it.- tn 5- ''^,- /^1 C"- ^ K.a.§raved 'hj A.L.Pick -/ ^/' ■ /rr^/i^/.../jf/^r /Jr MitmfVi mm ms>nmim BY PATM]L€K(GfK]feXIL¥,ES ;(])?. ■m ;/'/- -/.v^/ i/yoj/^^y m^ 3i,.G/u. e. mm X .3^. Zi,- ,oz. ^£-^ A little reflection on the Beith-Luis-Nion, and the Oghum of the Scotic language, which has been explained, will suffice to confound Bollandus. A language, and conse- quently the elements of it, are either original, or derived from some other which has served as a model to it. Let Bollandus show us this other language from which the Scotic is derived, and upon what model its characters have been formed. We challenge him to do it : let him inform us at what time and by whom, the Beith-Luis-Nion, composed of a number of letters different in their figure and order from those of other alphabets that are known, and the Oghum, which is a mysterious manner of writing, and unknown in the other languages of Europe, Avere in- troduced into Ireland ? According to his system, it was not before the conversion of Ireland, whereas the Scoto-Milesians (as he avers) had not the use of characters : if introduced since that period, let him tell us by whom that manner of writing was intro- duced, and for what purpose ? And as they had already received from St. Patrick the Roman letters, much more easy, why did they adopt others ? Why did they take away from the Roman alphabet five or six letters ? That is what he cannot explain, because, as Harris says, no alphabet can be found after the most rigorous research, not even the Runic, whose elements resemble, in figure and order, those of the Beith-Luis-Nion, or the Oghum. The great number of authors whose works were written in the Scotic lan- guage before Christianity, is an unanswera- ble proof against the assertions of Bollandus. Keating on the reign of Laogare II., and Gratianus Lucius, in the 20th chapter of his " Cambrensis Eversus," quote many of them. The first is Amergin, brother of Heber and Heremon, who was poet and supreme judge of the colony,* in the beginning of its estab- * Ogyg. part 3, cap. 30. lishment in Hibemia. O'Flaherty quotes the following hemistich as a remnant of his poetry :* "Eagna la heagluis adir; agus fealtha laflaithibh." Which he thus renders into Latin : " Aris prajpositus fit doctior, aptior armis." Ethrial Maclrial Faidh, that is,t Ethrial son of Irial the prophet, monarch of Ireland, had written, according to Keating, the his- tory of the voyages and migrations of the Milesians up to his time ; besides a great number of tracts on various subjects, viz., history, the genealogies of families, medi- cine, philosophy, the laws, &c. O'Flaherty mentions three celebrated poets under Con- chovar, who began to reign in Ulster some years before the birth of our Saviour. These poets, whose names are, Forchern Mac- Deagh, Neidhe MacAidhna, and Aithirne MacAmhnas, composed many works upon poetry and the laws ; they were likewise the authors of precepts, or celestial judgments, which O'Flaherty calls " juditia coelestia." All these were revised, enlarged, and pub- lished by Kenfolae MacOlill, antiquarian, in the seventh century, under the reign of Donald the Second. | Jocelyn, in his panegyrics on Dubthach O'Lugair,^ a celebrated poet, who was con- verted by St. Patrick, II says, that " the tal- ents he had used before his conversion, to celebrate the praises of the false gods, were afterwards applied by him to praise the true God and his saints. "T[ The characters which he made use of were the Scotic, because he had then known no other. A treatise on the " Education of a Prince," written by Cormac Ulfada, monarch of Ireland in the third century, addressed to his son Cairbre Liffeachair, may be added to the above. This tract was found in a collection of ancient monuments by O'Duve- gan. O'Flaherty, in fine, assures us, upon the authority of Dualdus Firbissius,^n ancient antiquarian, that in the time of St. Patrick, one hundred and eighty volumes concerning the doctrine and discipline of the druids were condemned and burned.** The epoch of the use of letters among * Anno Mundi 2292. t Anno Mundi 3025. \ War. de Script, cap. 1. § Ogyg. part 3, cap. 30. II Harris, vol. 2, cap. 3. IT " The verses which he had formerly composed in praise of his false gods, now changing to a better purpose his thoughts and language, he composed more renowned poems and sermons in praise of the omnipotent God and of his saints.'' — Jocelin in his Life of St. Patrick. ** Ogyg. part 3, cap. 30, p. 219. 42 HISTORY OF IRELAND. the Scoto-Milosians may be placed about the time of their passiiijr ironi Spain into Irohmd. All civc-iinistauccs arc favorable to this opinion : the only difficulty is to know from whom they had received them, whether from the Pluenicians, or from the Greeks. " The druids," says Caesar, " never com- mitted their mysteries to writing, except in their public acts, in which they made use of Greek characters." This gave rise to a belief, that the ancient Britons and the Mile- sians had borrowed the cliaractcrs of the Greeks, through the channel of the druids, which supposes a commerce to have been between the Greeks and the islands of Bri- tain. Saint Jerome, indeed, in accordance with ancient authors, informs us that the Greeks had spread themselves over the whole of Europe, along the coasts and neighboring countries, as far as the British isles. But we must understand that Saint Jerome, and the authors whom he follows, allude to the ancient Greeks. Herodotus tells us that those parts of Europe were not known to the modern Greeks. Polybius, who lived after him, says, that neither the Greeks nor Romans were acquainted with the islands of Britain. Dion of Nice assures us that in the third century it was doubted if they were not a continent. We cannot attribute the commerce alluded to to the modern Greeks, who, being exhausted by long wars, were more like subjects than al- lies to the Romans, and unable therefore to attempt such enterprises. Thus if we wish to believe that there had been a commerce between the Greeks and the islands of Bri- tain, we must ascend to much earlier periods, viz., to the times of the most ancient Greeks, as Camden calls them, " Graeci vetustissi- mi,"* who frequented, he says,whether in the character of pirates, or as traders, the islands of Britain. It is not certain, however, that the Greeks ever had an established or regular trade with the islands of Britain. It might be, that chance had driven some of their vessels thither, as it did the fleet of the Argonauts, which is supported by the assumed authority of Adrianus Junius ; or it might be, that a storm had cast upon the coast of the country some merchant-ships. But if the Greeks were at any time masters of the above island, or traded thither, can it be imagined that they would have been so ignorant of them in the time of Herodotus ? Or if they had been established there at a later period, how could they have doubted, as Dion of Nice says, whether they were a continent or not ? * Brit. p. 20. As to the druids, it is not proved that they had come from Greece. It maybe thought, for sake of argument, that they had received their characters from the Phocians, the first Greek colony that settled at Marseilles, about six hundred years before the Christian era. However, a difficulty still remains ; the cere- monies of the druids, and the care they took to conceal their mysteries, would appear to have a greater reference to the ceremonies and hieroglyphics of the ancient Egyptian priests, than to those of the Greeks. Thus nothing prevents us to imagine that the first druids came from Egypt into Spain, with the Gadelians, and that they followed the Milesians into Ireland, from whence they spread themselves subsequently into Bri- tain, Gaul, and other countries of Europe. The opinion of those who think that the Milesians had received their characters im- mediately from the Phoenicians, appears more like the truth, on account of the trade those people had together, either in Spain or Ireland. The analogy which Caesar discovers between the characters of the druids and those of the Greeks, does not at all affect this opinion ; as, being derived from the same source, they must be ex- tremely alike. We know that the Phoenicians were mas- ters of almost all the nations of Europe, but particularly of Asia Minor, Greece, and the nations bordering on the Mediterranean. They sailed, said Newton, in the times of David and Solomon,* upon the Mediterra- nean Sea as far as Spain, and beyond it ; they introduced everywhere the sciences, particularly navigation, astronomy, and let- ters ; and the coasts of Ireland, says Ware, after Bochart, were known to them.f The Spanish origin which ancient authors give to the Scoto-Milesians, and the epoch of their passing from Spain into Ireland, being compared with these circumstances, are a strong indication that letters were in very early use among this people, and support firmly the opinion of those who think that they had received them rather from the Phoenicians than from the Greeks. The use, therefore, of letters, added to a taste for history, and the necessity of preserving the genealogies in all their purity, to regulate the succession to the throne, afford a strong pre- sumption that history prevailed among them. The Scoto-Milesians had, like the Jews, powerful motives to influence them to pre- serve their history, and the genealogies of their chief families. The means which * Chron. p. 12. - + Antiq. Hib. cap. 1. THE SCOTO-MILESIANS. 43 they made use of in handing down their traditions, bespeak a nation equally lettered and polished. By a fundamental law of state, it was necessary to be of the house of Milesius to possess the throne, the sover- eignty of the provinces, or to fill high military posts, or the magistracy. The interests of the princes and of the people, respectively, required them to take measures to prevent deception ; very wise laws were enacted in regard to those rights. 011am Fodla, who reigned about three centuries after the establishment of the colony in Ireland, founded the triennial assembly at Tara : he created the offices of antiquaries in the different provinces, to watch over and pre- serve the exploits of their heroes, and the genealogies of families. He ordained that the genealogical and historical records of those antiquarians should be examined in the triennial assembly, by commissioners appointed for that purpose ; he decreed heavy penalties against those who might be discov- ered to prevaricate in the discharge of their duty. Lastly, he enacted that copies of such private registries as were thus examined and made pure, should be inserted in the great book or registry, since called the " Psalter of Tara," which was written in verse, after the manner of the ancient Arabs. This regulation was frequently renewed and confirmed by other princes ; and that assembly was continued up to the time of Christianity. Besides those registries, we have, since the time of paganism, the " Black Book," and that of " Conquests," the whole of which is given in the " Psalter of Cashel," and in other modern works. Cairbre Liffeachair, monarch in the third century, composed the " History of the Kings," his predecessors, a copy of which had been preserved until the last century, in the abbey of Icolm-kill ; and Sir George M'Kenzie, in his " Defence of the Royal Line of Scotland," speaks of having seen it. Since the time of Christianity, we have the book called "Na-Gceart," written half in Irish, and half Latin, by Saint Benignus, disciple of Saint Patrick. The psalter called " Na-Rann," those of Cashel, Armagh, Cluan-Mac-Noisk, Cluan-Aigneach, and of Gravala ; the books of Fiontan of Leix, Glandaloch, Roscrea, and Kilkenny. The " Martyrology"ofMarianus Gorman, written in the eleventh century, besides many ancient Irish manuscripts, of Cluan-Mac-Noisk, translated into English in 1627, by Conall Mac-Geoghegan.* * Ogyg- Epist. p. 10. The annals of Ulster, named " Ultoni- enses," by Usher, written partly in Irish, and partly in Latin, and finished in the sixteenth century, by Roderick Cassidy, archdeacon of Clogher,* who had written the last part of it. The annals of Tigernach, of Cluan-Mac- Noisk, written in the Irish language and characters, in the eleventh century. The annals of Innisfail, written in the thirteenth century, and the Synchronisms of Flannus a Monasterio. The greatest part of these writings are still entire. We discover other extracts scattered in the writings of Lecan, and those of Molaga, Mholing, O'Duvegan, Mac-Egan, Moel Conrj^, O'Bro- deen, O'Dorau, O'Duneen, &c. All these authors have written one after the other ; they have transmitted age after age, and as if from hand to hand, the thread of the history of the Milesians, from the beginning. Scarcely an age passes without some v/ho write the history of every country. The last historians, if general, always renew and relate, besides the present, whatever might be contained in the ancient monuments of a country ; so that, should the original ones be lost, or consumed by time, their sub- stance is still preserved in modern works. The reality of the monuments of the Mile- sians cannot be doubted ; they are quoted by authors that are well known and inca- pable of imposing them by substituting chi- meras for the true ones. Keating, Colgan, Gratianus Lucius, Walsh, O'Flaherty, Ken- nedy, and others, quote them in every page. Usher speaks of the annals of Tigernach, and of those which he calls " Ultonienses."t Ware quotes the psalter named " Narran," written in the eighth century, half Irish and half Latin, by Aongus Kelide, or Colideus.| He praises the " Psalter of Cashel, and its author, Cormac-Mac-Cullinan, bishop of Cashel, and king of the province of Munster, in the beginning of the tenth century ; he says, that this book is highly esteemed, and that its author was both learned and well versed in the antiquities of his country. ">^ Sir George MacKenzie, a Scotchman, in the advertisement prefixed to his " Defence of the Royal Line of Scotland," printed at Edinburgh in 1685, speaks of some Irish manuscripts in the abbey of Icolm-kill, which * War. de Script. Hib. t Primord. 15 et 16, passim. t Og;yg. part 3, cap. 17 et 21. ' § " He was a man most learned and skilled in the antiquities of Ireland, and wrote in his native language, a history commonly called the Psalter of Cashel, which is still extant and held in high esteem." — Antiquities, c. 2. 44 HISTORY OP IRELAND. he speaks of having seen. The following are his wonls : " Since I have commenced this work, a very ancient manuscript of the abbey of Icolm-kill has fallen into my hands ; it was Avritten by Cairbre Liffeachair, who lived six generations before St. Patrick, and about the time of our Saviour ; an exact account is given in it of Irish kings, from whence I infer, that as the Irish had manuscripts at that period, we must certainly have possess- ed them likewise." There are, in the same book, many things added by the druids of that time. " I have seen," continues Mac- Kenzie, " an ancient genealogy of the kings of the Scots in Albania, which agrees with what has been said in our history on the crowning of Alexander II., and which is preserved at Icolm-kill as a sacred deposite. I have," he says, " likewise seen another ancient manuscript, which sets forth that the Dalreudini of Albania have been established here (in Scotland) six generations before Eire, whom Usher calls the father of our kings. From the same manuscript it is discovered, that Angus Tuirtheampher had reigned in Ireland five hundred years before our Feargus I., and that after his time, the Albanian Scots had separated from those in Ireland, which accords with our histories, that say the Scots inhabited this country for a long period before Feargus established himself in it. These same Irish manuscripts agree also with the history of Cairbre, whereof mention is made above : these are, in fact, the additions made to his book by our ancient senachies." Such is the formal and positive testimony of MacKenzie in sup- port of ancient Irish manuscripts. The annals of Ulster, of Tigernach, of Innisfail, which are mentioned in the cata- logue of English and Irish manuscripts printed at Oxford,* are found, with many * " The annals of Ulster is a book of most an- cient character, and has been written partly in Irish and partly in Latin, but in the Irish charac- ters ; it commences with the year of our Lord 444, and ends a. d. 1041, in which Rodericus Cassideus, archdeacon of Ciogher, died ; he wrote the latter part of said annals.'' — Vol. 2. '• The annals of Tigernachus (according to Ware) Clonmacnaisensis, are mutilated in the beginning. The author touches on universal history till the coming of St. Patrick ; after this he describes the affairs of Ireland till the year of our Lord 1088, which he died : the book is in the Irish characters and language." — Vol. 3. " In the annals of the monastery of Innisfail, the author lightly touches on universal history, from the creation of the world to the year of our Lord 430. After this he describes, with great accuracy, Irish affairs to the year of our Lord 1215, in which he lived."— FoZ. 26. other Irish manuscripts, in the cabinet of the Duke of Chandos, in England, who has had them since the death of the Earl of Clar- ndon. The late king of England, James II., had a large manuscript volume in folio, called eavar Lecan, taken from the library of Trinity College, Dublin ; it was afterwards, by order of the prince, who had an act passed before notaries for the purpose, deposited in the archives of the Irish college in Paris, and is carefully preserved. The style of this manuscript is so concise, and the words so abridged, that it is difficult to find any among the learned in that language able to decipher it. The translator of Keating's history into English, printed at Dublin in 1723, and afterwards in London, informs us in his preface, that there is in the library of Trinity College, in the same city, among other monuments, a volume in folio, written upon parchment many centuries ago ; that this volume contains extracts from the Psalters of Tara, Cashel, Armagh, and other monuments of antiquity ; and in order to obtain the reading of it for six months, that he had been obliged to give security to the amount of one thousand pounds sterling. Would he have dared to publish and to have printed in the same city that account, and give the name of Doctor Raymond, during his lifetime, who had been, he says, his se- curity, if he feared that he could be contra- dicted ? That is not probable. The monuments to which we have been alluding, besides many others preserved in the cabinets of some lords of the country, are fragments that have escaped the fury of the Danes ; they can be compared to inscriptions engraven upon columns injured by time, which are at present useless in a country where the language is in its decline. From such sources, those who have treated of the subject within the two last centuries, have been supplied : when the language was better understood than at present, it was then possible to consult these monuments ; but those opportunities will disappear the more as time advances. The value of history is sustained by the materials of which it is composed ; but it is not in the writings of foreigners that these materials should be looked for ; they must be taken from the monuments of that nation which is to form the subject of the history. The Milesians were very jealous of their antiquities : the regulations made in their assemblies at Tara, for the purpose of pre- serving their annals, convince us easily of this. Although their monuments be written THE SCOTO-MILESIANS. 45 in a language which is strange and un- known to the other nations of Europe, that does not take away from the truth of the facts which are contained in them. I am well aware that there are some among those who take the honorable name of Irishmen, as well as among foreigners, who seek to enfeeble the authority of the monuments of the Irish. Both are influ- enced by different motives, but their attempts are supported by negative arguments, and conjectures drawn from doubtful and obscure principles. If evidence and authority are essential to support historical facts,* they are not less requisite, when the question to subvert them is debated : criticism likewise, when two such means are wanting, will fall of itself. Neither are mathematical nor legal proofs necessary to maintain historical facts : moral ones ought to suffice : reason does not permit us to seek but what are merely proportioned to the nature of the subject. The certainty of history cannot be more than a moral certainty, founded upon the tradition of a people, upon their ancient monuments, upon grounds that are probable, or upon the testimony of men who are worthy of belief. The historians even of our time have never seen, of themselves, the one-thousandth part of what they relate. We must presume as much upon the tradition of an entire people, as upon the testimony of two witnesses in a private cause, the truth of which is founded only upon the presumption that they do not perjure themselves, so that the most solid support of the history of a country is the general opinion of its inhabitants, from whom strangers ought to derive every thing that they wish to know concerning them. Critics think that they are competent to judge of things which they probably have never seen, and which perhaps they would not be capable of understanding, even though they should see them. The first class of critics, as above, strive to find the origin of the Milesians among the Gauls, and by dint of calculating and combining the ideas which they have drawn from the writings of Caesar, Strabo, Tacitus, and Ptolemy, they say, that Gaul, so fertile and abounding in fruit, was not less so in men ; that it had been, from time to time * " There are two things, viz., reason and au- thority, which tend to confirm or impugn all mat- ters : but in the study of antiquities, authority and the knowledge of past events are most powerful and are supported, not on account of reasons addu- ced, but by the authority of writers." — Caind. in his epistle on the Ogyg. p. 6. obliged to send some colonies into the neigh- boring countries, and of course into Spain on account of its proximity, and that the descendants of these colonies had perhaps passed subsequently from Spain to Ireland. We see that this mode of reasoning is found- ed upon conjectures only. Criticism affects, after the manner of Ptolemy, to discriminate and divide into tribes the ancient inhabit- ants of Ireland, under the names of Cauci, Menapii, Brigantes, Gangani, Luceni, &c., and to discover the origin of these people in the different countries with which they think those names had reference or affinity. The Cauci, it is thought by critics, were from Germany, the Menapii from Belgic Gaul, the Brigantes from Great Britain : the Gan- gani and Luceni are represented to be from Spain, and according to Camden and Silius Italicus to be of Scythian origin. But besides Ptolemy's not being able to know the Milesians at a time when com- merce was rare between nations that were far apart, he could therefore know them but through the imperfect report of sailors, who had perhaps scarcely seen the coasts of the island. We know that the Greeks and an- cient geographers were in the habit of cor- rupting, or changing altogether the proper names of countries, nations, and even of cities, and of giving new names to them ac- cording to their own fancy.* The several nations named by Ptolemy, are, as O'Flaherty says, strange and as little known to the Milesians, as the most distant parts of America ; " so that it is astonishing," continues he, " that men so discerning in other things, could dwell on such absurdi- ties, and make, in foolish conjectures, a dis- play of their ignorance of our history. "f It is certain that the ancient monuments of the Milesians, to which alone we should refer in every matter that concerns them, make no mention of such a mixture of people. They inform us of the Milesians, or of the Scots, as the only possessors of the island, many centuries before Jesus Christ, and that they were of Scythian origin. Is there any thing in that impossible or extraordinary 1 What could be their motive for imposing upon the world a desire of being descended from a barbarous nation, and so distant as * Joseph. lib. 1. cont. Appian. Camd. Brit, p. 17. t " Great surprise seizes me, that men otherwise most sagacious, should make such follies of great moment, when laboring to develop them : they have sacrificed their time, and, during these foolish and prophetic eiForts, betrayed their ignorance of our affairs." — Ogyg. part 1. p. 16. 46 HISTORY OF IRELAND. that of Scythia, rather than from neighboring nations Would it not be eiinally glorious for them to have had their origin from Gaul, or any other nation on the continent? Certainly it would. But it is more fit that ehildven should follow the traditions and writings that they have re- ceived from their fathers, rather than attach themselves to conjectures which are desti- tute of proofs. As to those who pretend that the Milesians had the use of characters before St. Patrick, what has been explained concerning the lan- guage and characters of that people should satisfy them. The use of letters among a people pre- supposes polished manners and cultivated minds : it cannot (say the critics) be ima- gined, that such qualities could belong to the Milesians, whom Strabo, Pomponius Mela, and other ancient authors represent to have been ferocious, rude, and barbarous before Christianity. The Romans, who never had been masters of Ireland,* had not therefore the opportu- nity of being judges of the morals of its in- habitants. Polybius, more ancient, by two centuries, than Strabo, assures us, that the British isles were scarcely known, and that every thing which could be said of them, was but the effect of the imagination.! Dion of Nice agrees, that in his time it was still doubted if they were islands or a continent. In the first century also, Agricola was ignorant whether Britain was an island, until he had sailed round the Orkneys with his fleet. By this it appears, that in the time of Strabo, who lived in the first century, Ireland was not known to the Romans,| and, as Nicholson in his Irish Library asserts, those authors, not knowing what to say of it, have ventured to give some accounts of that island which they had perhaps received from sailors cast upon its coasts, where the inhabitants might have been what they are at present, among the most polished nations, cruel and ferocious to those who are ship- wrecked upon their shores. The candid avowal of Stral)o himself shows it : he agrees that he had no witnesses worthy of belief for all that he had said.^ * >' But I cannot be induced to think, that this country ever fell into the power of the Romans." — Camd. Brit. p. 729. t " They dream, if they either speak or write concerning them." — Polyb. b. 3, p. 88. t Chap. 1. p. 1. § " Concerning Ireland I have nothing certain which I can say. The things indeed which we It appears that there was a custom for- merly common to every nation, of affixing to each in their turn the name of barbarians. In the opinion of the Egyptians, the first Greeks were barbarians ; the latter desig- nated the Romans by the same title ; the Romans reproached the Carthaginians with their bad faith, " fides punica," which became proverbial among those who were them- selves wanting in good faith to all the world. In fine, all those (whom we would at present more politely call strangers) were looked upon by the Romans as barbarians, among whom they did not discover either their religion, customs, or a quick submission to the power of their arms. Some moderns have borrowed from the ancients, of whom they are but the echo, the ideas they had formed of the Milesians ; they have even outdone them in the portraits which they have drawn to the disadvantage of that people, according as their own interest re- quired it. Gildas Britannicus, surnamed the wise,* the first British author of whom we have any account, wrote in the sixth century a treatise, " De Excidio Britanniee ;" he seems to doubt if his countrymen, the ancient Britons, left any monuments or manuscripts to transmit to posterity the remembrance of their origin, as he says that he Avas obliged to follow in his writings the accounts given of his country by foreigners. This doubt of Gildas is further strengthened by the silence observed by Csesar, who makes no mention of any custom of writing history to have been among the Britons. If these (say the critics) had not in the sixth century any historical monuments, what pretensions could the Scoto-Milesians have to them, whose dates are much higher than the Christian era? The weakness of the comparison will be felt, by attending a little to the situation of both countries at that time. The Scoto- Milesians, free and independent, lived within themselves, and were separated by their in- sular situation, from the rest of the world ; while the Britons were slaves, trampled upon by a foreign power, and often harassed by the Pictsand Scots. The Scoto-Milesians held a superiority over them in every thing : they made war upon them in their own country ; they carried away prisoners ; and, in fine, were a lettered people, which cannot be said of the Britons. Shall it be then pretended, that, because there were not in relate are unfounded, from the want of witnesses worthy of belief." * Camd. Brit. edit. Lond. p. 788. THE SCOTO-MILESIANS. 47 the time of Gildas, any historical monuments among the Britons, the neighboring nations must have been also without any ? The inference cannot appear to be a just one. But they say that the modern critics (English of course) have despised and re- jected those chimeras of antiquity to which the Milesians aspire, as well as the authori- ties they produce to support them. It is evident that those critics should not be be- lieved in respect to the monuments of that people : they were unacquainted with the language in which they were written ; it was altogether impossible for them to know it. There are but few even among the natives capable of deciphering their ancient wri- tings : it is by a particular study only, of the abbreviations, punctuations, and of the an- cient characters of that language, and the Oghum, that they can attain to it. The old Scotic language, which was spoken two thousand years ago, and which is made use of in their monuments, was entirely differ- ent from what is now, and has been spoken, within the last few centuries ; and has be- come a jargon by the adoption of many Latin, English, and French words. Are these not difficulties, which it is impossible for a stranger to surmount, who attempts to write the history of that country 1 If the primitive Irish language be scarcely known by the bulk of the nation itself, what knowledge can an Englishman have of it after the short so- journ of a few months, during which he mixes but with those who speak his own language ? If he be able to collect a fcAV imperfect frag- ments written in the Scotic language and characters by some ignorant bard, he returns to his country as much pleased as if he possessed the most authentic monuments of that nation, and his native prejudice against the Irish furnishes him with matter to amuse his readers at their expense, with accounts that are both ridiculous and absurd. Camden himself was not better informed, as appears from the imperfect sketch of the history of Ireland, which he has introduced into his " Britannia." Spelman, Stillingfleet, Nicholson, &,c., are of the same stamp : nevertheless, such are the witnesses that are at present questioned upon the antiquities of the Scoto-Milesians, and the critics that are adduced and scrupulously copied after. The judicious Ware, it is true, begins his antiquities of Ireland with the reign of Lao- gare, and the apostleship of Saint Patrick. He assigTis it as a reason for not taking them from an earlier epoch, that most of what had been written concerning the pre- decessors of that monarch, was exceedingly mixed with fables and anachronisms, " fabu- lis et anachronismis mire admixta." Two things in this must be observed : first, that, from the acknowledgment of the author, there were some kings the predecessors of Laogare, and monuments which speak of them ; second, that these monuments were mixed with fables and anachronisms. I have no doubt but his criticism is just ; this is a fault common to all ancient histories. What can be known of antiquity, if all history be rejected which contains any thing that may be false, fabulous, or supposed 1 Is not Herodotus, the father of history, called also the father of falsehood ? Why has he put forth things that are doubtful, nay untrue, according to Manetho, in regard to Egypt and the Egyptians, upon the testimony of Vulcan's priests, whom he had met with at Memphis ? Is he correct in the accounts he gives of the manners and customs of the Scj-thians, Amazons, and other countries, from hearsay ? Have the author of the Cyropedia, Titus Livy, Quintus Curtius, and others been free from the lash of criti- cism ? Have the more modern historians, Camden, Buchanan, de Thou, Mezeray, and Pere D'Orleans, escaped censure ? Is not Voltaire convicted of repeated mistakes in his " Age of Louis XIV.," in his history of Charles XIL, and in his history of the empire ? If the historians of our days were obliged to warrant every thing that they advance in their writings, their embarrassment would be very great. How many things, either from a spirit of partiality or ignorance, would be found to be suppressed ! How many would appear darkened or disfigured, from a desire of transferring to those whom they admired, the merit of some whom they disesteemed ! If the history of the late campaigns in Flanders be written, it will with justice be said, that the French were conquerors at Fontenay, Rocoux, and Lawfeld ; it will be admitted that they took the cities of Menin, Ypres, Mons, Namur, and Burgenopzoom ; but will the several circumstances and par- ticular facts be correctly detailed ? Shall there be mention made of those who gave way before the enemy ? Will they who, by not obeying their officers, contributed to the loss of the advantages gained, be likewise introduced ? Shall justice be done to such as were instrumental to the gaining of their battles, and to the taking of the cities ? Lastly, will both parties agi-ee in their ac- counts of the various operations of their campaigns ? I am of opinion that they will not. Have we not frequently witnessed the 48 HISTORY OF IRELAND. singing of the" Te Deum" by both parties when the battle was o\^er ? The history of it will bo written when the focts will be almost forgotten, and no person found to contradict them. The productions of the imagination will then take the place of truth ; the historian will flatter some at the expense of others ; the coward will be immortalized in his writings, while those will be suffered to lie buried in perpetual oblivion, who had merited the best of their country. Are not the gazettes themselves, which are published by authority, often filled with falsehood, and the editor obliged to retract what he had already made public in the ordinary course ? Let four men from dif- ferent quarters of Paris be summoned to give testimony of what had happened in the middle of the city, will they agree upon what each will tell of it in his own quarter ; and will their accounts, after having passed through many mouths, and returning to the first author, be intelligible 1 What can be concluded from this, but that there are very few histories which are not mixed with truth and fable ? To return to Ware ; can Ave not with some degree of justice say, that he was not a fit judge in this affair ? He did not know the primitive language of Ireland, so as to be competent to explore the first periods of its history. He had no opportunity of con- sulting the Psalters of Teamor, and other monuments necessary for such an under- taking ; he saw but some books of annals, written half in I^atin and half in Irish, the dates whereof ran no higher than the Chris- tian era ; in a word, every thing antecedent to that period, is accused by him, of con- taining fables and anachronisms : by these means he exonerates himself from making the researches to which he did not feel him- self competent. It is farther objected, that, because the Romans, and also the Greeks, the most civilized in their time of any people of Eu- rope, had not historians more ancient than Herodotus, who lived about four hundred years before the Christian era, the preten- sions of the Milesians, with respect to the epoch of their history, cannot be maintained. Should Ave suppose Avith those critics, Avhich is but a mere conjecture of the truth, that Herodotus Avas the first historian among the Greeks — for it is possible there were others more ancient, whose works have been lost — the comparison is still weak, and noth- ing can arise from it but a negative proof. We know that the Greeks, Avho excelled in the art of government, philosophy, elo- quence, poetry, and other fine arts, w^ere very limited in the knoAvledge of history. Josephus, in his book against Appian, asserts, that to have a knowledge of antiqui- ty, we must not seek it among the Greeks, whose Avritings, he says, are imperfect, new, and doubtful ; it appears therefore that his- tory Avas not the ruling passion of that people, although most polished in other respects. As to the Romans, they are more modern. The use of letters, says Livy, Avas rare among the ancient Romans, the memory being their only depository of time, in the first ages of the republic. If their priest, in succeeding ages, transmitted some monu- ments, they were lost in the burning of the city ;* and if we attach belief to Vossius on the subject, Fabius Pictor was the first Avho wrote the history of the republic, in the year of Rome 485. f Orpheus of Crotona, in his poem of the Argonauts, and Aristotle in his book " Of the Avorld," dedicated to Alexander,! make men- tion of Ireland, under the name of lerna, from whence Usher takes the opportunity of saying, " that the Romans could produce no testimony so authentic for the antiquity of their name.''^^* The comparison of Usher is not made in allusion to the soil or land of Rome, nor to that of Ireland ; the two coun- tries being in that respect of equal antiqui- ty ; the question is with respect to those who inhabited the two "countries, of which we have a more authentic testimony for their antiquity than the other : thus, in the opinion of Usher, the Scoto-Milesians had a better title to it than the Romans. The strength of this reasoning will be felt still more forcibly, if, with Camden, Ave con- sider that the name lerna, and others vA^hich strangers give to that island, are derived from Eire, " ab Erin ergo gentis vocabulo origi- natio pretenda ;"|| a name which has been peculiar to it since the Scoto-Milesians haA-e been in possession of the island, and which is derived from Ire, one of their ancient chiefs. If it be then alloAved us to think, with Usher, that the Scoto-Milesians were * " The writings in these days were few. The memory of exploits was the only guardian of them ; and if any things had been committed by their priests to be preserved in monuments, they must have perished in the conflagration of the city." — Livy, b. 6. t De historia Lat. lib. 1, cap. 44, et lib. 2. t Newton, Introduction to Chron. p. 6. § " Of such antiquity, that the Romans them- selves could not produce an author to bear similar testimony of^heir name." — Usher, Church Hist, p. 724. II Camd. Brit. edit. Lond. p. 726. THE SCOTO-MILESIANS. 49 established in Ireland before the Roman name was known, we may likewise suppose that, from being a lettered people, the dates of their histories are much higher than those of the Romans. The obscurity of the monuments of the Milesians is again objected to. It is a mat- ter of astonishment (people say) that among so many learned men whom Ireland has produced, none have undertaken to translate and publish, in some known language, the ancient monuments of that country, while other nations have been careful, since the invention of printing, to collect and submit to the view of the critic all their titles to an- tiquity which they have been able to dis- cover ; the Milesians are apparently diffi- dent themselves of the truth and authenticity of their monuments, as they are afraid to make them appear before the world. Of that objection I feel the full force, and see the necessity there would be for having their monuments published, in order to afford to the learned the opportunity of judging of them ; but I see at the same time the great difficulties that await the undertaking. That nation, being always engaged in wars since the twelfth century to the present time, es- pecially since the invention of printing, has never been in a state to undertake such a project. The various revolutions which have happened since the reign of Elizabeth, both in religion and general government, as well as in the fortunes of individuals, par- ticularly the Milesians, who are alone inter- ested to have their antiquities made known, have produced so great a discouragement among them, that they only thought of the present, and their greatest concern has been to save from shipwreck, and to preserve some portion of the patrimony of their ancestors, without troubling themselves about times that are so long past. Those who make the objection do not weigh the difficulties which await the at- tempt. To translate from the Irish lan- guage into others, the learned in that lan- guage should be chosen from among the natives of the country, which would create a diffidence and doubt of the capability and correctness of the translators ; and to judge of the affair, the Irish themselves would be both the judges and the party. The matter would be less difficult were the , Irish manuscripts less numerous. In order to render the enterprise useful, more than fifty volumes should be translated and published, each of which, though differing in object, have an essential connection one with the other relative to the history of that nation. It ought to satisfy us that Keating, Colgan, Gratianus Lucius, Bruodine, O'Flaherty, and many others, who have made use of and understood the Irish manuscripts, can warrant them, and say that they bear every mark of the remotest antiquity, and that the extracts which they have given from them are faithful. The same difficulties are not met with in the antiquities of other nations of Europe ; their ancient monuments are not many ; there are but few of them that mount so high as the Christian era, and are written in lan- guages and characters which are known to all the learned : whereas, those of the Mi- lesians are unknown, not only to foreigners, but even to most of the Irish themselves. How many authentic manuscripts are there remaining in the libraries of the Vati- can, of the king at Paris, and the Bodleian at Oxford, which were never published ! A cat- alogue of the English and Irish manuscripts which had never been printed, was published a few years ago in this city, (Paris.) Those who had the history of their coxm- try first printed, have taken their materials from manuscripts that were never printed, the dates of which run much higher than the period when printing was invented ; still, no lawsviits were instituted against them for not having previously published such wri- tings. The rareness of a manuscript has never been a cause for esteeming it the less, and the printing, which is but a copy, gives to it an authority so far as that it becomes thereby more generally known. The authors who have in the last three centuries given their attention to the history of Ireland, and that are best known, are Stanihurst, Peter Lombard, Keating, Mes- singham, O'SuUivan, Ward, Clery, Roth, Usher, Colgan, Ware, Bruodine, Gratiaims Lucius, Belling, Walsh, O'Flaherty, O'Reil- ly, Porter, Molyneux, Kennedy, &c. Richard Stanihurst, a native of Dublin, but of English descent, having made his studies at Oxford and at London, wrote, in the Latin language, a small volume in quarto, which was printed at Antwerp, in 1584, under the title of " De rebus in Hibernia gestis, libri quatuor," with notes upon some extracts taken from Cambrensis.* This author, being from his youth under the gui- dance of men badly disposed towards the Irish nation, lent his pen to disparage a peo- ple whom he did not know, and whose mon- uments he was unable to consult, being writ- ten in a language whereof he was altogether »^ Keating's Prcef. page 9. 50 HISTORY OF IRELAND. ignorant ; it cannot be, therefore, a matter of surprise that liis book is tiUeil witli er- rors, anil that his descriptions of the Irish nation, which make the subject of his work, are aUogetlier false.* Stani'hurst, seeing his history censured by the world, and burned by orders of the Inquisition in Portugal, promised, at a more advanced age, when he had entered into holy orders, to recant his writings by a public avowal, but was pre- vented by death before he could accomplish his purpose. Peter Lombard was born in Waterford, and being brought up from his youth at Westminster, under the eyes of the learned Camden, he displayed great proofs of capa- city for the sciences : he afterwards came to Louvain — where he completed his stu- dies, and received the doctor's cap. The provostship of the cathedral of Cambray was afterwards conferred on him ; lastly, he was appointed archbishop of Armagh, and pri- mate of Ireland. Among his other works, he has left a commentary in Latin on the history of Ireland, which was highly es- teemed, and was printed after his death, in quarto, at Louvain, in 1632.t Geoffry Keating was born in Ireland, in the sixteenth century, during the reign of Queen Elizabeth. Being intended for the ecclesiastical state, he left his country in consequence of the persecutions that were carried on against the Catholics, and came to France, where he received the degree of doctor in theology. Returning afterwards to his native country, and being perfect mas- ter of the Irish language, he collected every thing that was possible for him from the ancient monuments of Ireland, and formed the design of reducing them into the shape of history ; two motives induced him to un- dertake it, as he himself says in his preface. First, to draw from obscurity a people who were equally ancient as they were generous 'and noble, by preserving from the ravages of time, a methodical history of their monu- ments. Secondly, to develop the injustice of some authors, who, without consulting them, propagate against the Irish their false productions, which may be termed satires rather than history. He adds, that every thing which he advances in favor of Ire- la,nd arises from his love for truth, and that his testimony should not be suspected, benig himself of English origin. This qualifica- tion, however, raised suspicions from many quarters against him, particularly in the pro- * Harris, Irish Writers, vol. 2, chap. 13. t O'SuIlivan, Hist. Cath Hiber. compend. tome 1, lib. 4, cap. 1. vinces of Ulster and Connaught, where he was denied access to their monuments which would be essential for his history, and the want of which has rendered it less copious and complete than it would otherwise have been. This history, written in the Irish language, which was principally spoken at that time, has been since translated into English, and become thereby open to criti- cism. Those who think themselves interest- ed in degrading the Irish people, whose an- tiquity appears to them insupportable, severe- ly censure the history of Keating ;* while others, rhore moderate and impartial, con- sider it a valuable collection of antiquities.! It must, however, be acknowledged, that if the English translation of this history be a faithful one, which is not very certain, there are many anachronisms in the work, and ac- counts which seem to be fabulous, and ab- surd tales. However, these should be attrib- uted rather to the credulity of the author, who has too closely followed, on some occa- sions, the fictions of the ancient bards, than to any previous intention of degrading the history of the Irish nation. Among all its de- fects we discover many good and interesting things, which make that work essentially useful ; provided it be read with caution, much information may be derived with re- spect to the origin of the Milesians, their es- tablishment in the island, their wars, gov- ernment, and the succession of their kings. Thomas Messingham, a priest, and native of the province of Leinster, also apostolical prothonotary, and superior of a community of Irish in Paris, published in that city in 1624, a small folio volume in Latin, entitled " Flo- rilegium insula? Sanctonmi." It contains the lives of many of the Irish saints, taken from the best of authors. Philip O'SuIlivan, a gentleman of the no- ble family of O'SuIlivan Barry, in the county of Cork, being compelled by the misfortune of the times, in the reign of Queen Eliza- beth, to fly from his country, withdrew to Spain, where, after having completed his studies at Compostello, he composed several works in Latin ; among others, an abridg- ment of the history of Ireland, which had for its title, " Historicse Catholicse Hiberniae Compendium," dedicated to Philip IV. king of Spain, and printed at Li.sbon in 1621. The fabulous account of St. Patrick's pur- gatory, introduced into his history, after the Viscount Lamon de Parellos, a Spanish lord, has been injurious to it. In his description * Cox, Talbot, Welsh, Pref. t Approbation of Doctor Finlay, prefixed to Keat- ing's Hist. London ed. THE SCOTO-MII.ESIANS. 51 of the island, its antiquities, the invasion of the English, the fifteen years' Avar under Queen Elizabeth, and the persecution under James I., he appears to be correct. He has drawn upon himself the censure of Usher, who treats him as a faithless author, on ac- count of a tract written against him, under the title of " Archicornigeromastix." Hugh Ward, or Wardeus, a native of the county Donegal in Ulster, was first brought up at Salamanca, where he became one of the order of St. Francis, in 1616 ; he after- wards completed his studies at Paris, from whence he was called and nominated lec- turer in theology, and afterwards warden, at Louvain. As he was very learned and versed in antiquity, he took the resolution to write a universal history of the saints of his own country ; for that object he sent Michael O'Cleary, a monk of his order, to collect materials necessary for it. In the mean time he composed several works that were afterwards very useful to John Col- gan, who xmdertook, after his death, to finish his intended history. Michael O'Cleary, a native of the prov- ince of Ulster, and monk of the order of St. Francis, was sent, as has been observed, into Ireland by Ward, to make the researches necessary for the work he had contemplated. This monk performed his commission with all possible attention, without his patron having derived from it any benefit, being prevented by death. O'Cleary having formed a taste for that kind of employment, troublesome indeed, but very useful to the public, and being joined by other antiquarians of the country, particularly Ferfessius O'Conry, Peregrin O'Cleary, and Peregrin O'Dubgennan, col- lected a quantity of materials to serve for an ecclesiastical and civil history, and re- duced them into order. Some ancient mon- uments he purged, by comparing them with old manuscripts, of the errors which had crept in by the ignorance of the copyists. The first of these monuments is an his- torical abridgment of the Irish kings, their reign and succession, their genealogies and death. The second is a tract on the genealogies of their saints, called " Sanctilogium genea- logicum." The third treats of the first inhabitants, and different conquests of that island ; the succession of her kings, their wars, and oth- er remarkable events, from the deluge until the arrival of the English in the twelfth cen- tury. This book is called, " Leabhar Gab- haltas." Our author composed another work in two volumes quarto, called the Annals of Donegal, and sometimes the Annals of the Four Masters. Those two, which are not yet printed, are taken from the annals of Clon-Mac-Noisk, of Innisfail, of Senat, and many other ancient authentic monuments of the country. The first comprises its ancient history from the earliest periods till the twelfth century ; and the second, after leav- ing a chasm of about one hundred and sixty- four years, begins with the fourteenth and ends with the seventeenth centuries. O'- Flaherty* taxes these annals with an error in their chronology, but they are followed by Gratianus Lucius,! and Colgan.;!: David Roth, a native of Kilkenny, doctor of theology in the college of Douay, and bishop of Ossory, was, according to Usher, well skilled in the antiquities of his country. § He was an eloquent orator, a subtile philos- opher, a profound theologian, and a learned historian.il Various works were published by him in Latin, under borrowed names, and among others his " Hibernia Resur- gens," which was printed at Rouen, and at Cologne, in 1621.T[ James Usher, or Usserius, was a native of Dublin and well known in the republic of letters by his erudition and the great number of his works, which are a proof of it. The writings of this learned man that have any reference to our history, are his " Veterum Epistolarum Hibernicarum Syl- loge," and " Britannicarum Ecclesiarum An- tiquitates." The first contains fifty letters upon the Irish people, with some notes from the editor. This small volume was printed first in Dublin in 1630, and reprinted at Paris, 1665. The second, which was print- ed at Dublin in 1639, and at London in 1687, treats of the origin of British churches. John Colgan, a native of the county Don- egal in Ulster, and monk of the order of Saint Francis in the convent of Saint An- thony of Padua, at Louvain, where he was professor in theology, was learned in the language and antiquities of his country ; he undertook to write the lives of the Irish saints, and was the more capable of under- taking it, from being aided by the researches which Ward had got made for the same intention. In 1645 a volume in folio was published by him, at Louvain ; it contained the lives of the saints for the first three * Ogyg. prolog, p. 43. t Cambr. Evers. cap. 8. t Act Sanct. passim. § Prim. cap. 16, p. 7.37, II Syllog. epist. p. 125. ^ Messinghain, Florileg. p. 87. Ili" HISTORY OF IRELAND. months of tlic year, under the title of " Acta Sanctorum Vcteris et Majoris Scotia? '' A second vohnne was iniblished at Louvain in 1G47, which had for its title, " Triadis Thaumaturge, &c. ;" it contained the lives of St. Patrick, Saint Columb, and Saint Bridget. We have likewise a treatise from him on the country, life, and writings of John Scot, called the subtile doctor, printed in octavo, at Antwerp, in 1655. There are, in fine, many manuscript volumes at Lou- vain, of this author, which speak of the apostleship and mission of many Irish saints in foreign countries. Sir James Ware, or Wareus, a native of Dublin, made many researches useful to the history of Ireland, both in the registries and cloisters of the churches and monasteries of the country, and in the libraries of England. He published first in Dublin in 1639 a trea- tise in Latin, upon the Irish writers. In 1654, and 1658, he had the antiquities of Ireland published in London, under the title of " De Hibernia et Antiquitatibus ejus Dis- quisitiones." In fine, he has furnished a commentary on the Irish prelates, from the conversion of that country down to his time. This work has been printed at Dublin in 1665, under the title of " De Pra;sulibus Hiberniae commentarius." All these have been translated into English, and printed in folio at London, in 1705, to which is sub- joined a discourse from Sir John Davis, wherein he examines into the cause of the delay of the conquest of Ireland by the English. Ware's researches on the found- ation of the churches, the names and suc- cession of their prelates, the establishment of monasteries and religious houses, and the learned writers of that country, are extremely interesting. His works which relate to Ire- land, from the invasion of the English, are in general excellent, and worthy a man of his merit ; but his treatise on its antiquities is of small moment ; he was not sufficiently acquainted with its language, to be able to consult the monuments of that people, so that he has, at a small expense, acquired for himself the title of antiquarian. Anthony Bruodine, a native of the county Clare in Ireland, was a recoUet and professor in theology in the convent of that order at Prague. Among other works he composed a volume in quarto, entitled, " Propugnacu- lum Catholics veritatis, pars prima histor- ica, &c.," printed at Prague in 1668. John Lynch, priest and archdeacon of Tuam, and native of Galway in Connaught, was learned in the language of his country, and ably conversant in all kinds of literature. The troubles produced to his country by the war of the parliamentarians, and tyranny of Cromwell, obliged him to leave it. In 1652, he came to France, and published among other works, a volume in folio, printed in 1662, under the title of " Cambrensis Ever- sus," and under the borrowed name of " Gra- tianus Lucius." Our author with much judgment and solidity refutes the calumnies that Cambrensis had advanced against his country. In the chronology he is not very correct, and though his book be not, properly speaking, a history of Ireland, many inter- esting facts, taken from the antiquities of that country, are found in it. Sir Richard Belling, a native of the county Dublin, has left us a volume in duodecimo, printed in Latin, at Paris, in 1650, under the title of " Vindiciarum Catholicorum Hiber- niee libri duo," and under the borrowed name of " Philopater Irenajus." In the first book of this volume we discover a sufficiently exact account on the afTairs of Ireland, from the year 1641 till 1649. The second is a refutation of a work written by a monk named Paul King, on Irish affairs. Peter Walsh was a native of Moortown in the county Kildare ; being admitted into the order of St. Francis, he studied at Lou- vain, where he became professor of theology. There are many of his works in English, concerning the affairs of his time. The first part of his prospectus of Ireland has been given, and printed in duodecimo, at London in 1682. In this he begins with the history of the country, to end it with the twelfth century ; but though the recital of facts contained in it be sufficiently correct, still the want of order and system discover- able, makes the reading of it irksome. The second part, which he promised, has never appeared. Roderick O'Flaherty, an Irish gentleman, was born at Moycullin in the county Gal- way ; it was the patrimony of his ancestors for many ages, but confiscated in the troubles which had arisen in 1641 ; he was a man of letters, and profoundly skilled in the history of his own and foreign countries. He has left us a large volume, in Latin, composed from the most authentic monuments, and which he dedicated to the duke of York, who soon afterwards became king of Great Britain, under the name of James II. It was printed in quarto at London, in 1685, under the title of " Ogygia," wherein he treats of the ancient history of Ireland before Chris- tianity. In this book he displays great eru- dition, and a deep knowledge of chronology, as appears from the testimony of two great THE SCOTO-MILESIANS. 53 men, Loftus and Belling, whose approvals are found printed at the head of his work. Stillingfleet also cites him with eulogy.* The second book of liis Ogygia is still in manuscript, without being printed. Hugh O'Reilly, an Irish gentleman and native of the county Cavan, was master in the court of chancery, and register to the council under James II. Having followed the fortunes of that prince into France, he was nominated his chancellor for the king- dom of Ireland. In 1693 O'Reilly published a small volume in English, which has for its title, " Ireland's case" briefly stated," that is to say, an abridgment of the state of Ireland, since the reformation, wherein the things which happened in that country, are repre- sented without disguise. He reproaches Charles II. with want of gratitude to his Irish subjects for their services : he shows the injustice and bad policy of that prince, for having confirmed the murderers of the king his father in their possessions and wealth, as rewards for their regicide ; the old proprietors were for those objects stripped of their fortunes, whose only crime was their faithful allegiance to their king. He speaks, in fine, like a man who, in pleadhig his own cause, pleads that of his country. His com- plaints it appears were well founded, where- as the king his master, to whom he commu- nicated the purport of his writings before they would be printed, was pleased to say, that "they contained but too many truths." Francis Porter, a native of the county of Meath, and monk of the order of Saint Francis, was foi a long time professor of theolog)'- in the college of Saint Isidore, at Rome, and president of it for some time. Among other works, he has left us a volume in Latin, and printed in quarto at Rome, in 1690, under the title of " Compendium An- nalium Ecclesiasticarum Regni Hiberniae." After his description of the kingdom, and a list of its kings, he speaks of the war of the Danes : the remainder relates to the affairs of the church. Louis Augustin Allemand, a lawyer in the parliament of Paris, published in that city, in 1690, " L'Histoire Monastique d'Irelande," in the French language, and dedicated it to James II., king of Great Britain and Ireland. The learned author follows with great exactness those who have written on the same subject before him, viz.. Usher, Ware, Colgan, and others, and it can be affirmed, that, for a stranger, who had never seen the country of which he writes, his work is very correct. * Pref. ad Orig. Brit. William Molyneux was born in Dublin, and has published many excellent Avorks. Among others, one upon " The State of Ireland," was dedicated by him to the prince of Orange : he proves in it, that that country Avas never conquered by Henry II. ; that he granted, according to treaty, a parliament and laws to the people of Ireland ; that the ecclesiastical state in that country was inde- pendent of England, and that the English could not bind the Irish by laws made where the people had not their deputies. Matthew O'Kennedy, an Irish gentleman, and doctor of laws, master in the court of chancery, and judge of the admiralty, in Ireland, has written a small volume in Eng- lish, printed at Paris, in 1705 : it contains an historical and chronological dissertation on the royal family of the Stuarts, who are (he says) of Irish descent, through the colo- nies that were sent at different periods into x\lbania. This treatise has not escaped criticism ; it has been abused by Father De la Haye, an Anglo-Scotchman, in a letter to the duke of Perth, wherein there are more invectives against Kennedy and his country, than proofs against his dissertation, the object of his attacks, as appears by Ken- nedy's reply, in the shape of a letter, to what De la Haye had advanced ; this was printed at Paris, in French, in 1715, with the letter of that father subjoined to it. Walter Harris, counsellor, has published two volumes in folio, in English, on the history of Ireland, under the title of "The Works of Sir James Ware on Ireland, revised and augmented." The first volume was printed at Dublin in 1739, and the second in 1745 ; a third which he promised, has not yet appeared. The Irish people are deeply indebted to this learned man, for the pains he has bestowed, and the interesting researches he has made to complete that work, which he has considerably enlarged and enriched with many tracts that escaped the vigilance of his prototype, and which merit for him the title of author instead of editor, which he has modestly taken. The dissertations upon the ancient history of Ireland, given in England by an anonymous writer, and published at Dublin, in 1753, through the care of Michael Reilly, display an extensive knowledge in the antiquities of that country. This work is flowery in its style, and the matter handled with peculiar delicacy and neatness. I wish that author had continued his writings upon that subject ; the nation will lose much, should he repose beneath the shade of his first laurels. Such are the principal authors that have 54 HISTORY OF IRELAND. treated on the history of Ireland, within the three last eenturies : the greater part of them are of English extraction, and cannot be suspected of being partial to ancient Ireland, no more than those English authors, whom I have made use of. Such are the sources from whence I have taken the mate- rials that compose this history, without adopting the fables of some, or following the exaggerated criticism of others. Anti- quity ever deserves respect; "Sua detur antiquitati venia ;" nor should the caprice of the envious be a sufficient cause to dis- pute it. CHAPTER III. FABULOUS HISTORY OF THE GADELIANS. It is more than probable that Ireland remained desert and uninhabited from the creation to the deluge. No history, not even that of Moses, offers any thing which can lead us to suppose, that before the universal deluge, men had discovered the secret of passing from one country to another that was separated by water. The ark, which was constructed by order of God himself, and which served to preserve man on the watery element, is the first vessel of v/hich we have any knowledge. Consequent- ly the story of the three Spanish fishermen, who were driven by contrary winds on the coast of Ireland, some time before the deluge, and the account of Keasar, daughter of Bith, according to others niece of Noah, who, by means of a vessel which she had built after the model of the ark,* retired to that island, to save herself from the waters of the deluge, should be rejected as a fiction, and unworthy of being admitted into a serious history. There are some old collections of charters, with many other monuments in writing, of the church of Cluan-Mac-Noisk, in Latin " Cluanensis," cited by O'Flaherty in the dedicatory epistle of his Ogygia,t which fix the arrival of the first colonies in Ireland, under Partholan, in the year of the world 1 989,1 three hundred and twelve years after the deluge ; this colony was followed by the Nemedians, the Fomorians, the Firbolgs,and the Tuatha de Danains.^ Although most historians II who speak of the first inhab- itants of Ireland after the deluge, mention * Ware, cap. 2. t Page 10. t Ware, cap. 2. § Ogyg. part 2, p. 65 ; part 3, p. 2. II Ogyg. part 2, p. 73. those colonics ; they do not however agree upon the origin of those people. Some con- sider them to have been originally from Scythia, others from Thrace,* or Migdonia ; but the opinion of those who suppose that they came from Britain and Gaul, appears more natural, without being subject to the same improbabilities. Those authors fol- lowing this principle, that all nations had been peopled one from the other succes- sively ,t say, that according to order and reason, Asia Minor, being nearest to the cradle of the human race, must have been peopled by the descendants of Japhet before Greece, Greece before Italy, Italy before Gaid, Gaul before Britain, and Britain be- fore Ireland ; that therefore those countries must have drawn their first inhabitants one from the other, from Asia to Ireland : by such gradation they pretend that Ireland received her first inhabitants from Britain, or from Gaul. The conjecture is a strong one. The analogy that is between the name of those people and the inhabitants of Belgic Gaul, and other nations, either of Gaul or Britain, added to the proximity of those countries, gives to it an appearance of plausi- bility. The Fomorians and Firbolgs may have been descended from the Belgae of Belgic Gaul, and the Tuatha de Danains from the Danmonii, an ancient people of Cornwall in Britain. Whatever truth may be in these conjectures, Partholan having landed with his colony in Ireland,;]: divided the island between his four sons, Er, Orbha, Fearon, and Ferghna ; but his posterity, after three hundred years' residence in the coun- try, perished miserably by the plague, at Binneadair, at present Howth, near Dublin ; after which time the island continued unin- habited for the space of thirty years, until the arrival of the second colony commanded by Nemedius. It is said that Neivy, or Nemedius, § great grand-nephew of Partholan, having learned by some means the disasters and tragical end of his relations in Ireland, and wishing, as heir of Partholan, to succeed him in the possession of that island, embarked with thirty-four transport vessels, carrying each thirty persons, without counting Macha, his wife, and his four sons, Starn, Janbaneal, Annin, and Fergus, who followed his fortune in the expedition. Macha died after twelve years, and was interred in a place since called from her name, Ardmach. * Camd. Brit. edit. Franc, p. 12. + Ogjg. part 1, p. 7, part 2. t Walsh, Prospect of Irl. part 1, sec. 1. § Ogyg. part 2, p. 65. FABULOUS HISTORY OF THE GADELIANS. 55 Nemedius was not long in peaceful pos- session of his new kingdom, when he was disturbed by the Fomorians or Fomhoraigs. Nemedius fought some successful battles against them : the first was near the moun- tain called Slieve Bloemy ; the second at Rossfraochin, in Connaught, where Gan and Geanan, the principal commanders of these strangers, were slain ; the third at Murbuilg, in the country since called Dalriada, other- wise Route, in which Starn, son of Neme- dius, lost his life. But the fourth battle was fatal to him, his whole army having been cut to pieces. His son Arthur, who was born in the country, and Jobean, son of Starn, were found among the slain.* Ne- medius, unable to survive so great a mistor- tune, died of grief some short time after- wards at Oilean-Arda-Neivy, at present Barrymore, in the county of Cork ; after which the Fomorians easily made them- selves masters of the whole island. Those of the colony of Nemedius who had escaped the last defeat, after some few unavailing efforts, being vmable to bear the tyranny of those new masters, resolved to abandon the country. Jobath, gi-andson of Nemedius, led a part of the colony into the north of Germany, from whence are descended the Tuatha de Danains.f Briotan Maol, grand son of Nemedius by Feargus, established himself with his tribe in Britain,^ called, ac- cording to the Psalter of Cashel, from his name, and his posterity settled there under the name of Britons. This opinion, wliich is supported by a number of ancient Irish chronologists, agrees as to the time, with Henry of Huntington, who says, that the Britons came into Britain in the third age of the world, " Brittones in tertia mundi setate venerunt in Brittaniam ;" this account merits at least as much credit as the fable of Geoffry of Monmouth about Brutus, which has been opposed and rejected by his own countrymen. In some time after, the Firbolgs or Bel- gians, another people of Britain, to the num- ber of five thousand men, commanded by five chiefs, either by the defeat or desertion of the Fomorians, took possession of the island. Those five leaders Avere, Slaingey, Rughruighe or Rory, Gan, Gannan, and Sengan, all brothers, and children of Dela of the race of the Nemedians. They divided the island into five parts or provinces, which gave birth to the pentarchy, which lasted * Ogyg;. part 3, cap. 7. t Keating. t Walsh, Prosp. of Ireland, part 1, sect. 1. with little interruption till the twelfth cen- tury. Slaingey, governor of Leinster, was the chief of the pentarchy, and monarch of the whole island. The people were known by three different names, viz., Gallenians, Damnonians, and Belgians ; but the last was the general name of the whole colony ; their dominion lasted about eighty years under nine kings, who were, Slaingey, Rory, Gann, Geanan, Sengan, Fiacha, Rionall, Fiobgin, and Eogha, who married Tailta, daughter of a Spanish prince, who gave name to the place of her burial, still called Tailton, in Meath.* In the reign of Eogha, the colony of the Tuatha de Danains, whose ancestors had been conducted into the north of Germany by Jobath, grandson of Nemedius,! ^.s we have already said, made a descent upon Ire- land under the conduct of Nuagha Airgiod- lamh, who immediately gave battle to the Firbolgs, commanded by Eogha their king, at Moyturey near Lake Masg, in the terri- tory of Partrigia, otherwise Partry, in the county of Mayo.:|: The latter lost in one day the battle and possession of the island, and were so reduced as to seek an asylum in the islands of the north. Nuagha, having lost one hand in the action, had one made of silver, whence the name of Airgiodlamh is derived, which signifies silver hand. It is said that the Tuatha de Danains were very skilful in the art of magic, which was the theology of those barbarians. Be- fore they landed in Ireland, they passed through Norway and Denmark, where their diabolical science procured them respect. They brought from that country" the famous stone called, " Lia-Fail," in Latin, " saxum fatale." This stone, which gave to Ireland the name of " Innisfail," that is to say, the island of Fail, was used at the coronation of their kings ; it is pretended, that during the ceremony an astonishing noise issued from it, like the statue of Memnon in the Thebaid, from which a distinct sound was heard, when struck by the first rays of the rising sun. But the coming of the Messiah, which made all those pagan superstitions vanish, caused this stone also to lose its virtue. There is a prophecy, like wise, which says, that where- soever the stone should be preserved, a prince of the race of the Scots should reign ; which gave rise to the following lines : Cineadh Scuit saor an fine, Munab breg an f haisdinc. * Ogyg- part 3, cap. 9. t Ogyg. part 2, page 81. X Ogyg. part 3, cap. 10. 56 HISTORY OF IRELAND. Mar a bf huighid an Lia-fail, Dligliid flait heas do ghabhail. whicli are found thus translated into Latin in the History of Scotland, by Hector Boe- tius : Ni fallal fatum, Scot! quociimque locatum Invenient lapideni, regnare tenentur ibidem. In the beginning of the thirteenth century of Christianity, Fcargus the Great, son of Earcha, having been elected by the Dal- riads of Albania for their chief,* and seeing that he was able to get himself crowned king, sent to ask this stone from Murtough, then monarch of Ireland, in order to render the ceremony of his inauguration more solemn and august, and to perpetuate the diadem in his own family ; the monarch readily grant- ed the request of Feargus, who got him- self crowned first king of the Dalriads of x\lbania, on that stone Avhich was preserved with veneration in the abbey of Scone, till the thirteenth centurj', when it was forcibly carried off by Edward I., king of England, and placed in the chair which is used at the coronation of the kings of England, in the abbey of Westminster, where it is, they say, still preserved. The colony of the Tuatha de Danains, thus called from three of their chiefs, bro- thers and children of Danan, daughter of Dealboith, of the race of Nemedius, was in possession of that island, according to the Psalter of Cashel, for the space of one hun- dred and ninety-seven years governed by seven kings successively, namely, Nuagha Airgiodlamh, Breas, Lugha-Lamh-Fada, in Latin " Longimanus," Dagha, Delvioth, Fi- agha, and the three sons of Kearmada, name- ly, Eathur, Teahur, and Keahur : who reigned alternately, a year each, for thirty years. Those three brothers were married to three sisters ; they took surnames from the differ- ent idols which they worshipped. Eathur, who had married Banba, was called Maccuill, from a certain kind of wood which he adored. Teahur espoused Fodhla, and worshipped the plough ; he was called Mac-Keaght. Keahur, husband of Eire, displayed better taste than his brothers, as he took the sun for his divinity, and was thence named Mac- Greine, that is to say, the son of the sun. Ireland, which, until the reign of those three brothers, had no other name but that of Inisfail, or Iniselga, changed it with her king, and was called by the name of the reigning queen, alternately, Banba, Fodla, * War. Antiq. Hiber. cap. 5, Ogyg. part 1, p. 45. and Eire ;* but the latter was more used, as it was in the year of the reign of Keahur, and consequently when the island was called Eire, that the children of Milesius conquer- ed it. Those first inhabitants of Ireland, having been destroyed successively, at last gave way to the Scoto-Milesians, and were forced to yield to them the possession of the island. Some of our modern authors give us, after their ancient Fileas, the following detail of the origin, voyages, and transmigTations of the Scoto-Milesians. Japhet, one of the sons of Noah,t had seven sons, who were the first of the human race in Europe, and a part of Asia ; viz., Gomer peopled Gaul and Germany ; Magog occupied Scythia, at present Tartary, Madai and Javan established themselves in the several proA'inces of Greece, Thubal in Spain, Mosoch in Italy, and the countries which extend from the Mediterranean as far as be- yond the river Ister ; and Thyras possessed himself of Thrace. " Ab his divisae sunt insula; gentium in regionibus suis."| According to the " White Book," called in the Scotic language, " lesvar-dx'om-sneach- ta," and that of " Conquests and Invasions," both written in the times of paganism, and cited by Keating,^ Magog, son of Japhet, had three sons, viz., Baath, Jobath, and Fathochta. From the first was descended Fenius Farsa, king of Scythia, from whom the Gadelians and Milesians derived their origin ; the second was chief of the Ama- zons, Bactrians, and Parthians ; the third was ancestor to Partholan, and consequently of the Nemedians, the Firbolgs, and Tuatha de Danains, who were the first inhabitants of Ireland. Fenius Farsa, king of the Scythians, had two sons, viz., Nenual, the elder, heir to his crown, and Niul, who being very learned in the languages multiplied by the confusion of Babel, made a voyage into Egypt, where he married Scota, daughter of king Pharaoh Cincris, and established himself in the coun- try of Capacirunt on the borders of the Red Sea. Niul had by the princess his spouse, a son whom he named Gaodhal, who, at the time that Moses was making preparations to draw the people of Israel out of captivity, having been bitten by a serpent, was pre- sented by his father to the holy patriarch, who cured him by a touch of his wand ; but there remained always a green spot in the t Gen. cap. 10. t Ibidem, vcr. 5. § Page 53, et seq. FABULOUS HISTORY OF THE GADELIANS. 57 place of the wound, which caused him to be called Gaodhal-Glas, otherwise Gadelas, the word glas in the Scotic language signifying green. Moses foretold, on curing him, that the land which would be inhabited by his posterity, who were called, and even to this day are called, Clanna-Gaodhal, or Gade- lians, that is, the children of Gaodhal, would be free from serpents, and all venomous rep- tiles, which has been verified in regard to the islands of Crete and Ireland. The posterity of Niul, in the third gene- ration, became numerous, and were conse- quently suspected by the Egyptians, who, under the orders of Pharaoh-En-Tuir, their king, formed the resolution of making war against those strangers. Finding themselves unable to oppose the superior forces of the Egyptians, they embarked under the conduct of Sur, son of Easur, son of Gaodhal, and after a few days sailing, landed in the island of Crete, where their chief died, and was succeeded in the command by Eibher, other- wise Heber-Scot, his son. From this flight of the Gadelians out of Egypt, we must understand what Washingham, an English monk and historian in the fifteenth century, says in his book called, " Ypodigma." " The Egyptians," says he, " having been swallow- ed up in the Red Sea, those who survived that disaster expelled a certain noble Scy- thian, fearing lest he should usurp a power over them. Being thus driven away, to- gether with his family, he came to Spain, where he lived for many years ; his race was multiplied exceedingly, and from thence they came to Ireland."* Heber-Scot, having the command of the Gadelians, departed from the island of Crete, and sailing through the iEgean and the Euxine seas, he arrived in the river Tanais in Scythia, the country of his ancestors, where his colony settled for some time ; they were commanded after his death by his de- scendants successively from father to son ; viz., by Agnamon, Tait, Adnoin, and Lam- phion. A persecution however was raised through jealousy of the Scythians against them, and they were compelled to take refuge among the Amazons, having Adnoin for their chief. After sojourning there for some time, they departed, under the conduct of Lam- phion, the son of Adnoin, for the country * " The Egj'ptiaiis being drowned in the Red Sea, those who remained drove from among them a certain noble Scythian who Hved in the countrjs lest he should usurp dominion over them. After being driven out, he with his family came to Spain, where he lived for many years ; and from thence came to Ireland." — Ad. ann. 1185. called in their language, " Geethluighe," which some think to be Gothia, or Gothland ; but more probably, according to O'Flaherty,* Getulia, in Africa, conformably to this verse from Propertius in Camden :t Hibernique Gette, pictoquc Britannia curru. I They remained in that country during ght generations, under the connnand of eight chiefs, the descendants of Lamphion, viz., Heber-Glun-Fion, Eibric, Nenuaill, Nuagatt, Alluid, Earchada, Deaghatha, and Bratha. By the last thfey were led into Spain, inhabited at that time by the descend- ants of Tubal, son of Japhet. These new-comers, under the command of Breogan, son of Bratha, made war with success against the old inhabitants, and be- came masters of the northern provinces, where Breogan built a city, which he called Brigantia, or Braganza, after his own name. TMs captain had ten sons, namely, Cu- ailgne, Cuala, Blath, Aibhle, Nar, Breagha, Fuad, Muirtheimhne, Ith, and Bille. This last was father of Gallamh, otherwise Mileag- Espaine, in Latin, Milesius, the ancestor of the Milesians or ancient Irish ; Ith had a son called Lugadg, or Lugadius. Milesius, after whom the ancient Irish were called Clanna- ' Mileag or Milesians, became in his turn chief of the colony of the Gadelians, and after having secured and extended by many I victories the conquests of his predecessors, he made peace with his enemies, and formed j the resolution of A'isiting the country of his | ancestors. He left part of the colony to j guard his new kingdom, and embarked with ; the remainder for Scythia, where he was j honorably received by Riffloir, then king ; j who knew that this prince was, as well as j himself, descended from Fenius-Farsa, with 1 this difference, that Riflioir had his origin : from Nennual the elder, and successor to j the throne of his father ; whereas, Milesius was descended from Niul the younger. | Milesius became by his courtly manners j so great a favorite with the king, that he appointed him his first minister, and general and chief over his troops ; as a greater proof of liis confidence, he gave him his daughter Seaug in marriage, by whom he had two sons, Donn and Aireach, surnamed Feabhrua. But the death of his wife, added to some difference he had with the king, caused him to leave Scythia. He embarked with his two children and little troop of faithful Gadelians, for Egypt, where the king, Pha- raoh-Nectonebus, gave him the command of * Ogyg- part 2, cap. 67. t Edit. Lend. p. 87. 58 HISTORY OF IRELAND. his army in a war in which he was engaged against the Ethiopians. Milesius acquitted himself of that com- mission as usual, with honor, and Scota the king's daughter was given him in mar- riage, as a reward for his services. He had by this princess in Egypt, Heber-Fionn and Amhergin. During his residence in that country, he caused twelve young men of his suite to be instructed in the different arts and sciences then in use, in order that they might, on their return to Spain, instruct their countrymen in the same. Milesius thinking it time to put an end to his labors, and to join once more his rela- tions and friends in Spain, to enjoy with them the sweets of repose, after a residence of seven years in Egypt,* took leave of the king and all his court, to return with the princess his wife, his children, and attend- ants. After arriving in an island called Irene, on the frontiers of Thrace, Scota was deliv- ered of a son, whom they called Ir.f During their voyage she had another, to whom they gave the name of Colpa ; and at length, after many fatigues and dangers by sea and land, they arrived in Spain, where this great captain, after appeasing some troubles which had arisen during his absence, and having had two more sons, Aranann and Heremon, ended his days in peace. The family of Breogan, of which that of Milesius king of Gallicia, his grandson, formed the most considerable branch, was become numerous. | A drought of several years, followed by a want of grain and all kinds of provisions, having caused a famine, ruined and compelled them to seek a reme- dy for so pressing an evil. All the chiefs of the tribes assembled at Braganza, to de- liberate on what should be done. The re- sult of the conference was, to abandon their settlement in Spain, and seek for one in some other country ; particularly as Caicer, the druid, a famous prophet among them, had foretold long before, that their descend- ants should be possessed of the most wester- ly island in Europe. § But as it was of im- portance to learn where that island lay, be- fore they should bring the whole colony thither, the assembly intrusted the discovery of it to Ihy, otherwise Ithe, (son of Breogan and uncle of Milesius,) a man of prudence and consummate experience. Ith having ac- cepted the commission, equipped a vessel, and taking one hundred and fifty soldiers on * Lecan. fol. 13, p. 2, col. 1. t Keat. p. 80, et seq. X O'Suli. Compendium, vol. i. lib. 3, cap. 1. § Keating. board, besides rowers and sailors, he set out with J^udgadli, his son, to make the discov- ery to which he had been appointed. On his arrival in the north of the island, he offered sacrifices to Neptune, and inquired from the iidiabitants what the name of the country was, the people who inhabited it, and likewise the prince who ruled there : they told him that the island was sometimes called Innisfail, sometimes Inis-Ealga, and that it was governed by three princes who were brothers, and children of Kearmada of the nation of the Tuatha de Danains ; that they were then at Oileag-Neid, at present Inish-Ovven, in the northern part of the pro- vince, since called Ulster. Ith, conducted by a guide, and escorted by one hundred of his soldiers, took the road to Oileag-Neid. On his arrival he was presented to the princes, who received him honorably, and seeing him possessed of much wisdom, they appointed him arbiter of their differences, namely, on whom should the right of suc- ceeding Kearmada, their father, devolve. Ith having acquitted himself on this occasion to the satisfaction of the parties concerned, he exhorted them to peace and union among themselves, congratulating them on their happiness in possessing so fertile a country, j and situated in so fine a climate ; he then set out to join the rest of his men, whom he had left to guard his vessel. The three princes began to reflect on the praises which Ith had bestowed on their country, and con- ceiving a mistrust towards him, they looked on him as a man of an enterprising turn, and capable of coming with a more numerous force, to conquer a country which he thought so fine. In order to obviate that danger they dispatched a force of one hundred and fifty chosen men, commanded by MacCuille, in pursuit of him ; they attacked him at a place since called after his name, Moy-Ith, in the county of Tyrone. The combat was bloody, and the resistance on the side of the Gade- lians obstinate, till at length seeing their commander Ith dangerously wounded, and unable to withstand the superior force of their enemies, they reached their vessel with difficulty, and embarked for Spain, but had the misfortune, during their voyage, to wit- ness their commander expire of his wounds. During the interval of Ith's expedition, Mile- sius, after a reign of thirty-six years in Gallicia, died, universally regretted by the whole colony ; but the arrival of lAigadius, who presented to them the dead body of Ith, his father, added considerably to their afflic- tion. With eyes bathed in tears, and lan- guage the most energetic which the grief of FABULOUS HISTORY OF THE GADELIANS. 59 a son (who loved his father tenderly) could make use of, he displayed the perfidy of those three princes of the western isle, and forcibly impressed upon them, that, as the death of his father had been the eftect of his zeal for the common cause, he trusted, that an attempt whereby the law of nations had been violated, and an insult that might re- flect upon the entire colony, should not be left unpunished.* The GadeUans, aff'ected by the just resent- ment of Lugadius,t prepared themselves for revenge, resolved to shed in sacrifice to the manes of Ith, the last drop of their blood, and without loss of time had a fleet of sixty sail equipped with every thing necessary for so important an expedition. The little fleet being provided with all things, and ready to sail, the entire colony, that is to say, the de- scendants of Breogan divided into different tribes, embarked with their wives and chil- dren, their vassals, a number of soldiers, artisans, and laborers of every kind, under forty chiefs, of whom the principal were the eight sons of Milesius, namely, Donn, Ai- reach, Heber-Fionn, Amhergin, Ir, Colpa, Aranann, and Heremon, with their mother Scota. After coasting along part of Spain, Gaul, and Britain, they at length arrived on the southern coast of the western island, which had been promised to them by their druids. While they Avere preparing to dis- embark, they were overtaken by a violent storm, which soon changed their hopes into despair. The heavens were darkened ; a wind from the southeast swelled the waves ; their confusion was great and the danger inevitable, so that in a little time the fleet was scattered, and out of sixty ships of which it was composed, not two of them remained together. The first victim to Neptune's wrath was Donn ; he perished with his entire crew, on the western coast of the island, at a place called after his name, Teagh-Duinn. Aranann was driven to sea by a sudden gust. Ir was shipwrecked upon the southern coasts, his body was found upon the strand, and buried in a craggy island, called Skeilg- Mihil, within a few leagues of Dingle in the county of Kerry : it is called, in Mercator's map of Ireland, jMidelskyllighs. Heremon, Aireagh, and Colpa, were driven by the storm towards the north. The two last, with the whole of their attendants, perished. Colpa being wrecked at the mouth of the river, afterwards called the Boyne, the place was named Invear-Colpa, that is, the bay of Col- pa, below the city of Drogheda. The storm. * Keating. t Ogyg. part 3, cap. 16. however, having abated, and being succeed- ed by a calm, Heremon, more fortunate than his brothers, reached Invear-Colpa, and at the same time Heber-Fionn, Amergin his brother, with all their attendants, disem- barked at Invear-Skeiny, at present Bantry, in the county of Cork, or rather the county of Kerry.* This account, says Keating, is taken from an ancient poem of Eochaid O'Floin, begin- ning with those words : " Taoisig Na-Luing Sinter lear," related in the Psalter of Cashel.f Heber-Fionn had no time to rest after his fatigues ; for at the end of three days he was attacked at Sliave-Mish,t at present in the barony of Truchanaimy, in the county of Kerry, by a party of the Tuatha de Da- nains, commanded by the princess Eire, wife of Mac-Greiny, who, after losing a thousand men, was put to flight by the Milesians. The princess Eire, after collecting the remains of her army, led them to Tailton, where the princes Ibeing assembled, she gave them an account of her defeat. The Mile- sians lost three hundred men in the action, besides Scota, the widow of Milesius, Fais a lady of quality, some druids, and several officers who had fallen. Scota and Fais were buried at the foot of a mountain, in two valleys, which were called after their names, Glean-Scoithin and Glean-Fais. Heber, after this first advantage, having refreshed his troops, advanced into the coun- try to make further discoveries, in hopes of meeting some of the colony that were scat- tered by the storm some time before, and, after a long and fatiguing march, arrived at Invear-Colpa, where he found Heremon with his division, by whom he was informed of the disasters that had befallen his brothers Ai- reagh and Colpa, who had perished on that coast. The brothers now uniting their forces, formed their plans of operation for a cam- paign. They determined to go in quest of the enemy, who, according to the reports of their scouts, was not far off".^ They began their march, and after a few days came up with the three princes of the Tuatha de Danains, in the plains of Tailton, with a formidable army ready to meet them. || The action began, and this battle, which was to decide the fate of both parties, was for a long time doubtful, the troops on both sides making extraordinary efforts ; the latter to * Ogyg. part .3, cap. 10. t Ogyg. part 2, page 82 and 83. I Ogygia, part 2, page 86. § Gratianus Lucius, cap. 8, page 58. II Walsh, Prosp. of Ireland, part 1, sec. 1. 60 HISTORY OF IRELAND. defend their patrimony against the invaders, who wished to wrest it I'roni them ; the for- mer, less to revenge the death of their coun- tryman, than to obtain the possession of an ishand which had been destined for them, ac- cording to the prophecy of the druids. At length the three princes of the Tuatha de Danains, together with their principal ofli- cers having fallen, the army was put into disorder, and the rout became so general, that more were killed in the pursuit than on the field of battle. That day, so fatal to the Tuatha de Danains, decided the empire of the island in favor of the Milesians. Heber-Fionn and Heremon, brothers and children of Milesius, as chiefs of the colony, divided the island between them. Heber possessed Deisiol Eirionn, that is, the south- ern part, afterwards called the province of Munster, where he built a palace. Heremon enjoyed the sovereignty of Leinster, and had the palace of Rath-Beothaig built at Air- geodross, upon the banks of the river Nore, in the county of Ossory ; at the solicitation of his wife Thea, daughter of Lucha, son of Ith, he afterwards built the palace of Tea- mor, which signifies the residence of Tea. They gave the northern parts of the island, at present the province of Ulster, to Heber- Donn, son of Ir, and to some other chiefs. The descendants of Heber-Donn, called the Clanna-Rorys, built in the county of Ar- magh the palace of Eamhain-Macha, which lasted for almost seven hundred years, and was possessed by that tribe till the time of the three brothers, called the three CoUas, by whom that superb edifice was destroyed. They conferred on their cousin Lugadh, son of Ith, the sovereignty of Corca-Luidh.* The fiefs and lordships throughout the various provinces were, in fine, distributed among the other chiefs, according to their rank and merit ; and in consideration of the services which the remaining party of the Firbolgs had rendered them in the conquest of the island, they bestowed on them the province of Connaught, which their descendants re- tained till the third age of Christianity. 1 do not find that any portion was given to their brother Amhergin,whowas still living, and a druid by profession ; he was probably treated like the tribe of Levi, who possessed no share in the land promised to the Israel- ites. The two brothers Heber-Fionn and Here- mon reigned together during the space of a year ; but the ambition of Heber's wife be- came the cause of her ruin. Not content * o&y?" p^'t ^) p^gs 11. with the division that was made between the two princes, she influenced her husband to do justice to himself by force of arms. Prince Heber, weak and condescending, yielded to the importunities of his wife, and declared war against his brother Heremon.* War being now commenced, the two armies met upon the plains of Geisiol,the frontier bound- aries of the provinces of Leinster and Mun- ster. f The battle was bloody and obstinate, but Heber and his chief ofiicers being slain,| Heremon, like a second Romulus, became sole possessor of the island, over which he reigned forthirteenyears.^^ This is confirmed by the authority of Aongus Celide or Coli- deus, an author of tlie eighth century, cited by Ware in the second chapter of his An- tiquities of Ireland. II The foregoing is a slight sketch of w-hat ancient and modern histories set forth respecting the origin of the Milesians ; let us now view the difficulties which would be advanced against the voyages and transmigrations of the Gadelians. The first is, to reconcile a point of chronology on the subject of Gaodhal, who, according to the manuscripts followed by Keating, was the sixth descendant from Japhet, and con- temporary of Moses, which made the four- teenth or fifteenth generation after Shem. Keating hijudiciously supposes that he has smoothed a difficulty by imagining Niul or some of his ancestors to have lived for many ages, in order to make the sixth descendant on one side fall in with the fourteenth on the other ; but if mankind lived then to a great age, the supposition is equally applicable to the ancestors of Moses, as to those of Niul. It is more natural to think that the anachro- nism has arisen through some copyist of the * War. Antiq. cap. 2. t Ogyg. part 3, cap. 17. t Grat. Luc. cap. 8, page 58. § " After several battles and doubtful events of war between the brothers, victory fell at length to Heremon, and in one of these battles Heber, his brother, being slain, Heremon became sole master of the kingdom, and was the first monarch of the Irish people, who inhabit the kingdom to this day." — Gerald Camh. Topograp/iy of Ireland, c. 7. II " The island Hibernia was divided between the two princes of the army called Milesians, and into two parts. Heber obtained the southern parts, and to Heremon fell the northern, together with the monar- chy. Heremon was the first of the Scots who ruled over the whole of Ireland, during 13 years, and had 5 sons elected, 4 of whom governed the kingdom for 3 years, and Jarel, the prophet, during 10. Of the descent of Heremon, 58 kings ruled over Ire- land before Patrick had preached the doctrines and sufferings of Christ to the Irish. After the time of Patrick, 50 kings of the above lineage ruled over Ireland." — Ware''s Antiquiiies, and Ogyg. p. 3,c. 7. FABULOUS HISTORY OP THE GADELIANS. 61 manuscripts of the Milesians, who might have omitted some generations between Ja- phet and Niul. As to the histories of those times so far remote, there are many things in them very obscure, and several difficulties therein hard to be resolved. Do we not see j the learned differ about the king that reigned I in Egypt in the time of Moses, and who was drowned in the Red Sea ? Some pretend j that it was Amenophis, father of Sesostris, while others say that it was Pheron, son of the latter. The Hebrews, the Greeks, and the Latins disagree concerning the number of years that elapsed from the time of the creation to the coming of the Messiah ; their differences, however, do not affect the truth of the events which are recorded to have happened at that time, viz., the crea- tion of the world, the deluge, the genealog)^ of Abraham, whether in ascending up to Adam, or descending down to Moses. A similar anachronism with respect to Gaodhal and Moses, ought not to destroy the truth of the history of the Gadelians, as to their origin and genealogy. It will be perhaps again objected, that navigation being unknown at those early periods, it cannot be believed that the Gade- lians had been able to make such distant voy- ages by sea, as from Egypt to Crete, from Crete to Scythia, from Scythia to Africa, from Africa to Spain, and from Spain to Ireland. I This difficulty Avill vanish if we but con- sider that the art of sailing had been at all times in use, at least since the deluge. We know that long before Solomon, the Phceni- cians, Egyptians, and Greeks possessed the art of navigation. The Phcenicians, says Herodotus,* who traded to all countries, with the merchandises of Egypt and Assyria, arrived at Argos, a trading city in Greece, and after disposing of their merchandise, they carried off the wives of the Greeks, toge- ther with lo, daughter of king Inachus, who reigned at Argos about the year of the world 3112 ; after which, some Greeks trading to Tyre, carried away in their turn, Europa, daughter of the king of Tyre, to be revenged for the insult their countrymen sustained by the carrying off of their wives from Argos. We find that David, after conquering and reducing the kingdom of Edom into a pro- vince of his empire, established commerce at Elath and at Asiongaber, two ports on the Red Sea. But Solomon carried it still far- ther, for in his time they traded from the Red Sea along the coast of Arabia, Persia, the Indies, and as far as the western coast of Africa. History informs us that Nechao, * Lib. 1. the second of the name, and king of Egypt, having equipped a fleet on the Red Sea, had Phcenician pilots brought to command it. This fleet, after having coasted along the Red Sea, entered the ocean, and crossing the Torrid Zone, doubled the Cape of Good Hope, and after sailing round Africa, re- turned to Egypt through the Straits of Gib- raltar, by the Mediterranean Sea ; so it is more than probable, that from the earliest times, and immediately after the deluge, man- kind had discovered the art of building ships, from the model of the Ark, which had saved their ancestors from the waters of the deluge. But it may be asked, why did they not establish themselves in some part of the continent, rather than expose themselves to so many dangers by sea, to seek after an island in the Atlantic Ocean, and separate themselves forever from all intercourse with mankind ? The weakness of that question will be perceived, when we consider that a taste for voyages and emigrations prevailed in the early ages of the world. Men had not been sufficiently settled, nor property in the possession of lands established as it has since become. For besides, a colony of Tyrians, Avho, having coasted along Asia Minor, Greece, Italy, Gaul, and the several countries which surround the Mediterra- nean Sea, without stopping in any, sailed through the Straits of Gibraltar into the ocean, established themselves in the west- ern coast of Spain, and built the city of Cadiz, long before Utica and Carthage. Moreover, there were colonies sent into dif- ferent countries by the Egyptians, Phoeni- cians, Greeks, and Carthaginians, who were themselves a colony of Phcenicians. Car- thage herself, after having founded three hundred cities on the coast of iVfrica, and finding herself still overcharged with inhab- itants, sent Hanno with a fleet and thirty thousand volunteers, to make discoveries on the coast of Africa beyond the Pillars of Her- cules, and to establish some colonies there.* The Scythians, from whom the Gadelians were descended, and who were masters of the vast regions which extended from the Boristhenes to the country of the Massage- tes, and from the Saces to the east of the Caspian Sea, had neither cities nor houses ; they were continually roving, and lived in tents, sometimes in one country, sometimes in another. * The learned are divided about the time of the expedition. Strabo supposes it to have been a few years after the Trojan war ; but Vossius, who be- lieves Hanno to be more ancient than Homer, as- serts that it took place at least a century before the taking of that city. 62 HISTORY OF IRELAND. Whatever truth may be attached to what I have now related with regard to the voy- ages and transmigrations of the Gadclians in dirtorent countries, it appears at all times indisputable, that that people derived their origin from the Scythians ; their namcKinea Scuit, or Scota, denotes it.* The accounts of foreign authors and those of their Fileasf confirm it. Newton,| with Appina and oth- ers, says, that Greece and all Europe had been peopled by the Cimmerians or Scythi- ans from the borders of the Euxine Sea, who, like the Tartars in the north of Asia, led a wandering life. Spain had perhaps her share in peopling a part of Europe, and consequently the ancient Spaniards were descended from the same Scythians. Al- though the Milesians claim the glory of hav- ing come directly from Egypt to Spain, they do not at the same time lose sight of their Scythian origin. They call themselves at all times the descendants of the Iberians or Scythians of the Euxine Sea.^ They pre- tend that the colony, after having been led into different countries by their princes, es- tablished themselves at last in Spain. How- ever, if they pass themselves for the children of Magog, rather than of Gomer, from whose posterity Gaul, Germany, and other countries of the north had been peopled, it is a matter which is of itself but of little importance. The truth of the Scoto-Milesians having passed from Spain to Ireland is supported Ijy proofs that are equally strong. Foreign authors are in perfect accordance Avith the monuments of that people on that head ; this constitutes a certainty beyond all doubt. Among the number are Nennius of the ninth century, Walsingham, Henry of Hunting- ton,]] Buchanan,*!! and others. The opinion of these authors, says Camden, accords with the opinion of the Irish, who gladly call them- selves the descendants of the Spaniards.** * War. Antiq. Hibern. cap. 1, page 3. t Bards. t Chron. Dublin edit, page 10. § Ogyg- part 2, page 66 et 82. II " Tlie Britons came into Britain during the third age of the world, and the Scoti into Ireland in the fourth age. Whereas those matters are un- certain, it is indubitable, that they came from Spain to Ireland, and emigrating from thence, they added a third nation in Britain to tiie Britons and the Victs."— Huntingdon, pp. 88, 729. f " There is a prevailing report, which says, that a great number of Spaniards, who were either driven from the country by the great ones, or from a re dundancy of population, went of their own accord and passed into Ireland." — Buchanan, b. 4, c. 5. ** " To this opinion, prevalent among the Irisli, jnay be added, i. e. ' they confess most freely,' that they are descended from the Spaniards." — Irish Writers, vol. 2, c. 5. We can likewise add to this the authority of an ancient Latin manuscript in Gothic diaracters, of which Harris speaks :* it was discovered a few years ago, in the archives of a monastery in Gallicia, by Sir John Higgins, counsellor of state, and head phy- sician to Philip V. This manuscript is entitled " Concordantia Hispaniae atque Hi- berniae a Sedulio Scoto genere Hiberniensi et Episcopo Oretensi," and is attributed to Sedulius the younger, who lived in the eighth century. The siibject of it is, ac- cording to Harris, as follows : Sedulius having acquired a high Reputation by his commentaries on the Gospel of St. Matthew, and the Epistles of St. Paul,! Pope Gregory II. sent him into Spain, having nominated him bishop of Oreto, to allay some troubles that had arisen among the clergy of that nation. Sedulius, meeting with some oppo- sition from the Spaniards in consequence of being a stranger, wrote this treatise, wherein he shows, that, as an Irishman, and being descended from the Spaniards, he should consequently enjoy the same privileges as they did. He continued therefore to enjoy his bishopric, until driven from it by the Moors. The pope afterwards nominated him titular bishop of Great Britain, and in that quality he assisted at a council at Rome, against unlawful marriages. | The testimony of the Spaniards them- selves, particularly of Alderetus, in his An- tiquities of Spain, and of Florianus del Ca.npo, joined to a tradition among the people, who look upon the Irish as their children, and as a colony which had left their country, in consequence of which they are treated as inhabitants of the country, particularly in Gallicia, and the northern parts of the kingdom, Avhere they enjoy the same privileges as the natives ; these are conclusive proofs on the subject, although Camden pretends that it was ambition made Florianus del Campo say, that the Brigantes had passed from Spain into Ireland, and from thence into Britain. The great difficulty consists in settling the time of the transmigration of the Scoto- Milesians from Spain to Ireland, on account of the different calcidations of the annalists. Following the ancient monmnents, Keating fixed it 1300 years before the birth of Jesus Christ. Cambrensis, and the author of the Polychronicon, reckon 1800 years from their arrival in the island,^ till the mission of St. * Irish Writers, vol. 2, c. 5. t Usser, Primord. cap. 16, page 780. t Binii Concil. tome 3. Baleus, Cent. 14, n. 28. § Walsh, Prospect of Ireland, page 393. RELIGION AND CUSTOMS OF THE MILESIANS. Patrick in the fifth century, which agrees pretty nearly with the calculation of Keat- ing. The number of kings who reigned in Ireland from Heremon to the twelfth age of Christianity was 181. The epoch of their commencement in the time of Heremon de- pends upon the length of their reign ; if we allow to each a reign of fourteen years, we must necessarily ascend from the twelfth century upwards to the epoch fixed upon by Keating ; but if with Newton,* we give to each a reign of eighteen or twenty years, which, in a warlike nation, is not probable, we must ascend much higher than that era. Camden, as well as Nennius, presumes that we should search for their migrations in more modern times ; this, however, is not conclu- sive. O'Flaherty, who was much more capa- ble than those foreigners of fathoming the antiquities of his country, has in accordance with ancient monuments, defined the time j that each Milesian king reigned, from the arrival of the colony in Ireland until the birth of our Saviour, and places it in the time of Solomon, that is, about 1000 years i before Jesus Christ. f This account agrees ! with the period of the conquest of Spain, ; by Sesac or Sesostris, of which Newton j speaks,;}: and which, according to Buchanan, was probably the cause of the flight of that colony, " A potentioribus domo pulsam." We might, perhaps, with a greater ap- pearance of truth, place that event a century later, that is, in the time of Melcartus, or Hercules the Tyrian, who was, according to Newton, the second conqueror of Spain, and the founder of Carteia, particularly as that learned man thinks, that they had not taken distant voyages (such as to Britain or Ireland) before the time of that conqueror. CHAPTER IV. OF THE RELIGION AND CUSTOMS OF THE MILESIANS. It is not easy to define the religion of the ancient Milesians ; it appears, however, by their history, that Tighernmas,^ the seventh king of that race, was the first king who in- * Chron. Dublin edit. chap. 1, p. 55 and 57. + " The best among the Irish writers are agreed, that it was during the reign of Solomon the Scoti passed from Spain to Ireland." — Ogyg. part 2, p. 83. t Chron. Dublin edit, page 17. § Keating on the reign of Tiffhernnias, a. m. 3085. troduced idolatry among them. The same histories inform us,* that that unhappy prince was, together with a great number of his subjects, struck dead by an invisible hand, on the day we call " All Saints," while they were employed in worshipping the idol, called in their language, " Crom- Cruadh," in the plains of Moy-Sleachta, near Fenagh, in the barony of Mohill, territory of Briefny, at present the county of Leitrim: that, till then, their ancestors, the Gadelians, had a knowledge of the true God,t and fol- lowed the religion of the patriarchs, having received that divine impression from Moses and the Israelites, with whom they had some connection before the passage of the Red Sea. However this be, no nation was ever more superstitious afterwards than the Milesians : and though they neither worshipped cats, dogs, crocodiles, nor the vegetables which their gardens produced, as the Egyptians did ; still they had many gods of various sorts and orders. This inclination to idol- atry, common to them with other nations, (not excepting the people chosen and im- mediately governed by God himself,) was strengthened by the example of the Tuatha de Danains, their immediate predecessors in the possession of the island, who worshipped the sun, the moon, sometimes the plough, and other things made by the hands of men ; but as these divinities, resting upon the ca- price or inventions of man, could not fix the mind, the objects of this worship were fre- quently changed. Great honors were paid to the druids and bards among the Milesians, as well as to those among the Britons and Gauls. The first called Draoi in their language,;}: performed the duties of priest, philosopher, legislator, and judge. Caesar has given, in his commentaries,^ a well-detailed account of the order, office, jurisdiction, and doctrine of the druids among the Gauls. As priests, they regulated religion and its worship ; according to their will the objects of it were determined, and the divinity often changed ; to them, likewise, the education of youth was intrusted. Guided by the druids, the Milesians generally adored Jupiter, Mars, Mercury, Apollo, the sun, moon, and wind; they had also their mountain, forest, and river gods.|| These divinities were common to them, and to other nations of the world. * 0?ry?- part 3. cap. 21, 22. + Grat. Luc, cap. 8, page 59. t War. Antiq. Hibern. cap. 5, Ogvg. part 3, cap. 22. § Lib. 6. [j War. Antiq. Hibern. cap. 5. 64 HISTORY OF IRELAND. It is known that Augustus had a temple raised in Gaul, in honor of the wind Cir- cius.* According to the Annals of Ulster, cited by Ware, the usual oath of Laogare II., king of Ireland in the time of St. Patrick, was by the sun and wind. The Scythians swore by the wind, and sometimes by a cimeter or cutlass, in use among the Persians, upon which was engraven the image of Mars. It is mentioned by Jocelin, an English monk of the order of Citeaux, in his life of St. Patrick,! written in the twelfth century, that the same Laogare, before his conversion, adored an idol named Kean Croithi, which signifies, " Head of all the Gods." In the register of Clogher, there is mention made of a stone ornamented with gold by the pagans, which gave oracles. ;{: From this stone the town was called Clogher, which signifies " golden stone." Charles Maguire, prebendaiy of Armagh, and dean of Clogher in the 15th century, says in his notes on the registry^ of Clogher, that that stone was still preserved at the right of the entrance into the church. Ware, in the same chapter, speaks of the fatal stone called Liafail, or " saxum fatale," which the Tuatha de Da- nains brought with them to Ireland, and which groaned when the kings were seated on it at their coronation. That stone, he mentions, was sent into Albania to be used at the coronation of Fergus ; that Keneth had it placed in a wooden chair, in which the kings of Scotland sat at the time of their coronation, in the abbey of Scone, whence it was transferred by Edward I., king of England, and placed in Westminster Abbey. The superstition of the druids and the authority of the oracles were in as high veneration among the Milesians as among other people, until the birth of our Saviour, which put an end to all such illusions. As legislators and judges, the druids were arbiters in all public affairs, and were in- vested Avith a power to reward or punish. Every kind of privilege and immunity was conferred on them ; they were also exempt from contributing to the necessities of the state. Their doctrine was a kind of theology I and philosophy ; they professed the magic art, and the knowledge of futurity.^ The druids, says Caesar, are indebted for their origin and institution to Britain, and those of Gaul went thither to be perfected * Ibidem. t Cap. 56. t War. Antiq. Hib. cap. 5. § Euseb. praep. Evang. lib. 5, Suidas, Niceph. Calixt, Eccles. Hist. lib. 1, cap. 17. in their profession ; but whether those of Britain owed the origin of their order to the Milesians, or they to the Britons, is a matter of little moment, and upon which I do not pretend to decide ; however, there was this difference between the druids of the Gauls, the Britons, and those of the Milesians, that the last communicated by means of the oghum mysteries, which the others never committed to writing. It is certain that after the confusion of tongues at Babel, and the dispersion of mankind, every family or colony formed for itself a system of religion in the different countries where they settled, and that, for the exercise of it, a society of men intrusted with its duties was necessary to be formed. These ministers were known throughout a great part of Europe, by the name of druids. They were known among the Greeks by the name of Sophoi, or philosophers ; among the Persians, Magi ; the Indians, Gymno- sophists ; and Chaldeans, among the Assyri- ans.* The different nations among whom reli- gion was administered by the druids, endea- vor to discover in their languages, the origin and etymology of the word " Druid." In dru," which signifies faithful, the Germans think to have found it. The Saxons derive it from " dry," which means magi. In Armorica the Word " deruidhon" was in use. The Milesians, who apply the word "dry- ithy"t to signify druid, take it from " dair," which means oak, with which their island was formerly covered, from which the an- cients called it, " Insula nemorosa.";}: The Greek interpretation of the word druid adds probability to the opinion of the Milesian. A^vs in Greek, signifies oak, a tree sacred to Jupiter,^ because the druids chose the forests of oak, to celebrate inthejn their superstitious mysteries, to which Lucan, lib. 1, alludes, '• iiemora alta remotis, Incolitis lucis," or because they made use of the mistletoe of the oak in their religious ceremonies. Ovid makes allusion to it, when he says, " Ad viscum druidae, druidse clamare solebant." Pliny is explicit and clear upon this matter : there is nothing, he says, so sacred among the druids, (it is thus the Gauls call their magii,) as the oak and the mistletoe, * Diofjen. Lacrt. prologue, t Droiii. t " The woody island." 6 Claud, lib. 1. RELIGION AND CUSTOMS OP THE MILESIANS. 65 which that tree produces. They chose forests of oak wherein to celebrate their religious ceremonies, whence the name druid is most probably derived from the Greek interpreta- tion. Every thing which that tree produces, is, according to them, a gift of heaven, and a sign of its being chosen by the gods. The priest, (continues Pliny,) dressed in white, climbs the oak, and with a golden knife detaches from it the mistletoe, which was thought to be a sovereign antidote against all distempers. The most ancient and celebrated oracle in Greece, was consulted under the oak, in the forest of Dodona. God himself, in the time of the patriarchs, appeared to men in woods of oak ; temples were erected in them to his honor, and cov- enants made between God and man ; sacri- fices Avere also oiFered in them, and angels announced to man the commands of the Lord. When the Jews had apostatized, and abandoned the worship of the true God, they sacrificed upon high mountains, and beneath the oak they burned incense, " Subtus univer- sam quercum frondosam," so that according to sacred and profane history, the oak was held in great veneration by the ancients.* The Milesian bards, called Filea or Fear- dana, were not less esteemed than the druids ; they enjoyed high privileges, and sat, with a right of suffrage, in the assemblies of the state. Possessions and property were given them by the monarch, provincial kings, and the private lords. Strabo and Lucan call them poets or prophets .f Pompeius Festus says, I that a bard is a man who sings in verse the praises and deeds of great men.§ Diodorus Siculus calls a bard a composer of hymns. II David Powell informs us, that the Welsh bards were employed in preserving the genealogies and armorials of their no- bles : the Milesians had those of their own country similarly employed. That matter, as Ware observes, is largely treated of in the laws of Hoel-Dha :1" he says, too, that among the number of the bards was the celebrated poet, Dubtach-Mac-Lughair,** " Poeta egre- gius Hibernicus," who composed many po- ems in honor of the false gods ; but that after he had been, by the preaching of Saint Patrick, converted to the true faith, he appli- ed his talents to the praises of the Almighty and his saints. ft * Ezech. cap. 6, v. 13. t Geograph. lib. 4. ^ Ogyg. part 3, cap. 27. § Lib. 1. II Lib. 5. IT Antiq. Hibern. cap. 5. ** Ibidem. tt Jocelin, cap. 45. There were two divinities whose worship was universal among the Milesians ; the first was Beul, the same perhaps as Bel among the Asiatics. We discover in their histories, that, in the reign of Tuathal Tcachtmar,* a portion of land was taken from each prov- ince to appropriate it as a demesne for his use. Assemblies were held each year in the dismembered portion of Connaught.f In this general assembly of all the states,^ called the meeting of Uisneach, in the bar- ony of Rathconra, in Westmeath, animals were sacrificed and offered to Beul, when invoking his protection for the fruits of the earth ; and to render the festival more sol- emn, it was ordained, that in every territory of the island, two fires should be kindled ; and that between them a number of beasts of every kind should be made to pass, in order to preserve them against all infectious distempers for the ensuing year. The day fixed upon for the ceremony agrees with our first day of May, which was, and is still called by the Irish, " Lha-Beul-tinne," which signifies the day of Beul's fire, the Irish word Iha signifying day, and tinne fire.^ The same monarch ordered another meet- ing to assemble every year at Tlachta, in the portion appropriated for that use, in the prov- ince of Munster ; it is now called the barony of Clanlish, in the King's County. The sacred fire was lighted there, to apprize the druids and pagan priests that they were to assemble on the eve of the first of November, and consume in it the sacrifices oflered to their household gods. It was forbidden, under penalty of a fine, to kindle a fire in any other place on that night, which was not taken from the sacred fire. The second divinity that was worshipped among the Milesians, which continued till the time of Christianity, was the Golden Calf. Keating gives us, on the reign of Cormac Ulfada, an example of that impious devotion, in the conduct of Maoilogann the druid, towards that prince, who, having resigned the crown, withdrew to a small country-house at Anacoille, near Tara, to devote himself to the worship of the true God, whom he had already known. The minister of Satan came to seek him in his retreat, and proposed to him the worship of the Golden Calf ; he reproached him for having withdrawn himself from a religion that had been so long established, and which his predecessors down to him had professed. * Keating on the r^ign of Tuathal Teachtmar. t Ogyg. part 3, cap. 56. X Anno Domini, 130. § Ogyg- part 2, p. 62. 66 HISTORY OF IRELAND. The pious prince answered liim with a mild- ness and resohition worthy the first heroes ol' Christianity, that he adored but the one true God, the Creator of lieaven and earth; that as to those gods made hy the hands of men, he knew them not. This profession of his faith cost him his life, for the night following he died, by an unnatural death, after he had ordered that he should not be buried among the pagan kings, his predeces sors, because he Avished his ashes not to mingle with idolaters. It requires but a slender knowledge of history to discover the changes which a long interval of time and place produces. Those who at present inhabit a country live fiir differently from the ancient inhabitants of the same country ; but few ages are suf ficient to make that difference perceptible. The French, now-a-days, differ widely in their taste and manner of living from those that have gone before them but a few cen- turies. In the age we live in, what analogy is there between our customs and those of the surrounding nations 1 If then Ave com- bine these two considerations, it cannot sur- prise us that men who lived two or three thousand years ago, in countries apart from us, had customs different from ours. W need only ascend 800 years from the present time, and it will be found that every country was then less rich, and the people less pol- ished ; and the farther we proceed thus, the jl poorer the country will appear to have been, 1 1 and the inhabitants of it more barbarous. j The Milesians have had their origin from I the Scythians, and their customs from the I Egyptians. These two rival nations were, I ! no doubt, in their time the most polished of ' ' any in the world. Scythia was shortly after the deluge erected into a kingdom ; it "lasted till the tyrannical sway of the kings of Baby- lon, and was so polished, that othef nations borrowed their laws, and the form of their government from it. From these circum- stances an emulation arose between them and the Egyptians, and in their struggle for jpre-eminence, the Scythians had always the advantage.* Herodotus loads them with praises when speaking of the rash expedi- tion undertaken against them by Darius, to revenge some hostilities committed by them when pursuing the Cimmerians into Asia, .-and for putting down the empire of the Medes, who were then masters of that part of the world. Justin, an excellent historian * " There wasalongdispute between the Egyptians land Scythians, in which controversy the Egyptians were defeated, and the Scythians appeared to be the more ancient." — Polydorus, b. 1, in the time of Augustus, says, in his epitome of Trogus Pompeius, when speaking of the heroic actions of the Scythians, that they never underwent a foreign yoke ; that they routed with disgrace Darius, king of the Persians ; and that Cyrus and his whole army Avere destroyed by them : that Zopy- rus, general of Alexander the Great, together Avith the Avhole of his forces, fell beneath their bloAvs ; and that they heard of the Ro- man arms without having ever felt them.* Egypt has been in like manner ahvays looked upon among the ancients as the most renowned school in matters of government and Avisdom, and the cradle of the arts and sciences. So convinced of this was Greece, that most of the great men, as Homer, Pytha- goras, Plato, and her two great legislators, Solon and Lycurgus, went into Egypt to per- fect themselves, and draw from thence the rarest knoAvledge in all kinds of erudition. Of the wisdom of the Egyptians, God him- self bears a most glorious testimony, in be- stOAving praise upon Moses for his having been instructed therein.! Those are the sources from whence the Milesians have taken the first rudiments of their government, manners, and customs ; having their origin from the Scythians, and their education from the Egyptians. The trade Avhich the Phcenicians carried on with that people did not a little contribute to its perfection. I Newton observes that the Edomites, Avhen scattered and subdued by David, AvithdreAv, some to Egypt, another part to the coasts of the Persian Gulf, and that others of them came and settled upon the coasts of the Mediterranean, where they fortified Azotus, and took possession of Sidon. They carried with them to all the coun- tries to which they Avent the sciences and arts, particularly those relating to astronomy, naA'igation, and the use of letters, which they Avere in possession of in Idumea, before the time of Job, who makes mention of it. It was among them that Moses learned to com- mit the law to Avriting. They changed the name Erythrcea into that of Phoenicia, and called themselves Phoenicians : the country along the coasts of Palestine, from Azotus * " The Scythians themselves continued either without being invaded or invincible ; they routed Darius, king of the Persians, and forced him to fly from Scythia in disgrace ; the Scythians slew Cyrus with his whole army : and Zopyrus, general of Alexander the Great, they overcame and destroyed with the entire of his forces. They heard of the Romans only by name." — Chron. page 12. t Acts vii., 22. \ Chron. page 12. RELIGION AND CUSTOMS OF THE MILESIANS. 67 to Sidon, was called Phoenicia. They after- wards spread themselves along the shores of the Mediterranean as far even as Spain, where the Milesians, who were then inhab- iting that country, had an opportunity of forming an intercourse with them. The trade between these two people was not confined to Spain alone ; it extended itself to Ireland, where they traded with those Mile- sians who had made themselves masters of the island. Thus, it is probable that the lat- ter may have received their characters from the Phoenicians, and thatFenius Farsa,* from whom, it is said, they are descended, is the same as Phenix or Phaenius, who was among the Phoenicians the first inventor of letters.! Notwithstanding all these advantages, it is natural to think that the Milesians had been, like other people who were their con- temporaries, rude and barbarous in their manners. Pomponius Mela, and Strabo, represent them as a nation ignorant of every virtue, and who lived upon human flesh. These traits appear to have been mere conjectures without any foundation, | as Strabo himself acknowledges, " Horum etiam, quae comme- moramus, dignos fide testes non sane habe- mus." It is true that their histories have left us one example of the barbarous custom imputed to them by Strabo, in the conduct of a nurse, ^ in the times of paganism, who being intrusted with the care of a young princess, fed her with the flesh of children, thinking, from a diabolical superstition, that such food would give her additional charms. || But does not this affectation of their histo- rians, by recording so inhuman an act, lead us to discover that the barbarity ascribed to the nurse was the crime of an individu- al, and not a custom common to an entire nation ? Such inhumanity, attributed by Strabo to the Milesians, was not peculiar to them : it prevailed likewise, according to him, among the Scythians, Gauls, Spaniards, and other nations. T[ Polybius informs us,that Annibal rejected, with horror, the cruel proposal which the Gauls made to him of eating human flesh.** * Samuel Bochart Cadomensis apud War. Antiq- Hib. cap. 1. + Ogyg. part 3, cap. 30, p. 219. t Camd. Brit. edit. p. 788. § War. Antiq. Hib. cap. 2. II Keating. If " It is said to be a custom among the Scythi- ans to feed on human flesh, and that the Gauls, Spaniards, and many others, when pressed by famine during a siege, have practised the same th'mg:'—Strab. b. 4. ** Roilin, Hist. Ancienne. This custom prevails at present among the Hottentots, and other inhabitants of Africa.* Saint Jerome says that he saw in Gaul, the Scots, a people of Britain, feed on human flesh.t Dempster, a Scotch Avriter, and a man very zealous for the glory of his country, makes use of all his talent to turn from his countrymen the disgrace of the above im- putation :| but as he finds himself confound- ed by the weight of the authority of Saint Jerome, he seeks to avoid the blow by eva- sion, and observes, that instead of the word " Scotos," which is generally met with in St. Jerome's text, it should be read " Gothos," and as the words " Gentem Britannicam," are characteristic of the Scots of Albania, and evidently distinguish them from the Scots of Ireland, he pretends, on the authority of Erasmus, that the Avords are not found in the ancient editions of that father's works : but Usher coniutes him on his assumed authority from Erasmus, and moreover adds, that all the editions of St. Jerome, and par- ticularly the Basle edition in the year 1497, contain the words " Gentem Britannicam."^ Has any custom ever been more barbarous than that of sacrificing children, which pre- vailed so generally among the Phoenicians, Carthaginians, Gauls, Scythians, Greeks, and Romans- — nations in every other respect very polished ? It was a custom with the kings of Tyre, to sacrifice in times of great calamity, their sons, in order to appease the anger of the gods.|| Individuals, likewise, when they endeavored to rescue themselves from any great misfortune, resorted to the same, and were as superstitious as their princes, so that those who had not children of their own, purchased them from the poor, that they might not want the merit of such a sacrifice. The same custom continued for a long time among the Phoenicians, and the Canaanites. The children who were inhumanly burnt, were cast either into a hot Pet. Lorn. Comment. Hib. cap. 13, p. 131, et seq t " What shall I say of other nations, when I myself, while very young, have seen in Gaul a British people who had been Scots, feed upon hu- man flesh." — Hieron. b. 2, against Jovinianus. t Apparat. ad Hist. Scotic. lib. 1, cap. 4. § " Dempster himself was not able to show that these words were inserted in a certain ancient book, much less in all ; neitlier has Erasmus written, at any time, such a thing. All the editions of the works of St. Jerome (particularly that published at Basle in the year 1497) have, in this place, dis- played to us the British nation." — Usher, Church History, cap. 15, p. 589. 1! Philo. 68 HISTORY OF IRELAND. furnace, or shut up in a statue of Saturn, which was set on fire.* In order to stifle the cries of tlic unhappy Aictims during this barbarous ceremony, the air resounded with the noise of drums and trumpets. Mothers made it an honor and a point of rehgion, to assist at the cruel spectacle, without shed- ding a tear, or uttering the least lamenta- tion.f They were so callous and inhuman as to caress their children and appease their cries, lest a victim oflered with a bad grace, and in the midst of tears, might be displeas- ing to the gods. The Carthaginians retained till the de- struction of their city, the barbarous custom of ollering up human victims in sacrifice :| it was, however, suspended for a few years, lest they might bring on themselves the wrath and power of Darius the First, king of "Persia, who had forbidden them to ofter human victims, and had likewise enjoined them not to eat the flesh of dogs. During the battle which was fought in Italy, between Gelon the tyrant of Syracuse, and Hamilcar the Carthaginian general, which lasted from morning till night, the Carthaginian general did not cease to offer up in sacrifice to their gods, living men in great numbers, by having them thrown into a burning furnace ; and seeing, says Herodotus,^ his troops give way, he cast himself into it not to survive his shame. II In times of pestilence, children were sacrificed in great numbers to their gods, without pity for an age which would excite compassion in the most cruel enemy, by which a remedy for their evils was sought in crime, and barbarity made use of to appease the gods. When Agathocles laid siege to Carthage,^! the unfortunate inhabitants of that city as- cribed their misfortune to the just anger of Saturn against them for having sacrificed, instead of children of the first quality, (to which they had been accustomed,) those of strangers and slaves. To make amends for their supposed crime, they offered up in sacrifice to Saturn, two hundred children of the first families in Carthage, besides three hundred citizens, w^ho, thinking them- selves guilty of the same crime, voluntarily sacrificed themselves likewise. Solinus says, that the ancient Irish had the custom of drinking the blood of those whom they had slain, and of besmearing * Plutarq. de Supcrstitione, p. 171. t TertuU. in Apollog. Quint. Curt. lib. 4, cap. 3. t Plut. de Sacra Vindicatione Deorum § Lib. 7. II Justin, lib. 17. IT Diodor. lib. 20 their faces with it ;* that the mothers pre- sented, upon the point of a sword, the first food to their male children, praying that they might not die in any other way than in war, or with arms in their hands. It is very probable that Solinus is not better informed on the subject than Strabo, who cannot vouch, by witnesses worthy of belief, for all that he advances. We need but examine, at present, into the habits of other people of antiquity, and they will be discovered to have been rude and barbarous. The inhabitants of the Balearic islands, accustomed themselves from their earliest youth to the use of the sling. Mothers placed upon the branch of a very tall tree, pieces of bread intended for the breakfast of their children, who were to continue fast- ing until they could strike them down from the branch. It is therefore an injustice to reproach a nation for barbarous manners, at a time when the evil generally prevailed in other countries. The ancient Irish, called Milesians, or Clanna Mileag, that is to say, the children of Milesius, Avere divided into four tribes, namely, those of Heber, Heremon, Ir, and Ith. They preserved their race pure, and made no alliances wdth the lower orders, nor with their vassals, who had followed them from Spain. They formed four great families, who were descended from the same father. They preserved their genealogies carefully, and knew the whole line of their ancestors, down to the chief of their tribe. This pre- caution was essential in regard to the suc- cession to the throne, because it was required that those who aspired to it should be de- scended from one of the tribes. Each tribe possessed, in the beginning, their own portion of the island, and each portion was divided into lands and lordships, possessed by the different branches of the tribe. Each tribe had a number of vassals or farmers to culti- vate their lands, and conduct their numerous flocks of cattle, which formed their chief wealth. Every one was called by his name : they did not take the name of castles or villages, like the nobles of the present day, but they usually added to their names that of their fathers, with the adjective Mac, which signifies son, as Laogare Mac-Niall. The custom of the people of the east, says M. Rollin, was to add to the name of the son that of the father ; for instance, Sarda- napalis is composed of Sardan and Pal, which means Sardan, son of Pal. This custom was followed by the Greeks and Romans. * Lib. 20. RELIGION AND CUSTOMS OF THE MILESIANS. 69 It is observed, even to this day, in Muscovy, where Wits is sometimes added to the names to signify the son of such a one, as Petrowits, the son of Peter, Jeannowits, son of John. The Fitz made use of among the Saxons in England, implies the same thing ; for in- stance, in the names Fitzgerald, Fitzmaurice, Fitzsimon, Fitz signifies son, and is the same as the son of Gerald, the son of Maurice, the son of Simon : we discover also in the same country the Thompsons, the Johnsons, which names signify the sons of Thomas, of John, &c. The tribe which usually bore the name of their chiefs, sometimes changed them, to take that of some one among their chiefs, who was renowned for some great action, as the tribe of Ir, which took the name of Clanna-Rory, which signifies the children of Rory. There Avas among the Milesians, great simplicity without refinement, proportioned to the time in which they lived, but not always without that mixture of vice so com- mon among other people. Wo discover among them neither those pompous titles of nobility invented within the last seven or eight centuries, nor that multitude of ex- penses, nor luxury, the necessary cause of many new fashions, which lend to the ruin of many families. This great simplicity, joined to a general prejudice that that which is most ancient is always most imperfect, easily convinces us that they were rude in their manners. The arts and trades were not unknown to the Milesians :* having discovered among them mines of gold, silver, tin, lead, and iron, they had learned to melt and manufacture them.t The forges of Airgiodross,| of which their historians speak ; the arms which they made use of, such as the sword, the lance, the axe, and other instruments,^ show us that there were among them workmen who knew how to make use of the hidden treas- ures with which nature had enriched their island. Their churches and houses were generally built of wood, which is a proof that there were carpenters among them. Their churches, says Bede, were not built of stone, but of oak-wood artificially wrought. || Saint Bernard, in speaking of an oratory which Saint Malachy caused to be built in Ireland, says that it was made of polished wood solidly put together ; to this remark * Keating on the reign of Tighernmas. t Idem, on the reign of Enna, surnained Air- gheagh. t Grat. Luc. cap. 8, p. 59. § Ogyg. part 3, cap. 21 et 28. II " Not of stone, but of wrought oak." he adds, that it was a very handsome Scotic structure.* Their chariots, whether for war or travelling, and the great number of ships that they made use of, as well for fishing (which was largely carried on among them) as for the frequent expeditions which they made into Britain and other countries, prove that they must have had mechanics to con- struct them. In ancient times, they made use of little boats built of light wood,t or of osier, which they covered with the skins of horses, oxen, or of some wild beast, and these boats they called curraghs.;}: With those small vessels they easily crossed the Scythian valley, which signifies the sea that separates Ireland from Britain. But ac- cording as they became perfect in the arts, they built much larger and more solid ves- sels, to transport their armies and colonies to Albania.^ The manufacture of cloth, stuffs, and every thing necessary to cover and preserve them from the inclemency of the weather, was in very general use among the ancient Irish. || The men, says Cambrensis, wore trousers or " braies," in Latin, " braccae," whence a part of Gaul was called " Gallia Braccata." The Persians, Scythians,^! Sarmatii,** the ancient people of the Palatinate, called Vangiones, the Batavians,tt Hebrews,:}:^ and almost every nation had the same cus- toms. Among the Irish, the tunic, drawers, leggings, and boots, were composed of one * " A Scotic work very handsome." — Gratiamis Lucius, c. 8, p. 62. t Grat. Luc. cap 8, p. 62. t Ogyg. part 3, cap. 34. § " Claudianus clearly proves, that the Irish afterwards were provided with better fleets ; when, he says, ' The Scot moved all Ireland, and the sea foamed with the hostile oar.' " " An army of Scots, on board a number of ships, passed into Britain, and Niellius being monarch of Ireland, six sons of Muredus with a large fleet seized upon the northern parts of Britain. These foul flocks of Scots and Picts came forth from their curraghs in which they crossed the Scythian val- ley." — Solinus, Cambrensis, and Gildas, in Grat. j Luc. c. 12, p. 115. j II Grat. Luc. cap. 12, p. 112. IT " With skins and sown trousers, they drive away pinching cold, and the face alone of the whole person appears." — Ovid, b. 3. ** " The whole body is enveloped in trousers, and even the face (e.xccpt the eyes) is covered." — Mela, b. 2. tt " The Sarmatians, Vangiones, and savage Ba- tavians imitate thee with loosened trousers." — | Lucan. in Grat. Luc. c. 13, p. 123. %\ " These men were bound, and with trousers and cap, were cast into a burning furnace." — Dan- iel, c. 3, ver. 21. 70 HISTOKY OF IRELAND. piece,* and so tight, that the form of the body appeared, l)y wliich thoy differed from those of otlier peopk>, \vho wore this dress loose and flowing. IJesides this the Irish wore a cloak of purple, which they called "falling," like the "pallium" of the Greeks, and the " toga" of the Romans. They con- sidered it as b(-fltting the gravity of man to wear those cloaks. The English called them mantles, from " mantelum" and " mantele," mentioned by Plautus and Pliny. Mantles, mantelets, and mantillas, have undoubtedly derived their etymology from the same source. They wore their hair long, and allowed the beard to grow on the upper lip :t their head-dress consisted of a cap raised to a point, of the same materials as their clothes ; this cap was called, in their language, " barredh," perhaps from the " biretum," worn by the Gauls ; but more probably from " barr," which signifies top, and from the word " eda," which means clothing. Finally, on their feet they wore sandals, or soles tied with many strings. The Irish women dressed themselves with much modesty. A small mantle of cloth, embroidered or trim- med wath fringe, according to the quality of the person, which hung down to the knees,| covered their other dress. Their head-dress, called in their language, " fileadh," con- sisted of a piece of fine linen, with which they enveloped the head in a spiral form, and thus made a kind of veil tied behind. The unmarried women, as a mark of distinc- tion, wore long hair platted, and interwoven with ribands. The different classes among the Irish were distinguished by the number of colors in their dress ^ The mechanics and work- ing classes wore but one color, the soldiers two ; officers three ; those who exercised hospitality four ; II the nobles five; the his- torians and learned six ;T[ which shows the esteem in which men of letters were held : lastly, the kings and princes of the blood wore clothes of seven colors. The plaid, or robes of different colors, which are still worn by the Scotch Highlanders, are prob- ably the remains of this ancient Milesian custom. In the earlier periods, the Milesians slept under tents, after the manner of the Scythians their ancestors ; however, as soon as they were well secured in their possessions, they * Grat. Luc. cap. 13, p. 122 et seq. t Idem, cap. 13, p. 125. I Grat. Luc. cap. 12, p. 112. § Keating on the reign of Tighernmas. il Grat. Luc. cap. 8, p. 59, et cap. 10, p. 105. ^ Ogyg. part 3, cap. 23. evinced a taste for building houses and towns.* Stones were not used in their buildings, the use of which was not known to the Britons and Gaids.f Their houses were built of wood, their furniture was very plain, and all their vessels made of wrought wood, according to the taste of the times. The Irish were remarkable for their hos- pitality. ;{: The unfortunate always found refuge among them. § The Spaniards, Gaids, and Britons, sought an asylum in that coun- try, to secure themselves from the tyranny of the Romans ;|| princes Avho were perse- cuted in their own country, found there a safe retreat. Dagobert II., son of Sigebert, king of Austrasia, having been expelled his kingdom by Grimoald, mayor of the palace, was received wdth distinction in Ireland, where he remained in exile during twenty- five years. •[[ Oswald, king of the Northum- brians,** with his brothers and several lords, found refuge among the Scots, that is to say, the Irish, " apud Scotos exulabant," among whom they remained for sixteen years, till the death of the tyrant whose fury they wished to avoid. Alfred, king of the Northumbrians, and one of the successors of Oswald, having been driven from the throne of his ancestors, withdrew into Ireland,!! where he made a considerable progress in the study of litera- ture, and in the art of governing. Bede mentions a number of Englishmen, both no- bles and others, who went to Ireland in the time of the holy bishops Finan and Colman, to be instructed in divine learning, and to perfect themselves in the practice of a mo- nastic life.|| He adds, also, that the Scots supplied them, gratis, with every thing ne- cessary for their support, even with books for their studies. ^^ * War. Antiq. Hib. cap. 22. t Grat. Luc. cap. 10, p. 99. t " They are indeed the most hospitable of man- kind. You cannot gratify them more, than either to visit them of your own accord, or invite them to visit you in turn." — Stan. Irish Hist. b. 1, p. 33. § Petr. Lombard, cap. 12, p. 111. II " Many, no doubt, passed into Ireland, from Spain, Gaul, and Britain, to draw their necks from the iniquitous oppression of the Roman yoke." — Camd. Brit. edit. p. 682. IT Hist. Ecclesiast. de Fleury. Abreg^ Chron. de Calmet. ** Abrdge Chron. du Pres. Hayn. t+ Bede, Hist. Eccles.lib. 3, cap. 1 et seq. tt Bede, Malmsburiensis, et Harps feldius apud. Grat. Luc. c. 14, p. 128. §§ " All of whom the Irish most freely received, and afforded them daily food without payment : they likewise supplied them with masters and books without remuneration." — Bede's Church Hist. c. 27, b. 3. RELIGION AND CUSTOMS OF THE MILESIANS. 71 The love of hospitality was not confined to individuals, it was the general taste of the nation ; as there were lands assigned by the government to a certain number of persons, who were appointed to exercise it in the different provinces. They were named " Biatachs," from " Bia," in Latin, Victus, which signifies all kinds of food. The oflice of Biatach was considered honorable by the Irish.* In order that it might be discharged with dignity, none but nobles were appointed to it; besides the lands assigned by the state, they should be the lords of seven boroughs or villages, feeding seven herds of one hun- dred and twenty oxen each, without counting the produce in grain, after seven ploughs every year. The Hospitalers took care never to be taken unprepared. Large pots, filled with all kinds of meat, supplied in abundance every thing to satisfy their guests. The fare was plain and frugal : they were unacquaint- ed with sauces and ragouts : their general food was flesh, fish, bread baked in the ashes, milk, butter, honey, and herbs, prin- cipally water-cresses, which were much used by them, as well as by the ancient Persians. Hospitality, when confined to the limits prescribed by prudence, is a virtue belong- ing to charity ; but among the Irish it was a vice which might be called prodigality, and tended to the ruin of families. For besides the hospitable institutions established by public authority, the houses of private lords were like inns, where every one was welcome, particularly the bards, or Fileas, who were equally loved and feared, on account of their satirical genius, as they were lavish of praise or cutting satire, according to the good or bad reception they received.! Among the Milesians, music formed part of a good education ; every one was desirous of knowing how to sing or play on some in- strument. | The office of music-master to the king, was among the number of those created in the third century, in the reign of Cormac- Ulfada.^ These appointments consisted of a gentleman companion, a druid, a judge, a doctor, a poet, historian, musician, and three stewards. Those who filled these offices always followed the court ; the gentleman was companion to the king; the druid super- intended the afiairs of religion ; the judge interpreted the laws, and decided all con- troversies among the people ; the doctor watched over the king's health ; the poet celebrated his great deeds ; the historian * Grat. Luc. cap. 14, p. 130. t Petr. Lomb. cap. 12, p. Ill t Keating on the reign of Cormac-Ulfada. § Ogyg- part 3, cap. 63. kept his history and genealogy ; the musi- cian amused him during his repasts, and in his hours of recreation ; lastly, the stewards received the revenues of the crown, and managed the affairs of the household. These officers continued till the eleventh century, in the reign of Brian Boroimhe, except that in the time of Christianity, in the place of the druid, a bishop was substituted, and was confessor to the king. Giraldus Cambrensis bears the following testimony to the Irish music. This nation, says he, particularly excels and surpasses all others in musical instruments, on which they perform with precision and lightness, and draw even from discordance the most melodious harmony.* The harp was their most general instrument,! there was one in every house, either for their own use, or for those strange musicians who passed the way. The city of Tailton, now a small village, in the county of Meath, was renowned not only for the games and military exercises which were celebrated there,| but also for the assembly which was held every year relating to marriages.^ The fathers and mothers who had children of either sex to settle in life, repaired thither from the differ- ent parts of the kingdom. The young men and the females lodged in separate quarters, and the parents met and treated together in the public squares, and stipidated for the marriage of their children. The care of nursing and bringing up children of rank among them was confided to people of independence, or wealthy farm- ers, whose wives suckled them, or in case of any obstacle, had them suckled by others under their own eye. The honor of nurs- ing a child of rank, joined to the protection which they expected from them, was con- sidered as ample recompense. They took more care of them than of their OAvn child- ren, and procured them every thing that could flatter their good or evil propensities. There were likewise landlords whose title depended on nursing one or more of the child- ren of the lord from whom they held the land. The descendants of Fiacho Suidhe, bro- ther of the monarch Conn-Keadcahagh, from * " I discover that this nation (i. e. Ireland) pays a laudable and industrious regard to their mu- sical pursuits, and excel, in this particular, every other people. Their movements in music are quick and sweet, their melody and concord are in com- plete harmony." — Girald. Camhr. Hist. c. 19. t " They (i. e. the Irish) are devoted to music and the harp ; they strike harmoniously the strings, which are of brass, with their nails." — Camd. p. 714. X Keating. § Ogyg. part 3, p. 46. 72 HISTORY OF IRELAND. Avhom the O'Fallans derive their origin, be- ing lords of Dcasia, a territory comprising ahnost the whole county of Watcrford, un- dertook in the beginning of the third century to nurse and educate Eithney-athach, daugh- ter of Eana-Kinsealach, king of Leinster, lioping, as the druids had prognosticated, that the marriage of that princess with Aon- gus, son of Madfroach, king of Munster, would tend to aggrandize their fortune. The prediction of the druids came to pass accordingly ; Aongus gave them an exten- sive territory to the north of the river Suir, extending from the side of Clonmel and Cashel, called "Deasia Tuasgirt," or north- ern Deasia. The attachment of the young people for those who had nursed them, sufficiently- marked their gratitude ; they loaded them with favors, considered them as deserving implicit confidence, and often preferred them to their near relatives.* The nurses gene- rally shared the love of their children with the mothers. They were received by them with tenderness and respect, and sat at the table, whatever company might be present. If these children had any cause of discontent in the paternal mansion, they sought refuge with their nurses, who received them with open arms ; the latter often entered with too much facility into their ambitious views, and encouraged them sometimes to revolt, not only against their brothers, but also against their parents, which was often productive of troubles in families, and civil wars in the state. The funeral ceremonies of the Milesians savored of the barbarism of the ancient times. When any person of distinction or a chief of their ancient families died, they prepared feasts, and kept open houses for all those who assisted at the funeral. f The wives of their vassals, who were much at- tached to them, or other women who were professed mourners of the dead,;]; like the " Prajficae," mentioned by Servius, came in crowds, and entering one after the other, with every appearance of despair, the hall where the corpse was exposed, they uttered loud cries and lamentations, reciting the geneal- ogy, and singing in verse, with a plaintive and melancholy voice, the virtues and ex- ploits of the deceased, and those of his earli- est ancestors. This kind of elegy, or rhym- ing funeral oration, being ended, they were brought into another hall, where all kinds of * Grat. Luc. c. 11. t Staniliurst, de Rebus Hib. li I Grat. Luc. c. 13, p. 122. 14, p. 47. refreshments were prepared ; these women, who relieved each other every hour, contin- ued this ceremony as long as the corpse re- mained exposed. The day being appointed, and every thing ready for the interment, the body was carried to the place of burial, ac- companied by the same women, making the air resound with their cries. This custom, however barbarous it may appear, not being in unison with the present taste, was not without a precedent. Among the Jews, those who followed a funeral bewailed with a loud voice, as appears by the burial of Abner :* there were women who made it a profession to cry on those occasions ; and hymns were composed to be used as funeral orations to illustrious persons, such as David composed for Saul, and that of the prophet Jeremiah for Joshua. f The ancient Romans also employed professed mourners at fune- rals, which is proved by its being prohibited in the laws of the twelve tables. | The ancients paid particular respect to the remains of their deceased relations and friends. The^Greeks burned them, to pre- serve their ashes in urns. The Hebrews buried the lower orders of the people, and embalmed persons of rank, to place them in sepulchres ; they sometimes burned per- fumes on the dead bodies. The Egyptians embalmed their dead, surrounding the body with drugs of a drying quality : they were then placed in sepulchres ; they sometimes covered them with fine linen and dissolved gum, and preserved them in that state in their houses. § The Romans, Gauls, Germans, Bri- tons, and people of the north, sometimes burn- ed their dead, and sometimes buried them. Pomponius Mela asserts that it was the cus- tom among the druids, who Avere the priests and legislators of most of these nations. || A number of caves or subterraneous vaults, (called by the Greeks " hypogae," by the Latins " Conditoria" or " requietoria,") which have been discovered within a few centuries in Ireland, would make it appear that the Milesians anciently burned their dead. These caves were constructed of flat stones, sometimes of marble, some of which, raised perpendicularly, supported the others, which were placed horizontally over them, forming a kind of centre, without plaster or any other cement. The bodies were depos- ited in those vaults ; after which they were covered with earth in the form of Pyramids, * Reg. 3, ver. 31, Jerem. 8, v. 17. t 2 Reg. 1, V. 17. I War. Antiq. Hib. cap. 32. § War. Antiq. Hib. cap. 32. II Geograp. lib. 3. CIVIL AND POLITICAL GOVERNMENT OF THE MILESIANS. 73 which were sometimes flattened on the top like a Dutch cheese, and are called "moats" by the people of the country. Ware says, that some of this kind are still to be seen at Naas, in the county of Kildare, and at Clo- nard, in Meath ; so that those vaults, first constructed on the surface of the earth, were in course of time completely covered with it. Virgil and Lucan alluded to those pyramids in speaking of the heaps of earth which were raised over the ashes of kings.* The caves enclosed in those pyramids dif- fered in size ; some were six feet long, others but two. Entire skeletons, and urns filled with ashes, were sometimes found in them. In 1646, a sepulchre of black marble was found buried in a hill in the neighborhood of Dublin ; its length Avas fourteen feet two inches ; and its breadth two feet one : this sepulchre contained a quantity of ashes and bones. Molyneux, in his treatise on the " Danish mounts," describes a subterraneous vault which was discovered at New-Grange in the county of Meath. f This vault, which was of an irregular form, was nineteen or twenty feet high, and ten in diameter. There were three caves or niches formed in the side of the vault, each about ten feet in length, five in breadth, and the same in depth. The great vault contained two skeletons, which were found lying on the ground. The entrance was through a small hole, in a kind of gallery or conduit, eighty feet long, three feet wide, and unequal in height, as far as the opening of the vault, where it was ten feet high. The whole, that is, the vault, cave, and gallery, was built of large stones, covered over with earth in the form of a hill. Many others, of the same description, have been discovered in Ireland within the last century. Caves of different sizes have been found, some six feet in length, others but two. The former were intended as a burial place for those bodies that had not passed through the fire ; the latter to contain the ashes of such as had been burned. These monuments were only built for people of rank, as much to perpetuate their names, as to distinguish them from the lower classes, who were buried under heaps of earth and gravel. But these customs were abolished some time before the birth of our Saviour, by Eocha X.,| surnamed Airive, who estab- * " There was the tomb of king Dercennus built, beneath a high mountain, with a mound of earth ; it was covered by an old laurel and a shading oak." —Virgil, ,E„eid, b. 11. " And let the ashes of kings repo.se beneath a raised mound of earth." t Page 197. \ Keating on the reign of Eocha Airive. lished the use of graves, as more convenient, and more conformable to the respect due to the dead, which custom has been since fol- lowed.* CHAPTER V. OF THE CIVIL AND POLITICAL GOVERNMENT OF THE MILESIANS. Heber and Hercmon, brothers, and chil- dren of Milesius, king of Gallicia, having conquered the Tuatha de Danains, reigned together in Ireland for the space of one year, but some differences having arisen between them, Heber was killed at the battle of Geisiol, in that part of the country at present called the King's county, and left his brother sole master of the island,! who established a monarchical government, which lasted, with scarcely any interruption, till the arrival of the English in the twelfth century, that is, about 2200 years. The government, however, experienced some change under Eocha IX., surnamed " Felioch," or the " melancholy .";{: This monarch was the first who established the pentarchy, and erected the provinces of Ire- landinto kingdoms,^ the investiture of which he conferred on the chiefs of the tribes, who Avere at that time in possession of them, on condition of paying an annual tribute. || In his time the Irians, descendants of Ir, Avere still in possession of Ulster. Tf The Heberians, descendants of Heber, and the Dergtines, of the race of Lugadh, son of Ith, were possessed of the two Munsters, which they governed alternately ; but their pos- session had been disturbed some time before the reign of that monarch, by the establish- ment of the Deagades of Lough Earn, of the race of Heremon. Leinster Avas under the dominion of the Heremonians, descend- ants of Laogare Lore, son of Ugane More ; and Connaught belonged to the Firdomnians, of the race of the Firbolgs, avIio were divided into three branches, the chiefs of which Avere, at that time, Fidhac, Eocha AUat, and Tin- ne.** In whatever light this government of the Milesians is considered, it cannot be * Grat. Luc. page 8, p. 65. + A. M. 2992. t Keating on the reign of Eocha Felioch. § A. M. 3989. II Ogyg. part 3, cap. 40. IT Grat. Luc. cap. 8. ** Idem. 10 74 HISTORY OF IRELAND. called a pontarchy, as Cambrensis has it. From the time of Ilcrcmon till the reign of Eocha IX., a thoiisai\d years, this people were governed sometimes by one king, and sometimes, but seldom, by two together, af- ter the manner of Sparta. From Eocha IX., till the twelfth century, the provincial kings had, to a certain degree, divided the govern- ment of the island between them ; but their subordination to, and dependence on the mo- narch, completely excluded the idea of apen- tarchv, which implies, among the princes composing it, an equality and independence of one another, as was the case with the Saxon princes, in the time of the English heptarchy. This division of the supreme power by Eocha, contrary to all rules of good policy, by increasing the discord which had always reigned among the Milesians, weakened con- siderably the sovereign power, so necessary to keep the people in subjection. The link of the general welfare being broken, the interests of the chiefs who ruled in the several kingdoms were separated, so that they often took up arms one against the other, and sometimes against their general- in-chief. Cambrensis, with his usual confidence, asserts, that it was a custom with the kings of Ireland to take possession of the govern- ment of the whole island by force of arms, without the solemnity of coronation, or any right, either by inheritance or succession. However, we may judge of the belief which should be attached to this author, and all those who have imitated him, by the char- acter I have drawn of him in the preliminary discourse on this subject. Harris reproaches Ware, whose works he translated, of having given but a very imperfect idea of the an- cient government of Ireland, and of having too closely copied the calumnies of Cam- brensis, without sufficiently fathoming the truth.* The crown was neither absolutely heredi- tary nor purely elective among the Milesians. The son did not always succeed to his father's throne, and the younger often reigned to the prejudice of the elder ; in case of the chil- dren being minors, the brother, uncle, or cousin of the deceased king was called to the throne, or the nearest relative capable of governing alone, and commanding the armies. t The same laws which excluded minors, excluded also from the throne all those who were not descended from one of * Harris, vol. 2, cap. 10. t Petr. Lomb. Comment, de Hibern. cap. 3, page 45 et 46. the three sons of Milesius, Heber, Heremon, or Ir. A successor was appointed to the crown during the monarch's lifetime, as the king of the Romans was elected in the em- pire ; this heir, who was his son, brother, uncle, or his nearest relation capable of governing, was called " Tainiste," from the name of the ring finger ; and, as this finger by its place and length is next to the middle one, so that prince was next to the monarch in rank, dignity, and power. It is from thence Davis and Ware give the name of " Tanistry" to the law concerning the suc- cession of the crown in Ireland.* The candidate was obliged to prove his origin by the registries of his family, and the Psalter of Tara ; which induced the Milesians to preserve the genealogies of their families with as much care and precision as the Hebrews. The family of Ith, uncle of Mi- lesius, was not absolutely excluded from the crown, as we find the names of three of them in the list of the Irish kings. Besides his birth, the candidate should be a knight of the golden chain, called in their language, " niadh-niask," as we should say, " Eques Torquatus," from a chain of gold which was worn on the neck.f This order was insti- tuted by king Munemon, and was the only title of honor used by the Milesians after that of king. J The pompous titles of duke, marquis, earl, and baron, introduced within the last few centuries, to flatter the am- bition of men, and often conferred on peo- ple whose only merit consisted in being the favorites of princes, were unknown to them, as well as to the Greeks, Romans, and other nations of antiquity. Notwithstanding the wise precautions adopted by the Milesians in the election of their kings, those candidates Avho thought themselves unjustly excluded, roused by the ambition of reigning, and supported by the factions of their vassals, (not, however, with- out any right to the succession, as Cam- brensis asserts,) often, at the expense of the public peace, decided by their arms what was, in their opinion, unjust in the choice of the electors.^ We do not discover in the ancient monu- ments of the Milesians any vestiges of the ceremonies used before Christianity, at the coronation of their monarchs, whether it be that the registries and acts in which these ceremonies should be noted have been lost, or fallen into the hands of those who wish * Ogyg. part 1, page 57 et 58. t A.M. 3271. t B.C. 729. § Ogyg. part 1, p. 58. CIVIL AND POLITICAL GOVERNMENT OF THE MILESIANS. 75 we should be ignorant of them : however, as their liistorians have preserved some parti- culars of the inauguration of the provincial kings, it is probable there were still more august ceremonies for the coronation of their monarchs. It cannot be denied that crowns were used by the Milesians, of which frequent mention is made in their annals : we discover in them that the Asion, that is, the crown of the queen of Cahire-More, was stolen at the assembly of Tara ;* that Donogh O'Brien, king of Munster, and partly of Ireland,! had taken the crown of his ancestors with him, when he made a voyage to Rome. Ward, a respectable antiquarian, says that the Irish kings appeared in all solemnities, even at battle, with the crown on their heads.J This mark of distinction was fatal, according to Marianus Scotus, to the monarch Brian Boroimhe, at the famous battle of Clontarf, where he was recognised and killed by some Danes that were flying.^ According to Hec- tor Boetius,the kings of Scotland, from Fer- gus I. to Achaius, who died in 819, wore a crown of plain gold, in the form of a palli sade or rampart, " Militaris valli forma. "| There can be no doubt of their having bor- rowed this ensign of royalty from their an- cestors the Milesians, as they were descend- ed from them.TI The following fact leaves no doubt on this subject. In 1692, a crown of gold, in the form of a cap, was found ten feet deep in the earth, by some laborers who were cutting turf in a bog at Barnanely, otherwise " the Devil's Bit," in the county of Tipperary, in Ireland. This crown, which weighs five ounces of gold, is tolerably well wrought ; it resembles the crowns of the emperors of the East, composed of a helmet and diadem, according to the description Seldon gives of it.** It has neither cross, nor any other mark of Christianity, which gives rise to a belief that it was made in the time of paganism. This curious piece of antiquity was sold to Joseph Comerford, and by him preserved in the castle of Anglure, in Champaign, which estate he purchased. It does not appear that the anointing, which now constitutes part of the coronation ceremony of the European princes, had been in use among the Milesians. ft This custom. * Ogyg. p. 46. t Idem, p. 47. t Vit. Rumoldi, p. 170. § In the year 1014. II Lib. 2 et 10. IT Keat. preface. ** Tit. Hon. part 1, chap. 8. ■•"+ Ogyg. part 1, page 47. the first examples of which we discover among the Hebrews, did not exist, accord- ing to Onuphrius Panvinius, among the em- perors of the East before the time of Justinian, or of Justin his son, about the year 565.* It was introduced, according to that author, into the west by Charlemagne, in 800 : however, we discover in history, that Pepin, his fathet, had been consecratecl and anointed king of the Franks, by Boniface, Archbishop of Mayence, in virtue of the power granted him for this purpose by Pope Stephen II. In the first ages of this rising monarchy, that is, till the reign of Ollave Fola, the Milesians, like many other people in those ancient times, followed the laws dictated by nature.! Their government was not yet founded on fixed laws, or their laws were too general to embrace private cases that might arise between the king and his sub- jects, or between the subjects themselves. | The Greeks and Romans labored for a considerable time under the same inconve- niences, for the Athenians formed a nation long before the time of Draco and Solon, their first legislators, and the Roman people had existed three hundred years, before they received from the Athenians the laws of the Twelve Tables. During this interval, the Milesians la- bored with emulation, princes as well as the people, in cutting down the forests with which the island Avas covered, in cultivating the land, and preparing it for tillage and pasture, in order to derive from it every thing necessary for their subsistence. Ollave Fola directed his thoughts to ob- jects more elevated and more worthy of a king, convinced that it would in some man- ner be degrading to mankind, to think only of sustaining life.^ He knew that men born for society had need of laws to regulate their morals, and to exercise distriljutive justice. He conceived the design of ac- complishing it, and after having collected, and reduced to the form of a history, all the monuments of his ancestors, down to his own time, as Eithrial, one of his predeces- sors, had done before him, he convened a triennial and general assembly of all the states, in form of a parliament, at Tara, in Meath, which afterwards became the usual residence of the monarchs. || This assembly was called in their lan- * De Comitiis Imperatoriis, cap. 2. t A. M. 3320. B. C. 680. X Ogyg- part 3, cap. 30. § Lecan, after Feirchirtne, an antiquarian who lived more than 100 years before Jesus Christ. II Keat. on the reign of Ollave Fola. 76 HISTORY OF IRELAND. guage Feis-Tcamrach, signifying the assem- bly of the nobility, druids, historians, and other learned men. It was held in a great hall in the palace of Tara, at the time an- swering to our months of October and No- vember. The most perfect order was pre- served, every one taking his place according to his dignity. It was on this occasion the king ordered coats of arms to the chief of each family, according to his rank, to dis- tinguish them one from the other, and to servo as a rule for the master of the cere- monies, whose office was to mark the rank of each member in the assembly ; which he performed by hanging the buckler and coat of arms of each person on the wall opposite to the place intended for him.* It must be observed that, until then, the different fam- ilies composing the colony of the Milesians, had no arms peculiar to them ; they had only a banner bearing as an escutcheon a dead serpent and a wand, in memory of the cure of Gaodhal their ancestor, which served as an ensign to the whole colony. f The Gadelians had borrowed this custom from the Israelites, whose different tribes carried different banners, to avoid confusion in their march in the desert, as our regiments march under their respective colors. In the first session of the assembly at Tara, it was established as a fundamental law of the state, that every three years the king, nobility, and principal men in the kingdom should, under certain penalties, repair in person, or, in case of sickness or any other obstacle, send deputies to Tara at the time appointed, to deliberate on the necessities of the state, to establish laws, and confirm or change the old ones, as the general welfare might require. The princes and other lords were then confirmed in the possession of those lands and lordships which they had received in the division made by Heber and Heremon, after the conquest of the island over the Tuatha de Danains. It was after- wards decreed by the assembly, that each lord should maintain, at his own expense, a judge and historian, to whom he should assign a portion of land sufficient for the maintenance of their family, so that being free from all domestic embarrassments, they might devote their time exclusively to their employment. It was the duty of the judge, called in Irish " brehon," to watch over the observance of the laws in his lord's posses- sions, and to administer justice ; in some cases an appeal against his decisions was * Kcat. on the reign of Ollave Fola. t The annals of Lcath-Cuin referred to the triennial assembly. The historian's office was to preserve in writing, their genealogies, alliances, and noble ac- tions ; and to present every three years to the general assembly, the annals and anecdotes of his patron, to undergo the criticism of a committee of nine, viz., three princes, three druids, and three historians. Those acts thus examined and corrected, if necessary, Avere registered in the great book generally called the Psalter of Teamor or Tara ; a formality absolutely necessary to give them validity. To obviate also prevarication, and prevent the errors which might afterwards be intro- duced into those annals, through bribery or seduction on the part of the lords ; through flattery or a hope of reward, on that of the antiquarians, the delinquents were subjected to heavy penalties : so that if one of them were convicted of evasion, either by con- cealing or adding any fact or circumstance contrary to the truth, he was punished in proportion to his crime ; sometimes by the confiscation of his property, the loss of his place, or a shameful expulsion from the assembly, and sometimes by death ; so that the fear of those penalties was an effectual curb, which rendered them vigilant and at- tentive in the discharge of their duties. This custom of examining the annals of private families, and enrolling them in the Psalter of Tara, lasted without interruption till the twelfth century of Christianity, and without any change, except that when the pagan priesthood was abolished by the preaching of the gospel in the fifth century, the three druids were replaced by three bishops to examine these memoirs, with the three princes and three chronologists ; so that Saint Patrick, the apostle of Ireland, having assisted as judge, with otner bishops, at one of those assemblies, he had all the ancient books of the Milesians brought before him, and having examined them, he approved of the Psalter of Tara, with several other his- tories, written long before his time, and burned 180 volumes filled with the super- stitions of the pagan and idolatrous religion, which the Milesians had till then professed ; a proof that they knew the use of letters before the time of that apostle.* This cus- tom of keeping public registries to preserve their history was not confined to the Mile- sians ; it was common to the Chaldeans and Egyptians. There were learned men in those countries, who wrote and preserved in their archives every event. Josephus, in his first book against Appian, assigns it as the cause * Ogyg. part 3, cap. 30, page 219. CIVIL AND POLITICAL GOVERNMENT OP THE MILESIANS. 77 of the antiquities of the Chaldeans and Egyptians having been so well preserved, while, from a contrary cause, few vestiges of antiquity remain among the Greeks. The book or registry of Tara is called, in the Irish language, " Psaltuir Teavair," that is, the Psalter of Teamor or Tara, being written in verse, or a kind of rhyming prose, like the ancient Arabs, who wrote their histories in verse. Measured words are always the most easily retained, which reason induced the Hebrews to compose hymns on all considerable events, such as the hymns of Moses, of Deborah, of the mother of Samuel, and the Psalms of David.* Since the time of Christianity, several copies of them were taken by public authority, and deposited in different cathedral churches in the kingdom, under care of the bishops, both for the convenience of those who might want to consult them, and in case any acci- dents might arise either from fire or war. Those copies were also called Psalters, after the original, as the Psalter of Ardmagh, and the Psalter of Cluan-Mac-Noisk, of which some copies are still extant. Besides the public offices, created in the assembly of Tara, every lord had a physi- cian, poet, and m^asician, to each of whom he assigned a certain portion of land. These lands, as well as those of the judges and historians, were considered sacred and ex- empt from all taxes and impositions, even in time of war, like those of the pagan priests in Egypt. These offices, and the lands be- longing to them, were confined to certain families. We see an example of the same custom in the fourth chapter of Genesis. And none were allowed to study medicine among the Greeks, but those belonging to the family of Esculapius. Nevertheless, to excite emulation, they were conferred on merit, without regard to the degree of rela- tionship, in order that each member of the same family should endeavor to perfect him- self in his profession ; a convincing proof of the taste of the Milesians for the arts and sciences, even in those barbarous times. f In fine, wise laws were enacted in this assem- bly, to maintain the public peace, and to pre- serve to the subjects the secure possession of their properties and liberty. All violence against members of the assembly during the sessions, was prohibited under pain of death ; the same sentence was pronounced against those guilty of robbery, murder, rape, and other similar crimes, without the monarch * Exod. 15, Deut. 32, Jud. 5, 1 Reg. 2. t Grat. Luc. cap. 3. having the power of pardoning the guilty, as he had given up, in favor of justice, this portion of the royal prerogative. Copies of this were then distributed, by order of the assembly, among all the private judges in the kingdom, to serve as rules in the ad- ministration of justice. Such was then the civil and political government, early formed among the Mile- sians, founded on laws dictated by OUave Fola, the Solon of his time. Carthage and Rome, two celebrated rival cities, were, at that time, but coming into existence. Sparta and Athens had scarcely seen the splendid days of Lycurgus and of Solon. It was, un- doubtedly, this antiquity which made Plu- tarch give the name of " Ogygia" to Ireland. Ollave Fola, having arranged by those wise regulations every thing concerning the government of the state, turned his thoughts to the arts and sciences. The Milesians had already some slight knowledge of them, which they had acquired in Egypt, where the Gadelians, their ancestors, had sojourned for some time. During the voyage which Milesius afterwards made into Egypt, where he remained for seven years, he had twelve young men of his suite instructed in all the sciences of the Egyptians, and who after- wards served as masters to such of the colony as he had left in Spain. But these first impressions were soon lost ; the Mile- sians, occupied during the first centuries in cultivating their lands and new inheritance, neglected the arts and sciences. This wise monarch, wishing to remedy that neglect, founded schools of philosophy, astronomy, poetry, medicine, history, &c., at Teamor. Those schools, called in their language Mur-Ollavan, " the houses of the learned," were protected by the monarchs his succes- sors, particularly by Cormac-Ulfada, who had their foundations enlarged. Tuathal-Teachtmair,* having ascended the throne which his father had lost together with his life, in a revolt of the lower orders,! convoked the assembly of Teamor, as his ancestors were accustomed to do, on their accession to the throne •,X ^"^^ having re- ceived the faith and homage of his subjects, he convened two other assemblies, one at Eamhain, in Ulster, and the other at Cru- achan, in Connaught.§ In these assemblies the decree of Ollave Fola was renewed, for the continuance of the triennial assembly at Tara, with the investigation and registering * In the year of our Lord 95. t Keating on the reign of Tuathal-Teachtmair. t Grat. Luc. cap. 8, p. 68. § Ogyg. part 3, cap. 56. 78 HISTORY OF IRELAND. the annals, which had been interrupted by the usurpation of the lower ranks of the people. A celebrated re' to Plutarch and Suidas, used the word eleleu : Marcellinus tells us, that " Barritus" was the cry of the Roman soldiers going to battle. The god Pan, it is said, was the author of this military cry, which, having caused the precipitate flight of the enemy in the middle of the night in the expedition of Bacchus into India, gave rise to the saying of panic terror* Instead of drums and cymbals, the Milesians, like the Lacedemonians, made use of the flute and pipe in their armies. f As the Picts were the first enemies whom the Scoto-Milesians had to encounter, it is necessary first to investigate their origin and establishment in the north of Britain. Kea- ting, O'Flaherty, and most Irish authors, after the Psalter of Cashel, fix the arrival of the Picts in Ireland, and their passage in- to the north of Britain, in the reign of Here- mon.J We find the following narrative concerning that people, in the ecclesiastical history of the venerable Bede. " The Britons, having taken possession of the greater part of that island, (Britain,) the Picts, who came originally, it is said, from Scythia, had embarked in long vessels on the ocean, and having been driven by the winds beyond the coasts of Britain, found themselves on those of Ireland. Having landed in the northern part, they asked per- mission of the Scots to settle among them ; which was refused — the Scots saying it was impracticable, the island being too small to contain both ; however, said they, take this salutary advice which we give you ; not far hence is an island lying to the east, which we can discover in fine weather ; go and settle there ; if any one oppose j^ou, you may rely on succor from us. Thereupon the Picts sailed towards Britain, and began to inhabit the northern parts, the Britons being in possession of the south. The Picts having no women, determined to ask some from the Scots, who consented to grant their request on condition, that in case any doubt should arise to which of the descendants, male or female, of the royal family, the crown should belong, he who established a claim by the female line should be preferred. This condition was accepted by the Picts, which custom still prevails among them."§ * O&yg- part 3, page 47. t Aulus Gaelius, lib. 1, cap. 11. t Ogyg. part 2, page 86. § " It happened tliat a race of Picts from Scy- thia, having entered on the ocean with a few long Usher, in his treatise on the antiquities of the churches in Britain, gives different opinions on the origin of the Picts.* He says that the north of Europe, namely, the Cimbrian Chersonesus, and Scandinavia, in- habited by the Danes, Goths, and Vandals, and known to the ancients by the name of Germanic Scythia, was called by Proco- pius of Cffisarea, " Thule," and inhabited by the Picts, according to Claudian in his panegyric on the fourth consulship of Hono- rius,t which has made many believe that the Picts of Albania derived their origin from them. But Usher himself seems to douVit if it Avere Scandinavia or some of the northern isles that was called " Thule,";]: which doubt appears the better founded, as, according to the map of the Atlantic Island, drawn by the Sampsons, eminent geographers of the last century, Thule is an island situ- ated in the arctic circle, in the same latitude, but to the west of Scandinavia, now known by the name of Iceland. However, were we to suppose with Procopius,that Scandinavia was called " Thule," and say with Claudian that it was inhabited by Picts, colonies per- haps of the Scandinavians and the Dacians, who painted their bodies by making incisions, and introducing colored substances between the skin and the flesh, with which they formed ships, the force of the winds driving them around, arrived in Ireland, after passing every coast of Britain ; they landed on the northern coast, and having discovered there a nation of Scots, sought likewise for themselves permission to settle in those parts, but being unable to obtain it, the Scots replied that the island would not contain both ; how- ever, we may give you a wholesome counsel which you can pursue ; we know another island which is near to ours, it lies to the east ; we are accustomed to see it in bright days. If you wish to go thither, you can make it habitable for yourselves, and if j'ou meet with opposition apply to us for aid. The Picts after this began to inhabit Britain in the northern parts, whereas the southern were in pos- session of the Britons. When the Picts applied to the Scots for wives, because they had no women, they granted them their request, on the following conditions, viz., if any doubt should arise to which descendant, male or female, (being of royal lineage,) the crown should belong, the decision should be made in favor of the latter; such is the custom to this day among the Picts." — Bede's Church Hist. b. l,c. 1. * Cap. 15, p. 578. t " The Orkneys were moistened with the blood of the routed Saxon, and Thule was heated by that of the Picts."— c. 15, p. 578. I " He implies by obvious and explicit remarks, that pirates of the Sa.vons possessed the Orkneys, as the Picts did Thule, whether that were Scandi- navia, or whether it might have been another of the northern islands, as the Scots were in of lerna."' — Usher, c. 15, p. 579. WARS OF THE MILESIANS. 83 all kinds of figures ; it does not follov/ that a colony of Scythians established in the north of Britain, and called, long after, Picts by the Latins, are descended from those of Scandinavia, particularly as this custom of painting the body was common to different nations.* Itmusthoweverbe acknoAvledged, that the situation of Scandinavia with re- spect to the north of Ireland, where it is said that people had landed, is favorable to this opinion, and renders it more probable than that of Keating, who says they came from Asiatic Scythia, by traversing the vast countries which separate it from the west- ern coast of Gaul. Usher also gives the opinion of several others concerning the time of the arrival of the Picts in Britain ; he does not, however, seem to adopt them : he mentions, among others, that of Meevinus, or Melkinus Acal- lonius, and of Harding, who say that Gadela, and Scota his wife, had come into Albania, with the Picts, in the year of Jesus Christ seventy-five. t But these authors differ from Eumeneus the Rhetorician, who, in his pan- egyric on Constantius Chlorus, mentions the Picts and Irish as the common enemies of the Britons, before the time of Julius Caesar : " Pictis et Hibernis assuetos hos- tibus."J Others, not having well understood the opinion of Gildas and Bede, place the first settlement of the Picts in Britain in the fifth century, under Theodosius the younger ; as Bede, having spoken of the dreadful ravages committed by the Scots and Picts in Britain, adds that the latter had stopped to recruit themselves for the first time in the extremity of the island. " Picti in extrema insulae parte tunc primum et deinceps requi- everunt."^ However, those words, in the natural sense of the author, only represent a cessation of hostilities, and a truce on the part of those barbarians, " cessante vasta- tione hostili," and by no means their first set- tlement in the island, as those authors assert. || It is also possible, that when the Romans had increased their power in Britain, the Picts might have been forced to confine themselves to the inaccessible parts of Cale- donia, and sometimes to withdraw them- selves to the Orkneys, the Hebrides, the Isle * Plin. lib. 22, cap. 1. + " If we attach belief to the words of John Har- dinge, who says that Gadela and his wife Scota, the illegitimate daughter of king Pharo, came with the Picts into Albania, in the year of Christ 75."— Usher's Church Hist. c. 15, p. 180. t Ogyg. part 3, cap. 18. § Ward, Vita in Sancti Romuldi. p. 369 et 370. il Ogyg. part 3, cap. 18. of Man, or of " Thule," to which the expe- ditions of Agricola, Severus, and others, might have contributed : and that the return to their country might have been confound- ed with their first settlement, a. m. 3149. Eocha II. was the first of the kings of Ireland, as I have already remarked, who crossed over to Albania with his troops, and obliged the Picts to renew their alliance with him, and pay the tribute stipulated between their ancestors and Heremon, b. c. 851. But Fiacha I., successor of Eocha, sent over Angus, surnamed Ollbuagach, his son, a warlike prince, who defeated them in several rencounters, and obliged them to acknow- ledge their dependence on the Irish crown.* Finally, Angus I. completed their defeat, having routed them in thirty battles, with their allies the inhabitants of the Orkneys and other islands. This expedition of Angus was followed by a peace that lasted near five hundred years between those two nations, which was at length interrupted by the inva- sions and hostilities committed by Reactha, surnamed Righdearg, in the north of Britain. f The palace of Eamhuin, so celebrated in the history of Ireland, was built by order of Kimboaththe monarch, or his queen Macha, in the barony of Oneland, county of Ard- mach, in the year of the world, 3654, to serve as a place of residence for the princes of the race of Ir, who commanded at that time in the province of Ulster. | From the wars of the Milesians Avith the Picts, till the foundation of this palace and the reign of Ugane More, I discover but little worth relating ; the monuments of the Irish before that period are both uncertain and doubtful ; the plan which I have proposed to myself to follow not allowing me to enter into an exact detail of all their private wars, I leave it to those who have it better in their power than I, to examine the ancient monuments of the country. § Besides, as objects viewed at too great a distance become almost in- visible, it is nearly the same with facts relating to such distant times ; their great antiquity renders them at least obscure : objects should be brought near, the better to distinguish them. ■ " Herein it must be noticed, that the Picts had settled then, for the first time, in the northern part of the island, and continued afterwards in that country, after the devastations and cruel subjection (as Gildas had already described) had ceased in I3ritain." — Usher, p. G09. t Walsh. Prosp. d'Irl. part 1, sect. 1. \ Ogyg. part 3, cup. 37. § Tigernachus Cluanensis, aulor XI. srccd', apud Ogyg. part 3, cap. 86. 84 HISTORY OF IRELAND. Ugano More, tlescendod from Ilercnion in the twentieth degree, reigned in Ireland about three hundred years before Jesus Christ, A.M. 3700. On his accession to the throne, he convoked the assembly at Tara,* in which he received hostages and the oath of allegiance from his subjects, who con- firmed his election,! and enacted a law by which the crown was declared hereditary in his fiimily, in order to prevent the disorders caused by elections, and too great a number of pretenders to the throne. | This monarch was surnamed More, or the Great, from his having conquered a number of islands lying to the west of Europe. He had several children by Keasair, his wife, daughter of a king of Gaul ; among others, Laogare Lore, and Cobtagh, Coel Breag, who reigned suc- cessively. These two princes were the ancestors of all the kings of the branch of Heremon, who afterwards reigned, and of all the illustrious families of that race.^ Laogare Lore having been murdered by his brother Cobtagh, || who seized on the crown, Maion, afterwards called Lavra-Loinseach, son of OilioU Aine, and grandson of Lao- gare, fled from Corcaduibhne, now Corca- guin, in the county of Kerry,!" where he had been spending some time with Scoriat, king of that country, and took refuge in Gaul, with the relations of Keasair, his grandmother ; he was honorably received there by the king, who gave him the com- mand of his troops. He acquitted himself of this commission with so much bravery, that, as a reward for his services, the king granted him two thousand two hundred men, to enable him to lay claim to the crown of his ancestors ; with this succor he embarked, and having arrived in the bay of Lough- garm, now Wexford, he was informed that the usurper was holding his court at Dion- riogh, near the river Barrow, in the county of Carlow ; he marched thither with all possible diligence, and having surprised and defeated his rival, he ascended the throne. . While the children of Ugane More divided the sovereignty of the island, sometimes between themselves and sometimes with the descendants of Heber, the princes of the race of Ir governed in Ulster without inter- ruption, from the founding of the palace of Eamhuin, to the time of Rory the Great, the chief of that tribe, who, from being * Keating on the reign of Ugane. + Grat. Luc. .3, 8, p. 63. t Ogyg. part 3, cap. 38. § Keating on tlie reign of Laogare. II Grat. Luc. cap. 8, p. 64. IT Ogyg. part 3, cap. 39. prince of Ulster, succeeded to the monarchy A. M. 3913, D. c. 87. It was from him this tribe took the name of Clanna-Rory, that is, children of Rory. They were again con- firmed in the possession of this province by the monarch Eocha IX., when he created the provinces into kingdoms, and gave to the chief of each tribe who had till then possessed it, the title of king, a. m. 3986. By this new regulation, the first king of Ulster was Fergus, son of Leighe, and grandson of Rory the Great.