to
be distinguished as Nuncionists and Or-
mondists; and the estrangement be-
tween them grew every day more
marked and more rancorous. Two sets
of negotiations were carried on : those
with Ormond openly, in which the terms
offered were humiliating to the Catholics,
in the position in which they then
stood ; and those with Glamorgan in se-
cret, iu which the terms, as we have seen,
were favorable, but had no other guar-
antee than the king's promise. Glamor-
gan produced his credentials, dated April
30th, 1645, in which the king promised
to ratify whatever terms Glamorgan
should deem fit to conclude with the
* Vide MeehaD's Confederation, of Kilkenny, ia wliich
these details are given at length.
DIVISION AMONG THE CONFEDERATES.
509
Irish Catholics ; but the necessary con-
dition for that ratification was the
landing of Irish troops for the king's
service in England. Glamorgan also
presented to the nuncio another letter,
in the king's hand, addressed to Pope
Innocent X. ; and when further pressed
by the nuncio, who had his misgivings
as to the sincerity of Charles, he under-
took, that in case the king refused to
I'atify the treaty, the Irish soldiers
should be carried back to their own
shores.
Such was the state of the question
when news arrived that Glamorgan,
who had gone to Dublin to treat about
the levying of troops, was arrested, on
St. Stephen's day, by order of Ormond,
on a charge of high treason. It then
transpired that a copy of his secret
treaty with the confederates was found
on the person of the archbishop of
Tuam, when killed by the Scots at
Sligo, and that it was sent by Coote to
the English parliament, who published
it as a ground of accusation against the
king ; hence the j^roceeding of Ormond,
who feigned the utmost amazement at
the discovery. The explosion produced
general consternation ; and the commis-
sioners of the confederates were told
to inform their assembly that " the
Protestants of England ^foujd fling tlie
king's person out of the window if they
believed it possible that he had lent
himself to such an undertaking."
A. D. 1G4:6. — ^The general assembly
met at Kilkenny early in January, and
sent a message to Ormond to say, that
if Glamorgan were not immediately
liberated all negotiations for peace
should be susi:)ended. The confeder-
ates took the arrest as an insult to them-
selves, and some proposed that without
waiting for the armistice to conclude on
the 17th of January, they should march
immediately to lay siege to Dublin.
Glamorgan, however, was bailed out,
the marquis of Clanrickard and the
earl of Kildare being his securities, to
the amount of £40,000 ; the king dis-
avowed the commission ; and it became
quite clear that it was intended to both
delude the Irish Catholics and the Eng-
lish Protestants.
The ebullition of feeling on the j^art
of the confederation being over, the
discussions on the peace were resumed
in the assembly, and the acrimony with
which they were carried on daily in-
creased. Ormond took care to foment
dissension by every means in his power,
and in this he was eminently successful.
A small party of the clergy were op-
posed to the nuncio ; Dr. Leyburn, one
of the queen's chaplains, and Father
Peter Walsh, a friar, being at their
head. News arrived that a treaty, on
behalf of the Irish Catholics, was
about to be concluded between the pope
and the queen of England, acting ou
the part of Charles ; but this, too,
proved to be illusory, and only pro-
tracted the susjiense. At length the
"moderate" party in the assembly pre-
vailed, and on the 28th of March Or-
mond's treaty was signed by the mar-
quis on the king's behalf, and by Lord
510
REIGN OF CHARLES I.
Muskerry, Sir Robert Talbot, John
Dillon, Patrick Darcy, and Geoffry
Brov\'ne, on the part of the confeder-
ates. The treaty contained thirty ar-
ticles, the only one of which bearing
directly on the question of religion was
the first, which provided — " that the
professors of the Eoman Catholic reli-
gion, in this kingdom of Ireland, be not
bound to take the oath of supremacy ex-
pressed in the 2d of Queen Elizabeth."
An act of oblivion was to be passed, and
the Catholics were to continue in their
possessions until settlement by parlia-
ment ; the impediment to their sitting
in parliament being also removed.
Tiie nuncio was no party to this treaty.
It left wholly untouched the great ob-
\ects on which he had fixed his mind
— the restoration of the Catholic church
to its legitimate position, and the deliv-
erance of the Irish people from the deg-
radation to Avhich he saw them re-
duced ; and he had before this induced
nine of the bishops to sign a protest
against any arrangement with Ormond
or the king that would not guarantee the
maintenance of the Catholic relisfion.*
* " Rinnccini's views," observes Mr. Meelian, " were
those of an uncompromising prelate. He had learned
to appreciate tlie impulsiveness of the true Irish char-
acter, and determined to convince the confederates that
they had within their own body all the materials which
were required to insure success. He set his mind on
one grand object, the freedom of the Cliurch, in posses-
sion of all her rights and dignities, and the emancipa-
tion of the Catholic people from the degradation to
which English imperialism had condemned them. Tlie
cliurches, which the piety of Catholic lords and chief-
tains had erected, he determined to secure to the right-
ful inheritors. His mind and feelings recoiled from tlie
idea of worshipping in crypts and catacombs. He ob-
The country was, at this time, in a
deplorable state. While the Catholics
were distracted by cabals in their coun-
cils, and their armies paralyzed by the
jealousies of their genei'als, Monroe
plundered Ulster with impunity, and
sent detachments of his Scots to Coote,
the parliamentary lord president of
Connaught, whose inroads alarmed the
peaceful Clanrickard so much, that even
he consented to take the field in his
own defence; and in the south, since
the defection of the earl of Thoraond,
all Munster might be said to be in the
hands of the implacable Inchiquin.
Castlehaven had shown himself unfit
to command, and was tired of the war.
As to Preston, the nuncio was too dis-
criminating an observer not to perceive
his defects. Preston hated Owen Roo,
who despised him in turn; and Sir
Phelim O'Neill disliked Owen, as a
rival, both in military fame and in his
claim to the chieftancy.f Such a state
of things would have disheartened any
other, but Rinuccini did not flinch from
his purpose. He was resolved to give
the .Irish a lesson in self-reliance, and
horred the notion of a priest or bishop performing a
sacred rite as though it were a felony ; and, spite the
wily artiSces of Ormond and his faction, he resolved to
teach the people of Ireland that they were not to re-
main mere dependants on English bounty, when a
stern resolve might win for them the privileges of free-
men. His estimate of the Irish character was correct
and exalted."— Con/etZ. of Eil, pp. 117, 118.
f Sir Phelim's second wife was the daughter of
Preston, a circumstance which must have added to his
enmity for Owen Roe, Preston's great rival. The dowry
which Sir Phelim received with his wife was arms
for .'500 horsemen, 200 muskets, and £3,000.— T7(i«
O'Nei'l'a Journal.
SIEGE OF BUNRATTY.
511
his first step was to bring about a re-
conciliation between Owen Roe and
Sir Phelim O'Neill. He was deter-
mined to strike a vigorous blow in the
north against the Scots ; and assured
the assembly that Ulster should soon
be rid of its invaders, and the cathedral
of Armagh restored to the ancient
worship. In the mean time, Chester
having been taken by the parliamentary
troops, there was no place in England
•where the Irish forces could be landed
for the king, and, although ready to
embark, they were compelled to re-
main in Ireland. The unfortunate
Chai'les soon after committed the last
of his fatal mistakes, by placing him-
self in the hands of his inveterate ene-
mies, the Scots.* Ormond refused to
publish the peace, although the con-
federates had done all in their power to
fulfil their share of the conditions;
and he declined to take any step to re-
press the aggressions of Monroe, after
receiving from the assembly a sum of
£3,000 to aid in getting up an expedi-
tion for that purpose.
The Irish troops who were to have
accompanied Glamoi-gan to England
were sent to besiege Bunratty, in Clare,
but were driven ofl: by the parliament-
ary garrison. Rinucciui caused Glamor-
gan to be superseded by Lord j\Iuskerry,
and accompanied the army himself in a
* Charles I. left Oxford ia disguise and gave Mmself
up to the Scottish army on the 5th of May, 1G4G. On
the 80th of January, 1G4T, the Scots concluded their
bargain with the English parliament, and delivered
liiia to them in consideration of a sum of £100,000 ;
and twelve days after they rccrossed the Tweed with
second attack on the castle, which, after
a siege of twelve days, sui'rendered ;
the success being attributed to the pres-
ence of the nuncio, and adding im-
mensely to his popularity. Castlehavcn
was again sent against Inchiquin, and
Preston acted against Coote, in Con-
naught; but the successes which the
arms of the confederates could boast of
elsewhere, sink into insignificance be-
fore the victory which now awaited
them in Ulster, under Owen Roe
O'Neill.
Having collected an army of about
5,000 foot and 500 horse, Owen O'Neill
marched, about the 1st of June, from
the borders of Leinster in the direction
of Armagh to attack Monroe. The
Scottish general received timely notice
of this movement, and, setting out with
6,000 infixntry,and 800 horse, encamped
about ten miles from Armagh.f His
army was thus considerably superior
to that of O'Neill's in point of num-
bers, as it must also have been in equip-
ments ; but he sent word to his brother,
Colonel George^ Monroe, to hasten from
Coleraine to reinforce him with his
cavalry. He appointed Glasslough, in
the north of Monaghan, as their ren-
dezvous, but the march of the Irish was
quicker than he expected, and he
learned on the 4th of June that O'Neill
had not only reached that j-yoint, but
the money for which they had thus sold their king,
t Monroe had on this occasion ten regiments of infan-
try, fifteen companies of horse, and sis field-pieces of
artillery, and was followed by fifteen hundred wagons,
containing baggage and ammunition. Ilis army wag
provisioned for a month. — if in u(cin i.
512
REIGN OF CHARLES I.
liad crossed the Blackwater into Ty-
rone, and encamped at Benburb.*
Here, in the ancient seat of his fore-
fathers, in view of scenes which the
great Hugh had rendered famous by-
former victories, O'Neill was resolved
to give battle to the enemies of his
country and his religion. He encamped
between two small hills, protected in
the rear by a wood, with the river
Blackwater on his right and a bog on
his left, and occupied some brushwood
in front with musketeers, so that his
position was admirably selected. He
was well informed of Monroe's plans,
and dispatched two regiments to pre-
vent the junction of Colonel George
Monroe's forces with those of his bro-
ther. This important service, we may
observe, was satisfactorily performed
by Colonels Bernard MacMahon and
Patrick MacNeny, to whom it had been
committed. Finding that the Irish
were in possession of the ford at Ben-
burb, Monroe crossed the river at Kin-
ard, a considerable distance in O'Neill's
rear, and then, by a circuitous march,
approached him in front from the east
and south. The manner in which the
morning of the 5th of June was passed
in the Irish camp was singularly solemn.
" The whole army having confessed,
and the general, with the other officers,
having received the Holy Communion
with the greatest piety, made a pi-ofes-
* " Bcann-iorh,!. e., the bold ben or cliff, or, as it is
translated by P. O'Sallevan Bears, Pinna Superba ; now
Bcnburb, a castle standing in ruins on a remarkable
cliff over the Blackwater river on the borders of the
sion of faith, and the chaplain deputed
by the nuncio for the spiritual care of
the army, after a brief exhortation,
gave them his blessing."f Owen Roe
then, addressing his men, said, " Be-
hold the army of the enemies of God,
the enemies of your lives. Fight
valiantly against them to-day ; for it is
they who have deprived you of your
chiefs, of your children, of you subsist-
ence, spiritual and temporal ; who
have torn from you your lands, and made
you wandering fugitives.''^ We may
conceive the enthusiasm inspired by
such words and under such circum-
stances. On the other hand, the Scots
were inflamed with fierce animosity
against their foe and an ardent desire
for battle. " All our army," says Mon-
roe in his dispatch, " did earnestly cov-
et fighting, which it was impossible for
me to gainstand without reproach of
cowardice, and never did I see a greater
confidence than was amongst us."
As the Scots approached, their pas-
sage was disputed in a narrow defile by
the regiment of Colonel Richard O'Far-
rell, but this resistance was soon re-
moved by Monroe's artillery, and the
whole Scottish army advanced against
O'Neill's position. The L'ish general
manoeuvred so skilfully, that for four
hours he engaged the attention of the
enemy by his skirmishers, and by light
parties of musketeers posted in thickets.
counties Tyrone and Armagh." — Dr. ©"Donovan's note
to Four Masters, vol. vi., p. 2257
t Rinuccini's Relatione.
i Sir Phelim O'Neill's Journal.
BATTLE OP BEXBURB.
513
He wished to gain time until the sun,
which dazzled his men by the glare of
light in front, should have declined to
the west, and until the detachment he
had sent to intercept Monroe's expected
reinforcement should return ; and this
design he accomplished. Some troops
were seen approacmng in the distance.
Monroe supposed them to be those of
his brother George; but he was soon
undeceived when he saw them enter
the Irish camp. He now thought it
prudent to retire, and ordered the re-
treat to be sounded; but this resolve
was fatal. O'Neill saw that the mo-
ment was decisive, and ordered his
gallant army to charge, commanding
his men to reserve their fire until with-
in a pike's length of the enemy's lines.
Never were orders more bravely
obeyed. The Irish rushed forward
with a terrific shout, and an impetus
that was irresistible. Lord Blaney's
regiment fii'st met the brunt of their
onset, and after a stubborn resistance
was cut to pieces. The Scottish caval-
ry twice charged to break the advan-
cing column of the Irish, but were,
themselves, thrown into disorder by
the impetuous charge of the Irish horse.
The ranks of Monroe's foot and horse
were now broken, and the Irish con-
* Tlie Abbe Mageoghegan, whom we have chiefly
followed above, and whose account of the battle has
been adopted by such hostile writers as Warner and
Leland, takes his niimbors, as Carte also did, from Ri-
nuccini, who says tlial as many as 3,213 bodies were
reckoned on the field ; but adds that the Irish took no
prisoners except the officers mentioned above. The
writer of Sir Phelim O'Neill's journal, who, no doubt,
was present, says : — " The confederates got (on the
tinning to press on vigorously, the con-
fusion was soon converted into a total
rout. The Scots fled to the river, but
O'Neill held possession of the ford, and
the flying masses were driven into the
deep water, where such numbers per-
ished that, tradition says, one might
have crossed over dry-shod on the
bodies. The regiment of Sir James
Montgomery was the only one that re-
treated in tolerable order, the rest of
the army flying in utter confusion. Col.
Conway had two horses killed under
him, but escaped on a third to Newry,
accompanied by Captain Burke, and
about forty horsemen. Monroe him-
self fled so precipitately that his hat,
sword, and cloak were found among
the spoils, and he halted not until he
reached Lisburn. Lord Montgomery
wa§ taken prisoner, with twenty-one
officers and about 150 soldiers; and
over 3,000 of the Scots were left on
the field, besides those killed in the
pursuit, which was resumed next morn-
ing. All the Scottish artillery, tents,
and provisions, with a vast quantity of
arms and ammunition, and thirty-two
colors, fell into the hands of the Irish,
who, on their side, had only 70 men
killed and 200 wounded.*
This brilliant victory, won, not by
battle-field) ],000 muskets, a large quantity of pikes,
drum^, seven field-pieces, and thirty-six standards,
which were sent to the nunzio in charge of Bartholo-
mew McEgan, dcfinitorof the order of St. Francis. The
nunzio was then in Limerick, and he sent his dean
along with Father McEgan to congratulate Owen Roo.
The dean gave each soldier three rialls (about one shil-
ling and sixpence), and more to the officers. The army
then dispersed over Monaghan, Cavan, Leitrim, and
REIGN OF CHARLES I.
dint of numbers, but by sheer good
generalship and gallantry, over a brave
and ruthless foe, numerically superior,
and better equipped, showed Avhat
Owen O'Neill might have done had he
not been shackled by the temporizing
and craven-hearted party with whom
circumstances compelled him to act,
and who hated him and his brave
northerns as much as they did the Pu-
ritan enemy. The covenanters were
filled with consternation ; and the Or-
mondists in the general assembly re-
garded O'Neill with more fear and
jealousy than ever, while, in the same
proportion, the Irish were inspired
with higher and brighter hopes; but
the victory had no other result. Mon-
roe, in the panic of the moment, burned
Dundrum, abandoned several strong
posts, and called all the English and
Scots of Ulster to arms ; but the Irish
made no further attempt to molest
him, and he awaited at Carrickfergus
the arrival of fresh supplies from the
parliament. A great many flocked to
O'Neill's standard, and as the arms
and other stores obtained at Benburb
helped him to equip them, his eflective
force was soon increased to 10,000
men. These he designated the " Cath-
olic army;" but the appropriation of
this title to his own particular force,
where all were supposed to be enlisted
under the banner of Catholicity, ex-
Longford, 'till tbe crops should be ripe. The wounded
were sent to Charlemont, •where Sir Phelim had sur-
geons for them." The account of the battle, printed and
poBted in the streets of London immediately after the
cited fresh jealousies and suspicious.
It identified him still more with the
nuncio, and increased the hatred of
Preston and the Ormandists;. the in-
trigues of which faction now called
away his attention from the common
enemy.
The standards captured at Benburb
were sent to the nuncio at Limerick,
where they reached on the 13th of
June ; and the following day they were
carried in procession to the cathedral,
and a solemn Te Deum was chanted
for the victory. The discussion on the
publication of the political articles of
March 28th was resumed in the assem-
bly with animosity ; but in the midst
of it their commissioners came to an-
nounce that the king had counter-
manded all the instructions which he
had given to Ormond to make terms
with the Irish. This order had been
conveyed to Ormond on the 26th of
June through the Puritan commission-
ers in Ulster, and it was clear that
Charles had issued it under the com-
pulsion of the Scots, whose prisoner he
was ; but Ormond pretended to think
that it should be obeyed, althoiigh
Lord Digby, who was acquainted with
the king's wishes, assured him to the
contrary. The nuncio wrote to Rome
for fresh instructions. The pontifical
treaty with the queen on behalf of the
Irish Catholics was actually prepared.
news was received, describes it as " the bloody fight at
Blackwatcr, on the 5th of June, by the Irish rebels
against Major-General Monroe, where 5,000 Protestanta
were put to the sword."
ORMOND'S TREATY REJECTED.
515
but was never signed ; and at length,
on the 29tli of July, Ormond's treaty
was publicly ratified, and solemnly pro-
claimed in Dublin on the first of the
following month. This treaty, which
left for the future decision of the king
the grand object for which the confed-
erates had taken up arms, made no
provision for the plundered people of
Ulster, and gave to the lord-lieutenant
the command of the confederate Catho-
lics, until settlement by act of parlia-
ment was everywhere rejected by the
old Irish. In Waterford, Clonmel, and
Limerick the herald was prevented by
the people from proclaiming it. Gal-
way and many other towns refused to
receive it ; and by the Irish of Ulster
it was indignantly repudiated. Owen
Roe entered Leinster with his formida-
ble creaghts,* and the nuncio sum-
moned a national synod, which met at
Waterford on the 6th of August, and
was attended by three archbishops, ten
bishops, five abbots, two vicars apos-
tolic, fourteen representatives of reli-
gious orders, and the provincial of the
Jesuits. The synod was unanimous in
condemning the treaty, and on the 12th
of August issued a decree declaring
" that all and every one of the confed-
erate Catholics that will adhere to such
a peace, and consent to the furtherance
thereof, or in any other manner or way
* Tho ereaghti were, originally, the drivers in charge
of a prey of cattle ; but the term came to bo applied
to tboso who led a nomadic life, and removed their
cattle from one pasturage to another. As these were
numerous in Ulster, the ranks of O'Neill's army wore
supposed to be chiefly filled by them, and their char.
will embrace the same, shall be abso-
lutely as perjurers esteemed; chiefly
inasmuch as thei'e is no mention made
in the thirty articles, nor promise for
the Catholic religion or safety thereof,
nor any respect had for the preserva-
tion of the kingdom's privileges, as
were promised in the oath of associa-
tion, but, on the contrary, all remitted
to the king's will and pleasure."f
As opinion became developed, the
people unanimously rejected the dis-
creditable peace ; even the vacillating
Preston declared for the nuncio and
the clergy ; and Mountgarret, Musker-
ry, and their few adherents, finding
themselves deserted by the clergy, the
army, and the people, invited Ormond
to come to Kilkenny, in the hope that
his presence might overawe their oppo-
nents. He accepted the invitation, and
arrived at Kilkenny on the 31st of
August, with 1,500 foot and 500 horee.
Thence he proceeded to Muuster, but
he found the people everywhere averse
to the treaty. Jleantime O'Neill, who
was not a listless observer, advanced to
the south, encamping at Roscrea on the
9 th of September, and Ormond, alarmed
at this movement, returned precipitate-
ly towards Dublin. To the timely
notice which he received from Lord
Castlehaven he owed, in fact, his escape
from the hands of O'Neill and Preston,
acter having been purposely misrepresented by their
enemies, they were rendered objects of the greatest
terror to the Irish and Anglo-Irish of Leinflter and
Munstcr.
f Vide Frenche's Unkind Deserter, and Meehan's
Confed. of Kilkenny.
516
REIGN OF CHARLES I.
who Avere concentrating their forces on
his route, with the intention of making
him prisoner ; but he arrived in safety
in Dublin on the 13th of September.
Events of great importance w'ere
now succeeding each other with start-
ling rapidity. On the 18th of Septem-
ber the nuncio entered Kilkenny, es-
corted by the generals, the Spanish en-
voy, and a crowd of military officers,
having previously caused O'Neill to
encamp near the city with his array,
which now consisted of 12,000 foot and
1,500 horse. His first measure was to
cause the members of the supreme
council to be committed as prisoners to
the castle ; Patrick Darcy and Plunket
being alone excepted. On the 20th a
new council, consisting of four bishops
and eight laymen, was appointed, and
Rinuccini himself was unanimously
chosen president. Thus the tables
were turned on the Ormandists, and
the whole power was thrown into the
hands of the clergy, who appointed
Glamorgan to the command of the con-
federate troops of Munster instead of
Muskerry; but the imprisonment of
the old council has been generally
condemned as a harsh and impru-
dent proceeding. Ormond hastened to
strengthen Dublin against the confed-
erates, from -whom he now anticipated
an attack ; and it w^as well known that
he was. then meditating the surrender
of the city to the parliamentarians,
with whom he was prepared to co-op-
ei-ate against the Catholics. Aw^are of
Ormond's intrigues with the king's ene-
mies, and fearing that Dublin might
be delivered up to the Puritans before
any step could be taken to save it, the
supreme council directed the generals
to march at once to besiege it. Preston
threw obstacles in the way. He de-
sired that they should first communi-
cate Avith Ormond ; and he expressed
a fear that Owen Roe intended to at-
tack himself and to destory the Lein-
ster troops. The mutual hatred of the
generals became more violent than
ever, and there was strong reason to
doubt Preston's sincerity in the cause.
At length, at the end of October,
both armies moved towards Dublin,
and by mutual agreement Preston fixed
his camp at Leixlip, about seven miles
from the city, and O'Neill his at New-
castle, a few miles to the south of
Preston's camp. Alarmed at their ap-
proach, Ormond caused the mills to be
destroyed and the country laid waste
for a considerable distance, so that no
provisions could be obtained ; and the
winter having set in with intense se-
verity, the troops suffered greatly, so
many as twenty or thirty men perishing
every night at their posts. The de-
fences were in so bad a state that the
besiegers might have found it easy to
storm the city at many points ; but
they were too much engaged with
their own dissensions to think of at-
tacking the enemy. The two confed-
erate camps were, in fact, armed against
each other, and the nuncio was occu-
pied in passing from one to the other,
vainly endeavoring to reconcile the
DISSENSIONS IN THE IRISH ASSEjVIBLY.
517
generals. At one time it was debated
in council whether Preston should not
he seized and imprisoned as a traitor
to the cause. He was openly in cor-
respondence with Ormond, tlirough the
medium of Clanrickard, and it subse-
quently transpired that he agreed to a
plan by which he and Clanrickard
were jointly to garrison Dublin, and to
compel the confederates to accept the
peace ; but at the persuasion of the nun-
cio Preston relinquished this scheme,
and disappointed Ormond. Twelve
days were thus fruitlessly spent before
Dublin, when an alarm was suddenly
given in the council of the confederates
that the English were already in the
city; and without any attempt to as-
certain the truth of the report, which
happened to be utterly groundless, the
camps were hastily broken up, and the
armies retreated to the south. All ap-
peared to be thoroughly ashamed of
this disgraceful proceeding; and the
nuncio, who remained at Lucan three
days after the retreat, induced the
generals on arriving at Kilkenny to
sign a mutual agreement, pledging
themselves to forget their dissensions,
and to act together in the common
cause. A new general assembly was
called ; the members of the old council
Avere released from prison, and it was
even proposed that the armies should
return to besiege Dublin, where Or-
mond still carried on his negotiations
with the parliamentary commissioners.
A. D. 1647. — Tlie general assembly
met on the 10th of Januaiy. All the
members attended High Mass in the
cathedral of St. Canice, David Rothe,
the venerable bishop of Ossory, offici-
ating as high-priest. The nuncio sat
on an elevated throne, and the scene
was august and imposing in an eminent
degree. From* the cathedral the mem-
bers repaired to the castle, where the
nuncio opened the proceedings with an
address, in which he dwelt particularly
on the glorious victory obtained by
O'Neill in Ulster, but for which, as he
truly observed, the confederation would
have been crushed ere then. An angry
discussion was then raised on the de-
crees of the synod of Waterford, and
on the charge of perjury which they
implied against the commissioners who
subscribed the articles of Ormond's
treaty. In the course of the debates
Dr. French, bishop of Ferns, moved
that Preston be impeached, and to
such a pitch of violence was the dis-
cord carried, that at one time some
members were about to draw their
swords. After three weeks spent in
these rancorous discussions, it was at
length resolved that the treaty with
Ormond was invalid, and " that the na-
tion would accept of no peace not con-
taining a sufficient security for the re-
ligion, lives, and estates of the con-
federate Catholics." Out of three
hundred present, only twelve voted
against this resolution. A new oath
was framed and administered for the
maintenance of their union until the
following rights were attained, viz. : —
tlie free and public exercise of the
il8
REIGN OF CHARLES I.
Roman Catholic religion as it was in
the reign of Henry VII., or any former
Catholic king; the full enjoyment of
their jurisdiction by the Roman Catho-
lic clerg}', as in the reigns of the afore-
said Catholic kings; the repeal of all
laws made against the 'Roman Catho-
lics since the reign of Henry VIII. ;
and the full enjoyment of the churches
and church livings by the Roman Cath-
olic clergy in all places then in posses-
sion of the confederate Catholics, or
which might be recovered by them.
Until these articles were fully ratified
the confederates were now bound by
their oath not to lay down their arms ;
and on the 8th of March a proclama-
tion was published by the assembly, en-
joining on all Catholics to contend for
these I'ights, and denouncing as traitors
to God and to their country all those
who refused to take the oath with
these conditions.
An attempt to renew negotiations
with Ormoud on the basis of these
propositions was treated by him with
scorn ; and all hopes of peace being
thus at an end, the confederates began
to prepare for war. Their coffers were
empty and the country waste ; but ex-
traordinary contributions were raised,
and the church plate was converted
into money. Owen Roe got the com-
mand of the troops of Ulster and Con-
naught ; Preston, distrusted as he was,
was reappointed to the command in
Leinstei-; and Glamorgan was made
general of the army of Munster.
Dangers threatened them on all sides,
and weakened as they now were by
their own divisions, their jireparations
against the coming storm were feeble
and ill-arranged. Negotiations with
Orraond were once more renewed
through Dr. Leyburn, who, under the
assumed name of Winter Grant, had
arrived with dispatches from the queen
to the lord lieutenant; but nothing
was concluded. The nuncio would
yield no j^rinciple, while Ormond on
his side was inflexible in resisting the
demands of the Catholics, and was, in
fact, too deeply involved already in his
negotiation with the rebel 2:)arliament.
He had sent his son, Sir Richard
Butler, with the earl of Roscommon
and Sir James Ware, to London, as
hostages for the performance of the
articles stipulated between them, and
had admitted into the garrisons of
Drogheda and Dublin a Puritan force
of 1,000 foot and 400 horse from
Ulster, and an English regiment under
Colonel Castle. In Munster, Inchiquin
was again abroad, like an unchained
demon, spreading desolation around
him; and to add to the difliculties of
the confederates, the army of the South
mutinied against Glamorgan, and in-
sisted on having their old general,
Muskerry, restored to the command.
Muskerry was accordingly reinstated,
and by him the command was trans-
ferred to Lord Taaffe, a creature of
Ormond's, and a vain, hasty, and weak-
minded man, destitute of every quality
which could fit him for the post. Thus
was the country sacrificed. The nuncio
DISASTER OF DUNGAN HILL.
519
repaired to Connaiight to consult with
Oweu Roe — the only man whom he
saw worthy of his confidence, or who
was devoted heart and soul to the
great cause which they had under-
taken.
The English parliament was more
urgent and imperious than Ormond
had anticipated. He was consoled, in-
deed, with a reward of £5,000 in hand
for his treachery, and a promise of
£2,000 a-year ; but he was ordered out
of Dublin castle more unceremoniously
than he expected; and had to sur-
render the regalia to the parliamentary
commissioners on the 28th of July,
when he sailed for England, whence he
soon found it necessary to remove to
France. Colonel Jones took possession
of the castle for the English rebels.
The news of Ormond's perfidy filled
the country with indignation, and
brought home to the confederates the
alarming nature of their position. In
the south Lord Taafl^e was powerless
and inactive, while Inchiquin devas-
tated the land without resistance ;
O'Neill found himself destitute of re-
sources in Connaught, and might well
have been sullen and dispirited ; while
Preston, a man quite unfit for the task,
marched towards Trim to manoeuvre
against the parliamentary forces. In
tlie mean time, Jones marched from
Dublin, by Swords, Hollywood, Naul,
and Garristown, to Skreene, which he
reached on the -Ith of August, his
army, with additions from Ulster, that
had joined him on the way, amounting
by that time to 12,000 foot and 100
horse, with two pieces of artillery.
Here he learned that Preston was the
same day at Portlester, five miles west
of Trim, with an army of 7,000 foot,
1,000 horse, and four cannons. Jones
then advanced to Tara, where he re-
viewed his troops, and next day
marched to Scurlogstown, about a mile
from Trim, where he encamped. The
following day he marched to Trimble-
ston, where a small garrison that had
been left by Preston surrendered to
him; but receiving information that
the confederate general had suddenly
marched in the direction of Kilcock,
with a view of getting between him
and Dublin, he set out in haste to
frustrate that design, and on the morn-
ing of the 8th reached Lynche's Knock,
near Summerhill, about a mile from
which, on an eminence called Dungan
Hill, Preston was encamped.
Jones advanced in full force to at-
tack the confederates, who were strongly
intrenched, and might have held their
ground even against the superior num-
bers of the enemy; but Preston was
too volatile and imprudent to act on
the defensive. He charged down the
hill to break the columns of the parlia-
mentarians, but was encountered with
a firmness which threw his men into
confusion. His artillery were so placed
as to be useless, and his cavalry were
drawn up in marshy ground, where
they were at the mercy of the enemy.
Sir Alexander I\[acDonnell, or Col-
kitto, made desperate efforts to retrieve
520
REIGX OF CHARLES I.
the fortune of tbe day;* but braveiy
was insufficient where such fatal errors
had been committed. The Irish army-
was di-iven into an adjacent bog, where,
surrounded by the parliamentary forces,
they were shot down without mercy.
Resistance had ceased, but no quarter
was given ; and such as attempted to
escape from the bog were slaughtered
by Jones's dragoons. The confederates
lost on that fatal day 5,4Y0 of their men,
of whom 400 were MacDonnell's brave
Redshanks ; and Preston fled in dis-
may, followed by 500 infantry, the sole
wreck of his army that could be mus-
tered after the battle. The loss of the
English is said to have been only
twenty men.
Terrified at this disaster, even the
Ormondists now looked to O'Neill as a
protector; and at the desire of the
council, Owen marched to the very
neighborhood which had been the scene
of Preston's misfortune. He had an
army of 12,000 men, and so harassed
Jones by his rapid movements and by
those inscrutable tactics which have ob-
tained for him the title of the Irish Fa-
bius, that the parliamentary general
was scared from the open country, and
sought shelter behind the walls of Dub-
lin. O'Neill followed him as far as
Castlekuock, and the alarmed citizens
could count that night from a steeple
200 Irish watch-fires.
* The celebrated Sir Alexander MacDonnell, so fre-
quently mentioned by Anglo-Irish and Anglo-Scottish
writers, as Colkitto (Colla-Ciotach), was son of the real
Colkitto, who was not famous as a warrior, and proba-
The ferocious Inchiquin entered Tip-
perary on the 3d of September, and
after taking several small castles, crossed
the Suir and attacked the fortress of Ca-
hir, which he took in one day, although
it was counted the strongest castle in
Munster, and had held out for two
months against the army of Esses in
the reign of Elizabeth. The principal
strongholds were left in so weak a state
by the imbecile Taaffe, that some collu-
sion was supposed to have existed be-
tween him and Inchiquin, who was al-
lowed to butcher the inhabitants and
destroy the crops of the country with
impunity. The other exploits of this
sanguinary monster were but of trivial
consequence, however, when compared
to the sack of Cashel. It was about
the end of September that Inchiquin
sat down before the royal city, in which
Taaffe had left only a paltry garrison,
he himself flying, as usual, at the ap-
proach of Murrough O'Brien. The
city was summoned to pay £3,000 un-
der the threat of being taken by storm,
and, unfortunately, the municipal au-
thorities had too much spirit to yield
to these terms. The attack was, there-
fore, commenced ; the walls were bat-
tered down ; and at the first rush of
Inchiquin's soldiers the feeble garrison
flung down their arms, and were slaugh-
tered without resistance. A gallant
action will excite admiration, whether
bly never left Antrim. The pedigree of Sir Alexander
has been ascertained beyond any doubt by Professor
Curry, and the application to him of the surname Col-
kitto, was unquestioruibly a popular error.
&
4
9 &
4
,.R OF TvVOrKV
peiformed ;e, and liis
UC iuerc_), I aou.
I such
I roll.
!!
I
I mpn n.^-1
^mped at
I ;i:id ilnughtered Tvitli a i i.^lnp his
', and su'
oue to be. • ■ j
;i few inilea, to a I |
BATTLE OF KNOCKNANOS.
521
performed by friend or foe ; but the
bloody scene which was now enacted
displayed not human bravery but
fiendish ferocity. A general carnage
of the unarmed townspeople com-
menced. In the streets and the houses
they were butchered without mercy,
and without distinction of age or sex.
Multitudes of panic-stricken people fled
to the cathedral on the rock, and shut
themselves up within the sacred walls.
But these afforded them no asylum.
Inchiquin ^^oured in volleys of musket
balls through the doors and windows,
unmoved by the piercing shrieks of the
crowded victims within ; and then sent
in his troopers to finish with pike and
sabre the work which the bullets had
left incomplete. The floor was encum-
bered with piles of mangled bodies; and
twenty priests who had sought shelter
under the altars were dragged forth
and slaughtered with a fury which the
mere extinction of life could not half ap-
pease. In fine, the victims of that day's
massacre in Cashel amounted to 3,000 !*
The town of Fethard opened its gates
to Inchiquin as soon as summoned to
do so ; nor need we wonder, for the fate
of Cixshel spread teiTor throughout
Munster. But when the sanguinary
J\Iurrough aj^peared before Clonmel he
was met with a stern defiance. The
gallant Sir Alexander MacDonnell, with
such of his brave northerns as could be
collected after the slaughter of Dungan
♦ Vido Median's Confederation of Kilkenny, p. 200.
f " Cnoc-na-n-09, i. c, the Uill of tho Fawns." —
{O'Donotan'i Note to the Four Masters, vol. vi., p.
Hill, had taken his stand here, and his
name was a host in itself. So Murrough
slunk away, leaving the walls of Clon-
mel unharmed, and retired to Cahir,
where the thanks of the rebel parlia-
ment were conveyed to him for his
achievements, together with supplies of
men and money.
In the beginning of November, In.
chiquin again took the field, and was
encamped at Mallow, on the 12 th of
that month, with an army of about
6,000 foot and 1,200 hor,se ; while Lord
Taaffe, with over 7,000 foot and nearly
1,200 horse, lay at Kanturk, some ten
miles distant. The confederate general
had been urged hj the supreme council
to fight Inchiquin if a favorable oppor-
tunity was presented, and such he
deemed the present one to be. Ad-
vancing, accordingly, a few miles, to a
hill called Knocknanos,f he there drew
up his army in order of battle. To
Sir Alexander MacDonnell, whom he
made his lieutenant-general, he com-
mitted the right wing, which was sup-
ported by Colonel Purcell, with two
regiments of horse ; and he himself
took the command of the left wing, on
the slope of the hill, w^here he posted the
Munster troops, numbering 4,000 foot,
supported by two regiments of horse.
The front was defended by a morass, and
a small rivulet which nearly encom-
passed the base of the hill. His posi-
tion was therefore good : and Inchiquin,
1897) ; or it might bo Cnoo-na-n-dos, doa Bignifying a
" thicket," or n " dense body of men." — Sec O'Brien's Ir.
Diet.
REIGN OF CHARLES I.
having advanced from Mallow, com-
menced the attack at considerable dis-
advantage. MacDonnell's northerns,
following the Highland custom, flung
doAvn their muskets after the first vol-
ley, and charged the enemy with their
broadswords. They broke Inchiquin's
left wing, took his artillery, and pur-
sued his flying men for two miles, killing
a great number. But a different result
attended the combat in another part of
the field. Availing himself .of a fixtal
oversight on the part of Taaffe, Inchi-
quin detached a squadron of horse so
as to gain the summit of the hill ; and
these, charging from the rear, caused a
panic in the left wing of the Irish.
This decided the battle. The Mun-
eter troops fled in dismay, and were
slaughtered with little resistance ; while
the northerns, returning from the pur-
suit of those whom they had so gal-
lantly routed, and secure in the thought
that the day was their own, were sur-
prised by the victorious English, and
cut to pieces. Their heroic leader gave
up his sword to Colonel Purdou ; but
Inchiquin having ordered that no quar-
* The death of Sir Alexander (AlaBfram) MacDonnell
has added not a little to the tragic interest of Knock nanos.
That brave soldier, wlio is famous in Scottish history as
Sir Master M'Donnell and Colkitto (Colla-Ciotach, or
CoUa the left-handed), having, as -we have Been, been
sent by Kandal, marquis of Antrim, to Scotland, in com-
mand of Irish troops, had a chief part in the victories
gained by Montrose for tlie king in IG-W. His name is
preserved in the traditions of the Irish peasantry in
connection with a well-knovpn piece of popular music,
called from liim Marshdil Alasiraim, or " Alexander's
March ;" but, observes Professor Curry, " whether the
march is older than the name I am not able to say, but
I thiuk it is." The remains of Sir Alastram were de-
ter should be given, the chivalrous
MacDonnell was, together with many
of his brave men, put to the sword in
cold blood.* Four thousand of the
confederates, according to the English
accounts, perished in the field ; their
arms, colors, and baggage were lost ;
and the general's tent, with all his pa-
pers, were among the spoils. This
battle, so disastrous to the confederates,
was fought on the 13th of November.
On receiving the news the parliament
voted £10,000 for Inchiquin's army,
and £1,000 as a present to himself;
but only a small portion of the money
was sent, and Murrough, feeling that he
was badly treated, began to think of
changing sides again.f
A.D. 1648. — The prospects of the con-
federates were now gloomy in the ex-
treme. Their generals, Preston and
Taaffe, had each lost an army ; O'Neill,
indeed, could still keep their enemies
in check, but he was feared and hated
by the Ormond faction even more than
Inchiquin himself; the complete tri-
umph of the fiinatics in England gave
cause for the darkest forebodinefs ; the
posited in the Dominican abbey at KilmaUock, but the
spot is unknown. ViAe CroTcer's Jiesearc7i.es in H. 8. of
/d.,p.67.
■f Personal considerations had induced him to desert
the king's cause in 16-13, when he was refused the presi-
dency of Munster, which he expected to obtain after the
death of his father-in-law. Sir William St. Leger. The
earl of Portland was made lord president, and Inchiquin
turned over to the parliament. It is remarkable that
both Inchiquin and Ormond, two of the most inveterate
enemies of the Catholic Church at that time, were the
sons of Catholic parents, but had been educated under
the infamous Court of Wards, the great proBelytiang
engine of that day
TRUCE WITH INCHIQFIN.
523
resources of the country were exhaust-
ed ; and the general assembly was now
engaged in discussing the question of a
foreign protectorate. After long and
anxious deliberation, it was resolved to
send agents to Rome and France, both
to solicit aid in money and to ascertain
what might be the most prudent course
for placing the country under the pro-
tection of a foreign power. Dr. French
and riunket were deputed to Rome;
Muskerry and Brown to France;
and the marquis of Antrim also pro-
ceeded in the name of the assembly
to the latter country. Ormond had
already arrived at St. Germains, and
prepared the queen for the recep-
tion to be given to the Irish envoys.
Besides the instructions which they
liad received from the general assem-
bly, Muskerry and Browne were the
bearers of a private message from
Preston and Taaffe, and to this alone
was any serious consideration .given in
the conference with the queen. Her
majesty's answer to the public message
was a mere deception ; and henceforth
the confederation was nothing more
than an instrument in the hands of
Ormond.
The supreme council and Inchiquin
had for some time been treating in an
underhand way about a truce, but their
negotiations now became more direct,
lucliiquin demanded from them 4,000
dollars a month, to support his merce-
nary army, at the same time that he
continued to press his demands on the
English parliament, to conceal his de-
signs. A meeting of the general as-
sembly was called, and Rinuccini, who
was at Waterford, was very pressingly
invited by the supreme council to give
it the sanction of his presence. At
length he complied, and the session
was opened on the 20th of April, when
the discussion of the treaty with Inchi-
quin commenced. Inchiquin had al-
ready incurred the suspicions of parlia-
ment, and some of his officers had
revolted against him. His power was
therefore greatly diminished, and the
nuncio protested against any accommo-
dation with the man whose hands were
still red with the blood of the priests
whom he had massacred on the rock of
Cashel. The nuncio's energetic remon-
strance prevailed with the bishops,
fourteen of whom subscribed a con-
demnation of the truce. But it was
too late. The truce was signed at
Dungarvan on the 20tli of May. It
provided that Catholics should not be
molested in the practice of their re-
ligion, except in the garrisons or
quarters of Lord Inchiquin, where it
would not be tolerated. Preston and
Inchiquin now united their* forces, and
prepared to march against O'Neill ; to
crush whom was the object uppermost
in the minds of both. The nuncio had,
however, a dreadful weapon yet in
store. On the morning of the 27th of
May, a sentence of excommunication
against all abettors of the truce, and
an interdict against all cities, towns,
and villages in which it would be re-
ceived or observed, were published on
524
REIGN OF CHARLES I.
the gates of tlae cathedral at Kilkenny,
and the nuncio himself privately with-
drew from that city and repaired to
the camp of Owen Koe at Marybor-
ough. This was a fearful expedient,
involving as it did the innocent and
the guilty in one punishment. It was,
perhaps, inexcusable; but we must
bear in mind that the nuncio was
aware the life of O'Neill was aimed at,
and that he saw the cause of the Church
and the people of Ireland sa.crificed by
the perverse conduct of the Ormondists,
upon whom no ordinary argument
could make any impression. It was
with him a last and a desperate re-
source.
The Ulster chieftain had but 700 of
his followers now about him, and in a
few days news was brought that
Preston was within four miles with an
army of 10,000 men to attack him.
Preston, however, was ignorant of
O'Neill's weakness, and did not ad-
vance ; and 2,000 of his men, smarting
under the excommunication, deserted
to Owen's camp. O'Neill was galled
to the heart at these proceedings. He
fell back towards Athlone, where he
had a garrison, but before he could
come to its relief it had been compelled
to yield to Preston and Clanrickard,
the latter being also in the field against
him. 'Owen Eoe made a truce with
the Scots, and on the 11th of June pro-
claimed war against the supreme coun-
cil, and the nuncio took his final leave
of him and retired to Galway, where
he was hemmed in by Clanrickard's
people. An angry correspondence
passed between the nuncio and the
now degenerate confederation, and
when he endeavored to convoke a na-
tional synod, Clanrickard jirevented
the prelates from assembling. These
wei-e, indeed, sad events for li-eland ;
and it is melancholy to see how utterly
dissipated were the hopes which but
a little Avhile before were so full of
pi'omise.
The discord of the confedei'ates freed
the parliamentarians from restraint in
Dublin, and Monroe and his Presbyte-
rians not desiring the abolition of mon-
archy, nor approving of the course
which aflfairs had taken in England,
Monck got the command in Ulster in
his stead, and marching suddenly into
that province, surprised Carrickfergus
and seized Monroe, whom he sent pris-
oner to England. Jones, the parlia-
mentary governor of Dublin, glad to
promote the M^ar between O'Neill and
the confederation, allowed the former
to pass unmolested through Leinster to
attack Kilkenny. Finding, howevei-,
that the combined forces of Pi-eston
and Inchiquln were too numerous,
O'Neill would not hazard an engage-
ment, and withdrew to Ulster, having
foiled by his skilful manoeuvres an at-
tempt which those generals, in con-
junction with Clanrickard, made to sur-
round his small army. The marquis
of Antrim, on returning from France,
took the nuncio's side ; raised an ami}-
in the north, and was supported by tlie
O'Byrnes, Kavanaghs, and otliei- L^in-
ORMOND RETURNS TO IRELAND.
ster septs; but lie was defeated by
lucliiquin and the confederates. Or-
mond next reappeai-ed on the stage, in
compliance with the reiterated invita-
tions of Inchiquin and the supreme
council. On the 29th of September he
landed at Cork, whither Inchiquin went
to receive him. He invited commis-
sioners from the confederation to meet
him at Carrick ; but after much delay,
caused by the discussion of terms and
other obstacles, the marquis came at the
invitation of the general assembly to
Kilkenny, where he was received in
great state by that body, and installed
in his own castle. The peace negotia-
tions were again interrupted by a mu-
tiny in Inchiquin's army, when it was
found Ormond had brought no money ;
but at length, on the lYth of January,
1649, the treaty of peace between Or-
mond and the confederation was finally
ratified and published amidst great re-
joicings.
A. D. 1G49. — That the war, which was
thus brought to a close after seven
years' continuance, had been under-
taken on religious grounds, is evident
from the leading conditions of this
treaty, as well as from all the negotia-
tions that had taken place between the
parties during that period. The first
article provided that in the next parlia-
ment to be held in Ireland the penal
statutes against Catholics should be re-
pealed ; that a simple oath of allegiance
• The commissioners of trust were : Lord Dillon, of
Costello, Lord Muskerry, Lord Athcnry, Alexander Mac-
Ponnoll, Esq., Sir Lucas Dillon, Sir Nicholas Plunket,
should be substituted for the oath of
supremacy ; and that Catholics should
not be molested in the possession of the
churches and church livings which they
then held, or their clergy in the exercise
of their respective jurisdictions, until
such time as their claims could be fully
considered in a free parliament. By
another article the native Irish Catho-
lics were to be relieved from all civil
disabilities, and were to be allowed to
erect one or more inns of court in or
near the city of Dublin, and to establish
free schools for the education of their
youth. They might hold the command
of garrisoned towns and forts; the Cath-
olics ejected from Cork, Youghal, and
Dungarvan by Inchiquin, were to be re-
instated in their possessions ; the Catho-
lic regular clergy were to be allowed to
hold the ancient abbeys and monasteries
of which they were then in possession,
and to retain any pensions which they
then enjoyed ; and finally, twelve of the
confederates were to act as commission-
ers of trust with the marquis of Ormond
to see the articles of the treaty fully car-
ried out, and to participate in certain
of the functions which belonged to him
as lord-lieutenant.* In fact, the treaty
granted concessions to the Catholics but
little inferior to those proposed by Gla-
morgan ; and if Ormond had only yield-
ed so much a few years earlier he would
have prevented innumerable calamities,
and most probably have preserved the
Sir Richard BarnwcU, QooSrj Browne, Donagh O'CaUa-
ghan, Turlough O'Neill, Miles O'Reilly, and Gerald
Fennel], Esqre.
r.2G
REIGN OF CHARLES I.
life of the king. Ou tlie 30th of the
same month the unfortunate Charles I.
closed his wretched career on a scaffold
at "Whitehall. On the 10th of Febru-
ary Prince Kupert entered the harbor
of Kinsale with sixteen frigates, and the
news of the king's death having been
received about the same time, Ormond
proclaimed the prince of Wales king,
by the title of Charles II., at Cork and
Youghal, the same ceremony being per-
formed by Prince Rupert at Kinsale.
On the 23d of February, Einuccini
embarked at Galway in Ms own frigate
to return to Rome. His mission was
unsuccessful, but its failure is to be at-
tributed to the recreant and temporiz-
ing party who, from the very day when
they found themselves involved in the
war, were prepared to sacrifice the
principles for whicli the country had
taken up arms. Rinuccini desired to
raise the Catholic Churcli in Ireland to
the dignity to which it was entitled,
and the native race of Ireland to the so-
cial state for which he saw them fitted.
These were the principles for which he
contended. The only fault with which
even his enemies could charge him was,
that he was uncompromising. And for
the rest, it can hardly be denied that on
his side was all that the confederation
could boast of us chivalrous, high-mind-
ed, and naticnal ; while on that of the
Ormandists we find intrigue, incapacity,
and cowardice.
CONFUSION OF PARTIES.
527
CHAPTER XXXIX.
CROSnVELL.
Stivto of parties after the death of Charles I. — O'Neill's services sought by Ormond and by the Parliamen-
tarians.— Ormond and Inchiquin take the Cold. — Drogheda and other towns surrender to the latter. — Siege of
Dublin by Ormond. — Great defeat of the royalists at Rathmincs.— Arrival of Cromwell. — Siege of Drogheda—
Horrible massacre. — Wexford betrayed to Cromwell — Frightful massacre of the inhabitants. — Death of Owon
O'Neill. — Ross surrendered. — Siege of Waterford — Courageous conduct of the citizens — The siege raised. —
The Soutliern garrisons revolt to Cromwell. — Wretched position of Ormond. — Meeting of the bisliops at
Clonmacnoise — Their declaration. — Killicnny surrendered to Cromwell. — Siege of Clonmel — Heroic self-
devotion of the bishop of Ross. — Surrender of Clonmel. — Cromwell embarlss for England. — Death of Heber
MacMahon. — Meeting of the bishops at Jamestown — Ormond excommunicated. — The king subscribes to tlie
covenant. — New general assembly. — Ormond retires to France, and the marquis of Clanrickard becomes lord
deputy. — Negotiations with the duke of Lorraine. — Limerick besieged by Ireton. — Valor of Henry O'Neill
-Limerick betrayed to th/a besiegers. — Barbarous executions. — Death of Ireton. — Surrender of Galway.
— Clanrickard accepts terms and leaves the kingdom. — Wholesale confiscations and plunder. — Horrible at-
tempts to exterminate the people. — Banishment to Connanght and the West Indies. — Execution of Sir Phelim
O'Neill — Atrocious cruelties. — Oliver proclaimed Lord Protector. — Henry Cromwell in Ireland. — Death of
Oliver. — Proceedings of the Royalists. — The Restoration.
(from a, d. 1C49 TO A. D. IGGO.)
A GENERAL subversiou of prin-
ciple.s and coiifusioii of parties
eliaracterize the period which followed
the death of Charles I. The Scots in
Ulster had, as Ave have seen, become
royalists, and Ormond and Inchiquin
were at the head of the confederates.
The old Irish still flocked round the
standard of Owen O'Neill as their
lender, and his chivalrous character,
military skill, and influence commanded
the respect of his enemies ; but the
high and sacred principles for which
he contended had been long since
abandoned by his old colleagues of the
confederation; a barrier of personal
enmity was, moreovei', placed between
him and them : and provided he could
keep an army on his hands, and watch
the moves on the political chess-board
for some one favorable to his country,
it was to him of little consequence to
which of the contending parties he lent
his temporary aid. Ormond made
overtures to him, and some accommoda-
tion would probably have taken place
between them, had not the animosity of
the commissioners of trust, old mem-
bers of the supreme council, interfered
to prevent it; whereupon O'Neill in
disgust listened to the suggestions of
the parliamentary party, and arranged
with Monck, who held the command of
Dundalk, to intercept the communica-
528
CROMWELL.
tion between the Scottish I'oyalists in
the nortli and Ormond in the interior.
This arrangement, which was made on
the 8th of May, 1649, was to secure to
O'Neill and his followers perfect reli-
gious freedom and the restoration of
their estates ;* but Owen did not reckon
with any confidence on it, and the cessa-
tion or treaty was only signed for three
mouths. The young king was now at
the Hague, uncertain ^Yhat course to
take. He had been long promising to
come to Ireland, and his baggage had,
it is said, been embarked for this coun-
try ; but want of money in the first
instance, and then other impediments,
prevented him from coming. It is
tliought that Ormond, for some sinister
motives, discouraged his visit to Ire-
land; but Charles placed the fullest
confidence in the crafty marquis as his
lord lieutenant, and confirmed the
treaty which he had made with the con-
federates.
Ormond and Inchiquiu having mus-
tered a considerable army in the south,
at length took the field. In their
march through Leinster, several small
places, in which either Owen O'Neill or
the parliamentarians had placed garri-
sons, surrendered to them: and they
advanced, Ormond to invest Dublin,
and Inchiquin to besiege Drogheda.f
The latter town held out for seven days,
and on the 30th of June surrendered
on honorable terms, the parliamentarian
* Philop. Iren., i., p. 121 ; also Hist, of Independence,
p. 237.
f At tills period Drogbeda was called Tredagh or
garrison, consisting of 600 men, being
permitted to march to Dublin. Inchi-
quin's next exploit was to intercept a
quantity of ammunition which Monck
was sending from Dundalk to Owen
O'Neill; and soon after Dundalk, New-
ry, and several places in Ulster, together
with the castle of Trim, surrendered to
him; and he marched back to rejoin
Ormond, who had encamped at Finglas,
two miles north of Dublin, on the 18th
of June, but removed to Rathmines, in
the southern suburbs of that city, on
the 25th of July. Ormond found his
army too small either to besiege or
storm so large a place as Dublin, and
his only hope now being to reduce the
city by famine, he left Lord Dillon, of
Costello, with 2,000 men on the north
side, while with the remainder of his
army he proposed to cut off supplies
coming from any other quarter. So
great was his confidence in the loyalty
of his men, that he wrote to the king
to say "he could persuade half his
army to starve outright for his ma-
jesty."
On the same day that Ormond moved
from Finglas to Eathmines, large rein-
forcements arrived to the garrison from
England under Colonels Reynolds and
Venables ; and it became a matter of
great importance to the besiegers to
command the mouth of the river, to
prevent the landing of further supplies
from beyond the Channel. With that
Trcda, by English writers ; tliis corruption of the name
being an attempt to imitate the pronunciation of the
Irish word Drokhet-atha.
BATTLE OF RATIIMINES.
520
view, and to deprive the besieged of
pasturage for their horses on the south
side, Major-General Purcell was sent, on
the night of the 1st of Angust, with a
detachment of 1,500 foot to take posses-
sion of the ruined castle of Bagotrath,
about a mile from the camp. This place
they hoped to fortify suiBcieutly in one
night, and from it they might advance
their works to the river ; but they only
arrived at the castle an hour before day-
break, and found that it was not so
important as was supposed. Ormoud,
as well as the bulk of his army, had
watched during the night, expecting an
attack from the garrison, and he now
retired to his tent to take some repose ;
but at the same moment Colonel Michael
J^nes was preparing to sally forth from
the city with 4,000 foot and 1,200 horse,
to dislodge the party which had got
possession of Bagotrath. It is intimated
by those who seek by all means to free
Ormond's character from disgrace, that
Preston and the men under his com-
mand were not at their posts at this
important juncture; but it must be ad-
mitted that the marquis showed bad
generalship on the occasion ; and he was
now roused from his slumbers by vol-
leys of musketry, only to find his whole
left wing in disorder, and the detach-
ment from Bagotrath retreating, with
the enemy at their heels. The confu-
sion soon extended to Ormond's left
wing; the infixntry were deserted by
the ca.valry and sought refuge in flight;
and what Jones only intended as a sortie
resulted in a total rout of the royalists,
with the loss, as some accounts say, of
4,000 killed and 2,500 taken prisoners,
together with their artillery, baggage,
money, and provisions. The Ormond-
ists, however, state that the number of
slain was only 600, and the prisoners
300 officers and 1,500 private soldiers ;
and they add, what is very probable,
that a great many were killed after
quarter had been proclaimed, and some
even after they had been brought inside
the walls of the city. Some of the roy-
alists retreated to Drogheda, and others
to Trim, and a great many of Inchi-
quin's soldiers went over to the enemy ;
but Ormond himself repaired to Kil-
kenny, where he endeavored to collect
the shattered remains of his army ; and
his j)0wer was so broken by this over-
throw, that he never after ventured to
meet the parliamentarians in the field.
After this battle Jones marclied to
recover possession of Drogheda, but he
found that town ably defended by Lord
Moore, and learning that Ormond was
coming to its relief, he raised the siege
and returned to Dublin. Notwith-
standing their success at Rathmines, the
parliamentarians were, at this time, in
very straitened circumstances. The only
place which they retained in Ulster was
Londonderry, where Sir Charles Coote
was so hard pressed by Lord Mont-
gomery of Ards, that he would inevita-
bly have been compelled to surrender
had not Owen O'Neill consented to
come to his relief Coote stipulated to
give O'Neill £2,000 for the payment of
his troops, a quantity of ammunition,
r.30
CROMWELL.
and 2.000 cows, and the aid was cheap-
ly purchased ; for as soon as Owen Koe
appeared on the 8th of August, the
Lord of Ards and his Scots raised the
siege. The English 2:)arliament feigned
great indignation at the treaties made
by its officers with the Irish Popish
general, and shortly after O'Neill broke
off all alliance with that party.
Oliver Cromwell, the extraordinary
man who was then beginning to sway
the destinies of England, had, by a
unanimous vote of the parlianlent, been
made lieutenant-general of the forces in
Ireland, so far back as the 28th of
March, this year; but the troubles with
the levellers, and other causes, had re-
tarded the setting out of his expedition
for this country. At length he sailed
from Milford Haven on the 13th of
August, and landed at Dublin on the
14th, having altered his original plan,
which was to land in Munster. He
brought Avith him 9,000 foot, 4,000
horse, several pieces of artillery, an
abundant supply of all kinds of mili-
tary stores, and £20,000 in money. His
son-in-law, Commissary-General Ireton,
followed, as second in command. The
parliamentai-y force iu Dublin now ex-
ceeded 10,000 men; and on the 30th of
August, CromAvell took the field with a
well-provisioned army of 10,000 picked
men, and marched to lay siege to Drog-
heda, then deemed next in importance
to Dublin as a military post. Having
been invested by parliament with the
title of lord-lieutenant, he published
after his arrival two proclamations, one
against intemperance, and the other pro-
hibiting his soldiers, under the severest
penalties, to plunder the country-people.
His admirers plead this prohibition as
a proof that he did not intend to exer-
cise cruelty in his Irish campaign ; bnt
his only design was to encourage the
peasantry to bring provisions for sale
to the army on its march, and in this
object he was successful. He appoint-
ed Sir Theophilus Jones governor of
Dublin.
Ormond had gari'isoned Drogheda
with about 3,000 of his choicest troops,
under the command of Sir Arthur As-
ton, an Englishman, but a Catholic, aud
a soldier of experience and reputation ;
and a portion of the garrison also con-
sisted of English royalist? or cavaliers.
Ormond himself withdrew with a few
troops to Trim, and rejoiced that at so
late a season Cromwell was about to be-
siege a place of so much strength, and
before which he was likely to be so long
detained, as Drogheda. The bold and
energetic tactics on which so much of
Cromwell's military success depended,
disconcerted, however, plans founded
on old-fashioned notions. The j^'^rlia-
mentary general encamped at the south
side of Drogheda, on Monday, Septem-
ber 2d; and some days having been
consumed in getting his siege-guns from
the ships that conveyed them from
Dublin, and in other preparations, he
was ready to commence battering the
town on that day week. He began by
beating down a tower and the steeple
of St. Mary's church, where a gun had
SIEGE OF DROGIIEDA.
531
been placed that anii03'ecl liim. On
the following- morning (Tuesday, the
10th) his batteries played incessantly,
and early in the afternoon two practi-
cable breaches were made ; one towards
the east, in the cliurch yard wall of
St. Mary's, which although the strong-
est part of the fortifications, Cromwell
had selected for attack, as it would,
afford a safe entrance for his horse, and
shelter for them on the inside under
the church walls. The other breach
■was in the south wall of the town.
About five o'clock he sent forward his
storming parties. Seven hundred men
entered the breaches, but earth-works
had been thrown np inside, and the
garrison defended them with such des-
perate bravery, that the fierce assailants
■were driven back through the breaches
with considerable loss. Some accounts
mention three several assaults ; but in
his dispatch to the parliament Crom-
well says the iutrenchmeuts were
carried at the second assault. Cannon
were planted so as to shoot down some
of the Irish horse w'hich were posted be-
hind the works to encourage the foot ;
and Colonel "Wall, whose regiment
was defending the breaches, having
been killed, his men became discouraged
and wavered. It was pro1)ably at this
moment that Cromwell's officers and
men promised quarter to the Irish, but
the precise time at which this was done
io involved in obscurity. That quarter,
however, was offered is unquestionable.
Various contemporaries, as Clarendon
and Caite, Jissure us of the fact: and
they add that the promise was kept as
long as the garrison resisted; "but,"
says the latter historian, " when they
found all in their power, and feared no
hurt that could be done to them, Crom-
w^ell being told by Jones that he had
now all the flower of the Irish army in
his hands, gave orders that no quarter
should be given." The besiegers had
before this gained a tower in which
there was a sally-port, but the passage
was so blocked up with the bodies of
the dead that it was useless to them.
However, being now masters of the two
breaches, they introduced their cavalry
through that at St. Mary's church, and
by the other gained access to the great
Tuatha de Danann tumulus called the
mill-mount, the sides of which were
strongly defended with palisades, be-
hind which the besieged disputed the
ground for some time, though they
yielded on the promise of quarter. The
brave governor. Sir Arthur Aston, with
the oflScers of his staff, Sir Edward
Vernej^, and Colonels Warren, Fleming,
and Byrne, retreated into the old mill
on the top of the mound, where they
were disarmed and slain in cold blood.
As this position commanded the town,
all further resistance must have been
useless ; and the besiegers pouring in
through the two breaches, crossed the
bridge pell-mell with the flying garrison,
and wei-e thus in possession of the
north side of the town. Drogheda
was gained, but the work of slaughter
had only commenced. The officers and
soldiei'S of the frarri:wu were the first
532
CROMWELL
to be exterminated. Out of the 3,000
choice troops only about 30 men were
saveil, and these were reserved by
Cj'oniwell for deportation to Barbadoes.
He himself says, "Our men were or-
dered by me to put them all to the
sword." The fury of the fanatical con-
querors was then let loose against the
unarmed townspeople ; and every man,
woman, and child of Irish extraction
that could be found within the devoted
city, was most brutally murdered ! This
savage butchery occupied five whole
days. It was on the morning of the
11th that Cromwell's troopers came to
the great church of St. Peter's, on the
north side of the city. To this sacred
edifice upwards of a thousand of the
principal inhabitants had fled for pro-
tection ; but every one of them was
put to the sword ; and as a palliation of
the massacre of these innocent people,
Cromwell tells the parliament that
"they had the insolence, on the last
Lord's day, to thrust out the Protest-
ants (from that church), and to have the
Mass said there." All the ecclesiastics
were, as a matter of course, put to death ;
01-, as Lelaud insolently expresses it,
Cromwell " ordered his soldiers to
plunge their weapons into the helpless
wretches !" A number of people bad
sought refuge in the church steeple,
which was constructed of timber, and
Cromwell tells us that he ordered fire
to be applied. Some were burned, and
the rest were slaughtered as they at-
tempted to escape. A multitude of
respectable women, comprising all the
principal ladies of the city, concealed
themselves in the cripts under the choir
of the church, but when the carnage
was finished above, the bloodhounds
traced them to these dark recesses, and
not even to one of these poor fugitives
was mercy shown. One of Cromwell's
ofiicers, who was engaged in this horri-
ble work — Thomas Wood, brother of
Anthony h "Wood, the Oxford historian
— relates that he found in these vaults
" the flower and choicest of the women
and ladies belonging to the town,
amongst whom a most handsome vir-
gin, arrayed in costly and gorgeous ap-
parel, kneeled down to him with teai-s
and prayers to save her life.'! He was
moved to compassion, and took her out
of the church " with the intention to put
her over the works to shift for herself;"
but while she was even thus protected
a soldier plunged his sword in her body,
and Mr. Wood "seeing her gasping,
took away her money, jewels, cfec, and
flung her over the works." Wood also
relates how " when they were to make
their way up to the lofts and galleries
of the church, and up to the tower
where the enemy had fled, each of the
assailants would take up a child and
use it as a buckler of defence, when
they ascended the steps, to keep them-
selves from being shot or brained."
This picture, described as it is by one
of the actors in the bloody scene, is full
of horror. According to a local tradi-
tion, Cromwell's attention was atti'acted
by an infant endeavoring to draw nour-
isliment from the breast of its dead
MASSACRE AT DROGIIEDA.
;33
mother, whose murdered body lay in
the street, and his callous heart being
moved by the affecting incident, he
gave orders to stop the massacre of all
who Avere not found in arms. But tra-
dition appears to be wrong in this case ;
for it is certain that a promiscuous
slaughter was carried on until the de-
parture of the army on the 15th; that
is, during five whole days, in which, as
we are told by a contemporary writer,
four thousand Catholic men, besides a
vast multitude of ecclesiastics, and of
women, youths, and children, were un-
mercifully slain.''' Cromwell has his
worshippers, and the philosophical dis-
quisitions of Carlyle and Guizot may
excite an interest in his character. The
question whether he was a canting
hypocrite or a fanatical enthusiast is
frequently discussed ; but let this point
be decided as it may, and his panegyr-
ists write as they will, the massacre at
Drogheda stamps him with eternal infa-
my as a monster with a demon's heart.
Cromwell, who estimated his own
loss at less than a hundred men, wrote
t?o the parliament to announce his suc-
cess and the massacre which had been
perpetrated, which he impiously attrib-
uted to "the Spirit of God," desiring
that " God alone should have all the
* Bruodin, Propug. Cath. Verit., lib. iv., c. 14, p. 078.
For original authorities on tho siego and massacre of
Drogheda the reader may consult Cromwell's dispatches,
as given by Carlyle, or as published with notes in the
Dublin Penny Journal for 1832 ; Clarendon's History
of the Cicil Wan in Ireland, pp. 130 and 131 ; Ludlow's
Memoirs, vol. i., pp. 300, 303 ; Carlo's Ormond, vol. ii.,
p. 81 ; Borlase, Hist, of Irish Itcb. ; Bruodin, ubi supra ;
Life of Anthony d Wood (quoted by Lingard) ; Cam-
glory ;" and the house, on the receipt of
his dispatch on the 2d of October, ap-
pointed a "thanksgiving day," and voted
a letter of thanks to the lord-lieutenant
of Ireland and the army, "in which
notice was to be taken that the house
did approve of the execution done at
Drogheda, as an act both of justice to
them (the victims), and mercy to others
who may be warned by it."f Trim,
Dundalk, Carlingford, Newry, and
other places in the north were aban-
doned by the royalists, or surrendered
to Cromwell's officers after little or no
resistance. Coleraine was betrayed to
Sir Charles Coote, who put the garrison
to the sword ; Sir George Monroe wfts
driven from Down and Antrim ; and
the Scots were dispossessed wherevei-
they had settled. Carrickfergus was
the only important fortress in Ulster
which the royalists now held.
Cromwell, who had returned to Dub-
lin on the 16th of September, left again
on the 2Yth; and marching through
Wicklow, took possession of Arklow
and several small places on his route,
and appeared before Wexford on Mon-
day, the 1st of October. This town,
though small, was wealthy and of great
commercial importance. It was well
fortified, being surrounded by an earth-
brensis Eoersus, Epist. Dedic. ; and also cap. ixxi., &c.,
See also the accounts given by. Leland and Dr. Lingard,
and in O'Connell's Memoir of Ireland. Ormond, in
his letter to Lord Byron, secretary to Charles II., as
given by Carte, says, that " on this occasion Cromwell
exceeded himself, and any thing he had ever heard of in
breach of faith and bloody inhumanity."
t Parliamentary History of England, vol. iii., p.
1334.
CROMWELL.
en rampart of considerable €Lickness
witliin the wall, while at a distance of
three or four hundred paces outside the
works, towards the southeast, stood a
strong castle. The inhabitants had
until the last moment refused to ac-
cept a garrison of royalists from Or-
moud ; but at this time they appear
to have been fully prepared for the
defence ; the troops in the town being
under the command of Colonel David
Sinnott, a brave and determined of-
ficer; and the castle just mentioned
under that of Captain James Stafford.
On the 3d of October Cromwell sum-
moned the town to suiTender, and from
that day to the 5th various notes were
exchanged between him and Colonel
Sinnott, the latter I'equiring time to con-
sult the maj^or and corporation on the
terms upon which they would consent
to surrender the place. On the latter
day Lord Castlehaven threw into the
town, at the north side, 1,500 Ulster
troops which had been sent by the
marquis of Orniond from Ross ; and
Sinnott now required further time to
submit the propositions for surrender to
Lord Castlehaven, who was his superior
officer, as lord general of the horse.
During this time there had been no
cessation of hostilities agreed upon, al-
though the civil authorities of the town
exhibited their courtesy by sending
presents of " sacke and strong waters"
* Clarendon says a reinforcement, under Sir Edmond
ButliT, entered tlie ton-n only two hours before Crom-
well's soldiers got in ; but this cannot be correct, as
Castlehaven speaks of Sir Edmond as being in Wexford,
for the use of the parliamentarian gen-
eral. A detachment of the besieging
army had seized the castle of Rosslare,
at the mouth of the harbor, the garrison
abandoning it and taking refuge in a
frigate, which was afterwards surren-
dered at discretion to the enemy. The
entrance to the harbor being thus free,
Cromwell lauded the battering train
from his shipping, and lost no time in
preparing for the attack. In reply to
Sinnott's last note of the 5th, he wrote
the following day to revoke the safe
conduct which he had given for the
agents who were to bring the pz'oposi-
tions from the town ; but added, "When
you shall see cause to treatj you may
send for another." With the relief last
sent, the garrison amounted to about
3,000 men; and Castlehaven, having
retired from the town, Sinnott made up
his mind to defend his charge.* Crom-
well having selected the part near the
castle for his attack, finished his bat-
teries on Wednesday, the 10th, and
began the cannonade on the following
morning. By twelve o'clock some
bi'eaches were made in the castle de-
fences ; and Sinnott, having caused a
parley to be beaten, sent to demand a
safe conduct for four persons to treat on
honorable terms. This was granted ;
and the four agents sent from the town
were, Majors Theobald Dillon and
James Byrne, Alderman Nicholas Chee-
■when he went there, and calls him the governor. It is
certain, however, that Sinnott had the command of the
PERFroY OF CROMWELL.
535
vers, and Captaia James StaSbrd, the
last, it will be recollected, being the
governor of the castle. The proposed
conditions were only what might be
expected from men of honor with arms
in their hands. The inhabitants asked
full religious liberty for themselves, and
the garrison demanded that they should
march out with colors flying, and with
their ai'ms, baggage, <fec., and that such
of the townspeople as chose might be
at liberty to accompany them in safety
to Koss. Cromwell calls these propo-
sitions " abominable," and the men who
dared to send them "impudent;" but
while he was preparing "to return a
suitable answer," he found means to
make terms of another kind. He cor-
rupted Captain Stafford with a bribe,
or by some other means. Cromwell
says he was " fairly treated ;" and the
castle being thrown open to his troops,
the flag of the parliament was displayed
from its summit, and the guns turned
against the town. Seeing this strong-
hold in the hands of the enemy, who,
consequently, had the fortifications of
the city on that side at their mercy, the
besieged were seized with dismay. The
besiegers planted their scaling ladders
and crossed the walls without the least
opposition, and then opened the gates
to their own cavalry. The panic which
ensued may easily be conceived. The
gai'rison retreated to the market-place,
where numbers of the townspeople had
also congregated, and. here, for fully an
liour, they oflfered what Cromwell calls
" a stift' resistance " and the street beiue:
in many places barricaded with cables,
the enemy's horse could for some time do
little execution. The assailants, how-
ever, poured in by thousands, and the
horrible massacre of Drogheda was re-
enacted, neither man, woman, nor child,
who came in their way, having found
any mercy. Now, all this time Crom-
well held in his hands the conditions
for surrender proposed by the governor
and citizens, and his own answer writ-
ten, but never sent; for the agents from
the city were still in his camp when the
massacre commenced. By the answer
which he had prepared he granted life
and liberty to the soldiers ; life, but not
liberty, to the officers, and freedom from
pillage to the inhabitants ; but while
this answer was readj^, though not de-
livered, and Sinnott and the authorities
still in ignorance of his decision, he suc-
ceeded, as we have seen, by the basest
means in gaining possession of the castle,
and then would have us believe that he
did not order the massacre. He intend-
ed, forsooth, to preserve the place, but
saw " God would not have it so," and
he " thought it not good nor just to re-
strain off the soldiers from their right
of pillage, nor from doing of execution
on the enemy." And he concludes his
dispatch by telling the parliament "that
it had pleased God to give into your
hands this other mercy" (Drogheda was
the first " mercy" and Wexford the sec-
ond !) " for which, as for all, we pray
God may have all the glory."* About
' See Cromwell's Letters, published by Carlyle, and
Caif a Memorials, ii. p. ISO.
536
REIGN OF CROMWELL.
300 of the panic-stricken inhabitants
attempted to make their escape to the
opposite side of the harbor, but the
over-crowded boats were submerged,
and all were drowned. Sir Edmond
Butler was shot when endeavoring to
save his life by swimming. Cromwell
estimates the number who were put to
the swoi'd in this massacre at 2,000,
while he, " from first to last of the siege,
lost not altogether twenty men ;" and
in recommending the parliament to
send over English Protestants to dwell
in the town, he assures tliem that " of
the former inhabitants not one in
twenty could be found to challenge
any property in their own houses."*
If the Ormondists, as a part}', Avere
thoroughly humbled by the defeat at
* Mageogliegan mentions, as an incident of the siege
of Wexford, that tivo hundred women were massacred
at the foot of the cross in the public square, and the cir-
cumstance has been repeated after him by many writers ;
but no contemporary authority for it has been quoted,
and we may safely conclude that the statement only re-
fers to the general massacre which was perpetrated in
the market-place, where a multitude of the to\mspeople
—old men, women, and children — had flocked together,
hoping to find protection behind the ranks of the garri-
son. Dr. Nicholas French, the illustrious and patriotic
bishop of Ferns, who was then lying ill of fever in a
neighboring village, has left us an important reference
to the Wexford massacre, in a letter dated at Antwerp,
in 1G73, and addressed to the papal nuncio, relative to
affairs affecting the venerable prelate personally. In
this letter, the Latin original of which, with a transla-
tion, was first published in the DubVn Nation of Octo-
ber 8th, 1859, Dr. French writes : " Ou that most calam-
itous day the city of Wexford, abounding in wealth,
ships and merchandize, was carried at the point of the
sword, and given up to the infuriated soldiery by Crom-
well, that pest of the English government. There, be-
fore God's altar, fell many sacred victims, priests of the
Lord ; some, who were seized outside the precincts of
the church, were scourged with whips ; some were ar-
rested and bound with chains ; some were hanged, and
others were cruelly put to death by divers sorts of tor-
Rathraines, subsequent events brought
home to the Irish Catholics in general
the horrible conviction that they were
all involved in a common ruin. Owen
O'Neill had made up his mind to sup-
port Orraond ; and the latter, who, says
Clarendon, " had a great esteem of his
conduct, and knew the army under his
command to be better disciplined than
any other of the Irish,f offered Owen
any terms which he chose to demand.
The negotiations between them werp
carried ou through Daniel O'Neill, a
nephew of Owen's; and the reinforce-
ments, escorted by Lord Castlehaven
to Wexford, were composed of men
whom O'Neill had already supplied to
the lord lieutenant.;}: Owen Roe un-
dertook to furnish Ormond with 6,000
ture. The best blood of the citizens was shed, till the
very streets were red with it, and there was scarcely a
house that was not polluted with carnage and full of
wailing. In my own palace, a youth, hardly sixteen
years of age — an amiable boy — my gardener and sacris-
tan were cruelly butchered ; and they left the chaplain,
whom I caused to remain behind me at home, trans-
pierced with six mortal wounds, and weltering in his
gore. And these abominations were perpetrated in open
day, by impious cut-throats. From that mom&t I have
never seen my city, flock, country, or kindred." The
bishop then proceeds to relate his own sufferings for five
months after, while hunted in the woods, and obliged
to sleep in the open air, without bed or covering, often
with scarcely any food, and with never any but of the
coarsest kind. From the same source to which we are
indebted for Dr. French's letter, we learn the names of
the following religious of the order of St. Francis, who
were among the victims of the Wexford carnage, viz. :
Fathers Richard Synnott, S. T. L., John Esmond, Pauli-
nus Synnott, Raymond Stafford, and Peter Stafl'ord, am'
the brothers Didacus Cheevers and James Kochford.
f Vindication of Ormond, p. 136, ed. 1756.
X This appears from Castlehaven 's own statement
{Memoirs, p. 115) ; but the agreement between Owen
Roe and Ormond was not finally signed till the 12th of
October, when Owen was on his deathbed. Vide Carte'.'
Ormond, ii.
DEATH OF OWEN ROE O'NEILL.
5o.
iLen, aud this promise was faithfully
fulfilled, altlipugli he did uot live to
perform it in persou. While encamped
before Deny, where he remained about
ten days after raising the siege on the
8th of August^ he was seized with ill-
ness, and conveyed in a horse-litter to
Ballyhaise, in the county of Cavan,
where he ordered his nephew, Lieuten-
ant-General Hugh Duv O'Neill, to lead
the promised reinforcements to Ormoud.
He was then carried to Cloghoughter,
a strong castle of the O'Reillys in
Lough Oiighter, in Cavan, where he
died, on the 6th of November.* To
the Irish the death of Owen Roe was
au irreparable loss. He was not alone
a consummate general, and the most
eminent on the Irish side that the war
had produced, but merited the entire
confidence of the clergy and of the na-
tive po])ulation. Had he, in addition to
hi- high qualities as a soldier, had that
* The death of Owen Roe was commonly ascribed to
a poisoned pair of russet boots sent to him as a present
by one Plunket of Louth, and wliich he wore at a ball
given in Derry by Sir Cliarles Coote. Plunket, it is
said, afterwards boasted of the service which he had
rendered to England by dispatching O'Neill. {Vide
Colonel O'Neill'B journal in the i>cm'dera<a Curiosa Hi-
hcniica.) His remains were interred in the old Francis-
can monastery of Cavau. of which no vestige now re-
mains. (See Cart?, ii., 83 ; and Archdall's .Jfo«(M<. fid.)
In the progress of the war the pope's blessing was con-
veyed to Owen Roe, and at the same time the sword of
his illustrious uncle, Hugh O'Xeill, which was sent to
him from Rome by Father Luke Wadding. References
to tlie castle of Cloghoughter {Clock Locha Uacldair,
i. e , the rock or stone fortress of Lough Oughter) will
be found in the Four Masters under the dates of 1327,
131)9, and 1370. In lliis castle Bishop Bedell was for
Bome time confined in 1G4'3.
f " Owen Roe," says Mageoghcgan, " was experi-
enced in the art of war ; he had greatly distJnffuished
boldness or audacity which would have
broken the trammels that fettered him,
and pushed aside the re^j-eant and in-
triguing partisans who sacrificed the
country to their own interests and ani-
mosities, he would have served Ireland
more effectively.-]-
The traditionary horror with which
the memory of Cromwell is still, after
200 years, regarded by the Irish peas-
antry, shows how deeply his inhuman
policy of conquering by the fome of his
cruelties must have impressed the mind
of the people. Towns fifty miles dis-
tant were, it is said, thus influenced to
surrender ; but this was not the case
generally. After the capture of Wex-
ford, Cromwell sent Ireton to besiege
Duncannon, while he himself marched
against New Ross, where Ormoud had
placed Major-General Luke Taaffe in
command, with a garrison of 1,500
men. Taaffe had only undertaken the
liimself in the Spanish service, and principally by hia
brave defence of Arras, where he commanded in 1640,
when that place was besieged by the French army un-
der the three Marshals, de Chattillon, de Chaulnes, and
de la MeUIeraye. His ideas were clear. Ids perception
accurate, his judgment very sound. He was dexterous
in profiting of the advantages whicli were furnished by
the enemy ; he left nothing to chance, and his plans
were always well formed ; he was sober, prudent, and
reserved ; when occasion required he could disguise
his sentiments ; he was well acquainted with the in
trigues of courts ; and, in a word, he possessed all the
qualities necessary for a great general." {Hist, of It:)
Warner and Leland describe his character almost in the
same words. Carte speaks of his " honor, constancy,
and good sense, as of his military skill ;" and Marshal
Schomberg's secretary, Dr. Gorge, says, ' Owen Roo
Oneale was the best generall that ever the Irish
had." (MS. in the S. P. 0.. London, quoted bj
Mr. O'Callaghan in notes to the Macaria Excidium
p. 181.)
538
CROMWELL.
charge on tlie condition that he should
be at liberty to surrender the place
when he d^fted it untenable ; and he
availed hin^lf of this discretionary
power by capitulating as soon as Crom-
well's artillery began to thunder on
the east bank of the Barrow. He first
demanded liberty of conscience for the
townspeople, but Cromwell replied that
"if he meant liberty to exercise the
Mass, he judged it best to use plain
dealing, and to let him know that
where the parliament of England had
power that would not be allowed."
The town was surrendered on the 18th
of October without this condition, the
garrison being allowed to depart with
arms and baggage, and 600 men re-
maining to enter the service of the
parliament, while Taaflfe marched with
the rest to join Ormond at Kilkenny.
Ireton was not so successful at Duncan-
non fort, which was defended with such
gallantry by Colonel Wogan that the
siege was raised in a few days. Crom-
well's forces were greatly reduced in
numbers by leaving garrisons in the
captured towns, and by a dysentery
Avhich was carrying off many of his
men. Inchiquin attempted to intercept
reinforcements coming to him from
Dublin, and had a slight encounter with
them on the strand near Wexford, but
the parliamentarians we're successful.
Cromwell constructed over the river at
Ross a bridge of boats, the first seen
in Ireland ; and while he himself lay
sick, sent detachments -of his troops,
which took luistiof^e and Carrick. To
the latter town he removed with the
remainder of his forces on the 21st and
22d of November.
A little before this date the garrisons
which had been left by Inchiquin in
Cork, Youghal, Kinsale, Bandon Bridge,
and some other southern towns, revolt-
ed to Cromwell, chiefly through the
management of Lord Broghill, son of
the earl of Cork, who soon became one
of Cromwell's most active generals in
Ireland. This revolt was of the utmost
importance to the parliamentary gen-
eral, who would otherwise, at that in-
clement season, have been placed in
great diflSculties for winter-quarters for
his men.
On the 24th of November Cromwell
appeared before Waterford. Lord
Castlehaven had been appointed gov-
ernor of this town by Ormond, who
sent 1,000 men to its relief, but the
citizens had no confidence in the wily
marquis, and positively refused to ad-
mit his troops. The defection of Inchi-
quin's men fully justified their distrust;
but they at length consented to receive
500 of the Ulster Catholics, command-
ed by Farrell, one of Owen Roe's favor-
ite officers. The strong fort of Passage
surrendered without fii'ing a shot, so
that the citizens of Waterford found
themselves in a most disheartening po-
sition; but the determination which
they exhibited, backed by the appear-
ance of Ormond's force, which lay en-
camped opposite the city, on the north
side of the Suir, was such that Crom-
well, who approached from the south.
ORMOND DISTRUSTED BY THE CATHOLICS.
539
raised the siege after a few days, and
marched to Dungarvan. Here he ar-
rived on the 4th of December, and the
town Iiaving surrendered at discretion,
he proceeded to Youghah Fresh sup-
plies reached him here by sea from
England, and on the l7th he marched
with Lord Broghill to Cork where he
was joined by Ireton.
OrraoHd's baleful influence had been
eveiywhere productive of misfortune,
and the Catholics were persuaded that
he and Inchiquin were leagued together
for no good purjDose. The citizens of
Waterford would not allow any of Or-
mond's men inside their walls, even for
the purpose of passing through the city
to attempt the recovery of the fort of
Passage. None of the southern towns
except Clonmel and Kilkenny would
afford winter-quarters to his troops,
who were, therefore, allowed to dis-
perse and shift for themselves; and
thus perplexed he wrote to the king to
ask permission to remove himself and
the royal authority from the kingdom.
He had sent Daniel O'Neill with 2,000
men to succor the lord of Ards and Sir
George Monroe, but the help came too
late. On the 13th of December Coote
took possession of Carrickfergus for the
parliament.
A. D. 1650. — Impatient of a few days
inactivity, even in mid-winter, Crom-
well set out from Youghal on the 29th
of January, and crossing the Blackwater
at Mallow he approached the confines
of Limerick ; and then entering Tippe-
rary, south of the Gal tees, marched by
Clogheen and Rochestown to Fethard,
taking sundry castles and strong places
on his route. He arrived before the
last-named town at midnight, in the
midst of a terrific tempest, and a Crom-
wellian writer of the period has left an
amusing account of the ludicrous effect
produced on the municipal authorities
by his summons at such an unseasona-
ble hour and in such a night. He had
only a few troops with him, and no ma-
terials for a siege ; and as he could find
no shelter outside the town but the
ruins of an old abbey, and a few cabins,
he was glad, even at the cost of grant-
ing honorable terras, to get a roof over
him in the morning. The governor,
who boasted that his town was not lost
without a storm, wished to treat Oliver
to some refreshment, which the latter,
it appears, had not the urbanity to
accept,* The authorities of Cashel
brought the keys of their town to him;
and from Fethard he marched to Cal-
lan, in the county of Kilkenny, where
he was joined by Reynolds, and where
two castles, having offered a brave re-
sistance, were taken, and their garrisons
put to the sword. Cromwell was now
marching to Kilkenny, Avhere an officer
named Tickel had secretly promised to
open one of the gates to him ; but the
treason having been discovered and
Tickel executed, Cromwell left a gar-
rison at Callan, and returned to Feth-
ard and Cashel. As spring approached
supplies of men, money, and military
See the Irish Mercury, news pamphlet of the time.
■n
540
CROMWELL.
stoi-es were sent to him in abundance
by the parliament ; and on the other
side Ormond gave up the command of
th« few troops he retained in Leinster
to Castlehaven, and withdrew to Clare
and Connaught.
After the reconciliation of O'Neill
with Ormond, Heber MacMahon, bishop
of Clogher, who was so devotedly at-
tached to the northern chief, became
Orraond's firm supporter. At a con-
gregation of twenty bishops, and the
proxies of five other prelates, who as-
sembled at Clonmacnoise on the 4th of
December, 1649, to consider the deplor-
able state to W'hich the country had
been reduced by war and pestilence, it
is asserted that the influence of the he-
roic bishop of Clogher was very strenu-
ously exerted in favor of the marquis
and the royal cause. On this occasion
the prelates published a declaration en-
joining in the most earn^t manner
union and amity among both clergy
and people, " letting the people know
how vain it was for them to expect
from the common enemy commanded
by Cromwell, by authority from the
rebels of England, any assurance of
their religion, lives, or fortunes ;" and
finally beseeching " the gentry and in-
habitants, for God's glory and their
own safety, to the uttermost of their
power to contribute, with patience, to
. . , 23G-238.
t For some years about this time the plague and other
epidemic diseases raged almost incessantly in various
parts of this country. So many as 17,000 persons are
said to have been carried off by tlie jjestilence in Dublin
alone daring 1050-51 ; and we have details of its ravages
the support of the war against that
enemy."* The people, however, were
weary of the war, and the disaffection
towards OrtAond continued. A meet-
ing of county representatives was held
at Kilkenny to promote union, but the
approach of Cromwell obliged them to
and they resumed their fruitless de-
liberations at Ennis. Discord and dis-
trust prevailed in the ranks" of the
royalists. At Gowran, in the county
Kilkenny, the soldiers mutinied and de-
livered up their officers to Cromwell,
who ordered Colonel Hammond and
the other principal officers to be shot,
and hanged a priest who was found in
the town.
Imagination can hardly picture any
thing more dismal than the condition of
the citizens of Kilkenny when Crom-
well and his army appeared before
their walls on the 22djof March, 1650.
Within raged a frightful pestilence,
whicb had reduced the garrison from
1,200 men to about 400 ; without stood
a foe as inhuman as he was apparently
invincible. Heaven and earth seemed
leagued against them ; so that some
troops ordered by Castlehaven to their
relief refused to march; saying that
they were ready to fight against men,
but not against God : alluding to the
plague, which threatened certain death
within the devoted city.f Yet the
about the same time in Kilkenny, Limerick, Cork, Gal-
way, and other towns. These pestilential visitations
were nreceded by famine ; and, resulting from long sieges
and such incidents of war, have been classed ns leaguer
sicknesses by medical writers. They were followed, a
few years later, by the true bubonic or oriental plague.
SIEGE OF CARRIGADROIIID.
541
summons of Cromwell to surrender was
answered by a stern defiance. The at-
tack was then commenced by can-
nonading the castle, which was defend-
ed by Major James Walsh, Sir Walter
Butler being governor of the town. The
defence was as brave as it must have
been ho2:)eless; but the place was at
length yielded on the 28th, and Crom-
well hastened to lay siege to Clourael,
where the garrison was commanded by
Hugh Duv O'Neill, and where Oliver
was destined to encounter the most
vigorous resistance that he met with
during the whole of his Irish campaign.
News was brought to Cromwell
while before Clonmel that the bishop
of Ross had collected a large army in
the south, and was approaching to raise
the siege. Lord Broghill, who was in
Cork, received reinforcements from
Cromwell, and with an efiicient army,
composed chiefly of cavalry, hastened
with extraordinary expedition to inter-
cept the march of the Irish. A battle
was fought near Macroora, in which the
Irish were routed, and the bishop of
Koss being made prisoner, was oftered
his life and liberty if he prevailed on
the garrison of Carrigadrohid, a strong
castle on the river Lee, three miles
from Macroom, to surrender. He was
brought before the castle for the pur-
jwse, but the heroic bishop exhorted
See the aui horities on the subject collected by Dr. Wilde
in his report of Tables of Deaths, Census of 1851.
* Carrigadrohid was soon atter obtained by a very
Billy Htratagem, the besiegers causing a few team of oxen
to draw weighty logs of timber, wliich the garrison sup-
the garrison to defend their post to the
last, and was himself immediately
hanged in their sight by Lord Brog-
hill's order.* These events produced
great joy in the camp before Clonmel,
and preparations were made for a final
attack on the beleaguered town on the
9 th of May. If, after he had offered
terms, a garrison held out for some
time ere it surrendered, it was Crom-
well's practice to shoot the officers, as
he had done at Gowran ; but if he con-
sidered the resistance to have been too
obstinate, he usually put the whole gar-
rison to the sword, as at Drogheda,
Wexford, Callan, and elsewhere. The
desperation with which he was resisted
at Clonmel made him pay dearly for
this sanguinary policy. His storming
parties Avere twice hurled back from
the breach with terrific slaughter. The
shattered houses inside the breach were
filled with O'Neill's gallant northerns,
who fought with the energy of despair,
and were resolved to hold their ground
to the last man. But at length night
put an end to the fierce struggle,, and
the garrison having exhausted their
ammunition, and all having agreed
that the place was no longer tenable,
O'Neill marched off his men under
cover of the darkness, and withdrew
to Waterford, while the townspeople
made favorable terms for themselves.
posed to be cannon, and terms of capitulation were at
once agreed to. See Cox ; and Smith's Eiatory of Cork.
The date of the battle of Macroom is variously given at
the 10th of April and the 10th of May. The former ap-
pears to be the correct one.
542
CROMWELL.
and in the moi'ning opened their gates
to Cromwell, who only then discovered
that the garrison had departed. He
lost 2,500 of his men before Clonrael,
and as he himself expressed it, "had
like to bring his noble to a ninepence."
lie had alread3M-eceived pressing dis-
]iatches from the parliament, urging
him to return as speedily as possible to
England, where a storm was threaten-
ing from the north ; and having com-
mitted the command of the .army to
Ireton, who had been made lord-
j)resident of Munster, he sailed from
Youghal on the 29th of May.
In the north Heber MacMahon strug-
gled for some time, with occasional suc-
cess, against numerous foes; but his
aimy received a total overthrow, on the
21st of June, at the pass of Scarrifhol-
lis, on the river Swilly, near Letter-
keimy, from the forces of Sir Charles
Coote and Colonel Venables. The
battle was lost through the indiscretion
of MacMahon, who unfortunately led
his army where it was exposed to the
enemy on both sides, and was com-
pelled to hazard a battle, although the
English cavalry were more than twice
as uumei-ons as his. The northern
army was completely annihilated on
this occasion ; and two days after Ileber
MacMahon himself was made prisoner
near Omagh, by. Major King, and al-
though promised quarter, was shame-
fully hanged by order of Coote, not-
withstanding the service which, in
concert with Owen Roe, he had ren-
dered to him at Londonderry less than
a year before.*
The detached Irish garrisons through
Leinster and Munster were easily i-e-
duced by Hewson, Broghill, and othei
parliamentarian officers; and uudei
color of hunting down the unhappy
outlaws, who were di-iven to lead in the
woods the wild life of freebooters, and
were called " tories," many acts of fe-
rocity were committed, in which the
harmless country-people were the vic-
tims. The Cromwellian colonel, Zan-
chy, distinguished himself in these ser-
vices. Preston, who had assumed the
government of Waterford, surrendered
♦ If ever there were circumstances wliicli could render
tnilitarr strife compatible with the clerical character,
tliey were those presented by the state of Ireland at the
troubled period under our notice. Catholics and their
rnli^on were threatened with extermination. Their
struggle was not aggressive ; it was for their faith and
their lives ; and forbearance, which entailed evils not
alone on themselves but on countless generations after
them, would have been a crime. Among the Irish ec-
clesiastics who were thus forced to become the leaders
of their people in the battle-field, one of the most distin-
guished was Ileber MacMahon, bishop of Clogher. IIo
is first, strangely enough, introduced to us while a
simple priest, during the government of Lord Strafford,
giving private information to Sir Ueorgo Hadcliffe of the
movements among tlie Irish refugees abroad ; and his
object then, no doubt, was to avert the anarchy of civil
war; but a further knowledge of the dangers of his
country induced him to become one of the first associates
of Sir Phelim 0-Neill and Lord M.-iguire in the con
spiracy of 1G41, and he ever after continued a firm and
consistent upholder in the council and the field of
the thorough Irish and Catholic party, headed bv
his friend Owen Roe O'NciD. He was' lamented by
the Ormondists, whose cause ho took up warmly
wlien O'Neill's junction with them, and the barbar-
ities of Cromwell, had tended to identify them with
the Catholic party. See the notice of him in Claren-
don's Sistonj of tlie CivU Wars in Ireland, p. lyC, ie
ed. 1;5g.
THE BISHOPS' INTERVEXTIOX SOLICITED,
543
that city to Ireton on the 10th of
August. The fort of Duncannon fol-
lowed. The city of Limerick, the castle
of Athlone, and the whole of Connaught
and Clare still, however, remained in
the hands of the Catholics.
Ormond finding that the inhabitants
of Limerick refused to receive from him
a garrison, solicited the intervention of
the Catholic bishops, who accordingly
met in that city on the 8th of March.
Their suggestions were not very pala-
table to the marquis, who withdrew to
Loughrea, where the bishops held an
adjourned meeting, and on the 28th of
jNIarch published a declaration, express-
ing their conviction that the national
loyalty was unshaken, although the
people had ground enough for distrust
and jealousy, and urging that some set-
tled coui-se should be taken to give
them confidence. There was surely
nothing in the antecedents of Ormond
or Inchiquin which could induce the
Lish Catholics to place reliance on
them ; and it was said that at this very
time they were treating with the Crom-
wellian authorities for the admission
of the Protestant party among the
royalists to protection. Hugh O'Neill,
the gallant defender of Clonmel, was
now governor of Limerick, and it was
probably at his suggestion that the
magistrates invited Ormond to come
and settle the garrison ; but as soon as
the marquis appeared at the gate a
popular tumult ai'ose, and he was pre-
vented from entering. He then re-
turned to Connaught, where he found
that Galway had followed the example
of Limerick. On the 6th of August, a
congregation of the bishops and clei-gy
met at Jamestown, in the county of
Leitrim, and on the 12th, deputed the
bishop of Droraore and Dr. Charles
Kelly with a message to Ormond, i-ec-
ommending him, as the " only remedy
for the preservation of the nation and
of his majesty's interest therein," to
withdraw from the kingdom and to
delegate the royal authority to some
person in whom the people might
have confidence. This was a deadly
wound to the pride of the haughty
Ormond. He replied, that he would
not retire from the country until neces-
sity compelled him ; and the bishops
published a declaration denouncing
"the continuance of his majesty's au-
thority in the marquis of Ormond, for
the misgovernment of the subjects, the
ill-conduct of the army, and the viola-
tion of the peace." In fine, they
threatened to present articles of im-
peachment against him to the king,
and published an excommunication
against all who Avould adhere to him,
or yield him subsidy or obedience, or
who would support Cromwell's govern-
ment.
That the bishops were not mistaken
in the course which they had pursued
was soon made evident by the news
from Scotland, where Charles II. had
landed on the 28th of June, and had
not only subscribed the national and
solemn covenants, but, to gratify the
fierce bigotry of the Scots, had, on the
CROMWELL.
IGth of August, signed, a declaration
pronouncing the peace Avith the Irish
to be null and void, adding, " that he
was convinced in his conscience of the
sinfulness and unlawfulness of it, and
of allowing them (the Catholics) the
liberty of the Popish religion ; for
which he did, from his heart, desire to
be deeply humbled before the Lord."
The news of this infamous act of du-
plicity reached Ireland before the
JamestoAvn excommunication Avas pub-
lished, and afforded the amplest justifi-
cation of the strong measures adopted
by the clei-gy. Ormond, who was con-
founded b}^ such a prematui'e disclosure
of his master's principles, protested
that the peace should be upheld, and
cast the blame of the royal declaration
on Scottish fanaticism. But the sequel
will show that Charles was capable of
still greater perfidy to his friends. The
Catholic noblemen and gentry felt their
position embarrassing ; but the bishops,
who, alone, seemed to understand the
dangers to be apprehended, and the
characters of the men they had to deal
with, remained firm. Ormond sum-
moned a general assembly, which met
at Lough rea on the 15th of November,
while he stopped at Kilcolgan, about
ten miles distant; but the time was
wasted in recriminatory messages be-
♦ It is a curious fact that Inchiquin subseqently be-
came a Catholic ; and Borlase refers to his change of re-
ligion as the only cause of his being refused the presi-
dency of Munster after the restoration, a similar change
preventing the appointment of Viscount Dillon, of Cos-
tello, as president of Connaught. {Hist, of the Ir. Itcb.
p. 278.) Inchiquin was created carl by Charles II., at
Cologne, in 1C54 ; ho obtained the rank of lieutenant-
tween him and the meeting; and, at
length, having left power to the mar-
quis of Clanrickard to assume the du-
ties of lord-deputy, provided the assem-
bly engaged to obey him, he embai-ked
at Galway, about the middle of Decem-
ber, accompanied by Lord Inchiquin,*
Colonels Vaughan, Wogan, and Daniel
O'Neill, and about twenty other per-
sons of distinction, and after a tempest-
uous voyage, in which a vessel contain-
ing his baggage, servants, and some pas-
sengers was lost, arrived the following
month at St. Malo, in Brittany. To
Castlehaven, w'ho reluctantly remained
behind, he intrusted the command of
the army, with an injunction to keep
up a bustle, as that frivolous noble- 1
man expresses it, to divert a part of i
the enemy's attention to this country, j
while King Charles was preparing to
cross the Tweed into England. Com-
missioners were soon after deputed by
the parliament to treat with the assem-
bly for a final submission of the nation,
on favorable terms; but the extreme
loyalists scouted such an aiTangement,
although the Irish decidedly sacrificed
their interests in rejecting it.
A. D, 1651. — The new year found the
assembly deeply engaged in the discus-
sion of a project for mortgaging the
town of Galway and some other places
general in the French service ; was made French gov-
ernor of Catalonia; and was captured by an Algerine
corsair when engaged on an expedition against Spain.
He died in 1073, and by his will left £'J0 to the Francis-
can friars of Ennis, and also a sum " for the performance
of tho usual duties of the Roman Catholic clergy, and
for other pious uses." See Lodge.
REDUCTION OF LIMERICK.
545
to the duke of Lorraine for a sum of
money to be advanced for supporting
the royal cause in Ireland. The abbot
of St. Catherine arrived in Galway
al)0ut the end of February, as an envoy
from the duke; but Clanrickard thought
bis demands exorbitant, and Sir Nich-
olas Plunkett and Geoffrey Brown were
sent to Flanders to treat with the duke
himself. The bishop of Ferns went on
the same errand, on the part of the
clei'gy, and Lord Taaffe, w^ho had left
Ireland before Ormond, had received
instructions for the like purpose, long
before this, from the duke of York —
the king being in Scotland. The influ-
ence of the patriotic bishop of Ferns
prevailed, it is said, with the lay agents,
who, disregarding the instructions of
Clanrickard, signed, in the name of the
people and kingdom of Ireland, an
agreement with the duke of Lorraine,
who was to be invested with royal
powers, under the title of Protector of
Ireland, he, on his part, undertaking to
prosecute the king's enemies, and to
restore the kingdom, and the Catholic
religion, to their pristine state. For
the outlay which all this would require
he was to be hereafter 'reimbursed ;
and, as a guarantee, was to be placed
in ])ossession of Galway, Limerick,
Atheiiry, and Athlone; and also of
Waterford and Duucannon when they
could be recovered from the enemy.
This agi-eement, which was signed on
the 22d of July, 1651, was repudiated
by Claurickard, and became a dead
letter, althoufrh the duke of Lorraine
had already advanced £20,000 on the
strength of the negotiations. The af-
fairs of Charles II. were reduced to a
hopeless state after the battle of "Wor-
cester (September 3d, 1651). The
Irish towns mentioned as security soon
fell under the power of parliament, and
the duke of Lorraine left Ireland to its
sad destiny.
The reduction of Limerick was the
next object of importance to Ireton,
who began his operations against that
city early in 1651. The parliamenta-
rians had as yet no footing on the
Clare side of the Shannon, and until
that was obtained Limerick could not
be effectually invested. Coote made a
feint to attack Sligo, and having thus
drawn Clanrickard and his forces to
that quarter, made a forced march across
the Curlieu mountains and attacked
Athlone on the Connaught side, taking
that important fortress before any ]-e-
lief could be rendered to it. The road
into Connaught being thus open, and
Galway threatened, Clanrickard called
Castlehaven to consult with him. In
the absence of that general, who
guarded the Clare side of the Shannon,
Ireton forced the passage of the river
at O'Brien's bridge, and Colonel Fen-
nell, who commanded at Killaloe, aban-
doned his post, through cowardice or
treachery, so that Castlehaven's troops
were dispersed, and Ireton enabled to
invest Limerick on botli sides. Lord
Muskerry raised a considerable body
of men in tlie south to come to its re-
lief; but Lord Broghill hastened, by
5-46
CROMWELL.
Ireton's orders, to intercept tbem ; and,
on the L'Otli of July, coming up with the
advance guard of the Irish near Castle-
islien, in the county of Cork, drove
them back upon their main body. A
hard contested fight ensued at Knock-
naclashy, where the hastily collected
masses of the Irish were routed Avith
great slaughter. Most of the Irish
officei-s were slain, and Colonel Magilla-
cuddy was taken prisoner. In the
mean time the siege was carried on with
great energy. The castle at the sal-
mon-weir having been attacked, its
ganisou retreated in boats, and some
of them who surrendered on quarter
were butchered in cold blood ; so that
even Ireton, fearing the Irish would be
driven to desperation, discouraged, this
brutality on the part of his officers.
The besiegers lost 120 men in the first
attempt to land on the King's Island,
and 300 more were cut off in a sally
of the besieged ; soon after, however, a
bridge was constructed to the island,
and 6,000 troops marched over, and
erected a strong fort there. The plague
raged within the city, and many per-
sons having attempted to escape, some
of them were taken by order of the
merciless Ireton to be executed, and
others were whipped back to the town.
The authority of the governor, Hugh
O'Neill, was rendered nugatory by the
corporation and magistrates ; aud some
* Dt. Barke's Eibcr/iicaDominicana, p. 568. TliebUhop
was ignominiously hanged and beheaded, and his head
Bpiked on a tower in the centre of the city, on the eve of
■jf All Sain'^ (October 31st), and Ireton. was a corpse on
discontented persons within the city
commenced negotiations with the eneniv
for a capitulation. At lensth, on the
27th of October, Colonel Fennel!, who
betrayed the pass of Killaloe, combined
with some other officers, and seizing St.
John's gate and tower, turned the can-
non against the city, and received 200
of Ireton's men into the gate that night.
The acceptance of Ireton's hard terms
was thus made compulsory ; and 2,500
Irish soldiers having laid down their
ai'ms on the 29th in St. Mary's church,
and marched out of the city, some of
them dropping dead of the plague on
the "way, Limerick was delivered into
the hands of Ireton, and Sir Hardress
Waller appointed governor. By the
articles of capitulation twenty-four per-
sons were excepted from quarter. Ot
these, Terence O'Brien, bishop of Emly,
General Purcell, and Father Wolfe, a
Fransciscan, were found concealed in
the pest-house, and. were among the
first dragged to the scaffold. Purcell
showed a faint spirit, and was held up
by two soldiers at the place of execu-
tion. The bishop, on the contrary, ex-
hibited heroic fortitude. All along he
had strenuously exhorted the Irish to
hold out against Cromwell's forces, and.
now addressing Ireton in a solemn tone,
he summoned him to 'appear in a few
days to answer for his cruelties and in-
justice before the tribunal of God.*
the 25th of November. This dark-minde'd general wa^
at the bottom of all Cromwell's counsels, and is held ac-
countable for some of his cruelties. He was cold, reserved,
absolute, and inexorable. During the siege of Limerick,
LUDLOW MADE COMMANDER-IN-CHIEF.
547
The words seemed prophetic, for eight
days after Ireton caught the plague,
and in less than a month he died
" raging and raving of this unfortunate
firelate, whose unjust condemnation,
he imagined, hurried on his death."
Sir Geoffrej'- Galwey, Alderman Thomas
Stritch, Aldei-man Fanning, and Geoff-
rey Barron, the latter having only just
returned from Brussels, were executed ;
as was also the ti-aitor Fennell, although
sentenced for other causes. O'Dwyer,
bishop of Limerick, escaped to Brussels,
where he died. The governor, Hugh
O'Neill, had, by his former defence of
Clonmel, and his recent stand in Lim-
erick, provoked Ireton too much to ex-
pect merc3^ He was tried, and, at the
instigation of the gloomy republican,
sentenced to death ; but as be had al-
ways shown himself a brave soldier
and an honorable foe, some of the offi-
cers expostulated, and Ireton reluctantly
consented to a second trial, when the
life of the gallant Hugh was saved by
a single vote.*
A. D. 1652.— On the death of Ireton,
Lieutenant-General Edmond Ludlow
was made commander-in-chief until the
o)-ders of parliament could be received.
He marched to the aid of Sir Charles
Coote, who was besieging Galway,
■wliich town was surrendered ou the
12th of May; General Preston, its gov-
ernor, having some time before made
his escape by sea. The few detached
some of the Fathers of the Mission sent by their founder,
St. Vincent de Paul, were in tlie city, and their preach-
ing productd extraordinary si)iruual fruits.
garrisons which the Irish still held
were reduced in succession, and the
isolated leaders who continued under
arms made terms for themselves and
their followers without any common
concert. Colonel Fitzpatrick was the
fii'st to lay down his arms in this
way ; Colonels O'Dwyer and Turlough
O'Neill, the earl of Westmeath, and
Lord Euniskillen, acted in a similar
manner. The terms generally were for
permi.ssiou to reside under the com-
monwealth, or to enter the service of a
foreign prince in amity with England ;
but this mercy was not extended to
those who took up arms in the first
year of the war, or belonged to the
first general assembly, or who had com-
mitted murder, or taken orders in the
Catholic Church. Lord Muskerry sur-
rendered the strong castle of Ross, near
Killaruey, to Ludlow, on the 27th of
June. One of the last chieftains of
note who capitulated was Colonel
Richard Grace, with whom 1,250 men
laid down their arms. Clanrickard
sent Castlehaven to Charles II. for his
last instructions. That lord did not i-e-
turn, but sent the king's answer to the
message, which was to make the best
conditions he could for himself; and on
the 11th of October, being then sur-
rounded by the enemy at Carrick, Clan-
rickard accepted a pass from the parlia-
mentarian authorities, with liberty to
transport himself f and 3,000 of his fol-
♦ Ludlow's Memoirs, vol. i., p. 379.
f Clanrickard did not go to the continent, but retired
) au estate which he had at Sunvmerhill, in Kent,
548
CROMWELL.
lowei-s to a foreign country within three
montlis. Thus was the last vestige of
royal authority withdrawn from Ire-
land.
The ruin that now overspread the
face of Ireland must have been dark
and sorrowful enough, but the measure
of her woes was yet to be filled up.
War, and famine, and pestilence had
done their share, but the rapine and
vengeance which assumed the name of
law had }et to complete the work of
desolation. " The sword of extermina-
tion," says an Irish historian, "had
passed over the land, and the soldier
sat down to banquet on the hereditary
possessions of the natives."* Cromwell
and his council had indeed seriously
contemplated the utter extirpation of
the Irish race ; but that fiendish project
appeared still too difficult, and even to
them too revolting,f and accordingly,
by the act for the settlement of Ireland,
passed by the English parliament, Au-
gust 12, 1G52, it was decreed that full
pardon should be granted to " all hus-
bandmen and others of the inferior sort
not possessed of lands or goods exceed-
ing the value of £10 ;" while persons
of property were to be otherwise dis-
posed of according to a certain classifi-
cation. Those comprehended under the
first six heads set forth in the act — and
th.ey comprised all the great landed
where he died in 1657. (Archdaira Loihje, i., 136.)
He was courteous and humane, but not a man of
Bliining abilities. His sjTnpatliies were wholly Eng.
lisli ; ho was a Catholic, but his religion was merged
In his loyalty; yet in tlie early years of the confed-
eration ho often expostulated wiih Ormoud on his
proprietors and all the Catholic clergy
— were excepted from pardon of life or
estate; others, who merely held com-
missions as officers in the royalist army,
were to be banished, and foi-feit their
estates, except the equivalent to one-
third, which would be assigned for the
support of their wives and children ;
those who, although opposed to the
parliament, might be found worthy of
mercy, and who were not included
under any of the preceding heads, also
forfeited two thirds of their estates, but
were to receive an equivalent to the re-
maining third, wherever the parliament
might choose to allot it to them ; and,
finally, all who were perfectly innocent,
that is, who had no share whatever in
the war, but yet were not in the actual
service of the parliament, or had not
manifested their " constant, good affec-
tion to it," forfeited one-third of their
estates, and were to receive an equiva-
lent to the remainder elsewhere. J Thus
all the Catholic gentry of Ireland were
indiscriminately deprived of their he-
reditary estates ; and such as might be
declared by Cromwell's commissioners
innocent of the rebellion, and were to
receive back any portion of their prop-
erty, should transplant themselves and
their families beyond the Shannon,
where allotments of the wasted tracts
of Connaught and Clare would be given
unyielding and hostOe disposition towards tho Catholic
party.
* Carry's lieview af the Civil Wars of Ireland.
t Clarendon's Life, vol. ii., p. 110.
i See the Act, published from the original, in Lingard,
vol. viii., .Vppeud. VVV.
BANISHMENT OF IRISH SOLDIERS.
549
to them. The other three provinces
were reserved for Protestants ; and any
of the transplanted Catholics who
might be found in them after the 1st of
IMay, 1654, without a passport, might,
whether man, woman, or child, be
killed, without trial or order of magis-
trate, by any one who saw or met them.
Moreover, those who by this "act of
grace" received allotments in Clare or
Counaught were obliged to give re-
leases of their titles to their former es-
tates in consideration of what was now
assigned to them, to bar themselves and
their heirs from laying claim to their
old inheritances; and they were sent
into wild and uncultivated districts,
without cattle to stock the land, or ag-
ricultural implements to till it, or
houses to shelter them ; so that many
Ii-ish gentlemen and their families
actually perished of cold and hun-
ger. , They were not suffered to re-
side within two miles of the Shan-
non, or four miles of the sea, or of
* See P. Walshe'a Heplt/ to a Person of Quality, pp.
33, 147, &c ; also the government proclamations ; tracts
on the Irish Transplantation, published in 1054 ; Thur-
loe's Papers, &c. Many of the transplanted Irish having
erected cabins and creaghta, as the hurdle houses were
then called, near Athlone, the military authorities were
ordered to banish "all the Irish and other Popish per-
sons" from that neighborhood, so that no such gathering
of them should be allowed within five English miles of
Athlone.— MS. Orders of Council, Dublin Castle.
f Morrice's Life of the Earl of Orrery, vol. i., p. 39.
Lord Antrim's estate of 107,011 acres was allotted to Sir
John Clotworthy, afterwards Lord Massareene, and a
few others whoso adventures and pay did not exceed
£7.000 (Carte's Ormond, vol. ii., p. 278). From Sir
William Petty's PoWicai Anatomy of Ireland, nivX the
official sources consulte<l by Mr. Bichenoup, we glean
the following data relating to the Cromwellian Confisca-
tion :— The surface of Ireland was estimated at 10,500,000
Galway, or in any garrison or market
town.*
In the mean time the whole kingdom
was surveyed and mapped out by Dr.
Petty, and the forfeited estates dis-
tributed among the adventurers who
had advanced money for carrying on
the war under the confiscating acts of
February and March, 1642, and in
liquidation of the arrears of pay due to
Cromwell's soldiery. According to the
stipulations on which the money was
borrowed, the adventurers were to re-
ceive for £200 a thousand acres of good
land in Ulster, £300 a thousand acres in
Connaught, for £450 a thousand acres in
Munster, and for £600 a thousand acres
in Leinster ; the bogs, woods, and moun-
tains being thrown in gratis as waste
or unprofitable land ; but we are told
by a contemporary Avriter that the
highest value set on the land at the
time of the distribution was four shil-
lings per acre, some being only valued
at one penny.f
plantation acres, o£ which 3,000,000 were occupied by
water, bogs, and coarse or improfitable land. Of tho
remaining 7,500,000 acres, 5,200,000 belonged to Catho-
lics and sequestered Protestants before 1041, 300,000 to
the Church, and 2,000,000 to Protestants planted by
Elizabeth and James I. The Cromwellian government
confiscated 5,000,000 acres, which they disposed of as
foUows : — to otEcers and soldiers who served before
Cromwell's arrival in 1040, 400,000 acres, in Wicklow,
Longford, Leitrim, and Donegal ; to soldiers who served
since 1049, 1,410,000 acres ; to the adventurers who ad-
vanced money under the acts of 1043, about 800,000
acres ; to certain individuals who were favorites of
CromweU, 100,000 acres ; retained by government, hut
let on profitable leases to Protestants in the counties of
Dublin, Louth, Cavan, and Kildare, about 800.000 acres
besides the house property in walled towns and cities ;
to the transplanted Irish in Connaught and Clare
700,000 acres ; to which Petty adds (writing, however.
550
CROMWELL.
'J'lic Irish soldiers wLo accepted ban-
islniuMit, on laying down their arms,
numbered about 34,000, who left the
country under different leaders, and
entered the service of Fi'ance, Spain,
Austria, or Venice ; and their faithful
attachment to the fortunes of Charles
II. obtained for that unhappy prince,
when abandoned by almost all besides,
honor and support in foreign courts.*
But as the wives and families of these
exiles were, for the most part> left be-
hind, and were, besides a great many
others, reduced to a state of destitution,
the government adopted the heartless
expedient of shipping them off in great
numbers to the pestilential settlements
of the West Indies.f Sir William
Petty states that G,000 boys and girls
were thus transported. But the total
number of Irish sent to perish in the
tobacco islands, as they were called,
was estinlated in some Irish accounts at
100,000. Force was necessary to col-
in 1673, lonjj after the Restoration) " innocent Papists,
1,200,000 acres. This was called the Down Survey, or
Down Admeasurement of Ireland ; and, as an example
of the complete desolation of the country at the lime it
was made, we are told that no one was left of the old
inhabitants in Tipperary who could point out the bounds
of the estates, so tliat an order from government was
necessary to bring back from Connaught five or six
families to accompany the surveyors and show them the
boundaries. — Privy Council Book, A 5.
* " The importance," eays Mr. O'Callaghan, " then
attached by the French government to the Irish regi-
ments in its servico was bo great, that, even after Car-
dinal Mazarin's treaty of alliance with Cromwell
against Spain, by which the Stuart family were to quit
the French dominions, various efforts were made by the
cardinal and Marshal Turenno to induce the duke of
York (afterwards James II.) not to leave the French for
the S|)ani9h service. Nay, Cromwell's permission was
iskud and obtained for the duke to remain in the service
lect them, but the government in Eng-
land was, nevertheless, assured by their
Irish agents that they could have any
number of Irish boys or young -women
that they required.;}:
For the punishment of "rebels and
malignants," the regicide government
established a new tribunal, which they
called a high court of justice, in which
the ordinary forms of law were laid
aside, and every thing contrived to
confound and awe the accused person,
and bring "home the guilt laid to his
charge. "From the iniquitous and
bloody sentences frequently pronounced
in these courts," says Dr. Curry, " they
were commonly called Cromwell's
slaughter-houses." The fii'st was held
in Kilkenny, on the 4th of October,
1652, the president being one Justice
Donnellan, with whom wei'e joined
Cook, who had acted as solicitor to the
regicides on the trial of the late king,
and the commissary-general, Reynolds.
of France, on account of the loss it would be to the com
bined forces of England and Frauce, and the gain to
Spain, that the Irish regiments should join the latter,
as it was known they would, when the duke and
his royal brother (Charles II.) should be both under
the protection of that power." — Macarim Excidium,
p. 185.
t Bruodin, Propiig. See Lingard, vol. viii., p. 175,
note 3.
X Henry Cromwell, writing from Iroland to Secretary
Thurloe, says : — " I think it might be of like advantage
to your affairs there, and ours here, if you should think
fit to send 1,500, or 2,000 young boys, of 12 or 14 years
of age, to the place afore-mentioned. We could spare
them, and they would be of use to you ; and who knows
but it may be the means to make them Englishmen— I
mean rather Christians?" Thurloe answers: — "The
committee of the council have voted 1,000 girls and aa
many youths, to be taken up for that purpose."— 3%«r
loe. iv'.. pp. 40. 73.
FORGED AND CORRUPT EVIDENCE.
551
These judges made the circuit of Water-
ford, Cork, and other towns; and in
February, 1653, the first court, presided
over by Lord Lowther, was held in
Dublin for the special purpose of try-
ing " all massacres and. murders done
or committed since the 1st day of
October, 1641." The confederate Cath-
olics liad, in their declarations at Trim
and Oxford, and on other occasions,
prayed that an inquiry might be made
into the murders alleged to have been
perpetrated on both sides during the
troubles, and that justice might be vin-
dicated without respect to creed or
party ; but these courts confined their
inquiries to the accused Catholics, and
tlie result of their labors aflfords a con-
vincing proof of the falsehood of the
statements made against the Irish Cath-
olics at that period. Some of the lying
historians of the time had asserted that
a hundred thousand Protestants had
been murdered in cold blood ; yet with
all the forged and corrupt evidence
that could be procured, and the cry of
blood that was raised, Cromwell's high
courts of justice were only able to con-
vict about two hundred persons in all
Ireland for those alleged murders;
* Vide supra, p. 479, note. Also Carte's Orm., vol. ii.,
p. 181. Carte relates the fact of Colonel Hewson having,
in the name of Ludlow, made this offer to Sir Phclim
on the ladder, on the authority of Dr. Sheridan, aftor-
ivards Protestant bishop of Kilmore, who was present ;
and dean Ker is also quoted by Nalson {Ilistor. CoUct.),
as an eye-witness. In the opinion of some, the heroic
sense of honor displayed Ijy Sir Phelim, and his whole
conduct at the melancholy closa of his career, redeemed
many of his past faults. Among the other persons exe-
cuted were Viscount Mayo, and Colonels O'Toole and
while out of the whole province of
Ulster, where the pretended massacres
were said chiefly to have taken place,
only one person was convicted, namely.
Sir Phelim O'Neill, who neverthele,ss
was repeatedly, M'hile in prison, and
before the passing of his sentence, and
finally on the steps of the scaftbld,
oftered his life and liberty on the sole
condition of admitting that the counter-
feit document which he produced in
October, 1641, was a genuine commis-
sion from the unfortunate Charles L*
The parliamentary commissioners in
Dublin published a proclamation, put-
ting in force in Ireland the 27th of
Elizabeth ; and by this and subsequent
edicts any Catholic priest found in Ire-
land, after twenty days, was guilty of
high treason, and liable to be hanged,
drawn, and quartered ; any person har-
boring such clergymen was liable to the
penalty of death and loss of goods and
chattels ; and any person knowing the
place of concealment of a priest, and
not disclosing it to the authorities,
might be publicly whipped, and further
punished with amputation of the ears.
Any person absent from the paiish
church on a Sunday was liable to a fine
Bagnal. The mother of Colonel Fitzpatrick was burnt.
Lords Muskerry and Clanmaliere, and MacCarthy Rcagh,
were acquitted, probably through the interest of friends.
Looking to the number of persons convicted under all
the circumstances by the high court of justice, O'Con-
nell has said : — " To a thinking mind there is no quan-
tity of written or verbal authority that would so coerce
a conviction of the innocence of the Irish Catholic
party as the result of the investigation of this san-
guinary and energetic court." — Ifanoir of Ireland.
