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HISTORY
OF THE
CIVIL WARS OF IRELAND.
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-^rm THE VARim^S DEPARTMENTS ^'
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LITERATURE, SCIENCE,^ THEARTS.
THE CIVIL WARS IN IRELAND VOL. I.
THE SEVEN CHURCHES OF WICKLOW
CLENDAtOTTGH. „ ,,.
EDINBURGH;
PBINTED FORCOK'S'IMLE & C9 EDINBURGH %
AND HIJEST, CHANCE * C? LOOTJdN,
1831.
HISTORY
OF THE
CIVIL WARS OF IRELAND,
I FROM THE ANGLO-NORMAN INVASION, TILL
I THE UNION OF THE COUNTRY WITH
GREAT BRITAIN.
BY W. C. TAYLOR, Esq. A. B.
OF TRINITY COLLEGE, DUBLIN.
IN TWO VOLUMES.
\^
i
EDINBURGH :
PRINTED FOR CONSTABLE AND CO.; AND HURST,
CHANCE AND CO. LONDON.
1831.
//CIlA'^'"
DR
CONTENTS.
PAGK
'eeface vii
CHAPTER I.
lent History of Ireland — Political Condition of the Country at the Time of the Anglo-Norman Invasion 13
CHAPTER II. Causes and Occasion of the Anglo-Norman Invasion SO
CHAPTER III. )ngbow's Invasion 39
CHAPTER IV.
Reign of Henry II. . .... 67
CHAPTER V. Reigns of Richard I, John, and Henry III. . 81
CHAPTER VI. The Reigns of Edward I. II. and III. ... 97
CHAPTER VII.
The History of Ireland during the Civil Wars between the Houses of York and Lancaster . . . .213
VI CONTENTS.
CHAPTER VIII.
From the Accession of Henry VII. to the Refotmation 143
CHAPTER IX.
The Effects of the Reformation in Ireland . . 161
CHAPTER X.
The Wars against John O'Neill and the Earl of Desmond 178
CHAPTER XL
The Administration of Sir John Perrot • . 204
CHAPTER XII.
The War against Hugh O'Neill . . . . 213
CHAPTER XIIL The Reign of James 1 234
CHAPTER XIV.
From the Accession of Charles I. to the Commencement of the great Civil War in Ulster . . . 248
CHAPTER XV. The War of 1641 in Ulster . ... 259
CHAPTER XVI. The War of the Confederates .... 267
PREFACE.
The History of Ireland, from the period of the Anglo-Norm an invasion, presents a series of ano- malies not to be paralleled in the annals of any other European comitry. Even now, after the lapse of nearly seven centuries, the suspicious jealousy of fo- reign rule remains as strong as at the first arrival of the invaders. The Government obtains at best a sullen and reluctant obedience. The laws are viewed |i8 institutions framed exclusively for the benefit of a |ruHng party, and not for the general advantage of I he nation. England and France, when first subju- gated by the Teutonic tribes, suffered more severely han Ireland ; — William and Clovis were more un- principled leaders than the second Henry; — their bllowers more cruel and rapacious than the compa- lions of Strongbow and Fitz- Stephen ; but, in these ountries, the age of oppression and suffering passed way. The Saxons and Normans coalesced. The lauls were united with the Franks. The victors
VOL. I. a
viii PREFACE,
and the vanquished became one people, having com- mon feelings and common interests. Ireland is the only country in which the condition of the conquer- ed has not been amehorated, and where the separate interest of two distinct races is still maintained, as if its subjugation was but a thing of yesterday.
The evils that have flowed from this disunion, and^
the dangers which it still threatens, are universally
acknowledged ; but there is not the same unanimity
in assigning the cause of its continuance. On this
subject the theories are as numerous as the writers;
and each is supported with a fierceness and violence
unusual even in the most furious political warfare.
The blame of the long catalogue of ills under which
Ireland has suffered, we find alternately cast on the
British and on the local government ;— on the
churches of Rome and of England ;~on the sue
cessive oligarchies that controlled the destinies o\
the country, and on the several factions by whicli
they were opposed ;— on the oppressions of magis-
trates, and on the artifices of demagogues ;— and oi
a thousand other causes, potent enough, collectivel;
to produce considerable mischief, but, separately, m
sufficient to account for that vast amount of evil t(
which the country has been subjected. An impar
tial inquirer might be led to surmise, that blame ii
diff'erent degrees belonged to all the parties enurae
rated ; and a careful investigation would confirm hi
J
PKEFACE. IX
suspicion. But when he proceeds to apportion to each their several shares of censure, he must pre- pare to encounter the most virulent opposition. At variance in every other respect, the several political partisans, who have written on Irish history, are wondrously unanimous in one principle — each main- taining, that there was nothing wrong on the side which he chose to advocate, and that, there was no- thing right in the opposite.
The application of this creed greatly simplifies the historical judgment of Irishmen. All questions finally resolve themselves into the single topic of party. The name of rebel or patriot, and loyalist or oppressor, is given without further inquiry ; and all difficulties are thus settled in a moment. This compendious, but not very accurate mode of form- ing opinions, is strengthened by the absurd and mischievous sophism, that identity of name proves identity of character. Tliere is no sophism by which inen are more deceived — there i« no part of the globe where it is more prevalent than in Ireland* The Roman Catholic feels himself personally wound- ed by the historian who faithfully describes the blas- phemous insolence with which the Pope transferred to a foreigner the sovereignty over a free people, and the base cupidity shown by the Irish prelates, in bartering their country's independence for wealth and privilege. The zealous Protestant is offended,
X PREFACE.
when the ignorance and indolence of the clergy sent over by Henry VIII. and Elizabeth are portrayed ; and will equally be displeased with him who de- scribes the ferocious fanaticism of Cromwell's Puri- tans, and the more crafty intolerance of their suc- cessors. Frequently must the writer of Irish his- tory feel the truth of the complaint made by the venerable Bede, " Dura est enim conditio historia- graphorum : Quia si veradicant homines provocant,. si falsa scripturis commendant, Dominus qui veri- dicos ab adulatoribus sequestrat, non acceptat. "
Unconnected with any of the parties by which his native country is distracted — reverencing many individuals ranged on opposite sides — persuaded that rancour would be abated, if the diflPerent parties were acquainted with the true feelings and principles of their opponents — the writer of these volumes has no motive to disguise truth — no interest in invent- ing virtues or concealing vices. It is not easy to execute a task where the occasions for censure are numerous, and for commendation few, without pro- voking the hostihty of those who are bigoted to a partial and uncandid view of transactions. To blame the government, will probably be deemed ad- vocacy of treason, and censure of the people be termed justification of oppression. The violent Ro- man Catholic may call the author an Orangeman ; while the equally violent Protestant may stigmatize
PREFACE. XJ
him as a Papist. He condescends not to refute either. Let them war against the perpetrators of the crimes of which they are ashamed, and not a- gainst the person by whom they are narrated.
There is a part of the First Chapter which needs some apology, as it will probably give offence to a very innocent, but not a very wise portion of the community — the believers in the authenticity of early Irish history. The author shelters himself under the sanction of Niebuhr, who has impeached the- credibiHty of Livy and Dionysius, though either authority is a thousand times more valuable than the dreaming monks, and adulatory sennachies, whose stories have been collected by Keating and OTla- herty. It would be an insult to the understanding . of Englishmen, if a writer should now seriously re- fute the tale of Brute the Trojan. It ought to be equally unnecessary to examine such idle tales as those which grave writers in Ireland still maintain as^ genuine traditions. But it is surely pardonable, that a true lover of his country should be allowed to turn from her authentic annals of blood and crime, to re- fresh his saddened mind in those regions of romance which fancy has peopled with fairy images of har- mony, tranquillity, and civilization. Still, such re- veries are sometimes used for a mischievous purpose j. and the assertion, that Ireland owes all her misery to English cpnuection*^an assertion as false as it is
Xll PREFACE.
pernicious — has been made too frequently to be passed over without examination.
The following work may be considered as divided into six periods of unequal duration. The first con- tains the formation of the English connection, and includes the time from Strongbow's invasion to the death of Henry II. The second period is occupied by the baronial wars, which deteriorated the English interest, until the sovereignty was merely nominal ; and spreads over all the reigns between Henry II. and Henry VIII. The third commences with the accession of that monarch, and contains the detail of the struggle for re-establishing and extending the English supremacy, which was completed by Eliza- beth and James I. The fourth is occupied by the great civil war of 1641, and its various revolutions, until the passing of the Act of Settlement. The fifth contains the wars between James II. and his son-in-law William, until the restoration of tran- quillity by the treaty of Limerick. And the sixth brings the history down to the Act of Union, at the commencement of the present century.
It does not become a writer to speak of the me- rits of his work ; but he may be permitted to assert the purity of his intentions. The author can safely say, that truth has been his only object ; that, amidst the conflicting statements of historians, he has al- ways selected that which was supported by the best
PREFACE. Xlll
authorities ; that he has, in almost every instance, consulted the original records, and made no asser- tion which they did not fully support. He is aware that he cannot please all parties, and he has not laboured to flatter any. He may be maligned and misrepresented ; but, feeling that he has at least per- formed his task honestly, he can console himself, under calumny, by the approbation of his own con- science.
THE
HISTORY
OF THE
CIVIL WARS OF IRELAND.
CHAPTER I.
Ancient History of Ireland — Political Condition of the Country at the Time of the Anglo-Norman Invasion.
The pretensions of the Irish to an antiquity more i-emote than that of other Europeans, and their claims of being descended from the most powerful and enhghtened of the Eastern nations, have been attacked and defended with a zeal and vigour be- yond the laws of literary controversy. In this contest, the cause of Irish history has suffered far more from the extravagant claims of its advocates, than from the fiercest assaults of its opponents. The suspicious particularity of the more remote in- cidents, and the still more suspicious coincidence of the epochs with the received system of chrono- logy, are gravely quoted as proofs of genuine anti- VOL. I. A
14 HISTORY OF THE
quity, while, in fact, they are decisive evidences of falsification. The materials from whence the histo- rians have compiled their narratives, were the songs of the bards, the genealogies of the sennachies, and the popular legends current in their day ; and it is manifest that such records must have been replete with errors and defects, and, above all things, must have contained little or no reference to dates and eras. The monks of Ireland, in the middle ages, seem to have surpassed their brethren of Britain in the art of fabricating history. The latter went no higher than the days of Brute the Trojan ; but the former boldly ascended to the days of Adam, and brought his grand-daughter to Ireland with a nu- merous colony, before the primitive race had yet degenerated into crime. The intervention of the deluge might have been supposed to throw some difficulties in the way of this hopeful legend; but for this a remedy was easily provided— one fortunate individual was saved in the western world, to relate the circumstances of that great event to the next band of colonists who arrived in the country. The new settlers could boast of an origin equally illus- trious : they were Greeks, under the guidance of Partholanus, whose genealogy from Noah is traced with edifying accuracy. After this, several new tribes arrive from places equally illustrious ; but their fame is absorbed in the superior glory of the. Milesian colony, whose arrival in Ireland is dated previous to the Argonautic expedition ; that is, be- fore Greece had even a traditional history ! The history of the Milesians before their arrival in Ireland, is detailed at length in the Irish legends. They were, it appears, a Phoenician branch of the vast Scythic nation, to which thft greatest re-'
1
CIVIL WARS OF IRELAND. 15
jj^olutioris in ancient and modem times have been generally ascribed. Phenius, the chief legislator of the tribe, having invented letters, and some im- portant ai-ts of civilized life, acquired great fame in the neighbouring nations, and the Egyptian king sent ambassadors to his court. Niul, the son of Phenius, progenitor of the O'Neill family, was sent with a numerous train to return the com- pUment, and so highly pleased Pharaoh, that he obtained his daughter in marriage, and a fertile tract on the banks of the Egyptian river as her dowry. From him the river Nile takes its name ; and from him Egypt derived all that knowledge which in subsequent ages entitled her to be named the parent of civilization. Shortly after this the Exodus occurred; and the Phoenicians treated the departing Israehtes with so much generosity, that the silence of Moses on the subject is a matter per- fectly unaccountable. The Egyptians who survived the calamity of the Red Sea, were indignant at the kindness shown to the Israelites. They expelled the Phoenicians from their territories; and, after a long course of wandering, in which they successive- ly established themselves in Crete, in Africa, and in Spain, they at last landed in Erin, bringing to that favoured country the knowledge of letters, and the ele- ments of civilization, long before Greece had emer- ged from barbarism, or Italy received the arts of so- cial life. When attempts are made to impose such a wild romance as this on the world for history, it is no wonder that the whole mass of the Irish annals should be rejected with disgust, and that the few important truths which are mixed up with a mass of similar fictions, should share in the merited coiif^ demnation such legends must inevitably meet.
16 HISTORY OF THE
There is really no authentic history of Ireland be- fore the introduction of Christianity into the coun- try ; but there are some genuine traditions which ap- pear to be based in truth, because they accord with and explain the peculiar cUistoms which were found to prevail in the island at the time of the English in- vasion. These traditions declare, that the original Celtic inhabitants were subdued by an Asiatic co- lony, or at least by the descendants of some Eastern people, at a very remote period : they aver, that the conquerors were as inferior to the original inhabi- tants in numbers, as they were superior in military discipline and the arts of social life : they describe the conquest as a work of time and trouble ; and as- sert, that, after its completion, a hereditary monarchy and a hereditary aristocracy were for the first time es- tablished in Ireland. It has been judiciously remark- ed by Faber, that, " in the progress of the human mind, there is an invariable tendency not to intro- duce into an undisturbed community a palpable dif- ference between lords and serfs, instead of a legal equality of rights ; but to abolish such difference by enfranchising the serfs. Hence, from the universal experience of history, we may be sure that, whenever this distinction is found to exist, the society must be composed of two races of men differing from each other in point of origin. " We shall soon show that such a distinction prevailed in Ireland ; and shall now only add, that the original difference between the suc- cessive settlers in the country is not even yet effaced. The blue eyes, flaxen hair, and fair complexion of the peasantry on the eastern coast and in the midland districts, shows that they are a different race from the dark-visaged, black-haired inhabitants of the south- western counties. Besides the uniform tradition, that
CIVIL WARS OF IRELAND. 17
tiie Milesian colonists were of Asiatic origin, there are many customs still preserved in Ireland, plainly de- rived from some Eastern source. The forms of salu- tation, the Beltane fires, manifestly derived from the former prevalence of solar worship, and the feastings and cries at funerals, so completely coincide with the descriptions of Asiatic manners given by all travellers ancient and modern, that it is difficult to refuse as- sent to the traditionary account of the Milesian ori- gin. Those unaccountable edifices, the round tow- ers of Ireland, are frequently quoted in proof of this theory ; and certainly the most plausible account given of them is, that they were erected for the pur- pose of fire-worship. But this is a subject involved in hopeless obscurity, and cannot consequently af- ford much additional strength to our previous argu- ments.
The state of society in Ireland, the form of go- vernment, and the tenure of land previous to the Anglo-Norman invasion, are subjects of much more importance than the origin of the nation ; for, with- out a previous investigation of these matters, much of the subsequent history of the country would be scarcely intelligible. The attachment of the Irish to their ancient usages, and the eager desire of the first invaders to adopt these institutions, was the pri- mary source, of the greatest evils by which the coun- try was afflicted; and, notwithstanding the many dianges of rule and chances of time which have oc- cuwred in Ireland, their pernicious consequences are felt at the present hour.
At some unknown period, Ireland was divided by the Milesian conquerors into five kingdoms, Ulster, Leinster, Connaught, Munster, and Meath ; the lat- ter was at a subsequent, but equally uncertain age,
18 HISTORY OF THE
considered as the peculiar property of the paramount sovereign. It is impossible to determine at what time the entire island was first united under a single monarch. Neither is the inquiry of any impor- tance ; for the authority of the Lord Paramount was merely nominal, unless he had the good fortune to possess sufficient forces in his hereditary dominions to ensure obedience.
These kingdoms were again subdivided into se- veral principalities, inhabited by distinct septs, each ruled by its own carfinny or chieftain. The obedi- ence of these local rulers or toparchs to the provin- cial sovereign, was regulated like his to the general monarch, by the powers that he possessed for en- forcing his authority. Each petty lord presided over the administration of justice in his own dominion, and possessed, or at least exercised, the right of making war and peace with his neighbours at his pleasure.
The succession to every degree of sovereignty was regulated by the law of Tanistry, which limited here- ditary right to the family, but not to the individual. The chiefs could only be selected from noble houses ; but there was not an individual of each royal or no- ble family that might not become a candidate for the office of tanist or chieftain-elect. The love of off- spring might probably have induced the toparchs to limit the right of succession to their immediate descendants, had it not been the custom t?o elect the tanist immediately after the accession of the chief; and the interest which procured his designation, would of course be sufficient to secure his right of inheritance. This pernicious custom was produc- tive of unmixed misery. Every election of tanist was necessarily productive of party-feuds, which rare- ly terminated without bloodshed. The chiefs looked
CIVIL WARS OF IRELAND. 19
with jealous eyes on those who only waited for their deaths to attain the rank of princes ; and the tanists, conscious of these suspicions, frequently endeavour- ed to accelerate the moment of their elevation by open war or secret assassination. In the list of 178 tnonarchs of the Milesian line enumerated by the Irish historians, only 47 died natural deaths, 71 were slain in battle, and 60 murdered. It may in- deed be said, and with some truth, that this list is a fabrication ; but it was probably composed by com- bining the genealogies of several provincial monarchs, whose pride was flattered by the notion that their ancestors ruled the entire island ; and at all events, it shows the proportion between violent changes and peaceful successions in the opinion of the native his- jtorians themselves.
, Each district was deemed the common property of the entire sept ; but the distribution of the seve- ral shares was intrusted to the toparch. The culti- vators had, consequently, no property in the soil, and were little interested in improving it by cultiva* |;ion. The tanist alone was assigned an inalienable portion of mesnal land ; all the others were tenants at the will of the toparch, and removable without the formality of a notice. The accession of every chief, the death of a large proprietor, the reception of a new member into the sept, and the banishment of any who had displeased the chief, usually pro- duced a new division of land, which kept property m a state of constant fluctuation ; and die custom <of inheritance by gavelkind, extended and perpetu- ated the evil. The gavelkind of Ireland and Wales differed, in several important particulars, from that which still prevails in some parts of England. By the Irish custom, females were absolutely excluded
20 HISTORY OF THE
from all right of inheritance ; and no distinction was made between legitimate and illegitimate chil- dren. The lower orders were divided into freemen and betageSf * or, as they were called by the Nor- mans, villains. The former had the privilege of choosing their tribe ; the latter were bound to the soil, and transferred with it in any grant or deed of sale.
These institutions f are manifestly inconsistent with
* In the grants of land made for the support of monasteries by the Irish monarchs, the Betaghs or Betages are expressly named, and the property in them transferred together with the land.
f The nature of the Irish tenure and law of Tanistry is very clearly laid down in an inquisition taken at Mallow, on the 25th October 1594, before Sir T. Norris, Vice-President of Munster, W. Saxey, Esq., and J. Gould, Esq., justices of said province, by virtue of a commission from the Lord Deputy and Council, dated the preceding 26th of June. It is found, among other things, " That Conogher O'Callaghan, alias the O'Callaghan, was and is seized of several large territories in the inquisition recited in his demesne, as lord and chieftain of Poble Callaghan, by the Irish custom, time out of mind used ; that as O'Callaghan aforesaid is lord of the said country, so there is a tanist, by custom of said country, who is Teig O'Callaghan, and the said Teig is seized as tanist, by the said custom, of several plough-lands in the inquisition mentioned, which also finds that the custom is further, that every kinsman of the O'Callaghan had a parcel of land to live upon, and yet that no estate passed thereby ; but that the lord and the 0'Cal-» laghan for the time being, by custom time out of mind, may re- move the said kinsmen to other lands ; and the inquisition fur- ther finds, that O'Callaghan MacDermod, Irrelagh O'Callaghan, Teig MacCahir O'Callaghan, Donogh Mac Thomas O'Callaghan, Conohor Genkagh 0*Callaghan, Dermod Bane O'Callaghan, and Shane MacTeig O'Callaghan, were seized of several plough- lands, according to the said custom, subject, nevertheless, to certain seigniories and duties payable to the O'Callaghan, and that they were removable by him to other lands at his plea-
CIVIL WARS OF IRELAND. 21
the high degree of civilizatioH which the Irish his- torians describe in such glowing colours. Where the great majority of the people could not possess landed property, and where the circumstances of the country prevented the accumulation of commercial wealth, the elements of comfort and greatness were wanting. There could have been no money, no trade, no manufactures, and there could have been no towns whose municipal privileges might have re- strained the despotic power of the toparchs. The cities of Dublin, Limerick and Waterford, found in the country by the Normans, at the time of the in- vasion, if not originally built by the Danes, at least owed all their greatness and celebrity to that maritime people.
But though this state of society appears to modern writers replete with so much evil, it had many attractions for a people such as the Irish were at that day, and such as they continue at present. With few and simple wants, reckless of danger, ar- dent speculators, full of buoyant spirits, eager for any new enterprise, however culpable or dangerous, their best and their worst qualities were equally gra- tified by a system, which flattered their vanity and supplied objects for their ambition. Eligibility to the office of Tanist being common to everj^ man of noble birth, it became the interest of the nobility to conciliate the affections of the people ; and this pro- duced a connexion, not the less intimate because the hustings became frequently fields of battle. The law of gavelkind offered to every individual the hope of that great object of every Irishman's ambi- tion, a bit of land; and though the tenure was in- eeciire im4 ,^nce^tajn, Irishmen then, as now, lite*
22 HISTORY OF THE
rally fulfilled the precept, of " taking no thought for the morrow. "
The customs oijbstering and gossipred drew closer the links tl\at bound the lords to their vassals. The sons of the nobility were invariably nursed by the wives of the tenantry, and the associations thus formed were esteemed ties fully as binding as those of nature. On the other hand, the nobles became name-fathers to the children of their favourites, and were thus supposed to establish a claim to filial, ra- ther than feudal obedience. It is amusing to find, that these innocent and interesting customs were de- nounced as high treason, by the statute of Kilkenny, jn the reign of Edward III., because they were deemed the greatest support of the overgrown power of the Irish aristocracy.