* He was succeeded by Fergus Boigh, son of Rossa-Ruah, son of Rory, who, having been dispossessed by Conquovar, otherwise Connor, surnamed Nessan, son of Facthna, and grandson of Rory, took refuge in the province of Con- naught, then governed by Queen Maude, where he placed himself at the head of the Connaughtmen and those malecontents who had followed his fortune, and waged war against his province, which lasted for seven years. t During his stay in Connaught, he had three sons by Maude, namely, Kiar, Core, and Cormac, of whom we shall here- after have occasion to speak. | The empire of the Clanna Rorys in Ulster was at length shaken by the war which Colla-Huais and his brothers carried on against them in the fourth century. Munster was governed alternately by the descendants of Heber and Ith, who formed two tribes, called Deirghtine and Dairine, from the settlement of the Milesians in Ire- land, to the time of Duach-Dalta-Deagadh, who introduced into this province the Ear- nochs of the race of Heremon,^ a. m. 3950. B. c. 50. Deaga, and Tigernach-Teadban- nach, his brother or cousin, chiefs of the colony of the Earnochs, having usurped the government of the province after Duach, were confirmed in their possessions, with the title of kings, by the monarch Eocha IX., which interrupted the succession of the legitimate princes for some generations, till Modha-Nuagadh, chief of the Heberians, put an end to their usurpation, in the reign of the monarch Con Keadcaha, towards the end of the second century. Leinster was always governed by princes descended from Laogare-Lorc, son of Ugane More of the race of Heremon. Its first king, by the regulation of Eocha IX., was Rossa-Ruah, son of Feargns-Fairge. Connaught was in the possession of the Firdomnians, the remains of the ancient * Ogyg. part 2, p. 127, 128. t Ogyg. part 3, cap. 45, 46. t Ibid. cap. 46. § Ibid, part 2, p. 122. WARS OF THE MILESIANS. 85 Firbolgs, to whom the Milesians had given some lands, in gratitude for the services they had received from them in the conquest of the island over the Tuatha de Danains.* O'Fla- herty distinguishes three different branches of this race who governed Connaught in the time of Eocha IX., namely: the Fircraibs, who were in possession of the southern part of the province, on the side of Limer- ick, the chief of Avhom was Fiodhach, son of Feigh ; the Gamanrads, who inhabited Irras in the west, now Galway, as far as the confines of Ulster, governed by Eocha- AUet ; the Tuatha-Taidheans, who possess- ed the rest of the province on the side of Leinster, had Tinne, son of Conrath, for their chief. These three chiefs were called kings by Eocha IX., each in his own ter- ritory ; the triumvirate lasted but a short time. Tinne having married Mew or Maude, daughter of the monarch, was created sole king of the province. After the death of Tinne, Maude, queen of Connaught, mar- ried Oilioll More, son of Rossa Ruah, king of Leinster, by whom she had seven sons, called the seven Maines.f Oilioll was at length killed by Conall Kearnagh, son of Amergin, a prince of the race of Ir, and descended in the fourth degree from Rory the Great. Maude having reigned 98 years in Connaught, sometimes a widow, and some- times under the power of a husband, died at an advanced age, leaving the crown to Maine Aithreamhuil, one of the seven sons she had by Oilioll More. The latter was succeeded by Sanbus, of the race of the Firdomnians, who long after lost his life in a battle against the monarch Tuathal.| After the death of Eocha IX., Eocha- Airive succeeded to the monarchy, and af- ter ten years was replaced by Ederskeol, of the race of Heremon, and of the tribe of the Earnochs, who, from being king of Munster, was raised to the dignity of monarch of the whole island. The book of Lecan fixes the birth of our Saviour in the reign of this monarch : " Ederscolio regnante Christus natus in Bethlehem Juda :"^ but Flannus de Monasterio places it in the reign of Conare the Great. O'Flaherty discovers the means of making them agree, by supposing that the real birth of our Saviour took place in the last year of the reign of Ederskeol, and by commencing the general Christian era with the reign of Conare the Great, his son.|l * Ogyg- part 3, cap. 11, et 43. ■•" Ogyg. part 3, cap. 47. t Idem, part 2, p. 139. Idem, part 3, cap. 46. § Fol. 295, vorso. II Ogyg. part 2, p. 129. The birth of Jesus Christ preceded the death of Herod, as the edict of death pro- nounced by that tyrant against infants, was the cause of the flight of Saint Joseph, with the child Jesus, into Egypt. Herod died in the month of March, before Easter, and his death Avas preceded, according to the calcu- lations of astronomers, by an eclipse of the moon on the night of Friday to Saturday, that is, from the ninth to the tenth of Janu- ary, of the Julian year 4713 : the year of Rome, according to Varro, 753, and the third of the 194th olympiad.* The epoch of the Christian era was fixed by Dionysius the Lesser on the calends of the succeeding month of January, after the Julian year 4714. t This period is at least two years later than the real birth of our Saviour, which, according to O'Flaherty, is sufficient to reconcile the opinions of the book of Le- can and of Flannus de Monasterio, concern- ing the king who reigned in Ireland at the time of the nativity. In the reign of Conare the Great, the provincial kings were : Conquovar-Nessan, son of Feachna-Fatagh, and grandson of Rory the Great, of the race of Ir, in Ul- ster ;'\ Carbre-Nia-Ferr, son of Rossa-Ruah, and grandson of Feargus-Fairge, of the race of Heremon, in Leinster ;^ Oilioll-More, brother of Carbre, with Maude his wife, daughter of the monarch Eocha-Felioch, in Connaught ; Eocha-Abraruah, in southern Munster, and Cury-Mac-Daire, grandson of Deaga, chief of a branch of the Earnochs in northern Munster. Angus-Ossory, whose patrimony is still called Ossory, from his name, married Kingit, daughter of Cury- Mac-Daire. || The reign of Conare was long and happy, peace and abundance were universal ; it was the Augustan age of Ireland. He was, in fact, contemporary of Augustus, Tiberius, &c.*I[ The only war in which he was en- gaged during his reign, was against the Leinster people, to revenge the death of Ederskeol, his father, who was killed at Allen, by Naud-Neacht, prince of that prov- ince, who succeeded him for six months.** He defeated them at the battle of Cliach, imposed an annual tribute on them, and de- creed the separation of Ossory from Lein- * Joseph. Antiq. Judaior. lib. 17, c. 8, pp. 9 and 10. t Ogyg. proloq. p. 39, ct part 2, p. 131 X Ogvg. part 2, 131. § Id. 'part 3, c. 45. II Kennedy, p. 71. H Ogyg. part 3, c. 44. ** Idem. cap. 45. 86 HISTORY OF IRELAND. stor, to bo forever annexed to Mimster.* This nionarcli, havin'■ ing the country in which St. Patrick was tarrying, and, according to a custom among the Irish, many were led into captivity, and among them Patrick, who was then in his si.xteenth year ; also his two sisters, Lupida and Darerca. St. Patrick was carried prisoner into Ireland in the ninth year of JS'iall's reign, who ruled Ireland during 27 years, and laid waste Britain and Gaul." — Usher on the Life of St. Patrick, c. 17, p. 828. II A. D. 393. ^ Usser. Primord. Eccles. c. 15, p. 59.5. ** Grat. Luc. o. 8. t+ Ogyg. part 3, c. 85. tt " After this, Britain being stripped of her raised a powerful army and led it into Bri- tain. It was to those preparations, and to this armament of Niall, that Claudion al- luded in the subjoined verses, by introducing Britain as speaking for herself.* Niall, discovering that the Britons lived without apprehension, and placed too much confidence in the defence of the wall and intrenchments which Scverus had built to protect them from the insults of the barba- rians, ravaged their lands and possessions, in conjunction with the Picts, and continued the devastation for several years. f It was at this tinre that the Britons sent a deputation to Stilico, a Roman general, who granted them one legion ; but this succor proved ineffectual against the barbarians, who ha- rassed the Romans by frequent skirmishing. Even this legion was recalled to Rome,| where Alaric, king of the Goths, was wag- ing war in the centre of the empire, having given them battle at Pollens, and afterwards laid siege to their capital. The fleet of Niall coasted along Britain during the time of this expedition,^ and afterwards sailed with him to Armorica, || where he was killed, on the banks of the river Loire,Tf by an arrow discharged by Eocha, son of Eana-Kinseallach, king of Leinster,** who thus took revenge for some affront he had received from the monarch. It was in the reign of Niall, that the six sons of Muredus, king of Ulster, with a considerable fleet, took possession of the northern part of Britain, where they found- ed a nation called Scotia. ft forces and rulers, (though great,) and a number of her youth, (who, after accompanying the footsteps of the tyrant, never returned,) she was unskilled altogether in the practices of war, and was now trampled upon by two nations from beyond the seas — the Scots from the west, and the Picts from the north. In this state of stupor and suffering has she continued for many years." — Usher on Gildas, c. 15, page 593. ■ " Stylicho, she says, hath fortified me when perishing by neighboring nations : when the Scots put all lerna into motion, and the sea foamed with the oar of the enemy." — Usher. t " The British people, living unguardedly on account of the security of the wall which was built by Severus CiBsar, were attacked by two nations, viz., the Picts from the north, and Scots from the west, who laid their country waste, and over- whelmed them with misery, for many years." — Usher, c. 15, p. 594. t Usser. c. 15, p. 595. § Keating on the reign of Niall. II Graf. Luc. cap. 8. IT Ogyg. part 2, p. 159. ** lb. part 3, c. 85. tt " When Niellus the Great was monarch of Ireland, the six sons of King Muredus of Ulster, seized, with a powerful fleet, upon the northern WARS OF THE MILESIANS. 101 Dathy, son of Fiachra, brother of Niall, succeeded him, and was the last pagan monarch of Ireland, after being king of Connaught, the throne of which he gave to his brother Amalgad, who gave his name to Ter-Amalgad, otherwise Tyrawly, a terri- tory in the county of Mayo. In the time of this monarch, Nedfraoch, of the race of OiUoU-Oknn, by Eogan More, governed Munster, having succeeded Cork, his father. The king who reigned in Leinster at that time, was Eocha, son of Eana-Kinseallach, who had killed Niall-Noygiollagh in^Armo- rica ; he was succeeded by his son Ran- dubh. During the reign of Dathy in Ireland, the Roman empire was torn on all sides. In Britain, Gratian had himself acknowledged emperor ;* however, his reign lasted but for a short time,t for, at the end of four months he was killed by the militia, and Constan- tine put in his place. The latter drew with him into Gaid the few troops that the tyrant Maximus had left in Britain, and by this means the island was abandoned to the fury of the barbarians. The Burgundians and Franks made their irruptions into Gaul Rome Avas besieged by Alaric ; the Vandals, Swedes, and Alani, fell upon Spain ; the Goths, with Attains and Atulphus at their head, entered Gaul, so that the empire be- came the prey of all these barbarous nations. The Scots and Picts, always the impla- cable enemies of the Britons, availed them- selves of these disorders to make their usual incursions into Britain. It was at that time that the second dreadful devastation men- tioned by Gildas (and which Usher speaks of, to have occurred in 426) took- place, and caused the Britons to send deputies to Rome in order to implore relief, that their country, so long a Roman province, might not be to- tally destroyed and efTaced.l parts of Britain, and a people who were descended from tlieni were called Scotch." — Cambrensis in Topography. * Beda, lib. 1, c. 11. + Ogyg- part 3, cap. 87. t " From these things we have collected the sec- ond devastation, and the second persecution, which Gildas remarks to have happened in Britain about the year 426. 8abellicus thus briefly describes the history of these events: 'When the Burgundians were ravaging Gaul, jEtius was forced to recall his troops from the island. He put all his forces into motion against the Burgundii, except one legion, which was left to guard the Parisians and their neighbors to the south of them.' The Scots, after the departure of the legions, rise up, together with the people of Albania, and make their attacks with fire and sword, upon the maritime towns of Bri- tain."— Z7«Acr, 0. 15, p. 603. Valentinian III., now emperor, sent to their relief the legion which .^tius had left at Paris. This cohort of disciplined troops repulsed the barbarians, and killed many of them. The Romans after this announced to the Britons that they could no longer under- take such distant and fatiguing expeditions ; that they themselves should learn the use of arms and military discipline, in order to de- fend themselves against their enemies. The Romans, before their departure, had a wall built of stone, eight feet in thickness and twelve in height, to check, if possible, the incursions of the barbarians. This wall was raised upon the same foundation as that which the emperor Severus had constructed of earth two centuries before. Towers were placed at regular distances, on the south side of Britain, to defend it against the incur- sions of the Scots, who were generally hovering around the coast with their fleet. The Romans having regidated the aflfairs of Britain, took their last leave of the island.* In this interval, Dathy, monarch of Ire- land, and a warlike prince, who followed the footsteps of Niall, his predecessor, entered Britain in person, at the head of a large army ;t from thence he went to Gaul, and taking advantage of the consternation in which the Romans were,| on account of the number of enemies they had to encounter, he extended his conquests to the Alps,§ where he was killed by lightning, after hav- ing gained several battles over those who disputed his passage. || His body was " When their former enemies discovered that the Roman forces were withdrawn, they, aided with their fleet, invade the country, and put all to the sword ; they mow down and trample upon every thing in their march. The Britons dispatch am- bassadors to Rome, supplicating aid with tears and lamentations, saying, not to suffer their unhappy country to be entirely blotted out, nor that which had so long borne the name of a Roman province to be extinguished by wicked nations." — Bedels History of the Church, b. 1, c. 12. * " The Romans then announced to the Britons j that they could no longer undertake painful expedi- tions for their defence : they advised them to run to arms, and attack the enemy with eagerness ; be- j sides, they considered (as they were now forced to abandon them as allies) that this would benefit them, viz., to construct a wall from sea to sea, to be built of solid stone, where Severus formerly made a rampart. On the southern parts adjoining I the ocean, where their ships were kept to watch ' the enemy, lliey built towers at proper intervals, .towards the sea, and thus bid adieu to their allies, ' intending never to return." — Bede's Church Hist. lb. 1, c. 12. t Keating on the reign of Dathy I t Grat. Luc. cap. 8. § Ogyg. part 2, cap. 160. 1 II Ogyg. part 5, cap. 87. 102 HISTORY OF IRELAND. brought to Ireland, and interred at Cruaclian, the burial-phico of the kings of Connaught. It is not astonishing that foreign anthers have not mentioned those rapid (expeditions, the only fruit of whieh was the devastation of the provinces, without leaving any colo- ny who might be interested in preserving to posterity the remembrance of the deeds of their ancestors, like the Burgundians, Franks, and others, who profited by their conquests. There w^ere also but few wri- ters in those ages of trouble and darkness ; and the name of Pharamond would pei-haps have remained unknown, were it not for the colony which he established in Gaul. The relation of this expedition of Dathy, mentioned in all the Irish writings,* agrees with the Piedmontese tradition, and a very ancient registry in the archives of the house of Sales, in which it is said that the king of Ireland remained some time in the castle of Sales. I received this account from Daniel OWIulryan, a captain in the regiment of Mount Cashel, who assured me he was told it by the Marquis de Sales, at the table of ! Lord Mount Cashel, who had taken him prisoner at the battle of Marsaille. The army of Dathy, Avhich w^as composed of se- lect troops of the Scots from Ireland, and I Dalriads from Albania, were obliged (when they lost their chief) to disperse, and seek safety in flight and disorder. The Christian religion was not altogether unknown in Ireland in the reign of Dathy. The first sound of the Christian name spread itself, it is said, in the island in the time of Conquovar Nessan,t king of Ulster, through Conal Kearnach, a celebrated wrestler,;}: who, travelling for many years in foreign countries, arrived at Jerusalem at the time of the passion of our Lord. O'Flaherty relates that this account accords with a tra- dition frequently mentioned by the antiqua- rians of that country ;^ but he appears to doubt it himself, as well as the prophecy of Bacrach the druid, who foretold, as the sybils had done, the miraculous birth and shameful death of a divine person, who was to be the Saviour of the human race. Indeed, it is not surprising that the gospel should have been introduced at an early pe- riod into this island. The Scoto-Milesians were much inclined to travel ; and the apostles had preached the gospel freely to all nations, from India as far as Britain, || in * Kennedy, p. 137. t Keatinor on the reign of Conquovar. t Usser. Primord. cap. 16, p. 739. § Ogyg. part 3, cap. 48. 11 " Where men from every part of the world, the time of the emperors Tiberius, Cali- gula, Claudius, and till the tenth year of Nero. The progress of Christianity was so rapid, that there was no nation from east to west, not only on the continent but also in the islands in the middle of the sea, in which the gospel was unknown after thirty or thirty-five years.* Grave authors assert, that the gospel had been preached in the Britannic isles by some of the apostles ; they do not agree, however, respecting the names of these apostoKcal missionaries. Nicephorus in his ecclesiastical history,! says that " Si- mon Zelotus had carried the gospel as far as the Western Ocean and the British isles, and that this apostle was crucified in Bri- tain."! This opinion is supported by the Greek menologists, but is contradicted by the Roman Breviary and martyrology, and by Bede, Usserius, and Ado, who fix the martyrdom of that apostle in Persia, on the 28th of October."^ Simon, the Metaphrast,|| after Eusebius, says, that St. Peter undertook that mission, who, according to him, had been a long time in Britain, " where he drew many to the faith of Jesus Christ, founded churches, ordained bishops, priests, and deacons. "T[ Others assert that it was St. Paul, and oth- ers St. James, son of Zebedee, who, accord- ing to Vincent of Beauvais, had preached from India to Britain, were ; even from the cold regions of the north and the south Atlantic ; so great were the multitudes of men from all nations." — St. Jerome. * " Not islands, nor a continent, nor three parts which nature hath assigned to men." — Usher. " The word of God has been preaclied not only on the continent, but even in those islands lying in the midst of the sea ; they are full of Christians, and of the servants of God. The sea does not separate him who has made it. Cannot the words of God approach where ships approach ?" — St. Augiistin. " So great was the progress in virtue, that the Romans, the Persians, the Medcs, the Scythians, the Ethiopians, Sarmatians, Saracens, and every race of men embraced the yoke of truth in a space of 30 years." — Usher on St. Paul, p. 1053. " Being made preacher of the word of God, he gained the reputation of his faith, teaching both in the east and in the west. Coming to the bounda- ries of the west, and undergoing martyrdopi, decreed by princes against him, he thus passed from the world." — St. Clemens, disciple of Paul, according to Usher. t Lib. 2, cap. 40, apud Usser. primord, cap. 1, p. 7. t Ogyg. part 3, c. 48. § Tom. 2, Antig. Lect. Henr. apud Usser. ibid. II Metaphrast, Comment, de Petro et Paulo, ad diem 29 Junii. If Baron. Annal. vol. 1, art. 61, Usser. ibid. WARS OF THE MILESIANS. 103 the gospel in Ireland :* according to others, it was there that the canonical epistle was written, of which, in the general and more probable opinion, James the younger, who was bishop of Jerusalem, was the author. f All the history of his preaching in Ireland and in Spain will fall of itself, if, as the critics say, he had been put to death by Herod, before the separation of the apostles. Although it be, among so many different opinions, difficult to discover the truth, it is probable that the gospel had been preached at an early period in those islands :| Gildas Britannicus bears testimony for his own nation, and the Christians whom Ireland produced in the first ages of Christianity are a proof in fav^or of this island. But as the divine word had fallen in a barren and un- grateful soil, and that it did not please God to give strength to it, those nations soon re- j turned to their former worship. I Among the number of the first Christians in Ireland, is St. Mansuy, in Latin, Man- suetus, a disciple, it is said, of St. Peter, who having preached the gospel in Lorraine, by order of this apostle, became first bishop of Toul, where he is honored as first patron. According to the present critics, the inhab- itants of Toul were not converted till the third or fourth century, in which case this saint could not have been a disciple of St. Peter. However this be, St. Mansuy is always acknowledged first bishop of Toul, and was canonized in the eleventh century by Pope Leo IX., who was before bishop of this see. Several ancient writers mention the sanc- tity and country of St. Mansuy,^ extracts from whose works are to be foimd in the history of the Galilean church, written by Francis Bosquet, pretor of Narbonne, and published in Paris in 1636. The most cele- j brated of those writers is Adso, abbot of Montiers-en-Derf, who wrote, in the tenth century, the life of this holy saint, by order of Gerrard, who was then bishop of Toul ;|| but the verses which were placed at the head of his work, in which he sings the praises of the saint, are omitted in the Bosquet edition. * In gpec. Hist. lib. 8, c. 7. Usser. p. 5. t Hug. Archipresbyter Toletanus in Chronic, apud Usser. primord. cap. 16, p. 743. t Britannorum inaccess Romanis loca, Christo vero subdita, Tertull. contra Jud. cap. 7. § " From the annals of the Tullenses, St. Man- suetus was bishop and a disciple of St. Peter : he was from the nation of Scotia." — Usher. II " Of Toul in Gaul, St. Mansuetus, a native of Scotia, was bishop and a disciple of St. Peter." — Usher Dempster, always eager for the glory of his country, and desirous that it should have the honor of giving birth to this saint, quotes the first line of Adso, in which he is simply called a Scot, " protulerat quemdam gene- rosum Scotia natum, Mansuetum," but sup- presses the following stanza,* which plainly indicates his country to have been Ireland, anciently called Scotia, and implies, that, in the time of this saint, his country abounded with true worshippers. Dempster possesses, in an admirable way, the talent of appro- priating to himself what does not belong to him,t like the bird in the fable which decks itself with borrowed plumes ; and by means of the analogy of the names Scotia and Scoti, claims, says Usher, every character cele- brated for learning or piety mentioned by the ancients under the name of Scots, at a time when the Scoto-Britons were confined to the narrow limits of Dalriada, forming but an inconsiderable canton in Albania. | The modern Scotch follow the example of Dempster, and load the Irish with those re- proaches which they themselves have reason to expect from this nation. Abercromby, one of their authors, says gravely, " that he is sorry to reproach Ireland with the rob- bery not only of flocks and cattle^ but also of a number of great men. He must be poor indeed," adds he, " who boasts of what does not belong to him." These are high-sounding words, which prove nothing ; Abercromby should have begun with the source, by laying it down as an indisputable principle, and proving by authentic monuments, that the Scotch mon- archy had been founded previous to the year 503 : that this people alone were known by the name of Scots, before and after this period, till the ninth century, and the re- duction of the Picts ; and lastly, that mod- ern Scotland had been celebrated in the first ages of Christianity for piety and learn- ing, while ignorance and irreligion pre- vailed in Ireland ; but, unfortunately for * Inclyta Manusueli Claris natalibus orti Progenies titulis fulget in orbe suis, Insula Christicolas gestabet Hibernia gentes. Unde genus traxit et stratus unde fuit. t " The origin of Mansuetis descended of illus- trious parentage, shines in the world ; the island of Hibernia has borne a Christian people, and hath also borne him." — Ware. \ " And from thence, as many of the Scoti as he had discovered of celebrity among writers (when the Scoto-Britanni were confined within the narrow boundaries of Dalrieda) to be drawn in crowds : he transfers them to the lesser Scotia, confines them to an angle, and confounds all in amass." — Usher, c. 16, page 738. 104 HISTORY OF IRELAND. him, the contrary has been frequently proved. The judicious reader may infer what degree of belief the Scotch authors, after Fordun, merit* (who was the first to forge their chi- merical antiquity, in tlie fourteenth century) in comparison with Bede, Giraldus Cam- brensis, Luddus, Camden, the bishop of St. Asaph, Stillingflcet, Usher, Ware, and so many others, who were foreigners, and not interested in this dispute. The learned El- finstone, bishop and chancellor of Scotland imder James the IV., was so little pleased with the historical chimeras of his country- men respecting ancient times, that he re- fers the curious to the ancient monuments of the Irish, to acquire a more ample know- ledge of them.f Buchanan himself was so diffident of this, that he confessed it v.^as with difficulty he had determined on writing the history of his country .;{: But what should confound those plagiarists, and prove the vanity of their pretensions respecting the missionaries and learned men mentioned by foreign authors, under the name of Scots, is the obscurity of that people before the ninth century, and their neglect in those early days, as Innes, one of their modern historians, allows. Camden, who describes Scotland and Ireland in his Britannia, says nothing of the religion of the Scotch, while he gives the highest praise to the Irish, both for their piety and learning : he says that Ireland was called the Island of Saints, on account of the rapid progress Christianity had made in it, and that it supplied all Eu- rope with swarms of missionaries. Usher, Colgan,^ Ware, and others, mention four holy bishops, called by Usher the pre- cursors of St. Patrick, as they had preached the gospel in Ireland |1 some years before Pope Celestine had sent him to convert this island. T[ Those saints were Declan, Ailbeus, Kieran, and Ibar.** Usher gives an abridged * See Chapters VI. and VII. of the first part of this history. t See the Preface of Stillingfleet, p. 53. t " Therefore I have long withheld myself from becoming one of that body, lest by admiring fables, as others, I should become puerile." — Buchanan in Camd., p. 85. § Colg. Triad. Thaum, append. 5, cap. 15. II Ware de Praesul. et Antiq. cap. 29. ^ Ogyg. part 3, cap. 85. ** " Before St. Patrick, four very holy bishops came to Ireland and preached the doctrine of Christ. — Ailbeus, Declanus, Ibarus, and Kieranus ; who drew, in the net of the gospel, many to Christ. In the meanwhile the Christian faith was advanced in Ireland, by the preaching of three other holy bish- ops, (besides Kiaranus.) before the arrival of St. Patrick : Bishop Ailbeus preached in various places, also St. Ibarus, who was bishop, and that most history of the life, country, and mission of these holy men. Declan, he says, son of Ere, prince of Nandesi, of the royal race of the kings of Tara, (who was apparently of the race of Fiacha-Suidne, brother of Con- Keadcaha,whose descendants were banished from Meath by the monarch Cormac Ulfa- da, on account of their revolt,) having been baptized by Colman, a priest distinguished for his sanctity, and afterwards, appointed bishop, was instructed in the Christian reli- gion by Dymma, who had lately returned to the country, of which he was a native. The young proselyte made so rapid a progress in the doctrine, that he drew after him a great number of disciples ; among others, Mochel- loc. Bean, Colman, Lachnin, Mob, Pind- lugue, and Caminan, each of whom built a cell or chapel in the environs of Mag-Scethih, otherwise " Campus-Scuti," in the territory of Nandesi and county of Waterford, which was the place where St. Declan resided. The desire of becoming perfect induced oiir saint to go to Rome, with some of his disci- ples. He wished to take, from the source itself, the spirit and morals becoming his station, and to receive from the Vicar of Jesus Christ, the orders and mission neces- sary to preach the gospel. On his arrival at Rome, he was received with distinction by the pope, St. Cyricius ; and his noble, mild, and affable deportment rendered him the admiration of the Roman people. After remaining some time at Rome, St. Declan was ordained bishop by the pope, and sent back to his own country, with full power to preach the gospel. We discover in the life of St. Declan that he met St. Ailbeus at Rome.* The latter was a native of the territory of Eliach, other- wise Ely-6-Carroll, in the province of Mun- ster, but now in Leinster. His father and mother were Olenais and Sandith. In his youth he was instructed and baptized by a Christian priest, sent by the holy see as mis- sionary to Ireland. After some time St. Ailbeus went to Rome, where he perfected himself in the holy Scriptures, under the guidance of bishop Hilarius, who having witnessed the sanctity of his life, and purity of his doctrine, sent him to receive orders from the hands, of the pope. The sovereign pontiff received him with joy, and after keeping him for some time with him, consecrated him bishop for the mission of Ireland, his country, where holy prelate Declanus, in his own district, called Nandesi."— I/sAec, Church Hist., c. 16, p. 781. * Usser. Ind. Chronol. ad ann. 397. WARS OF THE MILESIANS. 105 he found an abundant harvest. It is said that he wrote rules for the monks. St. Kieran was born in Ireland, of noble parents, about the year 352, according to the calculation of Usher.* His father was Lugny, descended in the ninth degree from Aongus-Osraige, who had given his name to the territory of Ossory, and was chief of the Fitzpatricks.f Liedan, his mother, de- rived her origin from Lugaidge-Mac-Ithy,:}: whose descendants were the O'Driscols, lords of Corco-Luidhe, a maritime district in southern Munster, comprising the barony of Carbery, in the county of Cork, with the adjacent isles. The authors of the life of this saint do not agree concerning the place of his birth : some say he was born in Osraige, and others in the territory of Corco-Luidhe, the country of his mother. However this be, Kieran dedicated the first thirty years of his life to God in Clere island, called, in the Irish lan- guage, " Innis-Clere," on the borders of Cor- co-Luidhe, in practices of abstinence and every moral virtue, without having been as yet baptized. Having thus performed his novitiate, and the name of Christianity hav- ing reached him, he left his retreat with the intention of seeking, in the Christian reli- gion, what was wanting to his perfection. For this purpose he went to Rome, where he received baptism, and devoted twenty years of his life to the meditation of holy books. He was ordained bishop by Pope Anastasius, and set out on his return to Ireland, accompanied by five ecclesiastics of his own country, who were, Lugaid, Columban, Meldan, Lugace, and Cassan, about the year 402. Before Kieran left Italy, he met St. Patrick going to Rome, and the saints of God were rejoiced, says the author of his life.^ At that time St. Patrick was not bishop, nor nominated apostle of Ireland. Colgan, ac- cording to an old manuscript of Kilkenny, says that St. Patrick had on that occasion spoken to St. Kieran in these words : — " Continue your journey to Ireland ; in the middle of that country you will discover a fountain, called Fuaran ; you will there cause a monastery to be built, and in thirty years I shall visit you there." After this the two saints blessed each other with the kiss of peace, and then parted. St. Kieran's first care, after his return to Ireland, was to seek the fountain pointed * Usser. primord. Eccles. Britan. cap. 16, p. 788. + War. de Praesul-Hib. t Colgan, Act. Sanct. Hib. p. 458 § Usser. primord. cap. 16, p. 791. out to him by St. Patrick, and having dis- covered it on the confines of Munster and Leinster, in the country of Heli, at present the barony of Ballybrit, he had a small cell built there, and led in it the life of a hermit. This cell became afterwards enlarged, and was surrounded by a town : it was then converted into a monastery, and an episco- pal see, of which St. Kieran was first bishop ; it was called Sayghir, otherwise Seir-Kieran. This see was probably transferred to Agha- voe, in Upper Ossory ; whereas in the an- nals of Leinster, on the year 1052, a church is mentioned to have been built at Aghavoe, where the shrine of St. Canice was depos- ited. " Templum Aghavoe constructum est, et Cannici scrinium ibi collocatum." Canice, son of Laidec, a celebrated poet, was the founder and first abbot of the ab- bey of Aghavoe, where he died the fifth of the ides of October, in the year 599 or 600. The episcopal see was at length removed from Aghavoe to Kilkenny, towards the end of the 12th century, by Felix O'Didlany, then bishop. The talent which the Lord confided to Kieran produced good profit; he drew many from the darkness of paganism and idolatry, particularly in the country of Ossory. His doctrine was confirmed by a great number of miracles, as related by Colgan.* Ware says, " He was a man greatly celebrated for his sanctity and his learning. I cannot, however, (continues he,) assert for truth that he was the Quirinus to whom, as to other bishops of Albania, Pope Gregory I. ad- dressed his 61st epistle,! which is still in the ninth book of the registry of that pope, although the great celebrity of Kieran, the long life he enjoyed, and the analogy of the name, induce us to believe it.| Indeed, the old Irish did not make use of K and Q ; the C among them was pro- nounced like those letters : as Ciaran (it is thus the Irish write this name) was pro- nounced Kieran or Quiaran, as Cicero was among the Romans, Kikero : in the same manner Ciaranus, Kiaranus, and Quiaranus, bear a strong analogy to Quirinus ; this adds strength to the conjecture of Ware. But chronology is opposed to him ; for by sup- * In vita Kiarani. t Usser. Vet. Epis. Syl. epis. 2. I " He was a man of great influence, on account of his sanctity and doctrine. I do not, however, venture to affirm that Quirinus was the same as he to whom the 61st letter of Gregory I. was writ- ten, as well as to other bishops in Ireland. The letter is still extant in the registry of Gregory ; though the name of Kiaranus, his great age, and eminent sanctity, would incline us to it." — Ware. 34 106 HISTORY OF IRELAND. ; posing that Saint Kicran died in 5 19, we 1 should also suppose that St. Gregory had I written this epistle in his youth, and long I before his elevation to the pontilieate, which I did not happen till 590. I Saint Kierau ended at length his mortal ' career, at an advanced age, the 5th of March, j 549 ; so that we do not confound him with I Saint Kiernan, abbot of Cluan-Mac-Noisk, who died this same year. The place of his death is uncertain ; according to some Eng- lish martyrologists, it was in the county of Cornwall in England ; and Dempster, with his accustomed license, places him in the calendar of the Scottish saints. The five companions of St. Kieran, who followed him from Rome, were ordained bishops, and labored with great zeal for the conversion of souls, particularly in Leinster, where they founded churches, viz., those of Cill-Airthir, Cluaiu-Ernain, Cluano-Cre- ma, Ferdrum, and Domnach-Mor in the plain of JNIagh-Echnach.* Lastly, St. Ibar, called in the Irish language Ibuir, a native of the province of Ulster, preached the gospel with success in different parts of Ireland, particularly in the territory of Gei- siol He there founded a celebrated monas- tery in an island called Beg-Erinn, which means little Ireland, on the borders of Hua- I Kinseallagh, at present the county of Wex- ford, where he ended his days with a high reputation of sanctity. This place was much frequented in succeeding ages by a great concourse of the faithful, who went j thither for their devotion. About this time is recorded the martyr- I dom of St. Eliph, whose acts are written at j full length by Rupert, abbot of the abbey of Duitz, near Cologne, and briefly mentioned by Mersoeus Cratepolius, in a small treatise on the saints of Germany. Saint Eliph, says he, son of the king of Scotia, (Ireland,) having given up vast pos- sessions in his own country, persuaded that it was delightful to serve God in poverty, came to Toul, followed by thirty-three dis- ciples, where he was cast into prison as a traitor to the country ; but he was delivered that night by the grace of God, and in a miraculous manner : after this he preached everywhere' with zeal the word of God, and converted in a short time more than four hundred persons, whom he baptized ; this irritated the emperor Julian the Apos- tate (an avowed enemy to the Christian name) so powerfully against him, that he had him seized and beheaded.f This event * Usser. Vet. Epist. Syllog. cpist. 2. t " Saint Eliphius, son of the king of Scotia, happened, according to the catalogue of the archbishop of Cologne, in the year 393 ; but as that was the year in which Julian died in Persia, it is better to place the martyrdom of the saint in 360, when that emperor went into Gaul and was declared Augustus by the army, particularly as he suffered, according to Rupert, in conformity with the martyro- logies of Bede, of Ado, and the Roman, the 6th of October, in presence of the emperor himself, on the banks of the river Vere, between the cities of Toul on the north, and Grands, an ancient city of southern Lorraine. The body of the saint was buried upon a mountain at some distance from the place of his martyrdom, called after him. Mount St. Eliph, from whence it was transferred by Bruno I., archbishop of Cologne, and depos- ited in the church of St. Martin Major, which formerly belonged to the nation of the Scots. Rupert also mentions Euchar, bishop and martyr, brother of St. Eliph, and his three sisters, Menna, Libaria, and Susana, who suffered for the faith of Jesus Christ. According to the Roman martyrology, the festival of St. Gunifort, martyr, is kept at Pavia, the twenty-second of August. The acts of this saint's life are found in Mom- britius, tom. 1 ; in the catalogue of the saints of Italy, by Philip Ferrarius ; and in the Sanctuary of Pavia, by Guallas. This saint was descended of noble parents in Scotia, where he was converted to the Christian religion. Although persecution against the Christians was strong in his own country, still, being under the care of powerful pa- rents, he had not the opportunity to indulge the desire he had of martyrdom : it was this that made him undertake to leave his coun- try with his brother Gunibald and his two sisters, and come into Germany, where his sisters gave a glorious testimony of their faith in Jesus Christ, by their sufferings. It is difficult to determine the time in which these saints lived. The persecution which Ireland underwent in their time would induce us to suppose that it was before St. Patrick, and the complete conversion of the iiaving abandoned vast possessions, was delighted to serve Christ the Lord God in poverty. In the city of Toul, together with thirty-three of his faithful companions, being betrayed, he was thrown with them into prison, but, by the goodness of God, was miraculously delivered in the night. After this, he himself preached with constancy and fer- vor, and made a great harvest in the vineyard of the Lord : he converted in a short time and baptized 400 persons. But the emperor Julian the Apostate, being incensed against him because he boldly pro- claimed the glory of Christ, of whom he was envious, caused him to be arrested, and had him beheaded, A. d. 350."— Usher, c. 16, p. 785. WARS OF THE MILESIANS. 107 island. The place of their martyrdom is likewise uncertain. Dempster, who, in his doubtful acceptation of the name Scot, wishes to make them his countrymen, falls into strang-e contradictions on these two points. He first says, in book I. of his Ecclesiastical History, that the two sisters of these saints suffered martyrdom a year before their brothers, that is, m 419 ; but he appears to forget himself when he says, in his fourth book, that St. Dardaluch, one of the sisters, whose festival is observed at Pressing in Bavaria, on the 'calends of February, and whom he imagines to have been Scotch, had gone with her brothers from Scotland in 420, a time when a Scotch kingdom had not been yet known to be founded in Britain. The contradiction is still more obvious when he says, in the seventh book, that the two brothers had suffered martyrdom in 417, one at Como, and the other at Milan, in the time of the emperor Theodosius, as if the Christians had been persecuted at Milan, or in any part of Italy, in the time of that emperor.* On the calends of December, the festival of St. Florentinus, priest and confessor, and a native of Ireland, whose life is taken from the ancient monuments of the church in the city of Amboise, according to the martyrol- ogy of Usuard, is kept.f That saint after leaving his country, made a voyage to Rome, and was thrown into prison by order of the emperor Claudius. During his imprison- ment, he baptized lanety-six persons, both men and women, in the number of whom was iVsterius, the jailer ; he then sent them to pope Calixtus to be confirmed. Although this event be considered to have occurred in the third century, it is not easy to determine the epoch with precision, on account of the difference of about fifty years, discoverable between the pontificate of Calixtus and the reign of Claudius. A farther difficulty arises by supposing that, according to the subsequent part of this saint's life, he had * " That these thuigs had been divided into pe- riods without distinction of time, the arrangement of the years, which is incongruous and discordant, proves ; but this it confirms, that Cunibaldns was put to death at Canara or Comi, for Clirist ; but Gunifortus was said to be put to death at Milan by the arrows of unbeHevers ; as if Theodosius, wlio ruled as emperor at Milan, rendered the times pa- gan and not Christian." — Ush'er's Church History, c. 16, p. 795. t " Florentinus, a glorious confessor of Christ, was born in Ireland, and being brought up under the care and solicitude of his parents, Theophilus and Benigna, became worthy of the grace of God from his earliest youth." — Usher's Church History, p. 760. been contemporary of Theodebert, and Clo- thaire, who reigned in Gaul at the beginning of the sixth century. Laogare, son of Niall-NoygioUach, and cousin-german to Dathy, was his successor in the supreme government of Ireland, a. d. 428. According to Usher, the third devastation of the Britons happened in the year 431, and consequently in the reign of Laogare. The Scots and Picts having learned that the Romans refused assistance to the Britons, assembled all their force, and advanced to the side of the famous wall which the Romans caused to be built, extending from sea to sea, with the towers at proper distances, in which sentinels and armed men were placed for its defence. This barrier, defended by the undisciplined Britons, held out but for a short time. The sentinels were dragged by the barbarians from the walls by means of hooks.* * A breach being afterwards made, they entered the country, and committed every species of cruelty, forcing the poor Britons who escaped the sword, to seek for safety in caverns and other hiding-places, to conceal themselves from their fury.f It was on this occasion that the Britons wrote to iEtius, the Roman consul, to represent to him the deplorable state of their affairs, and to seek for some assistance from him. They mentioned among other things, " that the barbarians drove them into the sea, and that the sea drove them back on the barbarians ; so that they had only the choice remaining, of being either put to the sword, or drowned. "J This letter did not produce the effect the Britons expected : the Romans had to defend * " The hooked weapons of the enemy cease not ; the undisciplined defenders being miserably dragged from the walls, were dashed against the ground." — Be.de, b. 1, c. 12. t " The Romans having withdrawn themselves from Britain, the Scots sally forth from their cur- raghs, in which they were carried over the Scythian valley, these foul flocks united with the Picts, though differing in custom, were agreed in a similar thirst for blood ; in the 8th year of Theodosius, the Roman army being taken out of Britain, and their denial to return having become known to the Scots and Picts, these return and attack the whole coun- I try from the north as far as the wall. The guards ' being either slain or entirely routed, and the wall partly broken down, the cruel robbers triumph in their career." — Bede and Usher. " In the 8th year of the Emperor Theodosius, the Roman army being withdrawn from Britain, the Scots and Picts return and attack the entire country from the north to the wall." — Chronicles of Usher. t " The barbarians drive us into the sea, the sea drives us back upon the barbarians, so that between this two-fold destruction, we are either drowned or put to the sword." — Bede's Church Hist. b. 1, c. 13. 108 HISTORY OF IRELAND. their own frontiers against the Ilnns, and could not send them the succor which they sought. But (hey (bund a remedy for their misfortunes in one nol)le ellbrt, often the result of despair. Seeing themselves aban- doned by their old protectors, the Romans, and on the eve of perishing with famine, or falling into the hands of the barbarians, they formed the bold resolution of leaving their retreats, and to risk their lives in order to deliver themselves from slavery : they at- tacked the Scots and Picts unawares, and made a dreadful carnage among them. The Scots or Dalriads, alarmed at this resolution of the Britons, and not being supported as hitherto by the Scots of Ireland, abandoned their settlement in Albania, and withdrew to Ireland, having Eocha, surnamed Munraver, for their chief, and the Picts took refuge among the mountains of Albania.* It was on this occasion that Bede, after Gildas, said, that those daring robbers, the Irish, returned home, intending to go back in a short time.f Is not the dissolution of their pretended monarchy, mentioned by the Scotch, contained in the above account ? May it not be supposed that Eocha, who commanded the Dalriads in this shameful flight, Ere, his son, who led them back from Ireland to Albania some years afterwards, and Fergus, son of the latter, who became their king, are the same as Ethac or Echo- dius, who, according to Fordon, withdrew with his son Erth to Ireland, at the time of the edict of Maximus, and Fergus, son of Erth, who re-established the monarchy ? Although these refugees were well re- ceived by the Dalriads of Ulster, their kins- men and allies, they did not relinquish the desire of recovering their patrimony in Alba- nia. They returned after some time, com- manded by Ere, son of Eocha, their last chief, whom Usher calls the father of the Scotch kings : " Qui Scotiae regibus dedit originem."t They were soon followed by Maine-Leavna son of Core, king of Munster, who settled with his colony in a territory, called after his name, Mor-Mor-Leavna, now the duchy of Lenox. The six sons of Muireadh, son of Eogan, and grandson of Niall, namely, the two Lodains, the two Aonguses, and the two Ferguses, with their vassals, followed the example and fortune of their countrymen the more willingly, as Erca, their mother was of the family of Ere, then chief of the Dalriads, by Loarne, his eldest son, whose * Kennedy, p. 138. t " These daring robbers, the Irish, return home, purposing to come back after a short time." — Bede, b. 1, c. 14. X Primord. cap. 15, p. 689. grand-daughter she was.* All those tribes, united by the ties of a common origin, after- wards formed a numerous and powerful people. Besides Cantyre and Argyle, the residence of their fathers before their retreat, they possessed the territories of Knapdal, Lorn, Brunalbain, and Lenox, with all the islands on the western coast of Albania ;t but still something was wanting to the per- fection of this colony. The Dalriads had till that time been divided into tribes, without laws, or any other form of government, commanded only by a chief, whose attention was divided between them and the Dalriads of Ulster. To obviate the disadvantages arising from so imperfect an administration, they thought on electing a king : the lot fell on Fergus, son of Ere, descended in the ninth degree from Eocha Riada. Fergus was in Ulster at the time of this election ; he departed immediately with a new colony, accompanied by his brothers, to take pos- session of his kingdom, where he was sol- emnly crowned on the superstitious stone, which Mortagh-Mac-Earca, his grand ne- phew, had sent him for this purpose. j: Ki- nal-Loarn derived his name from Loarn. eldest brother of Fergus, from whom are descended, by Ferguard-Fada, the Mac Lanes, the Mac Kenseys, and several other distinguished families in Scotland. Usher says that the Scots had returned to Ireland, their country, after the third consulship of iEtius, that is, in 446 ; that they soon afterwards returned, and settled again in the north of Britain, which was, he says, effected by Fergus, whose reign, ac- | cording to the Scots of Ireland, agreeably to the argimients of Gildas and Bede, was sub- sequent to the consulship of ^tius.i^i In his chronological table, he fixes the passage of Fergus and his brothers from Ireland to Albania, in the year 503. He afterwards refers to the life of St. Patrick, written in the twelfth century by Joeelin, an English monk, in which it is said that Ere, a prince of the Dalriads in Ulster, dying, had left twelve sons, of whom Fergus was the young- est ; that the latter, seeing himself despised by ins brothers, and excluded from partici- pating the right to succeed his father, had * Ogyg. part 3, cap. 39. t Usser. Primord. c. 15, p. 612. t Lecan. fol. 119, p. A. col. 2. § " After the third consulship of JEtius, in the year 446, the Scots returned into their own coun- try, (Ireland,) and after a short time fixed a settle- ment in North Britain. This, it is thought, was effected through means of Fergusius: his reign, according to the Scots of Ireland, as Bede has it, was later than the consulship of iEtius." — Usher's Church Hist. c. 15, p. 609. WARS OF THE MILESIANS. 109 recourse to St. Patrick, and entreated him to make them do him justice ; that the saint, knowing the justice of his claims, inter- ceded with his brothers, and made them re- store to him the portion which belonged to him by right ; that having given him his benediction, he foretold that, although he then appeared humble and despised by his brothers, he would soon be their prince ; that his descendants would be powerful kings who would reign not only in Ireland, but also in a distant region.* The prophecy, says Jocelin, was literally fulfilled, Fergus obtaining the sovereignty in Albania, where his posterity have since reigned. Usher again quotes the annals of Tigernach, which fix the reign of Fergus in the beginning of the pontificate of St. Symmachus, about the year 498 ; according to these annals, Fergus- More-Mac-Erca, which signifies Fergus the Great, son of Erca, with the Dalriads, pos- sessed a part of Britain, where he died.f Speaking afterwards of Ethach or Eocha- Munravar, father of Ere, who, the modern Scotch historians say, was brother of king Ugene, and who was killed according to them by Maximus ; he says that Camden, after a more ancient author, afiirms him to be descended from Chonarus, and not from a doubtful line of the preceding kings. :j: " Fergus," says Camden, "was the first that reigned in Albania, from Brun-Albain as far as the Irish sea and Inch-Gall, and from that time, the kings of the race of Fergus reigned in Brun-Albain, until the time of Alpine, son of Eoclial."^ This kingdom, which did not comprise one-fourth of the present Scot- land, remained in this state, governed by kings who were the descendants of Fergus. The Picts, who possessed the rest of Albania, had also their kings until the ninth century, when the Dalriads overthrew their monarchy, made themselves masters of all Albania, and suppressed even the name of Picts ; but the * " Though you may appear humble and despised now by your brothers, you will be in a short time their prince. From thee the best kings will come forth, who will rule not only in their own, but also in a distant and foreign land." — Usher's Church Hist. c. 15, p. 609. t •' Fergus-More-Mac-Erca, with the people of Dalriada, held a part of Britain, and died in it." — Usher's Church Hist. p. 610, c. 15. t Camd. Brit. edit. Lond. c. 15, p. 610. § " But a more ancient author, cited by Camden, mentions the descent of Fergus not from that doubt- ful .race of preceding kings, but from another stock. Fergus, he says, the son of Eric, was the first who, from the seed of Chronarus, ruled over Albania, as far as the Irish sea and Inch-Gall, (the Hebrides) and from thence were kings of the seed of Fergus, who ruled over Brun-Albain, till Alpinus son of Eochal." — Usher, c. 15, pp. 610, 611. country was not yet called Scotland : " as neither Dalriada," says Usher, " which Avas the seat of the British Scots until 840, nor even all Albania after the defeat of the Picts, had taken the name of Scotland, which did not take place until the eleventh century, when those two people, united together, formed but one and the same nation. There cannot be produced (continues Usher) any author who has described* Albania under the name of Scotland, before that period."! When the English had given the name of Irish (in Latin Iri or Irenses) to the Scots of Ireland, and that of Ireland to their isle, this name was then adopted by the Germans, the French, the Spaniards, the Italians, and the Arabians, (which did not happen at first, for the name, Ireland, was not yet generally used among strangers,;}: as Adam de Breme, who lived in the eleventh century, and Nubi- gensis, in the twelfth, were the first who mentioned it ;)^ the name of Scotland was by degrees appropriated to Albania, || which was for some time called Scotia Minor, to distinguish it from Ireland, which was called Scotia Major,T[ the inhabitants of which did not lose, all of a sudden, the name of Scots ; they are so called, in the eleventh century, by Hermann, in the first book of his chro- nicle, and by Marianus Scotus, whom Flo- rentius Wigorniensis mentions in his annals ; when speaking of 1028, he says, "in this year was born Marianus, probably a Scot from Ireland, by whose care this excellent chronicle has been compiled from several histories."** We discover the same thing in a chronicle in the Cottonian library. ff Theo- * " Dalrieda had not been, in the year 840, the scat of the British Scots, neither had it the name of Scotia ; nor did Albania itself, after the defeat of the Picts, and until the two people formed but one body, receive the name of Scotia, wiiich happened in the eleventh century after the nativity of Christ." — Usher, c. 16, p. 734. t " Thus we think, that no one can be named among those who have written in former years, that ever gave to Albania the name of Scotia." — Usher. t Hist. Eccles. cap. 217. § Geograp. Arab part 2, Climatis 7. II Petr. Lombard. Comment. Hib. cap. 2, p. 34, cap. 13, p. 116. IT " It appears there were two Scotias, the great- er and the lesser. Ireland is designated by the name of ' Scotia Major,' and that part of Britain called by some Albania, and now in common, ' Sco- tia,' was known by the name of Minor. So that the Albanian Scots flowed as it were from a river, out of Ireland, to the land which they now inhab- it." — Stanihvrst, b. 1, p. 17. ** " In this year was born Marianus, an Irishman ; he was probably a Scot ; by his labors and study, these excellent chronicles were condensed and formed from diiTerent works." — Usher, c. 16, p. 735. ft " Marianus the chronographer, a Scot, was born no HISTORY OF IRELAND. doric, abbot of the monastery of St. Trutlon, in the neii;"hboHu)0(l of Lie^ sometimes " Inisfail,"i| that is, the island of Fail, from an enchanted stone called in them " Lia-Fail ;" and " Saxum Fatale," by Hector Boetius, which the Tuatha de Danains had brought thither. TT This island was afterwards, and imme- diately before the arrival of the Milesians, called sometimes Eire, sometimes Fodla, and sometimes Banba, the names of three queens, sisters, that married three brothers who governed this island alternately ; but Eire was at all times, and still is, the most general name, and the inhabitants are yet called in their language " Eirinachs," signifying na- tives of Eire, in Latin " Erigena." It was in this acceptation of the word that John Scot, an author of the ninth century, was generally called " Scotus Erigena." Camden agrees, that Erin (which is the same as Eire) is the real name of this island ; he says, that the names lerna, Juverna, Juernia, Iris, Hibernia, and Ireland, are de- rived from it. " Ab Erin ergo gentis voca- bulo originatio pretenda."** But he is mis- taken in his conjectures concerning the deri- vation of the word Erin, which he supposes to have discovered in the Irish word " Hiar," signifying the west, as Ireland is the most westerly country in Europe. The name of Erin was given to this island by the inhab- itants themselves : if we derived it from " Hiar," it would be giving the island a name * " It is vain to deduce the cause of its name from any other language." — Camden. t Hist. Nat. lib. 1. X Book of Emigrations. (j Psalter of Cashel. II Lecan and others. IT War, Antiq. Hib. c. 1. ** Page 677. DIFFERENT NAMES OF IRELAND. 121 which implies, that it lies to the west of itself. Besides, O'Flaherty, a man learned and ably conversant in the language of the country, rejects this conjecture of Camden as an absurdity.* This island was also called by the Mile- sians " Scotie,or Scuitte," in Latin Scotia,! and the inhabitants Kinneadh-Scuitte, or Clanna-Scoitte, from Scota, daughter of Pharaoh, king of Egypt, wife of Milesius, and mother of the Milesians ; or, according to others, from the word Scythia or Scythe, (Scythians,) of whom this people were a colony. Whatever be the derivation of this name, it is certain that the island was known to foreigners by the name of Scotia,| and the inhabitants by that of Scoti or Scots, from the third till the eleventh century. § The number of authors quoted by Usher, to sup- port the truth of this statement, forms a link which nothing can sever. || Porphyrins, the philosopher, whose words St. Jerome quotes, in his epistle to Ctesi- phon, against Pelagius, a Briton, and Celes- tinus, a Scot, makes mention, in the third century, of Britain, a province fruitful in I tyrants, and of the Scotic nations, which, he says, were unacquainted with Moses and the prophets. " Neque enim Britannia fertilis provincia tyrannorum, et Scoticae gentes Moysen Prophetasque cogno- verant." Usher here corrects Erasmus, who affirms, that in some copies he had read " Scythicae gentes," instead of Scoticae. The Picts and Irish, called by Eumenius the Rhetorician, towards the end of the same century, in his eulogium on Constan- tius, the general enemies of the Britons, are designated by Ammian and Claudian, in the following century, by the names of Scots and Picts ; which proves, according to Usher, that Ireland should be acknowledged as the country of the ancient Scots ; in confirmation of which, he quotes the lines of Claudian, wherein this poet represents the Scots as the inhabitants of the country called lerne.^I * " As much as the east is distant from the west, so much does Ere, Hiar in the Irish lan- guage, which imphes westerly, differ in its mean- ing." — Ogyg. p. 20, part 1. t Philip O'Sullevan, Hist. Cathol. compend. cap. 2. X Petr. Lombard, Comment, cap. 1, p. 5. § Idem. cap. 2, p. 15. II Usser. Prim. Eccles. cap. 16, p. 728, et Ogygia, part 3, cap. 72. IT " It proves that Hibernia was the country of the ancient Scots, as is confirmed by the following lines from Clodianus : ' The icy lerne bewailed the heaps of the Scots ; when Scotia and all lerne were moved, and the sea foamed from the hostile oar.' " — Usher. We have the testimony of Paulus Orosius, in the fifth century, who says, in his descrip- tion of this island, that it was inhabited by the Scots ; " a Scotorum gentibus colitur."* St. Prosper, speaking of the pastoral soli- citude of Pope Celestine for the British isles,t in destroying the heresy of Pelagius in Britain, and causing the gospel to be preached among the Scots by Palladius,| distinguishes the island of Scots, by the appellation of barbarous, from Britain, which he calls the Roman Isle.'^ The island of Scots, in the acceptation of the word by Prosper, can only refer, says Usher, to Sco- tia Major, that is Ireland, and by no means to Albania, which was not then called Sco- tia, and is not an island, as it forms a part of that of Great Britain. || In the sixth century we have the authority of Gildas, a British author, who, after say- ing that Britain had been trampled on by two barbarous nations, namely, the Scots, who came from the west, and the Picts, from the north, adds that the daring robbers (the Irish) had returned home, with the design of returning in a short time, and that the Picts had settled in the northern extremity of the island. T[ It is manifest that Gildas here mentions the Scots and Irish as the same people ; which is the inference that Usher draws from it, adding that Cogitosus, in the life of St. Bridget, agrees with Gildas.** In the seventh century, Isidorus Hispa- lensis says, that Scotia is the same as Ire- * Hist. hb. 1, c. 2. t Petr. Lomb. Comment, c. 2, p. 16. t Grat. Luc. c. 25, p. 213. § " Nor with less care has he rescued the British isles from the same distemper, when he secretly excluded some who occupied the soil of their birth, from that part of the ocean, and a bishop being or- dained for the Scots, while he labors to keep the Roman isle Catholic, he made that which was Christian, barbarous." — St. Prosper in Usher, c. 16, p. 797. II " And Prosper distinguishing eloquently this island of the Scots from the Britons, must be neces- sarily understood to mean Scotia Major to be Ire- land, and not the Minor Scotia, which is Albania, (which was not Scotland at that period, neither is it an island, but forms a part of Great Britain.") — Usher's Church Hist. c. 16, p. 798. IT " From two very cruel nations beyond seas — the Scots from the west, and Picts from the north — Britain suffers and sighs during many years. The daring robbers, the Irish, return home, intend- ing to come back in a short time ; the Picts then settled, for the first time, in the north of the island." —Usher, c. 15, p. 593-609.- ** " Where he takes the Scots and Irish for one and the same people ; this is also observed by Cogitosus, as well in his prologue as in his epi- logue upon the life of St. Bridget." — Usher, c. 16, p. 729. 122 HISTORY OF IRELAND. land ; " Scotia cailom ct Hibcrnia."* The abbot Jonas aflirms, in the life of St. Coluin- banus, that the saint was born in the island of Ireland ; which island was inhabited by a nation of Scots ; that this nation, thongh not governed by the same laws as others, was remarkable for its fervor in Christianity, and snrpasscd all the neighboring countries in its faith.f We may add the authority of Aldhelm, abbot of Malmesbury, in his epis- tle to Ealfrid, and that of Adamnanus, abbot of Ily, in the Life of St. Columb. Those holy men always make use of the names of Irish and Scots, Ireland and Scotia, as sjTiony mous .| The venerable Bede, who lived in the eighth century, and whose authority is so respectable, bears testimony to the truth of this statement ; to be convinced of which, it is only necessary to read, with attention, his Ecclesiastical History. According to the title of his first chapter, he proposes to treat of the situation and ancient inhabitants of Britain and Ireland, " de situ Britanniae, vel Hiberniae, et priscis earura incolis ;" and in the same chapter introduces the Scots as the inhabitants of Ireland, without mention- ing the name of Irish. We discover, in the sequel of his history, the distinction he makes between the Scots of Ireland and those of Albania. He frequently mentions the former, whom he simply calls Scots ; and designates their country by the names, Sco tia and Ireland. He says that the Picts had discovered the nation of the Scots in Ire land,§ " inventa ibi gente Scotorum," and that Ireland was their country, " haic autem pro- pria patria Scotorum est."|| He distinctly characterizes them in the second chapter of his second book, when speaking of the pas toral solicitude of Lawrence, archbishop of Canterbury, for the churches of the Britons English, and Scots, who inhabited Ireland which he points out as an island bordering * Origin, lib. 14, cap. 6. t "Columbanus was born in Ireland, an island of the sea : this is inhabited by the Scots, a people though dilTering in their laws from every other na- tion, are strong and flourishing in the doctrine of Christ, agreeing herein with the neighboring na- tions." — Usher, c. 16, p. 729. t " From this cause, we discover in Aldhelm, abbot of Malmesbury, in the epistle to Ealfrid, that the Irish and Scots, Ireland and Scotia, are sy- nonymous terms, and in Adamnanus, abbot of Hy, wiio writes of St. Columb. He makes use of the words, Scotia and Hihernia, (Ireland,) signifying that they are one and the same." — Usher, c. 16, p. 729. § Lib. 1, cap. 1. II Grat. Luc. c. 14, pages 126 et 127. pon Britain ; " necnon Scotorum qui Hi- berniam insulam Britannia; proximam inco- unt :" he says that this prelate knowing that the Scots were in error concerning the ob- servance of the Easter, had written a letter to them, exhorting them to preserve unity with the Church of Rome ; this letter was entitled " Dominis charissimis, fratribus Episcopis vel Abbatibns per universam Sco- tiam." It is remarkable that in the title, he uses the word Scotia to indicate the same country which he had shortly before named Hibernia. Bede says elsewere,* "that Pope Honorius sent letters to the Scots, who were in error concerning the celebration of Easter, as mentioned above, exhorting them not to think themselves more enlightened than every other church in the Avorld, particu- larly as they formed but a small nation, situated at the extremity of the earth." " Misit Papa Honorius litteras genti Sco- torum, quas in observatione sancti paschee errare compererat juxta quod supra docui- mus." It is plain from these words of Bede, "juxta quod supra docuimus," 'and which are an incontestable proof of it, that the let- ters of Pope Honorius, and that of Lawrence of Canterbury, were intended for the same people, that is, for the Scots of Ireland, who were in error concerning the Easter, which they celebrated from the fourteenth to the twentieth of the moon. In speaking of Oswald, king of Northuml)erland,t he says, that " this prince, seeing himself in peace- ful possession of his kingdom, and eager for the conversion of his subjects, sent to the Scots, (among whom he and his attendants had received the grace of baptism,) to re- quest that they would send him a prelate capable of instructing his subjects. The Scots attended immediately to the pious re- quest of Oswald, and sent over Aidan, a man remarkable for his mildness, piety, and zeal in the cause of God, but not better in- structed than his countrymen in the celebra- tion of the Easter, which, as I have often mentioned, (continues our author,) was from the fourteenth to the twentieth of the moon. It was thus, says Bede, that the northern Scots and the whole nation of the Picts, celebrated the Easter ; but the Scots of the southern provinces of Ireland, he says, had already, by the admonition of the apostolic See, conformed to the canonical rite."| To- * Lib. 2, cap. 19. t Idem. lib. 3, cap. 3. t " In this way the northern Scots and the whole nation of the Picts celebrated the Easter at that time. Besides this, the Scots who inhabited the southern parts of Ireland, had listened to the admo- DIFFERENT NAMES OF IRELAND. 123 wards the end of the same chapter, he men- tions " that Aidan was a monk and bishop ; that he came from the monastery of the island of Hy, and that this island had been given to the Scots by the Picts, in gratitude for their having preached the gospel among them."* In the beginning of the following chapter, he plainly indicates the country of the Scots, by saying, " that there came from Ireland a monk called Columbanus,t emi- nent for the austerity of his life ; that he preached the gospel to the northern Picts, and that they granted him the island of Hy, I where he built a monastery." The venera- ble Bode expresses himself otherwise about the country of St. Columbanus. In his chro- nological table, he says " that this great man came from Scotia to Britain to instruct the Picts."! We should then misinterpret the history of Bede, if we did not discover that, according to this author, the terms Scotia and Ireland, Scots and Irish, are sy- I nonymous, and signify the same nation and the same people ; that St. Columbanus, the apostle of the Picts, and founder of the mo- nastery of Hy, was a Scot from Ireland ; that Aidan, the apostle of the Northum- brians, and first bishop of Landisfarn, was from the same country, namely, from the province of the northern Scots, who were j involved in the error of the Quartodecimans, i among whom Oswald had received baptism; j that this northern province which Bede dis- ! tinguishes from the southern Scots, on ac- I count of their difference in opinion respect- } ing their observance of the Easter,^ is the I north of Ireland, comprising the neighbor- ing islands, among others that of Hy : were j it otherwise, there would be a want of I precision in the account which he gives ; ■ besides, it is obvious, according to the plan and thread of his history, that he always mentions those Scots as inhabitants of Ire- land, to whom Lawrence, archbishop of I j nition of the Holy See, and conformed to the ca- ' nonical observance of the Easter." — Bede, b. 3, c. 3. * " Aiden was monk and bishop, and was ap- pointed to the island of Hy : as a present from those Picts who inhabit these tracts of Britain, Hy was given to the monks who had preached among them the faith of Christ." t 'i There came from Ireland, in the year of our I I Lord 565, the lioly monk Columbanus, about to j preach the word of God to the northern Picts, from I whom he received the island, and permission to 1 found a monastery." — Bede, b. 3, c. 3, 4. i X " The presbyter, saint Columb, came from I Scotia into Britain, to instruct the Picts, and in j tiie island of Hy he founded a monastery." — Epito- me, p. 244. i § Peter Lombard, c. 15, p. 185. Canterbury, had addressed a pastoral letter respecting their observance of the Easter, " which I have often mentioned," says Bede. " Cujus sajpius mentionem fecimus." " The Picts (continues this author) labored un- der the same error as the Scots." Besides the proximity of those nations, separated by an arm of the sea but fifteen miles in breadth, and besides the commerce which had always existed between them, the Picts received from tliem the light of the gospel ; so that it is not surprising that they inhaled the ven- om of the error with which their apostles had been infected. " There came from Ireland (continues Bede) a holy man named Fursy, (and resuming the narrative towards the end ofthesamechapter,) who, after preaching the word of God for many years in Scotia, quit- ted this island, of which he was a native."* Finally, Bede tells us that Ecgfrid, king of the Northumbrians, had sent an army into Ireland, under the command of Berte, to destroy an unoffending people. In the same chapter, he again quotes this passage of his- tory, where he again makes use of the word Scotia, instead of Hibernia, which he had used in the beginning.! With respect to the Scots of Albania, this author having ranked them with the Picts, as forming, long- afterwards, a third colony in Britain, " pro- cedente autem tempore, "| they are seldom mentioned by him ; and he carefully distin- guishes them from those of Ireland, by call- ing them sometimes Dalreudini, sometimes the Scots, who possessed, together with the Picts, the north of Britain, " Pictorum quo- que ac Scotorum gentes quae septentrionales Britannia^ fines tenent ;"§ and frequently the Scots who inhabited Britain ; " Scoti qui Britanniam incolunt."|| Pie also speaks of Edan, king of the Scots, who inhabited Brit- ain, without alluding to a kingdom of Scot- land in that island ; " Edan, rex Scotorum, (\ui Britanniam inhabitant.''''^ Although Bede * " A holy man named Fursius came from Ire- land, and (to resume the narrative) he preached, for many years afterwards, the word of God in Scotia, and left the island of which he was a na- tive."— jBerfe, b. 3, c. 19. t " In the year of the Redemption 684, Ecgfri- dus, king of the Northumbrians, sent an army to Ireland, under the command of Bertus. He devas- tated the country, and inflicted great miseries on a people, who were innocent and most friendly to the English. The preceding year, he would not listen to the most reverend Egbertus, lest he should not carry war into Scotia, a country which did him no injury." — Bede, b. 4, c. 26 t Lib. 1, cap. 1 § Lib. 2, cap. 5. II Lib. 5, c. 24. T Lib. c. 34. 124 HISTORY OP IRELAND. says Usher, carefully distinguishes the Scots of Ireland from those who, in his time, in- hahited a part of Albania ; he allows, how- ever, but of one Scotia, which is Ireland.* Alcuin, disciple of the venerable Bede, fol- lows his example on this subject, in speaking of St. Willibrord, bishop of Utrecht, whose life he wrote ; and in saying that this saint was a native of Britain, and studied divinity in Ireland, he uses indiscriminately the names Ireland and Scotia, which, according to him, says Usher, signified, in the time of Charle- magne, the same nation and the same people. t Eginhard, secretary to Charlemagne, or, according to some, his son-in-law, in his annals on the year 812,j: informs us that the naval forces of the Normans landed in Ire- land, the island of the Scots, and having given them battle, in which they were de- feated, that those barbarians who escaped shamefully took to flight, and returned to their country. § This fact is supported by the authority of several writers of that century, mentioned by Usher : as the monk of Angouleme, who wrote the life of Charlemagne, and Erme- noldus, by whom the annals of Fulda were compiled, who says in a few words, that the Danish fleet having attacked Ireland, was defeated by the Scots. || Rabanus, archbishop of Mayence, says, in his martyrology on the eighth of the ides of July, " Ireland is the island of the Scots :" and in another place, " Scotia and Ireland signify the same country ."1" Walafrid, in his preface to the life of St. * " Though Bede distinguishes with care the Scots who inhabit Hibernia, (Ireland,) and the Scots who inhabit Britain, still Scotia is to him (as we have shown) always one and the same." — Usher's C. Hist. b. 4, c. 23. t " A man powerful in virtue, full of divine love, eloquent, vigilant, and ardent in acting, came to thee, O happy France, in the days of Pepin ; fruitful Britain was his mother, and the learned Hibernia nurtured him in sacred study ; he was named Wil- brordus. As I have already pronounced, fertile Britain was his mother, and the country of the Scots his illustrious instructor. He obviously shows, that Hibernia and Scotia were one and the same in the time of Charles the Great." — Usher Syllog. I Pres. Hain. Abrege de I'Hist. de France, p. 43. § " A Norman fleet having attacked Hibernia, the country of the Scots, a battle was fought between the Normans and Scots, they were shamefully put to flight, and returned with a part only of their force." — Annals of Eginardus, on the year 812. II " A fleet of Danes are overcome by the Scots in battle." — Fulden's Annals. IT " Hibernia, the island of the Scots, is the same as Scotia." — b. 12. Gal, says he was a native of Ireland, " de Hibernia insula ;"* and again, that he was of the nation of the Scots, " de gente Scoto- rum."t Ninius, a British author, affirms that the Scots came from Spain to Ireland ; " Novis- sime venerunt Scoti a partibus Hispania; ad Hiberniam." Rathrannus, a monk of Corbie, assures us, in his fourth book against the Greeks, that the Scots, inhabitants of Ireland, were ac- customed, in their monasteries and other religious houses, to fast till sunset, (the usual time of their repast,) except on Sundays and holydays.J In the tenth century, Hucbald, a monk of the Abbey of St. Amand,"^ and the abbot Adso, in his poem on St. Mansuy, (in Latin Mansuetus,) to Girald, bishop of Toul, use indiscriminately the names Scotia and Hiber- nia, to signify the same country. Fabius Ethelwerdus,|| and the Anglo- Saxon annals, mention three Scots from Ireland, " tres Scotos de Hibernia," who came in the year 891 to Alfred, king of England ; theirnames were Dufslanus, Mac- bothus, and the third Magilmumenus, who was well versed in the arts and sciences, and a celebrated doctor among the Scots : " Artibus frondens, littera doctus, Magister insignis Scotorum." We discover in the life of Charlemagne, written in the same century by Notker le Begue, a monk of St. Gal, that two Scots from Ireland, deeply conversant in sacred and profane learning, came to France, with some British merchants. 1^ The same author, in his martyrology on the sixteenth of the calends of April, fixes in Scotia the birth of Saint Patrick, a bishop and native of Brittany, who preached the gospel to the Scots in the island of Ireland :** on the fifth of the ides of June in Scotia, the decease of St. Columb, surnamed Columb- Kill, on account of having been founder and * Lib. 1, cap. 2. t Lib. 2, cap. 46. t " The nation of the Scots who inhabit the island of Ireland, have a custom in all the monas- teries and religious houses, to fast every day, except on Sundays and holydays, and to take food only at noon, or in the evening." — Rathrannus Corbeieus, b. 4, against the Greeks. § In vita. Lebuini. * II Ethelwerd. Chron. lib. 4, cap. 3. IT " It happened that two Scots came from Hiber. nia with British merchants, to the shores of Gaul, who were most learned in sacred as well as in pro- fane writings." ** St. Patrick, bishop, died in Ireland, where he first preaclied the gospel of our Lord to the Scots : he was of the nation of Brittany." — Not':er le Begue in Usher. DIFFERENT DIVISIONS OF IRELAND. 125 rector of several churches and monasteries :* and on the eighth of the ides of July, the passion of St. Kilian, first bishop of Wirtz- burgh, and of his two disciples, Colonat a priest, and Totnan a deacon, who came from Ireland, the island of the Scots, and after re.ceiving their mission from the holy see, preached the gospel in the same place, and the adjacent country.! An ancient author of the life of St. Kilian, quoted by Usher,| says that Scotia, Avhich is also called Ireland, is an island in the ocean, the soil of which is very fertile ; but that it is still more celebrated by the illustrious saints to whom it gave birth ; among that number are St. Colum- banus, who gave lustre to Italy, St. Gal, to Germany, and St. Kilian, to Teutonic France. § The unanimous opinion of so many re- spectable authors, during seven or eight cen- turies, should be an incontrovertible proof of the truth of what I assert. It appears that the Abbe de Fleury had thoroughly investigated this matter, as in his Ecclesias- tical History, when speaking of Scotia, and the Scots or Scotch, he always takes care to add, " that is, Hibernia and Hibernians," and sometimes Ireland and Irish. Had the au- thor of the abridgment of the history of France, by question and answer, published in Paris some years ago, informed himself more accurately on the subject, he would have been more explicit respecting the name of the country to which Dagobert, son of Sigebert HI., king of Austrasia, was sent by Grimoald, mayor of the palace ; he would not have simply said that it was to Scot- land ; he would have added, like the Abbe Fleury, " that is,- to Ireland." * " In the island Hibernia, or Scotia, the decease of Saint Columb took place : he was surnamed Columb-Kill, on account of the number of cells, monasteries, and churches, which he had founded." — Notker le Begue, in Usher, c. 15, p. 687. t " The martyrdom of Saint Kilianus, the first bishop of Wurtzburgh, and of his two disciples, Co- lonatus a presbyter, and Totnatus a dean, who coming from Hibernia, the island of the Scots, hav- ing received their authority from the apostolical see, preached the name of Christ in that place and the surrounding country." — Notker le Begue, in Usher, c. 16, p. 732. t Prim. Eccles. cap. 16, 733. § " Scotia, called also Hibernia, is an island in the ocean, very fruitful in its soil, but still more renowned for the sanctity of its people ; from among them, St. Columbanus gave lustre to Italy, St. Gal to Germany, and Kilianus to Teutonic France."— Usher, c. 16, p. 733. CHAPTER VIII. ON THE DIFFERENT DIVISIONS OF IRELAND. Ireland was at all times divided accord- ing to the views and interests of those who possessed it. Partholan divided it into four parts, in favor of his four sons ; Nennius, for the same reason, divided it into three, and the Firbolgs into five. The children of Milesius, on their accession to the govern- ment of this island, made a new division of it : Heber, with the descendants of Ith, had this southern part, called Munster ; Leinster and Connaught fell to Heremon ; and the northern part, called Ulster, to the children of Ir. Ugane the Great, who lived three centuries before the Christian era, divided this island into twenty-five parts in favor of his children.* But the most celebrated di- vision of the island, which was confirmed by Eocha IX. before the time of Jesus Christ, and which still partially exists, was that of the fourparts orprovinces, and the separation which was shortly afterwards made of a cer- tain portion from each province, by Tuathal Teachmar, to form the king's domain,! called in their language Fearon-Buoird- Riogh-Erinn, which signifies, " domain of the king's table," at present the counties of East and West Meath.J Those parts answering to our provinces^ were called, in their language, Coigeadh, which implies a fifth. It would appear that the king's do- main formed the fifth part of this division, or that one of the other four was, at some time, subdivided into two, as Munster was divided into Eastern and Western Ireland, and was long after divided into two parts, by Conn, monarch of the island, and Mogha, king of Munster. The line of separation, called Eisker Riada, extended from Dublin in the east to Galway in the west. The north- ern part, which fell under the dominion of Conn, was called " Leath Coinn, or the half of Coinn," and the southern, " Leath Mogha." The venerable Bede alludes probably to this division, when he mentions the north- ern and southern Scots. || Besides those general divisions which were made either by the wisdom of legislators or by force of arms, Ireland was anciently divided by the Milesians into territories, that is, into principalities and dynasties, as it has been since by the English into counties and * Ogygia, page 18. t Peter Lombard, Conynent. de Hib. cap. 3, page 41. t Grat. Luc. c. 8, p. 68. § Ogyg. part 3, cap. 46. |1 Ogyg. part 1, p. 24 126 HISTORY OF IRELAND. baronies. The chiefs of those territories, and the families who possessed them, were chosen from the tribe. The dynasties formed about thirty burghs or viUages, comprising nearly the same extent of land as the baro- nies among the Anglo-Saxons, and the princi- palities were the same as our counties. Their chiefs were elective, and chosen by their own tribes, for life only; they were subor- dinate to the chief of the province, as the latter was to the monarch. Those chiefs ■vvho naturally convey to us the idea of the titles of duke, earl, and baron, were called Taoiseachs,* that is, lords : Thane among the Anglo-Saxons, signifies the same thing, namely, the chief of the tribe. The ancient names of those territories had a strong analogy and connection with the names and origin of their possessors, who were sometimes called kings through cour- tesy, according to the extent of their pos- sessions, and the number of their vassals : men never took the names of their lands ; on the contrary, they generally gave to their patrimonies names that indicated the pro- prietors, which are still preserved among the people, notwithstanding the efforts of the English to obliterate them by giving foreign names to the lands and loidships which they usurped. To understand more clearly the analogy between the names of the dynasties and the names and origin of the proprietors, we should observe that the words Dal, Hy or Ibh, Sioll, Clan, Kinall, Mac, Muinter, and others, are adjectives frequently used in the Milesian or Irish language, and which, in their primitive signification, denote the chiefs of families, and sometimes the dif- ferent branches ; but taken in a wider sense, they are applied to their territorial posses- sions. The word Dal, according to Bede, means part of a thing,! and may be used to signify a portion of territory, or the branch of a family ; but in its most natural signification, Dal means tribe or race, as Dal Riada, or tribe of Riada ;]: Hy or Ibh, signifies " of;" and Sioll, Clan, Kinall, Mac, Muinter, &c., the race or descendants of any one.^^ The ancient territories of Ireland, || ac- cording to Keating, Gratianus Lucius, 0'Flaherty,"j[ and others, after the ancient monuments of the country, among others * O^yg. part 1, pp. 24, 27, et 57. + Hist. Ecclesiast. lib. 1, part 1. t t)gyg. part 3, cap. 63. § Id. part 3, cap. 76. |] Canibrens. Evcrs. cap. 3. IT Ogyg. part 3, passim. the very ancient poem of O'Douvegan, are arranged in alphabetical order, in the dif- ferent provinces, at the end of this chapter, with the names and origin of the ancient proprietors, as far as they are known. There are some territories, the names alone of which have been preserved, while those of the proprietors are unknown ; and others, the names and proprietors of which are known, but their situation and extent cannot be ascertained, owing to the boun- daries and ancient names having been con- founded and changed by those strangers who have usurped them. We shall, however, subjoin them, in the form of a supplement, to those territories which are better known in each province, and distinguish them by an index. The province of Ulster remained, from the settlement of the Milesians in Ireland, in possession of the descendants of Ir, known by the name of Clanna-Rorys, or Rudri- cians.* This province underwent many rev- olutions ; the reign of the Rudricians was disturbed for the first time,t in the beginning of the third century, by the policy of the monarch Conare II. ,| who, dreading the power of those people, placed Ogaman, a prince of the tribe of the Dalfiatachs, of the race of Heremon, on the throne ; but they received the severest blow from Coila-Huais and his brothers, princes of the race of Heremon, in the fourth century, who de- stroyed the palace of Eamhain,^ put an end to the sway of the Clanna-Rorys, and founded the small kingdom of Orgiell, which comprised the counties of Louth, Ardmach, and Monaghan.ll The tribe of the Magennises, chiefs of the Clanna-Rorys, though excluded from the * From the Clanna-Rorys, are descended the MacGenises, the MacCartans, the O'Mordhans, (in English, O'More,) O'Conners-Kerr}', O'Loghlins, O'Ferralls, MacGranuills, or MacRanells, Mac-an- Bhairds, (in English, Ward,) O'Lawlors, Magilla- gans, Scanlans, Brosnaghans, O'Cathils, O'Con- ways, Casies, Tiernys, Nestors, O'MarCachains, O'Tyns, O'Hargans, O'Flahcrtys, Dorcys, O'Hual- lachains, MacSheanloichs, O'Morains, O'Roda- chains, (in English, Rody,) O'Duains, O'Mainings, MacGilmers, O'Kennys, O'Kenellys, O'Keither- nys, MacEochaids, O'Carrollans, the Mac-an- Gaivnions, (in English, Smith,) and others. t Ogyg. part 2, p. 146. t Id. part 3, cap. 63. § Ogyg. part 3, cap. 75, 76. II The race of those brothers were numerous, and formed many noble tribes, such as the Mac Donnels of Ireland and Scotlaiid, the MacMahons, Magnires, O'Hanluans, Magees, O'Floinns-Tuirtre, O'Ceallaigs, or O'Kelly, O'Madaighins, or O'Mad- dln, O'Niallains, MacEagains, Neaehtains, or Nor- tons, Shiehys, Dowels, Kerins, and tlic Nenys, &-c. DIFFERENT DIVISIONS OF IRELAND. 127 crown of Ulster, made at all times a consid- erable figure in the province, and possessed the principality of r)alaradie, so called from Fiacha-Araidhe, one of the chiefs of that tribe, and king of the province in the third century : it is now the county of Down. Eogan and Conall Gulban, sons of Niall the Great, and brothers of Laogare the Mon- arch, took possession of Tir-Eogan, (Ty- rone,) and Tyrconnel, so called after them in the beginning of the fifth century.* Though the kingdom of Orgiell was con- fined to narrow limits, being surrounded by those principalities, Avhich were so many .sovereignties, it existed for a considerable time in this state. f Eocha, son of Mure- daeh, son of Forga, son of Dalian, of the tribe of the Dalfiatachs, ruled over it in the time of St. Patrick ; but his impiety and op- position to the gospel having drawn on him the malediction of that apostle, the sceptre was transferred to Carell, his brother, and his descendants, to the number of thirty-five. | Leinster was possessed by a branch of the Heremonians. This race had formed two branches by Cobthach, surnamed Caol- breagh, and Laogare Lorck, his brother, both sons of Ugane-More, who lived about three hundred years before Christ. Most of the monarchs who followed, derived their origin from Cobthach : the descendants of Laogare reigned in Leinster. Cathoir, otherwise Cahire-More, of the race of Laogare, from being king of Lein- ster, became monarch of the whole island in the second century, and left a numerous posterity ;^ the king who reigned in Lein * The descendants of Eogan were the illustri- ous tribe of the O'Neils, divided into three principal families ; namely, that of Dungannan, tliat is Ty- rone, which was the first, Clanneboy, and Fews, The collateral branches are tlie Maglachluins. O'Cathains, (O'Kean,) MacSuibnes, (MacSwiny,) O'Gormleaghads, (Gormly,) O'Heodliasas, O'Con- nallains, O'Craoibhes, (Creagh,) O'Madagains. (MuUineux,) O'Mulvihils, O'Hoiins, O'Donallys! O'Cathmhaoils, (Caulfield,) MacGiolIkellys, O'He- gertys, and the O'Dubhdiarmas. Conal Gulban gave birth to the illustrious tribe of the O'Donncls, O'Dohartys, O'Galaghers, O'Boyles, and the O'Da- lys, or Siol-Ndala. t Vit. Tripart. lib. 3, cap. 63, not. 92 et 93. in eund. lib. X It appears from this historical fact, taken from Colgan, that the O'Carrols, kings of Orgiel, de- scendants of Carrell, of tlie race of Dalfiatachs, should not be confounded with the O'Carrolls of Elie, who derived their origin from Heber, by Oilioll- Olum, and his son Kiann. § This monarch had thirty sons, twenty of whom died without issue: the two most distinguished were Rossa-Failge and Fiacha-Baiceada. From the first are descended the noble families ster, of his race, in the time of St. Pat- rick, was Criomthan, son of Enna-Kin- sealach. Oilioll-Olum, of the race of Heber, first absolute king of the two Munsters after the expulsion of the Earnochs, in the beginning of the third century enacted a law render- ing the succession to the crown of the prov- ince alternate between the descendants of his two sons, Eogan and Cormac-Cas, call- ed after those two chiefs, the Eoganachts, and the Dalcaiss. In the time of St. Pat- rick, the sceptre was held by the descend- ants of Eogan. Aongus, son of Nadfraoch, of this race, governed the province, while Carthan Fionn, son of Bloid, of the race of Cormac-Cas, was prince of Thuomond, and chief of the Dalcaiss.* In the beginning of the fourth century. of the O'Connors-Faly, the O'Dempsies, O'Dunns, O'Branains, O' Riagans, MacColgaine,Clan-Carbrys, O'Maolchiarains, O'Bearras, O'Hartaigs, O'Floinus. From Fiacha-Baiceada, the youngest, are de- scended the royal family, and the other considera- ble tribes of this province, as the MacMoroughs, (Cavanaghs,) O'Morochus, (Murphy,) O'Broins, O'Tuathails, (in English O'Byrnes and O'Tools,) 0'Dowlings,0'Moel-Ryans, O'Kinsealaghs, O'Mul- duins, O'Cormacs, O'Duffys. From Dair-Barrach, another son of Cahire-More, are descended the O'Gormains, O'Moonys, ftluillins or O'Maolans ; and from Cuchorp, are descended the O'Feadhails of Fortuath. The noble tribes of the Duibhidirs, or O'Dvvyers, with the-O'Donogains and the Macgiolla-Phadruigs, (in English Fitzpat- rick,) formed two collateral branches of his race, some generations beyond Cahire-More. The former derive their origin from Conchorb, ancestor of the monarch, and the latter with the O'Braonains, from Broasal-Breac, one of his ancestors in the twelfth degree. * The descendants of Eogan, after the illustrious tribe of the MacCartys, chiefs of this race, are the O'Sullevans, MacAulifs, O'Callaghains, O'Keefs, O'Mahonys, O'Mariartys, O'Donoghoes, O'Dono- vans, O'Conaills, O'Dalys, O'Cuilleans, O'Hehirs, O'Mcighans, Devorens, O'Treasaighs, O'Garvans, MacFinnins. — Ogyg. part 3, cap. 81. From Cormac-Cas descended the illustrious tribe of the O'Briens, chiefs of this family, O'Kencdies, MacMahons, MacCoghlains, O'Finallans, O'Re- gans, MacCraiths, O'Hogans, O'Shannaghains, O'Meadhras, Artureighs, (Arthur,) O'Henraghtys, O'Hicidhes, (Hickys,) Loinsighes, (Lonsy,) Seas- nains, (Sexon,) Huainins, Cormucains, Ryadys, Sla- trys, MacNemaras, Hurlys, O'MuUownys, O'Kear- nys, O'HifFernans, O'Henegains, O'Neaghtains, Conrays, (King,) O'Deas, O'Brodys, Gradys, Clan- chys, O'Cuins, Keilliochairs, O'Beolains, O'Spea- lains, O'Hanraghains, O'Siodhachains, (Sihan,) Maceineirys, Congalaighs, O'Tuama, (Twomy,) Murronys, Healys, and the Hartagans. — Idetn. cap. 82, Grat. Luc. cap. 3. From Kiann, third son of OilioIl-Olum, are de- scended the 0"Carrols of Ely, O'Connors, Kian- achtas, O'Meaghairs, O'Haras, O'Garas, OTlana- gans, Dulchontas, Corcrans, O'Casies. 128 HISTORY OF IRELAND. Connaught was wrested from the Finlom- nians, a branch of the Firbolgs, wlio had possessed it until then with the good will of the Milesians. Muiradach-Tireach, son of Fiacha-Straivetine, was first king of Con- naught, of the race of Ileremon ; which re- mained in the possession of his posterity for many ages.* Eocha-Moy-Veagon, his son, succeeded him ; who, having become mon- arch, left the province to his sons, namely, Brian, Fergus, and Oilioll. The two first were the ancestors of the Hy-Brunes, and Hy-Fiachras, whose posterity reigned in this province till the twelfth century.f Lastly, from the beginning of the fifth century,! Meath remained in the possession of the southern Hy-Nialls,§ that is, the descendants of Laogare, Conall-Crimthine, Fiach, and Maine, son of the monarch Niall the Great, of the race of Heremon.|| Such w^as the general state of the prov- inces of Ireland, and its inhabitants, in the first ages of Christianity. We shall now examine the particular distribution of the island into dynasties, and the families to whom they belonged. IN ULSTER. Arachty-Cahan, a territory comprising nearly the whole of the county of Derry, * Ogyg. part 3, cap. 73. t The O'Connors Don derive their origin from the illustrious tribe of the Hy-Brunes, of which they were chiefs ; the collateral branches are the O'Connors-Roe, O'Connors-Sligo, O'Rourks, O'Rag- hallaighs, (O'Reilly,) MacDerniots, MacDonaghs, O'Flahertys, O'Malys, O'Floinns, (Flynn,) O'Flan- egans, O'Hanly, MacMaghnus, O'Fallons, Mac- Kiernans, MacBradys, O'Donallans, O'Gairbfhias, (O'Garvy,) O'Brins, O'Malons, MacBrenans, Maol- lallas, or Lally, O'Creans, Maol-Breanoins, Maol- Mocheirges, O'Faithaigs, (Fahy,) O'Camhins, O'Domhleins, O'Breislins, MacAodhs, O'Cosnam- has, MacSamhragains, MacOirioghtaig-Tumal- taghs, O'Gealbhuidhes, Cruadlaoch, (O'Crowly,) O'Concheanains, O'Fionnagains, O'Hallurains, O'Muirgheasas, O'Mahadys, O'Currains. The descendants of the tribe of the Hy-Fiacliras, are the O'Dowds, O'Shcagnassys, O'Heyns, Kill- kellys, Kearaighs, O'Cleirighs, O'Braonains, Cho- maltains, Chedaighs, (Cead,) Cathmhoghas, (Caf- fuoighs,) Chreachains, Leanains. I Ogyg. part 3, cap. 85. § Ogyg. part 3, c. 85, Trias Thau. not. 1, in lib. 2, Vit. 4. S. Brig. p. 5G4. II The O'Conlivans, or Kindellan, O'Maoleach- luins, owe their origin to Laogare, and Conall- Crimthine ; P^iacha gave birth to the Maolmhu- adhs, (MuUoy,) Mac-Eochagains, (Mac-Geoghe- gan,) Mac-Cullins, and the Huiginns. The descend- ants of Maine are the O'Sionachs, (Fox,) O'Ha- gains, O'Ronains, Magawlys, O'Braoins, O'Dalys, O'Quins, Mac-Conmeics, iSlambains, Mulcornys, Ciobliochains, Shiels, Cathalains, Murrys, and the O'Deignans. — Ogyg. part 3, c. 85. the patrimony of the O'Cahans, of the race of Ileremon, by the monarch Niall-Noygiol- lach and Eogan his son.* Towards the end of the thirteenth century, Magnus, brother of O'Cahan, possessed that part of the country now called the barony of Cole- raine, situated on both sides of the river Bann, at that time called Douhy Clanna- Magnus. His eldest son, named Henry, gave to his posterity the name of Mac- Henry. His second son settled on the river Buash, in Route, in the county of An- trim, and his descendants always preserved the name of O'Cahan ; they were called Clann Magnus na Buasha, to distinguish them from the Clann Magnus na Banna, who, though the eldest branch, bear the name of Mac-Henry. O'Cahan was dispossessed in the beginning of the seventeenth century, and Mac-Henry in 1641, by Cromwell. Ardes, an ancient territory, now a barony in the county of Down, forming part of lower Clanneboy, is a peninsula, eighteen miles in length. This territory belonged to a branch of the O'Neills. Boylagh, a territory, now a half-barony, in the county of Donegal, the patrimony of the O'Buidhills, otherwise O'Boyle, a col- lateral branch of the O'Donnels. Breifne, Briefnia, or Brenny, formerly comprised the counties of Leitrim and Ca- van.f Aod-Finn, of the race of the Hy- Brunes, was prince of this country about the year 572 ; his race was called Sliocht Aodha-Finn. This country was divided into two territories, namely, eastern and western Briefne, in favor of the two prin- cipal branches of this race, the O'Rourkes and the O'Raghallaighs, (Reilly.) Eastern Briefne, also called Muntir-Maol-Morda, at present the county of Cavan, was the patri- mony of the O'Reillys. Clan-Bressail, a territory to the south of Lough Neagh, in the barony of O'Neland, in the county of Ardmach ; it formerly be- longed to the Mac-Canns, of the race of the Dalfiatachs. Clanneboy, or Clan-Hugue-Boy, a terri- tory which takes its name from the de- scendants of Hugue Boy O'Neill, and was divided into two parts, one northern, and the other southern, belonged formerly to the different branches of the O'Neills, of the race of Heremon. Southern Clanneboy comprised part of the territory of Ardes, with the land which * Phill. O'Sull. Compend. Hist. Cathol. torn. 3, lib. 1, page 115. t Act. Sanct. Hiber. vit. S. Berach. ad. 15. Fcbruar. note 20, et seq. DIFFERENT DIVISIONS OF IRELAND. 129 extends from the bay of Dundrum, to the bay of Carrick-Fergus, in the county of Down, that is, the baronies of Castlereagh and Kinalearty. Northern Clanneboy is a territory in the county of Antrim, bounded on the east and south by the bay of Carrickfergus, and the river Lagan ; on the west by the territory of KiluUagh, and on the north by the countries called Route and Glinnes, now the baronies of Kilconway and Glanarm. Conal-Muirthemne, an ancient territory, comprising nearly the whole county of Louth.* This territory was also called Hy- Conal, and Machaire-Conal, from Conal- Kearnach, to whose posterity it belonged. Dalaraidie, an extensive territory which comprised part of the county Antrim on the south and southeast, and most of the county of Down : this territory, which was some- times called Ulidia, was divided into several smaller ones. Dalrieda, otherwise Reuta and Route, a large territory of thirty miles extent, in the I county of Antrim, from the river Bush to the cross of Glenfrinaght. This territory was so called from the demi-tribe of the Dal- riads, which had been established there in the fourth century by Fergus Ulidian, descended in the fifth degree from Cairbre-Rieda ; the other demi-tribe, mentioned by Bede under the name of Dalreudini, had already settled in Albania. To this territory has since been given the name of the country of Mac- Surley- Boy, that is, of the Mac-Donnels, of the race of Heremon, by Colla-Huais, to whom it belonged. DufFerin, at present a barony in the county of Down, forming a part of the country of the Mac-Cartans, of the race of the Clanna- Rorys. Fanid, a territory, now the barony of Kil- Macrenan, in the county of Donegal,! the patrimony of the Mac-Sweenys, a collateral branch of the O'Donnels. The territories of Tueth and Banach in the same county, were possessed by other branches of the Mac-Sweenys. Fermanagh,! an ancient territory, now a j county, the patrimony of the Maguires of the race of Heremon, by Colla da Crioch.^ Fews, at present a barony in the county of Ardmach, the patrimony of a branch of the O'Neills. Hy-Macarthen, a territory on the borders of Lough Foyle, in the county of Derry, so * Ogyg. part 3, c. 47. t O'SuIl. Comment, torn. 3, lib 1, page 115. t Ogyg. part 3, c. 76. 4 Keat. Geneal. called from Carthen, great-grandson of Colla Huais, to whom it belonged, and whose descendants were the Mac-Carthens, the O'Colgans, and the O'Conaills. Hy-Meith-Tire, a territory in the county of Ardmach,* at present the barony of Orior, the country of the O'Hanluans, (O'Hanlon,) of the race of Heremon, by Colla da Chrioch. Northern Hy-Niellia, so called from the descendants of four of the sons of Niall- Noygiollach, monarch of Ireland, to whom it belonged, comprised part of the counties of Tyrone, Tyrconnel, and other territories. Hy-Turtre,t a territory on the borders of the counties of Antrim and Down, east of lake Neagh, the patrimony of the O'Floinns and O'Donnellans, of the race of Heremon, by Colla Huais, and his grandson Fiacha Tort. Hy-Veach, or Iveach, a territory of an- cient Dalaradie, in the county of Down, now forming part of the baronies of upper and lower Iveach, with some other territories in the same county, the domain of the Ma- gennises, of the race of the Clanna Rorys, by Conall-Kearnach, 'and his son Irial or Vriel.l Inis-Eoguin, a territory, at present the barony of Ennis-Owen, that is, the isle of Owen, (being a peninsula formed by the ocean on one side, and Lough Foyle and Lough S willy on the other,) in the county of Donegal, the patrimony of the O'Doghertys, a younger branch of the O'Donnels.^ Kinel-Conail, otherwise Tirconnell, now the county of Donegal, the domain of the O'Donnells, of the race of Heremon, and of the monarch Niall, by his son, Conall-Gul- ban. This territory was divided into several dynasties, inhabited by the different branches of this name. Kinel-Eoguin, a territory of northern Hy- Niellia, comprising the county of Tyrone, the domain of the O'Neills, of the race of Heremon, and of the monarch Niall-Noy- giollach, and Eogan, his son ; this territory was divided into several dynasties belonging to the different families of this name, of whom Dungannon was the chief, and in case of his dying without issue, one was chosen from Clan-Hughboy, or the Fews. Maghinis, or Moy-Inis, a territory in the county of Down, now the barony of Lecale ; which formerly belonged to the Magennises. Mugdorne, now the barony of Moume, a territory in the county of Down, bounded on * Ogy?- P^rt 1, c. 66 ; Keat. Geneal. t Ogyg. part 3, c. 76. t O'Sul). Comment, torn. 3, lib. 1, page 115. § O'Sull. ibid. 17 130 HISTORY OP IRELAND. the south by the bay of Carlingford, and belonging to the descendants of CoUa- Maine. Oilcan-Magec, a peninsula in the county of Antrim, north of Carrickfergus bay, the patriiuony of the Magecs, of the race of Hcremon, by one of the Collas. Orgiel, Oriel, or Uriel, was an extensive territory, comprising the counties of Louth, Monaghan, and Ardmach, sometimes gov- erned by feudal kings.* Monaghan, called in the language of the country, Uriel, be- longed to the INIac-Mahons, who were divided into several branches, descendants of Here- mon, by CoUa-da-Chrioch. Ulidia, see Dalaradie. Uriel, see Orgiel. }Xj^ Calrie, a territory in eastern Breifny,t the patrimony of the O'Carbhaills, of the race of the Hy-Brunes, from whom are de- scended the Mac-Bradys. Clancarne, in the county of Orgiel, the patrimony of the O'Heagnys. Clanfogartaid, a territory in Orgiel, the patrimony of the Mac-Cartans, of the race of the Clanna-Rorys. Cualgne, a territory in the county of Louth. Donamaine, a territory in the county of Monaghan, the patrimony of the O'Nenys, of the race of Colla-da-Crioch. I Glinnes, a territory between the bay of Oldfleet and Route, adjoining the barony of Glanarm. Hy-Bruin, a territory in the county of Tyrone, commonly called Muinter Birne. There are other territories of this name, the situation and extent of which are unknown, though mentioned in history, as Hy-Bruin- Ay, Hy-Bruin-Brefne, and Hy-Bruin-Scola. Hy-Cormaic, a small territory in the county of Derry, on the borders of Lough Foyle, enclosed by the territory of Hy-Macarthen. Hy-Conall, or Conall-Muirthemne, in Louth. :[; Hy-Fiachria, a territory between the coun- ties of Tyrone and Derry,^ on the river Derg, which comprised the ancient bishopric of Ardsratha, afterwards united to that of Derry. Hy-Meith-Mhara, a maritime territory in the county of Louth, near Carlingford. Hy-Niellain, a territory near Ardmach, the patrimony of the O'Niellans, of the race of Colla-da-Crioch. * Ogyg- part 3, c. 76. t Grat. Luc. c. 3. I Ogyg. part 3, c. 66. § Ibid. cap. 76. Hy-Semnia, a territory in ancient Dala- radie. Kenelmoigne, the patrimony of the O'Gormlaids. Kiermachta-Glenngemhin, a territory in the county of Derry, whence O'Connor Kiennachta had taken his name. Kilwarlin, a small territory in the county of Down, forming part of the ancient terri- tory of Iveach, now the barony of lower Iveach. Kilulta, a small territory in the county of Antrim, on the borders of lake Neagh, extending southward into the county of Down. Magh-Murthemne or Machaire-Conaill, the same as Conal-Murthemne. Muintir Birne, see Hy-Bruin. Oirther, a territory in the county of Ard- mach, the same as Hy-Meith-Tire. Route Reuta,* see Dalrieda. Sioll-Eoghuin, see Inis-Eoghuin. Tirconnel, see Kinel-Conaill. Tirmaccarthuin, a territory in the county of Tirconnel, the patrimony of the O'Mao- logains. Tirmbrassail and Tirtiole, in the same country, the patrimony of the O'Donna- gains. Tuaithratha, a territory in Orgiel, the patrimony of the O' Flanagans. Ulidia or Ullad, see Dalaradie. Uriel, see Orgiel. IN LEINSTER. Annaly, at present the county of Longford, anciently called Conmacne, the country of the O'Ferrals, of the race of Ir, by Feargus Roigh, and Maude, queen of Connaught. Clan-Malugra, otherwise Clenmalire, lying on both sides of the river Barrow, in the King and Queen's county, and including the baronies of Geashill and Portnehinch. This territory was in the possession of different branches of the O'Dempsies, of the race of Heremon, by the monarch Cahire-More and his son Rossa-Failge. Coille-Culluin, a territory on the frontiers of the counties of Wicklow and Kildare, the patrimony of the O'Culluins, of the race of Cahire-More, by his son, Fiacha Baicheada. This noble tribe possessed another large tract of land in the vicinity of Dublin, on which part of this city has been built. Crioch-Culan,t a terrhory in the county of Wicklow, including part of the baronies of Arklow and Newcastle, possessed by the * Ogyg. p. 3, cap. 59, 46. + Ogyg- part 3, c. 59. DIFFERENT DIVISIONS OF IRELAND. 131 O'Kellys, descendants of Maine Mai, bro- ther of Cahire-More. Ely O'Carrol, formerly a territory in the province of Minister, at present in the King's county, including the baronies of Clonlish, Ballyiarit, and probably that of Eglish, the domain of the O'Carrols of the race of Heber, by OilioU-Olum,* and his son Kian. This territory was called Ely, from Eile Riogh- Dearg, one of the ancestors of this tribe who lived in the fourth century.f Fothart, a territory on the banks of the river Slaney,;}: in the county of Wexford, the patrimony of the O'Nuallans, descend- ants of Eocha-Fionn-Fothart, brother of the monarch Conn Keadcaha. The barony of Forth, situated in this canton, still preserves some vestige of that name. Hy-Failge,§ or Oflaly, otherwise Douhy- Faily, that is, the patrimony of Failge, an extensive territory, including part of the King and Queen's county and that of Kil- dare, bounded on the west and south by Kinalyach, Fearcall, Hy-Regan, and Clen- malire, on the north and east by part of the county of Meath, the barony of Carbury, and the great bog of Allen, and comprised part of the county Kildare, towards the river LifTey. This territory belonged to a tribe of the O'Connors-Faly, of the race of Cahire- More, by his son Rossa Failge, from the second till the last century, and was divided into several fiefs ; part of it still remains in the county of Kildare, erected into a barony under the name of O'Phaly. Hy-Kinseallagh, a territory comprising a considerable part of the county of Wexford, from the Barrow to the river Slaney, and from thence towards the east. This terri- tory formerly belonged to the O'Kinseal- laghs, the Murchedas, (O'Murphy,) and the O'Dowlings, of the royal race of Cahire- More, by his son Fiacha-Baikeada. Hy-Mairche,|| or O'Mairche, a territory in the Queen's county, at present the barony of Slieve-Margie, on the river Barrow, bounding the counties of Kilkenny, Carlow, and Kildare, the patrimony of the Mac- Gormans, of the race of Cahire-More, by his son Dair-Barrach. Hy-Regan, or O'Rcgan, a territory in the Queen's county, now the barony of Tine hinch, the patrimony of the O'Duinns^I of the race of Heremon, by the monarch Ca- * Keat. Geneal. of O'Carrol. + Ogyg- part 3, c. 68, et 87. t Idem. c. 59. § Idem. c. 59. II Grat. Luc. c. 3, et c. 26, page 242. ^ Ogyg. part 3, c. 59. hire-More, and his son Rossa Failge, but belonging anciently to the O'Regans. Idrone, a territory, at present a barony in the county of Carlow, on the river Barrow, the patrimony of the Mac-Murroughs or Cavanaghs, of the race of Heremon, by Cahire-More and Dirmuid Na-Nagall, king of Leinster, by whom the English were in- troduced into Ireland in the twelfth century. Imayle,* a territory in the county of Wicklow, the ancient possessors of which were the O'Tuathails, (O'Toole,) of the race of Cahire-More, by his son Fiacha-Baikeada. Idough, at present the barony of Fassa- Dining, in the county of Kilkenny, the an- cient patrimony of the O'Brennans, a branch of the Fitzpatricks, of the race of Heremon. Lagisia, Lesia, or Leix, an extensive ter- ritory in the Queen's county, including the baronies of Maryborough, otherwise Porte- loise, Cullinagh, and other tracts of land which formerly belonged to the O'Mordhas, (in English, Moor,) of the race of Ir, by Rory the Great, Connal-Kearnach, and his son Laoiseach-Kean-Mpre. O'Moerough, a maritime territory in the county of Wexford, in the barony of Beb- laghkeen, commonly called the Murrowes, forming part of Hy-Kinseallagh, the ancient patrimony of the O'Murchudas, otherwise O'Murphy s. Osraigh, or Ossory,t an extensive terri- tory in the Queen's county, now a barony, belonged to the Mac-GioUa-Phadruigs, or Fitzpatricks, descendants of Heremon, | by the monarch Ugane-More, Breasal-Breac, and ^ngus Ossory, the first of that race who settled in this territory in the first cen- tury.^ Ranilough, also called Colconnel, or the country of Fiagh-Mac-Hughs,|| a territory in the western part of the county of Wicklow, belonging to different branches of the O'Birnes of the race of Cahire-More, by his son Fiacha-Baikeada. Feargualuin, the patrimony of the O'Cos- craidhs. Fingall, a country in the county of Dub- lin, in the possession of a colony of Danes before the twelfth century. IN MUNSTER. Aradh-Cliach, a territory north-east of Limerick, probably the half-barony of Arra, * Walsh, page 287. t Keat. on the reign of Cahire-More. t Idem. Geneal. of the Mac-Murroughs. § Ogyg. part 3, c. 27. II A. M. 3700. [32 HISTORY OF IRELAND. in the county of Tipperary, belonged to a branch of the O'Briens, of the tribe of the Dal-Caiss. Beare, a territory in the western part of the county of Cork, now forms part of the baronies of Beare and Ban try, the domain of O'SuUivan-Beare, of the race of OiUoU- Ohnn, by his son Eogan-More. Carbury, a territory in the southern part of the county of Cork, now the baronies of east and west Carbury, the patrimony of the Macartys-Riaghs, "divided into several branches, and descendants of Oilioll-Olum, by his son Eogan-More ; the O'Donavans, a branch of the Mac-Cartys, had extensive possessions in the neighborhood of Ross. Coillnemanagh, now the barony of Kill- nemanna,* in the county of Tipperary, the domain of the O'Dwyers, of the race of He- remon, by Ugane-More and Breasal-Breac. Corco Baskin, a territory in the county of Clare, now the barony of Moyarta,t the patrimony of the Mac-Cartys, a branch of the Dal-Caiss. Corcumruaidhe, now the baronies of Cor- cumroe and Surrin,| in the county of Clare ; its ancient proprietors were the O'Connors and O'Loghlins, of the race of Ir, by Fer- gus-Roigh, and Maude queen of Connaught. Desie, or Nan-Desie, now a barony in the county of Waterford, the ancient patrimony of the O'Faolans, otherwise Phelans, of the race of Heremon. Some ancient authors describe this country as being more exten- sive, and divide it into Desie-Tuasgirt, that is, northern Deasie, including all those plains which extend from the river Suire and Clonmel, by Cashel, towards Thurles, and Desie-Discerat, or Southern-Desie, ex- tending from the river Suir, on the south, as far as the sea, and comprising the entire county of Waterford. Douhallow, a territory, at present a bar- ony in the county of Cork, the patrimony of the O'Keefs, a branch of the Mac-Cartys. Dunkeron, now a barony in the county of Kerry, the domain of the O'Sullivans-More of the race of Oilioll-Olum, by his son Eo- gan-More.^ Hy-Fogarta, a territory, now the barony of Eliogurty, in the county of Tipperary, the patrimony of the O'Fogarthys, or O'Fo- gartaidh, a branch of the tribe of the Eogan- achts.ll * Ogyg. part 3, c. 51. t Ogyg. part 3, c. 46. t Grat. Luc. c. 3. § Hist. Cath. Hiber. Compend. tome 3, lib. 1 c. 2. II Grat. Luc. page 28. Ily-Kierin, or Ikerin, a territory, now a barony in the county of Tipperary, bounded on the west by Upper Ormond, on the south by the barony of Eliogurty, and north and east by the King and Queen's county, be- longed to the O'Meaghairs, of the race of Heber, by Kiann, son of Oilioll-Olum. Ivreagh, a territory, now a barony in tlie county of Kerry, the domain of the Mac- Cartys-More, chief of the Eoganachts. Kicrrigia-Luachra, or Ciaruidh, a terri- tory, comprising a great part of the county of Kerry, the patrimony of the O'Connors- Kerry, descended from Ir, by the monarch Rory the Great, and his grandson Feargua Roigh, and Maude, queen of Connaught. Kinel Meaky, now a barony in the county of Cork, the patrimony of the O'Mahonys, a branch of the Mac-Cartys. Muscraighe, an extensive territory in the county of Cork, now the baronies of Mus- kerry, Barrymore, and other dynasties, which belonged for more than two thousand years to different families of the Mac-Car- tys,* the descendants of Oilioll-Olum, by his son Eogan : this territory comprised seve- ral smaller ones, as Muscrighe-Breoguin, Muscrighe-Mitine, &c. Muscraighe-Thire, a territory in the coun- ty of Tipperary, now the baronies of Upper and Lower Ormond, the ancient patrimony of the O'Kennedys, of the race of Oilioll- Olum, by his son Cormac-Cas. Oneagh, a territory, now the barony of Owny, in the county of Tipperary, the pat- rimony of the O'Moel-Ryans, of the race of Cahire-More, by his son Fiacha-Baikeada. Poble-Hy-Brien, a territory, now a barony in the county of Limerick, belonging to dif- ferent branches of the O'Briens. Thuomond, or Towoin-Hy-Brien, which comprised a large portion of the counties of Limerick and Clare, the patrimony of the O'Briens, chiefs of the Dal-Caiss. J{3^ Aghadeo, a territory in the county of Kerry, near Lake Lene, the ancient pat- rimony of the O'Connels. Balli-Mac-Eligod, and other lands in the barony of Truchanacmy, in the county of Kerry, the patrimony of the ancient family of the Mac-Eligods. Cloinifernain, a territory of, Thuomond, the patrimony of the O'Cuinns, of the race of the Dal-Caiss. Corca-Eathrach, a territory in the county of Tipperary, which includes the city of Cashil. * Ogyg. part 3, p. 68. Keat. Geneal. et Ogyg. c. 46. A. M. 3950, B. C. 50. DIFFERENT DIVISIONS OF IRELAND. 133 Corcaoichaidh, the patrimony of the O'Scanlans, of the race of the Eoganachts. Eoganacht, a territory in the county of Tipperary, between Cashil and Thurlcs. It was so called from Eogan, eldest son of OilioU-Olum, to whose descendants it be- longed. There were six other territories of this name in Ireland, but their situation is unknown. Fera-Muigh-Fene, a territory in the coun- ty of Cork, now the barony of Fermoy. Glinn, and other territories in the envi- rons of Lake Lene, the ancient patrimony of the O'Donoghoes, of the tribe of Eogan- achts. Hy-Conall-Gaura, also called Fearmore, a territory in the county of Limerick, in the barony of Conniloe. Hy-Finginte, a territory comprising part of the baronies of Connilloe in the county of Limerick, and Iraghticonnor and Clan- Morris in the county of Kerry. Hy-Liathain, a maritime territory in the southern part of the county of Waterford, j in the barony of Desie. Imocuille, a territory, at present the bar- ony of Imo-Killy, in the county of Cork. Muighaghair, a territory in Thuomond, the patrimony of the Mac-Con-Maras, or Macnemara, of the race of the Dal-Caiss. Keating calls them the Macnemaras of Ross- Ruadh, and Sioll-iEda. Muscri-Mithaine, a territory which be- longed to the O'Donnogains, the O'Cule- nains, and the O'Floinns. O'Flaithry, the patrimony of the O'Ca- thails or Cahill. O'Gearny, the patrimony of the O'Kear- naidhs, otherwise O'Kearny, of the race of Dal-Caiss. Onachach, or Poble-Hy-Callaghan, in the county of Cork, the patrimony of the O'Keallachains, or Callaghan, a branch of the tribe of the Eoganachts. Ormond; see Muscraighe-Thire. Oweney-Hoiffernan, a territory in the county of Limerick, the patrimony of the Hiffemans, of the tribe of the Dal-Caiss.* IN CONNAUGHT. Aidhne, a territory in the southern part of the county of Galway, now the barony of Killtartan, the patrimony of the O'Seagh- nassys, of the race of the Hy-Fiachras, by Dathy, monarch of the island in the begin- ning of the fifth century. Breifne, Brifnia, or western Brenny, at J * Grat. Luc. c 3. present the county of Leitrim, was the pat- rimony of the O'Rourkes, a branch of the Hy-Brunes. This territory, like that of the O'Reillys, is known in ancient histories by the names of Brenny-0'Rourke,and Brenny- O'Reilly ; part of Annally, the country of the O'Ferrals, was also called Brenny. Calruidhe, or Calrigia. There were sev- eral districts of this name in Connaught, the precise situation of which is not known, as, Calrigia-Luirc, Calrigia-Anchala, Cal- rigia-Inse-Nisc. There was also Calrigia on the borders of Lough-Gill, forming a part of the barony of Carbury, in the county of Sligo, and Calrigia-Muighe-Murisk, in the barony of Tyrawly, in the county of Mayo. Clan-Fergail, an ancient territory on the borders of Lough-Corrib, now the barony of Clare, in the county of Galway, in which the town of Galway is situated : this dis- trict belonged to the O'Hallorans, a branch of the Hy-Brunes. Cloin-Moelruan, also called Slive-Hy- Flion, a territory in the barony of Dune- more, in the county of Galway, extending into the county of Roscommon, the patri- mony of the O'Flyns, a branch of the tribe of the Hy-Brunes. Conmacne, otherwise Muinter-Eolas, in the county of Leitrim, a territory belonging to the Magranuills, or Ranalds, who were descendants of Ir, by Feargus-Roigh.* There are many other districts of this name in Connaught, as Conmacne of Kinel-Dub- hain, or Conmacne of Dun-Mor, at present the barony of Donamore, in the county of Galway : the principal town is Tuam, which is an archbishopric. Conmacne-Mhara, in the county of Gal- way, now the barony of Ballinahinch : and Conmacne-Cuiltola, the barony of Kilmain, in the county of Mayo. Coolavin, at present a barony in the county of Sligo, forming part of ancient Coranne, which has been since the fourth century the patrimony of the O'Garas, of the race of Heber, by Kiann, son of Oilioll- Olum, king of Munster.f Coranne, a territory, now a barony in the county of Sligo, the patrimony of the Mac- Donoghs, of the race of the Hy-Brunes. | Corcachlann, a territory in the northern part of the county of Roscommon, an an- * Oo^yg. part 3, cap. 43. t Ibid. cap. 95. \ Kcat. Geneal. of O'Connor Roe. Ogjg. part 3, cap. 69. 134 HISTORY OF IRELAND. cient patrimony of the O'llanlys and O'Broe- nans, a branch of the Hy-Bruncs.* Dartry, or Dartrigia, a territory in the barony "of Carbury, near Lough- Gill in the county of Sligo, formerly the patri- mony of the Maglanchys, of the race of Ith.t Deabna-Feadha, now the barony of Moy- cullin, in the country called Tir-Da-Loch, from its being situated between two lakes, namely, Lough- Corrib on the north, and Lougli-Lurghan, or the bay of Galway, on the south. This territory belonged anciently to the posterity of Gnomer and Gnobeg, of the tribe of Dal-Caiss, from whom are de- scended the , Mac-Conrys ; and since the ninth century to the O'P'lahertys, a branch of the Hy-Brimes. Hy-Maine,| or Mainech, a territory inthe county of Galway, and patrimony of the O'Kellys, otherwise O'Ceallaighs, of the race of Heremon, by Colla-De-Crioch. This territory was so called after Maine- More, from whom the O'Kellys are de- scended, and who was the first of that tribe who settled there towards the end of the fifth century ; his descendants extended their conquests beyond the river Suck, in the county of Roscommon, and were di- vided into several branches, the chief of which was O'Kelly of Aughrim, who lost his possessions. Hy-Malia, Umalie,^ a territory southeast of the county of Mayo ; it included the barony of Morisk and part of Carragh, the patrimony of the O'Maileys, a branch of the tribe of the Hy-Brunes. Hy-Onach, a district in the county of Roscommon, comprising Elphin ; it ancient- ly belonged to the eldest branch of the Hy- Brunes. Luigne, a district in the county of Sligo, j at present the barony of Leny, forming part i of ancient Coranne, and patrimony of the I O'Haras, of the race of OilioU-Olum, by his son Kiann.ll Moy-Lurg, a territory in the county of Roscommon, on the right bank of the river Shannon, at present the barony of Boyle, j and patrimony of the Mac-Diarmuids, or Macdermots, a branch of the Hy-Brunes, I who were subdivided into several branches. I Moy-Noy, or Maghery-Connoght, called I " Planities Connachtiae," by 0'Sullivan,T[ I I * (^gyg- part 3, cap. 79. t Ibid. cap. 76. t Ibid. cap. 76. § Ibid. 79. II Idem. cap. 69. t Hist. Hibem. Compend. torn. 3, lib. 1, c. 1, an extensive territory including the baronies of Roscommon and Ballintobber, under the dominion of the O'Connors-Don, chiefs of the Hy-Brunes and Clan-Murrays, of the race of Heremon, by Eocha-Moy-Veagon, and his son Brian. O'Fiochrache, a territory in western Breifny, the patrimony of the O'Dubhas, otherwise O'Dowd, of the race of Hy- Fiachras.* Partry-Kiara, or Partry-on-Loch, some- times called Couilleagh, a territory in the county of Galway, at present the barony of Kilmain, the patrimony of the Mac-Allins, by corruption Mac-Nally, of the race of Ith, by Lugha-Mac-Conn, monarch of Ireland in the third century, and his son Faha- Canan, chief of the Mac-Allins and Mac- Cambels of Argyle in Scotland, of whom they are a branch. Siolanamchad, or Silanchie, a territory in the county of Galway, at present the barony of Longford, on the banks of the Shannon, and patrimony of the O'Madagains, or Mad- dins, of the race of Heremon by Colla-da- Crioch. Siol-Murray, a territory in the environs of Sligoe ; it includes a considerable part of the barony of Carbury, formerly called Crioch-Carbury, the patrimony of O'Con- nor-Sligoe, a younger branch of the O'Con- nors-Don, divided in the person of Brien- Laighneach, son of Tourlough-More, and brother of Cahal-Crob-Dearg. Tir-Amalgaid, an ancient territory now the barony of Tirawly, in the county of Mayo, and patrimony of the O'Haras, of the race of OilioU-Olum, by his son Kiann. JJj^ Cloincathail,t a territory on the frontiers of Roscommon and Sligoe, near Elphin, and patrimony of the O'Fianaghans, a branch of the Hy-Brunes. Cloinfearumoigh, a territory in western Breifny, the patrimony of the Maccagadons, or Mac-Eogans, of the race of Colla-da- Crioch ; another branch of his name had possessions in northern Clan-Diarmada. Cloinmbrassail, a territory, and patrimony of the O'Donnelans, a branch of the Hy- Brunes. Cloinuadach, a territory and patrimony of the O'Fallumhoins, or O'Fallons, of the race of the Hy-Brunes. Coranne, an extensive territory in the county of Mayo, including Galang, at pres- ent the barony of Galang in the same * Grat. Luc. c. 3. t Ibidem. DIFFERENT DIVISIONS OF IRELAND. 135 county, Avith the baronies of Lugne, Leny, and Coranne, in the county of Sligoe. Deabhna-Nuadhat, a territory in the county of Roscommon, between the rivers Shannon and Suck, forming the baronies of Athlone and Moycarme. Dunamon, a territory in the barony of Ballymoe, in the county of Galway, ex- tending Lowards Glinsk, the patrimony of the O'Finaghtys of the race of the Hy- Brunes. Gregagie, a territory in the county of Sligoe, on the border of lake Techet, other- wise Lough- Gara, comprising the barony of Coolavin. Hybh-Sen, or Hy-Orbsen, a territory in the county of Galway, on the borders of Lough-Corrib, or Lough-Orbsen, extend- ing into the baronies of Moy-CuUen and Clare. Hy-Bruin-Ratha, a territory in the county of Galway, in the barony of Athenry. Hy-Bruin-Sinna, a territory in the county of Roscommon, formerly called Tirmbruin. Hy-Fiachria-Aidhne, a territory in the county of Mayo, on the river Moy, near Killala, now the barony of Erris, belonged formerly to a tribe of the Firbolgs, and since divided into dynasties, which were in the possession of other families. Irrosdomhnon, a territory in the county of Mayo. Ivediarmada, the patrimony of the O'Con- chanains, of the race of the Hy-Brunes. Kierrigie-Ai, a territory in the county of Roscommon, afterwards called Clan-Ke- theren. Kierrige of Lough-Nairn, a territory in the county of Mayo, now the barony of Cos- telo, the country of the Mac-Costelos ; this territory is sometimes called the barony of Belahaimes. Kinel-Cairbre, a territory in the county of Sligoe, now the barony of Carbury, extend- ing towards Lough-Gill. Moenmoye, an ancient and extensive ter- ritory in the county of Galway, since called Clanricard, including the six baronies of Clare, Dunkellin, Loughrea, Killartan, Athenry and Leitrim. Muinter-Eolas ; see Conmacne. Partry, a territorj^ in the county of Mayo, now the barony of Carra, belonged to the Shoyaghs, (Joice,) and other families. Teallachindumhe, a territory in western Brefny, and patrimony of the Mactiegher- nains, or Mac-Kiernans, of the race of the Hy-Brunes. Tir-da-Loch, a territory situated between two lakes in the county of Galway, now the barony of Moy-Cullin. See Dealbna- Feadha. Tirm-Bruin ; see Hy-Bruin-Sinna. Clan-Colman, a principality in Meath, on the left bank of the river Boyne,* extending as far as Taylton ; it belonged to the O'Moelsachluins, or O'Maoleachluins, of the race of Conal-Creamthine, son of Niall the Great. The eldest sons of this illustrious tribe were styled kings of Meath, and frequently succeeded to the monarchy. Crioch-Leogaire, or Hy-Leogar,t an ex- tensive territory on the banks of the river Boyne, which extended from Belatruim (Trim) to Tara, and belonged to the de- scendants of Laogare, monarch of Ireland in the time of St. Patrick, the chiefs of whom were the O'Caoindealvains, or Kin- dellans. Cuircne,! or Machair-Cuirckny, a ter- ritory in Westmeath, now the barony of Kilkenny-West, and patrimony of the O'Tolargs. Dealbna, or Delvin,^ (so called from Dealbhaodh, of the race of Heber, and tribe of the Dalcaiss, whose posterity in- habited these parts of the country,) a ter- ritory, now a barony in Westmeath, the ancient patrimony of the O'Finellans, who were dispossessed under Henry H., in the twelfth century. Dealbna-Eathra, an extensive territory, now in the King's county, extending from Banaghir as far as the frontiers of West- meath, the patrimony of the Mac-Coghlans, of the tribe of the Calcaiss, who were sub- divided into several branches. Fearcall, a territory, formerly in Meath, at present in the King's county, including the baronies of Bally-Cowan and Bally-boy, and belonged since the fifteenth century to the O'Molloys, of the race of Heremon, by NioU-Noygiallach, and his son Fiacha, who were subdivided into many other branches. Fertullagh, a territory, now a barony in Westmeath, the ancient patrimony of the O'Dubhlaidhs, or O'Dowlys, of the race of Heremon. II Hy-Machvais, Hy-Macvais, a territory on the river Inny, in Westmeath, now the bar- ony of Moy-Goish, the ancient patrimony * Keat. Geneal. Grat. Luc. c. 3. t Ogyg. part 3, cap. 85. t Idem. cap. 81. ^ Idem. cap. 81. II Grat. Luc. page 25. 136 HISTORY OF IRELAND. of the Mac-Vais, or Mac-Voys, of the race of CoUavais.* Kinel-Eiula, or Kiueal-Aodha, a territory in Westinoath, in the barony of Rathcou- rath, at the foot of the hill of Usneach, or Usny, and patrimony of the O'Broenans, of the race of Enna, son of Niall-Noygi- allach.f Kincl-Fiacha, by corruption Kinalyagagh, signifying the children or race of Fiacha, an extensive territory in Westmeath,;): which includes, besides the barony of Moycashel, part of those of llaconrath, Mulingar, and Fertullach. This territory was divided into several fiefs, and belonged since the fifth century to the different branches of the Mac-Eochagains, or Mac-Geoghegans, of the race of Fiacha, son of the monarch Niall-Noygiallach. The chief of this tribe is Mac-Geoghegan of Moycashel. The fiefs belonging to the different branches are Donore, Castletown, Sionan, Newtown, Drommore, Lochanleonact, Larrah, Lou- hertan, Ballycommine, Couletor, &c. Teffia, or Teamhfna,§ an extensive ter- ritorj', including, with half of Westmeath, nearly the whole county of Longford ; it contains several small territories, namely, Caleroy and Muinter-Hagan, now the bar- ony of Kilcourcey, the country of the O'Sionachs, otherwise Fox, Mac-Hagains, Magawlys, &c. Bregmuin and Cuircne, now the baronies of Brawney and Kilkenny- West. Those territories belonged to the descendants of Maine, one of the sons of Niall the Great. Teamhfna, in the county of Longford, was' divided into northern and southern ; northern Teamhfna, also called Carbre-Gaura, included the environs of Granard : southern Teamhfna was near Ardagh, an episcopal see. JJ3^Bregia or Breagh, and Bregmagia, two territories in Meath, the former near Tara, the latter in the environs of Athruim. Broghe, the patrimony of the O'Mulledys. Corcaduin, the patrimony of the O'Dalys, in Irish, Sioll-Ndala.|l Dealbna-Teanmoy, a territory in Meath. Desies, now the barony of Deece. Fearbile, a territory, now a barony in Westmeath, the patrimony of the O'Han- biths. Finfochla, the patrimony of the O'Ru- adhrys. Kiennachta-Bregh, or Kiennachta-Ard,l * Ogyg. part 3, cap. 7& t Idem. cap. 85. t Keat. Geneal. Ogyg. part .3, cap. 85. § Idem. II Ogyg. part 9, c. 85l % Ibid. cap. 68. a large territory, extending from Duleek to the river Liffey : it was also called, on account of its situation and beauty, Moy- Breagh, which sigiiific^s "beautiful field." This territory belonged to the Keniads, de- scendants of Kiann, son of Oilioll-Olum, king of Munster. Luighnie, the patrimony of the O'Bruins. Moynalta, the patrimony of the Biataghs, believed to be a noble and ancient family of Danish extraction. Those principalities and dynasties which are now changed into counties and baronies, still retain some vestiges of their ancient names ; they belonged to the same families from the first ages of Christianity. Their possession was first interrupted about the end of the twelfth century by a colony of English, who usurped the properties of several of the ancient proprietors, particu- larly in the provinces of Leinster, Munster, and Meath. Many others were dispossessed in the different provinces, in the reigns of Elizabeth and James L ; but under the tyranny of Cromwell and the Prince of Orange, the plunder was almost universal. However, notwithstanding these several revolutions, notwithstanding the repeated snares that have been so artfully laid to force them to rebel, and thereby furnish a pretext for confiscating their properties, there are still many ancient proprietors who enjoy the inheritance of their ancestors by an uninterrupted possession of ten, twelve, fifteen, and eighteen centuries ; a possession which, for duration, has few examples in the other nations of Europe. The nobility of the Irish cannot appear doubtful to those who take the trouble of comparing this length of possession, with what is said in the critical essay on their antiquity and traditions. Genealogists di- vide nobility into three classes ; the first is that of knighthood, the origin of which cannot be ascertained ; the second, though j ancient, may still be traced to its commence- ment ; and the third, a new nobility, which i has not yet numbered three generations, j Nobility is one of those things not easily | defined ; however, it manifests itself by the prerogatives which it confers ; it is looked upon by some as a mere chimera, and by others in an opposite light. Juvenal, a pagan writer, says it consists in virtue alone : " Nobilitas sola est atque unica virtus." Whatever be the origin and nature of nobility, it tends to establish subordina- tion in the state, and distinction of rank in society, by selecting from the crowd a certain number of men, who are raised APOSTJ.F, OF 1REI.A1TD. J Sadlier. CHRISTIAN IRELAND. 137 above others, and invested with preroga- tives. Nobility was not, in ancient times, as it now is, founded on letters patent : ac- cording to the general opinion of men, a long possession of lands and lordships con- stituted nobility, as they thereby acquired certain subjects whom they called vassals. A family which has for several centuries kept possession of the same lands, and maintained itself in a certain degree of rank, without contracting any degrading al- liance, and of whose ancestors are recorded a long succession of those virtuous actions which attract the attention of mankind — such a family, I say, deserves to be placed in the first class of nobility, and should be considered as such, in every nation in the world. The constitution and first establishment of the Irish nation, were of a nature to give rise to nobles of the above description. We have already seen, in the preceding part of this history, and in the beginning of this chapter, that the children of Milesius had formed tribes, of which they were the chiefs, by the division they made of the island be- tween them. According as the population increased, the tribes were nmltiplied, and in time divided into many branches. The last, and most permanent division of those tribes into dynasties, which has lasted to the pre- sent time, took place in the third, fourth, and fifth centuries. The names of the dynasties, and those to whom they belonged in the fifth century, are mentioned by the historians of the country, and the different authors of the life of St. Patrick, when speaking of liis apostleship in Ireland. Each of those tribes or dynasties had its chief, who was either the eldest of the tribe, or the most capable of governing it ; and the collateral branches Avho possessed lands and fiefs, acknowledged his authority. Though divided into different bodies, like the Israelites, they never forgot their com- mon origin : they were all more or less nearly allied in affinity, and by intermarry- ing they all enjoyed a mutual inheritance ; so that unless the Avhole tribe were extinct, there was always a legitimate heir to the dynasty ; on which account those great families were never confounded one with the othei'. Though several of those ancient proprietors were deprived of their posses- sions. in the last century, on account of their religious zeal, and their fidelity to their le- gitimate princes, and consequently have fallen from that ancient splendor which can only be supported by riches, they are still looked upon in the coimtry in the same light as their ancestors ; and, provided they can prove the purity of their blood, and regular descent from the chiefs of their houses, I see no reason why they should be excluded from the privileges of nobility, any more than others of the same .blood, more favored by fortune, and who have pre- served their properties. In the latter part of this history I shall enlarge upon this subject, when there will be an occasion to speak of many illustrious families, originally from England, and who are well deserving the title of ancient nobility. CHRISTIAN IRELAND. PART II. CHAPTER IX. The throne of Ireland being vacated by the death of Dathy, the last pagan monarch of this island, as we have observed in the sixth chapter of the first part of this history, the sceptre returned to the family of Niall, sumamed Noygiallach, in the person of his son Laogare, who began his reign in 428, and continued in it, except in one instance, from that period until the eleventh century. Though we have seen, in the first part, that there were Christians in Ireland in the first century, and long before the mission of St. Patrick ; that, independent of Cor- mac-Ulfada, monarch of this island in the third century, whose piety and religion had rendered him odious to the pagans, several had left their native country on hearing of the Christian name ; and that having become perfect in the knowledge of the evangelical doctrine, and the discipline of the Church, some had preached the gospel in the dif- ferent pagan countries in Europe ; others, filled with zeal for the salvation of their fellow-citizens, had successfully expounded to them the word of God ; still the nation was not yet considered as converted : this grace was reserved for the reign of Laogare, and the pontificate of St. Celestine I. This great pope, seeing the pious inclination of those people,* and the success of private missionaries among them, thought of send- ing them an apostle invested with full au- * Usser. Primord. Eccles. Brit. cap. 16, page 797, et seq. 138 HISTORY OF IRELAND. thority to complete a work so happily be- 1 gun.* The first whom he sent to Ireland, with all power requisite for his mission, was Pal- ladius, an archdeacon of the Roman Church, who, having been ordained bishop, or rather archbishop of all Ireland, set out, accom- panied by twelve missionaries, all equally inspired with the apostolical spirit, and pro- vided with several volumes of the Old and New Testament, and some relics of the apostles St. Peter and Paul, and of some other martyrs. On landing in the province of Leinster, he began his mission by preach- ing the faith of Jesus Christ ; but he was badly received by the pagans. Jocelin quotes a proverb, common in the country, signifying that " God did not reserve for Palladius, but for Patrick, the conversion of Ireland." However, he baptized a few per- sons, and founded three churches, the first of which was called " Kill-Fine," the second, " Teach-na-Romanach," or House of the Romans, and the third, " Domnach-Arte." After a short mission of a few months, he was expelled from Ireland by Nathi, son of Garchon, a prince of this country. This holy missionary withdrew into Britain, and died some time after at Fourdoun, in the country of the Picts : others assert that he suifered martyrdom in Ireland. The origin and country of St. Palladius have been the subject of much disputation. John Sichard asserts that he was a native of Ireland ; Anthony Possevin, in his Sacred Compendium, calls him a Briton ; Trithe- mins, in his Catalogue of Ecclesiastical Writers, and others, copying after him, afiirm that he was by birth a Greek, con- founding him, probably, with Palladius, bishop of Helenopolis, in Bythinia, who died before the year 431, the time of the mission of St. Palladius among the Scots. However this be, there is another question more interesting, as being more closely connected with the object of this history, namely, to know who were those Scots for whom St. Palladius had received his mis- sion. The Scotch authors, namely, John Major, Boetius, Lesly, and Dempster, on the double acceptation of the name " Scot," assert that he had been sent to the Scots of Britain ; in which account they are fol- lowed by Polydore Virgil, the author of the English Martyrology, and by Baronius in his Annals on the year 429 ; but the latter, after a more minute investigation, corrected » Trias. Thaum. vit. S. Patr. himself on the year 431, by saying that St. Palladius had been sent to Ireland. Wc need only read the sixth and seventh chapters of the first part of this history, to discover the error of those authors, in which it has been proved that the Scots had no fixed dwelling, or any monarchy founded in Britain, before the beginning of the sixth century, and that the terms Scots and Irish were synonymous till the eleventh. We may, however, mention here the au- thority of St. Prosper, whom I have already quoted, as he expressly speaks of the mis- sion of St. Palladius. This father, when praising the zeal of Pope St. Celestine for the conversion of the British Isles, says, that when he was endeavoring to preserve the purity of the faith in the Roman Isle, he ordained a bishop for the Scots, and con- verted to Christianity that island which had been barbarous.* St. Prosper here men- tions Palladius, as he says in his Chronicle, that Pope Celestine had ordained him bishop of the Scots Avho believed in Christ : " Ad Scotos in Christum credentes ordinatur a Papa Ccelestino Palladius." He also dis- tinguishes the island of Scots, which he calls barbarous, (a name given by the Ro- mans to all those who were not imder their dominion,) from Britain, which he designates by the name of the Roman Isle. The island of Scots, as mentioned by Prosper, can only refer, says Usher, to Scotia Major, that is, Ireland, and by no means to Albania, which was not at that time called Scotia, and is. not an island, as it forms part of that of Great Britain.! Lastly, we may add, that as St. Patrick succeeded St. Palladius in the same mission, they both preached the gospel to the same people, namely, the Scots of Ireland-I St. Prosper places the mission of St. Pal- ladius in Ireland under the consulship of Bassus and Antiochus ; which corresponds * " With equal care he rescued from the same distemper the British isles, when those who were enemies, to grace, and occupying the soil of their birth, were shut out by that secluded part of the ocean : a bishop being ordained for the Scots, while he is eager to preserve the Roman isle Catholic, he rendered that which was Christian, barbarous." t " And Prosper, distinguishing eloquently this island of the Scots from the Britains, must be ne- cessarily understood to mean Scotia Major to be Ireland, and not the Minor Scotia, which is Alba- nia, (which was not Scotland at that period, neither is it an island, but forms a part of Great Britain.") — Usher's Church Hist. c. 16, p. 798. t " It is plain, that Palladius had been appointed for the same Scots to whom Patrick had been af- terwards sent." — Usher. CHRISTIAN IRELAND. 139 with the year 431 of the Christian era. The venerable Beds fixes it in the eighth year of the empire of Theodosius the younger.* Baronius says the date of the latter should be corrected by that of St. Prosper ; he does not, however, observe, that Bede and Pros- per are in perfect accordance, as they count the years of the reign of Theodosius from the death of Honorius, which happened in 423, as well as the elevation of Pope Celes- tine to the pontificate ; while that celebrated annalist (Baronius) dates from the time that those two emperors began their reign to- gether. Bollandus and le Nain de Tillemont seem to doubt that there were Christians in Ireland before St. Palladius.f " The Irish," says Tillemont, " give the histories of several saints of their country, many of whom were bishops, and assert that they had preached the gospel in their country, and converted many persons long before St. Patrick, even in the fourth century. Usher quotes, continues he, many fragments of the lives of those saints, in which can be easily discovered several very improbable things. We might judge far better of those lives, if we had them complete ; however, it suffices that Bollandus, who it appears has seen them, affirms that none were composed before the twelfth century, and that most of them are by very fabulous authors." The above is a severe, as well as an ill- founded censure. Bollandus, on account of a few hyperbolical phrases used in the lives of those saints, or some improbable facts, (the common result of the enthusiasm of ancient writers,) without distinguishing truth from falsehood, saps the foundation of their history, which he treats of as fabu- lous. However, without injuring the repu- tation which Bollandus has so deservedly acquired among the learned. Usher, who quotes those fragments as respectable monu- ments of antiquity, was as judicious a critic, and a much more competent judge in this matter, though he was of English extraction, and of a different religion irom the saints whose lives he quotes, (two things which should remove all suspicion of prejudice on his part:) having been born and educated in Ireland, he had it better in his power to , see and judge, than Bollandus, a stranger *"In the year 423 of our redemption, Theo. dosius the younger reigned for 27 years, in the j eighth year of whose reign Palladius was sent by I Pope Celestine, as first bishop, to preach to the Scots who beheved in Christ." — Bede,h. 1, Church Hist. c. 13. t Memoires, torn. 16, Vie de S. Patrice. who embraced too many objects to succeed in all. It is, besides, an incontestable fact, that in those ages, which immediately suc- ceeded the preaching of St. Patrick in Ire- land, that country was celebrated for its knowledge in the sciences and literature. Therefore it is not probable they would have been so long without writing the annals and lives of the saints of that people. The re- mark of Bollandus, that there were no lives of the saints of Ireland written before the twelfth century, is therefore highly incorrect. This learned author seems to confound some copies taken from the original lives, in the twelfth century, in order to preserve them to posterity, as well as the original ones ; as if we Avere to say, that the life of St. Patrick had not been written till the twelfth cen- tury, because Jocelin, an English monk, had not taken extracts from every ancient life of that saint, written many ages before. Usher, continues Tillemont, desirous of supporting the historians of his country,* among whom we discover many bishops sent to Ireland before St. Palladius, adduces, in opposition to himself, St. Prosper, who says that St. Palladius was the first sent there in 431 : he thinks to destroy, says he, this un- deniable authority, by remarking that the word " primus" is not in the Duchesne edi- tion. The above criticism is unjust ; Tille- mont suppresses the other explanations which Usher gives of the word " primus," which, according to him, signifies the first of the two, namely, Palladius and Patrick whom Pope Celestine sent to Ireland, with full apostolic power as archbishop or primate of the whole island. f Besides, these words, " Ad Scotos in Christum credentes ordina- tus fi Papii Coelestino Palladius Episcopus mittitur," used by St. Prosper in his chroni- cle on the year 431, and by Bede in the thirteenth chapter of the first book of his Ecclesiastical History, evidently indicate that there were Christians in Ireland, and consequently pastors, before the mission of St. Palladius. Bollandus himself ac- knowledges it, as he says that St. Palladius had found in Ireland more Christians than * Notes sur S. Patrice. t " But although four former bishops be mentioned to have been ordained before the pontificate of Ce- lestine, for the mission, it might appear that Pope Celestine appointed Palladius first bishop, and that Patrick had been sent the second, or primate to the Episcopal seat. So that, although our island had other bishops, still Palladius was the first arch- bishop, and Patrick the second." — Usher's Church Hist. c. 16, p. 800. 140 HISTORY OF IRELAND. he made* There never was an instance, says Colgan,tofthe Roman Church specially ordaining a bishop for any nation, or send- ing a solemn mission to a country in which the Christian religion was totally unknown. Lastly, it was not affirmed by Usher, nor any other historian of the country, that Ire- land was converted before the time of St. Patrick. A kingdom is not considered to be converted till the king and princes, and most of the people, have received baptism ; which did not take place in Ireland till the time of this apostle. This did not prevent the con- version of some in diflerent parts of the island, by the private missionaries men- tioned by Usher. As soon as the death of St. Palladius was known at Rome, Pope St. Celestine thought of providing a successor to him. The lot fell to Patrick, who being at that time at Rome, was ordained bishop of Ireland by the pope, and was sent to this island invested with apostolic authority, and loaded with the benedictions of the holy father. This pope died a short time afterwards, and his suc- cessor, St. Sixtus III., confirmed the mission of St. Patrick, and associated with him other evangelical missionaries, to assist him. Before we enter into a detail of the life and mission of St. Patrick, we should here examine the several histories written on this subject. The number of histories which have been composed on the life of St. Patrick, has, in a great measure, tended to darken the know- ledge we should have of the truth of what concerns him. According to Usher, and ancient monuments in the libraries of Oxford and Cambridge, there were sixty-three, or sixty-six.J However, Ave must confine our- selves to the most genuine, and those which appear the most authentic, and least liable to contradiction ; which are, the Confession of Saint Patrick, his letter to Corotic, and his life, written by some of his disciples. The Confession of St. Patrick was written * " Palladius thought it sufficient to have two of his brethren, Sylvester and Solonius, to assist tlie few Christians whom he had found, and it is probable that he found more than he had made, on account of the short time he remained. After consecrating three oratories for their use, he set sail with his companions, and being driven by a storm (perhaps by the Divine will) around North Britain, he landed in the eastern part of the country of the Picls, which he held, and died in it." — Bollandus in his Life of St. Patrick, p. 581. t Triad. Thaum. Append. 5, cap. 15, pag. 250. t " All the books which have been written on the life of St. Patrick are 66 or 63."— Usiiei; C. Hist. c. 17, p. 816. by himself, in which he gives an account of his life and conversation, principally during his youth, and commenced with these words : " Ego Patricius peccator." Very few mira- cles are recorded in it ; several visions are mentioned by the saint hiiuself, and he says that God frequently imparted to him, in a very extraordinary manner, what he was to do.* We may also add, that in those visions which St. Patrick mentions having seen, there was nothing that was not grave, holy, and worthy of God. This volume, says Col- gan, is to be found in the library of the mon- astery of Saint Vast, in Artois,t and also, ac- cording to Ware, in the library of Sarum, or Salisbury, in England,^ if it is the same (which is most probable) that Colgan quotes under the title of " Patricius de vita et con- versatione sua ;" the beginning, " Ego Pa- tricius peccator," &c. &c., is the same in both copies. The subject of St. Patrick's letter to Co- rotic, § was a cruel and barbarous action committed by this tyrant, who reigned over some canton in Wales. This petty prince, having made a descent upon Ireland during the festival of Easter, ravaged the canton where the saint then was, and where he had just administered the holy chrism to a great number of converts, that were still clothed in the white robes of their baptism. Corotic, though a Christian, with- out the slightest regard for the sanctity of the sacrament, massacred a great number, and carried off others, whom he sold to the Picts. The atrocity of this action roused the zeal of the saint to such a degree, that, on the day after the massacre of those inno- cent people, he sent a letter to Corotic, by a holy priest whom he had brought up from his infancy, and by some other ecclesiastics, to request of him to restore the Christians whom he had carried into captivity, and a part, at least, of the booty. However, the saint's letter not producing the desired effect on the mind of Corotic, and his answer prov- ing unsatisfactory, he resolved to write a second, in form of a circular, which he pub- lished, instead of addressing it to Corotic, and it is that which has been preserved until our time. In this letter he complains loudly of the action of Corotic, and particularly of his having sold the Christians to infidels. He declared to the church, that this tyrant, and the other fratricides who had been ac- complices in his crime, should be separated * Tillemont, Vie de Saint Patrice, art. 2. t Append. 4, part 3, de Script. Act. S. Patr. t De Script. Hib. lib. 2, cap. 2. § Tillemont, Vic de Saint Patrice. CHRISTIAN IRELAND. 141 from liim and from Jesus Christ, whose representative he was ; that none should eat with them, nor receive their alms, until they should have satisfied God by the tears of true repentance, and restored to liberty the faithful servants of Jesus Christ. He de- clared that whosoever should hold converse or communication" with them, and flatter them in their sins, would be judged and condemned by God. The above is the excommunication pronounced by St. Patrick against Corotic and those who were accom- plices in his crime. The Confession of St. Patrick, and his letter to Corotic, are quoted with praise by Usher, Bollandus,Ware, Colgan, and others.* Those two productions bear the name of the saint, who frequently speaks in them of him- self, and appear truly worthy of him. They are both in the same style and character. The Confession is quoted by all the an- cient authors of his life, which proves, at least, that it is more ancient than they are ; and there seems to exist, throughout, a character of truth, which supports it, even were it not quoted by any author. Cave himself admits that this confession, and the letter to Corotic, are ancient writings. f The principal authors of the life of St. Patrick]: are. Saint Secundinus, or Seagh- lin, bishop of Domnach-Sechnaild, now Donseachlin, in Meath ; he was a disciple of the saint, and his nephew by his sister Da- rerca ;'^ and composed a hymn in honor of his master, which may be seen in Colgan. || St. Loman, his disciple, and nephew by his sister Tigrid, bishop of Athrum,*^ now Trim, in Meath ; St. Mel, bishop of Ardach, his disciple and nephew also, brother of St. Secundinus ; and a second St. Patrick,** to whom the saint gave his own name while holding him over the baptismal font ; all three wrote the acts of his life. The last, after the death of his uncle, retired to the abbey of Glastonbury, or Glaston, in Somer- setshire in England, where he ended his days. Saint Benignus, (in the Irish language Binen, signifying gentle, )tt who succeeded St. Patrick in the see of Ardmach, is reck- oned among the authors of his life. Those four lives, says Jocelin, were written partly * Tillemon. not. sur S. Patrice. t Page 336. t U«ser. Priinord. Eccles. Brit. cap. 17, pages 825 et826. § War. de Script. Hib. || Triad Thaum. App. 3. T Usser. Primord. c. 17, p. 816, seq. ** Usser. Ind. Chron. p. 1121. tt Colg. Triad. Thaum. App. 4, p. 3, de Script. Act. S. Patrie. in Irish and partly in Latin, by his four disciples, St. Benignus, his successor, St. Mel, and St. Luman, bishops, and St. Pat- rick, his godson.* St. Fiech, of the race of the monarch Cahire-More, by Diare, surnamed Barrach, was a disciple of St. Patrick, and bishop of Sletty, formerly Slebte, in the barony of Sliev-Margie, territory of Leis, now the Queen's county ; he has left a hymn writ- ten in thirty-four stanzas, in the Irish lan- guage, containing the most remarkable events of that apostle's life. This hymn, and the Latin translation, are in Colgan, among the lives of St. Patrick, and should be rather considered a panegyric than a life of this saint. t St. Kienan, of a noble family in Con- naught,j: or rather (says Colgan) of the race of the Keniads, descendants of Oilioll- Olum, by his son Kiann, and lords of a ter- ritory in Meath, called Kiennachta,^ having taken orders in the monastery of St. Martin, at Tours, II returned to Ireland, and was nominated by St. Patrick bishop of Damh- liah, now Duleek, in the territory of Bregh, in Meath. According to the calendar of Cashil, he wrote the life of St. Patrick, whose disciple he was. St. Evin, or Emmin,*T[ abbot of Ross, otherwise Ross-Mac-Treoin, adjoining the river Barrow, is thought to be the author of the life of St. Patrick, written in Irish and Latin, divided into three parts, and called by Colgan,** " Vita Tripartita Sancti Pa- tricii."tt Saint Ultan, bishop of Ard-Brecain, in Meath, and St. Tirechan, his successor in * " The greatest number of the books or tracts (which were 65) treating of the miracles which he wrought, were consumed by fire in the reign of Gurmondus and Turgesius. Four books, however, which treat of his virtues and miracles, written partly in Irish and partly in Latin, by St. Benignus his successor, St. Mel, bishop, St. Lomanus, arch- bishop, and St. Patrick, his godson, who returned after the death of his uncle to Britain, 'ith which this island abounded ; and with Britain, where they obtained tin from Corn- wall.* In after ages the Milesians traded with the Gauls, Britons, and people of the north ; to which Tacitus alludes, when he says that the harbors in Ireland were more commodious, and better known to merchants than those of Britain.! Leisure was not less requisite for the cul- tivation of the sciences, than for agriculture and commerce ; however, it has been proved, that in the sixth, seventh, eighth, and ninth centuries, literature had been more flourish- ing in this island, notwithstanding the tumults of war, than in the neighboring countries. This nation having been always free, and never subjected to a foreign yoke, were uni- form in their manners and customs ; so that a description of them, during one century, can be applied to every other. It is not believed, says Camden, that that nation ever submitted to the dominion of the Romans, which, he adds, would have been an advan- tage to its inhabitants, whereas they would have been thereby the sooner despoiled of their barbarity. It is true, according to the general opinion, that the Ron:iaris had polished every nation which they conquered. If the merit of a polished people rests upon a knowledge of building with stone and cement, instead of with wood : if it be derived from a number of arts, which generally tend to support luxury, false splendor, and to corrupt the morals ; in fine, if true glory consists in an immoderate ambition, and a desire of subdu- ing and enslaving every other nation at the expense of the blood of many millions of men, and a wish to deprive them of that liberty so natural to all.men, and to call those gene- rous people barbarians who had the forti- tude to spurn their chains, and despise their foreign customs, the Romans would undoubt- edly deserve that eulogium ; but if that glory were the reward of simplicity and innocence of manners, of noble actions, uprightness, * Bochart Geograph. Sec. lib. 1, cap. 39. t Vit. AgricoliB, p. 499, apud. Grat. Luc. cap. 12. and benevolence, of what service would those brilliant arts, which form the delight of our frivolous times, have been to a nation whose government M^as founded on the laws of na- ture, and the virtues which arise from it ? Several nations, no doubt, needed such mas- ters ; but the Scoto-Milesians, who were a lettered people before the Romans were in being, might easily dispense with them in the acquirement of the sciences. The account which Camden, after Cam- brensis, gives at the end of his Britannia, of the manners and customs of the ancient Irish, is so trifling and incorrect, that it does not merit to be either quoted or refuted. Christianity produced no change in the fundamental constitution of the state. Men learned thereby to command and obey, by the purest principles of equity and justice, of which God was the source and object, as he was to be also their reward. Although the clergy, as being the substi- tutes of the druids, enjoyed a share in the legislative authority, still, as they followed no other rules than those of the gospel, and as their lives, which were exemplary, af- forded ample security for their conduct, there was nothing to be feared from their abuse of power. On the other hand, the laity claimed no share in that power which the clergy held from God alone ; so that there was no con- flict between them for the spiritual and tem- poral authority, which were altogether inde- pendent of each other ; and this harmony contributed much to the happiness of the state in general. CHAPTER XIII. Hugh VI., surnamed Oirnigh, son of Niall-Freasach, ascended the throne of Ire- land on the death of Donchada, a. d., 797. He governed the island, as monarch, for about twenty -two years. The reign of this prince is remarkable for the invasion of the country by the bar- barians of the north, who had been, hither- to, unknown to the Irish. This may be considered as the period of the decline of religion in Ireland, and the termination of the brightest days of the Irish church : for the incursions of the barbarians were at the cominencement marked by blood and slaughter ; burning of towns, churches, and monasteries ; putting the clergy and the faithful to death, or carrying them away as 214 HISTORY OF IRELAND. slaves ; and spreading terror and devasta- tion everywhere. l?ut God had not castofi" his people, or ibrgotten his promises, and the Irish have always preserved their reli- gion, although with less of splendor than before. Before we enter into a detail of the wars of the Nonnans, it is necessary to examine the origin of that nation, which was so for- niidahle to a great part of Europe in the ninth century. Scandinavia, situated in the north of Eu- rope, comprised Norway, Sweden, and all the country to the west of the gidf of Bothnia. According to the historians of that country, it was peopled a short time after the deluge, by two Asiatic colonies, namely, the Goths and Swedes, who each founded an extensive kingdom. Most of the barbarians who ravaged Europe during the decline of the Roman empire, were colonies from these two nations, who were sometimes at peace, and sometimes at war with each other. In course of time, the territory of the Goths being overburdened with inhabitants, was obliged to send colonies to the islands of the Baltic sea, and to the surrounding countries extending as far as the CimbrianChersonesus since called Jutland. These colonies although dispersed, always acknowledged the Gothic kings as their sovereigns ; but at length having chosen Dan, son of Humel, for their monarch, they separated from the Goths and assumed the appellation of Dani or Danes, from which is derived the name of Denmark. The Norwegians were also a colony of the Goths, from whom they, as well as the Danes, were descended. These two nations afterwards became powerful, and capable of making war, even against those from whom they sprang. The situation of their country, intersected by arms of the sea, and the great quantity of materials it sup- plied for the construction of vessels, having inspired them with a taste for navigation, they were enabled to make incursions, the effects of which were but too severely felt in France, England, and Ireland. As the popu- lation increased rapidly in those cold cli- mates, Denmark and Norway were frequent- ly obliged to send out colonies, in order to relieve the parent countries ; while a hope of booty induced the colonists readily to leave, under the pretext of seeking new habi- tations. Olaus Wormius affirms, that piracy was formerly tolerated, and even considered honorable among the Danes, and that the most celebrated and strongest wrestlers were employed in the exercise of it by the kings and their children.* The success of the tirst adventurers induced others to follow in quest of fortune. They formed companies, and etpiipped vessels, like the corsairs of Barbary, or privateers in time of war. As they shared the booty with their kings, the latter provided them with general officers, or commanded in person, when there was any considerable prize to be taken. Instead of regular troops, they formed free and inde- pendent companies, whose aim was pillage, rather than conquest, and who, succeeding each other, left to the nations they invaded no time for repose. Such was the enemy that ravaged the coasts of Europe in the ninth century, and checked the progress of Charlemagne in the conquest of the Saxons. In France they were called Normans, which signifies, north-men ; in England, Ostmans, that is, men from the east, the people of Livonia, Estonia, and Courland, having been sharers in their incursions.The Irish included all those nations under the names of Danes and Norwegians, calling them in their own language, " Lochlannuigs," which signifies powerful on sea. They also distinguished them by the titles of" Dubh-Lochlannuigs," and ''Fionn-Lochlannuigs," that is, black and white Lochlannuigs, the former being the Danes, and the latter the Norwegians. I shall henceforward call them sometimes Danes, sometimes Norwegians, and fre- quently Normans, in conformity with the language in which I am writing. According to the Irish annals, the Nor- mans first appeared in this island in 795. They laid waste the coasts of Albania and Ireland, and pillaged the isle of Recrain, now Rachlin, in the north of the county of Antrim. t About this time St. Findan, son of a prince of Leinster, was carried away captive by these barbarians ; but according to his life, written by an anonymous author, his companion, and published by Melchior Goldastus, he made his escape in a miracu- lous manner. I Dicuil, a contemporary Irish author, mentions these first depredations of the Normans, in his work on the bound- aries of the nations of the earth. § In 798, three years after, these pirates returned, and * " Piracy was considered among the Danes honorable and lawful, and frequently the kings themselves and their children, had the most cele- brated and bravest wrestlers employed in it." — Ware^s Antiquities, c. 24. t War. do Anliq. Hib. c. 24. Grat. Luc. c. 9. Bruod. Propug. Cathol. Verit. lib. 5, cap. 14. I Porter, Compend. Annal. Eccles. Reg. Hibern. sect. 4, c. 1, et llsscr. Primord. Eccles. p. 1038. § Tom. 1, rerum Aleman. p. 318. CHRISTIAN IRELAND. 215 committed depredations in the north of Ire- land, and in the Hebrides. The barbarians, who at first had only plunder in view, being pleased with the country, formed the design of conquering it ;* for which purpose a fleet of fifty ves- sels landed a body of troops in the western part of Munster, who commenced pillaging and laying waste the whole province. Airtre, who was at the time king of Munster, assem- bled his troops and gave them battle ; the action was bloody, and the Normans, having been defeated, made a precipitate retreat to their vessels during the night, leaving four hundred and sixteen men dead on the field of battle. About the same time they pil- laged the abbey of Hy-Columb-Kill, and massacred the monks, with Blaithmac, son of an Irish king, whose life has been writ- ten in verse by Wallafrid Strabo. Kellach, then abbot of Hy, found means to escape this massacre. He took refuge in Ireland, where he spent seven years in the abbey of St. Columb, at Kells, in Meath, and then returned to his abbey of Hy, where he died shortly afterwards. In the year 812, the Normans made a sec- ond descent on Ireland, in which they were not more successful than in the first. Hav- ing landed on the coast of Munster, they practised every species of cruelty on the in- habitants, sparing neither age nor sex, nor even the churches or monasteries. They however shared the same fate as before, hav- ing been repulsed with considerable loss by Feidlime, king of that province. At the same period, a fleet of Normans landed on the eastern coast of the island. They spread terror in all directions, pillaged the celebrated abbey of Banchor, and killed the bishop, with nine hundred monks. Another body landed at Jobh-Kinseallagh, (Wexford,) laid waste the whole country, burned the church- es, and plundered the monasteries, as far as the territory of Ossory, where the inhabit- ants coming to an engagement with them, killed seven hundred and seven on the spot, and obliged the others to abandon their booty. They were not, however, disheart- ened by this defeat ; their loss being retrieved by new reinforcements, they soon after ar- rived in Limerick, and burned the terri- tories of Corcabaisquin, Tradruighe, and lobh-Conuill-Gabhra ; but being vigorously attacked by the inhabitants of lobh-Conuill, at Seannuid, they were completely defeated, and obliged to give up their booty. Rheginojin his chronicle for the year 812, * Keat. Hist, of Ireland, part 2. mentions these first victories Avhich the Irish gained over the Normans. " A Norman fleet," says he, " having landed in Ireland, came to an engagement with the Scots, in which several lives were lost, and the rest put to flight."* Hermannus Contractus speaks in nearly the same terms. t It may here be observed, that in the ninth century the Irish were known to foreigners by the name of Scots. About the year 818, Turgesius, king, or son of the king of Norway, landed with a formidable fleet in the north of Ire- land. He had the reputation of being a great warrior, but was cruel and vindictive. On the news of his arrival, all the Normans who had been dispersed in small bodies throughout the kingdom, united under his standard, and appointed him their general. This tyrant, seeing himself commander-in- chief of all the Normans in Ireland, began by issuing his commands in every quarter ; sending his oflicers to harass and pillage the inhabitants, with orders to spare neither age nor sex. There were, at the time, no strong- holds or fortified towns in Ireland ; but the Norman general, knowing the necessity of having places of retreat, into which he might withdraw in case of need, and secure his booty, remedied this want by stationing his fleet, which consisted of several small vessels with sails and oars, in the different lakes of the country. One part he stationed in Lough Neagh, another in Lough Rea, in the river Shannon, and the rest he sent to Lughmaigh. These were the garrisons from which the barbarians issued to commit their depreda- tions in the country, and the fortresses which served them as a retreat when they were repulsed by the inhabitants. The orders of the tyrant were but too faithfully executed by those inhuman monsters ; heaps of slain were to be seen on every side, and churches and monasteries pillaged and burned. The church of Armagh was plundered three times in one month, the abbot made prisoner, and the university, which till that time had been so celebrated, and in Avhich there were sometimes 7,000 students, was completely destroyed, and the scholars assassinated or put to flight, together with their teachers. Hugh, the monarch, appeared quite in- sensible to the misfortunes of his subjects. Instead of avenging his country's wrongs, and defending her against the common * " A fleet of Norwegians having attacked the island of Hibernia, they came to an engagement, in which many of them were killed, and the rest put to flight." t " A Danish fleet having attacked Ireland, was defeated by the Scots." 216 HISTORY OF IRELAND. enemy, having conceived some displeasure towards the people of Lcinster, he entered that province at the head of an army, and committed dreadful devastations there. The natural phenomena which were this year observed, and the convulsion of the elements, seemed to forebode something fatal to the nation. About the end of the month of March, the thunder and lightning were so violent and frequent, that no less than one thousand and ten persons of both sexes perished in one district between Corcabas- kin,in the county of Clare, and the sea-shore. At the same time there happened an extra- ordinary swell of the ocean, which inundated a part of the country that has never since been reclaimed, the current of the waters being so strong that an island called Inis- Fidhe was rent into three parts, thereby indicating a submarine earthquake. In this reign may be fixed the foundation of the priory of Disert-Kellach, or Kells, in Meath, by St. Kellach, an anchorite, prob- ably the same as Cellach, abbot of Hy, who took refuge in Ireland to avoid the fury of the Normans. After a reign filled with troubles, Hugh the monarch died at Athda-Ferta in the ter- ritory of Tirconnel ; but according to some, he was killed at the battle of Cathdroma.* Conquovar, or Connor, son of the king Donchadha, succeeded Hugh in the govern- ment of the island, a. d. 819. The Normans, who now began to settle in the country, being joined by new reinforcements every year, pillaged and burned all that they found in their path. The monasteries of Inis- Damhly, Cork, Banchor, and Dundaleath- glass, Avhere there was a celebrated academy, fell sacrifices to their fury. The monastery of Moigh-Bille was still more unfortunate ; having been set on fire, the monks, unable to save themselves, all perished in the flames. The new monarch, feeling more deeply than his predecessor the misfortunes of his people, and exasperated by the cruelties which the barbarians continually exercised, assembled his forces, gave them battle in the plain of Tailton, and gained a complete victory over them. This advantage, how- ever, availed him but little, as the reinforce- ments which the barbarians were constantly receiving from their own country, enabled them to keep the field and continue hostili ties. The inhabitants of Leinster came to an engagement with them some time after wards at Druim-Conla ; the victory remained for some time doubtful, but the provincialists * War. de Antiq. Hib. cap. 4. having lost their general, Conning, the chief of the tribe of Fortuaths, and a celebrated warrior, the barbarians were victorious ; af- ter which they began their plunder anew. Conquovar, finding himself unable to relieve his country, or defend it against the barba- rians, died, it is said, of grief. Niall, surnamed Caille, son of Hugh IV., succeeded Conquovar, a. d. 833. This monarch's reign was not more tranquil than that of his predecessor. In 835 a consider- able fleet arrived from Norway under the | command of Turgesius, and laid waste nearly the whole province of Connaught, with part of Meath and Leinster. Some time after- wards the pirates subdued the greater part of Ulster, demolished the churches, and practised every species of cruelty upon the Christians. Their chief seized on Ard- magh, and expelled Faranan, the archbishop, with the monks and students. They sub- sequently burned the monasteries of Inis- Kealtrach, Cluain-Mac-Noisk, Cluain-Fer- ta-Luachra, Tirdaglass, and Lake Eirne. The year 840 was remarkable for the destruction of the Picts. After a long war, the Scots defeated them in two successive battles under Kenneth II., and left little more than the name of that unhappy people, who had played an important part in Brit- ain for several centuries. The kingdom of Scotland, whichbefore consisted of Dalrieda, that is, of the territories of Cantyre, Knap- dale, Lome, Arg}'le, and Brun-Albuin, with the neighboring isles, was then established on the ruins of the Picts, in its present state, and that ingenious and warlike people began to be known to the neighboring nations.* About this time, Feidhlime, son of Criom- than, king of Munster, and likewise arch- bishop of Cashel, whom Cambrensis improp- erly styles king of Ireland, having received some annoyance from the inhabitants of Leath-Con, laid their country waste from Birr to Tara, where he met with some re- sistance, and lost prince Jonractach, son of Maolduin, the most distinguished of his fol- lowers, in battle. t Feidhlime died a short time afterwards, and was succeeded in the government of Munster by Olchobhair, ab- bot of Inily, an ambitious man, who had suflicient influence to procure his election as king of Cashel. Colgan, following the annals of the four masters, fixes in the year 838 the arrival of two considerable fleets of sixty vessels each, with Norman troops, one of which entered * Usser. Primord. Ecclcs. cap. 15, page 612. t War. Antiq. Hibern. cap. 4. CHRISTIAN IRELAND. 217 Drogheda, by the river Boyne, and the other Dublin, by the Liffey ; with which reinforce- ment the Normans began to settle in the country. They constructed fortresses in every part of the island, which were commonly called Danes Rathes, signifying the forts pf the Danes, but which the Irish desig- nated Mothes. These fortresses, the re- mains of which are still to be seen all over Ireland, were constructed of earth in a round form, raised to the height of about twenty feet, flat, and a little hollow on the top, and were sometimes thirty, sometimes forty fathoms in diameter. When the barbarians were pursued by their enemies, these served them as intrenchments and places of retreat ; and as they were built on eminences, in view of each other, their occupiers enjoyed the ad- vantage of being able to convey the intelli- gence of any disastrous occurrence from one extremity of the island to the other, by burn- ing straw on the top of them. In the meanwhile, Niall the monarch, having quelled a revolt of the inhabitants of Fearkeal and Deabhna-Eathra, gave battle to the Normans, near Doire, in Ulster, and gained a complete victory over them. He afterwards defeated them in the territory of Tirconnel ; which Adctory, however, he sur- vived but a short time. Being desirous of crossing the river Callain, in the county of Kilkenny, and perceiving the waters to be much swollen, he desired one of his attend- ants to try the depth of the ford ; but the violence of the current having thrown him from his horse, and the king seeing no one disposed to give him assistance, he advanced towards the bank of the river, where the earth giving way under his horse's feet, he fell into the water, and was drowned along with his guide.* It was from the name of this river that he was called Niall-Caille. After the death of Niall-Caille, the throne of Ireland remained vacant for some time, and the sceptre was torn from the hands of its ancient people. Usurpation and tyranny having conquered, and Turgesius being de- clared king of Ireland by his adherents, he immediately sent emissaries to convey the intelligence to Norway, and to solicit the succor necessary to support him in his new dignity, against a people so jealous of their liberty. The Irish, exasperated at the idea of the slavery with which they were threatened, and calling to mind the courage and heroism of their ancestors, and the liberty they had enjoyed for so many ages, resolved to make * Gratianus Lucius, cap. 9. alast effort to shake off the yoke of tyranny. Every prince and lord had orders to fight the Danes in their respective districts, and the attack was to be general throughout the kingdom. The execution was speedy and attended with success. . The Danes were first defeated at Ard- breacan, in Meath, by an army composed of the principal nobility of the tribe of Dail- gais. The united forces of Olchobhair, son of Kionnfaoth, and king of Cashel, and Lor- cain, son of Keallach, king of Leinster, gave battle to the Normans at Scia-Naght. They fought for some time with much obstinacy ; but the barbarians, having lost Count To- raair, their chief and presumptive heir to the crown of Denmark, with 1200 men, who were killed on the spot, were forced to aban- don the field of battle to the conquerors. They were again defeated near Cashel, with the loss of five hundred men, by the same king of Cashel, and the inhabitants of Eoganacht ; and in another action with the inhabitants of Hy-Finginte, in the territory of Lomneach, they lost three hundred and sixty men. The inhabitants of Tirconnel having taken up arms to recover their liberty, at- tacked the barbarians at Eastuadh, and killed a considerable number. They lost, besides, two hundred men in an action against the inhabitants of Kianachta. Tigernach, prince of Loch-Gabhair, in Meath, killed two hundred and forty of them at Druim- da-Chonn ; and his example was followed by the inhabitants of Kinal-Fiacha,and Fear- keal, in Westmeath. Maolseachlin, or Malachi, son of Maol- bruana, brother of Conquovar the monarch, and prince of East Meath, known by the title of king of that province, was among the first to signalize himself against the enemies of his country. He gave them battle twice ; first at Foure, where he killed seven hun- dred of their men ; and the second time at Casan-Linge, in Leinster, where the bar- barians were completely routed ; their loss amounting to 1700 men slain, with Saxolb, their general.* This victory induced Tur- gesius to court the friendship of that prince ; but fortune soon changed the aspect of affairs, and rendered these brilliant advan- tages abortive.! On one hand, the length of the war had already exhausted the re- sources of the Irish ; and on the other, Scan- dinavia, called by an ancient writer, " Officina gentium," an inexhaustible storehouse of * Keating's History of Ireland, part 2. t War. de Antiq. Hib. cap. 24, et Grat. Luc. cap. 9. 218 HISTORY OF IRELAND. men, was continually sending succor to the usurpers.* In this critical juncture a con- siderable reinforcement arrived, which re- vived the fallen courage of the barbarians, and forced the Irish to submit and acknow- ledge themselves a conquered nation. The barbarians resumed their cruelties ; made themselves masters of Dublin, and established a colony in the territory of Fingal, in the neighborhood of that city. Turgesius, seeing no one able to dispute the supreme power with him, began to change the form of government. He ap- pointed a Norman king to each province ; placed a captain in each territory, an abbot in each church or monastery, a sergeant in each village, and obliged every house to lodge a soldier. The will of those tyrants, supported by military execution, took the place of laws, so that no man was any longer master in his own house. The tyrant now imposed a tax of an oimce of gold on the chief of every family. Those who did not pay, were subject to the penalty of having their noses cut off, from which the tax, in the language of the country, was called " Airgiodsrone," that is, nose-money. As the barbarians were equally hostile to literature and religion, they destroyed the churches, monasteries, academies, and other places intended for divine worship and study ; they expelled the ministers and pro- fessors, burned their books and profaned the holy vessels ; they forbade the instruc- tion of youth in any science, even read- ing or Avriting, or any military exercise, lest they might one day make use of them to re- cover their liberty ; and lastly, they pro hibited the people, on pain of being com mitted to prison, to assemble under any pre text whatsoever. Such was the state of Ire- land during the sway of these tyrants. Th Irish having lost all hopes of regaining their liberty, were in consternation and despair No alliance or marriage took place — every one passed his time in the strictest retirement the secular and regular clergy, in order to shelter themselves from the fury of the Nor- mans, lay concealed in the woods,Avhere they celebrated the divine mysteries, and spent their days in prayer and fasting ; while the faithful sought them in secret to receive con solation from them, and join in their prayers for the delivery of the people. They were at length heard ; and the persecution, which had lasted about twelve years, Avas terminated by * Bruod. Propug. Cathol. Verit. lib. 5, c. 14, et Porter, Compeud. Annal. Eccles. Reg. Hibern. cap. 1, sect. 4. an event as sudden as it was singular, and one for which no parallel is to be found in history. Turgesius had a castle built for himself in the vicinity of Malachi, prince of Meath ; and went frequently to visit his neighbor. Malachi was a man of considerable talents, an able politician, and brave warrior, and possessed all the qualities requisite to govern a kingdom. He one day asked the tyrant what he should do to get rid of a certain kind of very destructive birds that had lately arrived in the country ? The tyrant, not mistrusting the statement, ansAvered that their nests should be destroyed.* Malachi, who by the birds meant the Normans, readily felt the force of this answer, and occupied himself solely Avith dcAdsing means to act upon it ; an opportunity for Avhich was soon afforded him by the tyrant. Some days afterwards, he being on a visit with the prince of Meath, saw his daughter Melcha, who was young and formed to please, particularly in the eyes of a man of so depraved a char- acter. His passion for her became violent, and, wishing to make her his concubine, he demanded her of her father. Nothing Avas farther from Malachi's thoughts than the idea of dishonoring his daughter ; it was, however, a delicate affair, and stratagem Avas necessary, in the absence of strength, to extricate himself from the dilemma. Having weighed every circumstance, he on one side saw the danger of refusing the bar- barian, who was absolute master in the country, and whose conduct was ruled solely by passion : on the other, should his project succeed, he conceived a faint hope of de- livering his country from slavery. Having formed his plan, he turned his thoughts towards carrying it into effect. He told the tyrant that his proposal was hard ; but, that as he could refuse him nothing, he Avould send him his daughter on an appointed day, together Avith fifteen young ladies of her OAvn age, to keep her company and render her those services her rank required; at the same time, requesting that the whole affair * " The king of Meath asked Turgesius, by what method some very destructive birds which had lately arrived in the country could be removed. The answer was, that their nests (if they had built in the country) should be everywhere destroyed, (alluding to the castle of Turgesius.) In about 30 years after his death, a general insurrection of the Irish broke out, and the interpretation of the birds' nests was carried into effect. The pomp of the Norwegians and the tyranny of Turgesius con- tinued in Ireland, till at length the nation being roused, they recovered their former freedom and their government." — Giraldus Cambrensis Topo. graphy. CHRISTIAN IRELAND. 219 might be kept secret, so as to screen his daughter's honor. In the mean time, Malachi had the whole country searched for fifteen young men with- out beards, of acknowledged honor and bravery, whom he caused to be dressed in female attire, Avith each a poniard concealed under his robe, and gave them the instruc- tions necessary to execute his project, which would put an end to tyranny. He also in- spired them with sentiments of religion and patriotism, and commanded them to defend the honor of the princess at the peril of their lives, and to have the doors opened for him, in order that he might come to their succor Avith a body of troops whom he should hold in readiness at a short distance ; and lastly, to seize the tyrant and chain him, without depriving him of life. Turgesius did not fail to repair, on the day appointed, to receive the princess Melcha and her fifteen young ladies ; he even invited fifteen of the principal officers of his army to share in the festival. After spending the day in feasting, each of the officers was shown to the apartment intended for him ; and orders given for the guards and other domestics to retire. Turgesius himself re- mained alone in his apartment, where he im- patiently awaited the arrival of the princess Melcha. The porter, who was the only one of the domestics intrusted with the secret, soon entered, accompanied by the princess, with her little troop of amazons, who came, like a second Judith, to deliver her people. The tyrant, who was heated with wine, was about to insult the princess, when the young men immediately threw off their robes, and drawing their weapons, seized him, and tied him with cords to the pillars of his bed. They then opened the gates of the castle to permit jNIalachi and his troops to enter ; fell on the garrison, beginning with the officers, and put all, except Turgesius, to ^he sword. When Malachi had given the place up to pillage, in which they found immense booty, he repaired to the spot where the tyrant was bound, and "reproached him bitterly with his tyranny, cruelty, and other vices, and having loaded him with chains, had him carried in triumph before him. He allowed him to live a few days, in order that he should be a witness, before his death, of the sufferings of his countrymen, and then caused him to be tlirown, chained as he was, into Lough Ainnin in Westmeath, where he perished.* * " The king of Meath (tlie poison rankling in his breast) promised to send liim his daughter to an island in Meath, (Lough Vair,') together with fifteen The news of the defeat of Turgesius spread rapidly throughout the whole island, and had very opposite effects on the two parties.* The Irish, who looked upon this advantage as a happy omen of the recovery of their liberty, took up arms, pursued the Normans in every direction, and killed a considerable number of them. On the other hand, the Normans, having lost their chief, made but a feeble resistance, and sought safety by flight. Those who were near the sea quickly regained their vessels, and quitted the island for a time. The princes and nobles of the kingdom, seeing themselves delivered from tyranny by the death of Turgesius, and the universal extirpation of the Normans, assembled for the purpose of re-establishing the ancient constitution of the state, and the legitimate succession to the throne. Malachi had de- served too much gratitude from his country to dread a rival. He was declared monarch of Ireland by unanimous consent, and placed on the throne which several of his ancestors had already occupied. Every thing then returned to its natural order ; religion agam flourished ; the churches and monasteries were rebuilt ; the laws to protect the inno- cent and punish the guilty were again vigor- ously enforced ; and the ancient proprietors restored to the possession of the lands and lordships they-had lost during the usurpation. While the Irish were enjoying the sweets of peace and liberty, after the severity of a tyrannical government, the Normans, whom they had expelled some time before, did not lose sight of the island. The difference which they found between the rich and fertile lands of Ireland, and the cold and barren moun- tains of Scandinavia, made them constantly regret the former. Being however unable to return in an avowedly hostile manner as before, they determined to come under the pretext of commerce ; to commit no act of hostility ; to insinuate themselves by degrees into the good will of the inhabitants, and thereby insensibly to attain their end . They illustrious virgins. This gave delight to Turgesius, who came (with as many youths of his own nation) on the day and to the place appointed. He found there fifteen beardless youths, brave and chosen for the purpose, having beneath their female attire, poniards secretly carried, by which Turgesius and his companions fell." — Camhrensis, Topog. Hib. (list. 3, cap. 40. * " News of this event was quickly spread through the whole island: the Norwegians were everywhere destroyed either by force or stratagem ; those who escaped being forced to return in their ships to Norway, and the islands whence they had come." — Cainb. Topog. cap. 41. 220 HISTORY OF IRELAND. made a show, therefore, of bringingovcr some merchandise, but the holds of their ships were filk^d with arms and ammunition. The following is the account given by the author of the Polychronicon. " After the death of Turgesius," says he, "three brothers, Ame- lanus, Cyracus, and Imorus, landed with their retinue in Ireland, in a peaceable manner, under the pretext of carrying on trade. With the consent of the Irish, who were living in indolence, they settled in the maritime parts, and built the cities of Waterford, Dublin, and Limerick, and their numbers having increased, they frequently insulted the na- tives."