552
CROMWELL.
of thirty j^ence; magistrates might take
away the children of Catholics, and
send them to England for education;
and might tender the oath of abjuration
to aU persons of the age of twenty-one
years, who, on refusal, were liable to
imprisonment during pleasure, and the
forfeiture of two-thirds of their real and
personal estates.* The same price of
five pounds was set on the head of a
priest and on that of a wolf, and the
production of either head was a suffi-
cient claim for the reward. The mili-
tary being distributed in small parties
over the country, and their vigilance
kept alive by sectarian rancor and the
promise of reward, it must have been
difficult for a priest to escape detection ;
but many of them, nevertheless, braved
the danger for their poor scattered
flocks ; and residing in caverns in the
mountains, or in lonely hovels in the
bogs, "they issued forth at night to
carry the consolations of religion to the
huts of their oppressed and suffering
countrymeu."f Well might an Irish
* Vide Lingard, voL viii., p. 178, and the authorities
there quoted. At the same time the nuns were ordered
to marry or to leave Ireland.
t Ibid. Dr. Lingard reiers to MS. letters in his posses-
sion, and to Bruodin 690. In Morison's Threnodia we
are told how the Rev. Bernard Fitzpatrick, of the illus-
trious house of Ossory, was dragged from one of those
caves and beheaded : an i Ludlow relates in his Memoirs
(vol. i., p. 422, ed. Vevay, 1G08) how, when marching
from Dimdalk to Castleblaney, probably near the close
of 1652, he discovered a few of the Irish in a cave, and
how his party spent two days in endeavoring to smother
them by smoke. It appears that the poor fugitives pre-
served themselves from sufTucation, during this opera-
tion, by holding their faces close to the surface of some
running water in the cavern, and that one of their party
was armed with a pistol, with which he shot the fore-
most of the troopers who were entering the mouth of the
writer who witnessed these things ex-
claim: "Neither the Israelites were
more cruelly persecuted by Pharaoh,
nor the innocent infants by Herod, nor
the Christians by Nero, or any of the
other pagan tyrants, than were the
Roman Catholics of Ireland at that
fatal juncture by those savage commis-
sioners."J
Some may say that it would be more
patriotic to bury the woes and persecu-
tions of that dark period in oblivion ;
but besides the wrong which any such
omission would cause to the integrity
of history, we must answer with Dr.
Curry, "that British chronicles have
rendered silence impossible." That
was precisely the period when England
displayed her utmost malice in heaping
calumnies on her down-trodden victim.
Like an ungenerous enemy, not satisfied
with success, she added "insult to her
guilt, meanness to her cruelty." "Every
thing that malice and bigotry could
conceive, that craft or falsehood could
invent, or that ignorance and national
cave after the first day's smoking. Ludlow caused the
trial to be repeated, and the crevices through which the
smoke escaped having been closed, " another smother
was made." The next time the soldiers entered with
helmets and breast-plates, but they found the only armed
man dead, inside the entrance, wliere he was suffocated
at his post ; while the other fugitives still preserved life
at the little brook. Fifteen were put to the sword within
the cave, and four dragged out alive, but Ludlow does
not mention whether he hanged these then or not ; but
one, at least, of the original ntmibcr was a Catholic priest,
for the soldiers found a crucifix, chalice, and priest's
robes in the cavern.
X Morrissoni Threnodia Siberno-Catholica,p. 14. "All
these things," says O'Connell, " appear like a hideous
dream. They would be utterly incredible only that they
arc quite certain." {Afemoir of Ireland, it. 315.) See
also Ilib. Dom., p. 700; aareudon's Kchcllion, iii. 434.
FLEETWOOD MADE COMMANDER-IN-CHIEF.
553
antipathy could believe, was attributed
to the Irish name and nation, and re-
peated in the drunkenness of success,
and with all the cov/ardice of security."*
And as the most illustrious of Irish
statesmen has observed, these iniquitous
calumnies against the Irish were calcu-
lated to gain other advantages for the
English, namely : — to make the massa-
cres and other crimes committed by the
latter appear in the light of retaliation ;
to serve as an excuse for seizing the es-
tates of the Irish by the Cromwellian
party ; and as a further excuse for the
restored Stuarts to leave these estates
in the hands of the usurpers.f
As to the succession of evenfs con-
nected with government, while Ireland
lay in this state of galling bondage, they
affected but little the interests of this
couutiy. We may therefore dispose of
them briefly. After the death of Ire-
ton, Lambert was appointed lord depu-
ty, but through the intrigue of Crom-
well's daughter, the widow of Ireton,
who had married Colonel Charles Fleet-
wood, the appointment was set aside
before Lambert came to Ireland, Crom-
well having for that purpose suffered
his own commission of lord-lieutenant to
expire, which involved the retirement
of his deputy. Fleetwood was then
made commander-in-chief in Ireland,
joined in the civil administration with
four commissioners — Ludlow, Corbett,
Jones and Weaver. These governed
* Curry's Review of the Cuil Wars in Ireland. Dedi-
iti<in.
f See O'Conneirs Memoir of Ireland, pp. 303 and 304.
the country according to certain in-
structions, one of which was, "to en-
deavor the promulgation of the gospel
and the power of true religion and holi-
ness ;" and another, to allow no Papist
or delinquent to hold any place of trust,
to practice as barrister or solicitor, or to
keep school for the education of youth. J
The act proclaiming the "rebellion" in
Ireland to be at an end was passed on
the 26th of September, 1653. On the
16th of December, that year, Cromwell
assumed the supreme authority under
the title of lord protector, and his
usurpation was supported in Ireland by
Fleetwood and the army, although the
stern republican, Ludlow, threw up his
commissionership in disgust. Henry
Cromwell, the usurper's second son, Avho
was appointed to the government of Ire-
land in 1655, was naturally mild and
just, and his administration would have
materially altered the state of this coun-
try had he been suffered to follow the
dictates of his own humane disposition.
He is believed to have averted the in-
fliction of fi-esh grievances ; but he ad-
ministered most of the cruel laws as he
found them ; and the practice of kid-
napping the Irish youth for transporta-
tion to the West Indies was in full
vigor under him; while, at the same
time, his father was inviting in vain the
settlers of New England and the Vau-
doi^ of Piedmont to replace the extir-
S After
X Parliamentary journals.
§ Hutcliinson's Ilustory of Massachusetts, 190. Thur-
le, u., 469.
554
REIGN OF CROMWELL.
the death of Oliver (September 3,
1658), the weak shoulders of his son,
Richard, did not long sustain the bur-
den of the usurped power bequeathed
to him; and on his retirement to his
ancestral obscurity the cabals of the
long parliament prepared an easy way
for the restoration of royalty. Not a
little of this drama was enacted in Ire-
land, where Broghill, lord president of
Munster, and Coote, lord president of
Connaught, both observing the turn in
the tide, vied witli each other in offer-
ing their support to Charles II. Both
were renegades, botb distinguished for
their savage cruelties against the Irish ;
but in duplicity and utter want of prin-
ciple the balance was on the side of
Bi-oghill, the son of the unprincipled
earl of Cork. The race between them
on this occasion, and their subsequent
attempts to depreciate each other with
the king, were ludicrous ; but Broghill
triumphed in the end, as he produced a
letter of Coote's in wliich the latter ad-
mitted that the suggestion for support-
ing the king first came from him. It
was the farce after the tragedy; and
both these inveterate enemies were by
the worthless Charles Stuart richly re-
warded, Broghill being created earl of
Orrery and Coote earl of Mountrath :
at the same time "the estates of the
Irish who had fought for the king and
followed his fortunes in exile, were
confirmed to drummers and sergeants
who had conducted his father to the
scaffold."f
f Higgons, Eemarkt on Bwnet, p IOC
ACCESSION OF CHARLES II.
CHAPTER XL.
REIGN OF CHARLES H.
Hopes of the Irish Catholics at the Restoration — Their grievous disappointment. — An Irish parliament convoked
after twenty years. — Discussions on the Act of Settlement in Ireland and England — The Act passed. — Establish-
ment of the Court of Claims. — Partial success of the Irish Catholics — Consequent indignation and alarm of the
Protestants. — Rumored conspiracies.— Blood's plot. — The Act of explanation— Provisions of the Act grossly
unjust to Catholics — The Irish parliament desire to make them more so.— The Irish remonstrance. — Synod
of the clergy in Dublin.— English prohibitory laws against the importation of Irish cattle. — General dis-
affection.— Alarming rumors. — Oppression of the Catholics. — Recall of Ormond. — Lord Berkley's adminis-
tration— Catholic Petition of Grievances. — Colonel Richard Talbot. — Commission of Inquiry — Great alarm
produced by it among the Protestants and New Interest. — RecaU of Lord Berkley and appointment of Lord
Esses. — Violent address of the English parliament— Increased oppression of the Catholics. — Restoration of
Ormond. — The Popish Plot. — Arrest of Archbishop Talbot. — Proclamations against the Catholics. — Puritan
attempts to raise a rebellion in Ireland. — Arrest of Archbishop Pltmkett. — Frightful demoralization and
perjury — Memoir of Dr. Plunket (note). — His martyrdom.— Turn in the tide of persecution— Irish writers ol
the seventeenth century. — State of the Irish.— Death of Charles II.
(FROM A. D.
''piIAT the Irish sliould have regarded
-*- the overthrow of the regicide gov-
ernment and the restoration of the king
as an assurance of their own restoration
to their homes and estates was only
natural. It was a consequence which
every principle of justice demanded;
and although serious obstacles were to
be overcome, they had a right to ex-
pect that the king, for whom they had
bled and sacrificed so much, would have
taken some trouble in their behalf
Many of these plundered and expatri-
ated people, inspired by this confidence,
returned and claimed their own with-
out waiting for the tedious process of an
uufrietnlly hiw to reinstate them;* but
" In England the old proprietors generally expelled
(he Cromwellian intruders without much ceremony;
but an- ittompts ut a like mode of proceeding in Ire-
TO A. D. 1685.)
never were the hopes of their injured
race doomed to be more cruelly blasted.
Acting on the mean and ungenerous
policy of his family, Charles immolated
his devoted friends to his own and his
father's enemies ; and the whole history
of his reign, as far as Ireland is con-
cerned, is made up of instances of the
most scandalous injustice inflicted on
the Irish Catholics, of persecutions
against their religion, and of triumphs
yielded to their unprincipled and invet-
erate foes.
Coote, now earl of Mountrath, and
Broghill, now earl of Orrery — men wlio
had slaughtered more Irish in cold
blood during the war than any others.
land were immediately put down by a royal procla
tion.— See Carte's Orm., vol. ii., p. 398.
55G
REIGN" OF CHARLES II.
if we except Cronnvell's massacres at
Jlroijlieda and AVexford — were ap-
])(iiiited lords justices after the restora-
tion, and to none but the determined
enemies of the Catholics was any power
intrusted. The first Irish parliament
held for twenty years met on the 8th
of May, 1661. The house of commons
comprised two hundred and sixty mem-
])ers, who, with the exception of sixty-
four, M-ere all burgesses, and must,
therefore, have been of the favored
i-ace, the towns having been "filled with
Cromwellians. In the upper house
there were twenty-one Catholic and
seventy-two Protestant peers ; but such
was the jealousy, in both houses, of the
admission of any Catholics, that the
v''>ramons, who had chosen Sir Audley
Mervin as their speaker, tried to ex-
clude them by requiring the oath of
supremacy from all the members; while
Bramhall, archbishop of Armagh, who
was elected speaker of the lords, pro-
posed with a like object that all the
peers should receive the sacrament at
his hands. This parliament voted the
large sum of £30,000 to the now duke
of Ormond,* who was appointed lord-
lieutenant in October this year, but
did not come to Ireland until the fol-
• Ormond gained enormously by the war. Dr. Frencli
Bays the duke's e.states were so encumbered as not to
have produced' more than £7,000 a year before the war,
although worth £40,000, but that a few years after tlie
restoration they produced him £80,000 a-year. (Un-
kind Deserter, chap, xii.) The earl of Essex, says Or-
mond, received over £300,000 in this kingdom, besides
all his great places and employments. {SMe Lett.,
213—214)
lowing July ; and the session was taken
up with discussions on the Bill of Settle-
ment, which was warmly opposed by
the Irish Catholics through their
counsel, but was passed by the Irish
parliament on the 15th of September,
and transmitted to England, where it
underwent a second discussion before
the king and council. Here, again, its
injustice was ably argued by Irish
agents, but all opposition to it was
overruled ; the claims of the dispos-
sessed Irish royalists were treated as
unreasonable; their counsel was con-
sidered imprudent and extravagant in
pressing their demands. The effemi-
nate monarch becoming weary of the
debates. Sir Nicholas Pluukett, the
agent of the Irish Catholics, was at
length excluded from his majesty's pres-
ence by an order of council, and this
monstrous act of robbery — confirming
as it did the most enormous of all the
spoliations inflicted on Ireland by its
English masters — was finally passed
into law.f A court of claims was es-
tablished under the act to try the quali-
fications of "noceut" and "innocent;"
and notwithstanding all the hostility
of the law and of government, several
Catholics succeeded in making good
I In Ills speech to the parliament after his restoration
Charles told them " that he expected (in relation to the
Irish) they would have a care of his honor, and of the
promise he had made them ;" this promise had been ex-
plicitly renewed by Ormond for the king before he left
Breda ; but it was thus the royal engagements to the
Irish were generally kept. It is unnecessan,- to say that
the artides of 1G48 (as they were called, though signed
1 by Ormond in 1G49, new style) were wholly set aside.
CONSPIRACIES.
557
their titles to a restitution of their
property.* This gave rise to violent
indignation and alarm among the Pro-
testants. That any door should have
been left open to the Catholics for the
recovery of their estates was a thing
not to be tolerated, and the duke of
Ormond consequently refused to extend
the time for investigating the claims,
although comparatively a few only of
them had been disposed of Neither
did the admission of a claim always
imply the restoration of an estate, for
the Cromwellian or new interest was
not always disturbed, and the recovery
of a right often amounted to no more
than what might be deemed an equiva-
lent, which depended on the amount of
"reprisals," as they were called, that
government might have in hands to
allot for the purpose. The regicide
judges, and others who had imbued
their hands in the late king's blood,
were deprived of their estates by the
Act of Settlement ; but these lands,
which were chiefly situated in the coun-
ty of Tipperary, were given to the duke
of York, and were therefore not avail-
able for reprisals.
A great outcry was now raised
against the Irish Catholics. The vile
calumnies about 1641 were revived and
maliciously circulated, and every report
* It is stated in Cox's Hibemia AngVUana that of the
claims tried in the first three months 168 were adjudged
innocent and only 19 nocent ; and tliatin the subseeiuent
sittings of the court 030 additional claims were de-
cided, we are not told in what proportion of innocent
and nocent, but only " to the great loss and dissatisfac-
tion of the Protestants." (See Letter in Cox, continuing
the history from 1053 to 1089.) Somo three thousand
against the Irish was received with avid-
ity in England. The device of Popish
plots and conspiracies was resorted to,
and the public mind kept in a state
of ferment by the most unfounded
rumors of intended Popish risings and
French invasions. It so happened that
the only real plot was a Presbyterian
one, got up by some Puritan ministers,
a few military officers, and some mem-
bers of the house of commons. One
Thomas Blood, a person M-ho subse-
quently became notorious for his ex-
ploits in England, conspired with some
others to seize the castle of Dublin on
the 21st of May, 1663; but the mad
project was discovered before the at-
tempt was made, and four of the con-
spirators were executed. The atrocious
.system of falsehood against the Catho-
lics was, nevertheless, successful, and a
motion for excluding Catholics from
the general pardon and indemnity was
passed in the English parliament. Or-
mond, moreover, who had repaired to
England for the purpose, procured the
passing of an Act of Explanation to sat-
isfy the Protestants, and on his return
prepared to organize a Protestant mi-
litia.
In all the discussions on the Bills of
Settlement and Explanation the Catho-
lics, although the most aggrieved, were
claims were left unheard for want of time, and Onnond.
as stated above, refused to extend the sittings of the
court for that purpose. Those Catholics who were named
in the Bill of Settlement as objects of the royal favor
(about 500 in number) were called " nominees ;" those
who served abroad under the king's standard were distin-
guished as "ensign-men ;" and the adventurers and Ciom-
wellian soldiers styled themselves " the new interest
558
REIGN OF CHARLES II.
the most moderate in their demands;
an,l a suggestion having been made on
thi'ir part that they would be content
if the soldiers and adventurers resigned
one-third of the lands which they en-
joyed immediately before the restora-
tion, the proposal was accepted, and
made the ground-work of the Act of
Explanation. By this act, however, it
was provided that the Protestants were
in the first place, and especially, to be
settled ; that any ambiguity which
arose should be explained in" their fa-
vor ; and " that no Papist, who, by the
qualifications of the former act, had not
been adjudged innocent, should at any
future time be reputed innocent, or en-
titled to claim any lands or settlements.
Thus," continues Leland, whose words
we quote, "every remaining hope of
those numerous claimants whose causes
* Leland, History of Ireland, vol. iii., p. 440. More
than 3,000 Catholic claimants were thus condemned to
the forfeiture of their estates, without any hearing at
all ; or, as Leland expresses it, " without the justice
granted to the vilest criminals— that of a fair and equal
trial." See Carte's Orm., vol. ii.. pp. 304, 314. Chief-
justice Nugent, afterwards Lord Riverston, in a letter
dated Dublin, June 23, IGSG, and preserved in the state
paper office, London, says : " There are 5,000 in this
kingdome who were never outlawed, and out of theyre
estates, yet cannot now by law be restored." See Macaria
Eicidium, notes and illustrations, p. 102. The Act of
Explanation gave the duke of Ormond liberty to name
twenty Catholics for the restoration of their estates, and
we may be sure that those who were too national in their
sentiments were not included in his grace's list. Tlie
duke had given the strongest opposition to the claims
of the earl of Antrim, whom he hated perhaps more than
any other man in Ireland : but the carl was warmly
backed by the king, and by other powerful friends
and after repeated petitions and investigations, was ulti-
mately restored to his estates by the Act of Explana-
tion. Carte, Orm., vol. ii., p. 277, and Irish Council
Books,
f One of the motives for the clamors raised by the
had not been heard, was entirely cut
oflp."* Yet, strange to say, this act, un-
just as it was to the Catholics, did not
go far enough to satisfy the Irish house
of commons, which was composed chief-
ly of adventurers and soldiers, and
whose speaker, Mervin, had all along
distinguished himself by his furious
hostility to the Catholic interest. Or-
mond found it necessary to exercise
some rigor towards the refractoi-y mem-
bers. Seven of them were expelled for
complicity in Blood's plot, and others
were known to deserve the same pun-
ishment. They were also threatened
obscurely with a dissolution, and the
act was at length passed on the 15 th
of December, 1665.t
Hoping to remove the pretences for
persecution against them, some of the
Catholic nobility and gentry had signed
Protestants in the discussion referred to above was the
constant discovery of abuses in the Cromwellian diatri-
bution of the lands. Sir William Domville, the attorney-
general, in overhauling the details of this distribution,
discovered, among many other irregularities, that there
were "great abuses in the manner of setting out the ad-
venturers' satisfaction, in which the proceedings were
very clandestine and confused. For they had whole
baronies set to them in gross, and then they employed
surveyors of their own to make their admeasurements.
Thus they admeasured what proportions they thought
fit to mete out to themselves ; and what lands they were
pleased to call unprofitable, they had returned as such,
let them be never so good and profitable. In the county
of Tipperary alone ho had found by books in the sur-
veyor's office above 50,000 acres returned as unprofita-
ble, and in the moiety of the ten counties, wherein their
satisfaction was set out, he had found 24.5,207 acres so
returned bj- the adventurers as unprofitable." Carte's
Orm., vol. ii., p. 301. Moreover, Domville found that
the soldiers had returned GC3,670 acres as unprofitable,
and it was not without reason they now feared to have
the accuracy of their returns inquired into. These sol-
diers, says Carte, " were for the most part Anabaptists^
Independents, and Levellers." Orm., vol. ii.
DECLARATION OF LOYALTY.
559
a declaration of loyalty for presentation
to the king. Several noblemen as-
sembled for the purpose at the house
of the marquis of Clanrickard in Dub-
lin ; among others, Lords Castlehaven,
Clancarthy, Carliugford, Fingal, and
Inchiquin, and there was no doubt with
such names at the the head of the list
a great many subscribers to the address
might be obtained throughout Ireland,
This address or declaration is celebrated
as the Irish Hemonstrance. It was pre-
pared by Peter Walsh, a Franciscan
friar, who had been a most zealous par-
tisan of Ormond in the confederation,
and enjoyed the private friendship and
confidence of that determined enemy
of the Catholics. He was a restless
and factious man, impatient of spiritual
authority, and it was well known that
any document from his hands could
hardly be unexceptionable. The re-
monstrance contained, in fact, along
with the strongest protestations of loy-
alty, expressions derogatory to the au-
thority of the pope, and therefore
offensive to true Catholic feeling ; but
it suited Ormond's purpose precisely
on that account; and on the pretence
that it was yet only a private address,
possessing no official character, Ormond
desired that it might be signed by all
* Before the primate's return at this time there Trere
but three Catholic prelates in Ireland, two of whom,
namely, Dr. John Burke, archbishop of Tuam, and Dr.
Owen M'Sweeny, bishop of Kilmore, were too aged and
infirm to perform any of their public functions. The
third was Dr. Patrick Plunket, bishop of Ardagli.
It appears from Dr. French's Elenchiia Epiicoporum,
•luoted in the IMernia Dominicana, that of the twenty-
the Catholic clergy of the kingdom.
A national congregation of the Irish
bishops and clergy for the considera-
tion of the matter was held in Dub-
lin on the 11th of June, 1666. The
meeting took place by the connivance
of Ormond, who had privately obtained
the sanction of the king; and the pri-
mate, Edmond O'Reilly, who had been
in exile since 1657, when he was ar-
rested in London at the instance of the
aforesaid Peter Walsh, and sent out
of the kingdom, received permission to
come to Ireland, and presided at the
meeting.* Promises were held out by
Ormond that whoever signed the re-
monstrance would be more favorably
considered in their claims, and enjoy
other privileges. The discussions on
the subject were carried on with great
caution; but, to the eternal honor of
the Irish clergy, the insulting instru-
ment was rejected, and another remon-
strance adopted, to which n9 objection
whatever could be raised, if only an
expression of the most devoted loyalty
were required. On the 16th of June
this Catholic remonstrance w\as de-
livered by two of the bishops to Or-
mond, with a prayer that it might be
presented to his majesty ; but the duke
rejected petition and remonstrance.
six Irish prelates who were resident in their respective
sees in 1649, nine had died at liome, ten had died in
exile, three had suffered martyrdom, and four were
still living in 1G67; Dr. Nicholas French himself,
bishop of Ferns, and Dr. Andrew Lynch, bishop of
Kilfenora, stiU in banishment ; and Dr Burke of Tuam,
and Dr. Patrick Plunketjust mentioned. Dr. O'Reilly,
the primate, had only been consecrated in 1007.
560
REIGN OF CHARLES II.
sent Peter Walsh to order the synod
to dissolve immediately, and subjected
the Catholic bishops and clergy to a
more rigid persecution than before.
The primate was seized on the 27th of
September, and carried prisoner to Lon-
don, whence he was sent into banish-
ment until his death, which took place
at Lou vain in 1669.*
The propensity of English statesmen
to ti-eat L-eland as an alien country, and
to legislate in a spirit hostile to her in-
terests, was such that even the Crom-
wellian settlers had scarcely fixed them-
selves in this country when they felt
the galling pressure of this national
injustice. Prohibitory laws relating to
Lish commerce had long been usual in
England. The Irish-wool trade had
been restricted within the narrowest
limits ; but at this time the prohibition
agaiust the importation of Irish cattle
into England was the grievance that
pressed most heavily on Irish commer-
cial interests. A law on this subject
was passed for a limited period in 1663,
but the question was agitated from year
to year; and when in October, 1666,
* There can be no doubt tbat Ormond's object in en-
couraging the synod of IGGG was to sow discord among
the Catholic clergy. Peter Talbot, archbishop of
Dublin, shows in his castigation of Walsh (The Friar
Duciplined, p. 92) that ho was well aware such was the
case. In fact the duke himself frankly acknowledged,
some years later, " that his aim in permitting that mcet-
mg was to work a division among the Komish clergy"
(Cartes Orrnond, ii., Append.) ; and soon after the synod
was dispersed. Lord Orrery, ivriting to Ormond, says :
" I humbly offer to your grace whether this may not be
a fit season to make tliat scliism, which you have been
•owing among the Popish clergy, publicly break out, so
the lord-lieutenant, seconded by the
Irish gentry, proposed to send over
15,000 bullocks as a contribution for
the sufiferei-s by the great fire of Lon-
don, their kindness was maliciously
interpreted ; and the English commons,
displaying what Leland calls " a violent
and almost unaccountable rage of op-
pression," voted a bill making the pro-
hibition permanent. In the preamble
to the bill the importation of Irish
cattle was termed a "nuissance," which
description the lords modified by sub-
stituting the words " detriment and
mischief." Lord Ashley, a member of
the cabal ministry,f proposed that it
should be declared a felony and prae-
munire. The measure gave rise to
violent debates in both houses. The
duke of Buckingham asserted that
" none could oppose the bill but such
as had Irish estates or Irish under-
standings ;" and Lord Ossory, son of
the duke of Ormond, resented this
insult by a challenge, which Bucking-
ham declined to accept; and Ossory
was sent to the Tower. At another
part of the debate, when Ashley in-
as to set them at open difference, as we may reap some
practicable advantage thereby." (Orm. State Letter!,
vol. ii.) But Ormond's arts did not succeed, for we are
told by Walsh himself that although there were then
in Ireland 1,100 secular priests and 750 regulars, yet
that of these 1,850 clergy only 69 signed his remon-
strance, these being chiefly friars of his own order, over
whom he had great influence.
t The name of " cabal" was given to the ministry ot
Charles II.— Clifford, Ashley, Bui-kingham, Arlington,
and Lauderdale— the initials of their names composing
that word.
ANONYMOUS ACCUSATIONS.
■.Gl
veiglied against the Irish conti-ibution
for the sufferers, Ossory protested that
" snch virulence became none but one
of Cromweir.s counsellors," and several
noble lords on both sides Avere on the
point of drawing their swords ; but the
commons insisting on their favorite ex-
pression being retained, Charles re-
quested the lords to yield the point,
and the bill received the royal assent
with the word " nuissance" restored in
the preamble.
At home disaffection prevailed among
all parties. The landed interest was
ruined by the prohibitory laws just re-
ferred to. The army complained that
their pay Avas in arrears; and some sol-
diei-3 having mutinied and seized Car-
rickfergns castle, a considerable military
force was required to reduce them ; ten
of their number being executed. The
Irisli Puritans carried on a secret cor-
respondence with their friends in Eng-
land, so that government was perpetu-
ally alarmed with rumors of new plots.
The Irisli Catholics, infinitely more
aggrieved than any other party, were
objects of suspicion to all; and although
they had engaged in no conspiracy,
anonymous accusations were daily made
ngainst them. They were charged with
* The moderation of Lord Berkley inspired the Irish
Catholics mth the deepest gratitude, and a convocation
ot the clergy was held in Dublin in 1070 to give expres-
sion to their feelings in an address to his excellency. On
this occasion the two most illustrious men in the
Iris!> church of that day were present, namely, Oliver
Plunkett, archbishopof Armagh, and Peter Talbot, arch-
Ushop of Dublin, both of whom had been elevated to
Uic archiepiscopal dignity in 1609. These two eminent
men differed considerably in their disposition. Dr.
I'lunkett, more calm and forgiving, objected to the se-
71
inviting the French to invade Ireland ;
and Ormond, who affected to believe
these malicious rumors, made them an
excuse for ruling the unhappy Catholics
with a rod of iron. He could not for-
give the Irish clergy for refusing to sign
the remonstrance, and was resolved, as
he said, to keep them up to the letter
of that document, " or to a sense equiv-
alent." He distributed 20,000 stand of
arms to his Protestant militia, and in
July, 1667, reviewed the Leinster corps
in the Curragh of Kildare. The ap-
pearance of an English squadron about
the same time off Kinsale threw the
countiy into a high state of excitement,
as it was supposed to be the expected
French fleet ; , but the king, provoked
by these repeated alarms, and by the
many complaints which reached him,
removed Ormond, who had gone to
England in 1668, and the following
year appointed Lord Robarts, of Truro,
as lord-lieutenant. This man remained
but a few months, and was succeeded in
May, 1670, by John Lord Berkley, a
nobleman of moderate principles and
upright intentions.*
Colonel Richard Talbot, who pos-
sessed great influence at court, and was
subsequently created duke of Tirconnell
verity exercised by Dr. Talbot against the remonstrant
clergy, or those who had signed Walsh's remonstrance ;
and at the same time entertained so strict a sense of his
own duty to sustain the rights of his high position as
primate, that he refosed to sign the address unless his
name were placed first, while Dr. T.ilbot insisted on
the claim long before set up to the primatial dignity
for his diocese. The dispute forms an interesting
topic in Irish church history, and gave occasion to very
learned trcjitises on tlie subject from both these pr&
lates.
562
REIGN OF CHARLES II.
by James II., went to England in 1671
to lay before the king and council a pe-
tition from the Irish Catholic gentry
who had been plundered of their es-
tates.* Colonel Talbot had for several
years past acted as the advocate of his
injured fellow-countrymen with the
king, and on this occasion he was so
successful as to induce his majesty to
appoint a committee of inquiry, not-
withstanding the opposition given to
the petition by Ormond. The report
of the committee was unfavorable ; but
a commission was issued, which was su-
perseded in January, 1673, by one of a
more comprehensive character, to in-
quire concerning the acts of settlement
and explanation, the manner in which
these acts were executed, the disposal
(if the forfeited estates, the state of his
majesty's revenue in Ireland, <fec. The
appointment of this commission gave
occasion to a violent outcry among the
Puritans and the new interest in Ire-
land. Any thing that threatened to
disturb the Act of Settlement, and to
drag before the public view all the
atrocious injustice and secret dishonesty
connected with that most appalling
spoliation, was a sufficient cause of dis-
may. The toleration and justice ex-
* Among tlie plundered Irish gentry of that time we
find our great antiquary, Roderick O'Flaherty, who was
most assuredly innocent, thus mildly complaining in his
Ogygia : -" The Lord hath wonderfully recalled the royal
heir to his kingdom, with the applause of all good men,
and without dust and blood ; but ho hath not found me
worthy to be restored to the kingdom of my cottage
(sed me non dignum invenit, cui tugurii mei regnum
restituat). Against tliee ulonc, 0 Lord, I have sinned ;
may the name of tlie Lord be blessed forever." Ogygia,
tended by Lord Berkley to the Cath-
olics also excited alarm.f The cry of
" Popery" was raised. The " mystery
of iniquit)'," it was said, had begun to
appear. Yielding to this storm, the
king recalled Lord Berkley in May,
1672, and appointed in his stead Lord
Essex, with instructions to take a dif-
ferent course. On the 9th of March,
1673, the English house of commons
presented a most violent address to his
majesty, calling upon him to expel by
proclamation all who exercised spiritual
jurisdiction under the pope in Ireland ;
to prohibit Irish Papists from inhabit-
ing any part of that kingdom, unless
duly licensed ; and to encourage by all
means the English planters, and the
Protestant interest there. The result
was that the weak king hastened to re-
call his commission of inquiry, and did
all he could to appease the awakened
zeal of his Protestant subjects.
Ormond was restored to favor, and
Essex having been recalled, the duke
was sent to Ireland as lord-lieutenant
in August, 1677. The following year
the diabolical fabiication known as the
Popish Plot made its appearance. Eng-
land was at that time drunk with fanat-
icism. The outcry against Popery had
p. ISO. And elsewhere he says : — " I live a banished man
witliin the bounds of my native soil; a spectator of others
enriched by my birthright ; an object of condohng to my
relations and friends, and a condoler of their miseries."
Ogi/giaVind., p. 153.
f It was charged against Lord Berkley that Popery
was tolerated, and that Archbishop Talbot celebrated
High Mass publicly in Dublin during his administra-
tion ; and also that he allowed some Papists to hold tho
commission of the peace.
IMPRISONMENT OF TALBOT.
563
driven the people mail, and the contri-
vance of the infamous Tjitus Gates and
his flagitious associates was a fitting
eiimax to the national frenzy. The
duke of Ormond was at Kilkenny when
he received the first notice of the plot,
October 3, 1678; but although he
treated the matter in his oflicial capa-
city as one of awful magnitude, and
adopted all the cruel measures towards
the Catholics that might satisfy the
fanatics, still his private correspondence
proves that he placed no faith in the
plot, but regarded it on the contrary
with contempt; observing that no such
thing existed in Ireland, where the
Catliolics were so much more numerous
than in England.* On the Tth of Oc-
tober he received a further communica-
tion from the secretary of state, an-
nouncing that the plot did extend to
Ireland, and that Peter Talbot was
concerned in it; although it was known
that that prelate was then in a dying
state, having only a few months before
obtained private permission to return
to Ireland that he might breathe his
last in his own country. Ormond, how-
ever, on the 8th of October issued a
warrant for his apprehension, and the
venerable ai'chbishop was taken fi'oni
his sick-bed, at Cartown, near May-
nooth, the house of his brother. Colonel
Richard Talbot, and carried in a chair
to Dublin, where he was kept a close
yrisonei- in the castle, until death re-
moved him from his lingering martyr-
dom two years aftei'.
^[ See his correspondence in the second volume of Carte.
Proclamations against the unoffend-
ing Catholics now appeared in quick
succession. One on the 16th of Octo-
ber commanded " all titular archbish-
ops, bishops, vicars-general, and other
dignitaries of the Church of Rome, and
also all Jesuits, and other regular priests,
to depart by the 20th of November;
and that all Popish societies, convents,
seminaries, aitd Popish schools, should
dissolve." The masters of outward-
bound ships were required to take on
board all the Popish clergy who should
present themselves for transportation.
A proclamation of the 20th of Novem-
ber forbade Papists to come into the
castle of Dublin or any other fort or
citadel ; and ordered that the markets
of Drogheda, Wexford, Cork, Limerick,
Waterford, Youghal, and Galway should
be held without the walls, to prevent
the recourse of Papists to the interior
of the towns. The same day a reward
was ofiered of £10 for every commis-
sioned officer, £o for every trooper, and
4s. for every foot-soldier who could be
discovered to have gone to Mass since
he took the oath of supremacy and
allegiance. On the 2d of December
orders were issued for a strict search
after the titular bishops and regular
clergy who had not transported them-
selves. To increase the alarm and
quicken the vigilance of government,
anonymous letters about Popish conspi-
racies were dropped in the streets. The
Protestant militia was revived and dis-
ciplined. In March, 1680, a proclama-
tion issued, ordering that the nearest
uu
REIGX OF CHARLES II.
relations of lories should be seized and
imprisoned until sucli tories were killed
or taken ;* and that parish priests should
lie apprehended and transported, upon
any I'obbery or murder being commit-
ted in their respective parishes, unless
the criminals were killed, taken, or dis-
covered within fourteen days. A re-
paid of £10 was promised at the same
time for taking a Jesuit or titular bish-
o]> ; and soon after the lord-lieutenant
and council ordei'ed the removal of the
Popish inhabitants from Galway, Lim-
ei'ick, Waterford, Clonmel, Kilkenny,
and Drogheda, " except some few trad-
ing merchants, artificers, and others
necessary for the said towns."f Thus
did the rulers of Ireland vainly hope
to extii-pate the Catholic religion from
the laud of Patrick, Bridget, and Co-
* Dr. O'Conor {Bib. Stowensis, ii. 4G0) derives the
name " tory" from the Irish ivord toirighim, to pursue
for prey. Many of these robber outlaws were by birth
Irish gentlemen, wlio had been unjustly stripped of
their estates, and who levied contributions in their
own wild way on the Cromwellian settlers who occupied
their ancient patrimonies. The most celebrated of them
was Redmond O'Hanlon, the hero of many a traditional
tale. About this time the name of tory came into use
in England, where it was applied to the court party by
the Puritans, or popular party, who were designated
whigs.
f See in Cox the continuation of the reign of Charles
II., where the substance of all tlicse proclamations will
be found ; also Carte, vol. ii., pp. 480, &c. To what the
exclusion of Catholics from the principal towns would
then amount, we may gather from the statement of Lord
Orrery, who in a letter to the duke of Ormond, of Feb-
ru.iry 20, 10G2, says "it was high time to purge the
town of the Papists, when in most of them there were
three Papists to one Protestant." About the same time
the Catholics in the rural districts were to the Protest-
ants in the ratio of fifteen to one. Sir William Petty,
writing in 1072, estimates the total population of Ire-
land at 1,100,000, of whom 800,000 were Irish, 200,000
English, and 100,000 Scotch. All tlie Irish, he says,
lumbkille ; and designing impostors
try to urge thp Irish to resistance, and
afford an excuse for anotber confisca-
tion.f
Colonel Talbot was arrested, as well
as his brother, the archbishop, but was
suffered to go into exile ; and an order
also came over to seize Lord Mountgar-
ret, then an octogenarian, and in his
dotage ; but all this time no testimony
came from Ireland to support the plot,
to the great disappointment of Lord
Shaftesbury and the other patrons of
Oates.§ This was not to be endured,
and accordingly all possible methods
were resorted to, says Carte, " to pro-
voke and exasperate the people of that
kingdom." New measures of coercion
were devised ; " it was proposed to in-
troduce the test act and all the Ensjlish
were Papists ; all the Scotch, Presbyterians ; and of the
English, one-half Protestant, and the other half Inde-
pendents, Anabaptists, Quakers, and other dissenters.
There were thus, according to him, eight Papists to one
Church of England Protestant ; but it is quite clear
that owing to the remoteness of the districts in which
many of the Irish dwelt, he had no means of learning
their actual numbers, which were unquestionably much
greater than he states. See Potty's Political Anatomy
of Ireland, p. 8, ed. 1719.
f " There were," says Carte (vol. ii., p. 482), " too
many Protestants in Ireland who wanted another rebel-
lion, that they might increase their estates by new
forfeitures."
g " It was a terrible slur," says Carte, " upon the
credit of the Popish plot in England, that after it had
made such a horrible noise and frightened people out
of their senses in a nation where there was scarce one
Papist to an hundred Protestants, there should not, for
above a year together, appear so much as o.ie witness
from Ireland to give information of any conspiracy of
the like nature in that kingdom, where thefe were fif-
teen Papists to ono Protestant, as that charged upon the
Papists of England, whose weakness would naturally
make them apply for assistance from their more power
ful brethren in Ireland." Vol. ii., p. 495.
ARREST OF ARCHBISHOP PLUNKETT.
565
penal laws into Ireland ; and that a
proclamation should be forthwith issued
for encouraging all persons that could
make any further discoveries of the hor-
rid Popish plot to come in and declare
tlie same."* For more than a year
after the proclamation banishing the
Catholic prelates out of Ireland, Arch-
bishop Plunkett continued to reside in
his diocese. He was so good a man,
and so useful as a promoter of peace and
order, that Ormond was most unwilling
to have him apprehended ; but he was
at length seized in his humble retreat, a
few miles from Drogheda, on the 6th of
December, 1679, and committed to
prison, solely for his religion and for
exercising the functions of a Catholic
prelate.f The arrest of the primate
gave a new turn to things in Ireland.
Hetherington, Shaftesbury's agent, came
over to concoct evidence of a plot, and
a number of the most abandoned charac-
ters— cow-stealers, rapparees, and jail-
lireakers — were soon found ready for
the purpose. These vile miscreants
vied with each other in swearing away
* Carte, vol. ii., p. AOi.
f See on this point the admirable life of Dr. Plunkett,
published in Duffy's Catholic Magazine, vol. ii., p. 144.
I Dr. Oliver Plunkett belonged to a branch of the
ancient family of tho carls of Fingal, and was born at
Loughcrew, in Meath. He went to Rome when a young
man, in February, 1G47, with Father Scarampi, and
studied in the Irish college founded by Cardinal Ludo-
visius, and which was then administered by Jesuits.
About eiglit years after he became professor of divinity
in the Propaganda, and so continued for twelve years ;
and on the death of Edmond O'Keilly, archbishop of
Armagh, in l(iG9, ho was nominated to tho primacy of
Ireland by Pope Clemrnt IX. It was then a perilous as
well as an exalted dignity ; but in August he hastened
to his alliicted country, wliure he arrived about tho end
the lives of innocent men ; and several
of them came forward to make the most
outrageous charges of treason against
the venerable archbishop. Foremost
among these infiimous witnesses were
two degraded priests and as many apos-
tate friars. In those turbulent times,
when there was so much to disorganize
society and encourage vice, it is not ex-
traordinary that men should have been
found capable of any degradation ; and
these wretched ecclesiastics were per-
sons who, after fruitless efforts to
reform them, had been subjected to
canonical censures; the two seculars
having been excommunicated by the
primate, and the friars declared apos-
tates by their superior. As the evi-
dence of these men would obtain no
credit in Ireland, the primate was taken
to London, where the incredible, incon-
sistent, and indeed impossible state-
ments of the false witnesses were re-
ceived as gospel truth by the judges,
jury, and people of England, and Dr.
Plunkett was immolated at the shrine
of English fanaticism. J
of October the same year, and an immediate but fruit-
less search was made for him by order of the govern-
ment. Lord Robarts, who was soon after recalled, was
then lord-lieutenant ; but during the administrations of
Lords Berkley and Esses, Dr. Plunkett continued to ex-
ercise his functions without molestation. He was in-
defatigable in his apostolic labors, holding numerous
ordinations, and exerting himself with prudence and
assiduity to correct abuses among clergy and laity. Ho
was an ardent lover of his country and of her venerable
antiquities, and composed an Irish ix)em about Tara,
which is mentioned by O'Reilly, in his Iri»h Writers.
In the persecution whicli followed the outbreak of the
Iiretended Popish plot, lie removed from his usual resi-
dence at Ballybarrack, near Dundalk, to a small house
at a place called Castletownbellew, a few miles from
566
REIGN" OF CHARLES II.
It has been truly said by a great
Protestant statesman that " the Popish
Droglieda, wliere he was arrested. At his trial he
stated that he had lived " in a little thatched house,
wherein was only a little room for a library, which was
not seven feet high ; that he had never more than one
servant, and that he was scarcely ever able to support
even one." As to his income, it never exceeded " three
score pounds per annum." It was six months after his
confinement in Newjiate that the charge of treason was
trumped up against him, and when it was then investi-
gated before the Irish council it was scouted as utterly
absurd. A reward of £500 was, it is said, offered for
Hetherington, the infamous concocter of the perjuries,
but he had fled to his employer, Shaftesbury ; and when
the primate came to be arraigned at the Dundalk as-
sizes, although every man, both on the grand and petty
jury, was a Protestant, not one of the miscreants who
had made depositions against him would come forward.
No one was more active, says Carte, in procuring those
witnesses than Jones, the Protestant bishop of Meath,
"who had been scout^master-general to Oliver Crom-
well's army" {Onn., ii. 498) ; and it was at his sugges-
tion that Shaftesbury got the primate's trial removed
from Dundalk, where he would, assuredly, have been
acquitted, to London, where any thing sworn against a
Popish bishop could not be too monstrous for the popu-
lar credulity. The Irish government was required to
assist 'ihe wiinrssos lor the plot, of one of whom, James
Geoghan, who was sent to beat up the country for
swearer.^, Ormond writes that " at length, his violenCL's,
excesses, debaucheries, and, in effect, his plain rob-
beries, committed on Irish and English, Protestants and
Papists, were so manifest, as raised a great disturbance
in all places," and it became nepessary to put him in
jail (see letter in Carte, ii. 514) ; yet such was the gen-
eral character of the degraded men produced as wit-
nesses against the holy archbishop — profligates and
apostates, to whom a free pardon was offered as an in-
ducement to add perjury and murder to their other
crimes. Dr. Plunkett was removed to Loudon about
the close of October, 1680, and was so rigorously con-
6ned in Newgate, that no friend could have access to
him. Here he spent his time in almost oontinual
prayer, and his keepers were surprised to see him always
look so cheerful and resigned. When brought up for
trial, he obtained five weeks to procure evidence from
Ireland ; but in those days of slow travelling, when
weeks were sometimes lost in waiting for a passage from
Holyhead to Dublin, the time was insufficient; and
when the trial at length came on, on the 8th of June,
lOSl, the primate's witnesses had not arrived, and cer-
tain records which he desired to obtain from Ireland to
■how Oie character of the witnesses brought against
plot must always 1)6 considered an in-
delible disgrace upon the English na-
him, would not be given to his agents without an order
from the court ; but a single day longer would not bo
granted to him. He was browbeaten by a bench of par
tisan judges ; sis of the most eminent lawyers in Eng
land were arrayed against him ; and he stood alone,
without one to speak a word in his defence, or procure
for him fair play ; for as the law then stood, he was not
allowed the benefit of counsel. A host of abandoned
wretches, who, says the great Charles Fox, would have
been unworthy of credit even in the most trivial matter,
made charges against him that were not only incredible
but absolutely impossible (Fax's Historical ^yvrks, p.
40). In vain did he pray for time, and declare : — " If I
had been in Ireland, I would have put myself on my
trial to-morrow, without any witnesses, before any
Protestant jury that knew them and me." He, who
was so poor and meek, and had such a horror of mixing
himself up in any temporal concern, was convicted of
plotting to raise an army of 70,000 men ; of collecting
some enormous fund for that purpose among the clergy ,
of practising to bring over 40,000 French troops ; and of
inspecting the harbors round the coast of Ireland, and se-
lectingCarlingford as the place for the debarkation of the
invading army 1 On the IStli, when brought up to receive
sentence, the brutal chief-justice, addressing him, said:
" Look you, Mr. Plunkett, you have been indicted of a
very great and heinous crime. . . . The bottom of your
treason was your setting up your false religion .... a
religion that is ten times worse than all the heathenish
superstitions." The earl of Essex went to the king to
apply for a pardon, and told his majesty " the witnesses
must needs be perjured, as what they swore could not
possibly be true ;" but his majesty answered in a pas-
sion :— " Why did you not declare this, then, at the
trial? I dare pardon nobody. . . . His blood be upon
your head and not upon mine" (Contin. of Baker's
Chronitle, p. 710, and Echard's Eist. of Eng., iii. C31).
The address which the holy primate read at Tyburn
was an able and beautiful vindication. On the 1st of
July he was hanged and quartered ; his heart and
bowels were thrown into the fire, but his body was ob-
tained from the king and interred in the churchyard of
St. Giles-in-the-Fields, except the head, and the arms to
the elbows, which were inclosed in two tin cases. In
1G83, when the quarters of his body were exhumed by
his friend. Father Corker, they were found entire, and
all his relics were translated to Lambspring, in Ger-
many ; but Hugh MacMahon, one of his successors in
the primacy, having obtained the head from cardinal
Howard, brought it to Ireland, and subsequently depos-
ited it in the convent which he founded, in 1722, for
Dominican nuns, at Droghcda, in which the first prioress
DEATH OF CnARLES II.
567
tion ;"* and if the lessons which history
teaches are to hav^ any effect, such a
blot ought assuredly to humble na-
tional pride. It is a remarkable feet
that Dr. Plunkett was not only the last
victim of that atrocious imposture, but
that the tide of persecution ebbed im-
mediately upon his death. He was
executed at Tyburn on the 1st of July,
1G81, and the very next day Shaftes-
bury, the patron of the gang of per-
jurers and the chief promoter of the
plot, was himself dragged to the tower
for high treason ; nor was it long after
when some retribution overtook the
infamous Titus Oates, who was whipped
by the common hangman and pilloried
for his pei-juries.f The severity of the
penal laws was relaxed in Ireland.
Ormond, whose growing moderation
had drawn upon him the violent attacks
was Catherine Plunkett, a relative, it is presumed, of
the holy primate ; and in this house, known as the Si-
enna convent, the precious relic is enshrined in a small
ebony temple decorated with silver. An authentic por-
trait of the illustrious martyr, taken after his con-
demnation, has been engraved, and published by Mr.
Duffy. (See the excellent and learned memoir of Oliver
Plunkett by Rev. Dr. Crolly ; also the notices of him in
the Theologia Tripartita of his contemporaiy and friend,
Arsdekin ; the HS). Dominicana; Harris's Additions to
AVare's Irish Writers; the Thorpe Collection of
Pamphlets; the State Trials; Mr. Thomas Darcy
M'Cjee's Irish Writers, &c.) All subsequent Protestant
writers have admitted that he was unjustly executed.
Bishop Burnet, who was certainly no friend to Catholics,
writes : — " Lord Essex told mo that this Plunkett was
a wise and sober man, who was always in a different
interest from the two Talbots ;" and he adds, that the
foreman of the grand jury who had investigated his
case in Ireland, and " who was a zealous Protestant,"
tuld him the witnesses " contradicted one another sr> evi-
dently, that they would not find the bill" (Burnet's
Hist, of his (Aon Times, vol. i , p. 502-3). " Of his inno-
cence," says Fox, " no doubt could be entertained" (Ihst.
of Shaftesbury and the Whigs, now
more openly befriended the Irish
Catholics. Whether influenced by some
remorse for the past, or revolution in
his own sentiments, or change wliicli he
observed in the feelings of the king, it
is certain that he became liberal at the
close of his long career. Charles II.,
who was received into the Catholic
church a few hours before his death,
expired on the 6th of February, 1685,
and was succeeded by his brother
James, duke of York, who had for
several years past openly professed the
Catholic faith, and suffered for it many
persecutions and even banishment from
England. Thus did a new vista of
hope dawn upon the Irish.
The seventeenth century, towards
the close of which we now approacli,
though brimful of calamity to Ireland,
Works, p. 40). " He was," says Dr. Crolly, " the last
i-ictim of the Popish plot, and the last martyr who was
directly put to death for the Catholic religion in these
countries." It will interest Irish antiquaries to know
that Florence MacMoyer, one of the witnesses against
Dr. Plunkett, was the hereditary keeper of the cele-
brated Book of Armagh, and that being reduced to beg-
gary at the close of his life, he pawned, for £5, that cele-
brated relic of antiquity, which thus came into the pos-
session of an ancestor of Lord Brownlow. It is now in
the possession of Trinity College, and is about to be pub-
lished by the Rev. Dr. Reeves, to whom Primate Beres-
ford has most liberally given £G00 to aid in the publi-
cation.
* Charles J. Fox's Historical Works, p. 33.
f " Titus Oates," says Grainger, " was restrained by
no principle, human or divine, and, like Judas, would
have done any thing for thirty ehUlings. He was one
of the most accomplished villains that we read of in
liistory." (Biographical Hist, of Eng., vol. iv., p. 201.)
Oates obtained for his perjuries a pension of £1,200 a-
year, of which he was deprived by King James, but
William III. granted a pardon to the miscreant, and
conferred on him a pension of £400 a-year.
568
IKISIIMEX DISTINGUISHED IN LITERATURE.
was illuminated by innumerable lights
of Irish history and literature. Its first
quarter witnessed the labors of Philip
O'Sullevan Beare, Stephen White,
Peter Lombard, and Thomas Messing-
ham ; tlie Four Masters (Michael, Con-
arj, and Cucogry O'Clery, and Ferfeasa
O'Mulconry) were compiling their cele-
brated Annals of Ireland from 1632 to
1636 ; Geoffrey Keating, who has been
called the Irish Herodotus, died about
the middle of the century ; Archbishop
Ussher, that wonderful compound of
great learning and intolerant bigotry,
and the honest and learned Sir James
Ware, flourished at the same time ; the
eminent Irish scholar and antiquary,
Duald MacFirbis, was Ware's Irish
amanuensis; Father John Colgan, the
greatest of our hagiographei*s, published
his invaluable Acta Sanctorum Hiber-
nke^ at Louvain, iii 1645 ; and during
the same centuiy flourished Patrick
Fleming, Hugh Ward, David Roth,
Luke Wadding, Dominic O'Daly, Tho-
mas Carve, Anthony Bruodin, Nicholas
French, Oliver Plunkett, Richard Ars-
dekin, Archdeacon Lynch (Gratianus
Lucius), and the learned author of the
Ogyoia^ Roderick O'Flaherty. The
list might be much extended, and to
the preceding, who, with two or three
exceptions, were ecclesiastics residing
abroad, might be added a long ar-
ray of other Irishmen who confined
their labors in the foreign monasteries
and colleges exclusively to sacred sub-
jects.
At the same time the Irish at home
preserved their traditions and some of
their ancient records in their woods and
mountains, where their priests found
hiding-places from persecution, and
where we can fancy that the wild
strains of the native music, devoted to
the utterance of so much sorrow, be-
came more exquisitely plaintive in their
character.
ACCESSION OF JAMES II.
Stlfi
CHAPTER XLI.
REIGX OF JAMES n.
Temper of parties in Ireland at the Accession of James II. — Hopes of the Catholics and alann of the Protestants.
— Clarendon lord-lieutenant — Refusal to repeal the Acts of Settlement. — Colonel Richard Talbot created earl
of Tirconnell, and appointed to the command of the army in Ireland — Succeeds Clarendon as lord-lieutenant.
Numerous Catholic appointments. — Alarming rumors— Increased disaffection of the Protestants. — Birth of
the Prince of Wales. — 'VVilliam Prince of Orange invited to England— The League of Augsburg William's
dissimulation— His arrival at Torbay. — James deserted by his English subjects and obliged to fly to France. —
Disloyal Association of the Protestants of Ulster — The Protestants in general refuse to give up their arms.
The Rapparees. — Irish troops sent to England, and the consequence. — Closing the gates of Derry. — The Irish
alone faithful to King James — He lands at Kinsale and marches to Dublin. — Siege of Derry — The town re-
lieved and the siege raised — Conduct of the Enniskilleners. — James's parliament in Dublin — Act of Attainder.
— Large levies of the Irish. — Landing of Schomberg — He encamps at Dundalk and declines battle with James.
— Battle of Cavan. — William lands at Carrickfergus — Marches to the Boyne. — Disposition of the hostile forces.
— The Battle of the Boyne — Orderly retreat of the Irish. — Flight of King James — He escapes to France. —
William marches to Dublin. — Waterford and Duneannon reduced. — Gallant defence of Athlone by the Irish.
— Retreat of the Williamite army imder Douglass. — WUliam besieges Limerick— Noble defence of the gar-
rison— The English ammunition and artillery blown up by Sarsfield — The city stormed — Memorable heroism
of the besieged — William raises the siege and returns to England. — Arrival of St. Ruth. — Loss of Atldone. —
Battle of Augbrim and death of St. Ruth. — Siege and surrender of Gal way. — Second siege of Limerick — Honor-
oble capitulation. — The Irish army embark for France.
(FROM A. D. 1685 TO A. D. 1691.)
UNBOUNDED was the joy of the
Irish Catholics on the accession of
James II., and in a like proportion was
the depression produced among the Pro-
testants by that event. For the feelings
of both parties, at a time when so many
elements of discord were rife, due al-
lowance .should now be made. On the
one side we see men who had so long
groaned under oppression and ruin sud-
denly raised to the hope of restored
fortunes and religious liberty; on the
other, a dominant party enriched with
tiie spoils of their atitagouists, but now
dreading the loss of power and of es-
tates so duljiously acquired, and what
was Avorse than all, the extension of
favor towards a creed to which they
entertained a fanatical aversion. The
old English had become almost identi-
fied in sympathies and interest with the
Irish, and between both and the ne-^v
interest, as the Cromwellian planters
were styled, there existed all the
jealousy and antipathy which could
spring from antagonism in religion and
race. From the beginning James's acts
relating to Ireland tended to strengthen
the corresponding hopes and feai-s of
the two parties. Colonel Richard Tal-
bot, whose imprudent zeal and rash
and impetuous disposition were often
570
REIGN OF JAMES U.
injurious to the cause wbicli he Avislied
to serve, was raised to the peerage with
tlie title of earl of Tirconnell, and ap-
pointed commander-in-chief of the forces
in Ireland, with an authority independ-
ent of that of the lord-Jieutenant. He
proceeded to reorganize the army by
the introduction of Catholic officei's, and
hastened with unconciliatiug abruptness
to disai-m the Protestant militia. The
appointment early in 1686 of the earl
of Clarendon as lord-lieutenant, and Sir
Charles Porter as lord-chancellor, might
have reassured the Protestants had
not their disaffection been too deeply
I'ooted, and their fears too keenly
alarmed. Tirconnell endeavored to
procure a repeal of the Acts of Settle-
ment and Explanation, but his proposal
was scouted by the English council,
who declared that the king would not
sacrifice his English Catholic subjects
to the interests of the Irish ; and Claren-
don, in his speech on assuming the
sword of office, tried to remove all
doubts on this subject by stating that
"he had the king's commands to de-
clare on all occasions that his* majesty
had no intention of altering those acts."
In February, 1687, Tirconnell was
sworn lord-lieutenant, and contributed
* Mr. Lesley thus puts the argument on this sub-
ject : — " Suppose, say they, it were true, which Dr.
King asserts, as it is most false, that King James, while
he was in Ireland, did endeavor totally to overthrow
the Church established by law there, and set up that
which was most agreeable to the inclinations of the
major numocr of the people in that kingdom, who are
Homan Catholics, the Jacobites ask, if this were so,
whether it be not fully vindicated in the fourth instruc-
tion of those which King William sent to his commis
materially by his administration of
affairs to increase the discontent and
alarm of the Protestants. In each court
two Catholic judges were appointed,
the third being a Protestant ; Catholics
were made high sheriffs and privy coun-
cillors ; commissions of the peace were
granted to a number of Catholic magis-
trates ; a great many Catholic officers
obtained commissions in the army ; and
quo-warrantos were issued to all the
corporations, which had become nests
of Puritan exclusiveness and corruption,
fresh charters being granted which
admitted Catholics into the corporate
bodies. These measures might have
been taken by another with less offence
to Protestant prejudice; but there was
still' nothing in them that was not con-
sistent with a fair balance of religious
toleration. Catholicity might with jus-
tice have been made the state church
in Ireland, as Presbyterianism was in
Scotland ; but the acts of James's govern-
ment in Ireland did not go to that extent,
and there is no reason why we should
disbelieve his own assurance that he
never intended to overturn the Protest-
ant establishment in these countries.*
Bickerings and mutual provocations
between the parties Avere incessant.
sioners in Scotland, dated at Copt Hall, May 31, 1G89,
in these words : — ' You are to pass an act establishing
that church government which is most agreeable to the
inclinations of the people.' By which rule, they saj
that it was as just to set up Popery in Ireland as Pres-
bytery in Scotland." (Preface to his Answer to Arcli-
bUhop King) Many of the Catholic appointments men.
tioned above -were made by Clarendon, and beilore Tir-
connell became lord-lieutenant.
DISAFFECTION OF PROTESTANTS.
The Protestants complained that the
CatLolics sued them for old debts, and
that they instituted prosecutions for
fictitious treasons ; but the most fertile
source of irritation arose from the con-
stant rumors on both sides of appre-
hended massacres. In some places the
Catholic peasantry deserted their dwell-
ings for several nights successively,
through fear of an attack by the Pro-
testants ; and on the other hand a panic
seized the Protestants in Dublin and
elsewhere ; congregations armed them-
selves against imaginar}^ " Popish mas-
sacres," and placed sentinels outside the
church gates during service ; and many
of the Protestant merchants and tra-
ders deserted the country for England
and Scotland."
It may be doubted whether James
could, by any amount of moderation,
and the most cautious policy, hav^e
averted the revolution which deprived
him of his kingdom. The temper of
* The work of Dr. William King, afterwards succes-
sor of Dr. Marsh as archbishop of Dublin — " The State
of tlie Proiestimtt of Ireland under the lute King Ja7nes's
Outernment" — is the great text-book of Protestant wri-
ters on this period of our history ; but it was ably re-
futed by Charles Lesley, a contemporary Protestant
divine ; and it may be questioned whether there be any
otlier authority on Irish history less reliable for facts or
more envenomed by prejudice, if we except Sir John
Temple's History of the Irish Rebellion. Nevertheless,
taking all Dr. King's enumeration of Protestant griev-
ances for granted, tliey form a marked contrast to the
Buiallest portion of those inflicted on the Catholics in
the preceding reigns. "In all the timo the Protestants
of Dublin were in King James's power," observes Mr.
Lesley, " he did not hang one of them, though some of
tliem deserved it by the law then, as Dr. King could
witness."
f James's two dauglitcrs by his first wife, the
daughter of Cliaucellor Hide, were cducuted Protestants,
England was such that a Catholic
sovereign would not have been en-
dured, had he even confined his reli-
gion to his closet and enforced the
penal laws of his predecessors. James
is accused of great indiscretion in exer-
cising so freely the power of dispensing
from religious tests, in having Mass
celebrated openly iu the palace, and in
the favor shown to Catholics by his
Irish government; but the arguments
drawn from those acts only prove a
foregone conclusion. The event which,
more than any other, expedited the im-
pending blow, was the birth of the
prince of Wales in June, IGSS.f Up
to that time the only impediment in the
line of a Protestant succession was the
king's own life, and as he was in the
fifty-second year of his age at his acces-
sion, it was possible that his removal,
in the natural order of things, might
have been waited for ; but the birth of
a Catholic heir to the crown determined
and their uncle, Charles II., took care to provide for
them Protestant husbands ; Mary, the elder, being
married to her first cousin, William, prince of Orange
and Nassau, and stadtliolder of the united provinces of
Holland ; and Anne, the younger, to George, prince of
Denmark. His first wife having died in 1G71, James
married in 1C73 Mary Beatrice, the daughter of the
duke of Modena. She was then but fifteen years of
age, and was as remarkable for her piety and virtue as
for her singular beauty. Their four first children died
in infancy, and as an inter\-al of some years then
elapsed, and James was growing old, those who ex-
pected that he would not leave any male issue, were
grievously disappointed at the birth of the young
prince. The most unfounded statements were then
put forth, to the effect that the child was supposititious,
although there were forty-two witnesses of the birth,
most of them belonging to the Protestant nobility. The
])rince was baptiiced James Francis Edward, and in
after years was called the " Pretender."
572
REIGN OF JAMES II.
his enemies to take a different course,
wliioh, however, had long before been
contemplated, uanielj-, an immediate
invitation from England to William
Piince of Orange.
Of the circumstances which promo-
ted William's designs on the crown of
England, not the least important was
the confederation of European princes,
known as the League of Augsburg.
In this league were united the emperor
and all the Germanic princes, the king
of Spain, and even the pope. The
object which they professed in common
was to resist and limit the enormous
power of Louis XIV., but the Protest-
ant members of the league were still
more strongly actuated by a desire to
avenge the revocation of the edict of
Nantes. The prince of Orange organ-
ized the league, and he soon turned it
adi'oitly to his own private account,
employing for that purpose an amount
of meanness and deception quite un-
Avorthy of his position. It was known
that the king of England was little
better than the vassal of Louis ; such,
at all events, the late king, Charles II.,
had effectually made himself; and Wil-
liam, in preparing an expedition for
England, pretended that his only ob-
jects were to reconcile James with his
disaffected subjects, and ttien to induce
him to join the league against France.
The prince's letter to the emj^eror on
the subject displays a most reckless dis-
regard for truth, and the money received
* DaXrymple'i Memoirs, append, to vol ii. ; Memoir
of Kiuy Jama II., vol. ii. ; Jc»8c'> Memoirs of the Court
from the pope for the purposes of the
league was unscrupulously converted
by William to the dethronement of the
Catholic king of England and the
establishment of a Protestant succes-
sion. Of a piece with these artifices to
overreach the Catholic powers was the
pretence which William held forth to
the people of England, that he was
coming to investigate the birth of the
prince, which he affected to consider
surreptitious, but about which no ques-
tion was afterwards raised.*
The prince of Orange arrived in
Torbay, in Devonshire, on the 5th of
November, 1688, with a Dutch fleet of
52 men-of-war, 25 frigates, 25 fire-ships,
and about 400 transports, which con-
veyed a land array of nearly 15,000
men. James had an army amply suf-
ficient to oppose him had his ofiicers
been faithful, but the great bulk of
these were known to be disaffected,
and numbers of them went over at
once to William. In a little while the
king had no force upon which he could
rely to bring into the field ; and having
sent the queen and infant prince pri-
vately to France, in the beginning of
December, and escaped himself from
the Dutch guards, by whom he was
held a prisoner at Rochester, he em-
barked along with his illegitimate son,
the duke of Berwick, in a small vessel,
on the 23d of December, and landing
at Ambleteuse, on the French coast,
early on Christmas morning, old style.
of England from the Retolution to the Death of George
II., vol. i., pp. 4C, 47
WILLIAM INVITED TO THE THRONK
573
claimed the protection aud hospitality
of Louis XIV.
Ireland was at this time in a most
disorganized state. Government was
not strong enough to suppress popular
manifestations on either side. The Pro-
testants of the uorth had formed them-
selves into an armed association with
clearly disloyal views, and oi-ganized a
system of local authority of their own.
In other parts of the country, the Pro-
testants had refused to give up their
arms; several of them collecting into
strong baAvns and castles which they
garrisoned, and others proceeding in
armed bands to join their brethren in
Ulster. On the other hand, many of
circulated that they designed to massa-
cre the people of England, and the
most extravagant consternation was
thereby produced in London.f Nor
was the sending of these troops the
only blunder which Tirconnell commit-
ted in the matter. He had withdrawn
the garrison from Londonderry to make
up the complement of men ; and when
the earl of Antrim's regiment was sent,
in a few weeks, to repair this mistake,
the young men of Deny resolutely
closed their gates against the royal
troops. This was done on the 7th of
December, 1688, before affairs in Eng-
land had taken a decided turn against
the king; and the Protestants of Ulster
the Catholics armed themselves in an having already assumed a position hos-
tile to James, are admitted to have been
irregular manner, and they were un
justly held responsible for the conduct
of the bands of marauders, called rap
parees,* who traversed the country,
j)lundering villages, and carrying off
whole herds of cattle. Tirconnell had
sent the king a reinforcement of 3,000
troops, but the appearance of Irish sol-
diers in England was made an excuse
for the most absurd alarm ; and al-
though they were immediately dis-
armed, the monstrous falsehood was
* The rapparees are said to have been so called from
the rapary or lialf pike, whicli was their principal
weapon, besides the sgian or long knife. Many of the
Iieasantry who were guiltless of any social crime were,
in the sequel, mercilessly slaughtered as rapparees by
llie Williamites.
t Tliese troops were sent to Hungary to fight for
William's ally, the emperor, but never returned to
Ireland.
I If James had abdicated, which he certainly did not
CO, Etill his son, the prince of Wales, would have been
the legitimate heir to the crown. If lie had no son, his
the first of his subjects who rose in ai-ms
against him. No portion of Irish his-
tory is more familiar to the public than
that at which we have now arrived, and
it will suffice to state briefly the order
of events.
In England the flight of James was
pronounced to have been an abdication,
and William was thereupon invited to
fill the throne.:]: Scotland followed the
example of England, and L-eland alone
eldest daughter Mary would have inherited ; and it was
the intention of the majority in the convention assem-
bled to dispose of the matter, that she should be pro-
claimed queen, with her husband WUliam as regent, but
the latter declared that he would never consent to be
the subject of his wife, and the convention, therefore,
decided that W^illiam and Mary should reign as king
and queen, but that William should govern in the name
of both. Tlio mother of the prince of Orange was
Mary, eldest daughter of Charles I., and sister of
James II., who was, therefore, the uncle as well as the
father-in-law of William. James's otLtu: daughter,
REIGN OF JAMES II.
remained faithful to the king : the Irish
considering themselves quite as well
entitled, on every ground, to retain
.lanies for their sovereign as the Eng-
lisli and Scotch were to call a foreigner
to the throne.
Tirconnell issued commissions to sev-
eral of the Catholic nobility and gentry
to raise troops for the king's service ;
and the people responding readily to
the call, above fifty regiments of foot
and several troops of horse and dra-
goons were soon raised ; but in propor-
tion to the abundance of men w^as the
scarcity of means to equip and main-
tain them. The country had been im-
poverished, and the Catholics reduced
to ruin by the recent wars and confis-
cations ; there was a miserable supply
of arms and ammunition ; few of the
officers were skilled in military affairs ;
and there was not sufficient time to
tiain and discipline new levies.f The
Protestants, on the other hand, were
well supplied with arms ; and all that
was most valuable of their movable
property had been transferred by them
to England or Scotland, or to the quar-
ters of their friends in Ulster. Ennis-
killen, as well as Derry, had refused to
admit a garrison of James's forces ; and
although the latter town was induced
by Lord Mountjoy, a Protestant who
still adhered to King James, to receive
Ajine, deserted him and joined her husband, George,
) rince of Denmark, in William's camp.
* Abbe Magcoghegan's Jliat. of Ireland. Tirconnell
found in the government stores only 20,000 arms to dis-
tribute amoii'' the new levies : but most of them were
six companies of his regiment, half
Protestants and half Catholics, under
Lieutenant-Colonel Lundy,the Catholics
were soon sent about their business,
and on the 20th February, 1689, the
prince of Orange was proclaimed king
within the walls of Deny. The whole
of Ulster, except Chai'lemont and Car-
rickfei-gus, was now in the hands of the
Williamites, Tirconnell sent Lieutenant-
general Richard Hamilton, with about
2,500 men, against them, and for this
step he is blamed by Protestant Avriters
as having precipitated hostilities and
caused the first shedding of blood ; but
the truth is, the Ulster Protestants had
already declared war against their le-
gitimate sovereign. Lieutenant-general
Hamilton came up with some of the
Williamite forces at Dromore, on the
14th March, and having routed them,
marched against Coleraine, where the
Protestants mustered so numerously,
and were so strongly intrenched, that
he durst not venture an attack.
Hoping to encourage his friends by
his presence among them, and resolved
to strike a blow for the recovery of his
throne, James landed at Kinsale on the
12th of March, 1689, bringing with
him some Irish troops from France, and
about a hundred French officers, with a
supply of money. Pro.ceeding to Cork,
he was there met by the viceroy, Tir-
so old and unserviceable, that not above one thousand
fire-arms were found to be of any use. Neither had
they artillery or ammunition, and there was no money
— King Jamea'a Memoirs, vol. ii., p. 327.
JAMES'S ARRIVAL IN IRELAND
575
connell, whom he then created duke,
and from whom he received an account
of affairs that must have been discour-
aging enough. The Protestants of
Bandon had shortly before imitated the
example of their brethren in Derry,
but they were soon compelled to sub-
mit, and a deputation from them now
sued for pardon at the king's feet, and
were fortunate enough to escape any
other punishment than a fine of £1,000.
James hastened to Dublin, where he
arrived on the 24th, and was received
with great demonstrations of joy. He
ordered a parliament to be summoned,
and issued proclamations commanding
all those who had abandoned the coun-
try and gone to England or Scotland
to return under the penalty of being
treated as traitors, and calling upon
all to aid him against the usurper of
his throne ; also for the suppression of
robbery; and ordering Catholics who
were not in the army not to carry arms
outside their houses ; and for the raising
of money, &c.
Believing that his presence before
Derry would bring back that town to
its allegiance, James proceeded thither
contrary to the advice of Tirconnell ;
* The duke of Berwick, who was present, states iu
his memoirs that the besiegers liad only six guns ; and
a contemporary Irish authority says there were "eight
pieces of cannon in all, of which two were eighteen-
pounders, and the rest petty guns." The authority to
which we hero refer is that known as the PlunkettMS,
a contemporary History of the Civil Wars in Ireland,
preserved in the library of the earl of Fingal, at Kileeu
castle, and recently brought under public notice by Dr.
Wilde, who communicated an aua'ysis of its contents,
with cojjious extracts, to tlu> Royal Irish Academy.
The title of the work is, " A light to the blind, whereby
and appeared with his army before the
town on the 9th of April, attended by
the duke of Berwick and General De
Rosen, a French officer who came with
James to act as second in command to
Tirconnell. The actual presence of
James was not believed until a depu-
tation from the town authorities came
to the camp, and negotiations for a
surrender were then set on foot; but
the military ardor of the townspeople
being aroused, and De Rosen having
marched his troops nearer to the walls
than the preliminaries of the treaty
stipulated, the royal army was received
with a shower of cannon and musket
balls, and an officer standing near the
king was killed. Thus the negotia-
tions were broken off, and James, having
oi'dered Lieutenant-general Hamilton
to besiege the town, returned with De
Rosen to Dublin.
The investment which ensued par-
took more of the nature of a blockade
than a siege. The beleaguering army
was imperfectly supjilied with cannon,
and had but two mortars, one of which
was large, but became unserviceable
in the progress of the siege.* The
men were wretchedly equipped, and it
tliey may see the dethronement of James II., king of
England ; with a brief Narrative of the Wars in Ireland
and of the Wars of the emperor and the king of France
for the crown of Spain ; anno 1711." It is in two vols.
4to., and its author, who, according to the tradition in
Lord Fingal's family, was one Nicholas Plunkett, was
an ardent Jacobite. It was borrowed by Sir James Mack-
intosh, who made extracts, which were also enii)loyed by
the late Lord Mnciulay. who quotes it as " Light to the
Blind," in h\s UMory of England; and weare indebted
to the analysis and extracts made by Dr. Wilde for much
valuable information used in the following pagea.
REIGN OF JAMES II.
was on the whole absurd to attempt,
with such inadequate means, the re-
duction of a town strongly fortified,
well supplied with artillery and ammu-
nition, and defended by a garrison
amply numerous and animated by the
most determined resolution. The be-
siegers having no heavy guns to breach
tlie walls, directed their few cannon
against the houses which were exposed
to their range ; but it was obvious from
the beginning that they could only
liope to reduce the place by starvation,
and such being the case, General Ham-
ilton sacrificed his duty to his humanity
by allowing a large number of the
useless population to depart, and thus
enabling the besieged to protract the
defence. A Major Baker was chosen
governor of the town, Lundy, who had
ui'ged the garrison to capitulate to
King James, having been obliged to
make his escape in disguise at the com-
mencement of the siege ; and the Rev-
erend George Walker, a Protestant
clergyman, who had raised a regiment
of his own, and who, alternately in the
pulpit and on the ramparts, fired their
energy by his addresses, was made
assistant governor, but obtained the
chief command on the death of Baker.
Tlie garrison, which amounted in the
beginning to nearly 7,500 men, 'includ-
ing officers, was oi'ganized into eight
regiments, to each of which Avas con-
fided a bastion; according to Walker's
account they had twenty-two cannons,
of wliicli two were planted on the flat
roof of the church, and the others on
the walls and bastions; and many of
the townspeople soon proved expert
gunners. At the same time a numer-
ous, resolute, and merciless force of the
Enniskilleners was in the field in an-
other quarter, and gave such occupation
to the royal arms as to prevent the
sending of reinforcements to the be-
siegers; and, taking all the circum-
stances into consideration, the successful
defence of Londonderry does not seem
to be a matter for much surprise. In
some encounters which took place before
the walls extraordinary bravery was
displayed on both sides. A sortie was
made by the garrison with 5,000 men
on the 24th of April, and another in
the beginning of May, in both of which
the Irish suflfered considerable loss ; the
French lieutenant-generals, Pusiguan
and Momont, Major-General Taafte, son
of the earl of Carlingford, and Captain i
Maurice Fitzgerald being among the
slain. Two vigorous attacks were
made by the besiegers on the strong
intrenchments with which the garrison
had enclosed their outpost on Windmill
hill; but the reckless valor displayed
by the assailants, who rushed to the
enemy's breastwork, only resulted in a
useless sacrifice of life on their own
side, for the besieged suffered few casu-
alties behind their works.
At the commencement of the hostili-
ties Culmore fort, at the narrow en-
trance to the river Foyle, capitulated
to the Irish, who constructed two other
small forts (^n the banks, and drew a
boom across the liver, thus preventing
SIEGE OF DERRT.
511
the passage of shipping to convey pro-
visions to the town. On the 13th of
June, a fleet of thirty ships from Eng-
land arrived in Lough Foyle with sup-
plies of men and provisions; but
Major-general Kirke, the officer in
command, failing in his first attempt to
enter the river, anchored in the lough,
and contented himself by sending mes-
sages to the town with the assurance
that relief was at hand ; while in the
mean time famine and disease had
begun their ravages among the besieged.
Uneasy at Hamilton's want of success
before Derry, King James sent De
Rosen, marshal-general of Ireland, with
some reinforcements, to take the man-
agement of the siege into his hands.
De Rosen complained, in his letters to
the king, of the utter want of all the
necessaries of war in which he found
the army, and of the total neglect of
his majesty's commands which he wit-
nessed. Above all, there was a fatal
deficiency of heavy artillery, and he
saw that the only resource still was to
starve the garrison into submission.
To hasten this result he resorted to the
cruel expedient of collecting all the
Protestants whom he could find in the
neighboring country, to the number of
three or four hundred, and driving
them to the gates of the town. He
calculated that the garrison would
surrender rather than see their relatives
* Neither King James nor the Irish were responsible
for De Rosen's cruel proceeding (Plunliett MS. ; also
ljcs\ey's Answer to King ; and Graham's Derriana,xi.
lG'J);nor does it follow that that general would have
and friends perish under the walls,
while, if they admitted them into the
town, their provisions would be the
more speedily consumed, and the same
result rendered inevitable. These poor
people, who were chiefly those whom
General Hamilton had allowed to es-
cape from the town, lay all night before
the gates ; but the next day the be-
sieged erected a gallows on the ram-
parts and sent notice to De Rosen that
they would forthwith hang their pris-
oners, some of whom were men of rank,
unless the people before the gates were
allowed to return immediately into the
country. The threat had the desired
eSect, and De Rosen's barbarous plan,
which disgusted the Irish, and was
strongly disapproved of by James, only
served to exasperate the besieged still
more, and to enable them to send off
with the others a great many feeble per-
sons who were a burden on their re-
sources in the town.*
While Kirke's squadron lay at an-
chor in Lough Foyle, it is presumed that
the effect of English gold was tried
successfully on the officers commanding
the river forts ; for, on the 30th of Julj',
three ships laden with provisions passed
the forts and boom nearly unscathed,
although some shots were fired at them ;
and when the garrison was reduced to
the last straits by famine, and should
inevitably have capitulated within forty-
carried otit his barbarous menace ; and Plowden very
justly reminds those writers who dwell upon it, of the
bloody and treacherous massacre of Qlcncoo, the warranl
for wliich bore King William's own sign-maniml.
578
REIGN OF JAMES II.
eight hours, the town was relieved. The
aliortive siege, the failure of which se-
cured Ireland to William of Orange,
was now raised, and the royal army
fiually decamped on the 5th of August.*
We now return to James, who, as
already stated, hastened back to Dublin
on giving orders for the investment of
Deny. On the 7th of May he opened
his parliament in person, wearing on
the occasion a crown newly manufac-
tured for him in Dublin.f This Irish
parliament declared itself independent
of the parliament of England, and
passed the first act made in these realms
for liberty of conscience. To the Cath-
olic clergy it granted the right to re-
ceive the tithes payable by the mem-
1 lers of their own communion ; and after
a violent opposition from the Protestant
members, it repealed the Act of Settle-
ment, and passed an Act of Attainder
against those who had taken up arms
* The Reverend Colonel Walker, in his diary, admits
tliat the garrison was diminished by 3,000 men during
the siege, and that 7,000 persons in all died of disease in
the town in that time. The Reverend John Mackenzie,
a Presbyterian clergyman, who was present, and has also
left an account of the siege, shows that no reliance can
be placed on Walker's facts or figures, and states that
"it was thought 10,000 had died during the siege, be-
sides those that died soon after ; and the report of a
committee of the House of Commons in 1705 makes the
number of those who perished on the Protestant side by
sword or famine in that siege, 12,000. Walker gives a
tariff of the prices paid during the latter days of the siege
for horses' flesh and other carrion. The Irish admitted
a loss on their own side of 2,000 (Plunkett MS.), but
Walker's estimate of 8,000 is a gross exaggeration. The
duke of Berwick says the Irish blockading force before
Dcrry did not exceed ,5,000 or 6.000 men ; and according
to Magcoghegan it amounted at no time to more than
10,000. The regimented force within the city was,
by Walker's account, between 7,300 and 7,400 ; but the
entire armed force within the walls, including the non-
against King James, or who, having
gone to England or Scotland, or to the
Protestant quarters in Ulster, had re-
fused to comply with the king's procla-
mation calling on them to return to
their homes and their allegiance. To
form a just appreciation of these latter
measures a slight retrospect is necessary.
Had the Irish, in the war of 1649,
succeeded in vanquishing their regicide
enemy, their triumph would have been
universally celebrated, and no one
would have questioned the justness of
their cause; but being unfortunate in
the contest, they were subjected to a
frightful and merciless spoliation, which
the annals of no other country can
parallel, and which no law could justify.
We have seen hovs^, by the sole right of
the strong band, the Irish Catholic no-
bility and gentry were depr'ived of their
estates; how their wide ancestral do-
mains were divided amona; rude soldiers
regimented men, was over 10,000. (See the authorities
collected by Mr. O'Callaghan in his invaluable notes and
illustrations to the Micaria Excidium, or Destruction oj
Cypress, pp. 318-382, a work of profound and elaborate
research, and which munt be the indispensable text-book
of future historians of the Williamite wars in Ireland.)
Governor Walker had advised a capitulation, and the
negotiations for the purpooe had been on foot some days
before the relief arrived. The discrepancies in the dates
of these events are singular, llias various accounts give
the 28th, 30th, and 31st as the date of the relief of Derry,
and the Ist or 5th of August as that of the siege being
raised.
■)• Plimkett MS. This parliament, which sat in the
King's Inns, was attended by 46 peers and 228 common-
ers. Among the former were the Protestant bishops of
Meath, Ossory, Limerick, and Cork and Ross, two others
(the primate and bishop of Watcrford) acting by proxy ;
but no Catholic prelates were grnnraoned.' The parlia-
ment was prorogued on the 18th of July, having sat
about ten weeks.
EXPEDIENTS FOR RAISING MONEY.
579
and unprincipled adventurers; how
tlie very fact of being Irish in race and
Catholic in religion was a crime involv-
ing expulsion from home and country ;
how the English parliament of Charles
II., and an Irish parliament, composed
chiefly of the Cromwellian plunderers
themselves, ratified the atrocious spolia-
tion; and, finally, how the sittings of
the Court of Claims were suspended
when it was found, after a few cases
had been heard, that a door was opened
to the Catholic Irish to obtain even a
modicum of justice, although more than
3,000 claims still remained to be inves-
tigated. Twenty-sis years elapsed, and
King James's Irish parliament, repre-
senting the true feelings of the nation,
seized the very first opportunity which
presented to repeal the infamous act of
robbery. As to the Act of Attainder,
passed on the same occasion, its results,
so far as the question of property was
concerned, would have been nearly
identical with those of the Act of Set-
tlement, the persons who would be
affected by both being nearly the same ;
but as neither of these acts came into
operation, their grievances are specu-
lative. The reader Avill balance the
original injustice against the projected
measure of reprisal ; and when he finds
English historians lavishing their elo-
quent vituperations on the latter, while
* Ou this particular subject no writer has been moia
unjust than the late Lord Macaulay ; nor has any Eng-
lish historian ever treated this country more unfairly or
ungenerously than that eloquent writer has generally
done in his historical works. lie revived the exploded
calumnies and lanatical bigotry of a past age, and not
they either ignore the former or dispose
of it with a word of contemptuous pity,
his reliance on the statements of men
so shamefully blinded by prejudice may
well be shaken.""'
James was utterly averse to these
measures of the Irish parliament. He
considered that the commons were ac-
celerating his destruction. Their legis-
lation, it is true, was precipitate and
reckless, and it would have been better
had they waited till they held a surer
footing. The Act of Attainder even
curtailed the royal prerogative, by de-
priving the king of the power to pardon
the persons attainted ; and it is doubt-
ful whether James would have given
his consent to that, or to the repeal of
the Act of Settlement, but for the influ-
ence of the French ambassador, Avau.x.
James's great want was money. The
sum which he had brought from France
went but a short way; and his diflS-
culties compelled him to resort to the
most desperate and arbitrary expedi-
ents. Old guns and bells were melted
down and converted into coin, which
was made current by proclamations im-
posing the severest penalties on those
who would refuse to accept it in ex-
change for commodities. Some of this
coift was subsequently called in and
restamped for a higher value. At
length even pewter was employed for
only did he seize every opportunity to sully the character
of the Irish, and to insult their religious and national
feelings, but in innumerable instances he went out of
his way to do so. Unfortunately, the talents of the
writer only aggravate tlio error or dishonesty of th«
historian.
580
REIGN OF JAMES H.
the coinage, and money degenerated
into mere tokens representing a ficti-
tious value, which, however, James's
government pledged itself to make
good at a future day. In the end, the
loss by this base coinage fell almost
exclusively on the Catholics ; but that
Protestants should have been at any
time compelled to receive it has been
a subject of unmeasured declamation
against James*
The same day that Londonderry was
relieved, an Irish army, under Lieuten-
ant-general Justin MacCarthy, Lord
Mountcashel, was defeated by the En-
niskilleners at Newtown-Butler. This
overthrow, it is said, was mainly caused
by an unlucky mistake of the word of
command. At the onset the Irish dra-
goons, who were already dispirited by
a repulse which they had received that
morning near Lisnaskea, were easily
thrown into confusion by a supposed
order to retreat, and the ill-disciplined
foot seeing themselves, as they believed,
deserted by their cavalry, were panic-
stricken. The Enniskilleners were com-
manded by Colonel Wolseley, an Eng-
* The use of a base coinage for Ireland was a favorite
resource with many of James's predecessors on the
English throne. Henry VIII. made a severe law to pre-
vent the introduction into England of any of the base
money which he coined for Ireland ; and Elizabeth's
Irish coin, at the close of her reign, was so bad that the
shilling was only valued at two pence by the goldsmiths.
(Nicholson' s. Irish Ilist. Library, p. 79, fol.) The mixed
metal used by James II, in his Irish mint was valued by
the workmen at no more than four pence per pound, so
that the actual value of the metal which was coined into
more than a million<and a half of this base money, was
only about £0,500 sterling. Still, the scheme of James
was not worse, at least in its design, than that of the
•ssignats or paper currency of more modern provisional
lish officer ; they were well armed, were
experienced marksmen, and already
inured to war. Their watchword was
" No Popery ;" they determined to give
no quarter; and during the evening,
and the whole night, and a great part
of the next day they continued with
the most inveterate fury to slaughter
the unarmed fugitives whom they
hunted down in the bogs and woods
with a savage ferocity that has made
even the Williamite historians blush.
Five hundred of the flying Jacobites
plunged into Lough Erne, to escape the
carnage, and perished all but one man.
Lord Mountcashel, who sought death
in vain, was carried prisoner to Ennis-
killen, whence he made his escape on
the iVth of December, before he had
recovered from his numerous wounds ;
and such was the consternation which
the disaster produced, that Brigadier
Sarsfield, who commanded a detach-
ment at Sligo, was obliged to retire to
Athlone, and leave the northern frontier
of Connaught open to the Enniskillen-
ers.f
These reverses were followed by the
governments. In the proclamation of 3d William and
Mary, dated Feb. 34, 1690-91, declaring James's mixed-
metal coin to be no longer current, it is expressly stated
that the Irish then had in their possession " the whole
or the far greater part of the said coin." (See Simon's
Essay on. Irish Coins, pp. 56-64, and Append., p. 111.)
f The author of the Plunkett MS. asserts that the
rout at Newtown-Butler arose, as stated above, from a
mistake in the command. Lord Mountcashel fearing
that lus right flank would be turned by the enemy, gave
the order " right face" to the dragoons ; but this was
unfortunately repeated by the subordinate officers as
" right about face," which made the other troops sup-
pose that these were retreating, and a general panic
ensued. The Williamite historian. Story, relates the
DESTITUTION OF THE KING'S ARMY.
581
arrival of the duke of Schomberg, who
landed at Bangor, in Down, on the
13th of August, 1689, with an army
composed of Dutch, French Huguenots,
and new English levies. On the 17th
he marched to Belfast, and on the 27th,
after a siege of eight days, Carrickfer-
gus was surrendered to him on honora-
ble terms by its Jacobite governor,
Colonel Charles MacCarthy More,
Avhose garrison consisted only of his
own regiment and of nine companies
of the regiment of Colonel Corraac
O'Neill, and who was reduced to his
last barrel of powder before he yielded.
On the 7th of September Schomberg
marched to Dundalk, near which he
strongly intrenched himself; but the
situation was most unhealthy, and his
army soon began to suffer so fearfully
from dysentery, and the effects of a wet
season, that he dared not give battle to
King James, who had arrived from
Dublin, and who in vain challenged the
Williamite general from his lines, two
or three miles distant. The Enniskil-
leners and Dutch in Schomberg's army
suffered comparatively little, but the
English were reduced to a fourth of
their original number, and it has been
estimated that 10,000 men or fully one-
half of the entire Williamite force per-
islied of sickness, scarcity, and the bad-
circumstance in tbe same way ; and Colonel Anthony
Uamilton and Captain Lavallin having been subsequent-
ly tried by a court-martial for the blunder in Dublin,
the latter officer was shot. Colonel Hamilton was a
brother of the general wiio commanded before Derry,
and in later years became famous in the French court
as a brilliant poet, novelist, uud wit. The Either of these
ness of the season in that fatal encamfv-
ment. James has been censurt'd for
neglecting to attack Schomberg's camp
at such a juncture, and for abandoning
his position too soon ; for he retired to
winter-quarters in November, and thus
permitted the enemy to remove from a
camp where the mortality whit;h pre-
vailed must soon have destroyed them
even without fighting. Neither energy
nor wisdom was, however, to be ex-
pected from that ill-fated king, who
unfortunately retained in his own hands
the chief command of his army, and
whose natural vacillation was increased
by the conflicting counsels of his gen-
erals. Thus terminated the campaign
of 1689.
Stimulated by his recent losses, and
by complaints of his inaction, and well
supplied by sea from England with
every necessary, Schomberg was able
to take the field early in the eventful
year 1690: while, on the other hand,
James's army was in want of every
thing, and could not be mustered or put
in marching order till the season was
far advanced. James's orders were
neglected; he had scarcely any maga-
zines along his frontier; and so desti-
tute was his army of fodder, that they
should wait till the grass grew to enable
their horses to render any service even
Hamiltons was son of the earl of Abercoru, and their
mother a sister of the first duke of Ormond, who used
to say that all his relatives were Koman Catholics.
Lord Mountcashel was tried by a court of honor in
France, and acquitted of any rreach of parole in his es-
cape bom Enniskillen.
582
REIGN OF JAMES II.
ibi- draught. He was strongly urged
],\ the French officers to withdiaw into
Connaught and act on the defensive,
with the Shannon for his frontier, until
he could receive succor from France ;
Ijut to this coui'se he was resolutely
opposed, and he was supported in his
views by Tii-connell. His hopes of aid
from France must have been very slen-
der. His friend and ally, Louis .XIV.,
lequired all his resources to employ
against his own numerous enemies.
Luuvois, the French minister of war,
was liitterly ojjposed to James, and
always argued that it was more the
interest of France to attack William on
the Flemish frontier than, in Ireland;
and although Seignelay, the minister of
iiKuiiie, was James's friend, the service
which he could render was not suffi-
cient. The French officers did not rel-
ish their duties under James, and were
constantly sending to their court de-
sponding accounts, often but too true,
and which supported the views of Lou-
* On these matters, as well as on the events related
in this chapter generally, we may refer the reader to
the autliorities collected by Mr. O'CaUaghan in his
elaborate annotations to the Macarim Excidium, and to
the researclies of the same laborious investigator in the
second edition of his Greeji Book.
\ The battle of Cavan, which has been but slightly
noticed by other historians, is minutely described in the
Plunkett MS. After relating how Marshal Schomberg
had sent Brigadier Wolseley with a detachment of Eu-
niskilleners and English to Cavan, to extend his quar-
ters in that direction, and how King James, being
informed of this movement, dispatched Brigadier Nu-
gent with SOO men from Westmeath and Longford, and
the duke of Berwick with a like quota from the county
of Dublin, the author continues : " Both the royal corps
for the most part arrived at the open town of Cavan on
the lOtli of February. They were all foot except a
troop or two cf horse. Brigadii-r Wolseley came to
vols. Neither Avaux nor the energetic
and aspiring De Rosen, who was a Li-
vonian by birth, would show the fallen
monarch even common respect, and
both of them were, at James's desire,
recalled to France. In March this year
six battalions, or 6,000 men, arrived
from France under the command of
Count de Lauzun, who was also to act
in the capacity of ambassador; but
these French troops were rather an ex-
change than a reinforcement, for James
sent by the same conveyance to France
as many of his best-equipped and best-
trained soldiers, foi-ming the division of
Lord Mountcashel, whom Tirconnell
disliked, and therefore caused to be re-
moved. The French brought twelve
field-pieces and some arms and clothing
for the Irish, but Louvois took care that
the clothing and arms should be of the
worst description.*
In February, 1690, the Jacobites suf-
fered some loss in an affidr at Cavan ;f
and soon after the fort of Charlemont
the place on the 11th, in the morning, with 700 foot
and COO horse and dragoons. The duke of Berwick
being alarmed and not well prepared, drew his men out
of the town to an open ground, by which he gave an
advantage to the enemy, who, seeing their position,
placed their foot between the hedges of the avenues of
the town, and took the defensive. The king's forces
being divided into two wings, assaulted the rebels
within their fences. The charge being given and
maintained smartly, a party of the Irish horse broke
another of the enemy's ; but the left wing of the roy-
alists being so overcome with fighting that they were
forced to retire into a fort that was near them, the
right, fighting at the like disadvantage, retreated also
thither, by which the rebels gained the field. Of the
royal party there were about 200 killed, amongst whom
was Brigadier Nugent, much regretted for his bravery.
were Adjutant Gcoghcgan and Captain Stritch, and
a few other otEcers. There
ten officers mado
WILLIAM ARRIVES IN" IRELAND.
583
was invested by a strong detachment
of Schomberg's army. Teige O'Kegan,
the veteran governor of Chailemont,
defended the place with obstinate
bravery, and only thought of capitulat-
ing when reduced to the last extremity
by starvation. At length, on the 14th
of May, the fort was surrendered on
lionorable terms, the garrison, consist-
ing of 800 men, being allowed to march
out with arms and baggage, and with
them about 200 women and children.
As an instance of the distress to which
they were reduced, we are told by
Story that only a few fragments of
decayed food were found in the fort,
and that some of the men as they
marched out were chawing pieces of
dry hide with the hair on. The En-
niskilliners treated the Irish soldiers
and their families with great brutality
as they passed along, but Schomberg
humanely directed that a loaf of bread
should be given to each man at Armagh,
lb was well known for some time that
William intended to conduct the Irish
campaign of 1690 in person, and the
spirits of his array and adherents in this
countrj^ were consequently raised to a
high pitch. He embarked near Ches-
ter, on the 11th of June, and landed at
Carrickfei-gus on the afternoon of the
14th, attended by Prince George of
Denmark, the duke of Wurtemberg,
pnsoners, of whom were Captain Netterville, Captain
Daniel O'Neill, Captain O'Brien, and Captain Qacrge
M'Gee. Of the enemy there were slain, Trahem, Captain
Armstrong. Captain Mayo, and near fifty private men,
and about sixty wounded. Brigadier Wolsclcy ri'turncd
the prince of Hesse-Darmstadt, the
duke of Ormond, the earls of Oxford,
Portland, Scarborough, and Manches-
ter, Lord Douglas, the Count de Sol-
mes, Major-general Mackay, and othei'
persons of distinction. He immediately
took horse, and at the Whitehouse,
half-way between Carrickfergns and
Belfast, was met by Schomberg, whose
carriage he entered, and thus drove to
Belfast, where he was received with
loud shouts of " God bless the Protest-
ant king." Notice of his arrival was
soon transmitted through the country
by bonilres, and the discharge of can-
non at the different Williamite quarters.
His army, combined with that of Schom-
berg, amounted, according to the most
probable estimate, to between forty
and fifty thousand men, and was com-
posed of a strange medley of nations,
English, Scotch, Irish Protestants,
French Huguenots, Dutch, Swedes,
Danes, and Brandenburghers or Prus-
sians, with smaller recruitments from
Switzerland and Norway; more than
half were foreigners, and on these Wil-
liam placed his chief reliance, the fidel-
ity of the English in a struggle against
their old king being somewhat doubt-
ful. All, however, were well trained,
and most of them veteran troops, and
all were armed and equipped in the
best possible manner. They were sup-
to his own quarters, having first burnt the town of
Cavan, not being able to keep it because the castle was
in possession of the Irish." See Dr. Wilde's Extract
from " Light to the Blind," in Transactions of the Boyal
Irish Academy.
584
REIGN OF JAMES H.
plied with everything requisite for war,
and more especially with a numeroas
train of artillery.
On the 16th of June, James left Dub-
lin to march against his adversary vrith
an army of about 20,000 men, imper-
fectly disciplined, and scantily supplied
with even the most necessary require-
ments for a campaign. He had many
bi-ave officers ; his French division was
composed of first-rate troops, well equip-
ped and appointed ; the Irish horse
were admirable ; but the dragoons were
not so well trained ; the Irish infantry
consisted for the most part of raw
levies, scarcely half armed; and for
artillery he was only able to take with
him the twelve field-pieces which he
had recently received from France.*
James advanced to Dundalk, while
William was encamped a few miles be-
yond Newry ; and, in order to ascer-
tain the strength of the enemy, the
former dispatched, on the 2 2d of June,
Colonel Dempsey, with 60 horse, and
Lieutenant-colonel Fitzgerald, with a
few companies of grenadiers, to lie in
wait for one of William's reconnoitring
parties. This duty was so well per-
formed that a Williamite detachment
of between 200 and 300 foot and dra-
goons were routed with great loss at
the half-way bridge between Dundalk
and Newry. An English officer, who
* Lord Macaulav, who quotes from the dispatches of
Araux several passages describing the condition of the
Irish army, says ; " Almost all the Irish gentlemen
who had any military experience held commissious in
the cavalry ; and by the exertions of these officers some
regiments had been raised and disciplined, which Avaux
was made prisoner, represented Wil-
liam's army as 50,000 strong ; and, al-
though this was supposed by James to
have been a gross exaggeration intended
to have the efi'ect of inducing him to
fly, it is probable that it was not very
remote from the truth. This slight
success cheered the Irish, but their
spirits were damped on the following
morning, when James commenced his
retrograde movement and retired to
Ardee. The army retreated by easy
marches, and on the 28th commenced
recrossing the Boyne, on the right bank
of which river James resolved to make
a stand. Irish historians are loud in
their condemnation of James's tactics.
His irresolution, they argue, destroyed
the confidence of his men ; his retreat
from Dundalk made them feel all the
discouragement of defeat; and then,
they say, he should not have hazarded
a battle against such superior forces, or
on a line so defenceless as that of the
Boyne. From James's memoirs, how-
ever, it appears that his original design
was to protract the campaign as much
as possible, and that when he deter-
mined to fight at the Boyne it was
because he would have been obliged to
abandon all Leinster to the enemy had
he left the passage of that river open.
On the 30th of June the hostile
forces first confronted each other on
pronomiced equal to any that he had ever seen. It
was, therefore," he admits, "evident that the ineffi-
ciency of the foot and of the dragoons was to be ascril>ed
to the vices, not of the Irish character, bat of the Irish
administration."— J3t««. of Eng., vol. v., p. 43.
^ \ A I ^
Tf^r~^
FAHRHi & SO!) -JE-A' YORK
BATTLE OF THE BOYNE.
585
fhe opposite banks of the Boyne. The
Jacobite army was encamped on the
declivity of the hill of Donore, with
its right wing towards Drogheda and
its left extending up the river. As
there are no considerable inequalities
in the surface, thp whole of James's
lines must have been visible from the
heights on the opposite side of the
river, and to a great extent exposed to
the fire of the enemy's artillery. James's
centre was at the small hamlet of Old-
bridge, close to the bank, where he
caused some intrenchments to be has-
tily thrown up to defend the principal
fords, of which there ai'e four near
this point, a fifth being a little lower
down the stream, and two or three
others a few miles higher up in the
direction of Slaue. There are two
islands in the river near Oldbiidge
which facilitafe the passage; and at
that season, which was remarkable for
drought, and at the time of low-water,
the Boyne was fordable throughout a
great part of its course. The king
himself took up his position at a small
ruined church on the top of the hill
of Donore, where a tuft of ash-trees
now forms a conspicuous landmark.
On the northern side of the Bo3''ne
the high land of the interior terminates
in a steep and lofty bank, which almost
» See second edition of Wihle'a Boyne and Black-
water, for the best topograjiliiciil description of the battle-
Cold, as well as for an excellent and connected account
of the battle.
t Story, the "VViUiamite historian, admits that Wil-
Ham had 30,000 men that day in the field, but adds
74
overhangs the river for several miles,
but recedes opposite the angle which
the stream forms at Oldbridge, so as
to leave a small plain between the
heights and the water ; the line of hills
being also at this point intersected by
three deep ravines, one of which is now
known as King William's glen. Thus
the Williamite army, approaching from
the north, was completely screened
from view amtil it appeared on the
brow of the hill, or debouched through
the ravines into the plain : the charac-
ter of the country being therefore
highly favorable to William, who
planted batteries along the heights and
kept up an incessant fire from his artil-
lery on the Irish lines during the after-
noon of the 30th.'''
The precise numerical strength of
the two armies is a matter of some con-
troversy, but all agree in admitting a
vast superiority in numbers, equipment,
and artillery on the side of the Wil-
liamites. The duke of Berwick, who
was one of James's commanders, and
whose statements are generally found
to be accurate and free from exaggera-
tion, tells us that his father's army
amounted to 23,000 men, while that of
William was at least 45,000, and this
account is perha2:)s as near the exact
truth as we can hope to ai-rive.f The
that the world reckoned the number at least one-third
greater, that is 48,000. Now, weighing all the circum-
stances, there is good reason to believe tliat " the world"
was nearer to the truth than Story. !Mr. O'Callaghan has
shown from foreign WUliamito contemporary authori-
ties that William's army at the Bojijo consisted of 63
)86
REIGN OF JAMES TI.
disparity of numbers was, however, one
of tlie least disadvantages under wliicli
the Jacobite array labored. They were,
as we have, seen, ill provided with any
of tlie necessaries of war ; many of
them were raw levies ; they could have
no confidence in their imbecile com-
mander; and their only artillery con-
sisted of the twelve French field-guns :
M'hilst against them was marshalled a
numerous and veteran army, abun-
dantly supplied with every thing ; com-
manded by one of the greatest generals
of the age, with a host of experienced
ofiicers under him, among whom the
veteran Schomberg was perhaps his
equal in military skill; and with a
train of artillery comprising more than
fifty field-pieces and some mortars.
An incident occurred in the course
of the afternoon of the 30th which was
near determining the issue of the con-
test. "William rode close to the river-
side to reconnoitre, and the group of
officers attending him having attracted
the attention of Tircounell, the duke
of Berwick, and some other Jacobite
ofiicers who were riding on the oppo-
site bank, the latter, or King James
himself, as the royal memoirs intimate,
squadrons of horse and dragoons, and 53 battalions of
infantry ; and he has concluded from his laborious re-
pcarches among military papers in Trinity CoUege, the
State Paper OflBce, and the British Museum, that whatever
may have been the actual number of William's troops
in the field, his army on this occasion amounted by the
regimental roll to 51,000, includir^g officers. The
author of the Plunkett JIS., who, however, has faUen
into several errors in his account of fhe battle of the
Boyne, agrees very nearly with Story, for he makes the
forces of the prince of Orange consist of 36,000 effective
ordered two guns to be ln'cught to bear
upon the distinguished party. At the
second shot a six-pound ball grazed
William's right shoulder, cariying away
a portion of the skin ; and the effect
having been observed from the Irish
side the rumor spread that "William was
mortally wounded. To remove the
alarm which was produced among his
own men he rode that evening through
every part of his camp, and seemed to
make light of the occurrence ; but iii
the mean time, the news that he had
been hit by a cannon-ball, and, as it
was supposed, fatally, was transmitted
to Dublin and thence to France, and
so became known throughout Europe
some time before the account of the
battle was received, the efifect being
such as might have been expected ac-
cording as it reached friends or foes.
With an unaccountable infatuation
James appeared resolved to destroy
any hope of success which his army
might still have cherished. One mo-
ment he determined on a general re-
treat, and for that purpose ordered the
camp to be raised; but the next, he
altered his plan, and having sent ofi" the
baggage and six of his twelve field-
men, forming 2 troops of guards, 23 regiments of horse,
5 of dragoons, and 4G of foot ; while according to him,
James had but 8 regiments of horse, 3 troops of guards,
7 of dragoons, and 50 regiments of foot, besides G regi-
ments of French, the whole amounting to 26,000 men.
(Compare Dr. Wilde's extracts from Plunkett MS. aa
before quoted, with the copious authorities collected by
Jlr. O'Callaghan from James's Memoirs, the Memoirs of
the duke of Berwick, Story's History, and various Wil
liamite sources, in his Annotations to Macariw Exci
dium; also second edition of the Grun Book)
BATTLE OP THE BOYNE.
587
pieces to Dubliu, be apparently made
up bis mind to i-isk a battle. Tbe re-
moval of the baggage was a good pre-
paration for an orderly retreat, but it
was a plain intimation to tbe army tbat
a retreat was contemplated; and tbe
loss of tbe artillery was a fatal diminu-
tion of strength. Tbe king indeed
tbougbt of nothing but tbe means to
keep tbe way open in bis rear ; and all
bis anxiety was tbat tbe enemy should
not, by a flank movement, cut off bis
retreat to tbe south, where some say be
bad already privately directed prepa-
rations for his flight to France. Still,
with such apprehensions for bis per-
sonal safety, it is strange bow difiicult
it was to persuade bim to take any
precautions for tbe defence of tbe fords
up the river ; for late on tbe eve of the
battle be could only be induced to send
Sir Niall O'Neill, with his regiment of
dragoons, to defend tbe pass of Eossna-
ree, about four miles from the Irish
camp towards Slane.
The morning of Tuesday, July 1st
(old style), 1690, dawned bright and
viuclouded on tbe hostile camps. Tbe
first movement observed in tbe Wil-
liaiulte army was tbe march, at sunrise,
of a division of 10,000 picked men,
under tbe command of Lieutenant-gen-
eral Douglass, Count Scbomberg (tbe
marshal's son), and Lord Portland, tbe
last commanding the infantry, along
the heights in the direction of Slane.
James's Lish officers bad prepared bim
for this movement the night before,
and he now saw bis fatal error in reject-
ing their advice to provide against it
Lie hastily ordered the whole of his
left wing, which included Lauzun's
French division, with part of bis centre,
and his six remaining field-pieces, to
march with all possible expedition to
oppose tbe flanking division; but it
was too late to obstruct their passage.
Tbe enemy bad made all their prepara-
tions the night before, and bad got the
start. The Williamite cavalry forced
tbe passage of the river at Rossnaree,
which was gallantly defended by Sir
Niall O'Neill, who was mortally wound-
ed, and lost seventy of bis men. Port-
land's infantry and tbe artillery crossed
at Slane, where tbe bridge bad been
broken, but tbe river was fordable.*
James accompanied, or rather followed,
Lauzuu and tbe left wing, and professed
to expect that tbe brunt of the fighting
would be in that quarter, where, bow-
ever, no action did take place ; for the
two hostile corps found themselves
separated within half-cannon range by
a ravine and a bog, which neither at-
tempted to pass, and thus they did not
come into actual collision during tbe
day. Their subsequent movements we
shall presently notice.
About ten o'clock, William having
learned tbat his manoeuvre on tbe right
had succeeded, already felt assured of
tbe victory.f It was tbe time of low-
water, and the hour for attempting the
fords of Oldbridge bad arrived. A
• Plunkctt MS.
f " Had the Irish," observes a military authority,
' even thrown thoir opponents back into the river, still
588
KEIGN OF JAMES II.
tremendous fire from all liis batteries
was opened on the -u'bole line of the
[rish, who had not a single gun to re-
j)]}-,' but who nevertheless steadily-
awaited the attack. "William had di-
rected his men to wear green, boughs
in their caps; while James, in compli-
ment to his Bourbon ally, had decorated
his with strips of white paper. Mar-
shal Schomberg had opposed William's
plan of battle in the council of war, but
his views were deemed old-fashioned
and were overruled, and he was the
man commanded by William to direct
the passage of the centre at Oldbridge.
The Dutch blue guards, described as
some of the most effective infantry in
the world, were the first, marching ten
abreast, to enter the stream, under
Jouut de Solmes, at the highest ford)
opposite Oldbridge. So shallow was
the water here that the drummers only
required to raise the drums to their
knees. The Londonderry and Eunis-
killen horse next, plunged in, and at
their left the French Huguenots enter-
ed, under Caillemot, brother of the
Marquis de Kuvigny. The English
infantry came next under Sir John
Ilanmer and the Count Nassau ; lower
down were the Danes ; and at the fifth
ford, which was considerably nearer to
Drogheda, and at which the water was
deeper than at any of the former, Wil-
liam himself crossed with the cavalry
of his left wing. Thus was the Boyne,
for nearly a mile of its course, filled
with thousands of armed men, strug-
gling to gain the opposite bank, in the
face of a foe their equals in gallantry,
but greatly inferior in numbers, disci-
pline, and arms.
The duke of Berwick, whose words
we translate, tells us that the king, his
father, having marched in the direction
of Slane " w'ith the greater part of the
army," "left to guard the passage of
Oldbridge eight battalions of infantry,
under Lieutenant-general Hamilton,
and the right wing of the cavalry,
under his (the duke of Berwick's)
orders." "Schomberg," he continues,
" who remained opposite us, attacked
and took Oldbridge in spite of the re-
sistance of the regiment which was
stationed there, and which lost 150
men killed on the spot; whereupon
Hamilton went down with the seven
other battalions to expel the enemy.
Two battalions of the (Irish) guards
scattered them ; but their cavalry hav-
ing managed to pass at another ford,
and proceeding to fall upon our infan-
try, I brought up our cavalry, and
thus enabled our battalions to retire ;
but we had then to commence a combat
very unequal, both in the number of
the squadrons, and iii the nature of the
ground, which was very much broken,
and where the enemy had slipped in
their infantry. Nevertheless, we charged
again and again ten different times, and
at length, the enemy, confounded by
our boldness, halted, and we reformed
WiUiam's advancing on their flank, wkicli was uncov-
ered, could not bo remedied. The attack by Slane was
the grand manoeuvTC." Lieutenant-general Keating'j
Defence of Ireland, chap, v., p. I'J.
BATTLE OF THE LOYNE.
589
befoi'e tbem, and marclied at a slow
pace to rejoin the king."* This is the
honest narrative of a soldier who -was
in the thick of the fight. The few
Irish foot left to defend the fords were,
in point of numbers, utterly inade-
quate ; and it is admitted that very
few of them had muskets, their princi-
pal arm being the pike. At the onset
they saw themselves unsupported, and
had already suffered severely before
the horse came to sustain them ; so
that, under the circumstances, it does
not detract from their character as brave
men that they should have given way.
Tirconnell, w^ho held the chief command,
in the absence of James, behaved like
a gallant soldier; but it would have
required more consummate generalship
than he possessed to retrieve the for-
tune of the day against such fearful
odds. The Irish cavalry fought with
desperate valor, the only exceptions
being Clare's and Dungan's dragoons ;
and the latter regiment having lost
their gallant young commander by a
cannon-shot at the commencement of
the action, their discouragement was per-
haps excusable. It w\is also unfortu-
* Momoircs dii Marechal de Berwick, i., 70. From
this passage of tbo duke's memoirs it •will bo observed
that King James, as already stated above, had accom-
panied I..iuzun and the left wing, and consequently that
lie could not have been a spectator of the battle from
the top of Donoro, according to the commonly received
notion. The same also appears from Lauzun's dispatch
of tho 26th of July, from Limerick, and from James's
own memoirs, vol. ii., p. 095, &c. James, therefore, wit-
nessed none of the Cghling at tho Boyne, and the com-
mon error on tho subject originated probably in the
Williamite accounts.
nate for the Irish that Sarsfield's horse
accompanied the king that morning as
his body-guard, and were thus pre-
vented from taking any part in the
conflict. By one of the charges of the
Irish cavalry the Danish brigade was
driven back into the river. The
Huguenot regiments were so hotly re-
ceived that they also were compelled
to recoil, and their commander, Caille-
mot, was mortally wounded. Old
Schomberg, who watched the struggle
from the northern bank, now plunged
into the river with the impetuosity of
a young man, although he was then in
his eighty-second summer. He refused
to buckle on his cuirass, although
pressed to do so by his staff, and has-
tened to rally the wavering Huguenots
at Oldbridge ; but at that moment a
troop of the Irish horse-guards dashed
furiously into the thick of the enemy,
and although most of their own num-
ber were cut down, it was found when
they retired that the gray-headed mar-
shal was no more. He received two
sabre wounds on the head, and a car-
bine bullet in the neck.f About the
sam"B time Dr. Walker, to whom Wil-
t There are various accounts of the death of Schom-
berg. King James asserts that ho was killed at Old-
bridge " by Sir Charles Take or O'Toule, an exempt of
tho guards ;" but the Williiimito report was that he
was shot by a trooper of his own guard who deserted
the year before {Captain Parker's Memoirs). Berwick
says it was the blue ribbon which he wore that made
him a special object in the melee. Story says ho was
" fourscore and two" when ho was killed, and that his
loss " was more considerable than all that were lost on
both sides." Ili-s remains were taken to Dublin, em-
balmed, and deposited in St. Patrick's Cathedral until
590
REIGX OF JAMES II.
liain Lad just given the See of London-
deiry, was shot dead in the ford while
ui-o-iii"- forward the Ulster Protestants;
and when William heard of his death,
he gruffly asked, " What brought him
there?" Where there were gallant
officers enough to lead the men, he
thought the churchman was out of
his place. The battle raged with ter-
rific fury ; the tide had begun to flow,
and the passage of the river was be-
coming more difficult; but the Irish
horse of one wing had to resist, unsup-
ported, the advance of the whole horse
and foot of William's left and centre,
and mere human valor was not equal
to the task. Richard Hamilton, who
behaved like a hero all that day, was
wounded and taken prisoner. William,
who did not cross the river until late
in the action, came up, and leaving his
English cavalry, placed himself at the
head of the Euniskilleners, saying that
they should be his body-guard that
day, although one of them, in the ex-
citement of the moment, mistook him
for an enemy, and was on the point of
killing him. A little later in the day
those same Euniskilleners were put to
flight rather ignominiously, by the
Irish horse at Flatten, and were only
rallied by William himself. At length
the retreat of the Irish became general ;
but the cavalry retired in admirable
order, and covered the broken masses
of the infantry. Long before this an
they should, at a future time, be removed to Westmin-
BtiT Abbey. But they have since remained in their
first reatiiijj-ijince.
aid-de-camp brought news to James
that the enemy had made good their
passage at Oldbridge, whereupon the
luckless king ordered Lauzun to march
on a parallel direction with that of
Douglas and young Schomberg towards
Duleek, which place he reached before
the flying throng of the Irisli foot.
Tirconnell came up next ; and now the
French infantry for the first time ren-
dered good service by their admirable
discipline, preserving their own order
and co-operating with the Irish cavalry
in covering the retreat. Berwick's
horse was the last to cross the narrow
jDass of Duleek with the Williamites
close in their rear; but beyond the
defile the Irisli rallied and once more
presented a front to the enemy. Five
of the six field-pieces whicli James had
taken with him in the morning towards
Slane were still available, the sixth
having been bogged on the way ; and
the Williamite pursuei-s reined up their
steeds, although at this time William
was rejoined by young Schomberg and
Douglas with the right wing. Again
the retreat was resumed in good order,
and William's horse pursued, keeping
still a respectable distance ; and at the
deep defile of Naul the last stand was
made. It was now nine o'clock; the
fighting had lasted since ten in the
forenoon ; the Irisli and French at bay
showed a grim and determined front ;
and the foe, wearied with the day's
work, gladly received orders to return
to Duleek.
Thus was the Boyne lost and won.
RETREAT OF THE IRISH.
591
Let no partisan feelings prevent the
reader from doing justice to the heroic
men on either side. We have given a
calm narrative of facts; and we con-
sider that we are justified in concluding
fi'om them, that however important in
its results — the least of vv-hich, as far as.
Ireland was concerned, was the setting
of a dynasty aside — there seldom has
been a victory which gave less right to
the victors to exult over the vanquished ;
or a defeat in which the vanquished had
less cause to feel the blush of dishonor.
As to the loss on both sides, the duke
of Berwick states that of the Irish to
have been about 1,000 men in all, in-
cluding, of course, those who were left
wounded on the field, and the few
stragglers killed in the retreat. Of the
Williamite loss it is strange that there
was no official report ; but Story, who
was present in the English camp, admits
a loss of 400 slain, which would make,
according to the usual proportion, at
least 1,200 killed and wounded ; and
Captain Parker, one of "William's offi-
cers in the battle, says they had above
500 killed and as many wounded. Thus,
at the lowest calculation, the Williamite
loss was about equal to that of the Irish,
which can only be accounted for by
considering the orderly style of the re-
treat, and the want of energy displayed
in the pursuit, which Berwick attri-
Inited to the death of Schomberg.
Story complains of the "incomplete-
ness of the victory," and says that only
* Tliere Is awoU-known anecdote related of Lady Tir"
connell, who having, it is said, met James on his arrival
one or two Irish standards were cap-
tured. Lauzun's French lost but six
men that day ; and on William's side
it is confessed that the battle was won
by the foreign mercenaries, and by the
northern Anglo-Ii'ish, while the English
troops had very little share in the hon-
ors of the day.
James, first in the retreat, arrived in
Dublin with some horse early in the
evening ; and bodies of the Irish infimtry
coming in, in the coui'se of the night,
confirmed the news of the defeat. Next
morning the French reached the me-
tropolis, and the Irish cavaliy arrived
in such excellent order, with martial
music, that it was for a moment doubted
whether they had lost the battle. On
a rirmor that the enemy was approach-
ing, the Irish army was again drawn
out on the north side of the city to
oppose them, but, in truth, William's
army did not enter Dublin until late
in the evening of the following day,
Thursday, July 3d. To dispose, in the
first place, of the fugitive king, we have
to mention that having called together
a hasty meeting of the civil and mili-
tary authorities at the castle, being
either so dull as not to have perceived
the effect of his own blunders, or so un-
generous as to try to palliate them at
the expense of others, he delivered a
short address, in which he cast the
blame of his defeat on his Irish sol-
diers.* He also showed some concern
lest the discontented soldiery should
at the castle, and hearing him reflect sarcastically on
the floetncas of the runaway Irish, observed, that his
592
REIGN OF JAMES II.
pillage and burn Dublin ; but, on the
contrary, we are not told of any act of
insubordination or violence which these
men committed. At five o'clock on
AVednesday morning he set out, and
leaving two troops of horse which he
had taken with him, to defend the
Ijridge at Bray, as long as they could,
should the enemy come up, he con-
tinued his journey with a few followers,
through the Wicklow mountains. At
the house of a Mr. Hackett, near Ark-
low, he -bated his horses for about two
hours, and then pursued his way to
Duucannon, where, after travelling all
night, he arrived at sunrise. Here he
embarked on board a small French ves-
sel, which took him by the following
moining to Kinsale, whence he sailed
with a French squadron, which had
l)e(;n provided for his service by the
rpieen, and which landed him at Brest
on the 20th o^ July, he himself being
the first bearer of the news of his mis-
fortune.*
The news of the king's flight dis-
heartened the Irish soldiers, but Tir-
conuell, to whom James had intrusted
majesty liad, at least, tlie advantage over tliem in that
respect.
* King James's Memoirs, ii., 397^06. The coast was
at this time clear from English ships ; the combined
English and Dutch fleets having been beaten off Beachy-
Head, on the 30th of June, by the French Admiral Tour-
ville. It is not true that James, before leaving Dublin,
gave orders that each person should shift for himself,
or that the army should make the best conditions it
could and disperse, although his conduct might seem to
imply such orders. After his arrival at St. Germain he
imijortuncd the French king for fresh succor to send to
1 reland, or for an expedition to be sent into England,
the chief command, gave orders that
they should immediately march to
Limerick, each colonel to take his men
by the route which he thought best. A
great many of the Catholic citizens left
Dublin at the same time, together with
their families ; and in the evening of
Wednesday, the 2d of July, Simon
Luttrell, the Jacobite governor, evacu-
ated the city with the militia. Wil-
liam entered Dublin on Sunday, when
he was received with every demonstra-
tion of joy by the Protestant inhabit-
ants, many of whom had been confined
as objects of suspicion by James ; and
he proceeded to St. Patrick's cathedral,
where he heard a sermon from. Dr.
King. He returned to his camp at
Finglas for dinner, preferring the small
portable wooden house, which he used
in campaigning, to the state apartments
in Dublin castle.
The day after the j^assage of the
Boyne, Drogheda submitted to Wil-
liam's forces. On the 16th, Kilkennj^
having been evacuated by a small Irish
garrison which held it, opened its gates
to a detachment sent under the dnke of
but Louis savr how useless it was to make any further
sacrifice for James, who tells us, that finding he could
obtain no succor, he was then obliged to send an order
to TirconneU to come away himself if he chose, and to
bring with him as many as were willing to accompany
him, or otherwise to make conditions for their remain-
ing in Ireland, if they so preferred. Memoirs, ii., p. 413.
James blames TirconneU for having advised his hasty
flight from Ireland, but admits that the duke's only
motive was his solicitude for his (James's) personal
safety, and for the queen's peace of mind. Vide notes
to MacaricB Excidium.
SIEGE OF ATHLONE.
i93
Oi'indtul, with whom William dined on
the 19th at his castle in that city; Dun-
cannon was surrendered ;• and on the
25th of July, Waterford capitulated,
its garrison of 1,600 men marching out
with arras and baggage for Limerick,
towards which city William next d
rected his course. The Irish havin
now made the Shannon their line of
defence, Lieutenant-general Douglas
was sent by William, on the 9th of
July, with an army of about 12,000
men, twelve cannons, and two mortars,
to lay siege to Athlone, of which
Colonel Richard Grace was governor.
Douglas appeared before the fortress
on the 17th, and after seven days vain-
ly spent before its walls, having nearly
exhausted his supply of gunpowder,
and heard that Sarsfield was coming up
with the Irish horse from Limerick, he
raised the siege and withdrew to Mullin-
gar. Thence he proceeded to join Wil
liam near Limerick, ravaging the coun-
tiy as he passed, and slaying many de-
fenceless people whom he assumed to be
rapparees;* but the expedition cost
William on the whole a loss of over
400 men.
The garrisons of Waterford and
* Mr. Lesley tells us that " those -n-ho were then called
rapparees, and executed as such, were for the most part
poor, harmless country people ; that they -vrero daily
killed in vast numbers, up and down the fields ; or taken
out of their beds and sliot immediately ; which many of
the Protestants did loudly attest" {Answer to King).
