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HISTORY OF IRELAND. 
 
 VOL, I. 
 
HISTORY OF IRELAND 
 
 FROM THE EARLIEST TIMES 
 TO THE PRESENT DAY 
 
 BY 
 
 REV. E. A. D'ALTON, M.R.I.A.^ 
 
 IN THREE VOLUMES 
 
 VOLUME I. 
 From the Eadie«tTimes to the Year 1547 
 
 COND EDITION. 
 
 WITH MAPS. 
 
 BOSTON COLLEGE LIBKARY 
 
 CHESTNUT HILL. ^.asB. 
 
 NEW YORK, CINCINNATI, CHICAGO: 
 
 Benziger Brothers, 
 
 Printers to the Holy Apostolic See. 
 
 1907. 
 
PRINTED BT 
 
 6EALY, BRTERS AND WALKEK, 
 
 MIDDLE ABBET STK.EBT, 
 
 DUBLIN. 
 
PREFACE. 
 
 -0-i:>0- 
 
 SoME people may be disposed to ask if there were real need of 
 a new History of Ireland, seeing that there are so many already 
 in the hands of the public. Yet it is difficult, if not impossible, 
 to find a really good history of our country — what might be fairly 
 described as an all-round good history — full, accurate, well-written 
 and impartial. If the Rev. Mr. D' Alton has not yet accomplished 
 this task, he has certainly made a praiseworthy beginning. This 
 is the first volume of what is intended to be a three volume work, 
 giving a complete history of Ireland from its -remotest origins 
 down to our own time. It is an ambitious task, which cannot 
 be accomplished without much learning, courage and perseverance. 
 There are, perhaps, some who might think it would have been 
 wiser for Father D'Alton to have devoted himself to writing a 
 complete history of his native Province or his native Diocese, 
 which he is certainly well qualified to do. We earnestly hope 
 that he may be induced to undertake such a work hereafter, for 
 the first volume of this general history gives evidence that he 
 possesses many of the most essential qualities of an historical 
 writer. His style is easy and limpid ; in description, as well as 
 in narration, he is vivid and frequently picturesque ; he possesses 
 the critical faculty in a high degree, and holds the scales of 
 historical justice with an even hand. Moreover, he is a pains- 
 taking writer in verifying his authorities ; he has the great 
 advantage of a good knowledge of the Gaelic tongue, which enables 
 him to consult for himself the original sources of our earlier history ; 
 and he has not failed to utilise all the State Papers and other 
 official documents, which the^^nmQteejitb century has produced 
 in such profusion. .JL U i ':! %} 
 
PREFACE. 
 
 Like all other writers on the earlier history of Ireland, he has 
 had to face the great difficulty of adopting a uniform system for 
 spelling Irish proper names, and in this matter he has not, we 
 think, always succeeded, for the forms he uses are sometimes 
 rather strange, if not, indeed, uncouth. But this is a matter that 
 can be easily corrected in a second edition. 
 
 The time is eminently favourable for such a work as this. 
 The Gaelic revival is still a rising tide, and young Irishmen, and 
 Irishwomen also, are anxiously seeking for authoritative information 
 on the history, the literature, the language, and the antiquities 
 of their country. Here they will find a work that will go far to 
 satisfy their requirements in these respects, and we have no doubt 
 that many of them will eagerly avail themselves of the opportunities 
 that it offers. Father D 'Alton bears a name not unknown in 
 historical studies. He deserves personally great credit for devoting 
 himself with so much ardour to the study of his country's history, 
 in the midst of his hard labours as a missionary priest. We earnestly 
 hope the favourable reception of this first volume of his history 
 will encourage him to complete the work, and in this we should 
 naturally expect for him the sympathy and co-operation of all 
 his fellow-countrymen, and especially of his brother priests. 
 
 15.JOHN HEALY, 
 
 Archbishop of Tuam. 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 Chapter. 
 
 I. Introductory. 
 
 II. The Earliest Inhabitants of Ireland. 
 
 III. The Melisians. 
 
 IV. Pre-Christian Civilisation. 
 V. St. Patrick. 
 
 VI. Progress of Religion and Learning. 
 
 VII. The First Christian Kings. 
 
 VIII. The Danish Invasions. 
 
 IX. The Dalcassian Kings. 
 
 X. A Long Period of Discord. 
 
 XI, Decay of Religion and Learning. 
 
 XII. Cultivation and Condition of the Arts 
 
 XIII. The Anglo-Norman Invasion. . . 
 
 XIV. Henry II. in Ireland. 
 XV. Progress of the Invaders. 
 
 XVI. The O'Connors of Connaught. 
 
 XVII. King John in Ireland. 
 
 XVIII. Long-Continued Turmoil. 
 
 XIX. The Anglo-Normans and the Church 
 
 XX. The Invasion of Bruce. 
 
 XXI. The English Colonists Turn Irish. 
 
 XXII. The Statute of Kilkenny, 
 
 XXIII. A Heroic Leinster Chief. 
 
 XXIV. Decay of English Power. 
 XXV. In The Reign of Henry VII. 
 
 XXVI^ The Geraldines. 
 
 XXVII. The Folly of Silken Thomas. 
 
 XXVIII. Henry Becomes King of Ireland 
 
 XXIX. The Reformation in Ireland. 
 
 Page. 
 
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 1>1>7 
 353 
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 38s 
 
 422 
 
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^S^^^^S^^^^i^^^^ 
 
 K^!^^^^!^^i:^^j^^j^^^^i^^^^j^^^^^^^&^^ 
 
 HISTORY OF IRELAND, 
 
 aSSe-^SOS'^- 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 Introductory. 
 
 To what extent Ireland was known to the Ancients — To the Phoenicians — 
 Herodotus — Festus Avienus — Pliny — Strabo — Caesar — Ptolemy — 
 Tacitus — Its various names. 
 
 The Phoenicians at an early age, perhaps as early as the foundation 
 of Carthage (the middle of the ninth century B.C.) had planted 
 colonies on the shores of Spain. These colonists, filled with the 
 adventurous spirit of their ancestors, had passed beyond the 
 Pillars of Hercules, reached Britain, and discovered the tin mines 
 at its southern extremity. To supply from these newly dis- 
 covered mines the ports of the Mediterranean with tin, they 
 found to be a lucrative employment, especially as long as they 
 enjoyed a monopoly of the trade. To preserve that monopoly 
 they kept the position of Britain a secret, and all that other 
 nations knew either of Britain or Ireland was that in some far 
 distant part of the Western seaweretheCassiterides or Tin Islands, 
 so distant and difificult of access that only Phoenician energy and 
 skill in navigation could reach them. At a later date, Herodotus 
 had heard that towards the north-west of Europe there was a 
 river called Eridanus, which emptied itself into the sea and from 
 which amber was said to come, but he did not seem to believe 
 that there was any sea on that side of Europe, and, as to the 
 Cassiterides or Tin Islands, he had heard of them and knew they 
 supplied the south of Europe with tin, but of their position he 
 had no knowledge. Both Britain and Ireland were shrouded in 
 impenetrable gloom, and on the map of the world as known to 
 
2 HISTORY OF IRELAND. 
 
 him they found no place.* The Carthaginians were as daring, 
 as skilful in navigation, and as keenly anxious to acquire wealth 
 by commerce as their kinsmen of Spain or Phoenicia, and in an 
 expedition under Hamilco they discovered those famous Tin 
 Islands which they had long sought for in vain. And, as a 
 result, Festus Avienus wrote a description of the maritime coasts 
 of the Atlantic (350 B.C.), and declared that at a distance of two 
 days' sail from Britain was the sacred Isle of the Plibernians.f 
 The Greek colonists of Marseilles followed in the wake of 
 the Carthaginians, and the Romans followed the Greeks, 
 but what the Romans knew of Ireland was little. Pliny 
 maintained | that it was part of Britain and not a distinct 
 island, and that in length it was 600 miles and that its breadth 
 was just half its length. The statement of Strabo, who wrote in 
 Greek, is that there are some islands round Britain, one of great 
 extent called lerna, lying parallel to it towards the north, but that 
 he had nothing certain to relate about it except that its inhabitants 
 are more savage than the Britons, feeding on human flesh, and 
 enormous eaters, deeming it commendable to devour their 
 deceased fathers and having intercourse with their sisters and 
 even with their mothers. |1 How little worthy of credence this 
 statement is, can be gathered from his own words, for he relates 
 it " perhaps without any very competent authority " and because 
 " to eat human flesh is said to be a Scythian custom." Caesar 
 came nearer to Ireland than either of these writers, yet he knew 
 but little of it and all he could say was that it was an island 
 situated to the west of Britain and about half its size.** Of its 
 coast-line, of its harbours and bays, of its climate and soil, of its 
 productions, of its inhabitants and of their cannibalism and 
 immorality, of which Strabo writes — on all these subjects he is 
 silent. 
 
 The scattered rays of light which had been cast on Western 
 Europe by his predecessors enabled Ptolemy to repeat the infor- 
 mation given us by Caesar. But he does little more than this, 
 and on his map the position of Ireland is inaccurately given. 
 He places it too far north, so that its extreme south is farther 
 north than the northernmost point of Wales. The Cassiterides^ 
 or Tin Islands, meant perhaps for the Scilly Isles, are placed 
 hard by the north coast of Spain, and far distant from the south 
 coast of Britain, and North Britain, or Scotland, is bent east, 
 and no part of it is as far north as the northernmost part of 
 
 * Herodotus i Book III .5 Chap. 115; 
 
 t Lingard's History of England (10 vols.), Vol. I., p. 17; 
 
 X Pliny. Book IV., Chap. 30. 
 
 I! Straboj Geography^ Book iv.> Chap. 5; 
 
 ■** Caesar J De Bella Gallico. Book V. 
 
INTRODUCTORY. 3 
 
 Ireland. And the coast-line of Ireland is very inaccurately 
 defined. That portion of the south-west which advances into the 
 Atlantic is wanting ; there is no trace of Galway Bay or the 
 mouth of the Shannon ; Donegal Bay is but imperfectly apparent, 
 nor is there any part of Ireland which corresponds to Ptolemy's 
 northern promontary, which juts out into the Atlantic, sharp 
 and narrow.* 
 
 Agricola marched farther north than any who went before 
 him ; the Caledonian coast looking towards Ireland was lined 
 with his troops ; and he entertained thoughts of conquering 
 Ireland itself, believing that it would contribute to the tranquility 
 of Britain. For the Britons, he thought, would lose courage 
 and cease to fight, when they saw the last refuge of liberty in 
 the West invaded, and Ireland reduced to the position of a Roman 
 province, the last spark of liberty would be extinguished round 
 their coasts. He had parleyed with an Irish chief, who, like 
 MacMurrogh at a later age, had been expelled from his own 
 country and sought in his difficulties for aid from foreign arms. 
 From the information supplied by this exiled chief, added to 
 what the Romans already knew, Tacitus was able to say that 
 Ireland was less in size than Britain, but larger than any island 
 in the Mediterranean, that its coasts and harbours were well 
 known to foreign merchants and traders, and that in soil and 
 climate, in the manners and genius of its inhabitants, it differed 
 little from Britain. But his placing it between Britain and Spain 
 shows how inaccurate was his knowledge of its true position 
 and how little the Romans had explored these Western islands 
 and seas.f 
 
 Among ancient writers Festus Avienus alone speaks of the 
 Sacred Isle of the Hibernians, but in what the isle was sacred 
 does not appear. Diodorus Siculus gave it the name of Irin and 
 a modern historian (Lingard) suggests that the word irin may 
 be confounded with ieran, signifying sacred in the Greek lan- 
 guage. By Strabo, and long after him by Claudian, Ireland 
 was called lerna, by Ptolemy, louerna, and by Solinus, Juverna, 
 and by Orpheus of Cortona, lernia, all of which names are plainly 
 deducible from a common source. The transition from these 
 words to Hibernia is very easy and natural, though the form 
 used by St. Patrick, viz., Hiberione, is peculiar and rarely used. 
 It was the opinion of Camden that lerna, or Hibernia, signifies 
 a Western country and there is undoubtedly an Irish word — 
 lar — which means west ; others derive the name from Heber, 
 
 ^ Vid. Ancient Classical Atlases-. 
 
 \ TacituSj Agricola. Chap. xxiv. Perhaps his thus placing Ireland 
 accounts for the following words — " melius aditus portusque per commercia 
 et negotiatores cogniti." 
 
4 HISTORY OF IRELAND. 
 
 one of the sons of Milesius ; others still afifirm that the word is 
 of Phoenician origin and signifies the remotest habitation. With 
 sound sense, Ware has observed,* that these observations on the 
 etymology of the w^ord are so much guess-work, that to give a 
 true account of the name is difficult, and that, for himself, he 
 would affirm nothing positive, but leave the matter undeter- 
 mined. 
 
 For ages, down to the eleventh century, Ireland bore the 
 name of Scotia, a name which is often derived from a Scythian 
 source, the opinion being that if the Scythians were not the first 
 of its inhabitants, they were at least among the first, and have 
 thus left their impress on its name. But there are others who 
 thmk the name Scotia comes from Scota, the wife of Gadelius, 
 a lady who is reputed to be the daughter of Pharaoh, wnile there 
 are yet others who hold the opinion that the word comes from 
 the Greek word aKorog, which signifies darkness, possibly, says 
 Harris, because of its dark aspect, being anciently overgrown 
 with woods. Another name which it bore, and which still sur- 
 vives in a slightly altered form, was Irlandia, which is taken 
 to mean the land of Ir, the first of the sons of Milesius, who was 
 buried in the island. It was also called Fidh-Innis, or woody 
 island, and Innis-Elga, from the name borne by the wife of 
 Parthalon. By Plutarch, and after him by O'Flaherty, the 
 island was called Ogygia, a word which signifies very ancient, 
 and if, says Camden, what the Irish writers relate be credited, 
 Ireland was not without good reason called Ogygia by Plutarch, 
 for the Irish begin their histories from the earliest accounts of 
 time, so that, in comparison, the antiquity of all other countries 
 is in its infancy .f 
 
 The last name that need be mentioned is Innisfail, a name 
 which, in poetry especially, has survived. This name it got from 
 a fatal stone called Liafail, which was carried to Ireland by the 
 Tuatha de Dannaans. It was called the stone of destiny and 
 upon it kings of the Scythian race were always crowned. Long 
 preserved in Ireland with the greatest care, it was taken to 
 Scotland at a date not known. At Scone, in that country, it 
 long continued, and each Scottish king was crowned upon it, 
 until, finally, it was carried (1296) to Westminster, where it 
 was made part of the coronation chair, and has been so used 
 since then. The Liafail was the stone of destiny, and the island 
 in which it was first preserved and venerated was the Isle of 
 Destiny, or Innisfail. J 
 
 *■ Harris's Ware, Vol. II.; p. 3. 
 f Harris's Ware, Vol. II., p. 9. 
 I Ibidem^ p. 10. 
 
CHAPTER II. 
 
 The Earliest Inhabitants of Ireland. 
 
 Different Colonies — The Migdonians — The Nemedians — The Fomorians — 
 The Dannaans — The Firbolgs. 
 
 The story that Ireland was peopled before the Deluge may be 
 set down as a fiction, and the story that it was peopled in the 
 time of Abraham almost equally improbable. This Colony, it 
 is said, came from Migdonia, or Macedonia in Greece, numbered 
 looo and was under the leadership of Parthalon. For three 
 centuries they occupied Ireland, and then the whole^ colony, 
 numbering 2000, perished of a plague. In the pathetic words 
 of one historian " not one was left alive "; _ and this is all the 
 chroniclers have to say of Parthalon and his people. 
 
 For thirty years the land was uninhabited and then a fresh 
 colony came. Keating says* that the new-comers were related 
 to their predecessors, the Migdonians, and spoke the same tongue, 
 that they came by sea, starting from the Euxine in 34 vessels, 
 each vessel manned by 30 persons, the whole expedition being 
 under Nemedius, who was eleventh in descent from Noah. They 
 landed at Inverscene, in the West of Munster, about B.C. 1900. 
 While they occupied the country they cut down and cleared 
 several forests, built several forts, and fought several battles. If 
 such a people existed at all, all this may be readily believed, but 
 when we are furthermore gravely assured that in their time 
 several lakes burst forth, it is natural that scepticsim should 
 begin to assert itself. There is indeed an old tradition that at 
 some remote period Lough Neagh has been thus formed, and 
 this tradition may have some foundation in fact, but, as to any 
 other lake in Ireland being at any time so formed, both history 
 and tradition are mute. That several places were cleared of the 
 trees with which they were covered is not unlikely, for Ireland 
 abounded in forests and if these Nemedians lived by agriculture 
 the land should necessarily be cleared before it was tilled. If 
 
 » History of Ireland (O'Connor's Trans.)^ p. 73; 
 
6 HISTORY OF IRELAND. 
 
 they were shepherds the same necessity existed, for they should 
 have a free passage from one district to another so as to have 
 the desired change of pasture for their flocks and herds. And 
 they should also erect forts or strong places. In a primitive 
 society, where law is not respected and force is the rule of human 
 justice, it becomes necessary that men should combine for mutual 
 protection and defence. The savage, as well as the civilized, 
 have their women and children to guard, and must have a place of 
 strength and safety which they can easily defend against external 
 assault, and from the shelter of which they can issue forth and 
 attack their foes. And certain it is that wars were among them. 
 The passions from which conflicts spring are not peculiar to 
 primitive man, and amongst all nations there have been wars. 
 Yet, if these Nemedians fought among themselves and wasted 
 their strength in internal discord, it suited them ill, for their 
 united energies were required against a formidable foe. 
 
 These enemies, who incessantly attacked them, were a people 
 called the Fomorians. It is the opinion of O'Flaherty* that 
 they were from Norway and Denmark ; Keating f is sure they 
 were from Africa ; both agree that they were pirates whose 
 constant business was war and whose invariable object was 
 plunder. They lived , says the " Annals of Clonmacnoise," by 
 piracy and plunder of other nations, and were very troublesome 
 to the whole world." | The testimony of Cambrensis is worth 
 little, but it is that they were giants who were continually making 
 devastations in Ireland. II As early as the days of Parthalon 
 they are said to have fought with his people near Lough Swilly, 
 in Donegal. At Roscommon, at Camross, in Carlow, at Dal- 
 riadia, in Antrim, they fought with the Nemedians, who each 
 time were the victors. But when Nemedius was dead and his 
 people without a capable leader, the Fomorians renewed the 
 attack. The battle between the rival armies was so obstinate 
 and bloody that they almost annihilated each other. Victory 
 remained with the Fomorians, and now, says the indignant 
 historian (Keating), these vagabond Africans entirely subdued 
 the old inhabitants and made them tributaries. 
 
 The small number of the Nemedians who remained were 
 treated so harshly by their Fomorian masters, that the greater 
 part of them finally left Ireland and went back to Greece. But 
 hard as their lot in Ireland was, in Greece it was worse still. Their 
 Grecian masters compelled them — so runs the tale — to dig clay 
 in the fertile valleys, to fill it in leathern bags — whence their 
 
 * Ogygioi Part lll.j Chap. 56. 
 ■f History, p. yj^ 
 
 X p. IS- 
 
 li Topography, Distinction lll.j Chap. 3; 
 
THE EARLIEST INHABITANTS OF IRELAND. 7 
 
 new name of Firbolgs — and to carry these bags of clay up the 
 mountains, so that the sides and summits of these mountains 
 might be turned from barrenness to fertihty.* After 200 years 
 of miserable servitude, they escaped from their hard task-masters, 
 fitted out a number of vessels and arrived in Ireland about B.C. 
 1300. The whole country fell into their hands, but they were 
 not destined to possess it long in peace, for another race, more 
 powerful still, soon came to conquer and to rule. 
 
 These were the Dannaans, or the Tuatha-de-Dannaans,t to 
 give them their name in full, a branch of the ancient Nemedian 
 colony, who left Ireland about the same time as the Firbolgs. 
 They went first to Denmark, thence to the north of Scotland, 
 and finally landed in Ireland, about 30 years after their Firbolg 
 kin. It was at Moytura, in Mayo, that the issue was decided 
 between these rival races. The Firbolgs were defeated but not 
 annihilated. Some mingled their blood with the Dannaans, 
 some were left in a position of suffragan authority, others crossed 
 over the sea to the Isles of Arran, where for long after they ruled. 
 Tradition still points to the old stone fort of Dun-Engus as the 
 work of their hands, a building rudely but strongly built which 
 after the lapse of so many centuries still stands. 
 
 Should anyone assert that the accounts of these various 
 invaders — their voyages, their wanderings and their battles — 
 are nothing more than fables, he might easily be accused of 
 temerity, but, on the other hand, should anyone accept all these 
 stories in full and write them down as history, he might as 
 easily be accused of being over-credulous. In regard to the 
 Fomorians their very existence is at least doubtful, and 
 may even be denied. The tendency of a people is to 
 advance in knowledge with the advance of time, and if 
 these Northmen (assuming that they were from Denmark) knew 
 enough of navigation and war to fight and conquer in Ireland 
 as they are said to have done, and this fifteen centuries before 
 the Christian era, they should have been in the ninth century 
 of the Christian era comparatively civilized. Yet at that date 
 we find them, i.e., the Danes, the most brutal of savages, living 
 upon piracy and plunder and having the utmost contempt for 
 the civilized institutions of more southern lands. As to Africa — 
 Egypt especially — it is unquestioned that even in the most 
 ancient times that country had attained a high degree of culture, 
 and no doubt among the sciences she knew, navigation was one. 
 But it is very doubtful if her ships sailed outside of the Mediter- 
 ranean, and there is very slender probability that at any time 
 her sons made the acquaintance of Ireland, either in commerce 
 
 * Keating, p. 82. 
 
 t Ogygia, Part III., Chap. 10. Annals of the Four Mastersi 
 
8 HISTORY OF IRELAND. 
 
 or in war. And whatever be the birth-place of the Fomorians, 
 if they lived in Ireland as undisputed rulers for over two centuries, 
 they ought to have left some lasting monument of their existence. 
 Yet, except some vague and shadowy traditions, and the per- 
 petuation of their name in connection with the Giant's Causeway, 
 they have left nothing as an inheritance to after times. And the 
 Nemedians, if regarded in the same light as the Fomorains, will 
 suffer little injustice. Their wanderings and battles are sustained 
 by no probability, and may be classed with the expedition of 
 Jason in search of the Golden Fleece, or the wanderings of ^neas 
 over land and sea. 
 
 The origin of the Firbolgs is lost in darkness impervious to 
 the light of history, but we may regard their peculiar labours 
 in Greece and their journey to Ireland as nothing more than 
 the embellishments of fiction. They ought not, however, be 
 classed with the Fomorians or Nemedians, as their claim to 
 existence rests upon more solid grounds. Like the Dannaans, 
 they have always been regarded as a real people, and, in parts 
 of Ireland, there are still existing monuments which tradition 
 has persistently associated with their name. 
 
 Efforts have been made to ascertain what the race was to 
 which these Firbolgs belonged, and for this purpose Dr. Wilde 
 had recourse to ethnology. Skeletons long buried in the earth 
 were dug up, and also implements of a very ancient and very 
 primitive kind. With the zeal of an antiquarian and the skill 
 of an anatomist, Wilde examined these ancient remains. Com- 
 paring in particular the conformation of the skulls, he concluded 
 that the Firbolgs were Teutonic, small, lively, with aquiline 
 noses, dark complexions and heads of great length from front 
 to back. He also concludes that they used stone and flint hatchets, 
 shell ornaments, stone mills and clay urns, that they came from 
 Norway and Sweden : and that the Dannaans were Celts, who 
 used bronze in their weapons and instruments.* His industry 
 and research were considerable, but his data were insufficient, 
 his arguments are inconclusive, he takes too much for granted 
 and his conclusions are therefore unreliable. In the living subject, 
 apart from peculiarities of dress or language, men of different 
 races may easily be distinguished, and in the dead subject the 
 flat-nosed negro of the African desert will scarcely be confounded 
 with the dweller on the Yang-tse-Kiang. But the difficulty is 
 great when we have nothing but the skeletons of men belonging 
 to kindred types of the human family, and the difficulty is greater 
 still when these skeletons have been buried in the earth for 
 centuries, for in much less time the original peculiarities of these 
 
 * Davis's Essays^ p. 84. Dr. Wilde, afterwards Sir W. Wilde, wrote 
 " Lough Corrib " and " The Beauties of the Boyne and Blackvvater." 
 
THE EARLIEST INHABITANTS OF IRELAND. 9 
 
 human bones would become so blurred and indistinct as to baffle 
 the best efforts of comparative anatomy. 
 
 With at least equal plausibility, it may be conjectured that 
 these Firbolgs were Celts. They are frequently spoken of as 
 Belgae, and it is significant that in the time of Csesar, a Celtic 
 people bearing the same name were to be found both in Britain 
 and Gaul. In Britain they dwelt on the south and south- 
 eastern coast. In Gaul they dwelt on the shores of the English 
 Channel, between the Seine and Rhine,* forming a most effective 
 barrier against the encroachments of the German barbarians. 
 It would not be surprising that this adventurous and daring 
 people, who crossed over to Britain and settled there, should 
 penetrate further north and pass across to Ireland. This much 
 might be expected from a people whose prowess was respected 
 and feared throughout Gaul, and whose desperate valour all 
 but overwhelmed the legions of Caesar on the banks of the Axona. f 
 
 If it is impossible to fix with exactitude the race to which 
 the Firbolgs belonged, it is equally so with the Dannaans. They 
 may have been Teutonic or Celtic ; it is impossible to say. That 
 they came to Ireland after the Firbolgs and before the Christian 
 era and that they lived and ruled there, and that the sepulchral 
 monuments of Dowth and New Grange | are the work of their 
 hands, it is safer perhaps to admit than deny. By the Firbolgs 
 they were regarded as magicians, but this goes to show not that 
 they were magicians, but that their knowledge was superior to 
 that of the Firbolgs themselves. It is the peculiar tribute which 
 ignorance pays to superior knowledge. All else about them 
 is wrapped in obscurity — the country from which they came, 
 the manner of their coming, the battles they fought, the kings 
 who ruled over them, the chieftains who led them to battle. 
 
 It is matter for regret that Caesar, when in Britain, did not 
 cross over to Ireland, or that Agricola did not attempt to carry 
 out his boastful threat that he would conquer the whole island 
 with a single legion. || We should then have valuable information 
 about the country and its inhabitants from the pen of Cssar 
 or Tacitus, historical truth would have gained and we should have 
 light to see our way, instead of having to grope in the dark with 
 conjecture as our deceptive guide. 
 
 * Csesar, De Bella Gallico, Lib. I., Chap. I. 
 
 t Caesar,- De Bello Gallico, Lib. II., Cap. 5 to 9. The ambassadors of 
 the Remi declared to Csesar (De Bello Gallico, Lib. il.j Cap. 4) that the 
 Belgae had sprung from the Germans, but they had then been absorbed 
 by the Celts. Perhaps they might best be described as Celts, but not Gauls. 
 
 + These monuments are on the Boyne in Meath, are manifestly 
 sepulchral, and have interior chambers such as the Egyptian Pyramids. 
 
 II Tacitus, Agricola^ Cap. 24. " Saepe ex eo audivi (says Tacitus) 
 legione una et modicis auxiliis debellari obtinerique Hiberniam posse." 
 Apparently Agricola had a poor opinion of what resistance the Irish could 
 offer, or a very extravagant opinion of what a Roman legion could do. 
 
CHAPTER III. 
 
 The Milesians. 
 
 The Scythians. Their leaders — Feniursa — Gadelius — Milesius — Settled in 
 Spain — Arrival in Ireland — Battle between Milesians and Dannaans — 
 Milesian Kings of Ireland. Olave Fola — Con-Cormac — Nial. 
 
 We may conjecture but cannot determine what were the 
 boundaries of Ancient Scythia, and what was the great branch 
 of the hum-an family from which the Scythians sprang. Perhaps, 
 these different tribes, scattered over such an extent of territory, 
 belonged to a common parent stock, or, perhaps, they were 
 nothing more than a confederation of barbaric tribes, similar 
 in habits and occupations, but bound together, more by the 
 bonds of common interests and common dangers, than by the 
 memory of a common origin. If they had a common origin, 
 it is purely a matter of speculation, whether they belong to the 
 Mongolian or Aryan family, but it is worth noting that Gibbon* 
 speaks of them as Scythians, or Tartars, as if he would trace 
 their descent to a Mongolian source. It is probable that in 
 very ancient times these tribes were scattered over the steppes 
 of Central Asia ; it is certain that, before the time of Herodotus, 
 they were to be found in Europe, where their homes were spread 
 along the Euxine, from the Danube to the Caucasus ; whilst 
 in Asia, they had occupied the vast districts, northward from 
 the 40th degree of latitude, and east and west from the Caspian 
 to the Sea of Japan. These Scythians were a pastoral people. 
 By day they attended to their flocks and herds, and when night 
 came, they retired within the shelter of temporary encampments, 
 where men and animals were huddled together promiscuously. 
 Their bravery in battle was often tried and as often proved, 
 and few enemies could withstand the impetuous charge of the 
 Scythian cavalry ; but it must be the expression of their enemies' 
 fears rather than the sober statement of truth, that they ate, 
 drank, and even slept on the backs of their hardy steeds. 
 
 * Gibbon's Roman Empire (4 vols.). Vol. ll., pp. 140, 164-8 ; Keatingj 
 p; 96. 
 
THE MILESIANS. II 
 
 It is amid this people of uncertain origin and in their country 
 of vaguely defined limits, that the ancient chroniclers of Ireland 
 fix the home of the Milesians. They do not, however, under- 
 take to give the exact geographical limits of Scythia. But when 
 they pass from the geography of the country, and come to speak 
 of its inhabitants, their imaginations cease to be inactive. i-Iistory 
 speaks of these Scythians, even after the dawn of the Christian 
 era, as the veriest savages, but in the glowing pages of these 
 ancient chroniclers they appear as a highly civilised people, 
 who, in their habits and manners, in the laws which they 
 enacted and administered, in the state of education amongst 
 them, were a model to the nations which surrounded them. 
 They quote with eagerness the boastful language of Justin 
 that these Scythians conquered other nations but were never 
 conquered themselves, and that, indeed, they had heard of but 
 never felt the Roman arms.* They assume with Josephus f 
 that the Scythians were descended from Magog, the son of Japhet, 
 and from Magog to Milesius they follow the fortunes of these 
 Scythian leaders in laborious detail. 
 
 But even the fertile fancy of imaginative writers cannot 
 invest with interest the personality or achievements of most 
 of these leaders ; and those who deserve even a passing notice 
 are but few. Niul, son of Feniursa, is one. His father is said 
 to have known all languages, and Niul's attainments were 
 little if at all inferior. He settled in Egypt, married Scota, the 
 daughter of Pharoah, and obtained a principality by the shores 
 of the Red Sea. Here he tried to assist Moses and the persecuted 
 Israelites. In return for this kindness to God's chosen people, 
 his son, Gadelius, when bitten by a serpent, was miraculously 
 cured. But the friendship of Moses involved the enmity of 
 Pharaoh. Niul and his followers were driven from their 
 possessions, and had to seek for new homes in distant lands. 
 Like ^neas, per varios casus per tot discrunina rcrum, they 
 wandered over many lands and many seas. From Egypt tO' 
 Greece, from Greece to Crete, from Crete to Gothland, and 
 finally from Gothland to Spain, where for generations they lived 
 and ruled. In that country one of their chiefs, Milesius, main- 
 tained the ancient reputation of his race for military renown. 
 Animated with a spirit of adventure, he fitted up a fleet and sailed 
 over the Mediterranean, visited Scythia, and finally came to 
 Egypt, where he was warmly welcomed by the reigning king. 
 Appointed leader of the Egyptian forces he re-organised the 
 
 * Keatingj p. 97. He seems to have had access to many MSS. and 
 Annals not known now, and he seems to have accepted everything con- 
 tained in them as true. 
 
 \ Whiston's Josephus, p. T)^. 
 
12 HISTORY OF IRELAND. 
 
 army, enforced military discipline, humbled the pride of the 
 Ethiopians, taught the enemies of Egypt that Egypt was to be 
 feared, and diffused a feeling of security and repose from the 
 confines of Ethiopia to the Mediterranean. On his return to 
 Spain, he found his countrymen much harassed by their 
 neighbours the Goths. But he soon taught the Goths the same 
 lesson he had taught the Ethiopians — the humiliating lesson 
 of defeat. But the Goths continued troublesome, a famine 
 came upon the land and the Scythians, or Milesians, as they are 
 henceforth to be known, resolved to leave Spain, where their 
 condition had become miserable, and to seek for some new country 
 which they might possess in peace. 
 
 An old Druid — Caicer by name,* had long since foretold 
 that the Milesians would one day possess a far-off Western Isle. 
 This prophecy they now recalled, and consulting together, they 
 concluded that Ireland was the island mentioned in the old 
 Druid's prophecy, and to Ireland with all their forces they 
 resolved to go. Keating says they landed in Ireland, B.C. 1300, 
 McGeoghegan gives the day and the year, 17th May, 1029, while 
 O'Flaherty puts it about B.C. 1,000. The number of their ships 
 was thirty, in each ship was thirty of the most courageous of 
 their troops, their wives also were on board, and many others 
 followed them, allured by the prospect of obtaining possessions 
 in this new plantation. They first attempted to land at Wexford, 
 but the " Dannaans alarmed at the number of their ships, im- 
 mediately flocked towards the shore, and by the power of their 
 enchantments and diabolical arts, they cast such a cloud over the 
 whole island that the Milesians were confounded, and thought 
 they saw nothing but the resemblance of a hog. The inhabitants 
 by these delusions hindered the Milesians from landing their 
 forces, so that they were obliged to sail about the island, till at 
 last, with great dil^culty, they came on shore at Inver Scene in 
 the west of Munster."! At Sliave Mis, in Kerry, they first 
 encountered the Dannaans and here Scota, the widow of 
 Milesius, fell. A more decisive battle was fought at Tailtown. 
 On that fatal field the three Dannaan Kings and their wives 
 were killed, and the sceptre finally passed from Dannaan to 
 Milesian hands. As Milesius was dead before his followers 
 arrived in Ireland, the sovereignty of the island was divided 
 between his two sons, Heber and Heremon. Two years later, 
 these two sovereigns quarrelled ; a battle was fought at Geashill, 
 in the King's County, Heber was defeated and slain, and Heremon 
 became sole monarch of Ireland, and the first in that long line 
 of kings, which ended with Roderick O'Connor. 
 
 * Keating, p. 1 14. 
 t Ibidem, p. 134. 
 
THE MILESIANS. 1 3 
 
 It may be asked how much of all this is true — ^how much 
 is fact, and how much is fiction — nor can a satisfactory reply be 
 given. To ask the question is much easier than to answer it. 
 Those who are engaged in mining speak of refractory ore, and 
 complain of the difficulty they experience in extracting from it 
 the pure gold, and similarly, in these legends of a long-past age, 
 the dif^culty is to extract what truth they contain from the 
 mass of error which surrounds it. It is certainly true that 
 such a people as the Scythians existed, and that mention is made 
 of them in histories of a very ancient date. That they were 
 savages pure and simple in the time of Herodotus, and that, 
 even in the fifth century of the Christian era, they had not 
 advanced beyond the manners portrayed in the court and camp 
 of Attila — all this is equally true. The conclusion is, therefore, 
 obvious and necessary that they could not be numbered among 
 civilised nations two thousand years before the Christian era ; 
 and the most credulous will smile at the suggestion that their 
 culture was equal and coeval with that of Assyria and Egypt. 
 Their wanderings over the Mediterranean, the learning of Niul, 
 and the military exploits of Milesius rest upon no solid foundation ; 
 and the most partial will scarcely claim that the Milesians 
 established themselves in Ireland, long before Rome was built, 
 or the Commonwealths of Greece arose. 
 
 (When authentic history first speaks of Ireland, the country 
 was inhabited by a Celtic people, called Scots or Milesians, Britain 
 and Gaul, at the same time, being inhabited by a kindred race. 
 It is not probable that they were the first inhabitants of the 
 country, but before the introduction of Christianity they had 
 certainly become the dominant race, the former inhabitants 
 being either absorbed or exterminated, or, perhaps more correctly, 
 having a distinct but subordinate position?) Keating, who seems 
 to accept without question the whole story of the Milesian 
 wanderings, has no manner of doubt that they came from Spain 
 to Ireland, and grows angry with Camden for suggesting 
 that they came from Britain ; he chooses to be directed by the 
 " ancient records of the Kingdom rather than by the ill-grounded 
 supposition of any modern whatsoever."* Yet Camden's 
 supposition, supported by O'Flaherty, does not appear un- 
 reasonable. It could scarcely be expected that these Milesians 
 knew much of navigation, nor that their rude vessels could stand 
 the full shock of the Atlantic, nor the treacherous currents of 
 the Bay of Biscay .f It is easier and more natural to believe 
 that they came from Gaul to Britain, and from Britain 
 
 * Keating, p.- 13 1: 
 
 t Unless we suppose they were Phoenicians, and even Keating does not 
 suppose this. 
 
14 HISTORY OF IRELAND. 
 
 to Ireland, than to suppose they came direct by sea from Spain. 
 Buchanan* is anxious to show that they came direct from Gaul 
 to Ireland, but his arguments are inconclusive and carry no 
 conviction. But whether they came directly from Spain, or 
 whether they passed over from Gaul to Britain and thence to 
 Ireland, cannot with certainty be ascertained. These are 
 questions which will always remain doubtful, and in striving 
 to arrive at the truth it must be admitted that we derive but 
 little assistance, either from the arguments of Buchanan, or 
 the credulity of Keating. 
 
 For obvious reasons the long list of Milesian kings coming 
 down in unbroken succession from the tenth century before 
 the Christian era must be taken as legendary, and deserves none 
 of that consideration which is due to historic truth. To be able 
 to claim that a settled form of government existed in Ireland, 
 long before such a government was established at Greece or 
 Rome, would be indeed flattering to the national vanity. But 
 such a claim has not the least amount of probability on its 
 behalf, and one of the oldest and — accepting O' Donovan's estimate 
 of him f — the most accurate of our chroniclers,Tighernach — has 
 the good sense to point out that events recorded previous to 
 the time of Cimbaeth, B.C. 300, are altogether legendary. Nor 
 indeed does posterity lose much by consigning to oblivion the 
 vast majority of these Irish kings, for even fiction itself can 
 say nothing of them, except that they were born and that they 
 died. There are, however, a few, who may be excepted, and 
 of these Olave Fola is first in order of time. 
 
 In the first list of kings given by O' Flaherty,]: Olave is put 
 down as fortieth, but the author does not give the year of his 
 accession nor the length of his reign. The name he bore — Olave, 
 which signifies professor — testifies that he was a learned man, 
 and he did everything that even a king could do to encourage 
 learning. Anxious to have good laws passed, and to have 
 besides the records of the Kingdom accurate and trustworthy, 
 he assembled, everj^ third year at his palace at Tara, an assembly 
 of the princes, druids, bards and other learned men of the 
 kingdom ; public affairs were then discussed, new laws enacted, 
 old laws, if useless or injurious, repealed. The records of the 
 Kingdom were carefully examined and criticised, whatever was 
 deemed inaccurate was expunged, due corrections were made, 
 and, thus corrected, these records were handed down to posterity 
 as authentic history. The book in which the facts of history 
 were thus carefully transmitted was called the Psalter of Tara, 
 and the assembly itself was called the Feis. 
 
 * Quoted by Keating and refuted by him, pp; 126-8. 
 t Four Maslers, Vol. I.y p. 72. 
 + Ogygia, Part III., chap. 29. 
 
THE MILESIANS. 1 5 
 
 In the joint reign of Cimbaeth and his wife, Macha, the palace 
 of Emania, near Armagh, was built.* The next sovereign — 
 the 78th king — was called Hugony, the first of these ancient 
 monarchs whom the chroniclers call Great .f Not content 
 with the sovereignty of Ireland, he went over the sea to France, 
 where his arms were ever victorious until at length he ruled 
 over all Western Europe. He married a French princess and 
 left twenty-five children, among whom he divided Ireland into 
 as many parts. This division was abolished by a subsequent 
 king, Eochy, who divided Ireland into five divisions, Ulster, 
 Leinster, Connaught and two Munsters. Over each province 
 there ruled a pentarch, or provincial king.t 
 
 Tuathal, who lived in the second century of the Christian era, 
 era, was the first king, it is said, who imposed the Boru tribute on 
 the kings of Leinster. He was a warlike king, and had much 
 fighting with the various tributary princes all of whom he 
 vanquished. To punish them he took from each a portion of 
 his territory, which he erected into a vast royal demesne corres- 
 ponding to the present counties of Meath and Westmeath. But 
 against the King of Leinster he was specially enraged. It appears 
 that this prince had married a daughter of Tuathal's, and after 
 some time, pretending that his wife was dead, he demanded 
 and received her sister in marriage. The sisters were kept apart 
 at the palace of the King of Leinster, but on an occasion they 
 met and were so heart-broken at the wrong done to them that 
 they both sickened and died. || In revenge for this outrage 
 Tuathal decreed that henceforth Leinster should pay the Ardri 
 a yearly tribute of 150 cows, 150 hogs, 150 pieces of cloth, 150 
 cauldrons, 150 couples of men and women in servitude and 
 150 maidens, with the King of Leinster's daughter among 
 them.** Whether this tribute was imposed by Tuathal or not, 
 it is certain that such a tribute was imposed by some Ardri, 
 and that it led to most disastrous results. Successive Ardris 
 enforced payment, the Leinster kings, whenever strong enough, 
 repudiated the imposition, ill-will was thus engendered, disputes 
 arose, wars and bloodshed followed, and these rival princes in 
 fighting among themselves prepared the way for the yoke of 
 the stranger. 
 
 The exploits of Con of the Hundred Battles have furnished 
 much matter to poets and bards, but when we come to the reign 
 of Cormac Mac Art, we arrive at a period where the facts recorded 
 
 * Annals of Clonmacnoise, p. 41. 
 
 t O'Flaherty's Ogygia, Part III., Ch. 38; 
 
 \ Ogygia, Part III., chap. 43. 
 
 II Keating, p. 237. 
 
 '** Annals of Clonmacnoise, p. 54 ; Fottr Masters, Vol.- I.j p. 100, note.- 
 
1 6 HISTORY OF IRELAND. 
 
 may be considered facts and not mere fiction, though these facts 
 are often embellished and exaggerated, and not always easy to 
 recognise. Cormac who reigned in the third century, is described 
 as the best king that Ireland ever had up to his time. He held 
 regular meetings of the Feis at Tara, enacted many wise laws, 
 carefully corrected the Psalter of Tara, and even wrote a book 
 called " Princely Institutions." * It is said that he became a 
 Christian, and thereby much embittered the Druids.f But 
 his fame is altogether eclipsed by that of his son-in-law. Fin 
 MacCool, the leader of the Fenian Militia, or standing army of 
 Ireland. The exploits of Fin and his Fenians have been illustrated 
 by the genius of Ossian, the son of Fin, who was a poet as well 
 as a warrior. There are probably many things ascribed to Ossian 
 which he never wrote, and, perhaps, also in the translations of 
 his poetry that have come down to us there are many interpola- 
 tions and errors ; but that Ossian lived and wrote and that he 
 is the great central figure in the literature of ancient Erin need 
 not be regarded as a matter of doubt. The impudent claim of 
 MacPherson to make him a Scotchman, I and to transfer the 
 exploits of Fin and his Fenians to Caledonia, has long since been 
 rejected. It could not survive the discovery of the forgeries 
 which gave it birth. 
 
 Nobody would receive as historic facts the tale of Fin and 
 his Fenians as described by Ossian and his contemporaries. Even 
 Keating rejects many of them as fabulous, and grows angry 
 with Boetius for suggesting that Fin himself was a giant and 
 was fifteen cubits high. || Yet, strip these tales of obvious 
 exaggeration and mere poetic adornment, leave out the gods and 
 goddesses, the giants and the fairies, and there is no reason why 
 they should not have a basis of historic truth. Cormac is 
 reputed to have been a monarch of great prudence. He saw that 
 Britain was already in Roman bondage, and he had only too 
 much reason to fear that the Romans would cross the Irish 
 Sea, and that the fate of Britain would soon be the fate of Ireland. 
 In such circumstances prudence would suggest having a trained 
 and disciplined force to guard the coasts against pirates and 
 robbers, to watch for the coming of the invaders, to combat 
 them in the field when they came ; and to none could the com- 
 mand of this force be given with more justice than to his son-in- 
 law. Fin, who, in lighting the Romans, would be defending his 
 family inheritance, as well as the liberty of his native land. 
 
 * Transactions of the Ossianic Society, Vol. v.j p. 198. 
 t Lady Ferguson. The Irish before the Conquest ^ p. 120. 
 X Ossianic Society, Vol. v.^ p. 179. Dr. Johnson's opinion of MacPherson 
 is well known. 
 II pp. 281-2S4. 
 
THE MILESIANS. 1 7 
 
 And if the Romans had come it is not unlikely that their task 
 would be much more difficult than Agricola expected ; they would 
 probably have encountered fierce opposition and met with valour 
 equal to that of Caractacus.* These Fenians were not called 
 upon to repel foreign invasion. They became restive, insolent 
 and rebellious, until finally after a hard fought struggle, they 
 were overthrown at the battle of Gavra.| 
 
 In the last years of the fourth century Ireland was ruled 
 by Nial of the Nine Hostages. Undisputed master at home, 
 he made incursions into Caledonia and Britain, and even into 
 Gaul. The Roman Empire was then tottering to its fall, Britain 
 had none to rely on but native defenders, and Nial, aided by the 
 PictsJ of Caledonia, broke through the frail defence of the Roman 
 wall, and made Britain his tributary province. Nor did he 
 relinquish his conquest till the Roman legions were recalled 
 to Britain, and then, the discipline and experience of the Roman 
 soldier and the military genius of the ablest of the Roman generals 
 prevailed. Perhaps, even Stilicho himself would have suffered 
 defeat but that, in the crisis of the battle, the Attacotti, who 
 fought in the army of Nial, deserted to the Romans and turned 
 their weapons against the Irish king. These Attacotti were 
 descendants of the ancient Firbolgs, who were subjugated by the 
 Milesians and who submitted with impatience to Milesian rule. 
 Taken into the army of the Ardri and trusted as loyal soldiers, 
 they acted as traitors in the hour of trial. 
 
 Whoever will read the history of these islands during the 
 first centuries of the Christian era will note that Ireland was 
 the country of the Scots, that colonies of these Scots passed from 
 Ireland to Caledonia where they settled, that these Caledonian 
 Scots, with their kinsmen from Ireland, and the Picts frequently 
 harassed the Roman province of Britain ; that it was Ireland 
 alone which was called Scotia ; and that if sometimes Caledonia 
 was called Scotia it was always called Scotia Minor, to distinguish 
 it from Ireland, which was Scotia simply, or Scotia Major. 
 Gibbon is not willing to admit all this and is ready to assert, that 
 
 * Student's Hume, p. 9. 
 
 t The Ardri, Cairbre was slain in the battle, and very many of his 
 troopSj but the Fenians were almost totally destroyed. (Miss Brooke's 
 " Reliques of Irish Poetry" p. 147.) 
 
 + The Picts, according to Bede {Ecclesiastical History, Bohn's ed.^ 
 pp. 6, 7), came from Scythia to Irelandj but the Scots who dwelt there 
 would give them no settlements, and directed them to proceed to Caledoniaj 
 which they did. They then asked wives of the ScotSj as they had none 
 themselves. The Scots acceded to their request^ but only on condition 
 that they should chose a king from the female royal race rather than 
 from the male^ " a custom which has been observed among the Picts to 
 this day." 
 
 c 
 
1 8 HISTORY OF IRELAND. 
 
 probably Ireland was peopled from Caledonia " by a colony of 
 hungry Scots." * But the evidence of facts is against him. 
 Claud ian in describing the wars, which Stilicho waged against 
 the Picts and Scots, always speaks of the Picts as belonging 
 to Caledonia, and the Scots as belonging to Ireland. In the vivid 
 language of poetry he represents Britain as giving thanks to 
 Stilicho for having defended her, when the Scot stirred up all 
 Ireland ,f and when the sea foamed beneath his hostile oars ; and 
 writing of the wars of Theodosius, he says, that while Thule grew 
 warm with the blood of the Picts, icy Ireland wept for the 
 numbers of her Scots that were slain. t Bede as well as Camden 
 and Buchanan state not as a matter of dispute but of certainty, 
 that Caledonia was peopled by Scots from Ireland, and Hume, 
 Scotchman though he is, and naturally jealous for the antiquity 
 of his race, has written that from the second to the eleventh 
 century, the Scots were the inhabitants of Ireland, and Ireland 
 alone bore the name of Scotia. Before this accumulated mass 
 of testimony even the stubborn scepticism of Gibbon must give 
 way. In a later portion of his great work he admits grudgingly, 
 and ungraciously it is true, that after all some slight credit may 
 be given to the Irish traditions, and possibly in one of Nial's 
 excursions into Britain, St. Patrick was taken away into captivity. 
 
 * Vol. II., p. 141. ■ 
 
 f Me quoque vicinis pereuntem gentibus, inquit 
 Munivit Stilicho, totam cum Scotus lernam 
 
 Movit et infesto spumavit remige Tethys — De Laudibus StiliconiSj 
 Liber II. 
 
 X — incaluit Pictorum sanguine Thule, 
 
 Scotorum cumulos flevit glacialis lerne. — Honorii Augusti de 4° 
 Consulaiu. 
 
 Theodosius did not march as far as Thule, nor did he go even near it, 
 but some allowance must be made for poetic imagination. 
 
CHAPTER IV. 
 
 Pre-Christian Citilization. 
 
 Pagan Ireland not one Kingdom but a Confederation of small states; 
 Political and Social Institutions — The Fine — Sept — Clan. Different 
 classes — the King — Tanist — Druids — Different Assemblies — Cuirmtig- 
 Dal — Aenach, etc. — Besides King and Druids — Brehons — Ollaves — 
 Bards — Ceiles — Slaves — Tribute paid — Defects of the Clan System. The 
 use of Letters — Mechanical Arts — Dress — Buildings — Furniture of 
 homes — Mills — Boats. 
 
 TIn pagan times Ireland must not be regarded as one Kingdom, 
 governed by one king and one common system of laws ; it 
 was rather a confederation of small states or clans, each making 
 its own laws, raising and spending its own taxes, governed by 
 its own chieftain and practically independent within its own 
 limitst) There was an Ardri, who ruled at Tara, and who, amongst 
 the various princes, was first in dignity, but whose authority 
 over these princes — and he claimed some — was shadowy and 
 nominal, and frequently his authority was flouted and his person 
 and-of^ce despised. 
 
 (The smallest organism — political and social — next to the 
 family was the fine* It was more than a family, but it was in 
 the family it took its rise, and was nqthing more than the family 
 overgrown beyond its original limits. Originally the family 
 had its allotted portion of land, but as children and grand-children 
 were born, and in their turn arrived at maturity, and became 
 heads of families themselves, or at least at an age when they could 
 inherit and possess property and partake of responsibilities, the 
 original land became divided and subdivided among them. 
 
 (Jhis aggregate of individuals, freemen born, members of the 
 same clan, deriving their descent from a common ancestor, bound 
 together by ties of kinship and interest, and possessing a common 
 portion of land, made up the corporate body called the fine^ 
 At its head stood the fiaith-fine. He was the paterfamilias, the 
 
 * Ginnell ; The Brehon Laws, pp. 104-5. O'Curry ; M miners and 
 Customs of the Ancient Irish, Vol. I., p. 162-3; 
 
20 HISTORY OF IRELAND. 
 
 representative of the fine, he was to sue and be sued in its name^ 
 to guard its interests and to defend its rights. Probably he had 
 a larger partion of land than the other members of the fine, as 
 this would seem to be demanded by his greater duties and 
 obligations. Besides the fiaith, there were sixteen other members 
 in the fine, divided into four groups of four each, the property 
 of each group and the nature of their duties and rights being 
 measured by the nearness or remoteness of their kinship to the 
 fiaith. The first group called the Gelfine* consisted of the fiaith 
 and his four sons, if he had such, or, in default of these, his nearest 
 male relatives ; the second group was the Derbfine ; the third, 
 the larflne, and the fourth the Innfine. Should a vacancy occur 
 in one of these groups by death or otherwise, then one was. 
 advanced from a lower group to a higher and, similarly, should, 
 for instance, a son of the fiaith arrive at maturity and become 
 enrolled a member of the Gelfine, then one of this group was 
 lowered to the second group, one of the second to the third, until 
 at length one of the Innfine was thrust out of the fine altogether 
 and became simply a member of the sept, no longer burdened 
 with the responsibilities that membership of the fine entailed. 
 
 As the fine consisted of several families, so the sept consisted 
 of several fines, the number being variable. The whole sept had 
 its own specific portion of land, and within its limits the members 
 were free, subject only to the clan and its requirements. The 
 head of a sept was called a fiaith. He was the official head and 
 representative of the sept, as the flaithfine was of the fine, or 
 the chieftain of the clan. In addition to his private property, 
 which might be considerable, he had an allowance of land,, 
 tribute being also paid to him by the sept. 
 
 Higher than the sept, and usually embracing several septs, 
 was the clan.^ The extent of its territory was called a tuatha 
 and would, perhaps, correspond to a modern barony, while the 
 aggregate of persons who made-up the clan was sometimes called 
 a tribe and sometimes a cinnelU To the fine and sept it bore 
 a resemblance and, indeed, was nothing more than a fuller 
 development of these, for in all the connecting link was kinship, 
 and both ruler and subject were children of one common ancestor, 
 confederated together for the preservation of their common inheri- 
 tance. The clan recognised as superior the provincial kings and 
 paid them tribute, but the tribute was not large nor the authority 
 
 * The Gelfine were the representatives of the rights and liabilities of 
 the whole fine, formed a kind of family Council, and when property in 
 default of direct heirs passed to the collateral heirs, the Gelfine received 
 the inheritance, and assumed the responsibility attached to it. — Manners 
 and Customs, Vol. I.; p. 164. 
 
 f Manners and Customs, Vol. I., p. 199. 
 
PRE-CHRISTIAN CIVILIZATION. 21 
 
 of the provincial kings often more than nominal, and to all intents 
 and purposes, in theory andin practice, the clan was a self- 
 governing, independent stateT) 
 
 The king or chief of the clan was chosen from the heads of 
 the septs, and was elected at an assembly called the tocomra, 
 which was attended by all the heads of the septs and probably 
 also by the flaith-flnes . Nobody could become king, unless he 
 was of full age, nor if he was blind, lame, deaf, stupid, or had 
 any remarkable blemish either of mind or body. In the same 
 way, and subject to the same conditions, the ianist, or next 
 heir to the chieftaincy, was elected. Should the king die, or 
 become disqualified by reason of some blemish after his election, 
 the tanist at once became king and a new tanist was elected. 
 Usually the king's son became tanist, but this was not necessary 
 nor did it always happen ; it might be some near relative of the 
 king whose qualifications were remarkable and recognised, it 
 might be some flaitk in no way related to the ruling chief, unless 
 we include that uncertain relationship which existed between 
 members of the same clan. The king was the ofBcial head of 
 the clan, provided with an official residence or dun, and a large 
 allowance of land as his official patrimony. He was not, however, 
 the master of the clan, but rather its servant, his duties and 
 rights being specific and well-defined. In peace he was first in 
 dignity,* and in war his was the perilous privilege of leading his 
 clansmen to battle. He collected the taxes by his officers and he 
 also spent them, without being asked for an account as to how 
 they were spent. Amply provided for, he was strictly debarred 
 from doing any servile work ; such being considered beneath 
 the ^ignity of a king, f 
 
 (Next to the Kings the most important class were the Druids> 
 Caesar has described the Druids of Gaul and their beliefs, and 
 the Druidism of Ireland and Britain was the same. Indeed it 
 was in Mona, or Anglesea, that its doctrines and practices were 
 taught in their highest perfection, and Caesar suggests that it 
 was from Britain, Druidism was introduced into Gaul.J^'' The 
 Druids taught the immortality and transmigration of souls, 
 worshipped the sun and moon, held in special reverence the oak 
 tree, and had their sacrifices in the open under its shade. They 
 worshipped idols, and, before anidol called Crom Cruach, they 
 probably offered human sacrifices,!! perhaps the prisoner taken 
 
 * Ginnellj pp. 57-67. 
 
 t Manners and Customs^ Vol. I.j p. 235. 
 
 \ De Bella Gallico, Lib. vi. cap. 13-14- 
 
 II O'Curry,. Manners and Ctistoms, Vol. II.; p. 222^ vehemently 
 denies this, but he instances a case where the British Druids offered human 
 sacrifices, and if the doctrines of Irish and British Druids were the same 
 
22 HISTORY OF IRELAND. 
 
 in battle, the criminal guilty of some grave offence, sometimes 
 their own children were sacrificed. These Druids knew some- 
 thing of medicine, they studied the stars, and from their position, 
 as well as from the croaking of ravens and the chirping of wrens, 
 they undertook to read the secrets of the future. They decided 
 disputes, and whoever refused to abide by their decision, they 
 excommunicated, making him an outcast, whom to avoid was 
 a duty and whom to touch was to be defiled. They were exempt 
 from military service and taxation, and had enormous influence 
 and power. In the beginning, at all events, they were Brehons 
 and Bards as well as priests, and had a monopoly of learning. 
 But as enactments were multiplied and judicial decisions became 
 numerous, and required some technical training to interpret — 
 a separate class — the Brehons — arose whose business it was, 
 leaving religious ceremonies to the Druids, to confine themselves 
 to the study of law. , 
 
 In each clan there were two assemblies — the cuirmtig* 
 attended by all who paid taxes, and at which laws were introduced ; 
 and the Dal, attended by the flaiths, where these same laws 
 were examined and either rejected or passed. Of other assemblies 
 there was the Aenach,^ which had its origin in funeral games, 
 was attended by several clans, and at which athletic and other 
 competitions and fairs, in the modern sense, were held ; but laws, 
 though probably discussed, were not passed. There were the 
 assemblies of Taeltown and Uisneach,| where laws were promul- 
 gated, but not often enacted, and lastly, \heFeis of Tara,ll where 
 laws were enacted for the nation at large. Other sources of law 
 were local customs, which in time grew to have the force and 
 character of law ; but the source from which most of the law 
 came was the decisions of famous Brehons, for the laws 
 of Ancient Ireland were for the most part judge-made laws. 
 
 To know all the laws enacted, to remember the various local 
 customs, to appreciate the worth of judicial decisions and to 
 decide according to justice and law required much training, and 
 we find that before one could attain to the rank of Brehon and 
 decide with a Brehon's authority, he should have had a legal 
 training of twenty years. There was at least one Brehon in each 
 clan whose position was official, and v/ho had a grant of land 
 
 why exempt the Irish. Dr. Healy holds an opposite opinion to O'Curry 
 {Ireland's Ancient Schools and Scholars p. 3). See also Tripartite Life of 
 St. Patrick. Introd. p. 158. 
 
 '* Ginnelly p. 57. 
 
 t Ibid., p. 53 ; O'Curry, Vol. I.j p. 255. He adds that these Aenachs were 
 always held in cemeteries. 
 
 % Ginnell, p. 51. 
 
 II O'Curry, Manners and Ctisioms, Vol. II., pp. 17-19. 
 
PRE-CHRISTIAN CIVILIZATION. 2$ 
 
 provided by virtue of his office. After a time the office passed 
 from father to son, but the son, like his father, should have the 
 necessary legal training. There were also non-official brehons,* 
 who lived by their fees and had no official endowment from the 
 clan. And no doubt, besides those who sat as judges, there was 
 a supply of professional advocates ready to plead for hire, for 
 such a class of men have not been wanting at any period, nor 
 in any country where there was law. It was the right of every 
 freemanf who had suffered wrong to seek for redress, and it 
 was his right also to select the brehon before whom the case was 
 to be tried. He might have one, or he might have many causes 
 of complaint. His relative might be murdered, his wife outraged, 
 his bondman attacked, his house burned, his beehive robbed, + 
 his neighbour's cattle might have trespassed on his land, his bees 
 might have stung him,|l or sucked honey from his flowers ; he 
 might have been slandered, or a poet might have satirized him, 
 and in Ancient Ireland, Christian as well as pagan, there was 
 something specially fatal in poetic satire. For one and all of these 
 offences the punishment was an eric or fine. But not every man 
 had a right to complain and it has been, therefore, necessary 
 to add that the complainant should be a freeman. A labourer 
 or cowherd — a slave of any kind — a lunatic, the son while his 
 father lived — none of these could be plaintiff in a lawsuit, though 
 the master could complain of an injury done to his son or his 
 slave and the guardian of the lunatic, if the lunatic had suffered 
 wrong. Nor could the injured man proceed against everyone. 
 The fool was exempt from punishment because of his want of 
 reason, so also, for a like cause, was the madman and the idiot, 
 and exemption was also extended to the dumb. ^But against every 
 other man, from the cetle to the king, he had a right of com- 
 plaint and to compensation if his case was proved. But he should 
 be careful not to make random charges, and if it was discovered 
 that he had given false evidence* * all redress was instantly denied 
 him. Nor were his troubles over when the brehon had pro- 
 nounced in his favour, and his opponent had been fined. There 
 were no sheriffs or sheriffs' bailiffs, there were no police, the whole 
 machinery for carrying out the decrees of the courts of law was 
 wanting, and the successful litigant himself was compelled to put 
 the legal decree in force. And in doing so he should walk warily, 
 
 * Ginnell, p. 84. 
 
 •{■ Senchus Mor, Vol. I., p. 291. He should have "honor price" are 
 the words. 
 
 X Ibidem, Vol. I.^ p. 167. 
 
 I| Ibid^ Vol. IV., p. 177, Vol. II. j p. 121. There is much in the 
 Brehon Laws about bees, which would indicate that they were much valued, 
 
 ** Senchus Mor, Vol. I., p. 57. 
 
24 HISTORY OF IRELAND. 
 
 for if he made distress on the defendant in excess of what was 
 allowed, he was in turn liable to be fined himself. A chief levying 
 distress on his inferior * could proceed without notice, but in 
 every other case previous notice was necessary. Nor could he 
 make a seizure, for instance, of the defendant's cattle, except 
 accompanied by six other persons, three to enter the defendant's 
 land, the plaintiff, a witness " who has honor price " and a 
 distraining advocate, and four more persons to remain outside, 
 each of these being persons " who had honor price." Then 
 the animal might be seized and impounded, its maintenance 
 charged and ultimately confiscated altogether if the debt was 
 not paid and the animal itself redeemed. Instead of making a 
 seizure in this manner, the plaintiff might fast on the defendant, 
 and this was the more usual form of distress when the defendant 
 was a person of distinction. The plaintiff fasted before the 
 defendant's house, waiting to be paid, during which time the 
 defendant was bound under pain of further fine to order food, 
 and besides not to delay payment of the debt f — a strange form, 
 indeed, of executing a decree. To modern notions these legal 
 provisions and practices are rude and archaic, yet they are founded 
 upon justice, and when English writers of a later age wrote of 
 the Brehon Law that it was a " lewd custom," the severity of 
 thei;i censure is more apparent than its justice. 
 
 (Another privileged clan were the Ollaves, who were professors 
 of law and, many were the pupils that came to learn its secrets 
 at their feet. Some of these pupils they took into their homes 
 and treated as members of their own family. This was literary 
 fosterage, and was merely a sub-division of that general system 
 of fosterage % which so commonly prevailed in Ancient Ireland 
 and which continued down through the centuries long after 
 the Anglo-Norman invasion. Under this system children, 
 especially of the upper classes, were brought up and educated 
 in other families than their own. They were fed, clothed, and 
 educated, and when they came of age were dismissed with a 
 parting gift to their parents' homes. Not unfrequently there 
 sprang up between foster-child and foster-parents the closest 
 personal attachment, so close and so enduring, that in comparison 
 the -claims of blood and kindred were forgotten^J 
 
 High among the privileged classes were the Bards. They 
 had 'charge of genealogies and history and reduced the laws to 
 
 * Senchus Mor^ Vol. I.j p. 113. 
 
 t Senchus Mor^ Vol. I.j pp. 117-119. If the defendant refused to 
 pay after being fasted onj he was liable to twice the amount of the distress ; 
 if the plaintiff continued to fast after the amount of the distress was offered 
 him, then he forfeited the debt altogether. 
 
 X There are many provisions in the Brehon Laws as to how foster 
 children are to be trained. 
 
PRE-CHRISTIAN CIVILIZATION. 2$ 
 
 poetic form, for when writing was little known this was the easiest 
 way the laws could be remembered. Like the Brehons and Druids 
 their position too was official J So also was the Brugkaid, or 
 public hospitaller, whose house was always to be open to the 
 traveller. He had an endowment from the clan, to enable him 
 to dispense hospitality and succour the traveller in distress. 
 These were the official classes and might be called the aristocracy. 
 Midway between them and the common people were the aires * 
 who, though belonging to the flaitks, had only recently lifted 
 themselves from the common people by the acquisition of wealth. 
 Socially they were as the Novus homo of the Romans. 
 
 Below these privileged classes were the ceiles.'\ They were 
 freemen, each a member of the fine and farming a portion of 
 land for which he paid a land tax called a ciss, not heavy in 
 amount, and which went for the general purposes of the clan — 
 such as repair of roads and maintenance of the poor. He was 
 also bound to military service when his chieftain went to war. 
 If he was unable to stock his land his flaith gave him stock on 
 a system of hire-purchase. The ceile's house and immediate 
 surroundings, his cattle and crops could be disposed of by himself 
 as private property ; but his land, either in life or in death, he 
 could only dispose of subject to the consent of his fine. There 
 were ceiles, too, who had no property. They were born with 
 an inheritance of land, but from want of industry, perhaps 
 through crimes committed and fines imposed, they had become 
 poor and were unable to stock their land and even surrendered 
 it altogether. Lower than these were the slaves. Some, called 
 bothachsX were born in the clan but had no property and 
 usually served the fiaiths as servants and labourers, receiving 
 wages in return or perhaps a small patch of land. The fuadhars II 
 were mostly from outside runaways and criminals, outlaws, 
 tramps, prisoners taken in war, or kidnapped as St. Patrick was, 
 in foreign and predatory expeditions. These were considered as 
 chattels, who did the roughest work for the lowest wages, though 
 even these by degrees could raise themselves in the social scale 
 by industry and ability, until, after several generations, their 
 descendants might partake of social status and political rights. 
 
 In these turbulent times it was difficult for a clan to preserve 
 its independence, surrounded as it was by other clans, greedy of 
 increased territory and power, and hence arose the necessity of 
 purchasing support from outside. In this we can trace the origin 
 
 * Ginnell,- p. 97. 
 
 t Ibid, pp. IH-116. O'Curry ; Manners and Customs^ Vol. I.j p. 
 129. 
 
 X Ginnell, p. 149. 
 II Ibidem, p. 155; 
 
26 HISTORY OF IRELAND. 
 
 of tribute to provincial kings. Sprung from necessity and 
 continued by expediency, this payment became habitual and 
 customary, but, except in time of war when the clan should 
 furnish and equip a force for the provincial king, the tribute was 
 not heavy and was easily borne. The amount paid varied in 
 different clans * and in some cases no tribute was paid. The tribe 
 of Burishoole, in Mayo, for example, was bound to pay the King of 
 Connaught one hundred cows, an equal number of hogs, and 
 one hundred mantles, but the Hy-Brian and Hy-Fiacra paid no 
 tribute, nor were they bound to go into battle with the King of 
 Connaught " except for stipend." f The relations between the 
 provincial kings and the Ardri were similar to those between 
 these same provincial kings and their sub-chiefs : and in each 
 case, while they were entitled to tribute from their inferiors, 
 they were also bound to give their inferiors something in return. J 
 As the sub-kings or chiefs were weak and the provincial kings 
 strong, these tributes were regularly paid ; but it might happen 
 that the sub-king was a strong man and the provincial king a 
 weakling, destitute of capacity or vigour, and in such cases his 
 authority was despised and his tribute remained unpaid. And 
 so it was also with the Ardris. Cor mac and Con and Nial were 
 respected by ihe provincial kings, but other Ardris were neither 
 respected nor feared : their commands were unheeded and their 
 menaces ignored. This was especially the case after they ceased 
 to reside at Tara, for then even their title to be Ardri was 
 disputed, and they no longer received the fickle allegiance 
 that the filling of that office implied. 
 
 ('"Much fault has been found with the clan system and to it 
 have been attributed many of the evils which befel Ireland. But 
 it is well to remember that such a system existed among most, 
 if not all, primitive peoples. It existed in ancient Britain and 
 ih Gaul, as well as among the ancient Germans. The successive 
 stages of government are usually found to be, first : tribes and 
 
 * For instance, the King of Connaught was entitled to the exclusive 
 hunting of Sliave Lugha and to the fresh ale of Murrisk {Boo'c of Rights^ 
 p. 19) ; the King of Ulster to the games of Cooley, and the " mustering 
 of his host at Muirthemne " {ibid, p. 21), and the Kings of Cashel from 
 the single tribe of the Muskerry should get 1,000 cows and 1,000 hogs ; 
 and from the men of Owney 100 cows " at the time of calving," and 100 
 pigs, {ibid.i p. 45.) 
 
 t Book of Rights, p. log. 
 
 X The King of Connaught was bound to give the Chief of Siol Muire- 
 adhaigh, a ring, a dress, and steed, a shield, sword and coat of mail ; to 
 the Chief of Umhall, 5 steeds, 5 swords and 5 ships ; to the Chief of 
 Dealbna, — 6 swords, 6 shields, 6 steeds, 6 tunics and 6 drinking-horns ; 
 and to the Chief of Gregraidhe, — 6 weapons, 6 tunics, 6 bondmen^ 6 bond- 
 women and 6 coats of mail. {Book of Rights, p. 113.) 
 
PRE-CHRISTIAN CIVILIZATION. 1J 
 
 their chiefs ; then some capable chief extends his sway over 
 several tribes, and finally, by a process of eliminating the incapable, 
 there arises some chief of commanding talents, who brings all the 
 tribes under his rule, establishes a strong central government* 
 and enacts and has the power to enforce one uniform system of 
 laws. In Ireland this natural process of development was arrested 
 in its growth, first by the Danish and again by the Norman 
 invasion, and we are left with the undeveloped product — the 
 clan system — with all its drawbacks and imperfections. To say 
 that it had defects is to say that it was human. (With a number 
 of petty independent states living side by side there is always 
 danger of friction, and the danger is increased when the people 
 are warlike and brave ; and hence it need caus_e no surprise that 
 ancient Ireland was filled with perpetual strife, 
 
 (Nor was power equitably distributed within the clan. The 
 king was too liberally provided for, and the tendency of the system 
 was to gather all power and wealth into his hands/ His official 
 allowance was large, but in addition he hired out stock to the 
 poorer land-holders and this was a fruitful source of wealth 
 besides making these land-holders his dependents. His privilege 
 of collecting and spending the taxes j also enabled him to grow 
 wealthy, for though these taxes were intended to be spent for 
 the public good — for the repair of roads and bridges and such 
 works as also to discharge the clan's liability to their superior 
 king — ^yet how often must they have been diverted to 
 personal gain ? These kings — like other men — had the vices 
 and failings of human nature, and the opportunity to gratify 
 rapacity and greed was not always allowed to pass. The tax- 
 collectors were his creatures, the slaves who worked his lands 
 were in a worse position still, and their ranks were continually 
 added to by tramps and criminals and outcasts. These various 
 elements combined formed a dangerous body of adherents who 
 were ready to stand by their chief, whether he was right or wrong, 
 and who, whilst he encroached on the rights of others, were 
 ready to overawe those who murmured at his encroachments. 
 In time these chiefs laid greedy hands on those lands which were 
 used as commonage by the tribe ; they made these lands their 
 private property ; they became arrogant and overbearing ; and/ 
 he who in theory and in law was the servant of the clan, in 
 practice and in reality became its master) Like the ancient 
 Germans these chiefs desired " materia munificentiae per bella 
 at raptus," % and thought it tam^e and spiritless to acquire by 
 
 * Such a Government was established under Brian, but his death 
 and that of his whole family, or nearly so, destroyed the hope of its 
 continuance. 
 
 t Ginnell, pp. 122-3. J Tacitus; Germania, Cap. 14. 
 
28 HISTORY OF IRELAND. 
 
 labour what could be grasped by force. The Brehon Law allowed 
 them to quarter themselves, from time to time, on their clansmen, 
 to live — themselves and their retainers — at their expense, and by 
 this species of extortion the profits and savings of a whole year's 
 hard work and industry were dissipated, perhaps in a single 
 night. Through pure caprice, or perhaps to avenge some fancied 
 wrong, these chiefs often engaged in war and the lives of their 
 clansmen were recklessly sacrificed in these wars, even as their 
 property was by bonaght and coshery* When not engaged 
 in war much of the chief's time was spent in playing chess within 
 his dun, or chasing the deer outside its ramparts : but some also 
 of his time was spent in feasting and drinking, surrounded by 
 flatterers and buffoons. The Book of Rights makes frequent 
 mention of " drinking cups for carousing " \ to be paid as tribute, 
 and it may be assumed that these cups were not for ornament 
 but for use. The drink used was ale brewed from barley, the 
 virtues (or should it be said the vices ?) of whiskey were unknown. 
 (The status of women was degrading. For the most trifling 
 and insufficient causes divorce was granted, women were given 
 as tribute just as cattle were, they were freely bought and sold 
 and in ttie Brehon laws the price of a maiden is put down as 
 three cows. % But in this they were not worse than their neigh- 
 bours of Britain and Caledonia where polygamy was common 
 and even polyandry not unknown. It is revolting to record on 
 such respectable authority as St. Jerome that he saw an Irish 
 tribe — the Attacotti — feasting upon human flesh in the woods 
 of Gaul,|l but this disgusting practice must have been exceptional 
 and rare, for nowhere else is cannibalism attributed to an Irish 
 tribe ; and it is at least possible that St. Jerome was deceived 
 and that those whom he saw were not Irish. The discord and 
 strife bred by the clan system were not conducive to the growth 
 of culture or good morals, yet it would be unjust to assume that 
 
 * Harris's Ware, Vol. II., pp. 74^ 75. Bonaght was an exaction im- 
 posed by the Chief for the maintenance of his soldiers, his horsemeHj 
 his heavy-armed foot or GallaglasseSj and his light-armed foot or Kerns. 
 Sorohen was somewhat similar, and Coshery was an exaction for provisions 
 and lodgings for the chief's retinue and himself. All these exactions 
 were imposed at the caprice of the chief. The corresponding English 
 terms were Coyne and Livery. 
 
 t Book of Rights, pp. 73-75.- 
 
 X Ibid.j pp. 163-18 1 ; Manners and Customs-, Vol. I.3 p. 176; 
 Ginnell, p. 213. 
 
 II " Ipse adoloscentulus in Gallia vidi Atticottos, gentem Brittanicamj 
 humanis vesci carnibus " (S. Jerome quoted by O'Curry, Vol. I.j p. 31.) 
 There was certainly a tribe called the Attacotti among the Irish, perhaps 
 there was a British one also, and that it was these and not the Irish 
 S. Jerome saw. 
 
PRE-CHRISTIAN CIVILIZATION. 29 
 
 when St. Patrick came to Ireland he found it a nation of savages. 
 Some culture there certainly was, and some chiefs and kings 
 were not unworthy to be remembered, but their merits were not 
 the systems but their own. There are some constitutions so 
 robust that they can live in a tainted atmosphere, as there are 
 some plants so hardy that they flourish amid the winter's blasts. 
 
 Whilst O'Curry warns us that to give an account of the 
 literature of pagan Ireland is impossible, he himself gives a list 
 of thirty authors, who lived and wrote from the days of Ugaine 
 More to Laeghaire, a list which may surely be regarded with 
 scepticism.* It is, however, certain that a species of writing 
 called Ogham was known, and, perhaps, owes its origin to ancient 
 Ireland : and a knowledge of Roman letters would surely be 
 derived from Britain before St. Patrick's time. There was inter- 
 course between the Irish and Britons, Christianity was introduced 
 from Britain and why not equally Roman letters. ^Nor was 
 music, either vocal or instrumental, uncultivated ; lOr music 
 has always had for the Irish a peculiar charm. In tales that go 
 back to pagan days mention is made of the Banshee's wail and 
 the Druid's shout, and the Esnaid, or chorus, was sung by Finn 
 and his warriors as they sat around their watch-fires. The horn, 
 or trumpet, the fiddle and the bagpipes were played, so also was 
 the timpan ; but it was from the harp the sweetest music was 
 obtained ; and as its chords were struck by a skilful hand, it 
 moved Jn turn every emotion with which the human breast 
 is filled, t In the old legend, Dagda, as he plays, compels his 
 enraptured hearers sometimes to sleep, sometimes to laugh and 
 sometimes to weep. 
 
 Passing to the mere mechanical arts and sciences % it is 
 impossible to say to what extent mining was understood. Then 
 as now, there was iron at Arigna, coal at Kilkenny, gold and 
 silver and copper in the Wicklow hills, but in later times no old 
 workings appear to have been discovered, which would show 
 where the ancient Irish had mined, and it may be, as some 
 suggest, that these metals were brought from foreign lands. 
 (Working in metals, at all events, was understood, and the rings 
 and torques, the anklets, bracelets and girdles for personal 
 adornment, and the sword and spear, the crassack, the fiarLiana, 
 or curved blade, and the brazen shield for tlxg: sterner purposes 
 of war attest no small share of mechanical skilh The materials 
 of dress were woollen and linen, sometimes also the skins of 
 
 * Manners and Customs, Vol. II. j p. 49 ; Cambrensis Eversiis, Vol. I., 
 pp. 480486. 
 
 t Manners and Customs ^ Vol. II.,- pp. 380, 306^ 364-8, 266, 214-18. 
 
 % Ibid., Vol. I., pp. 422-30-39-57-61 ; Vol. II., 235-54 ; Vol. ill., 102-6. 
 13, 62-68. Miss Brook's Reliqiies, p. 108. 
 
30 HISTORY OF IRELAND. 
 
 beasts. The dress of the lower orders was scanty and rude, but 
 we do not read anywhere that they were altogether naked, or 
 that they painted their naked bodies, as did the Britons and 
 Caledonians.* A brat, f or cloak, covered the upper portion 
 of the body, a berbrat, or kilt of skins, covered the loins, whilst 
 the feet were either naked or covered with sandals made with 
 cowhide, the hair on the outside such as may still be seen in the 
 Islands of Arran. The dress of the upper classes was more elaborate, 
 and Cormac's dress, as he appeared at the Tara feis, was not 
 unworthy of a king. " He had a red buckler with stars and 
 animals of gold and silver, a crimson cloak, fastened by a golden 
 brooch, a neck torque of gold, a white shirt interlined with red 
 gold thread, a girdle of gold inlaid with precious stones, shoes of 
 gold and two spears in his hand with golden sockets, and besides, 
 he was symmetrical of form without blemish or reproach." X 
 
 The ancient Irish knew little of building and few houses 
 were built of stone, || these being of dry masonry, for the use of 
 mortar was unknown. Many houses were but mud cabins, but 
 more frequently they were of wood and wicker work, round in form 
 and consisting of only one apartment. For greater security some 
 houses were built in lakes, the foundations being piles of wood. 
 The approaches to these lake-dwellings, or cranogues, as they 
 were called, were narrow causeways, which could be easily defended 
 in case of attack. The flaith's house was called a lis, often 
 surrounded by a mound of earth or dry masonry in which case 
 it was called a rath, or caiseal. The king's house was called a 
 dun and had two ramparts surrounding it, the space between 
 these two, whenever possible, being failed with water. These 
 frail houses are long since gone and the sounds of revelry within 
 them are hushed, but the mounds which surrounded them may 
 still be seen in many parts of the country — an object of curiosity 
 to the stranger, an object of dread to the timid and superstitious 
 — for here, they say, when the shades of night fall, the fairies 
 hold high revel and the ghosts of the departed are seen. The 
 rude character of the furniture,** was in keeping with the houses. 
 Vessels were made of dry and hardened clay or stone, vessels 
 for carrying were made of leather, whilst drinking vessels were 
 of wood, and in the better class of houses of horn and metal. 
 Being shepherds and stock-raisers, the people made little progress 
 
 * Caesar ; De Bello Gallico, Lib. v., Cap. 145 
 
 t Manners and Customs, Vol. I., pp. 383-4, 397. 
 
 X Ibid., Vol. II., p. 19. Cormac, it appears, was not always without 
 blemishj as he was subsequently dethroned because of some physical 
 disqualification 
 
 II Ibid., Vol. I.J pp. 296 to 317. 
 
 ** Manners and Customs, Vol. 1. 5 pp. 356-60. 
 
PRE-CHRISTIAN CIVILIZATION. 3 1 
 
 in agriculture, though flax and corn were sown, the corn ground 
 by the quern and later on by water-mills. For inland transit 
 there were roads on which carriages and other vehicles were 
 drawn, either by horses or oxen. There were five great roads 
 which might be regarded as national highways, all branching off 
 from Tara, and there were, besides these many of lesser impor- 
 tance.* Those on the sea-coast had their currachs,^ or small 
 boats, made of wicker-work and covered with hides, and in these 
 tiny vessels they boldly traversed the deep. Larger vessels they 
 also must have had, for they frequently pillaged the coasts of 
 Britain,and Tacitus states that the Irish ports were well-known. % 
 This indicates commercial intercourse with other countries, 
 though the absence of a convenient medium of exchange must 
 have hampered trade and commerce. In Caesar's time the 
 Britons |1 used small pieces of metal as money, but even this 
 practice was not adopted in Ireland, and the exchange in kind 
 was clumsy and cumbrous and unworthy of a people with any 
 pretensions to civilization. Under the influence of Christianity 
 the progress of Ireland, especially in the higher forms of culture 
 was rapid, and in a short time the fame of its scholars and its 
 schools resounded throughout Europe. 
 
 * Introduction to Book of Rights. 
 
 f Such vessels may still be seen in the Isles of Arran: 
 
 X Tacitus, Agricola^ Cap. 24. The words would seem to imply that 
 the ports and harbours were better known than those of Britain,- which 
 would certainly seem strange^ Britain being so much nearer the Continent^ 
 and so much more in touch with civilisation. Perhaps his meaning is 
 that the ports and harbours of Ireland were better known than the island 
 itself. 
 
 II De Bella Gallico^ Lib. vj 
 
CHAPTER V. 
 
 SL Patrick. 
 
 The recognised National Apostle of Ireland — Many events in his life 
 disputed — His birthplace — A captive in Ireland — His escape — Educated 
 with St. Martin and St. Germanus — Whitley Stokes's objections to 
 the current tradition — St. Patrick's second arrival in Ireland — His 
 labours — His relations with the Druids and King Laeghaire — His 
 travels — Death at Armagh — Civil history of the period .- 
 
 In the History of Ireland, during the fifth century, there is no 
 event of such importance as the introduction of Christianity, 
 and in that work the great central figure is St. Patrick. To 
 him and to those who laboured under his direction the conversion 
 of Ireland from paganism has been always attributed, and in 
 his own day as in succeeding ages he has borne the title of Ireland's 
 National Apostle. Tlie magnitude of his work, as well as his 
 attractive personal character, have furnished him with many 
 biographers. Yet it would seem that a multitude of biographers 
 do not always evolve certainty out of doubt, nor make plain 
 what is obscure, and though much has been written of St. Patrick 
 the doubt and obscurity still remain. It is still doubtful when 
 and where he was born ; much of his life has to be accounted for 
 by theory and conjecture ; and nobody can tell whether his 
 age at death was lOO or 120 years. One adventurous sceptic * 
 has denied that such a man ever existed ; others maintain that 
 there were not one but two St. Patricks, f whilst others appear 
 to contemplate him as something more than human, have raised 
 
 * Ledwich ; Antiquities of Ireland^ pp.- 362-70. Ledwich's theory of 
 the Irish Church was that Christianity flourished in Ireland long before 
 St. Patrick's time, its preachers being Asiatic missionaries, who preached 
 doctrines strongly at variance with Rome,- and so obstinately attached is 
 he to this theory that though he can produce no evidence in its favour^ 
 he still clings to it; and is ready to call names to his own co-religionists 
 — Usher and Camden. 
 
 t Cardinal Moran's Essays on the Early Irish Church, p. 46. There 
 seems to be good grounds for this opinion,- as there was another Patrick 
 — called Sen-Patrick — who was converted by the Irish Apostle^ became a 
 monk at Glastonbury, and died there in great sanctity in 45 7. 
 
ST. PATRICK. 33 
 
 his most ordinary actions to the dignity of miracles,* and have 
 without necessity and without reason multiplied these miracles 
 beyond belief. It is this confusion and exaggeration, this excessive 
 credulity and excessive scepticism which have furnished a pretext 
 for the gross mis-statement of Gibbon that, in the ninth century, 
 there were sixty-six lives of St. Patrick, and that they contained 
 sixty-six thousand lies.f 
 
 One of St. Patrick's earliest converts was Fiac of Sletty. 
 He was son of Ere, son of Bregan of a good family, and was a 
 pupil of Dubthack, the chief Poet to the Ardri. Like his master, 
 he became a Christian, was consecrated bishop by St. Patrick, 
 appointed bishop of Sletty, and helped to spread the faith through- 
 out the Leinster province. In a hymn which he composed in 
 honor of St. Patrick, he gives the name of the Saint's birth-place 
 as Nemthur, a place which has been identified as Nanterre, at 
 the foot of Mont Valerian, about seven miles from Paris.J 
 
 It is considered more probable that St. Patrick was born 
 at Boulogne II; but a third view, very strongly supported and 
 very widely accepted, is that he was born at Dumbarton,* * in 
 Scotland, in 372. His father was Calpurnius a deacon, and it 
 appears a decurio, f f his mother was Conchessa, reputed to be 
 a relative of St. Martin of Tours. At all events, St. Patrick 
 always held St. Martin in great reverence, and it seems not 
 improbable that they were bound by ties of kindred. In what 
 manner he spent his early years is not known. In his Confession 
 he says himself that " up to his sixteenth year he did not know 
 God," and if these words be taken literally, they would indicate 
 that he lived as a pagan, having no respect for Christian truths. 
 But the humility of a Saint — and St. Patrick had to the full 
 a Saint's humility — would prompt him to magnify his faults 
 and minimise his merits, and the words may justly be regarded 
 to mean — that he lived, as so many youths have done, believing 
 as a Christian, but heedless of the practices of his religion, not 
 necessarily guilty of any grave offence against faith or morals, 
 but rather of those sins of omission and carelessness, which 
 so often spring from the waywardness of youth. 
 
 * This is especially the case with Jocelin. (Life and Acts of St. Patrick.) 
 t Gibbon, Vol. Il.j p. 308. 
 
 X Tripartite Life of St. Patrick^ Vol. II. 5 pp. 403-5 ; a work edited 
 with great care and learning by Whitley Stokes, and published in the Rolls 
 Series. 
 
 II This is the opinion of Lanigan and of Alzog. 
 
 * * Tripartite^ Vol. I.; p. 9 There is no question connected with St. 
 Patrick's life and labours more hotly contested than the question of the 
 place of his birth. The battle still rages, and with little prospect that we 
 are nearing its close. 
 
 tt Tripartite, Vol. II., p. 357 : Morris's St. Patrick (4th edition)^ p. 57; 
 
 D 
 
34 HISTORY OF IRELAND. 
 
 About 388, Nial the Irish king made a predatory expedition 
 into Britain, plundered and robbed as he went along the coast, 
 and making a descent near Dumbarton, carried away St. Patrick 
 and a number of others as captives. The Saint was sold as a 
 slave to a pagan chief, Milcho,* in Antrim, and here he spent 
 six years. The son of a Roman decurio, and therefore brought 
 up tenderly, he must have felt all the more keenly the condition 
 to which he was reduced. Dressed in the poorest fashion, his 
 diet of the coarsest, his position that of a slave, his occupation 
 herding cattle and swine, nothing was wanting to complete his 
 misery. In this condition many would have murmured against 
 Providence, perhaps fallen into despair, but it is in such 
 circumstances that patience is tried and virtue gathers strength. 
 St. Patrick took it all as punishment for the sins of his youth, 
 and neither murmured nor repined. The snow and the sleet 
 fell, the frost came, the biting wind swept over the hills of 
 Dalriada, and to St. Patrick, clad in the scanty dress of a slave, 
 it must have been trying in the extreme. Yet, he bore it all 
 patiently, and whilst he faithfully tended his master's property, 
 he constantly turned to God in his afflictions, and a hundred 
 times in the day and as many times in the night he prayed .f About 
 395 as the result of a vision,:j: he himself says, he escaped to the 
 coast, embarked on board a vessel lying at anchor there, and 
 after many hardships got back to his native land. 
 
 From the time of St. Patrick's arrival in Britain until his 
 second coming to Ireland in 432, there is an interval of nearly 
 forty years during which, what he did and where he spent his 
 time, is not satisfactorily explained. The current tradition 
 is that he went to Tours to his relative St. Martin, and that here 
 he spent the closing years of the fourth century. His journey 
 to Tours was made in the depth of winter, at Christmas time, 
 when the cold was intense and by the banks of the Loire, some 
 distance from Tours, the Saint took refuge under a blackthorn 
 tree. The local tradition is that to shield him from the cold 
 as well as to honor him, the shrub expanded |1 its branches, shook 
 off the snow with which it was covered and arra^^ed itself in 
 flowers, white as the snow itself. The shrub still exists, and still 
 
 * Tripartite, I.j p. 19. 
 
 t Ibidem, II. ^ p. 361. 
 
 + On a certain night he had heard a voice in his sleep saying that he 
 should soon return to his own country, and again after a short time he 
 heard a voice saying that his ship was ready — not near at hand but distant 
 — " Ducenta Millia Passus," a place unknown to him and where he knew 
 nobody. 
 
 II Morris's St. Patrick — Appendix. The shrub was seen, in 1850, by 
 Mgr. Chevaillier^ President of the Archaeological Society of Touraine, and 
 by Father Morris himself, in 1881. 
 
ST. PATRICK. 
 
 35 
 
 in the midst of winter, is covered with foliage and flowers, while 
 all other such shrubs in the locality are leafless and bare, and 
 so it has been from time immemorial. Such is the tra- 
 dition. The village where the phenomenon occurs year after 
 year is called St. Patrice and the flowers of the shrub are called 
 by the natives " les fleurs de St. Patrice." After this strange 
 adventure, St. Patrick reached the monastery of St. Martin. 
 Originally a soldier, Martin deserted the camp for the cloister, 
 and at Marmoutier, near Tours, established a community of 
 monks. The fame of his sanctity went abroad, and in a short 
 time he found himself surrounded by nearly eighty followers 
 zealous to imitate his virtues. From the cell of a monk he vv'as 
 raised to the throne of a bishop, but the honors of the episcopacy 
 he did not seek, and in his humility would have declined, and 
 as Bishop of Tours, he still lived the mortified life of a monk.* 
 He still dwelt in a monk's cell, gave his means to the poor, lived 
 on bread and water, always wore haircloth, and in the austerity 
 of his life and the severity of his mortifications, his biographer 
 might challenge a comparison with even St. Basil or St. Antony .f 
 When St. Martin died, about 400, Patrick returned to his 
 relatives in Britain where he remained but a short time. Once 
 more he went to Gaul and placed himself under the guidance 
 •of St. Germanus of Auxerre. This saint's career was not unlike 
 that of St. Martin.J An advocate and an orator, he had practised 
 in the Roman courts, where he acquired a reputation for eloquence. 
 A successful man of the world and addicted to its pleasures, he 
 suddenly changed his life, relinquished fame and riches, and 
 for the applause of the world he substituted the solitude and 
 obscurity of a convent cell. Like St. Martin, from being a monk 
 he became a bishop, but it was his rank and not his life that was 
 changed, for he still wore his shirt of hair-cloth, never drank 
 wine and slept on the bare earth. It was here St. Patrick 
 acquired most of his learning, here he was advanced to the priest- 
 hood, and here he spent the greater part of thirty years. |I The 
 state of Ireland was often before his mind ; in his visions and 
 dreams he heard the plaintive cry of its people asking him to 
 come and walk among them ; * * and in his waking moments 
 he must have mourned over their pitiable condition, steeped in 
 paganism and error. Amongst them, he felt was his call to 
 labour, and, after consultation, he resolved to proceed to Rome 
 
 * Healy's Ancient Schools and Scholars ^ pp. 44-5.- 
 t Gibbon, Vol. II., p. 505. 
 X Healy, p. 47. 
 
 II Morris^ pp. 86-75 thinks he wandered about a good deal from one 
 monastery to another. 
 ** Healy, p. 71. 
 
2)6 HISTORY OF IRELAND. 
 
 for the necessary authority. Before leaving he stayed for some 
 time at the monastery of Lerins, then presided over by St. 
 Honoratus, thence he passed on to Rome. He took his way 
 through Ivrea, and was there consecrated bishop by Amator 
 whom Cardinal Moran thinks was no other than St. Maximus ;* 
 and at Rome he was commissioned by St. Celestine to proceed 
 to Ireland. Those who are in the habit of denying his Roman 
 mission would do well to remember the sensible words of Father 
 Morris that " it merely meant the apostolic blessing on one who 
 was about to go in search of martyrdom." f On his return 
 from Rome, St. Patrick passed, accompanied by some priests 
 and bishops, through Gaul and Britain, and finally arrived 
 in Ireland in 432. 
 
 To the traditional account of St. Patrick's life grave objections 
 are raised. They are put with clearness by Whitley Stokes, 
 and by him are considered fatal to its acceptance. % It is said 
 that if St. Patrick was absent from Ireland nearly forty years, 
 he would have forgotten to speak the Irish language in 432, 
 and he appears to have been able to speak it : that if he lived 
 so long in the school of St. Germanus he would be able to write 
 better Latin than he wrote in his Confession ; that one so zealous 
 to convert the Irish would never wait for forty years to begin : 
 and most fatal objection of all — that if he was absent from 
 Ireland so long he could not write, as he has done, that he lived 
 among the Irish from his youth. Regarding these objections 
 as fatal to the current tradition, Whitley Stokes has his own 
 theory which is that St. Patrick, after escaping from captivity, 
 went to Gaul, acquired sufficient learning to get ordained there ; 
 then, as a priest, he came to Ireland, where he remained several 
 years, but meeting with poor success went back to Gaul, and 
 thence to Rome, where he was consecrated bishop, and then 
 returned to Ireland. 
 
 This theory is plausible but not necessarily true, for what 
 is plausible is not always true. Nor should the current tradition 
 be lightly set aside for what after all is but a theory. If St. 
 Patrick never met any Irish in Gaul and never spoke Irish 
 for nearly forty years, probably he would have forgotten it 
 altogether. But there was intercourse between Ireland and Gaul, 
 there were Christians in Ireland, and might not some of these 
 have met St. Patrick in Gaul, perhaps occupied cells at 
 Marmoutier or Auxerre ? St. Patrick evidently looked forward 
 for years to preaching the Gospel in Ireland, he firmly believed 
 he was divinely called to do so, and to speak the Irish language 
 
 *■ Morris,- p. 113. 
 
 t Ibid.i p. 115. 
 
 % Tripartite, Vol. I^ Introduction,; p. 138. 
 
ST. PATRICK. IJ 
 
 he knew would be a necessary preparation for the work, and 
 whatever opportunities were thrown in his way to speak it 
 he would certainly seize. To write a language with facility 
 requires practice, and perhaps St. Patrick had but little practice 
 in writing Latin at Auxerre. In Ireland he had much less, 
 for his time was occupied in preaching to the people, founding 
 churches and schools, passing from one district to another, 
 but everywhere speaking the language of the people amongst 
 whom he lived. It was at the close of his life that he wrote 
 his Confession. He had then spent nearly sixty years in Ireland, 
 his tongue and pen had become habituated only to the Irish 
 language, and by that time he would have lost the art — if he 
 ever had it — of writing Latin with facility. His zeal to convert 
 the Irish was undoubted, but zeal to be effective must be tempered 
 by prudence. He should first acquire knowledge, which to 
 one so ignorant as he was when he escaped from Ireland, must 
 have taken many years. When he had acquired the knowledge, 
 he should consult his superiors, he should await their decision 
 and act on their advice, and this might take many years more. 
 And there are indications that from men he got contradictions 
 and disappointments in abundance, and that nothing but the 
 conviction that his call was from heaven could have sustained 
 him through all these years.* If we are compelled to take 
 the words " from my youth" (a juventute mea) f in the strictly 
 literal sense they would mean that St. Patrick came to Ireland 
 at latest in 412, that is before he had passed his fortieth year. 
 But it may be that the words are to be taken differently. When 
 St. Patrick wrote he was an old man, and had already laboured 
 for over fifty years in Ireland. And as he remembered the 
 dangers he passed through, the hardships he underwent, the 
 miseries he had borne through that long space of time, he must 
 have thought that at the commencement the vigour and activity 
 of youth were his, and that in everything — even in years — he was 
 young. Perhaps, it may be that he contemplates, not the number 
 of his years, but rather the vigour and activity of his body and 
 mind. However, the words be explained, the year 432 has been 
 taken as the year of his arrival in Ireland. 
 
 He found many things changed since his escape from captivity. 
 Nial of the Nine Hostages was dead : he was assassinated in 
 405 in Gaul. % He left a numerous family among whom his 
 dominions were divided, the Ulster portion going to his sons, 
 Owen and Connell, from whose names their territories came to be 
 called Tirowen and Tirconnell. Nial's nephew, Dathi, was his 
 
 * Morris, p. 103. 
 
 t Smith's Latin Dictionary. 
 
 X Four Masters; Keating, p. 326J 
 
38 HISTORY OF IRELAND. 
 
 successor as Ardri, and he too made incursions into Britain 
 and Gaul. Tradition has it that while leading his army at 
 the foot of the Alps he was, in the year 428, killed by lightning. 
 Then Laeghaire, son of Nial, became Ardri. There were 
 Christians in Ireland in these days, and in 430 Palladius, a bishop* 
 and native of Britain was sent by Pope Celestine " to the Scots 
 who believed in Christ." To what extent Christianity existed 
 is uncertain, but the number of Christians must have been few. 
 Palladius met with many obstacles, and this, coupled, perhaps, 
 with the feebleness of declining health, must have disheartened 
 him. He left Ireland and returned to Britain, where he soon 
 died, leaving to St. Patrick both the labour and the glory of 
 converting the Irish. 
 
 St. Patrick landed in Ireland, probably at, or near. Bray, in 
 the County of Wicklow. In the spirit of a Saint returning good 
 for evil, his first care was for his old master, Milcho, who still lived, 
 and with the object of converting him he proceeded northwards. 
 But the stern old pagan would have none of his Christianity : 
 a pagan he was born and a pagan he would die. Rather than 
 meet St. Patrick and submit to the indignity of being instructed 
 by his former slave, he set his house on fire and taking his treasures 
 jumped into the flames, where he perished. | With Dichu, 
 another Ulster chief, Patrick was more successful. He and 
 his household were baptised and he also gave Patrick a site 
 for his first church at Saul, near Downpatrick, where long after- 
 wards the Apostle died. Passing southwards, St. Patrick met 
 near Dundalk a youth named Benin, or Benignus, who 
 became his most attached follower as well as coadjutor in the 
 Archdiocese of Armagh. It was at Slane and in sight of Tara 
 itself that St. Patrick determined to celebrate the Paschal feast, 
 and here he lighted the Paschal fire. It was a most dangerous 
 thing to do. The Ardri and his court were then at Tara, and 
 were celebrating some great festival, perhaps some of the great 
 pagan festivals, perhaps the birthday of the king himself.t. 
 During the continuance of the festival it was unlawful to light 
 any other fire except the fire of Tara, and whoever did, com- 
 mitted a crime for which death alone could atone. His Druids 
 infromed the Ardri of the fire lighted at Slane, and one of them 
 prophetically announced that if that fire is not put out to-night 
 it will never be put out in Erin. || If the fire represent the fire 
 of Christianity the prophecy has been fulfilled. Sometimes, it 
 is true, the fire has burnt low, the heat it gave out was little, 
 
 * Healy, p. 49. 
 
 ■f Tripartite, Vol. l.-, p. 39. 
 
 + Introduction to Book of Rights. 
 
 II Tripartite^ Vol. I., p. 43. 
 
ST. PATRICK. 39 
 
 and its light was dim, but it still burned, and never once through 
 the changing centuries, has it been completely extinguished, 
 
 Laeghaire was not of the material of which converts to 
 Christianity are easily made. Brought up in paganism he 
 clung with tenacity to pagan errors. Much influenced by the 
 Druids he v/ished for no other priesthood, regarded with ill 
 favour this new religion, which preached self-denial even to 
 kings, and looked with disdain upon its accredited apostle, so 
 humble and so poor. But the greatest difficulty was with the 
 Druids. They were fighting for their great privileges and had 
 an instinctive dread that if Christianity got any foothold, their 
 own power was gone for ever. The artifices of the dishonest, 
 the tricks of the unscrupulous, the weapons of despair and 
 even of murder they did not hesitate to use, and more than once 
 the life of St. Patrick was attempted. The contest between 
 them and the Apostle reminds us of that between Aaron and 
 the Egyptian magicians, and the result in both cases was the 
 same, for the victory was with Patrick as with Aaron. His 
 biographers tell with delight how the Druid, invoking the 
 ordeal of fire, was burned to ashes, while Benignus, the Christian 
 champion, remained untouched ; * how the Druids brought 
 snow as well as darkness on the plain, but were unable to remove 
 either until St. Patrick intervened ; and how, when the Ardri, 
 enraged at the death of his Druid, attempted the Apostle's life, 
 twelve thousand of the king's followers were miraculously slain. 
 It is easy to be sceptical about these statements, and to scoff 
 at them as so many childish fictions, the utterances of partiality 
 and credulity ; but the fact stands out that Christianity con- 
 quered, that Laeghaire himself embraced the new faith though 
 he did not persevere in it, that Dubhtach, the Chief Poet, was 
 converted, and that thousands followed his example, and that, 
 at Tara, Druidism received a shock which wzis but the precursor 
 of its final ruin. 
 
 After remaining at Tara some time and baptising many, 
 .St. Patrick proceeded northwards, overthrew the idol of Crom 
 Cruach in Leitrim, and erected a Christian Church where it 
 had stood. From Leitrim he passed over the Shannon and 
 traversed Connaught, and remained and laboured in that province 
 for seven years. By the Druids alone was he opposed, by all 
 others he was well received, and among every class his converts 
 were many. Among these converts were the two daughters 
 of the Ardri — Ethne the Fair, and Fedilm the Ruddy. They 
 
 * Tripartite^ Vol. 1. 5 p. 57-9. Both were put into the same house and 
 the house set on fire ; the Druid was placed in a wet portion with a 
 Christian vestment on him ; yet, the Druid was burned though the vest- 
 ment was unharmed. 
 
40 HISTORY OF IRELAND. 
 
 were being fostered at the palace of Cruachan, and one day 
 coming to a well in the neighbourhood to wash their hands, 
 they found St. Patrick accompanied by some of his disciples. 
 In the conversation that ensued St. Patrick explained to them 
 his religion, telling them that his God was the God of all things, 
 of the heavens and the earth, of the sea and river, of the sun 
 and moon and stars, of the high mountains and lowly valleys, 
 and he explained the mystery of the Trinity, and taking up 
 the Shamrock he pointed out that as the three leaves grew 
 from one stem, so did the three Divine persons partake of the 
 same Divine Nature.* The two princesses were converted, 
 and as they expressed a wish to see Christ face to face their 
 wish was granted ; they died after being baptised, and " Patrick 
 put them under one mantle in one bed, and their friends 
 bewailed them greatly." At intervals during these years in 
 Connaught, St. Patrick often had recourse to long periods of 
 mortification and prayer. The place he selected for his retire- 
 ment was the very summit of Croagh Patrick, a mountain 
 situated almost on the edge of the sea, some few miles from 
 Westport in Mayo. Looking seaward he had before him Clew 
 Bay with its myriad islands, the roaring of the waves was in his 
 ears, the winds howled and raged around his head, the rain 
 fell as it can fall only on the western coast, and the fitful flashes 
 of lightning lighted up the desolation and gloom. And high 
 up above the heads and the homes of men, like Moses on Mount 
 Sinai, he held solitary communion with God. He prayed 
 much and long, f for the conversion of those still in darkness, 
 for the perseverance of the converted, for the prosperity of the 
 infant Church. 
 
 From Connaught the Saint passed to Ulster, where his move- 
 ments are traced through Donegal, Tirowen, Dalriadia in North 
 Antrim, Dal Araidhe in South Down, and Monaghan. In 
 Tirowen he was hospitably entertained by the ruling prince 
 Owen, at his palace at Ailech, and at Monaghan he appointed 
 Macarten, Bishop of Clogher. J Afterwards he is to be found 
 in Meath, where he visited Tara, and about the same time con- 
 secrated Fiac, Bishop of Leinster,|| with his episcopal residence at 
 Sletty. When he had traversed the other provinces, he entered 
 Munster for the first time, and there, as in Connaught, he re- 
 mained for seven years, ^ngus, the King of Cashel, received 
 him well, and himself and his people were baptised ; similar 
 
 * Tripartite^ Vol. I.j pp. 101-103: There is a tradition that on many 
 occasions St. Patrick so used the Shamrock in his preaching. 
 t Tripartite, Vol. I.j pp. 1 15-12 1. 
 % Ibid., p. 177- 
 (I Ibid., p. 19c, 
 
ST. PATRICK. 41 
 
 success awaited him among the Deisi ; and when he left Munster 
 the greater part of the province had embraced Christianity. 
 Returning from Munster he passed through Leinster, on his 
 way to Armagh, his hfe being twice attempted on the way. Once 
 his charioteer was mistaken for him and was murdered ; and 
 further north, a pagan chief, Maccuill, attempted unsuccessfully 
 the life of " this shaveling who deceives everyone."* 
 
 At Armagh, St. Patrick obtained land from a chieftain called 
 Dare, and on this land he built a church and made Armagh 
 the principal See of Ireland, a dignity which it still retains. 
 
 He could look back on a life of ceaseless activity in which 
 great results were achieved. He had traversed every district 
 of Ireland ; all classes had listened to his preaching, and from 
 all classes converts had been made. He had met in argument 
 and confounded his greatest enemies, the Druids. Brehons and 
 poets, princes and kings, had not only become his disciples, 
 but in many cases his bishops and priests. A number of high- 
 placed virgins, following the example of St. Bridget, had re- 
 nounced the world and its pleasures, and retired into the solitude 
 of the cloister ; many of them incurred the anger of their parents 
 in doing so. He had, according to Nennius,| built 365 churches, 
 consecrated an equal number of bishops, and ordained 3,000 
 priests. He had held synods and passed decrees for the govern- 
 ment and regulation of the Church, amongst others that well 
 known decree that whatever disputes could not be settled in 
 Ireland were to be referred to Rome.;[: Whilst he yet lived, schools 
 were established, convents and monasteries were being rapidly 
 multiplied, the whole machinery of a prosperous church was in 
 active operation, and a century after his landing in Ireland, 
 no less than 350 Irish lived, whose names were enrolled among 
 the saints. 
 
 Those who regard the Church as a mere human institution, 
 and reject everything but human effort in the propagation 
 of its doctrines, will ask with surprise and incredulity how all 
 this could be accomplished by a single man. In the selection 
 of persons to assist him, and in making use of what opportunities 
 were thrown in his way, St. Patrick showed great wisdom. 
 Knowing that the common people are like a flock of sheep, who 
 
 * Tripartite, Vol. I., p. 221. This same Maccuill soon after became 
 a Christian and preached the faith in the Isle of Man. 
 
 t Tripartite, Vol. II., p. 500. 
 
 % Ibid., p. 356. The words are " quaecumque causa valde difificilis 
 exorta fuerit atque ignota cunctis Scotorum judicibus ad cathedram aBpi 
 Hiberniensum i.e., Patricii referenda, si vero in ilia. Sanari non poterit 
 talis causa praedictae negotionis ad sedem apostolicam decrevimus esse 
 mittendum, i.e., ad Petri Apostoli cathedram auctoritatem Romae urbis 
 habentem." 
 
42 HISTORY OF IRELAND. 
 
 will follow their leader, he addressed himself first to the kings 
 and princes, and when their conversion was effected, the task 
 with the people was less difficult. The Brehons and Bards, the 
 poets and historians, whose position and learning claimed the 
 respect of the people, he appointed to offices in the church : the 
 Druids, if they became Christians, were treated similarly : but 
 with Druidism itself he would have no parley and no compromise, 
 feeling that between it and Christianity there existed an irre- 
 concilable antagonism. He wished to disturb existing in- 
 stitutions as little as possible. The power of the princes, the 
 privileges of the Bards, the office and duties of the Brehons, 
 the peculiar constitution of the sept and clan were the same 
 in Christian as in pagan times. Crom Cruach and his idols 
 were replaced by the Christian Church with its cross : the priests 
 and bishops succeeded the Druids, for the feast of Beltaine was 
 substituted the festival of St. John, and for Samhan that of 
 St. Martin. If the laws were revised under his supervision, 
 as it appears they were,* it was not to abolish them altogether : 
 it was rather to reduce them to order, to purge them of 
 paganism, to bring them into harmony with the wants of 
 Christianity. 
 
 Thus was the transition from paganism to the Gospel made 
 easy. The piety of the Saint, his humility and poverty, his 
 sympathy with the distressed, his charity to the poor, his manifest 
 sincerity, his self-sacrifice, must have attracted many towards 
 him. Yet even all this will not explain how one so poor, without 
 great learning or exalted birth, was able to overcome the fierce 
 opposition of the Druids, to bring a whole nation to the faith, 
 and to level to the dust the most venerated idols of paganism. 
 It may be remembered that when St. Paul preached, it was not 
 in the lofty strains of human eloquence, that it was Gallilean 
 fishermen, and not philosophers, who were selected to preach 
 the Gospel through all lands, and when these things are re- 
 membered, St. Patrick will be more easily recognised as but a 
 capable and willing instrument in the hands of the Divine Founder 
 of his faith. The closing years of his life were spent at Saul, 
 near Downpatrick, and during these years of retirement he 
 wrote his Confession, and perhaps also his Epistle to Caroticus. j 
 The Confession is an explanation of his own conduct and motives; 
 the Epistle is addressed partly in entreaty, partly in anger, to a 
 
 * This was done by a Committee of nine persons — three kings, Laeghaire 
 Core and Daire : three " Saints," Patrick, Benen (Benignus) and Carineach,. 
 and three antiquaries, Ross, Dubthach and Fearghus. {Four Masters, at 
 the vear 438.) 
 
 t He wrote two letters to Caroticus, but it is only the second of these 
 which has survived. 
 
ST. PATRICK. 43 
 
 British prince who had pillaged the Irish coast, and brought 
 away some of the Christian Irish into captivity. Petrie gives 
 the date of St. Patrick's death as 493. 
 
 The civil history of the period contains little worth recording. 
 Like his predecessors, Nial and Dathi, Laeghaire continued to 
 harass the Britons, and the sufferings of that afflicted people 
 must have been great. In a petition for help to the Roman 
 Consul (446), which was appropriately styled the " Groans of the 
 Britains," they complain that they are entirely at the mercy 
 of the Picts and Scots ; and that while these savages drive them 
 into the sea, the sea flings them back upon the land ; so that 
 theirs was the pitiable alternative, either to perish in the waves, 
 or be murdered upon land. But no help came from Rome. 
 The resources of the Empire were strained to the utmost in the 
 struggle with Attila, and while Italy and even Rome was 
 menaced, Britain was forgotten. In this extremity the Britons 
 appealed to the pirates of the German Ocean ; and these came 
 as mercenaries, but were soon strong enough to remain as masters. 
 Henceforth the Irish king found it more prudent to cease his 
 foreign depredations : yet at home he was not at peace, and 
 in exacting the Boru tribute his relations with Leinster were those 
 of perpetual and bitter conflict. Before his death (458) he 
 relapsed into paganism, thinking that if he died a Christian 
 he would insult the memory of his pagan ancestors. He was 
 buried at Tara, standing erect, clothed in full armour,* his face 
 turned towards the Leinstermen, so that in death, as in life, he 
 would seem to menace his ancient foe. Of the two succeeding^ 
 Ardris, Oliol Molt, who died, in 479, and Lughaid, who reigned 
 at the opening of the sixth century, we know nothing except 
 that they were kings. 
 
 * This must have been nothing more than the usual dress he wore in 
 battle. Chain armour was unknown in Ireland and was not worn even 
 at the battle of Clontarf.' 
 
CHAPTER VI. 
 
 Progress of Religion and Learning. 
 
 St. Patrick and the training of the clergy — First Christian Schools — 
 The clergy and the Clans — The beginning of Monasticism — St. Enda, 
 St. Finian of Clonard, St. Brendan — Nuns — St. Bridget — Life and 
 labours of St. Columba — Leaves Ireland for lona — Converts the Picts — 
 Attended Convention of Drumcat — Dies at lona — Bardic schools — 
 The Tain Bo Cuailgne — Monastic Schools — Clonmacnoise — Columban 
 schools — Adamnan — School of Bangor — Lismore — St. Kevin of 
 Glendalough — Irish Missionaries abroad — In Caledonia — Among the 
 Anglo-Saxons in Continental lands — Orthodoxy of the Irish Church — 
 Pelagianism — The Paschal dispute. 
 
 Of the many difficulties that surrounded the labours of St. 
 Patrick, after his arrival in Ireland, one of the greatest was 
 the want of a native ministry. Bishops and priests accompanied 
 him on his coming to Ireland, in 432, but they were from Britain 
 and Gaul, and must have been totally, or at least partially, 
 ignorant of the Irish tongue.* Bishops and priests were wanted, 
 who could preach to the unconverted in their own language 
 and at the same time supply the needs of the converted. The 
 want was soon partially supplied. Wherever St. Patrick found 
 suitable candidates with the necessary amount of virtue and 
 zeal, he made them part of his special following, had them taught 
 as he went from place to place, and as soon as they were able 
 to read the Scriptures, had even an elementary knowledge of the 
 truths of Christianity, and were able to explain these truths 
 to the people, no matter how rudely, he had them ordained 
 priests.t To be able to read and write was necessary for the 
 clergy, though little else was exacted. Nor were their outfit 
 and personal belongings more imposing than their intellectual 
 equipment. A priest had his catechism, his missal, his ritual 
 for administering the sacraments, his copy of the Scriptures for 
 preaching to the people ; whilst a bishop had, in addition, a bell, 
 
 * Montalambert— i!^^«/^5 of the West— Book VIIi.j Chap. 3. 
 t Healy, pp. 58-63. 
 
PROGRESS OF RELIGION AND LEARNING. 4$ 
 
 a chalice, a crozier, and a leathern satchell in which his few books 
 were contained.* Thus scantily dowered and rich only in faith 
 and zeal, these soldiers of the Cross went forth to wage war against 
 the hosts of paganism. 
 
 But this primitive simplicity soon passed away. About 
 450, a college was founded at Armagh, of which St. Benignus 
 was given charge, and the great object of which was to train 
 subjects for the priesthood. In that college were taught 
 theology and the Scriptures, a knowledge of Latin, and perhaps 
 Greek was acquired, and to supply the various churches with 
 books, there was a special house in which students were 
 employed as Scribes. In the opening years of the sixth century, 
 the rector of the school of Armagh was Gildas, the historian of 
 the Britons.f Under the auspices of St. Bridget and St. Conleth, 
 a school was founded at Kildare : a school was founded at Noen- 
 drum by St. Mochua ; whilst Moctha founded the school of 
 Louth. These schools had soon an abundance of students, and 
 the Church a supply of educated bishops and priests. 
 
 In each clan there was at least one bishop, perhaps more, 
 for dioceses were not yet established and a bishop's power was 
 not restricted within certain territorial limits, to the exclusion 
 of all other bishops. X A grant of land was soon given the bishop 
 by the clan, and here he built his church and his school, if he 
 had one, and with the priests who assisted him, and the necessary 
 retainers, who cultivated the land, here he lived. Of this little 
 society, modelled on the clan, the bishop was the chief, but he 
 sought for no personal indulgence and possessed no private 
 wealth, for what property there was, was the common property of 
 all, and if he desired any ascendancy over those with whom 
 he lived, it was only what might come from harder labour and 
 greater austerities. These bishops and priests of necessity 
 mixed much with the laity by whom they were surrounded, for 
 they had to preach to them, to administer the sacraments, to 
 adjust their differences, if that were possible, to sit in their 
 assemblies and their banquet-halls. 
 
 There were many ardent natures to whom this condition 
 of things was distasteful ; and from the very first the spirit of 
 monasticism existed in the Irish Church. St. Patrick was 
 educated under St. Martin and St. Germanus, two famous monks; 
 his co-workers in Ireland most likely grew up under monastic 
 influence, and, in the churches they established, the bishop and 
 his clergy in their mode of living, in their relations with each 
 other, were not unlike the abbot and his monks. But to mingle 
 
 * Healy, p. 64. 
 
 t Ibtd.i pp. 1 17-120. 
 
 I Monks of the West, Book VIII., Chap. 3. 
 
46 HISTORY OF IRELAND. 
 
 in society and indulge in social intercourse is repugnant to the 
 monastic state, for the very name monk suggests a solitary, 
 who lives apart and alone, communing only with his God. Many 
 wishing to be perfect embraced this state with all that it implied. 
 Leaving everything — friends, family and wealth — they retired 
 to some unfrequented spot. The waters of the neighbouring 
 river (they generally settled near a river), quenched their thirst; 
 the herbs that grew on its banks satisfied the pangs of hunger. 
 They fasted, they prayed, they wept for their own sins and the 
 sins of others. Their only shelter was a few wattles covered with 
 sods, and when night came they stretched their ill-clad bodies 
 on the bare floor, and not unfrequently they slept in the open 
 air. In a colder climate and amid harsher surroundings, there 
 was soon repeated the wonders of the Egyptian desert. These 
 solitaries soon became objects of veneration and awe, and the 
 traveller, as he passed their little huts, crossed himself devoutly, 
 muttered a prayer and asked the holy man's blessing on his 
 journey. But the monk's retreat was soon invaded and no 
 longer was he allowed the privilege of being alone. Others 
 came, eager, like himself, for perfection. They came to share 
 his poverty and mortifications, to copy his example, to be guided 
 by his advice, to sit at his feet and learn wisdom. Each new- 
 comer built his own hut ; a church was constructed, a grant 
 of land obtained, their master soon became their abbot, and usually 
 their bishop, and they became his monks. It was thus, from 
 such modest beginnings, that some ot the most splendid 
 monastic establishments took their rise. 
 
 Of these Abbots, one of the most notable of the sixth century, 
 was St. Enda of Arran. Born about 450, and son of the king 
 of Oriel, at his father's death he became king, but through the 
 persuasion of his sister — St. Fanchea* — who was a nun, he re- 
 signed the crov/n, and became a monk. With that craving 
 for solitude, which was so characteristic of the period, he asked, 
 and obtained from his relative, the king of Munster, a grant of 
 the Isles of Arran, in Galway Bay, and here he arrived in 484. 
 For the purpose he had in view, for solitude, penance and mortifi- 
 cation, the place was not ill-chosen. The salt sea, the limestone 
 rock, the sea-birds perched upon the cliffs, the sea- weed and 
 the fish — these are plentiful in Arran : but there is nothing else 
 in abundance ; the herbage is scant, the soil is light, the crops 
 often fail ; and from the midst of the melancholy ocean there 
 comes year after year the pitiful cry of hunger. The narrow 
 limits of these islands were too small for Enda's fame ; it travelled 
 across the sea to the mainland, and soon men came from all 
 
 * She was Abbess or Superioress of a convent near Enniskillen. (Healy,i 
 p. 165.) 
 
PROGRESS OF RELIGION AND LEARNING, 47 
 
 parts of Ireland to partake of his mortifications and sanctity. 
 His disciples in a short time numbered one hundred and fifty ; 
 what they were at his death in 540, no one can tell : and of those 
 who died the death of saints in Arran, and lie buried in its con- 
 secrated soil the number is known only to God.* Their lives 
 were of great self-denial. During the day they fished in the 
 sea, or cultivated little patches of land among the rocks : others 
 ground the meal and baked the bread ; and when night came 
 they retired to their little stone cells — ^beehive shaped — and never 
 warmed by a fire. Wine they never tasted, meat hardly ever, 
 and in prayer and mortification and the practice of the most 
 rigid austerities their whole lives were spent. 
 
 Not less remarkable than St. Enda was St. Finian of Clonard. 
 The son of a Leinster Chief, and born in 470, he received most of 
 his education in Wales, where he had as his school -fellows, or 
 perhaps as his teachers, St. David, St. Gildus and St. Cadoc. 
 Returning to Ireland, in 510, he founded more than one monastery 
 in Wexford and Wicklow, but in these places he lived with others, 
 and his desire was to be alone. Leaving his monks, he retired 
 to Clonard in Meath. His drink was the waters of the Boyne 
 on whose banks his retreat was situated, his food was herbs and 
 fish, his companions, the wild beasts, his occupation, the study 
 of the Scriptures and prayer. His humility, his sanctity, his 
 learning, his eloquence in expounding the Scriptures, charmed 
 and attracted many who came to visit him. His lonely retreat was 
 soon invaded by those who wished to share his privations and 
 to benefit by his teaching, other cells were built and inhabited, 
 and but a short time elapsed until three thousand disciples looked 
 to St. Finian as their master. Clonard became the most famous 
 monastery in Ireland, and Finian the most famous teacher. 
 Even Abbots who heard him were satisfied that from him they 
 had much to learn. He has been called the the tutor of the Irish 
 Saints, and if the monks of the sixth century became Saints at 
 Arran, they became scholars at Clonard. Columba of lona, 
 Canice of Kilkenny, Rhodanus of Lorrha, Brendan of Birr, 
 Kevin of Glendalough, all these were at one time or other at 
 Arran or Clonard. Nor should Kieran be omitted, who, in 540, 
 founded the monastery and school at Clonmacnoise, a school which 
 soon far exceeded in influence and importance even Clonard itself. 
 
 Much has been written of another of these pupils — Brendan 
 of Clonfert — and many poetic legends have clustered round his 
 name. He has been called Brendan, the Navigator. He was 
 adventurous and daring, loved travel and change, and desired 
 of all things to traverse the sea and discover unknown lands. 
 
 * It was called " Arran of the Saints." (Moran's Essays, p. 132); vid. also 
 Lanigan, Chap. 10. 
 
48 HISTORY OF IRELAND. 
 
 By land he visited many of the great monasteries of Ireland, and 
 from his native home in Kerry, he launched his little currach 
 on the deep. He visited the islands round the coast, crossed the 
 Shannon, went as far as Wales, and penetrated even to lona, 
 to see his old friend Columba. Poetic legend speaks of his 
 v^anderings over the Atlantic, where far to the West, he found 
 a delightful isle, where the breezes were laden with celestial 
 odours, where flowers of every hue grew in abundance, where 
 neither rain nor hail nor frost was known, and where he was 
 accosted by an angel of the Lord who commanded him to return 
 to his native land. Whatever opinions there may be about this 
 island, or about the luxuriance and splendour of its vegetation, 
 there can be no doubt about the luxuriant imagination of the 
 poet.* In 560, Brendan founded a school and monastery at 
 Clonfert, which afterwards acquired fame, and, in 577, his 
 wanderings on this earth ceased. In that year in the monastery 
 of Annaghdown, in Gahvay, a monastery built on the edge of 
 Lough Corrib, St. Brendan sank to rest. 
 
 But it was not only monks and their monasteries that flourished 
 during that period. St. Patrick could boast in his Confession 
 that many daughters of the Irish had renounced the pleasures 
 of the world and lived as virgins, many in the face of strong and 
 persistent opposition. Some of them lived with their friends, and 
 in striking contrast to the dissipations and crimes around them 
 they prayed and fasted, chastised their bodies and were anxious 
 only for their souls. Others, like the sister of Benignus, were 
 privileged and regarded it as such to wait upon St. Patrick 
 and his companions. For the ever-increasing number of these 
 virgins, retreats were required, where they could live in community 
 subject to a common head and bound by a common rule. Of 
 those who founded such retreats, the most remarkable was St. 
 Bridget. Her father was Dubhthack, a Leinster chief, her mother 
 was a slave in that chief's home, and Dubhthack's wife, jealous 
 and angry that a slave should alienate from herself her husband's 
 affection, insisted that the slave should be sold, and threatened 
 that if such were not done she would leave her husband and insist 
 upon taking her dowry with her. Bridget's mother was sold 
 to a Druid, and it was in his house at Faughhart, near Dundalk, 
 that Bridget was born, about 450. But when her mother was 
 sold to the Druid it was stipulated that her offspring should be 
 free, so that while Bridget was born m slavery, and the daughter 
 of a slave, she was not a slave herself, and was allowed to return 
 to her father's house where she was baptised. | Her beauty 
 was remarkable, and her worldly prospects bright, but society 
 
 * Healyi p.- 215-16.- 
 
 ■f Douglas Hyde — Literary History of Ireland, pp. 156-157J 
 
PROGRESS OF RELIGION AND LEARNING. 49 
 
 had no attractions for her, she loved to fly from its allurements, 
 would give all her father's property to the poor if allowed,* and 
 long before her twentieth year she vowed to live and die a virgin. 
 If all that appears in Lanigan's pages t be true, she founded 
 several convents before settling in Kildare, and travelled much 
 through Munster and Connaught. Finally, about 487, under 
 the shadow of a great oak tree, she founded a convent in her 
 father's territory at Kildare. Her charity, her humility, her 
 hospitality to strangers brought visitors from all parts, and in 
 a short time no church in Ireland was better known than Kildare, 
 or the Church of the Oak. Besides her convent of nuns, she 
 erected a monastery which soon became filled with monks, and 
 a bishop — St. Conieth was the first — was appointed its head. 
 He was appointed at the request of St. Bridget, but he received 
 no jurisdiction from her, but from the Church ; and the story 
 that St. Bridget herself had spiritual jurisdiction over the 
 monastery and its abbot, and that she received Holy Orders from 
 Bishop Mel, I or from any other bishop, does not deserve to be 
 treated seriously. She died in 523, more regretted than any 
 saint since St. Patrick. Then, as now, the whole Irish race held 
 her in the highest honor, and among Irishwomen she has always 
 held the first place in their veneration and love. From Kildare 
 she founded many convents. Her example was widely followed. 
 St. Ita, St. Fanchea and others also founded convents, and before 
 the sixth century closed, there were few districts in Ireland that 
 had not their community of nuns. 
 
 As St. Bridget in her day was the first of Irishwomen, so 
 the first of Irishmen was St. Columba. Born at Garten, in 
 Donegal, in 521, in him were commingled the blood of the Irish 
 and Scottish Kings, and Dr. Reeves thinks i| with some reason 
 that to his high descent as much as to his abilities and sanctity 
 was owing the enormous influence he enjoyed among his country- 
 men. He was educated, partly under Finian of Moville, partly 
 at Clonard, partly at Arran and partly at a monastery near 
 Glasnevin. He embraced the clerical state, and in due course 
 
 * So displeased was her father at her extravagance in this respect, that 
 he attempted to sell her as a slave to the King of North Leinster. 
 
 t Chapter 10. 
 
 t Olden: The Church of Ireland, p. 41. She received the religious 
 veil from Bishop Macaille (Healy, p. 129), but this is entirely different 
 from receiving the Sacrament of Orders, which a woman is incapable of 
 receiving. 
 
 II P. 8, note : " A member of the reigning family in Ireland^ and closely 
 allied to that of Dalriadia in Scotland^ he was eligible to the sovereignty 
 of his own country." His half-uncle was on the throne at his birth and he 
 lived during the successive reigns of his cousins Domnhall, Fergus, and 
 Earby." 
 
 E 
 
50 HISTORY OF IRELAND. 
 
 was ordained priest. His ambition was to be a monk, though 
 he did not desire to live as a solitary but rather in community 
 with other monks. In 545, he founded the monastery and church 
 at Derry, eight years later that of Durrow in the Queen's County, 
 and between this later date and 561 he must have founded many 
 other monastic establishments in all of which he exercised 
 authority, for Reeves gives the names of no less than thirty-seven 
 churches in Ireland, which were either founded by him, or in 
 which his memory was specially venerated. He was largely, if not 
 entirel)', responsible for the battle of Cuildrevne (561), and for 
 the bloodshed which it entailed — a strange thing for an abbot, 
 who should set his monks an example of humility and forbearance, 
 for a priest, whose mission was one of peace, and who might 
 reasonably be expected to allay rather than arouse the fierce 
 passions of revenge and war. But if his nature was passionate it was 
 also generous ; he deplored the harm he had done and accepted as 
 just the hard penance imposed by St. Molaise,* whom he consulted, 
 that he should leave Ireland and live and die in a foreign land. 
 
 His biographer, Adamnan,f slurs over the battle of Cuildrevne 
 as if Columba was in no way concerned. He states that his 
 going to lona was purely voluntary, though he makes mention 
 of a synod in 562, when an attempt was made to have Columba 
 excommunicated, presumably for his connection with the battle. 
 Lanigan's denials are much more dogmatic and sweeping. He 
 regards the whole story about Finian's book — the cause of the 
 battle — as " unbecoming even the gravity of common history," 
 and grows angry at the suggestion that Columba was in any 
 way the cause of the battle ; that he had therefore nothing to 
 do penance for, and was not sent, but went voluntarily to lona. I 
 But the vehemence of Lanigan's language is more apparent 
 than the soundness of his arguments, violent assertion cannot 
 displace constant and venerated tradition nor weaken weighty 
 authority ; and if Columba did urge his kinsmen to battle, it 
 only shows that he had the fierce passions and the quick 
 resentments of his race, that as a consequence he did grievous 
 wrong for which, amid the solitude and desolation of lona, he 
 afterwards made noble atonement. 
 
 * Healy, p. 311. St. Molaise was St. Columba's confessor; he was 
 of Innismurray Island, but at the time of the battle was at Ahamlish, only 
 two nniles from Cuildrevne. 
 
 t Reeves' Adamnan^ p. 193.- It seems he would have been excom- 
 municated but for the intervention of St. Brendan of Birr though Adamnan 
 says he would be condemned for insufficient cause (" pro quibusdam 
 veniabilibus et tam excusabilibus causis.") 
 
 X Chapter II. Monks of the West, Book IX., Chap. I. Montalambert 
 thinks it likely that Columba's excitable temper had led him into other 
 crimes besides his share in this battle. 
 
PROGRESS OF RELIGION AND LEARNING. 5 1 
 
 It was in 563 that Columba left Ireland and landed at lona, 
 which he received, it is said, as a gift, from Connal, King of the 
 Dalriadian colony of Caledonia. Situated but a mile from the 
 great island of Mull, three miles in length, and between one and 
 two in breadth, bleak, barren, desolate and lone, bounteous 
 of rock, sparing of fertility, reluctant to yield but the scantiest 
 of crops, its sides worn by the waves, its surface swept by the 
 storms — such was lona in Columba's time, and such is lona still. 
 Dr. Healy who visited the place in recent years has noted that 
 in the whole island there is not a single tree,* but in Columba's 
 time there were some osiers and these served for the monks to 
 build their church and their cells. Later on they built houses of 
 wood.f but the timber had to be brought from the neighbouring 
 islands. The number of monks was soon increased by fresh 
 arrivals from Ireland and of the whole monastic establishment 
 thus formed Columba was abbot — the first abbot of lona. But 
 the limits of that island were not sufficient for his restless 
 energies. He crossed over to Mull and traversed the whole district 
 which in modern times is named Argyle, and which was then 
 inhabited by the Irish, or Dalriadian Scots. His kinsman; 
 Conal was king, the people were Christians, but it appears only in 
 name, for they had few, if any, churches and few, if any, monastic 
 establishments. The want was supplied by Columba. Churches 
 were built, m.onasteries established, filled with monks from lona, 
 and life and energy were infused into that faith which was almost 
 dead. 
 
 Columba was not yet satisfied. Eastward of the Dalriadian 
 Colony and northward, beyond the Grampians, dwelt a people 
 called the Picts. Their origin is uncertain. They may have been 
 of Scythian, or perhaps of Sarmatian origin, but when the light 
 of history is first thrown upon Caledonia they are found there. 
 Fierce and brave, they differed somewhat from the Scots, but 
 they had the same desire of shedding blood, " and all more eager 
 to shroud their villainous faces in bushy hair than to cover with 
 decent clothing those parts of their body which required it." J 
 A terroi' to the Britons, a danger to the Romans, they had 
 frequently devastated Roman territory ; and the valour with 
 which, under the heroic leadership of Galgacus, they defended 
 their liberty against the legions of Agricola, has been recorded 
 
 * P. 215. No tree, little tillage, and rocks everywhere: 
 t Adamnan, p. 177. Montalambert, Book ix.j Chap. I. "Great oaks 
 such as the sterile and wind-beaten soil of their iskt could not produce 
 had to be brought from the neighbouring shore." 
 
 + Six old English Chronicles, p. 307 (Gildas' History of the Britons^; 
 Gildas is plainly embittered by the recollection of what his own country- 
 men suffered from these same Picts and Scots. 
 
52 HISTORY OF IRELAND. 
 
 with admiration by Tacitus.* They were pagans, worshipping 
 the sun and moon, and holding in special reverence certain 
 fountains and wells. These Picts, Columba now determined to 
 convert to the faith, and neither the ferocity of the people them- 
 selves, nor the almost inaccessible regions in which they dwelt 
 could serve as an obstacle to his intrepid zeal. He crossed the 
 Grampians, sailed in his light-built skiff through the Ness, sought 
 out the people in their homes and entered as an unwelcome guest 
 the palace of their king beyond Inverness.f His energy, his 
 earnestness, his enthusiasm, the purity and simplicity of his 
 life, his ardent charity, his sympathy for suffering, his miracles 
 brought conviction even to Pictish minds. Brude, the King, 
 became a Christian, his people, not all at once, but gradually, 
 followed his example, and before Columba died there was no 
 portion of these savage regions, from the Grampians to the 
 Hebrides, from the Hebrides to the Orkneys, in which Christians 
 were not to be found. + In these journeys by land and sea Columba 
 spent much of his time, the remainder being spent at lona with 
 his monks. 
 
 At first these monks were all Irish but gradually others came 
 from the Dalriadan Scots, from the Britons, from the Saxons. All 
 lived together within an encircling and protecting rampart, 
 each having his own cell. Within this enclosure also were the 
 carpenter's shop and the smith's forge, the refectory, the hospice, 
 and — most important of all — the church ; whilst outside was 
 the mill, as well as shelter for horses and cattle. Adamnan speaks 
 of the monk as a soldier, his enemies being his own corrupt 
 passions, and the weapons he had to use being labour, mortifi- 
 cation and prayer. In lona these weapons were not allowed 
 to rust. It was the monks who tilled the fields, gathered the 
 crops, threshed and ground the corn, and baked the bread ; 
 and while some worked in the forge or carpenter's shop, others 
 fished in the surrounding sea, or, perhaps, shared with Columba 
 the toils and hardships of his journeys. Nor was study neglected, 
 and Adamnan's writings show that in his time at least the Latin 
 and Greek languages were cultivated with success. Prayer was 
 said in common at certain stated times during the day, and some- 
 times in the night, the bell sounded and the monks rose from 
 sleep, and passed into the church to pray. Celibacy was strictly 
 observed, silence was enjoined and practised, humility was carried 
 
 * Agricola, Cap. 35-37. 
 
 t Adamnan, pp. 15 1-2. One of his difficulties was that he did not 
 understand the Pictish language, for it was different from the Irish, and 
 when a Pict came to him at Skye to get baptised, their conversation had 
 to be carried on through an interpreter {Adam. p. 62). 
 
 I Ibid., p. 295. 
 
PROGRESS OF RELIGION AND LEARNING. 53 
 
 SO far that the monk made his request to the abbot on bended 
 knees, and to the abbot's commands there was rendered by all 
 a strict and unquestioned obedience. There were many rigorous 
 fasts. Every Wednesday and Friday, and every day during 
 Lent, except Sundays and holidays, only one meal was taken 
 in the evening.* 
 
 Neither Columba nor the succeeding abbots were bishops, 
 " an unusual arrangement," says Bede, | but there was always 
 a bishop in the community, who had, however, no jurisdiction, 
 and was there only to confer Orders. In the monastery at 
 lona and in the other houses of the Order as well, both in Scotland 
 and Ireland, the abbot of lona was supreme. But the rule of 
 Columba was mild, and the relations between him and his monks 
 were those of an affectionate father to his children. He shared 
 their labours in the fields, fasted with even greater rigour than 
 they, and it is said that each evening while reading the Scriptures 
 he remained plunged in cold water, a torture which few would 
 be able to endure. When not otherwise engaged he transcribed 
 books, for he wished that each of his churches would have a 
 supply of books. " There was not an hour," says Adamnan, 
 " in which he was not engaged either in prayer, or reading, or 
 writing, or some other useful work." 
 
 To his monastery at lona many strangers came to visit 
 Columba, to seek his advice and be consoled by him in their 
 afflictions. They came from the Caledonian Scots, from the 
 Picts, from the Saxons, as well as from Ireland. All were 
 welcome and all were hospitably entertained, but it was those 
 who came from Ireland who received the warmest greeting 
 of all, for he loved Ireland with a passionate love — this first 
 of the exiles of Erin. The story that he was never to see Ireland, 
 this being part of his penance — and that when he did go to Ireland 
 he was blindfolded is very likely without foundation. But, 
 his visits to Ireland were few, once to attend the Convention of 
 Drumcat, and a few times to visit the monasteries of his Order. % 
 And to be away from Ireland he considered the hardest part of 
 
 * The whole life at lona; with the various incidents which made it up,- 
 is dealt with in the Additional Notes to Adamnan (pp. 342 et seq.) most 
 valuable notes, which have been gathered together by Dr. Reeves with 
 much care and learning. 
 
 t Ecclesiastical History j Book 111.-, Chap. 4. " That island (lona) has 
 for its ruler an abbot who is a priest : to whose direction all the provincej 
 and even the bishops, contrary to the usual method, are subject according 
 to the example of their first teacher." 
 
 + " When he went from his own monastery at Durrow to visit Clon- 
 macnoise, the whole community went out to meet him, and such was the 
 veneration in which he was held, that we welcomed him as if he was an 
 angel of God." {Adamnan-, p. 24.) 
 
54 HISTORY OF IRELAND. 
 
 his lot,* and exile from Ireland was to his mind, for an Irishman, 
 the hardest penance he could impose. In his native land every- 
 thing was dear to him, its mountains and valleys, its rivers and 
 lakes, the song of its birds, the gentleness of its youth, the wisdom 
 of its aged ; he loved to steer his bark round its coast, and to 
 see the waves break upon its shore.f He thought that death 
 in Ireland was preferable to life in any other land ; and when 
 an Irishman was leaving lona for Ireland he regarded him almost 
 wich envy, as he pathetically said to him " you are returning 
 to the country which you love." When Columba died at lona 
 (597)> without doubt there passed away the most remarkable 
 Irishman that the sixth century had seen. 
 
 At the opening of the seventh century, almost all traces 
 of paganism had disappeared in Ireland. There were, no doubt, 
 a few pagans still, but their number was so small, their influence 
 so insignificant, that they may be altogether disregarded; the 
 nation was now fully Christian, and the Church had attained 
 a degree of strength and splendour unequalled in any country 
 of Western Europe. Scattered over the land were many great 
 monasteries with a population equal to that of an ordinary sized 
 town. In these monasteries, the most famous of her children 
 first learned and then taught, and, acquiring for themselves the 
 fame of sanctity and learning, conferred it on the monastic schools 
 in which they were trained and in which they taught. Nor 
 was it only Irish students with whom the Irish monasteries were 
 filled. From the kindred Scots of Caledonia, from the Saxons 
 and Britons, and from Gaul many students came, attracted 
 by the fame of the Irish Schools, and desirous to obtain in these 
 schools that knowledge, which they found it impossible to obtain 
 at home. Among the hospitable Irish these foreign students 
 were treated well. " The Irish," says Bede, J " willingly received 
 them all and took care to supply them with food, and also to 
 furnish them with books to read, and gave them their teaching 
 gratis." 
 
 We do not know so much of the purely secular schools where 
 laymen taught and laymen learned, but that such schools existed, 
 and that, especially after the Convention of Drumcat, when they 
 were organised on a new and better basis, they reached a high 
 degree of efficiency is undoubted.il In these schools were taught 
 poetry, history, and law, and the training was long and arduous 
 before degrees in these subjects could be obtained. To know 
 
 * Healy,. p. 313. 
 
 t Monks of the West^ Book IX., Chap. 2. Adamnan, pp. 285-7. 
 (Additional Notes.) 
 
 X Ecclesiastical History, Book Ill.y Chap. 27. * 
 
 11 Hyde : Literary History of Ireland, p. 241. 
 
PROGRESS OF RELIGION AND LEARNING. 55 
 
 the laws that were passed and the judgments of famous Brehons 
 that were given and to interpret them in accordance with 
 justice, was the business of the Brehons : to record events — ■ 
 usually in verse — was the business of the historian ; but on the 
 poet a harder task was imposed. With all forms of poetry he 
 should be perfectly familiar, and when asked by his chief, or king, 
 to compose, no matter what the theme given, he should be always 
 ready.* Battles fought, wars undertaken, voyages and forays, 
 the glories of his chief, the praise of heroes, an elegy for the dead, 
 or again some wild tale, where giants and fairies jostled each 
 other and fact and fable were intermingled — such were in turn 
 his themes. 
 
 Hundreds — perhaps thousands — of these tales existed when 
 the Danes came, but they perished by their destroying hands, 
 and but a few, and for the most part only fragments, have 
 survived. The best known of these, which have withstood alike 
 the attacks of time and the destroying fury of the Dane, is the 
 Tain-bo-Cuailgne, or as it is sometimes called, the foray of Queen 
 Maeve.f That the Queen of Connaught should bring her whole 
 army into Ulster for no other purpose except to seize a bull, 
 which was somewhat better-looking than one her husband had 
 in his possession, is a sufficiently extravagant and improbable 
 conception ; but poetry does not always deal with probability, 
 or with facts, and frequently has to rely upon imagination for its 
 materials ; and it would be difficult to find in the whole range 
 of fiction a character to match Cuchullin. On his native Ulster 
 the curse of Faythleen, the Witch, has fallen, and its blighting 
 effect is peculiar and fatal, for it has turned brave men into 
 cowards and wise men into fools. From a land stricken with 
 cowardice and imbecility to seek for help in a great emergency 
 is vain. One man alone, equal to a host in arms, remains to 
 defend Ulster ; and neither the Horatii, who kept the bridge 
 nor Hector defending his beloved Ilion, nor Achilles gaining 
 victory for the Greeks, is a more commanding, or even a more 
 pathetic, figure than this " watch-hound watching by Uladh's 
 gate." X Day after day at the Ford, which marks the 
 boundary of his native Ulster, he meets in single combat 
 the best and most renowned champions in Maeve's 
 army, and they fall, one after the other, by the might of 
 his invincible arm ; and he slays them, not in hatred or 
 in vengeance, not because he wishes their death and rejoices 
 at the sight of their blood, but because stern necessity has 
 
 * Healy, p. 599; O'Curry, MSS. Materials of Ancient Irish History^ 
 p. 240. 
 
 t Poetical Works of Aubrey de Vere^ Vol. II.j pp. 255-343. 
 X De Vere. p. 262. 
 
56 HISTORY OF IRELAND 
 
 willed it, and it is the only way in which his native province 
 can be saved.* 
 
 What other works were written by laymen cannot be known, 
 but Dalian Forgal wrote an elegy on St. Columba.f It was 
 Senchan, who had been Dalian's pupil, and who succeeded him 
 as Chief Poet of Ireland, who, though he did not write the Tain- 
 bo-Cuailgne himself, at least discovered it after it had been lost, + 
 and Cennfaeledh, warrior, lawyer and poet, who died in 678, 
 wrote some poems, a grammar and a law tract, and was so 
 accomplished a scholar, that he was called the learned. I| It is 
 however, the monastic schools of the period which were most 
 appreciated in their own day and are best known in ours. In 
 efficiency and influence the first of the monastic schools was 
 that of Clonmacnoise. Founded by St. Kieran, in 544, it was 
 situated on the Leinster side of the Shannon, some seven miles 
 from Athlone, and one circumstance which favorably influenced 
 its development was that it belonged to no particular tribe.** 
 Freed from local jealousies and restrictions, it was patronised 
 by various tribes, endowed by various princes, and outstripping 
 the mere local fame of other monastic schools, it acquired the 
 dignity and strength of a national college. The Kings of Meath 
 and Connaught — Diarmuid and Guaire — who in life were so 
 often ranged in hostile camps, agreed in their veneration for 
 Clonmacnoise ; both endowed it with land, and when they died, 
 both, in accordance with a long-expressed wish, were interred 
 in its consecrated ground. Of its professors we read of Colgu, 
 who wrote both in Latin and in Irish, and who died in 794 1 1 ; 
 and Suibne, another of its professors, who lived in the next 
 century, is described by a Saxon contemporary — ^Florence of 
 Worcester + X — as " the greatest doctor of the Scots." It is not 
 certain, but it is not improbable, that among its students was 
 Alcuin, the friend of Charlemagne, whose reputation for scholar- 
 ship was European — at all events he writes of Colgu as his master 
 and father. |1 1| Another student was Dicuil, who wrote in Latin 
 
 * De Vere, p. 305. He is especially sorry for the death of his old 
 friend Ferdia — 
 
 •" We ate together of the self-same dish 
 We couched together 'neath the self-same shield 
 Now living man I stand and he lies dead."- 
 
 ■\ Literary History of I r eland , p. 380. 
 
 X Ossianic Society, Vol. v., p. 125. 
 
 II Healy, 603-604. 
 
 ** Healy, p. 270. 
 
 ft Ibid. p. 272. 
 
 XX Florence's Chronicle at the year 892; 
 
 nil Usher's Sylloge, No. xviil. 
 
PROGRESS OF RELIGION AND LEARNING. 57 
 
 an interesting treatise on geography.* Even during the Danish 
 wars Clonmacnoise flourished, but being plundered and attacked 
 so often, its efficiency was seriously impaired ; but when the 
 Danish power was broken and Danish depredations had ceased, 
 the venerable school renewed its vigour and shone out with 
 some of its ancient splendour. 
 
 Throughout Ulster and Meath were the monastic schools 
 established by Columba and his successors, all of which were in 
 subjection to the Abbots of lona, and of these Durrow and Kells 
 are best known. In both, the work of copying manuscripts 
 was much practised, and the art of illuminating manuscripts 
 carried to high perfection. Judging that no efforts were too 
 much in copying and decorating the sacred books, these monks, 
 in the lonely silence of their convent cells, patiently, unceasingly, 
 unsparing of labour, and with an artist's eye for colours, copied 
 and ornamented, and the Book of Kells and the Book of Durrow 
 are still in existence to tell the tale of their labour and their skill. 
 It was not the desire of Giraldus — it did not seem to be his mission 
 — to say anything favourable of Ireland, or anything Irish, and 
 if he does praise he may certainly be believed, for his praise is 
 so rare and given with such evident, even painful, reluctance. 
 But he saw the Book of Kells, and struck with the beauty and 
 finish of the lettering and colouring, he concluded it was the 
 work of an angel, for it could not be the work of human hands, f 
 In these schools, subject to Columba's successors, no scholar of 
 eminence appeared previous to the advent of the Danes, if we 
 except Adamnan, ninth Abbot of lona. Descended from the 
 princes of Tirconnell, and therefore related to St. Columba, he 
 was born at Donegal, in 624, became monk and priest, and 
 ultimately Abbot of lona, a position he held till his death, in 
 704. His high descent, his position as Columba's successor, 
 his great learning, his eminent sanctity, gave him immense 
 influence with his countrymen ; nor did he ever use this influence 
 except for the advantage of his country and his religion. Seeing 
 the absurdity of the Irish Church cutting herself adrift from 
 the rest of the Christian world, even in matters of discipline, he 
 laboured hard to induce the monks of his own Order to conform 
 to the Roman system of computing Easter. Against discourage- 
 ment and obstinacy he battled earnestly and long, and at last, 
 towards the close of his own earthly career, he had the satisfacfion 
 of seeing the Columban monasteries of Ireland fall into line with 
 the rest of the Irish Church, in adoping the Roman Easter, 
 lona had not, even at his death, abandoned its ancient and 
 
 * Healy, p. 281. 
 
 t Giraldus speaks of a Book at Kildare, but Petrie thinks that his re- 
 ferences are to the Book of Kells. {Topography, Distinction IL, chap. 38.) 
 