* They became, indeed, almost as for- midable as in the time of Turgesius, and often gave battle to the inhabitants, with success. Two circumstances contributed to this misfortune ; first, having settled in the island under the pretext of carrying on trade, they had the advantage of being able, unno- ticed, to bring over reinforcements ; second- ly, the discord and domestic wars of the petty princes of the country, who often called in the aid of these foreigners against each other, so that the latter were sometimes a match for both the conquerors and the con- quered. f In the same manner we have seen in France, in the time of Charles the Bald, his nephew Pepin, who left the monastery of St. Medard de Soissons, and was declared king of Aquitaine, join the Normans, and pillage Poitiers and many other places. The in- habitants of Northumberland, in England, in like manner having revolted against Edgar, sent to Ireland for Anlafe, a Danish captain, and chose him for their king.J Thus too Elfrick, earl of Mercia, and his son Edrick, betrayed king Ethelred in the command with which he intrusted them against the Danes. This same Edrick (the favorite of that prince, who created him duke of Mercia, and gave him his daughter in marriage) de- serted the royal army the night before a battle, and joined the enemy with forty of the king's vessels, which caused the submis- sion of the entire of the west of England to the Danes. ^ The disorders were considerably increased * " After the death of Turgesius, three brothers, Amelanus, Cyracus, and Imorus, under the pretext of peace and of carrying on traffic, sailed with a retinue for Ireland, and with the consent of the Irish, who were prone to idleness, settled on the sea-shore ; they built the cities of Waterford, Dub. lin, and Limerick, and their numbers having in- creased, they frequently insulted the natives." — Fleun/s Ecclesiastical History, b. 49. t Fleury, Hist. Eccles. lib. 49. t Baker's Chron. page 10. § Baker's Chron. page 14. by the arrival of a Danish fleet. The Danes, who were jealous of the progress of the Norwegians in the island, resolved to contest the glory of the conquest with them ; and having first pillaged Dublin and its environs, which were in the power of the Norwegians, they defeated them in a pitched battle at Linnduachaill, in which about 1000 men were killed on the field. Malachi seeing two barbarous nations contending about a country to which neither had a right, thought it time to stop their progress, and for this purpose he convened an assembly of the princes and nobles at Rath-Aodh, now Rath-Hugh in the territory of Kinel-Fiacha, in Westmeath, in which regulations Avere made relative to the state of aflfairs ; the princes who had been at variance were reconciled, and all appeared disposed to defend the common cause. Some time afterwards the monarch car- ried on a successful war against the Danes, to revenge the death of Maolguala, king of Munster, who had been inhumanly killed by the barbarians. Malachi having met them at Drom-da-Moighe, came to an engage- ment with them, in which several of them perished. Malachi's piety having inspired him with the desire of going to Rome, to thank the Lord, in the centre of Christianity, for the success which had ever attended his arms, sent ambassadors with presents to Charles the Bald, with whom he was on terms of peace and friendship, both for the purpose of asking permission to pass through his kingdom,* and to inform him of his victories over the Normans, who were already well known in France by the robberies and cru- elties they had committed. A friendliness had existed between the kings of France and those of Ireland in the time of Char- lemagne. That monarch had not only at- tached men of learning to him by his fa- vors ; but Eginardus, the author of his life, asserts that he had the kings of the Scots, that is, of Ireland, at his command, who gave him the title of lord, and called them- selves his subjects, as appears by the letters they had written to him, and which were to be seen in the time of that author. f * " Malachi sent ambassadors to Charles the Bald, king of the Franks, with presents, to obtain his friendship and permission to go through his dominions to Rome, on account of the victories he had obtained." — Ware's Antiquities, c. 24. t " He had the kings of the Scots so much at his will, from his munificence, that they never called him by any other name than that of lord, and pronounced themselves his subjects and servants. CHRISTIAN IRELAND. 221 Eginardiis, in the year 812, plainly indi- cates that the country of the Scots here al- luded to, is Ireland ; for, he says, the Nor- wegians having attacked Ireland, the island of Scots, were put to flight by its inhabit- ants.* This alliance existed till the twelfth cen- tury, as long, in fact, as the Irish were a free people ; the succors which their kings sent to France against Henry II. of England, having formed one of the motives which in- duced that prince to undertake the conquest of their island. f Besides the political alliance between the two nations, there was a private connection between their subjects by marriage. The tyranny of Turgesius and the persecution of the Normans, had obliged many persons to leave Ireland ; and others having followed king Malachi to France, several settled there and entered the service of Charles the Bald, some of whose descendants still carefully preserve the tradition of their Irish origin, as, for instance, the noble family of the Dales, Avho trace their descent from the O'Dalys of Corcaduin. The Scotch of latter times haA^e used every effort to deprive the Scots of Ireland of the glory of this alliance with France, and to ascribe it to their OAvn ancestors. By means of the two-fold acceptation of the word Scoti, or Scots, they assume an honor to which they are not entitled. They are not, indeed, ashamed to reckon among their countrymen the Irish Scots of the earlier time, when the race was pure and unmixed with foreigners ;| but with surprising incon- sistency, the authors of that nation affect to calumniate the modern Irish, who are more closely allied to them than the former. They forget that the aspersions with which they Letters are still extant which were sent to him, in which their affection for him Is manifested." — Egi- nard's Life of Charlemagne, Preface. * " The Norwegians having attacked Hibernia, the island of the Scots, wereput to flight." — Ogygia, Prologue, p. 30. ■f " After this Henry resolved to subdue Ireland, both on account of its contiguity, and the succors they afforded to France against him." — Polidorus Virgil, Hist. Angl. book 13, p. 55. At this period many marriages took place between the French and the Irish, otherwise Scots. Bolland. Act. Sanct. Life of St. Erard, 8th Jan. King Henry being then at rest from all hostile arms, both at home and abroad, takes into his con- sideration the kingdom of Ireland, as a kingdom which oftentimes afforded assistance to the French. Baker, Chron. on the reign of Henry II. X Hume's Essay on the Characters of Nations. See the Mercure de France of the month of Janu- arj-j 1756. load them indirectly reflect on themselves, as two thirds of Ireland have within a cen- tuiy been peopled by Scotch and English Presbyterians. Buchanan, without quoting any author more ancient than himself, says that Achaius, king of the Scots of Albania, had entered into an alliance with Charlemagne ; but in- dependently ofthere being no ancient records in which it is mentioned, and that no traces of it are discoverable in the public archives, if we consider the state of the .Scots of Al- bania at that time, the existence of such an alliance will appear doubtful. Previously to the conquest of the Picts, which happened in 840, after the death of Charlemagne, the vScots possessed but a small district, called in the Scotic language Albin, the inhabitants of which were called AUabany, or AUeba- nachs,* and to this day have no other name in that language, the terms Scotia, Scotland, Scot, or Scotch, having been given them by foreigners. This district was confined to the narrow limits of Dalrieda, which formed but a very small portion of modern Scotland, and consequently was of too little importance in the world for its inhabitants to have pre- tended to an alliance with the emperor of the west. The conquest of the Picts may be ranked among the extraordinary events in which chance and unforeseen circumstances have sometimes a greater share than the power of the victor. Kenneth, king of the Scots, having re- solved to revenge the death of his father, Alpin, who had been cruelly put to death by the Picts, whose prisoner he was,t made use of stratagem to overcome the reluctance his subjects had to go to war with them. He invited the principal of his nobility to a sup- per, and in the gloom of the night, while they lay on the floor of the banqueting hall, intoxicated with wine and overcome with sleep, they heard a voice, as if from heaven, commanding them to make war upon the Picts. This was enough to rouse a super- stitious and credulous people, and inspired them with such confidence that the Picts were unable to withstand the first onset, and being seized with terror, were completely defeated. The intercourse which existed between the Scots of Ireland and those of Albania, makes it probable that the former contrib- uted to this conquest of the Picts. They still considered themselves .as forming but * Camd. Brit, pages 88, 90. t Buchan. Rer. Scotic Hist. p. K 222 HISTORY OP IRELAND. the same people ; and their union was strengthened by alliances between their princes. Fionliath, son of Niall-Caille, monarch of Ireland in 833, and who after- wards became king himself, under the name of Hugh VII., married about this time the daughter of Kenneth, king of the Scots of Albania ; fron\ which there is good reason to believe that he shared with his father-in- law the glory and perils of the war against the Picts. The judicious Camden states that the Picts were destroyed by the Scots from Ire- land, who fell on them so that, about the year 740, they were completely defeated in a single battle, and their name and nation almost annihilated.* We may suppose that there was an error of the press in this, and that the printer had put 740 for 840, which is not unlikely ; for it is evident that Cam- den indicates the conquest of the Picts by Kenneth, with the united forces of the Scots from Ireland. It appears, in any case, ac- cording to this author, that at the period in question, the Scots from Ireland fought the Picts in their own country, which makes it natural to suppose that they had done so likewise under Kenneth, king of the Scots of Albania, in 840. This victory having made the Scots masters of the kingdom of the Picts as far as the eastern ocean, their very name became obliterated ; the northern part of Britain was, by degrees, called by foreign- ers Scotia, or Scotland, and the inhabitants Scots, or Scotch, and to distinguish them from the ancient Scots of Ireland, they in- troduced the names of Scotia Major, which was given to Ireland, and Scotia Minor, the country now known by the name of Scot- land ;t which terms were used till the * " The Scots from Ireland pouring In upon the Picts, the latter were so overwhehned in battle, anno 740, that they became almost annihilated, and those who remained merged into the name and people of the invaders." — Cutnd. p. 83. t " It is proper to investigate why the Scots who were in Britain call that part in wliich they were settled Albanan, or Albin, and the Irish Allabany. Historians say, that Hibernia (Ireland) was Scotia Major, and that the part of Britain inhabited by the Scots was Scotia Minor. Although the Scots and Picts were incessantly harassing the Britons by battles and plunder, still their limits did not extend beyond the narrow portion which they occupied in the beginning. Bede observes, that for 127 years, more or less, they did not carry their standards into Northumberland, and then only when the Picts were almost destroyed, and the kingdom of Northumber- land torn by intestine evils, and by the incursions of the Danes. It was then that the entire of north Britain, including the parts traversed by the Clyde, and the Frith (Forth) of Edinburgh, got the name twelfth century, when the English, in their own dialect, gave to Hibernia the name of Ireland, signifying the land of Ire, as they had called Britain England, that is, the land of the Angles, a people who came from liOwer Saxony. The above is the account given by foreign and disinterested authors of the settlement of the Scots in Britain, and of the changes which took place in the name of that people, and the country they inhab- ited ; which account agrees with that of the venerable Bede, who marks their arrival in that country, and designates their place of abode. He first says that the Scots entered Britain ai\er the Britons and Picts ;* after- wards, that they settled on the northern shore of the great gulf which formerly separated the Picts from the Britons, where tlie fort of Alcuith was situated ;t and in the eighth century, when finishing his history, a short time before his death, he says that the Scots who inhabited Britain, being content with their territory, had engaged in no enter- prise against the English. | Although Bede, says Usher, distinguishes the Scots of Ireland from those that inhabit Britain, still he acknowledges but one Scotia, namely, Ireland ; a like course to which he follows in the distinction made by him be- tween the English who settled in Ireland and the Anglo-Britons, although there is but one country called England.^ He likewise observes, that neither Dalri- cda, which was the patrimony of the Scots of Scotland. No one denies that to have been a part of Northumberland, and to have been in the possession of the Saxons." — Camden, page 90. * Britain received, after the Britons and Picts, a third race of the Scots, on the side of the Picts. — Bede, Eccl. Hist. b. 1, c. 1. t " A very extensive bay formerly separated the territory of the Britons from the Picts. It stretches for a great distance inland on the west, where the fortified city of Alcuith, belonging to the Britons, now stands. The Scots, on their arrival in the country, appropriated to themselves, as has been observed, the portion to the north of the bay." — Bede, Eccl. Hist. b. l,c. I. I " The Scots who inhabit Britain are content with their own boundaries, nor do they plot any stratagem or fraud against the English." — b. 1, 5, c. 24. § " As in our time the distinction of Anglo-Brit- ons and Anglo-Irish does not require two Englands, one in Britain and another in Ireland, so neither did it cause the settlements of the Scoto-Hiberni and the Scoto-Britanni to constitute two Scotias. For althougii Bede carefully marks a distinction be- tween the Irish-Scots and those of Britain, still Scotia is always one and the same to him, viz., Hi- bernia, (Ireland.)" — Usher's Primord. Eccles. Brit. c. 16, p. 733, CHRISTIAN IRELAND. 223 until 840, nor Albania generally, even after the conquest of the Picts, was called Scotia, till about the eleventh century, when the two races Avere united as a nation, and the Picts completely forgotten ; nor have any authors before that period mentioned Albania under the name of Scotland, which name was not used till the English gave to the Scots of Ireland the name of Irish, in their language, (in Latin Iri, or Irenses,) and that of Ireland to their island.* Buchanan is not the only Scotch writer who mentions the alliance withCharlemagne. Hector Boetius names the ambassador who had been intrusted with its negotiation, and those who accompanied him.f He says that j Achaius sent his brother William into France to Charles, accompanied by Clement, John, Rabanus, and Alcuin, all, he says, of the pious and learned nation of the Scots, at- tended by a numerous train from the same country. It has been already observed that Scotland had no right to claim Raban and Alcuin, the former of whom was a French- man, and the latter universally acknow- ledged to have been English. With respect to Clement and John, otherwise Albin, co- temporary authors call them Scots from Ire- land. So manifest an error in facts should therefore make us at once reject this state- ment, when we have otherwise reason to doubt it. The alliance of the Scotch with France cannot be traced farther back than the twelfth century. It is affirmed that a Scotch cohort accompanied St. Louis to the holy war ; but the connection of these two nations in the fifteenth century, under Charles VI., is much more certain. The right of citizen- ship, which the Scotch had then conferred on them, is an undoubted proof of the services they had rendered to his crown. The true Scotch have the reputation of being gifted and warlike; they have dis- tinguished themselves on every occasion by * " Dalrieda, which was the settlement of the Scoto-Britanni, up to the year 840, had not obtain- ed the name of Scotia, nor did Albania generally acquire that name until after the destruction of the. Picts, and the memory of them became effaced, which did not take place before the eleventh century, as \vc have mentioned in the beginning of the pre- ceding chapter. We are of opinion that no writer of the preceding ages can be adduced, who ever designated Albania by the name of ^'cotia, which name, however, was subsequently in frequent use, { when the English began, in their language, to call '.' the Hibernians Irish; in Latin Iri and Irenses; t< and from it their country Ire-Land." — Us/icr, Primord. Ecd. Brif. cap. 16, p. 734. I t Hist. Sector, lib. 10, p. 194. their bravery ; of which the generous effort made by them in our time, in favor of their legitimate prince, is a striking example ; and they always have maintained, with honor, the character of worthy children of their ances- tors, the Scoto-Milesians. This reputation having flattered the vanity of some of their historians, they have endeavored to give it an air of antiquity, and in a manner to engraft it on the merit of the ancient Scots, as if they had been the same people. The Scots were celebrated in France, and the rest of Europe, before the eleventli century. The Irish, who till then were the proper Scots, began at that period to lay aside that name, which became exclusively applied to the inhabitants of North Britain, and they are the only people since known to foreign- ers by the name of Scots, or Scotch. The world has been accustomed to call them so without investigation, and none but the learned in antiquity can elucidate such dis- tant facts. These circumstances were favor- able to the claims of their historians, and have given rise to the fabled alliance of the nation with Charlemagne. The analogy which exists between the names of Ofla, king of the Mercians, who had solicited the friendship of Charlemagne through Alcuin, and Eocha, which is the real Scotic name for Achaius, mentioned by the Scotch authors, might have suggested the idea of this alliance. By substituting the latter for the former, the historians of that nation have been enabled to lay claim to princes who did not belong to them, and to render their history illustrious by appropri- ating to themselves the deeds of others, like Abercromby, who endeavors to persuade us that the celebrated Caractacus, king of the Silures in Britain, was the same as a pre- tended Caractacus, king of Scotland, four cen- turies before any kingdom of Scotland exist- ed in Britain ; while Tacitus informs us that Caractacus Avas a British prince, of Spanish origin, and kingof the Silures in the southern part of Britain ; that he defended himself bravely against the Romans, with only his own forces ; and that he ended his days in captivity in Rome, or its neighborhood. Besides, the period of his death, according to Tacitus, is at variance with the date of the accession to the throne, of the successor to the supposed Caractacus of Scotland. Notwithstanding the troubles which dis- turbed Malachi's reign, this pious prince governed his subjects with equity and justice. He formed alliances with foreign princes, j and gained several victorie,s over the ene- j mics of his country ; but his weakness in 224 HrSTORY OF IRELAND. having given a footing to the Normans in the maritime towns of the island, after the cruehies they had previously exercised in the conntry, k^ssens considerably the opinion we should otherwise have entertained of his policy. This prince died, much regretted, and was interred with great pomp at Cluain- Mac-Noisk, a. d. 8G3. Hugh VII., surnamed Fionliat, son of the monarch Niall-Caille, succeeded Malachi. He married Maolmuire, daughter of Ken-j neth, king of Scotland, by whom he had a son called Niall-Glundubh.* Many remarkable occurrences took place during the reign of this monarch. Connor, son of Donnogh, prince of Meath, was killed at Clonard by the Danes, commanded by Amlaoib ; but the monarch attacking them some time afterwards at Lough-Febhail, nowLough-Foyle, in the county of Donegal, they were completely defeated, and several thousand killed, among whom were forty of the principal men in their army, whose heads were carried in triumph before the conqueror. t Encouraged by this success, the army pursued them in every direction, even to their forts, where they put a great number to the sword, and carried off con- siderable booty. Some time afterwards, the monarch, with about one thousand horse- men, gained a complete victory at Killuan- doigre, over a body of five thousand men, both Danes and Irish insurgents, which very much humbled the barbarians. About that time the castle of Cluain-Dalchain, near Dublin, was set on fire. It had been built by Amlaoib, the Danish chief, and was gar- risoned by his troops. The natives, taking advantage of the confusion caused by the fire, killed several of them, with their chiefs ; but the tyrant soon afterwards took signal revenge, by putting a considerable number of the inhabitants to death in an ambuscade he had prepared for them. This advantage raised his fallen courage, and the continual reinforcements that arrived from Denmark, soon enabled him to pillage and burn Ar- magh, and massacre the inhabitants ; after which he sailed with a fleet of two hundred vessels for Wales, accompanied by his brother Ivar, to the assistance of his coun- trymen, Hinguar and Hubba, and returned the following year to Dublin, loaded with booty, having pillaged Wales, and part of * Keating's History of Ireland. War. de Antiq. Hib. cap. 24. t Grat. Luc. c. 9. Propug. Cathol. Verit- lib. 5, c. 14. Porter. Comp. Ann. Eccles. Reg. Hib. Beet. 4, c. 1. Scotland. Amlaoib, or Amlavus, survived this expedition but a short time, and Ivarus died the year following. Ostinus, son of Amlavus, was assassinated by the Danes, of whom he became chief after his father's death, and was succeeded in the government of these barbarians by Godfrey, son of Ivar. It was in this juncture of afiairs that Roger, son of Moirmain, a British king, took refuge in Ireland with the relics of St. Columbkil, which he presented to the Irish monarch. In the reign of Hugh, the kingdom of Cashel was governed by Donnogh, who suc- ceeded Cionfaola ; and Thuomond, by Lor- can, son of Lachna, chief of the noble tribe of the Dalgais. In it also may be fixed the foundation of an abbey by Flan-Mac-Kel- lach, at Bally-ne-Scelig, otherwise Mount St. Michael, in one of the Sceleges isles, on the coast of Kerry, in Munster. The king, having repented sincerely of his sins, died on the twelfth of the calends of December, 879, at Druim-Inisclain, in the district of Tyrconnel. Flan, surnamed Sionna, son of King Malachi, succeeded Hugh VII. in the su- preme government of the island. This monarch's reign was long, and filled with troubles.* The Danes still continued their hostilities ; they plundered Cluain-Ioraird andKildare,A.D. 888, and exercised unheard- of cruelties, so that he was obliged to come to an engagement with them, which was disastrous to both parties, from the number of men killed on each side. The monarch gained a dear-bought victory, and Hugh, prince of Connaught, son of Conquovar, king of that province, was found among the slain. Several other battles were fought also, with unequal success. Discord now began to prevail among the Danes in Dublin, a. d. 892. Godfrey, son of Ivar, the Danish prince, was assassi- nated by the intrigues of his brother Sitrick ; while the latter found a formidable enemy in Galfrid, son of Merlus. The strife between these chiefs was carried to such a pitch as to divide the city into two parties, one half declaring in favor of Sitrick, and the other for Galfrid. Their disagreement did not, however, prevent them from pillaging the city of Armagh some time afterwards, and destroying the churches. In this expe- dition they surprised Cumasgach, king of Ulster, with his son Hugh, and took them prisoners. Sitrick did not long survive his fratricide, being killed by his own * Keating, Waraeus, Grat. Luc, Bruodinus, et Porterus, ibid. CHRISTIAN IRELAND. 225 His brother Amlave, having led a body of troops some time after into Tirconnel, was defeated and killed by the inhabitants. A fresh reinforcement of Danes that arrived in Dublin in 902, was destroyed near that city by the people of Leinster. The war against the Danes was not the only one in which this monarch was en- gaged. The equilibrium of the kingdom was already lost ; the union established be- tween the princes at the assembly of Rath- Hugh, by the authority of Malachi, was forgotten, and the rights of the monarchy violated. These circumstances induced Flan-Sionna to march with an army into the north of Munster, which committed dread- ful devastations. Donnogh, king of that province, died in the meantime. Cormac-Mac-Culinan succeeded Don- nogh in the kingdom of Munster ; he was of the royal race of Cashel, and king of the province. He himself was both a spiritual and temporal prince, being at the same time bishop of Cashel, and king of the pro- vince. Of such unions some examples were to be found among his ancestors. Olcobar, who died in 851, and Cenfoelad in 872, were at the same time kings of Cashel, and bishops of Emly. We have seen the func- tions of both dignities exercised by Jona- than, Simon, John Hircan, Aristobulus, and Alexander Janne. The Roman emperors took pride in the title of high priest ; and, without recurring to the example of the sacrilegiuus power so shamefully usurped by the kings of England, of which a certain author avails himself on this subject, we see still ecclesiastical electors in Germany who are both spiritual and temporal princes. Caradocus of Lhancarvan, in his Welsh Chronicle, mentions Cormac as a man of piety. However, either he, or the editor of his work in English, is mistaken in calling him Carmot, son of Cukeman, king and bishop of Ireland. In the seventh year of the reign of Cor- mac, he declared war against the province of Leinster, to enforce the payment of a Boiroimhe or tribute, which the kings of Cashel exacted from the inhabitants of that province. This peaceable and pious prince was averse to the war ; but his objections were overruled by his council, and particu- larly by Flahertach, abbot of Iniscatha, of royal blood, who persuaded him that Lein- ster, as forming part of Leath-Modha, ac- cording to the division made of the island in the third century, between Conn the monarch and Modha king of Munster, owed homage to his crown ; whereupon, he as- sembled an army, and marched towards the frontiers of Leinster. Cormac's uneasiness for the success of the war increased daily. He foresaw that it would be fatal, not only to his province, but to himself in person ; particularly as the monarch had declared in favor of the people of Leinster, and had marched with a body of troops to join them. These motives in- duced Cormac to receive the sacraments be- fore he commenced hostilities, after which he made his will, by which he left several pious legacies to churches and monasteries. He bequeathed an ounce of gold and one of sil- ver, with a caparisoned horse, to Ard-Fio- nan ; two chalices, one gold the other silver, with a church ornament, to Lismore ; to Cashel he left two chalices, one gold and the other silver, four ounces of gold, and five of silver ; to Imleach-Inbhair, (Emly,) three ounces of gold, and a missal ; to Glen-da- Loch, one ounce of gold and one of silver ; to Kildare, a caparisoned horse, an ounce of gold, and an altar ornament ; he left to Ar- magh eighty ounces of gold and as many of silver ; three ounces of gold to Inis-Catha ; and three ounces of gold, with an altar orna- ment, and his blessing, to the monastery of Mungarret, in the territory of Kinseallagh. This prince was desirous, too, of performing an act of justice before his death. He knew that Oilioll-Olum, first absolute king of Munster, in the third century, had made a regulation respecting the succession to the throne of that province, by which he had decreed that the sceptre should belong alter- nately to the two branches springing from his two sons, Eogan and Cormac-Cas. He also knew that this law had not been observed, inasmuch as the descendants of Eogan were generally kings of Cashel, with the title of kings of Munster, while those of Cormac- Cas were only kings of Thuomond. Cor- mac, being desirous of appeasing the discord and troubles thereby caused in the province, sent for Lorcan, son of Lachtna, king of Thuomond, chief of the branch of Cormac- Cas, and presented him to the nobles of Siol-Eogain, as having the right to succeed him on the throne ; but his wishes were not fulfilled, as Dubhlachtna, son of Maolguala, was appointed his successor. Every thing being prepared for the con- flict, the army marched through Leighlin, as far as the plains of Moyailbhe, in the district of Slieve-Mairge, which had been named as the place of meeting. Cormac again en- deavored to settle the dispute peaceably ; ] and sent a herald to the king of Leinster, to demand the tribute that he owed him, or 226 niiSTORY OF IRELAND. hostages to secure the payment of it. The herald returned with ambassadors on the part of the king of Leinster, to seek a truce of a few months, during wliich time they might come to an accommodation ; but this proposal being rejected through the influence of the abbot of Inis-Catha, they determined to decide tlie matter by Ibrce of arms. The Leinster troops having arrived, with the monarch Flan-Sionna, and Carrol, son of Muireagein their king, at their head, their superior numbers made such an impression on the Munster men, that part of the army would not wait the issue of a battle, but took to flight, and the rest were cut to pieces, 16th August, 913. The king of Munster, who had been always averse to this war, signalized himself particularly in the en- gagement, (which was commonly called the battle of Beallach-Mugna,) but was killed by a fall from his horse. Carrol took a great number of prisoners, among whom were several persons of distinction, and in that number the abbot of Inis-Catha, the princi- pal promoter of this war, whom he brought in triumph to Kildare, where he remained a prisoner till the death of Carrol. Authors are not agreed as to the death of Cormac. According to Caradocus, he was killed in a battle against the Danes. Ac- cording, however, to a manuscript in the Cottonian library, he was killed by some cow-herds at Bearnree, near Leichlin, while on his knees praying, like a second Moses, for the success of his army, during their engagement with the enemy. However, it is more likely that he was killed, as stated in the annals of Ulster and Inisfail, in the battle we have just mentioned. His body was brought to Cashel, Avhere he was in- terred, as he had ordered in his will, although Keating asserts that he was buried at Dise- art-Diarmuda, now Castle-Dermod, in the monastery of St. ComhgoU.* This prince was learned, and well versed in the antiquities of his country. He wrote the Psalter of Cashel, in the Scotic language, a work highly esteemed. He is celebrated by the historians of his country, not only for his learning, but likewise his piety, charity, valor, and magnificence.! When speaking of this prince, mention should be made of the Episcopal see of Cashel, of which he was a distinguished ornament. This see was erected into the metropolitan of the province of Munster, at the synod of Kells, held in 1152, by cardi- * War. de Prxsul. Casseliens. t War. ibid. nal John Paparo, who gave the pallium to Donat O'Lonargan, then bishop. After the conversion of Aongus, son of Naodfrach, king of Cashel, the people of that territory remained for some centuries under the jurisdiction of St. Ailbe and his successors, and considered their district as forming part of the diocese of Emly, which is twelve miles from Cashel, where that saint had established his see, and which at this remote period was looked on as the metropolitan of the province. The rest of Flan-Sionna's reign was tole- rably tranquil. The princes having been reconciled, held the Danes in awe ; justice was freely administered to the p'feople, and peace restored to the church. The churches and public schools for the instruction of youth were repaired, and the husbandman cultivated his fields in more security. The barbarians, however, made their appearance from time to time. In 915, they laid waste part of Munster, but were vigorously repulsed the year following by the inhabitants of that province. They were more successful in Leinster, under the command of Sitrick, where they killed Angar, son of Oiliol, king of that province, and several of the nobility. Meanwhile the Danes of Dublin pillaged the Lsle of Man, and that of Anglesey, in Wales. Flanna-Sionna died this year, at Tailton in Meath, on the eighth of the calends of June, (25th May,) at the age of 68 years, of which he had reigned 37, a. d. 916. Niall, surnamed Glundubh, son of Hugh VII., ascended the throne of Ireland on the death of Flan-Sionna. This prince re-es- tablished the fair of Tailton, which had not been held for some time. He afterwards marched against the Danes, who were com- mitting devastations in Ulster, and gained a victory over them, with the loss, however, of some of his best troops. HaA'ing given them battle on the 15th September, 919, near Dublin, his army was cut to pieces and he himself found among the slain, together with Hugh Mac-Eochagain, king of Ulster, and several other princes. Donchad, or Donough II., son of Flan- Sionna, who succeeded Niall, was more fortunate than his predecessor, in his wars against the Danes.* In the first year of his reign, he gained a complete victory over these barbarians at Kiannachta-Bregh, in Meath, and fully avenged the death of his predecessor, and the princes who had fallen with him, by killing several of the principal Danes. He afterwards laid waste the country * War. de Anliq. Hib. cap. 24. Grat. Luc. c. 9. CHRISTIAN IRELAND. 227 in the neighborhood of Dublin, which be- longed to the barbarians.* In the reign of Donchad, Keallachan, son of Buadhac, ascended the throne of Cashel after Flahertach, abbot of Inis-Catha, who had succeeded Dublachtna, notwithstanding the opposition of Kennedy, son of Lorcan, prince of Thuomond, wlro laid claim to that crown. f The king of Cashel signal- ized himself against the Danes, defeated them in several engagements, and forced them to quit his province. The barbarians being unable to attack this prince openly, or maintain possession of their conquests, had recourse to intrigue in order to be revenged on him. Sitrick, who was at that time chief of the Danes, sent a courier to the king of Munster, to signify his desire to make peace, and live on terms of friendship with him ; at the same time saying he would withdraw all his troops from the province, and thencefor- ward put an end to hostilities ; in fact, that he would enter into a league ofTensive and defensive with him, and as a pledge of his sincerity, offered him the princess of Den- mark, his sister, in marriage. Some al- liances had at this time already taken place between the Irish and the Danes; among others, Sitrick having married Morling, daughter of Hugh-Mac-Eochaidh. The king of Cashel fell into the snare, and was highly flattered by the proposals of Sitrick, particularly that respecting his sis- ter, having heard a great deal of the beauty of that princess. He answered that he would immediately repair to Dublin to con- tract the marriage, and to treat about the other articles of the league. Keallachan having given his orders, and every thing being ready for the journey, he set out for Dublin, accompanied by Dun- chnan, prince of Thuomond, son of Kennedy, and escorted by a chosen body of horse. On coming within a league of the city, he perceived Danish troops concealed in the hedges, which he considered as a bad omen, and attempting to turn back, he was assailed and made prisoner, with Dunchnan, in spite of the vigorous resistance of his guards, several of whom were killed on the spot. The princes were brought to Dublin, and thence to Armagh, where they were placed in confinement and strongly guarded. Those who escaped the combat, brought back to the province the news of * Porter, Compend. Annal. Reg. Hib. sect. 4, cap. 3. t Keat. History of Ireland, part 2. Propug. Cathol. Verit. lib. 5, c. 14. the perfidy of the Danes, and the captivity of their princes. Kennede, to whom Kellachan had confided the administration of the government during his absence, exasperated at this shameless outrage, assembled the troops of the prov- ince, and sent them, under the command of Donnogh Mac-Keefe, prince of Fearmoihe, an experienced general, with orders to punish the insolence of the barbarians, and restore the captives to liberty. At the same time he dispatched a fleet under the command of Failbhe-Fionn, prince of Desmond, to cut off the enemy's retreat by sea. Never was a project better contrived, or more ably executed. The commander of the Danish army who was in care of the captives at Armagh, hav- ing learned through a spy that the Munster troops were on their march to attack him, left a detachment to guard the prisoners and advanced from the city with the rest of his army to prevent their arrival. The engage- ment began, and the Danes, unable to with- stand the impetuosity of the Munster men, fired with the desire of vengeance, were cut to pieces. The victory, however, was not productive of the effect which Donnogh had reason to hope. The prisoners had been previously removed to Dundalk, a seaport twenty miles from Armagh, and given up to Sitrick, who embarked with them on board his fleet, which was at anchor in that port ; these vessels being used as garrisons and places of retreat by the barbarians, when unable to defend themselves by land. Don- nogh having spent the night after the battle at Armagh, marched the next day for Dun- dalk, where he expected to overtake the enemy ; but his hopes vanished on discover- ing this manoeuvre of the barbarians, who feared nothing from a land army unprovided with a fleet. However, the aspect of affairs soon changed. The arrival of the Irish fleet, under the command of Failbhe-Fionn, dis- concerted the Danes, by Avhom they were wholly unexpected, and their dismay was in- creased by the most bloody and obstinate battle that had ever been fought on these coasts. As they were determined on board- ing the ships and coming to a close engage- ment, Faflbhe-Fionn, desirous of setting his troops the example, leaped, sword in hand, into the Danish admiral's ship, on board of which was Sitrick, his brothers Tor and Magnus, and Keallachan, king of Munster, who was tied to the mast. Followed by a small detachment, this brave man made a dreadful slaughter among the barbarians, cleared a passage to the spot where the king 228 HISTORY OF IRELAND. was, and set him at liberty ; but his strength being exhausted by the heat of the action, and by loss of blood, he was unfortunately slain. The combat did not end with the loss of this hero, but was renewed through the courage of Fiongall. Encouraging his men by his own example, they caused dread- ful slaughter. Seeing, however, that the superior lumibers of the enemy, animated by the valor of Sitrick, their chief, rendered his efforts useless, this skilful captain be- thought of an expedient as heroic as it was bold. Meeting with Sitrick in the thick of the fight, he darted on him, and seizing him in his arms, threw himself into the sea, where both perished together. The courage of Seagda and Conall was roused to such a degree, by this example of intrepidity, that they seized in like manner on Tor and Magnus, brothers of Sitrick, and shared with them a watery grave. The Danes having lost their commanders, and terrified by those horrid and cruel ac- tions, began to give way, and part of their fleet having abandoned the conflict, victory declared in favor of the Irish. The con- sternation of Donnogli's army during this engagement may easily be conceived — be- holding their countrymen engaged with a formidable enemy, while they were unable to give them any assistance. After the naval combat, and the dispersion of the enemy's fleet, Keallachan landed in Dundalk, where he was joyfully received by the people. Having rested his troops, and given orders for the care and removal of the wounded, he marched with his army towards Munster, and resumed the government of that province. When he had recruited his forces, he pursued the Danes, who remain- ed in his territory, five hundred of whom he killed at Limerick and its neighborhood, about the same number at Cashel, and the remainder escaped on board their ships. This prince died in peace some time after- wards, and left his crown to Feargna, son of Ailgenan, and grandson of Dungala, who was succeeded, after a reign of two years, by Mahon, son of Kennede, and brother of Eichiarium, prince of Thuomond. Reginald, king of the Ostmans of Dublin, having died in 921, was succeeded by God- frid, who led an army into Ulster the same year, and pillaged Armagh. He lost, how- ever, a considerable part of his troops in an expedition into Limerick, in 924. Two years afterwards he sent a body of men into Ulster, under the command of his son Aulaf, who was twice repulsed by the in- habitants of that province, and escaped with difficulty by the aid of a reinforcement which his father brought from Dublin. This tyrant died in 934, loaded with ignominy for his cruelty, and was succeeded by his son Aulaf, who died .suddenly in 941. The year following, the barbarians plun- dered Down, Clonard, Kildare, and the neighboring country ; but in 943 they were driven out of the district of Lecale, by the people of Ulster. They were again de- feated, wath the loss of eight hundred men, by the Ulster troops under the command of Mortough-Mac-Neill, king of that province : after which Ireland enjoyed peace for some time, which was, however, interrupted by the battle of Roscrea. The barbarians, whose only object was pillage, knew that the celebrated fair of Roscrea, in the district of Thobuir-Daron, (Tipperary,) was to be held on the 29th of June, St. Peter and St. Paul's day, and that most of the rich merchants in the kingdom repaired thither every year. Hoping to find sufficient booty to gratify their avarice, the Danes, who were quartered in and about Connaught, assembled under the command of Oilfinn, their general, and set out on their march in order to reach Roscrea on the day appointed. The news of this march soon spread, and caused dreadful alarm. At this period the inhabitants of Ireland always went armed to defend themselves against the barbarians ; and those who at- tended the fair of Roscrea did not fail to use the precaution on this occasion, being all provided with weapons ; and though strangers to each other, having come from different parts of the kingdom, still the gen- eral welfare and the love of country were ties sufiiciently strong to unite them against the barbarians. They laid aside their traffic, left the fair, and went to meet the enemy ; the engagement was bloody and obstinate, but the barbarians were put to ilight, having left their chief, Oilfinn, and 4000 men dead on the field of battle. The Danes of Lough- Oirbsion, now Lough-Corrib, in the county of Galway, were afterwards defeated by the people of Connaught. Teige, son of Cahill, king of that province, died about this time. The Danes of Lough-Neagh, in Ulster, were also cut to pieces by Conning-Mac- Neill, who killed one thousand two hundred of them. The usual quarters of these bar- barians were on the sea-shore, or near some lake, that they might be within reach of their ships, which served them as places of retreat. Notwithstanding the repeated victories which the Irish gained over the barbarians, CHRISTIAN IRELAND. 229 Scandinavia still continued to send overj reinforcements, which enabled them to con- 1 tinue their depredations. They again pil- laged Armagh, and the neighborhood of! Lough-Earne and Inis-Owen, where they surprised Mortough-Mac-Neill, who how- ever fortunately made his escape. After a reign of twenty-five years, filled with troubles, Donchad, the monarch, died a sudden death. Congal, son of Maolmithig, descended from Niall the Great by Conall-Creamthine and Hugh III., surnamed Slaine, ascended the throne, a. d. 944. The mother of this prince was Mary, daughter of Kenneth, son of Ailpin, king of Scotland.* The reign of this monarch was fatal to the Danes. After gaining a glorious victory over them near Dublin, Avhere 4000 lost their lives, he entered the city triumphantly, which he gave up to pillage, and put the garrison to the sword ; but Blacar, brother of Aulaf, recovered the city the year follow- ing, and restored it to its former state. f The Danes of Dublin, eager to revenge the losses they had sustained, laid waste part of Meath, a. d. 946 ; but they Avere met near Slane by the monarch, who de- stroyed a great number of them, those who escaped the sword having been drowned, A. D. 948. The year following he killed 1600, Avith Blacar their chief, who was succeeded in the command of the barba- rians by Godfrid, son of Sitrick. About this time it was that those barba- rians Avere converted to the Christian reli- gion : it did not, hoAvever, immediately soften their ferocity ; as, some time after- wards, they pillaged the territory of Slane, under the command of Godfrid. They set fire to the toAvn and church, in Avhich sev- eral lives Avere lost ; but on their return tOAvards Dublin, they Avere stripped of their booty, and cut to pieces at Muine-Breogain, by the natives, commanded by Congal. Their loss amounted to 7000 men, including Imar, one of their chiefs. The monarch survived his exploits but a short time, being killed by the Danes at the battle of Tiguiran in Leinster. In the reign of Congal, Brien, afterwards surnamed Boiroimhe, succeeded his brother Mahon (Avho had been killed by robbers) on the throne of Munster, a. d. 956. Sanguine hopes were already entertained of the valor of this prince. Since the time that he com- * War. de Aiitiq. Hib. cap. 4, 24. Grat. Luc. cap. 9. Propug. Cathol. Verit. lib. 5, cap. 14. t Porter, Comp. Anual. Eccles. Reg. Hib. sect. 4, cap. 3, 4. manded the provincial army, under his brother Mahon, his exploits against the Danes were numerous ; but on succeeding to the government of his province, he be- came the scourge of these barbarians. He began by chastising the assassins of his brother Mahon, and Daniel O'Faolan, prince of Desie, who had espoused their quarrel. He afterwards attacked the people of Lein- ster, Avho were supported by a considerable body of Danes, and forced them to pay him a tribute ; and it is asserted that he won twenty-five battles against the Danes, the last of which was that of Clontarf, of which Ave shall again haA-e occasion to speak. Domhnall, or Daniel O'Niall, son of Mor- tough, and grandson of Niall Glundubh the monarch, succeeded Congal, a. d. 956. His reign Avas very much disturbed by the incur- sions of the barbarians.* They pillaged the church and territory of Kildare, under the command of Amlare. They afterwards laid Avaste Keannanus and part of Meath, from Avhich they carried aAvay considerable booty. The monarch, Avho was dissatisfied Avith the conduct of the people of Connaught in regard to him, sent an army to lay waste their province, a disaster which Feargal O'Rourke, Avho Avas at the time their king, Avas unable to prevent. He afterAvards en- tered Leinster, in order to punish the people of that province for having revolted, in con- junction with their allies, the Danes. It was then that he gave battle at Kilmone, to Domhnall, son of Colegach, Avho Avas assisted by a body of Danes under the command of Aulaf. This battle was bloody and indeci- sive. Among the slain were Ardgall, king of Ulster, Donnagan, son of Maolmuirre, prince of Orgiallach, and many other per- sons of distinction. The barbarians, who were sometimes the allies, and sometimes the enemies of the people of Leinster, sur- prised Ugaire, son of Tuathal, king of that province, and made him prisoner. This outrage Avas revenged by Brien, king of Munster, Avho put eight hundred Danes to the sAvord in the isle of Inis-Catha, and made three of their chiefs prisoners. Ugaire, son of Tuathal king of Leinster, Avho Avas taken prisoner by the Danes, haAdng been ransomed, Avas killed by these barbarians at the battle of Biothlione. Edgar, king of England, is asserted to have conquered Ireland in the time of Domh- nall, monarch of the latter island. f The stoiy of this conquest is founded on the pre- * War. Grat. Luc. Bruodin. et Porter, ibid, t War. de Antiq. Hib. c. 4, et Propug. CathoL Verit. lib. 5, cap. 14. 230 HISTORY OP IRELAND. amhle of a pretended charier of that prince, dated Gloncester, a. d. 964, in which he boasts of being emperor and lord of all the kings of the islands bordering on Britain, He gives thanks to the Lord for having ex- tended his dominions, and brought nnder his jurisdiction all the islands in the ocean, and their ferocious kings, as far as Norway, and the greater part of Ireland, with its noble city of Dublin, &c. ; but this charter, which is not mentioned by English writers, appears to have been a part of the flattery of the monks, who were powerfully protected by that prince in opposition to the secular cler- gy. Besides, Edgar had a particular fond- ness for navigation, and always kept 3600 ships on sea, divided into three fleets, with w^hich he sailed round England every year, to visit its coasts.* On his voyage he un- doubtedly saw the neighboring coasts, and had perhaps taken possession of them at sight, as possession is taken of a living in sight of the steeple ; in which, most prob- ably, consisted his conquest of Ireland. After a reign of twenty-four years, Domh- nal the monarch died at Armagh, with sen- timents worthy a true Christian. CHAPTER XIY Malachi II., otherwise Maolseachlin, succeeded his father Domhnal, a. d. 980. According to some historians, he was son of Domhnal, and grandson of Donchad the monarch.! Whatever may have been his genealogy, he Avas a valiant and warlike prince.| He began his reign by attacking the Danes, and fought the memorable battle of Tara, in which they were completely defeated, with the loss of several thousand men, (according to some authors 5000,) with all their chiefs ; among others, Reginald, son of Aulaf.^ This defeat was so fatal to the Danes, that Aulaf, their chief, undertook a pilgrimage to the island of Hy the year following, (he would seem to have been a Christian ;) where, having performed pen- ance, he died with grief, and was succeeded in the command of the Danes by his son Gluniarand. After his victory over the Danes at Tara, * Baker, Chron. p. 11 ; Historical Map of Eng- land, vol. 1, b. 4, pages 329, 330. t Heating's History of Ireland. t War. de Antiq. Hib. cap. 4. § Grat. Luc. cap. 9. Propug. Cathol. Verit. lib. 5, cap. 15. Porter, Comp. Ann. Eccles. Reg. Hib. sect. 4, cap. 4. Malachi marched with his victorious army into the territory of Fingal, which belonged to the barbarians, and laid the country waste. He afterv/ards besieged Dublin, which he took after three days, and set two thousand Irishmen at liberty, who had been prisoners, with Domhnal-Claon, king of Leinster, and Aithir-O'Neill, prince of Ulster. The Danes Avere forced by these con- quests to abandon all the territory they possessed, from the river Shannon to the eastern ocean, and acknowledge themselves tributary to the monarch. Having, however, received some rein- forcements from their own country, the Danes, regardless of the treaty they had entered into with Malachi, recommenced their hostilities, pillaged the churches, and laid waste the province. But the monarch attacked them with a success equal to his courage, and defeated them in two engage- ments with Tomor and Carolus, their chiefs, at Glunmam. After this, however, he gave himself up to pleasure, and neglected the welfare of the nation, while the Danish forces continued to increase. The name of Malachi had become for- midable to the Danes. Malachi I., having surprised their chief Turgesius, rescued his country from the tyranny of these barba- rians, thoiigh he afterwards allowed them to return and settle in some maritime towns, under the pretext of carrying on trade, an act which was highly impolitic. Malachi II. signalized himself equally against the enemies of his country. He humbled them by repeated victories ; but having afterwards relaxed in his exertions, he lost all the glo- ry of his exploits, and his crown at the same time. During the reign of Malachi, Gluniarand, son of Aidaf, and chief of the Danes of Dublin, was killed by his servant, and was succeeded by his brother Sitrick. Godfrid, son of Harald, king of the Hebrides, was killed the same year by the Dalriads. Sit- rick, son of Aulaf, having been expelled from Dublin by his subjects, was recalled a short time afterwards, and sent assistance to Maol- morha-Mac-Murchuda, to make him king of Leinster, in place of Donat, who had been taken in battle and forced to abdicate the throne. Brien, king of Munster, had de- clared war the same year against the Danes of Dublin, and having conquered them at the battle of Glenananin, in which their loss amounted to 6000 men, he razed their city to the ground. They, however, rebuilt it afterwards, and gave hostages to Brien. It had now become necessary to put a stop CHRISTIAN IRELAND. 231 to the progress which the Danes were making in the country, encouraged by their alUance with the people of Lcinster, and the weak- ness of Malachi's reign. The princes of Munster and Connaught having assembled, it was decreed that Malachi should be de- throned, and the sceptre transferred to Brien, king of Munster, a prince who was capable of repressing the insolence of the barbarians. Although this decree did not emanate from a general assembly of all the provinces, the neutrality observed by those who did not join in it seemed to give it their sanction, and Brien supplied the deficiency by a powerful army of the natives and Danes, with which he marched to Tara and obliged Malachi to abdicate. He however retained the title of king of Meath, which was his patrimony. The sceptre of Ireland, which had been swayed by kings of the house of Heremon, and particularly by the descend- ants of Niall the Great, since the reign of that monarch in the fourth century, was transferred in the beginning of the eleventh to the house of Heber. Brien, surnamed Boiroimhe, son of Ken- nede, and grandson of Lorcan, of the race of Heber-Fionn, having received the abdi- cation of Malachi at Athlone, was declared monarch of the whole island, a. d. 1002. He was surnamed Boiroimhe from a tribute he had exacted from the people of Leinster. Having received the fealty and homage of Cahall O'Conchovair, (O'Connor,) king of Connaught, and the other princes of that province, he entered Ulster with an army of 20,000 men, consisting of the tribe of the Dal-Caiss, the Leinster men, and the Danes whom he had subjugated. He Avas honor ably received at Armagh by Maelmury, or Marian, archbishop of that see, on whom he bestowed a considerable sum of money to repair the church. During his stay at Armagh, he was visited by Hugh O'Neill, king of Ulster, and the other princes of that province, who acknowledged him as monarch. Having settled the affairs of Ulster, Brien repaired to Tara, and, like his predecessors, convened an assembly of the bishops and nobles, in which he was solemnly crowned. He afterwards enacted several laws respect- ing the government and public welfare, which were enforced during his reign with rigor, and all traitors severely punished. He made the Danes restore all the church property they had usurped, and rebuild the churches and monasteries they had destroy- ed ; re-established the universities and pub- lic schools, and founded new ones, which he liberally endowed. Lastly, by his gen- erosity he encouraged professors of all the sciences ; so that literature, which had been in a manner banished from the island by the barbarians, began to flourish anew un- der this monarch. Brien, having settled the religious affairs of the state, next turned his thoughts towards the temporal government. He restored to the old proprietors the possessions of which they had been stripped by the Danes ; raised fortresses in every direction, in which he placed garrisons for the public safety ; re- paired the roads ; built causeways through- out the whole kingdom, and bridges over the rivers and deep marshes, which had been before impassable. The L'ish had not yet adopted the use of surnames. The people added to the names of the lords, people of rank, and even to those of their kings, arbitrary distinctions, derived from their virtues, vices, color, complexion, or any military exploit ; which custom prevailed also in other countries. To prevent the confusion which these popular names might create in families, and in order that their genealogies should be more carefully preserved, it was decreed by this wise monarch that thenceforward all the branches of the Milesian race should have particular surnames. The custom was then introduced of families taking the name of some illustrious man among their ances- tors, to which was prefixed the article O, or Mac, to indicate the honor of their de- scent from him. Thus it is that the O'Neills express their descent from Niall the Great, monarch of the island in the fourth century; the O'Briens, from Brien Boiroimhe ; the Mac-Cartys, from Carthach, &c. In the Irish language, the article o is equivalent to the French article de, and not to Je, as has been asserted by ill-informed writers ; and Mac signifies the son of some one. It would appear that the Irish are now ashamed of these additions, which at once characterize their noble extraction and the antiquity of their names. We see some O'Neills, O'Briens, O'Connors, Mac-Cartys, Magennises,and many others, suppress them, which can only arise from ignorance, little- ness of mind, or a foolish desire of conform- ing to English taste, as they must be intro- duced in the Irish pronunciation of these names, and as in all countries the gentleman can be distinguished from the plebeian by some peculiarity in his name. They may be accused of the same indifference with respect to their language, which bespeaks an ancient people, and of which they affect to be igno- 232 HISTORY OF IRELAND. rant, to adopt a jargon introduced among them by foreigners. The assembly of Tara having terminated, Brien left M^^ath and repaired to Kean- Coradh, near Killaloe, on the banks of the Shannon, where he generally held his court, and there enjoyed for some time the sweets of peace. He was distinguished as well for the greatness of his mind as for his military exploits : " Princeps ob animi virtutes cele- berrimus." The great concourse of princes and nobles of the kingdom who attended his court, added much to its brilliancy. Peace was at length interrupted by iVlaolniorha- Mac-Murchad, king of Leinster, who visited the court of Brien for the purpose of seehig his sister, the queen ; but having received an insult from Morrough, eldest son of the monarch, he departed suddenly for his prov- ince, without taking leave of any one, de- termined to revenge the affront he had received ; and in order to carry his resolution into effect, he formed an alliance with Sitrick, king of the Danes of Dublin. They both then sent an express to the king of Denmark, to request his succor against the monarch. The king, washing to profit by the rupture, and hoping to recover the possessions of his predecessors in the island, sent 12,000 men, headed by his sons Charles Crot and Andrew, who landed in Dublin, with a further force of Norwegians from the Hebrides, to the number of 4000. These auxiliaries, together with the Leinster troops and the Danes of Dublin, formed a considerable army. The monarch, alarmed at these movements, determined to prepare for the consequences. He assembled all the Munster troops, and his allies, the king of Connaught, Malachi, prince of Meath, and their followers, who composed an army of about 30,000 men, the chief command of whom he gave to his son Morrough. This, however, did not prevent him from assisting in person, though 88 years of age. Every thing being ready for the campaign, the army began their march towards Dublin, where the enemy awaited them in the plain of " Cluon-Tarbh," (Clon- tarf,) two miles from the city. The centre of the army was headed by the monarch and Thadeus O'Kelly, prince of Connaught ; the right by Morrough, and the left by Malachi, king of Meath.* The orders being given, the battle commenced at eight o'clock in the morning, and did not terminate till five in the afternoon. Malachi, who commanded the left wing, retired with his troops in the beginning of the action, and remained a passive spectator, hoping for the defeat of Brien, who had deprived him of his crown some time before. This battle, which took place on Good Friday, 23d April, 1014, though desperate and sanguinary, was glorious to the monarch, who gained a complete victory over the enemy. The loss, however, was consider- able on both sides. According to some wri- ters, that of the enemy amounted to 1 1 ,000 men killed upon the spot ; and according to others, 13,000, including Moelmordha, king of Leinster, with the two sons of the king of Denmark, and several chiefs of the army. The loss of the royal army amounted to 7,000. The monarch was killed by a retreat- ing band of Danes, commanded by Bruadar, chief of the Danish fleet : " Ipso parasceve Paschae feria,"says Marianus Scotus, "nono kalendas Mail, manibus et mente in Deum intentus, necatur." These, however, were pursued by a detachment and put to the sword. Morrough O'Brien, the general, Turlough his son, and many persons of distinction, likewise fell victims to their love of country. The bodies of the monarch and of his son Morrough, or Murchard, were deposited in the town of Swords, six miles from Dublin, from whence they were re- moved to Armagh by order of Ma^lmury, archbishop of that see, and interred in the metropolitan church. Some, however, say that they were buried at Kilmainham, near Dublin, with the bodies of Thadeus O'Kelly and other lords ; while others affirm that they were brought to Cashel. After this celebrated battle of Clontarf, Sitrick, king of the Danes of Dublin, having taken refuge, with the remains of his army, in that city, Donnough, or Denis O'Brien, took the command of the royal forces, and having expressed his gratitude to the Con- naught troops, dismissed them, and marched with those of his own province towards Cashel. A dispute, however, which arose upon their march between the two tribes of which his forces were composed, proved nearly fatal to him and his army. The in- habitants of southern Munster being desirous of enforcing the will of OilioU-Olum, who had decreed that the crown of the province should belong alternately to the two branch- es formed by the descendants of his two sons, proposed that Donnough shoidd resign the command, and yield the sceptre of the province to their chief, whose turn it was to reign. Donnough firmly replied that his father and uncle had already made them feel the extent of their power, and tliat he was not inclined to renounce a right which he CHRISTIAN IRELAND. 233 held from his father. He therefore gave orders to the tribe of Dalcaiss, who were his subjects as hereditary king of Thuomond, to prepare to defend his cause ; and in order to be more unincumbered, he resolved to remove the wounded, with a detachment to preserve them from injury. They however requested to be placed with their companions in line of battle, with sabres in their hands, and stakes to support them, in order to share the glory with them, and shed the last drop of their blood in the service of their prince. The enemy were so intimidated by this determination, that they renounced their claims ; and Donnough having arrived at Cashel, whh the Dalcaiss, was declared king of Munster. Malachi II., who had been dethroned twelve years before by Brien Boiroimhe, resumed the government of the whole island on the death of this prince, a. d. 1014, and reigned nine years afterwards as monarch. Ireland was not the only country in Europe in which the Normans had rendered them- selves formidable at this time. After laying waste France, they massacred the clergy, both secular and regular, pillaged and burned their churches and monasteries, and prac- tised every species of cruelty for the space of about seventy years, when they finally made a settlement in the country.* Charles the Simple, who saw that, far from being able to expel, he was powerless even to resist them, resolved, by the advice of his nobles, to enter into a treaty with them. By this treaty, which was concluded at St. Clair, on the river Epte, the king ceded to Rollo (who, from a private individual in Denmark became the chief of those robbers, and was named Robert at his baptism) the whole of that district since called Normandy, as a tenure from the crown, and Brittany as an arriere-fief, and gave him his daughter Gisle in marriage. t In England, the Danes continued their devastations from the beginning of the ninth to the end of the tenth century, and became so formidable, that while the owner la- bored in his field, they held command of his house, occupying themselves only in de- bauching his wife or daughters, and con- suming the fruits of his labor. They were there called, more through fear than from respect, Lord-Danes.| Ethelred, who was at this period king of England, finding no other expedient to rid * Fleury, Hist. Eccles. lib. 54. t Faker, Chron. Life of William the Conqueror, page 20. t Baker, Chron. England, page 13, et seq. himself of so formidable an enemy, sent secret orders to every town in his kingdom, to massacre all the Danes on an appointed day ; the 1 3th of November, the festival of St. Bricius, in the year 1002. Those orders were everywhere executed with such rigor that the Danes at Oxford, having taken refuge in the church of St. Frideswide, as a sanctuary, the people set fire to it, regardless of the sanctity of the place, and all that were within perished in the flames. The news of this massacre having reached Denmark, Sweyne, king of that country, stimulated by a desire of revenge, and thirst- ing for plunder, set sail with a powerful fleet for England, where he committed dread- ful devastations. Ethelred assembled a pow- erful army, under the command of Earl Edrick, to check the progress of the bar- barians ; but was betrayed by the earl, though his son-in-law and favorite, and cre- ated by him duke of Mercia. The year following the Danes besieged Canterbury, where they killed Alphegus, the archbishop, and nine hundred monks. They spared but a tenth part of the people, and put the remainder to the sword ; so that, according to the calculation made of this massacre, there perished 43,200 persons. Sweyne again returned with a considera- ble reinforcement, and reduced the north of England to subjection. He then marched towards London, and made himself master of the rest of the kingdom ; so that the un- fortunate Ethelred, having first sent his queen Emma to her brother the duke of Norman- dy, with his sons Edward and Alfred, soon afterwards followed them himself, and left Sweyne absolute master of England. It might be expected that the death of the tyrant, which happened soon afterwards, would put an end to the usurpation. On the first intelligence of it Ethelred returned to his kingdom ; but he found Canute, son of the deceased, already in possession of part of his states ; so that he was under the necessity of fighting, not only against the Danes, but also against his own subjects, who had acknowledged the usurper. His eflbrts were however crowned with success, and Canute was obliged to withdraw to Den- mark. He had not renounced his claims, notwithstanding, and returned some time afterwards with fresh forces, and gained a complete victory over the English. In the mean time the illness and subsequent death of king Ethelred, enabled Canute to dispute the sovereignty with Edmund, sur- named Ironside, his son and successor, when, after several battles, the two princes agreed 234 HISTORY OF IRELAND. to decide the quarrel by single combat, in presence of both armies. Canute having been wounded, he represented to his rival the folly of exposing their lives for an empty title, and that it would be better to share the kingdom between them, and live together like brothers. Edmund consented to the proposal, but was assassinated some time afterwards, whereby Canute became sole king of England, and was solemnly crowned at London, by Elstane, archbishop of Can- terbury, after which he married Emma, widow of king Ethelred, by whom he had a son, called Hardicanute. On the death of Canute he was succeed- ed by his eldest son Harold, and the latter by Hardicanute ; so that the sceptre of Eng- land was swayed successively by three Da- nish kings, without opposition, and was only restored to the English race for want of heirs in the house of Denmark. The Irish, we have seen, opposed the efforts of the Normans for more than two hundred years, without yielding a single province to them, or acknowledging one of their tyrants as king. At length they com- pletely routed them at the celebrated battle of Clontarf ; but like a hydra, it was difficult to annihilate them, so inexhaustible were their resources. In the reign of Malachi II., the Danes of Dublin, and those who escaped the battle of Clontarf, still endeavoring to continue their depredations, the monarch sent for O'Neill, prince of Ulster, with his troops, and marched direct to Dublin ; and having de- feated a considerable detachment of Danes at Fodvay, he took the city and gave it up to plunder. He subsequently gained a com- plete victory over them at Athnilacham. He also banished Donnough-Mac-Giolla Pha- druig (Fitzpatrick) for having assassinated Donagan, king of Leinster, with the lords of his suite, in the castle of Teige O'Ryan, prince of Ondrona. Some time afterwards, Bran, son of Maolmordha, king of Leinster, was taken prisoner by Sitrick, chief of the Danes of Dublin, who caused his eyes to be put out ; which outrage was revenged by Ugaire, son of Danling, who succeeded Bran, at the battle of Delgne, in which 6000 Danes were killed upon the spot. About this time, Sitrick, chief of the Danes of Waterford, was killed by the people of Os- sory, and Reginald O'Hivar succeeded him. Malachi governed his kingdom with great wisdom, and established several fine institu- tions. In the neighborhood of Dublin he built a celebrated monastery, dedicated to the blessed Virgin ; he repaired several churches which had been destroyed by the barbarians, and having granted pensions for the support of three hundred poor orphans, in various towns of the kingdom, he died at an advanced age, the 2d of Sept. a. d. 1022. We have now come to the period at which the declineof the Irish monarchy commenced. The historians of the country speak of no supreme or absolute monarch of the whole island, after Malachi II. The title was as- sumed occasionally by some of the provincial kings, who were acknowledged as such by their vassals only, and supported by some of the neighboring princes, without the general suffrages of the states. Their authority was wavering and much more restricted than that of their predecessors. They were called, in the language of the country, Righc-Gofra- Sabkrach, which signifies " kings with oppo- sition." At one time the Hy-Nialls claimed the supreme government of the island, in virtue of having possessed it for many ages ; at others, the O'Briens aspired to it, as heirs of Brien Boiroimhe. The Hy-Brunes of Con- naught laid claim to it also, and the kings of Leinster acted a part which did them no honor. They frequently formed alliances with the Danes, contrary to the general wel- fare of the country, and the nation at length became a prey to the fury of the English, by means of that unhappy race. Although the ancient constitution of the state had been weakened and enervated by these di- visions, it nevertheless existed for a century and a half in this sort of anarchy. Donnough, otherwise Donat, or Denis, son of the celebrated Brien-Boiroimhe, and king of Munster, was obeyed as monarch by a considerable part of the island, but was unable to reduce the rest to obedience.* This prince was very powerful, and from his great prudence, worthy of occupying the throne. He forced the people of Meath, Leinster, Ossory, and Connaught, to give him hos- tages ; punished the inhabitants of Con- naught for the sacrilege they "had committed by pillaging the church of Clonfert, and enacted wise laws against robbery and other abuses which had crept in among the people. He prohibited travelling, fairs, and hunting on Sundays, and to give more weight to his laws, he caused them to be confirmed in an as- sembly of the bishops and nobles of his pro- vince which was convened for that purpose. Donnough's second queen was Driella, daughter of the celebrated earl Godwin, of England, who, with his brother Harold took » Keat. Hist, of Irl. pi. 2 ; Grat. Luc. c. Bruod. Prop. Cath. Verit. lib. 5, c. 16. CHRISTIAN IRELAND. 235 refuge in Ireland ; the latter having been banished by king Edward ihe Confessor, whom he afterwards succeeded on the throne of England.* By this princess the monarch had a son, called Donald. Harold being desirous of returning to his own country, Donnough granted him a body of troops as an escort, who, entering the Severn with thirty vessels, in conjunction with Griffith, king of South Wales, laid waste the country, which induced the nobles, who dreaded a civil war, to effect a reconciliation between him and his prince. t The conversion of the Danes, or Normans, of which we have already spoken, having been so sudden, and policy having had some share in it, it could not, at first, have been very solid ; but they now began to give proofs of a stronger faith. Sitrick, chief of the Normans of Dublin, having imdertaken a pilgrimage to Rome, died on his journey, a. d. 1035, and left the government of Dublin to his son Aulave, who, like his father, being desirous of going to Rome, was assassinated in England, a. d. 1035. He was succeeded by his son Sitrick. These foreigners left monuments of their piety in the foundations they made. Bur- chard, a Norwegian lord, had already founded the priory of St. Stephen, at Leighlin, in the district of Carlow. The priory of the Holy Trinity, since called Christ's Church, in Dublin, was found- ed in 1038, for secular canons, by Sitrick, chief of the Danes of Dublin.^ This priory was afterwards made a cathedral church. Dublin, the capital of Ireland, is also the metropolitan see of Leinster. By following the memoirs of the Danes, and styling Donat, or Dunarc, who flourished in the eleventh century, the first bishop of this see. Ware deducts considerably from its antiquity. It is certainly improbable that St. Patrick, who had appointed bishops and priests to the other churches which he founded in the island, had left without a pastor the church of Dublin, at the time a rich and commer- cial city, where he had experienced so much gratitude from the inhabitants, who had agreed to pay to him and his successors in the see of Armagh, three ounces of gold annually. Jocelin, who, in the life of St. Patrick, calls Dubhn a noble city, " In urbem uobilem quaj vocatur Dublinia,"§ is » Baker, Chron. of Engl. Life of William the Conqueror, page 21. t Baker, Ibid. Reign of Edward, page 18. t War. de Antiq. Hib. cap. 26. § Vlt. S. Patr. cap. 71. reproved by Usher, who accuses him of in- consistency, since in another place he calls it " pagus," which signifies a village.* The absence of records or registers more ancient than the eleventh century, is a nega- tive argument, and cannot be considered as a proof. It is very probable that they were burned or suppressed by the pagan Danes, who were frequently masters of the city, ! and that their descendants who became Christians, and were tolerated for commer- cial reasons, had begun their records with the first of their own countrymen who were appointed bishops of Dublin, which took place in the eleventh century. Ware, in his treatise on prelates, agrees that historians mention Wiro, Rumold, Se- dulius, and one Cormac, who had filled the see of Dublin before Donat. f On this head, Colgan quotes an English martyrology, Me- nardus, Molanus, Meyerus, Sanderus, Fer- rarius, the annals of the four masters, and the martyrology of Taulaught, which he calls Tamlactense, from an ancient monastery of that name three miles from Dublin, where it was written by St. ./Engus, or ^Engussius, of the noble race of the Dal-Arads of Ul- ster, and by Saint Moebruan, in the eighth century. I Although it may be reasonably supposed that several prelates had governed this church from the time of St. Patrick to that of the Danes, a space of about four hundred years, still, as most of them are unknown to us, we shall only speak of those mentioned by the above writers. According to Colgan, Livinus was bishop of Dublin, and he also says that he suffered martyrdom in 633. '^ Meyerus calls him archbishop of Scotia, that is, of Ireland, and says that he was son of Theagnio and Agal- mia, people of rank in that country ;|| that having preached the gospel and converted a considerable number of persons, he was assassinated on the 12th of November, 633, at Hesca, in the low countries, by two bro- thers, called Walbert and Meinzo, and that his life had been written by Boiriface, arch- bishop of Mentz.^ Masseus in his chronicle, and Molanus in the lives of the saints of " He seems to forget what he had before stated, that it was not a village, but the capital of the king- dom, and a very noble city." — Usher, c. 17, p. 681. t Trias Thaum. note 69, in 6, Vit. St. Pat. \ Act. Sanct. Hib. ad 11 Mart. Vit. S. ^ngus, et 29, Vit. S. Fularth. § Trias Thaum. note 69, in 6, Vit. S. Patr. II Meyerus in Annal. Flandrice. TT Sander, de Script. Flandriae. 236 HISTORY OP IRELAND. Flanders, give nearly the same account ; Bale also makes mention of his writinj^s. His relics were removed to Ghent in 1007, and deposited in the church of" St. Bavo. St. Wiro, who was born in Ireland, of distinguished parents,* from whom he re- ceived an education suited to his birth, made so rapid a progress in virtue and the sciences, that he was nominated bishop, and being obliged by the people to accept that charge, he went to Rome to receive his consecration from the pope. On his return he governed his diocese for some time in a mosf edifying manner, and acquired a high reputation of sanctity ; but being desirous of devoting his life to God in solitude, he resigned his bishopric and went to France, where he was honorably received by Pepin, duke of the French, who assigned him a place adapted for retirement and contemplation, called Mons-Petri, thought by Molanus to be the same as Ruremond.f Our saint caused an oratory to be built in it, dedicated to the blessed Virgin, which was called the monas- tery of St. Peter, and having lived to an ad- vanced age, he died on the eighth of May, 650, in his oratory, where he was interred. Some writers place St. Desibod among the bishops of Dublin. | He was born in Ireland, of a noble family, and celebrated for his talent and profound erudition. At the age of thirty years he was ordained priest, and nominated bishop some time afterwards. The insolence of the people having disgusted him with his bishopric, which he had held for ten years, he resigned it in G75. He afterwards left his native country, accompanied by some pious men, among others by Gisualdus, (Slement, and Sallust ; and having preached the gospel for the space of seven years in different parts of Germany, he settled, with the consent of the proprietors, on a lofty mountain covered with wood, where he led a solitary life. Having acquired the reputation of great sanctity, he was joined by several monks of the order of St. Benedict, and founded a monastery on this mountain, which was called after him, Mont-Disibod^ now Disen- berg, in the lower Palatinate. He led a penitential and mortified life in this retreat for the space of thirty-seven years, and died there on the 8th of July, aged 81 years, but the year of his death is not known. His life was written by Hildigardis, a nun of Disenberg, under the abbess Juttha, and * Surius ad 8 Mali. t Indiculus Sanct. Belgii sub Wirone. t Martyrol. Aug. ad 8 Julii. published by Surius, for the eighth of July. Dempster mentions having seen a treatise composed by Disibod, entitled " De Mona- choruni profectu in solitudine agentium liber Molanus makes mention of Gualafar, as bishop of Dublin, without entering into any detail of his life, except that he baptized his successor Rumold. The life of St. Rumold, bishop of Dublin, and afterwards of Malines, in Brabant, was written by Theodorick, abbot of St. Tron, and published by Surius, for the 1st of July. The other writers who speak of him are Molanus, several martyrologists, and the legends of some breviaries. According to these authors, Rumold was son and heir of David, an Irish prince. He was baptized by Gualafar, bishop of Dublin, who also undertook his education. The desire of perfection made him give up the succession to his father, and having been nominated to the bishopric of Dublin, he some time afterwards set out for Rome, preaching the gospel of Jesus Christ every- where as he passed. On his arrival at Rome, he went to the holy father, who received him kindly, and did justice to his merit. After a short stay in that city, he took leave of his holiness, and intending to return through France, went to Malines, where he was honorably received by count Ado and the countess his wife, who prevailed on him to settle in that district, for which purpose they granted to him a spot called Ulmus, from its being covered with elm trees, to found a monastery. Some time afterwards Malines being made a bishopric, he was nominated the first bishop. He was at length assassi- nated by two wretches, who attacked him, the one with the design of robbing him, thinking he had money, and the other in revenge for a reprimand he had received from the holy prelate, for the shameful life he led. The better to conceal their crime, they threw his body into a river, whence it was taken by count Ado, and honorably in- terred in the church of St. Stephen. A splendid church was afterwards built in honor of him, bearing his name, which is now the metropolitan church of the Low countries, and the relics of the saint were deposited there in a beautiful silver shrine. Alexander IV. transferred the festival of St. Rumold to the 1st of July, on account of thatof St. Johnoccurring on the 24th of June, the day he suffered martyrdom, which festi- val is annually celebrated in the diocese of * Hist. Eccles. Scot. lib. 4, No. 373. CHRISTIAN IRELAND. 237 Malines, as it had been in Dublin before the Reformation. According to Colgan, following the mar- tyrologies of Taulaught, Marianus Gorman, and Donnegal, Sedulius (in the Scotic lan- guage Siedhuil) was bishop of Dublin in the eighth century.* The first of these authors mentions several of the name of Sedulius, illustrious both for their piety and learning ; namely, Coelius-Sedulius, in the fifth cen- tury, so celebrated in antiquity for his virtue and profound erudition, and who was ranked among the Latin fathers ; Sedulius-Scotus, a bishop who assisted at the council held at Rome in 721, under Gregory II. ; Sedulius, abbot of Linnduachuil, in Ulster, in the eighth century ; Sedulius, bishop of Dublin, mentioned above ; Sedulius, abbot of Kinn- Locha ; Sedulius, abbot and bishop of Ros- common in the beginning of the ninth cen- tury ; Sedulius, son of Feradach, abbot of Kildare ; Sedulius, called of the desert of Kieran, who died in 855. In the time of Colgan, there were several families of the name of Siedhuil, (Shiel, perhaps,) who applied themselves to the study of natural science and of medicine, apparently having the genius of the great Sedulius. All that is known of Sedulius, bishop of Dublin, is, that he was son of Luaith ; that from his virtues he was appointed bishop of Dublin ; and that after his death, which took place on the eve of the ides of Febru- ary, 785, from his high reputation of sanc- tity and virtue, he was placed among the number of the saints. Cormac, another bishop of Dublin, is known only by name. Donnough O'Brien's reign was rather peaceful. The princes of the other provinces were satisfied with governing their own sub jects, without disputing with him the su- preme authority ; but being suspected of hav- ing been accessary to the death of Thadeus, his eldest brother, he was dethroned by the nobles of the kingdom, and reduced to the rank of a private individual ; which induced him to undertake a pilgrimage to Rome, ac- cording to the habit of those ancient times, where he spent the remainder of his life in St. Stephen's monastery, and died at the age of 88 years, having presented the crown of Ireland to the pope. About this time was foimded the abbey of Inis-Phadruig, that is St. Patrick's island, on the coast of the territory of Dublin, where it is said Saint Patrick landed on * Act. Sanct. Hib. Vit. S. Sedul. ad 12 Feb. p. 315. returning from Ulster.* This abbey, which Ware calls only a priory, was founded for regidar canons of the order of St. Augustin, by Sitrick-Mac-Murchard, a Danish lord, and its privileges transferred, in 1220, to Holme-Patrick, by Henry Loundres, then archbishop of Dublin. The disagreement among antiquarians re- specting this period, renders the succession of the monarchs of Ireland obscure and confused. Keating asserts that Donnough reigned fifty years ; others say only twelve. Ware does not mention him in his catalogue of monarchs. He speaks of an interregnum of twenty years after the death of Malachi, during which time the affairs of government were transacted under the regency of Cuan O'Leochain, a learned antiquary, and Cor- cran, a clerk, and head of the anchorites of Ireland, who died in the odor of sanctity at Lismore, a. d. 1042. W^are affirms that after this interregnum, Dermod, or Dermitius, son of Moelnamo, king of Leinster, assumed the supreme government of Ireland. He was of the race of Cahire-More, and descended in the seventeenth degree from Eana-Kinseallach. He was son-in-law of Donnough-O'Brien, having married his daughter the princess Dervorgal.f Some say that he was son of that princess, and consequently grandson of Donnough ; but however this be, he disap- proved highly of Donnough's conduct to- wards his brother Thadeus. He took Tour- lough, or Terdelach, son of the latter, imder his protection, considering him as the le- gitimate heir to the crown of Munster, and constituted himself his guardian. He car- ried on a successful war against the people of Munster, in order to secure Turlough's right to the crown of that province ; plun- dered the city of Waterford in 1037 ; burned Glannusen in 1042, having taken four hun- dred prisoners, and killed one hundred men on the spot. He laid waste also the district of Desie in 1048, from whence he carried off" considerable booty, and some prisoners. He plundered Limerick and Inis-Catha in 1058, and gave battle to Donnough near Mount-Crot, in which the whole army of the latter was defeated. He afterwards received hostages in 1063, from the princes and lords of Munster, and gave them up to the young prince under his protection, who reigned over Munster and a great part of Ireland, after Donnough's abdication. * War. de Antiq. Hib. c. 26. Allemd. Hist. Monast. d'Irlande, p. 4. t War. de Antiq. Hib. c. 4. Grat. Luc. c. 9. Ogyg. part 3, c. 94. 238 HISTORY OF IRELAND. Murchatl, son of Donnougli O'Brien, be- held with regret the sceptre in the hands of his cousin Terdelach, and endeavored to enforce his claims ; for which purpose he stirred up a revolt of that prince's subjects against him. It was, however, soon quelled by the appearance of Dermod, who marched thither with an army in 1065, obliged his subjects to return to their allegiance, and banished Murchad from the province ; so that the king of Leinster was at once both arbitrator of the crown of Munster, and pro- tector of the persecuted prince. He was the most powerful prince in Ireland at the time, and obliged Aid, or Hugh O'Conchobhar, (O'Connor,) king of Connaught, to do him homage. He placed Meath under contribu- tion, and carried away some prisoners ; laid waste the territory of Fingal and Dublin, as far as Abhin, (AUin,) and defeated the Danes near the city, by which victory he became their king. But Providence, which sets bounds to all human greatness, permitted him to be killed at the battle of Adhbha, the 7th of the ides of February, 1072, by Con- ochor O'Moclachlin, king of Meath. Cara- docus-Lhancarvanenis says he was the best and most worthy prince that ever reigned in Ireland : " Dermitium dignissimum et opti- mum principem qui unquam in Hibernia regnavit ;" of which his conduct towards Terdelach O'Brien is a proof. His proximity of blood and relationship seemed to authorize Murchad to claim his protection, but he considered the justice of Terdelach's cause a much more powerful incentive. The conquest of England by William the Conqueror, duke of Normandy, happened about this time, that is, in 1066. England had been governed by Saxon princes from the end of the fifth to the beginning of the eleventh century, when the Danes made themselves masters of the country, after which it was ruled by three Danish kings in succession, namely, Canute, Harold, and Hardicanute ; but the latter dying without issue, the crown returned to the Saxon line, in person of Edward, surnamed the Confes- sor.* Edward died before he could place Edgar-x\theling on the throne, who was grandson of his brother, Edmund Ironside, and legitimate heir to the crown. Harold, son of the celebrated Earl Godwin, seized this opportunity, and ingratiated himself so much into the favor of the people, that he was proclaimed king, in opposition to the legitimate heir, whom he amused with the empty title of Earl of Oxford. * Baker's Chron. Engl, page 15, et seq. William the Bastard, duke of Normandy, since surnamed the Conqueror, founded his claims to the crown of England on a promisQ which Edward the Confessor (whose mother, Emma, was sister to the duke of Normandy) had given him in his youth, to make him his heir ; and on an oath which Harold had taken to aid him in his enterprise upon Eng- land after Edward's death ; but finding that he had been forgotten by the one, and was betrayed by the other, he sent an ambassa- dor to remind Harold of his oath, and demand that crown to which he had a right, in vir- tue of Edward's promise. Harold replied, that the barons and nobles, with one accord, had adjudged the crown to him, and that he v/ould not surrender it without their concur- rence. The duke of Normandy, little satis- fied with this answer, considered his chance of obtaining justice by force of arms. Cir- cumstances favored this undertaking : an insurrection which had been raised in the north of England by Toustayne, the king's brother, abetted by Harold-Harfager, king of Norway, obliged Harold to leave the southern part of his kingdom unguarded, and go to quell the rebellion in the north, where he, however, gained a complete victory over the enemy at Stamford ; his brother Tous- tayne, who had headed the rebels, with the king of Norway, being among the slain. The duke of Normandy did not lose sight of his object. By means of his wife, who was daughter of Baldwin, count of Flanders, then guardian of Philip I., he obtained suc- cor from France.* The counts of Poitou, Anjou, Maine, and Boulogne, also furnished him with troops. In order to strengthen his cause by the apostolical authority. Pope Alexander II. sent him a consecrated banner and a golden ring. Every thing being pre- pared, and his Norman subjects, who had at first expressed a reluctance in the under- taking, having taken up arms, William em- barked with his army at Saint Valery, about the end of September, on board a fleet of 300 sail, and landed in a short time at Pevensey, in Sussex, while Harold was still occupied in the north. Having landed his army, William gave orders to his fleet to return to Normandy, in order that his troops should have no hope but in their valor: " ant vincendum aut mori- endum." Camden says that he caused it to be burned. After some days he advanced along the coast as far as Hastings, where he intrenched himself, waiting the approach of the enemy. * Du Verdier, Abridgment of the History of England. CHRISTIAN IRELAND. 239 Harold, surprised by the intelligence of the Norman invasion, returned to London, where he made a short stay to recruit his army, which had suffered considerable losses at the battle of Stamford ; after which he set out on his march towards Sussex, and encamped seven miles from Hastings, Avhere their army was posted. The preparations which the duke of Normandy saw the king of England making, and which plainly indi- cated his desire of coming to a battle, hum- bled his pride, and made him uneasy as to the blood about to be shed in a cause which he himself, perhaps, did not consider a very just one ; as well as for the uncertainty of a battle in an enemy's country, the loss of which would be irretrievable. Before the action commenced, he sent a monk to Harold with proposals, leaving him the choice either of resigning the crown to him, as his claims were the best founded, or holding it in fealty from the dukes of Normandy, if he were un- willing to give it up ; lastly, if he chose, to decide the matter by single combat, or refer it to the decision of the pope. Harold re- fused to accede to any of the proposals, and said he would leave it to the God of armies to decide the next day. The night previous to the battle was spent in a very different manner by both armies. As the day follow- ing was the king of England's birthday, his troops passed the night in feasting ; while those of the duke of Normandy spent it in prayer. The day after, which was Saturday, 14th October, the two armies engaged at day-break, and the battle, Avhich was par- ticularly obstinate, lasted until night. It may be here observed, that circum- stances rather than the valor of the troops, decide the fate of battles, and that the van- quished often deserve laurels as well as the victors. These circumstances sometimes consist of inequality of numbers ; sometimes in the choice of ground, or in discipline and superiority of arms ; and generally in the skill of the commander. The number and valor of the troops were nearly equal at the battle of Hastings, and Harold did not yield in bravery to William. The Normans hav- ing discharged their arrows on the English, who were unacquainted with the use of them, galled and surprised them a little ; but soon afterwards recovering from this first panic, they rallied, and attacked the Normans with so much impetuosity, that they made them give ground, without, however, putting them to flight. The battle lasted a long time with equal success, both sides performing prodi- gies of valor ; but the fortune of the day was at length determined by a stratagem of William. He pretended to give way, which, as he expected, drawing the English from their ranks, who pursued him in disorder into a defile, he made a dreadful slaughter of them. Harold having rallied his flying troops, was slain in making a last effort, together with his brothers ; and the rest of the army saved themselves by flight. By this victory the duke of Normandy became master of all England ; the conquest being so rapid that he might have said, with Ca;sar, " Veni, vidi, vici.^^ He lost 6000 men in the action ; the English 60,000. After resting and refreshing his troops, William marched towards London, and received the submis- sion of the bishops and the lords of England. He reigned as a tyrant, granting to those who abetted him in his usurpation, lands and lordships, without any other right save the problematical one of conquest, and after- wards created them lords, by which new title they ranked above the old nobility. Terdelach O'Brien, king of Munster, and of the greater part of Ireland, was son of Thadeus, and grandson of Brien-Boiroimhe. He proved himself worthy of his illustrious ancestors. He enacted wise laws, and gov- erned his subjects with justice,* to which Lanfrancus, archbishop of Canterbury, bears testimony in his letter to this prince, wherein he styles him the friend of peace and jus- tice,! and alleges that it was an instance of God's mercy towards Ireland, to have given her such a prince for a king.;]: William II., surnamed Rufus, king of England, obtained leave from Terdelach to cut wood in the forests of Ireland for the palace of Westminster, which he was then building. In the latter part of his life, the king of Ireland was confined to his bed by lingering illness, the pain of which he supported with truly Christian patience till his death, which took place on the eve of the ides of July, at Keancora, in the seventy-seventh year of his age, and fourteenth of his reign. Morthoug, or Moriertach O'Brien, suc- ceeded his father Terdelach, a. d. 1089. This prince's mother, according to Keating, * Keat. Hist, of Irel. War. de Antiq. Hib. c. 4. Grat. Luc. c. 9. t Ogyg. part 3, c. 94. Bruodin. Propug. lib. 5, c. 16. t " God display.s no greater mercy on earth, than when he advances the lovers of peace and justice to the government of souls or bodies. Tlie careful investi^rator readily discovers what has been con- ferred on the people of Ireland, when the Almighty hath given to your excellency the right of royal power over that land." — Usher's Si/llogis?ns, epist. 27. 240 HISTORY OF IRELAND. (the only writer, I believe, wlio lias men- tioned her,) was Kealrach, daughter of Vi- Eine. According to the same author, she had another son, (apparently by a former marriage,) called Roger O'Connor, father of Terdelach O'Connor, who succeeded Moriertach O'Brien.* Moriertach is ac- knowledged king of Ireland by the annals of Inis-Fail, Donegal, and by the writer who has continued those of Tigernach. Usher, in his collection, quotes an epistle of St. Anselm, archbishop of Canterbury, to Muriardach, the glorious king of Ireland, in which he extols this prince highly for his justice and love of peace. His authority was also acknowledged by the inhabitants of the Hebrides and the Isle of Man, who sent ambassadors to him to request that a king of his family might rule them during the minority of Olanus, son of Godred.f It appears, however, that this prince had a competitor in the supreme government of Ireland. Domnald-Maglochluin, son of Ard- gal, of the race of Niall of the nine hostages, by Domnald, brother of the monarch Niall- Glundubh, disputed with him the title of mon- arch, as appears by the hostilities carried on by them against each other,and the steps taken by the archbishops of Armagh to allay them. Moriertach was equally watchful for the interests of the church and state. Having been solemnly crowned at Tara, he con vened an assembly of the lords and bishops of the province at Cashel, where, in their presence, he gave that city, which had been till that time the usual residence of the kings of Munster, with the lands and lordships ap- pertaining to it, as a donation to the see. About this time, viz. in the year 11 00, the priory of Dungevin, in the district of Ar- achty-Cahan, now the county of Derry, was founded by the noble family of the O'Cahans, lords of that country .| With the consent of Pope Paschal II., the monarch assembled a national council in 1110 or 1112. This council was composed of fifty bishops, three hundred priests, and about three thousand of an inferior order of clergy, besides the monarch, Avho was pres- ent, and several princes and lords of the kingdom. § The heads of the clergy were * Keat. Hist, of Irel. part 2 ; War. de Antiq. c.-4 ; Grat. Luc. c. 9 ; Ogyg. part 3, c. 94. t " All the chief men of the islands, as soon as the death of Lagmaniias was heard of, sent ambas- sadors to Murchard O'Brien, king of Ireland, to send some energetic man of the royal line to rule over them until Olanus should be of age." — Camd. Ckron. p. 840. I Allemand, Hist. Monast. d'Irl. p. 98. § War. de Antiq. Hib. cap. 26. Milerus, or Mailmurius O'Dunan, archbishop of Munster ; Kellach-Mac-Hugue, vicar of St. Celsus ; the primate, who was ill at the time ; and Gillaspec, or Gilbert, bishop of Limerick, md president of the council as apostolical legate. The records of the country mention three different councils as held in Ireland about this time, which, however, are perhaps but the same council, spoken of by different names. Some call it the council of Bath- Breasail, othersFiad-Mac-CEngus, that is, the land or wood of ffingus, which is the same as others call Usneach, where there is a hill of that name, in the district of Kinal- Fiacha, (Westmeath.) Canons and wise regulations were made in this council re- specting the spiritual and temporal adminis- tration : the bishoprics were reduced to a limited number, namely, twenty-four, with the two archbishoprics ; twelve in the northern division of the island, called Leath- Con, and twelve in the southern, or Leath- Mogha. By this division there were two sees in Meath, namely, Damliag and Cluainjoraird. The two archbishoprics were Armagh and Cashel. The limits of the bishoprics were decided upon, and the jurisdiction of each bishop was confined to his own diocese ; suffragans were allotted to each archbishop, and the ecclesiastical immunities and ex- emptions established. We may fix at this time, that is in 1120, the re-establishment of the abbey of Bangor, by St. Malachi, which had been several times destroyed by the Danes.* Moriertach O'Brien was not less assiduous in the temporal government of the state, and in defending the country against the common enemy. He defeated the Danes of Dublin three times, banished Godfrid their chief, and had himself proclaimed their king. A ridiculous and incredible anecdote re- specting Murchard, king of Ireland, is given in the chronicle of the kings of the Isle of Man. The author says that Magnus, king of Norway, sent a pair of his shoes to Mur- chard, with orders to carry them on his shoulders on the birthday of the Lord, as an acknowledgment of his submission to the kings of Norway, and that the king of Ire- land had obeyed his orders, lest he should draw upon himself so formidable an enemy .•}• According to the annals of the country,:j: the king of Ireland caused the ears of the com- missioners of Magnus to be cut off, and sent * War. de Antiq. Hib. c. 26. t Chron. Reg. Man. apud Camb. Brit. 841. t Bruod. Propug. lib. 5, cap. 16, page 933. CHRISTIAN IRELAND. 241 them back with the intelligence ; which ac- count is more probable, as will be seen by the sequel ; for Magnus being exasperated, resolved to take revenge for the insult he had received in the person of his ministers, and formed the wild project of subjugating Ireland. For this purpose, he embarked with a large body of troops, and arriving in the north of Ireland, commenced hostilities ; but being surrounded by the Irish militia, he and all his suite were killed, and the tyrant was interred at Down-Patrick. Those who had remained on board the fleet, having learned the unhappy fate of their chief, re- turned to Norway, and gave up for ever their claims on Ireland. Moriertach O'Brien, says Malmesbury, an English cotemporary author, formed so strict a friendship with Henry I., king of England, that he did nothing without first consulting him. He made alliances also with foreign princes ; and gave one of his daughters in marriage to Arnulph de Montgomery, eldest son of the earl of Arundel, in England, and another to Sicard, son of Magnus, king of Norway. This pious prince, convinced that human grandeur is but transient, withdrew to Lis- more, where he took minor orders, and em- ployed the remainder of his life in preparing for eternity. He died the sixth of the ides of March, 1120. His body was removed to Killaloe, and interred in the cathedral of that city. Some time before his death, he undertook a pilgrimage to Armagh ; which gave rise to Keating's belief that he died there. This prince was the last king of Ireland of his race. From him, and conse- quently from Brien Boiroimhe, are descend- ed the illustrious houses of the O'Briens, of which the present head is Charles O'Brien, Earl of Thuomond, heretofore called Lord Clare, Marshal of France, knight of the or- ders of the most Christian king, and colonel of the Irish regiment of Clare, in the ser- vice of his Majesty. CHAPTER XV Domnald-Maglochluin survived his ri- val Moriertach. Some annalists have placed him in the catalogue of monarchs, among others, Gillamaddud, an ancient writer, and O'Duvegan, in which they are followed by O'Clery, Colgan, and others, the first of whom says that he was united with Morier- tach in the supreme government. He ex- acted hostages from the inhabitants of Con- naught, Meath, and other districts ; carried on a war against the Danes of Fingal, and put their country under contribution. Mo- riertach was, however, better known to for- eigners, particularly the English. He had established an intercourse with the latter by treaties and marriages ; signed the postulata of the bishops of Dublin, Watcrford, and Limerick, who went over for consecration by the archbishop of Canterbury, contrary to the discipline of the church of Ireland, ' and also kept up a correspondence by letter with the prelates of Canterbury. This in- tercourse with the English, no doubt, influ- enced Domhnal-More-0'Brien, king of Lim- erick, in making prompt submission to Henry II. some time afterwards. However this may be, the people were much harassed by the wars of these princes ; and the efforts which the bishops and nobles made to ap- pease their quarrels, prove that their author- ity was equal, and that one was acknow- ledged monarch in the north, and the other in the south. Domnald was a generous prince, chari- table to the poor, and liberal to the rich. Feeling his end to be approaching, he with- drew to the abbey of Columb-Kill, in Doire, (Derry,) where he died in 1121, on the fourth of the ides of February, aged 73 years.* The abbey of Erinach, or Carrig, in Dala- radie, at present the county of Down, was founded in 1127 for Benedictines, dedicated to the blessed Virgin, by Magnellus-Mac- KenlefFe, and afterwards removed to Inis. Although it is alleged by some authors, that there was at this time an interregnum of some years, and though Ware, who speaks of it, comes to no conclusion upon the sub- ject, it is certain that Turlough-More-0'Con- nor, otherwise Terdelach O'Connor, son of Roderick king of Connaught, succeeded the two last princes in the supreme government of the island. He was of the race of Here- mon, and descended in the twenty-third degree from Eocha XII., surnamed Moy- veagon, monarch of the island in the fourth century. The two sons of that monarch, Brian and Fiachar, had formed two powerful tribes in Connaught, called after them the Hy-Brunes * " Doninaldus, grandson of Lochlannus, son of Ardganus, king of Ireland, and the handsomest of his countrymen. His birth was noble, his disposi- tion ingenuous, and lie was most successful in his undertakings. The poor received many gifts from him, and the great were liberally rewarded. He retired to the aljbey of Columb-Kill, where he died in the 73d year of his age, and 27th of his reign." —Act. Sanct. Hib. ad 27 March, cap. 4, p. 773. 31 242 HISTORY OF IRELAND. and the Hy-Fiachras, of Tir-Fiachra, and Tir-Amalgaid, or Tirawly. From these two tribes were descended all the kings that governed this province from the fourth to the twelfth century, but principally from the former, of which the O'Connors Don were the chiefs. This tribe was also called Clan- Murray, or Siol- Murray, from Muredach- MuUethan, one of their chiefs, and king of Connaught in the seventh century. Terdelach O'Connor, being the most powerful prince of Ireland at the time the throne became vacant, caused himself to be proclaimed monarch by his own adherents, and a considerable part of the island. He entered Munster twice with an army, to force the people of that province to pay him homage. At first he was repulsed with the loss of a great number of his best troops, including O'Flaherty, prince of lar-Con- naught, and many other lords of distinction, but he was more successful in his second expedition, having defeated the Munster forces at the battle of Moinmor, in which he slaughtered great numbers of them, and put the remainder to flight, with their commander Terdelach O'Brien, son of Murgan, king of that province.* After this victory the prov- ince submitted to him, and he divided it be- tween Terdelach O'Brien and Dermod Mac- Caithy ; giving to the former the northern part, including Thuomond and Limerick ; and to the latter, the district of Cork, and the remainder of the southern part. Having received hostages from these princes, he marched towards the north, where he quell- ed some troubles occasioned by the revolt of the northern Hy-Nialls, who had not yet acknowledged his sovereignty, and received the homage of the O'Neills, O'Donnels, and other princes and lords of the province. On his return from Ulster, he re-established the games at Tailton, which had been inter- rupted during a long time. These games, which had been instituted for the exercise of the youth, consisted in races on foot and on horseback, in wrestling, in gladiatorial tournaments, leaping, throwing the stone and javelin, and every species of military evolutions. Emulation was excited by the applause and prizes which awaited the vic- tor. This monarch likewise caused the high roads to be repaired, and bridges built, two over the Shannon, one at Athlone, the other at Athrochta, and that of Dunleoghe, over the river Suck. Lastly, he had money coined at Cluon-Mac-Noisk. * Bruodin, Propug. Cathol. Verit. lib. 5, cap. 16, page 934. Terdelach was not less remarkable for his religion and piety, than for the wisdom of his government. He founded a priory at Tuam in 1140, dedicated to St. John the Baptist, which he liberally endowed with land ; he also granted a large tract of land to the abbey of Roscommon, in order to increase its revenues. In his will he be- queathed to different churches sixty-five ounces of gold, sixty marks of silver, all his furniture, including his vessels of gold and silver, precious stones, and other jewels.* This prince was inflexible in punishing crime. His son Roderick having been guilty of some misdemeanor, he caused him to be loaded with irons, and it was only at the frequent solicitations of the archbishops of Armagh and Cashel, and the heads of the clergy of his kingdom, that he restored him to his liberty, after a year's confinement. The annals of Ireland fix the foundation of several religious houses in this reign, namely, the monastery of St. Finbarry, at Cork, first founded by that saint, and rebuilt and dedicated to St. John the Baptist, in the year 1134, for regular canons, by Corniac- Mac-Carthy, king of Munster, or at least of that part of the province called Desmond. f The priory of St. John the Baptist, founded at Down, in 1138, by St. Malachi and Morgair.J A monastery of Benedictines in Dublin, first founded in the tenth century by the Danes, dedicated to the blessed Virgin, and afterwards changed to Bernardines, of the order of Cheaux, in 1139. St. Mell, or Mellifont, in the district of Louth, was a celebrated abbey of the order of Citeaux, under the invocation of our Lady.^ It was a branch of the abbey of Clairvaux, whence St. Bernard had monks sent thither, and nominated as first abbot the blessed Christian O'Conarchy, a native of Ireland, and a disciple of the abbey of Clair- vaux, who was afterwards bishop of Lismore, and apostolical legate, having been, as St. Bernard observes, the first abbot of Citeaux in Ireland. This abbey was parent of most of the other houses of the order of Citeaux in Ireland, the first monks having been taken from it. It is said to have been perfectly similar to the house of Clairvaux, both in the situation and construction of the building, and was so extensive, that by way of pre- * War. de Antiq. Hib. cap. 26. Gratianus Lucius, c. 9. Ogygia, part 3, cap. 94. + War. de Antiq. Hib. cap. 26. t War. ibidem. § Idem. ibid. Allemand's Hist. Monast. d'lrlaiide, page 167. CHRISTIAN IRELAND. 243 eminence it was called Monisthcr-Mor, that is, the great monastery. Our Lady of Mel- lifont was founded long before the arrival of the English in Ireland, namely, in 1140, by Donat O'Caruel, prince of Ergallie, accord- ing to Jungelinus. Ware fixes the founda- tion of it in 1142.* There are others who ascribe the foundation of this house to St. Malachi, bishop of Down ; it is, however, certain that this prince contributed wuh the holy prelate towards the building of it. At BectifFe, on the river Boyne, in east Meath, there is an abbey entitled our Lady of Beatitude, a branch of Mellifont, founded in 1146 by Murchard O'Melaghlin, prince, or according to the style of those times, king of Meath. The chronologists of the order of Citeaux are at variance respecting the time of the foundation of this abbey. Some fix it in 1148, others in 1151. t In the town of Louth there was a monas- tery for regular canons, founded in 1148, by Donat O'Caruel, prince of Ergallie, and by Edan O'Kelly, bishop of Clogher.]: The abbey of Baltinglass, Do Valle Sdlu- tis, on the river Slaney, in the territory of Wicklow, was founded and endowed for monks of the order of Citeaux, in 1148 or 1151, by Dermod Mac-Murrough, king of Leinster.§ At Boyle, a borough situated on the river Bouel, in the county of Roscommon, there was a celebrated abbey, called after our Lady, and a branch of Mellifont, the first abbot of which was Peter 0'Mordha.|| This abbey was first founded at Grellechdine, in 1 148, afterwards transferred to Dromconaid, from thence to Buin-Finng, and lastly to Boyle, in 1161.1 Dermod Mac-Murrough, king of Leinster, founded an abbey in Dublin, called after the blessed Mary of Hoggis, for regular canons of St. Augustin, of the peculiar congrega- tion of Arouaise, an abbey in the diocese of Arras, which was head of that congrega- tion, but is no longer in existence.** The latter part of Terdelach O'Connor's reign was not so fortunate. Moriertach- Maglochluin, (son of Niall, and grandson of Loghlin, from whom he had taken his sur- name,) prince of the northern Hy-Nialls, having become powerful proved a formidable rival to him ; and frequently carried on a *^ Lib. de Notif. Abbatia Ord. Cistcr. t War. ibid. Allcmand, ibid, page 177. + War. de Antiq. Hib. cap. 26. (j War. ibid. AUem. Hist. Monast. d'Irlaiid. II War. ibid. Allemand, ibid. IT War. ibid. Allemand, ibid. ** War. ibid. Allemand, ibid, page 341. successful warfare against him. He weak- ened his power considerably, without anni- hilating it : and the death of Terdelach at length opened to him a way to the throne. Bruodine fixes the death of Terdelach in 1144, Keating in 1150, Gratianus Lucius and O'Flaherty in 1156, and Ware in 1157, at the age of sixty-eight years. However this be, he was interred at the altar of St. Kiaran, in the cathedral of Cluan-Mac- Noisk, of which he had been a benefactor. Moriertach being now without a rival, assumed the reigns of the supreme govern- ment. He was a warlike prince, and an able politician. He reduced all the provinces by his arms, and exacted hostages from them ; made wise regulations for the spiritual and temporal government, as appears by the frequent assemblies which were held under his reign ; was the steady protector of the clergy, whom he made arbitrators of the most important of his affairs ; and may be considered to have been the most absolute of those who assumed the title of monarch since the reign of Malachi II. It would have been fortunate for Ireland, says a modern author, had Moriertach enacted a law in favor of the house of the Hy-Nialls, securing their succession to the crown ;* which would have put an end to the factions caused by the usurpation of the provincial kings, that hastened the downfall of the nation. The most remarkable event that occurred in the reign of this monarch, was the national council of Kells. The Roman church, always attentive to the necessities of the provincial churches, was not forgetful of the steps which St. Malachi had taken to obtain the pallium from Pope Innocent II. ; nor was she ignorant of the commission which the saint had received for that purpose from the clergy of Ireland, at the synod of Holm- Patrick. It was in consequence of this that Pope Eugene HI. sent John Paparo, a priest and cardinal, with the title of" St. Laurence in Damasus," to Ireland, in 1152, as legate, with four palliums for the four archbishops, of Armagh, Dublin, Cashel, and Tuam. The legate assembled a council, at which he presided, with Christian O'Conarchy, bishop of Lismore, and apostolical legate after the death of St. Malachi. Authors do not agree respecting the place in which this council was held. Some say that it was in the abbey of Mellifont ; and others, (which is the most general opinion,) that it was at Kenanus, by I corruption Kells, an ancient city in Meath. This assembly, which was held in the month * Dissertation on the Ancient History of Ire- land, page 35. 244 HISTORY OF IRELAND. of March, was numerously and brilliantly attended.* The bishops present at this council were : Giolla-Christ (Christian) O'Conarchy, bishop of Lismore, and legate. Giolla-Mac-Liah, (Gelasius,) primate of Ireland. Uomnald O'Lonorgain, archbishop of Munstcr, that is, of Cashed. CEda, or Hugh O'Hossin, archbishop of Connaught, that is, of Tuam. Greri, or Gregory, archbishop of Dublin. Giolla-na-Na;mh, bishop of Glendaloch. Dungol O'Cellaid, bishop of Leighlin. Tuistius, bishop of Waterford. Domnald O'Fogertaic, bishop of Ossory. Find-Mac-Tiarcain, bishop of Kildare. Giolla-Ancomdeh (Deicola) O'Ardmail, bishop of Eraly. Giolla-CEda O'Mugin, (or O'Heyn,) bishop of Cork. Mac-Ronan, or Maol-Breanuin O'Rua- nain, bishop of Kerry, that is, Ardfert. Torgesius, bishop of Limerick. Muirchertach O'Melider, bishop of Cluain- Mac-Noisk. Maeliosa O'Conochtain, bishop of Oirthir- Conacht, that is, of Roscommon. O'Radan, bishop of Luigni, that is, of Achonry. Macraith O'Morain, bishop of Conmacne, (Ardagh.) Ethru O'Miadachain, bishop of Clunair- ard, that is, Clonard. Tuathal O'Connachtaig, bishop of Huam- bruai, or Enaghdune. Muirideach O'Cobthaig, bishop of Keneal- Eogain, now Derry. Maelpadruic O'Beanain, bishop of Daila- raid, that is, Connor. Maeliosa-Mac-Inclericuir, bishop of Ul- lagh, that is, Down. In this council the bishoprics of Dublin, Cashel, and Tuam, were made metropoli- tans ; which privilege had been granted to Armagh in the beginning ; and the cardinal legate conferred on the four the palliums, with which he had been intrusted by the pope. To each of these metropolitans was assigned a limited number of suffragans ; regulations were made against simony and usury ; and the payment of tithes decreed by the apostolical authority, as appears by an act taken from the book of Cluain-Ednach, an ancient monastery in the diocese of Leighlin, in the district of Leix, now the parish of Clonenagh, near Mountrath.f * Keating's History, lib. 2. War. de Antiq. Hib. cap. 16. t " A grand synod was held in the spring of a. d. In 1157, the primate convened a synod in the abbey of Mellifont, composed of seven- teen bishops, besides the legate, who pre- sided, and the primate by whom it was con- vened. This synod seems to have been a prorogation of that of Kells. It is probable that Keating, and the other writers who place the latter in 1157, confound one with the other. This synod was honored by the pre- sence of Moriertach-Maglochluin, the mon- arch, Eochaid, king of Ulidia : Tiernan O'Rourke, prince of Brefny, and O'Caruel, prince of Ergall, were also present. The principal object of this assembly was to ex- communicate and dethrone Dunchad O'Me- laghlin, king of Meath, and place his brother Dermod on the throne in his stead. It is not well known what crime he had committed which drew upon him so heavy a maledic- tion ; but it is mentioned in some records in the following terms : " This accursed atheist was excommunicated for having dishonored the Comarb or primate, the staff of Jesus, and all the clergy." The church of this abbey was solemnly consecrated during this synod, and received considerable donations from the princes. The monarch gave one hundred and forty oxen, sixty ounces of gold, and a tract of land near Drogheda, called Finnabhuair-Naningean ; O'Carroll gave sixty ounces of gold ; and the wife of Tier- nan O'Rourke, daughter of O'Melaghlin, prince of Meath, sixty ounces of gold, a golden chalice for the grand altar, and or- naments for the other nine altars of the church. This prelate, so zealous and indefatigable when God's glory and his neighbor's salva- tion were in question, convened a synod at Brighthaig, in the district of Leogaire, in Meath, in 1158, composed of twenty-five bishops, at which Christian O'Conarchy, bishop of Lismore, and legate, presided. The bishops of Connaught, when on their way thither, were met by a band of soldiers, who killed two of their attendants, and forced them to return into their province. Regula- 1157. The Lord John, cardinal priest of St. Lau- rence, presided over twenty-two bishops, and five coadjutors, besides as many abbots and priors of tlie apostles Peter and Paul, and of the blessed Eugene. Simony and all manner of usury were sup- pressed and condemned, and tithes commanded to be paid by apostolical authority. Four palliums were given to the four arclibishops of Ireland, naniely, those of Dublin, Tuam, Cashel, and Ar- magh. The archbishop of Armagh was given pre- cedence over the otiiers, as was fitting. The car- dinal John, immediately after the council termi- nated, set out upon his journey, and crossed the seas on the 24th of March." CHRISTIAN IRELAND. 245 tions were made in this synod, respecting the reformation of morals, and re-establish- ment of ecclesiastical discipline. They made a cathedral of the abbey of Derry, of which Flathbert, then abbot, was first bishop. He was also appointed by the synod prefect general of all the abbeys of Ireland.* There were several monasteries for both sexes founded in this reign, as set forth in the following account : The abbey of Shroule was founded in 1150, for monks of the order of St. Bernard, by O'Ferrall, chief of the noble tribe of the O'Ferralls of Analy, now the county of Longford. t Jungelinus says that it was not founded till the year 1200, and that it was a branch of Mellifont. In the city of Athlone there Avas the abbey of St. Peter, or of Innocents.^ Ware says that this abbey had two titles, that of St. Peter, and St. Benedict. Some allege that this house was of the order of St. Benedict ; others, on the contrary, maintain that it be- longed to that of Citeaux. Jungelinus calls this abbey of Athlone, Bencdictio Dei, and says that it was founded about the year 1150, in honor of St. Peter and St. Bene- dict, and that it was situated in that part of the city which was in the county of Ros- common. The abbey of Nenay, in the county of Limerick, otherwise called De Magio, hav- ing been built on the river Magia, was en- dowed in 1148, by an O'Brien, king of Lime- rick, for monks of the order of Citeaux, and dedicated to the blessed Virgin.^ This abbey was a branch of Mellifont, and gave rise in its turn to several others. Jungelinus says it was founded in 1151. This house was called Na-Maigghe monastery, in the Irish language. * " A synod was convened by the Irish clergy, at Brighthaig, in the district of Leogaire ; at which the legate being present, 25 bishops assembled to examine into church discipline and morals. At this synod it was decreed by a general council, that the cathedral church should be conferred, in the man- ner of the other bishoprics, upon the Comarb, suc- cessor of St. Columb-Kill, Flethbertus O'Brolchan, and the supremacy of all the abbeys of the king- dom. The bishops of Connaught, however, were not present. On their journey to the synod, after leaving the church of Cluan-Mac-Nois, they were robbed on the way, and two of their party killed at Cluanias, by the emissaries of Diermitius O'Melagh- luin,king of Meath ; the others returned home." — Hibernian Annals in Colgan, 2Sth March. Life of St. Gelasius. t War. de Antiq. Hib. c. 26. Allemand, Hist. Monast. d'Irlande, page 180. t Wareus, ibid. Allemand, ibid, page 190. § War. ibid, Allemand, ibid, page 184. O'Dorney, near the town of Ardfert, in the county of Kerry, otherwise called the abbey of Kyrie-Eleison, of the order of Ci- teaux, and a branch of the abbey of Nenay, was founded in 1154.* Christian, who was one of the most celebrated bishops of Lis- more, and apostolical legate in Ireland, was interred in this abbey in 1186. The abbey called our Lady of Greenwood, or St. Patrick of Greenwood, De Viridi Ligno, in the city of Newry, in the county of Down, was founded by Moriertach-Ma- glochluin, monarch of Ireland, in 1153, for monks of the order of Citeaux. f Ware says that some incorrectly attribute the founda- tion of this house to St. Malachi, who died some years before. The abbey of Ferns, under the invocation of the blessed Virgin, in the county of Wex- ford, was founded in 1158, for regular can- ons of the order of St. Augustin, by Dermod Mac-Morrough, king of Leinster.| The priory of the canonesses of Kilclehin, or Bcllo Portu, a fine harbor on the river Suir, in the district of Kilkenny, nearly op- posite to Waterford, was founded in 1151, by Dermod Mac-Morrough, king of Lein- ster.^ This priory was dependent on the abbey of Hoggis, in Dublin, of Avhich we have already spoken. This king also found- ed a monastery for canonesses, nuns of the abbey of Hoggis, at Athaddy, in the district of Carlo w. At Clonard, in Meath, there was a nun- nery of the order of St. Augustin, which was endowed by O'Melaghlin, prince of Meath, and confirmed in its possessions by Pope Celestine III., in 1195. The monastery of Termon-Fechin, in Louth, was founded in the same century, (the date is not precisely known,) by the noble family of the Mac-Mahons of Mona- ghan, or Uriel, for nuns of the order of St. Augustin. II This foundation was confirmed in 1195, by Pope Celestine III. Gelasius, primate of Ireland, also con- vened in this reign, in the year 1162, a synod of twenty-six bishops, at Cleonad, in the diocese of Kildare ; in which, among other things, it was enacted that no one but a pupil of the University of Armagh should be admitted as professor of theology in a public school. TI In the succeeding reign this * War. ibid. Allemand, ibid, page 183. + Idem, page 194 I Wareus, ibid. § Wareus, ibid. Allemand, ibid, page 342. II Wareus, ibid. Allemand, ibid, page 349. IT Act. Sanct. Hib. Vit. S. Gelas. ad 28 Mart. c. 15, et sen. 240 HISTORY OP IRELAND. prelate convoked another synod at Athboy, in Meath, composed of the clergy and princes of Leth-Cuin, at which Roderick O'Connor, king- of Connaught, and monarch of Ireland, attended. The object of all these assemblies was the spiritual government of the church, and also the tranquillity of the slate. It is said that in this reign, in the year 11 55, Pope Adrian IV. issued the celebrated bull, by which this pontiH' transferred the sovereignty of Ireland to Henry II., king of England. The tenor of it is here given, in order that an opinion may be formed of it. " Adrian, bishop and servant of the servants of God, to his most dear son in Christ, the illustrious king of England, greeting, health, and apostolical benediction" " Thy greatness, as is becoming a Catho- lic prince, is laudably and successfully em- ployed in thought and intention, to propagate a glorious name upon earth, and lay up in heaven the rewards of a happy eternity, by extending the boundaries of the church, and making known to nations which are unin- structed, and still ignorant of tlie Christian faith, its truths and doctrine, by rooting up the seeds of vice from the land of the Lord : and to perform this more efficaciously, thou seekest the counsel and protection of the apostolical see, in which undertaking, the more exalted thy design will be, united with prudence, the more propitious, we trust, will be thy progress under a benign Providence, since a happy issue and end are always the result of what has been undertaken from an ardor of faith, and a love of religion. " It is not, indeed, to be doubted, that the kingdom of Ireland, and every island upon which Christ the sun of justice hath shone, and which has received the principles of the Christian faith, belong of right to St. Peter, and to the holy Roman church, (which thy majesty likewise admits,) from whence we the more fully implant in them the seed of faith, that seed which is acceptable to God, and to which we, after a minute investigation, consider that a conformity should be required by us the more rigidly. Thou, dearest son in Christ, hast likewise signified to us, that for the purpose of subjecting the people of Ireland to laws, and eradicating vice from among them, thou art desirous of entering that island ; and also of paying for each house an annual tribute of one penny to St Peter ; and of preserving the privileges of its churches pure and undefiled. We, there- fore, with approving and favorable views commend thy pious and laudable desire, and to aid thy undertaking, we give to thy petition our grateful and willing consent, that for the extending the boundaries of the church, the restraining the prevalence of vice, the improvement of morals, the implant- ing of virtue, and propagation of the Chris- tian religion, thou enter that island, and pursue those things which shall tend to the honor of God, and salvation of his people ; and that they may receive thee with honor, and revere thee as their lord : the privilege of their churches continuing pure and unre- strained, and the annual tribute of one penny from each house remaining secure to St. Peter, and the holy Roman Church. If thou therefore deem what thou hast projected in mind, possible to be completed, study to instil good morals into that people, and act so that thou thyself, and such persons as thou wilt judge competent from their faith, words, and actions, to be instrumental in ad- vancing the honor of the Irish church, pro- pagate and promote religion, and the faith of Christ, to advance thereby the honor of God, and salvation of souls, that thou mayest merit an everlasting reward of happiness hereafter, and establish on earth a name of glory, which shall last for ages to come. GiA^en at Rome, &c. &c. &c." The above was an edict pronounced against Ireland, by which the rights of men, and the most sacred laws are violated, under the specious pretext of religion and the reformation of morals.* The Irish were no longer to possess a covmtry. That people, who had never bent under a foreign yoke, " nunquam externa? subjacuit ditioni," were condemned to lose their liberty, without even being heard. t But can the vicar of Jesus Christ be accused of so glaring an act of injustice 1 Can he be thought capa- ble of having dictated a bull which over- threw an entire nation, which dispossessed so many ancient proprietors of their patri- monies, caused so much blood to be shed, and at length tended to the destruction of religion in the island ? It is a thing not to be conceived. In truth, were we to consider the circum- stances and motives of the bull, it has all the appearance of a fictitious one, under the borrowed name of Adrian IV. | Baronius quotes it, without giving any date of year or day, which would make it appear suspicious ; it remained unpublished for seventeen years ; it is said that it was fabricated in 1155, and not made public till 1172, which Nicholas * Cambrens. Evers. cap. 22. t Nubrigens. de Rebus Anglic, lib. 2, cap. 16. X Propug. Cathol. Verit. lib. 5, cap. 17. CHRISTIAN IRELAND. 247 Trivet ascribes to the opposition it met with from Henry's mother. He adds, that the king, having assembled his parliament at Winlon, about the festival of St. Michael, proposed the conquest of Ireland to his lords ; but that as it was displeasing to the empress his mother, he deferred the execution of it to another period.* The bull gains but little authentication from the authority of John of Salisbury, afterwards bishop of Chartres, in his treatise " de nugis curialibus." This writer is made to say, at the end of the last chapter of his fourth book, that " Pope Adrian had granted Ireland to king Henry, at his request, it being the patrimony of his holiness by he- reditary right, inasmuch as all the islands belonged to the Roman Church, by the concession of the Emperor Constantino the Great." But this nonsense is considered by the learned as having been added to the chapter by a strange hand ; since the author, in speaking particularly in the sixth and eighth books of his visit to the holy father at Benevento, where he remained with him for three months, states most minutely the various conversations which he had with his holiness, without making any mention of the bull in question, though it was a matter of particular importance, and that was naturally the fit time to have mentioned it. Pierre de Blois, a zealous panegyrist of this prelate, who published his praises in various epistles, makes no mention of it either. It is well known that king Henry, who found creatures sufficiently devoted to him to revenge his quarrel with the holy prelate of Canterbury, did not want for venal wri- ters to add to, and retrench from, the wri- tings of the times, in order to give an ap- pearance of authenticity to a document so necessary for the justification of his conduct. Besides, it appears that Salisbury had gone to Italy of his own accord, and through curi- osity, to visit his countryman Adrian, and not with any commission from the king of England ; while the bull, according to Mathew of Westminster, was obtained by a solemn embassy, which Henry had sent to the pope. In my opinion, however, this circumstance appears to be another fable added to the former ; as he is the first who mentions this embassy, and that two centu- ries afterwards. The silence, too, of Nu- brigensis, an English cotemporary author, respecting this embassy and the bull which it is affirmed was granted, is an argument which, though negative, deserves some atten- tion. This author, who was so zealous for * Usser. Epist. Hib. Syllog. Epist. 46. the glory of Henry H. and his nation, com- mences his narrative by saying that the English had entered Ireland in a warlike manner, and that, their forces increasing every day, they subjugated a considerable part of it.* He makes no mention of a bull granted by any pope ; and I consider it- highly improbable that he would have for- gotten to speak of a circumstance so neces- sary to give an appearance of justice to the unprecedented conduct of his nation. How- ever this be, it may be affirmed that no pope, either before or after Adrian IV., ever pun- ished a nation so severely without cause. We have seen instances of popes making use of their spiritual authority in opposition to crowned heads ; we have known them to excommunicate emperors and kings, and place their states under an interdict, for crimes of heresy, or other causes ; but we here behold innocent Ireland given up to tyrants, without having been summoned be- fore any tribunal, or convicted of any crime. If we consider the bull as the work of Adrian IV., it opens to our consideration two very important matters. The first is the real or supposed right of the popes to dispose of crowns and kingdoms ; the sec- ond regards the reason why the bull was granted, that is, the true or false statement which Henry had made to the pope, of the real state of religion in Ireland, on which the concession of the bull is founded. In the former we do not call in question the spiritual power of St. Peter's successor ; he is acknowledged by every Catholic Chris- tian as the vicar of Jesus Christ on earth, and the visible head of his church ; it is only necessary to know whether his power ex- tends equally over spiritual and temporal matters ; or rather, to speak in accordance with the schools, whether he received a two- fold power from God. I shall enter into no argument on this subject, which belongs more properly to theology than history, and which has already been so frequently dis- cussed. The digression would be of no value to my object, particularly as the bull only mentions islands ; though I see no rea- son why an island or a kingdom in the ocean should belong to the holy see, as affirmed in the bull, any more than the kingdoms on the continent, unless it be advanced that he holds the sovereignty of all the islands from the liberality of the emperor Constantino the * " At this time the Englisli made a descent upon Ireland in a warlike manner, and their numbers having increased, they became masters of no incon- siderable portion of it by force of arms." — Nubrigius, de Rebus. Anglic, b. 2, c. 26. 248- mSTORY OF IRELAND. Great; to which I answer, that Ireland, which had never obeyed the Romans, couhl not be of that number ;* consequently, this claim on Ireland is unfounded, and there- fore the concession of it unjust. It might more reasonably be made with reference to Great Britain, which was under the do- minion of the Romans both before and after the reign of Constantine ; yet the kings of England have never been understood to hold their sovereignty from the holy see. The supposed jurisdiction of the popes over the kingdom of Ireland acquires no great weight from the authority of Sanderus,t who says that the Irish, on receiving the holy gospel, had submitted, with all they possessed, to the empire of the popes, and acknowledged no other supreme princes but the sovereign pontiffs, till the time of the English. It would appear that this writer had not consulted the Psalter of Cashel, or the other records of Ireland, to which alone we should refer in matters concerning the coun- try. We discover in those records that there was an uninterrupted succession of monarchs in this island, from Irial till the time of St. Patrick, and from that apostle till the arrival of the English, without any men- tion of the temporal jurisdiction of the popes. Ranulphus Higden, an English Benedictine monk, and an historiographer of the four- teenth century, expressly mentions, in his book entitled " Polychronicon," the number of kings who had reigned in this island, from the time of St. Patrick to the invasion of the English. He says, that from the time of St. Patrick till the reign of Feidlim, and the time of Turgcsius, chief of the Danes, Ire- land was governed by thirty-three kings for the space of 400 years ; and that from that period to the reign of Roderick, the last mon- arch of the island, there were seventeen kings. J The royalty and succession of the monarchs of Ireland were acknowledged by the English at the end of the eleventh and * " The Irish nation, from the first period of their arrival, and from the reign of the first Heremon to the times of Gurmundis and Turgesius, (when her peace was disturbed,) and again from their death to our own times — continued free and undisturbed by any foreign nation." — G. Cambrensis, Topogra- phy of Ireland, cap. 31. t De Schism. Anglican, lib. 1, page 163. t " From the arrival of St. Patrick to the time ofking Feidlim, thirty-three kings reigned in Ireland, during 400 years. But in the time of Feidlim, the Norwegians, under the command of Turgesius, seized upon the island. From the time of Turgesius to the last monarch, Roderick, king of Connaught, 17 kings ruled in Ireland." beginning of the twelfth century, some years before the bull was forged. The letters of the archbishops of Canterbury to the kings of Ireland have been preserved ; namely, that of Lanfrancus to Terdelach, " illus- trious king of Ireland," and that of Anselm to the glorious Moricrtach.* William Ru- fus, king of England, sent to ask permission from Terdelach, monarch of Ireland, to cut wood in the forests of his kingdom, for the building of Westminster Abbey, and Henry I., in his letter to Radulphus, archbishop of Canterbury, which is the forty-first of the epistles quoted by Usher, seems to pay par- ticular regard to the recommendation of the king of Ireland in favor of Gregory, who was to be consecrated bishop. f Sanderus errs grossly in the same book, not only against historical truth, but also against chronology. He says that Henry II., with his followers, that is, Robert Fitz- stephen and the earl of Chepstow, having become masters of some places in the island by conquest, the bishops, some of the prin- ces, and a great part of the people, suppli- cated Pope Adrian to grant to Henry the sovereignty of Ireland, in order to put an end to the seditions and abuses which were springing up on account of the number of their petty kings. Adrian IV. was elected on the 3d of December, 1154, and held the holy see for four years, eight months, and twenty-nine days; he therefore died 1st September, 1159. According to the most correct authors of both nations, the first English adventurer who landed in Ireland, under title of ally of the king of Leinster, was Robert Fitzstephen. His arrival in the island is fixed in the year 1169. Some time afterwards he was followed by Richard of Chepstow, and in 1172 by Henry II. We should therefore place this supposed address of the clergy and people of Ireland to Adrian IV., at least twelve years * " Lanfrancus, a sinner, and the unworthy bishop of the holy church of Dover, to the illustrious Ter- delvacus, king of Ireland, blessing with respect and prayers." — Usher, Epist. Hib. Syllog. Epist. 27. " To Muriardachus, by the grace of God glorious king of Ireland, Anselm, servant of the church of Canterbury, greeting, health, salvation, &c., to the king and his lieutenant." — Ibid. Epist. 35. t " Henry, king of England, to Radulphus, arch- bishop of Canterbury, greeting, health," &.c. " The king of Ireland hath informed me by his letter, and the Burgesses of Dublin, that they have chosen this Gregory to be bishop, and that they send him to thee to be consecrated. Whence I command thee to pay regard to their petition, and consecrate him without delay : witness Radulphus our Chancellor at Windsor." — Usher, Epist. 41. CHRISTIAN IRELAND. 249 after the death of that pope, which does not agree with the calculations of Sanderus. I here subjoin another bull, which Eng- lish authors mention to have been given by Alexander III., confirming that of Adrian, and apparently of the same fabric* Were we to compare this bull and the preceding one, with the treatise on " Ireland Conquered," composed at the same time by Giraldus Cambrensis, we should discover great similarity of style between them ; and if they are not by the same writer, they appear at least to have been composed to maintain each other mutually, and thereby acquire a degree of credit among the public. Giraldus Cambrensis gives the motives for this buU.f " In the year of our Lord 1 172," says he, " Christian, bishop of Lismore, and legate of the holy see ; Donat, archbishop of Cashel ; Laurence, archbishop of Dublin, and Catholicus, archbishop of Tuam, with their suffragans, and a great number of abbots, archdeacons, priors, deans, and other prelates of the church of Ireland, held a council in the city of Cashel by order of king Henry, in which, after a strict investi- gation into the degeneracy of morals in that country, an address was prepared, sealed with the seal of the legate, to be sent to the court of Rome ; in compliance with which, Alexander, who was then pope, granted the sovereignty of Ireland to Henry, on condi- tion that he would propagate there the faith, and ecclesiastical discipline, according to the rites of the English church." I shall here confine myself to a few ob- servations on the council of Cashel, and the manner in which the court of Rome was disposed towards the king of England. I shall in its proper place refute the imputation of irreligion and degeneracy of morals, with which Ireland is branded. There is no mention made of any English bishops or doctors having assisted gi this * Alexander, bishop, servant of the servants of God, to his most dear son in Christ, the illustrious king of England, health and apostolic benediction. For as much as those things which are known to have been reasonably granted by our predecessors, deserve to be confirmed in lasting stability, we, adhering to the footsteps of pope Adrian, and re- garding the result of our gift to you, (the annual tax of one penny from each house being secured to St. Peter and the holy Roman church,) confirm and ratify the same, considering that its impurities being cleansed, that barbarous nation which bears the name of Christian, may by your grace, assume the comeliness of morality, and that a system of discipline being introduced into her heretofore un- regulated church, she may, through you, effectually attain with the name the benefits of Christianity. t Hiber. Expug. lib. 1, cap. 34. j council of Cashel. It was entirely composed I of Irish prelates, namely, the archbishops of Leinster, Munster, and Connaught, with their suffragans, and a great number of prelates of inferior rank, who formed three parts of the church of Ireland. St. Gelasius, the j primate, is not included. It was to these fathers that Henry confided the work of re- forming their countrymen ; and he had no need to bring other preachers among them. How can we reconcile the great degen- eracy supposed to have taken place in the religion and morals of the Irish people, with the zeal which the fathers of this council displayed for the reformation of both 1 Will it not be admitted that Henry II. himself was convinced that these ecclesias- tics were sufhciently enlightened and sufh- j ciently zealous to effect a reformation with- out the aid or co-operation of any foreign doctors ? Can it be imagined that their zeal was a species of fever which seized them at j the moment of their assembling at Cashel, and which immediately afterwards became extinct ? Should we not suppose that each of them preached and taught in his own church ; that the flocks listened to the voice of their shepherds, among a people who were submissive to their ecclesiastics, whom they held in the highest veneration 1 Re- ligion is improved by preaching, and the bishops and other pastors in Ireland were masters of that course, without any extraordi- nary mission from the pope or a foreign king. It is therefore improbable that the fathers of this council, supposing them free, would have forged chains for themselves, under the specious pretext of the propagation of the faith, or that they would have submitted, by a public act, to a foreign yoke, to the preju- dice of their legitimate princes. It was not in their power to act in such a manner. The bull of Alexander III. must appear a paradox to all those who strictly investi- gate the morals of Henry, and his behavior to the court of Rome. A bad Christian makes a bad apostle. What was Henry II. ? A man who in private life forgot the essential duties of religion, and frequently those of nature ; a superstitious man, who, under the veil of religion, joined the most holy practices to the most flagrant vices ; regardless of his word, when to promote his own interest, he broke the most solemn trea- ties with the king of France ; he considered principle as nothing, when the sacrifice of it promised to produce him a benefit. It is well known, that without any scruple, he married Eleanor of Aquitaine, so famous for her debaucheries, and branded by her 250 HISTORY OF IRELAND. divorce from Louis VII. He ungratefully confined this very woman in chains, though she liad brought him one-fourth of France as her marriage portion. He was a bad father, quarrelled with all his children, and became engaged in wars on every side.* As a king, he tyrannized over his nobles and took pleasure in confounding all their privi- leges : like his predecessors, he was the sworn enemy of the popes ; he attacked their rights, persecuted their adherents, sent back their legates with contempt, encroach- ed upon the privileges and immunities of the church, and gloried in supporting the most unjust usurpers of them ; which led to the martyrdom of St. Thomas of Canterbury. Again, his debaucheries are admitted by every historian.! No one is ignorant that he went so far as to seduce the young Alix, who had been betrothed to his son Richard, and that all the misfortunes which filled the latter part of his life with affliction, were caused by this passion, as obstinate as it was criminal and base. Behold the apostle, the reformer, whom the holy see would have chosen to convert Ireland ! The witnesses we here bring forth are not to be suspected. Cambrensis himself, whose opinions I have elsewhere refuted, is the first to acknow- ledge the irregularities of Henry II. He who knew him so well, and who was his friend and favorite, thus speaks of his morals. I It cannot be supposed that his conduct towards Alexander III. would have induced him, as pope, to grant the bull attributed to him. In 1150, Henry promised obedience to Octavianus, the anti-pope, and in 1166, to Guido, his successor. Roger Hoveden, an English contemporary writer, says, that in 1164 he pronounced a harsh and wicked edict against Pope Alexander, " Henricus rex fecit grave edictum, et execrabile, con- tra Alexandrum papam," &c. In that same year, he enacted laws, by which it was for- bidden, under heavy penalties, to obey the * Baker, Chron. of England. Life of Henry II. t Harpsfield, sajculo 12, cap. 15. t " He was less given to devotion than to hunting ; was an open violator of the marriage contract ; a ready breaker of his promise in most things ; for whenever he got into difficulties he preferred to re- pent rather of his word than of his deed, considering it more easy to nullify the former than the latter. He was an oppressor of the nobility ; daringly au- dacious in liis usurpations of sacred things, and in his desire to monopolize the administration of jus- tice ; he united the laws of his realm with those of the church, or rather confounded them together; and converted to the purpose of the state the reve- nues of the vacant churches." — Hibernia Expug- natii', book 1, c. 45. sovereign pontiff or his censures ; which gave rise to the complaints made by the pope of him, in a letter which he wrote to Roger, the archbishop.* It is mentioned by Baronius, that in the same year, Henry had caused troubles capable of overthrowing not only the primate of Canterbury and the whole English church, but even the holy Catholic church and its prelate Alexander, for whom, in particular, he had laid his snares. t Wcstmonasteriensis says that in 1168 he sent an ambassador to the emperor Frederick, proposing to second him in de- posing pope Alexander, who had become his adversary by encouraging the opposi- tion of Thomas a Becket. He adds, that he made his English subjects, both young and old, abjure their obedience to the pope.J In fine, he was so disrespectful to the holy see, that he dismissed, with contempt, the cardinals whom the pope had sent to him in 1169. These bulls have, in fact, all the appear- ance of forgery. They are not to be met with in any collection. It appears, also, that Henry II. considered them so insufiicient to strengthen his dominion in Ireland, that he solicited Pope Lucius III., who succeeded Alexander, to confirm them ; but that pope was too just to authorize his usurpation, and paid no regard to a considerable sum of money which the king sent to him.§ * " When the king should attend to reforming the abuses of his predecessors, he himself adds in- justice to injustice, and establishes and confirms, under sanction of the royal authority, equally un- just institutions ; under which the liberty of the church perishes, and the regulations of apostolical men are, so far as it lies in his power, deprived of their efiicacy. The king himself, trifling with our forbearance by the subtle acts of his ambassadors, seems to have so far hardened his mind to our ad- monitions, that he will not be reconciled to tiie archbishop," &c. &c. — Hoveden, pp. 518, 519, cited Grat. Luc. c. 23. t " Henry raised the waters to overwhehn not only the bishop of Canterbury, together with the whole English church, but the entire of the holy Catholic church, together with its pastor Alexander, against whom, in particular, he directed his machi- nations." t " King Henry, whose anger was changed into hatred of the blessed Thomas, and of the pope, in consequence of his having espoused the cause of the former, sent to the emperor Frederick, request- ing him to co-operate in removing Alexander from the popedom ; because he had made himself obnox- ious to Henry by aiding the fugitive and traitorous Thomas, who had been the archbishop of Canter- bury for some time ; he caused the obedience due in England to the pope to be abjured by all, from the boy of twelve years old to aged men." — West. Flor. Hist. 1168. § Cambrens. Evers. cap. 24. CHRISTIAN IRELAND. 251 The misunderstanding between the sove- reign pontiff and the king of England was carried to the highest pitch by the martyr- dom of the archbishop of Canterbury, which happened in 1171. Strong suspicions were entertained of the prince having contributed to that barbarous deed. He saw the storm ready to burst upon him, and being desirous to avert the blow, he sent ambassadors to Rome, who were very badly received. The pope refused to see or hear them, and all that could be obtained from his holiness was, to use the general terms of abettors, actors, and accomplices, in the. excommuni- cation he pronounced on that occasion, with- out naming Henry.* Such was the state of affairs between Alexander HI. and Henry H., who never ceased annoying the pope, from the time of his elevation to the holy see, in 1159, to 1172, the date of the bull. Every year he was guilty of some new act, as dishonoring to the pope as it was injurious to the in- terests of the church. The massacre of St. Thomas of Canterbury, which happened in the year above mentioned, alarmed all Eu- rope, and angered the pope to such a de- gree against Henry, that he was on the point of making use of the spiritual weapons of the church against him. Can we believe that, under these circumstances, the pope would have publicly loaded the man with benefits, whom he had tacitly excommuni- cated ? It is quite impossible to imagine, that in order to bring a foreign people back to their obedience to the holy see, his holiness would have committed the undertaking to a prince who had already banished that obe- dience from his own states. In order to judge of the motives upon which the bulls of Adrian IV. and Alex- ander III. were founded, the state of the church of Ireland, at this time, should be examined into. Ireland was, from its conversion to the Christian religion in the beginning of the fifth, to the incursion of the Danes in the ninth century, universally acknowledged to have been the theatre of learning, and the * " The pope refused either to see or hear the ambassadors whom Henry liad sent to e.xculpate himself from the murder of Thomas of Canterbury ; but the Roman court cried out, ' desist, desist,' as if it were impious for tlic pope to hear the name of Henry who had sent them. By the general advice of the council, tlie pope dispensed with expressly mentioning the name of the king, and the country beyond the sea ; but the sentence of the interdict was maintained, and that against the bishops con- firmed." — Hoveden, page 526. seminary of virtue and sanctity ; which ac- quired for her the glorious title of the " Island of Saints." But it must be allowed that, for nearly two centuries, that is, from the ninth to the beginning of the eleventh, the north- ern pirates had never ceased committing devastations in the island, pillaging and burning her churches and religious houses ; the public schools became interrupted ; ig- norance spread its influence widely, and reli- gion suffered much in its practice, without, however, becoming entirely extinct. After the complete overthrow of those barbarians in 1014, at the battle of Clon- tarf, near Dublin, Ireland having recovered her freedom, the inhabitants began to re- build their churches and public schools, and to restore religion to its primitive splen- dor. From the battle of Clontarf to the reign of Henry II., and the period of the bulls in question, about a century and a half elapsed ; during which time all ranks were emulous -in their endeavors to re-establish good order in the government, and discipline in the churches. For these purposes several coun- cils were convened and held, at which the monarch and other princes of the kingdom attended, and canons and statutes were enacted for the regulation of morals, and the restoration of discipline. Cardinal Paparo was in a position to inform the holy see of the measures adopted in the council of Kells, over which he had presided. During this interval of time, Ireland pro- duced prelates of the highest celebrity for their virtues and doctrine, who would have been an ornament to the most flourishing churches in Europe. In the Roman Martyrology we discover St. Celsus, St. Malaclii, and St. Laurence. Gelasius, archbishop of Armagh, had led so austere a life, that Colgan does not hesitate to number him among the saints, in the trea- tise on his life, under the date of the twenty- seventh March.* This holy man, says Cam- brensis, being exhausted hy old age and fasting, took no sustenance but the milk of a white cow, which was brought in his train. Christian, bishop of Lismore, was so emi- nent for his virtue, that Wion and Menard place him in their martyrology. St. Bernard speaks highly of Malchus, bishop of Lismore, in his life of St. Malachi, in which he says that " he was a man ad- vanced in years, eminent in virtue, and pos- I sessed of great wisdom ; that God had en- dowed him Avith such abundant grace, that * Act. Sanct. Hib. Hibern. Expug. lib. 1, c. 34. 252 HISTORY OF IRELAND. he was celebrated, not only for his life and j doctrine, but also for his miracles."* St. Bernard, too, speaks of St. Imar, from whom St. Malachi received his early educa- tion, lie calls him " a holy man, who led a very austere life, and chastised his body with rigor. He had a cell near the church of Armagh, in which he spent his days and nights in fasting and in prayer."! Colgan mentions St. Imar Hua-Hedhagain, who had built at Armagh the church of the apostles St. Peter and St. Paul, and who had performed a pilgrimage to Rome, in 1131, for the benefit of his soul. St. Bernard again says, that " Malachi had a brother called Christian, a man fvdl of grace and virtue ; he was a bishop, and though he might have been, in reputation, inferior to Malachi, he did not yield to him in the sanctity of his life, nor in his zeal for justice." " St. Christian Huamorgair," says Colgan, (following the annals of the four masters, for the year 1138,) " was bishop of Clogher, and an eminent doctor in wisdom and religion. He was a lamp that shone by his preaching, and a devout servant of God, that enlightened both the people and clergy by his good works, and a faithful pastor of the church. He died the 12th June, and was interred at Armagh, in the monastery of the apostles SS. Peter and Paul." Gilbert, bishop of Limerick, and apos- tolical legate, was celebrated for his zeal in the government of the church. He convened an assembly of the bishops and princes to oblige St. Malachi to accept of the see of Armagh. I Usher quotes a treatise on the ecclesias- tical ritual, addressed by Gilbert of Limerick to the bishops of Ireland, and another by the same author respecting the state of the church, " de statu Ecclesiae," about the year 1090.'5» He also gives us a letter 'from the same Gilbert to Anselm, archbishop of Can- terbury, with his answer. II This great man, worn down with age, and no longer able to sustain its burden, resigned the powers of legate to Innocent III., which that pope conferred on St. Malachi.^ St. Bernard mentions, in his preface to the life of St. Malachi, the abbot of Congan, whom he speaks of as a reverend brother and a dear friend : " Reverendus frater et dulcis amicus meus." He speaks of Edan, * St. Bernard, Life of St. Malachi, c. 3. t Ibid. t Ibid. § Epist. Hibern. Syllog. Epist. 30. II Ibid. Epist. 31. V " Appointing him legate for the whole of Ire- land." — HihernitB Epistolce, c. 2. whom St. Malachi had placed instead of his brother Christian, in the bishopric of Clogher, and a young man whom he calls a second Zacheus,* who was the first lay brother in the monastery of Shrowl, where they bore testimony to his having lived in a holy man- ner among the brethren : " Testimonium habet ab omnibus, quod sancte conversetur inter fratres." This author also mentions a poor, but holy and learned man, whom St. Malachi had placed in the see of Cork, with the approbation of the people. t According to Cambrensis, Maurice, arch- bishop of Cashel, was a learned and discreet man : " Vir literatus et discretus."| St. Malachi, St. Gelasius, St. Laurence, and the other prelates and holy persons whom I have just mentioned, except Malchus of Lismore,had all studied in Ireland, instead of being indebted to foreigners for their education. The schools, particularly those of Armagh, Avere already firmly re-establish- ed during the interval between the battle of Clontarf and the arrival of the English. In the council of Cleonard, composed of twenty- six bishops, convened by St. Gelasius, it was decreed among other things, that none but a scholar of the university of Armagh should be admitted as a professor of theology in a public school.^ St. Bernard mentions a professor of Armagh, who was celebrated for those branches of education which are called liberal : " Erat enim famosus in disci- plinis quas dicunt liberales."|| He says that although there were eight married men, who successively usurped the see of Armagh, they were, notwithstanding, learned :T[ "Octo extiterant ante Celsum viri uxorati et absque ordinibus, literati tamen." Wemaysuppose that those bishops who succeeded them ca- nonically, were not less so. The sovereign pontiffs were so well convinced of the merit and erudition of the Irish bishops, that they appointed five of them, one after the other, apostolical legates, namely, Gilbert, bishop of Limerick; St. Malachi; St. Christian, bishop of Lismore ; St. Laurence, archbishop of Dublin, and Mathew O'Heney, archbishop of Cashel. Henry II. himself employed no other missionaries than the prelates of Ire- land, whom he had convoked at Cashel, to cultivate religion, and reform the morals of the people. * St. Bernard, Vit. S. Malach. cap. 7. t Ibid. t Top. Hib. Dist. 3, cap. 32. § " Regulations were made for laymen as well as ecclesiastics, regarding good morals and disci- pline."— Li/fi of St. Gelas., c. 23. II Vit. S. Malach. cap. 1. IT Idem. cap. 7. CHRISTIAN IRELAND. 253 During this interval of time, Ireland sent several holy missionaries into foreign coun- tries.* Raderus, an ancient author of the life of St. Marianus, and John Aventinus, speak of Murchertach, Marianus, Clement, John, Isaac, Candidus, Magnoaldus, and many others, all Scots from Ireland, who had preached and instructed the inhabitants of Ratisbon, and its environs. They first settled in the church of St. Peter, in the suburbs of the city, under the protection of the emperor, Henry IV., but their numbers having increased, they built in the city of Ratisbon the rnonastery of James, which gave birth to other establishments for the Scots of Ireland, in the cities of Houitz- berg in Franconia, Vienna in Austria, Erm- stadt, Nuremberg, and others. f The Chronicle of Ratisbon mentions, that Denis, abbot of the monastery of the Scots at Ratisbon, had sent to Ireland Isaac and Gervasius, natives of that country, and of noble descent, to look for some assistance towards rebuilding their monastery, and that Conchovar O'Brien, king of Munster, and other princes, had sent them back to Ger- many, loaded with gold and silver, with which the abbot bought a piece of ground, and caused the house to be rebuilt. | The annals of Ireland mention, that Con- chovar O'Brien, king of Munster, after hav- ing sent considerable presents to Lothaire, king of the Romans, for the expedition to the Holy Land, undertook a pilgrimage to Kildare, where he died in 1142: "Per magnaj nobilitatis, ac potentiae comites cruce * Act. Sanct. Hib. ad 17 Jan. Cambr. Evers. cap. 21 et 22. t " Muricherodachus, an Irishman, and coming from the ancient Scotia, was beforehand with his countryman Marianus." — Raderi in Bavaria. " At this time also, D. Marianus Scotus, a poet and an eminent theologian, inferior to none in his time, together with his brotiier philosophers John and Candidus, Clement, Murcheridacus, Magnoal- dus, and Isaac, came to Germany, and then pro- ceeded to Reginbiirgh." — Annals of the Boii. " Ireland indeed was, in the time of our ances- tors, most fertile in holy and learned men. Thence ColumbanuSjChilianus, and most of those designated Scots migrated into Germany. Here the excellent Marianus, with si.\ of his disciples, arrived at Rcgin- burgh, where they inhabited an edifice outside the walls of the city, but a great number of Gentiles coming thither, by their assistance and that of the Boii, they built a large church within the city. There, by their zeal in religious observances, their chastity and rigid abstinence, as well as by writing and teaching, they attained great celebrity, and by their pious example edified not only the Boii, but also their neighbors. All were unanimous in praise of them."— Joan. Avent. b. 5; Annals of the Boii. X Page 62 of this History. signatos, et Hierosolyman petituros, ad Lo- therium regem Romanorum ingentia munera misisse traditur." Christianus, a man of noble birth, and descended from the leading family of the Macartys in Ireland, on becoming abbot of the monastery of the Scots of St. James at Ratisbon, and finding that the money which his predecessor had obtained from Ireland was already spent, and that the brothers were in great distress, was anxious to remedy their wants. He accordingly returned to Ireland, to seek the aid of Donat O'Brien, king of Munster, and the other princes of the country. The holy man, however, died on the eve of his departure, and the sum obtained was placed in the hands of the archbishop of Cashel.* Gratianus Lucius accuses the author of the Ratisbon Chronicle of an error in chro- nology, or at least of having substituted one name for another. He is correct in asserting that there was then no king of Munster, muchlessoflreland, called Donatus O'Brien, and that this fact of Irish history, and the alms granted to Christianus, must either refer to Donatus Macarty, (king of Desmond, according to the division of that province by Terdelach O'Connor, who was at that time the monarch,) or to Terdelach O'Brien, who was king of Munster. However this error may have arisen, which does not affect the groundwork of the history, the same chron- icle mentions that Gregory, a native of Ireland, a man eminent for his virtues, and a regular canon of the order of St. Augustin, having been admitted into the order of St. Benedict, and received as a member of the community of Ratisbon by Christianus, was elected abbot on the death of the latter. In the mean time, Marianus, a celebrated Irish scholar and a learned man, who was public professor of the liberal arts in Paris, (where he had for his disciple Nicholas Breakspeare, an Englishman, afterwards pope, under the title of Adrian IV.,) was received into the house of Ratisbon. After his election, Gre- gory went to Rome to receive his consecra- tion from the hands of Pope Adrian IV. The pope questioned him on several matters, and particularly about his old master Ma- rianus. " Marianus," replied Gregory, " is well ; he has renounced the world to embrace the monastic state in our house at Ratisbon." " God be praised," said Adrian. " I have never known in the catholic church an abbot so perfect in wisdom, prudence, and other * Chron. Ratisbonense, apud Grat. Luc. pages 21, 62, et seq. 254 inSTORY OF IRELAND. gifts of God, as my master Marianus." On his return to Ratisbou, Gregory, at the soH- citation of the brothers, went to Irehmd, where lie received from Muriertach O'Brien, successor to Donatus, (to whom he presented a letter from Conradus, king of the Romans,) the sum of money which had been deposited at Cashel on the death of Christianus, his predecessor. With this money he purchased land and goods at Ratisbon, and rebuilt the church and monastery.* The troubles caused in Ireland by the English after the twelfth century, having obliged the Irish Scots to leave their house at Ratisbon, it fell into the hands of the Scotch, who were always ready to appropriate to themselves every thing desirable, particularly when connected with the name Scot. About this time also flour- ished the celebrated Marianus, known by the name of Marianus Scotus, and who was con- sidered a chronologist of the first order. He was born in Ireland in 1028, and became a monk, or as he himself says, withdrew from the world in 1052. He left Ireland in 1056, and Avent to Germany, where he shut himself up for almost three years in the abbey of St. Martin of Cologne.! From that he went to the abbey of Fulde, in which he remained ten years, and was ordained priest in 1059. Finally, he left Fulde in 1069, to go to Mentz, (Mayence,) where he continued till his death, which took place in 1086, he being then fifty-eight years old. He was interred in the convent of St. Martin, or according to others, in the church of St. Peter, outside of the city. Marianus was, undoubtedly, the most learned man of his age ; an excellent his- torian, a distinguished arithmetician, and a profound theologian.^ Trithemius says " he was very learned in the holy Scriptures, well versed in all the sciences, possessed of an acute genius, and led an exemplary life ;"§ he adds, that he died with a reputation of sanctity. He left many works, and wrote a universal chronology, " Chronicon Uni- versale," from the creation to the year 1083, which was continued to 1200 by Dodechin, abbot of Disibod, in the diocese of Triers. He took Cassiodorus as his guide, which he enlarged considerably. According to Bale he wrote "E vangelistarum concordiam," "De universal! computo," " Emendationes Dio- nysii," " De magno Cyclo Paschali," "Algo- * Chron. Ratisbonense, apud Grat. Luc. pages 21, 162, et seq. t War. de Script. Hib. t Sigebert. de Gemblours, de Scriptor. Eccles. page 172. § Catalog. Vir. Illustr. rismum," " Breviarium in Lucam," " Anno- tationcs Scripturarum," " Epistolas hortato- rias."* According to others, he wrote "Com- mentaria in Psalmos,"and" Notitiautriusque Imperii."! It is afl!irmed that there are epistles of St. Paul, written by the hand of Marianus, with commentaries, in the library of the emperor of Vienna. J In the interval between the overthrow of the Danes, and the time of Henry II., (the period of the production of the bulls of Adrian IV. and Alexander III.,) several churches and monasteries were established. I have already given the dates of their found- ations, and the names of their founders. We discover, at the same time, among the princes and nobles of Ireland, illustrious ex- amples of religion and piety, by the voluntary surrender of their crowns, dignities, and pos- sessions, to follow the more freely the foot- steps of Jesus Christ. The example of kings and princes has a great influence over their people. In the eleventh century, we find Donnough, son of Brien Boiroimhe, monarch of the island, give up his kingdom, and after spending a life of penance, end his days in St. Stephen's abbey at Rome. Flahertach O'Neill, a prince highly esteemed in Ulster, renounced the world to practise penance, and undertook a pilgrimage to Rome. Teige Mac-Lorcan, king of Kinseallagh, ended his life in an edifying manner in the monastery of Gleandaloch. ^Cahal-Mac-Rory O'Con- nery, king of Connaught, and Moriertach O'Brien, kingof Munster, and joint monarch of Ireland, animated with the same spirit of religion and penance, ended their days, one at Armagh, and the other at Lismore. After all that I have said on the state of religion in Ireland during the hundred and fifty years which immediately preceded the reign of Henry II. ; of the several councils which had been convened for the regulation of morals and the re-establishment of disci- pline ; of so many saints and learned prelates who were an honor to religion, and from among whom, Catholicus, archbishop of Tuam ; Laurence, archbishop of Dublin ; Constantine, bishop of Killaloe ; Brictius, bishop of Limerick ; Augustin, bishop of W^aterford ; and Felix, bishop of Lismore, were considered worthy of being called to the third general council of Lateran, in 1 1 79 ; after exhibiting the many zealous mis- sionaries who had left their country, (their * Script. Britan. cent. 14, n. 45. t Joannes Vossius de Hist. Lat. lib. 2, pp. 360 ct 361. Dempst. Hist. Eccles. Scot. lib. 9. t Lambecius, lib. 2, cap. 8, page 749. CHRISTIAN IRELAND. 255 ministry not being perhaps needed at home,) to go and instruct foreign nations ; after de- scribing so many religious foundations, ef- fected through the liberality of the faithful ; and lastly, viewing the numerous examples of virtue given by the heads of the nation ; can it be supposed that the degeneracy of morals and religion was so general and in- veterate as is represented in the two bulls of Adrian and Alexander ? People who rationally weigh the whole, will not be such dupes as to believe them. The priest and his flock will resemble each other, " sicut populus, sic sacerdos." The Irish, says Stanihurst, possess docile and flexible dispo- sitions ; the priests have a great influence over them, and easily work upon their feel- ings by their exhortations.* Let us listen to the account given by Cambrensis, whose testimony cannot be suspected, respecting the clergy of Ireland in general. " The clergy of that coimtry," says he, " are highly to be praised for their religion ; and, among other virtues with which they are endowed, their chastity forms a peculiar feature. Those who are intrusted with the divine service, do not leave the church, but apply themselves wholly to the reciting of psalms, prayers, and reading. They are extremely temperate in their food, and never eat till towards evening, when their oflice is ended." I am convinced that a people instructed by such masters, cannot deserve the shameful imputations which have served as a pretext for the bulls above quoted. The life of St. Malachi, written by- St. Bernard, and that of St. Laurence, archbishop of Dublin, by an anonymous wrfler of the college of Eu, as related by Surius and Messingham, pre- sent to us so great a number of both sexes, who not only made profession of virtue and piety, but likewise practised religion in its highest purity, that it is impossible to believe that the contagion was universal. It affected but a few ; and if a country de- serve to be destroyed, and given up to a foreign power, for the faults of individuals, the most polished nations should at present fear the same fate. The greater part of those who went to Ireland, under Henry II., to reform the morals of the Irish, were the descendants of the Normans who had accompanied Wil- liam the Conqueror into England. Their sojourn in France had been too short to * " The majority of the Irish are very religious : their priests are dignified, and by their wholesome admonitions the consciences of the people (who are docile and respectful) are very easily worked upon." — Stanihurst, b. 1, p. 49. have enabled them to divest themselves completely of the barbarous manners of their ancestors, and assume those of the polished people of that country ; and their removal to England did not tend to diminish their ferocity. Indeed, the tumults of war, and the hostilities which are inseparable from it, are ill calculated to polish the man- ners. During the four reigns which had preceded that of Henry II., they were con- tinually under arms, either to crush the re- volts of the Anglo-Saxons, or check the in- cursions of the Scotch, or lastly, to complete the conquest of the principality of Wales. They must therefore have acquired polite- ness by inspiration, to have been capable of polishing the manners of others. Such, however, were the doctors whom Henry II. sent to Ireland, by apostolical authority, (as it is pretended,) to re-establish religion, and correct the morals of the peo- ple ; but their conduct was more calculated to shake the true believers, than confirm them in the Christian religion. They made the Irish pay dearly for their pretended mis- sion, and taught them the English language to their cost. Experience itself proves the futility of this pretended reformation. The first adventurers who came from England into Ireland, were people that held nothing sacred ; but their children, more happy than their fathers, having been civilized by their intercourse with the natives of the latter country, whose manners they assumed, lost altogether that ferocity of disposition which is, even to this day, the attribute of the in- habitants of Great Britain. We shall now examine upon what basis the imputation of rudeness and barbarity of manners, which has been cast upon the Irish, is grounded. Every one is aware of the libels and dreadful calumnies which Giral- dus Cambrensis published in his topography, against Ireland ; his distortions of language, and the studied research for terms and words to which he resorts, in order to defame her, must be admitted. He describes the inhab- itants as a cheating, passionate, traitorous people, and faithless to every engagement. Although it be allowed by men of wisdom, that the evidence of a man who speaks ill of his enemy is not admissible,* it is possible, notwithstanding, that the English may have found the Irish to be so disposed towards themselves. The sway of the English in Ireland was considered by the natives as a violence, an injustice, and usurpation ; con- sequently any engagement made with them * Bodiii. Method. Hist. cap. 4. 25G HISTORY OF IRELAND. was lookf d upon not to be binding. They did not think theniS(»lvos bound by the law of nature, which forbids us either to take the goods of others, or do violence to their will. They therefore thought themselves dispensed with, from keeping their word with a people who observed no treaty made with them, and whose only rule was the law of the strongest ; like a man who, having given his purse to save his life, thinks he has a right to reclaim it when the danger is over. These are the principles which the Irish observed in their conduct towards the English, to whom they saw themselves a prey ; principles Avhich drew upon them the exaggerated attacks of Cambrensis. That author again judges of the manners of the Irish by the supposed peculiarity of their dress ;* as if the exterior appearance had any analogy with the disposition of the man. The Irish wore long garments, like the Romans and other people, and the pre- sent nations of the east, who however are not, on that account, reputed barbarous. The long hair which Cambrensis accuses them of having worn, and which he assigns as a proof of their barbarity, was worn by the Egyptians, who were, notwithstanding, considered a polite people. The Lacedemo- nians looked upon it as a symbol of candor ; and it is well known that a considerable part of Gaxil was called Gallia Comata, on ac- count of the long hair by which its inhabit- ants were distinguished from other people. The beard was as commonly worn among the ancients as long hair ; the razor not having been used among the Romans till four centuries and a half after the foundation of their city, nor till a much later period among the other nations of Europe. The Irish originally wore sandals, nearly the same as other nations ; in the time of Cambrensis, they wore flat and pointed shoes without heels, tied with leather strings instead of buckles, called in their language brogues, which, however, appeared barba- rous to a man fond of novelty. " Juxta mo- dernas novitates incultissima ;" without heels and buckles, a man was considered barba- rous by Cambrensis. If a people are to be accounted barbarous for not conforming in their style of dress to the taste of their neigh- bors, every nation may be considered bar- barous ; and if it be necessary to adopt new fashions, in order to be thought a polished * " This people, uncivilized not only in their bar- barous mode of dress, but likewise in their mode of wearing the hair and beards, are very uncouth, ac- cording to modern ideas, and their manners are of a barbarous turn." — Topography, dist. 3, cap. 10. nation, every country is barbarous in its turn, since every age, and even every year, brings about new fashions. The Irish were much attached to their own customs ; they de- spised novelty in dress, which is indicative of the inconstancy and frivolity of mankind. Dress is not the only thing which the Eng- lish discovered to be barbarous among this people ; according to them, they were so even in their names. In his description of Westmeath, when speaking of the proprie- tors of land in that country, Camden men- tions the O'Malaghlins of Clonlolan, and the Magheoghegans of Moicassel, who were lords of the country, as persons whose names, he said, had a barbarous sound.* Names are generally conformable to the language, and the pronunciation depends on the accent of the country in which they are used. It is not surprising that a foreigner should find something harsh in the pronun- ciation of proper names which are not fa- miliar to him, as several German, Bohemian, Hungarian, and other names, are to be met with every day in history, the pronuncia- tion of which appears harsh to us ; but none except an Englishman, that is, a man full of himself and despising all others, could impute barbarity to a people from the pro- nunciation of their names. It is easy to discover the springs which the Englishman put in motion on this occa- sion. The supposed reformation of the morals of the Irish was but a pretext which he made use of to usurp the crown of Ire- land, and dispossess a numerous proprietory of the inheritance which they held from their ancestors. Charity cannot but appear suspicious when influenced by interest. The difference of religion is not a reason for despoiling men of their properties, still less for depriving them of their politeness ; and the right of conquest is but a chimerical right, authorized by no law, either human or divine. Nothing but a war founded on just grounds, that is, on some injury from those we in- tend to reduce, can render a conquest law- ful. At the time we speak of, there was no war between the English and the Irish ; and if the king of Leinster brought over the for- mer to assist him in recovering his crown, he rewarded them amply. He could give them no right over the other provinces, not possessing any over them himself. Henry II. got rid of all these obstacles. This ambitious prince, not content with the crown of England, the duchies of Normandy, * Camden, p. 754. CHRISTIAN IRELAND. 257 Aquitaine, &c., which he possessed on the continent, looked upon Ireland as an object deserving his attention. It was a large island, very populous, fertile, conveniently situated, and had very often sent succor to the king of France, with whom he was frequently at war.* The king of England, finding himself unable to reduce Ireland by force of arms, had recourse to every strata- gem, even to religion, to conquer this king- dom. Westmonasteriensis says that he so- licited, through a solemn embassy, the new Pope Adrian (confident of obtaining itof him, as he was an Englishman) for leave to enter Ireland in a hostile manner, to subjugate it.f It is alleged, that he represented to him that religion was almost extinct in the coun- try ; that the morals of the people were cor- rupted, and that it was necessary to remedy it, for the glory of Christianity. In his zeal, he offered to become an apostle for that end, on condition that his holiness would grant him the sovereignty of the island, and also promised to pay Peter's pence for every house. The pope, who was born his sub- ject, readily granted him (as it is pretended) his request ; and the liberty of an entire na- tion was sacrificed to the ambition of the one, through the complaisance of the other. Like an able statesman, Henry waited a favorable opportunity to carry his project into execution. This presented itself in a civil war that broke out between the mon- arch and the king of Leinster, of which he took advantage to begin his mission ; and although, according to the law of God, it is not by despoiling our neighbor of his pro- perty that we should convert him, still the missionaries whom Henry II . employed were men with arms in their hands, and more in- tent upon converting the land to their own use, to the prejudice of the old proprietors, than gaining souls to God. We shall now resume the thread of our history, and the reign of Moriertach Maclochluin. CHAPTER XVI. Great men have sometimes great defects, and their virtues are frequently obscured by their vices. The monarch of Ireland was a pious prince, zealous in the cause of reli- gion, and a protector of the church and its * Polldor. Virgil, lib. 13, p. 555. Baker, Chron. Engl, page 55. t Flor. Hist. lib. 2, p. 246. privileges,* but his ruling passion was anger, which sometimes degenerated into madness. f Eochad, prince of Ulad, or Dalrieda, now the county of Antrim, was one of those who felt the effects of his passion. Being de- sirous to shake off the yoke, and to get fret from the dominion of the monarch, his formidable enemy entered his principality, and putting all to fire and sword, forced him to seek safety by flight ; whereupon Gelasus, primate of Ireland, continually occupied in preserving peace between the princes of the country, prevailed upon Mo- riertach the monarch, and the other princes and nobles of Tir-Eogan, Oirgiell, and Ulad, to come to Armagh, where he concluded, to all appearance, a solid peace between the monarch and the prince of Ulad, of which he was himself a guarantee, together with Dunchad O'Caruell, prince of Ergallie, or Orgiell. The prince of Ulad paid homage to the monarch, gave him hostages, and was restored to his estates. This peace, however, though in appearance solid, was of short duration. The monarch, either thinking himself not sufficiently revenged, or having had some fresh motive of displeasure, caused Eochad's eyes to be taken out, and the hos- tages he had given him to be put to death. The prince of Ergallie, finding himself in- sulted and aggrieved by the infraction of a treaty to which he had been a guarantee, resolved to take revenge. For this purpose he collected all the forces he could muster, and being joined by the inhabitants of Ulad, Ive-Bruin, and Conmacne, his allies, he marched at the head of nine thousand armed men into Tyrone, where, at Litterluin, he unexpectedly attacked the monarch, who was sacrificed, with several of his nobles, to the vengeance of an injured people. Keating and Bruodine assert that this monarch died a natural death, after a peaceful reign of eighteen years. He was the last monarch of the illustrious tribe of the Hy-Nialls, who had filled the throne of Ireland, with but lit- tle interruption, from the fourth century. From this monarch are descended the O'Neills. They founded three principal houses in Ulster, namely, those of Tyrone, the Fews, and Claneboy. Tyrone, the head of the tribe of the O'Neills, partly supported the splendor of his illustrious ancestors ; and in latter times there have been heroes jin this family worthy of their forefathers. 1 However, it was at length ruined, and buried ! * Act. Sanct. Hib. Vit. S. Gelas. ad 27 Mart. j Grat. Luc. c. 9. t Ogyg. part 3, cap. 94. 258 HISTORY OF IRELAND. beneath its own grandeur. The 'present representative is Felix O'Neill, the chief of the house of the Fews, and an officer of rank in the service of his Catholic Majesty. Roderick, or Rory O'Connor, son of Tur- lough-Mor, and king of Connaught, being at tlic time the most powerful prince in Ireland, had but little difficulty in getting himself proclaimed supreme king of the island, after the death of Moriertach, a. d. 1166.* He overcame the opposition he met with from Donald More O'Brien, king of Limerick, and Dermod Mac-Cormac Ma- carty, king of Cork and Desmond, and de- feated Dermod Mac-Murrough, king of Leinster, in battle. He finally received, voluntarily or by force, hostages from every prince in Ireland, and made presents to them ; two things which formerly character- ized the supreme authority of their princes among the Irish. f In the first year of the reign of Roderick, the priory of All Saints, near Dublin, was founded by Dermod Mac-Murrough, king of Leinster, for regular canons of the fra- ternity of Arouaise. This priory was after- wards converted into a college, under the name of the holy Trinity, by queen Eliza- beth.t About this time, some religious houses were founded by Donald, otherwise Domhnal More O'Brien, king of Limerick ; in the dis- trict of Thuomond, the abbey of Clare, other- wise Kilmony, or de Forgio, from the river Forge, by which it was watered, under the name of St. Peter and St. Paul;^ and the priory of Inis-ne-Gananach, for regular can- ons, in an island in the river Shannon. || He also founded, in the county of Limerick, the monasteries of St. Peter of Limerick, of the order of St. Augustin, and that of St. John Baptist, called Kil-Oen.T[ The monastery of our lady of Inis-Lanaught, in the county of Tipperary, of the order of Citeaux, other- wise called de Surio, situated on the river Suire, was founded, according to some, in 1159. Others say it was founded in 1184, by Donald O'Brien, king of Limerick, who endowed it, in conjunction with Malachi O'Felan, prince of Desie.** * Keating, History of Ireland, part 2 ; Grat. Luc. c. 9 ; Ogyg. part 3, cap. 94. + War. de Aiitiq. Hib. c. 4 ; Bruodin. Propug. Cathol. Verit. lib. 5, c. 17 ; Allemand, Hist. Monast d'lrl. page 7. t War. ibid. § Allemand, Hist. Monast. d'lrl. page 59. 11 War. de Antiq. Hib. c. 4. 1 War. ibid. ** Allemand, ibid, p. 188. At Holycross,in the county of Tipperary, there was a celebrated abbey of the order of Citeaux, which enjoyed great privileges, and where a portion of the true cross is pre- served.* This abbey, which was a branch of that of Nenay, or Magie, was foimded in 1169, by Domnald O'Brien, king of Lime- rick, as appears by the act of its founda- ! tion, quoted in the Monasticon Anglicanum, and signed by the bishop of Lismore, le- gate of the holy see in Ireland, the arch- bishop of Cashel, and the bishop of Lime- rick. Others say that this abbey was found- ed in 1181. The abbey of Kilkenny, otherwise, " de valle dei," in the district of this city, was founded and dedicated to the blessed Vir- gin, in 1171, by Dermod O'Ryan, an Irish lord.f The abbey of Maur, or " de fonte vivo," in the county of Cork, was founded for monks of the order of Citeaux, under the title of our Lady, by Dermod, son of Cor- mac Macartach, (Mac-Carty,) king of Cork and Desmond. I The first monks who es- tablished it were from the abbey of Baltin- glass. Roderick governed the kingdom of Ire- land with wisdom and moderation. He convened a synod at Athboy, in Meath, in 1167, of which we have already spoken. This synod, which was, properly speaking, an assembly of the states, was composed of St. Gelasus, archbishop of Armagh and primate of Ireland ; of St. Laurence, arch- bishop of Dublin; Catholicus O'Dubthay, archbishop of Tuam, and many of the in- ferior clergy. The princes present were, the monarch, Tighernan O'Rourke, prince of Brefne ; Dunchad, prince of Orgiell ; Eochaid, son of Dunsleve, prince of Ulad ; Dermod O'Melachlin, prince of Tara ; As- culph, son of Torall, prince of the Danes of Dublin; Dunchad O'Foelan, prince of the Desies, and several other lords ; amount- ing in all to 1300 men. They made many wise laws and regulations, and the police was afterwards so strictly enforced through- out the island, that it might be said of it, as Bede observed of the kingdom of Nor- thumberland in the reign of Edwin, that a woman with a new-born infant might travel over the whole island, from one sea to the other, without fear of insult.'^ This monarch, who was mindful of every thing, knowing that amusements are essen- * War. ibid.; Allemand, ibid., p. 186. t War. ibid. ; Allemand, ibid., p. 174. t War. ibid.; Allemand, ibid., p. 181 § Hist. Eccles. lib. 2, cap. 16. CHRISTIAN IRELAND. 259 tial for youth, re-established the games at Tailtoa, in 1168. He was also a protector of learning, and in 1169 founded a profes- sor's chair at Armagh, in favor of strangers ; finally, he watched over the administration of justice, and punished crime with se- verity. The reign of Roderick O'Connor is memorable for a revolution, which forms an epoch fatal to Ireland. An invasion of the English, which, in its beginning, would not have alarmed even the petty republic of Ragusa, became, from its having been neg- lected at first, so serious, that the liberty of a powerful nation became its victim, and a monarchy which had lasted for more than two thousand years was overthrown. Politicians endeavor to account for the fall of empires. By some it is ascribed to the weakness of those rulers who introduce a bad system in the administration of their laws, and by some to exterior causes ; while others, with more reason, assign it to the will of the supreme Being, who has drawn all things out of nothing, who governs all, and sets bounds to the duration of all cre- ated objects. Besides this, however, I think we may examine the connection that ex- ists between natural and secondary causes, which are the instruments made use of by the Divinity. With respect to Ireland, the source of her destruction can be discovered within her own bosom. This kingdom was, from the settlement of the Milesians in the island, governed by one king till the reign of Eocha IX., who erected the four provinces into as many kingdoms, independent of each other, some time before the Christian era ; they were, however, dependent on the monarch, as those electors and princes are who hold their states of the emperor of Germany. This was the first blow which the constitu- tion of Ireland met with. It suffered again in the first century, by the revolt of the plebeians, and the massacre of the princes and nobles of the country by these barba- rians, who seized upon the government. Towards the end of the second century, a war also, which Modha-Nuagat, king of Munster, carried on against Conn the mon- arch, (the result of which was the division of the island between the contending par- ties,) produced new disasters to the king- dom. Notwithstanding these convulsions in the state, and the violent attacks of the Normans during two centuries, the Irish monarchy still maintained itself till the reign of Mal- achi II., in the beginning of the eleventh century, when the sceptre, which had been for six or seven hundred years hereditary in the same tribe, passed into other hands. Factions increased in proportion to the number of claimants to the crown, and the government was, in consequence, rendered weak and enfeebled by them. The fall of monarchies seldom occurs suddenly. The change takes place by de- grees, and from a chain of events which imperceptibly undermine the constitution of the state, (as sickness enervates the body,) till it requires but a slight shock or stroke to complete their destruction. The Irish monarchy received this fatal blow in the twelfth century, through the debauchery and boundless ambition of one of its princes, as we shall now discern. Derforguill, daughter of Mortough-Mac- Floinn, prince of Meath,Avas married against her will to Teighernan O'Rourke, prince of Brefny.