And in Story's list of those who died in this war, it is
suid that there were "of rapparees killed by the array
or militia, 1,928 ; of rapparees killed and hanged by the
Koldiers without any ceremony, 122." Vide Sir John
Dalrymple's Memoirs, &c., part i., p. 17C.
other places having been collected into
Limerick, there were now in that city,
according to the duke of Berwick,
about 20,000 foot-soldiers, only one-
half of whom, however, were armed;
and the Irish cavalry, amounting to
about 3,500 men, encamped five miles
from the city, on the Clare side of the
river. M. Boisseleau, a French officer,
was governor : but Lauzun having sur-
veyed the fortifications, pronounced the
place to be untenable, swearing that it
might be taken with roasted apples,
and ordered the entire French division
to march to Galway, there to await an
opportunity to embark for France. It
was supposed that this disgraceful de-
sertion, which took place as William's
army was approaching the city, would
have the effect of preventing further
resistance on the part of the Irish ; but
its only result was to leave to the Irish
foot-soldiers, so unjustly censured for
their conduct at Oldbridge, the undi-
vided honor of the subsequent memoi-a-
ble defence of Limerick.f
William's forces when mustered at
Cahirconlish, about seven miles south-
east of Limerick, on the 7th of August,
after the junction of Kirke and Doug-
t To view in its true light the conduct of the French
in Ireland, during this war, one must bear in mind that
they were tlie allies not of tha Irish but of the dethroned
king of England, whose cause they deemed hopeless,
and for whose interests they could have felt little sym-
pathy. It is therefore unjust to their chivalrous nation,
to assert that either on this occasion, ot at any time in
the course of this war, they betrayed the Irish, in whose
national cause they had not been called on to act. The
case would have been diflerent, and so, also, we may
presume, would have been the conduct of the French
REIGN OF JAMES II.
las, aiuouiited to 38,000 effective men*
On the 9th the whole army approached
Limerick and encamped at Singland,
in the sontlieastern suburbs. Next
day they occupied the post called Ire-
ton's fort ; planted a few field-pieces on
Gallow's-greeu to annoy the town, and
sent a summons to the governor, who
consulted with Tirconnell, Sarsfield, and
other ofilcers, as there was some doubt
what course should be pursued. The
answei", however, was worthy of brave
men. It was addressed to William's
secretary from a sense of politeness, as
the governor could not give William
himself the title of king ; and was to
the effect that he hoped to merit the
good opinion of the prince of Orange
better by a vigorous defence than by a
shameful surrender of the fortress with
which he had been intrusted by his
master, King James.
At this time William had only his
lield artillery, but his heavy battering
train, consisting of six twenty-four-
pounders and two eighteen-pouuders,
together with a great quantity of am-
munition and provisions, tin boats to
convey troops on the Shannon, and
other necessaries for the siege, was
troops, had they been sent to aid the Irish as a nation
against England ; but the cause of James was already
lost. As to Lauzun, his proper sphere was a court, with
its intrigues, not a camp, with its hardships. He was
no pcneral. King James plainly intimates in his me-
moirs, that Lauzun wished Limerick to faU, in order
that his o^vn conduct might be excused. lie desired to
pot barli to Versailles at any hazard, and had so inspired
his oiiicers and men with his own sentiments, that there
was among them a general cry to be recalled to France.
They complained that they could get in Ireland no
coming from Dublin, under a convoy,
and was immediatelj^ expected in the
camp. This important intelligence was
conveyed by a French gunner who de^
serted to the city the day after Wil-
liam appeared before the walls, and it
was soon turned to good account.
Whether solely at his own suggestion.
according to the generally received
opinion, or acting on the orders of Tir-
connell, as Berwick relates. Brigadier-
general Sarsfield flew to the horse-camp,
obtained a party of 500 picked men,
and with them disappeared that night
in the direction of Killaloe. The next
day (Monday, the 11th) he halted un-
observed at Silvermines, on the northern
slope of the Keeper mountain, waiting
for information through his scouts from
the plain below. In the mean time,
one Manns O'Brien, whom Story de-
scribes as "a substantial country gentle-
man," came to the English camp, and
told how Sarsfield had left the night
before, on what was believed to be
some desperate enterprise ; but his
statement attracted at first little atten-
tion. At length it came to the ears of
William, who then gave O'Brien an
interview, and who, although he did
bread, without which they could not live, although the
Irish managed to dispense with it very well. The
opinions of Louvois on that war and his hostility to the
unhappy James were also well understood ; and to
countenance them, some of the ofBcers wrote home that
all the French in Ireland were doomed men if not re-
called immediately. Tet to letters dictated by such ob-
vious prejudices Lord Macaulay has imfairly referred in
his history as a testimony against the Irish.
* Griffith's VUlare Mbcrnkum, a Williamite an
thority.
SIEGE OF LIMERICK.
:-95
not seem to think much of the mattei
nevertheless ordered out 500 horse to
meet the artillery. . Again Sarsfield's
good foi'tune prevailed, and the jjarty
of Williamite cavalry, which was com-
manded by Sir John Lanier, was not
ready to march until two o'clock in
the morning. The artillery convoy, on
their route from Cashel, had halted
that night at the small ruined castle of
Ballyneety, near the borders of Tippe-
rary.* Being now only a few miles in
the rear of William's camp, while the
Irish enemy were closely besieged in
Limerick, they felt secure, and the men
having turned their horses out to graze
retired to rest, leaving only a few senti-
nels on guard. Meanwhile Sarsfield,
led by faithful guides, had been pursu-
mg devious and difficult paths through-
out the night, and it was near morning
when his approach aroused the sleeping
convoy. The English bugles sounded
to horse, but the conflict which ensued
was very brief. Every man who re-
sisted was cut down to the number of
about sixty, and the rest, all but one,
took to flight. The heavy cannons
destined to batter down the walls of
Limei'ick were then charged with
powder, and their mouths being fixed
in the earth, they were fired, and burst;
the boats were broken ; the wagons
and other articles which could not
easily be carried off w^ere collected
* The site of this castio is marked on the ordnance
map, about tlirce and ahalf miles south of the Pallas
station of tlio Limerick and Waterford Kailwaj', and
between two and three miles nearly west of the Cola
into a heap and burned ; and the mag-
azine of gunpowder being fired by
train, exploded with a terrific sound
which shook the earth to a distance of
miles around. Sir John Lanier's party
saw the flash, and heai'd the rumbling
noise, about an hour after they had left
the camp. They rightly guessed the
cause, and only arrived in time to find
that every thing was reduced to ashes,
and that their efforts to intercept the
intrepid Sarsfield and his gallant band
were in vain.
The success of this hazardous enter-
prise animated the besieged with fresh
resolution ; while in the camp of the
enemy it produced mingled rage and
consternation. William, nevertheless,
determined to press the siege with the
utmost vigor, and sent to Waterford
for more heavy artillery. Two of the
great guns, found dismounted among
the debris which Sarsfield had left at
Ballyneety, proved to be still available ;
and the walls of Limerick were so weak,
that even field-pieces were sufficient to
make an impression on them. One of
William's first proceedings before Lim-
erick was to send Generals Ginkell and
Kirke, with about 5,000 horse and foot,
to effect the passage of the Shannon.
This was performed by the aid of pon-
toons near St. Thomas's Island, north
of the city, wdthout any opposition.
Tirconnell, who was old and feeble, and
station on the same line. Though it is about fifteen
statute miles from Limerick, the outposts of William's
army were, probably, not mucli more than aoven miles
distant.
596
REIGN OF JAMES II.
had no liop.e in the defence of Limerick,
Iiad joined Lanzun in Galwaj, and with-
drawn the Irish horse to a remote dis-
tance ; and Sarsfield had set out on his
own famous expedition. It was feared
that Limerick woukl be invested on both
sides, but Ginkell's and Kirke's divi-
sion recrossed the Shannon that night,
the demonstration being apparently in-
tended only against the Irish cavalry ;
and Berwick ordered the destruction of
the corn on the north side, that the en-
emy might not have the inducement to
come again to that quarter for forage.
On the 13th, Brigadier Stuart was sent
by "William to take Castleconnell,
which was surrendered after a slight
resistance by its governor, Captain
Barnwall, and the garrison of 120 men
made prisoners of -war.
The trenches before Limerick were
opened on the 17th of August, and the
approaches were pushed forward with
all possible energy. The high towers
from which the besieged .could fire into
the trenches were battered down, and
two redoubts and a small fort were ta-
ken, though not without considerable
loss on the part of the besiegers. On
the 20th a vigorous sortie was made,
which somewhat retarded the enemy's
works ; but by the 24th aU the Wil-
liamite batteries were completed, and
a fire from 36 pieces of cannon was
opened upon, the walls and town; some
of the guns pouring red-hot shot, and a
Ijattery of four mortars throwing a
shower of shells among the houses ; yet
not the least effect was produced upon
the resolution either of the citizens or
the garrison. At length, on Wednes-
day, the 27th, the trenches having been
carried within a few feet of the pali-
sades, and a breach of 36 feet wide hav-
ing been made in the wall near John's
Gate, William commanded the assault
to take place. Ten thousand men were
ordered to support the storming party ;
and at half past three in the afternoon,
at a given signal, 500 grenadiers leaped
from the trenches, fired their pieces,
threw their grenades, and in a few mo-
ments had mounted the breach. The
Irish were not unprepared, although at
that moment the attack was not expect-
ed. The governor, Boisseleau, had
caused an intrenchment to be made in-
side the breach, and behind this he had
planted a few pieces of cannon, a cross-
fire from which told with murderous
effect upon the assailants, after they had
filled the space between the breach and
the intrenchment. For one instant
they halted, but the next they pushed
forward, and many of them actually
entered the town. The- advantage,
however, was momentary, and cost the
intruders dearly. The Irish rallied,
and, at the point of the sword and pike,
drove the storming party back over the
breach, where a most terrific conflict
now ensued. Few there were, indeed,
of the first assailants who were not liors
de C07)ibat, bnt thousands of their com-
rades were in possession of the counter-
scarp, and ready to supply their place ;
they were under the eyes of King Wil-
liam himself, who was looking on from
SIEGE OF LIMERICK.
591
Cromwell's battery ; and they fouglit
hard to regain the advantage which
they had just lost. On the other hand,
the Irish soldiers behaved with the
most desperate intrepidity ; they were
animated by the townspeople; and the
very women, says the Williamite chap-
lain, Story, rushed boldly into the
breach, and stood nearer to the enemy
than to their own men, hurling stones
and broken bottles into the face of the
former. For nearly three hours was
this deadly struggle maintained, and
during that time never was breach
more fiercely assailed or more nobly
defended. The Brandenburg regiment,
which showed great determination, had
gained the Black Battery, but at that
moment a mine was sprung by the Irish,
or, as Story would have it, " the powder
happened to take fire," and the Bran-
denburghers were blown up, " men, fag-
gots, stones,' and what not, flying in the
air with a most terrible noise." The
duke of Berwick, in his memoirs, adds
another important incident. He says
Brigadier Talbot, who was then in one
of the outworks, called the horn-work,
with 500 men, ran along the wall on
the outside, and charging the enemy in
the rear routed them, and then entered
the town through the breach. It was
*Tlie account in the London Gazette makes Wil-
liam's loss, on the 27th of August alone, 455 killed, and
l,20y wounded, or 1,748 in all, without including the
Brandonburghers, who, according to the Williamite
accounts, had 400 hars dc combat at the Black BattiTy,
which would give a total of 2,148. The author of the
Plunkctt MS. says the besieged had not above a hun-
dred men killed, but the report which makes the total
probably against Talbot's party that
Colonel Cutts was engaged when sent,
according to Stoiy, by the duke of
Wurtemberg, towards "the spur at the
south gate." " From half an hour after
three till after seven," continues the
Williamite historian, "there was one
continued fire of both great and small
shot, without any intermission, inso-
much that the smoke that went from
the town reached in one continued
cloud to the top of a mountain" (the
Keeper hill) "at least sis miles off".
When our men drew ofi', some were
brought up dead, and some without a
leg, others wanted arms, and some were
blind with powder ; especially a great
many of the poor Brandenburghers
looked like furies with the misfortune
of gunpowder . . . The king stood nigli
Cromwell's fort all the time, and the
business being over, he went to his
camp very much concerned, as indeed
was the whole army ; for you might
have seen a mixture of anger and sor-
row in everybody's countenance." Well
indeed might William have been " con-
cerned," for he lost over 2,000 men in
killed and wounded that day.*
Various reasons are assigned by the
Williamites for the discontinuance of
the siege. The ammunition, they say,
Irish loss in that glorious affair 400, is more to be relied
on. Mr. O'CaUaghan (Macarim Excid., p. 378, and
Green Bool; p. 117) cites a MS. .Tacobite accoimt of tho
siege, in Ids possession, wliich makes the loss of tho
enemy from the beginning to the end o*,' tho siege 5,000
men, and that of the Irish during the same period 1.0tJ2
soldiers and 97 officers killed and wounded. The Lim-
erick historian, O'llalloran and following him, DalrjTn-
598
REIGN OF JAMES II.
Vas runuing low ; the ground was
swanijjy, and tlie season rainy ; but we
are told with more probability by Jac-
obite authorities that the Ulster Prot-
estants objected to a second assault,
as its failure would have caused a gen-
eral rising of the Catholics, and the
risk would have been therefore too
great; and they add that AVilliam show-
ed excessive bad humor at the council
of war.^ On Sunday, the 31st of Au-
gust, the besieging ai'my marched off
rather precijDitately. fearing a" pursuit ;
which, however, the garrison had no
means to attempt, as their cavalry were
not at hand. William went by Clon-
mel to Waterford, and at Duncannon
took shipping on the 5th of September
for England, leaving the command of
the army to Count de Solmes, who was
succeeded soon after by De Ginkell,
and intrusting the civil government to
Lord Sidney, Sir Charles Porter, and
Mr. Coningsby as lords justices.
As soon as the siege of Limerick was
I'aised, a Fi'ench squadron arrived at
Galway, and took off Lauzun and his
division, and with bim departed the
duke of Tirconnell, who went to repre-
sent to James the actual state of affairs
iu L-eland, having committed to the
duke of Berwick, who was then only
twenty years of age, the chief command,
with a council of regency and a council
pie, relate that the victorious Irish having pursued the
English into the camp, assisted them to extinguish a
fire that had broken out in the English hospital ; but
this prol>ably refers to the period of the raising of the
siege, three days after, when, according to Mai'eo-
of war to assist him. Scarcely, indeed,
had the enemy disappeai-ed from before ■
the walls of Limerick, when the jealous-
ies that had long existed among the
L'ish leaders broke out into open and
most fatal dissension. Tirconnell had
become exceedingly unpopular. His
overbearing manner was never calcu-
lated to gain friends ; the partiality of
which he was accused in the exercise of
his patronage was sure to create many
enemies; his incapacity as a general,
aggravated as it was by the dulness
and feebleness of age, provoked the
contempt of his military colleagues ; his
friendship for Lauzun, of whom the
army had such good cause to complain,
was injurious to his popularity; his
Anglo-Irish sympathies displeased the
native L'ish, who were now the most
important element in the Jacobite
party, and whose views were becoming
daily more national ; all these circum-
stances lowered him in the estimation
of the people, and strengthened the
faction which was formed against him
among the leaders. Subsequent events,
however, enable us to appreciate at its
just value this opposition to Tirconnell ;
and while we admit his faults, it is
enough for us to know that the chief
organizer of the cabal against him was
the traitor,' Henry Luttrell ; and that
Ene;lish ■wi'iters who have shown the
ghegan, the enemy on departing set their hospital on
fire. CHalloran, Introduct. to HUt. of Ireland, vol.
i., chap, v., p. 407, ed. 1819 ; Dalrymple, vol. iii.,
p. 42 ; Abbe' Mageoghegan, Hist, of Ireland, p. 594,
Duffy's ed.
SEIGE OF CORK.
599
bitterest enmity to the Irish, have been
also unanimous in endeavoring to de-
preciate Tirconnell's character. One
or two unprincipled enemies found it
easy to kindle the flame of popular dis-
pleasure against such a man; and in
the chivalrous Sarsfield, whose unso-
phisticated mind was readily imposed
on, they found an influential ally. As
to the charges against Tirconnell of
holding secret correspondence with the
Williamite authorities, and intending
to betray the Irish interests, they are
the unsupported assertions of enemies,
and we are assured by the most dili-
gent investigator of this portion of our
history that he has never been able to
discover any authentic confirmation of
them.*
An expedition, conducted by the
duke of Berwick and Sarsfield, march-
ed on the 14th of September to attack
the castle of Birr, but retired on the
19th before a greatly superior force
under the command of Generals Doug-
las, Kirke, and Sir John Lanier. If it
served no other purpose, the expedition
had at least the eftect of occupying and
dividing the "Williamite army, which
would otherwise have been concentra-
* Si'c tUo authorities adduced on tliis subject by Mr.
O'CallagUan in his annotations to the Macarim Eici-
dium. It is evident that the confidence of King James
and the duke of Benvicls in Tirconnell never suffered
any diminution, although they survived him long
enough to witness the results -of his conduct, and to
hear all the charges against him. Ilallam's statement
about Tirconnell's allegi^d plans to separate Ireland and
make himself king, is supported by some curious evi-
dence, and appears to be such a wild project as the
ambitious Eichard Talbot might at some time for a
ted against Cork ; before which town
the celebrated John Churchill, then earl,
and afterwards duke, of Marlborough,f
appeared on the 22d of September with
an army of 15,0()0 men, composed chief-
ly of the duke of Wurtemberg's divi-
sion and of 8,000 fresh troops, which he
himself had brought from England.
Marlborough urged the siege with vig-
or, and his great, military genius was
more keenly stimulated by a claim
which the duke of Wurtemberg had
the presumption to set up to the chief
command. The garrison was numer-
ous, but was badly supplied with the
munitions of war ; and the town being
unfit to stand a siege, . the governor.
Lieutenant-colonel M'Eligot, was blam-
ed for not evacuating it and retiring to
Kerry, as he had been directed by the
Jacobite authorities in Limerick to do.
On the 27th the walls were breached,
and the following day an assault was
ordered. The grenadiers of the storm-
ing party -were led by the duke of
Grafton, who had been vice-admiral of
England under James, and who was
mortally wounded by a ball in advan-
cing to the breach, and died a few days
after in Cork. At the last moment the
moment have entertained. See Ilallam's Constitutional
Eidory of England, vol. iii., p. ooO, ed. 1829.
\ The duke of Marlborough was uncle to the duke
of Berwick, whoso mother, Arabella Churchill, Marl-
borough's sister, was mistress of James II. when duke
of York. The duke of Marlborough was tlie bosom
friend of James II., and is taxed witli base ingratitude
for turning immediately to WUliam's side. Henry
Fitzroy, duke of Grafton, mentioned a little further on,
was an illegitimate son of Charles II., and vras ther*
fore the nephew of James against whom he fought.
600
REIGN OF JAMES II.
gf)Vfri]or l)eat a parley, and the garri-
son, to the number of between 4,000
anil r),000 men, became prisonei-s of
war. Their ammunition had been re-
duced to two small barrels of powder,
so that further resistance was impossi-
ble ; and to the disgrace of the English
military authoritiesi, the conditions on
which these brave men surrendered
were most shamefully violated.*
From Cork, Marlborough marched
the very same day to Kinsale, which
the garrison set on fire at his approach,
I'etiring into the old and new forts,
which they were determined to defend.
The English extinguished the fire, and
Marlborough applied all his energies to
the siege of the forts, which he found
stronger than he expected ; the season
l)eiug already so far advanced that he
feared the consequences of a protracted
resistance. The old fort was stormed
on the 3d of October, and its garrison
killed or taken prisoners. The new
fort was valiantly defended by Sir Ed-
* The Ecv. Charles Leslie informs us that General
MacCarthy narrowly escaped being murdered after the
surrender, and could get no satisfaction on his com-
plaint to the English general ; and he goes on to state
" that the garrison, after laying down their arms, were
stripped and marched to a marshy wet ground, where
they were kept with guards four or five days, and not
being sustained were forced through hunger to eat dead
horses that lay about them, and several of them dyed
for want. That when they were removed thence they
were so crowded in jails, houses, and churches that
they coidd not all lye down at once, and had nothing
but the bare floor to lye on, where, for want of suste-
nance, and lying in their own excrements, with dead
carcases lying whole weeks in the same place with
tlicm, caused such infection that they dyed in great
II limbers daily. And that the Roman Catholic inhab-
itants, tho' promised safety and protection, had their
ward Scott, who, in reply to the ene-
my's summons to surrender, said " it
would be time enough to capitulate a
month hence." He hoped to be reliev-
ed by the Duke of Berwick, who, after
mustering seven or eight thousand men
at Kilmallock for that purpose, feared
to make the attempt, the besieging
army being too powerful. On the 15 th
the garrison, numbering 1,200 men,
capitulated, and were allowed to march
out with their arms and baggage for
Limerick. The winter passed off with-
out any other military operations of
importance, except simultaneous at-
tempts by the Williamite army to cross
the Shannon at Lanesborough, James-
town, and Banagher, all which were
successfully resisted by Sarsfield and
Berwick, who were most accurately in-
formed, through their spies, of all the
movements of the enemy. The rap-
parees gave the Williamites a good
deal of annoyance during the winter,
and some treasonable projects for the
goods seized, and themselves stripped and turned
out of town soon after." (Leslie's Answer to Ej,ng,
p. 162).
King James's memoirs confirm those statements,
while Williamite authorities would attribute the suffer-
ings of the Irish prisoners to the destitution and disease
which even the Williamite garrison endured ; but tho
monstrous barbarities practised towards both the pris-
oners and the inhabitants remain tmexplained. It is a
remarkable fact, exemplified in all the wars in this
country sLnce the Anglo-Norman invasion, that the
English were notorious for not keeping faith -with the
Irish in treaties and capitulations, so that it became a
settled principle with the Irish to place no reUance
even on the most solemn promises of their English foes.
To this circumstance may be attributed many a pro-
tracted straggle, where resistance was kept up long
after all hope must have been extinguished.
^^f.
^:
■^ <?
TIRCONNELL RETURNS TO IRELAND.
601
delivery of Galway to the enemy, and
for the passage of the Shannon, were
timely discovered by Sarsfield.
A meeting of those opposed to Tir-
connell having been held in Limerick,
an attempt was made to induce the
duke of Berwick to alter the form of
government left byTirconnell, as being
unconstitutional, and to accept a coun-
cil composed of two representatives
from each of the provinces ; but Ber-
wick resolutely refused to yield to this
request ; consenting, however, that four
agents should be sent to France to ex-
press the opinions of the leaders and
explain the state of the army. Two of
these agents were Brigadier Henry
Luttrell and Colonel Purcell, whom
Berwick expressly selected, that they
might be detained in France as persons
whom he deemed turbulent and dan-
gerous ; and he sent Bi-igadier Maxwell
as his private emissary to explain his
wishes on the subject to his father.
King James. On the voyage, Henry
Luttrell and Purcell suspecting the
object of Maxwell's journey proposed
to throw liim overboard, but were pre-
vented by tlie bishop of Cork and the
elder Luttrell, who were the other two
deputies ; and at St. Germain James
was made sensible of the danger which
his cause in Ireland would incur should
any of the agents be forcibly detained.*
The representations of Tirconnell at
* Mfvioiirs du Martchal dc Bcrmd; toiu. i. pp. 8S,
!iO ; Mcmmrs of K. Jiimcs IT., vol. U., pp. -123, &c.
" Kvonts proved," sn.vs Mr. O'Callnghan, " liow just was
the dnkc of Tirconndl'B avorssion to Henry Luttrell, a
7<;
Versailles and St. Germain were ulti-
mately successful, notwithstanding the
impeacliments against him, and he re-
ceived most encouraging promises ; but
unhappily the orders of Louis were not
carried out by his ministers and their
subordinates; and Tirconnell returned
to L-elaud about the middle of January,
.1691, with a very inadequate supply of
money, and some provisions, but no men.
He appears to have receiyed but 28,000
louis d'o]*, of which he left 10,000 at
Brest to purchase provisions ; but not-
withstanding the smallness of the sum
which he brought, he ventured, on his
arrival, to cry down the copper money,
a proceeding which revived public con-
fidence and greatly improved trade.
He also brought from King James a
patent creating Sarsfield earl of Lucan,
viscount of Tully, and baron of Eos-
berry.f The duke of Berwick left Ire-
land the following month for France.
On the 8th of May, 1C91, a French
fleet arrived in the Shannon, bringir^
a large quantity of provisions, clothing,
arms, and ammunition, for the L-ish
troops, but neither men nor money.
In this fleet came Lieutenant-general
St. Ruth, a French officer of great bra
very, ability, energy, and experience,
who was sent to take the chief com-
mand of the Irish army ; and with him
were two other French officers of rank,
Majoi'-generals d'Usson and de Tesse ;
bad man, the father of a bad man, and the grandfather
of a bad man." — Macariai Kxcid., p. 397, note.
\ Patrick Sarsfield, whoso memory ig so justly and
proudly cheribhcd by liis countrymen, ftas descended
oOi
REIGN OF JAMES II.
but it will be observed that James's
army in Ireland was at this time exclu-
sively composed of Irish soldiers. Tir-
connell was still viceroy, but with pri-
vate instructions from James not to
interfere in any way with St. Euth in
the management of military affairs.
Hitherto the Irish army had been in a
most wretched state ; the men were
clothed in rags ; the officers were scarce-
ly better off;, food was so scarce that
the use of horse-flesh was frequently re-
sorted to ; and the ordinary pay of the
Irish foot^soldier, when money could
be procured for the purpose, was only
one penny per day ! Let us compare
this state of the Irish army with that
of the magnificent force which Baron
de Ginkell was then organizing in Lein-
ster, preparatory to a campaign, in
paternally from an ancient and respectable Anglo-Nor-
man family of the Pale, and maternally from a meet
ancient and illustrious Irish stock ; liis father being
Patrick Sarsfield, Esq., of Lucan, in the county of Dub-
lin ; and his mother, Ann, the daughter of the brave
and high-minded patriot of 1641, Colonel Roger O'More.
His elder and only brother, William, dying Tvithoufc
male issue, he inherited the estate of Lucan, producing
an income of about £3,000 a year. He commenced his
military career early ; serving first as an ensign in
France, in the regiment of Monmouth, and then as lieu-
tenant of the Guards in England. He went with King
James to France in December, 1688, and returned with
liim to Ireland, in 1689, when he was made a privy
councillor, a colonel of horse and a brigadier. We
have seen above some of the important duties in which
he was subsequently engaged, and shall find him em-
ployed in the same active manner up to the close of this
war. Subsequent to the first siege of Limerick, he was
made major-general. After the treaty of Limerick, in
October, 1G91, we shall see him sacrificing his fine
estate and rejecting ofiers of advancement in the Wil-
liamite army, to accompany the Irish army to France,
where he was appointed by James to the command of
his second troop of Irish horse-guards. In July, 1692,
he distinguished himself at the battle of Steenkirk, in
which all the I'esoui-ct^s of England
were to be employed to bring the war
in Ireland to a close. " The greater
part of the English force," says Macau-
lay, "was collected before the close of
May, in the neighborhood of Mullin-
gar. Ginkell commanded in chief.
He had under him the two best officers
— after Marlborough — of which our
island (England) could then boast,
Talmash and Mackay. The marquis
of Ruvigny, the hereditaiy chief of the
refugees, and elder brother of that
brave Caillemot Avho had fallen at
Boyne, had joined the army with the
rank of major-general. The lord jus-
tice Coningsby, though not by profes-
sion a soldier, came down from Dublin
to animate the zeal of the troops. The
appearance of the camp showed that
which the aUies under WUliam HI. were defeated by
the French imder the Marshal de Luxembourg. He
was created marechal-de-camp or major-general in the
service of France by Louis XIV., and in that rank was
killed in July, 1G93, in the great battle of Landcn, in
wliich the allies under WUliam III. were again over-
thrown by Luxembourg. " His character," stiys Mr.
O'Callaghan, " may be comprehended in the words, sim
plicity, disinterestedness, honor, loyalty, and bravery.'
{History of the Iiish Brigades in the sertice of France,
vol. i., p. 135.) He married the lady Honora de Burgo,
second daughter of William, seventh earl of Clanrickard ;
by whom he left one son, who served under the duke
of Berwick (who married Sarsfield's widow), and died
in Spain without issue. Sarsfield's brother, William,
who had married Mary, a daughter of Charles II. and
Bister of the duke of Monmouth, left a daughter, Char-
lotte, who was married to Agmondesham Vcsey ; and
their daughter, Anne, was married to Sir John Bing-
ham of JIayo, whose son. Sir Charles, was created carl
of Lucan by George HI, in 1776. {ArchdaU's Lodge,
vol. vii., p. 107.) In stature Sarsfield was exceedingly
tall. There is a French portrait of him, engraved after
a picture painted by " My lady Bingham," who was no
doubt the above-named Anne, grand-niece of the illus-
trious Irish soldier
SIEGE OF ATHLONE.
G03
tlie money voted by the Englisli parlia-
ment had not been spared. The uni-
forms were .new ; the ranks were one
blaze of scarlet, and the train of artil-
lery was such as had never before been
seen in Ireland."'"'
SuchAvas the army which, on the Tth
of June, commenced the campaign of
1691, with the siege of Ballymore Cas-
tle, iu Westraeath, the most advanced
outpost of the Irish in that direction.
The castlo, which stands on the verge
of Lough Seudy, was defenceless to-
wards the lake, and as the besiegers
not only bfcittered it with their artillery
on the land side, but approached it on
that of the water by boats, the gov-
ernor, Colonel UKck Burke, deemed it
right to surrender on the following
day ; having, as Story says, only " two
small Turkish pieces, mounted upon
old cart-wheels," to reply to the batter-
ing train of the enemy. Ginkell re-
mained until the 18th at Ballymore,
repairing and strengthening the works ;
and having been joined by the duke of
"Wurtemberg and Count Nassau, with
7,000 foreign mercenaries, he then
marched against Athlone. The English
town, or Leinster side of Athlone, was
never of much military strength. Gin-
kell, with an army then about 18,000
strong, appeared before it on the 19th
of June, and soon effected such a breach
in its slender wall, that he was able to
* Lord Macaulay's Histori/ of Enrjland. vol. vi., p. 82.
\Macariai Excidium, p. lli>. Mr. O'Callaghan says
the best estimate Le lias been able to form of tho
largest force St. Ruth bad about Athlone, during the
assault it the following day with 4,000
men ; and the small Irish garrison post-
ed at that side of the river, having lost
200 of their number, retreated by the
bridge, which they held in the face of
the enemy until they had broken down
two arches on the Connaught side.
The Shannon, at this place, is wide and
rapid, but was fordable a little below
the bridge, at a point not then known
to the English, and breastworks were
thrown up along the river at the Con-
naught side. Late on the '20th, St.
Ruth was informed of the fall of the
English town, and advancing with the
Irish army, which he had just got into
marching order, and which amounted,
according to the most probable account,
to 15,000 horse and foot, he encamped
two or three miles from the Irish town
of Athlone.f The English raised their
works, on the Leinster side of the river,
to a great height, and by the aid of
fifty battering cannon and ten mortars,
from which they kept up an incessant
fire, night and day, they were soon able
to beat down the face of the castle
which lay next to them, and to level the
works of the Irish along the water side.
Besides shells, they threw from their
mortars implements of destruction, call-
ed " carcasses," which were filled with
combustible materials, and which set
the thatched houses on fire ; and both
houses and eveiy thing in the shape of
siege, including the garrison and tho troops encamped
with himself, some miles to tho rear of tho 'olace,
is from 22,000 to 23,000 infantiy and cavalry. l\nd.
p. 421.
GOi
REIGN OF JAMES II.
masonry were so levelled on the Con-
naiigbt side, that the Irisli soldiers had
no breastwork fi'om behind which they
could fire ; and the besiegers, according
to their own account, could stand with
impunity on the river-side and look
over* The town was, in fact, reduced
to a mass of rubbish, through which it
Avas impossible for two men to walk
abreast in any part ; and we are told
by the Williamite, Story, that the be-
siegers tl^rew into it 12,000 cannon bul-
lets, 600 bombs, and many tons of
stones shot from the mortars, and that
the siege cost them " nigh 50 tons of
powder." The Irish, who had only a
few field-pieces, nevertheless prevented
the English from constructing a bridge
of boats. The besiegers then endeav-
ored to thi'ow planks over the broken
arches of the bridge, and they had
nearly succeeded in this design, when
eight or ten intrepid Irishmen under-
took to pull down the planks and beams
again, and performed their task under
the terrible fire of the enemy — most of
them, of course, being killed in that
fearful duty. "The 26th," says the
Williamite . historian just cited, "was
spent in firing, from seven batteries,
upon the enemy's works, and a great
many were killed in endeavoring to
repair them. About 30 wagons laden
with powder came to the camp; and
that night we possess oui'selves of all
(he bridge, except one arch at the fur-
• ^femoirs of Captain Parker, and liawdon Papers,
quoted in ^Vnnotntions to Macarias Eicid., pp. 433, 433.
ther end, on the Connaught side, which
was broke down, and we repair anotli-
er broken arch in our possession ; and
all night our guns and mortars play
most furiously .... AVe labor
hard to gain the bridge : but what Ave
got here was inch by inch, as it were ,
the enemy sticking very close to it,
though great numbers of them were
slain by our guns." Well might the
French generals, who witnessed this
heroism of the Irish soldiers, acknow-
ledge that " they never saw more reso-
lution and firmness in any men of any
nation ; nay, blamed the men for their
forwardness, and cried them up for
brave fellows, as intrepid as lions."f
It was the general opinion in both
armies, that the attempt to pass the
Shannon at Athlone would not succeed,
but Ginkell was resolved to persevere.
He made a final attempt to cross the
bridge by means of a close gallery,
which, however, the Irish contrived to
set on fire, and he was once more foiled.
At length it was suggested that owing
to the dryness of the season the river
might be fordable, and three Danes,
who were sent on that dangerous duty,
succeeded in finding the ford already
referred to, which would admit twenty
men to march abreast, and where for
the greater part of the way the water
would not then reach above the knee, nor
at the deepest part above the middle.
But for this discovery the siege would
f Letter of Colonel Felix 0"Niell to tlic countess of
Antrim, in the Rawdon Papers, p. 340.
SIEGE OF ATHLOXE.
GOf)
have beeu raised, and St. Ruth still be-
lieved the enemy would not attempt
the ford.
AVhile every energy of the besieging
army was thus directed with precision
by the will of one commander, there
was no one in the Irish camp whose
authority was implicitly obeyed, and
fotal jealousies and divisions prevailed.
Tirconnell intermeddled with military
matters to the great annoyance of St.
Ruth, and with neither St. Rutli nor
Tii-connell was Sarsfield in favor. To
prepare against an assault, however
desperate he believed such an attempt
would be, St. Ruth ordered the ram-
parts on the western or Connaught side
of the town to be levelled, that a whole
battalion might enter abreast ts relieve
the garrison when the assault took
place; but d'Usson, who had been
made governor, first opposed the plan,
and then neglected to have the orders
executed when St. Ruth insisted on the
demolition. On the other hand, d'Usson
wished to have the defences on the riv-
er-side intrusted, to a particular corps
of picked men ; but St. Ruth required
that each battalion should take the
duty in turn, in order that all might be
accustomed to the enemy's fire. At
the critical moment to which we have
now come, it happened that this im-
portant post was intrusted to two regi-
ments composed mostly of recruits, and
that the officer in command was Major-
general or Colonel Thomas Maxwell, a
Scotchman, the same who had been
scut on a private embassy to France
by Berwick, and who was therefore a
partisan of Tirconnell and was unpopu-
lar in the army. Maxwell, as we are
told by one party, observed certain
preparations among the besiegers and
demanded a re-enforcement of troops,
but was answered that if he were afraid,
another general ofiicer would be sent
in his place : while by the other, or St.
Ruth party, it is stated that Maxwell
refused to supply his men with ammu-
nition, and asked them, when they de-
manded some, if they wanted to shoot
larks ; and they also insinuate that he
had an understanding with the enemy
to betray his post. The "VVilliamite
historians say that at this juncture two
Iiish officers swam over the river and
assured Ginkell that " now was his
time ; that the Irish were mighty se-
cure ; and that three (rightly two) of
the most indifferent Irish regiments
were only then upon guard, the rest
being secure in their camp." * At
length all was prepared for the assault.
Two thousand chosen men were set
apart. Ginkell distributed a gratuity
of guineas among them. The command
was given to Major-general Mackay, as-
sisted by Major-general Tettau, the
prince of Hesse, and Brigadier la Mel-
loniere ; the grenadiers wei-e command-
ed by Colonel Gustavus Hamilton, and
with these latter Major-general Talmasli
went as a volunteer. The signal was
the tolling of the chui'ch-bell a few
minutes past six o'clock, p. ji., on the
' Uarris's Life of WiUiam III; Story, &c
600
REIGX OF JAMES 11.
SOth of June. The detachment of
grenailiers first took the ford, and they
wei-e supported by six battalions of
foot. The bastion which commanded
the ford on the Irish side had been al-
ready breached, and during the passage
of the river an incessant fire was kept
np from all the English batteries, and
from the musketry in the trenches.
Taken by surprise, the Irish soldiers
who guarded the opposite side could
do little more than discharge theii-
muskets oaice and fly. They believed
themselves to have been betrayed.
Maxwell was made prisoner by the
English ; and the fording party having
laid planks over the broken arches as
soon as they gained the other side,
the besiegers poured in their columns
across the bridge. The garrison fled
in disorder. D'Usson had been a can-
non-shot from the town at the time of
the attack, and in hastening to the gate
he was overturned and severely hurt
by the flying multitude. Thus in half
an hour the besiegers were masters of
the mass of rubbish and ruins whicli then
occupied the site of the Irish town of
Athlone ; and the surprise had been so
complete, that the Williamites, accord-
ing to their own account, lost in the
assault only forty-six men killed and
wounded.* The liieans of defence
which the Irish possessed during this
niemoralile siege may be judged from
the fact that the enemy found in the
* LceVic says tlic Englisli killed a hundred men in
eold blood in tlio castlo of AtUlono and in an outwork,
iftcr lliey Lad become masters of the place.
works when taken only six brass field-
pieces and two mortars !
St. Ruth, who was not aware of the
attack until all was over, sent some
regiments of infantry from the camp to
succor the town, but they saw their
own ramparts manned with English
soldiers. He then moved his army to
Ballinasloe, twelve miles ofiF, and en-
camped with the river Suck between
him and the enemy. A council of war
was held, and it was resolved that they
should there give battle ; but St. Euth,
who was anxious to come to an engage-
ment, to blot out the disgrace of Ath-
lone, subsequently removed the camp
to Aughrim, a place about three miles
distant on the road to Galway, and
which ie preferred to the banks of the
Suck. As to Tirconnell, the outcry
against him having become louder and
more general, he left the camp iiumsdi-
ately after the surprise of Athlone, and
repaired to Limerick.
The choice of ground which St. Ruth
made on this occasion evinced the skill
of the gener&l. The Irish army en-
camped along the ridge of the higli
land called Kilcommadan Hill, which
runs nearly northwest and southeast,
then bounded towards Ballinasloe by a
morass, through which flowed a small
stream, and whicli was practicable for
foot but not for cavalry. On the right
flank was the tolerably open pass of
Urraghree ; and the Irish left rested on
the tiien insignificant village of Augh-
rim, Avhere there was another pass, or
rather causeway, through the bog, but
BATTLE OF ATJGHRIM.
607
so narrow in one part that only two
horsemen could ride abreast, while it
was moreover commanded by the ruin-
ous castle of the O'Kelly's, in which St.
Ruth posted Colonel Walter Burke
with 200 men. The infantry were dis-
jiosed in the centre in two lines ; the
front line having formed several breast-
works of hedges which ran along the
bottom of the slope, near the verge of
the morass. In the right wing the
principal portion of the Irish horse*
were placed, to defend the important
pass of Urraghree; iu the left wing
there were also some horse and dra-
goons, but St. Ruth appeared to think
that the enemy would not attempt the
narrow causeway at tliat side. Some
of the cavalry were posted behind the
second line of the foot in the centre, as
n reserve.
The advanced guards of the William-
ites came in sight of the Irish on the
11th of July; and the following morn-
ing, which was Sunday, while the Irish
army was assisting at Mass, the whole
force of the enemy drew up in line of
battle on the high ground to the east,
beyond the morass. As nearly as the
strength of the two armies can be esti-
mated, that of the Irish was about
15,000, horse and foot, and that of the
■Williamites from 20,000 to 25,000; the
latter having besides a numerous artil-
lery, while the Irish had but nine field-
pieces.*
* Story says that QitfkcU's army at Auglirim was not
more tban 17,000, horse and foot, ■wliilo the Irish, ac-
cording tohiiii, had 20,000 foot and 5,000 horse. Bish-
The morning having been hazy, it
was past eleven o'clock before Ginkell
could obtain a clear view of the Irish
position, and commence his own opera-
tions. He then saw that he had no
ordinary difficulties to encounter; but
knowing his own great superiority in
artillery, he hoped by the aid of that
arm alone to dislodge the Irish centre
from their advantageous ground, and
as quickly as his guns could be brought
into position opened fire upon the enemy.
He also directed some cavalry move-
ments on his left at the pass of Urragh-
ree, but with strict orders that the Irish
should not be followed beyond the
pass, lest any fighting there should
force on a general engagement, for
which he had not then made up his
mind. His orders on this point, how-
ever, were not punctually obeyed ; the
dragoons sent on that duty having
sufiered themselves to be lured forward
by the Irish horse where a number of
musketeers were placed iu ambush, and
the consequence being some hot skir-
mishing, which brought larger bodies
of the Williamite cavalry into action,
and thus led to some. sharp fighting,
that continued from about two to three
o'clock, when the Williamites retired
from the pass. Still, it appeared very
improbable that a general action would
take place that evening. Ginkell held
a council of war, and the prevalent
()j>inion seemed to be that the attack
op Burnett rates the Irish army at 28,000, and the
English at 20,000 ; while Captain Parker, who served
under GinkcU, and was present at the battle, says tlie
COS
REIGN OF JAMES II.
sliould be deferred until an early bom-
next morning. The uncertainty which
jM'cvailed on this point maybe conceiv-
imI from the fact, that the deliberations
were kept up until half-past four o'clock,
wln'n the final decision of the council
wa.s fo]' an immediate battle. At five
ox-lock the fighting was renewed at
Urraghree, and for an hour and a half
there was considerable firing in that
quarter; several attempts to force the
pass having been made in the interval,
and the Irish cavalry continumg to
maintain their ground- gallantly, al-
though against double their own num-
bers. Up to this time there was no
action between the centres of the two
ai'uiies, or the wings which confronted
each other near the pass of Aughrim,
with the exception of the cannonade
which Avas kept up on both sides, and
in which the Williamites had, as has
l)een observed, the advantage of a much
more numerous artillery. Indeed, it
two armies were nearly equal, but elBewhere tells ns
that the English at Mullingar mustered 23,000, and
their loss in the interval was said to be trifling. King
James's Memoirs slate that in the retreat from Athione
the desertion from the Connaught regiments vras so
great that the foot were reduced from 17,000 to about
11,000; and Colonel O'Kelly, author of the Macarim
Excidium, reckons the Irish infantry at Aughrim as
only 10,000, and the horse and dragoons as 4,000. It is
stated in Light to the Blind, that the EngUsh had
double the number of cavalry, though the Irish had
some advantage in the infantry ; but there can be no
doubt that this statement, as far as regards the infantry,
is erroneous ; and it is indeed obvious that the author
of that MS., in many instances, takes his data as to
numl>crs from the WUliamite authorities, without suffi-
ciently testing their accuracy. O'Ealloran, who must
have often conversed with persons who had a distinct
personal recollection of the war, and whose account
iigrces with that traditionally received by the Irish to
was plain to the enemy that St. RuLh
could not turn his admirable position
to its full advantage, owing to the great
deficiency of his field-train.
At length, at half-past six, Ginkell,
having preA'iously caused the morass,
in front of the Irish centre, to be sound-
ed, ordered his infantry to advance on
the point where the fences at the Irish
side projected most, and where the
morass was, consequently, narrowest.
This, it appears, was in the Irish right
centre, or in the direction of Urraghree.
The four regiments of Colonels Erie,
Herbert, Creighton, and Brewer were
the first to M'ade through the mud and
water, and to advance against the near-
est of the hedges, where they were re-
ceived with a smart fire by the Irish,
who then retired behind their next line
of hedges, to which the assailants, in
their tui-n, approached. The William-
ite infantry were thus gradually drawn
from one line of fences to another, uj;)
this day, makes the numbers of Irish and English
10,000 and 25,000 respectively. Mr. O'Callaghan, who
has devoted a great deal of research to the subject,
shows that the Williamite army consisted of 27 regi-
ments of infantry, 19 regiments of horse, and 2 regi-
ments and 14 troops of dragoons ; and that if all these
regiments had been complete, the numbers would havo
been, infantry, 24,495 ; horse, 6,837 ; dragoons, 2,G07 ;
total, 32,939. The Williamite writers admit a loss uf
less than GOO men between the muster of the army at
Mullingar and the eve of the battle of Aughrim ; and
hence it is clear that the numerical strength of the army
at Aughrim must have been considerably greater than
what the Williamite historians assert. As to the
artillery on both sides, the disparity was also very
great. Ginkell had four batteries, and wo know that
two of these motmted six gims each, whence wo might
conclude that there were 24 guns in all ; while il is
admitted that St. Ruth had no more than nine field-
pieces.— See Macrtrio! Excid., p. 442, note 233.
BATTLE OF AUGHRIM.
609
the slope from the morass, to a greater
distance than was contemplated in the
plan of attack, according to which they
were to hold their ground near the
morass until they could be supported
by re-enforcements of infantry in the
rear, and by cavalry on the flanks.
The Irish retired by such short dis-
tances, that the Williamites, " disdain-
ing to suffer their lodging so near," as
their own historians express it, pursued
what they considered to have been an
advantage, until they found themselves
face to face with the main line of the
Irish, who now charged them in front ;
while, by passages cut especially for
such a purpose through the lines of
hedges by St. Ruth, the Irish cavalry-
poured down with irresistible force and
attacked them in the flanks. The effect
was instantaneous. In vain did Colonel
Erie endeavor to encourage his men
by crying out, that " there was no way
to come off but to be brave." They were
thrown into total disorder, and fled
back towards the morass, the Irish cav-
alry cutting them down in the rear,
and the infautiy pouring in a deadly
fire, until they were driven beyond the
quagmire, which separated the two
* With reference to tMs part of the day's conflict,
Iving James's Memoirs assert " that never was assault
made vith greater fury or sustained with greater obsti-
nacy, especially by the foot, who not only maintained
tlieir posts and defended the hedges with great va3or,
but repulsed tlie enemy several times, particularly in
the centre, and took some prisoners of distinction ; inso-
much that they looked upon the victory as in a manner
certain, and St. Ruth was in a transport of joy to see the
foi)t, of whom he had so mean an opinion, behave
tlicnisclves so well, and perform actions worthy of a
better fate." — (Memoirs of K. James II., ii., 457.) The
armies. Colonels Erie .and Herbert
were made prisoners ; but the former,
after being twice taken and retaken
and receiving some Avounds, was finally-
rescued. "Whilst this was going for-
ward towards the Irish right, several
other Williamite regiments crossed the
bog nearer to Aughrim, and were in
like manner repulsed ; but not having
ventured among the Irish hedges, their
loss was not so considerable, although
they were pursued so far in their retreat
that the Irish, says Story, " got almost
in a line with some of our great guns ;"
or in other words, had advanced into
the English battle-ground. It was no
wonder th.at at this moment St. Ruth
should have exclaimed with national
enthusiasm, "The day is ours, my
boys ! le jour est a nous, mes enfans !"
He witnessed the triumph of his own
generalship, and the heroic "bravery of
his Irish troops, and at that time he
had every reason to feel sure of a vic-
tory.*
The manoeuvres of the Dutch general,
on the other side, evinced consummate
ability, and the peril of his present jdo-
sition obliged him to make desperate
efforts to retrieve it. His army being
Abbe Jlageoghegan says, "The royal (Jacobite) foot
performed prodigies of valor. They repulsed the
enemy's infantry three times up to their very cannon ;
and it is said that at the third time General St. Ruth
was so well pleased that he threw his hat into the air to
express his joy." — (Ilist. of Ireland, p. 595.) It is ex-
pressly stated, in Light to the Blind, that the Irish not
only drove the enemy back to their lines beyond tho
morass, but completely broke their centre, and occupied
a portion of the enemy's ground ; and tliis stafcmcnt
appears to be amply borne out by other accounts,
Englisli as well as Irish.
REIGN OF JAMES II.
much iiioi-e numerous than that of the
Irish, he could afford to extend his left
wing considerably beyond their right ;
and this causing a fear that he intended
to flank them at that side, St. Euth or-
dered the second line of his left to
march to the right, the officer who re-
ceived the instructions taking with him
also a battalion from the centre, which
left a weak point not unobserved by the
enemy. St. Euth had a fatal confidence
in the natural strength of his left, owing
to the great extent of bog and the ex-
treme narrowness of the causeway near
Aughrim Castle. The Williamite com-
mander perceived this confidence and
resolved to take advantage of it.
Hence his movement at the opposite
extremity of his line, which was a mere
feint, the troops which he sent to his
left not firing a shot during the day,
while some of the best regiments of the
Irish were drawn away to watch them.
The point of weakening the Irish left
having been thus gained, the object of
doing so soon became apparent. A
movement of the Williamite cavalry to
the causeway at Aughrim was observed.
Some horsemen were seen crossing the
narrow part of the causeway with great
difficulty, being scarcely able to ride
two abreast. St. Euth still bejieved
tliat pass impregnable, as indeed it
would have been but for the mischances
which we have yet to mention ; and he
* Such is tlio version given in Liglit to the Blind, and
it is more probable than tliat of Mageogliegan, wlio
soys the garrison of the old castle were supplied by mis-
take with cinnon instead of musket bails.
is reported to have exclaimed, when he
saw the enemy's cavalry scrambling
over it, " They are brave fellows, 'tis a
pity they should be so exposed." They
were not, however, so exposed to de-
struction as he then imagined. Artil-
lery had come to their aid, and as the
men crossed they began to form into
squadrons on the firm ground near the
old castle. What were the garrison of
the castle doing at this time ? and what
the reserve of cavalry beyond the castle
to the extreme left ? As to the former,
an unlucky circumstance rendered their
efforts nugatory. It was found, on ex-
amining the ammunition with which
they had been supplied, that while the
men w^ere armed wnth French firelocks
the balls that had been served to them
were cast for English muskets, of which
the calibre was larger, and that they
were consequently useless.* In this
emergency the men cut the small glob-
ular buttons from their jackets and
used them for bullets, but their fire was
inefl^ective, however briskly it was sus-
tained, and few of the enemy's horse
crossing the causeway were hit. This
was but one of the mischances connect-
ed with the unhappy left of St. Euth's
position. We have seen how an Irish
officer, when ordered with reserves to
the right wing, removed a battalion
from the left centre.f This error was
immediately followed by the crossing
•f" Through this mistake — which, from tlio connec-
tion of cavalry as well as infantry with the movement,"
says Mr. O'Callaghan, " I suppose to have been made
between Brigadier Henry LuttreU, who was a Colonel
DEATH OF ST. RUTH.
611
of the morass at that weakened point
by three Willianiite regiments, who
employed hurdles to facilitate their
passage, and who, meeting with a com-
paratively feeble resistance at the front
line of fences, succeeded in making a
lodgment in a cornfield on the Irish
side. Nearly contemporary with this
success of the enemy was the passage
of the morass by Kirke's and Hamil-
ton's regiments of foot, which were
enabled to drive in the Irish outposts
at the old castle, and to place obstruc-
tions in the way of the reserved Irish
cavalry, whose charge from' behind the
castle on the extreme left was thus
foiled ; and these movements of infan-
try, it should be observed, preceded the
passage of the causeway by the English
cavalry.
It was still easy to remedy the mis-
haps which thus threatened to mar the
success of the Irish, and St. Euth, for
that purpose, left his position in front
of the camp, near the top of Kilcom-
madan hill, and placing himself at the
head of a brigade of horse, hastened
down the slope. He paused at one of
his batteries to order a gunner to di-
rect his fire to a particular point, and
then resuming his place with the caval-
ry, rode towards the hostile squadrons
of horse, and some subordinate infantry ofScer in this
transfer of troops, and to be the foundation of the
national tradition about the 'treachery of the general
of the Irish liorse, that enabled the English to cross the
bog ' — three battalions of the enemy were enabled to slip
over the sliirt of the morass and the rivulet, into a corn-
field on the Irish side, and t-stablish themselves there until
Ihey could be assisted." — Green Bouk, p. 211, second ed.
which were forming near Aughrim ;
observing, says King James, to those
about him : " Tliey are beaten ; let us
beat them to the purpose." But the
words were scarcely spoken when he
was hit by a cannon-ball, which carried
off his head — and all was lost ! Yet
why should all be lost, if victory just
before had been so certain ? It appears
to be the destiny of Ireland that her
leaders cannot agree ; and on this fatal
occasion it happened that a coolness
existed between Sarsfield, the second in
command, and St. Kuth. Their dis-
agreement dated from the surprise of
Athlone ; and owing to it, the only man
who could have supplied the place of
the French general was left with some
of the choicest cavalry as a reserve in
the rear of the camp, with positive in-
structions not to move until he received
further orders. Sarsfield conceived
that under the circumstances he was
bound to the strictest obedience, and
St. Ruth, on the other hand, communica-
ted his plan of battle to no one ; so that
when he fell there was no one left who
understood the disposition of the forces,
and no one to issue any orders. One
of his attendants threw a cloak over
the body, which was then removed to
the rear of the camp ; * but it was im-
* What finally became of the body of St. Ruth has
been a matter of doubt. English writers say that it
■was cast into a neigliboring bog, or left stripped on
the field with the nameless dead ; but the author of
Light to the Blind informs us that it was removed by
the attendants to Loughrea, and there privately buried.
A bush marlis the spot where tradition says ho fell, and
at some distance in the field is a place traditionally
612
REIGN OF JAMES II.
possible to conceal bis death long. The
cavali'j- -n-lio saw him fall halted, and
soon left the field. The Irish horse to
the rear of Aughrira Castle were the
next to relinquish their ground. No
attempt was made to resist the Wil-
liamite cavalry in crossing the narrow
causeway. Their numbers were in-
creased and their infi^ntry strengthen-
ed. The disorder in the Irish lines was
observed from the hostile camp, and a
general attack on all points was com-
manded. Still, the Irish centre and.
right wing maintained their ground
obstinately, and the fight was renewed
with as much vigor as ever. The Irish
infantry were so hotly engaged that
they were not aware either of the death
of St. Ruth, or of the flight of the cav-
aliy, until they themselves were almost
surrounded. At the same time Dr.
Alexius Stafford, the chaplain of King
James's Irish foot-guards, was killed ;
and the death of this pious and heroic
priest had as dishearfeuing an effect on
the infantry as that of the general had
on the horse.* A panic and confused
called St. Rutli's Flag. The sliot by -nUch he -was
kiUed was fired from one of the guns sent to aid the
English cavalrj- in crossing the causeway at Aughrim ;
and tradition tells us that it was aimed by the advice of
an Irishman who knew the personal appearance of St.
Ruth, and who desired to he revenged for the loss of a
few sheej) taken by the Irish soldiers.
*This distinguished clergyman was dean of Christ
Cliurch, master in chancery, member of parliament,
and preacher to the king's inns. 5Ir. Duhigg, the his-
torian of the king's inns, says: "His voluntary. servi-
ces and heroic death exact even from a firm opponent
of liis political and religious creed a ready belief of
Btaffiird's personal virtue and humanity ;" and the same
Protestant writer, referring to Dr. StaiTord's conduct at
Aughrim, observes : " There the genius of his country
flight were the result. The cavali-y of
the right wing, who were the fii-st in
action that day, were the last to quit
their ground. Sarsfield, with the re-
serve horse of the centre, had to retire
with the rest without striking one
blow, " although," says the Williamite
Captain Parker, "he had the greatest
and best part of their cavalry with
him." St. Ruth fell about sunset,f and
about nine, after three hours' hard fight-
ing, the last of the Irish army had left
the field. The cavalry retreated along
the high road to Loughrea : the infan-
try, who mostly flung away their arms,
fled to a large red bog on their left,
where great numbers of them were
massacred unarmed and in cold blood ;
but a thick misty rain coming on, and
the night setting in, the pursuit was
soon relinquished. After the battle
the castle of Aughrim was taken, and
the greater part of its brave garrison
put to the sword ; Colonel Walter
Burke, with twelve of his officers and
forty of his soldiers, only being made
prisoners.
triumphed over professional habits ; a peaceful preacher
became a warlike chief ; the awful ceremonies of relig-
ion were dispensed to a submissive flock, and their
courage strengthened by an animating harangue.
Then, with the crucifix in hand, StafTord passed through
the line of battle, and pressed into the foremost ranks,
loudly calling on his ffllow-soUliers to secure the blcs.";-
ings of religion and property by steadiness and atten-
tion to discipline on that critical day. Success crowned
his manly efforts until death interrupted his glorious
career ; then, indeed, the infantry was panic struck." —
History of the King's Inns, pp. 233, 238, 239.
f The 12th of July, old style, on which the battle was
fought, corrcsiKindcd with the 22d of July, new style,
on which day sunset at Anglirim would be about ten
minutes past eight.
THE LOSSES AT AUGHRDI.
fil3
Of the loss on botli sides in this san-
guiuaiy battle the accounts are, of
course, conflicting. Tbe English official
returns make that on the Williamite
side, 73 officers and 600 soldiers killed,
and 111 officers and 906 soldiers wound-
ed ; or the total of killed and wounded,
1,690. But there is good reason to
think that these numbers are too low ^
while we may set down as gross exag-
gerations the English and Anglo-Irish
statements, which represent the number
of Irish killed as Y,000 or 8,000. The
slaughter of the Irish was, no doubt,
very great, as in general no quarter was
given by the victors, and as the wound-
ed would appear to have been either
massacred or left to perish on the field ;
* It is remarkable tbat Captain Parker, who fought in
the Williamite ranks at Augbrim, agrees very nearly
with King James's estimate, for, in his memoirs, he says,
tbe loss of the Irish was near 4,000 killed ; and adds,
"We had above 3,000 killed and Avounded." Other
accounts, also from Williamite sources, would confirm
Captain Parker's estimate of the Irish loss. Story, how-
ever, who makes that loss at least 7,000, says: "There
could not be many fewer ; for looking among the dead
three days after, when aU our own and some of theirs
were buried, I reckoned in some small iuclosures, 150 ;
in others, 120, &g., lying most of them in the ditches
where they were shot ;" and describing the appearance
of so many stripped bodies of the dead, he adds : " The
rest from the top of the hiU, where their camp had been,
looked like a great (lock of sheep, scattered up and down
tlie country, for about four miles round." "The Eng-
lish." sayg Dalryniple, " disgraced all the glories of the
d:n-, by f;ivincr no ciuarter ;" and Dr. Leslie, who wrote
a year after tliu battle, mentions how "above 2,000 of
the Irish, who threw down their arms and asked quar-
ter, were killed in cold blood, after the English were
absolutely masters of the field ;" and how "several who
had quarter given them, were after killed in cold blood,
in which number were the Lord Qalway and Colonel
Charles Moore." It was indeed well known that Lord
Galway, who was a son of the earl of Clanrickard, and
then only twenty-two years of age, was murdered by
some of the Huguenots after tho battle was over ; while.
but we believe that the estimate in
King James's Memoirs, which may be
i-egarded as the official authority on the
Irish side, and according to which " the
Irish lost nearly 4,000, nor was that of
the English much inferior," is not far
from the truth.* The Irish prisoners
taken were only 526 of all ranks: and
all the Irish tents, baggage, and artil-
lery ; a vast quantity of the small-arms ;
32 pair of colors, and 11 standards, fell
into the hands of the conquerors. The
bodies of the Irish were, with few ex-
ceptions, left unburied, and became a
prey to the dogs and to the fowls of
the air ; and for many years after, their
bones were to be seen bleaching in the
winter's wind.f
as an excuse for aU this brutal ferocity, we are told,
forsooth, that the Irish had orders to give no quarter if
they were victorious, and that Colonel Herbert was
killed by the Irish while a prisoner. Of the former
statement we may assert, that it is a groundless fabri-
cation ; and of the latter, that Colonel Herbert, who
was made prisoner along with Colonel Erie, was prob-
ably slain to prevent his being rescued, as that officer
had been. Besides St. Ruth and dean Alexius Stafford,
we find amongthe killed on the Irish side. Lord Galway
(Burke), Lord Kilmallock (a Sarsfield) ; Brigadiers Wil-
liam Mansfield Barker, H. M. Q. O'Neill, and O'Connell ;
Colonels Charles Moore, James Talbot, Arthur O'Ma-
hony, Walter Nugent, Felix O'Neil, Ulick Burke, and
Constantino Maguire ; Lieutenant-colonel Morgan ; Ma-
jors PurceU, O'Donnell, and David Burke, Sir John
Everard, &c. Among the prisoners were Lords Dulcck,
(Bellow), Slane (Flemming), Boffin (Burke), and Ken-
mare (Brown) ; Major-generals Dorrington and John
Hamilton; Brigadier Tuite; Colonels Walter Burke,
Gordon O'NeiU (son of Sir Phelim), Butler of Ivilcasli,
O'Connell, O'Madden, &c.
f "Their bones," says O'Halloran, writing some fifty
years after, " yet lie scattered over the plains of Augh-
rim ; but let that justice be done to their memories
which a brave and generous enemy never refuses."
{Intmduct., <S:c., "id Append., vol. i., p. 533, ed. 1810.)
"It must, in justice," says Harris, "be confessed that
tho Irish fought this sharp battle with great resolution.
.G14
REIGX OF JAMES II.
Some of the Irish soldiers repaired to
Gahvay, Lut the greater number, in-
cluding all the cavalry, proceeded to
Limerick. On Sunday, July 19th, a
week after the action at Aughrim,
Giukell appeared before Galway, which
had a garrison of about 2,300 men,
with d'Usson, who had gone there after
the loss of Athlone, as governor. The
old fort, on a rising ground near the
town, which in Cromw-elFs time had
given so much trouble to the towns-
people, being now in a ruinous state,
was not occupied by the garrison, and
the enemy were thus able to approach
in safety within a hundred yards of the
town wall.
Here it is necessary to introduce to
the reader a remarkable man, whom
we have not yet mentioned, as his name
was not especially connected with any
of the events we hfl,ve been relating,
altliousrh he had for some time before
wliicla demonstrates that the many defeats before this
time sustained by them cannot be imputed to a nation-
al cowardice, but to a defect in military discipline and
use of arms, or to want of sliill and experience in their
commanders. And now, had not St. Ruth been taken off,
it would Lave been hard to say what the consequences
of this day would have been" (Life of William, III.,
p. 327.) On which passage Mr. O'CaUaghan remarks,
that " a no less important cause than any above speci-
fied by Harris contributed to the reverses of the Irish,
Viz., tlieir great inferiority in pay, appointments, small-
arms, artillery, and effective numbers, to the English,
Scotch, Anglo-Irisli, Dutch, Danish, German, Huguenot,
&c., troops of the line opposed to them, as well as the
very effective local 'Williamite militia, or yeomanry,
in which Harris's own father, Hopton Harris, served."
(MaeariiE Excid., note 242, p. 4G0.) To the second edi-
tion of Mr. O'CaUaghan 's Green Book we may refer the
reader for the most ample, minute, and accurate details
of the affair of Aughrim ; but no account of the disas-
trous battle — or, as the peasantry of tho West of Iro-
this occupied a prominent place among
the Ii'ish leaders. This was Balldearg
O'Donnell, a lineal descendant of the
ancient chiefs of Tirconnell, and who
had come to Ireland from Spain, short-
ly after the battle of the Boyne ; per-
suaded himself, or in order to persuade
others, that he was the O'Donnell with
a " red mark " (balldearg), who, accord-
ing to an ancient prophecy, was to lead
the Ii'ish to victory against their op-
pressors. It is a peculiar feature in
Irish history, that such "prophecies"
were always apt to gain credit with the
people ; but it must be added, that the
English in Ireland showed equal credu-
lity on the subject, whenever the vati-
cinations promised success to themselves,
as we have seen in the case of Sir John
de Courcy, and as was instanced iu
much more recent times in prophecies
relating to the battles of Kinsale and
Knocknaclashy. Accordingly, the ad-
laxid call it, tho " breach {briseadh) of Aughrim" —
would be complete with the omission of the affecting
incident thus related by Story : ." There is," observes
the Williamite historian, " a true and remarkable story
of a grey-hound {recti', an Irish wolf-dog), belonging to
an Irish officer. The gentleman was killed and stripped
in the battle, whose body the dog remained by night
and day ; and though he fed upon other corpses with
the rest of the dogs, yet he would not allow them, or
any thing else, to touch that of his master. Wlien all
the corpses were constmied, the other dogs departed ; but
this used to go in the night to the adjacent villages for
food, and presently to return again to the place where
his master's bones were only then left ; and thus he
continued till January following, when one of Colonel
Foulke's soldiers being quartered nigh hand, and going
that way by chaneo, the dog, fearing he came to disturb
Ilia master's bones, flew upon tho soldier, who being
surprised at the suddenness of the tiling, unslung his
piece, then upon his back, and killed tho poor dog."
(Continuation of Hist., «£c., p. 147.)
BALDEARG O'DOXNELL.
r,i5
veut of Balklearg O'Donnell excited
great enthusiasm among the humbler
classes; men flocked iu thousands toTiis
standard ; he set up as a sort of inde-
pendent commander, and soon had en-
rolled under him an irregular force of
eight regiments, which he supported by
levj'ing oppressive contributions wher-
ever he went. The duke of Tirconnell,
who entertained a strong dislike for
him, deprived him of three regiments
of his best men, under the pretence of
incorporating them with the regular
army, and made no provision for the
support of Balldearg's remaining bat-
talions. The popularity of the adven-
turer diminished when it was seen how
little he was likely to achieve ; and
during the battle of Aughrim he was
in the vicinity of Tuam, with about a
thousand men, which number soon after
dwindled down to six hundred. With
these, after burning and pillaging Tuam,
he marched to Cong, in the county of
IMayo.
The inhabitants of Galway placed
their chief reliance on the promised, aid
of Balldearg, whose arrival was expect-
ed by the way of lar-Connaught ; but
when General Mackay, with a large di-
vision of the besiegers, crossed the
liver some distance above the town, on
the 20th, and the place was thus invest-
ed at both sides, all hope of succor
from Balldearg being abandoned, a
* Dr. O'Donovan, in his pcdigreo of tlio O'Donnells
(Aiypemlix to the Four Masters, vol. vi., p. 2380), states
that Manus, son of Caflar 0^'C. son of Caffar, tlio brother
of Ilory O'DonnolI, first curl of Tirconnell and of the
parley to settle the terms of a capitula-
tion was called for the same day. Gin-
kell being desirous to hasten the con-
clusion of the war, agreed to favoralile
conditions, and the capitulation having
been signed on the 21st, the Irish gar-
rison evacuated the town on the 2Gth,
and marched to Limerick, taking with
them six pieces of cannon, which the
English lent them horses to draw.
Balldearg O'Donnell liow entered into
negotiations Avith Giukell on his own
account, through the medium of a
friend named Richards. He asked to
be allowed to enter the service of AVil-
liam, and was actually receiving pay
from Ginkell, when he pretended to
aid the Irish garrison of Sligo, then be-
sieged by Col. Michelburne. Sir Teige
O'Kegan, who so bravely defended
Charlemout against Schomberg, was
governor of Sligo, and having capitula-
ted on the 14th of September, marched
with his garrison of 600 men to Limer-
ick ; and Balldearg entered into Wil-
liam's service in Fla.nders, with all those
of his men whom he could induce to
follow him, and received during the re-
mainder of his life a pension of £500 a
year; a similar amount being also grant-
ed by the Williamite government to
Colonel Henry Luttrell, who by less
open means earned a traitor's wages.*
The duke of Tirconnell sent a mes-
senger to James after the battle of
famous Hugh Uoc, was stylod carl of Tirconnell, on tho
continent, and " was indubitably tho very man called
Balldearg O'DonuoU, who came from Spain to com-
mand the Irish in the war of James II. ;" and in a note
Gir,
REIGN OF JAMES II.
Augbrira to announce tliat all was lost,
and that unless immediate succor arrived,
there was no resource for the king's
adherents in Ireland but to make the
best terms they could aud submit. At
ho odds: "He disclaimed the king's authority, and
made demonstrations of maintaining the cause of the
native Irish as distinct from King James's ; and restor-
ing tliera to the dominion of their native country ; hut
being thwarted in every way by Tirconnell (Talbot), he
turned over tlie standard of King William III., and
retired to Flanders, where he was consigned to poverty
and oblivion ; but of his ultimate fate, nothing has yet
been discovered." Colonel Charles O'Kelly, the author
of the Macarias Excidium, attemjits to defund the con-
duct of Balldearg, with whom he was intimately
acquainted. Mr. O'Callaghan, iu liis notes and illustra-
tions to the MacmicB Excidium (p. 4G9), quotes official
MSS. for the pensions of £500 each, granted, as above
stated, to O'DonneU and Henry Luttrell.
Since the preceding pages went to press, documents of
an authentic and most important character, placing the
conduct of this much-maligned Irish warrior in an entire-
ly new light, have come into the possession of the learned
editor of the Four Masters, through whose extreme kind-
ness the author is enabled, before this volume passes from
his hands, to make xXie amende to the memory of a
brave and patriotic chief.. The liistorical facts men-
tioned in the text about O'Donnell are mainly correct ;
the calumnies against him related chiefly to his
motives ; and the obscurity in which his history has
been hitherto involved has been, in a great measure,
caused by those very calumnies, which were sufficient to
induce even such a man as Mr. Hardiman, the historian
of Oalway, to think it not worth while to follow up his
inquiries about him. The person popularly known as
Balldearg O'Donnell was not Manua (as stated in the
note, p. G15, on the authority of the Appendix to the
Four Masters, p. 2380), but Hugh, son of John, son of
Hugh Boy, son of Calvaugh (whoso pedigree is correctly
given by Dr. O'Donovan, in p. 2398 of the aforesaid
Appendix, and lias also been ascertained by Professor
Curry from independent sources). Ho was born in
Donegal, and his boyhood was spent in Ireland. Re-
pairing to Spain, where so many of his family had
risen to distinction, he entered the army there, and
rose to the rank of brigadier, but he never abandoned
his allegiance to the House of Stuart ; and on the acces-
sion of James II., ho waited on the English ambassador
in Flanders, to offer his services, should they be rciiuircd
by that monarch. When the Irish took up arms in
defence of James, and of tlieirown national and relig-
ious rights, Spain being then at war with I^ouis XIV.,
the same time he made what prepara-
tions he could to put Limerick in a
posture of defepce. He caused some
additions to be made to the outworks,
established a' mUitary station outside
the ally of James, O'DonneU could not obtain permis-
sion to leave the Spanish service for that of an enemy's
ally ; and, forfeiting his high position in his ado])tfd
country, ho hired a small vessel to convey him to Cork,
whence he went to Kinsale, and saw James in his flight
to France after the Boyne. Subsequently, he obtained
a commission to raise what men he could in James's
service, and soon succeeded in enrolling 10,000 men,
who were embodied into thirteen regiments of foot and
two of horse ; but from the first he was thwarted by
Eichard Talbot, who had obtained from James the title of
earl of Tirconnell — the hereditary title of O'DonneU, and
that by which he was acknowledged in Spain — and
this was the true cause of aU O'Donnell's misfortunes
in Ireland. He was sent, after the first siege of Limer-
ick, to the upper Shannon to defend tho passes into
Connaught, and to protect the keeriaghts — that is, those
Irish who, having lost all besides, retained their cattle,
with which they moved about iu tho old nomadic style.
After the surprise of Athlone, O'DonneU could be no
longer useful on the Shannon, and retired more westerly,
but stUl had the keeriaghts tmder his protection. Tir
connell deprived him of bis best armed men, and failed
in his promises to obtain supplies of arms or clothing
for the remainder ; as to pay, it was out of the question ;
and O'DonneU was not raistd l^eyond the rank of briga-
dier, although promised a higher grade. After Augh-
rim, where O'DonncU's other duties did not aUow him
to be present, the authorities iu Galway declined his
ofl'er to garrison that town, but called on him to do so
when 'it was too late, and when the cuemy was before
their walls. O'DonneU, with a smaU party, proceeded
from Cong across the lake, and advanced to the hUls
close to Galway on the west, but found the place
invested on both sides, so that it was impossible for
him to enter the town. The war was then virtuaUy
over ; and a few days later, O'DonneU received a letter
from Ginkell, who regarded him as a Spanish officer,
and therefore ofi"ered him most favorable terms. These
terms, however, O'Donnell did not then accept, but he
stipulated for the safety of the poor people, who had
been committed to his protection. Whnn the last
struggle was over in Limerick, O'DonneU could not
join the ranks of his countrymen going to France — a
country then at war with Spain, to which ho was
bouud by every tie of fealty and gratitude. He accept,
ed a commission under WiUiam III., to command two
regiments of his foUowers who stUl adhered to him. but
DEATH OF TIRCONNELL.
617
the walls, collected stores of provisions,
and exacted a promise from the leading
men not to entertain any project of
submission before tliey received an
answer to the message which had been
dispatched to France ; but on St. Law-
rence's-day, the 10th of August, he was
seized by a fit of apoplexj", at the house
of M. d'Usson, and expired on the 14th,
the same day that Ginkell had begun
to move his army towards Limerick
from his camp at Cahircoulish. Tir-
connell could have rendered little fur-
ther assistance personally, but his loss at
that moment produced a void which
was painfully felt. It was rumored
that his death was caused by a poison-
ed cup of ratafia, but that it was the
result of natural disease is much more
pioljable. His remains were interred
the following night in St. Mary's cathe-
dral, but no inscription or other mark
indicates the place. That he was a
faithful and zealous supporter of King
James cannot be denied ; and William-
ite writers admit that he displayed
" dexterity and zeal" in the cause which
he had espoused. The duke of Berwick
it was that he might serve in Flanders, which was then
Spanish ground ; and when he found that ho would ho
sent into Hungary to fight under the emperor, ho
proceeded to Piedmont, and thence to Spain, where ho
was honorably received, and raised to tho rank of
major-genenil. AVliolIy destitute of fortune, it is not
surprising that he should accept pay from William,
which was in lieu of that to which he was entitled as
a general officer in the Spanish army. In fact, there
was no act of Balldearg O'Donnell's which was not
worthy of a brave, honorable, and disinterested man,
and a true Irishman, and all tho calunmics ogainst him
may bo attributed to the jealousy of Richard Talbot
and the hostility of the Anglo-Irish interest. Tlie im-
assures us that " he was a man of much
worth, although not of a militarj''
genius ; that his firmness preserved Ire-
land after the invasion of the prince of
Orange ; and that he nobly rejected
every offer that had been made to him
to submit." * By the authority of a
provisional appointment made by King
James, Alexander Fitton (the Jacobite
lord chancellor), Francis Plowden (com-
missioner of the revenue), and Sir Rich-
ard Nagle (James's secretary of state and
attorney-general), assumed the office of
lords justices, but their duties were only
nominal, as the management of the
army, which then comprised every
thing, was committed to the charge of
M. d'Usson.
At this time, Ginkell carried on pri-
vate negotiations with Colonel Henry
Luttrell within the city, and through
the means of the factions which were
fomented there, hoped to obtain a sur-
render without a formal siege.f Pie
dreaded the efiects of a protracted de-
fence at that season, when the autum-
nal rains-were so soon to be expected,
and was prepared to grant any condi-
pression left by these so prejudiced the public mind
against him, that tho statements of his friend. Colonel
O'Kelly, in tho Macaiim Excidium, in his favor, have
hitherto been treated as valueless. His sobriquet of
Balldearg (of the red-mark) was so popular, that he was
never called in contemporary writings by his real namo
of Hugh.
* Memoires du martclidl de BervicTc, tome i., 103.
\ The perfidy of Henry Luttrell was discovered on
this occasion by Sarsfield, and ho was tried by court-
martial and found guilty ; but through tho influence of
his numerous friends, he was only committed to tho
castle of Limerick until the decision of King James
could be known, and was of course liberated at the
GIS
REIGN OF JAMES II.
tions that, under the circumstances,
might be demanded. Still, he neglect-
ed no means to render his attack suc-
cessful. His army was strengthened
by large re-euforcements of Protestant
militia, who were stationed at Killaloe
and other distant outposts : an English
fleet under Captain Cole ascended the
Shannon, and a most formidable train
of battering artillery was provided.
Ginkell's army took up nearly the same
ground wliicli William occupied the
year before. The besieged, who, says
King James, had at that time thirty-
five battalions tolerably armed, relin-
quished their outposts on the Limerick
side, and quartered their cavalry on the
Clare side, towards -which the city was
still open ; and on the 25th of August
the besiegers were regularly posted,
having received all their heavy guns
and 800 barrels of powder two days
before. Sixty cannon, none of them
less than twelve-pounders, say the Wil-
liamite authorities, and no fewer than
nineteen mortars, were planted against
the city. On the 30th, the bombard-
ment commenced, and the city Avas soon
capitulation. To follow tliis notorious traitor to his
ultimate fate, v,-e may mention, that on the night of
NoTcmber 1st, 1717, he was murdered in Stafford-street,
in the city of Dublin, while returning in a sedan-chair
to his town residence in that street, from Lucas's coflee-
house, which stood on the site of the present Royal
Exchange on Cork-hiU ; and that being a man grossly
immoral in his private character, it may be doubted
whether his political or social delinquencies were the
cause of his murder; but no clue to the assassin ever
could be discovered. Several of his descendants were,
according to the authorities quoted by Mr. O'Callaghan,
in the first volume of his History of the Irish Brigades,
notorious for depravity ; but his male posterity became
in flames in several quarters, so that a
great number of the inhabitants took
their bedclothes with them, and formed"
a camp in the King's Island ; and many
of the principal citizens, including a
great number of ladies and the Jacob-
ite lords justices, established another
camp about two miles from the town
on the Clare side. On the evening of
the 9th of September, the garrison made
a sally in which they lost several men ;
and on the 10th, a breach forty yards
wide was effected in the wall of the
English Town, behind the Dominican
abbey ; but a deep channel of the river
separating the breach from the besieg-
ers, no attempt to storm it was made.
Still, nothing of consequence towards
the reduction of the city was consid-
ered to have been achieved, until the
night of the 15 th of September, when,
owing to the unpardonable negligence,
if not the foul treachery, of Brigadier
Cliftbi-d, who was posted with a strong
body of dragoons to prevent such an
attemjjt, the besiegers were enabled,
without the least interruption, to throw
a p)ontoon bridge over the Shannon to-
extinct by the death of his grandson, John LuttreU
Olmius, third baron of Irnham and earl of Carhampton,
who survived untO 1829, when he died in hisSSth year.
In the work of Mr. O'Callaghan just cited, the reader
will find many curious particulars about Henry LuttreU
and his descendants. Luttrell's-town, the noble and
picturesque demesne of the family, on the banlis of the
Liffey, near Lucan, was sold in the beginning of the
present century by Ilenry Lawes LuttreU, elder brother
of John LuttreU Olmius, and second earl of Carhamp-
ton ; and the name has been changed by tho present
popular proprietor, Luke White, Esq., to that of
Woodlands.
SECOND SIEGE OF LIMERICK.
G19
wards Aunabeg ; and so, on the morn-
ing of the 16th, to send over a large
detachment of horse and foot to the
Clare side and cut off the communica-
tion between the city and the Irish
horse-camp. The Irish cavalry, under
Major-general Sheldon, retired to Six-
mile Bridge ; and the lords justices and
geutiy fled in great consternation to
the city, and might indeed have been
all intercepted and taken had not the
enemy used great caution in their
movements ; Ginkell fearing an ambus-
cade, or an attack from the Irish while
his army was thus divided : and thus,
with the exception of constructing his
bridge, and obliging the Irish horse to
]'epair for forage to a distance, he effect-
ed nothing on this occasion.
On the 22d, Ginkell, having lulled
the garrison into a false security, by ap-
pearing to make preparations to raise
the siege, again crossed the Shannon
with a large portion of his army, and
proceeded to invest the town at the
Clare side. The three regiments of
Kirke, Tiffin, and Lord George Hamil-
ton, with all the grenadiers, were or-
dered to advance and attack the works
at the Clare end of Thomond Bridge,
which were bravely defended by Colo-
nel Lacy with about 700 men ; but the
number of the enemy being overwhelm-
ing, the Irish troops were obliged to
give way and retreat over the bridge.
IFnfortunately, the town-major, who was
a Frenchman, fearing that the enemy
would enter pell-mell with the Irish,
raised the drawbridge. He apprehend-
ed, no doubt, nothing more than the
surrender of these men as prisoners of
war ; but the result was very different.
The English gave no quarter, and, ac-
cording to their own account, GOO of
the Irish were slaughtered on the
bridge, which was covered with piles
of dead bodies, while about 130 were
made prisoners. Several of the Irisb
jumped over, and perished in the river ;
and the English admit that they them-
selves lost between 200 and 300 killed
and wounded in the affair.
This miserable scene of cai-nage was
the last blood shed in the war. The
next day, Wednesday, the 23d, a parley
was demanded on the part of the gar
rison, and a cessation of arms took
place. Even the gallant Sarsfield
was among the first to recommend a
capitulation. Why should they per-
severe longer in the hopeless struggle ?
The long looked-for succor from France
had not come, nor any intelligence as
to when it might be expected ; and by
all it was admitted that the solemn
promise made to Tirconnell ceased, un-
der the circumstances, to be obligatory.
On the morning of the 24th, a three-
days' truce was agreed to. On the 26th,
the negotiations w^ere opened, hostages
were exchanged, and Sarsfield and Ma-
jor-general Wauchop dined with Gin-
kell in the camp. A friendly inter-
course commenced between the two
armies, after the cessation of hostilities ;
but it was not until the 3d of October
that the military and civil articles of ca-
pitulation were signed and exchanged ;
G20
REIGN OF JAMES II.
tlie former, about the departure of
the Irish troops, being signed by the
generals of both armies ; and the Litter,
rehitingto the privileges conceded to the
Irish, signed by the English general
and lords justices* The same even-
ing, the Williamite army got possession
of the Irish outworks, and of St. John's
gate ; and the following day four ]-egi-
ments marched into the Irish Town;
the English Town being left for the
Irish quarters, until arrangements could
be made for the embarkation of the
* TnE Treati op Limerick. — The Cinl Articles of
this treaty Tvill be ever memorable for the disgraceful
and perfidioiis violation of them, T\hich attaches so foul
a stain to the English government of Ireland. By the
first of these articles, it was stipulated and agreed,
" that the Roman Catholics of Ireland shall enjoy such
privileges, in the exercise of their religion, as they did
enjoy in the reign of King Charles II. ; and that their
majesties, as soon as their affairs Tvill permit them to
summon a parliament in Ireland, will endeavour to
procure the said Roman Catholics such further security
in that particular, as may preserve them from any
further disturbance on account of their religion." The
second article secured to Catholics all their estates and
properties, such as they were rightfully entitled to in
the reign of Charles II., as also the free exercise of their
respective callings and professions. Irish merchants,
then absent in foreign countries, and certain Irish
officers, absent in France on the affairs of the army, were
to have the benefit of these articles. By the filth article,
a general pardon was granted for all attainders, out-
lawries, treasons, premunires, felonies, &c., incurred cxr
committed since the beginning of the reign of James II.
All private suits at law, for trespasses committed during
the war, were proliibited. Arrests and executions for
debts or damages were not to be made for the space of
eight months. But above all, it was provided by the
ninth article, that the oath to be administered to such
Roman Catholics as submitted to the government of
William and JIary, was to be the Oath of Allegiance,
" and no other ;" that is, they were not to be required
to take such oaths as the oath of supremacy, &c. These
civil articles, which were thirteen in number, were
signed by the lords justices. Sir Charles Porter and
Thomas Coningsby, and by the commander-in-chief.
Irish army for France. Thus was
the war brought at length to a conclu-
sion, and William and Mary left in the
undisputed possession of their throne
A few days after the capitulation was
signed, a French fleet of 18 ships of the
line and 20 ships of burden, conveying
3,000 soldiers, 200 officers, 10,000 stand
of arms, with ammunition and provisions,
arrived in the Shannon ; but it was then
too late. A few days earlier, it would
have saved Limerick, and might have
turned the scale of fortune in the war.
baron de Giskell ; and were subsequently dtdy ratified
by William and Mary, and on the 2-lth of the following
February enrolled in the Court of Chancery. How they
were fulfilled by the English government will be seen
in the next chapter. The Military Articles, which
were twenty-nine in number, related chiefly to the
arrangements for the transport of the Irish troops, with
their baggage, &c., to France. The first of these articles
was, " that all persons, without any exceptions, of what
quality or condition soever, that are willing to leave
the kingdom of Ireland, shall have free liberty to go to
any country beyond the seas (England and Scotland
excepted), where they think fit, with their families,
household stuff, plate, and jewels.'' The second article
stipulated, that all officers and soldiers of every grade
in any of the garrisons then in the hands of the Irish,
or encamped in the cotmties of Cork, Clare, and Kerry,
"as also those called rapparees, or volunteers," should
" have free leave to embark themselves wherever the
ships are that are appointed to transport them, and to
come in whole bodies, or in parties, companies or other-
wise." If the officers or soldiers were plundered by the
way, government was to make good their losses.
The government was to provide 50 ships of 200 tons
bvirden each, and if necessary 20 ships more, for trans-
ports, besides two men-of-war to convey the principal
officers ; and finally, the garrison of Limerick might
march out " with arms, baggage, di-ums beating, match
lighted, colors flying, six brass guns, two mortar-pieces,
and half the ammunition then in the place, &c." The
articles of Limerick have been frequently republished,
and will be found in full in Mageoghegan's History
of Ireland; Leland ; Curry's Itctiew of the Civil
Wars ; Ferras's History of Limeiick ; Taaffe's Ilistory,
&c.
IRISH EXILES.
621
In conformity with the articles of
capitulation, tlie Irish infantry were, a
few days aftei', marshalled on the Clare
side of the Shannon, that the men
might have an opportunity to declare
their choice between departing for
France, and remaining under the Eng-
lish government at home. The result
was, that an Ulster battalion, and a few
men in most of the regiments, adopted
the latter alternative ; about 1,000 men
entering the Williamite service, and
2,000 accepting passes to return home ;
while 11,000, together with all the cav-
alry, volunteered for France. A body
of 4,500 men, under Sarsfield, sailed
from Cork and landed at Brest, on the
3d of December ; 4iY36 men, besides
officers, embarked at Limerick, with
d'Usson andTesse, on board the French
squadron already mentioned ; 3,000 men
followed in English ships under Major-
general Wauchop; two companies of
the Royal Irish Guards sailed next;
"and," says the Abbe Mageoghegan,
" according to the report of the commis-
saries, the whole of the Irish troops, in-
cluding the officers, who followed King
James to France, amounted to 19,059
men."* As each corps of the gallant
* " To tliose," observes Mr. O'Callaghan, " are to be
added the brigade of Mountcashel, of 5,270 men, sent to
France by James in the beginning of 1G90, making
24,430, which, with otiiers who went over at different
times, not specified, would, according to King James's
Memoirs, and a letter of Chevalier Charles Wogan,
nephew of the diilie of Tirconnell, amomit in all to
aljout 30,000 men." (Ilist. of the Irish Brigades, vol. i.,
p. Gl.) The several regiments were remodelled, their
number being reduced, and the force of each increased ;
they were constantly recruited frpm Ireland, and the
exiles arrived at the ports of Brittany.
King James himself went down to meet
them. They were kindly received by
the French king, and enrolled in his
service ; and all Irish Catholics going
to France wei"e gi-anted the privileges
of French citizenshij), without the for-
mality of naturalization, a right which
was subsequently confirmed to them by
Louis XV. Many of the exiles were
accompanied by their families, but a
great many of the women and children
were also left behind, and reduced to
a state of utter destitution. The wild
wailing at the parting scenes in Limer-
ick and Cork, and on the shores of
Kerry, smote the hearts even of their
enemies. Several of the expatriated
Irish gentry rose high in the courts
and camps of the continent, and be-
came the founders of families of dis-
tinguished rank in France, Spain, and
Austria ; whereas, had they remained
at home, they could only, as Irish Cath-
olics, have participated in the degrada-
tion of their race and country.
Thus was this unequal struggle
brought to a close. Before it com-
menced, the Irish had been already
reduced by many years of plunder and
men generously offered to serve for the pay of French
soldiers, although entitled to a higher amount as stran
gers, in order that the obligation of King James, to the
French government might be less onerous. • For an ac-
count of the distinguished services of the Irish brigades,
and other particulars relative to them, the reader is re-
ferred to Mr. O'Callaghan's Hislori/ of the Irish Bri-
gades in, the Scrvico of France ; Mr. O'Connor's HiUury
of the Irish Brigade, or, as it is frequently called, Mili-
tary nistory of the Iridi ; Mr. Dalton's Kmg James's
Irish Army List, lEc.
62-J
REIGN OF JAMES II.
oppression, to a state that might well
have seemed one of utter helplessness.
They were left almost unaided ; for it
so happened that their French allies
did not fight one battle for them.
And yet, after three hard-fought cam-
paigns, it was only the combined forces
of England, her foreign allies, and her
Protestant colonists of Ireland, that
prevailed against them. The war cost
William, according to Story, about
£6,636,742, an approximate -calculation
rather under the truth than otherwise.
During the year 1690 and 1691, Wil-
liam's army in Ireland amounted to
between 35,000 and 36,000 regular
troops, besides the well-armed and well-
* Harris's Memoir of Cox, in Ware's Irish Writers,
and Leland's History of Ireland. The articles of the
Secret Proclamation are not precisely known, but they
are presumed to have been nearly the same as those
which were offered, by William to Tirconnell, a little
before the battle of Aughrim, and which, as we learn
trained Protestant militia, who did
garrison duty; and so desirous was his
government to terminate the contest,
that the lords justices had a proclama-
tion printed offering much more favor-
able terms than those actually agreed
to ; but finding on their arrival at the
camp that negotiations for a capitulation
were on foot, the document was sup-
pressed, and is therefore known as the
" secret proclamation."* General Gin-
kell was, as a reward for his services,
created earl of Athlone and baron of
Aughrim, and obtained a grant of all
the forfeited estates of William Duugan,
earl of Limerick, in eight counties of
Ireland.
from a letter of the Chevalier Charles Wogan to Dean
Swift, were : To the Irish Catholics the free exercise of
their religion ; half the churches of the kingdom ; half
the employments, civil and military, if they pleased ;
and the moiety of their ancient properties. The Irish
mistrusted these concessions, and rejected them.
ARTICLES OF LIMERICK VIOL.\TED.
623
CHAPTER XLII.
FKOM THE TREATY OF LIMERICK TO THE DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE.
State of Ireland after the departure of the brigades. — The articles of Limerick violated. — The Catholics reduced
to a deplorable condition. — Disposal of the forfeited estates. — ^William m. and his parliament at issue. —
Enactment of penal laws in Ireland. — Moylneus's " case stated." — Destruction of the Irish woollen manufac-
ture.— Death of William. — Intolerance of the Protestant colonists. — Penal laws of Queen Anne's reign. — The
sacramental test.— x\ttempts to extirpate the Catholics. — The Palatines (note). — Accession of George I. — Re-
bellion in Scotland in 1715. — Profound tranquillity in Ireland. — Rigorous execution of the penal laws. — -Con-
tests between the English and Irish parliaments. — The latter deprived of its independence.— Bill for more
eflectuaUy preventing the growth of Popery. — Rise of the patriots in the Irish parliament. — Dean Swift. —
Woods' half-pence — Extraordinary excitement. — Frightful state of public morals. — Gardinal Wiseman on the
fidelity of the Irish (note).— Accession of George II. — An address &om the Catholics treated with contempt. —
Primate Boulter. — Charter schools established to proselytize the Catholic children. — Converted Papists bus
pected. — Distress and emigration. — Fresh rigors against the Catholics. — Proposed massacre. — The great Scot-
tish rebellion of 1745. — Lord Chesterfield in Ireland. — Disputes in the Irish parliament about the surplus
revenue. — The patriots weakened by the corrupting policy of the Government. — First movements of the
Catholics. — First Catholic committee. — Discountenanced by tlie clergy and aristocracy. — Thurot's expedition
— Accession of George III. — The Whiteboys. — The Ilearts-of-Oak and Hearts-of-Steel Boys. — Efforts of the par
triots against the pension list. — Execution of Father Sheehy. — Lord Townsend's administration. — The Octen-
nial Bill. — The Irish parliament struggles for independence. — Outbreak of the American war, and attempts
to conciliate Ireland. — Refusal to receive foreign troops. — The volunteers. — Great distress and popular discon-
tent.— Mr. Grattan's resolution of independence. — Conduct and resolution of the volunteers. — The Dungannon
resolutions. — Legislative independence of Ireland voted. — New measures of Catholic relief. — Influence of the
volunteers.
[FROM A.D. 1601 TO A. D. 1782.]
WITH Sarsfield and bis companions
in arms departed the bone and
sinew of Ireland. Tlien, indeed, might
it be said that the heart of Ireland was
broken. Those left behind were a help-
less and dispirited, and hence a timid
and unresisting, people ; and it was easy
to foresee that when they thus ceased
to be formidable, they had little to
hope for from the good faith of the
victors. Two months had not elapsed
from the signing of the treaty of Lim-
erick, when, in open violation of the
articles, "the justices of the peace,
sheriffs, and other magistrates," says
Harris, " presuming on their power in
the country, did, in an illegal manner,
dispossess several of their majesties'
(Catholic) subjects, not only of their
goods and chattels, but of their lands
and tenements, to the great reproach of
their majesties' government :"* and
the lords justices, who were compelled
to issue a proclamation against the out-
rageous proceedings of their subordi-
nates, state in their letter of November
Harris's Life of King William, p. 357.
624
REIGN OF WILLIAM III.
19tb, 1691, that tliey "had received
complaints from all parts of Ireland of
tbe ill-treatment of the Irish who had
submitted, had their majesties' protec-
tion, or were included in articles ; and
that they (the Irish) were so extremely
terrified with apprehensions of the
continuance of that usage, that some
thousands of them who had quitted
the Irish army and went home with
the- resolution not to go to France, were
then come back again and pressed
earnestly to go thither, rather than
stay in Ireland, where, contrary to the
public faith as well as law and justice,
they were robbed of their substance
and abused in their persons." The Pro-
testants exclaimed vehemently against
the terms made with the Catholics as
being too liberal ; it was proclaimed
from their pulpits that the peace ought
not to be observed ; they were disap-
pointed in their hopes of obtaining all
the estates of the Papists, and would
* Describing tlie results of the war of 1G91, tlie great
Edmund Burke says : " The ruin of the native Irish,
and in a great measure, too, of the first races of the
English, was completely accomplished. The new in-
terest was settled with as solid a stability as any thing
in human affairs can look for. All the penal laws of
that unparalleled code of oppression, which were made
after the last event, were manifestly the effects of nation-
al hatred and scorn towards a conquered people, whom
the victors delighted to trample upon, and were not at
all afraid to provoke. They were not the effects of their
fears but of their security. They who carried on this
system looked to the irresistible force of Great Britain
for their support in their acts of power. They were
quite certain that no complaints of the natives would
be heard on this side of the water (in England) with any
other sentiments than those of contempt and indigna-
tion. Their cries served only to augment their torture.
... . Indeed, at that time in England the double name
not yield a shred of the liberty which
they claimed for themselves to those
over whom foreign arms had enabled
them to prevail. In fine, they were not
content to conquer, but should en.slave
their late foeis, and trample them under
foot ; and the more these foes were
humbled in the dust, the more insolent
and inexorable did the ungenerous vic-
tors become. The intolerant demands
of the Protestant faction were soon to
be fully gratified. The general disarm-
ing of the Irish Catholics was one of
the first steps for that purpose ; the
disposal of the forfeited estates was
proceeded with ; Catholics were ex-
cluded from the Irish parliament by an
act of the English legislature ; the way
was prepared for the whole nefarious
code of penal laws; and the native
population was reduced to a state so
abject that opj^ression might be carried
to any extent against them with im-
punity.*
of the complainants, Irish and Papists — it would be
hard to say singly which was the most odious — shut up
the hearts of every one against them." {Letter to Sir
Hercules Langrishe, p. 44.) Sir Richard Cos, the anti-
Irish author of the Uibernia Anrjlicana, in a letter of
October 24th, 1705 (preserved in the SoiithxceU papers),
says the youth and gentry of the Irish v;eTC " destroyed
in the rebellion or gone to France ; those who are left,
destitute of horses, arras, money, capacity, and courage.
Five out of six of the Irish are poor insignificant slaves,
fit for nothing but to hew wood and draw water." Swift
was in the habit of saying that the Irish Papists were
" altogether as inconsiderable as the women and chil-
dren." (See Letter on the SMramental Test, written in
1708 ; the Drapicr's Letters, &c.) And Lord Macaulay,
who loved to dwell on any expression implying contempt
for the Irish, endeavored to make this language stronger.
" The Protestant masters of Ireland," he writes, " while
ostentatiously professing the political doctrines of Locko
y-^
\ 5
DISPOSAL OF FORFEITED ESTATES.
6^5
We learn fi'om official sources tbat
the number of Irish outlawed by King
William's English parliament for their
fidelity to King James II., whom they
ivgarded as their legitimate sovereign,
was 3,921, and that the Irish forfeited
estates amounted to 1,000,792 acres,
of the annual value, at that time, of
£2 11,623. The sale of this property in-
troduced into Ireland a fresh set of
adventurers, being the third migration
of new settlers to displace the old race
since the reign of Elizabeth.* The
Catholics of the native and early An-
glo-Irish races still, indeed, constituted
the great bulk of the population, but
they were not recognized as having a
political existence ; and although the
Protestant colonists raised disputes
among themselves, and formed an
" English" and an " Irish" party of
their own, they were unanimous on the
point of denying all civil rights to the
Catholic Irish. The question of the
and Sidney, lield that a people who spoko the Celtic
tongue aud heard Mass could have no concern iu those
doctrines. MoljTieus questioned the supremacy of the
English legislature. Swift assaUed with tho keenest
ridicule and invective every part of the system of gov-
ernment. Lucas disquieted the administration of Lord
Harrington. Boyle overthrew the administration of the
duke of Dorset. But neither Molyneux nor Swift,
neither Lucas nor Boyle, ever thought of appealing to
the native iwpulation. Tliey would as soon !iare thought
of appealiiuj to the sioinc." (Eist. of Eng., vol. vi., p. 119.)
* Lord Chancellor Clare, in his celebrated speech on
the Union, referring to this WiUianiite confiscation,
suys : " It is a very curious and important sjieculation
to look bacli to the forfeitures of Ireland, incurred in
ilir last r.utury. The superficial contents of tlie island
luv .MlfiihiK'd at 11,042,083 acres" (that is, of arable
l;ir.:l, iiiTor.ling to the survey of Ireland then received).
" 111 the rrigu of James I. tlio wliole of tlie province of
79
independence of the Irish parliament
began, immediately after the war, to
excite a lively interest. In the parlia-
ment which met in Dublin on the 5th
of October, 1692, the feeling on this
subject ran so high that a bill sent from
England for imposing certain duties,
was rejected by the commons without
any ground for the rejection being as-
signed, save that " the said bill had not
its rise in this house." This vote was
passed the 28th of October; and on the
3d November, Lord Sydney, the loi-d
lieutenant, went, unexpectedly, and pro-
rogued the parliament, pronouncing at
the same time a severe rebuke, aud
ordering the clerk to enter his protest
against the vote of the commons on
the journals of the House of Lords, in
vindication of the prerogative of the
crown. In the English parliament a
discussion took place on Irish affairs,
and an address to the king was voted,
complaining of great abuses and mis-
Ulster was confiscated, containing 2,830,837 acres ; set
up by the court of claims at the restoration, 7,800,000 ;
forfeitures of 1688, 1,000,792 ; total, 10,097,629 acres.
So that the whole of your island has been confiscated,
with tho excepUon of the estates of five or sis families of
English blood, and no inconsiderable portion of tho
island has been confiscated twice, or perhaps thrice, in t)ie
course of a century. Tho situation, therefore, of the
Irish nation at the revolution stands tmparallolcd in
tho history of the habitable world Tho whole
power and property of the country have been conferred
by successive monarchs of England upon an Enghsh
colony, composed of three sets of English adventurers,
poured into this coimtry at tlie termination of tliree
rebellions. Confiscation is their common
title ; and from their first settlement they havp been
hemmed in on every side by the old inhabitants of the
island, brooding over their discontent in sullen indigna-
tion."
REIGN OF WILLIAM IIL
mnnngement in tbe affairs of Ireland,
such as the recruiting of the king's
troops with Papists, " to the endanger-
ing and discouraging of the good and
loyal Protestant subjects in that king-
dom ;" the granting protection to the
Irish Papists, " whereby Protestants
are hindered from their legal remedies,
and the course of lawstoptj" the let-
ting of the forfeited estates at under
rates ; the enormous embezzlements of
the forfeited estates and goods. But
above all, the parliament complained of
an addition which they said was made
to the articles of Limerick after the
town was surrendered, "to the very
great encouragement of the Irish Pa-
pists," which addition, as well as the
articles themselves, they prayed might
be laid before the house ;* and they also
besought his majesty that no grant
might be made of the forfeited estates
in Ireland until au opportunity was af-
forded of settling the matter in parlia-
ment. William was annoyed at this
interference of the English commons.
As to the Irish forfeitures, he had al-
ready bestowed most of them as re-
wards for the services of his friends ;
and he was indignant at the attempt
* In the second article, which secured the
of their estates to the residents of Limericlt and of the
other garrisons then in the occupation of the Irish, and to
the Irish oiEcers and soldiers then in the counties of Lim-
erick, Clare, Kerry, Cork, and Mayo, Ihe ivords, " And
all such as are under their protection in the said coun-
ties," were accidentally omitted in the copy of the ar-
ticle which was signed, although contained in the origi-
nal draft that had been settled between the parties.
Sarsfield insisted that the mistake should be rectified.
to set aside the treaty of Limerick, to
which he admitted that " his word and
honor were engaged, which he never
would forfeit." His only answer to the
address was, therefore, conveyed in
these few words : " I shall always have
great consideration of what comes from
the House of Commons ; and I shall take
great care that Avhat is amiss shall be
remedied."
It is generally admitted that "Wil-
liam HI. was not personally responsible
for the penal laws against Catholics en-
acted in his reign. He was not inclined
to persecute any man for his religion ;
and he was too good a soldier to wish
to trample on a brave but unfortunate
foe whom he had vanquished in the
field. In j)olitics, the principles of the
Tories were more congenial to him than
those of the Whigs. The Whigs of
that day were indeed nearly identical
in spirit with the Orangemen of later
times, and differed in many respects
from the great constitutional party of
that name in modern times professing
principles friendly to popular liberty
and toleration ; but intolerant and vio-
lent as they were, it was the Whigs
of that day who had placed William
and Qinkell accordingly added the omitted words to the
treaty after the Irish town of Limerick had been put
in his possession. The French fleet were just then com-
ing up the Shannon, and it was admitted that it would
bare been very imprudent, under the circumstances, for
the Dutch general to hesitate. The words in question
were duly ratified and confirmed by William .and Mary,
at the same time with the substanlire articles ; and yet,
to them the English House of Commons raised the dis-
graceful objection mentioned above.
EXACTMEXT OF PENAL LAWS.
61' 7
on the tlirone of England, and to their
imperious legislation even he was
obliged to yield his will. In 1693
Lord Sydney was recalled from the
government of Ireland, which was
then vested in Lord Capel, Sir Cyril
Wyche, and Mr. Duncombe, as lords
justices ; but while the two latter wished
to distribute justice with an equal hand.
Lord Capel took every opportunity to
infringe the articles of Limerick, and
curtail the rights of the Irish. Wyche
and Duncombe, for their impartiality,
were stigmatized as Tories and Jacob-
ites, and Lord Capel soon obtained
the sole government as lord deputy.
In 1695 he summoned a parliament
which sat for several sessions, and which
enacted, without opposition, numerous
penal statutes against the Catholics.
Among them were laws "for restraining
foreign education ;" " for the better se-
curing the government by disarming
the Papists;" "for banishing all Papists
exercising any ecclesiastical jurisdiction,
and all regulars of the Popish clergy
out of the kingdom;"* "to prevent
Protestants intermarrying with Pa-
* " According to Captain South's account," says New-
enbam, " there were in Ireland in the year 1698, 495
regular, and 872 secular, clergy of the Church of Rome.
According, to the same account, the number of regulars
shipped for foreign parts, by act of parliament, was
421 -viz., from Dublin, 153; from Galway, 170; from
Cork, 75 ; and from Waterford, 2G." ( View of the Nat-
ural and Political Circumstances of Ireland, p. 19G.)
f By the laws referred to in the test it was enacted
that all Popish archbishops, bishops, vicars-general,
dcaus, Jesuits, monks, friars, &c., and all TaiMsts exer-
cising any ecclesiastical jurisdiction, should depart the
kingdom before the first of May, 1698 ; those who neg-
lected to obey that order were to be imprisoned until
pists," and "to j^revent Papists being
solicitors." These laws were in direct
contravention of the treaty of Limer-
ick ; but this parliament went a step
further, and passed an act, which they
had the effronteiy to call " an act for
the confirmation of the articles made
at the surrender of the city of Limer-
ick ;" but which, in reality, omitted the
first article, and curtailed the others to
such an extent that the Catholics justly
regarded it as a virtual frustration of
the rights which the treaty was in-
tended to secure to them. A petition
was presented from Eobert Cusack, Esq.,
and Captains Francis Segrave and
Maurice Eustace, praying on the part
of themselves and their fellow Catholics
that they might be heard by counsel on
the measure before it passed into law,
but the House of Commons unanimously
resolved that the said petition should
be rejected. In the upper house a pro-
test against the nefarious measure was
signed by seven lay peers, and to their
honor be it said, by as many Protestant
bishops.f
While the parliament of the Protest-
they were transported beyond the seas ; and if any re-
turned from such transportation they would be guilty
of high treason, and should suffer accordingly — that is,
be executed. From the 29th December, 1G97, any Po-
pish archbishop, &c., coming into this kingdom from be-
yond the seas, was to be imprisoned for twelve months,
and then transported ; and if returning after such trans-
portation, to bo guilty of high treason, and punished
accordingly. Any person after the 1st of May, 1G98,
concealing or entertaining any such Popish archbishops,
bishops, &c., should for the first offence forfeit £20 ; for
the second, double that sum ; and for the third, should
forfeit during life all his lands and tenements, and also
all his goods and chattels, one moiety to the king, and
528
CROMWELL.
tioii Letween tbe Scottish royalists in
tlie nortl] and Ormond in the interior.
This ai-rangement, which was made on
tlie Stli of May, 1649, was to secure to
O'Xeill and his followers perfect reli-
gious freedom and the restoration of
tlieir estates ;"" but Owen did not reckon
with any confidence on it, and'thecessa-
liun or treaty was only signed for three
months. The young king was now at
the Hague, uncertain what course to
take. He had been long promising to
come to Ireland, and his baggage had,
it is said, been embarked for this coun-
try ; l)ut want of money in the first
instance, and then other impediments,
prevented him from coming. It is
tliought that Ormond, for some sinister
motives, discouraged his visit to Ire-
land ; but Charles placed the fullest
confidence in the crafty marquis as his
lord lieutenant, and confirmed the
treaty which he had made with the con-
federates.
Ormond and Inchiquin having mus-
tered a considerable army in the south,
at length took the field. In their
march through Leinster, several small
places, in which either Owen O'Neill or
the parliamentarians had placed garri-
sons, surrendered to them: and they
advanced, Ormond to invest Dublin,
and Inchiquin to besiege Drogheda.f
The latter town held out for seven days,
and on the 30th of June surrendered
on honorable terms, the parliamentarian
p. 2:57
Philop. Iren., i., p. 121 ; also Hist, of Independence,
f .\t this period Droj^lieila ivas called Tredagli or
garrison, consisting of 600 men, being
permitted to march to Dublin. Inchi-
quin's next exploit w;is to intercept a
quantity of ammunition which Monck
was sending from Dundalk to Owen
O'Neill ; and soon after Dundalk, New-
ry, and several places in Ulster, together
with the castle of Trim, surrendered to
him; and he marched back to rejoin
Ormond, who had encamped at Finglas,
two miles north of Dublin, on the 18th
of June, but removed to Ilathmines, in
the southern suburbs of that city, on
the 25th of July. Ormond found his
army too small either to besiege or
storm so large a place as Dublin, and
his only hope now being to reduce the
city by famine, he left Lord Dillon, of
Costello, with 2,000 men on the north
side, while with the remainder of his
army he proposed to cut off supplies
coming from any other quarter. So
great was his confidence in the loyalty
of his men, that he wrote to the king
to say "he could persuade half his
army to starve outright for his ma-
jesty."
On the same day that Ormond moved
from Finglas to Rathmines, large rein-
forcements arrived to the garrison from
England under Colonels Reynolds and
Venables ; and it became a matter of
great importance to the besiegers to
command the mouth of the rivei-, to
prevent the landing of further supplies
from beyond the Channel. With tliat
Trcda, by English writers ; this corruption of the name
being an atti'iniit to imitate the pronunciation of the
Irish word Droichet-atlia.
BATTLE OF RATIIMINES.
52:/
view, and to deprive tlie besieged of
pasturage for their liorses on the south
side, Mnjor-General Purcell was sent, on
tlie night of the 1st of August, with a
detachment of 1,500 foot to take posses-
sion of the ruined castle of Bagotrath,
about a mile from the camp. This place
they hoped to fortify sufficiently in one
night, and from it they might advance
their works to the river ; but they only
arrived at the castle an hour before day
break, and found that it was not so
important as was supposed. Ormoud,
as well as the bulk of his army, had
watched during the night, expecting an
attack from the garrison, and he now
retired to his tent to take some repose;
but at the same moment Colonel Michael
J'^nes was preparing to sally forth from
the city with 4,0()0 foot and 1,200 horse,
to dislodge the party which had got
possession of Bagotrath. It is intimated
by those who seek by all means to free
Orraond's chai-acter from disgrace, that
Preston and the men under his com-
mand were not at their posts at this
important juncture; but it must be ad-
mitted that the marquis showed bad
generalship on the occasion ; and he was
now roused from his slumbers by vol-
I(>ys of musketry, only to find his whole
left wing in disorder, and the detach-
ment from Bagotrath retreating, with
the enemy at their heels. The confu-
sion soon extended to Ormond's left
wing; the infantry were deserted by
the ca.valry and sought refuge in flight;
and what Jones only intended as a sortie
I'esulted in a total rout of the royalists,
with the loss, as some accounts say, of
4,000 killed and 2,500 taken prisoners,
together with their artillery, baggage,
money, and provisions. The Ormond-
ists, however, state that the number of
slain was only 600, and the prisoners
300 officers and 1,500 private soldiers;
and they add, what is very probable,
that a great many were killed after
quarter had been proclaimed, and some
even after they had been brought inside
the walls of the city. Some of the roy-
alists retreated to Drogheda, and others
to Trim, and a great many of Inchi-
quin's soldiers went over to the enemy ;
but Ormond himself repaired to Kil-
kenny, where he endeavored to collect
the shattered remains of his army ; and
his joower was so broken by this over-
throw, that he never after ventured to
meet the parliamentarians in the field.
After this battle Jones marched to
recover possession of Drogheda, but he
found that town ably defended by Lord
Moore, and learning that Ormond was
coming to its relief, he raised the siege
and returned to Dublin. Notwith-
standing their success at Eathmines, the
parliamentarians were, at this time, in
very straitened circumstances. The only
place which they retained in Ulster was
Londonderry, where Sir Charles Coote
was so hard pressed by Lord Mont-
gomery of Ards, that he would inevita-
bly have been compelled to surrender
had not Owen O'Neill consented to
come to his relief. Coote stipulated to
give O'Neill £2,000 for the payment of
his troops, a quantity of ammunition,
C30
REIGN OF QUEEX AJfNE.
fi cm Lis horse, on the 26th of February
1702, and died on the 8th of March
following, in the fifty-second year of
his age. He was never popular in Eng
land, and his inability to control the
English parliament, in the instance just
mentioned, or in the dismissal of his
Dutch guards from England, relieves
liis raemor}', to some extent, from the
odium of other acts of the legislature
during his reign. He survived only a
short time the dethroned king, James
H., who died at St. Germains, Septem-
ber 16th, 1701; and he was deej^ly
chagrined to find that, immediately
upon that event, the "Pretender" was
acknowledged king of England, as
James IH., by the courts of France and
Spain.
For the reign of William's successor,
Anne, was reseiwed the distinction of
bringing the execrable penal code to
full maturity. At this time nothing
whatever was done on the part of the
Irish Catholics to provoke aggression :
no ofleuces were alleged against them :
they kept aloof from the party agita-
tion of the day, and had subsided into a
* James, tlie second and last duke of Ormond-, wljo
on this occasion assured the parliament that he ■nould
be always most ready to do every thing in his power to
prevent the growth of Popery, was grandson of James,
the first or " great" duke, who, as representative in Ire-
land of Charles I., and then of Charles II., daring the
civil wars of the Commonwealth, had exhibited such
bitter enmity to the confederate Catholics. Thomas,
carl of Ossory, son of the first duke and father of the
second, did not live to inherit his ancestral honors, and
his noble qualities rendered his death (in 1680) a deplor-
able loss to his country. It is a remarkable fact th.it
while from the earliest times members of the noble
state of utter prostration and debility.
Still, in the midst of a vast Catholic
population, the Protestant colonists did
not feel their ascendency secure. The
power of England at their back, the
wealth of the country in their hands,
and the well-forged chains which bound
the Catholics to the earth were not
sufficient. They imagined that in the
persecution of the Catholics lay their
own safety. In 1703 the duke of Or-
moud came to Ireland as lord-lieuten-
ant, and on his arrival the House of
Commons waited on him in a body, with
a bill "for preventing the further
growth of Popery," praying him, says
Burnett, with more than ordinary ve-
hemence to intercede so efi'ectually for
them that it might be sent back under
the great seal of England. This he
undertook to do; and we learn from
the same authority that he fulfilled his
promise punctually.* Several mem-
bers appear to have disapproved of the
bill, but not one had the honor or man-
liness to raise his voice against it ; those
who were ashamed of the measure
merely resigning their seats, to which
family of Ormond were foremost in the popular ranks,
the head of the house almost invariably sided with the
English party against his country. The second duke,
who, as mentioned above, promoted the penal enact-
ments against the Cathohcs, and was one of the first
who joined the prince of Orange against James II., sub-
sequently took the part of the Pretender against George
I., and shortly after the death of Queen Anne was at-
tainted of high treason, and deprived of all his estates
and titles. He died, in 1745, an eiilo in the south of
France, where he had subsisted on a pension from the
kings of France and Spain, but it would appear that ho
always continued a consistent Protestant.
THE "SACRAMENTAL TEST."
631
less scrupulous men were elected. Yet,
even the silent protest of such resigna-
tions, as they became more frequent,
would not be tolerated by the tyrant
majority ; and it was made a standing
order that no new writs would be is-
sued to replace such reluctant members.
In England, the Tory advisers of Anne
deemed the atrocious measure harsh
and uncalled for; yet they had not the
courage to stem the tide of anti-popish
persecution. To evade their responsi-
bility, they resorted to a mean subter-
fuge. They added to the bill, the
clause known as the " Sacramental
Test," which excluded from every pub-
lic trust all who refused to receive the
Sacrament according to the rites of the
Established Church, and which, there-
fore, militated against Presbyterians
and other Protestant dissenters, as well
as against Catholics ; and they hoped
by that means to have the bill rejected
by the Irish parliament, in which the
dissenters had great influence. The
artifice, however, did not succeed. The
dissenters were at first alarmed, but on
being assured that the clause would
never be put in force against-themselves,
and that it was ouly the Papists who
were aimed at, they withdrew their op-
position. Some of the Catholic nobil-
ity and gentry petitioned to be heard
by counsel against the bill, and Sir
Theobald Butler, Sir Stephen Eice, and
* Tbo admirable and imanswcrablo arguments of the
Catholic counsel against the bill have been preserved in
the appendix to Curry's Ueticw ; and will also be found
Counsellor Malone, were accordingly
allowed to appear against it at the bar
of the Houses of Lords and Commons;
but all their appeals to the laws or
treaties, or to the justice or humanity
of the legislature, were in vain. The
petitioners were told in mockery that
if they were deprived of the benefits
of the articles of Limei-ick it would be
their own fault, since by conforming to
the established religion, they would be
entitled to these and many other ad-
vantages; that therefore they ought
not to blame any but themselves ; that
the passing of that bill into a law was
needful for the security of the kingdom
at that juncture; and, in short, that
there was nothing in the treaty of Lim-
erick which hindered them to pass it !*
"The bill," says Mr. O'Conor, "passed
without a dissentient voice ; without
the opposition or protest of a single in-
dividual to proclaim that there was one
man of righteousness in that polluted
assembly to save it from the reproach
of universal depravity."f On the 4th
of March, 1704, it received the royal
assent ; and on the 17th, the Commons
resolved unanimously, that all magis-
trates and others who neglected to put
the laws in 'execution against the Pa-
pists betrayed the public liberty. In
June, 1705, they resolved that the say-
ing or hearing of Mass by any one who
had not taken the oath of abjuration
in the appendix to Plowdcn's Historical Jieciew, and in
Taafiu's History.
t OConor's History of tlw Irish Catholici, p 1C9.
G32
REIGN OF QUEEN ANNE.
Avas illegal, and that any judges or
magistrates who neglected to inquire
into and discover such wicked practices
were enemies to the queen's govern-
ment; and in order to remove the re-
jiugnance which people naturally feel
for the infamous trade of informers and
priest-hunters, it was unanimously re-
solved that the prosecuting and inform-
ing against Papists was an honorable
service to the State. But these brutal
laws were not yet stringent enough,
and to consolidate the system, an act
h-as passed, in 1709, to explain and amend
the act for preventing the further
* Letter to Sir Hercules Langiislie. AVe may sar
.with Mr. Lawless, that " it is painful to recall the mind
to the contemplation of these laws, which were con-
ceived by the malignant genius of monopoly ; that for
the interests of mankind, it would, perhaps, be better to
bury these examples of public infamy, the Tery mention
of which must more or less contribute to the degrada-
tion of public morals ; but that the duties of the his-
torian silence the voice of the philanthropist" [Lawlcss's
Hist, of Ireland, vol. ii., p. 310) ; but as a still stronger
reason for dwelling on the loathsome details, we may
add, that under the withering influence of these laws
successive generations of Irish Catholics grew up and
passed away ; that their effects on the moral and ma-
terial interests of the nation remained long after the
barbarous laws themselves were effaced from the statute-
book, and that there are many circumstances in the so-
cial state of Ireland at this moment which must be ex-
plained by a reference to the penal code. For these
reasons we subjoin the following enumeration of the
Irish penal laws of Queen Anne's reign, as given by
Taaffe {Hist, of Ireland, vol. iii., pp. 5G7, &c.) : " If the
eldest or any other son became a Protestant, the father,
if possessing an estate by descent or purchase, was ren-
dered incapable of disposing any part of it, even in
legacies or portions. If a child pretended to be a Pro-
testant, the guardianship of it was taken from the father
and vested in the nest Protestant relation. If children
became Protestants, the parents were compelled to dis-
cover the amount of their property, that the Court of
Chancery might at pleasure aUot portions for the rebel-
lious cldldreu. If a wife became a Protestant during the
lifetime of her husband, she should have sucli provision
growth of Popeiy, so that the code was
now, as Burke describes it, " a machine
of wise and elaborate contrivance, and
as well fitted for the oppression, im-
poverishment, and degradation of a
people, and the debasement in them
of human nature itself, as ever pro-
ceeded from the perverted ingenuity of
man."*
During the whole of Anne's reign
the penal laws were enforced with rig-
orous severity, yet the persecuted Cath-
olics of Ireland could be charged with
no act of disloyalt)'. In England, and
amonir the Irish Protestants, the dis-
as the lord chancellor thought fit to adjudge. If no
Protestant heir, the estate was to be divided among the
children, &c., share and share alike. (This amounted
to the abolition of promogeniture for Catholics.) — The
heirs of a Protestant possessor, if Papists, disinherited,
and the estate transferred to the next Protestant rela-
tion.— Papists rendered incapable of purchasing lands,
or rents or profits from lands, or taking leases for any
term over thirty-one years ; and if the profit on the farm
exceeded one-third of the rent, the possessor might be
ousted, and the property vested in the Protestant discojy
erer. — Papists rendered incapable of annuities. — De-
prived of votes at elections. — Incapacitated from serving
on grand-juries. — Expelled from Limerick and Galway.
— Limited to two apprentices, except in the linen-trade.
— Twenty pomids penalty or two months' imprisonment
for not acknowledging when and where Mass was cele-
brated ; who and what persons were present ; when or
where a priest or schoolmaster resided. — Popish clergy
to be registered, and to officiate only in the parish in
which they are registered. — £50 reward for discovering
a popish archbishop, bishop, vicar-general, or any per-
son exercising foreign ecclesiastical jurisdiction. — £iO
reward for a regular or secular clergyman not registered.
— £10 reward for a Popish schoolmaster or usher. —
These rewards to be levied exclusively on Papists. — Ad-
vowsons of Papists vested in her majesty. — £30 per an-
num settled upon priests becoming Protestants." By
another law the Catholics were prevented from purchas-
ing any part of the forfeited estates, but allowed to
dwell on them as laborers or cottiers, provided their
tenement did not exceed in value the rent of thirty
shillings a vear.
RIGOROUS EXECUTIOX OF THE PEXAL LAWS.
633
sensiotis of Whigs and Tories daily in-
creased in virult-noe; violent juptui-es
took place between the English Houses
of Lords and Commons; in Ireland,
the dissenters complained loudly of the
grievances inflicted on them by the |
high church pai'ty ; and all the attempts
made by the profligate earl of Wharton
and other viceroys to unite all sects of
Protestants ngainst the " common ene-
my," as the Catholics were termed,
pj-oved ineffectual. The English par-
liament enacted several laws to bind
Ireland, and yet no protest was now
made against them by the degenerate
Iiish parliament, which seemed content
with the liberty to make laws against
the Catholics. It appeared to be a set-
lied principle, that the Catholics were
to be haj-assed even to extermination.*
"The last consummation," says an elo-
* In 1709 some of the estii-pated Catliolics were re-
olaced by colonies of Protestants from diffV'rent parts of
Germany, but known by the general name of Palatines.
Many thousands of these Germans came to England,
and Dr Curry says, that 841 families were brought over
to Ireland (Lodge makes the number 500 families,
averaging six persons each, vol vi., p. 24), and that the
sum of £24,8o0 was apjiointed for their maintenance
out of the public revenue ; but parliament soon grew
tired of the burden, for in 1711 the Lords, in addressing
the queen, thanked her that by her care she had antici-
pated their own endeavors to free the nation from the
load of debt " which the bringing over nimibers of use-
less and indigent Palatines had brought upon them."