58 HISTORY OF IRELAND, 
 
 erroneous system, and it appeared that there at least his argu- 
 ments and entreaties were vain. But the good seed had been 
 sown though it had not yet borne fruit, and Adamnan was but 
 a few years in his grave, when lona also yielded and carried out 
 the wishes of its distinguished Abbot. At the last Feis of Tara, 
 he was enabled to have a law passed, since known as Adamnan's 
 Law, prohibiting women from taking part in battle. Nor was 
 it only among his own countrymen that he was respected. The 
 exiled king of Northumbria, Aldfrid, during his stay in Ireland, 
 met and loved the learned monk of lona,* and afterwards when 
 fortune changed and when the exile became the monarch, 
 Adamnan was able to use his influence with advantage to his 
 own countrymen. The prisoners taken in Ireland, in the time 
 of Egfrid, were kept in Nortuhmbria in the position of slaves, 
 and when Aldfrid became king, Adamnan journeyed from lona, 
 crossing the dangerous currents of the Solway Firth ; and appeal- 
 ing to the new kmg, in his palace at Northumbria, he had the 
 Irish prisoners released and sent back to their country and kin. f 
 
 Of Adamnan's great piety and learning no doubt has ever 
 been raised, and of his character both strangers as well as Irish- 
 men have ever spoken with respect. Passing by native estimates 
 of him, which might be charged with partiality, we have the 
 testimony of Bede that " he was a virtuous and learned man, 
 with a profound knowledge of the Scriptures." % And of his 
 principal work,|| " The Life of St. Columba," Pinkerton, a learned 
 Scotchman, has said that " it is the most complete piece of such 
 biography that Europe can boast of during the whole Middle 
 Ages,** a generous eulogy for a Scotchman to pronounce, 
 especially in dealing with anything Irish. Thus far for the 
 Columban monasteries, which were for the most part in the 
 north of Ireland. 
 
 But if we would search for the greatest of the northern 
 monastic schools, we shall not find it among those of the Columban 
 Order, but rather in the School of Bangor, built on the shores 
 of Belfast Lough, and looking out upon the ever-restless sea. 
 Founded by St. Comgall (559), it soon grew in influence and 
 importance, and before Comgal died three thousand monks 
 observed his rule, the larger porticn of whom were in Bangor 
 
 * Adamnan ; Appendix to Preface, p. 44 ; he was often called the 
 Alumnus of Adamnan. 
 
 t Adamnan, p; 186; Introd., p. 45; 
 
 X Ecclesiastical History^ Book v., chap. 15. 
 
 II Adamnan also wrote a book on the Holy Places of Jerusalem, a 
 work highly praised by Bede, and from which he largely quotes. (Chap. 
 16, 17.) 
 
 * ^ Hcaly, p. 343- 
 
PROGRESS OF RELIGION AND LEARNING. 59 
 
 itself.* Columbanus and Gall were educated there in the sixth 
 century, so also, in the ninth century was Dungal, who did 
 such service against the Iconaclasts, and, at a later stage, St. 
 Malachy, the bishop and reformer of Armagh. 
 
 What Bangor was to the north, Lismore was to the southern 
 province. It was founded by Carthage in the year 635. For 
 forty years Carthage had already laboured at Rahan, in the 
 King's County. He had founded a monastery there, it had 
 grown to fame under his rule, its schools attracted scholars 
 from afar, and no less than eight hundred monks were gathered 
 within its bounds. But jealousy sometimes enters the cloister ; 
 the monastery of Durrow was near and was being over-shadowed 
 by its neighbour at Rahan ; its monks felt that Carthage was 
 the cause ; they were influential with the ruling prince of the 
 territory and induced him to expel Carthage from Rahan, which 
 that prince did, with every circumstance of indignity .f Seeking 
 a new home, Carthage travelled much, and at last the wanderer 
 found rest at Lismore, and in the midst of scenic beauty of a 
 high order, he built his monastery. Looking southwards he 
 had behind him the mountains of Knockmeldown, around him 
 was the valley of the Blackwater, where nature had been prodigal 
 of her charms, and at his feet was the river itself rushing ever 
 onward to the sea. J The nev/ school acquired fame so rapidly 
 that it soon overshadowed all the schools of Munster, and many 
 were its famous scholars. Aldfrid, the Northumbrian king, 
 was educated there, among its monks was Turlogh, King of 
 Thomond, who resigned the crown in order to become a monk, 
 and among its best-known students was Cathaldus, bishop of 
 Tarentum. || At Cork and Ross, at Mungret and Inniscaltra, 
 were other schools in Munster, but none of them attained the 
 position, or acquired the fame of Lismore. The schools of Kildare, 
 Cloonenagh, and Glendalough diffused the blessings of knowledge 
 and religion throughout Leinster,while Connaught had the schools 
 of Clonfert, Tuam and Mayo. 
 
 With the life and labours of St. Kevin, Glendalough has been 
 always associated, and Clooneenagh beheld its most distinguished 
 student in ^Engus the Culdee.* * Except that the school of Tuam 
 
 * Lanigan's Ecclesiastical History^ Vol. II.5 p. 62. 
 
 t Healy, p. 450. " It was a cruel and an evil deed — it broke the old 
 man's heart and brought down his grey hairs in sorrow to the grave." 
 Nor has Dr. Healy any great doubt that jealousy was the cause of the 
 Saint's expulsion. 
 
 % Healy, p. 453. 
 
 II Ibid., pp. 457-469- 
 
 * * He was a member of the Community of Tallaght, where under the 
 rule of St. Maelruan, a stricter monastic discipline was observed than then 
 prevailed in the other monasteries of the time. As a member of this com- 
 
6o HISTORY OF IRELAND. 
 
 was founded by St. Jarlath, there seems to be no other distinction 
 to which it can lay claim. Mayo founded by St. Coleman and 
 tenanted by those Saxon monks, who still adhered to the old 
 Irish Easter, was not without distinction, and was so much 
 frequented by Saxons, that it was called Mayo of the Saxons. 
 The founder of Clonfert was Brendan the Navigator, and one 
 of its abbots was Cummian, who in the Paschal controversy' 
 acquitted himself so well. 
 
 Our conception of an Irish monastery in those days is a 
 number of buildings, grouped together and surrounded by ax. 
 enclosure within which dwelt a multitude of pious, self-denying 
 men, living in community, practising the same devotions, under- 
 going the same hardships, chastising themselves with the same 
 mortifications, bound by a common rule and subject to the 
 same superior, whose will they recognised as law. These monks 
 differed according to the time in which they lived. An ancient 
 Catalogue of the Irish Saints is quoted by Usher* and divides 
 these Saints into three Orders. The first Order f was in the time 
 of St. Patrick, consisted of holy bishops, 350 in number, founders 
 of churches, worshipping one head, viz., Christ, following one 
 leader — Patrick — having one tonsure and one celebration of 
 Mass, and one Easter, which they celebrated after the Vernal 
 Equinox. " They did not reject the service of women, because 
 being grounded on Christ, the Rock, they feared not the wind 
 of temptation." In the second Order there were few bishops 
 but many priests, in number 300 ; they had different rites of 
 celebrating and different rules of living, and they shunned the 
 society of women, and excluded them from their monasteries. 
 The third Order, 100 in number, were priests but few bishops ; 
 they lived on herbs and alms, and despised all things earthly. 
 They had different rites for celebrating and a different tonsure, 
 for some had the crown shaven, but others had not. The time 
 of the First Order was to the middle of the sixth century ; the 
 Second Order to the end of the same century, while the time 
 of the Third Order extended to the year of the great plague (664). 
 The First Order in sanctity shone out resplendent like the sun, 
 
 munity he would be specially entitled to call himself, Ceile-de or servant 
 of God. His personal sanctity would emphasize his claim to be so called. 
 In his case the term culdee may be supposed as a term denoting " rigid 
 monastic observance, especially in the order of divine service, and to have 
 been applied to him as one who had contributed to the devotional com- 
 positions of the church, and also lived according to the strictest sect of 
 his religion." (Reeves', The Culdees — R. I. Academy Trans. 5 Vol. XXIV. ^ 
 p.- 127.) 
 
 * Works, Vol. VI., pp. 477-9. 
 
 \ Most of the First Order were foreigners — Franks, Romans and 
 Britons. (Healy, pp. 107-8.) 
 
PROGRESS OF RELIGION AND LEARNING. 6 1 
 
 the Second shone like the moon, the Third Hke the stars. Most 
 of these saints belonged to monasteries, but not all, for 
 there were some fervent souls who loved even greater 
 privations than those prescribed by monastic rule, and this, 
 it seems, was a special characteristic of the later Order of 
 Saints. Solitude, silence, the severest penances, the most 
 rigid fasts, the greatest mortifications — these were what they 
 chose for their earthly inheritance. They were anchorets 
 rather than monks. 
 
 In the valley of Glendalough St. Kevin lived for seven years 
 the life of a solitary " without fire, without a roof, almost without 
 human food."* On the shores of a lake in that beautiful valley 
 he dwelt for a time in the hollow of a tree, and St. Kevin's bed, 
 where his short periods of sleep were taken, can still be seen — a 
 cave in the face of an overhanging cliff, only four feet square 
 and little more than four feet high. The natural beauties of 
 Glendalough and the picturesque ruins in which it abounds 
 attract many visitors ; and the thoughtful traveller as he thinks 
 of St. Kevin sleeping up the face of the cliff, like the eagle in 
 his eyrie, cannot help contrasting the material ages of a later 
 date with those far-off ages of vivid faith. To these scenes of 
 silence and solitude St. Kevin was attached, for they allowed 
 him to hold undisturbed communion with God ; but a shepherd, 
 who came to look after his flocks, broke the silence of his retreat. 
 Many others followed in his footsteps ; the saint was no longer 
 allowed to remain alone ; and the entreaties of his visitors that 
 he should leave his lonely abode were so earnest and persistent, 
 that at last he reluctantly did so, and, further down the valley, 
 he built a monastery, which soon grew to eminence as the 
 monastery and school of Glendalough, and in which many a 
 scholar and holy man were trained. For eighteen months before 
 his death, St. Carthage of Lismore retired from his monks and 
 lived alone in a cave f ; and ^Engus the Culdee lived for a time 
 in a solitude near the present town of Maryborough, and every 
 day recited fifty psalms in his cell, fifty in the open air, and fifty 
 with his body plunged in cold water. | Many other holy men 
 there were, whose austerities were as great, but whose names 
 are less known. 
 
 But Irish monks and anchorets, Irish saints and scholars 
 were not, during the period, confined to Ireland. The work com- 
 menced by Columba was continued by his successors ; the 
 monastery of lona was incessantly recruited from Ireland ; and 
 of its twelve first abbots all but one were Irish and of the race 
 
 * Healy, pp. 418 et seq. 
 t Healy, p. 454. 
 X Ibid., p. 407. 
 
62 HISTORY OF IRELAND. 
 
 of Tirconnell.* Among the kindred Scots of Argyle, monasteries 
 arose which were filled with Irish monks and which became 
 centres of missionary activity themselves. These monks of lona 
 extended their labours among the southern Picts on the East 
 coast, and in these regions, where Ninian first taught and laboured, 
 the flickering embers of the Christian faith were kindled into 
 flame by Irish zeal, f The Picts beyond the Grampians heard 
 the tidings of Christianity from the same Irish monks and were 
 persuaded by Irish lips to forsake for ever their heathen gods. 
 Nor were these zealous preachers dismayed by the stormy and 
 treacherous seas that rage round the Western and Northern 
 shores of Caledonia. The numerous islands on these coasts were 
 visited, churches built, and the people won over from their pagan 
 errors ; nor did these adventurous soldiers of the Cross desist 
 until they had passed the Ultima Thule of the ancients, and 
 from the testimony of Dicuil the geographer, they penetrated 
 to Iceland, where the Northmen, on their arrival there in the 
 ninth century, found Irish crosses, Irish croziers and Irish bells, j 
 With equal energy and success they laboured among the 
 Anglo-Saxons. Just south of the Southern Picts was North- 
 umbria, extending from the Firth of Forth to the mouth of the 
 Humber. Its British and Christian inhabitants had been driven 
 into the mountains of Wales, or reduced to slavery in their own 
 land by the new pagan masters of Northumbria. Feeling bitterly 
 the humiliation of defeat and the harsh treatment they received, 
 they entertained the strongest antipathy to the Anglo-Saxons ; 
 and while they enjoyed the consolations of Christianity them- 
 selves, they refused with sullen selfishness to share its blessings 
 with their conquerors. || The patience and zeal of Paulinus 
 had won over the Northumbrian king, Edwin, and many of 
 his people to Christianity, but the triumph of the Gospel was 
 short-lived. Hatred often brings men together when love has 
 failed, and in their hatred of the Anglo-Saxons the Britons 
 willingly enrolled themselves under the banner of Penda, the 
 pagan king of Mercia, who had long coveted the Northumbrian 
 province. The allied forces marched into Edwin's kingdom 
 and at Hatfield (6;^ 2) he was disastrously overthrown, and 
 
 * Adamnaji, p. 342. The genealogical table given by Reeves, though 
 it does not as the author points out, show^s that the abbacy of lona was 
 transmitted in lineal succession, " it demonstrates the existence of clan- 
 ship, even in a religious community." 
 
 t It has been observed that St. Patrick in his Epistle to Caroticus 
 speaks with special severity of the Picts, who, at least the Southern Picts, 
 had been converted to Christianity, but soon after relapsed into paganism 
 (Morris' Si. Patrick, 228). 
 
 X Healy, p. 2S9. 
 
 II Monks of the West, Book Vlll., Chap. 2. Bede, Book 11., Chao 22. 
 
PROGRESS OF RELIGION AND LEARNING, 63 
 
 once more Northumbria relapsed into paganism. A few years 
 later, when Oswald became king of Northumbria, these disasters 
 were reversed ; he shook off the yoke of the Mercians and Britons 
 and Northumbria was again free. In exile among the Scots he 
 had learned to become a Christian, and when he became inde- 
 pendent king of Northumbria, he invited the monks of lona to 
 re-establish Christianity in his kingdom. Aidan* and some monks 
 came and founded a monastery at Lindisfarne, of which Aidan 
 became Abbot, as well as being bishop. More fortunate than 
 Paulinus, the work of these Irish missionaries was destined to 
 endure. Lindisfarne became another lona, whence other monas- 
 teries, such as Whitby and Melrose, were founded, and whence 
 zealous missionaries went forth to preach the Gospel. The sur- 
 rounding people were hard to convert and clung with stubborn- 
 ness to their pagan errors, but the piet)', the patience, the 
 missionary activity, the self-sacrifice of these Irish monks 
 conquered all. Within twenty years, after Aidan's coming to 
 Lindisfarne, Northumbria was entierly Christian. Essex and 
 Mercia were also converted exclusively by Irish monks, who, 
 besides, shared with the Roman monks the labour and glory 
 of converting Wessex and East Anglia. " They rivalled " says 
 Montalambert, " the zeal of the Rom.an monks, but showed 
 much more perseverance and gained much more success." f 
 
 In continental Europe Irish missionaries also laboured and 
 with conspicuous success. Towards the close of the sixth century, 
 there left Ireland and passed over to France an Irish monk whose 
 fame was to rival that of Columba. Like him he was to be the 
 founder of many monasteries and the spiritual father of many 
 children. This was St. Columbanus. Born in Leinster (559) 
 and educated at Bangor, he became monk and priest and, 
 selecting foreign lands as the scene of his labours, he left Ireland 
 with twelve companions (590), crossed over to England and 
 arrived in France the same year. He and his companions made 
 their way to the kingdom of Burgundy, where they were well 
 received by Gontran, its king. Here, first at Annegray and 
 afterwards at Luxueil, Columbanus established monasteries, by 
 far the most famous of which was Luxueil. Situated under the 
 shadow of the Vosges mountains, the place was of some impor- 
 tance in Roman times, and some remains were left of Roman 
 temples and villas. J The tide of barbarian conquest had so often 
 
 * Of Aidan and his companions Bede speaks with enthusiasm (Book 
 III., Chap. 5) " it was the highest commendation of his doctrine with all 
 men, that he taught no otherwise than he and his followers had lived — 
 he delighted in distributing immediately among the poor whatever was 
 given him by kings and rich men." 
 
 ■\ Monks of the IVcsi, Book XI., Chaps. I and 2. 
 
 t Idid., Book Vll. 
 
64 HISTORY OF IRELAND. 
 
 rolled over the district that, except these ruined buildings, ever}'- 
 trace of ancient culture had disappeared. The fields were 
 uncultivated, agriculture was neglected, the forests had extended 
 their sway, and the rule of the wild beast had supplanted that of 
 man. Nor was the physical aspect of the country an inapt 
 representation of its moral and religious condition. The fervour 
 of those warlike converts, who fought with Clovis at Tolbiac, 
 had not been transmitted to their descendants ; many of the 
 people had relapsed into paganism, the secular clergy were 
 remarkable for everything but zeal, the bishops did not hold 
 synods,* the nobles were little better than hunters and robbers, 
 and a descendant of Clovis and the pious Clotilde, shrinking 
 from the obligations and restraints of matrimony, lived, like 
 an eastern monarch, with his concubines. In contrast with 
 this irreligion and immorality the most heroic virtue soon appeared. 
 Columbanus and his companions lived with the wild beasts, 
 and with as little luxury. The grass of the fields, the wild fruit, 
 the bark of the trees were partly their support ;t the charity of 
 their neighbours supplied the rest. This was before Luxueii 
 was built ; but even in Luxueii the mortification was great, 
 for the rule of Columbanus was severe. Prayer and labour were 
 incessant, but one meal was allowed in the day, and for what 
 in later times would be considered a trivial fault the most rigorous 
 penances were imposed. Yet these rigors attracted, instead oi 
 repelling, the surrounding natives. The serfs found refuge at 
 Luxueii and were received among its monks, and the long-haired 
 nobles of the Franks and Burgundians left their castles and 
 their lands and, as monks, were rarely the superiors, frequently' 
 the equals and sometimes the inferiors and subjects of their 
 former slaves. Luxueii soon became the most populous monastery 
 in Gaul, and the heart of Columbanus must have been glad. 
 
 But the Saint was not without his sorrows. With perverse 
 obstinacy he still clung to the Irish method of computing Easter ; 
 the Gaulish bishops remonstrated. Columbanus advised them, 
 with some asperity, to hold synods more frequently, and thus 
 the relations between the bishops and the monk were never 
 cordial and often strained. J But with the young king, Thierry, 
 who now sat upon the throne of Gontran, and his grandmother 
 Brunehault, his difficulties were greater still. Thierry had 
 
 * Gibbon, Vol. II., pp. 562-3; 
 
 t Healy, p. 373. Columbanus loved to retire into the forest away from 
 his monks, and there he became familiar and friendly with the wild animals. 
 " The birds would pick the crumbs from his feet ; the squirrels hide them- 
 selves under his cowl ; the hungry wolves harmed him not, he slept in 
 a cave where a bear had its den." (Healy.) 
 
 X Healy, pp. 374-5- 
 
PROGRESS OF RELIGION AND LEARNING. 6$ 
 
 Christian instincts, and if he could have escaped from the 
 corrupting influence of his grandmother, he would have lived 
 as became a Christian king. But his will was weak and that 
 of Brunehault was strong. Greedy of absolute power, blind to 
 religious obligations, deaf to the voice of nature itself, she 
 encouraged Thierry to keep concubines instead of sharing his 
 throne with a lawful queen. The struggle between this wicked 
 old woman and Columbanus was bitter and prolonged. Fearless 
 of danger, negligent of consequences, with the zeal of an apostle 
 and the courage of a martyr, he attacked both Brunehault and 
 Thierry, menaced them with the vengeance of heaven ; and of 
 morality and the sanctity of marriage was ever the most intrepid 
 champion. For a time force triumphed. Columbanus was 
 expelled from Luxueil, and sent as far as Nantes on his way to 
 Ireland. Thierry had made all necessary preparations for sending 
 him away, and at Nantes a vessel was waiting to convey him 
 back to Ireland, much against his will. But the forces of nature 
 themselves seemed to be enlisted on his side. As if in anger with 
 his persecutors, the sea was violently agitated, the winds blew 
 their strongest, the waves threatened to engulf the vessel and 
 more than once the vessel was flung back upon the strand. The 
 master of the vessel, terrified and conquered in this contest with 
 nature, at last dropped his troublesome passenger and Colum- 
 banus was allowed to go free. He turned his steps into Neustria, 
 thence to Austrasia, and finally settled at Bregenz, on Lake 
 Constance, where, with his friend St. Gall, he laboured for two 
 years. In 612, Thierry defeated Theodobert, became master 
 of Helvetia, and Columbanus had to fly from his ancient enemy. 
 Crossing the Alps, he entered Lombardy where he was well 
 received and where he established a monastery at Bobbio, which 
 he made " the citadel of orthodoxy against the Arians, and 
 lighted there a focus of knowledge and instruction, which was 
 long the light of Northern Italy." Before his death, in 615, 
 Columbanus could count many monasteries which observed his 
 monastic rule,* but before the seventh century closed, they had 
 become more numerous and were filled with more monks than 
 he could ever in life have contemplated even in his wildest dreams. 
 
 * Columbanus's Penitential, which was compiled for the use of his 
 monks, is founded largely on the Penitential of St. Finian^ and adopts 
 23 of its Canons : Columbanus adding to these 19 more Canons. The 
 37th Canon enacts that if a layman held any communication with heretics^ 
 even unknowingly, he should for 90 days take his place in church separated 
 from other Christians and among the Catechumens ; but if he had acted 
 knowingly, and therefore through contempt, he should do penance for 
 more than a year, and for two more years he should abstain from wine 
 and meat. (Moran, Essays on the Early Irish Churchy p 270.) 
 
 F 
 
66 HISTORY OF IRELAND. 
 
 Lure and Roman-Moutier, Beze and St. Ursanne and Remiremont 
 in Burgundy ; Fontenelle and Joumieges on the Seine ; Jouarre 
 and Rebais on the Marne ; Leuconnais near Amiens ; St. Centule 
 on the Somme ; St. Bertin among the Morini — these were only 
 some of the monasteries founded by the zealous children of 
 Luxueil in France and Belgium, whilst in Switzerland, St. Gall 
 succeeded so well, that his memory is still revered as the greatest 
 of her Christian missionaries, and a town and Canton of Switzer- 
 land still bear the name of St. Gall.* 
 
 Not less zealous than the disciples of Columbanus were other 
 Irishmen who laboured in continental lands. An Irishman, f 
 Fridolin, founded a monastery at Sackingen on the Rhine, as 
 early as 511, and preached to the nations on both banks of the 
 river ; St. Fiacre J preached the Gospel and cultivated the fields 
 near Meaux. St. Fursey, laborious preacher and famous 
 visionary, ruled as abbot an the banks of the Marne (633). || 
 St. Kilian suffered martyrdom for the faith at Wurzburgh (689) ; 
 a little earlier (656) St. Livinius suffered martyrdom among the 
 people of Brabant ; whilst the apostle of the Frisians was 
 Wilibrod, an Anglo-Saxon, but educated in Ireland. It was 
 an Irishman, St. Virgilius,** who finished the work begun by 
 St. Boniface — the conversion of the Bavarians — and who died 
 Archbishop of Salzburgh ; and away by the waters of the Gulf 
 of Taranto was an Irishman educated under Carthage of Lismore 
 — Cathaldus, bishop of Tarentum. Thus may be traced the foot- 
 
 * Monks of the West, Book VII. 
 
 Miss Stokes gives the names of 63 of the first teachers who during the 
 7th Century spread the Columban rule from Luxueil. Except the name 
 of St. Gall they are for the most part unfamiliar ; but they are Latinized, 
 and in consequence the Irish forms of the names are not discernable. 
 ("Three Months in the Forests of France," pp. 254-5. Appendix VI.) 
 
 t Alzog's Church History, Vol. II., p. 74. 
 
 X Monks of the West, Book VII. 
 
 II His monastery was at Lagny, six miles to the north of Paris. Miss 
 Stokes has sought with great patience the existing monuments associated 
 with his life and works. She personally visited the Island of Innisquin 
 in Lough Corrib, where he was born, sketched the ruins of the church 
 of Killursa, near Headford, in the County of Galway, which he founded, 
 traced his steps into Suffolk, in England, where he preached, and in France 
 travelled from Lagny to Mezerolles, near the latter of which town the 
 " Chapelle de St. Fursey" stands. ("Three Months in the Forests of France," 
 pp. 134-177.) The account of his visions, which she gives in detail, is given 
 in smaller compass by Bede, who declares that " a brother of our monastery 
 is still living, who is wont to declare that a very sincere and religious man 
 told him, that he had seen Fursey himself in the province of East-Anglia, 
 and heard these visions from his mouth." (Eccles' History, Book III., 
 Chap. 19.) 
 
 * * Healy, p. 573. 
 
PROGRESS OF RELIGION AND LEARNING. 67 
 
 prints of Irish missionaries throughout Europe — at Taranto in 
 the south, at Bobbio in the North of Italy, among the Alemanni 
 of Switzerland, in the monasteries of the Franks, among the 
 Morini by the North Sea, in Bavaria and Carinthia ; everywhere 
 they are found, facing every danger, enduring every hardship, 
 caring for nothing but to extend the empire of the Cross. 
 
 Ledwich and others have dwelt on the diversity of liturgy 
 in the early Irish Church, have magnified the disputes about 
 the tonsure and Easter, as if they were doctrinal errors, and have 
 pointed out that such a church was not, and could not be in 
 union with the Church of Rome. But diversity of liturgy is 
 not the same as diversity of doctrine, whether the coronal tonsure, 
 or that of Simon Magus,* was worn by Irish monks was not, 
 after all, of vital importance, and the dispute about Easter, 
 however regrettable it might be, was only a matter of discipline 
 in the Church and in no way interfered with the purity and 
 integrity of its beliefs. In the nature and number of its Sacra- 
 ments, in its acceptance of revelation and its faith in revealed 
 truths, in its conception of the Incarnation, of the Real Presence, 
 and of Transubstantiation, in devotion to the Mother of Christ, 
 as the Mother of God,f in obedience to the Bishop of Rome as 
 Supreme Pastor and Teacher of the Universal Church,^ it was 
 as orthodox as any church could be. Nor was the boast of St. 
 Columbanus an empty one when, in his letter to Pope Boniface, 
 he asserted that no heresy and no schism had ever crept into 
 the Irish Church. This bold statement has been as boldly 
 challenged, and it is pointed out that Celestius, who in the fifth 
 century was the principal supporter of Pelagius in his errors, 
 was an Irishman. The heretic's creed is usually indefinite and 
 that of Celestius was no exception to the rule. He equivocated, 
 he shifted his ground, he lied to the reigning Pope, and through 
 the clouds of equivocation and mendacity the precise doctrines 
 he taught are not easily seen. But some points, at least, are clear. 
 The Church has always held, with emphasis, that in Adam all 
 men have sinned, that as a result of his sin every man is born 
 
 * In the Irish tonsure the hair was cut off in front from ear to ear, 
 the hair on the crown being untouched. It was called St. John's tonsurcy 
 and by the Anglo-Saxons that of Simon Magus. But why it got this name 
 is not clear. {Catholic Diciionary.) 
 
 f Moran's Essays, pp. 224 ei seq., especially the Litany taken from 
 the Leabhar Breac. 
 
 X The Letter of St. Columbanus ought to suf^ce on this point, where 
 he styles the reigning Pope — " Head of all the churches of Europe ; Pastor 
 of pastors ; mystic pilot of the ship spiritual, that is the Church." (Moran,; 
 p. 97.) In the same letter he warned him to preserve the Apostolic faith, 
 which would certainly seem to imply that he had, as Pope, a Commission 
 to do so (p. 99). 
 
68 HISTORY OF IRELAND. 
 
 with inherited culpability, which renders him unfit for associa- 
 tion with God, that the vision of the human intellect has been 
 darkened and blurred, that the will has become enfeebled for 
 good and the whole nature tainted and corrupted, that the 
 forces of sensuality have become potent for evil and that it is 
 only by the grace of God, liberally given, rightly used, operating 
 interiorly and mysteriously, that the human soul can secure 
 its eternal destiny. In opposition to this, Celestius held* that 
 Adam's sin affected only himself, that all men are hornlike himself 
 without sin and that by their merely natural gifts, unaided by 
 interior grace, they can acquire sanctity and salvation. These 
 errors have been called Pelagianism, because it was Pelagius, 
 a British monk, who was first identified with them. Perhaps 
 Celestius was also British : it is at least doubtful if he was Irish 
 and he who seeks only after historic truth and is not concerned 
 to defend or defame the Irish Church, will think it improbable 
 that a church which could scarcely be said to have an existence 
 before St. Patrick's time, was already the training-ground of a 
 formidable heresiarch, and he will note that neither in St. 
 Patrick's time nor subsequently has it been proved that Pela- 
 gianism established itself in Ireland. Nor did the Arian heresy 
 nor any of its numerous offshoots ever strike root in Irish soil ; 
 and the angry controversies on the natures and wills of Christy 
 which furnished such abundant materials for subtle disputants and 
 which so long disturbed the peace of the whole Church, gave no 
 occupation to Irish scholars. Traversing the well-worn paths 
 of orthodoxy, they carefully shunned the seductive byeways of 
 error, viewed these polemical contests from afar with languid 
 interest and, leaving to heretical ingenuity the work of doctrinal 
 innovation, they were content with the humbler and more 
 useful role of being saints and scholars in their own land, or 
 being missionaries and martyrs abroad. 
 
 If the Church of Columbanus and Carthage be compared 
 with the modern Irish Church which claims to be its successor^ 
 they will be found to be in complete accord. The Baptism of 
 the former church, like that of the latter, was with water, 
 was considered essential to salvation and could be received 
 but once, f Confirmation, as a Sacrament, is referred to by 
 St. Patrick in his Epistle to Caroticus, and by St. Cummian 
 in his Penitential .J The ancient Irish held that the Eucharist 
 was a great Sacrifice in which the body and blood of Christ were 
 offered up in the Mass in atonement for the sins of men, and a 
 
 * Alzog, Vol. I., pp. 401-3. Healy, p. 40. 
 
 t Salmon : T/ie Ancient Irish Church, pp. 59-66. Extracts from the 
 Penitentials of St. Finnian and St. Cummian. 
 X Ibid.i p. 70, 
 
PROGRESS OF RELIGION AND LEARNING. 69 
 
 Sacrament* in which the same body and blood were found as 
 long as the consecrated particles remained. Their Sacrament 
 of Penance differed from the modern in no respect, except that 
 the penances imposed were more severe, f The accounts given 
 of the last illness of St. Eugene of Ardstraw J and of St. Coleman 
 show that the Sacrament of Extreme Unction was conferred ; 
 and between their Sacraments of Holy Orders|| and Matrimony** 
 and those of a later date no difference can be discerned. They 
 believed in Purgatory f t and in the efficacy of the Invocation 
 of Saints ; devotion to the Blessed Virgin Mary was a marked 
 feature of the Early Irish Church ; and its acceptance of the 
 Pope's Supremacy was unquestioned and unequivocal. 
 
 The only serious dispute with Rome was as to the manner 
 of computing Easter. | J The Paschal computation of the Irish 
 was that introduced by St. Patrick which then and long 
 after was the same as that of Rome. In making this compu- 
 tation they had the Jewish Cycle of 84 years, never celebrated 
 the Pasch before the Vernal Equinox, and, unlike the Jews and 
 some of the churches of the East, never, except on Sunday. 
 It is therefore with great injustice that they have sometimes 
 been branded with the opprobrious name of Quartadecimans. || || 
 But the Jewish Cycle was incorrect, and at Alexandria, where 
 astronomy was studied and understood, its errors were detected 
 and exposed, and a more correct cycle of 19 years substituted. 
 The Romans adopted the Alexandrian Cycle but seem not to 
 have understood the Alexandrian method of computation ; 
 errors arose, nor was it until 525, that uniformity was established 
 between Alexandria and Rome. These changes were not known 
 in Ireland for some time and when they were they were regarded 
 by the Irish with suspicion. Devotedly attached to the memory 
 of their Saints, they regarded as an innovation whatever clashed 
 with their Saints' practices and teaching, nor could they willingly 
 believe that the Paschal system was wrong, which was intro- 
 duced by St. Patrick and sanctified by the approval of St. Columba. 
 
 * Moran's Essays, pp. 241-2 ; also p. 166. 
 
 t Reeves on the Culdees. R. I. Academy Translations, Vol. XXIV., Pt. 2 
 pp. 208-9. For abusing a servant the punishment was 100 blows on the 
 hand. Moran, pp. 250 ei seq. 
 
 X Salmon, p. no. 
 
 tl Ibid, p. 114. 
 
 * * Ibid, p. 142. 
 
 t t Ibid., p. 148. Usher (Vol. IV., pp. 269-71) admits that prayers were 
 said for the dead, but only for those ivho were in bliss, yet it might be 
 asked why pray for those who had already attained happiness ? 
 
 X X Alzog, Vol. II., p. 65 ; Laniganj Vol. II. ^ p. 374. 
 
 II II The Quartadecimans were those who celebrated Easter on the 14th 
 day of the Moon, whether it fell on Sunday or not. 
 
70 HISTORY OF IRELAND. 
 
 Solemnly admonished by Pope Honorius I. that they were wrong,* 
 a Synod was held at Old Leighlin (630) to discuss the question, 
 but no agreement was arrived at. The Canon passed at the 
 instance of St. Patrick that all matters which could not be settled 
 in Ireland be sent to Rome for decision was then remembered, 
 and delegates were appointed to proceed to PvOme. Those delegates 
 on their return reported that they had seen Easter celebrated 
 at Rome by men from all the churches of the world, and that 
 all these churches agreed with Rome. A Synod was then held 
 at Moylena (633) and the Irish system was abandoned for the 
 Roman and thus, as far as the south of Ireland was concerned, 
 the question was settled. The monasteries of the north of Ireland, 
 influenced and dominated by lona, still held out, maintaining 
 that what was good enough for St. Columba was good enough 
 for them, and to these a very learned and holy man appealed — 
 Cummian, abbot and bishop of Clonfert. He examined the 
 various cycles of the Jews, Greeks, Latins and Egyptians, ran- 
 sacked Ecclesiastical history and the decrees of Synods and 
 Councils, drew arguments from Scripture and from the writings 
 of St. Cyprian, St. Jerome, St. Augustine and others, and finally, 
 appealing to their common sense, he asked them to contemplate 
 the absurdity of their position — that alone in the whole world 
 the Scots and Britons were right, while Rome and Jerusalem 
 and Alexandria and Antioch were in error, f But learning and 
 argument and entreaty were vain. These stubborn monks 
 would not abandon the system of St. Columba, nor was it until 
 the closing years of the seventh century, and then only at the 
 earnest entreaty of Adamnan, that they abandoned their erron- 
 eous system and adopted the more correct computation of Rome. 
 Among the Anglo-Saxons the same disputes and differences 
 existed as among the Irish. The Roman monks followed the 
 Roman Easter, the Irish that of their own country; and as 
 these two classes of monks lived and laboured side by side among 
 the Anglo-Saxons, the people witnessed the scandal of one class 
 of monks celebrating Easter weeks ahead of others. Among 
 the people, each system had its adherents ; even in the palace 
 of the Northumbrian king uniformity did not exist, and while 
 the king was celebrating the Paschal festivity, the queen ^vas 
 still practising the rigours of the Lenten fast. To establish 
 uniformity a synod was held at Whitby (660) where the whole 
 matter was debated and discussed. The Roman system was 
 
 * Healy, p. 235. 
 
 t Usher's Sylloge, No. XI., Vol. IV., p. 432. The date of Cummian's 
 Epistle is given as 634, and for a monk of that age the amount of learning 
 shown is indeed remarkable ; nor is the writer's learning and ability more 
 remarkable than his humility. 
 
PROGRESS OF RELIGION AND LEARNING. Jl 
 
 defended with great ability by Wilfred, afterwards Archbishop 
 of York, the Irish system by Colman, abbot of Lindisfarne, with 
 perhaps less ability but with no less zeal. King Oswy, who 
 was present and favourable to Colman, was converted by the 
 arguments of Wilfred, and the Synod, following his example, 
 adopted the Roman system.* With an obstinacy little worthy 
 of a saint and little in keeping with his own high character, 
 Colman refused to submit, and taking with him the bones of 
 his predecessor, Aidan, and accompanied by a number of monks 
 — Irish and Saxon — ^as stubborn as himself, he left Lindisfarne 
 and went back to Ireland. He established a monastery on an 
 island olT the west coast — the island of Innisbofifin — an island 
 bleak and barren and waveworn as Lindisfarne itself, and there 
 he spent the closing years of his life, practising the greatest 
 austerities and listening to the wild wailing of the sea. In 716, 
 lona itself abandoned its ancient errors to which it had so 
 tenaciously clung. 
 
 Lanigan complains that the accounts left of events in the 
 eighth century are meagre and incomplete, perhaps owing to 
 neglect, perhaps — which is more likely — to the loss of documents, 
 but we have sufficient materials to show that the Church of that 
 period was not unworthy of its past. The monasteries of Armagh 
 Clonmacnoise, Lismore, Bangor, Clonard and others continued 
 to flourish and acquire fame, and from their cloisters a succession 
 of saintly and learned men went forth who spread afar the fame 
 of the Schools in which they were trained. The missionary 
 spirit of Irishmen was as active as ever, and among them was 
 Alto, who founded a monastery near Munich (750) called after 
 its founder Altmunster, -f Rumold, an Irish bishop, martyred 
 near Mechlin, | (775) Virgilius of Salzburgh, || among the first, 
 if not the first, to proclaim the opinion of the sphericity of the 
 earth and the existence of the antipodes, and Cummian, who 
 died at Bobbio (735), so venerated by the Lombard king 
 Luitfrand, that he adorned the Irish monk's tomb with precious 
 stones.** And what has been written of two other Irishmen 
 by a monk of St. Gall is remarkable. " When the illustrious 
 
 * Bede's Ecclesiastical History, Book III.j Chap. 25. 
 
 Colman had St. Columba on his side, but Wilfred was able to show 
 that St. Peter was on his own side and this it was that determined the 
 King to change, for St. Peter was the door-keeper of Heaven and he was 
 unwilling to contradict him, lest when he (Oswy) came to the gates of 
 Heaven, there should be no one to admit him, St Peter being his adversary. 
 
 t Lanigan, Vol. III., p. 189. 
 
 X Ibid.^ p. 199. 
 
 II Usher*s Sylloge, No. 17. 
 
 * * Lanigan, Vol. ill., p. 171. 
 
72 HISTORY OF IRELAND. 
 
 Charlemagne began to reign alone in the western part of the 
 world (772) and literature was everywhere almost forgotten, 
 it happened that two Scots of Ireland came over to the shores 
 of France men, incomparably skilled in human learning and in 
 the holy Scriptures."* These were Clemens and Albinus ; the 
 former, Charlemagne kept to teach in France, the latter he placed 
 at the head of the School of Pavia. 
 
 * Lanigan, Vol. in., p. 208. 
 
CHAPTER VII. 
 
 The First Christian Kings. 
 
 Much war in Continental Europe from the fifth to the ninth century — 
 Ireland during the same period never invaded but once — yet seldom 
 at peace, because the chiefs quarrelled among themselves — Part of 
 Caledonia colonized from Dalriadia — Reign of Diarmid — Battle of 
 Cuildrevne — Tara cursed — Reign of Aedh MacAinmire — Convention 
 of Drumcat — Battle of Dunbolg — Reign of Donal — Battle of Moyrath — 
 The Plague in Ireland — Reign of Finachta — Invasion of the North- 
 umbrians — The last Feis of Tara — The Boru tribute abolished and 
 revived — Battles of Allen and Ballyshannon. 
 
 From the fifth to the ninth century there were many wars in 
 the countries of Continental Europe. Goths, Huns, Vandals, 
 Ostrogoths and Lombards, each in turn had swept like a 
 desolating flood over the provinces of the Roman Empire, 
 leaving death and desolation in its track.* Before the sixth 
 century dawned, the Empire of the West fell, and while the century 
 was yet young, the Ostrogoths ruled in Italy, the Visigoths in 
 Spain the Franks in Italy, the provinces of Britain being shared 
 by the Angles, Saxons and Jutes. Like vultures over their prey, 
 these barbarians often quarrelled with each other, and wars 
 and conquests and changes of government were the result. Before 
 the sixth century closed, a nev/ people — the Lombards ruled 
 in Italy : two centuries later they were conquered by the Franks, 
 their kingdom ceased to exist, and three centuries after the 
 fall of the Western Empire, a Roman Emperor again arose in the 
 person of Charlemagne. During all this time, if we except an 
 unimportant inroad of the Saxons, Ireland was free from the 
 ravages of foreign invasion. Never subject to Rome, perhaps 
 it was never heard of by those who invaded the Roman Empire 
 nor is there any reason to think that if these barbarians hosts 
 had heard of Ireland, they would have wasted their energies 
 in conquering a remote island, while they had before them the 
 fertile fields of Italy and Gaul. Untroubled by either Frank 
 or Saxon, Ireland was allowed to pursue its destiny in peace, 
 
 * Gibbon, Vol. II., pp. 348, 456, 480, 498. ; Vol. III., pp. 258. 
 
74 HISTORY OF IRELAND. 
 
 and yet, it is only the truth to say, that from the sixth to the 
 ninth century its record was one of turbulence and blood. A 
 crowd of chieftains, or petty kings, careless of the national wel- 
 fare, and intent only on preserving the lawless independence 
 of their clans, were for ever contending with each other. A dis- 
 pute about boundaries, an injury to a clansman, a slight or ap- 
 parent slight to the chief, perhaps his predatory or plundering 
 instincts to possess what belonged to a weaker neighbour — from 
 such causes war often arose — and when such causes were 
 wanting, vanity or ambition supplied others. In the Brehon 
 Law it is stated that he is no king who has not hostages,* and 
 these were usually had by war. The more of these hostages a 
 king or chief had, the greater was he acknowledged to be ; he 
 regarded their number with as much complacency as the Red 
 Indian regarded the number of scalps that hung at his belt, 
 and Nial is best remembered, not so much for his foreign con- 
 quests, as because of the nine hostages he retained in his power. 
 As if these various causes of contention were not sufficiently 
 numerous, there was besides the endless struggles for the 
 position of Ardri. Since the death of Nial, the honor was re- 
 stricted to his descendants, but his descendants were numerous 
 and ambitious, the principle of primogeniture was not recognised, 
 there were many candidates for the kingly ofifice, and whilst 
 few of these princes were willing to be subjects, fewer still were 
 worthy to be kings. Nor was the Ardri, when chosen, ever free 
 from trouble, and of him it might be said with truth that uneasy 
 was the head which wore the crown. His .friends and admirers 
 insisted that he should exact the Boru tribute, and if he showed 
 any reluctane to do so, they taunted him with his impotence f 
 the Leinstermen seldom paid without war : these princes who 
 aspired to be ardris themselves, but whose ambitious hopes 
 were not realised, regarded him with envy, thwarted all his plans, 
 conspired against his life, perhaps had him treacherously as- 
 sassinated, and there were few of these ardris whose end was 
 not one of violence. Of the twelve kings who ruled in the sixth 
 century all but two were either murdered or fell in battle, and 
 their successors in the two following centuries were pursued 
 with similar misfortune. 
 
 If everything which the Bards wrote of these centuries had 
 come down to us our annals would contain much more than 
 
 * Senchus Mor, Vol. IV., p. 51. 
 
 t If the Book of Leinster is entitled to credit^ Adamnan was highly 
 displeased with King Finachta, when he renounced the Boru tribute; 
 but the story is probably the invention of some bard, for a man so saintly 
 and so wise as Adamnan would hardly be guilty of such unpatriotic 
 conduct. (Douglas Hyde • A Literary History of Ireland, pp. 236-7. 
 
THE FIRST CHRISTIAN KINGS. 75 
 
 they do, for they would be filled with exaggeration and fable. 
 But much of what they wrote has perished, we are compelled 
 to confine ourselves to facts and of many of these ardris, all we 
 know is that they reigned, that they fought battles and that 
 they died. The great events that mark their reigns are few, 
 yet there are a few of some importance which cannot and ought 
 not be ignored. In the reign of Lughaid (503), from that small 
 territory called Dalriadia, lying eastward of the river Bann, a 
 colony passed over the sea to Caledonia. They were led by 
 Fergus, Engus and Loarn, the sons of Ere, and were strong 
 enough to effect the conquest of that part of Caledonia from 
 the mouth of the Clyde, north-west along the broken and 
 irregular coast of Argyle.* The land was not rich, nor was their 
 territory extensive, but, perhaps, by fresh reinforcements from 
 Ireland, they were able to establish and consolidate their power, 
 until, ultimately, at a later age, they extended the limits of their 
 possessions, defeated the Picts, and became masters of all 
 Caledonia. The same year that these colonists left Dalriadia 
 for Caledonia, the Ardri Lughaid died. His two immediate 
 successors were Muirchertach (died 527), and Tuathal (527-44), 
 about neither of whom anything remarkable is known. 
 
 The succeeding Ardri was Diarmid, and his reign is marked 
 by events of considerable importance. His birth, and perhaps 
 also his abilities, had marked him out as Tuathal's successor, 
 but that Ardri had other projects in view, and to prevent Diarmid 
 coming to the throne he proclaimed him an outlaw, and set a 
 price on his head. Diarmid lived for many years the life of a 
 fugitive and an outcast, and, at length, took refuge with 
 St. Kieran, who was then founding his monastery at 
 Clonmacnoise. He aided the Saint in putting up his first building, 
 and, whilst driving a post into the earth,-took Kieran's hand, 
 and placed it over his own in token of reverence and submission, f 
 This fact is commemorated, and on one of the crosses still standing 
 at Clonmacnoise, there is a representation of Kieran with his hand 
 resting on that of Diarmid. + When he became Ardri, Diarmid 
 was not so submissive or respectful to the monks, but, on the 
 contrary, had serious disputes with them, disputes which brought 
 many ills, both on himself and on his country. In 560, the 
 Feis of Tara was held, and during the usual festivities, a young 
 Connaught prince, who was kept as a hostage at Tara, killed 
 another hostage, whether by accident or design does not appear. || 
 
 * Reeves' Adamnan, pp. 433-8 (additional notes); Reeves gives the 
 date of this migration as 506. 
 
 t Healy, p. 262. The Saint in return prophesied that Diarmid would 
 be Ardri. 
 
 \ Ibid, p. 267. 
 
 II Four Masters, Vol. I., p. 1913 Healy, p. 310 
 
76 . HISTORY OF IRELAND. 
 
 For such a heinous offence death was the punishment, and hoping 
 to save his Hfe, the young prince fled to Columba's monastery 
 for sanctuary ; but the right of sanctuary was denied, the Ardri 
 was stern and determined to punish, and the young man was 
 violently torn from the shelter of Columba's monastery, and 
 instantly put to death. Another refugee — Hugh Gawrie of 
 Hy-Many, who had killed the king's sergeant, Backlaure — fled 
 to the monastery of Rhodanus of Lorrha. * But again the right 
 of sanctuary was denied, Hugh was carried to Tara, and when 
 Rhodanus followed and earnestly begged the prisoner's release, 
 he was answered with insults by the king, f Such conduct 
 on the part of the Ardri roused the indignation of the clergy, 
 Rhodanus and other monks went to Tara, cursed Diarmid, 
 and even cursed Tara itself, and it is certain that Diarmid was 
 the last monarch who dwelt there. X That ancient palace 
 gradually fell into decay, its halls were silent, its banquets and 
 feasts ceased, and the lament of a modern poet is well-known 
 that the harp of Tara hung silent upon the palace walls, and that 
 on the rare occasions on which its chords were touched it was 
 only to sing of the ruin of Tara.li In their dispute with the 
 Ardri, Rhodanus and Columba may have been right — the 
 privilege of sanctuary was an important one and ought not 
 lightly be resigned — and if they had chastised Diarmid himself 
 with the spiritual weapons at their command, posterity would 
 not have much reason to complain. But in covering Tara with 
 their maledictions, they did what was unwise and unpatriotic 
 for it was the residence of the Ardri for ages, it was the centre 
 and symbol of united government, no other place was so re- 
 spected by the people. After Diarmid, each Ardri dwelt in 
 his own ancestral territory, at Aileach in the north, and at 
 Dunsciath, near Mullingar ; Tara, darkened and blighted by 
 the Saint's curses, was deserted, the Ardri's decrees emanating 
 from Aileach and Dunsciath received but scant courtesy ; 
 they were neither obeyed nor feared, and the Ardris themselves 
 came to be spoken of as kings with opposition — kings with a 
 doubtful title to the throne. 
 
 Other evils also came upon Diarmid. Columba had been 
 paying a visit to his friend, St. Finian of Moville, and this latter 
 
 * Annals of Clonmacnotse, at the year 563. 
 
 t Petrie, Antiquiiies of Tara Hill, p. 126. 
 
 X Annals of Clonmacnoise. They cursed Tara and prayed that no king 
 or queen should ever after dwell there. 
 
 II In Adamnan's day, Tara was used as the place of a national assembly^ 
 as it was sometimes, besides, for ecclesiastical assemblies.} (Petrie's Tara 
 Hill, p. 174.) 
 
THE FIRST CHRISTIAN KINGS. Jj 
 
 monk had in his possession a valuable copy of the Psalter. Desiring 
 a copy for his own use, Columba, secretly, and without asking 
 or obtaining Finian's permission, made a copy of the book. The 
 secret was discovered ; Finian was angry, and demanded the 
 copy ; Columba refused ; the dispute was referred to the 
 Ardri who decided against Columba, on the ground that the 
 copy went with the book, as the calf did with the cow.* Columba 
 was of the royal race of Tirconnell, he was not yet a saint, but 
 a proud, self-willed man with the warlike instincts of the princes 
 from whom he sprang. He refused to abide by the decision of 
 the Ardri, angrily made his way to the north, roused with his 
 fierce complaints, his relatives and friends, and Tirconnell, 
 assisted by the King of Connaught, made war upon Diarmid. 
 The battle between the contending hosts was fought at 
 Cuildrevne t in the County of Sligo (561), and Diarmid was 
 utterly defeated. The copy of the Psalter, since known as the 
 Cathach, or battle book, was captured and ever afterwards 
 kept in the family of the O'Donnell's. The stormy and troubled 
 life of Diarmid was closed (565), by a violent death. In that 
 year, \ he was killed by Black Hugh, one of the princes of 
 Dalaraidhe. His successors were Donal and Fergus, who reigned, 
 as joint sovereigns, but their reign lasted only one year. They 
 were succeeded by Eochy and Baedan, also as joint sovereigns ; 
 both of these kings were killed, in 568, Ainmire, the next Ardri, 
 was killed, a year later, and his successor, a year later still. 
 
 The next Ardri was Aedh, son of Ainmire, and his reign, 
 beginning about 570, is noted for its length, nearly 30 years, 
 and also for the fact that during that time was held (590) the 
 Convention of Drumcat.|| The place at which this assembly 
 met is situated in the county of Londonderry, not far from the 
 town of Newtownlimivady, on the banks of the little river Roe. 
 A long mound, sometimes called the Mullagh, and sometimes 
 Daisy Hill, still marks the spot. Called by the Ardri himself, 
 the assembly was the most representative and the most numer- 
 ously attended that had met in Ireland, since the Assemblies 
 at Tara ceased to be held. Accommodated in tents, which 
 covered the summit and sides of the hill, there were gathered 
 together from all quarters of Ireland, kings, princes, bards. 
 
 * Healyj p< 250. 
 
 \ Columba frayed for his own friends while the battle raged; 
 (Adamnan, p. 250.) 
 
 X This is the date given by Tighernach {Four Masters, Vol. I., p. 200^ 
 note.) 
 
 II This O'Donovan believes to be the true date, though the Annals 
 of Clontnacnoise give the date to be 587^ and the Annals of Ulster to be 
 576. 
 
78 ' HISTORY OF IRELAND. 
 
 bishops, abbots and various members of the clergy ; while from 
 the Dalriadian colony of Caledonia came king Aidan, accompanied 
 by a still more celebrated man, Columba, now Abbot of lona. 
 The sittings of the Convention were protracted but were not 
 withotit fruit. The Ardri, it appears, had received tribute from 
 the princes of Dalriadia in Ireland, and also from the Caledonia 
 colony of the Dalriadians. But Aidan, king of the latter, re- 
 fused to continue paying such tribute, alleging that he was an 
 independent king, and not a mere tributary chief.* The Ardri, 
 rejected these pretensions and menaced Aidan, whom he re- 
 garded as a rebellious vassal. To Columba, especially, belongs 
 the merit of having settled this dispute. Aidan had in many 
 ways befriended him and his monastery at lona ; he was his 
 kinsman and neighbour ; Columba had anointed him as king.f 
 The Abbot knew the difficulties with which he was surrounded 
 in his Caledonian possessions ; that he was encompassed by power- 
 ful enemies — the Northern and Southern Picts, and that against 
 these enemies he could never make headway, if kept in a position 
 of dependence and tutelage, hampered by a yearly tribute to 
 the Irish king. It would be a repetition of the Boru tribute 
 with all its attendant evils. His arguments were convincing, 
 his influence with the Convention was great and his views pre- 
 vailed. Aidan was declared independent and he and his people 
 on their side undertook to be always the allies and friends, as 
 they were already the relatives of the Irish monarch. 
 
 The position and privileges of the Bards were also considered, 
 and afforded much matter for discussion. Nor was it except 
 through the great influence of Columba that this question also 
 was satisfactorily settled. In each kingdom, and even in each 
 clan, there was at least one of these bards, granted an official 
 allowance and occupying an official position. Dressed in his 
 white robe, and not unfrequently accompanied by a retinue 
 of musicians, he followed his chief into every battle in which 
 he was engaged. The varying fortunes of the fight gave in- 
 spiration to his muse, and as the ranks of battle advanced, or 
 retreated, he poured forth his unpremeditated song. He urged 
 the timid, steadied the hesitating, applauded valour, put cowardice 
 to shame ; and the coward had less fear of the foemen's weapons, 
 than of the biting satire of his bard. In peace he sat as an 
 honored guest in the kingly banquet-hall, where he extolled 
 the merits of his chief, his prowess in war, his fleetness in the 
 chase, his wisdom in council ; female beauty and female virtue 
 
 * Reeves' Adamnan, p. 92j note. 
 
 t Ibid., pp. 198-9. One of the first instances on record where a king 
 was anointed, and all the more remarkable, because the anointing 
 ecclesiastic was not a bishop, but only an abbot. 
 
THE FIRST CHRISTIAN KINGS. 79 
 
 received their meed of praise at his hands ; and when he spoke of 
 battles, it was to chronicle in song the heroic deeds of his kinsmen, 
 and to pay a tribute to the memory of the fallen brave.* His 
 recompense was given with no niggard hand. The Chief Bards 
 ranked as high as princes, and in all public assemblies their place 
 was next to that of the king. Large landed estates were given 
 them, and many of them had an income which might well sup- 
 port the dignity of a prince. Several colleges were established 
 where these bards were trained, where history and poetry were 
 taught ; these colleges were filled with students and, before 
 the close of the sixth century, the Bards had become so numerous 
 and wealthy that one-third of the land of Ireland was in their 
 hands. But as toleration begets security, privilege begets in- 
 solence ; and these Bards, loaded with honours and with wealth, 
 were still unsatisfied. Numbers of them, having no official 
 position, wandered over the country and wasted their lives in 
 idleness and dissipation. At the richer and better class of homes, 
 they demanded hospitality as a right, and according to the 
 character of the reception they got, so was their praise or blame. 
 Whoever received them well, they covered with fulsome 
 adulation, glossed over vices where they existed, and found 
 virtue and merit where there were none. But whoever received 
 them coldly, or refused to receive them at all, they held up to 
 public scorn and contempt. Such an order of men, idle, useless, 
 and lazy, had become a public nuisance and a national danger ; 
 there were few they had not offended or disgusted ; and the 
 cry in Ireland was universal that the Bardic Order should 
 be abolished, j Columba saved them from extinction. + He 
 admitted there were grave abuses, but he pleaded for reform 
 rather than for extinction. The bards were historians, as well 
 as poets, and he asked : If there were no bards, who would write 
 the history of the country, who would trace the pedigrees of its 
 princes, who would sing the praises of its heroes ? Columba 
 himself was a poet, || a fact which quickened his sympathy with 
 the threatened order. The Convention hearkened to his appeal, 
 the Bards were saved, but their number was diminished. Hence- 
 forth only one bard was allowed to each provincial prince, and 
 
 * Walker; Historical Memoirs of the Irish Bards, pp. 10-17: 
 t Douglas Hyde ; Literary History of Ireland, pp. 488-490. 
 + Though Columba saved the bards and in gratitude received their 
 praises, yet the relations between the bards and the clergy were not of 
 a cordial character. (Reeves' Adamnan, p. 80.) 
 
 II Reeves' Adamnan, pp. 264 et seq. It is in his " Dialogue with 
 Cormac, "(p. 267), he declares that 
 
 " Death is better in reproachless Erin 
 Than perpetual life in Alba." 
 
8o HISTORY OF IRELAND. 
 
 each lord of a cantred, and this bard was bound to use his talents 
 only for the glory of God, and the honor of his native land. In 
 the Bardic seminaries the number of students was strictly limited ; 
 of all these seminaries the Chief Bard of the Ardri was president, 
 and it was he who nominated the bards for the service of the 
 various princes and lords.* 
 
 But while these matters were satisfactorily arranged, that 
 fruitful source of discord and strife — the Boru tribute — was 
 left untouched. The tax was still insisted upon by the Ardri ; 
 the Leinstermen resisted, under their able chief, Branduf^, 
 and a battle was fought at Dunbolg. t (598.) The advantage 
 of numbers was on the side of the Ardri, but the advantage of 
 ability and skill was with the Leinster king ; the Ardri's army 
 was routed and himself was among the slain. The last king 
 of the century, as well as the first, thus met a violent death. Nor 
 was the fate of the kings, who reigned in the first years of the 
 seventh century, anything different. The names of these 
 kings and the order in which they reigned is known — Aedh 
 Alan and Coleman, as joint sovereigns, Aedh Uairidhnach 
 Maelcovy and Sweeny. Their reigns fill up the space from 
 the battle of Dunbolg to the accession of Donal (627) : + and 
 of each it can be said, that his reign was uneventful, his life 
 unmarked by any great incident, his death — except that of Aedh 
 Uairidhnach — brought about by violence. 
 
 The personal talents of Donal, and at least one notable event 
 in his reign, have distinguished the period in which he lived, 
 and mark that period out from the time which immediately 
 preceded and followed it. The son of Aedh, the son of Ainmire, 
 both of whom were Ardris, Donal was but a child, when the 
 Convention of Drumcat was held, and was brought there by 
 his nurses, so that he might receive St. Columba's blessing. 
 The saint blessed him and predicted that he would survive all 
 his brothers, that he would be a famous king, that he would 
 be victorious against all his enemies, and that he would die in 
 his own house and in his own bed peaceably, and surrounded 
 ,by his friends. II And the prophecy in its entirety was fulfilled, 
 
 * Keatingj pp. 379-80. At Drumcat the Bards were exempted 
 from taxes and their houses were invested with the privilege of 
 sanctuary. Vid. also Walker's Bards, pp. 53-54- 
 
 •j- Dunbolg is situated near Hollywood in the County of Wicklow. 
 (Four Masters, Vol. I., pp. 218-19.) 
 
 X Four Masters, 598, Aedh Slan and Coleman, 604, Aedh Uairidhnach, 
 612, Maelcovy; 615, Sweeny. 
 
 II Reeves' Adamnan, p. 37. Donal's eldest brother Conal died in 
 604, his second brother, Cumasach^ was slain at Dunbolg, Maelcovy, the 
 third brother, was slain (615) at the battle of Sliabh Truim, in Co. Tyrone. 
 
THE FIRST CHRISTIAN KINGS. 8 1 
 
 He became Ardri in 627, and was soon involved in war with 
 an Ulster prince named Congal. This prince had made war — 
 apparently an unjust war — on the preceding Ardri, Sweeny, 
 and in a battle fought between them, Sweeny was slain. Such 
 conduct Donal was determined to punish ; he regarded Congal 
 as an unjust aggressor, who had acted as a rebellious subject. 
 He made war upon him, defeated him at the battle of Dun- 
 Ceithern in Derry (628), and drove him from his possessions in 
 Ulster.* The exiled prince sought refuge among the Saxons, 
 and did not abandon the hope of regaining his lost dominions, 
 as well as being revenged upon the Ardri. After spending nine 
 years in exile, he returned to Ulster, bringing with him a 
 mercenary army gathered together from many quarters, Saxons, 
 Scots, Britons and Picts ; and these, joined to his own followers 
 at home, made up a numerous army.f But the Ardri was not 
 dismayed. He was an active and able prince, and rapidly 
 gathered an army together, and assisted by the forces of Munster, 
 Leinster and Connaught, he marched northwards. J He did 
 not wish to fight Congal, for he loved him, he was his foster father, 
 and he sorrowfully declared that his fight with him was that 
 of a son and a father. || But rebellion should be put down, and 
 it was necessary that Congal and his mercenaries should be 
 crushed. The opposing forces met at Moyrath (637), a place 
 now marked by the little town of Moira, in Down. Not since 
 the battle of Dunbolg was there so fiercely contested a fight, 
 in which the most stubborn valour was displayed, and in which 
 success was long doubtful. The single combat between Congal, 
 on one side, and a chieftain named Conal on the other side, is 
 compared in a bardic tale of the twelfth century to that between 
 Hector and Antaeus.** The soldiers gathered round their chiefs, 
 and were animated by their example, and for six days the battle 
 raged. The victory, though long delayed, was decisive. Congal 
 was slain; of his Ulster troops only 600 were left, and his allies 
 from across the sea were almost exterminated, ff For the re- 
 mainder of his life, Donal's reign was peaceable, disturbed neither 
 by native or foreigner ; and he died (644), as St. Columba had 
 foretold, on his bed, and surrounded by his friends. And special 
 
 * Four Masters. 
 
 t Adamnan (Reeves), pp. 200-201. 
 
 X Battle of Moyrath (Edited by O'Donovan), Irish Archaelogical Society^ 
 p. 215. 
 
 II Ibid., p. 135. 
 
 * * Ibid., p. 259. 
 
 t t If the Bardic Tale (Battle of Moyrath), could be taken as true, only 
 one foreigner — Dubdhiadh — a Druid, survived, and he swam across to 
 Scotland, with a dead hero tied to his leg (p._32i),"^a fiction not unworthy 
 of a Bard. 
 
 G 
 
82 HISTORY OF IRELAND. 
 
 Stress has been laid on this fact, * so rare was it for an Irish 
 king to die a peaceful death in these days of violence and strife. 
 
 For forty years after the death of Donal, important events 
 are few. There was the usual quarrelling among the candidates 
 for the position of Ardri, but scarcely anything else, except that 
 the country was visited by a plague f (660), the ravages of which 
 were considerable. Almost in every house there was death, 
 among those who were carried off being Dermott and Blaithmac, 
 who ruled jointly as ardris. In the reign of Finachta, Ireland 
 was for the first time (684) invaded by a Saxon King. The 
 Northumbrian king, Egfrid, apparently, without any pro- 
 vocation, or any design except plunder, sent his general, Berta, 
 and an army across to the east coast of Ireland. The invaders 
 wasted and spoiled the whole country along the coast from Dublin 
 to Drogheda, destroyed and robbed the churches and monasteries, 
 and carried away many of the natives into captivity. Finachta 
 had not the energy of King Donal, or he might have driven out 
 these intruders, but whatever qualities he had, military capacity 
 was not one of them ; the resistance he offered was feeble and 
 futile, and Berta and his Northumbrians were able to plunder 
 and destroy as they willed. Bede has condemned with just 
 severity this invasion by the Northumbrian king, laments that 
 he should without cause have attacked an inoffensive nation, 
 who were always friendly to the English and regards his defeat 
 and death the following year, at the hands of the Picts, as the 
 just punishment for this crime. + 
 
 A century had passed — a century of war and strife, since the 
 national assembly of Drumcat, until again another similar 
 assembly was convened. This time (697), it was at Tara, and 
 is remarkable as being the last Feis of Tara. As at Drumcat 
 the notabilities of the whole land were there, || kings, princes, 
 bishops and abbots, and so also was Columba's successor, 
 Adamnan, ninth ablDOt of lona. One law which the assembly 
 made is remarkable, it was a law prohibiting women from taking 
 part in battle. It was afterwards called Adamnan's law, because 
 it was at his suggestion and through his influence it was passed. 
 Such a law had been made at the Convention of Drumcat, but 
 in Ireland abuses are tenacious of existence, the law continued 
 
 * Reeves' Adamnan, pp. 37-38. 
 
 t Four Masters. 
 
 X Bede's Ecclesiastical History, Book IV., chap. 26. Bede says that the 
 Irish " prayed long and fervently for vengeance." 
 
 II There were thirty nine ecclesiastics, presided over by the abbot of 
 Armagh ; at the head of the laity was Loingsech, the Ardri, who succeeded 
 Finachta, in 695, and reigned until 703. (Reeves' Adamnan— A^^tndis. 
 to Preface.) 
 
THE FIRST CHRISTIAN KINGS, 83 
 
 to be disregarded, and, a century later, it was necessary that it 
 should be re-enacted and re-enforced. On men only, the stern 
 duty of active warfare is imposed, and if women are found upon 
 the battlefield, it is not as combatants to mingle in the fray. 
 To sympathise, to comfort, to console, to ease the stricken limb, 
 to lift up the drooping head, to staunch the bleeding v/ound, 
 to moisten the parched lips, to cool the aching brow, to whisper 
 into the ear words of consolation and hope, to recall the prayer 
 learned at a mother's knee and lost amid the dissipation of camps, 
 to point with trust to that unknown land on which the soul 
 is about to enter, and on the threshold of which she trembles 
 and fears, and finally, to reverently close the eye when the 
 spirit has winged its flight, it is such acts as these we expect 
 of women, and such that give her dignity amid the roar and the 
 crash of battle. There are times when she may go farther. Her 
 honor, her personal liberty may be imperilled, her faith endangered 
 her country on the point of being enslaved by an alien and hated 
 power. In such circumstances women cannot be blamed if, 
 rising superior to the natural weakness of their sex, they rush 
 to arms and insist on fighting like men. It is easy and natural 
 to sympathise with those women of Germany, who, with dis- 
 hevelled hair, implored of their own soldiers on the battlefield 
 not to yield to the enemy, that is, not to permit their women to 
 become slaves ; * and it is natural also to admire those women 
 of Limerick, who, when their city was besieged, fought by the 
 side of their men, and as valiantly as they, and helped to drive 
 the soldiers of King William from out their city, baffled, beaten 
 and dismayed. But it is different when we contemplate the 
 woman who fights for the sake of fight, with the fury of battle in 
 her eye ; and in the pages of the Greek historian there is no class 
 of woman inspires us with more aversion than those Amazons 
 of Scythia, " who shoot with the bow, throw the javelin and 
 ride on horseback, and have never learned the employments 
 of women." f Happily they belong more to mythology than 
 to history. The Irishwomen of Adamnan's day were not 
 Amazons, yet, sometimes their conduct was not dissimilar, and 
 a sight which the Abbot saw in one of his journeys through 
 Meath was as barbarous as could be seen among the most brutal 
 of men. In a battle that was being fought, women were engaged 
 as combatants, on both sides, and Adamnan saw a woman of one 
 side drag along a v/oman of the other side, with an iron hook 
 sunk in the woman's breast.J To stop such revolting scenes, 
 to recall woman to what became her sex, to restrict her to the 
 
 * Caesar ; De Bella Gallico Lib. I, chap; 52; 
 \ Herodotus, Book IV., chap, 1 14. 
 X Healy, p. 342. 
 
84' HISTORY OF IRELAND. 
 
 sphere of womanhood, Adamnan's law was passed ; and the 
 man whose influence was strong enough to have it enacted 
 and enforced deserved well both of his own age and of after times. 
 In the reign of Finachta (674-690) that monarch did at 
 least one act which redounded to his honor. At the instance 
 of St. Moling, bishop of Ferns, he renounced for ever, for himself 
 and as far as he could for his successors, the Boru tribute.* It 
 would be difficult to imagine any arrangement more fruitful 
 of strife, than the infliction upon Leinster of this tribute. It 
 was unjust and offensive to that province, and its exaction 
 was usually resisted by force, that is when Leinster was strong 
 enough to resist. To abolish for ever this unhappy tribute which 
 had worked so many ills and was likely to work more, St. 
 Moling intervened with the Ardri, and happily with success. 
 And the promise which Finachta made he faithfully kept. But 
 his successors did not follow his example ; they refused to be 
 bound by his promises, and had neither his wisdom nor his 
 patriotism. The hated tribute was revived, with the result that 
 the reigning Ardri, Fergal, in trying to enforce it, was defeated 
 at Allen in Kildare j (722), by the outraged and indignant 
 Leinster men, the Ardri himself being among the slain. As a 
 sequel to that battle and its result, Leinster was again attacked 
 {7?)7)X hy Fergal 's son, who was then Ardri, and at Ballyshannon, 
 in Kildare, the Leinstermen were defeated, their army almost 
 exterminated and Leinster left with scarce a man to defend her. 
 Thus were these contests kept up, sometimes suspended but 
 again renewed ; and while Leinster and successive Ardris 
 weakened and exhausted each other, a new enemy was about 
 to appear on the scene, against whom, when divided, they could 
 effect but little, but whom, if united, they might have over- 
 thrown. 
 
 * Healy, p. 428. 
 
 t Four Masters. The Ardri had 21,000 men, Leinster only 9,000. 
 
 The list of the chiefs who fell is given in the Annals of Clonmacnoise 
 at 717. 
 
 \ Ibid., at the year -Ji},. The Ardri was Aedh Allen. The place where 
 the battle was fought is " four miles south-west of KilcuUen Bridge."- 
 
CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 The Danish Invasion. 
 
 The Northmen of the eighth century — Their first arrival in Ireland, places 
 plundered by them — Arrival of Turgesius — His successes and death — 
 Some victories gained by the Irish — Fingalls and Duvgalls — Reign 
 of Flann — No fresh Danish inroads — Native chiefs quarrel — Danes 
 expelled from Dublin, but again return — Danes at Limerick — Miseries 
 of the natives under their rule — Dublin captured by Malachy — 
 Rivalry between Malachy and Brian — Battle of Glenmama — Malachy 
 ceases to be Ardri. 
 
 The coasts of Scandinavia were inhabited, in the eighth 
 century, by a w^arHke and savage race, who, under the varying 
 names of Northmen and Danes, were long the terror of Western 
 Europe. The Goths, who so often harassed the Roman provinces, 
 and who, in the third century, were the alHes and, in the fifth 
 century, the conquerors of Rome, had their original home or 
 the shores of the Baltic* and from the same coasts the Angles 
 and Saxons issued, in the fifth and sixth centuries,! first to assist 
 and afterwards to conquer the Britons. The similarity of manners 
 and beliefs between these different races indicates that they 
 came from common ancestors, and were all members of the 
 great Teutonic race. But, in the eighth century, they differed 
 much among themselves. The Goths of Italy and Spain, whose 
 morals had been purified by their Christian beliefs and whose 
 manners had become softened by contact with civilization, bore 
 but little resemblance to the savages who fought under the 
 banners of Alaric. Nor was the difference less marked between 
 the Christian Anglo-Saxons, who could already boast of the 
 scholarship of Alcuin and Bede, and their savage kinsmen, who 
 in their incursions spared neither age nor sex, and whose progress 
 through Britain could be marked by heaps of human bones. % 
 But the Northmen of the eighth century were still savages, and 
 neither Goth nor Saxon at their worst were more ferocious 
 
 * Gibbon, Vol. I., p. i88. 
 of Sweden. 
 
 t Ibid., Vol. II., p. 138. 
 \ Gibbon, Vol. II., p. 570.- 
 
 Their homes were in the southern portion 
 
86 HISTORY OF IRELAND. 
 
 than they. War and piracy were their favourite occupations ; 
 they fought for the sake of fighting, deemed it a duty to revenge 
 the sHghtest affront offered them,* considered it meritorious 
 to attack and plunder every nation but their own ; and such 
 was their repugnance to a Hfe of peace that, at home among 
 themselves, they organized reviews and tournaments and sham 
 battles, which sometimes ended in real and bloody warfare. \ 
 Whatever was weak or helpless they despised ; and while wealth 
 and birth were respected among them, they recognised, above 
 all, the ascendancy of personal prowess and daring achievement. 
 Their own country was poor, it abounded in forests and moun- 
 tains, the climate was severe, the hardships of life were many, 
 and as the population increased the prospects of those who 
 remained at home grew less attractive. The cautious, the timid, 
 the peace-loving might prefer a life of settled industry at home, 
 but among the Northmen the spirit of adventure was strong, 
 and the numbers were many, who willingly and even eagerly 
 abandoned the quietness and obscurity of their native fields 
 for the life of the freebooter, for the hope of wealth and fame, 
 and the exhiliration of battle. Such men knew no fear. Like 
 the Saxons they excelled in the use of the battle-axe and the oar. 
 With the sea that raged round their coasts they were familiar, 
 they knew its moods ; they dreaded not its wrath ; they loved 
 to wander over its broad expanse ; and found a fierce delight in 
 wrestling with the tempests and the billows. At first their 
 depredations were confined to the Baltic and its neighbourhood, 
 but their courage advanced with their success, and France and 
 Britain and Scotland and Ireland were successively assailed. 
 As their boats were light and drew but little water, they could 
 voyage from the sea far up the creeks and rivers, and from the 
 shelter of the river banks suddenly swoop down upon the inhabi- 
 tants and, collecting all that could be plundered, rapidly m.ake 
 their way back to the sea. J Those who resisted they killed, or 
 if they allowed any to survive, it was to take them away into 
 slavery, making them till the earth ; for these Vikings disdained 
 the labours of agriculture, as fit only for slaves and beneath 
 the dignity of warriors and freemen. Among their deities, Odin || 
 
 * Mallet's Northern Antiquities (Bohn's Ed.), p. 126. 
 
 t Ibid., p. 195. 
 
 % Gibbon, Vol. II., p. 139. 
 
 II Mallet, pp. 79-83. Among the Scandinavians there were two who 
 bore the name of Odin, and they are sometimes confounded, one with the 
 other Odin, the supreme deity, whose position in Scandinavian mythology- 
 is akin to Jupiter on Olympus, and Odin, a warrior and lawgiver, who 
 fought against Pompey, and who in time seems to have been treated with 
 divine honours. 
 
THE DANISH INVASION, 8/ 
 
 who dwelt in Valhalla, was the chief, but Thor, the God of 
 War, who slew all his enemies with his mighty hammer, 
 received much of their veneration. These gods rewarded most 
 of all bravery in war, and hence the Northman entered into 
 battle with a light heart. If he survived, his valour was rewarded 
 with wealth and glory and slaves to minister to his wants ; the 
 Skalds sung his praises,* and the youth were directed to follow 
 in his footsteps ; if he fell, he was taken at once by Odin into 
 Valhalla, where only warriors were worthy to go, and where 
 his time was spent in feasting and drinking with the gods.f 
 
 The Irish distinguished these Northmen into Fingals, or 
 white strangers, and Duvgalls, or black strangers, the former 
 being the fair-haired inhabitants of Norway, whilst the com- 
 plexion of the Duvgalls, or natives of Denmark, was of a darker 
 tinge. But the names Northmen and Danes are indefinitely 
 applied. Those who went from Denmark were impelled by the 
 same motives and had the same objects in view as those who 
 went from Norway. They were animated by the same hopes 
 and fears and their beliefs were similar. Nor were the Irish able, 
 at all times, clearly to distinguish between the Norsemen and 
 the Danes, for though they sometimes fought among themselves, 
 they were not infrequently enrolled under the same Viking's 
 banners. 
 
 It was towards the close of the eighth century that Ireland 
 was first ravaged by these Northern pirates. They had landed 
 at Wessex (787) coming in only three ships + and were taken 
 by the King's officers at Dorchester for merchants. They had 
 ravaged Lindisfarne and Northumbria (793), plundered Lambay 
 Island, near Dublin (795), II and Innispatrick near Skerries (798) 
 taking away the shrine of Saint Dochona. In 806 they attacked 
 lona, overcame the monks, who could offer but a feeble resistance, 
 burned the monastic buildings, carried away the gold and silver 
 vessels of the church, and in addition to the smoking ruins of 
 the venerable monastery, they left the slaughtered remains of 
 sixty-eight monks to attest the fury of their assault.** In the 
 following year they again visited the Irish coasts, ravaged Innish- 
 mury, off the coast of Sligo, and for the first time penetrated 
 some distance inland, and laid much of Roscommon desolate. 
 The islands off the coast of Kerry were plundered (811) and, 
 
 * Mallet, p. 235. 
 
 f Ibid., p. 105. The Scandinavian conception of supreme bliss either 
 here or in a future state was to fight and to eat and drink to excess. 
 
 X Ethhelwerd's Chronicle {Six Old English Chronicle.) 
 
 II Four Masters. 
 
 ** Ibid., Vol. I., p. 411 ; only 64 of the monks survived this attack 
 (Lanigan, Vol. III., p. 241.) 
 
88 HISTORY OF IRELAND. 
 
 in the following year, the district of Burrishoole, in Mayo, was 
 ravaged and numbers of its people slain.* The whole line of coast 
 from Wexford to Cork and Kerry was swept with desolation 
 (822). Bergery Island in Wexford Harbour, Cape Clear Island, 
 Cork and Cloyne being among the places that suffered most. 
 On the desolate island of Skellig, off the coast of Kerry, neither 
 gold nor silver could be found to gratify their rapacity and greed. 
 An anchoret was the only inhabitant of the island ; he fasted 
 and prayed and kept lonely vigil on that desolate rock, while 
 the waves thundered at its base. The northern pirates landed, 
 captured the anchoret, and allowed him to die of starvation on 
 their hands, t The trembling natives along the coast saw with 
 dismay their lands laid desolate, their homes in ruin, their cattle 
 and sheep carried off, their churches burned, their sacred vessels 
 profaned by impious hands, their monks and priests massacred 
 their sons led away into slavery, their daughters to slavery and 
 dishonour. It were little wonder if they thought that the end 
 of all things was at hand. Bangor was sacked (824), nine hundred 
 of its monks murdered, and St. Comgall's shrine carried away. 
 Dundalk and Moville and the whole district of Ossory were 
 laid waste the same year, Lusk monastery was ravaged and 
 destroyed (826), I Donaghmoyne, in Monaghan, (829) || and 
 neither the sanctity nor learning of St. Adamnan saved his 
 remains from outrage, for his shrine also was carried away. 
 Armagh, Louth, and most of Ulster were plundered (830), 
 Armagh being plundered three times in the course of one month, 
 A permanent colony was established at Limerick, and from this 
 central stronghold the surrounding territories of Munster were 
 assailed, whilst the plunder of Lismore, in the south, and Maghera 
 in the north, in the same year, attests the impartiality and 
 extent of their depredations. Hampered by the divisions among 
 their chiefs, destitute of defensive organisation, ignorant of the 
 time and place of attack and generally taken unaware, the Irish 
 could offer but an ineffective resistance. Yet the foreigners 
 were sometimes checked and even defeated. The Munstermen 
 defeated them (811) off the coast of Kerry ; at Hy Kinsella they 
 were again defeated (827), and a combination of Munster chiefs 
 all but destroyed the Danes of Limerick at Shanagolden.* * 
 
 For more than thirty years these Northmen had harassed 
 the Irish coasts. Their attacks were many, but so far were 
 irregular and intermittent, made by different leaders, without 
 
 * Four Masters. 
 
 t Wars of the Gael and Gall — Introduction, p. 1%. 
 X Four Masters. Lanigan, Vol. III., pp. 270-71. 
 II Annals of Clonniacnoise. 
 
 * * Four Masters, 
 
THE DANISH INVASION. 89 
 
 unity of purpose or design and as yet, though there was much 
 plunder, there was, except at Limerick, no attempt miade at 
 permanent settlement. But in 832, Turgesius,* the most re- 
 nowned of their Vikings, appeared. Some obscurity surrounds 
 his origin and exploits, and it has been sought to identify him 
 with Regnar Lodbrog, who fought and fell in Northumbria. 
 There are undoubtedly points of resemblance, if not of identifi- 
 cation. They lived during the same years, they were famous 
 and successful Vikings, each was put to death by his Christian 
 foes ; Turgesius had a lord deputy named Gormundus, or Gormo, 
 and Scandinavian history records that the dominions acquired 
 by the sword of Regnar were for a time ruled by a chieftain of 
 that name. The name Turgesius is nothing more than Thorgils 
 latinised, which means servant of Thor, the War God of the 
 North, a name which might fittingly be applied to Regnar. f 
 If the identity of these two chiefs be established then we must 
 accept the legend that Regnar died in Ireland and discard that 
 which declares that he was defeated and taken prisoner by King 
 Ella of Northumberland and that he was flung into a dungeon 
 filled with vipers and venomous serpents, who stung him to 
 death. And in his death-song he joyfully accepted his fate and 
 smiled with pleasure when he reflected that a place was reserved 
 for him in the halls of Odin, and that soon seated there at the 
 great banquet table he should dring flowing draughts of beer 
 from cups of horn.| Whatever may be thought of Regnar Lodbrog 
 there is no doubt that Turgesius is a historical personage ; there 
 is no doubt as to his arrival in Ireland ; and the time of his coming 
 and the time of his death are matters of certainty. Equally 
 ferocious as the other Norse leaders who preceded him, he enter- 
 tained greater designs, and had greater capacity for command. 
 Tired perhaps of the cheerless climate and barren soil of Norway 
 he desired a land with a more genial climate and more fertile 
 fields. Like the other Vikings he was ever ready for plunder, 
 but plunder was not his only ambition, and apparently he 
 meditated the permanent conquest of Ireland. Nor were the 
 times unpropitious for his designs. The northern half of Ireland 
 was for ages the patrimony of the sons of Nial, and from the 
 kings of Meath, Tirconnell and Tirowen the Ardris were alter- 
 nately drawn. This arrangement was received with disfavour 
 by the kings of Cashel ; their homage to the Ardris was given 
 with reluctance, and sometimes they claimed to be Ardris them- 
 selves. Fedlimy, one of the ablest and most ambitious of the 
 
 * Wars of the Gael and Gall, chap. 9, and introduction, p. 43: 
 t Halliday ; Scandinavian Kingdom of Dublin, pp. 28 to 32. 
 + Thierry ; History of the Norman Conquest (Bogue's European 
 Library), Vol. I, p. 61. 
 
90 HISTORY OF IRELAND. 
 
 southern princes, now filled the throne of Cashel. Too great 
 to be a subject, unwilling to acknowledge a superior, or even 
 an equal, he could see no reason why a king of Cashel should 
 not also be King of Ireland. If he was, as is sometimes said, a 
 bishop,* as well as king, his virtues were not those which befit 
 the episcopacy. He was careful to make his religion subservient 
 to his ambition, and had little scruple as to the means he employed 
 in the attainment of his ends. Three times in quick succession 
 he plundered Clonmacnoise, and on one of these occasions (833) 
 he spoiled and pillaged up to the church doorsf and " butchered 
 the monks like sheep." The monasteries of Durrow and Kildare 
 he also plundered, and from the fears and impotence of Foranen, 
 the Primate of Armagh, then an exile at Kildare, + he extracted 
 submission and homage. He overran Meath and Bregia (839), 
 and then rested at Tara, in the ruined palace of the ancient 
 kings. Sometimes he is counted among the ardris, although he 
 was never universally recognised. Concurrently with these 
 events, disputes arose between rival claimants for the See of 
 Armagh ; the native princes took sides and these contests were 
 no less bitter than those between Fedlimy and his antagonists.]! 
 
 But while the native princes were thus divided, the whole 
 forces of the Northmen, latterly much augmented, ranged them- 
 selves under the able leadership of Turgesius.- In their ships 
 some sailed up the Shannon and cast anchor at Lough Ree, some 
 remained at Limerick, some in Carlingford Bay, some at Dundalk, 
 some at Lough Neagh ; and while sixty ships were on the Boyne, 
 sixty others were on the Liffey.** From these vessels they sallied 
 forth and harassed the surrounding country. They plundered 
 Clondalkin (833), Glendalough and Slane and the churches of 
 Ormond (834), all Connaught (835), the Kingdom of Meath 
 and the churches of Lough Erne and Inniscaltra (836). Dublin 
 was captured in the same year. Ulster was harassed and Armagh 
 plundered (838), and Clonmacnoise and Clonfert and Lorrha 
 and Tirdaglass were burned (841). 
 
 The monasteries everywhere were the first objects of attack. 
 Here were the gold and silver vessels used in the service of the 
 church : here were the shrines of the saints, and here also 
 was consigned for safe-keeping the wealth of many, knowing 
 that the monasteries were respected by the most lawless of the 
 Irish, even in these lawless days. This wealth attracted the 
 Northmen, for their desire of gain was insatiable. Added to 
 
 * Wars of Gael and Gall; Todd's Introduction, p. 45. 
 t Healy, p. 275. 
 
 + Four Masters. 
 
 li Gael and Gall — Introduction, pp. 46-7. Four Masters at 851. 
 
 * * Four Masters. 
 
THE DANISH INVASION. 9 1 
 
 this was their fierce heathen fanaticism. They remembered 
 with bitterness all that their religion had suffered at the hands 
 of Charlemagne — how the Saxon followers of Odin had been 
 driven from their homes or murdered, and how all this had 
 been done in the name of Christianity.* The time for revenge 
 had come. In dishonoring Christ and his Church, they felt 
 they were honoring their pagan gods, and in the name of Odin 
 they massacred the priests and monks, desecrated the churches, 
 and laid so many monasteries in ruins. Turgesius had the 
 Primate of Armagh turned out of his See, and, in imitation, 
 or perhaps in mockery, became himself chief of the priests of 
 Odin, at Armagh ; and his wife gave audience seated on the 
 high altar of Clonmacnoise.f Verily, it seemed that the abomina- 
 tion of desolation had entered the holy places, and that, in Ireland 
 at least, the vision of the prophet had been realised. 
 
 Keating J gives a detailed account of the miseries suffered 
 by the Irish during the domination of Turgesius, and if all of 
 it be true, the Annals of Clonmacnoise do not exaggerate when 
 they compare their condition to that of the Christians under 
 the Turks. II Every cantred had its Danish ruler, every village 
 its Danish sergeant, in every house a Danish soldier was billetted 
 who acted in that house as absolute master. If the family had 
 money it was taken, if they had good clothes they were seized 
 and worn by the Danish soldier if they had fowl they were 
 eaten by him, if they had but one cow he used its milk, and he 
 heeded neither the wants of the sick, nor the cries of the little 
 children. If the family had arms they were seized, if they had 
 books they were torn or burned, and they were not allowed to 
 entertain others or to be entertained themselves.** A yearly 
 tribute of an ounce of gold was paid by each house, and if the 
 head of the family failed to pay, his nose was cut off, whence 
 the tax was called the nosegelt. This has been explained by saying 
 that each person had to pay taxes — that counting noses and 
 counting numbers were the same,! j but even such savagery 
 as cutting off people's noses might be expected from the Danes 
 if their record in other lands be remembered. To this intolerable 
 oppression, resistance was offered by the natives and sometimes 
 with success. The Kinnellconnell defeated them at Bally- 
 shannon Xi (836), the Dalcassians at Lough Derg, but the progress 
 
 * Halliday, pp. 6, 7, 8. 
 
 t Wars of the Gael and Gall ; Introduction, pp. 48-9. 
 
 X p. 426 
 
 II p 134. He declares that "the great Tamerlane, called the Scourge 
 of God, could not be compared to them for cruelty." 
 
 * * Keating, p. 426. 
 
 t t Wars of the Gael and Gall , Introduction, p. 103, note 3. 
 + + Ibid., chap.- 21 and 22, p. 21. 
 
92 HISTORY OF IRELAND. 
 
 of Turgesius was steady and persistent, and, in 845, the northern 
 portion of the country, as well as Meath and Connaught, lay 
 helpless at his feet. A little more and the whole country would 
 be conquered, but, in 845, his career of conquest ended, for in 
 that year he was defeated by Malachy, King of Meath, taken 
 prisoner and put to death. It is said he was drowned at Lough 
 Ennell, near Mullingar. Keating's account of how he was 
 captured is not without interest. Turgesius had built a palace 
 near the residence of Maelsachlin, King of Meath, and sometimes 
 visited him : and, on one of these occasions, he saw and became 
 enamoured of Maelsachlin's daughter, whose appearance and 
 manner were equally attractive. As he was already married 
 he could not demand her in marriage, nor did he desire to pay 
 her that honor, but merely wished to have her as one of his 
 mistresses. The lady's father knew it would be dangerous to 
 refuse, and agreed, with apparent readiness and goodwill, but 
 stipulated that his daughter should be sent privately to the 
 Danish palace, so as to save appearances and lest the lady's 
 character might suffer. He even promised that he would send 
 with her fifteen other beautiful maidens whom Turgesius might 
 also keep. At the appointed time the lady and her attendants 
 arrived, and were received by Turgesius and fifteen of his minis- 
 ters and favourites, and an entertainment was prepared. But 
 the attendants sent with the princess, instead of being young 
 women, were all young men of handsome appearance, disguised 
 as females and wearing arms under their female attire. Instead 
 of allowing their young mistress to be outraged by a hated pagan, 
 at a given signal, they rushed upon him, slew all his favourites, 
 and carried himself away into captivity.* 
 
 The death of Turgesius revived the drooping spirits of the 
 natives, and when Malachy, or Maelsachlin, became Ardri (846) 
 he vigorously attacked the invaders and was ably seconded 
 by some of the provincial chiefs. The Danes were defeated in 
 Westmeath (848), losing 700 in battle, in Tipperary they lost 
 240, at Balrothery (850), 200, at Rathallen, near Duleek, 300 ; 
 they were also defeated at Rathcommair in Meath by Malachy. f 
 They were much weakened and discouraged by their losses and 
 abandoned several of their conquests. These various battles 
 were fought principally with the Fingalls or Norwegians ; but 
 a large fleet of the Duvgalls arrived in Dublin (853). Instead 
 of joining with the Fingalls for the complete subjugation of 
 Ireland, the two nations quarrelled, and a desperate naval battle 
 was fought at Carlingford Bay, which lasted for three days 
 
 * Keating, pp. 428-32. 
 
 I Gael and Gall, chap. 22s Four Mastersi 
 
THE DANISH INVASION. 93 
 
 and ended in the complete overthrow of the Fingalls. A few- 
 years previously the Northmen had built a fortress at Athcliath 
 or Dublin. The conquerors at Carlingford Bay, attracted by 
 the advantageous position, took possession of the fortress, and 
 established the Kingdom of Dublin, with Olaf the White as their 
 King.* To the Irish the change from Fingalls to Dubhgalls 
 was merely one of name, for both were equally ferocious and 
 equally greedy of plunder. Olaf soon issued from Dublin and 
 plundered Leinster and Munster, and they left nothing from 
 Limerick to Cork that they did not ravage. They were not, 
 however, so constantly successful as Turgesius and Aedh (863-79), 
 the Ardri, who succeeded Malachy, inflicted upon them two 
 serious defeats at Lough Foyle (867) and at Kilmore, near 
 Drogheda (869), besides the battle of Kiladerry in Dublin (866).t 
 During the whole reign of Flan (879-915) there were no 
 further arrivals of Northmen. In Dublin and along the coast 
 the Danes were in permanent occupation, and were engaged 
 for the most part in commerce, but for fresh settlers the induce- 
 ments to come were few. These Northmen desired the glory 
 of victory and the wealth that is obtained by successful war. 
 Had they come in strong force, and fought under a single leader 
 such as Turgesius, they would, no doubt, have conquered the 
 whole country, but coming at difterent times and under different 
 leaders the resistance offered them was more effective, and the 
 battles fought at Lough Foyle and Drogheda and elsewhere 
 warned them that other contests also might end in defeat. Nor 
 could victory itself bring them the wealth that they desired. 
 The vessels of gold and silver were long since taken from the 
 churches, the shrines of the saints were broken open, the 
 monasteries were but sightless ruins, the inhabitants had been 
 so often plundered that nothing remained to them but poverty 
 and desolation, and from these possessions wealth could not be 
 extracted. For other reasons, too, no fresh bands of Northmen 
 appeared during this period. In the closing years of the ninth 
 century, Harold Harfagher, or the fair-haired, became supreme 
 King of Norway. ;|: Originally ruling but portion of that country, 
 he determined to extend his sway and consolidate the various 
 small states — weak, lawless and turbulent — into one powerful 
 kingdom. To vanquish these warlike Vikings was not an easy 
 task, but by patience and perseverance and superior military 
 skill he prevailed. The defeated chiefs fought as long as it 
 was possible, and then sullenly and reluctantly submitted. But 
 old habits are not easily laid aside ; they could not reconcile 
 
 * Halliday, p. 23. 
 
 f Four Masters^ 
 
 X Thierry ; Vol. I., p. 90. 
 
94 HISTORY OF IRELAND. 
 
 themselves to a life of law and settled government ; they loved 
 war and piracy, and against the new king and his government 
 they often rebelled. Driven into exile they founded settlements 
 in the islands of the North Sea, fitted up expeditions, attacked 
 passing vessels, and harassed the coasts of Norway itself, inflicting 
 much damage on the inhabitants. Harold determined to chastise 
 them ; with his fleet he pursued them even to the Orkneys 
 and the Hebrides ; and many a bold Viking, who might look 
 forward to the wealth and luxury of a more southern land, 
 had his fleet scattered, his vessels sunk, and himself sent pre- 
 maturely to Valhalla, to be entertained with Odin and his gods. 
 Those who escaped, or did not incur the wrath of Harold turned 
 their thoughts to the coasts of France, where tempting prospects 
 of plunder and conquest awaited them. The grandsons of 
 Charlemagne shared between them the splendid inheritance of 
 his Empire, but they did not inherit his genius to rule, or defend 
 what they possessed ; and while they were quarrelling among 
 themselves, one of the greatest of the Norse Vikings, Rollo, 
 descended upon the French coasts, sailed up the Seine, captured 
 Rouen, laid siege to Paris, and repeatedly plundered the sur- 
 rounding territory. Prompted by policy and fear, Charles the 
 Simple made peace with Rollo, gave him the Duchy of Normandy 
 and his daughter in marriage, and thus changed a fierce antago- 
 nist into the greatest bulwark of his throne.* Others of these 
 Northmen plundered Brittany and even Italy ; and in England 
 they were firmly planted in Mercia, East Anglia and North- 
 umbria. 
 
 It might have been thought that this period of repose from 
 Danish invasion would have been used by the Irish to repair 
 the ravages of war, and to organise their forces against future 
 attack. But the time was spent otherwise. The thoughts of 
 each clan were centred in itself. A neighbouring clan it regarded 
 with jealousy, viewed its increasing power with alarm, its 
 influence with envy, its wealth with cupidity and its misfortunes 
 without regret. A century of Danish incursions had not yet 
 taught these clansmen the advantages of combination, nor the 
 evils of dissension, nor the necessity of unity. The Danes were 
 aliens in race and creed, they had suffered untold miseries at 
 their hands, they felt they could have no security until the Danes 
 were beaten. Being Irish, it is unnecessary to say that they 
 were brave and did not shrink from fighting, but they fought 
 as men of Meath, or Tirowen, men of Desmond or Thomond. 
 They did not realise that they were all men of Erin and had a 
 common inheritance to defend. It was local interests alone they 
 rega.rded, local jealousies that actuated them, and when they 
 
 -* Thierryj Vol. I.5 pp. 94-7; 
 
THE DANISH INVASION. 95 
 
 no longer had swarms of Northmen to combat, they turned 
 their arms against each other ; and instead of the period (879- 
 915) being one of peace and preparation, it was a period of disas- 
 trous internal discord. Because the title of the Ardri was not 
 fully and freely recognised in Munster, in revenge, he made war 
 upon that province and plundered it from Kildare to Cork ; 
 Tirowen and Tirconnell he treated similarly.* The Kinnell 
 Owen and the rest of Ulster were at war (892) f ; as if weary 
 of peace the Ardri overran Connaught (895) and a little later 
 (898) the Connaughtmen were at war with Meath,| and Ossory 
 was attacked by the Deisi. Again, on some pretext, the Ardri 
 and the King of Leinster, in alliance, invaded Munster (906), || 
 and plundered it from Gowran to Limerick. The reigning 
 King of Cashel was Cormac, who was also a bishop. Collecting 
 his forces, he attacked the Ardri and his ally, and at Moylena 
 inflicted upon them well-merited defeat, and the same year he 
 defeated the forces of Meath and Connaught by whom he had 
 been assailed. Satisfied at having repelled all his assailants, he 
 looked forward to a long period of peace, for his ambition was 
 that of the scholar* * rather than the warrior. But his chief 
 adviser was Flaherty, abbot of Scattery Island, to whom the 
 seclusion of a monastery was less agreeable than the excitement 
 of the camp and the battlefield ; and his advice to Cormac was 
 to demand tribute of Leinster, and, following in the footsteps of 
 Fedlimy, to claim that he was Ardri. With a large army he entered 
 Leinster, and at Ballaghmoon, near Carlow, he was met by the 
 combined forces of the Ardri and the Kings of Leinster and 
 Connaught. Munster was defeated with the loss of 6000 men, 
 Cormac himself being among the slain. 
 
 During these years of internal discord, the Danish colonies 
 at Dublin, Waterford, and Limerick were not idle. They were 
 engaged principally in commerce, but old habits are not easily 
 laid aside, the traditionary instinct of the Dane was to plunder, 
 and beneath the merchant's garb the pirate could be discerned. 
 Taking advantage of native divisions, they sometimes sallied forth 
 from their strongholds and committed their usual depredations. 
 In native disputes their aid was often sought, for with the Irish 
 chiefs the passion of revenge had consumed all other passions, 
 and to defeat their own countrymen they welcomed the aid 
 of the pagan and the pirate. The son of Olaf the White, King 
 
 * Four Masiers. 
 t Ibid., p. 543, note. 
 : Ibid., p. 553. 
 
 II Annals of Ulster : the Four Masters give the date 902. 
 ** He was author of Cormac's Glossary, vid. Four Masters, Vol. II., p. 
 569 — note. 
 
96 HISTORY OF IRELAND. 
 
 of Dublin, by name Thorsten the Red, had married a grand- 
 daughter of Carroll, King of Ossory,* and when Olaf, with 
 his friend and ally Ivar, the son of Regnar Lodbrog, were engaged 
 in conquering East Anglia and Northumbria (866-7) and plun- 
 dering Scotland (870)! Carrol was put in possession of Dublin, 
 to hold it for the Danes and to defend it against native assaults. 
 Olaf returned to Ireland from Scotland (870), bringing with 
 him great booty, but the following year he was slain in battle, 
 and a year later Ivar died.;]: Ivar's brother — Halfdene — assuming 
 command continued his wars in Northumbria and Mercia, and 
 was able, in addition, to plunder the Picts and Britons of Strath- 
 clyde ; nor was it until 876 that he resolved to return to Ireland, 
 and claim the kingdom which the good sword of Olaf had won. 
 But the old quarrels between the Fingalls and Duvgalls were 
 revived ; the Fingalls, resenting the rule of Halfdene, revolted, 
 and in a naval battle at Strangford Lough, in which the White 
 Strangers and the Black Strangers contended for supremacy, 
 Halfdene was slain. |1 This series of fatalities among the Danish 
 leaders, added to the necessity of guarding their possessions in 
 England, left Dublin almost forgotten — until Carroll, who was 
 merely the ally and representative of the Danish kings, became 
 King of Dublin himself,** a position he held till his death (885), 
 when Sitric, the son of Ivar, came to Dublin and became king. 
 But Carroll, when he reigned, was King of Dublin by favour of 
 the Danes, he was their ally and friend, he defended Dublin by 
 their arms and with the same readiness as themselves, he allowed 
 them to plunder the Irish, and even led them to plunder ; and 
 under Sitric the war and plunder were continued. The Danes 
 plundered Kildare f t (885), defeated the Ardri t J (887), burned 
 Glendalough li II (889), Kildare*** (890), Armagh f 1 1 (894), 
 and allying themselves with the Deisi (893) they overran Ossory. 
 These depredations did not pass unavenged. The Limerick 
 Danes were defeated (887), and again four years later ; in Wex- 
 ford, Waterford and Connaught the Danes were also defeated; HI 
 Olaf of Dublin was beaten (895), and 800 of his army slain ; |l || ll 
 
 * Wars of the Gael and Gall, p. 264. Appendix D; 
 
 t Halliday, pp. 36-38. 
 
 X Ibid., p. 40. 
 
 y Ibid., pp. 43-44. 
 
 ** Ibid., p. 45. 
 
 tt Four Masters, 883. Annals of Ulster, 885; 
 
 XX Ibid., at year 885. 
 
 nil Ibid., 886. 
 
 *** Ibid., 887. 
 
 ttt Ibid., 893. 
 
 XXX Ibid., at 888. 
 
 mill Ibid., at 891. 
 
THE DANISH INVASION. 97 
 
 but the most important victory was the capture of Dublin* 
 (901) by the Leinstermen. The Danes were expelled from the 
 city, and for the remainder of Flan's reign, the most valued 
 possession of the Irish Danes was in native hands. 
 
 In the same year that Nial GlundufY became Ardri (915), 
 fresh swarms of Northmen appeared. Regnal landed at Waterford 
 and joined those who had arrived there in 912, and under his 
 leadership Munster was ravaged. The Ardri with his army 
 marched south, and encountered the Danes at a place called 
 Tober Glethrach (915), the battle being indecisive. In the follow- 
 ing year, Sitric landed at Dublin, captured the city, and defeated 
 the Leinstermen at Cen Fuat, and then plundered Kildare.f 
 During his absence in England, the Ardri attempted the capture 
 of the cit^'' and appears to have been quite confident of success. 
 But his confidence was misplaced, the sons of Sitric and Reginald, 
 not content with acting on the defensive, boldly issued from 
 the walls, met and defeated the Ardri, Nial, at Kilmashoge 
 near Rathfarnham. The Ardri himself was killed, so also were 
 several princes, and such was the loss sustained that the bards 
 sang of that day " The destructive morn of Athcliath " X 
 Armagh was plundered (92I), Dublin and Waterford were 
 unassailable Danish strongholds, but it was at Limerick 
 that Danish power was most difificult to be borne. 
 
 The Danish leader was Tomar, whose character and exploits 
 recall the memory of Turgesius. From Limerick he despatched 
 a fleet up the Shannon, plundered Clonmacnoise and the religious 
 establishments at Lough Ree ; and along the Shannon the 
 inhabitants were ground down with every form of oppression. 
 Their condition is described by Macliag in his Wars of the 
 Gael and Gall. |! " They killed the kings and the chieftains, 
 the heirs to the crown and the royal princes of Erin. They 
 killed the brave and the valiant and the stout knights,champions 
 and soldiers and young lords and the greater part of the heroes 
 and warriors of the entire Gael ; and they brought them under 
 tribute and servitude ; they reduced them to bondage and slavery. 
 Many were the blooming women and comely maidens and 
 blue-eyed young women and well brought up youths and valiant 
 champions they carried into bondage over the broad, green sea. 
 Alas, many and frequent were the bright and brilliant eyes 
 that were suffused with tears and dimmed with grief and despair 
 at the separation of son from father and daughter from mother 
 
 * Wars of Gael and Gall; Todd's Introduction, p. 82. Four Masters^ 
 897. 
 
 t Halliday,- p. 56. 
 + Halliday, pp. 58-g. 
 II Chapter 36, p. 43. 
 
q8 history of IRELAND. 
 
 and brother from brother, and relatives from their race ana 
 tribe." Yet these Danes were sometimes defeated, and from out 
 the gloom of such widespread disaster one heroic figure appeared, 
 whose example must have had an inspiriting effect on his country 
 men. This was Muirchertach, son of Nial Glunduff. His father 
 had fallen in battle with the Danes — the battle of Kilmashoge 
 — and he seems to have sworn that his father's death would be 
 avenged. With his own forces of Tirowen he fought the Danes 
 for twenty years, inflicting on them many defeats, and died 
 (943), falling at the battle of Ardee, in which the Danes, under 
 Blacar, were victors.* Muirchertach was heir to the Ardri's 
 throne and, to ensure recognition of his rights, he had made a 
 circuit of Ireland, taking hostages as he went along.f His journey 
 was made in winter, and to protect his troops from the cold he 
 had them clothed in leather coats, whence he has been called 
 Muirchertach of the Leather Coats. The new Ardri, Congalach, 
 defeated the Danes (944) + at Dublin, and even carried away 
 most of the inhabitants into captivity, and a few years later 
 (948),!! he also defeated them with heavy loss, their leader Blacar 
 being among the slain. He again defeated them at Muine Brecain 
 (95 1), but in 956* * the Ardri was defeated and slain by the Danes 
 aided by the Leinstermen. During the whole reign of Donal 
 (956-80) only one great battle was fought — that of Kilmore in 
 Meath, in which the Danes were victorious, but with the accession 
 of Malachy H. greater events were at hand. 
 
 Either from policy or conviction, the Dublin Danes had 
 now become Christians and had made alliances in marriage 
 with some of the Irish, but the Christian prohibition not to rob 
 or steal they little understood, or at least little observed. As 
 Christians, they made war as readily and with as little justifica- 
 tion as when they were yet pagans, and had as little scruple 
 about sacking a monastery or church, as when they marched 
 under the banners of Odin. Malachy determined to chastise 
 them, and the very year he became Ardri (980) he defeated 
 them at Tara,tt where Regnall, son of Olaf, King of Dublin, 
 was killed. With a heavy heart, as if he foresaw the ruin of his 
 dynasty, Olaf resigned the crown to his son Sitric, and went 
 on a pilgrimage to lona. In that venerable monastery, so often 
 laid in ruins by his kinsmen, he spent the closing years of his 
 
 * Four Masters at 94 1 . 
 
 •j- Halliday, p. 72. It appears among the hostages was the son of 
 Sitric, the Danish King of Dublin. 
 J Four Masters at 942. 
 11 Ibid, 946. 
 *• Ibid, 954. 
 tt Four Masters at 979. 
 
THE DANISH INVASION. 99 
 
 life,and there also he died,* consoled by the children of St.Columbas. 
 Malachy followed up his successes at Tara by attacking and 
 capturing the city of Dublin. He allowed the Danes to remain, 
 but compelled them to pay tribute, and to release all their captives 
 amounting to two thousand and including Donal, King of 
 Leinster. f He proclaimed that everyone of the Gael in captivity 
 with the foreigners was free to go to his own territory. Their 
 captivity and the hardships it entailed has been compared to 
 that more famous one of Babylon ; in the vigorous language 
 of the Fotir Masters it was " next to the captivity of hell." With 
 singular ingratitude the Leinster King was no sooner free from 
 Danish bonds than he allied himself with the Danes and turned 
 his arms against his deliverer ; but Malachy crushed this con- 
 federacy and overran Leinster (983). + He established his 
 authority in Connaught (985),|| and twice (989 and 996), he 
 suppressed revolts in Dublin and compelled that city to pay 
 him tribute. On the last of these occasions he took away the 
 sword and collar of Tomar, relics much prized by the Danes, and 
 afterwards Malachy wore this golden collar himself.** The 
 panegyrists of Brian Boru, who had already become all-powerful 
 in Munster, and was destined to become more powerful still, 
 do not wish to admit that he was ever defeated by Malachy. 
 But this is to ignore, or to suppress, historic facts.ff Malachy 
 defeated him in Thomond (990), in Connaught (992), and again 
 (996) in Tipperary. Menaced by a new and powerful coalition 
 — the Danes of Dublin and Maelmorra, King of Leinster — 
 these two chiefs, Malachy and Brian, laying aside their personal 
 jealousies, joined against the common enemy, and at the battle 
 of Glenmama (999) they fought side by side. 
 
 The saying has been attributed to Alexander the Great that 
 the world cannot be ruled by two suns, nor can it contain two 
 empires of the greatest magnitude, without disturbing the peace 
 of nations ||{{ ; and with Malachy and Brian, each supreme in 
 his own province, each without a superior or a rival, it seemed 
 impossible that the peace of Ireland could be secured. Malachy's 
 career was hitherto an unbroken series of triumphs, and Brian, 
 though sometimes repulsed, was usually victorious and never 
 suffered a serious reverse. His power had grown steadily, and, 
 
 * The year of his death is uncertain, and one of the Sagas asserts 
 that he was in Dublin in 994. (Hallidayj pp. 79-80.) 
 •j" Gael and Gaily p. 47. 
 X Four Masters. 
 II Ibid, 984. 
 
 ** Ibid., Vol. II., p 733. Note 
 ■ft Gael and Gall; Todd's IntroductioHj p. 142. 
 (Ill Quintus Curiius, Lib. IV., Chap. II. 
 
lOO HISTORY OF IRELAND. 
 
 from being merely chief of the Dalcassians, he had become 
 unquestioned monarch of Munster, and the most powerful and 
 ablest ruler that Munster had ever known. Perhaps, for the 
 sake of peace, more probably because of his impotence, Malachy 
 had already, by treaty, recognised Brian as king of the southern 
 half of Ireland, thus partially abdicating and no longer demanding 
 from Leath Moha either tribute or submission. All this did not 
 satisfy Brian ; he was ambitious and, having rid himself of a 
 superior, he could no longer tolerate an equal. With Sitric 
 and the Danes and with Maelmorra of Leinster, whom he had 
 lately fought, he made alliances, and, strengthened by these, 
 without warning, and in the teeth of his treaty with Malachy, 
 he entered Meath and set up his headquarters at Tara. Deserted 
 by his kinsmen in the north, Malachy with his own forces of 
 Meath felt unable to make headway against so many enemies 
 and acknowledged Brian as Ardri. Thus did the sceptre pass 
 from the descendants of the great Nial, after an interval of nearly 
 six centuries; and without doubt, Malachy, from whose hands 
 it passed, was one of the greatest of that royal line. 
 
<» ^.J^ 
 
 -^^ 
 •S'^" 
 
 
 <>i 
 
 
 
CHAPTER IX. 
 
 The Dalcassian Kings. 
 
 Ireland divided in the second century between Conn of the Hundred 
 Battles and Owen More into Leath Cuin,- or the Northern half of 
 Ireland, and Leath Mogha, or the Southern half — Leath Mogha sub- 
 divided by Oliol Olum between his two sons, Eoghan and Cormac 
 Cas, the former being King of Desmond, the latter King of Thomond, 
 and chief of the Dalcassians — Kennedyj King of Thomond died (95 1) — 
 Succeeded by his eldest son Mahon — The new King defeats the Danes — 
 Is treacherously murdered — Brian becomes King — He defeats the 
 . Danes — Treaty with Malachy,- the Ardri — Battle of Glenmama — 
 Brian deposes Malachy and becomes Ardri himself — His reign — Battle 
 of Clontarf. 
 
 In the second century, among the chieftains who ruled the 
 Irish clans, there were two who stood out in special prominence 
 — Eoghan or Owen More, sometimes called Mogh Nuadhat, and 
 Conn of the Hundred Battles. Neither wished to have a superior, 
 nor an equal ; each aimed at supreme power ; they fought often 
 and with varying success, and at length made peace by dividing 
 the sovereignty of Ireland between them. The dividing line 
 extended from Dublin due west to Galway Bay, and was marked 
 by a line of low sand-hills.* North of this line was Leath Cuin, 
 or Conn's half, and included Ulster and Meath and Connaught. 
 South of the line was Leath Mogh, or Owen's half, and included 
 Desmond and Thomond and Leinster, though at no time was 
 Leinster disposed to acquiesce in the rule of a southern Ardri, 
 or to acknowledge any allegiance to a southern king.f Still 
 unsatisfied, still hoping to extend his power, Owen More, after 
 an interval of a year, made war upon the northern monarch. % 
 Conn had the assistance of the famous Red Branch knights, and 
 
 * Called Esker-Riada, and terminated at Clarenbridge in Galway. 
 {Four M asters i Vol. I., p. 104.) 
 
 t Book of Rights, pp. 58-9. Note, 
 j Annals of Clonmacnoise, p. 59. 
 
I02 HISTORY OF IRELAND. 
 
 above all of Goll, the Firbolg chief of the militia of Connaught,* 
 and, at the battle of Moylena, Owen was defeated and slain, f 
 With his death the power of his family sank even more rapidly 
 than it rose, and though Owen's son, Oliol Olum, was undisputed 
 ruler of Desmond and Thomond, and was styled king of the 
 southern half of Ireland, his authority over Leinster was not 
 recognised. In modern times the Irish farmer has often divided 
 his farm between two or more of his children, leaving to each 
 an inheritance of poverty. In a similar spirit, and with equally 
 unfortunate results, did Oliol Olum divide his kingdom between 
 his two sons, Eoghan and Cormac Cass ; the descendants of the 
 former, in later times, being often called the Eoghanachts, and 
 those of the latter, the Dalcassians. To Eoghan, who was the 
 elder, he left the province of Desmond, to Cormac, Thomond, 
 directing that the supreme honour of King of Munster, 
 with the royal residence at Cashel, should be alternately held 
 by their descendants. X The arrangement seemed equitable 
 enough, but it weakened the power of Munster by dividing it ; it 
 fostered jealousies and rivalries, and the contests were frequent 
 and bitter between the Kings of Desmond and Thomond, for 
 the higher position of King of Munster. 
 
 Brian Boru was of the family of Cormac Cass. His father 
 was Kennedy, son of Lorcan. He was slain in battle with the 
 Danes (951). II At his death Brian was but a lad of ten years. 
 His elder brother, also, Donchuad, had been killed fighting the 
 Danes (948), and the young prince must have imbibed from 
 his earliest years, a hatred of these foreigners ; and what he 
 saw with his own eyes and heard with his own ears must have 
 intensified that hate. The oppression of Tomar was still fresh 
 in the rninds of men, and the sons of Ivar, who then ruled at 
 Limerick,** followed but too faithfully in Tomar's footsteps. 
 The Danish ships, which so often spread their sails upon the 
 Shannon, still carried, as in Tomar's time, desolation and death 
 to many a home ; and the churches and monasteries 
 on Lough Ree and the islands of the Shannon were no 
 sooner repaired than they were again overwhelmed in ruin. 
 In his father's palace, at Kincora, he had often heard of how the 
 poor man's cattle were carried off, how his childi'en were swept 
 
 * Lady Ferguson ; The Irish before the Conquest, p. 97. 
 
 t As Conn is said to have enjoyed peace for 20 years after this battle, 
 and as he died in 157 {Four Masters) the date of the battle is ascertained 
 as 137. 
 
 X Book of Rights, p. 72 ; Note. 
 
 II Annals of Innisfallen, quoted by Todd ; Introd. to Gad and Gall,, 
 p. 97. 
 
 ** Gael and Gall; Introduction, p. 105. 
 
THE DALCASSIAN KINGS. I03 
 
 away into slavery, and how these pagans, with veneration for 
 neither God nor man, loved to heap indignities on his Church 
 and mocked at the mysteries of his faith. Often he saw his 
 clansmen go forth to battle in proud array, and come back, their 
 ranks broken and thinned, leaving their best and bravest behind 
 them, struck down by the Danish battle-axes. The bards, who 
 recounted the gallant deeds of the Dalcassians, had also to chronicle 
 their defeats, and the piteous wail of the widow and the orphan 
 too often replaced the exulting cry of victory. As he listened to 
 the harper's song, if his cheeks glowed with pride at the recital 
 of his kinsmen's deeds, his heart also melted with pity as he 
 heard the mournful song of the captive held in Danish bonds 
 and pining for his kindred and his home. For the harper excited 
 sympathy for the oppressed, as well as emulation for the brave, 
 and often the saddening strains of captivity and suffering were 
 mingled with the livelier notes of the battle march. Filled with 
 pity for his oppressed kinsmen and with indignation against 
 their oppressors, he must have often longed to be at the head 
 of his gallant clansmen, and to wrest from the grasp of these 
 haughty foreigners those fertile fields along the Shannon, which 
 were the birth-right of his family and his race. 
 
 Brian's elder brother, Mahon, became King of Thomond 
 (951), his claims of descent being recognised by the chiefs of 
 the Dalcassians. He was no less entitled to be King of Munster, 
 for the last king was of the Eugenian line, and, by the will of 
 Oliol Olum, it was the right of Mahon to succeed. But the chiefs 
 of Desmond refused to recognise him, nor did they for several 
 years, and then only with reluctance. Mahon's first concern 
 was with the Danes. The ancient territory of Thomond, in- 
 cluded the present county of Clare, and that part of Galway 
 from Galway Bay eastward in a straight line to where the Suck 
 mingles its waters with the Shannon, and beyond the Shannon, 
 eastward still to Ossory and, southwards, below the city of 
 Limerick.* With this fine province the Danes had played sad 
 havoc. From their strongholds at Limerick and Tradree,f they 
 were absolute masters of the Shannon and the portion eastward 
 to Ossory was so much in their power that Mahon finally 
 abandoned it and had to content himself with the district west 
 of the Shannon. Nor was even this part of Thomond free. The 
 Danes were progressing westwards, and all the indications were 
 that all Thomond would speedily become their prey. For a time 
 Mahon, aided by Brian, kept up a desultory and indecisive 
 struggle, and then he made peace with the Danes. To this peace 
 
 * Book of Rights, p. 260. The southern boundary of Thomond is still 
 preserved in that of the diocese of Killaloe. 
 
 •j- Near Bunratty, on the Clare side of the Shannon. 
 
I04 HISTORY OF IRELAND. 
 
 Brian refused to consent, and at the head of a few followers, 
 equally determined and desperate as himself, he carried on the 
 warfare still. He avoided pitched battles with the enemy, fell 
 upon small detached parties of them, harassed them by night, 
 waylaid them on their marches, cut them off in twos and threes 
 and fives, and made the whole district west of the Shannon 
 unsafe for them, except while they were within the shelter of 
 their strongholds. In this guerilla warfare the sufferings of 
 himself and his men were great. They had to often change their 
 encampments, they had to sleep in woods and caves, and, worn 
 out without sleep and often without food, in addition to their 
 losses in battle, their numbers became so reduced, that at last 
 Brian had but fifteen men under his command.* Mahon 
 remonstrated with him, and pointed out the futility of his conduct 
 in wasting his strength and the lives of his clansmen against 
 overwhelming odds. Brian's answer was a reproach. They 
 should not, he avowed, abandon to dark foreigners and black 
 grim gentiles the inheritance which their fathers and grand- 
 fathers had transmitted to them, and which in their own day 
 they had known how to defend ■]" ; and he was sure that his 
 grandfather Lorcan would have never made such a peace as 
 Mahon had done, neither would Lughaid Menn, nor Core, the 
 son of Cas, the man who had first routed the foreigners. Either 
 his reasons, or his reproaches, impressed Mahon. He called 
 together the clansmen of Thomond to consult, and unanimously 
 they declared for war. With Mahon and Brian at their head 
 they crossed the Shannon, captured the Danish strongholds 
 and,joined by the friendly tribes of the Eoghanacts andMuskerry,J 
 they wreaked ample vengeance on the Danes and, finally (964), 
 they entered Cashel in triumph. 
 
 While these events were in progress, Ivar of Limerick seemed 
 to slumber, but the rapid progress of Mahon roused him from 
 his repose. As head of the Munster Danes, he viewed their 
 defeat with sorrow, and the sudden advancement of Mahon 
 with alarm. To crush these aspiring Dalcassians, he summoned 
 the Danes from all quarters of Munster. Nor was he without 
 native allies, for Molloy, King of Desmond, and Donovan of 
 Hy-Carbry and Hy-Fidghente, were jealous of Mahon, and with 
 strange perversity, though they hated the Danes they hated 
 
 * Wars of tlie Gael and Gall, pp. 61-2. 
 
 t Ibid., pp. 67-70. 
 
 X They were the descendants of Carbry Muse, King of Ireland in the 
 third century. Their territories included the present baronies of East 
 and West Muskerry, County of Cork, and those of Clanwilliam and Upper 
 and Lower Ormond, County Tipperary. {Gael and Gall, Todd's Introd., 
 p. 115). Vid. also Book of Rights, pp. 42-45. 
 
THE DALCASSIAN KINGS. I05 
 
 their own countrymen more ; and willingly and even eagerly 
 they joined Ivar.* This powerful confederacy, Mahon and Brian 
 took measures to resist. The friendly Munster clans answered 
 their call, even theDelbnaf clan from Connaught came to their 
 assistance, and when all were assembled they determined to 
 await at Sulcoit, or Solohead (968), the attack of the advancing 
 Danes. The place, some two miles north-west of Tipperary, 
 was covered by a wood of sallow trees, which was used as shelter 
 by the Irish troops. We do not know the numbers engaged, 
 nor the tactics pursued, but it was the Danes who attacked, 
 and some, if not all, of them were clothed in coats of mail J 
 but this did not avail them. The Irish had by that time learned 
 to use the battle-axe as dexterously as the Danes themselves, 
 recent victories had given them courage, and the memory of 
 past wrongs nerved their arms in the fight. After a furious 
 contest, lasting from sunrise to mid -day, the Danes retreated on 
 all sides, pursued by the victorious Irish, and were slaughtered 
 without mercy. With little delay, Mahon and Brian advanced 
 to Limerick, and in the city fort, to which the Danes fled, they 
 were mercilessly cut down and both fort and city plundered 
 and burned. The spoils that fell to the victors are enumerated 
 — " beautiful and foreign saddles; jewels, gold and silver, and silks; 
 soft, youthful, bright girls ; blooming, silk-clad women ; active, 
 well-formed boys." The trembling captives were marshalled 
 on the hillocks of Saingel, outside Limerick, and " everyone 
 that was lit for war was put to death, and everyone that was 
 fit for a slave was enslaved. "I| Mahon secured his position by 
 getting hostages from the various Munster clans, taking special 
 care to have hostages from Donovan and Molloy. Their ally, 
 Ivar, fled with a remnant of his forces to Scattery Island, which 
 henceforth became his stronghold.** 
 
 Under Mahon's vigorous rule the Danes were kept in check, 
 the native chiefs were awed into submission, the clamour of 
 faction was stilled, and Munster, for nearly eight years, enjoyed 
 the blessings of peace. All this was little suited to Ivar and his 
 Danes. Cooped up in their island-stronghold in the Shannon, 
 they were compelled to confine themselves to the peaceful occu- 
 pations of commerce, and had to desist from violence and plunder, 
 while the Munster clans acquiesced in the rule of Mahon and 
 
 * Gael and Gall, pp. 73-75. 
 
 t Book of Rights, p. 105. Their territory was the present barony of 
 Moycullen (Galway). They were descended, like the O'Briens, from Cormac 
 Cas. 
 
 + Gael and Gall, p. jj. There is mention made of a " battalion of 
 horsemen in corselets." 
 
 ;| Ibid., pp. 79-81. 
 
 ** Ibid., p. 85. 
 
I06 HISTORY OF IRELAND. 
 
 contentedly reposed under the protecting shelter of his power. 
 To stir up strife, to promote discord, to set clan against clan, 
 above all to weaken and, if possible, to destroy Mahon was now 
 Ivar's ambition. To Donovan and Molloy he again appealed, 
 asking them if they would tamely submit to be subjects of him 
 whom they had long held as inferior to themselves. The seed 
 was cast upon a not unfruitful soil. Both chiefs were the repre- 
 sentatives of Eoghan, and the sons of Eoghan regarded with 
 disdain the chiefs of the Dalcassians. With larger territory and 
 greater power, they often set at defiance the will of Oliol Olum, 
 and seldom acknowledged any of the Dalcassians as King of 
 Munster. This inherited antipathy had been already shown 
 by Donovan and Molloy, and it was embittered by recent defeat. 
 They believed that the present power of Thomond was due to 
 the commanding talents of Mahon, and that if he were removed, 
 the predominance of Desmond would return. Filled with these 
 hopes, they entered into a conspiracy with Ivar* and perpetrated 
 a heinous crime, which has covered their names with perpetual 
 infamy. Pretending friendship, Donovan invited Mahon to a 
 banquet at his palace at Bruree. Mahon went, but as he had 
 experience already of Donovan's treachery, he was distrustful, 
 and stipulated for the safe conduct of the Bishop of Cork, and 
 besides, he carried on his person the Gospel of St. Finbarr, a 
 relic much venerated in the Irish Church. Thus protected, he 
 counted on immunity from foul play. But Donovan would 
 be restrained by no guarantees ; he made Mahon prisoner and 
 sent him southwards to Molloy, to be dealt with as they had 
 already agreed. To lull suspicion, Molloy sent one of the Cork 
 clergy with the escort which he sent north, and to which Mahon 
 was to be delivered, but he had also given secret orders that he 
 was to be murdered ; and at a place called in modern times 
 Redchair, on the confines of Limerick and Cork, and on the 
 road from Kilmallock to Fermoy the deed was done. The priest 
 was unsuspecting and so also was the Bishop of Cork, who accom- 
 panied Molloy, and was some distance in the rere. Mahon was 
 unarmed and seeing the murderer about to strike, he threw 
 to the priest the Gospel of St. Finbarr, lest it might be stained 
 with his blood, but the fatal blow had been already struck, the 
 shrine containing the book was bespattered with his blood, and 
 with the sword plunged in his heart, Mahon fell dead. The 
 horrified Bishop of Cork, turning to Molloy, asked what it all 
 meant. He was answered with a sneer. " Cure yonder man " 
 said Molloy, and putting spurs to his horse he rapidly rode away, f 
 
 ♦ Gael mid Gall, pp. 85-7. 
 
 t Healy's Ancient Schools and Scholars ^ pp. 484-5 ; Gael and Gall, 
 p. 89. 
 
THE DALCASSIAN KINGS. I07 
 
 By the rule of alternate succession Molloy became King of 
 Munster. Freed from the hated superiority of Mahon, backed 
 by Donovan and Ivar, he regarded his position as unassailable, 
 never thinking that Brian, the new King of Thomond, had 
 equal ability or resources to those of Mahon. He was destined 
 to discover his error. In the quaint language of MacLiag, Brian 
 was not a stone in place of an egg, nor a wisp of hay in place of 
 a club, but he was a hero in place of a hero.* He deeply 
 mourned his brother's death, with whom he had shared so many 
 sorrows and so many triumphs, but the days of mourning soon 
 passed and he turned to the sterner duty of retribution and 
 revenge. His first attack was on the Danes. In Scattery Island 
 they thought themselves safe ; the memory and sanctity of St. 
 Senanus still hovered over the spot ; and they expected that the 
 holy associations of the place would shield them from Brian's 
 rage.f But Brian was resolved on extirpating them and aided 
 by his kinsmen the O'Donnells of Corcabascin, he manned a 
 fleet, landed on the island, and almost annihilated the Danes 
 {977), among the slain being Ivar and his sons. A remnant 
 of the Limerick Danes under Harold now joined Donovan, and 
 against this combination Brian turned his victorious arms. 
 Entering Hy-Fidghente, he captured Donovan's fortress of 
 Cathair Cuan, and both Harold and Donovan were killed. J 
 Almost immediately he attacked Molloy, and at Bealach Leachta, 
 near Macroom, he defeated him (978) with the loss of 1200 men, 
 Molloy himself falling in the battle. || In this way were the 
 murderers of Mahon punished for their crime. 
 
 These victories made Brian undisputed King of Munster, 
 and far beyond its limits he soon carried the terror of his name. 
 The Deisi, who showed some sympathy with his late enemies, 
 he compelled to give hostages, he interdicted the churches 
 throughout Munster from giving sanctuary either to rebels or 
 thieves, the Danes of Waterford became his subjects, or at least 
 his allies, he imprisoned Gillapatrick, King of Ossory, and made 
 his province tributary, nor was he satisfied until he entered 
 Leinster (984), and received homage from Donal Claen, its king. 
 Thus did he become monarch of the southern half of Ireland, 
 and ruled over the whole extent of territory once ruled by his 
 ancestor, Eoghan More. But it is the nature of ambition to be 
 insatiable, and even with the ample enlargement of his dominions, 
 Brian was not yet satisfied. With three hundred vessels, he sailed 
 
 * Gael and Gall, p. lor. 
 
 t Indeed the Four Masters say that the island was violated by Brian; 
 (.Four AI asters, Vol. II., p. 705.) 
 X Gael and Gall, p. 103. 
 II Ibid, p. 107. 
 
I08 HISTORY OF IRELAND. 
 
 Up the Shannon, ravaged Meath and Breffni, perpetrated great 
 evils in Connaught (988), killing the son of the Connaught crown 
 prince.* His victorious progress filled the Ardri with alarm, 
 nor was Malachy one to have his rights thus openly invaded, 
 and, above all, to have his hereditary territory of Meath ravaged 
 with impunity. Carrying the war into Brian's own territory, 
 he entered Thomond, and defeated the Dalcassians (990) with 
 the loss of six hundred men.f In the plain of Magh-Adhair, and 
 under the shade of a great tree, the kings of Thomond were 
 always solemnly inaugurated, in the presence of representatives 
 of all the Dalcassian clans. In indignation, Malachy tore up 
 this venerable tree, cut it into pieces, and used it to roof part of 
 his palace.J Two years later he defeated Brian in Meath, and a 
 little later still (996), he defeated him near Nenagh. !1 How 
 this war between two such able chiefs would have ended, it was 
 impossible to foresee, but both had the sense and patriotism 
 to wish it ended, and at Plein-Phuttoge** in Westmeath, on the 
 shores of Lough Owell, they met (998) and agreed, as did Conn 
 and Eoghan in olden days, to divide Ireland between them. 
 Munster and Leinster, as also the tribes of Hy-Fiacra Aine and 
 Hy-Many,ff were given to Brian, and the sole sovereignty of 
 Leath Cuin, with this exception, to belong to Malachy, without 
 war or trespass from Brian. The two kings became allies and 
 friends and in more than one hour of trial they fought subse- 
 quently side by side. 
 
 The power of the Limerick Danes was now broken ; the 
 Danes of Waterford crouched in submission at Brian's feet, 
 and in his war in Connaught were proud to fight in his army ; 
 but the Dublin Danes were still strong. They had been compelled 
 to pay tribute to Malachy, but the tribute did not appreciably 
 diminish their resources. Transferred from Malachy to Brian, 
 they resolved to revolt against their new master. Perhaps they 
 were encouraged by his recent defeats at the hands of Malachy, 
 perhaps they hoped that the alliance between the two kings 
 would not be either cordial or lasting, and that jealousies would 
 arise to mar its efficacy ; but most of all they hoped from their 
 alliance with Maelmorra, King of Leinster, who placed the whole 
 resources of his kingdom at their command. Brian was not one 
 to delay when rebellion had to be crushed, and rapidly mustering 
 
 * Gael and Gall, pp. 107-109. 
 t Fotir Masters. 
 
 X White's History of Clare, p. 54. 
 
 II The southern historians are silent about these victories. 
 ** Gael and Gall, p. 109. Introduction, p. 142. 
 
 ft Hy Many is usually included in ancient maps in the northern half 
 or Leath Cuinn. 
 
THE DALCASSIAN KINGS. IO9 
 
 his forces, he marched towards DubHn. On his way he was 
 joined by Malachy, and to the joy of the whole nation, so long 
 wearied with discord, the two kings fought together against the 
 common enemy. In the county of Wicklow, near the present 
 town of Dunlavin, the battle was fought (jiooo). A low range 
 of hills, running parallel to the Wicklow mountains, is here cut 
 by the valley of Glenmama, and in this valley the opposing forces 
 met.* The broader plains of Kildare would have better suited 
 the Danish cavalry, and thither they were hastening, but the 
 rapidity of Brian's march disconcerted them, and in a narrow 
 space the use of cavalry was of little advantage. After a severe 
 contest the Irish forces were victorious, the Danes losing 4000, 
 among them Harold, the Danish Crown Prince. Maelmorra 
 of Leinster, feeling how guilty he had been, dreaded falling into 
 the hands of his enemies, and hid himself in a yew tree,t but he 
 was discovered and dragged from his hiding place by Murrogh, 
 son of Brian, though his life was spared. Without delay the 
 conquerors entered Dublin. The spoils in the captured city 
 were immense and for the most part fell to Brian. Gold, silver 
 bronze, precious stones, " buffalo horns and beautiful goblets," 
 and to these are added m.any women, boys and girls who were 
 carried away into slavery by the Irish. J From Dublin, Brian 
 ravaged Leinster, levelled its fortresses, burnt its woods and 
 then returned to Kincora, laden with spoil. 
 
 In the light of subsequent events it seems evident that before 
 his treaty with Malachy, Brian had determined to become Ardri 
 himself. The vigour and capacity of Malachy caused him to 
 dissemble, but his plans were postponed rather than abandoned, 
 and when the Danes and Leinster were vanquished, he thought 
 the opportune moment had arrived. With his late enemies he 
 formed alliances, giving his daughter to Sitric, the Danish King 
 of Dublin in marriage, and himself taking Sitric's mother, 
 Gormfleth, who was sister of Maelmorra of Leinster. || Aided 
 by these new allies, and in violation of his treaty with Malachy, 
 he entered Meath and demanded hostages. The cavalry of his 
 Danish allies pushed forward in advance ; Malachy fell upon 
 them and cut them to pieces** and Brian, disconcerted by this 
 disaster, withdrew. But he was tenacious and persevering and 
 the next year (1002) he again entered Meath, established his 
 headquarters atTara, and peremptorily demanded that Malachy 
 should abdicate in his favour. 
 
 * Gael and Gall, p. iii ; Introduction, pp. 145-6; 
 
 t Ibid.^ p. 119. 
 
 X Ibid., pp. 1 15-17. 
 
 !| Gael and Gall^ p. 119; Introduction, pp. 148-9. 
 
 •** Four Masters at the year 999. 
 
no HISTORY OF IRELAND. 
 
 For nearly 600 years the supreme position of Ardri had 
 belonged to the descendants of Nial — the chiefs of Meath, 
 Tirowen and Tirconnell. The succession was sometimes irregular 
 and often disputed, but it was always confined to the same family 
 and from the ninth century it was narrowed down to the princes 
 of Meath and Tirowen ; and among these the rule of alternate 
 succession prevailed, an arrangement similar to that which 
 existed in the south between the Kings of Desmond and Thomond. 
 Time had given stability to the arrangement, and possession of 
 the throne for centuries had established prescriptive rights of 
 which few royal houses in that age could boast. Even the most 
 ambitious hesitated to assail a dynasty which the changes of 
 centuries had not overturned, and except Fedlimy in the ninth, 
 and Cormac in the tenth century, no king of either north or 
 south had presumed to take the honour from the house of Nial. 
 Nor was there in the eleventh century among these princes the 
 same discord as in the centuries which had passed. The number 
 of Ardris who died peaceably was increasingly large, and of those 
 who fell in battle, all, or nearly all, fell in battle with the Danes. 
 Malachy was no mere faction fighter ; he knew the evils of 
 dissension ; he appreciated the advantage of a strong central 
 government, strong enough to make itself respected and feared ; 
 he recognised the great capacity of Brian, knew that his resources 
 were great and that with the Danes and Leinstermen as his 
 allies his power seemed overwhelming. Yet his own title to the 
 supreme position was unquestioned ; what he had inherited he 
 was unwilling to abandon without a struggle ; and if he could 
 have obtained the help of the Northern princes, he would have 
 fought rather than submitted. To Aedh of Tirowen,* Eochy 
 of Uladh, and Cahal of Connaught he sent Slevin, his Chief Bard, 
 who appealed for aid to those princes with a bard's impassioned 
 eloquence."!" He indignantly asked Aedh was he going to submit 
 to one who was bv.t lately the chief of a Munster clan, was he 
 going to disgrace the memory of his ancestors and surrender 
 without a blow the inheritance won by the genius of the great 
 Nial. Aedh's answer was that when a Tirowen prince was Ardri, 
 he was able to defend his position, and that he would not risk 
 his life in battle with the Dalcassians, in defence of sovereignty 
 for any other man. Hoping to succeed where his Chief Bard had 
 failed, Malachy appealed to Aedh in person, offered even to 
 abdicate in Aedh's favour and to fight by his side. This offer 
 Aedh was willing to accept, but his clansmen had to be consulted 
 
 • Aedh was Malachy's uncle, and had therefore a personal interest in 
 maintaining the supremacy of Leath Cuinn. 
 ■f Gael and Gall, pp. 1 21-127. 
 
THE DALCASSIAN KINGS. Ill 
 
 and they decided to reject it, except on the insulting condition 
 that Malachy would surrender to Tirowen half of his ancestral 
 territory of Meath. Disgusted and disheartened, Malachy 
 returned home, called his clansmen together and the decision 
 was to submit to Brian. With twelve score horsemen, Malachy 
 rode to Tara and submitted to Brian, telling him that he would 
 have fought if he could have got the assistance that he sought.* 
 He was received with every mark of respect and became Brian's 
 ally and friend. 
 
 The resources of the new Ardri were such that no power in 
 Ireland could successfully resist him. Yet the Northern princes 
 Aedh and Eochy still held out, and the submission of Cahal of 
 Connaught was sullen and reluctant. With a strong fleet Brian 
 sailed up the Shannon, menaced Connaught with a large army 
 at Athlone, and Cahal was compelled to give the requisite hos- 
 tages.j In the same year ('1003) the Ardri marched northwards 
 as far as Dundalk where he had a conference with 
 Aedh and Eochy and made a truce with them for a year. 
 When the year was over he again marched northwards 
 and received submission from all as far as Armagh, but 
 in the meantime the northern princes had quarrelled and 
 gone to war, and at Crabh Tulcha X both Aedh and Eochy were 
 slain. The favourable moment was seized by Brian and he took 
 hostages from all the north. On his way south he stopped at 
 Armagh and laid an offering of twenty ounces of gold on the 
 high altar of the church, a fact commemorated in the Book of 
 Armagh. Perhaps, as Todd thinks, by this politic measure he 
 wished to secure the good will of the clergy, and obtain for his 
 infant dynasty the prestige of the Church's support. The sub- 
 mission of the more powerful princes secured, he might feel 
 safe upon his throne, but there were still some lesser chiefs from 
 whom trouble, if not danger, might arise. To guard against 
 such a contingency he made a circuit of the whole country 
 taking hostages as he went along. With the Dublin and Waterford 
 Danes and his own Munster clans he left Kincora (1005), passed 
 through Roscommon, where he was joined by the Connaughtmen, 
 thence over the Curlew mountains through Sligo, Leitrim, 
 Donegal and Tyrone, thence to Dalriadia, Uladh and Dalaradh || 
 and south to Meath, where his followers were disbanded, the 
 
 * Gael and. Gall, p. 131. 
 
 t Ibid., p. 133- 
 
 % Ibid.; p.- 133. The place is now called Crewe, near Glenavy, in the 
 barony of Upper Masserene, County of Antrim. {Four Masters, Vol. II.j 
 p. 749, note.) 
 
 II These three principalities would be represented by the present 
 Counties of Antrim and Down. 
 
112 HISTORY OF IRELAND. 
 
 Connaughtmen going west, the Danes to Dublin and Waterford, 
 and Brian himself to Kincora.* 
 
 The Ardri was then past his sixtieth year, and in his old age 
 he might expect peace after so many wars and rest after so many 
 labours. His wish was to repair in peace the ravages of war. 
 Roads and bridges were constructed, harbours built, new churches 
 erected and ruined ones repaired, and as a terror to rebellion 
 several strong fortresses were erected throughout Munster.f 
 Under his vigorous rule justice was administered with impartiality, 
 lawlessness was suppressed, the piracy of the Dane and the foray 
 of the native chief were alike ended ; and the legend has survived, 
 that a maiden, young, beautiful, and richly dressed, and with 
 a gold ring on her wand, might pass unmolested from Tory 
 Island to Glandore. J In the churches the priest could offer 
 Mass and the people worship in security, the monks in their 
 convents chanted the psalms as of old, the hermit fasted and 
 prayed without his devotions being interrupted by a pagan foe, 
 and in the schools and colleges erected and liberally endowed, 
 the Ollave was paid to teach and the children encouraged to 
 learn. Engaged wholly in commerce, the Danes were rapidly 
 enriching tlie seaport towns and paid regularly their tribute of 
 wine to the Ardri ; the Boru tribute was revived — a fatal mistake 
 — and was paid by Leinster ; the other chiefs paid their various 
 contributions ; and, at Kincora, Brian dispensed a hospitality 
 not unworthy of a great king. In his palace the songs of triumph 
 were once more heard, the valour of the Dalcassians was extolled 
 and sometimes the old monarch himself took his harp and played 
 for the assembled guests. || For nearly ten years Ireland enjoyed 
 a period of almost unbroken peace.** Once there was unrest 
 among the Northern clans (loio), and again, in Ossory, but 
 Murrogh, the Ardri's son, suppressed these disturbances, and 
 the personal intervention of Brian was not called for, until the 
 Danes and Leinster united against him, and he was compelled 
 to make the greatest effort of his life, as it was also destined to 
 be his last. 
 
 The imposition of the hated cow tribute ff was galling to the 
 Leinstermen, who submitted only through fear. The restraints 
 
 * Gael and Gall, p. 137. 
 
 t Ibid., 141 
 
 X Gael and Gall. p. 139. Introd.j p. 159. 
 
 II The harp in Trinity College, commonly called Brian's harp, is not 
 as old as the time of Brian (O Curry's Manners and Customs, Vol. III.j 
 p. 269.) 
 
 ** This is MacLiag's account, but Todd has justly remarked that the 
 Annals for the period do not bear him out. (Introd.^ p. 159, note.) 
 
 ft The date at which Brian reimposed it is uncertain^ perhaps after 
 becoming Ardri. 
 
THE DALCASSIAN KINGS. II3 
 
 of a strong government were equally galling to the Danes. 
 Sharing the common misfortune of subjection, both Danes and 
 Leinstermen entertained the common hope of deliverance ; they 
 watched for a favourable moment to strike ; the embers of dis- 
 content smouldered, and a spark only was required to kindle 
 them into flame. As part of his tribute the Leinster King was 
 bringing to Kincora (1013), three pine trees for ship's masts, 
 and amongst the carriers some dispute arose as to who was to 
 be in the first place. To end the dispute the king himself took 
 the first place, and in his exertions in carrying the tree one of 
 the silver buttons of his tunic was torn off.* At Kincora he 
 handed the tunic to his sister, Gormfleth,t asking her to sew 
 on the displaced button, but the lady, instead, heaped reproaches 
 on him for being a mere vassal, and angrily flung the tunic into 
 the fire. The position she occupied in Brian's palace is not easily 
 explained. She had married in succession Olaf Cuaran of Dublin 
 and Malachy, the late Ardri. By each she was repudiated, and 
 finally she married Brian. J By Olaf, she was the mother of Sitric, 
 the Danish King of Dublin ; by Malachy also she had a son, 
 but she was not the mother of any of Brian's children. |l Nor 
 can she have been his wife if she was also Malachy's wife, for 
 they were all Christians, and the bond of Christian marriage 
 is the same for a king as for a subject. Kings have rarely been 
 slow to break through moral restraints and it seems likely that 
 her connection with Brian was one of those irregular and illicit 
 connections which have often disgraced a throne. Nor was 
 Gormfleth's character inconsistent with this assumption. In 
 the words of the Saga, in all phyiscal and natural endowments, 
 " she was the fairest of women," but in her moral conduct " she 
 did all things ill." Her taunting words irritated Maelmorra, and 
 his irritation was soon shown. Looking on at a game of chess 
 which was being played between Murrogh and his cousin Conaing, 
 Maelmorra suggested a move, which ended in Murrogh losing 
 the game. Murrogh angrily remarked, " that was like the 
 advice you gave the Danes which lost them Glenmama." 
 Maelmorra with equal anger, replied " I will now give them 
 advice and they shall not be defeated." " Then," said Murrogh, 
 
 * Gael and Gall, p. 143. The tunic with the silver buttons was a gift 
 from Brian, and was the token of Maelmorra's vassalage. 
 
 I She was the daughter of Murrough, son of Fin, King of Leinster. 
 (^Four Masters, at the year 1030, the year Gormfleth died.) 
 
 X Halliday's conjecture that she first married Brian and thatj divorced 
 by him, she married Olaf, is ridiculous (Scandinavian Kingdom of Dublin^ 
 p. 78, note.) 
 
 II Story of Burnt Njal, Vol. II., p. 323. MacLiag says she was the 
 mother of Donough, son of Brian (p. 143). 
 
 I 
 
114 HISTORY OF IRELAND. 
 
 " you had better remind them to have a yew tree ready for your 
 reception."* In bitterness of heart and in secret, Maelmorra 
 left Kincora the following morning. Brian despatched a 
 messenger after him imploring him to return and that all neces- 
 sary explanations and apologies would be given him, but the 
 angry king would not be appeased : he even killed the messenger 
 of peace, and hurried home to prepare for' war. 
 
 Arrived at Leinster, Maelmorra recounted to his assembled 
 clansmen the insults he had received. They decided to revolt 
 and were quickly joined by the Dublin Danes, by Flaherty 
 O'Neill of Tirowen and by O'Rorke of Breffni. Those two latter 
 chiefs suddenly invaded Meath and defeated Malachy, but in a 
 second battle were defeated .f Retreating towards Dublin, 
 Malachy pursued them and ravaged the country as far as Howth, 
 but he was met by the Leinster men and Danes, defeated with 
 the loss of two hundred of his men, pursued to his own country, 
 which was plundered to its centre and " captives and cattle 
 innumerable carried off from the Termon of Fabhar." J Unable 
 to make headway against so many enemies, Malachy appealed to 
 Brian who with his son, Murrogh, set out to his assistance. They 
 overran Ossory and Leinster taking many prisoners, and from 
 Kilmainham l?id siege to Dublin, but being unable to capture 
 the city, they had to raise the siege and return home.|l 
 
 The next few months were spent by both sides in preparing 
 for the great struggle which all felt to be near. From Kincora 
 the summons went forth and was readily answered by the clans- 
 men of Thomond. From Loop Head to Limerick and Lough 
 Derg, and across to Burren, Corcomroe and Corcobascin, washed 
 by the waves of the Atlantic, the Dalcassians came, under their 
 chiefs, the O'Briens, the O'Deas, the MacNamaras, the 
 Macinerneys and the O'Quinns. Proud of their present pre- 
 eminence and their past achievements, they remembered that 
 theirs was the privilege to be first into the battle and last out 
 of it ; they had unbounded confidence in Brian, and were ready 
 to follow even to death the lead of him who had so often led 
 them to victory. From across the Shannon the fighting men 
 of Ormond came.** The country of the Hy Fidhgheinte, once 
 disgraced by the treachery of Donovan, furnished their con- 
 tingent ; and time had so far softened ancient enmity, that 
 Cian, son of Molloy, came with the forces of Desmond. The 
 
 * Gael and Gall^ p. 145. 
 
 t Four Masters^ at the year 1012. Gael and Gall, pp. 147-9- ^^ ^^^ 
 of these battles Donal, Malachy's grandson and heir, was killed. 
 % Gael and Gall^ p. 149. 
 II Ibid.'^ p. 151. 
 ■** Ibid., p. 1^7 . Four Masters, at the year 1013. 
 