The administration of justice was regulated by the •Brehon law, which is said to have been formed into ^ code at a very early period. Its most remarkable feature was the almost total absence of capital pu- nishment ; for every offence, even for murder, a pe- cuniary mulct, called an eric, was provided ; but the friends of the deceased were rarely satisfied with such a compensation, and deadly feuds were conse- quently multiplied.* The office of Brehon, or
* The following copy of a Breton's decree will probably interest the reader : —
*' These be the allegations and challenges I have in the be- half of Donagh MacSeayn and Teig MacFynyne, against Cahall O'Connor and his people, viz. That Cahall O'Connor, together with his people, came forcibly to the land of the said l)onagh, and seized upon a prey belonging to him, and have taken away with them [ ] cowes of the said prey, and have also taken with them the said Donagh and Teig prisonei-s, and the rest of the prey being taken from the said Cahall against his will : but having beaten, bruised, and deadly wound-
CIVIL WARS OF IRELAND. 23
|tulge, was hereditary in certain families ; and, by a custom which seems to have been derived immedi- ately from the East, all honourable professions were similarly limited.
The first introduction of Christianity into Ire- land is a subject involved in impenetrable obscurity. The tradition which ascribes the conversion of the island to Saint Patrick, though generally received, is not worthy of implicit credit ; and the romantic nar- ratives of the Saint's adventures are a mere compila- tion of extravagant fictions. It would be, however, an excess of scepticism, to follow Dr Ledwich in denying the Saint's existence altogether ; but the precise period of his mission, and the extent of his success, must remain uncertain. There is, however, satisfactory evidence, that the form of Christianity established in Ireland, as well as in Britain, resem- bled that of the Eastern churches, rather than that which Rome had adopted. In such matters of dis- ieipline — as the form of clerical tonsure, the time of celebrating Easter, and the celibacy of the clergy — this difference between the Hibernian and Roman diurches might seem of little importance ; but they were at issue on more important topics. The ecclesi- astical constitution of Ireland was completely at va- riance with the model which the Roman See was anxious to establish; and several doctrines, con-
©d the said Donagh. and Teig, therefore I say, that they came with intent to kill the said Donagh and Teig, and that they shall have remedy and release as if they had been killed, in re- gard the said Donagh and Teig never submitted themselves to the mercy of the said Cahall and his people, but scoope ^escaped) by their own valour and assistance, as by the law in that behalf appeareth, which is in hcBC verba." (The words of ^e law are not quoted. ) — HardmarCs Irish Deeds, p. 26.
24 HISTORY OF THE
demned In the Papal councils, were vigorously main- tained by the Irish clergy.
The bishops, in the primitive church of Ireland, were as numerous as the parishes. They paid no canonical obedience to a foreign head ; they be- queathed frequently their pastoral charge to their children ; and generally held their Sees at the plea- sure of their chieftain. They also possessed not any of the lordly privileges which the Continental prelates enjoyed. It was not until the eighth centu- ry, that they were exempted from military service ; and they always remained subject to taxation, and to the jurisdiction of the ordinary tribunals.
The Irish church also provoked the hostility of the pontiffs, by its adherence to the doctrines of Pe- lagius, and the share it took in the controversy of *' the three chapters." Jerome, whose right to the title of Saint assuredly rests not on his moderation, assails the entire Irish nation for its supposed heresy, with a virulence surpassing the ordinary bounds of theological controversy. He even asserts, that the Irish were cannibals, and that he had himself seen a party of them eat a child in Gaul ; forgetting, as the Jesuit Slainhurst wisely remarks, to account for the permission they obtained to commit such a crime in the country, which was then the chief seat of ortho- doxy. The controversy of " the three chapters," which once agitated the entire of Christendom, is now consigned to oblivion. It seems, that the Council of Chalcedon had tacitly approved the writ- ings of three Eastern prelates, which were supposed to favour the Nestorian heresy. The Roman synod took a different view of the matter, and condemned the chapters in no very measured terms. The Irish unanimously supported the authority of the Council ;
CIVIL WARS OF IRELAND. 25
nnd, as we are informed by Baronius, attributed the calamities, by which Italy happened to be afflicted, to the fatal heresy of the Papacy.
The Irish clergy, though deficient in orthodoxy, were honourably conspicuous for their learning, zeal, and piety. Their missionaries travelled into the neighbouring heathen countries, not like the papal legates, with all the pride, pomp, and circumstance oi imperial ambassadors ; but like their predecessors the apostles, in the garb of unaffected poverty, with the words of persuasion on their lips, and the gospel of everlasting peace in their hands. The pious la- bours of Columb-kill and Columbanus, if they were really different persons, are to this hour justly the boast of the Irish nation ; though, unfortunately, the ecclesiastical system which produced numbers of men ^animated with similar zeal has long since perished. ,, The invasions of the Franks, the Saxons, and o- ther barbarians, seconded by the dark intrigues of the Romish See and its partisans among the clergy, de- stroyed the primitive churches which had been esta- blished in Gaul and Britain. The persecuted clergy and those of their flocks who were anxious to main- tain the independence of their national churches, ei- ther fled, or were forced into a reluctant submission. The Irish generously offered to the fugitives a safe asylum ; thither came all those whom barbarous vio- lence and Roman ambition had driven from their - homes. The unfortunate Britons, in particular, threat- ened with extirpation by the Saxons, fled to the sister-island, and spread such a horror of the violence they had suffered, that the Irish to this day call their invaders by the odious name of Saxons. During the ^sixth, seventh, and eighth centuries, Ireland was pro-
26 HISTORY OF THE
verbially the chief seat of piety and learning. True, the learning of the period was confined to a very li- mited range of subjects, and, even such as it wasi, monopolized by the clergy : still, the respect shown to information, and the ardour exhibited for literary distinction, produced beneficial effects which extend- ed far beyond the circle of those who enjoyed the im- mediate fruits.
The invasion of the Danes in the ninth century, reduced Ireland to the same miserable condition as those countries for whose calamities she had shown such generous sympathy. Though these piratic hordes were not numerous, they obtained extraordi- nary success in a country distracted by internal com- motions, where each sept rejoiced in the depression of its rival, and where the feelings of nationality were lost in the virulence of party-spirit. As the Danes came into Ireland from the East, they called them- selves Eastmen, or Ostmen, just as in France they took the name of Northmen, or Normans. They first confined themselves to mere predatory expeditions ; soon after they erected castles, or seized on towns near the shore, to shelter their booty ; until, at length, encouraged by their own success, and the dissensions of the natives, they resolved to attempt the conquest of the entire island. Early in the ninth century, this was effected by Turgesius, a monarch distinguish- ed by great abilities, and greater depravity. After a brief reign of cruelty and lust, Turgesius was mur- dered by the contrivance of a petty prince whose daughter he designed to seduce ; and in the general revolt which ensued, the power of the Ostmen was completely overthrown. But the private feuds of the Irish princes rescued the Ostmen from total destruc-
CIVIL WARS OF IRELAND. 27
tion ; and, retaining possession of the seaports, they soon became formidable, though they never regained their former supremacy of the country.
In the beginning of the eleventh century, a ma- jority of the Irish determined to make a great na- tional effort against the invaders : the nominal Lord Paramount of the island, Malachi King of Meath, was deposed, and the sovereignty transferred to the celebrated Brian Boiromhe, whose administration of bis provincial kingdom had raised it to the highest rank among the surrounding states. During a reign of ten years, Brian ruled the country in tranquillity ; the Danish settlers purchased safety by becoming tributary, and the feuds of the Irish princes were checked by the vigour and prudence of the monarch. But the spirit of faction, though quelled, was not extinguished ; the partisans of the deposed monarch secretly meditated a new revolution ; and their pro- jects were favoured by many who viewed with jea- lousy the elevation of a rival tribe. A trivial cir- cumstance kindled these materials of discord into a flame. Murchard, the eldest son of Brian, incauti- ously reproached Maolmordha, King of Leinster, for his former treacherous connection with the Danes, and so irritated the vindictive passions of the haughty prince, that he determined to purchase revenge, even at the price of his country's ruin. An alliance was so©n formed between the King of Leinster, and the Danish colony of Dublin. Auxiliaries were summon- ed from Norway, and the northern islands ; emis- saries were sent to stimulate the discontented princes into rebellion ; and Brian, now in the extremity of old age, found himself involved in a contest more fearful than any he had hitherto experienced. The monarch, however, proved himself equal to the emer-
i
23 HISTORY OF THE
gency ; he summoned to his standard all the princei who owed him obedience, and collected together hii hereditary forces, on whom alone he saw that ini- plicit reliance could be placed. The battle, which for the time decided the fate of Ireland, was fought on the plains of Clontarf, now a pretty village near Dublin. The engagement commenced on the morn- ing of Good Friday, A. d. 1014, a circumstance which added religious enthusiasm to the patriotic Keal of the Irish, for the Danes had not been as yet converted to Christianity. At the very moment that battle was joined, Malachi, King of Meath, with- drew his forces, leaving Brian with only his own provincial army to withstand the overwhelming num- bers of the enemy. The soldiers of Munster were not, however, disconcerted ; they had with them in the field every member of the royal house, to which they were passionately attached ; for the King brought with him to the battle his five sons, his grandson, and his fifteen nephews. The conflict lasted the entire day ; but at length the valour of the Irish pre- vailed. The traitor Maolmordha, with his chief as- sociates, were slain. His followers immediately broke their lines and fled ; and the Danes were driven, with dreadful slaughter, to their ships and the gates of Dublin. But this success was dearly purchased. Brian was slain, while praying in his tent, by a wandering party of the enemy ; his son Murchard, with the best and bravest of the Irish nobility, fell in the arms of victory ; and the gallant sept of the Dalgais, Brian*s own tribe, was almost annihilated. With Brian perished the glory, th? tranquillity, and the prosperity of his country. Ireland no longer existed as a nation, but was broken up into a num* ber of independent sovereignties, animated by the
CIVIL WARS OF IRELAND. ^29
most rancorous mutual hostility. " There was no longer a king in the land. Every man did that which was right in his own eyes. " From this pe- riod to the Anglo-Norman invasion, the annals of Ireland record little more than a series of intestine wars begun for some petty object, and concluded without any remarkable consequence. A new in- vasion of the Danes, under the guidance of Mag- nus, King of the Isle of Man, is indeed stated to have been repelled ; but how deplorable must the condition of the country have been, when the King of Man would venture to invade it with the hopes .of conquest ! Tlie evils produced by this long un- , varying scene of civil discord, predisposed the Irish princes to submit to the power of the Norman prince. They felt the necessity of possessing a sove- jreign ruler ; and they knew, by bitter experience, .that mutual jealousy and ancient rivalry would ren- der the government of any native prince equally in- secure and inejHicient.
■
\\ VOL. I. B . i
. .. . lir..l-d
30 HISTORY OF THB
CHAPTER IL
The Causes and Occasion of the Anglo-Norman Invasion.
The establishment of the Anglo-Norman dynasty in Ireland, was but a part of that great system by which the Papal supremacy was enabled to prevail over the national churches of Western Europe. Henry came to Ireland as the deputy of the Pope. To establish his spiritual authority was the avowed ob- ject of the expedition ; and on the Papal gift alone did the Norman monarch rest his claim to the sove- reignty of the country. By a very rare coincidence, the zealous Protestant and Catholic writers of Irish history have agreed in suppressing this important fact. The former were unwilling to acknowledge that their ascendancy, which they justly identified with English connexion, was derived from the great ob- ject of their fear and hatred ; the latter, equally at- tached to their country and their religion, were dis- inclined to confess that their spiritual head had de- stroyed their national church, and given the domi-; nion over their native land to a stranger, in order t^' extend his own power. The contest between pa^ triotic spirit, and habitual submission to the Roma# pontiff, is evident in some of the writings of the earliei? Irish historians : they zealously contend for the piety
CIVIL WARS OF IRELAND. 31
and purity of their national church ; but, when they labour to identify its doctrines with Romanism, they are sorely at a loss to account for the harsh epithets given to the Irish clerical establishment by the Popes and their authorized advocates.
The power of the Roman See had acquired addi- tional strength by every revolution caused by the suc- cessive immigrations of the Northern barbarians. The pontiffs deemed the ignorant pagans more hopeful subjects for the bold experiment of establishing their supremacy than the Christians of Gaul, Britain and Erin, who were zealously attached to the indepen- dence of their national churches. They therefore uni- formly supported the cause of the invaders, concili- ated their leaders by giving them extravagant titles, and presenting them with rich dresses, whose unusual splendour attracted their admiration, and gratified their vanity. The Franks were encouraged in their warfare against the Gauls, the Goths, and the Bur- gundians ; because, after the conversion of Clovis, they readily adopted whatever creed his Holiness thought fit to dictate ; and the former possessors of the country were sentenced to utter ruin because they were heretics, or at least schismatics. The Goths were accused of Arianism ; the Britons were said to have adopted the errors of Pelagius; and paganism itself was declared preferable to such abominable he- resies. Many of the bishops in the devoted nations leaded the machinations of the Roman pontiffs ; they •were eager to become spiritual princes, and to share in those privileges and immunities which Rome claimed for the Episcopal character. Foreign vio- lence was thus aided by domestic treason ; and the JK^pal authority was established in France and Eng- ilfi^d by the.swoxds of the Franks and the battle-axes
SS' HISTORY OF THE jl
of the Saxons. But no opportunity of reducing Ire*! land to obedience was afforded. The successors oi\ Augustine in the see of Canterbury vainly sent em- bassies to the island ; their authority was spurne^ their threats derided, and they were left to vent theii indignation in slander and reproach. Bede has pre- served a curious specimen of the remonstrances ad* dressed to the schismatic Irish by the Papal legates; it is full of pride and bitterness, as may be seen in the following extract : — " We, deputies from the A- postolic See to the Western regions, once foolishly believed in your island's reputation for sanctity ; but we now know, and can no longer doubt, that you are no better than the Britons. Of this the journey of Columbanus into Gaul, and that of one Dagammon into Britian, have fully convinced us ; for, amongst Other things, this Dagammon, passing through the places where we dwelt, has refiised not only to come and eat at our tables, but even to take his meals in the same house with us. "
The crimes of Columbanus have been mentioned in the preceding chapter ; they were simply ardent zeal, sincere piety, and unpretending poverty. He found- ed no bishopricks, he courted no kings, he preached Only to the poor and to the afflicted. Leaving courts and camps to the Papal legates, he spent his life in preaching the gospel to the wood-cutters and hun- ters in the mountains of the Vosges. The discour- teous conduct of Dagammon was not wholly without (Bxcuse. The massacre of the British monks at Ban- gor by a body of pagan Saxons more than suspected of having been employed by the Italian Archbishop of Canterbury, and the bitter persecution of the na- tive clergy of Wales, disgusted a man who believed in his simplicity that Christianity was, as it ought to
CIVIX WARS OF IRELAND. 83
JbC; a system of peace and love, an4 who was, besidei^ allied in faith to the sufferers.
The invasion of the Danes was fatal to the nation- <al church of Ireland. The seats of learning, which had been ever spared in the disastrous feuds between rival princes, were but the more tempting objects to ■these avaricious savages. The seminaries were des- .troyed, the students scattered, and the means of sup^. jjort taken away from those who laboured to instruct 'a new race of pastors. Hence innumerable abuses ^rose ; the toparchs appointed to the sees persons •wholly inadequate to perform the duties ; monaste- ries were seized by ambitious laymen ; and religious -ordinances were either entirely neglected, or perform- ed with a negligence which degraded them into an .unmeaning ritual. The power possessed by the -Anglo- Saxon clergy, contrasted with their own weak- ness, naturally excited the emulation of the Irish bi- shops. They began to wish for the lofty titles and sthe substantial privileges enjoyed by the prelates of f^e neighbouring island ; and as they clearly saw 4hat this object could not be attained without the asr sistance of the Roman See, they determined to make -the acknowledgment of the Papal authority the basis of their own aggrandizement. It may be, that some were actuated by better motives. There may have been a few who thought tliat external aid was neces- sary to reform the abuses which had been produced by centuries of commotion, and who looked to Rom^, indisputably the head of the Western churches, as the only source from whence the means of an effi- cient reformation could be derived. The Holy See was not slow in availing itself of these favourable . dispositions, especially as, by its aid, a new dynasty -had been just established in England, moi:e devoted-
IS4 HISTORY OF tHE
ly attached to the Papal cause than that of the Saxons, because the benefits received by the Normans were , more important and more recent.
The conquest of England by the Duke of No*- mandy, was hailed by the descendants of the Danes in Ireland as a triumph that prognosticated the revi- val of their own power and eminence. They relin- t[uished the name of Ostmen for the more important title of Normans, and sent ambassadors to congratu- late William on his success. They also broke off their connection with the Irish Church, asserting, ■with truth, that they had been instructed in Chris- tianity by the Saxons ; and they sent over their bi- shop-elect of Dublin to receive ordination from Lan- franc, the Norman Archbishop of Canterbury. This was the first step towards submission ; but it was not made without resistance ; for a letter is extant irom the people of Dublin to Ralph, Archbishop of Canterbury, about the year 1121, in which they complain of the dislike shown to them by the Irish bishops, on Account of their Having submitted to the ecclesiastical jurisdiction of a foreigner. The first Irishman who advocated the Papal supremacy was Gillebert, Bishop of Limerick, who accepted the of- fice of apostolic legate. He wrote a curious tract, which is yet extant, recommending his countrymen to tender their spiritual allegiance to the common father of Christendom ; but he urges it as a novel proposal, which assuredly he would not have done, if, as some pretend the first preachers of the gospel in Ireland had made the authority of the Pope a part of their system. Gillebert was succeeded as legate by the celebrated Malachy, whose life has been written by St Bernard, the pious and learned abbot of Clareval. Malachy took the decided measure of going to Rome
CIVIL WARS OF IRELAND. 35
,40 solicit palls, the Roman emblem of investiture, lor the metropolitan see of Ardmagh and the new archbishopric of Cashel. He did not, however, com- plete the journey ; he died at Clareval in the arms of his friend and biographer. The court of Rome did not allow the favourable impressions produced by Gillebert and Malachy to remain unimproved. In the year 1152, a synod was convened at Kells, over which Cardinal Paparo, the apostolic legate, presided.
; There, for the first time, palls were distributed to the Irish prelates, and the Papal authority formally ac- knowledged. The other enactments, made at the «ame time, clearly show the motives by which the clergy were induced to resign their independence : — tithes never before collected in Ireland ; immunities hitherto withheld ; the freedom of their order from taxation and civil jurisdiction were granted at this synod ; and thus, the last of the Western national churches was united finally to the Roman See.
The new ecclesiastical establishment was not, how- ever, received universally. Many of the inferior
!*«lergy, animated by different motives, vigorously con- tended for their ancient usages ; and the toparchs were opposed to a system, by which their power was limited and controlled. Complaints were made in Rome, that the Irish clergy still continued to mar- ry ; that tithes were paid irregularly ; and that the native princes usurped the nomination to ecclesiasti-
. cal dignities. The Pope saw that some ally was ne-
■ cessary to confirm the supremacy which he had al- ready gained ; and the abilities and ambition of Hen- ry II. pointed him out as the most eligible auxiliary.
, In the year 1 155, the negotiations between Henry II. and Pope Adrian were concluded. The holy father entered into a compact with the enterprismg young
SS HIStORY OF THE
monarch, by which it was stipulated, that the loTd- ship of Ireland should be transferred to Henry, pro- vided that he would maintain the Papal supremacy and the ecclesiastical constitutions, which had been established by the synod of Kells. This negotia-* tion, which was the foundation of the connexion between England and Ireland, is a precious sample of the hypocrisy, the injustice, and the mutual trea-*' chery of both parties. Henry, by no means a de-* voted slave to ecclesiastical power, suddenly founJ. his Christian feelings wounded, by the schismatitit state of the Irish church ; he therefore proposes to* invade the island with a missionary army, not to ex-^ tend his own dominions, but to diffuse the blessings' of pure religion in that benighted country. Adrian, oil the other hand, without even affecting to consult the wishes of the inhabitants, transfers to the Nor- man prince the sovereignty of an independent coun- try, with as little scruple as if it had been an estate,^ of which he held the title-deeds. The genuineness of Adrian's bull has indeed been sometimes disput-' ed ; but this is a matter of little importance. The fact, that Ireland was literally sold to the Norman in- vaders by the Pope, is indisputable, and is proved by a host of documents, which never have been ques- tioned. The bull of Pope Alexander, read at the council of Cashel, which, by the way, refers to A- drian's bull as an authentic document, is to the full •ds explicit a declaration of the terms of the bargain, as that whose cretlit has been impugned. The de- claration of the Irish clergy in their synod at Cashel, that they recognised Henry's authority, because it was founded on the infallible decree of Christ's vi- car, and the unanimous consent of all cotemporary historians^ native, English, and Continental, that^
CIVIL WARS OP IRELAND. ^^
Henry undertook the conquest of Ireland, by com- mand of the visible head of the church, in order to' extirpate the religious abuses which prevailed in that country, are sufficient to prove the true cause and nature of the invasion, if -Adrian's bull had never existed. During four centuries, the English mO" narchs and the parliament of the pale, unable ta maintain their supremacy by the sword, constantly appealed to these Papal grants as the sacred source of their power ; and, during the same period, every effort to restore the independence of Ireland was placed under ban and excommunication, as being a rebellion against the deputy of the sacred successors to the patrimony of Saint Peter. After the Refor- mation, when the Catholics of Ireland divided into^ tWo parties, which may be called those of the Low and High church, the latter, so far from denying tbd fact, of Ireland having been ceded to England by Papal authority, laboured strenuously to maintain the right of the Pope to make such a grant, and to resume it when the conditions had been violated. The origin of the right of the Holy See to Ireland was variously stated by different writers. One found out that all islands were included in the magnificent donation bestowed on the successors of Saint Peter by the Emperor Constantine ; another discovered, in the prophecies of Isaiah, a divine right to islands ; a third asserted, that some of the Irish Kings, dur- ing a pilgrimage to Rome, had resigned the supre- macy of their dominions to the Sovereign Pontiff; while a whole host contended, that the Irish, in the time of Saint Patrick, had, in a sudden burst of na- tional gratitude, placed 4;hemselves and their country at the disposal of their spiritual father. These idle legends are now only calculated to produce a smile ;
^O HISTORY OF THE
but there was a time when they were potent causes of evil ; and many and bitter were the calamities which such wicked absurdities inflicted on the un- fortunate island.