* This princess indulged a secret passion for Dermod, son of Murrough, king of Leinster, who paid his addresses to her before her marriage ; and taking advantage of her husband's absence, she dispatched a courier to Dermo.d, begging that he would come and rescue her from the engagements she had contracted with a husband whom she disliked. Dermod was possessed of too much gallantry to refuse his services to a princess to whom he had been previously attached ; he repaired, on the appointed day, to the place of meeting, with a band of arm- ed horsemen, and carried away the princess of Brefny to his castle of Ferns in Leinster. O'Rourke, on his return, finding that the princess his wife had eloped, and feeling deeply the insult given him, had recourse to the monarch for redress. Roderick O'Con- nor was an upright prince, and opposed to all injustice ; he heard O'Rourke's complaint with attention, and having assembled the forces of Connaught, whom those of Brefny, Orgiell, and Meath afterwards joined, he entered Leinster, determined to revenge the insult received by the prince of Brefny. Dermod was well aware of the march of the royal army, and also of the sentence of excommunication pronounced against him by the clergy. He summoned the nobles of his kingdom to Fearna, in the territory of Kin- seallagh, now Ferns, in the county of Wex- ford, where he held his court, in order to consult with them upon the means he should adopt to avert the storm that threatened him ; but his subjects, who were indignant at the * Stanihurst, de Reb. in Hib. Gest. lib. 2, cap. 59, et seq. 260 HISTORY OF IRELAND. enormity of his crime, and, moreover, dis- satisfied with his tyrannical jjovcrnmcnt, in- stead of supporting him in this critical junc- ture of his affairs, renounced their allegiance to him, and placed themselves under the pro- tection of the monarch ; so that tlie unhappy prince, abandoned by them, had no other resource than to embark for England. The monarch then finding no enemy to contend with, contented himself with destroying the city of Ferns, and the royal castle, whence he carried away the unfortunate Derforguill, whom he confined in the monastery of St. Bridget, at Kildare, after which he dis- banded his troops and returned into his province. Dermod, now driven from his dominions, breathed revenge against his rebellious sub- jects and the nation at large. Henry II., great-grandson of William the Conqueror, was then king of England. He was a prince of boundless ambition, and very powerful, and was often heard to say, during his pros- perity, that the government of the whole world was hardly sufficient for a great man. Besides the kingdom of England, he pos- sessed the duchies of Normandy and Anjou, by right of inheritance ; and in virtue of his marriage with Eleanor, whom Louis VII., surnamed the younger, had divorced, he was master of Aquitaine, Poitou, Touraine, and Maine. On account of these states, he was frequently engaged in wars with France, which required his presence. Such was the situation of the affairs of Henry when the king of Leinster went to Aquitaine to solicit his alliance, and ask of him the succor necessary for the recovery of his throne, promising to place his kingdom under his protection. This proposal was highly flat- tering to Henry, and favorable to his views. He replied, however, that the state of his affairs at that time upon the continent would not permit his giving him any troops, but that if he would go to England, he might raise forces there, and begin the war in Ireland, till he should be able to join him ; and even sent orders to his ministry to forward the enterprise of this fugitive prince. The king of Leinster, having taken leave of Henry, embarked for England, and on his arrival at Bristol, communicated their king's orders to the magistrates of that city, who caused them to be published. Richard, surnamed Strongbow, "de arcu forti," (which signifies a strong bow,) was then at Bristol. He was son of Gilbert, earl of Pembroke or Chepstow, whom Cam- brensis calls earl of Strangwel. This young lord had squandered his property, and con- tracted heavy debts ;* and to heighten his misfortune, was in disgrace with his prince ;t so that he was willing to undertake any de- sign to retrieve his fortune. Taking advan- tage therefore of this opportunity, which was, he conceived, highly favorable, he of- fered his services to Dermod, who received him with kindness, and made him a propo- sal far above what he had reason to expect ; offering him his daughter, Aoffe, or Eve, in marriage, and promising to secure his suc- cession to the throne of Leinster, after his death, on condition of his assisting to recover it ; which condition was joyfully accepted by earl Richard. Dermod having concluded his negotiation at Bristol with the earl Richard, who prom- ised to cross over to Ireland in the spring, with a body of troops,went into Wales, where he applied to Ralph Griffin (who was gov- ernor of that province for Henry II.) to liberate Robert Fitzstephen, a brave and experienced general who had been a state prisoner during four years, by order of the government. Dermod having obtained the pardon of Robert Fitzstephen, on condition that he would accompany him to Ireland, and never think of returning to his own country, from which he was then forever banished, took him into his service, with his half-brother, Maurice Fitzgerald, promising to him and his posterity the city of Wexford, and the neighboring districts. He entered into like engagements, and made similar promises to many others, whom he allured by the hope of gain, as Neubrigensis, an English cotemporary author, mentions : " Spe lucri profusioris illecti."| According to the same author, they were mostly men who possessed nothing at home, " Accitis ex Anglia viris impropia labontibus et lucri cu- pidis," and to better their condition were desirous of leaving their own country. The king of Leinster, pleased with the reception he met with in England, returned to Ireland, where he remained concealed in his city of Ferns, waiting the arrival of his allies. Robert Fitzstephen was not forgetful of his engagements with Dermod. Two pow- erful motives induced him to carry them into execution ; he was an outlaw in Eng- land, whereas he recovered his liberty only on condition of leaving it immediately; and the reward which he expected in Ireland was very flattering to a man whose only riches lay in his sword. He applied all his * Gulielm. Neubrig. de Reb. Anglo. lib. 2, c. 26. t Stanihurst, b. 2, c. 67. t Guli. Neubrig. de Reb. Anglic, sui temporis, lib. 2, page 211, et 212. CHRISTIAN IRELAND. 261 influence to enlist volunteers for his enter- prise, and raised 400 men, whose fortunes were desperate like his own. With this force he landed on the coast of Wexford in Ire- land, in the month of May, a. d. 1169. Of liis landing, information was dispatched im- mediately to the king of Leinster, who lay concealed in the city of Ferns till his arrival. Dermod, overjoyed at the news, left his retreat, and put himself at the head of five hundred horsemen, whom he kept in readi- ness to join the English captain. After the usual compliments on such occasions, they held a council of war on the plan of their campaign, the result of which was, to lay siege to Wexford, which was at that time inhabited by Danes. The troops being led on against this place, it surrendered to the king of Leinster ; the inhabitants paid him homage, and gave him hostages and presents. In order to fulfil his promise to Fitzstephen, the king gave him that city, and a few dis- tricts in the neighborhood, where he estab- lished a colony, among whom the ancient Saxon language is still preserved, with a small mixture of the Irish. This district is called the barony of Forth. Dermod granted also to Hermon Morty, (Herveius de Monte Maurisco,) Fitzstephen's paternal uncle, some lands near Wexford, so that through the generosity of this prince, those adventurers were influenced to the greatest enterprises to please him. In the mean time, Maurice Prendergast landed in Wexford with a fresh reinforce- ment, which increased the little army of the confederates, then amounting to three thou- sand men. Encouraged by his first success, and find- ing himself able to follow up his conquest, Dermod turned his thoughts towards the people of Ossory. Donnough Mac-Giolla Phadruig, (Fitzpatrick,) son of Domhnal Ramhar, was hereditary prince, or, according to the style of those times, king of Ossory. He was the avowed enemy of Dermod, and one of those who had abandoned him in his misfortune. He was therefore the first victim of his resentment. Dermod marched at the head of his army towards the frontiers of Ossory, spreading terror and consternation everywhere as he passed, and obliged that prince to send him hostages, and agree to pay an annual tribute to the crown of Lein- ster. The progress which the king of Leinster and his English allies were making, having alarmed the whole island, the princes and nobles had recourse to Roderick O'Connor, to deliberate on what was to be done to quell a rebellion in its beginning, which, if neg- lected, must create confusion in the state. It was determined in the conference held for this purpose, that the provinces should supply the monarch with their quota of men, to en- able him to chastise the king of Leinster, and put down the rebellion. The monarch's army being reinforced by the allied troops, he set out on his march for Leinster, and advanced towards Hy-Kinseallagh, intending to give the enemy battle. Dermod finding himself unable to keep the field against an army so superior to his own, withdrew into the inaccessible forests and marshes near Ferns, with his troops, and held himself on the defensive. The monarch thus foiled in his attempt, sent a communication to Fitz- stephen, chief of the English in the service of Dermod, that he should immediately de- part from the country with his Englishmen ; that he had espoused an unjust and dishon- orable cause, and that he had no lawful claim to the possessions he had usurped in the island. It can be easily conceived that such an order must have been very disagree- able to this adventurer, who was an outlaw in his own country, where he had suffered several years imprisonment, and who had no asylum but what his good fortune procured him. Besides that, he had then a real interest in Ireland. He was already lord of Wexford and its environs, which had been conferred on him by the king of the province as a re- ward for his services ; and this was too con- siderable, and too gratifying to the avarice of a man who was destitute of every thing else, to give it up. He therefore declared to the monarch, that so far from being disposed to quit the island, he was determined to support the interest of his benefactor, the king of Leinster, as long as a single man remained with him. The monarch, exaspe- rated at the stranger's haughty reply, ordered his officers to send detachments to scour the forests and pursue the rebels ; but the bish- ops of the province, alarmed at the idea of a war breaking out among them, prostrated themselves at his feet, and pointed out to him the danger of a civil war, which might prove fatal to the nation. They represented to him that peaceful measures would be the most likely tosucceed with an irritated prince, who was capable of any act, and supported by a neighboring nation, whose interest it was to increase the discord between the princes of this island. These arguments were plausible and well grounded, if they could have supposed that the king of Leinster was possessed of honor or good faith ; but as this unhappy prince had given himself up to 262 HISTORY OF IRELAND. his ambition, and aflbrdecl every reason to distrust him, it would have been good policy to employ measures of rigor, and crush the evil at its root. Roderick, moved by the remonstrances of the bishops and clergy of Leinster, ceased hostilities, and entered into negotiation with the king of the province. A treaty of peace was concluded and signed by both parties, on the following conditions : — 1 st, That Der- mod should be restored to the possession of ' his kingdom of Leinster, with the same I authority which his predecessors had en- ! joyed, and that he should be compensated for j the losses he had sustained during his misfor- i tunes ; 2d, That the king of Leinster should I do homage to the monarch, and promise him I fidelity ; 3d, That he should bind himself by oath, never to call in the English to his aid, and to afford them no longer any protection ; 4th, That Robert Fitzstephen should remain in possession of Wexford, instead of the I Danes, who occupied it before. In order to ratify this treaty, and remove all suspicion of bad faith on his side, Dermod gave Art- Na-Nigall, or Arthur, his son, as hostage to the monarch ; after which the latter, having disbanded his forces, returned into Con- naught. It would now seem that Ireland was about to enjoy a lasting peace ; that civil war was put down, and that the English, after losing the protection of the king of Leinster, had nothing more to hope for in the island. The result however proved otherwise. The treaty concluded between the monarch and Dermod was the fruit of the policy, as well as the perfidy of the English, who had drawn the prince of Leinster into it. They wanted to escape the danger of being destroyed by the superiority of the royal army, and gain time till the succors which they expected would arrive ; those adventurers being less actu- ated by their pretended motives of re-estab- lishing religion, reforming the morals of the Irish, and defending an oppressed prince, than that of making their fortunes at the ex- pense of justice itself, as they proved. The treaty was scarcely concluded between the belligerent princes, when Maurice Fitzge- rald, half-brother to Fitzstephen, landed in Wexford with a considerable reinforcement of Englishmen, which raised the courage of the rebels to a high pitch. I On the first intelligence of the arrival of I Maurice Fitzgerald, Dermod repaired to I Wexford, where he held a council with Fitz- i Stephen, Morty, Prendergast, Barry, Meiler, i Fitzgerald, and other English chiefs, who j prevailed on him to break his treaty with the monarch, by inspiring him with the extrava- gant idea of asjjiring to the universal mon- archy of the island, and promising to send to England for sufficient forces for that enter- prise. Dermod either did not perceive the danger of introducing into the country a number of foreigners capable of reducing it, (as happened to the ancient Britons, whose country was invaded by their treacherous allies, the Saxons,) or his unbounded ambi- tion led him to sacrifice his country's free- dom to that passion. The king of Leinster, finding himself supported by the English, in conjunction with some of his subjects, whom fear brought back to their allegiance, marched at the head of his army towards Dublin, the neighbor- hood of which he laid waste, particularly that part of it called Fingal. His intention was, to revenge on the Danes of that city the insults which himself and his father had received from them, and levy contributions to defray the expenses of the war ; so he laid siege to the city, with Maurice Fitzgerald, who commanded under him. Asculph, son of Torcall, at that time commander of the place, alarmed at the danger which threat- ened the city, assembled the principal inhab- itants, to deliberate upon what measures they should adopt. It was concluded that a quick submission was necessary to avert the storm ; in consequence of which they sent deputies to the king of Leinster, with large sums of gold and silver. Asculph paid him homage in the name of the city, and sent hostages as pledgesof his obedience. Rob- ert Fitzstephen had no share in this expe- dition, being busily employed in building and fortifying the port of Karraick, near Wexford. Such was the state of the affairs of the king of Leinster when Richard Strongbow landed in Ireland. This English nobleman had not forgotten the promises he had given to Dermod, of funiishing him with troops, nor the hope the latter held out to him, of making him his son-in-law, and successor to his throne — things highly flattering to a man possessed of nothing himself, and whose es- tate had been confiscated in England. Re- solved, however, to act in a becoming way towards his king, Henry II., he went to him and asked permission to leave the kingdom and seek his fortune elsewhere. The king, who was already dissatisfied with him, grant- ed him his request in an"ironical and repul- sive manner, as if he never wished to hear of him.* Richard, desirous to take advan- * Stanihurst, de Reb. in Hib. Gest. lib. 2, p. 94. CHRISTIAN IRELAND. 263 tage of this doubtful leave, made the neces- sary preparations for his expedition to Ire- land ; but before he should go himself, he dispatched Raymond le Gros, who, accord- ing to Stanihurst, was son of William Fitz- gerald, and nephew to Maurice, or, accord- ing to others, brother of the latter, with a small body of troops to reconnoitre the country, and facilitate the descent which he meditated ; and at the same time to inform the king of Lcinster of his intentions. Ray- mond landed on the first of May, 1 1 70, in a small harbor called Dun-Domhnail, four miles from Waterford, and formed an in- trenchment for the protection of his troops. The Danes of Waterford, hearing of the arrival of a body of English troops, who had encamped in their neighborhood, assembled a force, which was joined by the vassals of Malachi OTaolan, lord of Desie, to the number of 200 men, without discipline and badly armed, intending to dislodge those strangers. Raymond would not wait for the enemy in his intrenchments, but sallied forth with his troops to meet them in the plain. The action began with vigor, and the English were driven back to their in- trenchments ; but excited by despair, which frequently rouses to action, (" Una salus victis nuUam sperare salutem,") they turned on this undisciplined army, who were pur- suing them in disorder, and made a dread- ful slaughter of them. This victory of the English, though inferior in numbers, was owing to their discipline, and a number of archers, who discharged their arrows against an enemy unaccustomed to that manner of fighting: "Britannici sagittarii, miserandum in modum, inermes sauciarunt." The sequel of this victory was highly disgraceful to the conquerors, who massacred seventy pris- oners, of the first citizens of Waterford. A council of war was held after the battle, on the manner in which they should be treated. Raymond, who possessed a noble mind, was in favor of clemency, but Her- veius de Monte Maurisco, who had by chance been present at the battle, having come that morning to pay a visit to Raymond, ha- rangued the soldiers with such efiect, that he instigated them to commit the act of cruelty of which the prisoners were the victims. This barbarous conduct of that cruel man is disapproved of by Stanihurst himself, (who is in other respects a true Englishman,) and he says that his memory was detested ; he also adds, that no person is so insolent or devoid of pity, as a man of low birth who is raised above his level.* * " ' I consider and command, that an enemy, not Earl Richard, surnamed Strongbow, whom we left in England, having all things ready for his voyage, sailed from Milford harbor in the month of August of the same year, with 1200 chosen men, and landed near Waterford on the 24th of the same month, St. Bartholomew's day. He was soon joined by the king of Leinster, and the English whom he had already in his service. After the usual congratulations, they held a coun- cil of war, in which it was determined to besiege Waterford. When the troops were refreshed, they marched towards the city, which, according to the custom of the times, was poorly fortified, and laid siege to it. There was a great disproportion between the besieged and the besiegers. The place was defended by those citizens who had es- caped the late defeat ; while it was attacked by an army superior both in numbers and discipline, and commanded by skilful leaders ; so that, notwithstanding an obstinate de- fence which lasted for some days, the city was taken by assault, and the garrison put to the sword. Malachi O'Faolan, prince of Desie, was made prisoner, and only es- caped from the rage of the soldiery through the interference of the king of Leinster. After such barbarous acts, may it not be aflirmed with truth, that those adventurers came over rather to destroy the inhabitants than to reform their morals ? The taking of Waterford was so pleasing to the king of Leinster, that he testified his gratitude to earl Richard by renewing the treaty of alliance he had already made with him in England ; for which purpose he sent for his daughter Aoife, or Eve, to come to Waterford. The marriage was celebrated with great pomp between her and the earl, and the king declared them heirs to his crown. A first success generally leads to new enterprises. The king of Leinster was a violent and vindictive prince, and always considered himself at liberty to violate the most solemn treaties, when passion or interest required it. The Danes of Dublin were the continual objects of his hatred and revenge. The treaty he had concluded with them the preceding year, and the presents he re- ceived from them, did not prevent him laying siege a second time to their city, with all his only while fighting, but even conquered and bound, should be put to death.' From that time Hervey was loaded with weighty and lasting disgrace and infamy, nor could one be found whom this carnage of the citizens did not disgust. But none is so in- Solent and merciless as a man raised from the dregs of the people." — Stanihurst, book 2, p. 103. 264 HISTORY OF IRELAND. forces. Asculph, the commander, finding himself unable to support a siege, deputed, with the consent of the principal inhabitants, Laurence O'Toole, their archbishop, a man of high reputation for sanctity, to negotiate a peace with the king. While this holy pre- late was deliberating on peaceful measures with the king in his camp, Raymond le Gros, Maurice Fitzgerald, and Milo Cogan, fol- lowed by their troops, entered the city by a breach, on the 21st of September, and made themselves masters of it, sword in hand, sparing neither sex nor age ;* thus carrying on the war more like assassins than regular troops, violating the rights of men, and disregarding the principle by which all hos- tilities should cease when a town offers to capitulate. Such were the fancied masters of refinement, who came to civilize the Irish people ! Dermod, well pleased with this conquest, left a garrison in the city, the command of which he gave to Milo Cogan, after which he turned his arms against O'Rourke, prince of Brefny, to punish him for a crime which he himself had committed ; according to the proverb, which says, that " the injured are generally punished, instead of the aggres- sors." The violation of the wife of the prince of Brefny, was revenged on his vas- sals by the violator himself. The monarch of Ireland beheld tranquilly, during a whole year, the progress which the king of Leinster was making, without taking any measures to check the course of his vic- tories ; but finding him to approach his own borders, and knowing that such an enemy, when so near him must be dangerous, he be- came alarmed. The season, however, being too far advanced to take the field, he sent an officer to reproach him for the perfidy with which he had broken the solemn treaty con- cluded between them in the preceding year, and to complain that (contrary to its faith and tenor, which he had pledged himself upon oath to observe) he obdurately per- sisted in introducing robbers into the country, and thereby disturbed the public peace. The same officer had orders to tell him, that if he persisted in his course of warfare, means would be found to constrain him to abandon it, and that the head of his son Arthur, who was held as hostage, should answer for it. Something more efficacious than threats was however necessary to be adopted towards a man blinded by his passions, and bereft of every sentiment characteristic of the man of honor. Der mod's reply to the monarch was * Stanihurst, de Reb. in Hib. Gest. lib. 3, p. 106, worthy of his character ; he said that he was quite regardless of his son's fate, but that if any thing happened to him, he would take revenge, both on the monarch and his whole race ; and that his design was, to make himself master of the kingdom before he laid down his arms. It is alleged by Stanihurst, that Roderick, exasperated at this haughty reply, caused prince Arthur to be beheaded ; but in this he is contradicted by Keating and others, who say that he confined himself to threats only, without carrying them into execution. The severity of the weather having put an end to hostilities, and the king of Lein- ster's troops being withdrawn into winter quarters, Dermod repaired to Ferns, where he died of sickness in the month of May following, A. D. 1171. He was a man of ex- traordinary height, strong, robust, and war- like, whose principle was to make himself . more the object of fear than of love, and who had lived too long for the good of his country. This monster, whose memory must be abhorred by all true Irishmen, after having founded several religious houses, sacrificed the country to his revenge, and caused her to submit to a yoke which she has never since been able to shake off. After the death of the king of Leinster, his father-in-law, earl Richard endeavored to get himself de- clared heir to the throne of Dermod, as he was in truth the heir of his tyranny. He led his troops to the frontiers of Munster, where they committed great devastation ; but was checked in his progress by the monarch, Roderick O'Connor, who gained several ad- vantages over him, particularly at the battle of Durlus, or Thurles, in Upper Ormond, where 1700 English were killed upon the spot.* Henry II., who was at that time in Aqui- taine, being busily occupied with his conti- nental affairs, and hearing of the success of Richard and his other subjects in Ireland, conceived strong suspicions of the fidelity of the earl, with whom he was already dis- pleased.! He began to look upon him as an intriguing character, desirous of usurping a kingdom which he himself had long wished to unite to his other states.:): He therefore published an edict, by which he prohibited all intercourse with Ireland, and forbade his subjects to transport either men or provisions from England to Ireland, under the penalty of being severely punished. He ordained by * Cambrens. Evers. cap. 9, page 89. t Gulicl. Neubrig. de Reb. Anglic, c. 26. Stani- hurst, de Reb. in Hib. Gest. lib. 3. t Ke«t. Hist, of Ireland. CHRISTIAN IRELAND. 265 the same edict, that all his subjects then in Ireland should repair on a certain day to England, under pain of being considered traitors and rebels to their king. The earl Richard was soon apprized of the proclama- tion, which disconcerted him considerably, being altogether opposed to his design. Al- though master of Dublin, Wexford, Water- ford, and other places on the coast, he was unable to retain possession of them without the assistance of England, of which he saw himself thus deprived by the edict. In order to avert the danger consequent on resisting the king's commands, he assembled the heads of the English colony, Avho deter- mined on sending Raymond le Gros (Fitz- gerald) to represent to his majesty, that it was by his permission Richard and the other Englishmen had crossed over to Ireland to support the cause of Dermod, king of Lein- ster ; that they did not consider themselves less his subjects there, and that they acted altogether in his name. Raymond being intrusted by the assembly with this avowal of their fidelity, set out for Aquitaine, where Henry II. still was, who gave him an audience ; after which the king returned to England, and appointed him to be the bearer of a letter to Richard, wherein he commanded the latter to return imme- diately to England, and render an account of his conduct. About this time, Asculph, chief of the Danes of Dublin, who had escaped with his fleet from the last siege, returned with sixty vessels and a great number of troops, with the intention of besieging it, and encamped before the eastern gate, called Dame's-Gate. The attack was so brisk, that the English, finding themselves unable to resist the supe- rior force of the Danes, had recourse to strata- gem. Milo Cogan, who was then governor of the city, sent out by the southern gate, called St. Paul's, a body of cavalry under the command of his brother, Richard Cogan, to attack the enemy in rear. The Danes, struck with consternation, thinking it to be a fresh reinforcement that had come to the assistance of the city, took to flight : the slaughter was immense, and the loss of the Danes considerable ; their chief, Asculph, was led captive into the city, and beheaded, contrary to the laws of war. Dublin was attacked soon afterwards by the monarch himself, with as little success as the Danes. The art of besieging was then quite unknown to the Irish, who never made use of fortifications. They were accus- tomed to fight only in the open field, and present their bodies to the enemy, unpro- tected by walls, or any defence except their valor and their arms; consequently, they were unacquainted with the use of battering- rams, and such machinery employed by other nations to destroy fortified places. In order to secure more firmly the con- quest of the city, Roderick O'Connor and Laurence, the archbishop, wrote to Gottred, king of the Isle of Man, to request of him, in virtue of the ancient alliance existing be- tween him and Ireland, to send a fleet to block up the harbor of Dublin, and cut oiT all communication between the garrison and England, (which was already interrupted by the proclamation of Henry II. ;) while on his part, he would take care to close every avenue by land. These plans appear to have been well laid. The city was soon surrounded by sea and land, and famine was already beginning to be felt by the garrison. At the same time, Domnal, son of Der- mod the late king of Leinster, more anxious for the welfare of his country than his father had been, collected a few troops and be- sieged Robert Fitzstephen in the fort which he had built at Carrick, near Wexford. The English captain having found means to make his situation known to earl Richard, to Raymond le Gros, (who had lately returned from England,) to Maurice Fitzgerald, and the other commanders of the garrison of Dublin, he sent them word, that if he did not receive succor before two or three days, he would inevitably fall into the hands of his enemy. This information, and the unhappy state of their other aff"airs, gave them great uneasiness ; but inspired them with a reso- lution which succeeded to their most san- guine desire. The siege of Dublin had already lasted for two months ; the besieged were much weakened, and the besiegers, fearing nothing from an enemy they intended to reduce by famine, became negligent, and too confident of their security, of which the latter found means to take advantage. The besieged, having determined to attack the besiegers, sallied forth at the break of day, forced the sentinels to give way, and falling, sword in hand, on their enemies, who were still in bed and asleep, killed a great number of them, and put the rest to flight.* This victory enabled the English of Dublin to send assistance to Fitzstephen, who was be- sieged in the fort of Carrick ; but the detach- * " They fly on a sudden, armed, out of the city, and fall, sword in hand, on a foe unprepared and half sleeping. It cannot cause surprise, if lethargy should have seized on numbers of the besiegers, when none were upon guard, and none could foresee that so few would sally out against an army." — Stan. p. 117. HISTORY OF IRELAND. ment commanded by Strongbow for this pm'posc, having been harassed by the Lein- ster pooplc hi the defiles of Idrone in the county of Carlow, arrived too late. The fort of ('arrick had been already taken by prince Domnal, part of the garrison put to the sword, and the rest (among whom were Robert Fitzstephen and William Notton) made prisoners of war, and brought to the island of Beg Erin, at a short distance from Wexford. Richard Strongbow, coerced by the orders he had just received from his master, Henry II., embarked immediately for England, leaving his affairs in Ireland in a very bad state. He was presented to the king at Neweham, near Gloucester, where the prince ■was collecting an army for his expedition to Ireland, and was very badly received by him. The king upbraided him bitterly with the robberies and devastations he had com- mitted in Ireland, inasmuch as, not content with the honorable conditions which were granted him by the king of Leinster, he had acted the tyrant by usurping the properties of others. It might be imagined that this was the language of "a man of honor, who would be incapable of committing an unjust act himself; yet it would be difficult to decide which of the two was the more worthy character. After the king had given vent to his anger and reproaches against the earl, he was at length appeased by the sub- mission of this nobleman, and a promise that he made him of putting Dublin, and the oth'er places he held in Ireland, into his power. In the mean time, O'Rourke, prince of Brefny, attacked the English who were in Dublin. He attempted to besiege the city, and having drawn Milo Cogan, the governor, and his garrison outside of the fortifications, a bloody battle was fought between them, Avhich produced no other effect than the loss of many lives. The son of O'Rourke, having signalized himself by his valor in the thick of the battle, was mortally wounded, with several of his fol lowers, who sold their lives dearly to the English, of whom also a great number fell on the field of battle.* Every thing being ready for the expedi- tion to Ireland, Henry set sail from Milford in the month of October, 1172, in the forty- first year of his age, and seventeenth of his reign, with a formidable and well-provided army. He landed safely at Waterford on St. Luke's day, where he established his head-quarters. The news of his arrival be- » Stan, de Reb. in Hib. Gest. lib. 3, cap. 123. ing spread, his English subjects who had settled in Dublin, Wexford, Waterford, &c., came to pay him homage and renew their oath of allegiance ; and their example was soon followed by some of the princes of the country, who had the baseness to submit to a foreign yoke, instead of uniting together to preserve their liberty. Dermod More Mac-Carthaig, (Mac-Carty,) king of Cork, was the first among these proselytes. He presented himself before the king of Eng- land at Waterford, and paid him homage. After a conference with his English sub- jects, on the measures to be adopted for the reduction of the island, Henry II. collected his forces and marched to Lismore, where, having stayed two days, he set out for Cashel, and was met upon his march, on the river Suire, by Domnald O'Brien, king of Thuo- raond and Limerick, who made a similar submission to that of the king of Cork, and their examples were, followed by the other princes of Munster. Henry sent detach- ments to Limerick and Cork, to secure the possession of those cities ; after which, re- turning to Waterford, he there received the homage of Domnald More Mac-Giolla-Pha- druig, (Fitz-Patrick,) prince of Ossory, and Malachi O'Faolan, lord of Desie. He treat- ed those princes honorably, made them mag- nificent presents, and promised to secure to them their possessions and dignities.* On the interference of the English, the king re- stored his liberty to Robert Fitzstephen, whom he had some time before committed to prison on account of the complaints which had been made to him of the tyranny of this officer over the inhabitants of the coun- try. The conditions, however, on which he obtained his freedom were dishonor- able to the king, and strongly marked his insatiable thirst for the riches of others. Fitzstephen was obliged to give to him the town and county of Wexford, which he held from the liberality of the king of Leinster. Robert Fitz-Bernard being appointed to the government of Waterford, Henry II. proceeded on his route to Dublin, where his government was acknowledged by several princes of Leinster, among whom was Molrough Mac-Floinn, prince of Meath. The king, as an able politician, treated all these princes with politeness, and loaded them with presents, which blinded them to such a degree that they could not perceive * " Henry received the princes, on their arrival, with great honor ; he promised not only to take care of their safety, but to advance thein in dignity ; and loaded them besides with magnificent presents." —Stan, de Reb. in Hib. Gest. 125. CHRISTIAN IRELAND. 267 the chains which he was preparing for them. He likewise promised to maintain them in the possession of their estates and dignities ; but he was too perfidious to keep his word with them : such has ever been the course which the English nation has observed to- wards Ireland. Roderick O'Connor, finding himself al- most universally deserted, was obliged to yield to the necessity of the times. Henry sent two noblemen, Hugh de Lacy and Wil- liam Fitz-Aldelm, to request an interview with him, in consequence of which the two princes met on the banks of the river Shan- non, where the time was spent in paying mutual compliments, and nothing was deter- mined upon. The monarch's army was posted in marsh- es and in woods, Avhere Henry thought it imprudent to attack him ; but a treaty was concluded between them some years after- wards at Windsor, during the octave of St. Michael, through the mediation of Laurence, archbishop of Dublin, and Catholicus, or Codla O'Dubhay, archbishop of Tuam.* The copy of this treaty is to be found in Roger Hoveden, an English writer of the same century, under date of the year 1175. f The conditions were, that Roderick should pay an annual tribute to the king of Eng- land, as lord of Ireland ; that he should always retain the title of monarch, and that the provincial kings should be dependent on him as previously. J In his expedition to Ireland every thing succeeded to the wishes of Henry. In a short time he found himself master of a con- siderable part of the island, without shedding a single drop of blood. The Hy-Nialls of Ulster alone, namely, the O'Neills, O'Don- nels, and other princes of that province, j with a few in Connaught,^ (whose minds were too noble and generous to bend to him,) refused to submit to a foreign yoke, at the expense of their liberty. This revo- lution in Ireland, under Roderick the mon- arch, is very similar to that which occurred in Spain in the beginning of the eighth cen- tury, in the reign of Roderick. The names of the princes are alike, and the causes were almost the same. Roderick, king of Spain, lost his life together with his crown, on account of his crimes ; Roderick, mon- arch of Ireland, was dethroned for having * Baker, Chron. Engl. p. 56. t War. de Archiepisc. Tuamens. t Canibr. Evers. cap. 9, p. 89. § " Not a dynasty in Leiuster, nor indeed in any corner of Ireland, except Ulster, which did not sub- mit to the sovereignty of Henry." — Stanihurst. punished crime. In Spain, Count Julian, a Spanish nobleman, not only took revenge on Roderick, his king, who had violated his daughter Cava, but sacrificed his country to his revenge, by introducing into it the Moors, by whom it was afterwards con- quered. In Ireland, Dermod, king of Lein- ster, introduced the English, to recover a kingdom from which he had been expelled for a similar crime to that of Roderick of Spain, and caused his country to submit to a yoke which it has never since been able to shake off. The success of Henry II. was followed by much trouble and uneasiness. Having retired to Dublin for the purpose of spend- ing the winter there, the weather became so tempestuous, and the storms so frequent, that all communication with England was broken off, which filled him with apprehen- sions. The martyrdom of Thomas u Becket, archbishop of Canterbury, happened about the same time, and the first news which the king received from England on the return of fine weather, was, that Pope Alexander III. had sent two cardinals to inquire into the circumstances attending the murder of that prelate, with orders to exconmiunicate the king, and put the country under an in- terdict, if he did not exculpate himself from the crime. He also learned by the same messenger, that in England his son Henry, whom he had caused to be crowned some time before, had been suspected of en- deavoring to take advantage of his absence, to stir up a revolt against him, in conjunc- tion with his brothers. These were powerful reasons for requir- ing the king's presence in England, notwith- standing the design he had formed of remain- ing for some time in Ireland, and causing fortifications to be built, by which means it would be easy, he thought, to keep the Irish in subjection. In order, however, that his affairs in this island might not be neglected, he confided the command of the important posts to men of trust, and set sail for Eng- land during the festival of Easter. CHAPTER XVII. The Irish nation has, since the 12th cen- tury, been composed of two races, namely, the ancient Irish, and the English colonists who established themselves in Ireland after that epoch. We have, in the first part of this history, given an account of the origin and settlement of the ancient Irish in the island, 268 HISTORY OF IRELAND. and it is but fitting to say something of the origin of the Anglo-Irish, who have played a prominent part in it for nearly 600 years. In doing so, we must consider them both be- fore and since the reign of Queen Eliz-abeth. The English who passed into Ireland in the twelfth century, are called the Old Eng- lish, and sometimes Strongbownians, from Richard Strongbow, one of their chiefs. In this class, indeed, may also be placed the English who arrived there during the sub- sequent period, until the reign of Elizabeth ; but both these must be distinguished from the swarm of English adventurers who ar- rived in Ireland subsequently to her reign. We must not confound them with the infa- mous parricides who infested that sacred island, after staining their sacrilegious hands with the blood of their king. There was nothing culpable in the enter- prise of the first English who landed in Ire- land ; they presented themselves there much less as enemies of the nation, than as friends and allies of Dermod, king of Leinster. This prince invited them to aid him in the recovery of his kingdom. He rewarded them liberally, and gave them the city of Waterford, with two cantreds* of land in its environs . These first concessions were reasonable, being a recompense for the valor of their new proprietors ; and had they been content with them, the Irish would have had no ground of complaint. But the success of the first settlers tempted others of the English to similar enterprises. Henry II. conducted thither, in the year follo\\"ing, a powerful band, whom he was desirous to enrich. Leinster, Meath, and a part of Munster, were parcelled out and sacrificed to the ambition of these strangers ; and every succeeding age furnished new colo- nies, who went to seek their fortune in that fertile country. It cannot be asserted that each individual in ain army, or in a body, which undertakes the conquest of a country, is noble. There must be among them under-ofiicers and com- mon soldiers, who cannot be presumed of illustrious birth. Doubtless the majority of those chiefs who led the English colonists into Ireland, were of noble rank. They were knights, and the younger sons of fami- lies distinguished by birth and valor, who had retained those lofty and humane senti- ments which characterize men of worth, and (if we must draw a veil over the injustice of the fathers) their children, at least, merit * A cantred of land is a Breton term which sig- nifies a hundl-ed villages. the highest degree of praise. They became attached to the country of their adoption ; they united themselves by marriage with the natives ; they adopted its language and its manners ; and for some centuries past they have formed with the old inhabitants but one people, yielding to them neither in zeal for their religion, nor fidelity to their lawful princes. They have been victims as well as the former, and are comprised under the same anathema, as objects of hatred and envy to the English, who think to insult them by the taunt that they are " more Irish than the Irish themselves," " ipsis Hibernis Hiberniores ;" and can boast of a nobility in the island for nearly 600 years, sustained by their virtue and by their generous senti- ments. If they rest satisfied to confine themselves to that limit, (many might aspire to higher antiquity,) the period is sufficiently respectable. The leaders of the first divisions of the force which joined the king of Leinster, were Robert Fitzstephen, Hervy de Monte Marisco, nephew of Strongbow, Maurice Prendergast, Maurice Fitzgerald, Barry, Cogan, Raimond le Gros, and some others. They were relatives or kindred, and engaged in the same cause, and became possessors of large estates in Ireland. The first establishment of Maurice Fitz- gerald was at Wicklow, and in the country of Ofaly, county Kildare, which was granted to him by his relation, Richard Strongbow, earl of Pembroke. The family of Fitzgerald was, according to Nichols, descended from Otho,* an Italian baron, who drew his origin from the dukes of Tuscany. The son of Otho, named Walter, having passed into England with William the Conqueror, was appointed baron and constable of Windsor Castle, and became possessed of many lord- ships in England. Gerald, the eldest son of Walter, went, on the afTairs of the king, into the principality of Wales, where he built the castle of Pembroke : he was generally called Fitz-Walter. The king gave him, as a re- ward for his services, considerable estates in Wales, where, having fixed his residence, he married Nesta, daughter of Rees GrufTydh, prince of that country. She had been origi- nally the concubine of King Henry I., by whom she had a son, who was called Henry. The latter was father of Meyler, and Robert Fitz-Henry, who arrived in Ireland with Richard Strongbow. Nesta was married afterwards to Stephen, constable of the castles of Cardigan and Pembroke. She had * Lodge's Peerage. CHRISTIAN IRELAND. 269 by this marriage Robert Fitzstephen, of whom we have already spoken. After the death of Stephen, she became the wife of Gerald Fitz-Walter, and the mother of Maurice and William Fitzgerald. Maurice left a numerous issue in the prov- inces of Leinster and Munster. John, one of his descendants, was created earl of Kil- dare in 1316, by king Edward II. Maurice, brother of John, was made, in the following reign, earl of Desmond, by Edward III. This house was sacrificed, in the reign of Elizabeth, for its attachment to religion and country, and its large estates confiscated and bestowed upon English adventurers. The house of Kildare is still in being, with the rank of the premier earldom of Ireland. From these two stocks sprung a number of distinguished branches, holding large pos- sessions, and characterized by their high and generous sentiments. Of these were the Fitzgeralds of Laccagh, Allen, Black- hall, Blackwood, Ballisonnan, Rathrone, Teiroghan, Windgate, and others in Lein- ster. From them were also descended the knights of Kerry and Glynn ; the knight Blanc, who took the name of Fitzgibbon ; the Fitzgeralds of Carrigilleere, Carrigro- han, Castlemore, Moyallow, Rathgrogan, Imokilly, &c., in the county of Cork. Sev- eral of these noblemen were dispossessed of their estates on account of their religion, in the various revolutions which happened in the country ; others among them, by con- forming to the times, saved the patrimony left them by their fathers. William, son of Gerald Fitz-Walter by Nesta, and brother of Maurice Fitzgerald, was father of Reymond le Gros, or the Fat, who had a great share in reducing a part of Ireland to the sway of Henry II. Reymond married Basilia, the sister of earl Strongbow.* This count gave him for a dowry the lands of Idrone, Fot- hard, and Glascarrig in the county of Car- low, and named him Constable of Leinster. In an expedition which Reymond imder- took against Donald O'Brien king of Lime rick, Dermod M'Carty, king of Cork, sent to ask his aid against his son Cormac O'Leha nagh, who rebelled against him. The cause of this rebellion of the son, was his father's weakness in having submitted to Henry II. Reymond did not hesitate ; he marched against the disobedient son of M'Carty, caused him to be arrested, and delivered him to his father, who ordered him to be be- headed. In reward for his services, Rey- mond received from M'Carty a large district * Lodge's Peerage. in the county of Kerry, which formed at that time part of the kingdom of Cork. Reymond granted this territory to his eldest son Mau- rice : the latter became powerful, his de- scendants took the name of Fitzmaurice, and the district was called Clan-Maurice. Reymond, it is said, had another son named Hamon, Hamo, or Heimond, surnamed like his father, le Grosse ; it is from him that the family of Gi'ace is descended ; which is a corruption of Grosse. This family has been in high repute, for some centuries, in the coimty of Kilkenny, where they possessed a large district named Grace's country. The Fitz-Maurices of Kerry were much renowned in succeeding ages for their vir- tues, wealth, and connections. Edmond, one of the chiefs of the family, was created by Henry VIII., in 1537, Baron of Odorney and Viscount of Kilmaule. The same prince gave him, by letters patent, the spoils of several abbeys and religious houses in his district. This noble family often gave proofs of their attachment to religion : the Fitz- maurices of Lixnaw greatly distinguished themselves in the war of the Confederates against Elizabeth ; so much that, when pro- claiming a general pardon to those who had borne arms against her, she made an express exception of the earl of Desmond, his brother John, Pierce Lacy, the knight of Glinn, and Thomas Fitz-Maurice, son of the late baron of Lixnaw : but Fitz-Maurice got into favor again, upon the accession of James I. to the throne. Historians are not quite agreed respecting the origin of the noble family of the Barrys in Ireland.* According to Camden, the Barrys derive their name from an island be- longing to Wales, called Barry. That island was so named from Barruch, who having lived there in the odor of sanctity, was in- terred in it. Others say that the name of Barry is found in a roll of Battle-Abbey.t among the number of those who had assisted the duke William in the conquest of Eng- land ; from hence it is presumed that the family of Barry has its origin from Norman- dy. However this be, William de Barry was the common ancestor of diff'erent branches of that name in Ireland. He married Angareth daughter of Nesta, and sister of Robert Fitzstephen : he had by her four sons, namely, Robert, Philippe, Walter, and Girald, or Girard, surnamed Cambrensis, of j whom we have spoken in the first part of | this history. Robert Barry accompanied * Nichol's Rudiments of Honor, t Lodge's Peerage. Brit. p. 837. 270 HISTORY OF IRELAND. Robert Fitzstephen to Ireland ; he was wounded at the siege of Wexford, and was killed afterwards at Lismore. Philippe de Barry, brother of the latter, crossed into Ireland some time afterwards, at the head of some troops, to assist his uncle Robert Fitzstephen, and Reymond le Grosse,* to keep the kingdom of Cork against the efforts of the Mac-Cartys, its ancient proprietors. Robert Fitzstephen gave him the lands of Olethan, of Muskerry, of Dunegan, and Killede, where he built some castles. This donation was confirmed to William, son of Philippe, by king John. Sir David Barry, son of William, was Lord Justice of Ire- land. He made war against the M'Cartys and the Fitz-Geralds of Coshbride. He increased his possessions in the county of Cork, and became lord of Castle-Lyons, Buttevant, and Barrys-court. This high family supported the splendor of their origin down to our time ; their attachment to the interest of the English government, partic- ularly under the reign of Elizabeth, has well earned its favors to them. David Barry, the head of it, already baron of Ibavvne, and viscount of Buttevant, was created earl of Barrymore in 1627 by Charles I. The origin of the Butlers of Ireland is undoubted. The best authors give them an illustrious descent from Normandy ; but the author who seems to have best fathomed the antiquity of that house is Mr. John Butler, resident at his benefice in the county of Northampton. He makes it a younger branch of that of Clare, formerly so illus- trious, so numerous, and so powerful in England. According to him, Richard, first count of Clare, had two sons. The descend- ants of the elder took by degrees the surname of Clare, from the manor of that name situate in the county of Suffolk. The posterity of the younger, after having borne for some time the name of Walter, or Fitz-Walter, took that of Butler, when the office of Grand Butler became hereditary in Ireland, and was conferred on them as a favor. They enjoyed the same office in England, and in- herited the land of Baynard Castle, which was annexed to it as a perpetual fief. When M. Nichols gives to the family of Butler a descent from the ancient counts of Brionne in Normandy, he must have been led to think, according to Oldaricus Vitalis, that the family of Clare was sprung from that of Brionne, which house of Brionne, according to the same Oldaric, is descended from the dukes of Normandy. * Ware's Antiquities of Ilib. c. 27. Mr. Carte, in his life of the duke of Or- mond, has left us a long dissertation upon the origin of this family, but it is more cal- culated to embarrass than throw light on the subject, if there was a necessity for it. If Mr. Lodge had condescended to give in his peerage a more copious and accurate genealogy, he would have rendered an im- portant service to this family. But our au- thor was as modest as he was learned, and did not wish to undertake the task. He has refrained from ascending higher than the father of Hervy Walter, who was father to the first grand butler of Ireland. Camden says that the name of Butler is derived from the office of honorary grand- butler of Ireland ; that the Butlers are de- scended from a sister of Thomas a Becket, archbishop of Canterbury, and that Henry II. had heaped upon that family, already so illustrious and wealthy in England, posses- sions and honors in Ireland, in order to allay in some degree the hatred which the murder of that holy prelate had drawn on him. W"illiam Dugdale, king-at-arms under Charles II., makes mention of Hubert Wal- ter, in the counties of Norfolk and Suffolk ; he speaks of five sons of Hervy W^ alter, whom he had by Maud, daughter of Theo- bald de Valoines ; also of the extensive in- fluence of Hubert, one of their sons, arch- bishop of Canterbury, and of the lordship of Preston in Amunderness, in the county of Lancashire, which Richard I. gave to Theo- bald, brother of the prelate, who, according to him, was very wealthy, and had founded monasteries and endowed churches. He mentions, likewise, the great wealth brought him by his wife Maud, daughter of Robert Vavasour, and adds, that from one of their sons named Theobald, who first took the name from the office of grand-butler, the noble family of Butlers, since earls of Or- mond, is descended. The same author likewise mentions that the counts of Ormond are descended by the paternal line from Hervy Walter, premier baron of England in the time of Henry II. While Richard Strongbow, earl of Pem- broke, was supporting the interests of the king of Leinster, and something beyond, Theobald Walter was with Henry II. in Normandy, where he succeeded in influ- encing the prince to restore his favor to Thomas a Becket, archbishop of Canterbury. This holy prelate was his maternal grand- uncle, Hervy, the father of Theobald, having been married to Maud, daughter of Theo- bald Valoines and of Matilda Becket, sister CHRISTIAN IRELAND. 271 of the prelate. Hubert Walter, brother of Theobald, was one of the successors of his uncle Thomas a Becket, in that see. After the martyrdom of the primate, which happened December 28, 1171, Henry II. passed over to Ireland, and was accompanied in the expedition by a great number of lords, among others, by Theobald Walter. He contributed to the reduction of a part of the kingdom ; his services merited for him more 1 and more the favor of the king, who re- warded him liberally, and bestowed on him , large possessions, besides the hereditary of- I fice of grand-butler in Ireland, a situation that his ancestors had filled in England. Theobald was powerful in England, and one of the wealthiest of the great old feuda- tories of the crown, and his descendants I enjoyed without interruption during 350 : years, the same privileges in that kingdom ; but in 1515 they were reduced to the estates ^ and honors held by them in Ireland only. j Thomas, earl of Ormond, who died in that ' year, left only daughters after him, who iorought their English estates to the families of St. Ledger and Bollen. Peter Butler, a member of the house, found means to possess himself of the estates in Ireland, as well as the titles of honor which they bore in that country, and his posterity during the two last centuries supported the splendor of their family from 1515 till 1717, when James, peer of the three kingdoms and duke of Ormond, having taken measures in oppo- sition to the reigning family, was attainted, and his title and estates confiscated. The family of Burkes, otherwise de Bourks, or de Burgo, in Ireland, derives its origin from William Fitz-Adelm, one of the first English who landed in Ireland under Henry II. Fitz-Adelm was descended from Serlo, or Harlowen de Bourgo, son of a Norman lord named Eustace. Serlo having espoused Arlotte, mother of William the Conqueror, passed over with that prince into England. Of this marriage of Serlo with Arlotte, was born Robert, earl of Cornwall, from whom descended William, who succeeded to the dignity of the earl. The latter was father to Adelm and John, who was father to Hu- bert de Burgo,* Chief-Justice of England and earl of Kent. He was deprived of his office, judged by his peers in full parliament, and degraded, for having counselled king Henry HI. to annul the grand charter and the privileges of his subjects. * Cox is not in accordance wilh Nicliols respect- ing tlie descent of William Fitz-Adelm ; we do not mean to reconcile them, they may be consulted by the reader. Adelm was father to William, known under the name of William Fitz-Adelm ; he went with Henry II. to Ireland, who confirmed to him by charter five military fiefs in a place called Toth, where the castle of Canice, at present Castleconnel, is situated ; he then gave him large estates in Connaught, where the noble family of the Burkes, his descend- ants, becaine settled. William de Burgo, earl of Ulster, and chief of that family, having been assassinated in 1333, without leaving any male heirs to succeed to the possession of his estates in Connaught, two noblemen of his name and family made themselves masters of all his lands in that province, and formed two powerful families distinguished by the names of Mac-AVilliam Eighter, and Mac-William Oughter, a dis- tinction which continued for a long time. These houses produced several collateral branches, which gave origin to many private families. The sept of the Burkes was honored with four peerages in the persons of Ulysses Burke, created earl of Clanrickard in 1543, by Henry VIII. Theobald Burke, (com- monly called Tibbod ne Lung, that is to say, the naval, because he was conversant in naval pursuits,) who was created viscount of Mayo in 1627, by Charles I., both which titles are still in being. There have been also two lord-barons in the family, namely, Castleconnel and Brittas. These titles do not exist at present in Ireland, but are united in the person of N. Burke, captain in an Irish regiment in the service of his most Christian Majesty. The noble family of the Lacys in Ireland derive their origin from Normandy. Walter and Ilbert de Lacy, having accompanied the duke William into England, they had a share in the conquest of that kingdom, where they were amply rewarded with donations in lands by that prince. Hugh, grandson of Walter de Lacy, ac- companied Henry II. to Ireland in 1172. The king, to reward him for his services in England and Ireland, gave him for the ser- vice of fifty knights, the territory of Meath, to be possessed by him and his descendants in the manner in which it was held by Mur- chard O'Melachlin, the ancient proprietor of that county. He left him also all the fiefs which he had around Dublin, and all which he might acquire afterwards. He then named him governor of the city of Dublin, and Lord Justice of Ireland. Hugh employed many workmen to build castles ; one among whom, named Malva Miadaiah, cut off his head with the stroke of an axe, either to take 272 HISTORY OF IRELAND. revenge for the severity which that noble- man had practised against his companions, or for the ii\justice done to O'Melacldin, whose patrimony he had seized. WaUov left two sons named Walter and Hugh ; the first inherited the lordship of Meath, and the latter was made earl of Ulster, in con- seqnence of the disgrace of Sir John de Conrcy. These two lords having left none but daughters after them, their vist estates fell into the hands of strangers. The posterity of Ilbert de Lacy, of whom we have already spoken, settled in England. The Conqueror gave to this nobleman the castle and lordship of Pontfract in the county of York, and several estates in the county of Lancaster and else where, together amounting to the number of 150 lordships in England. We discover in the county of Limerick, in Ireland, some families of Lacys, very distin- guished for their virtues and attachment to the interests of religion and country, and are able to trace their genealogy to one or other of the two houses of which we have just given an account. It was in the reign of Henry II. that the noble family of Nugent established them- selves in Ireland. They are of Norman descent, Sir Gilbert de Nugent, with his brothers, having accompanied in 1172 Hugh de Lacy in the expedition to Ireland.* This nobleman, in gratitude for his services, gave him in marriage his sister Rosa, and the fortune he received with her was the terri- tory of Dealma, or Delvin, in the county of Westmeath, with all its dependencies, to be held by him and his descendants for ever. Gilbert divided the estate with his brothers and other relatives. From this stock nu- merous branches, eminent for noble and generous sentiments, were produced. The chief of the family was first called to par- liament in 1486, in quality of baron of Delvin. His descendants Avere created peers of the realm, under the title of earls of Westmeath, by James I. The liberality of Hugh Lacy was not confined to the Nugents. He gave estates to the Tyrrels, the Petits, Nangles, Tuites, Missets, Husseys, Flemings, and to many others. Sir John de Courcy of Ulster,! (part of which he had conquered,) was celebrated in tl e twelfth century. He left a son named Milo, or Miles, who was deprived of the suc- cession by his father's disgrace and the in- fluence of Hugh de Lacy, who was a favorite * Ware's Antiquities, Hib. cap. 27. t Nichol's Rudiments of Honor. at court.* King Henry III. wishing to in- demnify Milo de Courcy, gave him the bar- ony of Kinsale in the county of Cork, with the title of baron : this family is still in being, and enjoys a peculiar privilege granted by King John to Sir John de Courcy and his descendants, of remaining covered in the presence of the king. Genealogists give to this family a very illustrious origin. They trace their descent in the male line from the house of Lorraine, of the race of Charle- magne, and in the female line from the house of Normandy. The Birminghams of Ireland are of Eng- lish extraction ; they derive their name from the town of Birmingham, in the county of Warwick, of which Peter de Birmingham was the possessor in the time of Henry II. His son William, or according to others, Robert de Birmingham his grandson, passed over to Ireland in the twelfth century with Earl Strongbow. This earl gave him con- siderable possessions in Ofaly, particularly the barony of Carbry in the county of Kil- dare. John de Birmingham, one of the descend- ants of Robert, was created knight in the fourteenth century, by Roger Mortimer, at that time Lord Justice of Ireland ; he was afterwards made baron of Athenry (in Irish Agh-na-Ry) and earl of Louth, for having killed in battle Edward Bruce, brother of the king of Scotland. The Birminghams frequently filled public offices in the state. They were invested during some time with the title of barons of Carbry. The house of Athenry is still in existence, with the title of premier baron of Ireland. The noble family of Preston derives its origin from Robert Preston, Esq., lord of the manor of Preston, in Lancashire, England, in the reign of Edward III. In the year 1470 he was first created knight of the order of the garter, and in 1477 viscount Gor- manstown, in the county of Meath, and his descendants have filled with distinction places of trust and honor. Roche, otherwise de la Roche, or de rupe, i. e. of the rock, lord of Fermoy, in the county of Cork, was created, the same year, viscount of Fermoy. This noble family is descended from Hugh de la Roche, whose ancestors had followed William the Con- queror into England. Hugh crossed after- wards, with Strongbow, into Ireland, in the twelfth century, under Henry II., where he obtained a Cantred, called to this day Roche's country, with its dependencies. * Lodge. CHRISTIAN IRELAND. 273 Ralph, son of Alexander de la Roche, one of the descendants of Hugh, married, in the fourteenth century, Elizabeth, third daughter of Gilbert de Clare, earl of Glou- cester and Hereford, to whom Nichols, in his rudiments of honor, gives a descent from Charlemagne, through a great number of kings and sovereign princes. Such is the origin of that house, which subsisted in splendor until the revolution of Cromwell ; when David Roche, Viscount Fermoy, sacri- ficed for his loyalty to his legitimate sove- reigns, Charles I. and II., an extensive es- tate, which still bears the name of Roche's country. The Barnewalls are from Little Brittany, in France, where some of their ancestors were allied to dukes of that province. Hav- ing accompanied William the Conqueror to England, they passed afterwards with Henry II to Ireland, where they became possessed of Beerhaven, and other estates that be- longed to the O'Sullivans, in the county of Cork ; but the O'Sullivans, with others of the Irish, having conspired against them, they were all massacred, except the wife of the head of that family, who was pregnant of a male child at the time, and escaped the carnage. This murder happened about the middle of the fifteenth century, according to a letter from the inhabitants of Cork to the duke of York, as mentioned by Cam- pion in his history, p. 184. This letter makes mention of the Barnewalls, as the possessors of Beerhaven at that time. It also speaks of the Irish taking advantage of the disputes of some lords in the county of Cork, having fortified themselves in the country', a great part of which had fallen into their possession. The letter adds, that there remained but Roche, Courcy, and Barry, who possessed something of their patrimony. Madam Barnewall withdrew to Dublin, where she lay in of a son, who raised the family, which was almost extinct. He established himself at Dromenach, in the county of Dublin, and married a rich heiress, by whom he had two sons ; from the elder of whom were descend- ed the Barnewalls of Crickston, in the coun- ty of Meath, and the Viscounts Kingsland, and from the younger the barons of Trim- blestown. These two houses gave rise to several im- portant branches of the name in Ireland, who sustained in splendor the cause of reli- gion and of their country, among the sev- eral revolutions which happened in it. The noble family of Flemings in Ireland,* * Nichol's Rudiments of Honor. take their origin from Michael Fleming, a native of Flanders, whence the name is taken. He was related to Baldwin, earl of Flanders, who sent him with some troops to assist his son-in-law, William the Conqueror, in his expedition into England. After this he was sent with an army to the north of Eng- land, to oppose the incursions of the Scotch. 'William Rufus subsequently gave him some estates in the counties of Lancaster and Cumberland, as rewards for his services. Archibald Fleming, one" of his descendants, having accompanied Earl Strongbow to Ireland, received the estate of Slane, in the county of Meath, with its dependen- cies. This family always supported itself with honor in the country. James Fleming, lord baron of Slane, was created Knight of the Garter in 1479 ; and lastly, Christo- pher Fleming, baron of Slane, signalized himself in the revolution, under James II., and sacrificed his fortune for the good cause. The noble family of the Plunkets, more anciently called Plugenets, of Danish ex- traction, were established first in England. They came afterwards to Ireland, under Henry II., and settled in the counties of Meath and Dublin. Many great men were descended from them, who were remarkable for their attachment to the orthodox faith, and loyalty to their legitimate princes ; this family gave many peers to Ireland, viz., the barons of Dunsany, of Killeen, and Louth, and the earl of Fingal. The Dillons* hold a distinguished rank among the Irish nobility. Lodge gives to this family a very illustrious and ancient origin. He says that they are descended from Lochan, or Logan, son of Hugh Slaine, of the race of the O'Neills, and monarch of Ireland towards the end of the sixth cen- tury. Lochan having killed his cousin. Col- man Kimidh, Avhom the monarch had united to him in the government, he was named Deloun, or Dillon, which signifies brave or valiant. In order to escape from the anger of his father, enraged against him for caus- ing the death of Colman, Lochan went into foreign countries, and entered into the ser- vice of the duke of Aquitaine, at that time at war with the king of France, and contrib- uted greatly, by his valor, to keep that prince in his sovereignty. The duke, to reward the services of Lochan, gave him his only daughter in marriage, and by virtue of this alliance he became prince of Aquitc ine after the death of his father-in-law, who left no * Lodge's Peerage. 274 HISTOKY OF IRELAND. malo children after him. The descendants of Ijoclian ruled for a long time in Aqui- taine. In the twelfth century this family were dispossessed by William, prince of the house of Burgundy. Two male chil- dren of the race of Lochan, Thomas and Henry, were still living. Henry II., king of England, having espoused Eleanor, daugh- ter of William, and heiress of Aquitaine, thought it prudent to remove the two young pretenders to the principality ; and in order to take every opportunity from them of seek- ing after it, had them conducted to England, vvhere he provided for them an education suitable to their birth, and on attaining man- hood, Henry received the order of knight- hood. Sir Henry Diloune, or Delion, now called Dillon, M^as sent to Ireland as first gentle- man and secretary to John, earl of Mor- tagne, afterwards king of England. This prince gave him the territory of Corkny, which belonged to Mac-Carron, in West- meath, with a part of Annaly. The do- mains of M'Geoghegan and O'Malachlin extended from the river Shannon, as far as Cloghanenumore, to the east of MuUin- gar. The family of Dillon became very numerous and renowned in the counties of Meath, Westmeath, Longford, Roscommon, Mayo, and in other districts of the kingdom. The Dillons have filled high places in the church and state. There were two peerages in the family ; Sir Robert Dillon was created baron of Kilkenny West, in 1619, by James I., and in 1622 the same king created him earl of Roscommon. He who ought to be his representative now, and heir to his for- tune as well as title, is brigadier in the king of France's armies. The second peerage was given in 1621 to Sir Theobald Dillon, who was created viscount of Castillo-gillen, in the county of Mayo, by James I. This family is well known in France, where an Irish regiment bears the name of Dillon. In 1745 and 1747, two brothers of the fam- ily were successively its colonels, and shed their blood at the head of that regiment, in the battles of Fontenoy and Lawfeld, in the service of France. The family of Nettervil is very ancient in Ireland ; they have their origin fro Charles, duke of Normandy. Sir Formal Nettervil passed over into Ireland in the twelfth century. He married Phaladelphia, daughter of William Vesey, by whom he had a son named Richard, who espoused Catherine, daughter of Sir Hugh de Lacy. This family continued in splendor until the reign of James I., who created Nicholas Nettervil viscount of Louth, in the county of Meath, which house is still in being. The family of Bedlows, or Bellews, owe their descent to Normandy, as appears from he rolls of the' abbey of Hastings. A no- bleman of that name accompanied William the Conqueror to England, in quality of marshal of his army. His descendants after- wards proceeded to Ireland, where they es- tablished themselves, and still hold large estates. Sir John Bellew was honored with the peerage in 1686, by king James II., under the title of Lord Baron of Duleek, in the county of Meath. This family is still in being. The Taff'es of Ireland are originally from England ; their first appearance in Ireland was at the end of the thirteenth and begin- ning of the fourteenth century. William Talfe, one of the descendants of the family, espoused warmly the cause of Queen Eliza- beth against the Catholics of Ireland. He served that princess with zeal in her last campaigns in Munster, for which he was well rewarded ; he received his share of the confiscations made of the Catholic proper- ties, in that, and in the succeeding reigns. James I., wishing to compensate the ser- vices of the father, created Sir John Taffe, his son, baron of Ballymore, and viscount of Coranne, in the county of Sligo, where the estates of Mac-Donough were given him. Theobald, son of John, was created, in 1662, earl of Carlingford, in the county of Louth, by Charles II. Nicholas, son of the latter, was the third viscount, and second earl of Carlingford ; he was killed at the head of his regiment at the battle of the Boyne. Francis, his brother, was the third earl ; he served with distinction during 30 years in the empire, where he was lieutenant-gen- eral of cavalry, and colonel of the Royal Cuirassiers. This earl having died Avithout issue, his nephew Theobald became the fourth earl of Carlingford, and the title be- came extinct by his death in 1738, at Lisle, in Flanders. Lambert Taffe, brother of the earl, colonel of cuirassiers in the service of the emperor, was killed in 1702, at the fa- mous battle of Cremona, where the French and Irish tore from Prince Eugene the city and victory which that general enjoyed for a few hours. The name of le Poer, at present Power, is an ancient one in Ireland. Sir Roger le Poer entered the country with Strongbow, in the twelfth century. He accompanied the knight Courcy to Ulster, where he shared largely in the conquest of a part of that prov- ince. CHRISTIAN IRELAND. 275 His descendants possessed Curraghmore, Cowleftyn, Gortbady, and other estates in the county of Waterford. Richard le Poer was created lord baron of Curraghmore, in 1452, by Henry H. Another Richard Poer was created, in 1673, viscount of Dcsies and earl of Tyrone, by Charles II., but the title of Tyrone afterwards passed into another family. A descendant of Roger le Poer, named Eustace, in the beginning of the 14th cen- tury founded the illustrious house of Fitz- Eustaces, created viscounts of Baltinglass by Henry VIII. Under the reign of Eliza- beth, this family was sacrificed for their zeal in the Catholic cause. There are two families of the name still in being, viz., the Eustaces of Gammonstown, and those of Cradokstown. Although the following families are not found in the list of Irish peers, still there are many among them not inferior in either nobleness of extraction or in those qualities which characterize good citizens. The Walshes of Ireland are originally from Great Britain. The Britons, says Camden, exhausted by the long war they were forced to maintain against the perfidious Saxons, were constrained to seek a country even in their own. They retired into the district that lies west of Britain, since called Wales by the Saxons, and the inhabitants Welchmen, which signifies strangers. A striking picture of the conduct of the Eng- lish in Ireland, where the ancient inhabitants have been treated as strangers among them, and compelled to obtain letters of naturali- zation in the country which gave them birth. Two noblemen named Welshes, went to Ireland in the reign of Henry II. One of them, called Philip,* was mentioned by Ware as a valiant young man, from the bravery he displayed in a naval engagement with the Danes of Cork : the other, named David, dis- tinguishedf himself particularly at the pas- sage over the Shannon, when Reymond le Gros attempted to lay siege to Limerick. These were the two stocks of the different families of the Walshes (called by the Irish Brannaghs) established in Ireland. We discover them in the counties of Kilkenny, Kildare, and Dublin, | where the Walshes of Carrickmain were lords of Oldcourt. Their power, says Camden, equalled their noble- ness in that country. We see, at the present day, two brothers, who are offshoots of the noble family of * Annal. Hib. c. 5. t Cox. Hist, of Irel. p. 28. t Camden. Brit Walshes in Ireland, established in France, one of whom conducted Prince Edward into Scotland in 1745, which would have earned for him the title of lord. The other has purchased the beautiful estate of Seran in Anjou, and has been honored by the king of France with the title of count. The Warrens are of Norman extraction. William, count of Warren in Normandy, being allied to the duke of that province. He was nephew to the countess of Gunnora, great-grandmother of that prince. He ac- companied the duke in his famous expedition to England in 1066, and distinguished him- self greatly at the battle of Hastings, which transferred the crown of England to the conqueror. The king, in consideration of the services of Count Warren, gave him estates and lordships in the counties of Nor- folk and Lincoln.* He was created in the following reign count of Surrey, and the house became powerful in England. William, count of Surrey, left after him a son also named William, who inhabited his estates and titles. The latter had three sons, one named William, who succeeded him, besides Reginald and Ralph. Reginald having es- poused Alice, heiress of Wirmgay, in the county of Norfolk, founded a second family of Warren. The descendants of that family removed afterwards to Ireland, where they became very numerous and influential, as well by their virtues as their possessions. In addition to public notoriety, this account is strength- ened by topographical proofs which are not to be despised. We discover in the maps on Ireland, places which bear their name in two difTerent provinces. The name Warrens- town, that is, the town or borough of War- ren, is found in the King's county in Leinster, and in Down in Ulster ; clearly indicating the old proprietors. There was a family of the name in the county of Meath near Dun- shaughlin, who possessed a large estate ; but it has undergone the same lot with others, and there remains of these different branches, only Warren of CordufT, near Dublin, who still possesses a part of the family estate. A cursory piece written by Sir .Tames Ware, and printed under his own inspection in London, a. d. 1657, gives a very remote origin to the Whites of England and Ireland. The venerable Bede, in his ecclesiastical history of the English nation, supplied him with the materials for it.-f Ware gives the * Baker's Cfiron. on the reign of William. t Book 1, C.15. 276 HISTORY OF IRELAND. opinions of Politloro Vivgil, of Speed, Cam- den, Florcntius Wigorn, G ratzius, and others ; and from drawing a comparison of all, he concludes, with a great prol)ability of truth, that White is a Saxon name, derived from Vitus, Wite, or Weight, according to the dif- ferent changes which have occurred to the name since the establishment of the Vites in England, in the beginning of the fifth century. Sir Walter Wliyte removed with his bro- thers into Ireland in the time of Henry II. ; his father was governor and justice of South Wales, which had then the title of akingdom. The Whites became settled in different counties of Ireland, where they held a dis- tinguished rank among the nobility. Cam- den, in his description of the country, places them in the counties of Kildare, W^exford, and Down. Among the different families of the Whites, that of Lexslip ranks the highest, from their merits, wealth, and con- nections. Chance has put into my hands some very interesting and ancient documents respecting the Whites in general, but more particularly a branch of that name established in Lime- rick, before the revolution fomented in Ire- land by the tyrant Cromwell. These docu- ments are legally authenticated copies, col- lated with their originals at Brussels. The first is a patent of the Emperor Max- imilian I., written in the Latin language, dated at Tournay, a. d. 1513. By this patent, the emperor created Dominic Wliite baron of Albis, both for himself and his descendants. The motives which induced the emperor to grant the patent are particularized, which are, the origin of the name, taken fromViti, a people of Germany, (being attested by letters from Henry VIII. to the emperor;) the bravery which that nobleman displayed at the sieges of Terouene and Tournay ; the goodness of his disposition, and finally the beauty of his person, a quality hereditary in that family. The second document is a certificate of the earl of Strafford, viceroy of Ireland. It is dated Dublin, 25th December, anno 1639. It is followed by another, signed by the bishop of Limerick, the mayor, and other magistrates of that city. We have already noticed the fragment of Sir James Ware, dated London, 1657. Charles II., king of England, like wise gave a diploma at Brussels, in 1658, which is in conformity with those now mentioned. The purport of all is to authenticate the origin and nobility of this ancient family. The Wales of Ireland take their orisin from a barony of Northampton in England, of which they had been the possessors in the time of William the Conqueror. William Wale, son of that ancient family, went over to Ireland in the twelfth century, when Richard Strongbow was invited thither by the king of Leinster, In the second division which Strongbow made of the estates in Leinster, he gave to William Wale that of Johnstown in the county of Carlow, to reward him for the services he had rendered in the reduction of that district. This first inheritance was afterwards increased by the acquisition of other estates, viz., those of Coolnamuckie, Ballynakelly, in the Queen's county, and several others. This family was distinguished by their virtues and merited the confidence of their sovereigns, who fre- quently appointed them to offices of high trust in the state ; but their attachment to the religion of their fathers caused them to share the same lot of many among their countrymen. Count Wale, minister to the court of Spain, is descended from this noble house.* The family of the Stacks is of consider- able antiquity in Ireland. It derives its origin from the ancient Gauls. Some of the family having followed the fortunes of Wil- liam the Conqueror into England, established themselves in Wales. It is asserted, that before the time of Henry II., Mac-Carty More had married a lady belonging to it, and that he brought over with her into Ire- land her four brothers, to whom he offered estates in the county of Kerry. However this may be, it is certain that the family set- tled in the country at a very early period, and formed several branches which possessed considerable property in the neighborhood of Ardfert, as far as the river Smearlagh. There is still a district of the country called Puble-Stuckagh, that is, the country of the Stacks, who were proprietors of it. This topographical proof is not to be disregarded, being a public testimony to the antiquity of the family. Its alliances too with the best families of the province, namely, the Mac- * It is a singular feature in the character of the virtuous and renowned family of the Wales, that the author of this translation is enabled to bear testi- mony to the nobleness of sentiment and reputation sustained by their descendants. While residing at Versailles, immediately before the abdication of Charles X., M. de AVale, captain in the regiment of cuirassiers quartered then in that city, was very intimately known to him. His father, Count de Wale, was military commander and governor of Paris at the particular juncture of Louis Philippe gaining the throne of France ; the de Wales are of theCarlist party, taking no place under L. Philippe. —P. O'Kelly. CHRISTIAN IRELAND. 277 Mahons, the Fitzgeralds,the McCarthys, tlie Burkes, the Fitzmaurices, and others, shew the consideration in which it was hekl. The Stacks met the fate of so many of their fel- low-countrymen ; their zeal for religion and attachment to their legitimate monarch, were crimes with them as with others. They were on these grounds deprived of their possessions, some under Elizabeth, others by the usurper Cromwell. Ponsonby, a soldier of fortune and a creature of his, ob- tained the estates of Stackstown and Crotto. To establish the antiquity of the noble family of the Darcys in Ireland, it is sufficient to say that they are descended from Sir John Darcy, lord-justice and viceroy in that kingdom in the fourteenth century. The first stock of that name was Norman de x\rcy, who had entered England with Wil- liam the Bastard. The Conqueror gave him thirty-three lordships in the county of Lin- coln,* the chiefof which was Nocton, where he established his residence ; his son Robert succeeded him, and Thomas succeeded the latter. These noblemen founded and en- dowed religious houses. They filled high places in the military and civil departments, and were greatly esteemed by their sove- reig-ns. The name de Areci was afterwards changed into that of d'Arcy ; the accent was at length suppressed, and at present it is written Darcy. John Darcy, mentioned above, was fre- quently named lord-justice of Ireland, j Edward III. to reward his services gave him by letters patent the estates of Rathwer and Kildalk, in the barony of Farbile, in Ireland. His first. wife was Emelina, daughter and heiress of Walter Heron. He had by her three children, John, Eleanor, and Roger ; this was the stock of the house of Hold^r- ness, in England. Having become a widower, he married Joanna, daughter of Richard Burgh, earl of Ulster, and the widow of Thomas, earl of Kildare. He had by this marriage a son named William,from whom the Darcys of Plattin are descended, and those of Dunmow, in the county of Meath ; the first were dispossessed in the late revolution for their attachment to the loyalist cause. The Darcys of Connaught were a collat- eral branch of the house of Plattin. Nicho- las, brother to John Darcy of Plattin, and descended in the fifth degree from John Darcy, lord-justice of Ireland, having married the daughter and heiress of 0'- Duraghy, lord of Partry, in the county of Mayo, became possessed of the whole for- tune of that family. This branch multi- * Dugdale's Baronage of England, b. 2, p. 369. plied exceedingly ; several other families sprang from it, viz., the Darcys of Kiltolla, of Clunuane, of Gorteen, and others in Con- naught. Some other families may be intro- duced here, which, according to Camden, were of English descent, to wit, the Jordans, the Nangles of Castlough, and the Prender- gasts of Clan-Moris. The family of the Aylmers were estab- lished at Lyons in the county of Kildare, in Ireland, at the end of the thirteenth cen- tury. It is said that they have their origin from Aylmer, earl of Cornwall in the reign of Ethelred, king of England in the tenth century. However this be, history mentions Ralph Aylmer and William his brother, to have been in possession of Lyons in the year 1300. This family multiplied them- selves exceedingly, and subsequently gave out the collateral branches of the Aylmers of Ballykenan, Donadea, DuUardstown, and of Balrath. They were distinguished by j their virtues and high connections, as well as for their attachment to the Roman Cath- olic religion. The houses of Lyons and Balrath are still in being. There are several families of Browns in Ireland. They are not less respected for their virtues and nobleness than for their extraction. They are of English descent, and there is in England a viscount Montague who bears that name. The Browns of Kenmare are established in the county of Kerry since the reign of Elizabeth. The first of that noble family who went to Ireland, was Sir Nicholas Brown, of Tataridge, in the county of Hert- ford. This family Avas allied to the O'Sul- livans, McCartys, Fitzgeralds, Butlers, and other noblemen of that province. They received the honor of the peerage from James II., who created Valentine Brown baron of Caslleross and viscount Kenmare, in the county of Kerry. Some families of Browns were established in Connaught, viz., those of Neal, Westport, Elystren, and others. Some also were of the counties of Limerick and Waterford ; we discover a family of the name in the county of Kildare in possession of the lord- ship of Castlebrown. The noble family of the Wogans of Rath- coffey is well known in that district. They are descended from Sir John Wogan, lord- justice of Ireland at the close of the thirteenth century. We find also in the county of Kildare, the Husseys of Moyle- Hussey ; there are also the Husseys of Old- town, near Kilcock, and some others. Cam- den places in the same county, the de la 278 HISTORY OF IRELAND. Hides, the Boiseles, the Suttons, and others.* These last, as well as the Suttons of Wexford, have tlieir descent from Sir John Sutton, lord DudU-y, viceroy in Ireland in the be- giiuiing of the fifteenth century-f The family of Devereux, in Wexford, have the same origin as the Devereuxs of England, sometime earls of Essex. They are descended from a count d'Evreux in Normandy, who was archbishop of Rouen. The other good families of the county of Wexford are the Sinnotts, StafTords, Chee- vers, Furlongs, Fitzharris, Mastersons, Hores, Hates, Coddes, Maylers. In the county of Kilkenny are found the Graces, Lovels, Foresters, Shortels, Blanch- fields, Drilands, Comerfords. The Carews were established in the county of Carlow, the Herberts, Colbys, Moores, in the King's county. The respectable family of the Tyr- rels are said to have been first of Castle- knock, in the county of Dublin, and to have had the title of barons. They were trans- planted afterwards into the barony of Fer- tullagh in the county of Westmeath, where they supported for a long time the noble- ness of their origin. | There are, in the county of Dublin, the Talbots, of Malahide, who are yet in being, the Holywoods, Lutterells, Burnills, Fitzwilliams, Gouldings, Ushers, Caddels, Finglas, Sarsfields, Purcels, Blackneys, Cruces, Baths, and others. The county of Meath, besides titled fami- lies, contains the Husseys, barons of Gal- trim, Cusacks, and Garvys. In Westmeath, the Petits, Tuites, Nangles, Daltons, and other names may be discovered. In the county of Waterford, an ancient family named Strange is established. They are descended from Sir Thomas Strange,^ a deputy in Ireland in the 15th century. This family was transplanted by Cromwell into Connaught. According to Camden, the Hurleys, Chaceys, Suppels, Purcels all of English origin, are to be met with in the county of Limerick. The expedition which Sir John Courcy conducted into Ulster, afforded an oppor- tunity to some English families to establish themselves in that province. In the county of Louth, the Verdons, Tates, Clintons, Dowdals, Gernons, Hadsors, Wottons,Bran dans. Moors, and Chamberlans, are to be found ; and in the county of Down, the Russels, Audleys, Savages, Ridells, Man * Dugdale's Baronage, book 2, p. 215. t Ware's Annals. t Camden's Description of Ireland. § Ware's Annals. dcvills, Jordans, Stantons, Stokes, Passe- levys, Copclands, Martels, Logans, Sandals, and the Camcrars, appear to be established. Besides the families mentioned, according to Camden and Ware, the following are dis- covered to have been found in Ireland in the r2th century, and afterwards in the time of Henry VIII., when they were in possession of estates. In Leinster, the "Wolwostons, the Pep- pards, the Wallases, Blacks, Redmonds, Esmonds, Chettens, Tobins, Aliens, Gen- nits, Wades, Swectmans, St. Logers, Grants, Archers, Rochfords, Datons, Rothes, Wares, Purfields, Smiths, Cooks, Hooks, Taylors, Dens, and Archdekins. In Munster, there were the Lacys, Can- tillons, Mathias, Nagles, Morres, Keatings, Johns, Piercies, Comminges, Rices, Moc- lers, Cantwels, Stapletons, Mandevills, Lom- bards, Tallons, Golds, Baggots, Bagnels, Coppingers, Porters, Cosbys, Dennys, Ter- rys, Goughs, Stritches, Pickets, Dondons, Waters, Skiddys or Squiddys, the Woulfs, of Tirry-Callane, in the county of Clare. In the county of Galway, we see the Blakes, Keerevans, Lynches, Frenchs, Bodkins, Martins, Craftons, and others. In Meath are found the Everards, Gar- lands, Griffins, Biataghs, Dungans, Ivers, Dardis, Ledwidges, Pallas, Aliens, Deases, Cheevers, Dowdals, Cruces, Malpas, and others : and lastly, a family named Drom- golds, in the county of Louth. CHAPTER XVm. Henry II., having received the submission of some of the principal lords in Ireland, established a colony of English in Leinster; and having settled governors in the import- ant places, (as has been observed in the preceding chapter,) sailed for England du- ring Easter, a. d. 11 72.* He went afterwards to Normandy, where his son Henry, to whom he had given a share in the government some time before, rebelled like a second Absalom against his father and benefactor. The king's debaucheries were in a great degree the cause of this revolt. Eleanor, his queen, jealous of the number of concubines he supported, in violation of all conjugal fidelity, excited her son Henry, who had been crowned with Marguerite, his princess, daughter of Louis * Christophori Pembrige Annal. Hib. h. Camd. edit, ad calccm Britan. CIIRISTCAN IRELAND. 279 VII., to lay claim to liis father's throne.* This young prince was abetted in his rebel- lion by his brothers, Richard and Geoftroy, and supported by his father-in-law, Louis VII., and Phihp Augustus, his son and suc- cessor. The consequences of this rebellion, were the invasion of his states by the neigh- boring princes, and by his own subjects ; the taking of Verneuil in Normandy, in the time of Louis VII., and of Mans, his native city, under Philip Augustus. So strongly was he affected by the loss of Mans, that he cried out in blasphemous imprecations, " I shall no longer love God, who has permit- ted that I should be deprived of a place so dear to me." Henry II. was too busily employed on the continent, to attend to the affairs of Ireland himself. As a skilful politician, he consid- ered it necessary to induce his English sub- jects, whom he had left there, to support his interests for the sake of their own. Among the English chiefs he divided the lands of those princes who had just acknowledged his dominion by a voluntary submission, ■violating thereby the treaties and solemn promises which he had made to maintain them in their wealth and dignities. Notwithstanding the jealousy which the success of Richard Strongbow, and his alli- ance with the royal house of Leinster, excited in Henry, he granted to this nobleman, as a military tenure, the entire of the country, except Dublin and other maritime towns, with their dependencies, and the strong places, which he reserved for himself.f This donation was afterwards confirmed by a charter granted by King John to William Marshal, earl of Pembroke, who had mar- ried Isabella, daughter and heiress of Earl Richard. The copy of this charter is among the archives in the tower of London. Strongbow found himself enabled, through the liberality of his prince, to be generous to his favorites, and created vassals for himself by sub-infeudations. He first gave to Ray- mond, who had married his sister Basilea, the lands of Fothert, Odrone, and Glascarig ; to his cousin Hervey, surnamed de Monte Marisco, the district of Obarthy ; to Maurice Prendergast the lands of Fernegenelan ; to Myler Fitzhenry the district of Carbry, at present a barony in the county of Kildare ; Naas, a considerable town in this country, * Baker, Chron. Eiigl. p. 54. Abridg. Chron. of the Hist, of France, on the reign of Louis VII., and Philip Augustus. t Stanihurst, de Reb. in Hib. Gest. Ub. 3. War. de Antiq. Hib. cap. 27. Idem, in Annal. cap. 3. with its dependencies, extending to Kildare town, which gives name to the country, and which formerly belonged to Mackelan, were given to Maurice Fitzgerald, together with the town of Wicklow. This concession was confirmed, after the death of Maurice Fitz- gerald, to his son, by King John, the charter of which is in Bermingham tower, in Dublin. In this distribution of the properties of the Irish, Walter Ridelesford had the district of Omorthy, in the county of Kildare, near Castledermot, given him ; Vivian de Cursun received the district of Ratheny,near Dublin, (formerly the patrimony of Gilcolm ;) John Clahul, the lands extending from Aghavo, in Ossory, as far as Lechlin, with the office of Marshal of Leinster ; and Robert Ber- mingham got, as his portion, O'Faly, that is, that part of the domain of O'Connor Faly, in the county of Kildare, extending towards the river Boyne. Adam of Hereibrd, one of his favorites, obtained extensive posses- sions, which are specified in an ancient registry in the monastery of St. Thomas, Dublin : namely, a territory in the county of Kildare, near the waterfall called the Salmon leap, on the river Liftey, at present the barony of Salt ; the lands of Cloncoury, Kille, Houterard, and the district of Don- ning, with its dependencies. Adam, who never had or would have been so rich in his own country, sent to England for his bro- thers John and Richard, the better to defend himself against any attempts of the ancient proprietors. With them he shared the pro- perty thus obtained, reserving to himself the territory of Salt and its dependencies. Strongbow likewise conferred on Milo Fitzdavid the district of Overk, in Ossory. He made some other grants also : namely, the lands of Arde to Thomas Le Fleming ; to Gilbert Borard, those of Ofelmith ; to a certain knight* called Reinand, fifteen mili- tary fiefs along the sea-shore ; and to one Robert, son of Richard, who was afterwards killed in Connaught, the barony of Norragh, * Tlie word knight was anciently called Miles. Knights, in general, had neither regiments nor even companies ; they were commonly volunteers, formed into corps like our Gendarmes. It is not easy to decide what was the pay of a knight : Sir John Davis, in his historical narrative, wherein the dif- ferent ranks of officers who accompanied Prince Lionel, son of Edward III., to Ireland, in the four- teenth century, are given, makes it two shillings a day. Troops were not raised in those times in the name of the king, nor by commission, as at pre- sent ; but the lords had to supply forces for their prince, in time of war, either by paying a sum of money, or by a portion of land, the proceeds of which were to be applied to that purpose. 280 HISTORY OF IRELAND. on the river Barrow, in the county of Kil- dare. At length the earl having come to Ferns, gave his natural daughter in marriage to Robert do Quincy, with the district of Daflrcn as a dowry, and afterwards appointed him constable of Lcinster. After the cele- bration of the nuptials, the earl departed for Kildarc, whence he set out in the beginning of the year, at the head of a thousand horse and foot soldiers, to invade the possessions of O'Dempsy, in Oftaly, where he pillaged and burned some villages, and carried off considerable booty to Kildare ; but he had the mortification to lose Quincy, his son-in- law and general, who was killed at the head of his troop in a defile, where he was at- tacked by O'Dempsy. Quincy left an only daughter, who was afterwards married to Philip, son of Maurice Prendergast. However weak Henry H.'s claim may have been to the proAdnce of Leinster,* he had still less to the territory of Meath, which had been for many ages the domain of the monarchs of Ireland, and in no way de- pendent upon Leinster. Nevertheless, by a charter, dated at Wexford, he granted this extensive territory to Hugh de Lacy, (on condition of keeping fifty knights for his service,) and to his descendants, as pos- sessed by Murchard O'Melaghlin before him. This grant was confirmed in favor of his son, Walter de Lacy, by King John, as we discover by a charter, among other registries in the tower of London ; whereby he added some other fiefs which belonged to the crown, in the territory of Fingal, near Dub- lin, to the grants made by his father Henry .f To secure himself in the possession of Meath, Hugh de Lacy exercised unheard-of cruelties upon the inhabitants of the country. Not content with depriving the old proprie- tors of their possessions, he caused a great number of them to be massacred. He after- wards penetrated into the territory of Annaly, (Longford,) sword in hand, where he com mitted horrible devastations, and killed, in i skirmish, Donald O'Ferral, prince of that country. O'Melaghlin, hereditary prince * The right of Henry II. to the crown of Lein- ster was founded upon the settlement, only, which the king of this province had made of it on Richard Strongbow, in consequence of the assistance he had given him in the recovery of it, and the forced ab- dication which Strongbow had made iii favor of Henry II. t The military fief was a certain portion of land, producing twenty pounds a year ; the county com- prised about twenty military fiefs, and the barony nearly thirteen. — Selden. Titul. Honor, part 2, cap. 5. of Meath,* overwhelmed with grief at the hostilities exercised against his native coun- try, came to Dublin, to Lacy, to complain of the outrages perpetrated in Meath and other districts. These two lords, unable to bring their differences to a conclusion in Dublin, agreed to meet at Tara, in Meath, and explain matters more fully, in order to bring about a reconciliation. The number of persons that were to accompany each party was fixed upon, and also the kind of arms they were to carry. The, prince of Meath inveighed loudly at their conference, against the injustice of the king of England, who, notwithstanding the promises he had given of supporting him in the possession of his wealth and dignities, had sent robbers to invade his patrimony ; and who, although avaricious and sparing of his own possessions, was lavish of those of others, and enriched libertines and profli- gates, who had consumed the property of their fathers in debauchery. However just these reproaches were, it may be readily inferred that they were not palatable to De Lacy. He was highly offended with the rebuke, but still dissembled for the moment. Stanihurst, who was in heart as much an Englishman as if born in London, being desirous to cast a doubt upon the honor of O'Melaghlin, dares to affirm that this prince had posted at the foot of the hill on which the conference was held, a body of armed men, ready to appear on the first signal. f He also adds, that the prince of Meath struck De Lacy with an axe, and that missing him, he killed his secretary. The same author, however, acknowledges that there was a body of English, well mounted and armed, lying in ambush at a short distance from the place of meeting, to await the event ; and in order to warrant such precaution, he art- fully introduces a dream, that he said Griffin, brother of Raymond le Gros, had, which portended evil to De Lacy. However this be, O'Melaghlin was struck by Griffon with a poniard in the back, as he was mounting his horse ; and was then beheaded, and his body interred with the feet upwards. Tliis head was sent to Dublin, and thence to England, as the head of a traitor and a rebel. | * The same as we have in another place called Mortough Mac-Floiiin, father of Derforguill, who had married O'Rourke, or O'Rork. t De Reb. in Hib. Gest. lib. 3, page 133. X Tlie English had scarcely set their foot in Ire- land, when they began to treat the natives, who so justly defended their homes against tiicm, as rebels. Such has been always since the manner in which that imperious nation had acted. This cannot CHRISTIAN IRELAND. 28] Stanihurst, who mentions O'Rourke to have been prince of Meath, ascribes this catastro- phe to him. The tyranny of De Lacy drew on him afterwards the execration of all good men, and merited for him a ^-iolent death in the end. This English nobleman, eager to have his vassals, divided Meath into dynasties, which he conferred on his favorites.* To Hugh Tirrel, his friend, he gave the territory of Castleknock ; and to William Petit, that of Castlebreck. He also granted to the latter, according to an ancient charter, the lands of Magherithirnan and its dependencies, ex- cept the lake and town, called Dissert. To Meilcr Fitzhcnry, he gave the lands of Mag- heran, Rathkcnin, and the cantred of Athi- norker ; to Gilbert De I'Angle, or Nangle, the land of Magherigallen ; to Joceline, son of Gilbert Nangle, the town of Navan, and the lands of Ardbraccan ; to Robert De Lacy, those of Rathever ; to Richard Tuit, and Richard De la Chappelle, he gave several districts ; to Galfrid Constantine, the lands of Kilbixy and Rathmarthy, near the river Inny. A charter granted by Wal- ter De Lacy, son of Hugh, treats more largely of this grant; according to it, it con- sisted of live fiefs in the Theof of Kilbixy, with a castle, and of fifteen in the district of Conemake (Conmacne) in the neighborhood of the castle, beyond that river. To Adam De Feipo, Gilbert De Nugent, M^iUiam De Misset, and Hugh De Hose, he granted ex- tensive possessions ; namely, to Adam De Feipo, the territory of Skrine, in Meath, with the fiefs of Clontorht, and StantrefF, near Dublin, as appears by the copy of the charter, which has been preserved in a regis- try in the monastery of t"he blessed Virgin, near Dublin. To Gilbert Nugent he granted the district of Dealbna, (Delvin,) which had till then been the patrimony of the O'Finel- lans, with its towns and dependencies, ex- cept the town of Torrechelasch, belonging to the abbot of Foure. Lastly, he conferred on Misset the lands of Luin ; on Hose, or Hussey, the whole district of Deldies, for- merly belonging to Schaclin, or Moelsachlin ; on Adam Dullard, the lands of Dullenvarthy ; on one Thomas, the lands of Cramly, Tim- lath-Began, east of Kenlis, Lathrakalim, and Sendevonath; and on Richard Le Fleming, he bestowed the lands of Cran- don. he wondered at, since in latter times we find that their writers look upon those troops as rebels, who supported the cause of their lawful prince, James II., against a usurper. * VVar. de Antiq. In the year 1172, died Giolla Ada O'Mu- gin, bishop of Cork, and previously abbot of the abbey of St. Finbar near that city, a man distinguished for his piety. About the same period Dubhay, archbishop of Tuam, convoked a provincial council in that city. This prelate consecrated three churches at the time mentioned.* The king of England finding himself hard pressed by his enemies in Normandy, a. d. 1173, sent in the month of April, in the year following, an order to Earl Strongbow, to repair immediately to him with all the forces he could collect. t Having placed garrisons in the towns and castles which were in the power of the English, the earl obeyed with alacrit)', and set out with a few chosen troops for Normandy, where, Regan says, he re- mained for some time as warden or governor of Gisors. The king, however, Avho knew that his sway in Ireland was not firmly estab- lished, desired that Strongbow should re- turn thither as chief-justice or viceroy, in order to keep his new subjects firm in their allegiance to him. The earl, in obeying the king's orders, represented to him, that as great envy prevailed among his country- men, it was necessary he should have a col- league to be witness to his administration, in order to remove any suspicions which might attach to his conduct ; and required, therefore, that he would send Raymond Le Gros with him to Ireland. The king was much pleased by this apparent modesty, and granted his request ; and as a stimulus to his zeal in his service, he gave him in perpetuity the town of Wexford and the castle of Wicklow. On Strongbow's return to Ireland with Raymond, Hugh De Lacy gave him up the city of Dublin, where he was joyfully re- ceived. At the same time Robert Fitzber- nard, Robert Fitzstephen, and Maurice Prendergast, were ordered to proceed to England, where they joined the English army, and defeated Robert, earl of Essex, who had revolted against the king. The earl was made prisoner, and brought over to the king, who was still in Normandy. In the mean time, the Irish, convinced of the injustice and tyranny which the English exercised among them, began to have re- course to arms, to defend their properties, and revenge the loss of their liberty. The present they thought a favorable oppor- tunity for their purpose. The affairs of the * War. de Episc. Corcag. Idem, de Archiep. Tuam. t Stanihurst, ibid, lib. 3. War. de Annal. Hib. cap. 5. 36 282 HISTORY OF IRELAND. Strangers were in a bad state, and part of their army absent ; the exchequer was drained by the imprudence of Strongbow, and those to whom it had been intrusted ; the troops were in want of every thing, and began to mutiny against Ilervey De Monte Marisco, who commanded them in the absence of Raymond Le Gros. He kept his men under severe discipline, and was obnoxious to the soldiery, from his desire to restrain tliem in their thirst for plunder. In order to allay among the troops a discontent which might be attended with dangerous consequences, Strongbow gave the command to Raymond, who possessed their confidence, and they then left the fortresses to go in quest of plunder. Raymond led them into the ter- ritory of Desie, belonging to the O'Faolans, and from thence to Lismore, where theylaid waste the whole country. The booty was so considerable, that he was obliged to dis- patch part of it by sea to Waterford, under the command of Adam De Hereford, a. d. 1174. The Danes of Cork, determined to inter- cept this convoy, equipped thirty-five vessels and attacked the English fleet. They, how- ever, lost the victory through the valor of Philip Walsh, who leaped, sword in hand, on board the admiral's ship, and killed Gil- bert, son of Turgesius, who commanded the Danes, when the latter, finding themselves deprived of their chief, thought prudent to withdraw, and De Hereford continued his course to Waterford. In the mean time, Raymond with difficulty marched his army thither by land, with the remainder of his spoils from the province, consisting chiefly of cattle, to the number of four thousand. He had to contend with Dermod, king of Cork and Desmond, who opposed him in his march. On his arrival at Waterford, he received intelligence of the death of his father, William Fitzgerald, which obliged him to cross over into Wales ; but others say that displeasure caused his sudden de- parture. According to Regan, he loved Basilia, sister of Earl Strongbow, who re- fused her to him, and also the office of con- stable of Leinster, during the minority of Quincy's daughter, which made him adopt that line of conduct. He retired to the cas- tle of Carew in Wales, and determined to lead a private life. This year was remarkable for a plague which desolated the provinces of Munster and Connaught, and for the death of the following illustrious personages : Maurice O'CofTy, bishop of Derry, (where he was interred, in the monastery of St. Columb,) one whose memory was always held in high veneration for his eminent virtues ; Celesti- nus, or Ilyned O'Ronan, bishop of Glenda- lough ; and Melissa Mac-Award, bishop of Clonfcrt. Dunleve, prince of Ulidia, was likewise killed by his own subjects ; and was succeeded in the government of his princi- pality by his son Roderick. After Raymond's retirement to Wales, the army being without a chief, Strongbow ap- pointed Hervey to the command. This general, desirous of trying the success of an iiicursionupon Limerick, collected the troops of Waterford and Dublin, and jnarched to- wards Cashel ; but being met by the mon- arch, Roderick O'Connor, at Durlas Hy- Ogarta, at present Thurles, in the territory of Ormond, his army was completely de- feated, and seventeen hundred English left dead upon the field.* Ware ascribes the glory of this action to Donald O'Brien, king of Limerick, and calculates that the loss of the English was not so considerable. Strong- bow was so much affected by the disaster, that he kept himself secluded for some time at Waterford, without seeing any one. Animated by this success, Roderick march- ed at the head of his army into Meath, which was then in possession of the English ; pillaged and burned their habitations, and laid the whole country waste. Hugh Tyrrel, governor of this part of the country, in the absence of De Lacy, who was in England, finding himself unable to oppose so superior an army, led his troops towards Dublin, and destroyed the fortifications of Trim and Duleek. According to Regan, the allies of Roderick in this expedition were, beside the princes of Connaught, O'Melaghlin, prince of Meath, O'Neill, prince of Tyrone, and others. Strongbow's alarm, while he remained secluded at Waterford, was greatly increased by the intelligence he received of the loss of Meath. The natives were rising on every side, as well as the Danes who inhabited the coasts, and he saw himself on the eve of sharing the evil fortune of his countrymen. In order to avert the danger, he consulted with his friends, and wrote to Raymond, who had withdrawn the preceding year into Wales, an affectionate letter, in which he represented the unhappy posture of his affairs in Ireland, and entreated him to return im- mediately with some assistance to extricate him from his embarrassments ; proposing, as an inducement, to give himhis sister Basilia * Cambrens. Evers. cap. 9, page 89. Annal. c. 6, regnant. Hen. I.I. CHRISTIAN IRELAND. 283 in marriage, Avith whom he knew that he was deeply in love. It may be easily inferred, that Raymond felt pleased with a proposal that flattered both himself and his inclina- tions. "Without loss of time, he, in concert with his cousin iMilo,, collected thirty young men of his own family, who were desirous of making their fortunes,* and one hundred horsemen, besides three hundred foot-sol- diers, and with this force he embarked for Ireland. On his arrival at Watcrford, finding the inhabitants ready to attack the place, he facilitated Strongbow's escape, and brought him to Wexford. After this retreat of the earl, the Danes made themselves masters of the city, and put the English to the sword, without sparing either age or sex ; but being unable to force the tower of Reynald, which part of the garrison had shut themselves up in, and defended with obstinacy, the Danes, dreading the consequences of their rash enterprise, surrendered the city on unfavor- able terms. Earl Strongbow was not unmindful of his promises to Raymond ; he sent to Dublin for his sister Basilia, and their marriage was celebrated with great pomp at Wexford. Raymond was immediately appointed con- stable of Leinster, in the room of Hervey, by whom that oflice had been held since the death of Quincy. Raymond now began to collect his forces, and putting himself at their head, led them, by order of Strongbow, towards Meath. Roderick's army was already weakened by the retreat of his allies after the reduction of the province, so that his own troops alone remained, with whom, according to Cam- brensis, he retired into Connaught, finding himself quite unable to keep the field against a general of Raymond's high military repu- tation. Regan, in whom more reliance can be placed than in Cambrensis,t asserts that the earl was there himself; that having attacked Roderick's rear-guard, one hundred and fifty men were killed ; and that having reinstated Tirrel at Trim, he returned to Dublin. However this be, it is certain that the English remained in possession of Lein- ster and Meath. In the course of this year, Hervey de Monte Marisco married Nesta, cousin to Raymond, and daughter of Maurice Fitzgerald ; and the earl gave his daughter Aliva in marriage to William Fitzgerald, eldest son of Maurice. * Ireland was at that time another Peru for the English, who were poor. The law which forbids us to usurp the goods of others, had no weight timong them. t He was a near relative of Raymond's. In the same year died Gelasus, archbishop of Armagh, and primate of Ireland ; Eleu- therus, bishop of Clogher, in Meath ; Melissa O'Conactain, bishop of Elphin ; Patrick O'Bannan, formerly bishop of Connor, who had retired to the abbey of Hy-Collum-Kill ; and Florence, or Flamin O'Gorman, a cele- brated professor in the university of Armagh. We discoA^er at this time many celebrated writers in Ireland, even before the arrival of the English. Giolla, or Gilbert, bishop of Limerick, wrote some epistles, and a treatise on the state of the church, which Usher deemed worthy of being published.* Celsus, or Celestinus, archbishop of Armagh, wrote an abridgment of theology, Avhich, accord- ing to Ware, was published at Vienna. According to Bede, he wrote several letters to Malachi, and certain ordinances, which were probably those enacted in the celebrated synod held at Usneach in 1110, or 11 12, in the reign of Moriertach O'Brien. Malachi O'Morgain, archbishop of Ar- magh, wrote many epistles to St. Bernard ; he gave a compilation of the general statutes, and wrote laws on celibacy ; besides tradi- tions, and the life of St. Cuthbert, which he dedicated to David, Idng of the Scots. A prophecy respecting the popes is ascribed to him, which was published by Arnold Wion, in his Lignum Vitm. Tundal, or Tungal, a native of Cashel or Cork, in Munster, flourished about the year 1159. He had frequent visions, which he himself, or some other person for him, has described. They are quoted by Tinmouth and Vincent, and are preserved in manu- script in the library of the university at Oxford. Congan, a Cistertain monk, lived in 1150. It is said that he wrote the life of Malachi, archbishop of Armagh, and some epistles to St. Bernard. It was at his request that this saint composed the life of Malachi, as appears by the preface, in which he styles him his reverend brother and dear friend. It is said that he also wrote the acts of St. Ber- nard. Maurice Regan, secretary and interpreter of Dermod Mac-Murrough, last king of Leinster, lived in 1171. He wrote with care a history of the affairs of Ireland in his time, which was put into French verse by one of his friends, and translated into Eng- lish by Sir George Carew, president of Mun- ster in the reign of queen Elizabeth. In this century, Concubran wrote three books on the life of St. Moninna,or Modvven, * Vet. Epist. Hib. Syllog. 284 HISTORY OF IRELAND. a virgin, lie composed also two hymns in her praise. The original of these works is in the Cottonian library, from whence Ware says he obtained the copy. There is, in the same library, another manuscript, on the birth and dignity of St. Cuthbert, composed according to the ancient histories of Ireland, by Eugene, bishop of Ardmore, a suflragan of Cashel. Mathew O'Heney, archbishop of Cashel, lived about the end of this, and perhaps in the beginning of the following century. Among other things, he wrote the life of St. Cuthbert, bishop of Lhidisfarn, and some epistles to the popes Celestinus III. and In- nocent III. About this time, says Ware, following the English authors, by whom alone it is mentioned, Henry II. sent Nicholas, prior of Wallingford, afterwards abbot of Malms- bury, and William Fitz-Adelm to Ireland, A. D. 1175, with the bull of Alexander III., Avhich they say was read and approved of in an assembly of bishops at Waterford. This bull, according to them, confirmed that by which Adrian IV. had already granted to this prince the title of lord of Ireland, and other privileges.* Strongbow being anxious to paralyze the efforts which Donald O'Brien, king of Lim- erick, was making in that country, sent Ray- mond with forces sufficient to reduce the capital in which he had taken shelter. On his way he met Donald Mac-GioUa-Phad- ruig, (Fitzpatrick,) prince of Ossory, the avowed enemy ofDonald O'Brien, who joined him in his expedition. Limerick was, at the time, open, and without fortifications ; the great difficulty being in crossing the river Shannon, by which it was surrounded. This was removed by the intrepid boldness of David Walsh, a young man of Wales, and nephew to Raymond ; he swam across the river, and by the goodness of his horse, sur- mounted the danger caused by the rapidity of the waters. This example was followed by the army, part of whom crossed by swim- ming also, and the remainder by a ford. When the English reached the opposite bank, they repulsed a detachment of the garrison which had made a sally against them, and pursuing that portion of it now in disorder, made themselves masters of the city. It was then given up to pillage, and Raymond, having placed a garrison in it, under the command of MeyJer de St. David, returned to Wexford. Roderick O'Connor witnessed with grief the tyranny which the * Annal. Hib. cap. 7, reg. Hen. II. English were practising in Ireland, and find- ing it impossible to put an end to the dis- orders, judged it prudent to yield to the ne- cessity of the times by a voluntary submis- sion to the king of England. For this pur- pose he sent to him, as ambassadors, Cathol- icus, archbishop of Tuam, Concord, abbot of St. Brendan of Clonfert, and Laurence his chancellor, who were received by Henry on the 8th of October, 1175, at Windsor, where he was holding his parliament.* The king of England, flattered by this embassy, granted peace to Roderick, with the title of tributary king, which was transmitted to some of his successors. His son is called king of Con- naught, in a roll in the tower of London, dated the sixth year of the reign of John. In the fifth year of the reign of Henry HI., he sent letters patent to the kings of Con- naught and of Kinel-Ean. Mathew Paris mentions, in the year 1240, the dispute be- tween Fedlim O'Connor and John de Bur- go, and the complaints which the former made to Henry HI. in presence of his court, in London ;■]■ this historian calls him king of that part of Ireland called Cunoch, (Con- naught.)! Lastly, Henry HI. granted to O'Brien, by charter, the lands of Thuomond, with the title of king. There is no charter to be found respecting Ulster, the kings of which had not as yet submitted to the Eng- lish yoke. About this time the kings of England be- gan to nominate to the vacant benefices in that part of Ireland which was under their dominion. Hoveden says that Henry HI. had appointed to the bishopric of Waterford, Augustin, an Irishman by birth, and that he sent him to Ireland with Laurence, arch- bishop of Dublin, to be consecrated by Do- natus, archbishop of Cashel. According to annalists, Flathbert O'Brolcan, bishop of Derry, Malachi, or Melissa Mac-Inclericuit, aiidGelasus Mac-Cormac,both successively bishops of Down, died during this year. O'Brolcan was celebrated for his learning and generosity ; he resigned the episcopal see of Derry a short time before his death, * " This was the final agreement made at Windsor, on the 8th of October, 1175, between Henry, king of England, son of the Empress Matilda, and Rod- erick, king of Counaught, through Catholicus, arch- bishop of Tuam, Concord, abbot of St. Brendan, and Laurence, chancellor of the king of Connanght, viz., that the king of England granted to the afore- said Roderick, liege king of Connauglit, that he shall continue king under him so long as lie sliull serve him faithfully, and shall be prepared for his service as his subject." — Hoveden, ad ann. 1175. t Hist. Anglic, page 365. X Rotulus Chart, an G, Hen. III., Memb. 2. CHRISTIAN IRELAND. 285 and confined himself to the government of the abbey of St. Cokimb, having refused that of Hy. The alliance which Hervey had formed the preceding year with Raymond, by his marriage with his cousin Nesta, daughter of Maurice Fitzgerald, was insufficient to re- move the secret jealousy he entertained of him, caused by the loss of the office of con- stable of Leinster, which Strongbow had given to Raymond, and the preference testi- fied towards the latter by the troops, who are generally good judges of a general's merit ; he therefore determined to injure him.* He wrote a letter to the king of England, dictated with all the art that malice coidd devise, A. D. 1176 ; in which strong suspicions were cast upon the conduct of Raymond, repre- senting him as an intriguing and popular character, likely to corrupt his majesty's sub- jects in Ireland. The too credulous Henry •dispatched four commissioners to Ireland in the spring ; namely, Robert Poer, Osbert de Herlotera, AVilliam de Bendenges, and Adam de Gervensan, two of whom Avere ordered to bring Raymond to England, and the other two to remain with Earl Strongbow in Ireland. When the commissioners pre- sented their commands to Raymond, he im- mediately obeyed; but while they were wait- ing for a favorable wind to embark, news ar- rived that Limerick was besieged by Donald O'Brien, at the head of a powerful army, that the city was in want of provisions, and consequently that it should surrender if re- lief was not sent in time. Strongbow held a council of war to de- liberate on the means of sending succor to Limerick, but finding that the troops refused to serve if they were not commanded by Raymond, he, as well as the commissioners, considered this captain's presence necessary in so critical a conjuncture ; so that instead of embarking for England, Raymond resu- med his command by order of the earl. He marched with all possible diligence towards Limerick, at the head of eighty knights, two hundred horsemen, and three hundred foot- soldiers, with the troops of Murchard, prince of Kinseallagh, and Donald, prince of Ossory, who both joined him as allies. The king of Limerick, informed of the march of the Eng- lish, raised the siege, and came to meet them as far as Cashel, where he fell into an ambuscade on Easter Saturday : his army was surrounded by the superior forces of the English, and routed, after a vigorous resist- * Stanihurst, ibid. lib. 4. War. Annal. Hib. cap. reg. Hen. II. ance. The English then marched to Lim- erick, which they entered three days after- wards. We here discover the perfidy of tlie prince of Ossory, who had contributed much to the gaining of this battle : although an Irishman, he sacrificed the welfare of his country to his private hatred against Donald O'Brien ; and not content with aiding the English against him, he signalized himself in the beginning of the action by encouraging them to the combat. The English general had separate interviews with Roderick, king of Connaught, and Donald, kingof Limerick. They agreed on both sides to make peace, and Raymond received hostages from them. About this time, Dermod Mac-Carty, king of Cork and Desmond, wrote to Raymond, requesting him to send him some assistance against Cormacleiavac, his eldest son, who had rebelled against him with a design of dethroning him. This captain marched to- wards Desmond, at the head of some troops, and having quelled the revolt, and reinstated Dermod in the possession of his kingdom, he returned to Limerick. This imnatural son again conspired against his father, and put him into confinement ; but a violent death, by which this horrid action was pun- ished, restored the unhappy father to his liberty. Mac-Carty, filled with gratitude for the services he had received from Ray- mond, conferred an extensive territory on him in the county of Kerry, where he estab- lished his son Maurice, who became power- ful by his marriage with Catherine, daughter of Miles Cogan, and gave his name to his descendants, as well as to the territory, which is called Clan-Morris. In the beginning of June, 1176, according to Keating, the celebrated Richard Strong- bow died a miserable death in Dublin, having exercised his tyranny over the inhabitants of Leinster for the space of seven years, sparing neither the clergy, churches, or monasteries.* His sister Basilia, wife of Raymond, did not fail to give timely information to her husband of an event which was so likely to change the aspect of their affairs. Raymond having consulted with his friends, it was determined that they should abandon Limerick, which was too distant from the centre of their pos- sessions ; that Raymond's presence was necessary in Dublin to guard the ports and fortresses belonging to the English'; and that the troops, which had been scattered in the different quarters, should be collected to se- cure the possession of Leinster. On leaving Limerick, Raymond gave the command of * History of Ireland, book 2. 286 HISTORY OF IRELAND. the place to Donald O'Brien, who set fire to it immediately.* Raymond repaired with all possible dili- gence to Dublin, where they waited his arrival, to attend the funeral ceremonies of Strongbow, in accordance with the last will of that nol)lcnian. His body was interred with great pomp, by Laurence O'Tool, arch- bishop of the city, in the cathedral of the holy Trinity, since called Christ's Church, where his tomb is still to be seen. The commissioners who were sent some time before by Henry II. to bring Raymond to England, finding the face of affairs altered by the earl's death, intrusted that general with the government of the colony till other arrangements could~ be made, and set out for England to render to the king an account of his affairs in Ireland. Upon their arrival Henry immediately sent over William Fitz- Adelm, with the title of viceroy, and ap- pointed for his colleagues John Courcy, Robert Fitzstephen, and Milo Cogan, who had rendered him important services during the war in which he had been engaged during two years, both in France and Eng- land. By his marriage with Eva, daughter of Dermod,kingofLeinster, Strongbow had one daughter, called Isabella, heiress of his ex- tensive possessions in that province. Some time afterwards this princess married Wil- liam Marshal, an English lord, by whom she had five sons, and as many daughters : the sons all died without issue ; the daughters were married to English noblemen, who, in virtue of their alliance, claimed extensive estates in Leinster. It was thus the race of this celebrated man became extinct, whom the English have ranked as a hero, but who in reality was an extortioner and a tyrant ; it might be said of him, as the royal prophet said of the wicked man, that, having been raised above the cedars of Mount Libanus, there remained no vestige of him, but a hor- ror for his memory.! " He carried nothing with him," says Nubrigensis, "of the spoils of the Irish, for which he had evinced such * This action of O'Brien, which the English have treated of as a signal perfidy, is not so atrocious as may seem at first view. It should be observed, that as it was the want of any other defender which in- duced the English to confide the place to Donald, it is evident that the latter considered himself un- der no gratitude for a forced mark of their confi- dence. Besides, O'Brien was the lawful master of the country ; it therefore appears just that he should have used the only means of recovering it from un- just usurpers, which was to destroy their settlements altogether. t Ps. 36, ver. 38, 39. greediness, and left to ungrateful heirs all the riches which he had amassed at the risk of his salvation ; his fall furnishes a salutary warning to posterity."* The Irish still retained a passion for found- ing religious houses, even in the midst of the troubles with which their country was agi- tated. In the history of this period we discover a strange mixture of cruelty and religion ; at one time an inclination to mutual destruction, at another to raising monuments of religious devotion. A people stripped of their possessions, to be given away in alms ; M'hat justice ! what charity ! Little did these pious founders think that their zeal would be soon made unavailing by the im- piety of their descendants. Although the account of those foundations may appear te- dious to the reader, still, as they are facts which do not admit of doubt, my respect lor religion, and consideration for the great number of virtuous persons that are yet in being, and interested to know the good ac- tions of their ancestors, will not allow me to pass them over unnoticed. Richard Strongbow, head of the English colony, was the first who gave the example to his fellow-citizens : being desirous of devoting to God, before his death, part of what he had taken from man, he founded a priory at Kilmainham, near Dublin, in 1174, so called from St. Mainan, or Maignan, a bishop who lived in the seventh century. This house was magnificent, and considered i one of the finest in the kingdom before the suppression of religious houses in Ireland. It was the grand priory of the order of Templars, which was reunhed in the four- I teenth century with its eight commanderies, namely, Kilclogan, in the county of Wex- ford ; Killergy, in the county of Carlow ; Kilsaran, county of Louth ; Kilbarry, Kilure, and Crooke, coimty of Waterford ; Clonaul, county of Tipperary, and Teach-Temple, in the county of Sligo, to the order of MaUa. The order of Malta was inconsiderable before this reunion, having but one priory, namely, that of Wexford, and nine com- manderies, which were, Kilbeg, Kilheal, and Tully, in the county of Kildare ; Kilmainan- Beg, and Kilmainan Wood, in east Meath ; St. John the Baptist of Ardes, county of Down ; Morne, or Ballinemony, county of Cork ; Any, county of Limerick, and Kil- nalekin, county of Gahvay ; so that by this union there were two grand priories of the order of Malta in Ireland, and seventeen commanderies. * Nubrig. de Rcb. Anglic, lib. 2. CHRISTIAN IRELAND. 287 When William Fitz-Adelm arrived in Ire- land as chief-justice or viceroy, Raymond w^cnt to Wexford to congratulate him, and gave up the government with which he had been intrusted by the commissioners ; where- upon the new viceroy took possession, in the name, and by order of the king, of all the places which had belonged to Strong- bow. According to Stanihurst, Fitz-iVdelm Avas neither a foolish nor a wise man ; he was hostile to the Fitzgeralds, and frequently made them feel that he was possessed of more will than power to injure them. This family was already firmly established in Leinster, and allied to the principal chiefs of the English colony. Maurice Fitzgerald died this year at Wexford, much regretted ; he was the ancestor of all the noble families of that name in Ireland, by his three sons, William, Gerald, and Alexander. He was scarcely dead, when Fitz-Adelm seized upon the castle of Wicklow, Avhich had been given him by Strongbow ; and in order to give some color to. so flagrant an injustice, by way of compensation he gave to the three brothers the little town of Ferns, where the fortresses had been the only security against the insults of the inhabitants, to which they were exposed. These brothers, wishing to render their new establishment secure, began to build a castle, which was immediately demolished by Walter Allemand, Fitz- Adelm's nephew, and a man of obscure ori- gin, Iput who was become conspicuous through the influence of his uncle, who committed to him the government of Wexiord. About this time, Vivian, cardinal priest, with the title of St. Stephen in Monte CeeUo, was sent as legate, by Pope Alexander III., to visit the churches of Scotland, Ireland, and Norway. When passing through Eng- land, he was reproved by Henry II. for having entered his kingdom without permis- sion, and was made to swear that he would not, in his capacity of legate, do any thing prejudicial to his interests, whereupon, he proceeded to Scotland, from whence he set sail for the Isle of Man, on Christmas eve, where he was honorably received by God- frey, king of that island. He remained there for a fortnight, and from thence he went to Down, in Ireland. The castle of Slane, in Meath, was taken the same year by assault, and destroyed by Melaghlin Mac-Loghlin, the former pro- prietor of that country ; and Richard le Fleming, who was then master of it, having been given up to him by De Lacey, was killed, with several of his followers. John Courcy, a warlike but cruel man, seeing the rapid success of his countrymen in Ireland, and the extensive estates they had become possessed of by force, resolved to try his own fortune. With this view he turned his thoughts on Ulster, which had not been, as yet, entered by the English. He accordingly set out from Dublin, with four hundred men, in the month of January, A. D. 1177, for the county of Down, then called UUagh, and arrived in the capital, called Down also, without meeting an enemy to oppose him.* The sight of these adven- turers caused great consternation in a place not provided with means of defending itself against an enemy, who were thought too re- mote to be feared. The general having given his orders, the barbarians commenced to break in the doors in all directions, to force open the chests and presses, and to carry oft' the property of the citizens, to satisfy, says Stanihurst, their extreme indigence and poverty. Nothing was heard on all sides, but tears, groans, and lamentations, while the streams were dyed with the blood of the innocent inhabitants. Such was the manner in Avhich the English carried on their war- fare in Ireland — this was the mode in which they preached the gospel, and the example they gave to a people, whose morals they pretended to reform. The remonstrances of Cardinal Vivian, who was at that time in Down, produced no good ; in vain he en- treated of their leader to put an end to his cruel proceedings, and make peace with a people who were ready to submit to the king of England, and pay him tribute. Nothing could soften the barbarous heart of De Courcy, who only sought happiness in the misfortunes of others. Roderick, son of Dunleve, prince of the country, finding the necessity of having re- course to arms, collected ten thousand men in one week, to deliver the city of Down from the tyranny of the English. When Courcy heard of the preparations that were making against him, he left the city, and gave battle to Roderick in the open plain, where, after a severe action, he put the Irish army to flight. There is an obvious contradiction in the account which Stanihurst gives of this affair ; according to him, Courcy had nearly four hundred men, who overcame ten thousand ; the disproportion, as to numbers, is at the extraordinary rate of thirty to one ; still he allows that the bravery and skill in arms were equal on both sides. " The men of * Stan. ibid. lib. 4. War. de Annal. Hib. cap. 9. 288 HISTORY OF IRELAND. Ulster," he says, " are naturally warlike, and accustomed to arms ; they advance bold- ly and fearlessly against the Britons, engage with them in fight, and prove themselves equal in valor to their enemies."* How is it then possible that four hundred men could have conquered ten thousand, who were their equals in courage and experience. In order to support the opinion which our author entertains of the bravery of the Ul- ster men, we should diminish their numbers greatly, or suppose them to have been taken from the plough, and to have faced the English without arms or discipline. In truth, their having been levied, according to Ware, in a Aveek, favors this conjecture, and takes away considerably from the glory of this boasted achievement by the English. A company of grenadiers woidd easily put two hundred peasants, armed with sticks or pitch- forks, to flight. It is true that the author resorts to the divina interference, in order to affix an appearance of probability to his ac- count ; saying, that God gave the victory to Courcy. God, of course, was peculiarly in- terested for the success of the English! as if robbery, rapine, and the fury of a band of adventurers, are virtues that can claim the protection of heaven. A young Englishman named Roger Poer, who signalized himself in the engagement, is much praised for his courage. Malachi, bishop of Down, was made prisoner, but restored to his liberty at the solicitation of Cardinal Vivian, and rein- stated in his dignities. Courcy gained some further advantages over the people of Ulster in the mon',h of June following ; many, how- ever, were killed and wounded on both sides ; among the latter Avere Almerick de St. Laurence, and his son Nicholas. f Courcy also made some incursions the same year into Tyrone and Dalrieda, burning and destroying all before him, and carried off considerable booty. He was extremely superstitious, and thought himself to have been designated in the prophecies of Am- brosius Merlin, as the conqueror of Ulster ; when the mind is enthusiastically smitten, every thing that flatters hope being readily believed. He likewise held the prophecy of St. Columb in high veneration, in which it is said the destruction of that province had been foretold ; and John Courcy persuaded * Stan, de Eeb. in Hib. Gest. page 182. t The barons of Howth are descended from Al- merick. The land of Howtli and its dependencies were confirmed to his son by a charter of John, earl of Mortagne and lord of Ireland, given to S. Edmond in presence of John de Courcy, Godfrey de Cc stantine, Gilbert Angulo, and his brother Jordan himself that the prophecy applied to him. This, which was written in the Irish lan- guage, he kept with great respect about him, and concealed it while he slept under the head of his bed. The legate, who seemed to have come to Ireland but to hasten its subjugation to the English, convened a council of bishops and abbots at Dublin ; in which he endeavored to make good Henry II. 's right to the throne of Ireland, in an eloquent discourse, and enjoined the Irish people to obey him under pain of excommunication. From thence he set out for the coast of England, where he requested a passport to continue his embassy to Scotland. During this prelate's stay in Dublin, Fitz- Adelm founded the celebrated monastery called Thomas-Court, in that city, by order of the king his master, for regular canons of the order of St. Victor. The king bestowed for ever on this house, the land of Donoure as an offering for the souls of Geoflry, earl of Anjou, and the empress Matilda, his father and mother, and likewise for the souls of his other ancestors, for himself and his children, as is expressed in the charter ; he should have added the souls of those whom he had deprived of their lands. About this time, says HoA'^eden, Henry II., with the approbation of Pope Alexander III., gave his son John the title of king of Ireland, in a parliament held at Oxford. This year, says Brompton, the king obtained the pope's leave to crown whichever of his sons he thought fit, as king of Ireland, and to reduce the lords of that country under his dominion. However, in the charter granted by Henry for that purpose, and confirmed by Richard I., John Lackland is only called lord of Ire- land and earl of Mortagne, and his successors were content with that title till the reign of Henry VIII., who was the first to assume that of king of Ireland. The ready submission of the kings of Cork and Limerick, and the other princes of Mun- ster, did not secure them from sharing the fate of their countrymen. By a charter, given at Oxford about the year 1177, Henry granted to Robert Fitzstephen and Milo Cogan the kingdom of Cork and Desmond, reserving for himself the city of Cork, the cantred of the Ostmans,* and all the land lying between Waterford and the river that separates Lismore and Cork, and which now * The Ostmans were the Danes or Normans who inhabited Cork and a few other maritime towns in Ireland. The cantred was a tract of land con- taining about one hundred villages or town lands. War. de Antiq. Hib. cap. 27. CHRISTIAN' IRELAND. 289 forms the county of Waterford. He also confided to them the regency and govern- ment of the city of Cork, the cantred of the Ostmans, and the other districts he had re- served for himself, making about twenty- four cantreds. Two years afterwards, Fitzstephen and Cogan divided the seven cantreds which the king had given them ; Fitzstephen taking the three which adjoined the sea, and Cogan the remaining four. It appears from the charters of King John, dated in the ninth year of his reign, that Fitzstephen had given to PhiHp de Barry, his nephew, and son of Philip, three cantreds in the county of Cork, namely, Olethan and its dependencies, Muscherie, Dunegan, and Killede ; to Adam de Rupe, (De la Roche,) the cantred of Rosselihir and its depend- encies ; to Richard de Cogan, the cantred of Muscherie O'Millane, together with twenty- five military tenures ; and lastly, some fiefs to Robert Fitzmartin, and to Henry and Maurice, brothers, (and sons of Philip,) a cantred where Dunalahoth lies. The kingdom of Limerick shared the same fate as that of Cork. The king of England ceded it to Philip de Breus, or Braos, reserving, however, for himself, the chief city, the cantred of the Ostmans, the holy island, and the power of nominating to the bishoprics and abbeys. After Philip de Braos, the principal per- sonages who settled in this county were Hamo de Valois, (Walsh,) Philip de Wig- orn, Theobald Walter, William Fitz-Adelm, and Thomas Fitz-Maurice. All these grants of extensive estates from Henry H. to the principal English chiefs, and the lesser fiefs which the latter bestowed on their creatures, were given on condition of military service ; which consisted in a certain number of armed men furnished by each in proportion to the extent of land which he held. The king of England confided to Robert Puher, or Le Poer, the government of the city of Waterford, and the surrounding country ; to W^illiam Fitz-Adelm, that of the town of Wexford and its dependencies ; and to Hugh de Lacy the government of Dublin, and all the country depending on it. He made other arrangements relative to the counties which were to be subservient to the cities of Waterford, Wexford, and Dub- lin. We have now reviewed Ware's researches respecting the distribution of the lands of the Irish by Henry II. and his son John ; on which head he mentions some letters patent, granted by these two princes, and also quotes contemporary authors : namely, Regan, the secretary and interpreter of Dermod, king of Leinster, and an eye-wit- ness to the facts which he advances ; the Abbe Benedict, who wrote the life of Henry II., and Giraldus Cambrensis. Still the account he gives is very general, consider- ing the great number of English families that settled in this country in the twelfth and succeeding centuries, who are pos- sessed of immense landed property. The rebellion of Conchovar and Mur- chard, sons of Roderirk O'Connor, broke out at this time. These unnatural children, wishing to usurp their father's rule, had re- course to the enemies of their country, and applied to Milo Cogan, who had been lately appointed warden of Dublin by Fitz-Adelm, for assistance. The Englishman, who only thought of extending his power, seized the opportunity with avidity, and taking Ralph, son of Fitzstephen, as his lieutenant, crossed the river Shannon at the head of forty knights, two hundred horsemen, and three hundred archers, and entered Connaught, which had been till then unknown to the English. He advanced as far as Tuam ; but as Roderick had caused the provisions, in every place through which he had to pass, to be either burned or removed, he soon saw his army ready to perish, which obliged him to return. After a march of eight days, he was attacked when crossing a wood, by Roderick, who killed several of his men. As usual, Cambrensis makes the loss but very trifling. Having conquered the Eng- lish, Roderick turned his thoughts towards chastising his rebellious children ; he con- demned Murchard to perpetual imprison- ment, and caused his eyes to be put out ; and banished Conchovar to an island in the lake Lochcuan, from whence he was taken a year afterwards, by the faction of the O'Flahertys, and other friends, who restored him to his father's favor. About this time, Hugh O'Neill, king of Tireon, or Tyrone, was killed by Melachlin Mac-Loghlin, and his brother Argal. Courcy had not abandoned his enterprise in Ulster : he marched towards Uriel at the head of his army, a. d. 1178, where he was vigorously attacked in his camp at Gliury, by Murtach O'Carwil, prince of that coun- try, in conjunction with Roderick, prince of Ullagh, (Ulidia.) The action was brisk, and Courcy and his army were completely routed.* * Stan. ibid. lib. 4, page 182. War. Hib. reg. Hen. II. cap. 10. Annal. 290 HISTORY OF IRELAND. This English general soon afterwards gave a second battle to the same princes on the frontiers of Dalaradie, near Fernia, which was altogether fatal to him. After witnessing the total defeat of his army, he escaped with much difficulty, and was obliged to walk thirty miles without any sustenance, and in continual danger of losing his life, till he arrived at the castle of Down. William Fitz-Adelm, viceroy of Iceland, fell into disgrace, and was deprived of his office : he was succeeded by Hugh de Lacy, to whom the king gave as colleague, Robert Poer, warden of the cities of Water- ford and Wexford. When the viceroy was changed, Cogan and Fitzstephen were recalled to England, to give an account of their conduct, which had always been looked upon with suspicion by the king, as indeed had that of all the chiefs of the English colony in Ireland. In the mean time Robert Poer, warden of Waterford, sent troops to lay waste the dis- trict of Imurede, in the county of Wicklow, whence they returned to Wexford, loaded with booty, having assassinated Dunlang O'Toole, lord of that country. The English who had settled in Meath built a castle at Kenlis, to preserve them- selves against the incursions of their neigh- bors, the people of Ulster. The abbey called Monasterevan, or Ross- Glass, de Rosea Valle, in the county of Kil- dare, on the river Barrow, was founded this year, and dedicated to the blessed Virgin and St. Benedict, for Cistertian monks, by Dermod O'Dempsy, lord of Clanmalire ; but others say it was founded so late as 1189. This abbey was a branch of that of Baltin- glass.* Donald O'Fogarty, bishop of Ossory, died this year, and was succeeded by Felix O'Dullany, of the order of Citeaux. Robert Fitzstephen and Milo Cogan, whom the king had recalled to England the preceding year, repaired to Waterford in the month of November, accompanied by Philip de Braos, to whom the king had granted the district of Limerick, a. d. 1179. These noblemen brought a reinforcement of Englishmen to Ireland, consisting of one hundred and ten knights, as many horsemen, and a considerable number of foot soldiers. They went from Waterford to Lismore, and from thence to Cork, where they were hon- orably received by John de Londres, on Avhom Fitz-Adelm had conferred the govern- * War. de Antiq. Hib. c. 26. Allemand, Hist. Monast. dirl. page 17(). ment of that city. They then marched to- wards Limerick, intending to besiege it ; but their new troops were disheartened by the difficulty of crossing the river which sur- rounds it, and prevailed on Philip de Braos to return to England, rather than incur the risk of a hazardous war in an enemy's coun- try. Fitzstephen and Cogan proceeded to Cork, to watch over the safety of the Eng- lish colony in that district. The abbey of Ashro, or Easrua, called also de Samario, for Cistertian monks, was founded in Tirconnel, near the mouth of the river Erne, by Roderick O'Cananan, an Irish lord, about this period, or according to others five years later, by his successor Flahertach. Jungelinus mentions the abbey of Kilfothuir, in the same country, founded by O'Dogharty. The wars having subse- quently forced the monks to abandon this house, it was united to the abbey of Ashro, of which it was a branch. An abbey of Bernardines, under the title of our Lady, a branch of the abbey of Bal- tinglass, was also founded at this time, at Geripont, or Jeripont, a small town on the river Nure, in the county of Kilkenny, by Donald Fitzpatrick, prince of Ossory.* About the end of December in this year, Laurence, archbishop of Dublin ; Catholicus, archbishop of Tuam ; Constantius, bishop of Killaloe ; Felix, bishop of Lismore ; Augustin, bishop of Waterford ; and Brice, bishop of Limerick, set out for Rome, where they at- tended at the third council of Lateran, con- vened by Alexander III. As they passed through England, Henry II. made them swear they would do nothing prejudicial to his welfare, or that of his kingdom. The pope appointed Laurence legate for Ireland ; and on his return, according to the author of his life, he discharged the duties of that office. If we can believe Cambrensis, this holy prelate never returned to Ireland, hav- ing incurred the king's displeasure by obtain- ing some privilege from the pope in favor of his country, which this prince looked upon as opposed to his authority. John Courcy, who had been already cre- ated earl of Ulster by the king, though he owned but a very inconsiderable part of it, made an alliance with Godfry, king of the Isle of Man, by marrying his daughter Africa, A. D. 1180, in order to secure the interest of that prince. t The island being but a short distance from the coasts of Ulster, it was easy to draw resources from it. * Allemand, ibid, page 175. t War. dc Annal. Hib. cap. 12. CHRISTIAN IRELAND. 291 This year, according to Hoveden, Lau- rence, archbishop of Dublin, accompanied a son of Roderick, king of Connaught, who was sent as a hostage to Henry II., for the payment of the tribute agreed upon between his father and that king.* The holy prelate fell sick at Eu, where he died in the odor of sanctity, on the 14th of November, and was interred in the church of our Lady, in that city.f His life, quoted by Surius, was ac- curately written, according to Baronius, by an anonymous author, of the college of Eu. The miracles which God wrought through his intercession, both before and after his death, induced Pope Honorius III. to place him among the number of saints in 1225, by a bull dated the eleventh of December, in the tenth year of his pontificate, a copy of which is in the collection of bulls of Laurent Cherubin. The relics of this saint were removed to Dublin, and deposited in the cathedral of the holy Trinity. Henry II. took care to send his chaplain Geoffry de Haya, and another to collect the revenues of the archbishopric, while it continued vacant. The abbey of Chore, or Dc Choro Bcne- dicti, called by the Irish Monaster-Ore, in the county of Cork, was founded this year for Bernardins, by the Geraldines, or Fitz- geralds.| Jungelinus says it was founded by the Barrys ; however this be, this abbey, founded under the title of our Lady, was a branch of that of Nenay, or Magio. It was about this time that St. Patrick's crosier, called, in the language of the country, Baghal P/f.a(ZrMic, thatis,thestafFof Patrick, and sometimes the staff of Jesus, which, according to St. Bernard, in the life of St. Malachi, was ornamented with gold and pre- cious stones, and preserved with veneration in the church of Armagh since the death of the apostle, was carried away, by orders of Fitz-Adelm, and placed in the cathedral of the holy Trinity, in Dublin, a. d. 1181, where it was carefully preserved till the suppression of the monasteries. The death of Gilbert O'Caran, archbishop of Armagh, is said to have occurred about * This accou.nt appears rather incredible ; for why should the king oi Connaught have sent a hos- tage this year to tiie king of England, when, ac cording to the same Hoveden, (in the year 1175,) peace and unity had been ratified between these princes five years previously. It is, however, well known that English writers are fond of claiming honors which they never enjoyed. t Mcssingham, Florileg. Insul. Sanct. Vit. Sanct. Laurent. \ War. de Antiq. Hib. c. 26. Allemand, ibid, page 181. this date, some time before which the cathe- dral church, the monastery of the apostles St. Peter and St. Paul, two nunneries, and a great part of the city, were consumed by fire, a frequent disaster in Ireland in ancient times, on account of the prevalence of wood- en buildings. It is to prevent similar acci- dents, which still often occur in the north of Europe, particularly in Sweden and Den- mark, that privileges are granted by the gov- ernments of those countries to those who build of stone. The holy prelate of Armagh was the benefactor of the monastery of the Blessed Virgin, near Dublin. He added the village of Ballibaghal, situated in the county of Dublin, to the revenues of that house. MoelisaMac-Carwil, bishop of Clogher, was elected to succeed him in the see of Armagh, but died on his way to Rome. As the churches and monasteries were the only places of safety in those disturbed times, the Irish carried thither their gold, silver, and other valuable matters, as to a secure asylum ; but as nothing is held sacred by the wicked, these places were often violated. The church of Ardfert, and the priory of Inis-Fallen, in lake Lene, in the county of Kerry, were pillaged this year by Milduin, son of Daniel O'Donagha, and those of his retinue, and the lives of several of the com- munity lost. Having settled his followers in Meath, Hugh de Lacy turned his thoughts towards defending it against its former masters ; for which purpose he built strong castles in dif- ferent parts of this province. This ambitious nobleman, finding himself supported by his colonists, and encouraged by his alliance with Roderick O'Connor, began to extend his views, and to think himself possessed of more power in Ireland than the king of England. Henry II. having been informed of the intentions of De Lacy, sent him an order to return to England ; but the latter confirmed the suspicions entertained of his presump- tion, by refusing to obey. Cambrensis says that De Lacy was suspected of aspiring to the sovereignty, from the vast estates he had acquired , the immense wealth he had amassed for himself and his dependents by the op- pression of others, and the familiar and pop- ular manners he had assumed towards every one.* Henry was already dissatisfied with him for having married without his permis- sion the daughter of O'Connor, king of Con- naught, after the death of his first wife, Rosa de Munene: and he therefore sent John, con- * Hib. Expug. lib. 2, cap. 19, 20. 292 HISTORY OF IRELAND. Stable of Chester, and Richard de Pech, to Ireland, in the beginning of May, as chief- justices in room of Dc Lacy, who repaired to England and removed all suspicion from the king's mind in the short space of six weeks. Before his departure for England he had given a plan to the English who pos- sessed land in Leinstcr, to fortify this prov- ince as he had done in Meath, which plan was executed in the ensuing summer. The castle of Fort O'Nolan was built by Raymond le Gros, and another by his brother Griffin. A third was built at Tristle-Dermot, in the district of Omorthy, by Walter de Ridles- ford ; John de Clahut built a fourth at Leighlin, on the river Barrow, and a fifth was constructed at Kildroghed, by John de Hereford. During Lacy's absence, and the adminis- tration of the justices whom Henry had sent to Ireland, Myler Fitzhenry was forced to give up the land of Carby, which he had received from Strongbow in the county of Kildare, and to be satisfied with an equivalent in the county of I^ese, where he was more exposed, being surrounded by the O'Mordhas, or O'Mores, a warlike people, and lords of that district ; but Lacy, whose niece he had married, caused the castle of Temogho to be built for him some time afterwards. Lacy having been restored to the king's favor, was sent back to Ireland the winter following as chief-justice, accompanied by Robert, earl of Shrewsbury, as his colleague, who was, however, to keep watch over his conduct. He filled the post for nearly three years, during which time he built several castles in Leinster and Meath ; among others, that of Oboney, in the county of Lese, the government of which he confided to Robert de Bigarz ; another in the district of Omurthy, near the river Barrow, of which he made Thomas le Fleming governor ; and that of Norragh for Robert Fitzrichard. The castles he caused to be built in Meath were those of Clonard, Killair, Delvin, and that of Adam de Ruport. The English had now usurped both the spiritual and temporal government of Ireland. Henry II. nominated John Comin, a native of England, to the archbishopric of Dublin, (vacant by the death of St. Laurence ;) an eloquent and learned man, according to the writers of his own country. The election took place on the sixth of September, in the monastery of Evesham, in England, by the clergy of Dublin. The candidate was ordain- ed priest on the 12th of March following, at Velletri, in Italy, and consecrated archbishop by Pope Lucius III. Some time afterwards this prelate obtained a bull from the same pope, dated the thirteenth of April, (convo- cation ] 5,) by which the holy father granted several privileges to the see of Dublin. It was forbidden by this bull that any arch- bishop or bishop should hold assemblies in the ecclesiastical province of Dublin, or take cognizance of the affairs of that diocese without the consent of the archbishop, or a special license from the pope or his legate. The copy of this bull may be found in an old registry in the archbishop's palace of Dublin, beginning with the words, " Crede 7nihi." This bull was the cause of warm de- bates between the prelates of Armagh and Dublin, respecting the primacy, which have lasted to our time : the subject of them being whether the archbishop of Armagh, as pri- mate of Ireland, possessed the right to hold visitations in the ecclesiastical province of Dublin, or to carry the cross raised, and receive appeals there.* In the month of May of this year, Fla- hertach O'Meldory, prince of Tirconnel, indignant at the unnatural conduct of the princes of Connaught, who were still in arms against their father Roderick, entered their province at the head of his troops and gained a complete victory over them and their allies. Many lives were lost, among them those of sixteen distinguished persons, of the royal race of Connaught. In the beginning of summer, a. d. 1182, Courcy marched at the head of his troops into Dalrieda, or Route, county of Antrim, where he defeated a body of troops com- manded by Donald O'Loghlin, and pillaged the whole country.! About this time Hugh de Lacy founded two chapels or priories, for regular canons of the order of St. Augustin, one at Colpa, a small village on the sea-shore at the mouth of the river Boyne, below Drogheda, and the other at Duleek ; one of these houses depended on the priory of Lauthon, in Mon- mouthshire, England, and the other on that of Lauthon, near Gloucester. Edan O'Kelly, bishop of Clogher, died this year, and was interred in the priory of St. Mary, which he had founded for regular canons in Louth, in 1148, with the aid of Donat Mac-Carwell, king of Ergalic. This prelate was disciple of St. Malachi, by whom * Wcdiscoverinthisan act of English policy ; they caused the see of Dublin, situated in the English province, to be erected into a primary, in order to cause a schism in the church of Ireland, by with- drawing from the jurisdiction of Armagh the churches under their dominion, t War. de Annal. cap. 14. CHRISTIAN IRELAND. 293 he was consecrated in 1140, and having filled the see of Clogher for forty-two years, he was succeeded by Malachi Mac-Carwel. Edan was the confessor of Dermod, king of Leinster ; he endowed the monastery of Knock, near the town of Louth, (otherwise called St. Peter and St. Paul's Mount,) which Donat caused to be built. This place was more anciently called Knock Na-Sengan, that is, the Mount of the Ants. Philip Seguin and Christopher Henriques are wrong in placing Edan among the prelates of Armagh. About this time died also Donald O'Hul- lucan, archbishop of Cashel; who was suc- ceeded by Maurice, called by Cambrensis a learned and discreet man, " Vir literatus et discretus."* We must not omit to introduce in this place, the sharp and satirical, though indirect answer which Maurice gave Cambrensis in presence of Gerald, the pope's legate, who was then on some mission in Ireland, in which he alludes both to the martyrdom of St. Thomas of Canterbury, and the cruelties which the English had after that committed in Ireland. Cambrensis reproached the pre- late, in his accustomed haughty manner, with the indolence of the Irish clergy, and the little care they took to instruct the people, the result of which was a degeneracy in their morals ; and as proof of what he ad- A^anced, he alleged that he had never known any in Ireland to have suffered martyrdom for the church of Jesus Christ. " It is true," replied the prelate of Cashel, modestly, "that our people, Avho are said to be barbarous, rude, and even cruel, have always behaved with honor and respect to the clergy, and none have yet been found among them im- pious enough to raise their hands against the saints of the Lord. But there are men now among us who can make us suffer mar- tyrdom, and Ireland, like other nations, shall henceforward have her martyrs ;" which prediction has been amply verified. Courcy being master of the episcopal city of Down, A. D. 1183, changed the constitu- tion of the cathedral church, by substituting Benedictine monks for the secular canons to whom it belonged till that time : those monks came, by his directions, from St. Werburgh's abbey, at Chester, and he appointed William Etleshale, a monk of their fraternity, as prior over them.f He also changed the in- vocation title of the church from the Holy Trinity to that of St. Patrick, which, accord- ing to the general opinion of the times, says * Topograph. Hib. dist. 3, cap. 32. t War. de Anrial. Hib. cap. 15. an English author, was the cause of the misfortunes that afterwards befell this noble- man. Malachi, bishop of Down, endowed this church with several tracts of land, reserving for himself the title of warden, or abbot, and half of the offerings of the five grand festivals of the year ; namely, Christmas, Candlemas, the festival of St. Patrick, Easter, and Pen- tecost.* It was much frequented, on account of its containing St. Patrick's tomb, and the transferring to it of the bodies of St. Columb and St. Bridget, Courcy founded other houses, viz., the priory of Toberglorie, at Down, (so called from its having been built near a fountain of that name,) for the cross-bearers of the order of St. Augustin, and the abbey of Nedrum, for Benedictines, which was connected with that of St. Bega, in Cumberland. While Courcy was acting in Ulster the parts alternately of a robber and a bigot, fresh disturbances broke out in Munster. Milo Cogan and Ranulph Fitzstephen, his son-in-law, with five knights, were killed on the road to Lismore, by a band of men under the command of a celebrated leader called Mactire. This news having spread over the country, Dermod M'Carty,king of Desmond, and some other princes of the province, be- ing determined to make an effort to recover their liberty, took up arms and invested the city of Cork, where Robert Fitzstephen was. However, a reinforcement of twenty knights, v.dth a hundred men, both horse and foot, brought by Raymond le Gros by sea from Wexford to Cork, together with the strength of the place, frustrated their attempt, and averted the storm which threat- ened the English. Richard Cogan was afterwards sent to Ireland by the king of England, with a body of troops, to replace his brother Milo. About the end of February, Philip Barry and his brother Gerald, known by the name of Cambrensis, crossed over with a reinforce- ment to Ireland, both to assist their uncle Fitzstephen, and recover the estate of Ole- than, which had been given them by Fitz- stephen, and was usurped by his son Ralph. Hervey, surnamed De Monte Morisco, (in English he was called Heremon Morty,) wishing to expiate the crimes of his past life, particularly his having pillaged the churches of Inis-Catha in concert with William Fitz- Adelm, (the revenues of which they appro- priated to their own use,) founded an abbey for Bernardine monks this year, at Don- * War. de Prsesul. Duncns. 294 HISTORY OF IRELAND. brody, or Dun-Broilh, in the county of Wex- ford, near the confhionce of the rivers Bar- row and Suire ; lie afterwards became a monk in Christ's Church at Canterbury, where he was interred.* About this time was founded, also, an abbey of Bernardine monks on the river Nore, in that part of the Queen's county called Loise.f This abbey was called " De Lege Dei,''' or " of the law of God," and was founded by an Irish lord of the ancient and noble family of the O'Mordhas, (in Eng- lish IVIoore,) to whom the country belonged for many ages. Flatzburius fixes the found- ation of this house in 1180. Henry II., being desirous of transferring the lordship of Ireland to his son John, sent John Comin, archbishop of Dublin, in the beginning of the month of August, to pre- pare the minds of the people for his reception, A. D. 1184. 1 He also recalled Hugh de Lacy in the month of September following, and granted the office of chief-justice to Philip de Wigorne, who came to Ireland accompa- nied by forty knights, to take possession of the government.!^ The new viceroy having reannexed to the king's domain the privi- leges which Lacy had alienated, marched the Lent following, in the beginning of the month of May, with a powerful army to Armagh, where he imposed a heavy tribute on the clergy, which he made them pay by a military execution. || He had scarcely left the city, when he was seized with an attack in his bowels, so violent that he was very near dying ; which was considered a just punishment for his crimes. Hugh Tirrel was an accomplice of the viceroy in his depredations ; having retired to Down with his share of the spoils, he witnessed the fruits of his robberies, the house in which he lodged, the stables, horses, and a considerable part of the city, being destroyed by fire the night following; by which he was so much affected that he immediately restored all that remained of the plunder of the churches of Armagh. Lacy, his friend and benefactor, returning from England some time afterwards, he con- ceived an implacable hatred towards him, and declared war against him ; but after several battles, in which much blood was spilled, Tirrel was obliged to bend to the authority of his rival. * Keating, Hist, of Ireland, b. S, page 117. + Allemand, ibid, page 177. t Westmon. Floras Hist. lib. 2, ad an. 1184. § Stanih. ibid. lib. 4. War. de Annal. Hib. cap. 16. il Cainbrens. Top. Hib. distinc. 2, c. 50. Stan, ibid. lib. 4. How edifying it is to behold the spoliators of churches and of the goods of others, founding religious establishments ! This ex- traordinary devotion was introduced into Ireland by the English. Philip de Wigorne, viceroy of Ireland, who a short time before had pillaged the clergy of Armagh, founded a priory for Benedictine monks at Kilcumin, in the county of Tipperary, dedicated to St. James and St. Philip.* It appears by the act of its foundation, the original of which has been discovered in the Cottonian library, that this English nobleman bestowed several estates which he possessed in Ireland on the abbots of Glaston in England, on condition that they would build a house of their order at Kilcumin, in Ireland, the land of which he had also given them ; this priory conse- quently depended on the above-mentioned abbey. About this time Arthur O'Melaghlin, chief of his tribe in Meath, was killed by the English ; he was succeeded by O'Melaghlin Beg, or the little. Three English noblemen shared the same fate as O'Melaghlin ; namely, Robert Barry, who was killed at Lismore ; Raymond, son of Hugh, at Lechana ; and Cantilon, at Idrone. In the month of June, on Saint Barnaby's day, Henry the younger, son of Henry II., died in the castle of Martell, in Gascony, at the age of twenty-eight years ; he was the cause of frequent troubles to his father during his reign. His body was brought to Rouen, and buried in the cathedral there near the grand altar. John, earl of Mortagne, named lord of Ireland, having been created a knight at the age of twelve years, by the king his father, at Windsor, set out in the month of April for Milford, where a fleet was waiting to convey him to Ireland, a. d. llSS.f He set sail during the Easter, accompanied by Ralph Glanvill, chief-justice of England, and his preceptor, Gerald Cambrensis ; and at- tended by four hundred knights, and some troops, among whom were several young men of dissipated habits, who possessed his entire confidence. As soon as they landed at Waterford, the Irish lords of the neighbor- hood hastened to greet the young prince on his arrival. The manners and customs of the two people were very different ; the Irish were naturally hospitable, familiar, and polite towards the strangers ; while the English, * War. de Antiq. Hib. c. 26. Allemand, ibid, page 149. t " John, the younger son of King Henry, was created knight by his father, and sent into Ireland." — Ware^s Annals. CHRISTIAN IRELAND. 295 who rarely possess these qualhies, received them with coldness and contempt. In con- sequence, therefore, they on a sudden with- drew, with the determination of being re- venged. The kings of Cork, Limerick, Con- naught, and other princes of the country, were soon informed of what had occurred : they looked upon the whole nation to have been insulted in the persons of these noble- men, and foresaw, by the conduct of the strangers, what they might expect from them if they became absolute masters of the coun- try. These considerations for a time putting an end to all domestic quarrels, they formed a general league, and took up arms indis- criminately and without leaders, throughout the several districts, against the English. Many lives were lost in this conspiracy, which was followed by no other result than that of disturbing the pleasures of the young prince, (who, together with his courtiers, spent their days and nights in debauchery,) and inspiring him with a dislike for his newly- acquired dignity of lord of Ireland. He re- solved therefore to return to England, leaving Ireland, which he found in peace, a prey to tumult and sedition. During his stay in the country he caused three castles to be built, one at Tibract, one at Ardfinan, and another at Lismore, to defend his subjects against the insults of their enemies. According to i Hoveden, John appropriated the chief part { of the money intended for the payment of ! the troops to his own purposes ; the rest he j squandered in a petty warfare with the Irish, and his funds being at length exhausted, he placed garrisons in all the strong places, and returned to England, leaving the government to De Lacy. The only good action attributed to this prince, during his stay in Ireland, was the foundation of the priory of St. John the j Evangelist, at Waterford, for Benedictine j monks. Cambrensis, his tutor, and Bertram j de Verdon, remained after him in Ireland, { to execute, it is said, a commission which this prince had intrusted them with ; but more probably to collect the fables of which Cambrensis composed his history. How- ever this be, the prince granted them four cantreds and a half of land in the territories of Uriel and Luva, (Louth,) in the neighbor- hood of Dundalk, where Verdon founded, some time afterwards, the priory of St. Leonard. The bodies of St. Malachi, St. Columb, and St. Bridget, having been discovered this year at Down, Malachi, bishop of that place, sent intelligence of it to Pope Urban III.* * Usser, in Indice Chron. ad an. 1186. The holy father immediately sent a legate (probably Cardinal Vivian) to Ireland, who performed the translation of the bodies of these saints on the fifth of June. The Irish and English carried on a con- tinual petty warfare in the southern parts of the island.* Four English officers, with a detachment from the garrison of Ardfinan, were put to the sword by a body of men under the command of Donald O'Brien, king of Limerick. Another detachment from the same garrison, having been taken in the act of plundering near that city, shared the same fate. When the king of England saw the ill- success of his son John in the management of his Irish affairs, he deemed it prudent to consign them to military veterans, who had been trained in the art of war and were ac- quainted with the country, and he therefore gave the viceroyalty of Ireland to John Courcy the following winter. This skilful general made frequent incur- sions into the kingdoms of Cork and Con- naught, with unequal success ; but though he was not always victorious, his reputation rendered him very formidable. In the mean time, O'Connor, surnamed Maonmuighe, son of Roderick, still enter- tained the horrible design of dethroning his father, notwithstanding a recent reconcilia- tion between them. Having collected his vassals, and all those who were attached to his interest, he entered Connaught in a hos- tile manner, where he treated his father's subjects with great cruelty, but was checked in his career by the united forces of Roder- ick and Donald O'Brien, king of Limerick, who gave him battle. The victory of the two kings put an end to the rebellion, and a solid peace was concluded between O'Con- nor and his father through the mediation of their mutual friends. The fatigues and grief which Roderick O'Connor had undergone having given him a disgust for governing, he abdicated the monarchy. He sent back the hostages which he had exacted from those princes who had acknowledged his sovereignty, and gave up to his son Conchovar (O'Connor) the totter- ing throne of Connaught. He then with- drew to the abbey of Cong, where he spent the remainder of his life, thirteen years, in preparing for eternity. He died on the 28th of November, at the age of 82 years, and left several pious legacies to the churches of Ireland, Rome, and Jerusalem. His body was removed from Cong to Cluan-Mac- * Trias. Thaum. not. 2, 3, in Vit. 6 Sanct. Patr. 296 HISTORY OF IRELAND. Noisk, and interred in tliat church with great pomp and solemnity. Thus ended, with this prince, the monarchy of Ireland, which had lasted lor more than two thou- sand years. Amlave O'Murid, or O'lMurry, who had been nominated to the archbishopric of Ar- magh, alter Mselisa Mac-Carwel, who died on his way to Rome, soon followed his pre- decessor, and was succeeded by Tomnltach, or Thomas O'Connor. The latter had al- ready been archbishop of Armagh, upon the death of Gilbert, which took place in 1180; but the tumults of war having caused him to resign, he ceded the archbishopric to Ma^lisa Mac-Carwel in 1184, and resumed it again on the death of Amlave. He was a noble and prudent man, says the author of the an- nals of the monastery of the Blessed Virgin near Dublin, and governed that diocese the second time for nearly sixteen years. About this time Dermod M'Carty, king of Desmond, having placed too much reliance on the good faith of the English, was sacri- ficed to their fuiy. He was killed, with all his retinue, by Theobald Walter and the Englishmen of Cork, at a conference which he was holding with them for the regidation of some affairs, near that city. John Cumin, archbishop of Dublin, as- sembled a provincial council the following licnt, in the church of the Holy Trinity, Dublin, which he opened by a sermon on the sacraments of the church. Aubin O'Molloy, abbot of Baltinglass, and afterwards bishop of Ferns, preached the day following on the chastity of ecclesiastics ; he inveighed in strong terms against the impurity of those who came from England and Wales, and at- tributed the corruption which was beginning to creep in among the Irish clergy to their evil example. This sermon caused a warm altercation between the abbot of Baltinglass and Giraldus Cambrensis, who was present at it. Cambrensis repaired soon afterwards to his archdeaconry in Wales, where he completed his Topogi-aphy, and his history of the Conquest of Ireland. Hugh de Lacy, lord of Meath, having persecuted the Irish for a considerable time, and committed the most flagrant acts of in- justice upon the inhabitants of Meath, ended his days miserably at Dermagh, now Dur- rogh, A. D. 1186.* The tyrant's head was cut off by a blow of an axe, which he re- ceived from a young Irish nobleman in the disguise of a laborer, while he was super- * War. de Annal. Hib. c. 18. Keating, Hist, of Ireknd, b. 2. intending the building of a strong castle in that place. The person who performed this deed (whom some call Malachi Maclair, and others Symmachus O'Cahargo) fled to a neighboring wood. The English who be- longed to De Lacy's retinue were attacked also, and put to the sword. If we cannot justify this action, which was barbarous in itself, circumstances must at least extenuate its atrocity. The dead body of the English nobleman was deprived of burial by the people for the cruelties he had committed, and kept concealed for some time ; it, how- ever, was discovered in 1195, and interred with great pomp in the abbey of Bective, on the river Boyne, by Matthew O'Heney, archbishop of Cashel, and apostolical le- gate ; assisted by John Cumin, archbishop of Dublin. The head of De Lacy was brought to Dublin, and buried with Rosa de Munemnene, his first wife, in the abbey of Thomas Court. Lacy left two sons, Walter the elder, lord of Meath, and Hugh, after- wards earl of Ulster. Geoffroy,* fourth son of Henry II. by his wife Eleanor, and duke of Brittany, died August 16th, 1186, and was buried in the choir of the church of Notre Dame, at Paris. He had by his wife Constantia (who was the daughter and heiress of Conon, count of Brittany,) two daughters, and a son named Arthur, who was born after his death. Henry II., upon hearing of the tragical end of De Lacy, dispatched his son John, with a large army, to resume the govern- ment of Ireland ; but the news of Geoffrey's death at Paris having reached hiin while the prince was detained at Chester by contrary winds, orders were sent for him to return, and the command of the expedition to Ireland was given to Philip de Wigorne. Some people say that Henry himself sailed with it. The destruction which now threatened the country from the continual incursions of the English, was still insufficient to unite the people in its defence, and to suppress the factions which prevailed among them. Donald, son of Hugue O'Loghlin, prince of the family of the O'Neills, and king of Tir- ven, was dethroned, and Roderick O'Lach- ertair was declared king in his stead. The year following Tirconnel was invaded by the latter, who was killed, and Donald re- stored to the throne. The death of Christianus O'Conarchy, the late bishop of Lismore and apostolical legate, is said to have occurred in this year, * Westnioiiast. P'lores Hist. lib. 2, ad an. 1186. CHRISTIAN IRELAND. 297 1186; he was buried in the abbey of 0'- Dorny, where he spent many years after he had retired from the attractions of the world. This year was also remarkable for the death of an illustrious woman, namely, Ma- tilda, daughter of Henry I., king of Eng- land, wife of Henry IV., emperor of Ger- many, and the mother of Henry II. She, like her father, died at Rouen, in Normandy, and was interred in the abbey of Bee. Others say that she was buried in the abbey of Reading, in England, where the subjoined epitaph on her may be seen.* Cardinal Octavianus and Hugue Nunant, bishop of Coventry and Lichfield, were sent in quality of legates by Pope Urban HI., at the solicitation of Henry II., to assist at the coronation of his son John as king of Ireland. But this ceremony, says Hoveden, was dispensed with on account of the affairs of Henry, who brought with him to Nor- mandy these two legates, to be present at a conference which he was about to hold with Philip Augustus, concerning a peace, a. d. 1188. The viceroy of Ireland, together with Conchovar O'Dermod, carried their hostile intentions into Connaught,t and having ad- vanced as far as Esadar, pitched their camp there with a design of desolating and ravag- ing the country of Tirconnel. The news, however, of Flahertach O'Maolduin march- ing with an army from that quarter, made them abandon this project ; they set fire to Esadar, and returning into Connaught met the united forces of Conchovar Maonmuighe, king of the province, and of Donald O'Brien, king of Limerick. The viceroy gave them battle, which, however, proved fatal to him ; he lost the flower of his forces, besides sixteen persons of rank in his army, and the remain- der were put to flight. About this time Roderick O'Gavanan, king of Tirconnel, to- gether with his brother and several persons belonging to his suite, were killed near the bridge of Sligo, by Flahertach O'Maolduin. The annals of Ulster mention a sanguinary conflict that took place in the same year, between Donald, son of Hugh O'Lochlin, king of Tyrone, and the English garrison of the castle of Moycava, or Cava-na-Cran. * Ortu magna, viro major, sed maxima partu Hie jacet Henrici filia, sponsa, parens. Matth. Paris, ad an. 1196, p. 99. " Here lies the daughter, wife, and mother of Henry ; great by birth, greater by her husband, but greatest by her ofTspring." — Matthew Paris, ad an. 1196, p. 99. t War. de Annal. Hib. cap. 20. The action was brisk, and the victory for a long time doubtful ; but was at length gained by Donald, with the loss of his life. The body of this celebrated prince was removed to Armagh, and interred with great pomp. Alured le Palmer, of Danish extraction, founded the priory of St. John the Baptist, of which he was the first prior,* outside of the new gate of Dublin. This house was afterwards endowed, and changed into an hospital, with accommodations for one hun- dred and fifty-five patients, besides the chap- lains, and other necessary attendants. It belonged in latter times to hermits of St. Augustin. Courcy suppressed the abbey of Carrick, founded near the bridge of St. Finn, by Magnal Mac-Eulof, one of the kings of Ul- ster, and appropriated its revenues to a new house which he founded at Inis, dedicated to the Blessed Virgin, and to which he brought over Cistertian monks from the ab- bey of Furnes, in England. It was the poli- cy of the English to make the monks inter- ested in the success of their arms. One of these monks, called Jocelin, wrote the life of St. Patrick, at the request of Tomultach O'Connor, archbishop of Armagh, Malachi, bishop of Down, and De Courcy. Martan O'Broley, a celebrated professor in the uni- versity of Armagh, died about this time ; he is highly eulogized for his learning in the annals of Ulster. The Irish princes having determined to make an effort to rescue themselves from the slavery of the English, and finding no reme- dy for their misfortunes but unhing under one chief, offered the sovereignty to O'Con- nor Maonmuighe. The princes who formed this league were, Donald O'Brien, king of Limerick, Roderick, son of Dunsleve, king of UUagh, Donald Mac-Carthy, king of Desmond, O'Melaghlin, surnamed Beag, or the little, king of Meath, and O'Rourke, king of Brefny and Conmacne. This con- federacy, however, Avas productive of no good result, in consequence of the acci- dental death of O'Connor, at Dun-Leoga, in Hymaine, where he held his court. He left a son called Cahal-Carrach. John Courcy, accustomed, like most of his countrymen in Ireland, to live by pil- lage, laid waste the neighborhood of Ul- lagh, (county of Dov/n,) not sparing Ar- magh, A. D. IISS."!" His accomplices there were the Audleys, Gernons, Clintons, Rus- sels. Savages, Whites, Mandevils, Jordans, * War. de Antiq. Hib. cap. 26. t War. de Annal. Hib. cap. 21 298 HISTORY OF IRELAND. Staiitons, and Poors, wlio had followed liis fortune, and on whom he had bestowed es- tates and lordships which did not belong to him. It is easy to be generous at the expense of others. While Dc Courcy was carrying on his military expeditions in Ulster, Roger Poor, a brave man, of noble family, was killed, with the garrison, in the castle of Dangis- drony, in the district of Ossory, which the Irish took by assault. They also reduced the castle of Lismore ; but finding it impos- sible to hold out against the English, they determined to destroy it. Murchard Mac-Carwel, king of Ergail, finding his end approaching, retired to the abbey of Mellifont, where he was buried near his father Donat, by whom it had been founded. I have now given an imperfect sketch of what passed in Ireland from the first invasion of the English, under Henry II., to the death of that prince, which took place on the sixth of July, in his castle of Chinon, in Normandy.* His body was in- terred with great pomp in the monastery of Font Everard, which he had founded. He had been for some time in a declining state of health, overcome Avith grief and sorrow ; but the list which Philip Augustus sent to him of those who had conspired against him, among whom was his favorite son John, was the immediate cause of his death. The following ceremony was observed, according to Baker, at his funeral obsequies : "He was clothed in his royal robes, his crown on his head, white gloves on his hands, boots and spurs of gold on his feet, a valuable ring on his finger, the sceptre in his hand, his sword to his side, and his face un- covered. " As they were carrying his body to the grave, his son Richard approached it with eagerness, in order to look at it, whereupon a quantity of blood issued from the nose. Although the above fact," continues our author, " was not a proof of the innocence of Richard, the torrent of tears which he shed on the occasion was a sign that he had repented." Baker speaks of a princess of the house of Anjou, from whom Henry was descended, who was suspected of being a sorceress, and who, it is said, flew through the windows of the church when it was required of her to receive the blessed Eu- charist ; and that it never could be discovered what became of her. This story, he says, which has been published by every writer, might have aflbrded to Heraclius, patriarch * Baker, Chron. of England, on the year 1189. of Jerusalem, (who solicited the aid of Henry against Saladin,) the opportunity of foretelling many misfortunes that should befall that king, and of announcing to his children, that they should return to the devil, from whom they had gone forth. But he remarks, with justice, that historians ought rather to have passed over the sub- ject in silence. I have already portrayed the morals of Henry II. ; let English writers therefore draw his panegyric. A flatterer has written the following line, in itself fine, and very laudatory of the memory of that prince, and of Richard, his successor. " Mira canam, sol occubuit, nox nulla secuta est." John Comin, archbishop of Dublin, Aubin O'Mulloy, bishop of Ferns, and Concert, bishop of Enaghdun, assisted at the coro- nation of Richard, surnamed C(Eur de Lion, on the third of September following, at Westminster, which was performed by Bald- win, archbishop of Canterbury. His brother John, earl of Mortagne, was content with being lord of Ireland. The marriage of William Marshal with Isabella, daughter of Earl Strongbow, took place about this time ; by which he acquired extensive possessions in Leinster, and the title of earl of Pem- broke. CHAPTER XIX. As soon as Richard I., surnamed Coeur de Lion, was crowned king of England, he determined to undertake an expedition to the Holy Land, a. d. 1190, in order, it is said, to make atonement for the rebellion which he had been guilty of against his father. He set out for Palestine, where he arrived the year following with a numerous army, without leaving any orders relative to the government of Ireland, thinking, perhaps, that he had no right to interfere in the affairs of that island, since Henry II. had granted the sovereignty of it to his brother John. He sent a deputation, however, to Pope Clement III., requesting himtoappoint William de Long-Champs, bishop of Ely, legate of the British dominions, and of that part of Ireland which was subject to his brother John. It appears by the pope's rescript, quoted in the history of Matthew Paris,* that the English then owned but a * " Richard, king of England, sent Willianij bishop of Ely, with a deputation to Pope Clement, from whom he obtained the following rescript — CHRISTIAN IRELAND. 299 small portion of that country. We do not discover that the legate had ever been in Ireland, or made any regulations concerning it. The O'Connors had still retained a vestige of sovereignty in Connaught. Cahal-Car- rach, son of O'Connor Maonmuighe, suc- ceeded his father ; but had a formidable rival in his grand-uncle, Cahal-Crovedarg, brother to Roderick the monarch. These princes had each his party to vindicate their respective claims, and the province suffered greatly by their disunion. They even sought for partisans among the English.* William Fitz-Adelm declared in favor of Cahal- Carrach, and Crovedarg was supported by John de Courcy. After many acts of hos- tility on both sides, they at length came to a decisive engagement. Both armies were composed of Irish and English, who per- formed prodigies of valor, and the victory was long doubtful ; but the troops of Cahal- Carrach beginning to give way, were at last put to flight. The prince himself, and several nobles of the province, were found among the slain, and Fitz-Adelm returned to Limerick with the troops that remained. Cahal-Crovedarg then besieged a strong castle which Fitz-Adelm had buiU at Mi- leach O'Madden, in the district of Siola- namchad, to favor his retreat in case of need : the garrison, which was composed of Englishmen, finding themselves unable to defend the place, and dreading military exe- cution in case of resistance, whhdrew during the night, and the victorious prince caused the castle and all its fortifications to be razed to the ground. As an act of thanksgiving, Cahal-Crove- darg founded an abbey for Bernardine monks in a place called Knock-Moy, in the county of Galway, where he had gained the victory, which he called De Colle Victorice, or the Mount of Victory.! This house was a branch of the abbey of Boyle, of the order of Clairvaux. Jungelinus places this foun- " Clement, bishop, &c., according to the com- mendable desire of our dearetit son in the Lord, Richard, the ilhistrious king of England, we have by our apostolical authority decreed that the office of legate be intrusted to thy charge over England, Wales, including the archbishoprics of Canterbury and York, and those parts of Ireland in which .lohn, the noble knight of Moreton, and brother of his majesty, exercises control and dominion." " Given on the fifth of June, in the 3d year of our ponti- ficate." — Matthew Paris, on the year 1188, part 108. * Keating, Hist, of Ireland, b. 2. t War. de Antiq. Hib. c. 2G. AUemand, Hist. Monast. d'lil. page 189. dation in 1190, and others so late as 1200 : however this be, Crovedarg soon afterwards finding his end approaching, assumed the monastic habit in this house, where he was interred, having governed the province as chief of the Hy-Brunes and of Clan-Murray. The descendants of this valiant prince never accepted of titles of honor from the kings of England ; titles which most of the ancient Irish families then despised, and looked upon as marks of slavery. The name of O'Con- nor Don, which belonged to the chief of this tribe, as well as those of other chiefs of great families, was much more noble, accord- ing to the genius and manners of the nation, than the title of earl or marquis. The pres- ent chief of this illustrious house of O'Con- nor, is Daniel, son of Andrew O'Connor, of Ballintobber, who still retains a small por- tion of the vast possessions of his ancestors in Connaught. Ware mentions the foundation of a priory at this time, under the title of Saint Mary, at Kenlis,* in the county of Kilkenny, by Galfridus, seneschal of Leinster, for regular canons of St. Augustin. But in the additions made to the Monasticum Anglicanum of Dugdale and Dodswort, this foundation is fixed earlier, that is, in 1183, under the reign of Henry II. At Navan, a considerable town in Meath, at the confluence of the rivers Boyne and Blackwater, there was an abbey founded for regular canons of St. Augustin, by Jocelin Nangle, [De Angulo,) an English lord, who had settled in this country.! In the neighborhood of the town of Wex- ford, we discover the priory of Saints Peter and Paul, called Selsker, founded in this century, for regular canons of the order of St. Augustin, by the Roches, lords of Fer- moy. John Comin, archbishop of Dublin, em- ployed himself in beautifying the churches of that city ; he had the cathedral, called Christ's Church, repaired ; and St. Patrick's Church, which was falling into ruins, com- pletely rebuilt. He founded thirteen pre- bendaries, which number was afterwards increased to twenty-two. He also founded a nunnery in that city for regular canon- esses of St. Augustin, called De Gratia Dei, " of the grace of God."