THE DALCaSSIAN KINGS. II5 
 
 Deisi were under their chief, Mothla, and from Connaught were 
 the Hy Many, under Teige O'Kelly, and the Hy Fiacra, under 
 O'Heyne. The princes of Uladh and Tirowen remained in the 
 north in unfriendly and gloomy neutrality but the Meathmen 
 were under the ever-faithful Malachy.* From the friendly 
 Scots of Caledonia came a contingent under Donal, great-steward 
 of Mar.f When all these forces were assembled there must have 
 been not less than 20,000 assembled under the command of the 
 old warrior King. 
 
 In bringing together the Danes, nobody was more active 
 than Gormfleth. Since Maelmorra's visit to Kincora, she was 
 repudiated by Brian and had become so " grim " against him 
 that she wished him dead .J She had sent her son, Sitric, to the 
 Danish leaders to beg their assistance, bidding him agree to any 
 terms which they might demand. From Norway and Denmark, 
 from the Orkney and Shetland Isles, from Northumbria and 
 Man, from Skye and Lewis and Cantire and Cornwall, these 
 Northmen came.H The two best known of their leaders were 
 Brodir of Man and Sigurd, Earl of Orkneys. Both made it a 
 condition to be acknowledged King of Ireland if Brian was 
 defeated and slain, and also to get Gormfleth in marriage, and 
 to each Sitric secretly made the required promise.** The lady 
 was now old ff and had been already the wife or mistress of three 
 kings in succession by each of whom she was repudiated, and 
 it is unlikely that either Brodir H or Sigurd were attracted by 
 her doubtful virtue, or coveted her faded charms. But both 
 these chiefs were ambitious ; they expected to found a kingdom 
 in Ireland as their countryman, Sweyn, had in England ; and 
 for this design the aid of Gormfleth, the mother of the King of 
 Dublin, and sister of the King of Leinster, would be useful. By 
 Palm Sunday (10 14) the Danes and Leinstermen were assembled 
 in Dublin and the whole surface of Dublin Bay was covered with 
 their ships. Their united forces were at least as large, perhaps 
 larger, than those of Brian, and these daring Northmen were 
 experienced in war ; yet some doubts were mingled with their 
 hopes of success in the coming fight. Even their stern natures 
 
 * Gael and Gall, p. 169. 
 
 t Uid.-, p. 175. 
 
 X Burnt Njal, Vol. II., p. 324. 
 
 II Gael and Gall (Introduction, p. 168, note). 
 
 ** Burnt Njal, pp. 327-8. 
 
 ft She must have been, since herison Sitric was King of Dublin since 
 his father went to lona in 980 — thirty-four years before these events. 
 
 XX Brodir had been a Christian, but had renounced Christianity {Burnt 
 Njal; 329). Sitric also appealed to Brodir's brother Ospak, but he refused 
 to fight " against so good a King " as Brian. 
 
It6 history of IRELAND. 
 
 were not inaccessible to superstition ; their Skalds and prophets 
 were held in the greatest reverence, and in certain wondrous 
 events, which lately happened, they feared they read the signs 
 of impending disaster. Brodir and his men saw a shower of 
 blood fall, a battle in the air was witnessed between birds, swords 
 and spears were seen in the sky wielded by invisible hands* ; 
 in Iceland a priest, saying Mass, had his vestments stained with 
 blood ; and in Caithness, twelve Valkyries were seen in a bower, 
 weaving out of men's entrails, with swords as shuttles, the grim 
 woof of war.f 
 
 Boldly taking the offensive, Brian had already marched 
 towards Dublin and plundered the district of Fingal from 
 Dublin to Howth. This district was inhabited by Danes, and 
 their friends in the city beheld with anger the ruin of their 
 kinsmen's homes, and hastened their preparations for battle. 
 They knew also that Brian had sent his son, Donogh, to Wicklow 
 with a portion of his forces and that Donogh had not yet returned, 
 and moreover, a prophecy urged them not to delay, for Brodir, 
 who was skilled in sorcery, had foretold X that if the battle were 
 fought on Good Friday, Brian would fall, but if on any other 
 day his foes would all fall, and so Good Friday was fixed upon. 
 The city of Dublin was then altogether south of the Liffey,|j 
 ?nd on the sloping plain, north and east by the Tolka, and the 
 sea, extending to Clontarf and beyond it, the whole Danish 
 army encamped on Thursday evening. On the rising ground, 
 near Phibsborough, was a wood called Tomar's Wood, and in 
 front of this and facing the Danes, the Irish army encamped. 
 On the Danish side a renowned champion named Plat sent a 
 challenge to single combat to the Irish camp, which was accepted 
 by Donal, Great Steward of Mar : and as the two armies stood 
 facing each other on Friday morning, the two champions met. 
 Advancing from his own side, Plat shouted " Where is Donal ? " 
 and Donal's answer came back, " reptile, I am here." With 
 the two armies as spectators, the combat was fought and both 
 Plat and Donal soon fell, each mortally wounded.** The battle 
 then became general. Each army was in three divisions. The 
 Danish left wmg on the Tolka, consisting of the Dublin Danes, 
 and a thousand Norwegians in coats of mail, was commanded 
 
 * Burnt Njal, Vol. II., pp. 330-33I- 
 
 t Ibid.j pp. 337-343- 
 
 Brian also had his warning for the family Banshee of the DalcassianSj 
 Evan of Craiglee, appeared to him the night before the battle and revealed 
 to him that he should be killed. (Gael and Gall, p. 201.) 
 
 X Burnt Njal, Vol. II., p. 333. 
 
 II Joyce's Short History of Ireland, p. 217. 
 
 ** Gael and Gall, pp. 175-177. 
 
THE DALCASSIAN KINGS. 117 
 
 by Amrud and Carlus, princes of Denmark ; in the centre 
 Maelmorra commanded the Lienstermen, while on the right 
 the foreign Danes were under Brodar and Sigurd. Facing the 
 Dublin Danes on the Irish right, were the Dalcassians under 
 Murrogh, in the centre were the Munstermen under Cian and 
 Donal, Conaing and Mothla ; on the left were the Connaught- 
 men under O'Heyne and Teige O' Kelly.* 
 
 Before the battle began, Brian, mounted on a battle-charger 
 and with a cross in his hand, rode in front and solemnly addressed 
 the army, bade them remember all that the Danes had done, 
 that in fighting them they fought for their country and their 
 faith, that they were fighting on the day on which the Saviour 
 of the world had died, and that He would be with them in the 
 fight. Inspired by these words, they rushed upon the foe. It 
 was Good Friday, the twenty-third of April, at six o'clock in 
 the morning, just as the tide was at its full. There was no cavalry 
 in either army, nor can we discern any system of tactics according 
 to which masses of men make or resist attack. The battle was 
 rather a series of single combats in which personal prowess was the 
 deciding element. Each clansman gathered round his own standard, 
 and his chief, as he was first in peace, was also first in danger, 
 and in valour, and among his foes sought out some chief whom 
 he marked as his antagonist and his victim. It was a fiercely 
 contested fight. Morning passed into mid-day, mid-day to 
 evening, the tide had ebbed and again was flowing, but the 
 battle still raged. Standards had fallen, the ranks were fatally 
 thinned, the ground was thickly covered with the dead and 
 wounded, yet neither side would give way and, even as the sun 
 descended, both Celt and Dane still faced each other in that 
 grim death struggle. On the left, Teige O' Kelly and O'Heyne 
 with many a gallant Connaughtman were dead, and the great 
 Sigurd himself was among the slain. In the centre, Conaing 
 and Maelmorra had slain each other, and numbers of brave 
 Munstermen had fought their last fight. On the right, the 
 slaughter was great, for in no part of the battle was the contest 
 more fiercely waged. The dead lay in heaps, and on the blood- 
 soddened earth the mail-clad Norwegian and the hardy veteran 
 from the Fergus and the Shannon, after their fierce encounter, 
 
 * Gael and Gall, pp. 171-197. Joyce's Short History, pp. 218-25. Four 
 Masters. Annals of Loch Ce. Lady Ferguson's The Irish before the 
 Conquest, pp. 'i.jyjj. The arrangement of the various divisions has 
 been taken from Lady Ferguson. It allows Morrogh to remain at the 
 post of greatest danger, that is near Duvgall's Bridge, where he was 
 liable at any moment to be attacked by fresh troops from the city^ 
 and it leaves Sigurd on the right wing of his own side, in easy communi- 
 cation with his vessels in the Bay — a likely arrangement. 
 
I I 8 HISTORY OF IRELAND. 
 
 slept together peacefully in death. Towards evening Murrogh, 
 whose battle-axe had brought down many a foeman, encountered 
 in single combat the Norwegian prince Amrud,* and closing 
 together both fell, Murrogh uppermost. With his sword he 
 stabbed the foreigner, who, before he died, snatched a knife 
 from Murrogh's belt, mortally wounding him. Amrud died 
 in a few minutes, Murrogh lived till the following day. Though 
 disheartened by the death of their chief, the Dalcassians still 
 fought on, and at last the Danes on all sides gave way. It was 
 then past six o'clock, the Danish ships were being carried out 
 by the ebbing tide, and the Danes, unable to reach them, retreated 
 by the shore and across the Tolka to the Liffey, then spanned 
 by Duvgall's Bridge. Many perished in the sea, m?ny in crossing 
 the Tolka, but most of all between the Tolka and the Liffey, 
 for at this point they encountered Malachy and his troops. 
 Malachy had come to Clontarf to fight, but his magnanimity 
 forsook him ; he refused to aid Brian in reaping fresh glory, 
 and during the day, on a rising ground between the Tolka and 
 the Liffey, he sullenly held aloof, an idle spectator of the combat. 
 But the temptation to attack the retreating and hated Danes 
 was too great to be resisted ; he swooped down upon them and 
 cut off their retreat by Duvgall's Bridge. His troops were fresh 
 while the Danes were wearied by twelve hours incessant fighting. 
 Their resistance was feeble ; they were slaughtered in hundreds, 
 and many who escaped the battle-axe or the sword were drowned 
 in trying to cross the river, f 
 
 In his tent, a little in front of Tomar's Wood, Brian remained 
 during the day and asked his attendants from time to time how 
 the battle went. He was told that all was confusion, that there 
 was a noise as if seven battalions were cutting down Tomar's 
 Wood, but that Murrogh's standard still fxOated and that heads 
 were falling wherever it was borne.;]: Brian was satisfied, declaring 
 that while Murrogh's standard floated, it would go well with 
 the men of Erin. Again, towards the close of the day, he inquired 
 and was informed that it looked as it Tomar's Wood were on 
 fire, the brushwood destroyed, a few stately trees only remaining 
 — the soldiers had fallen, a few only of the chiefs were left, and 
 Murrogh's standard was down. It was doleful news, for the 
 old King had centred the hopes of his house in Murrogh, and 
 when he was dead he protested he did not wish to survive. His 
 wish was soon granted. His bodyguard had gone in pursuit of 
 the|fiying Danes, and Brodir and a few followers hiding in the 
 
 * Gael and Gall, p. 195. Introduction, p. 174. He is called son of 
 EbriCj son of the King of Lochlan, and again son of the King of France. 
 t Joyce, pp. 220-22. Note 3. 
 + Gael and Gall, pp. 197-201. 
 
THE DALCASSIAN KINGS. II9 
 
 wood noted the unprotected tent, rushed in, and with a single 
 stroke of his battle-axe clove in the King's skull.* Now, he 
 said, "let man tell man that Brodir killed Brian." The Dane 
 was quickly surrounded and taken prisoner, and, according to 
 the Norse Saga, his body was cut open and his entrails slowly 
 wound out of him and thus he died.f 
 
 In that age it would be difficult to find a battle in which the 
 losses were so heavy, in proportion to the numbers engaged. 
 A moderate estimate places the loss on the Irish side at 4000 
 and on the Danish side at least 7000. Sca.rce any of the leaders 
 were left, and it was this loss the Irish had most reason to bewail. 
 Alone of all their kings, Brian was able to crush the Danes 
 and to repress the turbulence of the native chiefs. His death 
 loosened the bonds that held these chiefs together : the death 
 of Murrogh blighted the hope of a peaceful succession and of 
 a strong central government : after Clontarf native unity and 
 strength were over, and the reign of discord and chaos was about 
 to begin. 
 
 * Gael and Gall, p. 203. Brodir at first passed him by, thinking he was 
 a priest. 
 
 t Burnt Njal, Vol. II., p. 2>2>7- 
 
CHAPTER X. 
 
 A Long Period of Discord. 
 
 Condition of the Irish forces after Clontarf — Discord among the Chiefs — 
 Donogh O'Brien and the King of Desmond — Magillapatrick of Ossory — 
 Malachy becomes Ardri — His death — Wars of Donogh O'Brien — 
 His reign as King of Munster — Turlogh O'Brien succeeds him — The 
 Kings of Tirowen — Long struggle between Donal O'Loughlin of 
 Tirovven and Murtogh O'Brien of Thomond — Wars among the lesser 
 Chiefs — The Dublin Danes — Career of Turlogh O'Connor — Aedh 
 O'Loughlin becomes Ardri — Succeeded by Roderick O'Connor. 
 
 When Donogh O'Brien returned to Dublin, on Easter Sunday, the 
 great battle was over, and, as he viewed the battlefield, thickly 
 strewn with unburied corpses, and mingled with the survivors 
 of the fight, he could estimate the losses and gains. Without 
 doubt, the invaders had been worsted, the dreams of Brodir and 
 Sigurd to found a Danish kingdom in Ireland had come to 
 nought, and of those foreigners, whom love of plunder or glory 
 had attracted from so many lands, the greater number had 
 fallen in the battle. So much the Irish had gained, but these 
 gains were counterbalanced by losses which were irreparable. 
 Brian, his son Morrogh, his grandson, Turlogh,* his nephew, 
 Conaing — all had perished on that fatal field, and of the many sons 
 that once were his, only Donogh and Teige survived. So 
 thinned were the Irish ranks, so exhausted the survivors, so 
 numerous the wounded that if again attacked by a strong force 
 they must inevitably have suffered defeat. Nor were the Danes 
 altogether crushed. The garrison of Dublin had suffered nothing 
 and the numbers in the city were largely increased by fugitives 
 from the battle. Sitric f was so strong, that Donogh felt un- 
 
 * Gael and Gall, p. 193. He was son of Morrogh, and was but fifteen 
 years of age. He was drowned at the Weir of Clontarf, i.e.^ in the Tolka, 
 " with a foreigner in his right hand and a foreigner in his left hand and 
 a stake of the weir through him." Such is the language of MacLiag. It 
 is easy to see that he was a poet. 
 
 t Sitric, with portion of the troops, did not take part in the battle 
 but watched it from the battlements of the city. {Gael and Gall, p. 209). 
 
A LONG PERIOD OF DISCORD. 121 
 
 able to attack him ; he was even emboldened to demand portion 
 of the oxen which Donogh had taken as plunder from Wicklow, 
 and threatened to attack him if his demands were not complied 
 with. But Donogh set his menaces at defiance and Sitric was 
 awed into inactivity.* For several days the Irish were em- 
 ployed in burying their dead ; the bodies of thirty chiefs were 
 despatched to their own territories, there to receive a chief t?in's 
 funeral honours ; f and the monks of Swords took charge of 
 the bodies of Brian and Morrogh, and had them conveyed to 
 Armagh. For twelve days, ofBces and Masses were said for 
 the souls of Brian and his son, and, at length, in the Cathedral 
 of Armagh, amid all the pomp and splendour of the Church's 
 liturgy, the body of the greatest of the Irish kings was laid to 
 rest.| 
 
 After Brian's death the flames of discord were soon kindled. 
 On the return home from Clontarf, Cian of Desmond laid claim 
 to the throne of Munster, contending that by the rule of alternate 
 succession, the Munster throne should now be filled by a prince 
 of the race of Eoghan. Donogh denied these claims, protested 
 that the rights of Desmond under the will of Oliol Olum had 
 been extinguished by the conquests of Brian, that the Dalcassians 
 had acquired their right to the Munster throne by force, and 
 by force they were ready to maintain it. The southern forces 
 had then reached Mullaghmast, a fortified place, six miles from 
 Athy, and Donogh, in expectation of attack, proposed to put 
 the wounded within the shelter of the fort, an arrangement 
 which the wounded refused to accept. They were determined 
 to take their share in the coming battle, stuffed moss into their 
 open wounds, and, like their unwounded comrades, were pre- 
 pared to meet the enemy, sword in hand. ll Ci?n relied for 
 support on Donal, chief of the Ui Eochach,** and Donal was 
 willing to assist him, but he would play no disinterested part. 
 Like Cian, he was of the race of Eoghan ; he was of a younger 
 branch, but primogeniture was not recognised ; his father 
 Dubhdavoren had in fact been King of Munster, or, at least 
 King of Desmond, and he thought his right to that position 
 was at least as strong as that of Cian. Yet he would join him 
 against the Dalcassians, but only on condition that whatever 
 territory was conquered, should be equally divided between 
 them. To this Cian would not consent, the attack on Donogh 
 O'Brien was abandoned, and before the year had expired Donal 
 
 * Gael and Gall, p. 211. 
 
 t Ibid., p. 213. 
 
 + Lanigan, Vol. III., p. 425. 
 
 II Gael and Gall, p. 215. 
 
 ** Ibid., pp. 248-9. Introduction, p. 193 — Genealogical Table, iv.- 
 
122 HISTORY OF IRELAND 
 
 and Cian went to war, in which Cian was defeated and slain.* 
 Donogh's troubles were not yet over. Passing by Athy, his 
 wounded dressed their wounds and rested by the banks of the 
 Barrow, and here another enemy awaited them — Donogh, son of 
 Gillapatrick — Prince of Ossory with his whole army drawn up 
 in battle array. This prince remembered that his father had 
 once been put in fetters by Brian Boru, and that his own territory 
 of Ossory had been wasted and plundered by the same king, 
 the previous year, and to glut his vengeance he now determined 
 to fall on Donogh O'Brien's attenuated ranks. He offered the 
 alternative of submission or battle, and, without hesitation, 
 Donogh O'Brien accepted battle. The wearied soldiers gallantly 
 supported their chief, and the wounded displayed a heroism 
 which has rarely been equalled. They insisted on fighting, 
 directed that stakes should be cut in the neighbouring wood 
 and driven in the earth, and that, as they were unable to stand, 
 a wounded soldier should be tied to each stake, his arms in?- his 
 hands, an unwounded soldier on each side of him, and thus 
 would they met the foe. Such heroes are rarely conquered. The 
 Ossory men were awed at the sight, perhaps intimidated by 
 such heroism ; they desisted from the attack, and the Dalcassians 
 were allowed to pursue their journey .f When they reached 
 home, the loss in the battle and on the march had so decimated 
 them, that Donogh had less than one thousand men under 
 his command. 1 
 
 Without any formal election Malachy became Ardri. His 
 hereditary rights could not be overlooked, his services against 
 the Danes were remembered, and when Brian was gone there 
 was nobody who could successfully compete with him for the 
 supreme honour. But this recognition by the native chiefs 
 was only partial and incomplete ; he was tolerated rather that 
 recognised ; and, among the sons of Brian especially, it was 
 their impotence alone that restrained them from contesting 
 his right by force. The submission of the Northern princes — 
 Tiro wen, Tirconnell and Uladh — was more cordial, but even 
 they felt little enthusiasm for one whom an ambitious rival had 
 once dethroned. But whatever others thought, the Danes 
 had good reason to feel that his vigour and energy were un- 
 impaired, and that he was still as much to be feared as when he 
 overwhelmed them at Glenmama and at Duvgall's Bridge. 
 Joined by Flaherty O'Neill of Tirowen, he defeated the Dublin 
 Danes (lo 15), destroyed the fortress of Dublin, and burned the 
 
 * Annals of Ulster ^ 10 14. Four Masters, 1013. 
 ■f Gael and Gall, p. 217. 
 
 + The Irish before the Conquest, p. 281. Lady Ferguson gives the 
 exact number as 850. 
 
A LONG PERIOD OF DISCORD. 1 23 
 
 greater part of the city. Two years later, he entered Leinster, 
 wasted the district of Hy-Kinsella, again defeated the Danes, 
 and compelled Leinster to pay tribute.* A short time before 
 his death, he entered a lonely retreat — Cro-Innis, in Lough 
 Ennell, near Mullingar, where he spent his last years in penance 
 and mortification, and where he died (i022.)| After Malachy's 
 death, supreme power passed for a time into the hands of two 
 men, Corcran, an anchoret, and Con O'Loughlin, Chief Poet :j: 
 and this order of things remained until Con died (1024), or rather 
 until he was killed, || for like many other rulers his end was 
 brought about by violence. What was the nature and extent 
 of the jurisdiction possessed by these two men is not clear ; one 
 of the annalists informs us that the country was governed " like 
 a free state."** To make a poet and an anchoret rulers of a 
 country was certainly an unusual arrrngement, and perhaps 
 not a wise one, but it shows that amid all the discord and war 
 and violence that prevailed, respect for religion and sanctity still 
 survived. 
 
 Since Clontarf the career of Donogh O'Brien had been a 
 troubled one. His brother, Teige, was the elder brother, and the 
 chiefs of Thomond, respecting the claims of age, for the most 
 part sided with him. But Donogh had his own followers and 
 was unwilling to be content with a subordinate position. 
 Ultimately, war broke out between the brothers, and for years 
 this fratricidal struggle was prolonged. Tempted by the divisions 
 between the sons of Brian, Donal of Desmond with a large force 
 entered Thomond, designing to conquer that province. For 
 the time Donogh and Tiege suspended their quarrels and united 
 against the invader. Donal was defeated and slain,ft (1015), 
 and instead of Thomond being conquered by Desmond 
 Desmond itself was conquered by Thomond. When this 
 was done, the quarrel between Teige and Donogh was re- 
 newed and lasted until Teige's death (1023.) In that year he 
 was treacherously slain by O'Carrol of Eli-O'Carrol, at the in- 
 stigation of Donogh,:j:J and then, his hands reddened with his 
 brother's blood, Donogh became King of Munster. With a 
 large force he swept through Meath, Bregia, Leinster and Ossory, 
 
 * Annals of the Four Masters. Annals of Loch Ce. 
 
 t Ogygia, Part ill., Chap. 93. 
 
 X 0' Curry's Manuscript Materials ^ p. 9. 
 
 II On those who killed him God performed a " poet's miracle " for they 
 died an evil death and their unburied corpses were devoured by birds 
 and wolves. {Annals of Loch Ce.) 
 
 ** Annals of Clonmacnoise, p. 173. 
 
 tt Annals of Ulster. The battle was fought at Limerick. 
 
 XX Four Masters. 
 
124 HISTORY OF IRELAND. 
 
 taking hostages from each province (1026),* later on, (1034),! 
 he attacked and defeated Breffni, and when the forces of Leinster 
 and Ossory combined in revolt against him (1050),! he defeated 
 them. Finally (1060), he defeated the Connaught men, and 
 compelled Rory O'Connor to give him hostages. In war he 
 had almost reached the position once held by his father. Nor 
 was he undistinguished in peace. He enacted salutary laws, 
 sternly repressed robbery, caused the Sabbath to be observed ; 
 and when, in the famine of 1050, his Munster subjects in their 
 distress seized on the property of the Church, he convoked a 
 Synod of the prelates and lords of Munster and enacted laws, 
 " which speedily checked the wide-spreading sacrilege and averted 
 the anger of God."|| In his old age troubles fell thick upon 
 him. His brother Teige had left a son, Turlogh, who had been 
 fostered at the court of Dermot Maelnambo, King of Leinster. 
 Dermot was married to Donogh's daughter, but the ties of kindred 
 were as nothing compared to the ties of affection, between Dermot 
 and his foster son. He watched over the boy with the greatest 
 care, became the guardian of his interests and the champion 
 of his claims, contending on his behalf that, as the son of Teige, 
 he,and not Donogh,was the rightful heir to the Munster throne. 
 Dermot sacked Waterford (1030), ravaged Ossory (1042), carried 
 off captives and cattle from the Deisi (1048), laid Limerick and 
 Iniscaltra in ashes (1058), and defeated Donogh himself (1061) 
 at Slieve Crut in Tipperary.** While Donogh was engaged 
 defending himself against his powerful adversary, the King of 
 Connaught entered Thomond, committed great depredations 
 and laid the palace of Kincora in ruins .ff These accumulated 
 disasters weakened the power and broke the spirit of Donogh. 
 He was now old and, feeling unable to contend against all his 
 enemies, and, perhaps, anxious to atone for his crimes, he went 
 on a pilgrimage to Rome and died there (1064). He is said 
 to have presented the crown and sceptre of Munster to the 
 reigning Pope, and these were afterwards presented by Adrian IV. 
 to Henry II. of England. JJ 
 
 Under the guardianship of Dermot Maelnambo, Turlogh 
 O'Brien became King of Munster, and in these circumstances 
 
 * Four Masters. Annals of Loch Ce. 
 
 t Ibid. 
 
 X Four Masters at 1049. 
 
 II Cambrensis Eversus, Vol. II., p. 41. The Four Masters say Xhdit 
 " peace and good weather " was the consequence of this law. 
 
 ** Cambrensis Ev., p. 43. 
 
 W Annals of Loch Ce at the year 1061. 
 
 %X From this, supposing it true, it has been sometimes argued that the 
 Pope acquired dominion over Ireland and was acting within his rights 
 when he conferred it on Henry II. 
 
A LONG PERIOD OF DISCORD. 1 25 
 
 Dermot might be considered the most powerful among the 
 Irish kings, and in fact is sometimes numbered among the 
 Ardris.* He had already subdued the Deisi and Waterford, 
 carried off captives from Meath, received homage from Connaught 
 (1066), and scourged the Danes so much, that " from Dublin 
 to Allen was one scene of conflagration." But his career of 
 conquest was closed (1072), for, in that year, he was defeated 
 and slain by O'Mellaghlin of Meath. At his death, without 
 any opposition from any quarter, Turlogh O'Brien became 
 supreme ruler of Leath Mogha. This did not satisfy his ambition, 
 and he proceeded to subdue Leath Cuin. Meath and Connaught 
 gave him hostages, and with a large army, with Leinster, Meath, 
 Connaught, and the Dublin Danes he marched north (1075) 
 intending the subjugation of the northern province. The princes 
 of the north encountered him at Ardee and utterly defeated him, 
 so that he had to retire south, without hostages or prey, and " with 
 a great slaughter and loss of his army." f This defeat does not 
 seem to have seriously impaired his strength, for the following 
 year (1076), he chastised Hy-Kinsella, where some restiveness 
 was shown, he dethroned the reigning King of Dublin and 
 put his own son Murtagh in his place, and deposed the King 
 of Connaught, Rory O'Connor. | At a later date (1084), while 
 he was occupied in Meath, the Connaught princes entered 
 Thomond," burned forts and churches and carried off great spoils,"]] 
 and, in the same year, a formidable revolt was organised by 
 O'Rorke of Breffni, who was joined by other malcontent chief- 
 tains. Against these, Turlogh despatched an army under his 
 son, Murtagh, and, near Leixlip, O'Rorke and his allies were 
 overthrown with the loss of four thousand men.** Murtagh 
 captured O'Rorke, cut off his head, and had it posted up on the 
 gates of Limerick, ft When Turlogh died (1086), he was the 
 foremost in power and influence among the Irish kings, in 
 ability and energy, both in peace and war, not unworthy of 
 the grandson of Brian. Abroad also his fame was great. By 
 Lanfranc, Archbishop of Canterbury, who corresponded with 
 him, he is styled the magnificent King of Ireland, and he con- 
 gratulates the people of Ireland that God had given them such 
 a king. 
 
 Since the death of Malachy (1022), no prince of the race 
 of Nial had been able to reach the position of Ardri. Malachy 's 
 
 * He is so numbered by Ware. Cambrensis Eversus, Vol. II., p. 45. 
 
 t Four Masters. Loch Ce. An. Clonmacnoise at 1073. 
 
 X He, (O'Connor), submitted to him at least. 
 
 ]] An. Loch Ce. 
 
 ** Four Masters. The battle took place at Monecronock, near Leixlip. 
 
 tt White's History of Clare, pi 86. 
 
126 HISTORY OF IRELAND. 
 
 son, Connor O'Mellaghlin,* was certainly not destitute of capacity, 
 but his resources, as King of Meath, were small ; against his 
 most powerful rivals the O'Briens, he could not always hold 
 his own, and from necessity, rather than from disposition, he 
 had to acknowledge the supremacy of his southern rival. Had 
 the Northern Hy-Nials allied themselves with their kinsmen of 
 Meath, they might have broken the power of the O'Briens, 
 but no such alliance was formed. Flaherty O'Neill had helped 
 Malachy, after Clontarf, in his wars against the Leinstermen 
 and Danes, but apparently was unwilling to give the same help 
 to his son, and there is no further instance, except one, for a 
 century, in which the princes of the Northern and Southern 
 Hy-Nials made common cause. Nor were the Northern Hy- 
 Nials f themselves always able to agree ; on the contrary, they 
 were often the bitterest enemies. With a richer territory and 
 greater resources, Tirowen from its central position was enabled 
 to make frequent and successful attacks on the neighbouring 
 states, and, under a succession of able chiefs, it maintained its 
 ascendancy throughout Ulster. Upon Tirconnell and Uladh 
 its attacks were frequent, and the injury inflicted often great. 
 Tirowen ravaged Tirconnell (1028), carrying off great spoils 
 three years later ; Uladh was overun by the same power, I and the 
 same year, Tirconnell was invaded and its King slain. These 
 events occurred while Flaherty O'Neill was on a pilgrimage 
 to Rome, and while his son, Aedh, ruled. Both father and son 
 died (1033), but neither the capacity nor inclination to make war 
 upon others expired with these chiefs ; and the Annals record 
 that Tirowen attacked Tirconnell (1043). !1 Again, under 
 Ardgar O'Loughlin, the ruling chief, Tirowen attacked Dalaraidh, 
 and carried off two hundred prisoners and a great spoil of cattle, 
 and, extending the area of his depredations, Ardgar entered 
 Connaught (1062), and carried off six thousand cows and one 
 
 * Early in the eleventh century, surnames came to be used — about 
 the time of Brian Boru. Instead of saying Connor, son of Malachy, son 
 
 of , it became Connor, descendant of Malachy or Maelsachlin or 
 
 O'Mellaghlin, a softened form of Maelsachlin. The prefixes O and Mac 
 equally signified descendant, and thus it happened that Brian's 
 descendants became O'Brien, Niall's, O'Neill ; Loughlins, O'Loughlin, 
 or MacLoughlin ; Connors, O'Connor ; Murrogh's, MacMorrogh. 
 
 t The Northern Hy Nialls were the princes of Tyrone andTirconnell. 
 The Southern Hy Nialls were those of Meath ; all were descendants of 
 Niall of the Nine Hostages, and inherited his dominions between them. 
 (Gael and Gall, Gen. Tables, p. 245-6.) 
 
 X Attnals of Loch Ce. Aedh O'Neill on that occasion carried off 1200 
 captives and 3000 cows. 
 
 11 Four Masters. Loch Ce. 
 
A LONG PERIOD OF DISCORD. 1 27 
 
 thousand prisoners.* After these acts of plunder and violence 
 he retired to Armagh to do penance, and there he died (1064), 
 and was buried in the mausoleum of the kings, j In alliance 
 with the other northern princes, his successor, Aedh, was able 
 to defeat Turlogh O'Brien at Ardee (1075), ^^nd a few years 
 later (1080), Aedh's successor (Donal) defeated Fermanagh. 
 This Donal determined to become Ardri, regarding Murtagh 
 O'Brien, the ruling King of Munster, as an usurper, and the 
 heir to the usurping Brian. But Murtagh was not easily sub- 
 dued. He was equally ambitious and easily powerful as Donal, 
 and between these two chiefs — ^both men of the highest capacity — 
 a life-long struggle was waged, a struggle fierce, bitter and per- 
 sistent and which, at the close of their lives, was undecided still. 
 Donal ravaged Uladh (1084) and carried off great spoils, 
 and four years later he defeated Rory O'Connor of Connaught, 
 and compelled him to join him in an attack on Munster. With 
 a large force they advanced south, and taking O'Brien unaware, 
 they ravaged and plundered Thomond, destroyed Kincora, 
 burned Limerick, and brought away into captivity many of the 
 Munster chiefs. :|: O'Brien determined to retaliate, and, in the 
 following year (1089), in command of a large force, he sailed 
 up the Shannon, plundering everything as he went along ; 
 but O'Connor blocked his boats on the river, O'Mellaghlin attacked 
 him from Meath and he had to hurriedly retrace his steps. || 
 Chastened by defeat, O'Brien consented to meet in friendly 
 conference Donal O'Loughlin, O'Mellaghlin and O'Connor of 
 Connaught, and all agreed to acknowledge Donal O'Loughlin 
 as Ardri. But the submission of Murtagh was hollow and 
 insincere, a subordinate position ill-suited his aspiring talents ; 
 he merily wished to gain time and on some pretext he entered 
 Meath (1094), ^-^id killed its king, O'Mellaghlin, and passing 
 on to Dublin, he defeated Godfrey, King of the Danes. Enraged 
 at this attack on his ally of Meath, Donal O'Loughlin took up 
 arms and advanced south against Murtagh but the Archbishop 
 of Armagh interfered (1097) ^^id succeeded in making peace 
 between them. Three times subsequently, when north and 
 south were face to face, he again made peace, but he was not 
 aways successful, for both O'Loughlin and O'Brien were very 
 determined and very difficult to restrain. Determined once 
 and for all to crush his northern rival, Murtagh advanced up the 
 Shannon (iioo), and marched his army as far as Ballyshannon, 
 
 * Loch Ce. 
 
 t Ibid. 
 
 X Loch Ce. The Four Masters give the number of captive chiefs as 160; 
 
 II Ibid. 
 
128 HISTORY OF IRELAND. 
 
 while the Dublin Danes, as his allies, supported him from the 
 sea ; but the expedition did not achieve its purpose, and the Danish 
 fleet " were cut off both by drowning and killing."* Undeterred 
 by this failure, Murtagh still persevered, and, with the tenacity 
 of the O'Briens, he resolved to make even a greater effort than 
 he had yet done. Accompanied by the forces of Leinster, Meath 
 and Connaught, he went north (iioi), and O'Loughlin, unable 
 to cope with such superior forces, retreated before him. Murtagh 
 overran Tirconnell and Tirowen, and, in revenge for the des- 
 truction of Kincora, he demolished the royal palace of Ailech, 
 directing his soldiers to carry away the stones of the palace to 
 Limerick. f Advancing eastward, he received the submission 
 of Uladh, and at last it seemed as if he could truthfully declare 
 he was Ardri, and had reached the position once occupied by 
 Brian Boru, for all Munster acknowledged his rule ; Leinster, 
 Meath and Connaught were fighting in his army, and under his 
 command, Uladh had just given him hostages, and all that re- 
 mained was Tirconnell and Tirowen. Yet O'Loughlin was 
 unconquered still. Wisely declining a contest with O'Brien, 
 he waited until he had gone southward and then attacked Uladh 
 (1103.) Murtagh advanced to the relief of his ally, and, unwisely 
 dividing his forces, he left one division near Armagh, while himself, 
 taking the remainder, attacked and plundered Dalaraidh. Donal 
 seized the opportunity given him, fell on the army encamped 
 at Armagh, and completely routed them with the loss of many 
 of their chiefs, taking, besides, great spoils, including the royal 
 pavilion and standard. This was the last occasion on which 
 these two chieftains fought, for on subsequent occasions, X when 
 they were preparing for battle, the Archbishop of Armagh |[ 
 made peace between them. 
 
 Though occupied for the most part in fighting each other, 
 both these kings had other troubles also on hand. Donal 
 attacked Connaught (11 10),** and plundered Fingal (11 12). 
 As to Murtagh, he was urgently called to Dublin (1102), where 
 Magnus, King of Norway, had landed with a large invading 
 force — perhaps he expected to succeed, where Brodir and Sigurd 
 had failed. With O'Loughlin still unsubdued, Murtagh did 
 not wish to have an additional enemy in Magnus, and when 
 he came to Dublin, a conference was arranged between them, 
 and instead of fighting there was feasting, instead of war there 
 
 * Annals of Loch Ce. 
 
 t Four Masters. They carried away the stones in their sacks. 
 
 % Loch Ce at the years 1 1 07-9- 1 3 . 
 
 II This was Celsus— the friend of St. Malachy. 
 
 * * Loch Ce. He carried off a thousand prisoners and several thousands 
 of cattle. 
 
A LONG PERIOD OF DISCORD. 1 29 
 
 was a wedding. A son of Magnus was married to a daughter 
 of Murtagh, and the two kings became friends.* Magnus left 
 Dublin, but the next year he landed at Uladh, where he was 
 defeated and slain. Nor was Murtagh, though he often plundered 
 churches, ungenerous to the church in his own province. The 
 Four Masters record (iioi), that he made a grant to a religious 
 order of the royal palace of Cashel, " without any claim of laymen 
 or clergymen on it," — a grant such as no king had ever made 
 before, f 
 
 Towards the close of their lives, both Murtagh and his 
 opponent retired to monasteries. Murtagh entered the monastery 
 of Lismore, and died there (i 1 19), being buried at Killaloe ; Donal 
 O'Loughlin entered the monastery of Derry, where he died 
 (1121), "the most distinguished of the Irish for personal form, 
 family, sense, prowess, prosperity and happiness, for bestowing 
 of jewels and food upon the mighty and the needy." % 
 
 While the greater chiefs were constantly engaged in war, so 
 also were the minor chiefs. The same year that Flaherty O'Neill 
 of Tirowen died (1033), it is on record that the O'Mellaghlin's 
 of Meath quarrelled and even went to war in which Murtagh 
 O'Mellaghlin was victorious over his kinsman, Connor 
 O'Mellaghlin, and in which several chiefs were slam ; the Eli 
 and the Hy-Fiacra Aine were at war, and so also were the Hy- 
 Fiacra of Ardstraw and Fermanagh. Flan, son of Donal 
 O'Mellaghlin, was blinded by his brother, Connor (1037), a 
 similar fate befell the King of Leinster's son, at the hands of 
 Magillapatrick of Ossory and the Tanist of Hy-Kinsella was 
 blinded by the son of Maelnambo.|| At the year, 1041, the 
 annalist declares that the events of the year between " slaying 
 and plunderings and battles " are so numerous, that he could 
 not undertake to relate them all.** At 105 1, the King of the 
 Deisi was blinded by the O'Felan, the son of Cahal O'Connor 
 of West Connaught was blinded by Aedh O'Connor, and 
 MacLoughlin was expelled from the chieftainship of Tullahoge, 
 and Aedh put in his place. \\ That same year, Aedh was slain 
 by the men of Fermanagh (1054), and the clan of Ui Meath J:J: 
 
 * Fotir Masters. 
 
 t Ibid. 
 
 % Such is the panegyric of the Annals of Ulster in which their partiality 
 for the northern prince can be detected. 
 
 II This barbarous and cruel torture was of frequent occurrence among 
 these Irish chiefs. 
 
 ** Annals of Loch Ce. 
 
 tt Ibid. Four Mastery. 
 
 XX Partly in Louth (Omeath) and partly in Monaghan. Hi Meath 
 Tire or Inland Meath {Book of Rights^ pp. 148-9 — note). 
 
 K 
 
130 HISTORY OF IRELAND. 
 
 was defeated by the Ui Eochach.* Rory O'Flaherty of lar 
 Connaught was slain by Aedh O'Connor (1062), and Rory of 
 Fermanagh, killed by O'Rorke of Breffni. O'Kelly of Hy-many 
 was slain by Aedh O'Connor (1065), and Aedh himself killed 
 in battle ^1067) by Art O'Rorke of Breffni. f But it is useless 
 to multiply instances ; the list might be indefinitely prolonged. 
 Year after year, every clan and every sept was at war with its 
 neighbour ; from Innishowen to Desmond, from lar Connaught 
 to Athcliath, there was the same monotonous iteration of war 
 and plunder ; and disorder and discord were supreme. Nor 
 were the Danes idle as might be expected. The overthrow 
 at Clontarf and their subsequent defeats by Malachy had 
 diminished their resources ; no further aid came from beyond 
 the sea, ?nd they were unable in consequence to profit by the 
 divisions and disorganisation among the native chiefs. The 
 Dublin Danes were Christian ; their king, Sitric, had built and 
 endowed a church at Dublin, and towards the close of his life 
 had gone on a pilgrimage to Rome. + Yet, at intervals, these 
 Danes either plundered themselves, or allied themselves for 
 purpose of plunder with some native chief. They invaded Meath 
 (1027), but were defeated ; they landed at Rathlin (1045) ^^^ 
 killed three hundred of the natives, and in alliance with Murtagh 
 O'Brien, they invaded Ulster. If to this be added, that they 
 occasionally sacked a monastery or church, we have exhausted 
 the list of their achievements. 
 
 After the death of Donal O'Loughlin (11 21), there was an 
 interval of some years during which there was no Ardri. No 
 prince of the Tirowen, or Dalcassian race, was strong enough to 
 establish a supremacy over the whole island, nor indeed over 
 his own province. It had become recognised that the rule of 
 the stronger only should prevail, hereditaiy claims were ignored 
 and the\example of Brian had pointed out to every ambitious 
 adventurer, that if he was sufficiently strong and sufBciently 
 unscrupulous, he might become supreme among the Irish kings. 
 Just such an adventurer appeared in the person of Turlogh 
 O'Connor. His ancestors had long been kings of Connaught : 
 it is the testimony of O'Donovan that no family in Ireland, or 
 even in Europe, can trace its descent through so many 
 generations of legitimate ancestors as these s?me O'Connors. || 
 They were a warlike race and in the long struggle between North 
 and South for pre-eminence, they had not been mere idle spec- 
 tators. Turlogh's father, Rory, had been taken prisoner 
 
 * An Armagh clan. 
 
 ■]■ Four Masters. Lock Ce. 
 
 \ Laniganj Vol. III., pp. 432-45 
 
 II The O'Conors of Connaught^ by the O'Conor Don, p. 3. 
 
A LONG PERIOD OF DISCORD. 13I 
 
 (1092),* by his turbulent vassal, O'Flaherty of lar-Connaught, 
 and according to the barbarous practice of the times had his 
 eyes put out. Disqualified by his blindness from continuing 
 king — rnd probably it was this O'Flaherty intended — Rory 
 retired to the monastery of Clonmacnoise, where he died after 
 twenty-six years spent there.| His son, Donal, became his 
 successor, but for some reason he was deposed (i 106) by Murtogh 
 O'Brien, and his young brother, Turlogh, placed on the throne 
 by the same king. Turlogh was then but eighteen years old and 
 from one so young, the Munster king expected that little was 
 to be feared, and that perhaps, on the contrary, he might become 
 the ally, or even the vassal, of Munster. If he expected this, 
 he grievously erred, for Turlogh soon showed an independence 
 of character, which made it plain that among the Irish chiefs, 
 he was not disposed to play the role of vassal but of master. 
 He co-operated with Murtagh O'Brien and Morrogh O'Mellaghlin 
 (i 109) in an attack on Breffni, and perhaps it was to punish him 
 for thus being in alliance with the Munster king, that Donal 
 O'Loughlin entered Connaught (11 10), laid waste much of the 
 province and carried away three thousand prisoners and many 
 thousand cattle. J Moved by discontent, or ambition, a 
 Connaught tribe, the Conmaicne, thought the time opportune 
 for revolting against Turlogh, but, at the battle of Ross (iiio), 
 Turlogh defeated them with the loss of many of their chiefs. || 
 Next year he plundered Fermanagh, a little later (1113), he 
 was the ally of Murtagh O'Brien against O'Loughlin of Tirowen, 
 but two years later (1115), he entered Thomond and plundered 
 it as far as Limerick.** 
 
 Turlogh's prowess was soon recognised by all Connaught, 
 the chastisement inflicted upon the Conmaicne had blighted 
 the hopes of brooding revolt, and neither O' Kelly nor O'Flaherty, 
 the two most powerful of the Connaught chiefs, even once during 
 his long reign presumed to be numbered among his foes. But 
 to be King of Connaught did not satisfy Turlogh's ambition, 
 and secure of the allegiance of his own province, he meditated 
 conquests beyond the Shannon. His military resources were not 
 
 * Four Masters. 
 
 t Ibid. It seems from the Annals of Loch Ce that he had taken 
 Orders. 
 
 X Four Masters. 
 
 II The Conmaicne dwelt in the north of the County of Galway, i.e.-, the 
 present barony of Dunmore, at least the branch of the tribe that fought 
 Turlogh. Ross is near Rathcroghan in Roscommon, from which it 
 seems evident that the Conmaicne invaded Turlogh's hereditary territory. 
 {Four Masters and Book of Rights, p. 100.) 
 
 * * Four Masters. 
 
132 HISTORY OF IRELAND. 
 
 large, but it was not by superior strength he always expected 
 to succeed. To foster dissension in each province, to set up 
 two or three kings instead of one, and to have at least one of 
 these his own dependent and creature, to promote quarrels 
 between chiefs and then to be the decisive arbiter ot their quarrels, 
 to ally himself with Breffni against Leinster, and with Breffni 
 and Leinster against Munster — these were the means he v/as 
 ready to employ, and by these means he reached pre-eminence. 
 He entered Meath (1115), interposed in a quarrel between the 
 O'Mellaghlins, set up two kings, instead of one, and got sub- 
 mission from both, and about the same time made an alliance 
 with O'Rorke of Breffni, and then, joined by his allies of Meath 
 and Breffni, he entered Munster and measured swords with 
 the Dalcassians.* 
 
 The time was opportune for his designs. The once dreaded 
 Murtagh O'Brien was a penitent at Lismore, and, among the 
 monks of that famous monastery, he had ceased to think of 
 wars and battles, and in feebleness and old age was concerned 
 only about the interests of his soul. His brother, Dermot, 
 who filled the throne since his abdication had just died (11 18), 
 and some confusion might probably arise as to the succession to 
 the vacant throne. Turlogh joined by Morrogh O'Mellaghlin 
 and O'Rorke of Breffni entered Munster, wasted and plundered 
 as far as Glanmire in Cork, and, reviving the old rule of alternate 
 succession, cut Munster in two, giving Desmond to MacCarthy, 
 who was the representative of Eoghan, and Thomond to Connor 
 O'Brien, f On his way north he passed by Kincora and wishing 
 to humiliate the O'Briens, and to be revenged for all his family 
 and province had suffered at their hands, he levelled the palace 
 to the earth, and cast it ,both wood and stone, into the Shannon. 
 Before the year expired, he had got submission from Leinster 
 and Ossory and the DulDlin Danes, and had reached a position 
 of authority and influence never reached by a Connaught King. 
 Almost every year for several successive years, he marched with 
 an army into Munster, sparing neither churches nor territory 
 on his march, and it is especially recorded that with MacMorrogh, 
 King of Leinster, and Magillapatrick of Ossory and the Dublin 
 Danes he passed down the Shannon with a great fleet, and th?t 
 he and his allies remained for a time at Killaloe " consuming 
 the provisions of Munster." J The next year he disagreed with 
 his ally O'Mellaghlin, entered his territory which he ravaged and 
 
 * Four Masters. 
 
 t Ibid. O'Flaherty's Ogygta, Part III., Chap. 67: 
 The MacCarthy's, when surnames began to be used, were the 
 principal of the Eoghanact tribes in Munster. 
 X Four Masters, at the year 11 19. 
 
A LONG PERIOD OF DISCORD. 1 33 
 
 expelled him from Meath ; and when Donal O'Loughlin of 
 Tirowen came to O'Mellaghlin's aid he temporised, made peace 
 with O'Loughlin, and for a time O'Mellaghlin was unmolested. 
 But Turlogh O'Connor only waited for a better opportunity, 
 and when Donal O'Loughlin was dead, joined with O'Rorke 
 of Bref^ni, he entered Meath (11 26), and instead of one king 
 of Meath, he set up three.* Meantime he had built bridges 
 over the Shannon — at Athlone, and Shannon Harbour on the 
 Shannon, and at Ballinasloe on the Suck — and in the manner 
 of the ancient Ardris held the fair of Teltown (11 20) thus in- 
 dicating his title to the monarchy of all Ireland. f He marched 
 to Dublin (11 26), and installed his son, Connor, as King of 
 Dublin and Leinster, then ravaged Ossory, defeated MacCarthy 
 of Desmond and burned his camp near Kilkenny, established 
 for months his headquarters at Ormond, and laid waste the 
 surrounding country. J Division had weakened the Munster 
 forces, but though they were weakened they were not yet subdued, 
 and these repeated depredations would have roused to action 
 a less spirited race than the Dalcassians. O'Brien fitted up 
 a fleet on the Shannon and fought (11 27), a naval battle with 
 O'Connor in which, however, Munster was beaten, and hence- 
 forth Turlogh, on the Shannon, was unmolested and supreme. || 
 As long as Desmond and Thomond continued to quarrel they 
 were both plundered, for they were helpless at the mercy of 
 a ruthless enemy ; but at last (i 132), they united in self-defence, 
 marched into Connaught, killed Cathal,son of Cathal O'Connor, 
 royal heir of Connaught, demolished the fortresses of Galway 
 and Dunmore, and plundered a great part of the country.** 
 Through the influence of the clergy, a conference was held in 
 Westmeath, between the Connaught and Munster kings, peace 
 was made, and Munster was allowed a period to recover from 
 her many disasters. During all these years, the Connaught 
 king made but one attack (at 1 1 30) on Ulster when he attacked 
 it from the sea, and plundered Tory Island and the coastof Donegal. 
 The next year, O'Loughlin and the Ulster forces entered 
 Connaught ; the Connaughtmen retreated, then detached a 
 portion of their forces and attacked the rere of the Ulster 
 army near the Curlew Mountains, and the invaders were de- 
 feated with heavy loss, and were glad to conclude peace. 
 
 War was so widespread in 1 145, that the Four Masters lament 
 that " Ireland was a trembling sod," but they might have 
 
 * Four Masters. 
 
 t Ibid. O'Donovan's Note. 
 
 X Four Masters. 
 
 II Ibid. Turlogh's fleet consisted of one hundred and ninety vessels; 
 
 ** Ibid., at 1 1 32. Loch Ce, 1133. 
 
134 HISTORY OF IRELAND. 
 
 written the same of almost any other year at that time. War 
 was everywhere. In the north, every two clans fought, and 
 scarce a year passed that a quarrel did not arise between 
 Tirconnell and Tirowen. Neither the memory of their common 
 ancestors nor considerations of personal interest were able 
 to restrain them. In the south no sooner did the Munster 
 princes make peace with Turlogh O'Connor (1133), than they 
 hastened to make war upon each other, and in 1135, "many 
 of the men of Desmond fell by those of Thomond."* A little 
 
 later (1137), Connor O'Brien and Dermot MacMorrogh, King 
 of Leinster, captured Waterford and defeated MacCarthy, King 
 of the Deisi and Connor O'Brien did homage to MacMorrogh.j 
 Connaught was at war with Meath and Breffni, and Connor 
 O'Brien preyed upon Connaught (1142) ; his succssor, Turlogh, 
 acted similarly in the following year ; O'Mellaghlin was at war 
 with Breffni (1145), and with Fermanagh, while the Munster 
 men entered Connaught, carried off Tiege O'Kelly of Hy-Many 
 into captivity, and killed Rory O'Flaherty of lar-Connaught. 
 Five years later (11 50), they again entered Connaught and 
 demolished the stone castle of Galway.J The fickle and capricious 
 character of an Irish chieftain's allegiance in these days is illus- 
 trated by the conduct of O'Rorke, who, in 1137, joined Meath 
 against Connaught, then submitted to Turlogh O'Connor and 
 attacked Meath (11 38), two years later, was the ally of Meath 
 against Connaught, and again submitted to Turlogh, even joined 
 him in dismembering Meath, of which he got a third share, 
 and finally (i 145), the Four Masters record that he again turned 
 against Connaught. 
 
 During these latter years, Turlogh O'Brien of Thomond 
 had been gaining ground, and his attacks on Connaught es- 
 pecially were so frequent and vexatious, that Turlogh O'Connor 
 determined to chastise him. In alliance with Meath and Mac- 
 Morrogh, and at the invitation of Teige O'Brien of Desmond, 
 he entered Munster (11 52), and at Moanmore, near Emly, he 
 met the forces of Turlogh O'Brien. That prince was returning 
 from a plundering expedition in Desmond and had nine thousand 
 men under his command. O'Connor's forces were superior 
 but not braver ; the Dalcassians fought with desperate energy ; 
 they were willing to die but not to yield ; nor did they until 
 they were almost exterminated. Turlogh's son and heir was 
 killed, two of the O' Kennedys, eight of the O'Deas, nine of 
 the O'Shanaghans, five of the O'Quins, five of the O'Gradys, 
 
 * Four Masters. The battle was fought in the present County of 
 Tipperary. 
 t Ibid. 
 1 Ibid. 
 
A LONG PERIOD OF DISCORD. I35 
 
 twenty-four of the O'Hogans, four of the O'Hehirs, five of the 
 Hearnes — ^all chiefs of the Dalcassians, besides these, seven 
 thousand lay dead or wounded on that disastrous field ; and 
 all that remained of Turlogh O'Brien's army was one shattered 
 battalion. The defeated Turlogh was deprived of his throne, 
 and his place given to Teige O'Brien.* 
 
 Thomond and Desmond ruled by his creatures, Turlogh 
 O'Connor might reasonably believe that his hold on Munster 
 was secure, and little dreamt that he was about to endure the 
 greatest humiliation of his life ; yet so it happened. The deposed 
 Turlogh O'Brien made his way to Tirowen and begged the 
 assistance of Aedh O'Loughlin, its king ; and the ambitious 
 Northern was flattered at seeing the descendant and heir of 
 Brian Boru, a suppliant in his palace. He resolved to assist 
 him, and to attack Turlogh O'Connor, who was then in West- 
 meath.f His movements were rapid and skilful ; O'Connor was 
 taken off his guard and was disastrously defeated, and was com- 
 pelled to give hostages to O'Loughlin, who now claimed to be 
 Ardri. Teige O'Brien was deposed, and his eyes put out (1153), 
 and Turlogh was restored to the throne of Desmond. I Turlogh 
 O'Connor's submission to O'Loughlin was merely nominal, 
 and the next year (i i 54), with a strong fleet he attacked Tirowen 
 from the sea. As the northern king had no fleet, or at least 
 no adequate fleet, he brought Danish mercenaries from the 
 Scotch and Manx coasts, and off the coast of Innishowen the 
 battle was fought. The Connaught force was victorious, but 
 their commander was killed ; the Danish ships were captured. 
 This was the last battle fought by Turlogh O'Connor. || He 
 died (11 56), and was buried as he had requested beneath the 
 high altar of St. Kieran at Clonmacnoise. His death removed 
 the foremost figure from the theatre of Irish affairs, one who 
 for nearly fifty years had been concerned in all the great events 
 that had happened, and in most of which his was the controlling 
 influence. In his own province his loss was most keenly felt, 
 for these Connaughtmen were proud of their king, who had 
 raised them to such pre-eminence, and who from his palace at 
 Rathcroghan had imposed his will on so many princes beyond 
 the Shannon. In all his wars they readily supported him, for 
 he usually led them to victory, and often returned from his wars 
 laden with the spoils of Munster and Meath. Nor was he un- 
 distinguished in peace. He sternly punished injustice, not 
 
 * Four Masters. 
 
 t He had just taken from Dermot MacMurrogh the faithless Devorgil, 
 wife of Tighernan O'Rorke. 
 
 + Four Masters. White's History of Clare, p. 102. 
 y The 0' Conors, p. 43. 
 
136 HISTORY OF IRELAND, 
 
 Sparing even his own son ; he was liberal to the monasteries, 
 especially to Clonmacnoise ; he set up a mint and coined money;* 
 he built bridges over the Shannon ; the Abbey of Cong, the 
 picturesque ruins of which still stand on the Corrib, was built 
 and endowed by him, and the stone cross of Tuam, and the 
 processional cross of Cong, show that he encouraged Irish art. 
 No king since Brian Boru had such influence or power. Some- 
 times he has been called Turlogh the Great, and if we remember 
 the age in which he lived, and compare him with his contem- 
 poraries, we may allow that he has some title to the name. 
 
 At the death of Turlogh, Aedh O'Loughlin received the sub- 
 mission of all the Irish Chiefs, except Roderick O'Connor, the 
 new King of Connaught, who, instead of submitting, plundered 
 Tirowen from the sea (11 57), and Munster and Ossory from 
 land,t but in Meath he was defeated by the Ardri (11 59), and 
 was compelled to submit. O'Loughlin then became undisputed 
 Ardri, and unity of government at last appeared ; but he soon 
 showed that he was unworthy of his position, and by an act 
 of treachery and cruelty he lost both his throne and his life. 
 In one of the many expeditions with which he harassed Uladh, 
 he had taken Dunleavy, its chief, prisoner (1165), and he had 
 deposed him. On his release, Dunleavy made his way to 
 O'Carroll of Oriel, whom he knew to be the Ardri's special friend, 
 and, at O'Carroll's request, Dunleavy was restored to his position. 
 But he gave ample guarantees of future good behaviour, gave 
 hostages, including his own daughter, and with mutual promises 
 and oaths to which O'Carroll was a party, peace was established 
 between Uladh and Tirowen. J Yet, in defiance of these 
 promises and oaths, the Ardri, in the following year, made 
 an unprovoked attack on Uladh, wasted and ravaged the district, 
 carried away Dunleavy, prisoner, and cruelly put out his eyes. 
 Enraged at this perfidy, O'Carroll hurriedly raised an army, 
 fell with fury on the Ardri, and at Letterluin, in the present 
 county of Armagh, O'Loughlin was defeated and slain ; || and 
 thus ingloriously perished the last Ardri of the race of Nial. 
 
 Disgusted with O'Loughlin's conduct, the native chiefs no 
 longer looked to Tirowen for a leader, and, with singular un- 
 animity, they agreed to give to Roderick O'Connor the hostages 
 which he sought. Tirconnell, Breffni, Meath and the Dublin 
 Danes submitted to him, and at Dublin, whither he had marched, 
 Roderick was inaugurated king, " as honorably as any king 
 
 * Healy's Ancient Schools and Scholars, p. 547- 
 t Four Masters. 
 
 X Ibid. Besides his daughter he gave him a son of every chieftain 
 in his province. 
 11 Four Masters. 
 
A LONG PERIOD OF DISCORD. 137 
 
 of the Gael was ever inaugurated."* Ossory and Leinster, and 
 all Munster at once recognised him, and he was allowed without 
 protest, and apparently with approval, to divide Tirowen between 
 Nial O'Loughlin and Aedh O'Neill, f He convoked at Athboy 
 ^1167), a great council of princes and ecclesiastics, where many 
 useful regulations for the government of the entire country 
 were made, and the members of which separated — an unusual 
 thing in these days — " without controversy or battle." | The 
 following year (1168), he celebrated the Fair of Teltown — the 
 last time it was ever celebrated — with unusual magnificence, 
 the horsemen present being so numerous that they extended 
 nearly seven miles. || Weary of war, it seemed at last that 
 the energies of the people were to be directed into peaceful 
 channels, that the reign of discord was over, and the reign of 
 unity and peace was about to dawn. 
 
 * Four Masters. 
 
 t He also divided Munster between O'Brien and Dermot MacCarthy. 
 + The whole of the gathering and assembly was 1 3 000 horsemen 
 {Four Masters^ 
 II Four Masters. 
 
CHAPTER XI. 
 
 Decay of Religion and Learning. 
 
 Prosperous state of the Church at the close of the eighth century — Ravages 
 of the Danes — Churches and schools destroyed^ resulting in injury 
 to religion and demoralisation of the people. Monastery lands seized 
 by native chiefs — Lay Abbots — Irish scholars of the ninth and tenth 
 centuries — Dicuil, Dungal, Scotus Erigena, etc. — Unity of Govern- 
 ment under Brian Boru — Temporary improvement in religion and 
 learning — After Clontarf, state of Ireland worse than ever — The Bards- 
 Schools and scholars of the eleventh and twelfth centuries — Abuses 
 in the church — Letters of Lanfranc and St. Anselm — What St. Bernard 
 wrote — Reforms effected by St. Malachy. 
 
 The three centuries which succeeded the life and labours of 
 St. Patrick make up the most flourishing period in the history 
 of the xA.ncient Irish Church. With marvellous rapidity that 
 Church had passed from infancy to maturity, the little mustard 
 seed had become a mighty tree under the shade of vi^hich dwelt 
 the sons and daughters of the Scots — brehons, bards, princes, 
 children against the wishes of their parents, slaves despising 
 the menaces of their masters.* In the sixth century many 
 great monasteries aro=c, where the best of the Irish fasted and 
 prayed and learned and taught; the whole country seemed turned 
 into a vast religious camp, and before the century closed, zeal 
 for souls and enthusiasm in God's service had sent Columba 
 to convert the Picts f and Columbanus to practise austerity 
 and shed the light of his example under the shadow of the Vosges 
 mountains.! The celebrity of the Irish schools became so great, 
 that in the two succeeding centuries from the Saxons and Franks 
 numbers of students came to study, and while on so many con- 
 tinental lands barbarism and ignorance held sway, Ireland 
 
 * Tripartite Life of St. Patrick, p. 369. This happened in St; 
 Patrick's lifetime — that the slave became a Christian, while the master 
 remained a pagan. 
 
 t Reeves' Adamnan, p. j-i). 
 
 X Monks of the West ; Book VIII; 
 
DECAY OF RELIGION AND LEARNING. 1 39 
 
 deserved to be called — as she has been by a great English writer 
 — the School of the West.* Nor was there any evidence at the 
 close of the eighth century that the vigour of the Irish Church 
 was impaired. Her schools flourished as in their palmiest days. 
 There were so many Saxon students at Armagh, that one-third 
 of the city was called the Trian Saxon or Saxon Third ,t and the 
 Four Masters record the death, during the eighth century, of 
 many of her famous scholars. Dungal, whose knowledge of 
 theology and Sacred Scripture was so remarkable, and who, 
 against Claudius and the Western Iconoclasts, was the greatest 
 champion of orthodoxy, had but recently left the School of 
 Bangor, \ and if we wish to know in what estimation Clonmac- 
 noise was held even at the Court of Charelmagne, we have but 
 to read the letter of Alcuin to Colgu, one of the professors at 
 Clonmacnoise. || The Paschal controversy was long since over, 
 for the obstinacy of the Northern monks had at last yielded to 
 the persuasive eloquence of Adamnan,** and if the Pelagian 
 heresy had ever flourished in Ireland, or was being revived in 
 the seventh century, as Pope Honorius seems to have feared, ff 
 their is no mention of it in the native Annals, nor in the complaints 
 made from time to time against Irishmen abroad. Nor is it 
 likely that orthodoxy would have sought for a champion — as 
 it did in the case of Dungal — amongst men who came from a 
 church tainted and vitiated by heresy. The Irish Church, it 
 was apparent, had attained to age, without losing the freshness 
 or vigour or energy of youth, and all the indications were that 
 she was entering on a career of renewed prosperity, and that 
 the glory of her future would not be overshadowed even by the 
 glory of her past. Yet, so fallible is human foresight, that she 
 was just about to enter on a period of decay, when her very 
 life was to be imperilled, for the tempest of Danish invasion, 
 which had swept with fury over so many lands, just burst on 
 the coasts of Ireland. 
 
 A Danish writer, with a laudable desire to defend the memory 
 of his ancestors, has endeavoured to show that the Danes were 
 not so bad as they are represented to have been, and that, as 
 to their ferocity and fanaticism, the verdict of history has been 
 too severe. He indignantly denies that they carried away 
 and destroyed so many manuscripts, which would be quite 
 useless for them, written in a language they did not 
 
 * Boswell's Johnson, chap. 32. 
 
 t Healy, p. 119. 
 
 % Ibid., p. 390. Lanigan, chap. 20. 
 
 II Usher's Sylloge. 
 
 **,Bede's Ecclesiastical History ; Book V., chap. 15. 
 
 ft Usher's Sylloge. 
 
I40 HISTORY OF IRELAND 
 
 understand.* They promoted trade and coined money f 
 and in these respects especially were above, rather than 
 below, the Irish in civilization. Ledwich, an Irishman, 
 
 goes further still. He states it as certain, " from every evi- 
 dence supplied from antiquity," that Ireland, when the Danes 
 came had no stone buildings, ^ and that the well-known 
 Round Towers were the work of Danish hands — " the Ostmen 
 began them and they were imitated by the Irish." || This latter 
 assertion — that the Danes built the Round Towers — might be 
 admitted, if the distinction is remembered between an ef^cient 
 and an occasional cause : these towers were built by the Irish 
 because of Danish depredations and to serve as a refuge against 
 their attacks. Ledwich was a learned man, but his veracity 
 was not equal to his learning, his prejudices against the Ancient 
 Irish were strong, and neither his bold assertions nor Worsae's 
 zealous advocacy can avail on behalf of the Danes. The judgment 
 of history has too many facts in its support and that judgment 
 is, that the Danes built up nothing and knew only how to destroy. 
 It is well known that wherever they landed, robbery and murder 
 followed, and that their raven banner was the symbol of deso- 
 lation and ruin. Nor were they less ferocious in Ireland than 
 elsewhere, and in Ireland, as in other countries, their fury was 
 directed most against Christian churches and monasteries and 
 for the extirpation of Christianity itself. Of their various 
 attacks on the several monasteries the records are necessarily 
 incomplete, for in that age of turmoil the machinery of scholar- 
 ship was disorganised. Yet in the native Annals, incomplete 
 though they be, we find that Armagh was plundered six times 
 in the ninth century and three times in the tenth,** and that 
 during the same period Clonmacnoise was plundered four times, 
 Glendalough twice, Bangor, Clonard, Kells and Clooneenagh 
 once each, and Kildare five times. What took place at Bangor 
 and Armagh will illustrate the injury done, for these are types 
 of the ruin effected elsewhere. In Bangor (824), the monastery 
 was plundered, the oratory broken into and the relics of St. 
 Comgal, the founder, shaken from the shrine in which they were 
 placed, and the shrine itself carried away. Armagh was plun- 
 dered (832), three times in one month, a few years later (839) 
 its oratory and cathedral were burned ; it was again plundered 
 
 * Worsae ; The Dalies and Norwegians in England, Scotland and 
 Ireland, p. 301. 
 
 t Ibid., p. 334. 
 
 + Antiquities, pp. 141-3. 
 
 II Ledwich's Antiquities, p. 288. Petrie's Round Towers, p. 9. 
 
 ** Four Masters, at the years 830-39-43-50-67-9I) 920-34-51,- 
 &c., &c. 
 
DECAY OF RELIGION AND LEARNING I4I 
 
 and burned (867), with its oratories, all its property and wealth 
 that could be carried was carried away, and one thousand 
 persons were either killed by the sword, or driven into 
 the burning buildings, where they were suffocated ; later 
 still (890) it was again plundered, seven hundred of its in- 
 habitants were taken into captivity and its church and 
 oratory were destroyed. 
 
 The monastic character of the Ancient Irish Church has 
 been often noted.* It was in the monasteries and by them that 
 the whole work of education was carried on, for the Bardic 
 schools were the only other schools and they were not in the 
 ninth and tenth centuries of much account, and were never 
 an unmixed blessing"f In the monasteries the monk toiled and 
 prayed ; there were the churches, there lived the priests who 
 ministered to the people outside, and there also was the bishop, 
 whose episcopate was not yet diocesan, and whose jurisdiction, 
 was limited to the monastery and its immediate surroundings. 
 When these monasteries were violently invaded, their schools 
 destroyed, their books torn, or drowned, their scholars and 
 teachers gone, their altars overthrown, or desecrated, their 
 chalices turned into pagan drinking cups, their priests murdered, 
 or at least dispersed, and hiding in woods and caves, the work 
 of conserving and propagating the Christian religion became 
 well nigh impossible and the danger seemed not remote that 
 the light of the Gospel, which had burned so brilliantly and so 
 long, was about to be finally extinguished. The material damage 
 done to the churches was in many cases repaired, and 
 it is difficult to know which to marvel at most — the 
 grim persistence with which the Danes attacked the 
 monasteries, or the equally remarkable persistence with 
 which the Irish repaired them. But mere material damage was 
 not the greatest injury done to the Irish Church. In the 
 corruption of manners, the neglect of religion and the general 
 demoralisation of the people, her wounds were deeper still. The 
 whole energies of the people were turned to war, the fatal clan 
 system, so fruitful of discord, still flourished, and the weapons 
 which should have been turned against the invader were as often 
 turned against each other. The quietness and the seclusion 
 of monastic life soon lost their attractions for a warlike race ; 
 amid strife and bloodshed neither sanctity nor religion could 
 flourish ; even monks, forgetting that their vocation was one 
 of peace, mingled in the fray, and not alone fought the invader 
 
 * Cambrensis Eversus^ Vol. III., p. 463. Monks of the West, Book VIII. j 
 chap 3. 
 
 t Douglas Hyde ; Literary History of Ireland, p. 4883 
 
142 HISTORY OF IRELAND, 
 
 but even fought each other.* Reverence for monasteries and their 
 inhabitants declined; and not once, but often, did a native and 
 Christian chief plunder and rob as ruthlessly as the pagan Dane. 
 During the ninth and tenth centuries, Clonmacnoise f was 
 sacked and plundered by native chiefs no less than eight times, 
 Armagh, Glendalough, Clooneenagh and Kildare once each ; 
 and the Annals record, at the year 848, that a native chief 
 (Cinaedh, son of Conaing of Cianachta-Breagh) burned the 
 oratory of Treoit, with two hundred and sixty persons who had 
 sought shelter within its sacred walls. 
 
 St. Patrick has spoken with enthusiasm of the generosity 
 of the Irish of his own time, how they came and cast upon the 
 altar even their personal ornaments, though his love of poverty 
 precluded him from accepting all their gifts. % In succeeding 
 ages the same generous spirit survived. Each chief felt proud 
 to have a monastery on his territory which he generously endowed 
 with land. The chief of Ely O'Carrol, for instance, gave his 
 own residence for a monastery, || Turlogh of Thomond richly 
 endowed Killaloe** and such examples were not rare. Up to the 
 coming of the Danes these monastic possessions were respected 
 and, except in rare and isolated cases, did not excite the agress- 
 sive cupidity of the native chiefs. But the havoc wrought by 
 foreign invasion and domestic strife weakened the influence of 
 religion and the Church lands came to be regarded by many of 
 the chiefs with a hungry eye. While they had a member of their 
 own family in Holy Orders, who could act as abbot, the)^ were 
 content to let the monastery alone,tf but when the clerical vocation 
 was not vouchsafed to one of their kindred, under the specious 
 plea of guarding the monastery against the Danes, they boldly 
 took possesson of its lands and even assumed the name and 
 exercised the authority of abbot. During the ninth century, 
 there was a lay abbot at Ross. |+ In many other monasteries 
 the same system prevailed, and at Armagh, from the early part 
 of the tenth century, there was for two centuries a succession 
 of lay and married abbots, who presumed to act in the name 
 of St. Patrick and with the authority of the primatial See.|||| 
 
 * Reeves' Adamnan, p. 255. The Four Masters have suppressed 
 these facts. 
 
 t Four Masters, at the years 831-2-4-44, 934-51-60. 
 
 X Tripartite Life, p. 367. 
 
 II Lanigan, Vol. m., p. 24. 
 
 ** Harris's Ware, Vol. I., p. 590. His son, St. Flannan, was its first 
 Bishop. 
 
 It O'Hanlon, Life of St. Malachy O'Morgair, chap. 13. 
 
 XX Healy, p. 493. 
 
 [Ill Cambrcnsis Eversus, Vol. III., p. 404. 
 
DECAY OF RELIGION AND LEARNING. 1 43 
 
 Such abuses as these indicate that the Irish Church had 
 fallen on evil days. Yet her monasteries and schools struggled 
 on, and with some measure of success. Suibne, who died (892), 
 and was buried at Clonmacnoise, presumably one of its students 
 or professors, is described by Florence of Worcester as the 
 " wisest and greatest doctor of the Scots."* Dicuil the geog- 
 rapher, as he is called, who lived in the same century, another 
 scholar of Clonmacnoise, wrote an interesting and learned work 
 on Geography (" De Mensura Orbis Terrae ") ; f Cormac, who 
 was at the same time King and Bishop of Cashel, wrote a glossary, 
 well known to Irish scholars as " Cormac's Glossary," and showing 
 that he knew besides Irish, Latin, Greek and Hebrew ; J while 
 Maelmurra and Flann and O'Hartigan and O'Flynn wrote 
 works in Irish, some of which still remain. || Maelmurra wrote 
 a poem on the Milesian Immigration, published (1847), by the 
 Irish Archaeological Society. Nine or ten of O'Hartigan's poems 
 remain, and of O'Flynn there are fourteen pieces remaining, 
 containing eighteen hundred lines, and dealing with the whole 
 early and mythical history of Ireland.** 
 
 But if there are few illustrious names in the Irish schools 
 at home, it was not so on the continent, where the reputation 
 of the Irish for sanctity and scholarship was still maintained. 
 During this period the Irish went abroad in crowds,-f-|- some 
 perhaps to indulge their curiosity, for the Irish had already 
 acquired a reputation for rambling,|J others because, in a country 
 desolated by perpetual war, they could cultivate neither sanctity 
 nor scholarship and sought for both in more favoured lands. 
 Of this latter class was Dungal, an Irish exile (Hibernicus Exul), 
 as he describes himself. 1||| Besides his labours against the Icono- 
 clasts, he established a school at Pavia, which soon became famous 
 throughout Italy, and in the end of his life he retired to Bobbio, 
 where he died (825). Donatus, scholar and poet, died Bishop of 
 Fiesole (873).*** Other Irishmen were Marcellus and Eusebius, 
 monks in St. Gall ; Helcis, Bishop of Angouleme, Columbanus, 
 a monk, who wrote some verses for Charles the Bald ; another 
 Columbanus, a century later, was a monk at Ghent (died 959), 
 
 * Healy, p. 274. In Florence's Chronicle he is named Swifneh. 
 
 t Ibid., p. 281. 
 
 X Ibid., p. 612. O'Curry's MSS. Materials, pp. 19, 20. 
 
 II Ibid., pp. 617-19. 
 
 ** Hyde's Literary History, pp. 427-30. 
 
 If Olden; The Church of Ireland, pp. 172, 184. 
 
 XX Lingard's Anglo-Saxon Church, Vol. II., p. 269, note. 
 
 [Ill Lanigan, Vol. III., pp. 259-264. 
 
 *** Ibidt, pp. 282-3. On his tomb in the Cathedral verses written 
 by himself were engraved, — he calls himself, " Scotorum Sanguine 
 cretus." 
 
144 HISTORY OF IRELAND. 
 
 Patrick a monk at Glastonbury, which monastery was established 
 by Irish monks and in which the great St. Dunstan was trained; 
 and Irish monasteries existed also both at Cologne and Metz.* 
 Among all the Irishmen abroad during this period the best 
 known was John Scotus Erigena. The time of his birth, the 
 place in Ireland in which he was born, the school or schools in 
 which he studied, the time and place and manner of his death 
 are all equally uncertain. Among the scholars of the ninth 
 century he stood high, among the philosophers he was first, 
 and at Rome, the variety and extent of his learning — " a barbarian 
 from the ends of the earth " — was matter for the greatest wonder, f 
 A resident at the court of Charles the Bald, a familiar and 
 favourite of that monarch and head of the palace school, among 
 the scholars around him so great was his learning, that he soon 
 came to be called the Master, J and when the controversy raised 
 by Gottschalk on predestination arose, he undertook the refu- 
 tation of Gottschalk's errors. || Unlike his countryman, Dungal, 
 he relied too much on reason and had no great reverence for 
 authority, nor can it be denied that the language of his Capitula, 
 in reference to predestination, free will, the effects of original 
 sin and eternal punishment, is at least ambiguous and difficult 
 to acquit of error,** and gave plausible excuse for the attacks 
 
 * Lanigan, Vol. III., pp. 285-320, etc 
 
 t Usher's Sylloge, No. 24. " Mirandum est quoque quomodo vir ille 
 barbarus qui in finibus mundi positus talia intellectu capere in aliamque 
 linguaux transferre valuerit." 
 
 X Healy, p. 581. Lanigan, Vol. III., pp. 288 et seq. 
 
 II Gottschalk was a monk at Fulda, and had been compelled to enter 
 a monastery. He taught that some were predestined to eternal life and 
 others to eternal death, and therefore that God had ordained some men 
 to be saved, and others to be lost, a direct contradiction of the words of 
 Scripture, that God wishes all men to be saved. (Alzog's Church History ^ 
 Vol. II., p. 307.) 
 
 **Usher's Works, Vol. IV., pp. 114, et seq. His proposition that fore- 
 knowledge and predestination are the same cannot be admitted. God 
 does foresee that some will be saved and others lost, but the former will be 
 saved by co-operating with grace and the proper exercise of their liberty, 
 the latter will be lost by misusing their liberty, and failing to co-operate 
 with grace. But this is not the same as to say, that some are eternally 
 predestined to be saved and others to be lost. If foreknowledge and pre- 
 destination in both these cases be the same, it would be to disregard merit 
 and extinguish human liberty. Nor again can that proposition be ad- 
 mitted that, in eternal fire, there is no pain but the absence of felicity, 
 eg., the loss of God. This is one element of what is suffered, but does not 
 constitute all, for the fire itself burns and causes torture. And that pro- 
 position of Erigena is hard to understand that in the sin of Adam^ 
 instead of all men being tainted by it, what happened was that each in- 
 dividual will was concerned and participated individually in that sin — 
 it looks like a denial of original sin. 
 
DECAY OF RELIGION AND LEARNING. 1 45 
 
 of Florus and Prudentius.* Their acrid criticisms have been 
 justly censured by Dr. Healy, and are less remarkable for 
 Christian charity than for coarse and even brutal invective, 
 for such terms as " vain and garrulous man," " so-called scholar 
 and learned," " inventor of lies " and others of a like character 
 are simply abuse, utterly devoid of argument, as well as of good 
 taste, and repel rather than attract conviction. At two councils 
 Valence (855) and Langres (859) Scotus was condemned, but 
 at the Synod of Tousi (860!)) that condemnation seems to have 
 been revoked .j Scotus must have been able to explain what 
 he wrote to the satisfaction of the assembled bishops, and perhaps 
 he attached to his language a philosophic rather than a 
 theologic I significance. 
 
 At the request of Charles the Bald, he translated from the 
 Greek the works of Dionysius the Areopagite, which work also 
 did not escape censure, though the language of Anastasius 
 contrasts agreeably with that of Florus and Prudentius. He 
 merely insinuates that the translation of Erigena was too literal 
 and ascribes it to the translator's humility — not presuming to 
 depart from the very words of the original. || The third and last 
 work of Erigena was not a translation but an original work 
 and was called " De Divisione Naturae." In this he certainly 
 erred — he was guilty of Pantheism, for throughout he identifies 
 nature with God. His death is assigned to the year 875. 
 Mosheim's judgment on him was, that " he was a great and 
 excelling genius "** and Lanigan's, that " he was a good philo- 
 sopher but a bad theologian," and both judgments may be 
 accepted as correct. 
 
 At the commencement of the eleventh century, after a long 
 period of darkness, the clouds seemed to have rolled away and 
 the prospect looked bright for Ireland and the Irish church. At 
 last unity of government was established and one strong man — 
 Brian Boru — governed the whole country. At Sulcoit and 
 Scattery Island and Glenmama, he had taught the Danes the 
 bitterness of defeat, and the Danish colonies at Limerick, Water- 
 ford, and Dublin were his obedient, even if unwilling, subjects. 
 The native chiefs, no longer allowed to make war upon each 
 other with the same recklessness as of old, stood in salutary 
 
 * Florus was a deacon at Lyons : Prudentius was Bishop of TroyeSj 
 (Lanigan, Vol.j ill., p. 292.) 
 
 t Healy, p. 583. 
 
 X He was not in Holy Orders, and never studied theology. (Laniganji 
 Vol. III.^ p. 288.) 
 
 llUsher's Sylloge, No. 24. Anastasius was Papal librarian at Rome. 
 
 * * Mosheim's Ecclesiastical History (Murdock and Soames), Vol. Il.j 
 pp. 180, 224-5. 
 
 L 
 
146 HISTORY OF IRELAND. 
 
 awe of his power, and Brian, victorious over all his enemies, 
 was desirous to repair the ravages of long-continued war. For 
 the twelve years he was Ardri he did much for religion and 
 learning. " He sent professors and masters to teach wisdom 
 and knowledge ; and to buy books beyond the sea and the great 
 ocean ; because their writings and their books in every church 
 and in every sanctuary where they were, were burned and 
 thrown into water by the plunderers, from the beginning to 
 the end ; and Brian himself gave the price of learning and 
 the price of books to every one separately who went on this 
 service." He built many churches, and of these there are specially 
 enumerated the churches of Inniscaltra and Killaloe, and the 
 bell-tower of Tuam Grene.* With regard to the church of 
 Killaloe, the opinion of Petrie — and his opinions are never given 
 without having good reason in their favour — is that, judging 
 from the architecture, the church was built at a much earlier 
 period — probably in the seventh century ; and as to Inniscaltra, 
 it was merely restored by Brian and the only part built in his 
 day was the chancel arch.f Without adopting in full the pane- 
 gyric of MacLiag, it may be admitted that Brian's efforts were 
 not in vain, and that a revival in religion and learning did take 
 place during the years that he ruled as supreme king. 
 
 It was only a temporary stemming of the tide, and after 
 Clontarf, where Brian and so many members of his family 
 perished, the condition of Ireland, like the relapsing sinner, 
 became even worse than before. Nor was there any stage of 
 her history more disastrous for the Irish Church than that long 
 period of discord and anarchy, which followed Clontarf and 
 lasted for one hundred and fifty years. O'Brien in Munster, 
 O'Loughlin in Ulster, O'Connor in Connaught — each wished to 
 be supreme — and, if they could not be supreme themselves, they 
 were determined that no one else should, and so from age to 
 age this ruinous struggle was carried on. The lesser chiefs 
 imitated the greater, and the result was universal war. As the 
 influence of the clergy diminished, that of the bards increased, 
 and it was seldom used for the interests of peace. A bard's 
 attachment was to his clan, his view did not reach beyond its 
 limits, his talents were for personal panegyric or rude invective, | 
 he roused his chief to war — and this was seldom necessary — 
 by recounting the warlike deeds of his ancestors ; the peaceful, 
 he dubbed as cowards or sluggards, the warlike only deserving 
 of praise ; and to a people like the Irish, so much swayed by 
 
 * Wars of the Gael and Gall, pp. 139-41. 
 
 t Petrie's Round Towers, pp. 281-2. 
 
 % Walker's Historical Memoir of the Irish Bards, pp. 30-141. 
 
DECAY OF RELIGION AND LEARNING. 1 47 
 
 emotion, his appeals were irresistible. There must have been 
 many who saw in slaughtered kinsmen and ruined homes the 
 sad realities of war, and who sighed for a life of peace at home, 
 but either the powerlessness to disobey a warlike chief, the fear 
 of the bard's satire, or perhaps the vanity to receive his praises, 
 were too much for them, and against their better iudgment, 
 they were borne along by the rushing tide. To the Danes were 
 left the business of commerce and its profits, and what was said 
 of them in a later age was at least as true in the eleventh and 
 twelfth centuries — that the Irish knew no industry but war.* 
 
 This long period of strife and turmoil was a time of bitter 
 trial for the Church. In past centuries the plunder of churches 
 and monasteries was left, except m some few cases, to the Danes, 
 but this unholy work was now done by native chiefs ; and when 
 O'Brien invaded Ulster, or O'Connor went to Thomond, the 
 Annals record that they spared neither churches nor territory 
 on their march.f Within the century after Clontarf, Clonmac- 
 noise was plundered six times, \ Armagh three times, || Kells and 
 Ardbraecan twice, and Derry and Glendalough once each, nor 
 does this exhaust the list of churches that suffered by native 
 hands. The Danes were weak, except at Dublin and Waterford, 
 and, moreover, had become Christians, and since 1040, a Danish 
 bishop was at Dublin;* * but though they had ceased to be pagans 
 they had not ceased to be plunderers, and amongst other churches, 
 they pillaged Ardbraecan twice and Armagh once.ff 
 
 Amid this wreck and ruin the monasteries still struggled on, 
 some in a precarious condition, but others, such as Clonmacnoise, 
 protected and endowed by Turlogh O'Connor, Lismore patron- 
 ised by the O'Briens of Thomond and the MacCarthys of Desmond, 
 and Derry, where O'Loughlin of Tyrone died — these, in the 
 twelfth century, enjoyed a moderate degree of prosperity. The 
 exodus of Irishmen to foreign lands still continued, and at 
 Wurtzburgh, Fulda and Ratisbon were monasteries almost, if 
 not exclusively, Irish. \\ At Fulda lived and died (1002), 
 Marianus Scotus,i||| who wrote a valuable chronicle in Latin, and 
 at Ratisbon was another Marianus Scotus (died 1088), who 
 wrote a learned Commentary on the Scriptures.*** At home, 
 
 * Spenser's View of the State of Ireland. 
 
 \ Annals of Loch Ce at iioi. Four Masters^ 112I! 
 
 X Four Masters, 1023-44-50-60-95, 1129. 
 
 y Ibid., 1074-91, 1 1 12, etc. 
 
 ** Harris's Ware, Vol. Is 
 
 ft Four Masters, 1020. 
 
 XX Lanigan, Vol. IV., p. 6. 
 
 nil Ibid., Vol. III., p. 447. Healy, p. 2562 
 
 *^* Ibid., Vol. IV., p. 4. 
 
148 HISTORY OF IRELAND. 
 
 also, there were some distinguished scholars, who wrote in Irish; 
 Con O'Loughlin, a poet (died 1024) " a very distinguished scholar," 
 says O'Curry; * Flann, who wrote the Synchronisms of Flann, 
 described as " the greatest scholar of his day | " and of whose 
 poetry two thousand lines are to be found in the Book of Leinster 
 alone ; Thighernach, most accurate and reliable of all the Irish 
 chroniclers; O'Malone (died 1123) who wrote the Chronicon 
 ScotorumX and last, though first in order of time, MacLiag 
 (died 1 01 6) who wrote the Wars of the Gael and Gall, a work 
 inordinately and disagreeably verbose, full of bombast and 
 exaggeration, but yet of enormous historic value. Lanigan 
 states that foreign students still came to Ireland, though he 
 can give but one solitary name. || 
 
 But an oasis cannot conceal, it rather accentuates, the naked- 
 ness of the surrounding desert, nor can the partial prosperity 
 of a few schools conceal the ruin that had fallen upon the Irish 
 Church. The constant plunder of churches by Christian chiefs,, 
 aided by Christian soldiers, showed that the worst passions of 
 the human heart were let loose and that religion had lost its 
 power to control them. No Synods were held for more than 
 three centuries — from the first coming of the Danes to the Synod 
 of Fiad MacEngus (11 1 5) ; the bishops, deprived of the revenues 
 of the monastic lands, conferred Orders for money, and the 
 Annals record (1055) ^hat a pitched battle took place between the 
 monks of Armagh and Kells in which many lives were lost, and 
 again (in 1060) there was a battle between two rival factions 
 for the Abbacy of Armagh.** The salt had lost its savour; 
 corruption, which perpetual war had engendered among the 
 clergy, spread from the clergy to the people, and Lanfranc 
 in his letters to Turlogh, King of Munster, and to the Danish 
 King of Dublin ; and again, Anselm to King Murtogh, were 
 able to accuse the Irish, that bishops were consecrated without 
 Sees, that these bishops were guilty of simony, that marriages 
 were contracted irregularly and within the prohibited degrees 
 and that the abominable practice existed of men abandoning 
 their wives, even exchanging wives, with consequent promis- 
 
 * MSS. Materials, p. 9. It was this Con who with Corcran, an anchorite 
 was entrusted with the government after Malachy's death (1022). 
 
 \ Douglas Hyde's Literary History, p. 445. He was head teacher at 
 Monasterboice and died in 1056. 
 
 \ Healy, pp. 279 and 277. 
 
 II Vol. III., p. 490. This student was Sulgenus, Bishop of St. David's. 
 
 ** Annals of Loch Ce. The Four Masters have omitted these entries, 
 wishing no doubt to suppress facts, which show how little these monks 
 had the spirit of their state ; but they ought to have remembered they were 
 writing history, and that it is the duty of the historian to tell the truth. 
 
DECAY OF RELIGION AND LEARNING. 1 49 
 
 cuous intercourse.* Lesser evils, but by no means light, were 
 those mentioned by Gillebert, Bishop of Limerick, who in his 
 capacity of Papal Legate, sought to establish uniformity of 
 discipline and practice and wrote for the benefit of the clergy 
 a tract " De Usu Ecclesiastico," and another " De Statu Ecclesiae." 
 He dwells much on the diversity of Orders, Masses and Offices, 
 sought to persuade all to conform to the Roman office, and 
 characterises as unbecoming and even schismatical, that a learned 
 man in one Order would be an idiot and a layman in a church 
 of a different Order .f Lanigan's remark is justified that Gillebert 
 was but a shallow theologian,| for diversity of liturgy does not 
 involve diversity of doctrine ; there are still many Orders m 
 the Church, and the offices of the regular differ from the 
 secular clergy as well as among themselves, but such diversity 
 does not amount to schism. 
 
 In the year 1132, Malachy O'Morgair — afterwards St. 
 Malachy — ^became Archbishop of Armagh. Born in 1094, and 
 educated at Armagh and Lismore, he became successively priest, 
 vicar-general to Celsus, then Archbishop of Armagh, Abbot of 
 Bangor, Bishop of Connor and Archbishop of Armagh, besides 
 subsequently being Bishop of Down and Papal Legate. || Twice 
 he went to Rome, where he was received by Innocent 11. with 
 the greatest respect.** On these journeys he turned aside to 
 Clairvaux, where he made the acquaintance and became the 
 personal and attached friend of St. Bernard, in whose monastery 
 and in whose arms he died (1148). St. Bernard wrote his life 
 and it is in these pages that the picture of the Irish Church in 
 the twelfth century is drawn in the most sombre colours. At 
 Armagh, Malachy found that one powerful family had possessed 
 that See for over two hundred years. Nine in succession — 
 mostly laymen and married though educatedjf — had presumed 
 to take the Primate's place, to appropriate the revenues and to 
 have themselves recognised as Coarbs, or successors of St. Patrick. 
 
 * Usher's Sylloge, Nos. 26, 27, and 35, 2>^. 
 
 t " Quid enim magis indecens aut schismaticum dici poterit quam 
 doctissimum unius ordinis in alterius Ecclesia idiotam et laicum fieri." 
 Usher's Sylloge, No. 30. 
 
 X Vol. IV., p. 29. 
 
 II Ibid., IV., pp. 59 et seq. 
 
 **Opera omnia S. Bernardi (Ed. Mabillon),Vol. I.," De vita S. Malactiae," 
 p.- 1493. Innocent appointed him Legate in] place of Gillebert, who was 
 old and feeble. 
 
 tt De Vita MalachicB, p. 1483. The eight before Celsus were all 
 married men. Dr. Hanmer further states that Celsus himself was married,! 
 that he died of great age, " and lyeth buried with his wife and children 
 in the said church," a bold statement and evidently an untrue one, for 
 the Annals of Ulster (1105), expressly states that Celsus on becoming 
 
I50 HISTORY OF IRELAND. 
 
 They did not, however, exercise episcopal functions,* but em- 
 ployed a regularly consecrated bishop, who discharged the 
 duties of the episcopal ofifice. Even after the appointment of 
 Malachy as Archbishop, one of these usurpers — Nigellus — took 
 possession of the Bacal Jesu, or Crozier of St. Patrick, one of 
 the insignia of the See of Armagh. It was said to have been 
 given to St. Patrick by an angel,! it was carefully preserved 
 and much venerated, and in St. Malachy's time was adorned 
 with gold and precious stones. With this crozier Nigellus made 
 his visitation throughout the various provinces and the stupid 
 people (stultus et insipiens) recognised the possessor of St. 
 Patrick's Crozier as his Successor, and paid to a usurper the 
 honours and dues which should have been reserved for St. 
 Malachy. In other churches and, perhaps, at Armagh, but sub- 
 sidiary to the Coarb, there were other usurpers under the name 
 of Herenachs. J Originally stewards of church property, though 
 not always ecclesiastics, their possession of the lands became 
 hereditary in process of time, but they were subject to the bishop 
 or abbot, and had out of the lands to pay him certain rents and 
 to be charged besides with the maintenance of the church. 
 Taking advantage of the disorders that prevailed, they continued 
 to remember only their hereditary rights to the lands, but their 
 obligations they conveniently ignored ; and we know that 
 Armagh was left in part without a roof for a hundred and thirty 
 years, II that the monastery of Bangor ceased to exist,** and that 
 when St. Malachy, in his efforts to re-establish it, undertook 
 the building of a stone church there, the herenach, presumably 
 lest he might be called upon to fulfil his inherited obligations, 
 incited the people to violence, telling them that they were Irish 
 and not Gauls, and that a wooden church should be built as 
 was done by their ancestors, tf Neither at Connor nor Armagh 
 were the offices chanted by the clergy ; there was no preaching, 
 no confession ; marriages were irregularly contracted ; faith 
 was dead, and the people were Christians in name, but pagans 
 in reality. JJ Thwarted in all his efforts at reform, Malachy lived 
 
 Archbishop received Holy Orders on the feast of S. Adamnan (Sep. 23)' 
 pje was of the family that had usurped Armagh, but S. Bernard in mention" 
 ing the eight before him plainly desires to exclude Celsus as being neither 
 jj^arried nor without orders, Vid. Hanmer's Chronicle (^Ancient Irish 
 utsiories, Vol. II., p. 203.) 
 
 * Lanigan, Vol. IV., p. 82. 
 
 t Obits and Martyrology of Christ Church — Introduction. 
 
 X O'Hanlon's Life of S. Malachy, chap. 13. 
 
 II Lanigan, Vol. IV., p. yy. 
 
 ** Ibid., pp. 78, et seq. 
 
 ft De Vita S. Malachice, p. 15 13. 
 
 %X Ibid.i p. 1480. 
 
DECAY OF RELIGION AND LEARNING. I51 
 
 for two years outside his episcopal city of Armagh, kept out 
 forcibly by the lay usurpers, Maurice and Nigellus,* and, when 
 he entered the city, as a protection against violence, he was 
 compelled to have an armed guard night and day. 
 
 It has been sometimes thought that St. Bernard's words 
 are too strong, that the picture is overdrawn, and when the 
 Irish are described as a barbarous people, a people without sanctity, 
 and without law, a rude people, a nation of beasts rather than 
 men, such language falls harshly upon an Irish ear. His language 
 in reference to marriage is especially strong, but is rather the 
 result of misconception than of knowledge, for it was not that 
 there were no marriages in Ireland and therefore that concubinage 
 was universal, but it was that in some cases and perhaps in many 
 cases, marriages were contracted irregularly .f The time was 
 long anterior to the Council of Trent, and in these days instead 
 of the prescribed form of words by which the contract and 
 sacrament of marriage is now entered into, there existed a custom 
 in accordance with which a mutual promise of marriage was 
 made {sfonsalia de -presenti), followed immediately by co-habi- 
 tation, and this was recognised as marriage. But the Irish 
 custom was to make the mutual promise in reference to a future 
 marriage {sponsalia de futuro). These promises were made 
 solemnly, in presence of witnesses, to the knowledge of the Church, 
 with some religious ceremonies and the interchange of gifts. 
 They were made by those qualified to contract marriage, they 
 were not annulled by a subsequent marriage, or by any other 
 impediment having arisen, and continuing in all their original 
 efficacy, when the time appointed had expired, co-habitation 
 ensued, the spouses became husband and wife, bethrothal passed 
 into marriage — and such had been the declaration of two Popes 
 — Alexander III. and Gregory II. Such a mode of contracting 
 marriage was not usual in other countries, but it was thought 
 sufficient in Ireland, and a contract having the sanction of religion, 
 even though bound up with what was unusual and irregular, 
 is entirely different from those illicit connections, which ignore 
 religion altogether and are founded exclusively on the uncon- 
 trolled impulse of the passions. But the attempt to show that 
 the other disorders spoken of did not exist, or that they should 
 be confined to the North of Ireland, is vain. Almost the same 
 indictment was made against Dublin by Lanfranc and St. Anselm.J 
 Nor is it probable that Connaught and Munster and Meath were 
 
 * Vita MalachicB, p. 1484. 
 
 f Lanigan, Vol. IV., pp. 70, 71. This question is treated at some 
 length by Dr. Lanigan and with his usual ability and knowledge. 
 X Usher's Sylloge. 
 
152 HISTORY OF IRELAND. 
 
 any better, for these were the places which, for more than a 
 century, had been the theatre of continued war. To the demoral- 
 ising influence of constant war may be added the evil example 
 of the kings and chiefs. Muirchertach of the Leather Cloaks, 
 for instance, was the son of Nial Glunduff and his step-sister 
 Gormfleth, for both husband and wife were children of the same 
 mother — Maelmuire. Malachy, the rival of Brian Boru, was 
 married firstly to a daughter of Olaf Cuaran* and secondly to 
 Gormfleth, Olaf's discarded wife, while Brian Boru himself had 
 the same Gormfleth as his mistress. But the example of the 
 Church, and above all of the Church of Armagh, was the most 
 pernicious in its effects. The whole Church of Ireland looked 
 up to Armagh for guidance and good example, and how could 
 the members of the body be sound when the head itself was 
 stricken with disease ? f In such a Church — helpless, almost 
 hopeless — robbed of its ancient beauty and its vigour, it were 
 hard to recognise the once prosperous Church of St. Columbanus 
 and St. Columba. The Irish Church of their day might be likened 
 to a splendid vessel, equal to the most arduous voyage, and 
 fearing neither wind nor tide ; in the twelfth century she had 
 become a battered hulk, aimlessly drifting on the sea. 
 
 Many and serious as these evils were, yet they will not establish 
 the contention of those who, from the days of Ware and Usher 
 to our own, have sought to prove that the Irish was an inde- 
 pendent Church and refused its allegiance to the Church of 
 Rome. A modern Church historian, who is not deficient either 
 in ability or knowledge, has a theory which is all his own. He 
 does not deny that the ancient Irish held Rome in great vene- 
 ration, but he gravely assures us that they venerated Rome, 
 not as the head of their church but rather as the burial place 
 of Saints Peter and Paul. J Such a theory has the merit of novelty, 
 but it can hardly be said to have the merit of truth. Ledwich i| 
 is never sparing, either of assertion or speculation, and his specu- 
 lations as to the Eastern origin of the Irish Church are as well 
 founded as his positive assertion that there were differences of 
 doctrine between the Irish and the Roman Church, for the only 
 argument he brings forward in support of this view is that there 
 were differences about the Paschal computation, a question 
 which had no reference to doctrine at all. Usher's prejudices** 
 were as strong as those of Ledwich, but his learning and candour 
 
 * Halliday's Scandinavian Kingdom of Dublin, pp. 77-79. 
 t Vita MalachicB, p. 1483. 
 + Olden ; The Church of Ireland, p. 96. 
 II Antiquities, pp. 411-12. 
 
 ** Vol. IV., p. 319, " Of the Religion professed by the Ancient Irish." 
 vid. also Harris's Ware, Vol. I., p. 30 
 
DECAY OF RELIGION AND LEARNING. 1 53 
 
 and honesty as a historian were much greater, and yet he can 
 find no better argument than this — that the Pope had no spiritual 
 jurisdiction in Ireland because, up to the time of Gillebert, there 
 was no Papal Legate in Ireland ; as if the presence of a Papal 
 Legate were necessary to connect Ireland, in doctrine or even 
 in discipline, with the Church of Rome. If this charge, or others 
 of a like character, were true, it is remarkable that they were 
 not made either by Lanfranc or Anselm or St. Bernard. Neither 
 is it charged against any of the numerous Irishmen abroad,* 
 not even against Scotus Erigena against whom so many things 
 have been said. If it were so, why should so many princes go 
 as pilgrims to Rome — Sitricf (1040), Flaherty O'Neill (1030), 
 Donogh O'Brien, (1060); why should they pay honour to a Church 
 they did not recognise ? The journey to Rome in these days 
 was no light matter, but one full of difficulty and danger ; and 
 Pope Innocent compassionates St. Malachy on having made it.J 
 If princes and bishops did go to Rome, it could hardly be to gratify 
 idle curiosity, but rather to pay their respects to him who was 
 head of their Church and who sat in St. Peter's chair. 
 
 With unbounded admiration St. Bernard speaks of St. Malachy 
 and his labours in the work of reform. || Even as Archbishop 
 of Armagh he travelled on foot, suffering the extremes of cold 
 and fatigue ; like the good pastor, he was ready to lay down his 
 life for his sheep. Knowing his danger but not fearing it, he 
 stood in the midst of wolves ; so little ambitious, that entreaty 
 and almost force were necessary to make him accept the See 
 of Armagh,* * but only on condition that, if he could reform the 
 people there, he would be allowed to resign, which he did and 
 was content with the small and obscure diocese of Down. Such 
 exertions and such example as his could not but succeed, and 
 both at Armagh and Connor the change he effected was great. 
 The Roman customs in regard to the office were introduced, 
 priests were ordained, churches built, confessions became frequent, 
 the people came to the churches, irregular marriage and con- 
 cubinage were replaced by lawful marriages, until at length it 
 might be said " that which before was not my people now is my 
 people. "ft As Papal Legate he travelled over all parts of the country, 
 settled many disputes among warring chiefs, and at Cork settled 
 a dispute about the succession to that See.JJ At his death (i 148), 
 
 * Usher's Sylloge, No. 17. 
 
 t Four Masters. 
 
 X Vita MalachicB, p. 1493: 
 
 II Vita MalachicB-y p. 1489. 
 
 ** Ibid., p. 1483: 
 
 tt Ibid., p. 148 1. 
 
 ++ P- 1503.- 
 
154 HISTORY OF IRELAND. 
 
 the impress of his zeal was left on the whole Irish Church. Yet, 
 disorders of such long standing cannot be cured in the life, or 
 by the labours, of a single man, and while much had been done 
 much remained yet to do. 
 
 So far back as the Synod of Rathbresil (1118), an attempt 
 was made to evolve order out of chaos in church government 
 and for the first time diocesan episcopacy was established. The 
 number of sees was fixed at twenty-four exclusive of Dublin, 
 which was still left under the jurisdiction of Canterbury. Water- 
 ford and Lismore, which had hitherto been subject to the same 
 jurisdiction were made part of the Munster province and subject 
 to the Archbishop of Cashel.* No palliums were yet conferred 
 on any Irish prelate, but both Armagh and Cashel were recognised 
 and decreed to be Archiepiscopal Sees, Armagh having a primacy 
 over all Ireland, while, over Leath Mogha, Cashel was supreme.f 
 It was decreed that Church lands were to be respected and to 
 be free from tribute, and while a blessing was pronounced on 
 those who respected and observed the Synod's decrees, a curse 
 was pronounced on those who should infringe them. Yet, so 
 little were these decrees respected, that Turlogh O'Connor burned 
 the churches of Cashel and Lismore (1121), and Emly (1123), 
 and Conor O'Loughlin burned the church of Trim with a number 
 of people assembled within it.l Other Synods were held — at 
 Cashel (1134), and Innispatrick (11 48), at the latter of which 
 it was agreed that Malachy should proceed to Rome and beg 
 the palliums for Armagh and Cashel, which so far had not been 
 obtained. St. Malachy had, in the meantime, introduced the 
 Cistercian Order into Ireland, and had built for them a monastery 
 at Mellifont (1142). 1| At the Synod of Kells (11 52), Cardinal 
 Paparo, who had been specially sent from Rome, conferred four 
 palliums on the Archbishops of Armagh, Cashel, Dublin and 
 Tuam ; and so little was the number or boundaries of the dioceses 
 fixed on at Rathbresil adhered to, that a new arrangement was 
 made at Kells, and as many as thirty-eight dioceses were estab- 
 lished.** Tithes were ordered to be paid in 1 154, but they were 
 not paid up to the Synod of Cashel (i 172), nor were the diocesan 
 arrangements final, for at the Synod of Brigh-mac-Tighe (i i 58), 
 another diocese was added — that of Derry : a further synod 
 was held (1162) at Clane. These numerous synods in such 
 rapid succession and in such marked contrast to the preceding 
 
 * Lanigan, Vol. iv., pp. 42-3. 
 
 ■f This supremacy was one of honour and dignity rather than a con- 
 ferring of jurisdiction over suffragan dioceses. 
 + Lanigan, Vol. iv., p. 55. 
 II Ibid., p. 128. 
 ** Lanigan, Vol. iv., p. 167. 
 
DECAY OF RELIGION AMD LEARNING. 155 
 
 ages, when no synods were held, indicate that the work of reform 
 was being pushed on and that the bishops were earnest in their 
 efforts, but it was easier to hold synods and make regulations 
 than to put these regulations in force, nor could this be done 
 while there were a number of turbulent chiefs for ever quarrelling 
 with each other, making war a pastime and apparently caring 
 little for the people of whom they were at once the torment and 
 the curse. At the Anglo-Norman invasion the clan system, 
 having long outgrown its time, still existed, and like the upas 
 tree neither Church nor State could flourish beneath its 
 poisoned shade. 
 
CHAPTER XII 
 
 Cultivation and Condition of the Art 
 
 Giraldus Cambrensis and the Irish— Censures them in many things- 
 Praises Iheir skill in music— Illumination of Manuscripts— The Book 
 of Kells— Their skill in metal work— Various shrines— The Tara 
 Brooch— The Ardagh Chalice— The Cross of Cong— Architecture- 
 Early stone buildings— Irish Romanesque— Cormac's Chapel — High 
 Crosses— Defects of the sculptured figures— The Round Towers- 
 Theories as to their origin and use — Petrie's conclusions. 
 
 When Giraldus Cambrensis came to Ireland, in the wake of 
 the Anglo-Norman adventurers,* he found little to praise, 
 and many things with which he found fault. The land of the 
 country, its climate, most of all its people— one and all excited 
 his displeasure and drew from him words of censure. Ireland 
 he describes as a country of uneven surface, mountainous, boggy, 
 wet, woody and marshy, truly a desert land.f Surrounded 
 on all sides by the sea, unsheltered, open to all the winds that 
 blew, it was subject to violent and frequent storms, the blast 
 either bending or uprooting the trees, and, like all mountainous 
 countries, generating and nourishing most abundant rains. 
 Among its animals the partridge and pheasant were wanting ; 
 there were no goats ; and the violent winds and frequent rains 
 caused multitudes of bees to perish ; and those which combated 
 successfully the inclemency ot the weather were killed by the 
 poisonous yew tree, with which the woods of Ireland abounded. 
 But it is when Giraldus comes to speak of the inhabitants of the 
 country, that the violence and bitterness of his language is 
 especially manifest. They were a rude people, a barbarous 
 people, adulterous and incestuous, illegitimately born and 
 
 * He came first in 1 185 as Prince John's secretary.- His real name was 
 Gerald Barry or de Barri, but he is more frequently called by his Latin 
 name as above— Cambrensis to denote that he was a native of Cambria— 
 or Wales. He was born in Pembrokeshire. He wrote two works on Ireland. 
 The Topography and The Conquest of Ireland. 
 
 t Historical works of Giraldus (Bohn's Ed.), p. 20; 
 
CULTIVATION AND CONDITION OF THE ARTS. 1 57 
 
 married. They had not yet departed from the primitive habits 
 of pastoral life, held agricultural labours in contempt, were 
 averse to civil institutions and led the same life their fathers 
 did in the woods and open pastures, neither willing to abandon 
 their old habits nor learn anything new.* They had no linen, 
 no manufactures of woollens, no commerce nor any sort of 
 mechanical arts.f They were barbarous in their dress, in the 
 manner of wearing their hair and beards ; secluded by the position 
 of their country from civilised nations, they learned nothing 
 and practised nothing but the barbarism in which they were 
 born and bred, and which stuck to them like a second nature.^ 
 They lived like the beasts, knew nothing of the very rudiments 
 of the faith, and were the most filthy people, and the most 
 ignorant on the face of the earth. || In reference to such a people 
 and such a country, the question of Giraldus is not surprising — 
 can any good come from Ireland ? As well expect to suck honey 
 from the rock or draw oil from the flint.** It was evident that 
 such a people were born into the world with a double dose of 
 original sin, and the wonder is that the Fitzstephens and the 
 Fitzgeralds and the De Burghos should care to live among such 
 savages, or desire to be masters of a land, where nature had been 
 so niggardly of its gifts. 
 
 The Arts which are cultivated and flourish among civilised 
 nations could not be expected to be found, except in a rudimentary 
 state, among a people so low in the scale of culture. And great 
 is our surprise to learn — it is the testimony of Giraldus himself — 
 that the Irish described as so rude, yet excelled all other nations 
 in music, an art which, even among the fine art* themselves, 
 may justly be called the queen, ff " The only thing," he says, 
 " to which I find that this people apply a commendable industry 
 is playing upon musical instruments, in which they are incom- 
 parably more skilful than any other nation I have ever seen. 
 For their modulation on these instruments, unlike that of the 
 Britons to which I am accustomed, is not slow and harsh, but 
 lively and rapid, while the harmony is both sweet and gay. 
 It is astonishing that in so complex and rapid a movement of 
 the fingers, the musical proportions can be preserved and that 
 throughout the difificult modulations on their various instruments 
 the harmony is completed with such a sweet velocity, so unequal 
 
 * Cambrensis, p. 124. 
 
 I Cambrensis Eversus-, Vol. II.j pp. i67j et seq. Lynch, the author! 
 conclusively proves that Giraldus is wrong, and even contradicts himselfj 
 X Cambrensis^ pp. 125-6. 
 I! Ibid., pp. 134-5. 
 
 ** Ibid.j p. 6. Author's First Preface to the Topography; 
 ff Cambrensis, pp. 126-7. {The Topography, Chap. II.) 
 
158 HISTORY OF IRELAND 
 
 an equality, so discordant a concord, as if the chords sounded 
 together fourths or fifths. They always begin from B flat and 
 return to the same, that the whole may be completed under the 
 sweetness of a pleasing sound. They enter into a movement 
 and conclude it in so delicate a manner and play the little notes 
 so sportively, under the blunter sounds of the base strings, en- 
 livening with wanton levity or communicating a deeper internal 
 sensation of pleasure, so that the perfection of their art appears 
 in the concealment of it." 
 
 The influence of music is felt among all nations, and both 
 savage and civilised man are at times under its potent spell. 
 The wild war dance of the savage appears grotesque enough, 
 and to ears attuned to the higher forms of music there is little 
 which is pleasing in the beating of their cymbals and their 
 drums. But even the savage of the African swamp, as he 
 beats his tamtam, does so with a certain rhythm and regularity, 
 and amid the clamour and noise the ear recognises a fixed order 
 in the sounds ; time is beaten though little of what we might 
 call music is produced. Such rude beginnings are separated 
 by an enormous interval of time and skill from the proficiency 
 displayed by the Irish in the time of Giraldus. Nor could such 
 proficiency be acquired suddenly, or in a single age, but must 
 have been a slow and gradual development. At each stage, 
 the distinction can be easily marked between the laborious 
 efforts of industry and patience and the sudden and subtle 
 inspirations of genius ; but even genius cannot dispense with 
 labour and patience, and such skill in music as the Irish had 
 acquired was not, and could not be, the efforts of untutored 
 genius. The fingers of the harpers * acquired their dexterity 
 by repeated efforts and by the rules and experience of the ages 
 that had passed away ; it was not in a day or in an age, that 
 their ears were so attuned to melody, nor that they became 
 possessed of that subtle faculty by which they so disciplined the 
 various sounds of their harps, that they felt and excited emotion, 
 that they soothed the sorrowing by their strains, or called forth 
 the tear of grief, or assuaged the violence of passion, or awakened 
 to life and gaiety the feeble and almost vanished remembrance 
 of some long past scene. 
 
 Equally remarkable was the skill of the Irish in the art of 
 illuminating manuscripts, but unlike their proficiency in 
 music this had its origin in Christian times. The missionaries, 
 who accompanied and surrounded St. Patrick, wanted books 
 to carry on the work of their mission. The preacher wanted 
 his copy of the Scriptures so as to teach the people who thronged 
 
 * Giraldus has noted that the Irish only used two instruments— the 
 harp and the tabor (p. 127.) 
 
CULTIVATION AND CONDITION OF THE ARTS. 1 59 
 
 to hear him, for the most trained memory could hardly retain 
 everything in the Sacred Volume, and to rely on memory alone 
 would be to invite error and confusion. The priest, or bishop, 
 wanted his ritual to administer the sacraments, and his missal 
 to celebrate Mass, and as the country was rapidly converted 
 from paganism these books should be rapidly multiplied. In 
 the monasteries which were founded and to which schools 
 were attached, not the least important part of the buildings 
 was the Scriptorium, or writing-house, where the monks who 
 were skilled in penmanship were constantly employed in making 
 copies of the required books. The number of monasteries which 
 sprang up so rapidly was considerable, so also was the number 
 of scribes * in each monastery, and the diligence and skill with 
 which they worked was such, that they were able to keep pace 
 with the growing demand. Bat to copy these sacred books, 
 and to copy them plainly and legibly was not enough for these 
 zealous men. The Scriptures were the inspired word of God, 
 His wisdom conveyed to men through His appointed ministers. 
 And if Solomon ransacked his own kingdom as well as others 
 for materials and skill to decorate the Temple, was it not meet 
 that something also should be done to decorate and ornament 
 those works in which the wisdom of God was contained ? Such 
 at least was the view of those Irish monks, whose faith was so 
 vivid, who considered it little what sacrifices they made in God's 
 service, and for the advancement of His honour, and who, to 
 obtain merit in His sight and secure their own salvation, 
 practised mortifications and austerities, as intense and as 
 difficult to human nature, as did the monks of the Egyptian 
 desert. The beginning of the art of illumination may have 
 come to Ireland from the East, perhaps from Constantinople, 
 where the Byzantine style flourished, or, it may be, from North 
 Italy ,t but whithersoever it was brought, the art in Ireland 
 grew and flourished with peculiarities and an excellence all its 
 own ; and the Irish illuminated manuscripts are easily dis- 
 tinguished from those of all other lands. The skins from which 
 the parchments were made were sometimes finely polished, 
 but often also were rough and uneven. The writing was done, 
 not with sharp metallic pens, but with the quills of swans, geese 
 and crows, and the inks used were of various colours, black, 
 red, purple, violet, green and yellow, the permanency of the 
 black and the brilliancy of the red being specially noticeable, 
 The black was mixed with some gummy substance, which did 
 
 * Of all these there was none more expert than St. Columba. 
 t Miss StokeSj Early Christian Art in Ireland, p. 9. Interlaced designs 
 certainly characterise the early Christian Art of North Italy, (Stokes, p. 71.) 
 
l6o HISTORY OF IRELAND. 
 
 not sink into the parchment or fade ; and the brilliancy of the 
 red was not affected either by the heat of the sun or by the 
 washing of the rain ; defying both, it retained its original dis- 
 tinctive colour, and age but added to its beauty.* The various 
 colours are blended with artistic effect, and the page glowing 
 with these colours is strikingly beautiful. But perhaps it is 
 the lines and figures which most effectually challenge admiration. 
 The Irish scribe had a firm hand, and a well trained eye, and 
 in the lines and curves which are so numerous there is no trace 
 of a swerve, nothing to denote but that these circles and lines 
 had been drawn by the most accurate modern instruments of 
 mathematics.! As we look at one of these illuminated pages, 
 the variety of lines and curves, of spirals and interlacements, 
 an animal in one place, the head of a fish in another, a human 
 head in yet a third place, our curiosity is excited and baffled 
 as to where the artist began and where he ended ; figures, lines, 
 circles, spirals and interlacements — all are before us with a 
 completeness, an accuracy, a minuteness, lit up by a blaze of 
 colours, blending so skilfully with those figures and with each 
 other that even the trained artist is amazed at the skill 
 displayed. 
 
 The most widely known and the most beautiful of these 
 existing manuscripts is the Book of Kells. It is a copy of the 
 four Gospels, and is said by some to be the work of St. Columba, 
 who is well-known to have done much in copying, and who, 
 by constant practice, attained considerable skill. But the 
 evidence is overwhelming that the work is of a later date, perhaps 
 ot the eighth, or close of the seventh century. The words 
 are those of St. Jerome's version, which had not come into use 
 in Ireland until after the sixth century, and the perfection of 
 the work is such, that it could hardly be reached so early as 
 the sixth century. For such perfection would be reached only 
 after the Church had conquered all its enemies and had settled 
 down peacefully in its triumph, enabled to cultivate literature 
 and art. Nor could St. Columba himself, active and zealous 
 and hard-working missionary that he was, spare the time 
 sufficient for such slow and painstaking work. His name has 
 been associated with it — it was called the Gospel of Columcille — X 
 because it was he who founded the monastery of Kells, and 
 
 * Stokes, pp: 8^ 9: 
 
 t Westwood, author of Anglo-Saxon and Irish MSS.j examined the 
 Book of Kells for hours with a magnifying glass, and could discern not 
 a single false line or irregular interlacement, and in a space of three quarter 
 of an inch by a half inch in width he counted 158 interlacements (Douglas 
 Hyde, Literary History of Ireland ^ p. 462.) 
 
 X Stokes, pp. II, 12. Reeves' Adamnan, p. 328. 
 
CULTIVATION AND CONDITION OF THE ARTS. l6l 
 
 it was in that monastery that the manuscript was used. Its 
 history, like the country to which it belongs, was chequered 
 and eventful. In Kells it was covered by a costly shrine made 
 of gold, or at least in which gold was used, and in the eleventh 
 century it was stolen from the western sacristy of the monastery. 
 Its shrine was taken away and the book itself was buried in 
 the earth, where it was discovered and dug up, after two months 
 and twenty days.* The manuscript itself suffered little or no 
 injury. It became subsequently the property of Archbishop 
 Usher and after the Restoration it came with what remained 
 of his library, "ex dono Caroli II," into the custody of Trinity 
 College, Dublin, where it still remains " the admiration and 
 astonishment ot everyone who examines it."f It is a wonderful 
 book. A cursory glance would declare that there was a redun- 
 dancy of figures and lines and curves, a to3 great wealth of 
 colour, a disorder and confusion even in its splendour. But 
 a closer examination, and a minuter, will correct the falseness 
 of this hasty judgment ; and the more it is examined the greater 
 appears its wealth of beauty — figures, lines and colouring are 
 so skilfully blended, that it is amazing. There is no confusion, 
 no disorder, at every fresh examination new beauties are re- 
 vealed.J " Serpents, lizards, birds with legs and necks elongated 
 and interlaced are found in every part of the great monogram 
 page, while the human form is seen in four weird figures, whose 
 bodies are entangled with those of birds and who are blowing 
 trumpets, which instruments are elongated so as to entwine 
 the musicians in their inextricable coils. Three angels bearing 
 books and one holding a sceptre crowned by a trefoil in each 
 hand are seen to rest with outspread wings upon the main 
 line of the letter X, while in the centre of the P a man's face 
 appears, bearded, but not aged, and above all, and as it were, 
 emerging from a labyrinth of spiral lines, diverging and con- 
 verging in endless succession, rises the veiled head of a woman." |1 
 A German scholar. Dr. Waagen of Berlin, has declared of the 
 Book of Kells that " the ornamental pages, borders and initial 
 letters exhibit such a rich variety of beautiful and peculiar 
 designs, so admirable a taste in the arrangement of the colours, 
 and such an uncommon perfection of finish, that one feels 
 
 • Four Masters at the year 1006. " This was the principal relic of the 
 western world on account of its singular cover." 
 
 \ Reeve's Adamnan^ p. 328. Whoever sees it and examines it will 
 fully agree with Dr. Reeves. 
 
 X Cambrensts, p. 99. Giraldus thought it could not be done by man 
 and, perhaps, was written by an angel. 
 
 II Stokes, p. 15. 
 
 M 
 
1 62 HISTORY OF IRELAND. 
 
 absolutely struck with amazement."* It is not the language of 
 exaggeration to say that it is the most beautiful book in existence. 
 
 Working in metals was understood in Ireland, even before 
 Christianity was introduced, but it was in Christian times and 
 under the impulse of Christianity, that the art reached its 
 highest excellence. The illuminated manuscript was the work 
 of some pious monk, whose memory was revered and whose 
 life and acts were considered in later times as the life and acts 
 of a saint, and the book which came from his saintly hands, 
 and was the product of his enthusiasm and his skill was a precious 
 inheritance, deserving of the greatest care, and worthy of the 
 most costly shrine. His bones, a lock of his hair, a tooth, a 
 shred of the garments that he wore, the book from which he 
 preached to the people, the staff which supported the tottering 
 steps of his old age, the bell which called the people to his Mass, 
 the crozier which he wielded as a bishop — such as these were 
 objects of similar reverence and considered worthy of similar 
 honor. And some of the finest metal work of those times were 
 shrines for those saintly relics. In the eighth and ninth 
 centuries, there were few, if any, of the principal churches in 
 Ireland, which had not these costly shrines, f But the North- 
 man came, with no love for the Church and no reverence for 
 the shrine or its contents, but with much greed for the precious 
 metals from which it was made. Evil example is easily and 
 quickly copied. The native chief learned to commit sacrilege 
 from the foreigner, and one by one the shrines disappeared. 
 But there are still a few which survived those dark days and 
 the equally dark days that followed — covers for books, covers 
 for bells and for croziers, and, besides, vessels for the altar, 
 such as chalices, and at least one notable cross, the well-known 
 Cross of Cong. 
 
 In other countries books were splendidly bound, + but 
 in Ireland they were considered, after the lapse of time, too 
 sacred to be touched and were regarded in particular clans 
 as pious heirlooms. Lying in its precious shrine, the book 
 was committed to the custody of an important and respected 
 member of the clan, whose family became its hereditary guardians ; 
 it was borne into battle by the order of the chief as an assurance 
 that the writer of the book was assisting them by his prayers ; 
 
 T* Westwood. Anglo-Saxon and Irish MSS., p. 24. Westwood has 
 reproduced a few whole pages from the Book of Kells^ and in Trinity College 
 may be seen many of the initial letters also, reproduced by a lady. The 
 reproduction in each case is fresher and more vivid than the original, and 
 is, no doubt, such as the original when fresh from the scribe's hands. 
 
 t Hyde's Literary History, p. 457. 
 
 X Stokes, p. 88. 
 
CULTIVATION AND CONDITION OF THE ARTS. 1 63 
 
 and the chief of Tirconnell had such reverence for the cathach, 
 or battle-book, which was preserved in his family, that he 
 dreaded even if it were opened he was to be visited by some 
 crushing calamity.* These shrines were called Cumdachs. 
 That of the Book of Durrow t has been lost and a special entry 
 in the Four Masters records that the same fate befel the cumdach 
 of the Book of Kells. But the shrine of St. Molaise still remains, 
 and is in the Museum of Science and Art, Dublin. It was executed 
 within the years looi to 1025, is formed of plates of bronze, oblong 
 in shape ; and the ornamental portions consist of plates of silver 
 with gilt patterns, riveted to the bronze foundation. | There 
 is also the shrine of the Stowe missal, as well as that to contain 
 the cathach or battle-book of the O'Donnells. Croziers, like 
 books, were also sacred objects, had their special guardian and 
 were carried into battle ; and the belief in Hy-many was that 
 when the crozier of St. Grellin was carried in the ranks of 
 battle, the O'Kellys were certain of victory, for St. Grellin was 
 aiding them in the fight. || The croziers were made of wood, 
 but it is the metal ornamental covering in which they were, 
 which challenges attention, in considering the metal-worker's 
 art, and to what proficiency it had attained. There are in 
 existence portions of the crozier of St. Dympna, of St. Colman 
 of Kilmacduach and of St. Berach — the latter in the Museum of 
 Science and Art, Dublin.* * Of bells, the oldest we have, the oldest 
 specimen of metal work ot any kind in Christian times, is St. 
 Patrick's bell. It is rude in design and shape and entirely with- 
 out ornament, nothing more than plates of iron joined by rivets 
 and covered over on the inside with bronze which helped to 
 give resonance to its sound, jf In the bronze bells of the tenth 
 century, such as that of Cumasach, we have an example of a 
 bell of cast bronze, the sound of which as well as the workman- 
 ship is separated from the bell ot St. Patrick by a large interval 
 of artistic skill. J J Like the books, these bells had their shrines 
 made for them especially in the period extending from the tenth 
 to the twelfth century, the shrine of St. Patrick's bell being 
 manufactured between 1091 and 1105, a fact which is gathered 
 from the inscription. |||| Brass, gold, silver, and precious stones 
 are the materials employed ; the ornamentation as in the illu- 
 
 * Stokes, p. 89. 
 
 t The Book of Durrow itself is in Trinity College. 
 
 + Stokes, p. 91 ; 
 
 II Ibid., p. loi; 
 
 ** Ibid., pp. 97-99. 
 
 tt Stokes, p. 58. 
 
 XX Ibid., p. 65. , 
 
 nil Ibid. p. 66. 
 
164 HISTORY OF IRELAND. 
 
 minated manuscript being interlaced work ; and the skill with 
 which the threads of silver and gold are interlaced, the fineness 
 of their texture, the accuracy and skill with which the scribes 
 art is reproduced in metal are admirable, and show to what 
 a height of perfection the metal worker's art had reached. 
 
 Besides these croziers and bells and shrines, there are three 
 other objects ot Irish metal work which for beauty and finish 
 can hardly be surpassed. These are the Tara Brooch, the 
 Ardagh Chalice, and the Cross of Cong. The Tara Brooch 
 is made of white bronze, a compound of copper and tin. The 
 number and variety of its ornamented patterns of which seventy- 
 six different kinds are perceived, the delicacy of the filigree work, 
 the happy combination of ornaments of amber and enamels 
 and translucent glass have caused Petrie to declare, that it is 
 superior to any hitherto found in the variety of its ornaments 
 and in the exquisite delicacy and perfection of its execution * 
 Of the same age, and even more elaborate in ornamentation 
 is the Ardagh Chalice, dug up at Ardagh, in the last century, 
 by a boy who was digging potatoes. The metals are gold, silver 
 and bronze, its ornaments are of every kind peculiar to Irish 
 Art — enamels, coloured glass, amber, the gold filigree work is 
 shaped and drawn into every variety of form ; there are different 
 varieties of birds in its designs ; there are other animal-forms 
 as well ; there are dragon's heads ; and so cleverly are all these 
 blended, that even the Tara brooch can hardly rival it in beauty, 
 and among chalices of that, or any preceding age, it stands 
 unsurpassed .f Of a later age — it can hardly be said of more 
 matured beauty of design — is the Cross of Cong. It was made 
 during the first half of the twelfth century during the reign 
 of Turlcgh O'Connor. His genius in war had raised him from 
 the obscure position of King of Connaught to be first among 
 the kings of Ireland, and, pre-eminent in war, he was also 
 ambitious to cultivate the arts of peace, and gathered around 
 him some of the most skilled artists in metal work and stone. 
 It was from the hands of one of these the Cross of Cong came. 
 It was made to enshrine a portion ot the true cross, was made 
 for the Church of Tuam, and meant to be carried in processions, 
 the ornamental cross being fixed on a long shaft and borne on 
 high. The upright portion ot the cross is thirty inches, 
 the cross bar a little over eighteen inches, and the thickness 
 is one and three quarter inches. The shaft rises from the mouth of 
 an animal whose head rests on a spherical ball and this surmounts 
 the socket in which was temporarily inserted in the long shaft 
 
 * Stokesy pp. 7 6-7 J i 
 t Ibid.i pp. 82-88. 
 
CULTIVATION AND CONDITION OF THE ARTS. 1 65 
 
 when the cross was carried in procession. The cross itself is 
 made of oak, but it is the covering ot the face and back and 
 sides that excites admiration. Over the plates, which cover 
 the wood, there is much gold filigree work, the carving and inter- 
 lacing being distinctively Irish, and of many and beautiiul 
 patterns. Along the face were many jewels, thirteen of which 
 still remain ; at the central plate where the arms of the cross 
 meet, is a boss surmounted by a convex crystal, and round the 
 boss were four beads, two of which still remain. There are 
 inscriptions asking for prayers foi Turlogh O'Connor, the 
 reigning King, for O' Duffy, the Archbishop of Tuam, and for 
 O'Egan, the artist. The Cross, originally used at Tuam, was 
 transferred to Cong by Roderick O'Connor. It was lost during 
 the troubled times of the Reformation, and lay hidden during 
 the long night of the penal times, until finally, in the nineteenth 
 century, it was recovered, and now lies in the Museum of 
 Science and Art, Dublin, where it can be seen.* And those who 
 see it and admire it can declare, that the metal workers of the 
 present may with advantage sit at the feet of their ancestors, 
 for they can learn much from those artists of the far distant 
 past. 
 
 When St. Patrick came to Ireland, the arts of architecture 
 and sculpture were but little cultivated by the inhabitants. 
 The use of the stone chisel was understood and the inscriptions 
 in ogham, show that it was used to carve inscriptions on stone. 
 But these inscriptions are of the rudest character, and in building" 
 it was the same. Most of the houses, no doubt, were of wood 
 and these have long since perished ; and what remains of stone 
 buildings are not many. A few forts, such as Dun Engus, 
 Arran Islands, are the most remarkable. They have been 
 called, and justly, Cyclopean buildings, for not even the Cyclops 
 could have made any impression upon them. Mortar was not 
 used, nor even grouting, and the stones, unpolished and uneven, 
 are laid together so as to make walls enormously high and almost 
 equally thick, f With the builders the chief consideration was 
 strength and solidity ; they built as it would seem for eternity. 
 The walls of Dun Engus have lived through the changing 
 scenes of more than two thousand years ; wind and weather 
 have not affected them ; they are likely to live on, for 
 nothing but an earthquake could overturn them. In speaking 
 of the church built at Lindisfarne by Finian, its bishop, Bede 
 says, that he built it of wood, after the manner of the 
 
 * Stokes, pp. 107-109. 
 
 t The walls are twenty feet high and eighteen feet thick (Stokes 
 Building and Architecture, p. 34.) 
 
l66 HISTORY OF IRELAND. 
 
 Irish,* as if to indicate that the churches in Ireland were all built 
 of wood. And when Malachy was building a stone church at 
 Bangor, objection was made that they were Irish and not Gauls, 
 and, therefore, in the Irish fashion, the church should be of wood. 
 From these, and other such statements, it has been concluded 
 that all the Irish churches were of wood, and that stone was 
 never used. Such a conclusion is not just. Wood abounded 
 in Ireland then ; its forests were large, timber was easily obtained, 
 and with timber material a church was easily built, much easier 
 than with stone, and hence timber was extensively used. But 
 there were places where, on the contrary, timber was scarce 
 and stones were plenty ; the material next to hand was employed, 
 and as early as the days of St. Patrick there were churches of 
 stone. These churches, modelled perhaps on a design intro- 
 duced by St. Patrick himself, were simple in plan and all built 
 on the same lines. They were quadrangular in shape, the 
 largest being not more than sixty feet in length — that at Inchigoil 
 in Lough Corrib was only thirty-five — the door and only door 
 was on the west end, the chancel, when there was one, at the 
 east end and connected with the nave by a semicircular arch. | 
 There were no side aisles, no transepts, no apse, as in the Roman 
 basilicas. The roof was often of wood covered with reeds, or 
 straw, or shingles — in the smaller churches sometimes of stone. ;[: 
 The windows were few and small, without glass, splayed in- 
 ternally, and sometimes were triangular headed, sometimes 
 semicircular.il The doors were never arched, but instead 
 were covered with a lintel, and were narrower at the top 
 than at the bottom. The walls were faced with large stones, 
 whose surfaces were made smooth ; in the centre was rubble, 
 and in the course of time, grouting. The doors and windows, 
 especially the doorways, were made with very large stones, 
 the lintel being usually of great size. The lintel used in the 
 doorway of the church at Kilmacduagh was nearly six feet long, 
 thirty eight inches wide and twenty-one inches thick ; its weight 
 must have been considerable, and the labour of placing it in 
 position great.** Such were the churches built in the sixth 
 and seventh centuries, small compared to those of a later date, 
 plain but strong, built to last, and without ornament of any 
 
 * Bede's Ecclesiastical History, Book III., chap. 25. "He made it 
 (the church), not of stone but of hewn wood, and covered it with reeds ;" 
 it was afterwards covered with plates of lead. 
 
 t Petrie. Round Towers and Ancient Architecture of Ireland, pp. 
 162-4. 
 
 X Ibid., pp. 186-7. 
 
 II Ibid., p. 183: 
 
 ** Petrie, p. 176. 
 
CULTIVATION AND CONDITION OF THE ARTS. 1 67 
 
 kind, if we except an attempt at architrave in one or two instances. 
 Such were the churches of Inchigoill, of Ratass, near Tralee, 
 of Our Lady's Church at Glendalough, of Fore in Westmeath, 
 all built before the close of the seventh century, the first named, 
 that at Inchigoill, having an inscription, which fixes the date 
 of its construction as early as the days of St. Patrick. 
 
 These buildings exhibit Irish architecture in its infancy. 
 It was not, perhaps, poverty that compelled the people to build 
 in such simple fashion, nor could it be ignorance where the 
 arts were so flourishing. With their attachment to the past and 
 their veneration for the first Saints, it may have been a reluctance 
 to change from the models given them. And such churches, 
 where the view of the altar was uninterrupted and where the 
 decorations that art supplies did not attract the attention of the 
 worshippers nor turn their minds from their devotions, con- 
 sorted well with a people whose piety was so remarkable and 
 whose faith was so earnest and so intense. But this primitive 
 simplicity could not last. There was much intercourse with 
 the continent. The students, who flocked to the schools of 
 Ireland, drew glowing pictures of the splendour of churches 
 in foreign lands ; the Irish, who went abroad, contrasted with 
 a sigh their own rudely built churches with the products of 
 Roman architecture ; a spirit of emulation among the Irish 
 was engendered, and as they acquired eminence in the illumi- 
 nation of manuscripts and in metal work and their fame as 
 scholars was world wide, they also began to cultivate the arts 
 of architecture and sculpture, and they did so with success. 
 The doors, as well as the windows of the churches, began to 
 be built with semicircular arches at the top, instead of the 
 horizontal lintel, ornaments were employed, and in the door- 
 ways of the churches at Inniscaltra and Kildare, both of which 
 are referred to the end of the eighth, or beginning of the ninth 
 century, we have three concentric receding arches instead of one,* 
 we have ornamented columns zigzag, or chevron moulding, 
 on the inner roof, or soffit, of one arch, while on another is 
 some pattern taken from flowers.f The capitals of the columns 
 are decorated with human heads, the bases of the columns 
 are similarly decorated and the intricacy and skill with which 
 the hair of these heads is joined together, plaited and interwoven, 
 recall the ornaments of the illuminated manuscripts. J More 
 varied in its decorations, perhaps also of a later date, is the 
 chancel arch in the church at Glendalough. || But a fatal check 
 
 * Petrie, pp. 282-3. This was the doorway at Inniscaltra; 
 
 t Ibid., p. 209. 
 
 + Ibid., p. 236. This was the doorway at Timahoe. 
 
 II Ibid., pp. 256-7. This was the Church of the Monastery. 
 
1 68 HISTORY OF IRELAND. 
 
 was given to this advancement in decoration and design. When 
 the Danes came, they everywhere attacked the churches, and 
 instead of new and more beautiful churches being built the 
 existing ones were destroyed, nor was it until the Danes them- 
 selves were vanquished, that the work of church building could 
 be resumed. 
 
 There had been many changes in the meantime. The 
 basilican churches had given place to the primitive Romanesque, 
 and this again to a Romanesque style, more finished, more 
 decorated, more complete. In France, in England, in Ireland 
 and in Italy, the churches were all built on a Roman model,* 
 but the architecture of each country had its distinctive peculiarities, 
 was modified by local surroundings, and was shaped in accordance 
 with the tastes and genius of the people. And in each country 
 the progress was gradual. In the chancel arch of the church 
 at Killaloe, built probably by Brian Boru, there are concentric 
 arches, the shafts of the columns from which these arches spring 
 are cylindrical, and the capitals of the columns are ornamental ;t 
 more highly decorated is the doorway of the church at Freshford,j 
 but the highest and most perfect type of Irish Romanesque 
 is Cormac's Chapel, built on the Rock of Cashel. Nearly eight 
 centuries have passed since it was completed — in the reign of 
 Cormac MacCarthy, King of Cashel |1 — and walls and doorways 
 and windows and stone roof still remain, firm and uninjured, 
 as little affected by storm and weather and the destroying in- 
 fluence of time as the rock upon which the church stands. It 
 is not a large church, it is rather a royal chapel, as indicated 
 by its name. It has neither aisles nor transepts, and, except 
 two towers which are Norman looking in appearance, it has 
 nothing but a nave and chancel, with the usual chancel arch 
 as a connecting link. But it lacks nothing in multiplicity and 
 variety of ornament. The openings are all arched with the 
 rounded semicircular arch, resting on cylindrical columns ; 
 these openings consist of many concentric arches, that of one 
 door having no less than five different ones ; and doorways and 
 windows and chancel arch are all decorated.** The shafts 
 of the columns are in some cases fluted; some of the arches have 
 chevron mouldings, in another case it is a series of human heads, 
 but the greatest diversity of ornamentation occurs in the capitals 
 of the columns. There are animals of various kinds, interlaced 
 
 * Architecture — Classic and Early Christian (Smith and Slater, 
 Art Hand Bcx)ks), pp. 203-223, et seq. 
 t Petrie, p. 283. 
 % Ibid.-j p. 285. 
 
 II Ibid., pp. 290-1. It was consecrated either in 11 34 or 1135. 
 ** Miss Stokes, p. yj {Building and Architecture.) 
 
CULTIVATION AND CONDITION OF THE ARTS. 1 69 
 
 horse shoes, inverted truncated cones, one like the Ionic volute, 
 grotesque heads — human and otherwise, and other ornamenta- 
 tions somewhat difficult to classify or describe.* This diversity 
 of ornament recalls, not the pattern, but rather the number 
 of the decorations on the Tara brooch. The roof is vaulted, 
 its construction showing considerable scientific skill, it was also 
 frescoed, the colours of the frescoes being red, yellow, brown and 
 white. Had Giraldus seen this beautiful church, he would 
 hardly have spoken of the Irish as a barbarous people, and he 
 would have learned that besides music they cultivated others of 
 the fine arts and excelled in them. 
 
 In addition to the ornamentation on the doorways and 
 windows of the churches, several other examples of ancient 
 Irish sculpture remain. There are many Ogham inscribed 
 stones, which belong to an earlier period ; there are tombstones 
 which are usually flat slabs laid upon the earth , there are pillar 
 stones and altar stones, but the finest specimens of Irish sculpture 
 are the High Crosses. Their age has been ascertained as ex- 
 tending from the tenth to the thirteenth century ; their object 
 was to commemorate some deed, or to be dedicated to the memory 
 of some saint. Their form is that of the Latin Cross, the most 
 characteristically Irish feature being the circle which in every 
 case surrounds the arms of the cross. The faces and sides are 
 divided into panels, each panel having a group of sculptured 
 figures intended to illustrate some event in the Old or New 
 Testament, or to impart some Christian lesson. On one of the 
 crosses at Monasterboice, in the panels which have been so 
 far deciphered, the subjects are the Fall of Man, the Expulsion 
 from Eden,Adam Delves and Eve Spins, Cain killing Abel, the 
 Magi, Michael and Satan at the weighing of Souls, and the 
 Crucifixion and Last Judgment. On another Cross there were 
 twenty-four panels, in only six of which the groups of figures 
 have been deciphered ; at Clonmacnoise, of twenty-four panels, 
 just half of the groups can be made out, and at the Tuam Cross, 
 on one side is the Crucifixion, on another the figure of a bishop, 
 and on another panel a funeral procession. | Surrounding 
 these panels and running along the sides and arms of the cross 
 are various ornamentations — the interlaced lines, the divergent 
 spirals, which are met with so often in manuscripts and on metal 
 work, and which are produced on these stones with a fidelity, 
 a delicacy, a lightness of touch, a happy combination of one 
 with another, which could only come from the highest artistic 
 skill. 
 
 * Petrie, pp. 296-304. 
 
 t Stokes, pp. 18-22. {Sculptured, 
 
170 HISTORY OF IRELAND. 
 
 The sculptured figures themselves — bishops, abbots, kings, 
 saints and angels are but rudely drawn, and it is here 
 that the failure of the Irish sculptors is conspicuous. The 
 artists knew little of human anatomy. The feet and hands 
 are disproportioned, the figure awkward and ungainly, the 
 features vague and ill-defined, the face without power— <iull, 
 inanimate and expressionless, where neither passion nor emotion 
 are portrayed, and where we fail to read pride or power, or 
 courage, or fear, or anguish, or despair. And the draperies 
 are equally rude — ill-fashioned and ill-arranged — thrown care- 
 lessly upon the figure, without any sense of artistic fitness, 
 or any lines of beauty in their folds. It is art in its infancy, 
 where the shadows cast are grotesque, and the moving sentient 
 human figure does not appear. But it is right to remember 
 that the sculptor's object was to convey a religious lesson, 
 to preach a sermon in stone, and not to portray the beauty 
 and symmetry of the human form. To cause the naked human 
 figure to exhibit its strength and proportions, the muscles of 
 the body, the play of the features, the emotions with which it 
 was stirred — they would have considered such a debasement 
 ot sculpture, a servile and unworthy copying ot the pagans. 
 Their art was directed and controlled and permeated by religion, 
 it was its handmaiden, if necessary, even its slave. It was the 
 lesson of the Crucifixion, of the Resurrection, of the Betrayal 
 of Christ and the other scenes they drew, it was these lessons 
 above all that they wished to teach. It was upon these scenes 
 they wanted the spectators to fix their thoughts, and not upon 
 the beauty of the separate sculptured figures ; and, perhaps, 
 the rude figures that they drew attained better the object they 
 had before their minds, than if they had chiselled them with 
 the genius of Phidias or Praxiteles. 
 
 But of all the works of stone, which have survived the wreck 
 of ages, and whose appearance points to a far distant past, the 
 most widely known, the most spoken of and written of, are the 
 Round Towers. There is some diversity in the masonry of 
 these buildings, for the roughly dressed stones of Lusk and 
 Clondalkin, and their narrow, square-headed apertures separate 
 them by a long interval from the round-arched and decorated 
 openings of Timahoe and Ardmore.* Some of these towers 
 are now imperfect, but a good number still remain in their 
 original condition, and among them there is some variation 
 in the height, the highest — that of Lusk — being one hundred 
 feet, while that of Turlough, in Mayo, is only seventy feet. The 
 architectural features are the same throughout — a tall round 
 
 * Miss Stokes, p. 51. {Building and Architecture) 
 
CULTIVATION AND CONDITION OF THE ARTS. I7I 
 
 tower, pierced along its sides by a few narrow openings, and 
 covered with a stone cone-like roof. It is, however, round 
 the question as to what was the origin and uses of these buildings, 
 that controversies have raged. Finding these structures different 
 from any in other countries, and in Ireland itself, a survival 
 of a long past age, the records of which in part at least have 
 been lost, many have undertaken to say, when and for what 
 purpose they were built, and each has his own peculiar theory 
 to propound. In origin they were said to be Danish,* or 
 Phoenician, they were said to be fire temples,f or lofty heights 
 from which the Druidical festivals were to be proclaimed, as 
 the muezzin' proclaims prayer from the minaret. They were 
 said to be astronomical observatories, or phallic emblems, or 
 Buddhist temples, or anchorite towers or penitential prisons, 
 and lastly, they were belfries or monastic keeps, or watch- 
 towers. Of these theories, some are ingenious, some are absurd, 
 some are fanciful and arbitrary, most are sustained with learning 
 and ability, and not a few are supported by great names. But 
 neither by itself is satisfactory, and the problem as to when and 
 why they were built, seemed to be as insoluble as the riddle of 
 the sphinx. At last a man appeared, who had no theories to 
 propound, who sought only for the truth, and who had many 
 qualifications for the task he undertook. This was George 
 Petrie, a man whose services to Irish Archaeology have been 
 great, and whose name Ireland should always hold in honour. 
 His tastes were antiquarian, his learning was extensive and 
 profound ; he knew the Irish language, and therefore could 
 make use of ancient chronicles and records and decipher ancient 
 inscriptions ; architecture he was specially familiar with ; he 
 was patient and persevering, had no pre-conceived notions or 
 theories, was well qualified to weigh and value arguments and 
 reasons, and spared neither time nor labour. He visited these 
 towers himself, examined their peculiarities — the style of their 
 masonry and their architecture, and the buildings with which 
 they were associated, sought out the various references to them 
 in the oldest of the Irish books, and then, having exhausted 
 every source from which light could be thrown upon the inquiry, 
 he was prepared to pass judgment. The Danish origin of 
 the Towers was easily disposed of, for the Danes, neither in 
 Ireland or elsewhere, built much ; their genius was rather for 
 destruction, and their track was marked, not by the buildings 
 they had erected, but by the ruins they had made. The theory 
 
 * This is the opinion of Lynch in his Cambrensis Eversus, of Peter 
 Walsh, of Dr. Molyncaux, and of Ledwich (Petrie, pp. 5-10 
 t This was Vallancey's opinion (Petrie, pp. 12, 13.^ 
 
172 HISTORY OF IRELAND. 
 
 that they were of Eastern origin, and were used as fire temples 
 was that of Vallancey, a man, says Thomas Davis, "of little learn- 
 ing, little industry, great boldness, and no scruples,"*qualifications 
 but ill suited for success in historical inquiry. His speculations 
 are bold and reckless, his dissertations on the etymology of 
 Irish words ridiculous, and his arguments without value ;f 
 and his theory may be safely discarded. Nor is Dr. Charles 
 O'Connor convincing in his theory that they were astronomical 
 towers,! nor Harris and Usher in thinking that they were pillar 
 towers such as that on which Simon Stylites lived ; and the 
 Phallic theory never had any support except, " in Henry O'Brien's 
 enthusiastic ignorance." 
 
 Having disposed of all these and such like theories, Petrie's 
 own judgment was that these towers were built when Ireland 
 was harassed by the Danes, that they were therefore of Christian 
 origin, that their main purpose was to serve as monastic keeps, 
 where the precious vessels of the adjoining church were kept 
 for safety and could be defended with ease, and that besides they 
 served as belfries, and were also used as watch towers. And 
 Petrie's reasons are strong and convincing. They are usually 
 found in connexion with ecclesiastical buildings, || their archi- 
 tecture in doorways and windows is the same as these buildings 
 and distinguishable from the various remains of Irish pagan 
 architecture, and their value as keeps for sacred objects is 
 apparent. The marauding Danes had special enmity to the 
 churches, and were anxious to seize the sacred objects they 
 contained — chalices, ciboriums, crosses, shrines, vestments and 
 manuscripts. A monk placed on the summit of one of 
 these towers, like the look-out on a vessel, or a sentinel on a watch- 
 tower, could easily perceive the advancing foe and warn the 
 inmates of his monastery ; and when the Danes arrived 
 
 * Davis's Essays, p. 67. Vallancey published these theories in his work 
 " Collectanea de Rebus Hibernicis." 
 
 t His conjectures have the appearance of being learned and profound,- 
 but their worthlessness and shallowness are exhaustively examined and 
 exposed by Petrie (pp. 13-30). For instance, "the Hebrew word gadul, 
 means great, and thence a tower; the Irish name for a round tower, cloghad,- 
 is from gadul, and clogh, a stone; and the Druids called every place of wor- 
 ship, cloghad." (Davis's Essays, p. 68.) Such guesses are aptly called 
 childish by Davis. 
 
 + Dr. Lanigan (Vol. IV., pp. 406-8), in part follows Vallancey and in 
 part Dr. O'Connor, for he thinks that the lower storey of the Towers would 
 be used for fireworship and the higher for astronomical observation. 
 
 II Dr. Lanigan's notion is that the Tower came first in pagan times 
 and the church in Christian times, the purpose being to worship God 
 in these places where formerly they worshipped the sun and fire. (Vol. 
 IV., p. 408.) 
 