Continental wars, and the rebellion of his unnatu-, ral sons, long prevented Henry from availing himselC of the Papal grant ; but, in the mean time, he en- tered into negotiations with some of the Irish pre- lates, who were anxious to purchase the pomp, power and privilege, possessed by the English and Conti- nental bishops, even at the price of their country's independence. What might have been the result of unaided negotiations is mere matter of conjecture. An accidental circumstance hurried them to a rapid conclusion, and brought the Normans into Ireland, before Henry and his partisans could make any pre- vious preparations for the unexpected event.
;^7>i 'lo- i^fssM; .BWit^aM:.
CIVIL WARS OF IRELAND. 39
CHAPTER III.
' Strongbow's Invasion.
If the worst evils of civil commotion could form an -excuse for transferring the sovereignty of a country •to a foreign potentate, the Pope and the clergy might have found a powerful apology in the state of ■Ireland during the century that preceded the English •invasion. The fatal victory at Clontarf so weakened the power of the Munster princes, that the O'Briens were unable to retain their preeminence, and the -kings of the North and West became the principal <»ndidates for the supreme power. Turlogh O'Con- nor, King of Connaught, nominally obtained this dignity ; but he was fiercely opposed by O'Lachlan, chief of the northern sept of Hy-Nial, aided by many other princes of Ulster and Leinster. After a long and desultory warfare, the rivals agreed to divide the sovereignty between them ; but, like all -.similar expedients, the peace obtained by this ar- rangement was partial and temporary, and war was soon renewed between the partisans of the competi- tors. O'Rourke, Prince of BrefFny (the present county of Leitrim), was a warm supporter of the O'Connors ; while his neighbour, Dermod Mac- 'Murchad, King of Leinster, was as vigorous a sup-
^0 HISTORY OF THE
porter of the Hy-Nial dynasty. Their poUtical dif- ferences were further heightened by personal causes. O'Rourke, far advanced in years, had married Der- vorghal, a princess of Meath, that might have been his daughter, and had soon cause to suspect that her affections were fixed on the youthful Dermod, the fame of whose beauty and courtesy was spread through all the surrounding septs. The war be- tween the partisans of O'Connor and O'Lachlan was renewed ; Dermod invaded the territories of O'Rourke, and . carried away Dervorghal a willing captive into Leinster. The injured prince com- plained to O'Connor of the gross wrongs he had ■received; and the King of Connaught at once le*- ■vied an army to support his ally. Dermod's terri- tories were invaded before O'Lachlan could come -to his assistance ; but he purchased peace, by re- Storing the lady to her husband, and making com:- pensation for the ravages his soldiers had committed in BrefFny (a. d. 1154). This event, which most historians assign as the immediate cause of the -Anglo-Norman invasion, really occurred sixteen years before Dermod was driven into exile, and con- sequently before he had any necessity to ask for fc»- reign assistance. On the death of Turlogh 0'Con>- Jior, the undisputed sovereignty of Ireland was given to O'Lachlan ; and the partisans of the Hy-NiaJs immediately prepared to extend their dominions, and punish their rivals (a. d. 1156). The fidelity of -Dermod was richly rewarded ; he was enabled to ex:- tend his sway over many of the neighbouring septs, •and soon reckoned among his vassals the Kings of Ossory and Meath, the Danish lord of Dublin, and •the toparchs who ruled in the districts which now ibrm the counties of Wicklow, Carlow, and Wex-
CIVIL WARS OF IRBLAND. 41
ford. The Prince of BrefFny had reason to dread the use which his rival might make of his newly acquired power ; but while Dermod was preparing utterly to destroy the power of O'Rourke, an unexpected event produced a complete revolution in Irish politics, O'Lachlan, after concluding a solemn treaty with Dunlevcj Prince of Ulad (the present county of Down), treacherously made him captive, and tore out his eyes in prison. This abominable perfidy roused the northern chieftains into insurrection ; a rapid and general revolt took place ; and at the bat- tle of Litterluin O'Lachlan fell, and the power of his femily was annihilated (a. d. 1167). Roderick O'Connor, the son of Turlogh, ascended the vacant throne, appai*ently without waiting for the forms of au election, and immediately prepared to avenge the iKTongs which had been inflicted on the partisans of Lis family. The Prince of Breffiiy was a willing as- sistant to the new monarch ; and the feudatories of Dermod, anxious to regain their independence, readi- ly promised to favour his designs. On the advaiK5e p£ O'Connor into Leinster, Dermod found himself deserted by all his vassals ; and, unable to make any effective resistance, he set fire to Ferns, his capital city, and fled with a small train to solicit the aid of foreigners. This is the account given by the native Irish historians, and it bears all the internal marks of truth. The assertion, that Dermod was driven out as the ravisher of Dervorghal, rather than the partisan of O'Lachlan, rests solely on the authority of Giraldus Cambrensis, who, coming into the coun- try as a stranger long after the transaction, might easily have mistaken a prominent, though incidental circumstance, for the principal cause of the war,
43 HISTORY OF THE I
especially as it was the occasion of the first act of hostility on the part of Turlogh O'Connor.
Henry's claim to the lordship of Ireland was pro- bably the motive that induced Dermod to invoke the assistance of that monarch, since no other plau- sible reason can be assigned for his not rather seek- ing the aid of the Munster princes, who were the hereditary rivals of the O'Connors, or claiming aid from the Kings of France or Scotland, both more intimately connected with Ireland at the period, (a. d. 1 168), When the exiled prince arrived in Bristol, he found that Henry was absent in Gui- enne ; and thither he immediately proceeded, accom- panied by his secretary, Maurice Regan. Having stated his wrongs to Henry, he made him a tender of his allegiance; and having performed liege ho- mage, received from the Norman king letters-patent, authorizing any of his English subjects that pleased to aid in the restoration of the dethroned monarch. Henry also recommended Dermod to remain in Bristol, until he could himself come personally to his assistance. The quarrel with Thomas-a-Becket, and the hostility of the French King, however, de- layed the English monarch so long, that Dermod 'was almost reduced to despair. In this extremityj. he resolved to avail himself of the King's letter, and solicit the assistance of those Norman adventurers who had settled in Wales.
In the beginning of this century, several of theNcH*- man soldiers, who had not received any share of the Saxon estates, or who had wasted in dissipation the lands acquired by the conquest, obtained from the Anglo-Norman kings letters of license to conquer for themselves dominions in Wales* The southern
CIVIL WABS OF IRELAND. 43
part of the country was the principal scene of these invasions, which were for the most part successful ; and the county of Pembroke having been subdued by a mixed body of Normans, Flemings and Eng- lish, was so completely dissevered from the princi- pality, that it was usually called Little England be- yond Wales. Gilbert, Earl of Pembroke, the chief of this little territory, had a son, Richard, Earl of Strigul (now Chepstow), surnamed Strongbow, from his feats of archery. Strongbow was celebrated for his valour and military skill ; but his dissipated ha- bits had ruined his fortunes ; and his notorious am- bition deprived him of royal favour. To this no- bleman, Dermod made application for assistance, promising him, that, if restored by his aid, he would give him his daughter Eva in marriage, and secure him the inheritance of his kingdom — a promise di- rectly at variance with the Irish law, which made the succession to the crown elective, and acknow- ledged no right in the female descendants. Strong- bow lent a willing ear to these conditions ; but, fear- ing the jealousy of Henry, refused to sail, imtil he received his sovereign's special permission. While Richard was thus delayed, Dermod succeeded in en- gaging other adventurers, equally brave and unscru- pulous, but not so powerful as Earl Richard. The chief of these was Robert Fitz- Stephen, the gover- nor of Cardigan, in South Wales. He had been thrown into prison by Rice, or Rhees-ap-Griffith, one of the Welsh princes, for refusing to join in an insurrection agamst the Norman power ; and he was now released, on condition of departing with his fol- lowers to another country, where they could offer no resistance to the meditated revolt. Witli him were joined Maurice Fitzgerald, his maternal brother, the
!44 , HISTORY Of THE
«on of the Bishop of St David's, Meiler Fitz-Henry, Maurice de Prendergast, Herve of Montmarais, and some other knights of reputation. Having made these arrangements, Dermod prematurely returned to Ireland, where he was soon exposed to the most im- minent danger. On the news of his arrival, O'Con- nor and O'Rourke marched against him with their united forces ; and MacMurchad, unable to make any effective resistance, retired with a few adherents into the fastnesses of Hy-Kinsellagh, a wild district on the banks of the river Slaney. At the same time, he despatched his friend and secretary Maurice into Wales, to expedite the auxiliaries who had promised their assistance. The attempts made by the troops of Connaught to force the post occupied by Der- ■mod, were repulsed with some loss ; and Roderick, being at the same time alarmed by the report of a meditated revolt in Munster, entered into an accom- modation with the crafty monarch, and allowed him 40 retain a portion of his dominions, on condition of paying tribute.
', In the beginning of May, A. D. 1170, the Nor- man invaders for the first time appeared on the coast of Ireland. They landed at a place called Bann, on the southern coast of the county of Wexford, and immediately sent messengers to notify their arrival to -Dermod. This little army consisted only of thirty knights, sixty heavy-armed soldiers, and three hun- dred archers, under the command of Fitz-Stephen, and ten knights, and two hundred archers, headed by Prendergast — forces so apparently inadequate to the feats recorded of them, that their achievements, at first sight, seem like the wild fictions of romance. But a little examination of the circumstances in which the Normans and Ifish were placed, will soon
CIVIL WARS OF IRELAND. 45
explain this apparent disproportion between cause and effect. The former had been miUtary adven- turers for more than a century. Having no depend- ence but their swords, they had devoted themselves, from infancy, to the exercises of chivalry, and valued no possession but their arms and horses. Their cross-bows and their discipline had decided the fate of England at the battle of Hastings ; and the wars on the Continent had taught them to improve these advantages to the utmost. The Irish, on the con- trary, had never served out of their own country. They had learned none of those improvements in the art of war which made the name of Norman formid- able throughout Europe. Their soldiers still used the light weapons and the thin defences which had suf- ficed for their ancestors ; their cavalry was mounted on the native breed of horses, called hobbies, light and active, indeed, but not so formidable as the powerful war-horse of the foreign knights. It is no wonder, then, that the Normans, locked in complete steel, and mounted on their brilliant chargers, should have easily routed the half-naked and badly-mount- ed troops with whom they had to contend.
The first enterprise undertaken by the King of Lcinster and his associates, was the siege of Wex- brd, a Danish town of great strength and import- iRcu. An attempt was made to carry it by assault, n which eighteen of the assailants, and only three ;f the garrison, were slain ; but such was the im- ,)rc,ssion produced by the formidable array of the jSIormans, that the garrison, at the instigation of the jlergy, offered to capitulate; and after a delay of jhree days, principally caused by the obstinate pride )f Dermod, the town was surrendered on equitable erms.
VOL. I. . C
46 HISTORY OF THE
In pursuance of his promises, Dermod bestowed the lordship of Wexford and the surrounding dis- tricts on Fitz-Stephen, conjointly with Fitz-Gerald, though the latter had not yet arrived ; and he pre- sented to Herve of Montmarais two districts on the coast between Waterford and Wexford. Herve planted in these territories, which form the present baronies of Bargy and Forth, a colony of the Bel- gians who had settled in Pembroke ; and their de- scendants, even at the present day, continue to be distinguished from the inhabitants of the surround- ing districts by their peculiar dialect and customs.
After these donations, Dermod resolved to turn his arms against Donald Mac-Gilla Phadric, (a name afterwards anglicized into Fitz-Patrick), the King of Ossory. Donald had not only deserted Dermod at the commencement of his misfortunes, but had also been guilty of the murder of his son in a fit of ma- trimonial jealousy. Suspecting that his queen view- ed the princely prisoner too favourably, Donald tore out his eyes with his own hands, and the hapless youth died in consequence. The war in Ossory (part of the modem county of Kilkenny) was more formidable than the attack of Wexford. Donald stationed his forces in an intrenched camp, whose strength defied the assaults of the Normans ; and the utmost efforts of valour and skill were unable to overcome the advantages of his position. In this difficulty, Fitz-Stephen had recourse to stratagem. He ordered his men to feign a retreat ; and when the Ossorians rushed from their camp with alj the ela- tion of imagined victory, the men-at-arms suddenly wheeled into line, and presented " a wall of steel,
* The forcible expression of an Irish annalist on a Simifi' occasion. ■ . '
CIVIL WARS OF IRELAND. 47
which the half-naked Irish could not penetrate. Sur- prised at this sudden check, they wavered ; and the charge of the knights, at this decisive moment, at once decided the fate of the day. Ossory was wasted with fire and sword ; but the victors were terrified by the dangerous nature of the country, and resolved to secure their booty by a timely retreat. Donald, more irritated than daunted by calamity, seized a dif- ficult pass through which the invaders should pass on their return, and, but for the precipitancy of his followers, must have obtained decisive revenge. De- ceived by the same stratagem as before, the Ossori- ans rushed from their intrenchments. A party placed in ambush by Dermod suddenly assaulted their rear, and the lines of the Normans in their front could not be broken. The people of Ossory suffered more severely in this than in the former engagement. As soon as the fate of the battle was decided, the Irish of Dermod's party, whose equivocal fidelity seems to have been decided by success, made a fierce slaugh- tier of their flying countrymen ; and when the pursuit ceased, cut off the heads of the fallen, and brought them to Dermod as a trophy. It is said that the King of Leinster, finding among these ghastly spoils the head of one of his most virulent persecutors, in- dulged his ferocious revenge by mangling the face with his teeth ; but the story rests on the unsupport- ed testimony of Giraldus Cambrensis, a credulous writer, who loses no opportunity of maligning the character of the native Irish.
Dennod, encouraged by his successes, proceeded to punish the defection of the several septs which had been subject to hira during the Hy-Nial dynas- ty ; but, contrary to the advice of his allies, he con- tented himself with plundering the country, and took
48 HISTORY OF THE
no measures to secure his conquests. The defectiijii of Maurice de Prendergast exposed him to new and unexpected danger. This military adventurer, be- lieving that his services were not properly appreci- ated, went over to the Prince of Ossory, and thus enabled him to act on the offensive. But this new alliance was of brief duration. Prendergast, after hav- ing assisted the Ossorians in an expedition against the O'Moores of Leix, discovered that Donald's follow- ers treacherously meditated the murder of their al- lies, in order to secure their part of the plunder ; and, justly irritated, returned once more to Dermod. The arrival of Maurice Fitz-Gerald with a fresh band of Normans, made the superiority of the King of Lein- Ster so decisive, that the Ossorian prince offered terms of submission, which, on the recommendation of the Normans, were reluctantly accepted.
While the first adventurers were thus employed, Strongbow had proceeded in person to King Henry, in order that he might obtain permission to lead the adventurers in Ireland. Henry, swayed both by jealousy and ambition, was equally unwilling to as- sent or refuse. He made an equivocal answer, which the Earl took for a full approbation, and, returning to Wales, made extensive preparations for his expedi- tion. Raymond le Gros, who headed the vanguard of the new armament, was sent with ten knights and seventy archers to secure a landing-place for the rest of the army (a, D. 1171.) He arrived about the middle of May in the noble estuary formed by the confluence of the Nore, the Suir, and the Barrow, a little below the city of Waterford, and, landing at a place called by the old historians Downdonnell, or Dundonolf, immediately erected a fortification of earth and sods to protect his little army.
CIVIL WARS OF IRELAND. 49
Waterford had been originally a colony of the Danes or Ostmen, and was still inhabited by their descendants. It was governed by two Danish prin- ces, Reginald and Swarth, and appears to have en- joyed a qualified independence. The news of Ray- mond's landing considerably alarmed the citizens, es- pecially when they remembered the fate of Wexford which was now subjected to the Norman Fitz-Ste- phen. Resolving to crush the evil in the bud, they summoned to their assistance some of the neighbour- ing septs, and closely blockaded the new fort. Ray- mond had, in the meantime, collected a great store of cattle from the neighbouring districts, which he drove against the lines of the besiegers. Before the Irish could recover from their confusion, the Normans charged and obtained a victory, as great as it was unexpected. More than a thousand were slain, and about seventy taken prisoners. The conquerors did not make a generous use of their victory. The captives were massacred in cold blood, * by order of Raymond, enraged at the loss of his brother-in- arms, De Bevin, who was slain in the battle.
Henry had, in the mean time, peremptorily com- manded Strongbow to desist from his enterprise. But the Earl, trusting that success would atone for his disobedience, set sail, and arrived in the bay of Waterford with a force of two hundred knights, and about twelve hundred infantry. The day after his landing, Strongbow, by the advice of Raymond, advanced to the attack of Waterford ; and, after
* In this aud some other details, the authority of Maurioe Regan (secretary to King Dermod) has been followed, in pre- ference to that of Giraldus Cambrensis. Regan was an eye- witness, and a principal actor in all these transactions. The information of Cambrensis was derived from hearsay.
50 HISTORY OF THE
having Inspected the fortifications, determined to hazard an assault. Twice the Normans were rer pulsed by the garrison ; but one of the captains ob- serving, at the eastern angle, a cage-work house that projected beyond the walls, cut away the props by which it was supported ; and. the breach caused by the fall of the house opened an entrance for the as- sailants. The resistance of the garrison was pu- nished by a merciless slaughter, which continued until the arrival of Dermod. The king successfully exerted himself to save the lives of his countrymen ; and as soon as the work of murder had ceased, so- lemnized the stipulated marriage between Strongbow and his daughter Eva. The nuptials were celebrated with such maimed rites as the time allowed ; and immediately after, the confederates determined to march against Dublin, whose inhabitants had thrown off their allegiance to Dermod.
The news of these successes at length roused Roderick from his inactivity. He assembled a nu- merous army, with which he advanced to Clondal- kan, between the invaders and Dublin ; but no sooner had his followers seen the formidable array of the Normans, than they lost all courage, and dispersed without coming to an engagement. Dermod pur- sued his march without further interruption ; for Hesculph MacTurkill, the prince of the Ostmen in Dublin, after the retreat of the King of Connaught, was unwilling to hazard an engagement. Though the number of the besiegers was less than that of the garrison, the governor readily offered to capitu- late ; but as the terms could not be arranged to the mutual satisfaction of both parties, Strongbow re- solved to hazard an assault, which was completely successful. The slaughter was dreadful ; for the ci-
CIVIL WARS OF IRELAND. 51
tizens, though deserted by the soldiers, made a desperate defence. It was of course unsuccessful. Many were slain ; and numbers of those who es- caped the sword were drowned in the river. Hes- culph and a great part of the garrison, on the first alarm, fled to their ships, and escaped to the He- brides. The victorious Normans next made an in- cursion into Meath, where they met with little re- sistance. After a brief campaign they returned to Dublin, laden with plunder. Roderick, unable or unwilling to meet the enemy in the field, sent am- bassadors to remonstrate with Dermod ; but, finding that the King of Leinster, elated by success, paid little regard to his requests, he ordered the hostages which had been given to him before the arrival of the Normans to be instantly beheaded. One of these unfortunate victims was Dermod's natural son. The slaughter of him and his companions complet- ed the alienation of MacMurrough from the cause of his country; and at his death, which occurred soon after, he bequeathed his dominions to Strong- bow, and exhorted him to maintain the possession.
The death of Dermod was followed by the defec- tion of his vassals ; and several other events which occurred about the same time were still more unfa- vourable to the Normans. A general council of the Irish clergy was held at Armagh. After a long de- liberation, they declared that the success of the in-, vaders was owing to the anger of Heaven, which the Irish had provoked by purchasing English slaves fi-om the merchants of Bristol — a city long infamous for this traffic in human flesh. The slaves through- out the country were immediately liberated ; and the Irish, believing that the Divine wrath was thus avert- ed, felt proportionally elated. In England, Henry,
52 HISTORY OF THE
more jealous than ever of Strongbow's success, issu- ed an edict, strictly forbidding the exportation of men, arms or ammunition, to Ireland.
Under these circumstances, Strongbow learned, with dismay, that a formidable confederacy for the expulsion of the, invaders had been formed by the native Irish, the Danes of the Hebrides, and the corsairs in the Isle of Man. Strongbow immedi-^ ately sent orders to Fitz- Stephen to send part of the garrison of Wexford to assist in the defence of Dub- lin. But the people of Wexford no sooner saw the number of their masters weakened, than they burst into insurrection, slew the greater part, and sent the rest as prisoners to an island in the bay. The news of this calamity reached Strongbow at the mo- ment when his courage began to waver on account of the overwhelnjing force of the enemy. He imme- diately sent Laurence O'Toole, Archbishop of Dub- lin, to propose terms of accommodation to Roderick^ I and offered to acknowledge himself his vassal. The' ' Archbishop is said, by many authors, to have been the original instigator of the confederacy ; but this opinion seems to have little foundation in truth ; for he would scarcely have remained voluntarily in a garrison of which he had planned the destruction. Roderick declared, that he would enter into no treaty, of which the departure of the Normans from the island should not be a preliminary ; and, in case of a refusal, threatened to give immediate orders for an assault. When these terms were proposed in the council of the adventurers, Milo de Cogan declared his resolution rather to die in battle, than to pur- chase uncertain safety by disgraceful submission. These noble sentiments were applauded by the en- tire assembly ; and, before their enthusiasm had j
CIVIL WARS OF IRELAND. 53
time to cool, the troops were drawn out, for the ap- parently desperate enterprise of assaulting the Irish camp. The effect of the surprise was decisive. The besiegers fled, almost without striking a blow. Roderick made no effort to rally his troops ; and the Normans, with the loss of only a single man, ob- tained a complete victory. The Danes returned to their ships as soon as they learned the event, and, departing to the Hebrides, relieved Strongbow from all his difficulties. The affairs of the south next en- gaged the attention of the Earl. He advanced to Wexford, which the inhabitants burned, and deserted on his approach ; but ♦while he was preparing to take a severe vengeance for their revolt and inve- terate hostility, he was deterred, by their threat of massacring Fitz- Stephen and their other prisoners. On his march, he escaped imminent danger from an ambuscade prepared by the sept of the O'Ryans at Hydrone (in the modem county of Carlow). The Normans were assailed in a narrow pass, where their superior discipline availed but little ; and their de- feat would have been inevitable, had not the leader <rf the Irish been slain by an arrow, on which his followers immediately dispersed.