| The war between the O'Briens of Thuo- mond, and the Mac-Cartys of Desmond, had lasted for a considerable time ; and though peace was at length concluded between these * War. de Antiq. cap. 26. t Allemand, Hist. Monast. d'Irl. page 32. t Idem, page 341. 300 HISTORY OF IRELAND. two septs, it was, unluckily, but of short continuance. Heaven itself seemed displeas- ed with the discord of these people at a pe- riod when luiion was so necessary for the defence of their country. Munster was visited at this time by dreadful storms and hurri- canes, which destroyed several houses and churches, and caused the loss of many lives. About this time was celebrated, in the monastery of Clairvaux in France, the festival of the translation of the relics of St. Malachi, archbishop of Armagh. They were after- wards removed to the abbey of INIellifont in Ireland, and particles of them distributed to the dilFerent houses of the Cistertian order. Matthew O'Heney, archbishop of Cashel, having been nominated legate of Ireland by Pope Celestinus III., convened a council in Dublin, A. D. 1192 ; but we are unacquainted with what passed in it. About this time the city suffered considerably by fire. While some of the English were occupied in building the castles of Ballinorcher and Kilbixi, in Westmeath, and that of Kilkenny, in Leinster, others of them were completely destroyed at Dunlus O'Fogerte, by Donald O'Brien, king of Limerick ; after which the English, in revenge for their losses, collect- ed a force and pillaged the country of Thuo- raond. About the samQ,time an abbey of Bene- dictines was founded at Glascarrig, in the county of Wexford ; an abbey also of the Cistertian order at Ballinamore, in West- meath, and one in the city of Down.* There were two priories in Eastmeath, one near the town of Trim, and the other at Kells, in the same county. Both belonged to the order of the Holy-Cross. The former was founded by a bishop of Meath, the lat ter by AV alter de Lacy.f Richard, king of England, whom we left in Asia, was shipwrecked in the Adriatic sea, on his return to Europe. In order to conceal his coming to England, he took the road through Germany, where he had the misfortune of falling into the hands of Leo- pold, marquis of Austria. This prince had not forgotten the insult he had received at the siege of Acre, from Richard, who tore down the standard he had set up on the top of a tower, and placed his own in its stead. He sold Richard to the Emperor Henry VI., who detained him a prisoner for fifteen months. His brother John, lord of Ireland, wishing to take advantage of this opportunity, and, according to Ware, at the instigation of * War. de Antiq. Hib. cap. 26. t Alleinand, Hist. Monast. d'Irl. Philip Augustus, made some attempts to usurp the crown of England ;* but being doubtful of success, he only fortified some castles in England, and went to Normandy, where Philip Augustus then was, by whom he was honorably received. Richard having been released from his captivity, returned to England, where he was joyfully received by his subjects ; and then went to Normandy, to put a stop to the progress of Phihp.f His brother John fol- lowed him thither, and implored his forgive- ness in the humblest manner, promising him fidelity for the future. He granted him his pardon, through the solicitation of his mother Eleanor, saying, " I wish I may forget your crime, and that you alone may preserve the remembrance of it."| In Ireland the O'Briens were still opposed to the M'Cartys, and in 1193 the king of Limerick consented to the building of the castle of Briginis, in the country of Thuo- mond, to favor the incursions of the Eng- lish into Desmond. These strangers still con- tinued their depredations ; they held nothing sacred. Gilbert de Nangle pillaged the island of Inisclohran, in lake Ree, and also the ab- bey ; while Africa, wife of John de Courcy, founded the abbey of our Lady of Leigh, or De Jugo Dei, in Ulster, in which she was afterwards interred. About this time died Derforgill, wife of Tigernach O'Rourk, whose misconduct had drawn irremediable misfortunes on her country. She had been at first confined, by order of Roderick O'Con- nor, in the abbey of St. Bridget in Kildare, from whence she was removed to the abbey of Mellifont, where she died. The year following was much more memo- rable by the death of Donald O'Brien, king of Limerick, a. d. 1194. This prince was no less pious than warlike ; he founded several monasteries, and made also many efforts, though too late, to shake off the yoke of the English. His first fault was irreparable : instead of joining the other princes of Ire- land in the common cause, he had been one of the first to submit to Henry II., without makuig the least resistance, and thereby afforded the English an opportunity of be- coming strong in the country. Although the last king of Limerick, he was succeeded in the government of that part of the island by his son Donogh Cairbreach. The eyes of his second son, Alortough, were put out by the English. * Annal. Hib. ad an. 1193. t Westmonast. Flores Hist. lib. 2, ad an. 1192. \ Walslng. Ypodig. Meust. ad an. 1193, 1194. Bak. Chron. of Engl, on the reign of Richard. CHRISTIAN IRELAND. 301 The affairs of the English in Ireland were in a very precarious state, a. d. 1195 ; after being defeated in several engagements, they were expelled from Limerick by Donald M'Carty. The Irish knew how to gain vic- tories, but had not the art of turning them to advantage ; the superiority of their arms was soon counterbalanced by the stratagems of war skilfully made use of by the English, and by the succor these strangers were continually receiving from England. Philip de Wigorne landed this year on the coasts of Munster, with a strong reinforcement, which changed the aspect of their affairs. In Ulster, Roderick, son of Dunleve, with a body of troops composed of both English and Irish, made incursions into Tyrone ; but was repulsed, and attacked in his retreat at Armagh, by Mortough O'Loghlin, prince of that district, who destroyed a considerable part of his army. This prince, celebrated in the histories of the country, was killed some time afterwards, by Donough M'Blos- chy O'Cahan, and his body interred with great pomp at Derry. About this time Pope Celestine III. con- firmed the foundation of a monastery for Augustin nuns at Termonfechau, in the county of Louth, by the M'Mahons, lords of the country.* Courcy having taken the castle of Kil- sandall, placed a garrison in it, a. d. 1196, under the command of one Russell, who, to try his fortune, made some incursions with the troops of his garrison into the country of Tirconnel, from whence he carried away considerable booty ; but he was attacked on the way and killed, Avith several of his fol- lowers, by Flahertach O'Maolduin, prince of Tirconnel. In Munster, Donald M'Carty put the English garrison of Imacalle to the sword, and razed the castle to the ground. He treated the garrison of Kilfeacle in the same manner, and pillaged the castle. In order to put a stop to the enterprises of M'Carty, the English sent an army, composed of the garrisons of Cork and other places, against him ; but did not, however, come to an engagement. A truce was concluded, and hostilities ceased for some time. Gilbert de Nangle, a man of considerable power in Meath, put himself at the head of a body of troops, and committed dreadful devastation in the surrounding country ; but finding himself threatened by Hamon de Valoines, who had succeeded Peter Pippard * War. de Antiq. AUemand, Hist. Monast. d'lrl. page 349. as lord-justice of Ireland, he laid down his arms and took to flight, after which his cas- tles were seized, and his estates confiscated. A serious dispute occurred, a. d. 1179, between John Comin, archbishop of Dublin, and Hamon de Valoines, and other ministers of John, lord of Ireland, who were encroach- ing on the privileges of his church. The prelate excommunicated them, and then went to England, where he in vain complained of the injustice of these ministers. It has since been discovered in the registries of the church of Dublin, that Hamon granted to the successor of Comin, twenty carucates or quarters of land, in compensation for the wrongs he had done it. John de Courcy continued his tyranny in Ulster. He made the people suffer for the crime of an individual ; putthig several in- nocent persons to death in order to be re- venged for the death of his brother Jordan, who was killed by his own servant. He laid waste the country of Tirconnel, from which he carried off much booty, after hav- ing killed O'Dogherty, who became prince of that country ufter the death of Flahertach O'Maolduin. The latter, who was so cele- brated among the Irish for his military ex- ploits, and other virtues, died at Inis-Samer, on the 10th of February, after a long illness, and was buried, with pomp, at Drum-Tuama. Hamon de Valoines, lord-justice of Ire- land, was at length recalled, a. d. 1198. He was succeeded by Meyler Fitzhenry, renowned in history for his exploits against the Irish. The castle of Ard-Patrick, in Munster, was built this year by the English ; and the year following, that of Astretin, in the same province. Richard I. survived his captivity but five or six years. He was almost continually at war with Philip Augustus.* Several truces were concluded between them. Richard was at length wounded in the arm by an arrow that was discharged by Bertram de Gordon, otherwise called Peter Basile,when he was endeavoring to enter the castle of Chains, near Limoge, by force.f His wound having mortified through the ignorance of i the surgeon who dressed it, he died after a i few days. His body was interred ai Fonte- veraud, near the tomb of his father, and his heart brought to Rouen, in gratitude for the love which that city had always manifested towards him.| * Westmon. Flores Hist. lib. 2, ad an. 1199. t Matth. Paris, Angli. Hist. Major. Vit. Richard. t Baker's Chron. of Engl, on the reign of Richard I. 302 HISTORY OP IRELAND. John, earl of Mortagne, lord of Ireland, who had endeavored to usurp the throne of England during his brother's lifetime, did not fail to lay claim to it after his death, to the prejudice of his nepliew Arthur, son of Gcotrry, of Brittany, his elder brother.* Arthur took up arms, and was supported I)y Philip Augustus ; but John made him pris- oner at Mirabel, in Poitou, whence he sent him, under a strong escort, to Falaise, and thence to Rouen, where he had him put to death ; by which means he imited the he- reditary domains of his family, on the con- tinent, with the kingdom of England.! The English still continued their hostili- ties in Ireland, a. d. 1199. John de Courcy sent a body of troops this year to Tyrone, who laid the country waste and carried away several . herds of cattle. They were not, however, so fortunate in a second enter- prise. Hugh O'Neill, prince of the country, marched to meet them, and defeated them at Donoughmore. Meanwhile, the English of Munster continued to devastate the country of Desmond from the river Shannon to the Eastern Sea. About the same period, a fortified castle was built at Granard, in the district of Aumale, in the county of Longford, by Richard Tuite, to check the O'Reillys and other Irish chieftains, who were carry- ing on a continual warfare against the Eng- lish, who had settled in that quarter. The abbey of Comerer, or Comber, in the county of Down, was founded this year, for Cistertian monks, by the Whites, who had settled in that country. | This abbey wa.s inconsiderable, and was a branch of that of Blancheland, in Wales, whence its first monks came over. King John was not less avaricious than his father : he drew money from all quarters, and it may be said that his reign was one coutiiiual tax.^ According to Hoveden, he sold to William, nephew of Philip de Braos, for four thousand marks of silver, the lands of the O'Carrols, the O'Kennedys, O'Maghers, O'Fogartys, O'Ryans, O'llifferans, and oth- ers, which Henry his father had given to Philip de Worcester, and to Theobald Fitz- walter. But Worcester, who was then in England, returned to Ireland through Scot- land, and recovered his estates by open force. Fitz waiter, with the assistance of his brother De Hubert, archbishop of Can- * Wcstmonast. ibid, ad ay. 1202. t Matth. Paris, Angli. Hist. Major, ad an. 1292. Baker, Chron. of Engl, on tlie reign of John I. t Allemand, Hist. Monast. d'Irl. page 193. § Baker, Chron. of Engl, on the reign of John I. War. de Annal. Hib. ad an. 1200. terbury, compounded with De Braos for his estates, by paying five hundred marks.* Those lands were Truohekcd, Eile-y-Car- rol, Eile-y-Ogarthi, Orwon, Areth, and Ovvny, Owny Ilokathelan, and Owny IlilTernan. William de Braos gave up those lands to Fitzwalter, by a charter delivered at Lin- coln in presence of the king. Henry 11. had already conferred on Fitzwalter the office of grand hereditary butler of Ireland, from whence is derived the name of Butler, which was afterwards taken by the de- scendants of that nobleman. William Marshal, earl of Pembroke, being in danger of shipwreck on his passage from England to Ireland, made a vow to build a religious house ;t in consequence of which he Ibunded, a. d. 1199, the abbey called Little Tinterne, in Ireland, in a village of that name on the coast of Wexford. The abbey was so called to distinguish it from the great Tinterne, in Wales, where the Cistertian order was established, and of which it was a branch. This nobleman also founded two religious houses ; one at Kilrush, in the county of Kildare, for regular canons, and the other at Wexford, for hospi- tallers of St. John the Baptist of Jerusalem, and St. Bridget. I Besides the latter house, which was the grand priory, the order of Malta had nine commanderies in Ireland before the suppression of the Templars. About this time Donat, son of Donald O'Brien, king of Limerick, founded two abbeys, dedicated to the blessed Virgin ; one that of Corcumroe, or de Pelra Fertili, in the county of Clare, of the Cistertian order ; the other that of Kilcoul, or de Ar- vicampo, in the county of Tipperary, a branch of the abbey of Jeripont. We discover at the same time the founda- tion of two nunneries : one at Kilcreunata, in the county of Galway, called de Casta Sylva, founded by Cahal O'Connor, sur- named Crovderg, for Benedictines ; the other at Granary, county of Kildare, found- ed by Walter de Ridelesford, an English no- bleman, for monks of St. Augustin.^ This monastery is, perhaps, the same as Grane, a priory of Benedictines in the same county, founded by the same nobleman ; the act of its foundation is mentioned by the authors of the " Monasticum Anglicanum," to have been inserted in a bull of Pope Innocent * Introduction to the life of the duke of Ormond, vol. 1, p. 18, t War. de Antiq. Hib. c. 26. t Allem. Hist. Monast. d'Irl. pages 24, 124. § War. de Antiq. Hib. c. 26. Allem. ibid. p. 347. CHRISTIAN IRELAND. 303 III., in the year 1207, by wliich it appears that this English nobleman, its founder, and baron of Bre, lord of Tristeldermot and other places, granted it to the lands of Grane, Dolke, and others. .\t Nenagh, in the county of Tipperary. there was a priory or hospital called Teach- Eon, dedicated to St. John the Baptist, founded by Theobald Walter, the chief of the Butlers,* a. d. 1200. At Athassel, a small town in the same county, was the pri- ory of St. Edmond, king and martyr, found- ed for regular canons in 1200 by William de Burgo, from whom the Burkes are de- scended. At Kilbeggain, in Westmeath, there was an abbey of Cistertian monks, called De Flumine Dei, founded by the Daltons, bar- ons of Rathcomire.f It was a branch of the abbey of Mellifont, its first monks hav- ing come from that abbey. At Tristernach, in Westmeath, there was also a priory' for regular canons of St. Au- gustin, called St. Mary's, founded about this time by Geoffry de Constantin, an English lord. Dugdale and Dodsworth mention the act of its foundation in the additions to the " Monasticum Anglicanum ^ In the neighborhood of the town of Wex- ford, the priory of St. Peter and St. Paul was founded by the Roches, lords of Fer- moy, for regidar canons of St. Augustin. There was also a priory of the same order, under the title of St. John the Baptist, at Naas, in the county of Kildare, founded by a baron of Naas. The church of Ireland lost two celebrated prelates at this period, (a. d. 1201 ;) Thomas O'Connor, archbishop of Armagh, a noble and virtuous character, was one ; he was interred in the abbey of Mellifont.;}: The English wishing to make themselves mas- ters of the see, which had become vacant by his death, the king of England appointed Humfred de TikhuU to it ; but he was pre- vented from acting by the pope, who confer- red it on Eugene Mac-Gillevider, a native of Ireland. Eugene was a man of great virtue, " vir magnse honestatis et vita? laudabilis ;" he died at Rome in 1216, after having as- sisted at the fourth council of Lateran. Catholicus O'Dubhay, archbishop of Tuam, was the other prelate alluded to. He was a grave and learned man, and had made peace between Roderick O'Connor and Henry II. ; he was also one of the six Irish prelates that * Allemand, Hist. Monast. d'Irl. page 6.5. t War. de Antiq. ibid. Allemand, ibid. p. 179. X War. de Archiepisc. Ardmach. had assisted at the council of Lateran. His death took place at Cong, at an advanced age,* and he was buried in the monastery of the regular canons of St. Augustin, and was succeeded by Felix O'Ruadan. There had always existed a jealousy and secret enmity between the Lacys and John de Courcy, which broke out openly in the beginning of the reign of king John.f This king was abhorred by all good men, not only for having deprived Arthur of the crown, who was legitimate heir to it, but also for having imbrued his own hands in the blood of that innocent prince. Every one ex- pressed his indignation openly, particularly John de Courcy, earl of Ulster, who was a violent and hasty man, and who, not con- tent with the mere abhorrence which so detestable an act excited, gave vent to im- precations, of which the king was soon in- formed. In order to punish De Courcy's imprudence, John sent orders to De La- cy, whom he had just appointed lord-jus- tice of Ireland, to have him arrested and brought to England in chains. Lacy was glad to receive these orders, so much in ac- cordance with his own wishes, and lost not a moment in using all his efforts to execute the commission. Courcy, informed of the danger which threatened him, withdrew to Ulster, where he placed himself on the defensive, and defeated the king's troops, whom De Lacy had sent in pursuit of him, near Down. The viceroy finding it impos- sible to reduce his enemy by force of arms, published a manifesto, in the king's name, declaring De Courcy a traitor to the king and a rebel to his commands, and ofl^ered a reward to whomsoever should take and bring him, dead or alive, to him. This re- ward some of De Courcy's own household were base enough to earn ; he was arrested on Good Friday by some of his own attend- ants, and brought to the viceroy, Avho, after giving those who delivered him up the prom- ised reward, had them all hanged. Lacy immediately set out with his prisoner for England, and presented him to the king, by whose orders he was confined in a dungeon. As a reward for this service. Lacy received from his royal master all the lands which belonged to De Courcy in Ulster and Con- naught, together with the title of earl of Ulster. The people of Tyrone deposed Hugh O'Neill this year, and 'placed Cornelius Mac-Lausfhlin in his stead, who was killed * War. de Archiepisc. Tuamens. + Stanihurst, de Reb. in Hib. Gest. page 212. 304 HISTORY OF IRELAND. in battle a short time afterwards by Eignea- chain O'Donnel ; after which O'Neill was reinstated. ' The discord which prevailed between Philip do Worcester and William de Braos, to whom the king had sold the lands of Philip, as has been already observed, Avas productive of great troubles in Munster, particularly in the district of Moy-Femin, which was pillaged : but the year following, the castle of Knockgrassan, and other places which had been seized by Philip, were re- stored to WilUam by order of the king. William Fitz-Adelm, or De Burgo, made some incursions into the country of Des- mond, and carried off considerable booty. The king gave him by charter five military fiefs in a place called Toth, where the cas- tle of Canic, now Castle-Connel, stands, which have remained in the hands of his descendants to the present time. Keating mentions an expedition which Fitz-Adelm made into Connaught, where he committed dreadful devastations.* Accord- ing to him, cruelty was the ruling passion of this nobleman ; he put the priests and peo- ple to the sword without distinction, and de- stroyed the religious houses and other holy places in this province, so that his tyrannical conduct drew upon him the censures of the clergy, and he was solemnly excommunica- ted by the church ; in which state he died of an extraordinary sickness, which caused frightful distortions. He gave no signs of repentance ; his body was carried to a vil- lage, the inhabitants of which he had put to death, and was thrown into a well, from whence it was never afterwards taken. f Stanihurst, following Cambrensis,| gives the following account of him. He was a man, he says, solely occupied in amassing riches, a mercenary governor, and detested both by prince and people ; the duties of his office he discharged in a shameful and sordid manner, and disregarded justice when his * History of Ireland, book 2. t Keating takes this fact from an authentic manu- script written three hundred years before his time, consequently in or about the thirteenth century. He calls this manuscript Leavar Breac, or the book of Mac-Eogain. \ The honors which he conferred on any one were always but a mask of his treacherous inten- tions, concealing poison beneath the honey, and re- sembling a snake lurking in the grass. Liberal and mild in his aspect, but carrying more aloes than honey withiu — Pelliculam veterem retinens, vir fronte politus, Astutam vapido portans sub pectore vulpem ; Impia sub dulci melle venena ferens. Hibernia Expugnata, c. 16. own interest was in question. He concludes by saying it is not surprising that his memory should be held in abhorrence by the people : " ut non mirum fuerit, si incolis tristem horri- bilemque memoriam nominis sui reliquerit."* Although the historians of the times have represented William Fitz-Adelm as a wicked man, he left a posterity in Ireland who were worthy of a better ancestor, and who were always distinguished for their religion, vir- tue, and fidelity to their lawful princes. There were some religious houses foimd- cd about this time in Ireland. At Conol, a village on the river Liffey, in the county of Kildare, a rich priory was established for regular canons of St. Augustin, by Myler Fitzhenry.f This priory depended on the abbey of Anthoni, in England, and the original act for its establishment is in the Bodleian library. In a very pleasant situation on the right bank of the river Liffey, in the county of Kildare, there was a handsome priory of the order of St. Victor, dedicated to St. Wol- stan, who had been lately canonized by Pope Innocent III. This house was commonly called Scala CorU, or the ladder of heaven. It was founded by Richard, the first abbot, and Adam de Hereford, both Englishmen, in 1235.^ About this time Theobald Fitzwalter, first grand butler of Ireland, founded at Owny, or W^etheni, in the district of Limerick, an abbey for Cistertian monks ;§ it was a branch of the abbey of Lavigiu, diocese of Avranche, in Normandy, from whence its first monks were brought. At Inistiock, in the county of Kilkenny, there was a priory for regular canons of St. Augustin, called after St. Columbanus, founded, according to Ware, in 1206, by Thomas, seneschal of Leinster, at the re- quest of Hugh, bishop of Ossory. Ware also mentions a religious house, founded in the neighborhood of Drogheda, which was called De JJrso, having been founded by Ursus de Samuel ; it was a priory and hospital for the order of the Holy Cross, the monks of which were called cross-bearers. Some believe that it was a custodia, or hospital, belonging to the regular canons of ,St. Augustin. At Newtown, in the neighborhood of Trim, on the river Boyne, there was a rich and handsome priory, founded in 1206, for * De Reb. in Bib. Gest. lib. 4, p. 185. t War. de Antiq. Hib. c. 26. Allemand, Hist. Monast. d'Irl. page 22. X War. de Antiq. ibid, page 120. § Allemand, ibid, page 184. CHRISTIAN IRELAND. 305 regular canons of St. Augiistin, under the title of St. Peter and St. Paul, by Simon Rochford, bishop of Meath, who fixed his abode there .* This prelate having removed the episcopal^ see of Clonard to Trim, the bishops of that diocese were afterwards called Episcopi Trimciises, instead of Cluanar- denscs ; but the diocese was commonly called the bishopric of Meath, taking its name from the county rather than from a city. In his annals of the same year, (1202,) Ware fixes the martyrdom of St. Manon, a native of Ireland, whom Molanus ranks among the saints of Flanders. This saint was a disciple of Saint Remulch and St. John Agnus, bishop of Utrecht. He was massacred in the forest of Ardenne, and buried in a church which he had founded at Nassoin, in Ardenne, where he is acknow- ledged as the patron saint. In the year 1207, a religious house was founded at Douske, in the county of Kilken- ny, by William Marshal, earl of Pembroke, for Cistertian monks. This abbey was called, " Valley of the Blessed Saviour." Another was founded at Atherdee, or De Atrio Dei, in the county of Louth, by Roger Pipard, a^lord of that district, for monks called cross-bearers, under the title of St. John the Baptist. Geoffry M'Moris, or Morich, an Irish no- bleman, having caused a revolt against the English in the county of Tipperary, a. d. 1208, Hugh de Lacy marched as viceroy towards Thurles, with all the troops he could collect, where he destroyed the castle called Castle Meiler ; but having lost several of his men at the taking of this place, and in the various conflicts he had with the Irish, he was forced to abandon his enterprise. A tragical scene occurred in the year 1209, which gave rise to what the English have since called " black Mon^Jay." It was as follows : — A contagious distemper raged in Dublin, by which it was almost depopulated, and being deserted by the inhabitants, an English colony was sent for to Bristol to replace them. These strangers, who had been accustomed to go to the country on festival days for their amusement, left the city in crowds on Easter Monday ; when approaching Cullin's Wood, (so called from the noble family of the O'Cullens, to whom it had formerlybelonged,) they were attacked by the O'Byrnes and O'Tools, from the county of Wicklow, with their vassals, who massacred three hundred of them, sparing * AUemand, ibid, page 31. neither women nor children. At that time England was an inexhaustible source of men, particularly when to make a fortune in Ireland was in question, and the loss was soon repaired by a new colony from Bristol. The mayor, aldermen, and citizens of Dub- lin, celebrated for many ages the anniversary of this fatal day, in the place where the massacre was committed, by feasting and rejoicings. At Fermoy, in the county of Cork, on the river called Avoine Moer, there was an abbey called De Castro Dei, founded by the noble family of De Rupe, Roche, or De la Roche, lords of that place.* The monks of this abbey were of the Cistertian order, and came from the abbey of Suire ; several were brought afterwards from the abbey of Furnese, in England. Jungelinus says it was founded in 11 70, which does not accord with the period when the founder of it settled in Ireland. It should be fixed some years later, viz., about the beginning of the thir- teenth century. In the neighborhood of Waterford, there was also the priory of St. Catherine, of the order of St. Victor, founded'by the Danes, or Ostmans, of that city, and confirmed by Innocent III. in 1210. At Lerha, near Granard, in the county of Longford, there was an abbey of Bernardins, founded by Richard Tuite, an Englishman, lord of Granard. The first monks of this abbey came from that of our Lady, of Dub- lin, of the order of the Clairvaux.f Some say that this house was founded in 1210, Jungelinus in 1211, and Flatzburi in 1212. The founder was killed the following year at Athlone, by the falling of a tower, and his body interred in this abbey. At Beaubec, a place so called from its being situated on a delightful peninsula, formed by the confluence of the rivers Boyne and Blackwater, in Meath, there was an abbey founded by Walter de Lacy, lord of that district. This abbey was of the Cis- tertian order, and a branch of that of Beau- bec in Normandy. It was afterwards united to that of Furnese in England. Ware men- tions in his annals a monastery which he calls Fort, founded by the above-mentioned nobleman. Courcy, whom we had left confined in England, found means to recover the king's * War. de Antiq. Hib. c. 26. Allemand, Hist. Monast. d'Irl. page 181. t War. de Antiq. cap. 26. Allemand, Hist. Monast. d'Irl. page 180 306 HISTORY OP IRELAND. favor,* and was restored by him to both his liberty and fortnnc. This nobleman was particularly desirous of returning to Ireland, where he had such extensive possessions. He set sail fifteen times for that country, and was as often driven back by contrary winds, as if some invisible and avenging hand would deprive him of the pleasure of seeing a country in which he had committed so many and such flagi-ant crimes. He was at length cast upon the coast of France, where he died. Such was the end of this great tyrant, whom the English call a great general. According to Stanihurst, he left no posterity, like many other chiefs of the English colony.t However, Nichols, the author of the " Compendium," alleges that he had a son called Myles, who was deprived of his father's title and possessions, which the king conferred on De Lacy. By way of indemnification, he was created baron of Kingsale, where his descendants have sup- ported their dignity to the present time. John visited Ireland in the twelfth year of his reign. He landed at Waterford, at the head of a numerous and well-provided array, to put down the Irish who had rebelled, and were continually pillaging and destroying his English subjects. It is affirmed by some, that their rebellion was caused by an exor- bitant tax, which the king wished to lay on them in order to enable him to carry on the war against France, and that finding this tax too heavy to be borne, they determined to have recourse to arms rather than submit to it. The king having marched with his forces towards Dublin,;]: the people, alarmed at his power, came from all quarters to submit to an oath of allegiance and to keep the peace. Twenty petty kings, called Reguli by the English authors, paid him homage in Dub- lin.'^ There were others, however, who disdained to bend beneath the yoke of Eng- land. " Pauci tamen ex Regulis superse- derimt, qui ad regem venire contempserunt." It appears that the object of this prince's expedition was not only to quell the insur rection of the Irish, but likewise to punish his English subjects who were oppressing * Stanihurst, de Reb. in Hib. Gest. lib. p. 217. t " He was married to the daughter of the king of Man, but left no issue after him, like many of those I who ruled over tlie Irish at that time ; whose fanii- ' lies, from want of children, were quickly reduced to a small number." — Stanihurst, b. 4, p. 218. t Matth. Paris, Angl. Hist. Major, ad an. 1210 § This is an exaggeration of those writers. There never were twenty kings at one time in Ireland. 1 The title of king was given only to the monarch and the four provincial kings. them, and exercising an insupportable ty- ranny everywhere their authority extended. For this purpose he advanced into the country, and seized upon their castles and fortified places. All fled before him, and among others, William de Braos, his wife Matilda, his son William, and their whole retinue ; but they were seized, brought to England under a strong guard, and confined in Windsor castle, where, by order of the king, they were starved'to death.* Others, however, say that William de Braos, having been banished the kingdom, died of grief in Paris, and was buried on the eve of St. Laurence's day, in the abbey of St. Victor, in that city.f The De Lacys were not more fortunate than De Braos. Walter, lord of Meath, and his brother Hugh, earl of Ulster and lord- justice of Ireland, goaded by remorse for their extortions and tyranny, and also for the murder of John de Courcy, lord of Ratheny and Kilbarrock, near Dublin, (who was natural son to the former earl of Ulster, and whose death Avas so justly attributed to them,) as well as pressed by the complaints which had been made of them to the king, resolved to quit the kingdom, and accord- ingly took refuge in Normandy. The king immediately appointed John Gray, bishop of Norwich, his deputy in Ireland, in place of Hugh de Lacy. In order to guard against every search which the king might make after them, the Lacys disguised themselves as laborers, and were admitted in that capacity into the abbey of St. Taurin of Evreux, where they lived by their labor during two or three years, cultivating the grounds of the abbey, and attending to the gardens. What a fall ! The abbot being pleased with the two work- men, sent for them one day ; and either from a previous knowledge of their situation, or from discovering something superior to what they professed to be in their comportment and manner, questioned them concerning their origin, birth, and country. Having obtained a knowledge of their entire history, he felt a deep interest and pity for them, and promised to restore them to their prince's favor. In this he was successful ; the king gave them his pardon, and permitted them to ransom their estates. Walter paid two thousand five hundred marks in silver for Meath ; and his brother Hugh a much larger sum for his possessions in Ulster and Con- naught. These noblemen were so grateful * Matth. Paris, ibid. \ Westmonast. Flores Hist, ad an. 1211. CHRISTIAN IRELAND. 307 for the services which the abbot of St. Tau- rin had rendered them, that they brought his nephew Ahired with them to Ireland, and loaded him with riches. In the city of Kilkenny, a priory and hos- pital of the order of the regular canons of St. Augustin were founded at this time, by William Marshal, earl of Pembroke. The authors of the " Monasticum Anglicanum" mention, that this house, which was under the protection of St. John the Evangelist, was not founded till 1220. There was also a priory of the same order in the county of Kilkenny, founded by the Blanchfelds. The king of England having allayed the troubles in Ireland, thought of giving a form of government to his new subjects. He divided that part of the island which obeyed him, into twelve shires or counties ; and established sheriffs or provosts, and other officers of justice in those counties, to govern the people according to the laws of England. Lastly, he remodelled the coin, and decreed that the same should pass in England and in Ireland ; after which he embarked for Wales, where he appeased some troubles as he passed, and took with him twenty-eight children of the first rank, as hostages, to secure the fidelity of the people ;* but having heard some time afterwards that the Welsh were beginning to rebel again, he was so transported with rage that he had all these innocent victims hanged in his presence, as he was sitting to table, a. d. 1212. t About this time died John Comin, arch- bishop of Dublin, who had governed that church for thirty years. He was interred in the choir of Christ's Cathedral, a. d. 1213. | His successor was Henry Loundres, so called from the city in which he was born. The latter was likewise nominated lord-justice of Ireland, which office he filled till the year 1215, when he was summoned to attend the fourth council of Lateran, and in his absence Geoffry de Mariscis performed the duties of lord-justice. He was appointed legate of Ireland two years afterwards, by Pope Honorius III. On his returning thither, he convened a synod at Dublin, in which useful regulations were made respecting the govern- ment of the church. Geoffry dc INIariscis having been recalled to England in 1219, Henry Loundres resumed the administration of affairs by order of the king, during which period he built the castle of Dublin, in which the viceroys hold their court. He erected * Matth. Paris, Angl. Hist. Major, t Baker, Chron. of England, on the reign of John. t War. de Archiepisc. Dublinieos. the church of St. Patrick, which his prede- cessor had rebuilt, into a cathedral, and founded the dignities of chorister, chancel- lor, and treasurer. He increased the reve- nues of the monastery of Be Gratia Dei. He removed the priory of Holm-Patrick, which had been founded by Sitrick in an island on the coast, for regular canons of St. Augustin, to a more convenient situa- tion inland. Lastly, the see of Glen-da- Loch, which had become vacant by the death of William Piro, was annexed to the see of Dublin under his episcopacy. The prelate of Dublin, though he governed the church and state with applause, was guilty of an act which left an indelible stain on his character. He sent orders to all the farmers to repair to him on a certain day, to show the leases and titles by which they held the' lands of the archbishopric. These unsuspecting people obeyed his orders with- out hesitation ; and produced their papers to him, which he threw immediately into the fire, before their faces. This naturally caused consternation and tumult among the people. Some were struck with horror at the injus- tice of his conduct, while others, forgetting all respect towards him, loaded him with in- sults, calling him, in the Gothic English of those times, Schorch bill and Scorch villen* Others, still more indignant, ran to take up arms, and the prelate was too happy to es- cape through a back door, while his attend- ants were beaten, and some almost killed. This conduct of this prelate exasperated the king to such a degree, that he deprived him of all administration in the affairs of Ireland, and transferred them to Maurice Fitzgerald. Some abbeys for monks of the order of St. Augustin were founded about this time : the principal of which were that of Tuam, in Connaught, built in the twelfth century, by the Burkes ; that of Enachdune, in the county of Galway, called Our Lady of Portu Patrum, a branch of the abbey of Tuam ; one in the island of the Holy Trinity, in lake Ree, county of Roscommon, founded in 1215, by an archdeacon of Elphin, called Mac-Maylin, a native of Ireland ; and thai of Goodborne, near Carrickfergus, in the county of Antrim, in Ulster. At Ballintobber, in the county of Mayo, also, there was the abbey of the Blessed Trinity, called De Fonte Saiicti Patricii, from the fountain of St. Patrick.! It was founded in 1216 for regular canons of St. * A countryman. t War. de Antiq. Mib. cap. 26. 308 HISTORY OF IRELAND. Augiistin, by Charles O'Connor, otherwise Cahal-Crovedarg, king of Connaught, some time before his death. John Lackland was the most unfortunate of princes ; he was despised by foreigners, and hated by his suljjects. Having put his nephew Arthur to deatli, he was summoned before the court of peers in France, to be tried for his crime ; but not appearing, he was declared a rebel, in consequence of which his possessions were confiscated and he himself condemned to death, as being guilty of the murder of his nephew, com- mitted within the jurisdiction of the govern- ment of France.* Philip Augustus seized upon Normandy, which he annexed to his crown, about three hundred years after it had been separated from it ; and likewise on Touraine, Anjou, and Maine, so that the king of England retained only the province of Guienne in France. This unhappy prince having opposed the election of cardinal Stephen Langton to the see of Canterbury, the pope put his king- dom under an interdict. After this, John, not content with confis- cating all the property in his kingdom which belonged to the church, drew upon himself the hatred of the lords, by refusing them the privileges and liberties which Henry I. had granted them by charter. Reiterated complaints of his conduct having been car- ried to the pope, he proceeded from the in- terdict to sentence of excommunication, ab- solving John's subjects from their oath of allegiance, and conferring his crown upon the king of France. John, finding himself abandoned by the whole nation, resolved to submit to the pope, and acknowledge his kingdom tributary to the holy see. This, however, did not reconcile his subjects to him ; for he had made them promises which I he did not fulfil. He therefore assembled I his forces ; the nobles raised troops, and i were supported by the city of London, and hostilities began on both sides. The Eng- lish having no longer any regard for him, appealed to Louis, son of Philip Augustus, who thereupon entered England and was 'crowned in Ijondon. John, who was at Dover, thought it pru- dent not to wait for his rival, and having given the command of the place to Hubert Burgh, he marched with his army towards the north. Louis began his march also, took Norwich and Dover, and both armies com- mitted dreadful havoc. In the mean time, * Westmonast. Florcs Hist, ad an. 1212, et seq. Matth. Paris, Angli. Hist. Major, ad an. 1212. Baker, Chron. on the reign of John John sent to implore the pope's protection, who excommunicated Louis and the English who had rebelled. This excommunication, however, did not better John's fortune, for his whole army, together with their baggage, were lost by the overflowing of the sea, on their march along the shore, near Walpoole, in the county of Norfolk. He died, after a few days, overwhelmed with grief and affliction, at Newark, and was buried at Worcester under the grand altar. With him died also the resentment of the Eng- lish, who declared now in favor of his son Henry, against Louis. About this time there Avere three com- manderies founded for knights Templars ; one at Kilclogan, in the county of Wexford, by the O'Morras, (Moore,) Irish lords ; one at Killergy, in the county of Carlow, by Philip Borard, and a third at Kilsaran, in the county of Louth, founded by Matilda, a lady of the family of the Lacys of Meath. These houses were given to the order of Malta, after the abolition of the Templars. The author of the first part of the annals of Innis-Faill lived in 1215. He first gave an abridgment of the general history, till the year 430 ; he then wrote with precision upon the affairs of Ireland down to his own time : this chronicle was continued then by another writer to the year 1320. CHAPTER XX Henry III., eldest .son of John Lackland, succeeded him at the age of nine years, and was crowned at Gloucester, by Peter, bish- op of Winchester, and Jocelin, bishop of Bath, in presence of Guallo, the pope's le- gate, A. D. 1216. After taking the usual oath, to respect God and his holy church, and to do justice to all his subjects, this prince paid homage to the church of Rome, and to Pope Innocent, for his kingdom. By another oath, also, he engaged to pay the thousand marks punctually which his father had sworn to give to the church. Ambition and a desire of amassing w^ealth, which had at first united the English against the Irish, became afterwards incentives to discord among themselves. Unaccustomed to hold such extensive possessions at home, the spoils of the Irish served only to create jealousies among them, and a reciprocal dislike, which frequently led to the perpe- tration of dreadful excesses by them against each other, at the expense of the public peace. The wars' of Hugh de Lacy the CHRISTIAN IRELAND. 309 younger, and William Marshal, caused many I troubles in Meath.* The town of Trim was i besieged, and reduced to the last extremity ; | but the disturbances being quelled, Lacy built a strong castle in that town to secure it against future attacks. The provinces of Leinster and Munster were frequently de- vastated by the quarrels of Marshal with Meyler Fitzhenry.f According to Hanmer, William Marshal took possession of some lands that belonged to the bishop of Ferns, and on his refusing to restore them, was ex- communicated by that prelate 4 He died afterwards in his own coimtry, while under this anathema. His wickedness drew on him the vengeance of heaven : not one of the five sons whom he had by Isabella, daughter of earl Strongbow, and heiress of Leinster, to whom he was married, havhig left any posterity. Meyler Fitzhenry, one of the first Eng- lish adventurers who came to Ireland, and whose father was natural son of king Henry I., died about this time, and was buried a. d. 1220, in the monastery of Conal, of which he was the founder. He was naturally a cruel man. Independently of the tyranny which he practised against the people of his province,^ he attacked Cluan-Mac- Noisk, Avhich he took by assault after a siege of twelve days, and put all whom he met to the sword. The houses were pil- laged, the churches and monasteries, with their ornaments and sacred vessels, given up to plunder, and left a prey to his licen- tious soldiery. It was thus that the English continued to reform the morals of Ireland. Henry Loundres, archbishop of Dublin, was succeeded by Lucas, dean of the church of St. Martin, in London, who was appointed through the influence of Hubert de Burgo, earl of Kent. Eugene, archbishop of Armagh, died some time before, and was succeeded by Lucas de Netterville. Donatus O'Lonar- gan succeeded another prelate of the same name in the archbishopric of Cashel. Fe- lix O'Ruadan then governed the metropoli- tan church of Tuam. Roger and William Peppard, successively lords of the Salmon Leap, died about this time. About the same period, too, the following houses were founded for regular canons of the order of St. Augustin ; namely, Aghma- cart, in Clanmaltre, at present the Queen'i county, by the O'Dempsys, lords of that * Keating, Hist, of Ireland, b. 2. t Keating, ibid. t War. dc Episc. Fernens. § Keating, Hist, of Irel. b. 2. country ; one at Carrick-ne-Sure, on the river Suir, in the county of Tipperary, by William de Cantelo, (Cantwell ;) one at Aghrim, county of Galway, by the Butlers ; and one of the same order, called the mon- astery of O'Gormogan, or St. Mary, De Via Nova, in the county of Galway, by the O'Gormogans, Irish lords. About the same time the abbey of Tracton, or De Albo Tractu, was established in the county of Cork by the Mac-Cartys, Irish lords, for Cistertian monks. Although Ireland vvas already well stock- ed with religious establishments, the devo- tion of its inhabitants was not exhausted. They soon admitted the orders which had been recently instituted ; namely, those of St. Francis of Assissium and St. Dominick, and also the hermits of St. Augustin, and the Carmelites. The order of St. Dominick, says AUc- mand, is considered the first of the four mendicant orders, inasmuch as the bull by which the pope confirmed or established it is antecedent to those of the others.* How- ever, Pere Calmet alleges that the Francis- can friars were approved of in 1210 by Pope Innocent III., and places the confirmation of the order of Dominicans six years later, that is, in 1216, by Honorius Ill.f How- ever men may disagree on this point of chronology, it is quite certain the Domini- cans were the first who settled in Ireland. If we can attach belief to the writers of the hermits of Augustin and the Carmel- ites, those two orders are the most ancient, not only in Ireland, but in all Europe. The former attribute their establishment to St. Augustin himself, and the latter to the pro- phet Elias. Both one and the other assert that St. Patrick, St. Congal, and the other saints in the first ages of the Irish church were of their order, which we can scarcely credit at present. We must therefore place them in the list of mendicant friars, whose first establishment we discover to have been in the beginning of the thirteenth century, the time that they were sanctioned by bulls from the popes. The first foundation of the Dominicans in Ireland was in Dublin. We may judge of the extent and beauty of this convent, from its being at present the Westminster of Dub- lin,! in which are held the four principal * Hist. Monast. p. 199. t Chron. Abr. t Westminster, in London, was formerly a cele- brated abbey, which has since become a public building, in wliich the meetings of the superior courts of law are held. 310 HISTORY OF IRELAND. courts of justice in Irelatul ; namely, the court of chancery, king's bench, common pleas, and the exchequer ; on which account this extensive and splendid edifice is now called the Four Courts.* This convent was one of the most ancient of the order, having been established in 1223. The authors of the order, however, observe that this house had previously belonged to Cistertian monks, but that it was granted to the Dominicans on condition that they should present a lighted wax taper every year, on Christmas day, to the abbey of St. Mary, of the Cistertian or- der, which was in the immediate vicinity, as a mark that they held their convent from that abbey. At Drogheda, in the county of Louth, there was a convent of Dominicans, found- ed in 1224 by Lucas de Netterville, arch- bishop of Armagh. It is mentioned in the registries of the order, and also by Ware. In the city of Kilkenny one of the finest and most extensive convents, of the order of St. Dominick, was founded in 1225 by William Marshal, carl of Pembroke. There was a convent of this order at Waterford, founded in 1226 by the citizens, called the convent of our Blessed Saviour. There was also one of the same order in Limerick, founded in 1227 by O'Brien, who was interred in it, and whose tomb, surmounted by his statue, is still to be seen there. Finally, at Aghavoe, in Ossory, the Fitzpatricks, whose descendants were bar- ons of Upper Ossory, founded a house for Dominican friars. Radulphus Petit, bishop of Meath, found- ed in 1227 the priory of St. Mary, which was formerly called Domus Dei de Molin- gare, in MuUingar, the chief town of West- meath, for regular canons of the order of St. Augustin. Lucas de Netterville, arch- deacon of Armagh, having been appointed bishop of that see by the chapter, in 1217, held it for ten years. He died a. d. 1227, and was, according to his request, buried in the abbey of Mellifont, and was succeeded by Donat O'Fidabra. During the lord-justiceship of Maurice Fitzgerald in Ireland, Pope Gregory IX. sent Stephen as nuncio, a. d. 1229, with an apos- tolical mandate, to require a tenth of the chattel property from the clergy and people of England, Ireland, and Wales, in order to enable him to carry on the war against the * The building here alluded to exists no longer. Its site was adjoining Christ's Church cathedral, and the courts of justice continued to be held there till the beginning of the present century. — Note by Ed. Emperor Frederick. The carls and barons in England rejected the demand, but the clergy, who dreaded his excommunication, submitted to it with reluctance. Though this tax was a l)urd(Mi to the Irish, many of them sold their furniture, and even the church utensils, to comply with the pope's request. Fitzgerald being engaged in war, the king, during his absence, conferred on Hubert de Burgo, brother of William Fitz-Adelm, (of whom we have frequently spoken,) the of- fice of lord-justice, with the lordship of Con- naught, and the title of earl of that prov- ince.* Hubert enjoyed a high reputation on account of the noble defence which he made against Prince Louis, when he com- manded the town of Dover. He was re- called some time afterwards to England, where he was appointed governor to the king, lord chief-justice of England, and earl of Kent. He fell into disgrace, however, subsequently with this monarch, who de- clared him to be an old traitor, and had him confined in the Tower of London. Geoffry March, otherwise Maurish, or De Maurisco, held the office of lord-justice of Ireland in place of Hubert de Burgo. Mau- rice Fitzgerald being still absent. During the administration of Geoffry,! the king of Connaught wishing to take ad- vantage of the absence of William Marshal and Maurice Fitzgerald, whom the king of England had brought with him to Gascony to make some efforts in favor of his country, collected his forces, and invaded the Eng- lish possessions. Geoffry, to whom was intrusted the protection of these provinces, sent for Walter de Lacy, lord of Meath, and Richard de Burgh, and with their united forces marched towards Connaught. On arriving at the entrance of a wood, they learned through their spies that the king of Connaught and his army were encamped at a short distance on the other side of the wood. Geoffry then divided his army into three parts ; to De Lacy and De Burgh he gave two divisions, with orders to conceal themselves in the wood, on the right and left of the road. With the third he crossed the wood himself, and drew up his men in order of battle opposite to the enemy, who * Nicholas, in his Rudiments of Honor, when speaking of the earls of Clanrickard, asserts that Richard, son of William Fitz-Adclm, was lord- justice of Ireland in 1227. I leave to others the trouble of reconciling this fact with the opinion of those who affirm that Hubert Fitz-Adelm's brother had immediately succeeded Maurice Fitzgerald in 1230, who filled that office since the year 1220. t Matt. Paris, Ang. Hist. Major, ad an. 1238. CHRISTIAN IRELAND. 311 attacked him immediately ; but the English pretending to fly, retreated into the wood, drawing the Irish after them, who, being immediately surrounded by those that lay in ambush, were cut to pieces, and their king made prisoner. The English authors, from whom this account is taken, make no mention of the place where the battle was fought, nor of the name of the king of Con- naught ; with which they were probably unacquainted. They say that twenty thou- sand Irish were killed on the spot ; but they always exaggerate, and it is highly probable that the king of Connaught could not have brought half that number into the field. The more elevated a man's situation is, the more danger there is of his fall. Geoffry de Maurisco, after being raised to the highest honors, and loaded with riches in Ireland, fell into disgrace with the king. He was sent into exile, where he suffered many hardships ; and the disgraceful death of his son William, who was hanged and quartered I for his crimes, shortened his career ; he died unregretted. The memory of the son was held in universal detestation ; particularly by the king, whom he had, in concert with his. father, attempted to assassinate. Cornelius, a native of Ireland, surnamed Historicus, from his profound knowledge of antiquity, flourished about this time. Bale and Stanihurst have given us an abridgment of his life. It is said that he wrote a treatise entitled, " Multarum Rerum Chronicon, lib. 1 ." Hector Boetius acknowledges himself to be indebted to this author for many things essential to his history of Scotland. As usual, Dempster asserts that this celebrated man was a native of Scotland, since the Scotch Highlanders, according to his ac- count, were called Irish. The following religious houses were founded about this time ; namely, a convent for Dominicans, at Cork, by the Barrys, noblemen of English extraction ;* and also a convent for Franciscans, in the same city, founded, according to Wadding, in 1231, or in 1240 according to Ware.f These two authors difl'er respecting the name of the founder of this latter house. Ware ascribes it to the Prendergasts, lords of English origin ; and Wadding to the M'Car- tys, who were Irish noblemen ; his reason for which opinion is, that in the centre of the choir was to be seen the tomb of M'Carty More, who had an apartment built for him- self in the convent, to which he retired * War. de Autiq. Hib. c. 26. AUeraand, Hist. Monast. d'Irl. page 219. t AUem. ibid, page 249. during the great festivals of the year. The error might have arisen from this : that part of the possessions of the M'Cartys had been confiscated by the English, and given to the Prendergasts, which might have given rise to the opinion that the latter were the founders of this house. The convent of Franciscans, near Youg- hal, was built at this time by Maurice Fitz- gerald, who became a monk himself, and died in it, at an advanced age. The O'Mord- has, (Moores,) lords of Loise, Queen's county, founded in their domain at Strad- bally, a house for the same order. The foundation of another convent for Francis- cans at Trim, in Eastmeath, may be men- tioned here. Allemand, following Wadding, ascribes the merit of this establishment to King John ; but it is doubtful if the Fran- ciscans were known in Ireland in the time of this prince, who died in 1216. Others attribute it to the Plunkets, who had settled in that part of the country. At Carrickfergus, in the county of Antrim, there was a Franciscan convent, founded in 1232, by Hugh de Lacy, earl of Ulster, who was buried there. It is believed by some that the O'Neills were the founders of it, as this place belonged to them, their tombs being in the church ; but others say that it was the Magennises of Yveach. At Kil- more, on the river Shannon, in the county of Roscommon, we discover the priory of St. Mary, founded in 1232 for regular canons of St. Augustin, by Cone O'Flanagan, a man of noble family, who was the first prior of it. Walter de Lacy, lord of Meath, died in 1234. He had no male children, but left two daughters, co-heiresses of his extensive possessions : namely, Margaret, who was married to lord Theobald Verdon, and Ma- tilda, to Geoffry Geneville.* There was a convent for Franciscans built by order of Henry III., in 1236, on some land which Radulphus le Porter had given him for that purpose. Donel O'Fida- bra, bishop of Clogher, who was removed to the see of Armagh after the death of Lucas de Netterville, died in England in 1237, on his return from Rome. At Mullingar, the chief town of Westmeath, a fine convent was built in 1237, for Franciscans, by the Nugents, lords of Delvin. At Ballibeg, near Butevant, in the county of Cork, a priory was founded for regular canons of St. Augustin, by William Barry, in 1237, and endowed by his son David. * War. de Annal. Hib. on the reign of Henry III. 312 HISTORY OP IRELAND. About this time, the see of Armagh having become vacant by the death of Donald O'Fidabra, who succeeded Lucas de Net- terville, Albert, surnamed Coloniensis, was appointed archbishop, and consecrated at Westminster, in presence of the king, of Otho, the pope's legate, and several bishops, by Waller de Chanteloup, bishop of Wigorn, A. D. 1240.* Marianus O'Brien, bishop of Cork, suc- ceeded Donatus O'Lonargan in the arch- bishopric of Cashel. In the beginning of his episcopacy, Pope Honorius III. granted a bull, whereby he confirmed the number of twelve canons of the church of Cashel. Henry III., king of England, gave to this prelate the city of Cashel as an alms, to belong for ever to him and his successors, without tax or impost. The prelate gave up his right afterwards to the mayor and aldermen of that city, on condition of their paying some pensions to his church. He also granted leave to David le Latimer, knight and seneschal, to found in that city an hospital for the leprous. After this he undertook a voyage to Rome ; but falling ill upon his journey, and thinking his end approaching, he took the habit in the abbey of Citeaux. His health, however, being restored, and his affairs at Rome terminated, he returned to his see, and died five years afterwards in the monastery of Suire, or Innislaunaght. He was succeeded by David M'Kelly, (O'Kelly.) Felix O'Ruadan, having governed the metropolitan church of Tuam till 1235, then abdicated it, and withdrew to the monastery of the Blessed Virgin, near Dublin, where he died three years afterwards. f The chap- ter of Tuam appointed as his successor Ma- rianus O'Laghnan, a dean of the chapter, who was well versed in canon law. Near Enniscorthy, in the county of Wex- ford, on the river Slaney, we find a priory of St. John the Evangelist. It belonged to the order of regular canons of St. Victor, and was founded by Girald de Prendergast, lord of the country, and John de St John, bishop of Ferns. They made a cell or convent of it, and it was annexed to the abbey called Thomas Court, in Dublin. Several houses were founded about this time for Franciscans : one at Kilkenny, one at Drogheda, and one at Down, by Hugh de Lacy, earl of Ulster ; one at Waterford, by Hugh Purcel ; and one at Innis Cluan- ruada, in the county of Clare, by Donal Carbrac O'Brien. * War. de Arcliicpisc. Ardniach. t War. de Archiepisc. Tuamens. There was also a nunnery for the order of St. Augustin, founded at LismuUen, in Eastmeath, by the sister of Richard de la Corner, bishop of Meath, who conferred upon it the lands of Dunsink and Bailli- Godman. The tyranny and continual injustice which the English practised against the Irish, were the cause of frequent insurrections. John de Burgo, (Burke,) son of Hubert, entered Connaught with an army. O'Comior, king of the province, finding himself unable to repel his attack, crossed over to England, and presented himself to the king, in London. He made a spirited remonstrance against the violence and tyranny of Burgo, and the ravages he incessantly committed ; and sup- plicated Henry HI. to interpose his author- ity, and do him justice, by preventing his being trampled upon by an ignoble adven- turer, (as he termed him,) while he paid five thousand marks a year for his kingdom to the crown of England. Henry heard with attention the complaints of the king of Con- naught, and gave orders to Maurice Fitz- gerald, lord-justice of Ireland, who was then present, to destroy the hotbed of tyrants which had been planted by Hubert, earl of Kent, during his unlimited lust of power in that unhappy country. At the same time the king sent his orders to the other lords of Ireland, to expel John de Burgo, and leave the king of Connaught in peaceful possession of his kingdom.* Girald Fitzmaurice, Richard de Burgo, and Hugh de Lacy, earl of Ulster, died about this time. The two first ended their career in Gascony, where they were engaged in war ; De Lacy died in Ireland, and was in- terred at Carrickfergus. He left an only daughter heiress to his extensive posses- sions, who married Walter de Burgo, who, by this marriage, became earl of Ulster. We have already observed that Walter de Lacy, lord of Meath, and brother to Hugh, left only daughters. In this manner ended the male line of these two chiefs. * " A certain king of that part of Ireland called Connaught, came to London with heavy complaints to the king and parliament, that vast injuries had been inflicted on him by John de Burgh, who was devastating his estates by fire and sword. For all these grievances he sought redress, and prayed that such violent excesses should be curbed by the regal authority, and that the king would not suffer his faithful subject to be disinherited by an ignoble stranger, (as he called him ;) nor allow him, who paid the annual impost of 5,000 marks, to be driven from his inheritance, which King John had con- firmed to him, &c." — Matthew Paris, p. 365. CHRISTIAN IRELAND. 313 Peter, surnamed Hibernicus, a celebrated philosopher and theologian, flourished in 1240.* The Emperor Frederick II. having re-established the university of Naples, in- vited him in pressing terms to go thither, as may be seen in a collection of letters of Peter de Vineis, chancellor and secretary to the emperor. f Peter presided over the phi- losophical department in that university, and had Thomas Aquinas as his disciple, who became afterwards so celebrated. It is said that he was the author of some tracts on theology. The Welsh, headed by their prince, David Ap-Llewelin, rebelled against the king of England, and defeated the royal army, which was reduced to the greatest hardships during the winter. Henry was obliged, from the state of his affairs, to send to Maurice Fitz- gerald, lord-justice of Ireland, for succor. After some delay, which caused the king un- easiness, which however he concealed, Mau- rice arrived with a body of troops, accom- panied by Phelim O'Connor, and having joined the king's army, they gained a com- plete victory over the Welsh. The king then renewed his garrisons in Wales, and having dismissed the Irish troops, returned to England. On his return to Ireland, Maurice found Ulster in a state of revolt. On the death of Hugh de Lacy, O'Donnel laid waste the parts of the country which were under the dominion of that nobleman, and attacked the English wherever he met them. In order to create a division among the Irish, Maurice formed an alliance with Cormac M'Dermot, M'Dory, and other princes of the country. He then entered in a hostile manner the country of Tirconnel, where he destroyed all before him, and killed Maolseachlin O'- Donnel, GioUa Canvinelagh, O'Buhil, Mac- Surley, and other noblemen of the country. Several English of rank also lost their lives in this expedition, after which Maurice placed a garrison in the castle of Sligo, that he had built three years before, and left there the hostages he had received from O'Neill as pledges for his keeping peace with the king. He bestowed on Cormac Mac-Dermod several estates in Connaught, as rewards for the services he had received from him. At Athenry, in the county of Galvvay, a convent for Dominicans was founded in 1241 by the Berminghams, who were originally English, and had settled in Ireland. In the church of this convent were to be seen the * Fleuri, Hist. Eccles. t Wad. Annal. Min. a cap. 10. an. 1270, n. 28, lib. 3, tombs of several persons of distinction, par- ticularly that of William Bermingham, arch- bishop of Tuam, and son of the founder. The Fitzgeralds founded a convent for Do- minicans this year, also in the county of Kerry. The founder of it and his son were both killed by M'Carty, and buried in the convent. Another of this order was estab- lished at the same date, in Cashel, by an archbishop of that see. There was likewise a convent for Dominicans at Newtown, on the coast in the peninsula of x\rdes, in the county of Down; it was built in 1244 by the Savages, a family of English extraction. Nothing could remove the suspicions which Henry HI. had entertained of the fidelity of Maurice Fitzgerald in the war against the Welsh. He withheld his vengeance for a while, but it broke forth at length, a. d. 1245 ; when John Fitzjeffery de Maurisco was ap- pointed by the king lord-justice of Ireland, in place of Maurice. This nobleman after- wards took the monastic habit in a convent of Franciscans, Avhich he had founded at Youghal ; and died in it after some time at an advanced age, having borne the reputation of a brave, able, and irreproachable man. He was accused, indeed, though perhaps unjustly, of the death of Richard, the earl marshal. There was an earthquake this year in England, Ireland, and the western parts of our hemisphere, which infected the air, and rendered it unwholesome, a. d. 1247. This phenomenon was followed by a cold, stormy, and damp winter, which lasted till the month of July, and caused considerable uneasiness about the harvest. Albert, archbishop of Armagh, gave up his see in 1247, and was succeeded by Re- inerius, a monk of the order of St. Dominick. He united the county of Louth, which had long formed part of the bishopric of Clogher, to the archbishopric of Armagh. This prelate died at Rome in 1256, and was succeeded by Abraham O'Conellan. Ware places an abbey belonging to the order of St. Augustin, in an island called the Blessed Trinity, in lake Oughter, in the county of Cavan, where he says it was founded in 1249,* by Clarus Mac-Mailin, archdeacon of Elphin, and endowed by Charles O'Reilly, an Irish nobleman. It might be the same which we have already mentioned to have been founded in 1215, in an island in lake Rea, called the island of the Trinity, in the county of Roscommon, by the same archdeacon of Elphin. However, * De Antiq. cap. 28. 314 HISTORY OF IRELAND. as different places and times are given for their foundation, it is more probable that they were different houses. Henry III. began to think of marriage for his son, Prince Edward, a. d. 12.52 ; and as it was necessary, for this purpose, to make settlements upon him, he gave him the sovereignty of Gascony, Ireland, Wales, &;c. He then sent him to Spain, where he married Eleanor, sister of King Alphonso, and brought her, loaded with riches, to England. David O'Kelly having been appointed to the see of Cloyne, was afterwards removed to Cashel. It appears by the registry of the church in Dublin, called " Crcde mihi," that this prelate had taken part in the disputes between the archbishops of Dublin and Ar- magh, respecting the primacy, to which we have alri3ady alluded. He died in 1252, and was succeeded in the see of Cashel by David Mac-Carwel. During the period that Lucas was arch- bishop of Dublin, a controversy arose be- tween the cathedrals of that city, namely, Christ's Church and St. Patrick's. In order to effect a reconciliation, the prelate decreed that the election should be always held in Christ's Church, and that the dean and chap- ter, together with the prior and monks, should have the right of voting at the elec- tion. This prelate was deprived of his sight during some years, and at length died in 1255. Both churches concurred in electing Randulphus de Norwic, a canon of the cathedral of St. Patrick's, but his appoint- ment being sent to the court of Rome it was rejected, and Fulck de Saunford, treasurer of the church of St. Paul, in London, was nominated by the pope to the archbishopric of Dublin. Three houses for Dominicans were found- ed at this time ; one at Strade, in the county of Mayo, by the Mac-Jordans ; another at Sligo, by Maurice Fitzgerald, who built a strong castle there ; and the third at Ros- common in 1253, by Feilim O'Connor, an Irish nobleman. The O'Connors built an- other house for the same order atTowemone. About this time a monk of the abbey of Boyle wrote the annals of Connaught, which he continued to his own time, that is, till 1253. His manuscript is in the Cottonian library. Alanus de la Zouch was appointed lord- justice of Ireland in room of Fitz-Jeffrey, A. D. 1255. He afterwards became lord- justice of England, where he ended his days inatragical manner. Some difference having arisen between some nobleman in England, respecting the boundaries and limits of their estates, and the titles by which they held them, the king determined to call an assem- bly at Westminster, to decide upon the mat- ter. De la Zouch, as lord-justice, having asked Earl Warren by what right his lands belonged to him, the earl, drawing his sword, replied : " By this right my ancestors possessed them, and by the same do I intend to hold them," at the same time running his sword through his body. While endea- voring to escape, he wounded the son of the man whom he had just killed ; and then withdrew to his castle of Risgate, whither he was pursued by prince Edward, the king's eldest son, at the head of a few troops. He at length surrendered himself to the prince, and with the assistance of a sum of money, and the influence of his friends, obtained his pardon. A. D. 1256. About this time flourished the celebrated John, surnamed " De Sacro Bos- co." Bale and Leland, without any further proofthan conjectures drawn from his name, assert that he was a native of Halifax, in the county of York, in England,* which is not at all probable ; the word fax, according to Camden, signifying hair among the people beyond the river Trent. That author adds, too, that the place called Halifax is not very ancient. f He says that a few centuries before his time that place was called Horton, and that in 1443 it was a village containing but thirteen houses ; it therefore is clear that Halifax could not possibly have given its name to John a Sacro Bosco, since it was not known by that name at the time of that learned man's birth. Stanihurst and some others, say that he was a native of Holy wood, in the district of Fingal, Ireland, about twelve miles from Dublin, as they dis- cover an analogy between his name, De Sacro Bosco, and Holywood.| However this be, that learned man went to Paris, where he taught the sciences with universal appro- bation ; he was partial to the philosophy of Aristotle, and surpassed all those of his own time in mathematical science. He wrote several treatises ; namely, one upon the globe, which was much esteemed, and read in the public schools during many years for the instruction of youth ; a tract on Al- gorithms, or calculations on the ecclesiastical year ; a breviary of law, and several other works. He died at Paris in 1256-57, and was buried in the cloister of the Mathurins, * War. de Annal. Hib. ad an. 1256. t Brit, in Brigant. page 564, Edit. Lond. 1607. t Harris, Hist, of Irisii writers in the thirteenth century. CHRISTIAN IRELAND. 315 near the church, where his tomb is still to be seen, on which the following inscription and a globe are engraved : De Sacro Bosco qui computista Joannes ; Tempora discrevit, jacet hie a tempore raptus. Tempore qui sequiris, memoresto quod morieris, Si miser es, plora, miserans, pro me, precor, ora. Marian O'Laghnan, archbishop of Tuam, having received the pallium from Pope Gregory IX., made a voyage to Jerusalem, the particulars of which he has written. He died at Athlone in 1249, and was succeeded by Florence M'Flin, chancellor of the church of Tuam, who was celebrated for his learning and profound knowledge of the canon law. He went to Rome, and obtained the pope's sanction ; and upon his return to his dio- cese, convened a synod, in which regulations were made respecting ecclesiastical disci- pline, which were then published, but have been since lost. He established a school in the Dominican convent at Athenry, where he himself gave lessons to the students, and governed the church of Enaghdune while that see was vacant. This holy prelate at length died at Bristol, in England, in the year 1256. The pope appointed Walter de Salern, dean of St. Paul's, London, to this see, notwithstanding the election of James O'Laghnan by the chapter of Tuam. It seems that Walter never took possession of his diocese, having died on his return from Rome in 1258. Thomas, or Tomultach O'Connor, bishop of Elphin, was elected in his stead, and his election confirmed by the pope, who honored him with the pallium. At Athy, a small town on the river Bar- row, in the county of Kildare, there was a handsome convent founded for Dominicans in 1257, by the Boiseles and AVogans, Eng- lish noblemen who had settled in Ireland. The earl of Salisbury, called Stephen de Longa Spada, " long sword," was sent to Ireland as lord-justice, a. d. 1258. He gave battle to the O'Neills and other rebels* of Ulster and Connaught, near Down, in which many lives were lost. Salisbury died two * English writers called the Irish rebels, who did not immediately surrender ; at a time, too, when, far from considering themselves subjects, more than half of Ireland, and particularly Ulster, which is here in question, refused to acknowledge the dominion of those foreigners. According to the maxims of every other nation, a rebel is a subject who resists the legal authority. But, of course, according to the system of that imperious people, the English, a man was looked upon as a rebel who was unwilling to submit at once to the most unjust oppression. years afterwards, and was succeeded in the government by William Denn. In 1259 a convent for the hermits of St. Augustin was founded in the eastern suburb of Dublin : the founders are unknown ; some say they were the Talbots. Munster was in a state of rebellion during the administration of the new lord-justice, A. D. 1260. Green Castle {Arx Viridis) was destroyed. TheM'Cartys were the chief belligerents ; they brought terror and devas- tation into Desmond, their old patrimony, then in possession of the English, and be- came so formidable that their enemies dared not to appear in public. They killed several of them at Callan, the principal of whom were John Fitzthomas, who had founded the monastery of Tralee ; Maurice, his son ; eight barons, fifteen knights, and several others. The English at length found safety in the discord which arose between the M'Cartys, O'Driscols, O'Donavans, M'Ma- hons, and other tribes of Muskerry, who were so much weakened by civil war that they were unable to face the common enemy. In the mean time William Denn, lord-justice of Ireland, died, and was succeeded by Richard de Capella. Abraham O'Conellan, archpriest of Ar- magh, was elected archbishop of that city, and went to Rpme, where he was confirmed by the holy father, who granted him the pal- lium. He then returned to Armagh, where he was solemnly received by the dean and chapter ; but he did not long enjoy his dig- nity, having died in 1260. He was succeeded by Patrick O'Scanlain. A religious house was founded this year at Kildare, for Franciscan friars, by Gerald Fitz-Maurice ; or according to some writers, by William de Vescy. Thomas Palmeran, or Palmerston, a na- tive of the county of Kildare, Ireland, was known to foreign authors by the name of Thomas Hibernicus. Having concluded his studies in the university of Paris, where he received the cap of doctor in theology, he went to Italy and shut himself up in the monastery of Aquila, on the confines of the kingdom of Naples, where he died and was buried about the year 1269. He was au- thor of the book entitled, " Flores omnium Doctorum illustrium ;" which is an alpha- betical summary of virtues and vices, with those passages from the fathers which were calculated to support the former and eradicate the latter. Our author was in- debted for the plan of his book to a similar work, which had been begun by John Wal- les, a Minorite, under the title of a " Bunch 316 HISTORY OF IRELAND. of Flowers," but which he was prevented by death from continuing. The book of Tho- mas Ilibcrnicus was printed at Paris in IGG I. He also wrote treatises on the Christian re- ligion ; the illusions and temptations of the devil ; the remedies to be used against vice, and tlie beauties of the Bible. He was thought also to have been the author of a " Promptuarium Morale," or moral collec- tion of passages from the holy Scriptures, published at Rome, in 1624, according to a manuscript in the library of the Minor brothers, De Am C(zU, by Luke Wadding. Marianus de Florence says,* in his manu- script chronicle, that Thomas Hibernicus lived in 1270 in the monastery of Aquila, of the province of St. Bernardin, in high re- i putation for his piety and learning. Lastly, John de Saxe, in his lives of the Preaching Brothers, speaks highly of " Master Thomas of Ireland, of the house of Sorbonne." The annals of the Minorites of Multifer- nan, by an anonymous writer, begin with the Christian era and end with the year 1274, in which year the author lived, as ap- pears by the antiquity of the letters. GioUa, or Gelasius Mac-Firbissy, an historian and poet of some eminence, flourished towards the end of this century ; he wrote a chroni- cle of his times, and some poems. These works, as well as the annals of Multifernan, are still to be found in manuscript. Walter Burke, earl of Ulster, had a son called Walter, by his marriage with the heiress of Hugh de Lacy, who left one son and five daughters, a. d. 1261. Ellen, the eldest, married Robert Bruce, king of Scot- land ; Jane and Margaret married the two Fitzgeralds of Ophaly and Desmond ; and the others were also allied to noblemen. These alliances were, however, unable to allay the reciprocal hatred that had long prevailed, between the Fitzgeralds and Burkes, which ended in a civil war, in which many lives were sacrificed to their revenge. The Fitzgeralds carried their resentment so far as to arrest and confine, in the dungeons of Leix and Donamese, Richard de Capella, Theobald le Butler, and Miles Cogan, who had espoused the quarrel of the Burkes. A convent for Dominicans was founded about this time at Trim, on the river Boyne, in Eastmeath, by Galfridus de Genevil, who took the habit of the order, and another at Arklow, by Theobald Walter, high butler of Ireland, who was interred in it, and his tomb and statue erected there. f AUemand, * Lib. 2, cap. 3. I t War. de Antiq. cap. 26. Allemand, Hist. Mo- I nasi. d'Irl. pages 166, 210. however, makes no mention of an abbey for Bernardines, founded in that town by the ! same Theobald, probably confounding the ] Bernardines with the Dominicans. A house i for Franciscan friars was founded about this I time also at Armagh, according to some, by \ the O'Donnels, princes of Tyrconnel, but \ others say, by Patrick O'Scanlain, arch- ! bishop of Armagh. j The king of England, informed of the ; troubles which prevailed among his subjects , in Ireland, and the excesses they committed 1 against each other, thought prudent to put a i stop to them ; he therefore recalled Richard j deCapella,and appointed David Barry as lord- 1 justice oflreland in his stead, who, by his pru- dence and moderation, quelled the fury of the rival houses above mentioned, a. d. 1267. The convent of Rosse Ibarcan, on the river Barrow, in the county of Kilkenny, was founded at this time for Dominicans, by the Graces and Walshes, English noblemen who had settled in that country. David Barry having completed his mis- sion to Ireland, was succeeded the year fol- lowing, in his office of lord-justice, by Rob- ert Ufford, and the latter by Richard de Excester. Two convents for Dominicans were found- ed at this time, one at Youghal, in the county of Cork, by the Fitzgeralds ; the other at Lurchoe, in the county of Tipperary, by the Burkes. A convent was also built in the same county for Franciscans. Lord Audley was appointed lord-justice I of Ireland in the place of Richard de Ex- cester. a. D. 1270. During his administra- tion, the Irish revolted against the English, fell upon them wherever they could be met, (not sparing their magistrates,) and plun- dered their habitations. The king of Con- naught defeated Walter Burke, earl of Ul- ster, in a pitched battle, and the earl with great difficulty saved his life by flight ; sev- eral noblemen of his retinue being killed. This war was followed by a plague and general famine throughout the island. Patrick O'Scanlan, of the order of St. Dominick, bishop of Raphoe, was elected by the chapter of Armagh as the successor of Abraham O'Connellan. His election was confirmed by a bull of Pope Urban IV., in the month of November, 1261. He con- vened a synod at Drogheda the year follow- ing, in which some statutes were enacted, which are to be discovered in the registry of Octavianus de Prelatio, afterwards arch- bishop of Armagh ; rebuilt St. Patrick's ca- thedral at Armagh, and founded a house in that city for Franciscan friars. He died in CHRISTIAN IRELAND. 317 1270, in the monastery of St. Leonard at Dundalk, whence his body was taken to Drogheda, and buried in the Dominican con- vent. He was succeeded by Nicholas-Mac- Molisse. Fulck, archbishop of Dublin, died a. d. 1271. His body was interred in the chapel of the Blessed Virgin, in the cathedral church of St. Patrick. The see remained vacant for seven years after his death, on account of the disputes which arose between the monks of Christ's Church and the chap- ter of St. Patrick's, about the choice of his successor, which terminated in 1279, by the election of John de Derlington. An abbey for Bernardines, under the in- vocation of Our Lady, formerly called Hore Abbey, was founded at Cashel in 1272, by David O'Carroll, archbishop of that city. It is affirmed that he suppressed a convent of Benedictines to enrich this abbey. He also annexed to this house a lazaretto, which had been founded by a knight named Lati- mer, in the same city. In this year, 1272, is fixed the death of Henry III. Among the children this king had by Eleanor, daughter of Raymond, count of Provence, was Edward, his eldest son and successor. In the reign of Henry several religious houses were founded, the dates of which are unknown. The following were for Francis- can friars : one at Wicklow, founded by the O'Byrnes and O'Tools ; one at Cashel by the Hackets ; one at Nenagh, probably Ao- nagh Oroun, in the country of Ormond, by the O'Kennedys, the ancient owners of that district ; and one at Multifernan, in West- meath, by William Delamer. At Dundalk, in the county of Louth, a house for the same order was founded by John de Verdon. Lastly, there was one established at Limer- ick, but authors do not agree either upon the time of its establishment or the name of its founder. There was also a house founded at the same time in the town of Tipperary, for Augustin hermits, and one of the order of Templars, called Teach Temple, in the county of Sligo ; likewise one for Carmel- ites on the river Barrow, near Leighlin bridge, in the county of Carlow, by the Ca- rews, English lords who had settled in the country, and another at Kildare, by William de Vescy. A century had now elapsed since the Eng- lish began to rule in part of Ireland. Though the kings of England had taken the title of lords of Ireland., Dominus Hibernifhich was looked upon by the Eng- lish as a breach of public faith, alarmed them greatly. Troops were marched ; M'Mor- rough, chief of the people of Leinster, was arrested ; and towards the end of May, the lord-lieutenant, accompanied by the arch- bishop and mayor of Dublin, had the castle of Kenini razed to the ground. William Burke, too, at the head of an English cohort in Connaught, put five hundred Irishmen to the sword, and made O'Kelly prisoner. After these expeditions, John Talbot, lord-lieu- tenant of Ireland, returned to England, load- ed with the curses of his creditors, to whom he was indebted for the common necessaries of life. His brother, Richard Talbot, arch- bishop of Dublin, was appointed deputy in his place.* The deputy convened a parliament at Naas, in the county of Kildare, which granted to the king a subsidy of three hundred marks. Thomas Butler, prior of Kilmainham, died in Normandy, whither he had been sent at the head of sixteen hundred men to the assistance of Henry. John Fitzhenry was nominated prior in his stead, who enjoyed the dignity for only a short time. He was succeeded by William Fitzthomas. The archbishop of Dub- lin made a sally on the Irish, thirty of whom he killed in an engagement at Rodision. In the month of April, a. d. 1420, James Butler, earl of Ormond, landed at Waterford as lord-lieutenant of Ireland. He vi^as the cause of a duel between two of his relatives, one of whom was killed upon the spot, and the other being dangerously wounded, was removed to Kilkenny. This earl held a coun- cil in Dublin, in the month of x\pril, in which it was ordained that a parliament should be convened for the month of June. In the mean time, he exacted contributions from O'Reilly, M'Mahon, and Maguire. The par- * Davis, Hist. Relat. CHRISTIAN IRELAND. 361 liament met on the 7th of June, and sat for sixteen days ; when, having granted the king a subsidy of seven hundred marks, it was adjourned to the month of December. In this second session, which continued but for thirteen days, the king was allowed three hundred marks, and an arrangement was also made to pay the debts of John Talbot, late lord-lieutenant. The parliament was again prorogued to the month of April. James, earl of Desmond, had a convent built for Franciscan friars at Asketin, a small village on the river Delle, in the county of Limerick, where this earl had his castle. Wadding and Ware differ about the founda- tion of this convent ; the former says it was in 1589, and the latter affirms that it was in 1420. The castle of Colinolin surrendered to Thomas Fitzgerald on the 28th of October, 1421. The parliament having met in the month of April, it was decreed that the arch- bishop of Armagh, Sir Christopher Preston, and others, should be deputed as an embassy to the king to solicit a reformation in the government of Ireland. John Gese, bishop of Lismore and Waterford, presented to this parliament several accusations against Rich- ard O'Hedian, archbishop of Cashel. They were reduced to thirty articles, the principal of which were, that this prelate directed all his attention to the Irish, that he disliked the English, that he conferred no livings on them, that he inspired the other bishops with the same sentiments, that he forged the seal and letters patent of the king of England, that he assumed the dignity of king of Munster, &c. It is, however, likely that the well-established reputation of the prelate of Cashel, who was considered an exemplary man, caused these accusations to be looked on as calumnies, as no further mention has been made of them. Another petition was sent before the parlia- ment, respecting Adam Payn, bishop of Cloyne, who wished to unite another see v/ith his own : but that tribunal was too prudent to interfere with matters belonging to the church. It was forwarded therefore to the court of Rome, and the parliament continued their sitting for eighteen days more. The O'Morras attacked the people of the earl of Ormond, lord-lieutenant of Ireland, near the monastery of Leix ; and twenty-seven Eng- lishmen of distinction lost their lives in the en- counter, the chiefs of whom were Purcell and Grant ; eighteen others were made prisoners. The remainder of this little army, amounting to two hundred, fled into the abbey of Leix. M'Mahon, of Ulster, at the same time burn- ed and plundered the country of Orgiel. The earl of Ormond, in order to be re- venged for the murder of his people, entered the estates of Morra with a powerful army, in the month of June, and put all he met to the sword, without regard to either age or sex, and compelled the remainder to beg for peace. He retook also the castle of Ley, which O'Dempsy had taken from the earl of Kil- dare, and restored it to the latter.* Mention is made at this time of Henry of Marleburgh, an English priest arid rector of the church of Ballyscaddan, in the diocese of Dublin. Posterity is indebted to this ecclesi- astic for the benefit he has conferred on them in leaving behind him a part of the annals of Ireland, brought down by him to 1421 . Cam- den has subjoined to his Britannia an extract from them, at foot of the annals of Pembrige. The style of the extracts is not elegant ; but as history is available for authors of every age, and is important to their undertakings, those annals have largely benefited Hammer,Ware, Cox, and others who have written upon the af- fairs of Ireland from the middle of the twelfth to the beginning of the fifteenth century. f During all this period, Henry V. was vic- torious in France. Upon his marriage with Catherine of Valois, he was declared heir to its crown, and successor to Charles VI., to the prejudice of the dauphin, who, however, had afterward^ the glory of retaking almost the whole of his kingdom from the English. Henry did not live long afterwards. He died at Vincennes, near Paris, a. d. 1422, and left the regency of France to his brother, the duke of Bedford, and the government of England to his second brother, Humphrey, duke of Gloucester. Among the good qualities as- cribed to this prince, it is said that he loved ecclesiastics as much as he did his soldiers, from which circumstance the name of prince of priests was given him,j: a name which strengthens the opinion that historians give of his piety ; for the enemies of religion always strive to make the ministers of it ob- jects of contempt. It must be admitted, not- withstanding the good qualities which many of the kings of England possessed, that they ended generally with some act of barbarous inhumanity. An example of this kind is dis- covered in the conduct of Henry while he was besieging Montereau, that still held out for the dauphin. In order to inspire terror into the commander of the place, he caused to be hanged, in view of it, twelve French gentle- men of the first rank, who happened to be * Bakers Chronicles of England, t Ware's Annals of Ireland. t Baker's Chronicles of England. 46 362 HISTORY OF IRELAND. prisoners in his camp, an action by which public faith was viohited, and which would be unpardonable in the n)osl barbarous princes. CHAPTER XXVIII. IIknry YI., surnamed of Windsor, the place of his birth, was only son of Henry V. and of Catherine of Valois. He was but eight months old when he succeeded to the crown of his father, and was afterwards proclaimed at Paris as king of France ; but he lost both crowns in the end. The earl of Orniond was continued in quality of lord-lieutenant of Ireland. The House of Commons had a petition presented to the king, informing him of the tumults which the Irish were guilty of in England.* These were men of English origin who had been established in Ireland, and who, in or- der to get clear of the tyranny and oppression of their leaders, abandoned their possessions and returned to the land of their fathers, where necessity forced them to commit mur- ders, robbery, and other crimes. In conse- quence of the above petition, it was decreed that all those who were born in Ireland should be obliged to quit En"gland within a limited time, except the graduates of univer- sities, ecclesiastics who were provided with benefices, or such as possessed lands where they were established, and whose fathers and mothers were born in England. Edmund Mortimer, earl of March and Ulster, who succeeded the earl of Ormond in quality of lord-lieutenant, died soon after in his castle of Trim. He was succeeded by Lord John Talbot, a. d. 1425. In his time the Barretts, a considerable tribe near Cork, boynd themselves by a legal covenant to yield obedience to the earl of Ormond, who was at the time a powerful lord in Munster. At Dunmore, in the county Galway, a monastery was founded by the Berming- hams, barons of Athenry, for hermits of St. Augustin. The registries of their order mention it to have been built in 1425. Talbot's time of acting as lord-lieutenant having terminated, the government devolved on the earl of Ormond, 1426. At this period, the duke of Bedford appropriated to himself, by letters patent, all the gold and silver mines of Ireland, and the other domains belonging to the king, undertaking to pay a tenth part to the church, a fifteenth to the * Rot. Pari, in Castro Diibliniens. king, and a fifteenth to the owners of the estates where they might be discovered. Sir John Gray was appointed lord-lieu- tenant of Ireland, a. d. 1427. He landed at Howth in the month of July, and took the oath of office the next day, but the particulars of his administration are not known. He re- turned to England in 1428, having appoint- ed Edward Dantzy, bishop of Meath, his deputy. This prelate, who was treasurer of Ireland at one time, died in the month of January. John Sutton, Lord Dudley, his successor as deputy, had a parliament called together, by which regulations for juries to investigate criminal prosecutions were es- tablished, A. D. 1429. After this he returned to England, having named Thomas Strange as his deputy, 1432. Sir Thomas Stanley was appointed lord-lieutenant after Sutton : and Sir Christopher Plunket, and Richard Talbot the archbishop of Dublin, were suc- cessively his deputies. The troops of Meath and Uriel were collected by Stanley, to im- pede the further incursions of the Irish upon the English province : and both armies met on Michaelmas day, 1435, when the Irish were defeated, with a loss of many lives, and Niall O'Donnell was made prisoner. John Batterley, an English theologian and Dominican, was bishop of Tuam till 1436 ; he was a learned man, and eminent for his preaching.* He is said to have been the writer of many works, which are now lost. Thomas O'Kelly succeeded him in the see of Tuam. This bishop, who had been in the see of Clonfert, gave the parish church of Clonkeen-Kerrill, county Galway, to the monks of the third order of Franciscans, where they became established. After Stanley, the government was given to Lion, lord Wells. The law which com- pelled the Irish to return to their own coun- try, was renewed in England ; and it was prohibited to all of the king's subjects in Ireland to emigrate to England, a. d. 1438. Robert Fitz-Geoffry Cogan having no heir to succeed him in his estates, which comprised half the kingdom of Cork, made them over to James, earl of Desmond, and gave him a letter of attorney to put him in , possession, notwithstanding the pretensions 'of De Carew and De Courcy, who were unable to oppose that nobleman, he being too powerful for them at that time. John Swayn, rector of the church of Gal- trira, county Meath, was consecrated at Rome as archbishop of Armagh, in the month of February, 1417. He was sent, in 1421, by * War. de PrsBsul. Tuamens. CHRISTIAN IRELAND. 363 the parliament, with the Chevalier Preston to England, to inform Henry V. of the state of Ireland, and to seek a reform of the abuses that prevailed there. This prelate, broken down by age, resigned the see of Armagh in 1439, after governing it for twenty years, and retired to Drogheda, where he died soon afterwards. He was succeeded in the see of Armagh by John Prene. Richard Talbot, archbishop of Dublin, was appointed a second time lord-chief-justice of Ireland, a. d. 1 440. He had a parliament convened, by which a law was made that neither purveyors nor victuallers should take provisions without paying for them, the proprietors, in such cases, being permitted to resist them. By the same parliament it was made high trea- son to harbor robbers, or impose the main- tenance of the troops upon any of the king's subjects without their consent ; and to ob- viate abuses that might arise from this enact- ment, the parliament made a law that pro- visions should be provided for the troops, and that every proprietor of land, who paid an annual rent of twenty pounds sterling, should furnish and maintain for the king's use an archer and his horse. Richard O'Hedian, archdeacon of Cashel, was consecrated archbishop of that see in 1406, and was put in possession of its reve- nues two years afterwards. This prelate, finding no place where to lay his head, (as he expresses himself in the roll of the reve- nues of that church,*) demanded back the lands belonging to the archbishopric, which were neglected by his predecessor, and usurped by strangers. He had a house built for the vicars of the choir, and gave them the two small farms of Grange-Connel, and Baon-Thurlis-Beg, to increase their income. He also rebuilt some archiepiscopal houses, and re-established the cathedral church of St. Patrick. This prelate died at an ad- vanced age, in the month of July, 1440, and was succeeded, after a vacancy of ten years, by John Cantwell. A convent for Franciscan friars was founded at this time, at Irrialagh, on the borders of lake Lane, in the county of Kerry, by Domnal M'Carty, lord of that district. The see of Tuam was held in 1438, by Thomas O'Kelly, bishop of Clonfert, who was placed there by the authority of the pope. The annals of the monastery of the isle of All Saints, say he was as celebrated for his piety as his liberality. Having governed his see for three years, he died in 1441. His successor's name was John. James, earl of Ormond, governed Ireland for some time as lord-lieutenant ; and was afterwards deputy in place of Lion, Lord Wells, who was appointed by the court of England to the office of lord-lieutenant. While this earl was in o.ffice, he obtained the revenues of the see of Cashel for ten years, after the death of the archbishop, Richard O'Hedian. Ware assigns no reason for the long vacancy of that see. It must have arisen from some division concerning the choice of a prelate, or from a desire to reward the earl with its revenues. However this be, the lord-lieutenant nominated his brother, AVilliam Wells, deputy, in room of Ormond, A. d. 1442. The new deputy held a parliament in Dublin, in which Richard Talbot, archbishop of that city, and John White, abbot of the abbey of St. Mary, were appointed commissioners to go and represent to the king the wretched state of aflairs in Ireland : and that by an unwise administration, the expenses of preserving that country to the crown of England ex- ceeded its revenues by fourteen hundred and fifty-six pounds a year. James, earl of Ormond, was once more appointed lord-lieutenant, a. d. 1443. He obtained leave of absence from the court, without being subject to pay the fine decreed against absentees by a statute of Richard II. By the orders of the king he dismissed John Cornwalsh, who filled the office of chief-baron, and conferred it on Michael Griffin. John Prene, archbishop of Armagh, hav- ing governed that see for about four years, died in his house at Termon-Fechin, where he was interred in the church of St. Fechin, and succeeded in the diocese of Armagh by John Mey. At Kilcarbain, in the county of Galway, a convent for monks of the third order of St. Francis, was built by Thomas Burke, bishop of Clonfert, who granted to that order the chapel of Kilcarbain, which do- nation was confirmed by Pope Eugene IV. in 1444.* Opposite interests gave rise at this time to jealousy and mutual hatred between the Butlers and Talbots. They became incensed against each other to the highest pitch, and both public justice, and the public themselves, were affected by their discords. In the mean ' time, James, earl of Desmond, who had taken part with the Butlers, obtained the govern- ment of Waterford, Cork, Limerick, and Kerry, by letters patent. In order to reward * " On his arrival he had not a single place * War. de Antiq. Hib. Allemand, Hist. Monast. where he could rest himself." i d'Irlande. 364 HISTORY OP IRELAND. his services for preserving peace in these districts, he got permission to absent himself from every subsequent parliament, by send- ing a proxy to represent him, and was per- mitted to purchase all the lands he should think proper, and of what quality soever they might be. The faction of the Talbots, how- ever, gained ground among the people, not- withstanding the influence of the Butlers ; and a petition, signed by several lords, was sent to the king, praying that the lord-lieu- tenant might be recalled. He was repre- sented as a man overcome with age and in- firmity, and incapable of preserving the royal possessions in Ireland, much more of increas- ing them. He was also accused of having con- ferred the title of knighthood on some Irish- men who had been attached to him, and who seconded his views ; of having exonerated certain noblemen, on paying sums of money, from attending their place in parliament ; and of having confined the king's subjects in the castle of O'Dempsy, in order to extort money from them for their ranson. It is probable that these complaints were attended to by the court, as the oflice of lord- lieutenant of Ireland was conferred on John Talbot, earl of Shrewsbury, A. d. 1446. The king granted to this nobleman the town and county of Waterford, with the title of earl of Waterford, the royal franchises, and the droit d'aubaine, (or right of inheriting the personal property of aliens at their death,) in the districts along the coast, as far as Youghal. The lord-lieutenant held a parliament at Trim, on the Friday after Epiphany, in 1447, in Avhich several laws were enacted, among others, that all officers might travel in Ireland, without meeting with any inter- ruption ; that no tax should be levied on merchandise or provisions, except in towns, under pain of paying twenty shillings for every penny ; that the men should shave the upper lip, under pain of being considered among the Irish enemy ; that an Irish homi- cide, or robber, though naturalized, might be looked upon as an enemy, and conse- quently, be put to death ; and that the sons of laborers should be forced to follow the profession of their fathers. A law was also made against false coin, and the coin of O'Reilly, (by which it would appear that this nobleman had money coined.) This law also referred to the gilding of harness and armor, the use of which was pro- hibited. The lord-lieutenant having settled his affairs in Ireland, appointed his brother, Richard Talbot, archbishop of Dublin, his deputy, and returned to England, where he accused the carl of Ormond of high treason, in presence of the duke of Bedford, constable of England ; but the king caused the accu- sation to be suppressed. At this time, the deputy published a tract in Latin, in Dublin, on the abuses of the government during the earl of Ormond's administration : " De abiisu rcgiminis Jacobi Comitis Ormondim, dum HibernicB esset locum tencns." It appears that Thomas Fitzthomas, prior of Kilmain- ham, was among the number of the earl of Ormond's enemies, being one of those who accused him of treason : and that, in conse- quence, a duel, which was the established mode of deciding quarrels at that time, was to have been fought between them at Smith- field, in London, but the king having inter- posed his authority, it did not take place. Hitherto the English had been acting on the defensive in Ireland, and only carried on war along their frontiers ; their army was poorly provided, and more a burden to their countrymen there, who were oppressed by maintaining them, than formidable to the enemy by their military achievements. It was therefore thought necessary to send over as a commander, a man of some ce- lebrity, and Richard, duke of York, earl of March and Rutland, and heir to the crown of England, whose son reigned afterwards under the name of Edward IV., was con- sidered the fittest person for this office. In- dependently of his great talents, he owned large estates in the country ; he was earl of Ulster and Cork, lord of Connaught, Clare, Trim, and a considerable part of the county Meath. It was an act of policy too in the cardinal of Winchester, who was then at the head of affairs in England, to give the gov- ernment of Ireland to the duke of York, and thus to deprive him of the regency of France, as he had thereby an opportunity of gratifying his friend, the duke of Somerset. The duke being appointed lord-lieutenant, landed at Howth, near Dublin, in the month of July, 1449 ; but as he saw clearly into the views of those who had sent him to Ire- land, he accepted of it on ff altering conditions only, viz., that he should continue in oflice for ten years ; that in order to support his dignity, he should have the receipt of all the revenues of his province, both regular and casual, without being obliged to render an account of them ; that he should be supplied with money from England, as follows : four thousand marks for the first year, two thou- sand pounds of which should be paid in ad- vance, and for the remainder of the time two thousand pounds a year ; that he should be CHRISTIAX IRELAND. 365 permitted to let the king's lands as farms ; to appoint and dismiss all officers at his will ; to raise what nmiiber of troops he should think proper, and to appoint a deputy when he pleased, and return to England. It does not appear that the duke of York brought many troops with him from England, or that he supported any in Ireland, as the money which had been promised him was too trifling, and too irregularly paid, as may be inferred from his letters to the earl of Salisbury on this subject, and particularly from that which he wrote to the earl of Shrewsbury, quoted by Campion,* according to the original, which he obtained through Sir Henry Sidney, lord-deputy of Ireland under Queen Elizabeth. The style of this letter is very different from that of the pre- sent day, and merits well the attention of every reader, from its peculiar and very singular construction. The following copy is taken from Campion's history, in the Mazarine library in Paris, where it can be verified : " Right worshipful, and with all my heart, entirely beloved brother, I commend mee unto you as heartily as I can. " Ande like it you to wit, that sith I wrote last unto the king our soveraigne lord his highnes, the Irish enemy, that is to say, Macgeoghegan, and with him three or foure Irish captaines, associate with a great fel- lowship of English rebells, notwithstanding that they were within the king our Sove- raigne lord his power, of great malice, and against all truth, have maligned against their legiance, and vengeably have brent a great town of my inheritance, in Meth, called Ra- more, and other villages thereabouts, and murdered and burnt both men, women, and children without mercy, the which enemies be yet assembled in woods and forts, wayting to doe the hurt and grievance to the king's subjects, that they can thinke or imagine, for which cause I write at this time to the king's highnes, and beseech his good grace for to hasten my payment for this land, according to his letters of warrant, now late directed unto the treasurer of England to the intent I may wage men in sufficient number, for to resist the malice of the same enemys, and punish them in such wyse, that other which would doe the same, for lack of resistance in time, may take example, for doubtlesse i but if my payment be had, in all haste, for to have men of war in defence and safeguard of this lande, my power cannot stretch to keepe it in the king's obeysance, and very necessity will compell me to come into Eng- * History of Ireland, page 99. land to live there, upon my poore livelode, for I had lever be dead, than any inconve- nience should fall thereunto in my default, for it shall never be chronicled, nor remain in scripture, by the grace of God, that Ire- land was lost by my negligence ; and there- fore I beseech you, right worshipful brother, that you will hold to your hands instantly, that my payment may be had at this time, in eschuing all inconveniences, for I have example in other places, more pity it is to dread shame, and for to acquite my truth unto the king's highnes, as my dutie is, and this I pray and exhort you, good brother, to shew unto his good grace, and that you will be so good, that this language may be enacted at this present parliament for my excuse in time to come, and that you will be good to my servant Roger Roe, the bearer hereof, &c. Written at Divelin, the 15th Juin. Your faithful true brother, Richard York." Richard Talbot, archbishop of Dublin, brother of John Talbot, earl of Shrewsbury, so well known in history for his military exploits, died this year, having held that see for thirty -two years, and was interred in the cathedral of St. Patrick. This prelate es- tablished six half prebendaries, and six cho- risters in that church,* and also a chantry in St. Michael's chapel, which he made a parish church. He was appointed to the archbishopric of Armagh by the dean and chapter, which he refused ; he belonged to the privy council of both Henry V. and VI. ; had been twice lord-justice of Ireland, and once chancellor. His successor in the see of Dublin was Michael Tregury. Although the duke of York, on coming to Ireland, found affairs there in a very bad condition, both from the wicked administra- tion of those in office, and the frequent at- tacks which the king's subjects met with from the Irish, as we have already seen by this prince's letter to the earl of Shrewsbury ; and though he was never able to force Mac- geoghegan and his followers into their en- trenchments ; still, by his skill, rather than by force of arms, this prince quelled, in a great measure, the disorders which existed in the country. He convened two parlia- ments ; one in Dublin in October, the other at Drogheda in April ; in which several laws were enacted relative to good order and the government of the state, and a fine was de- creed against the bishops of Leighlin,Ossory, Down, and Limerick, for not having attend- ed the parliament held in Dublin. * War. de Archiepisc. Dubliniens. 366 HISTORY OF IRELAND. Campion, page 94, gives the copy of a letter of complaint from the inhabitants of the county of Cork to the earl of Rutland and York, in which they represent their mis- fortunes as the necessary consequence of the civil wars which were continually breaking out between the noblemen of the kingdom, whereby the king's subjects were in danger of losing their possessions, as the weaker party were obliged to call in to their assist- ance the Irish, who had been driven out, and the latter were becoming powerful in the country, of which they already owned the greater part. In this letter we find a list of the principal noblemen in the district, and their incomes ; they were as follows : Carew of Dorzy-Haven, Barnewall of Beer- Haven, Uggan, Balram of Emforte, Courcy of Kilbrehon, Mandevil of Barnhely, Sley- nie of Baltimore, Roche of Pool Castle, Barry, and others ; it also adds, that Cour- cy, Roche, and Barry alone still enjoyed some portion of the possessions of their an- cestors.* This letter ends by entreating the viceroy to visit the country himself, or to send thither persons capable of checking these disorders ; as, if a remedy were not applied, the petitioners would be constrain- ed to lay their complaints at the foot of the throne. At this time the duke of York had a son born in Dublin, to whom the earls of Or- mond and Desmond stood sponsors ; he was afterwards known by the name of George duke of Clarence. Many religious houses were founded in this century in Ireland, though the dates of their foundation are unknown. The con- vents built for the Franciscans were, Kil- michael, in Westmeath, by the Petits ; Bali- nesagard, in the district of Annaly, now Longford, by the O'Ferralls ; and Holy- Wood, or Sacro-Bosco, by the Audsleys. These three were of the third order. The O'Donnels, princes of Tirconnel, founded two houses for the same order : one at Kil- macrenan, near Donegal, for Franciscan friars ; the other at Magheri-Beg, in the same country, for the third order. Conn O'Neill, prince of Tyrone, built a house at Dungannon, for this order also. Ware men- tions a convent of Franciscans, founded at Ballimacsweeny, in Tirconnel, by one M'S weeny, lord of the district. The Dowels founded a convent for Dominicans at Tuilsk, in Roscommon. A convent was founded at Morisk, at the foot of Mount St. Patrick, for * They might with more truth be called the usurpations of their ancestors. Augustin hermits, by the O'Maileys, lords of Umaille, in the county of Mayo. A con- vent for Carmelites was built at Rathmullian, in the district of Donegal, by M'Sweeny, lord of Fanid ; and another at Kaltragh, in the county of Galway, by the Berminghams, barons of Athenry. During the duke of York's administra- tion in Ireland, he was always mindful of the interests of the English in that country ; he quelled the disturbances that prevailed, and had castles built on the frontiers of Meath, Louth, and Kildare, to check the incursions of the Irish. So great was the esteem in which he was held by his coun- trymen in Ireland, that several followed him to England, to support his claims to the crown. The duke of York having returned to England in 1451, appointed the earl of Or- mond his deputy in Ireland, Sir John Talbot being made chancellor at the same time. Ormond was afterwards appointed lord-lieu- tenant, and went immediately to England, leaving the government of Ireland to John Mey, archbishop of Armagh, as deputy, a. d. 1453, which displeased the court, and the earl was ordered to return, as the presence of a military governor was requisite in the country, to impede the progress of the rebel Irish, who were continually making inroads on the English province. Ormond's affairs, however, not allowing him to leave England, the earl of Kildare was intrusted with the government, a. d. 1454, till the arrival of Sir Edward Fitzeustace, who was made deputy to the duke of York. He held a parliament in Dublin, in which several laws were enacted respecting the abuses that were creeping into the government. The duke of York beheld with mortifica- tion his enemy, the duke of Somerset, in the highest favor at the court of England. He presented several petitions to the king, against him and Suffolk ; but his remon- strances made no impression on this weak prince, who was more fitted for the cloister than the throne, and who had given himself up to the control of his queen, Margaret, daughter of the titular king of Naples and Sici- ly. Margaret was a woman possessed of more resolution and of superior mind to her sex in general ; and findhig the king imbecile and unfit to govern, aided by Somerset, and others of her party, she underbook the administra- I tion of the kingdom. It was not the greatness of Somerset that gave umbrage to the duke of York. This prince, who was well aware of his own right to the throne, had already formed the design of restoring his family on CHRISTIAN IRELAND. 367 the ruins of the house of Lancaster, to which Somerset was bound by the ties of blood and interest. In order to remove this obstacle, the duke consulted his friends, among whom were the earl of Warwick, and his son, the earl of Salisbury. These noblemen having formed their plans, thought proper to supply the deficiency of remonstrance by force of arms, in order to effect the removal of So- merset. The duke of York accordingly caused troops to be levied in Wales, and the north of England, with whom he marched towards London ; and was met by the king, queen, and Somerset, at the head of an army at St. Alban's, where the first blood was shed in the quarrel of the two Roses, a. d. 1455. Henry's army was defeated, and Somerset, who was the nominal cause of the war, with the earls of Northumberland and Stafford, found among the slain ; the number of whom amounted to five thousand men. Henry was made prisoner, but treated with every re- spect, and led in triumph to London, by York and Warwick. They there obliged him to convene a parliament, in which the duke of York was declared guardian and protector of the kingdom. Thomas, earl of Kildare, was at that time deputy for the duke of York in Ireland. This nobleman, zealous for the public welfare, con- vened the parliament twice in the city of Dub- lin, and once at Naas, in which regulations appertaining to the government were enacted. John Mey, judge of the episcopal court of Meath, was nominated in 1444, by Pope Eugene IV., to the archbishopric of Armagh. Having held that see for about twelve years, he died in 1456, and was succeeded by John Bole. About this time, John, surnamed by some de Burgo, archbishop of Tuam, died. The year of his death is not exactly known ; but we find that Donat O'Murry succeeded him, A. D. 1458. The army of the duke of York was consid- erably weakened by the retreat of Andrew Trollop, who commanded the Calesians, on the eve of a battle with the king, for which the prince had collected all his forces. He was therefore obliged to seek an asylum in Ireland : where he continued for some time, and through his deputy, the earl of Kildare, had a parliament assembled in Dublin, and subsequently at Drogheda. In the interval a parliament was convened at Coventry in England, where the duke was declared a trahor, together with his son, Edward earl of March, Richard earl of Salisbury, Richard earl of Warwick, the lord Clifford, and the other confederates ; and their estates and goods were all confiscated for the king's use. The earl of March sailed soon after from Calais, to invade England. He landed at Sandwich,and on his march to Northampton, his forces were increased every step they advanced, by additional friends. An engage- ment took place between them and the king's army, which lasted for two hours, and in which ten thousand troops were slain on both sides. King Henry was taken prisoner a second time ; and the queen and her son, the prince of Wales, saved themselves with difficulty. This new success raised the cou- rage of the duke of York, who was still in Ireland : and he set out immediately for London, where he caused a parliament to be convened in the king's name. He then ad- vanced his claim to the crown, and expatiated upon all that his family had undergone for the house of Lancaster. It was then agreed that Henry should wear the crown during his life, and that the duke should be his successor. The prince, though he now believed that his right was well established, thought that other battles were necessary to render it the more secure. Parliamentary decrees seemed to him of little avail, when unsupported by an army. The queen and the new duke of Somerset, who had withdrawn to Scotland after the battle of Northampton, were already on their march with a formidable army, composed of Scotch and northern English, amounting to about eighteen thousand men, to renew the war. The duke of York therefore, having committed the king to the care of the duke of Norfolk and the earl of Warwick, ad- vanced to meet the queen with an army much inferior in numbers, consisting only of five thousand men ; but placing too much reli- ance on the valor of his troops, and his good fortune, which had never yet forsaken him, he fell into an ambuscade in the plain of Wakefield, where he lost the victory and his life. The young earl of Rutland, his son, who was only twelve years old, strove to excite the pity of lord Clifford, by imploring him on his knees to spare his life : but was stabbed in the most inhuman manner by this barbarian, without any regard for either his birth, age, or tears. The earl of Salisbury was made prisoner, and afterwards beheaded: the duke of York was insulted even in his grave. By orders of the queen a paper diadem was placed upon his head, and it was thus exposed on a pole upon the walls of the city from which he had taken his title. Four religious houses of the order of St. Francis, were founded at this time in Ire- land ; namely, three for Franciscan friars, 'and one for Observantines. At Enniscorthy, I on the river Slaney, in the county of Wex- 36S HISTORY OF IRELAND. ford, a convent for conventual Franciscans was founded bv Domnal Cavanagh, lord of the country. At Inishircnn, that is, the isle of Hircan, in the hay of Baltimore, there was a convent for Franciscans built by Florence O'Driscol, lord of the town of Ross, the island of Baltimore and Inishircan.* At Bantry, in the county of Cork, a convent for Franciscans was founded b}^ O'SuUivan Beare, lord of that place. Nehimie O'Dono- choe built a convent at Moyen, at the mouth of the river Moy, in the county of Mayo, for Observantine friars, in which he took the habit, and became vicar-general of the order. There 'was also a house founded for Do- minicans at Glanore, in the county of Cork, by the Roches. The public revenue was very moderate at this time in Ireland, the whole kingdom being still in possession of the Irish, except the English province, and some towns on the coast of Ulster ; and the English were even obliged to pay tributes to the Irish, to pre- serve peace with them. Cox gives a list of these payments, which he calls scandalous, and of the districts which contributed their portions. The barony of Lecale paid O'Neill, of Clanneboy, twenty pounds a year ; the county of Uriel forty pounds to O'Neill ; the county of Meath sixty pounds to O'Connor ; the county of Kildare twenty pounds to O'Connor ; the exchequer paid eighty marks a year to M'Morrough ; the counties of Kilkenny and Tipperary forty pounds to O'Carroll ; the county of Limerick forty pounds to O'Brien ; and lastly, the county of Cork paid forty pounds to M'Carty of Muskerry. Cox complains bitterly of the Irish for taking advantage of the dis- turbances in England, and usurping exten- sive estates, as they had previously done under Richard II., and also, as he further observes, for holding, without any right, the greater part of Ulster, and many districts in Munster and Connaught.f * The very ancient and noble family of the O'Driscols derives its origin from Ith, paternal un- cle of Milesius. In the division of lands by the children of Milesius in Ireland, after the conquest of this island, a territory then called Corkaluigh, forming part of the country since called Carbry, near Ross and Baltimore, was assigned to Lughaid, son of Ith. His descendants afterwards took the name of O'Driscol. They supported themselves honorably in Carbry til] the revolutions which took place under Elizabeth, and the war which the Irish carried on against that princess, in which the O'Driscols distinguished themselves in their coun- try's cause. t If we adopted the notions of English authors, we should be led to believe that the Anglo-Irish were CHAPTER XXIX. After the battle of Wakefield, in which Richard Plantagenet, duke of York, lost his life, the house of York seemed to have fallen for ever ; but Edward earl of March, who inherited his father's great qualities, as well as his claims to the throne, having assembled an army of twenty-three thousand men on the frontiers of Wales, came to an engage- ment with the king's forces, commanded by the earls of Pembroke and Ormond, at a place called Mortimer's Cross, near Ludlow.* The battle was bloody, and the victory for some time doubtful ; but at length the roy- alists took to flight, leaving three thousand eight hundred men dead upon the field of bat- tle, besides several prisoners, among whom was Owen Tudor, a Welsh nobleman, who had married queen Catherine, widow of Henry V., and mother of Henry VI., and who, by orders of the earl of March, was sacrificed to the manes of his father, the duke of York. After this action, the earl marched directly to London, where he was proclaimed king, under the name of Edward IV., in con- sequence of the act of parliament by which his father Richard had been declared suc- cessor to the throne. He was, however, forced to make good his title by the sword. Henry and Margaret had still a considerable army in the north of England, which Edward thought necessary to conquer before he as- sumed the crown. He marched therefore against them, and defeated his rival in the famous battle of Towton. This battle, which lasted two days,was remarkable for the num- ber of men of rank Avho fell on both sides. The loss sustained by the two armies is said to have amoimted to thirty-six thousand seven hundred and seventy-six men killed upon the spot ; the cause of this fearful carnage being a prohibition which Edward had issued throughout his camp the day before the action, neither to give nor ask for quarter, a.d. 1461. After this victory, Edward was crowned with great solemnity, on the 28th of June, at Westminster, under the name of Edward IV., and in November following. King Henry and his son, Edward, were declared to have lost all right or'claim to the crown. the aborigines of Ireland. It would seem that the usurpation of the lands of others, was looked on as a virtue among these strangers, and that it was held a flagrant act of injustice for the ancient Irish to recover by arms part of what they had been so un- justly deprived of two or three centuries before. * Baker, Chron. War. de Annal. Hib. Higgin's Short View. CHRISTIAN IRELAND. Thomas, ear) of Kildare, was appointed by the council in Ireland to fill the office of lord-justice till the court should nominate a lord-lieutenant. The king make several promotions this year ; in England he created his brothers George and Richard dukes, the former of Clarence, the latter of Gloucester;* in Ire- land he raised two persons to the rank of barons : namely, William St. Lawrence, lord-baron of Howth, in the coimty of Dub- lin, and Robert Barnwall, lord-baron of Trimlestown, in the county of Meath.f St. Lawrence was descended from Alnieric Tristram, who, in 1177, had changed his name from Tristram to St. Lawrence, on account of a battle he gained against the Danes on St. Lawrence's day, having made a vow to transmit that name to his descend- ants, should he be victorious. George, duke of Clarence, the king's brother, was appointed lord-lieutenant of Ireland for life, a. d. 1462. Sir Rowland Fitzeustace. was his first deputy, but was replaced by the earl of Desmond. The earl of Orniond was beheaded at Newcastle, and his family fell into disgrace during this reign for their attachment to the house of Lancas- ter. Mints were established in Dublin, Trim, Drogheda, Waterford, and Galway, for coining four-penny and two-penny pieces, &c. ; and it was decreed that English mo- ney should increase a quarter in value in Ireland, that is, that nine pence should pass for twelve, and so in proportion. This was the first time that any difference was made between Irish and English money. A convent for Franciscan friars was founded at Monaghan, in Ulster, this year, by Felim M'Mahon, a lord of the country .| Edward White, an English nobleman, and a Protestant, having obtained this house after- wards from Queen Elizabeth, had it pulled down, and built a fine castle for himself from the materials. § We find also another convent dedicated to St. Michael, at Athenry, in the county of Galway, belonging to the Observantine monks. It was begun by an earl of Kildare, but completed by some other benefactors. The lord-lieutenant held a parliament, A. D. 1463 ; which was adjourned several times. Previously to its dissolution, the privileges of the members of parliament, for forty days before, and forty days after each session, were established ; the salaries of officers of justice regulated, and the value * Baker, Chron. England. t Nichol's Rudiments of Honor. t War. de Antiq. Hib. c. 26. § Allemand, Hist. Monast. d'lrlande. of coin that was clipped or broken. He held a parliament at Trim, a. d. 1465, in which several statutes were enacted ; among others, that the Irish residing in the English province should dress in the English man- ner ; that they should take English names, and the oath of allegiance, under pain of having their properties confiscated ; that they should make use of the bow and arrow like the English ; that an under officer, called a constable, should be appointed in every borough ; that foreign vessels should be prevented from fishing on the coasts of the rebels, under pain of confiscation, and that those who did so on the coast of the English province, should pay a tax. At Kilcrea, in the county Cork, a convent for Franciscan friars was built about this time, by Cormac, son of Thadeus M'Carty, lord of the country, who was buried in it. A convent for the third order of St. Francis, was also founded at Glancarm, on the sea- shore, in the county of Antrim, by Robert Bisset, a Scotch nobleman. The earl of Desmond finding his influ- ence diminished with the king, was obliged to resign his place to John Tiptoft, earl of Worcester, treasurer and constable of Eng- land, a. D. 1467. This new deputy, a learned and eloquent man, convened a parliament at Drogheda, in which it was enacted that the governor should have the liberty of travelling into the adjacent islands ; that no bulls should be bought at the court of Rome for the possession of livings ; that the pardon granted by the king to purveyors should be considered void; that the courts of exchequer and common pleas should be removable at the will of the governor, on giving twenty- eight days' notice ; and that the earls of Desmond and Kildare, together with Edward Plunket, should be attainted of high treason, for having formed alliances with the hostile Irish, and supported them against the king's subjects, by providing them with arms and horses, in violation of the laws of the prince, and the statutes of the kingdom. In con- sequence of this act, Thomas Fitzjohn Fitz- gerald, earl of Desmond, was beheaded at Drogheda on the 15th of February. There is a diversity of opinions respecting the nature of the crime which led to the tragical end of the earl of Desmond.* It was most generally ascribed to the hatred which the queen, Elizabeth, had conceived against this nobleman, the cause of which must be explained. After the victories gained at Towton and other places, over the house * Relat. Giraldinorum. 370 HISTORY OF IRELAND. of Lancaster, Edward IV. had reason to consider himself in peaceful possession of the throne. lie was one of the handsomest princes in Europe, and not insensible to the charms of the female sex ; and being at the time twenty-three years of age, it was pro- posed to him to marry, as necessary, both to preserve the house of York from becoming extinct, and to secure the crown in his own family. Warwick was accordingly sent to France, to negotiate a marriage between him and the Princess Bona, sister to the queen, and daughter to the duke of Savoy. The embassy was successful, and the pro- posal accepted ; but in the meanwhile, Ed- ward, forgetful of the engagement which Warwick had contracted in his name, sacri- ficed his honor to love, by marrying Eliza- beth Grey, widow of Sir John Grey, who had fought against him, and was killed in the battle of St. Alban's. This alliance, which drew upon Edward the contempt of foreign princes, and the hatred of many of his own subjects, was the cause of his subsequent misfortunes. The attachment of the earl of Desmond to the house of York having in- duced him to serve in all the wars against the house of Lancaster, he became a favorite with Edward, who asked him one day, what the people thought of his marriage ? The earl took the liberty of telling him that it was universally disapproved of, on account of the great inequality in rank between him and the queen ; that a young king who had gained a crown by his arms, should have allied himself to some sovereign prince, who might be powerful to assist him in any emer- gency, and, in fine, that it would be prudent to repudiate Elizabeth, and marry one of his own station. This advice, which was more in accordance with human policy than Christian principles, was soon communicated to the queen. She resolved to take revenge, and the anger of an injured woman is impla- cable. She had at first recourse to secret measures, to injure the earl in the king's esteem ; and at length found means to affix the king's private seal to an order, which she sent to the earl of Worcester, at that time deputy in Ireland, to have Desmond be- headed ; an order which was put into exe- cution, to the great surprise of every Irish nobleman. The revolt of the five sons of Desmond, who flew to arms to revenge their father's death, obliged the king to examine into the affair : Worcester was recalled to England, where he was tried, and though he produced iu his ov/n defence, the order he had received, sealed with the king's seal, he was sacrificed to the manes of Desmond. By this act the king put a stop to the revolt of Desmond's sons, and in addition to his forgiveness, he conferred the palatinate of Kerry on James Fitzthomas, the earl's eldest son. He afterwards gave him the town and castle of Dungarvan, with special privileges, which were enjoyed by his de- scendants till the reign of Elizabeth. Cox endeavors to throw a doubt on this history of the earl of Desmond,* by saying that it is founded on a vulgar tradition. The English usually try to turn things to their own advantage, a disposition which is par- ticidarly manifest in the writings of Cox. Though the earl of Desmond was of Eng- lish origin, he was not sufficiently English for the notions of this historian ; being one of those degenerate Englishmen who began to feel compassion for an unjustly oppressed people, whose properties they had usurped and kept possession of. The earl was more interested than any other person, says this historian, in con- demning the king's marriage with Elizabeth ; since if he had approved of it, he should also have sanctioned the marriage of his nephew Thomas, fifth earl of Desmond, with Catherine Ni-William M'Cormock ; that is. j Catherine, daughter of William M'Cormock, j his doing which, it appears, would militate \ against the title of earl, with which the uncle | was invested, only after the forced resigna- ' tion of it by his nephew ; the latter having yielded it to his uncle to stop the persecu- tion of his family, who were displeased with his marriage, which they considered de- grading. In order, therefore, to secure the earldom, Desmond, the uncle, according to Cox, was induced to condemn the king's marriage, and consequently that of his own nephew. We easily perceive the forced construction which Cox puts upon the earl's conduct ; but what analogy is there between the marriage of a king and that of a private hidividual ? The unequal alliance made by the king of England affected the entire state, while the public welfare was in no manner aff'ected by the marriage of the earl of Desmond. This earl's highest title was that of nobleman, and he allied himself to M'Cormock, who was a M'Carty, the an- cient proprietor of part of the extensive es- tates, which were at that time in possession of Desmond ; and whose alliance, though he ! had become his vassalf by the dreadful rev- * Hib. Anglic, ad an. 1467. t Botli at that time and subsequently we see an- cient proprietors forced to become the farmers of their own lands, and pay an annual rent for them to those who had usurped them. CHRISTIAN IRELAND. 371 olution which deprived him of his property, was not unworthy of him who possessed it unjustly. However this be, Cox ascribes the earl of Desmond's misfortune to the exaction of Coyii and Livery ; but there is no mention of this in the statute of the par- liament of Drogheda, quoted by this author, in virtue of which he was convicted of high treason, with the earl of Kildare and Ed- ward Plunket. As this nobleman's fate, too, dilFered from that of the others, it must have proceeded from another cause. In the month of February, the court grant- ed ten pounds sterling a-year to Edmund Butler, lord of Dunboyne, out of the confis- cated estates of the earl of Ormond, together with certain privileges, and the estate of Castle Richard, in the .county of Meath, during life, for having made Conn O'Connor prisoner, and given him up to the deputy, and other services rendered by him to the state. A convent for Franciscan friars was built in 1414, at Kilconnel, in the county of Gal- way, by William O'Kelly, lord of that coun- try. Wadding says that this convent was reformed by the Observantines in 1467. Thomas, earl of Kildare, having cleared himself of the crimes of which he had been accused in the parliament of Drogheda, was first appointed lord-justice of Ireland, and afterwards deputy to the duke of Clarence, A. D. 1468. He convened two parliaments, [ one at Drogheda and the other at Naas, in the county of Kildare, which was adjourned j to Dublin. Regulations for trade and vari- ous other purposes were made in them. John Bole, abbot of our Lady of Navan, in the county of Meath, was promoted to the see of Armagh, which he governed for about thirteen years. After his death, which took place in 1470, this see remained vacant for four years, during which the temporal affairs belonging to it were attended to by Richard Lang, bishop of Kildare. Charles O'Mel- lan, dean of the cathedral of Armagh, wrote a letter to Pope Sixtus IV., in the name of the chapter, in which he' requested that Richard might be appointed their arch- bishop ; but this was refused by the pope, who nominated John Foxalls to the see. He, however, died in England the year after his consecration, without having seen his diocese, and was succeeded by Edmund Connesburgh. In 1471, the death of Michael Trcgury, archbishop of Dublin, also occurred ; he was a man of profound erudition, and left several works quoted by Bale and Pitseus. He died at an advanced age, at Tawlaght, a country residence belonging to the pre- lates of this see. His body was removed to Dublin, and buried near St. Stephen's altar, in the cathedral of St. Patrick, where his tomb may still be seen with an inscrip- tion upon it. He Avas succeeded by John Walton. Some houses were founded at this time for Augustin hermits : one at Callan, in the county of Kilkenny, by the earls of Ormond ; another at Athdare, county of Limerick, by an earl of Kildare ; and two in the cities of Cork and Limerick, the founders of which are not known. Father Lubin places a convent of this order at Clonmine, in the diocese and county of Cork, which was built near the river Avon-More, on the estate of the O'Kelleghes, (in case he does not con- found Clonmine with Clomin, in the county Wexford, where, as we have already re- marked, there was a convent belonging to this order.) W^are places in 1473 the foun- dation of a house at Donegal, for the Ob- servantine monks, by Hugh Roe O'Donnel, prince of that country. According to this author, there was formerly a very fine library attached to it. At this time a military society was insti- tuted in Ireland, by a decree of parliament, for the defence of the English province. It was composed of thirteen members, of acknowledged honor and loyalty, in the counties of Kildare, Dublin, Meath, and Louth ; namely, three for each of the other counties, and four for Meath. In the ap- pointment of this society, Thomas earl of Kildare, Rowland Eustace lord of Pontles- ter, and Sir Rowland Eustace, were nomi- nated for the county of Kildare ; Robert baron of Howth, the mayor of Dublin, and Sir Robert Dowdal, for the county of Dub- lin ; Preston lord of Gormanstown, in the county of Meath, Edward Plunket, senes- chal, Alexander Plunket, and Barnaby Barnwell, for that of Meath ; the mayor of Drogheda, Sir Lawrence Taaf, and Richard Bellew, for the county of Louth. According to their regulations, the members were to j meet every year in Dublin, on St. George's | day, to appoint one of their number captain for the following year ; this captain was to have one hundred and twenty horse-archersj at six pence a day each for their maintenance and pay, besides forty horsemen, and the same number of pages, at five pence a day, and four marks a year ; whose duty was to arrest rebels, and those against whom war- rants would be issued. In order to support this corps, which consisted of two hundred men, the parliament granted twelve pence 372 HISTORY OF IRELAND. in the pound, as an import and export duty on merchandise. They enjoyed likewise the privilege of making rules for the good government of their society, and the election of a new member in cases of death. This was the origin of St. George's fraternity, which was suppressed in the tenth year of the reign of Henry VII. William Sherwood, bishop of Meath, was appointed deputy to the duke of Clarence in 1475. He held a parliament in Dublin, by Avhich it was prohibited, under pain of treason, to send for bulls to Rome. The nobles Avere commanded to attend parliament in their robes, under pain of be- ing fined, and the barons of the exchequer to appear in court in their dresses of cere- mony. It was decreed that an Englishman should be allowed the right of reprisal against the family or sept of an Irishman wlio was not subject to the laws, from whom he might have sustained any injury ; but it was pro- hibited, vmder pain of felony, to take by force any pledges in opposition to the com- mon law. George Nevil. duke of Bedford, was deprived this year, in England, of the dignity of duke, for not possessing sufficient property to support the title. The title of viscount, till now unknown in Ireland, was conferred at this time by the king of England on Sir Robert Preston, who was first made knight of the Garter in 1470.* He was baron of Naas, in the county of Kildare, in virtue of the marriage of one of his ancestors with the heiress of William Loundres ; and was created vis- count Gormanstown, in the county of Meath, in 1477. Roche, otherwise De la Roche, or De Rupe, lord of Fermoy, in the county of Cork, was created Viscount Fermoy the same year. The duke of Clarence had his deputies still in Ireland, a. o. 1478. Sherwood was succeeded in that office by Henry Grey, lord of Ruthen, who was succeeded by Robert Preston, the viscount of Gormans- town, and the latter by Gerald, earl of Kil- dare, who held a parliament at Naas, 4n which some regulations were made relative to the government. Edmond Connesburgh, archbishop of Ar- magh, resigned his see in 1479, and was succeeded by his coadjutor Octavianus de Palatio. At this time a convent was founded at Lislaghtin, in the county Kerry ; in all like- lihood the same that Wadding places in an island of the Shannon. This house was * Nichol's Rudiments of Honor. founded by John O'Connor, of the noble family of th(^ O'Connors Kerry, for Obser- vantine monks. Richard, duke of York, the king's son, being appointed lord-lieutenant of Ireland, after George duke of Clarence, the earl of Kildare was continued in the office of deputy for four years, by a patent from him, sealed with the king's privy seal. This earl vmder- took to maintain peace and loyalty through- out the English province, on condition of being provided with one hundred and twenty horsemen, and six hundred pounds sterling a year for their support ; and in case that the Irish revenues were not equal to this, the English government was bound to supply the deficiency. This deputy held a parlia- ment which prohibited the exportation of birds of prey without paying a duty ; a de- cree was also published, prohibiting the in- habitants of the English province to hold any intercourse with the Irish. It was a singu- lar occurrence, that Conn O'Neill, who had married the deputy's daughter, was natural- ized by this parliament, in a country which had given birth to him and his ancestors for many centuries before. About this time John Cantwell, archbishop of Cashel, died. This prelate was professor of law, and a graduate of the university of Oxford. He governed his diocese with wis- dom. He held a synod at Limerick in 1453, the canons of which are still extant, and con- vened a second in 1480, at Fethard, com- posed of the bishops of his province. He had the Dominican convent repaired, and increased the revenues of the vicars of the choir of Cashel, where he ended his days in 1482, and was succeeded by David Creagh. Such was the state of Ireland during the reign of Edward IV. The intestine commo- tions by which England was torn, not allow- ing him to extend his views to that country, its affiiirs were to a great extent neglected and abandoned to the feeble protection of the society of St. George. He had gained his crown by the sword, and maintained it by the frequent battles which he fought with the partisans of Henry VI. ; and was sometimes compelled to yield to superior force, and seek an asylum in foreign countries. Henry was at one time restored, and Edward declared a usurper by the parliament. The latter prince, however, again returned, aided by the duke of Burgundy and two thousand Dutchmen ; and joined by his faithful subjects, marched immediately to London, where he seized upon the unfortunate Henry, and sent him back to the tower. His right was now once more ac- knowledged by that parliament which, but six CiJRISlIAN IRELAND. 373 months before, had declared him a usurper ; facts which prove the instability and incon- sistency of ihat tribunal. Even this did not terminate Edward's difficuhies. He was again forced to take the field ; and defeated Warwick at the battle of Barnet, in which that earl lost his life. He was also victo- rious over Queen Margaret and her son Ed- ward, in the battle of Tewksbury, which was the last effort of the house of Lancas- ter. Young Edward, only son of Henry VI., having i'allen into the hands of his enemies, was stabbed, in the most brutal manner, by the dukes of Gloucester and Clarence. The duke of Somerset and many other noblemen Avere also put to death. He was the third duke of his family who fell in the cause of the house of Lancaster. Soon after this the duke of Gloucester buried the dagger, still reeking with the blood of the son, in the bosom of the father, who was prisoner in the tower. Thus ended the unhappy life of Henry VI., whose innocence and piety could not preserve him from the punishment due to the crime of his grandfather, Henry IV., who had usurped the crown. Edward IV. did not long enjoy that tran- quillity which his last victories had gained him. He died in the forty-first year of his age, and was interred at Windsor, in the new chapel which he himself had caused to be built. George, duke of Clarence, was accused, some time before, of high treason, and sent to the tower, at the instigation of his brother, the duke of Gloucester, by whose orders he ended his days miserably, having been drowned in a butt of malmsy wine. Edward IV. left two sons and seven daughters. The elder of his sons, named Edward, who was but eleven years old at his father's death, was to have succeeded him on the throne.* He was at that time at Ludlow, in Wales, under the guardianship of his ma- ternal uncle. Sir Anthony Woodville, and other friends of the queen ; whose wish it was that he should be brought to London, attended by a strong guard, in order to be crowned. Richard, duke of Gloucester, the late king's brother, was then in the north of England, and solely occupied with a design upon the throne. He had already effected the death of his brother George, duke of Clarence, in the tower of London, and being desirous of getting the young prince Edward, who was an obstacle to his ambition, into his power, he succeeded by his intrigues in re- moving all suspicion from the prince's mind, who set out for London, unguarded, and * Baker, Chron. on the year 1483. attended only by a few noblemen of his re- tinue. Gloucester repaired, with his favorite the duke of Buckingham, to Northampton and Stony-Stratford, through which places the prince should pass, and carried him away by force from those who were in care of him. He then seized on the persons of Lord Rich- ard Gray, Sir Thomas Vaughan, and Sir Richard Hall, in presence of the prince. He had Woodville, lord Rivers, arrested at Nor- thampton, and sent a prisoner to the north, with Lord Richard and Thomas Vaughan. He then brought young Edward to London, where, having assembled the great council, he had himself appointed protector of the young prince and of the kingdom. The queen foresaw the danger which threatened her family through the conduct and intrigues of Gloucester ; and fled precipitately, with her son Richard, and the princesses her daughters, to Westminster abbey; but as no asylum can be secure against tyranny, Glou- cester found means to get young Richard also into his power, under the pretext of placing the two princes in a place of safety till all disturbances would have subsided. They were carried, in apparent triumph, through the city to the tower, which unfor- tunately was to them a prison instead of a palace, as they never left it more. Richard placed himself at the head of the government, and was crowned, together with his wife, in July, 1483, under the name of Richard HI. This tyrant, intent upon securing to him- self the throne he had usurped, thought it prudent to make no change in the govern- ment of Ireland ; he left it, therefore, in pos- session of Gerald, earl of Kildare, who con- vened some parliaments, in which nothing interesting occurred. Gerald was afterwards appointed deputy to the earl of Lincoln, who was nominated lord-lieutenant, a. d. 1484 : and held a parliament in Dublin, which granted him a subsidy of thirteen shillings and four pence a year, upon every plough- land, to defray the expenses of his services against the Irish. O'Connor, it would appear, participated in these services, as he got part of the reward, viz., forty pence for every plough-land in the county of Meath. The archbishops of Dublin and Tuam both died this year. The former was John Wal- ton, who obtained, by order of parliament, the restitution of some lands which belonged to the archbishopric of Dublin, and which had been sold byhis immediate predecessors, Talbot and Tregury. This prelate held the see for six years, but having lost his sight, and being reduced to a state of infirmity, he resigned it, reserving at S words a competency 374 HISTORY OF IRELAND. for his support. He was succeeded by Wal- ter Fitz-Simmons. Donat O'Murray, a regu- lar canon of the order of St. Augustin, was nominated to the archbishopric of Tuam. John Bole, archbishop of Armagh, wrote a circular letter to this prelate and his suflra- gans, informing them that he would shortly visit the province of Tuam, inasmuch as the archbishops of Armagh, as primates, claimed at all times the right of visiting the other provinces every seven years. This prelate added some establishments to the church of St. Nicholas, in Gahvay; he was succeeded in the see of Tuam by William Shivy. Some writers appeared in Ireland during this century.* William, surnamed Water- ford, wrote a book on religion, which he dedi- cated to Cardinal Julian in 1433. A canon of the order of St. Augustin, at Loghkey, in the county Roscommon, left the annals of Ireland to his own time, written in Irish and Latin. Ware mentions having seen that part of his work which begins with the year 1249, and ends with 1408. John of Ireland flour- ished in 1460. According to Antonius Al- fonsus Feniandus, and Michael Plodius, he I wrote a book called the Bunch of Flowers, I having taken from the sacred writers the most valuable thoughts on each subject of his work. It is probable that these writers have confounded this John with Thomas of Ire- land, of whom we have already spoken, who Avrote a book called the " Flowers of the Doctors," in the thirteenth century, which was printed in Paris in 1664. John of Ire- land, a Dominican, is said to have been the author of a book called " .Scala Dei," or "the Ladder to Heaven." Philip Norris, having taken the degree of doctor in theology, at Oxford, returned to Ireland, his native coun- try, Avhere he was made prebendary of Ya- gogstown, which depended on St. Patrick's church in Dublin. He was afterwards dean of that cathedral, in 1457. Like Richard of Armagh, he wrote against mendicants, and inveighed strongly against them in his sermons, which brought disgrace upon him. According to Bale, he left many works, namely, declamations, lectures on the holy Scriptures, sermons to the people, a treatise against mendicants in health, &c. In England, the duke of Gloucester, not content with having deprived his nephews of their birthright to the crown, sacrificed them to his cruelty, and had them put to death. He also caused his favorite, the duke of Buckingham, who had taken up arms against him, to be executed. The only enemy that * Wad. Tom. 4, Annal. Min. ad an. 1395. Richard had now to fear, was the earl of Richmond,thelastof the house of Lancaster, who was, in a manner, prisoner at the court of Brittany. This prince, however, had cor- respondents in England. Having received some assistance in money from Charles VIII. king of France, he sailed from Harfleurwith two thousand men, and, af;fer seven days, landed at Milford, from which place he marched towards Hereford, where he was joined by the Welsh, and other friends, who flocked to his standard, and in a few days collected a considerable force. Richard having received intelligence of the success of Richmond, marched, at the head of a pow- erful army, to meet him, and gave him battle in the plain of Bosworth, which proved fatal to Richard, who lost in it both the crown and his life. Lord Stanly, in the thick of the fight, having discovered the crown upon the ground, took it up and placed it on the head of Richmond ; which, together with the ac- clamations of the troops, shouting " Long live the king," gave to the earl an additional title, by a sort of military election. CHAPTER XXX. After the battle of Bosworth, Henry, earl of Richmond, was crowned at West- minster king of England, under the name of Henry VII.* He was of the house of Lan- caster, being great-grandson to John, earl of Somerset, who was born before the mar- riage of John of Ghent, fourth son of Ed- ward III., with Catherine, his third wife, widow of Swinford ; but who, by an act of parliament under Richard II. ,t was made legitimate. In order to secure himself more firmly upon the throne, Henry added a third title to the right of conquest and the claims he derived from the house of Lan- caster, by marrying the Princess Elizabeth, eldest daughter of Edward IV., and conse- quent heiress to the house of York and the crown, A. D. 1485. This happy union put an end to the feuds of the two roses, which had cost England so much blood. This prince confined the earl of Warwick, called Ed- ward Plantagenet, only son and heir of George, duke of Clarence, and the last male child of the house of York, in the tower of London. He was the first king of England * Polyd. Virgil. Ang. Hist. lib. 26, page 1433. t Baker, Chron. Higgins' Short View. CHRISTIAN IRELAND. 375 who established a body guard, in imitation of the kings of France. He appointed a captain over them, and allowed them pay ; and the corps has been continued by his successors. The king having appointed the duke of Bedford lord-lieutenant of Ireland, Gerald, earl of Kildare, retained the office of de- puty.* Henry also allowed the chancellor, treasurer, and other officers, whom he knew to have favored the cause of the white rose, to continue in office ; he wished to make them feel that he reposed confidence in them, and at the same time, that he was above that weakness which generally arises from fear and suspicion. He was not, how- ever, unmindful of his friends. Thomas Butler, whose family had been long in dis- grace for their attachment to the house of Lancaster, was restored by an act of parlia- ment to his wealth and honors, and after taking the usual oath, was admitted into the privy council of the king. It appears that the Desmond family was restored at the same time, as it is mentioned that Thomas Coppinger, seneschal of St. James, earl of Desmond, in the liberties of Kerry, ad- ministered justice in his name. A dispute arose this year between James Keating and Marmeduke Lumley, respecting the priory of St. John of Jerusalem, called the priory of Kilmainham, near Dublin. f Keating having been accused to Peter d'x\u- busson, grand master of the order, in the island of Rhodes, of having mortgaged or sold several ornaments belonging to the house, (among others, a bit of the true cross,) and of having made over, or encum- bered with pensions, the revenues of the priory, was deprived of his office by the grand master, who nominated Lumley in his stead. The latter having arrived at Clontarf with the intention of taking possession of his new dignity, Keating and his attendants prevented him, by taking him prisoner, and obliging him to give up his credentials and every thing respecting his nomination ; to compensate him for which Keating gave him the commandery of Kilsaran, in the county of Louth. Lumley, indignant at this treat- ment, wrote to the king and grand master, and on his complaints Keating was excom- municated, by which he was so exasperated, that he deprived Lumley of his commandery, and confined him, contrary to the request of the archbishop of Armagh, in prison, where it is probable he ended his days. Keating * War. de Annal. Hib. t War. de Annal. Hib. an. 1485. kept forcible possession of his priory for nine years ; but Avas at length expelled with ignominy and disgrace. He was succeeded by James Vale. There was a convent of Franciscans in the large island of Arran, at the entrance of the bay of Galway.* Wadding states, that, according to the annals of Ireland, this con- vent was built in 1485, in the island of saints, which is the same as the isle of Arran. Wadding mentions likewise the convent of KilcuUen, built in 1486, for Observantine friars of the order of St. Francis, by Row- land Eustace, who Avas lord-justice and for some time chancellor and treasurer of Ireland-! He says there were tombs, not only of the founder, but of several other noblemen, in the church and chapels. At Dungarvan, a small seaport in the county of Waterford, a convent was built, according to Ware, by an earl of Desmond, for Augustin hermits. Father Lubin informs us that it is mentioned in the registries of the order,1448. Although Henry's strongest claim to the crown lay in his marriage with the heiress of the house of York, he did not treat the queen with the respect due to her ; but manifested his indifference towards her, by delaying the ceremony of her coronation, till he was compelled to have it performed by the murmurs of the people, who were always attached to the house of York. The number of malecontents increased, and pre- tenders to the crown were set up, who dis- turbed a great part of his reign. The im- postures of Lambert Simnel and Perkin Warbeck, both supported by Margaret, sis- ter of Edward IV., widow of Charles, duke of Burgundy, and the implacable enemy of the house of Lancaster, form some of the most peculiar features in the history of the English nation. The king having some suspicion of the earl of Kildare's loyalty, who was his deputy in Ireland, wrote to him to repair to Eng- land, under pretext of consulting him on some matters respecting the welfare of the state. The earl, who dreaded some dis- agreeable result from this order, showed the king's letter to the parliament that were as- sembled in Dublin : whereupon the nobles wrote to the king, representing to him that the presence of the deputy was necessary in some matters of importance, and entreating of his majesty to dispense with his voyage for the present. The ecclesiastics who signed this letter were the archbishops of Armagh * War. de Antiq. Hib. c. 26. + AUemand, Hist. Monast. d'Irl. p. 284. 376 HISTORY OF IRELAND. and Dublin, the bishop of Meath, four ab- bots and a prior, all ecclesiastical lords who sat in parliament ; the temporal lords were, viscount Gormaustown, and the barons of Slanc, Delvin, Killeen, Howth, Trimles- town, and Duusany. During this time, a faction was forming in favor of the White Rose. The person pitched upon to carry out its objects, was Lambert Simnel, son of a shoemaker, or baker, who had been educated at Oxford by a priest called Richard Symon, a man of learning. This young man had a prepossessing and noble aspect, and a lively understanding, and was to personate young Edward, earl of Warwick, son of George, duke of Clarence, in order to lay claim to the crown. This project, however, was for two reasons impracticable ; first, the real Edward was in the tower ; secondly, the right which Henry had acquired by his mar- riage with the heiress of Edward IV., ex- cluded every other claimant. These circum- stances did not prevent Simnel from acting the part of a prince. He was brought to Ireland, and presented to the deputy, the chancellor, the treasurer, and other noble- men of the English province, who received him with distinguished regard. He was acknowledged by all but the archbishop of Armagh, the bishop of Clogher, the Butlers, the baron of Howth, and the inhabitants of W^aterford. The king being informed by the baron of Howth, of the triumphal entry of Simnel into Ireland, gave orders to have the real earl of Warwick taken from the tower, and led, under a strong guard, through the streets of the city to St. Paul's church, in order to undeceive the people. In the mean time, the duchess of Burgundy sent over two thousand men to Simnel, under the command of Colonel Swart. This army landed in Dublin in the month of May ; and the earl of Lincoln and Lord Lovel repaired thither also ; whereupon the supposed Warwick was solemnly crowned in the cathedral of the Trinity, called Christ's church, after a sermon preached by John Payne, bishop of Meath, who made known his right to the crown, in presence of the deputy, the chancellor, treasurer, the earl of Lincoln, lord Lovel, and several other noblemen, both spiritual and temporal, of the EngUsh province. A crown which had been found on a statue of the blessed Virgin, in a church bearing her name, was used for this ceremony. The new king was led through the city, followed by the accla- mations of the people, to the castle, where a magnificent banquet was prepared. The parliament, and courts of justice were holden, lawsuits carried on, statutes enacted, and all the acts of the council gone through in the name of this pretended prince. These acts were all, however, annulled in the time of Poynings, when deputy, in a parliament held at Droghcda, in 1494. In the month of June, 1487, Lord Thomas Fitzgerald, chancellor of Ireland, in order to unburden himself, resigned his office to Rowland Eustace, baron of Portlester. Shortly after this, a fleet was prepared, by order of the council, for the expedition to England, and the Pretender and his army, commanded by the earl of Lincoln, set sail, attended by Lord Lovel, the ex-chancellor Lord Thomas Fitzgerald, Colonel Swart, a German, and other noblemen. On their landing in Lancashire, they were joined by Sir Thomas Broughton, who commanded a body of troops. With this reinforcement they marched towards Newark, where they met the king at the head of his army, and having come to an engagement, the victory was undecided for three hours, but at length declared in favor of Henry. Several lives were lost on the Pretender's side ; the prin- cipal were those of John de la Pole, earl of Lincoln, Francis, viscount Lovel, Lord Tho- mas Fitzgerald, Maurice Fitzthomas Fitz- gerald, Sir Thomas Broughton, Plunket, son of Baron Killeen, and Colonel Swart, besides four thousand soldiers. Simnel was among the number of the prisoners : and having confessed his crime, the king, with unexampled clemency, granted him his life, and gave him a situation in his falconry, which he held till his death. After this victory, Henry marched towards the north, where he discovered more partisans of Sim- nel, among whom was the earl of Lincoln. Some of these he had put to death as an ex- ample ; others he made pay large sums of money, and pardoned the least guilty. He then returned to London, where he was joyfully received, and in the month of November, on St. Catherine's day, his queen, Elizabeth, was crowned with great pomp, at Westminster. In Ulster, Hugh M'Mahon taking advan- tage of the disturbances in the state, assem- bled his vassals, and committed dreadful devastation on the lands of the Anglo-Irish in the county Louth, from which he carried off large herds of cattle, and other goods. It is said that twenty-eight villages were j burned in this expedition. Some parts of the province were visited, at this time, by rains and storms, which tore up trees by | their roots, and threw down churches and j houses. I CHRISTIAN IRELAND. 377 About this time, Henry VII. wrote to the mayor and citizens of Waterford, expressing to them his satisfaction for their loyalty to him, and exhorting them to persevere in it. He gave them permission to seize upon the vessels and merchandise belonging to the inhabitants of Dublin, and others who traded with them, and turn them to their own ad- vantage ; some time afterwards he granted them privileges and immunities, as a reward for their fidelity. The earl of Kildare, and other ministers of state who had abetted the cause of Sim- nel, being informed of his defeat, sent a de- putation to the king, avowing their crime, and imploring his forgiveness. The king, gra- tified with their submission, wrote to them, and reprimanding them slightly, granted them a pardon, of which their future conduct should be a guarantee ; while as a proof of his perfect reconciliation, he continued the earl in the government of Ireland, and gave him orders and instructions relative to the times. The king had indeed cause to sus- pect the fidelity of the people, and to dread, that, on the first opportunity, some sparks of rebellion would burst forth ; but he did not deem it prudent either to employ rigor- ous measures, or send troops to Ireland to put down the remains of the York faction ;* and lest he should weaken the colony, which was with difficulty maintained in a corner of the island, against the attacks of the old in- habitants, he confined himself to receive the submission of the guilty. For these purposes he sent Sir Richard Edgcombe with a com- mission to make his subjects renew their oath of allegiance, and to secure their fidelity for the future, by announcing to them his forgiveness. This minister, accompanied by a guard of five hundred men, arrived with five vessels, in the harbor of Kinsale, in the month of June, and as he was averse to come on shore. Lord Thomas Barry went on board his ship, paid him homage for himself and his barony, and took the oath of allegiance. At the solicitation, however, of Lord Courcy and the inhabitants, Edgcombe entered the town the day following, where Courcy did him homage in the church of St. Meltock ; and with the inhabitants, took the oath of allegiance. After dining, he set sail for Waterford, the citizens of which he com- plimented for their fidelity to their king, of whose protection he assured them. He then sailed for Dublin, where he arrived on the 5th of July, and was honorably received by the mayor and citizens, at the gate of the * Hib. Anglic, on the reign of Henry VII. Dominican convent, which had been assigned for his residence during his stay. The earl of Kildare was absent at the time, on an ex- pedition against the Irish ; but having re- turned after a few days, Edgcombe, attended by the bishop of Meath, the baron of Slane, and other lords, waited upon him in the abbey of Thomas-court, where he resided. He there presented to him his letters from the king, his master, with manifestations of displeasure, and after a private conference, they separated without coming to any con- clusive arrangement. The lord-deputy went to his castle of Maynooth, and Edgcombe returned home. In the beginning of these disturbances, the king obtained a bull from the pope to excommunicate the rebels ; and by a similar authority, Edgcombe caused a general abso- lution to be proclaimed in Christ's cathedral on the following Sunday, for all those who should continue in their obedience to his majesty. The lord-deputy having returned to Dublin, was absolved from his excom- munication, during the divine service, and paid his homage to Edgcombe in the large hall of the abbey of Thomas-court ; the king's commissioner then announced his majesty's pardon, by putting a gold chain around the neck of the deputy, on the part of the king, in token of his perfect recon- ciliation. The form of an oath of allegiance was then drawn up, to be taken by the nobility and clergy ; it was signed by Walter Fitzsimons, archbishop of Dublin, and his predecessor John Walton, John Payne, bishop of Meath, Edmond Lane, bishop of Kildare, John Purcel, abbot of Thomas- court, near Dublin, Walter Champflour, abbot of our Lady's, and John Cogan, prior of Holm Patrick. Every thing having been settled to Edgcombe's satisfaction, he gave a magnificent banquet to the earl, and all the nobility, in the Dominican convent, and next day received in the Toulsel, the oath of alle- giance from Thomas Meyler, mayor of Dub- lin, and all the citizens, of which he took a copy, sealed with the seal of the city. He went afterwards to Drogheda, and from that place to Trim, where he received the sub- mission and oaths of the inhabitants. Their example was followed by Nicholas Herbert, prior of St. Peter's of Newtown, near Trim, Richard Nangle, abbot of Navan, and James, abbot of Castlemartin, of the order of Bectiff". On Edgcombe's return to Dub- lin, he received the submission of Octavia- nus, archbishop of Armagh, Philip Ber- mingham, chief-justice of the king's bench, and Thomas Dowdal, master of the rolls. 48 378 HISTORY OF IRELAND. There were two persons not included in the pardon granted by Edgcombe to the king's subjects in Ireland ; Keating, prior of Kilniainhani, of whom we have already spoken, and Tlionias Plunket, chief-justice of the court of coniniou pleas ; they being considered as the instigators of Simnel's rebellion. The lord-deputy and nobles so- licited pardon for them from the commis- sioner. It was, however, granted only to the latter : Keating, so far from obtaining forgiveness, was deprived of the office of governor of the castle of Dublin, which he had taken by force, and Richard Archbold, the old governor, was restored. Edgcombe having terminated his commission, returned to England to give an account of his suc- cess to the king. The lord-deputy and council deputed the bishop of Meath to express to his majesty their gratitude for the favors he had just granted to his people in Ireland, and to con- vince him of their submission, in order to re- move every imputation which their enemies might cast upon their conduct. This prelate acquitted himself so ably in this undertaking, that he prevented the archbishop of Armagh, though the king's favorite, from obtaining the office of chancellor, lest the jealousy which subsisted between him and the deputy might be renewed, and thus disturb that tranquillity so lately restored to the state. Some time afterwards the deputy marched at the head of his troops towards Kinalyach, in Westmeath, to check the incursions of Magheoghegan upon the English province, and surprised the castle of Bileragh. He laid waste the district of Moycashel, and carried away considerable booty, a. d. 1382 ; but was repulsed some time afterwards, by the Magheoghegans, and pursued to his castle of Maynooth, where he escaped their fury. Henry VII., suspecting the loyalty of his subjects in Ireland, whom he knew to be attached to the house of York, made several of them come to England ; namely, the earl of Kildare, the viscounts Gormanstovvn, Fer- moy, and Buttevant, the barons of Athenry, Kinsale, Delvin, Howth,Trimlestovvn,Slane, Killeen, and Dunsany. These noblemen were presented to the king at Greenwich. Having given to each a reprimand in private, he was reconciled to them, and entertained them at a banquet. In order, however, to mortify their pride, Lambert Simnel, whom they had crowned some time before, performed to them 1 1 the office of cup-bearer. After this they had |i the honor of accompanying the king to a I solemn procession at Greenwich. They then j took leave of his majesty, who dismissed them with presents, and other demonstrations of his protection and friendship. It is mentioned that he made a present of three hundred poiuids sterling to the baron of Howth. While these noblemen were at court in England, Maurice Bockagh, (the lame,) earl of Desmond, was making war against his neighbors : he gained a victory over Mor- rough 0'Carrol,who was killed in the action, with Moel-Murry, his brother ; and a second over Dermod M'Carty, son of Thadeus, who was also killed. It is said that this earl was no loser by his troubles, as he added the estates of those with whom he made war to his own possessions. It was thus that these new-comers raised themselves at the expense of their neighbors. Octavianus, archbishop of Armagh, con- vened a synod in the month of July, in the church of our Lady, at Atherdee, at which John Payne, bishop of Meath, Edward Courcy, bishop of Clogher, William O'Fer- rall, bishop of Ardagh, George, bishop of Dromore, Donald O'Fallon, bishop of Derry, Menelaus M'Cornycan, bishop of Raphoe, and Walter Blake, bishop of Clonmacnoisk, attended. A difTerence arose at this synod, between Thomas M'Brady and one Cor- mock, respecting the jurisdiction of the bishopric of Kilmore, which was left to the decision of the bishops of Meath, Clogher, and Ardagh ; but their opinion is not re- corded. They both, however, appeared six years afterwards, at the synod of Drogheda, each with the title of bishop of Kilmore. It does not appear that the bishopric of Kilmore is very ancient.* It is not mentioned in the division of the bishoprics of Ireland which took place in 11 52, at the synod where Cardinal Paparo presided. The first bishop of this district, who is to be met with in his- tory, was FlanusO'Conacty, who died in 1231. This prelate and his successors were some- times called bishops of Brefny, the ancient name of the district, and sometimes bishops of Triburna, an obscure village where they resided. Towards the middle of the fifteenth century, Andrew M'Brady was appointed to this bishopric ; and dissatisfied with finding the episcopal see established in so inconve- nient a place, he removed it, with the consent of Pope Nicholas V., to the parish church of St. Felim,in a village called Kilmore, a short distance from Cavan. He erected this church into a cathedral, with thirteen canons and a dean : which establishment was confirmed the year following by Pope Calixtus III., so that since the above period, the diocese and the * War. de Episc. cop. Kilmor. CHRISTIAN IRELAND. 379 bishops who governed it, have taken the name of Kihnorc.* Prince Arthur, eldest son of Henry VII., born in 1487, was declared prince of Wales in 1490. This year was remarkable in Ire- land for tempests and frequent rains, which continued during the suninjer and autumn, and produced sickness, to which many fell victims. At this time six muskets were sent from Germany to the earl of Kildare, and were made use of by his guard while they stood sentinel in his apartments. They were con- sidered a rare present at that time, since it is said that fire-arms were not then known in Ireland, (a. d. 1491.) Baker asserts, however, that Edward III. had them at the siege of Calais. f Warm disputes, which ultimately led to a war, arose about this time between Conn- More O'Neill and Hugh Roe O'Donnel, two powerful princes in Ulster, — one in Tyrone, the other in Tirconnel. These disputes were caused by a tribute which O'Neill demanded from O'Donnel, as if the latter held his estates under him. O'Neill first sent a letter written in the Irish language, which, from its singularity, and its being too laconic to tire the reader, may be introduced here : " Cuir hogoin me kiesse, no mar d cuirhuir — ;" that is, " Send me my rent, or if not — ." To this O'Donnel replied in the same style, saying, '' Neel kiesse d gut orm, agus da meh — ;" that is, " I owe you no rent, and if I did — ." O'Neill was irritated by this reply, and hostilities began on both sides. Although the earl of Kildare strove to act as mediator between the two princes, they came * Andrew M'Brady, first bishop of Kilmore, was of the noble family of the M'Bradys of Lochtee. The sept of the M-Bradys is a branch of the tribes of the Hy Brunes of Connaught, of which O'Connor was chief. They were anciently known by the name of Carbhuillis, and, according to Gratianiis Lucius, owned the territory of Cabria, in Brefny, now the county of Cavan, as we have seen in the previous part of this history. It was in the thir- teenth century that this family changed the name of Carbhuillis for that of M'Brada, or Brady, from one of the chiefs ; and that the name of Cabria was changed to Lochlee, at present a barony in the I county of Cavan, the patrimony of this noble family till the revolution caused by the tyrant Cromwell. This family gave several bishops to the church ; Ware reckons five of Brefny, one of Ardagh, and one of Meath. It is probable that the latter cm- braced the reformed religion, as he was nominated by Queen Elizabeth to replace William Walsh, bishop of Meath, who was dispossessed, thrown into prison, and subsequently banished from the kingdom, for his attachment to the old religion. + Chron. Engl, page 126. to an engagement, and many lives were lost on both sides. O'Neill had the advantage ; but his death, which took place soon after- wards, and the advanced age of O'Donnel, which obliged him to give up the principality to his son Conn, put an end to this war. The duchess of Burgundy, an intriguing woman, and the implacable enemy of the house of Lancaster, was still intent on her endeavors to disturb the reign of Henry VII. She first caused a report to be spread that Richard, duke of York, brother and heir of Edward V., had not been put to death, but that, having escaped from the tower, he was still alive. She then sought for a young man who might be capable to act his part ; and discovered one Peter Osbeck, afterwards known by the name of Perkin Warbeck, a native of Tournay, and son of John Osbeck, who filled the office of controller in that city, and Catherine de Faro, who was acquainted with the English language, and had, perhaps, taught it to her son. The duchess looked upon this young man as perfectly qualified for her views. She kept him with her some months, in order to initiate him into the manners of the court, and make him ac- quainted with every thing relative to the house of York ; and taught him to assume the manners and support the dignity of a prince, the part of which he was about to act. It is asserted, too, that he really resembled the prince whom he was to personate. The better to conceal her designs, the duchess sent him afterwards to Portugal, well equip- ped, and attended by persons to watch all his actions, till she should think fit to send him to Ireland. Henry VII ., who was well acquainted with Margaret of Burgundy's proceedings, thought prudent to change his ministers in Ireland, and put persons attached to his interests into office. He therefore nominated Caspar duke of Bedford, lord-lieutenant, in place of the earl of Kildare ; and Walter Fitzsimons, archbishop of Dublin, his deputy. Sir James Orinond, natural son of John earl of Ormond, was appointed treasurer in place of Eustace, lord of Portlester, who had filled that office for thirty-eight years, (a. d. 1492.) The new treasurer arrived in Ireland in the month of June, attended by a cohort of Eng- lish troops. He had an altercation imme- diately with the earl of Kildare, which was followed by a battle disastrous to the families of the Butlers and Fitzgeralds, and to the colony in general ; as the Irish took advan- tage of it to lay waste the frontiers of the English province. On the 22d of June, the same year, is 380 HISTORY OP IRELAND. fixed the birth of Henry, second son of Henry VH., and liis successor on the throne under the name of Henry VHI., so well known in history for his de])aucheries, and the changes he ellected in religion. In the month of September, some of the state ofiicers in Ireland were again changed ; Alexander Plunket was nominated chancel- lor, Thomas Butler was appointed master of the rolls, and Nicholas Turner chief- justice of the court of common pleas. About this time the earl of Ormond and the prior of Canterbury were sent on an embassy to the court of France ; but were, however, recalled as soon as their master heard that Charles VIII. was about to form an alliance whh yVnne of Brittany. The drought in Ireland this summer was so great, that the cattle died for want of water. It also caused contagious disorders, by which many lives were lost. It was now time to bring forward Perkin Warbeck, (whom we left in Portugal,) to perform the part of Richard, duke of York, for which he was intended ; and so well did he acquit himself, that it was doubted for some time whether he was in reality Richard, or an impostor. The duchess of Burgundy gave orders that Perkin should sail from Lisbon, for Cork, in Ireland, where he was honorably received by the citizens, and par- ticularly by John Waters, an eminent mer- chant, and mayor of the city, in whose house, it is said, he was instructed how to act. The young pretender wrote immediately to the earls of Kildare and Desmond to assist him against King Henry ; but before their answer could be received, Charles VHI. invited him to go to France, where he was received in the kindest manner. He remained there till peace was concluded between that prince and the king of England, at the siege of Boulogne, after which Perkin withdrew to Flanders, where he was likewise well re- ceived by his supposed aunt, the duchess of Burgundy. This year was remarkable for the voyage of Christopher Columbus, and his discovery of the new world, which Seneca seems to have predicted in his Medea.* Henry VII., to whom Columbus first ap plied, neglected, it appears, both his own interest and glory, by refusing the offer which this great man made to him in his projected voyage, and which Ferdinand of Castile con trived to turn to his own advantage. * " Ages will arise in after years, when the ocean will loose her chains, and the great globe will open ; when the sea will develope new orbs, and that Thule will not be the extreme region of the earth." The deputy of Ireland held a parliament in Dublin, in the month of June, 1493, in which some laws that had been enacted at the in- stance of Eustace of Portlester, were repeal- ed. Matters having taken a change, and the partisans of the house of Lancaster being in office, Portlester himself was commanded to appear before the court of exchequer, and ren- der an account of his bad government while he filled the office of treasurer. The city of Waterford was restored to its ancient privi- leges and freedom, of which it had been de- prived, and the crown lands were ordered to be recovered, which had been sold after the first year of Henry VI. 's reign. This parliament being dissolved in the month of August, the lord-deputy resigned his com- mission to Robert Preston, viscount of Gor- manstown. The new deputy summoned a meeting of the nobility and leading persons of the counties of Dublin, Meath, and Kil- dare, to Trim. On this occasion the chan- cellor, with the earl of Kildare, the bishops of Meath and Kildare, the barons of Slane, Delvin, Killeen, Howth, Trimlestown, Dun- sany, &c., were assembled. Articles for pre- serving the peace and welfare of the state were signed : among others, that no indi- vidual should make war unless authorized by the king or his deputy ; that the extortions and taxes with which the people had been burdened, should be abolished ; and that all vagrants, robbers, and murderers should be brought to condign punishment. Robert Preston then convened a parliament at Drogheda, the statutes of which were, how- ever, declared nidi and void by a subsequent parliament, which was held the year follow- ing in the same city, by the deputy Poyn- ings, for the following reasons, viz. : that the duke of Bedford, lord-lieutenant of Ire- land, to whom Preston was deputy, had re- signed his office before this parliament had been convened ; that the parliament was not composed of members from the whole pro- vince, but from four counties only ; and last- ly, that, in the letters patent which the king had granted to the deputy, no mention was made of any power to convene parliaments. In the month of October, Fitzsimons, arch- bishop of Dublin, ex-deputy in Ireland, went over to England to give the king an ac- count, not only of his own administration while deputy, but also of the state of affairs in Ireland at the time. The earl of Kildare having learned that his enemies in England were injurhig him in the king's opinion, went over also in November, to clear himself of the crimes which had been imputed to him. He was followed by the deputy, who con- CHRISTIAN IRELAND. 381 fided the care of government to his son dur- ing his absence, and by Ormond, the trea- surer, who prevented his vindication from being received, and had him sent back to Ireland a prisoner, to be tried. Sir Edward Poynings was at this time, A. D. 1494, appointed lord-deputy of Ireland. His principal business was to suppress the revolt of Perkin Warbeck's partisans. He arrived there in the month of September, effected great changes among the state min- isters, and put Englishmen by birth in their places ; he nominated Henry Dean, bishop of Bangor, chancellor of Ireland ; Sir Hugh Conway, treasurer ; Thomas Bowring, chief- justice of the king's bench ; John Topcliff, chief-justice of the common pleas, and Walter Ever, chief-baron of the exchequer. This deputy brought a thousand men with him to Ireland, with whom, and the other troops of the English province, he entered Ulster, under pretext that some of Perkin's adherents had taken refuge among them. It appears extraordinary that he should have been attended in this expedition by the earl of Kildare and Sir James Ormond, who had been deprived of the office of treasurer. He laid waste the districts of O'Hanlon, Ma- gennis, and others. The earl of Kildare was suspected and accused of having con- spired secretly with O'Hanlon, to destroy the deputy, but was afterwards declared in- nocent. The earl of Kildare's brother hav- ing, in the mean time, taken possession of the castle of Carlow, the deputy was obliged to give up what he had seized on in Ulster, to bring assistance to that place. For this purpose he made peace with O'Hanlon and Magennis, and marched direct to Carlow, which he besieged, and made himself mas- ter of in ten days. The king, who kept a continual watch over the duchess of Burgundy, and the sup- posititious duke of York, sent his spies to Flanders, by which means the whole secret of the party was discovered, and several of the conspirators executed in England. The archbishop of Dublin being at court, the king, who confided in him, frequently interrogated him respecting the state of af- fairs in Ireland. This prelate was one day present at a discourse delivered before the king ; who having asked him what he thought of it, the prelate answered, with a freedom worthy of the ancient philosophers, that " if his highness was satisfied, he was so like- wise, but that, at the same time, he thought his highness was too much flattered." " In good faith, father of Dublin," replied the king, " I think so too." Poynings convened the celebrated parlia- ment of Drogheda, in November, in which many statutes were enacted which are quoted by Ware, Cox, and others. Among them was one against the exaction of Coyn and Livery, and one against those who protected traitors ; it was also expressly forbidden to all persons, under pain of high treason, to excite the ancient Irish to make war upon the Eng- lish, but the most celebrated statute, which was called Poyning's law, made it illegal to convene any parliament in Ireland without informing the king, and apprizing him of the motives for the meeting, and the laws which were to be passed in it ; and further receiv- ing the approbation of his majesty and coun- cil, obtained under the great seal of Eng- land, for such meeting, and that every par- liament convened otherwise than on these conditions, should be null and without effect. This statute was not favorable to the x\nglo-Irish, whose interests had already become difl^erent from those of the English. It was passed by a parliament, the chief men of which were the deputy, chancellor, trea- surer, and other influential ministers, them- selves Englishmen by birth. The statute, however, was not always carried into eflfect, but was frequently suspended in the suc- ceeding reigns. Many other regulations that have not been printed were made in this parliament. .Sub- sidies were granted to the king, and power given to the treasurer to govern the province in case of the death or resignation of the governor, till the king's pleasure should be made known. The knights of St. John of Jerusalem were allowed to recover the lands which had been disposed of by Keating, or his predecessor, Thomas Talbot, and the grants which had been made by the kings subsequent to Edward II. were ordered to be revoked. By another act of this parlia- ment, the earl of Kildare and his brother James were accused of high treason, on ac- count of their intercourse with O'Hanlon ; their having seized upon the castle of Car- low, and exacted Coyn and Livery ; and lastly, for having entered into a secret treaty with the king of Scotland : the earl, how- ever, cleared himself in England of all these crimes, and was restored to favor. The military society of St. George, which had been established in 1479, by an act of par- liament under Edward IV., was now sup- pressed. Perkin Warbeck, who withdrew to Flan- ders with the duchess of Burgundy, a. d. 1495, filled with the extravagant notion of his assumed greatness, and instigated by 382 HrSTORY OP IRELAND. his patroness, set sail for England with near six hundred men. On his arrival upon the coast of Kent he was badly received, and lost more than a hundred and sixty of his followers, who were made prisoners, and afterwards executed. He then sailed for Ireland, in hopes of meeting with a more favorable reception. Having remained some time at Cork and the neighborhood, and find- ing it impossible that his adherents could support him against the superior forces of the deputy and other English ministers, he went over to Scotland, where he was honor- ably received, and with the consent of James IV., who was then king, married Catherine, daughter of Alexander, earl of Huntly, who was allied to the crown. The king of Scotland, who had some cause of displeasure against Henry VII., availed himself of this opportunity to declare war against him. It is said that he was en- couraged by letters which he received from the Emperor INIaximilian, Charles VIII., and Margaret of Burgundy, in favor of the im- postor. However this was, he entered Eng- land in a hostile manner ; but not finding among the English any partisans of the pre- tended prince, he laid waste the county of Northumberland, and returned to Scotland. Poynings, having governed the English province in Ireland with prudence, and en- acted wise laws, which were not, however, obeyed beyond the limits of the province, was recalled in the month of January, to re- ceive the reward of his labors. The king, who was pleased with the services he had rendered him, made him a knight of the or- der of the Garter. Henry Dean, bishop of Bangor, chancel- lor of Ireland, and afterwards archbishop of Canterbury, was appointed in the month of April, 1496, lord-justice of Ireland, in place of Poynings ; William RatclifT, vice- treasurer ; and John Pimpe , secretary of war ; and in the month of June following, Richard Nugent, baron of Delvin, was appointed general of the troops and commander-in- chief, for the defence of the counties of Dublin, Kildare, Meath, and Uriel, or Louth. Octavianus, archbishop of Armagh, con- vened a synod in the month of July, at Drogheda, the acts of which have been lost. On the return of Hugh O'Donnell from Scotland, he attacked and defeated O'Con- nor near Sligo. He then laid siege to the castle, but was forced to raise it on the ap- proach of the Burkes of Clanrickard, who laid waste the frontiers of Tyrconnel. New accusations were preferred against the earl of Kildare in England, where he was arrested and thrown into prison, which caused the death of his wife Alicia, daugh- ter of Rowland Eustace, baron of Portlester. He was accused, in presence of the king, of having burned the church of Cashel, but was saved by the ingenuousness of his answers. His enemies then said that all Ireland was not able to govern him. " Is it so ?" said the king, " he is then the fittest person to rule Ireland," and he immediately appointed him lord-lieutenant by letters patent, dated 6th of August, and restored him to his dignities and possessions. He, however, detained Gerald, eldest son of the earl, as a hostage, to secure the loyhlty of the father, who proved himself afterwards a faithful subject. The earl having returned to Ireland with Elizabeth St. John, whom he had just mar- ried, and having received, according to cus- tom, the sword of his predecessor, march- ed towards Thuomond against O'Brien, passed through Limerick, and took the cas- tle of Felyback, which belonged to Finin- Mac-Nemara. He next took the castle of Ballynice, and other fortified places ; after which expeditions he returned to Dublin, and was reconciled to Octavianus, arch- bishop of Armagh. Dean, bishop of Bangor, having been recalled to England, Walter, archbishop of Dublin, was appointed chancellor in his stead. The king, by the advice of the lord- lieutenant, resolved to grant a general par- don to all the noblemen who had been en- gaged in the affair of Perkin Warbeck, lest despair might instigate them to excite new disturbances ; he therefore granted a general amnesty to the earl of Desmond, the arch- bishop of Cashel, the bishops of Cork and Waterford, and several of the principal men of Munster. He also had the liberties and charters of Youghal restored and confirmed, and extended its privileges. The king of Scotland having made some efTorts in favor of Perkin Warbeck, was forced to beg a peace from Henry VII. That king, however, would listen to no over- tures till the king of Scotland would first give up the impostor from under his protec- tion. Under this gloomy state of things, Perkin saw that he must leave Scotland. The king, who was too generous to deliver him over to his enemies, supplied him with money to enable him to do so. He accord- ingly embarked with his wife and family for Ireland, a. d. 1497, and having arrived in Cork, found some friends there, who, how- ever, were unable to render him any impor- tant services. In the mean time, an iavita- CtlRISTIAN IRELAND. 