Burni'tt tells us, that the English Commons voted that
those who had encouraged and brouglit over the Pala-
tines were enemies to the nation (vol. ii., p. 838). In
Ireland their chief patron was Sir Thomas Southwell,
afterwards baron of Castlematress, and ancestor of Vis-
connt Southwell. Their principal olony was fixed at
Courtmatress near Rathkeale, and colonies were subse-
quently planted at Adare, Castle Oliver, and other places
in the county of Limerick, and also at some localities
in Kerry. The Palatines got farms on leases for tliree
quput writer, " was now perfected. Tiie
land was reduced to a waste, yet fear
and discord still reigned ; solitude was
everywhere, but peace was not yet es-
tablished. Emigrations became numer-
ous and frequent ; all who could fly,
fled. They left behind a government
a prey to every vice, and a country a
victim to every wrong. The facility
of acquiring property V)y the violation
of the natural duties of social life wag
too powerful a temptation : dishonesty,
treacheiy, and extravagance prevailed.
The rewards of conformity cast at large
the seeds of mutual distrust in the
hearts of child and of parent. Hypoc-
risy and dissimulation were applauded
and recompensed by the laws them-
selves. A nursery for young tyrants
was formed in the vei-y liosora of the
legislature ; habitual oppression and
lives at two-thirds of the rent at which land would be
let to Irish tenants. They were also encouraged in
j various other ways ; and these advantages, with their
[ skilful husbandry, and habits of industry, frugality, and
i cleanliness, raised them considerably in the scale of
comfort above their Irish neighbors. Wlien Arthur
' Young visited Ireland in 1770, he found that the Pala-
tines retained to a great extent their German cnstoma
and manners. Even at the present day, they may be
said to form distinct communities, altliough their an-
cient national peculiarities have been long laid aside.
They are industrious and inoffensive ; live in friendly
relations with their Catholic neighbors ; and although
they still adhere to some form of Protestantism (chiefly
dissent), they have intermarried in numerous instances
with Catholics. After mentioning how the Palatines
" liad houses built for them, plots of land assigned to
each at a rent of favor, were assisted in stock, and all
of them with leases for lives from the head landlord,"
Arthur Young adds : " The poor Irish are rarely treated
in this manner; when they are, they work much greater
improvements than (are) common among th(;6o (ier-
mans." Such was the impariial statement of a con-
temporary English traveller. Tour, &c., part U , p. 1&
634
ACCESSION OF GEORGE I.
lialiifual subserviency degraded and
debased the upper classes. The lower,
without rights, without land, with
scarcely a home, with nothing which
truly gives country to man, basely
ci-ept over their native soil, defrauded
of its blessings, ' the patient victims of
its wrongs — the insensible spectators
of its ruin,' and left behind them, be-
tween the cradle and the grave, no
other trace of their existence than the
memorial of calamities under which
they bent, and of crimes which wei-e
assiduously taught them by their gov-
ernors." *
It was well known that Queen Anne
was opposed to the succession of the
house of Hanover, and the chief aim
of her Tory ministers during the latter
years of her life was to prepare the
way to bring in her brother, the Pre-
tender, at her death. Neither the
queen, however, nor her ministers, had
resolution enough for so important a
movement. All the energy was to be
found on the side of the Whigs ; and
Anne had the mortification to see her
brother attainted by the English par-
liament, and a proclamation issued of-
fering £50,000 reward for his a2:)pi-e-
* Eist. Sketch of the Catholic Association, by Thomas
Wyse, Esq., vol. i., p. 24. Lord Chesterfield, describing
the state of this country a few years later, says : " All
the causes that ever destroyed any country conspire in
this point to ruin Ireland." Miscell. Works, vol. iii.,
p. 34.
t George I. was the eldest son of Ernest Augustus,
bishop of Osnaburg, elector of Hanover and duke of
Brunswick-Lunenburg. His hereditary claim to the
throne of England ho derived through hie mother, So-
hension; and to find that, contrury to
her express wishes, the successor chosen
for her by the Whigs was invited into
England during her lifetime. These
provocations hastened her death, which
took place on the 1st of August, 1714 ;
and a few hours after her demise George
Augustus, duke of Cambridge, and son
of the elector of Hanover, was pro-
claimed king as George I.f
The year 1715 was memorable for
the rebellion in Scotland in favor of
the Pretender ; but in Ireland there
was no sympathetic movement, and this
country continued so tranquil that gov-
ernment was able to remove six regi-
ments of foot to assist in suppressing
the insurrection in North Britain. The
Irish parliament evinced its loyalty by
setting a price of j£50,000 on the head
of the Pretender, and attainting the
duke of Ormond, who had joined the
standard of that unfortunate pi'ince.
Still, the Irish Catholics were as much
distrusted and persecuted as ever, and,
in official language, were habitually
designated " the common enemy." The
lords justices, in their address to the
Commons this year, i-ecommended that
all distinctions should be j)ut an end to
phia, who was the fifth daughter of Frederick V., elec-
tor-palatine, and king of Bohemia, and of the princess
Elizabeth, daughter of James I. of England. He was
in his .55th year when he ascended the throne. The
Pretender, or James III., as he was styled on the conti-
nent, would have been acceiitable enough to the people
of England as Anne's successor, were it not for his re-
ligion ; but the attempts which his sister made shortly
before her death to induce him to abandon Catholicity
were ineffectual.
CONTEST BETWEEN ENGLISH AND IRISH PARLIAMENTS.
635
in this i-ealm, save that of Protestant
and Papist ; and the magistrates, slier-
itfs, mayors, and others in authority,
received instructions from government
to execute with strictness the hiws
against Catholics. Rewards were of-
fered for the discovery of any Papist
that should presume to enlist in the
king's service, " that he might be turned
out and punished with the utmost se-
verity of the law ;" and about the same
time the Commons resolved, that any
one instituting a prosecution, under the
law as it then stood, against dissenters
for entering the army or militia, " was
an enemy to the Protestant interest
and a friend to the Pretender;" this
distinction being made between Cath-
olics and dissenters at the very moment
that the Presbyterians of Scotland were
in ai'ms for the son of James II., while
the Ii'ish Catholics presented an aspect
of lethargic tranquillity. The lords
justices granted ordei-s for apprehend-
ing most of the Catholic nobility and
landholders, as persons suspected of
disaffection ; but after a painful im-
prisonment they were all discharged,
without even the shadow of a case be-
ing set up against them.*
A contest, which excited a lively in-
terest, now arose between the English
and Irish Houses of Loixls on a question
of appellate jurisdiction. A case of
* Describing the rigor with which the penal laws were
at this time enforced, Plowden says it was " a rigid per-
secution against Catholics for the mere exercise of their
religion ; their priests were dragged from their conceal-
ment, many of them were taken from the altars whilst
property between Hester Sherlock and
Maurice Annesley having been decided
for the respondent by the court of ex-
chequer in Ireland in 1719, the judg-
ment was revei'sed on appeal by the
Irish House of Peers. Annesley, the
respondent, then brought the cause be-
fore the House of Peers in England,
which affirmed the judgment of the
Ii-ish court of exchequer. The Irish
peers denied the legality of the appeal
to England, alleging that an appeal to
the king in his Irish parliament was
definitive in any cause in Ireland, and
they obtained the opinion of the Irish
judges to that effect. The case became
more complicated by the infliction of a
fine on Alexander Burrowes, sheriff of
Kildare, for refusing to comply with
the orders of the court of exchequer
and of the English peers, by putting
Annesley in possession of the estate;
while on the other hand the Irish peers
removed the fine, and voted that the
sheriff had behaved with integrity and
courage in the matter. All the reason
of the case appeared to be on the side
of the Irish peei-s, but their English
masters soon made them sensible of
their error, by enacting — "That where-
as attempts have been lately made to
shake off the subjection of Ireland unto,
and dependence upon, the imperial
crown of this realm; and whereas the
performing divine service, exposed in their vestments
to the derision of the soldiery, then committed to jail,
and afterwards banished the kingdom." HUt<yrj/ of
Ireland, vol. ii., p. 73.
636
REIGN OF GEORGE I.
lords of Ireland, in order thereto, liave
of late, against law, assumed to them-
selves a power and jurisdiction to ex-
amine and amend the judgments and
decrees of the courts of justice in Ire-
land ; therefore, &c., it is declared and
enacted, &c., that the said kingdom of
Ireland hath been, is, and of i-ight
ought to be, subordinate unto, and de-
pendent upon, the imperial crown of
Great Britain, as being inseparably
united and annexed thereunto; and
that the king's majesty, by and with
the advice and consent of the Lcn'ds
spii'itual and temporal, and Commons
of Great Britain in parliament assem-
bled, had, hath, and of right ought to
have, full power and authority to make
laws and statutes of sufficient force and
validity to bind the people of the
kingdom of Ireland. And it is further
enacted and declared, that the House
of Lords of Ireland have not, nor of
right ought to have, any jurisdiction to
judge of, affirm, or reverse any judgment,
&c., made in any court within the said
kingdom," &c.
Thus was the Irish parliament de-
gi-aded to the rank of a provincial as-
* Hwt. of Gutholic Association, i., p. 28. The Irish
Protestant, observes Mr. Wyse, " had succeeded in ex-
cluding tlie Catholics from all power, and for a moment
held triumphant and exclusive possession of the con-
quest ; but he was merely a locum tenens for a more
powerful conqueror, a jackal for the lion, an Irish stew-
ard, for an English master ; and the time soon came
round when he was obliged to render up reluctantly,
but immediately, even this oi>j)reBsive trust. The ex-
clusive system was turned against him; he had made
the executive entirely Protestant ; the Whigs of George
I. made it almost entirely English. His victory paved
sembly, and Ireland reduced to a state
I if " a mere grovelling colony, regulated
1)y the avai-ice or fears of a stranger ;*
and in this state did they continue until
the glorious epoch of 1782. But the
humiliation of the Irish legislature did
not blunt its appetite for oppi'essing the
Catholics. In 1719, an act was passed
to exempt the Protestant dissenters
from certain penalties to which they
were liable in common with the Cath-
olics ; and, as if it were necessary that
this simple justice to the dissenter
should be relieved by a fresh exhibition
of malignity to the Papist, a bill was
brought in 1723 for still more effect-
ually preventing the fui'ther groAvth of
Popery. The bill, however, contained
a clause of so savage a nature against
the Catholic clergy, that the whole bru-
tal measure was suppressed in Eng-
land, and thus fell to the ground.
Towards the close of this reign we be-
gin to hear of " patriots" as a new pai-ty
in Ireland, different from Whigs and
Toi ies,f and standing i-ather in contra-
distinction to the English party, by
whom they were usually styled the
" disaffected." Their leader was the
the way for another far easier, and far more important.
Popery fell, but Ireland fell with it." — Ibid., p. 27.
f Some hold that the Whigs and Tories were, from
the beginning, respectively identical in principle with
the parties which now bear those names, and that
the only difference was one of circumstances, which
caused men to act at one time very differently from what
they would at another time, although actuated all the
wliile by the same principles. At all events, the Wliigs
and Tories of the period of which we now treat begin
to assume a closer resemblance than they previously had
to the more modern parties.
WOOD'S HALF-PENCE.—" DRAPIER'S LETTERS.'
G37
celebrated Di'. Jdiuitliaii Swift, dean of
St. Patrick's, who in religion belonged
to the Toi-y or high-church party, and
in politics adhered to the Whigs ; but
who practically separated himself from
both, and employed his great powei's
as a writer to uphold the interests of
Ireland against the hostile influence of
the British cabinet. Swift had already
exerted himself as an advocate of Irish
manufactures against English monop-
oly ; but a circumstance now occurred
which called into action with memo-
rable effect all his wonderful energy.
In 1793, one William Wood, a scheming
Englishman, obtained from George I.,
through the influence of the duchess of
Kendal, the king's mistress, a patent
for supplying Ireland with a coinage of
coppei' half-pence and farthings to the
amount of £108,000. It must be re-
rembered that this was an age of frauds
on a gigantic scale. France had been
just before brought to the brink of ruin
by the Mississippi scheme, and England
was still suffei'ing from the disaster of
the South Sea bubble. Some such ca-
lamity was anticipated in Ireland from
Wood's patent, and the cry of alarm
was universally raised against it. Swift
took up the subject in his celebrated
" Drapier's Letters," in which, assuming
the character of a Dublin draper, he
attacked the job in a style of argument
and ridicule that produced an amazing
effect upon the minds of the people.
* It is alleged that Wood's copper had been assayed
at the mint and loiind to be of the required value, and
Every class, from the highest to tlie
lowest throughout Ireland, was ins])ired
with horror foi- Wood's half-pence. The
incomparable " drapier" told them that
Wood had employed so base an alloy
for his half-pence, that the whole mass
which would be forced upon the coun-
try in lieu of £108,000, would not be
worth £8,000; that twenty-four of
those half-pence would be scarcely
worth more than one penny ; that the
price of commodities should be raised
in proportion as the value of the
coin was depressed, so that a penny-
worth could not be sold for less than at
least twenty of the half-pence; that
there was nothing to prevent Wood
from imposing upon Ireland any quan-
tity of his base copper that he chose, so
that at length all the gold and silver
coin might be withdrawn from the
country ; in which case a lady could
not go out shopping without taking a
wagon-load of the vile half-pence
along with her ; and a gentleman of
raodei-ate property would require scores
of horses to draw home his half-year's
rent, and extensive cellars in which to
stow it away ! As to the position in
which a banker would be placed when
Ireland had no coin but Wood's half-
pence, it was not to be thought of.
" In fact," says the drapier, " if Mr.
Wood's project should take, it would
ruin even oui- beggars ;* for, when I give
a beggar a half-penny it will quench 'his
that consequently all the dean's arguments were illu-
sory.
638
REIGN OF GEORGE I.
thirst, or go a good way to fill his belly ;
but the twelfth part of a half-penny
will do him no move service than if I
should give him three pins out of my
sleeve." In the midst of the ferment
about Wood's patent, Dr. Hugh Boul-
ter, an Englishman, was made arch-
bishop of Armagh, and sent over hei-e
to manage the English interest, as it
was called — that is, to keep every thing
in Ii'eland subservient to English views
and interests. For nearly twenty years
he continued to fill that post, and during
the interval the functions of the vice-
roy were little more than nominal,
every thing being done by the counsel
and management of Primate Boulter.
Within a fortnight after his arrival in
Ireland he wrote to the duke of New-
castle that things were in a very bad
state here, " the people so poisoned with
apprehension of Wood's half-pence,
that he did not see there could be any
hopes of justice against any person for
seditious writings if he did but mix
something about Wood in them." It
was well known that Swift was the
author of the Drapier's Letters, yet the
government could obtain no evidence
against him, although a reward of £300
was offered for the discovery of the
writer, and Swift's secret was known to
several. The printei-, Harding, was
taken up and prosecuted ; but the
first grand-jury ignored the bill against
him ; and when Chief-justice Whitshed,
the corrupt tool of government, caused
another grand-juiy to be sworn, they
went further than the former juiy, by
passing a vote of thanks to the writei
of the Di-apier's Letters and presenting
Wood's scheme as a fraud on the public.
At length, in 1725, the obnoxious pat-
ent was withdrawn ; Wood receiving
an indemnity of £3,000 a year for
twelve years; and the popularity of
Dean Swift rose to a height which
had no precedent in Ireland at that
time.
No other event of importance mai'ked
the reign of George I., who died at Os-
naburg, in Germany, on the 10th of
June, 1727, in the sixty-eighth year of
his age and the thirteenth of his reign.
From the time he ascended the throne
he had suffered himself to be governed
implicitly by the Whigs; and under
him all the faults of English misrule in
Ireland were carried to the extreme.
It was an age of political and so«ial
turpitude. For a long time past a flood
of immorality had been inundating
England, and the few attempts then
made to stem the torrent of crime thei-e
only indicated the vastness of the evil.
Religion had long since disappeared,
and honor followed. Corruption and
venality in public men, and avarice,
prodigality, and shame-faced profligacy
in private life, were the characteristic
vices. The dominant faction in Ireland
had not escaped the contagion ; but
the Iiish Catholics were humbled and
oppressed too low to come within its
sphere. The chastening rod of afflic-
tion w'as heavy upon them, and tlie
fidelity with which they clung to their
religion during those evil days, and
CATHOLICS NOT ALLOWED TO VOTE.
G.S9
under all the humiliations and temporal
grievances wbixih it brought upon them,
is assuredly one of the most wonderful
things related in their checkered his-
tory*
On the accession of George II., the
Catholics ventured to prepare an ad-
dress to the new monarch expressing
their loyalty, and pledging themselves
to a continuance of their peaceful de-
meanor. The address was presented
by Lord Delvin to the lords justices
(one of whom was Primate Boulter),
with a prayer that it might be trans-
mitted to the king; but it was received
with silent contempt, and was never
forwarded to Englan^^l. Hitherto Cath-
olics might vote at elections, on tak-
ing the oaths of allegiance and abjura-
* Perhaps the fo'.lowing beautiful words of Cardinal
Wiseman, describing the steadfastness of the Irish iu
the Catholic faith, are not more applicable to any period
than to that at which we have now arrived. In his ser-
mon at the consecration of the new church at Ballina-
sloe, his eminence said : " Throw on one side wealth,
nobility, and worldly position ; tlie influence of superior
education of the highest class ; literature, science, and
whatever belongs to those who command, according to
this world. Cast into the other scale poverty and
misery, the absence almost for ages of the power of
culture ; the dependence totally for all that is necessary
in this life, for daily food itself, upon those who belong
to the other class. See these two bodies acting for cen-
turies reciprocally upon one another. Suppose it to be
a matter of mere human opinion, human princiiile,
science, or of that knowledge of every sort that distin-
guishes them, and judge if it is possible, that for hun-
dreds of yi-ars that which is so much greater, more
powerl'ul , and more wise in the eyes of the world, ought
not to have crumbled and crushed under itself that
which was absolutely subject to it, and lying imder its
f(^et, and reduced it into a homogeneous mass ; and
brtviking down the barriers of opinion that separated
the two, have made them in this become but one."
And desci-ibing how soon such an effect was produced iu
England, where " a few years of superiority in one class,
tion ; but in ITSt a bill was brought
into the Irish parliament which de-
prived them of this last vestige of con-
stitutional rights. It was simply en-
titled, " A bill for further regulating the
election of members of parliament," and
no intimation was given that any new
penal enactment was intended ; but
without any notice or debate, or any
cause being assigned, a clause was in-
troduced which enacted, "that no Pa-
pist, though not convict, should be en-
titled or admitted to vote at the election
of any member to serve in parliament,
or of any magisti'ate for any city or
town coi-porate."f This was eflfected
through the management of Primato
Boulter, who in the next place busied
himself in the establishment of Protest-
which monopolized all earthly advantages, wore away
the patient resistance of those who would not otherwise
have altered their faith, until at length districts which
once were most fervent and most zealously Catholic
hardly heard that name amongst them, and scarcely a
trace was left in the feelings and traditions of the people,
of the former existence of the Catholic church amongst
them ;" he asked what has caused this distinction, and
answers, " I cannot see but this difference, that it pleased
God, by one of those dispensations which we must not
endeavor to penetrate, to allow religion there to take,
perhaps, a nobler and more magnificent hold upon the
surface of the land, demonstrating itself by more splen-
did edifices, by more noble endowments of universities,
colleges, and hospitals ; while here lie makes its roots
strike deep into the very soil, and so take possession of
the soil that it was impossible to ever uproot it."— Card.
Wiseman's Tour in Ireland, pp. 23, 23, 24. — Dublin :
J. Duffy.
f The disfranchisement of Catholics is included by
Taaffe among the disjibilities enacted in the reign of
Anne. We may here add, that in order to preclude
Catholics from a knowledge of proceedings in parlia-
ment, it was made a standing order of the Irish Hou-se
of Commons, in 1713, "that the sergeantat-arms should
j take into custody all Papists that were or should presume
1 to come into the galleries."
640
REIGN OF GEORGE II.
ant charter schools, of which he may
he said to have been the founder. " The
great number of Papists in this king-
dom," he wrote to the bishop of Lon-
don, "and the obstinacy with which
they adhere to their own religion, occa-
sions our trying what may be done
with their children to bring them over
to our Church."* So well was the
secret of proselytisni even then under-
stood. An intense anxiety was felt at
this time to exclude from the legal pro-
fession not only Catholics but even
converts from Catholicity. " We must
be all undone here," says Piimate
Boulter, " if that profession gets into
the hands of converts, where it is al-
ready got, and where it every day gets
more and more." A convert should
• test his sincerity ])y five years' perse-
verance in Protestantism before he
could be admitted a barrister; and in
1728, a stringent act was passed to
prevent Papists from practising as soli-
citors.
While this latter measure was pend-
ing, some Catholics set a subscription
on foot to oppose it in parliament;
and one Hennessy, a suspended priest,
gave information to government that
* Boulter's Letters, vol. ij., p. 10. In tbe same letter,
•wliich is 'dated May 5, lT;iO, he writes: " I can assure
you, the Papists are here so numerous that it highly
concerns us in [xiint of interest, as well as out of con-
cern for the salvation of those poor creatures, who are
our fellow-subjects, to try all possible means to bring
them and theirs over to the knowledge of the true re-
ligion. And one of tlie most likely methods we can
think of is, if possible, instructing and converting tke
young generation ; for, instead of converting those who
are adult, we are daily losing several of our meaner
the subscription was for the Pretender,
that large sums were collected, and that
certain Catholic bishops were the or-
ganizers of the scheme. It happened
that only £o were collected, but the
House of Commons caused a commis-
sion of inquiry to issue, which magnified
and distorted the facts. The matter,
however, went no further.
For some years great distress had
prevailei], and the depression of trade
and general discontent which resulted,
drove vast numbers to emigrate ; but
the emigration was chiefly confined to
the northern Protestants, and this in-
creased the disproportion of Catholics
and Protestants and was a fresh source
of alarm.
More stringent measures were taken
to disarm the Catholics, so that even
a Protestant in the em})loyment of
a Catholic w-as not allowed to have
arms. In 1733, the duke of Dor-
set, then loi'd-lieutenant, caused a bill
to be laid before the Irish parliament
to relieve the dissenters from the
test act, and recommended a firm union
among all Protestants, as having one
common interest and the same common
enemy — namely, the Catholics ; but
people who go off to Popery." {Ibid., pp. 11,12.) Two
days after he wrote to the same effect to the duke of
Newcastle, asking a charter for a Protestant school cor-
poration " to take the management of schools for in-
structing the Popish youth," and the charter was ac-
cordingly granted. Boulter estimated that there were
j "five Papists to one Protestant," and "near 3,000 Po-
pish priests of all sorts" in Ireland ; and the Pro.
I testant bishop, Berkeley, writing in 1744, makes the
1 numbers in Monster eight Papists to one Protestr-
I ant
RUMORS OF A FRENCH INVASIOX.
641
tlie measure was opposed by Dean
Swift and the pati-iots, and was with-
drawn.*
Rumors of an intended French inva-
sion, in 1744, gave rise to a fresh ebul-
lition of rage against the Catholics ; a
search was made in private houses for
the priests, and the chapels were closed.
In England, the Catholics were expelled
from London ; but in Ii-eland, where
they were too numerous for expulsion,
the idea of getting I'id of them by a
massaci-e seems to have been veiy
generally entertained. This diabolical
project was even suggested by a noble-
man in the privy council ; and a con-
B])iracy to carry it into execution was
actually formed in Ulster, the pretence
beius: that the Catholics intended to
* The frequent distress alluded to in the text arose
from a complication of causes. Agricultural improve-
ment was discouraged among the Catholics by the pe-
nal laws, which prevented a Catholic from obtaining a
long lease, and also exposed him to be deprived of his
farm if it could be shown that the rent was less than
two-thirds of the full improved value of the land. Agri-
culture was still further paralyzed by a resolution of the
Irish House of Commons in 1730, which was allowed to
pass as law, and which, by abolishing agistment tithes
on barren cattle, relieved the owners of pasture lands,
and threw the great burden of the tithes on tillage.
Potatoes had long since become almost the exclusive
food of the Irish peasantry ; and the entire potatoe crop
of 1739 having been destroyed by a severe frost in No-
vember (it being at that time the custom to leave pota-
toes in the ground until Christmas), a frightful famine
ensued in 1740 and 1741, and it was estimated that
400,000 persons died of starvation in those fatal years.
See Professor Curry's letter in a tract on this famine,
piililialied in 184G ; also Dr. V^Tilde's Reports on Deaths,
Census Papers.
f Dr. Curry, who tolls us that the atrocious suggestion
of the privy councillor " was (juickly overruled by that
honorable assembly," adds, "yet so entirely were some
of the lower northern dissenters [Kissessed by this pre-
murder the Protestants.f Neverthele.ss
when the Scottish rebellion broke out,
in 1745, there was no corresponding
movement in Ii'eland. The army of
Prince Charles Edward on that occasion
was, indeed, composed to a great extent
of Irishmen, or men of Irish extraction,
but these had been already in the ser-
vice of France;;]; and in Ireland a
tranquillity prevailed which, under such
dire provocation, could only have been
the i-esult of the deepest depression.
The danger which might arise from
Irelan.d at such a juncture was, however,
formidable, and the earl of Chesterfield
was sent over as lord-lieutenant, to calm
public feeling by a policy of concilia-
tion. He treated the Catholics with
lenity, allowed them to keep their
vailing rancor against Catholics, that in the same year,
and for the same declared purpose of prevention, a con-
spiracy was actually formed by some of the inhabitants
of Lttrgan, to rise in the night-time and destroy all
their neighbors of that denomination in their beds."
This inhuman design, he says, was known and att<;sted
by several inhabitants of Lurgan, and an account of it
was transmitted to Dublin by a respectable linen mer-
chant of that city then at Lurgan. It was also frus-
trated " by an information of the honest Protestant
publican in whose house the conspirators had met to
settle the execution of their scheme, sworn before the
Kev. Mr. Ford, a justice of the peace in that district,
who received it with horror, and with difficulty put a
stop to the intended massacre." — Curry's State of the
CatlwUts of Ireland ; see also Pluiedeii, and Wright's
Hist, of Ireland, vol. ii., p. 339.
X So extensively was the secret recruiting for foreign
service carried on in Ireland, notwithstanding the rigid
laws(m the subject, that wo are told by the AbbeMageo-
ghegan, on the authority of French official documente.
that more than 4.^0.000 Irishmen died in the service of
France between the years IGOl and 1745 : and Sir.
Newenham, in his inquiry into the population of Ire-
land, thinks that " we are not sufficiently warranted in
considering this statement an exaggeration."
fi42
REIGN OF GEORGE II.
chapels open, and even encouraged
their assemblages, at the same time
that he employed secret agents to at-
tend all their places of resort, and
through them learned that no designs
were entertained by the Catholics
against the government. He also em-
ployed skilful writers to disseminate bis
views through the medium of pretended
popular pamphlets ; and, on the whole,
the policy which he was sent' to carry
out was cowardly and insincere, only
meant to deceive with false hopes in a
moment of danger. So tranquil was
Ireland, that he was able to send four
battalions to assist the duke of Cum-
berland against Charles Edward in
Scotland ; but by the battle of Cullo-
den, April 16th, 1746, the insuirection
in Scotland was crushed ; and there
being no longer any need of a soothing
policy for Ireland, Lord Chestei-field
was recalled on the 25th of the same
month, and the government intrusted
to Archbishop Hoadley, successor to
Boulter, Lord Chancellor Newport, and
Ml'. Boyle, the then popular speaker of
the House of Commons, as lords jus-
tices.
In 1747, George Stone succeeded
Hoadley as primate, and like Boulter
became the manager of the English in-
terest, and the vii-tual head of the
Irish government. He was a proud,
ari'ogant, unprincipled, and unscrupu-
lous man, and is accused of having re-
sorted to means the most demoralizing
to corrupt the Irish gentry for the
maintenance of English ascendency.
In 1749 disputes arose in the Irish par-
liament about the appropriation of the
surplus revenue, and the question of
privilege was revived. A bill was in-
troduced in the Commons to apply the
unappropriated surplus to the liquida-
tion of the national debt. The court
pai'ty alleged that such an appropria-
tion could not be made without the.
previous consent of the crown, while
the patriots insisted that no such con-
sent was necessary. The subject gave
rise to warm and protracted discussions.
In 1751 and 1753, the dispute was. re-
newed with increased violence; the
duke of Dorset, who had been a second
time appointed lord-lieutenant, told the
parliament that the king gave his
" consent and recommendation" to the
application of the surplus towards the
reduction of the national debt ; but the
formula offended the Commons, who
regarded it as an infringement of their
piivileges and passed the bill without
any reference to it. The English min-
istry were enraged, and sent back the
bill fi'om England, with words intei'po-
luted in the pi-eamble to express the
king's recommendation and consent.
From year to year the dispute was re-
newed, and the patriots continued visi-
bly to gain ground. The earl of Kil-
dai'e presented to the king in person a
bold address, complaining of the ai-i-o-
gance and the illegal and corrupt inter-
ference of Primate Stone and the lord-
lieutenant's son, Loi'd George Sackville,
in public affaii-s. This manly proceed-
ing was, itself, an important triumph,
THE PATRIOT PARTY DISORGANIZED.
G43
and popular excitenient I'an so high
that the viceroy left the countiy in dis-
may ; but in the end corruption pre-
vailed. By an ingenious complication
of inti-igues the patriot party was dis-
organized. Henry Boyle, the speaker,
was created earl of Shannon, and his
clamorous but hollow patriotisui more-
over silenced by a pension. Mr. Pon-
sonby, son of the earl of Besborough,
a man of inordinate ambition, was
elected speaker; Prime Sergeant An-
thony Malone, another leading patriot
was, a little later, gratified with the
chancellorship of the exchequer; and
although a few men of integrity re-
mained uuparchased, the ranks of the
patriots were so broken as to be no
longer formidable. Lord Hartington,
who soon after became duke of Devon-
shire, was sent over to replace the duke
of Dorset, and helped to carry out
these arrangements ; but when, in IVr^G,
he was about to return to England, in-
stead of counselling, as usual, a union
of Protestants against the "common
enemy," he recommended harmony
among all his majesty's subjects. Lord
Chancellor Joeelyn, and the earls of
Kildare and Besborough, were then ap-
pointed lords justices; and although it
was soon found, as usually happens.
* Charles O'CJonor has left us a brief memoir of his
friend, Dr. Curry, prefixed to the second edition of tlie
Beview of the Civil Wars. lie was descended from an
ancient Irish family of Cnvan — the O'Corras — who
were deprived of their property in tlie usurpation of
Cromwell ; and maternally he was related to Dean
Swift. His grandfather commanded a troop of horse
under James II., and fell at Aughrim. Dr. Curry studied
that the patriots did not act up to the
same principles in office which they ad-
vocated out of it, still a change had
come over the spirit of the times ; a
bi-ighter day was dawning; bigotry
was on the wane, and liberal principles
began to be appreciated. To this
peiiod are to be ti-aced the first aspira-
tions after religious liberty which the
oppressed Irish Catholics ventui-ed to
breathe — the first humble germs of the
gi'eat Catholic movement which in after
yeai-s was to assume such gigantic pi-o-
portions.
It was in 1746 that Dr. John Curry,
a Catholic physician, practising in Dub-
lin, and distinguished for his profes-
sional ability and humanity, conceived
the idea of vindicating his country from
the withering calumnies which national
and sectarian hatred and rage for spoli-
ation had invented and propagated,
and which credulity and hostile preju-
dice had too readily accepted. Some
valuable historical tracts were the first
results of his learned and patriotic
studies, and these were matured a few
years later into the famous " Historical
and Critical Review of the Civil Wai-s
of Ireland," which has been so often
quoted in these pages.* Dr. Curiy for
some time stood alone, but his writings
at Paris, and obtained his diploma of physician at
Kheims. His first historical tract was a dialogue on the
Rebellion of 1641, which api^ared anonymously in
1747, and drew forth ii voluminous reply from Walter
Harris, the editor of Ware's Works. Dr. Curry's re
joinder, also anonymous, was is " Historical Memoirs
of the Irish Rebellion," a small book, first printed in
1759, and which would be invaluable if we had not thla
644
REIGN OF GEORGE II.
atti'acted the attention of Charles
O'Conor, of Belanagar, the eminent
Irish antiquary and friend of Dr. John-
son, and both were soon drawn together
by a community of sympathies on be-
half of their suffering co-i'eligionists.
To these two men was added a third
fi'iend of the cause — Mr. Wyse, a Cath-
olic gentleman of Waterford, who en-
tered with zeal into their views; and
in the communings and correspondence
of the thi-ee were to be found the first
pulsations of i-eturning life in the Cath-
olic body of Ireland. Their first step
was to address a circular to the Catho-
lic clergy and aristocracy, inviting co-
operation ; but this effort failed. The
Catholic aristocracy shrunk from pub-
lic notice. They had suffered too much
in past times, and had too much to fear
from the future ; they were too timid,
too apathetic, and too proud. The
Catholic clei-gy were equally shrinking
and equally timid ; they feared the
slightest public movement ; " they
trembled at the possibility of plunging
still more deeply and inextricably into
persecution the suffering Church of Ire-
land;" the priest-hunter was still abroad
and eager for his prey ; but the habitual
solitude and exclusion in which they
had so long sheltered themselves, as
larger and more important production, The Review, etc.,
tlie first edition of which was printed in 1775. Dr.
Curry died in 1780. He was devoted heart and soul to
the interests of the Catholic Church and of his country.
* Wyse'a Hint. Catholic Association , vol. i., ch. ii. In
addition to the above-mentioned motives, in which we
have followed Mr. Wyse, it is probable that there was
another equally strong — namely, an unwillingness to
much as the apprehension of danger
made the Irish clergy dislike nottjriety,
and so they disapproved of any move-
ment.* There was still another body
to be appealed to, not at all numerous,
but with more enei-gy, hope, and enter-
prise than the others — uamely, the
Catholic merchants and commercial
men ; and to these our thi-ee regenera-
tors next had recourse. In September,
1757, John Ru.ssell, duke of Bedford,
was appointed lord-lieutenant. He
professed liberal sentiments, and the
occasion was thought a favorable one
for an address fi-om the Catholics; but,
with the fate of Lord Delvin's addi'ess
before their eyes, any fresh attempt of
the kind was deemed worse than use-
less by many, and the gentiy and clergy
rejected the proposal. An address,
nevertheless, was prepared by Charles
O'Conor, and proposed by him at a
meeting of citizens held in the Globe
Tavern, Essex-street. Four hundred re-
spectal)le names, chiefly of men in the
commercial classes, wei-e soon attached
to it ; and it was presented to Mr. Pon
sonby, the speaker of the House of
Commons, "the depression and degra-
dation of the body being at that time
such that they dared not venture to
wait upon the lord-lieutenant or to
trust a few self-appointed men where so much was at
stake, and where the interests of religion were involved.
The schismatical conduct of the English Catholic Com-
mittee, many years after, showed how dangerous it was
to confide the management of such affairs to any body
of laymen ; but, for the Irish committee, it must be said
that they never laid themselves open to any charge o(
that nature.
FIRST WOUDS OF KINDNP:SS.
G45
present the address in person." A
long interval passed before any answer
was received; and those who had op-
posed the address began to congratu-
late themselves on their own superior
judgment. Dr. Curry and his fi-iends
had projected an association for the
management of Catholic affairs, and
had formed a committee, in which they
were aided by a few of the Dublin
merchants, but the clergy and aristoc-
racy cautiously held aloof. At length
the address appeaj-ed in the Gazette,
with a gracious reply, in which the
Catholics were told that " the zeal and
attachment which they professed could
never be more seasonably manifested
than in the present conjuncture ; and
that as long as they conducted them-
selves with duty and affection they
could not fail to receive his majesty's
protection." These were the fii"st words
addressed in kindness to the Catholics
of Ireland by the representatives of
English power since the unfortunate
James II. lost his throne.*
* " Addresses," says Mr. Wyse, " now poured in from
aU sides ; but so debased by tlie most servile adulation
of tlie reigning powers, and by ungrateCu] vituperation
of tlie French, from whom, from the treaty of Limerick
up to that hour, they were indebted for every benefit, —
the exile for his home — the scholar for his education —
thi-ir ancient and decayed aristocracy for commissions
in the army for their younger sons, — that their freer de-
Bcimdauts blush in reading the disgraceful reajrd, and
turn aside in disgust for the melancholy evidence of the
corrupting and enduring influences of a long-continued
state of slavery." — IIii)t. Cnth. AMOcintion, vol. 1., p. 64.
And Mr. O'Conor, in a letter to Dr. Curry, of Dec, 1759,
referring to these addresses, says : " Some of those gen-
tlemen Bcold those unfortunate ancestors whom you
have so well defended ; others again scold the French
nation, who, from them at least, have deserved better
In 1759, Dublin was disturbed by
violent tumults, in consequence of a
proposal for a union between England
and Ireland on the plan of that be-
tween England and Scotland. The
people were enraged at a project which
would deprive them of their nationality
and parliament, and subject them to
the burden of English taxation. A
Pi'otestant mob broke into the House
of Lords, insulted the peers, seated an
old woman on the throne, and searched
for the journals with a view to commit-
ting them to the flames. The excite-
ment was chiefly promoted by the
speeches and writings of Dr. Chai-les
Lucas, who had been obliged to fly the
country some years before on account
of his manly assertion of popular rights
against the abuses of the government
and of the corporation. Still, Lucas
was not a friend of the Catholics, for
justice to that proscribed class as yet
formed no pai't of the political creed oi
patriots. He had assailed them in his
wi'itings ;f and although some membeis
quarters — France, the asylum of our poor fugitives, lay
and clerical, for seventy years past !" And again he
adds : " Pome declare themselves so happy as to require
a revolution in their private oppressed state as little as
they do a revolution in government I" Such had been
the prostrating effect of the penal laws upon the minds
and spirit, as well as upon the natural condition of the
people.
f Lucas abused the Catholics in his " Barber's Let
ters," and, patriot as he was, late writers have justlj
pronounced him " an uncompromising bigot." He died
in 1771,58 years of age, having during the latter period
of his life been reduced to a state of extreme infirmity
by the gout. His remains were honored with a public
funeral, and his statue in white marble, by the Irish
sculptor, Edward Smyth, was placed in the Royal Ex-
, change.
646
REIGN OF GEORGE II,
of the House of Commons attempted to
throw upon the Catholics the odium of
the riots, the government knew the
charge to be unfounded, and hence the
fi-iendly reply to the Catholic address
just mentioned.*
During the latter part of the year
great alarm was produced by rumors
of an intended invasion from France.
Armaments were preparing at. Havi-e
and Vannes for a descent on some in-
definite part of the coast. A powerful
fleet under Admiral Conflans lay at
Brest to convoy the expedition, and
another squadron under the celebrated
Thurot was to sail from Dunkirk to
engage the attention of the enemy else-
where. At this time, however, England
had her Rodney and her Hawke. The
latter admiral defeated the Brest fleet
on the 20th of Novembei-, in an action
off" Quiberon ; the expedition from Nor-
mandy did not sail at all, and the Dun-
kirk squadron, which consisted of only
five frigates, having sailed on the 3d of
October, and proceeded towards the
North, was driven by storms to seek
shelter in ports of Norway and Swe-
den. On these inhospitable coasts, and
among the western isles of Scotland,
Thurot passed the winter. One of his
ships had returned to France, another
disappeared and was never heard of.
* Various circumstances about this time tended to re-
tard the progress of Catliolic interests. Thus, in 1758
a liostUe feeling was excited in Dublin by the prosecu-
tion of Mr. Saul, a Catholic merchant of that city, whose
crime was that he afforded shelter to a young Catliolic
ady named O'Toole, who waa importuned by some of I France.
and with the remaining thi'ee he ap-
peared off Carrickfergus on the 21st of
Febi-uary, 1760. Thui'ot was of Irish
descent, his real name being O'Farrell.
His life had been a continued series of
the strangest adventures. He possessed
a gallant and enterprising spirit, and
his generosity was equal to his daring.
His small force had been thinned by
the hardships of the northern winter,
and famine and fatigue had reduced
his surviving men to a deploi-able state.
His ships, too, wei-e in a shattered con-
dition ; and at Islay the disheartening
news of the defeat of Conflans had, for
the first time, reached him. Still, the
necessity of obtaining provisions, as
well as his innate love of glory, induced
him to make some attempt to cai-ry
out his original plan of an invasion,
and he disembarked on the strand near
Carrickfergus. He had then only about
600 soldiers, but, with the addition of
some seamen, mustered nearly 1,000
meu. The town was garrisoned by
four companies of the 62d regiment,
under Colonel Jennings, without can-
non, and with a scanty supply of am-
munition. The French approached,
and, after some firing from the walls,
the garrison, together with the mayor
and some of the armed townsmen, re-
tired into the castle, which was in a
her family to abandon her religion. Mr. Saul waa
told from the bench " that the laws did not presume
a Papist to exist in the kingdom, nor could they
breathe without the connivance of government." He
and his family were obliged to seek an asylum in
THE WIIITEBOYS.
64Y
dilapidated state, but which they con-
tinued to defend with musketry until
their powder was nearly exhausted ;
several of the assailants, with their
commanding officer, the Marquis d'Es-
tr6es, being killed in an attack upon
the gate. The besieged then surren-
dered themselves prisoners of war, on
condition that the town should be
spared ; but contributions of provisions
were levied both on Carrickfergus and
Belfast, the Fi-ench threatening to
\uarch on the latter town if the sup-
plies demanded were not sent. At
length, on the 26th, the invaders took
their depai'ture ; and two days after
they encountered off the Isle of Man
three English frigates, which had sailed
from Kinsale in search of them, under
Captain Elliott. A sharp action en-
sued. The French vessels were in a
crippled state ; but Thurot fought his
ship until the hold was nearly filled
with water and the deck covered with
the slain. At length he was killed,
and the three French frigates soon
after sti-uck, and wei-e taken into Ram-
sey ; but even his enemies lamented the
* Thurot's grandfather was a Captain Farroll or
O'Fcrrall, who was attached to tlie court of James II.
at St. Germains, where he married Mademoiselle Thu-
rot. the niece of a member of the parliament of Paris.
The lady's family were indignant at the match ; but
Captain O'Farrell died soon after the marriage, and in
less than a year Iiis wife followed him to the grave,
leaving an infant son, who, being educated by her
friends, assumed their name. When this son grew up
he resided at Boulogne, and was the father of the famous
sea-captain, who left France when a boy, and passed many
years in London and also some time in Dublin, where
he was reduced so low that he became the valet of a
Lord B . At that time smuggling was not regarded
fate of the chivalrous and undaunted
Thurot.*
George II. died suddenly at Kensing-
ton on the 25th of October, 1760, and
was succeeded by his grandson, George
III. The following year the disturb-
ances of the Whiteboys became rife
in the south of Ii-eland. They com-
menced in Tippei-ary, and were occa-
sioned by the tyranny and rapacity of
landlords, who, having set their lands
far above the value, ou the condition of
allowing the tenants certain common-
ages to lighten the burden, subsequently
inclosed these commons, and thus ren-
dered it impossible for the unfortunate
tenants to subsist. The people col-
lected at night and demolished the
fences, from which circumstance they
were fii'st called " Levellers ;" their
name of Whiteboys being given from
the shirts which they wore outside
their clothes at their nightly gatherings.
Another cause of their discontent was
the cruel exactions of the tithemongers
— " harpies," says a contemporary wri-
ter, " who squeezed out the very vitala
of the people ; and by process, citation,
as the disreputable pursuit which more recent ideas
have made it. Many a large fortune, of which the pos-
sessors did not blush at the source, was realized by it ;
and to the adventurous life of a smuggler various cir-
stances conspired to commit young Thurot. He
commanded sundry vessels engaged in that traffic be-
tween France and the coa.sts of England and Scotland ;
and his enterijrising spirit obtained for liim at Boulogne
the title of the King of the Smugglers. In the war he
commanded a privateer, and from tliis he was taken
into the French navy, in which ho soon became distin-
guished for his naval skill and bravery. — See a memoir
of him written by his friend, the Rev. John F. Durand-
also the Annual ReyisUr for 1~U0.
548
REIGN OF GEORGE III.
and sequestration, dragged from tbem
the little which the landlord had left
them."* "At last," says Young, "the
Whiteboys set up to be the general
redressors of grievances; punished all
obnoxious individuals who advanced
the value of lands, or hired farms over
their heads ; and having taken the ad-
ministration of justice into their own
hands, were not very exact in the dis-
tribution of it The
barbarities they committed were shock-
ing. One of their usual punishments,
and by no means the most sevei-e, was
taking people out of their beds, carrying
them naked in winter, on hoi-seback,
for some distance, and burying them
up to their chin in a hole filled with
briers, not forgetting to cut off one of
their ears."f These outrages were
chiefly confined to the counties of Wa-
terford, Cork, and Tipperaiy. In 1762
a government commission reported that
the riotei-s were persons of diffei'ent
religious persuasions, and that none of
them showed any disafi'ection to the
government, a report which was con-
firmed by the judges on the Munster
circuit. A special commission was sent
down to try a number of the offenders;
and Sir Richard Aston, chief-justice of
* Enquiry into thecaiues of tli£ outrages committedby
the, LeveUe.rs. Arthur Young, who travelled in Ireland
while these disturbancuB prevailed there, describes their
causes in nearly similar terms, and he adds : " Acts
were passed for their jJunishment, whicli seemed calcu
latcd for the meridian of Barbary ; by one, they were to
be hanged under certain circumstances, without the com
mou formalities of a trial, which, though repealed thi
following sesBion, marks the spirit of punishment ; while
the common pleas, became so popular
for the impartiality which he dispLiyed
on the occasion, that the country-peo])le
lined the roads as he passed to give
expression to their gratitude. Father
Nicholas Sheehy, the parish priest of
Clogheen, drew upon himself the ani-
mosity of the landlords by the zeal he
evinced in advocating the cause of his
poor parishioners. In 176.5 a procla-
mation was issued offering a reward of
£300 for his arrest as a person guilty
of high treason, and, although he might
easily have escaped to Fi-ance, he felt
so conscious of his innocence, that he
wrote to the Seci-etaiy of State, off'eriiig
to surrender and save the govei-nment
the money, provided he was tried in
Dublin instead of Clonmel. His ofier
was accepted, and after a minute inves-
tigation of the charges against him he
was acquitted ; the only witnesses pro-
duced V>y his accusers being a woman
of abandoned character, a man charged
with horse-stealing, and a vagrant boy,
all three being taken from the Clonmel
jail and suborned to prosecute him.
His enemies, anticipating such a result,
had trumped up a chai-ge of murder
against him, and had him carried back
to Clonmel ; where, on the sole evidence
others remain yet the law of the land, that would, if
executed, tend more to raise than quell an insurrection.
From aU which it is evident that the gentry of Ireland
never thought of a radical cure, from overlooking the
real cause of the disease, which, in fact, lay in them-
selves, and not in the wretches they doomed to the gal-
lows."— Tour, part ii., p. 30, ed. 1780.
f Tour, p. 7G.
PIIOTESTANT ASSOCIATIONS.
649
of the same vile witnesses, whose testi-
mony fiiiled in Dublin, he was con-
victed, and three days after, on the 15th
of INIarch, 1766, was hanged and quar-
tered at Clonmel.*
Associations similar to those of the
Whitehoys were formed among the
Protestant peasantry of the North,
under the names of " Hearts-of-oak
boys" and " Hearts-of-steel boys." The
former of these banded tliemselves, in
the first instance, for the abolition of
a custom of compulsory road-making,
known as the six days' labor, which the
gentry had converted most unjustly to
their own advantage ; but the oppres-
sive tithe system, and the exorbitant
rents charged for bogs, became, in the
next place, subjects of complaint, and
like the southern malcontents, the
Hearts-ofoak boys made themselves
general refoi'raers of agrarian abuses.
They committed numerous acts of
violence in the years 1762 and 1763;
but the grievances of which they
complained were taken into considera-
tion by parliament, and in some measure
redresged ; while those under which the
southern peasantry groaned wei'e left
untouched. For the unhappy White-
boys, there was no remedy but the
gibbet. The Hearts-ot-steel boys did
* Father Slieehy died protesting hie innocence, and there
is no doubt that liia execution was as foul a murder ns
ever waa perpetrated under the cover of law. The
principal managers of the prosecution were the Rev.
John newetson, a Protestant clergyman, and Sir Thomas
Maude ; who, with the earl of Carrick and Mr. John Bag-
well distinguished themselves by their activity against
the \^'hit<■b<5ys. Father Sheeliy's grave, in the churcli-
82
not make their appearance till 1769,
and for a few years they gave the
government considerable trouble. They
associated to resist the rack-i-enting
practices of the middlemen, and the
severe measures employed to put down
their disturbances led to an extensive
emigration to America.
Returning to the pi'oceedings in the
Irish parliament, we find that in 1762
a bill was passed without a division, to
enable Catholics t» lend money on the
security of i-eal property, l)ut was sup-
pressed in England. The following
year the attemjit was renewed in the
Irish House of Commons, by Mr. Mason,
but defeated by a majority of 138 to
53 ; the Pi-otestant party alleging that
the bill had been inadvertently passed
on the last day of the preceding session,
and that such a measure, if adopted,
would soon make Papists masters of a
great part of the landed interest of the
country.
The patriots were at this time en-
gaged in vehement attacks upon the
pension list, which had grown into a
monstrous soui-ce of abuse. The Eng-
lish privy council assumed the right of
gi'anting any pensions they chose out
of the Irish revenue. In 1763 the
pensions on the Irish civil establishment.
yard of Clogheen, continues to this day to bo visited with
veneration by the peasantry. See all the facts of this
iniquitous case, and of the subsequent jiersecution, mi-
nutely investigated by Dr. Madden in the historical in-
troduction to his Liirs arid Times of the UiiiUd Irish-
men ; also Curry's Candid Inquiry, ic, and his Stat»
of the Catfwlics of Ireland.
e.'iO
REIGN OF GEORGE III.
mid therefore not incliidiiig the militiuy
and certain special pensions*, amounted
to £72,000, which exceeded the civil
list by £42,000. The revenue of the
country was diminishing and the bur-
dens increasing. At the commence-
ment of that year the Irish debt was
.£521,162, and at the close it had risen
to £650,000.* The subject gave rise
to violent heats in parliament ; but a
juggling and evasive policy, which had
become familiar to the Irish govern-
ment, prevailed, and the efforts of the
patriots were foiled. The corrupting
influence of the court party was con-
stantl}' employed to thin the ranks of
the patriots, who, finding that the pen-
sions went on multiplying, and that
all their agitation on that point was
abortive, took up the more general
(piestion of parliamentary reform.
Hithei'to the duration of parliament in
Ireland depended solely on the will of
the king, and might be prolonged during
an entire reign, as happened in that of
George II. In England the duration
was limited by the septennial act of
George I.; and in 1765 the Irish Com-
mons passed the heads of a similar
bill for Ireland ; but the measure was
suppressed in England, and in reply to
an address to the king, a veiy ungra-
cious answer was retui-ned. Lord
Townshend was appointed lord-lieuten-
ant in 1767, and came over determined
* The Irisli income and expenditure, as calculated in
1763, stood thus : the military expenditure for two years,
£980,956 ; the civil ditto, £242,956 ; extraordinary and
contingent expenses, £300,000; total expenditure for
to break up a system of corruption,
which, although of its own creation,
the Irish government then found to be
an insupportable tyranny. A certain
number of parliamentary leaders v.'ere
at that time known as undei-takei-s,
whom it was necessary for govei-nment
to keep in its pay, at a lai-ge cost, and
who " undertook," as the phrase went,
upon certain terms, to carry the " king's
business" through parliament. These
leaders were made the channels for all
places, pensions, and other court fiwors,
— a privilege which was indispensable
to enable them to fulfil their compact;
and in order to crush the system, it was
resolved to make the stream of favor
flow directly from the government. A
great commotion in political ciicles was
the consequence : yet, nothing more had
been done than to substitute one system
of political profligacy for another ; and
by trafiicking in corruption more in de-
tail, the government soon found that it
had only subjected itself to a more oj>
pressive incubus. Loi'd Townshend's
convivial habits and lavish distribution
of favors made him for some time pop-
ular ; but there were not wanting able
and honest men to expose the debasing
influence of his policy, and his popular-
ity was soon turned into contempt and
detestation.f In 1767 another septen-
nial bill was passed and ti-ansmitted to
Englandj where it was transformed into
two years, £1,523,333; total revenue for that period,
£1,209,864 ; excess of expenditure to be added to na-
tional debt, £314,248.
f Witty and powerful invectivea against Lord Town
DISSENSIONS AMONG THE CATHOLICS.
651
an octennial one. By this alteration it
was hoped to secure its rejection ; but
the Irish parliament, on the conti-ary,
accepted it as an instalment of reform,
and it was regarded as a triumph by
Charles Lucas and his friends, after so
many yeai-s of agitation on the subject.
A new parliament was now to be
elected, and in order to secure a strong
majority for the government, Loi'd
Townshend scattered bribes profusely,
and employed eveiy species of corrup-
tion. In all his bargains, however, he
was obliged to leave as an open question
the right of the Irish pai'liament to
originate its own money-bills ; and
upon this important point he came to
a collision with the parliament, which
met on the I7th of October, 1769.
The English privy council sent over a
money-bill, which the Irish House of
Commons rejected, " Vjecause it had not
its origin in that house." Following
the precedent of Lord Sydney in 1692,
Lord Townshend went to the House of
Lords on the •26th of Decembei-, caused
the Commons to be summoned to the
bar, animadverted in strong terms on
their proceedings, and having ordered
the clerk to enter his protest on the
journals of the house, in vindication of
the royal prerogative, prorogued parlia-
ment, which was not again permitted
to meet until the 26th of February,
1771. The excitement produced l)y
ehend were published during his ndrainistration in the
Freeman's Journal, and were subsiKjuently collected in
a volume, entitled " BaratarUina." Their princi|)nl
writers were. Sir Hercules Langr'she, Flood, Parker,
this proceeding surpasse<l any thing of
the kind since the affiiir of Wood's
half-pence.
Meantime fatal dissensions pi'evailed
in the Catholic body, and retarded its
pi'ogi'ess. The committee had prepared
an address to George HI. on his acces-
sion. It was signed by 600 persons ;
but the clergy and nobility would not
give their concurrence, and some of
them met at Trim and adopted a sep-
arate addi'ess. The committee next
ventui'ed to lay befoie the throne a
" remonstrance" or statement of their
grievances, and rose considerably in
importance ; some of the Catholic no
bility beginning to co-operate with
them. A division, however, sprung
up, in which Lord Trimbleston, a man
of overbearing and dictatorial manners,
separated himself, and was followed by
others ; while Lord or Count Taaffe, a
nobleman of quite an opposite charac-
ter, continued to identify himself with
the committee. At length this fli-st
Catholic association, having graduallv
melted away, expired in 1763. Lord
Towiishend's parliament, on reassem-
bling in 1771, passed an act to enable a
Catholic to take a long lease of fifty
acres of bog, to which, if the bog were
too deep for a foundation, half an acre
of arable land might be added for a
house ; but this holding should not be
within a mile of any city or town, and
Hushe, and Henry Grattsin, the last named being then a
VDung man. The viceroy was supported in another
clever series of papers called " The Bacliclor."
6')2
REIGN OF GEORGE III.
if half the bog were not reclaimed in
tweut)'-one years, the lease was forfeit-
ed. This paltry concession shows what
little progi-ess Catholic interests had
made in the interval ; and the viceroy
thought it necessary to counterbalance
it by an act to add £10 a year to the
pension of £30 offered to any " Popish
priest duly converted to the Protestant
religion." The pitiful temptation to
proselytism was styled "Townshend's
golden di-ops" by the wits of the day.
Lord Townshend was succeeded in
the Irish government, in 1772, by the
earl of Harcourt, whose administration
commenced under more favorable au-
spices. In 1773 a bill was introduced
to lay a tax of two shillings in the
pound on the income of Irish absentee
landlords who would not reside in Ire-
land at least six months in each year.
The measure was exceedingly popular,
and the government, supporting it as
an open question, rose greatly in public
favor ; but the violent opposition of the
great land-owners, many of whom re-
sided altogether in England, prevailed,
and the bill was rejected.
In 1775 hostilities commenced be-
tween England and her revolted Ameri-
can colonies, and the English parliament
discussed the propi-iety of i-elieving Ire-
land from some of her commercial dis-
abilities. The concessions made were
trifling, but they serve to illustrate the
j-ule so well established in Irish history.
It was in the same memorable year (1775) that
Henry Grallan first entered parliament, as member for was born
that the season of England's weakness
and alarm has ever been that of redress
and hope for Ireland. We shall see it
further illustrated as we proceed. On
the 23d of November, the same year, a
message fj-om the loi-d-lieutenant in-
formed the Irish parliament that the
situation of affairs in his majesty's
American dominions rendered it neces-
sary to demand a draft of 4,000 men
from the Irish establishment, — these
troops, however, not to be a charge on
the Irish revenue during their absence
from the kingdom ; and an equal num-
ber of foreign Protestant troops to be
sent to replace them. The Commons
readily assented to the removal of the
4,000 men as required, on the promised
condition that the country should at
the same time be relieved from their
pay; but the second proposition was
I'espectfully declined, the house resolv-
ing that the loyal people of Ii-eland
would be able so to exert themselves
as to make the aid of foreign soldiei-s
unnecessaiy. This resolution was car-
ried by a large majority. It surprised
and perplexed the ministry, and was in
fact the first foreshadowing of the vol-
unteer system ; wliile, on the other
hand, the viceroy's engagement to free
Ireland fi-om the chai'ge of the troops
to be withdrawn from that kingdom,
elicited an indignant vote of censure
from the English parliament, and was
repudiated by the minister.*
the borough of Charlemont, and that Donii-l OConnell
IRISH SYMrATIIY WITH THE AMERICANS.
653
To prevent a supply of provisions
fi'oni reaching the Americans from Ire-
land, an embai-go was laid on the ex-
portation of Irish commodities. This
])roceediug had a disastrous effect.
The agriculturists w^ere quite ruined;
the tenantry were unable to pay their
rents ; the manufacturers were thrown
upon public chanty for support ; the
revenue fell away ; and, the infamous
pension list being still continued, the
Irish debt rose to £994,890. Resolu-
tions and addi-esses describing the con-
dition of the countiy were moved in
the Ii-ish pailiament by the patriots,
but to no^ purpose. In England the
American war was unpopular, but in
Ireland it was still more so. Sympathy
for the revolted colonies was publicly
expressed, to the intense alarm of the
government. In 1775 the thanks of
the city of Dublin were voted in the
common council to Lord EfBngham for
having thrown up his commission rather
than di-aw his sword against his fellow-
subjects of America; and this feeling
continued to gain ground. The analogy
between Ireland and America was ob-
vious. In the English House of Com-
mons, Mr. Eigby, ai-guing in support
of the sordid policy of his country, as-
serted that the parliament of Great
Britain had clearly as much right to
tax Ii-eland as to tax America. Never
was there a more rash or ill-timed com-
parison. It could not fail to suggest
that, where the cases were so similar, a
j similar mode of redressing grievances
! might be I'esorted to.
In 1777, Lord Harcourt was I'ecalled,
and the earl of Buckinghamshii-e being
sent over as loi-d-lieutenant, announced
to the Irish parliament the alliance be-
tween France and the Americans, at
the same time making an appeal for
support to his majesty's faithful people
of Ireland. The Commons immediately
voted a sum of £300,000, to be raised
by a tontine ; but this was an absurd
stretch of generosity, which the patriots
opposed in vain ; and a message fi'om
the viceroy soon after admitted the in-
ability of the counti-y to i-aise the
money. In October this year. General
Burgoyne and his army of 6,000 men
surrendered to the American general,
Gage. The news produced constei-na-
tion, and Lord North expressed an
earnest wish that the penal laws against
the Irish Catholics might be relaxed ;
but bigotry was still predominant iu
the Irish parliament, and no attempt of
that nature had any chance of success.
In January, 1778, the independence of
the American States was acknowledged
by France, and many weeks did not
elapse until a bill for the partial i-elief
of the Catholics unanimously passed the
English parliament. With this inroad
upon bigotiy for a precedent, Mr. Gar-
diner introduced a similar bill in the
Irish House of Commons, on the 25th
of May the same year. The measure
had the approbation of government,
and the general support of the patriots,
yet it was only after a severe contest
and eight divisions that it was carried
by the small majority of nine votes.
654
REIGN OF GEORGE III.
In the House of Lords two-tliiixls of
the mem])ers voted for it.*
It was near the close of 1779 wlien
the Irish parliament was again called
together, and in the mean time distress
and discontent had increased to an
alarming extent. Appeals to the im-
becile and bankrupt government re-
ceived no reply ; the people were thrown
upon their own resources; agitation for
fi'ee trade and in favor of Irish manu-
factures became general ; and the vol-
unteering system had been set on foot,
and already made considei'able prog-
ress. The seci'etary of state sent infor-
mation to Belfast that two or three
privateers in company might be ex-
pected in that vicinity ; and the people
were at the same time iufoi-med that
government had no troops available
for their defence, except some sixty
horse and a couple of companies of in-
valids. They were in fact told that
government could not protect them.
A vivid recollection of Thurot's visit
to their neighborhood, some nineteen
yeai-s before, was still preserved at Bel-
fast, and the attempt made at that time
to raise an armed force to repel the in-
vaders was also remembered. The ex-
ample of 1760 was followed in 1779,
* This act— 18th Oeo. in., ch. 60— repealed bo much
of the 11th and 13th Wm. III., ch. 4, as affected the in-
heritance or purchase of property by Catholics ; a Cath-
olic who took the oath of allegiance framed four years
before might take or dispose of a lease for 999 years ;
the unnatural right given to a child on embracing the
Protestant religion to deman<J a maintenance and alter
the succession was abolished; and the clauses authoriz-
ing the prosecution of priests and .Jesuits, and the im-
prisonment of Popish schoolmasters, were repealed.
and to the men of Belfast, therefoi'e, is
to be attributed the glory of having
originated the volunteers.f So rapidly
did tlie movement spread, that in the
month of May the number of volunteer
companies had begun to attract the at-
tention of government ; and in Septem-
ber the number of men enrolled in the
counties of Down and Antrim, and in
and near Coleraine, amounted to 3,925.
Hardy states that in the first year
42,000 volunteers were enrolled.;};
Parliament having met on the 12th
of October, Mr. Grattau moved an
amendment to the address, depicting
vividly in a preamble the distressed
state of the country, and concluding
with a resolution, that the only re-
source for their expiring commerce was
to open a fi-ee export trade, and to allow
his majesty's Ii-ish subjects to enjoy theii
natural birthright. Several of the min-
isterial membei-s, and among others, Mr.
Flood, who then held a place under
government, supported the amendment;
but Mr. Grattau's preamble was got rid
of, and another amendment, less gal-
ling to govei'ument, proposed by Mr.
Hussey Burgh, prime sergeant, and
unanimously adopted, — namely, " that
it is not by temporary expedients, but
f A volimteer corps had been organized in Kilkenny,
against the Whiteboys, in 1770 ; they were called the
Kilkenny Rangers ; other armed parties had also been
raised before this period in various localities ; but the
great national volunteer movement, strictly speaking,
dates from the arming at Belfast in the beginning of
1779, its primary object being to repel foreign inva-
sion.
J Life of Charlemont.
THE RELIEF OF IRISH COMMERCE.
fir, 5
by a tree trade alone, that tliis nation
is now to be saved from impending
ruin." When the speaker carried tlie
resolution from the parliament house to
the castle, he passed between ranks of
the Dul)lin v^olunteers, drawn up in
arms under their commander, the duke
of Leinster,* amid the enthusiastic ac-
clamations of a vast assemVjlage of
people ; and the House of Lords passed
a vote of thanks to the national army
for their array on the occasion. On
the 13th of November, Lord North in-
troduced in the English parliament
three propositions for the relief of L'ish
commerce. The first permitted a free
exportation of L-ish wool and woollen
manufactures ; the second made a simi-
lar concession for L'ish glass manufac-
tures; and the third granted freedom
of trade with the British plantations,
on certain conditions, of which the
basis was an equality of taxes and cus-
toms. Bills embodying the two former
propositions were immediately passed,
but the third was deferred for a short
time. These measures had little effect
in calming the agitation in Lelaud ;
the ideas of the people expanded with
their success, and they now looked for
nothing short of their full constitutional
i-ights, and the liberation of their
country from the supi-emacy of the
English parliament. On the 19th of
April, :7&0, Mr. Grattan moved, "that
no power on earth, save that of the
* This nobleman was William Robert, the second
duke. His iather was James, the twentieth earl of Kil-
king, lords, and commons of L-eland,
had a right to make laws for L-eland."
His speech on the occasion was a mag-
nificent exertion of his eloquence. He
said: "I will not be answered by a
public lie in the shape of an amend-
ment ; neither, speaking for the subject's
freedom, am I to hear of faction. I
wish for nothing but to breathe in this
our land, in common with my fellow-
subjects, the air of libei-tj'. I have no
ambition, unless it be the ambition to
break your chain and contemplate your
glory. I never will be satisfied, as long
as the meanest cottager in L-eland has
a link of the British chain clanking to
his rags. He may be naked, he shall
not be in irons ; and I do see the time
is at hand, the spirit has gone forth, the
declaration is planted, and though great
men should apostatize, yet the cause
will live ; and though the public speaker
should die, yet the immortal fire shall
outlast the organ which conveyed it,
and the breath of liberty, like the word
of the holy man, will not die with the
prophet, but survive him." At the sug-
gestion, however, of Mr. Flood, after
an interesting debate, which lasted un-
til six o'clock in the morning, the ques-
tion was not brought to a division, and
the resolution thus did not appear on
the journals of the house. This result
gave rise to much dissatisfaction, which
was greatly increased bj' the tendency
of various acts of the British pailia-
dare, who was created manjuis of Kildare in 1761, and
duke of Leinster in 1766.
656
REIGN OF GEORGE III.
nieiit to iritate the Irish nation. Thus
the annual mutiny bill sent over from
the Irish parliament was returned, al-
tered into a permanent one ; and by
the influence of government it was
adopted iu its altered form.
Meantime, the spirit of volunteering
had rapidly gained ground. The num-
bers enrolled were stated to amount this
year to over 40,000 men, unpaid, self-
clothed, self-organized, and called into
existence by no other authority than
the voice of the people, and the necessity
of the country. The affrighted gov-
ernment was induced to deliver to them
16,000 stand of arms, and they had
also begun to raise a considerable artil-
lery force. They selected their own
officers. They rose into existence free
from any pledge, and totally unshackled
by any government control. They
were assiduous in acquiring a know-
ledge of military discipline, and were
materially aided in that object by
numbers of their countrymen who had
returned invalided from the American
war. In proportion as the apprehen-
sion of a foreign invasion became dissi-
pated, they turned their attention to
their political rights : each corps ex-
pressed its opinions in resolutions, which
were published in the journals; and ef-
forts were successfully made to unite all
the volunteer corps in Ireland by a com-
biuetl organization ; the earl of Cliarle-
mont being chosen commander-in-chief
• The resolution was proposed by Mr. John O'Neill,
of Shane's castle ; it was opposed by Mr. Fitzgibbon,
The session of 1780 closed on the 2d
of September, and the earl of Bucking-
hamshire having displeased the ministry
by the weakness of his administration,
was i-ecalled, the earl of Carlisle being
sent to replace him. The new viceroy
found the nation profoundly cogitated
by the two great questions of free trade
and legislative independence. During
the summer of 1781 I'eviewsof the volun-
teer corps were held in various parts of
the country, and had a most exciting ef-
fect. The organization of the volunteer
movement made immense progress ;
and when Lord Carlisle met the Irish
parliament on the 9th of October, it was
plain from the ctnciliatory tone of his
address, that he durst not hazard a
stronger policy than his predecessor.
He omitted, however, all mention of the
volunteers, whom government wished
to check and disarm without daring to
make the attempt. On the motion of
Mr. O'Neil, in the House of Commons,
a vote was unanimously passed, thank-
ing the volunteers " for their exertions
and continuance, and for their loyal
and spirited declarations on the late
expected invasion."* The debates in
the Irish House of Commons at this
period wei-e constantly of the deepest
interest. Government had, indeed, se-
cured a corrupt majority, with which
it was able to carry almost every meas-
uie that it desired ; but on the popular
side, thei'e was an ari'ay of brilliant
afterwards Lord Clare ; but the government having been
to acquiesce, it was carried without a division.
THE ULSTER VOLUNTEERS.
657
talent, which swayed jjuIiHc opinion,
and which no goveruiuent could at all
times safely resist. Grattan's fervid
and thrilling eloquence was always
devoted to the interests of his conn try.
His popularity was unbounded,* Flood
li.id sacrificed place to principle, and
his now unrestrained adhesion added
greatly to the strengtli of the opposi-
tion, f At length news arrived that
Lord Cornwallis's army had surrender-
ed to the French in America. It was a
day of humiliation and dismay for Eng-
land; but with that generous sympathy
which England's misfortunes have seldom
failed to elicit from Irishmen, the Irish
House of Commons, on the motion of
Mr. Yelvertou, voted an address of loy-
alty and attachment to the king, and
readily granted the sup{)lies which
were demanded. Still, some of the
patriots abstained from these votes, lest
they should be understood as an ex-
pression of opinion against the Ameri-
cans. On the 7th of December, Mi-.
Grattan informed the house, that their
* " The address and the language of this extraordi-
nary man were perfectly original ; from his first essay
in parliaiiient, a strung sensation hud been excited by
the point and eccentricity of his ]io\verful eloquence ;
nor was it long until those transcendent talents, which
afterwards distinguished this celebrated i)ersonage, wero
perceived rising above ordinary ca]iacities, and, as a
charm, communicating to his countrymc-n that energy,
that patriotism, and that perseverance, for which ho
himself became so eminently distinguished ; his action,
his tone, his elocution in public speaking, bore no re-
semblance to that of any other person ; the flights of
genius, the arrangements of composition, and the solid
strength of connected reasoning, were singularly blended
in hia fiery, yet deliberative language ; ho thought in
logic, and he spoke in antithesis ; his irony and his sa-
tire, rapid and epigrammatic, bore down all oppoeition.
debt at that time, including annuities,
amounted to £2,6(37,6uO, an enormous
sum, accumulated in a few yeai-s by
patronage and corruption. On the
11th, Mr. Flood moved for an iiiquii-y
into the operation of Poyniiig's law,
but the motion was negatived by a di-
vision of 139 to 67, the usual majority
of the government.
Events whicli constitute a memorable
and glorious era in Irish history were
now at hand. On the 28th of Decem-
ber, 1781, the officers of the southei-n
battalion of the first Ulster regiment
of volunteers, commanded by Lord
Chai'lemont, met together at Ai-magh ;
and, having declared that they beheld
with the utmost concern the little at-
tention paid to the constitutional rights
of Ireland by the majority of their rep-
resentatives in parliament, they invited
eveiy volunteer association throughout
Ulster to send delegates to deliberate
on the alai'iniug situation of public af-
fairs, and fixed Fiiday, Febiuary I5th,
1782, for the assembly of delegates, to
and left him no rival in the broad field of eloquent in-
vective ; his ungraceful action, however, and the hesi-
tating tardiness of his first sentences, conveyed no favor-
able impression to those who listened only to his exor-
dium ; but the progress of his brilliant and manly
eloquence, soon absorbed every idea but that of admira-
tion at the overpowering extent of his intellectual
faculties." Such was Sir Jonah Barrington's estimate
of Henry Orattan's eloi]uence. — See liise and Fall of
the Irish Nntioii, pp. 88, 81).
■j- Mr. Flood held ofljce during the administrations of
Lords llarcourt and Buckinghamshire ; but in 1780 he
resigned, on the ground that the lino of policy which he
had undertaken to support was not adopted by govern-
ment. He was subsequently able to boast that while
in office he had never shrunk from his duty to his coun
try.
658
REIGN OF GEORGE III.
take place at Dungannou. The pro-
ceedings of the Irish volunteere had
hitherto derived weight as well from
their raoderatiou as tVom their firmness
and unmbers; they combined, in an
eminent degree, the character of citizens
and of soldiers ; temperate and peace-
able, as well as armed and disciplined,
there was something singularly impos-
ing and dignified in their aspect ; and
jt was impossible not to recognize in
their organization great prudence and
patriotism, as well as vast military
power. The invitation of the Ulster
regiment was responded to by 143 vol-
unteer corps of the northern province,
and government durst not interfere to
prevent the meeting. The delegates
assembled at Dungannon on the ap-
pointed day ; most of them were men
of large properties and of acknowledged
patriotism ; they felt the weighty im-
port of their proceedings, which would
pledge the country to a course that
might involve a hostile collision with
Great Britain. The place of meeting
was the chui-ch, a circumstance which
enhanced the solemnity of the occasion ;
Colonel William Irvine was appointed
chairman, and twenty-one i-esolutions
were adopted. These were in substance
as follows :
* The address of thanks of the convention to the par-
liamentary minority was couched in the following spir-
ited words : " We thank you for your noble and spirited,
though hitherto ineffectual effort^, in defence of the
great constitutional and commercial rights of your
country. Go on! the almost unanimous voice of the
people is with you, and in a free country the voice of
the people most prevail. We know our duty to our
Bovereiga, and are loyal. We know our duty to our-
That whereas it has been asserted
that volunteers, as such, could not with
propriety debate or publish their opin-
ions on political subjects, or on the
conduct of parliament or public men:
Resolved, that a citizen, by learning
the use of arms, does not abandon any
of his civil rights. Resolved, that the
claim of any body of men other than
the king, lords, and commons of Ire-
land, to make laws to bind this king-
dom, is unconstitutional, illegal, and a
gi'ievance ; that the powers exercised
by the privy councils of both kingdoms,
under color or pi-etence of the law of
Poyniugs, are unconstitutional and a
grievance ; that the ports of Ireland
are by right open to all foreign coun-
tries not at war with the king ; that a
mutiny bill, not limited in point of du-
ration from session to session, is uncon-
stitutional; that the independence of
the judges is equally essential to the
impartial administration of justice in
Ii'elaud as in England ; that it was
their decided and unalterable determi-
nation to seek a redress of these griev-
ances ; that the minority in pailiament
who had supported their constitutional
rights were entitled to thanks ;* that
four members from each county of Ul-
ster should be appointed a committee,
selves, and are resolved to be free. We seek for our
rights, and no more than our rights ; and in so just a
pursuit we should doubt the being of a Providence if
we doubted of success." The last of the resolutions
adopted at Dimgannon was suggested by Mr. Grattan
to Mr. Dobbs. just before the latter gentleman left Dub-
lin to attend the convention. It was paased with two
dissentient votes.
CONVENTION OF DUNGANNON.
6.59
till the next general meeting, to act for
the volunteer corps there represented,
I and to communicate with other volun-
teer associations ; that they held the
right of private judgment in matters of
i religion to be equally sacred in others
! as in themselves, and, therefore, as men
and as Irishmen, as Christians and as
Protestants, they rejoiced in the i-elaxa-
tion of the penal laws against their
Koman Catholic fellow-subjects.
Such was the famous convention of
Dungannon. Its resolutions were adopt-
ed by all the volunteer corps of Ireland,
and served as the basis of parliamentary
proceedings in both countries.* In a
word, a revolution without precedent
in any other country had been achieved.
On the very day on which these mem-
orable resolutions were passed. Mi'.
Gardiner (afterwards Lord Mountjoy)
introduced his measure for the relief of
the Catholics. Some delay was caused
* These resolutions of Dungannon were, to a great
extent, only the solemn assertion of principles already
si-'t forth in resolutions of volunteer corps, discussed in
parliament, and sanctioned by public opinion. Thus,
on the 9th of June, 1780, the Dublin volunteers, with
their general, the duke of Leinster, in tlie chair, resolved
unanimously, " That the king, lords, and commons of
Ireland only are competent to make laws binding the
subjects of this realm ; and that we mil not obey, or give
operation to any laws, save only those enacted by the
king, lords, and conmions of Ireland, whose rights and
privileges, jointly and severally, wo are determined to
support with our lives and fortunes." The effective men
of the volunteer corps which sent delegates to Dungan-
non, or which subsequently acceded to the Dungannon
resolutions, were, according to the abstract given in the
appendix to Grattan's Miscfllaneous M'orks : In Ulster,
34,152 ; in Munater, 18,050 ; in Connaught, M.yyO : in
Leinster, 23,283 ; total, 88,827 ; which, with the addition
of twenty-two corjie which had acceded but made no re-
turns, and that were estimated at about 12,000 men,
made a grand total for all Ireland of 100,000 men. The,
by obstacles thrown in the way by Mr.
Fitzgibbon ; but the government having
left it an open question, Mr. Gardiner's
pi-incipal propositions were adopted.f
On the fall of Lord North's ministry.
Lord Carlisle retired fi-om his post, and
was succeeded by the duke of Portland,
who was sworn into office as lord-
lieutenant on the 14th of April, 1782.
Mr. Fox communicated to the British
parliament a royal message, recom-
mending to their immediate considera-
tion the adjustment of the questions
which produced so serious an agitation
in Ii-eland. The new viceroy met the
Irish parliament on the 16th of April ;
and on that day Mr. Grattan moved an
amendment to the address, pointing out
the principal causes of the discontent
in Ireland, and declaring that to re-
move those causes the 6th Geo. I., ch. 5,
which asserted the dependency of the
Irish parliament on that of England,
artillery belonging to the volunteer corps of the several
provinces, were : In Ulster, 33 pieces ; in Munster, 33 ;
in Connaught. 20 ; in Leinster, 38 ; total, 130 pieces.
f Mr. Gardiner separated his measure into three dif-
ferent bills. The first enabled Catholics to take, hold,
and dispose of lauds and other hereditaments in the
same manner as Protestants, with the exception of ad
vowsons, manora, and parliamentary boroughs ; it also
repealed the statutes against the hearing or celebrating
mass ; against a Catholic having a horse worth £5 or
upwards; and that which empowered grand-juries to
levy from Catholics the amount of any losses sustained
through privateers, robbers, &c., and which excluded
them from dwelling in the city of Limerick, &c. The
second bill was entitled, " An Act to enable Persons
professing the Popish Keligion to teach Schools in thia
Kingdom, and for regulating the Education of Papists,
and also to repeal Parts of certain Laws relative to the
(iuardiansliip of their Cliildren." These two bills were
passed into law ; but the third, which authorized inter-
marriage between Catholics and Protestants, was nega-
tived by a majority of eight.
660
REIGN OF GEORGE III.
should be repealed; the appellate juris-
diction of the lords of Ireland should
be restored; the unconstitutional powers
of the privy council should be abolished ;
and the perpetual mutiny bill repealed.
Tlie motion, which was an echo of the
leading resolutions of Dungannon, was
unanimously agreed to.*
On the 17th of May, 1782, the alarm-
ing state of Ireland was bi'ought un-
der the consideration of the British
senate, by the earl of Shelbui-ne in the
peers, and by Mr. Fox in the Com-
mons; and resolutions were adopted
declaring it to be the opinion of parlia-
ment that the 6th Geo. I., entitled, "An
Act for the better securing the Depen-
dency of Ireland upon the Crown of
Great Britain," ought to be repealed ;f
and " that it was indispensable to the
interests and happiness of both king-
doms that the connection between them
should be established by mutual consent
upon a solid and permanent footing,"
for which purpose an address should
be presented to his majesty, praying
that measures conducive to that import-
ant end should be taken. These reso-
lutions passed the lower house unani-
mously, and in the peers the only dis-
sentient voice was that of Lord Lmigh-
boiough.
* This memorable address, or declaration of rights,
assured his majesty "that his subjects of Ireland are a
free people. That the crown of Ireland is an imi)erial
crown, inseparably annexed to the crown of Great
Britain, on which connection the interests and happi-
ness of both nations essentially depend ; but that the
kingdom of Ireland is a distinct kingdom, with a par-
liament of her own, the sole legislature thereof. That
there la no body of men competent to make laws to
On the 27th of May the Irish parlia-
ment met after an adjournment of three
weeks, and the duke of Portland an-
nounced in his opening speech the un-
conditional concessions made to Ireland
by the parliament of Great Britain.
The news was received with an out-
burst of gratitude. These concessions,
as expounded by Mr. Grattan, amounted
to the giving up by England, uncon-
ditionally and in toto, of every claim
of authority over Ii'eland ; they were
grounded not merely on expediency
but on constitutional principles ; they
were yielded magnanimously, and in a
manner that removed all suspicion ; and
all constitutional questions between the
two countries were at an end. Such
was Mr. Giattan's interpretation of the
measure. He moved the address in a
brilliant speech, breathing the generous
sentiments of his noble and confiding
nature. A warm discussion ensued.
Mr. Flood, Sir Samuel Bradstreet, re-
corder of Dublin, and Mr. Walsh, a
barrister, took a different view from
Mr. Gi'attan of the English concessions.
It was urged by them that the simple
repeal of the act of 6 George I. mei-ely
expunged from the English statute-book
the declaration that England had the
right to make laws for Ireland; it did
bind this nation except the king, lords, and
of Ireland, nor any other parliament which hath any
authority or power, of any sort whatsoever, in this coun-
try, save only the parliament of Ireland ;" and " that
we humbly conceive that in this right the very essence
of our liberties exists— a right which we, on the part of
all the people of Ireland, do claim as their birthright,
and which we cannot yield but with our lives."
f See the substance of this statute, pp. 635, 636, nupra.
Wv^
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TWO PARTIES AMONG THE PATRIOTS.
661
not deny that England had that power;
hut left the question as it was befoie
the passing of the obnoxious act, when
the English parliament so frequently
arrogated to itself and exercised such
power. All Mr. Grattan's ai'guments
were founded on a generous estimate
of the honor and good faith in which
the resolutions of the English parlia-
ment were brought forward ; and his
opinion prevailed. The address was
carried by a division of 211 to 2. The
house then, as an evidence of its grati-
tude, voted that 20,000 Ii'ish seamen
should be raised for the British navy,
and a grant of £100,000 be made to
carry out that object. Nothing was
heard but mutual congratulations ; it
was the great and bloodless victoiy of
the volunteers ; a day of general thanks-
giving was appointed ; and the house
next testified the gratitude of the coun-
try to its gifted benefactor, by voting
£50,000 to purchase an estate and
build a house for Mr. Grattan.
Two parties now arose among the
patriots, led by the rival orators, Mr.
Gi'attan and Mr. Flood. The former
had been led into eiTor by his too
generous credulity. At that very
moment, English statesmen were con-
templating the reassertion of English
supremacy ; and the duke of Poi-tland,
encouraged by the divisions among the
patriots, wrote to Lord Shelbnrne on
the 6th of June, 1782, that he had the
best reason to hope that he would soon
be able to obtain a recognition of the
power claimed by England ; although
a few days after he was compelled to
acknowledge that the state of popular
feeling in Iieland rendered such a step
impossible for the present. Mr. Flood's
opinions gained ground out of doors,
while those of his opponent continued
to prevail in parliament. Most un-
worthy aspersions were thi-own upon
the motives of Mr. Grattan. It was
said that he had obtained his reward,
and that he was now ready to abandon
the popular cause. On the other hand,
Mr. Flood's fi-iends urged that their
leader had made an enormous per-
sonal sacrifice for his country ; and
as he would not, they said, stoop to ac-
cept any boon, an attempt, but a fruit-
less one, was made to induce the present
government to restore his office, then
in the hands of an unpopular man, Sir
George Young. Mr. Flood brought
the question at issue between him and
Mr. Grattan before the house, in the
shape of a motion for leave to bring
in the heads of a bill declai'ing the sole
and exclusive right of the Irish parlia-
ment to make laws in all cases whatso-
evei', internal and external, for the
kingdom of Ireland; but on the 19th
of July the house divided, when only
six members voted for his motion ; the
ground of rejection, as stated by Mr.
Grattan, being, that the exclusive right
of Ireland to self-legislation had already
been asserted by Ireland, and fully and
finally acknowledged by the English
parliament.
A change of cabinets was brought
about by the death of the Whig min-
662
REIGN OF GEORGE III.
ister. the marquis of Rockingham ; and
Earl Temple was sent to replace the
(hike of Portland in the government of
Ireland. During the administration of
the latter, several important measui-es
had been
The Bank of Ireland
was established ; a habeas corpus act
was given to this country ; the dissent-
ers were relieved from the sacramental
test; the perpetual mutiny bill was re-
pealed, and the independence of the
judges was established. At length, on
the 27th of July, the eventful session of
1782 was brought to a close. Popular
discontent, however, was far from be-
ing set at rest. The question, whether
the simple repeal of the 6 George I.
were sufficient, or whether England
should not be called upon to reuouuce
formally her claim of supremacy, was
everywhere discussed.* Hence, " re-
peal" and " renunciation," became the
watchwords of the two parties. Pro-
vincial, county, and. district meetings of
volunteer corps and delegates were
fi-equently held, their resolutions were
published in the newspapers, and every
private soldier was taught to feel that
he had. a right to express his sentiments
on the constitutional questions which
occupied the legislature.f The con-
duct of the people was peaceable and
orderly, yet public feeling was highly
excited. It was a period of great
national energy ; but having in this
already lengthy chapter traced the
fortunes of Ireland from their very
lowest ebb to what it has been the
fashion to regard as their culminating
point, we shall not add another
word here to forestall approaching
events.
* In the following session (23 Geo. Til.) government unteers, the reader may refer to the LiTes of Grattan
brought into the British parliament an express act of and Lord Charlemont ; Sir Jonah Barrington's Rise and
renimciation, " for removing and preventing all doubts Fall of the Irish Nation ; MacNevin's Huitary of tht
which have arisen, or might arise, concerning the ex- Volunteers, in Duffy's " Library of Ireland ;" the Ap.
elusive rights of the parliament and courts of Ireland pendix to Grattan's Miscellaneous Works ; Histarioai
in matters of legislation and judication," &c. [Collections Relative to Belfast ; Hist, of the Gonten-
f For detailed accounta of the procaedings of the vol- , tion ; the public journals of the period, &c., &c.
A DECEPTIVE VICTORY.
G63
CHAPTER XLIII.
FROM THE DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE TO THE UNION.
Bhort-comings of the volunteer movement. — Corruption of the Irish parliament. — The national convention of
delegates at the Rotunda. — the BLshop of Derry — The Convention's Ileform Bill. — Bill rejected by parliament.
— The convention dissolved and the fate of the Volunteers sealed. — The Commercial Relaticns Bill — Orde'a
propositions. — Great excitement in parliament. — Mr. Pitt's project abandoned. — Popular discontent. — Dis-
orders in the South. — The Kight-boys. — The feud of the Peep.o'-day-boy8 and Defenders — Frightful atroci-
ties of the former.— The Orange Society. — The regency question. — Political clubs. — Ferment produced by the
Frenc)i Revolution. — The Catholic committee.— Theobald Wolfe Tone. — Formation of the Society of United
Irishmen — Their principles. — Catholic Relief Bill of 1793. — Trial of Archibald Hamilton Rowan. — Mission
of Jackson from the French Directory — His conviction and suicide. — Administration of Earl Fitzwilliam —
Great excitement at his recall. — New organization of the United Irishmen. — Their revolutionary plans. —
Wolfe Tone's mission to France. — The spy system. — Iniquitous proceedings of the government — Effirts to accel-
erate an explosion. — The Insurrection and Indemnity acts.— The Bantry Bay expedition. — Reynolds the
informer. — Arrest of the Executive of the United Irishmen. — Search for Lord Edward Fitzgerald. — His
arrest and death. — The inaorrection prematurely forced to an explosion. — Free quarters, torturings, and mili-
tary executions — Progress of the insurrection. — Battle of Tara. — Atrocities of the military and the magis-
trates.— The insurrection in Kildare, Wexford, and Wicklow. — Successes of the insurgents — Outrages of
runaway troops. — Siege of New Roes. — Retaliation at Scullabogue. — Battle of Arklow. — Battle of Vinegar
HiU. — Lord Cornwallis assumes the government.— Dispersion and surrender of insurgents.— The French at
Killala.— Flight of the English. — The insurrection finally extinguished. — The Union proposed. — Oppositiou
to the measure.— Pitt's perfidious policy successful. — The Union carried.
[A. D. 1783
D. 1800.]
A T the close of the last chapter we
^^ left the volunteers in possession
of a constitutional victory ; but we
then paused befoi-e the bright side of a
picture, of which we have now to ex-
amine the shade. Turning aside from
the glorious pageant of the national
army, we are here, unhappily, doomed
to find that the victory was deceptive
and evanescent; that the parliament
which was made free was venal, cor-
rupt, and. unless reformed, worthless;
that the popular leaders were in religit)n
intolerant, in politics short-sighted, and
many of them faithless and insincere;
tliat although four-fifths of the popula-
tion were Catholics, the just rights of
this vast majority were not recognized
by the vei'y men who sought political
freedom for themselves; that the coun-
try was consequently weakened by dis-
union, and an unjust government en-
abled with security to refuse all reform
of abuses and all redress of grievances;
and, finally, that the vobinteer associa-
tit)n, iU'j)rivod of moral influence, was,
664
REIGN OF GEORGE III.
after a few years, suffered to die of
inanition.*
On the 15th of July, 1Y83, parlia-
ment was dissolved and a new parlia-
ment summoned to meet in October.
It was a moment when the question of
reform was very earnestly and generally
agitated. The Irish House of Com-
mons was then composed of 300 mem-
bers, of whom 64 were returned for
counties, and of the remainder jit least
172, or a majority of the whole house,
were sent in for close boroughs, the
property of a few loi-ds and wealthy
commoners, and which were bought
and sold like any ordinary merchan-
dise. Other members, besides those for
close boroughs, were also purchased by
government; and the few who could
be said to represent the people honestly
formed a minority insignificant in point
of numbers. In this degraded state of
venality and corruption, howevei-, the
* " The genrices of the volunteers," sars Dr. Madden,
" are, on the wliole, greatly exaggerated by our histori-
ans ; the great wonder is, how little substantial good to
Ireland was effected by a body which was capable of
effecting so much. As a military national spectacle,
the exhibition was, indeed, imposing, of a noble army of
united citizens roused by the menace of danger to the
State, and once mustered, stimding forth in defence of
the independence of their country. But it is not
merely the spectacle of their array, but the admirable
order, conduct, and discipline of their various corps —
not for a short season of political excitement, but for
a period of nearly ten years — that even, at this dis-
tance of time, are, with many, a subject of admiration.
But what use did the friends and advocates of
popular rights make of this powerful association of
armed citizens, which paralyzed the Irish government.
and brought the British ministry to a frame of mind
very different to that which it hitherto exhibited towards
Ireland ? Why, they wielded this great weapon of a
nation's collected Btreng:th to obtain an illusory inde-
Irish parliament was not unique; that
of England at the same period presents
similar characteristics, for which tlie
debasing policy of the government and
the profligacy of the times were respon-
sible. The subject of parliamentaiy
reform was now taken up warmly by
the volunteers. A meeting of dele-
gates was held at Lisburn on the 1st of
July, 1783, preliminary to another held
at Dungannon on the 8th of September,
at which all the Ulster volunteer corps
were represented. The subject of
equal representation of the people in
parliament was discussed and com-
mended to the attention of the volun-
teei's of all Ireland. The movement
was taken up in the same spirit by tlie
other provinces, and the result of their
provincial meetings was the project of
a grand national volunteer convention,
to assemble in Dublin on the 10th of
November. These proceedings alarmed
pendence, which never could rescue the Irish parlia-
ment from the influence of the British minister without
reform, and wiiich left the parliament as completely in
the power of the minister, through the medium of liis
hirelings in that house, as it had been before that
shadow of parliamentary independence had been gained.
The other adj uncts to this acquisition were, a
place-lull and a pension-bill, which had been the stock-
in-trade of the reforming principle of the opposition for
many years. No great measure of parliamentary re-
form or Catholic emancipation was seriously entertained
or wrung from a reluctant but then feeble government.
The error of the leaders was in imagining that they
could retain the confidence of the Catholics, or the co
operation of that body, which constituted the great
bulk of the population, while their convention publicly
dwided against their admission to the exercise of the
elective francluse."— ?%« United Irishmen, t?ieir Lite*
and Tiines, by R. R. Madden, M. D. First Series, p.
143, second edition.
CONVENTION OF THE VOLUNTEERS.
665
government, but the new pailiament.
in the mean time, met and passed a vote
of thanks to the volunteei-s. This per-
haps was only intended to conciliate.
A warm debate took place on the
question of retrenchment, and the op-
position was, as usual, defeated. Grattan
had latterly ceased to co-operate earn-
estly with the other popular leaders.
On this occasion an angry altei-cation
took place between him and Flood,
whose policy was more progressive and
uncoraj)romi8ing, and the mutual hos-
tility of these two great men, which
was so disastrous to their country,
became henceforth more bitter than
ever.
Monday, the 10th of November,
an-ived, and one hundi-ed and sixty
delegates of the volunteers of Ireland
assembled at the Royal Exchange.
They elect.ed as their chairman the earl
of Charlemont, and adjourned to the
great room of the Rotunda, marching
two and two through the streets, es-
corted by the county and city of Dub-
lin volunteers, with drums beating and
colors flying. Vast multitudes assem-
bled ; there was great enthusiasm, and
the scene was altogether a most impos-
ing one.* In the Rotunda the seats
were arranged in semicircular oi'der
before the chair, the oichestra was oc-
cupied by ladies, and the delegates
adopted in their proceedings the forms
of parliament. One of the most prom-
inent members of the convention was
• See description of the procussion, in Gilburt's nisi,
of Dublin, vol. U., p. 01.
Hi
Frederick Augustus Ilervey, earl of
Bi-istol in the English peerage, and
Protestant bishop of Deny in Ireland.
This eccentric personage took the ex-
treme popular side on all questions, and
was idolized by the multitude. He
assumed a degree of princely state;
was daily escorted to the convention
by a troop of light dragoons command-
ed by his nephew, George Robei-t Fitz-
gerald, of duelling notoriety; and was
only saved by the eccentricity of his
manner from the serious consequences
to which his bold assertion of opinion
would have laid him open.
The convention had not made much
piogress in its deliberations before gov-
ei-nment contrived by an artifice to
introduce the seeds of dissension. Sir
Boyle Roche, a man notorious for his
blunders and buffoonery, made his ap-
pearance at the Rotunda, with what
purported to be a message from Lord
Ken mare, to the effect that the Irish
Catholics were satisfied with what had
been done for them by the legislature,
and that they only desired to enjoy in
peace the benefits bestowed upon them.
This occurred on the 14th of Novem-
ber, and the same day the general
committee of the Catholics held a meet-
ing, with Sir Patrick Bellew in the
chair, and resolved unanimously that
the message to the national convention
was totally unknown to, and unauthor-
ized by them ; and that they were not
so unlike the rest of mankind as to
prevent, by their own act, the removal
of their shackles. This resolution was
666
REIGN OF GEORGE III.
communicated to the convention in tlie
evening l)y the bishop of Derry ; but
the assembly, with all its assumption of
lil)erality, was anti-Catholic. Follow-
ing the principles laid down liy the
Dungannon convention, it had, by its
first resolution, resti-icted to Protestants
the right of assuming arms ; it now
pretended not to be able to distinguish
between the authenticity of Sir Boyle
Roche's message and that of the reso-
lution of the Catholic committee, and
concluded by an illiberal exclusion of
Catholics from the constitutional priv-
ileges claimed for the Protestant minor-
ity. We cannot be surprised that
such a course should have deprived
the convention of Catholic sympathies.
Plans of reform were now submitted
for consideration by several of the
delegates. Hardy, in his " Life of
Charlemont," describes them as "in-
congruous fancies and misshapen the-
oi-ies." Mr. Flood and the bishop of
Derry took the leading part in digest-
ing these plans, and out of them was
at length composed the bill which Mr.
Flood introduced in pai-liament on the
29th of November. A stormy debate
in the House of Commons ensued. Mr.
Yelverton, the attorney-general (after-
wards Lord Avonmore), led the opposi-
tion to the bill. Although he himself
had been a volunteer, he declared that
originating as the bill did with an
armed body, it was inconsistent with
the freedom of debate in that house to
receive it. They did not sit there to
register the edicts of another assembly,
or to receive pi'opositions at the point
of the bayonet. He admired the vol-
unteers so long as they confined them-
selves to theii' first line of conduct, but
when they formed themselves into a
debating society, and with that rude
instrument, the bayonet, probed and
explored a constitution which required
the nicest hand to touch, his I'espect
and veneration were destroyed. Such
was the logic employed against the
bill. Mr. Flood defended the bill and
the volunteers by a display of powerful
eloquence. A writer who was present
describes the scene as " almost teri-ific"
— as one of " uproar, clamor, violent
menace, and furious recrimination."*
Several suppoiters of the measure, and
the delegates who were present, ap-
peared in uniform. Mr. Grattan gave
the bill but a feeble support, and the
motion was rejected by a division of
159 to 77. Corruption was triumphant.
The attorney-general the nmoved, " that
it had now become necessary to declare
that the house would maintain its just
I'ights and privileges against all en-
croachments whatsoever," and the reso-
lution was carried by a similar majoi'ity.
The gauntlet was fairly thrown down
to the volunteere, and the consequences
might have been most serious to the
empire had not some of the popular
leaders behaved with more than ordi-
nary prudence. Lord Charlemont ex-
erted himself privately and publicly to
prevent a collision ; and at length, on
Hardy's Life of CharUnunU, vol. ii., p. 146.
COMMERCIAL REGULATIONS BILL.
667
the morning of Tuesday, the 2(1 of
December, adjourned the convention
81716 die. This sealed the fate of the
volunteera. Their prestige and influ-
ence were gone forever. Mr. Flood
retired in disgust to England, and on
his return the following year introduced
another reform bill, only to be again
defeated. His object was to show that
it was not because the former bill
emanated from the volunteers it had
been rejected, but because it was di-
rected against the scandalous cori-uption
of an unprincipled House of Commons.
An attempt was made by Flood, Nap-
per Tandy, and others, to get up
another national congress, by addressing
circulars to the high-sheriffs, inviting
them to convene meetings of their
respective counties and cities to elect
delegates ; but the high-sheriffs were
threatened by government with the
vengeance of the law, and few of them
had the hardihood to hold the required
meetings. A few delegates were, how-
ever, returned, and in October, 1784,
met in Dublin with closed dooi's.
Flood attended their sittings; but some
of them were offended at his hostility
to the Catholics ; the abortive conven-
tion dissolved ; and Fitzgibbon, then
attoi-ney-general, to make an example,
prosecuted the sheriff of the county of
Dublin by an attachment. The volun-
teei-s, deserted by most of their aristo-
cratic leaders, now became ademoci-atic
association. In Belfast and Dublin
they commenced openly to train people
of all classes and sects in the use of
arms, and the example was followed
elsewhere ; but government, reassured
by the late triumph over the volunteers
in parliament, now took bolder meas-
ures. The standing array was raised
to 15,000 men, and in February, 1785,
a sum of £20,000 was voted to clothe
the militia. These forces, however, were
unpopular, and the volunteers having
ceased to co-operate with the civil
authoi'ities for the preservation of the
peace, eveiy pai-t of the country soon
became disturbed by scenes of tumult
and violence.
Hitherto we have seen the trade and
manufactures of Ireland invariably
sacrificed to the interests of England.
The great question of 1785 was a bill
for regulating the commercial relations
of the two countries. William Pitt
was the minister, and the duke of Rut-
land was viceroy of Ireland. The
measure was introduced in the Irish
parliament by Mr. Secretary Oixle, in
the shape of nine pi-opositions, and did
not pass without considei-able opposi-
tion, as it was pi-oposed that this coun-
try should contribute a quota for the
protection of the general commerce of
both countries at the discretion of the
British parliament. The bill passed
the Irish parliament on the 12th of
February, and was introduced by Mr.
Pitt in the English House of Commons
on the 22(1. The commercial jealousy
of England liad been roused, and peti-
tions were poured in from all quarters
against the measure. Pitt complained
of this hostility as unjust and ungen-
REIGN OF GEORGE III.
ei'ou?, l)nt secretly Le took measures to
allay the sordid fears of the English
manufacturers, by assui-ing thera that
Ireland should deri\'e little advantage
from the bill ; and he accoi-dingly added
eleven new propositions to the nine
Irish ones, altering the bill so matei'ially,
that when returned to Ireland in Au-
gust it had ceased to be the same meas-
ure which had passed the Irish parlia-
ment. By the new pi-opositions, Ire-
land was to be debarred from all trade
beyond the Cape of Good Hope and
the Straits of Magellan, and would be
bound by whatever navigation laws
the English parliament might thence-
forth enact. The insulting restrictions,
and the attempt to bind Ireland by
English-made laws, pi'oduced a violent
commotion in the Irish parliament.
They were denounced in one of the
most memorable efforts of his eloquence
by Grattan, who now saw how griev-
ously he had been mistaken about the
constitutional arrangements of 1782.
" This bill," he said, " goes to the ex-
tinction of the most invaluable part of
your parliamentary capacity; it is a
union, an incipient and creeping union ;
a virtual union, establishing one will in
the general concerns of commerce and
navigation, and i-eposing that will in
the parliament of Great Biitain ; a
union where our parliament j)reserves
its existence after it has lost its author-
ity, and our people are to pay for a
parliamentary establishment without
any proportion of parliamentary repre-
sentation." The latent patriotism even
of that corrupt house was awakened,
and when a division on the altered
bill took place, after a debate which
was sustained until eight o'clock in the
morning, the numbers wei'e found to
be, for the bill, 127. against it, 108. So
small a majority, yielded by its own
hirelings, was properly regarded bj' the
ministiy as a defeat, and the bill was
abandoned ; but Pitt never forgave the
Irish House of Commons for this dis-
play of its nationality.
Popular discontent, arising from a
variety of causes, social, political, and
religious, pervaded the whole country
and gave rise in many places to scenes
of tumult and disorder. Opposition to
the importation of English manufac-
tures was renewed, and led to some
violent proceedings, particularly in
Dublin. In the south, the Whiteboys
were revived under the name of Right-
boys, and in 1787 their turbulence and
acts of intimidation filled several coun-
ties with alarm. Tithes, church-rates,
and rack-rents had driven the famishing
peasantry to madness; the law afforded
them no relief, and against the un-
limited exactions of tithe-proctors and
middlemen, and the cruelties of unjust
magistrates, they sought protection in
their own system of wild justice. Mr.
Grattan made various fruitless attempts
in parliament to obtain an inquiry into
the causes of this agrarian discontent.
He was opposed by Fitzgibbon, who,
defending the parsons, said he knew
the unhapjiy tenantry were ground to
powder by relentless landlords ; and
POPULAR DISCONTENT.
669
instanced cases in Munster, in which, to
Ills own knowledge, a poor tenant was
conipelled to pay £Q an acre for potato
ground, which £6 he had to work out
with his landlord at five pence a day.
lie might have found cases much worse
still in Connaught ; but Grattan showed
that " the landlord's overreaching,
compared to that of the tithe-farmer,
was mercy." To the relentless inhu-
manity of both these classes the
wretched people were abandoned ; and
when goaded into resistance, they were
1 I'efosed by the legislature any remedy
but the bayonet and the halter. Still,
the outrages committed by the Right-
boys were not to be excused, and they
were denounced from the altai's bj' the
Catholic clergy, and inoi-e jiai'ticularly
in pastorals issued by the Most Rev. Dr.
Butler, archbishop of Cashel, and the
Right Rev. Dr. Troy, Catholic bishop
of Ossory.
Meantime, distuibances of a different
natui'e commenced in the north be-
tween two parties called Peep-o'-day-
boys and Defenders. They originated
in 1784 among some country people,
who appear to have been all Protest-
ants or Presbyterians; but Catholics
having sided with one of the parties,
the quarrel quickly grew into a re-
ligious feud, and spread from the
• Tho first Orange lodge was formed in September.
1705, in tlie village of Loughgnll, in Armagh. Tho
confederacy spread rapidly, and the frightful atrocities
committed by its members on the Catholics helped to
accelerate the insurrection of '98. and added fearfully to
its horrors. " The original oath, or purple test, of this
iociety was not produced by the oUicers of tho society
county of Armagh, where it com-
menced, to the neighboring districts of
Tyrone and Down. Both pai-ties be-
longed to the humblest classes of the
community. The Protestant party were
well armed, and assembling in nuin-
bei-s, attacked the houses of Catholics,
under pretence of searching for arms ;
insulting their persons, and breaking
their furniture. These wanton outrages
were usually committed at an early
hour in the morning, whence the name
of Peep-o'-day-boys ; but the faction
was also known as " Protestant boys"
and " Wreckers," and ultimately merged
in the Oi'ange society.* Their object
was something more than a mere at-
tack upon Catholics for their religion.
They coveted the lands occupied by
their Catholic neighbors, and adopted
the Cromwellian principle of sending
the Papists "to hell or Connaught."
For this purpose they burned the
houses of the Catholics, great numbers
of whom were thus driven from the
country, and their holdings afterwards
given to Protestants ; and Plowden
tells us, that in the beginning of 1796,
" it was generally believed that 7,000
Catholics had been forced or burned
out of the county of Armagh, and that
the ferocious banditti who had expelled
them had been encouratred, connived
on the inquiry entered into by the parliamentary com-
mittee in 18^5 ; but the existence of this diabolical lest
was given in evidence before the Secret Committee of
1798, by Mr. Arthur O'Connor, and tho knowledge of
it admitted by the committee on that occasion." Ths
United Irishmen, &c., first series, p. 110, second edi-
tion.
670
REIGN OF GEORGE III.
at, and protected by the government."
Against these savage atrocities the
Catholics were compelled to band them-
selves for protection, and hence tliey
assumed the name of Defenders. The
association of Defenders, howevei',
spread into spine localities where no
aggression from Protestants was to be
apprehended, and in such cases the
Defendei-s leagued themselves for the
redress of various agrarian grievances,
especially that of the tithe system.
They bound themselves by an oath of
secrecy, and had pass-woi'ds like other
similar societies, but they were exclu-
sively illiterate men, and their political
opinions were generally limited to a
vague notion that "something ought
to be done for Ireland."*
In the autumn of 1Y88, George III.
was attacked by insanity, and the re-
gency was conferred in England on the
prince of Wales, clogged with a variety
of restrictions, upon which Mr. Pitt
insisted. The Irish parliament, gener-
ally ready enough to assert its own
privileges, refused to l)e dictated to
either by the English parliament or by
the minister, and in the exercise of its
national independence voted the re-
gency without restriction or limitation.
The lord-lieutenant (the marquis of
Buckingham) refused to forward the
address to the prince of Wales; but
the parliament appointed a commission
to convey the address to England, and
* See Plowden's History, vol. ii., c. 7 ; MacNevin's
Pieces of Iris/i History, p. 55, &c. The trials of the
the deputation was most gi-aciously
received by the prince. The phalanx
of corruption was for the moment
broken up in the Irish parliament ; the
hirelings were uncertain whom they
should obey ; and Grattan seized the
opportunity to introduce a pension bill
and some other popular measures. But
the king's health was suddenly restoi-ed ;
the servile majority resumed their ranks,
and all attempts at reform were as hope-
less as ever. Pitt was exasperated by
the conduct of the Irish parliaiuent on
the regency question, and never after
lost sight of his determination to de-
prive Ireland of her legislature.
No viceroy evei- exei'ted the corrupt-
ing influence of government more
shamelessly than the mai-quis of Buck-
ingham. He bargained opeidy for
single votes, and during his short ad-
ministration added £13,000 a year to
the pension list. In 1790 he was suc-
ceeded by the earl of Westmoreland.
It was an age of political associations;
societies were springing into existence
in every part of the empire. A Whig
club was established in Ii'eland similar
to that of England ; but not only were
Catholics excluded, as they were from
most of the other political societies,
but even the discussion of the Catholic
question was interdicted. The ferment
in the popular mind was daily increased
by the progress of the French revolu-
tion, and the wildest theories of democ-
Defenders ; Dr. Madden's Lie
Ii-isJimen, &c
\and Timet of th» UnUed
ORIGIN OF THE UNITED IRISHMEN.
671
racy began to float on the tide of
public opinion. Still, the government
was inexorable in its opposition to every
proposition for reform, and it was
openly asserted in parliament that such
conduct seemed designed to goad the
people to rebellion. Grattan arraigned
the ministi-y in a long series of charges,
and that other gifted and illustrious
Irishman, John Philpot Curran, labored
at this time in the same cause ; but
their efforts were in vain.
On the nth of February, 1791, a
general committee of the Catholics of
Ireland met in Dublin, and resolved to
a])ply to parliament for relief from their
disabilites. The Catholics had hitherto
refrained from all agitation, and their
body was weakened by a division into
an aristocratic and a democratic party,
this breach being daily widened by the
suspicion with which the excesses of
the French i-evolution induced the
friends of i-eligion and order to regard
all democratic tendencies. 'The most
active men of the Catholic committee
at this time were John Keogh, Richard
M'Cormic, John Sweetman, Edward
Byrne, and Thomas Braughall. Theo-
bald Wolfe Tone, a young barrister of
considerable talent and of an ardent
and aspiring disposition, proffered his
services to promote their cause, as did
likewise the Hon. Simon Butler, also a
barrister, and some other patriotic
Protestants and Dissenteis; and the
accession of such men gave a fresh im-
pulse to their efforts, and roused them
to the adoption of more decisive lan-
guage than they had hitherto used.
Nothing was more calculated to excite
the jealousy of government than this
fellowship of Protestants and Cath-
olics; and, on the other hand, the
friends of the popular cause saw that
nothing was more necessary to promote
their views thau unanimity between all
classes of Irishmen. With this object
in view, Wolfe Tone visited Belftist in
Octol)er, 1791, at the invitation of a
volunteer club already existing there,
composed of such men as Samuel Neil-
son, Robert Simms, Thomas Russell,
tfec, and in conjunction with them
founded the first club, which took the
name of the Society of United Irish-
men. He then returned to Dublin, and
with James Napper Tandy, Simon
Butler, and others, founded a similar
society in the metropolis. The funda-
mental resolutions of the society were:
" 1st. That the weight of English in-
fluence in the government of this country
is so great as to I'equire a cordial union
among all the people of Ireland, to
maintain that Ijalance which is essential
to the preservation of our liberties and
the extension of our commerce. 2d.
That the sole constitutional mode by
which this influence can be opposed, is
by a complete and radical reform of
the representation of the people in
pailiament. 3d. That no reform is
just which does not include every
liishman of every religious persua- i
sion." j
Such were the principles of the first I
United Irishmen. Their society was
672
REIGN OF GEORGE III.
perfectly constitutional, and in every
respect as legal as any of the numerous
political clubs which at that time existed
in England and Ii-eland, and which
boasted among their members some of
the most distinguished statesmen of
the day. Wolfe Tone and some of his
associates had already imbibed republi-
can ideas, but it is an unquestionable
fact that they did not attempt to en-
graft these on the original constitution
of the United Irishmen, which was
thoroughly monarchical. The grand
principle of the society was that of
" union among all classes of Irishmen ;"
it was this wbich marked it out as
specially dangerous in the eyes of a
government which, like every Irish
government since the earliest times of
English rule in this country, relied
on the contrary principle of division
amongst the people; and it was this
which gave the society so much political
influence during the first period of its
existence.*
In July, 1791, the anniversary of the
French revolution was celebrated with
* The " test" of the first society of United Irishmen
was as foUows : " I, A. B., in the presence of God, do
pledge myself to my country, that I wiU use all my
abilities and influence in the attsiinment of an impartial
and adequate representation of the Irish nation in par-
liament ; and as a means of absolute and immediate
necessity in the establishment of this chief good of
Ireland, I will endeavor, as much as lies in my ability,
to forward a brotherhood of affection, and identity of
interests, a communion of rights, and a union of
power, among Irishmen of all religious persuasions,
without which every reform in parUament must be par-
tial, not national, inadequate to the wants, delusive to
the wishes, and insutficient for the freedom and happi-
ness of this country." — See Wolfe Tone's Memoirs;
military pomp at Belfast by the armed
volunteei-s and townspeople. Demo-
cratic ideas became daily more preva-
lent, and in order to protest against
such principles, sixty-four of the Cath-
olic aristocracy seceded from the Cath-
olic body, and presented an address of
loyalty to the lord-lieutenant. This
proceeding was uncalled for, and was
injurious to their cause ; indeed, these
were the persons of whose sentiments
Sir Boyle Roche undertook to be the
worthy expositor to the volunteer con-
vention in 1783. In 1792, the Catholic
committee employed the son of the
great Edmund Bui'ke as their advocate
to defend them against the imputations
of the sixty-four addressers. In fact,
the attention of the committee was
then so exclusively confined to the one
great point of obtaining a relaxation of
tlie penal code, that they mixed them-
selves up with no other political agita-
tion, and nothing could be more unjust
than to impute to their proceedings a
democratic character. A convention
of Catholic delegates was suggested ;
Madden's iifcs and Times of the United Irishmen, kc.
" Strictly speaking," says the historian of the United
Irishmen, " Samuel Neilson was the originator, and
Tone the organizer of the society, the framer of ita
declaration, the penman to whom the details of its for-
mation was intrusted. The object of Tone in assisting
in the formation of the Belfast and Dublin societies ia
not to be mistaken — he clearly annoimces ii in his diary.
In concluding tlie account of the part he took in the
formation of the former, he plainly states : ' To break
the connection with England, the never-failing source
of all our political evils, and to assist the independence
of my country — these are my objects.' " — Madden 's
Lives and Times of the United Irishmen, second series
p. 11, second edition.
.StTITL-''-
*
fT
lit:
^
k
ailoj's Hall in Baek-lane. Tii
,' 'iciously rec-
liit
Ii was held
'
He was de-
' • - '. of
'-e
h
hf-
jiiy
ae Irish
lon from
. 1793. the
..uo were con-
relief bill, were Dr.
CATHOLIC IJELIEF HILL.
673
this proposal (frauglit with most im-
portant results) produced an outcry,
and violent proceedings against the
Catholics were adopted by the grand-
juries throughout the country. Never-
theless the Catholic delegates assembled
in Dublin, and held their first meeting
on the 2d of Decem])er, 1792, at the
Tailor's Hall in Back-lane. The Cath-
olics next prepared a petiti<jn to the
king, representing their grievances; it
was signed by Dr. Troy and Dr. Moy-
]an, on behalf of the jn-elates and
clergy, and by all the county delegates.
Five delegates — namely. Sir Thomas
French, Mi-. Byrne, Mr. Keogh, Mi'.
Devereux, and Mr. Belle w — were chosen
to convey the petition to London, and
on the 2d of January, 1793, they pre-
sented it to his majesty, by whom they
were very graciously received.
Under the pressure of renewed war
M'ith France, and in order to detach
the Catholics from the more active and
dangerous politicians of other creeds,
government brought in the relief bill
of 1793;* but in the same session were
passed a militia bill, and the gunpowder
and convention bills; the two latter
coercive measures being directly aimed
against the volunteers and tlie United
Irishmen, the former having still i-e-
tained a nominal existence. Mr. Piti's
* This act (33 Goo. III.) restored the elective francluso
to the Irish Catholics, and threw oj^n to them certain
offices in the army in Ireland, and all offices in tlio
navy, even that of admiral, on the Irish station. In the
army three offices were etiU excepted — viz , those of
comInimder-in^^hief, master-general of the ordnaae*.',
85
favorite tactics were to create disunion
and alarm, and thus to prepare the way
for strong measures. He enveloped
the proceedings of the executive in
mystery, and reckoned on the fears,
and never on the confidence of the
people.
A meeting of the United Iiishmen,
held in Dublin in February, 1793, pub-
lished an address protesting against
the inquisitorial nature of certain pro-
ceedings of the secret committee of
the House of Lords, then conducting an
inquiry relative to the Defenders' asso-
ciation. For this, the Hon. Mr. Butler,
who acted as chairman of the meeting,
and Mr. Oliver Bond, the secretary,
were called before the bar of the house,
and adjudged to be each imprisoned
six mouths and fined £500. Li Janu-
ary, 1794, Mr. Archibald Hamilton
Rowan was prosecuted for an address
to the volunteers, adopted at a meeting
of the United L'ishmen, of which he
was secretary, and which was held
nearly two years before. He was de-
fended by Curran, who -'>de one of
his most celebrated speechto .n the
occasion ; but by the aid of the net'aii-
ous jury-packing system, then newly
introduced by the notorious John Gif-
ford, the slierilf, and on the testimony
of a })erjured witness, Mr. Rowan was
and general on the sta* The preceding yaar the Irish
House of Commons refused to receive a petition from
Belfast in favor of tlie Catholics ; and yet, in ]7S).'3, the
only bigots in that den of corruption who were con-
sistent enougli to vole against the relief bill, were Dr.
Duigeniui and Mr. Ogle.
674
REIGN OF GEORGE III.
convicted of a seditious libel, and sen-
tenced to two yeai-s' imprisonment and
a fine of £500. These proceedings in-
creased the popular ferment, and an
address from the Society of United
Irishmen was presented to Mr. Rowan
in Newgate ; but on the 1st of May he
made his escape, and although £1,000
reward was offered for his apprehen-
sion, he succeeded in making his way
to France, and thence to Amei'ica.
In the beginning of April, 1V94, an
emissary arrived in Ii'eland from the
French Convention, to sound the popu-
lar mind relative to an invasion. This
person was the Rev. William Jackson,
a Protestant clergyman of Irish extrac-
tion, but who had been born in Eng-
land, and had resided many years in
Fi'ance. He rashly confided his secret
to his legal adviser, Mr. John Cock-
ayne, a London solicitor, l)y whom it
was immediately i-evealed to the prime
minister, Mr. Pitt. By Pitt's advice,
Cockayne accompanied Jackson to Ii'e-
land, and was present at his interviews
with Leonard M'Nally, Archibald
Hamilton Rowan, then in Newgate,
Theobald Wolfe Tone, and other lead-
ers of the United Irishmen. Foi-tu-
nately for the Irish leaders, they looked
at first with some suspicion on Jack-
son, and avoided committing them-
selves in the presence of Cockayne.
Thus did the first overtures of France
to Ireland come, as it were, thi'ough
the very hands of William Pitt him-
Belf ; and the government having made
this first experiment in treason manu-
facture, hud Jackson ai'rested on the
28th of April. Three days after, as
we have seen, Hamilton Rowan made
his escape, and on the 4th of May the
meeting of United Irishmen at the
Tailoi-'s Hall was dispersed by the
sheriff, under the convention act, and
their papers seized. ]\Iany of the
moi-e prudent members of the society
now thought it high time to withdraw.
The latter part of 1794 witnessed
some strange political intrigues. Pitt
professed to abandon his policy of co-
ercion, and thereupon many of the old
Whig party entered into a coalition
with him. The eai-l of Westmoreland
was recalled from Ireland, and on the
4th of January, 179^, Earl Fitzwilliam,
a nobleman of libera] pi-inciples and
most estimable disposition, ai-rived to
replace hira. Lord Fitzwilliam came
over with the express understanding
that he was to pursue a policy of con-
ciliation. At Dublin Castle he foun<1 a
system established utterly incompatible
with any honest, constitutional plan of
government, and he at once set about
reforming it. His first acts were to
dismiss Secretary Cooke, and to de-
prive Ml-. Beresford of the power which
had enabled hira and his family for
many years to monopolize a vast pro-
portion of the public emoluments, and
to exercise an uncontrolled sway over
the Irish government. The new vice-
roy surrounded himself with liberal-
minded men ; the Catholics were prom-
ised complete emancipation ; the peo-
ple were inspired with a confidence
THE SOCIETY OF UNITED IRISIIMEN.
6T5
which they had never felt till then ;
and extraordinary joy was diffused
turough the country. But this was
only for a moment. When the hopes
of the nation were i-aised to the highest
pitch, Lord Fitzwilliam was recalled.
The effect was heart-rending. Ad-
dresses and resolutions poured in from
all sides to avert the calamity, but to
no purpose. On the 25th of March,
Lord Fitzwilliam took his departuie
from Ireland, amidst the anguish of the
people. His coach was drawn to the
water-side by some of the most respect-
able citizens of Dublin ; the city wore
an aspect of mourning, but the public
grief was equalled by the public indig-
nation at the heartless duplicity of the
minister. Pitt had made up his mind
for the Union, cost what it miglit, and
he knew that it was through the hu-
miliation and misfortune, not through
the happiness and prosperity of Ii-e-
land, that such a measure could be
brought about. To realize his favorite
project, this unhappy country was to be
deluged with crime and blood.
On the 23d of April, 1795, the Eev.
William Jackson was put on his trial foi-
treason, and convicted on the; evidence
of Cockayne. When the nnf(ii'tun;vte
man was brouglit u]) for jinlguient on
the 30th, he took a dose of arsenic 1)e-
fore entering the dock, and to give
time for the poison to take effect, he
caused his counsel, Mr. Leonard Mc-
Nally, to plead in arrest of judgment.
Externally he concealed tiie friglitful
tortares which he endured ; his jail-
ers did not perceive a muscle change ;
and the ingenuity of counsel protracted
the argument until the wretched pi'is-
oner fell in the agonies of death. A
coronei''s inquest closed the scene.
Jackson's object in anticipating the
law was, to save for his wife and chil-
dren the little money which he possess-
ed, and which would have been confis-
cated had judgment been pi'onounced.
The Society of United Irishmen had
already assumed a new character.
Desperation having succeeded to hope
in the public mind, physical force and
foreign aid were thought of The
original objects of i-eform and emanci-
pation were merged — at least in the
minds of many of the leaders — in revo-
lution and repuV)]icanism. Tlie original
test of the society was changed into an
oath of secrecy and mutual fidelity ;
and for the words, "equal representa-
tion of the people in parliament," was
substituted in their declaration the
phrase, "a full representation of all the
people of Ireland ;" the word " all"
being added and " pai-liament" omit-
ted. Baronial, county, and provincial
committees were established; each so-
ciety was limited to twelve members,
including a secretary and treasurer;
five of these secretaries formed a lower
baronial committee, which delegated
one of its members to an upper baronial
committee; and so on for the commit-
tees of counties and provinces. Each
of the four provinces had a subordinate
directory, delegated by a provincial
committee; and in Dublin there was
676
REIGN OF GEORGE III.
an executive directory of five persons,
elected by ballot in the provincial di-
rectories. The executive directory ex-
ei-cised supreme command over the en-
tire union, and its members were only
known to the secretaries of the provin-
cial committees ; but the result proved
that all this secrecy and complicated
organization afforded no protection
against treachery. From the veiy
commencement every important pro-
ceeding of the United Ipshmen was
known to the government.
By the 10th of May, 1795, the new-
organization of the society was com-
plete on paper; and on the 20th, Wolfe
Tone left Dublin for Belfast, on his
way to Amei'ica. He had been impli-
cated by the evidence on Jackson's
trial, but through the influence of very
powerful friends he was saved from
prosecution on condition of quitting
the country. From America he pro-
ceeded to France, in fulfilment of a
pi'omise which he had made to tlie
leadei's at home, that he would lay
such i-epresentations before the French
republican government as would lead
to an invasion of Ireland. He arrived
at Havre on the 1st of February, 1796,
and hastened to Pai-is. His creden-
tials consisted only of two votes of
thanks from the Catholic Committee,
of which he had been seci'etary, and
his certificate of admission to the Bel-
fast volunteers. The Araei'ican ambas-
sador was friendly to him ; he intro-
* For the details of the events here related, and of
thoee which are immediately to follow, the reader ie re-
duced himself to Carnot ; and his suc-
cess, under many disheartening cir-
cumstances, was so complete, that on
the 16th of December, the same year,
a French expedition under General
Hoche sailed from Brest to Ii'eland.