The Earl next proceeded to Waterford, where he was visited by his brother-in-law, O'Brien, Prince of Thomond, who had married the daughter of Der- mod. An expedition against the King of Ossory was planned by the two kinsmen, and a powerful anny advanced into the territories of this inveterate enemy of their deceased father-in-law. Donald was unable to withstand the united forces, and sent to offer terms of peace. A personal interview was ar- ranged, by the mediation of Maurice de Prender-
54 HISTORY OF THE
gast ; and Donald having received an assurance of safety, came to the Norman camp. O'Brien and Strongbow were inclined to violate their safe-con- duct, and throw the King of Ossory into prison ; but Maurice de Prendergast, notwithstanding what he had himself suffered from Donald's treachery, openly protested against this breach of faith, and threatened to resist it by force of arms. The Earl yielded to this noble remonstrance ; and the Prince of Ossor)' was dismissed in safety. Soon after, an expedition was undertaken against the O'Byrnes of Wicklow, who were easily subdued ; but, in the midst of his triumphs, Strongbow received an order from Henry, so peremptory that he dared not disobey. Intrust- ing, therefore, the government to De Cogan, he em- barked for England.
A. D. 1171. — During the Earl's absence, Hes- culph MacTurkill, with a powerful army raised among the Norwegians of Man and the Hebrides, made a formidable attack on Dublin. Cogan ob- tained the assistance of a neighbouring Irish prince named Gillemoholmogh, whom he bound by oath to slay the Normans if they fled, and to join in the pursuit of the Norwegians, should the followers of Cogan obtain the victory. A fierce battle was fought at the eastern gate of the city, nearly on the ground occupied by the modern Dame Street and Cork Hill. The Normans, under the command of the governor, vigorously repulsed every assault ; and Richard Co- gan, issuing with a chosen band from the south gate, suddenly attacked the Norwegians in the rear, and threw them into fatal confusion. This was the time for Gillemoholmogh to perform his promise. He accordingly ordered his light troops to pursue the
CIVIL WARS OF IRELAND. 55
fugitives ; and the Irish, mindful of their ancient hostility to the Danes, sternly refused all quarter. More than two thousand of the enemy were killed ; and the few that escaped to the ships only delayed their fate; for a fierce storm arose, in which the greater part of the fleet was dashed to pieces. Mae- Turkill was taken prisoner by Richard Cogan, and sentenced to immediate execution — the governor pre- tending, that, as a pirate, he was excluded from the laws of war. Thus ended the last expedition of the Danes or Ostmen to Ireland ; and though many of their descendants remained in the country, especially in the seaports, they are never, after this event, no- ticed as a separate people.
Before venturing into the presence of Henry, Strongbow sent his friend Raymond le Gros to con- ciliate the irritated monarch ; but Raymond unfor- tunately arrived at the time of the murder of the unfortunate Becket, when Henry was too deeply engaged in averting the consequences of that rash and wicked deed, to attend to the affairs of Ire- land. By exerting all his ability and ingenuity, Henry succeeded in regaining the favour of the Pa- pal court ; and, immediately after his return to Eng- land, summoned Strongbow into his presence. By the intercession of Herve de Monte-marisoo (now called Mountmorris), the Earl was reconciled to his sovereign, and permitted to retain all his Irish possessions under the English crown. But, notwithstanding the pardon given to Strongbow, Henry availed himself of the Irish expedition, as a plausible pretext for seizing on all the castles in Pem- broke, under pretence that they were justly forfeited, by their owners having encouraged an illegal arma-
56 HISTORY OF THE
ment. Having thus strengthened his power in Wales, Henry offered up his solemn devotions in the church of Saint David's, and then proceeded to Milford Haven, where a powerful fleet and army had been directed to assemble.
CIVIL WARS OF IRELAND. 57
CHAPTER IV. The Reign of Henry II.
A. D. 1172. — The news of Henry's extensive pre- parations were received in Ireland with an apathy and unconcern which would be wholly unaccountable, if there had not been some previous negotiations with the Irish prelates and princes. While he was yet delayed in Milford, many tenders of submission and allegiance were received in the royal camp ; and, a- mongst others, the men of Wexford sent ambassa- dors to excuse their late insurrection, declaring that they had seized Fitz-Stephen as a traitor to his ma- jesty, and only detained him until the royal pleasure was known. In the latter end of October, Henry arrived in the harbour of Waterford. He came pro- fessedly not to conquer the country ; but to take pos- session of an island granted him by the Pope ; and he relied for success on clerical intrigue, rather than force of arms. The morning after his arrival, he received the submission of MacArthy, the powerful chief of Desmond, or South Munster, who resigned all his estates into the hands of the King. They were all regranted immediately on the usual conditions of feudal tenure, except the city of Cork, which Henry reserved to himself. MacArthy's example was im- mediately followed by the Princes of Thomond, Os-
58 HISTORY OP THE
sory, and the Decies. Even O'Rourke of Breffney, whose family had been so long the most eminent partisans of the O'Connor dynasty, came to meet the English monarch on his march to Dublin, and humbly tendered his allegiance. On his arrival in Wexford, Henry allowed himself to be persuaded to pronounce the pardon of Fitz- Stephen. The gallant adventurer was permitted to retain the lands which he had received from MacMurchad ; but the town of Wexford was declared a royal garrison and an inalienable possession of the crown. While the most extensive preparations were making to celebrate the festivities of Christmas in Dublin, on a scale of magnificence to which the Irish toparchs were hi- therto unaccustomed, Hugh de Lacy and William Fitz-Adelm de Burgo were sent against Roderick O'Connor, who, with the haughty chief of the Hy- Nials, still disdained all terms of submission. The inclemency of the season, and the difficulties of the country, rendered this expedition ineffectual, and the army returned to Dublin. In a temporary struc- ture, erected outside the gates of the city, the Irish pinces who had submitted were splendidly feasted by their new sovereign ; and, far fi-om regretting the loss of their iradependence, they congratulated them- selves on becoming the subjects of a monarch so powerful as Henry Fitz-Empress, for by this name the native historians invariably designate the Norman monarch, in order to gratify their national pride, and excuse their subjection by the great nobility of their master. To fulfil the conditions of the Papal grant, and to provide for the future administration of the country, Henry summoned a synod of the Irish princes and prelates at Cashel, under the presidency of Christian, Bishop of Lismore, the legate of the
CIVIL WARS OF IRELAND. 59
Holy See. To this council came the Archbishops of Dublin, Tuam, and Cashel ; the Bishops of the different sees in the South and East ; a few of the Enghsh clergy ; the most powerful toparchs of Mun- ster and Leinster ; and all the Norman barons who had obtained, or hoped to obtain, grants of Irish estates. The bull of Pope Adrian, and its con- firmation by Alexander, were read in the assem- bly ; the sovereignty of Ireland granted to Henry by acclamation ; and several regulations made for in- creasing the power and privileges of the clergy, and assimilating the discipline of the Irish church to that which the Romish See had established in west- ern Europe. Gelasius, Archbishop of Ardmagh, did not attend the synod, but excused himself on account of his age and infirmities ; but he subse- quently came to Dubhn, and publicly gave his full assent to all the proceedings. The rest of the win- ter was spent in preparations for extending and se- curing the conquests ; but, unfortunately, before Henry could put the wise plans which he meditated into execution, he was suddenly summoned to Eng- land by the alanning intelligence of the rebellion of his ungrateful sons, and of the arrival of two Papal legates, to inquire into the circumstances of Becket's murder. Sensible of his danger, the monarch sailed from Wexford on the feast of Easter, 1173, " leav- ing behind him, " as Sir John Davis remarks, " not one more true subject than he had found on his first arrival. " The government of Ireland was intrusted to Hugh de Lacy, with Robert Fitz-Stephen and Maurice Fitz-Gerald as his assistants. The celebrated John de Courcy, the tales of whose prowess are so wild and romantic, was encouraged to imdertake the conquest of Ulster, by a grant of all the land which
60 HISTORY OF THE
he could wrest from the native possessors ; and tlil§ entire county of Meath was given to Hugh de Lacy. The premature departure of Henry was the primary cause of all the evils under which Ireland laboured for centuries. Had he completed the subjugation of the country, he would naturally have established a uniform system of law and government ; he would have made his followers, and the native inhabitants, bear the common name of fellow-subjects. Unfor- tunately, after his departure, the extension of the Anglo-Norman power was intrusted to private ad- venturers, whose rewards were the spoils of the van- quished. When spoliation was thus legalized, it is not surprising that many Norman leaders were im- scrupulous in the selection of their victims, and seized the lands of those who were in the King's peace, as eagerly as the estates of those who still disdained submission. Indeed, the septs which had been foremost in acknowledging the Norman sove- reignty, were the greatest sufferers. The adven- turers seized their lands on any pretence, or on no pretence. The provincial governors were bribed by a share of the spoil to refuse redress ; and an ap- peal to the sovereign was difficult on account of the distance, and not likely to succeed, when the crime was supposed favourable to the royal interests. The settlement at the synod of Cashel was manifestly misunderstood by all the parties concerned. The clergy believed that Henry assumed the title of Lord Paramount only as deputy to the Pope. The to- parchs supposed, that, by their tender of allegiance, they only conceded the precarious sovereignty which had been enjoyed by the native princes ; and Henry imagined that he had secured the possession of the island, though his power really extended not beyond
CIVIL WARS OF IRELAND. 61
ike places actually colonized by the Normans. The distinction between the new settlers and the natives was preserved more forcibly by the continuance of the Brehon law, and the old customs of tenure and descent. The English laws were granted only to the Norman settlers, to the citizens of the principal seaports, and to a few who obtained charters of deni- zation as a matter of favour. Five principal septs, the O'Neills of Ulster, the O'Connors of Con- naught, the O'Briens of Thomond, the O'Lachlans or Melachlans of Meath, and the MacMurroghs, called also Kavenaghs, of Leinster, were received within the pale of English law ; but all the rest were esteemed aliens or enemies, and could neither sue nor be sued, even down to the reign of Eliza- beth. This, in fact, amounted to a total denial of justice for any wrongs inflicted on the natives. *
'- * One instance may be quoted as an example. It occura among the rolls of pleas, 28. Edward III.
" Simon Neal complains of William Newlagh, tliat he, with force and arms, on the Monday after the feast of Saint Mar- garet, at Clondalkin, in the county of Dublin, broke the said Simon's close and his herbage with oxen, calves and sheep, consumed and trampled, contrary to the peace, &c. ; whence he says, that he is damaged to the amount of twenty shiUings j and thereof, &c.
I ** And the aforesaid William comes now and says, that the aforesaid Simon is an Irishman, and not of the five bloods ; and asks judgment if he be held to answer him.
" And the aforesaid Simon says, that he is one of the five bloods, to wit, of the O'Neales of Ulster, who, by the conces- sion of the progenitors of our lord the king, ought to enjoy and use the liberties of England, and be deemed as freemen ; and this he offers to verify, &c.
" And the aforesaid William says, that Simon is an Irish- man, and not of the O'Neales of Ulster, nor of the five bloods; and thereupon issue is joined, &c. Wherefore let a jnry, &c.
VOL. I. D
f9' HISTORY OF THE
The old rolls contain numberless instances of com- plaints made for various acts of violence, to which the defendants plead, that " the plaintiff is an Irish- man, and not of the five bloods, " an answer which, if verified, was always held sufiicient. When ai> English settler was slain, the murderer was executed according to English law ; but the death of a native was compensated by an ericy according to the Bre- hon code. Such an incongruity afforded so many chances of escape to the powerful, and opened so many facilities for suppression, that we cwmot won- der at the opposition which all plans for the esta- blishment of a uniform system of law received jfroia, the adventurers and their descendants.
The incompleteness of the conquest produced ano- ther evil of even greater magnitude, whese effects are not wholly effaced at the present day. We have seen that land was held at the pleasure of the to- parch, that all his followers were tenants at will, who might be dispossessed at a moment's warning. The possession of similar power was ardently desired by the Normau barons. With short-sighted policy, they preferred a horde of miserable serfs to a body of sub- stantial yeomanry ; and they sacrificed readily their true interests,, and the interests of both countries, to secure this object of their unworthy ambition. A similar folly seems to have seized oa the successive
" Whlcli jurors say upon their oath, that the aforesaid Simon is of the O'Neales of Ulster, and is of the fivse bloods, which, by the concession of the progenitors of our lord the king, ought to enjoy and use the liberties of England, and be deemed as freemen ; and they assess the damages at ten pence. Therefore it Ls considered, that the aforesaid Simon should re- cover against the aforesaid William the damages aforesaid, and that the aforesaid William should be committed to jail, ua- tU, " &c.
fp eXVIL WARS OF IRELAND. 63
•Hgarchies that have wielded the destinies of Ire- land. Nothing was deemed so formidable as an inde- pendent tenantrj' ; no possession more desirable than m estate stocked with beings who were slaves in all but the name. Hence, for many centuries, the valu- able class of substantial farmers was utterly un- known in Ireland — hence the number of such is even now inconsiderable — and hence the great mass always ready for insurrection, when summoned by popular leaders or by their own passions ; men possessing no sympathy with their landlords, for never did commu- nity of feeling exist between master and slave ; men having nothing to lose in agrarian tumult, and every thing to hope from the prospect of revolution. The iforman oligarchs (if such a word may be used) ilrere bad masters and worse subjects. The monarchs 'soon found the degenerate English who had adopt- ed Irish customs more obstinate and more formidable enemies than the natives. In the language of the old •historians, " they were more Irish than the Irish themselves ;" and, from their first settlement, their principal object and that of their successors was, to control, and if possible prevent, the wholesome in- fluence of the British government, in order to main- tain their own monopoly of oppression. Had Henry remained a sufficient time to complete his prudent plans, he might really have established an English interest in Ireland ; but he only left behind him an oligarchy, which, like all other oligarchies in a coun- try possessing the semblance of freedom, was ever jealous of the sovereign, and odious to the people.
Scarcely had Henry departed, when new commo- tions proved how insecure was the settlement which he had effected. Strongbow was obliged to send an army to collect the promised tributje from tlie tor-
64 HISTORY OF THE
parchs in Ofally. On his return, his forces were sud- denly attacked in a defile, and Robert de Quincy, his son-in-law and standard-bearer, slain. The grant of Meath to Lacy occasioned more important tumults. Some of the toparchs,but especially O'Ruark of BrefF- ney, had been received into the King's peace, and con- firmed in their possessions ; but they justly dreaded, that the formidable castles which Lacy was erecting and garrisoning, would prove too powerful for royal '■ \ grants and legal claims. It was proposed that O'- Ruark and Lacy should arrange their respective boundaries in an amicable conference on the hill of Tarah ; and thither both repaired with trusty bands of their adherents. Both parties are accused of treachery, and very probably both were equally guilty. The conference terminated in a furious engagement. Lacy was with difficulty rescued by Fitz-Gerald ; but O'Ruark was slain on the spot with a great number of his followers. Similar incidents alienated th6 af- fection of the princes who had submitted to the Nor- man dynasty. They found that the sovereign was un- willing or unable to afford them protection against the avaricious adventurers ; and they resolved to take advantage of the difficulties in which Henry was placed, and make one bold effort for independence. The rebellion of Henry's unnatural children was supported by his inveterate enemy the King of France, and by many of the diminished native tribes that inhabited the north-western shores of Gaul. His queen and several of the English nobles had joined the infamous confederacy, and there seemed no means by which his ruin could be averted. But the abili- ties of Henry rose superior to danger. He took into his pay a large body of those military adventurers called Braban 90ns, who wandered through Europe
CIVIL WARS OF IRELAND. 65
in, search of an employer. He summoned his adhe- rents from every part of his dominions ; and he used all the diplomatic arts, of which he was a con- summate master, to sow discord between the mem- bers of the alliance formed against him. The alacri- ty with which Strongbow hastened in this con- juncture to bring assistance to his sovereign, effaced the jealousy which had been previously entertained of his designs. He was sent back to Ireland with the authority of Lord-deputy, and, with what he deemed of equal importance, permission to avail himself of Raymond's abilities in any enterprise that appeared advisable. Immediately after his arrival, Strongbow took care to remove those leaders whose ambition would probably have induced them to re- sist his authority. Lacy, Cogan, Fitz- Stephen and Fitz-Gerald, were ordered into England to assist the King of England in his war against the Scots ; and the danger of their jealousy being thus removed, Raymond was ordered to lead the English army into the territories of the revolted princes. This expe- dition was equally successful and profitable. Ray- mond laid waste the district of Ofally, and extended his ravages into the south of Munster. He led his army, laden with plunder, to Lismore, and resolved to send the booty thence to Waterford for greater security. The Prince of Desmond and the people of Cork, having heard of the rich stores about to be transmitted to Waterford, fitted out a fleet, support- ed by an army, to intercept them on their passage ; but on the same day they were defeated both by land and sea, and Raymond entered Waterford in all the pomp of military triumph.
These victories made Raymond a great favourite vith the soldiers ; and his readiness to wink 'it ''^^"
66 HISTORY OP THE
(excesses, secured him their affections. Relying ofi this power, and elated by success, he now ventured to ask for the hand ofBasilia, Strongbow's sister, and the office of standard-bearer of Leinster. Irritated at the peremptory refusal of both his demands, Ray- mond returned to Wales, and the command of the army was given to Herve of Mountmarais, a man of inferior abilities, and greatly disliked for the severity of his discipline. Emulous of rivalling Raymond's fame, Herv6 persuaded Strongbow to attempt the subjugation of Munster. The army advanced to Cashel without encountering any opposition ; but an auxiliary force of Ostmen from Dublin was sur- prised by O'Brien near Thurles, and cut to pieces. The news of this calamity showed Strongbow the ne- cessity of immediate retreat. He retired with great precipitation to Waterford ; and the Irish, magnify- ing this slight advantage into a decisive victory, de- clared that they would never make peace until they had expelled the invaders. The new confederacy was joined by the Kavenaghs, and the other princi- pal septs which had hitherto supported the Normans in all their efforts ; a fact from which it may fairly be presumed, that gratitude to their allies was as little a virtue of the invaders as mercy to the van- quished ; and Roderick O'Connor was induced to place himself at the head of a confederacy which seemed to enjoy the fairest prospects of success. ) In this difficulty, Strongbow found himself forced to have recourse to Raymond le Gros, and sent mes- sengers to solicit the return of that valiant leader. Raymond readily acceded to the request. He col- lected a new band of adventurers ; and, crossing the Sea, arrived in Waterford when the inhabitants were called*,* point of attempting a general massacre of the
CIVIL WARS OP IRELAND. B7
gcrrtson. The nuptials of Raymond and Basilia were celebrated at Wexford ; and on the following morning, the bridegroom proceeded to check the advance of O'Connor's army, which now threatened an attack on Dublin. But the Irish monarch was unable to bring his tumultuous forces to an engage^ raent. Eager to secure the plunder they had ob- tained in Meath, the chieftains insisted on returning home ; nor could they be persuaded to make a stand when Raymond overtook their rear, and slaughtered several companies almost without resistance. Hav- ing repaired the castles which had been destroyed in Meath, Raymond next led his army into Munster, to punish O'Brien, Prince of Thomond. He was attended by his usual good fortune. The Irish troops everywhere fled at his approach. Limerick was taken with little loss, and its plunder enriched the victorious army.
This last defeat convinced Roderick O'Connor, who seems to have desponded from the very begin- ning, that nothing but timely submission could save him from impending ruin ; but, disdaining to nego- tiate with Strongbowj he sent ambassadors to King Henry, then in England. A treaty was concluded on equitable conditions, which, like most treaties of the time, was observed no longer than served the purposes of the stronger party. Roderick was con- firmed in the possession of his hereditary domi- nions, and permitted to retain the empty title of King of Ireland.
The favourable prospects thus opened, were threat- ened with speedy extinction by the jealous suspicions of Henry. He lent a greedy ear to the tales which Herve told of Raymond's ambition ; and sent over four commissioners, two of whom were charge Ai^
68 HISTORY OF THE
conduct Raymond into England, and the others di- rected to investigate the proceedings of Strongbow.i The commissioners were received with all the respect due to their station. Raymond professed his readi- ness to obey ; but, while his departure was delayed by contrary winds, news arrived that O'Brien ol Thomond had again renewed the war, and had al- ready so vigorously pressed the siege of Limerick, that the garrison, unless instantly relieved, must ca-l pitulate. The army, zealously attached to Raymond,] and conscious of its own importance, refused toj march unless headed by the favourite general ; and the commissioners were forced to yield a reluctant assent to a requisition which confirmed all their sus- picions.
The expedition into Thomond was completely successful. O'Brien's army was routed near Cashel, notwithstanding the advantages of superior numbers, and a formidable position ; the siege of Limerick was raised ; and Munster was filled with terror and dis- may, by the rapid career of the victorious army. A civil war in Desmond, originating from that pregnant source of convulsions, the law of Tanistry, afforded Raymond a pretext for advancing into that country, Mac Arthy, Prince of Desmond, had been dethroned by his son Cormac, who feared that the succession would devolve on some other individual. The exiled toparch, having sworn allegiance to Henry, claimed the assistance of the English general, and promised a munificent reward if his restoration could be effect- ed. Raymond eagerly embraced the offer. He ad- vanced into Desmond, and, by the mere terror of his' arms, compelled the inhabitants to submit to their rightful sovereign. He was rewarded by the gift of
CIVIL WARS OF IRELAND. 69
«)me valuable lands in Kerry, which he retained and transmitted to his posterity.
In the midst of his triumphs, Raymond was a- larmed by the receipt of a mysterious letter from his wife Basilia. It stated, that her great tooth, which had ached so long, was at last fallen out, and entreated him to return with all speed to Dublin. This enig- matical announcement of Strongbow's death justly alarmed Raymond. He knew that the Irish, notwith- standing their pretended submissions, really abhorred the invaders, and he dreaded their seizing this op- portunity to join in a general revolt, and overwhelm the English army in detail. In this juncture, he ad- opted the wise plan of concentrating all his forces cwn the eastern coast, where assistance might easily be received from England. Withdrawing, therefore, the garrison from Limerick, he gave up the possession of the city to O'Brien, pretending to confide in his la- vish promises of fidelity, and his solemn oaths of al- legiance. The garrison, however, had scarcely pass- ed over the bridge, when they had the mortification to see it broken down behind them ; and at the same time, the flames that arose from the devoted city> showed how little oaths and promises could bind the perfidious Prince of Thomond.