CULTIVATION AND CONDITION OF THE ARTS 1 73 
 
 the gold and silver of the church was beyond their reach In 
 the open the Danish battle-axe was a dangerous and effective 
 weapon, but it was powerless against strong walls of stone ; 
 the masonry is not so easily detached in a round building as 
 in a rectangular one, the windows were small, and being a long 
 distance from the earth not easily reached, and even when an 
 entrance to the tower was gained a series of successive assaults 
 had to be made. For there were several stories, the defenders 
 driven from one went to a higher, whence they could throw 
 down stones on the heads of their assailants, or hurl darts at 
 them as they advanced. Whoever will read Petrie's work will be 
 struck by the learning of the author, and the skill with which 
 he marshals his arguments, and he will conclude, if he is open 
 to argument and conviction, that fanciful theories can be safely 
 laid aside, and that Petrie has settled, once and forever, the 
 long agitated question as to the origin and use of the Round 
 Towers. 
 
CHAPTER XIII. 
 
 The Anglo-Norman Invasion. 
 
 Leinster and its wars — Its King, Dermot MacMurrogh — His character — 
 Took away the wife of O'Rorke of Breffni — Expelled from Leinster — 
 Sought aid from Henry H. — The Normans and Anglo-Normans 
 First arrival of the Anglo-Normans in Ireland under Fitzstephen 
 and Prendergast — Wexford captured — Ossory attacked — MacMurrogh 
 and Roderick O'Connor — Arrival of Maurice Fitzgerald — Raymond 
 Le Gros and Strongbow — Waterford captured — and Dublin — Death 
 of MacMurrogh — Strongbow and Henry II. — The Dublin Danes — 
 Roderick O'Connor besieges Dublin, but is defeated. 
 
 During the centuries that preceded the Danish invasion, 
 the rivalries of Irish chiefs seemed endless, and each province 
 was in turn the scene of bloodshed and strife and must have 
 heavily suffered ; but of all these provinces none suffered so 
 much as Leinster which was seldom an aggressor and fought only 
 to resist attack. Unjustly burdened with the Boru tribute, it 
 paid only with reluctance and under compulsion, while successive 
 Ardris exacted the imposition, with the infliction of 
 much suffering on the tributary province. With an army 
 they often entered Leinster and wasted and plundered 
 it through its whole extent; at the battle of Allen (717) 
 almost the whole population of Leinster was destroyed, and 
 in 804, Aedh Ornaghe, the Ardri, with a large army of the 
 laity and clergy,* devastated Leinster twice in one month, 
 and not content with getting his full demand from the Leinster- 
 men, he wantonly entered that province, in the following year, 
 
 * Up to that date the clergy were compelled to go to war and to fight 
 as well as the laity, and on this occasion the whole clergy of Leath Cuin 
 were with the Ardri — a strange occupation for the clergy it was. 
 They complained of their grievance to the king and he referred the matter 
 to Fotha, the Canonist, who wrote a poem by way of answer . He strongly 
 advised the king to dispense with the attendance of the clergy, and here- 
 after they were not present in the battle as combatants. What seems 
 strange is that Adamnan did not get them exempt in his day as he had 
 done in the case of women. {Four Masters, Vol. I., p. 409.) 
 
THE ANGLO-NORMAN INVASION. 1 75 
 
 and cut it in two. The other provinces looked on while Leinster 
 was thus harassed and overrun ; Leinster itself was overmatched 
 in the unequal contest, and, driven to desperation, the Leinster- 
 men sometimes allied themselves with the pagan Danes, and 
 against those of their own country and faith. On some occasions 
 they might be excused altogether or, at least, some palliation of 
 their guilt might be discovered, but it is imposible not to condemn 
 their attitude at Glenmama and, above all, at Clontarf. During 
 the long period of discord that succeeded the fall of Brian, Leinster 
 was no worse ol^ than its neighbours, for all the provinces were 
 wasted by constant war. all were reduced to the same equality, 
 an equality of strife and bloodshed and misery ; Leinster was 
 no longer the outcast it had been, the sport of succeeding Ardris. 
 A time came when she attained pre-eminence herself ; and one 
 of her kings— Dermot Maelnambo — was, in his time, the most 
 powerful and the most feared among the Irish kings. 
 
 In the twelfth century, Leinster once more acquired unenviable 
 notoriety, and was placed, in relation to the other provinces, in 
 a position of isolation and antagonism ; and its king, MacMurrogh, 
 eclipsing the treachery of Maelmurra, has earned for himself 
 in history the odious epithets of the renegade and the traitor. 
 Becoming king in 1121, he gave hostages to Turlogh O'Connor 
 in the following year,* but a few year later (11 28), he renounced 
 his allegiance to the Connaught king. O'Connor was a dangerous 
 man to provoke, and the desertion of Dermot was followed by 
 the devastation of Leinster.f With O'Mellaghlin of Meath he 
 was at war in 11 36, and again, eight years later, when the 
 kingdom of Meath was partitioned by O'Connor, MacMurrogh 
 getting a third of the province, as his share of the spoil. Again 
 in alliance with Turlogh, he fought at the battle of Moanmore 
 (11 52), so disastrous to the arms of Thomond.i These alliances 
 with the most powerful of the Irish kings, coupled with his own 
 undoubted capacity, had enlarged the bounds of his hereditary 
 possessions and consolidated the strength of Leinster under his 
 own personal rule. Yet among his own people he was not popular ; 
 he was more feared than loved ; and though the prestige of 
 success won him followers, it did not win him their afifection. 
 The estimate of his character given by Irish writers cannot 
 safely be accepted, for the memory of his treachery has roused 
 their indignation, and the utterance of indignation is often the 
 
 * Four Masters. He went into Turlogh's house in Meath, i.e., while 
 Turlogh was there on an expedition. 
 
 t Ibid. He plundered Leinster " far and wide." 
 
 X He was at war with Ossory and the Danes (1134) and with 
 Waterford (1137). 
 
176 HISTORY OF IRELAND. 
 
 utterance of injustice. But Cambrensis had no special reason 
 for hating MacMurrogh, or for heaping obloquy on his memory, 
 yet his words are sufficiently strong and do not present Dermot 
 in a favourable light. " Dermitius," he says, " was tall in stature 
 and of large proportions, and being a great warrior and valiant 
 in his nation, his voice had become hoarse by constantly shouting 
 and raising his war-cry in battle. Bent more on inspiring fear 
 than love, he oppressed his nobles though he advanced the lowly. 
 A tyrant to his own people, he was hated by strangers ; his 
 hand was against every man and the hands of every man against 
 him."* 
 
 In the early part of his reign (1135), he had scandalized and 
 outraged the moral and religious instincts of his subjects by 
 his conduct towards the convent and abbess of Kildare. Forcibly 
 entering the building, with a number of his followers, he dragged 
 the abbess from her cloister, and, ignoring her tears and protes- 
 tations and the entreaties of her nuns, he compelled her to marry 
 one of his soldiers.f He lost the sympathy and even earned the 
 hatred of the Leinster nobles (1141), by killing the lord of O'Felan 
 and the chief of the O'Tooles and by killing, or blinding, seventeen 
 other chiefs, besides others of inferior rank. J But the crime 
 which brought him into conflict with the other Irish chiefs and 
 which, more than anything else, has affixed a stain upon his 
 memory was the taking away from her husband of Dervorgille,|( 
 wife of Tighernan O'Rorke, King of Breffni. The lady was well 
 past her fortieth year, while MacMurrogh was at least twenty 
 years older ; both had therefore reached an age when the force 
 and violence of youthful passion might have been moderated.** 
 But MacMurrogh never knew what it was to impose restraint 
 upon his passions, and it appears that the lady herself was not 
 an unwilling victim, for she went in her husband's absence and 
 she took with her all that she possessed in wealth. Not the 
 
 * Giraldus Cambrensis, p. 196. {The Conquest of Ireland). 
 
 \ Annals of Clonmacnoise. It appears that the servants of the convent 
 and the townsmen of Kildare resisted him by force, for one hundred and 
 seventy of them were slain by Dermot. 
 
 \ Four Masters. It was not in open fight he killed these chiefs, for 
 the Four Masters say that " he acted treacherously towards the chieftains 
 of Leinster." 
 
 II Ibid., at the year 1152. 
 
 * Four Masters, at the year 1193. (Note by O'Donovan.) Dervorgille 
 was born in 1108, and was therefore forty-four years old, while Dermot 
 was in the sixty-second year of his age. Dervorgille, besides her donations 
 to Mellifont, built the "Church of the Nuns" at Clonmacnoise (1180) 
 ^Annals of Clonmacnoise at the year 1 180.) The description which Regan 
 (Dermot's secretary) gives of Dervorgille is that she was " a fair and lovely 
 ladyj entirely beloved of Dermot." (Harris's Hibernica, p. 11.) 
 
THE ANGLO-NORMAN INVASION I// 
 
 least discreditable part of the affair was that she was acting 
 with the knowledge and under the advice of her brother, 
 O'Mellaghlin, King of Meath. O'Rorke appealed to his friend, 
 Turlogh O'Connor, who led an army into Leinster (1153), 
 defeated MacMurrogh, and brought away Dervorgille and restored 
 her to her husband. She did not, however, live further with him, 
 but retired to the convent at Mellifont, where she spent forty 
 years in penance, deploring her crime and lamenting that she 
 had brought so many evils on her country. With O'Rorke the 
 recollection of the wrong done him by MacMurrogh was ever 
 vivid, and once at least he entered Leinster and wreaked 
 vengeance on the territory of his foe. But, without support, 
 he could not hope to punish MacMurrogh as he deserved. With 
 the death of Turlogh O'Connor, his most powerful ally disappeared, 
 and though Roderick, Turlogh's son, was his ally and friend, 
 even more markedly than Turlogh had been, on the other side, 
 MacMurrogh was befriended and sustained by O'Loughlin of 
 Tirowen ; and against such a combination Roderick and O'Rorke 
 were powerless. But when O'Loughlin was slain in battle (i 166), 
 and Roderick O'Connor became Ardri, O'Rorke's opportunity 
 came, and he determined to chastise the ravisher by whom he 
 had been so cruelly wronged. Aided by Roderick, he entered 
 Leinster v/ith a strong force. They were joined by MacTurkill, 
 chief of the Dublin Danes — tor they, too, hated Dermot — .by 
 the King of Ossory, and by the various Leinster chiefs, all anxious 
 to be emancipated from his tyranny. Unable to cope with so 
 many enemies, Dermot retired to the monastery of Ferns. He 
 had hopes of obtaining assistance from at least one powerful 
 Leinster chief — Morrogh O' Byrne — and sent a monk from Ferns 
 with a letter to that chief. But O' Byrne would give him no assist- 
 ance ; he willingly joined his numerous enemies, and Dermot, 
 fearing if he remained at Ferns that he might be betrayed to 
 the Ardri, and perhaps put to death, left Leinster and fled beyond 
 the sea.* 
 
 In his distress he went to England, hoping to win back his 
 kingdom by the aid of that powerful monarch, Henry II., whose 
 will was undisputed from the Tweed to the Pyrenees. On his 
 arrival at Bristol (11 68), Dermot learned that Henry was in 
 France, and after a short stay at Bristol — in the house of one 
 Robert Harding — he proceeded thither. He found the English 
 monarch at Aquitaine, told him the story of his wrongs, how 
 his vassals had all risen in revolt against him and driven him 
 into exile ; and he offered, if Henry would aid him in recovering 
 his kingdom, to become his vassal and subject and serve him 
 
 * Harris's Hibernica^ p. 12. (Regan's narrative.) 
 
178 HISTORY OF IRELAND. 
 
 faithfully during his life. With Aquitaine in revolt, Henry- 
 could not undertake an expedition into Ireland, or give 
 Dermot the assistance which he sought, but he gave 
 him letters authorising his subjects to give assistance, 
 and, armed with these documents, the exiled King of 
 Leinster returned to England, and to Bristol. To 
 Richard de Clare, Earl of Pembroke, Dermot first appealed. 
 A certain Richard de Clare, a Norman Count, had come over 
 with the Conqueror, who appraised his services so highly, that 
 he conferred upon him no less than one hundred and seventy-one 
 manors in England.* One of his descendants, Gilbert de Clare, 
 obtaining the requisite licence from Henry I., gathered together 
 a motley and mercenary army,f entered Wales and conquered 
 the whole of Pembrokeshire, which he parcelled out among his 
 followers. In his wars he got the name of Strongbow from his 
 troops, and the name passed on to his descendants. By King 
 Stephen he was much favoured and honoured and by him was 
 created Earl of Strigul, near Chepstow, and subsequently (1140) 
 Earl of Pembroke.! This Gilbert's son was Dermot's contem- 
 porary. He was reckless and extravagant, had wasted much of 
 his ample patrimony, and, reduced to the position of the spend- 
 thrift and the gambler, was ready to embark on any expedition 
 which might rehabilitate his fallen fortunes. And the prospect 
 held out to him by Dermot was glittering, for he offered him 
 his daughter in marriage and that he would give her the whole 
 kingdom of Leinster, as her inheritance, so that Strongbow 
 might hope to found a kingdom, as so many other Normans 
 had done. But there was a difficulty. The friendship of his 
 family for King Stephen did not recommend him to King Henry, 
 but, on the contrary, caused him to be regarded with ill-favour 
 and suspicion, and he dreaded to act on the general licence given 
 to Dermot. He thought it safer to apply for and obtain a special 
 licence to proceed to Ireland, but he bade Dermot be of good 
 cheer ; his vassals were many and as warlike and adventurous 
 as himself — he might have added as greedy and as needy — and 
 as soon as he got the necessary licence from the King, he was 
 prepared with his followers to cross the sea without delay. || 
 Before leaving England, Dermot went to North Wales and 
 engaged the services of a valiant knight, Robert FitzStephen. 
 
 * Lingard's History of England (10 vols.), Vol I., p. 239. 
 
 f Composed of Normans, Flemings and Englishj the Flemings being 
 specially distinguished as infantry. Thierry's Norman Conquest, Vol. II. ^ 
 pp. 17-18. 
 
 % CambrenstS; pp. 186-7; 
 
 11 Hibernica, p; 13.- 
 
THE ANGLO-NORMAN INVASION. 1 79 
 
 He had been for some time detained a prisoner* by the native 
 Welsh prince, Rhys-ap- Griffith, but at Dermot's request he was 
 allowed to go free, but only on condition that he was to leave 
 Wales and proceed to Ireland, a promise which he readily made. 
 Satisfied at the arrangements he had made, Dermot left England, 
 at the close of the year, landed safely in Ireland, and secretly 
 took up his residence at Ferns to await the arrival of his allies. 
 As they delayed, perhaps longer than he expected, and certainly 
 longer than he wished, Dermot, growing impatient, sent his 
 secretary, Maurice Regan,f to Wales to announce to all that 
 whoever would come to Ireland and aid the Leinster King in 
 his wars would, if they wished to remain in Ireland, get lands 
 to settle on, and if they were unwilling to remain, would get 
 paid either in money or in cattle. These generous promises got 
 support from many quarters, and the first contingent ot the 
 Anglo-Normans arrived early in the following year. 
 
 Little more than two centuries separate the age of Rollo 
 from that of Strongbow, and in this interval the Normans had 
 acquired immense power and influence throughout Europe. 
 The whole of France from Flanders to Navarre was theirs ; a 
 Norman King ruled in Sicily, and England, their greatest posses- 
 sion, had been conquered for a hundred years. The change in 
 their fortunes was not greater than the change in their manners ; 
 and if Rollo still lived he would scarce be able to recognise his 
 descendants in the Normans of the Twelfth Century. The 
 harsh accents of the North had given place to the softer speech 
 of France, the pirate Norseman had ceased to exist ; and the race 
 that were unaccustomed to fight except on foot now disdained 
 to enter battle except on horseback. The destroyers of manu- 
 scripts loved to patronise learning and encourage literature, the 
 levellers of churches had become builders of churches : in Norman 
 hands Romanesque architecture had acquired a beauty all its 
 
 * He had been in prison for three years and according to Giraldus 
 (p. 187) he was liberated on condition that he would assist Ap Griffith 
 against Henry H., but he preferred going to Ireland. 
 
 I It was Regan who wrote that fragment of Irish History which is 
 the first of those " Pieces relating to Ireland" inserted in Harris's Hibernicai 
 and which begins with the expulsion of Dermot MacMurrough and ends 
 with the siege of Limerick (1173), by Raymond le Gros and Meyler 
 FitzHenry. By Dermot he was much trusted, and in return he has shown 
 a tenderness for the unfortunate King's memory, and perhaps the severest 
 censure upon Dermot is that his faithful friend and secretary has nothing 
 to say in his praise. Less sparkling and animated than Giraldus, he has 
 less vanity as well ; he has little or no prejudice, his style is simple, plain 
 and unadorned, he contents himself with stating facts, writes of what he 
 saw and the people that he knew, and his narrative throughout has the 
 stamp of candour and of truth. {Hibernica, Harris's Preface.) 
 
l8o HISTORY OF IRFXAND 
 
 own, and in strength and solidity, even in beauty and refinement, 
 the products of Norman architecture might bear favourable 
 comparison with the most splendid buildings in Europe.* The 
 rude barbarian, to whom pillage and plunder was a delight and 
 to whom the tears of women were addressed in vain, had learned 
 to become the champion of the oppressed and the weak, prided 
 himself, and with justice, on his chivalry, was honoured if selected 
 by some high-born woman to defend her cause, and freely entered 
 the lists at jousts and tournaments, and as freely shed his blood, 
 to earn her favour and her smiles. The votaries of Woden, who 
 dreamt of Valhalla and its halls, and who hated Christianity 
 because opposed to their pagan deities, had become the 
 firmest defenders, the most resolute champions of the Church. 
 In the first Crusade was a son of William the Conqueror ; the 
 Norman Knights, Bohemond and Tancred,t shone conspicuous 
 by their heroic achievements in an army, where every man was 
 brave, and besides these many were the Norman leaders, who 
 left their castles and their lands to liberate Jerusalem from the 
 Saracen. The Mahommedan power was broken in Sicily by the 
 heroic and intrepid Roger, son of Guiscard, the island was restored 
 to the jurisdiction of Rome, and its Norman rulers were styled 
 hereditary and perpetual legates of the Apostolic See.J It was 
 with the Pope's blessing William the Conqueror invaded England 
 and Robert Guiscard won Naples from the schismatic Greeks ; |( 
 and against Henry III. of Germany, the foe and persecutor of 
 Gregory VII., Guiscard defended Rome.** But while the Normans 
 had thus changed in many things, their valour and skill in battle 
 remained unchanged ; and never was the battle-axe of the 
 Northman more dreaded than the lance of the Norman. On 
 many a field and against heavy odds, that redoubtable lance 
 turned the tide of battle, for, " in a martial age the Normans 
 might claim the palm of valour and glorious achievement." Under 
 William of Hautville, in Sicily (1038), 500 Normans routed no 
 less than 60,000 Saracens,tt and, two years later, the same number 
 of Greeks were defeated in Apulia by 700 horse and 500 foot ; 
 but it seems incredible, though it is gravely related, that in the 
 war in Sicily (1069-90), 50,000 Saracens fied before 136 
 Normans. JJ 
 
 * Classic and Early Christian Architecture (Smith and Slater), p. 23 1; 
 t Gibbon, Vol. IV.5 p. 220. 
 X Ibid., p. 142. 
 II Gibbon, Vol. iv.j pp. 138-9. 
 ** Ibid, p. 151. 
 tt Ibidi p. 132. 
 
 \X Ibid., p. 142. Gibbon sneeringly adds "without reckoning St; 
 George, who fought on horseback in the foremost ranks." 
 
THE ANGLO-NORMAN INVASION. l8l 
 
 A century in England had not much changed these Normans. 
 They were as brave and daring as their kinsmen on the Continent, 
 loved change and adventure, and were ready to embark on any 
 enterprise which promised the excitement of war and conquest. 
 Their arms, their armour, their method of fighting were the 
 same. Their troops were of two kinds — knights and archers — 
 the former always fighting on horseback, the archers usually 
 on foot. These knights are sometimes called men-at-arms and 
 sometimes gentlemen of service.* The warriors of the Crusades 
 received the sword and lance, the shield and banner of a knight 
 with much solemnity, in which the religious ceremonies were 
 not the least important part. | Compared with these and 
 restricting the term knight to those who had passed through 
 all these forms, the followers of Strongbow and FitzStephen 
 were not entitled to the name. But the term had been extended, 
 and, in England especially, had received a new significance and was 
 applied to those vassals, who, in accordance with the system 
 established by William the Conqueror, held their lands by military 
 tenure.^ They were bound to aid their master in his wars, to 
 equip and maintain for his service a certain number of horsemen 
 full}^ armed, and to serve him in the field as a knight. These 
 men-at-arms or knights who came to Ireland were all of good 
 birth, some in possession of lands, some who had forfeited the 
 lands they once possessed, others the sons of those who held lands 
 by knight's service, others merely adventurers, ready to embark 
 in any cause, however desperate, others, like Mountmaurice, 
 rather a spy than a soldier, " who was a man of fallen fortunes 
 and had neither arms nor money. "|| Besides what attendants 
 he had on foot, each knight went into battle with at least two 
 attendants on horseback, not clothed in armour like himself, 
 from head to foot, but only partially armour-clad and trained 
 to fight like their master on horseback. 
 
 In May, 1169, Dermot's hopes of obtaining English aid were 
 realised, for at that date, Robert FitzStephen arrived in Ireland 
 bringing with him a small army of near four hundred men — 
 thirtv knights, or men-at-arms, twice that number of horsemen 
 in half armour, and 300 archers, or footmen. Transported in 
 three vessels they landed at Bannow, in Wexford, the following 
 day ; at the same place Maurice de Prendergast arrived bringing 
 with him, in two vessels, ten knights and a large number of 
 
 * Cambrensis, pp.- 202-3, note; {Conquest of Ireland^ 
 
 \ The Normans {Story of the Nations) pp. 157-67. Before oeing 
 invested the candidate went to confession and received Holy Communion, 
 heard Mass and also a sermon. 
 
 X Lingard s History of England, Vol.- I., pp; 240-1.'; 
 
 II Cambrensis, p. 189. 
 
1 82 * HISTORY OF IRELAND. 
 
 archers.* The whole force, which must have numbered between 
 600 and 700 fighting men, was under the supreme command 
 of FitzStephen, but associated with him was de Prendergast, 
 Meyler FitzHenry, Henry or Hervey de Mountmaurice, and 
 Meyler Fitz-David, "son to the Bishop of St. David's."t The 
 news was quickly conveyed to Dermot in his retreat at Ferns, 
 and, mustering some 500 Irish troops, he joined his forces with 
 the invaders, and the whole army thus composed marched to 
 the attack of Wexford, The town was garrisoned by 2000 men, 
 who, when they heard of the approach of the enemy, boldly 
 marched forth to meet them, but when they saw the Anglo- 
 Normans, clothed in complete armour and mounted on heavy 
 Flemish horses, also covered with armour, they wisely judged 
 it was useless to contend in the open against such foes, and that 
 battle-axe and shield were unevenly matched against lance and 
 coat of mail. The town was surrounded by a wall with towers 
 and battlements ; behind the shelter of these fortifications they 
 could more effectually defend themselves, and, burning the 
 suburbs, they retired within the town itself. The English 
 advanced to the walls, which they gallantly assaulted, but the 
 defenders cast down stones and beams on their heads, and they 
 had to retire with the loss of eighteen of their number killed, 
 while the Irish lost but three. In a second assault they were not 
 more successful ; but the Wexfordmen knew that these assaults 
 would be repeated, they seemed to have lost confidence in them- 
 selves and to quickly get weary of the struggle ; on the advice 
 of two bishops, who happened to be in the town, negotiations 
 were opened between the besieged and the besiegers ; the town 
 was delivered to Dermot and the townsmen swore fealty to him 
 and delivered tour of their chief men as hostages. And so pleased 
 was he with his English allies, that he gave the town ot Wextord 
 over to FitzStephen, some adjoining lands to de Prendergast, 
 and a district between Wexford and Waterford to Mountmaurice. I 
 Elated by his success, strong in the strength and superiority of 
 his allies, his ranks swelled by the Wexford men, whose accession 
 brought the number of his army up to 3C00 men, Dermot felt 
 secure of recovering all he had lost and hoped even to be revenged 
 on his foes, nor was his desire to recover his lost kingdom more 
 intense than his thirst for revenge. 
 
 Against Donogh, King of Ossory, he was specially embittered. 
 That prince had deserted him in his time of trial, he had 
 joined the ranks of the enemies that encompassed him — 
 O'Rorke, O'Connor, and others — and, what was still harder 
 
 * Cambrensis, pp. 189-90. 
 
 f Hibernica, p 16. (Regan's narrative.) 
 
 + Cambrensis, pp. 191-2. 
 
THE ANGLO-NORMAN INVASION, 1 83 
 
 to be borne, he had taken prisoner his only legitimate son 
 and heir, Enna, and he had cruelly put out his eyes.* 
 Dermot proposed to his English allies that Ossory be 
 attacked, nor had they any hesitation in carrying out his wishes. 
 They were his soldiers, they had come to do his work, they were 
 receiving his pay and it did not concern them who was attacked, 
 nor would they hesitate to fight with Dermot's greatest enemy 
 if they received higher pay. f Accompanied by his illegitimate 
 son, Donal Kavanagh, his 3000 Irish troops and all his foreign 
 auxiliaries, Dermot soon entered Ossory. Wisely avoiding an 
 encounter in the open, the Ossorymen drew the invaders into the 
 woods and bogs, they dug deep trenches and planted them with 
 hedges, and when attacked they resisted the whole strength of 
 the invading army from morning till night, nor was it except 
 through his English allies, that Dermot gained a partial and 
 doubtful, though bloody, victory. Nor did he think it safe to 
 advance further into Ossory, on the contrary he thought it 
 safer to return, and so little were the Ossorymen dismayed, that 
 at a certain pass through which Dermot's army was retiring, 
 they were attacked by the King of Ossory with 2000 men. At 
 first the assailants were successful, and the Irish troops of Dermot 
 fled for shelter to the woods, but the English gradually fell back 
 from the marshy ground, where they were attacked, to ground 
 of a harder nature, the Ossorymen impetuously pursued, when 
 suddenly FitzStephen and his followers turned on their pursuers 
 and with his men-at-arms rode down upon them, killing many 
 with their long lances. Dermot's men hiding in the woods 
 plucked up courage, issued from their hiding places, fell upon 
 the wavering and retreating Ossorymen and killed many whom 
 the lances of the English had spared. Over two hundred heads 
 of his foes were collected and laid at Dermot's feet. J Recognising 
 among them the head of one he mortally hated, he took it up 
 by the ears and hair and " tore the nostrils and lips in a most 
 savage and inhuman manner." |1 This incident is recorded by 
 Giraldus, but suppressed by Regan, whose love for^his old master 
 seems to have been greater than his love of truth. On his return 
 to Ferns, Dermot received the submission of many of the Leinster 
 chiefs, who saw his increase of power and dreaded incurring 
 his wrath. Neither O'Toole nor O'Felan would submit, and 
 Dermot, entering their territories, spoiled and wasted them and 
 returned to Ferns, laden with spoil. 
 
 *Four M asters i at the year 1168. Donogh is sometimes called Magilla- 
 patrick and sometimes FitzPatrick. 
 ■j" Hibernica, p. 15. 
 
 X Ibid.^ p. 17. Regan gives the exact number — 220. 
 II Cambrensis, p. 193. 
 
184 HISTORY OF IRELAND. 
 
 All this pleased Dermot ; but Ossory was still unsubdued, 
 and he would not rest satisfied until his old enemy, Donogh, 
 was utterly destroyed ; and once more mustering all his strength, 
 English and Wexford men combined, he entered Ossory. Donogh 
 pursued his usual skilful tactics, fled before the invaders and 
 at a place called Hatchdrift, dug trenches, which he manned 
 with his best troops. The Wexfordmen, " with much courage," 
 led the attack on Dermot's side, but the Ossorymen were equally 
 brave, and for three days the battle continued, nor was it until 
 the English were able to intervene that the trenches were captured 
 and the Ossorymen driven back. They retreated further still 
 into Ossory; Dermot and his allies were afraid to pursue them, 
 and again, preying and spoiling the country through which 
 they passed, Dermot returned to Ferns. But Donogh of Ossory 
 had not yet submitted and Dermot's own conduct did not promise 
 further success. His arrogance, it appears, kept pace with his 
 victories ; he offended some of his English allies ; and Prendergast 
 especially was so disgusted with his conduct, that with his 200 
 soldiers he marched to Wexford, and resolved to return to Wales. 
 The Wexfordmen, by orders of Dermot. stayed his progress at 
 the port, and, unable to embark, he passed over with his troops 
 to the service of Donogh of Ossory, and with him made incursions 
 into Dermot's territories, and subsequently reduced O'More of 
 Leix in subjection to Ossory. These services of Prendergast 
 were but ill-requited in Ossory ; he received but little thanks ; 
 treachery even was meditated against him; and, displeased with 
 the service he was engaged in, and disgusted with those whom 
 he served, he made his way to Waterford and passed over to 
 England.* 
 
 During the progress of these events, Roderick O'Connor 
 remained inactive. Without any of his father's energy of character 
 or capacity, he failed to appreciate the significance of what was 
 taking place, regarded those new invaders merely as mercenaries 
 of Dermot, employed by him to fight his battles, as in other 
 days and by other chiefs the Danes had been employed. But 
 when all Leinster was overrun; when O'Felan and O'Toole were 
 plundered and Ossory was laid waste, his torpid energy was 
 roused ; he appealed to the princes and chiefs; war was resolved 
 against Dermot, and Roderick found himself at the head of a 
 
 * Hibernica, pp. 192-3. Perhaps one of the reasons for Prendergasf's 
 being displeased with Dermot may be that he had transferred; either in 
 whole or in part, the land he formerly assigned to him near Wexford to 
 Maurice FitzGerald. In Giraldus (p. 192) it is said that he gave Wexford 
 to FitzStephen and Maurice, which must be Maurice de Prendergast, as 
 FitzGerald had not yet arrived, while in Regan it is said he gave Wexford 
 to FitzStephen, and the Corrig, near Wexford, to FitzGerald. 
 
THE ANGLO-NORMAN INVASION. 1 85 
 
 large army. Yet, instead of fighting he commenced to negotiate. 
 The elaborate speeches made by Dermot, FitzStephen and 
 Roderick, as recorded by Giraldus, need not be included in a 
 sober narrative of facts, but amid the mass of rhetoric and 
 declamation, we can discern that Roderick offered presents and 
 money to FitzStephen if he would leave Ireland — a thing which 
 FitzStephen refused to do — that, failing in this, he made terms 
 with Dermot, recognising him as King of Leinster, Dermot, on 
 his side, acknowledging Roderick as Ardri, and giving him his 
 son Conor as a hostage. There was further a secret treaty between 
 them that Dermot would send away his new allies, as soon as 
 possible.* This treaty Dermot had no intention of keeping ; 
 his anxiety was to ward off the danger that menaced him ; and 
 so far from sending away his allies was he, that he warmly 
 welcomed a fresh band of near 200, who had landed at Wexford 
 under Maurice FitzGerald.f He encouraged his son-in-law, 
 Donal O'Brien of Desmond, to throw off his allegiance to the 
 Ardri, and when Roderick attacked his rebellious vassal and 
 entered his territory with an army, the rebel was aided by 
 FitzStephen and the Anglo-Normans, and he was driven back 
 to Connaught, defeated and disgraced.^ 
 
 Dermot was not yet satisfied, and, rejoicing that he had 
 deluded and weakened the Ardri, he began to hope that he 
 might become Ardri himself. For this design he wanted more 
 help from England, and sent an urgent request to Strongbow 
 to hasten his coming. " We have watched (he says), the storks 
 and the swallows ; the summer birds have come and are gone 
 again with the southerly wind ; but neither winds from the 
 east or the west have brought us your much desired and long 
 expected presence || . . . ." The swallow had deferred his 
 flight, but it was not his fault. Repeatedly, Strongbow had 
 asked for the necessary permission from Henry H. but so far 
 had not obtained it, and as soon as he did, he wrote to Dermot 
 that he was making all necessary preparations for his departure 
 and would soon be with him. In the meantime he sent his 
 friend, Raymond Le Gros (May, 11 70) with a small force — 10 
 men-at-arms and 70 archers.** He landed at Dundonald, a few 
 
 * Cambrensis, pp. 195-202; 
 
 t Ibid.-^ 203. FitzGerald was half brother to FitzStephen and had 
 with him 10 men at-armSj 30 mounted retainers and 100 archers and 
 foot soldiers. 
 
 % Ibid.^ 204. 
 
 II Cambrensis, p. 205. The thoughts of this letter may be (and this is 
 unlikely) the thoughts of Dermot, but assuredly the words are the words 
 of Giraldus. 
 
 ** Ibid., 206. 
 
l86 HISTORY OF IRELAND. 
 
 miles from Waterford,* where he was soon besieged by an army 
 of 3000 — the men of Waterford and Ossory.f He had been joined 
 by Hervey de Mountmaurice and one or two other knights, 
 but his whole forces scarce numbered one hundred. He had 
 taken the precaution of fortifying his position, and he had gathered 
 within the enclosure a large number of cattle from the surrounding 
 lands. When the enemy assailed him, he opened the gates, 
 drove out the cattle, followed with his troops and fell upon the 
 broken and disordered ranks of the Irish, killing a large number 
 of them I and taking seventy prisoners. The unfortunate 
 prisoners had their limbs first broken in pieces and then, while 
 they were yet living, were hurled headlong into the sea from 
 the neighbouring cliffs. || Raymond stayed at Dundonald until 
 the arrival of Strongbow. 
 
 On the 27th August following, Strongbow with 1600 men, 
 of whom 200 were men-at-arms, landed at Waterford and, being 
 joined by Raymond and his small army, with his whole force 
 he attacked Waterford. The assault was twice repulsed, but 
 through the skill of Raymond Le Gros** a breach was made in 
 the walls and the invaders entered the town and slaughtered 
 the inhabitants without mercy. The Danish rulers of the city 
 retreated into Reginald's tower, where they long and gallantly 
 resisted, but the place was ultimately captured and both chiefs were 
 put to death.tt News of these events quickly reached Dermot, nor 
 did he delay, until he arrived at Waterford, bringing with him 
 his daughter Eva, Strongbow's destined bride. The nuptials 
 were celebrated amid unusual surroundings. The streets ran 
 red with the blood of its citizens, all around were scenes of death 
 and slaughter, and in this city, stricken with sorrow, a city of 
 death and mourning and lamentation, the marriage of Strongbow 
 and Eva MacMurrogh took place. Leaving a garrison at Waterford, 
 Dermot and his son-in-law marched north to Ferns, where 
 their delay was but short and, then, gathering all their forces, 
 they proceeded northwards, through the mountains of Wicklow, 
 to attack the city of Dublin. No resistance was offered to their 
 advance, and the affrighted citizens of Dublin soon beheld the 
 banners of the invaders waving outside the walls of the city.JJ 
 
 * Cambrensis; The place was eight miles from Waterford and twelve 
 from Wexford 
 
 t Hibernica^ p.- 23. 
 
 X Regan says that 1000 were killed in battle; 
 
 II Giraldus (p. 211) puts the blame for this inhuman conduct on Mount- 
 Maurice, and says that Raymond was for mercy; 
 
 ** Cambrensis, p. 212. 
 
 ft Regan (p. 24) calls them Reginald and Smorth ; Giraldus calls them 
 the two Sitrics. 
 
 ++ Hibernica, p. 25; 
 
THE ANGLO-NORMAN INVASION. 1 8/ 
 
 Against an army which included nearly 5000 English troops* 
 and in which the number of Irish must have been much greater, 
 the citizens had little prospect of being able to defend themselves. 
 And if the city were taken by force, they had reason to dread 
 the wrath of Dermot. They had hated his father ; while sitting 
 in a court of justice in the city a party of them had murdered 
 him, and to his dead body they had tied the body of a dog, and 
 the dead dog and the dead King were buried together. Such 
 an outrage Dermot was not likely to forget and would be likely 
 to avenge. Negotiations were opened, the citizens' representa- 
 tive being the Archbishop of Dublin — ^Laurence O'Toole — 
 Dermot's representative being Maurice Regan, f But while the 
 terms of surrender were being settled, two parties of the English, 
 one under Milo de Cogan and the other under Raymond, " eager 
 for fight and greedy of plunder," forced their way into the city 
 and put many persons to death. Strongbow and Dermot with 
 their forces soon followed, while the Danish ruler of the city 
 and many with him escaped to their ships.^ Once again Dublin 
 was in Dermot's hands, but not content with all he had done 
 he made an irruption into Meath and plundered and wasted 
 the territory of O'Rorke. Roderick O'Connor reminded him that 
 his conduct in this and other matters was in direct violation 
 of his promises, and that if he did not desist he would put to 
 death his son, whom he held as a hostage. Dermot's reply was 
 that he meditated conquering Connaught, as he had already 
 conquered Leinster, and immediately Roderick put the young 
 prince to death. |i What retaliatory measures Dermot would have 
 taken it is impossible to say ; the time was not given him, for 
 in the winter of that year he died at his castle at Ferns. His 
 enemies declared that he died of a loathsome disease, but others 
 say that his end was peaceful and his death that of a repentant 
 Christian; his secretary merely records that he died.** 
 
 Since his arrival at Waterford everything had prospered 
 with Strongbow. After Dermot's death, by the double right of 
 inheritance and conquest, all Leinster was his ; de jure as well 
 as de facto, he was its king though he did not assume the title ; 
 
 * Regan gives the numbers — 700 under Cogattj 800 under Raymond 
 and 3000 under Strongbow. 
 
 f Htbernica, p. 26. Regan says nothing about Laurence O'Toole^ 
 while Giraldus makes no mention of Maurice Regan (pp. 213-14.) 
 
 X Cambrensis, p. 214. The author says they sailed to the " northern 
 islands " to seek aid from their kindred there. 
 
 II Ibid.^ p. 215. The Four Masters say he was "heir-apparent of 
 Leinster." 
 
 ** Hibernica, p. 26. Four Masters and Annals of Clonmacnoise. Vid: 
 Four Masters. 1182, note. 
 
l88 HISTORY OF IRELAND. 
 
 he divided its lands among his followers, nor did there seem to 
 be anything to oppose his becoming master of all Ireland, as 
 he was already master of Leinster. These fair prospects were 
 soon darkened, and the gathering clouds on the horizon indicated 
 that a storm was near. At Dermot's death hardly any of the 
 Leinster chiefs would recognise Strongbow as his successor, nor 
 acquiesce in the arrangement by which the succession was trans- 
 mitted, especially as it was transmitted to a stranger.* The 
 trouble from Henry II. of England was even more to be feared. 
 For Strongbow and his knights to acquire estates in Ireland he 
 had no objection, but the rapidity and extent of their success 
 alarmed him ; he was intensely jealous, wished to grasp all power 
 in his own hands, and viewed with disfavour and even with anger 
 the prospect of one of his subjects setting up in Ireland a kingdom, 
 which one day might be a menace to his throne. Immediately 
 he proclaimed that no ship sailing from any part of his dominions 
 should carry anything to Ireland, and that all his subjects in 
 that kingdom should return before the next Easter, on pain of 
 forfeiting their lands and being banished for ever from his king- 
 dom. f Nor was this all. The Irish chiefs had for the moment 
 suspended their quarrels ; from all quarters they had come 
 together, seeing the danger with which they were threatened, 
 and under the supreme command of the Ardri — Roderick — 
 30,000 fighting men were marshalled round the walls of Dublin. 
 To make Strongbow's position more hopeless still, the Irish had 
 applied for aid to Godred, King of Man, the appeal was hearkened 
 to, and Godred with 30 ships had already cast anchor at the mouth 
 of the Liffey, blockaded the city from the sea, and thus were the 
 invaders effectually besieged, both by sea and land. It was said 
 that this formidable attack had been organised by the Archbishop 
 of Dublin, | and it is not unlikely. From personal contact he 
 was able to appreciate the character of the Anglo-Normans ; 
 he saw how they had butchered his people and robbed them 
 of their property ; they were besides of an alien race ; the Arch- 
 bishop was intensely Irish ; he was son of the chieftain of Imaal ; 
 and he wished that his own race would be masters in their own 
 land. 
 
 Strongbow's position became desperate. After two months 
 his provisions began to fail ; there was such scarcity that a 
 measure of wheat was sold for a mark, and a measure of barley 
 for a half mark ; only fifteen days' provisions remained and, 
 calling a council of his chief men, it was determined to send the 
 
 * Hibernica, pp. 26-7. 
 
 f Cambrensis, p. 2161 
 
 X Cambrensis, p. 221. On this subject Regan is silent. 
 
THE ANGLO-NORMAN INVASION. 1 89 
 
 Archbishop to the Ardri to negotiate terms. If the siege was 
 raised, Strongbow offered to become Roderick's vassal and to 
 hold Leinster from him as from his superior lord and king. But 
 the Ardri scouted such terms, told Strongbow that he should 
 quit Leinster, surrender the towns of Dublin, Waterford and 
 Wexford and, by a certain day, which he named, that all the 
 English should leave Ireland and go back to their own country : 
 otherwise he would make an assault on Dublin and carry it by 
 force.* And an enterprising leader with such an army as he had 
 could have made a breach in the walls and carried the city by 
 assault, or he could have waited and starved out the garrison. But 
 it has often been the melancholy fate of Ireland to have a leader 
 without the capacity to lead, and never had she one so unfit 
 for his position as Roderick O'Connor. He had inherited the 
 name but not the courage of his ancestors. Vain, frivolous, 
 weak-minded, unable to form a decision, or to carry it out when 
 formed, he spent his time round Dublin reviewing his troops, 
 indulging in childish display ; and such little conception of a 
 commander's duties had he, that he placed no sentinels on guard 
 to warn the army of a possible attack. Inside the city there was 
 no such carelessness or irresolution. Roderick's answer presented 
 but two courses to them, either to abandon everything their 
 swords had won, or to sally forth from the city and attack their 
 assailants. To delay was to starve, for their provisions were 
 failing fast. It seemed madness for so small an army to attack 
 so large an army, but often the boldest and most hazardous 
 course is the safest ; at the worst they could die, and they knew 
 how to die like men. Leaving behind them their Irish allies, 
 whom they distrusted, and also a small garrison for the city, 
 they formed their whole army into three divisions, two hundred 
 in each, one division under de Cogan, another under Raymond, 
 and the other under Strongbow and Maurice FitzGerald. The 
 whole army thus formed and led fell upon the Irish camp at 
 Finglas. f The surprise was great and the victory was complete. 
 The Irish fled, almost without striking a blow, numbers were 
 slain, and Roderick, who was bathing at the time,J narrowly 
 escaped with his life, nor would his soldiers have any reason for 
 regret if he was pierced by some English lance. The siege was 
 raised, the Irish army melted away, and the English returned 
 
 * Hibernica^ p. 28. 
 
 t Hibernica^ p. 29. This is only 600 out of near 5000 at the capture 
 of Dublin. Where were the remainder ? Some, perhaps, had returned 
 to England, some were left to garrison the city, and some perhaps to 
 overawe the Irish allies and to protect the city against a fresh attack of 
 Godred of Man, who menaced the place from his ships. 
 
 % Cambrensis, p. 224. 
 
TpO HISTORY OF IRELAND. 
 
 to the city laden with booty, and with provisions sufficient to 
 victual the city for a whole year. 
 
 While Dublin was besieged, a messenger arrived from Wexford 
 informing Strongbow that FitzStephen was besieged by the 
 townsmen there and would have to surrender if not aided from 
 Dublin within three days.* Strongbow was then unable to 
 aid him — he was in the last extremity himself — but when Roderick 
 O'Connor was defeated and his army dispersed, the Earl proceeded 
 to Wexford, leaving Dublin with a garrison in charge of Milo 
 de Cogan. On his way south, he was attacked at Odrone by 
 O'Ryan, chief of that district ; but the English were victorious 
 and arrived safely at Wexford.f It was only, however, to find 
 that FitzStephen and his garrison had been overpowered, that 
 FitzStephen was a prisoner, and Strongbow was warned that 
 if he attacked the town they would send him out FitzStephen's 
 head. Leaving Wexford unmolested, he passed on to Waterford, 
 where he was visited by O'Brien of Thomond, who proposed 
 to him to unite their forces and attack the King of Ossory. The 
 Earl agreed, and he and O'Brien were soon at the head of two 
 thousand men, prepared to overrun Ossory. Its king, Donogh, 
 desired an interview, believing he could satisfy Strongbow, and 
 Maurice de Prendergast:|: was despatched to afford Donogh a 
 safe-conduct coming to the camp and returning. When he 
 arrived, both Strongbow and O'Brien began to upbraid him, 
 charged him with many treasons and seemed on the point of 
 putting him to death. Immediately Maurice de Prendergast 
 mounted his horse, bade his own company to do the same, 
 reminded the Earl and O'Brien that they had promised safe 
 conduct to the King of Ossory, that they dishonoured themselves 
 in breaking their promises, and swore by the cross that he would 
 allow no man to lay hands on Donogh, and he took the pre- 
 caution of never leaving him until he was safely back in Ossory. 
 While they were yet meditating the invasion of Ossory and 
 making all necessary preparations for it, a peremptory mandate 
 reached Strongbow that he was to proceed to England without 
 delay, for the King must get an explanation of his conduct. 
 He had already sent Raymond le Gros to the King || assuring 
 him that all he possessed in Ireland he was willing to hold at 
 the King's free disposal. A second messenger was sent in the 
 
 * Cambrensis, p. 222. 
 
 •f" Hibernica, p. 30. 
 
 X Ibid, 31-2. This was the same Maurice who once fought with Ossory 
 and against Dermot. After leaving Ireland he made his way to Strongbow 
 and was with him when he landed at Waterford. 
 
 II Cambrensis, pp. 216-17. 
 
THE ANGLO-NORMAN INVASION. 191 
 
 person of Mountmaurice, but the King was yet unsatisfied ; 
 the mandate to Strongbow was not to be disregarded, and, 
 relinquishing for the time his expedition against Ossory, he at 
 once proceeded to England.* 
 
 In his absence (i 171), Dublin was again attacked. The Danes 
 had long been rulers of the city ; its advantageous position for 
 trade and commerce made it one of their most valued possessions ; 
 nor was it likely they would abandon it without a struggle. 
 When it was captured by the English, Hasculf MacTurkill sailed 
 away to his kindred, seeking for aid, as in other days Sitric had 
 sought for aid against Brian Boru. From the Isle of Man and 
 the Isles of Scotland, and from Norway, especially from Norway, 
 they came, under a terrible warrior, John the Dane ; and when 
 Hasculf again appeared in the LifYey he had a fleet of sixty vessels 
 and an army of ten thousand men. De Cogan's army was small, 
 not more than 600 men in all, but they were the best of soldiers, 
 they were skilfully led, and such was their confidence in themselves 
 that Milo de Cogan himself, with only 300 men, issued out of one 
 of the gates of the city, to meet the enemy's attack. He was 
 driven back with the loss of some of his men. Milo's brother, 
 Richard, had been ordered with 300 horsemen to issue from a 
 different gate, and just as the Danes were impetuously pursuing 
 Milo's troops, these horsemen rode furiously amongst them, 
 trampled and cut them down, broke and disordered their ranks 
 and drove them in headlong flight into the city. | In the work 
 of slaughter, the English were aided by some Irish troops, and 
 so great was the loss of the enemy that not more than two 
 thousand escaped to their ships. Among the prisoners taken 
 was Hasculf MacTurkill himself. When he was brought before 
 de Cogan, his attitude was not that of submission or defeat, for 
 he told his conqueror that if life were spared him he would come 
 again with a more formidable army. ^ Milo's answer was to 
 strike off his head, and thus perished the intrepid Dane, the 
 last Danish ruler of Dublin. 
 
 * Hibernicaj p. 33. 
 t Ibid.-, pp: 34-36. 
 X Cambrensis, p. 2201 
 
CHAPTER XIV. 
 Henry II, in Ireland. 
 
 William the Conqueror's design on Ireland — Henry II. and Pope Adrian 
 IV. — The authenticity of Adrian's Bull — Henry's arrival at Waterford, 
 his forces, his march to Dublin — Submission of the Irish Chiefs — 
 Henry and the clergy — Synod of Cashel — Henry leaves Ireland — 
 Appoints De Lacy first Viceroy — De Lacy and O'Rorke — Strongbow 
 defeated at Offaly — Leaves for England, sent back as Viceroy — 
 Raymond Le Gros and the Army — Battle at Thurles — War in Meath — 
 Raymond captures Limerick — Death of Strongbow 
 
 Henry H. was the first English King who came to Ireland, 
 but he was not the first English King who intended to come, 
 for it has been said that William the Conqueror himself seriously- 
 proposed the conquest of Ireland, and that if he had lived but 
 two years longer, he would have conquered it ; and it is added, 
 that he would have done so without any armament.* When 
 Henry came, in 1 1 7 1 , he was already seventeen years on the 
 English throne, but he had long meditated coming to Ireland. 
 The very year and month (December, 1 1 54), in which he became 
 King, an Englishman — the only one who has ever become Pope — 
 ascended the Papal throne. His name was Nicholas Breakspeare 
 his title as Pope was Adrian IV. The young King sent an 
 embassy to congratulate the new Pope, and these royal messengers 
 — the bishops of Evreux, Lisieux and Le Mans, and the Abbot of 
 St. Albans f — were instructed to say, amongst many other 
 things, that the state of Ireland — religious and moral — was de- 
 plorable, that their master, Henry, was willing to undertake 
 its reformation, but as an obedient child of the Church, he 
 required the Pope's permission and blessing. The efforts of 
 Henry's messengers were seconded by John of Salisbury,^: 
 who was an intimate personal friend of Adrian, and who, in his 
 
 * The Normans, p. 343 — Quotation from Wace. It is a pity that Master 
 Wace did not say how this could be done, and by what secret the Conqueror 
 could charm the Irish into submission. 
 
 I Adrian IV. and Ireland (Malone)^ p. 14. 
 
 X He was a scholar of eminencej and afterwards Bishop of Chartres. 
 
HENRY II. IN IRELAND. I93 
 
 book, the Metalogicus, claims the whole credit for what followed. 
 The Pope acceded to Henry's wishes and issued the following 
 Bull or Privilege, for it was called by both names : — 
 
 " Adrian, Bishop, servant of the servants of God, to his 
 dearest Son in Christ, the illustrious King of England greeting 
 and apostolical benediction. 
 
 " Your Majesty quite laudably and profitably considers how 
 to extend the glory of your name on earth and increase the 
 reward of eternal happiness in Heaven, when, as a Catholic 
 Prince, you propose to extend the limits of the Church, to an- 
 nounce the truth of the Christian faith to ignorant and 
 barbarous nations, and to root out the weeds of vice from the 
 field of the Lord ; and the more effectually to accomplish this 
 you implore the counsel and favour of the Apostolic See. In 
 which matter we are confident that the higher your aim and 
 the greater the discretion with which you proceed, the happier, 
 with God's help, will be your success ; because these things that 
 originate in the ardor of faith and the love of religion are always 
 wont to arrive at a good issue and end. Certainly Ireland 
 and all the islands on which Christ, the Sun of Justice, has 
 shone, and which have accepted the doctrines of the Christian 
 faith, of right belong, as your Highness doth acknowledge, to 
 Blessed Peter and the Holy Roman Church. Wherefore we 
 the more willingly sow in them a faithful plantation and a seed 
 pleasing to God, inasmuch as we know by internal examination 
 that it will be strictly required of us. You have signified to 
 us, dearest son in Christ, that you desire to enter the island 
 of Ireland to subject that people to laws and to root out therefrom 
 the weeds of vice, also that you desire to pay from every house 
 an annual pension of one penny to Blessed Peter, and to preserve 
 the rights of the churches of that land inviolate and whole. 
 We, therefore, regarding with due favor your pious and laudable 
 desire and according a gracious assent to your petition, deem 
 it pleasing and acceptable that for the purpose of extending 
 the limits of the Church, checking the torrent of wickedness, 
 reforming evil manners, sowing seeds of virtue, and increasing 
 the Christian religion, you should enter that island and execute 
 whatever shall be conducive to the honour of God and the 
 salvation of that land. And let the people of that land receive 
 you honourably and reverence you as lord, the rights of the 
 churches remaining indisputably inviolate and whole, and the 
 annual pension of one penny from every house being reserved 
 to Blessed Peter, and the Holy Roman Church. If, therefore, 
 you will carry to completion what with a mind so disposed you 
 have conceived, study to form the people to good morals, and 
 as well by yourself as by those whom you shall find qualified 
 
 o 
 
194 HISTORY OF IRELAND. 
 
 for the purpose, by faith, word, and conduct so act, that the 
 Church may be adorned, that the religion of the Christian 
 Faith may be planted and may increase ; and let all that concerns 
 the honour of God and the salvation of souls be ordered in such 
 manner, that you may deserve to obtain from God a plentiful 
 everlasting reward, and on earth succeed in acquiring a name 
 glorious for ages."* 
 
 Before an assembly, made up of the King and of the nobles 
 and clergy held at Winchester, the Pope's letter was read and 
 approved of, and Henry would have proceeded to Ireland at 
 once, but his mother had some misgivings in the matter ; she 
 counselled him not to go, and, in accordance with her wishes, 
 the intended expedition to Ireland was postponed, f The King's 
 mother died, but his troubled reign offered a continuous series 
 of subjects for the exercise of his activity and ambition; and 
 amid these distracting cares Ireland|"and her ills were forgotten. 
 The invitation of MacMurrogh, nearly twenty years later, revived 
 Henry's interest in Irish affairs and re-awakened his ambition, 
 and the Bull, which had slept peacefully for so many years 
 among the archives at Winchester, was again remembered. But 
 Adrian was then dead, an Englishman no longer sat on the Papal 
 throne, and a Pope reigned — ^Alexander III. — who, perhaps, 
 would look with greater suspicion on Henry, and listen with 
 less complacency to his appeals. Besides, he|had become better 
 and less favorably known at Rome. His long and bitter struggle 
 to coerce the Church in England and make it an obedient in- 
 strument of his will had ended tragically and Henry's hands, 
 in the estimation of most men were reddened with the blood 
 of Thomas a Beckett. To use Adrian's Bull in such circumstances 
 would not be regular, and when Henry went to Ireland, he did 
 not use it — for according to the jurisprudence of the times a 
 Papal Bull became null and void in the hands of the receiver when 
 the guilt of murder supervened. But Henry soon cleared him- 
 self^ to the satisfaction of the* Papal Legates of complicity in 
 
 * Cambrensis, pp. 260-62. Ginnell : The Doubtful Grant of Ireland^ pp. 
 14 and 15. The original document in Latin may be seen in Usher's Sylloge. 
 No. 46. The translation given here is from Ginnell. It is more literal and 
 more accurate than that given by the translator of Giraldus. Ginnell's small 
 volume, and another by the Very Revd. S. Malone, Pope Adrian IV. 
 and Ireland are recent publications, and, from opposite standpoints^ are 
 entirely concerned with the AUTHENTICITY of Adrian's Bull. Both v^orks 
 give evidence of much research and learning ; both are combative and 
 dogmatic in tone ; the authors seem to have made up their minds in 
 advance, and the conviction is borne upon the reader that it is the advocate 
 rather than the historian that speaks.- 
 
 f Usher's Sylloge. 
 
HENRY II. IN IRELAND. 1 95 
 
 Beckett's murder,* and to show his good wishes for the Church, 
 he abandoned many points for which against the Church and 
 its ministers in England he had struggled tenaciously and long.f 
 He even did public penance at Beckett's tomb for his seeming 
 incitement to the murder ;J he appeared a penitent and humbled 
 king, and, as such, he again approached the Papal throne and 
 obtained from Alexander III., (117 2) a renewal of the grant 
 of Adrian, in a confirmatory Papal Bull. 
 
 For centuries no doubt seems to have arisen as to the authen- 
 ticity of Adrian's Bull, but, in the seventeenth century, two 
 Irish writers — ^Stephen White|| and John Lynch** — attacked 
 it as spurious, and the subject has often been debated since 
 with ability and learning, often also with acrimony and partisan 
 zeal. It has been maintained that the grounds on which Adrian 
 rested his right to transfer the dominion of Ireland— the donation 
 of Constantine — did not exist, as the donation was discovered 
 to be a forgery ; that the Irish Church stood in no need of reform, 
 the work of reform having been already effected by Malachy 
 and his contemporaries,tf that the Synod of Cashel (11 72), held 
 under the auspices of Henry did not exhibit any great laxity 
 of morals, or any errors of faith, and that the state of religion 
 in Ireland, as there disclosed, could be favourably compared 
 with the state of religion in Wales as described by Giraldus him- 
 self. It is asked in astonishment how could the Pope hand over 
 Ireland to a stranger, without hearing its representatives in its 
 defence. Much is made of the fact that the chief authority in 
 favor of the Bull is Giraldus who, as a historian, is utterly devoid 
 of character, and rarely deserving of credence — and a strong 
 argument on the same side is, that no copy of the Bull in existence 
 bears either date or signature. These reasons are weighty, 
 and give rise to serious misgivings, but they are not entirely 
 conclusive, and the grounds are many for holding that the Bull 
 was actually issued. 
 
 * Lingard's History of England, Vol. II.5 p. 96. It was to meet these 
 Legates that Henry had to leave Ireland so soon and hasten to Normandy. 
 
 t Ibid. He agreed to allow appeals in cases of persons suspected by 
 himself, and he abolished all customs introduced in his reign, which were 
 derogatory to the liberties of the clergy. 
 
 X The date of his doing penance was in 1 174, two years after Alexander's 
 Letter. 
 
 It He was a Jesuit, and highly esteemed by Usher. (Ware's Writers 
 [Harris], Vol. II., p. 103.) 
 
 ** Lynch Wcis the author of the well-known Cambrensis Eversus. 
 
 tf Not certainly by Malachy, for it appears from the Four Masters that 
 at the Synod of Drogheda, or Kells (1152), a decree had to be passed that 
 men were to put away concubines — Mr. Moore thinks this refers to the 
 clergy, though it is not expressly stated. (O'Donovan's Note.) 
 
196 HISTORY OF IRELAND. 
 
 That the donation of Constantine was discovered to be a 
 forgery is of little importance, for it was believed in, during 
 the twelfth century and after, acted upon by Popes, and ac- 
 quiesced in by the people. The case of Ireland presents special 
 difficulty, for Constantine never had any dominion over it, and 
 what he never had he could not transfer. But it is not necessary 
 that Adrian's act should stand or fall by this supposed donation. 
 It was well recognisd in the Middle Ages that the Pope could 
 transfer the dominion of Christian States. The rulers of these 
 States were half elective, half hereditary, and held their power 
 as Christian rulers and for the good of the Christian religion. 
 The conviction was deep-seated, in the minds of Catholics, that 
 supreme power could not be given to any except a Catholic, that 
 in the implied contract between princes and people there was 
 a condition, that the people should faithfully obey their prince, 
 so long as he remained a Catholic, but that a heretical prince 
 had no claim on their allegiance. And it was considered to be 
 the privilege, and even the duty, of the Pope to declare how long 
 a ruler was faithful to his obligations and his oaths, and when 
 he had forfeited his right to rule.* Such extraordinary power, 
 so foreign to modern ideas and practices, was not considered 
 strange in the twelfth century, and was often exercised. The 
 age was one of violence and lawlessness, the Holy See alone was 
 a centre of religion and refinement, and it was well that, by the 
 consent ot all, such a power existed, which could be invoked 
 by the subject against the oppression of his ruler, and by the 
 ruler against the encroachments ot an aspiring neighbour, or 
 the turbulence of a rebellious vassal. f Nor was the right of 
 Adrian to grant Ireland to Henry II. disputed by the Irish them- 
 selves,! or even its justice called in question until the lapse of a 
 century and a half. And if we place ourselves in the twelfth 
 century, and try to realise the condition of Ireland then, and 
 the position of Henry, we shall more readily admit that the 
 Pope was not much to blame. 
 
 A long and wearisome period of 140 years had passed since, 
 in the moment of victory, Brian Boru and most of his family 
 had fallen at Clontarf. Some confusion might be expected 
 to arise as to the succession, especially as the Dalcassian dynasty 
 
 * Gosselin : Power of the Popes in the Middle Ages, Vol. II, p. 9. 
 Sometimes the condition that a ruler should be a Catholic was an express 
 provision of Constitutional Law (Gosselin, p. 264, et seq). 
 
 t Ibid., Vol. II., p. 58. 
 
 J King's Church History of Ireland, Vol. III. — Appendix. Letter from 
 Donal O'Neill to the Pope (13 18). It is complained that Adrian, as an 
 Englishman, was prejudiced in favour of England, but it is not complained 
 that he went beyond his rights; 
 
HENRY II. IN IRELAND. 1 97 
 
 had been but lately established, and its claims to pre-eminence 
 rested on force rather than on descent. But it might also be 
 expected that out of chaos order would arise, and that among 
 the different contending families some one would emerge from 
 the struggle, triumphant and supreme, when his rivals had been 
 humiliated and overthrown. Yet age after age went past, and 
 the struggle still continued ; when anyone of the contending 
 parties reached supremacy, it was but fleeting and transitory, 
 and after a century and a half the struggle was still undecided 
 and maintained. Nor was there the least prospect, at the close 
 of the period, of a central government being established, nor 
 the least hope that the end of the struggle was at hand. Amid 
 the clash of arms religion does not flourish ; and the Danish wars 
 and the long era of civil discord which followed, had left the 
 Irish Church in the condition described by St. Bernard. With 
 a settled government — the guarantee of peace — the Church would 
 have quickly righted itself, perhaps even renewed its ancient 
 glory, for such men as Gillebert and Celsus, and Malachy and 
 Laurence of Dublin, and Christian of Lismore were earnest and 
 zealous reformers and were well supported by the other bishops. 
 But distracted by the tumult of war, their efforts could not be 
 successful. Nor is there much justice in the complaint, that 
 Ireland was condemned by the Pope unheard. From Gillebert 
 to Gelasius, a series of Papal delegates was continued, whose 
 duty it would be to present the true state of Ireland at Rome. 
 Malachy had gone twice to see the reigning Pope, and had long 
 conversations with him about Ireland ; and at the Synod of 
 Kells, Cardinal Paparo was sent specially from Rome to preside, 
 and in due course described the condition of Ireland on his 
 return. What further information did the Pope require,, or 
 from whom could he receive it ? Not from the mass of the 
 people, for they were merely instruments in the hands of tur- 
 bulent chiefs, who recklessly spilt their clansmen's blood, as they 
 recklessly spilt their own. As to the chiefs themselves they 
 could not be influenced for good. Some, perhaps, could not 
 give up war because, being attacked, they should defend them- 
 selves. Others would not be at peace. They would neither 
 do good themselves, nor allow others to do it.* In such cir- 
 cumstances the Pope, in the interest of Ireland itself, looked 
 for a master and a remedy from without, seeing it was useless 
 to hope for either from within. 
 
 To reform the Irish Church, or any church, Henry II. would 
 appear to be a bad selection. A Cardinal, after a long 
 
 * In the Four Masters proof of this statement is found on every page. 
 Vid. also MalonCj Pope Adrian IV. and Ireland^ pp. Pj los 
 
198 HISTORY OF IRELAND. 
 
 interview with him, declared that he had never met so audacious 
 a liar ;* and his own son, Richard, once said to his advisers — 
 that in his family the custom was for the son to hate the father, 
 that the whole family had come from the devil and to the devil 
 they should return.| " He could," says Giraldus, " scarcely spare 
 an hour to hear mass and then he was more occupied in counsels 
 and conversation about affairs of state than in his devotions." 
 And he adds that he seized on the revenues of the Church and 
 gave the money to his soldiers. | But this was Henry at a later 
 stage of his career, and not when he applied for and obtained 
 Adrian's Bull. He was then but twenty -one years of age, active, 
 energetic, ambitious, swayed, it might easily be thought, by 
 the generous impulses of youth, and if it was his high purpose 
 to restore peace to a distracted land, and prosperity to a church 
 that had fallen from its high estate, was it for Adrian to doubt 
 his zeal, or to question whether he was sincere ? Henry had come 
 of a race with many faults, it is true, but with many virtues 
 as well, autocratic, insolent, overbearing, yet generous and 
 helpful to the church ; and the contrast presented by a con- 
 temporary writer between the state of religion in England, in 
 Saxon and in Norman times, shows that the church had pros- 
 pered under Norman rule. " In process of time," says William 
 of Malmesbury, " the desire after literature and religion had 
 decayed for several years before the arrival of the Normans. 
 The clergy could scarcely stammer out the words of the Sacra- 
 ments, and a person who understood grammar was an object 
 of wonder and astonishment." || Of the Normans he has many 
 hard things to say, but he adds, that nevertheless they revived 
 the observances of religion, that churches rose in every village, 
 and monasteries in towns and cities, that the country flourished 
 with renovated rites, and that each wealthy man thought his day 
 lost, which he had not signalised by some magnificent action.** 
 Might not similar results follow in Ireland ? To stop the raids 
 and forays of the chiefs, to preserve the monasteries from 
 outrage, and the churches trom sacrilege, to allow the bishops 
 to hold their synods,JJ and to aid in carrying out their decrees 
 
 * Gilbert, The Viceroys of Ireland, p, 25. 
 
 t Ibid., p. 26. 
 
 + Cambrensis, p. 252. 
 
 II William of Malmesbury's Chronicle, p. 279. 
 
 ** Ibid., p. 280. 
 
 +1 That they were not allowed to do so sometimes, appears from the 
 Four Masters at the year 1 158, for the Connaught bishops who were going 
 to the Synod of Brigmac-Tighe, were set upon by O'Mellaghlin of Meath,- 
 two of their retinue killed, and themselves chased across the Shannon^ 
 so that they had to return home without attending the Synod. 
 
HENRY II. IN IRELAND. 1 99 
 
 this was all that was required for the church's prosperity, and 
 all this could be guaranteed under the rule of a monarch so 
 powerful as Henry II. Adrian IV. was educated at Paris under 
 an Irish monk, Marianus of Ratisbon ;* he must have also met 
 many other Irish scholars, men of sanctity and zeal, he must have 
 often heard them lament the distracted state of their country, 
 and to him, as an Englishman, it would be a just cause of pride 
 that peace had been brought to the Irish Church, under an 
 English-born Pope, and by the aid of an English king. Nor 
 is there much force in the objection, that Henry proved to be 
 the enemy of the Church instead of its friend, and that his coming 
 to Ireland was the cause of evil instead of good. All this the 
 Pope did not foresee ; he was only human and could not read 
 the secrets of the future. 
 
 It is unfortunate, though not fatal to Adrian's Bull, that 
 no copy bears date or signature. Many public and important 
 documents have suffered as much, many have perished altogether. 
 State papers were not so carefully guarded in the twelfth century 
 as they are now, and there was no reason why Adrian's Bull 
 should be preserved with special care. As time passed, it was 
 seen at Rome that the Anglo-Norman invasion, instead of proving 
 a blessing to Ireland, only added to its ills ; and when the English 
 broke away from the Church of Rome, they desired to forget 
 that an English king had ever gone a-begging to the Pope. It 
 is not necessary to believe that the original document was wil- 
 fully destroyed, but neither at Rome nor at London was there 
 any desire that it should be remembered, f 
 
 It was in 1 171, on the i8th of October, that Henry II. landed 
 at Waterford. His army was transported in 400 vessels and 
 numbered 500 knights and 4,000 soldiers, horse and foot. + 
 When the number of attendants on these is taken into account, 
 the whole force reached little less than 10,000 men. With him 
 was Strongbow. When he crossed over from Ireland, earlier 
 in the year, he found the King at Newenham in Gloucestershire. 
 
 * Lanigan, Vol. IV., p. 155. 
 
 ■f Adrian's Bull was evidently in existence when Alex. III. issued (1172) 
 his confirmatory Letter, unless, indeed, we hold, as does Lynch (Cambrensis 
 Eversus, Cap. xxiv.) that this document also is forged, and when Pope 
 John XXII. wrote to Edward II. (13 18), in answer to the remonstrance 
 of Donal O'Neill, he sent him a copy of Adrian's Bull (King's Church 
 History of Ireland, Vol. III., appendix). 
 
 Lynch {Cam. Eversus, Caps. XXIII-XXIV., Vol. II.) strongly, even vehe- 
 mently, holds that Adrian's Bull is a forgery — his Translator and Editor 
 (Dr. Kelly) holds the opposite view. Vid. also Lanigan, Vol. IV., pp. 158 
 et ^seq, and Macariae Excidium, pp. 242 et seq. These two latter works 
 believe the Bull to be genuine. 
 
 X Hibernica, p. 36. 
 
2CX) HISTORY OF IRELAND. 
 
 His reception was cold — Henry was even menacing, but he 
 was disarmed by the humility and submissiveness of Strongbow, 
 who laid at his feet — even made over to him in writing everything 
 he possessed in Ireland, whether in right of his wife, or by the 
 sword, allowed him to place royal garrisons in all his castles 
 and did homage to him for Leinster. At last, says Giraldus, 
 the storm subsided " and though the mutterings of the thunder 
 were loud, the deadly bolt did not fall."* A wealthy and powerful 
 lord at Waterford attempted to prevent the landing of the royal 
 army, and stretched across the harbour three massive iron chains, 
 but these were broken through, the whole army disembarked, 
 and this lord — Reginald Mac Gillemory — was taken and hanged, 
 and the natives, with but few exxeptions, expelled from the town.f 
 Against so numerous an army the most complete unan- 
 imity among the Irish chiefs, marshalled and directed 
 by one leader of the highest ability, would be required. Nor 
 was it likely that even such union and leadership would prevail, 
 for superiority of numbers, on the Irish side, would be more 
 than counterbalanced by superiority of arms and discipline, 
 on the side of the English. But there was among the Irish 
 chiefs no such unanimity, and the incapacity, and even cowardice, 
 of Roderick O'Connor was already so well established, that no 
 national army would enthusiastically, or even willingly, serve 
 under his command. Each prince, therefore, had to depend 
 on the resources of his own territory and thus unequally matched 
 against Henry, their only course was to tender him their sub- 
 mission. At Waterford, Dermot MacCarthy, King of Desmond, 
 submitted, and at Cashel, whither Henry had marched by way 
 of Lismore, O'Brien of Thomond tendered his submission. Passing 
 on to Waterfoid, without much further delay, the English king 
 proceeded through Ossory to Dublin, receiving on his way the 
 submission of Magillapatrick of Ossory, and of O'Felan, chief 
 of the Deisi ; their example was followed at Dublin by O'Rorke 
 of Breffni and O'Carroll of Oriel, and by several of the lesser 
 chiefs. I Roderick O'Connor was as helpless as those who sub- 
 mitted, but though his power was gone, his pride and vanity 
 remained, and though he was ready to submit, he would not 
 do so in person. Henry despatched two of his knights — Hugh 
 de Lacy and William Fitzadelm — to treat with him ; they met 
 him on the banks of the Shannon and received from him an 
 acknowledgement of their master's supremacy. || The princes 
 
 * CambrensiSj p; 2281 Ware's Annals. 
 t Gilbert's Viceroys, p. 25. 
 X Cambrensis, pp. 230-3 1; Ware's Annals; 
 II TAe O'Conors of Connaught, pp. 66-7. 
 
HENRY II. IN IRELAND. 20I 
 
 of the North alone — ^perhaps finding some safety in their distance 
 from Dublin — scorned to submit to a foreigner, and tenaciously 
 and courageously clung to their ancient freedom. Even these 
 Henry expected to subdue, and perhaps without the employ- 
 ment of force. In war he was experienced and skilful, but 
 he preferred to attain his ends by peaceful means*; and in Ireland 
 his crafty policy was to conquer rather by kindness than by 
 force. He loved to pose as the protector of the people and the 
 avenger of their wrongs, and when the inhabitants of Wexford 
 brought to him at Waterford their prisoner FitzStephen, and 
 complained of all the evils he had done them, Henry loaded him 
 with chains, and, tying him to another prisoner, had him cast 
 into Reginald's Tower, though he took care soon after to set 
 him free.f 
 
 In Dublin — in that part of it now occupied by the south 
 side of Dame Street — and in a large palace built of peeled osiers, 
 Henry spent the winter of 117 1, and the spring of the following 
 year. To the sumptuous banquets which Norman luxury loved, 
 and Norman cooks were able to prepare — the flesh of cranes, pea- 
 cocks, herons, swans and wild geese + — he invited the native chiefs, 
 all of whom he took every pains to conciliate and even flatter, and 
 all of whom went away, marvelling at the number and splendour 
 of his retinue, at the wealth and luxury displayed, and marvelling 
 no less at the condescension of a king, who was then one of the 
 mightiest potentates of the earth. From the chiefs, whom he 
 had thus favorably impressed, Henry turned his attention to 
 the bishops, whose good will he was most anxious to obtain. 
 The Bull of Adrian was obtained, so that he might reform the 
 Irish Church, and unless he wished to be stigmatised as a hypo- 
 crite, he should give some evidence of reforming zeal. By his 
 directions a Synod was held at Cashel (11 72), at which Henry 
 was represented by Ralph, Archdeacon of Llandaff, Nicholas, his 
 chaplain, and another Ralph, " Abbot of Buildewas." The 
 president was the Papal Legate, Christian, Bishop of Lismore, 
 and, besides these, were Laurence O'Toole of Dublin, Catholicus, 
 Archbishop of Tuam, and the other bishops of Munster, Leinster, 
 and Connaught, || except Gelasius, but the northern bishops held 
 aloof.** Following the lead of their chiefs, the bishops accepted 
 Henry as their lord, and some decrees which they passed in 
 reference to church discipline were, it seems, sent to Rome, 
 and demonstrated Henry's zeal so satisfactorily, that he soon 
 
 * Cambrensis, p. 251. 
 
 f Ibid.-, p. 229. Ware's Annals. 
 
 X Gilbert's Viceroys, pp. 27-28. 
 
 II Cambrensis, pp. 232-34. 
 
 ** Lanigarij Vol. IV., pp. 2045. 
 
202 HISTORY OF IRELAND. 
 
 after obtained the letter of Alexander III., confirmatory of 
 Adrian's Bull. His progress so far was a triumphal one. He 
 had impressed all most favorably, the chiefs by his condescension 
 and hospitality, the church by his zeal, and he stood out in marked 
 and favourable contrast to these rapacious freebooters who 
 had come over with Strongbow. Without striking a blow 
 three-fourths of the country had submitted to him, and it seemed 
 likely that the Chiefs of Tirconnell and Tirowen would not hold 
 out long, but, on the contrary, would follow the lead given them 
 by the other provinces. All this Henry could not wait to see, for 
 urgent messages came from England that the Pope had ex- 
 communicated him for his share in the murder of Thomas 
 a Beckett, and that two Cardinals — Albert and Theotimus — 
 were sent from Rome to place his dominions under interdict.* 
 This was serious news, and Henry was compelled to abandon 
 his further designs in Ireland, and to hurry with all speed to 
 Normandy, to meet the legates and free himself from the crime 
 laid to his charge. Leaving Dublin, he first proceeded to 
 Waterford, and thence went to Wexford, from which port he 
 set sail. 
 
 In leaving Ireland, Henry placed Waterford in charge of 
 Robert FitzBernard, with whom he associated, in the govern- 
 ment of the place, Humphrey Bohun and Hugh de Gandevill. 
 In Wexford, he appointed Philip de Braos with William FitzAdelm 
 and Philip de Hastings as his assistants, and at Dublin was Hugh 
 de Lacy, assisted by Robert FitzStephen and Maurice FitzGerald. f 
 Hugh de Lacy was the King's special representative, charged 
 with the general supervision of the King's interests, and he is 
 usually put down as the first Viceroy.^ Dublin by royal charter 
 was given to the people of Bristol ; || it was inhabited by people 
 from that city, and the old inhabitants were either entirely, or^for 
 the most part, expelled, as had been already done at Waterford,* * 
 and perhaps also at Wexford. These three cities were garrisoned 
 by the King's soldiers ; within their walls English law was 
 established, English customs existed, and Henry's authority 
 was amply recognised. Strongbow held Leinster from him 
 
 * Cambrensis, pp. 236-7. 
 
 t Ware's Annals. 
 
 X Harris's Ware, Vol. II., p. 102. 
 
 II Historic and Municipal Documents (Gilbert), p. i. Henry II, also 
 granted another Charter to these colonists from Bristol granting them 
 freedom from certain imposts throughout his dominions. {Ibid.^ P- 2.) 
 
 ** At a subsequent date Henry II. granted Waterford to the Danes. 
 admitting them to the full right of English subjects, and this, no doubt, 
 because he could not get sufficient English to settle there. (Leland's 
 History of Ireland, Vol. I., p 82— Copy of Charter of Edvv. I.; 
 
HENRY II. IN IRELAND. 203 
 
 as a fief, but outside Leinster and the cities named tlie King's 
 power was but little, for the submission of the Irish chiefs did 
 not go far. They acknowledged Henry as they would a powerful 
 Ardri. They paid him some small tribute, they would in case 
 of a grave dispute have accepted his arbitrament and have 
 peacefully acquiesced in his ruling, at least, as long as he could 
 overawe them by superior force, but in all other respects they 
 were free. Their manners and customs and laws, their division 
 of classes and offices, the title to their lands, the constitution 
 and privileges of their septs and clans, these were left unchanged 
 and if Thomond and Desmond and Meath were fiefs of Henry II., 
 in each of them it was the Brehon and not the Feudal law which 
 prevailed. It was on these conditions the Irish chiefs submitted, 
 and under these conditions their submission was received, yet, 
 in defiance of these contracts, Henry before his departure, gave 
 Leinster to Strongbow, Meath to De Lacy, and Ulster, over which 
 he had acquired no authority whatever, to John de Courcy. 
 To Leinster Strongbow might be allowed a title as the heir and 
 successor of Dermot MacMurrogh, to which was superadded 
 the right of conquest and to some extent of effective occupation. 
 But O'Rorke was still supreme in Meath and Breft'ni, though 
 acknowledging the supremacy of Henry, while in Ulster there 
 was no transference of power whatever, either by conquest, 
 or by voluntary submission. These conflicting interests were 
 certain to produce war. The Anglo-Norman chiefs would try 
 to establish themselves in those provinces so unjustly handed 
 over to them by their royal master, the Irish chiefs were not 
 likely to surrender what was theirs, and there seemed no possible 
 mode in which, while maintaining peace, these conflicting rights 
 could be reconciled. Nor was the prospect of such war displeasing 
 to Henry II. It would weaken the Irish princes and make 
 their ultimate conquest all the easier for him and his successors ; 
 nor would there be any danger while several Anglo-Norman 
 chiefs were separately engaged, each in his own province, each 
 independent of the others, that any one would become so powerful 
 that he could throw off his allegiance to England and set up 
 a powerful Irish monarchy. 
 
 The trouble began in Meath and in a dispute between Hugh 
 de Lacy and Tiernan O'Rorke. The point in dispute is not clear. 
 Thirty years before (11 44), the ancient Kingdom of Meath had 
 been divided into three parts, by Turlogh O'Connor, and one 
 of these parts was assigned to O'Rorke. In the interval, he 
 had defended this acquisition, perhaps even extended its limits. 
 To this territory, or portion of it, De Lacy laid claim in accordance 
 with Henry's concession. O'Rorke refused to surrender what 
 he believed to be his, but a friendly conference was arranged 
 
204 HISTORY OF IRELAND. 
 
 between the disputants, and they met at Tlachta near Athboy. 
 During the progress of the negotiations, a quarrel arose, blows 
 were exchanged, one of De Lacy's attendants — his interpreter — 
 was slain, and as O'Rorke was mounting his horse to escape from 
 the danger that threatened him, an English horseman rode up 
 and transfixed him with a spear. The Irish chroniclers all 
 maintain that the treachery was all on the English side ; Giraldus, 
 on the other side, has no doubt whatever that it was on the 
 Irish side, and speaks with bitterness of the treachery and 
 treason of O'Rorke, " the one-eyed King of Meath." The body 
 •^f O'Rorke was taken to Dublin, the head cut off and placed 
 over the gate of the fortress, and the body gibbeted with the 
 feet upwards, at the northern side of Dublin.* The example 
 of De Lacy in Meath was quickly followed by Strongbow in 
 Leinster. He had conquered only part of the province, and the 
 concession of the whole province by the English King did not 
 bring with it the peaceful submission of the native chiefs, nor 
 the acquiescence of the people, and there were still many of 
 these Leinster chiefs who clung with tenacity and determination 
 to their ancient freedom. Against one of these, O'Dempsey 
 of Offaly, Strongbow marched with a thousand men, and unable 
 to resist such an army, O'Dempsey j fell back. Strongbow, 
 after wasting and plundering Offaly, or at least O'Dempsey's 
 portion, was returning to his head-quarters at Kildare when 
 at a narrow pass, his rear guard, under his son-in-law, De Quincy, 
 was attacked by O'Dempsey and driven into Kildare in con- 
 fusion, with the loss of its leader and many others. Defeated, 
 but not materially weakened, Strongbow was meditating a 
 fresh expedition, when he was summoned by Henry II. to 
 England. His aid was required in his French wars, and so 
 well pleased was Henry with the services of the Earl, that he 
 appointed him to guard the strong fortress of Gisers in Normandy 
 JJI173), and, after a short time, sent him back in the same year 
 to Ireland, appomting him Viceroy in room of Hugh de Lacy .J 
 The prospect before the new Viceroy was not encouraging. The 
 native chiefs, no longer awed by the presence of Henry and 
 the overwhelming force at his command, showed a readiness 
 to assert themselves, and the English chiefs began to quarrel. 
 Strongbcw's treasury was soon exhausted, the soldiers clamoured 
 for their pay, and not having it to get, they were ready and eager 
 
 * Four Masters. Cambrensis, pp. 242-44. 
 
 f Of Offaly ; the chief was O'Connor Faly. — O'Dempsey only held 
 part of the territory along the east side of the river Barrow, and paid some 
 tribute to O'Connor {Hibernica, p. 38.J; 
 
 X Gilbert's Viceroys, p. 37. 
 
HENRY II. IN IRELAND. 205 
 
 for plunder. The successor of De Quincy in the military com 
 mand of Leinster was Harvey de Mountmaurice, and as he would 
 not countenance plunder, the soldieis refused to serve under his 
 command, and demanded that Raymond le Gros be appointed 
 their leader. Necessity forced Strongbow to accede to their 
 request, and Raymond was placed in supreme military com- 
 mand.* His measures were energetic and decisive. He ravaged 
 Offaly and plundered Lismore, defeated the Danes of Cork at 
 sea, and Dermot MacCarthy of Desmond on land, and safely 
 arrived at Waterford with all his plunder. Then he demanded 
 to be made Constable of Leinster and also he demanded, and not 
 for the first time, Basilea, Strongbow's sister, in marriage, 
 and as both requests weie refused, he left Waterford in 
 disgust and retired to his castle of Carew, in Pembroke- 
 shire,! while Mountmaurice resumed military command of the 
 province. 
 
 The change of commanders was not fortunate for the in- 
 vaders. Raymond was a brave soldier and a skilful leader ; 
 with the soldiers he was popular, for he always led them to 
 victory and put no restraint on their plunderings of the Irish. 
 Mountmaurice, on the other hand, was unpopular with the 
 soldiers ; his ideas of justice were better than those of Raymond, 
 he was less enterprising and daring, and less skilful as a leader. 
 His first expedition was disastrous. Donal O'Brien of Thomond 
 had renounced his allegiance to the English, and Mountmaurice 
 advised Strongbow to lead an army against him. With a large 
 army they were soon on the march, but O'Brien, warned of 
 their approach, came upon them in the early morning, near 
 Thurles, and inflicted on them a crushing defeat, driving them 
 back to Waterford, with the loss of seven hundred of their troops.J 
 Shut up in that city, surrounded by enemies, almost in a state 
 of siege, and with disaffection within the walls itself, Strongbow's 
 position was one of extreme danger. The daring and skilful 
 Raymond was then remembered, and Strongbow sent urgent 
 messages to him to return with all the forces he could muster, 
 and that all he had formerly asked and been refused would 
 now be readily granted. Raymond soon landed at Waterford 
 with nearly 500 troops, liberated Strongbow from the plight 
 in which he was in, and both proceeding to Wexford, Raymond 
 was married to Basilea with great pomp and appointed Constable 
 
 * Ware's Annals; 
 
 t liid.i 1 173. - 
 
 I; The Four Masters make it 1700. Vtd. Ware's Annals. Giraldus 
 
 (p. 257) allows that O'Brien was " not wanting in ability for one of his 
 
 nation." 
 
2o6 HISTORY OF IRELAND. 
 
 of Leinster.* In the meantime, the Irish chiefs, encouraged 
 by the victory of Thurles, rose in arms against the foreigners. 
 A confederacy was formed, consisting of O'Neill of Tirowen, 
 O'Mellaghlin of Meath, O' Carroll of Oriel, and MacDunleavy 
 of Uladh, with Roderick O'Connor in supreme command.f With 
 an army of 20,000 they entered Meath, levelled to the earth 
 the Norman castles which De Lacy had built there, cleared 
 the district of the English colonists ; and de Lacy's governor 
 of Trim demolished the castle there and hastened with all speed 
 and with all his forces within the shelter of the walls of Dublin. 
 It was Roderick O'Connor's opportunity, if he could only have 
 used it, but his imbecility saved the situation, and instead of 
 turning South and finishing what Donal O'Brien had commenced, 
 he retraced his steps and returned home to Connaught. He 
 had heard, it appears, that the dreaded Raymond with Strongbow 
 was marching with the troops from Wexford, and not having the 
 courage to confront them even with such superior forces, he 
 declined the contest and went home. These events occurred 
 in the year 1 1 74. 
 
 In the next year, Leinster and Meath being safe, Strongbow 
 directed his attention to Limerick, and Raymond, with all the 
 forces he could muster, was directed to march towards Thomond 
 and measure swords with Donal O'Brien. He was joined by 
 the King of Ossory, who had an old grudge against O'Brien, 
 and the united forces of Ossory and Raymond were soon before 
 the walls of Limerick. But the difficulty was to cross the Shannon, 
 for they could discover no fordable place. At last one of their 
 number spurred his horse into the river and both horse and 
 man safely reached the other side, a soldier followed, but he was 
 drowned. Meyler Fitzhenry plunged into the river and swam 
 across, and then Raymond himself, with the cry of " St. David " 
 and accompanied by his whole force, got safely to the other 
 side. When they reached the town, O'Brien's men fled. Ray- 
 mond took possession and appointing Milo de Cogan its governor, 
 he returned to Wexford, l 
 
 Terrified at Raymond's successes, knowing well that he 
 had lost the respect of the Irish chiefs and could not hope for 
 their support if he was attacked, Roderick O'Connor began 
 to tremble for his hereditary kingdom of Connaught, and sent 
 
 * Ware's Annals. In the language of the time, Raymond was Con 
 stable" of Leinster, and had its Banner and Ensign — military and civil 
 authority — subject to Strongbow. {Hibernica^ p. 38, note.) 
 
 •j- Ibid., 1 1 74. 
 
 * Ibid, 1 175: Giraldus (p. 265) on this occasion puts a speech 
 into the mouth of Raymond and gives a very flattering description of 
 him. 
 
HENRY II. IN IRELAND. 207 
 
 ambassadors to England to negotiate fresh terms with Henry II. 
 These ambassadors were Laurence, Archbishop of Dublin, 
 Catholicus O' Duffy, Archbishop of Tuam, and Concors, Abbot 
 of St. Brendans. They were received at Windsor, where a 
 Council was held and terms between Roderick and Henry were 
 embodied in a document, since called the Treaty of Windsor. 
 Over Meath and Leinster and any other districts held by the 
 English barons, and over the towns and cities garrisoned by 
 Henry's troops Roderick was to have no further authority ; 
 over the Irish Kings and princes he was recognised as supreme, 
 but subject to Henry, to whom he was bound to pay an annual 
 tribute of one hide for every ten head of cattle slaughtered in 
 his territory, the same tribute to be paid by the other Irish princes, 
 but through Roderick's hands and not directly from themselves. 
 With these limitations, and subject to these obligations, Roderick 
 was to hold his hereditary kingdom of Connaught, in the same 
 way as he had held it before the arrival of the English, and 
 should any of the Irish princes refuse to recognise him as their 
 superior, or refuse allegiance to Henry, or [fail to pay their 
 stipulated tribute, then Henry was to lend his aid in reducing 
 them to submission, or, if Roderick thought necessary, removing 
 them from their position.* That same year (1175), Henry sent 
 over William Fitz-Adelm and Nicholas, prior of Wallingford 
 with the Bull of Adrian IV., and the confirmatory Letter of 
 Alexander, and at a synod of the Irish clergy, held at Waterford, 
 these documents were published in Ireland, for the first time.f 
 He would have preferred to conquer the country by the sword, 
 and did not wish to be under any obligation to the Church,J but his 
 progress was slow, his power had declined, instead of increasing, 
 and by the publication of these documents he wished to enlist 
 the support of the clergy, hoping much from their aid. This 
 assistance, could he obtain it, he expected would be more 
 effective than Raymond's sword, and produce more permanent 
 results than Raymond's victories. 
 
 These victories were to Henry a cause of alarm rather than 
 of pleasure. Success breeds jealousy ; Raymond's successes had 
 excited the envy of men with less capacity, and they poured into 
 Henry's ear stories of Raymond's ambition and pride. || Nor 
 did these stories fail to make an impression. The King began 
 to fear that Raymond was too powerful and might become a 
 
 * The O' Conors of Connaught, pp. 71-72. 
 
 t Cambrensisy p. 260. Lanigan, Vol. IV., pp. 222 et seq. 
 
 X This is given as an explanation, and a not unlikely one, of why the 
 Bull was not published sooner. 
 
 II Cambrensis, pp. 268-9. This conduct is especially attributed to 
 Mountmaurice. 
 
208 HISTORY OF IRELAND. 
 
 danger, and he sent four Commissioners to Ireland with per- 
 emptory orders, that Raymond was to resign his command and 
 proceed at once to England. He was preparing to obey this 
 command when events occurred which retarded his departure. 
 Donal O'Brien had again become active, had laid siege to Limerick, 
 and the army prepared by Strongbow refused to fight, except 
 under the leadership of Raymond. In these circumstances he 
 was given the command and marched south being joined on 
 the way by Donogh, King ot Ossory. Hearing of their approach, 
 O'Brien raised the siege of Limerick and in a pass near Cashel 
 awaited the advance ot the enemy. But Raymond was fore- 
 warned and was not unprepared, and, after an obstinate contest, 
 O'Brien was defeated and letired to his own territories, while 
 Raymond continued his advance and arrived safely at Limerick.* 
 It appears he made some terms of peace with O'Brien. In a 
 quarrel between two MacCarthy's of Desmond, his aid was in- 
 voked and obtained ; the side he espoused was victoiious, and 
 Raymond returned to Limerick, amply rewarded by the success- 
 ful combatant. I Awaiting him was a letter from his wife an- 
 nouncing that her great jaw-tooth had fallen out, and rightly 
 interpreting this to mean that Strongbow was dead, he made 
 terms with Donal O'Brien, entrusted him with the custody of 
 Limerick, and with all his troops took his departure for Dublin, 
 where he found that Strongbow was dead. He had only crossed 
 the Shannon, when, on looking back, he saw that O'Brien 
 had set fire to Limerick.iJ: 
 
 Strongbow had requested that he should not be interred 
 until Raymond arrived, and when this happened the Earl was 
 interred in Christ Church (June 1176) with great pomp, the 
 Archbishop of Dublin being present. His death was said by the 
 Irish writers to be due to an ulcer on the foot and was brought 
 about by the Irish saints, so many of whose churches he had 
 profaned. II The picture of Giraldus** does not accord with 
 this and is not without interest. He describes the Earl as a man 
 with a ruddy complexion, freckled skin, grey eyes, feminine 
 features, a weak voice, a short neck, tall of stature, of great 
 generosity and courtesy, ever ready to take advice and rarely 
 relying on his own judgment. He was neither driven to 
 despair in adversity nor puffed up by success. With the consent 
 of the Royal Commissioners, Raymond assumed the government 
 
 * Cambrensis, p. 270; 
 t Ware's Annals. 
 X Cambrensis, p. 272. 
 
 II Four Masters. " He sawj as he thought, St. Bridget in the act of 
 killing him." 
 
 ** Cambrensis j p. 226; 
 
HENRY II. IN IRELAND. 209 
 
 until the King's will should be known, and when it was William 
 FitzAdelm was appointed Viceroy and Raymond was deprived 
 of all authority, civil and military. He retired to his estates 
 at Wexford and died there (11 82.) Of all the English leaders 
 he is the hero of Giraldus — he never fails to praise him, but it 
 must be remembered they were of the same family and no man 
 was more partial to his own family than Giraldus.* This know- 
 ledge will help us to estimate his praises as it will help us to under- 
 stand the invective which he pours so often on the head of 
 Mountmaurice. 
 
 * Nearly all those who were leaders of the first Anglo Norman invaders 
 were related, being descendants of Nesta, daughter of Rhys Ap Tudor 
 Prince of South Wales. She was at first the mistress of Henry I.^ by whom 
 she had a son, Henry, from whom are descended the FitzHenrys — Henry^ 
 Robert and Meyler. Discarded by Henry, she married firstly Gerald de 
 Windsor of Pembroke, from whom are descended the FitzGeralds and the 
 DeBarris, among the former being Maurice and Raymond (Raymond le 
 Gros, or the Fat, because he was so stout) among the latter were Robert 
 and Philip de Barri and their brother Sylvester — {Giraldus Canibrensis)i 
 also the de Cogans. Nesta married secondly Stephen, Castellan of Abertivy, 
 from whom are the FitzStephens, &c. The relationship was extended by 
 marriages in Ireland (Vid.- Cambrensis, p. 183. Genealogical Table.) 
 
^2^®^2S:S^S^^^SS^SSSS^SS:^%S" 
 
 £S^^^'^^©S^S^^(g^biii^!^^^^^^S^^^ 
 
 CHAPTER XV. 
 
 Progress of the Invaders. 
 
 Hugh de Lacy and the English Colonists of Meath — The colonists and the 
 natives — FitzAdelm de Burgho — Hugh de Lacy appointed Viceroy — 
 Superseded and again appointed — His relations with the Irish and 
 with Henry IL — Visit of Prince John — Revolt of the Irish Chiefs — 
 De Lacy murdered — John de Courcy invades Ulster — Appointed 
 Viceroy — His wars and conquests in Ulster — His relations with Hugh 
 de Lacy the Younger — His fate. 
 
 In the grant of Henry H. to Hugh de Lacy, made before the 
 king left Ireland (i 172), he made over to him the whole kingdom 
 of Meath, to be held by the service of fifty knights, and in as 
 ample a manner as it was ever held by Morrogh O'Mellaghlin, 
 or by any other person before him or after him.* The death of 
 O'Rorke left De Lacy in full possession of East Meath, but 
 O'Mellaghlin was still powerful in Westmeath, and his descend- 
 ants held sway in that district for centuries to come ; De Lacy 
 made no attempt to dethrone him, on the contrary, his was one 
 of the five great families, who by virtue of their royal blood 
 were admitted to the full rights of English subjects, and were 
 guaranteed — both themselves and their descendants — the pro- 
 tection of English law. f In the whole of East Meath, De Lacy 
 had enormous possessions — all the present County of Meath, 
 Delvin in Westmeath, portion of Dublin, as far as Castleknock 
 and even to Santry and Clontarf, part of Kildare, part of King's 
 County — in these districts over which the Molloys and the 
 O'Caharneys held sway. The area of this extensive and fertile 
 district was no less than 800,000 acres of land. \ Part of these 
 lands De Lacy reserved for himself, but the greater part he 
 
 * Harris's Ware, Vol: 11., pp.- 192-3. 
 
 t Leland's History of Ireland^ Vol. I.,- pp. 82-83. These five families, 
 or five bloods, as theyhave been often called, were O'Neill of Ulster, O'Connor 
 of Connaught, O'Brien of Thomond, O'Mellaghlin of Meath and Mac 
 Murrogh of Leinster. 
 
 + Gilbert's Viceroys of Ireland, pp. 35-36. 
 
PROGRESS OF THE INVADERS. 211 
 
 parcelled out among his vassals, who were to hold these lands 
 from him, as he held all Meath from King Henry — by military 
 tenure. Regan has enumerated these grants,* or some of them, 
 but the places have not been in every case identified, though 
 some of them have. To his friend, Hugh Tyrell, he gave Castle- 
 knock, to Meyler Fitz-Henry Ardnocker, in Westmeath ; to 
 Jocelin de Nangle lands round Navan and Ardbrecan, to Adam 
 de Feipo, a district near Santry and Clontarf, to Gilbert de 
 Nugent Delvin in Westmeath, to de Misset the lands of Luin 
 in Meath and to Richard de Fleming, or Richard of Flanders, 
 he gave a large amount of lands, in the neighbourhood of Slane. 
 Besides these he settled in the district and endowed with lands. 
 Petit and Gilbert de Nangle, and Robert de Lacy, and Richard 
 ■de la Chappel and Hugh de Hose and Adam Dullard ; and to 
 Richard Tuite, as well as to all these, he gave fair possessions, and 
 no doubt, to others also whose names are not recorded. Each 
 of these knights was to build a Norman Castle, which would 
 serve as a stronghold and a rallying point for the settlers, and 
 which with its military defenders would overawe the surrounding 
 natives into submission and quiescence. De Lacy imitated 
 his vassals, and over the wide extent of the lands, which he re- 
 served for his own personal use, he constructed several strong 
 castles. Thus in strengthening his position and ensuring peace 
 in his province, he spent his time, nor is there any reason to 
 think that the position of the natives was worse under their 
 new master than it was under the rule of O'Rorke, or the 
 O'Mellaghlins. It was the policy of De Lacy to impress upon 
 the Irish that he was their master but not their tyrant ; he 
 had no sympathy with needlessly harassing them, or robbing 
 them of what was theirs ; and it would be well, both for English 
 and native, if his example had been generally followed. 
 
 In the war of 1174, the Meath colonists suffered much, but 
 their sufferings did not last. The tide of invasion receded even 
 more quickly than it advanced, Roderick O'Connor, who had 
 marched almost to the walls of Dublin, on his return home 
 confined his attention only to his native province ; and the Treaty 
 ■of Windsor, in the following year, debarred him from attacking 
 the province of Meath, or even interfering in its affairs. The 
 colonists returned to their lands, their ruined castles were re- 
 paired and new ones were built, a sense of security and strength 
 succeeded a feeling of uncertainty and alarm, and all would have 
 been well if De Lacy's vassals could only restrain their pro- 
 pensity for plunder. In this respect a certain knight named 
 Fleming, or Richard de Flanders, was the greatest sinner. As 
 
 * Hibernica, pp. 42-3. 
 
212 HISTORY OF IRELAND. 
 
 his name indicates, he was one of those Flemish soldiers, of 
 whom there were so many throughout Europe, ready to fight in 
 any cause and under any flag for pay, whose instincts it was to 
 plunder, who respected the strong and had little mercy for the 
 weak. In his strong castle at Slane he kept a body of military 
 adventurers, greedy for war and plunder. From time to time 
 they issued from the castle gates, raided the lands of the sur- 
 rounding natives, destroyed their property, drove away their 
 cattle, burned their houses, ravished their women and murdered 
 the people. Such outrages could not long be borne, except by 
 slaves, and the natives had not yet learned to be slaves. In 
 their distress they appealed to the princes of Tirowen and Oriel, 
 and their appeal did not pass unheard, nor their injuries un- 
 avenged. These two chieftains entered Meath, attacked the 
 English strongholds, destroyed the castles of Kells, Galtrim 
 and Derrypatrick, wreaked their vengeance on Fleming and 
 Slane castle, killed every individual within it, to the number 
 of 500, and Fleming himself was among the slain.* The same 
 year that these events occurred (1176), Fitz Adelm de Burgho 
 succeeded Strongbow as Viceroy. Descended from a half- 
 brother of William the Conqueror,! he was therefore related 
 to the reigning sovereign, had held important offices under 
 him and seems to have enjoyed his entire confidence.^ But 
 he soon became unpopular with his own countrymen ; he tried to 
 curb their rapacity ; he was specially opposed to Raymond le 
 Gros and his relatives ; and he incurred in consequence, the 
 hatred of Giraldus, who describes him as a braggart against 
 the defenceless, a flatterer of the rebellious: — " he was a man 
 full of guile, bland and deceitful, much given to wine and women 
 — covetous of money and ambitious of court favor." |] The court 
 favor he was able to retain for a time, but he had many and 
 powerful enemies ; the unsuccessful invasion of Connaught, 
 which he countenanced, they made good use of with the King,, 
 Fitz Adelm lost the royal favor, was superseded in his ofBce, and 
 Hugh de Lacy (1178), was appointed Viceroy. 
 
 In the same year that he became Viceroy, he married a 
 daughter of Roderick O'Connor, and the cry was soon raised by 
 some of the English colonists, that he wished to become king. 
 Henry's suspicions and jealousies were aroused ; it appears De 
 Lacy had married without obtaining the King's permission, 
 
 * Four Masters (1176). 
 
 •j- Cox: Hibernia Anglicana, pp. 31-2. 
 
 X Gilbert's Viceroys, p. 42. 
 
 II Cambrensis, p. 277. He gets credit for having attacked Armagh 
 and taken away the Bacal Jesu to Christchurch, Dublin, but Lanigan 
 thinks this was done by Philip de Braos in 1184: (Vol. IV, p. 241.) 
 
PROGRESS OF THE INVADERS. 21 3 
 
 and, perhaps under this pretext, he was dismissed from office, 
 but before the year was out, he was again restored.* Later 
 still, he was again displaced and his post filled by two Anglo- 
 Normans, John de Lacy and Richard de Peche, who 
 were appointed as joint rulers.-f They did little except to build 
 a few castles, and in a short time they also were displaced (i 1811), 
 and once more Hugh de Lacy became Viceroy, having appointed 
 with him as adviser Robert of Salisbury whose duty, as Giraldus 
 thinks, was to act as a spy on the Viceroy's proceedings and report 
 everything to the King.J During the next few years, De Lacy 
 built many strong castles throughout Leinster and Meath. 
 Hitherto the greater number of these castles were in Meath, 
 but Leinster as well as Meath was a fief of Henry H. ; within 
 its limits his sovereignty should be established and protected ; 
 and the Viceroy covered the province with a chain of these 
 fortified castles ; which might serve as a menace to the turbulent 
 natives, and as a protection for the colonists and for the natives, 
 who were peaceably disposed. One of these castles was at New 
 Leighlin in Carlow, one at Idrone, one at Timahoe, one at Castle- 
 dermot, one at Tullow, one at Kilkea and one at Nenagh, and 
 many others besides. || But while he thus built so many for- 
 tresses, and doubtless intended to impress the natives with so 
 many visible evidences of his strength, it was not his desire 
 to rule altogether by force. He wished to restrain the predatory 
 instincts of his own countrymen — a task of enormous difficulty — 
 he wished to stand well in the opinion of the Irish, and his marriage 
 with Roderick O'Connor's daughter had strengthened his hold 
 on their affections. Once again flatterers and intriguers were 
 at work ; it was represented to Henry that De Lacy was too 
 powerful for a subject ; and moved by that petulant jealousy, 
 which he had so often displayed, De Lacy's services were dis- 
 pensed with (1184), and Philip of Worcester appointed in his 
 place. The change could not be viewed with favor by the Irish, 
 for one of the first acts of the Viceroy was to march northwards 
 and plunder the churches of Armagh.** 
 
 Some years previous to this date (i 177), Henry II. had named 
 his son John, Lord of Ireland. This young man, at the date 
 of De Lacy's dismissal, was eighteen years of age, and his father 
 thought that if he came to Ireland peace would be restored to 
 the land, the natives would recognise him as their ruler, and 
 
 * Gilbert's Viceroys, p. 46 
 
 t Harris's Ware^ Vol. II., p: I02! 
 
 X CambrensiSj p. 291. 
 
 It Ware's Annals. Cambrensis, pj 291. 
 
 *■* Cambrensis, p. 107. 
 
214 HISTORY OF IRELAND. 
 
 the chiefs, though hesitating to obey a mere subject would 
 have no hesitation to submit to the King of England's son. 
 Leaving Pembrokeshire in Easter week (1185), Prince John 
 arrived at Waterford the following day, with a large fleet, having 
 three hundred knights, the usual proportion of horse and foot, 
 and a large retinue, the most remarkable of whom was Gerald 
 de Barri, better known as Giraldus Cambrensis and who, on this 
 occasion, acted as John's secretary.* Neither as prince 
 nor king, was John ever a wise man, or a good man ; and his 
 favorites on this Irish expedition were not unworthy of him. 
 They are described by Giraldus as braggarts and dandies, who 
 swore much and drank much and boasted much. Their desire 
 was to be successful courtiers ; they studied the tastes and foibles 
 of Prince John and seconded him in all his follies and debaucheries. 
 With little ability for war, they had the presumption which so 
 often springs from incompetence, criticised with severity the 
 methods of De Lacy and his contemporaries in dealing with the 
 Irish ; and boasted that THEY would soon have the natives finally 
 subdued. f On John's arrival, the Irish Chiefs in the neighbour- 
 hood went to meet him, to bid him welcome to Ireland and to 
 proffer their respects and submission to him as their lord. They 
 were entertained at court, and instead of being honored, were 
 soon highly offended. The thoughtless crowd who accompanied 
 John laughed at their rude manners, so different from their own 
 mincing, courtier ways, jested at their dress and arms, and even 
 pulled their long beards in derision. The Irish chiefs departed 
 bursting with indignation, informed the other chiefs of what 
 treatment they had received, told them that John was but a 
 boy, with even more than a boy's levity and folly, and surrounded 
 by others, as thoughtless and as foolish as himself. The natives 
 in Leinster and Munster, who had hitherto been faithful to the 
 English, were robbed and pillaged by these new-comers, driven 
 from their lands and wandering, outcasts and homeless, among 
 their countrymen, excited their sympathy and indignation. 
 The flames of discontent were thus spread far and wide ; 
 the Irish chiefs of Cork and Thomond, who proposed on John's 
 arrival to tender him their submission, suddenly changed their 
 minds ; and instead of proceeding to his court, formed a league 
 against him. While he and his courtiers were wasting their 
 time in idleness and debauchery, the Irish secretly made their 
 preparations ; the English were unsuspecting and unprepared, 
 and while they were yet ignorant that the clouds were gathering, 
 the stcrm had already burst. I The strong castles of Ardfinan 
 
 * Cambrensis, p. 310. 
 
 t Ibid., p. 320. 
 
 I' Ibid., p. 316. ■ 
 
PROGRESS OF THE INVADERS. 21 5 
 
 and Tipperary and Lismore were attacked, the older colonists, 
 such as De Lacy, insulted and outraged as they had been, held 
 aloof, and John and his army were overwhelmed. Ardfinan 
 was taken by Donal O'Brien and its garrison put to the sword, 
 Robert de Barri was slain at Lismore ; Fitz Hugh at Olechan ; 
 the lands and crops of the colonists were wasted and destroyed ; 
 cooped up in the towns, decimated by war, famine and disease, 
 John's army was reduced to a pitiable condition, and English 
 power in Ireland was nearly destroyed.* To avert still further 
 calamities, John was recalled. He threw the whole blame for 
 these disasters on De Lacy, complained that he would give no 
 help, that he even prevented the Irish princes from paying 
 tribute, and no doubt insinuated also that he even incited them 
 to revolt, t With a father's partiality for a favourite son, Henry 
 believed him ; De Lacy was deprived of all power in the govern- 
 ment of Ireland, though he was still left in possession of his vast 
 estates and was all powerful in Meath. His career was soon 
 tragically closed. He had seized that part of O'Caharney's 
 territory on which stood the ancient monastery of Durrow, 
 so closely linked with the life of St. Columba J — and he had, 
 in addition, used the stones of the venerable ruin for the building 
 of a new feudal castle. As he stood one day surveying the newly 
 erected building, (in the year 1 186), an Irishman, named O'Meyey, 
 stepped behind him, suddenly drew forth a battle-axe, which he 
 had concealed beneath his cloak, and struck off De Lacy's head. 
 O'Meyey, though hotly pursued, escaped. It appears he had 
 been fostered by O'Caharney, in whose province Durrow stood, 
 the affection between the fosterer and the fostered was strong 
 and O'Meyey wished to be revenged on the despoiler of his chief, 
 at whose instigation, perhaps, he undertook the work of revenge. 
 Some of the Annalists, such as the Four Masters, will maintain 
 that De Lacy's fate was due to the anger of St. Columba, whose 
 monastery he had destroyed. || Whatever the Irish may have 
 thought of De Lacy, and it may be that some of them regretted 
 his fate, it is certain that his master and king, Henry II., did 
 not, and when the news reached him it is on record that he 
 was much pleased.** 
 
 * Cambrensis, pp. 313-14. Ware's Annals. 
 
 t Gilbert's Viceroys, p. 50. 
 
 X It appears an ancestor of O'Caharney, or FoXj had given the land 
 on which the monastery stood to St. Columba. {Viceroys, p. 51.) 
 
 H Ware's Annals — De Lacy left two sons,5Walter, Lord of Meath, and 
 Hughj afterwards Earl of Ulster. 
 
 ** Gilbert's Viceroys, p. 494; "rex plurimum gavisus est," are the 
 words of the Abbot of Peterborough, and of William of Newbury, 
 " ingenti perfudit lactitia " (rex). Quoted by Gilbert. 
 
2l6 HISTORY OF IRELAND. 
 
 The English power at the departure of Prince John was in 
 such a perilous position, that if it was to be re-established, or 
 even saved from total extinction, the government and defence 
 of the English settlement should be placed in capable and 
 vigorous hands. Just such a man Henry found in De Courcy, 
 whom he appointed Viceroy. This John de Courcy was ot 
 good family. His ancestor, Richard de Courcy, had come 
 from Normandy with William the Conqueror, and had received 
 grants of land in England ; and John himself had distinguished 
 himself in King Henry's wars both in France and in England. 
 In the pages of Giraldus his picture is complete. He was of 
 fair complexion, tall, muscular, a giant in strength as well as 
 in stature, fond of war, brave, daring, adventurous, with the 
 qualities of a soldier rather than of a commander, miserably 
 parsimonious, in peace sober and modest, and pious in a fashion 
 peculiar to himself, for though he had no scruple about robbing 
 an Irish church, he was on the other hand devotedly attached 
 to the churches and the saints of his own Norman race.* When 
 FitzAdelm de Burgho became Viceroy (1176), there were many 
 English adventurers in Dublin, who looked with indignation 
 on his pacific policy, and not one was more indignant than De 
 Courcy, who had been appointed to assist him in the government. 
 His passion was for war and adventure, and he chafed under 
 the restraints imposed by the Viceroy. It is claimed for him 
 that he got a grant of Ulster from Henry II., but details, such 
 as dates, are wanting, and Ware,■^ who gives extracts fiom the 
 grants of Meath and Leinster, made to De Lacy and Strongbow, 
 has none to give in the case of Ulster, nor does it appear how 
 such a grant could be made ; and all that Henry could do was 
 to give him a licence to conquer the Northern province. And 
 this De Courcy determined to do, and for that purpose gathered 
 together an army of at least 700 % men, among them being his 
 brother-in-law. Sir Armoric St. Laurence, who had fought 
 with him in all his wars and had a reputation for valour little 
 less than his own. At the head of these followers, all like him- 
 self eager for possessions and plunder, De Courcy left Dublin 
 (1177), and hurried northwards to the conquest of Ulster. His 
 meditated incursion and his rapid march through Drogheda 
 and Dundalk were alike unknown to the men ot Ulster ; and 
 great was the astonishment of the inhabitants of Downpatrick, 
 when De Courcy and his men marched into the town, and the 
 
 * Cambrensisi pp. 277-82. 
 
 t Harris's Ware, Vol. II. 5 p. 197. 
 
 X Giraldus only allows him a little more than 300 followerSj but the 
 Book of Howtk {Carew MSS., p. 84) allows that he fought his first battle 
 in Ulster with 700 and the author is De Courcy's enthusiastic eulogist. 
 
PROGRESS OF THE INVADERS. 2iy 
 
 silence of its streets was broken by the tread of armed men and 
 the clamorous notes of the military bugle. Their resistance 
 could only be feeble and futile, and their property, and in many 
 cases their lives, were sacrificed without a blow. Cardinal 
 Vivian, who had come from Rome as Papal Legate, happened 
 to be in Downpatrick on his way to Dublin, and endeavoured 
 to curb the rapacity of the invaders. He offered, on the part 
 of the Ulster chiefs, that they would acknowledge Henry H. 
 as their sovereign, and pay him tribute, if De Courcy and his men 
 would withdraw and return to Dublin. But his efforts were 
 fruitless, and, finding that expostulation and entreaty were 
 vain, he urged the Irish to organise in their own defence.* 
 Hastily gathering his forces together, MacDunleavy, prince 
 of Uladh, encountered De Courcy near Downpatrick. His 
 forces were vastly superior — 10,000 in number — they were 
 not inferior in valour, but the superior arms and discipline of 
 the English compensated for inferiority of numbers, and after 
 a hard fought contest, the Irish were defeated, and the English 
 remained masters of Down. This victory De Courcy followed 
 up by a greater one, on the 24th of June following, in which 
 1,500 of the Irish were slain ; the same year he ravaged Tirowen 
 and in a battle at Dalaraidh, defeated the King of that province, t 
 His progress was steady and uninterrupted, and before the year 
 had expiied, he was firmly established at Downpatrick, which 
 he made his headquarter*^, and where he had built a strong 
 Norman castle. 
 
 The better to encourage his own troops and to strike terror 
 into the natives, he relied on the prophecy of Merlin which fore- 
 told that Ulster would be conquered by a white knight, sitting 
 on a white horse, and having the figures of birds graven on his 
 shield, a description strikingly exemplified in De Courcy's case. 
 He also carried round with him a prophecy of St. Columba, which 
 foretold that a needy and broken man, a stranger from far 
 countries, should come to Down with a small following and 
 possess himself of the city, % and this description seemed to point 
 to De Courcy. These prophecies of St. Columba were not so 
 well known to be forgeries then, as they are now ; || the name 
 of St. Columba was one to conjure with in his native Ulster; 
 and it may be that many regarded resistance to De Courcy as 
 hopeless, seeing that he was fated to succeed. 
 
 But it was not possible to stand idly by, while they were 
 
 * Cambrensis, p. 279 Lanigan, Vol. IV., pp. 232-3. Lingard, Vol. II.,- 
 
 P- 95- 
 
 f Ware's Annals. 
 
 X Cambrensis, pp. 278-80. 
 
 II Reeves' Adamnan — Preface. 
 
2l8 HISTORY OF IRELAND. 
 
 robbed and plundered, nor could it be forgotten that even if 
 the prophecies had foretold De Courcy's success, they had also 
 contemplated that the natives would resist him. And in the next 
 year they were more successful than they had hitherto been. De 
 Courcy entered Louth, intending to overrun the district, and 
 was met with a stubborn resistance. Near Newry the combined 
 forces of O'Carroll of Oriel and MacDunlevy met him, and he 
 was defeated with the loss of 450 of his army. A little later, in 
 the same year, De Courcy entered the district of Firlee, in Antrim, 
 and returning south with a large prey of cattle, he was set on 
 by O'Flynn, the chief of the plundered territory.* Encumbered 
 with his prey, his ranks^were thrown into confusion, his troops 
 were cut down by the Irish, who had lain in ambush and sprung 
 upon them, and such was the loss he sustained, that he escaped 
 to Downpatrick with only eleven survivors of that fight, f 
 Such disasters would have broken the spirit of most men, but 
 De Courcy's spirit was still unbroken. His attenuated ranks 
 were filled by recruits from Dublin, needy, desperate adventurers, 
 who were ready to join in any enterprise, and who in courage 
 and military skill were not unworthy of the leader whom they 
 served. From his central stronghold at Downpatrick, he made 
 continuous raids on the neighbouring chiefs and carried on the 
 desultory warfare of a robber chief, rather than any well- 
 defined system of war. A combination of the Ulster chiefs 
 would have crushed him, but neither the lessons of history, nor 
 the dictates of prudence or patriotism taught them to combine ; 
 and with fatal shortsightedness, they carried on their contests 
 with each other, as if no invader were in their midst. In the 
 year 1 1 79, the churches of Tirowen, from the mountains south- 
 wards, were left desolate in consequence of war and intestine 
 commotion, and Ardstraw and Donaghmore were desolated 
 by the men of Magh Ithe, and in the following year (1180), 
 there were quarrels between the Clan Dermot and the Kinnel 
 Moen.J A little later, the land which had withstood De Courcy 
 was attacked by two Ulster chiefs, for Donal O'Loughlin and 
 the Kinnel Owen of Tullahoge raided Uladh and defeated Mac 
 Dunleavy and Cumee O'Flynn ; and the men of Magh-Ithe 
 plundered Firlee || and carried off many thousands of cows. 
 These wars weakened the native forces ; the opportunity was 
 not lost by De Courcy, and that he made progress appears from 
 the fact, that an English colony was settled at Dunbo (1182), 
 
 * Four Masters. 
 
 t Four Masters. CambrensiSy p; 2813 
 
 X Four Masters. 
 
 II In Derry, along the valley of the Bann. 
 
PROGRESS OF THE INVADERS. 21 9 
 
 west of the river Ban, in Derry. This colony was attacked 
 by the Kinnel Owen, but the Irish were defeated, and three 
 years later (i 185), Murtagh O'Loughlin was slain by the English.* 
 Invested with the title of Viceroy (i 186), as well as Earl of Ulster, 
 De Courcy transferred his residence to Dublin, and for nearly 
 three years remained inactive. But his followers in Ulster 
 were not so, and eagerly seized upon any opportunity that pre- 
 sented itself to increase their hold on the northern province. 
 The English of Down,f joined by another neighbouring colony 
 of their countrymen, made a raid into Tirowen (1188), and 
 were carrying off a great spoil of cattle, but they were pursued 
 by O'Loughlin and overtaken, and beaten in battle, though 
 O'Loughlin himself was slain. The next year, a party of English 
 entered Fermanagh and defeated O' Carroll of Oriel, and 
 O'Mulrony, Lord of Fermanagh ; the English were victorious 
 and O'Mulrony was killed. J 
 
 Henry II. of England died in 1189. His son, Richard, suc- 
 ceeded to the throne, but the new King paid no attention to Irish 
 affairs. From its petty disputes and provincial wars he turned 
 with contempt, and sought in the Third Crusaae a wider field 
 for adventure, and not even the bravest of the Frankish leaders 
 was more feared by the Saracens, than was Richard, Coeur de 
 Lion. While the English King fought on the sands of Asia, or 
 languished in a prison, John had full authority at home ; and 
 one of his first acts was to displace De Courcy from the vice- 
 royalty, and appoint Hugh de Lacy, the younger, son of the 
 first Viceroy, in his stead. || The deposed Viceroy took up his 
 headquarters at Downpatrick, married a daughter of Godred, 
 King of Man, and for many years his life was one of danger and 
 hardship, of forays and battles, of victories and defeats. In 
 the northern province, he lived like an independent prince, 
 kept a certain number of soldiers always in his pay, made war 
 and peace on his own initiative, coined money, made grants of 
 land, and all without any pretence of consulting, either the 
 English king, or his representative at Dublin.** His raids on 
 the neighbouring chiefs have not all been recorded, but the first 
 year of his return to Downpatrick, he plundered the churches 
 of Armagh ;•[+ and it may be assumed that many others of the 
 northern churches were treated similarly. His progress to the 
 
 * Four Masters. 
 
 f Of Moy Cova — now Donaghmore — midway between Newry and 
 Loughbrickland, in the Barony of Upper Iveagh {Four Masters). 
 X Four Masters. 
 II Gilbert's Viceroys, p. 55. 
 ** Ibid. pp. 59-60. 
 tt Four Masters. 
 
220 HISTORY OF IRELAND. 
 
 conquest of all Ulster, or even to the greater part of it, was 
 barred by the ability of some of its chiefs, who, if they could 
 have acted together, would have driven him from the province. 
 But the death of O'Carroll of Oriel, who had been captured by 
 the English, first blinded and then hanged (1193), and in the 
 following year, the death of Cumee O'Flynn, De Courcey's old 
 antagonist, removed two of his ablest opponents ; and the quarrels 
 between MacDunleavy of Uladh and the chief of Tullahoge 
 (1196), smoothed his path to conquest, and enabled him to 
 acquire territory and build castles in districts, which hitherto 
 had not owned his sway. One of these strong castles he built 
 (1197), at Kilsandle, on the east bank of the river Bann, and 
 but a couple of miles from the present town of Coleraine. The 
 governor whom he appointed in charge of this castle — one 
 Russel * by name — was of an aggressive disposition, and wishing 
 to extend his power westward, he frequently sallied forth from 
 the castle gates, plundered both the churches and territory of 
 Tirowen, nor did he cease on one of these expeditions until 
 he reached Derry. He was pursued by the prince of Tirconnell 
 and Tirowen, Flaherty O'Muldory, overtaken at a place called 
 Faughanvale, and defeated with the loss of many of his men, 
 among the slain being a Tirowen chief, O'Loughlin, who had 
 deserted to the English and joined in the plundering of his own 
 countrymen. In the same year, Flaherty O'Muldory died (i 197), 
 and was succeeded in Tirconnell by O'Doherty. De Courcy 
 judged the time propitious for one of his raids, and mustering 
 an army, entered Tirconnell. He was opposed by O'Doherty, 
 but the Irish were beaten, three hundred of them were killed, 
 O'Doherty himself was slain, Innishowen was left at De Courcy's 
 mercy, and, when he had wasted and plundered it, he returned 
 to one of his strong castles. Again, in the following year (i 198), 
 he entered Tirowen and continued to ravage and plunder it, 
 until he reached Derry, but its chief, Hugh O'Neill, unable to 
 meet him in the field, effectually retaliated by attacking from 
 the sea the English colonists in Antrim, on whom he inflicted 
 serious loss.f To these evils which fell on Tirconnell and Tirowen 
 there was added the further evil of quarrelling among themselves, 
 but though they made war on each other they had the sense, 
 at least for a time, to suspend their quarrels ; and when the 
 English made a descent on Tirowen (1199), Hugh O'Neill was 
 able to meet them with large forces, and near Dungannon J 
 the invaders were defeated with heavy loss, and those that re- 
 mained were glad to escape with their lives. <• ;•> 
 
 * Four Masters. By the Four Masters he is called Rotsel Piton; 
 
 t Ibid. 
 
 X At Donaghmore, three miles from Dungannon {Four Masters). 
 
PROGRESS OF THE INVADERS. 221 
 
 De Lacy, the younger, was but three years Viceroy when, 
 
 like his predecessor — De Courcy — he, too, was removed from 
 
 office. He retired to his own territory in Meath, which he 
 
 governed with his own troops, and though, being nearer to 
 
 Dublin, he was more subject to the authority of the English 
 
 king, yet in his own territory he could scarcely be distinguished 
 
 from an independent monarch. Perhaps it was the memory of 
 
 being once Viceroy and of having lost the favor of a fickle prince, 
 
 that brought De Lacy and De Courcy together, but it is certain 
 
 that more than once they fought side by side and in a common 
 
 cause — in 1196 against the English of Leinster and Munster, 
 
 and a few years later in Connaught.* In the interval, Petit and 
 
 William Marshall, who, as joint Viceroys, succeeded De Lacy, 
 
 were replaced (1194) by Pipard, and to him succeeded (1197) 
 
 De Valois and (1199) Meyler FitzHenry,| these rapid changes 
 
 showing that it was difficult to retain the favor of Prince John. 
 
 By the death of Richard (1199) he became King, and De Lacy, 
 
 who was something of a courtier, made efforts to ingratiate 
 
 himself with the new king, nor was he very scrupulous as to 
 
 the means he employed. Though he had acted sometimes in 
 
 concert with De Courcy, he appears to have entertained but little 
 
 regard for him, and was willing to compass his ruin, thinking 
 
 it might serve his own ends. He represented to King John that 
 
 De Courcy was disloyal, that he lived and acted as an independent 
 
 king, and protesting his own loyalty and personal attachment 
 
 to his royal master, he was believed and was appointed Viceroy 
 
 (1203). And as soon as he was installed in his new position, 
 
 he marched northwards with some troops, proclaimed De Courcy 
 
 a rebel and a traitor, and having taken him prisoner, sent him 
 
 under escort to England (1204), to be tried for his misdeeds; ij; 
 
 De Courcy 's estates were then confiscated, and De Lacy himself 
 
 was made Earl of Ulster. 
 
 The subsequent history of De Courcy is unknown, though 
 there were not wanting those who were ready to give it, and 
 with many embellishments, so that his last years might be in 
 keeping with his hitherto eventful career. || It was said that 
 he went to the Crusades, where he distinguished himself as 
 few others could have done. It was said that he was restored 
 to all his Irish estates, that he returned to Ireland, and died in 
 
 * The O' Conors of Connaught, p. 81. 
 
 t Gilbert's Viceroys, pp. 56-58. 
 
 \ De Courcy was surprised in the church of Down, while performing 
 his devotions on Good Friday. He was unarmed, but snatched the pole 
 of a cross from the head of a grave, and with this killed 13 of De Lacy's 
 soldiers before he was overpowered. {^Viceroys, p. 62.) 
 
 11 Four Masters at the year 1204 (O'Donovan's note). 
 
222 HISTORY OF IRELAND. 
 
 Ulster. It was said that he languished in prison, in England 
 until, before an assembly of the French and English kings and 
 the notabilities of both countries, he was brought to take up 
 the challenge of a French knight, whom he frightened out of 
 the lists with one awful glance of his eye. But he was determined 
 to show what he could do with his sword, and taking a piece 
 of timber, he covered it with a helmet and coat of mail, and giving 
 " such a grim look that strange it was to behold," he struck 
 through helmet and coat of mail and embedded his sword so 
 firmly in the timber, that no one could take it out with two 
 hands, though De Courcy took it out with one. And when 
 he was asked why he looked so terrible before he struck with 
 his sword, he answered, " by St. Patrick of Down, if I had missed 
 of this purpose, in striking such a stroke, that I would have 
 slain both you Kings, and so many as I could more, and that 
 you should never report of me anything more ; and this for 
 the old sores that I felt at your hands afore, and in defence of 
 this French champion and mine honesty." * A little of this 
 may be true, most of it is manifestly false. What is certain is, 
 that he accompanied King John to Ireland (12 lo), that he once 
 more entered Ulster, in that year, that he enjoyed a pension of 
 :f 100 a yeai from the English Treasury, and that, after 12 10, his 
 name occurs no more in the Irish Annals.f He appears to 
 have died without issue, though the De Courcys of Cork claimed 
 descent from him, and as such have claimed the somewhat un- 
 meaning privilege of remaining with their heads covered, in 
 the presence of the English king. J 
 
 * This is the account given by the Book of Howth {Carew MSS.), pp: 
 1 13-1 14. It is copied by Hanmer, who appears to believe it allj pp. 366 
 ei seq. {Ancient Irish Histories, Vol. II.). 
 
 \ Gilbert's Viceroys, pp. 72, 500 502. 
 
 :J: Four Masters. (O'Donovan's note). 
 
CHAPTER XVI. 
 
 The O'Connors of Connaught. 
 
 The position of Roderick O'Connor under the Treaty of Windsor. — In- 
 vasion of Connaught by the English — Quarrels among the natives — 
 Roderick's troubles from his children — De Courcy's invasion of 
 Connaught — Quarrels among the O'Connors — Cahal Carrach and 
 Cahal Crovderg — Intervention of De Burgho — Death of Crovderg. 
 
 By the Treaty of Windsor, Roderick O'Connor ceased to be 
 Ardri, in the older and more usual sense of the term, or, indeed, 
 in any sense, for outside of his own native province he was 
 destitute of authority. The pre-eminence assigned to him 
 over the other provinces was shadowy and nominal ; it was 
 a mere concession to his vanity and pride, and intended, perhaps, 
 to soothe in his adverse fortunes the bitter memories of the fallen 
 monarch. The other native princes were directed to pay through 
 his hands their tribute to the English king, but it does not ap- 
 pear that this provision of the Treaty was insisted on, for the 
 English only wanted the tribute, and it mattered little through 
 whose hands it came. Nor would the native princes be likely 
 to voluntarily submit in anything to that king, who, almost 
 without a blow, had allowed the sceptre of the High-King of 
 Erin to fall from his nerveless grasp, and whose stupidity and 
 imbecility had made the path of conquest so easy for the in- 
 vaders. But within his own province of Connaught, Roderick's 
 power remained and his position was clear and well defined. 
 The tribute he was to pay to the English king was small, so 
 small that its payment was scarcely felt, and as long as it was 
 paid, Roderick might feel secure that within the limits of his 
 native province, neither native nor English would contest his 
 right to rule. But there were many amongst the invaders, 
 who had not yet acquired those possessions which they so greedily 
 sought. De Lacy had got Meath, Strongbow had got Leinster, 
 De Courcy was hastening to the invasion and, as he hoped, to 
 the conquest of Ulster, and some of his compatriots at Dublin 
 a«=ked themselves — Why should not Connaught also become 
 
224 HISTORY OF IRELAND. 
 
 the prey of some successful adventurer. It does not appear 
 that Roderick had violated any of his engagements with Henry 
 II. ; his kingdom of Connaught was guaranteed him as long 
 as he faithfully served that King, (quamdiu ei fideliter serviet),* 
 and there is no evidence that in any sense he had been unfaithful. 
 Yet, in the face of these facts, the invasion of Connaught was 
 resolved upon. A rebellious and unnatural son of Roderick — 
 Morrogh by name — had quarrelled with his father ; in his chagrin 
 he had hastened to the English at Dublin and asked their assist- 
 ance ; and this was the pretext for the invasion. Their hope 
 was that when the O'Connors were fighting among themselves, 
 little resistance could be offered them, and the province would 
 easily become their prey. 
 
 With the consent of the Viceroy, an army of 500 j" was col- 
 lected, and with Milo de Cogan at their head, these troops marched 
 to the conquest of the western province. Milo was a tried and 
 trained soldier, his abilities for command had been already 
 proved at Dublin and elsewhere, and at the head of such troops 
 as he commanded he believed that Connaught could be won. 
 Cardinal Vivian had just presided (1177) at a Synod, at Dublin, 
 and had published Adrian's Bull and commanded, through the 
 bishops and abbots present, that the Irish should submit to 
 Henry II., and this under threat of excommunication. The 
 Irish in their wars with the English had been accustomed to 
 store their provisions in the churches, so that within their con- 
 secrated walls their goods would escape the rapacity of the 
 strangers. Vivian condemned the custom — and it must be 
 owned that a church filled with corn and hay was little like what 
 a church should be and ill-suited for the service of God — and he 
 allowed the English in their wars to enter the churches and 
 take what provisions they required, but they should compensate 
 the owners for what they took. I These proceedings were very 
 welcome to De Cogan and his troops. They took little provisions 
 with them, when leaving Dublin ; they relied on obtaining plenty 
 in Connaught, for, if the fields and even the houses were to 
 be empty, the churches at least would be full. But it was not 
 Vivian's object to make it easy for the English to replenish their 
 exhausted supplies at the expense of the Irish ; it was rather 
 to prevent the churches from being turned into granaries and 
 diverted from the sacred purposes for which they were built. 
 And when De Cogan and his troops crossed the Shannon at 
 
 * Cox : Hibernia Aiiglicafiaj pp. 29-30, where the Treaty is given 
 in full, in the original Latin. 
 I Cambrensis, p. 283. 
 X Ibid.^ p: 282. Lanigan, Vol. IV., p. 233. 
 
THE O'CONNORS OF CONNAUGHT. 225 
 
 Athlone, they found the churches empty,* the villages deserted, 
 the fields swept bare ; the people had retired into the shelter 
 and solitude of the woods ; and on his journey westwards to 
 Tuam, De Cogan passed through a deserted land. Nor could 
 he find at Tuam, where he remained for eight days, either pro- 
 visions or people, for that town also had been deserted, and without 
 an enemy to fight, or food to obtain, De Cogan commenced his 
 retreat back to Dublin. The Irish troops, who had hitherto 
 remained concealed, now became visible and harassed the re- 
 treating army. At Ballymoe they attacked them in force, and 
 though the English cut their way through, their loss was heavy. 
 They were still pursued until they finally left the province, and 
 when they reached the other side of the Shannon, greatly re- 
 duced in numbers, depressed in spirits, weak, way-worn and 
 hungry, they bore but little resemblance to that army of 500 
 men, who, but a fortnight before, had crossed the Shannon and 
 were marching to the conquest of Connaught. Among the 
 prisoners taken by the Irish was the traitor, Morrogh O'Connor, 
 and with the full consent of his father his eyes were put out, 
 as the just punishment of his treason, f 
 
 In his desertion to the English, Morrogh O'Connor had 
 got no support in Connaught ; chiefs and people held aloof 
 from him, and to this is largely, if not entirely, due the success 
 that followed. The Connaughtmen were taught how much 
 unity and determination could accomplish ; the English were 
 also taught a much needed lesson, and when Henry II. in de- 
 fiance of all treaty engagements, granted all Connaught to 
 De Burgho, that noble shrank from attempting the conquest of 
 the province. But the unity of the Connaughtmen did not last ; 
 neither did the O'Connors remain at peace with the other native 
 chiefs. A quarrel arose between the son of Roderick — Connor 
 Mainmoy — and Connor O' Kelly, chiet of Hy-many, and a battle 
 was fought (1180), called the "battle of the Connors," in which 
 the losses were heavy on both sides, Connor O' Kelly and many 
 of the chiefs of Hy-Many being among the slain. J The next 
 year Connaught and Tirconnell went to war, and in the battle 
 which ensued the Connaught forces were beaten with the loss 
 of a large portion of their army. Concurrently with these events, 
 there was war in Munster between Desmond and Thomond 
 (1178), when the whole country was laid waste from Limerick 
 to Cork. A little later (11 82), Milo de Cogan was killed. Jointly 
 
 * Giraldus says they took down the crucifixes and images of the Saints 
 from the church walls and threw them before the Englishj so that the 
 vengeance of God might fall upon themj 
 
 f The O'Conors of Connaught, p. 74. 
 
 [X Annals of Loch Ce. 
 
 Q 
 
226 HISTORY OF IRELAND. 
 
 with Robert FitzStephen he had been granted by Henry II. 
 that part of the kingdom of Desmond, westward from Lismore 
 and southward to the city of Cork and the sea, the city itself 
 being specially reserved to the King and garrisoned by royal 
 troops. Either unable or unwilling to contest Henry's grant, 
 Dermot MacCarthy, King of Desmond, allowed these two 
 knights to occupy the lands named and to divide them, De 
 Cogan's share being that nearest to the city of Cork For five 
 years he enjoyed his territory in peace, but on one occasion, 
 as he journed to Water ford, he was set upon by a native chief — 
 MacTyre — and murdered.* His death encouraged the natives 
 to take up arms, something like unity was temporarily established 
 among them and the power of the English in Cork and its 
 neighbourhood was nearly destroyed. But this unity was 
 soon followed by division, and both in Munster and Connaught 
 almost every year some fresh quarrel arose, which resulted in 
 war. 
 
 For years before his death, the life of Henry II. was made 
 miserable, and at length his heart was broken by the conduct 
 of his children. It was the fate of Roderick O'Connor to have 
 equally rebellious sons. His son, Morrogh, had brought the 
 invaders into Connaught ; he failed and was punished. His 
 failure and punishment did not deter his brother, Connor 
 Mainmoy, from being equally disrespectful to his father, but 
 at least Connor had no desire to see his native province in chains, 
 and perhaps it was because he felt that his father was unable 
 to defend it, that he wished to depose him. To purchase peace, 
 even for a little, Roderick entered the monastery of Cong (1183), 
 but the life of a monastery soon ceased to have attractions for 
 him, and he left Cong (11 85). As Connor Mainmoy refused 
 to surrender the throne to him, Roderick proceeded to Munster, 
 obtained the assistance of Donal O'Brien, and at the head of an 
 army, desolated the west of Connaught — ^both churches and 
 territory. Peace was then made. Connaught was divided 
 between father and son, but they soon quarrelled and Connor 
 drove his father into exile, (1186), into Munster. f 
 
 Armed with the resources of the Viceroy and judging that 
 the late wars had weakened it, De Courcy believed (11 88), 
 that the moment was opportune for an invasion of Connaught, 
 and that at last that stubborn province would be subdued. J 
 He estimated, that not only was its own strength exhausted, but 
 
 * CambrensiSj pp. 283-6. 
 
 t Four Masters. Annals of Loch Ce. 
 
 X As usual he was invited by a native prince, Connor MacDermott, 
 {Four Masters). The Annals of Loch Ce add he was accompanied by 
 Roderick O'Connor. 
 
THE O'CONNORS OF CONNAUGHT. 227 
 
 he felt sure no help would come from Thomond, with which 
 province it had so lately fought. His expectations were falsi- 
 fied. O'Brien had fought the Connaughtmen and even em- 
 ployed English mercenaries for the purpose, but he felt that 
 the subjugation of Connaught by the English would be but the 
 prelude to the conquest of Thomond. For a similar reason, 
 Flaherty O'Muldory of Tirconnell came to the aid of the threatened 
 province ; and when De Courcy entered Connaught, and pro- 
 ceeding westwards, was robbing and plundering on his march, 
 he learned with dismay that the united forces of Connaught 
 and Thomond were approaching fast. Before this combination 
 he judged it wise to fall back,and turning north he passed through 
 Sligo to Ballysodare, intending to go still further and enter 
 Tirconnell. Here he was confronted by a strong force under 
 O'Muldory, who had advanced rapidly from Drumcliff, and, 
 burning Ballysodare, De Courcy turned eastwards. Passing 
 over the Curlew Mountains, he encountered the forces of Desmond 
 and Connaught, at every step his men were cut down, and, by 
 the time he reached Leinster, of that army which was to have 
 conquered Connaught, but few remained, while Connaught 
 was still triumphant and unsubdued.* 
 
 At this period, it was evident that Connaught had at last 
 an able and vigorous chief, that the sceptre of Roderick had 
 fallen into worthier hands, and that the prospect before the 
 province was that its interests would be safe-guarded, against 
 either foreign or domestic foe. But treachery was again at 
 work, and in the following year, Mainmoy was assassinated 
 by a man of his own tribe, instigated by Connor's own brother. 
 Once again the way was ready for domestic strife, and the 
 flames of war were kindled. The vacant throne was contended 
 for by Cathal Carrach and Cathal Crovderg, f the former being 
 son of the murdered king, the latter a younger son of the great 
 Turlogh O'Connor and therefore a younger brother of Roderick. 
 To add to the confusion, Roderick himself once more claimed the 
 throne. Pity for the fallen monarch and attachment to a 
 venerated name induced some few clans to tender him their 
 allegiance, but these clans were few and powerless. :|: The times 
 required a strong hand at the helm ; the enemies of Connaught 
 were many ; and he was ill-suited to be its king, who had never 
 
 * Four Masters. Annals of Loch Ce. 
 
 t Put in English Cathal Crovderg, means Charles of the Red Hand, 
 and the tradition was, that his red hand was caused by a sorceress and at 
 the time of his birth. He was the illegitimate son of Turlogh O'Connor 
 by a girl named Moran, from the district of Umhall, in Mayo. {Four 
 Masters, anno. 1224.) 
 
 X Four Masters, 1189. 
 
228 HISTORY OF IRELAND. 
 
 shown capacity, even in youth, and to whose natural feebleness 
 of character there was superadded the feebleness of old age. 
 Nor did he obtain help from the chief of Tirconnell to whom 
 he appealed (1191),* for that chief remembered that it was his 
 lack of vigour and energy that had facilitated the English conquest 
 of Ireland, and brought the miseries of foreign invasion, not 
 only to Connaught, but to Tirconnell. He made a similar 
 request to Tirowen ; he even appealed to the English of Meath, 
 but everywhere he was repulsed ; nobody, English or Irish, 
 wished to see him on the throne ; and, disappointed and disgusted 
 he retired to Cong where he remained until his death. But 
 meantime the struggle was continued between Cathal Carrach, 
 and Cathal Crovderg. To prevent the effusion of blood between 
 relatives, and to save Connaught from the horrors of civil war, 
 a conference was arranged at Clonfert, in Galway, and which 
 was attended by both claimants to the throne. But even the 
 influence of the Primate of Armagh, f who was present at their 
 meeting, was unable to make peace ; they could not be reconciled ; 
 they parted, determined to continue the war, and for a time 
 Cathal Carrach triumphed and reigned, while Crovderg had 
 to be satisfied with a subordinate position. It was during this 
 period the English of Leinster entered Thomond and plundered 
 it, as far as Killaloe. They were met by Donal O'Brien, who 
 defeated them, pursued them into Ossory and inflicted a second 
 defeat on them at Thurles. Two years later (1194), he died, 
 and the English could rejoice at the disappearance of the ablest 
 and the most persevering of their foes.J 
 
 Cathal Crovderg, who had remained quiet for some time, 
 again became restless and making an alliance with the English 
 and Irish of Meath he marched into Munster (1195), where he 
 burned several castles and took possession of Emly and Cashel. 
 In his absence, a Connaught chief — apparently exiled in Munster — 
 Cahal MacDermot — got together some torces, attacked Crovderg's 
 possessions in Connaught and seized his vessels on Lough Mask, 
 and plundered the neighbouring people, proceedings which 
 compelled Crovderg to return from Munster, when he made 
 peace with MacDermot, and shortly after with O'FIaherty of West 
 Connaught (i 197), who had made some attack on him. During 
 these years, there were no quarrels, at least no battles, between 
 Cathal Carrach and Cathal Crovderg, and when Roderick died at 
 Cong (i 198), it seemed as it they weie about to be permanently re- 
 conciled and make peace over his freshly closed grave. But, in the 
 
 * Four Masters. Loch Ce. 
 
 t His name was Tomaltagh or Thomas O'Connor. He was a relative 
 of these princes; he died in 1201, {Ware's Bishops): 
 X Four Masters, 11 92-1 194. 
 
THE O CONNORS OF CONNAUGHT. 229 
 
 next year, the quarrel was renewed and as Cathal Car rach proved 
 the stronger, he drove Crovderg from the province. In this, 
 he did not quietly acquiesce and making his way to Tirowen, 
 he obtained the aid of its chief — Hugh O'Neill — and the men 
 of Oriel. Cathal Carrach with the assistance of De Burgho, 
 and the English of Limerick met them at Ballysodare, in Sligo, 
 and Crovderg and his northern allies were defeated. In this 
 expedition the ravages perpetrated by the army of Cathal Carrach 
 and De Burgho were more than usually severe. From the 
 Shannon westwards to the sea, they pillaged and destroyed every- 
 thing, so that neither church, nor altar, nor priest, nor monk, 
 nor canon, nor abbot, nor bishop afforded protection against 
 them, and they stripped the priests in the churches and carried 
 off the women, so that never before was Connaught so afflicted.* 
 Determined even yet to prevail, Crovderg obtained the aid of 
 De Courcy and De Lacy, and with these, again entered Connaught 
 and advanced as far as Kilmacduagh, where they were met and 
 again defeated by Cathal Carrach. With the loss of three bat- 
 talions out of five, the English retreated towards the 
 Shannon, and at Rindown on the shores of Lough Ree, they were 
 embarking for the other side, when the forces of Cathal Carrach 
 again overtook them.f Those that had crossed were unable 
 to help those on the other side, these latter were hemmed in and 
 taken at a disadvantage, unprepared for the attack and dis- 
 pirited by recent defeat, their resistance was feeble. Many 
 were slain, many were drowned, few escaped, and the English 
 were once again taught that Connaught was not a safe place 
 to invade. Even yet, Crovderg would not acknowledge himself 
 beaten, and two years later the fight for supremacy was renewed. 
 On this occasion De Burgho was his ally, showing the readiness 
 with which in these contests the Englisli as well as the Irish 
 changed sides. Perhaps De Burgho had some reason to think 
 that Crovderg was at last about to triumph and he wished to 
 be on the side of success, or, perhaps, it was because his soldiers 
 were promised higher pay. The invading army entered 
 Connaught, and passing through Tuam and Oran in Ros- 
 common, established their headquarters at the monastery of 
 Boyle. Their conduct was in keeping with the worst traditions 
 of a mercenary army. They defiled the whole monastery, 
 turned the monks out of their cells, left them only their dormi- 
 tories and the house of the novices, and in the cloisters and in 
 the hospital, and even in the church, there were enacted scenes 
 of gross and shameful immorality, of which even savages might 
 
 * Annals of Loch Ce, 1200. 
 f Four Masters, 1199. 
 
230 HISTORY OF IRELAND. 
 
 be ashamed. Cathal Carrach with his Connaughtmen marched 
 to meet his new foes, and while the two armies stood facing each 
 other, he went to see some skirmishing which was taking place, 
 and getting mixed up with the combatants on his own side, he 
 was killed.* 
 
 With his death the long contest for supremacy was ended 
 (1201), and Crovderg was at last King of Connaught. In 
 company with his ally, De Burgho, he marched westward and 
 spent the Easter at Cong. Such an army as theirs, flushed 
 with success, feeling that they were passing through a conquered 
 district, must have perpetrated many evils on the natives, and 
 invited that terrible retribution with which they were soon 
 overtaken. Having no money with which to pay these English 
 mercenaries, Crovderg, by agreement with De Burgho, had 
 them billeted through Connaught, promising that after a time 
 their wages would be paid. The conduct of mercenary soldiers 
 in a land which has been conquered by their arms, is rarely 
 anything but trying to the people among whom they live, and 
 those soldiers had already shocked and disgusted the Connaught- 
 men. Their punishment was swift and terrible. A report 
 spread throughout the province and was everywhere credited, 
 that De Burgho had suddenly died ; and, as if by mutual agree- 
 ment, though it appears it was nothing but sudden impulse, 
 the natives fell with fury on the soldiers quartered in their midst 
 and in one awful night of retribution and murder, nine hundred 
 English soldiers were butchered in cold blood, j De Burgho 
 retired to Limerick, and the next year (1203), aided by the English 
 of Munster and Meath, he entered Connaught, wasted the 
 country through which he passed, desecrated and robbed the 
 monasteries of Clonfert and Clonmacnoise, and for the first 
 time established some settlements in the province and erected 
 some stong castles. | A year later, he continued his career 
 of desecration and plunder, and the churches of Tuam, Kil- 
 bannon. Mayo, Cong, Boyle, Elphin and many others suffered 
 at his hands. In that year (1204), he died rather suddenly 
 of a loathsome disease, it was said, and the Annalists attributed 
 his sudden death and the disgusting disease from which he died 
 to the wrath of the saints^ whose churches he had desecrated 
 or destroyed. || 
 
 Without a rival in Connaught, or a powerful enemy such 
 as De Burgho to contend with, Crovderg was able to assert 
 
 * Annals of Loch Ce, 1202. Four Masters, 1201: 
 f Annals of Loch Ce, 1202. The Four Masters make the number 
 killed (anno 1201) to be only 700. 
 X Ibid. 
 II Annals of Loch Ce. Annals of Clotimacnoise. 
 