383 tion was sent to him by the people of Corn- wall in England, who were ready to sacrifice every thing in his cause. He accordingly set sail, in the month of September, with his family, and about one hundred and twenty soldiers, and arrived at Whitesandbay, in Cornwall, although the inhabitants of Water- ford dispatched four vessels in pursuit of him. On his landing, he assumed the name and title of Richard IV., king of England, and was joined at Bodmin by a few thou- I sand men, with whom he besieged Exeter. The defence which the inhabitants made being equal to the courage of the assailants, and Perkin seeing that the bravery and good- will of his men were superior to their strength, and that the king's army was on its march, resolved to withdraw, and seek an asylum at Beaulieu, in Hampshire. He afterwards, however, surrendered him- self a prisoner, and was brought to the tower, from which he escaped ; but having been retaken and arrested in an attempt to escape a second time, he was hanged at Ty- burn, with his friend John Waters, mayor of Cork. The earl of Kildare was continually occu- pied in discharging the duties of his office. He convened a parliament at Trim, in the month of August, 1498, in which it was de- creed, among other things, that all the custom-house laws which were enacted in England, should be adopted in Ireland. A dispute happened at this time between Henry O'Neill and his two nephews, Tyr- logh and Conn, respecting the principality of Tyrone, which the former, in opposition to their interest, usurped, after killing their father. Conn O'Neill. The earl of Kildare, who was the maternal uncle of these young noblemen, espoused their cause, and at the head of an army, entered Ulster, where he was joined by O'Donnel, Maguire, and other allies of Tyrlogh O'Neill. With this com- bined force he laid siege to Dungannon, forced Niall M'Art O'Neill, who was the commander, to surrender the castle, and set the prisoners at liberty, as well as to give hostages. Henry O'Neill having been killed, young Conn took possession of Tyrone, the patrimony of his ancestors, and the earl of Tyrone took the castle of Omey. After the expedition to Ulster, the earl marched in October towards Cork, where he placed a garrison, as he had reason to suspect the loyalty of its inhabitants. He obliged them and the citizens of Kinsale to j take the usual oath, and made them give hostages. It appears that young Henry, second son of Henry VII., was appointed to the office of lord-lieutenant of Ireland, since, on the earl's return from Cork, he convened a parliament in Dublin in the month of March, and assumed the title of lord-deputy to that young prince. Richard Talbot, who had governed the priory of St. John of Jerusalem in Ireland for some time, was recalled, and Robert Evers, an Englishman, was nominated prior by the grand master of Rhodes. Some religious houses were founded at this time in Ireland. Ware mentions the convent of Rosserelly to have been estab- lished in the county of Gal way, in 1498, for Observantine monks, by an English lord called Gannard. At Invert, in the county of Antrim, there was a convent founded for the third order of Franciscans, by a Scotch nobleman. One also for the same order was founded at Dungaimon in Tyrone, by Conn O'Neill, prince of that district. A house was established for them about the same time, at Clonrahan, in the county of Roscommon, by O'Connor Roe, an Irish nobleman, of the illustrious tribe of the O'Connors of Connaught. Ireland produced some writers about this period. Philip Higgins, a Franciscan, Avrote some sacred poems : he died in 1487. Pan- derus, who is thought to have been the author of a book called " Salus Populi," flourished at the same time. He treats in it on the cause of the miseries with which Ireland was afflicted, and points out a mode by Avhich they might be remedied. Charles Maguire, a native of the county Fermanagh, and canon of Armagh, flourished at this time also. He was a learned philosopher, a deep theologian, and well versed in history. He wrote the annals of Ireland down to his own time, and died in 1495, at the age of sixty years. Donald O'Fihely, a native of the county Cork, wrote also the annals of his country to his own time, in the Irish language, which he dedicated to Flor- ence O'Mahony. Ware mentions having seen them in manuscript in London. The lord-deputy undertook an expedition into Connaught, a. d. 1499, and seized upon the castles of Athleagh, Roscommon, Tuilsk, and Castlereagh, in which he placed a gar- rison. About this time, Tirlogh O'Brien, prince of Thuomond, after the death of Gil- duff", had a dispute with Sir Pierce Butler, respecting the boundaries of their estates. It was terminated by a sanguinary conHict, in which Butler and his men were put to flight, leaving several dead upon the field of battle. The lord-deputy held a parliament at 384 HtSTOSY OF lUELAND. Castledermo(.l,in the month of August, which granted to the king and his succ-cssors a tax of twelve pence in the pound, on all kinds of merchandise that were imported, except wine and oil. In this parliament it was enacted, that the nobility, when riding, should, like the English, make use of saddles, and attend parliament in their robes. Subsidies, too, were permitted to be levied upon the people and clergy for the king's use. The adherents of the house of York being still dissatisfied, sought means, after the death of Perkin, to rescue the natural son of Richard III. from prison, and make him undertake a similar part as Perkin ; but the conspirators were discovered, and their at- tempts tended only to shorten the days of that young man. The lord-deputy returned to Ulster this year, to quell some sedition which had been raised against his nephew, Tyrlogh O'Neill. He took the castle of Kinard, in which he placed a garrison, and gave the command of it to Tyrlogh, a. d. 1500. The king, who was always inclined to mercy, pardoned the inhabitants of Cork, in the month of August, and extended their privileges by a new charter. This generous act was followed by one equally barbarous and cruel on the part of David Barry, archdeacon of Cork and Cloyne. He assassinated his brother, Wil- liam Barry ; but his crime did not long es- cape punishment ; he was arrested, and put to death by Thomas Barry, and his body, after having lain twenty days in the earth, was taken up and publicly burned, by order of the earl of Desmond. Domnal O'Fallon, of the order of St. Francis, and bishop of Derry, died at this time, having governed that see for fifteen years ; he was the most celebrated prelate of the church of Ireland in his time, for his erudition and preaching. He particularly excelled in the latter, which he exercised with applause, throughout the island, for thirty years. A general peace prevailed in 1501, in the provinces of Leinster and Munster, while Connaught and Ulster became a prey to sedition. The fort of Sligo, in Connaught, was scaled and taken by the troops of Rory, son of Tirlogh O'Connor, surnamed Cur- ragh. The discord which prevailed between the nobility of Ulster, caused several of them to perish by the sword. The O'Neills gave battle to the Scotch, by whom they were at- tacked. It was fatal to the latter, who lost four of their captains, of the tribe of the M'Donnels, and about sixty soldiers. William Shioy, or Joy, who was appointed to the see of Tuam by the pope, in 1485, governed it for sixteen years and a few months. He died a. d. 1501, and was suc- ceeded by Philip Pinson. This year was remarkable for two mar- riages that were celebrated in England. Ar- thur, the king's eldest son, and prince of Wales, married, at the age of fifteen, the princess Catherine, daughter of Ferdinand, king of Spain, on the fourteenth of Novem- ber ; and on the 25th of January following, Margaret, the king's eldest daughter, and sister to Arthur, was given in marriage to James IV. of Scotland. Prince Arthur died on the 2d of April, having lived but four months and a half after his marriage, which was never consumma- ted.* His young widow was given, six months afterwards, with the mutual consent of their parents, to his brother Henry, who was then but twelve years old ; a dispensa- tion being sought for their marriage. The death of Arthur was soon followed by that of his mother, queen Elizabeth, whose virtues made her an ornament to her sex, and the age in which she lived. About this time there was a great mortality among the cattle in Ireland, and frequent seditions broke out in Ulster, which were accompanied by murders. In the month of April, 1503, the earl of Kildare was ordered to repair to England, both to give an account of the state of affairs in Ireland, and to re- ceive fresh instructions relative to the govern- ment of the country. The earl having ended his business at court, was sent back with honor, and continued in his rank of deputy. He resumed on his return the reins of govern- ment, which he had confided in his absence to William Fitzsimons, archbishop of Dublin. Towards the end of autumn, the lord- deputy undertook an expedition into Ulster, where he destroyed the castle of Belfast. He next entered Carrickfergus, and placed a garrison in the castle ; the command of which he confided to one Staunton, and then returned to Dublin. At this time, Theobald Burke, lord of Muskry Cuirk, in Munster, was killed in a skirmish by Donagh O'Carrol.and Cornelius O'Dwyer. About the same time, Malachy O'Kelly, and some of the Burkes, who had * Cacterum Hcnricus septimiis de niedicorum concilio caveret ut gravis qu£Bdam Matrona in eodern cum illis tlialamo sociata, videret, ne came conjun- gereiitur, eo quod Arlhurus dccimum quintum jetatis annum vix dum attingens, ex lento prooterea morbo laborarct, cujus tabe post quintum mcn.sem confcc- tus, ex hac migravit. Sanderus dc Scliis. Anglic, lib. 1, page 2. CHRISTIAN IRELAND. 385 taken his part, were defeated in Connaught by Ulysses Burke. On the 18th of February following, after the death of his brother Arthur, Henry, duke of York, was created, according to custom, prince of Wales and earl of Ches- ter. Ten days afterwards, Gerald, son of the earl of Kildare, was appointed treasurer of Ireland, and took the oath in presence of the deputy and council, in Dublin. David Creagh, a native of Limerick, and archbishop of Cashel, died at this time, and was succeeded byMaurice Fitzgerald. During the episcopacy of David, the earl of Kildare caused St. Patrick's cathedral, in Cashel, to be burned ; but it is a strange fact, that the complaint which the bishop made of it to the king was rejected, although the earl acknow- ledged himself guilty. When asked why he had committed so great a sacrilege, he re- plied, swearing by his God, that he had done so, thinking that the prelate was in the church. The king, it seems, found sufficient merit in his answer, not only to grant him his pardon, but likewise to repose confidence in him, by appointing him deputy of Ireland. Philip Pinson, an Englishman, of the order of St. Francis, and lecturer in theology, was appointed to the archbishopric of Tuam by the pope, at the solicitation of Henry VII.* This prelate never went thither, having died of the plague at Rome, three days after his election. Two years after the death of Philip, the archbishopric of Tuam was given to Maurice O'Fihely, or Mauritius de Porter, a man celebrated for his learning. He is men- tioned by John Camus, in the following words : — " Maurice d Porter," says he, " a native of Ireland, of the order of St. Francis, was celebrated for his profound knowledge in theology,logic, philosophy, and metaphysics. It is impossible to give an idea of his polite, and at the same time holy and religious con- versation. Having taught the sciences with general approbation during many years, in the university of Padua, he was nominated by Pope Julian II. to the archbishopric of Tuam, whither he repaired, Italy being at the time a prey to the calamities of war. He died, however, soon after his arrival, deeply regretted by the learned world, having just attained his fiftieth year. He left many monu- ments of his learning, in manuscript, which were not published, on account of his prema- ture death." Francis Gonzaga also makes mention of him.f " Maurice, an Irishman," says he, " revived the doctrine of John Scot, * War. de Archiepisc. Tuam. War. de Script. Ilib. in 35, cap. Solini. + De Origin. Francise. part 1, p. 83. by his commentaries on ' Universality.' He published also a dictionary of the holy scrip- tures." Possevinus speaks of him in the fol- lowing manner ;*--." Maurice, an Irishmap, a minorite and archbishop of Tuam, com- posed a dictionary of the holy scriptures, which was first printed at Venice, in 1603, by John Anthony and James Francis, by order of the most illustrious Matthew Zane, patriarch of Venice ; but what remains of it at present does not go beyond the letter E. inclusive. Besides this, he explains, by com- mentaries, the whole doctrine of Scot, part of which was printed at Venice, by Simon dc Lucre, in 1500. In his exposition of Scot, the theorems were published at Venice, in 1514, by Lazare Soard. His ' Enchiridion of the Faith,' was published 1509, by Octa- vianus Scotus." John Grace also published a work of this author, entitled " Reportata." It is said that he wrote the " Life of John Scot," with a book of distinctions, which be- longs to the Franciscans at Ravenna. He is thought to have been author of an abridgment of truth, in verse, and a work on Porphyrins, published at Venice, in 1519. Nicholas Maguire, bishop of Leighlin, wrote a chro- nicle at this time, which was of much benefit to Thadeus Dowling in composing his An- nals. He also wrote the life of his prede- cessor, Milo, and began other works, which his death prevented him from completing. Some houses were founded at this time for the third order of Franciscans. The convent of Kil O'Donnel was built in the beginning of this century by O'Donnel, prince of Tyr- connel. There were two other convents belonging to this order, in the same district ; one at Killybeg, a seaport, buih by M'Swee- ny Banach ;_ the other at Fanegara, by M' Sweeny Panid, both Irish noblemen. f Ulysses Burke, commonly called M'Wil- liam, lord of Clanricard, in Connaught, made great preparations this year for some expedi- tion, the object of which could not be discov- ered. He made a league with other lords of his name, with Tirlagh O'Brien, prince of Thuomond, Mebrony O'Carrol, of Eile, and other noblemen in the south, with whom he began his campaign. Intelligence having been sent to the deputy, he collected all his forces and advanced towards Connaught, attended by several of the nobles of Meath ; namely, Viscount Gorraanstown, the barons of Slane, Delvin, Killeen, Howth, Trimles- town, and Dunsany. John Blake, mayor of Dublin, with his archers, and the inhabitants * In Apparat. Sacro. t War. de Antiq. Hib. c. 26. Monast. d'Irlande. AUemand, Hist. 49 386 HISTORY OF IRELAND. of DrogheJa ; O'Doiuu-l O'Reilly, OTcrral, bishop of ArJagh and lord of Annaly, (Long- ford,) besides other chiefs, also joined the deputy. Both annies having met, on the 19th of August, A. n. 1 50 1, within a few miles of Gal way, at a place called Knock To, or Knock Tuah, which implies the " Mount of Axes," the action began, and the ground was disputed for some hours, with equal loss on both sides ; but the Connaught army having at length lost ground, were routed, with the loss of two thousand men ; and the deputy was victorious. His loss is not known. Ac- cording to the book of Howth, says Ware, that of the vanquished amounted to nine thousand men ; and in the white book of the exchequer, it is alleged that not one Eng- lishman was wounded in the deputy's army. Ware, however, rejects both statements as incredible. After this victory the deputy laid the country waste, and made himself master of the towns of Galway and Athenry, and carried ofT considerable booty. He also took the two sons of Ulysses prisoners ; but the father escaped by flight. On his return, the earl distributed thirty barrels of wine among the soldiers who fought with him. It is affirmed by some, that this battle, in which so many lives were lost, was caused by a private dispute that occurred between the deputy and Clanricard. However this may- be, the king rewarded the deputy, by making him a knight of the garter. Fitzsimons, archbishop of Dublin, was sent over to England, some time after this, by the deputy and council, to give to the king an account of his success, and on other matters of state. This prelate acquitted himself in the discharge of his commission, to the satisfaction of all parties. A plague raged in Ireland during this year, and was particularly malignant in Ul- ster. It interrupted the synod which the archbishop of Armagh had convened, first at Drogheda, and afterwards at Ardee. The plague was followed by a famine, caused by continued rains in the summer and autumn of 1505. The year following, a disastrous fire, caused by lightning, consumed the town of Trim, at that time the most considerable in Meath. In October, 1508, the lord-deputy convened a parUament in Dublin, in which subsidies were granted to the king, by taxing the lands according to their produce. The deputy proceeded on another expedi- tion into Ulster, at the solicitation of his re- lations, the O'Neills, to assist them in recov- ering the forts of Dungannon and Omey, which had been seized upon by their ene- mies, A. D. 1509. The fort of Dungannon surrendered before his arrival in Tyrone. He proceeded then against Omey, which he took by assault, and had it razed to the ground, after restoring Arthur, son of Conn O'Neill, to liberty, who had been a prisoner in the fort. At this time, a convent for Observantine' Franciscans was founded at Cruleagh, or Balli-Rourk, in the district of Leitrim, for- merly Brcfny, by O'Rourk, lord of that country.* This was the last year of the reign and life of Henry VII. He was first attacked by the gout, and afterwards by a cold and disease of his lungs ; and died at Richmond palace on the 22d of April, in the fifty-second year of his age, and twenty-fourth of his reign. He was interred with pomp at West- minster. This prince was considered wise, and valiant, and ranked among the best kings that have ruled over England. If we except a few acts of cruelty, which he had, perhaps, thought necessary to maintain himself upon the throne, he was naturally inclined to cle- mency. For the fair sex he manifested in- difference, and for every bodily pleasure, to which persons in his station too generally think themselves entitled. His respect for religion appears from the confidence which he placed in the clergy, whose advice he fol- lowed in his most important undertakings. He was, from his youth, frugal without ava- rice ; though this vice gained strength in his latter years, to the injury of his subjects, which must be ascribed to his weakness. Finding his death approach, however, he ordered by his will, that all the money which his officers had raised unjustly in his name, should be restored. ' CHAPTER XXXI. Henry VII. beingdcad, his only son, Henry, in whose person were united the claims of the houses of York and Lancaster, succeeded to the throne of his ancestors on the 22d of April, 1509, at the age of "eighteen years. f Having performed the funeral ceremonies of his father, he married Catherine of Aragon, his brother Arthur's widow, on the 3d of June following, (a dispensation being ob- tained from Pope Julian II.,) and was so- lemnly crowned with her, on the 24th of the same month, in St. Peter's church, West- minster, by William Warham, archbishop * War. de Antiq. Hib. cap. 2G. Allemand, Hist. Monast. d'Irlande. t Polydor. Virgil. Anglic. Hist. lib. ^7. CHRISTIAN IRELANO. 387 of Canterbury, to the great satisfaction of the whole kingdom.* Henry applied himself so assiduously to study in his youth, that he was considered the most learned prince in Europe. On coming to the throne, he chose the most grave and wise among the nobles to be his counsellors ; by whose aid he matured still more his capability for government, and sub- mitted his authority to their prudence on many occasions. The greatness of this prince's mind, the beauty of his person, his munificence, courage, and other great quali- ties, seemed to promise a happier and more brilliant reign than that of which he has left so awful and disgusting a picture to posterity. The beginning of his reign, when kings generally display their best qualities, by per- forming acts of clemency, in order to make favorable impressions upon their people, was. however, stained by the death of Delapool, earl of Suffolk : that nobleman, who was detained a prisoner for a considerable time under the preceding reign, having died on the scaffold by order of the new king. His treasures soon became exhausted in tourna- ments, balls, masquerades, and other amuse- ments suited to a young prince who wished to immortalize himself by the splendor of his court ; and finding himself forced to supply the deficiency of his finances, sacri- lege, and usurpation of the goods of others, were, ere long, resorted to by him. On his accession to the throne, Henry found the earl of Kildare intrusted with the government of Ireland, as deputy. Not wishing to make any change in this country, that prince appointed him, by letters patent, to exercise the functions of lord-justice ; having informed him of the death of his father, Henry VH., and his own succession to the crown. All the other state officers he likewise confirmed in their respective posts, in consequence of which Henry VHI. was proclaimed in Dublin, and all the other towns in the English province, king of Eng- land and France, and lord of Ireland. The earl of Kildare undertook an expe- dition this year, a. d. 1510, into Munster, in which he was unsuccessful. f Having col- lected the troops of Dublin, Meath, Kildare, and Louth, and being joined by Hugh O'Donncl, prince of Tyrconnel, he directed his march towards that province, where he took some strong places in the district of Desmond, and laid the whole country waste, without meeting any opposition ; but his * Baker, Chron. on the reign of Henry VII. War. de Annal. Hib. reg. Henry VIII., cap. 1. t Iligghis' Short View. army being loaded with their spoils and plunder, he was attacked in his retreat, at Monetrar, in the county of Limerick, by the enemy, headed by James, eldest son of Maurice earl of Desmond, Tirlagh O'Brien, prince of Thuomond, and M'William of the family of the Burkes. The action was bloody, and the loss was very considerable, particularly on the side of the royalists, who owed their safety to the darkness of the night, which concealed them from their pur- suers. Robert Evers, prior of St. John of Jeru- salem, in Ireland, after an administration of thirteen years, was recalled at this time, a. d. 1511,* by order of the grand master, resi- dent in the island of Rhodes, for which no cause is given by historians. They merely mention that he was appointed to the com- mandery of Slebich, in the county of Pem- broke, in Wal«s, and that he was succeeded in the priory of Ireland by John Rawson, an Englishman, who was. afterwards made a member of the king's privy council. At this time Walter Fitzsimons, arch- bishop of Dublin, died. He was a graduate in canon and civil law, a subtle philosopher, and profound theologian.! He had been grand chorister of St. Patrick's cathedral, from wliich situation he was raised by Pope Sixtus IV. to the archiepiscopal dignity ; had held the office of deputy under the duke of Bedford, viceroy of Ireland, and was afterwards chancellor. This prelate having governed the church of Dublin for twenty- seven years, died at Finglass, two miles from the city, and was interred in St. Patrick's cathedral. After the death of this prelate, Richard Skerrett, prior of Christ's cathedral, took, according to custom, possession of the crosier, of which he was the guardian in virtue of his benefice, to give to his succes- sor,^ whose name was William Rokeby. Caher, or Charles O'Connor, prince of OfTaly, was assassinated at this time, near the Franciscan convent of Monaster-Fcoris, in the district of OfTaly. A son was born this year to Henry VIII. and Catherine of Aragon. He was called Henry. His death, which took place a few days after his birth, was the cause of great sorrow, particularly to his parents. The earl of Kildare marched at the head of his army into Ulster, a. d. 1512, where he took, and razed to the ground, the castle of Belfast, which had been recently rebuilt. History makes no mention of the earl's hav- * Ware, ibid. cap. 3. + War. de Archiepisc. Dublinicns. 388 HISTORY OP IRELAND. ing met with resistance in this expedition ; he therefore burned and pillaged the coun- I try with impunity, and carried away con- I siderable booty, which he distributed among j his soldiers. ' We must mention in this place the names : of two great writers : Thomas Brown, a secular priest, who wrote the life of Nicho- I las Maguire, bishop of Leighlin, to whom , he was chaplain ;* and Thomas Fich, a j regular, and sub-prior of Christ's church, 1 Dublin, who wrote a book on the affairs of ; that church, called the " White Book." I There were other writers also at this time. Philip Flatisbury, of John's-town, near j Naas, in the county of Kildare, according to Stanihurst,t wrote some chronicles at the request of Gerald, earl of Kildare. Ware, i who has compared these chronicles with those written by Pembrige, alleges that they j are the same, and that Flatisbury made only I a transcript of them with some additions. [ George Cogley, notary and register of the j bishopric of Meath, wrote a catalogue of the j prelates of that see, from Simon Rochford, j who was the first English bishop of it, to 1 the time of Hugh Inge, of whom this author I was contemporary. I A monk of the Cistertian order, belonging to the abbey of Duiske, in the county of Kilkenny, wrote the Annals of Ireland, by order of his abbot, Charles Cavenagh, which he continued till the time of the suppression j of monasteries. He inserted them after- j wards in the registry of the charters of this Two convents for the third order of St. Francis, were founded this year in Ireland : one at Slane, in the county of Meath, by Christopher Fleming, baron of Slane, and his wife Elizabeth Stukely ; the other at Bunamargy, in the county of Antrim, by a M'Doimel, of the house of Antrim.^ Jealousy, the certain and usual source of 1 discord, still prevailed between the Fitz- : geralds of Kildare and the Butlers of Or- i mond. These noblemen having embraced I opposite parties in the wars between York ! and Lancaster, their greatness depended on I the success of those rival houses. § Ormond i beheld with displeasure the government of ; Ireland vested in the house of Kildare ; of j which feeling the deputy was aware, but j yet was not sufficiently guarded against his ! artifice. Ormond wrote a polite letter to I * War. ibid. cap. 4. t War. de Scrip. Hiij. cap. 7. 1 i War. de Antiq. Hib. c. 2fi. Allemand, Hist. , M< nast. d'lrlaiide. i § Cox, Hib. Anglic, p. 232. him, representing that the public having ac- cused him of being opposed to his govern- ment, he was desirous of coming to an ex- planation upon the subject. For this pur- pose he proposed to meet him in Dublin, in order to clear himself in his presence, at a public assembly, of these false imputations. Kildare readily acceded to it. Ormond set out on his march, at the head of an army, for Dublin, and took up his quarters in the abbey of Thomas-court, one of the suburbs of the city. The deputy and council were not less alarmed than the inhabitants of Dublin, at the approach of these troops, who committed dreadful excesses upon their march. Ormond, however, appearing to have nothing hostile in view, sent to inform the deputy of his arrival ; told him he was ready to perform all that he had promised in his letter, and that no uneasiness need be apprehended on account of the troops. He knew, he said, that evil-minded persons had cast imputations on his conduct ; but he trusted to be able to exculpate himself on the first opportunity, in the opinion of his highness. The earl of Kildare, who was flattered by this communication, sent word to the earl of Ormond to repair, on a day appointed, to St. Patrick's cathedral, that they might treat together ; but instead of seeking measures of reconciliation, the earls began their conference by reciprocal abuse, and their example was followed by the people. The citizens had an altercation with the troops of Ormond, respecting the tyranny and oppression they exercised in the city and the suburbs. In the mean time, a company of armed archers entered, who increased the confusion, by endeavoring to kill the earl of Ormond, as the principal cause of the disturbance. The earl, seeing the danger he was in, hastened into the chapter-house, and shut himself np, by clos- ing the door after him. , He was pursued by the earl of Kildare, who promised, on his word of honor, that nothing mischievous should occur to him. Ormond, however, having asked him for his hand, as a security for his life, a hole was cut in the door, and the two noblemen shook hands through it, as a token of being reconciled. This ludi- crous scene is mentioned by Cox, and Hol- ingshed, an English writer. The church having been profaned in this sedition by the blood of some persons who had been killed, and disrespect manifested for the images, which were pierced with arrows, a legate was deputed by the pope to have the whole aflair investigated. As a penance, and to expiate the sacrilege thus committed, he CHRISTIAN IRELAND. 389 commanded that the lord-mayor should walk barefooted through the city, preceded by the holy sacrament, carried in procession, on Corpus Christi day, which penance was duly performed by that magistrate. The carl of Kildare, who was continually intent on great designs against the Irish, collected all his forces, and began his march in August^ 1513, towards Eile, the country of the O'Carrols ;* but having fallen sick at Ath}'-, he was removed to Kildare, where he died on the 3d of September. His body was brought to Dublin, and honorably in- terred in Christ's cathedral, to which he had been a benefactor. The army being disheartened by the death of their general, dispersed immediately; and thus ended the projects of this great man, in the midst of his career, at a time he promised himself most glory and success. Gerald, son of the deceased earl of Kil- dare, being treasurer at that time, was ap- pointed lord-justice by the council,' in place of his father, in virtue of the law enacted by parliament in the preceding reign. He was afterwards appointed deputy by letters pa- tent from the king. Cromptori was made chancellor, and Christopher Fleming, bai'on of Slane, treasurer. The other offices were filled up with all possible dispatch. While the lords of the English province were regulating their affairs of state, the Irish were making incursions on their lands : the O'Morras and O'Reillys were up in arms, and Donald M'Guillin took the fort of Dunluse, in Ulster, by assault. This year was remarkable for the death of two celebrated members of the church of Ireland, namely, the archbishops of Tuam and Armagh. Maurice O'Fihely, or De Portu, was born near Baltimore, in the county of Cork.f He embraced the order of the Minor Francis- cans, and was educated at Padua, in Italy, where he became celebraled for his erudition, and took the degree of doctor in theology. He was promoted to the see of Tuam by Pope Julian II. ,| in which character he at- tended the two first sessions of the council of Lateran. He came to Ireland the year following, and having fallen sick on his ar- rival in Gal way, he died in the month of May, at the age of fifty years, and was in- terred in the convent of his order. We have already spoken of his learning and literary productions. He was succeeded in the see of Tuam by Thomas O'MuUaly, or Lally. * War. ibid, cap. 5. t War. de Archiepisc. Tuamens. t Biny, Concil. 1. 9. Octavianus de Palatio, a native of Flor- ence, and doctor in canon law, was nomi- nated to the archbishopric of Armagh in 1480, by Pope Sixtus IV.* He governed that church, and held several synods, during thirty-three years. His death took place at an advanced age, and he was interred in the church of Drogheda. His successor was John Kite. In order to check the inroads which the Irish were making on the English province, the earl of Kildare advanced with his army into the district of Leix, and defeated the O'Morras, A. d. 1514; he then passed through Brefney, where he attacked the O'Reillys, killed Hugh their chief, and razed the castle of Cavan to the ground ; after which he burned the surrounding country, and return- ed home loaded with spoil. Kildare having been obliged to go to England on some affairs of moment, a. d. 1515, William Preston, viscount Gormans- town, was appointed lord-justice during his absence.! On his return, he convened, by orders of the king, a parliament in Dublin, in which the liberties and prerogatives of the church and kingdom were confirmed, and subsidies were granted to the crown. The custom was then abolished which au- thorized an appeal in suits of law from Ire- land to England, in virtue of the privy seal, unless the plaintifT became responsible to the court of chancery in Ireland for the costs and expenses of the lawsuit, in the event of a verdict being granted in favor of the defendant. William Rokeby, archbishop of Dublin, was appointed chancellor of Ireland by let- ters patent from the king ; which office he held till his death. Thomas Butler, earl of Ormond, died in London in the month of August. He had been ambassador to France, and member of the privy council ; and took his seat in the English parliament in precedence of the barons. He was the richest of all the king's subjects : and besides his plate and jewels, left forty thousand pounds sterling in ready money. Having no male children, he be- queathed all the property he possessed in England, amounting to thirty thousand pounds sterling per annum, to his two daughters, Ann and Margaret, the elder of whom had been married to Sir James St. Leger, and the second to Sir William Bollen, son of Geoffry Bollen, mayor of London, by whom she had Sir Thomas Bollen, so * War. de Archiepisc. Ardmach. t War. ibid. c. 7. 390 HISTORY OF IRELAND. well known under Henry VIII. The earl's propcrtv in In^laml, with the Orniond title, reverted to Pierce Butler of Carrick, his heir in a collateral line ; but the king, some time afterwards, made him resign it in favor of Sir Thomas Bollen, and created him earl of Ossorv. Bollen having died without an heir, the title of Ormond was restored to Butler, who thereupon resigned that of Ossory. The lord-deputy was continually intent on conquering the Irish. In 1516 he entered j the district of Imayle in the county of Wick- I low, at the head of his troops, where he killed j Shane O'Tool in battle, and sent his head I to the mayor of Dublin.* He then marched ! into the territory of Eile against O'Carrol, j where he was joined by such of the nobility I of Leinster and Munster as were of English [ descent ; among whom were Pierce Butler, I earl of Ormond, and James, eldest son of 1 the earl of Desmond. With these reinforce- I ments he penetrated still further, and laid ! siege to the castle of Lemevan, which he ' took after a siege of ten days, the garrison I having abandoned and dismantled it. In- flated with pride and confidence from these successes, he marched with all possible dili- gence towards the town of Clonmel, situated I on the river Suire ; the inhabitants of which, I terrified at his approach, surrendered on cer- 1 tain conditions. The campaign being thus ended, he returned home with hostages and prisoners. The following year, 1517, Kil- dare carried the war into tJlster. He enter- ed the district of Lecale, and surprised the ! fort of Dundrum, from which the English I had been driven by the Irish some time be- \ fore.f He took Phelim M'Gennis prisoner i in an engagement in which he lost several , of his men, and burned the neighboring vil- i lages. He then marched to Tyrone, which i he laid waste, and burned the fort of Dim- : gannon ; and having enriched himself with , booty in this expedition, returned to Dublin. I A desire for plunder induced the inhabi- 1 tants of Dublin to collect in bodies at this time. They went out of the city well armed ' to ravage the territory of Imale, in the county ! of Wicklow, but were soon put to flight, with i considerable loss, by the sept of the O'Tools, j who pursued them to their very gates. The coldness of the weather caused hostilities I to cease for some time ; the frost being so intense that the rivers were frozen over, and ! supported the heaviest carriages, a circum- I stance which seldom occurs in Ireland. Henry VIII. had three sons by Catherine * Ware, ibid. cap. 88. t War. ibid. cap. 9. of Aragon, who died in their infancy ; and likewise a daughter called Mary, born at Greenwich, a. d. 1517, who afterwards be- came queen of England.* The education of this princess was confided to Margaret, niece of Edward IV., a virtuous lady, and mother of Reginald, afterwards Cardinal Pole. Ma- ry was declared princess of Wales, and heir- ess to the crown, by the king her father, who sent her, attended by a brilliant* court, to Wales, to assume the government of that principality. She was sought for in marriage by many ofthe neighboring kings and princes A. D. 1518. Oneof the conditions of the peace concluded by Henry with France, after the battle of the spurs, and the taking of The- rouane and Tournay, was, that the dauphin of France should marry the princess Mary, who was then only two years old, so soon as she should be marriageable. The inheritance of Thomas Butler, earl of Ormond, was warmly disputed between Pierce Butler of Carrick and Sir James Or- mond, each of whom declared himself his heir. Although the right of Pierce was in- disputable, his grandfather, Edmond Butler, having been cousin-german to the deceased earl Thomas ; still, James Ormond, natural son of John Butler, brother to the last earl, and a popular character, who had held for some time the oflice of treasurer of Ireland, took possession of the entire property, leav- ing nothing to the lawful heir, who had married Margaret, sister of the earl of Kil- dare. The dispute was at length terminated by the death of James Ormond, who was killed between Dromore and Kilkenny by his opponent, who by this means recovered his right. Rokeby, archbishop of Dublin and chan- cellor of Ireland, convened a provincial sy- nod in Dublin, the canons of which are to be met with in the registry of the bishopric of Ossory. Some difl'erences having arisen between Arthur O'Neill, a prince of the house of Tyrone, and O'Dogharty, O'Neill marched into the peninsula of Inis-Owen, the country of O'Dogharty, where he put all to fire and sword. The great authority of the earl of Kildare, who was still deputy in Ireland, created ene- mies for him, who left nothing undone to render him suspected by the court of London. He was accused, a. d. 1519, of having gov- erned unjustly, and particularly of having enriched himself by appropriating the reve- nues and lands of the crown to his own use, * Sander, de Schis. Anglic. Edit. Ingolstad. lib. 1, p. 4, et seq. CHRISTIAN IRELAND. 391 and of having tried to conciliate the friend- ship of the Irish, so as to attach them to his interests. The influence of Cardinal Wolsey was made use of, to oblige him to go to England, in order to clear himself of these charges . Previous, ho we ver, to his departure , he substituted in his place, with the king's permission, Maurice, son of Thomas Fitz- gerald of Lackagh, his relative, with the title of lord-justice. The earl having presented himself at court, his case was examined into before the council l during which investiga- tion he married Elizabeth Grey, daughter of the marquis of Dorset. This alliance having procured him friends in England, he was restored to the king's favor, whom he accom- panied to France, and was present at the interview between the kings of France and England, which took place near Calais, be- tween Ardres and Guisnes, at a place called the field of the Cloth of Gold, from the splendor of the meeting of the two princes. At this time Cardinal Wolsey possessed the unbounded confidence of the king :* having from being a man of obscure origin, become the most powerful subject in the kingdom. This prelate, called Thomas at his baptism, was the son of a butcher at Ipswich in Suffolk. He was educated at Ox- ford, in Magdalen college, where he evinced a particular fondness for study. His fortune was first raised by the marquis of Dorset, who gave him a living. His second patron was John Naphant, treasurer of Calais, who presented him to Henry VI I ., which monarch having a matter of importance to negotiate with the Emperor Maximilian, intrusted Wol- sey, who was then his chaplain, with his dispatches. So promptly was this commission performed, that Wolsey had returned to England, when it was supposed he could scarcely have arrived at the imperial court. The king was so pleased with the success of his envoy, that he conferred upon him the deanery of Lincoln, and subsequently made him his almoner, which office he held on the accession of Henry VIII. to the throne. The favor of this prince he secured to him- self so well that he was appointed a member of his council, and successively bishop of Tournay, Lincoln, archbishop of York, and lastly, cardinal and legate, chancellor of Eng- land, and bishop of Winchester. He was abbot of the convent of St. Alban's, and pos- sessed likewise the revenues of the episcopal sees of Bath, Worcester, and Hereford,which he held like farms from foreign titular bishops, who did not reside in the kingdom ; besides * Baker's Cliron. on the Reign of Henry VIII. several priories and other benefices. So great was the splendor to which he attained, that he kept an almost incredible number of officers and servants in his household ; and when sent by the king as an ambassador to the court of France, he brought with him, in his train, twelve hundred horses, eighty chariots, sixty mules, and other parts of his retinue in proportion. Splendor cannot be supported without wealth, and Wolsey was insatiable in his pursuit of it. Man generally possesses many passions, but one usually pre- ponderates, in which the others seem to cen- tre. The cardinal's ruling passion was am- bition. He aspired to nothing less than the papal chair, for which object he sought to obtain the friendship and influence of Charles v.* This emperor, who looked upon him as necessary to aid him in carrying his plans into effect, began to display much regard towards him by a frequent correspondence, and in the letters which he wrote, he signed himself, " Charles your son and relation.'''' The emperor gave him cause to hope that he would use his influence to have him elected to the see of St. Peter, on the death of Leo X., provided, however, that he would influ- ence the king of England to unite with him in a war, offensive and defensive, against France. The cardinal endeavored to fulfil these conditions, but finding his hopes frus- trated upon the death of Pope Leo, by the election of Adrian VI., at the recommenda- tion of Charles, whose preceptor he had been, he thought it prudent to dissemble for a while, and await the death of Adrian. He then discovered that this prince had no longer the same regard for him, and that, after Francis I. had been taken at the battle of Pavia, he wrote to him but seldom, and in a hand diff*erent from his own, subscribing himself simply, " Charles. ^^ He accordingly formed a plan of being revenged, by espous- ing the cause of France ; which was the real motive for the pains which Wolsey took to procure the divorce of Catherine of Aragon, queen of England, and maternal aunt of Charles V. As we shall have frequent occa- sion to speak of the cardinal, we have thought this digression necessary, in order to eluci- date his character, and make it known. In the sequel we shall witness his fall and ruin. Wolsey having represented to the king that his affairs in Ireland were too much neglected, and that it was of absolute neces- sity to confide the government of it to a man of impartiality, wholly unconnected with the factions by which that country was torn, and * Sanderus, ibid. lib. 1, page 8. 392 HISTORY OF IRELAND. which caused so much blood to flow, recom- mended :ind caused Thomas Howard, earl of Surrey, lo be appointed, less, however, it is said, through love for this nobleman, than hatred for the earl of Kildare. The earl of Surrey, lord-admiral of Eng- land and Ireland, and knight of the garter, having been nominated lord-lieutenant of Ireland, a. d. 1 520, landed in Dublin the week before Pentecost, with his wife, daughter of Edward duke of Buckingham.* He was escorted by one hundred men as a guard, and a thousand soldiers, cavalry and infantry. This viceroy had no sooner assumed the reins of government, than he received intelligence that Conn Backagh O'Neill, prince of Tyrone, was advancing at the head of an army, to devastate the county of Meath, which was not in a state to defend itself.f Hoping to signalize the beginning of his administration by a victory, the governor collected the pro- vincial troops, with those he had brought from England, and marched towards Slane ; but O'Neill had already retimied to Ulster. Paulus Jovius asserts that the prince of Ulster had four thousand cavalry and twelve thou- sand infantry, and that the viceroy, not deem- ing it prudent to attack him, endeavored to conciliate him by presents. The truth is, that O'Neill made his peace with the king by letters, and was restored to favor. Surrey wrote to Wolsey in the month of September, to inform him that some soldiers who were taken as pirates upon the coasts, were thrown into prison ; but complained to him that his commission did not authorize him to have them put to death. In order to make the cardinal his friend, he informed him that the earl of Kildare was fomenting a re- bellion in Ireland, and that he had written for that end some letters to O'Carroll ; and that the country would be lost if he were permitted to return. He added, that so great was the scarcity of provisions in Ireland, that a soldier could not subsist himself on four pence a day, and asked that a penny might be added to their pay. This address from the deputy to Wolsey, was, perhaps, the cause of a letter which the king wrote to him in the month of October following.| This prince, who began to dis- cover that it was imprudent, and even unjust, to endeavor to make the Irish pass for ene- mies in their own country, informed him that in order to keep peace with them, and intro- duce a form of government among them, it * Ware, ibid. cap. 12. t Cox, History of Ireland, on the reign of Henry VIII. t Cox, History of Ireland, page 209. was necessary to grant them the privileges of the law. He then sent him a more extended commission, with the power of creating knights, and ordered him to confer the degree of knighthood upon O'Neill and other Irish noblemen ; and also to propose a marriage between the son of the earl of Ormond, and the daughter of Sir Thomas Bollen. Lastly, the king sent O'Neill a gold collar, as a pledge of his friendship, and wrote to the deputy to endeavor to induce him to go to court. Maurice, son of Thomas Fitzgerald of Lackagh, of whom we have already spoken, was killed in an engagement, by the O'Morras of Leix ; the cause of which is not mentioned by historians. Maurice, earl of Desmond, having died, James, his son and successor, repaired to Waterford to the lord-deputy, who labored with success to effect a recon- ciliation between the houses of Desmond and Ormond. Two convents were founded at this time in the county of Antrim, for friars of the third order of St. Francis ; one at Masserin, by O'Neill, another at Limbeg, by- M'Don- nel of Antrim.* The O'Byrnes, of Wicklow, having taken up arms, the earl of Surrey marched against them with a formidable army, a. d. 1521; but he had no difficulty in reducing a light- armed, and inexperienced soldiery, his army being superior both in numbers and mili- tary discipline. He disbanded the company of Bulmer, consisting of fifty horsemen, for having shown marks of cowardice in this expedition. The deputy convened a parliament in Dublin, in the month of June, in which laws were made relative to the state of affairs at that time.f It was enacted that the burning of houses or ricks of corn, either through design or premeditated malice, should be subject to the same punishment as felony. The export- ation of flocks and of wool was prohibited, under the penalty of a fine and confiscation. It was enacted, likewise, that from the small number of subjects in the counties subject to the laws of England, a man worth ten marks a year might be appointed a juror on public trials. This parliament, which was several limes prorogued, terminated its sittings in the month of May following. The deputy having received intelligence in Dublin, that the O'Morras, O'Connors Faly, O'CarroUs, and other Irish chieftains, were threatening the frontiers of the English province, gave orders to have his forces col- * War. de Antiq. Hib. Allemand, Hist. Monast d'Irlande. t War. ibid. cap. 13. CFIRISTIAN IRELAND. 393 lected. He intended both to repel the enemy and revenge at the same time the death of Mam-ice, son of Thomas Fitzgerald, who had been killed the preceding year by the O'Morras. The deputy was soon joined by the militia of Dublin and Drogheda, under the command of the mayors of those cities, and several noblemen followed by their vas- sals, to whom a few Irish nobles, with their light cavalry, were also added. All these troops being joined to the forces which the deputy had brought from England, and sup- ported with some pieces of cannon, which were not at that time made use of by the Irish, formed an army that was more than equal to put down men that were badly armed. Notwithstanding this, the English make a boast of their victories. All things being prepared, the deputy marched at the head of his army towards the district of Leix. The Irish troops were divided into compa- nies, headed by their respective chiefs. This was done apparently with a view of harassing the enemy, as they were not strong enough to face them in a body. One of these detachments made a vigorous attack upon the baggage of the enemy, and put a body of English who were guarding it to flight ; but being promptly relieved by the enemy, the Irish lost the glory of this action, and the hope of a rich spoil. An accident which oc- curred to the deputy, proved the danger he would incur by penetrating the district of Leix. As he was passing a defile at the head of his army, a musket-shot was fired at him, which, but for his helmet, must have been fatal. The man who fired it was put to death upon the spot. The deputy not find- ing himself secure, turned his arms tov/ards Ofialy, and laid siege to a monastery called Monaster-Feoris, Avhere O'Connor kept a garrison. The walls of the convent could not long withstand the battering of three pieces of cannon, and the garrison, alarmed at this new mode of carrying on a siege, escaped dur- ing the night, and abandoned the place to the deputy, who left a detachment to guard it. With the rest of the troops he laid the neigh- boring country waste. Little booty, however, was found in it, as O'Connor took care to have all the corn, cattle, and everything necessary for the subsistence of an army, carried away. In the mean time O'Connor, with O'Car- rol, and other allies, made incursions into Meath, either to create a diversion or to be revenged for the tyranny that was exercised over them, and thereby prevent the English in that country from uniting with the deputy. However this may have been, they found themselves, on their return, in front of the English army, whose superior numbers were a just cause of alarm. They resolved there- fore to act on the defensive, and to fight re- treating ; by which both parties sustained considerable loss. Among the English, Edward Plunket, lord of Dunsany, in that county, whose descendants have since borne the title of barons of Dunsany, was found among the slain. About this time, Aodh, or Hugh O'Don- nel, prince Tyrconnel, returned from a pil- grimage to Rome, and made a truce with the king of England. He wrote some letters on this occasion to the deputy, promising to as- sist him against his enemies. The deputy received his proposal gladly, calculating upon his alliance, and that of O'Neill, who provided him with four hundred horse, and twelve hundred light-armed troops. An ex- pedition was now undertaken against O'Ma- laghlin of Clonlolan, a powerful nobleman, descended from the kings of Meath.* O'Neill and O'Donnel were the chiefs of two rival houses in Ulster, as M'Carty and O'Brien v/ere in Munster. These noblemen were often known to sacrifice every thing, even the welfare of their country, to their private resentments. O'Donnel, finding his neigh- bor and friend ready to fall, under the united eftbrts of the deputy and Tyrone, thought it prudent, notwithstanding the peace he had lately concluded with the former, lo cause a diversion in favor of O'Malaghlin ; and for this purpose he invaded Tyrone, whereby O'Neill was forced to abandon his ally, in order to defend his own patrimony, by which means the enterprise against O'Malaghlin proved abortive. A war broke out at the same time in Mun- ster, between Cormac Mac-Carthy of Mus- kerry, commonly called Cormac Oge Lader, and James, earl of Desmond. f William Rokeby, archbishop of Dublin, and other commissioners, were deputed to settle their diflferences, and repaired for that purpose to Waterford, but their eflforts failed, as Des- mond would hear of no settlement, but con- tinued to pillage and lay waste the lands of M'Carty. The latter was a brave and pow- erful nobleman ; and being joined by Mac- Carty Riagh, the O'Mahonys, and other lords of Carbry, he met the earl near the monas- tery of Morn, otherwise More, or Ballina- mony, which was a commandery belonging to the order of Malta, between Mallow and Cork. A sanguinary engagement took place in September, between these noblemen and * Camd. Brit, page 754. t Ware, ibid. c. 13. I 394 HISTORY OF IRELAND. the earl, which was fatal to him ; his uncles John and Gerald were made prisoners, and j more than a thousand of his men fell on the I field of battle ; the earl, however, saved I himself by flight. j John Kite, a native of London, having held the conuriission of legate or ambassador ' for Henry VIII., in Spain, was appointed to the archbishopric of Armagh in 1513, by Pope Leo X.* This prelate, says our au- thor, was celebrated for his hospitality and the goodness of his table. He resigned the see of Armagh in 1521, and was succeeded by George Cromer. About this time William Rokeby, the arch- bishop of Dublin, died.f He was first nomi- nated to the bishopric of Meath in 1507, by Julian II., and admitted the same year into the council of Henry VII. In 1511 he was removed to the archbishopric of Dublin by the same pope, and was afterwards made chancellor of Ireland. He convened a pro- vincial synod, the statutes of which are in the Red Book of the church of Ossory. His body was interred in St. Patrick's cathedral, and his heart brought to England, and depos- ited in the tomb of his ancestors. His suc- cessor in the see of Dublin was Hugh Inge. The earl of Surrey, lord-deputy of Ireland, finding it impossible to reduce the Irish, or support himself honorably in the government of the country for want of money, (the trea- sury in England being exhausted,) solicited Cardinal Wolsey to have him recalled, which request was granted him. He returned to England with all his family, and the troops he had taken with him. By order of the king, Piers, or Peter Butler, earl of Ormond, his friend, was appointed deputy in his stead. Surrey was kindly received, on his return, by the king, and appointed to the command of his fieet in the war against France. Ormond, finding that the Irish forces were considera- bly weakened by the departure of the Eng- lish troops, and dreading an invasion from the Scotch, requested the cardinal to order that six ships of war should cruize between Ire- land and Scotland, to act as a check upon that Deople. CHAPTER XXXII. We have now arrived at the period of the fall of religion in many of the states of Eu- rope, and of the glory of Henry VIII. king of England. If it be painful to behold an ambitious and profligate monk oppose him- * War tie Archiep. Ardmaeh. + Idem, de Archiep. Dubliniens. self to a religion which he should, from his station, have supported even with the loss of life ; it is, on the other hand, edifying to see a king acting the part of a divine in its defence. Before the beginning of the fifth century, all the nations of Europe were united in the same worship, the same sacrifice, the same sacraments, and in subordination to the same head in matters of religion. Though there were a few sects who differed in some points from the common faith, such as the Vaudois in the valleys of Piedmont, the Lollards in England, and the disciples of John Huss in Bohemia ; still they were but obscure charac- ters, whose influence could make little impres- sion against the unity in religion, and submis- sion to the legitimate authority of the church, which prevailed at the time. Martin Luther, of Wirtemberg in Saxony, and a friar of the order of St. Augustin, was more successful. Being jealous of the preference which Leo X. had given to the Dominicans, by allowing them to preach certain indulgences, he began in 1517 to excite controversies, and refute those indulgences, together with other points of the Catholic tenets in religion. Being con- demned in a bidl issued by the pope in 1520, he no longer kept any terms with the holy see. He was, as he himself acknowledges in the preface to his works at Wirtemberg, alone in the beginning, and diffident of suc- ceeding, but finding himself supported by Andrew Carlostad, archdeacon of Wirtem- berg, and Philip Melancthon, professor of Greek in that university, who embraced his doctrine, and protected by his sovereigTi, the elector of Saxony, he removed the mask, and used his pen in publishing the most heinous and calumnious attacks upon the spouse of Jesus Christ, and the pope, whom he termed Antichrist. In 1525 he married Catherine Boren, a mm, who found means to escape from her convent, in defiance of the solemn vows of chastity they had both made when embracing the monastic life ; imitating there- in Carlostad, who had married some time previously. Their example w^as followed, in this respect, by most of the early preach- ers of the Protestant religion. These new reformers first took the name of Evangeli- cals ; as heretics always boast of the author- ity of the Scriptures and the holy fathers, and, by forced interpretations, make them appear to favor their own views. They were afterwards called Protestants in 1529, from the protest made by six princes of the empire, and fourteen towns, when the diet of Spires had published a decree agauist them.* * Sleidan, lib. 6. Osiander. lib. 2, cap. 9. CHRISTIAN- IRELAND. 395 Luther was specially protected by Philip, landgrave of Hesse, to whom this false apos- tle "gave permission to keep two wives at the same time ; and his doctrine spread itself through the north of Germany, the king- doms of Denmark and Sweden, and a part of Poland. Avarice and cupidity had a con- siderable share in their sudden conversion.* Frederick I. having dethroned his nephew Christiern II., began his reign in Denmark in 1522, and introduced Lutheranism into that kingdom, through the ministry of Bu- genhage, a Lutheran of Pomerania. All the bishops who would not subscribe to the reformed tenets, were dispossessed, and others nominated in their stead, whose power and revenues were considerably less- ened. The same system took place in Swe- den in 1523. King Christiern was expelled by Gustavus Eric, through the influence of Peter Nevicius, a Lutheran. f The Lutheran religion was established in the country by the new king, with the intention of appro- priating the revenues of the church to his own purposes. They were therefore siezed upon, and a law enacted by which the pro- perties of bishops became dependent on the lung's will. Dantzic was the first city in Poland which received the doctrine of Lu- ther ; and in so tumultuous a manner was this effected, that the common council was suddenly changed by the patrons of the new religion. The churches were profaned and stripped of their ornaments, the priests and other religious persons shamefully abused, the mass abolished, and every thing changed through the fury of these innovators. It was thus they had their gospel preached by the populace in other towns of Germany. In this manner did the doctrine of Luther spread itself in the north, while Zuingle, a priest of Zurich, CEcolampadius, a monk of Basle, in Switzerland, and a few others, preached a different doctrine, which drew upon them the censures of Luther, who termed them fanatics, heretics, and blasphe- mers, men possessed by the devil, and who sinned against the Holy Ghost, &c. John Calvin, a priest, and native of Noyon in Picardy, came to their assistance. He em- braced the doctrine of Zuingle, which he reformed by the addition of some articles respecting the real presence, predestination, free will, &c. " While the Lutherans," says Heylin, an English Protestant writer,;}: " were acting their part in Germany, another party began to appear in Switzerland, headed * Heylin. Cosmog. edit. 5, page 106. + Idem. Cosmog. page 140. t Cosmog. lib. 2, page 36. by Zuingle. They did not consult together, and all pursued different ways, particularly in what related to transubstantiation and the real presence : on these points neither they nor their disciples could agree. Calvin hav- ing got precedence to Zuingle, added some articles to the doctrine of the latter, respect- ing predestination and freedom of the will, &c. ; so that their differences having in- creased, the breach became irreparable, and the cause was followed up on both sides so warmly, that they sought less after the truth than the victory. The religion having been again changed in 1528," continues Heylin,* " in the canton of Berne, by Viret and Farel- lus, two Zuinglian preachers, the same thing was attempted in Geneva, where they in- sinuated themselves into the minds of the people to such a degree, that the bishop and clergy, who were opposed to their proceed- ings, were forced, by a rising of the people, to leave the city." A few fanatics, under the name of reformers, are generally suffi- cient to impose upon the populace, and drive them to acts of outrage ; as they are easily seduced by appearances, and are not upon their guard against that spirit of am- bition and revolt against legal authority, by which these false teachers are actuated and urged on. " They changed," says Heylin, " the doctrine and discipline established in the church, overthrew the government of the state, and renounced, under the pretext of liberty, that allegiance which they had pro- mised to their prince. Their conduct was, however, approved of by Calvin, who after- wards came to settle among them." Our author speaks in the same place, of the eccle- siastical discipline of Presbyterianism, intro- duced by Calvin into the church of Geneva, and thence extended to wherever Calvinism was received ; " a discipline, (says he,) which was engendered in rebellion, born in sedition, and nurtured by faction." He says again, speaking of these reformers,! " Rather than see their discipline rejected, and episcopacy left unannihilated in all Christian churches, they determined to depose kings, to destroy kingdoms, and overthrow the fundamental constitution of states. Their ambition led them to commit these excesses, by affecting a sort of supremacy in their parishes, and creating lords in the inheritance of God, under pretence of placing Jesus Christ upon his throne. This passion for pre-eminence induced themto use violent invectives against the bishops, whom they not only refused to * Cosmog. lib. 2, page 136. t Cosmog. lib. 1, page 137. 396 HISTORY OF IRELAND. receive, but expelled all those who acknow- ledged them Irom their churches. This am bition in the ordinary ministers of parishes was artfully fomented by some of the hioher clergy, and the lay patrons, who all had their own respective interests in view ; some to increase their fortunes by despoiling the bishops, and others to apply to their own use the tenth of the benefices, of which they were only the depositaries. Such was the artifice made use of to spread the doctrine of Calvin. This new doctrine, which, from its author, was called Calvinism, was received into Switzerland, and some provinces of France, parts of Germany, Hungary, Bohemia, and Poland, the united provinces of Holland, and Scotland, where it was introduced by John Knox and his associates. The Catholic theologians testified their zeal in refuting these new teachers. The first and principal writers against Luther, were Eckius, Cochlaeus, and Faber, in Ger- many ; Silvester de Prieris, general of the Dominicans in Italy ; the theologians of Paris and Louvain, in France and Flanders ; Fisher, bishop of Salisbury, and Sir Thomas More, in England. But the most celebrated antagonist of this heresiarch was Henry Vni., who wrote a book against the Baby- lonian captivity, entitled the " Assertion of the Seven Sacraments," which he dedicated to Pope Leo X. This work gained him the glorious title of Defender of the Faith, which his holiness conferred on him by a bull, dated St. Peter's, Rome, the 11th of Octo- ber, and signed by twenty-seven cardinals and bishops. Leo X. died in the December following. He was succeeded by Adrian VL, a native of Holland, who had been preceptor of Charles V., and was elected while viceroy in Spain, before the arrival of Richard Pacey, dean of St. PaulV, London, whom Wolsey had sent to interfere in his own behalf. Though the earl of Surrey brought back his troops to England, tranquillity prevailed in the English province, a. d. 1522. It was not so in the north of Ireland, where two powerful and rival princes, O'Neill and O'Donnel, were continually at war. After some engagements, O'Neill invaded the district of Tirconnel, where he committed dreadful devastations, and burned Ballyshan- non castle, the principal place in that dis- trict, situated at the mouth of Lough Earne, while O'Donnel was desolating Tyrone, from which he carried away many prisoners. The English who had settled in Ireland, not content with their first usurpations, sought incessantly the opportunity of ex- tending their possessions, at the expense of their neighbors. M'GioUa Phadruig, or Fitzpatrick, lord of Ossory, and neighbor to the Butlers, having had some cause of dis- pleasure against Peter Butler, earl of Or- mond, who was then deputy, sent his com- plaint to the khig of England, threatening to declare war against him in case he should refuse to punish Red Peter. The faithful messenger, meeting the king on his way to mass, spoke to him in the following words, which are mentioned in the book of Howth, and are too remarkable to be omitted : " Stop, my lord king," said he ; " my lord M'GioUa Phadruig has sent me to tell you, that if you do not chastise Red Peter, he will declare war against you." At this time the plague depopulated Lim- erick and its environs ;* David Comin, mayor of the city, was among the number of those who fell victims to it. He was succeeded in office by Nicholas Arthur. This year was remarkable for the taking of the island of Rhodes, which surrendered on Christmas day, to Soliman XL, emperor of the Turks, after a vigorous defence of some months, by the knights of St. John of Jerusalem. The earl of Kildare having returned from England, A. d. 1523, invaded, by the permis- sion of the earl of Ormond, who was deputy, the territory of Leix, attended by his troops, and the inhabitants of Dublin, under the command of John Fitzsimon, mayor of the city. Having burned a few villages, he fell into an ambuscade, which had been pre- pared for him by the O'Morras, in which he sustained a heavy loss, but considered him- self fortunate in having escaped with a por- tion of his army. The old enmities which formerly prevailed between the earl of Kildare and Ormond, his brother-in-law, broke out anew about this time. James Fitzgerald had not a little contributed to this. He was the favorite of Kildare, and having met, near Ballymore, with Robert Talbot of Belgard, who was going to spend the Christmas at Kilkenny with the deputy, of whom he was suspected to have been the spy, he murdered him. Ormond, who was justly incensed by this cruel act, committed through hatred towards himself, sent his complaints to court against Kildare, whom he accused of various crimes. Maurice Fitzgerald, archbishop of Cashel, died this year.f He was nominated to that * Ware, ibid. cap. 14. t Ware, de Arch. Cassill. CHKISTIAN IRELAND. 397 see in 1504, by Pope Julian II. He con- vened a synod at Limerick, the statutes of which were inserted in the registry of Thomas Purcel, formerly bishop of Lismore and Wa- terford. His successor was Edmond Butler. In this year also Gerald Cavanagh died. He was chief of his tribe, and descended from the kings of Leinster ; and was much es- teemed among the Irish. His heir, Mau- rice Cavanagh, succeeded him in his estates ; who having died with his two sons, Dermod and Donogh, Charles Cavanagh succeeded to their inheritance. The court of London did not forget the accusations that were made, the preceding year, by the deputy against the earl of Kil- dare, a. d. 1524.* It is said that, at the solicitation of the marquis of Dorset, Kil- dare's father-in-law, the king appointed com- missioners, with full power to examine into the aflliir. The commissioners were. Sir Ralph Egerton, Sir Anthony Fitzherbert, and James Denton, dean of Lichfield ; who arrived in Dublin in the month of June, and having heard the case of both earls, Ormond was superseded, and Kildare appointed to succeed him. The earl having taken the oath usual on these occasions, the sword of state was carried before him by his relative. Conn O'Neill. They then repaired to the abbey of St. Thomas, after which the com- missioners, with many noblemen, were sumptuously entertained by Kildare. After this the commissioners returned to England, bringing James Fitzgerald, whom we have already mentioned, a prisoner with them. This nobleman was given up to Car- dinal Wolsey, the implacable enemy of the Fitzgeralds. In order to load him with still greater ignominy, he was brought to prison through the streets of London, with a rope around his neck. Fitzgerald, however, after a short time, obtained, through the inter- ference of Denton, dean of Lichfield, the king's pardon, and was set at liberty, in op- position to the cardinal. The Emperor Charles V., and Henry VIII., king of England, having entered into a league against Francis I., resolved to attack him on all sides. To defend himself, Francis made all the alliances he could against them. The duke of Albania was sent to Scotland to create a diversion in that quarter;! and be- ing aware too, that the Irish had long and reluctantly borne the dominion of the Eng- lish, and that they supported a vigorous and just warfare against them, Francis proposed * Ware, de Annal. cap. 16. t Baker, Chron. Engl. p. 271. a treaty of alliance with some of their chiefs.* James Fitzgerald, earl of Desmond, was then a powerful lord in Munster. From the situa- tion of his estates in the south of the island, he was more contiguous to France than the others, and although a natural subject of the king of England, either through an ambition of reigning, or a spirit of revenge for the death of his ancestor, who had been unjustly beheaded at Drogheda, he was the first to express his dissatisfaction towards the Eng- lish government. He entered into the views of the French monarch, who concluded a confederacy with him on the 20th of June, 1523 ; the original act is in the " Chambre des Comptes" in Paris, wherein he is styled James, earl of Munster, and prince of Ire- land. Terdelach O'Brien, hereditary prince of Thuomond, was included in this treaty, by which Francis bound himself, among other things, to make no peace or truce with Henry VIII., withoutincluding the earl of Desmond and Lord Theodore, or Terdelach O'Brien and his family. This treaty, however, was not observed afterwards. Many princes and noblemen in Ireland would willingly have joined in it, but there was not time. Francis I. was taken prisoner at Pavia, and a peace concluded the yearfoUowing between France and England, in which the earl of Desmond was not included, since Henry VIII. had orders dispatched to the earl of Kildare, who was deputy, to have him arrested for high treason. The earl of Desmond had no legitimate son ; and but one daughter called Jane, who was married to the earl of Ormond, and was mother to Earl Thomas Butler, a knight of the order of the garter, and a favorite of Queen Elizabeth.! The earl of Desmond was suspected, according to the author of the account of the Geraldines, of keeping up a secret correspondence with the Emperor Charles V., king of Spain. He flattered himself that this emperor would give him his daughter in marriage, which would enable him to have Ireland invaded by foreign troops. There appears to be an error in this account, and that the author has substi- tuted Charles V. for Francis I., who had concluded a treaty with the earl, in 1523. Through the intrigues of Cardinal Wolsey, the avowed enemy of the nobility, and par- ticularly opposed to the Fitzgeralds, Des- mond was summoned to appear, and give an account of his conduct. The cardinal's power caused diffidence in the earl, and being afraid * Ware, de Annal. Hib. cap. 16. t Relat. Giraldis. traduc. Francoise de I'Abb^ Joubert, p. 16, et. seq. 398 mSTORy OP IRELAND. to submit to llie order, he objected to the trial. The king therefore sent his commands to the earl of Kildare, viceroy of Ireland, to have Desmond arrested, and immediately sent to England. The non-execution of the royal mandate was, as we shall presently see, the cause of Kildare's disgrace. In obedience to the king's commands, the deputy marched at the head of his troops towards Munster, without meeting Desmond, which circumstance gave rise to a suspicion of his being partial to the earl, who was his kinsman. It is even asserted that Kildare had enlisted the O'Byrnes of Wicklow in Desmond's interest, and that he wrote to the latter, proposing an interview with him in the district of Ossory, which letter was in- tercepted by the intrigues of Wolsey. The earl of Kildare and Conn O'Neill, prince of Tyrone, with their united forces, entered the country of Tirconnel, deter- mined on making war against Manus O'Don- nel, prince of that district ; but receiving intelligence that Hugh O'Neill, Conn's rival, was levying troops in Tyrone during their absence, they made a truce with O'Donnel, marched against Hugh O'Neill, and gave him battle, which he lost, together with his life. John Barnwell, baron of Trimlestown, Avas at this time appointed vice-treasurer of Ireland. The continual rains in the autumn of 1 525 caused a great scarcity of provisions that year in Ireland, and the drought of the sum- mer was followed by a plague which carried ofT numbers, particularly in the neighbor- hood of Dublin. At this time Cardinal Wolsey set the first example of suppressing monasteries in Eng- land.* This ambitious prelate, wishing to immortalize his name by some public monu- ment, obtained permission from the king to establish two colleges, one at Oxford and the other at Ipswich, and likewise to suppress forty monasteries, the wealth and revenues of which were afterwards applied to the building and support of these colleges ; a pernicious example, says Baker, though a Protestant, which the king imitated, by sup- pressing all religious houses in the kingdom. Discord still prevailed between Conn O'Neill of Tyrone, and Manus O'Donnel of Tirconnel, a. d. 1526. Those two princes wishing to make the earl of Kildare the ar- bitrator of their difl'erences, repaired to him. Each, however, being resolved on establish- ing his own claim, they separated without coming to any arrangement. * Bakei, Chron. of England, page 273. The earl of Kildare was summoned this year to appear before the council in England, to render an account of his administration, and answer to the several charges of which he stood accused;* the principal were, 1st, having neglected the orders which the king had given him to arrest the earl of Desmond ; 2d, having made an alliance with the hostile Irish ; 3(1, having caused many good and faithful subjects to be hanged, whose only crime was having been favored by the family of the Butlers ; 4th, holding a secret corre- spondence with O'Neill, O'Connor, and other enemies, and of having excited them to make incursions on the lands of the earl of Or- mond, when he was deputy. Before his departure for England, Kildare nominated his brother, Thomas Fitzgerald of Leixlip, deputy in his place. Kildare's chief adversaries were Cardinal Wolsey and the earl of Ormond, who possessed sufficient authority to send him a prisoner to the tower, from whence he was afterwards brought be- fore the council to be heard. The cardinal performed the part of a lawyer, and pleaded against him ; but the earl was a man of great discernment, and was beloved by several of the lords who composed the council, so that the cardinal, fin4ing it impossible to have him condemned, adjourned the matter to another day, and in the mean time the earl was sent back to the tower. The cardinal, who only sought the opportunity of destroy- ing him, having received fresh informations respecting the secret understanding of the earl Avith O'Neill and O'Connor, sent orders to the lieutenant of the tower to have him executed. This officer, who was greatly attached to the earl, did not fail to commu- nicate to him the order he had just received from the cardinal : on which the earl pre- vailed on him to go immediately and learn the king's will in the affair. The monarch was both surprised and indignant at such conduct ; he forbid all further proceedings against the earl ; and as a proof of it he gave his ring to the lieutenant of the tower, with orders to show it to the cardinal. The earl was then set at liberty on bail of several of the nobles, and was reinstated in the king's favor, who soon afterwards restored him to his former dignities. Thomas Fitzgerald, of Leixlip, who had exercised the functions of deputy during the earl's absence, was replaced by Richard Nu- gent, baron of Delvin, a. d. 1 527. The earls of Kildare and Ormond, whose private quar- rels were frequently fatal to Ireland, being * Ware, ibid. cap. 18. CHRISTIAN IKEL.WD. 399 still in England, it might be imagined that their absence would produce tranquillity to the former country ; but matters were in too disordered a state, and private interests too much at variance, to admit of it. This year was remarkable for the taking of the capital of Hungary, and the greater part of that kingdom by the Turks, to the disgrace of the Christian princes by whose disunion it was caused. Peter Butler, who had till this time borne the title of earl of Ormond, was solemnly j created at Windsor, earl of Ossory.* In order to please the king, he resigned the earldom of Ormond, in favor of Sir Thomas Bollen, viscount of Rochfort, who was after- wards created earl of Wiltshire and Ormond. We have already seen, in the reign of Henry VI., that the English who had been settled in Ireland, were obliged, in order to preserve peace, to pay a tribute to some of the Irish chieftains. f Either on account of this tribute being paid, or on some other ground, O'Connor attacked the frontiers of the English province, from whence he car- ried off considerable booty, a. d. 1528. The deputy not being sufficiently strong to take revenge for this insult, gave orders to dis- continue the tribute which had been paid to that nobleman. O'Connor, who was but lit- tle pleased with this order, having met the deputy at the castle of Sir William Darcy, near Ruthen, surprised him in an ambus- cade, made him his prisoner, with several of his followers, and put the rest to the sword. The baron of Delvin being a prisoner, the council of the king appointed Peter But- ler, earl of Ossory, to succeed him. On the arrival of the new deputy in Dublin, he was joined by O'Morra, O'Carrol, and one of the O'Connors ; and having taken the usual oath, in the abbey of the Blessed Virgin, he sent Walter Wellesley, prior of Conally, and Sir Walter de la Hide, to O'Connor, to solicit the liberty of Delvin. Their mis- sion, however, was unsuccessful ; whereupon the deputy and council issued a proclama- tion, dated the 25th of February following, for the continuance of O'Connor's pension. This deed was signed by the earl of Ossory, who was lord-deputy, the barons of Howth, Killeen, Trimleston, and Dunsany, the judges of the courts, and the lord chief baron. The clergy by whom it was signed were, John Allen, the intended archbishop of Dublin, and chancellor of Ireland, Edmond, abbot of Baltinglass, and James Cotterell, abbot * Nichol's Rudiments of Honor, respecting the earls of Arran. t War. ibid. c. 20. of St. Thomas's, near Dublin. It is not known whether Delvin obtained his liberty ; but a law was afterwards enacted, to abolish these contributions which the English col- onists had to pay to the Irish. A contagious disorder, called Sudor An- glicus, broke out this year in Ireland, and proved fatal to many ; Hugh Inge, arch- bishop of Dublin, and chancellor of Ireland, having among others fallen a victim to it.* This prelate was celebrated for his probity and morals ; he was succeeded by John Al- len, chaplain to Cardinal Wolsey, and one of those who had abetted him in the sup- pression of the forty monasteries. The cardinal had him raised to this dignity, in order to make an instrument of him, to destroy the earl of Kildare. The vindictive and turbulent disposition of the earl was the ultimate cause of his ruin. He could not bring himself to forgive the earl of Ossory, between whom and himself the old enmities still existed. Kildare sent his daughter Alicia, wife of the baron of Slane, who was then at Newington, to Ire- land, to influence his brothers and his friends the O'Neills, O'Connors, and others, secretly to oppose the deputy. She unfortunately succeeded in her mission ; the possessions of the deputy and his adherents were laid waste and pillaged without mercy ; conduct which principally produced the dreadful disasters which afterwards befell her father and his family. Terdelach O'Brien, prince of Thuomond, died this year, greatly regretted by his coun- trymen. He was succeeded by Concovar, or Cornelius, his son, from whom Donat, or Donough O'Brien, who was created earl of Thuomond, was descended. Henry VIII., (who was at one time the friend of the emperor, and at another of the king of France,) having at this time made peace with Francis I ., quarrelled with Charles V. The political grounds assigned for this rupture were, the cruelties practised by the imperial army in Rome, against the pope and his cardinals; the severe conditions which were imposed on Francis by Charles, as a ransom for his freedom ; and lastly, the repugnance which the emperor began ta evince for the marriage he was to have con- tracted with the princess Mary, Henry's daughter.! Other secret reasons, however, are also assigned for it, viz. — the risinggrcat- ness of the emperor, and his haughtiness after his conquests in Italy, conduct which generally gives umbrage to neighboring * War. de Archiepisc. Dubliniens. t Baker, Chron. of Engl. p. 275. 400 IIU-sTO ;Y ok IKELAXn. princes. The hatri-d also of CanliiKil Wol- scy for the ompcror, who had reluse J him the archbishopric of Toledo, might liave had a share in it. However this might have been, the emperor sent Gonzaga Fernandez to Ireland, to the carl of Desmond, to stir up a rebellion against Henry.* The instructions of this ambassador, dated Toledo, the 24th February, were to treat on certain condi- tions, with these words — " illustrissimo el conde de Desmond;'" but this negotiation ended without any result, in consequence of the death of the earl, which took place at Dingle on the 18th of June following. Two religious houses were founded about this time in Ireland, which are perhaps the last that were established in this country, as the suppression of monasteries, not only in England, but also in Ireland, took place soon after. According to Herrera and Father Lubin, there was a convent founded in Waterford in 1629, dedicated to St. Catherine, for her- mits of St. Augustin.f Both are, however, in error in this statement. There was no mention in 1629 of building convents in Ire- land, but rather of destroying them, as this was the commencement of Charles I.'s reign, who succeeded three or four kings or queens under whom all the convents were destroyed. The schismatic Henry VIII. was the first to put them down, but his son Edward, who was a Protestant, continued the destruction; his sister Mary's reign was too short to re- store them : Elizabeth and James I. expelled both monks and friars from every house in whicli they were established throughout the three kingdoms. The like persecution con- tinued under Charles I., which makes it pro- bable that the date of the above foundation should have been 1529 instead of 1629. Ware mentions a house for Franciscans to have been founded in 1530 at Lisgavail, on the banks of lake Earne, in the county of Fermanagh, but does not say who was its founder.^ Henry Fitzroy, duke of Richmond and Somerset, the king,'s natural son, was ap- pointed viceroy of Ireland, a. d. 1529. He sent Sir W, Skeffington thither as his deputy, who arrived in Dublin in the month of Au- gust, with a large sum of money and two hundred horsemen, accompanied by tire earl of Kildare, who was freed from his embar- rassments. The new deputy was received with every demonstration of joy by the citi- zens of Dublin. He had received instruc- * Cox, Hist, of Ireland, p. 221. + AUemand, Hist. Moiiast. d'lrlande. I Ware, de Antiq. Hibern. tions to maintain peace between the earls of Kildare, Desmond, and Ossory, in order that they might support the common cause against the Irish; to act always on the defensive, and undertake nothing without the advice of the council ; to assist the carl of Kildare in his enterprises against the natives ; to di- minish the exactions for the army ; to tax the church lands in order to defray part of the public expenses ; and lastly, to convene a parliament, and procure subsidies for the king. Edmond Butler, archbishop of Cashel, convened about this time, a provincial synod in Limerick, at which Nicholas Comine, bishop of Lismore and Waterford, John Coin, bishop of Limerick, and James O'Cor- rin, bishop of Killaloe, were present. By this synod the magistracy of Limerick were invested with power to arrest ecclesiastics for debt, without incurring excommunica- tion. The inferior clergy, who looked upon this decree as injurious to them, and contrary to ecclesiastical privileges, pro- tested strongly against it. The lord-deputy began his expedition in the district of Leix, against O'Morra ; laid the country waste, and carried away consid- erable booty.* He then turned his arms against Ulster, accompanied by the earl of Kildare, notwithstanding that jealousies had already begun to arise between them. He destroyed the castle of Kinard, laid the neighboring districts waste, and burned several villages, after which he returned loaded with booty. The pretended reforma- tion of the morals of the Irish, was a spe- cious pretext made use of by these new comers to satisfy their rapacity after wealth. The succors which they received from England from time to time in men and money, enabled them to extend their possessions at the expense of the Irish, and the private in- terest of their chiefs was always held in more consideration than the public good. Hugh O'Donnel, prince of Tyrconnel, alarmed at the devastations which the Eng- lish were committing around him, and find- ing himself incapacitated by sickness from taking the command of his troops, to defend his frontiers, sent Conn O'Fraghill, abbot of Derry, and Richard O'Grayhan of Drogheda, to the deputy, to sue for peace, on condition of their making a form of submission in his name, a. d. 1531.t An English vessel having taken about this time, a Spanish ship that was fishing near the Dursy islands, on the coasts of Beare and * Ware, de Annal. c. 21. t Ware, ibid. cap. 22, 23. CHRISTIAN IRELAND. 401 gantry, in Munster, Derraod O'Sullivan, who was lord of that country, considering it an act of hostility against the rights of na- tions, put to soa with some vessels in order to assist the Spaniard.* Having taken both ships, he had the Englishman hanged, and set th"? Spaniard at liberty. Cox, as usual, attacks the conduct of O'Sullivan. " We may," he says, " discover herein how those men have been disposed towards the Eng- lish, and how loyal to their king, when they murder his subjects and assist his enemies." But what coidd the English calculate upon from a people whom they never ceased to pursue with fire and sword 1 Could they venture to rely upon a promise of allegiance which was tyrannically extorted from them? The ancestors of this nobleman, robbed of their possessions by the English, found themselves under the harsh necessity of committing a dreadful massacre to regain their properties ; and can it surprise us that hatred for the name of an Englishman should have been retained during many gen- erations in the family of the O'SuUivans ? I Discord still continued to prevail be- tween Sir William Skeffington and Fitzger- ald, earl of Kildare ; they were continually forwarding complaints against each other to court. The deputy accused Kildare of enor- , mous crimes ; while the latter reproached the deputy with mal-administration, and suc- ceeded in having himself nominated to that office by the king, instead of his opponent. Fortune, which seemed to favor Kildare at this juncture, soon afterwards forsook him, as the reader will discover in the sequel. About this time some writers appeared in Ireland.! Theobald Anguilbert, a medical doctor of the university of Paris, is said to have written a book entitled " Mensa Phi- losophica," or the philosophical table. It is a treatise on table-talk, filled with jests and humorous wit. This book was printed in Paris in 1530, by John de Haisy, and the author avows himself an Irishman in his de- dicatory epistle. The work has been falsely ascribed to Michael Scott, a physician, and was printed with his name at Leipsic, in 1603, with the tales of Othomar Luscinius. Magnus, or Manus, son of Hugh O'Don- nel, prince of Tyrconnel, wrote the life of St. Columb-Kill, in three books in the Irish language, about the year 1520. J: The first gives a history of the actions and miracles of this saint previous to his voyage into Bri- tain ; the second treats of his mission in Bri- * Cox, Hib. Anglic, page 223. ^ t Ware, de Script. Hib. t Colg. Trias. Thaum. Vit. 5, S. Columb. tain, and return to Ireland to the assembly of Drumkeat ; the third contains an account of the remaining part of his life. This work, which was composed by the author from the ancient monuments of the countiy, was abridged and translated into Latin by John Colgan. Patrick O'Cullen, of the order of St. Au- gustin, and afterwards bishop of Clogher, assisted by Roderick Cassidy, archdeacon of his church, wrote a registry of its antiquities, A. D. 1525, with a catalogue of his prede- cessors. He also composed a hymn in honor of St. M'Cartin, first bishop of Clo- gher, which was generally sung upon his festival ; the beginning of it is subjoined.* Cassidy, the archdeacon, was a theolo- gian, canonist, and philosopher, and was well versed in the antiquities of his country; he corrected and made considerable addi- tions to the annals of Ulster. He died at an advanced age in 1541. Patrick Finglas, an able legislator, was nominated chief-baron of the exchequer by Henry VIII., and chief-justice of the king's bench in 1534. He wrote a treatise on the causes of the miseries of Ireland, and the manner in which they might be remedied. Sir William Darcy, a native of Plattin, in the county of Louth, and vice-treasurer of Ireland, was a wise and learned man. He had been particularly instrumental in for- warding the English interest in Ireland. He wrote a book entitled " the fall of Ireland, and the causes that produced it ;" and died at an advanced age, in the year 1540. CHAPTER XXXIII. We have now come to the beginning of the schism of Henry VIII. with the church of Rome, which was attended with the sub- version of religion in England. This prince, who in the opening of his reign held out such flattering hopes for the happiness of his people, turned to a bad purpose those admira- ble qualities with which God had endowed him. His irregularities, and the manner in which he was blinded by his unhappy amours; the blood which he caused to be shed, and the dreadful consequences of his marriages,which proved fatal to almost all his j wives, are subjects well known to the world. ' The motive is likewise well understood * " Hear us, O Trinity, celebrating this worthy festival, and venerating and praising this holy man Maccartinus." 51 402 HISTORY or IRELAND. which induced him to become the author of a new sect, equally detested by Catholics, Lutherans, and Sacramentarians. His di- vorce, after a lapse of twenty years, from Catherine of Aragon, the widow of his brother Arthur, and the marriage which he contracted with Anne Bollen, or BuUen, be- ing condemned by the holy see, he not only declared against that authority which con- demned him, but by a procedure hitherto unheard of among Christians, proclaimed himself both spiritual and temporal head of the church of England. It was thus that the English reformation commenced, of which Burnet has written so ingenious a history, and one at the same time so replete with cahmmies against the Catholic church. As events generally follow from a chain of circumstances and secondary causes, which have a mutual influence one upon the other, the source of the changes which took place in England will be discovered in the situa- tion of afhiirs in Europe at that period, and the opposite interests of its princes. About the end of the preceding century, the king- doms of Castille and Aragon were united, and the Moors driven out of Spain. Mary, the only daughter and heiress of Charles, duke ol' Burgundy, brought her extensive possessions to the house of Austria. Louis XL, king of France, having instituted pro- ceedings for felony against the memory of the duke of Burgundy, confiscated the duchy and the county of Artois, belonging to his heiress. Charles d'Anjou, count du Maine, (to whom his uncle, Rene d'Anjou, had given Provence,) bequeathed that country, and his right over Naples and Sicily, to Louis XL and his son, Charles VIIL, (at the instance, it is said, of John de Cosse, seneschal of Provence, and Palamede de Forbin, whom this king appointed constable of it.) And lastly, Charles VIIL, by marrying the heir- ess of Brittany, united that province to his crown, from which it had been separated for so many centuries. France, which had thus acquired, without any loss of blood, so many provinces, which had frequently before borne arms against her, became formidable to her neighbors. A league was formed between her, England, and Austria, in confirmation of which, Fer- dinand of Aragon gave Jane, his second daughter, in marriage to Philip of Austria, son of Maximilian, and another of his daugh- ters, called Catherine, to Arthur, son of Henry VIL, king of England. These alli- ances proved unfortunate. The love of Jane for her husband was so excessive that she lost her reason. Catherine was scarcely married when she became a widow. Her husband, Arthur, had been prematurely born, and the physicians were of oj)inion that, in consequence, he could not be long-lived. His appearance was always delicate and in- firm, notwithstanding what Protestant wri- ters assert ; among others. Chancellor Ba- con, who says that it was never known with certainty whether the young prince had con- summated his marriage, and that on this mat- ter various opinions were put forward, accord- ing to the prejudices of the different reigns. The same motives which influenced Fer- dinand and Henry to make this alliance still existed, and gave rise to the idea of forming a second, by giving Arthur's widow to his brother Henry, who was then the only son of Henry VII. Rome was applied to for a dispensation, which was granted by Julius II. But Henry, who was an avaricious prince, demanded an increase of dowry with Catherine, on this, her second marriage, while Ferdinand insisted that it was already sufficiently great, and as he was resolved to give no more money, he demanded back his daughter, and required that her dowry, which had been paid, should be restored to him. In the mean time, Henry, who could dis- cover no more suitable match for his son, resolved on making the most of the new alli- ance ; and in order to draw Ferdinand into his views, he obliged his son to protest against the intended marriage, without, however, in- tending to push matters further ; as he, in fact, never communicated this protest to either Ferdinand or Catherine. Such was the state in which matters stood on the demise of Henry VII. The council of the new king took into their consideration whether the marriage would be advantageous for England ; whether it was contrary to the law of God ; and also, whether the pope could grant a dispensation, and whether any regard should be paid to the protest of the intended husband. All things having been duly considered, the marriage of Henry and Catherine was celebrated in the month of June, with all possible pomp and magnifi- cence.* The new queen possessed in an eminent degree all those private virtues which are the solid and chief ornaments of her sex.f In her piety and attention to her husband she was exemplary : a love of seclusion and em- ployment were manifest in her whole de- , Polyd. Virgil. Aug. Hist. lib. 27. Sander, de Schis. Anglic, edit. Ingoldstad, p. 2, et seq. Baker's Chron. on the reign of Henry VIII. t Hist, of the Divorce of Henry VIII. and Cath- erine of Aragon, by Joachim Ic Grand, torn. 1. CHRISTIAN IRELAND. 403 portment, and she was looked upon as a model of wisdom by all. Her virtue, how- ever, had nothing of harshness in it, and she possessed a greatness of soul, and an eleva- tion of mind, which, even more than her birth, gained for her universal respect. Henry himself, even in withdrawing his af- fections, still preserved a high esteem for her. This princess had three children of her marriage with Henry ; two sons, who died very young, and a daughter called Mary, who was afterwards queen. She had also some miscarriages, which caused her much infirm health, and which probably produced displeasure to a husband so abandoned to his passions. The debaucheries of Henry were generally well known. Having already seduced some of the maids of honor belonging to the queen, he fell in love with Anne Bullen, daughter to Thomas Bullen, and a sister of the duke of Norfolk, who had gone with Queen Mary, wife of Louis XII., to France, where she was educated. She afterwards became maid of honor to the Queen Claude, and after the death of this princess was taken into the household of the Duchess d'Alencon, sister of Francis I., where, it is said, she first imbibed the principles of Luther's heresy. We do not here vouch for the truth of the scandalous narrative which is given by San- ders, concerning the birth and conduct of Anne Bullen, before Henry became enamor- ed of her,* namely, that she was the off- spring of Henry's own intercourse with the wife of Thomas Bullen, during the absence of that nobleman ; that she had a sister who was seduced by that monarch ; that she be- came a prostitute almost from her infancy, to the master of the household, and the al- moner of Thomas Bullen, who was sup- posed to be her father ; and that having gone to the court of France, she was so dishonored by Francis L, and his courtiers, that the most infamous names were pub- licly attached to her, and she was called, "Xa hacquenee Anglaise." There is no reason, however, for denying all credence to this historian. He was an Englishman by birth, and a cotemporary witness of some of the facts which he relates. He was also a man of erudition, having made his studies at Oxford, where he became a bachelor of arts, and was afterwards deemed worthy to fill the chair of professor of law in that university. At the time of the persecu- tion of Catholics by Elizabeth, he was forced to quit his occupation and country. He went to Rome, where he received the order * De Schismat. Anglic, lib. 1, p. 14-16. of priesthood, and the degree of doctor. He attached himself to Cardinal Hosius,whom he accompanied to Trent, Prussia, Poland, and Lithuania. On his return he taught theology at Louvain. Several of his works have been published ; among others, one which has for its title, "De Visibili Monarchia Ecclesim" that is, "the Visible Monarchy of the Church." He attached himself afterwards to Cardinal Commendon, and to Sega, bishop of Pla- centia, who was afterwards a cardinal. The latter brought him to Augsburg, and from that to Spain, where he left him in the quality of nuncio. Sanders labored during these voyages, and it was while nuncio in Spain, that he wrote his history of the schism in England. After this he went, by orders of Pope Gregory HI., to Ireland, to console the persecuted Catholics of that country, where he died. In fine, Sanders lived in England during the troubles that were caused by the divorce ; where, besides his own knowledge of facts, he had the opportunity of conversing with many who were equally well informed as himself on what had been passing. We may therefore suppose that he wrote what he had seen and heard from people worthy of belief, and it is highly improbable that a man of his character and talents would have ventured to impose upon the world by un- founded calumnies, and have published false- hoods, at a time that many who were living and interested might have refuted him. Protestant writers all exclaim against every thing alleged by Sanders disgraceful to the supposed reformation. Some wrote refuta- tions of his history of the schism, among whom were Doctor Burnet, who appeared one hundred years after him, but who was, how- ever, confuted altogether by Joachim le Grand, a learned Frenchman, who undertook the defence of Sanders against him, and by the celebrated bishop of Meaux, in his " Variations." Burnet's partiality, and the inaccuracy of his works on the revolution, says Higgins, an English Protestant author, have made him discredited, even by the honorable men of his own party.* However this be, on Anne's return to England she appeared at court, with all the advantages arising from her youth, and her being niece of one of the prime ministers.! It does not appear that she was one of those regidar beauties without defect, but she was very young, and of an agreeable figure ; lively in her manners ; sung and played on many instruments, and danced still better ; * Short View, pages 186, 187. t Heylin, Hist, of the Reformation, on the reign of Elizabeth, page 257, et seq. 404 HISTORY OF IRELAND. SO that she easily procured the same rank with Catherine, as she had enjoyed with Queen Claude in France. She was not long at court when she attracted general admira- tion. Several noblemen fell in love with her. The monarch himself became enam- ored, and had a marriage broken off that was about to take place between her and Percy, son of the earl of Northumberland. The divorce of Henry VIII. from Cathe- rine of Aragon, after a marriage of twenty years, began now to be spoken of.* Cardinal Wolsey gave the first hints of it. The am- bition of this prelate, or rather his desire of revenge against a powerful prince by whom he had been disappointed in his hopes, was the cause of ruin to himself, danger to his master, and the fall of religion in his country.! He had been filled with the idea of becoming pope. Charles V. flattered him with this hope, in order to interest him in his cause, and thereby conciliate the friendship of Eng- land towards him ; and in spite of Wolsey's intelligence, he became a dupe to that prince, who was equally clever as himself.:}: Two popes died without any mention having been made of the English cardinal in the conclave, in which Charles possessed sufficient influ- ence to have his preceptor appointed to the papal chair. Thenceforward Wolsey turned his thoughts upon revenge. He first gave his ■ master to understand that policy required he should unite with Francis I., for his own safety against a prince who had become haughty from his conquests in Italy, and aspired to universal dominion, to which he was advancing with rapid strides. Henry was influenced to listen to the advice of his minister the more willingly, since having j written to Charles V., after the battle of I Pavia, to know how he should act, that prince, dazzled by his own good fortune, replied that, " he might remain tranquil, as I the stag being secured in his toils, he had to j hope only for a share of the skin." By this answer, Henry perceived that the emperor began already to disregard his alliance, and j he therefore declared himself in favor of the ; holy league which had been made between I Pope Clement VII., Francis I., and all the j princes of Italy, the object of which was to I prevent the emperor from getting possession I of the duchy of Milan, and to check his pro- gress in Italy. * Sander, de Schls. Angl. lib. 1, p. 7, et seq. ; t Joach. le Grand, ibid. torn. 1, p. 15, et seq. Abridg. of the Hist, of England, by an anonymous I author at the Hague, in 1695. Higgiiis' Short [ View. I Hist, of the Revolutions of England, reign of I Henry VIII. Hist, of the Variations, book 7. Wolsey was still dissatisfied. Not content with having gained his point respecting the interest of the crowned heads, he undertook a measure which he thought likely to give more personal uneasiness to the emperor. This was the celebrated divorce between Henry and his queen, (who was the maternal aunt of Charles,) under the pretext that this princess should not have been married to the two brothers ; that the marriage was an in- cestuous one, and the dispensation which had been obtained was null and of no effect. He first brought over to his views Longland, bishop of Lincoln, the king's confessor,whom he found ready to-believe all he wished upon that subject. He was indeed precisely the kind of character whom the cardinal should desire for forwarding his designs ; being simple, scrupulous, and possessed of far more piety than penetration. He accompanied Wolsey to the king, and said to him, " that his marriage with Catherine gave universal scandal ; that he considered himself, as his confessor, bound in conscience to apprize him of it, and to beg that he would have the subject investigated by the learned ; that it was a duty he owed to himself, and to that love of justice which he had always testified." This discourse produced some impression on the king's mind. Wolsey, delighted that Longland had broached the matter, proposed to Henry to break off his alliance with Ca- therine, and marry the duchess dowager d'Alencon, sister to Francis I. It was thus the cardinal, unintentionally, laid the foun- dation of the greatness of a girl who was to be one day the cause of his downfall. Anne Bullen was not ignorant of the king's passion for her. She counterfeited a virtuous cha- racter, and gave him no hope, but that of marrying her, should he succeed in the di- vorce proposed to him by the cardinal. Henry was unable to resist the solicitations of his minister, the remonstrances of his con- fessor, and the pretended remorse of his own conscience, which reproached him with a marriage contrary to the laws of God. He commissioned some of his counsellors to ex- amine its validity, and also a passage in Le- viticus, wherein it is forbidden to marry the wife of a brother. These counsellors an- swered that Leviticus should be expounded by Deuteronomy. He then had recourse to some of the learned theologians in his own kingdom, and afterwards to those of other universities of Europe, some of whom were favorable to him. Lastly, he sent to Rome, begging very humbly that the pope would send him a judge competent to bring this important matter to an end. CHRISTIAN IRELAND. 405 Clement VII., who at the time filled the papal chair, had just escaped from the hands of Charles V., by whom he had been detain- ed a prisoner. The holy see was already indebted to the zeal of the king of England, against the heresies that were springing up, and the pope in particular, to whom this monarch had rendered services during his captivity, was desirous of obliging him. Besides, the king of France supported Henry, by strong solicitations to the holy see. The pope had promised, that as soon as he should be free with the emperor, he would give to his benefactor all the satis- faction in his power ; and he accordingly sent over Cardinal Campegio to investigate the matter with Cardinal Wolsey. Before the plan of Henry's divorce was generally known, Francis I. sent Gabriel de Gramond, bishop of Tarbres, the Viscount de Turenne, and Le Viste, first president of Paris and Brittany, as ambassadors to Eng- land.* They had orders to conclude a lasting peace between the two crowns, and to ask the Princess Mary, only daughter and heiress of Henry VIII., in marriage, either for the King Francis I., or the duke of Orleans, his second son. The basis of a peace and an alliance with the Princess Mary were agreed upon. The treaty was signed in the month of April ; and on Sunday the 5th of May the ambassadors had a farewell audience at Hampton court, where they were magnifi- cently entertained. It is affirmed that on that day the bishop of Tarbes, urged on, no doubt, by the importunate Wolsey, said to the king, that learned men condemned his marriage with Catherine, and that his con- science and salvation required that it should be examined into ; but it may be supposed that Protestant writers had their own views in speaking thus of that prelate. Cardinal Campegio, whom the pope had nominated, in conjunction with Cardinal Wolsey, to investigate the project of the divorce, having received his instructions from his holiness, arrived in England in the beginning of October. The king appointed, by letters patent, Richard Sampson, the dean of his chapel, and John Bell, a doctor of law, as his advo- cates and pleaders ; to whom are also added Peter and Trigonel. The queen had already chosen William Warham, archbishop of Can- terbury, Nicholas West, bishop of Ely, and some doctors of law, besides John Fisher, bishop of Rochester, and Henry Standish, bishop of St. Asaph, and doctor in theology, and others, according to the permission * Le Grand, ibid, page 17. which had been previously granted to her. On the 18th of the same month, Sampson and Bell presented the commission which the king had given them to act in his name ; but the queen herself appearing, declared that she could not acknowledge the legates to be her judges, and demanded the act of her protest. Campegio then adjourned their sitting to the 21st, on which day the king and queen both appeared. When they were called, the king answered ; but the queen, not wishing to reply, threw herself at the king's feet, and said in the presence of the people by whom he was surrounded, " that she besought him to have mercy on her ; that she only asked for justice ; that she was a poor stranger, far from her relatives and friends ; that she dared not follow either her own judgment or the advice of her lawyers ; that she took God to be her witness, whether she were not his real wife ; that she had been always faithful to him ; that during more than twenty years of marriage she had been as attached to him as w^oman could be to her husband ; that she knew not how she could have merited his displeasure ; that he knew well, if he would but speak according to his conscience, that he had found her a virgin at her marriage ; that she consented to be ex- pelled with infam}', if what she advanced were not true ; that their parents, who were wise princes, had not concluded on their marriage without proper investigation ; that among all the able characters by whom they were surrounded, none had noticed the pro- tests which were now sought after ; that as to herself, she could not discover how her marriage could be called into doubt ; that indeed she had been permitted to have coun- sel, but she could repose no confidence in | them ; that her lawyers and judges were the king's subjects ; that she could not acknow- ledge the authority of the legates ; that, in fine, every thing was to her an object of sus- picion : she therefore besought the king that he would postpone the proceedings till she would hear from Spain ; and that if he re- fused her that favor, he might act as he thought proper." She then arose, and re- spectfully retired. She was again called, but would not return. The whole assembly was moved by her discourse. The king himself appeared affected, and when she had with- drawn, said, " that he had no complaints to advance against her ; that he was satisfied with her conduct ; and that her virtue could ; not be sufficiently admired. He declared, | likewise, that he would continue willingly j to live with her, if his conscience would | permit him." 406 HISTORY OF IRELAND. The divorce question was frequently de- bated without any thing being conchided on. The king, therefore, sent for the two cardi- nals, in order that they may induce the queen to leave the matter to his own decision. They immediately repaired to her, and found her working with her female attendants. When she heard Wolsey addressing her, and contiiuiing to speak, " I see clearly," said she, " that you have come here to de- bate on matters which surpass my capacity." Then showing a skein of silk which hung upon her neck, " Behold," she continued, " what I am capable of, and wha' is my sole occupation." Wolsey entreated her, through kindness for the king, not to await the result of a lawsuit, the issue of which could not be favorable to her. " I do not know (replied the queen) who has advised the king to act as he is now doing. I confess, cardinal, that it is you whom I blame for it. Our parents, who were wise princes, had our marriage previously investigated, and obtained from the pope a dispensation for it, of which I hold the original. The king and I have lived for almost eighteen years together, during which no censure has been cast upon us. Your pride, however, I cannot approve of; your debaucheries, your tyranny, and insolence, I have spoken of. Through the influence of my nephew, the emperor, you have failed in being appointed pope, which is the source of all my misfortunes ; since in order to be revenged, you have not been content with kindling a war throughout all Europe, but have been likewise Ihe secret spring and cause of all my misfortunes. Every thing that I suffer, cardinal, from this disgrace, is known to God, who will be your judge and mine." Wolsey wished to reply, but she would not hear him. Campegio she treated with politeness, but protested that she never would acknowledge either one or the other as her judges, and would continue in the line of conduct she had adopted. After the sitting of the 2 1st of June, she refused to appear before the legates. A judgment by default was obtained against her on the 25th, and the examination of the witnesses was commenced. During the taking of the informations, the sittings were not discontinued, but were, however, frequently adjourned. The minis- ters of Charles V. and of Ferdinand de- manded that the matter should be brought to a higher tribunal. The pope, who still feared to irritate Henry, postponed the sub- ject as long as it was possible ; but being at length unable to refuse any longer a request that was so just, he informed that prince, in a letter dated the 9th of July, of his inten- tions, and without wailing for an answer, signed the evocation, of which he informed him and Cardinal Wolsey on the 19th. As soon as intelligence was received from Rome that the cause had been transferred to another tribunal, the king went to Grafton with Anne BuUen, where Campegio had an audience previous to his departure. Wolsey began already to feel the effects of his impending disgrace. There were different cabals in the court, all of which tended to his downfall. Those who were attached to the queen, considered him as the author of her ruin. The relatives and par- tisans of Anne BuUen were convinced that his presence at court was inauspicious to their advancement. The courtiers them- selves, who had neither God nor any other object in view than the will of their prince, appeared to be the cardinal's most deter- mined opposers ; and even his own creatures for the most part abandoned him, and ad- mitted his guilt, when they found that his downfall had commenced. Anne Bullen was minutely informed of every crime he had committed during the fifteen years that he ruled the state with absolute power ; all which she communicated to the king, who listened to her with pleasure. Orders were dispatched on the 22d of October to Wolsey, to quit York palace, at present called White- hall, and the usual residence of the kings of England. He was sent eight leagues from London, to a place called Asher. All his furniture and papers were also seized, by which conduct his enemies deprived him of the means of defending himself. The dukes of Norfolk and Suffolk, who were at that time heads of the council, went to him to demand the great seal ; but this he refused to surrender without an express order from the king. As there was no difficulty in ob- taining this, the cardinal only deferred his resignation of it for a day or two. Sir Thomas More, who was, both in principle and integrity of life, the first man then in England, was raised to the dignity of lord chancellor. The parliament met in London, on the third of November, and was immediately adjourned to Westminster. It seemed as if it were convened only for the destruction of Wolsey, so determined were his enemies against him. They presented a petition to the king, containing many pohits of accusa- tion, and threatened to condemn him as guilty of high treason ; but his cause was ably defended by his servant, Thomas Crom- well, a member of the parliament. They CHRISTIAN IRELAND. 407 then dismissed the accusations of high trea- son against him, but he was arraigned imder the hiw of prccmunirc, and declared to be out of the king's protection. His property was conHscated, and his arrest was even spoken of. Several members of parliament were at- tached to the new doctrine, and laws were enacted against the clergy, under pretext of their exactions, which were considerably exaggerated, in order to make them appear contemptible in the eyes of the people, whose minds were thus prepared by degrees for the supposed reformation that had been already projected. The cardinal experienced very severe treatment in the place to which he had re- tired ; being left without clothes, linen, plate, ov money, and so destitute of every thing, that were it not for the bishop of Carlisle, he must have perished from hunger and dis- tress. Having fallen sick at Asher, the king, who had still some consideration for him, permitted him to go to Richmond for change of air ; but his enemies, who were jealous of his being so near the court, importuned Henry so strongly, that he gave orders to have him removed to his archbishopric of York. Fresh complaints being made to the king, who was accustomed to yield to his flatterers, he ordered Sir Walter Walsh, his private chaplain, and the earl of Northum- berland, to arrest him. This last stroke was too heavy for Wolsey to bear. The shock and surprise were so powerful, that a dysentery ensued, by which his constitution was soon shattered. He however set out, but his disease increasing, he was forced to stop at Leicester abbey, where he died, and was interred the week after his arrival, a. d. 1531. The cardinal's death was the commence- ment of a violent persecution against the clergy. The parliament, which had been j so frequently prorogued, met in the month of January. The clergy were accused of having incurred the penalty of the law of prcBmunire, and immediate submission to the king, together with the payment of one hundred thousand pounds sterling, were made the sole conditions on which he granted them his pardon. When Campegio arrived in England with the pope's sanction for having the subject of the divorce investigated, no means were left imtried to obtain the decision of the several uiuversities, or the learned men in France and England, in its favor.* It is well known what bribes, threats, and sums of money * Joachim le Grand, p. 17, et seq. were lavished by Fox, Henrj-s almoner, and Gardiner, secretary of state, in both the English universities, namely, Cambridge and Oxford, to gain their approval of the divorce. The English began now to murmur loudly, and it was publicly declared, that in spite of what- ever might be decided upon, he who married the princess Maryshould be kingof England. Similar sentiments were entertained by the nobles, who, though they did not express themselves so freely, did not think the less on that account. The theologians and legislators were as unfavorable to Henry as his other subjects. No one could be found to write in favor of the divorce. John du Bellay, bishop of Bayonne, and afterwards of Paris, and subsequently a car- dinal, was sent to England to negotiate affairs with Henry VIII. As he was partial to the divorce, he could not fail of being well received by the prince. He was there- fore commissioned to conciliate the French theologians in favor of Henry, and for that purpose returned to France . He first brought the university of Orleans to publish a dec- laration against the marriage of Catherine of Aragon, which example was followed, in a few months, by the university of Toulouse. The same facility was not to be met with in every jilace.* The question produced a great noise among the theologians in Paris. Recourse was first had to some doctors who were easily bribed, and who promised to do every thing that could be desired. Among these was master Gervais, a man devoted to those who sought for the divorce, and anxious also to advance himself at court, and there- by to make his fortune. Doctor Noel Beda, a steady man, and possessing great merit, throughout opposed the king of England, for which he was at length driven into exile. No question was ever debated so strongly in the university of Paris, as this. The king of England honored tlie theologians so far as to write to them with his own hand on the subject; while his ambassadors expended large sums of money, seeking and even beg- ging for suffrages Irom door to door. A meeting was at length convened ; one party yielded to Henry in every thing that he wished, while another declared that they could not deliberate upon the subject, till they would first write to the pope, who had already forbidden any one to interfere in a matter of such moment. A third party was then formed, which was desirous of writing to both the king and the pope, and in the meanwhile the deliberations were continued. * Le Grand, ibid, page 175. 408 HISTORY OF IRELAND. When the votes, however, were being col- lected, one doctor, more violent than the others, rose up, and having torn the minutes from the hands of the recorder, destroyed them, and declared that the greater part would not continue any longer in their dis- cussions upon the subject. The assembly was hereby thrown into confusion, and conse- quently broken up. Other meetings were afterwards held. The facuUy prohibited the doctors from coming to any conclusion re- specting the divorce . The division that pre- vailed being caused by these men, who, on account of the favors which they hoped to receive from the king, always avowed them- selves favorable to Henry, so that nothing could be decided upon. Among the doctors of the university of Angers, the ferment was equally great as in Paris. The faculties of theology and law differed so widely, that both came to opposite conclusions on the same day. The faculty of law supported the pretensions of Henry V II I. , and care was taken to make the decision public. But as the theologians were opposed to him in opinion, their decree was carefully suppressed, though it was subsequently pub- lished by Joachim le Grand. The same want of union seems to have prevailed in the uni- versity of Bourges. It has never been ascer- tained what decisions the universities of Pa- via and Bologna came to upon the subject of Henry's divorce. It is, however, generally said, that he owed to his authority, to his money, and to the intrigues of Du Bellay, all the boasted sanctions of the universities. Henry VIII., having forced from the Eng- lish and French academies decisions favor- able to his cause, sent some noblemen to the queen about the end of May, to inform her of these results, and to induce her to with- draw her appeal, and submit her interests to the arbitration of four bishops and four no- blemen, in order that the matter might be set at rest, and tranquillity restored to the king's mind.* The queen replied as before, that she was the king's wife ; that she would persist in her appeal, and would consent to nothing without the advice of her nephew the emperor, and also that of the pope, who was the best judge of her rights. The queen's resolution irritated Henry ; however, he dissembled for some time, and went with her to Windsor,where he remained till the 14th of July ; when he left her, and proceeded to Woodstock. After some time, she repaired to Easthamstead, which was the * Heylin, ibid, page 176. Baker's Chron. of Engl. p. 281. commencement of their separation. The king again sent several noblemen to exhort her to conform to the law of God, by withdrawing her pretensions, and to inform her, in his name, that if she still persisted in her deter- mination, she might choose between Oking, Easthamstead, and the monastery of Bisham, where she should thenceforward reside, and not annoy him more by her proceedings. God at length permitted that Henry should meet no further opposition to his will. Wil- liam Warham, archbishop of Canterbury, one of the greatest men that England ever prodrfced, died at this time. All the flatterers about the court, who were interested in the success of Henry's wicked intentions, were rejoiced at the death of so wise a prelate. He was succeeded by Cranmer ; and as the latter had a greater share than any other in the pretended reformation of the church of England, it is necessary to make his charac- ter known. Parker, Fox, and Burnet think that Cran- mer was a man of noble rank, though others, by whom he ought to be better known, do not agree with them. However, if he were not, he ought to have been, as those who are raised by fortune seldom want the means of becoming ennobled. All that is known with certainty of him is, that he was profes- sor in the university of Cambridge ; that he was expelled for having married ; and that he was one of the first who wrote in favor of the divorce. From the year 1529, Cran- mer placed himself at the head of the party who wished for Catherine's separation, and the marriage upon which the king was de- termined with x\nne Bullen. In 1530 he wrote a book against the validity of Cathe- rine's marriage, and it may be readily in- ferred what pleasure this must have afforded to a prince, whose predominant passions were thereby defended. He was from this time looked on as a favorite at court, and con- sidered likely to succeed Cardinal Wolsey in influence. Cranmer had already adopted the principles of Luther, and was, according to Burnet, the most esteemed of all those who had embraced them. Heretics generally admire those who adopt their own opinions, and bestow upon them the character of good men, how depraved soever they may be in their morals. Anne Bullen, continues Bur- net, had also imbibed a tincture of the same doctrine. He makes it appear, too, that she was quite attached to the opinions of those who were called reformers. Every one, con- tinues he, of the same party, had declared in favor of the divorce. Herein is discover- ed the secret connection between Cran- CHRISTIAN IRELAND. 409 mer, his adherents, and Henry's mistress, and the foundation of the influence of this new confidant, as also the commencement of the EngUsh reformation. The mihappy prince, who knew nothing of their machina- tions, or the objects they had in view, united himself by degrees to the enemies of the faith which he had before so ably defend- ed, and entering xmconsciously into their secret plots, forwarded thereby their pro- jects for destroying it. Cranmer was sent to Rome to support the divorce question, and while there, concealed his errors so ably, that the pope made him his penitentiary, which proves that he was a priest ; and although a Lutheran, he ac- cepted that office from his holiness. From Rome he went to Germany, in order to se- cure the friendship of his trusty friends, the Protestants. It was there that he married the sister of Osiander, after having first se- duced her. While there it also was that the archbishopric of Canterbury became va- cant by the death of Warham, as we have already mentioned. The king of England, from whom Cranmer's marriage had been concealed, appointed him to that see, which he accepted, and the pope, who imagined that his only fault lay in supporting the invalidity of Henry's marriage, a question which was then undecided, gave him his bulls. Cranmer received them, and did not hesitate to stain his reputation by receiving, as his party expressed themselves, " the mark of the beast.'''' Had the pretended reformation of religion been confined to England alone, this long digression might appear foreign to the his- tory of Ireland ; but as its unhappy effects have been but too sensibly felt in this coun- try, it has been thought necessary to reveal its source, and make the principal actors in it known to the world. CHAPTER XXXIV. The earl of Kildare having been ap- pointed deputy for the English province in Ireland, in the place of Skeffington, repaired to Dublin in August, 1 552, where he was joy- fully received by the inhabitants ;* and after taking the usual oath, received the sword of office from his predecessor. John Alan, or Allen, one of Cardinal Wolsey's favorites, was, at the time, archbishop of Dublin and chancellor of Ireland : but the deputy, who * War. de Annal. Hib. cap. 24. belonged to the opposite faction, had George Cromer, archbishop of Armagh, appointed chancellor and keeper of the seals in his place, which increased the hatred that al- ready prevailed between him and Alan. In order to counterbalance Kildare's authority, the court nominated James Butler, son of the earl of Ossory, treasurer. This noble- man, through the deputy's nephew, was nevertheless his enemy, having always es- poused the quarrels of his father, the earl of Ossory, against him. The earl of Kildare finding himself at the head of the government in Ireland, began to look upon his enemies with contempt. To strengthen his party, he formed an alliance with two of the most powerful of the Irish nobility, who were implacable enemies to the dominion of the English ; namely, O'Con- nor Faly and Fear-Gan-Ainim O'CarroU, to whom he gave his two daughters in mar- riage. Supported by these new alliances, he declared war against the earl of Ossory, devastated his estates, and those of his friends, and carried off considerable spoil. Conn O'Neill, and his brother John Fitz- gerald, after this made incursions into the county of Louth, burned the possessions of the English, and carried off their cattle with- out any opposition. The deputy convened a parliament in Dublin in 1533, in which regulations were made relative to the gov- ernment. The dispute for pre-eminence, so frequently renewed between the primate of Armagh and the archbishop of Dublin, was decided by this parliament in favor of the former. The parliament having been prorogued, Kildare marched at the head of his forces to support the pretensions of Fear-Gan-Ainim, or Nehemias O'Carrol, his son-in-law.* The latter had taken possession of the lordship of Eile, on the death of his brother, in virtue of the law called Tanistry ;t but the son of the deceased, a young nobleman capable of governing and commanding, considered it his duty to support his birthright against his uncle. For this purpose he collected all his vassals, and took possession of Birr, the principal town in the district. He was there besieged by the deputy ; but that general, having been wounded in the head by a mus- ket-ball, the effects of which he felt through- out life, soon abandoned the enterprise. It is said that a soldier, who was beside him, hearing him complain, said, " Why do you groan, my lord ? I have received three gun- * Ware, ibid. cap. 25. t This law will be hereafter explained. 52 410 HISTORY OF IRELAND. shot wounds in my body, and I am now perfectly well." " Would to God," replied the earl, " that you had received the fourth instead of nic." Henry VIII. was continually sending his agents to Rome to endeavor to procure the divorce, without giving them credentials for that purpose.* The pope, who was aware of the manner in which the king of Eng- land was acting, commanded him by letter to send away his mistress and take back his wife ; and in case that he disobeyed, ordered him to appear at Rome vv'ith Anne B alien, to answer for the scandal they had caused, by living together as man and wife, in con- tempt of the censures of the church. The pope concluded by observing, that it was a matter of deep regret to him to find himself obliged to Jiave recourse to such measures ; that if it were only his own private interest that was concerned, he would gladly submit it to his own decision ; but that, as the glory of God, his owli conscience, and the honor of a virtuous princess loaded with ignominy, after twenty years marriage, were now at stake, he was compelled, in spite of himself, to have recourse to these measures. This letter produced no better effect than the oth- ers. The evil increased every day, and it was soon discovered that Henry wished to break with the court of Rome, and separate himself from its communion. The parliament having assembled in the beginning of the year, fresh attacks were projected against the clergy and the pope. The commons, who were accustomed to complain of the ecclesiastics, accused them in their writings to Henry, but he did not think prudent to listen to them. They com- plained of the immense sums drawn by the popes from England, as first-fruits, provisions for benefices, bulls, and various other things of the same character, as being all contrary to English freedom. Henry, in the mean time, gave himself up to his passions. The longer the pope deferred the divorce question, the more his passion for Anne BuUen increased. In or- der to prove his affection for her, he created her marchioness of Pembroke, by letters patent dated the 15th of September, 1532, and assigned her one thousand pounds ster- ling a year, which was a considerable sum at that time, to support her dignity. "j" Henry, who could not bear the absence of the new marchioness, brought her to Ca- * Sanders, de Schis. Anglic, p. 62. Le Grand, History of tbe Divorce, pp. 219, 235. t Heylin, Hist, of the Revolution, p. 176. Ba- ker, Chron. Reign of Henry VIII. p. 281. lais in the month of October, to be present I at an interview which he had at Boulogne with Francis I., and on his return to Eng- land, n>arried her secretly on the 14th of Nov., though the sentence of the divorce between him and Catherine was not yet pronounced. Roland Lee, who was after- wards bishop of Lichfield, performed the marriage ceremony ; the king having as- sured him that the pope permitted him to leave Catherine, and take another wife, pro- vided he would marry in private, and without witnesses, in order to avoid giving scandal. After a few months, the marchioness be- ing in a state of pregnancy, the marriage could not be concealed longer.* Cranmer labored to have the king's divorce from Catherine sanctioned by the parliament. Every law that had been previously enacted against the popes, was re-enacted by this assembly. It was prohibited to appeal to Rome on any subject concerning England, as that kingdom should not submit to the regulations of any foreign power, in either spiritual or temporal affairs ; and that, there- fore, all ecclesiastical matters, on which ap- peals had been till then made to the court of Rome, should be finally determined in Eng- land, through an appeal from the commis- sioner to the bishop, from the bishop to the archbishop, and from him to the king : that whatever excommunications might arrive from Rome, the divine service should be nevertheless celebrated, and the sacraments administered ;f and if difliiculties were in- terposed by any of the clergy, they should be condemned to one year's imprisonment, and a fine to be paid, according to the king's pleasure ; and that those who violated these acts should incur the penalties of the law of prcsmunire. Lastly, it was concluded that I matters respecting the king's interest should be adjusted by a sovereign convocation of the clergy. This was the prelude to the ecclesiastical authority which Henry afterwards assumed to himself, and in which he was confirmed by an act passed in the same parliament, entitled " an act to extinguish the authority of the bishop of Rome." In the mean time, Cranmer, whom the king had purposely raised to the dignity of archbishop of Canterbury, undertook what * Protestant writers call her Queen Anne while Catherine was still alive, and before the sentence of divorce had been pronounced. None but a law- ful wife could assume that title. t Heretics always make it a practice to prepare the minds of the faithful to despise excommunica- tion, which is the only weapon used by the church to repress their audacity. CHRISTIAN IRELAND. 411 the pope had not dared to do. Being in-1 vested with authority by Henry VIII., who I was now declared to be supreme head of the English church, he removed to Dunstable in the beginning of May, accompanied by the bishops of London, Winchester, Wells, and Lincoln, and attended by some ofFicers of justice, where they established a sort of tribunal, to which Catherine of Aragon was summoned, to be heard on the subject of her marriage with the king. The queen, how- ever, who still adhered to her first resolution, which was, to acknowledge no tribunal but that of Rome, or no judge but the pope, having refused to appear, was condemned for contumacy. The sentence of divorce was then pronounced, and her marriage with the king declared to be null. This decision was confirmed by the parliament, which de- prived this princess of the rank of queen, and decreed that she should thenceforward be called princess dowager, as being only the widow of Prince Arthur. It was enacted by the same parliament, that it was lawful for the king to marry a second time. Every thing being thus arranged, the mar- chioness of Pembroke was solemnly crowned at Whitehall, with the usual ceremonies, and with the title of queen. In a few months after this, the celebrated Elizabeth was born, the unhappy offspring of lust and discord ; and was subsequently queen of England. The parliament continued their endeavors, by order of the king, to annihilate the pope's authority in England. Every day some bishop mounted the pulpit in St. Paul's, and preached to the people that the bishop of Rome had no more power in the kingdom, than any other bishop out of his own diocese. The English had been prepared for this change for some years before, so that the king found but little opposition to his wishes in the two houses of parliament. It was therefore decreed that nothing more should be referred after this to the court of Rome ; but that all cases wherein an appeal had been made to the pope, should be hereafter finally settled by the king and his council. The king's second marriage was confirmed, and the former having been declared null, it was enacted that the children born of that alliance could not inherit from their father, and should be therefore considered illegitimate ; that the male children whom the king might have by Anne BuUen, should succeed to the crown, and that, in the event of having no male issue, the daughters should succeed ; so that tlie Princess iVIary was disinherited, i and Elizabeth declared heiress to the crown. j But tliis law was continued only as long as i the king's passion lasted for Anne BuIIen, and the offspring of Henry's connection with her was afterwards dealt with as severely as the Princess Mary ; the parliament follow- ing no other rule in making or rescinding laws, than the caprices of the prince. A conspiracy was formed about the year 1533, against the earl of Kildare, deputy of Ireland, which proved fatal to this nobleman and his whole family.* This earl had many enemies. He had supplanted Skeffington in the government of Ireland, and deprived Alan, or Allen, archbishop of Dublin, of the office of chancellor, to confer it on another. The earl of Ossory was his brother-in-law, but not his friend, and the spirit of jealousy which had long existed between the houses of Butler and Fitzgerald, was not forgotten by the present chiefs of them. These three noblemen conspired against Kildare, and soon drew others into their party. John Allen, a creature of the ex-chan- cellor, who was secretary to the council, and afterwards master of the rolls, was sent to England by the council, to inform the king of the state of the English province, and the abuses which required reformation. He was commissioned to represent to his majesty, that every thing in the province was in a state of decline ; that the order which had been established, as well as the language and mode of dress which had been ordained, were neglected ; and lastly, that the English laws were not in force for more than about a circuit of twenty miles. He was also ordered to make known to the king and his council, that these abuses proceeded from the great power of some nobles to whom the government was intrusted, the frequent change of deputies, and the making over of the crown lands, by which the revenues in- tended to support the state were consider- ably diminished. Allen acquitted himself so well of his commission, that the king sent an order to the deputy to repair to England, to account for his conduct, and to answer for the crimes of wliich he stood accused. Kildare dreading the consequences, sought means to delay his voyage. He sent his countess to England, to prevail upon her relatives and friends to solicit the king to countermand the order, under pretext that her husband's absence might produce dan- gerous results in the present state of affairs in Ireland. But the enemies of the earl having informed the king and council of England of his attempts, the appeal was rejected. He determined then to risk all, * Ware, ibid. cap. 25. 412 HISTORY OF IRELAND. and to proceed. Previous, however, to his departure, he caused his castles of Maynooth and Ley, and other pUices which belonged to him, to be provided with arms and am- munition of all sorts from the king's stores. The deputy prepared for his voyage to England in the spring of 1534 ; having, be- fore he set out, nominated his son, Thomas Fitzgerald, deputy in his stead, according to the orders he had received from the king, to give the administration of affairs during his absence to one for whom he should be re- sponsible.* The vice-deputy was a young man about twenty-one, impetuous, and with- out the experience requisite for so important a trust. The father, when giving him the sword of justice, made a very impressive discourse to him, in presence of the council, at Drogheda. It is quoted by HoUingshed, and is in substance as follows : " You know, my son, that my sovereign lord, the king, has commanded me to repair to England. I am ignorant of what may arise to me ; God alone knows ; but what- ever may occur, you are as well aware as I am, that my years are far advanced, and that, being a mortal, death may at any time befall me ; and that it will necessarily come soon, from my advanced age. As my winter there- fore is drawing to a close, and you are only in the spring of life, it is my wish that you conduct yourself in youth with such prudence that you may enjoy the pleasures of your summer to the satisfaction of your friends ; gather the fruits of your autumn, and attain with honor the winter of your career, to which you see I am fast approaching. Since it is his majesty's will that I should appoint a substitute, for whom I shall be responsible, I may be, perhaps, blamed for having placed a naked sword in the hands of so young a man, whose opinions are not yet matured, nor his judgment formed : however, I flatter myself, that, as being your father, I shall have sufficient authority to command you in the government of affairs, and to reprehend you as my son, should this become necessary. Remember, likewise, my son, that it is easier to pull down than to build up : be guided therefore in every thing by the wis- dom of your council. Though you have the authority of governing others, you must act under their advice." He concluded by pre- senting his son with the sword, whereupon he took leave, with tears in his eyes, of the whole assembly, and sailed immediately for England, where, on his arrival, he was sent to the tower by orders of the king. * Cox, History of Ireland, page 226. The enemies of the Fitzgcralds were not sufficiently revenged by the earl's disgrace ; they wished to drag his son and all his family into the same ruin. For this purpose, a re- port was spread that the earl of Kildare had been beheaded in the tower, and that liis son, the deputy, with his uncles and brothers, should soon undergo a similar fate. There were even letters published confirming the report. One of these letters having acci- dentally fallen into the hands of James de la Hide, the head of the deputy's council, this favorite made him form an alliance with O'Neill, O'Connor, and other Irish noble- men, in order to strengthen his party, and enable him to await the event. It may be readily imagined that a young nobleman in the flower of youth, could easily be led on the one side by a passion, which inspired revenge for the death of a father by whom he was beloved ; and on the other, by apprehension for his own safety, and that of his whole family, who were to be sacrificed to the envy of their enemies. Filled with these ideas, the deputy put himself at the head of one hundred and forty horsemen, well armed, and mounted. With these he crossed the city of Dublin, and stopping at the abbey of Our Lady, where the council was assembled, he posted his troops around the convent, which he entered, and took his' seat among the council. He was followed by some of his horsemen, who entered the hall in a tumultuous manner, making a great noise ; but silence being ordered, the deputy addressed the meeting, and surrendered the sword of justice, and other attributes of his office ; declaimed strongly against the injuries which he and his family sustained, notwith- standing the important services they had rendered to the state ; declared that the sword no longer belonged to him ; that he was no longer the king's deputy, but his open enemy ; and that he had resolved to make him feel for his tyranny and cruelties. He then pre- sented the sword to Cromer, the chancellor. The latter, with tears in his eyes, used every possible argumentto dissuade the vice-deputy from an enterprise,the consequences of which might prove fatal to him and his family ; and represented to him that the name of a king is sacred, while that of a rebel was odious. Fitzgerald told the chancellor in reply, that he did not go there to ask his advice on what he should do, but to inform him of his inten- tions ; and then withdrew from the assembly, and placed himself at the head of his forces. Thomas Fitzgerald having thus raised the standard of revolt, proceeded to strengthen his party. He was first joined by the other CHRISTIAN IRELAND. 413 branches of his family, who were numerous and powerful ; and he was also seconded by- some Irish lords. The rebellion was now becoming general, particularly in the neigh- borhood of Dublin. The O'Tools and other Irish seized the opportunity of plundering the territory of Fingal, which was con- sidered the granary of the city ; in which I they were encouraged by John Burnel, an English gentleman, who was favorable to the rebellion. Being loaded with booty, they were attacked in their retreat near Kilmain- ham, by a considerable body of the inhabit- ants of Dublin, who, however, were soon put to flight, leaving eighty men dead upon the spot ; the rest were fortunate to effect their escape into the city. During these troubles several of the king's subjects returned to England. Others sought an asylum in the castle of Dublin ; among v/hom were Allen, archbishop of the city, and Finglasse, chief baron of the exchequer.* Fitzgerald wishing to profit by the conster- nation which prevailed everywhere, threat- ened to besiege the citizens. He sent orders to them to remain neuter if they wished to be spared, informing them that he only in- tended to lay siege to the castle. Francis Herbert, one of the sheriffs, was immediately dispatched to England to inform the king of the rebellion that had broken out ; while the other sheriff, John Fitzsimons, undertook to provide the castle with provisions, and all kinds of ammunition necessary to maintain a defence. The unfortunate archbishop, alarmed by these preparations, and dreading the consequences of a siege commanded by his enemy, resolved to escape during the night through one of the city gates, being determined to cross over to England ; but the vessel having stranded at Clontarf, on leaving the harbor, he was obliged to retire to a village called Tartain, where he was surprised early in the morning by Fitzgerald, j his two uncles, John and Oliver, Sir James de la Hide, and others of their partisans. The prelate was dragged from his bed with- out clothes, shoes, or hat, by John Teling and Nicholas Wafer. Fitzgerald, moved with compassion, said to them in the Irish language, " Berwoem a boddagh" — that is, " Take the boor out of my presence," — inti- mating, apparently, to have him sent to prison. But these iniquitous servants, misinterpret- ing their master's orders, dashed the arch- bishop's brains out in his presence. Such was the tragical end of this prelate, who had been the principal tool made use of by Car- * Ware, de Archiepisc. Dubliniens. dinal Wolsey, some time before, in the de- struction of forty monasteries in England. This conduct was looked upon, according to Godwin, bishop of Hereford, in his life of Henry VIII., as the Tolosan, or fatal gold,* that brought misfortune on those who pos- sessed it.f The see of Dublin was occupied by George Brown after the death of Allen. Thomas Fitzgerald did not lose sight of the siege he had projected. He first made prisoners of the baron of Howth, and Lut- trel, chief-justice of the court of common pleas, whom he suspected ; and then, on the faith of the neutrality which the inhabit- ants agreed to observe, sent Captains James Field of Lusk, Teling, Wafer, Broad, Rouks, and Purcel, each at the head of a hundred men, to invest the castle. This little army having planted some pieces of cannon, en- camped before the place. Thomas having given his orders for the siege, turned his views to another quarter. Being desirous of gaining over young Butler, his cousin, eldest son of the earl of Ossory, he endeavored by his correspondence to in- spire him with the same rebellious opinions which actuated himself ; but this young no- bleman having refused to enter into any con- spiracy against the king, Fitzgerald, accom- panied by O'Neill, Sir Richard Walsh, Bur- nel of Bally-Griflin, and other allies, made an incursion into the county of Kilkenny, where he burned and laid waste the country as far as Thomas-town, on the river Nore. The earl of Ossory was at Jeripont with his forces ; and while they were consulting upon what plans they should adopt, they were attacked by the enemy, and put to flight. Young Butler was wounded in this engage- ment ; and had only time to retreat to Dun- more, where he was cured of his wounds. The conqueror then made the inhabitants of the English province take an oath of fidelity to him, and confined all those who refused to do so, in his castle of Maynooth. Fitzgerald, desirous of procuring foreign alliances, had recourse to Charles V., and the pope, who could not continue friends to Henry, in consequence of the divorce and schism. I He sentCharles Reynolds, arch- * This manner of e,\pression is derived from tlie ancient Tectosages, wiio, being enriclied with the spoils of the temples of the gods, and some eastern nations, returned to Toulouse, which was their country. They were afterwards destroyed by a dreadful plague, which lasted till they had thrown all their unjustly-acquired treasures into a lake. t " Which matter, (as some think,) altnough Tolosan gold, brought destruction and very great calamities upon all who had touched it." \ Cox, ibid. 414 HISTORY OP IRELAND. deacon of Kells, and Dominick Poer, as ambassadors ; the former to Paul III., and the latter to the emperor, to solicit their as- sistance. Poer was intrusted with a present for the emperor, which consisted of twelve falcons, and fourteen horses, called hobbies. This embassy, however, was of no avail. In the mean time, Herbert, who had been dispatched to England by the citizens of DubUn, to inform the king of the rebellion in Ireland, and receive his commands on that subject, i-eturned. The king commissioned him to exhort the inhabitants to make a vigorous defence, and that he would send them immediate assistance. The citizens hereupon held a meeting to deliberate on what should be done ; and it was determined by the greater number of votes, that there was no obligation to keep faith with a traitor, and that the treaty made with Fitzgerald was of no effect. They gave orders, therefore, to have the gates of the city closed, and the besiegers of the castle arrested. Captain Field, who commanded the siege, being in- formed of their design, thought only of saving his army ; part of which swam across the river, but the rest were made prisoners. Fitzgerald, who was still in the county of Kilkenny, on receiving an account of what had occurred in Dublin, summoned the in- habitants of the English province to join him with all their forces near Dublin. Having arrived within a short distance of the city, he deputed Doctor Traverse, Peter Linch, lord of Knock, in the county of Meath, and Oliver Grace, to complain to the inhabitants of the infraction of the treaty which had been con- cluded with them, and to demand the renew- al of it, or at least that they would set the prisoners at liberty. This general having received an answer that did not please him, •began the attack upon the castle, on the side of Sheep-street ; but being unable to bear the incessant fire from within, which burned*the houses around him, he was forced to change his position. He caused the course of the river which supplied the city with water, to be turned, lie then posted himself at Thomas-court, where he pulled down the street, and constructed a gallery to shelter his troops. He also burned the new street, and planted a cannon opposite to Newgate, which did considerable damage. Richard Staunton, jailer of Newgate, killed several of the besiegers from the loop-holes in that building. But as the besiegers, wishing to shorten the labor, were bringing fagots to set fire to the gate, and by that means to effect an entrance into the city, the besieged reported in the enemy's camp that a large body of English had just landed, and were going to make a general sally. This the citizens performed with such vigor that the besiegers, thinking their numbers to have been increased, dispersed immediately, leav- ing several of their men dead upon the spot, and abandoned their works. The general was obliged to conceal himself in the Fran- ciscan convent, in Francis-street, till the next day, when he went to collect the re- mains of his army. The earl of Kildare, Thomas Fitzgerald's father, who was confined in the tower of London, heard of the excesses which his son had been guilty of in Ireland, notwithstand- ing the wise counsels he had given him at his departure, and fell into such a state of melancholy, that he died in the month of September of this year. In the mean time, his son, having collected his forces, which had been scattered by the sally of the be- sieged, still pressed the city of Dublin ; but his artillery and ammunition failing him, he sent James de la Hide, and a few others, to propose terms of capitulation to the citizens. The conditions and hostages having been named and accepted on both sides, he raised the siege ; and after sending his artillery to Howth, he proceeded to Maynooth, to see if its castle were in a state of defence. The king of England having been informed of the troubles caused by the rebellion of the Fitzgeralds, appointed Sir William Skeffing- ton deputy of Ireland for the second time. All those who had filled the high offij^es of trust, were replaced by men incapable of encouraging the rebels. John Barnewall, baron of Tremlestown, was nominated chan- cellor instead of Cromer, archbishop of Ar- magh ; Patrick Finglasse, lord-chief-justice of the king's bench ; Thomas Lutterel, chief- justice of the common pleas ; Gerald Ayl- mer, chief baron of the exchequer ; and Wil- liam Brabazon, vice-treasurer. The above changes having been effected in the govern- ment, English troops were sent over. The first division, consisting of one hundred and eighty men, under the command of Musgrave and the two Mamertons, having landed at Howth, were attacked on the road to Dublin, near Clontarf, by Thomas Fitzgerald, at the head of two hundred horse ; he killed several of them, and sent the rest prisoners to the castle of Maynooth. He himself was, how- ever, wounded in the conflict. Captain Rouks, his pirate, seized on their transport vessels at Howth, one of which was filled with fine English saddle horseS; which he sent to his master. The Eglebees and Dacres landed shortly afterwards at Skerries, in the territory CHRISTIAN IRELAND. 415 of Fingal, with a body of cavalry. Sir Wil- liam Brerelon, accompanied by his son John, also arrived in Dublin with two hundred and fifty soldiers, and was followed by Captain Salisbury with two hundred archers. The deputy, Skeffington, attended by Leo- nard Lord Grey, who was nominated marshal of Ireland, landed in Dublin in October, provided with every thing necessary to carry on the war. He was received with demon- strations of joy by the mayor and inhabitants. He presented them with letters from the king, thanking them for their loyalty, anS then received the sword of justice from the chancellor. Baron Tremlestown. He imme- diately turned all his thoughts towards pre- paring for an expedition against Thomas Fitzgerald, who, by the death of his father, had become earl of Kildare. He caused this nobleman to be declared a traitor to the king and government; but was forced, from indis- position, and the approach of winter, to put off his enterprise against him till spring ; and was also obliged to wait for further assistance in men and money from England, as Kildare had just renewed his alliance with O'Neill, O'Connor, and other lords of the country, and was still master of six fortified places, well provided with all kinds of warlike stores ; namely, Maynooth, Portlester, Rathangan, Catherlagh, Ley, and Athy, from which they made incursions, during the winter, on the inhabitants of the province. The pope was well aware of the progress the schism was making in England, and the attempt (of a nature hitherto unheard of among Christians) of Henry VIII., who had declared himself head of the English church, both spiritual and temporal.* Francis I. was Henry's friend, and was interested for him, without, however, being a party to his madness. He solicited the pope, at the inter- view he had with him at Marseilles, to look favorably upon him,t to which his holiness seemed inclined ; but when the ambassadors of Henry were called on to adjust the diffi- culties that existed, it appeared that they were invested with no specific authority. The surprise of Clement and Francis I . was great. The latter, however, who felt extreme com- passion for the weaknesses of Henry, begged of the pope to wait the return of a courier whom they had dispatched to England to procure the power necessary for acting. The courier, however, brought no orders to the English ambassadors except that they should inform Clement, that neither the king their * Sander, de Schis. Anglic, lib. 1, pp. 76, 77. Baker, Chron. page 280. t Le Grand, Hist, du Divorce, page 2G6, et seq. master, nor the archbishop of Canterbury, would acknowledge him to be their judge, and that they would appeal to a future coun- cil for what had been already done. This order was highly displeasing to Francis I., who complained of it to the English ambas- sadors ; and told them, that notwithstanding the entreaties of their master to him to un- dertake to arrange the matter amicably, he clearly saw that he was opposed to any arrangement. The French monarch, how- ever, did not yet abandon hope ; he still en- i deavored to renew the iicgotiation between the pope and Henry, for which purpose he sent Du Bellay, bishop of Paris, to England, in December, invested with full powers. Upon his being admitted to an audience in London, it was strongly debated whether the proposal for renewing the negotiation with Clement should be accepted, or all intercourse with the holy see broken off. The prelate, however, having proposed to go to Rome, to negotiate the matter himself, the former plan was adopted. On his arrival there, he settled every thing to Henry's advantage ; but this prince, who was incapable of acting honorably, only renewed his complaints against Francis, because he would not, like himself, break with the pope. Shortly after- wards, the bishop of Paris sent a list of the cardinals whom he thought he had gained over to Henry's favor ; and the agents of the emperor and queen Catharine, as well as those of France and England, peremptorily demanding the trial of this celebrated suit, the pope could no longer defer it. On Monday, the 23d of March, his holi- ness held a consistory, at which twenty-two cardinals were present.* The divorce ques- tion having been proposed, it was under discussion for a very short time only ; every member, with the exception of Trivolce, Rodolphi, and Pesani, being of opinion, that the king of England should be obliged to take back Catherine, and to keep her as his lawful wife. The different opinions being then collected, the sentence was pronounced, by which the pope decided that having heard the report of James Simoneta, bishop of Pisaro, auditor of the sacred palace, and deputy of Paul Capisucchi, who was then absent, he, with the advice of the cardinals, condemned the proceedings of Henry as null and unjust, and commanded him to take back his wife Catherine, to live with her, declaring his marriage to be good and valid, and the children of such marriage to be le- gitimate. The pope forbid him also to con- * Le Grand, Hist, du Divorce, page 237. 416 HISTORY OP IRELAND. tinue the separation longer, and condemned him to pay all the costs of the suit. It much afflicted the pope to have been forced to pronounce so absolute a sentence as the above. He expressed a desire to do every thing in his power to satisfy the king of England ; and it was his wish not to grant the decision before Easter, though he had been required to do so without delay, by many of the cardinals. Clement found himself in the greatest dilemma ; he could not deny justice to Catherine, without giving scandal to the whole of Christendom ; and by condemning Henry, England must be lost to the church. He deferred, there- fore, as long as he was able, coming to any decision upon this celebrated suit. When the sentence was pronounced, he spent the night in company with several divines, delib- erating on what was best to be done in the unhappy conjuncture ; but Henry's wicked disposition, which would not admit of any control, was stronger than the good- will of the pope. It is true, says Le Grand, that two days subsequent to the decision, a cou- rier arrived, who declared that the king would submit to every thing ; but it is diffi- cult, he continues, to ascertain what were the powers with which he had been intrusted, or on what conditions Henry would resume his obedience to the church. It is even probable, adds our author, that he only made these advances in consequence of let- ters of the bishop of Paris, who might have written to him as he did to Francis I., that he had gained over many of the cardinals, and that most of those in the consistory would be favorable to his views, which proved to be erroneous. He therefore would have thought that he incurred no risk by submitting to every thing, when he ex- pected that all would be in his favor. We discover here the injustice of the opinion generally entertained of Clement VII., who is accused of having been too hasty in pro- nouncing the sentence which separated Henry from the church ; while, in fact, the moderation of the pope on the occasion is well known. The suit had been continued during five years ; and the decision was de- ferred as long as possible, the pope hoping that time would moderate the king's passion. He even proposed to queen Catherine to enter upon a religious life, in order to ter- minate the difference amicably. The English parliament passed two acts at this time ; one to confirm the divorce, and declare the princess Mary illegitimate, and to establish the succession to the throne in the person of Elizabeth, daughter of Anne Bullen ; the other to confirm the king in the title of supreme head of the English church, and to abolish the pope's authority in Eng- land.* While the parliament labored to secure to the posterity of Anne Bullen the right of succeeding to the throne, proceedings were going on in Rome against the king of England. The strength of the faction in favor of Spain, the justice of Catherine's cause, the wicked conduct of Henry, and the continued remon- strances of the cardinals, at length forced the pope to issue a bull of excommunication against Henry and Anne Bullen, unless they made their appearance in the end of Sep- tember, and put an end to the scandal they had given ; but the heart of Pharaoh was hardened, and his conscience calmed by the laws which his parliament had enacted in his favor. It was at this time that the world deplored the fate of the two men in England most illus- trious for their learning and piety, Thomas More, lord-chancellor, and Fisher, bishop of Rochester. Burnet himself bewails their death, and considers their tragical end as a stain upon the life of Henry. They were the two most distinguished victims of the new ecclesiastical supremacy. When More was urged to acknowledge it, he made the follow- ing noble reply : " That were he alone against the whole parliament, he would have a diffidence in himself ; but now, though the grand council of England were opposed to him, the whole church, that great council of Christians, was in his favor." Fisher's end was no less edifying, or less Christian-like. This was the commencement of the persecu- tion, carried on alike against Catholic and Protestant, and Henry became the most cruel of princes, from the time he assumed the supremacy of the church. It does not appear, says Burnet, that he was naturally prone to cruelty. f He reigned, according to this writer, for twenty-five years, without condemning any one for capital crimes, ex- cept two men for whose punishment he can- not be reproached ; while in the latter end of his reign he set no bounds to his cruelty. So that Henry, who had previously been ex- empt from such disorders, did not give him- self up to them, according to Burnet, till the last ten years of his life, that is, immediately after his divorce, his open rupture with the church, and his unprecedented usurpation of ecclesiastical supremacy. * Sander, de Schis. Ang. lib. 1, c. 88. Baker's Cliron. p. 281. Heylin's History of the Revolution, page 179. t Book 3, page 183. CHRISTIAN IRELAND. 417 CHAPTER XXXYl. The earl of Kildare having put his fortifi- cations into a state of defence, particularly the castle of Maynooth, marched with his army towards Connaught to collect the troops which he was to have been provided with by O'Connor and his other allies, a. d. 1535.* Skeffington the deputy, taking ad- vantage of the earl's absence, surrounded the castle of Maynooth on the 1 5th of March. Sir William Brereton summoned the garrison to surrender on advantageous terms ; but as these wore not accepted, he endeavored to effect a breach. His cannon, however, did but little execution during fifteen days, and the castle would probably have held out till the arrival of Kildare, had it not been for the treachery of the governor. Kildare had confided the command of the garrison during his absence, to his foster-brother Christopher Parese. This traitor, actuated by avarice, and the desire of establishing his fortune on his master's downfall, wrote secretly to the deputy, and proposed to give up the castle for a stipulated sum of money. The deputy joyfully acceded to the proposal. They only waited for a favorable opportu- nity to carry it into effect, which soon pre- sented itself; the garrison having gained some advantages in a sally against the be- siegers, Parese orderedthat rejoicings should take place, and while the sentinels lay in- toxicated and asleep, the commander gave the signal to the English, who scaled the walls, and, almost without resistance, made themselves masters of the castle, in which they found an immense booty. The deputy entered the place triumphant- ly. Parese appeared before him, thinking that he would soon be well rewarded for his perfidy. t The deputy applauded highly the signal benefit the traitor had rendered to the state. He added, that if the king were in- formed of it he would not fail to acknowledge so important a service, and in order to en- able the monarch to reward him as he ought, for the sacrifice he had made of the earl of Kildare's protection, he required to know in what the favors of that nobleman consisted. Parese, who thought his fortune was already made, informed him minutely of the earl's generous liberality to him. •' How then, Parese," replied the deputy, " could you have betrayed so good a master?" Then turning to his officers, he ordered them to * War. de Annal. Hib. cap. 27. t Cox, ibid, pages 239, 240. pay the sum agreed upon ; but as there was no mention made of life in the compact be- tween them, he ordered him to be beheaded. " Had I known that, my lord," said Parese, " you would not have had the castle on such cheap terms." One Boyse, who was present, replied in Irish, '■'■ Anantra^'' that is, " too late ;" which gave rise to the proverb among the natives, " It is too late, says Boyse." Skeflfington having placed a garrison in the castle of Maynooth, returned to Dublin. At this time Kildare was on his march with seven thousand men, intending to raise the siege, but having received intelligence on the way, that the castle had surrendered, he was abandoned by part of his army. He, how- ever, continued his march with the rest to- wards Clane, in the county of Kildare. The deputy having received intelligence of his march, gave the command of Dublin to Brereton, and set out for Naas. Both armies were separated by a bog, and the cavalry being unable to act, the deputy, who was strong in artillery, easily dispersed the earl's army, which was but poorly provided with it. He then forced Rathangan and other places to surrender. After these losses, the earl of Kildare no longer found himself at the head of a strong force. He was, in fact, reduced to the rank of a ring-leader, and obliged, in order to support himself, to keep up a petty warfare. He sent a herd of cattle one morning within sight of Rathangan, where there was an English garrison : the English seeing a favorable opportunity of obtaining booty, went out in crowds, without perceiving that the earl and his forces were lying in ambush ; they fell into the snare ; the earl cut off their retreat, and killed several of their men. He repeated this stra- tagem at Trim, in the county Meath, by which means he drew out the garrison there also, and put them to the sword. On the 11th of May, in this year, Lord James Butler was created discount Thurles, and grand-admiral of Ireland ;* and a few days afterwards, his father, the earl of Ossory, and he, were nominated governors of the counties of Kilkenny, Waterford, and Tipperary, and the districts of Ossory and Ormond, on condition of their endeavoring to retake the castle of Dungarvan, and vigor- ously resisting the usurpations of the bishop of Rome. According to Cox,"|" this was the first instance of an engagement of this kind to be met with in the history of Ireland. Leonard Lord Grey was also created at this * Cox, Hist, of Irel. page 240. t Ibid, page 240. 418 IirSTORY OP IRELAND. time Viscount Crane. In the month of Sep- tember followino;, Tliomas Eustace was made baron of Kik-uUcn, and Sir Richard Power, or le Poor, baron of Croghmore. The former was subsequently created A'iscount Baltinglass. Lord Grey, who had been sent to England for assistance, returned at this time to Ireland with a reinforcement of cavalry and archers, under the command of Sir William Senlo, Sir Rice Mansel, and Sir Edward Griffith. j It appears by a letter written at the time to Lord Cromwell, by Aylmer, chief-justice, and '■' Allen, master of the rolls, that they found 1 1 the state of affairs in Ireland to be very un- ii promising; that six of the eight baronies in jj the county of Kildare had been laid waste jl and burned, with a part of the county of Meath ; that Powerscourt, the building of jl which had cost five thousand marks, had j been destroyed by the O'Byrnes and O'Tools ; !j that Fitzgerald had retaken Rathangan, through the treachery of the sentinels: ]j though having been obliged to abandon the 11 place on the approach of the army, he would ]j have been surprised if the deputy had used i| the necessary precautions ; that O'AIorra, ; I who had joined .the English, had posted his j! troops and those of the king so advan- i' tageously, that the rebels were surrounded, and Fitzgerald never could have escaped, had not an English cohort given way ; that the plague was depopulating Dublin ; that Charles O'Connor had been provided with troops in the king's pay against his brother ; that the deputy was sick and unable to de- fend the castle of Maynooth ; that no confi- dence coidd be placed in O'Neill, as he had given no hostages, this remark referring to a treaty concluded some time afterwards at Drogheda, between Conn O'Neill and the deputy. This letter concludes with warm praises of William Brabazon, and Lord Grey, whom they demanded as their deputy with orders to convene a parliament. In the mean time the deputy having learn- ed that Kildare had withdrawn into Mun- ster, sent Lord Grey, Sir William Brereton, and others, in pursuit of him, and after some j I unavailing skirmishes,Brereton's advice, and 1 1 the necessity of the affairs of Kildare pro- ;I duced a conference, in which that nobleman ii surrendered to Lord Grey, on condition of 1 1 being pardoned. It is said that he promised I; him a general pardon. However this be, |i Fitzgerald was brought to Dublin, and sent !to England, where, notwithstanding the let- ij ters of recommendation with which he was Ii provided to the king, he was arrested and ; confined in the tower, where he remained till the time of his execution. Stephen Ap Henry, Lord Grey's favorite, wrote about this time to Thomas Cromwell, secretary of state, informing him that Lord Leonard Grey had gone to England with Fitzgerald ; that Lord James Butler had marched towards Clonmel, where he had been joined by his brother-in-law, Garrett M'Shane, who could not speak English ; that they had advanced together to Dungar- van, which surrendered on their approach, from whence they set out for Youghal, and from that place to Cork, where they received the complaints of Barry against Cormac- Ogue of Muskerry, and M'Carty Riagh. The complaints alluded to set forth, that these noblemen having regained by force of arms part of the estates which had been usurped by the Barrys from their ancestors in the twelfth century, M'Carty Muskerry, a peaceful man, wished to submit to the de- cision of government, while M'Carty Riagh answered, that with the sword he would preserve what he had gained by the sword. The letter concludes with observing, that Butler and his brother-in-law had continued their march through Mallow and Kilmallock, as far as Limerick, where the son of O'Brien, brother-in-law to Butler, applied to him for assistance against his father and uncle, in the siege of Carrigogonell ; but Butler being unprovided with artillery, could undertake nothing for him, and returned to Clonmel, through Cashel. Skeffington, the deputy, having requested permission from the court to return to Eng- land, on account of his great age and infir- mities, the king's answer was sent to him, in which thanks were given him for the taking of the earl of Kildare. The king told him also to continue in the government of Ire- land, and gave orders to convene a parlia- ment ; but the deputy died in the end of December, at Kilmainham, and was interred in the cathedral church of St. Patrick, in Dublin. Lord Grey was immediately ap- pointed by the council to succeed him, which nomination was confirmed by the king, with the title of deputy, under Henry, duke of Richmond, lieutenant of Ireland. Every thing was now in confusion in Eng- land. The martyrdom of Fisher and More, and many other sangidnary executions, filled every mind with horror. The people all took the oath acknowledging Henry's supre- macy, no one daring to oppose it. His power over the church of England was es- tablished by several parliamentary statutes ;* and his first act was to confer on Cromwell the title of his spiritual vicar-general. Crom- * Sander, de Scliis. Angl. lib. 1, page 124. CHRISTIAN IRELAND. 419 well was the son of a blacksmith. Having taken a dislike to the trade of shearer, which he had learned, he ran away from his master, enlisted as a soldier, and was present at the sacking of Rome. He afterwards returned to England, and entered the service of Car- dinal Wolsey, who preferred him to his other servants, and reposed confidence in him. When Cromwell became a member of par- liament, he testified his gratitude by sup- porting his master's interests, and defending him in his misfortunes, by which firmness he acquired the esteem of the king. Having thus advanced himself at court, he made Henry's inclinations his whole study, in order to flat- ter him in every thing. Discovering that this prince was very ambitious, and that his reve- nues were not sufficient for his expenses, he advised him to take possession of the reve- nues of the religious houses. This advice was highly gratifying to the cupidity of Henry, who thought that he who had given it would be the fittest person to carry it into execution. For this purpose he created Cromwell inspector-general of all the con- vents and religious houses in England ; in which quality, notwithstanding that he was an ignorant layman, he was to preside at all the assemblies of the clergy, and to be made acquainted with all matters of an ecclesias- tical kind.' Gi'omwell was a Zuinglian, or at least a Lutheran : Cranmer belonged to the same party ; he was the intimate friend of Cromwell, and both acted in perfect ac- cordance. The marchioness of Pembroke supported them with all her influence ; and in order to increase the party, she procured the bishoprics of Salisbury and Winchester for Schaxton and Latimer, her almoners, who were secretly Protestants. Cranmer paid his archiepiscopal visit to his province, with the royal permission. They now began to use the king's authority in all ecclesiastical jurisdiction, in order to establish his spiritual supremacy. The archbishop of Canterbury's first act was to place the church under his yoke, and submit to an earthly king that power which she had received from God. Cromwell- also paid a visit to his own diocese.* These visitations were followed by the suppression of three hundred and sev- enty-six monasteries, the lands and revenues of which were granted to the king by an act of parliament. All good men exclaimed against this sacrilegious depredation of the property dedicated to God. This was one of the first effects of Henry's supremacy, « Baker's Chron. page 283. who made himself head of the church to plunder it with impunity. In the beginning of the year 1536, the five uncles of the young earl of Kildare, who was then a prisoner in the tower, — namely, James, Oliver, Richard, John, and Walter, who were still under arms, surren- dered to Lord Grey, the deputy, by whom they were sent prisoners to London.* After having sailed, they asked the captain the name of the vessel in which they were ; and learning that it was called The Cow, they lost their courage, on account of an an- cient prophecy, which foretold that the five sons of an earl should be carried to England in the belly of a cow, and that they would never return. This prophecy proved true ; inasmuch as the earl of Kildare and his uncles were tried, convicted of high treason, and executed at Tyburn. In the mean time, James de la Hide, one of the first counsellors of Thomas Fitzgerald, earl of Kildare, sought safety in Scotland, where he died. The race of Kildare was not yet extinct. One of its members still remained, who re- stored this illustrious house. Gerald, brother to Thomas, aged thirteen years, was sick of the emall-pox at Donoare, in the county of Kildare, at the time his uncles had surren- dered. This young nobleman was under the guardianship of Thomas Leverous, after- wards bishop of Kildare ; who had him re- moved to Off"aly, from which he brought him to Thuomond, and thence to Kilbritton, in the county of Cork, to his aunt, Eleanor Fitzgerald, widow of M'Carty Riagh. She loved her young nephew tenderly, and had him sent privately to France, having given him one hundred and forty pieces of gold to defray his expenses. On arriving at St. Malo, he was taken to Paris, where, how- ever, he was not long permitted to remain. The English ambassador demanded that he should be given up, in virtue of the peace which had been just concluded between France and England ; but the king, having delayed giving his answer for some time, afforded Fitzgerald an opportunity to with- draw to Flanders, whither the ambassador dispatched James Sherlock in pursuit of him. The latter being arrested at Valenciennes by the governor, Fitzgerald had again time to reach Brussels ; where, however, he was not more secure. From Brussels he went to Liege. He was recommended to the bishop of that city by the emperor, who as- signed him one hundred crowns a month for his support. Six months after this, he was * Ware de Annal. Hib. cap. 28. 420 HISTORY OF IRELAND. brought to Rome by Cardinal Pole ; and after spending a few years with the bishop of Verona, and the Cardinals De Mantua and Pole, and other Italian noblemen, he undertook his pilgrimages in the order of Malta, and became conmiander of the grand duke of Tuscany's cavalry. lie remained in his service till the reign of Edward VI., who restored him to the possessions of his ances- tors ; and he was reinstated, two years after this, in his titles of honor by Queen Mary. Great anarchy prevailed in the family of the Fitzgeralds of Munster, respecting the succession to the title and estates of the house of Desmond.* On the death of James Fitzmaurice, Thomas Moel, or the Bald, his grand-uncle, third son of him who was be- headed at Drogheda, was declared earl of Desmond. He married the daughter of M'Carty of Muskry, by whom he had a son called Maurice Fitzthomas, who died before his father, leaving a son called James Fitz- maurice. Thomas having died at the age of eighty years, James Fitzmaurice, who was at that time page to Henry VIII., asked permis- sion from the king to return to Ireland, which he readily obtained. The king, who was much attached to this young nobleman, sent a certain number of soldiers with him, as a guard of honor, and also to support him against those who might dispute his right. He landed in Cork, and passing through the territory of Fermoy, on his way to Limerick, he was surprised in an ambuscade which had been laid for him by his relative Maurice Fitzgerald, and was unfortunately killed. This cruel act was the first step towards the downfall of this illustrious house. Maurice, who had been the cause of the death of his relative, was second son of John of Desmond, who was brother to Thomas the Bald, and fourth son of the earl that was beheaded at Drogheda. Maurice having made some in- cursions upon the lands of Muskry, was pursued by Dermod, son of Teig M'Carty, lord of Muskry, his father-in-law, who took him prisoner. He was afterwards killed by four horsemen, who had been left to guard him while M'Carty went in pursuit of the fugitives. John of Desmond, father to Mau- rice, was acknowledged earl of Desmond, but did not long enjoy the title : he left sev- eral children, who all fell, as well as their sons, in the last war of Earl Garret, except Maurice Fitzjohn, who died in Spain. Thomas Brown, a friar of the order of St. Augustin, and provincial of that order in England, having been appointed in 1535 to * Relat. Geraldinoriim. the archbishopric of Dublin, was consecrated by Thomas Cranmer, archbishop of Canter- bury, assisted by the bishops of Rochester and Salisbury.* 'His doctrine was suspected previous to his promotion. On his arrival in Dublin, he had the images and relics of the saints removed from the two cathedrals of the city, and other churches in the diocese. He was the first who embraced the Protest- ant religion among the clergy of Ireland. It appears by his letter to Cromwell, that he was one of the commissioners appointed by Henry VIII. to supersede the pope's autho- rity in that kingdom, and to establish the ecclesiastical supremacy of the king. The letter of this prelate to the vicar-general, quoted by Cox, is as follows :t " My Lord — Having, as one of the com- missioners of his highness, received your commands, I have endeavored, even at the hazard pf my life, to reduce the nobility in this country to obedience, by acknowledging his highness as supreme both in spiritual and temporal affairs ; but I experience many difficulties, particularly from my brother of Armagh, who has gained over the suffragans and clergy under his jurisdiction. He has preached to them, and has cursed those who shall acknowledge the supremacy of his highness ; -affirming that Ireland being, ac- cording to the chronicles of the country, a holy island, it belongs ordy to the church of Rome, the former pontiffs of which granted it to the ancestors of the king." He adds, that the archbishop and clergy of Armagh had already sent two messengers to the pope ; that it was essential to inform his highness of the necessity of convening a parliament in the country, to have the act of supremacy passed, as little regard was paid to the com- mission sent in the name of his highness ; and concludes by observing, that he feared O'Neill had received orders from the bishop of Rome to oppose the authority of his high- ness, as very many among the inhabitants of the country were attached to his party. , It appears that this letter made some im- pression on the court of London, as the king gave orders to convene a parliament in the month of May, which was adjourned to Kilkenny, thence to Cashel, afterwards to Limerick, and lastly to Dublin. The following were the principal statutes enacted in this parliament. The deceased earl of Kildare was declared a traitor. Sir John and Sir Oliver Fitzgerald, uncles to the earl, Sir Walter de la Hide of Mayclare, in War. de Arcbiepisc. Dubliniens. * War. de Arcbiepisc. Dub t Cox, Hib. Anglic, p. 246. CHRISTIAN IRELAND. 421 the district of Carbry, county of Kildare ; John Burnell, Richard Walsh, rector of Loughseudy ; Charles Reynolds, and other accomplices of Kildare, were convicted of high treason, and all their estates confiscated to the king's use. The marriage of Henry with Catherine was declared null by this parliament : the divorce pronounced by Cranmer, as well as the king's marriage with Anne Bullen, was declared to be valid ; the succession to the throne was secured to the heirs male, who should be born of this or any other marriage, and in case of there being no male heirs, to the females, beginning with Elizabeth,daugh- ter of Anne Bullen : and those who might, by writing or otherwise, oppose this marriage, or these regulations for the succession to the crown, should, it was enacted, be convicted of high treason. A total silence on these subjects was enjoined upon all, under pain of being deprived of the benefit of the sanc- tuary, and an oath to this eftect, ordered to be taken by all the king's subjects in Ireland. A law was also passed against absentees, that is, against the English who possessed estates in Ireland, and did not reside there, such conduct having produced many incon- veniences. It was therefore enacted, that the title to the estates of the duke of Norfolk, Lord Berkely, the earls of Waterford and Shrewsbury, the heirs of the earl of Ormond, the abbots of Furnes, and St. Augustin of Bristol, the priors of Christ's church at Can- terbury, of Lanthony and Cartinel, and the abbots of Kentesham, Osny, Bath, and the abbot of St. Thomas of Dacres, should be vested in the king. It was subsequently decided, in the beginning of the seventeenth century, that in virtue of this law, the earl of Shrewsbury had forfeited the title of earl of Waterford and viscount Dungarvan ; he was, however, compensated in England for the losses he had sustained in Ireland. Cox mentions a circumstance, w^hich, he alleges, gave rise to this law. I'he king, he says, being detei'mined to give to Ailmer, who was then chief-justice of the common pleas, the ofllce of lord-justice of the king's bench, the earl of Shrewsbury, at the solici- tation of his farmers and vassals in Water- ford, opposed his nomination, by representing to the king that Ailmer wns weak-minded, and incapable of discharging the duties of such an office ; whereupon the king repri- manded Lord Cromwell, who had recom- mended a man so undeserving. In order to justify his choice, Cromwell requested his majesty to converse a while with Ailmer, and he would soon discover that he had been imposed upon ; to which the king assented. When Ailmer was presented to him, he was asked what could be the real cause of the decline of the royal interest in Ireland ? " It arises," replied Ailmer, " from the circum- stance of most of the proprietors of lands, who formerly resided in Ireland to defend their estates, and restrain their vassals, now living in England, and leaving Ireland a prey to the natives of the country ; but if your majesty would oblige such proprietors to reside in Ireland, or otherwise confiscate their estates to your own use, you would soon dis- cover a change and an improvement." The king, pleased with this expedient, thanked Ailmer, saying, that the attention of the next parliament should be directed to it. The parliament of Dublin having regulated the afTairs of state, turned their thoughts to those of religion, of their knowledge and judgment regarding which they felt quite assured. In imitation of the English parlia- ment, they confirmed Henry VIII. and his successors on the throne, in the title of su- preme head of the church in Ireland, with the power of reforming and correcting here- sies and errors in religion. They prohibited all further appeals being made to Rome, under pains and penalties ; and ordained that the clergy should pay the annats, or first-fruits of their livings, to the king. They likewise enacted a law to abolish and suppress the pope's usurpation and authority; penalties were declared against those who should dare to support them ; all persons, both lay and ecclesiastic, who held offices or livings, were ordered to take the oath to maintain the king's supremacy, and their refusal w^as to be considered high treason. This act met with many opponents among the clergy ; but the following discourse of Brown, archbishop of Dublin, which was approved of by justice Brabazon, disconcerted them to such a degree, that many among them submitted to take it. " My Lords, — In obeying 3-our king, you imitate your Saviour Jesus Christ. The high priest of our souls paid tribute to Caesar, who was not a Christian ; consequently, you owe more honor to his highness, your prince, who is both a king and a Christian. In the time of our ancestors, Rome and its bishops acknowledged emperors, kings, and princes, to be sovereigns in their respective states, and even vicars of Jesus Christ. But to the shame of the bishop of Rome, he now denies, what his predecessors have acknowledged. Thus his highness claims only what the bish- op Fleutherius had granted to St. Lucius, the first Christian king of the Britons ; so that I make no scruple of acknowledging his 422 HISTORY OF IRELAND. highness, King Henry VIII., to be supreme I head, both in spiritual and temporal affairs, in England and in Ireland, and that he who refuses to submit as I do to this law, is not a faithful subject to his majesty." The dis-| criminating reader will judge of this prelate's reasoning. This parliament granted to the king and to his successors, for ever, a twentieth part of the revenues and annual rents of the se- cular livings, abbeys, friaries, and religious houses in the kingdom of Ireland. Henry was so well pleased with this grant, that he wrote a letter of thanks to the clergy. An act Avus passed prohibiting any but those who spoke EngUsh, and foUov/ed the English taste in every thing, to be appointed to liv- ings. In addition, this parliament decreed the suppression of the abbeys of Bectif, St. Peter of Trim, Dousk, Duleek, Holm- Patrick, Baltinglass, Grany, Teagh-Moling, Dunbroody, Tintern, Ballybogan, Hoggis, and Ferns, and confiscated their property to the king's use. At the same time, the priory of St. Wolstan's, in the county of Kildare, was suppressed, by another act. It was at this time, that what has been already ob- served of the bull, by which Adrian IV. had conferred Ireland on Henry II., began to be verified, namely, " that it was the cause of the fall of religion in this Island."* The parliament which had fabricated the above-named laws, and by which the schism of Henry VIII. was introduced into Ireland, was the parliament of the English province, and not that of all Ireland ; like the pre- ceding ones, it was composed solely of Englishnien by birth or origin ; the ancient Irish had no seat in it ; they were excluded from all offices in the militia and magistracy, which is the cause of their being scarcely ever mentioned by English writers. They were strongly attached to the religion of their ancestors, and it is probable that they would all have continued so, had they re- mained a free people. A law was likewise enacted in this parlia- ment for the suppression of the tributes which the English colonists had paid to some Irish nobles, by whom they were protected. Marriages with the Irish were prohibited, particularly with the children of those who had not taken the oath of allegiance in a court of justice, subsequently to the law being passed for so doing.f This act, how- ever, was repealed under James I, * Vol. I. part 2, page 240. t In consequence of this law, which was often re-enacted by the English parliament, some of the The first who was sacrificed for his attach- ment to the cause of the pope, was John Traverse, a native of Ireland, asecularpriest, and doctor in theology. About this time he published a book entitled the Defence of the Pope's Supremacy, notwithstanding the twenty-eighth statute of Henry VIII., who had assumed to himself that prerogative. This author was summoned to appear be- fore the judges ; and having confessed the deed, he was condemned to have his fingers cut off and thrown into the fire.