The obsequies of Strongbow were performed in Dublin with great magnificence. He left behind him no male heir, which the superstitious chroniclers at- tribute to the sacrileges which he had committed or authorized. His character is drawn in very different colours by the historians of the English and Irish parties. From both it appears that he possessed, in no ordinary degree, the military skill, romantic dar- ing, and high chivalrous valour, that usually belonged to the Norman adventurers ; but that his military vir-
to HISTORY OF THE
tues were sullied by the cruelty, rapacity, and reck- lessness of the misery inflicted on the vanquished, which the Northern tribes and their descendants ex- hibited in all their conquests.
Raymond was chosen chief governor by the coun- cil until the King's pleasure could be known ; but Henry, yielding to jealousy, appointed as his deputy^ William Fitz-Andelm de Burgo, a nobleman allied to him by blood. The new governor was accompanied into Ireland by a gallant train of knights, among whom^ Fitz-Stephen de Cogan, and Fitz-Walter, the ances-' tor of the Ormond family, were most conspicuous* Another, and equally important deputy arrived at the same time. Vivian, the Papal legate, came over with a bull confirming the previous grants, and was attended by Wallingford, an English ecclesiastic, who was to assist him in reforming, that is, enslaving the Irish church (a. d. 1177.) While Fitz-Andeliit made an ostentatious progress along the coast, irit specting the fortifications which had been lately erect** &A., Vivian convened an assembly of the clergy at Waterford, in which the Papal bull was read and re- oisived, and the severest threats of spiritual vengeance denounced against those who should impeach the grant made by the successor of St Peter.
The state of Ireland during the administration of Fitz-Andelm, was the most miserable that can be conceived. The original invaders looked on the at- tendants of the Lord-deputy with suspicion ; and the new comers eagerly coveted the broad lands which had rewarded the valour of the first adventurers. The sons of Maurice Fitzgerald were compelled to exchange their lands, which lay in a secure part of the eountry, for others more exposed to the incursions of the Irish. ^ Raymond le Gros, and Robert Fitz^
CIVIL WARS OF IRELAND. 71
Stephen, were forced to a similar compliance; and the dangerous feeling of insecurity of property was uni*- versally diffused. De Courcy, with his brother-in- arms, Armoric St Laurence, invaded Ulster on his owTi account, and conquered the principality of Ukd (the county of Down). But the Irish would not tame*- ly submit to such spoliation, but maintained a bitter and wasting, though unsuccessful warfare, against the adventurers. MUo de Cogan was invited to invade Connaught, by the son of Roderick O'Connor, who wished to dethrone his father. He entered the couiUry with a powerful army; but the Irish burned their po- visions and destroyed their cattle, in order to deprive their enemies of subsistence. Desmond and Thow* mond were miserably devastated by civil wars between rival chieftains and ambitious claimants for the office of Tanist ; and the whole country was laid waste in these unnatural and bloody quarrels. All that had hitherto been regarded as sacred, was disregarded ; the churches afforded no shelter, the monasteries yielded no protection, the Norman soldiers paid no reverence to the sanctuaries, and the Irish burned them down when they found that they were no longer a safe refuge. Treachery and assassination were of such ordinary occurrence, that they ceased to be re* garded as criminal. The Tanist of the Hy-Nial was murdered by a rival lord ; the murderer, in his turn, fell by a similar crime ; and the partisans of both butchered each other without mercy, striving which could boast of the greater amount of iniquity. The imperfect records of the time, detail nothing but si- milar enormities ; and their accounts would lead us to believe, that during this calamitous period, all ^restraints of religion and law were banished from
72 HISTORY OF THE
Ireland, and its native and new inhabitants equalb subjected to the tyranny of their own brutal passions Repeated complaints at length directed Henry's attention to the dangers of Fitz-Andelm's misgO' vemment. He was recalled, and Hugh de Lacj appointed in his stead. At the same time, Henr} conferred the lordship of Ireland on his favourite son John. We are not told whether this was con- sidered a violation of the late treaty with Roderick but certainly the rights of the Irish monarch were disregarded in the transaction, for the grant to John contains precisely the same stipulations and reserva- tions which had been made with Roderick. With an equal disregard of the terms on which the Irish princes had given their allegiance, the kingdom of Cork was granted to Milo de Cogan and Robert Fitz-Stephen, with the reservation of the city to the crown. The territory of Waterford, with a similar reservation, was given to Robert de la Poer ; a great part of Connaught to William Fitz-Andelm ; and the territory of Limerick to Herbert Fitz-Herbert. The prudence of the adventurers prevented the evils which these unprincipled cessions were likely to pro- duce. They entered into negotiations with the natives ; and, having obtained possession of some districts, they left the rest to the original inhabi- tants. Herbert, indeed, resigned the grant made to him. He was already sufficiently wealthy, and too indolent to engage in any new adventure. It was therefore transferred to Philip de Braosa, who was as little inclined to brave difficulties or dangers. When Braosa advanced to take possession of his new estate, the Irish set fire to Limerick; and Braosa, affrighted by this act of desperation, fled
CIVIL WARS OP IRELAND. 73
precipitately with his followers to Cork. Nor could jny persuasion induce them to renew their efforts.
Hugh de Lacy's administration was equally vigor- ous and prudent. He dealt out impartial justice ^vithout any distinction of Irish or Normans. He restrained the rapacity of the latter, and endeavour- 2d to conciliate the affections of the former. His carriage with the daughter of Roderick O'Connor jeemed, in the eyes of the Irish, to give him a claim ;o Meath more legitimate than that conferred by the yrants of Henry ; and no opposition was made to lis erecting castles and forts for the security of that jart of the country. Jealousy of the power or po- jularity of his subjects was Henry's besetting sin. The accounts he received of Lacy's administration, lis prudence, his skill, and his tried valour, induced ;he monarch to suspect that he meditated throwing jff his allegiance, and becoming an independent sovereign. The deputy was recalled, and three Lords Justices appointed ; but the readiness with whi<;h Lacy resigned his power lightened, if it did not sfface, Henry's suspicions ; and the incapacity of his successors leading to a renewal of former evils, the King was obliged to restore Lacy to his government in less than three months. The King, it is said, at Lacy's request, sent Robert of Shrewsbury to Ire- land, with the Lord-deputy, nominally as his domes- tic chaplain, but really as a spy on his conduct. The Irish clergy had sacrificed the independence of their country to their avarice and ambition ; but they found themselves cheated of the expected reward. They immediately had recourse to the Pope ; and a deputation, headed by Laurence O'Toole, Arch- bishop of Dublin, and five bishops, was sent to Rome. Their complaints were well received ; and
T4 HISTORY OF THE
his Holiness armed Laurence with the powers o apostolic legate. But Henry was aware of this ii» pending danger, and arrested Laurence in Normand] on his return. The prelate, notwithstanding all hi lemonstrances, was detained a prisoner until his deatl in 118L The Irish historians have generally chosei to celebrate Laurence as a patriot, and the Irisl Catholics venerate him as a. saint ; but the doubl* Iraitor had few claims to either honour. The Eng lish writers dwell on his hostility to the invaders ai an excuse for the ungrateful treatment he receive( from Henry. The Irish, anxious to find one frien( of his country among the clergy, eagerly adopt thii unfounded representation. The undisputed fects ii the Archbishop's life are few ; but they decisivel) prove, that he began by being a traitor to his coun- try, and, not receiving the expected reward, endec by becoming a rebel to the King of his own selec- tabn. In the very beginning of the invasion, we find him acting as ambassador for Strongbow. Al the synod of Cashel, he was foremost in recognising Henry's title ; and at Waterford, he joined in de- nouncing curses against all who should resist the arrangements made by the Holy See. He was suc- eeeded by John Comyn, an Englishman, and a great favourite of the King ; and the appointment was con- firmed by Pope Lucius.
Five years had elapsed since Cogan and Fitz- Ste- phen had tranquilly settled on their new estates, and lived on amicable terms with their neighbours. Though grieved by the loss of a favourite son, Fitz- Stephen had every prospect of terminating an ho- nourable life in a peaceful old age. The jealousy oi his old rival Cogan was averted by the marriage ol another son to Cogan's daughter ; and the hostility
civil. WARS OF IRJELAND. 75
of the Irish toparchs seemed to have yielded to time and familiar intercourse. But these appearances were fallacious. Cogan and his son-in-law were treach- erously murdered by a toparch, named Mac-Tire, who had invited them on a visit ; and, in the midst Off the grief and consternation occasioned by this outrage, Fitz- Stephen was compelled to provide for the safety of Cork, to which MacArthy had kid siege, as soon as he heard of Cogan's murder. The flame of revolt spread rapidly through Desmond and Thomond. The toparchs hasted to join MacArthy, believing that Cogan's death afforded them a favour- able opportunity of expelling the invaders ; aad Fitz- Stephen, broken down with age and sorrow, applied to his nephew Raymond for assistance, Le Gros lost no time in marching from We3iford to re- lieve his uncle. He soon raised the siege, and com- pelled the Prince of Desmond to sue for peace on i humiliating conditions ; but Fitz- Stephen was no |; longer sensible of this success. Grief lor the death of his son had deranged his intellects, and, during the rest of his life, he continued a lunatic.
To repair the injuries which the late insurrection had inflicted on the English power, Henry sent Richard de Cogan, the brother of the murdered ba- ron, and Philip Barry, a celebrated knight of Wales, with a powerful army into Munster.. The soldiers were accompanied by a train of ecclesiastics, amongst whom was Gerald Barry, better known by the name of Giraldus Cambrensis,. an ecclesiastic to whom Henry intrusted the guidance of his son John, and whose visit to Ireland was principally to acquire such information as might serve for the direction of his pu^ pil, when he should come to take possession of hi» lordship. The foreign and native clergy were soon
76 HISTORY OF fHE
engaged in angry controversy concerning the relative merits of their respective establishments. The virtues and miracles of their national saints became subjects of fierce and tedious debates. " Saints ! " said Cambrensis to an Irish prelate, " tell me not of saints ; — your whole catalogue contains not a single martyr. " — " Alas ! " said the Irishman, " your re- proach is too true. My countrymen were always too pious, to dip their hands in the blood of holy men ; but now that the wicked Normans have come among us, we shall have martyrs in plenty. " This allusion to the murder of Becket silenced Cambren- sis, for he records not his reply ; but he raised other questions equally ludicrous, but more mischievous^ which threatened to add religious rancour to nation-' al hostility.
• As if Henry had determined to try every means in his power for destroying his new kingdom, he a- gain recalled Lacy from the government ; and nomi- nated in his place Philip de Braosa, whose expedi- tion to Limerick has been already commemorated. The brief administration of the new deputy was dis- tinguished by several acts of outrage and rapacity, among which his exactions from the clergy are most forcibly denounced by the monkish historians. But the evils which Braosa commenced were consumma- ted by a power superior to his ; and a measure^ from which Henry expected the greatest advantages, prov- ed more fatal than all his former errors together.
The Pope readily confirmed Henry's grant of the lordship of Ireland to John. He even offered the title of King to the young prince, and sent him the appropriate present of a coronet of peacock's fea- thers, as a token of investiture. Such a gift would, in the present day, be considered a bitter satire on
CIVIL WARS OF IRELAND. 77
the folly and vanity of John ; and the Pope would obtain the credit of a witty sarcasm on the foppish- ness and imbecility of the youthful prince : but the peacock, in the middle ages, was the honoured bird of chivalry, and shared with the ladies in knightly reverence and devotion. Henry, however, was not willing to encourage the Papal interference any far- ther. He sent his spn to Ireland without any new title, accompanied by a train of young nobles, and a few more steady counsellors, whose influence he hoped would check the presumption of the youthful prince and his wild associates. When the news of John's landing in Waterford was spread abroad, the Irish chieftains hastened to pay their respects to the son of their sovereign. They came in their national costume, wearing linen vests, flowing mantles, long hair and bushy beards ; objects of curiosity to the wise and aged, but of unceasing ridicule to the I giddy and insolent young courtiers. When admit- : ted to the prince's presence, they advanced with dig- I nified ease through the circle, in order to salute their lord with the kiss of peace, according to the fashion of their country. Here they were rudely repulsed by the young Normans, who looked upon such a ceremony as a profanation. Not contented with this, the wild nobles heaped further insults on the chieftains ; they plucked their beards, mimicked their gestures, and finally thrust them with violence from the presence. " Irishmen, " says an old Irish song, " readily forgive injuries, but insults never. " The chieftains returned home burning for revenge ; they detailed the story of their reception to all whom they met coming to the court ; and they spread every where the account of their wrongs, until the entire island was animated by one sentiment of deadly hate
VOL. I. E
78 HISTORY OF THE
against the English government. Regardless of t\ coming storm, John and his associates proceeded sti further to alienate the affections of his new subject In defiance of the privileges which Henry had gran ed to the maritime towns, the citizens were loade with heavy taxes, to support the expenditure of a extravagant court. The " men of iron, " who ha conquered Leinster, were studiously discourage( and had reason to dread that their estates would \ wrested from them, to gratify the cupidity of tt silken flatterers by whom the prince was accompj nied. About the same time. Lacy, whose person influence might have abated these evils, was murdei ed by a labourer whom he had employed in erectin a castle. The news of his death was joyfully re ceived by the Irish, who dreaded his abilities ; an the clergy, attributing it to the vengeance of til saints, for some act of sacrilege, contributed not little to make this event an additional stimulus to ir surrection.
The storm at length burst forth with fearful vie lence. News of disasters poured in from every quai ter ; and the alarmed prince, having wasted all h; treasure in idle pomp, had no means of paying th soldiers, and had no hold on the affections of th veterans, whom he had wantonly insulted. Robei Barry and his whole troop were surprised and slai at Lismore ; the garrison of Ardfinnan seduced int an ambuscade, and slaughtered by the Prince ( Limerick ; Robert de la Poer, after a gallant resist ance, fell in Ossory ; Canton and Fitz-Hugh, tw knights of great fame, met a similar fate ; and, bi for the gallantry of Fitz- Walter, Cork must hav yielded to MacArthy of Desmond. Even in Meatl which the castles erected by Lacy rendered the raos
CIVIL WARS OF IRELAND. 79
;ecure part of the English settlements, William Petit lad great difficulty in repelling' a dangerous inroad )f the northern Irish.
Eight months of disorder had elapsed, before 3enry was fully informed of the ruin which threat- ;ned his Irish interests. He immediately determin- :d to recall John from a government which he had o wantonly abused, and to intrust the administra- ion to De Courcy, whose desperate valour seemed he best qualification in this moment of danger. The young prince and his gaudy train gladly quitted , country where their personal safety was no longer ecure ; and the defence of the English interests was gain confided to the old settlers.
EXe Courcy, left to his own resources, acted with 11 the vigour which the crisis demanded. He was bly seconded by young Lacy ; but he derived more mportant assistance from the dissensions of the Irish hemselves, who, even at this most important mo- nent, renewed the feuds which had previously prov- d their ruin. The northern chieftains engaged in ivil war, and allowed the English to recover their ■JSt ground without interruption. In Connaught, loderick being deposed by his sons, retired into the nonastery of Cong, where he ended his unfortunate areer ; and the nominal sovereignty of Ireland, now he very shadow of a shade, became the subject of a iolent contest between the chieftains of the west and lorth. Still De Courcy was unable to surmount 11 the difficulties by which he was surrounded. He .ttempted to invade Connaught, but was compelled o retire before two armies, each far superior to his •wn. The ability with which he extricated his army, i^as more honourable than any triumph ; but the Irish aagnified this slight advantage into a glorious vic»
80 HISTORY OF THE
tory, and boasted that they would now drive the fc reigners from their shores. A combined effort fc the purpose would probably have succeeded; bi this was prevented by the private feuds of the chie tains, and the vacillation of the superior leaders, wh made war and peace on the impulse of the momen and could never be persuaded to adopt any stead policy. Several desultory incursions were repelle by the Deputy ; but the ravages were renewed £ every fresh opportunity, and the country remaine distracted and desolate. Affairs were in this wretch ed condition, when the news arrived of Henry's deatl and the accession of his son Richard (1189.)
CIVIL WARS OF IRELAND. 81
CHAPTER V.
The Reigns of Richard I. , John, and Henry HI.
Che state of Ireland, at the time of Henry's death, 'as wretched ; and unhappily there was every pro- pect that the evils by which the country was afflict- d would increase, rather than diminish. Every arty that had shared in forming the connection be- iveen the two islands, was equally dissatisfied and isappointed. The Pope found that his claims for •ibute were disregarded ; the clergy found that thes, the great bribe for which they had sold them- slves to the foreigners, could not be obtained from le Irish, unused to such exactions, nor from the ew settlers, who set all laws at defiance ; the King )und his sovereignty an empty title; the barons, oor and rapacious, were eager to make new terri- )rial acquisitions; and the Irish toparchs, jealous f the foreigners and of each other, would neither reserve peace nor wage war effectively. The clerg)', owever, were fixed in their determination to sup- ort the English ascendancy. They dreaded no- ling so much as a return to the piety and poverty f the Irish national church ; they felt themselves levated, by their connection with Rome, to the tate and dignity of princes; and, conscious that
82 HISTORY OF THE
their privileges would be lost if their country attain ed independence, they zealously preached the doc trine of submission to Rome and England. Bu the Papal authority, which afterwards proved a po tent instrument of rebellion, was of little avail in en forcing obedience. Indeed it was at this time, anc for many subsequent years, almost wholly disregard- ed in Ireland ; a portion of the native clergy stil clinging to the usages of their ancestors, and th( laity, in general, paying little attention to claims o supremacy which they could not understand.
Richard, on his accession to the throne, was to( much busied in preparations for his romantic expe^ dition against the Saracens of Palestine, to pay anj attention to Ireland. He allowed his brother John as Lord of the country, to exercise all the regal func- tions ; and in his name all charters were granted] and deputies appointed. John's first act was to re- move De Courcy from the government, which wai now intrusted to Hugh de Lacy. The deposed deJ puty immediately retired to his estates in Ulsterl without attempting to conceal his hostility to hi: successor ; and this dissension between the two great est Norman leaders, encouraged the Irish to renev their attacks on the foreigners.
The throne of Connaught was at this time pos sessed by Cathal, to whom his countrymen gave th( epithet of Bloody-handed. He owed his election tt intrigue and violence, and was conscious that hi? sovereignty could only be secured by spirit and acti- vity. Taking advantage of the hatred generally in- curred by the Normans, he declared himself resolve( to restore the ancient honours of his name and na- tion ; and he denounced speedy and fearful vengeance on the foreigners who had usurped the fairest por-
CIVIL WARS OF IRELAND. 83
timis of the land, and were still extending their ra- vages and oppressions. All the toparchs applauded tliese sentiments ; the chieftains of Thomond and Desmond hastened to express their concurrence ; and the tribes of Ulster sent messengers to offer their assistance. De Courcy saw the coming storm, and sent to summon his brave friend Armoric of Saint Laurence to his assistance. Armoric, collecting a little troop of about two hundred foot and thirty horse^ hasted to obey his leader's summons ; but, passing through part of Cathal's country, he fell into an am- buscade, and, overwhelmed by numbers, perished, with all his companions.
The news of fresh disturbances in Ireland induced John to confer the government on William Petit, and, soon after, on William Earl Marshal, who had married the daughter of Earl Strongbow, and in her right possessed extensive estates in Ireland. Lacy resigned his power with great reluctance, and, retir- ing to his estate, imitated the example of De Cour- cy, and almost affected independence. The Earl Marshal exerted himself to retrieve the English in- terests in Munster; and, though defeated by the Prince of Thomond near Thurles, he penetrated into the very heart of the country. These successes, however, were sullied by the most shocking cruel- ties. One of O'Brien's children was blinded, and another dragged from the very altar, and remorse- lessly murdered. Such atrocities provoked revenge, but did not inspire fear. Cathal hastened to relieve his allies ; and the English, on his approach, were forced to a precipitate retreat. Soon after. Limerick was captured by the Prince of Desmond ; and Ca- thal, being joined by O'Lochlan, the head of the -ppwerful sept, of Hy-Nial, advanced to the siege of
84 HISTORY OF THE
Cork, the only post of strength now remaining to the EngHsh in Munster. The army sent to the re- lief of this important post was totally defeated ; but the fate of the place was delayed for a time, by a re- newal of the ancient feud between the rival houses of O'Connor and Hy-Nial. The siege was raised ; but the garrison, having exhausted all their provi- sions, and being hopeless of relief, surrendered to the Prince of Desmond.
A. D. 1197. — Hamo de Valois was the next go- vernor. He found a ruined army, and an empty exchequer ; and to relieve the pressing necessities of the state, he unscrupulously seized some of the estates of the Church. Comyn, the archbishop, was by no means disposed to submit patiently to such a pro- ceeding, and immediately had recourse to those spi- ritual weapons which, in that age, possessed such wondrous efficacy. He went in solemn procession to the cathedral, and ostentatiously removed all the apparatus of public service. The crucifixes were laid prostrate ; the image of Christ crowned with thorns, as if the agony of the passion was renewed by this attack on ecclesiastical property; and after this solemn farce, the prelate having laid his dio- cess under an interdict, departed from the kingdom. The rest of this extraordinary contest is involved in obscurity. We only know, that after the lapse of several years, Hamo felt remorse for having injured the Church, and made a large grant of land to the see of Dublin as an atonement for his oiFence.
A. D. 1198. — Twelve years had passed since the unfortunate Roderick had been confined by his re- bellious children in the monastery of Cong, and, du- ring that period, his family had been gradually wast- ed by civU discord and mutual murder. His death
CIVIL WARS OF IRELAND. 85
was regarded as a matter of little moment ; and the last monarch of Ireland was consigned to the tomb with as little noise as the meanest of his vassals. In the following year King Richard died, and the throne of England was usurped by John, in defiance of the rights of his nephew Arthur ; the lordship of Ireland was thus reunited to the crown of England, and it was expected that the royal authority would consequently command more respect than it had hi- therto received. The war with France, the discon- tent of the barons, and the claim of Arthur, allowed John little leisure for regulating the affairs of Ire- land ; and the pacification of the countrj' seemed as far off as ever.