THE O'CONNORS OF CONNAUGHT. 23 1 
 
 his authority over the whole province, and when Hugh O'Flaherty 
 of West Connaught proved troublesome and rebellious, he de- 
 prived him of his territory (1207), and gave it to his own son, 
 Hugh O'Connor. But it was difficult to keep these turbulent 
 Connaught chiefs within bounds, and the same year a quarrel 
 arose, and a battle was fought between MacDermot and 
 O'Mulroony, and when King John came to Ireland (12 10), 
 Crovderg went to his court, made formal submission to him, 
 as his superior lord, on which occasion, it is said, that he sur- 
 rendered two thirds ot Connaught, keeping only one-third 
 for himself, and for this portion he was to pay one hundred 
 marks yearly.* At a later date (12 19), an attempt was made 
 by Richard de Burgho to obtain a grant of all Connaught, but 
 it does not appear that this application was acceded to, and when 
 De Lacy of Meath crossed the Shannon (1220), and sought 
 to effect a settlement in the western province, he was met by 
 Cathal Crovderg and vigorously repelled, and the English castle 
 erected was destroyed, so that till his death he was able to keep 
 all his enemies at bay. In the last years of his life, he retired 
 to the abbey of Knockmoy, in Galway, which he himself had 
 founded (i 189), to commemorate one of his victories, | and there, 
 amid the prayers and piety of the Cistercian monks, he found 
 rest after so much toil, and peace after so many battles. His 
 death occurred in 1224. It may be truthfully declared of him, 
 that he was one of the ablest of the O'Connor princes, and in 
 contrasting him with his brother, Roderick, the regret must 
 always be felt, that it was not the younger brother who was 
 Ardri during those critical times when the Anglo-Normans 
 first came. 
 
 * Leland, Vol. I., p. 175. This statement is contradicted and I think 
 satisfactorily disproved, by O'Conor Don {The O' Conors of Connaught ^ 
 pp. 85-87). Crovderg is indeed under the King's protection, yet in the 
 State Papers he is recognised as King of Connaught, and a record is in 
 existence (in the year 121 5) by vi^hich King John grants all Connaught 
 to Crovderg, saving only the Castle of Athlone. 
 
 t It w^as called the Abbey of the Hill of Victory {Collis Victorice) and 
 O'Conor Don states that the victory was gained over the English {The 
 0' Conors, p. 92); but O'Donovan {Four Masters, 1224) could not dis- 
 cover when the battle was fought, or where, or against whom. 
 
CHAPTER XVII. 
 
 King John in Ireland. 
 
 Character of John — His arrival in Ireland — State of the country — The 
 English Colonists — De Braose and the De Lacys — The English pos- 
 sessions divided into counties — Introduction of English Law — " Modus 
 tenendi Parliamenta " — John leaves Ireland. 
 
 King John was the youngest son of Henry II., and the best be- 
 loved by his father. Cold, calculating, suspicious, hating 
 many, loving few, distrusting all, to John alone Henry was ever 
 kind and indulgent, trusted him without reserve, and lavished 
 on him his tenderest care. In Ireland (i 185), John had brought 
 the power of England to the verge of destruction ; it was his 
 folly, and that of his courtiers that was to blame, yet he was 
 readily forgiven ; the blame was cast on De Lacy and others, 
 and blinded by partiality, the father would believe everyone 
 was guilty but his favourite son. The disobedience of his 
 
 children cost Henry many a pang ; and it was his consolation 
 to think that, in these revolts, John had no share ; but in this 
 he was destined to discover his error. In the last struggle of 
 his life with the French King, (1187), his son, Richard, was on 
 the enemy's side and so also were some of the Anglo-Norman 
 barons. Unable to make headway against this combination, 
 he had to agree to the terms of his adversary, and among the 
 conditions of peace was one granting immunity for their acts 
 to the rebellious barons. But Henry had the curiosity to know 
 their names, and having procured a list, he was horrified to 
 find that the first name was that of John. It was his crowning 
 sorrow. He protested he did not wish to live longer, cursed 
 the day on which he was born, and above all cursed his surviving 
 sons.* The unnatural son was also the unnatural brother, 
 and while Richard was absent at the Crusades, John intrigued 
 with the French King to have him deposed, and when Richard 
 
 * Lingard's History of England^ Vol. II., p. 118. 
 Conquest^ Vol. II., pp. 184-5. 
 
 Thierry, Norman 
 
KING JOHN IN IRELAND. 233 
 
 fell into the hands ot the German Emperor and was cast into 
 prison, John sought to bribe the Emperor, so that Richard 
 would never be set free.* When John became king (1199), 
 he was but thirty-two years old, but he was old in vice of every 
 kind. To remove a possible rival, he murdered his nephew, 
 to gratify his lust he divorced his wife and took Isabella ot 
 Angouleme, a younger and fairer bride ; f his licentiousness 
 was as great as an Eastern Sultan ; and he had to count as an 
 enemy many a powerful baron, whose daughter, or sister, or 
 wife he had dishonoured. In one short but inglorious campaign 
 (1206), he lost those French possessions, which, since the days 
 of Rollo, had belonged to his ancestors, and not content with 
 all this, he provoked a quarrel with the Pope and for three years 
 had all England under interdict. Such was John and such 
 his record when he came to Ireland, in 12 10. 
 
 He landed at Crook near Waterford,| and so numerous 
 was the army that accompanied him, that it was conveyed 
 in seven hundred vessels. A quarter of a century had passed 
 since he was last in Ireland, many changes there had been in 
 the interval, but it could not be said that the affairs of Ireland, 
 either from an English or an Irish point of view, were even yet 
 in a satisfactory condition. Heedless of the dangers with which 
 they were menaced, the Irish chiefs still continued to quarrel. 
 The death of De Burgho and the establishment on the throne 
 of Connaught without a rival of Cathal Crovderg did not bring 
 continued peace to the western province, for two powerful chiefs 
 MacDermot and Mulrooney went to war (1206) ; and the same, 
 year O'Donnell of Tirconnell plundered two northern chiefs 
 and was carrying off their cattle, when he was attacked and 
 in the struggle that ensued many were killed and drowned. 
 The very next year, that same O'Donnell ravaged Fermanagh, 
 but was attacked and slain ; and in a contest in Connaught, in 
 which the MacDermots and O'Connors and the O'Mulrooneys 
 took part, when O' Mulrooney was taken prisoner by his opponents 
 his eyes were put out. The O'Donnells and the O'Neills were 
 at war (1208), the MacCarthys of Desmond and the O'Rorkes 
 were in each case quarrelling among themselves, and so also 
 were the O'Briens of Thomond, and the next year the O'Rorkes 
 of Breffni and the O'Mellaghlins of Meath were at war. || In 
 these contests among the Irish, the English were always ready 
 to take sides, their object being to weaken and ultimately to 
 destroy both the combatants ; nor had they any scruple about 
 
 "^T-ingard's History of England, Vol.- II. > pps 122-3, 134-9. 
 
 t Ibid., p. 1 5 1-2. 
 
 X Four Masters^ at 1209 (O'Donovan's note); 
 
 II Four Masters. Annals of Loch Ce. 
 
234 HISTORY OF IRELAND. 
 
 changing sides, nor much regard for the binding force of 
 treaties. Yet, though they made some progress, their progress 
 was slow. The Irish had already acquired skill in archery, 
 they avoided big battles and fighting much in the open, resorted 
 more to stratagems and surprises, and this desultory and harassing 
 warfare they found most effective for defence.* But while it 
 was true that English and Irish sometimes acted together in 
 their wars and that in individual cases friendship had sprung 
 up between them, yet the relations between the two races were 
 not cordial and as time passed did not improve. The Irish re- 
 garded the new comers as plunderers of their property ; the 
 English looked upon the Irish as of an inferior race, despised them 
 for their weakness and their divisions, and though they pro- 
 fessed the same faith, they had little reverence for the churches 
 which the natives had built, and plundered and profaned them 
 so often, that the Archbishop of Armagh went specially to 
 England (1206), to complain of their conduct to King John, f 
 In Dublin and its neighbourhood the same antagonism between 
 the races existed, even in a more intense form than elsewhere 
 and on one occasion at least it had tragic results. Peopled from 
 Bristol, the inhabitants of Dublin had got a charter of privileges 
 from Henry II. ; these privileges were confirmed and even en- 
 larged and multiplied by John, both before he became King 
 and afterwards ; and all the privileges and rights that had ever 
 been conceded to the inhabitants of Bristol were conceded to 
 those of Dublin and enjoyed by them. J From all imposts, 
 from tolls and customs, from payment for right of way, over 
 road, or bridge, or carriage way, they were free, and this through- 
 out the whole extent of John's dominions ; they could distrain 
 the property of their debtors in Dublin, but, except in a few 
 cases, were not liable to have their own property distrained ; 
 they were to have their city guilds such as existed at Bristol ; 
 in corn and wool and hides they were given a monoply, and 
 traders coming to their city could purchase these articles from 
 none but citizens, and they were to have liberty to hold an 
 annual fair at Donnybrook, which was to last for eight days, 
 and to which the merchants of the city were bidden to repair. || 
 
 * Cambrensis, p. 312. " Although they might at first have been easily- 
 subjugated, they became, in process of time, able to make a stout resistance." 
 Evidently they were learning from experience — and from the enemy, 
 though they did not adopt the use of armour. 
 
 t Four Masters. 
 
 X Gilbert's Historic and Municipal Documents, pp. 49-62. 
 
 II It is impossible to say whether, at this early period, these fairs were 
 characterised by those disturbances for which they afterwards became so 
 famous. 
 
KING JOHN IN IRELAND. 235 
 
 Surrounded by a strong wall, which King John ordered to be 
 strengthened still more, in possession of many privileges, en- 
 joying to the full the favour of their sovereign,* having in their 
 midst his Viceroy, and sustained and defended by royal troops, 
 the city prospered and the citizens grew rich. But all this only 
 excited the more the envy of the dispossessed natives and 
 whetted their appetite for revenge. Deprived of their properties, 
 they had been driven from the city in which they were born 
 and going to their countrymen throughout Dublin and Wicklow, 
 they told their mournful tale. The O' Byrnes and the O'Tooles 
 were warlike, they sympathised with the wrongs of their own 
 countrymen, they meant to be even with the fat burghers, 
 hidden behind the strong walls of the city, and all they wanted 
 was an opportunity for vengeance. The opportunity came 
 on Easter Monday, 1209, when the citizens joyously went forth 
 to enjoy a holiday, a little to the south of the city at Cullenswood. 
 In the midst of their festivities, the O'Byrnes and the O'Tooles 
 swooped down upon them, the holiday makers were unable to 
 offer much resistance to this unforeseen and unexpected attack, 
 and three hundred of them were killed. The survivors made 
 their way back to the city and told their terrible tale ; and the 
 day which commenced in joy was ended in sorrow and gloom. 
 In the city annals, Easter Monday got the name of Black Monday, 
 and the bitterest animosity was felt and long continued towards 
 those terrible natives, some of whom dwelt near Dublin itself, 
 and some out upon the Wicklow hills, f 
 
 The quarrels between the Irish chiefs John regarded with 
 equanimity, but his mood was different, when it was the colonists 
 themselves who quarrelled, and in the years that immediately 
 preceded his visit their conduct was as bad as the Irish at their 
 worst. A certain Meyler de Bermingham attacked the English 
 of Limerick (1206), and took the place by force : the next year 
 Walter de Lacy and Meyler FitzHenry were at war, FitzHenry 
 was besieged in his castle at Ardnocker, in Westmeath, for five 
 weeks and at last had to purchase peace by the sacrifice of part 
 of his lands.J The insolence of the De Lacys both in Leinster and 
 Munster was such, that a confederacy of the English of Munster 
 was formed against them, headed by Jeffrey de Marais, or de 
 Marisco, and a battle was fought at Thurles (1208), in which the 
 losses of Hugh de Lacy, who was then Viceroy, were heavy. |! In 
 these contests " all Leinster and Munster were brought to utter 
 
 * The citizens showed their gratitude by supplying John's " man '-' 
 with an official residence (p. 56), 
 
 j Cox : Hibernia Anglicana, p. 49. Ware's Annals. 
 X Annals of Clonmacnoise . 
 II Gilbert's Viceroys, p. 66. 
 
236 HISTORY OF IRELAND. 
 
 destruction "* Such was the state of the English colony when 
 John arrived. The De Lacys, he judged to be guilty, and, there- 
 fore, he pardoned Jeffrey de Marisco for his recent rebellion. 
 Then he turned his attention to William de Braose, a powerful 
 noble, whose possessions were extensive both in England and 
 Normandy, and who for the sum of 5,000 marks had been 
 granted some lands in Munster. But this money was not paid ; 
 when his children were demanded as hostages, this also was 
 refused ; and the wife of De Braose declared that her children 
 would not be safe in the hands of King John. Her husband, 
 on John's arrival in Ireland, escaped to England and from 
 England he escaped to France, where he died, his wife endeavoured 
 to make terms with the King and offered him 50,000 marks 
 for a free pardon for herself and her relatives. The offer was 
 accepted, but she was unable to carry out its terms, she found 
 she had only twenty-four marks of silver in her possession, and 
 as this would not be accepted, De Braose, who then lived, was 
 proclaimed an outlaw, and his wife and children flung into a 
 prison at Windsor where they were starved to death, f Against 
 the De Lacys, John's irritation was little less than against De 
 Braose. On his arrival in Ireland, or shortly after, Cathal 
 Crovderg of Connaught and O'Brien of Thomond had tendered 
 him their submission and offered their services it required ; 
 their aid was accepted against the De Lacys ; and the unusual 
 spectacle was presented of two Irish princes marching with 
 an English king to suppress the revolt of two powerful English 
 lords. From Dublin they marched through Trim and Kells, 
 and Dundalk and Carlingford, until they arrived at Down- 
 patrick. J Both the De Lacys fled before them, the only stand 
 their followers made was at Carrickfergus, but they were quickly 
 overpowered and the place captured by King John. The De 
 Lacys escaped to France, and in the monastery of St. Tarin near 
 EvreuXjII they worked as brick-makers and gardeners, until 
 finally, the abbot of the monastery interceded with King John, 
 and Walter de Lacy (in 121 5), was restored to his Irish estates 
 on payment of a fine, and a little later — in the reign of Henry III. 
 Hugh de Lacy also was pardoned and returned to Ulster. 
 
 The submission of the Irish chiefs left John no enemy to 
 conquer except O'Neill and the northern princes and he made 
 no attempt to conquer them, the flight of De Lacy and De Braose 
 left him no rebels to chastise ; and, freed from the necessity of 
 
 [ * Annals of Clonmacnoise . 
 t Gilbert's Viceroys, pp. 67-76, 506: 
 X Ibid., p. 72. 
 
 II Ibid., p. 78. Book of Howth {Carew MSS.), p. 122. Cox, Hibernia 
 Anglicana, p. 50. 
 
KING JOHN IN IRELAND. 237 
 
 making war, he turned his attention to works of peace, and 
 took measures to establish English institutions in those parts 
 ot Ireland, which had been subdued by English arms. Almost 
 all Leinster and Munster and the greater part of Meath, John 
 believed could safely be brought within the Pale of English law, 
 and this wide extent of territory he divided into twelve counties, 
 Louth, Dublin, Kildare, Meath, Carlow, Kilkenny, Wexford, 
 Waterford, Cork, Kerry, Limerick and Tipperary.* In these 
 counties he decreed that English laws and customs should pre- 
 vail, English courts should be set up, English justices appointed, 
 and that there should be sheriffs and the other necessary executive 
 officers to carry out their decrees. The distinction of being 
 the first to introduce English laws into Ireland is often claimed 
 for King John, but this statement requires qualification, for 
 it is quite certain that English laws and customs were intro- 
 duced by his father. In the grants made to De Cogan and De 
 Lacy, for instance, Henry II. reserves foi himself certain knights' 
 fees, a term entirely foreign to the Irish, or Brehon law, and 
 equally peculiar to Feudalism, as it existed in England. To 
 these reservations ot knight's fees were incident — wardships, 
 marriages, reliefs, aids for making the King's son a knight, 
 and for the marriage of his daughter and " how could the King 
 receive these incidents if the laws had not given him means to 
 come by them which ot necessity must be by sheriffs, officers 
 ot justice and other ministers, according to the course appointed ; " 
 from all of which Ware concludes that Henry II. granted the 
 laws of England to Ireland, erected courts for the execution 
 of them, and for bringing in the profits of his grants — other- 
 wise his reservations would be idle and fruitless, f What con- 
 firms these conclusions is that there is still on record a statute 
 of the time of Richard III. (1485), which has reference to the 
 electing of a viceroy, and which expressly professes to be nothing 
 more than a re-enactment of a statute of the time ot Henry II., 
 or of Henry FitzEmpress, as he is called. This statute I enacts 
 that when — presumably through some sudden cause — Ireland 
 should be void of a Viceroy, the great officers of state, the Lord 
 Chancellor, Lord Treasurer and Chief Justice shall, with the 
 assent and in council with the lords spiritual and temporal of 
 Ireland, proceed to elect some noble to be governor, and who 
 can hold parliaments and great councils,l| and that all this is to be 
 
 * Gilbert's Viceroys, p. 74. 
 
 t Harris's Ware, Vol. Il.j p. 8oj 
 
 X Ibid.-, p. 79. 
 
 Besides the Parliament there were the Great Councils made up of 
 the great men of the country^ and which were called together in some 
 sudden emergency ; the Privy Council which was executive and advisory^ 
 
238 HISTORY OF IRELAND. 
 
 done, " according to the tenor, usage, and execution ot the statute 
 of Henry FitzEmpress, and as is specified in the same statute." 
 It is further claimed for Henry H., that he ordered an Irish 
 Parliament to be convoked, and that on his return to England 
 (1172), he transmitted to Ireland a document ("modus tenendi 
 Parliamenta "), in which he lays down that an Irish Parliament 
 is to be called from time to time, how it was to be summoned, 
 who were to be its members, on what it was to deliberate and 
 what was to be the extent of its powers.* In the order of dignity 
 it was to consist ot six degrees — the first, the King, or, in his 
 absence, the Viceroy ; the second, archbishops, bishops, abbots, 
 priors and clergy, provided they held land equal to twenty 
 knight's fees ; + the third were the proctors of the clergy, two 
 chosen as the representatives of each diocese ; I the fourth degree, 
 earls, barons and their peers, such as had land to the extent 
 of twenty knight's fees ; the fifth, were the knights of counties 
 selected by the county, and paid by the county which selected 
 them, at the rate of a half mark a day for every day they were 
 in attendance in parliament, but who were to exercise the 
 franchise in their selection is not made clear ; the sixth degree, 
 were those selected by the burgesses and citizens of the towns. 
 The King, if present, was to sit in the middle of the first bench, 
 having at his right hand, the Archbishops of Armagh and Cashel, 
 and on his left, the Archbishops of Dublin and Tuam, and in 
 close proximity to them the other bishops, abbots, priors, earls, 
 barons and their peers. Lower down, at the King's " right foot," 
 were the Lord Chancellor and the Chief Justice, and at his " left 
 foot," the Treasurer and Barons of the Excheqvier, and in the 
 last place, were the Proctors. Where the Knights of the counties 
 and boroughs were to sit is not made clear and it does not appear 
 that they were to hold their sessions separately, that is, unless 
 a doubtful or dif^cult matter were to arise, when it was advised 
 that each order should consider it separately. || 
 
 but had no legislative authority ; County assemblies — resembling a modern 
 Grand Jury, or County Council — and lastly Parleys which were to discuss 
 terms with native chiefs. 
 
 The Parliaments in the beginning were seldom held — only one in the 
 reign of Henry II. and one by King John (Monk Mason's Irish Parlia- 
 ments, pp. 14-18). 
 
 * Harris's Ware, Vol. II., pp. 80, et scq. 
 
 \ Equal to ;^400 a year. 
 
 J It was pretended in the i6th Century that the Proctors had only 
 advisory but not legislative powers, but this was only after they had 
 stubbornly refused to acknowledge Henry VIIl's Spiritual Supremacy, 
 then it was discovered that they had usurped legislative functions. (Monk 
 Mason, pp. 16-22.) 
 
 11 Harris's Ware, Vol. II. j pp. 82-3. 
 
KING JOHN IN IRELAND. 239 
 
 It is matter of doubt and controversy whether such a 
 document ever came from Henry, but so great a man as Lord 
 Coke declared that it was genuine, though Prynne and Selden 
 are on the opposite side ; neither of these will allow it any greater 
 antiquity than the reign of Edward III. Their arguments 
 against it are not convincing and Ware would seem to incline 
 to the opinion that Lord Coke was right.* But whether this 
 document was ever written, or not, whether any such parliament 
 was ever held in Ireland in Henry's reign, and if so what laws it 
 passed are matters impossible to determine now. What is much 
 more certain is, that among the English in Ireland at that time 
 there was more of lawlessness than of law. These adventurers 
 had come to Ireland to acquire wealth and possessions, and 
 they plundered the natives without scruple, and often with 
 impunity. They were warriors only, and had the warrior's 
 contempt for the delays and debates and arguments incidental 
 to courts of law ; the law they respected and feared was the law 
 of the stronger, and, when they quarrelled among themselves, 
 they settled their quarrels by the short and stern arbitrament 
 of the sword. 
 
 It was said that King John brought over from England 
 some experienced lawyers, and that under their direction the 
 whole machinery of government was established. In the 
 counties recently formed, courts were set up, judges appointed 
 and sheriffs and the other ofHcers necessary to carry out the 
 Court's decrees. Over all was the Viceroy, sometimes called 
 justiciary, sometimes Lord Deputy, sometimes Lord Lieutenant 
 and with him, as a Council, but subordinate to him, were the 
 Lord Chancellor and the Lord Treasurer. The Lord Chancellor 
 had the custody of the great seal f and in power and dignity 
 was first and greatest of the judges. The Lord Treasurer was 
 at the head of the Court of Exchequer, and had charge of the 
 King's revenues, and fines and debts accruing to the King 
 passed through his hands. The Parliaments held and the enact- 
 ments passed from 1172 to 13 10 we do not know, as the records 
 are lost, but English statutes were of no avail in Ireland until 
 
 * Harris's Ware Yo\. II., pp. 83-4. This also is the opinion of Molyneux, 
 (Case Stated, pp. 31, et seq ;) he is quite satisfied if there was no Parlia- 
 ment in Ireland in Henry ll.'s time there was shortly after (p. 36), 
 Matt. Paris states positively that Henry held one at Lismore (1171) 
 and that the English laws were gratefully accepted there. This can 
 hardly be true of the Irish who did not know these laws, nor understand 
 them ; but of course it would be true of the English settlers. 
 
 t Harris's Ware, Vol. II., pp. 98-9. The Lord Chancellor was appointed 
 sometimes for life, sometimes during good behaviour, but more frequently 
 during the King's pleasure. 
 
24© HISTORY OF IRELAND. 
 
 they were confirmed by the Irish Parliament, nor had these 
 enactments — even of an Irish Parliament — any effect, except 
 in those parts of Ireland where English power prevailed. 
 
 The rule of Solon or Justinian is not what might be expected 
 from a man with the base character of King John. He may 
 be getting credit from historians for having done more in Ireland 
 than he actually did, but at least this can be said that his conduct 
 in Ireland, during his last visit, favourably contrasts with his 
 record on the other side of St. George's Channel. 
 
LondoTu Ecqan PomL . TrouJi 
 
CHAPTER XVIII. 
 
 Long-Continued Turmoil. 
 
 The English invade Tirowen — The Colonists quarrel — De Lacy and Marshall 
 — Wars in Connaught between the O'Connors — The English inter- 
 vene — Sufferings of the Connaught people — Richard de Burgho — 
 Felim O'Connor, King of Connaught visits Henry III. — Maurice 
 Fitzgerald — Condition of Desmond and Thomond — The O'Neills 
 and O'Donnells quarrel — Their territory invaded by the English — 
 The fate of Richard Marshall — Temporary and partial union among 
 the Irish — Battle of Downpatrick — Discord in Connaught — Fitzgerald 
 defeated in Desmond by MacCarthy — O'Brien of Thomond and De 
 Clare — State of Tirowen and Tirconnell — and of Leinster — Quarrels 
 among the Anglo-Irish lords. 
 
 Although no great event occurred for a few years after the 
 departure of King John, yet, these years were not years of un- 
 broken calm, and the first sound of battle came from the English 
 themselves. The Viceroy was John de Grey, Bishop of Norwich, 
 a man whom John had endeavoured to have appointed Arch- 
 bishop of Canterbury, and for whose sake he had defied the Pope, 
 and in punishment had his dominions placed under interdict.* 
 De Grey had little taste for the spiritual duties of the episcopal 
 ofifice, he was more at home in dealing with affairs of state, or 
 on the battle-field, and wishing to do something agreeable to 
 his royal master, and to signalise his tenure of office as Viceroy 
 by some notable achievement, he marched north at the head of 
 an army (121 1), erected a strong castle at Clones, and from 
 this entered the land of the O'Neills, hoping to conquer that land 
 which as yet refused to submit to England. His success was 
 not in keeping with his expectations ; he was defeated by O'Neill 
 with heavy loss and the next year O'Neill marched south and 
 destroyed the English castle at Clones, and following up this 
 success, he defeated the English at Carlingford. f The same 
 
 * Lingard's History of England ^ Vol. II.,- pp. 156-7; 
 ■j" Four Masters. 
 
242 HISTORY OF IRELAND. 
 
 year, O'Mellaghlin of Meath defeated them, but in the next year 
 his good fortune deserted him. He was defeated and the English 
 were free to build, or rather rebuild, the castles of Kinnitty, 
 Birr and Durrow,* as well as a castle at Athlone. The events 
 which fill up the next few years are unimportant, but in 1220, 
 wars and battles again began and on that occasion it was the 
 English themselves who quarrelled. When the De Lacy's 
 fled from Ireland, part of Walter de Lacy's lands of Meath was 
 given to William Marshall, Earl of Pembroke,! and after De Lacy's 
 return to Ireland ^1213), some of these lands were still retained. 
 De Lacy considered himself an injured man, and only waited 
 for a favourable opportunity to attack his rival and recover 
 those lands, which he still deemed his own ; and as his lands ad- 
 joined those of Marshall, a dispute about boundaries might 
 easily arise and might be as easily converted into a cause of 
 war. Marshall was able to enlist the support of the Viceroy, 
 but Walter de Lacy had the assistance of his brother Hugh ; 
 they made in addition an alliance with O'Neill of Tirowen ; 
 and the strength of this combination was formidable. They 
 first attacked the English at Coleraine and destroyed the castle 
 erected there ; then they marched south, and in Meath and, 
 Leinster committed great havoc, and finally they met the com- 
 bined forces of Marshall and the Viceroy at Dundalk. The latter 
 had no less than twenty-four battalions under his command, 
 yet they dreaded their opponents strength, and without giving 
 them battle agreed to terms, in which De Lacy and O'Neill 
 suffered no punishment and no diminution of their power ; 
 on the contrary O'Neill got his own demands. I 
 
 Many as were the evils caused by these quarrels, they were 
 light compared to what ills came upon the province of Connaught, 
 While Crovderg lived there was peace, for no rival, either native 
 or English, cared to question his supremacy. But when he died 
 (1224), the era of peace was over, and a long and melancholy 
 era of war and misery supervened. The dead prince had attained 
 his position only after many and desperate struggles, and after 
 his death these struggles were renewed, and in a more aggravated 
 form. His son, Hugh, claimed the position held by his father ; 
 his cousins — Hugh and Turlogh, sons of Roderick — contested 
 his claim and were able to obtain the assistance of O'Neill of 
 
 * Annals of Clonniacnoise. 
 
 t William Marshall was son of William Marshall and Isabel, daughter 
 of Strongbow and Eva MacMurrough : as the heir of Strongbow he was 
 Earl of Pembroke, as the heir of Eva he was heir to Leinster, and therefore 
 had enormous possessions. (Leland, Vol. I., p. 206.) 
 
 X Four Masters, 1221. 
 
LONG-CONTINUED TURMOIL. 243 
 
 Tirowen, as well as two of the ablest of the Connaught chieftains, 
 MacGeraghty of Roscommon and Hugh O'Flaherty of West 
 Connaught. Entering Connaught, O'Neill marched by Athlone, 
 until he arrived near Tulsk, in Roscommon, and on the old cairn 
 of stones and earth in that neighbourhood,* where for ages 
 the Connaught Kings had been inaugurated, Turlogh O'Connor 
 Wcis proclaimed King. His cousin, Hugh, could make no effective 
 resistance, for all the Connaught Chieftains had abandoned 
 him, except MacDermot and his help was insufficient where 
 so many enemies had to be overcome. In the belief that Turlogh 
 was safe in his new position, O'Neill returned to Tirowen, leaving 
 but a few of his soldiers in Connaught, to aid the newly crowned 
 King. But Hugh O'Connor had inherited his fathers stubborn 
 will, and had no intention of quietly acquiescing in his dethrone- 
 ment, nor did he care from what quarter he procured assistance, 
 provided only he could humiliate his rival and attain pre- 
 eminence himself. With that object in view, he repaired to 
 the English headquarters and begged their assistance, and this 
 was just what the English desired. Some years before this 
 date (12 19), Richard de Burgho had offered, if the whole of 
 Connaught were granted to him, he would pay into the English 
 Exchequer 3,000 marks at once and an annual rent of 200 
 marks in addition, or that the King of Connaught should be 
 left part ot the province during his life and that, at his death, 
 the whole province should be given to De Burgho, and for this 
 he offered the sum of one thousand pounds. Neither of these 
 oflers was accepted at that date, for in the next year, Cathal 
 Crovderg was granted the King ot England's protection in 
 all his lands and possessions, for the space of five years. But 
 when Cathal died, De Burgho's offer, or perhaps a larger one, 
 was renewed and accepted and by letter (1226), Henry HI. had 
 directed his Viceroy — De Marisco — to take possession of 
 Connaught for Richard de Burgho.f In this document it 
 is easy to trace the hand of Hubert de Burgho, who was then 
 Justiciary of England, who had therefore enormous power, 
 and was using it in favour of his relative in Ireland. 
 
 Hugh O'Connor found the Viceroy, De Marisco, at Athlone. 
 He had been an interested spectator of the quarrels in Connaught, 
 believing it better to let the O'Connors fight it out, and then 
 
 * It was situated at Carnfree, and the ceremony of installation was 
 elaborate. It was attended by many bishops and by the principal chiefs 
 or Sub-Kings of Connaught. O'Mulconry gave the new king his wand^ 
 Mageraghty received gifts of cattle and sheep from him^ O'Flanagan 
 was his High Steward, O'Flaherty and O'Malley had command of the 
 fleet, O'Kelly Chief Treasurer, &c. {The O' Conors, pp. 83-4 ~~ 
 
 \ The 0' Conors of Connaught, pp. 88 et 95. 
 
244 HISTORY OF IRELAND. 
 
 was the time for the English to intervene, when both parties 
 were exhausted in the struggle. But he was reluctant that 
 any side should triumph, at least without his aid, and after 
 hearing Hugh O'Connor's story he determined to aid him,fand 
 with his own forces and those of O'Mellaghlin of Meath, he 
 crossed the Shannon. Simultaneously with this, Hugh O'Connor 
 had got the assistance of his uncle, Donagh Carbry O'Brien of 
 Thomond, who had entered Connaught from the South, and 
 the unfortunate province was at the same time wasted and 
 spoiled by two different armies converging upon Roscommon. 
 Against such forces Turlogh O'Connor and his allies were power- 
 less, and, retreating westwards from Roscommon, they arrived 
 at Kilkelly, in Mayo. The most inexperienced of their soldiers 
 were placed in front to guard the non-combatants and to drive 
 the cattle before them, while MacGeraghty and Turlogh and the 
 more seasoned veterans of Tirowen were left to guard the rere, 
 for the English were in pursuit and were near at hand. The 
 pursuers hoped to surround the retreating army, but the retreat 
 was conducted with ability and Turlogh and his men escaped 
 by Swinford to the County of Sligo, without any serious loss. 
 Some of the Roscommon clans, who sided with Turlogh, had 
 fled on the approach of the English and arrived at Attymas, 
 on the borders of Sligo, and instead of pursuing Turlogh's army 
 Hugh O'Connor proposed that these helpless fugitives be attacked. 
 His allies agreed and the miserable people, in their haste to escape, 
 endeavoured to cross the river Bellacong, a tributory of the Moy. 
 The current was swift and strong, numbers were drowned, 
 and the fishermen who had their nets set in the river, found 
 them on the following day filled with the bodies of infants, who 
 had lost their lives in that fatal passage.* Little less miserable 
 was the fate of the remaining portion of the fugitives, who 
 escaped northwards to Tirawley, where they were set upon by 
 0'Dowda,t the chief of that territory, robbed of their cattle 
 and left utterly destitute. 
 
 Hugh O'Connor and his allies, retracing their steps, set 
 up their headquarters at Kilmaine, in Mayo, and thither 
 O'Flaherty and Manus O'Connor were despatched on behalf 
 of Turlogh, with the object of arriving at some agreement, 
 knowing well it was useless to continue the struggle. O'Flaherty 
 was pardoned, but only on condition that he deserted his present 
 allies and even opposed them, and, besides, he was compelled 
 
 * Annals of Loch Ce at 1225.- 
 
 I O'Dowda was one of the chiefs of the Hy Fiacra clan and dwelt in 
 the modern barony of Tirawley, west of Killala Bay and the River Moy^ 
 in Mayo; ^Book of Rights^ pp. 108-9); 
 
LONG-CONTINUED TURMOIL. 245 
 
 to surrender the islands of Lough Corrib to the English, 
 as well as the vessels he had on the lake. Necessity had com- 
 pelled him to accept these hard conditions, which struck so 
 fatal a blow at his power, but it appears he had no intention 
 of carrying out what he had stipulated, and the English had 
 only left the province, when he revolted to the son of Roderick, 
 and again the English forces were recalled by Hugh O'Connor. 
 A party of them who had encamped at Ardrahan, in Galway, 
 were set upon by O'Flaherty and suffered severely, but again 
 the English prevailed, Hugh O'Connor was recognised king, and 
 O'Flaherty had to renew his submission and to give hostages 
 tor his future good behaviour. Champion of a losing cause, 
 Turlogh O'Connor was abandoned by the Connaught chiefs, 
 who had hitherto fought on his side, and again both himself 
 and his brother sought for refuge in Tirowen. The English 
 who had placed Hugh on the throne insisted on being paid by 
 their ally, and compelled him to give them hostages until he 
 was in possession of sufficient money to gratify their demands. 
 After this period of slaughter and desolation peace was restored. 
 The English in their march through Roscommon and Mayo 
 had plundered everything, and left ruin and misery in their 
 track ; the steps of Donogh O'Brien, in Galway, on his march 
 from Thomond, were similarly marked, and there was hardly 
 a church or territory in Connaught that had not been plundered 
 and laid waste. So many of the men had fallen in the war, 
 that the gathering in of the harvest could not be attended to, 
 and the winter passed and the corn was still uncut, nor was it 
 cut, until St. Bridget's Day (ist February), of the next year 
 (1226), when the crops were being put down for the succeeding 
 harvest. Without corn or cattle, the people were in the last 
 extremity of distress and large numbers perished of hunger ; 
 in the wake of famine, the horrid spectre of famine fever appeared, 
 and Connaught seemed as a land accursed, a land of mourning 
 and lamentation and woe.* 
 
 It was about this date that Richard de Burgho assumed the 
 title of Lord of Connaught. That he should be what his title 
 indicated seemed to be a matter of concern to Henry ITL, or 
 rather to his minister ; it would be an extension of English power 
 and such an extension seemed imminent. The English had 
 already acquired settlements in Connaught, they had built strong 
 castles on Lough Corrib, they were thus enabled to exercise an 
 influence on its local affairs, and, best of all, the King of Connaught 
 was their creature ; it was they who placed him on the throne and, 
 as they had put him up, they could as easily pull him down. 
 
 * Annals of Loch Ce. Four Masters: 
 
246 HISTORY OF IRELAND. 
 
 And with this object in view, he was invited to a conterence at 
 Dublin (1227), which was attended by the Viceroy (De Marisco), 
 William Marshall and other English lords. In the preceding year, 
 Hugh O'Connor had been directed by royal mandate to the 
 Viceroy to deliver up the land of Connaught which he and his 
 father had forfeited ; he was directed, later on, to deliver 
 it to Richard de Burgho, failing this, he was invited to a conference 
 at Athlone and promised safe-conduct, and as he refused this 
 invitation also, he was again invited in the next year to Dublin 
 and was promised safe-conduct. This last invitation he accepted, 
 but he soon found that treachery was intended ; the Viceroy 
 attempted to make him prisoner, but William Marshall would 
 be no party to such treachery, and rescued Hugh O'Connor 
 and brought him back safely to Connaught.* In revenge for 
 his treatment at Dublin, the Connaught king attacked the 
 English at Athlone, burned their settlements there and took 
 young De Marisco, son of the Viceroy, prisoner. His own son 
 and daughter were already in the Viceroy's hands as hostages, 
 or rather as prisoners, and, in exchange for the Viceroy's son, 
 they were allowed to go free. Dissatisfied with Hugh O'Connor, 
 the English took the sons of Roderick into favour. Richard 
 de Burgho overran one part of Connaught, De Marisco marched 
 to Roscommon from Athlone, and built a strong castle at 
 Rindown, on the shores of Lough Ree, and Hugh O'Connor, 
 unable to maintain his position, fled from Connaught to Tir- 
 connell. The next year (1228) he returned to claim his throne, 
 but at De Marisco's castle, whither he had gone for a friendly 
 conference, he was treacherously assassinated f and the sons of 
 Roderick possessed the throne of Connaught without a rival. 
 But there were two of these princes ; in the manner of their 
 family, no two of them could agree ; neither would yield to the 
 other ; and Connaught was harassed and plundered between 
 them. In the end, Hugh succeeded, as he had the support of 
 the greater number of the native chiefs, and also of the English 
 In the hands of these latter he was but a puppet and, two years 
 later, when he showed some symptoms of independence, his 
 territories were overrun by Richard de Burgho, he was expelled 
 from Connaught and his cousin, Felim, son of Cahal Crovderg, 
 was adopted by the English and placed on the vacant throne. 
 Either the affection of De Burgho was fitful and capricious, or 
 the new king was not sufTficiently servile, but, whatever the 
 cause, Felim was seized upon by De Burgho (1231), and im- 
 
 * The 0' Conors, pp. 95-96. Four Masters and An. of Loch Ce (1227). 
 f Annals of Clonniacnoise. That De Marisco did not approve of the act 
 is shown by the fact that he executed the murderer, an Englishman. 
 
LONG-CONTINUED TURMOIL. 247 
 
 prisoned, and his rival and cousin again became king. But 
 the next year Felim was liberated, the struggle for supremacy 
 was renewed, the native chiefs rallied to Felim's side in great 
 strength, and though his rival had the aid of some English, yet 
 he was defeated and slain (1233), and Felim was once more king.* 
 That same year, the son of Hugh de Lacy — William — invaded 
 Breffni, but was defeated and slain by Cahal O'Reilly ; and 
 Felim O'Connor, flushed with his recent triumph, attacked and 
 destroyed the English castles recently erected in Connaught, 
 Gal way, Donamon, Hen's Castle in Lough Corrib, and Hag's 
 Castle in Lough Mask. 
 
 For a year or two the O'Connors ceased to quarrel, but 
 apparently Richard de Burgho determined that Connaught 
 should not be at peace. He had already overcome the O'Flahertys, 
 dispossessed them of their territory east of Lough Corrib and 
 driven them across to lar Connaught, to that bleak and desolate 
 region, which extends westward of Lough Corrib and Lough 
 Mask and takes in the whole coast line from Galway to Clifden ; f 
 he had taken possession of the town of Galway, J where he erected 
 and fortified a strong castle, and from this as his headquarters 
 he plundered Felim O'Connor's territoiy in 1235, and again, in 
 the following year. The first of these years he was aided by the 
 Viceroy, Maurice FitzGerald and De Lacy, Earl of Meath, and 
 with these forces he crossed the Shannon, at Athlone, burned 
 Roscommon and the churches of Elphin and Boyle, and in that 
 part of the province spread ruin and desolation. They next 
 proceeded to Munster, at the instigation of O'Heyne, a Galway 
 chief, who had a grudge against Donogh O'Brien of Thomond 
 and wished to be revenged on him. O'Brien was taken un- 
 prepared, but Felim O'Connor, hearing of his plight, went to 
 
 * Four Masters. Lock Ce. The defeated prince was the last descendant 
 of Roderick O'Connor, who could claim to be King of Connaught. {The 
 O' Conors, p. 100.) 
 
 t From the fifth century to the thirteenth, the inheritance of the 
 O'Flahertys was the present barony of Clare in the County Galway. 
 Dispossessed of this by De Burgho, they in turn seized the district west 
 of Lough Corrib, and dispossessed the ancient inhabitants of those regions. 
 (O' Flaherty's lar Connaught, p. 3.) 
 
 \ Hardiman's //ij-^ory (9/6^a/2t;ay, pp. 47-8. Galway was fortified (i 170) 
 and held by the O'Flahertys. It was vigorously besieged by Richard de 
 Burgho (1230), but the attack was unsuccessful. Two years later; the attack 
 was renewed and the place captured from the O'Flahertys by De Burgho^ 
 who enlarged and strengthened the castle. The place was again attacked 
 and captured by Felim O'Connor (1233), and the fortifications erected 
 by De Burgho destroyed, but that persevering noble soon after recaptured 
 it and re-fortified it, and from that date it was his headquarters and his 
 reatest stronghold in Connaught. 
 
248 HISTORY OF IRELAND. 
 
 his assistance and gave battle to the English, in which, however, 
 the Irish were defeated with heavy loss. This action of Felim 
 brought the vengeance of the English on his unhappy kingdom ; 
 they turned back to lay it waste and, feeling unable to resist 
 them, he gathered together his cattle and provisions and with his 
 immediate friends fled from Connaught to Tirconnell, leaving 
 the whole province undefended and large part of it waste. 
 Baulked in his purpose of plundering Felim O'Connor, De Burgho 
 turned westward along the shores of Lough Corrib to attack 
 Felim's relative, Manus O'Connor. He was joined by O'Heyne* 
 and O'Flaherty and to facilitate his attack on their countrymen, 
 these two chiefs carried his boats by land fiom Lough Corrib to 
 Killery Harbour, a distance of seven miles. O'Connor's people 
 took shelter in the islands of Clew Bay, but De Burgho attacked 
 them there, took away their cattle, killed the people, or took 
 them prisoners, and the islands along the coast, from Clew Bay 
 to Achil, were, with scarce an exception, the scenes of robbery 
 and murder. Loaded with plunder, De Burgho turned back to 
 Ballintubber, thence north-east to Ballysodare, in Sligo, which 
 he also plundered, and finally, by the aid of some machines he 
 had constructed for casting stones, he was able to capture the 
 strong fortress of Loch Ce, near Boyle. When he returned to 
 Galway, he left the people of Connaught " without food, raiment, 
 or cattle," and, to complete the misery of the province, the Irish 
 themselves were plundering and destroying each other. After 
 this, peace was made with Felim O'Connor, but the next year, 
 at a conference with the Viceroy at Athlone, treachery was 
 planned against him ; he was forewarned by some friend and 
 succeeded in making his escape to Tirconnell. f The English set 
 up one Brian O'Connor as king, but Felim returned from the 
 north, the Connaught chiefs rallied to his side and he defeated 
 and deposed the English-made king. The same year (1236), 
 De Burgho again swept through Connaught, passing through 
 Tuam, Mayo and Balla, and leaving Connaught " without peace 
 or tranquility or without food in any territory." J Nor were 
 the ills of the province yet over, for Felim's right to the throne 
 was again challenged by the sons of Roderick O'Connor. 
 
 During these years the position of Felim O'Connor was one 
 of enormous dif^culty. Over the rivals of his own name and 
 family he had asserted his superiority by force of arms, but the 
 English were not so easily dealt with. They had already effected 
 many settlements in the province, and in extent of territory and 
 
 * O'Flaherty's lar Connaught, pp. 50-51. O'Heyne's territory corres 
 ponded with the present barony of Kiltartan in Galway. 
 t Four Masters. Annals of Loch Ce. 
 X Annals of Lock Ce (1236). Four Masters. 
 
LONG-CONTINUED TURMOIL. 249 
 
 power De Burgho far exceeded even the chief of the O'Connors. 
 To Felim little was left but a few baronies round Roscommon, 
 and a nominal sovereignty over the native chiefs, and for this 
 shrunken territory and diminished power he had done homage 
 to the English King, or rather to his representative, and he 
 was paying an annual tribute. There was no suggestion that 
 he did not pay this tribute regularly, or that he had been unfaith- 
 ful to any of his engagements. Yet the Viceroy had more than 
 once favoured his rivals and employed English troops against him, 
 acting under the King of England's authority and in his name 
 and De Burgho kept his territory in perpetual unrest, had robbed 
 and plundered his friends, desolated his lands, pillaged his churches 
 and chased himself, an exile and an outlaw, from the land and 
 from the throne of his fathers. To appeal to the Viceroy — 
 Maurice Fitzgerald — was useless, for he had taken sides with 
 De Burgho ; the only resource left was to appeal in person to 
 the English King, and Felim for this purpose went to England. 
 He was favourably received by Henry HI. (1240) to whom he 
 detailed all that he had suffered, laying all the blame on De Burgho, 
 a safe thing to do then, for De Buigho's great relative — Hubert, 
 Earl of Kent — had lost the King's favour. Impressed by what 
 he had heard, Henry sent peremptory orders to his Viceroy, 
 Fitzgerald, " to pluck up by the root that fruitless sycamore, 
 De Burgho, whom the Earl of Kent in the insolence of his power 
 had planted in these parts, nor suffer it to bud forth any 
 longer."* After that date De Burgho gave Felim no more trouble, 
 and two years later (1243) he died. But Maurice Fitzgerald 
 still kept Connaught disturbed. He plundered two Connaught 
 chiefs, MacDermott and O'Flynn (1241); the next year, with 
 Felim O'Connor as his ally he invaded Tirconnell, and two )^ears 
 later he erected a strong fortress at Sligo. Both Felim and 
 Fitzgerald went to England with some troops (1245), and aided 
 Henry HI. in his Welsh wars. On their return, Fitzgerald was 
 dismissed from the Viceroyalty and De Marisco appointed in 
 his place,f but the change did not bring peace to Connaught. 
 There were contests between the O'Connors and O'Reillys of 
 Breffni (1243-4) and between a minor branch of the O'Connor 
 family and the English (1247) during which Gal way was burned. J 
 Again, under Birmingham, the English were defeated at Sligo 
 (1249) by Felim O'Connor's son, and in the same year, perhaps in 
 revenge, the Viceroy and Fitzgerald deposed Felim and set up 
 his nephew Turlogh in his place. The new King soon quarrelled 
 with his patrons and went to war with them, but at Athenry he 
 
 * Matt. Paris j Vol. J., p. 297. 
 t Gilbert's Viceroys, p. 102. 
 + Annals of Loch Ce. 
 
250 HISTORY OF IRELAND. 
 
 was defeated with heavy loss by Jordan de Exeter, the English 
 Sheriff of Connaught.* The next year (1250), Felim returned 
 from Tirowen, defeated his nephew Turlogh, and making peace 
 with the English was again recognised as King. A little later 
 (1253), he was at war with the O'Reillys of Breffni and again, 
 two years later, on this latter occasion in alliance with Walter 
 de Burgho, the son and heir of his old enemy, Richard. To the 
 dismay of Felim, who had been so long his faithful subject, 
 Henry III. granted " 500 librates " of land in Connaught to 
 one Godfrey de Lusignac, but the Irish prince remonstrated, 
 the grant was withdrawn and an agreement was entered into 
 (1256), by which Felim undertook on his part not to molest any 
 of the English in their possessions, while on the other side the 
 integrity of his own dominions was guaranteed by the Viceroy, 
 De la Zouch.j 
 
 Compared with Connaught, alternately desolated by English 
 noble and Irish chief, and in which the tumult of war was seldom 
 hushed, the state of Munster, during these years, was one of 
 peace. Yet there were many elements of discord and turmoil 
 within its bounds. In accordance with the terms of submission 
 made by Donogh O'Brien to King John, J there was an English 
 castle built at Killaloe (12 15), by Jeffrey de Marisco which, like 
 other castles of its kind, was to serve for the invaders as a retreat 
 in danger and a rallying point for attack. The grandson of 
 that Maurice Fitzgerald, who had come over with Fitzstephen, had 
 granted to him by mandatory letter of Henry III. (12 16), besides 
 the castle and lands of Maynooth, the castle and lands of Croom, 
 in Limerick, but lately the paternal inheritanceof the 0'Donovans;|| 
 early in the thirteenth century the Fitzgeralds had gained a 
 strong foothold in Desmond, and the position of De Burgho at 
 Limerick was near and his forces strong. The ancient jealousy 
 between the O'Briens of Thomond and the MacCarthys of 
 Desmond still survived and the strength of each of these families 
 was often dissipated by faction and discord and petty ambition ; 
 and to carry their point these princes, like the O'Connors of 
 Connaught, were always ready to call the English to their aid. 
 In 1225, Donogh O'Brien and De Burgho fought side by side 
 in Connaught, but ten years later they were opposed and 
 De Burgho had many native soldiers in his ranks.* * Some years 
 later (1249), MacCarthy of Desmond made war on the English 
 
 * Annals of Lock Ce. 
 
 t The 0' Conors of Connaught, p. 107. 
 
 + White's History of Clare, p. 124. 
 
 II Four Masters at 1224 (O'Donovan's note). 
 
 * * Ibid., 1235. One of these was O'H^yne, " who wished to be revenged 
 on the Mononians and on Donogh Caribry O'Brien." 
 
LONG-CONTINUED TURMOIL. 25 I 
 
 and inflicted heavy loss on them but the next year that energetic 
 prince was murdered, it was thought, by an Irish hand.* Again 
 (in 1257), Connor O'Brien of Thomond attacked Fitzgerald and 
 the English and defeated them at Feakle in Clare, but, in the 
 same year in some factionist contest, he was defeated and slain, 
 being succeeded by Brian Roe O'Brien. In the meantime 
 Fitzgerald had made progress in Desmond, for he was able to 
 found and endow with lands (1253) a monastery at Ardfert, 
 near Tralee.f 
 
 Tirconnel and Tirowen had long been rivals and enemies, 
 and it is noticeable that while the sons of Roderick O'Connor 
 in their distress found an asylum with O'Donnell, their rivals 
 sought for shelter in Tirowen. Such a state ot things would 
 furnish the English with an opportunity to inferfere and conquer, 
 but they had already tried conclusions with Hugh O'Neill and 
 had been badly worsted in the contest, and while he lived 
 neither the jealousy of Tirconnell nor the cupidity of the English 
 disturbed the tranquility of his province. But after his death 
 (11230), the sceptre passed into less capable hands, and his successor, 
 Donal O'Loughlin, aided by the English, entered Tirconnell 
 ^1232), which he wasted and plundered only, however, to have 
 his own province overrun by O'Donnell in the same year. Four 
 years later, O'Donnell again marched eastward and got at least 
 temporary submission from most of the northern chiefs. J The 
 English believed the opportune time to interfere (in 1238), had 
 come and the Viceroy, Maurice Fitzgerald, aided by De Lacy, 
 entered Tirowen and Tirconnell, deposed Donal O'Loughiin, 
 and put in his place a nominee ot their own — Brian O'Neill — 
 got hostages from Tirconnell and the other lesser provinces, 
 and at last the English might boast that they had planted them- 
 selves firmly in these provinces, which had withstood their arms 
 so long. II Quarrels soon arose between O'Loughlin and O'Neill 
 for the supreme position in Tirowen and were continued with 
 varying success until O'Neill invoked and obtained the aid of 
 O'Donnell and fought, near Maghera, in Derry, an obstinate and 
 bloody battle in which O'Loughlin was defeated and slain, and 
 Brian O'Neill (in 1241) became ruler ot Tirowen. Maurice 
 Fitzgerald, having vastly increased in power, had built a strong 
 castle at Sligo and from its shelter made frequent incursions into 
 Tirconnell until finally, by the aid of some of the O'Connors ot 
 Connaught, he fought with O'Donnell the battle of Ballyshannon 
 
 * Annals of Innisfallen, quoted by O'Donovarij note to Four Masters 
 at 1250. 
 
 t Four Masters. 
 X Ibid, 
 II Ibid. 
 
252 HISTORY OF IRELAND 
 
 i|ii247), where O'Donnell was outmanoeuvred and defeated and 
 himself and many of his followers killed. Fitzgerald was then 
 enabled toplay the part of kingmaker, and one Rory O'Cannannan 
 was made chief of Tirconnell. But the allegiance of his nominee 
 was shortlived or, perhaps, his own favour was not continued ; 
 Godfrey O'Donnell solicited Fitzgerald's aid and O'Cannannan 
 was defeated and slain. Tirowen was then entered by the Viceroy. 
 De Marisco, and its submission was obtained, the Irish deeming 
 it wiser to peacefully submit than to have recourse to arms, as 
 they felt that " the English had at that time the ascendancy 
 over the Irish."* Fitzgerald again invaded and wasted both 
 Tirowen and Tirconnell (1250) ; O'Neill and O'Donnell were at 
 war (1252), and Fitzgerald and O'Neill (1253), in which O'Neill 
 was victorious, inflicted much loss on Fitzgerald and demolished 
 many of the English strongholds in the north. f A few years 
 later (1257), a determined effort was made by the English to 
 finally crush the power of Godfrey O'Donnell, and for this purpose 
 the Viceroy and Fitzgerald united their forces. Such a com- 
 bination must have been formidable in its strength, yet O'Donnell 
 put forth his best efforts and, unaided, except by the enthusiastic 
 clansmen of Tirconnell, he met the English at Drumcliff (in Sligo), 
 fought a desperate and long contested battle and finally prevailed, 
 though he himself was severely wounded, as was also his enemy 
 Fitzgerald, whom it is said he met in single combat. J This 
 heroic conduct of Godfrey O'Donnell entitled him to the best 
 thanks of every Irish chief, for, in defeating the English, he was 
 defeating their enemies as well as his own, and in his illness he 
 deserved the sympathy of his neighbour, O'Neill. But these 
 Irish'chiefs had no country but their clan, and instead of rejoicing 
 O'Neill was displeased at the success of O'Donnell, thinking, 
 no doubt, that so great a victory cast the greatness of Tirowen 
 into the shade. Believing that Tirconnell was at his mercy, 
 its forces weakened, its chief ill and unable to lead them, he 
 despatched messengers to O'Donnell demanding hostages. 
 O'Donnell was seriously ill, but he disdainfully refused to yield, 
 told these messengers of an ungenerous chief that Tirconnell 
 was still able to defend herself, bade his clansmen assemible from 
 all quarters and, borne upon his bed which he felt would soon 
 contain his corpse, he went with his clansmen to battle. On the 
 banks of Lough S willy the two armies met. The battle was 
 fierce and soon decided in favour of O'Donnell, but on the return 
 
 * Four Masters. 
 t Ibid. 
 
 X Ibid. The men of Tirconnell pursued the English to Sligo and burned 
 and plundered that town. 
 
LONG-CONTINUED TURMOIL. 253 
 
 to Tirconnell, at a place near Letterkenny, the litter on which 
 O'Donnell was carried was laid down and the heroic chieitain 
 expired.* 
 
 Had the various English chiefs — De Burgho, FitzGerald and 
 the rest — united under a single leader, with their superior forces 
 and superior arms, they would quickly have overborne the 
 Irish, and the native chiefs, lacking unity and cohesion and 
 fighting only for themselves, would have fallen one by one. 
 This would probably have happened if Ireland and England 
 were far apart. But the two islands were near, so near that 
 it was dangerous for an English subject to successfully revolt 
 against his king as De Courcy in his day had found ; yet, so far 
 apart that successive English Kings had paid but little attention 
 to Irish concerns_, had never effectually conquered it, and had 
 left their Viceroys at Dublin insufficiently supported, while a 
 number of powerful barons, impatient of control, despising 
 the feeble authority of the central government, had gradually 
 and imperceptibly risen to the position of independent rulers. 
 Intent on the acquisition of wealth and lands, they made peace 
 and war as they pleased ; if they united it was not for the English 
 King's interests but for their own ; even their own countrymen 
 they did not spare ; and in their treatment of Richard Marshall, 
 such was their unbounded rapacity, that they shamefully com- 
 bined for the purpose of spoliation and murder. This young 
 man was the son of William, Earl Marshall, who in the early 
 part of Henry's reign held the position of guardian of the kingdom 
 and whose ability and energy, more than anything else, had 
 driven the French out of England, and placed Henry without 
 a rival on the throne, f Through his mother, Isabel, daughter 
 and heiress of Eva and Strongbow, Richard had vast estates 
 in Ireland — almost all Leinster was his. Sharing the dissatisfaction 
 and even disgust of the English barons at the number of Henry's 
 French favourites, he rose in revolt in Wales (1230), but as Henry 
 made some promises of amendment, hostilities were suspended, 
 and during this interval of peace, Richard went to Ireland. 
 It was against the ruling English minister, the Bishop of 
 Winchester, more than against the King himself, that Richard 
 Marshall had risen in arms,| and this minister resolved to have 
 his revenge. Letters under the King's seal and bearing the 
 signature of the minister himself were addressed to Hugh and 
 Walter de Lacy, Richard de Burgho, Geoffrey de Marisco and 
 
 * Four Masters at 1258. He was succeeded by Donal Oge O'-Donnell. 
 
 t Lingard, Vol. II., pp. 189 et seq. 
 
 X Leland's History of Ireland. Vol. I.,- p. 212. So much was this so, 
 thac whenever Henry led the army in person Marshall would not oppose 
 him ; his opposition and emnity were for the foreigners} 
 
2 54 HISTORY OF IRELAND. 
 
 Maurice FitzGerald warning them that Marshall had been banished 
 from the realm and his estates forfeited and that, on his landing 
 in Ireland, they should capture him alive or dead, and in leturn 
 for this service they were to obtain possession of all his lands.* 
 These English lords were quite ready to compass the young man's 
 ruin on such favourable terms, and when he landed in Ireland 
 De Marisco pretended to be his friend, applauded him for his 
 rebellious conduct in England, and as«;ured him such was his 
 popularity and influence in Ireland, that if he raised the standard 
 of revolt he would easily defeat the King's forces, recover his 
 own castles, some of which had been already seized by the King's 
 officers, and might one day extend his power, not only over 
 Leinster, but over Ireland. Hastily mustering some troops, 
 he overran much ot Leinster and even captured Limerick, while 
 Fitzgerald, De Buigho and his fellow-conspirators offered but 
 a feeble resistance, for their object was to lure the young man 
 to his ruin. Desiring, they said, to stay the effusion of blood, 
 they proposed a friendly conference which was held on the plain 
 of Kildare. On one side was Marshall and De Marisco, on the 
 other Fitzgerald, De Buigho and De Lacy. Marshall had only 
 fifteen followers — fiom Wales — his ally and tiiend de Marisco, 
 had eighty, while on the other side were one hundred and forty 
 armed men. During the conference De Marisco advised 
 Marshall not to make terms but to fight it out, not to agree 
 even to a suspension of hostilities, and when this advice was 
 adopted, he coolly told him that he could not fight against his 
 relatives, the De Lacys, and marched away with his followers, 
 leaving Richard but 15 men to meet the attack of 140 men.f 
 Even then he disdained to yield, and telling his younger brother, 
 Waiter, to make his escape — as he did— he prepared to meet 
 the enemy's attack. His followers were soon cut down and 
 himself severely wounded and carried of^ a prisoner to one of 
 Fitzgerald's castles, where a treacherous surgeon was called 
 to attend him, and poison finished the work which the sword 
 had left unfinished. Yet the conspirators benefited little by 
 their treachery, for an outcry was raised both in Ireland and 
 in England ; the King was forced to disown his share in the plot, 
 and to swear that his signature had been forged ; and the brother 
 of the dead Earl was invested with all his honours and estates.^ 
 
 * Gilbert's Viceroys, p. 95. It appears the King's Seal was stolen 
 from the Chancellor and used without the King's knowledge, and to that 
 extent he was innocent. 
 
 t Matthew Paris, who has narrated these events in detail, is specially 
 severe on De Marisco, whom he names Achitophel. (Vid. Ware's Annals). 
 
 * Leland, Vol. I., pp. 213-18. Gilbert's Viceroys, p. 97. Four Masters 
 at the year 1234, the date at which these events happened. 
 
LONG-CONTINUED TURMOIL. 255 
 
 When the second half of the thirteenth century opened, the 
 position ot the native Irish was critical, and the indications were 
 that their final subjugation was near. In Desmond the 
 MacCarthys were making a gallant stand, but the frowning 
 castles ot the Geraldines were placed firmly in their midst 
 and were a standing and perpetual menace to their freedom. 
 The English castles ot Killaloe and Bunratty and the occupation 
 of Limerick warned the O'Briens that in Thomond their power 
 and territories were curtailed. Connaught trembled and suffered 
 under the afTfliction of De Burgho, and its native chiefs were 
 alternately his enemies or his slaves. The northern province, 
 so long secure against the invader, at last had tasted defeat 
 at his hands, and the waves of invasion and even of conquest 
 had swept over Tirconnell and Tiro wen. The various chiefs, 
 disunited and alone, fought their own battles and had not yet 
 advanced beyond the condition of the Britons in the time of 
 Tacitus, of whom he complacently observed, that while they 
 fought separately all were overwhelmed.* Feeling that unity 
 of action was essential, if their freedom was to be maintained, 
 O'Brien of Thomond, Felim O'Connor and O'Neill had a con- 
 ference (1258), at which O'Neill was proclaimed supreme king, 
 and the others professed their willingness to aid him. But 
 the conference was incomplete, for it was not attended by 
 MacCarthy of Desmond, and O'Donnell of Tirconnell held 
 sullenly aloof. The injury done to his province by O'Neill was 
 recent, his recollection ot it was bitter, and he had neither the 
 magnanimity nor the patriotism to forgive. Nor is it quite 
 certain that O'Brien submitted himself to O'Neill. His family 
 historian denies that he did,f that it would be a shame for the 
 descendant of the great Brian to hold a subordinate place, and 
 what supports this statement is that in the war which followed, 
 the forces of Thomond were not arrayed under the banners of 
 O'Neill. The new alliance was shortlived and barren of usefu 
 result. It perished on the tatal field of Downpatrick (1260), 
 where the English defeated the Irish under O'Neill and Felim 
 O'Connor, and in which O'Neill himself and many of the chiefs 
 ot Ulster and Connaught fell .J The usual result followed. De 
 Burgho ravaged Connaught and O'Donnell revenged himself 
 on Tirowen. Two years later, the Viceroy and De Burgho 
 plundered the Roscommon portion ot Connaught, while O'Connor 
 retaliated by attacking the English settlements in South 
 Connaught and killed all the English who were able to bear arms, 
 
 * Agricola^ Cap XII. " Singuli pugnant universi vincuntur." 
 
 t White's History of Clare, p. 127. 
 
 X Four Masters. Of one family^ the O'Kanes, fifteen chiefs fell. 
 
256 HISTORY OF IRELAND. 
 
 from Tuam to Athlone, and when this slaughter and pillage 
 were effected on both sides, he and De Burgho made peace, and 
 in the quaint language of the Four Masters, slept in the same 
 bed, cheerfully and contentedly ;* but such was the instability 
 of their friendship, that they were again at war next year. Felim 
 O'Connor died (1265), and was succeeded by his son, Hugh, 
 who made his " royal depredation in Offaly," f so that it appears 
 one of those chiefs commenced his reign by robbery, and that 
 such was considered honorable and expected. This Hugh 
 was a man of energy and for the few years that he reigned he 
 fought many battles and destroyed many English castles, nor 
 was his right to rule seriously questioned by any member of 
 his own family .J But when he died (1274), the O'Connors 
 again commenced to quarrel ; the position of chief was sought 
 for by a crowd of claimants among whom a man ot eminence 
 is sought for in vain. For forty years these feuds continued, 
 and raids and robberies and faction lights and murders make 
 up the history of Connaught. In 1278, a bastard, Hugh 
 O'Connor, was King, two years later he was killed and 
 Cahal took his place ; in 1288, after another series of quarrels, 
 Manus became King, and in -93-96, and again in 1306, the 
 Annals have little to say of Connaught except that the O'Connors 
 were at war ; and the years that followed, up to the battle of 
 Athenry (13 18), were but a repetition of the previous years. || 
 To these wars may be added, that the O'Rorkes and O'Connors 
 were at war (1266) ; the Welshmen ot Tirawley — the Barrets 
 and Cusacks (1281) ; the MacRannell of Leitrim (1302); the 
 O'Kellys of Hy-many and MacDermot (1308), and the O'Connors 
 and MacDermot, in the following year.** If we add, further, that 
 Connaught was plundered by Fitzgerald (1269), by De Burgho 
 (1270-86 and 91), and that De Burgho (in 13 10), quartered 
 his soldiers on the natives levying bonaght, in the 
 manner of the ancient Irish chiefs,!"^ we can form some idea of 
 what Connaught endured, wasted by domestic factionist and 
 foreign plunderer, whose people were strangers to peace or law, 
 and whose property and lives were so wantonly sacrificed to 
 cupidity and ambition. 
 
 The history of Desmond during these years is soon told. 
 
 * Four Masters., 1262. Both O'Connor and De Burgho were nearly 
 related. (Vid. O'Donovan's note.) 
 
 \ Annals of Loch Ce. 
 
 X Annals of Clonmacnoise, 1274J 
 
 II The 0' Conors of Connaught, pp. 117-37. 
 
 ** Four Masters. Loch Ce. An. Clonmacnoise. 
 
 ff Annals of Clonmacnoise. The De Burgho in question was WiUiam 
 a cousin to Richard, Earl of Ulster. 
 
LONG-CONTINUED TURMOIL. 257 
 
 Fineen MacCarthy long held his own against his powerful 
 neighbours, the Geraldines, but a determined effort was [made 
 to crush him, and Fitzgerald in his attack was aided by the 
 Viceroy and De Burgho. The battle was fought (1260), at 
 Greencastle in Kerry.* The chiefs of Desmond gathered round 
 MacCarthy, and the English were defeated with great slaughter, 
 several of the Fitzgeralds being killed ; and so many castles 
 were destroyed, and common soldiers slain, that, for the space 
 of twelve years, Fitzgerald lived merely on sufferance and was 
 unable to put a plough in the ground .f De Burgho again 
 attacked Desmond (1262), but was defeated ; Fineen MacCarthy 
 soon died, or was killed ; Fitzgerald recovered his position ; and 
 the MacCarthys must have sunk into impotence and obscurity, 
 as they disappear almost completely from the native Annals. 
 Not content with attacking Desmond, Fitzgerald also attacked 
 Thomond (-1273), and obtained submission from the ruling 
 prince, Brian, and about the same time there came to the district 
 an English nobleman — De Clare — who had got from Edward I. 
 large grants of land in Thomond. A quarrel was then raging 
 between two of the O'Briens, and one of them — Brian — to obtain 
 the support of De Clare, surrendered to him Tradree, a strip 
 of land along the Shannon. They became sworn friends, 
 and, to add to the solemnity of their oaths, some of the blood of 
 each was taken and mixed together in a vessel, a peculiarly solemn 
 form of sanction to their engagements. + Yet, no sooner did 
 De Clare feel his position secure than he treacherously seized 
 Brian (1277), had him tied to the tail of an untrained horse and 
 thus cruelly tortured him to death. Vengeance speedily over- 
 took the assassin. The O'Briens suspended their quarrels, 
 and fiercely turning on De Clare defeated him at Quinn ([1278), 
 pursued the retreating soldiers even into a neighbouring church, 
 burned the church over their heads, pursued the remainder across 
 the Shannon to Slieve Bloom, wrung from Fitzgerald, who had 
 aided De Clare, possession of his castle at Roscommon, captured 
 all De Clare's possessions, except the castle of Bunratty, and 
 left him nothing else that he could call his own within the wide 
 domain of Thomond. || For many years after that date the 
 province enjoyed peace, but when the ruling prince, Turlogh, 
 died (1306), quarrels arose as to the succession, the English 
 took sides, and what seems strange, while De Burgho fought 
 on one side, De Clare was on the other. These wars continued 
 
 * Four Masters. The battle was fought five miles east of Kenmare. 
 ■j- Hanmer, p. 400, who declares that the " Car ties played the devils 
 in Desmond." 
 
 % Annals of Clonmacnoise. 
 
 II White's History of Clare, pp: 132-3; 
 
 S 
 
258 HISTORY OF IRELAND. 
 
 for more than ten years, and Thomond presented a spectacle 
 of turmoil and strife which recalls and equals the quarrels of the 
 O'Connors. 
 
 The ancient enmity was continued and even seemed to 
 increase between Tirconnell and Tiro wen. The O'Neills invaded 
 Tirconnell (1275), and desolated much of it, but at, or near, 
 Newtownstewart they were encountered by Donal Oge O'Donnell 
 and were defeated, losing " men, horses, accoutrements, arms 
 and armour."* As if waiting to consolidate their strength, 
 both sides remained at peace for six years, and again their quarrels 
 were renewed. Tirowen was aided by the Ulster English and 
 at Desertereight (in the barony of Dungannon), Tirconnell was 
 overthrown with great loss, Donal Oge O'Donnell being among 
 the slain. These wars weakened the capacity of both provinces 
 for resistance, and Richard de Burgho, Earl of Ulster, marched 
 north (1286), and compelled O'Donnell to submit, and was able 
 to depose the chief of Tirowen, Brian O'Neill, and put a creature 
 of his own, Nial O'Neill, in his place. f As if to complete the 
 ruin of their territories, quarrels arose as to the succession (1290), 
 both in Tirconnell and Tirowen, the weakened provinces, no 
 longer able to resist, were next year invaded by De Burgho, 
 who pulled down one O'Neill and put up another, and who was 
 enabled to plunder Tirconnell with impunity, and he " plundered 
 the entire country both church and territory," and he did 
 not leave a cloth upon an altar, nor a mass-book, nor a chalice 
 in the churches of Kinel-Connell."J Ihere were fresh quarrels 
 between the O'Donnell princes (1295), and again, eight years 
 later, these quarrels were renewed. The result was easy 
 to foresee. De Burgho swept through Tirconnell (1305), and 
 far north, in the ancient territory of Innishowen, he planted an 
 English Colony and built a strong castle at Moville. 
 
 By this time the fairest portion of the ancient Kingdom of 
 Leinster was exclusively in English hands, but there was still a 
 MacMurrogh, who claimed to be the lawful representative of 
 its ancient kings. His possessions, compared to those of his 
 ancestors, were small, but his spirit was unbroken, and in his 
 territory at Wicklow, so great were his resources, that he was 
 able (1276), to inflict a crushing defeat on the English Viceroy, 
 De Geneville, in the passes of Glenmalure. || Surrounded by 
 powerful English lords — the Fitzgeralds and Birmingbams — 
 O'Connor still maintained his independence in Offaly, but its 
 
 * Four Masters. 
 t Ibid. 
 
 X Annals of Lock Ce. 
 
 II Annals of Clonmacnoise. The English were reduced to such straits 
 that they had to eat their horses: 
 
LONG-CONTINUED TURMOIL. 259 
 
 ruling chief, in an evil hour for himself, trusted the honour 
 of Birmingham, who in the guise of friendship invited 
 him and his chiefs to a banquet at his castle in Kildare (1305), 
 and then had them all foully murdered ; and in consequence 
 ever afterwards bore the name of " the treacherous baron."* 
 The ancient family of O'Mellaghlins still ruled in Meath, and 
 though its chiefs had not inherited all the lands, they had in- 
 herited the vigour of their ancestors. Art O'Mellaghlin could 
 boast at his death (1283), that he had destroyed twenty-seven 
 English castles in Meath,-}" and his successor, Carbry, was not 
 less vigorous and energetic, and when Butler of Ormond. 
 Birmingham, Fitzgerald and De Geneville — the heir of Walter 
 de Lacy — united in one powerful confederacy for his destruction, 
 he met them with undaunted front and hurled back their forces 
 in defeat. I And when the assassin's hand of his countrymen, 
 MacCoghlan, struck him down (i29o),|| there was no one, either 
 native or foreigner, to question the right of another O'Mellaghlin 
 to succeed. 
 
 The numerous wars and battles between the Irish and English 
 and between the Irish themselves had inflicted many miseries 
 on the inhabitants, both of Irish and English descent. To these 
 wars must be added the wars and battles and contentions between 
 the great Anglo-Irish lords, from which miseries as great, and 
 often greater, arose. The De Burghos and Fitzgeralds and 
 Birminghams and Butlers were now the owners of vast 
 estates, knew no law except their own wills, and were never 
 restiained by the Viceroy, whom they either despised or ignored. 
 De Burgho and Fitzgerald quarrelled and fought (1264), so 
 that the greater part of Ireland was destroyed between them ;** 
 De Burgho seized all Fitzgerald's castles in Connaught and 
 plundered his people, and the same year Fitzgerald quarrelled 
 with the Viceroy and took him and Theobald Butler prisoners 
 in the consecrated church of Castledermot, in Kildare.ff In 
 the wars of Desmond de Burgho and De Clare were on opposite 
 sides ; Richard de Burgho and Fitzgerald were again at war (1294) 
 Fitzgerald had his enemy taken and thrown into prison in 
 consequence of which " all Ireland was thrown into a state of 
 disturbance. "JJ — a statement easy to believe, as these two were 
 
 * Annals of Clonmacnoise . His castle was at Castle Carbury, 
 County Kildare. 
 
 t Ibid. 
 
 X The battle was fought near Croghan in King's Countyg 
 
 II Annals of Clonmacnoise. 
 
 * * Four Masters. 
 
 tt Grace's Annals : Hanmer; 
 It Four Masters. 
 
260 HISTORY OF IRELAND. 
 
 the most powerful men in Ireland. In right of his mother, 
 the daughter and heiress of Hugh De Lacy, de Burgho was 
 Earl of Ulster, and to his enormous possessions in Connaught 
 he had added the estates of De Lacy; while Fitzgerald had estates in 
 Connaught and could call most of Desmond his own, and, besides, 
 was allied in marriage with De Clare and Geoffrey de Marisco. Nor 
 did these two nobles desist from their quarrels except through the 
 personal mtervention of Edward I. Two years later, both 
 De Burgho and Fitzgerald aided Edward in his war in Scotland, 
 as they did at a later date (1303), his son and successor, Edward 
 II.* In their absence there was peace in Ireland, but a few 
 years later (113 11), De Burgho and De Claie were at war in 
 which De Burgho was victorious, though himself was taken 
 prisoner .f From all this it will be seen that the translator of 
 the Annals of Clonmacnoise does not exaggerate, when he says 
 " that there reigned more dissensions, strifes, wars and debates 
 between the Englishmen themselves than between the Irishmen." 
 The dissensions among the Irish were the cause of most of their 
 miseries : the dissensions among the Anglo-Irish were the cause 
 why the conquest of Ireland was indefinitely delayed, and the 
 agony of the country indefinitely prolonged. 
 
 * Four Masters, 1 296-1 303. 
 
 f Annals of Clonmacnoise. It was William de Burgho, or Burke, not 
 the Red Earl (Richard de Burgho.) 
 
CHAPTER XIX. 
 The Anglo-Normans and the Church. 
 
 The Bull of Adrian — The Synod of Cashel — Its decrees — Laurence O'Toole — 
 His character and death — His successors — Irish bishops usually English 
 born — Henry de Londres — The Anglo-Irish lords destroy the churches 
 of the Irish and build churches and monasteries in their place — 
 The Canon Regulars of St. Augustine — The Cistercians, their popu- 
 larity, power and degeneracy — Remonstrance of Donal O'Neill. 
 
 If the Bull of Adrian be taken as an authentic document, 
 and if its words truly represent the actual condition of Ireland 
 at the time it was issued, then, assuredly, the Irish Church had 
 fallen low. Henry was encouraged to proceed to Ireland, to 
 extend the limits of the Church, to check the torrent of wicked- 
 ness, to reform evil manners, to sow the seeds of virtue and to 
 increase the Christian religion. The Pope's language assumes 
 that the Christian religion had, at least from part of the country, 
 disappeared, for otherwise it would not be necessary to speak of 
 extending the limits of the Church ; and a land where wickedness 
 progressed unchecked with the strength and force of a mountain 
 torrent, where the people's manners were evil, and where the 
 seeds of virtue had perished, amid the surrounding wilderness of 
 crime and sin, was a land in which religion had lost its power 
 to influence the people's conduct for good. Such did Ireland 
 and the Irish appear in the mind of the Pope, such was it repre- 
 sented to be by the agents of Henry II — a land without religion 
 and without morals. To carry out his promise to the Pope, to 
 establish religion where none existed, to pluck up the weeds of 
 vice and have the Church in Ireland as a cultivated garden — 
 this was what the King undertook to do, and he made a beginning 
 by calling the Synod of Cashel.* And the enactments made at 
 that gathering give a more accurate view of the disorders that 
 prevailed, than we can gather from the exaggerated words of 
 Adrian IV. 
 
 * Laniganj Vol. iv., pp. 204-8. None of the northern bishops were 
 present except perhaps the Bishop of Clogher. 
 
262 HISTORY OF IRELAND. 
 
 With the concurrence of Henry's representatives, the Papal 
 Legate, the Archbishops of Cashel, Dublin and Tuam and their 
 suffragans and many other ecclesiastics — abbots, archdeacons, 
 priors and deans, it was decreed, that marriages between cousins 
 and kinsfolk should cease, that children should be catechised 
 outside the church door and infants baptized at the consecrated 
 fonts in the baptistries of the church, that tithes should be paid 
 and that ecclesiastical possessions should be free from the exactions 
 of secular men, that petty kings or other such should no longer 
 quarter themselves and their retainers on ecclesiastical terri- 
 tories,* that the clergy should no longer be liable for fines due 
 as the result of a murder perpetrated by one of their kindred, 
 that every good Christian should make his will at death, that 
 those who died after a good confession should be buried with 
 masses and vigils and that the divine ofifices should be celebrated 
 in conformity with the practice in England .f The justice and 
 equity ot these decrees is apparent. Those who die a good death, 
 in the eyes of the Church, have a right to the Church's prayers, 
 those who made their wills before death were but providing against 
 the litigation and ill-feeling that so often is the consequence of 
 intestacy, and it was surely a grave injustice that a clergyman 
 who had no connection and no sympathy with murder yet should 
 be liable to a hne,l because the murderer happened to be of his 
 blood, for the equitable connexion is that punishment should 
 follow culpability and not innocence. Nor was it inequitable 
 that Church possessions should be exempt from the exactions of 
 rapacious laymen. These possessions were the offerings of piety, 
 given to the Church and its ministers, so that they might be 
 able to discharge their spiritual functions with all the decencies 
 required, and the donors never intended that they should be 
 harassed and impoverished by every turbulent chief, usually accom- 
 panied as he was by a crowd of hungry and dissolute retainers. 
 The regulations as to catechising children in thechurch and as to 
 baptisms regarded what was appropriate, rather than what was 
 necessary : and all we can deduce from the other decrees is — 
 that tithes in some instances were not paid, that the offices in 
 the church differed in some respect from those in England, as 
 in the time of Gillebert they differed in the Irish churches 
 themselves, and that marriages were still contracted within the 
 prohibited degrees of kindred. But for doctrinal errors, for 
 
 * This was the practice of Coskery, whereby the chief and his retainers 
 quartered themselves at the people's houses, eating and drinking at their 
 expense. (Harris's Ware, Vol. II., p. 75.) 
 
 t Catnbrensis, pp. 232-4. 
 
 X This was the money compensation called Eric, which almost in every 
 case was the punishment for murder prescribed in the Brehon Law. 
 
THE ANGLO-NORMANS AND THE CHURCH. 263 
 
 anything which could make the creed of the Irish church different 
 from that of Rome, or of England, for peculiarities even of 
 discipline in serious matters — for such as these we seek in vain 
 in the Synod's decrees.* Even the old worn out charge of 
 Pelagianism is not revived, and the disputes about the tonsure 
 and Easter belonged to the distant past. Malachy was dead, 
 but it was evident that he had not laboured in vain, that the 
 impress of his zeal remained, and that he had left successors who 
 were earnest in continuing his work. 
 
 At the Synod of Cashel the Papal Legate was Christian, 
 Bishop of Lismore, a man of piety and zeal, but the most remark- 
 able figure among the bishops was Laurence O'Toole, Archbishop 
 of Dublin. Born in Kildare and baptised at the shrine of St. 
 Bridget,! his father was hereditary chief of the Hy Murray, a 
 clan which, driven from Kildare J to the mountain district of 
 Imaal in Wicklow, were for centuries yet to maintain their inde- 
 pendence ; his mother was of the race of the O'Byrnes, similarly 
 driven from Kildare to Wicklow, and equally warlike as the 
 O'Tooles. His father had been at war with MacMurrogh, King 
 of Leinster, and had been defeated by him, and the king, as a 
 pledge of O'Toole's submission, insisted that young Laurence 
 should be given him as a hostage. But the lad was treated with 
 the greatest severity ; the manner of his treatment became 
 known to his father, who retaliated by making war on 
 MacMurrogh, defeated a detachment of his troops, and captured 
 twelve of them. Negotiations followed, the captured soldiers 
 were exchanged for Laurence, who, selecting the Church as his 
 calling, was sent by his father to the School of Glendalough to 
 be trained. It was the school of St. Kevin, founded by him 
 centuries before and which still inherited his virtues as it hallowed 
 his memory ; and in that school young Laurence O'Toole spent 
 thirteen years until, at the early age of twenty-five years, he 
 was appointed abbot of Glendalough. His talents and piety 
 attracted widespread notice, and, in 1 162, he was called to the 
 See of Dublin, being consecrated by Gelasius, Archbishop of 
 Armagh. His zeal, his charity, his humility, his contempt for 
 wealth, his capacity for administration, his popularity with all 
 classes were as conspicuous at Dublin as at Glendalough. He 
 introduced into Christ Church the rule of the Regular Canons 
 
 * Lanigan, Vol. IV., p. 210. Lanigan notes that there is no mention 
 made of Peter's pence, which was specially mentioned in Adrian's Bull. 
 
 t Healy's Ancient Schools and Scholars, pp. 433-446. 
 
 \ They occupied the south-eastern portion of the present county of 
 Kildare, and were driven from this fertile district shortly after St. Laurence's 
 death (1280), by Walter (Baron) de Riddlesford, who had his castle at 
 Tristledermot or Castledermot {Book of Rights, p. 210.) 
 
264 HISTORY OF IRELAND. 
 
 of Aroasia, he adopted the same rule for himself and wore the 
 dress of the Order under his episcopal robes, and such was his 
 charity that sixty persons were daily fed from his bounty.* His 
 efforts to bring the Irish chiefs together in resistance to the 
 invaders were those of a patriot, but he soon became convinced 
 that success was impossible under the lead of such an imbecile 
 as Roderick O'Connor, and after the Ardri was defeated near 
 Dublin, the Archbishop quietly accepted the inevitable and 
 acquiesced in the Anglo-Norman conquest of Dublin and of 
 Leinster. But he refused to accept the invaders estimate of 
 themselves, rapacity and cruelty and immorality he knew well 
 to be their characteristics ; he had no faith in Henry H. as a 
 church reformer, and although he attended the Synod of Cashel 
 and accepted the supremacy of the English king, he had no 
 enthusiasm for the rule of the stranger, and in the interest both 
 of the country and of the church he looked to the future with 
 dread. So much did Henry fear his high character, his dis- 
 interestedness, his clear vision of the future, his independence 
 of speech, that when Laurence was passing through England, 
 on his way to the second Council of Lateran (11 79), Henry 
 compelled him to take an oath that he would say or do nothing 
 at Rome, prejudicial to the King's interests in Ireland. f He 
 feared that Laurence would speak the truth and, if so, the Pope 
 could leatn that Ireland was not so black as it was painted by 
 Henry's agents, nor had Henry himself changed much from 
 those days, when he persecuted a Beckett. The next year 
 Laurence died. He had gone to Normandy with the son of 
 Roderick O'Connor to be left as a hostage with Henry II. On 
 his way he was taken ill and sought refuge at the monastery of 
 Eu, and there he died, on the 14th November, bewailing the 
 misfortunes that had come upon his country and sighing over 
 the senseless divisions among her sons, from which he saw, as 
 in a vision, so many misfortunes would arise.! A church which 
 could boast of such a man^ a saint in life, a saint at death, and 
 canonised by the Church, but forty years after his death, was 
 not altogether past redemption. 
 
 By the side of St. Laurence the Anglo-Norman clergy, who 
 came to Ireland in the wake of Strongbow, stand in no favourable 
 contrast. In their day the Normans of all lands were conspicuous 
 for prowess in war. No weapon was more fatal than the Norman 
 lance, no enemy more feared than the Norman knight. Bold, 
 
 * D'Alton's Archbishops of Dublin^ p. 54. 
 
 fit was on this occasion the Pope appointed Laurence, Papal Legate 
 in place of Christian, who was old and feeble. (Lanigan, Vol. IV., p. 238 ; 
 Healy, p. 443.) 
 
 + Even Giraldus calls him " a worthy and just man." (p. 292.) 
 
THE ANGLO-NORMANS AND THE CHURCH. 265 
 
 daring, adventurous, brave even to rashness, independent in 
 spirit, yet ready to submit to the harshest discipline, when imposed 
 by their chosen chiefs, using their arms with unequalled dexterity, 
 appalled neither by dangers nor numbers, they wandered far in 
 search of conquest and renown ; and the extent of their dominions 
 in Sicily and Italy and England attests the magnificence of their 
 success. Little scrupulous as to means, they readily used treachery 
 and deceit to attain their ends ; their march was often but 
 organised plunder ; their castles but robbers' dens, whence they 
 issued to despoil the surrounding inhabitants. But these harsher 
 features of the Norman character were redeemed by some great 
 virtues. The noble who had no learning himself aspired to be 
 its patron and supporter ; religion seemed powerless to restrain 
 him from violence and injustice, but he respected religion in 
 others, loved to pose as the champion of the Church, spilt his 
 blood freely in its defence, and generously gave to its ministers 
 part, and often large part, of the lands which his good sword 
 had won. On the field of Senlac, the conqueror built Battle Abbey 
 for the monks of the Holy Trinity* ; the Norman knight, 
 Giroie, had six churches built on his estates f ; out of the plunder 
 of the enemy the successful warrior built churches and liberally 
 endowed them, and the most powerful nobles held themselves 
 cheap if they had not on their domains some establishments of 
 monks or clergy, provided by them with whatever was necessary 
 for the service of God. J 
 
 The superior culture of the clergy, apart from their religious 
 character, gave them influence and authority and they were 
 often called upon to fill the highest civil offices in the State. 
 The virtuous and religious took Holy Orders, because they felt 
 it was their vocation, and in the midst of the world they maintained 
 their purity and innocence. But the ranks of the clergy were 
 often recruited from a less desirable class, men of worldly ambition 
 greedy of honours and riches, of the influence which learning 
 conferred, of the position to which it might lead. Such men 
 had little ot the clerical spirit. They were statesmen, diplomatists, 
 judges ; and sometimes the episcopal robes were exchanged for 
 the sword and lance ; and the case of the Bishop of Coutances 
 does not stand alone, who, at the head of his army, fell on the 
 West Saxons (1069), '^^^ slew some of them, mutilated a number 
 of the prisoners and put the rest to flight. || Such men held light 
 the obligations of their calling. Looking to the court for prefer- 
 
 * Ordericus Vitalis. History of England and Normandy (4 Vols. 
 Bohn), Vol. II., p. 2. 
 
 t Ordericus Vitalis, Vol. I., p. 390. 
 t Ibid., Vol. I., p. 382. 
 II Ibid., Vol. II., p. 26. 
 
266 HISTORY OF IRELAND. 
 
 ment they became abject flatterers and were repaid by their 
 princes " by gifts ot bishoprics and abbeys and other offices of 
 power and dignity which ought to be conferred for the merits 
 of holiness and learning."* And there were other vices with 
 which their characters were stained. The son of the Bishop of 
 Bayeux was at the court of Henry I.,t a son of the Bishop of 
 Salisbury was Chancellor of the kingdom (1139),+ and at the 
 Synod of Rouen (i 119), a law had to be enacted prohibiting the 
 secular clergy from having concubines, an abuse which was 
 widespread and not at all of recent date.|| The Anglo-Norman 
 clergy, who came to Ireland, were not unworthy to be associated 
 with these, for St. Laurence O'Toole deprived 140 of them of 
 power to officiate in his diocese because of their incontinence, 
 and directed them to go to Rome for absolution.** If such men 
 were to reform the Irish Church, it was only just to ask that they 
 should begin by reforming themselves. 
 
 After the death of Laurence O'Toole the see of Dublin was 
 left vacant for nearly a year. The Chapter could not proceed 
 to elect a successor without the King's conge-d'elire, and the 
 King saw no special urgency for filling the vacant see. Its 
 revenues were not so large as some of the English bishoprics, 
 yet they were not inconsiderable, and they were appropriated by 
 Henry as long as the see was vacant. But in September, 1181, 
 the King's licence was issued to the Dublin Chapter, but he 
 took good care to have his own nominee selected ; the Chapter 
 were summoned to meet at the Benedictine Abbey of Evesham, 
 in Worcestershire, and under royal pressure which they were 
 powerless to resist they selected a monk of that abbey, an 
 Englishman, named John Comyn. Henry wanted no Irish 
 Archbishop, no man whose sympathies would be with the natives, 
 who, like Laurence, would resent their being treated with in- 
 justice, who would stand forth as their champion and boldly 
 challenge their oppressors. The new Archbishop was after the 
 King's own heart. He was not even a priest — only a deaconff — 
 
 * Ordericus Vitalis, Vol. II., p. 52. 
 
 t Ibid., Vol.j II., p. 429 
 
 X Ibid.. Vol. IV., p. 210. 
 
 II Ibid., Vol. IV., pp. 29-30. 
 
 ** Lanigan, Vol. IV., pp. 241-2. They must have been all, or nearly 
 all, Anglo-Normans, as this occurred in 1179, and neither at the Synod 
 of Cashel or at any other Synod up to that date, was there any evidence 
 that the Irish priests were incontinent ; one of the decrees of Comyn's Synod 
 — the 1 3 th — shows the contrary (Vid D' Alton's Archbishops of Dublin p. 74): 
 
 If Stokes' Ireland and the Anglo-N orman Church, pp. 206-9. He 
 was ordained priest, March 13th, '82. Consecrated bishop, March 21st. 
 Giraldus says he was made Cardinal, but this is a mistake. (Harris's Ware^ 
 Vol. I., pp. 314-15-) 
 
THE ANGLO-NORMANS AND THE CHURCH. 267 
 
 he was Henry's supporter in the struggle with a Beckett, he had 
 gone to Rome more than once to negotiate on the King's hehalf, 
 he held high civil employment, he had even gone circuit as judge. 
 He was a courtier and a diplomatist, rather than an ecclesiastic 
 desirous only of discharging his spiritual duties ; and such little 
 regard had he for his obligations that he continued to reside in 
 England after his election had been ratified by the Pope ; nor 
 was it until the autumn of 1184, three years after his election, 
 that he set foot in his diocese of Dublin. Nor did he, after coming 
 to Ireland, remain there but, on the contrary, spent much of 
 his time in England. He was there in 1 186, two years later ; he 
 was in Normandy as an intermediary between Henry H. and 
 his son, Richard ; he was at the coronation of Richard (1189), 
 and later on (1199), at the coronation of John ; and while he 
 was thus engaged and absent from his diocese, the episcopal 
 duties were discharged at Dublin by some neighbouring bishop, 
 perhaps by some native bishop, who had episcopal orders 
 but no diocese. One Synod he held (1186) at which 
 many salutary decrees were passed in relation to the cele- 
 bration of Mass and the administration of the Sacra- 
 ments and also prohibitions against simony and incon- 
 tinence, and this is the only evidence we have that he 
 troubled himself about the spiritual administration of his 
 diocese.* But if he neglected the spiritual duties he enlarged 
 the temporal possessions of his see. He got large grants of lands, 
 he was the recipient of many privileges from the kings, he had 
 the see of Glendalough annexed to Dublin, and he also grasped 
 the abbey of Glendalough and all its lands.f He was created a 
 baron of Parliament, he had the powers of a lord palatine and 
 set up Courts and had his sheriffs and seneschals and even his 
 gallows for the execution of criminals^ ; and he resented with 
 vigour and energy any encroachment on his powers, either by 
 the Mayor of Dublin or the King's Viceroy. || 
 
 Comyn's successors were of the same character as himself. 
 Their names indicate their origin — De Londres, De Sandtord, 
 De Derlington, De Hotham, De Ferrings, De Bicknor — there 
 is nothing Irish in the sound of these names. Ot the twenty- 
 three Archbishops from St. Lawrence to the Reformation, not 
 one was Irish.** Previous to his appointment as Archbishop 
 
 * Harris's Ware, Vol. I., pp. 316-17. 
 
 t Stokes, pp. 216-17. 
 
 X Ibid., pp. 219-20. 
 
 II His quarrels with Hamon de Valoynes the Viceroy, were so serious 
 that Comyn excommunicated his opponent j and at length the Pope, Innocent 
 III., had to intervene; (Gilbert's Viceroys, p. 57.) 
 
 ** Stokes, p. 205; 
 
268 HISTORY OF IRELAND, 
 
 of Dublin, De Lond res was Archdeacon of Stafford,* his successor 
 was Dean of St. Martins le Grand, at London, De Sandford 
 was Archdeacon of Middlesex,! and it was the same story with 
 the rest of them — all were English. If, perchance, they were 
 born in Ireland, they were none the less English — English in 
 descent, in speech, in manners, in prejudices, not understanding 
 the Irish, nor caring to understand them, having no sympathy 
 with them, and regarding their language and manners as that 
 of a rude people and an inferior race. Successive English Kings 
 took care to have an Archbishop at Dublin who was in sympathy 
 with their views, and even agents in carrying out their policy. 
 And whenever possible it was the same elsewhere. In Armagh 
 English power was of slower growth, English influence could 
 not make itself so much felt, but the intrigues of English kings 
 were incessant, their influence was great, nor were their efforts 
 always unsuccessful ; and if among the list of Primates we find 
 the distinctively Irish names of O'Scanlan (1261-70), and 
 MacMolissa (1272-1303), we find also the names of Taafe 
 (•1305-6), and De Jorse (i 306-11), and FitzRalph (1347-60), 
 which are as distinctively English. J Even in Tuam, which 
 was so much farther removed from Dublin, English influence 
 was felt, and when the archbishopric became vacant in 1235, 
 the Dean and Chapter reported the vacancy to Henry III., and 
 prayed foi the issue of a conge d'elire and when granting it, 
 Henry directs them to chose a man able to rule the church, 
 faithful to the King and useful to the kingdom. || Edward I. 
 gave a licence to the Dean and Chapter of Achonry (1286), to 
 elect a successor to Denis, late Bishop of Achonry,* * and similar 
 licences were given about the same time for electing a bishop 
 at Ardfert, an archbishop at Cashel, and a bishop at Killaloe, 
 Elphin, Ross, and Clonmacnoise.ft As lord paramount of the 
 Irish chiefs the King claimed the right to interfere in all these 
 episcopal elections and for the same reason, when Henry II. 
 was making his grants of lands to the Anglo-Norman 
 lords, he specially reserved for himself and his successors 
 the appointment of bishops, or at least the right to 
 interfere when such appointments were being made.:{:J His 
 
 * D'Alton's Archbishops of Dublin, p. 79. 
 
 t Ibid., p. 95. 
 
 X Ware's Bishops {Archbishops of Armagh.) 
 
 II Stokes, p. 314. 
 
 ** Calendar of State Papers (1285-92), (Sweetman)j pp. 107-8. The 
 King's request was that the chapter should elect a devout marij fit to rule 
 the Church and be faithful to the King. The piety of these Kings,- as 
 shown in the State Papers, is remarkable. 
 
 ft Ibid., Preface. 
 
 XX Mant^ History of the Church of Ireland, Vol. I., p. 9: 
 
THE ANGLO-NORMANS AND THE CHURCH. 269 
 
 expectation was that they would be of assistance in carrying 
 out his policy. 
 
 In some cases, notwithstanding the manner in which they 
 were appointed, these bishops displayed a sturdiness of spirit 
 little to the taste of English kings. They protested against 
 the practice of the King taking possession of the temporalities 
 of a see, while the see was vacant. They protested against 
 their tenants suing in the secular courts, at least without the 
 Pope's consent. The Archbishop of Armagh and his suffragans 
 entered into a compact to protect each other against encroach 
 ments from any lay power or jurisdiction.* And when the 
 Parliament of Kilkenny (1346), granted a subsidy to Edward III. 
 for state purposes, the Archbishop of Cashel opposed its being 
 levied within his province, and with his suffragan bishops decreed 
 that any of their clergy who should contribute were ipso facto 
 deprived of their benefices, and the laity who were their tenants 
 and who subscribed should be ipso facto excommunicated. 
 They even went beyond this and excommunicated all those 
 who had granted the subsidy itself.f Such boldness was 
 displayed chiefly, if not solely, by those of Irish birth, whose 
 sympathies were Irish and who viewed with disfavor and distrust 
 the arrogance of a foreign king. And so displeasing was 
 their conduct that it was declared expedient by the King, that 
 Irishmen should never be archbishops or bishops, because they 
 always preach against the King and provide their churches 
 with Irishmen to maintain their language.^ With those of 
 English birth or descent there was rarely any such trouble. 
 It is not the dress that makes the monk : the courtier raised 
 to the episcopate, remained a courtier still. His worldly spirit, 
 his ambition, his servility to his royal master remained, and 
 under the bishop's mitre and the episcopal robes, the time server 
 and the place hunter could be discerned. And their pliancy 
 was rewarded. They were trusted and favoured by successive 
 English kings ; they filled great civil offices ; and more than 
 one bishop filled the highest office in the land, the office of 
 Viceroy. 
 
 What manner of men these were we can learn from the 
 life and acts of Henry de Londres. Where he was born, or 
 when, or where he was educated, we do not know. But he 
 was certainly English, his abilities were of a high order ; 
 he was educated for the Church, and took at least some Orders, 
 
 * Mant, History of the Church of Ireland, Vol. I.^ pp. 15-16; 
 f Mant, p. 18. The names of these bishops, Mac Molissa in Armaghj 
 and Kelly in Cashel indicate their nationality (Ware's Bishops.) 
 X Sweetman's Calendar, pp. 9-103 
 
270 HISTORY OF IRELAND. 
 
 SO as to be qualified for Church preferment. Like many others 
 so educated he was but little employed in ecclesiastical offices ; 
 his abilities attracted the notice of King John, who had little 
 talent himself but appreciated it in others and was ready to 
 make use of it ; and De Londres from time to time was called 
 to fill many civil offices by his sovereign. He went through 
 Berkshire, as judge of Assize (1199),* and some years later was 
 one of the judges of the King's Bench at Westminster. He 
 was ambassador to the King of Navarre (1201), and later on 
 to Otho of Germany and his nobles ; and he was sent to Ireland 
 (12C4), to negotiate on the King's part with Cahal Crovderg 
 O'Connor. In the dispute between the King and the Pope he 
 acted as the King's envoy and did his best to reconcile them. 
 John had much patronage in his hands, and it was by this 
 means he rewarded De Londres. He gave him a church living 
 in London (1202), two years later, he got another at Norwich, 
 and yet another at Coventry, and these were added to, in the 
 next year, by the addition of two more church livings. Nor 
 was he yet satisfied, for in 1207, he got a prebend at Exeter 
 and another at Leicester, and in the next year he was made 
 Archdeacon of Stafford and also Dean of Shrewsbury, and 
 finally, on the death of John Comyn (12 12), he became Arch- 
 bishop of Dublin. Even in Dublin he kept all his church livings 
 in England and even got an addition — the Deanery of Penkridge, 
 in Staffordshire — the ecclesiastical duties attached to these 
 offices being performed by deputy. The revenues of the See 
 of Dublin had been greatly augmented by Comyn, and besides 
 there were the revenues of the See and Abbey of Glendalough, 
 yet such was the rapacious avarice of De Londres that he wished 
 for more, and resorted to at least one dishonest trick for which 
 history has justly affixed a stigma on his memory. He summoned 
 all his ecclesiastical tenants in Dublin before him, directing 
 them to bring all papers, leases, titles, and such like with them, 
 which demonstrated the nature of their rights to the lands they 
 held, and when he had got possession of all such papers, in the 
 very presence of these outraged and disgusted tenants, he threw 
 the documents into the fire.f His evident object was to have 
 these tenants at his mercy, so that he could impose on them 
 what terms he pleased. For this act he was nicknamed 
 "scorch-villein," and earned the just execration of all. That 
 such a man should claim exemption from taxes and that through 
 his bailiffs he should even seize wines, cloths and victuals be- 
 longing to the citizens and not pay for them J will excite no 
 
 * Stokes, p. 254. Ware's Bishops. 
 
 •}• Ware's Bishops. 
 
 \ Gilbert's Historic and Municipal Documents-, p; 74: 
 
THE ANGLO-NORMANS AND THE CHURCH. 27 1 
 
 surprise for the passion of avarice carries men far. But for a 
 courtier and a favourite, who had so long studied the caprices 
 of kings, we are a little surprised that he should encroach on 
 the royal prerogatives, in having lay cases tried in the ecclesiasti- 
 cal courts, in having a pillory erected on the public highway, 
 and having gone so far in this direction, that Henry III. declared 
 his proceedings were strange and even incredible.* From 
 12 1 3 to 121 5, and again from 12 19 to 1224, he was Viceroy of 
 Ireland. A man who filled so m^any offices and was much 
 concerned with civil affairs had but little time for purely spiritual 
 duties, yet he sometimes remembered he was a bishop. He 
 attended the council ot Lateran (121 5), and he held a Synod 
 at Dublin (12 17), at which stringent regulations were made 
 as to the celibacy of the clergy, their attendance at Synods, 
 the visitation of the sick, and the ceremonies to be employed 
 by priests when so engaged. f Like Antiochus, perhaps, in 
 his old age, he remembered the evils he had done, rightly 
 thinking that while he could not altogether neglect temporal 
 concerns, yet, that in attending to his spiritual duties he was 
 more profitably employed. 
 
 While the Anglo-Norman lords were precluded from inter- 
 fering in episcopal elections, still their influence on the destinies 
 of the Church was great. Like their countrymen in England 
 and Normandy, each of these adventurers was ambitious to 
 build churches and found monasteries, and they began by 
 destroying the churches already in existence. After the synod 
 in Dublin at which Vivian presided (1177), it may be assumed 
 that the practice of storing provisions in the churches became 
 less common, but with the obstinacy which was one of their 
 peculiarities the people sometimes did so, hoping that the churches 
 would be respected. But the Anglo-Normans were bent on 
 plunder as well as conquest, and were not willing that even the 
 churches should be spared. They were counselled to pay a 
 fair price for whatever they took — the wolf was allowed into 
 the sheepfold, but was told to treat the sheep with tenderness, 
 and the counsel was hearkened to as might be expected. De 
 Courcy plundered the churches of Ulster on his march and took 
 the Bishop of Down prisoner (1177), J FitzAdelm de Burgho 
 burned Armagh (1179), including all the houses of the Canons 
 Regular and all the churches, except the house of the Canons 
 Regular ot St. Bridget, and the church of the relics. || His 
 
 * Gilbert's Historic and Municipal Documents, pp. 75-78. 
 
 t D'Alton's Archbishops of Dublin, p. 85. Stokes, p. 267, note. 
 
 X Lanigan, Vol. IV., p. 232-3. 
 
 II Stuart's Historical Memoirs of Armagh (ed., Coleman), p. 8$. 
 
272 HISTORY OF IRELAND. 
 
 descendant William de Burgho imitated his violence in Connaught 
 (in 1 202), preyed and spoiled the Abbey of Knockmoy of all things 
 whatsoever, both great and small, and then marched through 
 Connaught plundering all the churches on his march.* And 
 Philip of Worcester wasted Armagh (1184), for six days in suc- 
 cession, exacted heavy fines from the clergy, and to such an 
 extent was everything portable or of any value interfered with, 
 that even a large cauldron,| or brewing pan was carried away. 
 Lest the provisions which the churches contained should fall 
 into the hands of their enemies, the Irish destroyed the churches 
 themselves, and thus attacked both by native and foreigner, 
 of all buildings the churches fared worst, and, roofless, 
 empty and desolate, they marked the track of the invader. 
 It is seldom and with reluctance that Giraldus has anything 
 harsh to say of his own countrymen, but he has to confess that 
 they not only neglected to make any offering to the Church 
 of Christ, not only are the honours and thanks due to God un- 
 acknowledged by any gift of the prince and his followers, but 
 the Church was^robbed of its land and possessions, and its ancient 
 rights and privileges were annulled. I The poor clergy are 
 reduced to beggary. The Cathedral Churches which were 
 richly endowed with broad lands by the piety of the faithful 
 in old times now echo with lamentations for that ot which they 
 have been robbed by these men and others, who came over 
 with them, or after them, so that to uphold the Church is turned 
 into spoiling and robbing it.|| Over large tracts of the country 
 all that remained of these churches, founded by the piety of 
 past ages, were some blackened and sightless ruins. 
 
 After sin comes repentance, and after these deeds of violence 
 and sacrilege, the Anglo-Normans began to consider that it 
 was time to repair the ravages they had done. They set about 
 the task in characteristic Norman fashion. The Irish they 
 heartily despised — their soldiers, their arms, their tactics, or 
 rather want of tactics, in war, their language and manners 
 the style of their buildings, even their saints did not escape 
 criticism, and Giraldus declares that these Irish saints were of 
 a vindictive temper.** St. Patrick indeed they revered, and 
 not even the most enthusiastic, or the most credulous, among- 
 the Irish have multiplied his miracles to such an extent as Jocelin, 
 
 * Annals of Clonntacnoise. 
 
 t Stuart's Armagh, p. 87. Tirell, who took away the cauldron, was 
 struck with horror and restored it, " but afterwards perished in a miserable 
 manner." 
 
 X Cambrensts, p. 318. The prince in question is John: 
 
 il Ibid., p. 176. 
 
 ** Ibid-i p. III-. 
 
THE ANGLO-NORMANS AND THE CHURCH. 273 
 
 the monk of Furness :* and his master, De Courcy, whatever 
 he may have thought of St. Columba, made good use of his 
 name in his invasion of Ulster, and appealed to the reverence 
 and fears of the natives, as the knight foretold in the Saint's 
 prophecy. But of that large number of pious men, who were 
 reverenced by the people as saints, and whose live? had made 
 sacred so many hills and glens and wells and streams — ^all such 
 as these the Anglo-Normans either ignored or despised. Out of 
 the stones of the ruined churches they would build new 
 churches and monasteries, but it would be under the patronage 
 of their own Norman Saints, it was their names the churches 
 would bear, it was Norman Orders of monks that would inhabit 
 the monasteries, and the buildings themselves would be modelled 
 on the well-known principles of Norman architecture.! When 
 De Courcy took possession of Down, he drove the secular Canons 
 from the place and established in their stead a Benedictine 
 monastery with monks from St. Werburgs in Chester. The 
 Benedictine abbey of Corrig he filled with monks from Furness 
 in Lancashire, and the priory of Neddrum, in the same county 
 he made subject to St. Bega's abbey, in Cumberland. I De 
 Lacy established a monastery at Duleek of the Canons Regular 
 of St. Augustine but made them subject to that of Llanthony, 
 in Monmouthshire ; and when Geoffrey FitzRobert established 
 a house of the same Order at Kells in Kilkenny, he brought 
 the monks from Bodmin in Cornwall. || During the twelfth 
 and thirteenth centuries, these Anglo-Normans founded in 
 Ireland seven monasteries filled with the Regular Canons of 
 St. Victor, seven more filled with the Premonstre Canons ; 
 and of the Cruciferii, or Crutched Friars, an Order evolved out 
 of the Regular Canons of St. Augustine but of a stricter dis- 
 cipline, there were thirteen houses founded. Of the Benedictine 
 Order there were founded thirteen monasteries and convents, 
 and of the military order of St. John of Jerusalem there were 
 seventeen houses.** These orders were all of foreign origin ; 
 they were unfamiliar to the Irish, and they were in every case 
 filled with English, or at least ruled by those of English sym- 
 pathies and English extraction. 
 
 At the Anglo-Norman invasion, there were nearly 200 
 monasteries and convents in Ireland living under the rule of 
 
 * He wrote the Life and Acts of St. Patrick in Latin ; it has been 
 translated into English by Swift (1809). 
 
 t The same might be said of England, where Norman influence was 
 predominant and nowhere more so than in the Church. 
 
 X Lanigan, IV., pp. 253-4. 
 
 II Ibid., p. 321. 
 
 ** Harris's Ware^ Vol. II.5 pp. 270-3. 
 
 T 
 
274 HISTORY OF IRELAND. 
 
 St. Augustine. To say that they were all Augustinian monks 
 and nuns would be indefinite and misleading, for St. Augustine 
 drew up no Rule, in the same sense that St. Benedict did, but 
 he recommended some women under his direction to live in 
 community and to renounce private property, and in time the 
 idea was borrowed and put in practice by priests. They were 
 originally Canons of Cathedrals, who lived in community, but 
 did not renounce private property, nor constantly follow any 
 rule. For such there were many decrees of Popes and Councils 
 directing them to live under a rule and to renounce private 
 property, which many, but not all, did. Those who did were called 
 Regular Canons of St. Augustine. The vast majority of the 
 monasteries in Ireland, founded by the old Irish saints as far 
 back as the sixth century, gradually adopted this rule, and before 
 the twelfth century these inmates were known as Canons Regular 
 of St. Augustine. They were not secular priests, as they lived 
 in community and had no private property, yet they were 
 charged with the duties of the mission, and so far were ap- 
 proximated to the secular priests. As they were already 
 popular in England, they were countenanced and patronised 
 and in many cases richly endowed by the Anglo-Normans ; 
 and no fewer than nine priors of these monasteries had seats 
 in the Irish Parliament.* 
 
 But of all the Irish monasteries there was no Order so 
 favoured by the foreigners and none which acquired such in- 
 fluence and power as the Cistercians. An offshoot of the 
 Benedictine Order, the Cistercian was founded in the eleventh 
 century by those of the Benedictines who saw with regret its 
 former strictness and fervour degenerate into laxness, and who 
 wished to be members of an Order with a stricter discipline. 
 The new Order, with its headquarers at Citeaux, rapidly increased, 
 but at no time was its fame greater than when it numbered St. 
 Bernard among its members. He joined the Order at Citeaux 
 ^i 1 13), and such was the ardor with which he mortified himself, 
 such the rapidity with which he increased in virtue, such the 
 administrative ability he showed, that though only 25 years old, 
 and but two years in the Community, he was permitted by his 
 superiors to leave Citeaux with twelve companions and established 
 a new house of the Order at Clairvaux. He loved to commune 
 with nature, with the trees and rocks and hills, believing that 
 they could teach him more than any masters could : f and 
 
 * Catholic Dictionary. These nine were the priors of Christ Church 
 and All Hallows (Dublin) of Connell, Kells, Louth, Athassel^ Killagh, 
 Newtown and Raphoe. 
 
 f St. Bernard}s Works. Translated by Eales, Vol. I., p. 353 (Letter to 
 Henry Murdoch^.- 
 
THE ANGLO-NORMANS AND THE aiURCH. 275 
 
 in his new home his love was gratified. Situated in the diocese 
 of Langres, between two mountains and in a valley, wild, gloomy 
 and thickwooded, the monks had to undergo many hardships. 
 They dug and ploughed, they pulled up the useless shrubs, and 
 planted in their stead the oak, the lime tree, the ash and the 
 beech. The stream which ran through the valley they divided 
 into channels, to irrigate their garden, to supply the necessities 
 of their various workshops, to turn their mill-wheel. The 
 monks built their own cells, as they did the abbey itself ; they 
 fished in the stream ; they ground their corn ; they baked their 
 bread ; they brewed their own beer; they cultivated their orchard 
 and their garden ; and under their skilful and patient toil the 
 trees grew fast and bore fruit in abundance, and one side ot the 
 mountain, hitherto barren, became fertile with vineyards and 
 the other fertile with corn.* When St. Malachy of Armagh 
 visited the place, more than twenty years after its foundation, 
 his pious soul was charmed with everything he saw — the quietness 
 and peace of the valley, the serenity of the monks, their life 
 of austerity and labour and prayer, their contentment with 
 the coarse food they ate and the coarse garments they wore 
 their thankfulness to God for what they possessed, for the 
 water that rushed through the valley, for the shade afforded 
 by the trees, for the colours and scent of the flowers that bloomed. 
 His wish was to remain there himself, but as this could not be 
 done he sent two monks from Ireland to be trained under St. 
 Bernard, and after an interval, they, with others from Clairvaux, 
 returned to Ireland and founded (1141), the first Cistercian 
 monastery at Mellifont.f In sending them St. Bernard said 
 he was sending a little seed,J and the seed quickly developed 
 and produced fruit. The Benedictines loved to build their 
 monasteries on the tops of the mountains ; the Cistercians by 
 contrast loved the valleys, and Mellitont, like Clairvaux, was 
 built in a valley, its situation being on the river Mattock, some 
 three or four miles west of Drogheda, just bordering on the 
 county of Meath, being itself in Louth. To the Irish, who had 
 seen their own monasteries decay, and the spirit of self-sacrifice 
 grow feeble among their monks, the new Order was hailed with 
 welcome. Their poverty, their labour, their abstemious diet, 
 their coarse white garment— emblem of their puirty — their 
 deep spirit of prayer, their entire detachment from the world 
 their devotion to the Mother of God — always so popular in 
 Ireland — attracted the admiration and esteem of aL. The 
 
 * Si. Bernard's Works, Vol. ll., pp. 460-7. 
 
 I Mellifont is described and its history given in a little book of 45 pages 
 ■ ' Mellifont Abbey ; its rise and downfall" by an unknown author. 
 \ St. Bernard's Works, Vol. ll., p. 897. (Letter to St. Malachy). 
 
2/6 HISTORY OF IRELAND. 
 
 native chiefs became eager to found and endow one of these 
 monasteries on their own territories ; the Anglo-Norman lords 
 were equally zealous ; and in little more than half a century 
 40 Cistercian monasteries were spread throughout the land.* 
 Wealth and worldly power will always corrupt the morals 
 and weaken the fervour of religious communities, and these 
 baneful influences were soon at work within the walls of the 
 Cistercian monasteries. The generous donation of lands soon 
 placed them beyond the necessity of labouring for their support ; 
 they no longer dug and ploughed as of old, but employed labourers 
 instead, and the priors of their monasteries, raised to the dignity 
 of spiritual peers, became statesmen and politicians. St. Bernard 
 saw with disfavour, and even with horror, an abbot going forth 
 with a retinue of 60 horsemen ; f he could not understand how 
 the same person could be clothed in armour and march at 
 the head of armed soldiers and then, having laid aside his armour 
 and vested in alb and stole, read the Gospel in the midst of the 
 church, at one time give the signal for battle with the trumpet, 
 and at another convey the orders of the bishop to the people ; 
 and he thought it was no part of clerical duty to bear arms at 
 the pay of the King, nor any part of the royal duties to 
 administer lay affairs by means of clerics. | Yet, a century 
 after his death, these things were seen and noted among the 
 abbots of his own and of other monasteries in Ireland. To the 
 penal enactments against the Irish and the proscription attached 
 to their language and dress and manners, the abbots of Mellifont 
 and their brethren of Baltinglass and Dunbrody and Jerpoint 
 and Bective were consenting parties. || The Prior of the 
 Augustinian monastery at Conal held high military command, 
 and was as ready and as quick to slaughter the Irish as Strongbow 
 or Raymond le Gros ; and the warlike proclivities of this prior 
 were not unusual. English King and Irish Viceroy displayed 
 the keenest anxiety to have these Abbots and Priors English, 
 at least in sympathy, if not by birth ; the abbot in turn looked 
 askance at native monks in their monasteries and often denied 
 admittance to native born. A statute was passed at Kilkenny 
 (11310), prohibiting religious houses in the English parts of 
 Ireland from admitting as a member of their community anyone 
 except of English blood. A few years later (1322), it was again 
 ordered that no one should be admitted into the Abbey of 
 Mellifont, unless he could swear that he was of English descent. 
 
 * Harris's Ware, Vol. 11.; pp. 274-6. 
 
 t Works, Vol. I., p. 278, note. (Letter to the Abbot of St. Denis). 
 
 + litd. Vol. I., pp. 285-6. 
 
 II They were members of the Parliaments which enacted such laws. 
 
THE ANGLO-NORMANS AND THE CHURCH, 277 
 
 The Kilkenny Statute was repealed by Edward II., and at a 
 general chapter of the Cistercian Order the decree regarding 
 Mellifont was described as damnable, and abbots were warned 
 to admit worthy members, no matter what their nation.* In 
 the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries it was necessary to call 
 in the aid of the mendicant Orders — the Dominicans and 
 Franciscans, and Carmelites — for in too many cases the Cistercian 
 and Augustine Canons appeared to have neither the leisure 
 nor the inclination to confine themselves to spiritual concerns. 
 
 In his letter, or Remonstrance to the Pope (131 5), Donal 
 O'Neill had much complaint to make against these Anglo-Irish 
 ecclesiastics — ^bishops, abbots and monks. He complains of 
 the statute just referred to which was passed at Kilkenny, and 
 reminds the Pope that " the monasteries for monks and Canons 
 from which in modern times the Irish are thus repulsed were 
 founded for the most part by themselves. "| Not merely the 
 lay or secular English, but even their religious, asserted the 
 doctrine that it was no more sin to kill an Irishman than a dog, 
 or any other animal. And some of these monks af^rm if it 
 were to happen to them, as it often does, that they should kill 
 an Irishman, they would not for this refrain from the celebration 
 of Mass for a single day. And he instances the case of monks 
 of the Cistercian Order at Granard and Inch, who publicly 
 appeared in arms and slaughtered the Irish, and yet celebrated 
 their Masses notwithstanding. A century and a half after 
 the Invasion, the Irish Church might be described as in an 
 unhealthy condition, and not even the strongest partisans of 
 the Anglo-Normans could declare that the cause of religion or 
 morality had advanced. The weeds which Henry II. was to 
 destroy still remained, and in the meantime even a more plentiful 
 crop had grown. 
 
 * CoXj Hibernia Anglicana, p. 100. Stuart's Armagh, pp. 115-16,- 
 (Coleman's Supplementary Notes). It seems quite evident that the Irish 
 and English monks did not agree : and it is only fair to remark that if 
 the English excluded the Irish, the Irish in turn excluded the English 
 from their own monasteries. {Letter of Edward II. to the Pope). Stuart, 
 p. 116. 
 
 \ King's Church History of Ireland, Vol. III.j pp. 11 19-35.- 
 
CHAPTER XX. 
 
 The Invasion of Bruce. 
 
 Friendly relations between the Irish and Scotch — Robert Bruce in Ulster — 
 The Old Irish — No hope of unity among the native chiefs — Miserable 
 condition of the people — Donal O'Neill appeals to the Pope — Edward 
 Bruce invited to Ireland — Arrives in Ulster — Joined by O'Neill — 
 Overruns the north-east of Ulster — The Anglo-Irish lords meet at 
 Kilkenny — Richard de Burgho marches into Ulster — Bruce and Felim 
 O'Connor — Bruce defeats De Burgho at Connor — Roger Mortimer 
 near Kells — And Butler near Athy — Some minor defeats of the Irish 
 -Battle of Athenry — Bruce captures Carrickfergus — Arrival of King 
 Robert of Scotland — The Bruces before Dublin — March to Limerick 
 but retreat — Robert Bruce returns to Scotland — Battle of Faughart. 
 
 In the early part of the fourteenth century the relations 
 between the native Irish and the Scots were those of sympathy 
 and friendship, nor was this friendship recent, either in origin 
 or growth. The Dalriadian Scots, who left Ireland in the early 
 part of the sixth century, soon obtained a firm foothold in Scotland 
 and when their independence was recognised at the Convention 
 of Drumcat, they increased in influence and power until, about 
 the middle of the ninth century, Kenneth MacAlpine, having 
 conquered the Picts,* the seat of government was transferred 
 to Dunkeld, thence to Abernethy, and finally to Scone. The 
 two races — the Scots and Picts — coalesced and united under a 
 single chief, and Scotland was able to fight long and successfully 
 against her powerful antagonist in the South. Similar in manners 
 and habits, speaking languages one of which was but a dialect 
 of the other, drawn together by the recollection of their common 
 origin, both Irish and Scotch, as the ages passed, regarded each 
 other as relatives and friends, and in the wars between England 
 and Scotland, the sympathy of Ireland was always on the Scottish 
 side. This sympathy grew in intensity after the Anglo-Norman 
 invasion of Ireland. Both nations were then fighting the same 
 
 In the year 838, according to Robertson.- {History of Scotland): 
 
THE INVASION OF BRUCL. 27Q 
 
 enemy, battling against the same threatened subjugation, suffer- 
 ing the same manner of ills from the same hands. The attractive 
 power of common suffering and common sorrow is strong ; and 
 the Irish followed with interest the heroic struggle of their 
 kindred across the water, and heard with unbounded delight 
 that under an able Scottish leader, opposed by an incapable 
 English one. victory had declared at Bannockburn for the Scots, 
 and the standard of the English had gone down. 
 
 But it was in Ulster especially that the triumph of Bruce 
 was heard of with the greatest exultation. It was from Ulster 
 the Scots had gone in the sixth century to Caledonia.* The 
 distance across from Antrim to Cantire was small, the inter- 
 course between the two countries was frequent ; there is reason 
 to believe that some of the Ulster Irish aided Bruce in his wars ; 
 and when Robert Bruce met with temporary defeat, he was 
 sheltered in Ulster, and for a time lived at Rathlin Island, off 
 the coast of Antrim.f The Ulster chiefs, with Donal O'Neill at 
 their head, asked themselves could not Ireland follow where 
 Scotland led, could not she also assert her freedom, and in doing 
 so could she not appeal for aid, and with confidence, to Bruce, 
 who had already struck off the fetters from Scotland's limbs. 
 If the Irish chiefs could even then suspend their quarrels and 
 cordially unite for the purpose of destroying English power in 
 Ireland, they might perhaps succeed, but it was useless to expect 
 such unity. Three centuries had passed since Clontarf, but never 
 once, during that period, had all the Irish princes united for 
 any common object, and they were still as disunited as ever. 
 In every province some of the best of the lands had already 
 passed under English sway. The old Irish in the conquered 
 districts were reduced to a state worse even than that of slaves ; 
 their property gone, their lives and liberty insecure. The natives 
 who dwelt near the English settlers were for ever harassed by 
 military expeditions, not knowing the day nor the hour when 
 their lands would be seized their houses destroyed, their lives 
 sacrificed. The territories over which the native chiefs ruled 
 were gradually shrinking in extent, much of their possessions 
 had already become the prey of rapacious English lords, who 
 were yet unsatisfied and coveted what remained in Irish hands. 
 The only hope of the Irish lay in combination, yet, with an 
 infatuation without parallel, they would not combine. Each 
 chief was mindful only of his own clan and of preserving what 
 remained of his diminished power ; he still regarded a neigh- 
 bouring chief with envy, regretted his success, and willingly 
 
 * From Dalriadia in Antrim. 
 \ Gilbert's Viceroys, p. 133. 
 
28o HISTORY OF IRELAND. 
 
 obtained English aid for his overthrow. To explain the inter- 
 minable dissensions among the Irish chiefs, it is not suf^cient to 
 say that these dissensions were bred by the clan system under 
 which these chiefs lived. Political systems are created by the 
 people ; the people are not necessarily wedded to any one system 
 for ever ; these institutions ought to be changed and mended 
 to suit the changing of the times ; and a people less quick-witted 
 than the Irish could not but know, whatever the clan system 
 was in the early ages of their nation, that in the fourteenth 
 century it was as much out of place in Ireland, as the government 
 of the Patriarchs would be in the highly civilised states of modern 
 Europe. Nor was it the common people, nor even the lesser 
 chiefs, who set their faces against change. They respected, as 
 the Irish always do, what was ancient and venerable, but they 
 must have ceased to respect a system which kept them for ever 
 at war and under which peace and security were unknown, and 
 if they did not desire a change so many of them would not have 
 petitioned from time to time to be placed under English law. 
 The initiative was left to the greater chiefs, and they showed no 
 anxiety for a change. Each of these chiefs was willing to be supreme 
 but he would be content with no secondary position. Their 
 pride and vanity forbade it. Blind to the future, they refused 
 to learn from the past, sacrificed without shame or scruple the 
 lives of their clansmen, and transmitted to their descendants 
 the inheritance of discord which they had received. 
 
 Hopeless of bettering their condition through the unity of the 
 native chiefs, the Irish sometimes appealed to the English king 
 for the protection of English law, but they usually appealed 
 in vain. Henry III., when appealed to by those who lived in 
 the midst of the English settlers and who had neither the protec- 
 tion of Irish nor of English law, commanded his Viceroy to see that 
 they were governed by the laws of England, but the Anglo-Irish 
 lords frustrated this design. They knew that if the Irish were 
 under English law, they would have a subject's redress against 
 injustice and could not be robbed nor murdered with impunity. 
 There is a feeble letter from Henry III. to these lords (1246), 
 praying them to permit the enforcement of English law* — so 
 powerful were these lords, so little subject to any authority, 
 that they were thus supplicated by an English King. A similar 
 letter was addressed to the Viceroy, Ufford (i28o),t but the 
 Anglo-Irish lords again defeated its purpose ; and the Irish who 
 lived within the shadow of English power were still left without 
 
 * Leland's History of Ireland, Vol. I., pp. 224-7. 
 
 \ Ibid:, pp. 244-5. But the Irish would have to pay for getting the 
 English law extended to them. They had offered 8000 marks for the 
 privilege. (The O' Conors of Connaught, pp. 11 8-1 19.) 
 
THE INVASION OF BRUCE. 28 1 
 
 the protection of English law. Nor does it"^ appear that the 
 English king was always anxious to protect the Irish from 
 injustice, or to establish peace among them. In the reign of 
 Edward I. there were contentions between the MacDermotts and 
 O'Connors of Connaught, and Ufford, the Viceroy, was summoned 
 to England by the King to answer why these disturbances were 
 not repressed (1278), and the answer given was that in policy 
 he thought it expedient to wink at one knave cutting off another, 
 that would save the King's coffers, and purchase peace to the 
 land whereat the King smiled and bade him return to Ireland.* 
 
 With native chiefs warlike, restless and turbulent, seldom at 
 peace and seldom allowing those within the range of their influence 
 to be at peace, with an alien aristocracy grasping, greedy and 
 insatiable, with English kings not always friendly, but always 
 careless or impotent to protect them, the lot of the native Irish 
 was pitiable. The peasant who tilled his fields knew not how 
 soon his crops would be wasted and destroyed, nor how 
 soon the cattle which he tended with care would become the 
 prey of some rapacious fixebooter ; and if he lay down peacefully 
 to rest, he might be awakened by the light of his blazing home. 
 His property and his life were at the mercy of every English 
 plunderer, and against the evil doer there was no redress, for 
 the Englishman could not be made amenable to Irish or Brehon 
 law, nor had the Irishman the right to appeal to an English 
 judge. Men will not bear silentlj' and without protest the 
 infliction of wrong. When a government will not restrain the 
 wrong-doer, nor protect the peaceful from injustice, the most 
 timid and hesitating will have recourse to violence ; and if the 
 native Irish of the period suffered at the hands of the English 
 settlers, they sometimes retaliated, and inflicted on their perse- 
 cutors some of the injuries they had received. Along the coast 
 and inland, in the province of Leinster, were a few towns tenanted 
 principally by English, where trade flourished and where the 
 merchant and the artisan pursued their avocations m peace, 
 witnin the shelter of the town walls, while outside, violence and 
 disorder raged. But these towns which had not a surrounding 
 wall weie as defenceless as the open country, and an event which 
 occurred at New Ross (1260), is specially mentioned, where a 
 horseman entered the streets, bargained with a merchant for a 
 piece of cloth and then, seizing the cloth, rode away without 
 paying, an event which caused all the citizens, even the women, 
 to join in building a wall round their town.f 
 
 In the Remonstrance of Donal O'Neill to Pope John XXII. 
 
 * Hardiman's Statute of Kilkenny — Introduction, p. 24s 
 f D'Arcy Magee's Art MacMurrogh, p. 129. Appendix. 
 
282 HISTORY OF IRELAND. 
 
 there is a detailed account given of the state of Ireland and the 
 ills under which the Irish groaned. They had been already driven 
 from the most fertile of their lands, from the plains to the bogs 
 and mountains, and even here they were insecure — their propeity 
 was taken, their lives sacrificed with impunity, for if an Irishman 
 committed a crime he was dragged before an English tribunal, 
 where he was fined or imprisoned, or perhaps put to death, but 
 an Englishman, who committed the same crime against an 
 Irishman, was allowed to go free. The English had repeatedly 
 declared that it was no crime to kill an Irishman ; and the calcu- 
 lation is made that by the sword alone, since the Invasion, at 
 least 50,000 of both nations had been killed.* Treaties with the 
 Irish these English settlers readily made, and broke with equal 
 readiness, and special mention is made of the treachery of 
 De Clare, who broke faith with O'Brien and had him cruelly 
 tortured to death (1278), and of Birmingham, "the treacherous 
 baron," who slaughtered O'Connor of Offaly and his chiefs, 
 while they were guests at his table, nor do these cases stand 
 alone. Bishops and priests were treated with every indignity 
 and were so cowed that they were afraid even to complain, f 
 and monks of Irish birth were excluded from those establishments 
 which their own countrymen had built and endowed. So anxious 
 were the Irish for peace and security, that they had — at least 
 several of them had — appealed to the English king through 
 Lord John Hotham, offermg to hold their lands by English 
 tenure, but their appeal had not met with the courtesy of a reply .+ 
 Donal O'Neill reminded the Pope that one of his predecessors, 
 Adrian IV., by false representations and by his partiality for 
 England, had granted Henry II. dominion over Ireland, but 
 that he had done so for the good of Ireland itself and in the hope 
 that it would prosper under English rule. He now instanced 
 the evils his country had suffered and was suffering still, his 
 countrymen and himself had no hope of getting justice from 
 England, and had, in consequence, invited Edward Bruce, 
 brother of King Robert of Scotland, to come and reign over 
 them and they hoped he would receive the Pope's blessing and 
 support. John XXII. did not grant the prayer of the Remon- 
 strance ; he had no love for the Bruces ; King Robert was already 
 excommunicated, and far from approving of Edward Bruce's 
 
 * King's Church History, Vol. III., p. 11 23. 
 
 t King, p. 1 124 ; " they were strangely influenced by a slavish timidity." 
 % Ibid., p. 1 1 32. They offered even that the English king should 
 divide the land between them and the Anglo-Irish, whom they call the 
 middle nation, " so widely different in their principles of morality from 
 the English of England and from all other nations, that they may be 
 denominated — not of any middling but the most extreme degree of perfidy. 
 
THE INVASION OF BRUCE. 283 
 
 invasion, he even warned the Irish against supporting him and 
 threatened with excommunication those who did.* Yet the 
 Remonstrance impressed him strongly, and though he did not 
 answer Donal O'Neill directly, he wrote to the English king, 
 warning him and advising him that the Irish should be treated 
 with greater justice.f 
 
 In the meantime, Edward Bruce had received the invitation 
 to come to Ireland. His brother, Robert, did everything to aid 
 him, nor was he displeased thus to get rid ot an aspiring and 
 ambitious brother, who had already shown himself disagreeably 
 active, acquiesced with reluctance in the position of a mere 
 subject and had put forth a claim to share the dominion of 
 Scotland with his brother.;]: All preparations being made, Edward 
 Bruce sailed, and in May, 131 5, landed at Larne, in the county 
 of Antrim. He had with him 6000 men, well armed in the 
 English fashion, experienced in war, inspired with the memory 
 of recent victory, and he had leaders already tried and proved, 
 such as the Earl of Moray, Menteith, John Campbell, Bissett 
 and others. II He was cordially welcomed by Donal O'Neill, who, 
 in the hope of seeing an united Ireland, sacrificed his own hereditary 
 rights, as the descendant of Nial, and swore allegiance to Edward 
 Bruce ; the other leaders, Irish and Scotch, followed his example 
 and, amid the acclamations of the whole army, Bruce was 
 proclaimed King of Ireland. In the north-east of Ireland the 
 ancient inhabitants had been driven from the lands on which 
 their ancestors had lived and beheld with envious eyes these 
 same lands in the hands of the English settlers, the descendants 
 of the adventurers who had come to Ulster with De Courcy, or 
 had been subsequently planted there by De Lacy, or De Burgho. 
 Against these was directed the first fury of Bruce's attack. Their 
 lands were wasted, their crops destroyed, their castles and even 
 their churches levelled to the earth. The Mandevilles, the Savages, 
 the Bissetts, the Russells and the rest combined, but their united 
 forces were quickly overthrown. They retired to Carrick- 
 fergus but the place was attacked and taken, a remnant shut 
 themselves up in the strong fortress of the town and maintained 
 their position against repeated attacks, and this garrison alone 
 remained to the English Colonists, while the town and country 
 
 * Leland, Vol. I., p. 275. In his communication to Robert Bruce 
 (13 16), the Pope styled him noble lord and refused him the title of King,- 
 and when he heard of the expedition to Ireland, he excommunicated him. 
 (Lingard, Vol. m.j pp. 19-20.) 
 
 •f King's History, pp. 1136-39. 
 
 + The O' Conors of Connaught, p. 131. 
 
 II Grace's and Clynn's Annals ; also Four Masters. Loch Ce and Annals 
 of Clonmacnoise. 
 
284 HISTORY OF IRELAND. 
 
 round had fallen into the invaders' hands.* In a rapid march 
 Bruce proceeded southwards, destroying the property of the 
 settlers as he passed, and by the end of June he had captured 
 Dundalk and Ardee, the church of the latter town in which some 
 had taken refuge he set on fire and burned both the church and 
 the people within its walls.f 
 
 From the English king the new Irish king had little to fear. 
 Edward II. had fled, defeated and disgraced, from the field of 
 Bannockburn ; | such a king was unlikely to defend his Irish 
 possessions with ability or vigour, and if the Anglo-Irish lords 
 could not resist the invader, then English power in Ireland was 
 doomed. But these Anglo-Irish lords were powerful and wealthy, 
 and the lands which their own swords, or the swords of their 
 ancestors had won they were not likely to relinquish without a 
 struggle. They had often fought among themselves, but the 
 present was a time to suspend their quarrels, in unity alone 
 was strength and salvation ; and for the purpose of concerting 
 measures of defence they met in Council at Kilkenny. || The 
 Viceroy, Butler, was there, so also were Fitzgerald of Offaly and 
 Birmingham and De la Poer of Waterfoid and many others. 
 The most powerful of all the Anglo-Irish was absent — Richard 
 de Burgho, the Red Earl, as he was called. But he was not 
 indififerent to the events that were taking place. As Earl of 
 Ulster his possessions in the northern province were enormous, 
 the district devastated by Bruce was either his or his vassals, and 
 from his castle at Gal way he contemplated with rage his castles 
 and lands in Ulster destroyed and pillaged and the homes of his 
 vassals laid waste. His power was so great that he could scarcely 
 be called a subject, and in public documents his name was placed 
 before that of the Viceroy. And his power was not greater than 
 his pride. He despised the other Anglo-Irish, disdained to take 
 counsel with them and deemed himself alone able to cope with 
 and to conquer this presumptuous Scotchman, who had dared 
 to invade his territory. His retainers throughout Connaught 
 obeyed his summons and a strong army was soon assembled at 
 Athlone. With the O'Connors, discord had done its work. They 
 were little better than the vassals and dependents of De Burgho ; 
 they dared not disobey his mandate ; and the ruling prince — 
 Felim O'Connor — with his forces had also gone to Athlone. 
 
 The whole army thus composed marched eastwards through 
 
 * Annals of Clonmacnoise. Dowling's Annals at 13 14. If Bruce was 
 opposed by the Bissetts, there was also a Bissett in his own ranks. 
 
 f Grace's Annals. 
 
 X He did not draw rein till he reached Dunbar. (Lingard, Vol: Ills 
 p. 12.) 
 
 II Clynn's Annals; the date was the beginning of June, 1315. 
 
THE INVASION OF BRUCE, 285 
 
 Westmeath and Meath, nor was their progress less destructive 
 in these districts than that of Bruce in Ulster. Some little distance 
 south of Ardee De Burgho met the Viceroy, Butler, proceeding 
 north to encounter Bruce, but the Red Earl bade him go back, 
 haughtily told him that he and his vassals would oveicome the 
 Scots and that Bruce's head should soon fall.* Butler returned 
 south, and De Burgho and his army came up with Bruce near 
 Ardee. The forces of the Red Earl were strong, probably superior 
 in numbers to the Scottish and northern Irish, and, under the 
 advice of Donal O'Neill, Bruce fell back and took up a position 
 on the river Bann, whither he was followed by De Burgho. The 
 two armies were on the opposite banks of the river, De Burgho's 
 on the east bank, Bruce's on the west ; the opposing soldiers 
 discharged arrows at each other across the river ,f and in this 
 irregular and desultory fashion the campaign was prolonged, 
 De Burgho anxious to engage in a general battle, which Bruce 
 was equally anxious to postpone. He had hopes of disengaging 
 Felim O'Connor from his alliance with De Burgho, was secretly 
 negotiating with him, and at length succeeded in his object. 
 He assured Felim that Connaught would be restored to him in 
 full, freed from the hated English, and represented to him that 
 in fighting with De Burgho he was fighting against his own 
 and his country's best interests. Another reason, also, weighed 
 with Felim, for a rival prince — Rory O'Connor — had already 
 denounced him as the ally of the English, had met with much 
 support from the native chiefs and had even intrigued with Bruce, 
 who told him to wage war against the English in Connaught, 
 or elsewhere, but to leave Felim unmolested. J With apparent, 
 though insincere regret, Felim announced to his ally that he 
 should return west ; and when he had gone, De Burgho, feeling 
 himself inferior to the enemy, commenced to retreat. He fled 
 eastwards towards Ballymenaandata little village named Connor,|| 
 he was overtaken (Sep. loth) and compelled to give battle. The 
 contest was stubbornly fought, but the victory was decisive and 
 crushing, De Burgho's army was swept off the field, his best 
 soldiers were killed, his bravest knights were among the slain, 
 his brother, William, was taken prisoner, a remnant of the army 
 found refuge in the castle of Carrickfergus,* * the remainder with 
 their leader fled south, harassed by the pursuing enemy ; and 
 the Red Earl, who had gone forth from Connaught with such 
 
 * The 0' Conors of Connaught ^ p. 133. 
 
 \ Ibid., Annals of Clonmacnoise. 
 
 X Annals of Loch Ce. 
 
 tj The village lies four or five miles south-east of Ballymenaj 
 
 ■** Grace's Annals, p. 67 
 
286 . HISTORY OF IRELAND. 
 
 confidence, returned without an army, baffled, defeated and 
 disgraced. 
 
 Except the castle of Carrickfergus, no spot in Ulster now 
 owed allegiance to the English ; all had been conquered by 
 the victorious Bruce, nor was his progress stayed as he marched 
 south, through Louth and Meath, until he reached Kells.* His 
 opponent at that place was Roger Mortimer ,t who, by his marriage 
 with the heiress of Geneville, had inherited the lands and castles 
 of Walter de Lacy. Mortimer's army numbered 15,000 but 
 their opposition was futile, the tide of Bruce's success still rolled 
 on, his enemies were scattered, and Mortimer fled to Dublin 
 and embarked for England. Bruce pursued his journey through 
 the north of Meath, Westmeath and Longford, then turning 
 south again into Westmeath, he set up his headquarters at 
 Loughseudy, rested and refreshed his army, and spent there 
 the Christmas of 13 15. He was joined by some of the De Lacy 
 family — Hugh and Walter — who protested that they were the 
 rightful heirs of Meath and who rejoiced at Mortimer's overthrow. | 
 Early in the new year Bruce was again active and at Arscoll, a 
 little east of Athy, he met a strong Anglo-Irish army under 
 Butler. The number is said to have been up to 30,000, much 
 more than could be with Bruce, but the Anglo-Irish leaders 
 quarrelled among themselves, the result of divided counsels was 
 weakness and confusion, and Bruce was again the victor. But 
 provisions were wanting, these wars had swept the country bare, 
 want of food prevented any further advance and Bruce was 
 compelled to retreat northwards. He set up his headquarters 
 at Dundalk and there, on the ist of May, 13 16, in the presence 
 of the Scotch and Irish, he was crowned King of Ireland under 
 the title of Edward I. || 
 
 So far the career of Bruce in Ireland was one of unbroken 
 triumph ; everywhere he appeared he was victorious ; but his 
 friends had not been equally successful. The O'Tooles and 
 O'Byrnes from the mountains of Wicklow had swooped down 
 on the English, and Bray and Newcastle had been set in flames 
 and the O'Mores had risen in Leix. But these different clans 
 had fought separately, without unity of purpose or plan, and 
 they had fought in their saffron shirts, while the English were 
 covered with coats of mail. The result was easy to foresee. The 
 
 * Marlborough's Chronicle. 
 
 t He was married to Maud de Geneville, granddaughter of Walter de 
 Lacy. 
 
 \ These De Lacy's may have been descended from a younger brother 
 of Walter de Lacy, or perhaps they were illegitimately descendeda 
 (Grace's Annals, p. 68 note.) 
 
 II Grace's Annals 
 
THE INVASION OF BRUCE. 287 
 
 O'Mores were defeated by Butler (January, 13 16), leaving 800 
 dead on the field, the O'Tooles were defeated at Baltinglass, 
 with the loss of 300 and about the same time a detachment of the 
 Scots themselves was defeated in Ulster, with the loss of 300.* 
 But these disasters were light compared to that which overtook 
 the O'Connors of Connaught. When Felim returned from Ulster 
 he found a rival, Rory O'Connor, seated in his place. This 
 Rory had got an army together, burned Sligo, destroyed the 
 castles of Roscommon, Ballintubber, Kilcoleman and Rindown, 
 compelled the Connaught chiefs, except MacDermott, to give 
 him hostages, and finally, had himself crowned king with the 
 usual ceremonies on the ancient mound of Carnfree.t Nor 
 could Felim hope to overcome his rival, for his only ally was his 
 foster-father, MacDermott, and MacDermott himself had to 
 light a rival and for a time was a fugitive from Moylurg. Early 
 in the next year, Felim and MacDermott obtained the assistance 
 of some of the O'Connor chiefs and also of Birmingham 
 of Dunmore whose castle had been destroyed by Rory O'Connor 
 in the preceding year. X The united army encountered Rory 
 at Ballymoe, in the county of Galway ; the mail-clad warriors 
 of Birmingham gave Felim an advantage ; Rory was defeated 
 and once more Felim became king of the native Irish of 
 Connaught, and without a rival to dispute his claims. He first 
 punished those chiefs who had supported his rival, then he turned 
 against the Anglo Irish lords, De Exeter, Cogan, Stanton, and 
 Lawless, and defeated them with great slaughter at Ballylahin,|| 
 in Mayo, turned eastwards to Roscommon of which he possessed 
 himself, and finally, mindful of his promises to Bruce, he made 
 alliances with O'Mellaghlin of Meath, O'Brien of Thomond, and 
 O'Rorke of Breffni, and declared, with the enthusiastic assent 
 of all the native chiefs, that he was determined to chase the 
 English from his native province. 
 
 During all this time the Red Earl remained inactive, 
 but his brother William, who had been taken prisoner 
 by Bruce, had just been released, and having returned 
 to Connaught he concerted with Birmingham measures of 
 defence against O'Connor's threatened attack. The opposing 
 forces met at Athenry, on the loth of August, 1316. In 
 numbers the Irish were probably superior, in bravery not 
 inferior, but in arms and discipline they were heavily over- 
 matched. Clad in coats of mail, mounted on heavy horses 
 
 * Grace's Annals ; Clynn's Annals: 
 
 t The O' Conor's of Connaught, p. 134. 
 
 X Annals of Loch Ce. 
 
 I A few miles south of the village of Foxfordi 
 
288 HISTORY OF IRELAND. 
 
 and armed with long lances, the cavalry were protected by 
 archers, armed with the powerful cross bow, and in this order 
 the English awaited the attack. Against such tactics and 
 armour the tumultuous and undisciplined valour of the Irish 
 was unavailing. With an obstinate and stupid adherence 
 to ancient custom they were still clad in their linen tunics. They 
 fought as their ancestors did, three centuries before at Clontarf, 
 with sword and spear and battle-axe, and although they had 
 been repeatedly taught by defeat the superiority of mail-clad 
 troops, they still refused to wear coats of mail and thought 
 it unworthy of brave men to be clad in armour.* So obstinate 
 a refusal to learn, so blind an adherence to what was ancient 
 and what ought to have been obsolete, such reckless courting 
 of inevitable disaster will not easily be paralleled. Time after 
 time the ranks advanced only to be mown down by the murderous 
 volleys of the crossbowmen, and then, when the advancing 
 ranks were broken and divided, they were trampled under foot 
 by the cavalry. Before they could even reach the English ranks 
 and use their battle-axes on which they relied so much, they 
 were literally swept away. No sooner were the front ranks 
 cut down than others stepped into the vacant places only 
 to be cut down in turn, and when evening came, 8,000 of 
 the Irish lay dead, or dying, on the plains round Athenry.f 
 It was the most disastrous overthrow the Irish had got since 
 Strongbow first landed. Felim O'Connor, at the age of 23, 
 was dead, Teige O'Kelly, chief of Hy-many, and 28 nobles of 
 his name, O'Hara, O'Dowda, O'Madden and many of the 
 MacDermotts. On that disastrous day every ancient family 
 in Connaught had to mourn the loss of some of its members, 
 and not a few families were entirely swept away. For this woful 
 news from Connaught it was some small compensation to Bruce 
 that Carrickfergus Castle surrendered. The English garrison 
 had made a most heroic defence. Though constantly besieged 
 by a large detachment of the Scots, they had stubbornly held 
 the place and on more than one occasion had sallied forth 
 causing loss and damage to the besiegers. Reduced to the 
 last extremity by hunger, they had eaten hides and when these 
 were consumed, they had killed and eaten eight Scotchmen, 
 whom they had taken prisoners. I At last conquered by 
 
 * The Irish appear to have little used archery at any time. 
 
 t Annals of Loch Ce and Clonniacnoise. Four Masters ; Cox. 
 
 Athenry seems to have been a place of some consequence in those days, 
 as it got a murage charter (13 10), empowering the bailiffs and good men 
 of the town to take the tolls and customs and build a wall round the town 
 (O'Flaherty's lar-Connaught, p. 266.) 
 
 X Grace, p. 77. (Butler's note, quotation from Pembridge.) 
 
THE INVASION OF BRUCE. 289 
 
 starvation, they yielded and Carrickfergus Castle was given 
 up to Bruce, the last place in all Ulster from whose turrets 
 the flag of England had waved. Their gallant conduct extorted 
 the admiration of their foes, and although they surrendered 
 unconditionally, the lives of all were spared. Such are the 
 events that marked the campaign of 13 16. 
 
 Towards the end of that year Robert Bruce arrived in Ireland, 
 with large reinforcements, and, early in 13 17, the two brothers, 
 with 20,000 Scots and a large number of Irish were ready to 
 take the field. They directed their march on Dublin, laying 
 waste the country through which they passed, and about 
 February, they encamped before the capital, took possession of 
 Castleknock, made its governor — Tyrell — a prisoner and menaced 
 the city itself ; and the citizens beheld with dismay the gleam 
 of their camp fires along the river from Kilmainham.* Planted 
 with natives from Bristol and modelled on that city, granted 
 many royal charters, endowed with many privileges, protected 
 alike from the tyranny of the Viceroys and the encroachments 
 of the archbishops, Dublin had prospered and grown wealthy. 
 Its mayor and burgesses and guilds rejoiced in their privileges, 
 in the extent of their trade and commerce, and were ever loyal 
 and attached to the English throne. f And the mayor of those 
 days, Robert of Nottingham, besides being loyal to England, 
 was a man of stout heart and iron will, prompt to decide, equally 
 prompt to act, and ready to make any sacrifice rather than have 
 the city fall into Scottish hands. The Red Earl of Ulster was 
 then in the Abbey of St. Mary's within the city, old and dispirited, 
 without any of the fire or energy of his former days. His 
 daughter was married to Robert Bruce and the Mayor of Dublin 
 felt convinced that he was secretly partial to the Scots, and 
 therefore disloyal to England, and that this best explained his 
 defeat, and his subsequent inactivity ; and getting together 
 a band of citizens as stout-hearted as himself, the Mayor entered 
 St. Mary's Abbey, killed seven of the Earl's retainers, who 
 resented his entrance as an intrusion, and then seizing the Earl 
 himself cast him into prison. ;[: When he had in this vigorous 
 fashion put down a possible enemy within the city gates, he 
 proceeded to take measures against the enemy outside. He 
 demolished the Abbe)^ of St. Thomas, and with the stones repaired 
 the city walls ; armed with torches, he and his companions set 
 
 * Grace, pp. 79-81. 
 