* While the parliament was assembled in Dublin, O'Connor and his vassals made some incursions into the territory of Carbry, in the county of Kildare, where they committed dreadful havoc. In order to revenge this insult, Baron Tremlestown, chancellor of Ireland, and Brabazon, the vice-treasurer, marched with some troops into Offaly, where they likewise committed frightful devastations, and forced O'Connor to return and defend his own country. The English having violated some articles of the peace, concluded the preceding year between Conn O'Neill and Skeffington, who was deputy, O'Neill took up arms in de- fence of his right. The English government being alarmed by O'Neill's determination, the deputy dispatched Brereton towards the frontiers of Ulster, to settle the dispute ; he entered into a negotiation with the prince, and renewed the treaty which had been pre- viously concluded with Skeffington. About this time, Henry VIII. sent to the city of Waterford a gilt sword and hat in token of his protection, for their loyalty and attach- ment to the crown. John Fitzgerald, earl of Desmond, after the death of the lawful heir, who had been murdered through the malice and envy of Maurice, as has been already observed, died writers in that country have maliciously set forth, tliat the meanest English settler would not give his daughter in marriage to the noblest Irishman ; it was, however, much less from contempt, than in conformity with this law, which was the result of English policy ; it would not allow the people to bind themselves by those ties which might unite their common interests. Besides, the contempt was mutual : the Irish were so far from seeking alliances with those strangers, that they considered them as a corrupt blood, or rather an impure deposite which the sea had cast upon their shores. " And so much dissevered are the Anglo-Irish from the natives, that the meanest settler would not give his daughter to the noblest Irishman. But the Irish hold them in such contempt, that they consider their blood impure, and themselves the excrement of the sea." — Rut.gerus Hcrmanridas, p. 519. * Hist. Cathol. p. 71. Surius ad an. 1539. Cambr. Evers. page 205. CHRISTIAN IRELAND. 423 this year at Tralee, in the county of Kerry ;* he left three sons, James, the eldest, who succeeded him ; Maurice, already known fo] his cruelty, and John Oge, which signi- fies young. James, earl of Desmond, a young man of bravery and enterprise, excited some disturb- ances in Munster. In order to check the disoi'der, government sent James Butler, viscount of Thurles, at the head of an army-, into the county of Limerick, where he laid waste the estates of the earl, repaired the I castle of Loughguir, and placed a garrison I in it. The deputy repaired to Loughguir in I the month of July, from whence he set out for Carrigogonel, which he took on the 2d of August. It is said that he immediately restored this castle to the owner for a small sum. On the 6lh he advanced as far as Brien's bridge, took possession of the castle, (the garrison being unable to resist his artil- lery,) and destroyed the bridge. His con- quests ended here, in consequence of a mu- tiny among the soldiers, who were in want of provisions. Thomas O'Mullally, or Lally, archbishop of Tuam, died about the end of April, 1539, and was interred in the convent of the minor brothers of Galway, in the same tomb as his predecessor, Maurice O'Fihely.f Thomas was a minor brother ; he convened a synod in Galway, at which he presided, Ihe statutes of which have been lost. He was succeeded by Christopher Bodekin. The same year, Henry, duke of Rich- mond and Somerset, died ; he was natural son of Henry VIII., by Elizabeth Blount, and was commonly called Henry Fitzroy. It is said that he possessed great qualities, both of mind and body. He was lord-lieu- tenant of Ireland, but the administration had been confided successively to Skeflington, Kildare, and Grey, his deputies. He died without issue, at St. James, near Westmin- ster, in the month of July, and was greatly regretted by the king. Queen Catherine of Aragon resided in the castle of Kimbolton, county of Hunt- ingdon, in a very unhealthy situation. The cruelties which were practised in her regard, caused her excessive grief ; but she bore the unworthy treatment which she received as a true Christian. The title of queen was not only wrested from her by an act of parlia- ment, but her servants were constrained by oath to address her by no other title than » Relat. Gerald. t Ware, de Archlepisc. Tuamens. that of princess-dowager.* She beheld with grief an old man, named John Forest, of the order of St. Francis, her confessor, and in whose society she found some consolation, sufi*er martyrdom in her cause, after two years' imprisonment, together with thirty-five others of the same order. She was aware, too, of the tragical end of Fisher, More, and several others who were sacrificed on her accoimt ; so that being of too delicate a con- stitution to bear up against such an over- whelming series of aftlictions, she fell into n decline, which terminated her existence in the month of January. Finding her end approaching, she wrote the following letter, which she sent to the king by one of her maids. " Ml/ very dear Lord, King, and Husband, " As the hour of my death is now ap- proaching, my love for you influences me to forewarn you to prefer your salvation to all the perishable things of this world, without even excepting your anxiety for your own person, which has produced to me the heavy calamities that have been inflicted, and caused such troubles to yourself ; but I heartily forgive you all, and pray that the Lord may also forgive you. I recommend our daughter Mary to your particular care, and beseech you, as I have already done, to act with all the tenderness of a father to- wards her. I beseech you, likewise, to give my three maids a marriage portion, and to my other servants a year's wages, besides what is already due to them, to secure them against want. Lastly, I declare it to be my desire to see you in preference to any thing this world afibrds. Farewell." On reading the above letter, Henry could not refrain from tears, notwithstanding the obduracy of his heart ; and having been in- formed of her death, a few days afterwards, he ordered his household to put on mourning. The marchioness, as a mark of her joy, had herself and her female attendants all dressed in yellow ; but her joy was soon changed into sorrow, for in a short time after this she was delivered of a monstrous abortion. Four or five months after the death of Queen Cath- erine, Anne was sent to the tower, where she was accused and found guilty of adultery with several persons, and of incest with her brother George ; she was then condemned to be beheaded. Thomas Bullen, her sup- * Sander, de Schis. Anglic, lib. 1, page 118. Polidor. Virgil. Hist. lib. 27, p. 1741. Heylin's Hist, of the Reform, page 179. Baker's Chron. page 283. 424 HISTORY OF IRELAND. posed father, was one of her judges, and the first to pronounce her guilty ; she was exe- cuted iu the month of May. Three days afterwards, George Bullen, the brother of Anne, Henry Norris, William Brercton, Francis Weston, and Mark Smeton, a musi- cian, suflered the same fate as x'inne, the first for incest with her, the others for adultery. The day after her execution, Henry married Jane Seymour, daughter of Sir John Sey- mour and sister to Lord Edward Seymour, earl of Hartfort and duke of Somerset ; by this marriage he had Edward VI. Anne enjoyed but for three years the elevation to which she had been raised by so many trou- bles. The same passion which had been the source of her greatness, became the cause of her ruin ; and Henry, who had sacrificed Catherine of Aragon for her sake, soon sa- crificed herself to the youth and charms of Jane Seymour. In losing the king's affec- tions, however, Catherine preserved his es- teem to the last moment, while he sent Anne, like the most infamous criminal, to die on a scaffold, and caused his marriage to be an- nulled in favor of Jane Seymour, as he had previously broken his marriage with Cathe- rine for the sake of Anne. Lastly, he caused Elizabeth, daughter of Anne, to be declared illegitimate, as Mary, the daughter of Cath- erine, had before been. Polidore Virgil, and Sanders, place the death of Queen Catherine in 1535 ; and the latter, that of Anne Bullen, four months afterwards. Ac- cording to Baker, the death of Anne took place in 1537. We shall not, however, un- dertake here to reconcile their difference. Lord Grey, deputy of Ireland, undertook in April, 1537, an expedition into OfFaly, j against Charles O'Connor ; but the continual rains and bad weather defeated his plan of operations, and obliged him to conclude a dishonorable treaty with that nobleman.* He then turned his arms against the Cava- naghs, O'Carrols, and others, and contented himself with their submission, and some hos- tages. He marched in the month of June towards Fearcall, the country of the O'Mol- loys, where he surprised alternately the cas- tles of Eglis, Bir, and Modrimye. He af- terwards received the submission of O'Ken- nedy of Ormond, M'Brian Arra, O'Mulrian of Owny, Ulick Burke of Clanriccard, and Tybod Bourk M'William ; and then marched towards Limerick, where the bishop, mayor, and aldermen, took the oath of supremacy, and renounced the authority of the pope. The clergy and people were commanded to * War. de Annal. Hib. Ireland, p. 232, et seq. 29. Cox, History of follow their example, and deposite their certi- ficates in the court of chancery. In the month of July the army arrived at O'Brien's bridge, where, after some skirmishing with the re- bels,* the castles and the bridge were de- stroyed. The deputy then marched through Thuomond towards Connaught, where he took the castles of Clare, Ballycolame, and Ballyclare. The latter place he gave, up to Ulick Burke, and set out with his troops for Gal way; here he and his army were enter- tained, at the expense of the corporation, for seven days ; the mayor and aldermen, like those of Limerick, took the oath of supre- macy, and renounced the pope's authority also ; at the same time, O'Flaherty, O'Mad- din, and M'Yoris, (Bermingham,) submitted to the deputy ; he then passed through Mai- nech, the country of the O'Kellys, where O'Connor M'Henry performed the same ceremony ; lastly, he took a castle in the territory of the M'Coghlans, and from thence he repaired to Maynooth. The principal object of the deputy's tour was in all appear- ance to establish the ecclesiastical suprema- cy of Henry VIII. in Ireland. The tyranny of the English drove several of the Irish, at this time, from their country, to seek peace, under a milder government, in foreign climes. Of this number was John, son of Edmond O'Dwyer, and brother of Cornelius, titular archbishop of Tuam. He belonged to the ancient and noble family of the O'Dwyers of Coillenemanagh, in the county of Tipperary, Avho were descended from Heremon, by Ugane More, and Con- covar, surnamed Abhuarua, both monarchs of Ireland ; the former three centuries before the Christian era, and the second in the first age of Christianity. This John O'Dwyer settled in Burgundy in the reign of Francis I., according to an ancient manuscript pre- served in the family. As foreign names are subject to changes in countries in which they are unknown, on account of the difference of pronunciation, the name of John O'Dwyer was at first changed to O'Doyer, and after- wards to Handoire. The governor of the castle of Peronne, who was married to Ma- demoiselle de CoUincourt, daughter to the Marquis de CoUincourt, and Mademoiselle Bethune, aunt to the present Duke de Sully, is descended, in a direct line, from the John O'Doyer in question. The earl of Desmond was still under arms ; but the superior army of the deputy preventing him from undertaking any thing important, he was forced to write to the * They are so called only by an Englishman. CHRISTIAN IRELAND. 425 general, offering to surrender on certain con- ditions. Tlie capitulation being of a tedious character, the deputy was obliged to with- draw his forces for want of provisions, and to appoint commissioners to conclude the treaty with Desmond. The commissioners appointed Clonmel, then a walled city, as the place of their conference ; but Desmond refused to go thither, in assertion of an an- cient family privilege. Having then brought them to his camp, he took the oath of alle- giance, and sent Thomas Ruadh, or the Red, his natural son, as a hostage to Eng- land,* whither he himself shortly afterwards set out, attended by a splendid retinue. On his arrival, he submitted to Henry, and ac- knowledged that all his estates had devolved on the crown, on account of the lawful heir having been murdered. The king, who was busily occupied with other affairs, and de- sirous that tranquillity should be restored to Ireland, received the earl with much kind- ness, reinstated him in his ancient patri- mony, and dismissed him honorably, to re- turn to his estates. The jealousies which had prevailed for some time between the deputy and the earl of Ossory, increased, at this period, to direct hostilities. The deputy was so transported with rage against the earl, that he sent part of his army to lay waste the lands of the Butlers. He also quarrelled with Archbishop Brown, and Allen, the master of the rolls ; and though commissioners were sent by the king, expressly to investigate their differ- ences and to reconcile them, the matter was only temporarily arranged ; for the deputy at length fell a sacrifice to their hatred. O'Neill collected his forces in Ulster, and gave the command of them to his son. His design was, to make himself master of the castle of Ardglass, in the district of Lecale. The deputy having received intelligence of his movement, gave orders for the marching of the troops ; but previous to undertaking any thing, it was determined by the council to send the chancellor. Baron Tremlestown, Stapely, bishop of Meath, and Ailmer, chief- justice, to the frontiers of Ulster, to enter into a treaty of peace with O'Neill. After some difficulties on both sides, the treaty was concluded, and the two armies disbanded. Hugh, or Aod O'Donnel, surnamed Dubh, (that is, the black,) hereditary prince of Tir- connel, died in July. He was succeeded by his son Magnus, or Manus, who was confirmed in the succession by a popular election, according to custom, near the church of Kilmacrenan. * Relat. Gerald. In the month of September, the king of England sent four commissioners to Ire- land,* namely. Sir Anthony St. Leger, Sir George Pawlett, Sir Thomas Moyle, and Sir William Barnes, with orders to investigate every thing connected with the late rebellion, and those who had been accomplices in it. These commissioners conducted themselves with much prudence and moderation, and having ended their inquiries, granted a par- don and general amnesty to the guilty. They had orders, conjointly with the deputy and council, to regulate the king's revenues ; to let the crown lands in farms ; and to make an estimate of the estates of the earl of Kil- dare, which amounted to eight hundred and ninety-three pounds, eleven shillings, and eight pence sterling, which was thought a large sum at that time. They reconciled the deputy. Grey, and the earl of Ossory, who resumed the title of Ormond, the house of Bullen having become extinct. In October, Queen Jane died in childbed, at Hampton court, having undergone tlie Cesarean operation, by which the life of her child was saved. This child was called Edward at his baptism. t His sponsors were Cranmer, the duke of Norfolk, and his sister, the Princess Mary, daughter of Cathe- rine of Aragon. On the 18th of the same month, he was created prince of Wales, duke of Cornwall, and earl of Chester, and reigned after his father under the name of Edward VI. John Barnwell, baron of Trim- lestown, and chancellor of Ireland, died in July, 1538. John Allen was first nominated keeper of the seals by the deputy and coun- cil, and afterwards chancellor of Ireland by orders of the king. In the month of May, the deputy marched against O'Reilly, but was stopped by the submission of that nobleman. He afterwards entered Lecale and the Ardes, in the county of Down, against a nobleman of English extraction, called Savage, to whom Cox and others give the appellation of " a degenerate Englishman."! He took the castle of Dun- drum, belonging to Magennis, with several other fortified places, and laid all that coun- try waste. He next laid his sacrilegious hands on the cathedral church of Down, which he burned ; destroyed the monuments * War. de Annal. Hib. Reign of Henry VIII. c. 29. t Baker, Chron. page 285. t The same religion began already to unite seve- ral noble English families with the ancient Irisli, against the Englisji who had forsaken their reli- gion — a union which acquired additional strength under Elizabeth and the succeeding reigns. 54 426 HfSTORY OF IRELAND. of St.. Patrick, St. Bridget, and St. Columb- Kill, and committed several other sacrile- gious acts. He then made war against images, which were destroyed everywhere at this time, particularly those that were most revered by the faithful. The celebrated statue of the blessed Virgin, at Trim, was burned, as also the crucifix of the abbey of BalIybogan,and St. Patrick's crosier,* which had been removed, by order of William Fitz- adelin, in the twelfth century, from Armagh to Dublin, to be deposited in the cathedral church of the blessed Trinity. In many other parts of the kingdom, the example of the English was in this instance followed ; and it must be admitted that all the wars in Ireland, from that period to the present, have been wars on account of religion. CHAPTER XXXYII. While the deputy was employed in Ul- ster, O'Connor on one side, and O'Toole on the other, made incursions on the English province, in order to be revenged for the tyranny which was exercised against the inhabitants of their province.f In conse- quence of this, the deputy was obliged to leave the north and march toward Offaly, to create a diversion, by forcing O'Connor to return to the relief of his own country. It does not appear, however, that the two armies came to an engagement. The deputy took the castles of Braghlan and Dingen, (at present Philipstown.) In his letter, written in August, to the king, he boasts that he had forced O'Carrol and O'Meagher to give him hostages, and that the former had purchased the liberty of his son for three hundred marks. In the same letter he mentions, also, that O'Carrol was desirous of holding his lands by letters patent from the king ; but that it would be imprudent to grant them to him, as he was a man that could not be relied upon ; that the English were al- ready sufficiently acquainted with the Irish and their country, to turn it to good account * Providence has preserved a crosier to posterity, which St. Patrick had used at the baptism of Aon. gus, king of Cashel ; the holy apostle having left it with O'liearny of Cashel, to be used by the bishops of that church on days of ceremony, whose de- scendants have preserved it witli veneration to the present time. This venerable monument of Chris- tian antiquity is still in possession of Brien O'Kear- ny, of Fethard, in the county of Tipperary, the chief of the ancient family of that name. t Co.^, Hist, of Ireland, p. 255. for his majesty, if he would but furnish them with the means necessary for that purpose. It was thus that those iniquitous ministers deprived the Irish of the protection of the kings of England, that they might plunder them with impunity. It was contrary to their interest, that they should hold their lands under legal titles, as they would there- by acquire the rank of subjects, and the protection of the laws. In another letter, written in March, he informed him that he had forced Brien and Cahir O'Connor to submit to him. The schism and supremacy of the king of England made but slow progress in Ire- land.* They were, however, warmly sup- ported by Archbishop Brown : in his letters to Cromwell, he complains bitterly of the opposition that he had experienced from Cromer, the primate, and the clergy in gen- eral, which he ascribed to the ignorance and zeal of the nation — the usual mode of rea- soning with heretics. The conduct of this archbishop in his diocese, and his close in- timacy with Cromwell, who was at least a Lutheran, are strong proofs that he did not confine himself exclusively to the affair of the supremacy ; but that he intended to intro- duce the reformation into Ireland by degrees, and carry matters further than even he whom he wished to make head of the church. In another letter, in May, the archbishop informed Cromwell that the primate and clergy of Ireland had received a brief from the pope, to excommunicate all those who should acknowledge the king's supremacy. He also added, that the viceroy possessed but little authority .over the ancient inhabit- ants of the country ; that the nation (that is, the English province) was poor and unable to subdue them ; that since Ireland had been in possession of the king's ancestors, the ancient Irish had never ceased to solicit the aid of foreign powers ; and that at present, the English by descent and the ancient Irish were beginning to forget their national ani- mosities, by opposing the king's ordinances, which might induce some foreign power to invade Ireland. By this we discover that the English province, comprising about a third of the kingdom, and emphatically called a nation by the English, was distin- guished from the rest of the island ; that Ireland had, since the twelfth century, been inhabited by two distinct people, who had no intercourse but that of war ; and lastly, that those two people became united under Henry VIII. in opposing the innovations, * Cox, Hist, of Ireland, p. 256. CHRISTIAN IRELAND. 427 and changes which that prince was desir- ous of introducing into religion. About this time, a friar named Thady O'Birne, belonging to the order of St. Fran- cis,was arrested on suspicion, and imprisoned in the castle of Dublin. Among his papers was a letter addressed to O'Neill, prince of Tyrone, and signed by the bishop of Mets, of which the following is a copy : — "i¥y son O'Neill, " You, as well as your ancestors, have ever been faithful to the mother church of Rome. His holiness Paul, our present pope, and the council of the holy fathers, have lately discovered a prophecy of St. Laserian, an Irish bishop of Cashel, in which it is foretold that the church of Rome shall fall when the Catholic faith will have been de- stroyed in Ireland. Put down, therefore, all heresy, and the enemies of his holiness, for I the glory of the mother church, the honor of St. Peter, and your own safety ; for when the Catholic faith will perish in Ireland, the church of Rome shall also fall. The council of cardinals have, on this account, deemed it prudent to encourage your country, Ire- land, that sacred island, being certain that the mother church, having a worthy son like you and others, who will come to your assistance, will never fall, but always retain, in spite of fate, more or less influence in Britain. Having thus obeyed the orders of the sacred council, we recommend your royal person to the holy Trinity, to the blessed Virgin, to St. Peter and St. Paul, and to the whole court of heaven. Amen." This letter, which is quoted by Cox, in his history of Ireland, is taken from the life of Brown, archbishop of Dublin. We do not pretend in this place to decide whether it be true, or invented by the heretics. We do not discover St. Laserian, who is men- tioned in it, in the catalogue of the prelates of Cashel, nor is it certain that O'Neill re- ceived such a letter ; but it is very probable that the Irish were applied to in their then circumstances by many foreign princes. In the beginning of May, 1.539, the deputy Grey undertook an expedition into Ulster against Conn O'Neill, where he laid waste and depopulated the environs of Armagh, and carried away immense booty.* In order to be revenged for this insult, O'Neill as- sembled the lords of his province, O'Donnel, Maguire,Magennis,0'Cahane,0'Hanlon,and other allies, with their vassals, in the month of * War. de Aiinal. cap. 31. August. Placing himself at the head of this confederate army, he laid waste the pos- sessions of the English, from Atherdee, in the county of Louth, to Navan, in Meath, and burned these two towns. In the mean- while, the deputy received from England a reinforcement of two hundred and fifty men, at the head of whom, together with the troops of the province, and the inhabitants of Dub- lin and Drogheda, he marched to meet O'Neill, whom he surprised in his camp at Bellahoa. He was assisted in this enter- prise by the baron of Slane, Robert Betagh, of Moynalta, his equerry, Mabe, of Mabes- town, and other noblemen. The battle, which was bloody, lasted until night. The Irish lost nearly four thousand men killed, and Magennis, one of their chiefs : the English lost about the same number, and some of their leaders, among whom was General Mabe. After this action, the deputy conferred the honor of knighthood on chief-justice Ailmer, Talbot, of Malahide, Fitzsimons, mayor of Dublin, and Courcy, mayor of Drogheda; James Fleming, baron of Slane, was also highly extolled for his bravery. During the absence of the deputy, O'Connor Faly and O'Tool ravaged the English province. It may be easily imagined, that from the state of misery to which Ireland was reduced by the frequent wars which devastated her provinces, the sorrowful consequences were famine and distempers, from which num- bers, both of men and cattle, died. Although the ecclesiastical supremacy of Henry VIII. met with considerable opposi- tion in Ireland, the suppression of religious houses made a rapid progress in that country. Threats and caresses were the means resort- ed to for this purpose. It was impossible that a superior force could be resisted ; the heads, therefore, of religious houses looked upon themselves as very happy in receiving pen- sions for life, for surrendering their abbeys, priories, and other religious establishments, to the king. The munber of houses sup- pressed in Ireland is too great to admit of being particularized ; we shall therefore con- fine ourselves to the principal ones, the heads of which were ecclesiastical lords, who had the right of seats in parliament. The most celebrated abbeys were those of Mellifont, St. Thomas, and of our Lady, near Dublin, Baltinglass, Jeripont, Tintern, in the county of Wexford, Douske, and Tracton, in the county of Cork, Dunbrody, Magie, or Nenai and Ovvny, in the county of Limerick, Ros- glasser, Monasterevan, in OfTaly, Bectif, in Meath, and Rathto, in the county of Kerry. The chief priories were those of St. Jolin 428 HISTORY OF IRELAND. of Jerusalem, Christ's church, in Dublin, St. Peter, near Trim, Conal, Kenlis, in Ossory, St. Patrick, in Down, All Saints, near Dub- lin, Athadsel, Killagh, and the priory of the blessed Virgin, in the town of Louth. A Watcrlbrd ship, laden with wine, was returning this year irom Portugal, and being overtaken by a storm, was driven upon the I coast of Paltimorc, but had the good fortune to escape, and anchored adjoining the estates of O'Driscol, who seized it as a matter of right. The English merchants of Waterford, viewing this act of O'Driscol as one of per- fidy and treason, fitted out two ships and a galley, with four hundred men on board, the ' command of which was given to two cap- tains called Woodlock and Dobbin, to take revenge i"or the insult they had received. They sailed towards Baltimore, and not con- tent with recovering the vessel, with the' crew, and part of her cargo, they pillaged! without opposition the islands of Inishircan and Inchepite, and having razed the castle I of O'Driscol to the ground, returned to Waterford laden with spoil. The reformation had not been openly avowed under Henry VIII. ; this revolution being reserved for a future reign. That king was a schismatic only ; he published, about this. time, a declaration in favor of the six celebrated articles ; first, that of transub- stantiation ; second, the communion in one kind ; third, the celibacy of priests, with pain of death against those who should violate it ; fourth, the obligation of keeping vows ; fifth, private masses ; and sixth, the neces- sity of auricular confession. These articles were published by authority of the king and parliament, with penalty of death against those who would oppose them obstinately, and against others imprisonment according to the king's pleasure.* Leonard Grey, lord-justice of Ireland, having been recalled in the beginning of spring, A. D. 1540, returned to England, leaving Sir William Brereton in Ireland, as lord-justice. Grey was at first well received by the king, who had already created him Viscount Grany, for his services in Ireland ; he had even the honor of wearing his sword, according to custom, in presence of the king, on the day of Pentecost. These fa- vors were, however, soon changed into dis- grace, and at last cost him his life. , The principal Irish chieftains, witnessing the deadly blows that were aimed against their religion and liberty, determined to make * Ware, de Annal. Ilib. cap. 32. an effort in favor of both.* For this purpose, O'Neill, O'lTrien, O'Donnel, and O'Connor, formed a league together, and agreed to meet, in the month of July, at Fowre, in Westnieath ; intending to deliberate on what measures they should adopt for the defence of their religion and country. But Brereton having marched to attack them with eight thousand troops and artillery, and they being unprepared to meet him, they thought pru- dent to wait for a more favorable opportu- nity, and withdrew for the time. After this expedition, Brereton was re- placed by Anthony St. Leger, a knight of the order of the garter, and gentleman of the bedchamber ; the king having sent him to Ireland in the month of July, as deputy. On his arrival, he took the usual oath in Christ's church. St. Leger brought with him three experienced commissioners, Tho- mas Walsh, John Myn, and William Caven- dish, who were of great assistance to him in regulating the rolls of the crown lands. The court commissioned Brown, archbishop of Dublin, and Robert Cowley, master of the rolls, to take an inventory of the personal goods which Lord Grey had left in Ireland, with orders to give up every thing to St. Leger, to be disposed of according to the king's will. Allen, the chancellor, Brabazon, the vice-treasurer, and Cowley, received another commission to regidate the pensions which were granted to the monks of the abbeys that had been suppressed. Brereton having been appointed lord- marshal of Ireland, was sent by the deputy to Munster, to receive the submission of James Fitzjohn, earl of Desmond ; but the lord-marshal fell sick on his way, and died at Kilkenny, where he was interred in the church of St. Canice. This accident did not prevent the earl from repairing, in the month of January following, to Cahir, on the river Suire, where he submitted, in pre- sence of the deputy and council, and re- nounced the ancient privileges of his family, by which he had the right of being absent from parliament during pleasure, and of re- fusing to enter or sojourn in walled cities. Money was coined at this time in Ireland, by orders of the king ; namely, four-penny, two-penny, and penny pieces, stamped with the harp. This was afterwards prohibited, under pain of confiscation and fine. Sir William Darcy, a native of Meath, died this year, at an advanced age, having been for some time vice-treasurer of Ireland. He was a wise and learned man, and very * Ware, de Annal. Hib. cap. 32. CHRISTIAN IRELAND. 429 zealous for the interests of his country. He wrote, in English, a work on the causes of the ruin of Ireland. Henry, who had been a widower for two years, began now to think of marrying again.* Among the many matches that were proposed, the princess Anne, sister to the duke of Cleves, was one. She was a Protestant, and therefore approved of by Cromwell, who was the king's favorite at this time. This minister used all his in- fluence with Henry in favor of the mar- riage, which was shortly afterwards deter- mined upon, and celebrated by Cranmer. Cromwell was then created earl of Essex, to the prejudice of the Devreux family, who should have inherited, not only the estate, but the title, after Henry Bourchier, the last earl, who died without issue. The king having conceived a dislike for Anne of Cleves, a few months after his marriage with her, caused Cromwell to be arrested on the 9th of July, and brought to the tower.f He was then tried, and condemned by the par- liament, as a heretic and traitor to the state, without being heard, in accordance with that abominable law, of which, it is said, he was himself the author. About the end of the same month, he Avas beheaded on Tower Hill. He sufl'ered this punishment for having been the chief adviser of his master's mar- riage, and met his destruction where he thought to have found support. In the life of this man, who was in every other respect wicked, we discover one trait that does honor to his memory, which is, his having intro- duced into the churches of England the custom of registering the baptisms, mar- riages, and burials, whereby the births and alliances of families are more solidly attested than by proof of witnesses, which had been previously resorted to. It is probable that this custom was introduced into all other churches about the same time.j: After the execution of Cromwell, the king had still, for his own satisfaction, to get rid of a wife, to whom he had taken an uncon- querable dislike. He resolved, therefore, to break his marriage with Anne of Cleves ; and the parliament, always willing to do every thing to please him, declared it was null and void ; that either party was at liberty to marry another : and that the queen should henceforward be called the Princess Anne of Cleves. Executions were, about this time, general throughout England ; the blood of the first * Baker's Chron. page 287. t Sander, de Scliis. Ang. lib. 1, page 154, et seq. t Bukei's Chron. page 295. nobility was spilled through the inconsistency and cruelty of an inhuman prince.* What idea can be formed of an age, or rather of a nation, whose parliaments are so corrupt, and judges so wicked, as to arraign and condemn the innocent, for the gratification of a brutal tyrant, whose fury was levelled alike against every sex and condition. The fate of Mar- garet, countess of Salisbury, alone, is enough to fill us with horror. She was nearly allied to the king, and the last of the house of Plantagenet, being daughter of the duke of Clarence, and sister to the celebrated earl of Warwick, who had been so unjustly put to death in the preceding reign. f She was condemned, at the age of eighty years, to die, for no other crime than that of having written an affectionate letter to her son, Reginald Pole. Struggling with the exe- cutioner on the scaffold, this barbarian seized the unfortunate lady by the hair, grov/n gray with age, and dragged her by force to the block ! The king conferred titles of honor on some Irish lords in 1541. On the 11th of July, Plunket was raised to the peerage, under the title of lord-baron of Dunsany, in the county of Meath, and in the following month, Oliver Plunket was honored with the title of lord-baron of Louth. | Edmond Butler, lord of Dunboyne, near Dublin, was created a peer of the realm, under the title of lord-baron Dunboyne. He was descended from Theobald, fourth grand-butler of Ireland, and Jane, daughter of John Fitzgeoffry, earl of Essex, sister and coheiress of John and Richard Fitzjohn, earls of Essex, who died without issue. § The king also granted the title of baron of Carbry, in the county of Kildare, to Wil- liam Bermingham ; and that of viscount of Clontarf to John Rawson, prior of Kilmain- ham. Thomas Eustace was likewise made a peer of the realm, under the title of vis- count Baltinglass. St. Leger, the deputy, on his return from Limerick, where he had a conference with O'Brien respectinghis submission, convened a parliament, which was prorogued several times. The first act of this parliament was to erect Ireland into a kingdom, and give to Henry VHI. the title of king, instead of that of lord of Ireland, which had been till * Baker's Chron. p. 287. Higgins' Short View, page 195. t Sander, de Sehls. Angl. lib. 1, page 133. Salmon, Hist, of England, vol. vi. p. 241. % Nichol's Rudiments of Honor. § Nichol's Rudiments of Honor on the article respecting Patrick, baron of Gowran. 430 HISTORY OP IRELAND. then borne by him and his predecessors. " Though under the preceding title," says the statute, " the kings have enjoyed all the jurisdiction, power, pre-eminence, and law- ful authority, which belong to the majesty of a king, since his present majesty and his royal ancestors were justly and lawfully kings of Ireland, being reputed, acknow- ledged, and styled as such," &c.* This statute was solemnly published on the following Sunday in St. Patrick's church, Dublin, and in London, in the month of January. St. Lcger, the deputy, James, earl of Ormond, James, earl of Desmond, the other peers in their parliamentary robes, with several distinguished laymen and eccle- siastics, attended at this publication. Some prisoners were restored to liberty, and the ceremony terminated with feasting and fire- works. In this parliament, all the abbeys in Ire- land, mentioned in the statute, were placed at the king's disposal, but they did not tend much to increase his wealth, as he divided the lands which belonged to them among the nobles, courtiers, and other flatterers, reserv- ing but an annual income from them for himself. It was decreed that none but those who possessed forty shillings a year in landed property, could have a vote in the election of members for the house of commons. It was also enacted, that in case of the death, absence, or resignation of the chief governor, the chancellor should perform the office of sending circular letters to privy counsellors, in the counties of Dublin, Meath, Louth, Kildare, Kilkenny, Tipperary, Wexford, VVaterford, Cork, Kerry, and Limerick ;t that these counsellors being assembled, should choose an Englishman by birth, to fill the office of chief governor during the king's pleasure, and in case of none thus qualified being found, that two persons of English extraction should be chosen by the council, to whom the chancellor should give letters patent, after making them take the oath usual on these occasions. * The English flatter themselves considerably In their own opinion, every thing is due to them They here take a part for the whole ; a third of Ire- land for the entire island. Their jurisdiction, how. ever, did not extend beyond the boundaries of the English province, as appears by a law of this same parliament, respecting the election of a governor, which we shall presently quote. It has been al- ready observed in the course of this history, that the right of the kings of England to Ireland, is en- tirely founded upon usurpation. t These were the eleven counties which com- posed the English province. Ireland comprises in the v/hole thirty-two counties. Other laws were enacted in this parlia- ment, which are too numerous to be inserted in this place. The county of Meath being too extensive to be governed by one sheriff, it was divided into East and Westmeath. Lord Grey, whom we left in England, was sent to the tower. He was accused by the earl of Ormond, Allen, the chancellor, Bra- bazon, the vice-treasurer, and Sir John Tra- vers.* They followed him to England, and produced several heads of accusation against him, during his administration in Ireland, which, having been verified by commis- sioners, who were sent purposely to Ireland to examine witnesses, he was publicly be- headed on Tower Hill. This nobleman was son to the marquis of Dorset, and brother- in-law to the last earl of Kildare, who had been beheaded. He suffered death with admirable fortitude. The king's marriage with Anne of Cleves having been declared null, he married in eight days afterwards, Catherine Howard, daughter of Lord Edward Howard, and niece to the duke of Norfolk. The new queen was as zealous in the cause of the reforma- tion as Anne Bullen had been ; but the fate of both these reformers was of a singular kind.f Henry having been informed of the shameful and dissolute life of Catherine, caused her to be arrested, eighteen months after his marriage. She was accused and convicted of unchastityboth before and after her marriage, and condemned to be beheaded with Durham and Colpeper, the accomplices of her guilt. On the scaffold, Catherine de- clared herself innocent since her marriage, but admitted that previously to it she had been guilty. | This gave rise to a ridiculous and absurd act of parliament, prohibiting, under pain of high treason, any woman who was not a virgin, from marrying the king, without first declaring the fact. In Ireland, Conn O'Neill, whose great power gave umbrage to the king, having lost his old ally and relative, the earl of Kildare, repaired to Maynooth, where St. Leger, the deputy resided, and made peace with him. Several of the ancient Irish chieftains follow- ed his example ; among others, O'CarroU, O'Morra, O'lMolloy, O'Connor, O'Dunn, M'Mahon, Magennis, O'Donnel, O'Rourke, O'Reilly, O'Flaherty, O'lVIelaghlin, M'Carty, O'Sullivan, &c. This example was soon afterwards followed by some nobles of Eng- * Ware, de Annal. Hib. ibid. Cox, Hist, of Irel. page 264. t Sander, de Schis. Ang. lib. 1, p. 161. Baker's Chron. of England, on the year 1540. t Higgins' Short View, page 194. CHRISTIAN IRELAND. 431 lish extraction ; namely, Barry, Roche, Ber- mingham, and M'Guillan. The latter de- clared himself to be of English descent. The acts of these treaties are given, it is said, in the red book of the Irish privy council. The deputy and council made some regu- lations relative to the government of Mun- ster, which had not been before subject to the dominion of English law.* These regu- lations having been published, arbitrators were appointed in the provinces, instead of the ancient judges, called Brehons, to have them put into execution. Henry YHI.,at length resolved to exter- minate the monks altogether, changed the priory and convent of the cathedral church of the blessed Trinity, in Dublin, into a secular chapter. He appointed Robert Cas- tle, or Painswick, dean, who had been before prior, and confirmed this church in its pos- sessions and privileges. The Jesuits were introduced by permission of Pope Paul III. into Ireland, a. d. 1541, through the exertions of Robert Waucop, a Scotchman, titular archbishop of Armagh. f John Codur was the first of the society that was received into this country. He was followed by Alphonso Salmeron, Pachase Broet, and Francis Zapata, all of the same order. Though Waucop was born blind, he applied himself so closely to study that he became a doctor of theology in the faculty of Paris. He assisted at the council of Trent, from the first to the eleventh session, after which the pope sent him to Germany as legate d Latere, which gave rise to the saying among the Germans : "A blind legate to the clear-sighted Germans." He died in Paris, in 1551, in the convent of the Jesuits. James Fitzgerald, earl of Desmond, Avent to England in August, 1542, Avhere he re- newed his submission in presence of the king,| from whom he received some presents, and was admitted by his order into the coun- cil of Ireland.^ The deputy made regula- tions at this time to settle the differences which had arisen between the several fami- lies of the Magennises, and similar arrange- ments for the O'Carrolls. The O'Byrnes made a public submission ; surrendered the town and castle of Wicklow to the king. * " Respecting the reformation of the inhabitants of this kingdom in parts of Munster, who will not understand the laws and privileges, so as that they can immediately live, and be ruled according to them."' — Sander. 1540. t War. de Archi. Ardmach. Cox, ibid. p. 272. X War. de Annal. cap. 34. § Cox, ibid, page 275. and obtained the privilege that their country should be erected into a county, under the name of Wicklow. The death of George Cromer, archbishop of Armagh, took place this year.* He was a prelate of great celebrity; grave, learned, and of a mild disposition. Through the in- fluence of the earl of Kildare, he was ap- pointed to the chancellorship of Ireland, which office he held for two years with in- tegrity. He was strongly opposed to arch- bishop Brown, respecting the ecclesiastical supremacy., which had been usurped by Henry VIII. His successor in the see of Armagh was George Dowdal. Henry VIII., finding some difficulty in reducing the Irish people by force, and bringing them to the condition of subjects, endeavored to win them by a display of kindness, in offering to confer titles of hon- or upon their chiefs. According to the ancient history of Ire- land, the inhabitants were divided into tribes ; each tribe possessing a territory, that is, a certain extent of land, which was divided between the different branches of the tribe. These branches had each its vassals, these vassals having neither origin nor name in common with their masters. They were the descendants of the soldiers and artisans who had followed the Milesians from Spain, and of the remnant of the Firbolgs, the an- cient inhabitants of the country, who culti- vated the lands belonging to their masters. They did not take the names of their chiefs, as has been asserted by persons little ac- quainted with Irish history. Each tribe acknowledged one sovereign chief, a rank which usually devolved upon the elder branch ; but was sometimes elective, accord- ing to circumstances. The chief and the branches were of the same origin, and bore the same name, preceded by the articles O and Mac, Avith this difference, that these articles, without any other addition, be- longed to the chiefs ; for instance, by Mac- Carty, O'Donnel, were meant the heads of these illustrious tribes. The branches were distinguished by their Christian names, or some epithet added to the surname ; as Cor- mac Mac-Carty, Mac-Carty-Riagh, Niall Garve O'Donnel, &c., and so with the other tribes. Each tribe formed a small republic, the members of which, with their vassals, united under the chief for the general safety, j and followed him to war. They were all more or less closely allied : and when the principal branch became extinct, it was re- placed by some of the collateral ones, Avho * War. de Archiepisc. Ardmachan. 432 HISTORY OF IRELAND. assumed the title of cliicf ; so that unless the whole tribe became extinct, they could never want a chief. This digression was necessary in order to become acquainted with the political views of Henry Vlll. That monarch intended to subdue the Irish chieftains by the pompous title of lords, hoping that they would bring the tribes which they governed under the dominion of tlie crown of England ; but in this he was doubly disappointed. He wrote on the subject to several of those chieftains, some of whose families have carefully pre- served his letters ; but the proffered favors Avere generally despised and rejected. The Irish nobles were possessed of too deep a sense of nobility, to submit for empty titles of honor, unknown till then among them titles which were to be the price of their liberty, and which they considered as the seal of degrading subjection to a foreign power. It is certain that by receiving titles from a prince to whom we deny the rank of sovereign, we assume the position of sub- jects ; and an individual who accepts of fa^ vors under such circumstances, is justly considered to have renounced the cause of his country. This was the opinion formed by the Irish nobility respecting these first lords,* and is the cause why there are so few among the ancient Irish who bear the title of lord, which would be only a distin- guishing mark of their apostacy. Notwithstanding the distaste which the Irish had evinced for titles of honor, Henry VIII. found some who were willing to ac- cept of them. The principal of these were O'Neill of Tyrone, and O'Brien of Thuo- mond ; but their example was so far from being imitated, that they were despised and avoided by their best friends. According to Ware, Conn O'Neill, here- ditary prince of Tyrone, went over this year to England, accompanied by Hugh O'Ker- valan, bishop of Clogher, and some noble- men of his province. He had an interview Avith the king at Greenwich, where he sur- rendered the principality of Tyrone to the disposal of the monarch. The king restored it to him by letters patent, sealed Avith the great seal of England, and created him a peer * These observations relate but to the ancient ! I Irish. As to the modern Irish, they were an Eng- : Hsh colony that had settled in Ireland, after the I twelfth century, and had continued the subjects of 1 1 the kintf of England. These, therefore, had a right 1 1 to expect favors from him. The ancient Irish who 1 1 received titles after the submission of the whole 1 1 nation to James I., are also exempt from censure — I they were subjects. Tiiey were not, however, nu- ! mcrous. il of Ireland, under the title of earl of Tyrone. At the same time Matthew O'Neill, (the Irish call him Fardorach,) son of Tyrone, was created baron of Dungannon : Denis and Ar- thur Magennis, who had accompanied him, received the honor of knighthood ; and the bishop of Clogher was confirmed in his bishopric by letters patent. The above is the account given by Ware and Cox, of the prince of Tyrone. However, if this be true, it is strange that Baker, who mentions the titles conferred upon O'Brien of Thuomond, I and Fitzpatrick of Ossory, says nothing of Tyrone.* Conn O'Neill was head of that illus- trious house, Avhich had given several mon- archs to Ireland, from the beginning of the fifth century, and the reign of Niall, surnamed Noygiollach, from whom they Avere descend- ed, by his son Eogan. This prince had the weakness to assume the station of a subject, and renotmce the ancient title of hereditary prince of Tyrone, Avhich was founded on a possession of more than a thousand years, to assume a new one, based on usurpation and tyranny. He had the coAvardice to sign his own degradation, and abandon the name of O'Neill, which was much more honorable, in the opinion of his countrymen, than that of earl, Avhich drew upon him the contempt of all true Irishmen. What a subject of humilia- tion to O'Neill ! what liberality on the part of Henry VIII., Avho granted to this prince, by letters patent, Avhat already belonged to him, as if such a title could be more lawful than that Avhich was foimded upon a posses- sion of many centuries ! This pusillanimity of O'Neill, Avho seemingly looked upon the cA^ent as a mere matter of ceremony, was, however, amply compensated by his descend- ants. Shane, or John, his eldest son, imme- diately on the death of his father, renounced the title of earl of Tyrone to resume the name of O'Neill, as appears by an act of the parliament of Dublin in the eleventh year of the reign of Elizabeth ; and his other de- scendants Avere, in the succeeding reigns, the most zealous defenders of their country. In the year 1543, Henry VIII. conferred the title of earl of Thuomond on Morrough O'Brien for life ; (the English sometimes call him Maur, sometimes Maurice.) The reversion of the title and estates on his death, was to fall to Donach, son of Connor O'Bri- en, his elder brother.! Cox, the historian, Avishes to cast a doubt on the legitimacy of young Donough, which falls on his descend- Chron. of England, page 291 Ware, de Annul, cap. 35. Nic of Honor. nu, page :i'ji. cap. 35. Nichol's Rudiments CHRISTIAN IRELAND. 433 ants, the earls of Thuomond.* This author observes, that, " whether this Donough were nephew or natural son of the earl is not well known." As Cox does not quote any author, can we suppose him incapable of ad- vancing this from mere conjecture 1 Could he have calumniated, without authority, a nobleman who held the first rank in the province, of which he himself was a native ? This is a matter that we do not undertake to explain. However it be, Donough was, be- fore the death of his uncle, created baron of Ibrican, with a pension of twenty pounds English per annum. The king settled on him, moreover, all the lands of the priory of Inisnagananagh, Insula Canonicorum, situ- ate in the river Shannon, for regular canons, with half the abbey of Clare, called Kilmo- ney, or De For g is. Muvrough O'Brien availed himself of the right which the custom, called tanistry, had given him. This ancient Irish custom, like an old right, called bail or garde among the Franks, authorized the brother, uncle, or nearest relative of the same name, capable of governing, to succeed during his life, to the title and estates of the chief of a tribe, who died before his children came of age, notwithstanding the title which devolves to a minor in a direct line. The advantage thus gained suited the policy of Murrough, and enabled him to make his court to the king of England, and apply to him for favors. He obtained for his son and his descend- ants the title of baron of Inis-Hy-Quin, (In- chiquin,) in the county of Clare, with the revenues of the abbeys, and the patronage of all the livings that were at the disposal of his majesty in that country.! The house of Thuomond comprises the several branches of the tribe we are about to speak of. It derives its origin from He- ber, eldest son of Milesius, through Oilioll Olum, king of the province of Munster, in the second century of the Christian era. Oilioll Olum had many sons, among whom were Eogan More, and Corniac-Cas. From Eogan, the eldest, are descended the M'Car- tys, and their collateral branches. Cormac- Cas was the ancestor of the tribe called after him Dal-Caiss, which was composed of dif- ferent branches of his family. After the genealogical separation of the descendants of Eogan and Cormac-Cas, in the second cen- tury, of which Oilioll Olum was the com- mon head, these two tribes gave, each of them, an absolute monarch to Ireland. The first was Crionthan II. of the race of Eogan, * History of Ireland, page 276. t Cox, ibid. monarch of the island in the fourth century ; the second was the celebrated Brien Boir- oimhe, son of Kennede, and grandson of Lorcan, of the race of Cormac-Cas, who reigned over Ireland in the eleventh century.* After the death of Malachi II., successor to Brien,t the government of Ireland fell into anarchy . I The descent of Murrough O'Brien, first earl of Thuomond, is traced from the monarch, Brien Boiroimhe, by his son Tha- deus, who was father to Terdelach, father of Mortough and Diarmuid. Mortough, or Moriertach, elder brother of Diarmuid, was the last king of this race who reigned in Leagh-Mogha, that is, the greater part of Ireland. He was also ancestor of the differ- ent branches of the M'Mahons of Thuomond, whose first appanage was Corcobaskin, an extensive territory on both banks of the river Shannon, from Luachra,in Westmeath, as far as Limerick ; and from that city to Loim-na-Con, in the county of Clare. ^ This latter division comprised the barony of Moyarta and Clonderala. The family be- came numerous, and were distinguished for their great deeds : the principal branches of it were Clonderala, Carrigaholt, Cobraghan, Clenagh, and Tuogh. The lands of Carrig- aholt, Cobraghan, and others, were confis- cated in the reign of Elizabeth, for the benefit of Donough, earl of Thuomond, his brother Sir Daniel O'Brien, Bartly, and others. From the branch of the M'Mahons of Clon- derala, is descended Bernard, or Bryan M'Mahon Ferrery, lord of several towns, districts, and castles, in the counties of Clare and Limerick, of which he was dispossessed in the reign of Elizabeth. These estates were restored to him in the succeeding reign ; but his son Mortough lost them for his loyalty to Charles II., king of England, during his exile. In the town of Autun, in Burgundy, there is a M'Mahon, surnamed d'Equilly, descended in a direct line from this ancient family. From Diarmuid, brother of Mortough, are descended the O'Briens, first princes, and afterwards earls of Thuomond. || Con- * Cambrens. Evers. c. 9, p. 80. t Keat. Hist, of Irel. lib. 2, end of Malachi's reign. \ " Moreover, the power of the successors of Malachi was confined within narrower limits than tiiat of his predecessors, for these kings, who were called Gafrasahhrach, (as implied by the word,) had been advanced to royalty in opposition to, and with the hostility of some of the people." — Grati- anus Lucius, c. 9, p. 80. § Hugh M'Curtin, Antiq. of Ireland, pp. 269,271, 272. Nichol's Rudim. of Hon. article on Thuornond. 434 HISTORY OF IRELAND. nor O'Brien, eklest brother of Morrough, first earl of Thuomond, was, according to Nichols, the last of the twelve princes of this family, who luul reigned successively in Thuonioiid, with the titles of kings of Limerick or Thuomond. Dornnald More O'Brien, who submitted to Henry II. in the twellth century, and who was the first of the twelve princes mentioned by Nichols, was, however, the last king of Cashel and Lime- rick, according to the account given by Keating in his Genealogy of the house of Thuomond. These princes, however, gave out many collateral branches, namely, those of Inchiquin, Cumrach, Carrigogoiniol, Arra, Cuonach, Aharlach, and others, each of which traces its origin to one of these prin- ces, ancestors of the first earl of Thuomond ; and each bears the name of O'Brien, being, like him, descended from Brien Boiroimhe. The king this year created Ulick de Burgh, or Burke, a peer of Ireland, under the title of baron of Dunkellin, and earl of Clanric- card, in the county of Galway.* This earl also profited by the suppression of monas- teries ; he received the revenues of the abbeys and other religious houses in his district, among others the abbey called De- via-nova of Clonfert. Brien, or Bernard M'Giolla Phadruig, (Fitzpatrick,) being a favorite with Henry VIII. , was made baron of Upper Ossory, by which he received no great additional hon- or, his ancestors having been hereditary princes of that country for many ages. f Ac- cording to Heylin, this title was conferred on Fitzpatrick by Edward VL, of whom he was a particular favorite, | but it was Bar- naby, son of Bernard, according to Nichols, who was in the highest favor with Edward. The king gave to the lord of Ossory the convent of the Dominicans of Aghavo, and the priory of the regular canons of Aghna- cart. Henry, in conferring titles of honor on these noblemen, restored to them, by letters patent, the estates which they had placed at his disposal, and in order to attach them still more to him, he became sacrilegiously- liberal. Without deducting from his own wealth, he added largely to their revenues, by bestowing upon them the lands of the churches, and the patronage of the livings within their several districts.^ These newly- created lords subsequently testified their * War. de Annal. cap. 33. t Nich. Rudim. of Hon. on Fitzpatrick, baron wran. X History of the Reformation. § Cox, Hist, of Ireland, p. 276. gratitude for the king's favors, by becoming the most zealous destroyers of the altars which had been raised by the piety of their forefathers. In this manner did the houses of Thuo- mond, Ormond, Clanriccard, Inchiquin, and some others, increase their splendor by the spoils of the churches and lands which were confiscated on the pretence of religion, or the alleged rebellion of their neighbors, and even of their near relations — the court wil- lingly granting to them the confiscated es- tates as a reward for their services.* By such unworthy means, have these fami- lies supported themselves in splendor and in elevated rank, to the present day ; while other lords of the country, who were their equals in birth, and their superiors in virtue, have fallen into a species of annihilation, having been sacrificed for their attachment to the glory of religion, and the liberty of their country. The reason is« obvious why English writers extol the merit of the for- mer, while they speak so contemptuously of the latter. Those writers know how to change the names and signification of ac- tions ; they style those who had betrayed their country, faithful subjects, while those who disdained slavery and chains, and fought valiantly to preserve their freedom, are spoken of by them as rebels. The old jealousies between Henry VIII. and the emperor, on one side, and Francis I. on the other, were renewed at this time, and ended in open war.f It was at this time that the king of France sent Theobald de Bois, a French nobleman, to Ireland, as ambassador to O'Donnel. He proposed to furnish this prince with men and money, if, to create a division, he would declare war against the English ; but O'Donnel finding himself unable to comply with the request of the French king, the negotiation was productive of no result. The deputy, St. Leger, was recalled in February, 1544, after which he went to England, and William Brabazon was ap- pointed lord-justice in his stead. New seals were sent to this deputy, and the old ones discontinued, on account of the change which had taken place in the title of Henry VIII., who, from being lord of Ireland, had as- sumed the title of king. Henry had already married four wives, besides Anne Bullen. He now married Catherine Parr, widow of John Nevill, lord * The services which acquired rewards for these noblemen, were those which they had rendered to the English, against their own country. 1 Ware, ibid. c. 35. CHRISTIAN IRELAND. 435 Latimer. She had the good fortune to sur- vive him, and thus escaped the unhappy fate of those who had gone before her. War being declared against France, Henry demanded assistance from the lord- justice of Ireland, who sent him seven hun- dred men, commanded by three chiefs, Poer, Finglass, and Scurlock.* Holingshead and Cox boast of the valor, skill, and services which the Irish rendered to the king of Eng- land against the French during the siege of Boulogne.! They tell us that from their sup- pleness and activity, they extended their ex- cursions to about thirty miles round, burning and pillaging everywhere, and carried back great booty to the camp. On some occasions they tied a bull to a stake, and placing com- bustible matter around the animal, they set it on fire ; the bellowing of the beast on feeling the flames, drew together herds of the same kind from the surrounding neighborhood. These Irish, continues Cox, never gave quar- ter to the French ; and when any of the Irish fell into their power, they caused them, by way of reprisal, to be mutilated and tortured in various ways. He adds, that after the taking of Boulogne, a Frenchman on the opposite side of the harbor having sent a challenge to the English camp, one Nicho- las Walsh swam across the river, fought the Frenchman, and after cutting off his head, swam back to his countrymen, holding the head with his teeth, for which he was well rewarded. The acts recorded on both sides were strange and inhuman ; but we cannot vouch for the truth of the historian. St. Leger having been created a knight of the garter, as a reward for his services, was sent back as deputy to Ireland. He arrived in Dublin in August, and was hon- orably received by the council and people : he received the sword, according to custom, and used the necessary measures for pre- serving the tranquillity which the state en- joyed on his accession. Ulick Burke, first earl of Clanriccard, died at this time, in his house at Loughreagh. His death gave rise to serious diflerences between his sons, by different wives, respect- ing the title and succession. The earl had first married Grany O'Carroll, while O'Me- laghlin, her first husband, as it is alleged, was living, without any legal divorce having taken place between them. By this first wife, the earl had his eldest son, Richard Burke. He afterwards discarded her, and married Honora Burke, from whom he sepa- rated, and, during the life of the first wife, * Ware, ibid, cap. 36. t Cox, p. 277. married Maria Lynch, by whom he had a son, John Burke, who disputed the succes- sion with Richard, his elder brother. The deputy and his council, who were desirous of terminating their differences, appointed the earl of Ormond, and some other com- missioners, to examine into them ; which commissioners, discoveringno positive proofs of the validity of the supposed marriage of Grany O'Carroll with O'Melaghlin, adjudged the title and inheritance of Clanriccard to his son Richard. Matthew Stewart, earl of Lenox, having been obliged to leave Scotland in 1545, sought refuge in England, where he was honorably received by the king, who gave him in marriage, some time afterwards, his niece, Margaret, daughter of his eldest sister Margaret, and Archibald Douglas, earl of Angus.* The earl of Lenox had by this marriage, Henry, Lord Darnly, who was father to James VI. of Scotland. After the marriage of the earl of Lenox, Henry sent him to Ireland, with orders to the deputy, St. Leger, to have troops raised with all possible dispatch, in order to assist him in the recovery of his inheritance in Scotland. This nobleman landed in Dublin on St. Michael's day, and went to Kilmain- ham to the deputy, to whom he presented the order of which he was the bearer. The deputy lost no time in obeying the king's mandate ; and before the middle of Novem- ber he raised a new body of fifteen hundred men, under the command of Sir John Tra- vers. These were soon joined by an equal number which had been raised by the earl of Ormond in his own district ; and the lit- tle army, commanded by the earl in person, set sail, in twenty-eight vessels, for Scot- land. The earl of Lenox had his corre- spondents in the country, and thought that his friends would be prepared to assist him ; but either through fickleness on their part, or from their being prevented by the faction of the duke of Hamilton, who was opposed to him, when he was preparing to land near his castle at Dumbritton, he perceived the enemy had a superior army on the shore ready to oppose him. He therefore deter- mined on returning to Ireland without making any attempt on Scotland. Some dispute arose at this time between O'Neill, earl of Tyrone, and O'Donnel, prince of Tyrconnel,t from O'Neill having claimed the right of lord paramount over O'Donnel. The deputy's policy was to render them both dependent on the English government, * Ware, ibid. cap. 37. t Cox, Hist, of Ireland, page 278. 436 HISTORY OF IRELAND. by assuming to himself the arbitration of their difference, and supporting the weaker party against the stronger. By the deputy's decision, therefore, O'Donnel was exoner- ated from all dependence on O'Neill, ex- cept a yearly tribute of sixty oxen, which he had engaged to pay him for the penin- sula of Inisowen. At the same time, two of the noble tribe of the Cavanaghs, of the county Carlow, — namely, Charles or Cahir Mac-Art, of Polmonty, and Gerald Mac- Cahir, of Garochil, disputed the right of lordship or chief of the tribe ; but instead of having recourse to the interference of the deputy, they determined their quarrel by a bloody engagement, in which each lost about one hundred men killed upon the spot ; whereon, either by agreement or some other means, Charles Mac-Art became mas- ter of the lordship. He was afterwards created baron of Balian, in the district of Idrone, by Queen Mary. The northern Irish finding themselves on the eve of falling under the English yoke, O'Neill, O'Donnel, O'Dogherty, and other noblemen, made proposals to Francis I. whereby they promised that monarch to be- come his subjects, and oppose the tyranny of the English, provided he obtained the pope's concurrence, and would furnish them with two thousand archers, two hundred light horse, and four pieces of cannon. The French monarch, who considered this overture worthy of his attention, sent John de Montluc, bishop of Valentia, to Ireland, to investigate the matter, and to see what probability there would be of succeeding in such an enterprise. The ambassador landed at Loughfoyle, and had a conference, a few days afterwards, with the parties who were interested, the result of which is not known ; but that nobleman set out immediately for Rome, probably to confer with the pope on the subject. It is likely that Cox con- founds this embassy with one of a more solemn nature, of which we shall speak under the following reign. The royal treasury in Ireland being ex- hausted, the deputy wished to impose a tax on the people, a. d. 1545 ;* but the earl of Ormond having opposed it, a quarrel arose between these noblemen, who accused each other of treason, and they were ordered by the king to repair to England, Brabazon be- ing nominated deputy during the absence of St. Leger. At the same time, Allen, the chancellor, having been accused of prevari- cation in the discharge of his office, was put * Ware, ibid. cap. 38. into confinement ; Sir Thomas Cusack was appointed keeper of the seals in his stead, and Sir Richard Read chancellor. St. Leger and Ormond were summoned to appear be- fore the king and council ; but their accusa- tions against each other not amounting to hightreason,they were discharged, St. Leger being sent back to Ireland as deputy. James Butler, earl of Ormond, grand treasurer of Ireland, died of poison at a repast at Hol- born, near London ; James White, the mas- ter of his household, and sixteen of his ser- vants, having shared the same fate. During the administration of Brabazon, the baron of Upper Ossory having had some cause of complaint against his son Thadeus, sent him prisoner to Dublin, where he was tried, condemned, and executed. In the month of July, Patrick O'Morra of Leix, and Bryan O'Connor Faly, with their united forces, made inroadson the English province, and burned the town of Athy, in the county of Kildare. Brabazon marched in pursuit of them, carrying fire and sword everywhere he went. The poor inhabitants were sacri- ficed to his resentment ; he had the fort of Dingen, now Philipstovvn, in the King's county, repaired, and obliged O'Connor to seek an asylum in Connaught. The terri- tories of Leix and Offaly, with the neigh- boring estates, namely, Slievmargy, Irris, and Clanmalire, were confiscated some years afterwards for the king's use. The king sent a commission, about this time, to his principal ministers in Ireland, to obHge the dean and chapter of St. Patrick's cathedral in Dublin to place at their disposal the estates belonging to that church ; which was assented to with considerable reluctance by the incumbents. This church, however, was restored a few years afterwards to all its rights by Queen Mary. Previous to his death, Henry VIII. be- came so large and unwieldy that it was necessary to invent a machine to change or move him from one place to another. He sank under the weight of his own body, which had become bloated from intemper- ance, the usual companion of lust. His body might, with propriety, be termed the sepul- chre of himself, in which his pleasures and disappointments had entombed along with him, his religion, his conscience, his glory, and every sentiment of honor, justice, and humanity ; all which gifts nature had be- stowed on him. He made a will, whereby he regulated the order of succession to the throne between his children, Edward, Mary, and Elizabeth. Henry being attacked by a slow fever, CHRISTIAN IRELAND. 437 caused by dropsy, and by an ulcer in his leg, the hour of his death drew near, without his appearing to perceive its approach. His timid and dissolute courtiers dared not to inform him of it, lest they might incur his resentment and their own disgrace. Sir An- thony Denny, a member of the privy council, alone, had the courage to warn his majesty of his approaching end, and that it was time he should send for a clergyman to assist him in his last moments. The king, con- trary to the expectation of those around him, received Denny's intimation with ap- parent tranquillity, and commanded that arch- bishop Cranmer should be sent for. It was, however, too late ; he had already lost the use of his speech before Cranmer arrived. The prelate desired him to make some sign of his dying in the faith of Jesus Christ ; on which the king squeezed his hand, and immediately expired, on the 28th of January, •1547, having lived fifty-six years, of which he reigned thirty-eight. It is difficult to delineate with accuracy the character of this unhappy prince ; his portrait varies according to the different dispositions of the historians who have writ- ten on the subject. The partisans of the re- formation consider it a merit in him to have shaken off the pope's authority, and thereby established the new religion. His most zealous panegyrists, however, admit that he was addicted to many vices. In truth, the different opinions of writers, with respect to religion and the legitimate succession of kings, have cast so many doubts on historical facts, from the period of the pretended divorce of Henry and Catherine of Aragon to the present time, that it is almost impossible to discriminate between truth and falsehood. Notwithstanding, however, the various opinions of writers on Henry's character, it may be affirmed that he was a bad king, a bad husband, and a bad Christian.* A ty- rant is a bad king. Henry spent the first eighteen years of his reign at plays, mas- querades, and nocturnal amusements. He soon squandered the eighteen hundred thou- sand pounds sterling, which, through the avarice of his father, Henry VII., he had found in the treasury on his accession to the throne ; so that, though possessing more considerable revenues, he found himself more indigent than any of his predecessors. He, however, supplied the deficiency by tyranny : the immense wealth of the monas- teries, colleges, and hospitals, which were suppressed ; the silver ornaments and ves- * Salmon, ibid, page 276. CHAPTER XXXVIII. Edward VI., only son of Henry VIII. and of Jane Seymour, ascended the throne at the age of nine years, in virtue of his birth- right, and of his father's will. Edward Sey- mour, earl of Hertford, and maternal uncle to the young king, was appointed governor of his person, and protector of the kingdom during his minority ; being also created duke of Somerset. This pfince, after receiving the * Sander, de Schis. Angl. lib. 1, p. 168, et seq. Ward, History of the Reformation, cant. 1. Salmon, ibid, page 285. t Short View. sels of these houses ; the spoils of Cardinal Wolsey and Cromwell, his vicar-general ; the estates of several noblemen of the first distinction, which were confiscated for his use, and the large sums that were extorted from the clergy, under pretext of the prceinu- nire law, increased the king's exchequer to a considerable extent, but were not sufficient to support his profligacy.* He levied exor- bitant taxes upon his p;50ple ; raised exten- sive loans on his privy seal ; and then pro- cured acts of parliament to annul his engage- ments, and defraud his creditors of their right. Finding the wealth of the kingdom entirely exhausted, he caused the money to be re- coined, and made spurious, to such a degree, that, to the shame of the English nation, it was not current in foreign countries, by which means the merchant lost his credit abroad. In Ireland, for want of gold and silver, the king ordered that copper money should be made use of, to the great detriment and displeasure of the public. Of Henry's six wives, two were repudi- ated, two were beheaded, and one died in childbed ; the last, in all likelihood, only escaped a cruel fate by the sudden death of the prince ; which facts fully prove him to ! have been the worst of husbands. I In fine, Henry is represented as a cruel and profligate prince. Neither the most de- praved of the Roman emperors, says Higgins, I nor even Christiern of Denmark, Don Pedro j of Castile, nor Vasilowich of Russia, sur- {j passed him in cruelty and debauchery.! This writer, indeed, like Sir Walter Raleigh, af- firms, that were the portrait of tyranny lost, the original might be found in the life of Hen- ry VIII. He was amonster of humanity, that never spared man in his anger, nor woman in his lust ; and from the consciousness of his crimes, he died in utter despair. 438 HISTORY OF IRELAND, order of knighthood, was solemnly crowned at Westminster, on the 20th of February, by the archbishop of Canterbury, a. d. 1547.* St. Lcger was continued in the govern- ment of Ireland, first as lord-justice, and af- terwards under the title of deputy or vice- roy. He had Edward proclaimed king of Ireland on the 26th of February. James, earl of Desmond, was appointed treasurer about the end of March, and in April nine privy counsellors, besides the deputy, were nominated, viz., Read, chancellor of Ireland, G. Brown, archbishop of Dublin, Edward Staply, bishop of Meath, Sir William Bra- bazon, vice-treasurer, Sir Gerald Ailmer, chief-justice of the king's bench. Sir Thomas Luttrell, chief-justice of the common pleas, James Bath, chief-baron of the exchequer. Sir Thomas Cusack, master of the rolls, and Thomas Howth, one of the judges of the king's bench. The king dispatched orders, at this time, to the deputy, chancellor, and other magistrates in Ireland, to grant pen- sions to the canons and prebendaries of St. Patrick's cathedral, Dublin, which had been suppressed, and to give the silver, jewels, and ornaments, belonging to that church, to the dean and chapter of the cathedral of the holy Trinity, to whom were added six priests and two choristers, in consideration of forty- five pounds, six shillings, and eight pence sterling, payable at the king's pleasure ; this grant was afterwards confirmed to this church, in perpetuity, by Queen Mary. The O'Byrnes, eager to take advantage of the change that occurred in the govern- ment, took the field, in the month of May, to recover their freedom. The viceroy j marched with a powerful army to oppose ' them, and after killing their chief, forced them to retreat to their fastnesses, but was unable to subdue them. At the same time, he had two noblemen, of the house of Fitz- gerald, arrested, who, being proscribed for having espoused the cause of the earl of Kil- dare, had joined the O'Tooles. They were sent with other prisoners to Dublin, where they were all put to death. The O'Morras and O'Connors were attacked in the county of Kildare, after they had taken considerable booty ; about two hundred of them were killed, and the rest put to flight. The English government now saw the difficulties they had to encounter in their attempts to reduce the Irish. They appre- hended a general revolt throughout the island, on account of the religious opinions in which * 'Baker's Chron. Rei^ of Edward VI. ; Annal. reg. Edv/ard, cap. 1. War the king had been brought up, and the nov- elties which had been already introduced ' into religion. They found, too, that the an- | cient and modern Iri.sh, of whom the nation ! was then composed, began to unite, and that this union was founded on similar prhiciples of religion. They thought it prudent, there- j fore, to provide for the safety of the nation ; i for which end, orders were given that six | hundred horse and four hundred infantry should be sent to Ireland, and be well paid. | The command of this force was given to Edward Bellingham, on whom the title of captain-general was conferred.* This re- inforcement landed at Waterford, in June, where they were joined by the deputy and the army under his command. The vice- roy and Bellingham, with their united forces, marched for Leix and Offaly, where they proclaimed O'Morra and O'Connor, chiefs of these districts, traitors to the state, and dis- persed their vassals. They then repaired the forts of Dingen, at present Philipstown, in Offaly, and Campaw, or Protector, now Mary- borough, in the territory of Leix. O'Morra and O'Connor, finding they had no other re- source, made peace with the viceroy. As a reward for his services, Bellingham received the honor of knighthood, and was appointed marshal of Ireland. About the end of the same year, the privy council, by the advice of Brabazon, the vice- treasurer, gave orders that the fort of Ath- lone, which was situate in the centre of the island, should be repaired, fortified, and pro- vided with a good garrison. By command of the council, this undertaking was execu- ted by Brabazon, in which he was opposed by Domini ck O'Kelly, and other lords of Connaught. The schism wliich had been begun in Eng- land by Henry YIIl., contir.ued to spread itself under his son Edward VI. Edward Seymour, the young king's maternal uncle, who, during the minority, governed the kingdom as protector, added heresy to schism. t In his doctrine, this nobleman was a Zuinglian. Cranmer, who had been al- ways one, found his wishes gratified, on see- ing all ready to receive the poison of the error he was going to proclaim. The young king, although he was, by his father's de- sire, educated in the Catholic faith, favored Cranmer in his errors, which speedily gained ground, and truth was suppressed. In order to spread the heresy more widely, the pro- tector took care to raise those who professed * Ware, ibid. cap. 2. t Sander, de Schis. Anglic, lib, 2, passim. CHRISTIAN IRELAND. 439 it, to the first dignities, and most important offices of the state. The reformation was at this time begin- ning to be preached in public. Besides Cranmer and his agents, Richard Cox and Hugh Latimer, (whom the Lutherans call the first apostle of England, from the num- bers that he perverted,) and other English preachers, the country was infested with swarms of them from Germany. Martin Bucer, Peter Martyr, Bernard Ochin, Fagius, and others, all preached their own doctrines. Some were favorable to Lutheranism, which was professed by Cranmer ; others favored the doctrine of Zuingle, which was that of the protector.* This schism appeared dan- gerous to the parliament. That tribunal ac- knowledged none other in religious matters ; it received its commission expressly from the king, who caused himself to be declared the head of it. In order to satisfy all parties, and, at the same time, to preserve some ap- pearance of unity,these wise senators adopted certain articles of the tenets of each of the sects, whereof the religion of the country was composed ; and in order that none should have cause to complain of having been ex- cluded, they added a portion of Calvinism, which was at that time becoming popular. Calvin had already the confidence to write to the duke of Somerset, the protector, to exhort him to make use of the sword, to reduce the Catholics, and force them to embrace what he termed the doctrine of the gospel. From the many innovations which were introduced into this new religion, that had never before been attempted, the people became alarmed. The celebration of the mass was abolished, the marriage of priests allowed, the images were removed from the churches, and public prayers said in the language of the country. Finally, the six articles which had been es- tablished by Henry VIIL were annulled; several bishops were deprived of their sees, and thrown into dungeons ; the revenues belonging to the churches, together with their vessels and ornaments, were converted to profane purposes : " Ut quid perditio hmc" dfc, exclaimed the reformers, like Judas ;t in short, a new liturgy was substituted for the old one, by an act of parliament. All these things alarmed the faithful, and gave rise to a rebellion in many provinces of Eng- land, where the inhabitants took up arms in defence of the religion of their forefathers. In Ireland, the effects of the reformation * Le Grand, History of the Divorce, vol. l.page 287. t Baker, ibid. p. 304, et seq. Heylin, Hist, of the Reformation, preface to the reader. were beginning to be felt in 1548. The Irish were strongly attached to their religion, and took alarm at the slightest attempt to intro- duce a change. All Europe has witnessed the miseries they have undergone, and the sacrifices. that they have made in defence of it, from the above period to the present. Two young noblemen, named Richard and Alexander, sons of Thomas Fitz-Eustace, viscount of Baltinglass,having caused disturb- ances in the county of Kildare, by opposing some matters connected with the reformation, which was beginning to be introduced among them, the government immediately sent troops, commanded by the viceroy, who was attended by Bellingham and Brabazon, in order to crush the rising conspiracy. A well disciplined army, headed by the deputy, was more than sufficient to disperse a body of men who had been tumultuously assembled, and badly provided with arms ; their leaders soon surrendered to the viceroy, who pro- cured them their pardon, and that of their father, the Viscount Baltinglass, who was supposed to have favored their insurrection. St. Leger, the deputy, having received orders to return to England, brought O'Mor- ra and O'Connor prisoners along with him. These noblemen having submitted, received their pardon, and a pension for life, of one hundred pounds sterling a year, from the exchequer. O'Morra, however, enjoyed it for ordy a short period, as he died in the course of the same year in London. Sir Edward Bellingham, who had been sent to England by the government to render an account of the submission of some noble- men in the county of Kildare, returned to Ireland as deputy from the court. He landed at Dalkey, near Dublin, on the vigil of Pentecost, and in two days afterwards, received the sword of office according to custom, in the cathedral church of Dublin. The new deputy reappointed John Allen chancellor, instead of Read, who returned soon afterwards to England. The deputy being in possession of the government, made incursions into the terri- tories of Leix and OfFaly, where he quelled some disturbances that had been caused by Cahir O'Connor, and other nobles of this district. He then marched towards Dealna, the country of M'Coghlan, which he laid waste, and reduced to obedience. He was the first after Henry III., according to Davis and Cox, who extended the frontiers of the English province in Ireland.* This deputy established a mint in Ireland, * History of Ireland, page 284. 440 HISTORY OF IRELAND. by orders of the government ; it failed, how- ever, for want of means to support it. In the niontli of April, of this year, the city of Dublin, which had been at lirst governed by a provost, and subsequently, under Henry 111., by a mayor and bailiffs, and was hon- ored with the sword by Henry IV., obtained perniirisioii from the court to change its bailids into sheriffs. About this time, Francis Brian, an Eng- lishuuiu and baronet, having married Jane, countess dowager of Ormond, was appointed marshal of Ireland, and governor of the counties Tipperary and Kilkenny. This gov- ernor and the deputy could not agree ; the one being unwilling to acknowledge a supe- rior, and the other an equal ; their animosity was carried to such a pitch that Brian wrote to the king against the deputy, and had him sunnnoned to appear at court, to answer the charges which he advanced against him. In the mean time, Teigue, or Thadeus O'CarroU, seized upon and destroyed the castle of Nenagh, in the county of Tippera- ry, in spite of the spirited resistance of the English garrison. After this, he expelled all the English from the district.* Some differences sprang up in Ulster be- tween Manus O'Donnel, prince of Tircon- nel, and his son Calvagh, which ended in an open war. Both parties took up arms, and on the 7th of February came to an engage- ment, in which the father was victorious, and his son put to flight, leaving MacDo- nough O'Cahan, and several other noblemen, his allies, dead on the field of battle. A dreadful misfortune happened shortly after- wards to MacCoghlan : his district of Dealna being laid waste by the united forces of Teigue O'Melaghlin and Edmond Fay. King Edward being at war with the Scotch, the viceroy and council in Ireland sent a brigade of Irish troops to his assistance, under the command of Donough, son of O'Connor Fahy, accompanied by the sons of Cahir O'Connor. In the month of November, Cormoc Roe O'Connor, who had been proclaimed a trai- tor and proscribed, appeared before the de- puty and council in Christ's church, Dublin, j where, after making his submission, he was pardoned ; but being possessed of consider- able estates, (which was then a crime for an Irishman,) they soon furnished him with fresh cause to rebel ; he was consequently arrested by the earl of Clanriccard, and sent to Dub- lin, where he was tried and condemned to death. If accusation renders a man guilty, innocence itself caimot be secure. * Cox, Hist, of Ireland, page 285. About Christmas the deputy wrote to the carl of Desmond, to induce him to come to Dublin on some important business. The earl was then the richest of the king's sub- jects in landed property, and though not one of the privy council, was treasurer of Ire- land. The deputy, exasperated at his refusal to obey the summons, set out on a sudden, with twenty horsemen, for Munster, where he surprised him, and brought him prisoner to Dublin. This, however, proved fortunate for him, as he obtained his pardon some time afterwards, and was restored to favor, thVough the interference of his adversary. Cox draws a very disadvantageous portrait of the earl of Desmond, for rudeness and ferocity of manners. This, however, is con- tradicted by Ware, who was undoubtedly a more judicious and authentic historian.* The conquest of Ireland had not been yet completed, a. d. 1549. Symptoms, however, appeared from time to time among the an- cient Irish, which portended the speedy re- duction of the island. t When the lords of inferior districts had any subject of com- plaint against their superior lords, respecting the contributions or tributes which the latter exacted from them, perhaps with too much rigor ; instead of having recourse to the usual mode of arbitration, or referring their differences to the Brehons, who were the ordinary judges among them, they car- ried their complaints before the English gov- ernor. This politic tribunal, while effect- ing between them an outward reconciliation, exerted itself to sever the ties of subordi- nation which bound them together, establish- ing an independence among them ; so that by a separation of the vassals from their chief, the body became imperceptibly en- feebled, many instances of which occurred about this time. Conn O'Neill, earl of Ty- rone, having had a dispute with Maguire, Phelim Roe O'Neill, and other nobles who held under him, they presented themselves before the deputy and council, in Dublin, in the month of June. The tribunal heard their mutual recriminations and complaints, and had them reconciled on certain condi- tions ; it decided, that Maguire should be exempt for the future from all subjection, homage, and dependence on the earl of Ty- rone and his successors ; that he should al- ways remain in peace, under the deputy's protection, and that he should be bound to acquit himself towards his excellency, as often as he should be required by the council, * Hist, of Ireland, page 285. t Ware, ibid. cap. 3. CHRISTIAN IRELAND. 441 of all homage, debts, and generally of every duty which a subject owes to his lord. In the following month, a similar decree was made respecting O'Donnel, prince of Tyr- connel, and the nobles who derived under him. These negotiations were followed by the submission of Brian and Hugh Oge M'Mahon, (the younger,) to the deputy at Kilmainham, and the remission of a fine of five hundred marcs, to which they had been condemned some time before. The war had lasted for a considerable time between the English and Scotch, respect- ing the marriage which it was endeavored to conclude between the young king Edward and Mary Stuart, in order to unite England with Scotland.* The Scotch nobility having refused to consent to this marriage, the lord- protector marched into Scotland with a powerful army, where he gained the cele- brated battle of Musselborough. Henry 11. king of France, whose interest it was to thwart an alliance which would produce the union of these two crowns, averted the blow by sending for the heiress of Scotland. She was afterwards married to his son, Francis H. At this conjuncture, the Scotch sent a body of troops to Ulster to support the Irish against the English, and thereby create a diversion in their own favor ; but these auxiliaries, to the number of two hundred, were defeated by Andrew Brereton, at the head of thirty -five horsemen. This captain quelled the disturbances- in Ulster, and was appointed governor of that province. Bellingham, the deputy, having been re- called by the intrigues of his enemies, sailed from Howth in December, for England. After his departure, the chancellor Allen, by the orders of the king, having convened a meeting of the nobility and privy council, in the church of the holy Trinity, Dublin, in order to appoint a successor, the choice fell on Sir Francis Briaa. This election was confirmed by the signatures of Jenico Preston, viscount Gormanstown ; Roland Eustace, viscount Baltinglass ; Edward Sta- ples, bishop of Meath ; Richard Nugent, baron of Delvin ; John Plunket, baron of Killeen ; Patrick Barnewall, baron of Trim- lestown ; Robert Plunket, baron of Dun- sany ; Oliver Plunket, baron of Louth ; and Brian Fitzpatrick, baron of Upper Ossory. The administration of this new deputy was of short duration. Having undertaken an expedition into the county of Tipperary, to quell some disturbances, and to oppose the * Baker, ibid. incursions of O'CarroU, he fell sick at Clon- mel, where he died on the second of Feb- ruary following. His body was removed to Waterford, and interred in the cathedral of the holy Trinity. After his death, the government was confided by the council to Sir William Brabazon, with the title of lord-justice, and this governor intrusted Ed- mond Butler, archbishop of Casli^l, with the superintendence of the country of Ormond, during the minority of the earl, who was then but twelve years of age. The lord-justice marched towards Lime- rick, where he received the submission of Teigue, or Thadeus O'CarroU.* This noble- man undertook to pay an annual tribute to the exchequer, and also to maintain a cer- tain number of troops, both horse and foot, at his own expense, for the king's service, and to resign his claims on the barony of Ormond. He likewise placed the district of Eile in the king's hands, who restored it to him afterwards, by letters patent, with the title of lord-baron of Eile. This nobleman having got over his own difficulties, inter- fered in favor of M'Morrough, O'Kelly, and O'Melaghlin, and procured letters of protection for them. The lord-justice at the same time reconciled the earls of Desmond and Thuomond, whose differences respecting their frontiers had long disturbed the peace of the province. Derniod O'SuUivan, a powerful nobleman in the county of Cork, met with a heavy calamity at this period ; some barrels of powder having taken fire, by which he and his castle were blown up to- gether. Amalf, his brother and heir, was killed some time afterwards. The town of Boulogne, which had been taken by Henry VIII. six years before, was surrendered to the French, in April, 1550, on condition of paying, at two separate pe- riods, the sum of four hundred thousand crowns. t The king of England expended eight thousand pounds sterling of this money in the service of Ireland. He also sent over four hundred men from that garrison, which enabled the lord-justice to pursue the rebels, among others Charles Mac-Art Cavanagh, who had already been proclaimed a traitor. He devastated the country, and killed several of his followers. The reformation had not yet made much progress in Ireland. In the month of May of this year, Arthur Magennis was appointed by the pope to the bishopric of Dromore, and was confirmed in it by letters patent * Cox, ibid, pagu 287. t VV^are, ibid. cap. 4. 56 442 HISTORY OF IRELAND. from the king. Thomas Lancaster, of the reformed religion, was consecrated bishop of Kildare, in Dublin, in July, by George Brown, archbishop of that city. He, how- ever, lost his bishopric under the following reign, on account of his having married.* The English sent an army at this time to the frontiers of Scotland. Henry H., king of Franccf considered this step against his allies as an infraction of the peace lately concluded between him and the English : and accordingly sent a fleet, consisting of one hundred and sixty vessels, laden with pro- visions, powder, and cannon, to Scotland ; but having been overtaken by a furious tem- pest, sixteen of the largest vessels were wrecked upon the coast of Ireland ; the re- mainder were scattered, and found consider- able difficulty in reaching the coast of France. The king of England wished to counteract the designs of France against his dominions, but particularly against Ireland. He knew that his power was not firmly established in that country ; that the people were in general dissatisfied, and that their fidelity being founded on a forced submission, they only waited for an opportunity to shake off the English yoke. For the purpose therefore of guarding it, he sent a fleet of twenty vessels, consisting of large ships and sloops, under the command of Lord Cobham, with orders to cruise in the Irish sea, from the north to the south of the island. Henry II. found means, however, to elude these precautions. He sent over De Forciuevaux, attended by the prothonotary De Montluc, who entered into successful negotiation with the princes of Ulster, O'Neill and O'Donnell, and induced them to enter into a confederacy with France, against the English. As, however, the con- tinuance of treaties is generally measured by the interest of princes, the peace which was concluded between France and England ren- dered this league with the Irish abortive. De Serigny speaks in the following terms of this negotiation, in his book of general peerage, or registry of the nobility of France, in the article respecting Beccarie de Pavie, marquis de Forquevaux.f " In the mean time, as the king wished to bring the Irish princes under his dominion, and withdraw them from their allegiance to the king of England, who had many partisans among them, and was in possession of some for- tresses ; he gave orders to De Forquevaux to set out for Ireland with the prothonotary, De Montluc, (John de Montesquion de Las- seran Massencomme, brother to marshal * War. de Episcop. Kildare. t Regist. 2. 1 part. vol. 3. Blaise de Montluc,) who was then chancellor of Scotland, and afterwards bishop of Va- lentia, and Die in Dauphiny.* Notwith- standing the delicacy of this affair, they car- ried on their negotiation, which was a dan- gerous one, with so much skill and dexterity, that, in the month of February, 1553, they received the oath of fidelity from prince O'Donnel, and O'Neill, earl of Tyrone, in the castle of Donegal, province of Ulster, which princes, both in their own name, and in the names of the other lords of the coun- try, placed their lives, forces, and properties under the protection of France ; it having been agreed upon, that whoever would be king of France, should be also king of Ire- land." This is an historical fact, of which no mention is made, either by our most correct compilers, or in the extensive works of Du Tillet, De Bellefortt, De la Popliniere, and others ; but concerning which no doubt can exist, since according to the account of the biographer of Raymond de Beccarie, the Latin transcript of the oath taken by the Irish lords is to be found in the king's treasury, and he was moreover well ac- quainted with the facts. Allen, chancellor of Ireland, was recalled at this time to England, and succeeded by Sir Thomas Cusack, of Coffington, in the county of Meath, who had been master of the rolls. The office of chancellor was con- firmed to him by letters from the king, in the month of August. In September, Sir Anthony St. Leger was again appointed lord-lieutenant or deputy of Ireland ; and on his arrival in Dublin, Bra- bazon presented him, according to custom, with the sword. This deputy received the submission of M'Carty, and restored him to favor. Richard Butler, lord of Mongarret, in the county of Wexford, was created a peer of the realm on the 23d of October, under the title of lord viscount Mongarret. He was son of Pierce, or Peter, earl of Ormond, and of Margaret, daughter of Fitzgerald, earl of Kildare. t Charles Mac-Art Cavanagh having ap- peared on the 4th of November before the grand council in Dublin, made his submission, and surrendered his possessions publicly, in the name of Mac-Morrough, in presence of the deputy, the earls of Desmond, Tyrone, Thuomond, and Clanriccard, viscount Mon- garret, the baron of Dunboyne, and other noblemen. The submission of this nobleman produced him no ad vantage, as he was stripped * He was promoted and consecrated in 1553. t Nichol's Rudiments of Honor. CHRISTIAN IRELAND. 443 of the best portion of his estates. Such were the usual terms that were imposed upon the Irish by their unjust masters, after they had submitted to the yoke. The lands belong- ing to them were peculiarly attractive to Englishmen, and enriched thousands of hun- gry adventurers, who came in crowds to seek their fortunes in Ireland. Edmond Butler, archbishop of Cashel, died at this time ; he was natural son of Peter, earl of Ormond.* This prelate be- longed to the privy council of Ireland, under Henry VIII. At the time of the suppression of monasteries, he surrendered the priory of St. Edmond, of Athassel, in the county of Tipperary, to which he had been appointed. A synod was convened in June, 1529, at Limerick, by him ; when, among other things, it was decreed that the mayor of the city should have a power, without incur- ring any censure, to arrest and imprison ec- clesiastics for debt. The clergy complained loudly of this decree, as being an infraction upon their privileges. Butler was succeed- ed in the see of Cashel by Roland Barron. This year, the king of England sent his commands to the deputy of Ireland, to have the liturgy and public prayers performed in the English language ; with a direction that orders should be given to all archbishops, bishops, deans, archdeacons, and parish priests, throughout the kingdom, to conform in all these matters to the king's will. In obedience to the king's commands, the deputy convened a meeting of the clergy, to inform them of the orders he had received, and the opinions of some English bishops, who had conformed to the new liturgy. George Dowdal, archbishop of Armagh and primate of all Ireland, who was grave, learn- ed, an able preacher, and firmly attached to the Catholic cause, spoke with vigor against this innovation, and among other things said, "Any iUiterate layman will then have power to say mass." After this he left the meet- ing, followed by all his suffragans, except Edward Staples, bishop of Meath. Brown, archbishop of Dublin, was more submissive than Dowdal : he received the king's orders respectfully, observing that he submitted, as Jesus had done to Caesar, in all that was just and lawful, without inquiring into the cause, as he acknowledged him to be his true and lawful king. On the Easter Sun- day following, he preached upon this sub- ject, in the cathedral of the blessed Trinity, Dublin, taking for his text the following words of the Psalmist : " Open my eyes. that I may behold the wonders of thy law." * Ware, Arch. Cassill. According to Ware, several lords had, at this time, the title of baron, though they did not rank among the nobles : it is probable that these were popular distinctions, from which they did not derive the privilege of sitting in parliament. The following he mentions to have existed in his time : the barons of Burnchurch, Navan, Serine, Gal- trim, Rheban, Norragh, Sleumarg, Browns- ford, Thomastown, Ardmail, and Loughno. When the country was, by order of the Eng- lish governor, divided into baronies, the peo- ple, through courtesy, gave the title of baron to some of the ancient Irish, to whom the lands belonged ; among others, we discover those of Dartry, Tuathra Clanmahan, Tire- reil, Loghtee, v^^ho were styled barons of their own estates. All who had large pos- sessions assumed the title likewise, which was also the custom in England, previous to its being conferred by patent. St. Leger, the deputy, was recalled this year, on a'ccount of some complaints that were urged against him by the archbishop of Dublin, either for want of zeal in advancing the reformation, or some other secret cause. He was succeeded by Sir James Crofts, a gentleman of the king's bedchamber.* The new deputy having learned, on his arrival in Ireland, that St. Leger was in Munster, he repaired to Cork, where he re- ceived the sword from him in May, 1551. Crofts was a zealous Protestant, and en- deavored, but in vain, to induce Dowdal, the primate, to conform to the king's wishes respecting the liturgy. Upon his refusal, the king and council of England deprived him of the title of primate, which was there- upon conferred on the see of Dublin. Dow- dal was obliged to withdraw to a foreign country, and Hugh Goodacre was appointed to the archbishopric of Armagh in his stead. He was consecrated in February, with John Bale, bishop of Ossory, in the church of the blessed Trinity, Dublin, by Archbishop Brown, assisted by the bishops of Kildare and Down. The first expedition of Crofts was into Ulster, to quell some disturbances that had been caused by the inhabitants of that pro- vince, in conjunction with their neighbors, the Scotch. The deputy having reached Carrickfergus, sent a detachment under the command of Captain Bagnall, to surprise Rachlin, an island at some distance in the sea, north of Fairhead. This expedition did not succeed to his wishes : the detach- ment was repulsdll with a heavy loss, and * Ware, ibid. cap. 5. 444 HISTORY OF IRELAND. one of the vessels of his little fleet was wrecked. Bagnall was taken prisoner by the MacDonncls, and afterwards exchanged for Surly-Boy MacDounel, their brother, who had been kept in confuiement in Dublin. During his stay in Ulster, the deputy received the submission of some of the nobles of the country. The rest intrenched themselves in inaccessible fastnesses, from which he found it impossible to dislodge them. At this time, the king changed the title of the Irish king-at-arms.* This officer, who had till then enjoyed that office for all Ireland, was thenceforward called Ulster king-at-arms, the cause of which is not known. Nicholas Narbon, one of the Eng- lish heralds, surnamed Richmond, was the first who held the office under the new title. He was succeeded by Bartholomew Butler. On the deputy's return to Dublin, he had the earl of Tyrone arrested, on account of some complaints which had been made against him by his son Ferdorach or Matthew O'Neill, baron of Dungannon. The brothers of JNIatthew took up arms and devastated the lands of Dungannon, to avenge the insult which had been ofli"ered to their father. It being the interest of the English government to support their client, they gave him a body of English troops to enable him to defend his possessions. The matter was soon de- cided by a pitched battle, in which the baron was defeated and put to flight, with a loss of two hundred of his men, killed upon the spot. The earl of Tyrone was detained three months more in prison, after which he received his freedom, upon giving hostages, and returned to his province. Brien O'Connor Faly, who was a prisoner in the tower of London, having found means to escape, was retaken, and again thrown into confinement. MacCoghlan, who had been expelled from his territory of Dealna, or Delvin, was restored at this time, having yielded to the English yoke. The public archives, which had been before deposited in Bermingham tower, Dublin, were now removed to the library of St. Patrick. About this period died Robert Waucop, otherwise Venantius, who was either a Scot or an Irishman. During the Ufetime of Dovvdal, the primate, he was nominated archbishop of Armagh, to Pope Paul III., though Dowdal was a Catholic. f It appears that the pope paid no regard to his nomina- tion, it having been by Henry VIII. during his schism. Two bishops appeared now for the first time in each diocese in Ireland : * Cox, ibid, page 291. t Baker, Chron. of England, pp. 306, 308. the one was called titular, appointed by the pope ; the other received his mission from the kings of England, with the possession of the revenues. The only advantage which Waucop derived from his appointment, was the honor of being titular archbishop of Ar- jmagh. Two years had now elapsed since the duke of Somerset was liberated from the tower, and deprived of the protectorship ;* but fresh accusations having been brought against him, by his rival the duke of North- umberland, and other noblemen, he was im- peached and convicted of high treason, and of having attempted the life of Northumber- land, in consequence of which he was be- headed on Tower Hill. Such was the end , of this ambitious nobleman, who, though but a subject, aspired to be the equal of a sove- reign, by assuming the style of " Somerset, by the grace of God," a. d. 1552. t He built a magnificent palace from the ruins of churches and the dwellings of the bishops, and from the revenues, which they and the chapters were obliged to surrender to him. Morrough O'Brien, who was created earl of Thuomond by Henry VIII., having died, his nephew Donogh, baron of Ibrican, took possession of the estates and title of Thuo- mond, according to a compact made between them by the king ; but as this title was to end with Donough, he surrendered his pa- tent to Edward VI., who conferred a new one on him, by which the title of earl of Thuomond was confirmed to him and his male heirs for ever. He was soon after- wards killed by his brother Donald. The noble family of the Fitzgeralds of Kildare was restored this year, in the per- son of Gerald, brother to Thomas, last earl of Kildare, who was executed in England with his uncles, on account of their rebellion. This nobleman spent several years in dif- ferent countries of Europe, and having been restored to favor, obtained letters from the king, empowering him to take possession of Maynooth and other estates belonging to his family, and two years afterwards, he re- ceived the ancient titles of his house from Queen Mary. Donough O'Brien, who had just been cre- ated earl of Thuomond by letters patent, and declared heir to the estates annexed to that title, was disturbed in his possessions by his brother Donald. This nobleman was exas- perated to see his eldest brother, and the head of his family, enter into an agreement * War. de Archiep. Ardmach. Idem. Annal. Hi- bern. t Baker, Chron. of Engl. p. 305. CHRISTIAN IRELAND. 445 with the king of England, which were so contrary to the interests of his country ; he looked upon the title as the seal of his sla- very, and of the dishonor of a house which had been, till that time, free and indepen- dent. According to Cox, Donald had anoth- er motive for declaring against his brother ;* i he had cause to apprehend the loss of the I prerogatives to which he was entitled by the ! old custom of Tanistry, as the submission I of his brother to the English government se- cured the possession forever to his descend- ants. This, however, is mere conjecture, on the part of Cox, who always puts a bad construction upon the intentions of those who were opposed to the English. In order, in- deed, to give an appearance of truth to what he advances, he says that Donald and Ter- lough were uncles to the earl of Thuomond, while, according to every other historian who wrote on Irish affairs, they were his brothers. However this may have been, the deputy, in conjunction with some of the members of the council, made use of his authority, and set- tled the matter in favor of the earl. Sir Nicholas Bagnall was appointed to the command of a force which was sent against MacMurrough. Both armies having met, they fought for a long time with doubtful success ; the loss was heavy on both sides, and the victory remained undecided : the numbers of killed and wounded were not known. The English garrison of Athlone pillaged, at this time, the cathedral chilrch of Cluan-mac-noisk, not sparing even the books or sacred vessels of the church. Some time afterwards, the deputy marched at the head of an army to Ulster, and fortified Belfast, where he left a strong garrison. In the mean time, the baron of Dungannon hav- ing marched with his forces to join the Eng- lish army, he was surprised in his camp by his brother Shane O'Neill, who killed sev- eral of his men, and put the rest to flight. The deputy finding himself deprived of this succor, set out for Dublin, with the inten- tion of returning to England. The English monarch having learned that Queen Mary, of Scotland, had sent over O'Connor to Ire- land, whose father was a prisoner in England, to influence the Irish to rebel against the gov- ernment, he gave orders to Sir Henry Knolles to repair thither without delay, and put oflf the departure of the deputy till he should receive fresh instructions : but finding, soon after this, that the queen of Scotland's plan had failed, he proceeded to England, with the king's permission, attended by Andrew * Page 292. Wise, the vice-treasurer. Two days after his departure, the privy coimcil and nobil- ity met in the cathedral church of the Holy Trinity, in order to appoint two justices, to be intrusted with the government during the absence of the deputy. The choice fell upon Thomas Cusack, the chancellor, and Gerald Aylmer, chief-justice of the king's bench, both of whom were knights, as, at that time, the title was conferred both on civil and military officers. Some time after- wards, one of the O'Neills, of the house of Tyrone, was arrested in Dublin for having circulated opprobrious reports concerning the deputy, but was liberated on bail. About this period, Hugh Ogue O'Neill, lord of Clanneboy, submitted to the king, in presence of the lords-justices, and took the oath of allegiance. The king, in gratitude, gave him the abbey of Carrickfergus, with the castle of Belfast, and permission for three secular priests to reside with him. Ulster was desolated this year by a civil war between the earl of Tyrone and his son John, commonly known in history by the name of Shane O'Neill. All Ireland was visited by a dreadful famine and a scarcity of grain ; but the year following was a most abundant one ; the same measure which cost twenty-four shillings the preceding year, be- ing sold for five, a. d. 1553. The sentence pronounced by the deputy in favor of Donough, carl of Thuomond, was not sufficient to thwart the designs of his brother Donald O'Brien against him. Do- nald, who was seconded by his brother Ter- lough, and a few other lords of Thuomond, with their vassals, attacked Clonroan, or Cluanroad, in the county of Clare, and burn- ed all except the castle.* The earl defend- ed himself in it for some time, but being at length obliged to yield to a superior force, the castle was taken by storm, and the gar- rison put to the sword ; the earl being found among the number of the slain. Connor, his only son, whom he had by Helen, daugh- ter of Peter Butler, earl of Ormond, being supported by the English government, suc- ceeded to the title and estates of his father.! This was the source of the discord which prevailed for a long time between the houses of Thuomond and Inchiquin, and the other branches of the O'Briens. About this time, Teugue Roe O'Melagh- lin evinced the same spirit of patriotism which Donald O'Brien had displayed. Hav- ing received some insult from his relative, Neil Mac Phelim, who was in the interest * Ware, ibid. cap. 7. t Cox, ibid. pp. 315, 545. 446 HISTORY OF IRELAND. of the English, ho killed him on the road to Mullingar in Wcstmcath. O'Mclaghlin him- self lost his life, some time afterwards, in a battle against the garrison of Athlone, com- manded by the baron of Delvin, wherenpon I his estate was confiscated. The qnarrels of the Burkes also gave rise to disturbances in Connaught ; Richard Burke having quarrel- led with the children of Thomas Burke, call- ed Backagh, gave them battle, in which he was made prisoner, leaving one hundred and fifty of his men dead on the field. Rich- ard, earl of Clanriccard, having had some disputes with John Burke, he entered his lands, sword in hand, and laid siege to his castle ; but on learning that Donald O'Brien was coming to his assistance, the earl raised the siege, not thinking it prudent to wait the event of a battle. King Edward sent three large vessels this year to discover a passage to the East Indies through the north of Europe and Asia, at the solicitation of Sebastian Gabato, a na- tive of Bristol, the son of a Genoese, or, as others say, of a Venetian,* and a celebrated cosmographer. The king appointed him pi- lot or director of this little fleet, which was under the command of Sir Hugh Willoughby. On reaching the latitude of 74 degrees, Wil- loughby's ship was cast upon a desert shore, where he and his crew were found frozen to death. His lieutenant, Richard Cancella- rius, was more fortunate, having discovered a passage into Russia, which had been till then unknown to the English. The third vessel, which suffered from the storm, and was separated from the others, fearing for the success of the voyage, returned to England. Edward VI. died at Greenwich, in July, at the age of sixteen years, of which he had reigned six. The reformation advanced with rapid strides during his time, which cannot surprise us, since this prince, who began his reign at the age of nine years, Avas wholly under the control and command of those who were intrusted with the administration dur- ing his minority. Edward Seymour, duke of Somerset, the king's uncle, governed during i the first years, as protector, till he was sup- planted by John Dudley, duke of Northum- berland. The former was a Zuinglian, and the friend of Cranmer ; the latter conformed to the religion which suited his own purposes best ; so that these two favorites, and the other nobles belonging to the court, per- verted the authority of an infant king, to gratify their cupidity with sacrilegious plun- * Baker, Chron. of Engl, page 309. War. de Annal. Hib. reign of Edward VI. cap. 7. der. The supposed reformation of religion, was a pretext made use of by them to seize upon the property of the church. They first proclaimed Edward, as they had done Henry, head of the church of England, both in spiritual and temporal affairs. The maxim which had been established in the time of Henry VIII. was, that the king held the place of the jwpe in England ; but they granted prerogatives to this new papacy, to which the pope had never aspired. The bishops were newly appointed by Edward, and were to continue in their sees accord- ing to the king's will, as had been settled by Henry, and it was thought that, in order to accelerate the reformation, the bishops should be subject to the yoke of an arbitrary power. The archbishop of Canterbury, primate of England, was the first to submit to this de- gradation, which is not surprising, as it was through him all these opinions were propa- gated ; the others followed his pernicious example. This system was afterwards alter- ed, and the bishops were forced to consider it as a favor that the king conferred the sees for life. It was clearly specified in their commission, as had been done under Henry, agreeably to the doctrine of Cranmer, that episcopal authority, as well as that of secular magistrates, emanated from royalty, as it,') source ; that the bishops should exercise it imder a precarious tenure, and give it up at the pleasure of the king, from whom they derived it ; in short, every thing was made subject to royal power. The bishoprics, which had thus become offices to be filled by persons who might be recalled at the pleasure of the king, like the governors of provinces, or common clerks, frequently changed their bishop.* The most zealous suffered imprisonment, and by their perseverance, lost their sees ; the more poli- tic subscribed to every article of the reforma- tion, and were satisfied with a small portion of the revenues of their rich bishoprics, scarce- ly sufficient, says Heylin, for the support of a parson ; the vacant ones were conferred on men who readily consented to the dismem- berment of the lands of their churches,which were formed into baronies, to enrich, as Heylin observes, the pirates of the court, who had no right by birth to such brilliant fortunes. The above is but a feeble sketch of the excesses which happened in the reign of Edward ; but to return to our history. The death of Edward VI. was followed by a kind of interregnum of a few days. The duke of Northumberland caused Jane, eldest * Heylin, Hist, of tiie Refoimation, p. 99, et seq. CHRISTIAN IRELAND. 447 daughter of the duke of Suffolk, and Fran- ces, daughter of Charles Brandon, and Mary, sister of Henry VIII., queen of France, and widow of Charles the XII., each to be pro- claimed queen of England. Jane was of royal descent through the female line, being grand niece of Henry VIII. ; she was also daughter-in-law to the duke of Northumber- land, being married to Lord Guilford Dudly, his fourth son.* Upon this was founded her claim to the crown, and the interest which the duke took to have her proclaimed. This nobleman was the favorite of Edward VI., and finding that the prince's end was ap- proaching, represented to him that his con- science required that he should look to the preservation of the new religion, not only during his life, but also after his death ; that his sister, the Princess Mary, was opposed to it, but that he could not exclude her from the succession, without also removing Eliza- beth ; and in short he prevailed so far with this weak prince, that he brought him to make a will, by which he declared his cousin Jane the lawful heiress to the crown. The duke of Northumberland, who was determined to support the cause of Jane, put himself at the head of an army of ten thou- sand men. He was attended by several noblemen, many of whom, however, deserted him on their march. Mary, who was at Framingham, in Suffolk, having heard of her brother's death,had herself proclaimed queen, whereon all the nobility of Norfolk and Suffolk flocked to her standard. The nobles who were in London met at Baynard castle, and acknowledging Mary's incontrovertible right to the throne, had her proclaimed by the lord mayor of London. The duke of Northumberland was at Bury when he heard of this general defection in favor of Mary, and deeming it a matter of prudence to fol- low the torrent, he immediately repaired to Cambridge, where, for want of a herald, he went attended by the mayor, and proclaimed Queen Mary in the market-place, throwing up his cap in the air as a token of joy. This show of loyalty, however, availed him nothing ; he was arrested the day following, with other noblemen, by the earl of Arundel, in the queen's name, and sent to the tower. In the mean time the duke of Suffolk entered the apartment of his daughter, Lady Jane Grey, the supposed queen, and informed her that she should lay aside the insignia of royalty, and be content to lead thenceforward a private life. She answered him with mo- desty, that she resigned it as willingly as she * Baker, Chron. of England, page 309. had assumed it, which she never would have done, but through obedience to him, and to her mother. Thus ended her reign of ten days. CHAPTER XXXIX. Queen Mary having been proclaimed in the principaltowns in England, left Framing- ham for London, a. d. 1553. On arriving at Wanstead, in Essex, on the 30th of July, she was met by her sister Elizabeth, attended by a cavalcade of a thousand horsemen.* On the 3d of August, she made her entry into London, with a pomp and magnificence equal to any of her predecessors.! She then took possession of the tower, where Thomas, the old duke of Norfolk, Edward Lord Courtney, Stephen Gardiner, the deposed bishop of Winchester, and the duke of Somerset, were prisoners. They received her on their knees ; but raising them she embraced them, saying, " these are my prisoners." They were soon afterwards restored to liberty. Gardiner was reinstated in his see of Winchester, and appointed keeper of the seals and chancellor of England ; all the other bishops, who had been dispossessed in the preceding reign, namely, Bonner, bishop of London ; Tunstal, of Durham ; Day, of Chichester ; West, of Exeter ; and Heath, of Worcester, were also restored to their sees. All married men, who possessed livings in the church,were removed by Queen Mary, and she herself renounced the profane title of head of the church of England. I This princess found herself obliged to make examples of some distin- guished personages. The duke of North- umberland, Sir John Gates, and Sir Thomas Palmer, were executed on Tower Hill, in the month of August. Shortly afterwards, Cranmer, archbishop of Canterbury, Lady Jane Grey, her husband Lord Guilford, and the lords Ambrosius and Henry, sons of the duke of Northumberland, shared the same fate. Queen Mary was crowned with the usual solemnities, in St. Peter's church, by the bishop of Winchester. The English council having informed the lord-justice and privy council of Ireland of all that had taken place respecting Mary's succession to the throne, she was proclaimed * Sander, de Schis. Angl. lib. 2, p. 244, et seq. Baker, Chron. of Engl. p. 314, et seq. t War. de Annal. Hib. reign of Mary, c. I. Heylin, Hist, of the Reform, p. 166, et. seq. t Prophanum Priinatus ecclesiastiei tltulum re- spuit et h stilo Regio sustulit Sanderus ibid. 448 HISTORY OF IRELAND. in Dublin, and afterwards in the other towns and burghs in the kingdom, to the great satisfaction of the people. The queen after- wards sent over patents to continue the U)rds- justices and other magistrates in odice. Donough O'Connor made an incursion, at this time, into OlTaly, but was put down by the superior force of the lords-justices. The queen, who was already planning the restoration of the old religion, caused a de- claration in favor of the mass, and the other dogmas of the Catholic faith, to be published in Ireland, that is, in the English province, where the heresy was beginning to take root. About this time, O'Neill made some at- tempts in the county of Louth, which drew the attention of government towards Ulster. The lords-justices having collected their forces, marched towards Dundalk, where they dispersed his troops, after killing sev- eral of them. Sir Anthony St. Leger was appointed by the queen, lord-deputy of Ireland, in Novem- ber. Having landed at Dalkey, he repaired to Dublin, where he took the oath on the 19th of the same month, and received the sword from Cusack and Aylmer, his prede- cessors, in the Cathedral of Christ, or the Blessed Trinity ; the patent of Cusack, the chancellor, was renewed at the same time. In this month, Cormac MacCoghlan and his allies, the O'Ferralls, having applied for assistance to Richard,baron of Delvin, against MacCoghlan, chief of the tribe, and superior lord of Dealna, the baron entered freely into their confederacy, which, however, was pro- ductive of no other result than the burning of some villages in the territory of Dealna. It tended to perpetuate the animosities and destructive warfare between the tribes of the MacCoghlans and the O'Ferralls. In the month of December, Owen Ma- gennis, chief of the tribe, and superior lord of Iveach, in the county of Down, surren- dered ; in consequence of which, he was ap- pointed governor of that district by the deputy and council. This rfobleman paved the way, by these means, to the title of lord, which was subsequently taken by his de- scendants. In the following spring, George Dowdal, archbishop of Armagh, who had withdrawn to a foreign country, was recalled by Queen Mary, and restored to his former dignities of archbishop of Armagh, and primate of Ire- land, A. D. 1554.* The priory of Athird, in the county of Louth, was added to his reve- nues. The primate convened a provincial * Wareus, ibid. cap. 2. synod in Drogheda, in the church of St. Peter, in which several decrees were passed fending to the restoration of religion, and the ancient rights of the church ; and statutes enacted against married ecclesiastics. This was oidy a prelude to other things, more important. In the month of April, the pri- mate and Doctor Walsh, who was appointed bishop of Meath, received an order to depose such bishops and priests as had married. This order was put into execution, in the month of June following, against Edward Staples, bishop of Meath, who was forced to give up his see. About the end of the same year. Brown, archbishop of Dublin, Lancas- ter, bishop of Kildare, and Travers, bishop of Leighlin, shared the same fate. Bale, bishop of Ossory, and Casey, of Limerick, avoided a similar punishment by leaving the country. The bishoprics were then filled by Catholic prelates. Walsh had been already appointed to the see of Meath ; Hugh Cur- vin succeeded Brown in the see of Dublin ; Thomas Levereuse filled that of Kildare ; Thomas O'Fihely was appointed by the pope bishop of Leighlin ; Hugh Lacy, of Limerick, and Bale was replaced by John Thonory, in the see of Ossory. It must be observed that those bishops who were dispossessed, were Englishmen, and the first who preach- ed the reformation in Ireland. Bale and Brown, the principal of those who introduced the reformation, were monks that had been stripped of their orders. Brown was an Augustinian monk in London. He became provincial of the order in England,* and was appointed to the archbishopric of Dublin by Henry VIII.; but a desire to marry made him renounce the solemn vow of chas- tity and continence he had made to God, when he embraced the monastic state. He is considered by Protestants as the first who endeavored to introduce the reformation into Ireland. His memory is held in venera- tion among them, and they have taken care to write his life, as a legend worthy of being handed down to posterity.! Bale was a native of England: he began his studies at Norwich, became a monk of the Carmelite order, and afterwards went to Cambridge to perfect himself. Having a taste for preaching, he never ceased to declaim against the Roman Catholic religion ; he was arrested twice, and put into prison, first by order of the arch- bishop of York, and afterwards by the bishop of London ; but was restored to liberty through the influence of Cromwell, the spi- ritual vicar-general of Henry VIII. He was * War. de Archiepisc. Dubliiiieus. t War. de Episc. Ossor. CHRISTIAN IRELAND. 449 at last forced to leave the country, and with- drew to Germany, where he remained for eight years, after which he returned to Eng- land, in the reign of Edward VI., who ap- pointed him to the bishopric of Ossory. This prince died six weeks afterwards, and Mary having ascended the throne. Bale left his library at Kilkenny, and fled to Basle in S witzerlandjwhere he remained till her death, and the accession of Elizabeth. He then re- turned to England, and was content with a canonship in the church of Canterbury, not wishing to go back to his diocese. He pub- lished several works both in Latin and Eng- lish, a catalogue of which he himself gives in his book on British writers. In the month of November, Gerald, earl of Kildare, who had been lately restored to his honors, Thomas Duff, or the black, earl of Ormond, and Brian Fitzpatrick, baron of Upper Ossory, having distinguished .themselves in the war in England, against Sir Thomas Wyat, returned to Ireland. Fitz- patrick was noticed on account of the strict and reciprocal friendship that subsisted be- tween him and Edward VI. In the month of February following, Cahir Mac-Art Ca- vanagh, an Irish lord, who was highly es- teemed in Leinster, and descended from the kings of that province, was created (for life only) lord-baron of Balian, in Idrone, (county of Carlow.) He was succeeded in this title by his brother Dermod. The queen had given orders at this time to reduce the troops in Ireland to the number of five hundred men ; the state of aflairs, however, prevented the deputy and council from carrying that measure fully into effect. They retained six hundred foot soldiers, four hundred horsemen, and some light troops ; and were obliged soon afterwards to increase the number, and to ask for further reinforce- ments from the English, to repel the Scotch of the Hebrides. Before this, mention was made of a mar- riage between Queen Mary and Philip II. of Spain, eldest son of Charles V.* When this news was spread in England, a serious dis- turbance broke out in the province of Kent, and other places, in which Wyat was one of the principal performers. Some dreaded that by this marriage, England might be- come a province of the Spanish monarchy ; while the partisans of the reformation feared that the alliance of the queen (who was already opposed to that object) with a Ca- tholic prince, might put an end to the system which had made so rapid a progress during * Sander, de Schis. Angl. lib. 2, part 2, p. 224, et seq. the two last reigns. The queen, however, was so ably seconded by her brave and faithful subjects, that the only result which attended this outbreak was the punishment of the rebels. Charles V. would let no opportunity es- cape that might contribute to the aggrandize- ment of his house.* In January he sent ambassadors to England, and among others, the earl of Egmond, and John de Montmo- rency ; they were honorably received, and were successful in their negotiation concern- ing the marriage. Philip landed at South- ampton, in England, on the 19th of July, and proceeded to Winchester on the 24th, where the queen waited his arrival, and the marriage was celebrated the following day, which was the festival of St. James, by the bishop of that see.f Mary was then thirty- eight years of age, and Philip but twenty- seven ; they were immediately proclaimed by the Garter herald at arms, under the fol- lowing titles : — " Philip and Mary, by the grace of God, king and queen of England, France, Naples, Jerusalem, and Ireland, defenders of the faith, prince and princess of Spain and Sicily, archduke and archduchess of Aus- tria, duke and duchess of Milan, Burgundy, and Brabant, and count and countess of Hapsburg, Flanders, and the Tyrol." Although the queen had done much, since her coming to the throne, for the re-establish- ment of religion and the Catholic liturgy ; had the mass and divine oflices celebrated, according to the custom of the Roman church, in the Latin language ; and had caused heresy to be proscribed, and foreign heretics to be driven out of the country, (of whom, it was said, that at least 30,000 had by various routes departed from England,) still she was unable to bring back the people to their obedience to the see of Rome. The parliament first made some objections on this head, lest the pope might insist upon the restitution of the property of the church, which had been seized upon by the nobles ; but all these difficulties being removed, they repealed the laws which had been enacted during the preceding reigns, against the authority and jurisdiction of the popes. They also repealed those respecting Cardinal Pole, who had just arrived from Rome, as legate a latere, from Julius III., who was sovereign pontiff" 4 and finally submitted to every thing, avowing their deep regret for * Heylin, Hist, of the Reformation, on the reign of Mary, p. 209. t Baker, Chron. of Engl. p. 319. t Heylin, ibid, page 21L 450 HISTORY OF IRELAND. having seceded from the obedience due to his holiness, and for having consented to the enactment of laws against him.* They Xhv.n asked upon their knees, his absolution both for themselves and the people, from the cen- sures which they had incurred by their schism ; which was granted to them by the legate, who read aloud the power delegated to him by the pope. A splendid embassy was then sent to Rome, to have all things confirmed by the sovereign pontiff; and on their being thus ratified by his holiness, solemn thanks to God were offered through- out Italy, for the happy reconciliation of England with the holy see.f War broke out at this time between Con- nor O'Brien, son of Donough, earl of Thuo- mond, and his uncle Donald O'Brien. Con- nor had lost the affection of the people by retaining the English title of earl, which he had assumed after his father, while Donald became very popular by taking the name of O'Brien without any addition, which was considered much more honorable by his countrymen than the title of earl. Donald was very powerful, and took several places from the earl, who required the aid of the English to maintain himself in his districts. The same year Cahir O'Carroli, baron of Ely, who had killed Teugue O'Carroli perished by the sword of William Odar O'Carroli, of the same family. The latter made himself master of the district of Ely of which he kept possession for four years. About the same time the baron of Delvin devastated the territory of Dealna, the coun- try of the MacCoghlans, and returned load- ed with booty. An alliance and close friendship had sub- sisted for a long time between the houses of Tyrone and Kildare, which made them assist each other mutually. John, or Shane Dou- lenagh O'Neill, son of the earl of Tyrone, having had a dispute with Phelim Roe O'Neill, a powerful nobleman of his family, demanded assistance from Kildare. In order to justify the confidence of his ally, the earl joined in his expedition. The baron of Delvin thereupon marched at the head of his forces to Ulster ; but his success did not equal his expectation. He carried away some booty, but lost fifty of his men, who were killed in a skirmish against Phelim O'Neill. Soon after this, a bloody battle took place between the earl of Tyrone and Hugh O'Neill of Clarmeboy, respecting some claims of the earl on his territory ; the earl was defeated, with the loss of three hundred * Baker, ibid, page 3,^0. t Heylin, ibid, pages 212, 213. men killed, besides prisoners ; the loss of Hugh was not known. The court of England sent to Ireland in October, Sir William Fitzwilliam, Sir John Allen, and Valentine Brown, as commis- sioners, to assist the deputy in the regulation of the crown lands, by which means they were enabled to procure settlements for themselves in the country. Valentine Brown was a violent Protestant, but his son em- braced the Catholic religion ; this noble family were afterwards considered worthy of titles of honor, and still live in splendor in the county of Kerry.* Brien O'Connor Faly, who had been a prisoner in London for four years, was re- stored to liberty this year, by orders of the queen, who generously continued the pen- sion which had been granted to him by the court. On his landing in Dublin, however, notwithstanding the pardon he had just received from, the princess, he was confined in the castle, under pretext of preventing the disturbances he might cause to the state ; but in reality to prevent him from reclaiming his property, of which he had been unjustly de- prived. We witness in this a surprising contrast between the conduct of the queen and that of her subjects ; but their acts were influenced by different motives. The queen found O'Connor innocent, and from a motive of justice gave him his freedom ; the covmcil of Dublin were desirous of condemning him as a criminal, and from a mere suspicion that he might become so, deprived him of the bene- fit of the pardon which the queen had granted him ; and then put him in confinement, where he remained till he had given hostages. This mysterious affair must be explained. When- ever the Irish had recourse to arms, it was not so much in opposition to the king and his government, as against their English neighbors, who, always eager to increase their possessions, were continually encroach- ing upon the lands of the Irish ; none but the English being hearkened to by the govern- ment, they construed the battle of one indi- vidual against another, into rebellion or high treason, the Irish were consequently declared rebels, which declaration was followed by the confiscation of their estates in the name of the king, but in reality, for the benefit of the informers, who, alleging their pretended ser- vices against the rebels, foimd means to have the possessions of the supposed criminals conferred upon themselves. These abuses continued to increase ; most of the public oflices were filled by Englishmen ; the an- * Cox, Hist, of Ireland, p. 103. CHRISTIAN IRELAND. 451 cient Irish were altogether exckided from them, and the English government reposed no confidence in those who had first settled in Ireland. These were called the degen- erate English ; and in every succeeding reign fresh colonies came over from Eng- land, who were enriched at the expense of the old inhabitants. The cathedral church of St. Patrick, in Dublin, which had been suppressed in the preceding reign, was restored by letters patent, dated the 25th of March, 1555.* Thomas Lever, or Levereuse, was made dean, and prebendaries were appointed the May following.! Levereuse, who had been appointed the preceding year to succeed Lancaster in the bishopric of Kildare, was confirmed this year by a bull from the pope, who granted him a dispensation to retain both livings. He was dispossessed in the succeeding reign, for having refused to take the oath of supremacy to Queen Elizabeth, and was obliged to become a schoolmaster in Limerick to obtain a livelihood. William Walsh, bishop of Meath, suffered still more severely : he was not only deprived of his bishopric, but confined in a dungeon, loaded with chains, and afterwards banished from the kingdom. In June, Pope Paul IV. issued a bull con- firming Ireland in the title of kingdom. We can discover no necessity for this new crea- tion of the title of kingdom for Ireland, since it was considered in that light long before the English were known in it, and even be- fore the institution of the popedom. In July, Cusack, the chancellor, received orders from their majesties to resign the great seal to St. Leger, the lord-lieutenant, and in the following month Sir William Fitzwilliams was appointed to this ofiice, and Hugh Curvvin, who had just been con- secrated in London archbishop of Dublin, was appointed chancellor of Ireland in October. He convened a provincial synod during the same year, in which several regulations were made respecting religion. In the mean time, the Scotch of the He- brides made an attempt on Carrickfergus, in Ulster ; but the plan was badly laid and executed. A misunderstanding still con- tinued between Manus O'Donnel, prince of Tyrconnel, and his son Calouagh, or Charles. This young nobleman crossed over into Scotland, and having received some assist ance from Gilaspock MacAUen, he returned to Ulster, entered Tyrconnel, sword in hand, and took his father prisoner, at Rosrach. * Ware, ibid. cap. 3. t War. de Episc. Kildare. This prince died soon afterwards, in con- finement ; Calouagh then made himself master of the fortress of Inis-Owen and the castle of Enagl), which he razed to the gi'ound, and in the May following dismissed his allies the Scotch. The proximity of Ireland to Scotland, and the frequent inter- course of the inhabitants with those of the North, was often productive of quarrels be- tween the two countries. Hugh O'Neill, lord of Clanneboy, on the confines of the counties of Down and Antrim, was shot in a skirmish with a party of Scotchmen, who came to attack him on his own estate. The English government availed themselves of the opportunity, to divide this extensive dis- trict into two, between Phelim Duff O'Neill, and the children of Phelim Backagh, or the Lame, in order to weaken this illustrious tribe. The emperor Charles V., being desirous of withdrawing from the cares of the world, first gave up all the low countries to his son Philip, king of England. He soon after this surrendered to him all his hereditary do- minions, and abdicated the empire in favor of his son Ferdinand, who was already king of the Romans. He withdrew afterwards to a convent in Estre-Madura, in Spain. The Cavenaghs and their allies made some incursions, in May, 1556, into the southern parts of the county of Dublin ; but they were surprised and dispersed by the garrison of the city, who killed several of them.* A troop of one hundred and forty men with- drew to the fortress of Powerscourt, where they determined to defend themselves. They were besieged by the company of the lord- marshal, and others from Dublin, under the command of Sir George Stanley ; and being unable to withstand the great number of their besiegers, were obliged to surrender. They were ungenerously treated by their enemies, and brought to Dublin, where seventy-four of their number were put to death for having rebelled. St. Leger, the deputy, had before this been recalled, and Thomas Radcliffe, Viscount Fitzwalters, was appointed lord-lieutenant in his stead. This nobleman landed in Dub- lin on the day of Pentecost, and a few days afterwards took the usual oath, in Christ's Cathedral, where St. Leger resigned the insignia of office to him. The new gov- ernor was accompanied from England by Sir Henry Sidney as treasurer, and Sir Wil- liam Fitzsymons. He also brought over twenty-five thousand pounds, to be applied against the Scotch and the rebel Irish. * War. ibid. cap. 4. 452 HISTORY OF IRELAND. Queen Mary sent instructions to the deputy and council of Ireland, to use every means for advancing the glory of God, and the Catholic faith, and to sujiport the honor and dignity of the holy sec.* Her majesty or- dered them to assist the ministers of the gospel against the heretics, and their erro- neous principles ; and also to aid the com- missioners whom Cardinal Pole, the legate from the see of Rome, intended sending to Ireland, to visit the clergy. The deputy having collected his forces, marched towards the north of Ireland, in the beginning of July ; on the 18th of the same month, he defeated the Scotch islanders near Carrickfergus ; two hundred were killed on the field of battle, and several prisoners taken . Thomas, earl of Ormond, and Stanley, lord- marshal, distinguished themselves in this en- gagement. The deputy having provided for the necessities of the town of Carrickfergus, and regulated the aflairs of Ulster, where he left Stanley as lieutenant-general, returned to Kilmainham. Soon after this, he went to Munster, where he received the submis- sion of several Irish and Englishmen, to whom he gi'anted protections. In September, Shane O'Neill, son of the earl of Tyrone, having given a promise of submission, repaired to Kilmainham, where he made peace with the deputy. Rory and Donough O'Connor did the same at Dingen ; but these arrangements were of short dura- tion, the occasions to rebel being too fre- quent. The O'Connors soon fell into the snares which had been laid for them. On taking up arms they were declared traitors and expelled from their country, which was laid waste by the English troops. A parliament was convened in Dublin, in June, 1557. It was adjourned to Limerick the month following, till November, and from thence to Drogheda, till March. f But the lord-lieutenant, who became earl of Sussex by his father's death, having returned to England in December, the parliament ceased its sittings during his absence, and was after- wards prorogued.| Cox mentions some acts of this parliament, which had not been print- ed. § In them the queen's legitimacy was admitted ; she was invested with royal autho- rity, and her posterity declared entitled to inherit the crown of England and Ireland; heresy was made liable to punishment and ordered to be suppressed ; all the acts which * Cox, Hist, of Ireland, p. .303. t War. ibid. cap. 3. t Irish Statutes printed in Dublin in 1621, page 846. § Hist, of Irel. page 304. were passed against the pope since the twen- tieth year of the reign of Henry VIII., were repealed, and all concessions made by arch- bishop Brown were declared null and void ; the first-fruits too were restored to the church ; but all these statutes were annulled in the beginning of the succeeding reign. An act was also passed for granting the queen a subsidy of thirteen and four-pence on every plough-land ; and another, by which it was prohibited, under pain of felony, to introduce or receive armed Scotchmen into Ireland, or to intermarry with them, without a license under the great seal. On his return from England, the deputy undertook an expedition into Connaught in July, aganist the O'Maddens of Silanchie, at present the barony of Longford. This dis- trict had been divided the preceding year between Malachi More O'Madden, and Brassal Dabh, after the murder of John O'Madden, to whom it belonged. The ob- ject of the expedition was to punish the O'Maddens, who protected Donough O'Con- nor, contrary to the law by which he had been declared a rebel. The deputy laid siege to the castle of Milick, on the banks of the Shannon ; and being unable to resist the cannon, it surrendered immediately. The conqueror placed a garrison in it, and re- turned to Kilmainham to prepare for an- other expedition against the Scotch, who had invaded Ulster. Having collected all his forces, he set out on his march in August, accompanied by the earls of Kildare and Ormond, Viscount Baltinglass, and the bar- ons of Delvin, Dunboyne, and Dunsany. His preparations were, however, not very successful ; the Scotch having intrenched themselves in woods, and other inaccessible places, the exploits of the deputy consisted in taking booty, which was carried off by his soldiers, and in conferring knighthood on Donald MacDonnell, and Richard M'Guil- lan, who made their submission to him. The deputy returned to Ulster in October. He devastated the lands about Dundalk, Newry, and Armagh. This latter city he burned, sparing only the cathedral ; after which he returned triumphant to Dublin, about the end of the month. Her majesty's service required the pres- ence of the earl of Sussex in England, and in order to secure tranquillity in the English province during his absence, he exacted a promise of peace from some of the neigh- 'boring nobles whom he thought likely to disturb it ; namely, O'CarroU of Ely, O'Mol- loy of Fearcall, Mageoghegan of Kinalyach, O'Duinne of Hy-Regan, MacCoghlan of CHRISTIAN IRELAND. 453 Dealbna, and the two O'Maddins of Silan chie ; and received hostages from them. During the absence of Sussex, Curwin the chancellor, and Sidney the secretary at war, were appointed, by letters patent, lords- justices of Ireland. Having taken the oath in Christ's cathedral, Dublin, they received the royal sword from Stanley, lord-marshal of Ireland, to whom Sussex had confided it for that purpose. They filled this commis- sion together till the 6th of February follow- ing, when the queen thought fit to confer it on Sidney alone. The new lord-justice carried his arms im- mediately against Arthur O'Molloy, lord of Fearcall, under pretext of his having pro- tected the rebels ; and having pillaged and burned his district, he granted the lordship to Theobald, Arthur's brother, on condition that he would give his son as a hostage, to serve as a pledge for his fidelity. In the parliament we have mentioned as having been held this year, an act was pass- ed by which the districts of Leix, Ofraly,and the adjacent baronies, namely, Slewmarg, Irris, and Clanmalire, were confiscated for the use of their majesties. These territories had belonged, for more than twelve centu- ries, to the O'Morras, O'Connors Faly, and the O'Dempsys.* By the same statute, the deputy was authorized to divide these exten- sive districts into fiefs, and to make prudent grants of them to any English subject whom he might deem likely to advance the English interest ; and in order that such concessions should be rendered valid by law, he was authorized to have the great seal affixed to them by the chancellor, or whoever had cus- tody of it. It was thus that those masters reformed the manners of the Irish nobility. This was an important privilege for the de- puty, since, by his signature, he possessed the poAver of making his valet, or any other favorite servant, a rich and powerful noble- man . By another act of the same parliament, it was decreed that these districts should be hereafter called the King's and Queeri's counties ; that the fort of Dingen should be called after the king's -name, Philipstown, and that Leix, which was called Protector, under Edward VI., should bear the name of Maryborough. Sidney, the deputy, having terminated his expedition against O'Molloy, applied the tax which had been raised on the English province, in revictualling the gar- risons of Leix and Offaly ; he then returned to Dublin, where he published a proclama- tion prohibiting any one to take provisions * Irish Statutes, pages 247, 248. out of the English province, or to furnish any to the Irish who were living without the limits. About this time, Maurice Cavanagh and Conall O'Morra, two Irish noblemen, were tried for rebellion, condemned, and executed at Leighlin bridge. In Ulster, Shane O'Neill, wishing to have the tribute renewed, which he claimed from the country of Tyrconnel, entered that dis- trict, sword in hand. Calouagh O'Donnel, the nobleman to whom it belonged, not find- ing himself able to repel force by force, and dreading to risk a battle, had recourse to stratagem ; he surprised O'Neill during the night in his camp, killed several of his men, and put the rest to flight. The lands of the monasteries and abbeys, which had been converted, under the prece- ding reign, into lay-fiefs, and divided among the courtiers, remained in the same state in Mary's time, except the estates of the priory of St. John of Jerusalem, near Dublin, which were restored to their former masters, through the influence of Cardinal Pole. Oswald Mes- singberd was, about this time, appointed prior of that house, and confirmed by letters patent. The queen had conceived the project of re- storing all things to their former state, but her reign was too short for the completion of so great an undertaking. In April, 1558, O'Reilly, chief of the O'Reillys of eastern Brefny, (Cavan,) re- paired to the deputy at Kilmainham, where he surrendered, and took the oath of fidelity to their majesties.* The earl of Sussex was again appointed lord -lieutenant of Ireland, and arrived in Dublin, towards the end of April, with five hundred armed men, who were to be em- ployed both in putting down the rebels, and repelling the Scotch, who were committing piracies on the coasts. Sussex having re- ceived the sword and other ensigns of his authority, marched at the head of his army towards Limerick, whence he advanced in- to Thuomond, in order to reduce Donald O'Brien, who had renewed the war against his nephew, Connor O'Brien, earl of Thuo- mond. Having taken the castles of Bun- ratty and Clare, he quelled all disturbances, and restored those places, and the territories which had been invaded by his enemies, to Thuomond. He obliged those possessed of freeholds to take the oath of allegiance. Sussex having returned to Limerick, re- ceived the submission of the earl of Des- mond ; he stood -sponsor, a few days after- wards, to his son, and had him baptized * War. ibid. c. 6 454 HISTORY OF IRELAND. James Sussex, and gave him a gold chain ; he conferred another, at the same time, with a pair of gilded spurs, on Dcrinod Mac-Car- thy of Muskerry, whom he created a knight. The earl of Sussex embarked in Septem- ber with his forces at Dalkey, near Dublin, to go in pursuit of the Scotch islanders, who had taken possession of the isle of Rachlin, in the north of Ireland, from which they made hicursions, and committed piracies on the coast of Ulster. On the arrival of the fleet at Rachlin, it encountered a dreadful storm, in which one of the vessels was wrecked, and the entire of the crew perish- ed. Sussex landed with the remainder, put the inhabitants to the sword, and pillaged the islands. Thence he sailed to Scotland, laid waste Cantyre, and the isles of Arran and Comber ; but was at length checked in the course of his conquests by the severity of the weather, which obliged him to put into Carrickfergus. He burned several villages inhabited by the islanders, and returned to Dublin in November, where he received new patents and seals for the chancellor, for the chief-justices of the other courts, and the chief-baron of the exchequer. In the mean time, some families of the Burkes of Con- naught, having received cause of dissatis- faction from their chief, Clanriccard, called the Scotch islanders to their assistance, but they and their allies were cut to pieces in an engagement with the earl. Shane O'Neill, son of Conn O'Neill, earl of Tyrone, was indignant to see his house degraded by the title of earl, which had been disgracefully taken by his father, in place of hereditary prince of Tyrone, and the illustrious title of O'Neill given up. He was jealous, too, of the preference which his father evinced for his natural son Matthew, (whom the Irish call Fardorach,) in procur- ing for him the title of baron of Dungannon, by which he was secured in the succession to the principality, in prejudice to himself.* Shane was continually under arms, either against his father or O'Donnel, who, as well as his rival, the baron of Dungannon, was supported by the English ; the latter was killed in the beginning of this war. When questioned upon his conduct in this and the other accusations made against him, either by the lord-justice Sydney, or in the pres- ence of the queen in England, according to Camden, Shane proudly answered that he was son and heir of Conn O'Neill and his wife Alice ; that Matthew was the son of a blacksmith in Dundalk,t subsequent to the » Hist. Cathol. Hib. tome 2, lib. 4. cap. 3. t Camden's reign of Elizabeth, pp. 69, 70. Cox, page 312. marriage of Conn O'Neill and Alice, of whom he, Shane, was the legitimate son, and consequently had a right to succeed to his father's property. He added, that the surrender which had been made by his father, of the principality of Tyrone to the king of England, and the restitution he had received from the latter by letters patent, were null, since his father's right to that principality was confined to his life, while he himself had been acknowledged the real O'Neill, by a popular election, according to custom, notwithstanding that he claimed no other superiority over the lords of his prov- ince than that which had been exercised by his ancestors. It appears that the prince's arguments prevailed, as he retained posses- sion of Tyrone till his death, which occurred a few years afterwards. George Dowdal, archbishop of Armagh, and primate of Ireland, having gone to Eng- land on some affairs of the church, died in London, in August.* This prelate having been expelled from his see, under Edward VI., withdrew to the Abbey de Centre, where he remained till the death of the king and the reign of Mary, who restored him to his rights. Even his enemies acknowledge him to have been a learned man and an able preacher. The successors of Dowdal in the see of Armagh were, it is probable, princi- pally of the reformed religion, as the first that was appointed to it, after a vacancy of a few years, was Adam Loftus, Queen Eliz- abeth's chaplain. In the month of October of this year, James, earl of Desmond and treasurer of Ireland, died,t leaving three legitimate sons. After repudiating the daughter of the vis- count of Fermoy, he married the daughter of O'CarroU, by whom he had Gerald, other- wise Garret, and John. His second wife having died, he married M'Carty's daughter, who was mother to James, his third son. By the daughter of the Viscount Fermoy he had a son called Thomas Ruadh, (Rufus,) who was his eldest ; but some doubt having arisen of his legitimacy, he could not suc- ceed to his father ; from which important disputes arose between the brothers. Gar- ret was readily acknowledged successor to James, and heir to his titles and extensive estates. Although young, this nobleman gave great hopes of valor and of talent ; he afterwards became the hero of Catholicity, but in the end fell a sacrifice to his love of religion. This was the last year of Mary's reign ; * War. de Archiepise. Ardmach. t Helat. Girald. cap. 13, et seq. CHRISTIAN IRELAND. 455 she died at St. James's, near Westminster, in the forty-second year of her age and sixth of her reign, of grief, it is said, for the loss of Calais, as also for her husband's absence, and the death of her father-in-law, the Em- peror Charles V. - The bishop of Winches- ter died before her, and Cardinal Pole sur- vived her but sixteen hours. It was an unhappy omen to the Catholics, and the sta- bility of their religion which had just been re-established, to behold its three principal supporters so suddenly carried off. The reason why this princess has found so few panegyrists among Protestant writers is manifest ; far from encouraging the new religion, she labored to destroy it, and re- store the old one. Their silence on her other qualities is at least a proof that she pos- sessed no bad ones. The short reign of this princess only check- ed for a time the progress of heresy, which soon afterwards acquired new strength, and reascended the throne with Elizabeth. It is remarkable, says Cox, that though Mary was a zealous papist, the Irish were not more tranquil under her reign than imder that of Edward ; on the contrary, their an- tipathy to the English and their govern- ment hurried them to commit the same ex- cesses as under the preceding reigns. But had this author been as honorable as he is malicious, he would have observed that the antipathy which he advances as the cause of these disorders, was founded rather on the injustice which the English ministry was contiimally exercising over the Irish, than on the religion of this princess. The Irish people were as tyrannically ruled under her as under the preceding reigns.* The most celebrated writers in the two last reigns, were the following. f Edward Walsh, a native of Ireland, who went over to England about the year 1550, and was received into the household of Edward Sey- mour, duke of Somerset, uncle to Edward VI., and protector of the kingdom ; he com- posed two treatises, one entitled De officiis jmgnantiiim pro patria, or, the duties of those who fight for their country ; and the other, ut Hibcrnia per verhum Dei refor- metur, or the manner in which Ireland ought to be reformed — by the word of God. It would appear by this treatise, and the attach- ment of the author to the duke of Somerset, that he had embraced the new religion. * " Although she endeavored to protect and ad- vance the Catholic religion, still her officers and lawyers did not cease to inflict injuries upon the Irish." t Ware, de Script. Hib. Sir 'rhomas Cusack, of Coffingston, in Meath, having filled the offices of master of the rolls, keeper of the seals, chancellor, and lord-justice of Ireland, wrote a long epistle to the duke of Northumberland, dated the 8th of May, 1552, on the state of Ireland at the time. This epistle is with the books of Darcy and Finglass, among the manu- scripts of Dr. Sterne, in the library of Trinity College, Dublin. Thomas Waterford, called by others Wa- terfield, archdeacon of Leighlin, wrote a treatise on the affairs of Ireland, which is quoted by Dowling in his annals. Nicholas Stanihurst wrote a small work in Latin, entitled, Dieta Medicorum, or the regimen of physicians. Richard Stanihurst mentions it in the seventh chapter of the Description of Ireland. Lastly, George Dowdal, arch- bishop of Armagh, a native of the county of Louth, wrote some sermons, and also trans- lated the life of the celebrated John de Courcy, the supposed conqueror of Ulster, from Latin into Enaiish. CHAPTER XL. Elizabeth, the only surviving daughter of Henry VIII., was immediately after the death of Mary, declared by parliament heiress to the throne, a. d. 1558. She was crowned queen of England, according to the Roman ritual, with the usual ceremonies, in Westminster abbey, by Oglethorp, bishop of Carlisle ; the archbishop of York and other bishops of the kingdom, refused to attend. This princess was then in her twenty-fifth year ; her reign was long and eventful. The contemporary princes were Ferdinand, emperor of Austria, Henry II., king of France, Philip II., king of Spain, and Paul IV., who filled the see of Rome.* On her accession to the throne, Elizabeth turned her thoughts towards the spiritual and temporal government of the state. Though she had previously determined to make a change in religion, still, in order not to excite the alarm of the Catholics, or de- press the hopes of the Protestant party, she selected her council from among noblemen of both religions ; after which ambassadors were sent to all the princes of Europe, to announce to them her accession to the throne. * Baker's Chron. Reign of Elizabeth. Heylin, Hist, of the Reform, p. 173, et seq. Cambd. An- iial. rerum. Angl. regnant, edit. Lug. Batav. Sal- mon, Hist, of England, vol. 7, page 6. 456 HISTORY OP IRELAND. Ambition was the ruling passion of'Eliza- beth. A desire of reigning alone, and of being absolute mistress in all things, gave her a distaste to marriage, though she was strongly urged to it by her parliament, and solicited by many princes, the most consider- able of whom was Philip II., king of Spain, her brother-in-law. Acted on by political motives, this prince made the proposal to her, through his ambassador, the count de Feria, undertaking, at the same time, to obtain a dispensation from the pope. Eliza- beth received the ambassador with polite- ness, but gave him no hope of succeecling in his project. Independently of her dislike to a master, she had sufficient penetration to feel how strongly such a dispensation wovdd tend to affect her honor and that of her mother, Anne Bullen.* She knew that by submitting to the pope and acknowledging the necessity of a dispensation in this instance, she would approve of the marriage of Henry VIII. with Catherine of Aragon, whereby. Anne Bvdlen would be stigmatized as a concubine, and would establish the right of Mary Stuart, queen of Scotland, to the crown of England. This princess had been just married to Francis, son of Henry II. ; she was acknow- ledged by France as queen of England, and had the arms of that kingdom quartered with her own.f In the mean time, Elizabeth had appointed Sir Edward Karn her agent at Rome, to inform the pope of Mary's death, of her own accession to the throne, and her wish to live on amicable temis with his holiness. | Karn had many conferences with the pope, who at first appeared to be indignant ; however, judging that mildness would be more bene- ficial than harsh means, his final answer to the minister was, that it was needless that the queen should have recourse to him for a kingdom of which she was already in pos- session, but that he supposed she would cause no change in religion. Karn answered that he could give no assurance on that head from the instructions he had received, till his holiness would have first pronounced the marriage of Henry VIII. with Anne Bullen to be valid. The pope and his council were astounded by this reply. He saw clearly that the best plan he could adopt would be, to come to no decision, rather than do what could be productive of no good. According to Baker, he went so far as to write in the most tender manner to the Princess Eliza- beth ; he exlrorted her to return to a union * Camb. ibid, page 5. t Heylin, ibid, page 288. Baker, p. 329. t Heylin, ibid. p. 274. with the Catholic church, and promised her, that if she would follow his counsel, he would revoke the sentence which had been pro- nounced against the marriage of her mother ; that he would confirm the Book of Common Prayer in the English language, and allow her subjects to use the sacrament in both kinds. Elizabeth, continues Baker, with- stood the pope's flattering offers, and per- sisted in her determination to support a [ religion which she considered as more con- j formable to the word of God, and the primi- tive customs of the church. We obviously i discover in this negotiation of Elizabeth her insincerity towards the pope. Even had the holy father conceded the validity of her mother's marriage, (which was so difficult to be admitted,) religion would still have equally j suffered under a princess whose heart and disposition were prejudiced and corrupt. It is said that Henry II., king of France, had used his influence with the pope, both to thwart Philip II., who was soliciting a dis- pensation for the marriage he was desirous of contracting with Elizabeth, and to induce the pontiff to declare that princess to be il- legitimate.* However this may have been, Elizabeth did not affect to question her own birthright ; and it is singular that the parlia- ment, which by a solemn act acknowledged her right to the throne, never passed one in favor of her legitimacy, nor on the validity of her mother's marriage, whereon she found- ed her claim. Elizabeth never lost sight of her intended reformation in religion, which by degrees she carried into effect. She first command- ed that the Holy Scriptures should be read to the people in the English language ; she next published a declaration, prohibiting all disputes on the score of religion, and order- ed every preacher to observe a, general si- lence on the dogmas which had been the theme of controversy. It was then that a difference was discoverable among pastors ; the good continuing to preach the truth to the faithful, at the peril of their liberty and even of their lives, while the mercenary and politic, in order to preserve their livings, conformed to the necessity of the times. In the meanwhile, the queen caused the book of common prayer, which had been published in English under Edward VI., to be corrected ;j- for which purpose she no- minated Parker, Cox, Sir Thomas Smith, * Heylin, page 279. t The book of common prayer is a kind of Ritual, or Breviary, containing the thirty-nine articles of the reformed religion, with the formula of the pray- ers used in it CHRISTIAN IRELAND. 457 an eminent lawyer, and other doctors, who were favorable to the reformation. Every thing being thus prepared, the book of Common Prayer and Liturgy translated into English were laid before, and approved of by the English parliament ; it was then ordered to be used by the whole kingdom ; the sacrament in both kinds was established ; the mass was abolished ; and an act passed to have the tithes, the first-fruits, and the reve- nues of the monasteries which had been re- established under the preceding reign, trans- ferred to the crown. A warm debate arose, in the parliament, respecting the ecclesias- tical supremacy, some of the members main- taining, that it was both unnatural and alarming, to give to a woman the powers of supreme head of the English church ;* the majority, however, were in the queen's favor, and she was declared sovereign pontiff, or, to avoid the ridiculous appellation, supreme governess of the church, by the parliament, which had now become an ecclesiastical tri- bunal. The same parliament reduced the number of sacraments to two, namely, bap- tism and the holy eucharist, and had the altars demolished and the images in the churches taken down. The queen having been confirmed in the ecclesiastical supremacy, the taking of the oath became the touchstone of faith ; as those who refused to take it, were immedi- ately deprived of their livings.! The number indeed was inconsiderable, and amounted to not more than two hundred in a country where there were more than nine thousand ecclesiastics in orders ; the greater part of whom acknowledged the supremacy, without hesitation, by taking the oath ; some, from zeal for the reformation, others through a dastardly and disgraceful policy. It was at this time that the bishops displayed a firm- ness truly apostolical. Many sees remained vacant, the number of bishops amounting to but fifteen, among whom there was but one apostate, viz., Kitchin, bishop of Landaff. The rest, namely, Heath, archbishop of York, Bonner, bishop of London, Tunstal of Dur- ham, White of Winchester, Tirlby of Ely, Watson of Lincoln, Pool of Peterborough, Christopherson of Chichester, Brown of Wells, Turbervil of Exeter, Morgan of St. David, Bain of Lichfield, Scot of Chester, and Oglethorp of Carlisle, being determined not to bend to the idol, were thrown into prison and deprived of their bishoprics, which were conferred on those who were more manageable. * Heylin, ibid. 280. t Baker, ibid. p. 329. Heylin, ibid, page 286. The see of Canterbury having become vacant by the death of Cardinal Pole, was given to Parker, by letters patent. It is said that he was consecrated by Barlow and two others, who were as unprincipled as himself. Parker consecrated all those who were no- minated by the queen, to fill all the sees of the deposed bishops. Debates on the validity of those ordinations occupied many writers of that day, and even of the present, who undertook to refute the book of the Pere Coroyer ; namely, Fennell dean of Laonne, in Ireland, and le Pere Quin of the order of St. Dominick. Such was the reformed re- ligion, Avhich was firmly established in Eng- land in the beginning of Elizabeth's reign. That capricious nation which accuses its neighbors of inconsistency, changed her re- ligion five times within thirty years. The English were Catholics inl529 ; immediately after this they became schismatics and formed a religion, no part of which they understood ; in Edward's reign, the heresy of Zuingle prevailed ; under Mary the Catholic religion was restored ; and on the accession of Eliza- beth, another was established, composed, with some alterations, of the tenets of Luther and Calvin, to which was given the name of the English church. Such was the state of affairs in England, in the beginning of the reign of Elizabeth. Sidney governed the English province in Ireland, as deputy. The privy council in- formed him of what had taken place in Eng- land, the news of which was highly gratifying to the partisans of the reformation. The funeral ceremonies for Mary, and the coro- nation of Elizabeth, were successively cele- brated in Dublin.* Thomas earl of Sussex, was appointed lord-deputy of Ireland for the second time, in 1559. He arrived in August, with thir- teen hundred and sixty foot soldiers, and three hundred horsemen, accompanied by Sir William Fitzwilliam.f This governor re- paired to Christ's church, where, for want of clergymen, the litany was recited in the English language, by Sir Nicholas Dardy, after which the deputy took the oath, and the Te Deum was sung in the same language, to the sound of trumpets. The earl of Or- mond took the oath also as member of the privy council. Soon afterwards a proclama- tion was issued to abohsh the mass. Sidney convened a parliament in January, in Christ's church, Dublin, to repeal all the acts that had been passed two years before, * War. de Annal. Hib. rcg. Elizab. C. 1. t War. ibid. cap. 2. 58 458 HISTORY OF IRELAND. in another parliament, at which that nobleman had presided ; such is the inconstancy of man.* Several acts were passed in this par- liament for the establishment of the refor- mation in Ireland ; all the spiritual and ec- clesiastical authorities were annexed to the crown, and all foreign influence (which im- plied that of the pope) was prohibited ; all acts appertaining to appeals were renewed ; the laws that had been enacted in the reign of Philip and Mary, concerning religion or heresy, were repealed ; the queen and her successors were given the power of exercising clerical jurisdiction by commission ; every individual, whether lay or ecclesiastic, in pos- session of livings and offices, was obliged to take the oath of supremacy, under pain of losing their livings, or appointments ; who- ever would introduce or support a foreign power was to be punished by having his property confiscated, or by a year's imprison- ment, for the first offence ; for the second, he was to undergo the penalty of the law of prcBmunirc, and for the third, that of high treason. It was decided, that no opinion should be considered heretical, unless it were so according to the scriptures, or to the four first general councils, or by an act of parlia- ment. Thus was the senate established judge of the faith, without any mission but that which was received from a woman. In the gospel of Jesus Christ, he who refused to hear the church was considered as a heathen or a publican : in the new doctrine, he who did not hearken to Elizabeth and her parlia- ment, in matters of religion, was deprived of his property, liberty, and under certain circumstances, of his life. This parliament also passed acts ordaining the uniformity of common prayer, regulating the sacraments, particularly that of the Lord's Supper, and also the consecration of prelates according to the ritual of the book of Com- mon Prayer, as approved of by Edward VI., under pain of a fine to be paid by the delin- quents. The first refusal led to the confis- cation of a year's income of the culprit, and six months imprisonment ; the second to the loss of his living, and a year's imprisonment ; and the third, to imprisohment for life. In the same statutes the restitution of the first- fruits was decreed, and the payment of a twentieth part of the revenues of livings to the crown ; lastly, it was enacted that the queen's right to the crown should be acknow- ledged, and it was prohibited to all persons, under pain of prmjnmiire, or high treason, to speak or write against it. The parliament * Irish Statutes, under Elizabeth, Dublin edition of the year 1621, cap. 1, p. 259, et seq. also decreed that the priory of St. John of Jerusalem should be united to the crown. The English church, disfigured as it was, still retained some of the privileges of the old religion. Every bishop had his tribunal for the settlement of matters of ecclesiastical discipline, or as it is termed "officiality;" excommunication retained its full force, and pastors were authorized to refuse communion to whomsoever they considered unworthy of it, without being accountable to any but the established judge, as appears from the fol- lowing extract, literally taken from the book of Common Prayer, printed at that time in liOndon. " Those who wish to partake of the holy communion, shall send their names, on the preceding day, to the pastor."* " If there be any public or notorious sinner among them, or such as have injured their neighbor, by word or deed, so as to offend the congregation, the pastor shall send for him, and warn him on no account to ap- proach the Lord's Table unless he publicly declare that he repents sincerely, and promise to reform his past life, in order to satisfy the ofiended congregation ; and that he will make restitution to those whom he had injured, or at least avow that he will do so when he can with convenience." " The pastor shall also send to those whom he may observe to bear hatred or rancor mutually against each other ; such shall not be allowed to approach the Lord's Table until they declare themselves to be recon- ciled ; but if one of the parties be disposed to pardon him from whom he may have re- ceived injuries, and repair the evil committed, and that the other will not submit, but persist in his obstinacy and malice, the minister must then admit the penitent to the holy commu- nion, and not the other, on condition that he who shall have rejected any one according to what is herein specified, or in the preceding paragraph of this rubric, acquaint the ordi- nary within a fortnight at farthest, who is thereupon to proceed against the culprit ac- cording to the canons."! The Protestants have deemed these precautions necessary, in order to avoid the profanation of a sacra- ment, in which they deny the real presence of our Lord. It appears, says Ware, that these decrees met with resistance from the Irish, and that many members of the parliament were op- posed to them, in consequence of which the * Order for the administration of the holy sacra- ment. t Constit. and Canons. Ecclesiast. London edi- 1 lion of 1673, art. 26 edit. CHRISTIAN IRELAND. 459 deputy was obliged to dissolve it in February, and repair to England, to inform the queen of it, leaving Williams in Ireland with the title of deputy. Though the Irish had been deceived in religious matters, under Henry VIII., from his quarrel with the pope being represented to them as a civil question, merely relating to temporal government ; and though they had been confirmed in this opinion by the example of the king himself, and his English parliament, who, though at variance with the pontiff, still professed the Catholic faith, and had in consequence passed some acts against the jurisdiction of the pope ; yet we discover that this people, having relinquished their errors and dis- played their zeal for the Catholic cause, in a parliament held in the reign of Mary, re- pealed, with one voice, all their preceding acts. As to the parliament we now speak of,* grave authors who flourished about this time affirm, that, far from its being an assembly composed of persons from all the states, those alone were appointed who were known to be devoted to the queen, or who were easily bribed. The nobles of the country, who were all Catholics at the time,t were carefully excluded ; so that by these and other simi- lar means, any act could have been passed into a law. However, it is well known that such acts were not published during the life- time of those who sat in the parliament, nor rigorously enforced till after the defeat of the celebrated Spanish Armada, in 1588. Elizabeth's moderation was solely the re- sult of the critical situation in which she was placed at this time. Her enemies were nu- merous ; Mary Stuart, queen of Scots, had no small claim on the crown of England ; Henry II., king of France, instead of with- drawing his troops from Scotland, sent over secretly fresh reinforcements, with the in- tention of having Elizabeth declared here- tical and illegitimate by the pope ; the em- peror and the king of Spain joined in this confederacy, and the Irish were waiting the opportunity to shake ofl' the yoke. By her penetration Elizabeth foresaw all these circumstances and their results. She prepared to defend herself against foreign power, to quell the disturbances caused in England by the Reformation, and secure Ireland by sending over frequent succors. She judged it prudent, also, to put off to a * It should be remembered tliat though this was called the Irish Parliament, it was composed of Englishmen either by origin or by birth. t Analecta Sac. par. 1, p. 430. Ireland's case, p. 4, A. seq. more favorable time the execution of the acts of the Irish parliament, which she knew would tend to rouse the Irish to rebel against her. Time proved that she was not mistaken. Henry II. died ; the Huguenots having raised some disturbances in France, she frequently sent them assistance, and supported the rebels in the Netherlands against Philip II. She proposed to the Protestants of Scotland to form a league with her, by which she violated the laws of nations, by encouraging subjects to rebel against their lawful princess. Finally, she reduced the Irish by a* long and fatal war- fare, notwithstanding the efforts of the' Spaniards to assist them ; and then found herself able to enforce any law which she wished to establish over them. The severity which was exercised in the beginning of Mary's reign against the Re- formers, forced many of them to seek an asylum in foreign climes.* It is said that, between students and others, they amounted to eight hundred. Embden was the only city in which the religion of Luther pre- vailed that would receive them ;t these here- tics looked with horror on the English Pro- testants, on account of their having denied the real presence, and called those who suf- fered for that religion, " the martyrs to the Devil." The refugees were, however, re- ceived at Zurich, Geneva, and Frankfort, as confessors of the faith. The many privileges which were granted them in Frankfort, soon drew them thither in crowds. They shared the church, which had been previously granted to the French Protestants, on condi- tion of performing their service alternately ; that is, on different days of the week, and at different hours on Sunday. The heads of this congregation professed the Evangelical doctrine of Zunigle. Either thinking the English Reformation not suffi- ciently perfect, or not enough in unison with their own doctrine, they at once corrected and disfigured the English Liturgy ; every thing relative to the Roman Catholic faith was .cut off', and their worship reduced to the simple reading of a (aw psalms and chapters taken from the Scriptures. The fame of this new church at Frankfort having spread itself abroad, John Knox left his retreat at Geneva to join it.| He dis- tinguished himself by promoting this new Reformation, and soon became the head of this little church. He had already pub- lished a seditious libel, in which he strongly * Heyliu, ibid. p. 196 et seq. t Heylin, ibid. p. 250. t Ibid. p. 230, 460 HISTORY OF IRELAND. inveighed against the government of women ; it was styled, The first sound of the tnimpct. The three ^larys — namely, Mary queen of England, Mary Stuart, queen of Scotland, and Mary of Lorraine, queen-dowager and regent of that kingdom, were the objects of his calumny. This libel did not fail to bring the author into disgrace in his own country ; and not daring to seek an asylum either in ! England or France, he withdrew to Geneva, and from that to Frankfort, as we have al- ready noticed. The arrival of Doctor Richard Cox, ano- ther English refugee, at Frankfort, checked the progress of the new Reformation in that city.* Having been one of the principal composers of the English Liturgy under Ed- ward VL, he considered it a point of honor to support his work, and prevent any change being made in it ; consequently, on the Sunday followhig his arrival, he had the English Liturgy published from the pulpit. This contradiction gave considerable un- easiness to Knox, who immediately ascended the pulpit and preached against the Liturgy, which he termed imperfect and supersti- tious ; whereon Cox interdicted his preach- ing, and had him expelled from Frankfort. Cox finding himself master of the field, began to reform his congregation according to the ritual of the Protestant Church. He appointed a chief pastor, who was assisted by two ministers and four deacons. He established professors of the Hebrew and Greek languages, and of theology. Cham- bers was appointed to manage the contribu- tions, which were liberally forwarded to Cox from England and Holland, for the relief of the persecuted brethren. AVhen Knox was expelled from Frankfort, by order of the government, he returned to Geneva, where he was appointed preacher, together with Goodman. They then re- jected the English Reformation, conformed to the ritual of the church of Geneva, and adopted the doctrine of Calvin. This was the foundation of the Presbyterian religion, and the sect of Puritans which afterwards produced such ravages in Scotland. Nothing can be more destructive to that order and harmony in which the happiness of nations consists, than a religion which inculcates general democracy in church and state. We have had strong proofs of this truth in the different nations of Europe where the Calvinists rebelled against their sovereigns : here we will confine ourselves to the Scotch, who are more immediately * Ibid. pp. 231, 232. connected with the history of Ireland than any other nation. The Presbyterian religion took root among the Scotch under the name of Puritanism, the partisans of which, taking advantage of the queen's absence, who was at that time in France, and of the instability of a government headed by a queen-regent, began to form intrigues.* They assembled in a tumultuous manner, headed by a few nobles, and formed a separate body, styling themselves a congregation. Their arro- gance increasing with their numbers, they presented a petition to the queen and lords of the council, praying that the sacrament of the Lord's Supper might be administered in both kinds, that Divine Service might be performed in the language of the people, and that they might be allowed to appoint their ministers according to the custom, as they said, of the Primitive Church. The court, unwilling to exasperate these fanatics, re- turned them a gracious answer, rather with a view of gaining time than of conceding their demands ; but this conduct served only to increase their pride. Knox, a turbulent preacher and seditious enthusiast, being in- formed in Geneva of the progress of his brethren in Scotland, repaired thither in 1559, where he became the preacher and firebrand of rebellion. Finding the little community collected at Perth, he ascended the pulpit, and pronounced such dreadful invectives against images, and the idolatry and superstitions of the Roman Church, that after his sermon, the infuriated populace tore down the images and altars of the church, and destroyed every religious house in the town. The inhabitants of Couper, Craile, St. Andrew, Scone, Cambus-Kenneth, Stir- ling, Lithgow, Glasgow, and Edinburgh, followed their example. The fanatics made themselves masters of this latter city, and did not leave in it a church in which the queen could have divine service celebrated. In another sermon, Knox inveighed bitterly against the princess, and exhorted the peo- ple to unite in expelling the French troops from the kingdom. The rebels consequently published a declaration, depriving the queen of all power in the government. Alarmed by this event, the queen thought it time to provide for her own safety. Troops were sent to her from France ; the numbers of which, though insufficient to put down the rebels, still enabled her to retake Edin- burgh. She then fortified the port of Leith, and forced the rebels to withdraw towards the north. Thus situated, they had recourse, by * Heylin, ibid. pp. 297, 298. CHRISTIAN IRELAND. 461 the advice of Knox, to the queen of Eng- land ; and though ^e laws of nations are violated by one prince supporting the rebel- lious subjects of another, still political mo- tives urged Elizabeth to send assistance to the Puritans of Scotland.* Independently of the interest she took in establishing the reformation in Scotland, she disliked the vicinity of the French forces, at a time that Francis II. made pretensions to the crown of England, in virtue of his marriage with Mary Stuart. The English, therefore, laid siege to Leith,f in which there was a French garrison, and after several skirmishes, caused by the sallies of the besieged and the attacks of the besiegers, peace was concluded on certain conditions between Francis II. and Elizabeth ; the hostile forces were to leave Scotland without delay, all differences in religion were to be adjusted by the parlia- ment, and the king and queen of France and Scotland were to renounce the title and arms of England. The articles of this treaty were favorable to the reformers. Elizabeth protected them in secret ; the French troops were withdrawn, and they calculated with confidence that the decisions of parliament would be in their favor. The schismatics of Frankfort, and the brethren of Geneva, flocked to their shores. The French Huguenots Avere be- ginning to settle in England. Through the intrigues of Peter Martyr, and particularly through letters from Calvin to Gryndal, bishop of London, and that prelate's influ- ence, they obtained permission to establish a church in that capital, and to make use of a form of prayer entirely different from the English liturgy. In spite of the edict of banishment that had been published against them by the queen, many settled in the sea- ports, and formed themselves into different congregations. In conformity with the treaty of peace, a parliament met in Scotland to settle the re- ligious disputes. Three laws were enacted in it in favor of the reformation — the first was to abolish the pope's authority and jurisdic- tion in the kingdom ; the second to repeal and annul all acts passed in favor of the Catholic doctrine ; and the third to suppress the mass, and to impose penalties upon those who should perform the ceremony, and those who should be present at it. The leaders of the Puritans, not satisfied with these laws, which were enough to establish the Refor- mation, next presented a form of faith and doctrine, founded on the principles of Calvin, * Baker's Chron. page 330. t Heylin, ibid. p. 299. which had been brought by Knox from Ge- neva, to be professed by the reformers in Scotland. During the debates there were but three temporal lords found to oppose this, namely, the earl of Athol and lords Somervil and Borthwick, who alleged as the reason of their opposition, that they wished to follow the religion of their forefathers.* The disgraceful silence of the Catholic bishops who were present at this assembly, having exasperated the lord marshal, he de- clared with warmth, " Since our lords the bishops, Avho must be sufficiently enlightened to know the true doctrine, and sufficiently zealous to defend it, are silent upon that which is now debated, I am of opinion that this must be the true one, and that every other is erroneous." Such were the eff'ects of the silence of the leading pastors, who should have been the sole judges in religious aff'airs. These reformers of the reformation affect- ed to lead mortified lives ; they inculcated the most rigid morals, and looked upon all who did not belong to their own sect, as pro- fligates ; their speeches were composed of phrases taken from the Scriptures ; predes- tination and special grace were the subjects of their discourses ; they wrote and published false translations from the gospel, and epis- tles of St. Paul, with observations and notes filled with the venom of their doctrine ; they deceived the people, who were both simple and credulous, by an affected piety ; open enemies to Hierarchy in the church, and monarchy in the state, they opposed Epis- copacy, and resisted their lawful princes. By such principles as these their conduct was regulated ; they deposed the dowager queen who held the regency, and forced her daughter, queen Mary their legitimate sove- reign, to seek an asylum in England, where she was put to death after eighteen years im- prisonment, and lest King James VI. might be any obstacle to their undertaking, they drove him from Edinburgh, and kept him in confinement at Stirling. All his faithful servants were removed, andpossession taken of his principal fortresses.! In fine, the unhappy prince was mocked and insulted by his own subjects to such a degree, that he frequently expressed a desire to leave the kingdom and withdraw to Venice. The sanguinary wars in England and Ireland under Charles I., the tragical end of that prince on the scaffold, the exclusion of his son Charles II. from his inheritance for twelve years, and the expulsion of James II. * Heylin, ibid. p. 300. t Ware, ibid. cap. 3. 462 HISTORY OF IRELAND. of glorious memory,* were among the fatal consequences of the fanaticism of these Pu- ritans. The earl of Sussex having spent some months in England, returned to Ireland as lord-lieutenant, a. d. 1560. He was com- missioned by the queen to prevail on the earl of Kildarc, who was creating disturbances in the latter country, to go to England, and in case he refused, to have him arrested. t He also received orders to have castles built and fortified in Leix and Oflaly ; to people these districts with Englishmen, and confer estates on their chiefs and male children ; to estab- lish order in the province of Ulster, and ad- mit Surley Boy (M'Donnel) into the posses- sion of the lands which he claimed as fiefs, on condition that he would contribute to the public welfare. He was further ordered to reduce Shane O'Neill, either by force or otherwise ; to invest the baron of Dungan- non with the government of the county of Tyrone ; and to have the O'Briens, who resisted the earl of Thuomond, arrested. Queen Elizabeth was particularly desirous of having the Protestant religion established in Ireland. She sent orders to Sussex to call a meeting of the clergy for that purpose ; but the firmness of the bishops and their attachment to the ancient religion, rendered the attempt abortive, notwithstanding the offers which were made in order to bribe them. After this meeting William Walsh, a native of Waterford, and bishop of Meath, who was particularly zealous in the Catholic cause, having preached at Trim, in his own diocese, against the Book of Common Prayer, was arrested, thrown into prison, and deposed shortly afterwards, by orders from the queen. I This holy prelate was sent into banishment, and died at Complute, in Spain, in 1577, where he was interred in a monas- tery of the Cistertian order, of which he was a brother.