It consisted of 17 ships of the line,
besides frigates, tfec, to the number in
all of 43 sail, having on board 15,000
troops and 45,000 stand of ai-ms, with
artillery, ammunition, &c. ; Theobald
Wolfe Tone himself, with the rank of
adjutant-general, being on board the
same ship with Genei-al Grouchy, the
second in command. It was madness
to undertake the expedition at such a
season. Scarcely had the shores of
France been cleared, when foul winds
and foggy weather, " the only unsub-
sidised allies of England," dispersed the
fleet ; the admii-al's ship, with the com-
mandei--in-chief, separated, aud such of
the vessels as kej)t together cruised for
six or eight days at the entrance to
Banti-y Bay, waiting in vain for Hoche,
and then i-etui-ned to France ; Grouchy
having refused to attempt a landing
without the orders of the chief in com-
mand. It was one of those cases in
which the destinies of nations seem to
hang by a slender thread. Had the
weather been more propitious, it is
quite possible that the result of the
expedition might have been a success-
ful civil war in Ireland, and the loss of
this country forever to the crown of
England.*
ferred to 77t« United Irishmen, tlieir Lives and Timet,
hy Dr. R. R. Madden. M. R. I. A.— a work of :
"STRONG MEASURES" OF THE GOVERNMENT.
677
The honible drama which was to be
played out in Ii'eland dui'ing the two
j oi- three ensuing years was now com-
' nienced in right earnest. Earl Cam-
den succeeded Lord Fitzwilliam as lord-
lieutenant; Robert Stewart, Viscount
Castlereagh, a political apostate, who
had enteied parliament as a pledged
reformer, but who soon proved himself
the most unprincipled foe to popular
rights, became an active member of
the Irish executive; Lord Carhampton,
the worthy grandson of the infamous
Henry Lutti'ell, got the command of
the army, and exercised his power
with fiei'ce and reckless cruelty ; early
in 17*,)6 an iiisuri-ection act was passeil,
making the administi-ation of an oath
like that of the United Irishmen pun-
ishable with death ; a discretionary
power was given to magistrates to
proclaim counties ; houses might be en-
tered between sunset and sunrise, and
the inmates seized and sent on board
tenders without any foi-mality of trial ;
Lord Carhampton, had, indeed, in the
summer of 1795, banished in that way
one thousand three hundred persons on
labor and research, and which constitutes in itself a
repertory of Irish hisiory for this period ; also to the
Mcmuirsof Theobald Wolfe lone; Dr. W. J. MacNe-
vin's Pieces of Irish Hustory ; Moore's Life of Lord
Edward FiUycrald ; Mac^vin's Lices and Trials of
Eminent Iiishmen ; Telling's Pirsmial Narrative of the
Ribellian ; William Sumson's Autubiogrnphy, edited by
William Cooke Taylor; AtitobU/graphy of Iltimilton
linwaii, edited by Dr. Drummond ; Hay's Uistury of
the Lisurrection in Wexford; Conley's Personal Nar-
rative ; O'Kelly's General History of tlie Rthellion ;
UiKtory of the Ihbellion, by the Rev. James Gordon (a
Protestant clergyman) ; Alexander's Account of the
Rebellion ; C. Jackson's Iluitoi-y of the Ribellivn ; ilus-
grave's Work (a tissue of prejudice and falsehood)
Rei)orts from Committees of Secrecy of the Houses of
Lords and Commons ; Sir Jonah Barrington's Rise and
Fall of the Irish Nation ; the Lives aud Speeches of
Henry Orattan and John Philpot Curran ; Lord Clon-
curry's Personal Recollictions ; the Correspondence of
Lord Castlereagh and of the Marquis Cornwallis, &c.
* The Peepo'-day-boys and Defenders fought a pitched
battle at a pl.ice called the Diamond, near Armagh, on
the '21st September, 1795. The former were much
better armed, aud the latter, idthough more numoroua,
were beaten with a loss of forty-eight killed. It was
notorious that government encouraged the Peei>-o'-d«/
boys or Orangemen.
his own authority and without any
legal form ; the fei'ocity and fanaticism
of the Orangemen, as the Peep-o'-d ay-
boys were now denominated, were
employed for the extirpation of the
Catholics ;* and acts of indemnity
were passed to shield the magistrates
and military from responsibility for
the cruelties in which they exceeded
the law. In parliament nothing would
be done to ameliorate the condition of
the country or allay the popular fer-
ment; but every thing that could most !
effectually provoke and foment discoa i
tent. The results were only what
were to be expected. If revolution
can, under any circumstances, be jus-
tified— aud upon revolution the con- |
stitution of England is founded — it i
would be monstrous to blame the un-
happy victims of Pitt's policy in Ii'e-
land for meditating resistance at that
fatal period. Accordingly, we find that
the leaders of the United Irishmen
formed the plan of engrafting a mili-
tai-y organization on their civil organ-
ization. This was commenced in Ul-
ster about the end of 1796, and in
6Y8
REIGN OF GEORGE III.
Leinster iu the beginning of 1Y97.
The secretary of a society of twelve
became a petty officer; the delegates
to the lower baronial committees be-
came captains ; the delegate from the
lower to the upper baronial committee
was, in most cases, a colonel ; but
every commission higher than that of
colonel was in the appointment of the
executive directory. The members did
not for some time adopt these titles,
nor was the Leinstei' directory elected
until the close of 1797. The society
spread rapidly among the humbler
classes, especially in localities whei-e
Orange clubs were established. On
the eve of the outbreak in 1798 the
total number of enrolled members was
computed at 500,000, and of these very
nearly .S00,000 might be counted on as
effective men. A few years before the
leaders complained that the people
were sluggish and hard to be moved ;
they now found that the great difficulty
was to restrain them under the system
of provocation practised by g(wern-
ment. Some of the leadei'S were too
enthusiastic ; but it was a settled point
among them that without foreign aid
an insurrection should not be hazarded ;
that the country should not be exposed
to the horroi's of a war like that of La
Vendee, and that the impatience of the
people should be restrained by every
means until the arrival of a Fi'ench in-
vading army. Agents were therefoi'e
repeatedly sent to solicit the aid of
France. Lord Edward Fitzgerald, a
brother of the duke of Leinster, and
who had served with great distinction
in the English army in Canada, went on
one of these missions to France in
1796, accompanied by Mr. Arthur
O'Connor, a member of the L-ish par-
liament. They proceeded to Switzer-
land, where they had an interview on
the frontier with General Hoche, pre-
vious to the departure of the Bantry
Bay expedition. In March, 1797, Mr.
Lewines, an attorney of Dublin, was
sent on a similar mission, and remained
in France as a permanent agent of the
Irish dii-ectory ; Wolfe Tone being
also at the same time in Paris. In
June, 1797, Dr. MacN.jvin was dis-
patched to France on a similar errand,
but only got to Hambur^'h, where he
imprudently ventui'ed to communicate
by letter with the French gov'^ernment,
and a copy of his memoiial came in-
to the hands of the Britiyb minister
through the treachei-y of an employee
in the French foreign office. Indeed,
the English government was thorough-
ly informed of every movement of the
Irish leaders, and might at any moment
have broken up the scheme which waa
thus hatched under its very eyes. A
regular system of espionage was em-
ployed by government so early as 1795,
and was rendered complete by the end
of the following year. Besides the
common gang of informers who, like
the iufamous Jemmy O'Brien and his
associates, were under the immediate
control of Town-majore Sirr and Swan,
there was a " higher class" of miscreants
in the pay of government for the same
THE SPY SYSTEM.
679
vile purposes. The former were ex
clusively persons taken from the dregs
of society, and were employed in the
lowest work of iniquity. They were
usually called "Major Sirr's people,"
or " the battalion of testimony ;" but
among the other class were some in the
rank of "gentlemen," and some whose
baseness was not divulged until long
after their death, when they appeared
in public documents as the recipients
of secret service-money and of govern-
ment pensions. Some of these " gentle-
men" had expressly entered the society
and wormed themselves into the confi-
dence of the members for the purpose
of betraying their associates; others
were the legal advisers and advocates
of their unfortunate victims, with whose
most intimate secrets they had thus
made themselves acquainted ; others
betrayed their bosom friends and
V^enefactors. One of the informers,
M'Gucken, was the solicitor of the
United Irishmen of Belfast. Mr.
Leonard MacNally, their advocate, was
in the secret pay of the government,
and received a pension of £;300 a year
for life ; but what the precise service
was which he rendered for the wages
we are not infoi-med. The notorious
Thomas Reynolds, of Kilkea Castle, in
Kildare, became a United Irishman,
and got himself raised to a high grade
in the society, that he might betray
his friends. In the same base manner
Captain Armstrong of the King's
County Militia betrayed Henry and
John Sheares. Nicholas Maixuan, of
Saintfield, in the county of Down, was
a member of the county and provincial
committees, and attended the meetings
of his betrayed dupes until June, 1798,
communicating all the time the secrets
of the society to government through
a third person. John Hughes, a book-
seller of Belfast, another spy, was re-
peatedly ai-rested and confined along
with members of the society, in order
to learn their secrets as a fellow-victim ;
and John Edward Newell, of the Bel-
fiist society, Fi-ederick Button, and a
man named Burd, or Smith, also figured
in the same vile capacity.
On the 13th of March, 1797, General
Lake, commanding the northern dis-
trict, issued a proclamation virtually
placing a gi-eat part of Ulster under
martial-law ; and his orders were exe-
cuted with excessive rigor by the mili-
tary. The illegal and violent nature
of the proceedings resorted to was
described some months after by the
earl of Moira in the English House of
Lords, in a fruitless effort to elicit the
sympathy of the legislature on behalf
of this suffering country. Among the
cruelties which he himself had seen
practised. Lord Moira mentioned, that
if any man was suspected to have con-
cealed weapons of defence, his house,
his furniture, and all his property were
burned ; nor was this all, for if it were
supjwsed that any district had not sur-
rendered all the arms which it cot-
tained, a party was sent out to collect
the numbers at which it was rated, and
in the execution of this order, thirty
680
REIGjST of GEORGE III.
were sometimes liurued down
in a single night; oflBcers took upon
themselves to decide arbitrarily the
quantity of arms which should be forth-
coming, and if this quantity were not
yielded up, these barbarous cruelties
were inflicted. " When a man was
taken up on suspicion," said his lord-
ship, " he was put to the torture ; nay,
if he were merely accused of conceal-
ing the guilt of another. The punish-
ment of picketing, which had been for
some years abolished as too inhuman
even in the dragoon service, was prac-
tised.* He had known a man, in order
to extort confession of a supposed
crime, or of that of some of his neigh-
bor.*, picketed until he actually fainted ;
picketed a second. time until he fainted
again ; as soon as he came to himself,
picketed a third time, until he once more
fainted ; and all upon mere suspicion !
Nor was this the only species of toi--
ture ; many had been taken and hung
up until they were half dead, and then
threatened with a repetition of the same
cruel treatment, unless they made con-
fession of the imputed guilt. These,
observed Lord Moira, were not particu-
lar acts of cruelty, exercised by men
abusing the power committed to them,
but they formed part of our system.
They were notorious, and no person
could say who would be the next vic-
tim of this oppression and ci-uelty."
On the rejection of Mr. Ponsonby's
* The punishment of picketing consisted in making
a man stand with one foot on a pointed stake.
motion for reform in 1797, Mr. Grattan
and the other leading members of the
opposition seceded from the House of
Commons. No proceeding could have
conveyed a stronger condemnation.
In the autumn of 1797, Mr. William
Orr, of Antrim, was tried at Carrick-
fergus on a charge of administering the
United Irishmen's oath to a soldier
named Whately, who was the only wit-
ness against him. The jury, who were
locked up during the night, were copi
ously supplied with spirituous liquors,
and under the influence of intoxication
and of threats of prosecution as United
Irishmen, if they did not convict the
prisoner, they at length brought in a
verdict of guilty. Some of the juroi-tj
at once confessed the circumstances
under which they had been induced to
find against their consciences. Mr. On-,
who was a man of high character and
respectabilit}', solemnly protested hia
innocence, and the soldier, smitten with
remorse, declared on oath before a
magistrate, that his testimony at the
tiial was false. Petitions to the lord-
lieutenant, pi-ayiug that the prisoner's
life might be spared, were poured in
from all parts of the country, but to no
purpose. Three times a respite was
granted, but, with the most convincing
evidence of the prisoner's innocence
before him, Loi'd Camden, nevertheless,
ordered his execution, which took place
on the 14th of October. This judicial
murder destroyed any i-emaining confi-
dence the people might have had in the
law or the government, and "remem-
A SYS'J'EM OF TERROR.
GSl
bei' Orr" became a ■watchword witli j
the United Irishmen.
Irish agents were actively engaged
throughout the year in Fi'ance, en-
deavoring to obtain military aid ; and
at home the people, maddened by the
cruelties to which they were subjected,
were only restrained from rising by
assurances of an immediate French
invasion, without which, they were
told, it would be utter folly to attempt
resistance. Another expedition for the
Irish coast was indeed prepared in the
Texel, under a Dutch admiral, but was
prevented from sailing by Lord Dun-
can's victory near Camperdown ; and
finally, promises were again held out
by the French directory, that an inva-
[ sion would take place in April, 1798,
and again the Irish were doomed to be
disappointed. Bonaparte's jealousy of
Iloche, and his ambitious designs
against Egypt, were fatal to the hopes
of the United Irishmen; and there is
no reason to think that the affairs of
Ireland excited any interest with tlie
French government of that day, be-
yond the consideration of keeping Eng-
land occupied by a civil war in this
country.
Sir Ralph Abercrombie, an experi-
enced and upright officer, Avas ajipointed
* This diabolical design of the government has been
over and over again admitted, and is a fact as notorious
as any in history. The reader will find abundant ad-
miasions of it in the parliamentary debates of the
period, and in the recently published papers of Lords
Casllerengli and Cornwallis. For the manner in wliich
the design was carried out, wo may refer to the first
Berieo of Dr. Madden's work abeady quoted, chap, xii.,
SO
to the command of the army in Ire-
land, in December, 1797; but he soon
became disgusted at the disorderly and
outrageous conduct of the troops, and
at the system of murder and rapine
which he was expected to countenance.
In general orders which he issued on
the 26th of February, 1798, he cen-
sured the irregularities and disgraceful
conduct of the military, as " proving
the army to be in a state of licentious-
ness, which rendered it formidable to
every one but the enemy ;" but at the
close of April he was recalled, to the
great triumph of the Orange faction,
and was succeeded by General Lake,
a man who had already shown himself
to be uninfluenced by feelings of justice
or humanity. A system of coercion
and terror was now regularly estab-
lished ; torture was employed ; every
man's life and property were at the
mercy of informers ; the country was
abandoned to the fury and licentious-
ness of the soldiery in " free quarters ;"
and in a word every thing was done
that can be conveyed by the atrocious
admission made by Loi'd Castlereagh
himself — namely, that " measures were
taken by government to cause the
premature explosion" of the insurrec-
tion.'^'
second edition ; but the following passsago from Lord
IloUand's Memoirs of tlie Whig Parti/, gives a picture
of the state of Ireland at this precise moment at onc«
most vivid and of undoubted credibility. After allud-
ing to the " burning cottages, tortured backs, and fre-
quent executions," in the midst of which the Orange
faction " were yet full of their sneers at what they
whimsically termed ' the clemency' of the government.
682
REIGX OF GEORGE III.
Matters being thus ripe, government,
acting on the information of the traitor
Thomas Reynolds, caused the Leinster
delegates to be seized, when assembled
at the house of Mr. Oliver Bond, in
Bridge-street,* on the 12th of March,
1798. The warrant was executed by
Justice Swan. The pass-words were,
" Where's MacCann ? Is Ivers from
Carlow come ?" but the officers rushed
up stairs to the place of meeting with-
and the weak character of their viceroy, Lord Camden,"
his lordship writes: " The fact is incontrovertible, that
the people of Ireland were driven to resistance, which,
possibly, they meditated before, by the free quarters
and excesses of the soldiery, which were such as are not
permitted in civilized warfare, even in an enemy's coun-
try. Trials, if they must so be called, were carried on
without number under martial-law. It often happened
that three officers composed the court, and that of the
three two were under age, and the third an officer of
the yeomanry or militia, who had sworn in his Orange
lodge eternal hatred to the people over whom he was
thus constituted a judge. Floggings, picketings, death,
were the usual sentences, and these were sometimes
commuted into banishment, serving in the fleet, or trans-
ference to a foreign service. Many were sold at so
much per head to the Prussians. Other more illegal,
but not more horrible, outrages were daily committed
by the different corps under the command of govern-
ment. Even in the streets of Dublin a man was shot,
and robbed of £30, on the bare recollection of a soldier's
having seen him in the battle of Kilcalley, and no pro-
ceeding was instituted to ascertain the murder or prose-
cute the murderer. Lord Wycombe, who was in Dub-
lin, and who was himself shot at by a sentinel between
Blackrock and that city, wrote to me many details of
similar outrages, which he had ascertained to be true.
Dr. Dickson (lord-bishop of Down) assured me that hehad
seen families returning peaceably from Mass, assailed
without provocation, by drunken troops and yeomanry,
and the wives and daughters exposed to every species of
indignity, brutality, and outrage, from which neither
his remonstrances nor those of other Protestant gentle-
men oauld rescue them. The subsequent indemnity
acts deprived of redress the victims of this widespread
cruelty." Referring to the " free quarters" barbarity.
Sir Jonah Harrington (liisc and Fall.&c, pp. 430,431,
ed. 1843) says: "This measure was resorted to.
out encountering any obstacle. Fifteen
persons were seized on this occasion,
including Mr. Bond himself, who was a
wholesale woollen draper, and, like the
majority of the leaders of the United
Irishmen, a Protestant.f Thomas Addis
Emmet, the head-jiiece and chief organi-
zer of the society, and Dr. William James
MacNeven, Henry Jackson, and John
Sweetman were taken the same day at
their several places of abode, and all
with all its attendant horrors throughout some
of the best parts of Ireland previous to the insur-
rection ;" and he adds, " Slow tortures were inflicted,
under the pretence of extorting confession ; the people
were driven to madness ; General Abcrcrombie, who
succeeded as commander-in-chief, was not permitted to
abate these enormities, and therefore resigned with dis-
gust. Ireland was reduced to a state of anarchy, and
exposed to crime and cruelties, to which no nation had
ever been subject. The people could no longer bear
their miseries ; Mr. Pitt's object was now efltcted.
These sanguinary proceedings will, in the opinion oi
posterity, be placed to the account of those who nfight
have prevented them." We can have no difficulty,
then, in accepting the statement unanimously made by
Dr. MacNevin, Thomas Addis Emmet, and the other
State prisoners, in their examination before the secret
committee in 1T98, when, upon being asked the imme-
diate cause of the rising that year, they replied, that it
was owing to " the free quarters, the house-burnings,
the tortures, and the military executions," resorted to by
the government.
* The house was then No. 13, but it is now known as
No. 9, Lower Bridge street. See Gilbert's History of
DuUiii, vol. i., pp. 336, &c., where the particulars of
the arrest are given ; as also in Dr. Madden's United
Irishmen.
f In a list given by Dr. Madden of 163 of the most
eminent or leading members of the Society of United
Irishmen, 106 are Protestants or Presbyterians, and only
50 Catholics. " There never was a greater mistake,"
observes Dr. Madden, " than to call the attempted revo-
ution of 1798 a ' Popish rebellion.' Alike in its origin
and organization, it was pre-eminently a Protestant one.
Neither the ' Popish religion,' nor the Celtic race of
Ireland, can lay any claim to the great majority of
the founders and organizers of the Society of United
Irishmen." — First series, pp. 385, 386. Second edition.
ARREST OF LORD EDWARD FITZGERALD.
683
committed to Newgate. Arthur O'Con-
nor, a leading member of the executive
directory, was at that time in custody,
having been arrested in the beginning
of the 3'ear, at Mai'gate, on his way to
France, in company with Father Coig-
]ey or Quigley. The latter was con-
victed on the 2 2d of Maj^, that yeai-,
at Maidstone, and hanged on evidence
so inconclusive that Lord-chancellor
Thurlow said : " If ever a poor man
was murdered, it was Coigley !"
Loi'd Edward Fitzgerald was still at
lai'ge. In consequence of not attend-
ing the meeting at Bond's he had es-
caped capture on that occasion ; and a
reward of £1,000 was oflfered for in-
formation that would lead to his arrest.
For some months he had been recog-
nized as the military head of the Union ;
and of all the leaders was alone fit-
ted by military experience to take the
command in the field ; but though
admirably suited for that purpose, he
was not the man to organize a revolu-
tion. The men fitted to project and
advi?<e were Emmet, O'Connor, and
Wolfe Tone ; and their services were
no longer available for their country.
Those of the leaders who were still at
liberty were divided in opinion. Lord
Edward insisted that the time for ac-
tion had arrived, and that the insur-
lectiou should take place without wait-
ing longer for succor from France. He
held the royal troops in contempt, and
had great confidence in the numbers
who were prepared to rise, and in the
strength which the people would ac-
quire by a little experience in wai-fare.
Some other members entertained simi-
lar views, but the more prudent were
wholly opposed to an immediate at-
tempt at insurrection ; and some felt so
strongly on this point as to threaten
with denunciation to government any
one who would insist upon raising the
standard of revolt under such circum-
stances. There was on the whole a
want of harmony among the members,
and the Protestant and Catholic lead-
ers had lately begun to feel distrust in
the firmness and ulterior views of each
other.*
Lord Edward was concealed for
some weeks in various retreats about
Dublin, but chiefly at the house of a
widow lady named Dillon, on the bank
of the canal at Portobello, where he
remained three weeks. After, several
intermediate removals he was conveyed
on the night of the 18th of May, for
the second time, to the house of Mr.
Nicholas IMurphy, a feather merchant,
of 153 Thomas-street, where he was
immediately tracked and arrested the
following day. It was about seven in
the evening on the 19th ; Lord Edward,
* Arthur O'Connor affords, in his Bcntiments, a mel- man who acknowledged religious convictions of any
ancholy instance of this spirit of disunion and distrust, hind ; and somo other leading members of the Union,
lie disliked the Catholic leadi^rs in general : and towards were, like him, unhappily imbued with the infidel prin-
Eramet, although a I'rotcstaiit, ho entertained a posi- i ciples which the example of Franco had rendered fash-
live enmity. It is probable be would have disliked any | ionable at that day.
684
REIGN OF GEORGE III.
who was ill from cold, was lying ou the
bed in the back room of the attic story,
and Mr. Murphy, who had just entered,
was speaking to hira. Justice Swan,
accompanied by a soldier in plain
clothes, rushed into the apartment
and exclaimed to Lord Edward, "You
are ray prisoner." Instantly Lord Ed-
ward sprang from the bed, and draw-
ing a formidable zigzag-shaped dagger
wounded Swan in the hand, but only
slightly. Swan fired a pistol at Lord
Edward without effect; and, ordering
the soldier to remove Murphy, shouted
out, " I am basely murdered." His
cries brought to his assistaiice a Mr.
Ryan, who was both a captain of yeo-
manry and one of the staff of Giffard's
Orange newspaper, the " Dublin Jour-
nal." Ryan threw himself upon Lord
Edward and endeavored to hold him
down upon the bed, but in the struggle
received several desperate wounds from
Lord Edward's dagger, one of which,
in the stomach, proved mortal a few
days after. Swan appears, at this mo-
ment, to have rendered little assistance,
if, indeed, as one account has it, he
did not leave the room altogether to
call for help, and the struggle between
the wounded Ryan and the enraged
Geraldine was fearful ; but Town-major
Sirr, with half-a-dozen soldiersj now
rushed in, and Sirr having taken delib-
* See Madden 's United Irishmen, 2d ser., pp. 412 to
437, 2d ed., where Murphy's narrative of the capture
of Lord Edward is given, together with the statement
of Mr. D. F. Hyan, whose father lost his life on the oc-
casion, and accounts of the transaction on the authority
erate aim with his pistol, shot Lord
Edward in the right arm, and the dag-
ger fell from his hand. Still it required
the efforts of the whole party of sol-
diers to hold Lord Edward down with
their muskets crossed upon him until
he could be secured, a drummer having,
while this was doing, wounded him
very severely in the back of the neck
with a sword. The deadly struggle
did not occupy more than a few min-
utes.* A large military force, col-
lected from different posts, was, by this
time, drawn up outside. An attempt,
made by the crowd assembled, to rescue
Lord Edward was at once overcome;
and the noble prisoner was carried in
a sedan chair to the castle, where his
wounds were dressed. He was then
removed to Newgate, where none ot
his friends would be permitted to see
him until a few hours before his death,
when his aunt, Lady Louisa Connolly,
and his brother. Lord Henry, obtained
access to his bedside. A few days had
developed fatal symptoms ; on the 4th
of June he expired, and his remains
were deposited in the vaults of St.
Werburgh's church. Thus perished
one of the most disinterested and noble-
hearted patriots that L-eland had ever
produced. The greatest enemies of the
cause for which he was immolated have
never ventured to cast a slur on the
of Sirr and others. Mr. Adrien, an eminent surgeon,
being at the house of Mr. Tighe in the neighborhood,
was sent for by the major, and Lord Edward, on learn-
ing from him that his wounds were not mortal, expressed
regret.
DEATH OF LORD EDWARD FITZGERALD.
685
memoiy of Lord Edward Fitzgerald.
He was virtuous aud amiable, open,
unselfish, liigh-minded, and cliivalrous.
His stainless character, and gentle and
generous disposition, endeared him to all
who knew him. Of all his contempo-
rai'ies he was, at that fearful juncture,
the best suited to command the confi-
dence and respect of his fellow-coun-
trymen. He possessed military skill
and heroism which might have led them
to victory in battle; and had it pleased
divine Providence to relieve Ireland at
* It is a most singular fact, that for more than sixty
years the name of the betrayer of Lord Edward Fitz-
gerald remained a profound secret. Kven the inde-
fatigable researches of Dr. Madden failed to unmask
the scoundrel, although ho made an important step to-
wards that result, when he published the " secret-ser-
vice money" accounts, in which occurs the item — " F.
H., discovery of L. E. F., £1,000." This disclosure of
the initials rescued the memories of several honorable
men from the suspicions that had been cast upon them in
the matter by other investigators, and by public rumor ;
but it was not until the appearance, in the course of
the year 1859 of the Correspondence, of the Marquis of
CorincallU, edited by Charles Boss, son of General
Ross, the governor of Fort George, that the mystery of
F. H. was finally unveiled, and that the infamy was
fixed upon the right owner— namely, Francis Higgms,
a weU-known character of that day in Dublin. This
person, who was nicknamed the " sham squire," from
a very disgraceful proceeding, had become the proprie-
tor of the Freeman's Journal, which he diverted from
its hitherto steady advocacy of popular rights, making
it a base organ of an unprincipled government. He
was notorious for his domestic and social misdeeds, had
been convicted of public crimes, and was in fact a man
who might have been guilty of any baseness. These
disclosures were first made public in the following curi-
ous noto by the editor of the Comwallis correspond-
ence : " A sum of £1,500 per annum was placed at the
disposal of the lord-lieutenant, by an act passed in 1799,
to be distributed as secret-service. Towards the close
of ISOO, Mr. Cooko drew up for the use of Lord Castle-
reagh the following confidential memorandum, which
Btill remains in the castlo of Dublin : ' Pensions to
Koyalists — I submit to your lordship on this head the
following : First, that Mac ,' (Leonard MacNally)
that time from her heavy yoke of op-
pression, he was, apparently, the person
most likely to have been her deliverer.
Had Lord Edward's retreat remained
undiscovered one day longer, he would
have been beyond the reach of Major
Sirr and his myrmidons ; and, perhaps,
with a very diflferent issue to the con-
test, would have been ready to place
himself at the head of those brave men
of Kildare and Wexford, who, a few
days later, devoted themselves so heroic-
ally, but hopelessly, for their country.*
' should have a pension of £300. He was not much
trusted in the rebellion, and I believe, has been faithful.
Francis Higgins, proprietor of the Freeman's Journal,
was the person who procured for me all the intelligence
respecting Lord Edward Fitzgerald, and got to
set Tiim, and has given mo much information, £300.
M'Guichen, who is now in Belfast, ought to have £150.
I wish a man of the name of Nicholson, whom I employ
regularly, should have £30. Darragh ought to have
for himself and his wife at least £iOO (at first written
£300). Swan Sirr. , I think, it might be right
to get rid of many of our little pensioners, and Major
Sirr's gang, by sums of money instead of pensions.' "
As to the character of Lord Edward, wo gladly bor-
row the beautiful words of the late Lord Holland, who,
in his Meynoirs of the Whig Parti/, writes as follows :
" More than twenty years have now passed away.
Many of my political opinions are softened — my predi-
lections for some men weakened, my prejudices against
others removed ; but my approbation of Lord Ed-
ward Fitzgerald's actions remains unaltered and un-
shaken. His country was bleeding under ono of the
hardest tyrannies that our times have witnessed. He
who thinks a man can bo even excused in such circum-
stances by any other consideration than that of despair,
from opposing a pretended government by force, seems
to me to sanction a principle which would insure im-
punity to the greatest of all human delinquents, or, at
least, to those who produce the greatest misery among
mankind. * * * Lord Edward was a good officer.
The plans found among his papers showed much com-
bination and considerable knowledge of the principles
of defence. His apprehension was so quick and his
courage so constitutional, that ho would have applied,
without disturbance, all the faculties ho possessed to
any emergency however sudden, and in tho moment of
GS6
REIGN OF GEORGE III.
In tlie fiice of every possible discour-
agement, with their plans exposed to
government, their leaders seized, and
the forces of their enemies concentrated
against them, the United Irishmen still
madly resolved to make their attempt,
and fixed the 23d of May for their
rising. The plan of insuri'ection was
to surprise Dublin, and on the same
night to take the castle, the camp at
Loughlinstown, and the artillery bar-
racks at Chapelizod. The lising was
to be simultaneous in Dublin and the
rural districts; and the signal for the
countr}'' was to be the stoppage of the
mail-coaches on the morning of the
24th. On the 22d, Lord Castlereagh
delivei'ed to parliament a message ffom
the viceroy announcing the design ; and
the vigilance and energy of the execu-
tive received a due meed of praise from
the greatest danger or confusion. He was, among the
United Irish, scarcely less considerable for his political
than his military qualifications. His temper was pe-
culiarly formed to engage the affections of a warm-
hearted people. A cheerful and intelligent counte-
nance, an artless gayety of manner, without reserve,
but without intrusion, and a careless yet inoffensive
intrepidity, both in conversation and in action, fasci-
nated his slightest acquaintances, and disarmed the
rancor of even his bittere.st opponents. These, indeed,
were only the indications of more solid qualities — an
jpen and fearless heart, warm affections, and a tender,
compassionate disposition." Dr. Madden tells us that
Lord Edward was " a sincere and ardent believer in
the Christian religion." Murphy, in his narrative,
describing the personal appearance of Lord Edward,
says : " He was about five feet seven inches in height,
had a very interesting countenance, beautiful arched
eyebrows, fine gray eyes, handsome nose, high fore-
head, and thick, dark-colored hair." He was " as play-
ful and humble as a child, as mild and timid as a lady,
and, when necessary, as brave as a lion. Peace to his
name 1" From The Earls of Kildare and their Ances-
tors, edited by the marquis of Kildare, and printed for
private circulation in 1857, wo obtain the following
both houses. But we have here to
mention a few incidents of a somewhat
earlier date. It appears that for a few
months previous to this time frequent
visits were paid to the shop of Mr.
Byrne, a Catholic bookseller, of Grafton-
street, by a Captain John Warneford
Armstrong, of the King's county mili-
tia, a coi'ps in which it was understood
that national opinions had made some
progress, and which was stationed at the
Loughlinstown camp. Captain Ai'm-
strong spoke with enthusiasm about the
projects of the United Irishmen, and
plainly intimated that not only he but
his men would be ready to aid in any
enterprise that might be undertaken
by them. He induced Byrne to intro-
duce him to the brothers Henry and
John Sheares, bari'isters of respectable
family, and who, since the an-ests at
authentic data. Lord Edward was bom in 17G3, and
was the twelfth child, but fifth son, of James, the 20th
earl of Kildare, and first duke of Leinster. " He sui-.-
ceeded to the estate of Kilrush, in the county of KU-
dare. He entered the army in 1780, and served with
distinction in Americj. In 1783 he was elected M. P.
for Athy, and in 1790 for the county of Kildare. In
that year, refusing to support the government meas-
ures, he was informed ho would not be permitted to
have the rank of lieutenant-colonel. On this he took
the cockade from his hat, and dashing it to the ground,
trampled upon it In 1793 he went to France, where,
in December, he married Pamela Sims, said to be the
daughter of Madame de Genlis (and Philip Egalite,
duke of Orleans). Whilst there ho was dismissed from
the army. In 179G he joined the United Irishmen, and
having been arrested on the 19th of May, 1798, he died
of his wounds in Newgate prison, on the 4th of June.
He had one son and two daughters. After his death
he was attainted by act of parliament, and his estate
forfeited and sold. This act was repealed by a private
act in 1819." — See, for ample details. Dr. Madden's
United Irishmen, etc., second series, second edition ; and
the Life and Death of Lord Edward Fitzgerald, by
Thomas Moore.
THE IRISH REIGN OF TERROR.
687
Bond's, liad become members of the
directory of the United Irishmen.
Armstrong saw the two brothers fre-
quently during the month of May,
1798; dined at the house of the eldep
brother, Henry, in Baggot street,
where he was introduced to their
mother and the other ladies of the
family ; and effectually wormed him-
self into their confidence ; while, as
he himself afterwards stated, for each
of these interviews with' the Sheares
he had one with his colonel and Lord
Castlei'eagh, to whom he disclosed all
the circumstances he had learned. On
Sunday, the 20th of May, the base in-
former dined for the last time at the
house of his victims, knowing well that
the next day they would be arrested
for high treason on his information.
At their trial, on the 12th of July, he
swore their lives away, and two days
after they were executed. John, the
younger brother, was deeply involved
in the schemes of the United .Irishmen,
and the night before his arrest wrote
the rough draft of a proclamation to
be issued at the outbreak. The strong-
est passages of this document were pro-
duced in evidence against both broth-
ers. For the sake of his wife and
children he supplicated for mercy.
His friend. Sir Jonah Barrington, at
his solicitation, applied to Lord-chan-
cellor Clare (Fitzgibbon), who, from
personal pique, had ui'ged on the pros-
ecution of the brothers, and had ap-
pointed, with that view, as attorney-
general, Tolei-, afterwards the notori-
ous Lord ISrorl)U]T. At the last mo-
ment, however, a I'espite was granted
for Henry, but it came a few minutes
too late. The two brothers, falling
hand in hand from the drop, had been
just launched into eternity, and the
executioner having, according to bar-
barous usage, added the indignity of
decapitation, was holding up the head
of Henry Sheares, and exclaiming,
" This is the head of a traitor," when
Sir Jonah arrived with the reprieve.
The fate of the Sheares was one of
the saddest episodes in the woful story
of '98.
The 23d of May at length arrived.
The city of Dublin was placed under
martial law; the guards at the castle
were trebled ; all the loyal citizens
were put under arms; in the law
courts the barristers pleaded in i-egi-
mentals, with side-arms, and one of
the judges (Baron Medge) sat on the
bench in the same costume; and "at
each house the names of the inmates
were posted on the outer door. The
city assumed the appearance of a vast
barrack, and the people were alarmed
by false rumors of massacres and out-
rages. Late in the evening Samuel
Neilson rashly exposed himself under
the walls of Newgate, as if planning an
attack on that prison. He was trans-
ferred at once to a cell within the
walls. The lamp-lighters rebelliously
neglected their duty on that night,
leaving the c'ty in almost total dark-
ness, for which treasonable conduct
several of them were handed from their
688
REIGN OF GEORGE III.
own lamp-posts ! The country people
bad risen in the neighborhood, and
were preparing to march on the city,
but were attacked and slaughtered at
Rathfarnham and Santry. At the
latter place, Lord Roden and his fox-
hunters did notable execution; and the
next morning, the killed and prisoners
having been taken into town tied to-
gether on carts, the dead bodies were
exhibited in the castle-yard — a ghast-
ly spectacle ! — and the prisoners were
hanged from lamp-irons, and on the
scaft'olding at Carlisle Bridge.
The country w\is now j^lunged in all
the horrors of a sanguinary civil war,
but the lising was premature and par-
tial: by the capture of the leaders it
was reduced almost to a rising of illiter-
ate peasantry, without any matured
plans, or men of the least military skill
or knowledge to form a jalan or execute
one, almost without arms or ammuni-
tion, and altogether without money or
discipline. It was confined to the coun-
* That the terms employed above to characterize the
cruelties and animosities of which the unhappy insur-
gents of '98 were the objects are not too strong, many
authorities might be adduced to show, but the following
passages from the recently published correspondence of
the marquis of Cornwallis will suffice. Lord Corn-
wallis arrived in Ireland on the 20th of June, 1798,
invested with the twofold authority of lord-lieutenant
and commander-in-chief; nearly three weeks after, on
the 8th of July, he wrote as follows to the duke of
Portland : " The Irish militia are totally without
discipline, contemptible before the enemy when any
Berious resistance is made to them, but ferocious and
cruel in the extreme when any poor wretches, either
with or without arms, come within their power ; in
short, murder appears to be their favorite pastime. The
principal persons of this country, and the members of
both houses of parliament, are, in general, averse to all
acts of clemency, and although they do not express.
ties of Kildare, Wicklow, and Wexford,
with the exception of a few efforts in
the counties of Dublin, Meatb, and
Carlow ; and in every instance it was
the immediate result of the free qoar
ters, burnings, floggings, and other va-
rieties of outrage practised by the
military, yeomanry, and magistrates.
The ferocity of the Orange yeomanry
was indescribable : a notion appeared
to have generally prevailed among
them that the time to extirpate the
Catholics had arrived, and they acted
accordingly; their conduct during the
insurrection was that of incarnate
fiends; the North Cork, Armagh, and
some other militia regiments, rivalled
them in inveterate animosity against
the people ; the Ancient Britons, com-
manded by Sir Watkins William
Wynn, covered themselves with in-
famy by their merciless cruelties ; and
innumerable atrocities were committed
by the Homsperg dragoons, German
mercenaries iu the king's service.* It
and are too much heated to see the ultimate efecta
which their violence must produce, would pursue meas-
ures that could only terminate in the extirpation of the
greater number of the inhabitants, and in the utter
destruction of the country. The words Papists and
priests are forever in their mouths, and by their un-
accountable policy they would drive four-fifths of the
community into irreconcilable rebellion ; and iu their
warmth they lose sight of the real cause of the present
mischief." Describing the feelings of the ascendency
party he continues : "' The minds of the people are now
in a state that nothing hut blood uill satisfy them, and
although they wUl not admit the term, their conversa-
tion and conduct point to no other mode of concluding
this unlmppy business than, thai of extermination."
Again his lordship writes : " I am much afraid that
any man in a brown coat uho is found near tlie fcld of
action is butchered without diKcrimination." And writ-
ing to General Ross, he says : " The violence of our
THE IXSURRECTIOX IN KILDARE.
689
was a fearful dragoonade, in which the
usages of civilized war were set aside;
and such being the case on the part of
the royal troops, it is not wonderful
that the undisciplined peasantry should
have been guilty of many acts of bar-
barity. The crimes of the latter, how-
ever, were done in retaliation ; they
were often prompted by private mal-
ice, and it should be remembered that
they were the work of exasperated
multitudes, goaded by injuries and un-
restrained by authority.*
Early in the morning of the 24th of
May, the fighting was commenced in
Kildare by a body of insurgents who
marched against Naas, but were re-
pulsed Avith slaughter : the military
there, under the command of Lord
Gosford, having been re-enforced and
prepared for the attack. The troops
had two officers and about thirty men
killed, but many of the people were
shot down while crowded together in
the street or attempting to escape from
tlie burning cabins which were set on
file ; others of them were taken out of
the houses and. instantly hanged in the
friends and their folly in endeavoring to make it a re-
ligious war, added to the ferocity of our troops, who
ddiffht iiimurder, most powerfully counteract all plans
of conciliation." * » * " TFc are engaged," he
writes, " in a war of plunder and massacre ;" and after
referring to the horrors inseparable from martial law,
he adds : " Bui all this is trifling compared to tlie numr
berless murders that are hourly committed by our people,
without any process of examination wliatever. * * »
The conversation of the principal persons of the coun-
try all tends to cnc/5urage this system of blood ; and
the conversation, even at my table, where you will
Buppose 1 do all I can to prevent it, always turns on
hanging, shooting, burning, i'c, &c., &c. And if a
priest 1ms been put to death, the grcattM joy i» ezprcs»:d
streets ; " and such," says Plowden,
" was the brutal ferocity of some of the
king's troops, that they half roasted
and eat the flesh of one man named
Walsh, who had not been in arms."
The insurgents were more successful in
other parts of Kildare. At Prosperous,
a party of the North Cork militia,
under Captain Swayne, were attacked
in their barrack, which was set on fire,
and these men having made themselves
peculiarly obnoxious by their outrages
in free quarters, having burned the
Catholic chapel, and several cabins and
farm-houses, and frequently employed
the pitch-cap in torturing the suspected
rebels, were now in their turn treated
without mercy, and any of them who
attempted to escape from the flames
were piked. Dr. Esmond, of the Sal-
lins yeomanry corps, was compelled by
the people to join them in this attack ;
and was immediately after tried by
court-martial in Dublin, where he was
hanged on the scaftolding of Carlisle
Bridge. At Eathangan the peasantiy
also cut oft' a militai-y party and took
possession of the town. The same day
hy the whole company." These being tho words of a
lord-lieutenant sent over to complete the cold-blooded
project of Mr. Pitt, and to accomplish tho Union, itwiU
be understood how inadequately they must describe tho
actual state of things as felt by the persecuted people
themselves ; but such a testimony speaks volimies.
* Mr. Cloney undertook the unpleasant task of mak-
ing out a comparative statement of the outrages in
cold blood perpetrated in the county of Wexford in the
year 1708, by the magistrates, military, and yeomanry
on the one side, and by the insurgents on the other ;
and on the side of tho former there i? a fearful balance
in point of number and enormity. See Clbney's Per-
sonal Narratice, pp. 21C-219, and Madden's United
Jriilimen, first series, pp. 321-325.
n90
REIGX OF GEORGE III.
Captain Erski lie's troop of dragoons
\v('i-e encountered by the insurgents at
Old Kilcullen, and almost annihilated
■ — only a sergeant and four men of the
entire ti-oop having escaped, although
the party of Irish were scarcely more
numerous, and were armed only with
pikes. The insurgents then marched
to Kilcullen Bridge, where General
Dundas had his headquarters, but
here they were repulsed with consider-
able loss. Several minor affairs took
place about the same time in the coun-
ties of Kildare and Dublin, in all of
which the country people were re-
pulsed and slaughtered ; and to dis-
courage them the more, all the pris-
oners were, without any form of trial,
immediately hanged. A large body
of insurgents attacked the town of Car-
low in a tumultuous manner, shouting
as they entered, and incautiously pene-
trating into the interior, where they
were received with a murderous fire by
the military. A great number of the
people then took I'efuge in the houses,
which, being thatched, were barbar-
ously set on fire by the soldiers, and
eighty houses, with some hundreds of
the unfortunate insurgents, were con-
sumed in the conflagration. About
two hundred more were made prison-
ers, and hanged or shot. These mas-
sacres were followed by the court-mar-
tial judicial murder of Sir Edward
Crosbie, on whose lawn the insurgents
had mustered before the attack, al-
* As an excuse for this frightful massacre it was
•aid that when the insurgents were about to deUver up
though it did not appear that that gen-
tleman was himself a rebel. The dis-
aster at Carlow was one of the most
deplorable during the outbreak. Dis-
heartened by so many reverses, the
men of Kildare now began to see how
hopeless was their undertaking. A
body of two thousand men, enpamped
under a leader named Perkins on the
historic Hill of Allen, near the Cur-
ragh, entered into a negotiation with
General Dundas to lay down their
arms and return home. This arrange-
ment was finally carried out on the
28th of May, when some cartloads of
pikes and rusty muskets Avei-e surren-
dered ; General Dundas having on this
and several other occasions during the
war shown himself a man of a humane
and honorable disposition. The next
day a multitude assembled at the Gib-
bet-Rath on the Curragh of Kildare,
for the purpose of following the ex-
ample of the men of Knock-Allen ;
their arms were to have been delivered
up to Major-general Duff, then on his
march from Limerick, but the troops
were ordered by that officer to fire on
the defenceless people, and Lord Ro-
den's cavalry went in to hew them
down ; and thus exposed on that vast
plain, without a hedge to shelter them
for miles, the wretched peasantry were
slaughtered without resistance and
without mercy ; the number slain on
that occasion in cold blood being, ac-
cording to Musgrave, 350.*
their arms, one of them fired a gun which provoked the
military ; but the shot appears to have been discharged
THE INSURRECTION IN WEXFORD.
691
A military force of oVer 400 men,
with one cannon, marched, on the 2Gth
cf May, to attack a body of some 3,000
insurgents encamped on the hill of
1'ara. The latter were chiefly armed
with pikes, yet, for about four hours of
hard fighting, they continued to main-
tain their ground, and at one time had
surrounded the cannon ; the steady
fire of the military, however, mowed
down their irregular masses ; they were
dislodged from the cemetery near the
summit of the hill, and obliged to re-
treat with the loss, it was said, of 400
men killed and wounded. It was the
barbarous practice of the royal troops
to give no quarter, so that all the un-
happy Irish who were left wounded on
the field or fell into the hands of thejr
enemies were slaughtered in cold blood
or hanged immediately after. This de-
feat crushed the rebellion in that quar-
ter.'=-
The insurrection now broke out in
the county of Wexford, with a fury
that soon threw into the shade the
movements which had taken place
elsewhere. There was a larger admix-
ture of the old Anglo-Norman blood in
this county than in any other part of
Ireland ; and the ancient Celtic race of
Into the air, and most probably by accident, while it is
quite certain tliat the order for the massacre was de-
liberately given by General Duffe.
* The carl of Fingall's yeoman cavalry were the
most prominent in the attack upon the insurgents at
Tara. An address, signed by Lords Fingall and Ken-
mare, the president of Slaynooth, and other Catholics
of distinction to the number in all of forty-one, was
presented about that time to the lord-lieutenant, to
vindicate themselves from the attempts made to fasten
Ihe charge of rebellion upon the whole Catholic body.
Hy-Keinnselaigh was always distin-
guished for an independent spirit.
The people were almost all Catholics ;
they were remarkable for their indus-
ti'y and peaceable habits ; and the
organization of the United Irishmen
scarcely made any pi'ogress among
them till the very eve of the outbreak.
The gentry, however, were Protestant
and exclusive. The North Cork mi-
litia, commanded by Lord Kingsbor-
ough, quartered in the county in
April, introduced the Orange system
there, and in a brief space almost all
the Protestants had become open and
sworn Orangemen. The Catholics were
terrified with rumors of intended mas-
sacres like those of Armagh ; and on
some occasions the people, for a dis-
tance of thirty miles, deserted their
homes at night and slept in the open
fields. The militia pai'aded in orange
ribbons, fired at the country-people
when at work in the fields, burned
their houses, and frequently applied
the pitch-cap to the heads of the " crop-
pies," as the United Irishmen were
termed, from the practice which many
of them adopted of cutting the hair
short.f These unprovoked aggressions
had tlie natural result : as Orancreism
t "It is said," writes Mr. Hay, in his history of
the Wexford insurrection, " that the North Cork regi-
ment were the inventors — they certainly were the
introducers— of pitch-cap torture into Wexford. Any
person having his hair cut short, and therefore called
a croppy (by which name .Jie soldiery designated a
United Irishman), on being pointed out by some loyal
neighbor, was immediately seized and brought into a
guard-house, where caps, either of coarse linen or
strong brown paper, besmeared inside with pitch,
were always kept ready for service. The unfortunate
092
REIGN OF GEORGE III.
spread, so did the principles of the
United Ii-ishraen. On the 27th of
April, the county was proclaimed by
a meeting of magistrates at Gorey ; and
from that moment the magistracy acted
in the most ruthless manner. A few
days before any outbreak took place,
Mr. Hunter Gowan paraded Gorey at
the head of his yeomanry with a hu-
man finger ou the point of his sword ;
and various disgusting freaks were
performed in the course of the even-
ing, among others, that of using the
" croppy's finger" to stir punch ! On
Whit-Sunday, the 2Tth of May, some
yeomen burned the Catholic chapel of
Boulavogue, in the j^arish of Kilcor-
mack, at the foot of Oulart Hill, but
Father John Murphy, the parish priest,
at the head of his parishioners, fell
upon the miscreants, several of whom,
with two officers who commanded them,
were slain in the conflict. The people
now flew to arras, and before many
hours had elapsed two large bodies
were assembled, one on the hill of
Oulart, and another on that of Kil-
thomas. The gathering at the latter
place was scattered by a party of 200
yeomen from Carnew, and 150 of
the fugitives were killed; the yeomen
burning in their progress two other
Catholic chapels and above 100 cab-
victim had one of tliese, well lieated, pressed on his
head, and when judged of a proper coolness, so that it
could not be easily pulled ofl', the sufferer was turned
out amidst the horrid acclamations of the merciless
toriurerB."
The same writer tells us that a sergeant of the
North Cork's was called " Tom the Devil," from his
ins and farm-houses of Catholics, and
shooting several of the poor country-
peojile whom they called to their
cabin doors. At Oulart Hill, where
Father Murphy commanded, the result
was diflferent. A detachment of 110
men of the North Cork militia under
Lieutenant-colonel Foote attacked the
people, who, at the onset, fled ; but
300 pikemen having been rallied by
Father Murphy, bore down upon the
royalists, and in an instant slew the
whole party except the lieutenant-colo-
nel, a sergeant, and three privates.
The insurgents marched next day to
Camolin, where they procured 800
stand of arms that had been just de-
posited there by Lord Mountnorris.
They then marched to Enniscorthy,
which they took after some fighting;
the garrison flying to Wexford, to-
gether with the Protestant inhabit-
ant^. About the same time Gorey,
though not attacked, was evacuated
by its garrison, which fled to Arklow.
All was consternation, and the country
smoked with the burning homesteads
of both parties. In Wexford, the yeo-
manry could with difficulty be pre-
vented from entering the jail and mur
deling the prisoners, among whom
were Mr. Beauchamp, Bagenal Harvey,
Mr. John Henry Colclough, Mr. Ed-
ingenuity in devising torments. Sometimes this wretch
cut the hair of his victims in the form of a cross, and
instead of a pitch-cap, applied moistened gunpowder,
which he rubbed into the seam and then set on
fire ; sometimes he applied a lighted candle until
all the hair was singed off, and the head covered with
!
BATTLE OF NEW ROSS.
693
ward Fitzgerald, and other gentlemen
who had been arrested on suspicion.
Mr. Colclough and Mr. Fitzgerald
were sent as messengers to "Vinegar
Hill (a lofty eminence overlooking Eu-
niscorthy, and which the insurgents
Lad chosen as their principal rendez-
vous), for the purpose, if possible, of
persuading the people to return to
their homes; but the embassy had
quite a contrary effect. The insur-
gents retained Mr. Cok-lough at the
camp, and sont back Mr. Fitzgerald to
announce their intention of immediate-
ly attacking Wexford itself On the
morning of the 29th, Colonel Maxwell,
with 200 of the Donegal militia and
a field-piece, arrived from Duncannon
Fort tore-enforce the Wexford garrison ;
and the same evening General Faucett,
with the 13th regiment, four compa-
nies of the Meath militia, and some ar-
tillery, halted at Taghmon, seven miles
from Wexford, sending forward a de-
tachment for the latter town. Early
on the morning of the 30th this de-
tachment was intercepted by the Irish
at the Three Rocks, almost the whole
party slain, and two howitzers taken.
Faucett immediately returned to Dun-
cannon Fort, and the same day au offer
was made to surrender Wexford to the
insurgents ; but before any terms could
be arranged, the garrison disgracefully
evacuated the place, leaving it to the
mercy of the people. "^Mr. Bagenal
Harvey, who was still in the jail, was
now chosen general by the insurgents,
who were regaled with drink by the
inhabitants; the town was decorated
with green boughs ; such houses as had
been deserted by their owners were
pillaged ; and the flying troops, on their
side, signalized their retreat by plun-
der, devastation, and numerous mur-
ders, burning the cabins, and shooting
the country-people in their progress.
On the 4th of June a corps of 1,500
men, under General Loftus, with five
pieces of artillery, having arrived at
Gorey, marched in two divisions by
different routes to attack a position
taken up by the Irish on Carrigrua
Hill. One of these divisions, under
Colonel Walpole, was surprised and
routed with great loss at Tubberneer-
ing, near Gorey, the colonel being
killed and three cannon left in the
hands of the Irish. A party of sev-
enty men of the Antrim militia, sent
across some fields by General Loftus
to relieve Walpole, was also cut oft',
scarcely a man escaping; and the
general himself retreated to Carhew,
and thence to TuUow; so that the
Irish were left masters of the entire
county, except Duncannon Fort and
New Ross at the southwestern extrem-
ity. An Irish force having mustered
at Carrickburne Hill, six miles from
New Ross, marched on the 4th of June
to Corbett Hill, within a mile of that
town ; and IMr. Harvey, who command-
ed, sent a summons next morning to
the garrison to surrender. Tlie mes-
senger was shot by a sentinel, and this
so exasperated the Irish, that without
waiting to carry out General Harvey'a
694
REIGN OF GEORGE III.
plan of attack, a column of pikemen
rushed on with irresistible impetuosity,
drove the British cavalry back in dis-
order upon the infantry, and entering
the town pell-mell with both, pursued
them to the bridge, over which some
of the royal troops fled in a panic,
leaving the Irish masters of the ai'til-
lery and of the principal part of New
Ross. This gallant exploit, however,
was not followed up. Instead of pur-
suing the enemy, the Irish, unrestrained
by authority or discipline, abandoned
themselves to intoxicatiou. The royal
troops rallied and twice attempted to
recover the place, and as often were
repulsed ; but the infatuated insur-
gents continued to drink, and late in
the evening the military having come
a third time to the charge, drove them
^^•itll great slaughter from the town.
The fighting had been sustained Avith
little intermission for ten hours, during
which Mr. Harvey was merely a spec-
tator on a neighboring hill ; the troops
had about 300 men killed, and among
them Lord Mountjoy, colonel of the
Dublin militia; but it was estimated
that the insurgents lost about four
times that number, the greater part
of them being killed in cold blood
after the action was over. It was sup-
posed that Harvey had an irregular
army of 30,000 men before New Ross ;
and those of them who took part in
the battle fought with wonderful in-
trepidity. In the end they owed their
defeat to insubordination and drunken-
ness.
Unfortunately, another circumstance
cast a slur on the cause of the insur-
gents that day. They had left a num-
ber of prisoners under a guard at Scul-
labogue house, near Carrickburne Hill;
and in the afternoon some fugitives
from the Irish army at New Ross came
up, and pretended that Mr. Harvey
had issued ordei-s to have the prisoners
executed, assigning, as a reason, that
the royalists killed all the Irish piis-
oners who fell into their hands at Ross.
Three successive messengers brought
these pretended orders ; and, at length,
a tumultuous mob, composed of per-
sons who had, each of them, bitter in-
juries of their own to revenge, over-
came the resistance of the guard, and
commenced the massacre. Thirty-seven
unfortunate people were shot or piked
at the hall-door, and the remainder,
over a hundred in number, being col-
lected into the barn, fire was applied
to the roof, and all of them were con-
sumed in the flames. It is said, that
among them were sixteen Catholics
who had made themselves obnoxious,
and a few of the Protestants were, res-
cued from destruction. It would be
most unfair to throw the odium of this
inhuman barbarity upon the Wexford
insurgents in general, who were guilty
of few outrages under so many provo
cations ; but, above all, if the difference
between the infuriated rabble who
committed this crime, and tke disci-
plined troops of the royalists acting
under educated officers be considered,
the systematic atrocities of the latter
BATTLE OF NEW ROSS.
G95
greatly eclipse even the savagery of
Scullabogue.*
Several minor encounters had taken
place between the military and people
in the county of Wicklovv, Avhere a
man named Joseph Holt, who had
been driven into rebellion by a system
of frightful persecution, was one of the
most enterprising leaders. The Wick-
low men having formed a junction with
some of the Wexford insurgents at
Gorey, marched on the 9th of June to
attack Ai-klow, which was garrisoned
by 1,600 eftective men under Major-
general Needham. In their first charge
the pikemen drove back. the pickets of
cavalry, and the assailants came on in
such numbers and in such good ordei",
that General Needham, although very
strongly posted, talked of the propriety
of retreating. This suggestion was
gallantly opposed by Colonel Skerret,
who commanded the Durham fencibles;
and to the firmness of that officer in
the first instance, and the death of
Father Michael Murphy, who was
killed by a cannon-ball, within thirty
yafds of the English lines, the success
of the loyalists was mainly to be at-
tributed. This battle was the most
* Twenty-eight persons were massacred by the mili-
tary in the ball-alley of Carnew, on the 2.jth of May, anil
thirty-four were shot in cold blood at Dunlavin. After
the battle of Vinegar Hill, the hospitid of the Irish at
Enniscorthy was set on fire, and according to one account,
over thirty, but according to another, seventy-six
wounded men perished in the flames. The Re\-. Mr.
Gordon, rector of Killegny, in Wexford, says he was
told by a surgeon tliat the hospital was only accidentally
Bet on fire by the lighted wadding, when the troops were
shooting the wounded men in their beds ! — Sec Uay's,
Cloney's, and Gordon's Jlistonc* of the Iiiturrectien.
regular in its plan of any during the
oivil wai', and it was decisive of the
contest in Wicklow.f
After the battle of Ross the Wex-
ford men chose the Rev. Philip Roche
to replace Bagenal Harvey, who re-
signed the command ; and for several
days the county remained in their un-
disputed possession ; but a powerful
army was being concentrated against
them, and the catastrophe of the war in
Wexford was near at hand. In the in-
terval, a scene of a melancholy and dis-
graceful nature took place in the town
of Wexford. A number of prisoners,
among whom were Lord Kingsborough
(afterwards earl of Kingston), colonel
of the North Cork militia, thirteen mili-
tary officei's, several ofiicers of yeo-
manry, and many of the principal
gentry of the county were confined in
the jail, chiefly as a ])lace of security
against the violence of the exasperated
populace. At the instigation of a per-
son named Dixon, the master of a
coasting vessel belonging to Wexford,
and who has been described by all
parties as a sanguinary monster, cries
were repeatedly raised for the execu-
tion of these prisoners ; but, for a long
f The Rev. Mr. Gordon relates, that " some soldiers
of the ancient British regiment cut open the dead body
of Father Michael JIurphy, after the battle of Arklow,
took out his heart, roasted his body, and oiled their
boots with the grease which dripped from it." History
pfthe Rebdliun, p. 212. The authority of the reverend
writer, who was a Protestant clergyman of the highest
respectability, and resided in the very midst of all the
horrors which he described, cannot be questioned on
this and other acts of military ferocity which he
records.
696
REIGN OF GEORGE III.
ume, every attempt of the kiud Avas
successfully resisted by the leading
men among the people. At length,
on the 20tli of June, while the fighting
men of the Irish were mustering at
Vinegar Hill, pi-eparing for the ex-
pected battle of the morrow. Captain
Dixon collected a number of cowardly
wretches like himself at Wexford, and
having plied a chosen party of them
with liquor, forced an entrance to the
jail, and selecting some of the prison-
ers, marched them to the bridge, and
there, after a mock trial, had them put
to death one by one. The unfortunate
prisoners w^ere taken from the jail in
batches of ten or fifteen, but when
thirty-five of them had been disposed
of in this way, the slaughter was
stopped by the interference of Father
Corrin, a priest, who, after vainly sup-
plicating the assassins to desist, com-
manded them in an authoritative tone,
to kneel down and pray before they
proceeded further with the work of
death. Having got them on their
knees he dictated, in a loud voice, a
prayer, that God might show the same
mercy to them which they would show
to the surviving prisoners. These sol-
emn words had the desired effect, and
the batch of victims, then waiting for
their doom, were conducted back to
prison.
At that moment the rebel camp on
Vinegar Hill was beset by the royal
troops, approaching from different sides.
Many of the peasantry had dispersed
to a distance through the country, but
at the call of their leaders they rallied
in great numbers, and Avith a devoted-
ness that was wonderful under such cir-
cumstances. Several women also came
with the men ; and their bodies were
found in the piles of slain after the
battle. The Irish were almost desti-
tute of gunpowder, having been unsuc-
cessful in their attempts to manufacture
some at Wexford. The attack wa«
planned by General Lake, who did not
think it prudent to undertake it with
a smaller force than 20,000 men, be-
sides a numerous artillery train. Gen-
erals Loftus, Duffe, Needhara, and
Moore acted under his orders ; the hill
was to have been surrounded at every
l")oint, and the attack to have commenced
at seven o'clock on the morning of the
21st of June. General Needham, how
ever, -from some unexplained cause, did
not arrive at his appointed position
until two hours later, when the fighting
was over. For an hour and a half, the
Irish maintained their ground with
great intrepidity under a shower of
grape-shot and a dense fire of musket-
ry, while the want of ammunition ren-
dered their own artillery nearly use-
less. At length they gave w»y; the
space left unoccupied, or "Needham'a
Gap," as it was sarcastically called,
afforded a means of retreat too tempt-
ing for their stability ; and with a los$
not in proportion to the numbers en-
gaged, they made good their way to
Wexford, unptirsued by the enemy.
The most savage cruelties were now
perpetrated by the soldiery. A build-
THE IXSUKRECTION IX ULSTER.
09";
ing in Enniscorthy, used by the Irish
as a hosjiital, wan set on fire, and the
sick and wounded inmates consumed
in the flames. Some hundreds of
stragglers were killed after the battle,
and several loyalists suffered in the
indiscriminate carnage and destruction.
At Wexford the gallant and humane
General Moore prevented the troops
under his command from entering the
town while excited by- victory : but
the i-est of the army poured in the
following morning ; the wounded in
the hospital at Wexford were immedi-
ately put to the sword, as were also
many of the inhabitants and others,
who, owing to an understanding with
Lord Kingsborough that protection
Avould be extended to them on the
evacuation of the town by the insur-
gent army, imagined themselves secure.
General Lake refused to grant any
protection, unless all the leaders were
delivered into his hands; the surround-
ing country became a scene of frightful
destruction and slaughter ; and a court-
martial, which assembled so hastily
that the members were not even sworn,
proceeded to order the execution of a
number of respectable persons, among
others, of the Rev. Philip Roche, Mr.
Bagenal Harvey, Mr. Grogan, of Johns-
town (an aged gentleman of very large
foitune, whom the people had com-
pelled to act in the capacity of com-
missary). Captain Keogli, Mr. Prender-
gast. Ml'. Kelly, of Killan, and others.
Let us now transfer our attention for
a moment to Ulster, where the popular
organization had been most complete ;
but where, owing to some misunder-
standing among the leaders, and the
betrayal of all their plans to gov-
ernment, the rising did not take place
simultaneously M-ith that in other quar-
ters, and where the movement, though
spirited, was brief and partial. In
Antrim the person chosen by the
United Irishmen as their adjutant-
general having resigned his appoint-
ment at the last moment, Mr. Heniy
Joy M'Cracken, a young man respect-
ably connected, and of an enterprising
spirit, was induced to place himself in
the hazardous position of chief. On
the Vth of June he led a body of insur-
gents in an attack on the town of An-
trim, where a meeting of magistrates
was to have been held that day. The
assault was made with great order and
steadiness, and the town was carried
after an hour's fighting; but the mili-
tary having obtained large re-enforce-
ments, returned to the charge, and dis-
lodged the insurgents after a stubborn
resistance. M'Cracken retired to the
heights of Slemmish, with a small band
of followers, who gradually dispersed ;
he escaped arrest until the beginning
of July, when he at length fell into
the hands of the royalists, and was
tried and executed at Belfast on the
17th of the month.* Unfortunately,
in the latter part of the fight at An-
trim, Lord O'Neill, a humane and
* See the beautiful and affecting account given liy liia
sister of his trial and execution in Dr Maddens United
Irishmen.
698
REIGX OF GEORGE III.
popular noblemau, while entering the
to^yn with the yeomen, received some
wounds from the pikemen, which
caused his death a few daj's aftei-. In
Down the rising was more consider-
able, and the people had sevei-al suc-
cessful conflicts with the military. At
Saintfield they cut off a body of cavalry,
and having marched to Ballinahinch
they took up a strong position on
Windmill Hill, and on some elevated
ground in Lord Moira's demesne, ad-
joining that town. Their leader was
Ilenry Monro, who was of Scottish
descent, and, like M'Cracken, had been
engaged in the linen manufacture. He
possessed some knowledge of military
matters, having been trained to the
use of arms as a volunteer. In the
disposal of his irregular force at Balli-
nahinch, he disj:)layed considerable tact.
On the 12th of June the royal troops
under Generals Nugent and Barber
mai-ched against him from Belfast. A
good deal of skirmishing took place
that evening, and the army having set
fire to the town passed the night in
eveiy kind of excess. Muuro was
urged to attack them while in the
midst of their debauch, but he con-
sidered the attempt would be disgrace-
ful, and declined. The action com-
menced next morning. The people
had eight small cannons, mounted on
common carts, but only a scanty supply
of ammunition, while their adversaries,
who had some heavy artillery, mowed
them down with a terrific and well-
sustained fire of musketry and grape.
One account describes the Monaghan
regiment of militia, which was posted
with two pieces of ordnance at Lord
Moira's gate, as thrown into confusion
by an impetuous charge of pikemen,
and falling back upon the Hillsborough
cavalry, which also reeled in disorder;
but, in the mean time, the Argyleshire
fencibles entered the demesne and at-
tacked the insurgents on another side,
and the militia regiments got time to
rally. Charles Teeling, in his personal
narrative, states that Munro had pene-
trated to the centre of the town, and
that the British general had ordered a
retreat, but that the sound of the
bugle was mistaken by the insurgents
for the signal for a fresh charge, where-
upon they instantly fled. In a moment
all was lost. Although hotly pui-sued,
Munro endeavored to rally his men on
the heights of Ednavady, but the royal
troops almost surrounded the hill, leav-
ing but one passage for retreat, and by
this MuD^-o led off his men, now not
exceeding 150 in number. As usual
on those occasions, the Irish lost more
in the retreat than in the battle ; but
no reliance can be placed on the ac-
counts of the numbers slain in the
several conflicts during the rebellion.
It was the custom of the loyalists to
exaggerate extravagantly the losses of
the insurgents, Avho of course kept no
regular muster-roll; and tlie number
of casualties on the side of the military,
unless they were trifling, was studiously
concealed in the official reports. Soon
after the battle of Ballinahinch the
THE INSURRECTION SUPPRESSED.
699
insurgents of Down surrendered their
arms; Munro fled to tie mountains,
but was betrayed to the military, tried
by court-mai-tial, and hanged at Lis-
burn opposite his own door. Thus
was the outbreak in Ulster suppressed.
On the 21st of June the manjuis of
Cornwallis assumed the civil govern-
ment and supreme military command.
The country having been sufficiently
dragooned, he was sent over with in-
structions to check the ferocity of the
Orange faction, and to substitute mod-
eration for tei-i-orism. But before the
new policy Avas carried out, a remnant
of the Wexford rebellion was still to
be crushed. The inhuman tactics of
General Lake in refusing protection
had compelled the people to stand to-
gether in their own defence, and two
lai'ge bodies of the armed peasantry
quitted Wexford, one entering Wicklow
and the other penetrating into the
interior as far as Castlecomer, in the
county of Kilkenny, where they hojied
to raise the mining population. The
town of Castlecomei- was plundered on
the 2r)th of June; but early (m the fol-
lowing morning the insurgents were
attacked on Kilcomney Hill by a
strong military force under General
Sir Charles Asgill, and after standing
* For some years after this the embers of the insur-
rection still smouldered in various parts of the country :
in Robert Emmet's attempted rising in July, 1803,
they flickered for a moment for the last time ; and a
Biiall party of desperadoes, amidst the fastnesses of tho
Wicklow mountains, bid defiance for years to the at-
tempts of government to exterminate them. The
japtain of these \\'icklow outlaws was Michael Dwyer,
a brave, honorable, active and hariiy man, the very
a brisk cannonade for about an hour,
they retreated by the Scollagh Gap in
the direction of the Wicklow moun-
tains. After their departure one of
the most savage and gi'atuitous massa-
cres of that sanguinary contest was
perpetrated ; the unoffending people
of the locality, to the number of one
hundred and forty, having been put to
the sword by Sir Charles Asgill's or-
ders. It is needless to follow any fur-
ther the wanderings of the fugitive
Wexford men, some of whom crossed
the Boyne, and were finally defeated
on their return southward in the vi-
cinity of Swords. Their fine county
was nearly depopulated, and in one of
the districts of it called the Macomores,
the diabolical project of extirminating
the last remnant of the people Avas ac-
tually undertaken. The rebellion was
now extinguished.* On the 3d of July,
Lord Cornwallis issued a iDroclamatiou
of a very questionable character, au-
thorizing the generals to grant protec-
tion to such of the insurgents as, being
guilty of rebellion only, laid down their
arms, took the oath of allegiance, and
complied with other conditions. On the
I7th an act of amnesty (as it was called)
was passed, including all who had not
been leaders in the insurrectiou.f
type of an outlaw hero, whoso exploits and hair-breadtU
escapes havo all the interest of tho wildest romance.
He at length surrendered in December, 1S03, on a
promise of pardon, but was sent to Botany Bay, whero
ho died in 182G. See tho curious particulars collected
about him by Dr. Madden in his Memoirs of liolcrt
Emmet.
f According to tho estimate generally received, tho
losses in the rebellion of 1798 amounted to 20,000 men
roo
REIGN OF GEORGE III.
Auotlier step in the way of concili-
ation on tlie part of the government
was, to induce the jarincipal state pris-
oners confined in Dublin to enter into
a comi^'omise, by which, on certain
conditions, including permission to emi-
grate to some foreign land not at war
with England, they undertook to give
all the information in their power as to
the internal transactions of the United
Irishmen, and their negotiations with
foreign States, without, however, im-
plicating individuals; and likewise to
give security not to return to Ireland
without permission, or to migrate to
an enemy's country. This agreement,
which was brought about through the
instrumentality of Mr. Dobbs, was
signed by seventy-three of the state
on the side of the loyalists, and 50,000 on that of the
people ; the number of the latter who were put to
death in cold blood greatly exceeding that of the killed
in battle. Had the other counties risen like those of
Wexford and Kildare, and had the people had leaders of
organizing and military capacity and the necessary
resources of war, or had they had the co-operation wliich
they expected of adequate succor from France, it is
more than probable that they would have succeeded
in making their country independent. In Wexford,
where it is admitted that the rising was not, precon-
certed, or connected with that of Dublin or other places,
about 35,000 men are supposed to have turned out ; and
the force which might have been raised in the whole
of Ireland in the same ratio to the population would
have been enormous. Those who rose were undisci-
plined, unpaid, most imperfectly armed, and without
even one competent leader in the field ; yet to suppress
the outbreak required a military fores of 137,000 men —
regulars, militia, and yeomanry — commanded by five
general officers, and cost the government a vast amount
of treasure. The secret-service money paid to informers
from the 21st of August, 1797, to the 30th of Septem.
ber, 1801, was, according to official reports, £38,419 ; and
tlie similar payments to 1804, which must be set down
to the account of suppressing this rebellion, swell the
amount in that particular list to £53,547. The indem-
nities paid to loyalists for destruction of property was
prisoners on the 29th of July ; and in
pursuance of it, Mr. Arthur O'Connor,
Mr. Thomas Addis Emmet, Doctor
McNeven, Mr. Samuel Neilson, and
others, were examined on oath before
secret committees of both houses of
parliament ; but it was afterwards con-
fessed that government had been al
ready in possession, through sinister
means, of all the material information
elicited on this occasion ; so that con-
sidering the little value of the revela-
tions they were able to make, the
prisoners purchased at a cheap rate
their escape from the consequences of
an unsuccessful insurrection. They
originally stipulated that Mr. Oliver
Bond and Mr. William Byrne, then
under sentence of death, should be in-
£1,500,000 ; the cost of the military force kept up in Ire-
land for three or four years was estimated at £4,000,000
per annum. In fine, the total cost of carrying the
union, towards which the fomenting of the rebellion was
the principal step, has been estimated by some writers
at £21,500,000 ; by others at 30,000,000, and by others
at even a higher amount. No estimate has been at^
tempted of the destruction of the property of Catholics.
A list of thirty-five Catholic chapels destroyed by the
Orange yeomanry and militia in the counties of Wex-
ford, Wicklow, Kildare, and Carlow, and the Queen's
county, during the rebellion, was authenticated by the
Most Eev. Dr. Troy ; but this was considerably under
the truth, for Mr. Cloney gives a list of thirty-three
chapels burned in the county of Wexford alone during
1798 and the three succeeding years, while it is stated
that only one Protestant church, that of Old Ross, was
burned by the insurgents. As to the conduct of the
latter. Dr. Madden observes that " throughout the re-
belhon there was an abtmdant evidence of their frenzy
being more the impulse of a wild resentment against
Orangeism than any spirit of hostility to the sovereign
or the State." — First series, p. 349, second edition. It is
right to add, that in aU cases of retaliatory vengeance
the insurgents invariably respected female honor, while
numerous outrages to the contrary were committed by
the military.
THE FRENCH AT KILLALA.
701
eluded ia the pardon ; but while the
negotiations were still pending Byrne
was hanged, as was likewise M'Canu
and the Sheares, and Bond, did not
long enjoy the respite obtained for
him, having died suddenly in Newgate
on the 16th of September. From the
act of amnesty passed on this occasion
about fifty persons who had already
fled beyond the seas were excluded —
among others, Theobald Wolfe Tone
and James Napper Tandy ; and eighty-
nine were compelled to go into banish-
ment : but with respect to these latter,
the compact was broken by govern-
ment, twenty of the leading men being
detained in prison until the 19th of
March, 1799, when they were shipped
to Scotland, and there iinmured as state
prisoners in Fort George until after
the peace of Amiens, which was signed
in March, 1802.
When the insurrection had been
suppressed, as we have seen, the coun-
try was once more thrown into a state
of consternation by an unexpected
after-clap in the west. On the 22d of
August, 1798, a small French force of
1,060 men, besides officers, landed at
Killala, under the command of Gen-
eral Humbert, an enterprising soldier
who had risen from the ranks, and who
had actually sailed with this diminu-
tive armament without any immediate
instructions from his government. He
brought some arms for distribution
among the people; hoisted the green
flag with the motto "Erin go bragh,"
and invited the Irish to his standard.
The party composing the garrison of
Killala having attempted to oppose his
landing, were made prisoners ; but the
French evinced such excellent disci-
pline, that the property, even of the
loyalists, was quite safe while the town
remained in their hands, and by the
same orderly conduct and decorum, not
less than by their gallantry before
the enemy, the French maintained the
high character of their national army
during their stay in Ireland. It still
suited the policy of the English gov-
ernment to keep up a feeling of terror
and alarm in Ireland, and the present
opportunity was turned to account for
that purpose. Large masses of troops
were moved to the west ; Majors-gen-
eral Moore and Hunter marched to the
Shannon with 7,000 men; a line of
posts, guarded by large bodies of yeo-
manry, was established through Lein-
ster ; strong re-enforcements were sent
to Sligo, while the troops at the latter
place were ordered into Mayo. Gen-
eral Lake got the command in Con-
naught, but Lord Cornwallis himself
proceeded towards the Shannon to
superintend the operations. On the
25th of August the French took pos-
session of Ballina, where they met a
more spirited resistance the preceding
day than they were prepared to ex
pect. Major-general Hutchinson, who
hitherto had the command in Con-
naught, mustered his troops at Castle-
bar, where he was joined on the night
of the 26th by General Lake, with a
large re-enforcement. For a Tery in-
702
REIGN OF GEORGE III.
telli2:il)le reason there has V^een a
studied silence observed in official ac-
counts as to the pi-ecise number of
royal troops assembled on this occa-
sion in Castlebar, but there is ground
to believe that it was not under 6,000
men, with 13 pieces of artillery. An
attack from the handful of Frenchmen
and their iri'egular Irish auxiliaries
was not anticipated ; but early next
morning the alarm Avas given that the
French were at hand. The attack
commenced about seven in the morn-
ing. The Fi-ench, estimated at about
800, with some 1,500 of the peasantry,
appeared bej'ond a small lake, a short
distance from the town. The British,
drawn up in front of the town, pre-
sented a formidable line, and their
artillery, which was well served, told
with severe effect upon the foe; but
men who had lived so long at free
quarters, and who had displayed such
fiendish activity in the destruction of
villages and the slaughter of unarmed
j^easanti'y, could not, as Sir E.al|:)h
Aberci'ouibie had foretold, stand be-
fore an enemy. Humbert perceiving
bow strongly the English were posted,
and how powerful they were in artil-
leiy, contemplated retiring to Ballina,
and to cover his retreat ordered Gen-
eral Surrazin to make a feint attack
with some light troops under his com-
mand. This movement was mistaken
by the English for an attempt to turn
their flank, and produced an imme-
diate panic. The opportunity was
not lost upon the French general.
who, changing his plan, pressed upon
the wavering enemy, and turned their
disorder into a total i-out. The re-
treat was most disgraceful. All the
artillery, a great quantity of small-
arms, and five pair of colors were
taken by the French. General Lake's
official return admitted a loss of about
350 men in killed, wounded, and miss-
ing ; but the amount, in truth, was
much greater. A part of the Louth
and Kilkenny regiments of militia re-
mained not unwilling , jDrisoners, and
transferred their allegiance to the op-
posite side, for which offence ninety of
them were subsequently hanged. The
only stand made was by a party of
Highlanders, who defended the bridge
which the French were obliged tc
take at the point of the bayonet. Mr.
Bartholomew Teeling, who, with a few
other Irishmen, had accompanied Hum-
bert from France, pursued for some
distance the flying royalists in com-
pany with nine Frenchmen, and was
traversing a six-pounder on an emi-
nence to harass the fugitives, when a
party of Lord Roden's light cavalry,
observing the small number of the
pursuers, turned and cut down four
of the Frenchmen. Thus terminated
what has been called the " races of
Castlebar." The British retreated in
disorder through Hollymount to Tuam,
which place they reached that night,
although nearly thirty Irish miles dis-
tant.
The news of this disaster induced
Lord Cornwallis to hasten to Athlone,
THE FRENCH AT BALLIN-AMUCK.
(03
and move to the west witli all the
troops he fomid available. On the
2d of September he reached Tuam,
and having waited for two regiments
of regulars, he proceeded on the 4th
to Hollymount. Here he learned that
the French, who had made too long a
stay at Castlebar, had marched that
day to Foxford. Humbert expected'
re-enforcements from France, but in
this he was disappointed, and his chief
reliance was now on the United Irish-
men, ■who, as he was told, were pre-
pared to rise in Roscommon and some
of the northern counties. It appeared,
however, that both French and Irish
were deceiving each other by vain
promises. The leader of the Roscom-
mon United Irishmen gave himself up
to the Protestant bishop of Elphin on
the eve of the day fixed for the rising,
which, consequently, did not take place.
Humbert marched through Foxford,
Swineford, Ballaghy, and Tobercurry
to Colooney, where, in a brisk skir-
mish, he routed a part of the garrison \
of Sligo, which Colonel Vereker had
led against him ; but supposing this
to have been the vanguard of a lai-ge
army, the French general abandoned
his plan of marching to Sligo and thus
penetrating to Ulster, and proceeded
by Baliintogher to Manor Hamilton,
whence he took a southerly course by
the shore of Lough Allen. Humbert's
rapid and irregular movements per-
plexed the English commanders; but
he was closely pursued by General
Lake and Colonel Crawford, while
Lord Cornwallis, with the bulk of the
army, crossed the Shannon at Carrick,
for the purpose of intercepting his
progress towards Granard. On the
morning of the 8th of September, at
Ballinamuck, a village in the county
of Longford, near the borders of Lei-
trim, Humbert prepared to give battle
to his pursuers. His band was now
reduced to about 800 men, and his un-
disciplined Irish auxiliaries could ren-
der but little assistance, while the army
which was closing round him exceeded
20,000 men. "Regarding their posi-
tion as hopeless, 200 of the French
laid down their arms at the first at-
tack ; but the remainder made a gal-
lant resistance for a short time, cap-
turing Lord Roden, who charged at
the head of his cavalry; and General
Lake then coming up with the bulk
of the English army, Humbert was
obliged to surrender at discretion.
The French, to the number of Ofi
officers and 748 I'ank and file, became
prisoners of war ; but no stipulation
was made for their unfortunate auxil
iaries, who were pursued and slaugh-
tered without mercy, the number of
Irish slain, according to Gordon, being
500. Lord Cornwallis in his dispatch
says, " numbers of them were killed on
the field and in their flight." Bar-
tholomew Teeling and Mathew, the
brother of Theobald Wolfe Tone, were
taken prisoners and sent to Dublin,
where they were tried and executed.
Mr. Richard Blake, of Gal way, was
also among the prisoners, and w:i3
704
REIGN OF GEORGE III.
hanged. He bad been a cavalry offi-
cer in the British service. All the
horrors of the rebellion were renewed ;
executions were multiplied. On the
22d a body of 1,200 men, under the
command of Major-general Trench,
with five pieces of cannon, arrived at
Killala, and the insurgents, who still
held the town, having dispersed after
a short but spirited resistance, the
cavalry entered the place along Avith
the crowds of the dismayed i\nd flying
people, and hewed them down in the
street without resistance: about 400 men
were thus slaughtered, and when there
had been sufficient carnage to sate the
most sanguinary appetites, the viceroy
proclaimed an armistice, and allowed
the people sufficient time to come in
and surrender their arms. Sevent}^-
five persons were tried by court-mar-
tial at Killala, and a hundred and ten
at Ballina. Such was the boasted
"lenity" of Lord Cornwallis.
Humbert's quixotic^ enterprise was
part of a plan that had been concerted
by the French directory with some of
the Irish refugees, to send small de-
tachments from different ports into
Ireland ; and although he had actually
sailed without orders, and had ou his
own responsibility levied contributions
on the merchants of Rochelle for the
outfit of his ships and men, still it was
resolved that he should not be aban-
doned, and another small expedition,
consisting of one 74 gun ship, eight
frigates, and two smaller vessels, with
a land force of 3,000 men, under Gen-
eral Hardy, was got ready for sea, and
sailed from Brest on the 20th of Sep-
tember, before the news of Humbert's
surrender had reached France. Four
Irish refugees accompanied this expe-
dition, one of whom, Theobald Wolfe
Tone, embarked in the commodore's
ship, the Hoche. Such paltry attempts
at invasion, could, at best, only serve
to keep alive the embers of the Irish
insurrection. Thej'' were unworthy the
great nation by which they were made,
and were fraught with ruin to the un-
happy Irish, who felt that they had
been deserted by the only country to
which they could look for aid, and
which, by inspiring delusive hopes,
had hurried them into a most disas-
trous civil war. On the other hand,
we know that the revenue of Fi'ance
was at that time in a crippled state,
that her military resources were wield-
ed by Bonaparte for his own ambitious
purposes elsewhere ; that her navy was
in so wretched a condition that no ar-
mament could be shipped with safety
from her coast, and that in fjict she
was not in a position to render effi-
cient aid to Ireland, however inclined
to do so. The English had notice of
Hardy's expedition before it sailed,
and when four ships of the squadron,
after encountering heavy gales, ar-
rived off Lough S willy on the 12 th
of October, they were encountered by
four British sail of the line and &
frigate. A terrific action ensued ; the
Hoche had to bear the brunt of the
battle alone. "During six hours,"
DEATH OF THEOBALD WOLFE TONE.
T05
says Wolfe Tone's son, "she sustained
the whole fire of the fleet, till her
masts and rigging were swept away,
her scuppers flowed with blood, her
wounded filled the cockpit, her shat-
tered ribs yawned at each new stroke,
and let in five feet of water in the
hold, her riidder was carried oS', and
she floated a dismantled wreck on the
waters." At length she struck. Dur-
ing the action Wolfe Tone commanded
one of the batteries, fighting with des-
peration and courting death, but still
untouched in the shower of balls. For
some time after the capture he was
confounded with the French officers,
but being recognized among them at
the earl of Cavan's table by an old
fellow-student, Sir George Hill, was
ironed, sent to Dublin, and tried by-
court-martial on the 10th of Novem-
ber. He made no attempt to deny
the charge against him, but read a
vindication of his motives, and only
requested that he might be shot, not
hanged. This request was not grant-
ed, and rather than submit to the ig-
nominy of dying like a felon, he at-
tempted to destroy his own life by
cutting his throat with a pen-knife
the morning fixed for his execution.
The wound Avas not mortal, and he
would have been taken to the scaf-
fold had not the court of king's bench
interfered. On a motion grounded on
the affidavit of the prisoner's father,
Mr. Curran ai-gued in a powerful
speech that the sentence was illegal.
He showed that the prisoner, not
holding any commission in the British
army, sliould have been tried before
the ordinary tribunals, and not by a
court-martial, and finally an order was
made by the chief-justice. Lord Kil-
warden (Wolfe), to stay the execu-
tion. Eight days after poor Tone
died from the effects of the wound in
his throat.
" Mr. Pitt," says Sir Jonah Barring-
ton, " now conceived that the moment
had arrived to try the effect of his
previous measures to promote a legis-
lative union, and annihilate the Irish
legislature. The royalists were still
struggling through the embers of a re-
bellion, scarcely extinguished by the
torrents of blood which had been
poured upon them ; the insurgents
were artfully distracted between the
hopes for mercy and the fear of pun-
ishment; the viceroy had seduced the
Catholics by delusive hopes of eman-
cipation, whilst the Protestants were
equally assured of their ascendency,
and every encouragement was held out
to the sectarians. Lord Cornwallis
and Lord Castlereagh seemed to have
been created for such a crisis and for
each other. An unremitting perse-
verance, an absence of all political
compunctions, an unqualified contempt
of public opinion, and a disregard of
ery constitutional principle, were
common to both."* The Union was
first proposed indirectly in a speech
from the throne on the 22d of Jan-
• liise and Fail of the Iruh Nation, pp. 4C3, 4G5, ed.
706
REIGN OF GEORGE III.
uary, 1799. The project was next
ixnnoimced openly in a pamphlet writ-
ten by Mr. Under-Secretary Cooke,
wliich Avas replied to in one by Mr.
(afterwards lord-chancellor) Plunkett.
The question was discussed at a meet-
ing of the Irish bar, on the 9th of
December that year ; when the division
was, against the union, 166; in favor
of it, 32. Five debates on the subject
took place in the Irish House of Com-
mons. On the one side, it was pre-
tended that there was no safety for
Ireland except in the arms of Eng-
land ; on the other, it was insisted by
the ablest lawyers that the parliament
was incompetent even to entertain the
question of a union. " Such," says Bar-
rington, " was the opinion of Mr. Sau-
rin, since attorney-general; Mr. Plun-
kett, since lord-chancellor; Sergeant
Ball, the ablest lawyer of Ireland ;
Mr. Fitzgerald, prime sergeant of Ire-
laud; Mr. Moore, since a judge; Sir
John Paruell, then chancellor of the
exchequer; Mr. Bushe, since chief-
justice ; and Lord Oriel, the then
speaker of the House of Commons."
Suck was also the opinion of Grattan,
Curran, Ponsouby, Burrowes, and other
eminent men. But the statesmen who
had waded to this measure through
the blood of a nation were not to be
diverted from it now by the arguments
of lawyers in or out of parliament.
It is a remarkable fact that many of
* See the important statement made on this subject
in the preface to the Comwallis Correspondence, to
which publication, and that of the letters and papers of
those persons who were officially con-
cerned in the accomplishment of the
union destroyed their papers, for the ob-
vious purpose of burying, if possible, in
oblivion the flagitious means employed
to carry it ;* but these means were too
notorious at the time, and too many
historic evidences of them have been
preserved, to leave the matter in any
obscurity. The most nefarious cor-
ruption was openly practised. Votes
were publicly bought and sold. Money,
titles, offices, were given as bribes in
the face of day. "Whatever the public
conduct of Lord Cornwallis might have
been, and it was bad enough, he was
capable of feeling and acknowledging
in private the abominable nature of
the work he was obliged to do. Wri-
ting to his friend. General Ross, he uses
the following most significant expres-
sions : "I trust I shall live to get out of
this most cursed of all situations, and
most repugnant to my feelings. How
I long to kick those whom my public
duty obliges me to court !'' And,
again, addressing the same fiiend on
the 8th of June, 1*799, he writes: "My
occupation is now of the most un-
pleasant nature, negotiating and job-
bing with the most corrupt people
under heaven. I despise and hate
myself every hour for engaging in such
dirty work, and am supported only by
the reflection that without a union the
British empire must be dissolved."
Lord Castlereagh, the reader is referred for a great deal
of important information relative to the passing of the
union.
THE UNION.
707
The now published correspondence of
both Lord Castlereagli and Lord Corn-
wallis contain abundant disclosures to
show the dark and disgraceful nature
of these transactions.* Lord Castle-
reagh publicly announced a tariff of
corruption under the guise of "com-
pensation." For each rotten borough
the price fixed was from £14,000 to
£16,000; each member who had pur-
chased his seat was to be repaid the
amount of the purchase-money from
the public treasury ; all who might
be otherwise losers by the union were
to be compensated for their losses, and
for that purpose a vote of £1,500,000
was demanded ; but these sums were
quite distinct from those paid for the
private purchase of votes, Avhich in
some instances were enormous. The
entire amount paid for the rotten
boroughs, at an average of £15,000
each, was £1,260,000, of which the
marquis of Downshire received £52,000
for his share, the marquis of Ely,
■•'■ The attempts of the Englisli ministers to repudiate
the promises made by their agents in Ireland elicited
some strange admissions on the part of the latter.
Thus, in a letter of the 21st June, ISOO, to Mr. Cooke,
who %vas then in England, Lord Castlereagli permits
himself to use some strong and significant expressions.
" It will be no secret, " writes the imprinciplcd states-
man, " what has been promised, and hj jr/iat means the
union has been carried. Disappointment will encour-
age, not prevent, disclosures ; and the only eflijct of
Buch a proceeding on their (the ministers') part will be,
to add the weight of their testimony to that of the
ai:\te-unionists, in proclaiming the profiigacy of the
n.eans by which the measure has been accomplished
1 should hope, if Lord Cornwallis has been the person
to buy out and secure to the crown forever the fee-
Mmple of Irish corruption, that he is not to be the first
eacrifice to liia own exertions." And writing to Lord
£45,000, the earl of Shannon as much.
Lord Clanmorris, £23,000 and a peer-
age, Lord Belvidei-e, £15,000, and
other great proprietor in proportion
to the number of boroughs at their
disposal.
The last session of the L-isli parlia-
ment was opened on the 15th of Jan-
uary, 1800. The viceroy's speech con-
tained no allusion to the great ques-
tion of the day, and the omission gave
rise to many conjectures ; but on the
5th of February Loi'd Castlereagli
read a message from the lord-lieuten-
ant to the House of Commons, for-
mally bringing forward the measure of
a legislative union. Every preparation
had been made during the preceding
year for this event, and, on the motion
for taking the message into considera-
tion, the ministry ha'd a majority of
158 to 115; 27 members being absent.
This division was decisive in the opin-
ion of the government ; but, consider-
ing all the engines of corruption, per-
Camden on the 25th of the same month, his lordship
delicately alludes to the corruption in which they had
so deeply dealt in order to carry the union : " The Irish
government is certainly now liable to the charge of
having gone too far in complying with the demands of
individuals; but had the union miscarried, and the
failure been traceable to a reluctance on the part of
government to interest a sufficient number of sup-
porters in its success, I am inclined to think we should
have met with, and in fact deserved, less mercy. Sev-
eral of our supporters were speculating on which side
the strength would ultimately lie, and things were so
balanced as to enable single individuals, conversant
with cabal, to produce a very serious impression. If
reluctance is felt on your side of the water to the ac-
complishment of the proposed favors, be assured they
were not entertained and promised without mach pain
by Lord CornwaUls."
708
REIGN OF GEORGE III.
suasion, and intimidation that had been
so long at work, it is wondei-ful that
the minority was so large. The incor-
ruptible j^urity of 115 members, under
such extraordinary circumstances, re-
dounds to the honor of that Irish
House of Commons which, with a
proper measure of reform, might have
been rendered so excellent. In the
upper house, where Lord Clare domi-
neered with a browbeating style of
oratory that was peculiar to himself,
the ministerial majority was 75 to 26.
The progress of the measure through
its various stages occupied the interval
to the 1st of August, on which day
the royal assent was given to the Act
of Union. On the 1st of January,
1801, the act came into operation, and
from that date Ireland ceased to be a
distinct kingdom ; for an independent
legislature she received an inoperative
minority in the imperial parliament;
her local interests were no longer un-
der the care of her own representa-
tives ; her debt accumulated ; her taxa-
tion multiplied to an excessive amount ;
her commerce fell into decay; her no-
bility and gentry became absentees ; her
wealth was drained into another coun-
try, with scarcely any appreciable re-
turn; and in exchange for all these sacri-
fices she acquired — the honor of being an
integral portion of the British ompire !
CHAPTER XLIV.
CATHOLIC EMANCIPATION. TWO TEAKS OF THE UNION.
Influence of the Union measure upon politics. — Deception of the English government. — William Pitt and King
George III. — Course of Lord Cornwallis. — Michael Dwyer in the mountains of Wicklow. — Alann as to
French invasion. — Catholic emancipation. — Views of the king and William Pitt. — Pitt resigns. — Cornwallis
also. — Addington ministry. — General state of the country. — Military force in Ireland. — Debates in parlia-
ment as to martial law and suspension of habeas corpus. — Peace of Amiens. — Efforts of United Irishmen in
Paris. — Lord Redesdale succeeds Earl of Clare. — Relief of disabilities sought by Presbyterians and Cath-
olics.— Lord Castlereagh's statements on the suhject. — Extracts from his letter to Mr. Addington. — Afv
prehensions of a renewed invasion by the French. — Fears as to Ireland. — Military force in the country. —
Outbreak in Limerick and Tipperary. — Need of raising militia and yeomanry. — Doubts as to numbers ta
be sent by the French, and the effect produced.
(A. D. 1800 TO A. D. 1803.)
THUS, as has been related in the
preceding chapter, was effected the
Union between the kingdoms of Eng-
land and Ireland. We need not
dwell upon the means which were
used, nor upon the many questions
•^ y^^v,^ I ^ \ !
\^^
1 /^"-#,l
^
DECEPTIVE POLICY TOWARDS IRELAND.
709
which arise out of this act of Uniou ;
but it deserves to he noted, that the
course which had been pursued gave
birth to new subjects of discord, and
gave a new character to the political
agitations of subsequent years. As we
have seen, William Pitt and his col-
leagues left no means untried to ac-
complish the end they had in view,
and George III, equally eager to ac-
complish the same object, did not
scruple to allow promises to be made
which he probably never intended to
keep. The appointment of Lord Corn-
wallis, in June, 1793, to the lord-lieu-
tenancy of Ireland had been considered
as indicating a more popular and gen-
tler line of policy than had heretofore
been pursued ; but it is questionable
whether the king or the ministry meant
to carry out this policy in good faith.
Thus there was more or less deception
everywhere ; and there was, beneath
the surfiice, distrust between the king
and his cabinet, and no less distrust
between the heads of government in
England and Lord Cornwallis in Ire-
land. It is in the private correspond-
ence of Lord Castlereagh (see note,
page 707), who was so largely influen-
tial in bringing about the Union, that
we get a full view of the distrust and
lack of confidence which existed. From
the same quarter we learn that Corn-
wallis, the successor of the harsh and
unpopular Camden, was by no means
acceptable to the toiy party, and was
rather tolerated than approved by the
kinsr.
The point on which, no doubt, a
great deception was practised by the
English government was that of Cath-
olic emancipation, which, if it was not
directly promised in plain words, was
so openly held out as a consequence to
result from the Union, that no one could
understand it otherwise than as an im-
plied condition. Yet it is highly prob-
able that Pitt knew well enough that it
would never be granted, and it is cer-
tain that George III., while he allowed
it to be promised, was fully resolved
that the promise should not be fulfilled.
Cornwallis remonstrated against this
unhandsome course, and felt himself
placed in a very embarrassing and vex-
atious position. Lord Castlereagh also
wrote, in plain and strong terms, as to
what must result if the ministry re-
pudiated the engagements wh"ich had
been entered into by the lord-lieu-
tenant.*
These earnest remonstrances pro-
duced considerable effect, and the king,
alarmed at the opposition which he
met with, subsequently waved or kept
in abeyance his objections. Cornwallis,
however, sensible that he was in an
awkward position, soon after took
measures to obtain his recall. His
government was marked by a general
tranquillity. The implied promise of
emancipation had done much to secure
this tranquillity, and none yet knew,
even if they suspected, that this prom-
ise was deceptive.
See chapter iliii., note p. 707.
;10
REIGN OF GEORGE III.
Micbael Dwj^er, with a few follow-
ers in the mountains of Wicklo^', was
all that remained of the late formidable
rebellion,* and the symptoms ol dis-
content in other parts of the country
were few and inconsiderable ; yet the
government was well aware that the
elements of insurrection were still ready
at hand, and that the disaffected were
kept in subjection only liy fear or want
of means to carry out their plans.
Hence the utmost alarm w\as excited,
during the latter part of the year 1800,
by new threats of invasion from France.
In this connection, Cornwallis avowed
his conviction that, if foreign enemies
landed in Ireland, a great portion of the
population would rise up and join them.
The question of making concessions
to the Catholics assumed great import-
ance at the beginning of the present
century. The unwillingness of George
m. to make these concessions is well
known ; and though he allowed and
encouraged promises and expectations
to be held out as an inducement to
support the measure of the Union, yet
he seems to have made up his mind
from the first not to do any thing fur-
ther in this I'espect than he was com-
pelled. Just before the opening of
parliament the question began to be
publicly agitated, and the intentions
of the English government were grad-
ually made known. Mr. Pitt, the
prime minister, was, to all appearance,
in favor of allowing, to some extent.
* Dwyer surrendered in December, 1803, on a prom-
;e of pardon, but was sent to Botany Bay, where he
the claims and hopes of those who had
supported the Union on these grounds ;
Init when the matter came up in cab-
inet council it met with such strong
opposition, especially on the part of
the king, that Pitt felt it necessary to
resign. His retirement from the min-
istry was followed, as might be ex-
pected, by the resignation of Lord
Cornwallis. There were many, how-
ever, who believed that Pitt was not
sincere. They said that he had gone
out of office merely to save appear-
ances ; that he would pretend to sup-
port the Catholics uutil their opponents
had consolidated their strength ; and
that when they had no longer any hope
of obtaining their desires, he would
return to the cabinet and resist them
on the plea of expediency. The Ad-
diugtou administration succeeded in
England, and Lord Hardwicke was
sent to take charge of the government
in Ireland.
During the two years which followed
the accomplishment of the Union few
events of importance occurred in Ire-
land. The country remained tolerably
tranquil, though it had been mucli dis-
tressed by the exhaustion consequent
upon long political agitation and by
the failure of the crops, especially of
the potatoes ; yet all serious expression
of discontent was checked by the great
military force now established, and the
Catholics had formed new hopes from
Pitt's retirement from office, and there-
died in 1S3G. See chapter xlv., pp. 715, 71G, for
of his adventures.
PENAL ACTS. PEACE OF AMIENS.
Yll
fore refrained from active measures.
Under these circumstances, tlie ques-'
tiou of Catholic emancipation was not
brought directly before the imperial
parliament during its first session ; but
there Avere some warm debates in both
houses on the bills for the continuance
of martial law in Ireland, and for the
suspension of the liabms corpus. These
had been among the last acts of the
Irish parliament, and had been called
for by the state of the country at the
close of the rebellion. The first em-
powered the lord-lieutenant and council
to declare any county in a state of in-
surrection, on a report to that effect by
a certain number of the magistrates ;
and upon this the magistrates were
authorized to apprehend a person ac-
cused of being abi'oad after nine o'clock
at night, or of aiding in any disturb-
ance, and bring him before a petty
session of two or three justices of the
peace, by whom, without the interven-
tion of a jury, he might be condemned
to transportation as a disorderly per-
son. There was reserved to the pris-
oner a riglit of appeal to a general
sessions ; but a very brief period was
given for this appeal, which rendered
it almost nugatory to the Irish peas-
antry, who were in general ignorant
of the mode of proceeding, and not in
a position to obtain advice. By strong
ui-gency and fearful pictures of the ac-
tual state of Ireland, in regard to the
safety of person and property, martial
law was continued in force in the
country.
Soon after the Addington ministry
entered upon ofUce negotiations were
commenced with France, which end.^d
in the peace of Amiens, concluded
in March, 1802. During these nego-
tiations opportunities were afforded to
the leaders of the United Irishmen in
Paris to send agents secretly to Ireland,
and initiate new movements of resist-
ance against the English government.
On the death of the Earl of Clare,
Mitford, speaker of the House of Com-
mons, was raised to the peerage as Lord
Redesdale, and was appointed the Earl
of Clare's successor as lord-chancellor
of Ireland ; Chai-les Abbott was elected
speaker in his place, and the chief sec-
retaryship in Ireland was conferred
upon Mr. Wickham.
A question of moment was at this
time brought forward with regard to
the Irish Church. The hopes held out
to the Catholics naturally excited sim-
ilar hopes in the Presbyterians and
other dissenters fi'om the Church of
England, and they also sought relief
from disabilities under which they la-
bored. The question alluded to was
that of making a government provision
for the clergy of these two great bod-
ies. Catholics and Presbyterians, in
Ireland. The Presbyterians, however,
on this occasion separated their claims
from those of the other Protestant dis-
senters, and desired to obtain such
benefits as they could without connec-
tion with others. The sentiments of
Lord Castlei'eagh, as being one of the
most active and efficient agents of the
712
REIGN OF GEORGE III.
English government in carrying ont its
plans, are worthy of note in this con-
nection. Writing to Mr. Addington,
under date of July 21, 1802, he says:
" There is much in this body (the Pres-
byterian synod) which requires amend-
ment, and much may be done by an
efficient protection and support given
on the part of the government to those
who have committed themselves in sup-
port of the State against a democratic
party in the synod, several of whom,
if not engaged in the rebellion, were
deeply infected with its principles. In
the English Church, which is naturally
attached to the State, schism might be
dreaded as weakening its interests ; but
in such a body as the Presbyterians of
Ireland, who, though consequently a
branch of the Church of Scotland, have
partaken so deeply, first, of the pop-
ular, and since, of the democratic pol-
itics of the country, as to be an object
much more of jealousy than of support
to government, I am of opinion that it
is only through a considerable internal
fermentation of the body, coupled with
some change of system, that it will put
on a different temper and acquire bet-
ter habits You will naturally
infer, from what I have stated, that ray
opinion still continues strongly in favor
of coupling regulation with the pro-
posed increase of the Regium Donum."
Much correspondence ensued on this
particular point, and men of note
among the Presbyterians, like Alex-
ander Knox and others, favored the
plan proposed ; but the subject was
dropped amid the excitement caused
by renewed threats of a French in-
vasion.
Lord Castlereagh, under the date
given above, applies the same general
remarks, which he has already made,
to the Catholics, a far more numerous
body, and, as he believed, much more
easily reconciled to the plans and
wishes of the government. " Having,"
he says, " a hierarchy of their own,
they are less alive upon the principle
of subordination than the Presbyte-
rians. Since I last had the pleasure of
conversing with you on this measure,
I have endeavored to find out what
the temper and wishes of the Catholic
clergy and laity are upon this sub-
ject I mentioned to j'ou that
Dr. Moylan, whom I look upon as one
of the most discreet and respectable of
the body, had expressed to Lord Corn-
wallis, in London, a conviction that the
Roman Catholic clergy would, under
the present circumstances, gratefully
accept a provision from the State. I
have since had reason to know that
Dr. Troy, titular archbishop of Dublin,
holds the same language. I am in-
clined to infer that these two persons
speak the sentiments of the body of
their clergy. Lord Fingall lately, to a
friend of mine, expressed similar opin-
ions and wishes on his own part that
the measure was taken up The
well-disposed Catholics, both clergy
and lait}'^, are sincerely desirous that
this measure should be accomplished,
and would solicit it in the most earnest
OUTBREAKS IN LIMERICK AND TIPPER ARY.
IS
manner from government, if they bad
reason to know that their wishes would
be gratified ; yet, as things now stand,
I do not conceive that it could be
either expected or indeed desired that
they should make the application
To soften religious contention and an-
imosity in Ireland, and to bring it
gradually to a temper which shall, in
future wars, deprive our foreign enemies
of a certain ally in the resentful feelings
of one of two contending parties, some
effort must be made by the State to
mitigate the struggle, which I see no
means it has of accomplishing, if seven-
eighths of our population are to re-
main wholly out of the reach of any
species of influence or authority, other
than that of the mere operation of the
la^v."
Towards the close of the year 1802
apprehensions of a renewal of the war
with the French began to be generally
prevalent, and the preparations known
to be going on in France caused the
English government to suspect that
Bonaparte meditated some hostile at-
tack upon England. As Ireland was
considered to be the weak point, and
it was known that a few United Irish-
men in Paris were in communication
with the French government, the alarm
was greatest in the sister kingdom, and
the private correspondence of its min-
isters at this pei'iod I'elates chiefly to
the necessity of increasing its defensive
force. The effective military force in
that kingdom was i-ated at twenty
thousand men. It was said to be the
intention of the English ministry to in-
crease it to twenty-five thousand; but
it was considered also necessary to arm
again either the militia or the volunteers.
The objection to the volunteers was
the strong religious animosity which
they had shown in the late outbreak,*
while the militia had been far from
steady in their loyalty. Numbers of
them had, in 1798, joined the ranks of
the insurgents, and at this very mo-
ment disbanded militia-men were ac-
tively engaged in exciting and organ-
izing insurrection in the south. The
alleged grounds for rebellion were the
dearness of potatoes, and a grievance
in Ireland, the right of the old tenants
to retain possession of their farms.
The peasantry were urged to rise and
demand that a fixed price should be
established for potatoes, and to oppose
the introduction of strangers to the oc-
cupation of fiirmers. The disturbances
were verj- general throughout the coun-
ties of Limerick and Tipperary, and
extended partially into that of Water-
ford; but they were suppressed at the
close of the year.
Although this insurrection was sup-
pressed without serious difliculty, yet
the government was aware of the ne-
cessity of raising militia and yeomanry
to aid in preserving order, while the
regular troops were employed against
the invaders, who were expected ere
long to appear. It was felt and avowed
by the authorities in Ireland, that if
Seo chapter xliii., p. GG3.
il4
REIGX OF GEORGE IH.
the Freiicli were .able to send over
15,000 to 25,000 men, they were
wholly unable to oppose their prog-
ress. It was also felt that any success
on the part of the invading force would
be fatal to the reputation and influence
of the, existing government in L-eland.
At the thiie, however, when there
was an anxious estimating of the avail-
able military force in Ireland, an at-
tempt at revolution had been made in
the capital, the particulars of which
will be given in our next chapter.
CHAPTER XLV.
rNSUERECTION UNDER ROBERT EMJIET
Earl; life, family, and education of Robert Emmet. — Visits the continent. — Joins the United Irishmen in Paris.
— Fate of Colonel Despard's conspiracy. — Emmet returns to Dublin. — His labors, resources, and hopes. —
Contrivances in his country-house and in Dublin. — His confidants and co-workers. — Michael Dwver and
his adventures. — Emmet's expectations. — Reasons for hastening the insurrection. — Plans of Emmet. — Re-
markable address of the provisional government " to the people of Ireland." — On the day appointed, few
come forward to join in the outbreak. — Events of the evening of July 23d. — Cruel murder of Lord
Kihvarden. — Course of the authorities. — Emmet's flight. — Arrested. — Russell arristed and executed. — Trial
of Emmet. — Speech of Plunkett. — The prisoner's eloquent address to the court. — Executed the next day. —
Numerous arrests and imprisonments.
ROBERT EMMET, the son of Dr.
Robert Emmet, physician to the
lord-lieutenant, was one of the United
Irishmen, and partook largely of the
spirit which animated that association.
His elder brother was Thomas Addis
Emmet, who had been brought up to
the bar, and who, in consequence of his
share in the rising of 1798, had been
placed in confinement at Fort George,
in Scotland. Robert Emmet was one
of the nineteen students expelled from
Trinity Colhge, iu 1798, by order of
the visitors. Lord Clare and Dr. Dui-
genan. His reputation as a scholar
and debater, and his earnest, ardent
temperament, naturally gave rise to
high expectations as to the part he was
destined to play in his country's affairs.
In 1800 he visited his brother at Fort
George, and soon afterwards passed
over to the continent, where he trav-
elled in Switzerland, Holland, and
France. Having joined his brother's
family in Paris, he entered heartily
into the plans and purposes of the
■NY.WYOKK lEOMAS KEIiT.
EMMET'S
desiivs.
Previously to thi
boon set on f
in London. "Ti
gOlUg OU iu i-
rested, and in
and the
EMMET'S INSURRECTION.
715
United Irishmen, and became sanguine
of success under the promises of Bona-
parte and Talle3rand. Acting upon
tliese sentiments, and also aware that
war would speedily break out again
between England and France, Emmet
returned to Dublin, in October, 1802,
and set himself diligently at work to
accomplish the great object of his
desires.
Previously to this, a conspiracy had
been set on foot by Colonel Despard,
in London. He had sent over to Ire-
land a person named Dowdall as his
agent, and to see what were the pros-
pects of success for the contemplated
outbreak. Dowdall seems to have
acted imprudently, and indulged in too
great freedom of speech ; the conse-
quence of which was that the govern-
ment soon knew all about the plot
going on in London, Despard was ai--
rested, and in February, 1803, with
nine of his followers, was put to death.
Dowdall escaped to Paris, and aided
his fellow-laborers in their prepara-
tions to the extent of Lis ability and
influence.
Emmet, undismayed by the fate of
Despard's conspiracy, worked unceas-
ingly in carrying out his plans. By the
recent death of his father he had come
into possession* of about £2,000. Mr.
Long, a merchant in Dublin, had placed
at his disposal some £1,500, With such
slender financial resources the ardent
young L'ishman was ready to under-
take the overthrow of the government,
and the emancipation of his country
from English rule. His conviction was,
soon after his return to Dublin, that
nineteen out of the thirty-two counties
would rise ; and he counted largely
upon help from France to accomplish
this end, and render it effective through-
out L'eland.
For a time, Emmet concealed himself
in his father's countiy-house at Clon-
sheagh on the Dundrum road. "An
old and faithful servant of Dr, Emmet,"
says the writer of the memoirs of the
United Irishmen, "Michael Leonard, a
gardener, informed me, in 1836, that
after the doctor's death a member of
the family still resided there, and
Robert Emmet remained there for
some time ; he had made trap-doors,
and a passage under the boards of one
of the rooms on the gi-ound-flooi-, which
could not be detected by any one who
was not aware of their existence, which
he thought he would be able to still
point out to me. I visited the house
with Leonard, and found his account
was in every respect true. In the ceil-
ing, over the passage leading from the
hall door towards the kitchen, he
pointed out to me the place where the
boards overhead were sawed through ;
the square portion thus cut was suffi-
ciently lai-ge to allow a person to pass
through, when the boards were re-
moved which formed the trap-door,
communicating from the upper part of
the house to the hall. If attention
had not been directed to it, no one
would have observed the cutting in
1 the boards. On the ground-iloor, on
716
REIGN OF GEORGE III.
the left hand side of tlie hall, there is a
small room adjoining the kitchen, which
was called ' Master Robert's bedroom.'
In this room Leonard likewise pointed
out to me the jalace where boards had
been evidently cut through, in a sim-
ilar way to the trap-door in the ceiling
in the passage. This aperture, he said,
led to a cavity under the parlor floor,
sufficiently large to admit of a person
being placed there in a sitting posture,
and was intended to communicate, un-
der the flooring, with the lawn. A
servant woman of Mr. Stapleton, the
present possessor of the house, said
there were some old things in a cellar,
which were said to have served for
enabling Mr. Emmet to descend from
the upper floor to the passage near the
hall door, through the aperture in the
ceiling. On examining those things
they turned out to be two pulleys,
with ropes attached to them, nearly
rotten."
In March, 1803, Emmet left the
house just spoken of, and took up his
residence, under a feigned name, in a
small building at Harold's Cross, near
the canal bridge, in the same neighbor-
hood where once Lord Edward Fitzger-
ald had concealed himself. The same
contrivances were resorted to for carry-
ing out his designs ; but in April he
removed to a house in Butterfield Lane,
in the vicinity of Rathfarnham, where
he went by the name of Ellis. This
Bpot was chosen, probably, because it
was convenient for communicating with
the mountains of Wicklow.
Emmet had among his confidants
and helpers Thomas Russell and James
Hope, the former of whom went iuto
Ulster to reunite the republicans in
the north. He had also entered into
communication with ]\Iichael Dwyer,
who still held out at the head of a few
desperate followers in the Wicklow
Mountains, and who was to assemble
the peasantry, and to march down
upon Dublin to his assistance, on the
signal being given that his help was
wanted for the cause.
The adventures of Dwyer were of
the most romantic description, and fur-
nish a graphic picture of the troubled
state of Ireland at this period. His
principal place of refuge was a deep
glen called Email or Innel, where lie
lived with his followers in a subterra-
nean cave, lined with wood and moss,
the entrance to which was covered
with a large sod cut out of a tufb of
heath. They remained in this retreat
all day, and took to the mountains at
night. One of Dwyer's adventures at
this time, which has been often told,
and furnished the subject of a popular
little poem by Mrs. Tighe, shows us the
fidelity with which the outlawed chief
was served by his men. One storitiy
night he and nine of his comrades were
out in the glen, and had* taken shelter
in two houses, communicating with
each other, six in one and four in the
other, Dwyer himself being one of the
four. It appears that they had gone
to bed, unconscious of danger; but a
traitor had carried intelligence of their
DWYER'S ESCAPE.
717
place of retreat to a barrack at no great
distance. A little before break of day
the house in which Dwyer slept was
surrounded by a party of Highland-
ers, commanded by Colonel McDonald.
Dwyer heard the tramp of the soldiers,
and he immediately aroused his com-
panions, who were some of his most
devoted followers ; a deserter from the
Antrim militia, named Samuel McAlis-
ter, a man named Savage, and another
named Costello, who had been a tailor.
On being summoned to surrender,
Dwyer first bargained that the family
who occupied the house should be al-
lowed to quit it ; and when they were
gone, he prepared for a desperate de-
fence. He and McAlister had each a
blunderbuss and a case of pistols, with
which they fired a number of times,
and several of the military were killed
or wounded. The latter had, however,
succeeded in setting fire to the house,
and when it was becoming no longer
tenable, a musket-shot broke McAlis-
ter's arm. He then said to Dwyer, " I
am done; but you have a chance of
escape. Load your blunderbuss, and
give it to me; and while you crouch
on your hands and feet, I will o^^eu the
door and discharge the blunderbuss;
they will fire at me, and you may
escape before they can load again."
Dwyer acted upon his brave friend's
suggestion, who, as he prepared to
open the door, said to him, " Now let
me see how you can spring !" As
McAlister expected, the soldiers dis-
charged their volley at the door, and
he and the two others were killed.
Dwyer made a desperate spring across
a little stream which ran near by ; bu*-.
he slipped down on some ice which had
formed near a barn-door. Shots were
fired at him, one of which grazed his
shoulder. Dwyer, however, recovered
his feet, and fled across an adjoining
field ; and one of the Highlanders
threw down his musket and followed
him. This circumstance saved Dwyer's
life, for the soldiers were afraid to fire
again lest they should kill their com-
rade, who followed Dwyer so close
that he was obliged to stop suddenly
and trip him up. The Highlanders had
been joined by another body of sol-
diers, and they continued the pursuit
through the glen of Email, until at
Slaney they were obliged to desist, on
account of the flooded state of the river
across which he had passed. The six
men in the other house having been
captured, one of them turned informer,
and the other five were hanged.
It seems hardly credible that Emmet
could hope to accomplish his design of
making Ireland free and independent,
considering the very inadequate means
he possessed for such a purpose ; never-
theless, firmly persuaded that the coun-
try at large would join in the insurrec-
tion, he persevered in manufiicturiug
arms, ammunition, and stores, and es-
tablished in Dublin several secret mag-
azines and workshops. An accidental
explosion of combustibles in one of
these depots in Patrick-street, on the
16th of July, nearly led to the discov
718
REIGN OF GEOftGE III.
cry of tlie conspiracy. The authorities
were excited to fresh vigilance, and
vague suspicions were entertained of
some plot against public order and
tranquillity.
Alarmed at the prospect of discovery,
Emmet seems to have resolved upon
anticipating the date originally fixed
for the commencement of the outbreak.
On communicating with liis co-workers,
lie determined to proceed to action on
the night of the 23d of July. His
plans were set forth quite at large in a
paper sent to his brother in Paris. It
evinces the care and study which he
had given to the subject, and is M'orthy
of examination by the student of his-
tory. We ai-e sorry that our limits do
not admit of quoting the paper in full ;
for it is an extraordinary and curiously
complicated plan of getting possession
of Dublin, formed by a young man
without military experience, and with
preparations unequal to the end pro-
posed.
There is, however, another document,
elaboi-ately drawn up, and very char-
acteristic of the tone and spirit of Kob-
ert Emmet. It is so interesting in itself,
as well as suggestive to all who love
Ireland, that we give the document
entire. It was entitled :
" The Frovisional Government to tlie
People of Ireland:
"You are now called upon to show
the world that you are competent to
take your place amo,ng nations ; that
you have a right to claim their recog-
nizance of you as an independent coun-
tiy, by the only satisfactoiy proof you
can furnish of your capability of main-
taining your independence — your wrest-
ing it from England with your own
hands.
" lu the development of this system,
which has been organized within the
last eight months — at the close of in-
ternal defeat, and without the hope of
foreign assistance — which has been con-
ducted with a tranquillity mistaken for
obedience, which neither the failure of
a similar attempt in England has re-
tarded, nor the renewal of hostilities
has accelerated ; in the development of
this system you will show to the peo-
ple of England that there is a spirit of
perseverance in this country beyond
their power to calculate or repress ; you
will show to them that as long as they
think to hold unjust dominion over
Ireland, under no change of circum-
stances can they count on its obedience,
under no aspect of affairs can they
judge of its intentions; you will show
to them that the question which it now
behooves them to take into serious con-
sideration is not whether they will
resist a separation, which it is our fixed
determination to effect, but whether or
not they will drive us beyond separa-
tion— whether they will, by a sangui-
nary resistance, create a deadly national
antipathy between the two countries, or
whether they will take the only means
still left of driving such a sentiment
from our minds, by a prompt, manly,
and sagacious acquiescence in our just
PROVISIONAL GOVERNMENT'S ADDRESS.
719
and reasonable determination. If the
seci-ecy with which the present effort
has been conducted shall have led our
enemies to suppose that its extent must
have been partial, a few days will un-
deceive them. That confidence, which
was once lost by trusting to external
support, and suffering our own means
to be gradually undermined, has been
again restored. "We have been mutu-
ally pledged to each other to look only
to our own strength, and that the first
introduction of a system of terror, the
first attempt to execute an individual
in one county, should be the signal of
insurrection in all. We have now,
without the loss of a man — with our
means of communication untouched —
brought our plans to the moment when
they are ripe for execution ; and in the
promptitude with which nineteen coun-
ties will come forward at once to exe-
cute them, it will be found that neither
confidence nor communication are want-
ing to the people of Ireland.
" In calling on our countrymen, to
come forward, we feel ourselves bound,
at the same time, to justify our claim
to their confidence by a precise declara-
tion of our views. We therefore sol-
emnly declare that our ohject is to e-stal-
lish A FREE AND FNDEPENOENT REPUBLIC
IN IRELAND; that the pursuit of this
object we will relinquish only with our
lives ; that we will never, unless at the
express call of our country, abandon
our posts until the acknowledgment of
its independence is obtained from Eng-
land ; and that we will enter into
no negotiation, but for exchange ot
prisoners, with the government of that
country, while a British army remains
in Ireland. Such is the declaration on
which we call first on that part of Ire-
land which was once paralyzed by the
want of intelligence, to show that to
that cause only was its inaction to be
attributed ; on that part of Ireland
which was once foremost in its forti-
tude in suffering ; on that part of Ire-
land which once offered to take the
salvation of the country on itself; on
that part of Ireland where the flame of
liberty first glowed : we call upon the
North to stand up and shake off their
slumber and their oppression.
" Men of Leinster ! stand to your
arms ; to the courage which you have
already displayed is your country in-
debted ; for the confidence which truth
feels in its own strength ; and for the
dismay with which our enemies will be
overcome when they find this effort to
be universal. But, men of Leinster,
you owe more to your country than
the having animated it by your past
example ; you owe more to your own
courage than the having obtained pro-
tection by it. If, six years ago, you
I'ose without arms, without plan, with-
out co-operation, with more troops
against you alone than are now in the
country at large, you were able to re-
main six weeks in open defiance of the
government, and within a few miles of
the capital, what will you now effect,
with that capital and every other part
of Ireland ready to support you ?
720
REIGN OF GEORGE III.
" But it IS not on this head we have
need to address you. No, we now speak
to you, and through you to the rest of
Ireland, on a subject dear to us, even as
the success of our country — its honor.
You are accused by your enemies of
having violated that honor by excesses,
which they themselves had in their
fullest extent provoked, but which they
have grossly exaggerated, and which
have been attributed to you. The op-
portunity for vindicating yourselves by
actions is now, for the first time, in
your power ; and we call upon you to
give the lie to such assertions, by care-
fully avoiding all appearance of intox-
ication, plunder, or revenge, recollecting
that you lost Ireland before, not from
want of courage, but from not having
that courage rightly directed by disci-
pline. But we trust that your past
Bufferings have taught you experience,
and that you will respect the declara-
tion we now make, which we are deter-
mined, by every means in our power,
to enforce. The nation alone has the
right, and alone possesses the power of
punishing individuals; and whosoever
shall put another to death, except in
battle, without a fair trial by his coun-
try, is guilty of murder. The intention
of the provisional government of Ire-
land is to claim from the English gov-
ernment such Irishmen as have been
sold or transported by it for their at-
tachment to freedom ; and for this pur-
pose it will retain, as hostages for their
safe return, such adherents of that gov-
ernment as shall fall into its hands.
It therefore calls upon the people to
respect such hostages, and to recollect
that in spilling their blood they would
leave their own countrymen in the
hands of their enemies.
" The intention of the provisional
government is to resign its functions as
soon as the nation shall have chosen
its delegates ; but in the mean time it
is determined to enforce the regulations
hereunto subjoined : it, in consequence,
takes the property of the country un-
der its protection, and will punish with
the utmost rigor any person who shall
violate that property, and thereby in-
jure the resources and future prosperity
of Ireland.