 •f Gilbert's Historic and Municipal Documents 
 
 X The King sent special orders to his Viceroy that the Dublin citizens 
 were not to be punished in any way for what they had done {Historical 
 and Municipal Documents, p. 398). On the contrary some of their taxes 
 were remitted (p. 405-12.) 
 
 U 
 
290 HISTORY OF IRELAND. 
 
 fire to the wooden buildings on the city outskirts, to the church 
 of St. John and the chapel of Magdalen,* and some of the Scots, 
 who made an attempt to enter, perished in the flames of the 
 burning buildings. To capture a city so capably defended would 
 be no easy task. Bruce shrank from the encounter and the 
 sacrifices it would entail, and turning aside from Dublin he 
 passed through Leixlip and Naas into Carlow and Kilkenny, 
 then west from Callan, and finally halted before the city of 
 Limerick.f 
 
 But famine was raging in the land, the country around was 
 waste and bare, the cattle killed, the crops destroyed, the cravings 
 of hunger had so far silenced the voice of natural affection that 
 women were known to have killed and eaten their own children, J 
 the terrible pestilence, which visited Ireland in the fourteenth 
 century, had already appeared and already had claimed thousands 
 as its victims, and famished with hunger, thinned by pestilence 
 or weakened by disease, the Scots had but little chance of capturing 
 a city, so well fortified and defended as Limerick. And to remain 
 before the walls as a besieging army was to court inevitable 
 disaster. The example of the Dublin citizens had a salutary 
 effect on the Anglo-Irish lords, the efforts of Lord John Hotham, 
 who had been sent specially from England for the purpose, 
 had brought them together, and Geraldine and Butler and De 
 la Poer had agreed to suspend their quarrels and to unite for 
 their common interests against their common enemy. As a 
 result an army of 30,000 men was assembled at Kilkenny, 
 ready to take the field, || and to darken still further the prospect 
 before the Scots, Roger Mortimer with full powers as Viceroy 
 had landed at . oughal with 15,000 men. In these 
 circumstances the only safety for the Bruces was to retreat, 
 which they did by way of Cashel, Kildare and Trim, until finally 
 they reached Dundalk, about the month of May. Why this 
 army of fugitives, thinned and weakened by disease and famine, 
 was not attacked by the Anglo-Irish may excite surprise. But 
 the memory of Bannockburn was recent and vivid, Edward 
 Bruce had been invariably victorious, and even with such 
 an army the Bruces, though not formidable, were feared. 
 Besides, between the new Viceroy and his allies harmony did 
 not reign, for Mortimer was kindly disposed to the Irish and 
 wished to extend to them the English laws, the last thing which 
 the Anglo-Irish lords wished to do.** 
 
 * Grace's Annals, p. 79. 
 I Gilbert's Viceroys, p. 140. 
 
 X Grace, p. 93. Even the corpses were taken out of the graves and 
 cooked and eaten. I Ibid. 
 
 ** Grace's Annals^ pp. 84-5. (Editor's note.) 
 
THE INVASION OF BRUCE. 29 1 
 
 Robert Bruce returned to Scotland promising to come with 
 reinforcements next year, and King Edward remained inactive 
 for a whole year at Dundalk. He was compelled to remain 
 idle, for an army cannot fight without food, and the famine still 
 raged. A similar reason will explain the inactivity of his foes. 
 But, in 13 18, there was abundance of food, both sides became 
 active, and the English forces, under John de Birmingham, 
 advanced north to attack Bruce. They were far superior 
 in numbers and Donal O'Neill advised Bruce to retire north 
 and await the promised reinforcements from Scotland. The 
 leaders, both Irish and Scotch, seconded O'Neill's efforts, foreseeing 
 defeat against such an army as De Birmingham's. But Bruce 
 was inexorable. Strong-willed, self-sufficient, vain of his victories, 
 he was filled with that presumption which is often the herald 
 of disaster and declared that at all costs he would give battle. 
 The two armies met at Faughart,* near Dundalk. While 
 the battle raged, a powerful English knight — Sir John de 
 Maupas — rushed into the Scottish ranks, sought out Edward 
 Bruce, with whom he engaged in single combat, and both fell 
 mortally wounded.f Whatever doubt there might have been 
 as to the result of the battle was now over ; this event was decisive, 
 and the Scots and Irish retreated, leaving 2,000 either dead or 
 wounded on the field. J Donal O'Neill reached Tirowen, the 
 Irish dispersed to their homes and the body of Bruce was taken 
 by De Birmingham, the head cut off, salted, and sent as a present 
 to the King of England. De Lacy and Sir John de Culwick, 
 who had fought with Bruce, were taken prisoners and starved, 
 each being allowed but three meals of the worst bread and three 
 draughts of foul water on alternate days until life became extinct. || 
 For his victory at Athenry Richard de Birmingham was created 
 Lord of Athenry, and John de Birmingham for his victory over 
 Bruce was created Earl of Louth, and Baron of Ardee. And 
 thus terminated in disaster the invasion of Edward Bruce. 
 
 * Famous as the birth-place of St. Bridget. 
 t Gilbert's Viceroys, pp. 144-6. 
 + Bowling's Annals. 
 
 II Gilbert's Viceroys, p. 147. It appears Hugh and Walter de Lacy 
 escaped to Scotland ; it was Joku de Lacy who was starvedj 
 
CHAPTER XXI. 
 
 The English Colonists turn Irish. 
 
 The evil effects of Bruce's invasion, especially in Ulster — The O'Neills 
 and O'Donnells — The O'Neills of Clanneboy — State of Connaught — 
 Continued quarrelling among the chiefs — the De Burghos — The Earl 
 of Ulster murdered — Its consequences — Rivalries of the O'Connors 
 and others — O'Kelly of Hy-many and the Poets — The English defeated 
 in Desmond — State of the Colonists throughout Leinster — and of 
 the natives — The Anglo-Irish lords — Their powers and their quarrels — 
 Strong measures of the viceroy, Lucy — The Earl of Desmond — Exacts 
 Coyne and Livery — Edward III. and the Irish — Viceroyalty of Sir 
 Ralph Ufford — The AngloTrish adopt Irish customs — Reasons for 
 this change — Viceroyalty of the Earl of Desmond. 
 
 Whatever were the ills from which Ireland suffered in the 
 early part of the fourteenth century, and the Remonstrance of 
 Donal O'Neill shows that they were neither few nor unimportant- 
 these ills were increased and intensified by the unfortunate 
 invasion of Edward Bruce. If he had succeeded, if he had 
 established one stable government, if he had replaced disorder 
 and anarchy by order and law, it may be that the recollection 
 of his plunderings and depredations and the ills that followed 
 in their train would have been forgotten in happier times. But 
 he failed ; with failure men often associate discredit, just as a 
 certain glamour surrounds success, and it has been Bruce's 
 misfortune that his memory and his deeds are regarded by 
 Anglo-Irish and Irish historian with equal abhorrence. Both 
 Clynn* and Grace,t who wrote from amidst the Anglo-Irish, 
 and whose Annals reflect the views of those among whom they 
 lived and perhaps whose blood they shared, have dwelt on the 
 
 * Clynn was first guardian of the Franciscan Monastery of Carrig in 
 Kilkenny, founded by the Earl of Ormond (1336). A mere Irishman 
 would hardly be placed in such a position. (Harris's Ware, Vol. II. Writers 
 of Ireland, p. 83.) 
 
 t Grace was probably a native of Kilkenny, where the Graces of 
 Gracefield lived, the family were descended from Raymond le Gros (Introd. 
 to Grace's Annals^ 
 
THE ENGLISH COLONISTS TURN IRISH. 293 
 
 frightful havoc wrought by the Scottish invasion ; and they 
 rejoice at the victory of Ardee, where the power of Bruce was 
 overthrown. But the words of the native Annalists are equally 
 strong, and the condemnation of the Annals of Clonmacnoise, 
 of Loch Ce and of the Four Masters are in almost identical terms. 
 *' There was not," says the first of these Annalists, " a better deed 
 that redounded better or more for the good of the kingdom, 
 since the creation of the world and since the banishment of the 
 Fomorians out of this land done Ireland than the killing of 
 Edward Bruce, for there reigned scarcity of victuals, breach of 
 promises, ill performance of covenants and the loss of men and 
 women throughout the whole realm for the space of three years 
 and a half that he bore sway. In so much that men did commonly 
 eat one another for want of sustenance during his time." 
 
 Ulster and Leinster were especially harassed, for it was over 
 their fields the opposing forces had marched and countermarched, 
 but there was no district so wasted as Ulster and no people suffered 
 so much as the English colonists in the north-east of that province. 
 These colonists were numerous ; on both sides of the Bann they 
 had driven the natives from their possessions and had appro- 
 priated the best of the lands. Planted and protected by the 
 De Burghos, whose feudal castles studded the whole district and 
 whose vassals had attained the position of powerful feudal lords, 
 they were the first object of the invader's attack, and when the 
 Red Earl was defeated they were at the invader's mercy. Left 
 to themselves, the Mandevilles, the Logans and the Savages 
 fought for the protection of their fields and fought bravely, but 
 whatever success they met with was transient ; they were 
 fighting against overwhelming odds, and before the hurricane 
 of Scottish invasion both castle and cottage went down. The 
 churches were burned, the feudal castle was rifled, the farmhouse 
 destroyed, the crops wasted and ruined, the cattle driven off, 
 and lord and vassal, overwhelmed in the same disasters, were 
 reduced to the same level of indigence. 
 
 It would be strange if the O'Neills of Tirowen did not cast 
 longing eyes eastwards, and take advantage of the weakness 
 and confusion that prevailed among their foes. There were 
 many circumstances in their favour. The English Viceroy at 
 Dublin received no support from England and was therefore 
 weak ; the Anglo-Irish lords quarrelled among themselves, the 
 most powerful of them all — the Red Earl — was old and feeble, 
 his martial spirit and energy gone, his sword and lance laid aside. 
 He lived in the monastery of Athassel, in Tipperary, spent his 
 time in penance and prayer, and in that retreat (i 326), his stormy 
 life was closed.* Three years later, the dreaded Earl of Louth, 
 
 * Gilbert's Viceroys^^ p: 163. 
 
294 HISTORY OF IRELAND. 
 
 the conqueror of Bruce, was murdered* and the same fate befel 
 (in 1333) the young Earl of Ulster. t Between the O'Neills and 
 the dispirited and weakened Colonists nothing intervened, and 
 if the O'Neills and the O'Donnells could unite, or if the O'Neills 
 would cease quarrelling themselves, the English colonists would 
 quickly disappear. But disunion still continued. Two factions 
 of the O'Neills fought, in 13 19, and Donal O'Neill was driven 
 from Tirowen, though he was able to return the same year. When 
 he died (1325) there was the inevitable contest between two rival 
 chiefs for the headship of Tirowen, as there was between the 
 O'Donnells of Tirconnell, a few years later (1333). A few years 
 later still, (1339), the old rivalry between the O'Neills and the 
 O'Donnells, which had slumbered so long, was again revived and 
 war and battles were the result ; and twice in the years that 
 followed (1343- 1 348), did the O'Donnells break out into war 
 though the quarrels were between themselves and not with 
 the O'Neills. I But through all these years the Irish were making 
 their way eastwards, and the English colony was gradually losing 
 ground. An energetic and warlike branch of the O'Neills, the 
 descendants of Hugh Boy O'Neill, and called from him the 
 O'Neills of Clanaboy, passed from their homes in Tirowen 
 across the Bann, expelled the English out of the " barony 
 of Tuscard, now called the Route,"|| in North Antrim, passed 
 thence to Carrickfergus, crossed the Lagan and chased the Savages 
 from the Lower Ards into a small district, the Upper Ards, 
 eastward of Strangford Lough. To resist the advancing wave 
 of Irish attack one of the Savages proposed to build plenty of 
 strong castles, behind which they would be secure, but his son 
 had already learned to imitate the Irish ; he was recklessly 
 brave, protested that he would fight, like the Irish, in the open, 
 and bade his father remember that a castle of bones was far 
 better than a castle of stones. But the Savages and their followers 
 were overwhelmed, their castles were all thrown down, the Irish 
 occupied these lands from which their ancestors had been driven, 
 and before the second half of the fourteenth century opened, 
 the English settlements along the Bann had disappeared, and 
 the extensive territory of the Savages had shrunk to the narrow 
 limits of the Upper Ards, and even here their position was 
 insecure. 
 
 In Connaught the march of events was somewhat similar 
 At the disastrous battle of Athenry, the family from whom the 
 
 * Ware's Annals. 
 
 t Ibid. 
 
 X Four Masters. 
 
 jl Sir J. Davies' Historical Tracts, p. 157. 
 
THE ENGLISH COLONISTS TURN IRISH. 2Q5 
 
 kings of Connaught had so long been taken — the descendants 
 of Cahal Crovderg — were nearly extinguished, Connaught lay- 
 helpless at the feet of De Burgho and Birmingham, and in every 
 house throughout the province there was mourning. > et the 
 surviving princes of the O'Connor clan would not compose their 
 differences ; no two could agree, and the miserable remnant of 
 this family, who had so long afflicted Connaught with their 
 broils, still quarrelled over the miserable remnant of their ancient 
 possessions. If they hoped to hold even what was left them, 
 still more if they hoped to win back what was lost, if even they 
 wished to avert the final ruin of their race and name, it was 
 necessary that they should be of one mind, that by mutual 
 arrangement, by the sacrifice of personal feeling and the extinction 
 of personal jealousy, by patience, by perseverance in common 
 action and under a single head, they should present a firm front 
 to the foe. But such was not the tradition of their house ; it 
 was one of discord and turmoil, and the surviving members of 
 the O'Connor family were resolved to maintain its evil traditions. 
 A cousin of the dead king, Felim, by name Rory, proclaimed 
 himself King. He was attacked by William de Burgho and 
 deposed ; he then submitted and was acknowledged King by 
 the same De Burgho, who was strong enough to play the role 
 of kingmaker. But MacDermott of Moylurg refused to acknow- 
 ledge this creature of De Burgho and set up Turlogh O'Connor 
 (13 1 7), who in his turn was defeated and deposed by another 
 O'Connor — Cahal — ancestor of the O'Connors of Sligo. For 
 years this prince had to fight many battles and many enemies, 
 his precarious position was often threatened, and finally he was 
 defeated (1324), by the deposed Turlogh O'Connor, who then 
 assumed the title of King.* To accentuate the evils which 
 afflicted Connaught, there was, in addition to these contests, 
 war between the O'Farrels of Leitrim (1323), in which they so 
 weakened each other that Birmingham invaded their territories, 
 causing great damage. And the O'Rorkes and O'Reillys were 
 at war in 1324 and again three years later .f 
 
 To repress all these conflicts, to chastise all these warlike 
 clans — the O'Rorkes and O'Reillys and MacRannells and 
 MacDermotts and MacCostellos — even to maintain his position 
 among them was no easy matter, yet Turlogh O'Connor was 
 an able man, inheriting some of the best qualities of his ancestors, 
 and, in the midst of wars and conflicts innumerable, he main- 
 tained his position for twenty years. He must have rejoiced 
 that (in 1325) William de Burgho died.J He had dropped his 
 
 * The O' Conors of Connaught, pp. 137-140. 
 I Annals of Loch Ce. Four Masters. 
 X Ibid., at 1324. 
 
296 HISTORY OF IRELAND. 
 
 Norman name of De Burgho and assumed the plainer one of 
 Burke, he spoke the Irish language, adopted Irish customs and 
 was as warlike and quarrelsome as any Irish chief could be. 
 But Turlogh's troubles were not ended from this source, for 
 Burke had left a son, Walter, who seems to have inherited all 
 his father's qualities, good and bad, and who was so Irish and 
 so powerful, that he proposed to the native chiefs that Turlogh 
 be deposed and that he himself be appointed King ; and when 
 this was not agreed to he made war on Turlogh.* The latter was 
 aided by the Earl of Ulster, and Walter was defeated, but a little 
 later, or perhaps in the same year (1330), they were again at 
 war. Turlogh and MacDermott on one side, Burke and 
 MacCostelloe on the other ; success and defeat alternated, and 
 then there was peace. The next year, perhaps in revenge, Burke 
 ravaged Moylurg, which was then without a capable ruler, as 
 Mulrony MacDermott had resigned the chieftaincy and became 
 a monk.f A year later, Walter Burke's career ended in disaster. 
 He was treacherously taken by his kinsman, the young Earl of 
 Ulster, brought to the Earl's castle of InnishowenJ and flung 
 into its prison where he was starved to death. Revenge followed 
 quick on the heels of assassination, and murder was followed by 
 murder. A sister of Walter Burke's was married to Mandeville 
 of Ulster, and with a woman's earnestness she pleaded for revenge, 
 and as the young earl was proceeding to Mass on June 6th, 
 1333, he was set upon by Mandeville and his servants, and with 
 one blow from behind his skull was cloven in. The murderers 
 were taken and put to death ; " some were hanged, others shot 
 and others torn asunder to avenge his death. "|| 
 
 The death of this young Earl was far-reaching in its conse- 
 quences. Besides his possessions in Ulster, Tipperary and 
 Kilkenny, he had vast estates in Connaught. He had left an 
 infant daughter, and by the provisions of feudal tenure the 
 King of England, as immediate lord of all these great vassals, 
 had the right to possess and manage these lands, during the 
 minority of De Burgho's child. But this was an arrangement 
 in which the two most powerful of the Connaught Burkes, 
 Ulick and Edmond, did not intend to acquiesce, and boldly 
 renouncing their allegiance to the English king, they renounced 
 their name and nation, seized upon the earl's castles and lands, 
 adopted the Irish mode of tenure — tanistry and gavelkind — 
 called themselves MacWilliam Oughter and MacWilliam Eighter, 
 
 * The 0' Conors of Connaught, p. 142. 
 
 t Annals of Loch Ce. 
 
 X Ibid. The castle was at Greencastle, near the mouth of Lough Foyle. 
 
 I' Four Masters ; Grace's Annals. 
 
THE ENGLISH COLONISTS TURN IRISH. 297 
 
 and in the sight of the English garrison at Athlone cast aside 
 their distinctive Norman dress and arms and assumed the saffron 
 robes of an Irish chief.* Their example was widely followed. 
 Birmingham assumed the name of MacFerris, De Exeter became 
 Mac Jordan, Nangle became MacCostelloe, the English Colonists, 
 who refused to act similarly were everywhere overborne ; and 
 when Jordan d' Exeter was asked to furnish supplies from 
 Connaught he had to report to the English king i'that no money 
 could be got as the whole province had fallen into Irish hands.f 
 But though the whole fabric of English power in Connaught 
 was thus destroyed the province was not destined to have peace. 
 Among the native chiefs the spirit of faction was still strong, 
 the rivalries and jealousies of the O'Connors seemed interminable 
 and, perhaps, even a more potent element of discord was the 
 turbulence and rapacity of the MacWilliam Burkes. Edmond 
 of that name was especially turbulent. He wasted all West 
 Connaught (1335), and three years later he captured the only 
 surviving son of the Red Earl, in the Friar's house at Ballintubber, 
 brought him to an island on Lough Mask, put him into a bag, 
 tied a stone round it and flung him like a dog into the waters 
 of the lake.+ This act of murder lost him the sympathy 
 and support of many in Connaught ; the next year he was 
 attacked by Turlogh O'Connor and driven out of the province, 
 after which he got together a few ships and led a wandering 
 and reckless life of piracy along the coast, and during the years 
 that followed went to Scotland and earned the nickname of 
 Albanach, or Scotch. The same year Turlogh O'Connor married 
 
 * The De Burgho's Genealogical Table. Wm. FitzAdelm de Burgho died 1204. 
 Richd. T.nrd of Connaught d 124-?. 
 
 Walter d. 1271 tn. daughter and heiress of Hugh de Lacj', Earl of Ulster. William. 
 
 \ I 
 
 I ; William d. 1324. 
 
 Richard E. of Ulster, the Red Earl d. 1326. William d. 1324. 
 
 j I Lord Warden of Galway. 
 
 John rf. at Galway 1313. Edmond ^. 1338. Walter </. 1331. | 
 
 j (thrown into (starved at Greencastle, 
 
 I Lough Mask). Innishowen) I 
 
 William E. of Ulster d. 1333 Wm. or Ulick Edmd. Albanach 
 
 (Killed by Mandeville) ancestor of Burkes of ancestor of 
 
 I Clanrickard Mayo Burkes 
 
 Eliz.nbeth m, Duke of (MacWilliam Eighters) (MacWilliam 
 
 Clarence. Oughters). 
 
 Vid. Hardiman's History of Galway, pp. 54-56. 
 
 O'Flaherty's lar Connaught, pp. 32, 46, 47, 250. Grace's Annals^ 
 p. 161. Richey's Lectures on Irish History (first series), pp. 177-8. 
 
 t O' Conor's of Connaught, p. 143. 
 
 + O'Flaherty's lar Connaught, pp. 47 48. He had got a grant of the 
 late Earl's lands in Connaught^ during the minority of his infant daughter 
 for payment of ;^200 a year. (O'Flaherty, p. 250.) 
 
298 HISTORY OF IRELAND. 
 
 the wife of the Earl's son, who was drowned in Lough Mask, 
 divorced his own wife and he, too, becoming unpopular, enemies 
 arose against him, until (1342) there was general war in 
 Connaught. Turlogh was deposed and Hugh O'Connor put in 
 his place, but the next year Turlogh defeated and deposed his 
 rival, though he was not long at peace, for in a quarrel between 
 the MacRannells of Leitrim he took sides with one of the contest- 
 ants and was killed, thus ending his troubled career, after having 
 been for nearly twenty years the head of the native Irish of 
 Connaught.* In the meantime there were various quarrels 
 between other chiefs. The O'Kellys were quarrelling among 
 themselves (1340), so also were the O'Rorkes at war with the 
 O'Connors and with the MacDermotts of Moylurg, O'Kelly and 
 Birmingham were at war (1343), in the two succeeding years 
 the MacRannells, split up into contending factions, were at war, 
 Edmond Burke, back again from his travels and piracies, was 
 fighting Birmingham and the O'Connors combined (1348), 
 while some of the O'Connors and MacDermott also were at war 
 (1349) ; and to complete the misery of Moylurg it was desolated 
 by a pestilence as well as wasted by the horrors of war.t 
 
 In the succeeding years all is confusion and all is strife. 
 There were several claimants of the O'Connors for the headship 
 of their clans in which we can with difficulty discover that Hugh, 
 son of Turlogh, succeeded his father and held some shadowy 
 authority from 1345 to 1356, Hugh after him, for twelve years 
 and then Roderick, who is set down as king from 1368 to 1384.J 
 We also discover that the Burkes fought among themselves 
 (1355)) iri which year Edmond Albanach died. A few years 
 later Burke and Birmingham combined waged war against 
 Cahal O'Connor and (in 1362) the O'Connors, weary of fighting 
 among themselves, suspended their quarrels for a brief period, 
 and as if to show what they could do if united, they crossed the 
 Shannon desolated Meath and then, turning south, defeated 
 the English and almost destroyed the city of Kilkenny. This 
 monotonous and dreary prospect of discord and strife, of petty 
 wars and petty ambitions is relieved by one fact which the 
 Annalists have rightly recorded and which, like the oasis in the 
 desert, is in such striking and agreeable contrast to the waste 
 of desert which surrounds it. In 135 1, William O'Kelly of 
 Hy-Many invited all the Irish poets, brehons, bards, harpers, 
 gamblers and jesters and others of this kind to his house at 
 Christmas, where everyone of them was well received and 
 
 * Annals of Loch Ce. 
 
 t Ibid. Four Mastersn 
 
 X The 0' Conors of Connaught, pp. 146-8. 
 
THE ENGLISH COLONISTS TURN IRISH. 299 
 
 extolled their host for his bounty, and one of them composed 
 certain Irish verses in his praise. In a province wasted by 
 eternal war such assemblies, where the contests were only those 
 of wisdom and wit and learning, were all too rare ; and well for 
 the province it would have been if it was such contests, and such 
 only, that the historian had to record.* 
 
 The skill of a Munster chief, Connor O'Dea, and the bravery 
 of the Dalcassians had destroyed English power in West Thomond 
 (13 1 8) at the battle of Dysert O'Dea.-f De Clare was killed, 
 his lands and castles taken possession of, his widow left the 
 province, taking with her all she could, and Thomond, west of 
 the Shannon, was once more the land of the O'Briens. But 
 the O'Briens themselves could not agree, and in the battle which 
 proved so fatal to De Clare, Murtogh O'Brien and Brian fought 
 on opposite sides, the latter being on De Clare's side. He was 
 able and ambitious, and Murtogh, who had triumphed, wisely 
 directed his opponents thoughts across the Shannon and helped 
 him to conquer East Thomond, that stretch of territory taking 
 in the modern baronies of Arra and the Ormonds, and with his 
 headquarters somewhere near Nenagh, Brian lived for years in 
 peace. His first contest was with the De Burghos and those he 
 defeated (1322), but a little later (1328), they again attacked 
 him and with increased strength, for they were assisted by some 
 of the O'Briens, by the MacNamaras and by the O'Connors of 
 Connaught. Brian wisely sought and obtained the aid of the 
 Earl of Desmond and again he defeated his foes, after which the 
 De Burghos left him unmolested. His ability and success won 
 for him the respect of the Dalcassian chiefs, and when Murtogh, 
 his old rival, died, Brian became chief of all Thomond which he 
 ruled without opposition until 1350, when, in some obscure 
 contest, east of the Shannon, he was killed. Once only during 
 these years was the peace of Thomond broken — in 1334 — when a 
 combination of Connaught chiefs entered the district, attacked 
 MacNamara, one of its chiefs, and in their rage and cruelty set 
 fire to a church in which 80 persons and two priests had sought 
 refuge, and church and people and priests perished in the flames. J 
 
 In Leinster and part of Munster the destruction of English 
 power was not so rapid or complete as in the other provinces, 
 but it was growing weaker, and the native chiefs were able to 
 hold the lands they had, and were even recovering some of those 
 they had lost. The O'Carrolls in Ely O'Carroll were able to 
 
 * Annals of Loch Ce. Annals of Clonmacnoise. 
 
 t Grace's Annals. Gilbert's Viceroys, p. 149. White's History 
 of Clare, p 138. 
 1 Four Masters. 
 
300 HISTORY OF IRELAND. 
 
 defy Ormond and all his power,* the O' Mores were as firm in 
 Leix as their own rock-built castle of Dunamaise ; f the 
 C Nolans held their own in CarlowJ and were able to inflict a 
 serious defeat (1322) on Birmingham and his allies; the O'Tooles 
 and O'Byrnes in their mountain fortresses at Wicklow, defied 
 all attack, and a chief of the MacMurrogh family was acquiring 
 such power that in the not distant future that family would 
 overshadow all Leinster. In this portion of Ireland all was 
 confusion. The native chief and the English lord lived side 
 by side, the brehon and the English judge, each administering 
 his own law. There was the English king's sheriff and the 
 Anglo-Irish lord's sheriff under the same English noble, there 
 was English and Irish law, for he ruled English and Irish, was 
 an English lord and an Irish chief at the same time ; and not 
 infrequently, in the arrogance of his power, recognised no law 
 but his own will. The natives who lived under the native 
 chiefs had the same law as their ancestors had and wanted none 
 other, but those who lived on the borders of the English 
 possessions, or under the rule of an Anglo-Irish lord, had much 
 to endure. If they killed or robbed an Englishman they could 
 be punished, even put to death, but an Englishman might 
 kill or rob one of them with impunity, and the cases were many 
 where the English culprit had but to plead that the complainant 
 was Irish and he himself was allowed to go free.|| Some natives 
 had purchased charters of denization* * by virtue of which 
 they became English subjects, and entitled to the protection 
 of English law, others had repeatedly petitioned that this privilege 
 and protection should be extended to them, but in vain, for 
 though both of the first Edwards were willing, the opposition 
 of the Anglo-Irish lords was effectively interposed. "ft Nor did 
 they fare better under Edward III., for though he transmitted 
 to his Viceroy, Darcy, an ordinance (March 3rd., 1331), 
 declaring that there should be one law for Irish and English, 
 it was similarly obstructed and might as well never have been 
 
 * They gained an important victory over the English in 1318. 
 (^Annals of Clonmacnoise. Four Masters. Clynn (13 17). 
 
 t Three miles east of Maryborough, the O'More's territory of Leix was 
 situated in the south-east of Queen's County. 
 
 + Their territory corresponded to the present barony of Forth {Book 
 ■of Rights, p. 211.) 
 
 II Davies' Historical Tracts, pp. 83-85. For instance, when Thomas 
 Butler brought an action for certain goods against Robert de Almainj 
 the defendant pleaded he was bound to nothing, as the plaintiff was not 
 of English descent, and it was this question which was first submitted 
 to the jury. 
 
 * * For such charters there was usually a money payment exacted: 
 ft Leland, Vol. l.^ pp. 244-6, 289-90. 
 
THE ENGLISH COLONISTS TURN IRISH. 301 
 
 issued.* The Anglo-Irish lords coveted the lands of the Irish 
 and wished to appropriate them ; they could not do so with 
 impunity if the Irish as well as themselves could appeal to an 
 English court, and they were able to convince the English king 
 that it was the best policy to regard the Irish as aliens and enemies^ 
 and to harass them with continual war. Such was the position 
 of the natives — outcasts and outlaws in their own land. But 
 even the English settlers had much reason to complain, and 
 in a petition sent to England (13 16), they complain that if one 
 Englishman killed another or robbed him, even of twelve pence 
 halfpenny, his life was forfeited by English law, but that an 
 Irishman for such offences was often allowed to go free, on 
 payment of a fine, and that in some cases a fine of twenty shillings 
 was imposed. And they deduced from this that an Irishman 
 might kill an Englishman, almost with impunity, and that the 
 life of an Englishman living in their midst was insecure. j They 
 add that the Anglo-Irish lords preferred fining an Irishman 
 to killing him, for his dead body was no use to them, but by 
 fining him they could grow rich. 
 
 Constantly engaged in war with Scotland, meditating a war 
 with France, weak, irresolute, incapable, a slave to a succession 
 of favourites, deserted by his wife, harassed by his nobles, 
 Edward II. during his whole reign, bestowed little attention 
 on Ireland. He was unable to place at the disposal of the Viceroy 
 a force strong enough to make him respected. He was forced 
 even to withdraw troops from Ireland for his wars, to tolerate 
 and even to flatter the Anglo-Irish lords, for if they revolted 
 English power in Ireland was at an end ; and the wars and con- 
 quests of Edward III. compelled him to act similarly. Instead 
 of curtailing the power of these lords and restricting their 
 privileges, greater power and privileges were given them, and 
 new honors heaped upon them. Butler was made Earl of 
 Ormond, % Fitzjohn Fitzgerald, Earl of Kildare,|| FitzThomas 
 Fitzgerald, Earl of Desmond,* * and over the districts from which 
 they drew their titles they were palatine lords. Each had the 
 power to punish his own subjects, they created knights, 
 appointed sheriffs and seneschals, erected their scaffolds, set 
 up their independent courts, made peace and war, and their 
 sheriff and his officers regarded the King's sheriff — the sheriff 
 of the cross as he was called — with disdain, even as their master 
 
 * Grace's Annals^ p. 119^ note. 
 t Ibid.^ p. 85. 
 
 J In 1322. (Carte's Ormond^ Introduction)i His father had been 
 created Earl of Carrick. 
 11 About 1 3 15. 
 ** In 1329. 
 
302 HISTORY OF IRELAND. 
 
 despised the King's Viceroy at Dublin.* These palatine lords, 
 of whom there were nine, had soon outgrown the 
 position of subjects and had attained to the power of 
 kings. Bloated with privilege, intoxicated with power, they 
 knew no restriction but their own caprice and obeyed no 
 mandate but their passions. They made war on the natives 
 as they pleased, but more frequently on each other, and from 
 Desmond to Dublin the whole country was shaken by their 
 conflicts. These lords could no longer fling the retort at the 
 Irish that it was the Irish only who quarrelled, for they themselves 
 were as turbulent as the Irish in their worst days. 
 
 It was necessary (in June 1325), to issue a King's writ 
 commanding Arnold Power and the Earl of Kildare from making 
 war on one another, for they were already levying mien for the 
 purpose. Another writ of the same character had to be issued 
 in the following December, but two years later war broke out. 
 At one of their assemblies Arnold Power had called the Earl 
 of Desmond a rhymer. Desmond determined to be avenged 
 and got the aid of the Birminghams and of Ormond, while Power 
 was aided by the De Burghos.f The De Burghos were defeated 
 by Desmond, many of them killed and the rest driven into 
 Connaught, while Power's possessions in Tipperary and Ossory 
 were wasted and plundered by the combined forces of Butler 
 and Birmingham, and himself escaped to Waterford, a fugitive. 
 Two years later (1329), De Geneville wasted Birmingham's 
 territory of Carbury.| Nor did these Anglo-Irish lords stop 
 even at murder ; and when the Earl of Louth was murdered 
 (1329), and the Earl of Ulster (1333), it was not the work of 
 the natives ; but in each case it was one of their own race that 
 struck the assassin's blow. Taking advantage of these 
 dissensions, the native chiefs took courage, though they were 
 not always successful in their attacks. The victory of the 
 O'Carrolls (13 18), and of the O'Nolans (1322) was followed 
 a few years later (1331), by the O'Tooles capturing Ferns, 
 Cullagh and Arklow, || and in the meantime (1327), Donal 
 MacMurrogh was proclaimed King of Leinster, and swore he 
 would go through all Ireland and subdue it.** As a counterpoise 
 to these successes, the O'Connors of Offaly were severely defeated 
 i|;i32i), by the English of Louth and Meath,tt and Donal 
 MacMurrogh was taken prisoner (1327) and lodged in the 
 
 * Davies' Historical Tracts, pp. 1 14-16: 
 
 t Grace's Annals, pp. 103-4-5. 
 
 X Ibid., p. 113. 
 
 II Grace's and Bowling's Annals : 
 
 ** Grace, p. 107. 
 
 ■ft Annals of Cloninacnotse. 
 
THE ENGLISH COLONISTS TURN IRISH. 303 
 
 government prison at Dublin, though, aided by one Adam 
 Nangle, he soon effected his escape, for which negligence Nangle 
 was hanged.* Two years later, Butler wasted the country of 
 the O'Nolans, and the Viceroy, Darcy, attacked and defeated 
 the O'Byrnes of Wicklow.f Such was the disturbed state of 
 the country that one Hamund Archdeacon, on being fined ;^40 
 for not attending the parliament at Dublin, got the fine remitted 
 because he was able to show that he could not attend on account 
 of the wars. I 
 
 The outlook in Ireland was so stormy and the prospects of 
 English power so gloomy, that Edward III. determined to come 
 to Ireland himself,|| and in the meantime (1331), sent a new 
 Viceroy, Sir Anthony Lucy, who was to use strong measures 
 both against native and Anglo-Irish ; and he was but a short 
 time in of^ce until he proceeded to act with vigour. He 
 summoned a parliament at Dublin and issued the usual writs. 
 Desmond and others refused to attend ; he adjourned the 
 parliament to Kilkenny, but they still remained away; and then, 
 making his way rapidly to Limerick, he seized the Earl of Desmond, 
 Mandeville, Walter de Burgho and William and Walter 
 Birmingham, and flung them all into prison. William 
 
 Birmingham was tried and executed ; his brother, being an 
 ecclesiastic, pleaded its privileges with success and was allowed 
 to go free, and Desmond, after a period of confinement, was 
 sent to England. But these vigorous measures were not long 
 continued. Edward III. had no intention of coming to Ireland 
 and sought for other fields for his ambition ; Lucy was recalled 
 and a Viceroy of a milder type. Sir John Darcy, was appointed 
 his successor (1332); the De Burghos and Mandeville were 
 liberated, and Desmond came back to Ireland and so far from 
 English power having gained, the reverse happened, for the Earl 
 of Ulster was killed (1333), and his relatives cast off their allegiance 
 to England.* 
 
 During his first viceroyalty (1330), Sir John Darcy, not 
 having sufficient forces to fight the Irish, called to his aid the 
 Earl of Desmond, then the most potent of the Anglo-Irish lords. 
 Desmond was an Irish chief, as well as an English lord, and 
 it was in the former capacity his aid was sought, more as an 
 ally than as a subject. With an army, many of whom must 
 have been Irish, and amounting it was said, to 10,000 he assisted 
 
 * Grace's Annals. D'Arcy Magee, Art MacMurrogh p. 4. 
 t Ibid. 
 
 X Ibid., p. 120. 
 II Gilbert's Viceroys, p. 178. 
 
 ** Gilbert's Viceroys, f^^^. 179-82. Grace's Annals. Leland, Vol. Lj 
 p. 293. 
 
304 HISTORY OF IRELAND. 
 
 the Viceroy ; but the treasury at Dublin was empty, the Viceroy 
 was unable to pay Desmond and his soldiers, and the Earl had 
 recourse to the Irish system of coyne and livery. His soldiers 
 had fought for the English colonists. On these they were now 
 quartered — men and horses — eating and drinking at their expense, 
 wasting their crops, consuming the food and forage required 
 for themselves and their own cattle and horses, dissipating 
 their wealth, and guilty, as mercenary soldiers will, of murders, 
 robberies and rapes. Their exactions, while they ruined the 
 English settlers, enriched Desmond and increased his power, 
 for many of the settlers gave up their lands, which were 
 immediately handed over to Irishmen, who held them under 
 the Irish system of tenure and willingly recognised Desmond 
 as their chief. And in a short time his rule was thus recognised 
 over Kerry, Limerick, and most part of Cork and Waterford. 
 Such rapid advancement excited the jealousy and roused the 
 cupidity of the Earl of Ormond,who quickly followed in Desmond's 
 footsteps, exacted coyne and livery in his turn, rooted out the 
 English settlers ; and over Tipperary and part of Kilkenny 
 Irish customs and Irish laws reigned. The Earl of Kildare 
 was not slow to copy these examples and established the same 
 exactions and the same customs with the same results over 
 Kildare and part of Meath.* To complete the ruin of the English 
 colonists, they were harassed and taxed by rapacious government 
 ofBcials, to such an extent that Edward III. himself sent a letter 
 (1336) to his Viceroy, Chancellor and Treasurer, in which he 
 states that it had been shown to him by trustworthy men^ 
 " that they and his other ministers, regarding the persons of 
 men and yielding to men and not to right, had made one law 
 for the rich and another for the poor, and had allowed the strong 
 to oppress the weak, to usurp the royal authority, to detain 
 the king's debts and to perpetrate various crimes ; and that 
 instead of protecting the poor, who were willing to be obedient 
 subjects, they harassed and aggrieved them against all justice 
 to their great loss, and thereby gave a pernicious example to 
 others." f Burdened with these accumulated evils, some of 
 the English settlers left the country altogether, and others joined 
 the Irish, intermarried with them, adopted their customs and 
 their laws, but all were lost to the English government in Ireland. 
 The policy of Edward III. towards Ireland was a mixture 
 of caresses and coercion, of fitful periods of severity and kindness. 
 The appointment of Ormond as Viceroy + was followed by the 
 
 * Davies' Historical Tracts ^ pp. 152-6. 
 
 t Grace's Annals, p. 129, note. 
 
 J He was only deputy for Sir John Darcy (1329)1 
 
THE ENGLISH COLONISTS TURN IRISH. 305 
 
 appointment of Lucy ; the execution of William Birmingham 
 and the imprisonment of Desmond, only to be again followed 
 by the release of Desmond and the recall of the stern Viceroy. 
 But after a few years harsh measures were again used. In 
 1339, there was universal war in Ireland.* Some of the 
 Geraldines joined with the Irish fought the Earl of Desmond, the 
 O'Dempseys and the people of Kildare were at war, and the 
 next year the MacMurroghs and the O'Nolans continued | 
 to war upon the English. These constant wars, this perpetual 
 unrest, the shrinkage of his territories in Ireland drained the 
 resources, as well as tried the patience, of the English king. 
 He blamed, and not without justice, the Anglo-Irish lords for 
 much of the trouble ; because some of them had adopted Irish 
 ways, he thought all were disloyal to England and he issued a 
 decree to his Viceroy, Sir John Darcy (July 27th, 1341), directing 
 him to remove from their offices in Ireland " all Irishmen 
 and all Englishmen who had married in Ireland, 
 and had lands and possessions in that country but had nothing 
 in England, and to appoint in their places Englishmen, who 
 had lands and possessions in England, and that no future 
 alienation of the royal demesnes or other possessions in the 
 King's hands should be made without a proper writ of inquiry." 
 He also revoked all grants made by his father or himself " by 
 which measure almost the whole of Ireland was moved to 
 immediate insurrection against the King." ;j: To set up a barrier 
 between the English by birth and the English by descent was 
 not to promote peace but discord ; to brand with indignity and 
 disqualification the descendants of those whose swords had 
 first won dominion in Ireland for the English crown, was to 
 rouse the hatred and extinguish the loyalty of those powerful 
 Anglo-Irish lords ; and at a parliament held in Dublin by the 
 Viceroy, in the October of that year, Desmond and his friends 
 refusedtoattend.il Instead of doing so they called a parliament 
 of their own at Kilkenny, protested their loyalty to England ; 
 and by a petition to the King they acknowledged the disorders 
 of Ireland, and pointed out that it was the King's officers — the 
 English by birth in whom he trusted so much — who were to 
 blame. In this petition they ask the King, how a land full 
 of war can be governed by a man ignorant of war, as many 
 of the Viceroys were, how a King's officer can in a short time 
 acquire great wealth, and why the King is not made richer 
 
 * Grace's Annals. 
 
 ■\ Clynn's Annals, 1340-42. The O'Mores also recovered all Leix and 
 expelled the settlers. 
 
 + Grace's Annals, pp. 133-4: 
 II Gilbert's Viceroys, p. 192. 
 
 X 
 
306 HISTORY OF IRELAND. 
 
 by Ireland ; and they give instances ot the persecutions and 
 peculations of these officials of English birth, adding that the 
 settlers of English descent were so impoverished that they could 
 scarcely live, " par grevance de ditz enemys (the Irish) dune 
 part et excesse doffice de ministres dautre part." Impressed 
 either by justice or expediency — probably the latter — Edward III. 
 favourably received the Prior of Kilmainham and Thomas de 
 Wogan, who were the bearers of this petition, revoked his letter 
 of the previous July, and even dismissed some of the officials, 
 amongst them two judges of the Common Pleas.* 
 
 The good relations established between Edward and the 
 Anglo-Irish did not last long. In preparation for his wars 
 in France, he had summoned Desmond, Kildare and many 
 others to meet him at Portsmouth (1344) with some men-at-arms 
 and hobelars, who were to receive the King's pay while at war ; 
 the Anglo-Irish neglected the summons | and irritated by their 
 refusal, Edward appointed Sir Ralph UfYord, his Irish Viceroy, 
 and bade him deal sternly with these Anglo-Irish lords. Ufford 
 was well fitted for such work, a man unjust and greedy of gain, 
 doing everything by force, giving justice to none, robbing rich 
 and poor ; and the chronicles of the time mention that all the 
 time he was in Ireland it rained, that when he died (1346), it 
 was a cause of joy to all men, and that immediately the weather 
 became fine. J It was said that his harsh measures were prompted 
 by his wife, the widow of the murdered Earl of Ulster, || who 
 no doubt did not love the Irish, whether of Irish or English 
 descent ; but whatever the cause, or whoever the instigator, 
 his measures were harsh and stern, and the memory of them 
 was bitter. He called a parliament at Dublin which Desmond 
 did not attend, and taking this as sufficient excuse he marched 
 south (1345), ravaged the Earl's lands, seized his castles in 
 Kerry, hanged his seneschal, Sir John Cotterell, and the warders 
 of his castles. Power and Grant,** deprived of their possessions 
 all those who had previously gone bail for him ; and by treachery 
 captured the Earl of Kildare and cast him into prison in Dublin. 
 When Ufford died, his widow had to carry away his remains 
 secretly to England fearing that the rage of the populace might 
 be directed against his dead body. A milder type of Viceroy — Sir 
 John Morris — was appointed, the Earl of Kildare's aid was 
 
 "* Grace's Annals^ pp. 134-5. 
 
 t Ii)id.j p. 136. They must not have altogether refused, for 
 there were 6,000 Irish footmen in Edward's Army at Crecy, but 
 evidently they did not do all that was expected of them. 
 
 \ Ibid., pp. 137-41. 
 
 II Gilbert's Viceroys^ pp. 198-202 
 
 ** Clynn's Annals. 
 
THE ENGLISH COLONISTS TLTRN IRISH. 307 
 
 sought and obtained by Edward III. \ and he distinguished 
 himself so much at the siege of Calais, that he was knighted 
 by the King.* 
 
 These harsh measures of various viceroys and the harsh 
 decrees of English kings irritated the Anglo-Irish lords and 
 alienated their sympathies from England ; the milder measures 
 which followed, they took as a proof of English weakness and 
 of their own power; the petty exactions and oppressions of English- 
 born of^cials disgusted them, and turning from England, they 
 abandoned English ways, and became more Irish than the Irish 
 themselves. They spoke the language of the Irish, adopted their 
 manners and habits, practised their law, fostered their children, 
 and stood gossips, or sponsors ; and when they went into battle 
 it was Irish war cries that were on their lips.f Sir John Davies 
 attributes this transformation to the desire of these lords to 
 acquire wealth and power, which, especially by coyne and livery, 
 they could do under Irish but not under English law, and this 
 was no doubt a powerful operating cause, and quite in accordance 
 with the traditional cupidity of their ancestors. But he ignores 
 another cause which cannot be lost sight of and was potent 
 in its effects — it is the attractive and absorbing power of the Irish 
 themselves. The Irishman has been often sketched and often 
 with no friendly hand. Rash in word, generous in deed, 
 impulsive, warm-hearted, sympathetic, his scanty purse open 
 to the needy, his cottage to the wanderer and the outcast, 
 coveting no man's goods, recklessly prodigal of his own, brave 
 in battle, chivalrous to a foe, faithful to a friend, with a fidelity 
 which even death was powerless to conquer— such a character 
 could not but win the esteem of the mail-clad warrior, who 
 fought so often, both with and against him, and who had seen 
 his qualities so often displayed. But when the hush of peace 
 had succeeded to the clash of arms, when the lord had laid his 
 battle harness aside and sat in the hall of his feudal castle, 
 surrounded by his Irish friends — vassals and chiefs — the attractive 
 influence of the Irish character was more potent still. He was 
 charmed with the song and story in the musical Irish tongue ; 
 the ready wit, the harmless repartee made the hours pass by 
 upon rapid wings, x^nd when the harper struck the chords 
 of his harp with that skill for which the Irish harper was so 
 famed, when he sang of war and battles and love, of soldier's 
 bravery and chieftain's skill, when the notes that swelled loud 
 
 * Gilbert's Viceroys, pp. 202-3. 
 
 f Kildare's war cry was " Crom aboo," from his castle at Croom. 
 Desmond's was " Shannet aboo." Butler's was " Butler aboo." 
 (Harris's Ware, Vol. II., p; 163.) 
 
308 HISTORY OF IRELAND. 
 
 with victory again sank into a plaintive moan, as he sang a 
 dirge for those who had fallen, and the eyes that brightened and 
 flashed became dimmed with tears, then that alien lord, touched, 
 softened, fascinated, even in spite of himself, was glad to call 
 these people his countrymen, and proud if he could be called 
 their chief. The conversion of many a stern warrior from 
 English to Irish ways was due to such subtle influences as these. 
 The years that succeeded the death of Ufford were not 
 particularly eventful, thovigh there were disturbances and wars. 
 O'Carroll was able to defeat the English (1346), and drove 
 them all, or nearly all, out of Ely O'Carroll,* the same year 
 the Viceroy, Birmingham and the Earl of Kildare joined in 
 making war on the O' Mores ; the following year Nenagh was 
 plundered by the Irish who in Leinster rose everywhere against 
 the English ; O'Mellaghlin was defeated by the English (1349) ; 
 a few years later, the English of Dublin were defeated (1358), 
 by the O' Mores with the loss of 240 men ; and so weak had 
 the English colony become that Black-rent, which already had 
 been paid to MacMurrogh, was now paid to one of the O'Tooles 
 to defend the English possessions round Tallaght.j The evils 
 caused by these wars must have been great nor must we forget 
 the exactions of the offlcials,:j: who, to carry on the war, took 
 the people's cattle, sheep and provisions, without even paying 
 for them, all except the Viceroy, Rokeby, who declared that 
 he would eat off wood and pay in gold.H To add to all these 
 evils there was bad weather, a mortality among animals, and 
 worst of all, a terrible pestilence, which swept away so many 
 persons that the land was left untilled.* * The pestilence reached 
 its height in 1348, and in that year a monk at Kilkenny^ 
 seeing the dead around him on every side, and the living struck 
 down so fast, in the midst of death and sickness and lamentation 
 breathing an atmosphere tainted with pestilence, and wondering 
 if even one of the human race would survive, sat down in his 
 convent to tell and write what he saw. " That plague deprived 
 villages and towns of every human inhabitant, so that scarcely 
 one was left alive in them ; those who touched the dead or d)nng 
 immediately sickened, and the penitent and the confessor were 
 .carried together to the grave. Through fear and horror men 
 hardly dared to perform the works of piety and mercy, to visit 
 the sick and bury the dead. Many died from boils and abscesses 
 and pustules in their shins or under their armpits, others died 
 
 * Clynn's Annals. 
 
 t Grace's and Clynn's Annals. Gilbert's Vzcerays-, pp.- 204-206. 
 
 I Gilbert's Viceroys, p. 212. 
 
 !! Grace's Annals, p. 149. 
 
 ** Ibid., p. 143. Clynn's Annals. 
 
THE ENGLISH COLONISTS TURN IRISH, 309 
 
 from spitting of blood, and others from pain in the head were 
 turned into madmen." * 
 
 In 1355, the Earl of Desmond had grown to be such a favourite 
 with Edward III., that he appointed him Viceroy for life, but 
 this was not for long, for he died in the early part of the next 
 year. His successors were Rokeby and St. Amand, then the 
 Earl of Ormond (1359), and in the next year, the Earl of Kildare. 
 But the English colony was shrinking in extent, day by day ; 
 the power of England in Ireland was small, and, extinguished 
 in the other three provinces, in Leinster also it seemed doomed to 
 speedy extinction. 
 
 * Friar Clynn seems to have a presentiment that he, too, would fall a 
 victim to the plague (" inter mortuos mortem expectans,") and if perchance 
 anyone was left alive who might continue these Annals, he left some parch- 
 ment for the purpose. It was not continued past the end of 1348, and 
 the scribe adds that it appears the author died, as he expected. Clynn's 
 words are worth giving. " Videns haec multa mala et mundum^ 
 
 totum quasi in maligno positum, inter mortuos mortem expectans donee 
 veniat, sicut veraciter audivi et e.xaminavi sic in scripturam redegi, et ne 
 scriptura cum scriptore pereat et opus simul cum operariodeficiat, dimitto 
 pergamenam pro opere continuando, si forte in futuro homo superstes 
 remaneat, an aliquis de genere Adae hanc pestilenciam possit evadere et 
 opus continuare inceptam." 
 
CHAPTER XXII. 
 
 The Statute of Kilkenny . 
 
 The opportunity of Edward III to pacify Ireland allowed to pass — His 
 son Lionelj Duke of Clarence, appointed Viceroy — His antipathy to 
 the Irish — His arrival in Ireland — Operations in Leinster — Returns 
 to England, but comes to Ireland a second time — Summoned a 
 parliament — The Statute of Kilkenny — Its spirit — Its effect on the 
 Irish and Anglo-Irish — Its penal provisions as to dress, language^ 
 priests and monks and bards — Some of its useful provisions. 
 
 There is a tide in the affairs of nations as of men which it is 
 wisdom to take at the flood. These favourable moments occur 
 but seldom, and if allowed to pass, so much the worse for the 
 nation concerned, for they pass never to return. And in 1360 
 a favourable moment had arrived to bring the Irish of all classes 
 together, to abolish strife and establish peace with one govern- 
 ment and one system of law. A king sat on the English throne 
 the lustre of whose achievements far outshone those of any king 
 since the Conqueror. With Scotland he was at peace ; the Treaty 
 of Bretigny (1359)* had enlarged his continental possessions 
 as it had ended his war with France ; and at home none of his 
 nobles, nor any combination of them, would dare to measure 
 swords with the hero who had humbled the chivalry of France, 
 and had led into his capital a captive French king. Peace was 
 everywhere, except in Ireland, and if Edward had turned his 
 steps to that country at the head of those veterans whom he had 
 so often led to victory, he would have found it easy to establish 
 peace in Ireland, not that peace which would come from empty 
 forms of submission, such as was tendered to Henry II. and 
 John, given with reluctance and extorted by fear, but a peace 
 founded on the recognition of ancient rights and which, established 
 with just and equal laws, would be destined to endure. He 
 had sometimes wished that the Irish would be admitted to the 
 ranks of his subjects and be entitled, as such, to the protection 
 of English law, but each time the Anglo-Irish lords stood in the 
 
 * Hume's History of England 
 
THE STATUTE OF KILKENNY. 311 
 
 way. But he could have now done what hitherto had not been 
 done, for these lords were powerless to resist him. Their hatred 
 and jealousy of one another was notorious ; they were not likely 
 to combine for any purpose in rebellion against an English king, 
 least of all against the hero of Crecy and Poictiers. Secured in 
 the possession of the lands they held, admitted to the rights of 
 English subjects, the native Irish would have hailed him as a 
 deliverer, and not only in Leinster, but in the other provinces 
 as well, they would have hastened to take advantage of his offer. 
 A few chiefs here and there would, perhaps, have held aloof and 
 talked much of their national independence, which their own 
 folly and factious spirit had made it impossible to defend, but the 
 greater number would have quietly, perhaps even gratefully, 
 submitted. If Edward III. had done this, if he had deprived 
 the Anglo-Irish lords of powers which they never should have 
 got, and reduced them to the levelfof subjects, if he had suppressed 
 tumults and established peace, if he had curbed the oppressor 
 and thrown the shield of law and justice over the oppressed, 
 his memory would be held in honour in Ireland ; and he would 
 have earned a glory before which that of Crecy and Poictiers 
 would have grown dim. But he did not realise the advantage 
 of a contented Ireland, his ambition was for military glory ; 
 Ireland, it was said, was a bad country to make war in, and 
 instead of going there himself he sent his third son Lionel, Duke 
 of Clarence, appointed him Viceroy, and gave him unlimited 
 powers. 
 
 This young man was married to Elizabeth de Burgho, and 
 it is thought that this fact explains much of his conduct in Ireland. 
 His wife was a daughter of that Earl of Ulster who had been 
 murdered in 1333. She was then but a year old and was taken 
 to England, where she had since lived. Of her father's tragic 
 death she was often reminded by her mother,* who hated the 
 Irish ; the mother's feelings were communicated to the daughter, 
 who in turn inspired her husband with the same antipathy and 
 hate.f Lionel landed at Dublin (1361) with an army of 1500 
 men — knights, esquires and archers on horseback, drawn from 
 Lancashire, Staffordshire, Worcestershire and Shropshire, in 
 which commands were held by Lord Stafford, Sir John Carew, 
 Sir William Windsor and the Earl of Ormond, Lionel himself 
 being in supreme command. J Edward III. had declared that 
 Ireland was almost lost, and placed much of the blame on the 
 absentees who lived in England and took no measures to defend 
 
 * It will be remembered she was married to Sir Ralph Ufford, one 
 of the most unpopular of the Viceroys. 
 
 t The Duchess of Clarence died in Ireland (1362.) 
 
 X Davies' Historical Tracts, pp. 24-5. Grace's Annals, p. 153. 
 
312 HISTORY OF IRELAND. 
 
 their lands in Ireland, and he demanded subsidies from them, 
 which the}' gave, to the extent of two years revenue, out of their 
 Irish lands.* Lionel first marched against the O'Byrnes of 
 Wicklow, and such was his distrust and even hatred of the Irish, 
 that he issued a proclamation prohibiting anyone of Irish birth, 
 whether of English descent or not, from coming near his army.f 
 But the O'Byrnes came without asking his leave and, perhaps 
 under cover of night, attacked and killed one hundred of the 
 English. J Returning to Dublin, Lionel soon changed his quarters 
 to Carlow, transferred the exchequer there and granted ;£500 
 to build a wall round the town. But though his army was large 
 and well equipped and the whole revenue of the country was 
 placed at his disposal, he was able to effect but little, and captured 
 but a few places along the east coast of Ulster. || The O'Byrnes 
 remained unpunished for the slaughter of one hundred English 
 soldiers, the O'Connors of Connaught wasted the English posses- 
 sions in Meath and King's County and burned the churches of 
 Kilkenny (1362),** and MacMurrogh was so powerful that he 
 drove the English baron, Carew, out of the district of Idrone 
 (1366).+! One of the objects Lionel had in coming to Ireland 
 was to recover his wife's estates in Ulster and Connaught, but 
 this object he was unable to attain. The Burkes fought often 
 among themselves and, especially in 1366, there were great 
 dissensions among them,i;|: and perhaps Lionel hoped much from 
 these quarrels, but if so he hoped in vain, for the Burkes were 
 quite ready to fight among themselves and equally ready to 
 unite against him ; and, piqued and crestfallen, he was unable 
 to recover these lands which by right belonged to his wife and 
 which had been usurped by her rebellious kindred. In this frame 
 of mind he summoned a parliament at Kilkenny, and had enacted 
 that well-known Statute about which so much has been written. 
 The Statute of Kilkenny has been praised by Davies who 
 declares that it, coupled with the '^presence of the Lord Lionel," 
 restored the English government among the English colonists, 
 made a notable alteration in the state and manners of the people, 
 and that this improvement lasted till the Wars of the Roses. ii|| 
 
 * Grace's Annals, pp. 152-3. 
 
 t Ibid. 
 
 X Campion's History of Ireland: Campion says, no man " wisted " 
 how it was done. 
 
 II Gilbert's Viceroys, p. 220. 
 
 ** Annals of Clonmacnoise. 
 
 tt Bowling's Annals. 
 
 XX Four Masters. Statute of Kilkenny (Hardiman's Introduction.) 
 
 III! Historical Tracts, pp. 172-179. Davies was a good deal of a courtier, 
 and seems to have thought that a prince, because he was a prince, was 
 armed with a magician's wand. 
 
THE STATUTE OF KILKENNY. 313 
 
 But he gives no facts in support of this statement, nor could he, 
 for the English colony did not get strong but weak, and the 
 Statute of Kilkenny was not observed even by those for whom 
 it was specially intended — the Irish of English descent. A truer 
 description of the Statute is " that it was no more than a peevish 
 and revengeful expression of the resentment Duke Lionel felt 
 for the opposition he had met with and the loss of those lands 
 he had come over to claim."* Clarence was disappointed and 
 angry, he had not recovered his lands as he thought he would, 
 he had met with more opposition from the native Irish than he 
 expected, he was not enthusiastically supported by the Anglo- 
 Irish, he was equally displeased with both, and had this Statute 
 passed the object of which could be none other than to keep 
 them in perpetual antagonism. 
 
 The Irish who lived in the provinces outside Leinster were 
 not affected by this enactment ; they did not feel its provisions 
 nor recognise them ; but the natives who lived in Leinster, in 
 the districts where the English king's writ could be enforced 
 — the Pale,f as it began soon to be called, and amid the English 
 and Anglo-Irish who were subjects of England — on these the 
 law was specially severe. They were not English subjects, they 
 were not recognised as such in the Statute ; and the spirit in 
 which it regarded them is shown in the Preamble where they 
 were spoken of as Irish enemies, and a lament is uttered that 
 these Irish enemies are raised up and exalted " contrary to reason." 
 Parliamentary and royal sanction was thus given to the language 
 and acts of the Anglo-Irish lords, who regarded the native Irish 
 as enemies, mere Irish, whom it was no crime to kill, even in 
 times of peace.J These natives lived among the English settlers ; 
 they had business and social relations with them ; with some 
 they were allied by ties of kindred, and when the English subject 
 was prohibited from having any business transactions with them 
 and punished if he had, both English colonist and Irish native 
 were aggrieved. The practice had grown for the settlers to stand 
 sponsors or gossips for the Irish children, to have their own 
 children fostered or nursed among them, and intermarriages 
 between the two races were common, but all these were specifically 
 prohibited as crimes of the greatest magnitude, and the perpe- 
 trators of them pronounced to be traitors to " our lord the king." 
 
 * Hardiman's Statute of Kilkenny (Introduction), quotation from 
 De Lolme. 
 
 t The term Pale was not used until late in the 14th century, the name 
 used in English Acts of Parliament being March, or Border. (Statute of 
 Kilkenny, Hardiman's Introduction.) 
 
 + Davies' Historical Tracts, pp. 83 et seq. 
 
314 HISTORY OF IRELAND. 
 
 It was prohibited to allow the Irish to graze* the lands of the 
 settlers, it was prohibited to sell them either horses or armour 
 in time of peace or victuals in time of war, a prohibition intelligible 
 enough, for if the Irish adopted the use of armour, they would 
 be a better match for their opponents and would suffer fewer 
 defeats. In addition, the distinctive Irish dress| — the mantle, 
 the bared, or cap, and the trowse — were interdicted under pain 
 of forfeiting lands and tenements, if he had such, and liberty, 
 if he had not. The same prohibition, with the same penalty 
 attached, was directed against having an Irish name, riding 
 without a saddle, as the Irish did, and speaking the Irish tongue. 
 And the inhabitants of the Pale were prohibited from using 
 " the plays which men call hurlings with great sticks and a ball 
 upon the ground," but were told instead to accustom themselves 
 to draw the bow and throw the lance and such " gentlemanlike 
 games. "I The bards and minstrels and story-tellers the English 
 government held in special abhorrence. They seemed to regard 
 them as spies who in the interest of their own countrymen, 
 came among the English and Anglo-Irish to discover their 
 intentions and their plans. The capacity of the Irish bards to 
 lampoon was well known, so also was the skill of the harper ; 
 and the English feared the influence of these on their Anglo-Irish 
 fellow-subjects and dreaded that their stories and their songs 
 would seduce them from English and attract them to Irish ways. 
 And to prevent this it was enacted that pipers, story-tellers, 
 rhymers and other such should not come among the English, nor 
 should the English receive them or make them gifts, and whoeve- 
 did so should be attainted and imprisoned. Of all these enact 
 ments none was more vexatious than that prohibiting the Irish 
 language, and this not only to the Irish living within the Pale 
 but to many of English descent as well, who had lived so long in 
 Ireland and mixed so much with the natives, that they knew 
 the Irish language and knew no other tongue. 
 
 These legislators at Kilkenny had enlarged conceptions as 
 to the limits of their powers, and not content with legislating 
 on purely temporal matters, they passed into the regions of the 
 
 * The term used by Davies for this grazing was Creaght, which was 
 formerly applied to those who were shepherds in time of peace, and who 
 drove away the prey in time of war. In Donegal they were armed with 
 clubs and meadogs (knives). (Hardiman's notes, Statute of Kilkenny, ppj 
 
 41-43-) 
 
 f In the case of the poor the mantle was of frieze, in the upper classes 
 it was of fine cloth, bordered with a woollen or silken fringe ; the bared 
 was probably of similar material, it was not a hat but a cap ; the trowse 
 was breeches and stockings joined together in one piece and was tight fitting. 
 (Harris's Ware, Vol. II., pp. 174-178.) 
 
 \ Chapter Vl. 
 
THE STATUTE OF KILKENNY. $1$ 
 
 Spiritual and stepped between the Creator and His creature. 
 The proper ministers of the Gospel in the Pale were those who 
 understood the people and whom the people could understand, 
 and it ought to be a matter for the Church authority alone to 
 say who these ministers were to be, and what their qualifications, 
 and not for the Parliament, whose domain of activity belonged 
 to the State and to affairs of State. Yet this parliament decreed 
 that it was not allowable to confer a benefice on anyone who 
 did not use the English tongue, nor could a native, unless he 
 was of English descent, be admitted to any collegiate or cathedral 
 church in the Pale by provision, collation or presentation of 
 any person, nor to any benefice ; and if so admitted the appoint- 
 ment was cancelled and the place held void. Neither could any 
 religious Order receive any " mere Irishman " into its com- 
 munity.* To deprive the Irish-speaking people of ministers 
 of the Gospel of their own race and tongue, whom alone they 
 could understand was to starve their souls, and put obstacles 
 before them on their road to Heaven ; and the strangest thing 
 is that such legislation should be acquiesced in by three Arch- 
 bishops and five bishops, and that they should even issue a 
 sentence of excommunication against all those who should violate 
 these penal decrees. How they reconciled this action with their 
 duty it is dif^cult to see. Perhaps as churchmen they were of 
 the character of that English cardinal who had to lament in his 
 old age that he had been more faithful to his prince than to his 
 God.f 
 
 But all the provisions of the Statute of Kilkenny were not 
 of this penal character. They were restrictions of individual 
 liberty, as all laws are, but some of them were obviously framed 
 for the common good, and if enforced and obeyed the community 
 would gain instead of suffer. In the very first chapter of the 
 Statute it was laid down that the rights and privileges and 
 immunities of the Church were to be faithfully maintained, 
 tithes were to be paid, and with their levying or collection no 
 layman was to interfere. Whoever it excommunicated was to 
 be shunned by all, and the civil power was to co-operate in 
 enforcing its decrees. Treaties and agreements between English 
 subjects were to be faithfully observed, and, if broken, the offender 
 
 * Hardiman {Statute of Kilkenny, p. 46)^ has justly stigmatised this 
 enactment as the most severe of all. It could not, however, be carried 
 out, for there was soon a scarcity of clergy within the Pale, and Irish priests 
 had to be admitted. 
 
 t Their names indicate that, for the most part, they were English — 
 Minot, John*of Oxford, Young, Le Reve, De Swafham, but better might 
 be expected from O'CarroU (Cashel), O'Connor (Killaloe) and O'Grady 
 (Tuam) — these are Irish names. (Ware's Bishops.) 
 
3l6 HISTORY OF IRELAND. 
 
 was liable to forfeiture of liberty and lands. Nor were malefactors 
 to be harboured under a similar penalty, and if anyone were to 
 enfeoff another with his lands, so that he might escape his legal 
 obligations, or, perhaps, commit a crime with impunity,the enfeoff- 
 ment in such cases was not to stand and the law was to be enforced 
 and the lands attempted to be thus rendered free from liability 
 were to be seized and, if necessary, confiscated. Against grasping 
 and corrupt officials there was a special enactment and neither 
 a magistrate could receive bribes from a litigant, nor could a 
 warden or constable extort money from his prisoner. Nor were 
 there any more salutary enactments than those which had 
 reference to the great lords and tended to put limits to their 
 turbulence and rapacity. They were not to keep kerns or hoblers* 
 for the purpose of preying upon the King's subjects, though 
 they might have some within their own territory, and for the 
 purpose of guarding and defending it. But if any of these kerns 
 or hoblers took from the King's subjects victuals, or any other 
 goods, the hue and cry was to be raised after them and they 
 were to be treated by all as common robbers to be attacked and 
 resisted by all,'^and, if they effected their escape, their lord was 
 to be held accountable and might be put in judgment of life 
 and members, and his lands forfeited. 
 
 One of the most fruitful sources of strife was the power 
 exercised by these nobles to make peace or war as they pleased, 
 a power which never seems to have been founded on any legal 
 right and was now taken away. Henceforth there was to be 
 one peace and one war, nor was war ever to be declared except 
 after consultation between the king and Parliament and then 
 the war was to be continued against the Irish, until they were 
 " finally destroyed." f To obtain supplies for such wars there 
 were to be four " wardens of the peace " appointed in each county, 
 who were to assess the amount of subsidy each individual subject 
 was to give and to review the men-at-arms, hoblers and footmen, 
 who were to be enrolled. Finally, these nobles were to be 
 answerable for their own retainers to this extent that if they 
 were notified of any crimes committed by them, they were bound 
 to have them arrested and lodged in the next jail and, failing to 
 do this after due notice being given them, the lord was to be 
 assessed himself and made amenable for whatever crime, or 
 crimes, his retainer had committed. 
 
 Such was the Statute of Kilkenny, made up of some useful, 
 but of many mischievous provisions. Conceived in hatred, the 
 outcome of failure and disappointment, it sought to bring together 
 
 '* The hoblers were light-armed cavalry. Kerns were infantry, 
 t Chapter x. 
 
THE STATUTE OF KILKENNY 317 
 
 English and Anglo-Irish, to the exclusion of the native Irish, 
 and to have the Anglo-Irish and the native Irish in perpetual 
 conflict. But it was barren of useful results and its provisions 
 were not, indeed could not be, fully enforced. Within a short 
 time it was necessary to allow priests who spoke Irish into the 
 Pale, to minister to the Irish-speaking people there ; there were 
 still intermarriages between the Irish and Anglo-Irish ; and 
 within twenty years it was necessary to dispense the Earl of 
 Desmond from one of its provisions, for he had sent his son to 
 be fostered at the palace of O'Brien of Thomond.* 
 
 * This dispensation was given by Richard II., and bears date, 8th 
 December, 1388. 
 
CHAPTER XXIII. 
 A Heroic Leinster Chief. 
 
 The native Irish, the Anglo-Irish, and the English king — Effects of the 
 Statute of Kikenny — The Earl of Desmond defeated by O'Brien and 
 O'Connor — Condition of Thomond and of Connaught — O'Connor 
 Don and O'Connor Roe — O'Connor Don submits to Richard II. — 
 Continued strife in Connaught — Condition of Ulster — English power 
 outside Leinster and Meath — The Pale — The MacMurroghs — Art 
 MacMurrogh the Elder, Art the Younger — Feeble condition of 
 the English colony — Richard II comes to Ireland — Submission of 
 the Irish Chiefs — Their reception at Dublin — Mortimer and Art 
 MacMurrogh — Battle of Kells — King Richard's second expedition — 
 Battle of Callan, and of Kilmainham — State of the Pale — Art Mac 
 Murrogh's last years and death. 
 
 Since the days of Strongbow the scourge of the native Irish 
 was the rapacity and insolence of the Anglo-Irish lords. They 
 seized their lands, they hunted them into bogs and mountains, 
 they harassed them with continued war, they denied them 
 justice or law, and in every case frustrated the designs of the 
 English government to admit them to the status of English 
 subjects. These lords acted ostensibly in the interests of England 
 but in reality in their own interest ; much of what they did 
 was unknown in England, and much of what they did when 
 it was known was condemned.* And the Irish, or at least some 
 of them, entertained the belief that if the English king knew 
 the exact state of things in Ireland, he would restrain these 
 lords from perpetrating so much injustice and would protect 
 the native Irish from their rapacity. To such as these the Statute 
 of Kilkenny, and the circumstances in which it was passed into 
 law, must have come as a painful surprise. For the parliament 
 of Kilkenny was called together by the son of Edward III., acting 
 in his father's name and armed with his father's power, and 
 its enactments were stamped with his approval. And even the 
 
 * This was so in the case of De Burgho, condemned by Henry III. (1241) 
 
A HEROIC LEINSTER CHIEF. 319 
 
 blindest could not but see that towards the native Irish the spirit 
 of that famous Statute was one of hatred and contempt. When 
 they were described by an Act of Parliament as aliens and enemies, 
 outcasts in their own land with whom it was high treason even 
 to associate, it was time for the Irish chiefs to take alarm and 
 to lay aside their mutual rivalries and jealousies, that is, if they 
 wished to save themselves and their people from extermination. 
 And it was no doubt the recognition of mutual and impending 
 danger that brought O'Connor of Connaught and O'Brien of 
 Thomond together. Against their united forces the Earl of 
 Desmond marched (1370), but on the banks of the river Mague, 
 in Limerick, he was defeated with heavy loss, many of his followers 
 were slain, and himself was taken prisoner.* The conquerors 
 marched on Limerick and that city, so long the stronghold of 
 English power in that quarter, fell into their hands. MacNamara 
 was appointed Warden of the city but someone acting in the 
 English interest treacherously murdered himf and the city soon 
 reverted to the English. 
 
 Such rapid and decisive success should have urged the Irish 
 to continue united, and they might have defeated Ormond as 
 easily as they had defeated Desmond. But these alliances were 
 as quickly dissolved as they were formed ; they were ever lacking 
 in permanence or cohesion ; O'Connor went back to Connaught, 
 nor do we find these two chiefs again acting in concert, x^nd 
 one of the MacNamaras deserted the O'Briens, became the King's 
 lieee subject, and was paid to make war on his countrymen, t 
 The power of Thomond was further weakened by quarrels among 
 the O'Briens themselves, for there were two rivals for the headship 
 of the province, and their strife was long and bitter. The cause 
 of one of them — ^Turlogh — was espoused by the Burkes of 
 Connaught, who marched with an army into Thomond and 
 compelled Brian O'Brien, who had attained to temporary pre- 
 eminence, to fly from the province. But these same Burkes were 
 soon defeated by the MacNamaras, whose territory they had 
 invaded, and who, almost unaided, were strong enough to drive 
 them back. This victory caused Burke's nominee to lose the 
 headship of Thomond. His rival, Brian, who was married to 
 MacNamara's daughter, made peace with Burke and gave him 
 his daughter in marriage and, strengthened by these alliances, 
 assumed the reins of power. And a few years later (1380), with 
 Burke as his ally, he compelled some of the Munster English to 
 
 * Grace's Annals. Leland, Vol. I., pp. 323-4. He erroneously places 
 the battle field in Mayo (at the Monastery). 
 
 t Annals of the Four Masters. 
 
 X Grace's Annals, pp. 155-6. He had an order for 50 marks, May 
 7thi 13745 
 
320 HISTORY OF IRELAND. 
 
 pay him tribute.* For years there was peace in Thomond. The 
 O'Briens ceased quarrelling ; the Burkes were their allies ; and 
 Desmond was on such friendly terms that one of his sons was 
 fostered at O'Brien's palace. Once, (in 1409), there was a quarrel 
 between two rivals for the chieftaincy ; f Connor O'Brien was 
 dethroned and had to fly to Connaught, but next year he returned 
 and was strong enough to recover his inheritance, and for the 
 remainder of his reign of nearly twenty years there was peace 
 in Thomond. 
 
 During these years the state of Connaught was deplorable. 
 Of the royal race of O'Connor there were still many members, 
 and this is the same as to say there was still constant strife. No 
 two members of the family could agree, or, if they did for the 
 moment agree, it was probably to make war upon another of 
 their race and name. Active, energetic, sometimes with military 
 capacity, always brave, they wasted their energies and squandered 
 their talents in fratricidal contests. The patrimony of their house 
 was diminished in extent, its substance was in alien hands, only 
 the shadow of what it was remained, but over the shadow the 
 quarrels and contests were without number and without end. 
 The lessons of history, the memory of what they were and of 
 what they had lost, the happiness of their own people, the miseries 
 they had so often endured by war — these things appealed to 
 them in vain. They would establish no law, they would recognise 
 no rule which could regulate a peaceful and orderly succession 
 to the headship of their clan ; and if such a law was ever established 
 it was quickly broken through. Each prince felt that he, and 
 none other, was qualified to be chief, and he would submit to 
 another only as long as he was powerless to resist. The claims 
 of age, the binding force of family compacts he despised, acknow- 
 ledged no supremacy except that of superior force ; and as soon 
 as he could get together suf^cient followers to assert himself, he 
 was prepared to attack the ruling chief and hurl him from the 
 seat of power ; and he was prepared to accept any aid and to 
 enter into any arrangement, however base. The hardships 
 endured by his own clansmen gave him no trouble, he wasted 
 their lives and destroyed their property without compunction, 
 for he knew nothing of that patriotism which involves the 
 effacement of self, and is more concerned for the advancement 
 of the common good. It is, indeed, true that other provinces 
 of Ireland suffered much from the rivalries and jealousies of 
 their chiefs, but in none of them, filled with tumults as they 
 were, can a parallel be found for Connaught, cursed for centuries 
 by these contests of the O'Connors. 
 
 * White's History of Clare, pp. 143-6. 
 •j- Four Masters. 
 
A HEROIC LEINSTER CHIEF. 32 1 
 
 Into these contests the other chiefs of Connaught — the 
 MacDermotts, the Burkes and others were drawn, and the 
 chronicles of the period can repeat, year after year, with monot- 
 onous iteration, that there were wars in Connaught. On the 
 death of Hugh O'Connor (1368), there was the usual turmoil, 
 and instead of the new chief Roderick continuing to support and 
 follow up the advantage gained by the defeat of the Earl of 
 Desmond, he was more concerned to wreak vengeance on a 
 member of his own family. By treachery he captured Tiege 
 O'Connor and gave him over to Donal O'Connor of Sligo, and 
 the unfortunate prisoner was instantly put to death.* A little 
 later (1375), Roderick O'Connor was at war with O'Kelly of 
 Hy-many, but this time he was blameless, for O'Kelly was aided 
 by the Burkes, and O'Connor was acting in his own defence. 
 Two years later the same coalition attacked him, but again 
 Roderick was successful, and at Roscommon his assailants were 
 overthrown, both the O'Kellys and the Burkes losing many of 
 their chiefs.f That same year some quarrel arose between 
 O'Connor and MacDermott, O'Connor entered Moylurg, wasted 
 and spoiled it, killed some of the inhabitants, burned their 
 buildings, destroyed their corn and carried off their cattle, and 
 when he had thus satisfied his appetite for war, he made peace 
 with MacDermott and even compensated him for the injuries 
 done him.J Perhaps it was easy to satisfy the demands of the 
 chief but it could not be easy to compensate the unfortunate 
 people, whose breadwinners had been slaughtered and whose 
 homes and fields had been laid waste. 
 
 At the death of Roderick (1384), another war of succession 
 arose between two members of the O'Connor family, each named 
 Turlogh. Each was powerful and persistent, each had allies ;|j 
 and the prospect seemed to be a war, long, bitter, and indecisive, 
 in which the unfortunate province was to be still further wasted 
 and destroyed. A conference was arranged and, after much 
 deliberation, it was agreed by the contending parties, and by 
 their allies on each side, that the inheritance of the O'Connors 
 was to be divided. Turlogh Roe, or the Red, was to be head of 
 the O'Connors of Sligo, while his rival, Turlogh Don, or the 
 Brown, was to be head of the O'Connors of Roscommon. This 
 arrangement abolished for ever the old system of one King of 
 Connaught, as head and Chief of all the O'Connors of the 
 
 * O'Conors of Connaught, p. 149. It is not said what crime he had 
 committed — perhaps that of aspiring to be chief. 
 
 t Ibid. 
 
 X Annals of Clonntacnoise. 
 
 II O'Conors, p. 150. On one side were the O'Kellys, Burkes and 
 MacDor.oghs, on the other the MacDermotts. 
 
 Y 
 
322 
 
 HISTORY OF IRELAND. 
 
 province, but in the circumstances it seemed the best to be done, 
 and it was hoped that each, satisfied with the possessions he 
 had got, would keep the peace. The hope was vain. Both were 
 dissatisfied, each thought he should be supreme ; and to sustain 
 his pretensions had recourse to arms, with the result that it is 
 written in the Annals for 1384, that there was universal war 
 in Connaught.* The same entry could be made in many succeed- 
 ing years, for the wars between O'Connor Don and O'Connor Roe 
 were of yearly occurrence. They ceased from war when their 
 strength was exhausted, they resumed hostilities when their 
 strength had been renewed, and in 1392-6-7 and -8f there was 
 war between them, until finally (1406), O'Connor Don was 
 treacherously inveigled into the house of one of the Burkes, 
 the ally and confederate of O'Connor Roe, and there he was 
 put to death by his rival. J In the meantime that same O'Connor 
 Don, in the hope of humiliating his rival and obtaining English 
 aid for that purpose, had gone to Waterford (1395), and made 
 his submission to Richard II. In the church of the Friars Minors 
 in that city, Turlogh, Burke and Birmingham went through 
 the form of submission ; and Turlogh, " removing his mantle, 
 hood, girdle and dagger, on bended knees at the feet of the King, 
 promised to be faithful to the English king, to attend his Parlia- 
 ment, to do what a good and faithful liegeman ought and is 
 bound to do to his natural liege lord." Then he kissed the Gospels 
 and took the oath, and he and Burke and Birmingham were 
 soon created knights on board the ship Trinity, in the port of 
 Waterford, where golden spurs were put on their heels and a 
 sword given them by Richard to be honestly used.|| 
 
 The murder of O'Connor Don did not end the war between 
 the two branches of the O'Connor family. His successor, Cahal, 
 sought and obtained the aid of Mac William Burke, O'Connor Roe 
 had the aid of MacDermott, and for years a desultory war, 
 ruinous to the people, but indecisive in its results, was carried 
 on, and this at a time when unity and combination among the 
 O'Connors would have effected much, not only for Connaught, 
 but for Ireland. Concurrently with these wars between the 
 O'Connors, there were other quarrels and wars between the 
 other Connaught chiefs. The O'Rorkes and O'Reillys were at 
 war (1390), so also were the MacRannells and O'Rorkes in the 
 same year, the MacDermotts were quarrelling among themselves 
 
 * Annals of Loch Ce. Four Masters. 
 
 \ Four Masters. 
 
 \ O' Conors, p. 156. 
 
 II Conors of Connaught, pp. 154-6. O'Connor Don on this occasion 
 claimed to have power to act for a great many of the Connaught chiefs — 
 MacDonagh, O'Dowd, O'Hara, O'Gara, MacDermott, O'Rorke and others. 
 
A HEROIC LEINSTER CHIEF. 323 
 
 (i393),*and in these contests the other chiefs were generally 
 engaged, on one side or the other — the O'Kellys of Hy-many, 
 the MacDonoghs of Tirerill and the Burkes — all of whom made 
 war with little justification and insufficient cause, made treaties 
 and broke them, and changed sides according as they were swayed 
 by passion or caprice. What the province suffered during these 
 years we can judge from an entry in the Annals of Loch Ce 
 (1398), where it is stated that Burke and O'Connor Roe entered 
 Tirerill with their forces and that " the entire country was 
 destroyed by them, both grass and corn, lake (the islands and 
 buildings of the lakes) and church, forts, fastnesses and strong- 
 holds." 
 
 While Connaught was thus desolated every year by the 
 contests of factious chiefs, the state of Ulster was one of com- 
 parative calm, for though Tirconnell and Tirowen sometimes 
 quarrelled, yet there were sometimes intervals, and long intervals, 
 of peace. In neither province was the succession fixed, and this 
 sometimes led to quarrels, but when a chief had asserted his 
 right to rule, he was left undisturbed within his own territory, 
 by his own people, except in rare cases, and only at his death 
 was there a renewal of the combat. There was a war of succession 
 among the O'Donnells (1380); the same year O'Donnell was 
 defeated by O'Neill, and, taking advantage of their quarrels, the 
 Viceroy, Mortimer, entered Ulster, penetrated into Tirowen and 
 Tirconnell and destroyed the fortress of Castlefin, in Donegal, 
 and another fortress in Tirowen.^ But the effect of his raid was 
 not permanent, nor did it teach a lesson either to O'Neill or 
 O'Donnell, for at intervals the combat was renewed between 
 them. In 1395, O'Donnell made war on O'Neill and defeated 
 him ; two years later, that same vigorous chief ransacked and 
 plundered the buildings on the islands of Lough Erne and wasted 
 the district of Carbury, in Sligo ; the next year (1398), he was 
 again at war with O'Neill ; two years subsequently O'Neill 
 invaded Tirconnell and destroyed much of the corn there, and, 
 perhaps in retaliation, the war was resumed in the following 
 year. J But during these years the power of O'Neill had grown 
 and instead of directing his whole energies to the subjugation of 
 O'Donnell which, with a prince of so much energy, was no easy 
 matter, he turned his attention to the remaining English settlers 
 inV Ulster, defeated those of Down, crushed the Savages and 
 their allies in the south of Antrim, || (1383), and burned the 
 
 * Annals of Loch Ce. 
 
 t Four Masters. Annals of Clonmacnoise. Gilbert's Viceroys, p. 245. 
 X Four Masters at these dates. 
 
 II Hugh O'Neill and Ravelin Savage met in a charge of cavalry and 
 killed each other. {Four Masters.) 
 
^24 HISTORY OF IRELAND. 
 
 fortress of Carrickfergus, defeated the English of Dundalk (1392). 
 and wrung submission and tribute from that city. He had 
 meanwhile asserted his superiority over the Irish chiefs of the 
 province and, in 1398, with the exception of Tirconnell, all 
 Ulster, both Irish and English, were compelled to acknowledge 
 him as their ch'ef.* 
 
 At the opening of the fifteenth century, English power, 
 outside of Leinster and Meath, had almost ceased to exist. After 
 his submission to Richard II. at Waterford, Burke had been 
 appointed Lord Deputy of Connaught.f but it would be hard to 
 recognise an English subject in the new ofBcial, for he spoke 
 Irish and no other tongue ; and when he made his submission 
 to Richard an interpreter had to be employed. + In defiance of 
 the Statute of Kilkenny he had intermarried with the Irish, 
 joined in their quarrels and made war on them and on members 
 of his own family, without any authority from England. Nor 
 did he, after his appointment as Lord Deputy (1403), re-establish 
 English influence in Connaught, for it is probable that had he 
 tried he would be unable, and there is no evidence that he even 
 tried. In the South the Earl of Desmond, after his defeat in 
 1370, remained in salutary dread of the O'Briens, and did not 
 again measure swords with them. Neither did he take advantage 
 of the occasional quarrels between his neighbours — the 
 MacCarthys in the east, or the Sullivans in the south — and when 
 he died (1399), it was with the reputation of being a scholar and 
 a poet, rather than a warrior or statesman. || And his successor, 
 far from quarrelling with the Irish chiefs, quarrelled only with 
 the Earl of Ormond ; and it was after making a raid into his 
 territory that he was drowned (1400), while crossing the river 
 Suir.** It was L^einster that became the centre of historical 
 interest during these years. Even there English power was on 
 the wane ; the district where the King's writ held good — the 
 Pale with its shifting boundaries and varying extent — was 
 gradually being contracted in its limits ; and in the very midst 
 of the province an Irish chieftain had arisen, whose patience and 
 perseverance and military skill recall the memory of Brian Boru, 
 a chieftain against whom the whole forces of England had been 
 repeatedly hurled and as often flung backward in defeat. This 
 chieftain's name was Art MacMurrogh. 
 
 * Four Masters. 
 
 t Hardiman's History of Galway, p. 6t,. He was appointed on the 
 5th December, 1403, at the fee of 80 marks 
 
 X O' Conors of Connaught, pp. 155-6 The interpreter was the Eart 
 of Ormond, who knew both Irish and English or rather Norman-French* 
 
 II Annals of Clonmacnoise. Four Masters. 
 ** Meehan's History of the Geraldines, p. 41. 
 
A HEROIC LEINSTER CHIEF. 325 
 
 When Dermot MacMurrogh died (11 71), he left no legitimate 
 male descendant, and his castles and lands and, as far as he could, 
 his authority over Leinster he bequeathed to his daughter, Eva, 
 and her husband, Strongbow. But a female ruler was unknown 
 among the Irish chiefs ; the Leinster clans were not disposed to 
 acknowledge the supremacy of Dermot's daughter, still less 
 that of her husband, a foreign noble, who had made war upon 
 them and robbed many of them of their possessions, and, instead, 
 they set up as King of Leinster an illegitimate S)n of the late 
 king. This prince was named Donal, and from being fostered 
 at Kilcavan, near Gorey, in Wexford, he was called Donal 
 Kavanagh. His talents were considerable, and his physical endow- 
 ments were such that he was called Donal the Handsome. 
 Attracted by these qualities of mind and body, his illegitimacy 
 was forgotten, and he was raised by the native chiefs to the 
 position of King of Leinster. He was amongst those who sub- 
 mitted to Henry IL and (in 1175) he was killed in battle 
 with the O' Nolans. In his family the dignity of King of Leinster 
 was maintained, but those kings for over a century disappear 
 from history, and it is not until 1283, that we hear ot a Murtogh 
 MacMurrogh and his son Art, who lost their heads at Arklow. 
 A little later, another of these princes displayed his standard 
 within sight of Dublin, but was defeated by Butler (13 16), 
 and a few years subsequent to this date (1327), Donal Mac Art 
 MacMurrogh was taken prisoner by the English and confined 
 in Dublin Castle, from which, by the aid of Adam Nangle, he 
 soon escaped. Embittered by his imprisonment, he made ceaseless 
 and not unsuccessful war upon the English colonists, and in a 
 few years he had conquered almost all Carlow and Wexford, 
 and so dreaded was his successor Maurice, and so powerful, 
 that the English government paid him eighty marks a year 
 ('I335)> ^ot to molest their possessions* and willingly recognised 
 him as The MacMurrogh, that is, as the lawful chief of the 
 Leinster Irish. The rightful successor of Maurice was Dermot 
 MacMurrogh, but he was taken prisoner by the English and kept 
 in confinement till his death (1369), and, in consequence. Art 
 MacMurrogh became King of Leinster, and in time became 
 recognised by the English as The MacMurrogh, and like his 
 predecessor was paid the usual stipend of eighty marks a year. 
 But the good relations between Art and the English did not last ; 
 some cause of quarrel arose between them and he was proclaimed 
 
 * Memoir of Art MacMurrogh, by Thomas D'Arcy Magee, pp. 1-6.- 
 This is one of the earliest, if not quite the earliest, instances of thes 
 payments, which afterwards became so common as Black Rent — given to 
 keep the Irish chiefs quiet, not by way of pension, as has been sometimes 
 contended. 
 
326 HISTORY OF IRELAND. 
 
 a traitor (1358), at an English parliament held at Castledermot, 
 and great preparations were made to crush him.* In the war 
 that followed it was not the Irish chief who was defeated but 
 his opponents, nor did the Duke ot Clarence fare any better 
 a few years later. He defeated the Viceroy, De Windsor, 1369, 
 and about the same time seized upon the lands and castles of 
 Carew in Idrone and continued to hold them in spite of the 
 English. So feeble had the colonists become, that the barrier 
 of the Pale was removed from Carlow to Dublinf (1373); the 
 government, unable to communicate with Wicklow by land 
 had to send supplies by sea, the O'Briens had risen in Limerick, 
 the Clan Gibbon and Roches assailed Youghal, Kildare's town 
 of Adare was sacked and burned, the Treasury was exhausted, J 
 the Viceroy was unable to pay his troops and levied forced 
 subsidies on the Colonists ; and when De Windsor returned to 
 England after his second term of the Viceroyalty (1376), and 
 after many years spent in Ireland and many wars with the natives, 
 he had to declare that he could never pass beyond the borders 
 sufficiently far to learn the nature of the interior of the country, 
 or the condition of the natives. || When Art died, 1377, it was 
 with the reputation of being the greatest of his race, but his son, 
 also named Art, who succeeded, was destined to be greater still. 
 He was then but twenty years old, active, hardy, vigorous, a 
 daring rider, dexterous in the use of the lance and already of 
 proved military capacity, for he had won fame in his father's 
 wars. From the government at Dublin he received his yearly 
 stipend of eighty marks, but he had married an Anglo-Irish 
 wife, Eliza le Veele, Baroness of the Norragh, her lands in Kildare 
 w^ere sought to be confiscated by the Crown, because as an English 
 subject she had violated the Statute of Kilkenny and this led 
 Art to retaliate by making war on the English.** The O'Byrnes, 
 O'Tooles, O'Nolans and O'Dempseys, enthusiastically supported 
 him, the colonists were everywhere overborne and by the year 
 1389, the limits of the Pale did not reach on the south, beyond 
 Bray, nor on the north, beyond Drogheda.+t Whether in war 
 
 * Magee's Art MacMurrough, pp. 6-7. Grace's Annals, pp. 149-15 ij 
 notes. 
 
 t Ibid., p. 10. 
 
 + When Murrogh O'Brien of Thomond attacked the Leinster Colonists 
 ^^Z77^, he was bought off with the payment of 100 marks, but only 9 
 marks remained in the Treasury ; the remainder had to be got by borrowing 
 — from the Prior of the Hospitallers 16 marks, from Fitzwilliam a horse, 
 value 20 marks, from FitzGerald a horse, 20 marks, from Lord de Burgh 
 a horse, 20 marks, from John More a BED, value 30 shillings. (Gilbert's 
 Viceroys, p. 243.) 
 
 II Gilbert's Viceroys, pp. 240-1. ** Ibid., p. 266. 
 
 XX Magee's Art MacMurrogh, pp. 14-15. 
 
A HEROIC LEINSTER CHIEF. 327 
 
 or diplomacy, Art had shown himself the superior of every 
 English Viceroy with whom, in one capacity or other, he had 
 to deal. 
 
 Richard II. was then King of England, and great was 
 his annoyance at the continued success of Art MacMurrogh ; 
 and when he laid claim to the imperial crown of Germany, 
 by virtue of his marriage with Anne of Bohemia, he was derisively 
 told by his rivals to go back and conquer Ireland before he 
 could wear an imperial crown.* Mortified at these taunts, he 
 determined to go to Ireland himself and crush this audacious 
 Leinster chief, and in October, 1394, with 4.000 men-at-arms 
 and 30,000 archers, he cast anchor at Waterford. He was 
 acompanied by his uncle, the Earl of Gloucester, by Roger 
 Mortimer, Earl of March, Mowbray, Earl of Nottingham and 
 by many other English nobles and ecclesiastics. With such 
 an army he concluded he would have little trouble in vanquishing 
 the King of Leinster, and after a few days rest at Waterford, 
 he marched north, intending probably to make his first stay 
 at New Ross, and from this as his headquarters to waste 
 MacMurrogh's territory, and bring that chieftain as a suppliant 
 to his feet. But he overrated his own strength as he underrated 
 the resource and skill of his opponent, and the difficulties of 
 the country through which he had to pass. Art received early 
 intelligence of his designs and with his army swooped down 
 on New Ross, burst open its gates, plundered its inhabitants, 
 carried off everything which was useful for himself and his 
 army ; and when Richard reached the town, he found it a mass 
 of ruins, without food to supply his army or houses to shelter 
 them, or fortified walls behind which they might repose in peace. 
 Nor was this all. On their march to Kilkenny, whither the 
 English bent their steps, they were ceaselessly harassed by 
 MacMurrogh. His army was much inferior to the enemy 
 in numbers, but they knew the country well — its rivers and 
 valleys and woods — they led the English into ambuscades, they 
 cut down straggling parties, they harassed them by night attacks ; 
 and when Richard arrived at Kilkenny, his army was thinned 
 in numbers and depressed in spirits, and had lost much of 
 the vigour and confidence with which they were animated, 
 when they landed at Waterford from their ships.f But the 
 King was still confident of success, and, in the arrogance of 
 
 * Leland's History, Vol. I., pp. 339-40. Lingard assigns the reason 
 as a wish to divert his melancholy, because of the death of Anne (Vol. III.-j 
 p. 174). Perhaps both reasons were combined. 
 
 t Four Masters. Magee, pp. 20-25. Chronicles of Froissart (Globe 
 Ed.), p. 430. 
 
328 HISTORY OF IRELAND. 
 
 superior numbers, he haughtily announced to Art MacMurrogh 
 and the other Leinster chiefs, if they would surrender all the 
 castles and lands which they then held, he would graciously 
 allow them to hold in peace all the lands which they could 
 conquer from the other Irish enemies of England. Those 
 terms were necessarily rejected.* Deeply mortified, Richard 
 pursued his journey northwards ; the Leinstermen continued 
 their guerilla tactics, cut off isolated parties of the English, 
 lowered their numbers and their spirits, until at length even 
 Richard's pride was humbled and he was compelled to send 
 a further message to Art, requesting an interview at Dublinj 
 This proposal was accepted f and Richard continuing his journey, 
 arrived at Dublin, where a palace was set up for his accommo- 
 dation at Hoggin Green, and where, amid revelry and 
 feasting and pageantry, he spent the Christmas of that year. 
 On the 1 6th of February following, a further conference took 
 place at Ballygory, between Leighlinbridge and Carlow, between 
 Art MacMurrogh and Mowbray, Earl of Nottingham, acting 
 on the part of King Richard. Art, mounted on a black steed, 
 was accompanied by O'Byrne, O'Nolan, Malachy O'Murrogh, 
 and Rory O'More, who came, like himself, to make their 
 submission. And Art, taking of( his girdle, sword and cap, 
 and placing his hands between those of Nottingham, who gave 
 him the kiss of peace on behalf of Richard II., vowed allegiance 
 but only on condition that his wife's lands were restored to 
 him, that his annuity was regularly paid, and that for the lands 
 he surrendered in Carlow other lands would be given in exchange. J 
 Perhaps Richard II. expected that the various chiefs would 
 flock to Dublin to tender their submission, as in former days 
 their ancestors had done to Henry II. They made no sign 
 in this direction, but a message came from the northern chiefs 
 that they would meet him at Drogheda, and so anxious was 
 Richard to facilitate them that he proceeded there and received 
 the submission of O'Neill, O'Donnell, O'Reilly, O'Hanlon and 
 MacMahon. Those chiefs were received well and accompanied 
 the King back to Dublin, where O'Brien, O'Connor and 
 
 * Cox {Hibernia Anglicana, pp. 138-9), says these terms were accepted 
 by Art and five other Leinster chiefs, but this is inherently improbable, 
 for Art had behind him 20 years of successful war, the other chiefs supported 
 him, and in the Wicklow mountains he could defy all attack. In these 
 circumstances he was not likely to surrender everything he had, and get 
 what amounted to nothing in exchange. 
 
 t Four Masters. " He went into the King's house at the solicitation 
 of the Irish and English of Leinster." 
 
 I Gilbert's Viceroys, pp. 270-1. These terms, it will be seen, are very 
 different from those given by Cox. 
 
A HEROIC LEINSTER CHIEF. 329 
 
 MacMorrogh awaited them, where the feastings were renewed 
 and where these Irish chiefs, not without reluctance, consented 
 to receive knighthood, according to the English fashion. Unlike 
 the courtiers of King John on a former occasion, the ministers 
 and courtiers of King Richard showed every attention to the 
 Irish chiefs, and were careful not to ridicule their appearance 
 or habits. The four principal chiefs — O'Neill, O'Brien of 
 Thomond, MacMurrogh and O'Connor, " King of Connor and 
 Erpe " — were lodged in " a fair house " in Dublin, and a certain 
 Henry Cristede, an Englishman, was appointed their attendant 
 and interpreter.* He had been taken prisoner by the Irish thirty 
 years before, he had lived among them for seven years, had 
 married an Irish wife, and one of his daughters had married 
 an Irishman, and he could speak the Irish language well and 
 had it taught to his children.f He was more than usually 
 garrulous and had much to tell his friend, Sir John Froissart, 
 of these Irish chiefs and of his own troubles with them. They 
 would sit at the same table with their minstrels and servants, 
 eat out of the same dish and drink out of the same cup ; they 
 would ride without saddles, and they preferred their mantles 
 to wearing a silk gown. And Cristede told his friend how much 
 he prevailed with them. He put the four kings at one table, 
 the minstrels at a lower table and the servants at a lower table 
 still ; he induced them to ride with saddles in the English fashion, 
 and to exchange their mantles for gowns of silk, lined with 
 minever and gray, and he got breeches of linen cloth for them 
 instead of their tight fitting trowse.J In the midst of the fetes 
 and pageantry at Dublin news came from England, that the 
 Lollards were growing troublesome, that the country was 
 already in a ferment ; and Richard II., leaving Roger Mortimer, 
 Viceroy, in July, 1395, returned to England. 
 
 The new Viceroy was, as the grandson of the Duke of Clarence, 
 the next heir to the throne of England, and if he was merely 
 an Irish chief, he might also claim the throne of Ireland, for 
 
 * Froissart, pp. 432-3. 
 
 t Cristede was a soldier with the Earl of Ormond and rode one of his 
 horses, which bolted into the Irish ranks. An Irishman jumped up behind 
 the rider and brought horse and man to a town called Herpelipin, and this 
 Irishman — by name Brin Costeret — was taken prisoner, seven years later, 
 by the English, and riding the same horse which Cristede formerly rode. 
 In the meantime, the Englishman had married Brin's daughter, and when 
 he was exchanged for his father in-law and went to live at Bristol, he 
 left one of his daughters in Ireland, who in time married an Irishman. 
 
 + Cristede's opinion of the Irish was not high. He seems to have 
 wondered that the four Kings believed in God and the Trinity and ac- 
 knowledged the supremacy of the Pope. (p. 433.) 
 
330 HISTORY OF IRELAND. 
 
 he was descended from her ancient kings. By his descent 
 from the Earl of Ulster and the De Genevilles of Meath, 
 one of his ancestors was Roderick O'Connor, the last Ardri, 
 whose daughter had married Hugh de Lacy, while on the other 
 hand he claimed direct descent from Eva, wife of Srrongbow, 
 and daughter of Dermot MacMurrogh. Attachment to an 
 ancient name has always been a strong feature of the Irish 
 character, but Mortimer was England's Viceroy, acting in 
 England's name and for the extension of her power, and as 
 such could not, and did not, receive the allegiance of the Irish 
 chiefs. \ oung and inexperienced, either in diplomacy or war,' 
 he had to rely on his advisers at Dublin ; and the advice they 
 gave him was to get Art MacMurrogh by treachery into his 
 power.* He was invited to a banquet and sought to be kept, 
 but he was in some way forewarned and managed to escape. f 
 Such treachery as this roused the anger of Art and his chiefs, 
 and a desultory war was carried on for some time, in which 
 the Irish seemed to have fared better than their foes, for the 
 O'Tooles defeated the English (1396),^ with the loss of 120, 
 and Art himself captured the castle of Carton in the following 
 year. To avenge these disasters, as well as to signalise his 
 viceroyalty by some notable achievement, Mortimer collected 
 all his forces (1398), and marched south to encounter Art and 
 to chastise him. The opposing forces met at Kenlis, or Kells, 
 in Kilkenny, and Mortimer was defeated and slain. || 
 Concurrently with these events other disasters befell the 
 English. Mageoghegan of Westmeath killed the English chief, 
 Maurice D'Alton ; the Earl of Kildare was taken prisoner by 
 O'Connor of Offaly ; and the Earl of Desmond died.** The Irish 
 were everywhere triumphant and elated, the English dispirited, 
 •English power seemed tottering to its fall, and the danger seemed 
 imminent that, outside of Dublin and Waterford, the flag of 
 England would cease to float. 
 
 When news of these disasters arrived from Ireland, Richard IL 
 was involved in many difificulties. Harassed by turbulent nobles 
 and ambitious relatives, he had for the moment triumphed 
 over both, and in revenge had embarked on a policy of persecution 
 and proscription, which roused the ire of his subjects, and finally 
 
 * Magee, pp. 38-43. 
 
 t Four Masters, 1395. 
 
 X Ibid. 
 
 11 Ware's Annals. Magee (pp. 47-48), puts Art in this battle — the 
 Annalists do not, it was only the O' Byrnes and O'Tooles — but Magee's 
 reasons are strong. 
 
 * * Magee, p. 50. 
 
A HEROIC LEINSTER CHIEF. 331 
 
 lost him his crown.* Surrounded by so many difficulties, 
 menaced by so many enemies, he could ill afford to leave England 
 and proceed to Ireland ; but, unmindful of former failures, he 
 was still ambitious of military renown, and desired to avenge 
 the death of Mortimer and humble that proud Leinster chief, 
 whose skill and daring had so often triumphed over English 
 arms. With an army of at least 20,000 men, he sailed from 
 Milford Haven and arrived at Waterford, on the first of June, 
 I399.t As on a former occasion he marched from Waterford 
 to Kilkenny. He could easily have crushed Art MacMurrogh, 
 if that chief had met him in the open field and risked all on a 
 single battle, for the weight of numbers was on the English 
 side. But Art was too experienced to risk defeat, and fell back, 
 first to Carlow, and then eastwards to Wicklow. He had but 
 3000 men, though they were stout men, such as the Englishmen 
 marvelled to behold. His usual guerilla tactics were pursued. 
 The women and children he sent to a place of safety in the hills 
 or woods, while his army harassed the advancing English, cut 
 off their scouts and foragers, made night attacks on their camp, 
 carried off all provisions, leaving the enemy to march through 
 a district, broken, boggy and wooded, where they could get 
 nothing for their horses but a little green oats, and where their 
 horses sank to their saddle-girths in the marshes. Their 
 provisions ran short, the horses died of hunger and exposure 
 to rain and wind, a biscuit in one day was thought a good 
 allowance for five men many were for days without any food 
 at all ; and the Frenchman, who wrote the narrative of the 
 expedition and accompanied the army heartily wished he was 
 back again in Paris even without one penny in his pocket. Many 
 died from sickness, many more from hunger; mourning, depression 
 and gloom replaced the gaiety of their first march from Waterford 
 to Kilkenny ; the minstrels ceased to amuse ; and if they played, 
 their notes were those of woe; and instead of a conquering army 
 they were a feeble, famine-stricken multitude, hastening to 
 Dublin to get food. 
 
 At Kilkenny news was brought that a Fremh knight, 
 D'Artois, had defeated a body of Irish at Kildare, and killed 
 200 of them, and, elated by this victory, Richard sent a message 
 to Art MacMurrogh calling on him to submit but the answer 
 came back, that he (Art), " would not submit, that he was 
 
 * Lingard, Vol. ill., p. 189. 
 
 f Harris's Hibernica, pp. 49-58. The narrative of the expedition 
 was written (in French), by a Frenchman (Creton), who accompanied 
 the expedition. It was translated by Lord Totnes into English, and is 
 the second of the Tracts included in the Hibernica. 
 
332 HISTORY OF IRELAND 
 
 the rightful King of Leinster and would never cease from war 
 and the defence of his country until his death, and that the 
 wish to deprive him of it by conquest was unlawful."* But an 
 uncle of Art — Malachy MacMurrogh — came to the English camp, 
 barefooted and bareheaded, and with a halter tound his neck, 
 and in this humble fashion made submission. He was pardoned 
 all he had done against the English and was required only to 
 be faithful for the time to come.j Still hoping that Art would 
 yield, Richard II. sent him a second messenger, promising that 
 if he would come and submit as his uncle had done, he would 
 receive mercy and pardon and be endowed with castles and 
 lands. But Art's answer was that he would do no such thing, 
 that for all the gold in the world he would not submit but would 
 continue to war upon the King of England.^ Decimated by 
 disease and hunger, word had been sent to Dublin for food ; 
 that city sent supplies by sea ; and the army hastened eastwards 
 to Arklow, where the ships put in, laden with food. And the 
 starving soldiers rushed into the waves, forcibly seized on the 
 provisions, even fought amid the waves for a morsel of bread, 
 drank all the wine they could seize, and the French chronicler 
 declared that he saw fully a thousand drunk on the wine of 
 Ossy and Spain. |! 
 
 On his march along the sea coast to Dublin, Richard received 
 a message from Art MacMurrogh, asking for a conference with 
 himself or someone on his behalf ; the Earl of Gloucester was 
 chosen and met Art near, or in, the Vale of Ovoca. Each was 
 accompanied by a large retinue, but they held their conference 
 apart in front of the opposing forces. Art, dressed in a pink 
 robe, was mounted on a splendid horse, without housing or saddle, 
 and his horse galloped so fast to the place of meeting, that the 
 French historian declares that he never saw hare, deer, or any 
 other animal run so fast. There was much talk between Gloucester 
 and Art, but the conference ended in nothing, for Art would 
 make no terms except on condition that his person and possessions 
 were to be unmolested, while Richard would grant no such terms, 
 and swore that he would never leave Ireland until he had Art 
 in his power. His army swelled to 30,000 by additions from 
 the Anglo-Irish lords, Richard soon arrived in Dublin, the 
 provost and sheriffs feasted the soldiers sumptuously, and their 
 
 * Gilbert's Viceroys, p. 281. 
 
 t Hibernica, p. 51. 
 
 + Ibid., p. 52. "That for all the goold in the world he would not 
 submit himself, but would continue to warr and endamage the King in all 
 that he mought." 
 
 II The names of the places passed through have not been given by Cretonj 
 but the route has been traced, I think accurately, by Magee. (pp. 56-59). 
 
A HEROIC LEINSTER CHIEF. 333 
 
 late ills were quickly forgotten. His cousin, the Duke of 
 Albemarle, also arrived from England with large supplies of 
 men and money, and Richard, still bent on capturing Art Mac 
 Murrogh, divided his army into three divisions, bade them 
 proceed in different directions in quest of the troublesome chief 
 and offered 100 marks for whoever should bring him alive or 
 dead into his power. But the quest was fruitless and the army 
 returned without effecting anything. In the meantime Richard 
 indulged in feasts and revels in Dublin, but in the midst of all 
 this gaiety, news came from England that the Duke of Lancaster 
 had raised a formidable insurrection, and Richard returned to 
 England by way of Waterford, only to find himself deprived of 
 his crown, as he was soon afterwards of his life.* 
 
 The change of dynasty in England did not affect Ireland 
 much. Unlike his predecessor^ Henry IV. did not try conclusions 
 with Art MacMurrogh, nor could he, for he had more than 
 sufficient to occupy him at home. Glendower had risen in rebel- 
 lion in Wales, the Scotch declared war, the attitude of the French 
 king was one of irritation and menace, some French nobles, 
 led by the Duke of Orleans, fitted out several vessels and made 
 descents on the south coast of England, the religious controversies 
 of the Lollards were a source of constant ferment, and the 
 formidable revolt of the Percies in the north all but succeeded 
 in the defeat of Henry, at the stubbornly fought battle of 
 Shrewsbury-! Surrounded by so many dangers— all his efforts 
 required to maintain himself on the throne which he had usurped 
 — the King concerned himself little with Irish affairs. He 
 appointed his son Thomas, Viceroy (1401), but that prince was 
 but a hoyl and the duties of his office were discharged by deputies ; 
 and Scrope and Ormond succeeded each other in that office 
 without anything of note occurring, except that the citizens of 
 Dublin attacked the O'Byrnes of Wicklow (1405), and killed 500 
 of them, and the Prior of Conal fell upon a party of Irish in 
 Kildare and killed 200 of them.|| 
 
 Victorious over his enemies, holding in security his ancient 
 possessions and recent conquests, supported and obeyed by the 
 other Leinster chiefs, Art MacMurrogh during these years 
 remained for the most part quiescent, and was only roused to 
 activity, when the English colonists at Wexford became restive. 
 When they did, he quickly reduced them to obedience and seized 
 or burned many English castles in Wexford, Carlow and Kildare 
 
 * Hibernica, pp. 53-54. Gilbert's Viceroys, pp. 283-7. 
 
 t Lingard, Vol. III., pp. 201-14. 
 
 X He was only in his twelfth yean (Gilbert's Viceroys, p. 204) 
 
 II Magee, pp. 69-70. 
 
334 HISTORY OF IRELAND. 
 
 (1406).* In a quarrel between the Earls of Ormond and Desmond 
 (1404), he fought on Desmond's side, though it was strange 
 he was never able to crush Ormond, nor capture his stronghold 
 at Kilkenny ; and it is an evidence of Ormond's great ability 
 that he was enabled to hold his own among hostile and powerful 
 chiefs and preserved his capital from falling into their hands. 
 The old Earl died (1404), the deputy, Scrope, tried to reconcile 
 the new Earl and the Earl of Desmond and at length succeeded, 
 and with these two a strong confederacy was formed against 
 MacMurrogh of which Scrope himself was the leader ; other 
 allies were the Prior of Kilmainham and also a contingent from 
 the citizens of Dublin. With such an army Scrope hoped to 
 succeed where Richard II. had failed, and with Desmond and 
 Ormond he marched south (1407) towards Carlow. On the way 
 he encountered Teige O'Carroll, who was proceeding to 
 MacMurrogh's aid, and whom he defeated with heavy loss, 
 O'Carroll himself falling in the battle. t Six miles from Callan, 
 he came face to face with MacMurrogh and an obstinate battle 
 was fought. The advantage was with the Irish in the early part 
 of the day, but the tide turned, and after a hard fought battle, 
 Art was defeated and O'Nolan, one of the Leinster chiefs, was 
 killed. And the English chronicler asserts, and seems to believe, 
 that for the space of three hours the sun stood still in the heavens, 
 so that the English would have light to finish the destruction 
 of their foes.;]: But MacMurrogh was not much weakened or 
 dispirited by this defeat. Scrope fell back to Kilkenny and the 
 next year died of the plague at Castledermot ; Art at once became 
 active, attacked and overran the English possessions, and did 
 not cease until, at the head of a large army, he encamped under 
 the walls of Dublin. |i 
 
 The Viceroy, Thomas of Lancaster, had been three times in 
 Ireland, previous to his coming over, in 1408. On each occasion 
 he was friendly with the Butlers, but for some reason he conceived 
 an antipathy for the Earl of Kildare, and when that noble was 
 elected Deputy (1405), in place of Ormond, who had died, Prince 
 Thomas instantly cancelled his appointment and appointed 
 Scrope in his place.** On his fourth coming over (1408), Kildare 
 went to meet him at Carlingford and pay him his respects, as 
 Viceroy and prince of the blood, but his reward was to be arrested 
 and cast into prison out of which he had to be ransomed by the 
 payment of 300 marks. Besides this the Viceroy plundered 
 
 * Four Masters. 
 
 I Annals of Clonmacnoise. 
 \ Marlborough's Chronicle. 
 
 II Four Masters. Magee, p. yj. 
 ** Magee, pp. 71-72. 
 
A HEROIC LEINSTER CHIEF. 335 
 
 Kildare's castles and carried away his plate and money.* Enriched 
 by this plunder and by the 2000 marks, which he had given him 
 when leaving England,! he meditated great things in Ireland 
 and called a Council at Dublin to concert measures against the 
 Irish chiefs ; and by the aid of the Anglo-Irish nobles and the 
 citizens of Dublin he had soon a large army under his command. 
 Nor had he to go far in search of the Irish enemies, for it was 
 just then that Art MacMurrogh with all his forces lay encamped 
 near Dublin and it may be assumed that he had with him the 
 other Leinster chiefs — the O'Byrnes, O'Nolans and O'Tooles. 
 To these may be added O'Connor of Offaly, who had often fought 
 the English and whose son and heir had been killed (1406), while 
 fighting against Birmingham. | It was his interest as well as 
 Art's to see the English beaten, nor was there any reason for 
 jealousy between these two chiefs. The Viceroy had mustered 
 all the crown tenants of Ireland !| so that the fighting forces of 
 the Pale were ranged under his command, Jenico d'Artois, Butler, 
 Prior of Kilmainham and the rest. The English marched out 
 from the city and the battle took place at Kilmainham, the 
 result being that they were defeated, one of their chiefs, Hitsun 
 Tuite, killed and the Duke of Lancaster himself dangerously 
 wounded. The whole of the ancient Kingdom of Leinster, up 
 to the very walls of Dublin, was now in Art MacMurrough's 
 hands, and the condition to which the Viceroy was reduced is 
 described by one of his courtiers, who wrote on his behalf to 
 Henry IV. : — " His soldiers have deserted him, the people of his 
 household are on the point of leaving him; he is so destitute of 
 money that he hath not a penny nor a penny can he get credit 
 for." As soon as he was better of his wound, Prince Thomas 
 returned to England, appointed the Prior of Kilmainham as his 
 Deputy, and did not again come to Ireland.** 
 
 Nor was this the only disaster that overtook the English at 
 this period and that threatened the final extinction of their 
 power. Allied with Mageoghegan of Westmeath, O'Connor of 
 Offaly captured castles and towns from the neighbouring English 
 (1408), took the Sheriff of Meath prisoner (141 1), and gained 
 the victory of Killechin (1414), where the Baron of Skreen and 
 many English nobles were slain, and the Baron's son and many 
 others taken prisoners, for whose release a sum of 1200 marks 
 was paid.fl 
 
 * Gilbert's Viceroys, p. 300. His crime was that " with Adam O'Nolan 
 he interfered with the right of the Crown to appoint a prebend at Maynooth.* 
 t Cox, pp. 146-7. 
 X Four Masters. 
 II Gilbert's Viceroys. 
 ** Magee, pp. 77-80; 
 tt Four Masters. 
 
3 36 HISTORY OF IRELAND. 
 
 The Irish soldiers of that day fought well in the open, but 
 they had not learned to capture fortified towns, and after the 
 battle of Kilmainham Art MacMurrogh made no attempt to 
 capture Dublin. It was well fortified, perhaps impossible to 
 take from the land side, nor could the inhabitants be starved 
 out, for the sea was open to them and the Irish had no vessels 
 to blockade it : and when Art MacMurrogh had buried his dead 
 and attended to the wounded he retired to his headquarters at 
 New Ross. Two years later the O'Farrells were defeated by 
 the Deputy and the O' Byrnes defeated the Prior of Kilmainham 
 and the citizens of Dublin in 141 3.* In this latter year, the 
 Prior of Kilmainham and 1600 men went to France, to assist 
 Henry V. in his wars, and the new Lord Deputy — Stanley — 
 while making no war on MacMurrogh and O'Connor, persecuted 
 and plundered clergy and laity and subjected many of them to 
 " cold, hardship and famine." For all his cruelties, especially 
 towards the poets, he was satirized by the poet O'Higgins, and 
 it is gravely recorded that he lived after this but five weeks " for 
 he died (141 4) of the virulence of the lampoons. "f After Stanley 
 came Cranley, Archbishop of Dublin, and then a really able 
 man was appointed Viceroy — Sir John Talbot — Lord Furnival.J 
 But, perhaps for want of men and money, he formed no great 
 plans and embarked on no great war, nor was his term of office 
 remarkable for anything except that he robbed and plundered 
 indiscriminately, English || and Irish alike, and every year he 
 made a circuit through Meath and Louth, took all he could lay 
 hands on ; and when he returned to England he carried with him 
 " the curses of many, because he, being run in debt for victuals 
 and divers other things, would pay little or nothing at all."** 
 
 Except for some small war with the English of Wexford, 
 whom he quickly subdued, the closing years of Art MacMurrogh 
 were spent in peace. In one of these battles his son defeated the 
 Wexfordmen (1416), with the loss of 340 killed or wounded, or 
 prisoners. The next year, after being 42 years the head of 
 the Leinster clans. Art himself died,tt the ablest, the most skilful, 
 the most successful chief whom Ireland had sent to combat the 
 English, since Strongbow first landed on her soil. 
 
 * Four Masters. 
 t ibid. 
 
 X Gilbert's Viceroys, p. 304. He came over in 1414, being appointed 
 Viceroy for 6 years at an annual allowance of ;f 2,666 13s. 4d3 
 II Only the " degenerate " English: 
 ** Marlborough s Chronicle at 1419.- 
 It Four Masters. There was a suspicion that he was poisoned. 
 
CHAPTER XXIV. 
 
 Decay of English Power. 
 
 Disturbed state of Ireland in the fifteenth century — The Leinster chiefs — 
 Weakened condition of the Pale — The Talbots and Butlers — The 
 Viceroys and the native chiefs — Payments of Black rent — Ormond 
 and Desmond quarrel — Talbot appointed Viceroy — The Duke of 
 York succeeds him — His relations with the Irish — Returned to England 
 — Wars of the Roses — Triumph of the Yorkists — The Earl of Ormond 
 executed — The Butlers and Fitzgeralds at war — Viceroyalty of 
 Tiptoft — Execution of Desmond — Revolt of Garret Fitzgerald — Earl 
 of Kildare Viceroy — The Pale — Its limits — Surrounded by a dyke — 
 Poverty and impotence of the executive at Dublin — Lord Grey 
 and Kildare — Folly of the Irish chiefs — State of Connaught — and 
 of Thomond — O'Brien captures Limerick — Dissensions in Ulster — 
 Opportunity of the natives to expel the English allowed to pass. 
 
 The years that followed the death of Art MacMurrogh, it might 
 be said the whole fifteenth century, were years of strife and 
 discord, rivalling the most disturbed period of Irish history. 
 There was war everywhere, north and south and west, and on the 
 borders of the Pale and within it, wars between rival candidates 
 for the chieftaincy of their clans, wars between neighbouring chiefs 
 and combinations of these, wars between the Anglo-Irish lords 
 themselves, wars of aggression and of spoliation, wars of retaliation 
 and revenge. But in all these wars we would seek in vain 
 for any national or patriotic object, any unity of purpose or 
 design. Nor among the various leaders, whose mischievous 
 activity caused so much blood to flow, was there even one whose 
 talents lifted him above his contemporaries, who was capable 
 of rising superior to his surroundings, of looking beyond the 
 narrow limits of his clan, and of making an effort to rescue, 
 not only his clan, but his country, from the ruin into which 
 she was being hurried by the shortsightedness and folly of her 
 sons. Peace and order and settled government were unknown, 
 law was known but only to be despised, for it was the law of 
 the stronger, and that only, which prevailed. 
 
 During the closing years of his life, Art MacMurrogh showed 
 no eagerness for war, and never once did he measure swords 
 
 z 
 
338 HISTORY OF IRELAND. 
 
 with the Viceroy, Talbot, not even when that renowned soldier 
 defeated O'More of Leix (141 5), burned and destroyed the corn 
 of the district, wounded and killed numbers of the people and 
 broke down two strong castles.* Perhaps the Leinster king 
 waited for a more favourable opportunity to attack the Pale, 
 when its resources would be more exhausted^ or at least be 
 controlled by someone less capable than Talbot was. But his 
 son and successor, Donogh, was not equally prudent, and, with 
 O'Connor of Offaly, he was at war with the English (141 9), 
 and advanced as far as Dublin, where he was defeated and taken 
 prisoner. His ally, O'Connor, was taken prisoner, at the same 
 time, but managed to escape, while Donogh was taken to England 
 and lodged in the Tower of London, where he was kept a prisoner 
 for nine years .| Nor was he then liberated but for a heavy 
 ransom, which was cheerfully paid by his own clansmen. J 
 During these years, a kinsman, Gerald Kavanagh, was 
 acknowledged head of the MacMurroghs, but when Donogh 
 was set free his kinsman made way for him, and he stepped into 
 the place his father had filled with so much honour. The 
 recollection of his imprisonment embittered him against the 
 English, and only a short time passed until he was again at 
 war with them, though his success was not remarkable, for 
 while he won one battle against them (143 1), he lost a second, 
 both battles being fought near Dublin. In the last battle his 
 ally, O'Toole, was taken prisoner.il But Donogh was persevering, 
 and the next year he again attacked the English and defeated 
 them with the loss of their leader, Tobin. At a later date (1443), 
 he chastised the English of Wexford, who had defeated and 
 killed his relative, Murtogh Kavanagh, and he compelled them 
 to pay a fine of 800 marks as compensation for Murtogh's death.* * 
 The next year some of his kinsmen rose in rebellion against 
 him, and were aided by the O'Byrnes and O'Tooles. In the 
 war that followed, Donogh was able to hold his own by the 
 aid of O'Connor of Offaly, but a little later the quarrel was 
 renewed, and Donogh was defeated and slain. ff His successor 
 was his cousin, Donal Reveagh, who occupied the position until 
 1476. He must have been a man of vigour and capacity to 
 maintain his position so long, but his resources were employed 
 in keeping his neighbours — English and Irish — in subjection, 
 
 * Gilbert's Viceroys, pp. 304-5. 
 
 t Ibid., p. 311. Magee's Ari MacMurrogh, p. 104. 
 % Four Masters, 1428. 
 II Ibid. 
 
 * * Ibid. 
 
 •j-f Annals of MacFirbis (quoted by O'Donovan). Magee, 105. It is 
 Magee who adds that Donogh was slain, I know not on what authority. 
 
DECAY OF ENGLISH POWER. 339 
 
 and while the rulers of the Pale made no attempt to conquer him, 
 neither did he make any attempt to gather together the strength 
 of Leinster and inflict upon them a crushing blow, as in similar 
 circumstances Art MacMurrogh might have done. 
 
 The defeat and imprisonment of Donal Kavanagh MacMurrogh, 
 the troubles of a disputed succession, and the weakness which 
 these troubles caused, were all favourable circumstances for 
 the subjugation of Leinster to English rule. And if the Pale 
 had been prosperous and its forces united, such a leader as Talbot 
 might piobably have inteifered in the MacMurrogh quarrels, 
 and with disastrous effect on them. But the Pale was weak, 
 its people were poor, harassed by inroads from the neighbouring 
 chiefs, taxed beyond their strength, subjected to coyne and 
 livery, even by the Viceroys ; no help came from England, for 
 all its resources were required in the wars with France ; Talbot 
 was sent to these same French wars, and his successors had not 
 his ability ; and to make matters worse, there was discord 
 among the English of the Pale. Sir John Talbot's brother 
 was Archbishop of Dublin,* and he was no friend of Ormond, 
 the strongest supporter in Ireland of the House of Lancaster. 
 Between these two men there was never any cordiality, they 
 seldom or never co-operated in any public object, more usually 
 they disagreed and thwarted and obstructed one another, and 
 there were charges and countercharges between them, and 
 appeals to England. Each had influence with the King, 
 and according as that influence failed or was successful, their 
 power in Ireland rose or fell. Sometimes the Archbishop was 
 Lord Deputy or Viceroy, sometimes it was Ormond, but each, 
 during his period of office, used the powers of which he was 
 master, not so much to advance English interests, as to elevate 
 his own faction and to humiliate his rival. Within twenty-five 
 years (1422-47), Ormond was the head of the Irish Government, 
 either as Viceroy or Deputy, no less than five times, and the 
 Archbishop was six times,t as well as being for a time (1423-6) 
 Lord Chancellor. During that time the quarrels between these 
 two powerful men continued, and twice these quarrels assumed 
 such dangerous proportions, that King Henry VI. had to 
 personally intervene and command them to live at peace. J It 
 was divided counsels and chieftains' jealousies which made the 
 Irish always so weak, so incapable, either to resist or attack their 
 foes. Similar causes produced similar effects among the English ; 
 
 * He was Archbishop of Dublin from 14 17 to 1449. (Ware's Bishops.) 
 t Ormond's terms of office were, 1422-24-26-40-43. Talbot's terms of 
 office were, 1423-27-30-36-45-47. (Harris's Ware, Vol. II., p. 107.) 
 X Gilbert's Viceroys, pp. 316 17, 328, 337-42. 
 
340 HISTORY OF IRELAND. 
 
 the Pale was undefended, its inhabitants were at the mercy 
 of the Irish chiefs ; and nothing could purchase their security 
 except to buy ofi the hostility of these chiefs. The English 
 ofTficials were grasping and mercenary, little troubled about 
 advancing the King's interests and eager to enrich themselves, 
 they levied heavy burdens on the English Colonists, and seldom 
 paid for anything they got.* Reduced to poverty and impotence, 
 the chief men of the Pale had already addressed a memorial 
 to Henry V., begging that he would come to their relief as 
 they were surrounded by Irish enemies and English rebels, 
 and as this petition was unheeded, they addressed a further 
 one to the same quarter, a few years later (1420), begging Henry 
 to place their condition before the Pope, so that he might preach 
 a new crusade against the Irish, for apparently they believed, 
 or at least wished the Pope to believe, that the Irish were no 
 better than the heathens, and might be regarded as the enemies 
 of God and His Church .f 
 
 The war during these years between the English and the Irish 
 was desultory and unimportant, and led to no result except 
 this — that the English still further lost, as the Irish still further 
 gained, ground. During his first Viceroyalty (1418), Sir John 
 Talbot marched against an Irish chief — Magennis of Iveagh, 
 in Down, and, having defeated him in battle, carried off a great 
 part of his people's cattle, but Magennis obtained reinforcements, 
 pursued the Viceroy laden with his spoil, defeated him with 
 the loss of many English, and recovered the greater part of his 
 cattle.J Two years later, the Earl of Ormond joined with 
 O'Neill of Tirowen, and both attacked and defeated Magennis, 
 though the victory brought no advantage to the English interest, 
 for its purpose and effect were to compel Magennis to submit 
 to O'Neill. II The unusual spectacle of O'Neill and O'Donnell 
 combining their strength was witnessed in 1423, for, in that 
 year, aided by the other Ulster chiefs, they marched against 
 Dundalk, compelled the English colony there to pay tribute 
 encountered the English forces near that town under the 
 command of the Lord Deputy, defeated them with the loss 
 of one hundred men, and, besides obtaining great spoils from 
 them, compelled the English in Louth and Meath to pay Black 
 Rent, and only on this condition would they make peace.** 
 With large reinforcements from England, Ormond marched 
 
 * Gilbert's Viceroys, pp. 313-14. 
 t 3td- pp. 314-15. 
 X Four Masters. 
 
 II Ibid. This Earl of Ormond, and O'Neill, were married to two sisters, 
 daughters of Donal MacMurrogh, King of Leinster. (Magee, p. 105.) 
 ** Four Masters. 
 
DECAY OF ENGLISH POWER. 34 1 
 
 north, in the following year, and to some extent retrieved 
 Mortimer's defeat, for he did much damage to the Irish and 
 attacked and drove from his territory Magennis of Iveagh. 
 These triumphs of the English were not destined to be lasting 
 in their results, as O'Neill attacked Dundalk (1430), and again 
 compelled that town as well as the whole of Meath to pay him 
 tribute.* A little later, in some obscure expedition, the English 
 captured O'Donnell of Tirconnell and kept him imprisoned, 
 in revenge for which they were attacked by his relative, O'Connor 
 of Offaly (1436), during which war he did them much damage 
 " by burning, plundering and slaying "; f while later still (1442), 
 the English made their way into Wicklow and defeated the 
 O' Byrnes and O'Tooles, only in turn to be attacked by these 
 warlike clans and defeated with the loss of eighty men, and the 
 capturing of all the booty they were carrying away. Amid 
 these little wars, where success and failure constantly fluctuated, 
 the Pale was becoming less and less in extent, until scarce any 
 part was left, except the County of Dublin, where the King's 
 power was unquestioned and supreme. English there were 
 elsewhere, but they had to purchase peace by the payment 
 of Black Rent, and to such poverty was the Irish Government 
 reduced that when the hall and windows of Dublin Castle 
 required to be repaired it was necessary to break up and sell an 
 old unused royal seal ^ (1427); nor was the public revenue 
 sufficient to carry on the government, for the expenses of 
 the Viceroy and his ofificers exceeded the yearly revenue by 
 the amount of ^^1,456. || 
 
 In the diputes between the Talbots and Butlers neither 
 the Earl of Desmond nor the Earl of Kildare had hitherto mixed. 
 The Geraldines and the Butlers were rarely on the friendliest 
 terms, but to further his own ends Desmond united with Butler 
 (1443), in some quarrel against the Talbot faction. Ormond 
 was then Viceroy, with all the power and influence that 
 ofifice gave. He was grateful for the timely assistance of Desmond, 
 and to express his gratitude he obtained for him a royal licence 
 to purchase whatever lands he pleased, no matter by what 
 service they were held from the King, and at the same time 
 he was constituted by Letters Patent, governor of the counties 
 of Watertord, Cork, Limerick and Kerry, and, in addition, 
 was excused from attendance in parliament.** Such privileges 
 increased Desmond's power enormously, but neither his loyalty 
 
 * Four Masters. 
 
 t Ibid. 
 
 % Leland, Vol. II., p. 22. 
 
 II Gilbert's Viceroys, p. 342. 
 
 ** Leland, Vol. II., p. 25. 
 
342 HISTORY OF IRELAND. 
 
 to the Lancastrian dynasty nor his affection for the Butlers 
 grew, and, forgetful of the favours he had received, and confident 
 in his own resources and strength, on some pretext he actually 
 went to war with Ormond in the next year, nor was Ormond 
 with all the forces which a Viceroy could command able to 
 conquer the haughty Geraldine.* His enemies at Dublin 
 were not slow to make the most of his failure, and the shower 
 of accusations against him fell thick and fast. The King was 
 told that he was inactive and infirm from age, that he wanted 
 the capacity to enlarge the Pale or even to defend it against 
 attack, that he was grasping, avaricious and corrupt, and had 
 used his high office of Viceroy for the advancement of his friends 
 and the enrichment of himself. Strong in his attachment to 
 Ormond, the King refused to listen to these accusations, or 
 at least to believe them, but Ormond's enemies were numerous 
 and persistent ; the charges were often repeated and in various 
 forms; and at length, he was removed from his position (1446), 
 and Sir John Talbot, now Earl of Shrewsbury, was sent over 
 as Viceroy and given a force of 700 men to assist in subduing 
 rebellion, and reasserting the weakened authority of England, 
 both within and without the Pale.| Yet he accomplished 
 little, and except that he reduced the refractory subjects of 
 the King within the Pale and inflicted defeat on O'Connor of 
 Ofia\y,'l he could not be credited with having done anything 
 else during this, his last viceroyalty. But from so famous a 
 man, who had earned so great a name in the French wars,|| 
 the Palesmen expected much, and during his tenure of office 
 they assumed their old airs of superiority over the native Irish, 
 looked down upon them with contempt as an inferior and subject 
 race, loudly demanded the enactment of repressive laws against 
 them, and, at a parliament in Trim (1447), it was enacted that 
 Irish customs were illegal and penal, and that whoever did 
 not shave his upper lip** was to be regarded as an Irish 
 enemy. 
 
 Talbot's successor was Richard, Duke of York. Descended 
 
 * Annals of MacFirbis. 
 
 t Cox, Hibernia Anglicana, p. 159. Leland, Vol. II., p. 27. 
 
 + Four Masters. 
 
 II Gilbert's Viceroys, p. 350. Such was the terror he inspired in France 
 that French mothers quietened their chidren by telling them that Talbot 
 was coming. He was killed at Chatillon in 1453. 
 
 ** Cox, pp. 159-60. " Everyman must keep his upper lip shaved or 
 else may be used as an Irish enemy : " which meant that he might even 
 be put to death, for the law did not recognise the existence of a " mere 
 Irishman," except to exterminate him. This enactment made it criminal 
 even to look like an Irishman, as the Irish did not shave their upper lips. 
 
DECAY OF ENGLISH- POWER. 343 
 
 from the third son of Edward III.,* his title to the English 
 throne was superior to that of the princes of the Lancastrian 
 line. But it was not the superior claims of descent that placed 
 Henry IV. on the throne ; by force he won it ; and by force 
 he retained it ; and in the case of his son, Henry V., the defective 
 title by which his father or himself held the throne was forgotten 
 amid the splendours of Agincourt. With his death there came 
 a change. The disasters of the next reign, the loss of France, 
 the incapacity of the King himself revived the memory of his 
 defective claims of descent ; and there were many who turned 
 from Henry VI. to the Duke of York, and recollected that his 
 house had superior claims as coming from an elder branch ; 
 and contrasted what England might be under an able and 
 energetic prince, such as York was, to what she was under 
 the discredited rule of an imbecile king. York had been regent 
 of France, but the Lancastrian party grew jealous of his power, 
 and relegated him to the lesser position of Viceroy of Ireland. 
 To lessen the humiliation of his change from a greater to a 
 more obscure office, he was armed with the full powers of 
 royalty, was granted the whole revenue of Ireland for ten years, 
 got in addition from the English Treasury 4,000 marks for 
 the first year and ;t2,ooo for each succeeding year of his ofifice ; 
 he could also farm the King's private lands, displace all ofificers, 
 levy what troops he wanted, appoint his own Deputy, and 
 return to England as often as he pleased. t His policy in Ireland 
 was to win over by kindness the native chiefs, and at the same 
 time to reconcile the Anglo-Irish lords. An Ireland peaceful 
 and contented, no longer harassed by war or weakened by 
 contention, would redound to his credit in England, and in 
 the struggle which he foresaw to be impending might attract 
 the support of many, for it would be said that he who had 
 established peace and unity in Ireland was well worthy to be 
 king. Nor would kindness shown to the Irish be wasted. 
 They responded quickly to such treatment ; what they rarely 
 experienced they appreciated all the more when they received 
 it ; and so rapid and striking was the effect of the new policy, 
 that within a month ot his coming to Ireland he had obtained 
 the support of Magennis of Iveagh with 600 horse and foot, 
 of MacMahon with 800, of MacCarten with a similar number, 
 and of the O'Reillys with 700 men. The O'Byrnes of Wicklow 
 who refused to be reconciled he marched against and defeated 
 and compelled them to pay tribute, to accept English law in 
 their territory, to wear English dress and to learn the English 
 
 * The Duke of Clarence and Elizabeth de Burgho, daughter of the 
 Earl of Ulster. (Hume's History of England. Genealogical Table H.) 
 t Cox, pp. 160-1. He landed in Ireland, July, 1449. 
 
344 HISTORY OF IRELAND. 
 
 tongue. The Anglo-Irish chiefs did him homage — Ormond 
 and Desmond and Roche and Barret and Cogan — and from the 
 Irish chiefs, O'Neill, O'Farrell, MacGeoghegan and others as 
 many beeves were sent to his kitchen as he required ; and it 
 began to be said in England that before twelve months the wildest 
 Irishman in Ireland would be sworn English.* 
 
 In pursuance of his peacemaking policy he had the Earls 
 of Desmond and Ormond stand sponsors for his infant son, 
 George, afterwards the ill-fated Duke of Clarence, and thus 
 he purchased the good will of the native Irish by reviving the 
 old institution of gossipred, while he brought Desmond and 
 Ormond together and succeeded, as he hoped, in having them 
 lay aside their ancient enmity, and shaking hands in friendship 
 and reconciliation at the baptismal font. Within the Pale 
 he found that the chiefs, though English subjects, were 
 constantly violating the Statute of Kilkenny by coyne and 
 livery, that they were in the habit of keeping more horsemen 
 and footmen than they wanted for their personal defence, and 
 that, accompanied by these, they went with their wives and 
 families to the houses of their tenants, where they feasted at 
 the tenants' expense, destroyed the corn and meadows, took 
 what they pleased, paid for nothing, and sometimes killed the 
 tenant who objected to these exactions. Summoning a 
 parliament at Dublin (October, 1450), these abuses were declared 
 illegal by statute, and such enactment was good ; but it was 
 otherwise with another, made by the same parliament, which 
 declared it lawful, and even meritorious, to kill the robbers 
 with whom the Pale was infested, for one who was a robber 
 and evil-doer himself, could murder even the well-disposed, 
 and plead that it was an Irish robber whom he had killed.f But 
 though York accomplished much in a short time, there was 
 much still to be done. A petition from the English subjects 
 of Cork, Youghal and Kinsale to the Duke declared, that the 
 Anglo-Irish chiefs in these districts were fighting among them- 
 selves, and by the aid of the Irish, and that they had so weakened 
 one another, that the Irish had got back much of the English 
 lands. The state of Waterford and Wexford was found to be 
 similar ; | and Mageoghegan of Westmeath entered the Duke 
 of York's own lands in Meath and ravaged them, and such was 
 the strength of his followers that York who marched to 
 
 * Gilbert's Viceroys, pp. 353-4. 
 
 t Cox, p. 161. That the murdered man was a peaceably disposed 
 Irishman made no difference : the murderer could plead he was Irish, 
 and he was held blameless, and he could add that he mistook him for a 
 robber, though he knew well he was not. 
 
 J Gilbert's Viceroys, pp. 357-8. 
 
DECAY OF ENGLISH POWER. 345 
 
 Mullingar was unable to make headway against him, and from 
 necessity had to make terms with him and forgive him any 
 injuries he had done.* The result of his own weakness was 
 attributed to want of money, and in sending a messenger to 
 England, complaining that his stipulated allowance was not 
 paid by the English Treasurer, he declared he could not hold 
 the country for the King without money from England, and 
 that if such money were not soon sent him, he would be compelled 
 to leave Ireland and to live in England upon his poor livelihood, 
 *' for I had lever (he said) be dead than any inconvenience should 
 fall thereunto in my default, for it shall never be chronicled 
 nor remain in scripture, by the grace of God, that Ireland was 
 lost by my negligence." f The Duke did return to England 
 (145 1), leaving as his deputy, Sir James Butler, a son of the 
 Earl of Ormond, and recently created Earl of Wiltshire. The 
 old Earl of Ormond still lived, and the native Annals go to 
 show that though he was old he was not inactive. He took 
 O'Dempsey's castle at Leix, liberated Birmingham who had 
 been detained in prison, marched as a conqueror through 
 Offaly and Annally, compelled the O'Reillys of Cavan and the 
 MacMahons of Louth to tender him submission, and advanced 
 into Tirowen and compelled O'Neill to take back his wife, whom 
 he had put away, and when he had done all this he went back 
 to Ardee, where in that same year (1452), he died. J 
 
 The son and successor of Ormond, already Lord Deputy, 
 was appointed (1453) Viceroy for ten years, but he concerned 
 himself little about Ireland and acted only for a short time and 
 then through his deputy. May, Archbishop of Armagh. As 
 Earl of Wiltshire he was an English nobleman and became Lord 
 High Treasurer of England, had vast estates in England, was 
 allied by marriage with the Duke of Somerset, and had greater 
 anxiety to support the claims and watch over the interests of 
 the Lancastrians in England than to concern himself with the 
 petty details of Irish government. |i In the following year the 
 Duke of York again became Viceroy, but he, too, ruled by deputy, 
 the Earl of Kildare being appointed to that office.** Like Ormond, 
 his interests were greatest in England, for the struggle between 
 the White Rose of York and the Red Rose of Lancaster had 
 begun. The Duke was the head and champion of the former, 
 and at the battle of St. Albans (1455), he defeated his opponents 
 and captured Henry VI. whom, however, he soon released and 
 
 * Four Masters. 
 
 t Gilbert's Viceroys, p. 362. 
 
 X Ibid., p. 364-5. Four Masters. 
 
 II Gilbert's Viceroys, p. 366. 
 
 ** Ibid., p. 367. 
 
346 HISTORY OF IRELAND. 
 
 Still recognised as King, but only on condition that he himself 
 was declared Protector of England, while he still remained 
 Viceroy of Ireland. Four years after the battle of St. Albans, 
 war again broke out, but this time \ ork was defeated at Ludlow 
 (1459),* was declared a traitor by the Lancastrians and fled 
 with his son, the Earl of Rutland, to Ireland, where he was 
 received with enthusiasm by the Anglo-Irish, especially by the 
 Geraldines — both Kildare and Desmond. His popularity with 
 the Irish stood him in good stead. Declared guilty of high treason 
 by the Lancastrians and therefore of a crime punishable by death, 
 one of Ormond's retainers, Overy by name, was sent from 
 England with writs to seize \ ork. But that prince, in his capacity 
 as Viceroy, had already summoned a parliament at Dublin at 
 which, under his inspiration, it was decreed, that the Irish 
 Parliament was independent of that of England, that no laws 
 enacted in England could be enforced or were binding in Ireland, 
 except such as were freely accepted by the Irish Parliament, 
 that no writs could be enforced in Ireland, except those under 
 the great seal of Ireland, and finally, that whoever, directly or 
 indirectly, sought to compass the Duke of \ ork's destruction, 
 or to provoke rebellion or disobedience towards him, should 
 stand as attainted of high treason against the person of 
 the King. This enactment was quickly put in force, and 
 Overy, when he landed with his writs, was seized, tried, 
 found guilty, and hanged, drawn and quartered .f It may 
 have been that the Anglo-Irish in this legislation were 
 prompted by a desire to assert the independence of the Irish 
 Parliament and free it from a state of dependence on the Parlia- 
 ment of England, but it must have been considerations of personal 
 safety and interest that moved the Duke of \ ork, and in 
 these proceedings he was much more concerned about himself 
 than he was about the independence of the Irish Parliament. 
 The activity and influence of York's son, Edward, aided by 
 Warwick, inflicted defeat on the Lancastrians, and \ ork was 
 enabled to go to England where, however, he was defeated and 
 slain in the following year. J But at the battle of Towton (1461), 
 his death and defeat were soon avenged, his enemy, the Earl of 
 Ormond, was taken prisoner and beheaded, and his son, Edward, 
 taking the title of Edward IV., ascended the English throne. 
 
 With the death of Ormond the Butlers had lost their leader, 
 but their power was still considerable ; they had many friends 
 
 * Hume's History of England. 
 t Gilbert's Viceroys, pp. 368-70. 
 
 X Hume. Leland, Vol. II., p. 44. Of the 5,000 which made up his 
 army at Wakefield, most were Irish. 
 
DECAY OF ENGLISH POWER. 347 
 
 in Ireland and they had an able chief in Sir John Butler, who 
 claimed to be the heir to the earldom of Ormond. Hitherto, 
 in the Wars of the Roses, he had fought in England, and he had 
 fought often against the Fitzgeraids.* The quarrel was now 
 renewed in Ireland. The English Parliament had attainted him 
 of high treason, the Irish Parliament had confirmed that act, 
 but he eluded his enemies in England, landed at Waterford 
 (11462), and with a force partly Irish and partly English he 
 attacked that stronghold. Desmond advanced to its relief and 
 the opposing forces met at Piltown, in Kilkenny, where an 
 obstinate battle was fought. The Butlers were defeated, their 
 best leader, MacRichard Butler, was taken prisoner and, as 
 showing the value attached to some old manuscripts in Ireland, 
 he was ransomed by giving two old manuscripts to Desmond, 
 which had long been in the possession of the Ormond family. f 
 The Butlers were defeated but not crushed, for in the next year 
 Sir John Butler was again in rebellion and at the head of a strong 
 force, but again he was attacked and defeated by Desmond, his 
 lands overrun, and his castles taken or destroyed. + The House 
 of i ork was triumphant in England, and the Geraldines in 
 Ireland. Kildare was appointed Lord High Chancellor for life, 
 and Desmond Lord Deputy, under the Duke of Clarence as 
 Viceroy. The Deputy reduced to obedience some refractory 
 English of Meath and made terms with some of the border Irish 
 chiefs, but he was not successful in an expedition against the 
 O'ByrneSjII and he was defeated by O'Brien of Thomond. His 
 services to the House of \ ork were held in grateful remembrance 
 by Edward IV., and when the Bishop of Meath made personal 
 complaint to the King against Desmond, his complaints produced 
 no effect except to increase the esteem in which Desmond was 
 held ; and he was (1464), sent back to Ireland with augmented 
 powers.** 
 
 But the favour of King Edward did not continue. Desmond 
 was deprived of his position (1467), and a new Viceroy was sent 
 over — ^Tiptoft, Earl of Worcester.ff Summoning a Parliament at 
 Drogheda, the Viceroy had Desmond and Kildare attainted for 
 treason, for " alliances and fosterage with the King's enemies." 
 Desmond boldly went to Drogheda to face his accusers, but he 
 
 * Davies' Historical Tracts, p. 74. 
 
 f Gilbert's Viceroys, pp. 378-9. 
 
 % Ibid., 380. It was this Sir John Butler, afterwards Earl of Ormond,- 
 who was described by Edward IV. as " the finest gentleman in Christendom." 
 
 II Annals of MacFirbis, 1463. 
 
 ** Gilbert's Viceroys, pp. 381-2. 
 
 ft Though a cruel man, Tiptoft was an accomplished scholar. (Gilbert's 
 Viceroys, p. 385.) 
 