De Valois by his exactions, provoked the resent- ment of the clergy and the laity. Urgent petitions for his removal were sent to the King, and John sum- moned him to appear and plead to the charges urg- ed against him. His defence was deemed unsatis- factory, and he was forced to pay a fine of a thou- sand marks to the King ; but when this was paid, he was allowed to escape without making restitution to those he had plundered. Meiler Fitz-Henry, one of the original invaders, was appointed his successor ; and at the same time John confirmed the grant of lands in Thomond to Philip de Braosa, and assign- ed their custody to De Burgho, one of the Fitz- An- delm family which had formerly been gifted with lands in Connaught. De Burgho was not a man disposed to lose so rich a grant by negligence. He set out im- mediately with a gallant train, and exerted himself with such extraordinary vigour, that he soon obtain- ed possession of Limerick, and established there a power which threatened the independence of Mun- ster and Connaught. The affairs of the latter pio-
86 HISTORY OF THE
vince were now in a state favourable to his designs ; the popularity of Cathal O'Connor had declined as ra- pidly as it rose ; and a strong party was formed to raise his cousin Carragh to the throne. The aspir- ing Carragh solicited and obtained the assistance of X)e Burgho. By his aid Cathal was dethroned, after a brief and faint resistance. He fled to Ulster, and a large share of his domains were assigned to De Bur- gho for his timely aid. Cathal had sufficient influ- ence with the northern chieftains to obtain from them a powerful army. He even contrived to gain the sup- port of Lacy and De Courcy ; and thus, for the first time, the Norman barons were divided against each other. Carragh and De Burgho defeated Cathal and his allies in a desperate engagement. The northern septs attributed the calamity to the incapacity of their prince, whom they immediately deposed ; and Ulster, like Connaught, was of course distracted by all the evils of a disputed succession. Cathal did not yet despair of success. He solicited the friendship of De Burgho, who felt dissatisfied with the small reward given him by the usurper, and drew him over to his side by magnificent promises, which he had no inten- tion to fulfil. A second revolution ensued, in which Carragh was slain, fighting bravely to the last. Ca- thal was restored to his throne ; but De Burgho found that the valuable cessions which he expected were not to be obtained. Stung by this falsehood and ingratitude, the proud baron invaded Connaught, but suffered a defeat ; and, before he could take measures to retrieve his fortunes, he was recalled to Limerick by the appearance of a more formidable enemy. The Lord-deputy, finding that De Burgho had virtually re- nounced his allegiance by making peace and war at his pleasure, advanced with a numerous army to reduce
CIVIL WARS OF IRELAND. 87
him to obedience. He was joined by several of the Irish princes who equally feared and hated the pow- erful baron ; and thus reinforced, Meiler Fitz- Henry soon forced De Burgho to submission. At the same time new treaties were formed with the Irish princes of the south and west, which for a short time restor- ed tranquillity to that part of the country.
While Fitz-Henry was employed against De Burgho, Lacy with his brother marched against De Courcy, who was said to have abjured allegiance to John as a usurper and murderer. The entire de- tails of the subsequent transactions are unknown ; but the writers of Irish history have invented an in- genious romance, which, though improbable in all its parts, and contradicted by authentic documents yet in existence, has been gravely narrated by all the earlier writers. They tell us that De Courcy was betrayed to Lacy by his servants ; but, though sur- prised, he made a fierce resistance, and with a wooden cross slew thirteen of his assailants. Lacy retained the noble prisoner, but punished with death the traitors who had sold their master. De Courcy was sent to England, and confined in the Tower, where he long remained neglected and for- gotten. At length, a French champion comes over in the train of King Philip, and challenges all the chivalry of England. No one ventures to enter the lists with a knight of his fame, when John at length recollects the hero whom he had so long confined in a dungeon. De Courcy readily agrees to meet the Frenchman. On the appointed day he appears in the lists; but the challenger, terrified by his Herculean proportions, refuses the combat, and returns home in disgrace. To gratify the curiosity of the two monarchs, De Courcy orders a coat of mail to be
88 HISTORY OF THE
placed on a post driven firmly into the earth. He strikes it with his sword, divides the mail as it were gossamer-threads, and drives the sword so deep into the stake, that it can be extricated by him alone. Hereupon he is restored to the royal fcivour, and re- instated in his title and estates. He is offered any additional favour that he may desire ; and asks and obtains, for himself and his descendants, the privilege of remaining covered in the presence of their sove- reign.
The only portion of truth in the entire legend is, that De Courcy was sent a prisoner to England. John and the King of France never presided in the same lists ; and the restoration to the royal favour is manifestly false, because the earldom of Ulster, and all the lands belonging to it, were granted to Hugh de Lacy ; and the privilege of wearing a hat in the royal presence, enjoyed by the barons of Kin- sale, De Courcy 's descendants, is a harmless pri- vilege, originating nobody knows how, and few would care for ascertaining. It is justly remarked by Le- land, that this instance of the falsification of history by the Irish Sennachies, fiiUy justifies the scepticism with which their boasts of extravagant antiquity and early civiliz^ation are received ; for the earlier the date assigned to their legends, the more difficult will be their detection.
The vigorous administration of Fitz-Henry releas- ed the English settlers from the imminent dangers with which they were threatened, Cork was recover- ed and secured by new fortifications ; the incursions of the northern septs were restrained by castles erect- ed along their frontiers ; and the toparchs of Des- mond and Thomond were either terrified into sub- mission, or so engaged in domestic feuds, that they
CIVIL WARS OF IRELAND. 89
had no inclination to renew their attacks on the fo- reigners. At this tranquil moment John resolved to pay Ireland a visit, for the purpose of chastising Bra» osa — by whose wife he had been insulted — and re- straining the power of the Lacys, who, by John's inju- dicious grants, had been raised almost to the rank of princes (a. d. 1210). On the King's arrival in Dub- lin, Braosa and the Lacys fled to France, where the latter were reduced to such distress, that they could only support themselves by becoming gardeners in a monastery. Their dignified bearing, after some time, betrayed their rank to the abbot ; and, having learn- ed their history, he interceded so powerfully for them with John, that, on paying a heavy fine, they were eventually restored to their titles and estates. John's military operations were confined to the reduction of several castles belonging to the Lacys in Meath ; and, though he received the homage of several Irish princes, he did not in any instance extend the bounds of the English dominion. The allegiance tendered by the toparchs was merely nominal ; and one of them, the chief of the Hy-Nials, set the King at defiance a few days after he had performed the idle ceremony of submission. There was, however, a beneficial change made by the introduction of the English laws and jurisprudence into those districts which the Anglo- Normans possessed, and which, from this time forward, were usually called the English Pale ; the lands sub- ject to the King were divided into counties ; sheriffs and other officers necessary to the administration of justice appointed ; and supreme courts of law establish- ed in Dublin. The twelve counties established by John were, Dublin, Meath, Argial now called Louth, Kildare, Katherlagh now Carlow, Kilkenny, Water-
90 HISTORY OF THE
ford, Wexford, Cork, Kerry, Limerick, Tipperary. To these were subsequently added Roscommon and Connaught, but at what period is uncertain.
After John's return to England, the administration was confided to John de Grey, Bishop of Norwich, who kept Ireland tranquil during the remainder of this troubled and disgraceful reign. We find that several Irish nobles and prelates shared in John's councils during his long contest with the Pope, and afterwards with his own subjects. Among these, Henry de Londres, who had succeeded Comyn as Archbishop of Dublin in 1213, was honourably con- spicuous, by his opposition to the insolent demands of Pandulph the Papal legate, and by the indignant remonstrance he made against the humiliating sub- missions demanded from his sovereign. The power of the native Irish princes seemed rapidly declining. The Northern sept of Hy-Nial, indeed, still mainr tained their independence and their inveterate hosti- lity to the foreign dynasty ; but Cathal O'Connor, no longer able to resist De Burgho in the field, was forced to petition the British monarch for protection, and to exchange his character as a warrior for that of a suppliant. The toparchs of Thomond and Des- mond were similarly humbled ; and, had proper ad-^ vantage been taken of the opportunity, Ireland might at this time have been, without difficulty, entirely subjected to the English dominion.
The early part of the reign of Henry III. was dis- tinguished by several wise measures, which tended greatly to remedy the evils produced by the misgo- vernment of John, both in England and Ireland. William, Earl of Pembroke and Earl Marshal, the young monarch's guardian during his mincrity, was
CIVIL WARS OF IRELAND. 9l
possessed of extensive estates in both islands, and set an example, rarely followed by English statesmen and Irish proprietors, of paying equal regard to the inter- ests of both countries. The great charter was con- firmed, and its provisions extended to Ireland ; the administration of the local government intrusted to Geotfrey de Maurisco, a knight celebrated for mili- tary skill ; and with him was joined Henry de Lon- dres, a prelate still more eminent for political wisdom. The reconciliation of the native Irish to the dominion of their invaders was the best evidence of the supe- rior ability that now ruled the councils of the state ; and, so completely had they resigned all hopes of in- dependence, that they petitioned the King to send one of the royal family to rule in Ireland, in order that his lustre might obscure the disgrace of submission, and the respect due to royal blood might control the turbulence of the powerful barons. Unfortunately this request was rejected. The death of the Earl of Pembroke followed soon after ; his policy died with him ; and Ireland entered on a new career of dis- traction, and suffering, and desolation.
A. D. 1219. — Immediately after his father's death, William, the young E^rl of Pembroke, was sudden- ly called into Ireland, to check the inroads of the Lacys, who had attacked his castles, and determin- ed to seize his estates. While this struggle devas- tated Leinster, the Lord-deputy was engaged in war with the Mac Arthys of Desmond, and the De Burghos were involved in a fierce struggle with the O'Con- nors of Connaught.' After a bloody but desultory warfare, the Lacys were defeated, and the Princps of Desmond forced to submission. The De Burghos, however, were defeated in Connaught ; and Fedlim
92 HISTORY OF THE
O'Conndr, taking advantage of the disgrace of Hu- bert de Burgho in England, not only obtained from Henry a confirmation of his title and possessions, but a mandate to the Lord-deputy Maurice Fitzgerald, to assist in restraining his enemy's usurpations. On the death of WiUiam, Earl of Pembroke, his title and estates devolved on his brother Richard, a po- pular young nobleman, odious to the King and his unworthy favourites, on account of his spirited resist- ance to their unwise and arbitrary measures. Under the most frivolous pretexts, an attempt was made to strip him of his inheritance ; and he, provoked by such outrage, had recourse to arms. He levied some forces in Ireland ; and, returning to Wales, fortified himself in his castle of Pembroke. The royal forces sent against him were defeated ; and the unpopularity of the ministry rendered it probable that this example > of successful resistance would lead to a general insur- j rection. The King and his creatures, unable to sub- due Earl Richard, determined to deprive him of his Irish estates, and sent over letters declaring his ex- tensive possessions forfeited, and ordering them to be shared between Maurice Fitzgerald — the Lord-depu- ty, the Lacys, the De Burghos, Geoffrey de Mauris- co, and some other barons. Such an allurement was not to be resisted by the avaricious adventu- rers. They immediately proceeded to take pos- session ; and, just as tranquillity was restored in , Wales, Earl Richard was recalled to the defence of ! his estates in Ireland. On his landing, he was join- ed by the treacherous De Maurisco, who pretended to aid his quarrel, in order to ensure his destruction. Several successful expeditions were undertaken ; but, at the moment when the Earl was about to engage
CIVIL WARS OF IRELAND, ^S
his enemies in a pitched battle, De Maurisco drew off his forces, and Richard was left with only fifteen followers to support the attack of one hundred and forty chosen men. Even under these circumstances, the gallant Earl disdained to yield. His followers, with equal spirit, shunned not the hopeless contest. They fell, overwhelmed by numbers ; and Richard, having fallen senseless by a dagger-wound, was car- ried to a neighbouring castle, where he soon ex- pired.
The death of this heroic and popular nobleman excited universal indignation, both in England and Ireland ; and the King, with dissimulation equal to his former perfidy, disavowed all knowledge of the transaction, and threw the blame on the Bishop of Winchester. But he did not check the depredations committed on the estates of the deceased Earl, nor restore his inheritance to his brother Gilbert, until compelled by fear of the King of Scotland, whose sister Gilbert had married. At length, a hollow pa- cification was effected ; Gilbert was allowed to enjoy his estates without interruption ; and Fitzgerald pur- chased pardon for the destruction of Earl Richard, by founding a monastery where masses should be ce- lebrated periodically for the repose of his soul. A- bout the same time, Fedlim O'Connor appeared at court, to complain of the usurpation of the De Burghos, who steadily pursued their career of vio- lence and extortion. Moved by a dread of this proud and powerful sept, perhaps also in some degree influenced by a sense of justice, Henry sent strict orders that the territories of O'Connor should be protected from further depredations. In return for VOL. I. F
94 HISTORY OF THE*
this unusual act of equity, Fedlim led, a strong bo- dy of auxiliaries to the King's assist^mce in the Welch war, j^nd performed good service against Prince David.
The rest of this troubled reign presents an un- varying scene of petty wars, produced by baronial ugurpaiipns., The Geraldines seized on several dis- tricts of Desmond, in spite of the resistance made by the powerful sept of the MacArthys. The De Burghos, with less success, endeavoured to make themselves masters of Connaught ; and the inferior barons, equE^ly bent on aggrandizement, seized oa the lands of those toparchs,, who were too weak ta make effective, resistai^ce. So little was the royal, authority raspjeqted, . that the Geraldines seized and. imprisoned a Lord-deputy fqr opposing their usurpa- tions ; and it was not without difficulty, that they., were persuaded to set him at liberty. The barons, were at war, not only with the natives, but with, each other ; and the devastations committed in their several expeditions, added to the failures of several successive harvests, reduced the wretched country to. a state which the imagination may possibly conceive,.- but whiph nq human pen can portray.
The miseries of this calamitous period were ag-, gravated by th^e extortipns of the I?ope, and the ty- ranny of the clergy. The. royal, troops were em-, ployed in levying the tribute claimed by his Holi- ness ; and the enormous demands of the King were' in turn sanctioned by the Pope. IJfForts were made- by both to fill all valuable ecclesiastiqal offices with, foreigners. The native clergy made a spirited re-, sistance ; but the powers against which they had to, strive wej-e too formidable. Their real str^^gth, the
CIVIL WARS OF IRELAND. 95
confidence of the people, had been destroyed for- ever at the Council of Cashel. Nor was the con- duct of the Irish prelates much better than that of their oppressors. The records of the period, scanty as they are, contain several instances of prelatic ra- pacity and insolence, which would scarcely be cre- dible, were they not supported by the authority of official documents, and in perfect accordance with the spirit manifested by the church in that misguided age.
The administration of justice was almost wholly neglected; and, though repeated proclamations were Issued, conunanding the observance of the English laws and charters under the severest penalties, we find that they were all ineffectual ; and that a man- date was obliged, to be issued, entreating, rather than commanding, the barons, that, for the sake of pub- lic tranquillity, they would permit the country to be governed by the laws of England. The Irish still preserved their Brehon code ; and, in a curious re- monstrance of Fedlim; O'Connor to King Henyy,.. we find, among other claims of damages for the cruel- des and robberies of De Burgh o, a charge of three thousand marks for the burning of churches and the aiassacre of the clergy. Several of the native Irish, in the immediate vicinity of the pale, finding the in- L^onvenience of this motley mixture of jurisdiction^ purchased charters of denization, by which they be- came entitled to the benefits of English subjects ; i)ut the barons vigorously opposed the extension of such privileges, and the English government had not sufficient strength to overcome their resistance.
\n the latter part of his reign, Henry invested his )pn Edward with the title of Lord, of Ireland;, but.
96 HISTORY OF THE
the young prince never visited the country. The ba» rons disregarded his authority ; and, after his depar- ture to the Crusades, his title was utterly ne- glected.
CIVIL WARS OF IRELAND. 97
CHAPTER VI. The Reigns of Edward L II, and IIL
A. D. 1272. — The accession of Edward I. produc- ed no beneficial change in the state of Ireland. The Geraldines, now become the most powerful of the Nor- man barons, waged incessant wars both on the na- tive princes and their rival peers, in order to extend their influence and possessions ; and the marriage of the young Lord De Clare to a daughter of their house, promised them the means of gratifying their imbition. Edward inconsiderately gave De Clare % grant of extensive domains in Thomond, without paying any regard to the rights of the native posses- sors ; but when De Clare came to enforce his claims, the O'Briens laughed him to scorn, and he was for- 3ed to have recourse to arms. Aided by his father- in-law Maurice, De Clare invaded Thomond ; but was completely defeated, and obliged to accept peace 3n the most mortifying conditions. De Clare i^e- ;umed to England, and laid his complaints before the King ; at the same time, intelligence of fresh commo- ions in various districts was received ; and Edward, ustly indignant, recalled Ufford, the Lord-deputy. But the troubles in Scotland began now to en- gross all the attention of the English monarch ; and, ifter a brief inquiry, he restored Ufford to his go-
ilS HISTORY OF THE
vernment, having recommended him to «xert all hia vigour in repressing these disgraceful commotions.
A century had now elapsed since the Norman in- vasion ; repeated defeats had broken down the spirit of the Irish princes ; all hopes of repelling the fo- reigners were resigned ; and those who lay contigu- ous to the English settlements, were only eager to secure the protection of ihe English law. To ob- tain this valuable privilege, they offered to the King, through his deputy, a subsidy of eight thousand marks, on condition of being admitted to the rightj of British subjects ; and Edward, who was attached tc justice when it did not interfere with the schemes o: his ambition, eagerly hastened to perform their rea- sonable request. In this, as in a thousand subse- quent instances, the wise and benevolent measures of the government were defeated by the local aristo- cracy. They preferred their own ascendancy to th( interests of the state. They were eager to prevent j body of men, whom they could tax and oppress a pleasure, from sharing in the immunities of Englisl subjects. Exclusion was the first, and almost th« only principle recognised by the different oligarchic which successively held under their control the des tinies of Ireland ; and to preserve this darling prin ciple, they unhesitatingly sacrificed the peace and pro sperity of that country, and not unfrequently perilled its connexion with England. An evasive answe was returned to the royal mandate ; but the suffering of the people urged them to renewed apphcations and two years after they repeated their request. Oi this occasion, the King earnestly recommended th consideration of the petition to the Lords Spiritua and Temporal of Ireland ; but both were too deepl
CIVIL WARS OF IRELAND. 99
interested in perpetuating abuses, and Edward's wise designs were again defeated.
The civil' wars between the barons were soon re- newed with All their former violence. They took •advantage of their disorders, arid laid wastfc the new ■settlements. The Lords- deputies were destitute of ■power or influence, and the royal authority was scarcely recognised. William d:e Vesey was sent •over to remedy these disorders ; but unfortunately lie became involved in a contest with the Geraldines, which ended in his ruit>. A more vigorous and •successful effort was made by his successor "Sir Johti Wogan. He prevailed on the rival houses of De Bur- •gho and Fitzgerald to consent to a truce ; and having thus partially restored tranquillity, he summoned a •parliament to take the public grievances into consi- <leration (a. d. 1295). Several judicious acts werfe tnade by this assembly, the first that appears to have been constitutionally convened in Ireland; but the general corruption of morals cotild not be cured by legislative enactments ; and tliough peace was so far restored, ihat "several Irish baronrs were enabled to attend Edward in his warfs against Scotland, hostiK* ties were continued by their followers, and their set- tlements devastated during their absence.
The death of Edward I. while inarching against the Scotch, and the pusillanimous retreatt of Edward II., was followed by the dispersion df the army, and the Irish nobles retumed home. De Burgho hav- ing obtained, by marriage, the title of Earl of Ulster, and the extensive estates of the Lacys, was now vir- tually the Lord of Ireland ; but he did not abuse his power ; and, content with the barbarous pomp of feu- sdalism, he allowed his weaker neighbours to remain immolested. The insane attachment of Edward to hh
100 HISTORY OF THE
unworthy favourite Gavestone, whom he had recalled in spite of the solemn promise plighted to his dying father, gave so much displeasure to the English no- bility, that they formed an association too powerful for the sovereign to resist, and compelled the dis- ■ missal of the obnoxious minister. The King was very reluctant to part with his minion ; and at length appointed him governor of Ireland, whence he might be recalled at the first favourable opportunity. The administration of Gavestone was distinguished by vigour and ability. He repressed the incursions of the hostile Irish, and repaired the castles that were erected along the marches of the English Pale. Unfortunately, his haughtiness and love of ostenta- tion, which had been the cause of his expulsion from England, still continued, and excited against him the hatred of the barons, whom he affected to despise. Before these angry feelings could produce open war, Gavestone was recalled by his unwise mas- ter; and soon after. Sir John Wogan was reap- pointed to the government. He came in time to witness a new civil war between the De Burghos and Geraldines, whose violence it was not in his power to restrain. The issue of the contest, how- ever, proved favourable to a temporary restoration of tranquillity; for De Burgho being taken prisoner, entered into terms of accommodation, which were cemented by the marriage of his daughters to Mau- rice and Thomas Fitz-John, afterwards the heads of the illustrious houses of Desmond and Kildare.
A. D. 1314. — This alliance between the leaders of the two parties, whose hostility had hitherto been the great source of intestine broils, promised to se- cure the country an interval of tranquillity ; but a new storm from an unexpected quarter was impend-
CIVIL WARS OF IRELAND. 101
Ing, which produced fresh and greater calamities. The memorable triumph of the Scotch over the mighty army of England on the field of Bannock- burn, produced great excitement in Ulster. Con- stant tradition declared, that the northern Irish were descended from the same stock as the Albanian JScotch, though antiquaries had not yet begun to discuss the relative antiquity of the branches. The Ulster princes were delighted at the success of their brethren, and anxious to emulate such an example of successful resistance. At the same time, Robert Bruce had reason to dread the impetuous ambition of his brother Edward, and was consequently an- xious to find some employment which might prevent him from engaging in an insurrection at home. The condition of Ireland presented to one brother the tempting prospect of a new kingdom, and assured to the other the tranquillity of his recovered domi- nions. Both eagerly embraced the opportunity ; and emissaries were immediately sent through Ulster to stimulate the people to strike for freedom. The enterprise, however, had been nearly defeated in the very beginning, by the impatience of Edward Bruce. He crossed over with a small force, before his friends were prepared for his reception, and was forced to make a precipitate retreat. The news of this at- tempt created some alarm in England. The Deputy, Lord Edmund Butler, a worthy descendant of the gallant Fitz-Walter, was summoned over, with some other noblemen, to consult about the state of the kingdom ; and orders were issued to take all proper precautions of defence. The winter was spent in deliberations ; and Butler, with the other barons, jeturned in spring, barely in time to rescue the kingdom.