" Whosoever refuses to march to any
part of the country he is ordered, is
guilty of disobedience to the govern-
ment, which alone is competent to de-
cide in what place his service is neces-
sary, and which desires him to recollect
that in whatever part of Ireland he is
fighting, he is still fighting for freedom.
Whoever presumes, by act or other-
wise, to give countenance to the cal-
umny propagated by our enemies, that
this is a religious contest, is guilty of
the grievous crime — that of belying
the motive of the country. Religious
disqualifications are but one of the
many grievances of which Ireland has
to complain. Our intention is to re-
move not that only, but every other
oppression under which we labor. We
fight that all of us may have our coun-
try ; and that done, each of us shall
have our religion.
PROVISIONAL GOVERNMENT'S ADDRESS.
Y21
" We are aware of the apprehensions
which you have expressed, that in quit-
ting your own counties you leave your
wives and your children in the hands
of your enemies ; but on this head have
no uneasiness. If there are still men
base enough to persecute those who
are unable to resist, show them by
your victories that you have the
power to punish ; and by your obe-
dience that you have the power to
protect; and we pledge ourselves to
vou, that these men shall be made to
feel that the safety of every thing they
hold dear depends on the conduct they
observe to you. Go forth, then, with
confidence ; conquer the foreign ene-
mies of your country, and leave to us
the care of preserving its internal tran-
quillity: recollect that not only the
victory, but also the honor of your
country is placed in your hands. Give
up your private resentments, and show
to the world that the Irish are not only
a brave, but also a generous and for-
giving people.
" Men of Munster and Concaught !
you have your instructions ; you will
execute them. The example of the
rest of your countrymen is now before
you; your own strength is unbroken;
five months ago you were eager to act
without any other assistance ; we now
call upon you to show what you then
declared you only wanted — the oppor-
tunity of proving that you possess the
same love of liberty and the same cour-
age with which the rest of your coun-
trymen are animated.
" We now turn to that portion of
our countrymen whose prejudices we
had rather overcome by a frank decla
ration of our intentions, than conquer
in the field ; and in making this decla-
ration we do not wish to dwell on
events, which, however they may
bring tenfold odium on their authors,
must still tend to keep alive in the
minds, both of the instruments and vic-
tims of them, a spirit of animosity
which it is our wish to destroy. We
will enter into no detail of the atro-
cities and oppressions which Ireland has
labored under during its connection
with England ; but we justify our de-
termination to separate from that coun-
try on the broad historical statement,
that during six hundred years she has
been unable to conciliate the aftections
of the people of Ireland ; that during
that time five rebellions were entered
into to shake oft' the yoke ; that she has
been obliged to enter into a system of
unprecedented torture in her defence ;
that she has broken every tie of volun-
tary connection by taking even the
name of independence from Ireland,
through the intervention of a parlia-
ment notoriously bribed, and not rep-
resenting the will of the people ; that
in vindication of this measure she has
herself given the justification of the
views of the United Irishmen, by de-
claring, in the words of her ministers,
'that Ireland never had and never
could enjoy, under the then circum-
stances, the benefits of British connec-
tion ; that it necessarily must happen,
722
REIGN OF GEORGE HI.
when one country is connected with
another, that the interests of the lesser
will be borne down by the greater;
that England had supported and en-
-■ouraged the English colonists in their
oppression towards the natives of Ire-
land ; that Ireland had been left in a
state of ignorance, rudeness, and bar-
barism, worse in its effects, and more
degrading in its nature, than that in
which it was found six centuries be-
fore.'
" Now, to what cause are "these things
to be attributed ? Did the curse of the
Almighty keep alive a spirit of obsti-
nacy in the minds of the Irish people
for six hundred years ? Did the doc-
trines of the French Revolution pro-
duce five rebellions ? Could the mis-
representations of ambitious, designing
men drive from the mind of a whole
people the recollection of defeat, and
raise the infant from the cradle with
the same feelings with which his father
sank to the grave ? Will this gross
avowal, which our enemies have made
of their own views, remove none of the
calumny that has been thrown upon
ours? Will none of the credit which
has been lavished on them be trans-
ferred to the solemn declaration which
Ave now make in the face of God and
our country ?
" We war not against property ; we
war against no religious sect ; we war
not against party opinions or preju-
dices ; we war against English do-
minion.
" We will not, however, deny that
there are some men who, not because
they have supported the government
of our oppressors, but because they
have violated the common laws of mo-
rality, which exist alike under all or
under no government, have put it be-
yond our power to give to them the
protection of a government. We will
not hazard the influence we may have
with the people, and the power it may
give us of preventing the excesses of
revolution, by undertaking to place in
tranquillity the men who have been
guilty of torture, free quarter, rape,
and murder, by the side of the sufferers
or their relations ; but in the frankness
with which we warn those men of their
danger, let those who do not feel that
they have passed this boundary of me-
diation count on their safety.
" We had hoped, for the sake of our
enemies, to have taken them by sur-
prise, and to have committed the cause
of our country before they could have
time to commit themselves against it ;
but though we have not been altogether
able to succeed, we are yet rejoiced to
find that they have not come forward
with promptitude on the side of those
who have deceived them ; and we now
call upon them, before it is yet too late
not to commit themselves against a
people which they are unable to resist,
and in support of a government which,
by their own declaration, had forfeited
its claims to their allegiance. To that
government in whose hands, though
not the issue, at least the features with
which the present contest is marked or
PROVISIONAL GOVERNMENT'S ADDRESS.
Y23
placed, we now turn. How is it to be
decided ? Is open and honorable force
alone to be resorted to ? — or is it your
intention to employ those laws which
custom has placed in your hands, and
to force us to employ the law of retali-
ation in our defence ?
" Of the inefficacy of a system of ter-
ror, in preventing the people of Ireland
from coming forward to assert their
freedom, you have already had expe-
rience. Of the effect which such a sys-
tem will have on our minds, in case of
success, we have already forewarned
you. "We now address to you another
consideration. If in the question which
is now to receive a solemn, and, we
trust, final decision, if we have been
deceived, reflection would, point out
that conduct should be resorted to
which was best calculated to produce
conviction on our minds.
" What would that conduct be ?
" It would be to show us that the
difference of strength between the two
countries is such as to render it unne-
cessary for you to bring out all your
forces; to show that you have some-
thing in reserve to crusli hereafter ; not
only a greater exertion of the people,
but one rendered still greater by for-
eign resistance. It would, be to show
us that what we vainly supposed to be
prosperity growing beyond your grasp,
is only a piratical exuberance, requir-
ing but the pressure of your hands to
reduce to form.
" But, for your own sakes, do not re-
Bort to a system ^yhich, while it in-
creased the acrimony of our minds.
would leave us under the melancholy
delusion that we had. been forced to
yield, not to the sound and temperate
exertions of our superior strength, but
to the frantic struggle of weakness,
concealing itself under desperation.
Consider that the distinction of rebel
and enemy is of a very fluctuating na-
ture ; that during the course of your
own experience, you have already been
obliged to lay it aside ; that should you
be obliged to abandon it towards Ire-
land, you cannot hope to do so as tran-
quilly as you have done towards Amer-
ica ; for in the exasperated, state to
which you have routed the minds of
the Irish people — a people whom you
profess to have left in a state of bar-
barism and ignorance — with what con-
fidence can you say to that people,
' While the advantage of cruelty lay
upon our side we slaughtered you with-
out mercy, but the measure of youi*
own blood is beginning to preponder-
ate. It is no longer our interest that
this bloody system should continue.
Show us, then, that forbearance which
we never taught you by precept or ex-
ample ; lay aside your resentment ; give
quarter to us ; and let us mutually for-
get we never gave quarter to you.'
Cease, then, we entreat you, uselessly
to violate humanity, by resorting to a
system ineflicacious as a mode of de-
fence, inefficacious as a mode of convic-
tion, ruinous to the future relations of
the two countries in case of our success,
and destructive of those instruments of
724
REIGN OF GEORGE III.
defence which you will then find it
doubly necessary to have preserved un-
impaired. But if your determination
be otherwise, hear ours. We will not
imitate you in cruelty ; we will put no
man to death in cold blood ; the pris-
oners which first fall into our hands
shall ])e treated with the respect due
to the unfortunate ; but if the life of a
single unfortunate Irish soldier is taken
after the battle is over, the order
thenceforth to be delivered to the Irish
army is, neither to give nor to take
quarter. Countrymen, if a cruel neces-
sity force us to retaliate, we will burj^
our resentment in. the field of battle ;
if we fall, we will fall where we fight
for our country. Fully impressed with
this determination, of the necessity
of adhering to which past experience
has but too fatally convinced us ;
fully impressed with the justice of
our cause, which we now j)ut to is-
sue, we make our last and solemn
appeal to the sword and to Heaven ;
and, as the cause of Ireland deserves
to prosper, may God give us the vic-
tory.
" Conformably to the above procla-
mation, the Provisional Government of
Ireland decree that, as follows :
" 1. From the date and promulgation
hereof tithes are forever abolished, and
church lands are the property of the
nation.
" 2. From the same date all transfers
of landed property are prohibited, each
person paying his rent until the na-
tional government be established, the
national will declared, and the courts
of justice be oi-ganized.
" 3. From the same date all transfer
of bonds, debentures, and all public se-
curities are in like manner forbidden,
and declared void for the same time and
the same reasons.
" 4. The Irish generals commanding
districts shall seize such of the partisans
of England as may serve as hostages,
and shall apprise the English command-
ers opposed to them, that a strict retal-
iation shall take place if any outrages
contrary to the laws of war shall be
committed by the troops under com-
mand of each, or by the partisans of
England in the district which he oc-
cupies.
" 5. That the Irish generals are to
treat (except where retaliation makes
it necessary) the English troops which
may fall into their hands, or such Irish
as serve in the regular forces of Eng-
land, and who shall have acted con-
formably to the laws of war, as pris
oners of war ; but all Irish militia, yeo-
men, or volunteer corps, or bodies of
Irish, or individuals who, for ten days
after the promulgation and date hereof,
shall be found in arms, shall be con-
sidered as rebels, committed for trial,
and their property confiscated.
" 6. The generals are to assemble
court-martials, who are to be sworn to
administer justice, who are not to con-
demn without sufficient evidence, and
before whom all military offenders are
to be sent instantly for trial.
"7. No man is to suffer death by
PROVISIONAL GOVERNMENT'S ADDRESS.
725
their sentence but for mutiny ; the sen-
tence of such others as are judged
wortliy of death shall not be put into
execution until the provisional govern-
ment declare its will ; nor are court-
martials, on any pretence or sentence,
nor is any officer, to suffer the punish-
ment of flogging, or any species of tor-
ture to be inflicted.
" 8. The generals are to enforce the
strictest discipline, and to send offend-
ers immediately to the court-martial ;
and are enjoined to chase away from
the Irish armies all such as shall dis-
grace themselves by being drunk in
presence of the enemy.
" 9. The generals are to apjjrise their
respective armies that all military stores
and ammunition belonging to the Eng-
lish government be the property of the
captors, and the value equally divided,
without respect of rank, between them,
except that the widows, orphans, pa-
rents, or other heirs of those who glo-
riously fall in the attack shall be enti-
tled to a double share.
" 10. As the English nation has made
war on Ireland, all English property,
in ships or otherwise, is subject to
the same rule, aud all transfer of
them forbidden and declared void, in
like manner as is expressed in Nos. 2
and 3.
"11. The generals of the different
districts are hereby empowered to con-
fer rank up to colonels, inclusive, on
such as they conceive merit it from the
nation ; but are not to make more col-
onels than one for fifteen hundred men,
nor more lieutenant-colonels than one
for every thousand men.
" 12. The generals shall seize on all
sums of public money in the custom-
houses in their districts, or in the hands
of the different collectors, county treas-
urers, or other revenue officers, whom
they shall render responsible for the
sums in their hands. The generals shall
joass receipts for the amount, and ac-
count to the provisional government
for them.
" 13. When the people elect their
officers up to the colonels, the general
is bound to confirm it. No officer can
be broke but by sentence of court-
martial.
" 14. The generals shall correspond
with the provisional government, to
whom they shall give details of all
their operations. They are to corres
pond with the neighboring generals, tc
whom they are to transmit all neces-
sary intelligence, and to co-operate with
them.
" 15. The generals commanding in
each county shall, as soon as it is cleared
of the enemy, assemble the county com-
mittee, who shall be elected conforma-
bly to the constitution of United Irish-
men. All the requisitions necessary
for the army shall be made in writing
by the generals to the county commit-
tee, who are hereby empowered and en-
joined to pass receipts for each article
to the owners, to the end that they may
receive their full value from the nation.
"16. The county committee is
charged with the civil direction of the
?26
REIGN OP GEORGE III.
county, the care of the national prop-
erty, and the preservation of order and
justice in the county ; for which pur-
pose the county committee are to ap-
point a high-sheriff and one or more
sub-sheriffs to execute their ordei-s, a
sufficient number of justices of the
peace for the county, a high and a suf-
ficient number of petty constables
in each barony, who are respectively
charged with the duties now performed
by those magistrates.
" lY. The county of Cork, on account
of its extent, is to be divided, conform-
ably to the boundaries for raising mi-
litia, into the counties of North and
South Cork ; for each of which a county
constable, high-sheriff, and all magis-
trates above directed are to be ap-
pointed.
"18. The county committee are
hereby empowered and enjoined to
issue warrants to apprehend such per-
sons as it shall appear, on sufficient ev-
idence, perpetrated murder, torture, and
other breaches of the acknowledged
articles of war and morality on the
people, to the end that they may be
tried for these offences so soon as the
competent courts of justice are estab-
lished by the nation.
" 19. The county committee shall
cause the sheriff or his officers to seize
on all the personal property of such,
to put seals on tbeir effects, to aj^point
proper pei"sons to preserve all such
property until the national courts of
justice shall have decided on the fate of
the proprietors.
" 20. The county committee shall act
in like manner with all state and church
lands, parochial estates, and all public
lands and edifices.
" 21. The county committee shall, in
the interim, receive all the rents and
debts of such persons and estates, and
give receipts for the same ; shall trans-
mit to the government an exact account
of their value, extent, and amount, and
receive the directions of the provisional
government thereon.
"22. The county committee shall ap-
point some proper house in the counties
where the sheriff is permanently to re-
side, and where the county committee
shall assemble. They shall cause all
the records and papers of the county
to be there transmitted, arranged, and
kept, and the orders of the government
to be there transmitted and received.
"23. The county committee are
hereby empowered to pay out of these
effects, or by assessment, reasonable
salaries for themselves, the sheriffs, jus-
tices, and other magistrates whom they
shall appoint.
" 24. They shall keep a written jour-
nal of all their proceedings, signed each
day by members of the committee, or
a sufficient number of them, for the in-
spection of government.
" 25. The county committee shall
correspond witb government on all
subjects with which they are charged,
and transmit to the general of the dis-
trict such information as they shall con-
ceive useful to the public.
" 26. The county committee shall
EMMET'S FURTHER PROCEEDINGS.
^27
take care that all State prisoners, how-
ever great their offences, shall be
treated with humanity; and allow them
sufficient support, to the end that all
the world may know that the Irish
nation is not actuated by a spirit of
revenge, but of justice.
"27. The provisional government
wishing to commit, as soon as possible,
the sovereign authority to the people,
direct that each county and city shall
elect, agreeably to the constitution of
United Irishmen, representatives to
meet in Dublin, to whom, the moment
they assemble, the provisional govern-
ment shall resign its functions; and,
without presuming to dictate to the
people, they beg leave to suggest that
for the important purposes to which
these electors are called, integrity of
character should be the first object.
" 28. The number of representatives
being arbitrary, the provisional govern-
ment have adopted that of the late
House of Commons, three hundred ;
and, according to the best returns of
the population of the cities and coun-
ties, the following number are to be
returned from each: Antrim, 13 ; Ar-
magh, 9 ; Belfast-town, 1 ; Carlow, 3 ;
Cavan, 7 ; Clare, 8 ; Cork County,
north, 14; Cork County, south, 14;
Cork City, 6 ; Donegal, 10 ; Down, 16 ;
Drogheda, 1 ; Dublin County, 4 ; Dub-
lin City, 14 ; Fermanagh, 5 ; Galway,
10 ; Kerry, 9 ; Kildare, 14 ; Kilkenny,
7 ; King's County, 6 ; Leitrim, 5 ; Lim-
erick County, 10; Limerick City, 3;
Londonderry 9 • Longford, 4 ; Louth,
4; Mayo, 12; Meath, 9; Mounghan,
9 ; Queen's County, 6 ; Eoscommon, 8 ;
Sligo, 6; Tipperary, 13; Tyrone, 14;
Waterford County, 6 ; Waterford City,
2 ; Westmeath, 5 ; Wicklow, 5.
"29. In the cities the same regula-
tions as in the counties shall be adopted.
The city committees shall appoint one
or more sheriffs, as they think proper,
and shall take possession of all the pub-
lic and corporation properties in their
jurisdiction, in like manner as is directed
in counties.
"30. The provisional government
strictly exhort and enjoin all magis-
trates, officers, civil and military, and
the whole of the nation, to cause the
law of morality to be enforced and re-
spected, and to execute, as far as in
them lies, justice with mercy, by which
liberty alone can be established, and
the blessings of Divine Providence se-
cured."
In addition to the preceding, Emmet
had prepared an address to the citizens
of Dublin, calling on them for aid and
co-operation. He was busily employed
in his depots up to the very last, and
was full of sanguine hope of success ;
but on the day appointed, greatly to
his chagrin, only a very few allies came
to his assistance, and these chiefly from
Kildare and Wexford. His associates,
also, were harassed with doubts and
fears, and wished to defer action ; but
Emmet was resolved to push onward.
About nine o'clock in the evening, some
eighty men were in one of his depots.
728
REIGN OF GEORGE III.
and a number of others were in, the
taverns, drinking and talking. A re-
port being made that the troops were
inarching against them, Emmet got his
men together, considerably less than
two hundred in all, and set out, resolved
to take Dublin Castle. A strange piece
of folly and delusion! His men were
undisciplined, as well as more or less
under the influence of liquor ; so that
instead of following Emmet they en-
gaged in the perpetration of disgraceful
outrages in the streets.
Among these, the most shocking was
the murder of Lord Kil warden, Chief-
Justice of Ireland. This aged and re-
spected nobleman had a country-seat
about four miles from Dublin, on the
Wicklow side of the town. The dread-
ful scenes of 1*798 are said to have
made a deep impression on Lord Kil-
warden's mind; and in the belief that
his life was in danger, he had only re-
cently ventured to sleep at his country
residence. He had passed the week in
fulfilling the duties of his judicial ca-
pacity, and on the morning of Saturday,
the 23d of July, he went as usual to his
house in the country to pass the Sab-
bath with his family. Towards evening
he was alarmed by reports that num-
bers of suspicious-looking persons were
observed hurrying into Dublin, and it
was soon rumored abroad that an in-
surrection was intended that night.
The personal apprehensions of Lord
Kilwarden were immediately excited,
and he came to the hasty and unfortu-
nate determination of returning imme-
diately to town. With this purpose,
about the dusk of the evening, he set
out in a post-chaise, taking with him
his daughter and his nephew, the Rev.
Richard Wolfe. They met with no
obstacle till, on reaching the entrance
of the town. Lord Kilwarden, imagining
that the most frequented streets would
be the safest, directed the coachman to
drive through St. James' and Thomas
streets, which were at that moment in
the undisturbed possession of the in-
surgents. He arrived in the latter
street just as they were attacking the
custom-house officer in the hackney-
coach, which they left immediately for
the post-chaise, under the impression,
it is supposed, that the obnoxious and
hated Lord Norbury was in it. When
Lord Kilwarden saw that his carriage
was surrounded, he shouted out, per-
haps in the hope of being allowed to
pass on, "It is I, Kilwarden, chief-jus-
tice of the king's bench !" One of the
mob immediately answered, " You are
the man I want !" and stabbed him
with a pike, and he was then dragged
out and covered- with Avounds and in-
suit. Mr. Wolfe jumped out of the
carriage and attempted to make his es-
cape;, but he was pursued, ' brought
back, and instantly dispatched. Miss
Wolfe remained inside the carriage, in
a state of indescribable terror and dis-
tress, until one of the insurgent leaders
came and took her out, and conducted
her through the crowd to an adjoining
house, where she waited a while, and
then made her escape on foot to the
TRIAL OF ROBERT EMMET.
T29
castle, where she gave the first intelli-
gence of her father's murder. The
authorities seem to have paid little at-
tention to what was going on, although
they had been informed that insurrec-
tion was planned for that night. They
treated the whole matter with appa-
rent contempt, notwithstanding after-
wards they were much frightened, and
I resorted to severe measures. Emmet
seems to have lost hope very soon, on
seeing how his men behaved, as well
as how inefficient and unreliable they
were. A day or two aftei", he escaped
from Dublin. Within a week he re-
turned to the city, and lay concealed
for a month. He was subsequently
tracked out, arrested, and imprisoned
to await his trial. Eussell, having met
with no* success in Ulster, returned to
Dublin, hoping to escape to France.
Borne months later he was arrested,
and suffered the extreme penalty of the
law.
The trial of Robert Emmet took
place on the 19 th of September, before
a special commission, consisting of Lord
Norbury, Barons George and Daly, and
Justice Finucane. The case was stated
at length by the attorney -general, Mr.
Plunkett, and the evidence relied on to
convict him was that of a few persons
employed in the depots at Dublin.
Curran was Emmet's counsel ; and al-
though the prisoner pleaded not guilty,
he was not permitted by Emmet to
exert his eloquence in defence of his
friend. The speech of the attorney
general was extremely severe and harsh,
93
and was animadverted upon by Em-
met's friends in no measured terms.
When called upon for his defence, he
rose and addressed the court in words
worthy of being here put on record :
" Why sentence of death and execu-
tion should not be pronounced against
me, I have nothing to say; for that
had been determined on ere this trial
had taken place. But why my name
and character should not be transmit-
ted to posterity loaded with the foul-
est obloquy, I have much to say.
" A man in my situation has to com-
bat with not only the difficulties of
fortune, but those, too, of prejudice.
The sentence of the law, which delivers
over his body to the executioner, con-
signs his name to obloquy. The man
dies, but his memory lives ; and that
mine may not forfeit all claim to the
respect of my countrymen, I use this
occasion to vindicate myself from some
of the charges brought against me.
Let what I have to say, and the few
observations I shall make as to my
principles and motives, glide down the
surface of the stream of your recollec-
tion, till the storm shall have subsided
with which it is already buffeted.
"Were I to suffer death only after
having been adjudged guilty of crime,
I should bow my neck in silence to the
stroke ; but — (Literruption from Lord
Norbury.) Why did your lordship
insult me — or, rather, why insult jus-
tice— in demanding of me why sentence
of death should not be pronounced?
I know, my lord, that form prescribes
730
REIGN OP GEORGE III.
that you should ask the question ; the
form also presumes a right of answer-
ing. It is true, this might be dispensed
with, and so might the whole ceremony
of the trial, since sentence was already
pronounced at the castle before your
jury was empanelled. Your lordships
are but priests of the oracle, and I sub-
mit to the sacrifice ; but I insist on the
whole of the forms.
" I am accused of being an emissary
of France ; of being an agent for that
country in the heart of my own. It is
false ! I am no emissary ! I did not
wish to deliver u^) my country to a
foreign power, and, least of all, to
France. I am charged with being a
conspirator ! with being a member of
the provisional government. I avow
it ! I am a conspirator ! I am and have
been engaged in a conspiracy, of which
the whole object is the disenthralment
of my beloved country.
" It never was, never could be our
design to deliver over our country into
the hands of the French ! No ! From
the proclamation of the provisional
government, it is evident that every
hazard attending an independent effort
was deemed preferable to the more
fiital risk of introducing a French force
into our country. What ! yield to the
French ? Heaven forbid ! No ! Look
to the proclamation of the provisional
government — to the military articles
attached to it. Is there a sentence
there that will warrant such a con-
struction ? Had I been in Switzerland,
I should have fought against the
French ! In the dignity of freedom I
would have expired on the threshold
of that country, and their only entrance
to it should have been over my lifeless
corpse ! Were I in any country whose
people were adverse to their principles,
I would take up arms against them.
But if the people were not adverse to
them, neither would I fight against the
people. Is it, then, to be supposed I
would be slow to make the same sac-
rifice to my native land ? Am I, who
have lived but to be of service to my
country, who would subject myself
even to the bondage of the grave to
give her independence — am I to be
loaded with the foul and grievous cal-
umny of being an emissary of France ?
Were my country once freed from the
yoke of England, had my countrymen
a country to defend, then, should a
foreign foe attempt to invade their
shores, would I call on them, ' Be
united ! be firm ! and fear no force
without ! Look not to your arms.
Oppose them with your hearts. Wait
not their attack, but run to your shores
and meet them. Receive them with
all the destruction cf war, and immo-
late them in their very boats, nor let
your land be polluted by the foe!
With the sword in one hand and the
torch in the other, oppose and fight
them with patriotism, love of liberty,
and with courage. Should you fail,
should your love of country, your love
of liberty, and courage not prevail, in
your retreat lay waste your country.
With your torch burn up every blade
EMMET'S ELOQUENT SPEECH.
Y31
of grass. Raze every bouse. Contend
to the last for every inch of ground in
ruin. Conduct your women and chil-
dren to the heart and centre of your
country. Place them in the strongest
hold. Surround and defend them till
but two of you remain ; and when of
these two one shall fall, let him that
survives apply the torch to the funeral
pile of his country, and leave the in
vader nothing but ashes and desolation
for his plunder.
"I am also accused of ambition. O
my countrymen, was it ambition that
influenced me, I might now rank with
the proudest of your oppressors — (In-
terruption from the judge.)
" My lord, I have always understood
it was the duty of a judge, when a
prisoner was convicted, to pronounce
the sentence of the law. I have also
understood that a judge sometimes
thought it his duty to hear with pa-
tience and speak with humanity^-to
deliver an exhortation to the prisoner.
I appeal to the Immaculate God! I
swear by the throne of Heaven, before
whicli I must shortly appear ; by the
blood of the martyred patriots who
have gone before me, that my conduct
has been, through all this peril and
through all my purposes, governed only
by the convictions which I have uttered,
and by no other motive but the eman-
cipation of my country from the op-
pression under which she has too long
and too patiently travailed.
" You say I am the keystone, the
life-blood and soul of the conspiracy.
On my return to Ireland this conspir-
acy was already formed. I was soli-
cited to join it. I asked for time to
consider, and the result of my deliber-
ation was that it appeared to me the
only means of saving my country. My
lord, I acted but a subaltern part.
There are men who manage it far
above me. You say that in cutting me
oft' you cut off its head, and destroy the
germ of future conspiracy and insur-
rection. It is false! This conspiracy
will exist when I am no more. It will
be followed by another more strong,
and rendered still more formidable by
foreign assistance. (Interruption from
the judge.)
" What, my lord, shall you tell me,
on the passage to that scaffold which
tyranny has erected for my murder,
and of which you are only the inter-
mediary executioner, that I am account-
able for all the blood that has and will
be shed in this struggle of the op-
pressed against the opjDressor ? Shall
you tell me this, and must I be so very
a slave as not to repel it ? I, who fear
not to approach the Omnipotent Judge
to answer for the conduct of my whole
life — am I to be appalled and falsified
by a mere remnant of mortality here ?
by you, too, who, if it were possible
to collect all the innocent blood that
you have shed during your unhallowed
ministry into one great reseiwoir, your
lordships might swim in it ! (Inter-
ruption from the judge.) Think not,
my lord, that I say this for the petty
gratification of giving you a trau.sitory
Y32
REIGN OF GEORGE III.
uneasiness. A mau who never yet
raised bis voice to assert a lie, will not
hazard his character with posterity by
advancing a falsehood on a subject so
important. Again I say, that vphat I
have spoken is not intended for your
lordship. It is meant as a consolation
to my countrymen. If there be a true
Irishman present, let my last words
cherish him in the hour of affliction.
(He was here interrupted again by
Lord ISTorbury, who told him that, in-
stead of advancing any thing in his
justification, he continued to speak
nothing but treason and sedition ; said
his (Emmet's) family had produced
men of great talent, and that he him-
self -was not the meanest of them. He
had just then afforded them proof, and
lamented the situation he had reduced
himself to, etc. After thanking the
judge for his compliments to his family,
he proceeded.)
" My lord, I did not mean to utter
treason, I did not mean to use sedi-
tious language. I did not even seek to
exculpate myself. I did only endeavor
to explain the obvious principles on
which I acted, without even so much
as an attemj^t at their application.
Where is the boasted freedom of your
constitution ? Where the impartiality,
mildness, and clemency of your courts
of justice, if a wretched culprit, about
to be deli-^ered over to the executioner,
be not suffered to vindicate his motives
from the aspersions of calumny ? You,
my lord, are the judge ; I am the cul-
prit. But you, my lord, are a man,
and I am auotlier. And as a mau to
whom fame is dearer than life, I will
use the last moments of that life in
rescuing my name and memory from
the foul and odious imputations thrown
upon them. If the spirit of the illus-
trious dead can witness the scenes of f
this transitory life, dear shade of my
venerable father, look down with a vir-
tuous scrutiny on your suffering son,
and see, has he deviated for a moment
from those moral and patriotic lessons
which you taught him, and which he
now dies for ? As to me, my lords, I
have been sacrificed on the altar of
ti-uth and liberty. There have I ex-
tinguished the torch of friendship, and
offered up the idol of my soul, the ob-
ject of my affections. There have I
parted with all that could be dear to
me in this life, and nothing now re-
mains to me but the cold honors of the
grave. My lamp of life is nearly ex-
tinguished. My race is finished, and
the grave opens to receive me. All I
request at my departure from this
world is the charity of its silence. Let
no man write my epitaph. No man
can write my epitaph. And as no
man who knows my motives dares to
vindicate them, so let no man who is
ignorant of them with prejudice asperse
them. When my country takes her
rank amongst the nations of the earth,
then only can my epitaph be written,
and then alone can my character be
vindicated. I have done."
The next day, September 20th, this
remarkable young man, only in his
ROBERT EMMET'S DEATH.
733
twenty-fourth yeai", was * executed in
tlie presence of a large body of specta-
tors. He met bis fate with fortitude,
and in a manner which excited strongly
the sympathies of his countrymen ev-
erywhere. Although a portion of those
engaged with Emmet in this ill-starred
emeute made their escape abroad, there
were eighteen who suffered with him
the penalty of death. Numerous ar-
rests were made, and the prisons were
filled with persons charged with being
concerned in the conspiracy. Dwyer
and his companions in Wicklow sur-
rendered soon after, and the last re-
maining spark of the famous rebellion
of 1798 was finally extinguished.
CHAPTER XLVI.
LOKD IIARDWICKES ADjnNISTRATIOJT. POLICY OF PITT AKD FOX. — CATUOLIC
^ PETITION".
Suspension of habeas corpus act. — Martial law. — Investigation into tho state of Ireland called for. — Pitt again
in power. — Disappointment of the Catholics. — Agitation in Ireland. — Great meeting in Dublin. — Position
of Engliind. — Debate on renewing habeas carpus suspension act. — Arguments advanced. — Catholics deter-
mined to appeal to parliament.— The petition in full.— Action in the House of Lords.— Fox in the Ilouse of
Commons. — Strong vote against the petition. — State of affairs. — Death of William Pitt. — " The ministry of
all the talents."— Revival of spirit among Catholics.— Disputes as to the " Catholic committee."— Duke of
Bedford lord-lieutenant. — Complaints as to his administration. — Disturbances in Ireland. — " The Thresh-
ers," and their lawless course. — Death of Fox. — Meetings in Dublin. — Petition drawn up. — The Maynooth
grant. — Course of the ministry in favor of the Catholics. — Lord Howick's bill. — Opposition of the king.
Bill withdrawn. — Ministers dismissed. — " No popery cabinet" formed. — Prospect in the future.
TO A. D. isor.)
THE recent attempt at insurrection,
narrated in the previous chapter,
caused some surprise and anxiety in
England, and new powers were asked
to be conferred on the lord-lieutenant,
to enable him to meet the supposed
emergency. A warm debate ensued in
parliament, in August, 1803, Avhich was
resumed again in December. The sus-
pension of habeas corpus and the estab-
lishment of martial-law were demanded
by government, on the ground of neces-
sity as well as policy ; the object being
to encourage and strengthen the loyal
part of the community, and to repress
the designs of the disaffected. The
Irish authorities were severely censured
in the course of the debates, and earn-
est attempts were made to defeat the
measures proposed ; but the bills were
nevertheless passed by large majorities.
In Ireland the condition of affairs did
'34
REIGN OF GEOUGE III.
not improve, as was expected ; distrust
and suspicion arose anew, and the old
hostility between Protestants and Cath-
olics was revived with additional bit-
terness.
Early in the year 1804, the conduct
of the Irish government under Lord
Hardwicke was again brought before
parliament. A motion was made in
the House of Commons to go into an
investigation of the state of Ireland,
especially in reference to the late insur-
rection. This motion was supported
by Mr. Canning, who made a pungeut
and telling speech in its favor. Fox
also advocated the investigation ; but
Lord Castlereagh and others strongly
opposed the present movement ; and as
the ministerial majority was large, the
motion was lost.
The events of the present year
(1804) were calculated to disappoint
and irritate the Irish Catholics, who
had based their hopes of relief on the
sentiments avowed by Mr. Pitt. This
distinguished man was restored to
power on the 12th of May, by the
overthrow of the weak ministry under
IVIr. Addington ; but in taking ofEce,
he accepted the condition insisted upon
by the king, that, he should abandon
the question of Catholic emancipation.
The new ministry seem to have thought
it necessary to adopt a policy repulsive
to the Catholics in Ireland ; and there
waa an evident partiality shown to-
wards the Orangemen, and an inclina-
tion to push the Catholics into intem-
perate acts, which might serve to excite
and keep alive suspicion against them.
As might have been expected, thei'e
was a renewal of agitation in Ireland,
and the discontent had been increased
by commercial embarrassments caused
by an exaggerated issue of bank-notes,
and by some partiality believed to be
shown in the distribution of the rev-
enue. Discontent increased towards
the autumn ; and in the month of Sep-
tember a great meeting was held in
Dublin, to take into consideration the
Catholic grievances and petition par-
liament for relief. It was expected
that this meeting would have led to
some violent expression of dissatisfac-
tion ; but Lord Fin gall took the lead,
and under his influence its proceedings
were calm and temperate. The meet-
ing was adjourned from time to time,
at his recommendation, that its final
resolutions might be cautious and de-
liberate.
The government thought or supposed
that these manifestations on the part
of this large and numerous body in
Ireland indicated a new rebellion ; and
the disaffected were certainly encour-
aged to fresh efforts against English
rule. England herself was threatened
by Bonaparte with invasion ; and se-
cret emissaries wei'e again sent into Ire-
land to communicate with whatever re-
mained of the republican party, while
a committee of United Irishmen re-
newed its activity in Paris. This was
assumed by the English ministers as a
sufficient reason for again asking par-
liament to renew the bill for the sus-
HABEAS CORPUS SUSPENDED.
'735
peusioii of the habeas corptis act, a
measure wljicli, uutler all circumstances,
was probably prudent; but it met
witli a very warm opposition in the
House of Commons. The measure was
brought forward on the 8th of JFebru-
ary, 1805; and it was urged that the
bill was rendered necessary by the ex-
istence of considerable disaffection in
Ireland ; by the avowed determination
of tlie French to invade that country,
and the preparations made for that
purpose ; and by the fact of the collec-
tion and association of a number of
Irishmen with the forces designed for
that purpose, and the actual sitting of
a committee of United Irishmen at
Paris, corresponding with the United
Irishmen of Ireland, and stimulating
them to insurrection. The bill was
opposed by several eminent gentlemen,
who demanded, as usual, fuller infor-
mation on the state of Ireland, as a
justification of such a measure.
Pitt, now chancellor of the exchequer,
replied with some warmth. He denied
that it was necessary or customary to
produce such information as the op-
position required, when it had been
thought expedient to suspend for a
time the action of the habeas corpus
act. It was well known that a revolu-
tionary spirit was still widely spread
through Ireland, and this was intended
as a measure of precaution to defeat
the designs of an enemy who was pre-
paring to take advantage of that spirit.
Fox combatc-d the doctrines avowed
by Pitt, and declared that he was not
convinced of the necessity of the rigor-
ous measure adopted by government
towards Ireland during the last war,
and now again asked for.
Although warmly opposed in all its
stages through parliament, the bill was
carried by large majorities. On mo-
tion to go into committee on it, on the
15th of February, 1805, the demand
for inquiry and information was re-
newed, and resisted on the same ground
— that the notoriety of the danger was
a sufficient justification. The opposi-
tion denied entirely any such notoriety.
Dr. Duigenan, in behalf of the govern-
ment side of the question, affirmed that
Irish witnesses could not come with
safety to London to appear before a
committee, without serious risk of as-
sassination ; and that various parts of
Ireland were in such a shocking state,
that plots and conspiracies were all the
time being formed and carried out.
Lord Temple, on the other hand, de-
nounced these statements as libellous
in the extreme, and as coming with a
very ill grace from any one represent-
ing that country in the imperial parlia-
ment.
During these debates, the Catholics
of Ireland continued to meet and dis-
cuss the important question then before
them. In the month of March, 1805,
they finally embodied their grievances
in the form of a petition, which was
signed by the Duke of Shrewsbury,
and Lords Waterford, Wexford, Fin-
gall, Kenmare, Germanstown, South-
well, and others. The ministry were
736
REIGN OF GEORGE III.
in rather an embarrassing position, since
more than one. member had in former
years advocated the cause of the Cath-
olics. Nevertheless, government de-
termined to opjDose the petition to the
extent of their power. Pitt, in conse-
quence of his understanding with the
king, was of no service to the petition-
ers.* They, therefoi'e, turned their at-
tention to Lord Grenville, who consent-
ed to act in their behalf, and on tlie
25th of March laid their petition before
the House of Lords. We give the docu-
ment in full, as well because of the in-
terest it possesses in itself, as because
it shows clearly the grounds on which
the Catholics placed their claims for
emancipation :
" The humble petition of the Roman
Catholics of Ireland, whose names are
hereunto subscribed, on behalf of them-
selves and of others, his majesty's sub-
jects, professing the Koman Catholic
religion,
" Slioweth, That your petitioners are
steadfastly attached to the person, fam-
ily, and government of their most gra-
cious sovereign ; that they are im-
pressed with sentiments of affectionate
gratitude for the benign laws which
have been enacted for ameliorating
their condition during his ^^^I'terual
* Principle and trutli have often been sacrificed to
temporary diiEculties and the exigencies of a particular
occasion ; but they were never surrendered with a
bolder and more mistaken firmness than by Mr. Pitt at
this moment. He might, had he been so determined,
have surpassed the glory of all preceding statesmen ;
he might have spared the empire years of subsequent
reign ; and they contemplate with ra-
tional and decided predilection the ad-
mirable jirinciples of the British con-
stitution.
" Your petitioners most humbly state,
that they have solemnly and publicly
taken the oath by law prescribed to
his majesty's Eoman Catholic subjects,
as tests of political and moral princi-
ples; and they confidently appeal to
the sufferings which they have long
endured, and the sacrifices which they
still make, rather than violate their
consciences (by taking oaths of a reli-
gious or spiritual import, contrary to
their belief), as decisive proofs of their
profound and scrupulous reverence for
the sacred obligation of an oath.
" Your petitioners beg leave to rep-
resent, that by those awful tests they
bind themselves, in the presence of the
All-seeing Deity, whom all classes of
Christians adore, ' to be faithful and
bear true allegiance to their most gra-
cious sovereign lord. King George III.,
and Tiini to defend, to the utmost of
their power, against all conspiracies
and attempts whatsoever, that shall be
made against his person, crown, or dig-
nity ; to do their utmost endeavors to
disclose and make known to his. ma-
jesty and his heirs all treasons and
traitorous conspiracies which may be
misgoverament, distraction, and weakness ; and saved
Ireland from a complication of evils, the terror of crimes,
and a depth of misery which in this world never have
been and never will be fuUy recorded." — Ireland : Hii-
torical and Statistical, by George Lesvis Smyth, vol. iiL
p. 406.
THE CATHOLIC PETITIOISr.
formed against liim or them ; and faith-
fully to maintain, support, and defend,
of their power, the succession to the
crown in his majesty's family against
any person whatsoever,' That, hy
those oaths, they renounce and abjure
obedience and allegiance unto any
other person claiming or pretending a
right to the crown of this realm ; that
they reject and detest, as unchristian
and impious, to believe that it is lawful
in any way to injure any person or
persons whatsoever, under pretence of
their being heretics, and also that un-
christian and impious principle that no
faith is to be kept with heretics ; that
that is no article of their faith ; and
that they renounce, reject, and abjure
the opinion, that princes excommuni-
cated by the pope and council, or by
any authority whatsoever, may be de-
posed or murdered by their subjects,
or by any other person whatsoever;
that they do not believe that the pope
of Rome, or any other foreign prince,
prelate, state, or potentate hath, or
ought to have, any temporal or civil
jurisdiction, power, superiority, or pre-
eminence within this realm ; that they
firmly believe that no act, in itself un-
just, immoral, or wicked, can ever be
justified or excused by or under pre-
tence or color that it was done for the
good of the Church, or in obedience to
any ecclesiastical power whatsoever;
and that it is no article of the Catholic
faith, neither are they thereby required
to believe or profess, that the pope is
infallible, or that they are bound to
any order, in its own nature immoral,
although the pope, or any ecclesiastical
power, sho.uld issue or direct such or-
dei-, but that, on the contrary, they
hold that it would be sinful in them to
pay any respect or obedience thereto ;
that they do not believe that any sin
whatsoever committed by them can be
forgiven at the mere will of any pope,
or of any priest, or of any person or
persons whatsoever, but that any per-
son who receives absolution without a
sincere sorrow for such sin, and a firm
and sincere resolution to avoid future
guilt and to atone to God, so far from
obtaining thereby any remission of his
sin, incurs the additional guilt of vio-
lating a sacrament ; and, by the same
solemn obligation, they are bound and
firmly pledged to defend, to the utmost
of their jiower, the settlement and ar-
rangement of property in their country,
as established by the laws now in be-
ing; that they have disclaimed, disa-
vowed, and solemnly abjure any inten-
tion to subvert the present Chui-ch
establishment, for the purpose of sub-
stituting a Catholic establishment in its
stead ; and that they have also sol-
emnly sworn that they will not exercise
any privilege, to which they are or
may become entitled, to disturb or
weaken the Protestant religion or Prot-
estant government in L-eland.
" Your petitioners most humbly beg
leave to show that, however painful it
is to their feelings that it should still
be thought necessary to exact such tests
from them (and from them alone of all
(38
REIGN OF GEORGE III.
his mnjesty's subjects), tbey can Avitb
perfect truth affirm, that the political
and moral principles, which are thereby
asserted, are not only conformable to
tbeir opinions, but expressly inculcated
by the religion wliicb they profess ;
and your petitioners most humbly trust
that the religious doctrines which per-
mit such tests to be taken will be pro-
nounced by this honorable house to be
entitled to a toleration, not merely par-
tial, but complete, under the happy
constitution and government of this
realm; and that his majesty's Eoman
Catholic subjects, holding those princi-
ples, will be considered as subjects
upon whose fidelity the State may im-
pose the firmest reliance.
" Your petitioners further most hum-
bly show, that twenty-six years have
now elapsed since their most gracious
sovereign and the honorable houses of
parliament in Ireland, by their public
and deliberate act, declared that ' from
the uniform peaceable behavior of the
Roman Catholics of Ireland for a long
series of years, it appeared reasonable
and expedient to relax the disabilities
and incapacities under which they la-
bored ; and that it must tend not only
to the cultivation and improvement of
this kingdom, but to the prosperity
and strength of all his majesty's domin-
ions, that his majesty's subjects of all
denominations should enjoy the bless-
ings of a free constitution, and should
be bound to each other by mutual in-
terest and mutual affection ;' a declara-
tion founded upon unerring principles
of justice and sound policy, Avhich still
remains to be carried into full effect,
although your petitioners are impressed
with a belief that the apprehensions
which retarded its beneficial operation,
previous to the union, cannot exist in
the parliament of the United Kingdom.
" For your petitioners most humbly
show that, by virtue of divers statutes
now in force, his majesty's Roman
Catholic subjects, who form so great a
proportion of the population of L'eland,
and contribute so largely to the re-
sources of the State, do yet labor under
many incapacities, restraints, and pri-
vations, which affect them with peculiar
severity in almost every station of life ;
that more especially they are denied
the capacity of sitting or voting in
either of the honorable houses of par-
liament, the manifold evils consequent
upon which incapacity they trust it is
unnecessary to unfold and enumerate
to this honorable house.
" They are disabled from holding or
exercising (unless by a special dispen-
sation) any corporate office whatsoever
in the cities or towns in which they re-
side ; they are incapacitated and dis-
qualified from holding or exercising
the offices of sheriffs and sub-sheriffs,
and various offices of trust, honor, and
emolument in the State, in his ma-
jesty's military and naval service, in
their native land.
" Your petitioners, declining to enter
into the painful detail of the many in-
capacities and inconveniences avowedly
inflicted by those statutes upon his
THE CATHOLIC PETITION.
T39
majesty's Roman Catliolic subjects, beg
leave, however, must earnestly to so-
licit the attention of this honorable
house to the humiliating and ignomin-
ious system of exclusion, reproach, and
suspicion which those statutes generate
and keep alive.
"For your petitioners most humbly
show that, in consequence of the hostile
spirit thereby sanctioned, their hopes
of enjoying even the privileges which,
through the benignity of their most
gracious sovei-eign they have been ca-
pacitated to enjoy, are nearly altogether
frustrated, insomuch that they are, in
effect, shut out from almost all the hon-
ors, dignities, and offices of trust and
emolument in the State, from rank
and distinction in his majesty's array
and navy, and even from the lowest
situations and franchises in the several
cities and corporate towns throughout
his majesty's dominions.
" And your petitioners severely feel
that this unqualified interdiction of
those of their communion from all mu-
nicipal situations, from the franchise of
all guilds and corporations, and from
the patronage and benefits annexed to
those situations, is an evil not terminat-
ing in itself; for they beg leave to
state that, by giving an advantage over
those of their communion to others, by
whom such situations are exclusively
possessed, it establishes a species of
qualified monoply, universally operat-
ing in their disfavor, contrary to the
spirit, and highly detrimental to the
freedom of trade.
" Your petitioners likewise severely
feel that his majesty's Roman Catholic
subjects, in consequence of their exclu-
sion from the offices of sheriff and sub
sheriff, and of the hostile spirit of those
statutes, do not fully enjoy certain
other inestimable privileges of the Brit-
ish constitution, which the law has
most jealously maintained and secured
to their fellow-subjects.
" Your petitioners most humbly beg
leave to solicit the attention of this
honorable house to the distinction
which has conceded the elective and
denies the representative franchise to
one and the same class of his majesty's
subjects ; which detaches from property
its proportion of political power, under
a constitution whose vital principle is
the union of the one with the other ;
which closes every avenue of legalized
ambition against those who must be
presumed to have great credit and in-
fluence among the mass of the popula-
tion of the country ; which refuses to
peers of the realm all share in the legis-
lative representation, either actual or
virtual, and renders the liberal profes-
sion of the law to Roman Catholics a
mere object of pecuniary traffic, de-
spoiled of its hopes and of its honors.
" Your petitioners further most hum-
bly show that the exclusion of so nu-
merous and efficient a portion of his
majesty's subjects, as the Roman Cath-
olics of the realm, from civil honors
and offices, and from- advancement in
his majesty's army and navy, actually
impairs, in a very material degree, the
i40
REIGN OF GEORGE IH.
most valuable resources of the British
empire, by impeding Lis majesty's gen-
eral service, stifling the most honorable
and powerful incentive to civil and
military merit, and unnecessarily re-
stricting the crown, which encourages
good subjects to promote the public
welfare, and excite them to meritorious
actions by a well-regulated distribution
of public honor and reward.
"Your petitioners beg leave most
humbly to submit, that those manifold
incapacities, restraints, and. j^rivatious
are absolutely repugnant to the liberal
and comprehensive jiriuciples recog-
nized by their most gracious sovereign
and the parliament of Ireland; that
they are impolitic restraints upon his
majesty's prerogative; that they are
hurtful and vexatious to the feelings
of a loyal and generous people ; and
that the total abolition of them will
be found not only compatible with, but
highly conducive to the perfect security
of every establishment, religious or po-
litical, now existing in this realm.
" For your petitioners most explicitly
declare that they do not seek or wish,
in the remotest degree, privileges, im-
munities, possessions, or revenues ap-
pertaining to the bishops and clergy of
the Protestant religion, as by law es-
tablished, or to the churches committed
to their charge, or to any of them, the
sole object of your petitioners being an
equal participation, upon equal terms
with their fellow-subjects, of the full
benefits of the British laws and consti-
tution.
" Your petitioners beg leave most
humbly to observe that, although they
might well and justly insist upon the
firm and unabated loyalty of his ma-
jesty's Roman Catholic subjects to their
most gracious sovereign, their profound
respect for the legislature and their
dutiful submission to the laws; yet
they most especially rest their humble
claims and expectations of relief upon
the clear and manifest conduciveness of
the measure which they solicit to the
general and permanent tranquillity,
strength, and happiness of the British
empire ; and your petitioners, enter-
taining no doubt of its final accomplish-
ment, from its evident justice and
utility, do most solemnly assure this
honorable house that their earnest so-
licitude for it, at this peculiar crisis,
arises principally from their anxious
desire to extinguish all motives to dis-
union, and all means of exciting dis-
content.
" For your petitioners humbl}^ state
it as their decided opinion, that the
enemies of the British empire, who
meditate the subjugation of Ireland,
have no hope of success save in the
disunion of its inhabitants; and there-
fore it is that your petitioners are
deeply anxious at this moment that a
measure should be accomjjlished which
will annihilate the principles of reli-
gious animosity, and animate all descrip-
tions of his majesty's subjects in an
enthusiastic defence of the best con-
stitution that has ever yet been estab-
lished.
DEBATE AND ACTIOX OX THE PETITION.
(41
" Your petitioners, therefore, most
huml)ly presume to express tLeir earn-
est but respectful hope that this hon-
orable house will, in its wisdom and
liberality, deem the several statutes
now in force against them no longer
necessary to be retained ; and that his
majesty's loyal and dutiful subjects,
professing the Roman Catholic religion,
may be effectually relieved from the
operation of those statutes ; and that so
they may be restored to the full enjoy-
ment of the benefits of the British con-
stitution, and to every inducement of
attachment to that constitution, equally
and in common with their fellow-sub-
jects throughout the British empire."
The petition just given was not
brought up for direct consideration
until May, 1805. The claims of the
Catholics were warmly advocated by
Lord Grenville, Earl Spencer, and
others; they were opposed by Lord
Redesdale, the bishop of Dui-ham, the
earl of Limerick, and others ; and after
a long, animated, and full debate. Lord
Grenville's motion was rejected by a
majority of more than three to one.
In the House of Commons, Fox made
an eloquent speech in support of the
claims of the petitioners. Grattan also,
who was now a member of the imperial
parliament, jileaded earnestly and for-
cibly in favor of concession to the rea-
sonable demands of the Catholics ; but
despite all the eloquence and earnest-
ness of the speakers in favor of the
petition, the house refused to accede to
their wishes. Three hundred and thir-
ty-six votes were given against the
motion, and only one hundred and
twenty-four in its support. Thus, for
the present, at least, a quietus was
put upon the discussion in parliament
of the question of Catholic emancipa-
tion.
Although matters glided along ap-
parently in their usual coui-se, there
was beneath the surface more or less
discontent and disappointment at the
condition of affairs ; and the prominent
leaders among the Catholics were set-
tling down in the determination to
continue to agitate the question of
their claims until some favorable result
was reached. Lord Ilardwicke gained
considerable popularity in Ireland, by
taking ground in opposition to certain
measures of the prime-minister. This
led to a determination, on the part of
the home government, that he should
retire from office. The decease, how-
ever, of that eminent man, who had so
long guided and controlled England
and her policy, especially with regard
to continental affairs, caused a number
of unexpected changes, some of which
materially affected Ireland. William
Pitt died on the 23d of January, ISOG ;
and after a brief interval a liberal min-
istry, " the ministry of all the talents,"'
was formed by a coalition between
Lord Grenville and Fox. Ponsonby
was made lord-chancellor, and John
Philpot Curran, the defender of the
United Irishmen, became master of the
rolls. Lord Ilardwicke was superseded,
and the duke of Bedford, in March of
74:
REIGX OF GEORGE III.
this year, went to Ireland as lord lieu-
tenant.
The spirit of the Catholics began to
revive. Younger and more energetic
men were coming forward ; among
whom Daniel O'Connell soon became
the recognized chief. Agitation was
renewed, and the question of the repeal
of the Union was strenuously urged by
Irish patriots. . Meetings were held in
Publin, and an effort was made to get
up a petition in favor of repeal; but
other counsels prevailed, and the design
was postponed. The new ministry,
however, made itself quite popular in
Ireland, by allowing the liaheas corpus
suspension act to expire without re-
newal, and by removing Lord Eedes-
dale, who was considered very obnox-
ious to the Irish Catholics, from the
oiBce of lord-chancellor.
It was unfortunate at this time that
dissensions found place among the lead-
ing men of the Catholic party. Dis-
putes, more ardent than wise, occurred
on the subject of the " Catholic com-
mittee," and its position as represent-
ing and guiding the Catholic part of
the community. Lord French and
John Keogh were finally agreed upon
as the principal men to take the lead
in support of the cause they all wished
to advance. The duke of Bedford was
welcomed as usual in Dublin by the
Roman Catholics; but they soon began
to complain of remissness on the part
of his administration. They wished for
a change in the magistracy of the isl-
and, which consisted largely of men
with strong Orange feelings and views,
and who, it was asserted, denied full
and equal justice to the Catholic, and
screened the Protestant in a course of
outrage and insult towards his neighbor.
The government, however, showed no
great disposition to accede to their
wishes. Little, indeed, had been done
to restore quietness to Ireland, and agi-
tation and agrarian outrage prevailed
everywhere. The summer of 1806
was marked by no occurrence of much
importance in Ireland ; yet there were
many indications of popular discontent.
In the city of Armagh, where the Lim-
erick militia was quartered, very alarm-
ing symptoms of discontent displayed
themselves on several different days in
July. Most of the men of that regi-
ment were Catholics; and the yeomanry
of the city of Armagh, and the greater
part of the townsmen, who were Prot-
estants and mostly Orangemen, had ar-
rayed themselves on one side, and held
provoking and insulting language to-
wards them. The militia drew up, and
were joined by most of the Catholics of
Armagh ; but providentially they com-
mitted no further excesses than some
personal assaults, in which many were
severely wounded. An affray of a sim-
ilar kind occurred at Tullamore, but
was repressed without serious results.
The peasantry in the west indulged in
tumultuous proceedings, especially in
regard to the exactions of the tithe
proctoi-s ; and the " Threshers," as they
called themselves, formed a sort of con-
federacy in carrying out their plans.
-AHBELLjiSON.
MEASURES OF CONCESSION.
Y43
Sometimes they met in bodies of sev-
eral liundi-eds, dressed iu wliite sliirts
I or frocks; but they were easily dis-
persed by the military. As the win-
ter approached, these agrarian insur-
gents became more active, and it wjis
found necessary to pursue rigorous
measures against them. Many were
arrested and committed to prison ; and
a special commission having been is-
sued for their trial, and some of them
being hanged, these executions put a
stop to their lawless proceedings.
The death of Fox, in September,
1806, threw a damper upon the hopes
of many among the Catholics; but
there was a strong disposition to press
their claims at once. Frequent meet-
ings were held in Dublin during the
months of January and February, 1807,
and communications were had with the
Irish ministers ; and it was finally re-
solved that a petition should be drawn
up and presented to parliament during
the session then commencing. This
petition was a moderate and temperate
one. The petitioners complained that
they were excluded from many of the
most important offices of trust, power,
and emolument in the country, whereby
they were made to appear like aliens
and strangers in their native land ; that
not less than four-fifths of the inhabit-
ants of Ireland, by the system of ex-
clusion which had been pursued, were
made, as it were, a distinct people, and
placed iu a position of degrading infe-
riority towards the rest ; and they rep-
resented "that, from the uniform and
peaceable behavior of the Catholics of
Ireland for a long series of years, it ap-
peared reasonable and expedient to re-
lax the disabilities and incapacities
under which they labor ; and that it
must tend not only to the cultivation
and improvement of this kingdom, but
to the prosperity and strength of all
his majesty's dominions, that his ma-
jesty's subjects of all denominations
should enjoy the blessings of a free
constitution, and should be bound to
each other by mutual interest and mu-
tual affection." The earl of Fiugall
and Mr. Grattan were appointed to
present the petition to the two houses
of parliament.
The ministry were somewhat embar-
rassed on this question, the king being,
in reality, as reluctant as ever to
yield a point. It was proposed in
parliament to grant Maynooth College
£13,000. Grattan advocated the grant,
and it was carried ; but Mr. Perceval
and othei'S tried to have the amount
greatly reduced. It was felt that
something must be done in favor of
concession, and the ministry resolved
to begin with the army and navy de-
partments of the public service. On
the 5th of March, 1807, Lord Ilowick
moved for leave to bring in a bill to
open the naval and military services
indiscriminately to all his majesty's
subjects Avho should take an oath to
be thereby prescribed. In recommend-
ing this measure to the house. Lord
Ilowick urged that, at a season of dif-
ficulty and danger such as then existed,
744
REIGN OF GEORGE III.
when it was desirable to unite every
heart and hand in the cause of the
country, it was unwise to exclude from
that union so large a portion of the
people as the Catholics of Great Britain
and Ireland, amounting to nearly a
fourth of the whole population of the
empire, and to prevent them from shar-
ing in the danger and the glory of their
countrymen. Various arguments of
expediency as well as justi-ce were ably
urged by the mover; but the opposi-
tion, led by Mr. Perceval, was very
strong. King Geoi-ge III., though at
first assenting, was roused ; and peti-
tions against the bill came from various
parts of the country. The ministers
soon after withdrew the bill ; and the
king having required of them a written
pledge not to address him again on
the subject, they refused, and the re-
sult vi'as their dismissal from office.
A strong anti-Catholic ministry was
formed — the " no-popery cabinet," as it
was designated — with the duke of Port-
land at its head. Mr. Canning and
Lord Castlereagh were the principal
secretaries of state ; and so far as ap-
pearances went, there was little room
to hope for attention to the claims of
the Catholics, as presented in their late
petition to parliament.
CHAPTER XLVII.
PROGRESS or AFFAIRS. DUKE OF EICHMOND S ADJirNISTRATIOK.
Opposition of the king. — Presentation of Catholic petition postponed. — Duke of Richmond, lord-lieutenant.—
, Insurrection act. — Sir Arthur Wollesley. — State of Ireland. — The veto question. — Coarse of the Catholics.—
Agitation renewed. — Meeting in Dublin. — Orange lodges and doings. — English Roman Catholics on veto
question. — Orattan's efforts. — Government policy. — Question of the veto in 1810. — Catholic committee's
circular. — Extracts from. — Movement for repeal of the Union. — Meeting in Dublin. — O'Connell's speech. —
Convention act enforced against Catholic committee. — Proceedings of government. — " Aggregate meet-
ings."— Petition to prince regent proposed. — Catholic board organized. — Mr. (Sir Robert) Peel, chief seere-
tary in Ireland. — His policy and acts. — Famous parliamentary debate in 1812.— Position of Ireland at this
date. — Earnest working for the cause. — The prince regent said to be in favor, of the Roman Catholic
claims. — Hopes and expectations excited. — Ministry denounced. — Protestants roused. — Feelings and views
manifested. — Various acts of outrage in Ireland. — The state of things adverse to Catholic claims. — Mr.
Perceval assassinated. — Result in general.
(A. D. 1807 TO A. D. 1813.)
^IIE decided opposition manifested there was no indulgence to be looked
-*- by King George III. to the claims
of the Catholics made it evident that
for by them at his hands. Their only
course henceforth seemed to be to agi
JUSTICE TO IRELAND DEMANDED.
745
tate persistently, and by steady, judi-
cious efforts to compe], in due time,
attention to their just rights and priv-
As stated on a previous "page (see p.
743), Grattan had been asked to jire-
sent the petition drawn up by the
Catholic committee. But the change
in the ministry and in parliament, and
the bitter contentions in the House of
Commons, as well as the acrimony of
the public press, rendered necessary
reconsideration and some further ac-
tion. A general meeting was held in
Dublin, April 18, 1807, the earl of Fin-
gall presiding ; at which it was under-
stood by letter from Mr. Grattan, that
in his opinion it would be inexpedi-
ent to bring the Catholic question at
present before parliament. Mr. Keogh,
O'Connell, and others advised this
course ; at the same time it was warmly
urged by several gentlemen that the
petition be presented at once, without
further delay. The resolution proposed
by Mr. Keogh prevailed, and under the
circumstances it was judged best to
publish an address explanatory of the
principles and motivas of the Catholic
body in regard to that which they
were now seeking to attain.
On the 19th of April, 1807, the duke
of Richmond arrived in Dublin, as the
successor of the duke of Bedford in the
lord-lieutenancy. Sir Arthur Wellesley
(afterwards duke of Wellington) was
chief secretary, and Lord Manners lord-
chancellor. The new parliament met
in June, and Sir Arthur Wellesley
brought in a bill, early in July, to sup-
press insurrection and prevent disturb-
ance of public peace in Ireland. The
debates were long and ardent, and the
offensive and oppressive features of the
act were pointed out by a number of
speakers, particularly Sheridan. It
was passed, however, as a matter of
course, and was followed by other acts
of less interest and importance. On
the 14th of August, Sheridan made an
eloquent speech in favor of a motion to
go into an inquiry as to the state of
Ireland. " Justice," he said, " was all
that Ireland asked for or looked for at
their hands ; if they were prepared to
do justice to Ireland, they would gain
an ally more faithful and more import-
ant than any they had lost upon the
continent." The motion was nega-
tived, and parliament prorogued with-
out further notice of Ireland and her
claims.
During the autumn of 1807, Ireland
was in a state of agitation. Meetings
were held, resolutions were passed, all
looking to the . great end of emancipa-
tion. In January, 1808, a meeting was
held in Dublin, and a petition drawn
up, which was intrusted to Grattan to
present, as usual.
The veto question now came promi-
nently into notice. Lord Fingall, on
behalf of the Irish Catholic body, as-
serted their willingness to allow the
crown to exercise a direct control in
the appointment of bishops and clergy.
Dr. Milner sustained the statements of
Lord Fingall, and was authorized to
746
REIGN OF GEORGE III.
say that the Irisli bishops would agree
to the negative or veto power of the
government in nomination to bishoprics
in Ireland. When, then, Grattan, in
May, 1808, brought forward the Cath-
olic petition, he stated that he was
able to assure the house explicitly that
the Catholics were ready and willing
to concede to the crown a veto on the
election of bishops. Mr. Perceval, on
the part of the ministry, opposed the
petition, notwithstanding this assurance,
and it was rejected. Lord Grenville,
in the House of Lords, discussed the
veto question, declaring, among other
things, that it was Pitt's view and de-
sire to have some such arrangement as
that " the king should have a negative
in the nomination of those of the Cath-
olic clergy who are allowed to exercise
episcopal jurisdiction, and no one should
act in that capacity without the appro-
bation of the crown."
Dr. Milner subsequently protested
against the use made of his name in
this matter ; and the consequence was
a division among the .Catholic party,
many of whom were in favor of the
negative power which was to be given
to the crown by this suggested meas-
ure, while the greater number were as
\7armly opposed to it. Thus a contro-
versy arose, which lasted for several
years. It produced an immediate agi-
tation among the Catholic body in Ire-
land ; and the bishops met in synod in
Dublin, on the 14th and 15th of Sep-
tember, and passed resolutions : " That
it is the decided opinion of the Roman
Catholic prelates of Ireland that it is
inexpedient to introduce any alteration
in the canonical mode hitherto observed
in the nomination of the Irish Roman
Catholic bishops, which mode long ex-
perience has proved unexceptionably
wise and salutary. That the Roman
Catholic prelates pledge themselves to
adhere to the rules by which they
have been hitherto uniformly guided —
namely, to recommend to his holiness
only such persons as are of unimpeach-
able loyalty and peaceable conduct."
Other meetings were held, and the pre-
vailing opinion among the Catholics in
Ireland appears to have been against
the veto.
During the present session (1808)
various mattera were urged upon
parliament with reference to Ireland.
Prison abuses of a disgraceful and
shocking character were pointed out ;
petitions against the tithe system were
very numerous and pressing ; and the
government gave a reluctant promise
to look into the subject.
The agitation against the Catholic
claims, which was encouraged by the
government, and a feeling of resent-
ment against the whole body of Cath-
olics on account of promised indul
gences from government, produced an
irritable state of mind and temper in
the country. In several districts hostil-
ity broke out into serious collisious, at-
tended by loss of life ; and the Orange
yeomanry were guilty of outrage of a
very shameful description, wherever and
whenever they had an opportunity.
EXCITED STATE OF FEELING.
747
In May, 1809, tlie Catholics held a
large meeting in Dublin, and earnestly
debated the expediency of petitioning
parliament at its present session. The
majoi'ity were in favor of pressing for-
ward, and never, even in appearance,
faltering or giving up their claims. The
Catholics also gathered fresh vigor by
reviving the Catholic committee. Their
activity provoked the government, and
was responded to by an increase of
violent language in the Orange lodges,
which, reckoning on the countenance of
the ministers, acted in a manner which
was most insulting and aggravating to
their opponents, and which sometimes
led to lamentable outbreaks. In fact,
Orangeism was at this moment in-
creasing rapidlj^, and a great number
of new lodges had been established
during the past and present year. This
extension was attributed pai'tly to the
exertions of a meeting of deputies from
all the Orange lodges in the autumn of
1808, in Dublin. Several outrages
which were perpetrated by the Orange-
men in different parts of the country
during the summer of 1809, increased
the popular irritation. At Enniscor-
thy a magistrate had rendered himself
obnoxious to the Orangemen by his
tolerant feelings ; and at the celebration
of their festival in July they cut down
a tree and erected it in the market-
place, with an effigy of the magistrate
hanging to its branches. This insult
L^ to a riot, in which many persons
were severely wounded. At Enniskil-
len an Orangeman was executed for the
murder of a Catholic, and it was found
necessary to guard him at the execu-
tion with a strong military force against
the Orange yeomanrj^ who had mani-
fested an intention to rescue him. A
similar feeling was strongly manifested
in many places.
The question of the veto aroused
considerable feeling in England early
in 1810. At a meeting of the English
Roman Catholics in London, on the 1st
of February, the following resolution
was adopted, and subsequently added
to the English Catholic petition to
parliament. This resolution, it will be
seen, was expressed in very general
terms. It stated, "that the English
Roman Catholics, in soliciting the at-
tention of parliament to their petition,
are actuated, not more by a sense of
the hardships and disabilities under
which they labor, than by a desire to
secure on the most solid foundation the
peace and harmony of the British em-
pire ; and to obtain for themselves op-
portunities of manifesting, by the most
active exertions, their zeal and interest
in the common cause in which their
country is engaged for the maintenance
of its freedom and independence ; and
that they are firmly persuaded that
adequate provision for the maintenance
of the civil and religious establishments
of this kingdom may be made consis-
tently with the strictest adherence, on
their part, to the tenets and discipline
of the Roman Catholic religion ; and
that any arrangement founded on this
basis of mutual satisfoction and secu-
us
REIGN OF GEORGE III.
rity, and extending to tbem tlie full
enjoyment of the civil constitution of
their country, will meet with their
grateful concurrence." The English
Catholics wished to prevail upon their
Irish brethren to accept of this clause,
but in vain ; and it was urged that
they were wavering in their allegiance
to the pope. The subject was discussed
in several meetings of the Catholics in
Ireland during the earlier months of
1810, and the j^roposal was everywhere
rejected. In the meanwhile liberal
sentiments towards the Catholics were
gaining ground among the Protestants,
and a large meeting in the county of
Tyrone, in the beginning of April,
which was attended by many of the
Oi-angemen in that county, passed a
series of resolutions in favor of eman-
cipation.
Grattan, in making his annual mo-
tion in favor of petition from the
Catholics, spoke of the veto, and
fraukly stated that, in his judgment,
some proviso of the kind was called for,
and was just and reasonable. The
Irish Catholics, however, much as they
appreciated his devotion to their inter-
ests, did not approve his views as ex-
pressed in the House of Commons. A
resolution was passed by them, March
2, 1810, stating that, "as Irishmen and
as Catholics, we never can consent to
any dominion or control whatsoever
over the aj^pointment of our prelates
on the part of the crown or the ser-
vants of the crown." Later in the ses-
sion, in May, Grattan ex^Dressed him-
self more fully on the same subject.
He was ably supported in his argu-
ments and appeals on behalf of the
Catholics and their claims; but to no
practical purpose. The petition was
rejected.
Government, however, thought it ex-
pedient to relax a little of their rigor-
ous policy, and early in June a biU
was brought into parliament to repeal
the Irish Insurrection Act (see p. Y45).
This was done on the ground that the
authorities felt that they could govern
the country without it, and were strong
enough to maintain peace and public
tranquillity without continuing in force
a law justified only by the most urgent
necessity. Other acts were passed for
preventing improper persons from hav-
ing arms in Ireland; for preventing
the administration of unlawful oaths,
and the protection of magistrates ; for
regulating trade and management of
the revenue, etc.
The question of the veto gave rise to
bitter discussions among the Catholics
during the year 1810, from the circum-
stance that some of their ablest advo-
cates in parliament, such as Lord Gren-
ville, Grattan, and Ponsonby, had not
only advocated that measure, but de-
clared that they considered it a neces-
sary condition. One of the most vio-
lent and unflinching writers against the
veto at this time was Dr. Miluer, the
agent in England of the Catholic pre-
lates, who had at first been in favor of
it. His earnest opposition to it was
rewarded by the thanks of the Irish
GENERAL COMMITTEE'S ADDRESS.
749
Catliolic bishops, conveyed in a resolu-
tion passed in a synod held at the end
of February, 1810. A few days after-
wards the Catholic committee passed a
resolution condemning the veto. Many,
however, were not only laboring to
obtain the consent of the Catholics to
the veto, but they. intrigued to pro-
mote divisions and disputes among
the Catholic body; and pamphlets
and newspaper articles were circulated
largely, and were full of recriminations
and personal abuse. The committee
exerted itself to restore and maintain
unanimity; and at the end of July a
circular was prepared and sent to all
the leading Catholics in Ireland. An
extract or two will show its force and
pertinency :
" The general committee of the Cath-
olics of Ireland, having consulted to-
gether upon the best interests of Cath-
olic freedom, deem it proper to address
the following considerations to their
Catholic fellow-sufferers at this imj^ort-
ant juncture. It is notorious that the
Catholic cause has, within the last two
years, gained considerably upon the
public mind in Great Britain, as well
as in Ireland. The nature of public
events, their consequences, the growing
exigencies of the empire, the policy
nay, the necessity of domestic concord
and general conciliation, have wrought
a happy change in the minds of our
fellow-subjects. But still more to the
public discussion of the Catholic sub
ject, which has so frequently occupied
the press aud the parliament, and called
forth beneficial inquiries aud luminous
reasonings, enforced by the high aud
ncreasing authorities of the best aud
ablest men in the empire, may the
Catholics justly attribute the immense
progress which their cause has lately
made.
" However, though the argument has
triumphed, its practical results in our
favor are yet to be obtained. The
fruits of victory may be lost through
the impolicy of the victors. Apathy
and lethargy may prove as ruinous on
the one hand, as indiscreet energy on
the other. Our fellow-subjects, though
na longer deaf to the justice of our
cause, or blind to the wisdom of con-
cession, have yet much to learn. They
are not yet aware of the extent and va-
riety of Catholic sufferings; the mental
and personal thraldom in which we are
bound ; the immense means of continual
annoyance, insult, and contumely to
whicb we and our families are exposed.
Nor are they yet competent to appre-
ciate the soreness, irritation, and im-
patience which consequently exist in
Ireland, or to calculate the probable
mischiefs and disastrous effects which
result from such an order of things, and
may possibly soon become irremediable.
The Catholics alone can enlighten their
fellow-subjects, by disclosing and fre-
quently i-epeating the necessary infor-
mation, and pouring forth fresh remon-
strances. The committee, far from pre-
suming to dictate, or even to urge any
specific proceeding to the wisdom of
their fellow-Catholics, desire nothing
T50
REIGN OF GEORGE III.
more ardently than to promote free
and serious discussion amongst all.
Witli unaffected earnestness and honest
zeal in pursuit of emancipation, they
are conscious that their countrymen will
give them credit for the honorable and
worthy motives which actuated them.
Eveiy honest and reflecting Catholic feels
with anguish his abject depression, his
systematic vassalage under the existing
penal laws. His fairest hopes are de-
pressed ; his industry circumscribed ;
his most honorable exertions frustrated ;
his energies paralyzed ; his person, fame,
and property, and those of his family,
exposed to the mercies of uncontrolled
oligarchy ; his servitude not merely
base already, but in annual hazard of
fresh degradation ; the passing genera-
tion withering away in inglorious tor-
por ; the rising youth bereft of all
happy promise — of all incentive to
laudable industry — of all excitement to
honorable deeds.
" The committee hope that Catholics
will take frequent opportunities, and
as early as possible, of holding local
meetings for these purposes ; and there,
unfettered by external authority and
unaftected by dictation, apply their
most serious consideration to subjects
of common and weighty concern with
the candor and directness of mind
which appertain to the national char-
acter. The establishment of perma-
nent boards, holding communication
with the genei-al committee in Dublin,
has been deemed in several counties
highly useful to the interests of the
Catholic cause. Nothing is more neces-
sary amongst us than self-agency ; it
will produce that system of coherence
of conduct which must insure success.
"In this solemn appeal to the Cath-
olic mind of Ireland, the committee
feel a deep and natural anxiety ; they
wish to collect and follow the senti-
ments of their fellow Catholics, but
they wish that those sentiments may
spring from as general and as active
a discussion as circumstances will per-
mit ; measui'es grounded upon such dis-
cussion must be honest, most probably
will be judicious, and cannot possibly
be prejudicial.
" With a fellowship in suffering and
in afi'ection, in sorrow and in hope,
with common sympathy, common pros-
pects, and common wishes, in perfect
union with you and every other up-
right Catholic, the general committee
trust to your personal indulgence for
their address, and rely upon your good
sense and feeling for its liberal recep-
tion.
" Upon you and other Catholics, co
operating effectually at the present
time, and openly avowing your senti-
ments, collected by convenient meetings
for the purpose, the eyes of the com-
mittee Avill remain watchfully fixed.
With due exertions, a few months may,
perhaps, crown our joint efforts with
success.
" Signed, by order,
" DANIEL O'CONNELL, Chairman."
In the summer of 1810 a movement
was made to see if something could not
COURSE OF THE GOVERNMENT.
751
be clone towards effecting a repeal of
the Union. Several members of the
corporation of Dublin, looking upon
the question as one in wbich the com-
mercial prosperity of Ireland was deeply
concerned, determined to bave prepared
a petition to parliament in behalf of
repeal. The high-sheriffs were asked
to call a meeting of the freemen and free-
holders of the city, " to prepare an hum-
ble petition to his majesty and the par-
liament, praying for a repeal of the Act
of Union, as, in common with all our un-
biased countrymen, Ave look upon that
act as the root and origin of all our
misfortunes." One of the sheriffs re
fused; the other agreed to call the
meeting. It assembled on the 18th of
September, 1810, when Sir James Red-
dell, the sheriff* presided. An im-
mense assemblage was gathered, and
the business formally entered upon.
The petition, as prepared, was read and
agreed to, O'Connell making a spirited
address in its favor, and condemning
the Union and its results in the most
unmitigated terms. IFis speech was
printed and spread abroad by the
thousand all over the island, and it
certainly made a deep impression upon
his countrymen. The repeal petition
was forcibly written, and urged the
point at issue with great cogency aud
earnestness, affirming, in conclusion,
" that to the repeal of the legislative
union can the people of this country
look, as the only efficient means of \)Vo-
curing its present relief, of securing its
future prosperity, and securing its per-
manent connection with Great Britain."
The time, however, had not yet arrived
when this subject could receive its full
share of attention. Just now, other
and more immediately pressing topics
engaged the thoughts of the Catholics
in Ireland.
The government looked with some
concern upon the proceedings of the
Catholic committee, and it was resolved
to enforce the Convention act (passed
in 1T93) against that body. The mat-
ter was allowed to rest for a brief pe-
riod. Lord Fi'ench and others declaring
that they were only individuals met to
petition parliament in a legal way ; but
in March, 1811, Mr. Ponsonby brought
the subject before the House of Com-
mons, and some very severe remarks
were made on the conduct of the Irish
government. In the course of the ses-
sion several other warm debates took
place on Irish affairs ; but all attempts
to obtain relief or investigation were
overwhelmed by the ministerial major-
ities.
On the .31st of May, Grattan brought
the Catholic petition before the House
of Commons, but in vain. Mr. Hutch-
inson announced his intention of mov
ing for the repeal of the Convention
act; and on the 11th of June, Mr.
Parnell repeated his motion for an in-
quiry into the Irish tithe system.
The Catholic committee having re-
solved to hold a general convention of
that body, delegates were chosen fi'om
the several counties to meet in Dublin.
This brouGrht the Catholics within the
752
REIGN OF GEORGE III.
scope of the Convention act, and the
magisti-ates were directed to enforce
tlae law. A number of arrests were
made of persons acting or being elected
as delegates. When, on the 19th of
Octobei-, the delegates, to the number
of three hundred, met in Dublin, the
magistrates interfered, and would have
proceeded to further severity had not
the meeting dispersed in quiet. Later
in the season, December 23d, the ma-
gistrates broke up the meeting entirely.
The government also proceeded to take
a more stringent course. In November
the attorney-general filed information
against the earl of Fiugall for jiresicling
over Catholic meetings, against several
persons for attending them, and against
the proprietors of the " Freeman's Jour-
nal" and the " Correspondent," for pub-
lishing reports of their proceedings.
On the 23d of November, the attorney-
general applied for an attachment against
Mr. Magee, the proprietor of the " Dub-
lin Evening Post," for a paragraph in
that paper relating to the recent prose-
cutions, which the attorney-general said
tended to interfere with the course
of justice. He at the same time an-
nounced that the court had come to
the opinion that the Catholic commit-
tee was an illegal assembly, and that
the prosecutions would not be persisted
in if that body oifered no further re-
sistance. Immediately afterwards the
Irish Catholics gave a grand dinner in
Dublin, which was attended not only
by some of the principal Catholic no-
blemen, but by many distinguished
Protestants, among whom were Grattan
and Curran. Early in the year 1812,
it may be here mentioned, the govern
ment carried forward the prosecutions,
which residted in several convictions,
sufficient to demonstrate the power
and determination of the public author-
ities on this subject.
An "aggregate meeting," as it was
very aptly called, came together on the
26th of December, 1811, Lord Fingall
being in the chair. A petition to the
prince regent was determined on; strong
resolutions, condemnatory of the duke of
Richmond's government, were passed ;
the general committee was dissolved ;
and the " Catholic Board" established in
its stead. The principle on which this
board was formed was to have a coun-
cil always in action, but without any
delegative power such as was forbidden
in the Convention act, and to get up
" aggregate meetings" for the purpose
of arousing and informing the people.
During 1812, Mr. (afterwards Sir
Robert) Peel became chief secretary
of Ireland, an office which he held,
much to the disgust of the Irish, for six
years. Peel had little or no sympathy
with the Catholic claims and demands,
and his sujierior abilities were devoted
to the maintenance of the English su-
premacy, and the carrying out of the
laws against all offenders. He avowed
plainly that, so far as he was concerned,
the Roman Catholics should remain as
they were, and the Protestant ascend-
ency not at all be lowered or dimin-
ished. Some Catholic writers speak of
DEBATE IN PARLIAMENT.
155
Pet'l .lud his measures with exceeding
severity, and affirm that, during his
secretarj'ship, "the business of spies,
informers, and police flourished." They
denounced his attendants as made up
of " spies, informers, expectants, phvce-
hunters, Orange magistrates, Orange
judges. Orange sheriffs, Orange juries.
Orange attorney-generals ;" and they
tell us "that his iniquitous organiza-
tion kei"»t Ireland for twenty years in a
state which no description can picture."
Other writers admit his great abilities
in various steps which he took during
his term of office. " After a half cen-
tury's experience," remarks McGee, " we
may safely say that the Irish constabu-
lary have shown themselves to be a
most valuable police, and as little de-
serving pojiular ill-will as any such
body can ever expect to be ; but they
were judged very diff'erently during the
secretaryship of their founder ; for at
that time, being new and intrusive,
they may, no doubt, have deserved
many of the hard and bitter things
which were generally said of them."*
An earnest and long debate, famous
in parliamentary annals, took place
early in 1S12, on the state of Ireland
and the claims of the Roman Catholics.
But, on the whole, the result of the de-
bate was rather prejudicial than other-
wise to the Irish liopes and wishes.
All the leading statesmen of the day
had taken j)art in the discussion, and
tlie majority in both houses had been
* The term Peeler (derived from the eecretarj-'s
no) was iu use as a bitter reproach; it was ey-
decisive. A feeling, moreover, seems
to have grown up in the public mind,
that the whigs were not altogether sin-
cere in their advocacy of the Catholic
cause, and that they rather used it as
a means of advancing their party pur-
poses than for any other effect. Then
there was a potent influence in the fact
that the regent had abandoned his
early friends, and thrown the weight of
his countenance into the scale of their
opponents ; and this was sufficient, for a
long season, to swell the hostility on the
English side of the channel, at least
against the emancipation of the Cath-
olics, in which the general welfare of
Ireland was for so many years in-
volved.
Ireland, however, was assuming more
and more importance in public estima-
tion, and questions relating to her po-
sition and claims could not longer be
put aside without a hearing. Concili-
ation was demanded, and to some ex-
tent obtained.
Difficulties occuri-ed in regard to the
cabinet, which rendered it hard to
agree upon the men who were to retain
the reins of power. Lord "Wellesley
came out against the ministerial policy
as to the Catholics. Grattan displayed
his eloquence and ability in the House
of Commons, where he had so often
advocated emancipation. As a late
wi'iter observes : " Men were in earnest
in that day of 1812, when prejudice,
political rancor, and national danger
nonymous with spj, informer, and every thing deteat-
able.
754
REIGN OF GEORGE III.
threw a misty halo over all objects that
the miucl could conteinplate ; and when,
whether right or wrong, they were
working disinterestedly for the best
object that human ingenuity could at-
tain. Whether right or wrong, both
sides were in earnest ; and few discus-
sions have taken place in the world's
history, in which greater powers of de-
bate, deeper philosophical knowledge
of human interests, or broader concep-
tions of the world's advantage were
entertained, than those exhibited in
the course of these disquisitions."
The debate just spoken of produced
a great and powerful impression ; but
there was another occurrence which
surpassed it in the sensation it excited
in England and Ireland. This was the
statement made by Mr. Ponsonby, that
the prince regent was in favor of con-
cession to the Catholics. The senti-
ments and views of the regent being
thus authoritatively stated, it awoke
to new life and energy the hopes and
expectations of those in Ireland who
were studying to promote their coun-
try's welfare ; and it was at once con-
cluded by the Catholics, that all the
prince regent's influence would be given
in support of their claims. He was
looked upon as their benefactor, and
even advocate, and they counted to an
extravagant extent upon his patriotic
and enlarged views and promises. His
ministers were denounced as being the
only obstacles to the concession of their
claims, and no epithet was too vile
for adoption when stigmatizing their
characters, their principles, and their
proceedings. In England, among the
more earnest of the Protestant portion
of the population, the declaration ex-
cited very great alarm ; and there was,
on their part, a settled determination
to uphold every thing in Church and
State by which they conceived the in-
stitutions of the country to be guarded,
and the liberties of the people to be
secured. It was a great blow and se-
vere discouragement to that great party
who had hitherto acted as the conserv-
ative supports of the government, and
upon whom the reliance of those in
power principally rested. The conduct
of the duke of Bedford and Mr. Pon-
sonby was severely canvassed, and al-
most universally reprobated, as in pal-
pable violation of the duty owed to
the king, whose sentiments were well-
known to be immovable on this subject.
Their conduct was felt, on its exposure,
to be absolutely militating against the
cause Avhich they professed to serve.
No great cause was ever permanently
successful, except through the action of
perfect truth and uninterrupted hon-
esty. The cause of the Catholics of
Ireland needed no such pandering to
popular clamor. It was great in itself,
great in its principles, great in its ac-
tion on the public mind, great in the
time in which it was brought before
the legislature, and great in the men
by whom it was advocated and en
forced.
Not only the public press, properly
so-called, but men in every grade of
CHARACTER OF THE GOVERNMENT.
r55
society, were aroused by a sense of the
peril of the country, and the disadvan-
tage to wbicli the British governraent
might be exposed by the admission of
Catholics to seats in the legislature,
and to the other high offices in the
service of the State. Pamphlets, books,
and appeals abounded ; and not only
ordinary writers, but men whose posi-
tion was eminent lent their talents to
the promotion of the popular feelings
and views, and by animated appeals,
from day to day, and week to week,
the attention of the Protestants in both
countries was kejDt alert and active.
On the continent the war was raging
with violence ; in Ireland, acts of out-
rage and cruelty were perpetrated,
and a system of lawless disregard to-
wards person and property was inaug-
urated.
It was an unfortunate time to be
seeking favors or concessions at the
hands of the English government. The
course of Bonaparte, in his celebrated
Milan and Berlin decrees, had produced
great distress in the manufacturing
districts in England, where riot and
violence prevailed to an alarming de-
gree. The present ministry, too, under
the guidance of Mr. Perceval, aided
by Lord-Chancellor Eldon, possessed a
weight of influence never surpassed, if
ever equalled ; and the Catholics were
at disadvantage in pressing their claims
upon a government who had no sym-
pathy with them.
The assassination of Mr. Perceval, in
May, 1812, gave somewhat of a new
turn to public affiiirs. It produced a
good deal of difficulty in the ministerial
ranks, owing to personal rivalry among
the Whig leaders, without, however,
effecting any material change. The
hopes of the Catholics were again
doomed to disajip ointment, and the
day of emancipation was postponed for
the pre^ei.L
756
REIGX OF GEORGE III.
CHAPTER XLVIII.
LEADERSHIP OF o'cONNELL. EMANCIPATION EFFECTED.
Btate of affairs at tliis date. — Grattan's Rmancipation bill. — Canning's clauses. — Opinions in Ireland as to tlie
veto. — O'ConneU's course.— Speecli at aggregate meeting in Dublin. — Prosecution of Maghec. — Outrages
in Ireland. — Severe measures resorted to. — Petitions. — Veto question. — Inquiries into the state of Ireland.
— Distress, discontent, etc.— O'ConneU's statement as to veto question. — George IV. and his queen.
— Plunliett's motion.— The king's visit to Ireland.— Wellesley, lord-lieutenant.- ^^^litebo^■s and Captain
Roclt's men.— Their excesses and .cruelties.— Famine and its terrors.— Help afforded by England.—
Wellesley insulted in Dublin Theatre. — Moral degradation of witnesses. — Tithe composition act. — State of
education in Ireland. — Use of the Bible in schools. — The Catholic association in 1833. — Its power and in-
fluence.— Catholic rent. — Association suppressed. — New one formed. — O'ConneU's threat. — Sir F. Burdett's
resolution. — O'ConneU's activity and influence. — Canning's ministry and death. — March of events. — O'Con-
neU elected for County Clare. — Test and corporation acts repealed. — WeUington's and Peel's poUcy. —
Measures adopted. — Emancipation carried. — O'ConneU in the House. — Seat denied him. — Re-elected, and
victory at last complete.
(A. D. 1813 TO A. D. 1829.)
IN pursuing the course of Irish his-
tory, for a number of years to come,
it is not necessary to attempt to go into
any lengthy details. The one great
object of the Catholic leaders, especially
O'Connell, the chief, was patent to all,
and it 'was persistently carried forward.
The question of the Catholic claims, in
all their, length and breadth, was con-
stantly brought before parliament, and
the patriots whose names have often
been mentioned in these pages, the
Grattans, Cannings, Plunketts, and oth-
ers, still raised their voices and gave
their best efforts to secure the end
desired. Concession was again and
again promised, debated, almost with-
in the grasp of the friends of Ire-
land; but it was again and again
postponed to a later day. Evils were
comijlained of, with steady determina-
tion to have thenj abated, if possible ;
and yet the government as steadily
opposed, and threw every obstacle in
the way of the demands made by the
Catholics to abolish the penal laws ir
their various oppressive features. Nev
ertheless, although slowly, the cours'
was onward ; and however much hin
dered by folly, outbreaks of passion,
and laAvlessnes.s, it was destined, in due
time, to reach the goal of success.
At the close of November, 1812, a
new parliament met, and the prince
regent, in his opening speech, spoke of
the war on the continent, the war re-
cently begun by the United States,
etc., but made no allusion to the Oath-
EMANCIPATIOX BILL IN PARLIAMENT.
^57
olic claims. Canning, the previous
summer, Bad carried a motion in favor
of "such a final and conciliatory adjust-
ment as may be conducive to the peace
and strength of the United Kingdom,"
by a vote of two hundred and thirty-
five to one hundred and six. Encour-
aged by this success, Grattau, on the
30th of April, 1813, introduced his
Emancipation bill into parliament. It
contained several important enactments,
which may here be briefly noted. The
preamble declared the Protestant suc-
cession to the throne and the Protestant
Church establishment to be inviolable ;
and also, the expediency of conferring
upon the Eoman Catholics the bless-
ings enjoyed by the Protestants. The
bill then went on to enact that it
should be lawful for persons professing
the Eoman Catholic faith to sit and
vote in either house of parliament,
upon making a declaration of oath,
instead of the usual oaths of allegiance,
abjuration, and supremacy, and the
declarations against transubstantiation
and the invocation of saints. The oath,
which was very long, promised alle-
giance to the king, and renunciation of
all temporal power or jurisdiction in
the pope. On taking this oath, in its
plain natural sense, Eoman Catholics
were eligible to hold and exercise all
civil and military offices, or places of
trust or profit, with the exceptions of
the offices of lord-high-chancellor, lord-
keeper, or lord-commissioner of the
great seal of Great Britain ; or lord-
lieutenant, or lord-deputy, or other
chief governor or governors of Ireland ;
also to be a member of a lay body cor-
porate, and to hold any civil office or
place of trust therein.
Canning introduced some clauses
which secured the veto power to the
government. Lord Castlereagh also fa-
vored this course. When the bill came
up for decision, the ministry had a
small majority ; and so Mr. Pousonby
moved to withdraw it, and the bill was
accordingly withdrawn.
Opinions were much divided in Ire-
land upon this result. The desire for
emancipation, and for the numerous
openings that it would give the Cath-
olics in every branch of the public ser-
vice, was so intense amongst the higher
classes of society, that they were indig-
nant in the extreme that their views
should be opposed by what they termed
only a mere matter of discipline. If
they did but grant a veto to govern-
ment, emancipation was certain, and all
its consequences were theirs. But they
were strenuously opposed by the lower
classes, the priesthood generally, and
most of the popular leaders of the day.
In this conflict O'Connell was particu-
larly active, and his influence great ;
and, indeed, he was, throughout the
whole of this period, apparently not
less disinterested and patriotic than he
was earnest and diligent. Amid much
opposition and personal reproach, he
adopted the views and policy of the
priesthood in Ireland, who steadily re-
fused any connection with the State
in appointments to vacant bishoprics.
REIGN OF GEORGE III.
The fjreat mass of the Roman Catholics
Wtiiit with them.
Aggregate meetings followed ; in-i-
tation and excitement were prevalent.
O'Connell's course, as the exponent and
advocate of the masses, was denounced
by some of the gentiy. Mr. Grattan's
bill was criticized, and in many respects
disapproved : and the old bone of con^
tention, the veto power, was pro-
nounced by the Roman Catholic pre-
lates. May 2'7th, " utterly incompati-
ble with the discipline of the Roman
Cliurch, and with the free exercise of
their religion ;" they also declared that
" they could not, without incurring the
guilt of schism, accede to such regula-
tions," as were contemplated by Mr.
Grattan's bill.
A passage or two from O'Connell's
speech at the aggregate meeting, held
in June in Dublin, will illustrate his
views and position at this date. He
was received with immense popular
demonstration, for which he returned
abundant thanks. " .Your enemies say,"
he went on, "and let them say, that
I wish for a separation between Eng-
land and Ireland. The charge is false ;
it is, to use a modern quotation, ' as
false as hell;' and the men who orig-
inated it, and the men who inculcate
it, know its falsehood. There lives
not a man less desirous of a separation
between the two countries ; there lives
not a man more deeply convinced that
the connection between them, based on
one king and two separate parliaments,
would be of the utmost value to the
happiness of both countries, and the
liberties of the civilized world. Next,
your enemies accuse me of a desire for
the independence of Ireland. I admit
the charge ; and let them make the
most of it. I have seen Ireland a king-
dom ; . I reproach myself with having
lived to behold her a province. Yes,
I confess it; I liave an ulterior ohject.
It is the repeal of the Union^ and the
restoi-ation of old Ireland to her inde-
pendence. I am told that it is indis-
creet to avow this intention. It maj''
be so ; but in j^ublic affiiirs indiscretion
amounts to dissimulation ; and if to re-
peal the Union be the first service, as
it clearly is, that can be rendered to Ire-
land, I, for one, most readily offer to
postpone our emancipation, in order to
promote the cause of our country.
" The delay of Catholic emancipa-
tion I hail with joy, because in that
delay lies the only prospect of attaining
my great, my ultimate object — the legis-
lative independence of my native land.
Emissaries are abroad. Agents have
been employed. Abundance of money
and. great encouragement are held out
to those who may seduce you from
your allegiance. Should you allow
yourselves to be so seduced, you would
have no friends, no supporters. "We,
who now join you in bearing down
upon your oppressors ; we, who expose
the hypocrites that cover their bigotry
in the stolen garments of religion ; we.,
who are ready to brave every danger,
to sustain every calumny, and every
loss, and every personal inconvenience
TROUBLED STATE OF IRELAND.
V59
in your cause, so long as you conduct
that cause within the limits of the con-
stitution ; we, in whom you confide,
would and must be found, if you vio-
late the law, in the ranks of your ene-
mies, and in arms. For myself, I will
tell you honestly, that if ever that ftital
day arrives you will find me arrayed
against you."
In 1814, aggregate meetings were
held in various parts of Ireland. The
Catholic board fell into insignificance,
and was suppressed by the government,
O'Connell was the head and soul of the
democratic movement for arousing th
feople of Ireland, not simply the aris-
tocracy or gentry. Maghee, of the
" Dublin Evening Post," in which cer-
tain resolutions jjassed at one of the
aggregate meetings were published,
was prosecuted anew, and a fine of
£1,000 added, with two years' impris-
onment.* This roused up more ill-
blood, and deeper hatred of the Eng-
lish government. Agrarian outrages,
against which O'Connell exerted all his
influence, and which so long and so se-
riously disturbed and injured the coun-
try, were continued with increased vi-
olence, so that neither life nor prop-
erty became safe. Political feeling was
roused to the utmost degree of rancor,
and secret societies were formed which
were most treasonable in their nature,
and fraught with the greatest danger
to the country, and which, no doubt,
were guided and controlled by men in
* The year before this B.imo person had been pros-
ecuted for libel and convicted, although O'Connell
higher positions than was generally
supposed.
The Irish government. Lord Whit-
worth being now lord-lieutenant in
place of the duke of Richmond, felt
unable to grapple with existing diflicul-
ties. Peel consequently called for the
passage of an Insurrection bill, Avhich
was promptly carried through parlia-
ment in July, 1814. The result of
this severe measure was only partially
beneficial. Outrage and disorder were
by no means suppressed, and a deeper
gloom seemed to be settling over un-
happy Ireland.
.The next year, in May, 1815, a i>e-
tition of the Eoman Catholics of Ire-
land was presented in parliament, and
redress of grievances was earnestly be-
sought. A petition of like import was
brought in from Catholics in England.
Nothing, however, was efi"ected at this
time. The old trouble of the veto
power was not yet at rest. For months
the fire smouldered, and at last tlie
prelates of their Church met, and agreed
upon a i^etition to the prince regent,
demanding, in somewhat imperative
terms, a redress of the grievances under
which they, and. their fellow-country-
men of the same persuasion, labored ;
and expressing their feeling that eman-
cipation, with the veto attached, would
only be changing one form of oppres-
sion for another. An appeal was at
the same time made to the pope for
his sanction to their proceedings ; but
made a most powerful and able defence in his be-
half.
i60
REIGN OF GEORGE III.
the pope declined giving any posi-
tive reply just then. Parliament was
opened by commission, February I,
ISIG, Ireland being, in a distracted
and unsettled state, and requiring a
jaige body of troops to repress the
spirit of insubordination in almost ev-
ery part of the island.
In April, Sir John Newport made a
motion to inquire into the state of Ire-
land, especially as to the reasons why
it was necessary to support an army of
twenty-five thousand men to keep that
country in order. Peel's amendment
was to the effect of asking from the
prince regent a statement of the nature
and extent of the disturbances lately
prevalent in Ireland, and the measures
taken to put an end to them. The
amendment was carried by a large ma-
jority; and Lord Whitworth, in June,
sent a dispatch going at large into the
subject. The document was long, and
presented a fearful catalogue of out-
l)reaks against peace, and life, and
property, as well as the stringent
course pursued by the government in
their eflbi'ts to maintain law and order.
Other petitions were presented ; but
they met with the usual fate, Ireland
continuing in a state of disquietude and
resistance to the government. There
was additional reason for disturbances
in this year, for the people of Ireland
had been peculiarly affected by the
commercial and agricultural distress
which pervaded the whole of the em-
pire. The necessaries of life had be-
come exceedingly dear, and great mel-
ancholy was thrown over the national
spirit from the little prospect held out
that the evils which the people endured
were likely- to be "mitigated by any
speedy alleviation. No gain had been
made in the way of parliamentary re-
lief for the Catholic disabilities, and as
much discord prevailed among the
councils of the Catholic leaders as had
ever distinguished the chief adherents
of their faith. To one thing only did
they commonly consent, and that was
an. unremitted continuance of applica-
tion to parliament for admittance to
seats in both houses of the legislature,
Grattan, in the House, and Lord Don-
oughmore, in the Lords, pressed the
Catholic claims. This was in 1817.
Again the next year the subject was
resumed, and debated by such men as
Grattan, Earl Grey, Lord Liverpool,
etc., but to no real purpose. The Prot-
estant ascendency was too strong to be
moved.
Tlie condition of things for several
years was disheartening in the extreme.
General prostration of business, discon-
tent, suffering, and poverty of the
masses, influence of demagogues, sever-
ity of taxation, and such like, kept Ire-
land in a state which can only be
imagined, not described. England,
likewise, suffered from similar causes,
and its history, too, shows how pro-
foundly depressed was the English
nation by its struggles with Napoleon
and its contest with America. No
wonder that the prince regent was
hooted at in the street, and his carriage
GEORGE IV. VISITS IRELAND.
^Gl
stoueel, in Januaiy, 1817, as be \yas
i-eturning from the opening of parlia-
ment. No wonder t'uat Ireland exhib-
ited so widely the spirit of discontent,
and a fierce determination to return
evil for evil.*
The tenacity of the Irish on the sub-
ject of the veto was astonishing ; but
it was mainly owing to O'Connell and
the priesthood. O'Connell himself,
some years later (in 1832), affirmed
this very decidedly : " The Catholic
laity were totally repugnant to allow
the crown any power to nominate the
Catholic bishops of Ireland. "VVe stead-
ily opposed the court of Eome, as well
as the inclination shown by our own pre-
lates ; we resolutely resisted the wishes
of our nobility, and of so many of
our merchants, backed, as they were,
by the almost universal voice of the
Catholics of England ; and we firmly,
loudly, and emphatically declared that
we would not accept of emancipation
upon terms so derogatory to public
liberty, as the power of nominating the
bishops of another Church must be if
vested in the crowu — that is, in the
ministers of the day. For this we de-
serve the thanks of every lover of con-
stitutional freedom ; and, for my own
part, I do believe that the reform bill
would never have been carried if we
had yielded that additional influence
to the ministers of the crown. Those
who recollect how much the Irish
* John PliUpot Currnn, the orator and wit, died m
1817. Ilenry Orattan, equally eminent iu liis devotion
to Ireland's cause, died in 1820.
members contributed to carrying that
bill, will probably accede to the truth
of my opinion."
King George III. died January 29,
1820, aged eighty-two, having been
king for nearly sixty years. George
IV. succeeded him, and his wife, from
whom he had been separated for more
than twenty years, came to England to
claim her rank as queen consort. Her
case excited great sympathy; and the
trial which was brought by the king,
resulted, in Novembei-, in her acquittal.
The king was a profligate roue, and had
disgusted the people by his immorality
and vice. Public indignation ran high,
and serious- outbreaks were ajiprehend-
ed ; but Queen Caroline died in Au-
gust, 1821, and her wrongs were buried
with her in the grave.
In the session of 1821, Mr. Pluukett
renewed the movement in favor of
Catholic emancipation. Petitions came
in abundantly from Protestants against
and from Catholics in favor of the mo-
tion. This was in England ; but in
Ireland there was little spirit on the
subject, for Mr. Pluukett, being a sup-
porter of the veto, was not looked
upon with much esteem by the masses.
The measure was warmly debated iu
both houses, the Duke of York, among
others, throwing the weight of his in-
fluence against it. Of course, it failed
of obtaining approval.
Parliament was prorogued in July,
1821, and George IV., considering it a
good stroke of policy, resolved to visit
Ireland. The people, with that impul-
762
REIGN OF GEORGE IV.
siveness Avhicli cliaracterizes them, were
enthusiastic in receiving the king, and
they counted extravagantly upon the
good which was to flow from his visit.
The king made his public entry into
Dublin, August 17th, amidst all the
magnificence of a State procession, and
applauded by the tens of thousands
that attended his progress. During
the day he held a drawing-room, at
which all the nobility and gentry of
any note, at that time in the country,
attended. Nothing could be more en-
thusiastic or cordial than his reception,
and he remained a month dispensing
and enjoying hospitality, apparently
perfectly satisfying his own and his
people's feelings.* Addresses, breath-
ing the utmost loyalty, were presented
by the city of Dublin ; the clergy, with
the bishops and archbishoj^s at their
head ; the university, with all its digni-
taries ; and yet, after the departure of
the king in September, the most violent
outrages were perpetrated, in the three
last months of the year, that had ever
been known in Ireland. The bubble
of conciliation soon burst, and a system
of assassination was commenced, which
the pen refuses to attempt to delineate.
The masses, with blind fury, rushed into
every kind of outrage and cruelty, not
being able apj)arently to perceive that
every act of the kind only put further
and further off the day of emancipation
and freedom. •
* Lord Castlereagh (now Marquis of Londonderry),
■whom the Irish Catholics hated and reviled with in-
tense bitterness, accompanied the king in his visit to
Lord Wellesley, who succeeded Lord
Talbot in the vice-royalty in Ireland,
was looked upon as a more than usually
liberal ruler. He had not any preju-
dices against the Catholics, but was
rather disposed to favor them all he
could. Plunkett, also, now took the
place of 8aurin, the decided Protestant,
as attorney-general ; and so far as ap-
pearances went, the Catholic cause had
gained ground. But the Protestants
in Ireland were active and zealous in
their opposition. Addresses were pre-
sented to the new lord-lieutenant in
January, 1S22, and it was hoped that
a better state of things was already
begun ; but he found himself unable to
reconcile the strife and faction among
the richer and higher classes ; still less
was he able to control the fierce pas-
sions and outbreaks among the poorer
and more disaffected of the people.
The " White-boys," so called from
wearing white shirts or frocks over
their clothes in order to prevent iden-
tification, were especially active and
unsparing in their deeds of cruelty.
These, and " Captain Eock's Men," in
the South and West of Ireland, kept
the country in a continual alarm, and,
despite all the efforts of the police and
military, committed outrages in great
numbers. A Eoman Catholic writer,
lamenting the impediment which con-
duct of this kind threw in the way of
O'Connell and emancipation, remarks :
IreUnd. The next year, August 13, 1833, he put an
end to his own life in a temporary fit of insanity.
DISTRESS AMONG THE PEOrLE.
V63
"The ol)ject of these societies was to
procure the lowering of rents, the mit-
igation of the tithe system, and to pre-
vent the ejectment of the tenantry by
the great landlords. They legislated
at midnight, and enforced their decrees
with terrible celerity. They grew into
importance in the years ranging from
1821 to 1825, and derived either their
origin or principal su2:)port from the
oppressions practised by the agents of
the ' Courtenay Estates,' a considerable
landed projierty in the county of Clare,
the agent of which began a wholesale
ejection of the small tenants from the
lands. These dispossessed men, mad.
dened by despair, plotted together for
the destruction of those whom they
'ooked on as the authors of their ruin_
Several murders by assassination were
the consequence, and a full crop of ap-
provers, hangings, and transportations
followed in regular succession. The
peasantry in the South and "West, op-
pressed almost to death by rack-rents,
ejectments, and tithes, leagued with the
Captain Rock societies to intimidate
the gentry. Vast districts became in-
fected, disturbed, or subject to insur-
rection laws ; special commissions for
the trial of offenders, and a long train
of congenial evils, followed as the only
remedies at the disposal of govern-
ment."
At the opening of parliament, in
l^ebruary, 1822, immediate steps were
taken with reference to the state and
condition of affairs in Ireland. The
suspension act was re-enacted, and the
haheas coijms was suspended, to last
for a period of six months. Violence
and disorder, however, continued, and
murders were not infrequent. The
Irish government acted with energy,
and there was si:)eedily some^ abatement
of the terrible lawlessness of these de-
luded men. Various causes operated,
in addition to those already named, for
rousing up and keeping alive these
shocking exhibitions of passion and vi-
olence; but probably no one was so
powerful for evil as the practice of il-
licit distillation, which rapidly demor-
alized the peasantry, and brought ad-
ditional trials upon the Irish people.
About the end of April, something
of an aspect of tranquillity was restored
to the country ; but a new and more
terrifying visitation was at hand. In
consequence of the heavy and incessant
rains of the preceding year, the pota-
toes, which formed the staple of the
food of the people in the South, decayed
and perished in the ground. This at-
tracted but little attention for a time
among men who had grown their own,
and they went on consuming as usual
so long as their stores lasted, each be-
lieving that when his own supply
should be exhausted -ie would easily
be able to purchase more in the mar-
ket through the means of his labor.
But when their stock was really fin-
ished, and they applied to the public
vendors, they found that potatoes,
which were usually three halfpence a
stone, had risen to sixpence-halfpenny,
while, from the distress of the country.
i64
REIGN OF GEORGE IV.
their labor was little required. Pota-
toes being thus placed quite beyond the
reach of the lower orders, they were
compelled to resort to oatmeal mixed
with water ; and happy was lie who
could procure oue scanty repast of that
sustenance during the day, for this re-
source also shortly failed them. Before
the beginning of May, the wliole of
Connaught and Muuster was in a state
of starvation. The peasantry, leaving
their cabins and the little allotments of
ground whence they had derived their
scanty subsistence, crowded into the
villages, in vain seeking for employ-
ment or to be relieved by the charity
of those who were in almost as bad a
position as themselves. There was
scarcely a town in the South, the streets
of which were not filled with hundreds
of able-bodied men, wandering in quest
of food, or the means wherewith it
might be obtained. Nor was this evil
by any means confined to the lowest
class of the population, for Sir Edward
O'Brien asserted that fully one-third
of the respectable inhabitants of the
county of Clare were reduced to a con-
dition little short of actual starvation ;
and all the neighboring counties, more
especially Cork, Limerick, Kerry, Mayo,
Roscommon, and Sligo, were in a sim-
ilar position. It was not, however, the
present suffering only, with which the
people had to contend. There was the
prospect of the mischief becoming per-
manent, for, under the constraining
power of hunger, the poor were com-
pelled to consume those potatoes which
they had saved for seed. The hay also
became scarce, and a great mortality
consequently ensued, among the cattle,
and then came typhus, with its hideous
train of horrors, to darken the aspect
of national distress. Nothing could
be perceived but a sad alternation of
misery ; and the districts which had,
only a few weeks before, been the
scenes of nightly assassination and plun-
der, now presented but one oppressive
spectacle of famine and disease.
In this dire calamity happily aid was
not wanting. Not only the government
but more especially individuals came for-
ward, and large sums were contributed
to help the starving population. Cargoes
of potatoes, oats, and other cheap kinds
of food were sent. Work was afforded
by the authorities as widely as possible,
and a spirit of warm sympathy every-
where manifested. In June, 1822, it
was estimated that in the county ot
Clare, with a population of two hundred
thousand, one-half Avere subsisting on
charity from day to day. In other
counties the proportion was even great-
er than this, of those who were the re-
cipients of the bounty so generously
bestowed.
Lord Wellesley, whose policy was
that of conciliation, discouraged the
anti-Catholic party in every way in his
power. This stirred up an ill-feeling
on the part of the Orangemen, who
used regularly, on the 4th of Novem-
ber, to decorate the statue of William
III, in College Green, Dublin. The
lord-lieutenant having forbidden this
STATE OF EDUCATION.
T6i
annual proceeding, so offensive to the
Catholics, he soon had a practical proof
of loss of popularity. One evening, De-
cember 14, he was grossly insulted at
the theatre by hisses, and old bottles
and other things thrown at the state-
box. Prosecutions were set on foot,
but to little purpose ; for, on a general
investigation into the administration of
justice, it was found that witnesses
could not be relied on, that they were
partisans wherever religious or political
sentiments were in question. So strik-
ingly was this the case, that at the
Carrickfergus Assizes the judges refused
to take the testimony of either side.
Catholics or Protestants, and dismissed
the ease with a well-deserved reproof
to all concerned. Insults of every de-
scription were bandied from one to the
other, riots ensued, and the hatred be-
tween the Orangemen and the Ribbon-
men seemed unquenchable. The pen
wearies in recounting the outrage and
desolation which resulted, and made
1823 almost, if not quite, equal its pre-
decessor.
The tithe composition act, passed in
the previous session, began to work at
the latter end of 1823, and in the
course of February, 1824, so anxious
•were the owners of tithes to avoid any
pretence for jiredial outrage, that a re-
turn was made, stating that out of a
thousand applications from different
parishes to carry its arrangements into
effect, more than five hundred had pro-
ceeded from the different incumbents.
Several discussions took place, in the
course of the present session, on the
state of education, and it was generally
agreed that in this respect the country
was in an improving state. In 1773,
as appeared by a return in the west
and southwest parts of Ireland, there
were only eight schools, while in 1816
there were eight hundred, and in this
year, 1824, there were as many as one
thousand one hundred and twenty-two.
The poorer part of the population
seemed to be alive to the benefit placed
within their reach, for their children
were readily sent to be instructed. The
Bible, without note or comment, waa
used in the schools ; but no attempt,
it was stated, was made to derive any
particular doctrine from its contents —
the children were simply made ac-
quainted with the text. This was not
consonant with the views of the Cath-
olic clergy and the doctrines of the
Church. They therefore discouraged
the attendance of the children ; and, in
the course of March, their bishops pre-
sented a petition to the House of Com-
mons, in which they complained that the
public money granted for the promotion
of education in Ireland was applied in
such a manner that Eomau Catholics
could not conscientiously avail them-
selves of the instruction thereby pro-
vided.
The astute leader of the Catholics
was not slow to take advantage of the
existing state of things. In the spring
of 1823 he organized the "Catholic
Association," at an aggregate meeting
held in Dublin, and in due time it
^60
REIGN OF GEORGE IV.
Worked well for the noble cause on
wliicli bis heart, as well as the hearts
of all patriotic lovers of their native
land wei'B firmly set. The Association
held regular sessions in Dublin ; nom-
inated committees ; received petitions ;
referred them to a committee of giiev-
ance ; ordered a census of the popula-
tion to be taken ; assessed cities, towns,
and parishes, and appointed collectors
in every district for the receipt of what
was called the " Catholic rent." By
this rent was meant the subscription of
one penny per month from each Cath-
olic. At first the proposal did not
meet with favor or success ; but after a
year or two, by persevering efforts, the
Q-ent became a settled and important
part of the plans which O'Connell was
carrying out. It gave life and interest
to the cause, and in less than t^o years
it amounted to £500 a week. News-
papers were set a going, lawyers were
paid to defend cases in court, subsidies
were voted for Catholic poor-schoo.ls,
electioneering agents and expenses were
paid, etc.
Government became alarmed at the
progress and course of the Association,*
and steps were taken to suppress this
and other like societies. A bill passed
* In a speecli of O'Connell's, at this date, he used the
following language : " I warn the British minister
against either intimidating or coercing the people of
Ireland. They are a brave and a chivalrous race,
whose valor the history of all Europe attests. If ever
they shall be driven to the field to vindicate their lib-
erties, they may not want another Bolivar to animate
their efforts !" The Government desired to punish
O'Connell for such language ; but the Dublin grand
jury refused to find a true bUl against him.
both houses of parliament to this effect,
and the Association quietly dissolved.
But a " neio Catholic Association" was
formed immediately, ostensibly for
"charitable and other purposes," but
in reality to add fresh energy to the
cause of emancipation and freedom.
Early in March, 1825, and while the
unlawful societies' bill was pending in
the House of Lords, Sir Francis Bur-
dett submitted a series of resolutions
to the House of Commons, the efi'ect of
which was that it was desirable and
expedient that the Roman Catiolics
should be admitted to the same politi-
cal privileges as their Protestant fellow-
subjects. The resolutions were adopted
by a considerable majority, and a bill
was founded upon them, which, af er a
long and stormy debate and se\eral
adjournments, passed its third reading
on the 10th of May, by a majority of
nineteen in a very full house. There
was eveiy prospect of its passing the
Lords also; but, on the second reading
of the bill, the Duke of York went
down to the house and emphatically
declai'ed himself against it.f Such
an intimation from the heir presump-
tive to the throne had naturally
great weicrht, and the bill was conse-
f " I have been," said the duke, " for five-and-twentj
years, ever since the question has been agitated, advo-
cating the cause of Protestant ascendency. I have
been brought up from my earliest years in these prin-
ciples ; and from the time when I began to reason for
myself, I have entertained them from conviction ; and
in every situation I may be placed in during my futui'e
life, I wUl maintain them, so help me Ood!"
O'CONNELL ELECTED TO PARLIAMENT.
TG7
quenlly negatived by a majority of
forty-eight.
O'Connell and several other dele-
gates appeared in London, and gave
audience before committees of both
houses on the state of Ireland. The
great leader lost some popularity by
his course in England ; but on his re-
turn to Ireland he readily persuaded
his countrymen that he was acting all
the time for their best interests. He
exerted his enormous influence at the
general election of 1826, and succeeded
in defeating the candidates of the op-
position la various quarters. The ma-
chinery of the Association worked ex-
cellently ; there was no lack of money,
antl every thing betokened that the
day of success was not far distant. The
Earl of Liverpool died in February,
1827, and the king invited Canning to
form a cabinet. This was attended
with several trying difiiculties, Peel,
Lord Eldon, and the Duke of Welling-
ton declining to be associated with
him. Canning seems to have felt keenly
the desertion of his old allies ; and it
preyed upon his spirit so much that
serious illness began to undermine his
system. During his short administra-
tion several acts were passed for the
regulation aud improvement of the
prisons and lunatic asylums in Ireland,
and several other details were rectified,
which contributed much to the general
welfare of the country. After the ses-
sion he went to the Duke of Devon-
* The North of Ireland did not respond according to
the wishes of the Association. Mr. Lawless thereupon
shire's villa at Chiswick, for change of
air and rest ; but it was to no purpose.
After a few days of suffering, he expired
on the 8th of August.
Events were now rapidly progressing
towards the end, which it was evident
must soon be attained. On Canning's
death the Duke of Wellington became
premier, and O'Connell and his co-
workers bent themselves vigorously in
opposition. By a happy discovery, it
was found that the act which forbade
Catholics to sit in parliament did not for-
bid them to be elected members. Hence,
acting on this shrewd view of the state
of things, O'Connell himself became a
candidate for the county of Clare, in
the summer of 1828, and announced
that, in case of his election, he could
pass to the speaker's table in the House
of Commons without taking any ob-
jectionable oath. After a spirited con-
test he was declared by the sheriflT to
be elected, much to the joy of the
Catholics, and not a little to the sur-
prise and alarm of the Government.
At the opening of parliament, in
February, 1828, Lord John Russell
moved for the repeal of the test and
corporation acts. As these were at
this date of little effect, being practi-
cally obsolete, the motion was carried
without difficulty. The Catholic Asso-
ciation, meanwhile, continued its active
efforts; meetings were held almost
daily, and the 7'ent came in at the rate
of £1,000 a week* The Marquis of
went on a mission to rouse up the people of that re-
gion ; hut the principal result was the renewal of old
res
REIGX OF GEORGE IV.
Auglesea, the lord-lieutenant, favored
most decidedl}'^ the claims of emancipa-
tion, and he communicated his views
to the Government in England. The
Duke of Wellington found that he
must act with promptness and firmness,
and either put down by military force
the Catholic agitation, or consent to
the demands which they made so stead-
ily and so perseveringly. He chose
the latter alternative, Avith the concur-
rence of Mr. Peel, and proceeded at
once to cany out into action his present
design.
Parliament met early in February,
1829, and the king recommended early
attention to the claims of the Catholics.
As Wellington was determined to legis-
late rather than negotiate, various meas-
ures were proposed and carried through
parliament despite the earnest opposi-
tion of the Protestants in both coun-
tries. A bill suppressing the Catholic
Association was passed in March ; the
Catholic Relief Bill was warmly de-
bated in both houses, but became a law
on the 13th .of April, three weeks only
after it was introduced into the legisla-
ture; the bill abolishing the forty-shil-
ling freeholders was next passed, by
raising the county franchise to ten
pounds for every freeholder.
Thus, after thirty years' agitation
and pressure, by the irresistible prog-
ress- of events, and by that necessity
which Peel urged as an excuse for his
complete change of opinion and action
feuds and disputes. The Order of Pacificators was in reconciling enemies, and removing long^tandii
started, and it is stated tliat tliey were very successful animosities.
in less tlian a year — thus emancipation
was effected, and the Protestant ascend-
ency destroyed forever.
O'Connell, though member elect, did
not hurry himself to take a seat in parlia-
ment. On the 15th of May, 1829, he
was introduced into the House by Lords
Ebrington and Dungannon, and ad-
vanced to the speaker's table. On the
oaths being tendered to him, he passed
his fingers over those of abjuration and
supremacy, and refused to take them.
The circumstance was reported to the
speaker, who immediately ordered him
to withdraw. O'Connell stood for a
few moments in perfect silence, when
the order was repeated, and he claimed
a right to be heard in his place in de-
fence of his seat. The speaker again
repeated his order to withdraw, which
O'Connell, bowing to the chair, imme-
diately obeyed. A long debate ensued,
which was postponed for a few days.
On the 18th, Peel moved that O'Con-
nell be heard at the bar. The success-
ful leader of the Catholics made a
speech of two hours, very eloquent, and
full of argumentative appeals. O'Con-
nell was sent back to Ireland, owing to
a clause in the Relief Bill, which did
not admit of his then taking his seat.
He was received, as may be supposed,
with the most unbounded enthusiasm,
as the great champion of national rights
and glory. A new writ was issued for
County Clare, and O'Connell was re-
turned without opposition. His prog-
niELA>JD, INTELLECTUALLY AND MORALLY.
7G9
ress from Enais to Dublin, about one
hundred and twenty miles, was one
grand triumphal procession ; and, at
last, he had gained the victory of his
life, and vindicated his right to sit in
parliament.
CHAPTER XLIX.
IRELAND S INTELLECTUAL AND MOKAL POSITION.
Ireland distinguished for brilliant orators, poets, writers, etc. — Her contributions to literature and science. —
Her Burkes, Grattans, Currans, Edgoworths, etc. — Thomas Mooke, the poet par excellence of Ireland. —
Birth and education. — Visits America. — Duel with Jeffrey. — Marriage. — His " Irish Wclodies." — " Lalla
Rookh," and biographical and historical tvorks. — Receives a pension of £300. — Death, in 1853, and charac-
ter.— Thomas D.vvis, a poet and prose writer of note. — Connected with the " Nation." — Object of this
journal. — Davis's labors. — Death in 1845. — Extracts from his literary and historical essays. — Father M.v
THEW. — Birth and education. — Becomes a priest. — Labors among the poor in and around tho city of Cork. —
Enters on the temperance movement. — Marvellous effects of his labors.- Visits other cities with great
success. — Goes to England. — Thence visits the United States. — Returns to Ireland, and dies in 1850. — Ben-
eficial results of his Ufe and career. — Statements of Mr. Smyth on Father Mathew's devotion to temper
ance. — All honor to his name !
AS a relief to the ordinary and
somewhat tedious details of civil
and political history, in which strug-
gles for liberty and aspirations after
freedom occupy almost entire attention,
it may be well at this jioint to pause
awhile, and invite the reader's consider-
ation to some other matters, more es-
pecially those which relate to the
poets, prose writers, philanthropists,
etc., of Ireland.
Though so oppressed and down-trod-
den by centuries of misrule and injus-
tice, Ireland has always been distin-
guished for the brilliancy and fervor of
her poets, orators, and statesmen. Ire-
land has given birth to men of the
loftiest genius, of the most wide-spread
fariie, and of the largest influence in
the forum, as well as in the domain of
learning and science ; and while we are
far from having any wish to disparage
or undervalue the great men and the
noble productions of other lands, we
maintain that Ireland has done lu-r
share, and more than her share, in her
contributions to the wealth of the
world's literature.
As illustrating these general remarks,
we shall call the reader's attention to a
few of the great names on the roll of
honor of Ireland's sons. We need not
attempt here to speak at all at large of
such names as Burke, Grattan, Curran,
Sheridan, Flood, "Wellington, Kosse,
and the like. We have not space at
770
REIGN OF GEORGE IV.
command to enter into any disquisition
upon the lives and writings of Gold-
smith, Lady Morgan, Miss Edgeworth,
Maginn, Lover, Carleton, and others.
It must suffice that we now merely al-
.ude to these gifted sons of L-eland,
and use the page or two we have to
spare in speaking first of one who is,
2;a?' excellence, the most honored Lard
of his native land.
Thomas Moore stands pre-eminent
among the poets in the former half of
the present century. Born May 28,
1779, in Dublin, of parents in moderate
position in life, he became in due
time a fellow-student at Trinity College
with Robert Emmett, and other active
spii-its of the day. Almost in the nur-
sery he began to rhyme, and to give
expression to his conceptions by singing
them aloud. He wrote odes at school,
and translated Anacreon in College.