348 HISTORY OF IRELAND. 
 
 was seized by Tiptoft and put to death. The crime with which 
 he was charged was one of which many others were guilty and 
 were allowed to go unpunished, and should have been entirely 
 insufficient in the case of one who had done such service to the 
 House of \ ork. It may be that the story is correct which 
 attributes his tragic fate to the rage of an insulted queen. This 
 lady was Elizabeth Woodville, first married to Sir John Grey, 
 and secondly to Edward IV. When the monarch solicited her 
 hand, she declared she was too proud to be his mistress and too 
 low to be his queen, yet Edward married her and she became 
 queen of England. But the marriage was disapproved of by 
 many of the King's friends, Desmond amongst them, who 
 declared to the King that he had done wrong in marrying a 
 person so much beneath him, and that he ought to have her 
 divorced and make an alliance with some foreign princess. When 
 the queen heard what the Earl had said she determined to be 
 revenged, plotted against him, got him dismissed from office 
 and appointed her friend Tiptoft in his place, and got possession 
 of the King's seal and affixed it to a document, which she gave 
 to the new Viceroy, and which authorised Desmond's execution. 
 Whatever be the real reason for the act Desmond was much 
 lamented in Ireland. He was a man of many parts, a great 
 scholar, hospitable, humane and charitable, munificent to poets 
 and antiquarians and deeply versed in Gaelic lore. His tragic 
 end was bitterly resented by native and Anglo-Irish, by cleric 
 and layman, and when Tiptoft was taken prisoner (1470), and 
 put to death, his fate was regarded as retribution from heaven 
 for his treatment of Desmond.* 
 
 The English found it difficult enough to maintain authority 
 within the Pale itself, even with the aid of the Geraldines, but 
 their difficulties were enormously increased when Garret 
 Fitzgerald, a kinsman of the dead Earl, gathered together his 
 English and Irish retainers and marched through Meath and 
 Kildare, laying waste the English possessions as he passe<;l. The 
 Viceroy was unable to make headway against him, and thinking 
 it the safest thing to do, he was withdrawn from his position, 
 Kildare was exonerated from the charges made against himf 
 and was appointed to the vacant office. Either as Viceroy, 
 or Deputy, he was at the head of the Irish Government 
 until his death (1477), and his son, Gerald after him, was, with a 
 short interval, at the head of the Government until the accession 
 of the Tudors. These years were years of disorder and weakness 
 
 * Gilbert's Vt'ceroys, pp. 386-7. Mcehan's Geraldines, pp. 42-44 
 Four Masters. 
 
 ^ Ibid., pp. 390-1. 
 
DECAY OF ENGLISH POWER. 349 
 
 within the Pale. A line drawn from Tallaght to Saggart marked 
 its limits in the County of Dublin ; it included but little of 
 Kildare, no part of Meath west of Trim, and the most part of the 
 County of Louth* ; and this district was so harassed by the 
 border Irish, so wasted by their inroads, that neither life nor 
 property was secure. The ancient example of the Roman walls 
 in Britain was copied and a dyke was made from Tallaght to 
 Saggart and then northwards, at the making of which it was 
 enacted by Parliament all able-bodied men in the Pale should 
 labour, from an hour and a half after sunrise until sunset ; and 
 whoever broke down this dyke was heavily fined, and if he 
 allowed his goats or hogs or cattle to injure it these animals 
 were seized and confiscated. Along this rampart, at certain 
 strategetic points, castles were built, tenanted by " loyal English 
 men," and as far as possible these castles were in easy communica- 
 tion, one with the other, so that they could combine their resources 
 in case of attack.f With the object of keeping the inhabitants 
 anglicised and saving them from Irish influences, they should 
 wear the English dress and speak English and assume English 
 manners. Irish rhymers were prohibited from coming among 
 the English, and the English were prohibited from transacting 
 business with the Irish. ^ 
 
 These enactments the executive was impotent to enforce. 
 For a time the Viceroy's army numbered but 80 archers, and 
 when this was felt to be miserably insufficient, it was increased 
 to 160 archers and 6^ spearmen, and though ultimately volun- 
 teers were enrolled, under the name of the " Brotherhood of 
 St. George," the English forces remained weak and entirely 
 inadequate for the defence of the colony. || The Irish and their 
 Anglo-Irish allies viewed the amount of these forces with con- 
 tempt, broke through the recently constructed dyke and had to 
 be repeatedly bought off by the payment of Black Rent. The 
 English traders were compelled to trade with the Irish, for in 
 many cases there was no one else with whom they could deal, 
 and in defiance of so many penal enactments Irish influences 
 were on the increase even within the Pale. There were fosterings 
 and alliances with the natives and gossips and rhymers ; the Irish 
 language was spoken ; coyne and livery were exacted by the 
 English themselves ; and such was the lawless condition of the 
 colony, that the Archbishop of Dublin v/as unable to visit his 
 churches in the more remote portions of his diocese. Those 
 
 * Stuart's Historical Memoirs of Armagh (Coleman's Ed.) p. 145, map. 
 t Gilbert's Viceroys, p. 395; 
 % Ibid., pp. 401-402. 
 II Ibid., p. 396. 
 
350 HISTORY OF IRELAND. 
 
 who were given the privilege of coining money issued base money 
 from the mint ;* hungry oi^cials were little concerned to advance 
 the interests of England but were busy, by every species of 
 exaction, in enriching themselves, and in addition these officials 
 — the very highest placed of them — were unable to agree. 
 Cornwalshe, the Chief Baron, abused Kildare, the Lord Deputy, 
 at the Council table, charged Lord Ratoath with forgery and 
 even attempted his life,t and Dowdall, a judge of the King's 
 Bench, while going on a pilgrimage, was set upon by the Prior 
 of Kilmainham with a drawn sword and put in fear and danger 
 of his life. When Gerald, Earl of Kildare, was elected by the 
 Irish Council to succeed his father as Lord Deputy (1477), he was 
 soon superseded by order of the English King and Lord Grey 
 was sent over to take his place. But Kildare refused to recognise 
 him or his credentials ; he was backed up by the Irish Council ; 
 the new Lord Deputy was refused the Great Seal of Ireland ; 
 and when he attempted to enter Dublin Castle, its constable, 
 the Prior of Kilmainham, broke down the drawbridge, garrisoned 
 the Castle, and set Grey and his authority at defiance. And 
 the friends of England were scandalised at the spectacle of Grey 
 holding a Parliament and enacting laws at Trim (1478), while 
 his rival, Kildare, at the same time was holding a Parliament 
 and enacting laws at Naas.J The persistence of Kildare 
 conquered. Grey was withdrawn, Kildare's disobedience was 
 condoned ; in the weakened condition of the colony to attack 
 such a man would be to destroy the feeble remnant of English 
 authority, and instead of being punished he was re-appointed 
 with largely augmented powers, such powers as made him almost 
 an independent sovereign. || Perhaps it was hoped that with 
 these increased powers, with his large family connections Anglo- 
 Irish and native,* * he would at least be able to preserve, perhaps 
 even to extend, the limits of the Pale, and to re-establish order 
 and security within its bounds. But his success was not great, 
 and in a Parliament held (1485), Sir Alexander Plunkett was 
 authorised to levy by distress from the English of Mcath the wages 
 due to O'Connor of Offaly, a fact which shows that the English 
 colony was so weak as to be unable to defend itself, and had to 
 purchase the forbearance of this Irish chief. f| 
 
 * Gilbert's Viceroys^ pp. 398-9. 
 
 t Ibid., p. 397. 
 
 X Ibid, pp. 404-7. 
 
 II Ibid., pp. 407-10. Also notes, pp. 600-1. Kildare got these powers 
 in 148 1. His office was that of Deputy to Prince Richard, Duke of York, 
 who was nominally Viceroy. 
 
 ** One of Kildare's sisters was married to Henry O'Neill of Tirowen; 
 
 tf Gilbert's Viceroys, p. 420. 
 
DECAY OF ENGLISH POWER. 35 1 
 
 While the colony was thus weakened and disorganised, and 
 the strength of England at home exhausted in disastrous civil 
 wars, it would have been easy for the Irish to have broken through 
 the rampart which encircled the Pale, and to have overwhelmed 
 in ruin the feeble remnant of English power. A little unity, a 
 small combination among chiefs, a capable and vigorous leader 
 was all that was required ; the work ot Strongbow was reversed, 
 and three centuries of spoliation and plunder were avenged. 
 But there was no such combination, no such unity and no such 
 leader. If we look to Connaught, we behold a province in which 
 discord reigns supreme. Time has but aggravated its ills, even 
 the semblance of a central authority has ceased to exist, for no 
 prince receives the undivided allegiance of the natives, and the 
 prospect of anyone doing so in the future may be set down as 
 remote and almost impossible. With only the memory of their 
 ancient power, the O'Connors still quarrelled among themselves, 
 and the arrangement by which they were divided into two 
 branches, instead of composing their differences only aggravated 
 them. O'Connor Roe sometimes sought to assert a superiority 
 over his kinsman, O'Connor Don, and sometimes had to defend 
 himself against his attack. In these disputes they obtained the 
 aid of the other Connaught chiefs, and sometimes the aid of 
 O'Neill or O'Donnell from the northern province. And there 
 were a few cases when an O'Connor chief, abler and stronger 
 than others of his name, even challenged O'Neill or O'Donnell, 
 and once even measured swords with O'Neill and O'Donnell, 
 acting together.* The example of the O'Connors was followed 
 by the other Connaught chiefs who, like them, would recognise 
 no law but their own wills. A subordinate position in the clan 
 was despised by every aspiring member of the ruling family, 
 and the squalid splendours of these petty chieftaincies were 
 coveted with as much eagerness, and fought for with 
 as much energy, and even ferocity, as if they con- 
 tended for the throne of some mighty empire. When Turlogh 
 O'Connor Roe died (1426), a desultory war was carried on by 
 his sons on the one side and O'Connor Don on the other, partial 
 success followed by temporary pre-eminence was attained by 
 Cahal O'Connor Roe, but when he died these family quarrels 
 were renewed, for Teige O'Connor Roe and Turlogh O'Connor 
 Don each claimed to be the chiefs of the O'Connors, their rivalries 
 were continued and transmitted to their descendants, nor did 
 the struggle cease for the whole fifteenth century.f With other 
 clans it was similar, and the record of the Fo^ir Masters is, that 
 
 * Four Masters, 1422. 
 
 I The O' Conors of Connaught, pp. 159, et seq. 
 
352 HISTORY OF IRELAND. 
 
 there were two rival O'Connors quarrelling (1445), two O'Farrels 
 fighting for the chieftaincy of Annally* and two MacDonaghs 
 fighting for the chieftaincy of Tirerill (1446). In this latter 
 case the district was divided between the two rivals, but it was 
 no more effective in establishing peace than in the case of the 
 O'Connors. A war of succession raged in Hy-Many (1464), 
 between the MacRannells (1473) ; and the Burkes, forgetting 
 their Norman descent, abandoned the feudal system, had volun- 
 tarily submitted to the paralysing influence of the clan system 
 instead, and fought among themselves with as much bitterness 
 and passion as the O'Connors, or the O'Kellys.t 
 
 In the South, Desmond and the MacCarthys were at war 
 (1430), + and such was the blindness of the MacCarthys to their 
 own safety that they were (1449) quarrelling among themselves. 
 \et Munster was not so harassed by war as Connaught was. 
 In Thomond there were disputes as to the chieftaincy but at 
 least the power of the O'Briens was still great, and under the 
 rule of Teige O'Brien an attempt was made to place Thomond 
 in the proud position she occupied in the days of the great Brian. 
 At the head of the Dalcassian chiefs he marched across the 
 Shannon, met and defeated the Earl of Desmond, attacked and 
 captured the city of Limerick, compelled that city to pay him 
 a tribute of 60 marks-'a year, and compelledDesmond to cede to 
 him the County of Limerick and the barony of Clanwilliam in 
 Tipperary. He might, and probably would, have followed up 
 these successes by attacking the northern princes and the Pale, 
 but he died in a few months (1466) ; || after his death fresh 
 disputes broke out in Thomond, unity was at an end, and the 
 hope of a Dalcassian prince becoming Ardri was extinguished 
 finally and for ever. 
 
 In Ulster, O'Neill was first in power among its chiefs. In 
 his palace at Ailech he lived where his ancestors had lived and 
 ruled for a thousand yeai"3, and by the other northern chiefs 
 was treated with a respect similar to that given by the ancient 
 kings to the Ardri who ruled at Tara. But though his power 
 was considerable and sufficient to extract some form of homage 
 and tribute from the neighbouring clans, he was either careless 
 or powerless to establish any real authority over them. These 
 clans were still independent, ruled by their own chiefs, and while 
 they sometimes helped, they also sometimes went to war with 
 the O'Neills. This was especially the case with the O'Donnells, 
 whose power was always little inferior to O'Neill, sometimes was 
 
 * Fotir Masters, 1445. 
 t Ibid. 
 
 X Ibid: 
 
 II Annals of MacFirbis. 
 
DECAY OF ENGLISH POWER. 353 
 
 •even superior, and who consistently refused to recognise the 
 supremacy of Tirovven. They were seldom on the same side in 
 battle, and more frequently were on opposite sides. They did 
 unite against O'Connor Roe (1422), and in the following year, 
 with the other Ulster chiefs, they defeated the English Viceroy, 
 and a little later (1424), apparently fighting on the same side, 
 they were defeated by Sir John Talbot, and an O'Neill and an 
 O'Donnell were taken prisoners and had to be ransomed by 
 their friends.* But when O'Neill attacked Dundalk (1430), 
 and compelled the English there to pay him tribute, as he did 
 the English of Meath, O'Donnell was not fighting by his side ; 
 neither did he assist him to defeat the Savages of Down ^1433). 
 And when there were wars of succession in Tirconnell (1434), 
 in Tirowen (1435), and again in Tirconnell (1461), the O'Neills 
 and O'Donnells were ranged on opposite sides. f 
 
 This . want of union between the northern chiefs rendered 
 combination against the English impossible. But there is no 
 evidence to show that any of these native chiefs wished the 
 destruction of English power ; they were just as eager to defeat 
 and humiliate their own countrymen, and for that purpose were 
 quite willing to^purchase English assistance, as in fact they often 
 did. With his own forces of Tirowen and such forces as MacMahon 
 and Magennis and the other chiefs of the east of Ulster would 
 have readily given him O'Neill could, without difficulty, during 
 the civil wars in England, have destroyed the English colony in 
 Ireland. To such forces as he could command an army of 200 
 men could offer no effective resistance, and this was as large a 
 force as the Pale could supply. Like an old crumbling ruin, the 
 whole structure of English authority was tottering to its 
 fall, and one vigorous blow would have laid it level with 
 the dust. But the blow was not given. O'Neill was satisfied 
 to get his Black Rent, and the heir and successor of the high 
 Kings of Erin was not ashamed, for hire, and for paltry hire, to 
 act as the policeman of the Pale. The action, or rather inaction, 
 of the Leinster chiefs was still harder to explain. Their territories, 
 being nearest to the English colonists, had suffered most from 
 their attacks. Their lands had been repeatedly laid waste and their 
 clansmen robbed, and they knew that it was impotence alone 
 that restrained the English from doing in the present what 
 they had so often done in the past. The spirit of these English 
 was still manifested m their laws and they still judged the Irish 
 unworthy of being English subjects, fit only to be plundered 
 and even murdered, and they declared it treason for an English 
 
 * Four Masters. 
 t Ibidi 
 
 2A 
 
354 HISTORY OF IRELAND. 
 
 subject to associate with them, still more to copy their customs 
 or speak their tongue.* Vet O'Connor of Offaly remained quiet, 
 because he was paid Black Rent from Meath and Kildare ; 
 O'Carroll of Ely granted peace to the English of Kilkenny and 
 Tipperary for an annual payment of ^40 ; O'Brien of Thomond to 
 Limerick for a like amount, MacCarthy to Cork and MacMurrogh 
 to Wexford.]" Experience had taught nothing to these chiefs. 
 Unmindful of the future, they contrasted the present with the 
 past, congratulated themselves on the security which they 
 enjoyed, and with childish vanity plumed themselves on having 
 humbled the once dreaded English, and in each clan some venal 
 bard was prepared to sing the praises of his chief, of his prowess 
 in war and his triumphs over the hated foe. 
 
 * Cox, p. 169. Enactment of the Parliament at Trim (1465.) 
 f These payments are given by Cox (Hibernia Anglicanay p. 166.) 
 
 Louth paid to O'Neill of Clanaboy £2.0. 
 
 Oriel paid to O'Neill of Tirowen ^40. 
 
 Meath paid to O'Connor C60. 
 
 Kildare paid to O'Connor ;£20. 
 
 Kilkenny and Tipperary paid to O'Carroll £^0. 
 
 Limerick paid to O'Brien ^40. 
 
 Cork paid to MacCarthy ^^40. 
 
 Wexford paid to MacMurrogh £d,0- 
 The Exchequer at Dublin paid to MacMurrogh 80 marks. 
 
landan, Satan Paul , Trmch £■ C 
 
 W^'ic-aGr.iham 
 
CHAPTER XXV. 
 
 In the Reign of Henry VII. 
 
 Richard III., his character — Relations with the Irish — His death — Henry 
 VII. succeeds him — Lambert Simnel — His reception in Dublin — 
 Supported by the Earl of Kildare — Is crowned King as Edward VI. — 
 Battle of Stoke — Simnel's fate — Sir R. Edgecombe sent to Ireland 
 as Royal Commissioner — Kildare's conduct — Is summoned to England- 
 Dismissed from office — Poynings appointed Viceroy — Parliament 
 at Drogheda — Poyning's Act — Perkin Warbeck in Ireland — Aided 
 by the Earl of Desmond — Kildare in London — Tried — Acquitted — And 
 appointed Viceroy — His energetic measures — The native Irish — In 
 Thomond — and Connaught — and [Ulster — Kildare and the Irish 
 chiefs — Battle of Knockdoe. 
 
 In the long line of English Kings there is not one whose memory 
 is more execrated than Richard III. To call a man a hypocrite, 
 a liar, and an assassin is to call him hard names, but in Richard's 
 case these epithets are not undeserved. No one could trust 
 him, no one was in his power with safety ; he sacrificed his friends 
 as readily as his enemies, and spilt the blood of his brother and 
 his nephews for no reason, except that they stood nearer by 
 birth to the throne, which he wished to seize. In him a mis- 
 shapen body was the outward and appropriate expression of 
 a mind, distorted and diseased. His character has been sketched 
 by Shakespeare with the merciless severity of genius, yet, the 
 picture of the dramatist is hardly more repulsive than that of the 
 historian ; and it is the historian that relates that, after the 
 battle of Bosworth, the body of the dead king was stripped 
 naked, flung contemptuously on a horse's back, and thus carried 
 into Leicester amid the jeers and execrations of the people.* 
 And such was the rage of the populace, hardly was it allowed 
 the rite of Christian burial. f But if the life and acts of 
 Richard were viewed with abhorrence in England, and his 
 fall welcomed with delight in Ireland, it was different. The 
 
 * Lingard, Vol. IV.,- p. 127. 
 I Bacon's Life of Henry Vll. 
 p. 308.) 
 
 {Essays and Historical Works: Bohn, 
 
356 HISTORY |0F IRELAND.^ ' 
 
 dead King was of the House of York, son to that Viceroy whose 
 memory in Ireland was held in such grateful remembrance.* 
 Of his acts of cruelty in England the Irish knew little ; what 
 they did not see or feel, they did not wish to believe ; and these 
 vices which excited abhorrence at home, and were seen by the 
 English in all their naked deformity — in Ireland, either were 
 not seen or known at all, or, if they were known, were rendered 
 less repulsive by distance and partiality. Among the Anglo- 
 Irish the Geraldines were then the most powerful, as they had 
 been always the staunchest, supporters of the House of York 
 and during his short reign Richard was careful to cultivate 
 their good will. He had continued Kildare in his ofifice of Lord 
 Deputy, he had augmented his privileges and powers, and he 
 had sent the most flattering letters to the Earl of Desmond, 
 made him many presents,f and called him his cousin, as he did 
 also to Kildare. And thus it happened that the fall of the 
 tyrant was regretted by the Anglo-Irish, and the triumph of 
 Henry VII. wasview ed with disgust. They still clung to 
 the \ orkists as the rightful heirs to the throne, regarded Henry 
 Tudor as an usurper, and were ready to champion the claims 
 of those pretenders whose object was to re-establish the fallen 
 fortunes of the house of York, and to hurl the usurping Tudor 
 from his throne. 
 
 The first of these pretenders was Lambert Simnel. He was 
 the son of a joiner at Oxford, one Thomas Simnel by name. 
 He was handsome in person, attractive in manner, with an 
 intelligence beyond his years and a dignity of bearing 
 beyond the position in which he was born. These qualities 
 attracted the notice of one Richard Simons, a priest at Oxford, 
 a man doubtless who bore no good-will to the reigning King, 
 and he considered that young Simnel could be got to successfully 
 personate the young Earl of Warwick, then a prisoner in the 
 Tower of London. He took the boy under his care, informed 
 him of the principal events in the life of the prince, carefully 
 taught him what he was to say and do, and when his pupil 
 was fifteen years of age took him with him to Dublin (1487), 
 and proclaimed him there as the Earl of Warwick, son to the 
 Duke of Clarence, who, he said, had escaped from his prison 
 in London. J The Lord Deputy was long suspected by Henry 
 
 * Hume's History of England. Genealogical Tables. 
 
 •]• Gilbert's Viceroys, pp. 415-19. He sent him through his Councillorj 
 the Bishop of Annadown " a long gown of cloth of gold lined with 
 satin or damask, two doublets — one velvet, one crimson satinj three 
 shirts^ three stomachers, three pairs of hose, three bonnets, two hatSj 
 two tippets of velvet." 
 
 X Lingard^ Vol. IV., pp. 135-7. Gilbert's Viceroys, p. 425 
 
IN THE REIGN OF HENRY VII. 357 
 
 VII. of disloyalty. To declare for Simnel would be to confirm 
 the worst suspicions of the King, and for a time Kildare held 
 aloof from Simons and his pupil, though his brother, Lord 
 Thomas Fitzgerald, resigned his position as Lord Chancellor 
 to follow the fortunes of the pretender. And the Archbishop 
 of Dublin, the Bishop of Meath, the Prior of Kilmainham and 
 other ecclesiastics and high-placed officials, as well as the citizens 
 of Dublin, followed the Chancellor's example. To prevent the 
 English from becoming his adherents, Henry VIL had the 
 real Earl of Warwick taken from the Tower and marched through 
 London, where he conversed with many, and this prevented 
 some at least from swelling the ranks of Simnel's followers. 
 But others would not be warned. They professed to believe, 
 as did the Anglo-Irish, that Simnel was the real Warwick and 
 the youth who was marched through London only a counterfeit. 
 Among these in England were Sir Thomas Broughton and 
 Lord Lovel, and the Earl of Lincoln,* but most important 
 of all was the aid given by the Duchess of Burgundy, sister 
 to Richard III. She had, according to Bacon, the spirit of a 
 man and the malice of a woman. f She was a widow and rich, 
 active, scheming, ambitious, mourning over the downfall of 
 the House of York, and ready to help in any movement that 
 would give trouble to the reigning King.;|: She pretended 
 to believe that young Simnel was indeed her nephew, who had 
 but lately escaped from the hands of the royal tyrant. She 
 willingly and eagerly espoused his cause, and fitted up an army 
 of 2,000 under an able leader, Martin Schwartz ; and this 
 force landed in Dublin in the early part of the year. At last, 
 Kildare threw off the mask he had worn, boldly pronounced 
 in Simnel's favour, and with the chief citizens of Dublin and 
 the higher of^cials assembled at Christchurch, on the 24th of 
 May, and the pretender was crowned King by the Bishop of 
 Meath, with the title of Edward VI. || On his head was placed 
 a crown, taken from the statue of the Blessed Virgin Mary in 
 St. Mary's Abbey ; he was clothed in splendid and costly robes, 
 and after the ceremony a sermon was preached by the Bishop 
 of Meath. On the shoulders of a gigantic Irishman — Darcy 
 of Flatten — he was then carried through the city ; the people 
 enthusiastically applauded him as he passed, and such was the 
 
 * Lingard, Vol. IV., p. 137. Lincoln had frequently conversed with 
 the real Warwick, and therefore knew Simnel to be an impostor. 
 
 t Henry VII., p. 328. 
 
 X Ibid., p. 329. "All the counsels of his succeeding troubles came 
 chiefly out of that quiver." Bacon thinks too that the widow of Edward 
 IV. had a share in these plots as " she was a busy negotiating woman." 
 
 II Gilbert's Viceroys, pp. 428-9, 
 
358 HISTORY OF IRELAND. 
 
 dignity with which the boy comported himself, that even his 
 enemies declared he did no dishonour to the royal robes which 
 he wore.* The Archbishops of Armagh, Cashel and Tuam, 
 and the Bishop of Clogher, the Butlers and the city of Waterford 
 alone of all the Anglo-Irish, remained faithful to the House 
 of Tudor ; "f" the remainder supported the pretender. A month 
 after his coronation, he made a descent on the coast of England, 
 at the head of his army of English, Anglo-Irish and Germans, 
 and at Stoke they were encountered (iith June) by Henry VII. 
 himself, with a far more numerous army. The Irish fought 
 bravely, but they fought without armour,| the contest was 
 long maintained, but the result was decisive and for the pretender 
 disastrous. Most of the Irish were slain, so was Schwartz, and 
 greater part of his Germans. The priest, Simons, was taken 
 prisoner and imprisoned in a dark dungeon for life, and Simnel 
 himself was captured and degraded to the menial occupation 
 of turnspit in the King's kitchen. 
 
 The English nobles and gentlemen who had fought with 
 Simnel at Stoke were attainted. The Anglo-Irish nobles — 
 Kildare || and the rest — were equally guilty, and Henry had 
 got letters from the Pope excommunicating them. But he 
 went no further than this. They had tried to make to him 
 the best excuses they could and he had accepted these excuses, 
 though he told them he was much displeased, and expected 
 that they would give new and binding pledges of their allegiance, 
 and atone by their loyal conduct of the future for their disloyalty 
 of the past. Patents of pardon were made out, and a special 
 Commissioner, Sir Richard Edgecombe, was sent to Ireland to 
 absolve Kildare and his confederates of their treason, and to 
 receive them into favour with the King.** Leaving Cornwall, 
 with four ships and 500 men, he arrived at Kinsale, on the 27th 
 of June, 1488, and landed on the following day. He was met 
 by the Lords Barry and Courcy, the keys of the town were 
 delivered to him, and these noblemen and the citizens took 
 the oath of allegiance to Henry VII. ,and received in return the 
 King's pardon for their share in the late rebellion. From 
 
 * Cox. Hibernia Anglicana, p. 179. Ware's Annals. 
 
 t Gilbert's Viceroys, p. 427. 
 
 + Lingard, Vol. IV., p. 138. The Irish had "darts and skeans." I 
 suspect they had battle axes also, which shows, says Lingard, that the 
 English settlers had adopted the arms of the natives. 
 
 II Bacon (p. 333), is entirely in error in stating that Kildare was at 
 Stoke and was killed there; it was his brother, Lord Thomas Fitzgerald. 
 
 ** The Voyage of Sir Richard Edgecombe, apparently written by 
 Edgecombe himself, in the form of a journal, and included as the third 
 of the tracts in Harris's Hibernica, pp. 59-77. 
 
IN THE REIGN OF HENRY VII. 359 
 
 Kinsale he made his way to Waterford, where he landed on 
 the first day of July, and where he was enthusiastically received. 
 The Mayor showed him round the city, pointed out the fortifi- 
 cations and brought him into the " Guildhall of the said city," 
 where the' city council was assembled. Against the Earl of 
 Kildare the citizens were specially incensed, and the Mayor 
 asked the Commissioner that if the Earl was to be pardoned 
 and continued as Lord Deputy, the city be specially exempt 
 from his jurisdiction. Its effusive loyalty to England was at 
 all times remarkable. The regret of the citizens seemed to be 
 that they were on the wrong side of St. George's Channel ; 
 they wished to bepart of England, and they made a special request 
 that if they were to be subject to any Viceroy at all and were 
 not to be exempt from his jurisdiction, at least he should be 
 an English lord, for in their eyes that they should be subject to 
 a mere Irishman's rule was not to be borne. Edgecombe was 
 prodigal of promises, and set sail for Dublin, where he was not 
 so enthusiastically received. He lodged at the Dominican 
 Abbey of the Blackfriars, but although the Archbishop of Dublin 
 and others visited him, Kildare did not until a full week had 
 passed. The Commissioner was displeased, and when he met 
 the Deputy was disposed to be stern and haughty and to lecture 
 him on his conduct, but Kildare was in no humour to submit 
 to such rebukes. He was slow to receive Edgecombe at all, 
 he was slow to come to any satisfactory arrangement with him, 
 and although he treated him hospitably at his Castle of Maynooth, 
 he was above all slow to give those binding pledges of good 
 behaviour which the Englishman wished to obtain, and declared, 
 himself and the Council, that if these terms were insisted 
 on " they would become Irish everyone of them." * The 
 pride of the Commissioner gave way to his prudence, a 
 compromise was arrived at ; he was satisfied, or pretended to 
 be satisfied, with Kildare's promises, and that nobleman swore 
 on the Consecrated Host to be henceforth a faithful subject of 
 Henry VII., and never again to countenance any rebellion 
 against his throne. In token of reconciliation Edgecombe 
 hung a gold chain round the Earl's neck. He was continued 
 in the office of Lord Deputy, the sentences of excommunication 
 against ecclesiastics and others were removed, and all those 
 who had aided the pretender and who now submitted were 
 granted the King's pardon, all except the Prior of Kilmainham. f 
 
 * Edgecomb's Narrative, p. 65. Harris thinks that the condition 
 sought to be imposed was that they bound themselves to a forfeiture of 
 iheir estates, unless they continued faithful to '-the King. 
 
 f Ibid. pp. 67-9. 
 
360 HISTORY OF IRELAND. 
 
 This treatment of the Anglo-Irish is in marked contrast 
 with that meted out to the English, but it was not that Henry- 
 believed them less guilty, nor that he loved them more, but 
 that he feared them more. He was cool, calculating, marching 
 in all his acts with measured tread. His title to the throne 
 was weak, he was not personally popular, the ^ orkist party 
 still existed, the fires of discontent smouldered, and if a suitable 
 opportunity were offered would again burst into flame. And 
 just such an opportunity would be offered if matters were 
 pushed to extremes against the Earl of Kildare and his partners 
 in the late rebellion. He had enormous influence with the 
 Anglo-Irish ; as the champion of the House of \ ork, he would 
 have still more, for the whole forces of the Anglo-Irish would 
 be with him, except the faction of the Butlers. Nor was it 
 unlikely that the native chiefs also would range themselves 
 on his side. They took little interest, and no share, in the 
 struggle between \ ork and Lancaster, but their good wishes 
 would be with the ^ orkists, and, besides, many of them were 
 allied by marriage with the Geraldines. A sister of Kildare's 
 was married to Henry O'Neill of Tirowen, his daughter, Alice, was 
 married to Con O'Neill of the same princely line, his daughter, 
 Eleanor, was married to MacCarthy of Carbery, his daughter, 
 Eustacia, to Burke of Clanrickard, and his son was married 
 to Maeve, daughter of O'Connor of Offaly, while his relative, 
 Desmond, was married to a daughter of O'Brien of Thomond.* 
 To drive to desperation a man having so many powerful friends 
 would be in the highest degree unwise, and would ill accord 
 with the well-known prudence of King Henry, and so it happened 
 that for the English lords and gentlemen who fought at Stoke 
 there was punishment, but for Kildare and his Irish allies there 
 was pardon and even royal favours. 
 
 Peace was thus established in Ireland, and Edgecombe 
 returned to England, but Kildare did not retain the King's 
 favour long. A little later (1490), he was guilty of some acts 
 (what they were is not clear), and again he had to ask and obtain 
 the King's pardon. He received it on condition that he at 
 once repaired to England, so that the King might personally 
 consult with him on Irish affairs. But Kildare was distrustful, 
 perhaps he feared that his past conduct might be remembered 
 and punished, and thinking himself safer in Ireland than in 
 London, he got the Irish Parliament to petition the King that 
 Irish affairs urgently demanded his presence, and would suffer 
 by his absence, and the most profuse protestations were sent 
 on his behalf of his loyalty to the throne.f Excused from 
 
 * Gilbert's Viceroys, pp. 418-424. f Ibid., pp. 440-2. 
 
IN THE REIGN OF HENRY VII. 36 1 
 
 going to England , and still continued as Lord Deputy, he was 
 soon mixed up in a quarrel between two members of the Butler 
 family. One of these — Sir Piers — had married Kildare's sister, 
 the other was Sir James. The head of the family — the Earl 
 of Ormond — lived in England, and to manage his Irish estates 
 had appointed Sir James as his deputy, but Sir Piers claimed 
 the position, as the nearest male heir to the Earldom. Kildare 
 espoused the cause of Sir Piers. Sir James was aided by O'Brien 
 of Thomond, the quarrel was long and bitter and, ultimately. 
 Sir James prevailed, and taking his rival captive, threw him 
 into prison, from which he was liberated through the friendly 
 interference of the Earl of Desmond.* Kildare's connection 
 with these disputes excited the King's displeasure, but his 
 displeasure was intensified when he learned that the Lord Deputy 
 was holding treasonable correspondence with the Scotch and 
 French kings,f that he was in secret league with some of the 
 native chiefs, and that, in violation of all his protestations of 
 loyalty, he was favourable to the latest pretender who had 
 appeared. The Lord Deputy was dismissed from of^ce and 
 Fitzsimons, Archbishop of Dublin, appointed in his place (1492). 
 The new Deputy, assisted by Sir James Desmond,J treated 
 Kildare's friends with harshness ; Kildare sent messengers to 
 England to explain his conduct and to defend him, but their 
 pleadings were vain, and two royal Commissioners — VVyatt 
 and Garth — were sent over. These Commissioners, aided 
 by Ormond, were guilty of violence against the friends of the 
 fallen Deputy, and even murdered his ally, O'Connor of Offaly. 
 But the Earl was not a safe man to provoke, and seizing Garth 
 (1493), he flung him into prison and sent his son to the scaffold. |! 
 Tired of ruling Ireland by native Viceroys or Deputies, who 
 used their power only to oppress some rival, Henry at length 
 sent over an Englishman — Sir Edward Poynings — as Lord 
 Deputy.** He landed at Dublin, in October, 1494, and was 
 accompanied by 1,000 soldiers. He was a man of energetic 
 character, and summoning to his aid both Kildare and Sir 
 James Ormond, they proceeded north to chastise O'Donnell 
 of Tirconnell, who, it was said, was in league with the Scotch 
 king. But while proceeding through the territories of O'Hanlon 
 and Magennis, Ormond privately informed him that Kildare 
 was in secret league with O'Hanlon, that the Deputy's life 
 
 * Gilbert's Viceroys, p. 462. 
 •f- Ibid., pp. 445-8. 
 
 X I find him so called by Gilbert, though of course his name was Butler. 
 II Gilbert's Viceroys, p. 448. 
 
 ** Prince Henry, afterwards Henry VIII., was nominally Viceroy, or 
 Lord Lieutenant (vid. Ware's List.) 
 
362 HISTORY OF IRELAND. 
 
 was endangered and plotted against^ and that Kildare's brother 
 was already in open revolt and had seized the strongly fortified 
 castle of Carlow.* The Deputy hastily retraced his steps, 
 abandoned his intended expedition against O'Donnell, and, after 
 recovering with difficulty the castle of Carlow, he summoned 
 a Parliament to meet at Drogheda. It met on the first of 
 December, 1494, and under the Deputy's influence and awed 
 by his presence, the Earl of Kildare was attainted, all royal grants 
 of land, back for 168 years, were revoked, thus reducing the 
 vast majority of the Anglo-Irish to a state of entire dependence 
 on the Crown, no ordnance or great guns were to be kept in 
 any fortress without viceregal licence, Irish war crys, such as 
 Crom Aboo, the war cry of the Fitzgeralds, or Butler Aboo, 
 the war cry of the Ormonds, were prohibited, against coyne 
 and livery specially severe penalties were decreed ; and the 
 Statute of Kilkenny was confirmed in its entirety, except that 
 the Irish mode of riding (without saddles), and the use of the 
 Irish language were no longer proscribed.! From this latter 
 it appears that, instead of the Irish having become anglicised, it 
 was the English who had fallen under Irish influences, so much 
 so that the Irish mode of riding without saddles and the use of 
 the Irish tongue were general within the Pale, and it was useless 
 to pass enactments against them. 
 
 But the most important enactment of this Parliament was 
 that which became afterwards known as Poyning's Law. By 
 this Act the Parliament of Ireland was made entirely dependent 
 on that of England. It could not even meet without a licence 
 under the great Seal of England, nor could it initiate any legis- 
 lation, for its statutes should be previously approved by the 
 Viceroy and Irish Privy Council, and then sanctioned by the 
 King and Privy Council of England. 1 Thus did this Parliament, 
 under the influence and terror of an English-born Viceroy, 
 proclaim and enact its own impotence, voluntarily renounce 
 its independence, and, in a spirit of subserviency and cowardice, 
 accept the humiliating position of a legislature without 
 the power to legislate. It was a slavish enactment made by 
 a Parliament of slaves. At the time, its injurious effects were 
 not felt, for the Parliament of that day was only the Parliament 
 of the Pale, nor was it fully representative even of that limited 
 area. It often fell under the influence of some powerful Anglo- 
 Irishman, whose power held it in awe, who filled it with his 
 adherents and had its enactments passed and enforced, not 
 
 * Viceroys, pp. 450-1. Cox, p. 186. 
 t Ware's Annals. Cox, pp. 187-9. 
 
 :J: Ibid. The Earls of Kildare, Desmond and Ormond were all absent 
 from this Parliament. (Gilbert's Viceroys, p. 451.) 
 
IN THE REIGN OF HENRY VII. 363 
 
 SO much for the good of the State as to advance his own personal 
 interests. But when the limits of the Pale were enlarged, 
 and when the Parliament became, not that of a limited 
 area round Dublin, but the Parliament of the whole country 
 and representative of its interests, it was then that the clogging 
 and paralysing influence of Poyning's Law was felt, and that 
 its injurious effects became the theme of eloquent orators and 
 political pamphleteers. 
 
 Yet these enactments effected little. The natives became 
 troublesome and had to be bought ofi and sometimes placated 
 with presents from the Deputy. Sir James Ormond and his 
 soldiers were employed by the government, and as there was 
 no money to pay them, coyne and livery were exacted, but, 
 worst of all, the second of the English pretenders had again 
 appeared in Ireland and had drawn many to his side. By his 
 own friends he was known as Richard of York, son to Edward IV., 
 who had been imprisoned in the Tower of London, and it was 
 thought murdered there by Richard III. The pretender in 
 reality was one Perkin Warbeck, a native of Tournai. The 
 Duchess of Burgundy aided him and called him the " White 
 Rose Prince of England," and when he landed in Munster (1495), 
 he received the active assistance of the Earl of Desmond and of 
 Water, the mayor of Cork. But though the pretender and 
 his allies laid siege to Waterford, they failed to capture that 
 city, and lost many of their soldiers, and Warbeck had to fly 
 to Scotland. To these disorders was added the rebellion of 
 Kildare's son. In revenge for the treatment of his father, 
 he assembled an army and attacked the English (1496),* nor 
 was Poynings able to resist him, or to adequately protect the 
 loyal English from his assaults. 
 
 Disappointed at his Deputy's want of success, Henry had 
 him recalled (1496), and, seeing the difficulty of governing Ireland 
 in spite of the Geraldines, he resolved to call in the assistance 
 •of the Earl of Kildare and try if he could not be weaned from 
 his attachment to the Yorkists. After being attainted at 
 Drogheda, he was pursued and harassed by the forces of 
 the government and ultimately was made prisoner (1495), 
 and sent to England and lodged in the Tower of London. He 
 was brought to trial (1496), before the King and his Council, 
 and the Bishop of Meath acted as his accuser.! The charges 
 against him were that he had aided the King's enemies, that 
 he had been in league with O'Hanlon against the Deputy, that 
 
 * Gilbert's Viceroys, pp. 457-9. Ware's Annals. 
 
 t His name was John Payne, and he it was who had crowned Simne 
 (1487), in Christchurch. Kildare and he were then close personal friends, 
 "but ten years later they were bitter enemies. (Ware's Bishops.) 
 
364 HISTORY OF IRELAND. 
 
 he had instigated his brother to take the King's castle at Carlow, 
 and that he had acted in collusion with the King of Scotland 
 and the Earl of Desmond, both of whom were declared enemies 
 of the King.* These charges were not substantiated, for 
 O'Hanlon swore that he had no connection with him when 
 the Deputy entered his territory, and as to the charges of being 
 in league with the Scotch King and with Desmond, these might 
 furnish matter for suspicion but were incapable of proof.f The 
 impression he made on Henry VII. was favourable, and when 
 the Bishop of Meath declared that all Ireland could not rule 
 the Earl, then, said Henry, " the Earl shall rule all Ireland." :|: 
 While in England, Kildare had married for his second wife 
 Elizabeth St. John, a cousin to Henry VI I., and perhaps this 
 smoothed the way for pardon and power. Whatever was the 
 determining cause, he was appointed Lord Deputy and sent back 
 to Ireland, higher than ever in the royal favour, though the 
 King, with his usual prudence, had kept the Earl's son, Gerald, 
 in London, as a hostage for his father's good conduct. The 
 friends of the new Deputy were rejoiced; his enemies, and above 
 all Sir James Ormond, were confounded, Desmond was pardoned 
 for his connection with Perkin Warbeck, and when that pretender 
 again came to Ireland (1497), he got but few to assist him. 
 Desmond kept aloof, and the only prominent Irishman to identify 
 himself with his fortunes was Sir James Ormond, no doubt 
 piqued at the favour shown to Kildare. He was declared an 
 outlaw and soon after was murdered by his kinsman, Sir Piers 
 Butler. II If Henry had any lingering doubts as to Kildare's 
 loyalty, or as to the wisdom of arming him with such powers, 
 these doubts must have been soon dispelled. The Deputy 
 was not a manfof half-measures, and became as enthusiastic in 
 supporting the house of Tudor as he was formerly in opposing it ; 
 and such was the vigour of his government that he soon repressed 
 
 * Gilbert's Viceroys, p. 454. 
 t Idzd., p. 460. 
 
 I Book of Howth (Carevv MSS.),"' 179-80. Cox, p. 191. Gilbert's 
 Viceroys, pp. 460-1 . The author of the Book of Howth declares that Kildare 
 was but an innocent, half-witted man, and that to this he owed his ac- 
 quittal. When, for instance, he was charged with burning the church 
 at Cashel, he said yes, but would never have done it, but he thought the 
 Archbishop, his enemy, was inside; when he was told to select a counsellorj 
 he selected the King, and rudely took him by the hand, and instead of 
 attending to his defence he commenced telling stories of the Bishop of 
 Meath, which set the whole Council laughing. This story is adopted 
 and evidently believed by Cox, yet it is very unlikely that Henry Vll. would 
 appoint a fool as Lord Deputy, nor did Kildare in that office acquit himself 
 as a fool would. 
 
 II Ware's Annals. 
 
IN THE REIGN OF HENRY VII. 365 
 
 disorder and outrage within the Pale. He had enactments 
 passed and enforced that Irish usages were to be discontinued, 
 that the King's subjects within the Pale were to arm and dress 
 in the English fashion, and that whoever rode a horse without a 
 saddle was to forfeit the horse so ridden, and that absentees 
 were to be fined half the income of their estates for the defence 
 of the Pale.* So pleased was Henry with the loyalty of his Deputy 
 and the energy and success of his government, that he summoned 
 him to London (1503), personally thanked him for all he had 
 done, and appointed his son, Gerald, Lord Treasurer of Ireland, 
 had him married to an English nobleman's daughter, Elizabeth, 
 daughter of Lord Zouch, and, loading him with presents, sent him 
 back to Ireland with his father, " the King's cousin, the Earl of 
 Kildare."t 
 
 While, within the Pale, a period of turbulence and weakness 
 was followed by a period of comparative calm, during which 
 something like settled order was maintained under Kildare's 
 vigorous rule, outside of the Pale the old order of discord and 
 turmoil still prevailed. It could not be said that the native chiefs 
 fought more, or quarrelled more, than did their ancestors, but 
 neither could it be said that they quarrelled less. Compared to 
 the north and west, the condition of Thomond during these 
 years was one of peace, but the peace was not continuous. The 
 MacNamaras had some wretched squabble (i486), and 
 " Cumara MacNamara was exultingly slain by the sons of Donogh 
 MacNamara." In the quarrels between the Butlers, the O'Briens 
 had taken part ; two MacMahons wrestled with each other for 
 the chieftaincy of their clan (1497) ; and to increase the miseries 
 that accompanied these disputes a famine decimated the land, 
 and so dreadful in its effects, that the dead were left unburied. X 
 In Connaught and Ulster the wars were more persistent and 
 more general, it might be said war was their normal condition. 
 Sometimes the war was between two neighbouring chiefs, each 
 perhaps anxious to humiliate the other, or, perhaps, to avenge 
 some fancied wrong, but the more common form of strife and 
 the most disastrous for the people were those which arose from 
 the strivings of ambitious chiefs, contending for the headship of 
 their clan. The number of these clans was large, they seemed 
 to increase rather than diminish with time, there was no settled 
 order of succession, force alone was the determining factor, the 
 ambition to rule was rarely wanting in more than one member 
 of a chieftain's family ; and j^ whenever the chieftain died, his 
 
 * Gilbert's Viceroys ^ pp. 46^-6. 
 ; t Ibid.-, p. 467. 
 X Four Masters. White's History of Clare, p. 151. 
 
2,66 HISTORY OF IRELAND. 
 
 place was contended for by angry, and often ferocious, disputants. 
 So fruitful a source of strife was this that the Four Masters record, 
 at 1488, that in Oriel two MacMahons were fighting, two 
 MacDonoghs in Tirerill, two O'Connors and two O'Neills,* and, 
 in the next year, two O'Farrells, were contending for the petty 
 chieftaincy of Annally. Both Tirconnell and Tirowen were 
 ruled by able and restless chiefs who often fought, for the old 
 rivalry still continued in all its bitterness. In 1490, the O'Neills 
 and O'Donnells were at war ; in the next year the quarrel was 
 renewed ; they were again at war (1497) ; and the last year 
 of the dying century saw the quarrel resumed.f During these 
 years, that same O'Donnell was at war with Maguire (1490), 
 with O'Connor Roe (1495), and two years later, he sought to 
 chastise MacDermott of Moylurg. It is unnecessary to add that 
 the O'Connors quarrelled, as they never agreed. The Burkes 
 had now become as quarrelsome and were far more powerful, 
 and such were the miseries they caused that the Annals record 
 that Burke invaded the territory of O'Connor Roe (1495), and 
 that he destroyed everything that O'Donnell in that year had 
 not destroyed. The jackal had followed in the lion's path. 
 Famine and pestilence followed in the track of war, and the 
 people ate " such food as was not fit to be mentioned or was 
 never served on dishes for human food. J So disgusted was one 
 of the O'Donnell chiefs at the quarrels of his sons that he resigned 
 the headship of the clan (1497), but the rebuke was forgotten, 
 and four years later they were again at war. In the next year 
 (1502) there was war between Burke of Clanrickard and O'Kelly 
 of Hy-Many. 
 
 In many of these quarrels Kildare interfered. Since 1496, 
 when he was last appointed Deputy, he was enthusiastically 
 loyal to Henry VII., but he was loyal on his own terms and in 
 his own peculiar way, for while he strove to anglicise the Pale 
 and prohibited Irish habits and customs, he was more than half 
 Irish himself. He spoke Irish, levied coyne and livery, practised 
 fosterage, and his alliance by marriage with the Irish chiefs 
 were many. Like many others of the Anglo-Irish, if he had 
 something in common with the English, he had much more in 
 common with the Irish ; and if he interfered in the disputes 
 that arose it was because he felt as an Irish chief himself, with 
 
 * And two O'Rourkes, two MacDermots and two O'Haras {Four 
 Masters at 1488.) 
 
 t Four Masters. It was during these years that O'Neill claimed rent 
 from O'Donnell, being, as he thought, his superior, and the demand and 
 
 the reply are equally laconic. " Send me my rent (said O'Neill) or else " 
 
 " I owe none (said O'Donnell), and if I did ". Leland, Vol. II., p. 91. 
 
 X Ibid., 1497. O'Coitors of Connaught, p. 170. 
 
IN THE REIGN OF HENRY VII. -i^^J 
 
 the same quickness to take offence and the same talent for war, 
 because sometimes his personal interests were concerned, and 
 because, perhaps, in his zeal for his royal master, he desired to 
 use these disputes for the weakening of Irish and for the extension 
 of English power. Acting on behalf and probably at the instiga- 
 tion of O'Connor Don, he marched into Connaught (1499), 
 defeated O' Kelly of HyMany, from whom he took the castle of 
 Athleague, then turned against O'Connor Roe, from whom he 
 took the castles of Tulsk, Roscommon and Castlerea, took hostages 
 from these chiefs and then, handing over hostages and castles 
 to O'Connor Don, he marched back to Dublin.* A little before 
 this he had unsuccessfully attacked the O'Briens of Thomond, 
 and a few years later (1503), he led an army into Antrim and 
 destroyed the castle of Belfast. f 
 
 In the following year, he led an expedition into Con- 
 naught and fought one of the most remarkable battles in 
 Irish history. Burke of Clanrickard had quarrelled with 
 his neighbour, O' Kelly of Hy-Many, had entered his territory 
 and taken possession of his castles of Monivea, Garbally and 
 Castleblakeny, and O' Kelly, unable to resist him, appealed for 
 assistance to Kildare. About the same time Burke had attacked 
 and captured the town of Galway, a violation of the charter 
 given to that town by which the Burkes were specifically 
 prohibited from entering there without the leave of the munici- 
 pality.! This latter act afforded a good pretext to the Deputy 
 to listen to O'Kelly's appeal, and he was the more willing to attack 
 Burke as his daughter was married to that nobleman and had 
 been treated ill.|| But Burke was a formidable foe with great 
 resources at his command, and his strength was augmented by 
 the aid of O'Brien of Thomond, MacNamara and O'Carroll of 
 Ely. To beat down this combination Kildare mustered the whole 
 strength of the Pale, and besides, procured the assistance of 
 O'Connor Roe, MacDermott and the Burkes of Mayo from 
 Connaught, of Magennis, MacMahon, O'Hanlon and O'Reilly 
 from the north, of O'Farrel of Annally, O'Reilly of Cavan, and 
 O'Connor of OfTaly, but, most important of all, of O'Donneli of 
 Tirconnell.* * With this latter chief he had been sometimes. at war, 
 but recently he had sent one of his sons to be fostered in Tirconnell, 
 and to this, perhaps, may be due their present alliance. It may 
 also explain the absence of Kildare's kinsman, O'Neill, who would 
 
 * O' Conors of Connaught, p. 170. 
 t Ware's Annals. 
 
 X Hardiman's History of Galway, p. 69. The Charter granted by 
 Richard ill. bears date, 15th December, 1484. 
 II Leland's History, Vol. II. j p. 116. 
 ** Four Masters. 
 
368 HISTORY OF IRELAND. 
 
 be reluctant to fight side by side with his old antagonist of 
 Tirconnell, and, it may be, felt piqued at the friendship shown 
 him by Kildare. The numbers who fought on each side have 
 not been ascertained, but the advantage of arms and armour 
 was on the side of the Deputy,* for the main reliance of the 
 other side was in the battle-axe.t Kildare and his allies marched 
 towards Galway, but Burke had retired north-west, and at a 
 place but three or four miles from one of his casties at Clare- 
 Gal way, he took up a position on the low hill of Knockdoe. The 
 Book of Hoivth% gives, with tedious minuteness, the debates and 
 discourses in Kildare's camp previous to the battle, in which the 
 ecclesiastics and learned men who accompanied the army are 
 spoken of with contempt. O'Connor of Offaly declared that 
 he never saw those who were learned give good counsel in matters 
 of war, and that what would be decided in the coming fight was 
 \o be decided by valiant and stout stomachs of prudent and wise 
 men of war practised in the same faculty, and not by men 
 practised in matters of law nor matters of religion. And if he 
 spoke these words, he spoke the truth, for in most wars both 
 justice and refigion are ignored and those who fight think little 
 of either. After a hard fought struggle, which lasted the entire 
 day, the Deputy was the victor. His loss was considerable,! | but 
 the loss of his opponents was greater, being at least 2000 men. 
 The victors encamped for the night on the field which they had 
 won, then marched to Galway, captured the town, also captured 
 Athenry, took two sons and a daughter of Burke as prisoners, 
 and then Kildare regaled his troops with 30 tuns of wine.** 
 
 To make alliances with Irish chiefs, and, above all, to make 
 war in a private quarrel without the express leave of the King 
 was contrary to many enactments and ought therefore be 
 condemned by Henry VH., and doubtless it would if Kildare 
 had failed. But he had succeeded, and flushed with victory he 
 sent a glowing account to London, that his majesty's enemies 
 were destroyed. Nothing suited Henry's plans better than to 
 
 * They had firearms and probably cannon^ as some musket balls and 
 a cannon ball were found in later times on the battle-field. {Four M asters ^ 
 O'Donovan's Note.) 
 
 ■j- Gilbert's Viceroys, p. 469. The name of the battlefield signifies " the 
 hill of the axes." 
 
 X pp. 181-185. 
 
 II Ware's Annals. The Book of Howtk gives Burke's loss at 9,000j 
 Ware's estimate is 2,000. Cox (p. 197), quoting from the While Book 
 of the Exchequer, says not one Englishman was killed. The veracity of 
 that White Book is on a par with that of the Book of Howth. 
 
 ** Cox, p. 197. The Book of Howth says that Lord Gormanstown after 
 the battle suggested that, having killed most of the Irish opposed to them, 
 they should now cut the throats of the Irish on their own side. 
 
IN THE REIGN OF HENRY VII. 369 
 
 see the Irish fighting among themselves. It meant a weakening 
 of their strength, and would make the task of subduing the 
 whole country all the easier. And instead of being displeased 
 with Kildare he highly extolled him, invested him with the 
 Order of the Garter and continued him in the ofBce of Deputy 
 for the remainder of his reign.* For similar reasons he must 
 have been well pleased that the O'Neills and O'Donnells renewed 
 their quarrels (1507), that MacMahon and Maguire were at war 
 (1508), and that in the same year the MacCarthys in the South 
 were similarly engaged. | 
 
 * Gilbert's Viceroys, p. 472. 
 t Fozir Masters. 
 
 2B 
 
CHAPTER XXVI. 
 
 The Geraldines. 
 
 Henry VIII and Ireland — Kildare continued as Deputy — His war with 
 O'Brien and Burke — Battle of Monabrahir — Kildare's last years and 
 death — His son Gerald— The new Earl appointed Deputy — His 
 difficulties — Accused and went to England — Re-appointed Deputy — 
 His enemies in Ireland — Lord Surrey appointed Viceroy — Submission 
 of the native chiefs — His plan for the subjugation of the country — 
 Leaves for England— Earl of Ormond appointed Deputy — Kildare 
 in England — Returns to Ireland — His quarrels with Ormond — Royal 
 Commission appointed — Ormond dismissed — Succeeded by Kildare — 
 His troubles — Wars between O'Neill and O'Donnell — The Earl of 
 Desmond — Kildare summoned to London and tried on various charges; 
 His encounter with Wolsey — Ormond made Earl of Ossory, and 
 appointed Lord Deputy — Sir William Skeffington Viceroy — Kildare 
 returns to Ireland — O'Donnell and the Connaught chiefs — Kildare 
 again Deputy — Has quarrels with Ossory — Summoned to London 
 on various charges. 
 
 In the early years of his reign, Henry VIII. paid little attention 
 to Ireland. Voung, handsome, accomplished, skilled in martial 
 exercises, he passed much of his time in the midst of balls and 
 revels and court pageants,* and in such amusements spent with 
 a piodigal hand a large part of these treasures which had been 
 laboriously and patiently collected by his father's avarice. His 
 grandmother, the Countess of Richmond, still lived, and the 
 sensible advice she gave him was to retain in his service thase 
 ministers who had been tried and trusted in the preceding reign. 
 Henry had the good sense to accept the advice and act upon it, 
 and, in the same spirit and acting under these minister's directions, 
 he continued Kildare in his ol^ce of Lord Deputy and he invited 
 him to London, so that he might consult with him on Irish 
 affairs. But Kildare was reluctant to go, and at his suggestion 
 the Irish Council requested of the King that he be excused from 
 going. The Earls of Desmond and Ormond sent a joint letter 
 to England urging the same, declaring that they were themselves 
 at enmity with the Lord Burke of Connaught and that their 
 
 * Lingardji Vol. iv., p. 170. 
 
THE GERALDINES. 37 1 
 
 hope was that the Deputy would make peace between them.* 
 These two noblemen, perhaps, wrote what they believed, but 
 Kildare's talents and dispositions were not for peace, and, relieved 
 from the necessity of going to England, he soon proceeded to 
 make war. With all the forces of the Pale he marched into South 
 Munster, captured the castles of DuhaJlow and Kanturk (in Cork) 
 and two other castles (in Kerry), then marching north to 
 Limerick he was joined by MacCarthy and the Earl of Desmond 
 and with him also was O'Donnell of Tirconnell. The Deputy, 
 it seems, expected that he would finish the work begun at 
 Knockdoe, that O'Brien of Thomond would be crushed and then 
 the subjugation of Burke of Clanrickard would be an easy matter. 
 Marching on Limerick that city was soon captured| and from 
 this, as his headquarters, he advanced as far as Castleconnell, 
 where a bridge across the Shannon connected East and West 
 Thomond. He broke down the bridge so as to prevent the 
 whole forces of Thomond from acting together. O'Brien mean- 
 while was not idle. He had got together the Dalcassian clans, 
 Burke of Clanrickard was also with him with all his forces, and 
 these chiefs were eager to avenge the disaster at Knockdoe 
 Their army was encamped on the Clare side of the Shannon, not far 
 from Castleconnell, and when the bridge was broken down they 
 advanced further down the river, which they forded, and made pre- 
 parations for attacking the enemy. Miscalculating the strength 
 and vigour of his foes, Kildare, instead of fighting, commenced to 
 retreat towards Limerick, but was followed up by O'Brien and 
 at Monabrahir, near Limerick, the battle was fought. It lasted 
 throughout the day, and Kildare and his allies were defeated with 
 great loss ; they were hotly pursued on their retreat and were 
 saved from extinction only by the skill with which O'Donnell 
 and his troops defended the rear of the army. The Deputy 
 made his way back to Dublin as best he could, and did not again 
 attempt the conquest of Thomond, or the subjugation of O'Brien's 
 allies.;;: Two years later, Kildare was again active, and entering 
 Connaught he captured the Castle of Roscommon, which he 
 garrisoned in the name of the King. That same year he went 
 north, devastated the lands of the MacDonnells of Antrim and 
 captured the castle of Belfast, || and in the following year he again 
 went south, laying waste much of South Munster. The territory 
 of O'Carroll of Ely he treated similarly, though O'Carroll's strong 
 castle of Leap defied all his efforts, and, mortified at his failure to 
 
 * Calendar of State Papers (1509-73). (Hamilton), p. i. 
 t Ware's Annals. Four Masters, 15 10. 
 X White's History of Clare, pp. 164-5. 
 II Four Masters. Ware's Annals. 
 
372 HISTORY OF IRELAND. 
 
 capture it, he was returning to Dublin (15 13), when he fell ill 
 on his march and died at Athy.* 
 
 The Irish Privy Council selected the young Earl of Kildare, 
 son to the deceased Earl/as Deputy, and the appointment was 
 in a short time sanctioned by Letters Patent from the King. 
 Like his father, the new Deputy was a man of energetic and 
 warlike character, and the year after his appointment he inarched 
 into Breffni, laid that territory waste, and killed its chief O'Reilly ,j 
 then he turned his arms against O'Toole of Wicklow, whom he 
 defeated. Finally, marching into Ely O'Carroll and in alliance 
 with Sir Piers Butler, he attacked O'Carroll, laid his country 
 waste and with heavy guns which he had brought from Dublin 
 he captured the castle of Leap, which his father had formerly 
 besieged in vain. | These energetic proceedings indicated that 
 Kildare was zealous in the cause of the English King, for in 
 crushing the Irish chiefs he was interpreting accurately the royal 
 will. Yet the condition of English power was feeble, and the 
 Archbishop of Armagh, writing to his friend Wolse}.^ the Bishop 
 of Lincoln, described the perilous position of the Pale. And 
 to increase the Deputy's embarrassment and lessen, if not destroy 
 his influence with the King, his stepmother, the Dowager 
 Countess of Kildare, complained|| that Kildare was partial to 
 the great O'Neill and had voted him a tribute out of her lands, 
 that he had allowed some of the lands of her sons to fall into the 
 hands of the wild Irish, and that the lands of Kilbride, belonging 
 to her ward, one Rochefort, were made waste by oppression of 
 coyne and livery. 
 
 To answer these and perhaps other charges made against him, 
 Kildare proceeded to England (i 5 1 5), and seems to have triumphed 
 over his accusers, as he came back continued in his office of Lord 
 Deputy. His enemies were discomfited, but their discomfiture 
 was not final nor complete. The place-hunter whose expectations 
 had not been fulfilled, the adventurer whose greed had been 
 restrained, the lawless whose turbulence had been repressed 
 and whose offences had been punished, the arrogant whose pride 
 had been humbled and whose vanity had been hurt — all these 
 regarded Kildare's power with jealousy, and, convinced that they 
 had a grievance against himself or his father, watched for an 
 opportunity to do him harm. Their ranks were increased by 
 an important and powerful recruit in the person of Sir Piers 
 Butler, now Earl of Ormond. He was married to Kildare's sister 
 
 * Ware's Annals Four Masters, at 15 14, it should be 15 13. 
 •j- Ibid., 1 5 14. 
 
 X Ibid., 1 5 16. Four Masters. 
 
 II Hamilton's Calendar, p. 2. The Archbishop's letter was written 
 jn 1 5 14, that of the Countess, early in 15 16. 
 
THE GERALDINES. T,- ;^ 
 
 hitherto they had been on friendly terms, and in the war against 
 O'Carroll they fought side by side. But that was in the days 
 when he was Sir Piers Butler ; the seventh Earl of Ormond 
 had died in London (15 15), Sir Piers, as the next male heir, was 
 entitled to the Earldom and its vast estates, and in possession of 
 such honours and wealth he was lifted to an equality with his 
 brother-in-law and resented his assumption of superiority. 
 Perhaps also in the settlement of the Ormond estates, which 
 had been referred by the King to his Deputy and carried out by 
 him, the new Earl of Ormond* felt aggrieved, and in his 
 consequent enmity to Kildare he was incited by his ambitious 
 wife. Clever, restless, overbearing, with the strong will of the 
 Geraldines, she was zealous in her own impetuous fashion for 
 the advancement of Ormond's influence and power, ready to 
 spare no effort and use every means to attain her ends, and had 
 no objection, if it were necessary, that Ormond should rise even 
 on the ruins of Kildare. Her husband she found a suitable 
 medium for her purpose. His character was in striking contrast 
 to that of the Lord Deputy, for while Kildare was open, blunt, 
 outspoken, with the warrior's plainness of speech, Ormond, on 
 the contrary, was underhand, subtle and intriguing, not destitute 
 of courage, but with talents rather for diplomacy than for war. 
 He was able to ingratiate himself with Wolsey, the all-powerful 
 minister of Henry VHL, and to poison his mind against Kildare. 
 The ground being thus prepared, the Deputy was charged that 
 he was in secret league with the Irish, that he was enriching 
 himself with the revenues of the Crown and that he was guilty 
 of "seditious practices, conspiracies and subtle drifts." 7 A new 
 Viceroy was sent to Ireland (1520), in the person of the Earl of 
 Surrey, Kildare was dismissed from ofifice, and had to hasten to 
 England to defend himself against the offences laid to his charge. 
 The new Viceroy was son to that Earl of Surrey who had 
 fought and won the battle of Flodden ; he himself had been 
 with his father in the battle and contributed his share to the 
 victory gained ; j and he was not long in Ireland until he 
 exhibited that energy and skill which he had displayed on the 
 field of Flodden. The northern boundary of the Pale lay near 
 
 * He was not recognised formally as Earl by the King until 1522, when 
 he was appointed Deputy, and as late as 1520 is called rSir Piers Butler 
 by Henry VIII., but he was the heir to the vacant Earldom, and must, at 
 least by courtesy, have received the title. {State Papers — Henry VIII. ^ 
 Vol. II., pp. 34-39-) 
 
 t State Papers (Henry VIII.), Vol. II., pp. 32-3. 
 
 + Lingard, Vol. IV., pp. 18 1-2. He was then Lord Thomas Howard — 
 his father was created Duke of Norfolk, and he received the father's former 
 title of Earl of Surrey. 
 
374 HISTORY OF IRELAND. 
 
 the lands of O'Neill and MacMahon and was harassed by their 
 incessant attacks and these two chiefs were the first whom he 
 assailed. MacMahon's district of Oriel he soon laid waste and 
 compelled its chief to submit, but Con O'Neill, thinking it more 
 prudent not to meet him in the open and stake all on a single 
 battle, retired into the mountains and woods of his province 
 whither the Viceroy was unable to follow, and, disappointed at 
 his failure, he returned to Dublin. Before the year had expired, 
 and while he was meditating an attack on O'Neill, that chieftain 
 came to Dublin voluntarily and formally submitted to him and 
 to the English king. He made the most ample professions of 
 good behaviour for the future and when Henry was informed 
 of this he was so pleased that he sent O'Neill a collar of gold.* 
 O'Donnell also had in the meantime come to Dublin, was even 
 more profuse in his professions of loyalty to England and in the 
 true spirit of an Irish chief, anxious above all to injure a rival, 
 he secretly informed the Viceroy that O'Neill had urged him to 
 make war on the English and that he had given that advice, 
 acting under the influence and at the suggestion of the Earl of 
 Kildare.f Satisfied with the turn affairs had taken in Ulster, 
 Surrey then turned his attention south and entered and laid 
 waste the districts of O'More of Leix, O'Carroll of Ely, and 
 O'Connor of Offaly. Combined, these chieftains might have 
 offered a stout resistance, but they did not combine, and fighting 
 separately their resistance was futile and they had no alternative 
 but to submit. i The last of these chiefs to submit was MacCarthy 
 of Carbery, who made a favourable impression on the Viceroy, 
 and whose good sense and intelligence and evident sincerity he 
 highly extolled in his letter to Wolsey. ij But Surrey was not 
 deceived by these submissions and had little faith in their 
 permanence. He knew they were extorted by necessity and 
 that these chiefs, tenacious of their independence, would continue 
 to be submissive only as long as they were awed by superior 
 force. He knew that these submissions were very different 
 from conquest, he was convinced that the conquest of the country 
 was necessary, if England wished to establish her power effectively, 
 but he knew that to crush all these chiefs would be no easy matter, 
 and he proposed that 6,000 men be sent from England and that 
 the various chiefs be simultaneously attacked**. His proposals 
 
 * State Papers, Vol. II., p. 56. 
 
 t Ibid., p. 37. 
 
 X Ibid., p. 36. 
 
 II Ibid., p. 57. 
 
 ** Ibid., pp. 72-75. (Letter from Surrey to Henry VIII.) When so 
 attacked he thinks the Irish would suspend their own quarrels and, besides 
 would be aided by three or four thousand " Irish Scots.'' 
 
THE GERALDINES. 375 
 
 were sent to England but were not adopted ; the money he 
 had asked for the expenses of the Irish government was not 
 even sent ;* the native chiefs became again restive ; Ormond 
 and Desmond, who had often quarrelled and whom he had 
 with dif^culty reconciled, were again quarrelling ; and 
 MacCarthy and Desmond had gone to war and a battle had been 
 fought between them, at Mourne Abbey, in Cork, where Desmond 
 was defeated and i,ooo of his army slain.f Discouraged and 
 disappointed at these events, sick in body and in mind, Surrey 
 begged to be recalled from Ireland, and at length (1521), his 
 request was complied with, and he left for England, appointing 
 the Earl of Ormond as Lord Deputy. 
 
 By this time Kildare was more than two years in England. 
 The charges against him were referred to Cardinal VVolsey ; the 
 Cardinal was prejudiced against him i and this prejudice had 
 been intensified by fresh charges and reports made both by 
 Ormond and Surrey. || But it is easier to make charges than to 
 prove them, and the charges against Kildare had not been proved 
 true, and Wolsey was too great a man to be guided altogether 
 by prejudice, or to confound certainty with mere suspicion. He 
 did not — he could not, consistently with justice — condemn the 
 late Deputy, nor did he commit him to prison, but he was 
 prevented from going to Ireland, as it was thought that his 
 influence there would not be in the direction of peace, nor would 
 he be likely to assist a Viceroy who took so many of his inspirations 
 from Ormond. But there was no other restraint imposed upon 
 him. He mixed in society, he attended at Court and was among 
 the King's retinue at that famous meeting with the French 
 King on the Field of the Cloth of Gold.* * About that date Kildare 
 married his second wife. Lady Elizabeth Grey, a relative of the 
 King. This alliance gave him powerful friends. He became a 
 man of power and influence at Court, a man whom it would be 
 unsafe to attack. His accusers ceased to accuse, slander and 
 malignity held their tongues, there were no more charges, or 
 even insinuations against him, and he was allowed, without let 
 or hindrance, to go back to Ireland (1523). 
 
 He soon commenced to quarrel with Ormond, and he had 
 many reasons to complain of his conduct. Ormond had used 
 his power as Deputy with harshness and severity, and had 
 
 * State Papers, p. 90. Henry vill. thought that to send such moneys 
 would be " frustration and consumption of treasure in vain." 
 
 f Meehan's Geraldines, pp. 48-9. Ware's Annals. 
 
 \ Campion's History, p. 162. Cox, p. 209. 
 
 II State Papers, p. 45. He went to great lengths to get O'CarroU give 
 evidence against Kildare. 
 
 ** Cox, p. 210. 
 
2,'j6 HISTORY OF IRELAND. 
 
 especially harassed all those who were known to be friendly to 
 Kildare. Contrary to so many enactments, he had exacted 
 coyne and livery within the Pale itself and from the King's 
 subjects. He had so irritated the neighbouring chiefs that his 
 oppressions could hardly be borne, and Magillapatrick of Ossory 
 had sent a special envoy to Henry VHI. to solemnly warn him, 
 that if he did not chastise his Deputy, he himself would declare 
 war against the King. The solemn manner and lofty tone 
 assumed by the envoy of a petty chief has excited the ridicule of 
 historians, but such an embassy shows that under Ormond's 
 vexatious rule the limits of endurance had been passed.* 
 Kildare was not slow to send all the charges he could make against 
 his rival to England ; his rival retorted ; there were charges 
 and countercharges ; and at length a Royal Commission was 
 appointed by the English Privy Council to proceed to Ireland 
 and examine into these charges on the spot.f They did so, and 
 either the justice of Kildare's cause or the influence of his friends 
 prevailed. Ormond was dismissed from office (1524) and, to 
 deepen his humiliation, Kildare was appointed in his place. J 
 
 On resuming the office of Lord Deputy, after an interval of 
 more than four years, the outlook before him was not promising. 
 Ormond, humiliated, degraded and embittered, was not disposed 
 to make the way of government easy for his successful rival, 
 but instead was much more likely to throw every obstacle in 
 his path and to use any mistakes he might make for his ultimate 
 ruin. The chiefs nearing the Pale— O' More, O'Connor and 
 O'Carroll — who had submitted to Surrey through necessity and 
 with reluctance, were not disposed to be equally compliant with 
 Kildare ; and as he was related by blood to the two latter they 
 might hope with some reason, that any violation of their promise 
 to Surrey might be easily condoned. The Earl of Desmond 
 was master of great resources. He was little more than nominally 
 a subject of England, considered himself an independent prince 
 and, in the manner of such, corresponded with continental 
 monarchs. But from nobody did the Deputy experience more 
 trouble than from the rulers of Tirconnell and Tirowen. 
 
 O'Donnell had gone to Rome (15 12) on a pilgrimage, but no 
 sooner had he returned than he discarded the pilgrim's staff for 
 the sword and that same year he was at war with his neighbour, 
 
 * Leland, Vol. II., p. 133. The envoy met the King, as he was going 
 to his devotions. " Sta pedibus (he said). Domine Rex, Dominus meus 
 me misit ad te et jussit dicere quod si non vis castigare Petrum Rufum 
 (Piers Butler), ipse faciet helium contra te." 
 
 f State Papers, p. 105. The Commissioners arrived in Ireland about 
 midsummer, 1524. 
 
 \ Ibid., p. 115; Kildare was appointed, in August, 1524. 
 
THE GERALDINES. 377 
 
 O'Neill, and also with Burke of Connaught. The next year he 
 was in correspondence with the King of Scotland, who purposed 
 making a descent on Ireland, but the fate of Bruce must have 
 warned O'Donnell, and he dissuaded James IV. from his designs.* 
 Three years later he attacked O'Connor Roe. He had previously 
 tried in vain to take O'Connor's fortified castle of Sligo, but a 
 French knight, who had been on a pilgrimage to Lough Derg 
 and was hospitably treated by O'Donnell, sent him a ship armed 
 with heavy guns and with this Sligo castle was attacked from the 
 sea and captured. f The same year O'Donnell and O'Neill were 
 at war. In these wars with Tirowen it has been said that O'Donnell 
 was generally the aggressor,^ but in 1522, in the war between 
 them of that year, the aggressor was O'Neill. He made his 
 preparations with secrecy and care, strengthened himself by an 
 alliance with all the Connaught chiefs — Clanrickard, the 
 O'Connors, Burke of Mayo and MacDermott, got the aid even 
 of O'Brien of Thomond, sought and obtained the help of his 
 own Ulster chiefs — Magennis, MacMahon and O'Reilly — and had 
 a contingent of English mercenaries from Leinster, who came 
 to help " the son of the Earl's daughter, "il for Con O'Neill was 
 a grandson of an Earl of Kildare. Against such forces it seemed 
 vain for O'Donnell to contend, but he was not dismayed. He 
 called together his own chieftains of Tirconnell—O' Boyle, 
 O'Doherty, the MacSweenys and O' Gallagher — told them he 
 would rather die fighting than surrender his freedom to O'Neill, 
 and to that chieftain's peremptory summons to submit, he sent 
 him back defiance and bade him do his worst. Without waiting 
 for his allies of Munster and Connaught, O'Neill despatched a 
 contingent into Tirconnell and captured the castle of Ballyshannon 
 which was bravely defended by MacSweeny, and then he laid 
 waste the surrounding country. O'Donnell, on his side, was 
 not idle and despatched his son, Manus, to devastate Tirowen. 
 This had the desired effect, for O'Neill's army was withdrawn 
 from Tirconnell and while awaiting his allies his whole army 
 encamped on the Hill of Knockvoe, overlooking the town of 
 Strabane. O'Donnell had marched south to intercept the enemy 
 and if possible to save Ballyshannon, but he was late, and being 
 now joined by his son, Manus, returning from Tirowen, he 
 marched north, through the gap of Barnsmore, and advancing 
 along the banks of the River Finn, pitched his camp not far from 
 O'Neill, a little north of the town of Lifford. In numbers he 
 
 * Foicr Masters. 
 
 t Ibid., 1 5 16. 
 
 X Haverty's History of Ireland^ p. 347. 
 
 jl Four Masters. 
 
3/8 HISTORY OF IRELAND. 
 
 was far inferior to O'Neill, but he was his superior in skill and 
 daring, and while yet the forces of Connaught and Munster had 
 not reached Tirowen he resolved to make a night attack on 
 O'Neill's camp. He did so and with the most complete success. 
 O'Neill was defeated, lost 900 men in the engagement, many of 
 his best leaders, and great quantities of armour, provisions, and 
 " strong liquors " fell into O'Donnell's hands* Emboldened by 
 his victory, O'Donnell marched south to measure swords with 
 the forces of Munster and Connaught, but the news of his victory 
 went before him and filled his enemies with dismay. They hastily 
 raised the siege of Sligo, which they had been trying to capture, 
 and without waiting to encounter the victorious Northern they 
 returned home.f The next year O'Donnell entered Tirowen 
 and desolated the whole country, " burned its edifices and 
 corn, and left nothing worth notice in it without burning." | 
 Continuing these quarrels, O'Neill and O'Donnell were 
 again at war in the next year, and on this occasion the 
 Deputy with his forces marched to O'Neill's assistance, but he 
 was desirous to establish peace between them, for he was friendly 
 to both. Fie brought them together in conference and succeeded 
 in reconciling them, becoming himself security for the terms of 
 agreement. And Kildare formed gossipred with O'Donnell. 
 In defiance of this agreement the two Northerns were at war 
 again next year. Again the Deputy strove to reconcile them and 
 had a conference in Dublin for the purpose, but it proved 
 abortive and they went home and went to war, though they 
 shortly afterwards made peace. || 
 
 These events tried the patience as they tested the prudence 
 of Kildare, nor was it certain that his share in them would meet 
 with approval in England. Both O'Neill and O'Donnell had 
 submitted to Lord Surrey and promised to be loyal subjects 
 of England, but their conduct since was little in harmony with 
 that of well-disposed subjects. And the enemies of Kildare 
 noted that he continued to be friendly with both these chiefs, 
 whose turbulence had set the country ablaze, that he was prepared 
 at one time to lend the forces of the Crown to enable one of them 
 to triumph over his foe, that, in defiance of many parliamentary 
 enactments, he had formed with O'Donnell the tie of gossipred, 
 and that when he was inaugurated as Lord Deputy, the Sword 
 of State was borne by O'Neill.** Nor was this all. During 
 these years the relations between England and France were 
 
 * Four Masters. 
 
 f Ibid, and Annals of Loch Ce. 
 
 X Ibid., 1523. 
 
 !| Four Masters. 
 
 ** Cox, p. 214. 
 
THE GERALDINES. 379 
 
 strained, and as part of the game of politics, Francis I. meditated 
 a descent upon Ireland, and for that purpose entered into 
 negotiations with the Earl of Desmond. The insular simplicity 
 of the Irishman did not understand the motives of French 
 policy, for Francis was not thinking of Irish freedom, and was 
 concerned only to curb and restrain Henry's continental activity 
 by furnishing him with some trouble nearer home. Desmond's 
 vanity was flattered and he showed a readiness to second the 
 efforts of the French king. His conduct did not escape the 
 vigilance and the malignity of Ormond. His treason was 
 quickly made known in London, and forthwith peremptory 
 orders were sent to the Deputy to proceed to Munster and arrest 
 as a traitor the offending Earl. Without delay Kildare proceeded 
 south to execute the orders he had got, but Desmond, by retreat- 
 ing into the mountains, managed to elude arrest, and the 
 Deputy was compelled to return to Dublin without being able 
 to carry out his orders.* His enemies reported that he was 
 lukewarm and insincere in the King's service, that he was in 
 collusion with Desmond and had sent him friendly warning 
 beforehand, and that to this Desmond's escape v/as due. To 
 be guilty of being in collusion with a traitor was a crime of 
 the gravest nature, to be suspected of it was serious and at least 
 required investigation, and once again Kildare had to proceed 
 to London (1526), and answer the following charges — that he 
 had neglected to arrest Desmond, that he had contracted 
 affinity with " Irish enemies," that he had hanged certain good 
 subjects, and that he had conspired with O'Neill and O'Connor 
 to make an inroad into Ormond's territory. On these charges 
 he was lodged a prisoner in the Tower.f 
 
 The accused Deputy was not brought to trial at once, though 
 many efforts were made against him by his enemies, and so 
 many of the prominent men of the Pale went to England, that 
 the English Council directed the Archbishop of x'^rmagh to 
 remain in Ireland, as otherwise all the great men of Ireland 
 would be in England. I At length, when Ormond and his 
 friends had completed their preparations and believed they 
 were able to effect the late Deputy's ruin, he was brought before 
 Wolsey and the English Council to be tried. Wolsey's prejudices 
 against the accused had grown with time. He was placed 
 in the position of judge, to act only on the evidence and to 
 convict only when the charges made were satisfactorily proved ; 
 but his conduct at the trial was rather that of an embittered 
 
 * Cox, p. 215. 
 
 t Ware's Annals, 1526. 
 
 X Hamilton's Calendar of State Papers, p. 5. 
 
380 HISTORY OF IRELAND. 
 
 partisan than of an impartial judge. Instead of leaving to 
 others the work of accusation he became accuser himself, though 
 he felt he owed an apology to the Council for doing so. He 
 charged him that though his friend Desmond was in treasonable 
 correspondence with Francis I. of France, and afterwards with 
 the Emperor Charles V., yet he would not arrest him as a traitor, 
 but when sent to do so wilfully shunned his sight, altered his 
 course, warned his friends. He taunted him that if he had 
 but lost a cow or garron of his own, two hundred kerns would 
 have come at his whistle to recover the prey from the uttermost 
 edge of Ulster. He calls him not so much the Earl of Kiidare 
 as the King of Kiidare, tells him that he reigns over the land 
 rather than rules it, that where he is malicious the truest 
 subjects stand for Irish enemies, and where he is pleased the 
 Irish enemy stands for a dutiful subject. Kiidare had not an 
 angel's patience, the limits of his endurance had been passed, 
 and with dif^culty he restrained himself while the Cardinal 
 spoke. Then he rose angrily to reply. As to Desmond he 
 protests he did his duty, and to the charge that he forewarned 
 him he indignantly replies by asking who was the messenger 
 by whom the warning was sent, if it was sent by letter, where 
 was the letter — his servants and friends are ready to be examined, 
 why not examine them, and where is the justice of relying solely 
 on what his enemies say, on their base words, their heedless 
 hearsays, their frantic oaths. His last words were for the 
 Cardinal and must have nettled him not a little. " As touching 
 my kingdom, my Lord (he said), I would you and I had ex- 
 changed kingdoms but for one month, I would trust to gather 
 up more crumbs in that space than twice the revenues of my 
 poor Earldom. I sleep in a cabin when you lie soft on your 
 bed of down, I serve under the cope of Heaven when you are 
 served under a canopy, I drink water out of a shell when you 
 drink out of golden cups, my courser is trained to the field when 
 your jennet is taught to amble." These unpleasant truths, 
 all the more unpleasant because they were true, Wolsey heard 
 with anger, though there were many at the Council who were 
 glad to hear them, for Wolsey had many enemies and scarce 
 any friends. But though Kiidare was acquitted of conniving 
 at Desmond's escape the charge that he had urged O'Neill 
 and O'Connor to attack the Earl of Ormond was not so easily 
 disposed of : he was in fact found guilty of this and sent back 
 a prisoner to the Tower. And Wolsey sent an order to the 
 governor to have him executed, but appeal was made to King 
 Henry in person, and Wolsey 's order was not carried out.* 
 
 *LCampion's History of Ireland, pp. 164-72; Cox, pp. 219-20: 
 
THE GERALDINES. 38 1 
 
 The state of Ireland in the meantime went from bad to worse. 
 When leaving for England Kildare had left as his Deputy his 
 relative — Sir James Fitzgerald,— but, probably because he was 
 his relative, he was soon dismissed and Lord Delvin appointed 
 in his place (1526).* In collusion with O'Carroll of Ely, and 
 as it appeared at the instigation of Kildare, O'Connor of Offaly 
 made an attack on the Pale, and Delvin, who sought to chastise 
 his insolence, attacked him with all the forces he could muster, 
 but was defeated and taken prisoner. Nor was it until after 
 protracted negotiations, much delay and the payment of a 
 ransom that O'Connor allowed him to go free. The Archbishop 
 of Dublin and Birmingham, the Lord Chief Justice, had already 
 warned Wolsey of Delvin's incapacity and they suggested that 
 Kildare be sent back ; f other influences were at work to have 
 Ormond appointed Deputy, while the Duke of Norfolk attributed 
 all the ills of the Pale to the quarrels between Kildare and 
 Ormond, and remonstrated against the appointment of either.^ 
 But his remonstrance was unheeded. Ormond was now in 
 high favour with the King. His relative, Mary Boleyn, had 
 been the King's mistress and her sister Anne had succeeded her 
 in the same degraded position, and had unbounded influence 
 over her royal paramour. At the King's suggestion and request, 
 Ormond had resigned his Earldom, which was conferred on 
 Anne Boleyn's father, Sir Thomas Boleyn, who thus became 
 Earl of Ormond,!! while the Sir Piers Butler of other days became 
 Earl of Ossory and Lord Deputy (1528), and his son. Sir James 
 Butler, was appointed Lord Treasurer of Ireland. Vet, though 
 in such high favour with the King, and having large resources 
 at his command, Ossory did not succeed. He was not personally 
 popular in Ireland, either with native or English-born. Among 
 the higher officials in the Pale Kildare had many friends, and 
 his relatives among the Irish chiefs would take care to give 
 trouble to the man who had so patiently and so perseveringly 
 plotted Kildare's ruin. At length the wisdom and policy of 
 Norfolk's** advice was recognised, Ossory was set aside (1529), 
 and the government was placed in the hands of an Englishman — 
 Sir William Skeffington. With him there came, though given 
 no official position, the exiled Earl of Kildare. His old enemy 
 
 * Ware's Annals. 
 
 t State Papers (Henry VIIl), pp. 126-7. 
 
 X This was the Earl of Surrey of former days. He was Duke of Norfolk 
 «ince 1524. 
 
 !1 Carte's Ormond — Introduction, p. 45. 
 
 * * Norfolk had declared that the malice between the Earls of Kildare 
 and Ossory was the only cause of the ruin of that poor land. {State Papers ^ 
 p. 134 — Letter to Wolsey.) 
 
382 HISTOUY OF IRELAND. 
 
 Wolse\', was now fallen and disgraced ; it became the fashion 
 to honour those whom he had sought to dishonour ; the Earl 
 of Desmond was dead and could no longer intrigue with either 
 emperor or king • and there could be no object gained by 
 keeping Kildare in England. And it was expected that in 
 Ireland he would second the efforts of Skeffington and help to 
 re-establish the authority of the crown. 
 
 At first all went well. Con O'Neill of Tirowen had harassed 
 the Pale by his attacks ; it was necessary to punish him ; for 
 that purpose an army was mustered ; and the unusual spectacle 
 was seen of Kildare and Ossory marching together under the 
 Deputy's command to lay waste the lands of Tirowen. With 
 them also, on this expedition (1531), was O'Donnell of Tirconnell. 
 Since the year in which he had won the victory of Knockvoe, 
 and chased the Munstermen and Connaughtmen from Sligo, he 
 laid claim to be the over-lord of Connaught and obtained tribute 
 from its chiefs. But either his exactions or his insolence became 
 unbearable and a confederacy was formed for his overthrow 
 (1526), in which O'Connor and MacDonogh, and MacDermot 
 joined and afterwards Burke and Barrett of Mayo. Even 
 this confederacy was not equal for O'Donnell, nor did it liberate 
 Connaught from his yoke, and in that year he twice entered 
 Connaught, ravaged Moylurg, destroyed the strong castle of 
 Grange, defeated the united forces of O'Connor and MacDonogh, 
 crossed the Moy and marched as far as Crossmolina, and com- 
 pelled both Burke and Barret to give him obedience. Every 
 year subsequently, for the next five years, Connaught was 
 subject to his attacks ; and if a chief murmured or became restive, 
 or if his rent was not regularly paid, he entered the province 
 and wasted it with fire and sword.* It was hardly zeal for the 
 service of an English king that caused him to march under 
 the banners of Skeffington, but O'Neill's territory was to be 
 attacked, and the prospect of inflicting damage on his rival he 
 found it impossible to resist. But such an alliance was not 
 likely to endure. It was composed of too many discordant 
 elements, and the evils of dissension would be likely soon to appear. 
 Ancient enmities are not easily laid aside, neither Kildare nor 
 Ossory had ever shown an apostolic spirit of forgiveness, and 
 it would be dif^cult indeed to discover any object for which 
 they could work harmoniously together. O'Donnell's only 
 object was to injure, and, if possible, ruin O'Neill, and this done 
 he would have no special enthusiasm for England or England's 
 Viceroy. Nor did Kildare or Ossory wish to be placed in a 
 subordinate position to such as Skeffington, for both were proud, 
 
 * Annals of Four Masters. Annals of Loch Ce. 
 
THE GERALDINES. 383 
 
 both belonged to ancient families, who for centuries had 
 been possessed of almost regal power, and both considered it 
 an indignity to be thus placed under the command of a simple 
 English knight. Some damage was done to Tirowen by the 
 allied forces, but it was not considerable.* Skeffington, not 
 remarkable for military talents and ill supported, was able to 
 do nothing more. He and Kildare quarrelled, intrigues were 
 set on foot against him, and the influence of Kildare was such 
 that SkefBngton was recalled, and Kildare himself became once 
 more Lord Deputy .f Apparently as a counterpoise, Lord 
 James Butler, Ossory's son, was continued in the office of Lord 
 Treasurer. 
 
 During his last term of office Kildare was as active as ever 
 and as overbearing. All those who had acted as his friends 
 during the years of stress and trial which had passed he favoured 
 and exalted. But with those who had acted as his enemies 
 he determined to be even, and amongst them Allen, Archbishop 
 of Dublin, and the Earl of Ossory were selected as the special 
 objects of his resentment. Allen was Lord Chancellor, he had 
 been the creature and favourite of Wolsey, and this fact 
 alone was enough to turn against him Kildare's wrath. He 
 was asked to give an account of the public moneys that had 
 passed through his hands as Chancellor ; his explanation of 
 many things was halting and insufficient, and Kildare 
 summarily dismissed him from office, I and appointed in 
 his place a staunch and faithful friend of his own, — 
 Cromer, Archbishop of Armagh. But his old enemy, 
 Ossory, he harassed and persecuted still more, ravaged 
 his lands, destroyed his castles and attacked his city of 
 Kilkenny. Nor did he disdain alliances with the Irish 
 chiefs, but, on the contrary, gave a daughter in marriage 
 to O'Carroll of Ely and another to O'Connor of Offaly,|| and 
 it was at his suggestion that his brother John and O'Neill 
 devastated Louth. In some family squabble between the 
 O'Carrolls, the Deputy had interfered on behalf of his son-in-law, 
 and in some small engagement received a gun-shot wound, 
 which was serious, and often afterwards gave him such pain 
 that it was said he had become mentally deranged. At least 
 such was the view of many who could not otherwise explain 
 
 * Ware's Annals, 1531. State Papers, pp. 15 1-2. (O'Donnell's 
 submission.) 
 
 t Ibid.^ 1532. 
 
 X State Papers, p. 159. He was appointed Chancellor in 1528, and 
 dismissed in July, 1532. 
 . II I6zd.,^;p. 161. 
 
384 HISTORY OF IRELAND. 
 
 the violence of his conduct.* Secret consultations were held 
 by Allen and Ossory, in conjunction with the late Deputy, 
 Skeffington. It was proposed to arraign Kildare before the 
 King, a majority of the Irish Council were found to be in favour 
 of this course, and Allen, Master of the Rolls, was deputed to 
 proceed to England. He told Henry VIII. that English laws, 
 manners, habits and language were circumscribed within a 
 circuit of twenty miles, that the exactions and oppressions 
 practised on the inhabitants loyal to England had driven many 
 from the land, and that their lands were occupied by Irish 
 enemies, from which it might be inferred that English power 
 in Ireland was almost at an end. Impressed with the gravity 
 of these accusations, the King was highly incensed against the 
 Deputy, and sent him a peremptory mandate to at once proceed 
 to England and answer for his conduct. Kildare was in a cruel 
 difficulty. He could not disobey the King's summons, and 
 he feared to obey it. He was conscious that he had made 
 mistakes, that his conduct had been arbitrary and oppressive. 
 He knew that his enemies were able, influential and vindictive 
 and that whatever irregularities he had been guilty of their 
 malignity would turn into crimes, and he sent his wife to 
 England hoping that through her influential friends the King 
 would relent. In the meantime he furnished his castles with arms 
 and ammunition from the government stores as if he intended 
 in the last resort to rebel. In England his wife put forth her 
 best efforts on his behalf, and her friends were powerful, but 
 it was in vain. Henry would not be moved. His summons 
 was urgent and would not be recalled ; it was dangerous even to 
 delay ; and with a heavy heart and evident foreboding of ill, 
 Kildare left Ireland (1534), never afterwards to return.j 
 
 * Cox, p. 224. He received the wound besieging the Castle of Birr. 
 He regained, says Cox, his health but not his " intellectuals," and was ever 
 after " a little crackbrained." 
 
 ■j" Cox, pp. 225-6. 
 
) 'fj:?^^m^^>:^=^ m^mi( M^^^^^^^^^. 
 
 CHx'\PTER XXVII. 
 
 Tke Folly of Silken Thomas. 
 
 The Earl of Kildare calls a Council at Drogheda — Appoints his son 
 Thomas, his Deputy — His advice to him — Rumor that Kildare was 
 executed in England — Silken Thomas decides to rebel — Surrenders 
 the Sword of State — His conduct at the Council — Attacked Dublin — 
 Failed to capture Dublin Castle — Murder of Archbishop Allen — 
 Progress of the rebellion — Silken Thomas and Lord James Butler — 
 Conduct of the Dublin citizens — Reinforcements from England 
 with Skefhngton — Silken Thomas excommunicated — Capture of 
 Maynooth — The friends and enemies of Silken Thomas — Lord 
 Leonard Gray appointed Commander of the English forces — Silken 
 Thomas submits and sent to England — Gray appointed Viceroy — 
 The Fitzgeralds executed in London — Young Gerald Fitzgerald — 
 Attempts to capture him — First Geraldine League — Manus O'Donnell- 
 Young Fitzgerald escapes to France — His fate. 
 
 When Kildare was leaving for England he was directed by 
 Henry VIII. to appoint someone as his Deputy on whom he 
 could rely. It was necessary that the Irish Government should 
 not be left without a head, and it was moreover necessary, 
 in the troubled times then existing, that he should be a person 
 of prudence and courage, a man capable of forming his own 
 judgment, not acting on impulse or caprice, not likely to accept 
 as certainties, at least without careful scrutiny, the interested 
 reports of others, and not likely to act from personal rancour 
 or become the tool of faction. Perhaps Kildare found it 
 •dif^cult to discover any such person to act for him. His conduct 
 had recently been hard to understand. He had made many 
 enemies,* his deputy would have to keep these enemies in check 
 and to interpret his own recent acts in a favourable light ; and 
 it may be that even his best friends shrank from undertaking 
 such a burden. Either from necessity or choice, he appointed 
 his son Thomas to the office, and the appointment was in 
 
 * These enemies were among the Privy Council, for Kildare in his 
 speech at Drogheda declared that they would be willing to risk the loss 
 of one of their eyes, if they could be assured that he would lose both his. 
 (Cox, p. 227.) 
 
 2C 
 
386 HISTORY OF IRELAND. 
 
 every way unfortunate and, for the Geraldines, had a tragic 
 termination. Thomas was not yet 21 years old. He had 
 neither the wisdom nor experience of age, but, on the contrary, 
 had more than the usual share of the rashness and impetuosity 
 of youth. Generous, brave, unsuspecting, he had not the 
 penetration to see where danger lurked, did not realise the number 
 of his enemies, nor the extent of their malignity, and readily 
 fell into the snares which they skilfully laid for his destruction, 
 His father, before taking ship from Drogheda, seems to have 
 had some misgiving as to the choice he made, some premonition 
 of impending ill, and in the presence of the assembled Privy 
 Council gave his son some sound advice, which that young man 
 would have done well to have acted upon. " My son, Thomas 
 (he said), you know that my sovereign lord, the King, has sent 
 for me into England, and what shall betide me God knows, 
 for I do not. But whatever happens I am now well spent in 
 years, and so I must soon die, because I am old.* Wherefore, 
 as my winter is well nigh ended, and the spring of your age 
 now buds, my will is that you behave so wisely in these your 
 green years that with honour you may grow to that hoary 
 winter through which your father is marching fast. And 
 because it pleases his majesty, the King, that upon my departure 
 I should substitute in my place someone for whose government 
 I could answer, although I know your years are tender and 
 your judgment not matured, and, therefore, I might with good 
 cause be reluctant to put a naked sword in a young man's hand. 
 Yet, because I am your father, I am satisfied to share with you 
 the command of the ship of State, so that I may be able to 
 command you as a father and correct you as my son, if you 
 should wrongly handle the helm. And now my desire is 
 rather to learn how to die in the fear of God than to live in the 
 pomp of the world. But do you consider how easy it is to 
 destroy, how hard to build up, and in all your affairs be ruled 
 by this Council whose wisdom will be able to restrain you with 
 sound and sage advice, for though in authority you rule them, 
 they in Council must rule you. My son, you know that my 
 late wounds stifle my talk, or I would have grated longer on 
 this matter, for a good tale may be twice told. . . But though 
 my fatherly affection requires my discourse to be longer, I 
 trust your good inclination asks it to be shorter, and upon that 
 assurance here, in the presence of this honourable assembly, 
 I deliver you this sword." | 
 
 * This cannot be reconciled with Gilbert's statement (Viceroys^ p.- 
 467), that Gerald, in 1502, was only 15 years old, which would make his 
 age at this time only 47. 
 
 f Cox pp. 226-7. He left Drogheda for England about February, 1534. 
 
THE FOLLY OF SILKEN THOMAS. 387 
 
 In an atmosphere of adulation and intrigue these salutary 
 counsels were soon forgotten. Thomas was thoughtless and 
 vain, so fond of dress that he was called Silken Thomas, proud 
 of his family, its power and its ancient renown, and surrounded 
 by those flatterers who flourish within the shadow of authority, 
 his self-confidence was without bounds. His father's enemies 
 resolved to take advantage of his innocence and credulity, and 
 industriously spread abroad a report that when his father 
 reached London he was put to death. The lie had the desired 
 effect, for, though it was a lie, it was quickly believed. A wise 
 man would hesitate to believe such a story, a prudent man would 
 at least wait until full inquiry could be made, so that its truth 
 or falsity could be ascertained. But Silken Thomas was neither 
 a wise, nor a prudent man, and, without stopping to consider 
 its inherent improbability or the source from which it came 
 he accepted the whole story as true, and prepared to be revenged 
 as best he could. With a retinue of 140 horsemen he entered 
 the city of Dublin, then crossed the river to St. Mary's Abbey 
 where the Council was sitting, and with flushed face and quivering 
 lips he flung the Sword of State on the Council table and 
 proclaimed that he was no longer Henry's Deputy but his 
 foe. " I have (he said), more mind to conquer than to govern, 
 to meet him in the field than to serve him in office, and if all the 
 hearts of England and Ireland join in this quarrel, as I trust 
 they will, then should he be a byword for his heresy, lechery 
 and tyranny, wherein the age to come may skore him among 
 the ancient princes of most abominable and hateful memory." 
 And Campion adds that he used many other slanderous and 
 foul terms, " which for regard of the King's posterity I have 
 no mind to utter." * His own and his father's friend, Cromer 
 Archbishop of Armagh, sought to dissuade him from his folly 
 took him affectionately by the hand, and with tears streaming 
 down his face used ever^^^form of entreaty. It was in vain. Among 
 the Deputy's followers was an Irish minstrel who just then 
 struck upon his harp some wild notes of defiance, in his own 
 tongue, begged of the great Geraldine to be revenged, and the 
 thoughtless words of the harper were more potent than the 
 appeals and entreaties of the Archbishop. And, breathing 
 forth vengeance and war, Silken Thomas rushed from the Council 
 Chamber to his doom,j 
 
 He had soon gathered around him his own retainers, his 
 tenants and friends, and he v/as joined by large numbers of the 
 
 * Campion's ■ History, p. 176. 
 
 t Cox p. 231. Ware's Annals. These events occurred on the nth 
 June. 
 
388 HISTORY OF IRELAND. 
 
 Irish both within the Pale and on its borders, and at the head 
 of this army — more formidable in numbers than in discipline — 
 he appeared before Dublin and demanded the submission of the 
 city. The citizens were then as always devotedly loyal to the 
 English king, but they had no organized forces for defence, and 
 the plague which was after making great havoc among them 
 weakened their capacity for resistance. They reluctantly sub- 
 mitted, but the government officials retired within the shelter 
 of Dublin Castle, which was so strongly fortified that the ordnance 
 of Silken Thomas was unable to make any impression on its 
 defences. Leaving a portion of his forces to continue the siege 
 of the Castle, the rebellious Geraldine, at the head of the remainder, 
 swept in anger through the district of Fingal,* laying waste the 
 homes of the English residents in that district. Within the 
 Castle meanwhile was Allen, Archbishop of Dublin, and had he 
 remained there his position was one of security. But he was by 
 nature timorous, he had long been the bitter enemy of the 
 Geraldines, he had striven with the Butler faction for the ruin 
 of Kildare, and in the intrigues which drove Kildare's son to 
 revolt it is easy to discern his hand. The prospect of Dublin 
 Castle being captured by that young man he regarded with 
 dismay, feeling that he would receive no mercy, and in the hope 
 of getting beyond his rage he secretly and stealthily took shipping 
 for England. Perhaps it was by stress of weather, perhaps it 
 was by treachery, the vessel was driven on the beach at Clontarf, 
 and the terrified Archbishop hastened to take refuge in a friend's 
 house in the neighbouring village of Artane. His hiding place 
 was soon discovered and the soldiers of Silken Thomas dragged 
 the unfortunate Archbishop from his bed before their master. 
 Allen was not a man to inspire much sympathy or respect. " He 
 was an astute, hard man and, like Cromwell, had been trained 
 up in business to the detriment of his humanity or even honesty." f 
 As Commissioner of Wolsey's legatine court, he was both hated 
 and feared, he was a sharer in the spoliation of many monasteries, 
 his letters to Wolsey's successor, Cromwell, show how avaricious 
 and grasping he was, and Kildare was enabled to dismiss him 
 from the Chancellorship because he appropriated public funds to 
 his own personal uses. J Yet even a worse man might have 
 excited pity and might expect mercy, as he threw himself before 
 Fitzgerald, bareheaded and barefooted, dressed only in his shirt, 
 his hands clasped piteously in supplication. It is true that Silken 
 
 * Fingal was that district. North of Dublin, extending eastwards to 
 the sea by Clontarf and on to Howth. {Book of Rights, p. 187.) 
 \ Gasquet Henry VIII. and the English Monasteries, pp. 20- 1, 
 t D' A] ton's History of the Archbishops of Dublin, pp. 184-90. 
 
THE FOLLY OF SILKEN THOMAS. 389 
 
 Thomas did not tell his followers to murder him, for the words 
 he used were " take away from me that clown," but before his 
 eyes the soldiers fell upon the hapless Allen and butchered him, 
 and he did not interfere. And if Henry II. can be justly con- 
 sidered as at least partly guilty of the murder of Beckett, there 
 is equal reason for holding Fitzgerald guilty of the murder of 
 Allen.* 
 
 A cause which has to rely for success on popular sympathy 
 and support is not served by crime, least of all by the crime of 
 murder, and Allen's tragic fate inspired horror, and cast a dark 
 shadow on the prospects of Silken Thomas. But for the time there 
 was nothing to stay his progress, nor did he cease until he had 
 plundered and wasted the whole territory from Dublin to 
 Drogheda. It was then that he appealed to his cousin. Lord 
 James Butler, expressing his willingness to forget their ancient 
 enmity and begging him to join him, and promising that, in the 
 event of success, they should share all Ireland between them. 
 Nothing could be more discouraging than the reply to these 
 overtures. f Butler, indeed, confesses a reluctance to call him 
 cousin, as his treason and " lewdness " have shamed his kindred. 
 " I had rather (he says) in this quarrel die thine enemy than live 
 thy partner. For the kindness you proffer me and good love in 
 the end of your letter the best return I can make is to advise 
 you, though you have gone far, to pause ere you go too far. 
 Ignorance and error and a false notion of duty have carried you 
 unaware to this folly but not so far that you may not retrieve 
 your error. The King is a vessel of bounty and mercy and your 
 words against him shall not be counted malicious, but rather 
 the outcome of heat and thoughtlessness, except by persevering 
 in your present course you prove yourself to be acting mischiev- 
 ously and wilfully." Such advice as this, it might be said such 
 rebukes, were ill suited to the fiery temper of the Geraldine, and 
 to make an effective and suitable retort, he entered Butler's 
 territory and wasted it with fire and sword, nor were the forces of 
 Ossory able to offer an effective resistance. 
 
 From wasting the lands of his relative and enemy he directed 
 his steps towards Dublin, where matters of urgent importance 
 demanded his presence. Though powerful on land he was power- 
 less on sea, and the ocean highway being open, messengers were 
 despatched to England, begging for assistance and painting in 
 strong colours the danger which hung over the city. Henry 
 received these messengers well, commended the inhabitants of 
 Dublin for their loyalty, told them to resist the rebel and that 
 
 * Ware's Annals. The murder was committed on the 28th July; 
 t Cox, pp. 232-3. 
 
390 HISTORY OF IRELAND. 
 
 succour would soon be sent them. Thus encouraged, the citizens 
 rose against Fitzgerald's soldiers, besieged in turn those who 
 were besieging Dublin Castle, and when Silken Thomas and his 
 army appeared again before the walls, the gates were closed 
 against them, their friends inside were already prisoners, and 
 several sallies were made from the city in which some damage 
 was inflicted on the besiegers, and in which one Mores* 
 is specially commended for his courage. To capture the city 
 Thomas found to be impossible. He had taken some of the 
 citizens prisoners and offered to exchange them with his own 
 soldiers, who were prisoners within the city, and when this of^er 
 was accepted he raised the siege. | 
 
 No sooner had the city been thus relieved than the ships 
 with reinforcements from England were seen coming up the 
 harbour. Silken Thomas was still near Dublin, a portion of 
 the English forces — i8o in all — landed near Howth ; and these 
 he allowed to land without opposition, then, suddenly falling 
 upon them, he cut them to pieces, killed many, and took the 
 remainder prisoners. And, in addition, one of his followers 
 captured an English vessel freighted with choice English geldings. 
 \ et this success was only partial and transient and could not 
 affect the final issue of the campaign. Sir William Brereton 
 and 500 men landed on the southern shore of Dublin Bay. He 
 was followed by the new Lord Deputy, Sir William Skef^ington, 
 and the whole army soon entered the city, where they were 
 effusively welcomed by the citizens. J Nor was this all that 
 happened to dispirit Silken Thomas. It had long since been 
 ascertained that the Earl of Kildare had not been executed, and 
 many of Fitzgerald's followers must have asked themselves what 
 they were fighting for, and why should they continue to fight. 
 For the murder of the Archbishop of Dublin, a sentence of 
 excommunication in its most aggravated form had been published 
 against all concerned in the crime, and Thomas was mentioned 
 by name. II This must have driven many from his side, as they 
 did not care to be identified with a man, or a cause, visited with 
 such ecclesiastical censures. His cousin, Butler, far from lending 
 any assistance, was intriguing against him with O'Brien of 
 Thomond. The efforts to give the rebellion the character of a 
 religious war were futile, and when the Emperor, Charles V, 
 
 * Hamilton's Calendar of State Papers, p. 12. Skeffington tells his 
 friend, Cromwell, that the " said Mores boldly went out of the gates of 
 Dublin and with his own hand slew divers of the rebel's best footmen." 
 
 t Co.x, pp. 235-7. 
 
 \ Ibid., p. 238. He landed on the nth Octoberj and was accompanied 
 by Lord Leonard Gray. (Ware's Annals?) 
 
 II State Papers (Henry vill.), Vol. ll., pp. 217-19. 
 
THE FOLLY OF SILKEN THOMAS. 39 1 
 
 and the Pope were appealed to, so that they might aid in striking 
 down a King, who was the common enemy of both, they gave 
 some vague promises of assistance but they gave nothing more.* 
 When Skeffington arrived from England the year was 
 advanced, and he determined to mature his plans in Dublin and 
 make all needful preparations and open the campaign in the 
 following spring. But some of the more ardent spirits in his 
 army were impatient of this delay and complained to the govern- 
 ment of England of his inactivity. /\nd they had good grounds 
 of complaint, for Silken Thomas, aided by O'More and O'Connor 
 of Offaly, was sweeping like a hurricane through Meath, 
 destroying the property of those in sympathy with England. 
 He had burned Trim, Dunboyne and Kells, had recaptured 
 Kildare and garrisoned his castle of Maynooth. Yet Skeffington 
 would not be moved. f He was more capable in a civil than in a 
 military office, he was old, his health was not good, and the fire 
 and energy of youth were extinguished by infirmity and age. 
 Neither entreaty nor menace could compel him to commence 
 operations while the winter lasted, but when the spring came 
 his sluggishness was laid aside. With his whole army he marched 
 from Dublin, and after some desultory operations of minor impor- 
 tance in Meath, he advanced to attack the castle of Maynooth. 
 The castle was the richest of all Kildare's castles, it was strongly 
 built, its keep was considered impregnable, and Silken Thomas 
 hoped that its garrison of lOO men would be able to keep 
 Skefifington at bay, until he himself would come to its relief. 
 For nine days the siege lasted and at length, on the 23rd March, 
 1535) the heavy ordnance of the besiegers had made so large a 
 breach in the wall that an entry was effected. In the attack 
 which followed more than 60 of the garrison were slain ; the 
 remainder, numbering "i^y ^ were taken prisoners. Two days 
 later the prisoners were tried by a military court and condemned 
 to death, and the heads of the principal men were put on the 
 turrets of the castle, t 
 
 * Leland, Vol. ll., p. 144. 
 
 t State Papers, Vol. II., pp. 219-24. Allen's letter to Cromwell. Also 
 p. 226, et seq., further Letter from Allen. 
 
 + Cox, p. 239. Ware's Annals. State Papers, Vol. II., p. 236. Both 
 Cox and Ware have a story, taken it seems, from the same source, that the 
 captain of the garrison — Paresse — foster brother to Silken Thomas — sur- 
 rendered the castle for a bribe and yet was executed. But this story is 
 evidently untrue, for in the letter sent by the Deputy and Council the 
 very day after the execution of the prisoners (dated, Maynooth, 26th March), 
 there is no mention of this treachery, though the whole particulars of 
 the siege and capture of the place are given, and Paresse is mentioned by 
 name. 
 
392 HISTORY OF IRELAND 
 
 Silken Thomas was not far off when the castle of Maynooth 
 fell into the enemy's hands. He was rapidly advancing to its 
 relief at the head of an army of 7000 men, drawn principally 
 from Connaught, but the news that Maynooth had fallen stayed 
 his further advance, and so disheartened his followers that most 
 of them abandoned him. He made his way to Thomond, secure 
 of an asylum there from O'Brien, and perhaps also, of assistance 
 in prosecuting the war. And he would, perhaps, have got help 
 but that his cousin, Butler, had stirred up strife in Thomond and 
 had urged Donogh O'Brien to .claim the chieftaincy of the 
 province,* and the ruling chief, compelled to defend his position 
 at home, was unable to give any assistance to Fitzgerald. In 
 Desmond, also, Butler had been active, and had induced the 
 Earl of Desmond to take no part in the war, and for Silken 
 Thomas to look for aid in that quarter was vain. In addition 
 to this his old friend and ally, O'More of Leix, was induced or 
 terrorised by the Earl of Ossory to desert him. But he had 
 still some forces, and his resources were by no means exhausted. 
 O'Connor of Offaly and O'Carroll were still ready to stand by 
 him, and joined to these he was soon again at the head of a 
 fresh army. In the meantime Skefifington was inactive. He 
 had got ill after the capture of Maynooth and rested there 
 for some time, nor did he, even when he got well, follow up the 
 advantages he had gained. While he remained idle, Silken 
 Thomas was wasting the Pale. In addition, a report was 
 circulated that both O'Neill and O'Donnell were on the point 
 of coming to his assistance.! This darkening prospect alarmed 
 the English of the Pale; they complained of Skeffington's inactivity 
 and messengers were sent to England demanding that he be 
 superseded, and Lord Leonard Gray, whose abilities were 
 recognised, be appointed in his place. ^ This prayer was in 
 part granted and in August, 1535, Lord Leonard Gray, was 
 given supreme military command though Skeffington was 
 still continued as Deputy. But Gray's authority in military 
 matters was unlimited, what he was to do was left entirely to his 
 own discretion, and he pursued the campaign with such vigour 
 and success that the allies of Silken Thomas were forced to 
 abandon him. At length O'Connor of Offaly, who had stood 
 by him longest, submitted, and finally Thomas himself, reduced 
 to the last extremity, sent a message to Gray that he was willing 
 to submit on terms. The terms he asked were his life to be 
 
 * This Donogh O'Brien was nephew to the Chief of Thomond, and 
 married to a daughter of the Earl of Ossory. (State Papers, pp. 171-230,) 
 t State Papers, p. 247. 
 + Ibid., pp. 266, et seq. • 
 
THE FOLLY OF SILKEN THOMAS. 393 
 
 spared and his lands left him, nor is it likely that he would submit 
 without at least a promise of his life, yet Skef^ngton stated that 
 he submitted " without condition."* This was the end of the 
 rebellion. Lord Gray with the unfortunate prisoner proceeded 
 to England, and soon after Silken Thomas found himself lodged 
 in the Tower. 
 
 Henry VIII. was glad that the rebellion was suppressed 
 and that the audacious rebel was at last in his power, and he 
 wrote a letter of thanks to the Deputy. Yet his satisfaction 
 was not complete. What he wanted was unconditional surrender 
 on the part of Silken Thom.as ; he did not approve of any 
 conditions being attached and told the Deputy that if Fitzgerald 
 " had been apprehended after such sort as was convenable to 
 his deservings the same had been much more thankful and 
 better to our contentacion." f It was quite evident that the 
 unfortunate Geraldine would have to atone for his rebellion, 
 with the sacrifice of his life, although Norfolk had advised that 
 the conditions made with him by Gray and Lord James Butler 
 be kept, otherwise no Irishman would ever again trust himself 
 to an Englishman, or believe in his promises. J This advice 
 Henry did not take, nor was his ferocious rage satisfied with 
 the blood of a single victim. He wished to extirpate the whole 
 Fitzgerald family, and he found a ready instrument of his will. 
 On the last day of the year (1535), Sir William Skefiftngton 
 had died at Kilmainham, and Lord Leonard Gray had been 
 appointed his successor. He was but a short time in of^ce when, 
 under the pretext of friendship, he invited the five uncles of 
 Silken Thomas to a banquet at Dublin. They went, fearing 
 as little as did O'Connor of Of^aly in former days, when invited 
 to a banquet by Birmingham, the " treacherous Baron." They 
 were treated with similar treachery, for Gray arrested them 
 and sent them prisoners to England, where, as well as their 
 nephew, they were imprisoned in the Tower of London. They 
 were conveyed to England in a vessel called the Cow, and this 
 proved to be a source of serious alarm to them, as they had 
 heard of a prophecy which said — That an Earl's five sons should 
 in time to come be wafted for England in a cow's belly but 
 should never return. || The fate of Henry's prisoners was not 
 
 * State Papers, p. 274. Skeffington's letter bears date 24th August, 
 1535. The rebellion was then over. 
 
 f From this it appears that Fitzgerald did NOT surrender as Skeffington 
 declared, " without condition," and the same appears from the letter of the 
 Privy Council, and also from Norfolk's letter to Cromwell. (State Papers^ 
 pp. 275-8, 280.) 
 
 I State Papers, p. 277. 
 
 II Ware's Annals. Leland, Vol. II., p. 153. State Papers, pp. 304-5 
 
394 HISTORY OF IRELAND. 
 
 a pleasant one, and has been justly described as a condition 
 in which they were lodged like hogs and fed like dogs,* and 
 the pitiable state to which Silken Thomas was reduced would 
 move the hardest heart to compassion. In a letter from the 
 Tower, which he wrote to his friend O'Brien of Thomond,t 
 he begged him to send him ;^20 for the purpose of procuring 
 food and clothes. And he told his friend, Rothe, that since he 
 came to London he had got no money, that he was without either 
 stockings or shoes, that he had no shirt but one, and that 
 instead of a velvet cloak furred with lambskin fur, he had no 
 garment but'a single frieze cloak, that repeatedly, during the 
 severity of winter, he had gone bare-footed and barelegged and 
 that he would have to go naked but for the charity of some 
 of his fellow-prisoners, who had given him old socks and shoes 
 and shirts. To such a condition of poverty and hunger and 
 nakedness was that young noble reduced who had so long known 
 the comforts and even splendour of luxury and power. His 
 father was already dead— the knowledge of his son's folly had 
 killed him — his uncles were his fellow-prisoners and were no 
 doubt reduced to the same pitiable condition as himself, and, 
 broken in spirit, it must have been a relief to his tortured mind 
 that on the 3rd February, 1537, he and his five uncles were 
 led forth from their prison and executed together at Tyburn. I 
 Three of these uncles had opposed their nephew in his rebellion, 
 but it mattered not : they were of the Fitzgerald family, in 
 Henry's eyes this made them enemies of the State, and as such 
 they deserved to be sacrificed. 
 
 Henry's rage was even yet unappeased, for there still remained 
 a son of the late Earl of Kildare, a boy twelve years of age and 
 named, like his father, Gerald. When his uncles were seized 
 and sent to England the lad was ill in one of his father's castles 
 in Kildare. His mother was in England. He was in charge of 
 his tutor, a priest named Leverus,|| and this faithful friend rightly 
 judging that his pupil's life would be sought had him secretly 
 sent to O'Brien of Thomond,** Even there he was not safe. 
 O'Brien wished to befriend him and was willing to defend him, 
 and for a time the boy's place of residence was kept secret and 
 was changed from time to time. But it could not always be 
 kept thus secret, for there were spies on his track. And Gray, 
 
 * Gasquet. Henry VIII., and the English Monasteries, p. 4. 
 
 t State Papers, pp. 402-3. 
 
 X State Papers, Vol. II., p. 429. 
 
 II He was afterwards Bishop of Kildare, and, refusing to take the oath 
 of supremacy (1559), was deprived of his diocese. (Ware's Bishops.) 
 
 ** State Papers, Vol. II., p. 363. He was in Thomond in 1536, and 
 O'Brien refused the Irish Council's demand to give him up. 
 
THE FOLLY OF SILKEN THOMAS. 395 
 
 the Lord Deputy, though he was young Gerald's uncle, was more 
 anxious to curry favour with his royal master than to defend 
 his nephew, and Henry would not be satisfied until the lad was 
 in his power.* Unable to conceal his whereabouts and doubtful 
 of his capacity to defend him against a leader so skilful and daring 
 as Gray, and with such resources at his command, and no doubt 
 anxious besides to save his province from the horrors of war, 
 O'Brien sent young Gerald to his aunt in Cork — Lady Eleanor 
 MacCarthy. She had been married to MacCarthy of Carbry, 
 she was now a widow, and just at the time (1538), received 
 an offer of marriage from Manus O'Donnell, the chieftain 
 of Tirconnell. She was devotedh^ attached to her nephew, 
 and perhaps more for his sake than for her own she accepted 
 the ofTer, and both aunt and nephew set out from Cork to 
 Tirconnell. On their march through Desmond and Connaught 
 they were treated with every mark of respect. It was well- 
 known that the boy was an object of special detestation to Henry, 
 that those who treated him with respect, and still more favoured 
 his escape, would earn the King's enmity, and that, on the other 
 hand, whoever betrayed him was sure that pecuniary reward 
 and royal favours awaited him. Yet, neither menaces nor 
 bribes, neither fear of the King's anger nor hope of his favours 
 was sufficient to procure the boy's betrayal, and both himself 
 and his aunt arrived safely at Tirconnell, where Lady Eleanor 
 and O'Donnell were married. | 
 
 The pursuit and persecution of this boy irritated the Irish 
 chiefs. The Geraldines were popular. They had become 
 thoroughly Irish, with the faults and virtues of Irish chiefs, 
 and it did seem hard that a lad, who had committed no crime, 
 and whose )'Outh and innocence might have shielded him from 
 harm, should be punished because of his brother's folly, and thus 
 persecuted and hunted down in his native land. Laying aside 
 for the moment their ancient jealousies, the Irish chiefs formed 
 what was called the First Geraldine League, the object being 
 to protect young Gerald Fitzgerald and ultimately to restore 
 him to his father's estates ; and to make sure of his personal 
 safety he was assigned a body-guard of twenty-four horsemen, 
 who were to accompany him wherever he went. J The members 
 
 * He was offered the King's pardon and to be the King's " true and 
 loving subject," but the fate of his uncles and brother was recent, and his 
 advisers did not think it wise that he should trust himself to such promises. 
 {State Papers, Vol. 11., p. 537.) 
 
 t State Papers, Vol. III., p. 28. 
 
 + Ibid., p. 44. (Ormond's letter to the Irish Council). Ormond 
 says that young Gerald was to be sent to the King of Scotland for what 
 purpose he could not tell. 
 
396 HISTORY Oi' IRELAND. 
 
 of the League were O'Neill and O'Donnell in the north, the 
 Connaught chiefs, O'Brien and Desmond in the south, and with 
 them would be O'Connor of Offaly and O'Carroll, who were 
 young Gerald's relatives. This was unpleasant news both to 
 the Deputy and the King. What Henry would have wished 
 was to see these chiefs quarrelling, but unity, and, above all, unity 
 to protect young Gerald, he both hated and feared. But he 
 was stubborn and persistent and not easily baulked of his prey. 
 The Deputy was eager to carry out his wishes and even to anticipate 
 them, and despairing of taking young Fitzgerald by force, he 
 was ready to employ treachery and hoped that by treachery 
 he would succeed. He invited O'Neill and O'Donnell to a 
 friendly council near Dundalk (1539), to which they promised 
 to bring young Gerald. But the two northern chiefs, perhaps, 
 because they had reason to suspect that treachery was intended, 
 declined coming to the conference at all, and Gray was dis- 
 appointed and baffled, for his treacherous plans had failed. 
 He candidly told his master, Henry VHL, what he intended. 
 " And if they had kept appointment with me having young 
 Gerald with them, howsoever the thing had chanced, by the 
 oath that I have made unto your Grace they should have left 
 the young Gerald behind them quick or dead." * 
 
 O'Donnell had so far been a faithful member of the Geraldine 
 League, but his wife thought she had reason to suspect his 
 fidelity, and that perhaps he would betray her nephew, and 
 it was time to take alarm when the Irish Council could tell 
 Henry YHL that they had secured the friendship of O'Donnell, 
 as well as O'Neill. t To ensure the lad's safety he was put on 
 board a vessel bound for St. Malo, disguised as a peasant and having 
 with him his faithful tutor (Leverus), besides two others. But 
 even in France he was not safe. A certain person named 
 Warner was directed to proceed to Rennes and watch his move- 
 ments, and report everything to the British Ambassador at Paris. + 
 Wherever the young lad went he was followed by Henry's 
 spies, he had frequently to change his place of residence, and 
 though he was treated with kindness everywhere and received 
 every mark of respect, |i yet he did not feel secure in France and 
 finally made his way to Rome. His kinsman. Cardinal Pole,** 
 
 * State Papers, Vol. III., p. 127. 
 t Ibid., p. 196. 
 
 X Ibid., pp. 211-13. 
 
 II Even the spy Warner declares that he was a " very proper young 
 gentleman." 
 
 * * If one Cardinal (Wolsey), treated the Fitzgeralds with harshness and 
 injustice, it is gratifying to know that another Cardinal (Pole), expiated 
 Wolsey's enmity to the house of Kildarc. (Meehan's Geraldines, p. 55.) 
 
THE FOLLY OF SILKEN THOMAS. 397 
 
 was able to protect him there, surrounded him with everything 
 he required, had him educated as became his position ; and 
 when Henry VIII. was dead and his son sat on the throne, Gerald 
 Fitzgerald was allowed to return from exile (1552), and was 
 restored to his possessions, and, two years later, he became Earl 
 of Kildare. 
 
CHAPTER XXVI II. 
 Henry Becomes Ki)ig of Ireland. 
 
 -'State of Ireland and Plan for its Reformation " — The Pale — Black Rents — 
 Native chiefs — " Degenerate English " — St. Bridget and -"^her 
 Guardian Angel — The Pander's advice to Henry VIII — Ireland des- 
 cribed by Finglas — Henry's knowledge of the country and his anxiety 
 about it — His difficulties — Determines to conquer it — Strength and 
 weakness of the Irish chiefs — The Anglo-Irish — King Henry's strength 
 — His nobles — His Parliament— His pecuniary resources — O'Brien 
 of Thomond attacked — Lord Gray's preparations— His forces — Capture 
 of O'Brien's-Bridge — The English soldiers mutiny — O'Connor of 
 Offaly attacked — Condition of Leinster — O'Neill and O'Donnell — 
 Battle of Bellahoe— -Gray in Tirowen — His journey to Galway — 
 His relations with the Irish Council — Returns to England — Convicted 
 and executed — His successor Brereton — St. Leger appointed Deputy — 
 His policy of conciliation — Submission of the chiefs — Henry pro- 
 claimed King of Ireland — The Irish chiefs get titles from him — Terms 
 of their submission — The old system and the new — Henry's policy — 
 Its success — His power in Ireland. 
 
 Among the State Papers relating to Ireland in the reign 
 of Henry VIH., the first place is given to one written in 15 15, 
 and which describes the state of Ireland at that date, and in 
 addition furnishes a plan for its reformation.* The writer is 
 unknown but he signs himself Panderus, or the Pander, f He 
 was probably an Englishman, his sympathies are strongly English, 
 his views are English, his desire was to see all Ireland brought 
 effectually under English rule, and his plan of reformation 
 was drawn up for that purpose. The story he has to tell, in 
 itself is not an agreeable one, and it must have been 
 humiliating to England, for it is the story of its failure in Ireland 
 so far. Three centuries and a half had passed since Henry II. 
 spent Christmas in his wickerwork palace in Hoggin Green 
 and had feasted the Irish chiefs, almost all of whom had sub- 
 
 * State Papers ; (Henry VIII.), Vol. II., pp.- 1-3 1: 
 
 I He lived during the reigns of Edward IV., Ed. V.,j^Richard III., Henry 
 VII., and Henry VIII. (Ware's Writers, p. 90.) 
 
HENRY BECOMES KING OF IRELAND 399 
 
 mitted to him as their king. And it was the fashion to speak 
 of that monarch as the conqueror of Ireland. But in the 
 sixteenth century so far was it from being conquered that 
 but a small district on the east coast acknowledged the supremacy 
 of England and was subject to its laws. A line drawn from 
 Dundalk to Kells, through Ardee, from Kells to Trim and Kilcock, 
 then southward to Naas, and eastward from Naas to Rathcoole 
 and Tallaght, ending at Dalkey on the coast, marked the 
 boundaries of the Pale. It was a small and contracted area, 
 not more than half of the modern counties of Louth and Meath, 
 but a small portion of Kildare, and something more than half 
 of the county of Dublin. Within this area dwelt the English 
 subjects, — some English by birth, many English by descent, 
 but all recognising the supremacy of England, acknowledging 
 themselves as its subjects, accepting its laws, and demanding 
 from it that protection of life and security of property which 
 it is the duty of every government to give its subjects. 
 
 Yet, these English subjects were not happy, nor was their 
 condition, compared to the purely Irish outside, anything to 
 be envied. The number of officials was large, much larger 
 than was required or desirable for so small a territory, and these 
 officials, eager to enrich themselves, harassed the people with 
 their exactions. In spite of all the enactments against coyne 
 and livery, the people of the Pale were often made familiar with 
 both, for money came but slowly and reluctantly from England, 
 expeditions had to be made against the neighbouring Irish, 
 whose inroads were often destructive, and when money was 
 not to be had for the payment of the army they had to be paid 
 by coyne and livery. A subsidy was sometimes demanded by 
 the English king from his Irish subjects, and loyalty urged them 
 to satisfy his demands. Finally, there was the payment of 
 large sums by way of Black Rent, for the Irish chiefs were restless, 
 and to purchase quietness from them it was necessary that they 
 should be paid. From Down, O'Neill of Clanneboy got £40 a 
 year ; a like sum was paid by Louth to O'Neill of Tirowen, while 
 from Meath, O'Connor of Offaly got the large sum of ^300 a 
 year, and i^20 a year from Kildare. Scattered over the country 
 were a few walled towns, especially the seaports, where English 
 subjects dwelt and English laws were obeyed, and these, 
 surrounded by the native Irish, were compelled to purchase their 
 good will. Wexford paid Black Rent to MacMurrogh, Kilkenny 
 and Tipperary to O'Carroll, Cork to MacCarthy, and Limerick 
 had to pay ^^40 a year to O'Brien of Ara and a like sum to O'Brien 
 of Thomond.* The remainder of the country was held by sixty 
 
 * Siaie Papers, p. 9. 
 
400 HISTORY OF IRELAND. 
 
 chiefs of Irish descent and thirty of English descent, and each 
 of these Irish chiefs held by the sword and made peace and war 
 as he pleased. 
 
 The chiefs of English descent made peace and war in the 
 same way. They had ceased to be England's subjects or to 
 recognise its laws. They intermarried with the Irish, adopted 
 Irish customs, spoke the Irish tongue. Each of them had 
 his brehon to administer the law, and each had an Irish harper 
 in his hall. Such as these were referred to by the English as 
 degenerate English, for they certainly had fallen away from 
 English ways. Such was the case with the Earl of Desmond 
 in Munster, and his kinsmen, the Fitzgeralds, Sir John, Sir 
 Thomas and Sir Gerald of Desmond, as also the Barrys, the 
 Roches, the Cogans, the De Courcys, and Barrets of Cork, and 
 the Powers of Waterford. In Connaught the Burkes and 
 Birminghams and Stantons and Jordans, and Nangles, and 
 Barrets and Prendergasts were as Irish as the O'Connors or 
 the O'Kellys. In Ulster the case was similar with the Savages 
 and the Russels. And in Meath, in the neighbourhood of 
 the Pale itself, were the Dillons, the D'Altons, the Tyrells and 
 Delameres and Tuites, no longer holding their lands by 
 English tenure, but each in the Irish fashion being called the 
 captain of his nation.* 
 
 The Pander laments that such is the existing state of things 
 and attributes the falling away of these Anglo-Irish to the fact 
 that the central government at Dublin was weak and ill 
 supported from England, and that they adopted Irish habits 
 and followed Irish ways as the best way to protect themselves. 
 Nor does he look to the future with much hope. He quotes 
 an old proverb which speaks of the pride of France, the treason 
 of England and the wars of Ireland.^ He lays it down that coyne 
 and livery will never cease to be exacted from English subjects 
 until the Irish cease from their wars, that the Irish wars will 
 never cease, and therefore, it necessarily follows, that coyne 
 and livery will never cease. He recalls that St. Bridget once 
 asked of her guardian angel from what Christian land most 
 souls would be damned, and that he replied it was a land in 
 the western part of the world, where there was continual war, 
 from which land souls fell into hell as thick as showers of hail. 
 And he has no doubt that this land is Ireland. " Wherefore 
 (he says), it cannot be denyed by every estymation of man but 
 
 * State Papers, Vol. II., pp. 5, 25-6. 
 
 f Ibid., p. 1 1. He thinks the war will never have an end unless " Godde 
 sett in mennes brestes to fynde some newe remedye that never was founde 
 before." 
 
HENRY BECOMES KING OF IRELAND. 4OI 
 
 that the angell dyd understande the lande of Ireland."* His 
 only hope is that the King would take the reformation of the 
 country seriously in hand. He points out that such is his duty, 
 and to encourage him he prophecies that if he did, with the 
 army of England and Ireland, he would be able to subdue France, 
 rescue the Greeks, recover the city of Constantinople, vanquish 
 the Turks, win the Holy Cross and the Holy Land, and die 
 Emperor of Rome, and " eternal bliss shall be his end." f 
 
 So glittering a prospect ought to have roused to action a 
 man even less ambitious than Henry VIII., but apparently 
 he had little faith in the prophet or his prophecy — for prophecies 
 are often made and seldom fulfilled — and Ireland for the next 
 few years occupied but a small share of his thoughts, which 
 were concerned with greater things. The ability of Surrey 
 might have acomplished much if he had been supported by 
 England, and if his plans had been adopted and carried out, 
 but his success in the subjugation of Ireland was only partial 
 and incomplete, and the effects transitory and unimportant. 
 After he left Ireland the country was allowed once more to 
 drift. The English colony, alternately ruled by Geraldine 
 and Butler, was ruined by both, and when another writer | under- 
 took to describe Ireland from what he saw and knew (1534), 
 the country was in the same condition as it was twenty years 
 before. The limits of the Pale were still the same and so was the 
 condition of its people. If anything, it had become more Irish. 
 As in the purely Irish districts, war was made, and peace, on 
 individual initiative and without consultation with the Deputy, 
 or his Council. Irish dress was worn, coyne and livery were 
 exacted, the Irish tongue was spoken, Irish senachies compiled 
 their genealogies for the subjects of an English king, Irish bards 
 sounded their praises or, perhaps, satirized their foes, and Irish 
 minstrels and harpers were still welcome in their feudal halls. 
 Finglas himself was an official || and, perhaps, on that account, 
 conceals much of the exactions and greediness of his class, but 
 it may be assumed that their rapacity remained unchanged. 
 All Ulster was in the hands of the Irish chiefs, and the King, who 
 was, by descent, heir to the Ulster Earldom,** had lost all his 
 
 * State Papers, p. 11. 
 
 t Ibid., p. 31. 
 
 \ This was Finglas, who wrote " A Breviate of the getting of Ireland 
 and of the decay of the same." It is the 4th of the tracts in Harris's 
 Hibernica, pp. 79-103. 
 
 II He was chief Baron of the Exchequer, and was promoted from that 
 office to be Chief Justice of the King's Bench, May 8th, 1534. (Morrin, 
 Calendar of the Patent Rolls, p. 12.) 
 
 **As the descendant of the Duke of C arence and Elizabeth de Burgho. 
 
 2D 
 
402 HISTORY OF IRELAND. 
 
 inheritance in that province except tlie single manor of 
 Carlingford. From Connaught lie received nothing whatever, 
 nor did he from Munster, where the Earl of Desmond, Irish 
 in dress and language and habits and surrounded by Irish 
 retainers, lived as an independent prince, and had a prince's 
 revenue. Even the Kildare Geraldines and the Butler's, 
 though invested from time to time with the ofifice of Lord Deputy, 
 were more Irish than English, exacted coyne and livery, ruled 
 their own territory like independent chiefs, and were not 
 obedient to English laws. The various chiefs on the borders 
 of the Pale, such as O'Neill and O'Connor of Offaly, were still 
 paid their Black Rents. Finglas, indeed, speaks of the weak- 
 ness of MacMurrogh and O'Byrne and O'Toole, and of the 
 ease with which they might be subdued. Yet, MacMurrogh 
 was still paid his yearly allowance out of the King's Treasury, 
 and it may be assumed it v/as not because he was loved, but 
 because he was feared. 
 
 Henry VIII. was kept accurately informed from time to 
 time as to the condition of Ireland. The letters of Surrey in 
 particular were many, the information he supplied accurate 
 and full, and the suggestions he made were characterised by 
 wisdom and statesmanship. The King was not slow to learn, 
 and in his letter to Skeffington (1529),* there is evidence that 
 the miseries of the Pale and the obstacles to the advancement 
 of English power in Ireland are not unknown to him — the 
 squabbles and jealousies between Desmond and Ormond and 
 Kildare, the difficulties of subduing the native chiefs, the 
 sufferings the English subjects endured from coyne and livery. 
 Nor could it be anything else to him than a matter of humiliation 
 and anxiety that Ireland was in such a condition. The genius 
 of Wolsey had exalted England to a high position among the 
 great nations of the Continent. From being " an upstart 
 trying to claim for herself a decent position in the august society 
 of European vStates,") she had risen to the dignity of one of the 
 great powers, whose alliance was courted, whose power was 
 felt, whose influence was recognised, whose enmity was feared. 
 But to France and Spain and the Empire she was an upstart 
 still. If one of these powers obtained the assistance of England, 
 they were ready to flatter and caress, but if they found her 
 among their foes they spoke of her as an upstart and a parvenu 
 among the nations, and her king was told to complete the conquest 
 of Ireland, if he could, and leave Continental affairs to the 
 continental powers. Such words had been used by the German 
 
 * State Papers, Vol. II., pp. 147- 150; 
 f Creigh ton's Cardinal Wolsey, p. 3. 
 
HENRY BECOMES KING OF IRELAND. 4O3 
 
 princes to Richard II., and there is no reason to doubt but that 
 some such sneers were flung at Henry VIII. But if Ireland 
 was thus the cause of mortifying the King's vanity, she was to 
 him a source of danger as well. O'Donnell had intrigued with 
 the King of Scotland against England. The Earl of Desmond 
 had been in treasonable correspondence both with the Emperor 
 and the French monarch. O'Neill of Tirowen had acted 
 similarly ; and when Silken Thomas broke out into rebellion he 
 appealed for continental aid. A French or German army, 
 in alliance with an Irish chief or combination of chiefs, would 
 have easily overrun the Pale and extinguished the feeble 
 remnant of English power, and the whole resources of England 
 would have been taxed to recover Ireland from their grasp. 
 But in such circumstances, no matter what the cost, it would 
 be necessary that it should be reconquered, for Ireland, the 
 subject or independent ally of a continental power, would lower 
 the prestige of England and even be a menace to its existence. 
 Henry VIII. was not blind to these dangers. He sent men 
 and money to Ireland for the conquest of the land, urged each 
 successive Deputy to prosecute the work with vigour, watched 
 with anxiety how they progressed and was irritated and impatient 
 when they did not succeed. The magnitude of the task was 
 made apparent to him, when the rebellion of Silken Thomas 
 cost his Treasury the sum of ;6"40,ooo.* This rebellion was 
 entered into without sufficient thought and with inadequate 
 preparation ; it was carried out on no well considered plan ; 
 the warfare was desultory and intermittent ; and its leader 
 had neither experience nor talents. He was without money, 
 his soldiers were without discipline, and he received but partial 
 support from the native chiefs. And if it was so expensive 
 and so difficult to put down such a rebellion, what sacrifices 
 would it not entail to conquer the whole land ? . et these 
 sacrifices Henry should make, for the time had come when 
 England should abandon Ireland altogether or conquer it. The 
 latter course was determined on, and as soon as Lord Thomas 
 Fitzgerald and his uncles were safely lodged in the Tower of 
 London, the Lord Deputy Gray proceeded to conquer those 
 chiefs and nobles who refused to recognise themselves as subjects 
 of England. 
 
 To obtain submission from the Irish and /\nglo-Irish chiefs, 
 in the same manner as did Henry II. and John and Richard II., 
 might not be a matter of much difficulty, but such submissions 
 would be hollow and insincere. The English king would be 
 paid some tribute and receive some respect, as long as he was 
 
 * Cox, p. 242: 
 
404 HISTORY OF IRELAND. 
 
 strong, but when he was involved in some great war and his 
 government at Dublin had become weak, he would no longer get 
 from these chiefs either tribute or respect. Such submissions 
 Henry VIII. did not value nor demand. He wanted Ireland 
 to be an integral part of his dominions, where English law was 
 to be in force, English dress worn, English customs adopted 
 and the English language spoken ; and if the Irish did not submit 
 in this way quietly and peaceably, he was determined to wring 
 submission from them by the sword. 
 
 United under a single leader, the Irish could have set all 
 his threats at defiance. Some chiefs, such as O'Neill or O'Brien, 
 could bring an army of 2,000 men into the field, the least of 
 them could muster 300 or more,* and the army which could 
 be called into action by the Earl of Desmond, or the Earl of 
 Ormond, would be as great as the greatest of the Irish chiefs ; 
 and if all were combined there might be an army of at least fifty 
 thousand men. The population of England was greater than 
 that of Ireland and so was its wealth, and if its utmost efforts 
 were put forth, even a greater army than this might have been 
 enrolled and equipped for a campaign. In point of military 
 equipment, also, it would be superior, and if the issue was to 
 be decided in a single battle, or even in a short campaign, the 
 probability that England would conquer would be strong. 
 But a skilful Irish leader would not risk all on a single battle. 
 He could have retired before the English into the shelter of the 
 woods with which the country was covered. He could have 
 harassed the invading army by falling upon detached parties 
 and by night attacks. He could have wasted the country 
 through which they passed and made it necessary for them 
 to get all their supplies from England. He could have threatened, 
 perhaps cut off, their communications. An army of not more 
 than 3,000, under Art MacMurrogh, had by such tactics baffled 
 Richard II. and his army of more than 20,000 men, and what 
 army could have conquered an equally daring leader, at the head 
 of fifty thousand men But to expect that all Ireland would 
 thus unite cordially against a common enemy was falsified by the 
 experience of the past. In Tirconnell and Tirowen and Connaught 
 and Thomond the same language was spoken, the same manners 
 and habits prevailed, but this was the only bond of agreement 
 between them. O'Donnell would not serve under O'Neill, 
 nor acknowledge his supremacy, and O'Brien would not act 
 with O'Donnell except, perhaps, to plunder O'Neill. Jealousy 
 and suspicion and mutual hate kept these chieftains wide apart, 
 <xnd even the presence of common danger was powerless to 
 
 * State Papers, Vol; II., p. 5. 
 
HENRY BECOMES KING OF' IRELAND. 405 
 
 extinguish their animosities. They fought as persistently as 
 did their ancestors, and since the days of Brian Boru had never 
 acted together. 
 
 And if the old Irish could not agree in defending their country, 
 still less likely was it that the Irish and Anglo-Irish would coalesce ; 
 Fitzgerald and Birmingham and Burke were Irish in dress 
 and habit and language, and the ties which bound them to 
 England were slender and weak, yet these ties were not 
 altogether sundered. They still traced their descent from an 
 Anglo-Norman source, and, settled in a country which their 
 fathers' swords had won, they regarded the people around 
 them as belonging to an inferior race. They allied themselves 
 by marriage with the native chiefs, but they would enter with 
 reluctance, and certainly without enthusiasm, into any movement 
 which proposed to finally destroy English power in Ireland, 
 and on its ruins to establish a united monarchy, with an 
 O'Neill or an O'Brien as its king. Nor was there any Irish leader 
 that could compel their obedience, no descendant of the ancient 
 kings with the genius and courage to abolish the old clan system 
 with the strifes and jealousies and weakness which it bred, 
 to break down the barriers that separated one province from 
 another, to discard as useless, and even mischievous, institutions 
 which belonged to a long passed age, and to gather together 
 the strength of the whole nation as Brian did under his own 
 victorious banner. Such then was the condition of Ireland, 
 weak, feeble, distracted, disorganised, still wanting a central 
 government, still broken up into clans, each independent, each 
 relying on itself, distrustful and suspicious of its neighbour with 
 whom it was ever willing to quarrel and never willing to agree. 
 
 But if on the side of Ireland the elements of weakness were 
 many, on the English side were all the elements of strength. 
 The English kings of the Plantagenet and Lancastrian lines 
 were but the first among the powerful feudal nobles. In the 
 extent of their landed possessions, in the amount of their wealth, 
 in the number of their armed retainers, in the splendour of 
 their retinue, such nobles as Warwick, the Kingmaker, might 
 vie even with the crown.* In all his public undertakings 
 the King was compelled to consult these nobles and to be guided 
 by their advice. In his wars their aid was respectfully, even 
 timidly, invoked. They often thwarted his designs and marred 
 his projects ; and when they combined against him they were 
 
 * Warwick was so powerful that the people believed whatever side 
 he favoured in the wars of the Roses was sure of success. (Lingard,Vol. IV., 
 p. 92). And at his house in London six oxen were consumed at a breakfast, 
 " and every tavern was full of his meat." {Ibid., p. 78.) 
 
406 HISTORY OF IRELAND. 
 
 able to wring from him, as they did from King John, the most 
 humiliating concessions. The wars of the Roses had effected 
 a mighty change, for while it destroyed the power of the feudal 
 lords, it increased the power of the Crown. Many of these nobles 
 had fallen in battle, some beneath the headsman's axe ; some had 
 been attainted and as such lost their lands and castles; all emerged 
 from these disastrous wars, their wealth dissipated, either wholly 
 or in great part, their followers slain, their power gone. And 
 when the struggle was over, the strength of any one noble, or 
 any combination of nobles, the King was strong enough 
 to despise. When Henry VIII. became King the greater part 
 of those who were actively engaged in these wars had passed 
 away, but the memory of what they had gone through survived, 
 and their children who succeeded them were ready to submit 
 to anything and everything rather than renew the horrors of 
 the past. The last of the pretendeis who had disturbed the 
 reign of Henry VII. had disappeared ; none such appeared in the 
 reign of his son ; and with none to question his right, or dispute 
 his title, the second Tudor monarch sat secure on the English 
 throne. At the time he resolved on the conquest of Ireland 
 (1535)3 he had already broken with Rome, made himself head 
 of the church, as well as the State, and plundered the monasteries 
 so well that their plunder brought into his treasury a sum equal 
 to ;^50,ooo,ooo of our money.* He vv-as at peace with France 
 and with Scotland, the whole resources of the country were 
 at his command, his treasury was full, his Parliament was made 
 up of slaves, eager to enact whatever he willed, the high placed 
 churchmen were either his creatures or his prisoners, the nobles, 
 deprived of their feudal privileges, crouched in terror at his feet, 
 and the King himself had developed into a tyrant and a voluptuary, 
 as absolute and as immoral as the most despotic monarch of 
 the East. The tyrant became capricious as tyrants will. To 
 be his favourite was dangerous, to be his enemy was fatal, and 
 the favourite of to-day became the enemy of to-morrow. Formerly 
 it was considered little less than exile to be sent to Ireland, f 
 but there was safety in being distant from a capricious tyrant, 
 and the ablest public servants were thankful to be employed 
 there, as they were careful to carry out the King's commands 
 with accuracy and diligence, knowing that failure meant his 
 displeasure and their own ruin, and that the only way of safety 
 was the way of success. 
 
 * Gasquet, Henry VIII. and the English Monasteries, p.- "jy . 
 
 t It was so considered by Sir Richard Pembridge, who was appointed 
 Viceroy (1371), but refused to go to Ireland, even though punished with 
 the loss of all his offices in England and threatened besides with imprison- 
 ment for disobedience. (Gilbert's Viceroys, pp. 232-3.) 
 
HENRY BECOMES KING OF IRELAND. 407 
 
 The first of the Irish chiefs to be attacked was O'Brien of 
 Thomond. He had sheltered Silken Thomas in his territory, 
 and he had been disposed to assist him, and he had sheltered 
 young Gerald of Kildare for whose capture the King was so eager. 
 He was in alliance with Desmond, and coming from West to 
 East Thomond, he had often spread terror through the lands 
 of the English subjects. His power was considerable, but he 
 knew well he would be no match for the united forces of England. 
 He foresaw the danger that menaced him, and in a letter to 
 Henry VHI. (i 3th October, 1535), couched in the most submissive 
 terms,* he assures the King that he never sent for Thomas 
 Fitzgerald, that he never gave him any help nor did any of 
 his people, but that when Fitzgerald came into his country 
 he could not, for very shame, refuse him meat and drink, " for 
 it hath been of old custom amongst Irishmen to give meat and 
 drink and such little goods as we have."t His cringing and 
 slavish tone was not appreciated, nor his professions of loyalty. 
 It was felt necessary to have him crushed, or at least further 
 humbled, and Captain Francis Herbert writes to his friend, 
 Cromwell, in the following year, that O'Brien is the greatest 
 Irishman and the strongest inan of power in Ireland, and that 
 if he were subdued and his pride beaten down, it would cause all 
 Irishmen to quail and to incline to their prince's pleasure and 
 commandment.! 
 
 Before proceeding against O'Brien and the Munster Geraldines, 
 the Deputy went north (June, 1536) to parley with the Great 
 O'Neill, whom he found very tractable in words but unwilling 
 to give definite and binding pledges. Yet Gray dissembled 
 his disappointment, for he believed that O'Connor of Offaly 
 and O'More of Leix were in league with O'Brien, and this for- 
 midable confederacy was enough, without having open war with 
 O'Neill. Nor did he believe it wise to proceed so fai south 
 as Limerick without having first subjugated the district near 
 Dublin, and with this object in view he entered MacMurrogh's 
 country, besieged and captured his strongest castle at Ferns, 
 and struck such terror into the whole family of MacMurrogh, 
 that they all agreed to accept such terms as the Deputy would 
 impose, and The MacMurrogh, who had been in receipt of eighty 
 marks a year as Black Rent from the Treasury at Dublin, was 
 now glad to receive back his castle of Ferns, on condition of 
 paying the Deputy eighty marks yearly, and bound himself, 
 
 * He addresses Henry " most noble, excellent high and mighty princcj 
 and my most redoubted sovereign High Lord in the humblest manner 
 that I can or may I recommend me unto your Majesty." 
 
 t State Papers, Vol. II., p. 287. 
 