102 HISTORY O^F THE
A. D. 1315.--On the 23th of May, ^dwaVd Bruce, at the head of six thousand hardy veterans, landed on the north-eastern coast, and was imme^ diately joined by the principal toparchs of Ulster. There was no force in Ireland able to resist the combined armies. They fell on the unprotected settlements in the North, a;nd butchered the colo* •nists with as little mercy as they had themselves ex* perienced. Castles were stormed ; Dundalk, Ather^- <iee, and almost every town of "note burned ; and, in 3. very short space of time, no trace of the English remained m Ulster, but the desolation of their for- mer dwellings. The news of these transactions spread dismay through the English Pale. Several barc>ns were disposed to naake terms with the in* vader ; others iiasfcened to secure their possessions in the south and west. Tiie Earl of Ulster and the Loid-deputy alone determined on a courageous re- sistance. The unreasonable pride of De Burgho, exhibited even at this important crisis, increased the danger. He rejected the proffered aid of the Lord* deputy, and assumed the entire conduct of the war. Being joined by Fedlim O'Connor, he advanced against Bruce ; but was defeated, though not deci- sively. Before the Earl could retrieve his losses, Fedlim was recalled by an insurrection in his own dominions ; and De Burgho, thus weakened, was soon a;fter compelled to retire.
The army of Fedlim suffered so severely in this retreat from the hostility of the northern septs, that he was unable to resist his rival ; and the dispirited forces of De Burgho could lend him no effectual assistance. He was, however, soon relieved by the arrival of Sir Richard Bermingbam with a select body of English soldiers. By the aid of this reinforce-
CIVIL WARS OF IRELAND. 103
ttient, he was enabled to take the field. His rival fell in the engagement that ensued ; and Fedlim was restored to his former dignity and possessions. But gratitude had no place in the breast of the Irish prince. The first use he made of his recovered povper, was to enter into a strict alliance with Bruce, And draw his sword against his deliverers. The O'Briens of Thomond, and a great proportion of the toparchs of Munster and Meath, followed his CKample. Even the descendants of English settlers, and especially the once powerful Lacys, declared themselves adherents of the Scottish invader. A great body of the native clergy eagerly embraced his cause ; the rest waited for the Pope's decision, for they knew that the Bruces were not on the best of terms with his Holiness. Confident of success, Ed- ward Bruce was solemnly crowned at Dundalk, and immediately afterwards prepared to march south- wards— a step now become imperatively necessary, for the resources of the north were exhausted, and his army suffering the extremity of famine.
Fitz-Thomas, baron of O'Phaly, the head of the Geraldines, and Butler, the Lord-deputy, made every exertion to prepare for the coming irruption, and were immediately rewarded with the titles of Earls ; the former of Kildare, the latter of Carrick. The other Lords of the Pale also declared themselves determined to support tiie King with their lives and fortunes, and readily gave hostages for their alle- giance to Hotham, the royal commissioner. The most pressing danger arose from the revolt of Fedlim O'Connor, who had already defeated several inferior leaders, and severely harassed the settlements in Connaught. A powerful army, commanded by Wil- liaHi de Burgho, brother of the Earl of Ulster, and
104 HISTORY OF THE
Sir Richard Bermingham, was therefore sent into the western districts, to restrain and chastise these ravages. FedUm, encouraged by previous success, ventured to hazard a pitched battle. The engage- ment took place near the town of Athenry, and was long and bloody. At length, the Irish were routed with terrible slaughter ; their monarch, and most of their princes, were among the slain. This was the most decisive victory which the settlers had ever ob- tained. The power of the O'Connor family was irretrievably destroyed, and the entire province of Connaught placed at the mercy of the De Burghos. An interesting anecdote of fidelity is recorded by the original narrators of this battle. They tell us, that after the battle, Sir Richard Bermingham directed one of his attendants, named Hussey, to search the field, and try whether the body of his great enemy, O'Kelly, was among the slain. Ac- companied by a single attendant, Hussey commenced his search ; and O'Kelly, who had heard the orders, came with his squire from a thicket in which he had been concealed, and, presenting himself to Hussey, endeavoured to seduce him from his allegiance. He represented to the young page the inferiority of the station assigned him by Bermingham, and made the most liberal promises of wealth and preferment if he would desert his master's banners. Dazzled by such splendid offers, Hussey's servant eagerly besought him to comply ; but the young page indignantly slew him as a traitor. He was immediately assailed by O'Kelly and his servant ; the latter he luckily felled to the earth by a single blow ; and, after a tedious combat, he struck down O'Kelly with a mortal wound. The servant, in the mean time, had par- tially recovered ; and Hussey compelled him to take
CIVIL WARS OF IRELAND. 105
tip the body of his master, and bear it to the Eng- lish camp. When Bermingham heard the account of this gallant exploit, he immediately conferred the honour of knighthood on his page, and assigned him a large estate out of the forfeited possessions of the O'Connors.
The death of his ally did not check the opera- tions of Edward Bruce. He extended his ravages to the very walls of Dublin, and filled the capital with consternation. The Earl of Ulster, having been married to a sister of the Scottish King, was suspected of favouring the pretensions of Bruce ; and his inaction during the incursion seemed to prove, that he was not a steady supporter of his rightful so- vereign. On this account, he was seized and thrown into prison by the chief magistrate of Dublin ; nor Could all the remonstrances of the English govern^ ment procure for a long time his liberation. Walter de Lacy, after having solemnly disavowed all con- nection with the Scotch, joined Bruce, and acted as his guide, in the march of the invaders, through Meath and Leinster. Led by this traitor, Bruce tra* versed Ossory, and even penetrated into Munster; but the savage devastations of his licentious soldiery alienated the affections of the inhabitants, who were previously disposed to regard him as a liberator; and the Geraldines were easily enabled to collect an army sufficient to prevent his farther advance.
The soldiers of the Geraldines were too deficient in arms and discipline for the leaders to hazard a re- gular battle ; but they were soon reinforced by the new Lord-deputy, Roger Mortimer, who landed at Waterford with a train of forty knights and their ; attendants. Bruce was now compelled to retreat, which he did with precipitation, leaving the Lacys
106 HISTORY OF ^HS
exposed to all the consequences of their rash rebel- lion. Mortimer exacted a heavy vengeance from the faithless chieftains. He seized all their castles and estates in Meath, and compelled them to seek refuge in the wilds of Connaught. The English interest soon began to revive ; and the Pope lent his pov^^er^ f\il assistance to restore its ascendancy.. Sentence of excommunication was solemnly pronounced againstr Bruce and all his adherents, but more particularly^ those priests who had preached so zealously in his cause. This interference seems to have been antici- pated ; for the northern Irish princes sent a deputa- tion to Rome, in order to lay before the Pontiff a full statement of all the evils which the English had iiiflicted on their country. It was, indeed, a black catalogue of crimes, and yet there is something ir- resistibly ludicrous in the manner of describing the, grievances. The massacre of thousands is placed on the same scale as the imprisonment of a prelate ;= and the injury done to a cathedral described as more atrocious than the robbery of a nation. Popes John XXII. transmitted the appeal to Edward, withi a recommendation to redress all these wrongs, lay and clerical ; but the state of the country prevented the introduction of any improvements.
After the departure of Mortimer, the administra- tion was intrusted successively to the Archbishops of Cashel and Dublin. They published the bulls of. excommunication, and ordered them to be read daily at every mass celebrated in the English army. The- Archbishop of Armagh did not confine himself to, spiritual weapons ; he resided constantly in the camp, , and took an active part in directing all military ope-, rations. In the mean time, Bruce's army was en-, during the most horrible extremities of famine. Shut
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Bp in. the- northem districts, which had lain desolate since the- commencement of tbe war, lie could not procm-e any subsistence for his foJlowers. The most loathsome and revolting objects were eagerly sought by the famishing wretches ; and we are assured, that they even fed on the dead bodies of their brethren. Robert Bruce, hearing of his brother's precarious si- tuation, made hasty preparations to bring him relief, but by this means only accelerated his ruin. Jealous ©f his brother's fame, Edward determined that vic- tory should be entirely his own, and hastily led his forces against Sir Richard Bermingham, who had advanced into Ulster at the head of fifteen thousand men (a. d. 1318). The fate of Ireland was de- cided iiX the battle of Dundalk. The famished Scots- were broken by the physical stuength of their oppo- nents ; the Irish felt that they fought under the curse- of the church ; while the English were roused by the belief that heaven was on their side, and that th& Wessing pronounced on their arms by the primate, that very morning, rendered them invincible. Irh the midst of the engagement, Bruce was singled out by an English knight, named Maupas; and so fu- rious was the encounter, that both fell dead together on. the plain. The carnage was frightful ; for quar- ter was refused to wretches who had incurred the« penalties of excommunication. A fow escaped by their superior knowledge of the country, and carried to their brethren certain intelligence, that their hopes of independence were frustrated for ever. In a lew days after, Robert Bruce arriv-ed on the coast ; but' hearing of his brother's fate, he immediately retired ;' and Bermingham, thus freed from- all apprehensions. ; of the Scotch, led back his victoiious troops, having;
108 HISTORY OF THE
first expelled from their lands the toparchs that had been the most zealous supporters of Bruce. The successful general was created Earl of Louth, and baron of Atherdee — a distinction which he well de- served.
The evils of war are not to be measured merely by the number of the slain, or the extent of devastation ; there are frequently calamities more oppressive, and more permanent, which escape the notice of the or- dinary historian. Bruce had been slain, his follow- ers dispersed, and tranquillity of some kind restored ; but the land was desolate, the exchequer empty, the soldiers mutinous for pay, the people starving for lack of food. The great barons, who always main- tained a large train of followers, were unable to sup-- port their retainers, and they began to exact what they called " coyne and livery, " — in other words, pay and food for their soldiers. This compendious mode of supporting an army, by quartering it imme- diately on the people, has been more than once tried in Ireland. It has been found an excellent means of converting a petty disturbance into a formidable insurrection, and of diffusing through some devoted district, intense hatred of a government that exposed the peasant's little property to licensed plunder, and- his wives and daughters to insult and pollution. But the Irish oligarchies never were famous for look- ing to remote consequences. They did not fear the serf, whom they crushed down by their brute force ; but the wretch incapable of obtaining open redress, sought for secret revenge. They believed that the money wrung from their oppressed tenants was clear gain ; but they saw not, that, when the substantial yeomanry fled before extortion, and their places were- supplied by miserable thralls, that the land was no
CIVIL WARS OF IRELAND. i09
longer efficiently cultivated, and that their actual re- ceipts bore an amazing disproportion to their nomi- nal rent-roll. The fable of the boy and the goose that kid golden eggs, has been often faithfully and fatally realized in Ireland. The landlord that robs his tenantry of a fair share of their profits, is his own worst enemy ; he destroys all motives to industry ; he puts a stop to the improvement of his own ground ; he actually offers a premium for exhausting the fer- tility of his own land. If no better motive has any influence over the minds of Irish proprietors, self- interest ought long since to have shown them the ruin that such short-sighted avarice was bringing on themselves as well as on their country ; and it might, if miserable pride had not interfered — the pride of showing an enormous rent-roll, in which the first figure to the left was rarely significant. " It is well to have at least the name of the thing, *' is recorded as an Anglo-Irish proverb in the earliest times ; and this love of the name, without the reality, continues to the present day. It is easy to swell the nominal income, by demanding L.IO per acre for ground not worth half the sum ; but the tenant will be unable to perform his promise. In many such cases, he will pay very little ; in most, nothing. But we have digressed from the first establishment of the system to its present modified operation, and must now re- sume the regular course of our narration*
The exaction of coyne and livery was first com- menced by Maurice Fitz-Thomas of Desmond ; and the severity with which this arbitrary tax was levied, was so great, that Baron Finglas declares " it would destroy hell, if used in the same." Finglas was ^(Qhief Baron of the Irish Exchequer, and, subsquently, Chief Justice of the King's Bench in the reign of
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Henry VIII. ; and his brief account of the evils that- followed from this tyranny, comes to us recommend-^ ed by the weight of judicial authority, independent of the internal evidence of its truth. He says, " Nevir sithence did the Geraldines of Mounster, the But- lers, ne Geraldines of Leinster, obediently obey the King's lawes in Irlaund ; but continually alhed them- selves with Irishmen, useing continually coyne and livery, whereby all the londe is now of Irish rule, ex- cept the little English Pale, within the counties of Dublin and Myeth, and Uriell (Louth), which passe not thirty or fourty miles in compasse. Item, in the forsaid mannere for the lacke of punishment of the grete lordes of Mounstere by ministracione of jus- tice, they, by ther extortione of coyne and livery, and othir abusions, have expelled all the English free- holders and inhabitants out of Mounster ; so that in fiftie yeres passid was none ther obedient to the Kyng's laws, except cities and walled townes ; and soo this hath been the decaie of Mounster. " The Geraldines unhesitatingly seized on the lands of all the proprietors whom their oppression drove into ex- ile ; and in a very few years Desmond was the prince, rather than the proprietor, ofWaterford, Cork, Kerry, and Limerick. Thus began the fatal system under which Ireland continues to suffer at the present hour ; a system pursued with little variation by every race of landlords which the different revolutions introduc- ed ; a system of giving the land only to miserable serfs, and discouraging, by every means, the growth of an independent middle class. The feudal barons drove out the first race of freeholders ; the under- takers in the reigns of Elizabeth and James, refused to grant leases on such terms as would encourage a tenant to expend capital and industry on the land ;
CIVIL WARS OF IRELAND. Ill
the Cromwellian settlers steadily pursued the same course ; their descendants,' tbrough the greater part of the last century, invariably discouraged the protestant or English tenant, who refused to pay a rent which would deprive him of every comfort, and who felt himself entitled to the rights of a citizen, and the protection of equal laws. The natural consequence has been, that the landlords have heaped up the ma- terials of a servile waf , ever ready to explode ; and have kept the country on the verge of a general Agrarian insurrection, whose danger is increased by the violent means used to check its partial eruptions. The conduct of the clergy, at this period, was not such as should have been expected from ministers of the gospel of peace. The ecclesiastics only imitat- ed the barons in setting the English government at defiance ; but there was more consistency, more unity of purpose and design, in the opposition of the spi- ritual aristocracy. The barons were frequently forced to yield ; but the prelates uniformly prevailed in every contest. One circumstance illustrative of the daring spirit manifested by the bishops, as well as of the ludicrous fanaticism of the age, deserves to be recorded (a. d. 1324). Richard Ledred, Bishop of Ossory, having, for some unknown reason, be- come the enemy of a noble lady, named Dame Alice Ketler, summoned her, with her son and several of her dependents, before his spiritual court, on a charge of witchcraft. The indictment was wondrously spe- cific, and the overt acts charged as precise as possi- Dle. She was accused of going through Kilkenny ?very evening, immediately before curfew, sweeping the refuse of the streets to her son's door, and mut- iepxig the poetic incantation^-
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« To the house of William my son, Hie all the wealth of Kilkemiy town. "
It was further alleged, that she made assignations near a cross-road, with a demon named Robin Ar- tysson, and provided a strange supper for her strange paramour, to wit, nine red cocks', and eleven pea- cocks' eyes. After this delicate repast, it was stated that Alice and Robin were accustomed to help di- gestion by taking an evening excursion all the world over ; and the broomstick which served as her charger was produced in court. Finally, it was stated that a sacramental wafer, on which the name of the devil was inscribed, had been found in her chamber. Not- withstanding this body of evidence, the lady was ac- quitted ; but one of her attendants was found guilty, and executed. But the Bishop was not so easily foiled. The lady was again brought to trial, on a new charge of heresy, convicted, and burned at the stake ; and Adam Duff, a gentleman of a respectable family in Leinster, being convicted of the same of- fence, shared the same fate. Lord Arnold de h Poer, seneschal of the palatinate to which Kilkenn} then belonged, disgusted at these exhibitions o: mingled folly and barbarity, interfered to check Led- red's proceedings. The Bishop immediately arrest- ed him as a heretic ; and when the Lord-deputy in- terfered for his protection, the undaunted prelate ex- tended his charge to that personage himself.
In Ireland, now was exhibited the extraordinary spectacle, of the chief governor arraigned before the Bench of Bishops on a formal charge of heresy All the business of the State was suspended, for th<: Lord-deputy was also Chancellor. Parliament, thei sitting, was unable to proceed with any business;
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and the courts of law were closed. After a long and tedious trial, the Lord-deputy was formally ac- quitted, and testified his joy by a magnificent ban- quet, open to all comers. Lord de la Poer was not equally fortunate. He had been seized by the Bi- shop in the first instance, and perished in the mi- serable dungeon to which he had been confined. Not satisfied with this vengeance, the Bishop ap- pealed to Rome, and obtained a Papal brief, exhort- ing the King to prevent the growth of heresy in Ire- land. But the mischief luckily reverted on the head of its author. Ledred was himself accused of he- resy before his metropolitan, and forced to save him- self by a precipitate retreat. The remainder of his worthless life was spent in poverty and exile ; but the effects of his mischievous efforts were long and lasting.
A. D. 1327. — During the administration of the Earl of Kildare, a civil war commenced, in which the greater part of the English barons were engaged. The cause of this furious contest was the most tri- vial imaginable. The Lord de la Poer had called Maurice of Desmond a rhymer ; and Maurice, pro- bably believing that the imputation of any literary attainment was inconsistent with the barbarous dig- nity which he affected, resolved to revenge the af- front by arms. The Butlers and Berminghams joined the side of Maurice. De la Poer was assist- ed by the De Burghos. The struggle was long and dubious ; for, though Poer was easily driven from his territories, his allies could not be subdued with equal facility. The lands were laid waste by the fu- rious inroads of the rival partisans ; and the Irish septs in Leinster took advantage of these commo-^ tions to revolt. In the midst of these tumults Kil-
Ili4 HISTORY OF THE
dare died, and was succeeded by Roger Outlaw, Prior of Kilmainham.
The first effort of the prelate was to reconcile the barons ; and in this he succeeded the more easily, as they were alarmed at the extent of their own devast- ations. The Irish septs, hopeless of success, also tendered their submission, and again petitioned to be admitted to the privileges of British subjects. But the barons were too fond of their old system of policy, to allow those whom they destined to be their serfs to obtain the privileges of freemen. They declared the proposed grace injurious to the cause of English ascendancy, and, by their com- bined influence, disappointed at once both King and people.
The Irish were justly indignant at this gross in- stance of tyranny and injustice. They immediately took up arms, and, ranging themselves under the ban- ners of O'Brian, Prince of Thomond, obtained seve- ral advantages over the English in Leinster. Their career was marked by ruthless massacre and deso- lation. We are told, that on one occasion, they sur- rounded a church in which about eighty English settlers were assembled. These unfortunate victims, hopeless of escape, petitioned for the safety of their pastor ; but even this was refused. The priest was the first victim. He was slain at the very altar, and the consecrated elements trampled in the dust. The in- vaders had first shown the example of despising all that was in that age deemed holy. The example now reverted on themselves, and they were doomed to pay a heavy penalty for their former excesses. The Lord- deputy, finding the forces of the government unable to quell the insurrection, solicited the aid of Mau- rice of Desmond, and treated with this haughty dy-
CIVIL WARS OF IRELAND. 115
nast more as an independent prince than a feudal baron. To secure the support of Maurice, he was created Earl of Desmond, and his territories erected ^jinto a county palatine, in which he was allowed to exercise independent jurisdiction. The number of palatinates was shortly after increased to nine ; Car- low, Wexford, Kilkenny, Leix, Meath, Ulster, and the territories of the Earls of Desmond and Ormond. The palatine lords in these districts exercised all the lights of sovereign princes ; made barons and knights ; exercised both criminal and civil jurisdiction ; ap- pointed their own officers of justice ; and claimed the right of making war and peace at their pleasure. Under such circumstances, the authority of govern- ment was merely nominal, and the country was in effect divided into several independent sovereignties beyond the control of the crown.
Such was the condition of affairs when Sir An- thony Lucy was appointed to the government. He was an English knight, eminently distinguished for wisdom, firmness and valour, and there was rarely an occasion when such qualifications were more re- quisite in a lord-deputy. Suspecting that the Irish were secretly encouraged in their depredations by the barons, he summoned a parliament to meet him at Kilkenny. The thinness of the attendance, and the pretexts used by those who did come for depart- ing again, converted his suspicions into certainty, and he took the decisive measure of arresting all the leading nobles. Desmond, Mandeville, the two De Burghos, and the two Berminghams, were thrown into prison by the spirited Deputy, and soon after brought to trial. William Bermingham was convict- ed on the clearest evidence, and immediately execut- ed. Desmond was forced, after a long ccnfinement,
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to give great surety for his appearance, and was then sent into England.