At the age of twenty he went to Lon-
don to study law in the Middle Tem-
ple ; but having published his Anac-
reon the next year, and thereby been
introduced into literary and fashionable
society, he gave but slight attention to
the law and its dry and dull details. In
1803 he went to Bermuda as registrar
to the admiralty ; but not liking the
place, and pining after life in the me-
tropolis, he left his office in the hands
of a deputy, and made a rapid visit to
the United States and Canada. He
was severe upon American institutions
and the like, but rather through want
of knowledge than malice ; and in later
life he was quite ashamed, and wished
to recall every unpleasant word. The
" Odes and Epistles," in which INIoore
thus vented his satire, contained worse
things than satire, indecency and very
doubtful morality. Jeffrey handled
him very sharply in the Edinburg Re-
view, and Moore challenged the re-
viewer to a duel in consequence. They
met at Chalk Farm, August 12, 1806,
but were prevented by the police from
taking one another's lives. Subse-
quently, these two men, so unlike, be-
came warm friends.
For some years Moore lived a gay
life, and was much in the company
of Lord Moira, Lord Lansdowne, and
other Whig peers; but did little or
nothing with his pen. In 1811 he
married Miss Dyke, a young actress,
with whom he lived happily, and for
whom he began to make literature a
profession. Besides jeux (fesprlt and
political squibs, Moore wrote many
songs adapted to the ancient music of
Ireland, and entitled " Irish Melodies."
These brought him great fame, and
will probably always remain the most
popular of his productions. Between
1814 and 1816 he devoted himself to
"Lalla Rookh," an oriental romance,
overflowing with Eastern imagery and
melodiousness of composition. Long-
man paid him £3,000 for it, and it
attained immense popularity and suc-
cess
Without undertaking to give a full
list of Moore's works, we may mention
that he wrote the " Life of Sheridan"
(1825) ; " Memoirs of Captain Rock"
'fflSKDKsfL&.S I!fi(D)(D)]ffiJffi<
THOMAS MOORE, THE POET.
m
(1824), a witty political effort; "No-
tices of the Life of Lord Byron," 2 vols.
(1830); "Memoirs of Lord Edward
Fitzgerald" (1831); "A History of
Ireland" (1835), for Lardner's Cabinet
Cyclopaedia ; made a collection of bis
poetical works in 10 vols. (1842) ;
wrote occasionally some poetry for the
columns of the London Times, etc. In
1835 a pension of £300 was conferred
on him, and in 1850 £100 a year was
settled on his wife. Moore lived most
of his life out of his native country ;
but when occasional visits were paid to
Ireland, he was received with enthusi-
astic admiration and pride ; for his
countrymen felt that at heart he was
their staunch advocate and friend, and
that he had more than once displaj'ed
patriotism, courage, and indejiendence
worthy of his name and origin.
Moore died February 26, 1852, and
bis Memoirs, Journal, and Correspond-
ence were published in eight volumes
(1853-56), edited by Lord John Rus-
sell at Moore's special request. We shall
not attempt any summing up of the
character and ability of Thomas Moore ;
but shall content ourselves with quoting
the words of an ardent countryman of
the Bard of Erin :
"Who has not banqueted on the
melody of his inspired muse? Who
has not plucked wisdom from his wit,
delight from his sentiment, or spirit
from his strains? Who has not felt
his griefs or his joys expressed by
Thomas Moore ? What sentiment has
he not enrobed iu the lovely drapeiy
of his brilliant fancy? It was Moore
who won homage from our oppressors,
while he told them unwelcome truths,
and evoked resistance to their sway ;
the doing which any other man would
have expiated with his life upon the
scaffold. He wrote in a season when
it was literally " treason to love and
death to defend" his country. The
beauty and power of his strains para:
lyzed the uplifted arm of his enemies,
and, as he well expressed it —
' The stranger shall hear thy lament ou his plains ;
The sigh of thy harp shall be sent o'er the deep ;
Till thy masters themselves, as they rivet thy chains.
Shall pause at the song of their captive, and weep '
All this, and much more, has been re-
alized for Erin by the poetry of her
own immortal bard."
Another name, akin to Moore's in
poetic fervor and ability, and even su-
perior to him in the keenness and
power of his pen in poetic composition,
demands brief notice at our hands.
Thomas Davis, born at Mallow, County
Cork, in 1814, is one of L-eland's sons
who will live in his country's history.
An ardent and whole-souled patiiot,
devoted to the interests of Ireland with
every faculty of body and mind, he
stands forth as one not among the least
of those who have lived and breathed
only to effect the repeal of the hated
Union with England, and the entire
independence of their native land. Dis-
tinguished as a poet, as well as a prose
wiiter, Davis has contributed some of
the most stirring and pathetic pieces
which have ever appeared in the pub-
7Y2
KEIG^ OF GEORGE IV.
lie press. Journalism is now so potent
an instrument in the world's affairs, so
much more is now accomplished by it
than by almost any other mode, that
Thomas Davis, having received a thor-
ough education at Trinity College, early
joined himself to the corps of writers
for the " Nation." This powerful paper,
as is well known, is the oracle and hope
of Ireland. It has awakened every
Irish heart, and its whole aim is to se-
cure the freedom of the land which
gave birth to the O'Neils, and Sars-
fields, and Tones, and Emmetts, and
thousands of other patriots and states-
men. And for years, Davis devoted
himself to adding force and vigor to its
regular issues. Indeed, his life was
expended in its service, and up to
the last, called away as he was when
only comparatively a young man, Da-
vis thought, and wrote, and labored
through its columns for the good of his
beloved country.
Thomas Davis died September 16,
1845, and several volumes of his poetic
and other contributions to the "Na-
tion" have been published by sorrow-
ing friends, who had counted largely
upon the increased and increasing field
of usefulness which he was yet to fill.
As specimens of his ability, we give an
extract or two from a volume of " Lit-
erary and Historical Essays," gathered
from the "Nation." They will help,
better than any thing else we can say,
to illustrate the spirit and energy of
the man.
In speaking of " The History of To-
Day, ]\[r. Davis says: " From 1793 to
1829— for thirty-six years — the Irish
Catholics struggled for emancipation.
That emancipation was but admission
to the bench, the inner bar, and parlia-
ment. It was won by self-denial, ge-
nius, vast and sustained labors, and
lastly by the sacrifice of the forty-shil-
ling freeholders — the poor veterans of
the war — and by submission to insult-
ing oaths ; yet it was cheaply bought.
Not so cheaply, perchance, as if won
by the sword ; for, on it were expended
more treasures, more griefs, more intel-
lect, more passion, more of all which
makes life welcome, than had been
need,ed for war ; still it was cheaply
bought, and Ireland has glorified her-
self, and will through ages triumph in
the victory of '29. Yet what was eman-
cipation compared to repeal ? The one
put a silken badge on a few members
of one profession ; the other would
give to all professions and all trades
the rank and riches which resident
proprietors, domestic legislation, and
flourishing commerce infallibly create.
Emancipation made it possible for Cath-
olics to sit on the judgment-seat ; but
it left a foreign administration which
has excluded them, save in two or
three cases, where over-topping emi-
nence made the acceptance of a judg-
ship no promotion ; and it left the lo-
cal judges — those with whom the peo-
ple had to deal — as partial, ignorant,
and bigoted as ever ; while repeal
would give us an Irish code and Irish-
hearted judges in every court, from the
Cr.,
TIIO.MAS DAVIS'S ESSAYS.
112.
chancery to the petty sessions. Eman-
cipation dignified a dozen Catholics with
a senatorial name in a foreign and hos-
tile legislature. Kepeal would give us
a senate, a militia, an administration, all
our own. The penal code, as it existed
since 1793, insulted the faith of the
Catholics, restrained their liberties, and
violated the public Treaty of Limerick.
The Union has destroyed our manufac-
tures, prohibits our flag, prevents our
commerce, drains our rental, crushes
our genius, makes our taxation a trib-
ute, our representation a shadow, our
name a by-word. It were nobler to
strive for repeal than to get emancipa-
tion.
" The world attended us with its
thoughts and prayers. The graceful
genius of Italy and the profound intel-
lect of Germany paused to wish us
well. The fiery heart of France tol-
erated our unarmed effort, and prof-
fered its aid. America sent us money,
thought, love — she made herself a part
of L'eland in her passions and her or-
ganization. From London to the wild-
est settlement which throbs in the
tropics, or shivers nigh the pole, the
empire of our misruler was shaken by
our effort. To all earth we proclaimed
our wrongs. To man and God we
made oath that we would never cease
to strive, till an Irish nation stood
supreme on this island. The genius
which roused and organized us, the
energy which labored, the wisdom that
taught, the manhood which rose up,
the patience which obeyed, the faith
which swore, and the valor that strained
for action, are here still, experienced,
recruited, resolute. The future shall
realize the promise of the past."
Ireland's people are depicted with a
master-hand : " We have never con-
cealed the defects or flattered the good
qualities of our countrymen. We have
told, them in good faith that they
wanted many an attribute of a free
people, and that the true way to com-
mand happiness and liberty wjis by
learning the arts and practising the
culture that fitted men for their enjoy-
ment. Nor was it until we saw them
thus learning and thus practising, that
our faith became perfect, and that we
felt entitled to say to all men, here, is
a strife in which it will be stainless
glory to be even defeated.
" In a climate soft as a niotlier's
smile, on a soil fruitful as God's love,
the Irish peasant mourns. Consider
his griefs ! They begin in the cradle ;
they end in the grave. Suckled by a
breast that is supplied from unwhole-
some or insufficient food, and that is
fevered with anxiety; reeking with
the smoke of an almost chimneyless
cabin ; assailed by wind and rain when
the weather rages ; breathing, when it
is calm, the exhalations of a rotten
roof, of clay walls, and of manure,
which gives his only chance of food —
he is apt to perish in his infancy. Or
he survives all this (happy if he have
escaped from gnawing scrofula or fa-
miliar fever), and, in the same cabin,
with rairs instead of his mother's breast,
174,
REIGN OF GEORGE IV.
and lumpers instead of his mother's
milk, he spends his childhood.
"Aristocracy of Ireland, will ye do
nothing ? Will ye do nothing for fear ?
The body who best know Ireland, the
body that keep Ireland within the law
— the repeal committee — declare that
unless some great change take place,
an agrarian war may ensue ! Do ye
know what that is, and how it would
come? The rapid multiplication of
outrages, increased violence by magis-
trates, collisions between the people
and the police, coercive laws and mil-
itary force, the violation of houses, the
suspension of industrj^, the conflux of
discontent, pillage, massacre, war, the
gentry shattered, the peasantry con-
quered and decimated, or victorious
and ruined (for who could rule them ?)
— tJiei^e is an agrarian insurrection !
May Heaven guard us from it ! May
the fear be vain !"
Another of Ireland's honored sons,
and one of the greatest benefactors of
his countrymen which the world has
ever seen, was that distinguished re-
foruierand philanthropist, the Reverend
Theobald Mathew, familiarly known,
in Europe and America, as " Fatiier
Mathew." He was born in Tipperary,
October 10, 1790. Though left an or-
phan at an early age, lie was adopted
by an aunt, and helped forward in his
education ; and after a course of study
at Maynooth, he was ordained a priest
in Dublin, in 1814. The chief scene of
his labors was in Cork, where for mon
than twenty years he devoted himself
to the interests of his flock, with a
zeal and patience worthy of his higli vo-
cation. The love and reverence of
the poor were, we are assured, almost
boundless ; the favor and countenance
of those among the higher ranks were
also freely bestowed upon him ; and
had he done no more than labor in his
quiet, obscure position in Cork and its
vicinity, he would have been entitled
to all honor and praise.
But when the subject of temperance,
or abstinence from intoxicating drinks,
became a matter of public interest (in
1838 and 1839), Father Mathew en-
tered into it with all his heart. He
had seen too much of the misery and
wretchedness consequent upon drunken-
ness, he had noted too often the hard
lot of the drunkard's wife and children,
not to have all his sympathies aroused
to seek out some way and means by
which the downward, degrading course
of thousands upon thousands could be
arrested. He began with the people
immediately around and about him,
and was very successful. A pledge
w;is prepared and administered, and,
what was better, was Icept, to the won-
derful improvement of those brought
under Father Mathe w's influence. " Con-
firmed drunkards, whose days and
nights were passed in a maze of intox-
ication, profane swearing, and every
species of crime, were seen suddenly
awakened from their stupor of infamy
— were seen becoming, industrious,
cleanly, better clothed, more frequently
in the church, and never in the public
FATHER MATIIEW AND TEMPERANCE.
775
Louse. Their wives and little children
proclaimed, in their cheerful eyes, the
liappy results of temperance. Father
Mathew, who had been the agent of
this change, was looked upon by the
people, and not without reason, as 'a
tlirice-blessed man. His words were
the words of a prophet; and the pledges
plighted in his presence were vows to
Heaven which it were perdition to
break." This great and good man was
ere long called on to labor in a wider
sphere. He visited Limerick, and ad-
ministered the pledge to more than
fifty thousand. At Galway one hun-
dred thousand took the pledge in two
days. His greatest triumph was in
Dublin, which he visited in March,
1840. Crowds flocked to hear him,
and listen to his persuasive appeals in
favor of teetotalism. Ten thousand
were enrolled on the first day. The
whole city was stirred up; thousands
upon thousands, filled with enthusiasm,
flocked around him, vowing, upon their
bended knees, under the wide canopy
of heaven, and before their God and
their country, to be temperate for ever-
more.
Thenceforth, Father Mathew became
the "Apostle of Temperance," and con-
verts, numbered by the million, have
been enrolled among those vowing
never to touch liquor in any shape or
form. He next went to London, Liver-
pool, Manchester, and other places in
Endand, where he was listened to with
earnest and increasing interest. Sub-
sequently he extended his philanthropic
labors to the United States, and lec-
tured in the principal cities with very
great sHccess. He returned to L-eland
in the autumn of 1851, and five years
afterwards, December 8, 185G, he died.
The beneficial results of Father Ma-
thew's labors can hardly be fully esti-
mated. In Ireland, especially, he has
accomplished that for millions of his
countrymen, without M-hich, if they
were to gain entire independence of
England's control, they could neither
enjoy nor retain their freedom. A
iM'ighter day has dawned upon Ireland
since that long-suffering country has
begun to realize the value and import-
ance of the labors of the zealous, single-
hearted, devoted Father Mathew.
]\Ir. George Lewis Smyth, in his
"Ireland: Historical and Statistical,"
speaks of the movement associated with
Father Mathew's name in terms worthy
of being quoted. Writing in 1849, he
says : " This movement is one of the
most striking, significant, and satisfac-
tory of modern times. A whole pop-
ulation, obedient to the pious solicita-
tion of a simple friar, fall down on
their knees in the public streets, and
renounce, before heaven and the world,
a debasing vice. They carry away
with them the friar's blessing, and
an approving conscience, to strengthen
them in the keeping of their pledge,
and these suflice for the purpose.*
* The following is the fonn of Father Mathow's ber of tho Teetotal Tompcranco Society, to abstain
pledge : " 1 promise, so long as I shall continue a mem- from all intoxicating liqaors, unices recommended for
REIGN OF GEORGE IV.
And they will suffice. The temper of
tlie people, the exigencies of their con-
dition, and the salutary effects produced
liy the improvement, are the sure gaar-
autei'S of its continuance. We have
only to glance at the other changes
which have taken place of late years in
the condition of the mass of the Irish
people, to be satisfied that this one AA'ill
be maintained. They have ceased to
appear' as a distinct and disqualified
caste ; they have commanded the exer-
cise of political rights in a manner new
and far more independent than a short
time ago they could have believed pos-
sible ; they have felt themselves rising
in the scale of society, and heard the
public voice in all directions sympa-
thizing aloud with their remaining
grievances, and emphatically demand-
ing their removal. Under these cir-
cumstances the humblest Irishman must
have taken np a fresh idea of his own
value, and have felt himself impelled
to offer some public test or demonstra-
tion of the sense growing within him
of acquired superiority. But that, Avhile
medical purposes, and to discourage, by all means in
my power, the practice of intoxication in others." Af-
ter having said this slowly and distinctly. Father Ma-
thew passed from person to person^ and making the
he continued a drunkard, would always
be impossible. Intoxication reduces all
grades and minds to the same low level,
and there confounds them. Considera-
tion in society, which an Irishman pri-
zes, was thus unattainable ; and long
before good Father Mathew appeared,
the Irishman must have had a longing
desire urging upon his heart the aban-
donment of so vile a habit and freedom
from the enslaving bonds that prevent-
ed him from enjoying the full and un-
disputed reputation of being a regener-
ated individual Rescued for the
future from the danger of being dragged
into this whirlpool of ruin (i. e., drunk-
enness), the Irishman will find that he
has a legitimate claim to a distinct
grade in society, and he will -maintain
and improve the claim, because he will
not be slow to discover that by so do-
ing he will add to his fortune, while he
gratifies his pride.'"
All honor, then, be to this good
man, this noble philanthropist, and
may his name from henceforth and ever
be held in perpetual memory !
sign of the cross on the forehead, repeated the usual
form of Roman Catholic blessing : " I bless thee in the
name of the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost. Amen."
O'CONNELL AS A LEADER.
CHAPTER L
o'cONNELL IN PARLIAMENT, AND IRELAND'S STRUGGLES.
P«wition and influence of O'ConneU in Parliament.— Death of George IV.— Succeeded by William IV.— Excite-
ment about reform.— Change of ministry.— Marquis of Anglesea lord-lieutenant.— Decides against public
meetings for repeal.— O'Connell and others arrested, tried, and convicted, but not sentenced.— Reform-biU
introduced into Parliament.— O'Connell's activity, popularity, and demands.— Reforra-biU carried in 1832.—
Not much satisfaction to Ireland.— Agitation on the subject of tithes.- Abolition of ten bishoprics, etc—
Earl Grey's coercion bill.— Agitation not stopped.— Discussion in Parliament on the Re|>cal question.— The
" Experiment" projiosed and attemj>ted to be carried out.— Of no real benefit— Orange lodges and other
societies suppressed. — Bills for reform of municipal corporations, for poor-laws, for abolition of tithes, etc.,
1836. — Mr. Nichols' Report on the condition of the poor in Ireland. — l>ord John Russell's bill. — Passed in
1838.— Result.— O'Connell's labors for years.— Death of William IV.— Accession of Queen Victoria.— Ex-
pectations.— Demands in behalf of Ireland — Reform in Irish corporations. — Good results. — Lord Fortescuo
lord-lieutenant. — His policy. — Repeal Assiiciation formed in 1810— O'ConneU lord-mayor of Dublin —
Petition of city corporation for repeal of the Union. — " Monster meetings." — Immense gatherings.— Hold
language of O'C'onnell and Bishop Higgins. — Government [ireparations. — Meeting at MuUagliraasi. — One
appointed to be held at Clontarf. — Forbidden by the lord-lieutenant. — O'ConnoU and six other.- arrested,
tried, and convicted. — Sentence and imprisonment, 1844. — 111 effects upon O'Connell. — His views as to using
force in carrying forward repeal. — The "Young Ireland" party. — O'Connell's sickness and death, 1847.—
Estimate of his character and career. — Determinati'^n of the British Government. — Macaulay's ei|iression8.
— Eulogy on O'ConneU. — The potato rot or disease. — Terrible famine in Ireland. — Maynooth endowment.
1845. — Queen's Colleges. — Denounced by the Catholic hierarchy. — Catholic University founded. — Govern-
ment efforts to relieve distress. — BiU for constructing public works so as to employ the poor. — The famine
of 1846-7. — Poor-law amended. — Large contributions for relief. — Private benovolonco. — Sad picture of the
state of the country. — Places for reUef. — Extensive emigration. — Increased for years. — Diminution of popu-
lation between 1841 and 1851.
(1829-1847.)
THE position of Daniel O'Connell
in the English parliament was
looked upon as a very important one
for the interests of Ireland, Lofty ex-
pectations were entertained in regard
to what he was about to accomplish,
and the confidence and enthusiastic de-
votion of his countrymen were un-
bounded. His great ability, his bold-
ness, his zeal, and his eloquence had
proven his admirable fitness for the
position of the leader of Irishnit^n in
their own land ; it now remained to l)e
demonstrated in how far his remark-
able powers could be employed in the
imperial legislature in furthering the
one great object of his life, the repeal
of the Union and the restoration of a
parliament for his native country.
O'Connell's couive in parliament w.is
characterized by his usual sag.ucity ami
shrewdness, and was well calculated to
778
REIGN OF WILLIAM IV
promote the ends to which he h.ul
pledged himself. It was not long,
iiiOreover, before his influence began
to make itself manifest in various ways.
In May, 1830, O'Connell introduced a
motion for reform in parliament, uni-
veisal suffrage, and vote by ballot at
elections. This motion, though it met
with no favor or support at the time,
was a significant indication of the
spirit of O'Connell, and the far-reaching
aims had in view by himself and his
compeers.
George IV. ended a vicious and al-
most worthless life on the 26th of
June, 1830, and was succeeded by his
brother, the duke of Clarence, William
IV. Parliament was prorogued in July,
and writs issued for an election of mem-
bers for the new parliament to meet in
November. Much excitement pre-
vailed, both in England and Ireland,
and strenuous efforts were made to
have membere returned so as to sup-
port the views of the tories and opjio-
nents of reform on the one hand, and to
carry foi'ward the extension of popular
privileges on the other. In fact, reform
was loudly called for, and great agita-
tion and excitement prevailed.
When parliament met again, No-
vember, 1830, the Wellington and Peel
ministry speedily found themselves in
a minority, and so of course resigned.
Earl Grey then became prime-minister.
Lord Melbourne was made home secre-
tary, Brougham became lord-chancellor,
the Marquis of Anglesea was again sent
to Ireland as lord-lieutenant, with Mr.
Stanley as his chief secretary, and Plun-
kett was made Irish chancellor. Tlie
appointment of the Marquis of Angle-
sea it was supposed would pi-ove of
great service to the govei'nraent, as he
had been very popular in Ireland, be-
cause of his favoring Catbolic emancipa-
tion (see p. 768) ; but the result did not
answer the expectation of government.
Dublin was full of agitation and ex-
citement on political questions, and in
nearly all parts of the country there
seemed to be a determination to pro-
ceed to ulterior movements. Eman-
cipation was only a part of what the
Catholics wanted and were resolved to
attain. Repeal, as O'Connell announ-
ced, was the grand object to l)e reached,
and repeal O'Connell bent all his ener-
gies to favor and push forward. In
January, 1829, he said, that in order to
accomplish repeal he would give up
emancipation and every other measure,
and that his exei'tions for such an ob-
ject would meet with the co-operation
of all sects and parties.
The lord-lieutenant met with a cold
reception on his arrival in Dublin ; an-d
when he took the ground of putting a
stop to all public meetings for agitating
repeal, as seditious and unlawful, he
found arrayed against him all the in-
fluence of O'Connell and the other
leaders of the Catholics in Ii'eland.
In January, 1831, O'Connell and
seven of his fellow-workers were arrest-
ed as trespasser against the lord-lieu-
tenant's proclamation forbidding as-
semblages for discussing political topics.
REFORM AND THE REFORM-BILL.
779
So in after, the graud-jury found true
bills against O'Counell and the others,
and the trial was had in February. It
resulted in their conviction, but judg-
ment was deferred. O'Connell asserted
boldly that the government would not
proceed to sentence him ; and he was
right in so saying, for the government
was so situated in parliament as to need
all the support and help of O'Connell
and the Irish members. The act under
which the Liberator was tried expired
in June, and his legal criminality ex-
pired of course with it. As might have
been expected, this prosecution greatly
increased O'Connell's popularity with
the masses of the people, and he used
the power he possessed in urging on
the cry for repeal of the Union.
lu parliament, the ministry intro-
duced a plan for reform in the repre-
sentation of the people of England.
The necessity of some action on this
sul>ject was universally felt, and Lord
John Russell's bill, which was brought
into the Commons in March, 1831,
passed the house by a considerable
majority. In the Lords, however, it
met with determined opposition, and
was thrown out in October. Immense
excitement prevailed in consequence.
The houses of various noblemen were
attacked, and their owners who op-
posed the bill were hooted at in the
streets of London. The ministry had
no alternative, and so parliament was
dissolved.
O'Connell was, as usual, actively en-
gaged in rousing the people to contend
earnestly foi- their rights, and so great
was the enthusiasm which his presence
excited everywhere, that the Marquis
of Anglesea and government in Ireland
were able to make but feeble opposition
to his commanding influence and his
eloquent appeals throughout the coun-
try, and at the trials for political of-
fences, held at Limerick, Galway, Ros-
common, and other places. In fact,
O'Connell's popularity was unbounded.
Wherever he went through England or
Scotland, thousands and hundreds of
thousands greeted his approach. He
proclaimed the necessity of a further
reform in the British Constitution ;
demanded the reform of the House of
Lords, by the abolition of hereditary
privileges; demanded annual or trien-
nially elected parliaments, the ballot
and universal suffrage, and for his na-
tive country the fullest measures of
equal political privileges with England,
or the restoration of her native parlia-
ment ; and these demands were second-
ed and heartily approved by millions of
the English people.
Parliament met in December, 1831,
and the subject of reform came up al-
most immediately. So strong had been
the j)ublic expression throughout the
kingdom of the necessity of this reform,
that parliament felt it a duty to give
the matter the eailiest attention and
settlement. The debate was protracted
and earnest in the House, but the bill
pjissed, March 22d, 1832. In the
House of Lords the duke of Wellington
and others strongly opposed the reform
780
REIGN OF WILLIAM IV.
measures. The bill was read the
second time, April 14th, and discussed
in committee eai-ly in May. The min-
istry resigned ; but as a new one could
not be formed with any prospect of
success, Earl Grey and his fellow-work-
ers weie recalled, and on the 4th of
June, 1832, the reform-bill passed the
House of Lords.
The bill for parliamentary reform, as
ai)plicable to Ireland, was introduced
by Mr. Stanley, May 22d, and was car-
ried through both houses by the begin-
ning of August. It gave five new
members to Ii'eland ; but as the leaders
and agitators, in behalf of reform, de-
manded at least twenty-five additional
members, as well as an extension of the
franchise, there was great disappoint-
ment at this meagre result, and consid-
erable indignation at the course pursued
by the government.* O'Connell, who
had laid aside, for the time, the agita-
tion of the repeal question, in order to
obtain all the possible benefits of par-
liamentary reform, now resumed his
active interest and eflPorts in this and
all other movements calculated to in-
crease the political power and influence
of the Catholics in Ireland. The bur-
den of tithes was denounced, the de-
mand for abolition of these oppressive
and odious exactions, as they were held
• "Ireland," says Mr.O'Brennan, "got only five addi-
tional members, who increased our representatives to
105. About 40 members were returned at the general
election, pledged to support the Repeal of the Union.
Had not the elective franchise been unjustly withheld
from the people, nearly aU the constituencies would have
returned repealers, all sects and parties being convinced
that nothing short of a parliament in College Qreen,
to be, was warmly discussed, and much
and vigorous exertion was bestowed in
endeavoi-ing to agree upon a settlement
of this vexed question. In foct, the
whole subject of the established church
in Ireland was gone into, in this and
subsequent sessions of parliament ; and
the ministry finally gave way so far as
to abolish ten bishoprics and throw off
one-fourth of the entire tax.
The new parliament, undei- the re-
form act, met in January, 1833. The
Irish representation was largely made
up of friends and followers of O'Con-
nell, who had been paiticularly active
in connection with the Trades' Union,
the Volunteers, and other associations
engaged in political movements in Ire-
laud.
In February, Earl Grey introduced
the coercion bill for Ii'eland, based upon
the fact that disturbances and violations
of law were so prevalent that decided
measures must be taken to repress
them. The bill was strongly opposed
by O'Connell and othei's, who moved
various and important amendments;
but it became a law by the close of the
month of March. The lord-lieutenant
acted upon the powers given him, ])ut-
ting a stop to political gathei'ings. Vol-
unteers' associations, etc. Agitation, it
was hoped, would gradually diminish ;
Dublin, could restore this country to a secure and per-
manent condition of national prosperity. Such an as-
sembly would check the drain of absenteeism, which is
one of the greatest sources of our poverty, and would
cherish and enlarge our manufactures, make trade
flourish, and keep the gentry at homo to watch over
and encourage native industry. An Irish parliament
vrould heal all our i
DEBATE ON THE REPEAL QUESTION.
•781
but every such hope was delusive ; for
O'Connell aud the Irish patriots who
were joined with him were determined
never to cease agitating the subject of
a Repeal of the Union, until success
crowned their efforts. At the opening
of parliament in 1834, the king declared
that he would uphold the Union be-
tween Great Britain and Ireland at the
utmost cost, and with all the power of
the State. This declaration O'Connell
met some time after by a resolution in
the House of Commons, that the Union
had not oidy been singularly disastrous
to Ireland, but also greatly injurious to
England, and that it was expedient that
it be immediately repealed. The great
discussion on the Repeal question took
place, April 22, 1834, when O'Connell
made cue of his noblest efforts, giving
a history of the connection between
England and Ii-eland from the begin-
ning, and detailing the oppressions in-
flicted on his native country during 600
years by the tyi'annical Saxon. Mr.
Spring Rice and Mr. E. Tennant, both
Irish members, spoke in behalf of the
government, aud undertook to show
how greatly Ireland had advanced in
wealth, commerce, and resources, since
the Union; how Cork, Belfast, Galway,
and Wexford had increiised their ship-
ping; and what a prospect for the
future lay open before Ireland, if she
could only be freed from the mischiev-
ous political agitation, which lay as an
insuperable incubus on her prosperity
The debate was kept up for a week ;
but, ot( a division, there were five liun
dred and twenty-three votes against the i
motion, and only thirty-eight in its ;
favor. Ministers, immediately after tiie
division, brought foi'wai'd a series of
resolutions, declaring the Union at
{)resent existing with Ii-eland forever
indissoluble; but pledging parliament
aud the king to redress all proved
abuses to be found there. '
On a change in the ministry, in ISS.*), i
Earl Grey having retired and Lord
Melbourne having assumed the pre-
miership, the Eai-1 of Mulgrave was ,
sent to Ireland as lord-lieutenaut, with
Lord Morpeth as chief secretary. O'Con-
nell had certain overtures made to him,
on condition of his giving up rejio-tl
agitation, to introduce and cai-ry out
the most thorough and complete reform
in Ireland. O'Connell was not unwil-
ling to listen to these advances, jis we
learn in a letter written by him in
May, 1835:
"Here I am, for one, fully determin-
ed to contribute all lean to the success
of this experiment. The union, fairly
tried, may, as some expect, produce
honest and good govei'nnieut, and con-
sequent tranquillity and prosperity, in
Ireland. If it do so, all that we desire
to obtain by the Repeal will be realizt'd
— a result which I fervently hope foi-,
but cannot bring myself to say I conti-
dently anticipate. But such a rf.-.ult
would please everybody, and, in the
comfort and prosperity of Ireland, her
patriots would have their glorious re-
ward. If, on the other hand, the ex-
periment fails, aud then, after honestly
(82
REIGN OF WILLIAM IV.
applying all the powers of a friendly
hut uuited legislature to the ameliora-
tion of the condition of the Irish people,
it is proved to demonstration that no-
thing can cure the evils arising from
provincial degradation, from the ab-
sence of the nobility, gentry, and great
landed proprietors, but a domestic le-
gislature in a nation of more than eight
millions of inhabitants, why, then we
will demand 'the repeal' in a voice of
thunder, and we shall be joined in the
cry by all the rational and right-think-
ing men of Great Britain."
The new lord-lieutenant arrived in
Dublin in May, 1835, and almost im-
mediately became popular, as well by
his attractive manners as by his sincere
desii-e to promote the welfai-e of Ire-
land. Every thing was done that could
be done to quiet and soothe the public
mind ; places under government were
freely bestowed ; popular leadei-s were
raised to office ; lucrative positions were
given to such men as Sheil, O'Dwyer,
O'Connell's son and son-in-law, O'Far-
rell, and others; the liberator was
offered a judgeship worth £4,000 a
year, and was entertained by the lord-
lieutenant at a state banquet ; prisoners
for political offences were liberally par-
doned ; and, in short, the government
was so free in its use of patronage and
its holding out expectations of great
good from the present course of things,
that for the time being the repeal cry
was entirely hushed. But, as might
have been expected, the " experiment"
failed of accomplishing any real good
for the mass of the people; and Lord
Mulgrave, the popular and cultivated
lord-lieutenant, was recalled early in
1839.
During the following session (1836)
Mr. Sheil brought foi-ward the subject
of the orange lodges, with a view to
their suppression, and succeeded in ob-
taining a select committee to inquire into
their extent and tendencies; and this
was backed up by a resolution of Mr.
Hume's, to extend the inquiry to the i
orange lodges which were known to ex-
ist in the army, which he alleged were
not only an insult to Ireland, but also |
treasonable towards the country. A
law was then passed by parliament
against all and every kind of secret so-
cieties, in which the freemasons, and \
other social and fi-iendly brothei-hoods, i
were included, and which completely
suppressed the orange system in Ireland ;
and in the arriiy. It will be remeni- |
bered thatj in 1834, an act had been :
passed for an extensive reform of the
municipal corporations of England and ;
Wales, founded on the elective priii- !
ciple of the great reform-bill ; which
had been found, from experience, to be
of vast utility in opening tho«e exclu-
sive bodies to general competition, and 1
in sweeping away an immense number
of most gross corruptions. This pi-in-
ciple it was now proposed to carry out
also in Ireland, and a committee was ac-
cordingly appointed to inquire into the
best mode of effecting that desirable
object.
The imperial legislature professed
THE IRISH TITHE-BnX.
itself to be anxious to benefit, in any
and every way possible, the people of
Ireland. By the granting of Catholic
emancipation, the great masses of the
people, it was conceived, had been
placed on a political level with their
Protestant fellow-subjects. By the ex-
tension of municipal reform, they hoped,
by giving the middle classes an active
participation in the local, as well as
general, government of the country, to
increase their personal dignity and self-
respect. It was now proposed to re-
lease the lower classes from the abject
thraldom in which they were held, by
giving them a title to relief, in times of
adversity, upon the landed and other
property, by the introduction of a jud
cious system of poor-laws; and thus
save them from the degradation of that
eleemosynary relief, upon which, in
peiiods of distress, they had hitherto
solely to depend.
Pai'liaraent met on the 14th of Feb-
ruary, 1886, when it was opened by
the king in person ; who, in the speech
fi-om the throne, laid these several
topics before the legislature. Mr.
O'Ligldin, the attorney-general, intro-
duced a bill for the reform of the mu-
nicipal corporations, which wa3 passed
by the House ; but the House of Lords
having made numerous amendments, to
which the lower House did not agree,
the bill was lost.
The Irish Tithe-Bill was fiist mooted
in the House of Commons on the 25th
of April, 1836, by Lord Morpeth, who
trusted that he should neutralize all
opposition by moving a resolution, in
the adoption of which all parties niiglit,
without at all compromising themselves,
combine. His resolution was, "That
it is expedient to commute the composi-
tion of tithes in Ireland in a rent-charge,
payable by the owners of estates, and
thus make a fur'.her provision for the
better regulation of ecclesiastical dues
and revenues.'' By this process it was
expected that nearly £100,000 would
1)6 gained for other purposes ; and out
of this sum he proposed to appropiiate
£50,000 to educational and other simi-
lar purposes. The bill met with much
opposition, and was deferred for the
present. Meanwhile, the clergy issued
processes to collect the tithes, and were
sustained by the highest law authorities.
The Catholics were exasperated at
these proceedings, and at a meeting
held in the Corn Exchange, whei-e
O'Connell was the leading spirit, tithes
were denounced altogether, and a feel-
ing of intense indignation was roused.
On the other hand, the Pi'otestants iu
the north of Ireland made ver}- great
exertions to secure and sustain what
they considered to be tlieir rights under
the constitution, and to counteract the
designs of the Catholics.
The year 1837 opened with lowering
clouds over Ireland. Neither Catholic
nor Protestant wjvs satisfied ; and tliere
was too much room for discontent and
disturbance, if not serious outbreaks in
various parts of the country. The sulv
ject of relief to the poor wiis fully and
cai-efuUy discussed, biided U]ion the re-
784
REIGN OF WILLIAM IV.
port of Mr. Nichols, wlio had been sent
by Lord John Russell to Ireland to ex-
amine into the actual condition of the
poor. Mr. Nichols' report was full, ac-
curate, and clearly aiTanged. He stated
that the wages of the agricultural la-
borers varied from sixpence to twelve-
pence a day ; the average was about
eight-and-a-half. The earnings of la-
borers, on an average of the whole class,
did not exceed two shiilings to two
shillings and sixpence a week, for the
whole year round ; from which miser-
able income a man and his family were
to feed and clothe themselves! The
number of persons out of work, and in
distress, dui-ing thirty weeks of the
year, was estimated at 585,000 ; and
the number of persons dependent upon
iliem for suppoi-t, at not less than
1,800,000, — making, in the whole, 2,385,
000, or one-fourth of the entire popula-
tion, who might be said to be depend-
ent upon charitable support for six
months in every year ; that the support
of the poor fell exclusively on the farm-
ing and cotter class ; and the voluntary
relief afforded by these he valued at
near a million sterling per annum.
The poor-law of Lord John Russell
was based upon Mr. Nichols' report.
He proposed to adopt the principle of
compulsory rates for the relief of the
poor ; but in order to render the relief
eflficacious, so that improper persons
should not receive the relief thus de-
vised, he annexed a condition, that all
who required relief should be com-
pelled to enter the workhouse, where
they would meet with worse ftire and
work hai'der for their support than
when they were working for any other
master than the parish. In order to
insure a right feeling among the several
bodies, or boards of guardians, who
would have the immediate direction of
all the parishes, he proposed altogether
to exclude clergymen, whatever their
principles might be. The measure was
argued and re-argued. O'Connell and
others opposed it strongly, and it was
laid aside for that session on account of
the king's death. It was taken up
again the next session, and, early in the
year 1838, passed Ijy lai-ge majorities.
Money was granted for the erection of
poor-houses to the extent of hundreds
of thousands of pounds, and the whole
machinery for this vast effort to benefit
the poor in L'eland was soon after
brought into operation.
A Catholic writer, who sympathizes
with the labors of O'Connell and his
fellow-workers in opposition to the
poor-law, asserts that " this measure
has proved a signal failui'e. The peo-
ple, in most cases, refuse to pass a rate.
There is no money to be found by the
commissioners ; and the consequence
is, the poor in many places are dis-
charged upon the country, and live
upon the bounty of the charitable, as
they formerly did."
Our limits do not admit of going into
details, or of enlarging upon the vast
influence and power exerted by O'Con-
nell in his country's affairs. Suffice it
here to say, that for several years
CLAIMS AND HOPES FOR IRELAND.
785
O'Connell devoted bis best energies to
the one great topic on which he had
staked his future life and powers, as
the Liberator of Ireland. Repeal was
steadily and forcibly advocated in par-
liament and out of it ; O'Connell never
lost sight of it when dealing with the
masses, as well in England as in Ire-
land ; Repeal was his battle-cry, and he
spared no way or means to further its
advance. Associations were formed
well calculated to set forward the
cause, and these exercised great influ-
ence in Ireland and elsewhere ; and, in
fact, all through the reign of William
IV., O'Connell was a thorn in the side
of the successive administrations, was
ever busy in keeping alive the agita-
tion of the great question, was wearied
by no labor, appalled by no difficulties,
discouraged by no disappointments, and
resolute in persisting to the end in press-
ing a dissolution of the Union, as a mat-
ter of simple justice to Ireland, and as an
advantage to both England and Ireland.
On the 20th of June, 1837, William
IV. died, and was succeeded by the
Princess Victoria, daughter of the Duke
of Kent. She was now in the eigh-
teenth year of her age, and her views
rnd feelings, so far as was known and
believed, were liberal and generous.
In the enthusiasm arising out of a new
sovereign mounting the throne, high
hopes were excited in behalf of Ireland
and her claims ; and it was expected
by many that now justice, at least,
would be rendered to this portion of
her majesty's dominions.
The new parliament, under Queen
Victoria, met in November, 1837, and
was composed of about an equal num-
ber of whigs and tories. Various mat-
ters relative to Ireland came before
the legislature, upon questions con-
nected with the purity of elections and
the evident course of things in tliat
country, dissatisfied as its people were
with the rule of the whig party. Tlie
abolition of monopolies like the Bank
of Iieland was called for; there was an
earnest asking for encouragement to
the Irish fishei-ies ; and, indeed, a gen-
eral fostering of Irish enterprise and
internal improvements was demanded.
During the years 1838 and 1839
O'Connell was much occupied in seek-
ing to obtain a corporate reform-bill
for Ireland. The attempt to renew the
charter of the Bank of Ireland was de-
feated. Ardent and long-continued dis-
cussions on the Irish poor-law were had;
but the aflairs of Ireland did not oljtain
that attention they desei'ved. England
was in a state of great agitation and ex-
citement. The chartist masses, on the
one hand, were armed, and meeting in
bodies of thousands and tens of thou-
sands, by torchlight, and demanding the
"people's charter," under denunciations
of the most fearful kind ; and on the
other, the tory pai-ty was indulging in
threatenings and abuse of the queen,
and especially of Lord Melbourne, tlie
prime-minister. O'Connell's laboi's, we
may mention here, to obtain a refoiin
in the Irish corporations, were crowned
with success in 1S40. The bill lor
786
REIGN OF QUEEN VICTORIA.
this purpose wivs finally passed by the
House of Lords, although many of its
>slauses were stricken out, and it was
yot altogether what was demanded,
ft, however, had this good effect, that
it opened the corporations to men of
all religious denominations, and sub-
jected the taxing powers to public
scrutiny ; but it provided that the old
oiEcers should not be removed with-
out ample compensation. The bill went
into operation in the year 1841.*
Lord Mulgrave (now Marquis of
Normanby) having been recalled. Lord
Fortescue was sent, in 1839, to Ireland,
as lord-lieutenant. The new viceroy,
with outspoken plainness, declared pub-
licly that no member of the Repeal
Association should receive place or
pi-omotion from him. This, as may be
supposed, produced considerable feel-
ing, and the question of repeal excited
more and more attention. The " Pre-
i;ursor Association," founded in August,
1838, was replaced by the "Registra-
tion Society," and that, in 1840, by the
" Loyal National Repeal Association of
Ireland." This latter formally pledged
itself never to dissolve until the Union
was repealed.
The struggle of the whigs against
the tories resulted, in 1841, in the com-
plete discomfiture of the former. Sir
Robert Peel became the premier in
• GKRAliD Qkipptn, distinguished among his coun-
trymen as an author of superior talent and force, was
l)orn iu Limerick, December 12, 1803. He manifested
very early a love for literature ; and when he grew up,
Ik: devoted himself to it vrith unusual zeal, and attained
great success. He was \ W tuthor of " The Clollegians,"
September, 1841, and held that impor-
tant position until 1846. O'Connell,
after a busy and exciting canvass, was
elected lord-mayor of Dublin in 1841,
and on the 1st of November was duly
installed into office. It was a position
not more honorable than influential ;
and though the Liberator never lost
sight of the one great object of his life,
still it deserves to be put on record
that he discharged the duties of his
oflice with acknowledged impartiality
and fairness, and retired from his posi-
tion, at the end of the year, with honor
and credit. The year following (in
February, 1843) he gave notice, as one
of the city aldermen, that he should
offer a motion to petition the House of
Commons for a repeal of the Union.
(See p. Y51.) The question was de-
bated on the 1st of March, when O'Con-
nell delivered one of his most powerful
and effective speeches, on a topic in
which his whole soul was engaged ; and
though ably opposed, the motion to
petition for repeal was carried by a
large majority. Other municipalities
followed the example thus set — as Cork,
Waterford, Limerick, etc. ; and Ijy the
aid of the press and the activity of the
I'epealers, the question became the all-
engrossing one of the day. Seven hun-
dred thousand persons were enrolled
members of the Repeal Association in
" The Rivals," etc. ; and his works have been collected,
and, together with a memoir by his brother, published
in New York, in ten volumes. Griflin joined a religious
society, called The Christian Brothers, in 1838 ; but hia
health gave way, and he died, December 12, 1840.
jom-
j from
,, we will
• ill suspend
/der to devote
THE MONSTER MEETINGS.
YS7
till' ye;ir 18-i3, and there was paid into
the treasuiy, for furthering the objects
of the society, not less than £48,000.
O'Connell, though now sixty-eight
years old, was full of activity and en-
ergy, and gave his whole attention to
the rousing of the people to a full sense
of their position, and the only mode of
obtaining redress. He resolved, in fur-
therance of his grand purpose, to call a
series of meetings in the fields and on
the hill-sides, which, from the vast num-
bers that gathered at his call, were
termed " monster meetings." The first
was held at Trim, near Dublin, on Sun-
day, March 19, 1843, where twenty
thousand met. Other meetings were
held — at Limerick, April 19th ; at Mul-
lingar. May I4th ; at Cashel, May 23d;
at Kilkenny, June 8th ; at Tara, Au-
gust 15th; and in many other parts
of the country : so that, between March
and the beginning of October, there
were forty-six of these immense gath-
erings. The hills and valleys rang with
the excited cry of hundreds of thou-
sands of the people, for repeal and for
justice to Ireland.
The government was evidently in
great doubt and perplexity, and began
to be alarmed as to wliereunto all this
would grow. Sir Robert Peel and the
Duke of Wellington declared positively
that they would " put down" the Lib-
erator and his fellow-workers in the
repeal agitation. Several regiments of
infantry and cavalry, a large quantity
of arms and ammunition, and four ves-
sels of war, were sent to Ireland, to be
ready against the threatened enu-r-
gency. But O'Connell bore liinist'lf
bravely before the people. "I am not
to be mocked," he said. " I belong to
a nation of eight millions ; and let me
also tell you that there is, besides,
more than a million of Irishmen in
England. If Sir Robert Peel has tlie
audacity to cause a contest to take.,
place between the two countries, we
will begin no rebellion ; but I tell him,
fj-om this spot, that he dare not com-
mence the strife against Ireland."
He was seconded by one of the
Catholic bishops, with language even
more daring and significant. " I know,"
said Bishop Higgins, of Ardagh, "that,
virtuall}^, you all have reason to believe
that the bishops of Ireland were re-
pealers ; but I have now again foimally
to announce to you that they have all
declared themselves as such, and that
from shore to shore we are all now re-
pealers. I cannot sit down without
adverting also to the means which that
body would have, and would be deter-
mined to exei't, in case that foolish min-
ister, who presides over the fated des-
tinies of our country, would have dared
to put his threat into execution. I,
for one, defy all the ministei-s of Eng-
land to put down the repeal agitation,
in the single diocese of Ardagh. If
they attempt, my friends, to lob us of
the daylight, which is, I believe, com-
mon to us all, and prevent ua from
assembling in the open fields, we will
retire to our chapels; we will suspend
all other instruction, in order to devote
REIGN OF QUEEN VICTORIA.
all our time to teaching the people to
be repealers, in spite of them. If they
follow us to our sanctuaries with their
spies and myrmidons,. we will prepare
our people for the scaffold, and be-
queath our wrongs to posterity."
The ministry were alarmed, as well
they might be, at such bold denuncia-
tion ; but they were none the less re-
solved to conquer the difficulty. The
repeal press, especially the "Nation,"
roused the people to a pitch of enthu-
siasm never before known. The repeal-
rent swelled from £200 and £300 to
JE700 in the week. "Warlike prepara-
tions were pushed forwai'd by the gov-
ernment. A bill for disarming the
Irish people was introduced into par-
liament, which was warmly and ener-
getically discussed ; and Smith O'Brien
moved an inquiry into the state of Ire-
land, and pressed it so earnestly, that
three days were spent in the debate
upon it. The government, however,
while acknowledging the difficulty,
steadily adhered to their determination,
and refused to yield to either entreaty,
or ai-gument, or threats of danger to
the stability of the Union.
The numbers reported as present at
these " monster meetings" seem to be
almost incredible: at Limerick, 110-
000 ; at Cork, 500,000 ; at Clare, 700-
000; at Tara, 750,000; at Mullagh-
mast, 400,000. At this last meeting,
held October 1st, 1843, O'Connell
occupied the chair, and while there
allowed a deputation of writers and
tti-tists to place upon his head a cap
made upon the model of one of ihe an-
cient Irish crowns. An address was
presented, to which the Liberator an-
swered, and vowed to wear this kingly
cap during his life, and to have it buried
with him in his grave.
Another monster meeting was fixed
by O'Connell to be held on the famous
battle-field of Cloutarf, three miles from
Dublin, on the 8th of October. The
government, however, had come to the
resolution to put a stop, by force it
needful, to any further gatherings of
the kind. Eai'l de Grey, who had suc-
ceeded Lord Fortescue as lord-lieuten-
ant, in December, 1841, on consultation
with the council, issued a proclamation,
late Saturday afternoon, October 7th,
denouncing the proposed meeting as
seditious and inflammatory, and forbid-
ding the assemblage as illegal, and sub-
jecting all present to prosecution.
O'Connell immediately gave notice
that the meeting would not be held,
and all chance of direct collision with
the authorities was prevented. But
the government were not content with
putting an end to these monster gath-
erings. They next proceeded, within
a week, to arrest the Liberator and six
others, on charge of seditious designs
and practices in what had taken place.
The trial began, January 15, 1844, and
excited profound interest and concern,
as well in England as Ireland. Some
of the first talent in the country were
engaged for the defence, which was
very ably conducted ; but on the 12th
of February a verdict of guilty was
J
O'CONN ELL'S TRLVI^ AND ITS RESULTS.
789
brought iu by the jury. Sentence was
delayed ; the jury were denounced as
packed and peijured; and O'Connell
apj)eared in his place in parliament,
and iu various parts of England. There
was no lack of sympathy with him in
his peculiar trial, and it was admitted on
all hands that the prosecution to which
he had been subjected could never be
sustained before the tribunal to which
it was to be carried on a writ of error.
On the 30th of May, 1844, O'Con-
nell and his compeers were brought
into court to receive tlu-ir sentence.
O'Connell was condemned to be impris-
oned for a year, and pay a fine of
jE'2,000. The others were to be im-
l)risoned for nine months, and pay
lines of j£50 each. The appeal to the
House of Lords was diligently carried
forward by the law-agents of the pris-
oners, and, after much difficulty and
great cost, came before that body in
July. The argument was fully gone
into, and on the 5th of September
judgment on the writ of error was
given. Three out of five of the law-
lords were in favor of annulling the
whole proceedings, which was accord-
ingly done, and the prisoners were or-
dered to be dischaiged. On the 6th of
September O'Connell left the Rich-
mond Bridewell, and was received again
to liberty with the enthusi:istic devo-
tion of thousands upon thousands.
The consequences of this unjust im-
prisonment were marked in their eftect
upon O'Connell. He was never again
the same man that he was before. The
iron seemed to have entered into his
soul; his spirit sank within hiin; and
as almost threescore yeai-s and ten had
passed over his head, he was physically
unequal to the labor and fatigue of
keeping alive and directing the repeal
agitation. "On Tara Hill," says O'-
Brennan, "the l.'ith of August, 1843,
he had but to express his will, and the
million and a half of hearts who were
true to him as were men to a leader at
any time in the annals of histoi-y, had
placed him in a position that no foreign
government would have dai-ed to lay
hands on him. Ou that day he was the
uncrowned monarch of the Irish nation.
We had followed him to death or vic-
tory." But now, a year subsequent to
that proud moment, the Liberator wa.s
changed indeed ; he was now but illy
fitted for that position which entluisijLs-
tic myriads expected hiiu to occupy.
O'Connell had always, amid the most
fieiy of his denunciations, and the loud-
est cry for repeal and justice to Ii-eland,
advocated the use of moral force, and
the seeking redress by legal, constitu-
tional means ; he never meant to i)ro-
ceed to open insuri-ection, or to enter
upon a contest of physical power with
England. But now, some of his follow-
ers, membei-s of the Repeal Association,
becoming restless and dissatisfied with
this constant talking and remonstrating,
and not acting, advocated the bringing
matters to as speedy a crisis as possible.
The "Young Lelaud" party were for
entering on the mortal struggle at the
eiuliest moment, and asacrliMi^ the li-
790
REIGN OF QUEEN VICTORIA.
bei'tj and indepeiidt-nce of Ireland at
the cannon's mouth.
The dissensions in the Repeal ranks,
and the fearful sufferings of the people
in the great famine of 1845, 1846, as
well as the seeming consciousness that
his mission was now approaching its
end, weighed down the veteran Libera-
tor, who had for nearly half a century
been battling for the cause of his native
land. With failing spirit his health de-
clined, and he was ordered by the
physicians to the south of Europe.
Early in 1847, he set out for Rome,
earnestly hoping that he might be per-
mitted to die there ; but, on reaching
Genoa, May 15th, he expired, being not
quite seventy-two years old.
Various and contradictory are the es-
timates of O'Connell's character and
career. By the one party he is reviled
and denounced as a bigoted tool in the
hands of unscrupulous men for the
worst of purposes, as a demagogue, a
cheat, a schemer for selfish ends. By
the other he is lauded to the skies as
the impersonation of goodness, patriot-
ism, and self-sacrificing devotion to the
best interests of Ireland. That he was
a truly wonderful man, possessed of
marvellous powers, versatile, brilliant,
able to move an audience with incred-
ible force, of bold manly presence, ca-
* Macaulay, in a speech in the House of Commons,
1845, expressed this determination on the part of Eng-
land in terms worth quoting : " The repeal of the Union
we regard as fatal to the empire ; and we will never
consent to it ; never, though the country should be sur-
rounded by dangers as great as those which threatened
her when her American colonies, and France and Spain
pable of unsurpassed vituperation and
sarcasm, witty and humorous, with
every thing in fact which could give a
man command over his fellow-men, —
that he was all this, hardly admits of
doubt ; and pi-obably no Irishman ever
lived that could compare with him as
a popular leader, in whom the masses
trusted with the most perfect faith.
But it may be questioned whether he
was altogether wise in seeking to ob-
tain an end which can never be attained
peacefully, which the English govern-
ment has always expressed itself detei-
mined never to grant, and which the
whole force of the army and navy
would be used to put down at any cost
whatsoever. It was a waste of words,
it was a loss of time and enei-gy, to call
for repeal, as was done for so many
years by the Repeal Association, under
the delusive expectation that the Eng-
lish government would grant it. It is
quite possible that O'Coniiell persuaded
himself that persistency in the course
he adopted, and the united cry of mil-
lions, might induce or compel the gov-
ernment to yield : but if so, he erred
greatly in judgment ; for if there be
one thing which is fixed and certain in
the policy of England, it is, never to
permit Ii-eland to become independent.*
If the green isle of the ocean is ever
and Holland, were leagued against her, and when the
armed neutrality of the Baltic disputed her maritime
rights ; never, though another Bonaparte should pitch
his tent in sight of Dover castle ; never, till all has
been staked and lost ; never, till the four quarters of
the world have been convulsed by the last struggle of the
great English people for their place among the nations."
EULOGY ON O'CONNELL.— THE FAMINE.
791
to be freed from her connection with
Great Britain, it can only be attained
by force, by actual resort to arms, and
by asserting and maintaining her lib-
erty by the power of the sword. This,
of course, would be revolution, a bloody
revolution, a terrible struggle, a fearful
sacrifice of human life ; but it is the
price which Ireland must pay if she in-
sists on independence and absolute self-
control.
" Had O'Connell," says Mr. Smyth,
in summing up the Liberator's career,
"bestowed upon the discharge of his
grave and far more salutary duties, as a
member of parliament, a tithe of the
labor, the industry, the eloquence, and
the genius which he lavished unavail-
ingly upon the Repeal agitation, he
might have removed from the Irish
system every inequality and ground of
complaint under which his countrymen
have to suffer. Never Irishman did
more in his own time ; never Irishman
missed the opportunity of doing so much.
Often ashegave proofs of superior ability
in handling details and explaining the
operation of systems, he failed to realize
the character of a practical politician."
A Catholic writer, who knew O'Con-
nell well, and whose admiration for him
has no bounds, considers him to have
been the very foremost man of all the
world. A passage from his eulogy,
written before O'Connell's death, may
here be given : " As a husband, he was
loving ; as a father, affectionate ; as a
Christian, sincere ; as a Catholic, rigid ;
as a man, honest: as an orator, elo-
quent ; as a scholar, learned ; as a law-
yer, deep; as an advocate, effective;
as a representative, able ; in the field,
valiant; in the senate, wise ; in council,
deferential ; in debate, overwhelming ;
as a gentleman, delicately courteous ;
as a host, hospitable ; as a guest, enter-
taining; as a companion, jovial; as a
citizen, patriotic ; as a landlord, kind ;
as a great man, approachable ; Jis the
chief magistrate of Dublin, conciliatory
and just ; as the leader of Ireland, faith-
ful, incorruptible, unpurchasable, and
unintimidated."
Leaving, however, the great Libera-
tor to rest in peace, we resume the nar-
rative of events from 1845. It was a
sad dispensation of divine Providence
which came upon Ireland during that
year and 1846. The potato, which is
the main support of the laboring people
in Ireland, is subject to disease at times.
The origin is not easy to explain. For
some years previously this mysterious
disease — called mildew, murrain, rot,
and pestilence — had been making its
way all over Europe. In the autumn
of 1845 it appeared in Ireland, and so
rapid was its progress, that often in a
week's time it would destroy a whole
crop, though promising, just before, an
abundant harvest Acres upon acres
were planted with the potato, wliich
became at once wholly unfit for food
Famine in its most dreadful foi-ni, per-
vaded the whole country; and with
famine came its usiial attendant, fever
of the most malignant kind. Hundreds
and thousands were 8wej»t to their
192
REIGN OF QUEEN VICTORIA.
graves, and the pestilence raged with
fearful effect amongst those who, more
than all, were least ahle to guard against
it. The workhouses were filled to over-
flow, and the numbers of the inmates
at length became so great, that the
overcrowding of the houses became a
source of the very evil which they had
been erected partially to prevent. The
smaller farmers were reduced to ruin,
and those beneath them were thrown
into absolute destitution. From the
government and other sources relief
vras speedily obtained. Provisions were
shipped to Ireland, and every effort was
made so to distribute them that the
suflFering people might obtain the help
they so much needed.
Early in the session of 1845, Sir Rob-
ert Peel brought into parliament a bill,
the object of which was to increase the
grant annually made for the support
of the Catholic college of Maynooth.
(See p. 743.) This college had origi-
nally been instituted for the education
of young men within the British Isles
for the Catholic priesthood, in order to
save them from the necessity to which
they had formerly been subjected, of
repairing to the Continent for that tu-
ition necessary to enable them to enter
upon the duties of the ministry. Mr.
Pitt conceived, in originally making
the grant, that he would thereby enlist
their sympathies in favor of their native
country. The greater portion of his
object remained to be achieved, but Sir
Hubert Peel hoped to effect its accom-
plishment by increasing the favor. He
accordingly carried a bill through par
liament, in the face of the most strenu-
ous opposition, and £26,000 a year
were appropi-iated, out of the consoli-
dated fund, for the better sustenance
and payment of the students and pro-
fessors of Maynooth. Another measure
of conciliation was introduced and car-
ried througli parliament. This was the
establishment of three colleges for secu-
lar education in Ireland, for which
£100,000 were granted. One of these
was located at Belfast, for the North ;
a second at Cork, for the South ; and
a third at Limerick, for the West. An
endowment of £7,000 a year was fixed
for each ; twelve professors were ap-
pointed for each college ; £2,000 a year
are distributed in the way of prizes ;
and no religious test is required from
professors or students.
The government was led to this step,
in the founding the " Queen's Colleges,"
by the success which had attended the
establishment of the National system
of education in 1831. We may men-
tion in the present connection, although
somewhat in advance, that the new col-
leges were not looked upon with favor
by tke Catholic clergy, they holding
that education ought not to be sevei-ed
from religion, but rather that religion
and the church should have prominence
in all respects. The pope ere long
condemned them as " godless colleges ;"
and at a national synod held at Thurles,
August 22, 1850, the Irish hierarchy
formally denounced them as dangei-oua
to faith and morals, and stated that a
EFFORTS TO RELIEVE DISTRESS.
Y03
Catholic university would speedily be
founded. John Henry Newman, a dis-
tinguished clergyman (formerly of the
Church of England, now a Roman
Catholic), was chosen as rector of the
new university, which was opened in
November, 1854, much to the grat-
ification of those who did not ap-
prove of or patronize the Queen's
Colleges.
Famine and pestilence continued
their ravages in 1846. The poor-
houses were insufficient to accommo-
date the suffering multitudes, and large
numbers perished of famine, miseiy,
and disease. The government strove
to meet the emergency, and by the end
of the year not less than £850,000 iiad
been expended in this most philan-
thropic and humane object.
The repeal of the corn-laws took
place just at the close of Sir Robert
Peel's premiei-ship, and free-trade
thenceforth became the policy of Eng-
land in her vast commercial relations
throughout the world. A bill was
brought into parliament in 1846, to
repress crime and outrage in Ireland ;
but it was strongly opposed by the
Irish members, and failed of paising
the house. The constabulary force
was, however, increased to 10,000 men,
and large accessions were made to the
military force in the country.
Lord John Russell now came into
power, and applied himself diligently
to the providing measures of relief for
Ireland. A bill was introduced for the
construction of various public works,
100
the cost of which was to ],e defrayed
out of the consolidated fund. These
works consisted of the improvement
and the formation of roads, the drain-
ing of morasses, and such works as the
most ordinary of the laboring popula-
tion could be employed in, and which
would be apparently useful to the coun-
try. The plan was admirably devised,
and skilfully and energetically carried
out, and was for some time vei-y suc-
cessful in alleviating the prevalent dis-
tress. Lord John obtained the sanction
of parliament to a grant for £50,000
for the most distressed districts— se-
curity being taken upon the county
rates for the repayment of the sum
within ten years, with three-and-a-half
per cent, interest. His lordship also
proposed, and obtained, the grant of
another sum of equal amount for tlie
poorer districts, which were never likely
to be able to repay the loan.
A blight having again fallen njioii
the potato-crop, the winter of 1S4G-7
was peculiarly severe upon the poor in
Ireland, and no words can adequately
depict the terrible sufferings from fam-
ine and pestilence which swejit over
the country. Parliament met, January
29th, 1847, and gave immediate atten-
tion to the condition of Ireland. Every
effort was made to relieve the starving
population and allay the ravages of
disease. From thirty to forty steamers,
and fourteen or fifteen sailing vessels,
were constantly employed in pouring
breadstufl's into Ireland, while all tim
medical aid at the public command
T94
REIGN OF QITEEN VICTOPJA.
was readily rendered for the aid of the
Bufferei-s.
At the close of the month an im-
portant amendment of the Irish poor-
law was passed. The experience of
the last two years had shown that the
workhouse plan did not succeed in
practice. It was impossible to receive
and provide for the crowds of suppli-
ants for relief within the Union build-
ings. (See p. 792.) It was determined,
therefore, to abide by the old prin-
ciples of relief, but to grant to out-door
paupers the help they needed. Dur-
ing the period that elapsed between
September and the spring, not less than
£2,000,000 had been applied to the re-
lief of the people ; and the ministry
ventured upon the further plan, which
had been originally sketched by Sir
Robert Peel, of making the whole loan
to Ireland £10,000,000, and for this
purpose the chancellor of the exchequer
contracted a loan to the amount of
£8,000,000. Private benevolence also
was largely and liberally exerted in
behalf of the suffering poor, and every-
where throughout England and Scot-
land subscriptions were made, gene-
rously and freely, and upwards of
£250,000 were collected for the pur-
pose of buying food and saving from
starvation the afflicted thousands and
tens of thousands in Ireland at this
date.
It was, indeed, a sad and gloomy
picture which everywhere met the eye
of the beholder. A teeming popula-
tion, in want and wretchedness, without
any apparent resource ; an ancient aris-
tocracy of landed proprietors in the
possession of large estates without de-
riving from them a shilling of rent,
whilst millions of acres of soil lay iu a
state of uncultivated barreimess, while
its surface might have been covered
with crops of waving corn, and the
strong hands and brawny arms that
should have called them forth fi'om the
bosom of the earth were either hanging
down in listless idleness, or were en-
gaged in work that litei-ally produced
nothing. Murmuring, distress, doubt,
and death pervaded the land, and the
spirit of the people seemed to be well-
nigh crushed by the load of calamities
which had fallen upon them.
Among the vai-ious plans proposed
for the relief of the Irish people, theie
were three which promised the speed-
iest and best results. These were —
emigration, which was powerfully advo-
cated in parliament by the Earl of Lin-
coln ; the reclamation of waste lands ;
and such a disposition of the encum-
bered estates as would, while relieving
their then proprietors from the burden
under which they labored and by
whiuJ] they were disabled, at the same
time insure to the new owners a cer-
tain and indefeasible title to their prop-
erty.
Emigration, to which every encour-
agement was given by the landlords
and boai-ds of guardians, became very
active and beneficial to the country.
In 1846, the year of the great famine,
some 250,000 emigrated to the United
THE GREAT EMIGRATION.
T95
States and Canada. The tide kept ou
increasing for several yeai-s ; but since
1852, when the number of emigrants
was 190,000, emigration has decreased.
In 1858 there were 64,000 who left
their native land. Since then, as there
has been less occasion, so Ireland has
not found it needful or profitable to
part with any very lai'ge number of her
children in the way of emigration.
" Every mail that sped across the At-
lantic," says a late writer, speaking of
the year 1850, "brought funds to pay
the passage of their relatives, who had
been left behind ; and, in one instance,
as many as five hundred letters, each
of which contained a remittance to aid
those who waited for a passage to the
land of promise, passed in one day
through the post-office at Galway.
Cars, coaches, carts were all pressed
into the service to convey the passen-
gers to the quays of Cork, Galway,
Dublin, and Liverpool ; whence three,
four. five, and sometimes six vessels
a-day sailed with their living cargoes
to the shores of the West. Not only
the poor and destitute, but the re-
spectable and well-to-do farmer packed
up all that he had, converted his prop-
erty into money, and turned his face,
with his wife and family and stalwart
laborers, towards America. And this
was no sudden burst of euthusiiism. It
lasted for weeks, and months, and
yeai-s, with increasing fervor, Mutil at.
last it was calculated that upwards of a
thousand individuals in a day left the
shores of Ireland for settlements abroad;
so that, when the census of 1851 was
computed, it was found that, notwith-
standing the well-known proportionate
superiority of births over deaths, the
population of the country, through
famine, pestilence, and emigration, had
been reduced 1,622,000 during the past
ten years."*
* The population of Ireland, according; to tlie ccnvui,
was. in 1841, 8,175,324; in 1851, 6,653,290; ia IMl.
5,764,643.
REIGN OF QUEEN VICTORIA.
CHAPTER LI.
SMITH o'bRIEn's INSURRECTION. MORE RECENT HISTORY AND PROGRESS.
Tie " Young Ireland" party and the " Irish Confederation." — WiUiam Smith O'Brien — His co-Tvorkere, Meaghei,
Mitchell, and others. — The year 1848 a year of revolutions. — O'Brien in parliament — Goes to Paris — Sym-
pathy of the French. — O'Brien prosecuted for sedition — Jury not agreed — Set at liberty. — Mitchell trans-
ported.— Condition of the country. — Affray at Dolly's Brae. — Action now resolved upon by O'Brien, Duify,
O'Gorman, etc. — Measures of government. — O'Brien's movements. — March from Enniscorthy. — Encounter
with the police near Ballingar — The conflict, and result. — O'Brien and others arrested, tried, and con.
demned. — Sent to Australia. — Proposal to abolish lord-lieutenancy. — Eviction of small farmers and tenant-
rights. — Mr. Crawford's bills. — " Irish Tenant-league." — Further attempts at legislative settlement of the
question. — General face of the country improved. — Ireland's share in the Great Exhibition in Hyde Park in
18.51. — Exhibition in Cork in 1852. — Earl of Eglintoun lord-lieutenant. — Political excitement. — Aggregate
meeting in Dublin — Right Rev. Dr. Culleu presides— Resolutions adopted. — Proposal of Mr. Gladstone,
chancellor of the exchequer, to impose the income-tax on Ireland — His statements and views — Two weeks'
debate. — Speeches and arguments of the opposition — The government plan supported by a majority of 71. —
The result. — Ecclesiastical affairs brought under discussion. — Opposition to, and complaints of, the estab-
lishment.— National system of education — Discussion in parliament — Earl Derby's sjieech — Testimony of a
Catholic writer respecting the schools, the books used, etc. — Mr. Dargan's public-spirited efforts to inaugu-
rate the Industrial Exhibition of 1853 — The building, contents, etc.— Opening of the Exhibition by Earl
St. Germans. — 'V^isit of her majesty Queen 'Victoria to Ireland — Her presence at the Exhibition. — Results
hoped for.
IN July, 1846, when O'Connell's fail-
ing health had caused him to
give up active efforts of all kinds, aud
■when his son, John O'Connell, had in-
troduced certain peace resolutions into
the Repeal Association, William Smith
O'Brien aud a number of others se-
ceded, and formally dissolved couuec-
tiou with that body. The 'way was
now opened for the more ardent spirits
of the "Young Ii'eland" portion of the
Repealers to enter upon a more ener-
* In a letter to O'Connell at that date, O'Brien thus
strongly expresses himself: " Ireland, instead of taking
her place as an integral of the great empire which the
getic course of action ; and it was de-
termined, as had been for some time
contemplated, to form an " Irish Con-
federation," and to claim and enforce
the absolute independence of Ireland,
Smith O'Brien took the lead in this
movement, for he was a man of educa-
tion, flimily, and fortune, and although
a Protestant, had become, in 1844, a
prominent member of the Repeal Asso-
ciation.* Ardent in temperament, and
an advocate of bold and daring meas-
talor of her sons has contributed to constitute, has
been treated as a dependent tributary province ; and at
this moment, after forty-three years of nominal union.
O'BRIEN AND HIS FELLOW-WORKERS.
797
ures, he had distinguished himself, in
pai'liament especially, and at public
and private gathei-iugs, by the intre-
pidity of his language and the tremen-
dous force of his objurgations against
the oppressors of his native land.
Thomas Francis Meagher, a gentleman
of substance of the County of Waterford,
joined O'Brien. John Mitchell also, a
man of education and ability, and hold-
ing a poweiful pen, who edited a paper
called "The United Irishmen," gave
the whole force of his talents to the
cause, and wrote soul-stirring addresses
to the people of Ireland, exhorting
them not to agitate for Repeal only,
but to combine for the overthrow alto-
gether of the power of England in the
country. Seveival banistei-s joined their
ranks, as did also T. B. McManus, a
gentleman for many years a merchant
in Liverpool.
The year 1848, it will be remem-
bered, was a year of revolutions in
Europe ; and O'Biien and " Young
li'eland" seem to have been aroused to
the point of definitive, positive action
O'Brien made a violent speech in the
House of Commons, threatening to
establish a republic in Ireland and to
teach the English government a salu-
tary lesson. In the month of April he
accompanied a deputation fiom the
" Irish Confederation" to Paris, to re-
the attachments of the two natiuns are eo entirely
alienated from each utber, that England trusts, fur the
maintenance of the connection, not to the affection of
the Iriflh people, but to bayonet* wliich menace our
quest aid in carrying out the plans
about to be adopted for cutting Ireland
loose fi-om all connection with England.
There were abundant expressions of
sympathy and kindness ; but the
French revolutionists, having their
bands full with their own affairs, were
unable to give any promise of direct
or effective assistance.
The open foreshadowing of their de-
signs on the part of O'Brien and his
fellow-workers, compelled the govein-
ment not only to notice, but to take
some action to meet, the threatened
emergency. Lord Clarendon, who had
succeeded to the vice-royalty of Ire-
land on the death of the Earl of Bes-
borough, instituted proceedings, in May,
1848, for sedition, against Smith
O'Brien, Meaghei-, Doheny, and four or
five of the others. The charge was
fully made out, but the jury lefused to
agree upon a verdict in the case of
O'Brien. A similar result followed in
that of Meagher and another of those
tried for sedition ; and the govei'ntnent
declining to persevere, all the prisoneis
were set at liljerty. Mitchell, however,
undeterred by what had taken place,
repeated the oft'ence even more l)oltiIy
and unqualifiedly than ever. lie wjia
accordingly tried and convicted, and
sentenced to transportation foi- fourteen
yeai-s.
busoma, and to the canuou which she haa placed in aJi | try and hur {utriuL
our strongholds Slowly, reluctantly
convinced that Ireland has nothing to hope from tli*
sagacity, the justice, or generosity of F.ogland. my
reliance Hhall Ihi lu-nceforwanl plaixid ujoa our cuun-
79?
REIGX OF QUEEN VICTORIA.
The condition of the country, in the
midland and southern portions, was
greatly disturbed ; outbreaks and vio-
lations of law and order were fi-equent ;
arrests became numerous ; the jails
were filled with prisoners ; and a spe-
cial commission was opened in Limer-
ick, Ennis, and Clonmel, at which be-
tween five and six hundred prisoners
were tried and sentenced to the several
grades of punishment deemed neces-
sary, some few being capitally con-
victed and executed. An unfortunate
affray also occurred, July 12th, between
a body of Orangemen on the one hand
and Ribandmeu on the other, at Dolly's
Brae, in which a number of lives were
lost, and the mutual hatred of partisans
inflamed.
The time seemed now to have come
when the contest was to be inaugurated,
and bold words were to give place to
bold deeds. Mr. C. Gavin Dufiy, a
gentleman of the highest respectability
in Ireland, who was shortly afterwards
apprehended for alleged treasonable
practices, and Smith O'Brien, who, with
Mitchell, was afterwards exiled to Aus-
tralia, earnestly prompted decisive ac-
tion. O'Brien, immediately after the
trials for sedition, went on a mission to
the South, to incite the people to rise ;
Meagher went to one part, and O'Gor-
man to another, for the same object ;
while Dillon and others remained in
DuVjlin as a standing committee.
The lord-lieutenant now called for
new additional powers, and Lord John
Russell immediately asked parliament
for the prolongation of the Insurrection
ict until the 1st of March, 1849.
Three days afterwards, on the 24th of
July, his lordship moved for a bill to
suspend the habeas corpus act in cer-
tain districts in Ireland. The bill was
hurried through both houses without
opposition, and was at once approved
by the queen.
The preparations which the govern-
ment were making to prevent out-
breaks probably urged forward the
present attempt. Meagher and Dillon
hastened down to Enniscorthy, where
O'Brien, after a tour through parts of
Tipperary, Limerick, Coik, and Kil-
kenny, was stopping. They found him
there on the Saturday, and directly
entered upon the arrangements neces-
sary to insure an immediate and gen-
eral rising ; their particular object
being, in the first instance, to re-
lease Mitchell, who was at that time
lying under sentence in Dublin, and to
prevent the trial of Duffy, which was
soon to take place. On Sunday,
O'Brien addressed a considerable as-
semblage, but without much effect, in-
asmuch as the Catholic priesthood
rather looked askance at the w^hole
matter, as ill-timed, and not likely to
meet with the desired success.
The Confederates proceeded on Mon-
day from Enniscorthy, by Shivannon,
Mullinahon, and Kilenaull, towards
Ballingar, everywhere addressing the
excited population. After more than
a week of inaction, so far as warlike
proceedings were concerned, it was de-
O'BRIEN'S BATTLE WITH THE CONSTABULARY
TOO
termined to make the decisive stroke
without further delay. They met a
small body of cavalry on the road,
•which, however, did not interfere with
their movements. At a police-station
near by, there was a sergeant named
Williams, with six men under him.
The arras of these men were demanded
by the leaders; but Williams shut the
gate in their faces, positively refusing
either to yield the place or surrender
their aims ; and the police were, in an
hour or two aftei-war<ls, enalded to re-
tire to Cashel without molestation.
Genei-al Blakeney, who was in com-
mand of the military in Ireland, caused
a body of troops, comprising infantry,
cavalry, ai>d artillery, to be in readi
nes8 to meet the rising where it was
supposed it would take place ; but the
evident determination of the govern
ment did not prevent the attempting
to do what had been resolved upon.
On the 19th of July, 1848, Smith
O'Brien marched out of Enniscorthy at
the head of three hundred men vari-
ously armed, expecting to be joined by
the peasantry on his route. In this he
was not disappointed ; for, by the time
that he drew near to Ballingar, in Tip-
perary, his followei"8 had increased to
nearly three thousand in number.
Most of them had fire-arms in their
hands, and a goodly quantity of ammu-
nition in store. When within about
three miles of that place, on Boulagh-
common, they encountered a party of
between forty and fifty of the constab-
ulary, under a sub-inspector, whom
they immediately prepared to encoun-
ter. The only j)lace of refuge was a
solitary farm-house, inhabited by the
widow of a fai-mer named McCorniack,
and her five young children, situated
some three or four fields from the high-
way. It was a substantial structure,
covered with slate, and surrounded by
a court-yard enclosed by a wall. This,
Inspector Blackburn wth his men se-
cui-ed by a run, and immediately l)arred
the door, and blockaded the windows
with the furniture.
O'Brien approached one of the win-
dows, and demanded the arms of the
constabulary, which the inspector de-
clared that he and his men would sur-
render only with their lives. On
receiving this answer, ordera were
given to fire upon the house and its
occupants, and compel them to give up
their arms. A brisk attack was inmie-
Idiately made, which was answered
promptly by a ra})id fiisilade from the
police, and an animated firing was kept
up for nearly half an hour on both
sides, the inspector having served out
two hundred and thirty rounds of ball-
cartridge to his men. At the end of
that time, two of 0'Bri<'n's men having
been killed and several wounded, the
whole body retired to a rise at a little
distance. At four o'clock a contingent
of police arrived to the relief of their
comrades, upon which all those who
had taken part in this attempted rising
dispei-sed, and the leadere fli;d for their
lives.
Several of the chief meu concerned
800
REIGN OF QUEEN VICTORIA.
escaped in various disguises. A reward
was put upon their heads by the govern-
ment, and Smith O'Brien vras arrested,
August .'jth, by a railway guard, of the
name of Hulme, just as he was pre-
paring to leave by the train at Thurles.
Meagher, O'Donoghue, and McManus
were also apprehended. On the 21st
of September, 1848, a special commis-
sion was opened at Clonmel for the
trial of the pi-isoners, for high treason ;
when, after a patient investigation, which
lasted for four weeks, they were all
convicted and sentenced to death, the
principal evincing great coolness and
self-possession under his trying position.
The sentences were afterwards sever-
ally commuted to ti-anspoi-tation, and
O'Brien and his compatriots were ac-
cordingly sent to Australia. O'Biien,
we may mention here, remained in exile
till the year 1856, when he was per-
mitted, with others, to return home.*
During the session of 1850, a bill was
introduced into parliament for abolish-
ing the lord-lieutenancy of Ireland. It
was carried through a second reading
by a large majority ; but it was warmly
opposed by the Ii'ish members in the
House. Govei-nment, therefore, in con-
sideration of public feeling on the sub-
ject, abandoned the measure.
The frequency of the evictions of the
small farmers from their holdings, by
which they were necessarily divested of
every portion of their property, con-
« According to the statements of one of the journals,
James Stephens, the Head Centre of the Fenian Broth-
•rhood, was engaged with O'Brien in the insurrection
stantly brought the subject of tenant-
right before the public and under the [
consideration of the government. For
several sessions, Mr. Sharman Crawfoid
had introduced bills for the amendment j
of this grievous evil. It was monstrous, '
as he asserted, that when a tenant had
held his farm for perhaps seven years,
and had expended all his little capital
in the erection of farm-buildings, drain-
ing the land, and in effecting other simi-
lar improvements, he should at any
moment be ousted by his landlord, and
thus be entirely divested of all the
little propeity that he held in the
world. The equity of the principle of
granting compensation for such invest-
ments was .readily allowed by men of
all parties in the house ; but great diffi-
culty was experienced in ascertaining
the limits of the landlord's and the
tenant's right; and Mr. Crawford's
hill was felt to be too radical in its
tendency to meet the temper of the
House.
In August, 1851, a conference was
held, by a number of gentlemen and
lovers of their country, in Dublin, to
consider the insecure condition of the
tenant farmers of Ireland. "The Irish
Tenant League" was formed, and a
council elected to take measures in
order to secure efficient action in par-
liament. A similar conference was held
the year following, and high hopes were
entertained of the success of the Leasjue
of 1848. Stephens escaped to France ; but in after
years returned to Ireland. His subsequent movemenU
in counection with Fenianism we shall see by and by.
GENERAL STATE OF THE COUNTRY.
801
in the important o])jects it was seeking
to accomplish.
The subject spoken of ahove, as
brought forward by Mr. Crawford, was
revived in the session of 1850-1 ; but
with no material advantage. In 1852
when Mr. Napier filled the office of at-
toi-ney-general, under the Eai'l of Der-
by's administration, he introduced foui'
bills ; which, from the nice balance of
interests which their provisions con-
tained, seemed excellently calculated
to accomplish the object he had in
view ; but, at the same time, Mr. Ser-
jeant Shea also introduced a bill for
the same purpose ; and, as it appeared
likely that benefit might arise from
partial incorporation of the several
measures, government assented to
proposition for referring them all to a
select committee ; but they were not
destined to proceed any further at that
time.
During the three or four years that
had just elapsed, the face of Ireland had
undergone a favorable change. Much,
very much, undoubtedly remained to
be done ; but, in general, improvement
was the order of the day. Everywhere
the number of cottier tenements had
been either reduced, or had entirely dis-
appeared. The system of squatting had
been almost totally subdued. Wealthy
proprietors, equally skilled in the com-
mercial and agricultural management
of their property, had assumed posses-
fiion of the lands. The poor-rates were
diminished, and the inmates of the
poor-houses were reduced from thou-
sands to hundreds, while the de})ts of
the unions were very largely decreased.
In every part— in remote Connaught,
aa well as in distressed Munster — the
counti-y assumed an appearance of in-
creasing and healthy prosperity.
In the Great Exhibition of the In-
dustry of all Nations, held in Hyde
Park, in 1851, under the patronage of
the Queen and Prince Albert, Irish
taste, capital, and skill, in her poplins,
her silks, and her linens, and other fab-
rics, were admirably represented ; and
their presence in this hall of peace
aided in promoting the growth of man-
ufactures in Ireland, and a spirit of en-
terprise and emulation among the peo-
ple. This was shown in the following
year, by the opening of an exhibition
of a similar kind in the beautifully sit-
uated city of Cork, whei-e the day of
ics opening was observed as a kind of
jubilee in the city and its neighbor-
hood.
In March, 1852, the Earl of p:glin-
toun succeeded Lord Clarendon in the
lord-lieutenancy, and his administration
proved to be in a high degree popular.
He was a nobleman well-suited to the
genius of the people over whom he W!i3
placed. Gallant in beaiing, affable
and agreeable in manner, and active in
visiting various parts of the vice- royal-
ty, he gave great satisfaction to the
friends and supporters of the tory gov-
ernment. But, there was nevertheless
a strong feeling of dislike on the part
f the whigs, the Catholic priesthood,
and numbei-s of the nobility and geu-
802
KEIGN OF QUEEN VICTOllIA.
try. This was evidenced sul)seqnent]y
in the elections for parliament, where
much excitement prevailed, and oppo-
sition candidates were elected.*
On the 19th of August, 1852, an ag-
gregate raetrting of the Catholics of the
United Kingdom was held in the Ro-
tunda, in Dublin. It was an imposing
assemblage, attended by prelates, peers,
and representatives from various parts
of the empire. Dr. Cullen, the Roman
Catholic archbishop, took the chair,
and inaugurated the meeting with
words of eloquence and devotion to the
cause of his native land. Dr. MacHale,
bishop of Tuam, made a powerful and
patriotic speech. He denounced, in
unmeasured terms, English tyranny,
and the attempts at proselytism which
had been, and were being made, among
the Catholic youth of Ireland. At this
meeting, the following resolutions were
unanimously adopted : —
1. "That we hereby solemnly pledge
ourselves to use every legitimate means
within the Constitution, to obtain a
total repeal of that act (the Ecclesias-
tical Titles Act) which imposes on the
Catholics of this empii-e any civil or re-
ligious disability whatsoever, or pre-
cludes them from the enjoyment of a
perfect equality with eveiy other class
of their fellow-subjects.
2. "That as one of the great consti-
tutional and practical means of carrying
out the objects of this meeting, we
pledge ourselves to make every effort
* It was in connection with this election that the Six
Mile Bridge aiiray occurred, when the Orangemen and
to sti'engthen the hands and increase
the powei- of those faithful representa-
tives, who, in the last session of parlia-
ment, so energetically devoted them-
selves to the formation of an inde/pend-
ent party in the legislature^ having for
its object the maintenance of civil and
religious liberty in the British empire ;
and that the following prelates and
members of the legislature be a com-
mittee to define, with accuracy, the ob-
jects which are to occupy the Associa-
tion, to frame the rules and regulations
by which it shall be governed, and to
submit the same to the next general
meeting of the Association."
An eloquent and forcible address in
support of this movement was made by
Mr. G. H. Moore, M. P. for Mayo, and
it was expected that results of no ordi-
nai-y moment would be attained. In
consequence, however, of want of propei
organization and efficiency in securing
a regular and adequate supply of funds,
the Association languished, and failed
of accomplishing the object for which
it was formed.
The winter of 1852-3 passed in com-
parative quiet, although the govern-
ment thought it necessary to keep the
coei'cion act in operation in Ireland.
New proprietors had been found for
the encumbered estates. Money was
Ijrought into the country by these men,
and they used it discreetly, not only
for their own interests, but for the good
of the community at large. In this
their opponents engaged in deadly strife, and a number
of lives was lost.
THE INCOME-TAX IN IRELAND.
803
state of affairs, Mi-. Gladstone, Chancel- tional
lor of the Exchequer iu the Aberdeen
ministry, thought it a favorable oppor-
tunity to assimilate the taxation of the
two countries of England and Ii-eland,
and make them one in fiscal regulations,
as they had been made one politically
by the act of Union. In bringing for-
wai-d his budget, therefore, on the 18th
of April, 1853, Mr. Gladstone submitted
a resolution to the House for a continu-
ation of the income-tax for a period of
seven years, and, for the first time, pro-
posed to include Ireland iu the sphere
of its operation.
In the elaborate statement presented
by the learned chancellor, the questicm
as to the exemption of Ii-eland necessa-
rily came wp- As Ireland, he argued,
had derived benefit from the fiscal
changes made by government, and as
the duties which constituted the ground
_ of her exemption had disappeared, he
did not see wh}' the income-tax should
not be levied in Ireland. He had pro-
posed to charge Ireland witli the in-
come-tax and the duty on spirits; but
the government had come to tlie de-
termination to relieve her from the
consolidated annuities, amounting to
£4,500,000, which would cease from
and after the '29th of September bust,
all arrears u|> to that date to be paid,
and all sums received since to be I'e-
turned.
The proposal to relieve Ireland from
the charge of £'4, 500, 000, which wjxs crtam proportu
due to the consolidated fund, and which ' ready exceeded ;
energies ever since the time of
the famine, was too great a boon not to
be eagerly sought after by the best-
intentioned of the Irish landlords ; the
Irish members taking an increased in-
terest in the debate. The extension of
the income-tax to Ireland was antici-
pated to produce about £460,000 a
year ; and the increase of the duty upon
Irish spirits, from two shillings and
cightpence to three shillings and four-
pence a gallon, to produce nearlj
£200,000 annually.
The debates on this important meas-
ure continued for two weeks, and
brought out the best ability of the
members of the House of Commons.
Mr. Fagan, while admitting the states-
manlike character of the ministerial
plan in general, yet felt bound to resist
that part of it which subjected Ireland
to the income-tax, as an equivalent for
the abandonment of the consolidated
annuities. He protested against the
introduction of these annuities into the
plan, insisting that the labor-rate, form-
ing part of the chaige, had been mis-
apj)lied ; and entered into details, to
show that Ireland had derived but slen-
der advantages from the remission of
taxation foi- which the income-tax was
imposed. He further contended that
the imposition of this tax would be in-
consistent with the act of union, wliich
stijtulated that Ireland should oontril)-
ute to the general taxation only in a
which liad l)een al-
and he urged the
laid like a dead weight upon the na- [cruelty of taking advantage of a breath-
804
REIGN OF QUEEN VICTORIA.
mg-time, which Irekiud seemed now to
enjoy, to oppress her with an income-
tax.
Other Irish members, as Mr. Ma-
guire, Serjeant Shee, Mr. French, etc.,
supported the views advanced by Mr.
Fagan, and contended that it would be
equally ungenerous, unjust, and dishon-
orable, to impose the income-tax upon
Ireland. The government side of the
question, however, was argued and sup-
ported by Mr. Cobden, Mr. Disraeli,
Serjeant Murphy, and others ; and, on
a division, there were found to be 323
against 252, a majority of 71 in favor
of the financial measures proposed by
Mr. Gladstone.
The I'esult reached was an important
one, whether just or unjust in its appli-
cation, viz., the affirming the principle,
that in future years the taxation of Ire-
land should rest upon the same basis
as that which regulated the imposition
of taxes upon other parts of the United
Kingdom. A large portion of the Irish
gentry, it is said, approved of the gov-
ernment plan ; and among the rest,
Maurice O'Connell, eldest son of the
Liberator, and inheritor of the propei-ty
of Derrynane.
Another effort was made at this date
for the benefit of Ireland, by Mr.
Whiteside, who moved for leave to
bring in a bill to facilitate the sale,
partition, and exchange of lands, by
the court of chancery in Ireland, and
the recovery of moneys secured by
recognizance. Great and vexatious de-
lays had occurred and were occuiring.
and a remedy was imperatively de-
manded. The question was settled,
however, by the government bringing
in and can-ying a short bill for i-enevv-
ing the "Encumbered Estates Act" for
a period of two years.
The position of ecclesiastical affiiirs,
particularly the Established Church in
Ireland, was again under discussion in
the session of pailiameut for 1853.
The long-existing and deeply-rooted
sense of injustice done to the larger
part of the population by the Establish-
ment, and the settled determination to
bi-ing about a change and a more equi-
table adjustment of matters on this
suV)ject, were manifested in the speeches
and arguments of various membei'S,
Lord John Russell, however, and others,
opposed any movement of the kind,
and when the question was taken for
the appointment of a select committee
to inquire into the ecclesiastical reve-
nues of Ireland, and how far they were
applicable to the benefit of the Irish
people, the motion was negatived by
260 to 98.
Another question, of no little impor-
tance to Ireland and her true interests,
was fully discussed at the present ses-
sion of parliament. We I'efer to the
national system of education. The de-
bate was opened in the House of Lords
on the 19th of July, 1853, by Lord
Donoughraore. The system of educa-
tion in Ireland, as he stated, was origin-
ally founded by Lord Stanley (now
Earl of Dei'by), some twenty years pre-
viously, and was intended to be a sys-
DEBATE ON THE NATIONAL EDUCATION QUESTION.
805
tem of united secular and separate re-
ligious instruction. Immediately after
its first oi'ganization, the board had
commenced the publication of a num-
ber of works which could not be too
highly praised, and which had since
then not only been used in the schools
under the board, but also in schools in
this country and the colonies. No ob-
jection whatever had been taken, or
could be taken, to the system of secular
education as carried out by the board ;
but certain objections were taken by
men of high character and standing
against the nature, amount, and sub-
stance of the I'eligious instruction. And
from this, serious difficulty was expe-
rienced in managing the religious teach-
ing so as to give genei'al satisfaction.
The Earl of Derby also spoke upon
the subject, and stated that, from the
first, it had been contemj)lated to
mingle a certain amount of religious
with the secular instruction given in
the national schools. In the report is-
sued by the commissioners in 1844,
they stated that they had estaV)lished a
number of schools, which were attended
by thousands of children, and that they
had succeeded in com])iling several
works, containing a sei-ies of lessons
gi'ounded on Holy Writ, which were
used in the general instruction afforded
in all the schools. But in that year
also, and in order to meet objections
which had been raised by various Cath-
olics in the community, these books
were not insisted on, but only strongly
recommended. A rule also was adopt-
ed, viz., "The commissioners do not in-
sist on the Sci'ipture-lessons being read
in any of the national schools, nor do
they allow them to be read duiing the
time of secular or litei'ary instruction
in any school attended by children
whose parents or guardians object to
their being so read. In such cases the
commissioners prohibit their use, ex-
cepting in the houi-s of religious instruc-
tion." Earl Derl)y, in continuing his
i-emarks, deprecated any diminution of
religious instruction in the national
schools. The whole system, he said, so
far as attaining the great end in view
was concerned, depended upon the mu-
tual and harmonious working of mem-
bers of different religious denomina-
tions; upon the sound sense exercised
by both parties ; and upon the balance
being impartially held between Prot-
estants and Catholics.
A zealous Catholic writer, a number
of years ago, expressing not only his
own, but also the sentiments of the
powerful and ancient church of wliich
he is a member, remai-ks, that " knowl-
edge and tyranny are antagonist prin-
ciples. They never can coexist, they
never have coexisted, in the same com-
munity of men. The six-and-tweuty
letters of the alphabet are the ])owei-s
which Ireland relies upon, and in this
Ireland is supremely right. Let the
present five or six hundred thousand
Irish children, that are at school, l)ut
get to manhood without any material
check or civil commotion, and not a'l
the powers of Europe, though Eurojio
806
REIGN OF QUEEN VICTORIA.
comhined in arras for the purpose, could
hold the Irish nation, foi- one day, in
bondage to any other. It is true that
these national schools are supported by
English money, and teach English po-
litical principles ; but with all that,
there is a great deal in what they teach
that we must admire. Their system is
uniform, for their teachers are all edu-
cated by supeiior men, at the head
model school in Dublin. Their books
of instruction appear to be excellent.
Indeed, all theii- books are the veiy
best in the English language, and some
have been adopted in the German
schools. Their genei-al system of
instruction includes reading, writing,
arithmetic, bookkeeping, agriculture,
grammar, geography, geometry, math-
ematics, mechanics, civil and natural
history. Scripture-lessons (selected and
mutually agreed upon), elocution, sing-
ing, linear or mechanical drawing, etc.
Mental exercise and instruction are cul-
tivated. Not only do the masters cat-
echize the scholare, but the scholars
question and argue with the masters.
Order is peculiai'ly enforced ; and a
cei-tain step and discipline are taught,
in play-hours, entering and returning
from school, which adapt the boys, to
a certain extent, for military drill.
The commissioners are quite sensitive
to pul)lic o})inion, and are becoming
daily more and more national. There
may be objections to their system ; but
if there be any thing erroneous in their
inculcation, sufficient of the spirit of
inquiry is abroad to correct it ; and as
those children cannot, upon any other
conditions, obtain this much-desired ed-
ucation, it is better to let them learn
to read, write, and cipher, to draw and
step, — and rely upon an active public
press, and an enlightened pul)lic opin-
ion, to eradicate the political errors of
the schoolrooms."
One other matter which occurred at
this date, in Ireland, deserves to be put
on record. It had been customary for
the Royal DuTdin Society to have an
exhibition of the products, natural and
artificial, of the country, once in three
years, at their rooms in Mei-rion Square.
As the year 1853 was the one in due
course of routine for this display, it oc-
curred to an individual of great public
spii-it and liberality, Mr. Dargan, to
make this exhibition one of national
importance. To secure the public char-
acter of the Dublin Exhibition, it was
intrusted to a committee comprising
the highest and most honoi-able names
in Dublin, in connection with that im-
portant body, the Royal Dublin So-
ciety, on whose grounds adjoining Mer-
rion Square the building was raiseil.
The building reflected no small credit
upon Mi-. Benson (now Sir John Ben-
son), its architect. In character and
design it differed from the Crystal Pal-
ace in Hyde Park. The open area of
the interior, supported on columns, was
one point of resemblance ; but the
hole light was admitted from above,
there being none at the sides ; and only
a portion of the actual roof was glazed.
Instead of rectangular outlines, broken
VISIT OF THE QUEEN TO IREL.'
WD.
807
l)y an arcbed transept, Mr. Benson
design was distributed in a sei-ies of
long parallel halls with semicircular
roofs, and oval in form, the centi-al one
being the loftiest, and having an ex-
ceedingly striking and novel effect. It
was 425 feet long, 100 feet wide, and
105 feet high; and altogether was an
imposing and beautiful hall for the
purpose designed in its ei'ection.
Here were collected the chief attrac-
tions of the exhibition— statues, foun-
tains, and trophies of manufacturing
skill ; while, crowning immense tiers of
"benches raised at either end, stood two
large and powerful organs, for which
the shape and character of the hall
seemed well adapted. The two similar,
but smaller halls, on either side, were
325 feet in length, 50 feet wide, and
55 feet high. In these, and in the gal-
leries adjoining them, the various col-
lections of manufactured articles were
an-aiiged in classified order, much after
the manner of the exhibition in Hyd
Park. The sides of the building were
occupied by two halls, smaller still than
those next the main hall. In one, the
machinery in motion was very effect
ively provided for by Mr. Fairbairn,
the well-known engineer; in the other,
Mr. John Deane, assistant-secretary to
the committee, by dint of great energy,
tact, and perseverance, collected a most
brilliant display of paintings in the
English, Prussian, Belgian, Dutch, and
French schools. This portion of the
a
was pi-ovided for carriages, locomotives,
and agricultural implements.
The Dublin Exhibition was officially
opened on Thursday, May 12, 1853, by
Earl St. Germans, lord-lieutenant, at-
tended in state by his suite, the corpo-
ration of Dublin, the committee, and
the officers intrusted with charge of the
Exhibition.
Towards the close of August, 1853,
Her Majesty, Queen Victoria, resolved
to make a short visit to Ireland, and
witness the result of the Dublin Indus-
trial Exhibition. Accordingly, on the
29th of that month, accompanied by
the Prince Consoi-t, and the Prince of
Wales, and Prince Alfred, the Queen
entered Dublin Bay, in the royal steam-
yacht, the Victoria & Albert. The
visit was an agreeable one, both to the
Queen and the people. She was re-
ceived with all the pomp and circum-
stance which wait on royal movements,
and the usual enthusiasm was displayed
whei'ever her presence was recognized.
The corporation of Dublin j)reseuted
addresses to their distinguished visitoi-s,
duly acknowledging the honor con-
ferred on their city, and expatiating on
the general improvement of the coun-
try.
Her Majesty, in her reply to the
corporation, said: "It is my anxious
desire to encourage the industry of my
Irish subjects, and protuote the full de-
velopment of the great natural resources
of Ireland; and I share in the confident
building also contained a sculpture- belief that the striking display of beau-
room and, behind all, accommodation I tiful productions of art and induatry
808
REIGN OF QUEEN VICTORIA.
by which I am surrounded is to be ap-
preciated, not only as evidence of suc-
cessful genius, but as a happy mani-
festation of that persevering energy,
which, under the blessings of Divine
Providence, is an unfailing source of
national prosperity." A few days af-
terwards the Queen returned to Eng-
land, not without hope that her pres
ence at the Exhibition had been pro-
ductive of beneficial effects. Very
probably it has been so ; but it may
be doubted whether any permanent or
lasting good was or could be produced,
in this way, for a country suffering an
Ireland has for so long a time.
ICELAND'S HOPEFULNESS.
809
CHAPTER LII.
THE FENIAN BROTUERIIOOD. IRKLANd's PRESENT POSITION AND PROSPECTS.
HOPE FOR THE FUTURE.
Aotirity and zeal of the Irish patriots— The Fenian Brotherhood.— Origin and purpose of this association.- Its
scientific organization. — First Fenian Congress at Chicago, 1863. — Second Congress at Cioclnuati. January,
1S65. — Third Congi-ess in Philadelphia, September, 18G5. — Reorganization, steps taken of various kinds, etc.
— Course of the British Oovernmcnt.— Martial law proclaimed in Ireland. — James Stephens, the Head Centre
of the whole Brotherhood, arrested. — His escape from prison.— Visits the United States. — The Queen's speech,
February, 1SG6. — Suspension of the habeas corpus act. — John Brighl's views. — S. Mill's remarks. — Fenian
invasion of Canada. — Mortifying failure. — Course pursued by the President of the United States. — Criticized
by the Irish patriots. — Lord Derby's thanks to the United States Government. — Fenians tried and condemned
in Canada. — McMahon and Lynch sentenced to be hung. — Mr. Seward's interi)08ition. — Excitement among
the Irish. — Stephens's speech at meeting held at Jones's Wood, New York.— His bold announcement. —
Opposition to the Fenian movement by bishops and priests of the Catholic Church — Extracts from a Cath-
olic paper on this subject. — Meeting of Fenians in New York, November, 18G0. — Resolution and appeal
adopted. — Father Vaughan's spirited review of " English misrule in Ireland." — The rising in Ireland re|K)rtod
as having been entered upon at the close of November, 1860. — Spirit and tone of the English press. — Threats
of retaliation on the part of the Fenians. — Fixed resolve of the British Government. — Force under Stej^hens
in Ireland. — Sympathy in various quarters. — Warren's address to Irishmen in America. — Extracts from an
Irish New York journal on the position of affairs and the prospects of success.- Conditiou of things at the
close of 1866.— Views and opinions of eminent Irishmen and Englishmen on the questions at issue. — What
has been done for the people's good. — What remains to be done. — 2fil desperandum. — Ireland must be free.
(1856— 18G6.J
DURING the last few years tlie
people of Ireland have not been
idle, or foi'getful of the one great ob-
ject which they so earnestly desire to
attain — that is, the entire freedom and
absolute independence of their native
land. Encouraged by the strong,
■warm-hearted sympathies of those who
have emigrated to the United States
and other parts of America, and retain
their affection for the Green Isle of the
Ocean, and also conscious of the vast
power of combined, well-organized ef-
forts, the L-ish patriots have not remit-
ted their labore or allowed themselve.?
to despond under any pressure or any
difficulty.
This is evident, not only by the firm
and decided tone adopted by the Irish,
so far as they are able, at home, and
fully and openly abroad, but also by
the foimation and active woi'king of
an association which, it is hopeil and
expected with confidence, will materi-
ally help towards establishing the new
" Irish Republic."
This association is known by the
name of the "Feuiau Brotherhood,"
810
REIGN OF QUEEN VICTORIA.
and is so interesting in the oljects it
seeks to attain, and the high aspira-
tions for liberty and freedom which it
has aroused, that it requires at our
hands some account of its origin and
progi-ess. Our notice must necessarily
he more or less imperfect, as the nature
of the association does not admit of its
affairs being made entirely public ; but
having sought, with much care, for ac-
curate information, we think the reader
can rely upon what is here stated.
The members of the Brotherhood in
Ii-eland are, of course, under a pledge
of secrecy, which has been so success-
fully presei'ved, as that neither the gold
of the Government on the one hand,
nor the efforts of spies and ti'aitois on
the other, have been able to break up
the association or expose its members
to the vengeance of the ruling author-
ities. All its members are required to
be able-bodied men, and are sworn into
military service and secretly drilled as
soldiers. The numerical strength of
the Fenians in Ireland is not generally
known, of course, but it is represented
as being formidable, when compared
with the numbers which England^ and
Scotland could add to the British array.
* " The Fenian Brotherhood, otherwise known as the
Irish Revolutionary Brotherhood, was started in 1857.
It was the result of a compact entered into by the late
Michael Doheny, Michael Corcoran, myself, and some
few others in New York, with James Stephens in Ire-
land, whither he had then recently returned from Paris.
In America, Michael Doheny was its real founder.
Never did the cause of Irish freedom seem more hope-
less to the outside world than at that time. Public
opinion was everywhere against any attempt at Irish
revolutionary action. The press scoffed at the idea all
The material and resoui'ces for ac-
tive warlike operations, when the right
moment arrives, ai-e, of necessity, to V)e
looked for from the Brotherhood resid-
ing in other countries ; and it is the
settled purpose of those who have en-
tered upon this work to seize the first
opening which presents itself, and to
raise the standard of revolt, and to
make Ireland a free and independent
nation in the world. This is their pur-
pose. ■ It remains to be seen whether
they can accomplish it, and whether
the vigilance and power of the English
Government can be overcome.
It is within less than ten years that
the Fenian Brotherhood has been or-
ganized and at work in the United
States.* The organization is of a sci-
entific chai-acter, and is calculated to
promote the highest efficiency of its
members. First, there is a Local Circle
of not leas than sixty members, to
whom a commission is granted by the
State Centre, and it is authorized to
send a delegate to the next Fenian
Congress. The Local Circle elects a
permanent Centre, subject to the ap-
proval of the State Centi-e and Head
Centre. Full reports are made by
the world over. Ireland was ererywhere proclaimed to
be thoroughly subjugated, and her people to be loyal
to the British crown, contented, and even happy. Some
money was collected, nevertheless, principally from un
initiated friends of our cause, by means of which
35,000 men were enrolled in Ireland by James Ste-
phens. The sum total was not much — some thousanda
of dollars in all ; but a little money will go a great way
in preliminary organization in Ireland." — PreMdent
O'Mahony't Menage, Janiurry, 1866.
THE FENIAN BROTIIERnOOD.
811
these Centres eveiy month, and sent to
headquarters ; and a neglect to do this
for three mouths puts a Circle in " bad
standing," and I'enders it liable to be
cut off Every candidate for admission
has to be proposed by one Fenian
brother and seconded by another, and
then reported upon by the Committee
of Safety of each Circle. The initia-
tion fee is not less than one dollar, and
the monthly dues average about fifty
cents for each member. The following
declaration is required of the newly
elected member : " I solemnly pledge
my sacred word of honor, as a truthful
and honest man, that I will labor with
earnest zeal for the liberation of Ire-
land fi'om the yoke of England, and
for the establishment of a free and in-
dependent government on the Iiish
soil ; that I will implicitly obey the
commands of my supei'ior officers in the
Fenian Brotheihood in all things ap-
pertaining to my duties as a member
thereof; that I will faithfully discharge
my duties of membership, as laid down
in the Constitution and By-Laws there-
of; that I will do my utmost to pro-
mote feelings of love, harmony, and
kindly forbearance among all Irishmen;
and that I will foster, defend, and prop-
agate the aforesaid Fenian Brother-
hood to the utmost of my power." Ail
political discussions, except in relation
to Ireland, and all religious questions
whatever, are positively piohibited in
each and eveiy Circle. Centivs of
Circles correspond with State Centres;
State Centres with the UeaJ Centre.
All correspondence with l)rotliei-3 in
Ireland p.'isses through the Head Centre,
to whom, with the Central Council,
are known the true names and ad-
dresses of the "I. R. B.," or "Irish
Revolutionary Brotherhood." And
when any member conies from Ire-
land, his credentials have to be sul)-
mitted to the Head Centre. The State
Centres are appointed and commis-
sioned by the Head Centre, the highest
officer in the association, who is elected
annually by a geneial Congress, com-
posed of the vaiious State Centres and
one delegate from each Circle in good
standing.
The first Fenian Congress was held in
Chicago, in November, 1863, and con-
sisted of neai-ly 200 delegates. The
Constitution of the Order was largely al-
tered, and its designs were more boldly
avowed. The second Congress was
held in Cincinnati, in January, 1865,
and various committees, on Military
Affairs, on Foreign Affaii's, on Ways
and Means, etc., were ajipointed. A
Fenian Sistei-hood was also estal»lished
at this time, with promise of beneficial
results. The membership of the Order,
it was reported, had laigely increased,
there being al)out 380 circles and some
80,000 members, over 14,000 of these
latter being of the navid and military
L'lass.
In September, ISOT), another Con-
gress jvssembled in Pliiladelj)hi!i, at
which a new Constitution wjis adopted,
modelled upon the Const itutit>n of the
United States. Its design is to secure
812
REIGN OF QUEEN VICTORIA.
the blessings of libeity to the Irish race
in Ireland, and it admits to membership
United States citizens of Irish birth
and lineage, and friends of Ireland
everywhere on the Amei'ican conti-
nent. The Brotherhood is subdivided
into State, District, and Social Cii'cles,
as previously. The Congress consists
of a Senate and House, the fornjer lim-
ited to fifteen in number, the latter
composed of delegates from the Circles,
one delegate for every hundied mem-
bers. The executive power resides in
the President, who is elected annually
by the Congress, and, in connection with
the Senate, arranges treaties, appoints
ambassadors, etc. He, and all civil offi-
cers, are liable to impeachment for trea-
son, bribery, and other high crimes and
niisdemeanoi's, and on conviction are
expelled from the Brotherhood.
Various steps were taken, after the
adjournment of the Congress, looking
to the great end had in view. Offices
were opened in New York and an issue
of bonds commenced. A serious diffi-
culty which occurred between the pres-
ident, John O'Mahony, and the Senate,
and which threatened to do great mis-
chief, caused some excitement ; but the
difficulty was ultimately settled so as
* Stephens, on his examination, took high ground,
and denied the right of tlie English Government to
exercise any authority in Ireland. Especial precautions
were taken to prevent his escape. The corridor of the
prison in which he slept was kept locked, except
during the hour allowed for exercise. This corridor
is divided from its continuation in the other wing of
the prison by a heavy, solid iron door, which was
kept securely locked. Three policemen were stationed
here on guard. At the other end of the corridor is a
not to inteifere with the main objects
of the Brotherhood.
In the existing state of affiiirs, the
British Government has not been un-
mindful of the dangers to its suprem-
acy, caused by the oi-ganization and
course of action of the Fenian Brother-
hood. Troops have been sent to Ire-
land; the constabulary force has been
increased, and various preparations have
been made to meet the threatened emer-
gency. During the year 1865 martial
law was proclaimed in some counties,
and suspected pei'sons were here and
there ai'i'ested and imprisoned. Among
these was James Stephens, a man of
considerable note and importance in
the present condition of Ireland, being
the Head Centre of the whole Brother-
hood, not only in his native land, but
also elsewhere. Stephens, by the aid
of compatriots, escaped from prison,
and, despite the utmost vigilance of the
authorities, sharpened by offi^rs of large
rewards for his arrest, arrived soon af-
ter in France ; thence he made his way,
in the spring of 1866, to the United
States, to carry forward the objects of
the Brotherhood in any and every way
which might present itself.* Various
steps were taken with refei'euce to an
massive iron door, vrith a huge lock, opening on the
lobby of a stone staircase, by which the ground is
reached. The door of Stephens's cell was cased with
iron, no keyhole inside, and secured by a very large
swing bar, fastened by a padlock of great size. Desjiite
all this precaution, the doors were all opened for Ste-
phens, and one night he quietly walked out. A re-
ward of £1,000 was offered for his apprehension; but
to no purpose.
Of Mr. Stephens's fellow workers in his revolutionary
EMINENT FENIAN SUFFERERS.
813
iniiptioii into Cauada, in order to strike
a lilow, which would be felt, at British
power iu America, and ultimately to
operate fi-om this quai-ter in favor of
efforts at home for the freedom of Ire-
hmd.
movement, the following were the principal men who
fell into the power of the British authorities about the
same time that he did, but who had not the good for-
tune to escape with him from the dungeons of their
enemies :
Jeremiah O'Donovan-Rossa, a gentleman of fair edu-
cation, and of superior natural talents, though self-
made, was born in Ross-Carberry, in the county of Cork,
of an old and respectable, but latterly reduced, family,
whose ancestors — the O'Donovaus-Rossa — were former-
ly owners of the surrounding territory of BoH-o-g Cuirhre.
Of all the imprisoned leaders of the Fenians, there was
none so popular as O'Donovan-Rossa. His frank and
genial manners gained him the good-will of all who
came into contact with him, and his thorough devoted-
neSB and indomitable energy as a patriot, secured the
respect and confidence of his organized associates, while
his ancient clan associations, as well as his intrinsic
good qualities as a man and a friend, had so endeared
him to his neighbors in his native district, that few
men in the south of Ireland had a larger personal fol-
lowing than he. He was somewhat above the uiiddlo
height, muscular and athletic, with an open and ratlier
handsome countenance. His first experience of an
English prison was in 1858, when he was arrested with
several others for the Phoenix Conspiracy of Skibbereen,
but released on bail, with his companions, after several
months' incarceration — the jury before which he was
tried not having agreed to a verdict. No sooner was lie
restored to liberty than he resumed his revolutionary
labors, and was the muin8])ring of the Fenian move-
ment in West Mnnster up to his removal to Dublin, in
1863, when he became manager of the Irish People
newspanjer in that city. But his lalxirs were not con-
fined to his connection with this journal. He made
frequent tours to England and Scothind, and more than j
once to the United States, in the seiyico of the organi-
zation. He was arrested on the 1.5tli Sept., 1865, with
the other conductors of the Irish People. When tried,
soon after, he defended himself On being convicted of
treason felony, he was sentenced to pi'nal servitude for
life. He was the only civilian amongst his associates
upon whom so severe a penalty was pn-oeil. It was
the meed of his universal popularity, as well as his ac-
tivity and zeal as an Irish revolutionist. He is now
about thirty-five years old, and has a young and beau-
tiful wife and a large interesting family.
2d. Charles J. Kickham was born thirty-four years
since, in the town of MuUinahone, near the northern
base of Slicvenamon. He came of a res])ect«blo htock.
and his father, John Kickliam, was a wealthy and pa
liiotic draper in his native town ; besides which he was
extensively engaged in agriculture. Young Kickham
received a first-class education. Ilia lit<'rary talents
and acquirements were of a high order. He was an
eloquent and correct prose writer, and a pcK't of no
mean genius. In '•18, though scarcely out of his boy.
hood, he established a Young Ireland dub in his native
parish, and was one of the followers of Smith O'Briea
in his attempted revolution, from the consequences of
which ho escaped by reason of his youth. When Dr.
Cane started the Celt in Kilkenny, some time after,
Kickham was one of its ablest contributors. He joined
the Fenian movement in '61 ; since when, in com|iany
with Denis D. Mulcahy and a few other tried men, Uo
helpi^d to BOW the seeds of revolution broadcast over
Tipperary. He attended the first convention of the
American Fenians at Chicago, in 'Gli. Soon after his
return to Ireland, ho became one of the principal edi-
tors of the Irish People — his connection with which
was the immediate cause of his arrest, trial, and con-
viction. Ho was also a member of the Revolutionary
Council. His tastes were exalted and refined ; his
disposition was extremely gentle and kindly ; while
in his devotedness to his land and his race, he was an
enthusiast.
8d. John O'Leary was also a member of the Irish
Revolutionary Council. Ho, too. began his career as an
Irish rebel at a very early ago— having been arrcstfd
for having made an attempt to muster the peasantry
of Tipperary at a place called tlie Wilderness, near
Clonmel, for the purjiose of rescuing Smith O'Brien and
his companions in durance, during their trial in '-If.
He was then a mere boy. Having been sot at liU'rtv,
after an imprisonment which lasted several months, ho
devoted himself to the study of the medical pro!"e»sion
and to literary pursuits. Though in nlalions of iho
closest intimacy with James Stephens, since the n-iurn
of the latter to Ireland from France iu '.">7, ho did not
become prominently connected with the Fenian move
ment till his installation as chief editor of the Irish Peo-
ple ; nor is it well ascertained whether he was ev.r
regularly initiate*! as a member of that stx-iety. John
0Leai7 comes of on old and patriotic race, originally
located in the wi-st of the County of Cork. Ho was U^rn
in the rie'ng town of Tipperary, whore bis father wna
held in very great esieeui, as one of its most influential
and enterprising merchants. Ho was. in private life, a
worthy man, and in public a sterling lovej of bin coun-
try. As a lUUraUur, John O'Leary haa few «u|><TiurK.
In revolutionary matters, he is more of a phili«>pl.ic
thinker than a man of impulsive notion. But ihou^-h
his patriotism i.s not of a drmoubtrativp ;a»t. it in not
the lees determined uud pure, in |ierBi>n he in ul Mg) :
814
REIGN OF QUEEN VICTORIA.
Eai-ly in February, 1866, at the open-
ing of Parliament, the Queen, in her
sp<iech, said: "A conspiracy adverse
alike to authority, pi-operty, and reli-
gion, and disapproved and condemned
alike by all who are interested in their
maintenance, without distinction of
creed or class, has unhappily appeared
in Ireland. The constitutional .power
of the ordinary tribunals has been exert-
ed for its repression, and the authority
of the law has been firnily and impai--
tially vindicated." Notwithstanding,
however, the Queen's statement on the
subject of the efficiency of the ordinary
processes of law, the lord lieutenant.
and graceful build, above the middle height, and of
regular, handsome features. lie is unmarried, for-
tunately for himself.
4th. Thomas Clarke Luby is now about forty-two
years old. Son of an Anglican clergyman, and nephew
of one of the most learned and distinguished fellows of
Trinity College, he commenced his university career and
won considerable scholastic distinction, at an early age.
In '48 he joined the Young Ireland party, and thus
lost the friendship and patronage of his uncle, who is
an extreme loyalist. After the failure of Smith O'Brien,
Luby joined Fenton Lalor, Philip (juy, Joseph Bren-
nan, and others, in an attempt to reorganize the party ;
but their efforts proved abortive. After this, he be-
came editor of a patriotic paper, started in Dublin by a
Mr. Fulham. After the failure of this journal, Luby
continued true to his principles through very trying
domestic diflBculties, notwithstanding the pressi»re
brought to bear upon him by his loyal relative, who
urged him to give up patriotism and continue hie
studies for the Irish Bar — promising, in case he should
comply, to forward his personal interests with his
means and all the influence at his command. Luby,
however, resisted the temptation. He assisted James
Stephens in founding the Fenian movement in Ireland,
and was one of its most prominent, earnest, and effec-
tive workers up to the time of his arrest. Luby is a
man of erudition — he speaks well and writes well. He
is married, and has left a wife and interesting young
family unprovided for.
5th. Denis Dowling Mulcahy is a younger man than
■ny of the preceding. He is sprung from an old and
in the most eai-nest tei-ms, insisted upnii
a suspension of the habeas cofj->n6- ia
Ireland, affirming that he could not
hold himself responsible for the safety
of the country unless this were done.
Parliament acted with promptness and
decision, and the necessary bill was
passed, on the 17th of Februaiy, by
both the Houses of Commons and of
Lords, and received the royal assent
the same day.
Mr. Bright, in the Commons, pro-
tested against this movement, and spoke
warmly upon the traditional misgovern-
ment of Ireland. " Never," he ex-
claimed, " does the Government act
esteemed stock in South Tipperary. His father. Denis
Mulcahy, was one of the stanchest supporters of Dan-
iel O'Connell during the Emancipation, Tithe Reform,
and Repeal agitations, in the course of which he suf-
fered severely in property, through his devotedness to
what he considered to be his country's best interests.
Mulcahy has received an excellent education. His
talents are considerable, and by his family influence,
personal popularity, and untiring self-sacrificing laliors,
he has spread the organization widely through the
counties of Waterford and Tipperary. He is a man of
indomitable courage, towering stature, and everywhere
calculated to gain a distinguished position among his
countrymen in the projected revolution.
The other principal victims of the British Govern-
ment in this movement are : Jolm Haltegan, for a loug
time Centre in Kilkenny ; James O'Connor, William
Roantree, Michael Moore, Hugh Brophy, all of Dublin ;
John Kenelly, John Lynch, Brian Dillon, and Chas. V.
O'Connell, of Cork; C. Keane, of Skibbereen ; Michael
ORegan, of New York, U. S. ; and Patrick O'Leary
(surnamed the Pagan), of New York also. The latter
the first Fenian convict. The spreading of the
organization In the British army was his sjiecial voca-
tion. His success therein was most extraordinary. He
had sworn in over three thousand British soldiers as
citizens of the Irish Republic before he met with the
traitor who procured his arrest and conviction. Pat-
rick O'Leary is, on the whole, a most remarkable and
original character. His real name was not discov-
-•red by the enemy at the time of his trial and convic-
tion.
FENIAN INVASION OF CANAD.V.
815
with energy and promptness towai-ds
Ireland, except upon a measure of re-
pression or coercion. I have sat here
til rough several administr'ations. Sir
Robert Peel, Lord Aberdeen, Lord
Palmerston, Earl Russell, have all sat
at the head of the Government, and
the conduct of every administration
towards Ireland has been utterly de-
void of statesmanship." At the same
time, Mr, Bright said that he would
not oppose a measure which the Gov-
ernment deemed essential to the pi-eser-
vation of the public peace. ]\Ir. John
Stuart Mill, also, while the subject was
before the House, added his testimony
to that of Mr. Bright, and dwelt forci-
bly upon the injustice with which Ire-
land has been and is unifoimly treated.
In the United States there was a
strong disposition, in the spring of
186(3, on the part of many of the Feni-
ans, to make an irruption into Canada,
as we have above noted. Mr. Ste-
pliens, it appears, was not favoi-ably
inclined towards this undertaking, and
exerted his influence to prevent it, and
to turn all the energies of Ii'ish patriots
in the direction of Ireland, and the sup-
plying funds and arms for those who
were about to fight the battle with
English tyranny on their native soil.
The Canadian scheme was not, how-
ever, abandoned. At the beginning of
summer parties of the Fenians rendez-
voused at several spots on the frontier,
principally at Buflalo in New York,
and St. Albans in Vermont. On the
1st of June a considerable body crossed
the border at Buffalo, with the inten-
tion of overthrowing, if possible, the
British Government in Canada. Sev-
eral skirmishes occurred with the Ca-
nadian troops and volunteei-s ; and
whether it were owing to want of
proper drill and organization, or to
some other cause, the Fenians were
worsted decidedly, and the irruption
proved to be a failure. Many of the
Fenians, on recrossing into the United
States, were made prisonei-s by the
public authorities.
On the 6th of June, 1866, President
Johnson issued a proclamation, de-
nouncing the Fenian eutei-prise as a
high misdemeanor, directing the author-
ities to arrest all concerned in it, and
instructing General Meade to use the
national foi-ces, if necessary, to prevent
any invasion from the United States
into her majesty's dominions. No sup-
plies or arms were allowed to p;iss to
those in Canada, and most of those who
had gone upon this expedition made
their way back. Anothei- crossing wua
made, a few days later, near St. Al-
bans, Vei'mont, but without any suc-
cess or profit to the Fenian cause. The
Canadian Government arrested and
held to bail the leadei-s and officers of
the expedition ; but the privates wero
released and sent back into the United
States.
The coui-se of action taken by the
direction of President Johnson wjus
sharj)ly criticized Jis unfriendly in the
extreme, and wanting in sympathy for
the struggles of Irish patiiota after
816
REIGN OF QUEEX VICTORIA.
independence and freedom ; and. it was
avowed that the least the American
Government could do, in such a case,
and where so high and sacred interests
were at stake, was to remain neutral,
and allow the Fenians free space for an
irruption into the British provinces,
and the striking a blow which would,
materially aid in the disenthralment of
Ireland. On the other hand, the new
prime-minister, Lord Derby, expressed,
early in July, the profound thanks of
her majesty's government for the
prompt and efficient action of the
President of the United States. " Not-
M'ithstanding," were his lordship's
words, "the latitude which is given in
the United States to all expressions of
public feeling, and to any thing short
of actual violation of laws, yet, as soon
as the law was plainly about to be vio-
lated, vigorous and decided measures,
as L acknowledge with the utmost
gratitude, were taken by the govern-
ment of the United States to prevent
a violation of their own laws, and the
rights of friendly States, by a lawless
band of mai-auders."