 + ibid., p. 307. 
 
408 HISTORY OF IRELAND. 
 
 besides, to surrender the castle, whenever the Deputy demanded 
 its surrender.* In the early part of the year a Parliament 
 was held at Dublin at which the allies of Silken Thomas were 
 attainted, the lands of absentees were confiscated to the Crown, 
 as also the lands held in Ireland by English monasteries, and 
 all payments by way of Black Rent were abolished.f The succession 
 to the crown was declared to be vested in the offspring of Anne 
 Boleyn. In addition, the King was declared — though not at 
 once — the head of the church, nor did this act pass with the 
 consent of the Proctors, who are " loathe that the King's grace 
 should be Supreme Head of the Church." | From Dublin 
 the Parliament was prorogued to Kilkenny, and Gray, leaving 
 a small force at Dublin to defend the city and its surroundings 
 and directing that bridges be built at Woodstock and Athy, 
 marched against O'Brien. He had with him nearly the whole 
 of the English forces, and assisting him, also, was the Earl of 
 Ossory and his son, " with a goodly company," the gentlemen 
 of Wexford and Waterford, the Eord Roche and divers others. 
 Finally, impelled either by policy or fear, the Irish chiefs were 
 aiding him — O'More, MacMurrogh, Magillapatrick, O'Byrne 
 and O'Carroll-il At the head of this army, formidable in numbers 
 and in equipment. Gray directed his steps through Cashel to 
 Limerick, entering that city through the territory of the Earl 
 of Desmond, whose strong castle at Lough Gur** he captured. 
 It was pretended that the Parliament which had been prorogued 
 to Kilkenny was further prorogued to Limerick, but 
 Gray was resolved less on legislation than on war, and neither 
 at Kilkenny nor Limerick were any legislative enactments 
 passed. 
 
 A traitor within the camp is more to be feared than an enemy 
 from without, and in the long struggle between Ireland and 
 England it is but historic truth to say that many such traitors 
 have been found on the Irish side. One such now appeared 
 in the person of Donogh O'Brien. He was the nephew of 
 O'Brien of Thomond. He was married to the Earl of Ossory's 
 daughter, the Earl was a strong and powerful patron on the 
 English side, and Donogh abandoned and betrayed his uncle 
 and his country and took the side of Ossory and the English. 
 Three miles from Limerick, westward and a little by south^ 
 
 * State Papers ^ Vol. ll, p. 347. (Letters from Allen to Cromwell.) 
 \ Ibid.^ p. 315. Among the absentees specially mentioned are the 
 Duke of Norfolk, the Earl of Wiltshire and the Earl of Shrewsbury. 
 X Ibid.j p. 316. (Brabazon to Cromwell.) 
 II Ibid., p. 354. 
 ** A little south-east of the city of Limerick. 
 
HENRY BECOMES KING OF IRELAND. 409 
 
 was the strong fortress of Carrigogunnell,* which for 200 years 
 had been in the possession of the O'Briens. It was strongly 
 built and well-manned, and Donogh O'Brien stipulated for 
 nothing more than this — that the fortress be captured by the 
 English and given into his custody. It was captured in due 
 course and garrisoned, and its custody given over to the Earl 
 of Ossory, who in turn was permitted to hand it over to Donogh's 
 keeping. But the capture of Desmond's strongold at Lough 
 Gur, or of O'Brien's castle at Carrigogunnell, were small 
 operations compared to the capture of O'Brien's Bridge. Built 
 some miles above Limerick on the Shannon it was of unusual 
 strength. On the numerous arches that spanned the river 
 there were built two strong towers, each some distance off the 
 land, the strongest facing the east bank, built of hewn marble 
 and having walls at least twelve or thirteen feet thick. These 
 towers were filled with many defenders — ■" gunners, gallow- 
 glasses and horsemen." f They were armed with hand-guns, 
 had some lighter pieces of ordnance and one enormous gun, 
 which discharged balls as large as a man's head. The attacking 
 army was astonished at the skill with which the defenders had 
 fortified themselves with timber and hogsheads of earth. I 
 They had, besides, broken down four of the arches of the bridge 
 near the land, nor was access to the banks of the river possible 
 for an army encumbered with heavy guns, except by an unknown 
 and secret path. This secret way was known to Donogh 
 O'Brien and he led the English army by it to the river banks 
 on which they were enabled to erect their batteries and attack, 
 at short range, the nearest and strongest of the bridge towers. 
 But their efforts were fruitless. The batteries made no 
 impression on walls thirteen feet thick, nor was it until the 
 broken arches were daringly spanned by ladders, and the English 
 were thus able to assault the defences and the defenders at close 
 quarters, that the Irish garrison retreated and the bridge and 
 its towers fell into the enemy's hands. The bridge was broken 
 down, O'Brien's territory was thus cut in two, for he was denied 
 access to East Thomond, there was much jubilation on the 
 English side and Gray expected honors and congratulations, 
 and was disappointed at the congratulations being so few.|| 
 
 * I assume that the castle in question is that which is marked on the 
 county maps, in the County of Limerick, not far from the right bank of 
 the River Mague. 
 
 t Siaie Papers, Vol. II., p. 351. 
 
 % The Council in their letter to Cromwell declared (August 9th), that 
 the like "had not been seen in this lande." (p. 351.) 
 
 II " If others being in the same rome before me had don the loth part 
 which I have don the same had been largely dilated and highly praised." 
 {State Papers, Vol. II. ^ pp. 385, et seq. — Gray to Cromwell.) 
 
4IO HISTORY OF IRELAND. 
 
 Flushed with these triumphs, he would have wished to boldly 
 march into West Thomond and encounter and, perhaps, defeat 
 O'Brien, or at least terrify him into submission, but the fruits 
 of his victory were soon lost Some of the English soldiers 
 mutinied, and when he commanded them to do anything they 
 cried out together, " let us have money and we will do it." And 
 so menacing was their conduct that he had to turn his guns 
 on them and protested he was in danger of his life* and he had 
 to return to Dublin being unable to follow up his success. The 
 fortress of Carrigogunnell was soon betrayed to the Irish, as 
 O'Brien's Bridge had been betrayed to the English, O'Connor 
 of Offaly was in open revolt, the Deputy and Ossory commenced 
 to quarrel, neither Desmond nor O'Brien would submit nor 
 surrender young Gerald Fitzgerald ; and the King angrily 
 demanded, in the following year, how it happened that O'Brien's 
 Bridge with its towers was again built up and was once more 
 a menace to the English possessions east of the Shannon. He 
 bluntly blames the unfortunate Deputy for his negligence, and 
 appointed a commission, of which St. Leger was chief, to proceed 
 to Ireland and sit in judgment on Gray and the other Irish 
 officials and find out how their duties had been discharged. f 
 
 Against Brian O'Connor of Offaly the English were especially 
 incensed, for he had not kept his pledges with the government 
 at Dublin, nor paid his stipulated tribute. For these reasons 
 Gray entered his territory (1537), compelled, on his march, 
 Mageoghegan and O'Mulloy to join their forces with him, then 
 attacked and captured O'Connor's castles of Brackland and 
 Dangan, wasted most part of his territory, destroyed the corn, 
 demolished his fortresses, chased the unfortunate chief into 
 Ely O'Carroll and handed over Offaly to Cahir O'Connor, who, 
 in relation to his namesake and relative, had been a traitor 
 and a spy.| And the Irish Council recommended Cromwell 
 to have Cahir made Baron of Offaly, for then the Irish will so 
 hate him || that he will be compelled by necessity to be faithful 
 to the English, as he will have to rely on their support. From 
 Offaly, Gray proceeded to MacMurrogh's country, took two castles 
 of the O'Nolan's, and compelled the Kavanaghs to give new 
 pledges of good behaviour. This done, he entered and wasted 
 O'Carroll's country, because he had befriended Brian O'Connor. 
 O'Carroll had to submit, as also did Magillapatrick and O'More 
 of Leix, both of whom, in addition, had to aid the Deputy in 
 
 * State Papers, p. 3555 
 t Ibid., p. 462. 
 X Ibid., pp. 440-1. 
 
 II Ibid., p. 444. This shows that the Irish did not yet love the English^! 
 though they certainly feared them. 
 
HENRY BECOMES KING OF' IRELAND. 4II 
 
 his war.* At last, O'Connor was reduced to that condition 
 of misery that he was going from one to another of his old friends 
 to have meat and drink and was more like a beggar than a captain 
 or ruler of a country. j Harassed on every side, pursued from 
 one place to another, driven to desperation, Brian O'Connor 
 made offers of submission and was willing to accept any condition 
 from the English. But they would give him no terms, and at 
 last getting some followers together, he re-entered Ofialy, drove 
 his brother Cahir out, and when he was again attacked by the 
 Deputy and driven into O'Doyn's country he soon returned 
 and intrigued with his brother, Cahir, who began to desert 
 the English, as they began to distrust him. And St. Leger in 
 his letter to Cromwell expressed his disappointment at this 
 desultory and endless warfare, tells him that Offaly is much 
 easier won than kept, and concludes with the observation 
 that, as to O'Connor's assurances, there is no more trust in him 
 than a dog. J But a little later, moved by policy more than love 
 of Brian O'Connor, that chieftain, having come to Dublin and 
 acknowledged in the fullest manner that he was the King's 
 subject and abandoned the Pope and promised to pay a tribute to 
 the English out of Offaly, was taken by them into favour. By the 
 end of 1538, in one province at least, English power had become 
 predominant. The MacMurroghs no longer received their 
 Black Rent from Dublin, but instead paid tribute to the Deputy 
 for their possessions, as also did O'Toole. The Mageoghegans 
 had fought with the English to overawe the O'Mores and the 
 O'Connors, Magillapatrick, the adherent of Lord Ormond, 
 had renounced the Pope in order to purchase the favour of the 
 government at Dublin. And the once dreaded O'Connor, 
 whose ancestors had so long menaced the Pale, trembled for 
 his possessions and even for his existence at Ofifaly ; and O'CarroU 
 agreed to pay the King's representative twelvepence for every 
 ploughland he held, to cut passes and make roads through his 
 territory for the passage of English troops, and to aid the Lord 
 Deputy in his wars. !| 
 
 If Leinster was Ireland, then the conquest of the country 
 might be said to be achieved. But the state of the other provinces 
 Avas very different from that of Leinster. In the south, the 
 MacCarthys and Desmond were still strong ; west of the Shannon 
 O'Brien maintained his independence and his strength ; the 
 Connaught chiefs ignored the government at Dublin and 
 
 * Siaie Papers, Vol. II., p. 468. 
 
 f I6td., p. 474. (Gray's Letter to Cromwell.) 
 
 I Ibid., p. 536. This seems meant for Cahir, as well as for Brian. 
 
 \\Ibid.^ Vol. III., p. 15. 
 
412 HISTORY OF IRELAND. 
 
 disregarded its power ; and the resources of O'Neill and O'Donnell 
 were never greater. That all these chiefs were in alliance for 
 the protection and defence of young Fitzgerald was ominous 
 for England ; but that the alliance should assume a religious 
 character and put forth its strength in defence of the ancient 
 faith, as it threatened to do, was more ominous still. Both 
 O'Neill and O'Donnell were at peace with the Deputy, but their 
 sincerity was suspected, and not without some reason. They 
 were in correspondence with the King of Scotland and probably 
 also with the King of France ; they regarded Henry as a heretic,* 
 and, in common with the vast majority of their countrymen, 
 objected to him as such. O'Neill in particular had been specially 
 appealed to by the Pope to defend the ancient religion and he 
 wished to respond to an appeal so flattering to his pride. | He 
 made peace with O'Donnell and these two chiefs who had so 
 seldom agreed were now ready to do battle side by side. Early 
 in 1538, the Deputy entered Farney in South Monaghan and 
 plundered that district because its chief, MacMahon, violated 
 his engagements with the English, and this must have been 
 unwelcome news to O'Neill, for MacMahon was his neighbour 
 and his tributary. A little later Gray attacked O'Reilly. J 
 Early in the following year, he went to Dundalk to parley with 
 O'Neill and O'Donnell, and when these chiefs did not appear, 
 he wasted the district round Armagh, and he lamented that 
 the weather was so bad he could not do O'Neill much harm.|| 
 Determined to revenge all these outrages, the two northern 
 chiefs mustered all their forces, burst into the Pale, ravaged 
 and plundered Louth and Meath, and were proceeding south 
 to Tara to join hands with their southern allies — O'Brien and 
 Desmond — when the news reached them that the vigorous 
 Deputy was marching to encounter them. They hastily 
 retraced their steps, and, at Bellahoe,** on the boundary between 
 Meath and Monaghan, Gray overtook them. Loaded with 
 spoil the northerns were attacked, unprepared and in disorder, 
 and were severely defeated. The booty was lost, many of the 
 army were slain, and the vanquished retired to their own 
 territories ; and Gray then turned into Down and captured 
 several castles from Magennis and Savage. |t Early in the next 
 year (1540), he entered Tirowen occupied Dungannon and 
 
 * State Papers, Vol. III., p. 140. 
 
 t Leland, Vol. II., pp. 172-3. The appeal was made to O'Neill through 
 the Bishop of Metz. 
 
 I State Papers, pp. 3-24. 
 
 II Ibid., p. 133. 
 
 ** Four miles from Carrickmacross. <^tour Masters?; 
 It State Papers, Vol. III., p. 155. 
 
HENRY BECOMES KING OF IRELAND. 413 
 
 fell to preying and burning O'Neill's country at which he 
 continued for the space of six days.* 
 
 During these years Gray's activity was not confined to Ulster 
 or to Leinster. Taking with him some troops from Dublin 
 and accompanied by Lords Gormanstown and Delvin, Darcy, 
 Birmingham, O'Connor of Offaly and O'More, each with some 
 followers, he set out (June, 1538), on an expedition which might 
 easily have proved disastrous and which only the want of unity, 
 or even of spirit, among the chiefs prevented from being so. 
 Through O'Molloy's country he passed into Ely O'Carroll, thence 
 onward to Limerick, crossed O'Brien's Bridge, which had been 
 partially rebuilt and which he again broke down, then through 
 Thomond and Clanrickarde's country on to Galway, returning 
 through Hy-many and O'Madden's country, thence across 
 the Shannon into Westmeath, and finally reached Maynooth, 
 where he rested. t Except O'Brien of Thomond, all the chiefs 
 through whose territories he passed gave him pledges of sub- 
 mission, and whenever there was any hesitation about yielding 
 he attacked and captured their castles. To proceed among 
 hostile chiefs and into unknown districts, so far distant from 
 Dublin, and with so weak an army as he had, was an act of 
 reckless daring.;]: But his audacity stood him in good stead, 
 and such was the terror that he inspired, that no chief had the 
 courage to attack him. Even O'Brien allowed him to capture 
 some of his castles, though he might easily have fallen on him 
 and destroyed him. In the next year (1539), the Deputy went 
 south on a similar expedition and received the submission of 
 those chiefs in the neighbourhood of Limerick and Cork.|| 
 
 Gray's energy since he came to Ireland was conspicuous. 
 His capacity and daring were of the highest order ; he was not 
 scrupulous as to means ; and no Deputy who went before him 
 succeeded so well. There was not an Irish leader — native chief 
 or Anglo-Irish lord — who did not fear him ; the narrow limits 
 of the Pale had been generously enlarged, and no longer was 
 it confined within that protecting rampart behind which the 
 subjects of England cowered, and outside of which " they durst 
 not peep."** Gray's zeal for the interests of his royal master 
 could not be called in question. Yet his zeal and his services 
 
 * State Papers, Vol. III„ p. 183. 
 
 t Ibid., pp. 57-62. 
 
 X His having escaped was attributed to the fact that he was the uncle 
 of young Gerald Fitzgerald. It is otherwise hard to understand the 
 inaction, it might be said the cowardice, of the chiefs. (State Papers, 
 p. 62, note.) 
 
 II Ibid., Vol. III., pp. 164-7. (Letter of Ormond to Cromwell.) 
 
 ** Campion's History of Ireland, p. 6. 
 
414 HISTORY OF IRELAND. 
 
 were soon torgotten, and like Wolsey, ten years earlier, he was 
 destined to discover how fickle was the favour, how shallow and 
 transient the gratitude of his king. During his last years in 
 Ireland he quarrelled often and seriously with the Earl of Ormond* 
 and the Earl's son complains that he is the Earl of Kildare 
 newly born again. f He treated the Council at Dublin with 
 disdain and though bound to consult with them, he rarely did 
 so, and they were not slow to accuse him. t Archbishop Browne 
 complained that he was still clinging to the Papal supremacy, 
 and on every side the accusation was made, that because he 
 was young Gerald Fitzgerald's uncle he allowed the boy to 
 escape. Henry did not seem at first to put faith in these stories 
 and would not relieve Gray of his ofifice and allow him to proceed 
 to England, but after a time the necessary permission was given 
 and Gray returned to England. Then Henry began to suspect 
 the late Deputy, and in his mind suspicion and guilt differed 
 little. It was felt in Ireland that Gray was a fallen man ; his 
 enemies took courage ; the accusations against him fell thick 
 and fast ; and the Irish Council solemnly charged him that, 
 because of his connexion with the Earl of Kildare, and blinded 
 by afifection for that family, he had favoured the King's enemies, 
 he had harassed the King's friends, he had released prisoners 
 committed by the Council for treason, and he had maintained 
 O'More's sons to rob and spoil the king's subjects. By Henry, 
 he was already judged guilty, but the farce of referring his case 
 to Parliament was gone through; he was quickly attainted 
 of high treason, and in June, 1541, was executed at Tower Hill. || 
 When Gray was leaving for England (April, 1540), Sir 
 William Brereton was appointed Deputy, and he was not long in 
 of^ce until a report gained currency that there was to be a general 
 muster of the Irish, at Fore, in Westmeath. With all the forces 
 within the Pale Brereton marched to meet the Irish, but when 
 he arrived at Fore he had no enemy to encounter. The Irish 
 were not there, and there is no reason to think that they ever 
 intended to be. But to gather together so many, to bring 
 together the whole forces of Dublin and Drogheda, to take the 
 judge from the bench and the learned man from his books, and 
 the farmer from his plough, and yet have no fighting to do 
 was at least disappointing.** "Whereupon," says Brereton and 
 
 * This was Ossory to whom the title of Ormond had been restored in 
 
 1538- 
 
 f State Papers, p. 32. 
 
 X Ibid., pp. 36-9. 
 
 il Ibid., Vol. III., p. 263; 
 
 *■* Ibid., pp. 224-5. (Letter from the Council to Henry VIII., July 25th 
 
 1540-) 
 
HENRY BECOMES KING OP IRELAND. 4I 5 
 
 the Council, " we resolved to do some exploit," and, turning 
 into Offaly, they cut down the corn, demolished the castles, 
 burned the houses, and left the whole district desolate and bare. 
 O'Connor gave them no provocation, it was not suggested that 
 he did, yet, the Deputy complains that he remains still in his 
 cankered malice and rancour, for it seems that while his lands 
 were laid desolate and his people plundered, he was expected 
 to be thankful to the dispoilers. Nor did Henry censure Brereton, 
 on the contrary he commended him. O'Connor had been the 
 friend and ally of Fitzgerald and as such the King's mind was 
 embittered against him. But though he commended Brereton 
 for his activity, he did not retain him at the head of the Irish 
 government, and almost immediately appointed Sir Anthony 
 St. Leger as Lord Deputy.* 
 
 The new Deputy was no stranger in Ireland. Three years 
 before (July, 1537), he had been appointed by the King as 
 head of a Royal Commission to report on the general condition 
 of Ireland.f He had looked into the state of the revenue, 
 gone carefully round the Pale, visited Waterford, Kilkenny and 
 Tipperary, noted the conduct of the royal of^cers from the 
 highest to the lowest, parleyed with the Earl of Desmond, and 
 carefully estimated the strength and dispositions of the native 
 chiefs.J And the reports he sent to England impressed the 
 King favourably as to his capacity. Among the English officials 
 in Ireland he had heard the suggestion made, repeatedly and 
 persistently, that no quarter should be given the Irish, that 
 they would never submit voluntarily to the English nor keep 
 any promises they made, that they should be effectually crushed 
 and that a beginning might be made with the Leinster clans — 
 the MacMurroghs, O' Byrnes and O'Tooles, whose district so 
 vexatiously intervened between Dublin and Waterford, and 
 thus destroyed the symmetry of the Pale. || And their suggestion 
 was that the Irish be driven from the district and English colonists 
 planted in their stead. Such a policy St. Leger was unwilling 
 to pursue. Apart from its barbarity, it might fail, and even 
 success was little better than failure. He had already seen 
 in the case of Offaly that it was easier to conquer than to hold 
 it ; the same dif^culties would arise with the MacMurroghs and 
 their neighbours. These clansmen loved their fields and would 
 
 * He arrived in Dublin on the 12th of August, 1540. {State Papers, 
 Vol. m., p. 227.) 
 
 t State Papers, Vol. II., pp. 452-63. 
 
 X Ibid., pp- 510-549. (Various letters and reports.) 
 
 H Ibid., pp. 498-505, 557. Ormond was sure that it was 
 " the highest enterprise to destroy the Kavanaghs (MacMurroghs) " 
 (p- 557-) 
 
41 6 HISTORY OF IRELAND. 
 
 not be driven forth, or extirpated, without a desperate struggle ; 
 their mountains and passes were favourable to guerilla warfare ; 
 and amid these natural barriers they could long hold out against 
 a powerful army and might drive them back, baffled and defeated. 
 And there was the danger that the clans in the other provinces 
 might come to the assistance of their countrymen. A policy 
 of wholesale robbery and murder such as 'this would involve 
 great risks, it would drain the English Exchequer dry, and to 
 such a policy Henry, as well as St. Leger, was averse. For 
 he did not want to reign over wasted fields and ruined homes. 
 St. Leger resolved to try what conciliation could do, and he found 
 that it was more effective than force. 
 
 The time was propitious for such a policy being tried. Both 
 O'Neill and O'Donnell had already made overtures to the King 
 and professed their willingness to become his loyal subjects. 
 The unity between them was of short duration. Their mutual 
 suspicion and distrust was not of recent but of ancient growth, 
 and the defeat of Bellahoe and the recriminations which followed 
 served to revive and intensify ancient jealousy and ancient 
 enmity. Nor did the southern chiefs— Desmond and O'Brien — 
 care to link their fortunes with the defeated and divided northerns. 
 A general distrust arose, the various leaders, seized with panic, 
 became anxious to secure their own personal interests, and, 
 like a beaten and retreating army, it was let every man look to 
 himself. MacMurrogh agreed to renounce his chieftaincy 
 and his name, and, content with the name of Kavanagh, to 
 accept a grant of land from the King, and to adopt English 
 customs and English laws. The O'Tooles and the O'Byrnes 
 were glad to receive their lands on the same condition.* The 
 Earl of Desmond, no longer sulking in his tent, came to Limerick 
 to meet the Deputy, made the most ample form of submission 
 on his knees, renounced the privileges which his ancestors 
 had enjoyed for a century, and consented to attend the King's 
 Parliament as the King's loyal subject. And he hospitably 
 entertained the Deputy at his castle at Kilmallock. f A 
 Parliament held at Dublin (June, 1 541), was attended by Desmond, 
 by Magillapatrick, created Lord of Upper Ossory, by O'Reilly 
 in person and by deputies on the part of MacWilliam Burke and 
 of O'Brien of Thomond. For the first time, English lords 
 and Irish chiefs sat side by side in Parliament, and, with the 
 assent of all, Henry VHL was proclaimed and acknowledged 
 King of Ireland. And such was the enthusiasm in Dublin, that 
 on the following Sunday, bonfires were lighted, wine was 
 
 * State Papers, Vol. III., pp. 267-71.- 
 t Ibid., p. 286. 
 
HENRY BECOMES KING OF IRELAND. 417 
 
 abundantly consumed in the streets, great feastings were in 
 the houses, and a solemn Mass and Te Deum was sung by the 
 Archbishop of Dublin, " with great joy and gladness to all 
 men."* O'Donnell was not present, either personally or by 
 deputy, but he soon after made submission like the other chiefs 
 and Henry agreed to make him an Earl.f O'Neill was the 
 last to turn his back upon the past. The descendant of the 
 ancient Ardris, he was reluctant to abandon his inheritance 
 and to descend to the meaner position of being a mere subject 
 to a foreign king. Like the swimmer on the river bank, he 
 long shivered in hesitation to make the final plunge, but the 
 plunge was made at last, and he was content to accept his lands 
 from Henry with the honours of an Earldom. He petitioned to 
 be created Earl of' Ulster, but this was refused, and finally he 
 became Earl of Tirowen, his son being created, at the same time, 
 Baron of Dungannon. These honours were conferred at 
 Greenwich (October, 1542), in the presence of Henry and his 
 court, and with great pomp and splendor. In the following 
 year, at the same place and with similar pomp, O'Brien was 
 created Earl of Thomond, his nephew, Donogh, was made Baron of 
 Ibricken and MacWilliam Burke was made Earl of Clanrickard. J 
 O'Reilly was to be created Viscount Cavan, O'Connor, Baron of 
 Ofifaly, O'Donnell, Earl of Tirconnell, while the lesser chiefs, 
 such as Magennis. Savage and others, were made knights, a 
 distinction with which MacNamara of Thomond was ill-satisfied, 
 as he begged hard to be created Lord of Clancullen.|| 
 
 These Irish chiefs, now turned into English lords and knights, 
 were to hold their lands from the King by Knight's service ; 
 they agreed to pay him a yearly subsidy, or, failing this, to reserve 
 within their own territory some lands for the King's special 
 profit. The religious houses in their territories were to be 
 suppressed and handed over to the King's use. The King's writs 
 were to be respected, his officers aided in the execution of their 
 duty, the greater lords were to win over to the King's 
 peace the lesser chiefs in their midst ; the English mode of in- 
 heritance was to supersede the old system of Tanistry, 
 and English law and custom was gradually to take the place 
 of Irish customs and Brehon law. 
 
 With these changes the clan system could not last, and it 
 was indeed time that it had disappeared. Under such a system 
 progress was impossible. The peasant would not drain or fence 
 
 * State Papers, Vol. III. 5 p. 305. 
 t Ibid., p. 318. 
 
 Ibid. 
 il Ibid., 
 
 p. 428. 
 p. 450. 
 
41 8 HISTORY OF IRELAND. 
 
 his land nor improve the character of his dwelling, as the law- 
 gave him no permanent interest in it, and men will not sow that 
 others may reap. His life was the pastoral one, easy, careless 
 and free, an unsettled and nomadic one. There was no incentive 
 to thrift, for the exactions of coshery and bonaght and the rest 
 were such that the savings of a year might be dissipated in a 
 single night. And if the chieftain of his own clan did not 
 oppress him with these multiplied exactions, he was always 
 liable to have his house attacked and his lands laid bare by the 
 chief of some neighbouring clan, bent upon earning distinction 
 by the plunder of other clans than his own. It was considered 
 beneath the dignity of a chief or of one of his blood to engage 
 in trade or commerce, or to descend to manual labor. The 
 number of these idlers was large, the ambition of each was 
 to earn military distinction, and, having nothing to do, they 
 were ready on every pretext to engage in war. The tanist 
 system of succession left everything uncertain. The headship 
 of each clan was open to the aspiring and ambitious ; it is seldom 
 such were wanting, and as the clans were so numerous it is 
 seldom the country was free from war. Ireland, in the sixteenth 
 century, still clinging to the clan system, was still a portion 
 of antiquity, its peasants idle, the lands untilled, the housee 
 primitive and rude, the chiefs quarrelling ; and a race of ths 
 highest spirit and intelligence, in wealth and commerce, in the 
 comforts and refinements of life, was far outstripped by other 
 races even less gifted than they were. Stagnation was certain 
 while the clan system continued, yet age after age passed and 
 century followed century, and that system, like the barren fig-tree, 
 still cumbered the earth. 
 
 When the change came it was effected by a, stranger, and from 
 without. It would have been better if it had come from within, 
 if it had been the work of someone of the same race and language 
 as the people themselves. But it seemed hopeless to expect 
 that such would be. The clan system was severely aristocratic. 
 Between the peasant who tilled the fields and herded his flock, 
 and the chief who did nothing but go to war there was an 
 impassable gulf. There was no middle class, hardly any towns, 
 especially among the old Irish, and for one of the lower, or 
 peasant, class to rise to leadership and play the role of reformer 
 was impossible,* for the chiefs would scorn to follow his lead, 
 and the people would not follow without their chiefs. Even 
 
 * This is not all inconsistent with considerable freedom in the social 
 intercourse between chiefs and people, but it is the freedom between 
 a master and a servant of the same family as himself on whose fidelity 
 he knows he can rely: 
 
HENRY BECOMES KING OF IRELAND. 419 
 
 a chief who exhibited reforming zeal would be met with many 
 difficulties. The Brehon would solemnly warn him that these 
 institutions, political and social, were handed down to them 
 by their ancestors, and the Bard was ready to sing the praises 
 of a system which had survived the shocks of fifteen hundred 
 years. A strong man might have despised the solemn warning 
 of the Brehon and the rhapsodies of the Bard, but this was not 
 enough. He should have, besides, many of those very qualities 
 which his fellow chieftains lacked, strong will, great intelligence, 
 the instinct and spirit of a commander ; he should be patient, 
 persevering, knowing his own mind well, with a fixed, well- 
 defined purpose, and ready to crush anyone and everyone that 
 stood in his path. Such a leader both chiefs and people would 
 have followed. And they would have supported him, when 
 he taught them to build towns and engage in commerce, and 
 plough the sea in their ships and grasp from the waves the wealth 
 they contained, and mingle with foreign nations and learn from 
 them, and abandon institutions which were centuries too old, 
 and under which no nation on earth could prosper. Reform- 
 ation from within required some such man. No man of moderate 
 talents would suffice — among the O'Donnells and O'Neills, 
 and O'Briens and Fitzgeralds there were many such. The 
 nation cried aloud for a man of genius, but five centuries rolled 
 by since Brian died at Clontarf, and not one such Irishman 
 appeared. 
 
 A bad man may sometimes do good, and when he does, he 
 deserves credit, and it cannot be said that in effecting the changes 
 he did in Ireland, Henry VIII. was unnecessarily harsh. From 
 the tyrant whose hands were ever dripping with the best blood 
 of England, and whose cruelties raised him to the same level 
 as Nero or Domitian, kindness or consideration is the last thing 
 the Irish might expect. Yet he showed both, and his policy 
 and acts in Ireland are in marked contrast with his policy and 
 acts in England. The suggestions of his officials at Dublin 
 that the Leinster clans were to be exterminated or banished, 
 he rejected with emphasis, even O'Connor of Offaly he forgave 
 and honoured, and old Turlogh O'Toole,* who desired to see 
 him, he treated in London with marked kindness, protected 
 him against the rapacity of his Irish officials, and watched over 
 
 * This Turlogh had declared that he would not n:iake war on the 
 Pale, as long as the great lords — O'Neill and O'Donnell — were at war with 
 the English ; on the contrary he would assist the Deputy? but as soon as 
 the great chiefs were at peace then he would make war on the Deputy 
 himself^ " which promise he truly kept " (says St. Leger.) {State Papers^ 
 II.j pp5 267-8.) 
 
420 HISTORY OF IRELAND. 
 
 his interests with something Hke paternal care.* He had the 
 good sense to see that in the more remote parts of the country, 
 such as Connaught and Tirconnell, there was danger in using 
 harsh or precipitate measures, and he was willing to allow time 
 for the old order to be finally abandoned and for the new order 
 of things to succeed. He was a tyrant, but in Ireland, and 
 to those who submitted peacefully, his was a benevolent despotism. 
 
 The few last years of his reign were not marked by any notable 
 Irish events. Of all the chiefs O'Donnell was the most active. 
 He wasted Lower Connaught (1542), and insisted on being 
 paid his rent by the chiefs. The same year he attacked the 
 MacQuillans in the north. The next year he was at war with 
 Maguire and with O'Doherty of Innishowen, and later still with 
 O'Gallagher (1544). In this latter year, the Earl of Clanrickard 
 died, and there were disputes about the succession, and the 
 next year (1545), O'Rorke was at war with O'Kelly and Burke. j 
 But these wars were local and temporary, and no national 
 issue was at stake, nor did any chief care to measure swords 
 with the King's deputy. And when O'More and O'Connor 
 of Offaly did so, they were promptly driven from their territories 
 and declared outlaws, and such was the terror of England's 
 power that when these chieftains returned from their exile in 
 Connaught (1547), and attempted to recover what they had 
 lost, no Irish chief dared give them help or protection, or even 
 food. J At last the native chiefs felt they had a master whom it 
 was not so difficult to serve, but whom it was dangerous to provoke 
 and fatal to disobey. It is not surprising to be told by the 
 Four Masters that " at this time the power of the English was 
 great and immense in Ireland ; " |i it is more surprising to learn 
 from an Irish Annalist that the suppressor of monasteries was 
 a good king.** 
 
 The Irish were cowed, but they were not yet crushed. The 
 strength of the various chiefs was still unimpaired, and if the 
 government at Dublin became weak, and England became 
 involved in some disastrous war, they might renounce their 
 allegiance and turn to their ancient ways. The chiefs who 
 submitted were certainly the most powerful, and the terms in 
 which they submitted were as slavish as they could be, yet even 
 such submissions did not necessarilv involve the acauiescence of 
 
 * State Papers, Vol. III., pp. 370, 3955 
 f Four Masters: 
 X Ibid. Ware's Atinals. 
 II Four Masters: 
 
 ** Annals of Loch Ce — ^ it is certain that there came not in later times 
 a better King." 
 
HENRY BECOMES KING OF IRELAND. 42 1 
 
 the whole people. When O'Brien was pressed to come to terms 
 by the Deputy, he answered he was but one man and had to 
 consult the various Dalcassian chiefs,* and these chiefs were 
 free to support him or not, and could only be coerced by force. 
 The greater chiefs had renounced the supremacy of the Pope — 
 a condition strictly insisted on by Henry — and had in some 
 cases pleaded for a share in the plunder of the monasteries, 
 but the lesser chiefs might not apostatise with equal readiness. 
 They sympathised with the monks, driven out from their 
 monasteries, and could not willingly acquiesce in a change under 
 which such things could be. They had long believed, as part 
 of their religion, that the Pope was in spiritual matters the 
 head of their church, and they would not regard with favour 
 dethroning him and putting a man of Henry's base character 
 in his place. From such causes as these it seemed likely that 
 trouble would come ; and to the thoughtful it was evident that 
 the conquest of Ireland was neither final nor complete, 
 
 * State Papers^ Vol. III.j p. 288. 
 
CHAPTER XXIX. 
 The Reformation in Ireland. 
 
 Unrest and discontent throughout Europe,- in the fourteenth and fifteenth 
 centuries — Wyclyffe and the Lollards — The Church in Germany — 
 In Ireland no general demand' for a change of doctrine — Fitz- Ralph 
 of Armagh — Some abuses in the Irish Church — The Pander's 
 description — The Fifth Lateran Council — Its decrees — Luther — Henry 
 VIII., "Defender of the Faith" — His divorce— Act of Supremacy — 
 The new doctrines in Ireland — Archbishop Browne — His conduct in 
 England — Attempt to pass the Act of Supremacy in the Irish Parlia- 
 ment — The Opposition — Browne's arguments — The Proctors — The 
 Act passed — Browne's preaching — His difficulties — His success — 
 He undertakes " to pull down idols " — The monasteries attacked — 
 The first martyrs — The new doctrines in the Pale — Apostacy of the 
 native chiefs — Letter of O'Brien of Thomond — Obstacles to the spread 
 of the new doctrines — Character of the Reformers — Browne and 
 Staples — Lord Leonard Gray — Henry VIII. — His changes of faith — 
 Constancy of the mass of the people. 
 
 In the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries there was much unrest 
 among the masses throughout Europe. Heavily taxed, oppressed 
 by their feudal lords, their property and their lives squandered 
 in repeated wars, their discontent was deep-seated and bitter, 
 and only a leader and an opportunity were required to make 
 them revolt.* In England, Wyclyffe had come into prominence, 
 and his teaching attracted many and served to aggravate and 
 intensify the existing discontent. Like many other reformers, 
 he allowed his zeal to outrun his discretion, and not content 
 with demanding liberty for the people, he attacked both the 
 ecclesiastical and civil authority. And he attacked the doctrines 
 of the church as well as its discipline. Against landed property 
 in ecclesiastical hands, against pilgrimages, against episcopal 
 and papal laws, against religious orders, against all these and 
 more he preached, and he added that the Bible should be read 
 by all, and that each was capable of interpreting it for himself. 
 Though he was opposed to the friars, he adopted their simple 
 dress. His followers, dressed in the same fashion, went among 
 
 * Lingard, Vol. ill., p. 141. 
 
THE REFORMATION IN IRELAND. 423 
 
 the people and preached to them, and exceeded even their 
 master's vehemence and fanaticism. Both church and states 
 feeling menaced by these attacks, united in defence. Wyclyfie's 
 followers were branded with the opprobrious name of Lollards, 
 the severest laws were passed against them and were rigorously 
 enforced ; Sir John Oldcastle, the most prominent among them, 
 was executed (141 7) * ; the bones of Wyclyffe himself were 
 dug up (1428), and burned as the bones of a heretic ; the gallows, 
 the headsman's axe, the burning fagot ended the lives of many 
 and intimidated the remainder ; and long before the sixteenth 
 century dawned, the Lollards as a sect having influence or power 
 had ceased to exist. Transferred to Gerniany, Wyclyffe's errors 
 were planted in a congenial soil, and in large part supplied Huss 
 and Jerome of Prague with the doctrines which they taught.f 
 Nor can it be denied that the state of the church in Germany 
 called loudly for reform. Bishops were appointed who had 
 neither the vocation to the office nor its spirit. Belonging 
 to the noble families of the Empire, they owed their position 
 to family influence.^ They were feudal nobles rather than 
 ecclesiastics, idle, ignorant, voluptuous, making many and 
 onerous demands on the people ; their clergy caught the manners 
 and imitated the conduct of their bishops ; somie of them held 
 several benefices and discharged the ecclesiastical duties either 
 by deputy or not at all, and laxness, irregularity and even worse 
 had entered the monasteries. The residence of the Popes at 
 Avignon brought them too much under French influence and 
 lost them the affection and finally the allegiance of the Germans. 
 The Great Schism, when a Pope and anti-Pope thundered 
 anathemas against each other, scandalised the faithful ; a series 
 of Popes, worldly minded and ambitious for the advancement 
 of their own families, made matters worse, and that the church 
 survived the shock of such a Pope as Alexander VL ought to 
 convince even the most sceptical that she was built upon a 
 rock by her Divine Founder, and had His assurance of in- 
 defectibility. The fall of Constantinople had driven many 
 scholars west whose influence became great over the minds 
 of men, and who were imbued with no friendly feelings towards 
 the Church of Rome. In the study of antiquity which followed, 
 the novelty and charm of pagan letters appeared and excited 
 admiration and enthusiasm ; scholasticism and orthodoxy became 
 
 * Lingard, Vol. III., p. 253. 
 
 t Alzog's Church History, Vol. III., pp. 99-110. 
 
 X The following case is given by a contemporary writer — Albert of 
 Brandenburg, brother of the Margrave, at 18 was Canon of Mainz, at 20 
 Archbishop of Magdeburgh, at 24 Archbishop of Mainz and Primate 
 ofj^Germany. (Lilly — Renaissance Types — pp. 256-7.) 
 
424 HISTORY OF IRELAND. 
 
 unfashionable and gave way to flippant infidelity ; it became 
 the rule to appeal to reason rather than authority, and like 
 Plato to acknowledge its supremacy ; the lives of Popes and 
 bishops and monks, their ambitions, their intrigues, their want 
 of piety became the favourite subject of satire and epigram ; 
 and when Luther appeared the materials were at hand 
 for a mighty change. 
 
 Its insular position left Ireland out of the range of these 
 influences. Its people, engaged in pastoral occupations, held 
 little commercial intercourse with the Continent. Its scholars 
 no longer went to teach in foreign universities, nor did foreigners 
 come to learn in Ireland, for the glory of the Irish schools had 
 passed away. Even the eastern portion of the country, which 
 was largely leavened by English influence and in frequent 
 communication with England, was little, if at all, affected by 
 Wyclyffe and his followers. The whole nation firmly held by 
 the ancient faith, and though there were many things in the 
 church which would bear improvement, there was no demand 
 and no desire for a reform of dogma, whatever desire there might 
 be for other reforms. Never once since the English came did 
 any party arise with a demand for a change of doctrine, and 
 the number of cases were few, where even individuals had any 
 novel doctrines to propound. In the fourteenth century, 
 one Adam Duff, one of the O'Tooles of Wicklow, publicly made 
 some aspersions on the chastity of the Blessed Virgin Mary. 
 He was not a preacher and had no followers, nor was he permitted 
 to hold such views with impunity, and in accordance with the 
 laws of the time he was arrested (1328), and publicly burned 
 as a heretic in Dublin.* The same fate befell two men at 
 Waterford, though what doctrines they held does not appear.f 
 More serious than either of these was the condition of Ossory 
 (1335), where some heretics taught that Christ was a sinful 
 man and was justly crucified, that His Sacred Body was not 
 to be worshipped, nor did they accept the Sacrament of the 
 Eucharist nor the decrees of pontiffs. J They also consulted 
 demons, and one of them, Alice Kettler, was executed at Kilkenny 
 for witchcraft. 
 
 The most prominent person to come into conflict with the 
 Church's teaching and to merit and receive its censures was 
 FitzRalph, Archbishop of Armagh. || He was a native of 
 
 * Grace's Annals. 
 
 t Mant ; History of the Church of Ireland, Vol. I., p. 21. 
 
 X Theiner ; Vetera Monumenta Hibernoruin et Scotorum. (Letter 
 from Benedict XII., to the King of England, 1335.) 
 
 II Ware's Bishops. Stokes : Ireland and the Anglo-Norman Churchi 
 PPJ 334-5- 
 
THE REFORMATION IN IRELAND. 425 
 
 Dundalk, and, educated at Oxford, he became Chancellor of that 
 University, and from that position was promoted to be Archbishop 
 of Armagh. The mendicant friars were then active in the 
 diocese of Armagh. Their power and influence roused the jealousy 
 of the new Primate ; perhaps they encroached upon his rights, 
 at least they excited his anger, and in a series of sermons delivered 
 in London (1356), he attacked the mendicant orders in general. 
 He pointed out that Christ when on earth was always poor, 
 that He never begged nor taught men to beg, but on the contrary 
 that they ought not voluntarily to beg, and from this he deduced 
 that voluntary poverty is not a necessary part of the rule of 
 the mendicant friars, nor could they consistently with prudence 
 and sanctity bind themselves by vow to perpetual begging. 
 He did not object to their receiving what was freely offered 
 them, but only that they should not beg. Their right to preach 
 and hear confessions in his diocese he also disputed, but when 
 the superiors of the Franciscans and Dominicans appealed to 
 the Pope, judgment was given in their favour. * Two centuries 
 after Fitz-Ralph's death, the Reformers held a Synod at Dundalk, 
 at which, under George Dowdall, the dead Primate was pro- 
 nounced to be a saint, and it was directed that in the future 
 the festival of St. Richard should be celebrated. In their eyes 
 it was a merit that he had fought with the friars and been 
 condemned by the Pope. By all he was admitted to be a scholar 
 of eminence, his personal character was above reproach, but 
 it was reserved for the Reformers of the sixteenth century to 
 discover that he was also a saint.f He is sometimes considered 
 to be, as a reformer, the forerunner of Wyclyffe, but whatever 
 his influence may have been in England he founded no sect 
 in Ireland, and until the sixteenth century there was no party, 
 such as the Lollards or the Hussites, and, after Fitz-Ralph, no 
 individual appeared ready to depart from ancient and established 
 beliefs or make them the subject of attack. 
 
 But while the unchangeable character of the nation's faith 
 is thus established, it cannot be affirmed that the church was 
 in a healthy condition, nor denied that abuses existed similar 
 in some respects to those which existed in England and Germany. 
 The Archdeacon of Waterford had to be dispensed by Pope 
 Alexander IV., having held and still holding a plurality of benefices, 
 Honorius IV. dispensed the Dean of Dublin for a similar reason, 
 and Boniface found it necessary to appoint a commission to 
 sit in judgment on the Archbishop of Tuam (1303), who, 
 blinded by cupidity (caeca cupiditate seductus), had usurped 
 
 * Stuart's Historical Memoirs of Armagh (ed. Coleman), pp. 107-8. 
 f Olden; The Church of Ireland, p. 307. 
 
426 HISTORY OF IRELAND. 
 
 the see of Annaghdown and also of Mayo, and took possession 
 of their revenues.* Bishops were appointed through the 
 influence of the English king f and were usually of English 
 birth. They knew not a word of Irish, they were always zealous 
 for English interests, and had no sympathy with the natives. 
 The abbots and priors of monasteries were great landholders, 
 some of whom lived in England, and those living in Ireland 
 were like the feudal lords around them, sitting as peers in 
 Parliament, and concerned more with temporal than with 
 spiritual affairs. The clergy of Irish and English descent seldom 
 agreed, and even the monasteries were often the scenes of such 
 quarrels. In the districts still subject to native chiefs, the love 
 of learning survived, ;|: and it was during the troubled times 
 of the fifteenth century, that Augustin Magraidin continued 
 the Annals of Tighernach, that MacFirbis compiled the Book 
 of Leccan, and that Maguire of Fermanagh wrote the Annals 
 ofUlster.W But there was a falling away and a Papal Commissary 
 who visited Clonmacnoise and described it (15 15) shows how 
 great was that fall. " On the right towards the east is a cathedral 
 church almost ruined, unroofed, with one altar only, covered 
 with straw, having a sniall sacristy with one set of vestments 
 only and a brass crucifix. Here Mass is seldom celebrated."** 
 Among the people around the very name of its founder — St. 
 Kieran — was unknown. To such a condition was that school 
 brought whose fame once resounded through Europe. The 
 churches in each clan, if they were favoured and protected 
 by their own chiefs, became the objects of aversion and attack 
 at the hands of some hostile chief, nor was it unusual for an 
 invader to burn and destroy the churches of a territory through 
 which he marched. These churches were in his enemy's 
 province, and as such deserved to be attacked. When the 
 fire and vigour of youth were chilled by age, when death 
 approached and the shadow of futurity was cast upon his path, 
 the influence of religion re-appeared, the chief's thoughts became 
 of a more sombre cast, and not infrequently he donned the garb 
 of a simple monk, and ended his days in a convent cell. But 
 while youth and strength remained, his ambition was for war, 
 and the influence of religion was powerless to restrain him from 
 violence and sacrilege. The Pander attributes the disordered 
 state of the country (15 15) to the bishops and clergy, " for there 
 
 * Theiner ; Vetera Monumenla; 
 
 t This fact is abundantly proved from the State Papers. 
 % Stokes ; Ireland and the jinglo-Norman Church, pp. 371-2. Ware's- 
 Writers. 
 
 II Olden, p. 282. 
 
 ** Ibid., p. 287. (Quotation from Theiner.) 
 
THE REFORMATION IN IRELAND. 427 
 
 is no Archbishop, abbot or prior, parson nor vicar, nor any 
 other person of the church, high or low, great or small, English 
 or Irish, that preaches the word of God except the poor friars 
 beggars."* And when the disorders that prevailed are 
 remembered, the conclusion is inevitable, that either the 
 friars' utmost efforts were powerless to stem the tide of lawless- 
 ness, or that the zeal of the friars themselves had grown cold. 
 Nearly four centuries after the days of St. Malachy, we are 
 confronted with a state of things similar to what existed in 
 his day, but in the sixteenth century no man such as Malachy 
 appeared to take up the work of reform. And it never 
 occurred to the Irish that a reformer would come from England, 
 least of all that he would be found in the person of Henry VIII, 
 At the Fifth Lateran Council (15 12), decrees were passed 
 providing for a reform of morals and discipline. A plurality 
 of benefices in the hands of a single person, concubinage of the 
 clergy, and the excessive use of the study of pagan classics were 
 all condemned.^ But these measures were halting and in- 
 sufficient, the existing evils were of long standing and of the 
 gravest nature and required the most drastic measures, and 
 there was no advantage in passing decrees without seeing that 
 these decrees were enforced. Nor was it likely that such would 
 be done under a pontiff such as Leo X. I The well-meaning 
 within the church, who deplored the ills which existed and 
 hoped for a reformation from within, were disheartened. The 
 innovator, the daring speculator, the Christian who had the 
 pagan rather than the Christian spirit, the bishop without 
 learning, the priest without piety, the monk without morals — 
 all these would regard a change to a stricter discipline and purer 
 morals without enthusiasm and even with regret. The party 
 who cried out for a change of doctrine and who were ready 
 to break with the ancient church were hourly gathering strength, 
 and they found a suitable leader in the person of Martin Luther. 
 He was a monk but had none of the monk's humility, || and as 
 professor at Wittenberg he indulged in a boldness and freedom 
 of speech not usual in one of his order. In his Address to the 
 German Nobles he made good use of the abuses that prevailed 
 in Germany — the vast sums of money sent from Germany to 
 Rome, the benefices kept vacant and their revenues used by 
 foreign bishops, the excesses in collecting money for indulgences 
 committed by Tetzel and others. He pointed out how after 
 
 * Slaie Papers (Henry VIII.), Vol. II., p. i, ei seq: 
 
 t Alzog ; Church History, Vol. III.^ p. yj . 
 
 \ Roscoe ; Life of Leo X. 
 
 II Luther's ; Primary Works, (Ware and Bucheim), p. 299. 
 
428 HISTORY OF IRELAND. 
 
 all this the Germans were despised at Rome ; the Emperor 
 was but the satellite of the Pope ; he roused Teutonic pride 
 to shake off Italian predominance and among his own countrymen 
 became a leader and a hero. He professed allegiance to the 
 Pope,* though he called the Popes Antichrists and wolves,f 
 and he maintained that he was still in the church though he 
 taught the novel doctrines that justification came by faith 
 alone, X that ceremonies were useless and that there were only three 
 Sacraments — Baptism, Penance, and the Eucharist. || 
 
 His attack on the Sacraments was vigorously replied to by 
 Henry VHI. of England. Until''the death of his elder brother, 
 the King was intended for church preferment. He had a taste 
 and an aptitude for theological discussion, and he replied to Luther 
 so effectively that he was rewarded by the Pope (1521) with 
 the title of Defender of the Faith, a title which succeeding English 
 kings with strange inconsistency have ever since retained. 
 In the ten years that followed, the faith of the monarch remained 
 unchanged, but his morals did not improve. His queen was 
 no longer young. Her amiable disposition, her lofty character, 
 her faith, her constancy, her affection for the King were not 
 lessened by time, but the bloom and freshness of youth was 
 gone, and she was no longer able to hold captive the wayward 
 affections of her husband. His animal passions were strong, 
 he was impatient of the least restraint, his amours were many 
 and diversified — and if Anne Boleyn were willing to be simply 
 his mistress he would have never troubled about a divorce. But 
 she was not willing to be Henry's mistress; her ambition was to be 
 a queen, and the King, a captive to her youthful charms, pretended 
 to have scruples about the validity of his marriage with Catherine, 
 and petitioned Rome for a divorce. Vv'^hen his petition was 
 refused by the Pope, he got his own creature, Cranmer, to 
 pronounce the ^nullity of his marriage with Catherine, forthwith 
 married Anne Boleyn, renounced the supremacy of the Pope 
 and declared that himself was, under Christ, the supreme head 
 01 the church in England. The obsequious Parliament passed 
 the Act of Supremacy (1534), recognising Henry as head of 
 the Church and State, the oath of supremacy became the test 
 of loyalty, and those who refused to take it were cast into prison, 
 some of them starved there, others executed at the block, and 
 not a few burned at the stake. Henry took his new position 
 quite seriously and seemed to think that like the Pope he had 
 the plenitude of spiritual power. He appointed Cromwell 
 
 * Luther's Primary Works (Ware and Bucheim) p. 422. 
 t Ibidi; p. 356. {Babylonish Captivity of the Church.) 
 X Ibid., p. 333. 
 11 Ibtd. — Short Catechism. 
 
THE REFORMATION IN IRELAND. 429 
 
 Vicar General of the kingdom, conferred benefices, appointed 
 bishops, granted dispensations and made it penal to hold any 
 communication with Rome. 
 
 The first to accept the King's spiritual supremacy in Ireland 
 was the Earl of Ossory and Ormond. Anxious to enjoy the 
 royal favour, he knew that this was the most direct road to 
 that end, and bound himself by indenture (May, 1534), that 
 he would resist the usurped jurisdiction of the Bishop of Rome 
 and would assist the King's Deputy and officers to make an 
 end of it.* These officers, one and all, from the Deputy down, 
 had to act as Ormond did. To take the oath of supremacy was 
 necessary, if they were to be regarded as faithful servants or 
 even loyal subjects. The moment they refused to do so their 
 position was vacated, some hungry place-hunter stepped into 
 their shoes, and their liberty, and even life, were imperilled. Fear 
 rather than conviction induced the Anglo-Irish lords within 
 the Pale to conform, otherwise their lands might be overrun 
 by the Deputy and his soldiers, acting in the King's name and 
 with the King's hearty approval. But none of them had any 
 enthusiasm for the spread of the new doctrines, and Henry's 
 main reliance in Ireland was placed on Browne, the Archbishop 
 of Dublin. He had been Prior of the Augustinian Hermits, 
 was greedy, grasping and avaricious, with none of the spirit 
 of poverty which was characteristic of his Order, and bearing 
 the restraints of his vows with such impatience, that when 
 he came to Ireland he married. From the beginning he viewed 
 Henry's break with Rome with pleasure. He was probably 
 one of those who in secret had sympathised with the doctrines 
 of Luther. He approved of Henry's divorce and of his marriage 
 with Anne Boleyn, and perhaps it was he who performed the 
 marriage service.j Attaching himself to Cromwell, he soon 
 became his favourite and attracted the favourable notice of 
 the King and, in 1534, was appointed one of two visitors who 
 were to visit the various monasteries, report as to their state 
 and induce or compel the monks to accept the King's spiritual 
 supremacy. The Franciscan Observants and the Carthusians 
 in London and in the south of England he specially tormented, 
 visited them at all hours, argued with the monks, induced some 
 of the weak-minded and lax to yield, made promises of preferment 
 and favours to others, threatened the obstinate, and when they 
 refused to change their faith and rejected his promises as they 
 despised his threats, he had them turned out of the monasteries. 
 Some were cast into prison, where they perished of hunger and 
 
 * State Papers, Vol. II., p. 197. 
 
 t Gasquet ; Henry VIII. and the English Monasteries, p. 5 1 . (Note.) 
 
430 HISTORY OF IRELAND. 
 
 ill-treatment, some were allowed to escape — destitute and 
 fugitives — to France, or Scotland, or Ireland, while more than 
 one — such as Forest — was burned at the stake.* 
 
 In May, 1536, a parliament was summoned at Dublin by 
 the command of the king, at which Archbishop Browne used 
 all his eloquence to have these Acts passed which had been already 
 passed in England. The opposition of Cromer, Archbishop 
 of Armagh, was strong and persistent and was bitterly complained 
 of by Browne, but after a time some of the desired enactments 
 were passed — those regulating the succession of the Crown and 
 some others. But when it was proposed to pass the Act of 
 Supremacy, as had been already done in England, Browne and 
 his friends had greater difficulty. The Archbishop's speech 
 on the occasion has survived and is rightly characterised by 
 his co-religionist, Mant, as more remarkable for brevity than 
 for argument-t His point is that Our Saviour paid tribute 
 to Caesar, even though a pagan, so also did the Popes to succeeding 
 Emperors, and, therefore, Henry, for even a stronger reason, 
 being a Christian, was entitled to be acknowledged supreme 
 both in Church and State, and " he who will not pass this act 
 as I do is no true subject to his highness." Such reasoning as 
 this could not have convinced even the most dull-witted. Our 
 Saviour in His day and the Popes after Him paid tribute to 
 pagan monarchs, not as ecclesiastical but as civil rulers, and 
 had the martyrs of the Colisseum recognised the pagan Emperors 
 as the head of their faith, they would never have been cast to 
 wild beasts. The opposition to Browne was from the clergy. 
 From each diocese two representatives, called Proctors, were 
 sent to Parliament, and these formed part of the Lower House, 
 and it is of them that Brabazon in his letter to Cromwell specially 
 complains. I Threats were used against them, inducements 
 held out to them, the Parliament was prorogued, but neither 
 time nor threats, nor persuasion could alter their decision, 
 nor purchase their assent ; and at length it was enacted by 
 Parliament itself, that Proctors had no legislative capacity, 
 but were only advisers and counsellers.il When the Proctor's 
 opposition was thus violently disposed of, there was no difficulty 
 in passing the required Acts, for Cromer and the Bishops, and 
 
 * Gasquet^ pp. 52-59. 
 
 t Mant; History of the Church of Ireland, Vol. I., pp. 1 17-18. His 
 speech was " distinguished more for its straight-forwardness, brevity and 
 decision than for deep argument or rhetorical display." 
 
 % State Papers, Vol. II., pp. 316, 438-9. 
 
 II Ibid. These Proctors, " do temerariously presume and usurpedly 
 take upon themselves to be parcel of the body — claiming that without 
 their assent nothing can be enacted at any Parliament within this^land." 
 
THE REFORMATION IN IRELAND. 43 1 
 
 abbots who had seats in Parliament were outvoted, and the Act 
 of Supremacy was passed, as also an act giving the first fruits 
 and twentieth part of bishops' and abbots' revenues to the 
 crown.* Such a Parliament, if the King demanded it, would 
 have enacted with equal readiness that the religion of the State 
 should be that of Buddha or Mahomet. 
 
 But an Act of Parliament cannot change the faith of a whole 
 nation. It can punish individuals, but cannot affect their religious 
 convictions. It was necessary to reach their understanding 
 by persuasion and argument, and this Browne undertook to do, 
 though he soon found that the task was beyond his capabilities. 
 He had already told his friend Cromwell (1535), that Cromer, 
 Archbishop of Armagh, had preached strongly against the 
 King's spiritual supremacy and had laid a curse on those who 
 would recognise it, that the bishops and clergy were in agreement 
 with him, and, that, as to the people, they were attached to 
 Rome, and were more zealous in their blindness than the saints 
 and martyrs were in truth at the beginning of the Gospel. f 
 Nor had he much success to chronicle, two years later, and so 
 irritated was the King at his failure, that he wrote him an angry 
 letter attributing the barrenness of his efforts to his pride and 
 presumption — " delighting in we and us," — reminded him 
 sharply that it was he who made him Archbishop, and that he 
 could unmake him with equal readiness and put another man 
 of more virtue and honesty in his place. J This rebuke struck 
 terror into the Archbishop, it made him, he said himself, " tremble 
 in his body for fear of incurring his majesty's displeasure. "il And 
 it appears to have roused him to activity, for Lord James Butler, 
 writing to the King, early in 1 538, speaks of the many predications 
 of the Archbishop and of the success of his teaching, though 
 our curiosity is left unsatisfied as to the particulars of this 
 success.** Accompanied by Allen, the Lord Chancellor, Sir 
 William Brabazon, and Aylmer, the Chief Justice, Browne, 
 in the early part of the next year (1539), made a circuit in the 
 " four shires above the Barrow," to publish the King's injunctions, 
 to preach the King's spiritual supremacy, and to pull down idols 
 and extingush idolatry and the authority of the Bishop of 
 Rome-tt He first preached at Carlow, then at Kilkenny, 
 afterwards at Ross, Wexford and Waterford, and finally at 
 Clonmel. At this latter place the statement is made that two 
 
 * State Papers, Vol. II., pp. 370-1. 
 
 ■j- Ware's Annals, pp. 148-9. {The Life and Death of George Browne^ 
 
 \ State Papers, Vol. II.,- p. 465? 
 
 II Ibid., p. 513- 
 
 •** Ibid., p. 564. (Letter, dated March 31st,- 1538.) 
 
 X^Ubid.; Vol. HI.,- p. III. 
 
432 HISTORY OF IRELAND. 
 
 archbishops and eight bishops took the prescribed Oath of 
 Supremacy openly, and in presence of a large congregation.* 
 If this be true, the action of these bishops is in marked contrast 
 with that of Cromer and the bishops of the northern province. 
 In the Council's letter the names of the conforming bishops are not 
 given, but we are left to assume that they were all bishops appointed 
 by the Pope in the usual way and converted as a result of Browne's 
 teaching. The omission of their names is strange, for Browne 
 was not remarkable for modesty, and such striking success as 
 this deserved to be related in all its details. But the names 
 are given by a modern writer, and are — Butler of Cashel, Bodkin 
 of Tuam, Milo Baron or Fitzgerald of Ossory, Comyn of 
 Waterford, Coyne or Quin of Limerick, Hurley of Emly, Sanders 
 of Leighlin, O'Coirin of Killaloe, Tirrey of Cork and Cloyne and 
 Nangle of Clonfert.t Of these bishops, three owed their position 
 to Henry VIII. — Bodkin, Tirrey and Nangle — and among them 
 Bodkin was the only apostate bishop. As Bishop of Kilmacduagh, 
 he had taken the Oath of Supremacy from Lord Leonard Gray 
 (11538), and was appointed by Henry VIII. — but not by the Pope 
 — Archbishop of Tuam. The others were priests who apostatised 
 for a mitre, but they were never recognised by the Pope, 
 who in each case had another bishop appointed — Hoveden 
 in Cloyne and De Burgho in Clonfert.| Both Butler and 
 Fitzgerald voluntarily surrendered monasteries — Athassel and 
 Inistioge — of which they were priors, and perhaps Browne 
 counted this suf^cient conformity. Coyne of Limerick did 
 take the oath from Lord Leonard Gray (1538), when passing 
 through to Galway.jl Sanders is counted among the reformers,* * 
 but of the others nothing is known, and in relation to the new 
 doctrines, not one of them, except perhaps Nangle, could be 
 called an enthusiastic witness. In their letter to Cromwell 
 the Irish Council were therefore wise in not entering into 
 particulars. To state vaguely that ten bishops were converted 
 by a single sermon was imposing. It showed that Browne 
 was zealous in doing the work of his royal master, and that the 
 seed of the new doctrine which he had cast from him had not 
 fallen upon rocky ground, but, on the contrary, had produced 
 fruit a hundred fold. 
 
 In undertaking " to pull down idols " the reformers did not 
 
 * State Papers, p. 117; (The Council to Cromwell), Browne is one of the 
 signatories to the document. 
 
 f Bagwell ; Ireland under the Tudor s, p. 305. 
 
 X Ware's Bishops. State Papers, Vol. II., p. 516 
 
 II State Papers, Vol. III., p. 59. 
 
 **He is so counted, at least by Harris the editor of Wara (.Ware's 
 Bishops.) 
 
THE REFORMATION IN IRELAND. 433 
 
 confine themselves to words. Their master — Henry — had 
 despoiled the churches in England and robbed the monasteries ; 
 his rapacity demanded the spoils of the Irish churches and 
 monasteries as well ; and his servants in Ireland proceeded to 
 carry out his wishes with every circumstance of indignity and 
 brutality. In Christ Church, Dublin, was that noted and 
 venerated relic called the Bacal Jesu, or Staff of Jesus. Taken 
 from Armagh in the twelfth century, it was deposited in Christ- 
 Church, where for nearly four centuries it remained, still used 
 as at Armagh to ratify solemn engagements, still guarded with 
 jealous care ; and such was the number of pilgrims from far 
 and near who came to visit the church in which it was contained, 
 and because it was contained there, that a special Act of 
 Parliament was passed (1493), to guard them from being molested. 
 Besides this sacred relic was a cross and a portable altar, to all 
 of which miracles were ascribed.* But neither age, nor the 
 sacred associations connected with them, nor the veneration 
 in which they were held by the people, could protect these relics 
 from outrage. Browne and his co-reformers had them forcibly 
 removed from the church, and to the horror of the people the 
 Bacal Jesu was publicly burned. At Ballybogan, in Meath, 
 an image of our Saviour on the cross, to which popular 
 veneration was for centuries attached, was treated with similar 
 indignity, and the statue of the Mother of God at Trim, which 
 so many pilgrims visited and which was reverenced by all, was 
 also given to the flames. The Lord Deputy Gray stabled his 
 horses in the Cathedral Church at Down, and, it is thought, 
 scattered the relics of St. Patrick, St. Bridget and St. Columba ; 
 he rifled the abbey of Ballyclare, near Galway, and took away 
 all the rich ornaments from the principal church at Galway. 
 A Royal Commission of which Browne was one was instituted 
 (1539), the object of which was to search for all images and 
 relics which were special objects of popular devotion, and these 
 were to be broken in pieces or carried away.f And the 
 Commission did its work so well that " there was not in Erin 
 a holy cross or a figure of Mary, or an illustrious image over 
 which their power reached that was not burned." | 
 )^' As in England, the monasteries were the special objects of 
 attack. The plunder of the English monasteries had filled the 
 King's coffers to overflowing, but his greed was not yet satisfied, 
 nor his hatred of the monks. Not satisfied with the thirteen 
 
 * Obtis and Martyrology of Christ Church. (Todd's Introduction.) 
 t Moran's Archbishops of Dublin, pp. 12-13. Hardiman's i7?>/ory £>/ 
 Galway, p. 239. 
 
 % Annals of Loch Ce, 1538: 
 
 2F 
 
434 HISTORY OF IRELAND. 
 
 monasteries suppressed by the Irish Parliament in 1537,* Henry- 
 issued letters patent (April, 1539) directing Browne and his 
 fellow-commissioners to suppress all the monasteries that had 
 not yet been suppressed, or had not been voluntarily surren- 
 dered.f The gold and silver which they possessed — the crosses, 
 chalices and altar vessels of every kind, were to be the King's 
 special property, even the bells and lead of the roofs were melted 
 down and sold, while the lands were either sold to the highest 
 bidder or given to some royal favourite. Resistance to these 
 decrees was futile, and many of the monks and nuns, realising 
 such to be the case, surrendered their monasteries and convents 
 voluntarily, and before 15 39 had passed away, besides a large 
 number of the smaller religious houses, there were suppressed, 
 either voluntarily or by force, twenty-four monasteries of the 
 higher class, whose abbots or priors had sat in Parliament as 
 spiritual peers.;j: Those who voluntarily surrendered were to 
 get a pension |1 at the discretion of the Commissioners ; those 
 who resisted were treated with severity and, in not a few cases, 
 their lives were sacrificed. What promises were made, what 
 arguments used, what threats uttered, what insults heaped 
 upon priests and monks and nuns, we do not know, but it is 
 possible to conjecture. Browne and his fellows did not differ 
 much from Legh and Layton and Ap-Rice in England, and the 
 State Papers exist to tell of their acts of wanton brutality.** Nor 
 do we know the full extent of the lives sacrificed, but we know 
 what happened in the Trinitarian monasteries at Dublin, 
 Limerick and Atharee ; and the inference is warranted that 
 what happened in other monasteries was not dissimilar. The 
 Trinitarians of Atharee numbered forty-two. Warned that the 
 King's officers were to visit them, they made their preparations, 
 and distributed all their goods to the poor, and when they were 
 summoned to take the Oath of Supremacy (February, 1539), 
 one and all refused. Their superior declared on their behalf 
 that " they recognised no head of the Catholic Church save the 
 Vicar of Christ, and as for the King of England, they regarded 
 him not even as a member of that Church but as head of the 
 
 * State Papers, Vol. II., p. 370, 
 
 \ Morrin ; Calendar of the Patent and Close Rolls, pp. 52-53. The 
 members of the Commission were Browne, Brabazon, Allen, Cowley and 
 Cusake. 
 
 X Mant, Vol. I., pp. 158-160. 
 
 II Morrin, pp. 55-9. Nearly 40 such surrenders are recorded. The 
 pensions vary from £^0 to 4 shillings. The former sum was given only 
 to two — the Prior of Fore and the Abbot of St. Mary, near Dublin — 
 the latter sum to David Busher of Inistioge (p. 61.) 
 
 * * Gasquet ; Henry V III., pp. 79, et seq. 
 
THE REFORMATION IN IRELAND. 435 
 
 Synagogue of Satan." One of the royal officers drew his sword 
 and with a blow cut off the head of the intrepid priest. Of the 
 other members of the community some were cast into prison 
 where they died from the injuries they received there, some 
 were secretly murdered, and others were publicly hanged in the 
 market-place. Their brethren at Dublin displayed the same 
 constancy and gave the same answer to the same demand, the 
 provincial being killed by a musket ball and another having his 
 head cloven in with a stroke of a hatchet. Of the remainder, 
 some at least escaped by flight. At Limerick, the coadjutor- 
 bishop, O'Neill, was a member of the same Order. Instead 
 of conforming, he courageously entered the pulpit and in the 
 presence of the royal officers exhorted his congregation to reject 
 the new doctrines as heresy, and excommunciated any of those 
 who embraced them. It was thought unsafe to attack him in 
 the presence of so many people, but the reformers sought him 
 at his house on the same evening, and when he refused the Oath 
 of Supremacy, a blow of a sword severed his head from his body. 
 The Trinitarian monastery was attacked and robbed and the 
 monks put to death.* The other monasteries of the Order 
 were treated similarly. Everything valuable was taken away, 
 books and manuscripts were destroyed, even the buildings them- 
 selves often levelled to the ground. Under a Christian king and 
 in the name of Christianity, the atrocities of Turgesius were 
 revived. 
 
 These harsh measures wrought havoc and desolation on the 
 monasteries and inflicted untold miseries on priests and monks 
 and nuns, but the faith of the people remained the same. Agard, 
 writing to Cromwell (1538), mournfully confesses that, except 
 Browne, Brabazon, Ormond and one or two more of small 
 reputation, there is none from the highest down who accepted 
 the new doctrines.f And Cowley, writing a little later, informs 
 him that the reformers are making small progress, that " the 
 Papistical sect springs up and spreads abroad infecting the land 
 pestiferously. "J Even in Dublin, Browne had to complain that 
 neither by gentle exhortation, nor evangelical instruction, 
 neither by oaths taken nor by threats of sharp correction could 
 he persuade or induce anyone, either religious or secular, amongst 
 the clergy to preach the word of God, " or the just title of our 
 most illustrious prince. "|l The case was similar in Kilkenny, 
 where none had embraced the new doctrines but Lord Ormond, 
 
 * Moran's Archbishops of Dublin^ pp. 22-27; 
 \ State Papers, Vol. II., p: 370. 
 X Ibid., Vol. III., p. 50. 
 II Ibid., Vol. II., p. 539. 
 
436 HISTORY OF IRELAND. 
 
 and all the people were imbued with " an evil and erroneous 
 opinion of the King's most noble grace."* 
 
 Outside of the Pale it seemed as if the reformers would fare 
 better. The vigour with which Silken Thomas was combated 
 and the completeness of his defeat struck terror into the native 
 chiefs. Unwilling to unite, they were separately unable to 
 resist so skilful and enterprising a leader as Gray. The union 
 of O'Neill and O'Donnell, which religion promised to make 
 permanent and effective, did not long survive the defeat of 
 Bellahoe, and one after the other the chiefs made their submission. 
 Their only desire was for their own personal safety. Of the 
 people they thought nothing. They greedily sought for favours 
 and titles from the English king, grovelled in submission before 
 his Deputy, took the Oath of Supremacy, and repudiated the 
 Pope with a vigour and strength of language which was worthy 
 of Cranmer or Cromwell. The first of these chiefs to submit 
 was Magillapatrick of Ossory. The position of his territory so 
 near to Dublin, and therefore so convenient for attack, rendered 
 it prudent that he should placate the King's Deputy ; his relation- 
 ship with Lord Ormond j brought him within the range 
 of that nobleman's influence ; there was nothing heroic in his 
 character ; he was, on the contrary, selfish, timorous and time- 
 serving, and abandoned the faith of his fathers because by doing 
 so he purchased security of his lands and territory, and was 
 to be made a baron of Parliament. The terms of his submission 
 lack nothing in completeness. He recognised Henry VHI. 
 as supreme head of the Church on earth, and he undertook 
 to do all in his power to totally abolish and extirpate in his 
 territory the usurped power of the Bishop of Rome.J O'Connor 
 of Offaly soon followed his example, and, in March of the 
 following year, bound himself by agreement with the Lord 
 Deputy that henceforth he would not admit the jurisdiction 
 or authority of the Roman Pontifif nor would he allow others 
 to admit it when he could. || The submission of O'More of Leix 
 is dated the following August, and though not so explicit as 
 O'Connor's, yet contains a recognition of the King's supremacy, 
 as he styles him Head of the Church on earth immediately under 
 Christ. The other Leinster chiefs acted similarly, in every case 
 
 * State Papers, vol. ii., p. 562. (White to Cromwell.) 
 
 t He was Ormond's son-iii-law. 
 
 X State Papers, Vol. II., p. 515. His submission is dated November, 
 1537- 
 
 II Ibid., Vol. II., p. 560. " Promittit se posthac jurisdictionem et 
 auctoritatem Roman! Pontificis non admittere nee ab aliis, pro posse suo, 
 admitti, recipi, aut uti permittit." 
 
THE REFORMATION IN IRELAND. 437 
 
 recognising that the King and not the Pope was the head of 
 their Church.* 
 
 The distant and more powerful chiefs still refused to change 
 the faith in which they were born and in which their fathers 
 had died, and it seemed unlikely that O'Donnell and O'Neill, 
 and O'Brien of Thomond, and Burke of Connaught, and the 
 Earl of Desmond would act as the Leinster chiefs had done. 
 But it soon became apparent that whoever built hopes upon 
 their constancy might be likened to him who built upon 
 the drifting sands. The Earl of Desmond, in humbly submitting 
 himself to his dread sovereign Lord (1541), as supreme head 
 of the Church, protested that he utterly denied and forsook the 
 Bishop of Rome, and his usurped primacy and authority, and 
 that he would with all his power resist and repress the same.t 
 O'Donnell's apostacy soon followed, and its language is equally 
 vigorous and un-ambiguous. By indenture, dated August, 
 1 541, he renounced and abandoned the usurped primacy and 
 authority of the Roman Pontiff, nor would he protect or defend 
 or even permit any adherent of the Pope in his territory, but, 
 on the contrary, with all diligence and zeal would expel them 
 or reduce them to submission to the King. J Such was the 
 language of Manus O'Donnell, the founder of the Franciscan 
 monastery of Donegal. But a short time intervened until Con 
 O'Neill also made his submission, and, in the same full and 
 explicit terms as O'Donnell, renounced the usurped authority 
 of Rome, and recognised Henry as the head of the Church. |! 
 He who had been appealed to by the Bishop of Metz, as the 
 champion of the faith in Ireland, thus shamefully abandoned 
 it. One of the last to submit was O'Brien of Thomond, and 
 the terms in which he addresses Henry are those of the most 
 abject, even sickening, servility. He calls him the most 
 worthy of kings or emperors on earth living, submits himself 
 in everything to the King's deputy, and protests that he must 
 make, in addition, his submission to the King himself, whom he 
 desires to see above all creatures on earth living.** It was the 
 
 * State Papers, Vol. III., p. 90. 
 
 I Ibid., pp. 286-7. He took the oath to St. Leger, the Deputy (January^ 
 1540), on his knees, and in presence of two hundred persons, including 
 the Archbishop of Cashel and the Bishops of Limerick and Emly. 
 
 I Ibid., p. 318. 
 
 li ma., p. 353. 
 
 **Ibid., p. 345. It is worth while giving this letter in full. It will 
 show the character of these chiefs, of whom O'Brien was not the worst : 
 " Most excellent, myghtie, replete withe all verteus and grace, and moost 
 redoubted Kinge and Emperour, undre God my ledge Lord and Vice 
 Dei ; moost worthie, above all Kinges or Emperours on yerthe lyvinge, 
 
438 HISTORY OF IRELAND. 
 
 language of a slave in the mouth of a hypocrite and was a fitting 
 prelude to his subsequent request that the religious houses in 
 Thomond should be suppressed, and that he should be a sharer 
 in the plunder.* The conduct of the greater chiefs was 
 universally copied, and both Anglo-Irish and native chiefs in 
 all quarters of the country hastened to submit, and when they 
 did, they were left in peaceful possession of their lands. Many 
 of them, no doubt, were acting from fear, for they knew that 
 if they did not submit and take the Oath of Supremacy they would 
 be put down as enemies of the King, their property confiscated 
 and their lives imperilled. Such sacrifices men have often 
 made for their faith, but among the Irish leaders of that day 
 there were no heroes, none who saw any attraction in a martyr's 
 crown. As they had not the patriotism to forget their personal 
 jealousies and animosities, and subordinate their personal feelings 
 to the common good, and as they were thus rendered unable 
 to defend their country's liberty, for a similar reason they were 
 unable, and besides were unwilling, to defend its faith. 
 
 That these chiefs were sincere in taking the Oath of Supremacy, 
 or that they meant to carry out the promises they had made, 
 
 to whom I, your moost bownde, obedient subject, Maurus O'Breyne, 
 do onelie cum, as my moost bownden dewtie, lowlie submittinge my self 
 unto your Excellencie, clerelie to yield unto your Grace, my bodie landes 
 and goodes, with all and singular thinge or thinges quycke or deade, under 
 Heavyn and above yerthe, and all maner of degre or dignytie that I have, or 
 to me by anye meanys appertenithe or belongithe, into your Graces handes, 
 therewythe to do your Gracys wyill and pleasure, as to my dewtie apperten- 
 ithe, beinge now Your Gracys obedient subject, wiche at this howar, I moost 
 hyghlie enjoye in, and moost sorrowe to me toremembyre my longe tyme so 
 yll spent for lacke of grace and knowledge, contrarye to Godes lawes and 
 Your Graces. And althowghe before this, I have wyllinglie withowt 
 coactyon or compulsyon of anye creature but only the advertezement 
 of your Graces Deputy ther made lyke submissyon to Your Graces Depute 
 now in Irland, and upon the same have my pardon undre Your Graces 
 Great Seale of Irland, of the said good Lorde Deputie, yett my mind never 
 satysfied, tyll I have done the same to Your Graces owne Person, whom I 
 moost desire to see above all creatures on yerthe lyvinge, now yn myne 
 old days ; wiche sight I dowbt not but shall prolonge my lyff. Moost humblye 
 beseechinge your excelent goodness of Your Graces pardon for me and all 
 myne ; and yn case, as God defend that all Irland shuld dysobe3^e from 
 their dewties and alledgeance to Your Grace, yet shuld I, with all myne, 
 lyve and dye Your Graces true faythfuU and obedyent subjectes and 
 servantes : and for the truthe herof to appeare, I to this poore rude and 
 symple submyssion do sett my hande and seale, and with all my herte 
 protest to the Lord God, here before Your Excellencye, and to Your Grace, 
 to fulfyll the same yn all poyntes for ever." Under capable leadership 
 the Irish could defend their liberties even against Henry VIII., but what 
 could they do under such leaders as O'Brien and his fellows ? 
 * State Papers^ Vol. ill., p. 398. 
 
THE REFORMATION IN IRELAND. 439 
 
 is in the highest degree improbable. The excuse has been made 
 for them that they acted rather from ignorance than from 
 malice, that they had no desire to play the role of apostates, 
 and that in their eyes the substitution of Henry for the Pope 
 as the head of their Church only involved a political change.* 
 But this assumes that they were all men of the densest ignorance, 
 of the dullest understanding, and is not borne out by the State 
 Papers of the time.f They conformed to Henry's religion, because 
 they feared to irritate a despotic and powerful monarch, whose 
 enmity in their divided condition meant their ruin. But they 
 evidently had no desire to fulfil the promises they made, and 
 although O'Neill and O'Donnell undertook to wipe out the 
 jurisdiction of the Pope in their territories, yet the monasteries 
 of Tirowen and Tirconnell were not interfered with, and long 
 survived these chiefs, as well as Henry VHI. And even if 
 the leaders throughout the land were prepared to inaugurate 
 a crusade against the old faith, it is quite certain that the mass 
 of the people were not prepared to follow their lead. 
 
 Protestant writers regard as the greatest mistake of the 
 reformers that they did not address the people in their own 
 language, and to this omission they attribute the failure of 
 the Reformation in Ireland, at least in its initial stages. And, 
 without doubt, the expectation seemed unnatural and absurd 
 that a people would embrace doctrines which had not been 
 explained to them, and which they could not therefore under- 
 stand. In one of his letters to England, Browne declared that 
 he would himself continue to preach in the English-speaking 
 portion of the country, and that he would get his friend. Dr. 
 Nangle of Clonfert, who could speak Irish, to preach in the 
 exclusively Irish-speaking districts. | But this project was not 
 carried out, for as Browne had failed so conspicuously in the 
 district round Dublin, it was at least equally probable that 
 Nangle would fail in the rest of Ireland. 
 
 The failure of Browne cannot be a matter of surprise, if we 
 consider what were the characters of these first reformers. 
 The force of example is strong, and personal character adds 
 
 * This is Dr. Joyce's opinion. (Short History of Ireland, pp. 387-8.) 
 f Of the 1 6th century alone forty poets are enumerated whose sur- 
 viving pieces amount to over ten thousand lines, a fact which shows a 
 considerable amount of culture to have existed. (Douglas Hyde — Literary 
 History of Ireland, p. 471.) 
 
 X State Papers, Vol. ill., p. 123. Nangle was not able to assert himself 
 in Clonfert, much less do missionary work elsewhere. When he showed 
 the King's seal appointing him Bishop of Clonfert to MacWilliam Burke, 
 that chief " threw it away and vilipended the same." Mant, Vol. I., p. 204s 
 Olden, pp. 301-5. 
 
440 HISTORY OF IRELAND. 
 
 much to what the preacher has to say. If the fishermen of 
 Galilee had been vain and self-seeking, anxious for wealth and 
 ambitious for worldly honors, they would have done little. 
 They succeeded where Plato and Aristotle would have failed, 
 because they were humble and meek, despising honors and wealth 
 facing dangers and enduring hardships with a readiness which 
 demonstrated their sanctity and zeal, and performing miracles 
 in support of what they preached, which demonstrated that 
 their doctrines were true, and their Church the Church of Christ, 
 Judged by these tests, Browne and his friend, Staples, and, above 
 all, their master, Henry VIII., stand in no favourable contrast. 
 In defiance of his vow of chastity Browne was a married man, 
 in spite of his vow of humility he became so proud and pre- 
 sumptuous that he was specially reprimanded by the King, and 
 he so far forgot his vow of poverty that he was not content with 
 the ample revenues of the See of Dublin, but pleaded for his 
 share of the suppressed monasteries, and when the monastery 
 of Gracedieu,* near Dublin, was not given him he considered 
 himself an ill-used man. His fellow reformer, Staples,! had 
 also broken his vow of celibacy, for he, too, was married. Nor 
 did these two agree, but, on the contrary, the bitterest animosity 
 existed between them. From a pulpit in Dublin, Staples 
 publicly denounced Browne, called him a heretic and a beggar, 
 and adjured his hearers to give him no credence, " for I tell you 
 if you will in faith I will not " : J and in a letter to St. Leger 
 he gives his solemn assurance that every honest man was weary 
 of Browne, and that pride and arrogance seemed to have deprived 
 him of his reason. || It was admitted that the sermons of these 
 preachers were by themselves inefficacious to wean the people 
 from their faith, and that these sermons should be supported 
 by the Deputy's sword. And here, too, Browne was dis- 
 appointed, for Gray, though he had taken the Oath of Supremacy, 
 and had been guilty of many acts of violence, was said to be 
 insincere, and even had a special zeal for the Papists, and when 
 at Trim, to the disgust of the reformers, he went into the church 
 and heard very devoutly three or four masses before the statue 
 of the Blessed Virgin.** He deposed Tirrey, the reforming 
 bishop of Cork and put a Grey Friar in his place whom 
 Browne calls a rank traitor.ff His reluctance to spread the 
 
 * State Papers, Vol. III., p. lO. 
 
 t He was a native of Lincolnshire and was appointed Bishop of Meath 
 in 1530. He was deprived of his See by Queen Mary in 1554. (Ware's 
 Bishops?) 
 
 \ State Papers, Vol. III., pp. 1-2. 
 
 II Ibid., p. 29. 
 
 ** Ihid., pp. 96-103. 
 
 tt Ibid., p. 124. 
 
THE REFORMATION IN IRELAND. 44 1 
 
 new doctrines was quickened by his personal antipathy to Browne 
 whom he opposed and impeded in every way, entered his house 
 at Dublin and took away some of his property, and when the 
 Archbishop on one occasion called Cardinal Pole a Papish 
 Cardinal, Gray in a great fume retorted by calling Browne 
 a "poles horn friar."* Such was the hatred between these apostles 
 of a religion which was founded primarily upon love. It is 
 difficult to recognise in them the heirs and successors of those 
 primitive Christians whose love for one another excited the 
 admiration of the Pagans. 
 
 If we turn to Henry VIII., we shall not find, either in his 
 personal character, or in the doctrines he professed, or in the 
 manner in which he sought to propagate them, anything which 
 would attract popular sympathy to the church of which he 
 was the founder. The very embodiment of tyranny, like all 
 tyrants he had become wayward and capricious. No one dared 
 question his authority or dispute his will. His throne 
 encompassed by slaves and sycophants, every prejudice was 
 studied, every passion was flattered, every act was applauded. 
 Those whom he favoured for the moment became temporarily 
 endowed with every virtue, as those whom he hated, or even 
 suspected, with every vice and with every crime ; and every 
 change in his conduct or opinions, which interest or caprice 
 dictated, was regarded as an inspiration from heaven. When 
 he married Anne Boleyn, an obsequious Parliament enacted 
 it treason to question the validity of the marriage or the legiti- 
 macy of the offspring. When she was divorced and executed, 
 the stigma of illegitimacy was attached to her child,f and when 
 the King executed Catherine Howard, and divorced Anne of 
 Cleves, the servile crowd of courtiers and apostates who surrounded 
 his throne were ready with their applause. Placed at the head 
 of the church, he seemed to think that, like the Pope, he was 
 infallible, and going farther than the Pope he assumed the right 
 to change his creed at will, and insisted that the nation should 
 follow his example. At one time he showed a disposition to 
 join hands with the German reformers and to accept the Confession 
 of Augsburgh (1530), which affirmed that justification came 
 from faith alone, rejected the veneration and invocation of saints 
 as well as confession, and denied transubstantiation.J A few 
 years later, it was woe to those of Henry's subjects who held 
 such doctrines. By the Six Articles (1539), it was decreed to 
 be heresy to deny transubstantiation, confession was declared 
 
 * State Papers^ Vol. iii., p. 209. 
 
 t Lingard, Vol. v., p. 36. 
 
 X Alzog's Church Histery^ Vol. ill., p. 235. 
 
 2 G 
 
442 
 
 HISTORY OF IRELAND. 
 
 necessary for salvation ; the only deviation from the ancient 
 faith now remaining was that Henry still claimed to be head of 
 the church.* Those who denied that he v;as were condemned 
 to be hanged and quartered as traitors, those who denied the 
 Real Presence f were condemned to be burned as heretics ; and 
 it was not uncommon to see both classes led on the same hurdles 
 to the place of execution, l 
 
 To justify the suppression and plunder of the English 
 monasteries the plea was put forth that they were dens of infamy, 
 their occupants, lazy, useless, idle, ignoranl and immoral, || but 
 in Ireland this plea was not maintained, and except Browne's 
 statement that they were ignorant and attached to the Pope,** 
 nothing else was laid to their charge. These monks and nuns 
 were of the same race as the Irish themselves— their manners, 
 their language, their sympathies were the same. To the shelter 
 of their monasteries the poor came for food and clothing which 
 in these days no state-endowed institutions could supply, the 
 sick were attended and relieved, the traveller found hospitality, 
 the weary found rest, the sorrow-stricken was consoled, the 
 sinner was welcomed to repentance, and the warrior, weary of 
 battle, was solaced by prayer and religion in his declining years. 
 These monks and friars preached the truths of the faith to the 
 people, they educated their children, and across mountain and 
 moor they brought the consolations of religion to the sick and 
 dying, braving alike the inclemency of the weather and the 
 terrors of some fatal disease. When their monasteries and 
 
 convents were violently invaded, their property confiscated, 
 themselves driven forth in beggary or, perhaps, murdered, every 
 class of the community felt aggrieved. 
 
 The fate of the secular churches and secular priests cannot 
 have differed much from that of the monasteries and the monks. 
 These churches were robbed of everything they possessed. The 
 vessels of the altar, the shrines of saints, relics, crosses, pictures 
 and statues were either taken away or destroyed. In most 
 cases the reformer's motive was cupidity, but Browne, in 
 addition, had the fanaticism of the German Lutherans, and in 
 reference to statues and pictures he was animated with the 
 destructive spirit of the Iconoclast. Idols he called them, 
 
 * Lingard, Vol. v., p. 64. 
 
 t This was one of the counts in the indictment against Cromwell — 
 that he had led people to a disbelief in the Blessed Sacrament. (Gasquct ; 
 Henry VIII., p. 154.) 
 
 X Lingard, Vol. v., p. 74. 
 
 II Gasquet ; Henry VIII. and the English Monasteries, cap. VII. 
 
 ** State Papers, Vol. II., p. 539. He blames especially the Franciscan 
 Observants " which be worste of all others." Vid. also Vol. III., p. 7. 
 
THE REFORMATION IN IRELAND. 443 
 
 and the respect paid to them idolatry.* With a keener 
 intelligence than the reformers, the Irish were able to dis- 
 tinguish between the statue or painting and the person it 
 represented. When a picture is set in a valuable frame or when 
 flowers are placed at the base of the statue, it is not to the 
 canvas or marble that honour is given. And when the people 
 beheld a representation of a saint — of St. Patrick or St. Columba, 
 or St. Bridget, of the Blessed Virgin, of the Infant Saviour 
 resting on his bed of straw or nestling in the arms of His Mother, 
 they thought of the saint's zeal, of the Virgin's sanctity, of the 
 Saviour's love. The recollection was inspiring. They prayed 
 not to the statue before them or to the picture which hung upon 
 the walls, but to him whom it represented, and as they prayed 
 they felt their faith grow vivid, their devotion increase and 
 their charity w^as enkindled anew. The reformers confined 
 their efYorts to preaching, but in religion it is necessary to reach 
 men's hearts as well as their understanding : and the invocation 
 of saints, the honours oaid to their relics or their shrines, the 
 ceremonies and rites — which the reformers considered unnecessary 
 — these will toucli the heart and move the will, when preaching 
 by itself may fail. 
 
 A religion which was avowedly novel, and above all whose 
 high-priest was an English king, was certain to be regarded b}- 
 the Irish with suspicion and ill-favour, but when it furthermore 
 involved the destruction of churches, the suppression of 
 monasteries and the murder of priests and monks and nuns, 
 it was equally certain they would regard it with aversion and 
 hate. There must have been many in Ireland, who wished well 
 to England, and who hoped that Henry's attack on the Church 
 was but a passing storm which, at least with his death, would 
 subside. They knew that the people would not embrace the 
 new doctrines nor abandon the old without a struggle, and if 
 the efforts to change them were continued, then, for the first 
 time, both Anglo-Irish and Irish would unite, and trouble and 
 bloodshed and misery both for England and Ireland would 
 ensue. 
 
 * State Papers, Vol. ui., p- 35. 
 
INDEX TO VOL- 1, 
 
INDEX 
 
 Abbey knockmoy, 231, 272. 
 
 Abbots of the Sixth Century, 46. 
 
 Adam Duff, executed for heresy 
 424. 
 
 Adamnan, St., his account of the 
 battle of Cuildrevne, 50 ; his hfe 
 and labours, 57, 82 ; favours the 
 Boru tribute, 74 ; his shrine 
 carried away by the Danes, 88. 
 
 Adamnan's Law, 58, 84. 
 
 Adrian IV., 192, 198. 
 
 Adrian's Bull,question of its authen- 
 ticity, 193-9 : published at Water- 
 ford, 207 ; and at Dublin, 224. 
 
 Aedh Mac Ainmire, Ardri, -jy. 
 
 Aedh of Tirowen and Malachy II., 
 no. 
 
 Aedh Ornaighe, devastates Leinster, 
 
 174. 
 Aenachs, 22. 
 Aengus, the Culdee, educated at 
 
 Tallaght, 59 ; his piety and 
 
 mortifications, 61. 
 Aengus, King of Cashel, converted 
 
 by St. Patrick, 40. 
 Agard, laments the failure of the 
 
 Reformation in Ireland, 435. 
 Agricola, his description of Ireland, 
 
 3 ; proposes its Conquest, 9. 
 Aidan of Lindisfarne, 63. 
 
 , King of the Dalriadians, 78. 
 
 Ailech, palace of, 128. 
 
 Aires, position of, 25. 
 
 Alcuin, probably educated at Clon- 
 
 macnoise, 56. 
 Aldfrid, King of Northumbria, 
 
 educated at Lismore, 59. 
 Alexander III., Letter of, held to be 
 
 a forgery, 199 ; pubUshed at 
 
 Waterford, 207. 
 Allen, Archbishop of DubUn, Lord 
 
 Chancellor, 383 ; murdered by 
 
 Silken Thomas, 388-9. 
 
 Allen, Master of the RoUs, 384, 431. 
 
 Altmunster, 71. 
 
 Amator, consecrated St. Patrick, 2)^. 
 
 Amrud, Danish Chief, 118. 
 
 Anastasius, Papal librarian, 145. 
 
 Ancient Irish Church, its doctrines, 
 67-8. 
 
 Annadown, diocese of, 426. 
 
 Annals of Clonmacnoise, describes 
 the Fomorians, 6 ; its account of 
 Danish oppression, 91 ; on the 
 wars between the Enghsh settlers, 
 260 ; condemns Edward Bruce, 
 
 293- 
 Annals of Tighernach, 426. 
 
 Ulster, 426. 
 
 Anselm, St., on the abuses in the 
 
 Irish Church, 148. 
 Ardagh Chalice, 164. 
 Ardri, position of, 19, 21. 
 Armagh, St. Patrick builds church 
 of, 41; school of, 45 ; plundered 
 by Danes, 88, 91, 140 ; by Irish, 
 147 ; by Philip of Worcester, 213, 
 272; given the Primacy, 154; 
 number of Saxon students at, 
 139 ; lay abbots of, 142, 149, 
 NationaUty of its Primates, 268. 
 Arms and Armour used in the 
 fourteenth century, 288 ; in the 
 fifteenth, 358 ; at the battle of 
 Knockdoe, 368 ; armour pro- 
 hibited by Statute of Kilkenny, 
 314. 
 Arran Islands, 46. 
 AssembUes in Ancient Ireland, 22. 
 Athboy, assembly of, 137. 
 Athenry, captured by Earl of 
 
 Kildare, 368. 
 Attacotti, 17, 28. 
 Augsburg, Confession of, 441. 
 Augustine, St., Canons Regular of, 
 274. 
 
448 
 
 INDEX. 
 
 B 
 
 Bacal Jesu, 150, 433 
 
 Bacon, Lord, 357-8. 
 
 Bagwell, list of Bishops who took 
 
 the Oath of Supremacy, 432. 
 BalUgorry, Conference at, 328. 
 Ballyshannon, captured by O'Neill, 
 
 Z77' 
 Bangor, church and school of, 58, 
 
 88, 140, 150. 
 Bannow, Anglo-Normans landed 
 
 at, 180. 
 Bardic Schools, 54, 79. 
 Bards, position and duties of, 24, 
 
 55, 80 ; their insolence, 78-9 ; 
 
 encouraged war, 146 ; proscribed 
 
 by Statute of Kilkenny, 314. 
 Battles — 
 
 Allen, 84, 174. 
 
 Ardee, 125. 
 
 Athenry, 287-8. 
 
 Ballaghmoon, 95. 
 
 Ballyshannon (Donegal), 251. 
 
 — Kildare, 84. 
 
 Bealach Leachta, 107. 
 
 Bellahoe, 412. 
 
 Callan (Kilkenny), 334. 
 
 Cashel, 208. 
 
 Clontarf, 1 16-19. 
 
 Connor, 285. 
 
 " Of the Connors," 225. 
 
 Crabh Tulcha, in. 
 
 Cuildrevne, 50, 770 
 
 Downpatrick, 217, 255. 
 
 Drumcliff, 252. 
 
 Dunbolg, 80. 
 
 Dunceithern, 81. 
 
 Dysert O'Dea, 299. 
 
 Faughart, 291. 
 
 Gavra, 17. 
 
 Glenmama, 109. 
 
 Kells (Kilkenny), 330. 
 
 (Meath), 286. 
 
 Kilmainham, 335. 
 
 Kilmashoge, 97. 
 
 Kilmore, 98. 
 
 Knockdoe, 368. 
 
 Knockvoe, 377-8. 
 
 Letterluin, 136. 
 
 Moanmore, 134. 
 
 Monabrahir, 371. 
 Mourne Abbey, 735. 
 
 Moylena, 102. 
 Moyrath, 8t. 
 Moytura, 7. 
 Piltown, 347. 
 Stoke, 358. 
 Sulcoit, 105. 
 Teltown, 12. 
 Thurles, 205. 
 
 Bede, on the hospitality of the 
 Irish monastic schools, 54 ; char- 
 acter of Adamnan, 58 ; of Aidan 
 of Lindisfarne, 63 ; condemns the 
 Northumbrian invasion of Ire- 
 land, 82 ; describes the Irish 
 church buildings, 165-6. 
 
 Belfast, captured by the Earl of 
 Kildare, 371. 
 
 Belgae and the Firbolgs, 9. 
 
 Bellacong, lake and river, 244. 
 
 Bells, Ancient Irish, 163. 
 
 Beltaine, feast of, 42. 
 
 Benedictines, 273. 
 
 Benignus, St., 38-9. 
 
 Bernard, St., 149, 151, 153, 274-6. 
 
 Birmingham, " the treacherous 
 Baron," 259. 
 
 Lord of Athenry, 287-8. 
 
 Earl of Louth, 291, 294. 
 
 Birminghams, 302-3, 322. 
 
 Bishops, position of, 45 ; appoint- 
 ment of, 266-9, 423. 
 
 Bissets, the 283. 
 
 " Black Monday," 235. 
 
 " Black Rents," 308, 325, 341, 
 349, 354, 399, 402, 407-8. 
 
 Bhnding, punishment of, 129. 
 
 Bobbio, monastery of, 65. 
 
 Bodkin, Archbishop of Tuam, 432. 
 
 Boleyn, Anne, 381, 408, 428-9. 
 
 Boleyn, Sir Thomas, 381. 
 
 Bonaght, 28. 
 
 Boniface, St., 66. 
 
 Book of Armagh, 1 1 1 . 
 
 Durrow, 57, 163. 
 
 Howth, 216, 222, 364, 368. 
 
 Kells, 57, 160. 
 
 Leccain, 426. 
 
 Leinster, 74, 148. 
 
 Rights, 26. 
 
 Boru tribute, its amount, 15 ; 
 cause of strife, 74, 80, 174 ; 
 abolished by Finachta, 84 ; re- 
 imposed by Brian, 112. 
 
 1 
 
INDEX. 
 
 449 
 
 Brabazon, Sir William, 430-1. 
 Branduff, King of Leinster, 80. 
 Brehon Laws, revised by St. 
 
 Patrick, 42. 
 Brehons, positions and duties of, 
 
 22, 23, 
 Brendan of Birr, St., 47. 
 Brendan of Clonfert, St., 47-8. 
 Brereton, Sir William, 390, 414-15. 
 Brian Boru, early life, 102-3; wars 
 
 and government, 104-19; defeated 
 
 by Malachy, 99 ; encourages 
 
 learning, 145-6. 
 Brian Boru's harp, 112. 
 Bridget, St., life and labours, 48-9 ; 
 
 consults her guardian angel about 
 
 Ireland, 400 ; her relics scattered, 
 
 433- 
 Britons, 43, 62-3. 
 Brodir of Man, 115-16, 118. 
 Brotherhood of St. George, 349. 
 Broughton, Sir Thomas, 357. 
 Browne, Archbishop of Dublin, 
 
 accuses Lord Leonard Gray, 414 ; 
 
 approves of Henry's divorce, 
 
 429 ; his career in Ireland, 
 
 430-42. 
 Bruce, Edward, 283-91, 292. 
 
 Robert, 279, 283, 289-91. 
 
 Brude, King of the Picts, 52. 
 Brughaid, office of, 25. 
 Brunehault and St. Columbanus, 64. 
 Buchanan, 14. 
 
 Buildings, Ancient Irish, 30, 165. 
 Burgundy, Duchess of, 357, 363. 
 Burkes, See De Burgho. 
 Butler, Edmond, Archbishop of 
 
 Cashel, 432. 
 
 Lord James, 383, 389-90, 392-3 
 
 Sir James, 361. 
 
 Sir John, 347. 
 
 Sir Piers, 361, 364, 372-3. 
 
 Butlers, 259, 347. 
 
 Caesar, his knowledge of Ireland, 
 
 2 ; on Druidism, 21. 
 Caicer, the Druid, 12. 
 Cambrensis E versus, 157. 
 Camden, 3, 4, 13. 
 Campion, 387. 
 Canons, Premonstre, z-j-^. 
 
 Canons of St. Victor, 273. 
 
 Carew, 312. 
 
 Carlo w, 312. 
 
 Carnfree, mound of, 243. 
 
 Carrickfergus, 283, 288. 
 
 Carrigogunnell, Castle of, 409. 
 
 Carrol, King of Dublin, 96. 
 
 Carthage, St., 59, 61. 
 
 Carthaginians, 2. 
 
 Carthusians, 429. 
 
 Cashel, 102, 104, 129, 154. 
 
 Cassiterides, or Tin Islands, 1,2. 
 
 Cataldus, St., 66. 
 
 Cathach, or Battle-book, jj. 
 
 Catherine of Arragon, 428. 
 
 Ceiles, 25. 
 
 Celestine, St., and St. Patrick, 36 
 
 Celestius, 67. 
 
 Celsus, Archbishop of Armagh, 149. 
 
 Cennfaeledh, 56. 
 
 Charles the Bald and Scotus 
 Erigena, 145. 
 
 Charters of Denization, 300. 
 
 " Chronicon Scotorum," 148. 
 
 Churches, construction of, 166. 
 
 Cian of Desmond, 121. 
 
 Cimbeath, 15 
 
 Cistercians, Order of, 1 54, 274-7. 
 
 Clairvaux, 274-5. 
 
 Clan system, its constitution, 20-2 1 ; 
 its defects, 26-7, 280 ; abolition 
 of, 417-18 ; number of warring 
 clans, 405. 
 
 Clarence, Duke of, 311-13. 
 
 Claudian, on the wars b-^tween the 
 Ancient Irish and the llomans, 18 . 
 
 Clemens and Albinus, 72. 
 
 Clergy in battle, 174. 
 
 Clonard, School of, 47. 
 
 Clonfert, school and monastery of, 
 48, 60, 230. 
 
 Clonmacnoise, school and monas- 
 tery of, foundation and pre- 
 eminence of, 56, 75, 139 ; plun- 
 dered by Fedlimy, King of 
 Cashel, 90 ; by other native 
 chiefs, 142, 147 ; by De Burgho, 
 230 ; its miserable condition in 
 the sixteenth century, 426. 
 
 Clonmel, Archbishop Browne 
 preaches at, and converts two 
 archbishops and eight bishops, 
 431-2. 
 
45° 
 
 INDEX. 
 
 Clooneenagh, School of, 59. 
 
 Clynn (Annalist), condemns 
 Edward Bruce, 292 ; describes 
 the pestilence of the fourteenth 
 century, 308-9. 
 
 Coarbs, their position in the 
 Church, 149-50. 
 
 Colgu of Clonmacnoise, 56. 
 
 Colman, St., of Lindisfarne and 
 Mayo, 60, 71. 
 
 Columba, St., his early life and 
 missionary labours, 49-54; cursed 
 Tara, 76 ; causes the battle of 
 Cuildrevne, jj ; at the Conven- 
 tion of Drumcat, 78 ; pleads for 
 the Bards, 79-80 ; supposed to 
 have written the Book of Kells, 
 160 ; his prophecies used by 
 De Courcy, 217 ; his remains 
 desecrated, 433. 
 
 Columbanus, St., 63-7. 
 
 Comgal, St., 58. 
 
 Comyn, John, Archbishop of 
 Dublin, 266-7. 
 
 " Confession " of St. Patrick, 42. 
 
 Cong Abbey, 136, 226, 228. 
 
 Cong, Cross of, 164. 
 
 Congal, 81. 
 
 Congalach (Ardri), 98. 
 
 Conleth, St., 47, 49. 
 
 Conmaicne, tribe of, 131. 
 
 Conn of the Hundred Battles, 15,101. 
 
 Connaught, King of, his revenue, 26. 
 
 Province of, assigned to 
 
 Roderick O'Connor, 223 ; dis- 
 turbed state of, 226-31, 242-50, 
 255-6, 294-9, 320-3, 351 ; pays 
 tribute to O'Donnell of Tirconnell, 
 382, 420 ; independent of Eng- 
 land, 402. 
 
 Corcran, 123. 
 
 Cork, city of, 226, 363, 399. 
 
 Cormac Cas, 102. 
 
 Cormac's Chapel, 168. 
 
 Cormac Mac Art, 15, 16, 30. 
 
 Mac Cuilenan, 95, 143. 
 
 Coshery, 28, 262. 
 
 Counties formed, 237, 
 
 Cowley, describes the progress of 
 the Reformation, 435. 
 
 Cox, on Art MacMurrogh, 328 ; list 
 of Black Rents paid, 354 ; on 
 the capture of Maynooth, 391. 
 
 Coyne. Bishop of Limerick, 432, 
 Coyne and Livery, 304, 344, 349, 
 
 n6, 399, 401-2. 
 Cranmer, Archbishop, 428. 
 Cranogues, or Lake-dwellings, 3c. 
 Creaghts, 314. 
 Cristede, 329. 
 Croagh Patrick, 40. 
 Crom Cruach, 21, 39. 
 Cromer, Archbishop of Armagh, 
 
 appointed Lord Chancellor, 383 ; 
 
 remonstrates with Silken Thomas, 
 
 387 ; opposes the King's spiritual 
 
 supremacy, 430-1. 
 Cromwell, Thomas, 410-11., 428, 
 
 430- 
 Crook, near Waterford, John landed 
 
 at, 233. 
 Croziers, 163. 
 
 Cruciferii or Crutched Friars, 273. 
 CuchuUan, 55-6. 
 Cuirmtig, assembly of, 22. 
 Culdees, 60. 
 
 Cumdachs or shrines, 165. 
 Cummian of Bobbio, 71. 
 
 of Clonfert, 60, 70, 
 
 Cyclopean Buildings, 165. 
 
 D 
 
 Dagda, 29. 
 
 Dal, Assembly of, 22. 
 
 Dalcassians, 101-19, 122. 
 
 Dalian Forgal, 56. 
 
 Dalriadia, 75. 
 
 Dalriadians, 51, 278. 
 
 Danes or Northmen, their character, 
 85-6 ; their depredations, 87-8, 
 139-40; their successes, 88-90; 
 their oppressive rule, 91 ; quarrel 
 among themselves, 92 ; found 
 Dubhn, 93 ; settle in Normandy, 
 94; their government at Limerick, 
 97 ; defeated by Malachy, who 
 captures Dublin, 98-9 ; their wars 
 with Mahon, King of Munster, 
 104-6; and with Brian Boru, 107-9; 
 become Christians, 130 ; engaged 
 in commerce, 147 ; their connec- 
 tion with the Round Towers, 
 17 1 -2 ; driven from Dublin, 191 ; 
 granted Waterford by Henry II., 
 202. 
 
INDEX, 
 
 451 
 
 Dannaans, or Tuatlia-de-Dannaans, 
 
 7-9, 12. 
 D'Arcy of Flatten, 357. 
 D'Arcy, Sir John, 300, 303, 305. 
 D'Artois, Jenico, 331, 335. 
 Dathi, 38. 
 
 Davies, Sir John, 307, 312. 
 Davis, Thomas, on the Round 
 
 Towers, 172. 
 De Braose, 236. 
 De Burgho, or Burke, 
 Earl of Clanrickard, 367, 371, 
 
 417, 420. 
 Lord Deputy of Connaught, 
 
 324- 
 
 Edmond, 297-8. 
 Richard, Lord of Connaught, 
 
 231, 243, 245-9, 253. 
 Earl of Ulster (the Red Earl), 
 
 256, 258-60, 284-5, 289, 293. 
 
 Waiter, 250, 255-6. 
 
 Walter (died, 1332), 296. 
 
 William, 295-6. 
 
 William Fitzadelm, 200, 212, 
 
 229-30. 
 
 William, Earl of Ulster (the 
 
 Brown Earl), 296. 
 De Burghos, 257-60, 296-7, 299, 
 
 302-3. 
 
 De Clare, 257, 260, 299. 
 
 De Cogan, Milo at the capture of 
 Dublin, 187 ; governor of the 
 city, 190 ; defeats the Danes, 191 ; 
 governor of Limerick, 206 ; in- 
 vades Connaught, 224-5. 
 
 De Courcy, John, described by 
 Giraldus, 216 ; invades Ulster, 
 217-18 ; appointed Viceroy, 219; 
 invades Connaught, 226, 229 ; 
 plunders Churches, 271 ; his 
 death, 222. 
 
 De Geneville, 258, 302. 
 
 De Grey, Bishop of Norwich, 241. 
 
 De Lacy, Hugh, the elder, 200, 
 202-4, 210-13, 215. 
 
 Hugh, the younger, 221-2, 229, 
 
 231, 235-6, 253. 
 
 De Lacys, 242, 286, 291. 
 
 De Londres, Archbishop of Dublin, 
 269-71. 
 
 De Marisco, 235, 243, 246, 253. 
 
 De Prendergast, Maurice, 181, 184, 
 190. 
 
 De Windsor (Viceroy), 326. 
 
 " Degenerate English," 400. 
 
 Deisi, paid tribute to Brian Boru, 
 107. 
 
 Delbna, tribe of, 105. 
 
 Delvin, Lord, 381. 
 
 Derbfine, 20. 
 
 Derry, monastery and ciiurch of, 
 50, 147. 
 
 Dervorgilla, 176. 
 
 Desmond, Earls of, 301-6, 309, 319, 
 324, 334, 341-2, 344, 346-8, 352, 
 356, 363-4, 370-1, 375-6, 379-80, 
 392-3, 402-4, 408-9, 416, 437- 
 
 Desmond, province of, assigned to 
 Eoghan, son of Oliol Olum, 102 ; 
 given to MacCarthy, 132 ; part 
 of given to Robert FitzStephen, 
 226 ; its wars, 123, 134, 250, 255, 
 257. 
 
 Diarmid (Ardri), quarrels with the 
 clergy, 75-7. 
 
 Dichu and St. Patrick, 38. 
 
 Dicuil, the geographer, 56, 62, 14. 
 
 Diocesan Episcopacy, 154. 
 
 Diodorus Siculus and Ancient 
 Ireland, 3. 
 
 Dionysius, the Areopagite, his 
 works translated by Scotus 
 Erigena, 145. 
 
 Discord among the native chiefs, 
 its causes, 74, 280, 404, 418. 
 
 Donal (Ardri), 80. 
 
 Great Steward of Mar, 1 15-16. 
 
 Donation of Constantine, 195-6. 
 
 Donatus, 143. 
 
 Donnybrook Fair, 234. 
 
 Donovan of Hy Fighdhente, 104, 
 106. 
 
 Dress, Irish, in Pagan times, 30 ; 
 declared illegal by Statute, 314, 
 349 ; worn by English settlers, 
 401. 
 
 Drogheda, ParUaments at, 347, 362. 
 
 Druids and Druidism, 21-22, 39. 
 
 Drumcat, Convention of, TJ. 
 
 Dubhthach, 39, 48. 
 
 Dublin, founded by Danes, 93 ; 
 taken possession of by Carroll, 
 King of Ossory, 96 ; Danes 
 expelled from, 97 ; captured by 
 Malachy, 99 ; by ISrian Boru, 109; 
 extent of in the eleventh century. 
 
452 
 
 INDEX. 
 
 1 16 ; Turlogh O'Connor's appoints 
 his son King of, 133 ; Danish 
 bishop of, 147 ; taken by Strong- 
 bow, 187 ; Danes driven from, 
 191 ; Henry II. spends the 
 winter in, 201-2 ; its privileges 
 and wealth in the thirteenth 
 century, 234-5 ; besieged by 
 Bruce, 289 ; Richard II. at, 328 ; 
 captured by Silken Thomas, 388; 
 failure of the Reformation in, 
 
 433- y:''.J^ 
 
 Dumbarton, 33. ■■ • 
 
 Dunamaise, castle of, 300. f^''"' 
 Dundalk, Edward Bruce crowned 
 
 at, 286 ; pays tribute to O'Neill, 
 
 324, 340. 
 Dundonald, 185. 
 Dun-Engus, fort of, 7, 165. 
 Dungal, 59, 139, 143- 
 Dunleavy of Uladh, 136. 
 Durrow, monastery of, 50, 59, 216. 
 Duvgalls and Fingall's, 87, 92, 95. 
 Duvgall's Bridge, 118. 
 
 Easter, mode of computing, 69, 1 39, 
 152. 
 
 Edgecombe, Sir R., 358-60. 
 
 Edward I., 281. 
 
 II., 284, 301. 
 
 III. desires the extension of 
 
 English law to Irish natives, 300 ; 
 determines to go to Ireland, 303 ; 
 censures Irish officials, 304 ; 
 dismisses from of&ce all Irish-born, 
 305 ; aided by Anglo-Irish in his 
 French wars, 306-7. 
 
 Edward IV. and the Earl of Des- 
 mond, 347-8. 
 
 Egfrid of Northumbria, invades 
 Ireland, 82. 
 
 Egypt and Ireland, 7. 
 
 Emania, palace of, 15. 
 
 Enda, St., of Arran, 46-7. 
 
 English Law in Ireland, intro- 
 duced by Henry II., 237 ; natives 
 ask for, 280-1, 300; opposed by 
 Anglo-Irish lords, 301. 
 
 Eochy (Ardri), 15. 
 
 of Uladh, III. 
 
 Eoghan More, loi. 
 Eoghanachts, 102. 
 Eric (a fine), 23, 262. 
 Erigena, John Scotus, 144. 
 Esker Riada, loi. 
 
 Fanchea, St., 46, 49. 
 Fasting to recover debt, 24. 
 Fedlimy, King of Cashel, plunders 
 
 Clonmacnoise, 90. 
 Fenians. 16, 17. 
 Ferguson, Lady, describes battle of 
 
 Clontarf, 117. 
 Ferns, castle of, 407. 
 Festus Avienus, calls Ireland the 
 
 Sacred Isle, 2, 3. 
 Fiac of Sletty, 33, 40. 
 Fiacre, St., 66. 
 Fifth Lateran Council, 427. 
 Finachta (Ardri), abolishes the 
 
 Boru tribute, 84. 
 Fin MacCool, 16. 
 Fine, Organization of, 19, 20. 
 Fingal, extent of, 388 
 Finglas, Patrick, describes Ireland 
 
 in 1534, 401-2. 
 Finian, St., of Clonard, 47. 
 of Moville, his quarrel with St. 
 
 Columba, 27' 
 Firbolgs, 7-9. 
 Fitzgerald, Gerald, 394-7. 
 
 Sir James, 381. 
 
 Fitzgerald, Maurice, arrives in 
 
 Ireland, 185 ; with Strongbow at 
 
 Dublin, 189 ; assists de Lacy in 
 
 the government of Dublin, 202. 
 Maurice (Viceroy), interferes 
 
 in the wars of Connaught, 247-54 ; 
 
 defeated by the MacCarthys, 
 
 257 ; at war with the Earl of 
 
 Ulster (the Red Earl), 259-60. 
 Thomas, aids Lambert Simnel, 
 
 357-8. 
 
 Thomas (Silken Thomas), 
 
 appointed Lord Deputy, 385-6 ; 
 in rebellion, 387 ; murders Arch- 
 bishop Allen, 388-9 ; fails to save 
 Maynooth, 391 ; his submission 
 to Lord Gray, 392-3; his sufferings 
 and death in the Tower, 394 ; 
 cost of his rebellion, 403. 
 
INDEX, 
 
 453 
 
 Fitz-Henry, Meyler, 206, 211, 221, 
 
 235- 
 
 Fitz-Ralph, Archbishop of Armagh, 
 called St. Richard by the Refor- 
 mers, 425. 
 
 Fitzsimraons, Archbishop of Dublin, 
 361. 
 
 Fitz-Stephen, Robert, imprisoned 
 in Wales, 179 ; arrived in Ireland, 
 
 181 ; gets a grant of Wexford, 
 
 182 ; negotiates with Roderick 
 O'Connor, 185 ; besieged in Wex- 
 ford, 190 ; imprisoned by Henry 
 II., 201 ; murdered near Cork, 
 226. 
 
 Five Bloods, the, 210. 
 Flaherty of Scattery Island, 95. 
 Flaiths, 20. 
 Flann (poet), 148. 
 
 Sinna (Ardri), 93. 
 
 Fleming, Richard, 211. 
 Florence of Worcester, 143. 
 Florus and Prudentius and Scotus 
 
 Erigena, 145. 
 Fomorians, 6, 8. 
 Fosterage, 24. 
 Four Masters, quoted^ 99, 129, 133, 
 
 148, 163, 215, 230, 351, 366, 420, 
 
 433- 
 Fridolin, St., 66. 
 Fursey, St., 66. 
 Fulda, monastery of, 147. 
 
 G 
 
 Galgacus and the Picts, 51. 
 
 Gall, St., 66 
 
 Gallowglasses, 28. 
 
 Galway city, taken from the 
 O'Flahertys by De Burgho, 247 ; 
 captured by the Earl of Kildare, 
 368 ; Lord Leonard Gray at, 
 
 413. 433- 
 Gasquet, quoted, 394, 406 429. 
 GeLfine, 20. 
 
 Geraldine League, 395. 
 Geraldines, see Fitzgerald, also 
 
 Earls of Desmond and Kildare. 
 Germanus, St., 35. 
 Gibbon, quoted, 10, 17, 18, 3S> ^^o. 
 Gildas, the historian, 45, 51. 
 Gillapatrick of Ossory, imprisoned 
 ^'tby Brian Boru, 107. 
 
 Gillebert, Bishop of Limerick, on 
 the irregularities in the Irish 
 Church, 149. 
 
 Ginnell, Air. L., on Adrian's Bull, 
 194. 
 
 Giraldus Cambrensis, describes the 
 Fomorians»6; on the Book of Kells, 
 57 ; came to Ireland with King 
 John, 156, 214 ; his abuse of the 
 Irish, 157 ; testimony in favour 
 of Adrian's Bull, 195 ; character 
 of Dermot MacMurrogh, 176, 183 ; 
 character of Henry II., 198 ; of 
 Strongbow, 208 ; of the first 
 Anglo-Norman invaders, 209, 272; 
 of Fitzadelm de Burgho, 212 ; of 
 John de Courcy, 216 ; otherwise 
 mentioned, 200, 204, 225. 
 
 Glendalough, School of, 59, 61, 147, 
 267. 
 
 Gloucester, Earl of, 332. 
 
 Godred of Man, 188, 219. 
 
 GoU, Firbolg chief, 102. 
 
 Gormfleth, 109, 11 3-1 5, 152. 
 
 Gospel of St. Finbar, 106. 
 
 Gosselin, quoted, 196. 
 
 Gossipred, 313. 
 
 Goths, 85. 
 
 Gottschalk, his doctrines on pre- 
 destination, attacked by Scotus 
 Erigena, 144. 
 
 Grace's Annals, quoted, 292. 
 
 Gray, Lord Leonard, Viceroy, 392-6, 
 403-14,433,440-1. 
 
 GreUin, St., 163. 
 
 Grey, Bishop of Norwich, 350. 
 
 Guiscard, defended the Pope, 180. 
 
 H 
 
 Halfdane, Danish chief, killed at 
 Dubhn, 96. 
 
 HalHday, on the position of Gorm- 
 fleth, 113. 
 
 Hanmer, quoted, 149, 222. . • 
 
 Hardiman, quoted, 315. 
 
 Harold Harfagher, King of Norway, 
 
 93- 
 Harris's " Hibernica," 331. 
 Healy, Dr., quoted, 22, 51, 59, 64, 
 
 145. 
 Heber and Heremon, 12. 
 
454 
 
 INDEX. 
 
 Henry II., his interview with 
 Dermot MacMurrogh, 178 ; his 
 jealousy of Strongbow, 188-190; 
 of Raymond le Gros, 207-8 ; of 
 Hugh de Lacy, 215 ; of St. 
 Laurence O 'Toole, 264 ; obtains 
 Bull from Adrian IV., 193 ; and 
 Letter from Alexander III., 195 ; 
 arrival and success in Ireland, 
 199-203 ; treaty with Roderick 
 O'Connor, 207 ; names John, 
 Lord of Ireland, 213 ; his rebel- 
 lious sons, 232 ; convokes Irish 
 Parliament, 238 ; his character, 
 198 ; his death, 219. 
 
 Henry III. grants Connaught to 
 Richard de Burgho, 243 ; con- 
 demns De Burgho, 249 ; dis- 
 pleased with de Londres, Arch- 
 bishop of Dublin, 271 ; wishes to 
 extend English law to the native 
 Irish, 280. 
 
 Henry IV. appoints his son Viceroy, 
 
 333- 
 
 Henry V. asked by English Settlers 
 to place their condition before 
 the Pope, 340. 
 
 Henry VI, makes peace between 
 Irish officials, 339. 
 
 Henry VII. dishked by Anglo-Irish, 
 356-63 ; appoints Earl of Kildare 
 to " rule all Ireland," 364. 
 
 Henry VIII., his character, 370, 
 441-2 ; summons Earl of Kildare 
 to England, 384 ; commends the 
 loyalty of Dublin, 389 ; enraged 
 with the Geraldines, 393-4 ; dis- 
 pleased with Lord Leonard Gray, 
 410 ; his knowledge of Ireland. 
 402-3 ; his policy, 404, 416, 419 ; 
 " Defender of the Faith," 428 ; 
 his spiritual supremacy, 43 1 , 439 ; 
 despoils the monasteries and 
 churches, 433-4. 
 
 Herenachs, their position in the 
 Church, 1 50. 
 
 Herodotus, quoted, i, 2. 
 
 High Crosses, 169. 
 
 Hoblers, 316. 
 
 Honoratus, St., and St. Patrick, 36. 
 
 Honorius I. and the Pascal Dispute, 
 70. 
 
 Hotham, Lord John, 282, 290. 
 
 Hugony, the Great, T5, 
 Hume, on the name Scotia, 18. 
 Huss, John, 423. 
 Hy Nials, 126. 
 
 Idols, 42, 433, 442-3. 
 
 Idrone, seized by Art Mac Murrogh, 
 326. 
 
 Illumination of MSS., 158. 
 
 Images, treatment of by the 
 Reformers, 433, 442-3. 
 
 Innisbof&n, Island of, 71. 
 
 Inniscaltra, church of, 146. 
 
 Innisfail, origin of the name, 4. 
 
 Innishowen, 258. 
 
 lona. Island and monastery of, 
 51-4; missionary labours of its 
 monks, 61-3 ; monastery des- 
 troyed by the Danes, 87. 
 
 Irish enemies, 313. 
 
 Ivar of Limerick, 104. 
 
 Jerome, St., on the Ancient Irish, 
 28. 
 
 Jerome of Prague, 423. 
 
 Jocelin, 33, 272. 
 
 John, King of England, appointed 
 Lord of Ireland, 213 ; first visit 
 to Ireland, 214 ; rebelled against 
 his father, 232 ; second visit to 
 Ireland, 2^3-40 ; 
 
 John XXIL", Pope, 282. 
 
 John of Salisbury and Adrian IV., 
 192. 
 
 Josephus, II. 
 
 Joyce, Dr., quoted, 439 
 
 Justin, on the Scythians, 11. 
 
 K 
 
 Kavanagh, Doual, 325. 
 
 Kavanaghs, 410, 416. 
 
 Keating, quoted, 5, 6, 12, 13, 91, 
 92. 
 
 Kells, monastery of, 57, 147. 
 
 Kelly, Dr. and Adrian's BuU, 199. 
 
 Kerns, 28, 316. 
 
 Kettler, Alice, executed for witch- 
 craft, 424. 
 
 Kevin, St.. 59, 61. 
 
INDEX. 
 
 455 
 
 Kieran, St., 56, 75. 
 
 Kildare, church and school of, 49. 
 
 Kildare, Earls of, 301, 306, 309. 330, 
 
 334, 346, 50, 356-73, 375-86 
 Kilian, St., 66. 
 Kilkenny, city of, Richard II. at, 
 
 327-331 ; held by Ormond against 
 
 Art MacMurrogh, 334 ; progress 
 
 of the Reformation at, 435. 
 
 Statute of, 310-17. 
 
 Killaloe, church of, 142, 146, 168. 
 
 castle of, 250. 
 
 Kincora, palace of, 112, 124, 127, 
 
 132. 
 Kinsale, favoured the pretender 
 
 Simnel, 358. 
 Knighthood, Order of, in England, 
 
 181. 
 
 L 
 
 Laeghaire (Ardri), 38-9. 
 
 Lancaster, Duke of, 334. 
 
 Lanfranc, on the Irish Church, 148, 
 
 Lanigan, quoted, 49, 50, 71, 145. 
 149, 151. 
 
 Lay Abbots, 142, 149. 
 
 Leap Castle, 371-2. 
 
 Ledwich, quoted, 32, 67, 140, 152. 
 
 Leinster, province of, its troubles 
 from the Boru tribute, 15, 80, 84, 
 174 ; subject to Brian Boru, 107 ; 
 conquered by Roderick O'Connor, 
 177 ; possessed by Strongbow, 
 188 ; ruled by Art MacMurrogh, 
 335 ; entirely subject to England, 
 411. 
 
 Leth Cuin and Leth Mogh, 10 1, 108. 
 
 Leverus, Bishop of Kildare, 394-6. 
 
 Lia Fail, or Stone of Destiny, 4. 
 
 Limerick, city of, Danes established 
 at, 88, 97 ; captured by Mahon 
 of Thomond, 105 ; by Raymond 
 le Gros, 206-8 ; by O'Brien of 
 Thomond, 319, 352 ; by the Earl 
 of Kildare, 371 ; by Lord Leonard 
 Gray, 408 ; besieged by Bruce, 
 290 ; paid Black Rent to O'Brien 
 of Ara, 399 ; Reformers efforts at, 
 
 435- 
 Lincoln, Earl of, 357. 
 Lindisfarne, monastery and diocese 
 
 of, 63. 
 Lingard, quoted, 3, 327. 355. 
 
 Lismore school and monastery 
 
 of, 59, 14. 
 Livinus, St., 66. 
 Lollards, 423. 
 Lovel, Lord, 357 
 Lough Gur, 408. 
 Lucy, Sir A., 303. 
 Luther, Martin, 427. 
 Luxueil, monastery of, 63. 
 Lynch, John, quoted, 157, 195, 199. 
 
 M 
 
 Mac Alpine, Kenneth, 278. 
 MacCarten, 343. 
 MacCarthy, Cormac, 168. 
 
 of Carbry, 374-5, 411. 
 
 Lady Eleanor, 395-6. 
 
 MacCarthys, 200, 233, 255, 257, 
 
 352, 371- 
 MacCoghlin, 259. 
 MacCuill, 41. 
 MacDermotts, the, of Moylurg, 228, 
 
 231, 295, 321. 
 MacDonnells, the, of Antrim, 371. 
 MacDunleavy, 217-18, 220. 
 MacFirbis, 426. 
 Macha, 15. 
 MacLiag, quoted, 97, 107, 112, 146 ; 
 
 his writings, 148. 
 MacMahons, the, 343, 374, 412. 
 MacMurrogh, Art, the elder, 325-6. 
 
 Art, 326-36, 338. 
 
 Dermot, 175-87. 
 
 Donal, 302-3, 325. 
 
 Donogh, S38- 
 
 Eva, 186. 
 
 Maurice, 325. 
 
 MacMurroghs, the, 258, 312, 325, 
 
 402, 407-8, 411, 415-16. 
 MacNamaras, the, 319, 417. 
 MacPherson, on Ossian, 16. 
 MacTurkill, Hasculf, of Dublin, 191, 
 MacWilliams, the, see De Burghos, 
 Maelmorra, King of Leinster, 108, 
 
 113. 117- 
 Maelmorra (poet), 143. 
 Maelnambo, Dermot, 124. 
 Maelruan, St., 59. 
 Maeve, Queen of Connaught, 55. 
 Magee, D'Arcy, quoted, 330. 332. 
 Magennis of Iveagh, 340, 343, 361, 
 
 417. 
 
456 
 
 INDEX. 
 
 Mageoghegan, 330, 344, 410. 
 
 the historian, 1 2. 
 
 Magh Adhair, 108. 
 
 Magillapatrick of Ossory, 122, 200, 
 176, 408, 410, 416, 436. 
 
 Magnus of Norway, 128. 
 
 Magraiden, 426. 
 
 Maguire, the AnnaHst, 426. 
 
 Mahon, King of Munster, 103-6. 
 
 Malachy I., 92. 
 
 Malachy II., 98-9, 108-11, 118, 123, 
 152. 
 
 Malachy, St., 149-54, 275. 
 
 Malone, Rev, S, and Adrian's Bull, 
 194. 
 
 Mandevilles, the, 296. 
 
 Mant, quoted, 430. 
 
 Mantle, the Irish, 314. 
 
 Marianus Scotus, 147. 
 
 Marlborough's Chronicle, 334. 
 
 Marriages, irregular, in the Irish 
 Church, 151. 
 
 Marshall. Richard, 253-4. 
 
 William, 221, 242, 246. 
 
 Martin, St., 33, 35. 
 
 Mathew Paris and Irish Parlia- 
 ments, 239. 
 
 Maynooth, 391. 
 
 Mayo, school and diocese of, 60, 426, 
 
 Meath, partitioned by Turlogh 
 O'Connor, 132-3 ; granted to 
 Hugh de Lacy, 2 10- 11 ; paid 
 Black Rent to O'Connor of 
 Offaly, 399. 
 
 Mellifont, monastery of, 275-6. 
 
 Mendicant Orders, 425. 
 
 Merlin's prophecy, 217. 
 
 Metal Work, Ancient Irish, 29, 162. 
 
 Migdonians, the, 5. 
 
 Milcho, and St. Patrick 34, 38. 
 
 Milesians, the, 10-18. 
 
 Milesius, 11 -13. 
 
 Mills, in Ancient Ireland, 31. 
 
 Mochua, St., 45. 
 
 Molaise, St., and St. Columba, 50 ; 
 
 shrine of, 163. 
 Moling, St., 84. 
 
 Molloy, King of Desmond, 104-6. 
 Molyneux and Irish Parliaments, 
 
 239. 
 Monasteries, plundered by Danes, 
 
 90 ; suppressed, 406, 433-5, 442. 
 Monks, 46, 54, 60, 61, 70, 141, 148. 
 
 Montalembert, quoted, 63, 
 Moran, Cardinal, quoted, 32, 36. 
 Morris, Rev. W. B., quoted 34, 36. 
 Mortimer, Roger, the Elder, 286, 290 
 Mortimer, Roger, the Younger, 329 
 Mosheim, quoted, 145. 
 Mountmaurice, Hervey de, 181, 186, 
 
 191, 205, 
 Mowbray, Earl of Nottingham, 329. 
 Muirchertach of the Leather Cloaks, 
 
 98, 152. 
 Music, Irish skill in, 29, 157. 
 Muskerry, 104. 
 
 N 
 
 Names, Ancient, of Ireland, 3, 4. 
 Nangle, Adam, 303, 325. 
 
 Bishop of Clonfert, 432, 439. 
 
 Nemedians, 5, 6. 
 
 Nemthur, ^-i^. 
 
 Nennius, 41. 
 
 Nesta, and the first Norman 
 
 invaders, 209. 
 New Ross, 281, 327. 
 Nial, son of Feniursa, 11. 
 
 Glunduff, 97. 
 
 of the Nine Hostages, 17,34,37. 
 
 Norfolk, Duke of, 381, 393. 
 Normans, the, 179, 198, 268. 
 Northmen ; see Danes. 
 Northumbria, converted by Irish 
 
 monks, 62. 
 Nuns, 48-9. 
 
 O 
 
 O'Brien of Ara, 399. 
 O'Brien, Connor, 132. 
 
 Donal (died, 1194), 185, 190, 
 
 200, 205, 208, 215, 226-8. 
 Donogh (son of Brian Boru), 
 
 120-4. 
 
 — Donogh (Ossory's son-in-law), 
 392,408-9,417. 
 
 Maurice (Earl of Thomoud), 
 
 392, 394-6, 407-10, 413, 416-17, 
 421, 437-8. 
 
 — Murrogh (son of Brian Boru), 
 113, 117-18, 120. 
 
 — Murtogh (King of Munster), 
 
 127-9, 132. 
 
 — Teige, 352. 
 
 — Teige (son of Brian Boru), 123. 
 
 J 
 
INDEX. 
 
 457 
 
 O'Brien, Turlogh (grandson of Brian 
 Boru), 1 20. 
 
 Turlogh (King of Ireland), 124. 
 
 Turlogh (King of Thomond), 
 
 134- 
 O'Briens, the, of Thomond, 255, 257, 
 
 299. 319, 352, 371, 177, 399, 
 
 404-5. 
 O'Brien's Bridge, 409-10, 413. 
 O'Byrnes, the, 235, 286-7, 300, 
 
 303, 312, 333, 341, 408, 415-16. 
 O'Caharney, 215. 
 O'Carrols, the, of Ely, 123, 142, 299, 
 
 302, 308, 334, 371-2, 374, 376, 
 
 381, 383, 410-11, 413. 
 O'CarroUs, the, of Oriel, 136, 200, 
 
 218, 220. 
 O'Connor of Connaught. 
 
 Cahal Carrach, 227-30. 
 
 Cahal Crovderg, 227-31, 236. 
 
 Charles, 172. 
 
 Connor Mainmoy, 225-7. 
 
 FeUm (died, 1265), 246-250, 
 
 255- 
 
 Felim (died, 13 16), 284-8. 
 
 Murrogh, 223-5. 
 
 Roderick (Ardri), 136, 177, 
 
 184-5, 187-90, 200, 206, 223, 
 
 226-8. 
 
 Rory, 124-5. 
 
 Turlogh the Great, 130-6, 164, 
 
 177. 
 
 367- 
 
 Turlogh O'Connor Don, 321, 
 
 O'Connor Don (Author), 231. 
 
 O'Connor Roe, 321, $6y, ^yy. 
 
 O'Connors, the, of Connaught, 223- 
 5^ 31, 242-50, 255-6, 285-8, 294-9, 
 
 312, 319-23, 351, 366. 
 O'Connors, the, of Offaly, 258, 302, 
 
 335, 338, 341-2, 350, 361, 367-8, 
 
 374, 376, 379-81, 383, 391-2, 399, 
 
 407, 410-11, 413, 415, 417, 420, 
 
 436. 
 O'Curry, quoted, 21-2, 29. 
 O'Dea, Connor, 299. 
 O'Dempsey, 204, 345. 
 Odin, 86. 
 O'Doherty, 220. 
 O'Donnell of Tirconnell, Godfrey, 
 
 252. 
 Manus, 377, 395-6, 412, 416-17, 
 
 420, 437, 439- 
 
 O'Donnells, the, of Tirconnell, 233, 
 258, 294, 323, 328, 340. 352, 361-2 
 366-8, 371, 374, 376-8, 382, 403-4. 
 
 the, of Corcobascin, 107, 
 
 O'Dowda, 244. 
 O'Farrells, the, 295-6, 352. 
 Offaly, 411, 414. 
 
 O' Flaherty of lar Connaught, 228, 
 244, 247. 
 
 (Author), 6, 12, 13. 
 
 O'Flynn (poet), 143. 
 
 Cumee, 218, 220. 
 
 Ogham writing, 29. 
 
 Ogygia, ancient name of Ireland, 4, 
 
 O'Hanlons, the, 328, 361, 363-4. 
 
 O'Hartigan (poet) 143. 
 
 O'Heynes, the, 117, 247. 
 
 O'Higgins (poet), 336. 
 
 O'Kellys, the, of Hymany, 117, 
 
 298-9, 321, 367. 
 Olaf, King of DubHn, 93, 95, 99. 
 Oldcastle, Sir John, 423. 
 Olden, Rev. T., 152. 
 Oliol Olum, 102. 
 OUave Fola, 14. 
 OUaves, 24. 
 O'Loughhn, Aedh, 135-6. 
 
 Ardgar, 1 26. 
 
 Con, 123, 148. 
 
 Donal, 127-9, ^33- 
 
 O'Malone, 148. 
 
 O'Mellaghlins, the, of Meath, 126, 
 129, 131, 133, 210, 242, 259, 308. 
 O'Meyey, 215.^^ g^;:,-,:. , 
 O'Mores, the, of Leix, 184, 287, 300, 
 308, 338, 374, 376, 391-2, 407-8, 
 411, 413, 420, 436. 
 O'Muldory, Flaherty, 220, 227. 
 O'MuUoys, the, 410. 
 O'Neill, coadjutor bishop of Limer- . 
 
 ick, 435. 
 O'Neill of Tyrone, Con (Earl of 
 Tyrone), 374, 377-9, 382-3, 396, 
 399, 407, 412-13, 416-17, 437, 439. 
 
 Donal, 279-91, 294. 
 
 Flaherty, 114, 126. 
 
 Henry, 360. 
 
 O'Neills, the, of Clanneboy, 294, 
 
 399. 
 O'Neills, the, of Tirowen, 233, 242, 
 255, 258, 294, 323-4, 328, 340. 
 345, 352, 366, 403-4. 
 O'Nolans, the, 300, 302, 410. 
 
458 
 
 INDEX. 
 
 Ordericuo Vitalis, quoted, 266. 
 Orders of Irish Saints, 60. 
 O'Reilly, the, 328, 343, 412, 416,-17. 
 Ormond, Earls of, 301, 309, 324, 
 
 334, 339-42, 344-6, 361-2, 373, 
 
 375-6, 379-81, 404, 414, 429, 
 
 435-6. 
 
 Sir James, 361, 364. 
 
 O'Rorke, Tighernan, 177, 200, 203. 
 O'Rorkes, the, 114, 125, 134, 200. 
 Ossian, 16. 
 Ossory, Earl of, 381-4, 408-10. 
 
 province of, 183-4, 190, 424. 
 
 O 'Toole, Laurence, Archbishop of 
 
 DubUn, 187, 201, 207, 263, 266, 
 
 300, 
 
 Turlogh, 419. 
 
 O'Tooles, the, 235, 287, 302, 308, 
 
 341, 415-416. 
 
 Pagan Ireland, literature of, 29. 
 
 Palatinates, 301-2. 
 
 Pale, the, 313, 326, 339-41, 347, 
 
 349, 364, 365, 399. 
 Palladius, 38. 
 
 Pander, the, quoted, 398, 426-7. 
 Paparo, Cardinal, 154. 
 Paresse, betrays Maynooth, 391. 
 ParUaments, Irish, 237-40, 305, 
 312-317, 342, 344, 346-7, 349, 
 
 350, 362, 416, 430. 
 Parthalon, 5. 
 
 Patrick, monk of Glastonbury, 32, 
 144. 
 
 Patrick, St., his birth and early life, 
 33 ; a slave in Ireland, 34 ; his 
 escape, education abroad and 
 second coming to Ireland, 35-7 ; 
 his missionary labours, 38 ; 42, 
 44 ; describes the generosity of 
 the Irish, 142 ; his death, 43, his 
 relics scattered, 433. 
 
 Paulinus, 62. 
 
 Payne, Bishop of Meath, ^6^. 
 
 Pelagianism in the Irish Church, 
 68, 139. 
 
 Pembridge, Sir R., 406. 
 
 Pestilence of the fourteenth century, 
 308. 
 
 Petrie, on the Round Towers, 17 1-3. 
 
 Phallic Theory of the Round 
 
 Towers, 172. 
 Phoenicians, the, i. 
 Picts, the, 17, 51-2, 62. 
 Pilgrimages to Rome, 153. 
 Pinkerton, quoted, 58. 
 Piatt, Danish chief at Clontarf, 116. 
 Plein-Phuttoge, treaty of, 108. 
 Pliny, his knowledge of Ireland, 2. 
 Plutarch, 4. 
 Pole, Cardinal, and the Geraldines, 
 
 396. 
 Poynings, Sir Edward, 361-363. 
 Poynings' Law, 362. 
 Prendergast, Maurice de, 181, 184, 
 
 190. 
 Prisoners, treatment of, by Henry 
 
 VIII., 394. 
 Proctors of the Clergy, 238, 430. 
 Ptolemy, his Map of Ireland, 2. 
 
 Q 
 
 Quartadecimans, 69. 
 
 R 
 
 Rahan, monastery of, 59. 
 
 Raths, 30. 
 
 RathUn Island, 279. 
 
 Raymond le Gros, 185, 187, 189-90, 
 
 205-9. 
 Redchair, 106. 
 Reeves, Dr., quoted, 49, 53. 
 Regan, Maurice, 179, 183, 187, 211. 
 Regnar Lodbrog and Turgesius, 89. 
 Remonstrance of Donal O'Neill, 
 
 277, 281-3. 
 Revenue of the Irish Government, 
 
 326, 341. 
 Rhodanus, St., y6. 
 Rhymers, outlawed, 349. 
 Richard I., 198, 219. 
 Richard II., his first coming to 
 
 Ireland, 327-9 ; his second 
 
 coming, 331-3. 
 Richard III., his popularity in 
 
 Ireland, 355-6. 
 Richmond, Countess of, 370. 
 Rokeby (Viceroy), 308. 
 RoUo, Duke of Normandy, 94. 
 Romanesque, Irish, 168. 
 
INDEX. 
 
 459 
 
 Rome and the Early Irish Church, 
 
 41, 67, 152. 
 Roscommon, castle of, 257, 371. 
 Round Towers, 140, 170-3. 
 Rumold, St., 71. 
 
 Sacrifices, human, in Pagan Ireland, 
 21. 
 
 Sanders, Bishop of Leighhn, 432. 
 
 Satire, poetic, 23, 336. 
 
 Savages, the, of Down, 294, 323 412. 
 
 Scattery Island, 107. 
 
 Schools, first Christian, 45, 54. 
 
 Schwartz-Martin, 357-8. 
 
 Scotia, 4, 17, 18. 
 
 Scots, 17, 18. 
 
 Scribes, 45, 159. 
 
 Scrope, Sir S., 334. 
 
 Sculpture, Irish, character of, 170. 
 
 Scythians, the, 10, 13. 
 
 Senchan, 56. 
 
 Sept, constitution of, 20. 
 
 Settlers, English adopt Irish man- 
 ners and customs, 297, 307, 313- 
 14 ; their conduct declared illegal, 
 342, 349, 362, 401. 
 Shrines, 162. 
 
 Sigurd, Earl of Orkneys, 115. 
 Simnel, Lambert, 356-8. 
 Sitric of Dublin, 115, 120, 130, 
 Six Articles, the, 441. 
 Skalds, Scandinavian, 87. 
 Skeffington, Sir W., 381-3, 390-3. 
 Skellig Island, 88. 
 Slaves in Ireland, 25. 
 Slevin, Chief Bard, no. 
 SUgo, 251, Z77- 
 Stanley (Viceroy), 336. 
 Staples, Bishop of Meath, 440. 
 Stihcho, 17, 18. 
 St. Lawrence, Sir Armoric, 216. 
 St. Leger, Sir A., 410, 415. 
 Stokes, Miss M,, 66, 
 
 Whitley, 33, 36-7. 
 
 Stowe Missal, 163. 
 
 Strabo, 2. 
 
 Strongbow, 178, 186, 91, 200-8. 
 
 Suibne, 143. 
 
 Surrey, Earl of, 373-5. 
 
 Supremacy, Act of, 428, 431. 
 
 Oath of, 429, 432, 434, 436-9, 
 
 Synods, 41, 70, 148, 154, 198, 201. 
 262, 266, 425. 
 
 T 
 
 Tacitus, 3, 9, 30, 52, 255. 
 
 Tain-bo-Cuailgne, 55. 
 
 Talbot, Archbishop of Dublin, 339. 
 
 Sir John (Earl of Shrewsbury), 
 
 336-40, 342. 
 Tallaght, monastery of, 59. 
 Tanistry, 21, 418. 
 Tara brooch, 146. 
 
 Feis of, 14, 16, 22, 75, 82. 
 
 Palace of, 76. 
 
 Psalter of, 14. 
 
 Teltown, or Tailtown, assembly of, 
 
 23. 137- 
 Thierry, 64. 
 Thighernach, 14, 148. 
 Thomond, province of, 102-3, 123, 
 
 134, 250, 255, 257, 299, 319-20, 
 
 352, 409- 
 Thor, 87. 
 
 Three Orders of Saints, 60. 
 Thule Ultima, 18, 62, 
 Tiptoft (Viceroy), 347-8. 
 Tirconnell and Tirowen, wars of, 
 126, 134, 220, 251-3, 258, 323, 
 
 353. 2>77-^' 
 
 Tirrey, Bishop of Cork, 432, 440. 
 Tithes, payment of, 154. 
 Tocomra, assembly of, 21. 
 Tomar, of Limerick, 97. 
 Tomar's Wood, 116, 118. 
 Tonsure, Irish form of, 67. 
 Trian, Saxon, 139. 
 Tribute, forms of, 26. 
 Trim, Parliament held at, 342, 350. 
 Trinitarian monasteries, 434. 
 Tuam, Archbishops of, 425-6. 
 
 School of, 60. 
 
 Tuathal, 15. 
 Turgesius, 89, 91. 
 
 U 
 
 Ufford, Sir R,, 281, 306. 
 Uisneach, Assembly of, 22. 
 Uladh, 127, 136. 
 Ulster, province of, 216, 401-2 
 Usher, quoted, 60, 152-3, 161 
 
460 
 
 INDEX. 
 
 Vallancey, 172. 
 Virgilius, St., 66, 71. 
 Vivian, Cardinal, 217, 224. 
 
 W 
 
 Waagen, Dr., 161. 
 
 Wace, Master, 192. 
 
 Warbeck, Perkin, 363-4 
 
 War Cries, 307, 362. 
 
 Ware, quoted, 237, 391. 
 
 Warner, 396. 
 
 Wars of the Roses, 406. 
 
 Warwick, Earl of, 356. 
 
 Warwick, the Kingmaker, 405. 
 
 Water, Mayor of Cork, 363. 
 
 Waterford City, Strongbow and 
 
 Eva MacMurrogh married at 
 
 186 ; taken by Henry II., 200 ; 
 
 granted to the Danes, 202 ; 
 
 Richard II, landed at, 327, 331 ; 
 
 its loyalty to England, 359. 
 
 Westwood, 160, 162. 
 
 Wexford City, captured by Anglo- 
 Normans, 182 ; retaken by Irish, 
 190 ; pays Black Rent to Art 
 MacMurrogh, 354. 
 
 White, Stephen, 195. 
 
 White Book of the Exchequer, 
 368. 
 
 Wilde, Sir William, 8. 
 
 Wilfred, Archbishop of York, 71. 
 
 WilUam of Malmesbury, quoted, 
 198. 
 
 William the Conqueror, 180, 
 192, 265. 
 
 Wiltshire, Earl of, 345. 
 
 Windsor, Treaty of, 207, 233. 
 
 Witchcraft, 424, 
 
 Wolsey, Cardinal, m, 375, 379- 
 82, 402. 
 
 Women in Battle, 83. 
 
 Worsae. quoted, 140. 
 
 Wyclyffe, 422-3. 
 
 York, Duke of, 342-6. 
 — Richard of, 363. 
 
A 
 
Date Due 
 
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