The Irish nobles would scarcely have submitted to this rigour, but that Edward was expected to come over in person, and strictly investigate the state of affairs in Ireland. Extensive preparations were made, apparently for this expedition ; but they were only intended to veil the monarch's real de- signs against Scotland. The forces collected on the western coast were suddenly ordered to march north- wards ; and Ireland was, as usual, neglected. The only measure taken to tranquillize the country, was the most injudicious that could possibly be adopted. The Prior of Kilmainham was directed to enter into tenns of accommodation with all the insurgents of English and Irish race. He thus, indeed, for a time, restored a hollow tranquillity ; but he revealed to the disaffected the secret of their own strength, and the royal weakness. About the same time, an event fraught with the most pernicious consequences occurred. The Earl of Ulster was assassinated by his own servants at Carrickfergus ; and his Coun- tess, with her infant daughter, fled to England iii consternation. The vast estates of De Burgho were thus left without any adequate defence ; and the King, who, as guardian of the infant heir, ought to have held them in ward, took no measures for their security. Of course, they became the prey of rapine and violence. The sept of the Q'Nials took up arms, and, passing the river Bann, drove out the English settlers, after a desperate resistance. They then parcelled out the conquered territories amongst themselves, and gave them the name of Upper and Lower Clan-Hugh-Boy, in honour of their leader^ Hugh-Boy O'Nial. The Earl's possessions in Con-
CIVIL WARS OF IRELAND. 117
naught were seized by the junior branches of the De Burghos ; and, as the usurpers were conscious that the law of England would deprive them of their acquisition, they resigned at once the English law, language and name, and assumed the character of Irish toparchs, under the title of MacWilliam Oughter and MacWilHam Eighter, that is, the fur- ther and nether MacWilliam. Similar degeneracy was exhibited in almost every part of the country ; and it soon became proverbial, that the descendants of English settlers were Hibernis ipsis HibernioreSy I* more Irish than the Irish themselves. "
The course adopted by the government under these circumstances was so unsteady and vacillating, that the evils hourly increased. In a moment of impetuous indignation, Edward issued a proclama- tion, that none but those of English birth should be eligible to any office ; but, finding the Irish aristo- cracy preparing for resistance, he limited the exclu- sion to the native Irish, and eventually excepted from its operation all those who had obtained char- ters of privileges. Again, he encouraged the Lord- deputy UfFord in his vigorous efforts to control the Earls of Desmond and Kildare ; but immediately after, he took both these lords into favour, in order to procure their aid in the invasion of France. The Irish forces were honourably distinguished by their achievements in the French war ; and Kildare show- ed so much valour at the siege of Calais, that he re- ceived the honour of knighthood from the King's own hand. But these favours only served to exalt the pride of the Geraldines, and to make them less inclined to yield obedience as subjects^
A. D. 1333. — The only gleam of sunshine in this long and gloomy period was the brief adminis-
118 HISTORY OF THE
tration of Sir Thomas Rokeby. Mild in his man- ners, and upright in his conduct, this excellent go- vernor successfully laboured to conciliate all parties by justice and moderation. When advised to enrich himself by arts well known to all that went before, and many that succeeded him, he nobly replied, " I am served without parade or splendour ; but let my dishes be wooden, rather than my creditors unpaid." But the abilities of Rokeby were not equal to the purity of his intentions. Indeed, powers absolutely miraculous were required to tranquillize a land, where every spot was filled with the elements of discord, and where every person felt an interest in creating public disturbance.
A.D. 1361. — Edward, seeing the little respect paid to his deputies, resolved to commit the govern- ment of Ireland to his second son Lionel, Duke of Clarence, who had married the heiress of the Earl of Ulster. Extensive preparations were made to en^ able the young prince to conduct himself with vigour in his new government ; and the highest expectations were formed of the benefits that were to follow from his visit. By one fatal error, all these well-ground- ed hopes were disappointed. The youthful Duke was surrounded by men of English birth, who in- duced him to slight the Lords of the Pale ; and these haughty nobles refused to give him the least assist- ance in his military operations. Left to the guid- ance of his own inexperienced followers, Lionel marched against the O'Briens of Thomond; and, from his ignorance of the country, was soon involved in difficulties from which he saw no means of escape. In this mortifying condition, he was obliged to ap- peal to the compassion of the Lords of the Pale, by whom he was speedily relieved, and even enabled tq^
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gain some advantages over the enemy. He returned soon after to England, having added a new and dan- gerous distinction to the parties, by which the coun- try was already distracted. Henceforth, the terms, English by birth, and English by blood, became in- vidious marks of separation, and caused new hosti- lities as violent and inveterate as any yet recorded.
After a brief absence, during which the reins of government were held successively by the Earl of Ormond and Sir Thomas Dale, the Duke of Cla^ rence returned, and summoned a parliament to con- sult on the state of the country (a. d. 1367). The most numerous and respectable assembly that had hitherto been convened in Ireland met on this occa- sion at Kilkenny. The result of their labours was an act memorable in the dark annals of Irish legisla- tion, the celebrated Statute of Kilkenny. It provided, that marriage, fosterage, or gossipred with the Irish, or submission to the Irish law, should be considered and punished as high treason. It de- clared, that if any man of English descent should use an Irish name, the Irish language, or observe Irish customs, he should forfeit his estates, until se- curity was given for his conformity to English ha- bits. It was also declared penal, to present a mere Irishman (that is, one who had not purchased a charter of denization) to any benefice, or to receive him into any monastery. And finally, it was strictly forbidden to entertain any native bard, minstrel, or I story-teller ; or to admit an Irish horse to graze on the pasture of a liege subject !
This precious specimen of legislation was lauded as a masterpiece of policy, by those who thought that the conversion of the English into merelrish was the great danger to be apprehended ; and even in
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later times, there have been found some to join in the eulogy. Yet, could there be any thing more impolitic than thus to denounce all the institutions, civil and religious, of a people not yet subdued — and this too, after all their petitions for admission within the pale of the English law had been contumeliously neglect- ed ? In fact, the Irish were forced, by their oppres- sors, to retain their ancient system, and then punish- ed for their adherence to what they would gladly have resigned. In the words of Lord Clare, " it was a declaration of perpetual war, not only against the native Irish, but against every person of English blood, who had settled beyond the limits of the pale, and from motives of personal interest, or convenience, had formed connexions with the natives, or adopted their laws and customs : And it had the full effect which might have been expected ; it drew closer the confederacy it was meant to dissolve, and implicated the colony of the pale in ceaseless warfare and con- tention with each other, and with the inhabitants of the adjacent district. " The conduct of the clergy is not the least astounding part of this extraordinary proceeding. Not satisfied with their efforts in con- veying the statute through the parliament, they de- nounced anathemas and excommunications on all those who disobeyed its provisions ; declaring that every thing Irish was an object of abhorrence to God and man. Three of these bishops were themselves Irishmen ; and we may well be surprised at the viru- lence with which these apostates branded the insti- tutions of their violence. But our wonder ceases when we learn, that tithes and other ecclesiastic ex- actions were always resisted in those districts where the Brehon law prevailed.
But the Statute of Kilkenny failed to produce the
i
CIVIL WARS OF IRELAND. 121
effects that Edward anticipated. The insurrections and civil wars continued ; the authority of the Lords- deputy was disregarded ; and the expense of the Irish government became a serious burden to the British Parliament (a. d. 1376.) Sir William Windsor, the Lord-deputy, by the royal command, assembled the parliament of the pale ; but they pleaded poverty, and refused the supplies. Edward had recourse to the ex- traordinary measure of summoning a species of Irish parliament to meet him in England. The Bishops were directed to send over two of the clergy from every diocess ; the commons were ordered to send two re- presentatives from each county, and two burgesses from each city and borough. The returns made to these writs of summons prove clearly, that the pre- lates were as little disposed to submit to the royal power as the barons. The greater number of dio- cesses expressly prohibited their deputies from con- senting to any subsidies ; and the counties and cities followed their example. Cork, Youghal, Ross, and a few other places, gave full powers to their repre- sentatives ; but the limitation placed on the majori- ty rendered the whole proceeding nugatory. Money was the only thing the King wanted, and money was precisely the subject on which the different constitu- encies prevented the deputies from deliberating. The deputies went over and assembled at Westminster ; but as they had no authority, their debates were a mere idle form, and they soon separated. During , the remainder of Edward's reign, the royal authority ., continually declined, and the unrestrained excesses of the barons kept the country in a state of the utmost .misery. Foreign merchants refused to visit the hap- less land without special letters of protection. Trade .^ and commerce were^ consequently, all but extinguish-
122 HISTORY OF THE
ed. New adventurers coming over from England^ inflamed dissensions by their grasping avarice ; and the clergy, already demoralized, were further degrad-* ed by being employed to raise and lead armies, which, the crown feared to intrust to the barons. These were the fatal consequences of Edward's foreign wars, which withdrew his attentions from his domestic con- cerns, and prevented him from applying any remedy to the evils which he saw and vainly lamented.
I
CIVIL WARS OF IRELAND. 123
CHAPTER VII.
The History of Ireland during the Civil Wars between the Houses of York and Lancaster.
The accession of the unfortunate Richard II. had no immediate effect upon the affairs of Ireland. The expenses, however, of its misgovernment, called the attention of the British Parliament to the state of that country, and they adopted the judicious measure of compelling absentees to return under pain of for- feiture. The war with France and Scotland, though not vigorously maintained by any of the belligerent powers, wasted them all by the encouragement it af- forded to predatory expeditions. The coast of Ire- land was long infested by a French fleet, until, at length, the enemy was overtaken in the harbour of Kinsale by the English, and completely defeated. Little of importance occurred during the administra- dons of the Earl of March and Sir Philip Courtney. iFhe latter governor was removed in consequence of his illegal extortions ; but historians have not record- ed the particulars of his crimes and punishment. The government was next conferred on the King's prime ^vourite, Robert de Vere, Earl of Oxford, and Mar- |uis of Dublin. Extraordinary preparations were inade for his departure ; but when he had proceeded k'far as Wales, Richard found himself unable to
124 HISTORY OF THE
part with his minioti, and the administration was managed by his deputies*
The EngUsh nobility soon revolted against the dominion which Oxford exercised ; and, after a brief struggle, he was driven into Flanders. His crea- tures in Ireland shared his fate. They were stripped of their power, and the administration confided to Sir John Stanley, and afterwards to the Earl of Ormond. The latter acted with more vigour than his predecessors. He compelled the O'Neals of Ulster to give hostages for their fidelity ; and he gained a great victory at Kilkenny over a numerous army of Irish insurgents. The disordered state of Ireland, however, continued to be the subject of bitter complaints in the English parliament ; and the King at length resolved to lead over a sufficient army, and complete the conquest of the country. He is said to have formed this resolution, partly be- cause he dreaded the Duke of Gloucester, who was first nominated to the command, but principally on account of a sarcasm uttered by some princes of Germany, when Richard canvassed them for his election to the empire. Having married a Bohe- mian princesS) he trusted that, by this connection, he had acquired sufficient interests to be chosen Em- peror. But the electors refused to confer the dig- nity on one who had been unable to defend the ac- quisitions made by his ancestors in France — who could not control the factions of his English sub- jects, nor subdue the enemies of his authority in Ireland. The truth of this reproach made it the more bitter ; and Richard determined to acquire military fame in Ireland, where he had the fairest prospects of success.
A powerful army, led by the King in person,
CIVIL WARS OF IRELAND. 125
could not be resisted by the Irish toparchs. As soon as Richard landed, the native princes and the barons hastened to tender their allegiance, and per- form homage. The vain-glorious King was satisfied with this appearance of submission ; he traversed the country in all the pomp of military triumph, and soon returned to England, after having expended enormous sums, and performed absolutely nothing. ifi The young Earl of March, who remained in ijreland as Lord-deputy, fatally experienced how de- lusive were the submissions which Richard had ac- cepted. It had been stipulated, that the Irish septs should completely evacuate Leinster ; but when the time for the performance of the agreement arrived, they not only refused to stir, but boldly took up arms. In this petty war the Earl of March was slain, with several of his companions ; and Mac- Murchard, who, though pensioned by the King, headed the revolt, severely harassed the English set- tlements, no longer protected by the forces of the Deputy. When the news of these events reached England, Richard at once determined on a second expedition into Ireland, to avenge his cousin's death. Orders were issued for levying forces and raising money ; but the royal emissaries behaved so harshly in the execution of these commands, that the dis- affection which the King's misconduct had already caused soon became universal. The banishment of Hereford, and the illegal seizure of his pater- nal property, had justly offended that powerful and popular nobleman. He had previously formed an extensive connection with a great body of the Eng- lish nobility ; and Richard, just before his depar- ture, added to the strength of the conspiracy, by , |H:oclaiming the Earl of Northumberland a traitor,
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1^ HISTORY OF THE.
and his lands forfeited. Having thus almost wantonly provoked a rebellion, Richard set sail, and on the 13th day of May arrived in Waterford.
The entire progress of the weak monarch was marked by vanity and incapacity. When a great part of the season had been wasted in idle parade, he advanced against the enemy through a difficult country, where no provisions could be procured. MacMurchard, secure in his fastnesses, could not be forced to an engagement. He left the English to contend with his formidable allies^— fatigue and^i famine ; — enemies that soon thinned the ranks of the invaders. Richard, forced to retreat before an enemy he despised, had recourse to negotiation ; but his terms were haughtily rejected by MacMurchard. Irritated by these disappointments, the King vowed never to return, until he had chastised the insolent chieftain ; but the news that reached him from Eng-. land soon compelled him to change his resolution. Unfavourable winds had prevented any intercourse between the two countries for some weeks ; and. when tlie weather changed, the news of Hereford's, invasion, and its rapid success, came upon him like a thunderbolt. Even in this crisis, he neglected alL reasonable precautions ; — he delayed in Ireland un- til the Welch army, collected by the Earl of Salis-^ bury, dispersed in despair ; and he returned, with a scanty train, to a country where he had no longer a friend. He threw himself into the Castle of Con- way, with the design of returning to Ireland ; but was betrayed into the hands, of his rival, and soon after perished in prison.
The usurpation of the House of Lancaster shook to its very foundation the English interests in Ire- hind. Henry IV^ was too busily engaged in sup-
CIVIL WARS OF IRELAND. 127
pressing the numerous insurrections, which the de- fect of his title encouraged, to pay any regard to the state of a distant province. His son, unfortunately, preferred the barren laurels acquired in France, to the substantial advantages which might have been acquired nearer home. During both tliese reigns, the Irish septs acquired fresh power and territory. They hemmed in the settlers on every side, and were paid a large tribute for granting them a precarious protection. The Statute of Kilkenny could no long- er be observed, for there was no force to exact the penalties for its violation. The barons degenerated into Irish chieftains ; the exactions of " coyne and livery " were levied in open violation of the law ; and the Royal authority was so little regarded, that many Peers disdained to attend their du- ties in Parliament. The jealousy between the descendants of the old settlers and the English by birth, assumed the appearance of national hosti- lity, and was rendered more virulent by the unwise enactments of the English Parliament, and the in- discriminate rigour of the English administration. In the beginning of the reign of Henry V, an act was passed prohibiting Irish adventurers from coming to England ; and all such as had previously arrived were ordered to depart forthwith. This law was ex- tended, by the insolence and folly of the ministry, to the sons of the Irish nobility in the universities and inns of court. Stung by this insult,, they returned home, anxious to harass a government by which they had been stigmatized, and restrained from open rebellion only by their dread of the native Irish. The governors and legal officers sent over from Eng- land, scarcely deigned to disguise their contempt of i thcr old colonists ; they CYen. ventured to insult the
128 HISTORY OF THE
Parliament of the Pale ; and when the Legislature was anxious to present a petition of grievances to the Sovereign, the Chancellor (Merbury) refused to affix the seal, so that it could not be transmitted. The appointment of the Earl of Ormond as Lord- deputy, was a proof that the government began to be conscious of its error in excluding the Irish no- bility from power ; and the tranquilhty which he esta- blished proved the wisdom of this change. But Ormond was guilty of some great errors which more than counterbalanced his services. To aggrandize their own power was always the policy of the But- lers ; and in his haste to eifect this favourite object, the Deputy did not always observe the dictates of equity, or even sound policy. In order to gain the assistance of the Earl of Desmond, in a struggle for power with the Talbots, Ormond not only pro- cured for that nobleman a confirmation of his title and privileges, but also greatly extended his juris- diction. James Earl of Desmond had obtained this rank by means equally criminal and extraordinary. His nephew, the rightful heir of Desmond, offended the prejudices of his retainers, by marrying a beau- tiful girl of inferior rank. They rose in rebellion, forced him to surrender his title and estate, and drove him into exile. Through the friendship of Ormond, James procured an acknowledgement of his claims from the Parliament, and permission from the Crown to purchase what lands he pleas- ed, under whatever tenure they were holden. He was also constituted governor of the southern coun- ties, and obtained the privilege of absenting him- self from Parliament, and of voting on all ques- tions by a sufficient proxy. The effect of these mischievous grants was soon manifested. Desmond
CIVIL WARS OF IRELAND. 129
became, at the same time, conscious of his own strength, and jealous of Ormond. Mutual insults and recriminations exasperated their hatred, which finally brought on open war. Desmond had suffi- cient strength to resist the forces of his rival, though supported by all the strength of the government ; and, after a desultory campaign, concluded a truce with all the form of an independent sovereign. The jivals of Ormond in Leinster, took the opportunity of his absence to send over such representations to Henry VI. as induced that weak monarch to remove him from the government.
Talbot, Earl of Shrewsbury, and now constituted Earl of Waterford, was the new Lord-deputy. He came attended by a gallant train, at the moment when fresh commotions were beginning to arise, which fortunately his power overawed. The new Deputy was a violent enemy of the Butlers ; but Ormond was protected by the personal friendship of the sovereign ; and his family, grateful for this kindness, continued ever after firmly attached to the house of Lancaster.
A. D. 1449. — A change now took place in the go- vernment, more important than any yet recorded, be- 4cause its effects were more permanent and extensive. Richard, Duke of York, descended from an elder bro- Ither of the Prince, through whom the reigning family claimed their right to the throne, was universally be- loved in England. His hiffh birth and exalted station were of little moment, compared with the influence he derived from his exemplary virtues and consummate ability. Valiant in war, prudent in council, elo- quent in debate, he was regarded by his peers as the brightest ornament of their order. Conciliating in ahis manners, of a kind disposition and fascinating laddress,^ he won the hearts of the commons, but too
130 HISTORY OF THE
justly weaned of aristocratic insolence. The con- trast between this nobleman and his inglorious so- vereign, was too glaring to escape observation. The claims of the house of. York to the crown began to be canvassed publicly ; and the disgrace of the Eng- lish arms in France, rendered the people still more discontented with the Lancastrian dynasty. Mar- garet of Anjou, the proud queen of Henry, saw the, danger to which her husband's crown was exposed, by the popularity of the Duke. His power was too* great for her to attempt any open attack ; and sh«^ therefore determined, on some honourable pretence, to remove him from the country. It was asserted in England, that the native Irish had joined in a formidable confede&icy, and that, unless speedy measures were adopted, the English power in that country would be speedily overthrown. This fur-- nished a plausible pretext for appointing the Duke Lordrdeputy ; and he was urgently entreated to hasten, with all speed, to suppress these imaginary commotions. The Prince, wiser than his adversaries, showed no reluctance in accepting the office. He justly believed that his sons would maintain the dig- nity of his family in England ; while he, closely al- lied to the De Burghos, heir to the earldom of Ulster, and the lordships of Connaught, Clare, Trim, and Meath, could not fail to increase the number of his partisans, and the power of his house in Ireland. i3efore his departure, he took care to procure more extensive authority than had been granted to his pre- decessors. Besides the uncontrolled disposal of the Irish revenue, he stipulated for a pension from Eng- land ; and he claimed the right of disposing of the King's land, and of appointing to all offices civil and military. In her eager haste to remove the Duke
CIVIL WARS OF IRELAND. 131
from England, Margaret forgot the dangerous influ- ence which such unparalleled powers would give the object of her jealousy in a country where the crown possessed no countervailing authority. The Duke's demands were readily granted, and he proceeded to Ireland with all the state of a sovereign^
The administration of the Duke of York is one of the brightest periods in Irish history. For years afterwards, it was quoted as the time when peace and prosperity ruled the land ; when the excesses of fac- tion were restrained by impartial justice ; when the native Irish, the English by birth and the English by blood, forgetting former animosities, seriously applied themselves to improve the country which they inha- bited in common. Even now, after the lapse of four centuries, the memory of these halcyon days is preserved in popular tradition ; and at this hour, the white rose, the cognizance of the House of York, is the favourite symbol of the partisans of the people. Though aware of the attachment of Ormond to the House of Lancaster, the Prince received him with the same kindness and attention that he showed to the Geraldines and De Burghos, his own faithful ad- herents. On the birth of his son, afterwards the un- fortunate Duke of Clarence, the Deputy invited Des- mond and Ormond to be the sponsors of the infant prince ; an honour which Desmond, filled with the extravagant ideas of gossipred that prevailed in Ire- land, esteemed as almost raising him to an equality with the Duke, but which Ormond, enlightened by travel, viewed in its proper colours. The federal transactions with the Irish princes were marked with a regard to justice and good faith, such as had been rarely exhibited by former governors ; and, what none of them had evinced, he displayed an anxious desire
X8^ HISTORY OF THE
to improve the condition of the peasantry, and to protect them from the oppressive exactions of their lords. Such a paternal government, as excellent as it was rare, was rewarded by the most enthusiastic attachment of all classes. Its longer continuance would probably have made the growing reconciha- tion of hostile interest permanent : But, unfortunate- ly, it has been too often the fate of Ireland, to lose her best governors at the very moment when theif i measures were most likely to be beneficial. <i
The rebellion of Jack Cade, who assumed thi|[t popular name of Mortimer, was supposed to have ' been secretly contrived by the Duke of York, in or- der to feel the pulse of the English people. With- out making any inquiry into the truth of this sur- mise,the King, at the instigation of his haughty Queen, sent letters to the sheriffs of the western counties, declaring the traitorous designs of the Duke, and commanding them to oppose his landing. This in- discreet declaration of the fears and suspicions enter- tained by the court, afforded the Duke a pretext for returning to England. He declared his anxiety toM justify his conduct, and his determination to face hi»{ accusers. Embarking with a small train, he landed,/ in Wales, and, eluding all opposition, speeded t<(t, London, where he was apparently reconciled to the^' King.
The Duke, at his departure, intrusted the adminis- tration to Ormond. The Earl, being summoned over to England, was succeeded by the Archbishop of Ar- magh ; but troubles arising, which the peaceful pre- late could not allay, he resigned his charge to Sir Edward Fitz-Eustace, a knight of great military fame, and well fitted for a government which required more than ordinary exertions. The O'Connors of Ofally
CIVIL WARS OF IRELAND. 133
were the first who experienced the vigour of the new Deputy. He surprised this turbulent sept while en-^ gaged in a predatory expedition, and inflicted on them a severe defeat. In the rout, the toparch O'Connor fell from his horse. He was remounted by his son, the companion of his flight, but fell a se- cond time from exhaustion. It was long before the chieftain could persuade the youth to leave him to his fete ; but at length he commanded him to fly, un- der pain of incurring