By direction of the home govern-
ment, the Fenian prisoners in Canada,
captured during the irruption just
spoken of, were tried, convicted, and
sentenced to death by the court held
at Toronto. Among these were K. B.
Lynch, professedly a newspaper corre-
spondent, but, according to testimony
adduced on the trial, acting as a col-
onel of the Fenian troops ; and John
McMahon, a Catholic priest, whose
plea was that he was compelled by the
Fenians to remain with them and ad-
minister the rites of the Church to the
wounded, although he had not gone to
Canada for any purpose of acting with
the Fenians. Both Lynch and McMa-
hon were found guilty, and sentenced
to be hung on the 13th of December.
The American secretary of state, Mr.
Seward, interposed in behalf of these
men, and asked for a record of the
trial and a suspension of the sentence.
He urged upon the British minister at
Washington that, as the offences were
purely of a political character, there
ought to be great leniency shown to-
wards the pi'isonei's, and a spirit of
forgiveness manifested. The secretary,
also, with a slight touch of sarcasm,
added that his suggestion was " made
with freedom and earnestness, because
the same opinions were proposed to us
by all the governments and publicists
of Europe, and by none of them with
greater frankness and kindness than by
the government and statesmen of Great
Britain."*
As was to be expected, the result of
these trials caused no little excitement
among the Fenian Brotherhood and
the Irish people generally in the Uni-
ted States. A fresh impulse seemed to
be given to the cause, and a profounder
and stronger feeling to be aroused in
behalf of struggling Ireland. On Sun-
day, the 28th of October, 1866, a very
large meeting of the Fenians was held
*The sentences in these cases were snbseqaently
commuted to unprisonment for twenty years.
THE PRIESTHOOD OX FEXIAXISM.
at Jones's Woods, near the city of New-
York, Mi-. Stephens, the Chief Organ-
izer and Head Centre of the Irisli Re-
public, made a speech of considerable
length and importance. As we have
before stated (see p. 815), Stephens was
not in favor of invading Canada; on
the present occasion, he denounced the
movement as a sort of filibustering
affair, and affirmed that if, last year,
the Fenians in Ireland had only had a
few thousand more rifles at one par-
ticular point, the whole Island would
liave been theirs in ten days, and every
English soldier on Irish soil would
have been dead or captive. Among
other things, he stated that the Fenian
ai-my in Ireland numbered fifty thou-
sand men, as well trained, drilled, and
equipped as any in the world. With a
degree of candor unusual in such mat-
ters, Stephens named the very time
when the rising was to take place. " I
do not say," were his words, " that
there will be fighting in Ireland before
the 13th day of December; but thei-e
will be before the 1st of January, 1867,
■with as fair prospect of success as
ever was known, and I shall he there
in the midst of my countrymen." In
the same connection, he alluded (in
terms of disapproval) to the opposition
of the Catholic clergy in regard to the
Fenian movements ; and, while reiterat-
ing that the contest of arms was certain
to begin speedily, he begged his audi-
tors to mark every man who ridiculed
or attempted to ci-y down the cause of
Ireland, and remember him forever.
Tiie fact spoken of above by Mr.
Stephens is worthy of note, and, how-
ever it may be accounted fur, it is
nevertheless true, that the Feninn
movement, at home and abroad, was
looked upon witli disfavor by the
l)ishops and priests of the Catholic
Church. We quote, in illustration,
from an English Catholic paj>er (of
October, 1865) several paragraplhs,
which show the grounds taken by the
hiei-aichy, and the reasons which in-
fluenced their action :
"The Fenian Brotherhood is, at the
present moment, a gi-eat fact in the
histoi-y of Ireland. It exists there,
and cannot be ignored. Day ])y day
the Irish papers give ua accounts of
Fenian meetings, of the gathering to-
gether of lai'ge bodies of men, who ai-e
mustei-ed and drilled with the regulari-
ty and precision of a well-organized
aimy. How many there may be iu
America associated iu the same society
it is hard to say ; but, if the reports of
the papers are correct, there must be iu
Ireland at least thirty thousand; and
these men, we firmly believe, would,
to-morrow, shed the last drop of their
blood for their fatherland. Now, what
is the end and object of this society i
Simj)ly the liberation of Ireland (so,
at least, the members tell us) from the
yoke of England. So far so good ; and
so far we heartily sympathize with our
fellow-countrymen, and desire, as earn-
estly as any of them, the freedom of
Old Erin. With heart and soul we
would join in the great work of deliv-
81i
REIGN OF QUEEN VICTORIA.
ering Catholic Ii'eland from the donii-
iiation of Protestant Enghind. But, is
the work to be done through the iu-
strumentah'ty of the Fenian Brother-
hood ? Can the work possibly be done
through them and by them? We think
not, and there are many reasons that
lead us to this conclusion.
" In the first place, the movement
has been generally discountenanced by
the clergy, and invai'iably denounced
by the bishops. For what reason ?
Is it that the bishops and clergy of
Ireland do not love their native land ?
Is it that they do not desire that which
would be most beneficial to their flocks?
Are they in the pay of England ; and
is it that they fear to lose, by the
change of foreign domination for inde-
pendent home government ? We ask
these questions simply because cei'tain
papers, influencing a large circle of
readers, make such charges against the
episcopate and clergy of Ireland ; and
to each of these questions we i-eturn a
positive and unqualified negative.
" But a short time ago we saw how
the clergy of Poland worked and
strove, and even fought for the free-
dom of their native land. There was
a prospect — and a hopeful one — of suc-
cess. They thought that France was
with them, and hoped for th« sympa-
thy of England. They were disap-
pointed ; and the noble efibrt, the he-
roic struggle, failed through want of
means, and through lack of sympathy.
But the priests were with the people ;
with them they lived, suffered, and
died. The sympathy of eviM-y Catho-
lic heart was with the PolfS, and we
all know how deep an inteiest the
Holy Father took in tlieii- welfare —
how, for them, he has braved and
scorned the displeasure of the mighty
Czar. How, then, does it happen that,
whereas in Poland the Church blessed
and favored the uprising for liberty, it
is now, in Ireland, opposed to such an
attempt? The question requires two
answei's — the one from the Church as
such, the other from the Church in Ire-
land.
" It seems that Fenianism is a secret
society — that is, its membei-s take an
oath to obey an unknown authority,
and to follow out, in detail, every order
issued by that authority. We read
that in Limerick a man was requested
' to take an oath, binding him to obey
the rules laid down by the heads of
the association in the United States.'
What were these rules? He was,
therefore, called upon to take an oath
without knowing the obligations that
oath involved. Such an oath is rash,
and is, therefore, forbidden by the law
of God and by God's Church. If,
therefore, the oath of obedience to an
unknown authority, and the oath to
follow unknown rules, be a necessary
preliminary to the initiation into the
Fenian Brotherhood, the Church must,
necessarily, condemn such a society.
The bishops and clergy of Ireland may
condemn, and do condemn it on this
ground ; but they have other reasons
which can only be manifest to those
MEETING IN NEW YORK.
819
who kuow Irelaiul well. They ai-e uot,
we may be well assured, wanting in
love of their country and their flocks.
Who knows better than' tbey do all
the afflictions, and griefs, and oppres-
sion of one and the other? And who
can sympathize more deeply than they
do with Ireland and the Irish ? It can-
not be, therefore, from want of sympa-
thy in the good cause that they do not
approve of the Fenian oi'gauization.
They condemn it because of the oath
•which the Church cannot, and will not,
allow; and they disapprove of it be-
cause they see that, instead of freeing
Ireland from misery, it is likely to
plunge her still more deeply into the
mire. The Ii'ish clergy are a body of
men who love their country, and who
love, with a father-like love, their
flocks ; and any thing that would bene-
fit their fatherland and spiritual chil-
dren would receive, not merely their
approbation, but their co-o{)eration.
They would work for it unto death ;
and, if they now oppose this move-
ment, depend upon it, it is simply be-
cause they know that it can result in
no good. They know that the prom-
ises that come so freely from America
will never be fulfilled ; that men who
have made a home in tlie fur-oflf land
will never return to fight for the coun-
try they have abandoned. They know,
too, that were eveiy man in Ireland to
go to the battle-field, they could uot
oflfer any etiTectual opposition to the
power of England. They know that
there is no dependence upon America,
and they know that without such aid
it would be madness for Ireland to
think of rising against England. They
know well what loss of life, wliat
misery and desolation, an unsuccessful
uprising would involve; and so, loving
their children, they prudently and
wisely oppose it. And so they are
said to be unpati'iotic, and accused of
being in the pay of England.
"Oh, listen to your priest! He
knows you; he loves you — he loves
our dear country. And any thing that
tends to break that close and afiec-
tionate union that has ever existed in
Ireland, between priest and people,
cannot be good. The priest knows
and loves his country and his people,
and must approve of that wliicii is for
the benefit of both. If the clergy of
Ireland condemn Fenianism, it merely
shows that they kuow it to be of no
advantage either to the country or the
people."
A few weeks after the meeting at
Jones's Woods, there was a gatherin;^
of the Centres and Delegates of the
Brotherhood of New York and vicin-
ity. It was held at the Apollo Rooms,
New York, on Sunday evening, N<>-
vember 19th, and the following resolu-
tion and accompanying Ajjpeal were
unanimously adopted : —
" Rewlved, That the Ceiitre of each
Circle of the F. B. in New York, Brook-
lyn, Jei-sey City, and vicinity, be in-
structed to send a eomniittee of their
ablest and prominent membei-s to each
house in the looilitiea in which its Cir-
820
REIGN OF QUEEN VICTORIA.
cles may be situated, and solicit from
every Irishman, and the lovers of liber-
ty of all nationalities, anus, munitions,
and money in aid of the revolution
about to be iuaugui'ated in Ireland, and
that the names of those suljscribing for
the pui-poses I'efen-ed to, and those
who, being Irishmen, may I'efuse to
contribute, be written in a book of
record, to be kept foi- that purpose in
the Central Office, No. 19 Chatham
street, for future reference, and that
the views of this meeting may be
placed before the world by an appeal
to be j)ublished herewith.
THE APPEAL.
To the Men of Irish Birth and all Lovers of Re-
publican Institutions everywhere :
" Countrymen, J^'riends, and Broth-
ers : — Every item of information reach-
ing us from Ireland proves it to be cer-
tain, beyond till question,"that our coun-
trymen at home are determined on wai'
— war to the knife, aud that this very
year. The final sti'uggle of our people
with the foreignei- will be soon inaugu-
rated ; the oppressed will meet the op-
pressor foot to foot, to battle for the
very existence of our race aud of our
nationality. The issue is patent. Either
we must succeed in this our final strug-
gle, and take our place among the na-
tions of the earth, or be defeated — to
be scattered broadcast, as a people de-
spised, pointed at only with the finger
of scorn, and i-eady to do battle foi-
every country but our own. To the
Irishmen of America such au eventual-
ity cannot foil to suggest the profound-
est emotions. The degradations to
which his kindred have been subjected
for centuries — the sacrifices of a peo-
ple offered as a holocaust at the shrine
of despotism ; the many miseries en-
tailed by foreign domination — are to
be washed away in the blood of the
enemy, or live a perpetual curse in our
defeat. The wrongs of the past must
be righted by the manhood of the
present. A nation which will not
make sacrifices is unworthy of freedom.
That is a blessing which cannot be too
highly prized by any people; it is one
of the holiest gifts which God can be-
stow on man. And what greater sacri-
fice can be required of a people to gain
that blessing, than that of life and
every thing they hold most dear ? Our
countrymen being resolved to fight
against an old, an intolerant enemy, to
wipe out the stigma of slavery, they
risk life, property, all, on the struggle.
It will be to the eternal credit or dis-
grace of their kindred in America, if
this sti'uggle be a glorious or disastrous
one — if Ireland be a land crowned
by the laurels of a victorious army, or
reduced to the condition of an immense
wilderness and charnel-house. Should
revolution in Ireland end in defeat,
should the laud, be satui-ated with the
blood of freedom's martyrs shed iu
vain, let those iu Ameiica who could,
but would not, aid in the freedom of
their native land, bear the humiliation
and shame. That the lukewarm and
skeptical may no longer have an ex-
FATHER VAUGIIAN'S ADURKSS.
821
ctise for not giving tliat assistance to
their compatriots at home which is ex-
pected from them, we deem it our duty
to place our views before the world.
Advocates of universal liberty, but es-
j pt^cially of liberty in Ireland, we have re-
solved to do all in our power to sustain
those of our kindred who keep garrison
at home. That the struggle, now so
imminent, may be short and effective,
we appeal to all our kindred in Ameri-
ca, men and women, and to the lovers
of freedom everywhere, to give what
our brothers require. That no one
claiming to have Irish blood in his
veins may have any longer an excuse
for not contributing in propoi-tion to
his means, a committee of gentlemen,
properly accredited, will call upon all
from whom aid is expected. That a
pei'maneut record of all those who will
do their duty to Iielaud at so impor-
tant a crisis as this may be kept for
future purposes, as well as those who by
their non-action wish it to be recorded
as their opinion that our race at last is
conquered, the committees instructed
to collect arms, war material, and
money, for the use of the Irish repub-
lican army, will hand in their lists
weekly, at the Central Office, 19 Chat-
ham street, iu this city. In the name
of liberty, justice, and humanity, we
appeal to all, on behalf of a suffering
but noble-minded people, to subscribe
liberally, and at once."
The determined spirit of the Fenian
Brotheihood, and of all loveis of Irish
freedom, in the United States, to go
forward at all hazards with their under-
taking, to engage in active hostilities in
Ireland against the British Government
and authorities, and to secure the inde-
pendence and nationality of the Green
Isle of the Ocean, was further roused
by an ekupient and scathing review of
"English Misrule in Ireland," from Fa-
ther Vaughan, of County Clare. This
reverend gentleman delivered a lecture
on the above topic at Cooper Institute,
New York, on the evening of Novem-
ber 21st, 1866. We give, from one of
the journals of the day, the report of
his earnest setting forth of the wrongs
done to his native land by the foreigner
and oppressor iu the past as well jw
the present.
A large audience was gathered, to
whom Father Vaughan said, that " it
afforded him great delight to meet and
address, on the present occasion, so nu-
merous and respectable a body of his
countrymen. It convinced him that
they still regarded their native land
with earnest and deep-seated devotion.
The very fact that they were able to
assemble together in such respectable
numbei-s, likewise assured him that the
purpose of Englaud in driving them
out had been defeated. England li;id
hoped that, exiled to this country, they
would soon become absorbed in tiie
elements around them — that they would
cease to be Irish — and, as a matter of
course, cease to be an object of terror
or annoyance. He saw with plc.isure,
however, that in this country they hod
822
REIGN OF QUEEN VICTORIA.
preserved their nationality, and that
they were still Irish to the heart's core;
that they were a powerful element in
their adopted land, and were still a just
cause of fear to the robber-Saxon. The
time might come, and he hoped would
soon come, when, as they had been
driven out with a vengeance, they
would go back with a vengeance. (Up-
roarious applause, ami cheers for Ste-
phens).
"It had always caused him pain to
behold a fine race, such as that they be-
longed to, burned and branded like the
first murderer, Cain, and driven forth to
wander like vagabonds over the earth.
If the soil of Ireland were barren and
the climate unnatural, then indeed he
might reconcile himself to the exodus
and banishment of such a people ; but
taking into account the fertility of the
island, the physical endurance and in-
dustrial energy of the inhabitants, their
banishment from their native land
must be a source of deep and bitter
regret to every Irishman.
"The Irish people would have been
prosperous at home, if just and good
government had permitted them to
have a fair field for the development of
their energies. In this country, in
every branch of civil and commercial
life. Irishmen excelled all other races of
people. There was no more fertile
land under the sun than Ireland. If it
w^ere compared with any equal portion
of this country, it would be found that
it far excelled it in fertility. And yet,
although here the people obtained
with ease an ample sulwistencc, tiie
people of Ireland were steeped in the
deepest poverty and clad in rags. The
reason of the difference was plain.
Ireland was an oppressed and enslaved
land. The whole rule of England in
Ireland, from the fii"st invasion of the
robber-murderer Saxon to the present
time, had been one of misrule. The
evils with which the Ii'ish people had
been cursed by the English rule were
as numerous as the evils contained in
Pandora's box. He would notice first
the misrule of English legislation.
"There was nothing that stamped its
moral grandeur upon a people like the
laws that governed it. If the laws
were mild and just and merciful, then
the peojile reflected faithfully their
beneficent character. If, ou the other
hand, the laws were cruel and unjust,
their malignant influence also imprint-
ed itself in the life of the people. The
ancient laws of Ireland, before the
Saxon planted his foot upon her soil,
were eminently wise and just. They
enforced the practice of hospitality, the
cultivation of music, poetry, and litera-
ture, and exhibited a jealous I'egard for
the security of propei'ty and the honor
of women. To such a degree was the
popular mind of Ireland dignified and
elevated by the enforcement of these
wise laws, that when St. Patrick came
to Ireland and appeared befoie its sen-
ators, and presented to them the Gospel
of Christ, they immediately recognized
the truth of his teachings, and in an in-
credibly short space of time the whole
FATHER VAUGHAN ON ENGLISH MISRULE.
823
island was converted. But since Eng-
land had usurped dominion over Ire-
land, that unhappy country had been
cursed with the vilest code of laws that
ever disgraced a human government.
There were three things which just
laws would ever guard with jealous
care — the security of life, of property,
and of female honor. The English had
never given them laws securing either.
"Father Vaughan then read an ex-
tract from an address to Pope John
XXII., appealing to him for protection
against the mei'ciless oppression of
their Saxon mastei's. The address de-
picted vividly the terrible condition of
the country at that time, and stated
that it was a doctrine then universally
accepted by Englishmen, and one which
had even been taught from the pulpit
by English ecclesiastics, that it was no
crime to kill an Irishman.
" Father Vaughan continued by say-
ing, that a trial had actually taken
place in which two Englishmen, con-
victed of having committed a rape,
were released because the victim was
only an Ii-ish woman. Any Englishman
could legally drive away an Irishman
from his land and settle on it himself
It was a crime to have any commercial
relations with Irishmen. It was high
treason to marry an Irishwoman or to
employ an Irish nurse. So terrible
were the sufferings of the Irish people
under this state of things, that they
offered a thousand maiks — a veiy large
Bum in those days — to be admitted to
the rights of English citizenship, but
were refused equal justice even ou
those terms. And when at last, in the
reign of Henry IV., the poor Irish
people began to leave the countiy, a
law was enacted prohibiting "the fur-
ther departure of the Irish enemy."
In the course of centuries these unnatu-
ral laws have been, to a certain extent,
modified, as civilization and enlighten-
ment have advanced ; but, though not
enforced, many of them may yet be
found unrepealed on the English stat-
ute books.
"You may think it bad taste in me,
perhaps, to be reviving these bai-bar-
ous outrages upon justice and humani-
ty ; but at the present hour there is a
code of law regulating the lives and
liberties of the Irish people, and im-
posed by English misrule, as iniquitcMia
and cruel as ever disgraced the annals
of manhood.
"The reverend lecturer here e.\-
plained the present law of eji-ctment,
which he stated had swept three hun-
dred and twenty -six thousand families,
comprising two millions of jjeople, out
of Ireland, from the year lS4ti to the
present time. That wjvs a fair illustra-
tion of the monstrous, revolting, and
diabolical character of English rule in
Ireland. Under such circumstances it
was the duty of every Irishman to com-
bine and revolt against such infamous
legislation. It was wonderful to re-
mark the slight effect centuries of wick-
edly unjust and cruel government had
produced on the Irish character. He
believed that none but the Celtic race
824
REIGN OF QUEEN VICTORIA.
could have withstood such withering
influences for so long a period. It was
only owing to the tenacity of the Cel-
tic nature, that they possessed at the
present time a greater amount of pub-
lic and private virtue than any other
people. Let them take, for instance,
the Ii-ishwoman — in single life as pure
as the driven snow; in married life,
like Caesai-'s wife, above suspicion. Let
them take, again, the Irish charactei-
for generosity. It was considered a
crime in Ireland for a man to dine with
his doors closed. Then, again, let them
take the fact that the Irishmen in this
country, in 1862, transmitted to friends
in the old country the enormous sura
of £300,000. What volumes that fact
spoke for their sense of filial duty!
And, in the recent sti-uggle between
the North and the South, the Irishmen
had nobfy vindicated the strength of
their devotion to their adopted land.
He hoped, before God, that they would
soon give as unmistakable proof in
their own country of their love of
liberty. (Immense applause.)
" Father Vaughan then gave a sketch
of the famines which have so frequent-
ly desolated Ireland, and referred par-
ticularly to that of '47 and '48, of
which he was himself an eye-witness.
He said that the frequent recurrence of
these fsimines was an irrefutable proof
of British misrule ; and, so long as the
English despotism remained dominant
in Ireland, famines would occur every
eight or ten yeai-s. In 1862 there had
been great distress in Connaught, and
that section of the country. Sir Rob-
ert Peel, then Lord-Lieutenant of Ire-
laud, made a journey to examine into
the condition of affairs. Instead of
telling the truth, as he had seen it, he
openly denied in the Britisli Parliament
that thei-e was any suffering among the
people, and mocked at their sufferings.
(Hisses.) If that man had insulted
the people of any other country in that
manner, they would have stabbed him
to the heart. Wlien Charlotte Corday
stabbed Marat, she did not rid man-
kind of a greater monster than he.
(Applause.) He (the speaker) de-
clared before God, angels, and men,
that such a state of things as now ex-
ists in Ireland is revolting to human
nature, and a blasphemy against God.
Every worthy impulse of the human
heart, every good instinct planted by
God in the mind of man, impelled
him to direct all his energies to remove
so deplorable a condition of affairs at
once— (applause) — to remove the cause
of it, and to rise up like men and
crush out the infamous rule that had
brought such calamities upon mankind.
(Tremendous cheering.)
"The reverend lecturer closed with
an expression of his firm belief that
the Irish people, if united, were in a
position to secure their independence
and freedom."
Dii-ect news, at the close of Novem-
ber, 1866, so fiir as it could be learned
through the press, seemed to point
clearly to the fact that the outbreak
was actually entered upon ; and there
BITTERNESS AND FEARS OF ENGLAND.
825
was> intense excitement in England at
the prospect. Additional troops were
ordered to Ireland; the Government
exerted itself in every way to meet the
emergency ; and the tone of the press,
and of the English authorities and peo-
ple, was bitter and severe in the ex-
ti-erae. The London Times, in a vio-
lent article, said that the rebellion
"must be stamped out with an iron
heel ;" and the journals thi'oughout
Great Bi'itain echoed the sentiments of
the Times, and urged the putting down,
in the most effectual manner, every
attempt to sever Ireland from its pres-
ent subjection to the British Crown.
The Government, however, was con-
Bidei-ably embarrassed in its plans and
operation by a knowledge of the fact
that the Fenian organization was large-
ly nnmerous in England as well as in
Ireland ; and it was found necessary to
j)roceed with caution and prudent re-j
gard for the feelings of the thousands
of Irishmen in various parts of Eng-
land. It was not deemed expedient to
deprive Liverpool and other important
places of their garrisons, or weaken
their military strength ; for the Fenians
threatened, if the "stamping out" pro-
cess was inaugurated, to resort to re-
taliation on British soil of such a kind
as would be swift and effective. At
the same time there was no halting in
I'egard to the settled purpose, which
we have noted on a previous page
(p. 790), that there should never be
permitted to be a dismemberment of
the empire at any time, or under any
lOt
circumstances, so long as England could
prevent it; and it was determined to
bring to bear the entire military and
naval force of the country to put down
any insurrection, or any change of the
relation which existed since the Union
between the several portions of the
United Kingdom of Great Britain and
Ireland.
Stephens, the "C. O. L R.," that is,
" Chief Organizer of the Irish Repub-
lic," claimed that there were 2.50,000
men on Irish soil, and some 70,000 in
England, on whom he could implicitly
rely. Of these, in Ireland, he asserted
that 50,000 were thoroughly drilled
soldiers, and under the command of
officei-s who had served and gained
experience in the American army.
"With such a force, and with the
expected supplies and increase of
men from the United States and else-
where, Stephens was confident of suc-
cess in being able to drive out the
oppressor, and place Ireland upon a
footing of equality with any nation in
the world. Conscious of the strength
of the Fenian organization, and it.s
thorough discipline and efficiency, and
assured that all the wealth of England
could not buy the secrets of the Broth-
eriiood, or cf^rupt its members, St»»-
jihens and his compatiiots puslied for-
ward their movements with zeal and
energy. They were greatly encouragetl
so to do by the hearty synipatliy of
members in America, by large Ruliscri|)-
tions of money, and by the eniistnit-nt
of many of those who had served iu
326
REiaX OF QUEEX VTCTOUTA.
the United States army, aiul were
j-eady tc go to Ii-eland at a moment's
warning. Frequent addresses, too, and
publications of vai'ious descriptions,
kept alive the spirit and enterprise of
the Fenians in America. Mr. Warren,
an officer in the military organization
of the Brothei'hood, issued a war mani-
festo at New York, November 30th,
1866, addressed to "Irishmen, Brothers,
and Lovers of Universal Liberty." Ac-
knowledging that the invasion of Cana-
da had not resulted in any benefit to
the cause, Mr. Warren concluded his
address in the following terras: —
"Let us look at this mattei- dispas-
sionately as the crisis requires. We
have hitherto advanced in theory.
Now is the time to be practical. All
the arms and munitions held by both
sections of the Brotheihood on this
continent, obtained by means of the
contributions of our devoted people,
are necessary for the L'ish army.
What right have men who are merely
the custodians of thera to withhold
them now? Let there be no mistake
about it ; the man or men who are the
cause of depriving our compati-iots of
the means intended for them are trifling
with their lives. Is there a man in
America prepared to i^idertake that
terrible responsibility ? I much fear
it. Why will not an indignant people
rise up in their majesty, forgetting the
past, and seeing in the distance their
brothers appealing to them for arms,
dear to them as their heart's blood,
and not insist that material collected
for Irish purposes be used for these
purposes alone. The cui-se of Cain was
not half so black or heavy as that
which will follow every man who,
through his official position, refuses the
privilege of ai'ming his countr^^nen to
meet the foe. He and his posterity
deserve to be pointed at with the finger
of scorn ; and whether victory or de-
feat be the result of our efibrts, the
leader's here who counsel non-co-opera-
tion deserve to be branded with eter-
nal infiimy. Irishmen in America, the
tocsin of war is about being sounded.
Our compatriots are about taking the
field. In God's name, then, unite.
Rally round thera as one man. Pur-
chase arms for those who want them.
Let not the unnecessary blood spilled,
which exertion on your part could
have saved, rise up in judgment against
you like an accusing demon. I feel
that the moment is pregnant for good
or evil to our country. Let him who
doubts my sincerity come with me to
prove it on the green hills of Ireland."
One of the Irish papers of the sarae
date, published in New Yoi-k, used
language of similar import, and spoke
in tones of the most earnest encourage-
ment as to the present and the future.
"The crisis to which the great effort
now near culmination has been made is
approaching, and very nigh. The sky
will ere long be aglare with rockets
signalizing the movement of men — ■
Irishmen — which will, we devotedly
hope, give liberty to the home of our
birth. Gone and outgoing are those
IRELAND'S STRENGTH FOR THE CONTEST.
827
whose liberty and whose lives ai-e
staked upon the great attempt. Shall
not all partisanship, all jealousy and
personal pique, where any may exist,
be now laid aside, and one calmly-con-
sidered, hopeful, but determined and
sustained effort, be made to aid and
succor the 'men in the gap' in ways
which you will understand ?"
The same journal, in an editoi'ial
of considerable length, discussed the
position of affairs, and the ability of
England to put down the revolt in Ire-
land, in language which displayed the
utmost assurance of final success to the
cause it was advocating. "As regards
'-he entire world — subjected to the
naritirae despotism of England, placed
.u the alternative of ceasing all com-
mercial competition with that power, oi'
of crushing the workingman, accoi'ding
to her example, beneath the grindstone
of capital, to extract both woi-k and
vice from him at a cheap rate — it will
utter a long sigh of joy on the day
when that power will disappear from
the surface of the earth, leaving no
void and bearing away no regret. On
that day public conscience will be de-
li vei-ed of a great weight.
"What are the forces in presence?
On the one hand, the secret organiza-
tion of Ireland comprises 200,000 men,
who are oi-ganized and have taken the
oath, out of whom r)0,000, who aie
killed in the use of arms, and are
rmed, will form the first band, tlie
first rising. These are insignificant men,
Deasants, barefooted men for the most
part, it is true; but the mn-v-culolU^s of
Valmy and Jemmappes, who made the
best armies in Europe recoil, were not
very well shod. They had to avenge
the same offence, to defend the same
cause as the Irish. They fought for
liberty and their country, as the Irish
will soon fight also; victory smiled
then upon the republicans of France,
as it will smile to-morrow upon the re-
publicans of Ireland. What can Eng-
land oppose to this array of patriots,
determined to vanquish or perish ?
20,000 men, mercenary troops. We
all know how recruiting is done in
England. If these 20,000 men are not
suflicieut, England can, by stripping
the rest of her kingdom of troops,
send, in two or three weeks, about
fifteen thousand more men. Will she
dare do this in the pi-esence of the
revolution about to break out? Did
she dai-e do it, the fact of being re-
duced to that step would prove tlie
strength of the insurrection. The fact
of sending re-enforcements at so critical
a moment, will make the force of Ire-
land morally and materially tenfold
On the (lay when the hatred piled up
against England sees a gleam of suc-
cess in vengeance, it will rush forth to
take part in the hounds' fee. We ail-
mit that, tliese second re-enforcements
not being sufficient, new ones may be
necessary. By recalling her forces from
the Mediterranean ami the Atlantic,
England can, in the space of three
months, l)ring 20,000 more men upon
the Irish soil; but in order to do this.
828
REIGN OF QUEEX VICTORIA.
two things must be adnntted: tlie first,
that the uaval power of Eughuid should
have received no injury in her ports;
the second, that she can, without dan-
ger, leave her colonies to themselves.
A last resource remains to her — she
can, in the space of six months, bi-ing
25,000 men from India. To any man
accustomed to matters of wai-, it is easy
to see the strategical danger to which
the English army is exposed. While
she would be receiving her re-enforce-
ments in detachments, the insurrec-
tion, concentrated, acts by masses,
having for it the entire country,
its resources and its sympathies. In
a rich and hilly country like Ii'eland
this is no small advantage. When
every stone, every tree, eveiy hedge
shelters an enemy and sends foith
death — when an entire nation is re-
solved to vanquish or to die, to have
the natal soil or to leave it to none, to
make the vacuum of death around the
stranger — something else is wanted be-
sides re-enforceraents of 15,000 men,
spread over weeks or months of dis-
tance, to crush or annihilate it; for as
to submission or subjugation, there is
no question of it this time. It is a duel
to the death.
" Ii'eland has in her behalf the unde-
niable right to existence ; she has for
her a race of men especially warlike ;
she has for her a rich soil, fitted for in-
surrection. Divided in America, she is
united in Europe ; and what has been
wanting to her up to this day — organ-
ization, which permits unity in action
— is no longer wanting now. We be-
lieve and hope in her resurrection and
approaching triumph."
While these pages are going thi-ough
the press, the revolution has actually
begun. Minor risings have taken place
in various parts of Ireland ; the great
English arsenal at Chester had well
nigh fallen into Fenian hands ; English
troops are pouring into Ireland, and
hurrying from point to point. It is too
soon for the pen of History to begin to
chronicle these movements. They will
foim a new chapter in the History of
Ireland.
HOW ENGLAND HAS TREATED IRELAND.
829
CHAPTEll LIII.
GENERAL REVIEW.
TN drawing to its close our resume
-*- of the history of this long-suifiring
country, during its chequered, and in
great measure unhappy career since it
became an integral part of the United
Kingdom, we feel that it is well nigh
impossible to do justice to the theme,
and say truly and rightly what ought
to be said on such a subject. " Con-
template Ireland," said the eloquent
Charles Phillips, in a speech made at
Liverpool a number of years ago; "con-
template Ireland during any period of
England's rule, and what a picture does
she exhibit ! Behold her created in all ;
the prodigality of nature ; with a soil
that anticipates the husbandman's de-
sire; with harbors courting the com-
merce of the world ; with rivers capa-
ble of the most effective navigation ;
with the ore of eveiy metal struggling
through her surface ; with a pecjple
brave, generous, and intellectual, liter-
ally forcing their way through the dis-
abilities of their own country into the
highest stations of every other, and
well rewarding the policy that pro-
motes them, by achievements the most
heroic, and allegiance without a blem-
ish. How have the successive govern-
ments of England demeaned themselves
to a nation oft'cring such an accumul.i-
tion of moral and political advantages?
. . . . For ages upon ages, inven-
tion has fatigued itself with expedients
for irritation. As I have read with
horror in the progress of my lecal
studies, the homicide of a ' mere Irish-
man' was considered justifiable ; and,
his ignorance being the origin of all his
crimes, his education was prohibited
by act of ■pai-liament ! — the people wore
worm-eaten 1)y the odious vermin which
a church and state adultery had
spawned ; a bad heart and brainless
head were the fangs by which every
foreign adventurer and domestic traitor
fastened upon office ; the property of
the native was but an invitation to
plunder, and his non-acquiescence the
signal for confiscation ; religion itself
was made the odious {)ri'tence for every
persecution, and the fires of hell were
alternately lighted with the cross, and
quenched in the blood of its defence-
less followers. I speak of times that
are passed ; but can their recollections,
can tlieir consequences, be so readily
eradicated ? Why, however, should I
refer to j)eriods that are so distant ?
Behold, at this instant, five millions of
her peoj)le disqualified on account of
830
REIGN OF QUEEN VICTORIA.
their faith, and that by a country pro-
fessing freedom ! and that under a gov-
ernment calling itself Christian ! You
(when I say you, of course I mean not
the high-minded people of England,
but the men who misgovern us both)
seem to have taken out a roving com-
mission in search of grievances abroad,
whilst you overlook the calamities at
your own door, and of your own "inflic-
tion. You traverse the ocean to eman-
cipate the Afiican : you cross the line
to convert the Hindoo ; you hurl your
thunder against the savage Algerine ;
but your own brethren at home, who
speak the same tongue, acknowledge
the same king, and kneel to the same
God, cannot get one visit from your
itinerant humanity.''''
Very possibly, had the eloquent ad-
vocate been speaking now, he would
have expressed himself somewhat dif-
ferently, and dealt less severe and bit-
ter reproaches upon his opponents and
the misrule of his native land. But it
cannot be denied that Phillips is right
in the main ; Ireland has suffered,
grievously suffered, from the injustice,
the ignorance, and the fears of Eng-
land ; Ireland does not occupy the po-
sition among the nations of the civil-
ized world to which she has a right to
aspire ; and wherever we lay the fault,
whoever is justly to blame for such a
state of things, it is undoubtedly true,
that the Irish- people, as a people, have
not advanced in the ratio that they
ought, in order to keep pace with the
progressive spirit of the age, in educa-
tion, in development of their national
resouj-ces and strength, and in a united
nationality of feeling and action. As
illustrating this latter statement, we
quote some admirable remarks of
Thomas Davis, that patriot, scholar,
and true L'ishman, of whose career, un-
happily too brief, we have spoken on a
previous page (see page 771). They
are woi'thy the thoughtful considera
tion of every lover of his native land
and her true interests :
" ' Educate, that you may be free.'
We are most anxious to get the quiet,
strong-minded people who are scattered
through the country to see the force of
this great truth ; and we therefore ask
them to listen soberly to us for a few
minutes, and when they have done so, to
think and talk again and again over
what we say.
" If Ireland had all the elements of a
nation, she might, and surely would, at
once assume the forms of one, and pro-
claim her independence. Wherein does
she now differ from Pi'ussia ? She has
a strong and compact territory, gii't by
the sea ; Prussia's lands are open and
flat, and flung loosely through Europe,
without mountain or river, breed or
tongue, to bound them. Ireland has a
military population equal to the re-
cruitment of, and a produce able to
pay, a first-rate army. Her harbors,
her soil, and her fisheries, are not sur-
passed in Eui'ope.
" Wherein, we ask again, does Ire-
land now differ from Prussia ? Why
can Prussia wave her flag among the
FATTIER VAFGHAN ON EXGLISH MISRULE.
831
proudest in Europe, while Ireland is a
farm ? It is not in the name of a king-
dom, nor in the formalities of inde-
pendence. We could assume them
to-morrow — we could assume them
with better warrants fi-om histoiy and
nature than Prussia holds ; but the re-
sult of such assumption would per-
chance be a miserable defeat. The
difference is in Knowledge. Were the
offices of Prussia abolished to-morrow ;
her colleges and schools levelled ; her
troops disarmed and disbanded, she
would within six months regain her
whole civil and military institutions.
Ireland has been struggling for years,
and may have to struggle many more,
to acquire liberty to form institutions.
" Whence is the difference ? Knowl-
"The Prussians could, at a week's
notice, have their centi-al offices at full
work in any village in the kingdoai, so
exactly known are their statistics, and
so general is official skill. Minds make
administration — all the desks, and
ledgers, and powers of Downing street
or the Castle would be handed in vain
to the ignorants of any untaught
district in Ireland. The Prussians
could open their collegiate classes and
their professional and elementary
schools as fast as the oi-der therefor,
from any authority recognized ])y the
people, reached town after town — we
can .hardly in ten years get a few
schools open for our people, craving for
knowledge as they are. Tiie Prussians
month, and reorganize it in three day;
for the mechanical ai'ts
are very gen-
erally known, military science is famil-
iar to most of the wealthier men, discip-
line and a soldier's skill are universal.
If we had been offered arms to defend
Ireland by Lord Ileytesbury, as the
Volunteers were by Lord Buckingham-
shire, we would have had to seek for
officers and drill-sergeants — thou<;h
pi'obably we could more rapidly ad-
vance in arms than any thing else, from
the military taste and aptness for war
of the Irish peo])le.
" Would it not hti better for us to be
like the Prussians than as we are — bet-
ter to have religious squabbles un-
known, education universal, the people
fed, and clad, and housed, and inde-
pendent, as becomes men ; the army
patriotic and strong ; the public offices
ably administei-ed ; the nation honored
and powerful ? Are not these to be
desired and sought by Protestant and
Catholic i Are not these things to be
done, if we are good and brave men ?
And is it not plain, from what we have
said, that the reason for oui- not being
all that Prussia is, and sometliing more,
is ignorance — want of civil, military, and
general knowledge amongst all classes ?
" This ignorance has not l)eeu our
fault, but our misfortune. It was the
interest of our ruler to keep ns igni)-
rant, that we might be weak: and she
did so — first, by laws prohibiting edu-
cation ; then, ])y refusing any provision
for it ; next, by perverting it into an
could re-arm their glorious militia in a| engine of bigotry ; and now, by giving
832
REIGN OF QUEEN VICTORIA.
it in a stunted, partial, anti-national way.
Pi-actice is the great teaclier, and the
possession of independence is the natural
and best way for a people to learn all
that pertains to freedom and happiness.
Our greatest voluntary efforts, aided
l)y the amplest provincial institutions,
would teach us less in a century than
we would learn in five years of liberty.
" In insisting on education, we do not
argue against the value of immediate
independence. That would be our best
teacher. An Irish Government and a
national ambition would be to our
minds as soft rains and rich sun to a
growing crop. But we insist on edu-
cation for the people, whether they get
it from the government or give it to
themselves, as a round-about, and yet
the only means, of getting strength
enough to gain freedom.
"Do our readers understand this?
Is what we have said clear to yov.,
reader ! — whether you are a shopkeeper
or a lawyer, a farmer or a doctor ? If
not, read it over again, for it is your
own fault if it be not clear. If you
now know our meaning, you must feel
that it is your duty to your family and
to yourself, to your country and to
God, to act upon it ; to go and remove
some of that ignorance which makes
you and your neighbors weak, and
therefore makes Ireland a poor prov-
ince. All of us have much to learn,
but some of us have much to teach.
To those, who, from superior energy
and ability, can teach the people, we
now address ourselves.
" There are various ways in which
service can be done by the more, for
the less educated. They have other
duties, often pointed out by us. They
can sustain and advance the different
societies for promoting agricultui-e,
manufactures, art, and literature, in
Dulilin and the country. They can set
on foot, and guide the establishment of
Temperance Bands and Mechanics' In-
stitutes, and Mutual Instruction Socie-
ties. They can give advice and facili-
ties for improvement to young men of
promise ; and they can make their cir-
cles studious, refined, and ambitious.
The cheapness of books is now such,
that even poverty is no excuse for igno-
rance— that ignorance which prostrates
us before England. We must help
ourselves, and therefore we must edu-
cate ourselves."
The catalogue of the wrongs done to
Ireland, and of the injustice, tyranny,
and oppression of the English Govern-
ment, is too long, too humiliating, too
heart-breaking, to be given in the few
closing pages of the present volume.
To some small extent, we have pointed
out the cruelty and relentless severity of
the government towards the people and
institutions of Ireland ; but the story is
one which the reader may study to his
profit, in the writings and various pro-
ductions of the patriots and statesmen
who have put on record the indubita-
ble evidence of what Ireland h:^ en-
dured in past years. " Want of confi-
dence in England, in her statesmen,
and in her laws," says Mr. Smyth, a
LORD BROTTGnAM ON IRISH WRONGS.
833
candid writer and observer, "lies at the
root of the trouble with Ireland. We
have no hold upon the affections, and
but a doubtful hold upon the interests
of the Irish people. They receive our
best professions with incredulity, be-
cause they see in the institutions we
have given them the real proofs of our
designs. By them we are judged and
condemned. Thus is the mass of the
population driven to lock up their true
feelings and strongest thoughts in the
sanctuary of their own bosoms, and to
make the study of their minds a mys-
tery to the stranger. The laws by
which we propose to bind them are
too often made upon the open declai-a-
tion of sentiments delivered in a high
Btate of excitement and fermentation.
Their inmost thoughts, their true par-
tialities, their natural tendency to the
cultivation of the homely affections,
more than throwing away money upon
palliatives, which are administered like
the quack doctor's pills — if one box
don't cure, try the second. Thus, mil-
lion is given after million, and no good
is done. Now, the money is to pay
arreaT-s of tithes to the parsons ; now,
to feed the starving poor; now, to save
the broken landlords ; but still the cry
is always the same, ' Help, instant h(dp,
or we perish !' How repeatedly has
not this happened ; how often has not
the oppoitunity been offered ; ])ut when
has advantage been taken of it? The
evils that imperatively call for redres.s,
the grievances that truly require to be
assuaged, are well known ; they are
indisputable. But there is, unfortu-
nately, room to fear that, confident iu
there being nothing substantially for-
midable in the reclamations of Irish
suffering, the old sores will be left to
and the more generous aspirations of i fester anew; the standing incqualiti
humanity; these are themes and points
of consideration upon which we seldom
act, until our inattention and careless-
ness have been turned to a desperate
account by the arts of discontent and
the impatience of unmitigated distress.
These are left to convulse the sphere of
society, until a thunderstorm breaks
out, which, after alarming the empire
for a brief interval, passes quickly
away, and shows the number of the
disaffected to have been small, and
their powers of mischief insignificant.
Security reappears, and with it indiffer-
ence. We relapse into our old state of
feeling — meaning well, and doing little
will remain uncoriected ; and the field
for the dis])lay of indignant j>atriotisiu,
disturbances, and rebellion, will be left
as open and as rank as ever."
Lord Brougham, some years ago, gave
utterance to some strongly-worded sen-
timents on the misrule and opjiression
exercised l)y England over the Irish
people, especially in regard to the ad-
ministration of justice. "Ireland, with
a territory of immense extent, with a
soil of almost unrivalled fertility, with
a climate more genial than our own,
with a vast population of strong-built,
hardy laborers, men suited alike t<i (ill
uj) the ranks of our armies in war, or
834
REIGN OF QITEEN VICTORIA.
for eni])l()yiiieiit at home in the woiks
of agi-iculture or manufactures — Ire-
land, with all these blessings, which
Providence has so profusely showered
in her lap, has been under our steward-
ship for the last one hundred and
twenty years; bat our solicitude for
her has appeared only in those hours
of danger when we apprehended the
possibility of her joining our enemies,
or when, having no enemy abroad to
contend with, she raised her standard,
perhaps, in despair, and we trembled
for our own existence ! It cannot be
denied, that the sole object of England
has been J;o render Ireland a safe neigh-
bor. We have been stewards over her
for this long period of time. I repeat,
that we shall one day have to give an
account of our stewardship — a black
account it will be, but it must be forth-
coming. What have we done for the
country which we are bound to aid, to
protect, and to chei-ish? In our hands
her population seems a curse to her
rather than a blessing ; they ai-e starv-
ing in the midst of plenty. In Eng-
land justice is delayed, but, thank
heaven, it can never be sold. In Ire-
land it is sold to the rich, refused to
the poor, and delayed to all. It is in
vain to disguise the fact; it is in vain
to shun the disclosure of the ti'uth.
We stand, as i-egards Ireland, on the
blink of a precipice ! I am backed in
what I say by the spirit of the wisest
laws, by the opinions of the most fa-
mous men in former ages. If I err, I
err in company with the best judg-
ments of our own time; I err with the
common sense of the whole world, with
the very decrees of Providence to sup-
port me. We are driving six millions
of people to despair, to madness! The
greatest mockery of all, the most intol-
erable insult, the course of peculiar
exasperation, against which I chiefly
caution the House, is the undertaking
to cure the distress under which she
labors by any thing in the shape of
new penal enactments. It is in these
enactments alone that we have ever
slioxon our liberality to Ireland! She
has received penal laws from the hands
of England almost as plentifully as she
has received blessings from the hands
of Providence ! What have these laws
done? Checked her turbulence, but
not stifled it. The grievance remain-
ing perpetual, the complaint can only
be postponed. We may load her with
chains, but in doing so we shall not
better her condition. By coercion we
may goad her on to fury ; but by coer-
cion we shall never break her spirit.
She will rise up and break the fettei-3
we impose, and arm herself for deadly
violence with the fragments."
But there is no need of painting the
jiicture in colors too dark and repul-
sive. There is no need of exagger-
xtion, or a long array of words in
speaking of Ireland and her wrongs.
They are patent to the world. They
ai'e known wherever Ireland has been
heard of. Nevertheless, it would be
folly to ignore or make light of what
has transpired in years that are past.
GOOD HOPE IN THE FUTURE.
835
Something, it is certain, has been done
for Ireland dui-ing the last quarter of
a century, or rather Irishmen have
done something, have done much, for
themselves in that period; yet there
remains much more to be done, before
Ii-eland reaches that level she is so
earnest and so anxious in seeking to
attain. As her ovvrn writers tell her,
there is a great deal to learn and un-
learn. Ignorance is to be rooted out.
The evils of caste are to be banished.
Irishmen have got to crush down the
epirit of discord, and the dissensions
ai-ising out of bigotry, intolerance, and
mutual hatreds. The gentry and own-
ers of large estates must live at home,
and bestow both their money and their
time and their labors for the general
good. A man must be esteemed for
his principles and conduct, and not for
his blood simply, or his means of living,
or the extent of his income. " A nation,''
says an ardent Irish patriot, " never can
be thoroughly united but on one prin-
ciple, that of EQUALITY of right and
privilege; any other principle is con-
trary to the law of God and the law
of nature, and will lead the people who
adopt it into strife and slaveiy. Let
those children who are now at school
rise superior to their f;ithei"s, form a
pure and powerful public opinion,
which will coerce the gentry, exalt the
people, and render local tyranny or
foreign domination as insupportable in
their land as a venomous reptile."
However much remains to be done,
we are confident that not a little
has already been accomplished, and
that, too, in a right direction, for Ire-
laud's good and the elevation of her
people. An Irish gentleman, recently
returned from Australia after many
years' absence, was entertained at a
banquet at Thurles, and, among other
things, made some remarks which are
worth quoting, in illustrating the fact
of Ireland's advance, in various re-
spects, in late years :
"When a man returned to Ireland,
after a long absence, a natural question
was, 'Do you see any change in the
country ? Do you see very marked
improvement in its condition?' He an-
swered at once, 'I do.' He saw the
agricultural condition of the country
was better than when he left it. He
saw the improved price for labor mak-
ing a very considerable diiference in the
condition of the laboring population.
He saw railways opened, and an excel-
lent system of roads, which were a
gieat improvement upon what existed
when he was there before. And he
saw, what was peculiarly pleasing, that
Ireland had been complimented by
politicians on every side because in the
matter of ordinary crime her calendar
was almost a blank. He had also
marked a noted development in ecclesi-
astical architecture in this country —
the united zeal of the people and their
pastors building magnificent churches,
that were strong proofs of the sincerity
of religious conviction of those who
worshipped in them. In social mat-
te«-s ^oo, he aaw marked progress; fV».-
836
REIGN OF QUEEN VICTORIA.
now men of every sbade of opinion,
religious and political, could come to-
gether to promote a common object —
could sit at the same board — an occur-
rence not to be witnessed in former
times. But, while he observed un-
doubted improvement in the condition
of Ireland, he also saw that her pro-
gress had not been in proportion to
that of other countries — such as Eng-
land. This he attributed to the vast
development of manufacturing power
in the latter country compared with
the different state of things in Ireland.
Absenteeism was a great bane. If the
absentees lived at home, lived within
their incomes, and employed the sur-
plus in efforts to develop the resoui'ces
of the country, he had no doubt Ire-
land would rival England."
Let Ireland, then, be true to herself
and her mission in the world. Let her
persevere in seeking to obtain her un-
doubted rights and privileges among
men. Let her be steady, calm, judi-
cious, just, and generous; and let her
people strive to emulate one anothei- in
deeds of patriotism and nuselfish love
for their native land. There is good
hope for the future, and the day must
dawn when Iieland shall be free ! 2^il
desperandnm.
As one of her poets has said —
" Strange that a noble, generous land,
Enabling others to withstand
The foreign warrior's fierce command,
Should not itself be free I
Strange that a warrior, bold and brave.
Should o'er the foe his banner wave,
Yet reap no fruit from victory 1
No matter what the bar to fame,
Nor how disqualified the claim, —
Erin has sent her warriors bright
To win the laurels of the fight ;
From him, the chief and champion bold/
Down to tlie simple peasant name
Whose whole nobility is fame.
He who on Baroasa s height
Stopped the eagle in its flight,f
And spurned its crest of gold ;
From that to bloody Waterloo,
Where Irishmen were plenty, too,
No, not a trophy of the day
Which Erin did not bear away I
But, Erin, you never had mourned the sight.
Had you brandished your spear in your own good fight)
Had you boldly stood on your mountain crag,
And waved o'er the valley your own green flag,
Soon, soon should the stranger have found his gravo
Beneath the wild foam of your ocean wave."
* The Duke of Wellington.
f Sergeant Masterson, a native of
APPENDIX.
As interesting and valuable for refer-
ence, and as affording some help tow-
ards a correct knowledge of Ireland,
as she is, we subjoin some statistical
information, gathered from the latest
official documents within reach.
1. Population of Ireland :
In 1841 8,175,224
In 1851 6,553,291
In 1861 5,164,543
Of these there are at the present
date (1864) :
Koman Catholics 4,490,588
Established Church 687,661
Presbyterians 528,992
2. Marriages, births, deaths, 1864 :
Marriages 27,376
Births 136,643
Deaths 94,075
3. Emigration (decreased since 1852):
In 1852 190,000
•In 1858 64,000
4. Poor relief in Ireland :
In 1848 (year of the famine) . . . 2,000,000
In 1851 209,187
In 1858 183,000
In 1863 65,847
5. Ireland is represented in the Imperial Parlia-
ment by 4 spiritual, 28 temporal (— 32)
peers, and 106 commoners.
The House of Lords consiBta of 465 mem-
bers ; the House of Comraona consists of
658 members.
6. National schools, 1864 :
Schools in operation 6,263
Scholars on the roll during the
year 870,401
Average number on the roll 575,486
Average attendance 315,108
Of the children in the National Schools 83
per cent, are Catholics, 18 per cent, are
Protestants. The amount expended by
grant for public education is j£325,583.
7. Amount of land (in acres) under crop, in
1863, was :
Of wheat 264,766
Of oats l,948.9^6
Of barley 171.238
Of rye 8,624
Of beans and peas 15,148
Of potatoes 1,022,293
Lund under grass 9,653,885
Woods and plantations 317,661
Bog and waste land 4,357,575
There was also reported a very large increase
in the flax crop, and a promise of consid-
erable increase in live stock.
8. Exports from Ireland to Great Britain, in
1862, were :
Oxen and cows 337,161
Calves 41,Sf.S
Sheep :.3S.f.31
Swiue 304,634
838
APPENDIX.
Of wheat and wheat flour (qrs.) 92,345
Of oat8 and oat-meal " 1,247,026
Of home-made spirits (gals.) 1,037,734
Number of miles of railway in Ireland, in
1863, was 1,600.
Passengers carried 10,412,21(1
Merchandise carried (tons) 1,473,138
Coal and other min'ls carried " 246,016
Live stock carried 1,60j6,937
Total receipts were £1 446,092
10. The net revenue of Ireland, in 1862, paid
into the exchequer £7,856,157
Customs 2,274,000
Excise 2,758,000
Stamps 573.040
Income tax 672,780
Miscellaneous sources 382,186
Balance on hand at the begin-
ning of the year 1 t81,510
Balance at the end of the year. 1 120,386
Expenditure, chiefly for interest
on funded debt, grants, etc. . 6,' *f>,'282
INDEX
A.
rAai
Abercrombie, Sir Ralph, appointed to command
of the troops in Ireland ; censures the con-
duct of the military, and retires from the
command 681
Adrian IV., an Englishman, elected Popo 188
His bull to Henry II 189
Different views of the bull 190
Aongns, King of Munster ; hie baptism 68
Killed in battle, as also his Queen, Eithne. . 72
Families descended from 73
Affane, battle of, 1565, between the Earls of Or-
mond and Desmond 359
Agriculture of the early inhabitants of Ireland . . 54
Aileach, ancient fortress of, near Derry 79
Destroyed by Murtough O'Brien 149
Albinus, his celebrated reply 99
Alcuin, his cffirts to revive learning 99
Allen, Archbishop, murder of 327
Allen, hill of, gnat battle fought at, A.D. 772 112
American colonies revolt, Irish sympathy with,
1775 652,653
Amiaff, the Danish ruler, in Ireland 119
Anglo-Norman Invasion, time of Henry II.,
1168 170-180
Adventurers, their names, and family rela-
tions (note) 207
Anne begins to reign (1702) 630
Penal laws enforced 632
Ikr death (1714) 634
Annessley Oase, illegal decision of England 635
Ara, McLeod of, arrives at Ixiugh Foylo with
troops for Hugh Roo O'Donnell 418
Aran, the lona of Ireland 75
Architecture of the early Christian lr\sh 109
Ardrigh, office of, and title described 51
Arklow, battle of, 1798 695
Armagh, synod of 1 79
Riots amongst the troops at, 1806 742
Arrests, various. Tulonel Talbot and others 564
Asaembly of Tara (Kejg Teavrach). B.C. 1317 28
Athboy, meeting of the clergy and chiofi&ins at. . 169
rASB
Athenry, great battle of, King Felim slain 2.18
Athlone, stone bridge and castle built 1210-1211.. 226
First siege of, by the Williamites ; they with-
draw on the approach of Sarsfield 593
Second siege of; a few intrepid Irishmen
break down the bridge, most of them be-
ing kiUed 603-604
The Williamites cross the river by a ford. . 606
Attacotti, their insurrection : all the kings and
nobles invited by them to a great feast at
Magh Cro, County Galway. where they
were massacred to a man by the Attacotti 35
Aughrim, battle of (07
Attempts to force the pass of Urraghree at . 608
Battle almost won by the Irish 009
St. Ruth killed ; the battle lost Oil
Details of battle 612
Losses on both sides 613
Augsburg, league of 5?J
B.
Bagnal, Sir Henry, killed at the battle of Yellow
Ford, on the Blackwater 427
Ballyclinch Bridge, on the I^gan Kiver, that di-
vides 1/outh and Monaghau. ccli'bratud
forth.' meeting of Tymni- and Knk-x (1599) 434
Ballymore Castle, County Weslmealh. gieg« of. . 603
Ballyronan, C<iunlr Kildare. battle between Hugh
Allen und the lA'instormrn at 113
Ballyshannon l«'8iege<l hy Sir Conyem Clifforti ;
the castle defended by Crawfonl with SO
men, until relieved by O'Donnell and his
tOKIJlH 423
Bantry Bay, Fn-nrh eipedltlon to (1795) 676
Barrington, Sir Jonah, plnds fur the Bheares
Brothers 687
Balagh Mughna, County KUdar«, battle of 133
Benna Bolrchs, in the Muume Moontains, roooir
I>own. battle of 811
Beda'i description of the Irish Monks (duw) M
2 INDEX.
PAOB
1
PASl 1
Bel-atha-Briosgaeth, the ford of bisctiitB, battle of 415
Brian Bommha killed in his tent by Brodar the
Bellingham, Sir Edward, Lord Deputy 343
Dane, who is seized, eviscerated, and torn
Benburb, battle of, Owen Roe O'NeiU defeats the
to pieces by Brian's people 139, 140
Scots and English with great slaughter.. 512
Burial of, with his son Morough, in the
Results of the victory 514
Cathedral of Armagh 141
Berkley, Lord John, appointed Viceroy 561
Brigid, St., of Kildare, the Mary of Ireland 76
Bermingham, Earl of Louth, murdered 266
Browne, Archbishop, his efforts to propagate the
Pierce, invites the chiefs of Offkly to dinner,
Reformation 333
and basely murders them 251
His enmity to Lord Gray 335
Bermingham Tower, origin «f the name 267
His deposition 346
Bingham, Sir Richard, his cruelty in Connaught. 400
Bmce, Edward, lands at Glendun River, near
Defeats the Scots at Ballina ; they are all slain 401
Larne, on the coast of Antrim, with 6,000
His death ". . 429
men (1316) 256
Bishops, Protestant, some account of the first in
Crosses the Bann at Coleraine, and defeats
Ireland (note) 353
the English army at Connor 257
Proclaimed king 257
Black Death, the plague of (note) 273
Killed at the battle of Faughard, near Dun-
Black Monday, origin of 224
dalk(1318) 263
Blackwater, great battle of the, between Hugh
Bruce, Robert, takes Carrickfergus castle (1316) . 259
O'NeiU and Marshal Bagnal ; the English
Crosses the Boyne with 30,000 troops (1317). 260
defeated with great loss, and their com-
Reaches Limerick, his army weakened and
mander slain .... 427
decimated ; returns to Scotland 263
Buidhe Chonnaill, a terrible distemper, first visita-
Blood's Plot 558
Bobbio, Monastery of, in the Apennines, founded
by St. Columbanus 90
Bond, Oliver, arrest of; also the Leinster dele-
Bull of Adrian IV. (note) 189
gates, with Dr. W. J. MciNeven, Henry
of Alexander III 190
Jackson, and J. Sweetman 682
Bunratty, siege of. 511
Borough, Deputy Lord Tliomas. his death 423
Seized by Lord Muskerry and the Nuncio. . . 511
Boruwa, or Leinster cow tribute, established A.D.
Burke, William, or De Burgo (better known as
106, by Tuathal Teachtar, and exacted
William Fitz Adelem) 230
during the reign of forty succeeding mon-
archs 36
Character and death of 233
Burke, Richard, called the great Earl of Con-
Boulter, Primate 638
Boyle, Sir Richard, the great Earl of Cork ; his
naught, obtains Connaught from Henry
III 230
Boyne, battle of the (1(190) .585-590
His death 237
Bran Dubh, curious stratagtra of 83
Burke, Richard (Red Earl of Ulster), his ped-
Defeated at the battle of Slaibhre, and kUled 84
igree (note) 247
Breas, first king of the Tuatha de Dananns 14
Confined in the Castle of Ley 349
Brehon Laws defined 49
Arrested in Dublin 260
Bresail Bodivo, great mortality of kine in reign of 31
Burke, Theobald, of the Ships 422
Brian Borumha (Boru) avenges the death of his
Burke, Ulick-na-geeann, created first Earl of Clan-
brother Mahon . 129
rickard. 340
Ulick and WUliam, his sons; their rebellion 368
Makes war against Malachy U 129
Assumes the sovereignty 131
Burke, William, the Dun, Earl of Ulster, mur-
The glory of his reign 134
dered 267
Introduces snmames (note) 133
Burke, Edmund, his description of the result of
Prepares for war against tlio Danes 135
the war in 1091 (note.) 624
His address to his army 138
Butler, James, first Earl of Ormond 2G6
Fights the battle of Clontarf on Good Fri-
James, Marquis of Ormond, his cruelty to
day (1014) ; defeats the Danes with great
Catholics 487-503
slaughter 139
Genealogy of family of (note) 488
Butler, James, peiligree of (note) 491
Aiiimintcd I^rd Lieutenant 501
His perfidy fills the country with indigna-
tion 519
Musters an army and takes the field 528
Defeated near the ruined castle of Bagobrath 539
Denounced as unworthy of the people's con-
fidence „ 543
Sails for St. Malo, in France 544
Returns, and parliament votes to him, being
now (1061) Dako of Ormond, £30,000 55G
Removed from office 561
Restored (1677) 562
c.
Cahirs, or Caishal, stone enclosures supposed to
have been built by the Firbolgs 55
Callaghan, of Cashel, renowned for heroism 133
Cambrensis, Giraldus, comes to Ireland with
John 212
Oamden, Lord, Lord-Lieutenant of Ireland 677
Carbry Oinncait, King, sumamed the Cat-headed. 35
Carbrys, the three, great families descended from 39
Carbry Riada (of the long wrist), from whom are
descended the Dalriads of County Antrim 39
Tribe of this name in Scotland 39
Oarew, Sir George, takes the castle of Glin, and
massacres the garrison 430
Carrickfergus Castle, County Antrim, surrenders
to King John (1210) 225
Besieged by Bruce's army (1315) 259
Carrigadrohid Castle, on the River Lee, besieged
by Cromwell's army 541
Carrigafoyle (Carrig-auphnill) Castle, besieged
and captured 385
Carrigogonnell Castle, taken by the Lord Deputy,
and O'Brien's Bridge destroyed (1536) 330
Cashel, Synod of, as convened by Henry 11. (1172) 187
Sacked, and the people butchered by Inchi-
quin's army 521
Castide, Henry, his account of the Irish, and of
their warfare, &c 281
Oastlebar, the French defeat the English at. In
1798 702
Castlehaven, Lord, defeaU the English at Mon-
asterevan 501
Caatlereagh, Lord, his proposed increase of R<v
gium Uonum '1^13
Coinniits suirile 762
Oathach, a |Hirtionof the Phalras, translated by St.
ColuuilikiUe; the metallic box in which
w»a preaerved 311
Cathair Mor, the several families dcfccnded from 39
Cathal Carragh, xlain in battle 22l
CathtJ Crovderg, his various wars 221
Dies in the habit of a gray Friar, at Knock-
moy 229
Cathaldus, St., a native of Munster Hi
Catholics, persecuted by Sir Oliver St. John. . . . 461
Unfair treatment of, by Bi.ihop Bulkeley. . . . 4CS
Terrible massacre of, on Island Mogce, ne«r
Carrickfergus 483
Their state after the treaty of Limerick 624
Dissensions among Cil
Relief BiU, in favor of C73
Petition of 737
Various clauses of 740
Debate and action on 741
Veto of 748
Condemned by Catholic Bish.ope 749
Great meeting of, in the Rotunda, Dublin. . 803
Cavan, battle of, and burning of the town (note). . 582
Celsus, St., his death at Ardpatrick, Co. Limerick, l.'i.'i
Celt, a word of classic origin 25
Celts, the weajtons so called 55
Confederates, cessation of arms with the 503
Infringraent of cessation with 504
Charlemont Fort, Sir Plielim O'Neill obtains pos-
session of 478
Surrendered to the WiUiamiU« 583
Charles I., his desire for peace 505
Beheaded at \\niitehalL 526
Charles II., his restoration 555
Death of 567
Charter Schools, establishment of ^ CIO
Chesterfield, Lord, his policy 041
Chess, a favorite game with the Irish 57
Chichester, Sir John, cut off with throe eompaniee
of tpxijis by Sorlcy Boy McDonnell 424
Chieftains, Irish, their attending the ]>arliament. . 3l»7
Christians, early Irish, doctrinw of the 107
Irish, before St. Patrick r,0
Their Bishops, churchi*. and •chooU 74
Antiquities of 103
Chronology, ani-ient annals defective In — 33
Church offices, hen-dilnry in Ireland IW5
I'rimitive church in Ireland, in rt«p<«t to . . 87
Oimbaeth, reign of '>0
OivilizatiOD of the pagan Irish 40
Claims, Court of, <i<labHsh(>d r»54
Olane, Synod of. in Kildaru 107
Clanrickard (Mv Burke)
Clarendon, Lord, Ixmll.i'ulenanl of In-Und . 617
OlemODS, account of hie having wimlom to wll . . '.*
Olifiord, Sir Oooycrs, marcUea at;aiii*t 0'l>unuell «J.I
Clifford, Sir Conyers, killed at the Curliew Mount-
ains 433
Clonmacnoise, plundered in A.D. 934 124
Church robbed 155
Plundereil by the EngUsh (1552) 345
Meeting of the Bishops of 540
Clonmel, siege of by, and surrender to, CromweU. 541
Clontarf, battle of, and defeat of the Danes (1014). 138
Monster meeting prevented at 788
Clontibert, battle of, and defeat of the English by
Hugh O'Neill 419
CoUas, the three, slay Carbry Liffechar, who
reigned for tliirty years 43
Coloony Castle, O'Connor besieged in 432
Colman, St , at the Synod of Whitby 94
Retires to Innisbofin ; and death of 95
Columbauus, St., his mission abroad 89
Founds Bobbio 90
His letter to Pope Boniface, and death 91
Columbkille, his early life (his pedigree in note).. 79
Founds Doire-Chalgaigh (Derry) and lona. . 80
His mission to the Picts, and success 80
Dispute with King Diarmaid, and battle of
Cooldrevny 81
At Convention of Drumceat: his death. .. . 82
Comhorbas and Herenachs, church ofBcers, so
called 106
Commercial Relations Bill 667
Conall Gulban, race of, and death 72
Conary the Second, father of the three Carbrys. . . 39
Confederate Catholics, The, hold a meeting on
the hill of Crofty 486
Besiege and take Limerick 493
Ormond's reluctance to treat with 501
Division among 509
Bound together by oath 518
Make ratifications of peace with Ormond . . . 525
Confiscation of Ulster, The, projected by Eliza-
beth 370
Desmond's attainder 398
Of Ulster, by James 1 460
By the Cromwellians 548
Note relating to, from Leland 558
By the Williamites 625
Congal Caech, brings foreign auxiliaries to Ire-
land ; slain in the battle of Moyrath, Co.
Down 84
Connaught, desolating war in. and invasion of, by
the English ; 230
The wars of the O'Connors in, and how famine
results 231
Internal revolt of the O'Connors of 233
Connaught, invaded by De Burgo and plundered. . 2ui
Rising of the young men of 2;!8
Great disaffection among the chieftains of. . 422
Connor, Bruce's victory at 357
Conn of the Hundred Battles, families descended
from (note) 37
Divides Ireland with Eugene 38
Fights the battle of Magh Leana 38
Killed by Tibraid Tirach, King of Ulster. . . 39
Convention, national, meets in the Rotunda 005
Failure of the Reform Bill at the 666
Cooldrevny, battle of 81
Coote, Sir Charles, massacres the people of
Wicklow 484
Created Earl of Mountrath 554
Cork surrenders to the Williamites 599
Cormac Ulfadha, liis abdication and death 41
Author of a book called " The Institutions of
a Prince ;" " Psalter of Tara" written in
the reign of 41
Cormac MacCuilennan, fights the battle of Moy-
Lena 121
Killed at the battle of Belagh Mughna, Co.
Kildare 132
Cormac's Chapel, on the Rock of Cashel 158
Cornelius the Blessed, interesting character of
(note) 201
Cornwallis, Lord, appointed to the government of
Ireland 699
His dislike to hold office 706
Council of Lateran, Irish Bishops at 209
Cranogues, described as a stockaded island in a
alake 56
Crawford, Sharman, his Tenant Rights Bill 800
Creadran Eille (near Sligo), battle of, O'Donnell
defeats the English 239
Creevan Nianair, the hundred and eleventh mon-
arch of Ireland 38
Crofts, Lord Deputy, defeated by the Scots at
Rathlin 343
Crofty, meeting of the confederates on the hill of. 486
Crom Cruach, the idol v.'hich stood on the plain
of Magh Sleclit, County Cavan 27
Destroyed 67
Cromlechs, supposed to besepulchresof the ancients 57
Cromwell, Oliver, lands in Ireland 530
Besieges Drogheda, and causes a terrible
massacre 531
Takes Wexford, where two hundred women
are massacred (.note) 536
Besieges KUkeuny and Clonmel 541
Returns to England 543
Proclaimed Lord Protector ; his death 553
Cuan O'Lochan, a learnod layman 142
Culdees, The, their doctrine defendfil 104
Cur lieu Mountains, battle of the (English defeated
by O'Donncll) 433
Oiirran, John Philpot, defends Hamilton Rowan. 073
Attends the great Catholic dinner in Dublin
(1811) 752
Curry, Dr., his parentage, short memoir of, in
note G43
Cuthbert, St., the celebrated Bishop of Liiidis-
farne 97
D.
Dalcassians, heroic conduct of the, on returnins;
from tlie battle of Clontarf 141
Danes first visit Ireland 114
Tlieir various names 115
Armagh city burned, and 900 monks mas-
sacred at Bangor, in one day, by the IIG
Turgesius lauds with largo forces of the 117
Malachy kills Turgesius and defeats his
army 118
Defeated at Derry by Niall Caille 118
At Lough Foyle 120
Repeatedly defeated at Glen Mama. &c 130
Make another attempt to gain a footing in
Ireland H9
Cut off by the Ulidians, in County Down . ir,0
Defeated by a decisive battle at Clontarf. . . . 138
Cathy, last pagan king of Ireland, killed by liglit-
ning at the Alps 4r(
Davells, Henry, murder of 381
Davis, Thomas, (born at Mallow, 1814) 771
Death of, 1845 772
De Braose, William, cruel treatment of his family
by King Jolin (note) 223
De Burgo. (See Burke.)
Declaration of Constitutional rights 0.')7
De Clare, Thomas, treaeliery and Inirliarity of . . 245
De Cogan, Milo, his death 210
De Courcy, Sir Johu, invades U later ; appro-
priates the prophecies of St. Columbkille. 205
His plundering depredations 211.212
His downfall and capture at Downpatrirk ;
and fate 222
"Defective Titles," Commission of, forConnaught 409
Defenders, Tlie, their origin C<i9
DeLacy, Hugh, his great power 210
Killed by a young man named O'.Meyey . . . 214
De Mountmaurice, Hervey, his feud with Ray-
mond l.e (iro« 198
Becomeu a monk al Canterbury 211
De Prendergast, Maurice, honorable irait of
(note) 184
Deny, rebuilt by Docwra 411
Closing of the gates of. 573
Siegeof(Dec.7, l(i88) 576
Luudy escapes from, and Walker made Gov-
ernor of 570
Terrible privations of tho besieged 577
Siege of, raised ;1G88) 578
Eccentric Bishop of 605
De Rosen, General, harsh conduct of, at the siege
of Derry 577
Dervorgil, the fair and unfaithful wife of O'Rourke 164
Desmond, Maiu-ice Fitz Thomas Fitzgerald, his
feud with Lord Arnold Le Peer and othcre. 266
Created Earl of 207
Thomas, eighth earl of, executed 301
James, Earl of, his ambition and treasonable
correspondence '823
Submits to Sentleger 338
Gerald, the Great Earl of, imprisoned by
Sidney 363
Discountenances the insurgunU 379
Joins the rebellion 884
His wretched condition 394
Murdered in the woods 895
His character 896
The Sugane Earl of, his rebellion 430
Attempt to capture him 439
Hisfate 443
James, son of Gerald, Earl of, his mission to
Irelantl and early death 440
(See Fitzgerald.)
De Vere, Robert, Duke of Ireland 279
Diamond, battle of the, County Annagh C77
Diarmaid, lust king who re.sidcd at Tar« 79
Dicuil, St 97
Division of Ireland by Hercmon 20
Docwra, Sir Henry, hisex|>edition to Lough Foyle 441
Donegal, Monastery o£, besieged by Hugh ODon-
mil +M
Dongal, one of the most learned Irishmen of his
time 100
Donough O'Brien asserts his claim to tho throne
of Ireland ; dies al Rome 147
Drapior's Letters, Dean Swift's 637
Drogheda iH'siegwl by Cromwell 5.'Il
Fivi- days' slaughler of the inliabit*nt* of. . 533
Dromcoat, Convontion of M
Drury, Sir William, death of. 3S3
Duan Eireannach, or Poem of Iraland, by
Maolmura of Otbaln (now Kalian. Counir
Donegal) ' •
6 INDEX.
PAGE
pAoa
Duignan, a distinguislied historian, who died 1420. 293
English defeated near Carrick-on-Shannon by
Hugh O'Connor 241
Defeated in Ulida, and in several other
engagements 245-247
Titles conferred on O'NeOl, O'DonneU, and
Taken and governed by Mile De Cogan 178
Granted to the citizens of Bristol, and Hugh
de Lacy made Governor 194
St.Patrick's Cathedral.built by Bishop Comyu
(1190) . 218
other chieftains 339
Emancipation Bill in Parliament (1812) 757
Coufederate army before city of. 517
Surrendered by Oi-mond to the parliaments
Emigration in 1858 (64,000 leave Ireland) 795
Emmet, Robert, birth and education 714
arians 518
Returns from Paris to Dablin 715
Lord Maguire's conspiracy to seize the Castle
of 470
Synod of, held by Cardinal Vivian .-. . 205
Dunbolg, battle of, great stratagem of the King
Provisional Government address, and various
arrangements of. 718-727
Outbreak in DubUn ; his participation in,
and capture, trial, and defence 729
Eloquent speech of, when sentenced 731
Execution of, September 20th, 1803 733
Enniscorthy, battle of 693
Enniskillen, besieged by O'Donnell 414
Eochy, or Achy, father of Useve, Queen of Con-
Dunboy, siege of, courageously defended 450
Fall of. and terrible massacre 451
Duncannon, Fort of, surrenders to the Cromwel-
lians 543
Dundalk, ScUomberg encamps near 581
Dungan Hill, disastrous battle at. . . . 519
naught, divides Ireland into five provinces,
and appoints over each a king 31
Eochy O'Flynn, a poet of merit, died (984) 144
Eoghan Mor, of the race of Heber Finn 37
Ancestry of described (note) .... 40
Dungannon Castle taken, and the country pil-
laged by the deputy Lord Gray 333
Convention of Dungannon G58
Dunluce Castle, hirtorv of (note) 495
Dunseveriok Castle, Roiachty killed by lightning
Eric, Law of, described 52
at, B. C. 1024 28
Essex, Walter Devereux, Earl of, attempts the
B.
Plantation of Ulster 369
Murders Brian O'Neill 371
Early Christian architecture of the Irish 109
Essex, Earl of, Queen Elizabeth's favorite, lands
Early Inhabitants of Ireland, ethnological theo-
in Ireland 431
ries about 24
Defeated at the Pass of Plumes by Owny
Eclipses mentioned in early Irish annals 23
Ecclesiastical affairs
Cadhla O'Duffy, Archbishop of Tuam, at Cong,
death of. 237
Edgecombe, Sir Richard . . 306 307
O'More 433
Disastrouscampaign of, againsttheGeraldines 433
His conference with O'Neill at Anaghclart
Bridge, on the Lagan 434
Returns to England, and execution 435
Exhibition in Dublin 80G
Explanation, the Act of 558
Edward I., eurnamed Longshanks, ascends the
throne 1372 243
Edward II., his reign begins 352
Edward III., limit of the power of the Anglo-
Irish Barons in his reign 270
P.
Famine, mothers devour their children in the (1317) 263
Great distress by the potato blight 791
Continued in 1846 and 1847 793
Edward IV., accession of 299
Edward V., short reign of 301
Edward VI., proclaimed king 341
Fomorians, strongholds of demolished on Tory
Eglinton, Earl of, Lord Lieutenant 801
Island 10
Eire, Banba, and Fodhla, three sisters who have
Faradach Finnfeachtnach, or the Righteous . son
given their names to Ireland 15
of Creevan) 36
EUzabeth began to reign (1558), died (1C03). .349-354
Emania, Palace of, foundation of, and occupation
by the kings of Ulster for 855 years ; the
resort of the Red Branch Knights 30
Destruction of, by the tliree Collas 43
Fay, Edmond, the Adventurer 343
Farrell O'Daly, OUav of Corcomroe 393
Farrell O'Gara, patron of the "Four Masters"
Farrell, Gen., of O'Neill's army, assists \^'aterford 538
INDEX,
Farrell, real name of Thurot, disembarks with a
French fleet at Carrickfergus, 17G0 G4G
Feis of Tara, a triennial assembly convened by
Olav Fola, B. C. 1317 28
Felim, King of Muiister, his aggressions 118
Fenians, origin of 17
Fenian Brotherhood, organization of 810
Constitution and By-Laws of 811
Philadelphia Convention 812
Head-Centre Stephens escapes from prison.. 812
Trial and rx)nviction of the leaders 813
Invade Canada, and results 815
Trial and sentence of the Fenians tht-ro. . . . 81G
Great meeting in Jones' Wood, New York. . 817
Opinion of the Catholic Clergy 818
Their appeal to Irishmen in the United States 820
Lecture of Father Vaughan 821-S23
He describes the famine of '47 and '48 824
Bitterness and fears of England 825
Estimated force of organized Fenians 827
Speech of Charles Phillips on England's mis-
rule 828, 829
Thomas Davis, his remarks on education. . ; 830
Fethard, surrendered to Cromwell 53!)
Fiacre, St 'JG
Fiacha Sravtinne, slain by the Three Collas 43
Finnachta Fleadhach, remitsthe Borumean tribute 86
Finn MacCuail and his Clanna Baiscne 42
Fianna Eirion, The 40
Their disloyalty and extinction 42
Fidh Aeugxissa, S^-nod of 151
Firbolgs, first settlement of 11
Eiicby. their king, slain near Sligo 12
Their monuments 25
Return of, to Ireland (note) 31
Fire-arms first used in Ireland, 1-187 300
Fitton, Sir Edward, President of Connaught 307
Uis rigor and insolence 308
Removed from otlice 300
Fitzgerald, Lord Edward, arrest of, in Dublin . . G83
His courageous defence and death C84, 685
Fitzgerald, Maurice, lands at Wexford 175
Fights the battle of Credran Kille against
(Jodfrey O'Donnell. and death 239
Fitzgerald, John Fitz Thomas, feud of. with Do
Vcsey 249
Fitzgerald, Lord Thomas (Silken Thomas), re-
bellion of. 827
Arrested, with his five uncles, who are all
executed in London 330
Fitzgerald, Gerald, carried by his aunt to Modus
O'Donnell of Donegal 331
Estai>e!i Iroui I>ougU SwiUy to Homo (nolo) . 330
riok
Fitzgerald, Gerald, returns from exile with lus
brother E<hvard 347
Fitzgerald (John of Desmoudl, goes to England. 303
Joins the Spaniards 380
Slays Davells ^. . . 381
Succeeds to the command of the insurgents. 383
Gains the battle of Oortna-Tiobrad 3S2
Fights the buttle of MonasteranuDa 3.S3
His adventures (note) SSS
Death 8<.i5
Fitzgerald, Walter Riavagh (note) 417
Desmond and Eildare, Earls of
Fitz-Maurice, Sir James, his warlike characu-r. . 3C3
Takes Kilmallock 3'.7
His submiiision 309
Applies for aid to the Pope 378
Lands at Smerwick 379
Killed at Barrington Bridge, Co. Limerick. . 381
Fitz-Stepben, Robert, lands at Bannow 173
Besieged in Carrig Castle 183
Restored to lilwrty by Henry IT 18<J
Fitz- William, Sir William, carries off John Oge
ODoherty 406
Fitz-William, his liberal government 074
His recall, and grief of the Irish 075
Flann, Mainistreach, chronicler and bard, died
1050....? HI
Flann, surnamed Sinna, Chief of the Southcm Hy
NialU 121
Fleetwood, made Commander-in-Chief in Ire-
land 553
Flight of tbe Earls from Longh Swilly, Coonly
Donegal 459
Flood, Henry, his views of English policy COO
Fomorians, their origin a matter of spoculatloa
(note) 10
Fort Del Ore, majisncre of tlie garrison of. 3f-9
Fosterage, custom of, explained 'I'i
Fouro, in Westuicath, reiwrted Irish moetin^ »t. . 337
Fox, death of (IbOO) 743
French emissaries in Ireland 344
Humortxi invasion of the (1744) «1I
Land at Carrickfergus (1700) (HO
at Bantrj- Bay (1796) C70
at Killala(1708) 701
Pofeat the English at Coatlcbor 703
At BalUnanmck 7l»3
Engagrmcni with • British KiuaJran off
liough Swilly. County Donegal 703
FridoUn, 8t, the traveller V'i
Frigidian, St., Bishop of Lurcm t»fl
Froi»««rt'» nci-.'unl of the Irish 2»*l
Fursey, St., luuuds m uiuuwivry ia England V7
Gadelians, wanderings of 17
Gaedhuil Glas, the origin of the word Gael 17
Gall or.Gallus, St., died (645) 91
Galway, noble conduct of a j ury 470
Surrendered to Ludlow 547
Besieged by Ginkle 614
Gavelkind, custom of. 50
Gaveston, Pierce 252
Gavra, battle of 42
General Assembly at Kells 490
George I., proclaimed king (1714) 634
George II., accession of (1727) 639
George III. begins to reign (1760) 647
His insanity 670
Death of, after a reign of nearly 60 years.. . 761
George IV. visits Ireland 762
Death of (1830) 778
Geraldines. (See Fitzgerald, Desmond, and
Kildare.)
Gilla-na-neev O'Heerin, his topographical poem 292
Giraldus Cambrensis describes the state of Ire-
laud 193
Giolla Keevin, bard and annalist, died (1072). . . . 144
Glamorgan, Earl of, his mission 508
Arrested by order of Ormond 509
Glenmalure, battle of, defeat of Lord Grey 386
Glenmama. County Wicklow, battle of 130
Glen Castle, on the Shannon, taken 439
Gort-na-Tiobrad, battle of ; defeat of the English 383
Graces, the, privileges promised by Charles 1 467
Grattan, Henry, his eloquence (note) 657
Advocates the cause of the Irish 661
Appointed to present the Catholic petition. . 743
His power and ability in the Commons 753
He and Lord Donaghmore press the claims
of the Catholics 760
Gray, Lord Leonard, takes Silken Thomas to
London 329
Destroys O'Brien's Bridge 330
Continues a Catholic 334
Executed on Tower Hill, London 336
Grey, Arthur (Lord De Wilton), defeated in Glen-
malure 386
Orders massacre of Fort Del Ore 389
His cruelty and recall 393
H.
Habeas Corpus Act suspended 735
Harvey, Bagenal, chosen general 693
ExecuUon of 697
Hearts of Steel Boys, their actions 649
of Oak Boys, their actions 649
Henry II. promises aid toDermot MacMurrough. 170
His aversion to Strongbow 170
Lands in Ireland 185
Receives submission of certain Irish princes. 186
Grants the principality of Leinster to Strong-
bow 193
His son John proclaimed King of Ireland,
and sanctioned by Pope Alexander HI.
(1177) 206
Death of, in France (1189) 215
Henry HI., accession of 228
Henry IV. begins to reign 286
Henry V. crowned (1413) 289
Henry VI. proclaimed king when only an infant
(1423) 293
Henry VII. crowned king (1485) 303
Henry VIU. ascends the throne (1509) 315
Herenachs, office of. 100
Heremou and Heber's Division of Ireland 20
Higgins, murder of Father 488
Hoche, Admired, leaves Brest for Ireland with 43
ships 678
Holt, Joseph, head of the Wicklow insurgents . . 695
Holy Wells, as memorials of the primitive saints. 110
Houses of the ancients composed of wicker work . 55
Howard, Thomas, Earl of Surrey, Lord Lieuten-
ant 318
His policy 319
Returns to England 330
Hugh Ainmire killed in battle of Dunbolg, Co.
Wicklow 83
Hugh Finnliath defeats the Danes at Lough
Foyle 130
Hugh Oirdnigh, his reign of twenty-five years. ... 117
I.
Iceland, Irish missionaries in 100
Inchiquin, Murrough, Viscount, truce with Or-
mond 523
Besieges and takes Drogheda 528
Dies a Catholic (note) 544
Income Tax in Ireland 803
Innocents, law of tlie 95
Inhabitants, Primitive, of Ireland 8
Insurrection of 1798, breaks out in Kildare 689
Finally extinguished 699
Intercourse between Ireland and England 150
Ireland, different names of (note) 73
Ancient inhabitants of, various theories about 24
Deplorable state of (1567) 363
INDEX.
Ireland, Dewptive policy towarde, by Ensland 709
FamiiU! and potato blight 704
State of education in 705
Estimated population of 795
Ireton, General, takes Limerick, and death 546
Irial, surnamed Faidh (or the Prophet), sou of
Heremon 20
Irish miBsinns and schools 103
History and character of 1 1 1
Kings, piety of 113
Spain assists the, their power abroad (note). 474
Humanity of tho clergy 489
Brigades leave for France C21
Causes of discontent among the 472
Writers of the 17th century 508
Island Magee, Massacre of 483
Ith, voyages of, lands in Ireland, and death 18
Jackson, Rev. W., his mission 074
Trial and suicide 075
Junes I., his confiscations 400
Persecutes the Catholics 461
His rapacity 405
Death of 400
James II., Ids accession, unbounded joy of the
CathoUcs 509
Disarms the Protestant militia 570
Flies to France from England 573
Comes to Ireland, and marches to Derry 575
Holds a parliament in Dublin 573
Ui8 army leaves Derry. and siege raised. . . . 578
Defeated at Newton Butler 580
Marches to Dundalk 584
Defeated at the Uoyne COl
Retreats to Dublin, and escapes to Franco. . 592
Death of, at St. Uermaina 030
John, made King of Ireland (1177) 200
Lands in Ireland, his insolence and rccaU.212.213
Carrickfergus taken from De Lacy's people. 225
Submission to tho Pope 225
John Sootus Erigena, his learning and opinions.. 101
Kells, Synod of, in \\r,-2 (3U0 ch-rgy present) 102
1142 490
Kildare, Garrett or Gerald, Fitzgerald, Earl of 304
Espouses the cause of Sinmel 3114
Imprisoned in the Tower of London 310
Pardoned 310
Gains battle of Knocktow 313
Death of SIO
Kildare, Garrett Oge, his first exploiw 317
Returns from England 321
Kestored to power 32 1
Reckless conduct of 324
Imprisoned in the Tower, and death of 327
(See Fitzgerald.)
Kildimo, mastjacre of women and children at 390
Kilgarvan, near Kcnmare, battle of 240
Killian, St., the .ijiostle of Franconia '.l7
Kilkenny, statute and Parliament of. 271
Synod of, and formation of tho Confederate
Catholic League 491
Confederation of. 497
Surrender of, to Cromwell 540
The Nuncio enters tho old Cathedral of St.
Canice, in state robes 508
Kilmashoge, the Irish defeated by the Danea at. . 123
Killala, French land at, and take Ballina 701
Kilwarden, Lord, stabbed in Dublin 728
Kincora, Brian IJoru's palace 132
Kinel-Coimell, or race of Conall ithe O'Donnells). 73
Kinel-Owen, or race of Hy Niall (the O'NtiUs). ... 73
Kinsale, arrival of the Si>aniards at 444
Battle of (1001) 447
King James lands at 574
Surrendered to Marlborough. . .' COO
Knockavoe, or Knocktow, battle of 313
Knockmoy, abbey of (note) 210
Knocknaclashy, battle of 540
Knocknanos, battle of .'i21
Kyteler, Alice, susiiected of witchcraft (.note). . . . ■^IH
L.
Laegnaire, King, his hostility to St. Patrick 66
Death of, by lightning 71
Lamhfhada, IiUgh, saccccds Nuadliat as King of
Ireland 14
Land, ti'nurc of, di^scribed 51
Lancaster, Duke of; in Ireland (1407) 287
Lateran, Council of (1 179) 209
Lavchomart, The (ix)rt<'nt«u« signs, so called) 114
Lavry Longseach, or Lowry of the Ship*, reigns
19 years 30
Laws, atr<Kious, enacted by Henry VI.. a^nst the
Irish 303
Learning, after the Danish ware, in Ir<'UnJ 1(3
Irish dewriU-d nn ckllK-d in philoKophr,
painting, and miiKlc H4
Leath Cuiun, and Loath Mogha, division of 38
Leger, St, Sir William, l-ord Prwidcnl ; hr
slnughttTB w..ra"n and children 488
Legislators of tlie aucieal Iriali M
10
PAOK
Leinster, wholesale spoliation in 4lJo
LeiK and Oflfaly, annexatiou of 346
liia Fail, The, or Stone of Destiny, described 14
Sent to Scotland 73
Taken to England ; and is now in West-
minster Abbey 15
Limerick, taken by Raymond le Gros 198
Burned by Donuell More O'Brien 204
Captured by Ireton, the parliamentary general 546
Siege of, by William's army ; Sarsfield's
brave defence of 596, 597
Siege raised, the Williamite army retreats. . 598
Second siege of (capitulates to Ginkle).. . . : . 619
Articles of (note) 620
Irish soldiers at, volunteer into the French
army 621
Treaty of, violated (after events described by
the great Edmund Burke, note) 624
liindiafarne, founded by St. Aidan 92
Lismore, council of 192
liivinus, St., suffered martyrdom in Flanders .... 96
Lorraine, Duke of, his negotiations with the Irisli 545
Lucas, Charles, effects of the speeches of 645
Lucy, Sir Anthony, his severity 267
Ludlow, commander-in-chief 547
Throws up his command 553
Lundy, Governor of Derry, escapes in disgrace . 576
Luttrell, Henry, his treason (note) 016
M.
MacCarthy, Cormac, King of Munster 155
McCracken, Henry, commands at the battle of
Antrim, 1798 697
Retires to Slemmish Mountain, and is subse-
quently captured and executed 697
MacDonnell, Alexander, or Colkitto, his bravery
at Dungan Hill 519
Killed after the battle of Knocknanos (see,
also, note) 522
MacDonnell, Sorley Boy, chief over the Scots of
C'lannaboy 370
Macha Mongroe. her heroic conduct ; founds the
palace of Emanla 30
MacLiag, bard, secretary to Brian Borumha 144
Macliag, GioUa (St. Gelasius), his death 201
MacMahon, Heber, the warlike Bishop of Clogher. 540
Defeated near Letterkenny, and shamefully
hanged by Coote 542
MacMahon, Hugh Roe (of Monaghan), his unfair
trial and execution 406
MacMahon, Brien, gains an important victory in
Oriel over the EngUsh 272
MacMurrough, Art, attack on the stronghold of.
Interview with Richard II
Gains a victory over the English at Wexford
Supposed to be poisoned at New Ross
MacMurrough, Murrough, King of Leinster,
slain
MacMurrough, Dermot, the infamous King of
Leiuster who betrayed Ireland into the
hands of the Saxon
Carries off Dervorgil
Detested by aU ; he Hies to England
Solicits aid from Henry II
Secures the assistance of Earl Strongbow . .
Returns to Ireland
His brutality
His death at Ferns (1171)
MacMurrough, Donough, son of Art
MacPherson tries to rob Ireland of Ossian ; his
literary forgeries exposed
Macroom, battle of
Maeve, Queen of Connaught, her expedition to
Ulster
Killed (a.d. 70), when over 100 years of age,
by the son of Connor, in revenge for the
death of his father
Magb Cro, terrible Massacre at, by the Atticotti . .
Magh Leana, battle of
Magnus, King of Norway, his expedition to Ire-
land
Maguire, Hugh, great single combat with Sent^
leger, and death
Mahon, brother of Brian Borumha ; his heroic
deeds against the Danes
Treacherously murdered
Malachy, St., his early education ; elected Bishop
of Connor, and Archbishop of Armagh. . .
Solicits palliums from the Pope
His death at Clairvaux
Malachy I., King of Ireland, destroys Turge-
sius 118,
Malachy II., defeats the Danes near Tara
His wars with Brian ; besieges the Danes in
Dublin
His deposition
Alleged treachery of, at Clontarf
His death
Malby, Sir Nicholas
Manauan MacLir, legend of
Margaret, Queen of OfTaly, her banquet to the
learned (note)
Marianua Scotus
Marshall, Richard, Earl, his tragical end
Mary crowned queen, 1553 ; death oi; 1558. . ...345
INDEX.
Massacres. (See Magh Cro, Mullaghmast, Fort-
del Ore, Kildimo, &c.)
Mathew, Rev. Theobald, liia great perseverance
in the cause of temperance 775
Gives the pledge to many thousands 775
Good results of his endeavors 77G
Maynooth, siege of 338
Grant to the College, of £20,000 out of the
consolidated fund 792
Mellifont Abbey, founded by St. Malachy 161
Great Synod of 1G5
Milesians, wanderings of 16-18
Lands in Ireland 19
Their kings 26
Milo de Cogan slain by MacTire, at Waterford.. . 210
Moin Mor, terrible battle of 163
Molua, St 96
Molyneux, his famous " Ireland's case stated" 628
Monasteranena, battle of 383
Monasteries early introduced into Ireland 87
Foundation of 219
Priories (note) 227
Convents (note) 251
Monastic Schools, Aran the lona of Ireland, Clon-
macnoise, &c 75
Monasticism, early Irish ; its moral good 88
Money, base coin of James II. (note) 580
Coined by the Confederates (1642) 498
Mongfinn, or the Fair-hairod, of the race of Ileber ;
her crimes 43
Monks of the Middle Ages, reference to 145
Monroe, General, lands at Carrickfergns (1642).. 490
Plunders Ulster 510
Defeated by O'Neill, at the battle of Benborb 513
Monster Meetings (O'Connell's), at Trim, Lim-
erick, Mullingar, Kilkenny, &c. (1843) ... 787
Monuments of the Early Races 25
Morann the Just, famous coUar of 36
Morough, son of Brian Boru, liis great valor ; killed
atClontarf 138
Mountjoy, Sir Charles Blount, Lord, appointed
Viceroy 436
Defeats the Spaniards at Kinsalo 447
Receives O'N'eill's submission ^I 4
Returns to Kngland 456
Moume Abbey, in Muskerry, battle of 320
Moycullen (or the Plain of UUin), battle of 15
Moyra, or Magh Rath, County Down, six days'
battle of 84
Moyturey (near the shore of Lough Corrib). the
Kiibolgs defeated in the battle of 12
Moore, Thomas (poi't), his birth (1770), writings,
and death (18.'52) ""0, 771
Muirkertach, his circuit of Ireland, and return to
Aileach two years afterwards ; is slain in
battle in liouth, by Blacaire, the Dane. ... 124
Muircheartach MacEarca, first Christian mon-
arch of Ireland 77
Mullamast, horrilile massacre of 376
Munro, of Lisburn, commands the United Irish-
men at Ballynahinch (1798) 89S
Defeated, seized, tried, and executed 699
Munster, revolt of; unison of the confi-derate« in. 429
Mur-Ollavan, a rath on Tara, built by OIlav Fola 29
Murphy, Rev. Father, commands the United
Irishmen at Oulart IliU ; defeats the roy-
aliste 692
Killed at the battle of New Roes 695
Music, instrumental, and songs of the Ancient Iriab 57
N.
Napper Tandy attempts to get up a National
Congress 667
Tried and banished 701
NaUonal School System of EducaUon 804. 805
Naval engagement of Turlough O'Conor and
Murtough O'Loughlin 165
Nemedius comes to Ireland with a colony from
the Euxino Sea 10
Is cut off with 2,000 followers, by pestilence . . 10
New Ross, walling of (note) 24 1
Besieged by Ormond 600
Besieged by Cromwell 537
Battle of, in "98 : defeat of the English 695
Newtown Butler, battle of; defeat of the Jac-
obites 580
Nial Glun Dubh, his chivalry and death 123
Nial of the Nine Hostages, his early expcditiona
to Hritain and OanI 44, 45
Families descended from (note) 45
Nicholas Sheehy, Rev. Father, hanged at Clon-
mcl 619
Niul and his descendants 17
Nuadhat of the silver hand, slain by Balorof tho
Koniorians, at the l«altle of Moyturx-y 13
Nuncio, the, rejixtjt the truce with Inchiquin 523
Nugent, Lord, of Delvin, taken by O'Conor KaJy. 333
Nugent, ftllenipting ti aiwaiwinate the Kupanr F*rl ;
in rapture<l and »i'ntenc<>»l 438
o.
O'Brien's Bridge, diirtroye*! I>y l/onl U-noanl Gray 3.10
O'Brien, Conor, KiiiR of Munntcr, defi«i» Tur
lou^h t >'< 'onor ' ^'*
DiiHlal Klllol.w(ll43) IW
.
12 INDEX.
PA8B
PiO.
O'Brien, Conor, Earl of Thomond, flies to France. 367
O'Conor, Cathal (surnamed Orovdorg) and Cathal
Death of 217
O'Conor, Charles, of Belanagar 644
O'Brien, Murrough. (See Inohiquin.)
O'Conor, Calvagh, chief of Oflaly 250
O'Brien, Murtough, King of Munster, demolishes
O'Conor (Conor Moimoy), plunders Killaloe 313
Aileaeh 149
Just punishment and death ' 210
O'Conor, Dermot, betrays the Geraldines 439
His death 154
O'Brien, Turiough, defeats his uncle Donough. . . 147
The traitor beheaded 441
Treacherously blinded ; death of 148
O'Conor, Faly and Maurice O'Conor, murdered
O'Brien, Turiough, slain in single combat with
by the EngUsh 251
DeBurgo S41
O'Conor, Felim, king, slain in the battle of Ath-
O'Brien, Murrough, died (1551) 347
O'Brien, Smith, T. F. Meagher, M. Doheny,
enry . 258
O'Conor, Felim, his betrayal and escape 236
T. B. McManus, John Mitchel, C. G.
His death 241
Duffy, and O'Douoghue (Confederates) . . 797
O'Conor, Hugh, son of Crovderg, his revenge on
Battle with the constabulary at Widow Mc-
the English 233
Cormacks 799
Slain by an Englishman 233
His arrest at Thurles; transported to Aus-
O'Conor, Hugh, defeats the English, death of.. 241-244
O'Conor, Roderic, succeeds as King of Con-
naught 165
O'Byrne, Fiagh MacHugh, betrayed to the Eng-
lish, and slain 422
His activity 166
Ocha, battle of (482 or 483) 73
O'Clery, of Tirconnell, poet and historian, died.. . 292
Crowned in Dublin . 168
Convenes a meeting of Irish princes at Tara 174
O'Olery, Fearfeasa (O'Donnell's poet), at the
Beheads " the three royal hostages" 179
battle of Yellow Ford 427
Besieges Dublin 183
O'Connell, Daniel, makes a spirited address in fa-
vor of repeal of the Union 751
Death of (aged 82) in Cong Abbey 218
O'Conor, Rory, King of Connaught, death of. 154
Monster Meetings called by, and powerful
O'Conor, Rory (son of Turiough), dies after a
speech in Dublin 758
reign of 16 years . . . . 278
More Meetings ; his great influence 759
O'Conor, of Oflfaly, defeats the English (1385) 279
Forcible language used in a speech by mote) 766
O'Conor, Turiough, King of Connaught 154
Elected to a seat in Parliament for Clare ... 767
His harsh treatment of his sons 159
Refused to take the oath of supremacy ; his
Fights a marine battle ofi" Innishowen 16>?
speech at the Bar 768
His death 165
Octennial Bill 651
His triumphant procession from Enuis to
Dublin 769
O'Daly, Dominic, historian of the Geraldines
Position and influence in Parliament 777
(note) 39S
O'Daly, Farrell, distinguished historian, Ollav of
Corcomroe, died 293
Release and popularity 779
Details the persecution of the tyrannical
O'Daly, Murray, the poet of LissadiU, in Sligo. . 226
Saxon ... 781
O'Devany, Conor, Bishop of Down and Connor,
basely hanged and quartered 461
O'Doherty, Sir Cahir, takes Culmore and Deny
A motion for repeal of the Union 786
Is made Lord Mayor of Dublin (1841) 786
from the English; his death caused by a
More Monster Meetings 787
stray shot 460
Proposed Meeting at Clontarf prevented ... 788
O'DonneU, BaUdearg, lands in Ireland from Spain 614
Vindication of (note) 61 6
Discharged and set at liberty 789
O'DonneU, Calvagh, rebels against his father;
Death of, at Genoa, May 15th, 1847 790
defeated in battle at BaUybofey 343
Eology on, by various writers 791
O'DonneU, Con, defeated in the pass of Ballagh-
O'Oonnell, John, and the Repeal Association 796
boy.CurUeu Mountains, by MacDermot. . 311
O'Conor, Arthur, arrested at Margate 683
O'DonneU, Donnell More, died among the monks
O'Conor, Cahir Roe, ezecuted in Dublin 343
13
O'Donnell, Godfrey, wounded at the battle of
Credran KUle, near Sligo; encoiinti're
Maurice Fitzgerald, and mortally wounds
liim ; his battle at Conwal, near Letter-
kenny, with Brian O'Neill ; in the moment
of victory he expires 239
O'Donnell, Hugh Oge, taken prisoner by his
O'Donnell, Hugh Roe, King of Tirconnell, marches
into Tyrone 813
Death of, aged 78 ; and 4-lth of his reign over
Tirconnell 314
O'Donnell, Hugh, becomes a monk ; death of, in
Inis SainiiT, Hiver Erne 269
O'Donnell, Hugh Roe, ally of Hugh O'Neill, en-
trapped on board a ship in Lough Swilly,
and thence carried prisoner to Dublin. . . . 404
First escape, and recapture 409
Second escape with two sons of Shane O'Neill,
and safe arrival at his father's castle, in
Ballyshannon 410
Makes a hostile incursion on the lands of
Turlougli Luinagh 411
Chastises O'Connr Sligo 422
Defeats the English at Ballaghboy, Curlieu
Mountains 433
Purchases the Castle of Ballymote 430
Attacks Docwra, at Lnugh Foyle 442
Storms an English garrison in Donegal 443
Joins the Spaniards at Kinsale 445
Goes to Spain, and dies 4.19
Tlis attainder 4(!4
O'Donnell, Rory, created Earl of Tirconnell 4^0
His tii-:Ut to Rome 4-)9
Oflfaly, murder of the chiefs of 2.")1
Annexation of ^-IC)
O'Farrell, Donnell, King of Leinster, at the battle
of riontarf. 140
OTarrell, Melaghlin, slain 270
O'Farrell, Richard, Colonel, defends a pass at the
battle of Honburb •'>13
O'Farrell, chiefa of Annaly 312
O'Farrell Bane, and O'Farrell Boy, of I^ongford 30.'^
Ogham, Craove, described 15
Inscriptions found in the Cave of Dunloo
(note).
O'Hartagan, Kenneth, poet of I.ieath Cuinn. died
(973^ 1«
OilioU Molt, reigned twenty years ; slain in tlio
battle of Ocha 72
OUioll Olum, King of Munster. seven sons of:
slain in the battle of Magh Mucrivo 39
Oisin, the warrior and poet, son of Finn MacCuail . 42
rAOt
O'Eane, chief of Dungannon and 01engi\-cn Ca»-
tlo 411
Ollav Fola, establishes the triennial asaemblr 29
O'Lochan, Cuan, chronicler and bard 144
O'Loughlin, Donnoll, of AiU-ach, enters the Co-
lumbian Monastery, Derry ; de4ith of \!H
O'Loughlin, Murtough. his right to be monarch
of Inland ; slain 108
O'Loughrane, Patrick, priest, basely hanged 403
O'Malley, Grace, character of, descrilMid (note). . . 423
O'More, Owny, captures the Karl of Ormond 4:17
Killed 439
O'More. Richard, at the hill of Crofty. in Meath . 480
O'More. Rory Oge. invad<>8 the Pale ; burns Naas 374
Killed, 30th June, 1578 375
O'Neill, Art, and Hugh O'Donnell make peace
at Ardstraw bri<lge 317
Defeated at Knockavoe, near Stral>ane, by
O'Donnell 331
O'Neill, Brian, murdered by the Earl of Essex. . . 371
O'Neill. Brian, recovers Tyrone from Macl>aughlin 233
Defeated by Godfrey O'Donnell on the river
Swilly 239
Killed in a battle with the English, at Down-
patrick 240
O'Neill. Donnell. son of Muirkertagh 13»
O'Neill. Donnell, King, de|>osed 348
O'Neill, Donnell, King of Ulster, his memorial to
the Pope 355
O'Neill, Ferdoragh, or .Matthew ; his pareota^
(note) 343
Murdered 349
O'Neill, Hugh, the great Earl of Tyroni>. his first
visit t.) England *m
His second visit to England 407
His romantic marriage with BaTnafi) Rist<>r. 410
He privately drills men ami prepares arras . 410
Seizes the fort of the Blackwater: bums
Dnngnnnon and his own home 418
Defeats the English at Clontibert ; kills Sea-
grave in single combat 419
Rej.-cU U-rras of peace, except liberal 424
B ■sieges the Fort on the Blackwater 425
Gains the victory of the Yellow Ford. . .427, 42-S
Confers with K-uk-x at HallTclinch 435
Expedition to Mnnxter 480
Plot to mu^^e^ hira 443
Marches to join the Spaniards 44<l
Defeate.1 at Klnwlo 447
Subniisiiinn : shnm plot to InMijlo hlra 454. 4'«
His flight to Home, and attainder 459, 4A4
O'Neill. Owoii. cMwn.Hl at Tull«ho»f«e. a* chief <if
ll,eKinelO«,n 29*
14 INDEX.
O'Neill, Owen Roe, comes to Ireland ; lands at
P.
Doe Castle 404
Receives command of the Confederate army. 495
Palatinates of Kerry and Tipperary created 3(>6
Defeats Monroe at Benburb 513
Palatines, The, colonies in Ireland of (note) 633
His death at Cloughoughtcr, County Ca van. 587
CNeill, Shane (John the Proud), son of Con
Northern Irish encouraged by the State of
O'Neill 343
(1641) 484
Palladius, St., sent to, and mission of. in Ireland. . 60
Defeated at Balleeghan, near Raphoe, by Cal
Paparo, John, Cardinal, arrives in Ireland 163
Sir Henry Sidney stands sponsor for his
chUd 351
Under Elizabeth 352, 365, 397
Carries off Calvagh O'Donnell and Ids wife,
Under Charles II 556
generally called the Countess of Argyle. . 355
Under James II 578
Defeats the English at Armagh : 356
Visits Queen Elizabeth ; his reception 357
Deprived of its independence . 636
Its declaration of rights (1782) 660
Defeats the Scots at Glenflesk, near Bally-
Its corruption and extinction 663, 708
castle 358
Parliamentary Robes, Irish chiefs apply for (note) 338
He is terribly defeated by Hugh O'Donnell,
Parthalon, leader of the first inhabitants, arrives
at Ardnagary, near Letterkenuy 300
in Ireland 300 years after the Flood 8
Murdered by Scots of the Clann Donnell at
Paschal question 93
Cushendun 361
Pass of Plumes (Bearnana-g Cleti), defeat of the
English at the 432
O'Neill, Sir Phelim, proclamation of 479
Takes the field with 30,000 men 480
Patrick, St., opinions about his birth-place 01
Executed 551
Supposed to have introduced "alphabets".. 47
O'Neill, Nial, comes from Spain 476
His bondage and escape 63
O'Neill, Niall More, a house built at Emania by,
Lands at luver De 04
f.jr the Ollavs and poets 285
Visits Milcho, near Slieve Mis, Co. Antrim. 64
O'Neill, Turlough Luineaoh, elected chief; sub-
Visits Slane ; converts Ere, son of Dego 65
mits to the lord deputy 304
Visits the Royal Rath of Tara on Easter
Harassed by Hugh Rot- O'Donnell ; he flees
Sunday 65
to O'Kano's castle, Glengiveen 413
Various journeyings ; visit to Connaught. .66, 67
Besieged in the castle of Strabane 413
Fasted, during Lent, on Cruach Patrick, Co.
Death of 419
Mayo 67
O'Neill, Lord, killed at the battle of Antrim (1798) 097
Converts King Amalgaidh's seven sons, to-
Orange Lodges first established (1795). note 609
gether with twelve thousand people 67
Suppressed ; Shiel's Bill 783
• Orde, Secretary, nine propositions of 607
Baptizes King Aengus ... . . 68
His death at Saul, County Down 69
Ormond. (See Butler.)
Pembroke, Richard, Earl of, betrayed and killed. 335
Orr, William, trial and execution of ; the origin of
Penal Laws, enactment of the (note) 627
the watchword, " Remember Orr" 680
Of Queen Annes reign 633, 633
Ornaments of gold still preserved 57
O'Rourke. Tiernan, muiflered by Hugh de Lacy.. 195
Continued down to 1803 ... 711
Pension List, abuses of the 649
O'SuUevan Beare, Donnell, his castle of Dunboy
Peep O'Day Boys, origin of. 669
taken 450
Perceval, Mr., assassination of 755
His extraordinary retreat to Leitrim 453
O'Sullevan Beare, Philip, author of the Historiae
Perrott Sir John 368 397 400 405
Persecution of the Catholic Clergy 380
Catholicee IberniiE Compendium, in Spain
Referred to (see note, 413) 461
Against the Irish Catholics 550, 563
PestUence, called the Black Death, fearful rav-
O'Toolo, St. Laurence, or Lorcan, his parentage. 167
Attempt to kill him (note) 199
ages of (note) 273
Death of, at Augum, on the borders of Nor-
Another pestilence called the " King's Game" 273
mandy 309
Picts, origin of; visit Ireland before settling in Scot-
O'Tooles, The, their ancient territory (note) 167
INDEX. 15
Piety of Irish kings ; pilgriniuge of Beg Boirche,
King of Ulidia, and otlu-rs 113
Pilltown, great battle of. between tlie Earl of Or-
niond and Earl of Desmond 29',!
Pitt, William, government of 73 1
.0. 1
Raymond le Gros invited by Strongbow to return 197
llis nuptials with Basilia, Strongbow'g sis
tor 198
Captures Limerick 198
Fit/. Adelm's jealousy of him '. 203
Reform Bill, pa.'«ed 4th June. 1832 780
Plague (Buidhe ChonnaiU), first visitation of Ts
Carries off 700 Priests in the discbargo of
tlicir duties 297
Plantation of Ulster first projected (3G9) ; realized 4C0
See Confiscations.
ReUcs of St. Patrick, supposed translation of . . . . 214
Religion of the pugun Irish 48
Great Synod convened at Aengus's Grove,
near Hill of Uisncach, Westmeath, at.
tended by 50 Bishops and 300 Priests, and
by King Murtough O-Brien l.-Jl
Remonstrance of the Barons to Edward III 271
Of Donnell O'Neill, King of Ulster, and other
Irish Princes, to Pope John XXH 2.55
Of the Lords of the Pale 403
Of Peter Walsh, a Franciscan Friar 559
Hanged and quartered at Tyburn 5(i7
Popery, bill to prevent the further growth of CaO
Popish Plot, The, so called 502
Portentous Signs, pillars of fire, dragons in the
air 114
Presidents, Lord, creation of; Fitton made first
President of Connaught 367
Preston, Colonel, arrival of; he joins the Confed-
erates 496
Proclamations against the Catholics 40")
Priests to be banished 503
Strong declarations against, by the Parlia-
RestoraUon, The, of Charles 11 555
Richard n. lauds at Waterford 280
Recalled and returns 283
Right Boys, their acts of intimidation 663
Rinuccini, the Pope's Nuncio, lands in Ireland with
large stores of ammunition 507
Enters St. Canice Cathedral. Kilkenny, In
procession •. 'lOS
His determined conduct in behalf of the Irish
Confederates 510
Sits in state, and argues the cause of the Con-
federation 517
Embarks at Galway and returns to Rome.. . 526
Romans, a projectinl invasion of Ireland by the . . 34
Ross. (Sec New Ross.)
Roche, Rev. Philip, chosen to oommaml the in
Of the Lords Justices 483
Prosperous, town of attacked by the insurgents. . 089
Priests, terrible massacre of, in Cashel, by Inchi-
quin 521
Proselytism, unfair dealing of, towards Catholics . 640
Poets and Poetry of the pre-Christian Bards .... 58
Of the present century, Moore, Davis. &C..7G9-774
PoeUc Miracles, supposed to be performed by Niall
Pope. The, send.") presents to the Earl of Tyrone. . 437
Poynings. Sir Edward, his Act 308, 309
Poor Law Bill iiasied (1838) 784
Psalter of Tara, instituted in the reign of Corraac
UKadha . 41
Psalter of Cashel, in the Bodleian Libriry 299
Q
Quigley, or Ooigley, Kcv. Father, falsely con-
victed C83
Roiachty killed by lightning at Dunseverick. near
the Giant's Causeway, B.C. 1024 2S
Ross, Bishop of, his heroic self-devotion .'.41
Rotunda, onvontion of the volunttvrs at 605
Rowan, Archibald Hamilton, his trial and c.«-
R.
RathB, circular earthen mounds with double and
triple circles, built for defence by the Mi-
lesians 55
Rumann, The P.il ; the B»M)k of Ballymot© call*
Mm the Virgil of In^land 118
RusioU, Sir WilUam, I-orrI Deputy, bedegea the
Rathhugh, in Westmealh. great meeting of chiof-
Ij^in, at 120
s.
Rathmines, battle of defeat of Orraond 529
Raymond le Gros lands near Walerford 170
SacrUogas, church burning, i«. •:«
16
PAGE
pv^a.
Saints' Beds and Holy Wells, St. Patrick's pur-
Social Progress, early 28
Tqt irv
110
Saunaers, Dr., the Pope's Legate, death of in woods
Spanish Expeditions land at Smerwick 379, 387
of Claenglass
391
Mentioned at 389, 404, 406, 421, 437, 442.
Sarsfield, Patrick, general, retires to Athlone . . .
.580
Capitulate after the battle of Kinsale. . . .444-454
Destroys the English artillery at Ballyneety .
,595
Spenser (the poet's) account of Ireland (note) 393
Created Karl of Lucan
COl
Stone, George, primate, his unscrupulous dealings 643
Some account of his family (note)
GOl
Strabane burned, and the castle be!^ieged, by Hugh
80
Roe O'Donnell 413
Scarampi, Father, comes with arms and money. .
503
Strafiford, 'Viscount 'Wentworth, Earl o£, ap-
Schismatic proceedings in Ireland (1.5;!7)
333
pointed Lord Ijeutenant 408
Schomberg, Duke, lands at Bangor, Co. Down . . .
581
Duplicity of 409
Marches to Dundalk, killed at the Boyne. . ,
589
Confiscation of estates in Connaught by 470
Schoolman, Remarkable, John Scotus Erigena. . .
101
Sends a Catholic army to England 471
Scotus, John Duns, of Ulster, called the subtle
His impeachment ; beheaded 473
Doctor (note)
264
Strongbow proclaimed King of Leinster 180
Scots, name of, not known before the second or
His difficulties; returns to England 181, 1«4
24
Leads an army to Offaly ; recalled 195, 196
Sent back as Viceroy, with grant of Water-
Son of Sorley Boy, a Scot, is hanged by Sir
JohnPerrott
398
ford 190
A number of Highlanders land in Inishowen
400
Defeated at Thurles with great loss 197
Two thousand cut off at Ballina, by Bing-
Deaih of, 202 ; interred in Christ's Church,
ham
401
Dublin 202.203
More land in Ireland with Lord Leven ....
49G
St. Ruth, General, arrives 601
Rebels against England 1715 (634), of 1745 .
641
KiUed at Aughrim 611
Scotland, the kingdom of, founded by a colony
Stukley, Thomas (note) 373
from Ireland
73
Subdivision of Territory 469
73
694
ScuUabogue Barn, massacre of
" Summer of slight acquaintance" 295
Seanchus Mor, fragments of the, in manuscript
Sumptuary Laws 28
in Trinity CoUege
71
Surnamei, institution of; definition of O and Mac
Sedulius, St., the vouno-er 97 ■ the elder
98
(note) 183
Surrey, Earl of, demolishes the castles of O'More 318
He returns to England 320
9'^7
Resumes the government
338
Recalled
842
Sussex, Earl of, leads an army against the Scots
Finally recalled to England
848
of the Route ; plunders Armagh, 348 ; goes
Sentleger, Sir Warham, his single combat with
to Lough Foyle, 356 ; hires Nele Gray
HughMaguire
4^6
to assassinate Shane O'Neill 356
Sepulchral Mounds of New Grange and Dowth
Swift, Dean, his exertions In behalf of Irish
described
56
55fi
manufactures . 637
Settlement, The Act of.
Spy System 679
Sheares, Henry and John, betrayal and execution
686
Sheehy, Father Nicholas, unfair trial and eiecu
T.
tion
649
of Clanricarde
167
Battlft of; the three kings of the Tutha-de-
83
364
Sidney, Sir Henry, lands at Carrickfergus
Talbot, Archbishop, imprisonment and death . . . 503
Returns ; marches to Connaught 371-373
Talbot, Colonel Richard, Eari of Tirconnell 561
Silver Coins struck at the works of Airget Ross.
28
Arrested and suffered to go into exile 564
Simnel, Lambert, arrives in Dublin
304
His actions
305
Becomes unpopular 598
INDEX
17
Sends a messenger to King James til5
Deatli of, in Limerick C17
Talbot, Sir John (Lord Fumival), Lord Justice. . . 290
Tanistry , law of, explained 50
Tara, triennial assembly of, called Feis Teavra(-li. . 28
Tara, rath of, constructed by Ollav Fola, called from
him Mur-OUavan 29
Palace of, abandoned by the Irish kings 79
Its ancient remains identified by Dr. Petrie
(note) ''^
Battle of, 1798, the insurgents defeated 691
Tain-bo-Cuailgne, or cattlesiJoil of Cooley 32
TeagU3C-na-Ri, or the institutions of a Prince 41
Tenure of land among the ancient Irish 51
Termon Lands, descriptiou of 107
Theobald-na-Lung. (See Burke.)
Thurot (the real name O'Farrell) sails from Dun-
kirk 61C
Takes Carrickfergus, 1700 ; killed 047
Tiernmas first establishes idol worship in Ireland 27
Teltown, near the Blackwater, in Meath, games,
&c 1^
Raises up the idol Crom Cruach on the Plain
of Adoration ; reigneil 77 years 27
Tighemach, the annalist, who wrote the annals of
Ireland from B.C. 305 to A.D. 1088, when
he died
Timolin taken by Ormond, and the garrison butch
Tyrrell, Captain, cuts off to one man 1,000 Eng-
lisli, commanded by young Barnwell, at
Tyrrell's Pass (note) 423
u.
Ufford, Sir Ralph, Lord Justice ; his harsh rule. . 271
Ugaine Mor, Ugouy the Great, his division of
144
Tiptoft, John, Earl of Worcester, his death 301
Tirconnell. (See O'DonneU and Talbot.)
Tipperary, disturbed slate of : various outbreaks. 713
Tithe Bill, Irish, by Lord Morpeth (1830) 783
Titles, English, cunt'erred on Irish chiefs 339
Tone, Theobald Wolfe, haves for France ; returns G70
Tried and banished "^^
Fought in the French ship Iloche, off Ix)Ugh
illy
<'a]>tured and 8cntence<l ; his death <0.<
Tory Island, gtrat battle of '0
Towushend, Lord, lord-lieutenant, his admiuis-
irationin Ireland (1707) 'i'-O
Treaty of Limerick, civil articles of O-'O
or peace between Ormond and the I'onfed-
cratea '"'
Trim, conference with Confederation at 501
Tuatha de Dananns, Dr. O'Donovnn (note) 12, 13. 14. 15
Tluir kuowlrdge as artificers, Ac 24. 2.'>
ullics and death 1'^
Turgesius,
TumJlus I
id Mav, 1838, in tlio Phopnlx Park,
Ulster, plantation of, by James 1 480, 4«1
Ulster, Earl of, starved in the Green Caiillo, Iniah-
owen 287
Union, how carried 707, 708
Union, re|ieal of the. great meeting for 751
United Irishmen first establithi'd 07 1
Supposed U> be .WO.OOO men enrolled 078
Suppressed ami jwrsecutinl OSO
University of Dublin founded by Archbishop
Bicknor in 1320 (note) 204
Usher, Archbishop of Armagh, 1024 inoU-) 403
Victoria ascends the throne 0837) "M
Visits Dublin 1^7
Her return to England W)!J
Vinegar Hill, battle of OWl
Virgillius, St., an Irishman, his learning 93
Vivian, Cardinal, Syu.xl in Dublm held by 20.>
Volunteers. 40,(lOO eurulled in I'lstcr 6r>6. 057
Convention of deleprati-s at Dungannon. .ftV*. O-'iO
Ilold a meeting in Lisburu and Dublin. .004. 005
w.
Warbeck. Perkin. at Cork (1492) 308
Keturn8(14U7) 3'0
Waterford be»iege<l by Strongliow 176
By Croiuwcll ; ho raises the siege 538
Syno<l of, convene.1 by the Nuncio 515
Waucop, R., Society of Jesua lutroducwl Into Ir«^
land by (note) **•
Weapons, Hncieul Irish, descriU^l 53
Wentworth, ViicouuU (See Strafford.)
Wellington npi»>int.-d pp-mier "«'
Wexford Usiegiil by IIoIhti Kiu Stephen 17a
Taken by In.mwell : terrible m»M»crt. (note) .VMJ
Kvaruttt'e-i by the mllHia «"»
Whiskey, first m.tici- of in Ireland (note) »«
Whitoboys, or LeveUara WT. 64«
I Whitby, . ..nfervnci- of. »*
Dublin
Tuathal TeachUr, 133 batU.-* against the Alta.
colli fought by
WiUiam m lands at Ti>rl>aT.
5T9
InvlUtI to the thmnr : prorlajinrd STS
Land. alCrrickfergo... •-..uDir Anlrim 5cS
18
William in. gains the battle of the Boyne 590
Besieges Limerick 596
Returns to England 598
His death (1703) 630
■William IV. ascends the throne (1830) 778
Died (1837) 785
Windsor, treaty of, between Henry H. and Rod-
eric OConor 200
Witchcraft punished with death (note) 264
Wood's halfpence, " Drapier'e Letters." 6:^7
WooUen, manufactures of, in Ireland restricted . . . 5(50
Entirely destroyed ; 62»
Yellow Ford, battle of ; defeat of the
Youghal, burned bv the Eari of Desmond
.. 427
.. 384
/
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