^ The bishopric of Meath having remained vacant for two years, Elizabeth con- ferred it on Hugh MacBrady, Avho was more accommodating thanWalsh: he died at Dun- boyne, the place of his birth, having held this see for twenty years. Thomas Leverous, bishop of Kildare, was treated in almost the same manner as Walsh. Having refused to take the oath of supremacy, he was de- prived of his bishopric, and of the deanery * James was a weak despot who deserved his fate. lie tyrannized over England, and hetrayed Ireland, and both countries hold his memory in con- tempt.— [Note by Ed.] t Camd. ibid, page 35. X War. de Episc. Mid ens. § War. de Episc. Kildare. of St. Patrick. In order to gain his liveli- hood, he was reduced to the sad alternative of keeping a school in lamerick, and died at Naas, in 1577, at the age of eighty years. He was succeeded in the bishopric of Kil- dare by Alexander Craike. The latter, not content with the revenues of the bishopric and the deanery of St. Patrick, which he held together, exchanged most of the estates of that see, with Patrick Sarsfield, a lord of the country, for tithes of little value. By this means the ancient see of Kildare was reduced to great distress. The Irish Catholics, particularly the an- cient inhabitants, were much alarmed at these symptoms of persecution ; the. continu- ance of which they foresaw, by the changes which took place in church and state. They saw no security, either for their churches or the preservation of their estates, but by arms. Having received promises of assistance from the pope and the king of Spain, they assem- bled in great numbers, under the command of Shane O'Neill, at that time the bravest and most powerful nobleman in the country, and the first hero of Catholicity in Ireland. This resistance of the Irish differs from that of subjects, who under pretext of reli- gion or otherwise, rebel against their lawful princes, conduct which Avill never receive "the approbation of polished and well-in- formed nations. Ireland had not yet been subjugated ; her people acknowledged only the authority of the English by compulsion, whatever their adversaries may advance to the contrary, who always denominated them rebels, an epithet which can only apply to insurgent subjects. They deemed it just to resist a foreign power which was endeavor- ing to direct their consciences, by intro- ducing a new religion among them. O'Neill finding his countrymen zealous in the common cause, took the command wil- lingly, and marched into the English pro- vince, where he carried on the war with suc- cess. When the campaign was over, this prudent general, not willing to spend the winter in a hostile country, which was al- j ready laid waste, returned to Ulster with an intention of renevvinghostilitiesinthe spring. In the mean time, Sussex made active prepa- rations to oppose him. He received from England fresh troops to the number of four hundred men, four pieces of cannon, a mor- tar, sixty barrels of gunpowder, and other ' ammunition ; but not being satisfied with I this reinforcement, he sailed thither to re- ceive fresh instructions respecting the opera- jtions of the campaign. I After stopping for about four mouths in CHRISTIAN IRELAND. 463 England, Sussex returned to Ireland in June, 1561, with the title of lord-lieutenant, which he had previously enjoyed.* He now thought seriously of an expedition against O'Neill. He therefore set out from Dublin for Ulster on the 1st of July, at the head of five hun- dred men, attended by John Bedlow, one of the sheriffs of the city, who commanded eighty men. Another detachment of eighty archers and fusiliers followed him soon after, under the command of Gough, another sheriff; all of whom were supplied with pro- visions for six weeks. O'Neill's forces being inferior both in numbers and discipline to the army of Sussex, he posted himself so as not to be surprised ; and the only fruit of the expedition was a suspension of hostilities, and a reconciliation between the chiefs. O'Neill went over to England in December, where he concluded an honorable peace with Elizabeth ; and returned to Ireland in May, much pleased with the reception he had niet with from her majesty. In the mean time, the earl of Sussex was recalled, and William FitzWilliams appointed lord- justice of Ireland in his stead. Roland Baron, otherwise Fitzgerald, arch- bishop of Cashel, died about the year 1561. This prelate was descended from the noble family of the Fitzgeralds of Burnchurch, in the county of Kilkenny, who had the title of non-parliamentary barons. t This see having remained vacant for six years, Elizabeth nominated James MacCaghwell to it ; but his successor, apostolically appointed, was Maurice Gibbon, or Reagh, whom the Pro- testants accuse of having stabbed MacCagh- well. He was afterwards driven into exile and died in Spain. The ancient see of Emly was united at this time with that of Cashel, by authority of parliament. The hierarchy has been always preserved in the church of Ireland, in spite of all heretical efforts, and every see has two bishops, one a Catholic appointed by the pope, and the other a Pro- testant, nominated by the king. The earl of Sussex was again made lord lieutenant of Ireland. Having taken the oath in July, 1562, the first act of his ad- ministration was to change some of the dis- tricts into counties ;j: to the ancient territory of Annaly, on the borders of Meath, he gave the name of the county of Longford, the first baron of which was Francis Augier. He then divided the province of Connaught into six counties ; namely, Clare, Galway, Sligo, Mayo, Roscommon, and Leitrim. * War. de Anna), ibid cap. 4. t War. de Arch. Casseliens. t War. de Aiiaal. ibid. c. 5. The see of Armagh, which remained with- out a pastor since the death of George Dow- dal, was given by Elizabeth to Adam Lof- tus, a native of Yorkshire, and bachelor in theology. We may judge of his religion from his having been first a chaplain to the duke of Sussex, and afterwards to the queen.* O'Neill's enemies were continually endea- voring to have him suspected by the govern- ment. Loftus, who had just been appointed archbishop of Armagh, on the deposition of a domestic, wrote against this prince to the lord-lieutenant, a. d. 1563. j" The suspicions against him having gained ground, the lord- lieutenant marched his troops, and O'Neill was forced to have recourse to arms. The English army set out in the beginning of April for Ulster. On the thirteenth they had a skirmish near Dundalk, with O'Neill's troops, twenty-one of whom fell on the field of battle. Sussex crossed the Blackwater on the 16th, at the head of his army ; but fear- ing that he might be surprised, he returned to Dundalk, whither he carried great booty in cattle. In the beginning of June he pro- ceeded to Dungannon. The day following he endeavored, but in vain, to dislodge O'Neill, who was advantageously posted in the wood of Tulloghoge, after which he re- turned with his army to Drogheda, plunder- ing every place on his march. The earl of Kildare was deeply interested for O'Neill, who was both his relative and friend.| He entreated him to lay down his arms and submit ; and O'Neill was so swayed I by the arguments of the earl, that he went to England, where he made peace with the queen, in presence of the ambassadors of Sweden and Savoy. That princess received him honorably, granted him her friendship, and sent him back with rich presents. The earl of Sussex published an edict this year against the Catholic clergy, by which monks and popish priests were interdicted either to meet or sleep in Dublin. The head of every family was ordered, under pain of being fined, to attend every Sunday at the Protestant service. Those who were unable to pay the fine went to mass in the morning, and to the Protestant sermon afterwards ; but in order to prevent this pious fraud, the inhabitants were registered, and their names called, during service, in the Protestant churches. When O'Neill returned to Ireland, he de- clared war against the inhabitants of the Hebrides, defeated them, and killed their * War. de Arch. Ard. t War. de Annal. ibid. c. C. I Camb. ibid. p. 52. 464 HISTORY OP IRELAND. chief, James MacDonnel, his father-in-law, and his brother Aongus,* a. d. 156 1. While the prince of Tyrone was puttin"- down his enemies, and laboring to establish peace and good order in his own district, he drew upon himself the hatred of the nobility of the country, whom he looked upon as his vassals. Maguire, Magennis, and others, presented their complaints against O'Neill to the lord- lieutenant, in consequence of which he was reduced to the alternative either of taking up arms against the government, or of sub- milting to the decision of the lord-lieutenant ; but, unwilling to acknowledge the power of the governor, he adopted the former as the more honorable alternative. The lord-lieutenant took care to inform the queen of O'Neill's movements, and to explain how much was to be feared from such an enemy. The princess sent him the following reply : " Let not your suspicions of Shane O'Neill give you imeasiness ; tell my troops to take courage, and that his re- bellion may turn to their advantage, as there will be lands to bestow on those who have need of them." This hope of gain frequently caused the condemnation of the Irish nobles. O'Neill on his side was levying troops, under pretext of defending his boundaries against the Scotch. The government became alarmed, and the lord-lieutenant issued a pro- clamation, which declared that any one en- listing under an officer who had not received his commission from her majesty, or from him, should be considered a traitor : he there- fore enjoined all those who had enrolled themselves for O'Neill's army to come for- ward and lay down their arms within a limited time, under pain of death and confiscation of their properties. The deputy collected his forces on the borders of the English province, but nothing could check the rage of O'Neill. In order to be revenged on Loftus, the Pro- testant archbishop of Armagh, who had written against him, he burned his church, on which account the Protestant prelate pronounced sentence of excommunication against him. O'Neill then entered Ferman- agh, sword in hand, from which he expelled Maguire. After this he laid siege to Dun- dalk, which was relieved by William Sars- field, mayor of Dublin, at the head of a chosen body of men, who forced him to raise the siege, but was not able to prevent him from devastating the country around. A serious difference arose at this time between the earls of Ormond and Desmond, respecting the boundaries of their estates, ■ * War. de ibid. cap. 7. which was followed by a bloody conflict. It may be necessary to observe that the earl of Desmond in question was Garret Fitzgerald, son of James, and grandson of John, who successively held that title.* This noble- man, though young, promised by his early exploits to be one day a terror to the ene- mies of the Catholic faith. His first expe- dition was against MacCarty Riagh, by which he acquired great honor. He, how- ever, was not so successful in his battle with Edme MacTengue, son of MacCarty of Muskerry, in which battle his cavalry being routed, he was taken prisoner and confined in the castle of Askeaton for six months, but was subsequently restored to his liberty. The several families of the O'Briens were continually at war against their chief, the earl of Thuomond ; as they imagined that his title of earl authorized him to oppress them. Teugue MacMorrough O'Brien hav- ing been besieged in his castle of Inchiquin by this earl and Clanriccard, sent to solicit assistance from his friend Garret, earl of Desmond. Garret sent him word to keep up his courage, promising to be with him on a certain day : he then crossed the Shannon at Castle-Connell, above Limerick, at the head of five hundred foot soldiers, with about sixty horsemen, under the command of his brother, and marched directly for Inchiquin, intending to raise the siege. The earls having received intelligence of the march of Desmond, were determined to oppose him. They therefore abandoned the siege, and advanced to give him battle. Desmond's only hope lay in the bravery of his men : he exhorted them to follow his example, and not to fear an undisciplined multitude ; after which he made so vigorous an attack on his enemies, that, unable to withstand the shock, they fled, leaving Desmond at liberty to relieve his friend. Jealousy continued to prevail between Desmond and Ormond. f Desmond was an ingenuous and upright character ; Thomas Butler, surnamed Dufl", or the Black, was cautious and politic. Being brought up at the English court, he imbibed Protestant opinions, in consequence of which he was more favored by the queen than Desmond. The estates of these noblemen were adjoin- ing ; they made Irequent incursions on each other's lands, and their animosity ran so high that the ambition of power frequently drove them to arms. A battle that was to have * Relat. Giraldiii. cap. 13. t O'Sulliv. Hist. Cathol. Iber. torn. 2, lib. 4, cap. 8. CHRISTIAN IRELAND. 465 been fought between the two earls at Bo harmor, on the borders of Limerick and Tipperary, not taking place, Ormond was continually watching to take revenge on his rival.* Having heard that Desmond was encamped in his neighborhood, he collected his forces, and marched to meet him at Ath- mean, in the county of Waterford. Desmond had but few men with him ; refusing, how- ever, to listen to his friends, who advised him to yield to necessity, he engaged in bat- tle, in which he lost two hundred and eighty of his men. He himself received a pistol- shot, from Sir Edme Butler, by which his thigh was broken. Having fallen from his horse, he was taken prisoner and brought to Clonmel, where he was attended by a sur- geon, but ever after continued lame. As soon as he had recovered sufficiently he was sent prisoner to London, and confined in the tow'er. CHAPTER XLL The earl of Sussex, lord-lieutenant of Ireland, was recalled this year (1565). Sir Nicholas Arnold was appointed lord-justice, and sworn in, in the month of May. This new magistrate brought over a reinforce- ment of fifteen hundred and ninety-six men.f His stay was of short continuance, since some complaints being made at court against him, he was recalled in the month of Janu- ary following. Sir Henry Sidney was next sent to Ire- land as lord-deputy. He received his in- structions under the queen's signature, which enjoined him to form a privy council, to be sworn, according to custom, in his presence ; which he was to consult on all public aff'airs, and which should co-operate with him for the general good of the people. The privy council and deputy being as- sembled together, affairs were found to be in a very bad state. The province was ha- rassed and oppressed by a licentious and undisciplined soldiery, who became also objects of suspicion to the government on account of their intercourse with the Irish. In Leinster, Kilkenny was in particular attacked by the O'Tools, the O'Birns, O'Kinsellaghs, O'Morroghs, the Cavanaghs, and the O'Morras. In Munster, the counties of Tipperary and Kerry were brought to the verge of ruin * Relat. Giral. c. 14. Hist. Cathol Ibem. ibid, t War. de Annal. ibid. cap. 8. by the wars between the partisans of Or- mond and Desmond. The barony of Or- mond was devastated by Pierce Grace ; i\vi country of Thuomond suffered greatly by the warfare of Sir Daniel O'Brien and the earl of Thuomond. Connaught was torn by the factions of the earl of Clanriccard and other families of the Burkes. Finally, the whole of Ulster, commanded by Shane O'Neill, who took the title of monarch, was in arms against the English government. Cox and Hooker remark, that in addition to the miseries with which Ireland was then inflicted, religion had become almost extinct, the clergy dispersed, and the churches strip- ped ; and that scarcely any vestige of the knowledge of the true God could be found in that ignorant and barbarous nation.* The council, before they separated, gave orders that the English province should be put into a state of defence against O'Neill. Mac Carty More, a powerful prince in Munster, went to England about this time, and placed at the queen's disposal all his possessions, of which she made a regrant to him by letters patent, together with the titles of earl of Glencar and baron of Va- lentia. This prince, the chief of the illus- trious tribe of the Eoganachts, was descend- ed from Heber, eldest son of Milesius, king of Gallicia, by Oilioll-Olum, and his eldest son Eogan-More, and Dermod Mac Carty, king of Cork, in the twelfth century, who was the first that submitted to Henry II., ■ An insinuation is thrown out by these authors, that either the pretended reformed rehgion was generally received at that time in Ireland, and aban- doned in consequence of the dispersion of its min- isters, or that the Irish Catholics opposed to the new doctrine, after losing their pastors, had be- come at one stroke ignorant barbarians. These two propositions are equally false and deceitful. Some Catholic bishops had been deposed, and were suc- ceeded by Protestant bishops ; but tlie number was inconsiderable, not amounting to more than five or six. The new doctrine which was preached had not made great progress in so short a time among a people strenuously attached to their ancient reli- gion. The persecution which had been commenced was not directed against the Protestants, since they were protected by the very power from which it had arisen. All Ireland was still Catholic ; for it may be affirmed, that among every five hundred scarcely one Protestant appeared ; consequently the dispersion of the clergy, to which the above authors allude, cannot apply to the Catholic clergy. It is not to be wondered at, that a religion should sufl^er much in a country where it is strongly opposed, but it is impossible that it should be effaced in five or six years, so as that no knowledge of God could be discovered. They were, however, Englishmen, who put forward the above statement. 466 HISTORY OF IRELAND. king of England. According to the right of primogeniture, this illustrious house is the first in Ireland. There were several branches of it, namely, the Mac Cartys of iMuskerry and Carbry, those of Cluan, Mao- lain, Alia, and many others. The deputy returned to England in 1566, to receive fresh instructions, and give an ac- count to the queen of the situation of affairs in Ireland.* During his absence the troops of O'Neill threatened Drogheda. At the re- quest, however, of Lady Sidney, wife of the deputy, who resided there at the time, Sars- field, mayor of Dublin, came with a body of troops and saved the city, for which the deputy, on his return, conferred on him the honor of knighthood. O'Neill always maintained an army of four thousand foot, and a thousand horse : he was a prince of great skill and talents ; he took care to have his vassals instructed in discipline, and inspired them with a love of war, but his pride rendered him insup- portable to his neighbors, and added daily to the number of his enemies. Besides the English troops, he had to contend with O'Donnel, Maguire, and other powerful no- blemen of Ulster, who complained of his tyranny. He made frequent incursions upon the English province, and laid siege to their towns, by which, though sometimes unsuc- cessful, he became formidable to the govern- ment. He defeated also a Scotch legion killed three thousand of them, and took their chief, Mac Donnel, prisoner. t O'Neill's power engrossed much of the attention of the English government at this time. The queen dispatched Knolls to Ireland to concert measures with the deputy to reduce that nobleman, either by kindness or by force. She even offered to him the titles of earl of Tyrone, and baron of Dungannon, with a promise to annul the patents of Henry VHI., which secured to Matthew O'Neill, of Dungannon, the right of succession to the estates and honors of Tyrone. J O'Neill received the proposal with a haughtiness expressive of his contempt for titles of honor, which he looked upon as beneath the name of O'Neill. The commissioners who were intrusted with the negotiation, received from him the fol- lowing reply : " If Elizabeth your mistress be queen of England, I am O'Neill, king of Ulster ; I never made peace with her with- out having been previously solicited to it by her. I am not ambitious of the abject title * War. de Annal. ibid. cap. 9. + Hist. Cathol. Hib. vol. 2, lib. 4, cap. 3. t Camb. reg. Elizab. part 1, page 127. of earl ; both my family and birth raise me above it ; I will not yield precedence to any one ; my ancestors have been kings of Ul- ster ; I have gained that kingdom by my sword, and by the sword I will preserve it."* He then spoke contemptuously of Mac Carty More, who had just accepted the title of earl. The English government finding O'Neill fixed in his determination, thought neces- sary to use force against him. For this pur- pose Colonel Randulph was dispatched at the head of seven hundred men, to Derry, a small town in the northern extremity of Ty- rone. They took possession of the town, and converted the ancient church of St. Columb into a magazine for powder and warlike stores ; the priests and monks being driven out, and other sacrileges committed in the churches. t The deputy repaired soon after- wards to Derry, where he continued a few days. Having given the necessary orders for defending the town, and reinforced the garrison with fifty horsemen, commanded by Captain Harvey, and seven hundred foot, under the command of Captain Cornwall, he returned to Dublin. O'Neill saw plainly that it was against his interest to suffer an enemy to establish a garrison so near, and always in readiness to attack him. He marched therefore to Derry without loss of time, with two thousand five hundred infantry, and three hundred cavalry, and posted himself within two miles of the town. According to Cox, Randulph made a sally on the Irish, with three hundred foot and fifty horse, and after a vigorous attack, killed four hundred of them and put the rest to flight, without any loss on the side of the English but that of Randulph himself, who was killed in the action ; but this account appears to be a mere boast of the author, since, independently of the sally alluded to not being mentioned by O'Sulli- van and other writers, it is impossible that two armies could have come to so close an engagement, with only the loss of the com- mander on one side, while four hundred men were killed on the other. It is, on the contrary, certain, that the powder magazine took fire, and that the town and fort of Derry were blown up, by which nearly seven hundred Englishmen, and Randulph their chief, met a miserable end. Discord still prevailed between O'Neill and O'Donnel. The latter was supported by the English, whose aim was to weaken O'Neill, as his power was an obstacle to the * An ancient Irish Manus. Cox, Hist. Irel. p. 221. t Hist. Cathol. Ibcrn. ibid. CHRISTIAN IRELAND. 467 Reformation, which they wished to intro- duce into Ireland, and to the conquest of the country, which was not yet complete. These two princes fought many battles with unequal success. O'Neill, at length, having collected all his forces, gained over the queen's troops that were sent to assist O'Donnel, the celebrated victory of the red Sagums,* called in the Irish language, '■'■Call na gassogaes Deargs." In this battle four hundred English soldiers were killed, besides several officers who had lately ar- rived from England. We have already mentioned that Garret, earl of Desmond, was kept prisoner in the tower of London. During his confinement the other branches of his family caused many disturbances in Munster. John, his brother, defeated in battle and killed with his hand, John Butler, brother to the earl of Ormond. James, son of Maurice Fitzgerald, under- took to defend the right of Garret, and for that end strenuously opposed the attempts of Thomas Rua, who had taken the title of earl of Desmond. The queen, in order to allay the disturbances caused by these no- blemen, sent to Ireland the real earl of Des- mond, and after exhorting him to continue loyal and attached to the crown of England, said, that he might hope by his loyalty to obtain favors and rewards. The earl in thanking her majesty declared, that, after his duty to God, nothing would be more dear to him than to observe faithfully the orders she had given him. The earl of Desmond was received with universal joy throughout the kingdom, and restored to his title and the estates of his ancestors. Finding himself free, he ordered his vassals to raise troops, and to put on foot an army of two thousand men, conduct which caused great uneasiness to Sidney, the deputy. He endeavored to fathom the designs of the earl. Some said that his object was to unite with O'Neill, and create a diversion in Munster in his favor ; while others fancied that his preparations were intended to take revenge for the insults he had received from the earl of Ormond, the viscount of Fermoy, the Barrys, and other noblemen. Whatever they might have been, he obeyed a summons that he had received from the deputy, and proceeded to Dublin with a troop of a hundred horsemen, accom- panied by Sir Warham St. Leger, the pres- ident of Munster, who had been commis- sioned to guard the frontiers of the English * The Sagum was a warlike dress in use among the Persians, Carthaginians, and the Romans, and here signifies the red uniform of the English. province during the absence of the deputy, who had undertaken an expedition into Ul- ster. Accompanied by the earl of Kildare and other noblemen, the deputy set out from Drogheda, at the head of his troops, in the month of September. He marched through a part of Ulster, and passed near Clogher. The troops of O'Neill harassed his rear- guard on their march. O'Donnel on this occasion paid him homage, and was rein- stated by him in the possession of his es- tates, particularly the castles of Ballyshan- non and Donegal, for which O'Donnel agreed to pay to the crown a revenue of two hundred marks a year. Thus the prince of Tirconnel leagued himself with the enemies of his country to save himself from the at- tacks of a powerful neighbor. After this the deputy marched into Con- naught, where he retook the castle of Ros- common, and put a garrison into it, the com- mand of whichhe gave to Thomas Lestrange. Sir Edward Fitton was appointed president of the province : the O'Connor Sligoe, the O'Connor Don, O'FIinn, and others, made their submissions to the deputy, who obliged them to pay an annual revenue to the crown. He marched afterwardstoAthlone, where he caused a bridge to be built, and then sent his troops into winter quarters, after placing garrisons along the frontiers of the English province ; but all these precautions did not prevent O'Neill from devastating it with fire and sword. The deputy then laid siege to Dundalk, in which he failed. The great exploits of the earl of Tyrone were not sufficient to save him from ruin. He wasbrave,and his vassals well disciplined, but they fought better in the field than in their attacks on towns, or in defending them. The deputy was more frequently victorious by stratagem than by force of arms ; he was in possession of fortifications and garrisons from which he made occasional incursions on the lands of Tyrone, and was artful enough to foment discord between that prince and his neighbors. He detached Maguire of Fermanagh, a powerful nobleman of the country, from his interest, and always sup- ported O'Donnel againsthim ; so that O'Neill, finding himself hemmed in on all sides, and his forces weakened, was reduced to the sad alternative of seeking safety among his ene- mies. He had twice defeated the Scotch ; in the first battle he had killed their chief, James MacDonnel, and in the second Surly Boy MacDonnel, brother of the latter, was taken prisoner.* Still his misfortunes forced him ' * War. de Annal. ibid. cap. 10. 468 HrSTORY OF IRELAND. to have recourse to those whom he had in- jured. He restored Surly Boy to his liberty, and set out for Northern Clanncboy, where the Scotch to the number of six hundred were encamped, under the command of Alexander MacDonncI, called the younger, brother to Surly Boy, a. d. 1567. O'Neill appeared with a few attendants in the camp, where he was received with apparent po- liteness ; but the Scotch, either through re- venge for the injuries they had received from him, or hoping to obtain a considerable reward from the English government, stab- bed him, with all his followers, and sent his head to the deputy, who exposed it upon a pole on the castle of Dublin. Such was the end of Shane O'Neill, who had sacrificed every thing for his country. Had his example been followed by the people generally, the English would not have succeeded so soon in reducing Ireland. As to the other nobles of the country, some, in return for the vain title of lord, which bound them to the English govermuent, took the rank of subjects ; others, guided by dif- ferent motives, paid homage to the English, rather than unite for the common cause, so that the interests of religion and liberty were basely sacrificed to the ambition of some and the weakness of others. English authors have drawn a barbarous picture of O'Neill ; he possessed certainly some defects, but we can place no reliance on the testimony of those authors against him. He left two legitimate sons, Henry and John. After his death, he was accused and convicted of the crime of rebellion, and his estates confiscated for the queen's use, by an act of the parliament held in Dublin this year, 1 567.* The estates of the other nobles who had been of O'Neill's party in the war, were also comprised in this act of confisca- tion ; namely, Clanneboy and Fews, the pat- rimonies of the two branches of the O'Neills, Kryne, or Coleraine, the country of the O'Cahans ; Route, belonging to the Mac Quilins ; the territory of the Glinnes, in pos- session of the Scotch, of which James Mac Donnel styled himself the lord and conquer- or ; Iveach, the country of the Magennises ; Orior, that of the O'Hanlons ; the district of Ferny, Uriel, Loghty, and Dartry, belonging to fourbranchesof the MacMahons ; Truogh, the estate of the MacKennas ; and Clancanny or Clanbressail, belonging to the MacCanns. These proprietors were, however, conciliated in some measure. Turlogh Lynogh, one of the most powerful nobles of the family of * Irish Statutes, reign of Elizabeth, p. 309, ct seq. O'Neill, was acknowledged The O'Neill, with the queen's consent ;* but in order to check his authority, she confirmed Hugh, son of Matthew O'Neill, in the title of baron of Dungaunon, and subsequently in that of Tyrone. The others received part of their estates as a favor, to hold from the queen by letters patent. Among other absurdities in the statute here alluded to, is the insufli- ciency of the proofs which are advanced in favor of the right of the kings of England to the throne of Ireland. An exact account of the expenditure of this war against Shane O'Neill, was sent to the queen ;t according to which it amounted to one hundred and forty-seven thousand four hundred and seven pounds sterling, besides the taxes raised on the country. Her majesty also lost about three thousand five hundred men of her own troops, who were killed by the prince of Tyrone and his allies, with several of the Irish and Scotch who had taken up arms against him. Peace having been partly restored in Ul- ster, war broke out anew in Munster, between the houses of Desmond and Ormond.| Their animosities drove them to the fatal alterna- tive of a battle near Drumelin, after which they both were commanded to repair to England, in order that their quarrels might be investigated in council. The subject, however, being too intricate to be tried in England, they were sent back to Ireland, where witnesses might more conveniently be examined. They, however, would not submit to the laws ; but again took up arms, and recommenced hostilities. Inconsequence of the complaints of Ormond, the queen sent orders to the deputy to repair to Munster without delay, 1^ and to put down Desmond. In conformity with these orders, the deputy set out with a few troops for that province, where he remained three months. The rea- sons and complaints of both parties being heard, he decided against Desmond, whom he ordered to indemnify his enemy ; and on his refusal to submit to this decision, the deputy had him arrested at Kilmallock, and brought to Limerick, where he was accused of high treason for having taken up arms against the queen. While the deputy was waiting the termination of the trial he created John Desmond, the earl's brother, a knight, and appointed him seneschal of Desmond ; this promotion gave great umbrage to the earl of Ormond, who represented to the * Camb. reg. Elizab. part 1, p. 131. t War. deAnnal. ibid. cap. 11. t Camb. reg. EHzab. part 1, 130. § Cox, Hist, of Ircl. pp. 325, 326. CHRISTIAN IRELAND. 469 queen that the deputy was partial to Des- mond, which excited her majesty's dis- pleasure towards him. Sidney began to feel a dislike to his office of governor of Ireland, being thwarted in his views by the earl of Ormond, to whom he thought the queen listened too attentively. He was also importuned with the complaints of Oliver Sutton, a gentleman of the English province, against the earl of Kildare ; and accusations were brought against Sir Ed- raond Butler and his brother, by Lady Dun- boyne, MacBrian Ara, Oliver Fitzgerald, and others, so that he begged of the court to appoint a chancellor capable of assisting him in the administration of affairs ; and this office was, in consequence, conferred on Doctor Weston, who landed in Dublin in the July following. Sidney still continued to request his recall, which he obtained at length, and was permitted to return to Eng- land. He brought with him the earl of Desmond, the baron of Dungannon, O'Con- nor Sligo, O'CarroU, and others. The earl of Desmond and O'Connor were confined in the tower, and Sir John Desmond sent for to Ireland, to keep them company. O'Connor submitted to the queen and was restored to his liberty ; the same favor was soon after- wards extended to the earl of Desmond, on similar conditions. In the absence of Sidney, Weston the chancellor, and Sir William Fitzwilliams the treasurer of war, governed Ireland as lords- justices, by commission under the great seal, dated the 14th of October.* During the administration of the latter, quarrels arose between some private families, which subse- quently degenerated into religious feuds. The Butlers were still at variance with the Fitzgeralds ; Sir Edmond Butler, brother to Ormond, with Peter Grace, lord of Cours- town, in the county of Kilkenny, made incur- sions on the lands of Oliver Fitzgerald. The O'Connors and O'Morras threatened the possessions of the O'Carrolls. Daniel Mac Carty More renounced the title of earl of Glencar, and assumed that of king of Mun- ster, and entering into a league with O'Sul- livan More, MacS weeny, and others, laid waste the domains of Roche, viscount of Fermoy. In Ulster, Turlough Lynogh, who had taken the title of. O'Neill, declared war against O'Donncl and his allies the Scotch ; and killed Alexander MacDonnel, the mur derer of Shane O'Neill. A serious dispute arose in Connaught, between MacWilliam Oughter, (Burke,) and O'Connor Sligo * Cox, ibid, pages 326, 327. There were likewise differences between the earl of Thuomond and O'Seaghnassy. Such was the state of affairs on Sidney's return to Ireland, in 1568. He landed at Can'ickfergus about the end of September, and had an interview with Turlough Lynogh O'Neill, respecting the hostilities which the latter had committed against O'Donnel, the Scotch, and others who were under the protection of the court. O'Neill, however, cleared himself with the deputy, and both noblemen separated on good terms. The deputy was sworn in on the 20th of October, in Dublin, and gave orders that Sir Edmond Butler should be sent for ; he did not, how- ever, think fit to obey his mandate. The deputy convened a parliament in Dublin, in January,* in which angry debates took place between the Catholics and the Protestants, respecting the elections of mem- bers for this parliament. The matter was decided by Dillon and Plunket, judges of the grand council, and by the report which was made to parliament by Sir Luke Dillon, who was then attorney-general. Several acts respecting religion, and other public affairs, were passed by this parliament ; some of them have been already mentioned ; the rest are to be met with in the collection of Irish statutes printed in Dublin in 1621.f About this time Sir Peter Carew came over to Ireland to take possession of the in- heritance of one of his ancestors, who enjoy- ed the title of marquis of Cork, and large estates in the country. The principal objects of his claims were, the barony of Idrone, in the county of Carlow, and the district of Ballymaclethan, in Meath. Weak as his pre- tensions were to the barony of Idrone, the ancient patrimony of the Cavanaghs, it was adjudged to him by the deputy and council ; but he was not so successful in the claim to Ballymaclethan. This was in possession of Sir Christopher Chivers, a man of English origin, and consequently more indulgence was given to him by the council. The trial, therefore, ended in an adjustment with the latter. After the death of Shane O'Neill, who was the support of Catholicity and the terror of the English, the reformed religion began to take root in Ireland. Queen Elizabeth de- sired nothing more ardently than to extend the ecclesiasticaljurisdiction, and to rule over the church in this country, as she did in Eng- land. The English government adopted every measure likely to advance her views. For this they took care to send over English * Cox, ibid, page 328, et seq. t Page 309, et seq. 470 HISTORY OF IRELAND. conformists, attached to the opinions of the court ; on whom the bishoprics and other ec- clesiastical dignities were conferred accord- ing as they expelled the Catholic ministers. To these bishops orders were given to sup- press every Catholic institution in their several dioceses, and to establish Protestant free schools, under the guidance of English Protestants, in order that the minds of youth while most susceptible of strong impressions, might be seduced.* Laws were enacted, compelling parents to send their children to these schools, and to attend the Protestant service themselves on Sundays. These laws also decreed pecuniary fines against all who refused, which were changed afterwards into the penalties of high treason, so that by acts of parliament, the fidelity and attachment of the Catholics to the religion of their fore- fathers, were construed into this enormous crime. Every individual, both of the clergy and laity, was commanded to acknowledge the ecclesiastical supremacy of Elizabeth, and to renounce all obedience to the pope and church of Rome .f Many able preachers, both English and Scotch, were sent to Ire- land. The principal were Goodman, Cart- wright, Knox, Janson,Burchley, and Brady. It was hoped that their great eloquence would win the people to them ; but the court finding these missionaries unsuccessful, and the Irish still adhering to their own tenets in religion, determined to change matters and attack the heads of the Catholic party. Richard Burke, earl of Clanriccard, a pow- erful nobleman in Connaught, was arrested by orders of the que en. | Ulick and John, the earl's two sons, assembled their vassals, however, and took up arms against the gov- ernment in revenge for the injury done to their father, and thus procured him his freedom. The tyranny of the English government excited the alarm of the Irish. Finding the thunder ready to burst and crush them, they saw no hope save in resistance. In Munster they first signalized themselves ; the chief of the confederacy was James Fitzmaurice, cousin to the earl of Desmond, MacCarty More, earl of Glencar, MacDonogh, and other branches of the MacCartys, and Fitz- gerald of Imokelly.i^ The hatred of the Butlers against the house of Desmond, did not prevent Edmond, Edward, and Peter Butler, brothers to the earl of Ormond, from uniting with Fitzmaurice in defence of their * Irish Stat, page 346. t Peter Lombard, Comment, dc lib. c. 19. t Hist. Cathol. lib. tom. 2, lib. 4, c. 4. § Camd. Elizab. 1, p. 172. War. ibid. religion. The earl of Desmond, whose me- mory shoidd be for ever dear to the Catholics of Ireland, was still a prisoner in the tower of London. He had intrusted the manage- ment of his estates to James Fitzmaurice, his relative ; but Ormond and Thuomond, more politic, but less religious than Des- mond, had already sacrificed their religion, and the freedom of their country, to ambi- tion, and a desire to ingratiate themselves with the court. The first step of the confederates was to depute the bishops of Cashel and Emly, and one of the sons of the earl of Desmond, to go with letters to the pope and the king of Spain, to solicit their assistance. Sidney being informed of their movements, pro- claimed them all as traitors, and dispatched Sir Peter Carew with a body of troops against Sir Edmond Butler. Carew was so expeditious that he took the castle of Clogh- griman by surprise, and gave it up to plun- der. He then marched to Kilkenny, where he defeated a body of light troops. On the other hand, the confederates lost no oppor- tunity of harassing their enemies. James Fitzmaurice intended to besiege Kilkenny, but having no artillery, and the garrison being strong, and provided with every thing necessary to make an able defence, he aban- doned his design, and had to content him- self with ravaging the estates of the English in the neighborhood, while his allies laid waste the counties of Wexford, Waterford, and Ossory, and proceeded to the very gates of Dublin. The campaign thus passed over in hostile attacks on both sides. The earl of Ormond was in England when he heard with regret of the rebellion of his brothers in Ireland. He applied to the queen to be permitted to serve against them, promising to bring them back to their duty either by persuasion or by force — and set out by leave of the court, for Ireland. He landed at Waterford, or, according to Cox, at Wexford, the 14th of August.* His ar- rival was immediately communicated to the deputy, whom he soon after joined at Lime- rick. Ormond sent for his brother Edmond to come to the camp of the deputy, who received his submission, enjoining him to appear before him on his arrival in Dublin. He became security for his brother, who proved faithful to his engagement, by his appearance at the time appointed. To the deputy's questions on the cause of his having rebelled, he answered the representative of majesty with so much haughtiness, that he * Camd. ibid, page 173. Ware, ibid. cap. 12. CHRISTIAN IRELiAND. 471 was arrested and imprisoned in the castle of Dublin, from which, he shortly afterwards escaped. Ormond himself continued faithful to the queen, whose confidence he had gained, by sacrificing what he owed to his God and to his country ; the rebellion of his brothers he considered as a stain upon his family. They received a second time, by orders of the queen, a general pardon from the council in Dublin, without being obliged to make their appearance ; and by this means were detached from the Catholic party. Pope Pius V. pronounced the following sentence against Queen Elizabeth in 1569. " Pius, bishop and servant of the servants of God ; be it remembered by posterity, that he who is omnipotent in heaven and on earth, hath confided his church, which is one Holy, Catholic, and Apostolical, and out of which there is no salvation, to one man upon earth, namely, to Peter, prince of the apostles, and to the bishops of Rome, his successors, with full power to rule over it. This pontifT alone hath been constituted head over all nations and kingdoms, and invested with power to destroy, to separate, to scatter, and subvert ; to plant, build up, and link together by mu- tual charity, in order to preserve the faithful in the spirit of unity, and surrender them whole and entire to their Saviour. In order to fulfil the duties imposed on us by the divine goodness, we labor incessantly to maintain the unity of the Roman Catholic religion which God hath visited with heavy conflicts, to the end, that His own may be tried, and for our correction ; but the num- bers and power of the wicked have so far prevailed, that no portion of the earth has escaped their attempts to propagate their infectious and detested dogmas, being sup- ported, among others, by that slave to every species of crime, Elizabeth, the supposed queen of England, under whom the worst enemies of the church have found security. This same Elizabeth haA'ing seized upon the throne, and usurped the authority and juris- diction of supreme head of the church of England, has again plunged that country into a state of misery, from which it was beginning to emerge and to return to the Catholic faith. Having by the violence of her measures prevented the exercise of true religion, which that apostate prince, Henry VHI. destroyed, and which Mary, his legi- timate daughter, of illustrious memory, had restored, in concert with the holy see ; she has embraced all the errors of heresy, and excluded the English nobility from the royal council, which she has filled with obscure heretics. The Catholics have been oppressed, and the preachers of iniquity established ; the sacrifice of the mass has been abolished ; prayers, fasting, abstinence, celibacy, and all the rites of Catholicity have been likewise suppressed. She has filled the kingdom with books containing the most flagrant heresies, and not content herself with adopting and conforming to the false and impious doc- trines of Calvin, she has forced her subjects to embrace them. The whole of the Catholic hierarchy and priesthood throughout Eng- land, have been driven from their livings, vt^hich have been bestowed on the heretics. Her decisions in ecclesiastical causes have been set up, and the bishops, the clergy, and the people forbidden to acknowledge the authority of the Roman church, or to obey its ordinances and canonical decisions. Thus has Elizabeth compelled most of the people of England, by oath, to subscribe to her nefarious laws, and renounce all authority of the Roman pontiff; to acknowledge her to be head both of church and state ; condemn- ing those that have refused, to heavy fines and punishments, whereby those who have persevered in the faith, are overwhelmed with suffering and afflictions. The Catholic bishops and clergy have been loaded with chains, and many of them have ended their days in misery and imprisonment. This per- secution is known to all nations, and so clearly proved, that all palliation, argument, or pretext on her part, is unavailing. We find, moreover, that impiety and crimes have increased, that persecution against the re- ligion of Rome has been redoubled by orders of Elizabeth, and that her heart has become so perverted and obdurate, that she has re- fused to hearken to the charitable counsels of Catholic princes, and has denied admit- tance to the legates of our apostolical see into England, who have been deputed thither for the same object. With deep sorrow we are now constrained to have recourse to the arms of justice, and obliged to punish a princess whose ancestors have rendered important services to the church. " In virtue, therefore, of the divine au- thority by which we have been placed on this supreme throne of justice, an office so superior to our capability, we do, in the plenitude of apostolical power, declare that the said Elizabeth, who is herself a heretic, and the encourager of heresy, together with all her adherents, have incurred the sentence of excommunication, and that they are here- by cut off from the unity of the body of Jesus Christ. Moreover, we proclaim her to have forfeited all right to the said throne, and also all dominion, dignity, and privileges 472 HISTORY OF IRELAND. appertaining to it. We likewise declare, that all subjects of every rank in the said kingdom, and every individual who has taken any oath of loyalty to her in any way whatever, shall be for ever absolved from said oath, as also from all duty, fidelity, or obedience, as we hereby exonerate them from all such engagements, and we do deprive the said Elizabeth of her pretended claim to the throne of England. The nobility and others above named, we prohibit to obey her, her ordinances and laws, under pain of becom- ing subject to the same anathema. " As the circulation of this bull, by sending it to all places, would become a matter of difficulty, it is commanded that copies of it be taken and signed by a notary, subscribed by a bishop, and sealed with the seal of our court ; they will then have the same power and efficacy as these presents have. " Given at St. Peter's, on the 5th of the calends of January, in the year of our Lord 1569, and 5th of our pontificate." A parliament was held in Dublin the same year, by which several acts were passed ;* among others, one giving to her majesty a right to estates and lands in the county of Kildare, belonging to Christopher Eustace, lord of Cotlanston, who was executed, under Henry VIII., for high treason. By a similar act, the estates of Thomas Fitzgerald, knight of the Glynn, in the county of Limerick, and his son Thomas, were confiscated, for their rebellion.! The deputy being at Cork, entered the district of Cirricurry, and seized on the castle of Carigoline ; after which he marched to Orrery, and took possession of Buttevant. He intended to proceed to Kilmallock, but was prevented by James Fitzmaurice, who scaled the walls, and made himself master of the town, but finding it impracticable to hold it, he set it on fire. The deputy had the town rebuilt, and put a garrison into it, of four hundred soldiers, one hundred horsemen, and some light troops, under the command of Colonel Gilbert, whom he appointed gov- ernor of- the province. Having restored peace to the counties of Cork and Limerick, and received the oath of allegiance of some nobles of these districts, viz., Roche, Courcy, Power, Decye, and some others, the deputy returned to Limerick. Soon after, Gilbert was created a knight, at Drogheda, for his services during his ad- ministration in Munster. He then went to England, where he married a rich widow ; but having died suddenly. Sir John Perrott * Irish Statutes, page 301. t Ibid, page 326. was appointed president of Munster in his stead. War still raged in Leinster and Connaught. Sir Peter Carew endeavored to reduce the Cavanaghs. The tyranny of Fitton over the inhabitants of Connaught was so great, that Conoghor O'Brien, earl of Thuomond, although a loyal subject to England, was obliged to take up arms, and in spite of the mediation of the earl of Ormond, who was sent by the deputy to quell the disturbances, they came to an engagement. Thuomond was defeated, and obliged to fly into France, where he met Norris, the English ambassa- dor, who procured him his pardon from Eli- zabeth. The earl testified his gratitude, by the important services he afterwards rendered to the crown of England against his country. Turlough Lynogh O'Neill, who had been acknowledged chief of that illustrious tribe, continued to support the cause of religion in Ulster, A. D. 1570. The noblemen of Ulster and Scotland made frequent alliances about that time. O'Neill married the earl of Ar- gyle's aunt, and kept Scotch troops in his pay. This prince was planning an expedition against the English province, but was un- happily prevented from carrying it into exe- cution. His life being endangered by a musket-shot he received, either by accident or by design, the Scotch began to desert him, and the tribe was about to appoint another chief. Having, however, recovered, while preparing to accomplish his first pro- ject against the English, the deputy dis- patched two commissioners, Judge Dowdal and the dean of Armagh, on the part of the queen, to his camp at Dungannon ; and a treaty was entered into between them in January, which was ratified by the deputy in the month of March following. The O'Ferrals, ancient lords of Annaly, at present the county of Longford, surren- dered their district to the government, who restored them part of it, on condition of pay- ing one hundred marks a year. Lord chief- baron Bath died about this time. He was succeeded by Luke Dilon. Perrott being appointed governor of Mun- ster, George Bourchier, son of the earl of Bath, and George Walsh, were appointed his colleagues ; the former to aid him in the military, the latter in the civil administration. This president was successful in a* war he carried on against the confederates, and obliged some of their chiefs, namely, Mac Carty More, Lord Barry, MacCarty Riagh, Donough MacTcigue of Muskerry, Lord Courcy, and Mac Donough, to defray the expenses of the war, which weakened con- siderably the party of James Fitzmaurice. CHRISTIAN IRELAND. 473 Sidney the deputy obtained permission from the queen to return to England, with orders to appoint in his stead his brother-in- law, Sir William Fitzwilliams, who was sworn into office in St. Patrick's cathedral, Dublin, in April.* The Irish characters, for printing, were introduced into Ireland the same year, by Nicholas Walsh, the chan- cellor of St. Patrick's, and John Kerne, treasurer. Government gave orders to have prayer-books printed in the Irish language, in order to seduce the people, but their ef- forts did not succeed. Brien Cavanagh, son of Cahir MacArt, who was created baron of Balian by Queen Mary, caused great disturbance in Leinster ; he was a brave and accomplished nobleman. f He killed Robert Brown, lord of Malrenkam, for having insulted him. Brien's pride made him so formidable to his neighbors, that Sir Nicholas Devereux and the principal inhab- itants of Wexford, assembled to check his progress. They came to an engagement, which was fatal to Devereux ; he lost thir- ty gentlemen on the field of battle, besides several soldiers. Connaught was also in a state of rebel- lion, at the head of which were the Burkes of Clanriccard, who could not bear the ty- rannical government of Fitton. They there- fore took up arms, and, together with their allies, the Scotch, devastated the whole country. Tranquillity was at length restored to the province, says Co'x, by a victory which Captain Collin, with one company of infantry, gained over the Scotch, who amounted to a thousand men.| Elizabeth saw that the re- bellion in Connaught was caused by Fitton's severity ; he was consequently removed from the government of the province, and appoint- ed treasurer. The O'Morras and O'Connors of Leinster made attempts to create a diver- sion in favor of the rebels in Connaught ; they burned Athlone, and made some incur- sions on the English province, where they committed terrible devastation. In Ulster, Brien Mac-Felimy O'Neill made himself mas. ter of Carrickfergus, and then set it on fire. Thomas Smith, an Englishman, and coun- sellor to the queen, finding that his country- men were making rapid fortunes in Ireland, at the expense of the old inhabitants, and wishing to have a share in the spoils, asked permission from his royal mistress to send over his son to found an English colony at Ardes, in Ulster. He had two objects in view ; first, to procure an extensive estate * War. ibidr cap. 13. t Cambd. Elizab. part 2, p. 240. I History of Ireland, p. 339. for his son where he might become a power- ful nobleman ; secondly, to conceal from posterity, in a foreign land, the ignominy of his birth, being illegitimate. The queen having given her consent, young Smith was equipped for the enterprise. One Chatter- ton being appointed his governor, with a suit- able retinue, they sailed for Ireland ; but on approaching the place of his destination, unfortunately for Smith, he met Brien Mac- Art O'Neill, to whom Ardes belonged, ready to receive him. The pretended lord of Ardes was killed in a skirmish, and his troops dis- persed by Brien Mac-Art. Cambden gives a different account of the above circumstance. He assumes, first, that the queen of England had a right to bestow what did not belong to her.* It is true that her predecessors often pronounced sentence of confiscation against those who never ac- knowledged their authority, and who were always opposed to them. This authority of the kings of England, with respect to the greater part of Ireland, particularly Ulster, was confined to the permission which they granted to their subjects, to seize on the pos- sessions of others by force ; which permis- sion being given, the resistance of the pro- prietor was construed by the English into rebellion. Our author emphatically observes, that Thomas Smith, moved with compassion for neglected Ireland, obtained leave from the queen to send over his bastard son to establish at Ardes, on the eastern coast of Ulster, a colony of Englishmen, in order to civilize the semi-barbarous inhabitants of that country. We might be induced to think that Christian charity was the motive of Smith's conduct on this occasion, but that we are told that this Englishman had already divided the lands of Ardes among his fol- lowers, promising to each foot-soldier a hun- dred and twenty acres ; to a horseman two hundred and forty ; and to others in propor- tion to their rank, on condition of paying him an annual rent of one penny an acre, without mention of any thing for the old proprietor. By this it is obvious, that a pre- tended desire of civilizing the inhabitants of Ardes was a species of pretext to invade their lands. As to the epithet barbarous, which Cambden applies to the people of Ardes, and the word perfidy to Brien Mac-Art, for having killed an en&my who came armed to dispossess him, it is the general style of the English, who believe that their adver- saries' obedience should be measured ac- cording to their will, and who always define * Elizabeth, part 2, pp. 240, 241. 4*^4 HISTORY OF IRELAND. the self-defence of a people whom they op- press by the term barbarity. Walter Dovereux, viscount Hereford, was created by the queen earl of Essex in 1573. This nobleman was descended in a direct line from the ancient counts d'Evreux, de- scendants of the dukes of Normandy, by Robert, archbishop of Rouen, and Count d'Evreux.* In order to gratify him, the queen, whose most attached favorite he was, gave him the half of certain lordships which had been confiscated in Ulster, with the title of captain-general of that province, on con- dition of repairing thither with two hundred horse and four hundred foot, whom he was to support for two years at his own expense. f To induce men to join readily in this expe- dition, they were flattered with the hope of estates ; whoever should have served with- out pay in the cavalry for two years, was to receive four hundred acres of land, and those who served in the infantry, were to have similar terms, viz., to receive two hundred acres on condition of their paying an annual rent of two pence per acre. Fitzwilliam, then lord-deputy, was envious of his new rival ; and fearing that his own merits would be eclipsed by a nobleman in- vested with royal authority, he made use of all his influence to counteract this enterprise .| In order to reconcile both parties, the queen commanded Essex to take his patents for the government of Ulster from the deputy. This difiiculty being removed, the earl, accompa- nied by several English nobles, who wished to be sharers of his fortune, and witnesses of his exploits, sailed for Ireland, and landed at Carrickfergus about the end of August. He was waited upon and complimented by Brien MacFelimy, O'Neill, and other Irish nobles, who did not suspect him in the beginning ; but on seeing the train that accompanied him, they left him on a sudden, and joined the standard of Tirlogh Linogh O'Neill. The earl of Essex had scarcely landed in Ireland, when he wished to return to Eng- land. From the many difficulties he met with in his undertaking, and the armed hos- tility of the inhabitants of Ulster, he found * Baker, Chron. p. 346. Cambd. Elizab. part 2, page 255. t War. ibid. c. 13. Cambd. ibid. p. 256. t The earl of Leicester was honored with the ti- tle of grand equerry to the queen. He was youngest son to the duke of Nortliumberland, who was be- headed in the first year of Mary's reign. His grand- father was Dudley, who is ranked by English his- torians with Empson, one of those infamous leeches of the public money during the reign of Henry VII., and who was put to death in the first year of Henry the Eighth's reign. himself abandoned by degrees by those no- blemen who accompanied him. The earl of Leicester, desirous of keeping him at a distance, opposed his wish to leave Ireland. He was at length, however, permitted to return to England, after an expedition, the only result of which was the loss of large simis of money. James Fitzrnaurice continued to devastate the lands of the queen's partisans iriMunster, A. D. 1574. He frequently fought against John Perrott, governor of the province, and was often victorious ; having defeated the royal troops at Kilmallock, Sanid, Kuille- hugie, and Cluonie, where Captain Morgan was killed, and his troops dispersed.* The queen, alarmed at the successes of Fitzmaurice, sent orders to her deputy to ofler him terms of peace ; declaring that she desired more to preserve her authority in Ireland than to persecute religion. Fitz- maurice agreed to lay down his arms, pro- vided that the persecution against the Cath- olics of the province would cease ; and that the earl of Desmond and his brother John, who were prisoners in the Tower, would be set at liberty. These conditions were wil- lingly accepted by the queen, and Fitzmau- rice put a stop to hostilities. Elizabeth gave orders to liberate the earl and his brother : she had them brought before her, and admonished them to ptit an end to a rebellion which disturbed the public peace. The earl replied that he never wished to rebel, and that his own loyalty, and that of his ancestors, to the kings of England, were well known, but that he could not bear the tyranny practised by her majesty's ministers upon the people for their religion. The queen dismissed both with apparent kind- ness, promising to fulfil the treaty she had concluded with Fitzmaurice. The perfidious princess, however, sent orders secretly to the captain of the ship that was to bring them to Dublin, to give them up to the de- puty who resided there. She also dispatch- ed a secret communication to the latter, to retain the earl with him in Dublin, and to send his brother John to Munster, in order to bring James Fitzmaurice with him to that city, that the three might confirm and sign the treaty that had been made with the queen. Such was the plausible but treacherous mo- tive assigned ; but the secret determination was, to have the three beheaded together. The earl, however, being apprized of the design, fled immediately. He owed his life to the swiftness of his horse, by which he * Hist. Cathol. Hib. tome 2, lib. 4, cap. 8. Relat. Girald. cap. CHRISTIAN IRELAND. 475 arrived, after five days, with his brother and cousin James Fitzniaurice, in the remotest part of the county Kerry. The earl of Des- mond was so far incensed against the Eng- Ush government by this new act of trea- chery, that he began the war with more vigor than before, whereupon he was pro- claimed a traitot ; the government offered a reward of a thousand pounds and forty pounds a year, to any that would give him up alive, or five hundred pounds and twenty pounds a year, for his head. The deputy marched his forces to Mun- ster, to quell the disturbances caused by the Fitzgeralds, and gave, in his absence, the government of the English province to the earl of Kildare. War was not the only scourge with which Ireland was afflicted at this time. The plague carried away numbers in the English province, while the Irish, who were ani- mated by the promises they received from Rome and Spain, were everywhere up in arms. Fitzwilliam, the deputy, was recalled A. D. 1575, after much importunity on his own part. The queen again turned her thoughts to- wards Sidney for the government of Ireland. He was better acquainted than any of his countrymen with the state of affairs there, and consequently better calculated to gov- ern it ; but he knew well the difflculty of subjugating the country, which made him averse to undertake the office. In order, however, to fix his mind to the attempt, the queen sent over a fresh reinforcement with warlike stoi'es, and promised him twenty thousand pounds a year. Pleased with these hopes, Sidney sailed in September for Ire- land, and on account of the plague in Dub- lin, landed at Skerries, whence he repaired to Drogheda to be sworn into office. Having learned at Drogheda that Surly Boy Mac-Donnel was laying siege to Car- rickfergus, and had killed forty men and their commander Captain Baker, he march- ed at the head of six hundred men, and forced Surly Boy to abandon his enterprise. He then pacified the O'Neills, O'Donnels, M'Mahons, Maguires, and other nobles of the North. After this expedition to Ulster, Sidney marched into Leinster, where he found the county of Kildare, particularly the I barony of Carbry, laid waste by the O'Mor- I ras and O'Connors. The King's and Queen's counties had shared the same fate ; but Rory j O'Morra made peace with the deputy at I Kilkenny, through the interference of Or- mond. After leaving Kilkenny, Sidney I marched through the counties of Waterford, Cork, and Limerick. He then passed through Thuomond and Galway, administering jus- tice in all these places ; received the sub- mission of the Burkes of Clanriccard, who had rebelled, and left garrisons in the towns on his route to Dublin. The plague ceased in Dublin and in the English province in 1576, but the tyranny of the English was a continual scourge. The country appeared a desert ; the towns were destroyed by the marching and coun- termarching of the troops, after whom, as they passed along, nothing was to be seen but wretchedness and desolation, particu- larly in Louth, Meath, Kildare, Wexford, Carlow, and the King and Queen's coun- ties, which were at one time harassed by the O'Morras and O'Connors, and again by the English troops. In the deputy's letters to the queen on this subject, he complained that the undertakers* in the two latter counties were so poor and so few in number, that he was obliged to leave a garrison of two hundred soldiers to protect them, while the produce of both counties did not amount to a twentieth part of what it cost the crown to support them. He also gave her an account of his services, namely, that he had rebuilt Kilmallock, and imposed a tax of two thousand pounds on the inhabitants of Connaught to rebuild Athenry, which had been burned by the Mac-an-Earlas, that is, the children of the earl of Clanriccard ; and that he had taken the castles of Ballyclare and Ballinasloe from that nobleman, and had received the submission of the O'Connor Don and O'Flin, at Roscommon, who wished to be governed by English laws. He likewise mentioned that Connaught was disturbed by the Scotch, allies of the Burkes of Clanriccard ; that Longford had agreed to pay all arrears which were due ; that Brefny was tranquil ; that he had appointed Thomas Lestrange and Thomas Dillon, commissioners in Connaught for the settlement of private quarrels ; and lastly, that he had made Robert Damport high-sheriff" of the province. The affairs of religion were not more prosperous than those of government ; the churches wei'e abandoned ; the priests were dispersed ; the children left without bap- tism, and brought up in ignorance, the na- tural consequence of one religion endeavor- * These undertakers were needy Englishmen, who were sent over to establish a colony in those counties, between whom the estates of the O'Mor- ras, O'Connors, and other noblemen, which had been confiscated under the pretext of their having rebelled, were divided. 476 HISTORY OP IRELAND. ing to establish itself on the downfall of another. The ministers of the old religion were driven from their sees, while those of the new were too few to sujiply their places. These last were Englishmen, sent to preach the new doctrine, but were not attended to by the people ; they were shepherds without flocks. The attachment of the Irish to the Catholic religion has been unexampled. Not- withstanding the severe laws that were enacted by Henry VIII., Edward VI., and Elizabeth, down to the accession of James I., it is a well-established truth, that during that period the number of Irish who em- braced the reformed religion did not amount to sixty, in a country, which, at the time, contained about two millions of souls. With all her power, Elizabeth could not boast of having established the Protestant church in Ireland. The marked abhorrence of this nation to every innovation in religion, made this politic princess dread the consequences of forcing their conscience ; she therefore waited a more favorable opportunity, and enjoined the archbishops and bishops to watch only the interests of the church. She appointed William Gerald chancellor, and Sir William Drury president of Munster. The two latter having landed in Dublin in June, the chancellor took possession of his office. The deputy wished to bring Drury to Wexford, and have him installed in the presidency of Munster, but was obliged to change his plan ; having received a letter from the mayor of Galway, informing him that the Burkes of Clanriccard were again in arms with their vassals ; that they had brought back their allies the Scotch, set fire to the gates of Athenry, which had been lately rebuilt, and pulled down the arms of the queen ; and that the inhabitants were plundered and their dwellings destroyed. The deputy immediately set out for Con- naught, where he arrived after three days, to the great astonishment of the rebels, who quickly withdrew to their fastnesses. Find- ing no enemy to contend with, he took pos- session of the castles and fortresses of the earl of Clanriccard, whom he sent prisoner to Dublin, to answer for the conduct of his sons. He then visited Galway, where he remained for some days, and from that went to Limerick, where Drury was installed president of Munster, after which they both proceeded to Cork. The new president exercised the greatest severity in the province of Munster, except in the palatinate of Kerry, which the earl of Desmond considered to be exempt from the royal authority. A dispute arose upon this subject between him and the president, whom he accused to the deputy of having raised exorbitant and arbitrary taxes on the people. The Burkes of Clanriccard, whose father was kept a prisoner in the castle of Dublin, rebelled again, and called the Scotch to their assistance. They laid siege to Bally- riagh, or Loughreagh, a castle within the possessions of the earl their father ; but the garrison, which consisted of veteran troops under the command of Thomas Lestrange and Captain Collier, experienced officers, found no difficulty in dispersing a body of men collected in a hurry, and without dis- cipline or arms. The deputy marched thither with his army, and being assisted by Mac William Oughter, a powerful lord of the family of Burke, in Connaught, he com- pletely quelled the disturbance, restored Mac William to his estates, and appointed Nicholas Mally governor of the province, after conferring on him the honor of knight- hood, according to his instructions from the queen. In the mean time, the earl of Essex un- dertook a second expedition into Ulster, which proved fatal to him. He had many enemies at court, the principal and most formidable of whom was the earl of Leices- ter. The latter inherited the talents and artifices of his father ; he was well versed in the intrigues of the court ; the favorite of Elizabeth, and a sworn enemy to Essex, who was then sent back to Ireland with the empty title of lord-marshal, which by its attrac- tions would necessarily render his fall more sure. He was forced soon after, by his ene- mies, to resign his command. The insult being too great to be borne, he was seized with a dysentery, and died in Dublin, after recommending his son, who was about ten years of age, to the protection of the deputy. The earl of Leicester was suspected of hav- ing caused Essex to be poisoned, which is not improbable, as Leicester married the countess of Essex during the lifetime of her husband, which ceremony was again per- formed after his death. The nobility of Leinster forwarded com- plaints similar to those that were brought by the earl of Desmond, against Drury, for his extortions in Munster, a. d. 1577.* A me- morial was laid before the deputy, represent- ing that their libei"ties and privileges were violated by an exorbitant and unreasonable tax, which exceeded twelve pounds sterling for every plough-land, while the parliament * Ware, de Annal. lib. chap. 19. Cambd. ibid, page 280. CHRISTIAN IRELAND. 477 alone possessed the right of levying taxes. Displeased with his reply, they forwarded an appeal to the queen, by three deputies, Scurlock, Nettervil, and Burnel, bringing also letters signed by Lords Baltinglass, Del- vin, Howth, Trimleston, and others, in the name of the English province. The queen referred them to her council for their decis- ion : the Lords Kildare, Ormond, Gormans- town, and Dunsany, having been examined, they answered, that it had been always cus- tomary to impose taxes on the queen's subjects in Ireland ; but at the same time entreated that they might be raised with more lenity.* The queen finding that the petitioners wished to dispute her authority, sent the three com- rriissioners to prison, and dispatched orders to her deputy in Ireland to arrest the peti- tioners, to fix the tax at five marks for each plough-land, and to punish all abuses in the collection of them. Matters being thus ar- ranged, the petitioners submitted, and were set at liberty, as well as their commissioners. About this time Sir John Desmond, bro- ther to the earl, married the daughter of the earl of Clanriccard, who had been divorced by her first husband, O'Rourke. By this marriage he formed a close connection with the house of Clanriccard, the object of which was to aid each other against their enemies. This alliance caused uneasiness to the gov- ernment, and made them watchful of the earl of Desmond's movements, whose loyalty was already doubted. CHAPTER XLII. After Garret Fitzgerald, earl of Des- mond, had escaped from prison in Dublin, and from the perfidious design the queen had formed to exterminate himself and family, he was extremely cautious in his conduct to- wards the court ; but never lost sight of the interests of religion, which he secretly sup- ported, and which he considered as his first and most important duty. He placed no reliance on the repeated treaties with Eliza- beth, who had so often deceived him. Deem- ing it prudent to take precautionary meas- ures, he sent his relative, James Fitzmau- rice, to Rome, to consult with Gregory XIII. about preserving the faith in Ireland, and resisting its avowed enemies. Fitzmaurice first went, according to his instructions, 'to the court of France, where he was well re- , eeived by the king, who seemed willing to * Baker's Cliron. page 352. | assist the earl of Desmond in his plans to support the Catholic religion, but was pre- vented by his council.* After this, Fitz- maurice went to Spain. Philip II. recom- mended him strongly to the pope, and re- quested his holiness to take under his pro- tection the persecuted Catholics of Ireland. While James Fitzmaurice was seeking the aid of foreign princes, Rory or Roderick O'Morra and O'Connor Faly were vindi- cating their country's freedom against the queen's ministers, who practised every spe- cies of tyranny against the Catholics. The estates of these noblemen were confiscated in the reign of Mary. Rory, by his bravery, recovered the district of Leix, and kept pos- session of it till his death. He surprised and burned many towns belonging to the English in Leinster ; among others, Naas, Carlow, Leighlin, Rathcoole, and Ballymore. Being attacked by some royalist troops, he took their captains, Harrington and Cosby, prisoners, and brought them to his usual retreat in the middle of a wood. Here, however, he was soon after betrayed by a servant, and surprised in the night by Robert Harpool, at the head of two hundred English- men. His safety now rested on his courage ; his soldiers were at too great a distance to assist him ; the only persons with him were his wife, his cousin John O'Morra, and an aged nobleman of the same family, imable to defend himself. Followed, however, by his cousin, he opened a passage through the enemy with his sword, and after wounding several of them, escaped. The two officers who had been prisoners were set at liberty by the English, who had the baseness and cruelty to stab the wife of O'Morra, and the old nobleman, without pity for her sex, or for the infirmity of his years. MacGioUa Phadruig Fitzpatrick, prince of Ossory, who became an English subject by accepting the title of baron from that government, made some incursions into Leix, at the head of five hundred of the queen's troops. O'Morra marched to meet him with four hundred men ; but unfortunately wish- ing to reconnoitre the enemy before the action, he was surrounded by a detachment, and was the third that fell. Such was the end of this noble and generous man, whom the English term an arch rebel. Fitzpatrick was not the only Irishman (of the ancient race) who was base enough to sacrifice the interests of his religion and country, for titles of honor which were generally de- spised by his countrymen. * Relat. Girald. cap. 19. 478 HISTORY OF IRELAND. Francis Cosby being appointed governor of Leix, ruled that country as a true tyrant. His son Alexander equalled him in cruelty, and wreaked his vengeance on inoffensive Catholics tor the hard treatment he had re- ceived from O'Morra. Having convened a meeting of the principal inhabitants in the castle of Mollach, under pretence of the pub- lic welfare, he had them all murdered by assassins posted there for the purpose, vio- lating thereby all honor and public faith. One hundred and eighty men of the family of O'Morra, with many others, were put to death upon this occasion. This cruel and bloody tyrant took such delight in putting Catholics to the torture, that he hanged men, women, and children, by dozens, from an elm tree that grew before his door at Strad- bally, where he resided. Cahal, or Charles O'Connor Faly, was not indifferent to the sufferings of the Catholics ; being joined by Conal Mageoghan, of the family of Moy-Cashel, he took up arms, and gave many a check to the tyrants. An Eng- lishman named Macforty, expressly commis- sioned by the queen to assassinate O'Connor, fell by the sword of him whom he meant to sacrifice to the hatred of that princess.* Sir Henry Sidney, disgusted with the office of governor, and finding that his ser- vices were treated with contempt, solicited with eagerness his recall,! which he obtained at length ; and having regulated all public matters, he resigned the sword of justice to Sir William Drury, president of Munster Sidney was considered an upright man : he had filled high offices in England with integ- rity ; and as a proof of his disinterestedness, it is affirmed that he never, though four times lord-justice, and three times deputy of Ire- land, appropriated to his own use an inch of land in the country, which was a rare example among his countrymen. James Fitzmaurice having arrived in Rome, was received with distinction by Pope Gregory XHI. In this city he met with Cornelius O'AIoel Ryan, titular bishop of Killaloe, and Thomas Stukely.;}: Noth- ing certain is known either of the family or country of the latter : some assert that he was natural sun of Henry VIII., others, that he was the son of an English knight and an Irish lady ; however, his conduct proves him to have been a knight errant that was seek- ing to improve a moderate fortune. The sovereign pontiff evinced great zeal for the Irish Catholics, to whom he sent * Hist. Cathol. ibid. cap. 7. t War. de Annal. Hib. cap. 20. t Camb. reg. Elizab. part 2, on the year 1578. several letters. He exhorted them to per- severe' in the faith, and to support the cause of religion against the heretics. The earl of Desmond he appointed chief of the holy league, and made James Fitzmaurice, who was then at Rome, his lieutenant, who, in case of accident, was to be replaced by Sir John Desmond, the earl's second brother, and the latter by James, his youngest brother. The pope gave a large sum of money, and had two thousand men raised in the States of the church, for the expedition to Ireland. Hercule de Pise, an experienced general, was appointed to command them. All things being prepared, and the troops embarked on board a small fleet, the command of it was given to Thomas Stukely, whose orders were to sail for Lisbon, and to wait there for James Fitzmaurice, who was to go thither by land. On reaching that port, Stukely found that Sebastian, king of Portugal, was preparing a considerable expedition for the war in Africa. This prince readily prevailed on him to join his fleet, promising that he would bestow on him rich rewards, and that he would assist him in the w^ar in Ireland. Stukely accompanied Sebastian to Africa, determined, at all hazards, to advance his own interest. On their arrival, a sanguinary battle was fought, in which three kings lost their lives, namely, Sebastian, king of Por- tugal, Abedelmelic, king of Mauritania, and Mahumet, who was the promoter of this un- lucky expedition. Stukely, and the greater part of his Italians, shared their fate, a just reward for his disloyalty. Fitzmaurice having reached Portugal by land, was indignant at finding that Stukely had betrayed his cause.* Having no re- source left, he collected the remnant of his Italian force, which had returned to Spain, with some Cantabrians given him by his Catholic majesty, amounting in the whole, to about eight hundred men. He then sailed for Ireland with six vessels, provided with all kinds of amnumition, and arms for four thousand men. He was accompanied by Cornelius, bishop of Killaloe, and Doctor Sandus, an English priest, as legate from the pope. This little fleet arrived, the end of July, 1579, at Ardnacant, which the Eng- lish call Smerwick, in the western part of the county Kerry, near Dingle. In this har- bor there is an islet fortified by nature ; on one side it is washed by the sea, and on the other defended by a steep rock, leaving a passage, where it is joined to the continent by means of a draw-bridge. Fitzmaurice * Hist. (^thol. ibid. CHRISTIAN IRELAND. 479 knowing well the importance of this place as an arsenal for the succors that he expected from Spain, added other works to render its natural situation impregnable. All kinds of provisions were put into it, and a garrison of 600 men, the command of which was given to Sebastian de Saint Joseph. As soon as the arrival of James Fitzmau- rice was known, he was complimented by Sir John Desmond, his brother James Desmond, and several noblemen of Munster, who joined them to prepare for the war against the heretics.* While they were raising troops for this purpose, John Desmond attacked Tralee, in which there was an English gar- rison ; he put Henry Davells, Carter, and some others of their chiefs to the sword, and dispersed the remainder. Fitzmaurice march- ed, at the same time, towards Connaught with a few followers, to prevail on his friends, whose intentions he was aware of, to join in the common cause ; but on his way he was attacked by Theobald Burke, eldest son of Sir William Burke, of Castle Connel, who, from a desire to please Elizabeth, sacrificed the interests of religion and of his country. Finding it impossible to avoid an engage- ment, Fitzmaurice resolved to conquer or die. Being wounded in the breast by a musket ball, and roused to a last effort, he cleared a passage through the enemy, and cut off the head of Theobald Burke with a single blow. The brothers of that captain fell also, and their entire force was routed. The victory, however, proved a dear one to Fitzmaurice. His wound being mortal, he died in six hours after the action, after makin'g his confession and receiving the last sacrament from an English priest called Alan, who always ac- companied him. Although the death of this illustrious chief fdled the Catholics with alarm, still their courage was not broken down ; and the command of the forces was given to John Desmond, whose zeal was equal to his bravery. Elizabeth, grateful for the services received from the Burkes of Castle Connel, who had rid her of an enemy so formidable as James Fitzmaurice, wrote a letter to their father William Burke, and to console him for the loss of his children, settled a yearly pension on him, of two hundred marks, to be paid from the exchequer ; she also created him a peer of the realm, under the title of lord-baron of Castle Connel. The old man died through excess of joy for the new title. f Sir John Desmond took the command of * Cambd. ibid, ad an. 1579. Relat. Girald. cap. 22. Baker, page 355. t Cambd. ibid. Baker, ibid. the Catholic army, andjustified,by his heroic actions, the choice which James Fitzmaurice, when dying, had made of hmi. In order to check the career of Desmond, Drury the deputy marched towards Munster at the head of four hundred infantry and two hundred cavalry, attended by marshal Bagnal, Malby, Wingfield, Waterhouse, Fitton, Masterson, and other subaltern officers. He was also joined by the lords Kildare, Mountgarret, Upper Ossory, and Dunboyne, with two hundred horsemen, and a few foot-soldiers. On arriving at Kilmallock, the deputy sent word to the earl of Desmond, and a few other lords of the province whose loyalty he suspected, to appear before him, in his camp, at Kilmallock. After some hesitation, the earl repaired to the deputy, who gave him up to the lord-marshal ; but policy soon in- duced him to set him at liberty, as he knew that Sir John Desmond, the earl's brother, was encamped, with the Catholic army, at Sleavelogher. Sir John Desmond having received intel- ligence through his spies, that the deputy was marching to attack him, left his camp at Sleavelogher, and went to influence the barony of Connillo in the county Limerick, in his favor. He posted himself advan- tageously in the castle of Gortantiburudi, near a forest called Blackwood ;* whither the deputy sent a strong detachment imder Cap- tains Herbert and Price, with orders to force his camp. On the appearance of the Eng- lish, both armies drew up in order of battle ; the first shock was favorable to the heretics, but they were afterwards cut to pieces by a body of men which Desmond had concealed in the wood ; and which attacking them in flank, soon put them to flight. A great num- ber was killed, and among them Herbert and Price. The loss of this battle caused great afflic- tion to the deputy, but he was relieved by the arrival of six hundred English, under Captains Bourchier,Carew, and Dowdal,sent by the queen to Waterford, to reinforce the army. Sir John Perrot arrived in Cork, with six vessels to protect the coast. Being joined by this reinforcement, the deputy went on another equally unsuccessful expe- dition to Connillo. Having fallen sick from excess of fatigue, he sent for Malby, the gov- ernor of Connaught, to command the troops, and after conferring the honor of knight- hood on Bourchier, Stanly, Carew, Moore, Pelham, and' some others, he withdrew to Waterford. * Hist. Cathol. ibid. Relat. Girald. cap. 23. War.de Annal. Hib. cap. 21, Cambd. Elizabeth. 480 HISTORY OF IRELAND. Malby now assuming the command of the army, he left three hundred infantry, and about fifty horse at Kihnallock, under the orders of Captain Bourchier, and marched with the remainder to Limerick. After re- freshinghis troops, he led them to Eanaghbeg in the district of Connillo, and encamped near an abbey called Monaster Nenay, where some auxiliaries arrived from the Burkes of Clanriccard and the Lacys, who joined them. Determined to drive away the enemy, John Desmond assembled all his force to give them battle ; but the ardor of some of the troops, who began the engagement by pur- suing the English (who were flying) to too great a distance, nearly proved fatal. Being surrounded by these fugitives, who were su- perior in numbers, they would have been cut to pieces, but for the prompt relief brought by Desmond. The action now be- coming general, both sides fought with equal bravery, till the right wing of the enemy be- ginning to give way, and one of their prin- cipal officers being killed, they were entirely routed, after a combat of an hour and a half. Desmond remained master of the field of battle, with all the cannon and baggage ; he lost only Thomas son of John Fitzgerald his paternal uncle, and Sir Thomas Brown, with some foot-soldiers. The troops of Desmond having refreshed themselves after the victory, marched from Connillo to Atharlam.* The garrison of Kilmallock being apprized of this movement, sallied forth to dispute their passing. An en- gagement ensued, in which both sides fought with equal bravery and success ; but after a terrible slaughter, victory declared in favor of Desmond, and the remainder of the enemy withdrew into the town. This victory was followed by another at Gort Na-Pissi, where ten battalions of English were cut to pieces. * Cambdeu, and other English authors after him, do differ from the Irish writers respecting the above battles. The presumption of the Englishman makes him suppose that every thing belongs to him, and that he ought to be victorious though he be defeated. \Vc here quote two authors who are equally worthy of belief with the English. One is Philip O'SuUivan, whose father was one of the principal actors in this war, and who scaled the walls of Youghal, when it was taken by Desmond. The other is Daniel, or Dominick O'Daly, archbishop of Conimbcd, whose father.CorneliusO'Daly, had for some time the com- mand of the forces under the earl of Desmond. These authors may be considered as eye-witnesses of the facts that are given ; they ought not to be suspected of partiality or inaccuracy in their ac- counts, more than Cambden, who wrote on what he had never seen, according to the prejudices of his countrymen. The impartial reader will judge and decide. Desmond after this made incursions upon Ormond, and carried off great booty. The Butlers then collected their forces, under the following chiefs : Edward and Peter Butler, brothers to the earl of Ormond, MacPieris Butler, baron of Dunboyne, and Purcel, baron of Luochne, and went in pursuit of Desmond as far as Knock Grafuin, or Mount Grafuin, where a bloody battle was fought, which terminated in the total defeat of the Butlers. The earl of Desmond, who had till now kept an appearance of peace with the queen, began to remove the mask, and to act with his brother John Desmond. He carried off considerable booty from the plains of Cashel, after putting the garrison of that city to flight, which was connnanded by Robert, an Eng- lishman. At the same time, Daniel O'Sul- livan, prince of Beare, defeated a body of English near the monastery of Bantry. Sir William Drury, deputy of Ireland, whom we left sick at Waterford, died in September — Malby's authority was now at an end in Munster ; however, previous to his return to Connaught, he placed garrisons in the towns of Rakele and Adare, in the county of Limerick. The privy council appointed Sir William Pelham lord-justice ad interim. He was sworn into office in October, in Christ's church, Dublin, till the court should nominate a deputy. After this ceremony, the new lord-justice conferred the honor of knighthood on Gerard the chancellor, and Edward Fitton. He also sent letters patent to the earl of Ormond, appointing him gov- ernor of Munster, and nominated Sir War- ham St. Leger, high sheriff for the same province. The chancellor was dispatched to England to inform the queen of the state of affairs in Ireland ; the seals being given, during his absence, to Adam Loftus, arch- bishop of Dublin . All things being thus arranged, the lord- justice proceeded on his route to Munster, attended by three bodies of troops, lately come from Berwick, called "red coats," from the color of their uniform. On his arrival at Kilkenny, he held assizes, at which he presided in person, and condemned Ed- mond MacNeill, and a few others, to death for high treason. He reconciled the earl of Ormond to the baron of Upper Ossory, obliging them to give bail for mutually re- pairing the damages which had been caused by their dissensions. He went to Cashel in October, where he was joined by the earl of Ormond at the head of two hundred and thirty men. From that city he wrote a flat- tering letter to the earl of Desmond, to in- CHRISTIAN IRELAND. 481 duce him to repair thither under pretext of wishing to reconcile him to Malby, but the earl could not be prevailed upon to trust him. Pelham afterwards went to Limerick, where he was honorably received by Malby at the head of the army, and by the mayor and a thousand citizens underarms. From Limer- ick he proceeded to the village of Fannings, which was the rendezvous of the army. Here he was visited by the countess of Desmond, who brought him letters from her husband, with an apology for not obeying his orders. The lord-justice was not satisfied with this, and sent Ormond to the earl of Desmond to know his final intentions, but on his returning an evasive answer, it was decreed that he should be publicly proclaimed in the camp as a traitor, unless he submitted within twen- ty days ; and the troops were ordered to lay waste his lands at the expiration of that time. Viscount Gormanstown and the baron of Delvin signalized their zeal in the cause of Desmond on this occasion. These noblemen were Catholics, and though members of the council, and companions of the lord-justice in his expedition, they generously refused to sign the sentence which was pronounced against Desmond, whereupon they were re- primanded by the council in England. The earl of Desmond, finding himself con- demned, marched towards Cork, hoping to create thereby a diversion which might check the ravages that the enemy were committing in the territory of Connillo. Following the ad- vice of his relative Fitzgerald, seneschal of ImokiUy,he attacked Youghal, which he took and gave up to plunder. Dermod O'SuUivan, of the noble family of Beare, contributed greatly to the taking of this town, by his in- trepidity in scaling the walls at the head of a body of infantry which he commanded, notwithstanding the obstinate defence of the besieged.* He destroyed a body of troops under Captain White, which had been sent by sea from Waterford, by the earl of Or- mond, to relieve Youghal. By way of retal- iation for the taking of this place, Ormond made an inroad into Connillo, where he was bravely opposed by the seneschal, and though he remained master of the field of battle, he sustained a heavy loss in killed. After pillaging and burning the whole coun- try, and treating the inhabitants with cruelty, he marched towards Cork, plundering every place as he passed. He was, however, greatly harassed by John Fitzmaurice, the seneschal, who gained an important advantage over the red coats near Lismore.f * Hist. Cathol. Hib. ibid, t Hist. Cathol. Hib. ibid. When Ormond arrived in Cork, finding the season far advanced, he ordered the troops into winter quarters. He then pro- ceeded to Cashel, through Youghal, where, to appease the queen's anger for the taking of this town, he had the mayor hanged, un- der pretence of his not having defended it against Desmond. He gave orders to have the walls rebuilt, and left a garrison in it of three hundred men, under Captains Pierce and Morgan. The earl of Desmond, who saw his forces diminishing, while those of the enemy were increasing every day by reinforcements sent from England, wrote letters to the principal noblemen in Leinster, whom he knew to be well disposed towards them, begging their aid in defence of their religion and country, against the common enemy. Whether these letters made any impression or not on the lords of Leinster, they took up arms the fol- lowing year in the cause which Desmond so nobly defended. The lord-justice, who had remained in Limerick, set out for Galway, attended by the earl of Thuomond, and renewed the privileges of that city.* From thence he proceeded to Athlone, and afterwards to Dublin, where he continued for some time. William Norris arrived at the same time from England, with one hundred and fifty horsemen. They were sent by the lord- justice to garrison Newry, where Norris died on Christmas-day. Towards the end of January, Pelham left Dublin for Wexford, where he presided at the assizes, held for civil and criminal cases. Thence he repaired to Waterford, where he was honorably received. The earl of Or- mond joined him in that city, and having intelligence that a detachment of the ene- my was marching towards Dungarvan and Youghal, they dispatched Captain Zouch, with four hundred infantry and one hundred horse, to defend those towns. After remaining three weeks at Water- ford, Pelham went to Clonmel, where he was again joined by Ormond. He then pro- ceeded to Limerick. The chancellor of the church in that city was arrested on suspi- cion of holding a correspondence with the earl of Desmond ; and the bishop was con- fined to his palace for the same cause. The lord-justice and Ormond having re- moved to Rathkeale in March, to consult together on the operations of the campaign, they resolved in council to divide the army and act separately. Ormond marched his * Cox, Hist, of Ireland, p. 362. 482 HISTORY OF IRELAND. division towards SleA^elogher, burning and destroying the country as he passed. Pel- ham took the route towards Sleveniish, near Tralee. Finding it impossible to proceed further, he fell back to besiege the fortress of Carrikifoyl, which belonged to Desmond. The commander of a detachment of his ar- my, when passing through the territory of Clanmorris, obliged Fitzmaurice, the lord of the country and baron of Lixnaw, to give him hostages as a pledge of his loyalty. This inhuman officer had the hostages hanged, violating thereby the rights of war.* His crime, however, met with a due chastise- ment ; he was attacked at Ardfert by the troops of Fitzmaurice, and his men cut to pieces. Pelham having reached Carriki- foyl, laid siege to the castle ; the garrison of which consisted of nineteen Spaniards and fifty Irish, commanded by an Italian engineer called Julio. Having effected a breach. Captain Macworlh entered at the head of a strong force, put part of the little garrison to the sword,t and caused the remainder, together with their chief, to be hanged. As- keaton and Ballyloghan, the last fortresses belonging to Desmond, shared the same fate. The lord-justice left four companies in garrison at Askeaton, and returned to Lim- erick in the beginning of April, 1580. Af- ter giving his troops some repose, he recom- menced hostilities, devastating the lands of the Mac Auliffs as far as Slevelogher : he then penetrated into the county of Kerry, towards Castlemaine, whence he carried off large herds of cattle, but the army, being badly paid, began to mutiny, which checked his further operations for a while. Such was the state of affairs in Ireland, when Pope Gregory XIII. addressed the following letter to the Irish clergy and peo- ple : — " Gregory XIII. to all and every of the archbishops, bishops, prelates, princes, earls, barons, and all the inhabitants of Ireland, greeting, health, and apostolical benedic- tion. " Whereas we have exhorted you by our letters, during these last years, to recover your freedom, to defend and preserve it against the heretics ; to aid also and sup- port, with all your strength, James Geral- dine, of happy memory, who had ardently undertaken to break the yoke of slavery which the English, who have deserted the holy Roman church, have imposed upon you. " It was our will that you would speedily * VVareus. ibid. cap. 22. t Hist. Cathol. Hib. ibid. and courageously have assisted the said James, who fought against the enemies of God and of your country. In order to sup- port you in your zeal, we have granted to all who will repent and confess their sins, and who have followed the said James, the defender and protector of the Catholic faith, and his army, and to those who will join and assist, either by their counsel, arms, or warlike stores ; a full and general pardon of all their sins, the same as the sovereign pon- tiffs have been accustomed to grant to those who were engaged in war against the Turks, or for the recovery of the Holy Land. Hav- ing learned with grief that the said James has (as it hath pleased the Lord) lately fallen in fighting valiantly against the enemies of his country, and that our dear son John Geraldine, his cousin, has with equal piety and greatness of soul, by the assistance of God, in whose cause he is engaged, suc- ceeded him in the command, and has already performed acts of heroism, for which the Catholic faith is deeply indebted to him ; we therefore exhort you all in general, and each one in particular, with all the affection of our soul, and urge and require of you, in the Lord, to assist the said John, your leader against the heretics, with all your re- sources, as you have assisted James when living. Confiding in the mercies of the om- nipotent God, and supported by the author- ity of the blessed apostles Peter and Paul, we give and grant to all and each of you, who are engaged with and assist the said John and his army, a plenary indulgence and remission of your sins, by a due ob- servance, on your part, of the conditions contained herein, viz., to confess your sins and receive worthily. The same privileges are granted to you, as have been granted to those who have fought against the Turks for the recovery of the Holy Land. " Given at Rome at St. Peter's, under the Fisherman's ring, the 13th day of May, 1580, and in the eighth year of our pontifi- cate." Thus did Gregory XIII. endeavor to re- medy the evils which had been inflicted on Ireland by Adrian IV., one of his prede- cessors. He wished, by separating that country from England, to repair the im- prudence committed in bestowing it upon Henry II., under the specious pretext of establishing the faith in it, and reforming the morals of its people. Gregory's plan, however, was too weak, and the evil too deeply rooted. Desmond and his adhe- rents were betrayed by some of their coun- trymen, and Elizabeth, having no impor- CHRISTIAN IRELAND. 483 tant wars to maintain against the neigh- boring powers, turned all her thoughts to Ireland. Some Catholic lords in Munster, who were suspected of holding a correspondence with the rebels, were summoned to appear be- fore the lord-justice at Limerick and ac- count for their conduct.* They all, with the exception of Lord Barry, submitted. Cormac, son of Teague Mac Carthy of Mus- kerry, having displayed particular zeal in the royal cause, had his share in the re- wards ; and soon after found an opportunity of signalizing himself. James Desmond,! the earl's youngest brother, either to chas- tise him for his perfidy or to revenge some private wrongs, made incursions on his lands at the head of one hundred and fifty men, and carried off considerable booty. Domnal, the brother of Cormac, collected all the forces he could muster, and having pursued Desmond, they came to an engagement, which was fatal to the latter. After seeing all his men fall by his side, and being him- self mortally wounded, he had the misfor- tune to be made prisoner, and given up to Warham St. Leger, the high-sheriff of the province, and Captain Rawleigh, who had him put to death in Cork for high treason. His head was cut off, and exposed on the gate of the city, to serve as a warning to others. In order to reward his services, Cormac Mac Teague was created a knight by the lord -justice, and appointed high- sheriff of the county of Cork. The earl of Ormond, who commanded a body of troops at Adare, marched towards Buttevant, where the whole army suffered from an extraordinary malady, which they termed the " mild correction." It was a kind of violent headache, which lasted for two or three days, and deprived those who were attacked by it of their understanding ; it was not, however, fatal to many. After the contagion had ceased, Ormond divided his army into two parts ;| one he led to Castle Island, in the county of Kerry, and sent the other to Tralee, the place of rendezvous. He then marched, with his army in three divisions, towards Dingle, plundering the country as he marched, and shedding the blood of the Catholics without mercy, so that not one would have escaped, had it not been for the protection granted to several by Sir William Winter, the Eng- lish vice-admiral, who commanded a squad- ron in the port of Bantry, to prevent the * Cox, Hist, of Irel. page 365. t Cariibd. Reign of Elizabeth, part 2, ad an. 1580. t Cox, Hist, of Ireland, page 365. Spaniards from making a descent. From this time we may date the decline of the cause of Desmond. He had lost his cousin James Fitzmaurice, and his brother James Des- mond, the country was laid waste, and pro- visions became so scarce, that many who were attached to his cause, were forced, for want of subsistence, to abandon him. The Reformation in the Church of Eng- land was disturbed at this time by the ar- rival of a body of Dutch fanatics,* who call- ed themselves the fatnili/ of love. They preached in public their wild doctrine, " that none but those who belonged to their family would be saved," and maintained, that per- jury before a magistrate who was not of their family was no crime. They had several volumes containing their dogmas translated into English, and published under the af- fecting titles of Gospel of the kingdom, Do- minical Sentences, Prophecy of the Spirit of Love, and others of a similar import, all of which were burned by orders of the government, and the authors expelled the kingdom. At this period, the court appointed Arthur Grey, lord-baron of Wilton, and knight of the order of the garter, deputy for Ireland ; he landed at Dublin in August. Some noble- men of Leinster and Meath beheld with in- dignation the Catholic clergy persecuted ; the holy sacrifice of the mass abolished ; their churches profaned by the new ceremo- nies of the reformers, and dreading fresh in- novations, united to defend their religion. f The chiefs of this confederacy were James Eustace, viscount of Baltinglass, Fiach Mac- Hugh, chief of the O'Byrnes of Wicklow, and Captain Fitzgerald, who withdrew from the queen's service for the purpose of joining in it. The plot, however, having been dis- covered before it was ripe for execution, some of the leaders were arrested and put to death. The new deputy having learned, previous to his receiving the sword, that Baltinglass and Fiach MacHugh, with their confeder- ates, were posted in the defiles of Gleanda- loch, determined to dislodge them ; for which purpose he collected all the English troops in Leinster, both foot and horse, and march- ed to Gleandaloch, where he found the Irish ready to receive him. The battle began in a wood which was lined with cavalry, under the command of Lord Grey. The combat was long and obstinate, but victory having at length declared in favor of the Irish, a * Baker, Chron. of Engl, on the reign of Eliza- beth. Canibd. Elizabeth, ad an. 1580. t Hist. Cathol. Hib. ibid. cap. 14. 484 HISTORY OF IRELAND. dreadful carnage was made of the English troops, and the deputy, with his cavalry, was forced to fly. The English lost eight hundred soldiers, besides Sir Peter Carew, Colonel Moor, and Captains Aiulely and Cosby. This last commander was particularly cruel, as has been already observed. His greatest pleasure consisted in putting the inoffensive Catholics, and even their infants, to death before his door. This blood-thirsty tyrant, however, met with his reward at last.* Pelham having regulated the aflairs of Muuster, "where he left two thousand eight hundred and twenty foot-soldiers, and three hundred and ninety-five horse, under the command of Sir George Bourchier, passed through Connaught, and confirmed Malby in the government of that province. He proceeded to Dublin in September, and gave up the sword of justice to the new deputy in the cathedral of St. Patrick. According to some writers, James Fitz- maurice had brought to Ireland eight hun- dred Italians and Spaniards, and had fortified Smerwick as a garrison and arsenal for the rest of the Spaniards who were expected. It is also stated, that he left six hundred men in it, under the command of Sebastian de Saint Joseph ; but Cambden and Ware fix the arrival of these troops in Ireland in 1580. However this may be, the new de- puty, in order to clear his reputation, which was sullied by his defeat at Gleandaloch, de- termined to besiege Smerwick, and drive away these foreigners. The earl of Ormond had already failed in the same plan. Having marched from Tralee to lay siege to this for- tress, a sally of the besieged prevented his continuing it, and he was obliged to join the deputy, who had already arrived at Rathkeal. Every thing being prepared, the deputy, accompanied by the earl of Ormond, Captains Zouch, Rawleigh, Denny, Mackworth, and others, marched towards Smerwick at the head of eight hundred, or according to others, of fifteen hundred men, to besiege that for- tress, while Sir William Winter blockaded it with his squadron by sea.f The siege lasted for forty days, the place being well provided, and obstinately defended ; so that the deputy finding the winter draw near, and knowing the inconvenience of being en- camped in bad weather, was resolved to ac- complish by treachery, what he could not effect by force. For this end he displayed a flag of truce, and demanded a parley. An Irish nobleman named Plunket, belonging to the garrison, was very zealous in the cause * Hist. Cathol. Ibern. ibid. cap. 6. t Hist. Catliol. ibid. c. 15. Relat. Gerald, i;. 13. of the Catholics, and strongly averse to any truce with the reformers, alleging that they possessed neither probity nor honor, and could not therefore be relied on. Sebas- tian, the governor, was opposed to Plunket's advice. He was desirous of capitulating, and went forth from the castle, attended by Plunket, who was to act as interpreter. The deputy received him with politeness, and proposed to them to capitulate, and that he would allow the garrison to march out with all the honors of war. Plunket used every eflbrt to prevent the treaty from being concluded, by giving false versions of the proposals of both parties. It appeared, however, by his countenance and mode of speaking, that Plunket was not a true inter- preter, upon which they had him arrested. They then entered into a treaty ; an English- man, who was acquainted with the Spanish language, being the interpreter. Sebastian returned joyfully to the fortress, saying that he was surrendering the place to the English upon honorable terms, and that seeing matters so desperate, he thought it prudent to save the garrison. The captain of the Cantabrians, and Hercule de Pise, inveighed loudly against the treaty, saying, that so far from fearing for the place, they would be able, if necessary, to oppose the enemy in the field ; but the soldiers, who preferred life to glory, declared for the governor, and lost both. Though they surrendered on condi- tions which were sworn to by the deputy, they were immediately ordered to lay down their arms, and were cruelly slaughtered by the barbarous English. The governor alone escaped, but was banished from the kingdom. Plunket was reserved for a worse fate — his arms and thighs being dislocated with ham- mers. It is from this event that fdes GreicB, or the faith of Grey, became a proverb in the country, whenever mention was made of any signal act of treachery being com- mitted. The fortress of Smerwick being evacuated, a strong garrison and governor were placed in it by the deputy. The gov- ernment of Munster was then consigned to the earl of Ormond. Four hundred and fifty men were left under Captain Zouch, whom the deputy appointed commander of Kerry and Desmond. He placed troops in the other cities, towns, and villages of the pro- vince, and gave orders to the principal offi- cers to destroy with fire and sword every place that continued faithful to the earl, and to bring the war to a speedy termination. He then returned to Dublin. The deputy received intelligence in Dub- lin, that the earl of Desmond had passed into CHRISTIAN IRELAND. 485 Connauglit witli two hundred men, to join the earl of Clanriccard's two sons who had taken up arms ; that Viscount BaUinglass, with the O'Byrnes, O'Morras, Cavanaghs, and Keatings, were collecting a great force ; and that Munster, Connaught, and a part of Leinster, were under arms. He Avas great- ly alarmed at the news ; but the arrival of a hundred and fifty horsemen, and six com- panies of infantry from England, gave him fresh confidence. With this reinforcement, and his other troops, he scoured the territo- ries of O'Faly, Fearcall, Kinalyagh, and Ely. He condemned O'Molloy, lord of Fearcall, to death as a rebel ; the O'Connors Faly, MacGeoghegans of Kinalyagh, and O'Car- rols of Ely, he appeased, and thus crushed the conspiracy in its cradle.* The earl of Kildare, and his son-in-law, the baron of Delvin, who were suspected of holding cor- respondence with Baltinglass and the other Catholics, were arrested and given in custody to Wingfield, master of the ordnance. At the same time, the earl's friends persuaded his son, Henry Fitzgerald, to withdraw for a while to the country of Offaly, from which he derived the title of baron. He there fell into the power of the O'Connors, who, for his own safety, detained him against his will till the fate of his father should be known. The deputy sent the earl of Ormond to de- mand him. The O'Connors at first refused to give him up ; but fearing that by detain- ing the young nobleman they might injure the father, they sent him to Ormond, who brought him to Dublin. He was then, to- gether with his father the earl, and the baron -of Delvin, sent to England, where all three were committed to the tower. A report was spread at this time of a conspiracy to surprise and seize the deputy in the castle of Dublin. Though this was never clearly proved, the persons suspected were capitally punished ; John Nugent, one of the barons of the exchequer, and several others, being put to death. Captain Rawleigh repaired to Dublin to complain of the Barrys and Condons in the county of Cork, and obtained a warrant to seize on Barryscourt, and other estates be- longing to Barry, lord of that castle. Raw- leigh received a fresh reinforcement, and set out from Dublin to execute his commission. Barry being apprized of Rawleigh's design, set .fire to his castle, and the seneschal of Imokilly lay in ambush to intercept his march, so that Rawleigh was obliged to effect his escape to Cork, sword in hand. Viscount * War. ibid. Cambd. Elizab.part 2, ad an. 15S0. Baltinglass, who had taken up arms in the cause of religion, against the queen, wishing to detach his neighbor the earl of Ormond from the interests of Elizabeth, wrote him a strong and interesting letter upon the sub- ject. Among other things, he said, that if holy Thomas of Canterbury had not died for the Roman Church, he never would have been earl of Ormond.* Cambden adds, that this nobleman was descended from a sister of Thomas a Becket, and that to expiate the murder of the holy prelate, Henry H. had bestowed large estates in the district of Or- mond on the ancestors of the earl. The deputy having gone to visit Munster, gave the government of the English province during his absence to Loftus, archbishop of Dublin, and to the earl of Kildare. f These governors having met at Tara in July, 1581, the earl set out, by orders of the council, at the head of two hundred horse and seven hundred foot, to propose terms to Viscount Baltinglass ; but having failed in this, he withdrew. The enemy taking advantage of his retreat, burned the town of Newcastle, in the county of Wicklow. In the mean time, the deputy on his way through Mun- ster, appointed Captain Zouch governor of that province, and returned to Dublin through Contiaught. Nicholas Nugent, chief-justice of the com- mon pleas, having given some displeasure to the queen, was removed, and Sir Robert Dillon appointed in his stead. It was de- creed at this time that the cavalry should be placed in garrison, to prevent their being a burden to the public, and the prices of forage were regulated. Zouch, governor of Munster, was in gar- rison at Dingle, where several of his men died of sickness. Having learned that the earl of Desmond and David Barry were col- lecting their forces near Achadoe, in the county of Kerry, he marched with his army towards Castlemaine, and surprised the earl, who was obliged to withdraw to a wood called Harlow wood. At the same time, Fitzgerald, commonly called the seneschal of Imokilly, made incursions in the neigh- borhood of Lismore, and being attacked by a detachment from that garrison, he killed twenty-five of them, and put the rest to flight. While Zouch was at head-quarters in Cork, an occurrence took place, disastrous both to religion, and to the earl of Desmond, who defended it so gloriously. David Barry, and * Cambd. reign of Elizab. part 3, ad an. 1583. Baker, Chron. of England, page 361. Cox, Hist. of Ireland, page 367. t Ware, de Annal. ibid. cap. 23. 486 HISTORY OF IRELAND. Fitzgerald, seneschal of Imokilly, thoughin arms for the comnioa cause, had a dispute which broke out into an opeu rupture at this time, and destroyed the harmony and union which ought to subsist between the sup- porters of the same cause. Barry and Fitzgerald were encamped near Mount Dromphinin, on the right bank of the Blackwatcr, which falls into the sea at Youghal. Desmond and his brother John, who were posted on the opposite bank, were particularly interested for the reconciliation of these noblemen, who were to share in the perils of the war; and John Desmond having undertaken to bring it about, repaired to the camp for that purpose. Zouch and Dowdal having learned, through a spy, that John Desmond was to cross the river the day fol- lowing, on his way to the camp at Drom- phinin, set out, during the night, from Cork, with a strong force. They arrived at break of day at Castlelyons, and posted themselves near a wood through which Desmond had to pass. This nobleman, not suspecting that an enemy was so near, had the misfortune to fall into their hands, with James, son of John Fitzgerald, lord of Stonacally, who accom- panied him. Having refused to surrender, they were surrounded and taken by the enemy, and brought to Cork ; but Desmond, who was mortally wounded, died on the way. His head was cut off and sent to Dublin, where it was fastened to a pole and put upon the top of the castle ; and his body tied to a gibbet on the gates of Cork, where it re- mained for three or four years, till it was at length carried into the sea by the wind. James Fitzgerald was put to death. After this expedition, Zouch surprised the camp of David Barry, and dispersed his troops, avenging thereby the garrison of Bantry, which was put to the sword some time before by Barry and MacSweeny. Tranquillity being restored to Munster, the troops in this province were reduced to four hundred foot, and fifty horse. They were however, soon obliged to increase them.* Fitzmaurice, baron of Lixnaw, with his sons took up arms again to revenge some injuries he had received from the government, and made himself master of Ardfert, putting the garrison, under Captain Achin, to the sword. He also took the castle of Lisconnel, and forced the troops who defended it to leap over the walls, and afterwards devastated the districts of Ormond, Tipperary, and Waterford, without meeting any opposition. Zouch, governor of Munster, having re * Hist. Cathol. ibid. ceived a reinforcement of two hundred men, under Sir Henry Wallopps and Captain Norris, marched towards Kerry, to check the progress of the baron of Lixnaw, a. d. 1582.* He retook Ardfert, Lisconnel, and other places which were abandoned by the baron ; and having defeated a body of the enemy near Lisconnel, he proceeded to Limerick, from whence he dispatched Captain Dowdal in pursuit of that nobleman. On coming to an engagement, the latter having lost a hun- dred and forty men upon the spot, was forced to retreat. Dowdal revictualled his garri- sons with the booty he took, and placing a strong fence in Ardfert, returned to Cork. Notwithstanding his misfortunes, Des- mond again appeared near Athdare, at the head of a few troops, and attacked the gar- rison of that town, in a sally which they made. He killed several of their men, with two of their officers, and obliged the rest to take refuge within the fortress. Thomas Butler, lord of Cahir, was at this time created a peer of the realm, with the title of lord-baron of Cahir. f He was de- scended from James, fourth earl of Ormond, and his second wife Catherine, daughter of Garret Fitzgerald, earl of Desmond. Lord Arthur Grey, deputy of Ireland, was recalled to England in August ; Adam Loftus, arch- bishop of Dublin, and chancellor of Ireland, and Sir Henry Wallopps, treasurer of war, being sworn in lords-justices in his stead. About this time Doctor Sanders, or Sanderus, a native of England, and apostolical legate in Ireland, died. He led an exemplary life, and was particularly zealous in the Catholic cause. I He is styled a traitor and arch- rebel, by Protestant writers. This holy man, broken down by fatigue, and disap- pointment at seeing impiety triumphant, died of a dysentery in a wood, where he lay des- titute of all relief. He received the sacra- ments from Cornelius, bishop of Killaloe, who continued with him to his last moments. The earl of Ormond landed at Waterford in January, with a reinforcement of four hundred Englishmen, who were placedunder the command of Captains Bourchier, Stan- ley, Barkly, and Roberts. This nobleman was also intrusted with the government of Munster, by a commission from the queen. He obtained an increase to the soldiers' pay, of two pence a day, by which he gained the love and confidence of the army. His first expedition was against the earl of Desmond. Not satisfied with having renounced the re- * War. ibid. cap. 24. Cox, ibid, page 371. t Nichol's Rudiments of Honor. X Hist. Cathol. ibid. cap. 16. CHRISTIAN IRELAND. 487 ligion of his ancestors, lie also wished to de- stroy him by whom it was supported ; apos- tacy which was but too faithfully imitated by his descendants. Having received intelli- gence that that earl, and a few of his follow ers, were in Harlow wood, he surprised and cut off several of them, dispersing the rest. and forcing them to abandon their chief. We have now come to the last year of the lifeof Desmond, A. D. 1583. Finding himself unassisted by the Spaniards, and deserted by his adherents, he became a fugitive through the country. On arriving in the county of Kerry, with a few followers, he took refuge in a small house in the middle of a wood, called Gleam-a-Ginkie, four miles from Tra- lee, where he was subsisted by plunder, and whatever Goron or Goffred Mac-Sweeny, who was faithfully attached to him, could procure by hunting.* Being surprised at length by his enemies, his head was cut off, and sent to Cork, whence it was brought soon after to England, fastened on a pole, and thus exposed to public view on the bridge of London. Such was the end of the illustrious house of the Fitzgeralds of Des- mond ; the Maccabees of our day, who sacri- ficed their lives and properties in defence of the Catholic cause. Their tragical fate was brought about by the treachery and wicked- ness of their countrymen. James Fitzmaurice was the victim of the Burkes of Castleconnel ; James Desmond was betrayed by the lords of Muskerry ; John Desmond fell into the snares of the reformers ; and Ormond had the honor of ending the scene by the death of this chieftain, the fifteenth earl of his family. t His extensive estates, whose rev- enue exceeded, at that time, four hundred thousand crowns, having been surveyed by Sir Valentine Brown, Viscount Kenmare's ancestor, who was sent to Ireland for the purpose, were divided among the English who supported the war against him, and particularly the earl of Ormond, who had a large share in the spoils. The Catholic lords who were engaged in the same cause with Desmond, seeing the unhappy state of affairs, thought of providing for their safety. James Fitzmaurice, viscount Bauinglass,chief of the Catholics in Leinster, withdrew to Spain, where he died soon after- wards. Some were won over by the queen's promises, and others submitted till a more favorable opportunity might arise. Tranquillity being in a manner restored to Ireland, government turned their thoughts * Relat. Gerald, cap. 24. Hist. Cathol. cap. 15. War. ibid. cap. 26. t Relat. Gerald, ibid. towards the business of the state. Sir Nich- olas Bagnal, Sir Lucas Dillon, and James Dowdal, were sent to Ulster, Avith a commis- sion to settle the affairs of that province with the baron of Dungannon, and the deputies of Turlogh Lynagh and O'Donnel. CHAPTER XLHI. PERSECUTiON,whichhad somewhat abated during the war, began anew with increased severity after the death of the earl of Des- mond, and the other defenders of the Catholic cause. It was enough to be an Irishman to be persecuted, and a Catholic to be crucified. Their neighbors, the English Catholics,* were not exempt from the persecution. In order to form a rampart against heresy, es- tablishments were founded in the Catholic countries, for the education of youth, whose parents had not renounced the religion of their ancestors. These were called semina- ries. William Alan, educated at Oxford, and a learned man, founded one at Douay in 1568, which was made a college. This house was protected by the pope, who increased its revenue by an annual pension. The duke De Guise founded a similar establishment at Rheims, and Gregory XIII. instituted one in Rome for the same purpose. The Catholics of Ireland were as zealous in the preservation of their faith as those of England. Protected by Philip II., king of Spain, they founded in the Catholic countries seminaries for the education of their youth, in order to save themselves, and others, from the contagion of heresy. The college of Douay, in Flanders, was the first of these establishments. It was founded in 1 596, by the efforts of Christopher Cusack, a priest of the county of Meath, who applied his own patrimony and the contributions of his friends to this pious undertaking.! He assisted also in founding similar houses at Lille, Antwerp, Tournay, and St. Omer ; and was president- general of all. St. Omer is the only one that does not exist at present. France generously afforded an asylum to these voluntary exiles,;}: and gave them a house on the hill of St. Genevieve. They were kindly received by the people of Paris, who in this imitated their illustrious fellow- citizen, John Lescalopier, baron de St. Just, * Cambd. ibid, ad an. 1580, p. 315, et seq. t Harris, Hist, of Irel. vol. 2, p. 252, et seq. I Messingham, Florileg. Insulae. 55, Epistol. de- dlcat. 488 HISTORY OF IRELAND. 1 1 and president of the parliament. This vir- Ij tuous nobleman and true Christian was i! deeply affected for the state of religion in ' Ireland, and much interested for the fate of the Irish priests who were banished from their country on account of their religion. These were looked upon as martyrs for Christ, and laborers destined to cultivate his doctrine. They were brought by this illus- trious Frenchman from an obscure dwelling, and settled in a more commodious place, while he was providing a regular seminary, and funds necessary for its support. Retire- ment was a favorite virtue of this pious and good man. Every day that could be spared from public business, he passed with the Irish exiles. Devotion to God and his saints, the conversion of heretics, the propagation of the faith, and salvation of souls, were always favorite subjects of conversation between him and these novitiates. He was frequently with them in the refectory, where his humility was such, that, forgetful of his rank as first magistrate of France, and as a proof of his respect for the exiled clergymen, he always chose the last place at table. According as they had completed their studies, and were prepared to return to their country, their illustrious patron, in order to prove their capability, had them examined by Pure Binet, a learned Jesuit of the time ; he then himself presented them to Cardinal Retz, bishop of Paris, to receive their mission from him ; after which they were furnished with clothes and every thing necessary for the voyage, at his expense. This was the beginning of the establishment of the Irish house in Paris. The college of the Lombards being de- serted by the Italians, the trustees conferred it upon the Irish students in Paris, by an act dated 9th July, 1676, which was confirmed and ratified by letters patent in August, 1677, and registered in the parliament of February, 1680. This college, which was in a state of ruin, was rebuilt by the united care of two Irish ecclesiastics, Maginn and O'Kelly ; the former abbot de Tulles, the latter, prior of St. Nicholas de Chapouin. In memory of this service they are acknowledged by the agents of the college as its restorers. These two benefactors were authorized to rebuild it, and obtained, for that purpose, letters patent, dated March, 1681, and registered the 19th August of the same year. Seminaries were also established in Bour- deaux, Toulouse, and Nantes, for the Irish ;* the two former under the patronage of Queen Anne of Austria. The seminary of Bour- * Harris, ibid. deaux was first founded in 1603, by Francis de Sourdis, cardinal and archbishop of that city. Louis XIV. granted an annual pension to this house, and to that of Toulouse, at the solicitation of the queen his mother. Other nations were equally zealous to contribute their support to the religion in Ireland. Cardinal Ludovisius founded a college for Irish students in Rome, in 1628, and endowed it with a yearly income of six hundred Roman crowns ; and, in order to enable the establishment to support a greater number of students, he bequeathed to it a vineyard fifteen miles from Rome, aYid an annual pension of one thousand crowns. Baron George Sylveria founded, at Alcala de Henares, a college for Irish priests, to- wards the close of the sixteenth century . This nobleman was a native of Portugal, but an Irishman at heart ; his mother was a Mac- Donnel, and of Irish parents. He endowed this establishment with two thousand pounds sterling a year, and one thousand pounds for the support of the chapel, which was dedi- cated to St. George the martyr. At Seville there are two colleges : one a royal establishment for the Irish, and dedi- cated to the immaculate conception of the blessed Virgin. Sarapater,a canon of Seville, was one of its benefactors. The second, call- ed St. Gregory's college, being dedicated to Pope Gregory the Great, who sent Augustin as apostle to England, was founded for the English, who have since abandoned it. It belongs at present to the Irish. In 1582, there was a college founded at Salamanca for Irish priests, by the states of the kingdoms of Castile and Leon. Its rev- enues having decreased, Philip III. took it under his protection in 1610, and restored it. The Irish priests have a seminary in Lis- bon, founded in 1595, by Ximenes, who was interred there. Mass is offered every week for the repose of his soul. Cardinal Henri- ques founded, about the same time, a college for Irish priests at Evora, dedicated to St. Bridget. It afterwards fell into the hands of the Jesuits. These seminaries were filled with learned ecclesiastics, who, after they had completed their studies, returned to their own country to console the faithful, and administer to them spiritual assistance, in which they were seconded by the truly apostolical zeal of the Jesuits. These establishments did not fail to attract the attention of the English court ; they were considered as very dangerous to the government, and opposed to the reformation of the church. In order to remedy this, an edict was published, commanding all who had CHRISTIAN IRELAND. 489 children, wards, or relations in foreign coun- tries, to send, within ten days, their names to the judge of the district, to recall them within four months, and present them immediately on their return, to the said judge. By the same edict, it was prohibited to send them money ; and every one was strictly forbidden to receive these seminarians or Jesuits into his house, or to support, nourish, or relieve them in any manner, under pain of being considered rebels, and punished according to the laws. In consequence of this pro- clamation, several priests,Jesuits, and monks, suffered martyrdom with Christian fortitude, among whom were the two celebrated Jesuits, Personius and Campianus. Dermod O'Hurly, archbishop of Cashel, was the first martyr this year in Ireland.* He studied at Louvain and in Paris with celebrity ; and was the professor of law in the former of these universities ; he went -afterwards to Rome, where he was kindly received by Gregory XIII., who appointed him archbishop of Cashel. Full of zeal for the salvation of his brethren, he set out, after his consecration, for Ireland, where he found all things in a state of anarchy. The see of Cashel was held by Miler Magrath, an apos- tate monk of St. Francis :t the altars were overthrown, the Catholic clergy left with- out an asylum, and were forced to assume women's apparel. All, however, did not di- minish the zeal of the new bishop of Cashel. He taught in the Catholic houses, and con- firmed the faithful in their religion, making no distinction of province or diocese.:}: Being with Thomas, lord-baron of Slane, in the county of Meath, he was recognised by the chief-justice of the King's Bench, who sent intelligence of his discovery to Adam Lof- tus, the chancellor, and Henry Loftus, the treasurer, who were at the head of the gov- ernment.^ They immediately gave orders to the baron to send them the prelate in chains. He had, however, escaped, but the baron, dreading the rigor of the laws en- acted against those who harbored priests, pursued him as far as Carrick-on-Suir, where he was arrested in September at the earl of Ormond's, and brought a prisoner to Dub- lin. He was loaded with chains and con- fined in a dungeon till Holy Thursday of the following year, when he was brought before the chancellor and treasurer. They tried every means to make him renounce the pope's authority and acknowledge that of * Hist. Cathol. ibid. cap. 19. t War. de Arch. Casseliens. t Hist. Cathol. ibid. § Aualccta Sacra, part 3, page 48, et. seq. the queen, who would appoint him to the see of Cashel ; but the holy prelate's perse- verance in the ancient religion, and firm adherence to the authority of the vicar of Jesus Christ, caused the most cruel tortures to be inflicted upon him. He was hanged on the seventh of June, without the city, before daybreak, in order to avoid any tu- mult which so inhuman a spectacle might produce among the people. About this same period we discover two celebrated martyrs, Gelasius O'Culennan, abbot of the monastery of Boyle, of the or- der of St. Bernard, in the county of Ros- common, and Owen O'Melkeren, a priest. These ministers of Christ, after long and cruel sufferings, were hung in Dublin, on the 1st of November, for that cause which the archbishop of Cashel had supported to his death. In order to avoid a tedious di- gression, we must here refrain from giving a circumstantial account of all those who suffered martyrdom in Ireland from the commencement of the Reformation. In the course, however, of this history, we will meet many, both in this and the succeeding reigns, although certain English writers affirm, with their usual effrontery, that Eliza- beth never interfered with the religion of her subjects.* Sir John Perrot was sent deputy to Ire- land, in June, 1584. His commission, which he was to retain according to the queen's pleasure, authorized him to make peace or war ; to punish or pardon any crime, except that of high treason against her majesty and that of forgery ; to issue proclamations, im- pose fines, dispose of the estates of the re- bels, exercise martial law, and convene par- liaments with the queen's consent. He had the appointment of all officers, except the chancellor, treasurer, the three principal judges, and the master of the rolls. He had also the right of conferring livings, ex- cept archbishoprics and bishoprics ; and, in fine, he possessed power over every thing relative to government, and the administra- tion of justice.! In order to become acquainted with the affairs of Ireland, the deputy spent eighteen days in consultation with the privy council, which was composed of the archbishop of Dublin, the chancellor, the earl of Ormond, treasurer, the bishops of Armagh, Meath, and Kilmore, Sir John Norris, president of Munster, Sir Henry Wallopp, treasurer of war. Sir Nicholas Bagnal, knight-marshal, * Baker, Chron. p. 359. t War. ibid. cap. 26. 490 HISTORY OF IRELAND. Robert Gardiner, chief-justice, Robert Dil- lon, chief-justice of the common pleas, Lu- cas Dillon, chief-baron, Nichohis White, master of the rolls, Richard Bingham, chief commissioner of Connaught, and Sirs Henry Cowley, Edward Watcrhouse, Thomas Le- strange, Edward Brabazon, JeofTrey Fen- ton, secretary of state, Warham St. Leger, and Valentine Brown. The deputy having made himself fully acquainted with the state of Ireland, laid down his plan of govern- ment, and sent OA^er James Fitzgerald, son of the earl of Desmond, to England. The countess, his mother, had given him Jis a hostage to Drury, the deputy, who confined him in the castle of Dublin. Perrot set out from Dublin in July, to visit the provinces of Connaught and Mun- ster. On his arrival in Galway, he en- deavored to reconcile the lords of that pro- vince, and settle their disputes. Thence he proceeded to Limerick, where he learned that the Scotch allies of Surly Boy Mac- Donnel, amounting to a thousand men, had made a descent on Ulster. He also discov- ered a rebellion to be hatching in Munster by O'Neill, and obliged those whom he sus- pected most to give hostages. He confided the government of the county of Cork to Judges Walsh and Miagh, the sheriff. Sir William Stanley, and the Lords Barry and Roche. He placed the provost-marshal over Limerick, and appointed the earl of Clan- carty. Sir Owen O'Sullivan, and O'Sullivan More, to the government of Desmond. He left Kerry to the care of the sheriff, Lord Lixnaw, and the president of the province, and returned to Dublin in August. The deputy was now preparing for an expedition into Ulster. Having collected a thousand infantry, and some light troops, with the militia of the provinca, he marched to Newry, in the county of Down, attended by a great number of officers and noblemen. He confirmed the truce which had been pre- viously agreed upon between the govern- ment and Turlogh Lynogh, Magennis, Mac- Mahon, Turlogh Brasilogh, and other Irish lords of that province, from whom he re- ceived hostages. The deputy having learned that the Scotch islanders Avere at Lough Foyle, in the northern extremity of the pro- vince, sent a fleet to disperse them ; but the Scotch, being informed of his intentions, set sail, and gained their own coasts in spite of the English admiral. The deputy, accom- panied by Ormond and other nobles, pro- ceeded on the right bank of the river Bann, where he laid waste the lands of Brian Car- rows, and forced him and Surly Boy to re- tire with their troops to Glancomkeane, dur- ing which time General Norris and the baron of Dungannon plundered, without mercy, the estates of Ocahane, and carried off a booty of two hundred oxen. About one Inmdred, however, of his army were cut to pieces by Brian Carrow's men, and subse- quently about the same number, who had been sent to succor the first body. Norris himself was wounded, and Oliver Lambert made prisoner on the lands of Ocahane. The time passed in mutual skirmishes be- tween the Ulstermen and the English ; vic- tory being sometimes in favor of one party, sometimes of the other. Meriman, an Eng- lish captain, made great booty : while Norris surrounded the wood of Glancomkeane, plundering at the same time the estates of Brian Carrows. The deputy marched north- wards to besiege Dunluce, and sent his ar- tillery by sea for that purpose, to Portrush, an island near the coast : whence it was brought to the camp before Dunluce. It may be easily inferred, that a place not provided with cannon, could make but a feeble resistance. Donfert soon afterwards shared the same fate, which obliged Surly Boy to surrender and give hostages. The deputy having left two hundred in- fantry and fifty cavalry in garrison at Cole- raine, returned to Newry about the end of September. Turlogh Lynogh gave him up the son of Shane O'Neill, as a prisoner. Conn, son of Neil Ogue, or the young, lord of Clanneboy, was forced, by orders of the deputy, to surrender half of his estates. The government of Ulster was divided between Turlogh Lynogh, baron of Dungannon, and Sir Henry Bagnal, after which the deputy returned to Dublin in the month of October. In April the parliament was convened in Dublin. The deputy was desirous to intro- duce the English dress among the Irish nobles. To this they were opposed, as they deemed a conformity in apparel as a mark of their subjection. To induce them to com- ply, the deputy presented English costumes to Turlogh Lynogh, and other Irish noble- men. One among them jocosely observed to the deputy, " you will then give my chap- lain permission to walk the streets with me in petticoats, and the rabble will laugh at him as well as at me ;" to which the deputy gravely replied, that order and decency re- quired that conformity in dress. Eastern Brefny was divided into a barony ; it has since been called the county of Cavan.* The parliament which assembled in Dublin * Ware, ibid. cap. 27 CHRISTIAN IRELAND. 491 had among those who composed it, four archbishops, and twenty bishops, Protestants of course. The other members were, the earls of Ormond, Kiklare, Tyrone, Thuo- mond, Clanriccard, and Glencar ; the vis- counts Buttevant, Gormanstown, Fermoy, and Mountgarret ; the barons Athenry, Kinsale, Slane, Delvin, Killeen, Howth, Trimleston, Dunsany, Upper Ossory, Louth, Curraghmore, Inchiquin, Castleconnel, and Cahir. The lower house was but thinly at- tended, as not more than twenty-six towns had returned their representatives. Several laws were enacted, among which was the Baltingiass act, by which James Eustace, viscount Baltingiass, and his brothers Ed- mond, Thomas, Walter, and Richard, were accusedandconvictedof high treason. Their properties were consequently confiscated.* An act was also passed to enable Laurence de la Hide of Moyglare, in the county of Meath, to succeed to the estates of his grand- father. Sir Walter de la Hide, which were confiscated in the reign of Henry VHI. After this the parliament was prorogued to the 29th of May. Previous to the meeting of this parliament it was discovered, by an investigation held in Cork, that several lordships belonging to the crown were usurped by different indi- viduals :t thus, the estate of Cloghroe was taken possession of by one Lombard, con- stable of the castle of Dublin ; and Callen, or Glynn, between Cork and Kinsale, was usurped by Richard Roach of Kinsale. It appeared also that the lordship of Kinel- meaky, which Barry Ogue then farmed, for- merly belonged to the crown, and paid rent to the exchequer, and that O'Mahown Carbry had seized on it in the middle of the fifteenth century, under the protection of MacCarty Riagh, to whom he surrendered half, and that Canogher O'Mahony was in possession of it when he lost his life in the rebellion of Desmond. The great severity which was practised in Connaught by Sir Richard Bingham, the governor, gave great displeasure to the nobles of that province. J Many of the Catholic clergy and laity were put to death : O'Con- nor Roe, aged eighty years, was hanged, notwithstanding the nobility of his birth ; several of the O'Connors, Burkes, O'Kellys, and other noblemen, shared the same fate. This mode of acting was called by the Eng- lish, '■'■good government." The tyranny of the governor prevented many of high rank * Irish Stat. 27th of Elizab. reg. p. 373, et seq. 1 Cox, Hist, of Ireland, pages 382, 383. t Hist. Cathol. ibid. cap. 21. from attending the assizes held by him in Sept., at Doneymoney, in the county of Mayo. Among this number were two of the Burkes, who withdrew with their families to a castle situate in an island in lake Mask. With the design of surprising them, Bingham crossed the lake in boats, with a troop of armed men ; they were, however, vigorously repulsed by the Burkes, who forced them to retreat pre- cipitately to their boats ; and so great was the confusion, that Bingham threw himself into the water, and escaped with difficulty. His treatment of Feargus O'Kelly was equally cruel. To avoid his persecution, this nobleman was forced to seek an asylum in the woods, with his followers, from whence he made frequent incursions upon the re- formers. The treacherous governor, deceiv- ing him with false promises, received him into favor. O'Kelly was not, however, per- mitted to enjoy peace long. Bingham sent a force to besiege him in his house on Christ- mas-day, while he was at supper. O'Kelly being alarmed, got his family safe through a subterranean passage that led to a consider- able distance from the house ; he then ask- ed to speak with the commander through a window, where, after reproaching him for his perfidy, he shot him, and a soldier who stood by him. After this the enemy set fire to his house, but O'Kelly had the good for- tune to escape through the passage also. The persecution was equally severe in the other provinces. Norris, president of Mun- ster, did not yield to the governor of Con- naught in cruelty.* The Catholics were hunted in all directions. It may be observed, that whatever might have been Elizabeth's hatred towards them, she was ably seconded by her ministers in Ireland, who laid their snares to make the most innocent appear guilty. The two MacSweeneys, Gelasius and Bernard Fitzgerald, of the house of Desmond, and Donald Macrah, all noble- men of Munster, were inhumanly put to death. Daniel MacCarty, son of the prince Muskerry, Dermod O'Sullevan, of the house of Beare, and many other nobles, were obliged to be continually under arms, to de- fend themselves against those sanguinary men, or to wander in the mountains and woods to escape their pursuit. The parliament which had been convened the preceding year, met again in April, 1586, and was dissolved in the month of May fol- lowing, after having passed several acts.f Those mentioned in the eighth and ninth chapters of this sitting are most interesting. * Hist. Cathol. ibid. c. 22. I t Book of Irish Statutes, p. 403, et seq. 492 HISTORY OP IRELAND. The first gives an account of the suits against the late earl of Desmond and his adherents, j in the war he had carried on against Eliza- beth, with -the confiscation of their estates, and contains the names of many nobles and gentlemen who had lost large possessions for their attachment to the Catholic faith. In them is to be found a list of about one hun- dred and forty proprietors stripped of their possessions in JMunster alone ; a thing un- precedented in the history of Europe, if we regard the extent of the province, but still inconsiderable when compared to the numer- ous confiscations under James I., the tyrant Cromwell, and the prince of Orange, through- out the several provinces of the kingdom, on account of their faith. It is this, perhaps, that has merited for the Irish the character of " gens flecti nescia ;" a nation that will not bend, which, indeed, is their true charac- teristic with respect to religion. The ninth chapter of the above statutes contains the act of confiscation against John Browne of Knockmonhie, and of several of the nobility, for the same cause. Numbers of Englishmen, invested with commissions either in the armies or magis- tracy, came at this time to glut their avarice, and seek their fortunes in Ireland. Without mentioning any other, the estates of the earl of Desmond were equal to satisfy many of these adventurers. These estates lay in the counties of Limerick, Cork, Kerry, Water- ford, Tipperary, and Dublin, and the yearly income from them amounted to upwards of seven thousand pounds — an immense sum at that time. The queen wishing to colonize Munster with EngUshmen, ordered a certain number of acres in the following counties to be distributed among them. Sir Christopher Hatton received estates in the county of Waterford ; Sir WaUer Raleigh, in the coun- ties of Cork and Waterford ; Sir Edw. Den- ny, Sir William Harbart, Charles Harbart, John Holly, Captain Jenkin Conwey, and John Campion, in the county Kerry. Estates were likewise given in the county of Cork to Sir Warham St. Leger, Hugh Cuff'e, Sii Thomas Norris, Arthur Robins, Arthur Hyde Edmond Spencer, Fane Beecher, Hugl Worth, and Thomas Say ; in the counties of Cork and Waterford, to Richard Bacon ; in the county of Limerick, to SirWilliam Court- ney, Francis Barkley, Robert Anslow, Rich- ard and Alexander Fitton, and Edmond Man v/aring ; Sir Edward Fhton received estates in the counties of Limerick, Waterford, and Tipperary ; William Trenchard, George Thorton, Sir George Bourchier, and Henry BoUingsly in the county of Limerick. Lastly, Thomas Dufl' Butler, earl of Ormond, had a considerable portion of Desmond's estates in the county Tipperary bestowed on him ; a recompense but too well merited for his services against, and his cruel persecution of that nobleman. The estates of Desmond being thus dis- posed of, circulars were sent into the counties of England to invite the younger sons of families to come and take possession of other estates that were confiscated. One of the conditions was, that they should hold them in fief, at three pence per acre, in the coun- ties of Limerick, Connillo, and Kerry, and at two pence in those of Cork and Water- ford, and that no Irishman should be sufl^er- ed to reside on them. The tyranny of Bingham, governor of Connaught, forced the Burkes to act again on the defensive. For this purpose the Clan- Donnells, the Joices, and other tribes of the province, were gained over to their party, and the castle of lake Mask, generally called the castle of Necally, or of Thomas Roe, was fortified. Bingham was at the time laying siege to the castle of Clan-Owen, in Thuomond, which Mahown O'Brien, the lord of the district, who was more attached to the Catholic cause than his namesake the earl, was commander of. The castle of Clan- Owen was not sufficiently strong to maintain a siege against so powerful an enemy, but O'Brien would not surrender, and died in defending it. The castle was then razed to the ground. Bingham after this marched to besiege the castle of Necally, where he was checked in his career. Having arrived at the borders of the lake, he summoned the garrison to surrender, and offered them a general pardon for the past. The besieged, however, replied, that they looked upon the castle as their best security, and would not trust to the promises of an Englishman. Bingham, incensed with their reply, embark- ed his troops in boats, and approached the island where the castle stood,which was diffi- cult of access. The soldiers, on their landing, were thrown by the besieged into the sea, so that Bingham, after witnessing the loss of his boats, and seeing several of his men killed, considered himself fortunate to escape with a part of his forces. The besieged, dreading a secoiul attack, which might prove more successful than the first, abandoned the lake, and got safe to shore, where they were joined by many of their friends. We discover at this time a striking instance of the treachery and dishonorable conduct of Bingham ; Richard Burke, oneof the chief confederates, or as the English term them, rebels, being CHRISTIAN IRELAND. 493 desirous of making peace with the govern- ment, submitted to Bingham, with a promise to be loyal to her majesty. Bingham re- ceived his submission ; but under a pretence that Burke would betray him, he liad him arrested and condemned to death. Complaints of the tyranny of Bingham in Connaught having been sent to Perrott, the deputy, orders were given to grant protection to the Burkes and other rebels of the pro- vince. Bingham, incensed at this order, re- paired to Dublin to have an interview with the council, at which mutual recriminations took place between the deputy and himself; but on hearing that the rebels in Connaught had recommenced hostilities, he returned. He found the province in a state of confusion; the Clandonnells and Clangibbons having joined the Burkes, whose courage was raised by the arrival of two thousand Scotch. His first step was to send commissioners to the rebels, to propose terms of peace, and to learn the cause of their disturbing the coun- try. They answered. What have loe to do with this Calliagh (bastard) — meaning Elizabeth — we have been very silly to have so long sub- mitted to a woma?i, 6fC. The governor im- mediately collected his forces at Ballinrobe, where he was joined by the earl of Clan- riccard, Bermingham, O'Kelly, and others. His measures were guided by the movements of his enemy, who, after many marches and countermarches, encamped at Arnare, on the River Moy, in Sligo, where they were surprised and cut to pieces by the English. The deputy was alarmed at the intelligence he had received, that the Scotch islanders had made a descent in the north ; and sent orders to the baron of Dungannon to oppose them, till he would repair thither in person. Tirlogh Lynogh O'Neill was now too old for I service. Perrott, in the mean time, collected I his troops, and set out from Dublin for Ul- ster, in June. On arriving at Dungannon, he was received by the nobles, who came to offer him their services. He found that a body of four hundred Scotch islanders had arrived, under the command of Alexander, son ofSurly Boy MacDonnel, and were joined by some of the natives, commanded by Ogue and Hugh Mac-Felim, sons of Conn Mac- Neill, O'Kelly, Mac-Cartan, and other no- blemen of the province. They intended to assemble in the county of Antrim, but were harassed by Captain Stafford, who forced them to cross the River Bann to Tyrone. They, however, recrossed the river, and withdrew towards Dunluce, and from thence to Inisowen, where they were joined by a fresh reinforcement of Scotch. Hugh Duffe O'Donnel, and an English captain named Merriman, having learned that the Scotch intended to surprise Strabane, marched the whole night in order to prevent an attack. The following morning they arrived in pre- sence of each other ; but the Scotch general, by his imprudence, lost the victory, .with his life. He sent a proposal to xMerriman, who commanded the English, to decide the battle by single combat. The latter accepted the challenge ; but to secure the victory, a gladi- ator who took the name of Merriman, was chosen to fight Alexander. The combat having begun with equal animosity, the Scotch general was first wounded ; but Merriman was the victim of his master's dishonor, being killed upon the spot. The English captain perceiving his adversary exhausted from his encounter with the gla- diator, entered the lists, sword in hand, to the great astonishment of Alexander, who thought his enemy had been defeated. They fought for some time ; but Alexander having received a dangerous wound in the leg, was obliged to yield to the Englishman, who had his head cut off, and sent to Dublin to be exposed to the public view. The Scotch being left without a leader, lost their courage and abandoned the field to the enemy. The success of Sir John Perrott in the government of Ireland, did not secure him against his enemies. Loftus, archbishop of Dublin, and chancellor, manifested much resentment towards him, on account of his wish to apply the revenues of St. Patrick's church to the support of the university : he was also constantly opposed in council by Marshal Sir Nicholas Bagnal, Fenton the secretary, Bingham, governor of Connaught, and others, so that his best acts were un- dervalued by the court. The deputy still dreading a revolt of O'Donnel, and other noblemen of Ulster who refused to give him hostages, in order to allay his apprehensions, bethought of an ex- pedient worthy of a pirate or a robber, des- titute of all honor or good faith.* He sent to Dublin for a merchant, called John Bing- ham, whom he ordered to freight a vessel with wine and other merchandise, on board of which were fifty armed men. He then sent Avord to the captain to sail towards the coasts of Tyrconnel, and to stop in some of its ports, as if to sell his cargo, but to en- deavor to decoy young O'Donnel on board, and bring him to Dublin. This plan suc- ceeded according to the deputy's wishes. The vessel cast anchor in Lough Svvilley, * Hist. Cathol. ibid. cap. 24. Pet. Lombard, de regno Hibern. comment, c. 24. War. ibid. cap. 31. 494 HISTORY OF IRELAND. on the borders of Tyrconnel. The report was soon spread, and every one, either to purchase goods or through curiosity, repaired on board. Among the number was Hugh, son of Magnus O'Donncl, prince of Tyrconnel, aged fourteen years, accompanied by Eugene MacSwoenv, lord ofTueth, MacSweeny of Fanid, and '.Sir Eugene O'Gallachuir. The captain of the vessel, delighted with their visit, received them with attention ; but what was their surprise on finding themselves con- ducted bv armed men into the hold of the vessel, while they were weighing anchor. The nobles who belonged to O'Donnel's suite obtained their liberty by giving hostages ; and the captain, content with his spoil, sailed for Dublin, where he gave up the young prince of Tyrconnel, and the hostages, to the dep- uty, who had them confined in the castle. Though the news of the taking of young O'Donnel was pleasing to the English in general, it was looked upon by all honorable men as a trait of black perfidy and punic faith.* Perrott applied, long before this, for his recall. Finding a powerful faction raised against him, who labored to blacken him in the eyes of the court, he wrote an urgent letter to the queen, begging that she would exonerate him from the commission of the lord-lieutenancy. The princess paid atten- tion to his request, and appointed Sir Wil- liam Fitz-William to succeed him. Perrott, on his return to England, was imprisoned for some offence, in the tower, where he died suddenly. Some Irish authors flourished at this time. According to Stanihurst, Thomas Long, pro- fessor of canon and civil law in the univer- sity of Paris, wrote some tracts in Latin. One was entitled, " De speciebus contra men- dacem Monachum ;" the others, a Disserta- tion on Aristotle ; and a Select Thesis on some points of law, dedicated to Charles cardinal de Bourbon. Richard Creagh, a native of Limerick, also lived at this time. He studied at Lou- vain with applause, and received the order of priesthood. He went afterwards to Rome, where he was consecrated by the pope arch- bishop of Armagh. He was author of some works, viz : a Treatise on the Lish Lan- guage, an Ecclesiastical History, a Book of Controversy, a Chronicle of Ireland, the Lives of some Irish Saints, and a Catechism in the Irish language. By orders of the English government, this holy prelate was at length arrested on account of his religion, * Timeo Danaos et dona ferentes. and imprisoned in the tower. It was then that the pretended ordination occurred at the Nag's Head tavern, so called from the head of a horse being the sign of the house. The Irish prelate was offered his liberty and a great reward, to ordain the false bishops of the reformation ; but this he firmly refused.* He died after a long imprisonment in the tower of London, a. d. 1585. Edmond Tan- ner, a native of Ireland, doctor in theology, and contemporary of Richard Creagh, wrote commentaries on a work of St. Thomas. Other authors were also born in Ireland about this time. Among them we find John Usher, mayor of Dublin ; Nicholas Walsh, bishop of Ossory ; and John O'Kearney, treasurer of St. Patrick's Church, Dublin. Richard Stanihurst, already mentioned, was the author of many works. After studying for some time at Oxford, he returned to Dublin, his native city. Although deeply connected with the Protestants, being the maternal uncle of the celebrated Usher, he belonged to the Catholic church, and, to practise his religion with more freedom, left his native country and retired to the Nether- lands. There he lost his wife, after which he embraced holy orders and became a priest. Being well known for his great learning, he was appointed chaplain to Albert, archduke of Austria, at that time governor of the low countries. Besides his Essay on the affairs of Ireland, which has been already alluded' to, and which is the least considerable of his works, he wrote, in his youth, a work entitled, " Harmonia sen catena dialectica in Por- phirium." This was first printed in folio in London, in 1570, and 1579, and subsequently at Lyons and Paris. He wrote two books on the life of St. Patrick, printed at Ant- werp in 1587. He also composed a work, which was printed at Antwerp in 1609, and was called " Hebdomada Mariana,'''' which signifies, the week of Mary, taken from the orthodox fathers of the Roman Catholic church, in memory of the seven festivals of the blessed Virgin Mary, and arranged for each day in the week. After this he wrote a work entitled, '■'■Hebdomada Eucharistica," which was printed at Douay in 1614. He wrote also a description of Ireland, which he dedicated to Sir Henry Sidney, who was de- * " They importuned, with vehemence, a certain Irish archbishop, whom they Jiad in prison in Lon- don, to assist them in their difficulty, and oflered him rewards and his liberty, if he would preside over the ordination of these men. But the good archbishop could not be prevailed upon to lay his sacred hands on the heretics, or to be au accessory to the sins of others." — Sanders on the English Schistn, b. 3, p. 297. CHRISTIAN IRELAND. 495 puty of the kingdom ; it was published by Hollingshed. He translated the first four books of Virgil's ^neid into heroic verse ; this work was printed in London in 1583, with some of David's Psalms, and other cur- sory pieces in Latin and English. He com- posed a tract on the principles of the Catho- lic faith. In 1615 he published, at Douay, a Latin work entitled " Brevis PrcRmunitio^^ &c. ; or short premunition, on a book written by his nephew Usher, called an Historical Explanation, &c. Richard had a son named William Stanihurst, born at Brussels in 1601 ; he entered into the order of the Jesuits at the age of sixteen. The great number of works which he published made him very celebrated. A catalogue of them by Sotvellus is to be met with in the library belonging to the society of writers. Daniel O'Malone, a friar of the order of St. Jerome, and professor of theology in the college of Bologna in Italy, published some Latin works which were printed at Venice, and afterwards at Douay and Antwerp. Thadeus O'Dowling, a learned doctor in theology, and chancellor of the church of Leighlin, has given his " Annales breves Hi- bernicB,^'' and an Irish grammar, which may be found in the library of Trinity College, Dublin. Thadeus Dunn appears, says Harris, in his 13th chapter of writers, to be a native of Ireland. He was a physican of Locarno in Switzerland, where he lived in exile for his religion. A work on medicine, and a chro- nological treatise on the sojourn of the Israelites in Egypt, have been written by him. These works were printed at Tiguri in Switzerland. CHAPTER XLIV. In 1 588, the last war which the Catholics of Ireland had to maintain against Elizabeth and the whole array of English sectarians, commenced. This was called the war of Tyrone, because the earl of that name was the chief leader ; it was long and bloody. Philip O'Sullevan, in his Catholic history, calls it Bellum quindeccm annontm — the fifteen years war. It began in the thirty- first, and ended in the forty-fifth year of Elizabeth's reign, which was also that of her death. This war raged with all the fury that national enmity, and an ardent zeal for religion could excite. From the plans that were adopted, it promised to be more favor- able to the cause of religion and liberty than any of the preceding wars undertaken for the same end. Before we enter upon a cir- cumstantial detail of this war, it will be ne- cessary to make known the state of affairs in Ireland, and the character of the inhabit- ants at that time. The Irish Catholics foimded strong hopes on the promises of the Spaniards. The latter indeed sent them some assistance, but it was inconsiderable, and disproportioned to the undertaking. They were better sup- ported by James VI. of Scotland, who, either to revenge the death of his mother, Mary Stuart, who was executed after a captivity of nineteen years, or to secure to himself the right of succeeding to the thrones of Eng- land and Ireland, secretly afforded help to the Irish, who were opposed to the court. As the want of union is generally fatal to the best cause, so the ambition of some of the Irish chiefs induced them to prefer their own interest to the general good. Some were seduced by titles of honor ; others were attached to the English court through polit- ical views, while others, fearful of success, continued neutral.* The house of Desmond was now extinct. Orniond and Thuomond, two of the most powerful in Munster, had embraced the reformed religion. They re- ceived many favors for their attachment to the court, and knew how to turn the mis- fortunes of their neighbors to their own ad- vantage. Daniel MacCarrha, prince of Clan- carrha and earl of Valentia, was more devoted to pleasure than to war. Being advanced in years, he cultivated the friendship of the English, and wasted his patrimony in enter- taining them. His sole desire was to be per- mitted to live a Catholic. Dermod and Donogh MacCarthy were at variance about the sovereignty of Alia ; O'Sullevan, prince of Beare, was contending with Owen his paternal uncle ; Ulick Burke, earl of Clan- riccard, after he had killed his brother John, became devoted to the English court, which he strove to conciliate towards him ; the other branches of the Burkes of Connaught were disputing about the lordship of Clan- williams. Tegue O'Rorke quarrelled for the possession of the principality of Brefny with his elder brother. Many of the nobility of Leinster who were well disposed to oppose heresy and usurpation, were already broken down by repeated wars in their own districts, and bereft of all power to aid the common cause ; Viscount Baltinglass, who had sacri- ficed all for his religion, had died in Spain. No confidence was placed in the earl of Kil- * Hist. Cathol. Ibern. torn. .3, lib. 1, cap. 6. 496 IHSTORV OF IRELAND. dare, on account of his being brought up in the principles of the reformed religion. From these causes have arisen the disunion among the Irish, and the consequent misfortunes of that unhappy country. The Catholic History of Ireland furnishes a list of all the principal Irish, ancient and modern, who abetted or opposed this war. The author calls them princes, and introduces the provinces in order, commencing with jVIunster. Those who, in opposition to re- ligion and their country, espoused the cause of the queen, are first given. The modern Irish princes loho supported the interests of the queen. In Munster. — .Thomas Butler, surnamed DufT, or the Black, earl of Ormond ; Barry the great, Viscount Buttevant ; Mac-Pieris Butler, baron of Dunboyne ; Courcy, baron de Courcy ; Burke, baron of Castleconel, and his son Richard ; Theobald Burke, son of Richard, surnamed Naval, a claimant to I the principality of Clanwilliam; MacPheoris, or Bermingham, baron of Dunmoris. I In Leinster. — Henry,William, and Gerald I Fitzgerald, earls of Kildare ; St. Lawrence, baron of Howth. In Meath. — Preston, Viscount Gormans- town ; Nugent, baron of Delvin ; Fleming, baron of Slane ; Barnewal, baron of Tri- melstown ; Plunket, baron of Louth ; Plun- ket, baron of Dunsaney ; Plunket, baron of Killeen. The ancient Irish princes who supported the cause of the queen. In Munster. — Donagh O'Brien, prince of Limerick, earl of Thuomond ; MacCarty Riagh, prince of Carbry ; Charles MacCarty, son of Desmond, baron of Muskerry ; Mor- rough O'Brien, baron of Inchiquin. In Connaught. — O'Connor Don, prince of Magherry Connaught. In Meath. — O'Melachlin, a prince. Our author, in giving the names of the ancient and modern Irish who espoused the cause of Elizabeth, adds the Anglo-Irish who were settled in Ulster, which he calls the royal, or English faction. He next enume- rates those that fought against the enemies of religion, whom he names the Irish and Catholic party. He begins with Ulster, be- cause the inhabitants of that province were the chief actors in the war. The men of Ulster were,in fact, more zealous in the cause of religion and liberty than any of the other provinces. If their example had been fol- lowed, the sway of the English would have been inevitably destroyed iji Ireland. The Ultonians are to this day the victims of their own zeal, through the degeneracy of those whose ideas were less generous than their own. The ancient Irish, who fought for the Catho- lic faith. In Ulster. — Hugh O'Neill, prince and earl of Tyrone, and his adherents, namely, Ma- gennis, prince of I veach, Mac-Mahon, prince of Uriel, Mac-Guire, prince of Fermanagh, O'Cahane, prince of Arachty, James and Ranald Mac-Donnel, princes of Glyim, and O'Hanlon, prince of Orior. O'Donnel, prince of Tyrconnel, and his adherents, viz., Mac-Sweeny, prince of Tueth, Mac-Sweeny, prince of Fanid, Mac-Sweeny, prince of Ba- nach, O'Dogherty, prince of Inisowen, and the O'Buills, or 13oyles. In Munster. — O'SuUevan, prince of Bere and Bantry ; Daniel O'Sullivan More, or the Great, whose father, prince of Dunkeran, was exonerated from any share in the war, on account of his great age ; O'Connor Ker- ry, prince of Arachty ; Donogh Mac-Carty Mac-Donogh, son of Cormac, and Dermod Mac-Carty Mac-Donogh, son of Owen, both claimants for the principality of Alia ; O'Driscol, prince of Cothlie ; O'Mahony of Carbry, O'Donovan, O'Donoghoe of Onach- te, O'Donoghoe of the Glynn. In Connaught. — O'Rourke, prince of Brefny; Mac-Dermod, prince of Moy-Lurg; O'Kelly, prince of Mainech. In Leinster. — Though the principal men in this province were attached to the queen's cause, several of the ancient nobles took up arms in defence of the faith, particularly the Cavanaghs, O'Connors Faley, O'Mord- has, or O'Morras of Leix, and the O'Byrnes. In Meath. — Mageoghegan, a prince. The example of the latter was followed by some other nobles in Munster, of English origin,* viz., Roche, viscount of Fermoy ; Richard Butler, viscount of Mountgarret ; Mac-Moris, or Fitzmaurice, baron of Lix- naw ; Thomas Butler, baron of Cahir ; Pat- rick Condon, a prince ; Richard Purcel, baron of Luochne ; William Fitzgerald, knight of Kerry and lord of Rafinnan ; Ed- mond Fitzgerald, called the White Knight. All these we have already mentioned were in possession of their estates when they took up arms in defence of the faith. Some estranged themselves from the court party, * Hist. Cathol. ibid. CHRISTIAN IRELAND. 497 at the cost of their properties, and espoused the Catholic cause ; namely, Florence and Daniel Mac-Carty, to whom the principality of Clancarrha belonged for some time ; O'Connor, prince of Sligo ; James Fitzger- ald, earl of Desmond; Mac- William Burke; Raymond Burke, baron of Leitrim ; and Owen O'Morra. Several nobles, equal both in birth and virtue to those already named, though not chiefs of tribes, espoused the Catholic cause,* namely, Niallgarve O'Donnel, Cor- nelius O'Driscol, Dermod O'SuUevan, Fiach O'Birne, Cormac O'Neill. Cornelius O'Reil- ly, Dermod Mac-Carty Riagh, William Burke, Bernard O'Kelly, Richard Tirell, Bernard O'Morra, Walter Fitzgerald, Der- mod O'Connor, Peter Lacy, Edmond O'Mor- ra, James Butler, Morrough Mac-Sweeny, Ulick Burke, Daniel Mac-Sweeny, Richard Mageoghegan, Manus Mac-Sweeny, Mau- rice O'SuUevan, Thadeus O'Mahony of Carbry, and many other powerful lords. It is strange, however, that all the ancient and modern Irish, who abetted the cause of heresy, were Catholics, with the exception of three or four who had embraced the re- formed religion. f The latter were guided by their principles, the former by a blind respect for the shadow of legal authority. As soon as Fitzwilliam had received the sword of justice, as deputy of Ireland, care was taken to make him doubt the sincerity of Tyrone. This prince, called Hugh O'Neill, was son of Fardorach, baron of Dungannon, whom English writers call Matthew, and grandson of Conn O'Neill, on whom Henry VIII. conferred the title of earl of TjTone. Both in respect to birth and fortune, Hugh O'Neill was undoubtedly one of the first no- blemen in Ireland. I If to these advantages we add that of his having been a good citi- zen, he surpassed them all. He was descend- ed, by uninterrupted succession, from sev- eral monarchs of Ireland. St. Patrick, the apostle of this island, found the supreme sceptre in the tribe of the Hy-Nialls, in the beginning of the fifth century, in which it continued to the usurpation of the provincial kings in the beginning of the eleventh. O'Neill was also the most powerful prince in landed property, money, men, and arms, not only in his own province but in all Ire- land. His mind was just, and had been carefully formed in the best schools in Ire- land, and subsequently in England, where he frequented the court for some time, and * Hist. Cathol. Ibern. ibid. t Hist. Cathol. Ibern. ibid. cap. 3. I Pet. Lombard, de Hib. Comment, cap. 24. became a general favorite. The queen, who considered him as a useful instrument to re- duce Ireland, loaded him with honors. He was, by birth, baron of Dungannon ; but in order to abolish the title of O'Neill, which was considered so superior to every other, she conferred that of earl of Tyrone on him, and ordered him to take his seat in parlia- ment. With a design of serving his country, the earl acted cautiously towards the queen by seeming to embrace her views. Tyrone had a strong relish for war. Dur- ing his stay in England, he studied the mili- tary science with considerable success.* On his return to Ireland he received the command of two regiments, consisting of six companies, whom he trained to the art of war, and according as they became well disciplined, sent them home with rewards. Those dismissed were replaced by others, who were instructed in like manner. He gave fire-arms to the country people also, to induce them to hunt, and thereby made them expert in the use of them ; so that, in a short time, almost the whole province was trained to arms. He obtained the consent of the council to bring over plates of lead from England, under pretext of roofing a castle he was building at Dungannon ; and the merchants, who were desirous of making a profit by the transaction, exceeded the privilege which had been granted, by send- ing over larger quantities. Tyrone had the lead converted into bullets. Besides the private depots which were to furnish the wants of the troops under his orders, he had others, into which he secretly collected pro- visions and warlike stores. Such were the measures adopted by him, while he waited for a favorable opportunity to raise the standard of revolt — measures which proved his skill as a general. The first cause of Tyrone's quarrel with Elizabeth, was the hospitality with which he received some Spaniards that were cast by a storm upon the coasts of Ulster. A misunderstanding prevailed for a long time between Philip II., king of Spain, and the queen of England. Treaties of peace were often entered into between them, and as fre- quently broken off*. The sovereignty of the Low Countries had already been wrested from Philip by the States of Holland, under the advice of William, prince of Orange, and transferred to the duke d'Anjou. Queen Elizabeth assisted Philip's rebellious sub- jects, of whom Alexander Farnese, prince * Petrus Lombard, ibid. War. de Annal. Hib. cap. 36. 498 HISTORY OF IRELAND. of Parma, was named govprnor, and, on the other hand, Philip sent aid to the Cath- olics of Irehmd against Elizabeth. Such was the state of affairs, when a treaty of peace was proposed, this year, between Spain and England. A certain number of coininissii)n(>rs, appointed on both sides, assembled with this object at Ostend, but came to no conclusion. Philip, finding these negotiations unavailing, turned his thoughts to war, and determined to make a descent upon England. For this purpose he equipped the most formidable fleet that had been ever known, from whence it was called the invincible armada.* This fleet consisted of one hundred and thirty vessels of various sizes, having on board nineteen thousand two hundred and ninety troops, eight thousand and fifty sailors, two thousand and eighty men from the galleys, and two thou- sand six hundred and thirty pieces of can- non. The prince of Parma, governor of the Low Countries, received orders to hold himself in readiness, with the fifty thousand men he commanded, and to have boats of a crooked form, and deep in the centre, (each of which was to contain thirty horses,) con- structed. With these boats he intended to convey his army to the mouth of the Thames, at the time of the intended arrival of the fleet from Spain. On the other hand, all the measures ne- cessary to oppose the designs of the Span- iards, were adopted. Admiral Lord Charles Howard, and vice-admiral Sir Francis Drake had orders to repair on board the fleet at Plymouth. Lord Henry Seymour, at the head of forty English and Dutch ships, was appointed to guard the coasts of the Low Countries, to prevent the prince of Parma from sailing. The land forces were sta- tioned along the southern coast, under the command of the earl of Leicester, who established his head quarters at Tilbury, near the mouth of the Thames. The ports of Milford, Falmouth, Plymouth, Portland, the Isle of Wight, Portsmouth, the mouth of the Thames, Harwich, Yarmouth, and Hull, were fortified, and strongly garrisoned. Matters being thus prepared on both sides, the Spanish fleet, commanded by Don Al- phonso, duke of Medina Sidonia, and Jean j Martin Recalde, vice-admiral, sailed from the ■ Tagus on the 20th May. Soon after sail- ing the fleet was dispersed in a violent gale. Having, however, collected the vessels again with difficulty, they appeared in July on * Cainbd. Elizab. part 3, ad an. 1588. Baker, Chroii. of Eng. reign of Elizabeth, p. 374. the coast of England. The fleet stationed at Plymouth set sail immediately, and in the course of six days three battles were fought with unequal success. The Span- iards, hoping to receive assistance from the prince of Parma, cast anchor opposite Ca- lais. The Spanish admiral dispatched a courier to the prince, with orders to join the fleet with his troops, and, in the mean time, to send him some cannon balls, of which he was in extreme need. This the prince could not accomplish, being blockaded in his own ports by Seymour, who was, at the same time, about to join Admiral Howard's squadron. Besides this, the boats which were built being in a leaky condition, were not in a state to put to sea. The expedition was fatal to the Spaniards, but the English, according to their national characteristic, boast too highly of their success. The vSpanish fleet was in the beginning shattered by a violent storm, and on the coast of Britain it was disappointed of the succors that were ex- pected from the Low Countries, with which hope the expedition had been principally undertaken. In their battles with the Eng- lish, the Spaniards were in want of ammu- nition ; their fleet, too, consisted of large ships hard to be managed, without frigates or small vessels, so necessary in an engage- ment. The advantage was entirely in fa- vor of the English. Their vessels were superior in number, and their force of every variety ; besides which they were on their own coasts, and had every thing requisite for their fleets. All hopes of succeeding on the shores of England being destroyed, the Spanish ad- miral sailed for Spain through the Orkneys. When coasting round the north of Ireland, his fleet was wrecked, whereby he lost more men and ships than in his battles with the English. The disappointment evinced by Philip when informed of this circumstance, and of the defeat of his fleet, was mildly expressed with these words, " I sent them to fight against men, not with the elements." The Spaniards who escaped the fury of the waves were hospitably sheltered by the Irish nobles, and among others, by O'Neill of Tyrone, O'Rorke, MacSweeny, &c. Camb- den incorrectly and maliciously says, that many of the Spaniards were put to death on this occasion by the Irish. His account in this accords with the atrocious murders that the queen's minister in Ireland committed at the time, who sought out the Spaniards everywhere, and had about two hundred of them put to death. His cruelty in this was CHRISTIAN IRELAND. 499 not, it is said, approved of by the queen. The same minister persecuted likewise many of the Irish who afforded an asylum to the Spaniards. A remnant of the Spaniards who were cast upon the north coast of Ireland, divided themselves and proceeded into the country parts to seek relief. Some of them, with thei;: captain, presented themselves to Hugh O'Neill ; this prince received them with so much kindness, that the soldiers expressed an eagerness to continue in his service. The captain being recovered from his fatigues, took his leave of O'Neill and set out for Scotland, from whence he might pass with greater security to the Low Countries, and from thence to Spain. Being in company one day, he boasted of the goodness, the humanity, and liberal disposition of Prince O'Neill. One of the company, jealous of the praises that were lavished by this officer upon O'Neill, formed a slight intimacy with him, and gaining his confidence, observed, that if he had any letters to send to O'Neill, he would, with pleasure, undertake to de- liver them, as he was going to Ireland. The Spaniard, not suspecting his wicked design, gave him a letter wherein he avowed his gratitude and remembrance of his kindness- es ; offering him, at the same time, his ser- vices with the king and the court of Spain. This faithless messenger, whom Cambden calls Hugh Gavalerc, and others Conn Mac- Shane, natural son of Shane'O'Neill, instead of going to Ireland, proceeded straight to Lon- don, where he gave up the Spaniard's letter for O'Neill, to the council. He added, that O'Neill was secretly plotting against the queen, and had given letters to the Spanish officer for the king of Spain, in which he sought assistance against her ; and that the offers of service which this Spaniard had made to him, appertained to the same end. When the above information was given against O'Neill, an order was sent to him, in the name of the queen and council, to appear at court in order to clear himself. O'Neill, desirous of retaining the confidence of the court for some time longer, repaired to Lon- don in May, 1590, attended by a retinue sjiited to his rank, and pleaded his cause so ably that he was judged to be innocent, in spite of the treasurer, William Cecil, who possessed great influence, and was equally hostile to the Catholics and the Irish nation. The prince of Tyrone being reconciled to the queen and council, returned to Ireland. O'Rourke, prince of Brefny, was not so fortunate as the prince of Tyrone. He had afforded shelter to three hundred men be- longing to the crew of a Spanish vessel which had foundered on the coast of Sligo ; and being summoned by the deputy to deliver them up to her majesty's ministers, he replied, that neither his honor nor religion allowed him to surrender Catholics who had implored his protection, to be put to death. In the mean time, to secure them against the fur- ther pursuits of their enemy, he sent them to Tyrconnel, to Mac-Sweeny of Tueth, who had already hospitably entertained Antonio de Leva, and nearly a thousand men, who put to sea soon afterwards, but were unhap- pily lost within view of the shore.* In order to punish the supposed disobe- dience of O'Rourke, Bingham, governor of Connaught, marched against him with a strong force, both English and Irish. Among the latter was Ulick Burke, earl of Clanric- card. O'Rourke, who had but two hundred men commanded by Mac-Sweeny, surnamed Muracha Na-Mart, who had come from Mun- ster, and about the same number of vassals, who were hastily armed, was attacked at Droumdhathic. Unable to resist so superior a force, especially as Muracha was wound- ed, by which he lost an eye, he was forced to retreat. Being thus driven from his dis- trict, he was forced to resort to the goodness of Mac-Sweeny Tueth, who received him with generosity. After this he proceeded to Scotland, with the hope of obtaining succor to enable him to recover his possessions ; but James VI., king of Scotland, having previously made peace with Elizabeth, not- withstanding her barbarous treatment of his mother. Queen Mary, had O'Rourke arrested, in violation of all the sacred rights of hospi- tality towards a man whose only crime was his having exercised that virtue to men in distress, whom the most inhuman could not view in the light of enemies. This monarch sent him in chains to Elizabeth,. who ordered him to be hanged at Tyburn, without even the form of a trial. AVhen O'Rourke's last hour was approaching, he w^p visited by a Protestant bishop, who exhorted him to con- form to the religion of the queen and of the state ; but all his imporf.unity could not shake the faith of that illustrious man, who firmly replied : Remember from lohat you yourself have fallen ; think of returning to the church, that you may regain the grace of God : as for me, I shall die in the religion which you have deserted.^ Rossa Boy MacMahon, chief of the noble tribe of the MacMahons of Monaghan, hav- ing died without issue, Aodha Rua, or Red * Hist. Cathol. ibid. t Petr. Lombard, ibid. p. 344. 500 HISTORY OF IRELAND. Hugh MacMahon, his brother, succeeded to his title and estates ;* but having cause to dread the otlier branches of that tribe, name- ly, Patrick, son of Art Moil MacMahon, Ebhir, or Ibcr, lord of Fame, and Bricn, son ofHughOgue,lord of Dartry, who were pow- erful and aspired to the succession, he ap- pli(Hl toWilliam Fitzwilliams,the lord-deputy, and promised him seven hundred oxen if he would interpose his authority, and secure to him the right of his ancestors. This iniqui- tous judge, wishing to benefit by the division that prevailed between the MacMahons, be- gan by taking possession of Monaghan, the chief town of their principality. He put a sheriff, or judge, with a strong garrison, into it. He then divided some of the lands be- tween Hugh the Red and Patrick MacMahon, leaving to the former the title of MacMahon ; and lastly, he adjudged to Iber and Brien the lordships of Fame and Dartry, with which they were to be content. Such was the de- cision of an English minister, who, like the monkey with the oyster in the fable, took care to reserve the better part of the spoils for himself. All further complaints were interdicted. MacMahon, however, having expressed some dissatisfaction, and having refused to pay to the deputy what he had already promised, the latter accused him of some pretended crime ; and in order to give an appearance of justice to his proceedings, he appointed twelve jurors to try him, with orders, however, to find him guilty. f The jurors, with some idea of honesty, exclaimed against an order so unjust, the result of which must be to sway their opinion, and make them to condemn, contrary to their conscience, an innocent man. Twelve oth- ers, who proved to be less scrupulous, were then appointed, by whom MacMahon was condemned to death. The inhuman sentence was carried into execution at Monaghan. His estates were confiscated, and a great part of them given to Sir Henry Bagnall and Cap- tain Henslow ; the remainder was divided be- tween some branches of the MacMahons, on condition of their paying an annual tribute, and a vessel of wine to the deputy. This matter was subsequently made the subject of complaint against him to the council of England, from which he had some difficulty to clear himself. Brien, lord of Dartry, re- covered all those estates afterwards, and was acknowledged chief of the MacMahons. According to the best authors, Ireland was celebrated in former ages for her schools, * Hist. Cathol. ibid. vol. 2, lib. 4, c. 23. Petr Lombard, ibid, pages 341, 342. t Petr. Lombard, ibid, page 342 which were frequented by foreigners. They produced many persons who were celebrated ibr their sanctity and profound erudition, and supplied several universities in Europe with the best professors ; but much of this celeb- rity was lost by the invasion of the English in the twelfth century.* These new-comers, intent upon amassing wealth, no longer thought of the engagements which had been entered into between their sovereign and Adrian IV. — viz., to restore religion in Ire- land, and reform the morals of the inhabit- ants ; an engagement which, though ground- less and absurd, was the only plea for their usurpation. On the contrary, they labored to abolish all learning, whereby the minds of the people would be enlightened and their morals cultivated, by forcing the inhabitants to exchange science for war, in order to de- fend their patrimonies. A proposal being once made to the council of England, to found a university in Ireland for the instruc- tion of youth, one of the principal members, who was also a bishop, opposed it strongly. t One of his friends expressing his surprise on seeing a Catholic bishop frustrate so holy and salutary a measure, the prelate answered that he had not decided as a bishop of the Catholic church, but as a senator of England. It was the policy of England to deprive the Irish of every opportunity to polish and im- prove the people, and in order to render them contemptible, to suffer them to fall into the grossest ignorance. This cruel policy forced the nobility of the country to send their children to foreign countries to learn a knowledge of the sciences which were denied them at home. Queen Elizabeth was the first to infringe upon this policy, which had been observed during four centuries. She founded a col- lege in Dublin for the encouragement of Protestantism, which it was intended should be introduced into Ireland, a. d. 1591.| In order to anticipate her majesty's intention, Adam Loftus, Protestant archbishop of Dub- lin and chancellor of Ireland, called a meet- ing of the mayor, aldermen, and citizens, at the exchange, where he delivered an impres- sive discourse on the necessity of restoring the sciences ; and represented to them, that, if they would promote so valuable an under- taking, and give, for that purpose, the old monastery called All Saints, which had been granted to them by Henry VIII., on the suppression of religious houses, it would be * Venerab. Bed. Hist. Eccles. Passim. Cambd. Brit. p. 730. Usser. Prim. Eccles. t Pet. Lombard, Comment, de Req. Hlb. cap. 18. t War. do Annal. cap. 33, 34, 35. CHRISTIAN IRELAND. 501 pleasing to the queen. This proposal was unanimously approved of, and Henry Usher deputed to obtain from the queen the patents necessary for its fouudation, which were im- mediately granted. Loftus repaired to the exchange to thank the magistrates, on the part of her majesty, whose letter he showed them. Workmen were employed to pull down the monastery, on the site of which a handsome college was erected, and dedicated to the blessed Trinity. Thomas Smith, then mayor of Dublin, laid the first stone. This college was erected into a university by a charter, dated 30th of March, 1592. William Cecil, baron of Burleigh, grand-treasurer of England, a knight of the order of the garter, and secretary of state, was the first chancellor of Trinity College ; Adam Loftus first pro- vost ; Luke Challoner, William Daniel, James FuUerton, and James Hamilton, were'the first fellows ; and the celebrated James Usher, or Usserius, Abel Walsh, and James Lee, the first bursars. This foundation was con- firmed in 1638, by a charter from Charles I., who caused regulations to be drawn up for the government of the college, and the disci- pline to be observed in it. Michael Morus, or More, of the celebrated tribe of the O'Morras of Leix, was the last Catholic pro- vost of this college. In the time of James H., he was forced to surrender that dignity on account of liis religion, and share the same fate with his king. He went to Rome, where he became acquainted with Cardinal ' de Noailles, who became so attached to him, on account of his erudition, that he brought him to Paris. He became rector of the university in that city, and president of the college of Navarre, where he died. This year was remarkable for the cele- brated declaration or edict which Elizabeth issued against the ministers of the Catholic religion.* It is filled with invectives against the king of Spain, and the pope, the priests, 1 seminarians, and Jesuits. Ecclesiastics, and all who received them into their houses, were I condemned to pay heavy fines, under an Ij absurd pretext of high treason, which con- sisted in their refusal to embrace the re- formed religion, and acknowledge Elizabeth supreme head of the church. Tlie follow- ing is a copy of her etlict : " Although we have had for thirty-three years, during which God hath secured to us a peaceful reign, sufficient cause to hope that the strong and wicked malice of our enemies, particularly the king of Spain, (who has without provocation disturbed our kingdom,) * Relat. Girald. cap. 26, page 171, et seq. woidd at length have subsided on his part, and that of his allies ; and that he, with other Christian princes, would unite with us after the war which he had kindled would end, to establish a general peace. But we now find that the contrary has arisen, and that the warlike preparations which he, the king of Spain, hath made, are of the most extensive and formidable character. The God of ar- mies, however, has been pleased to permit, that those who cannot live content with their condition, and in peace, fall by their own im- prudence into disasters and distress ; and we therefore discover that this king, who has possessed dominions and wealth of greater magnitude than any of his predecessors, or any other monarch in the world, and who has declared an unjust war against France and us, by plotting during two years, the destruction of our realms, has fallen, together with his army, into disappointment and ruin. " It is now obvious to us, that the king of Spain, in order to add a new appearance to his rash and extraordinary measures, has lately caused a Milanese, his own subject, to be raised to the popedom, and has influenced him to apply the treasures of the church to the raising of troops in Italy and other countries, (which are free from war,) for the purpose of sending them under the command of his nephew into France, to take possession of that kingdom, which has always assisted the church in her necessities. This war, which has been undertaken with so much care and splendor both by sea and land, must necessai'ily affect our kingdoms and our crown. " We are likewise convinced that this king has, for the purpose of establishing his de- signs through the influence of the pope, so disposed to favor him, entered into treaty with some chiefs who have been our ungrate- ful subjects, and linked in rebellion with the people, who, influenced and paid by the king of Spain, enrolled themselves in great num- bers ; some from necessity, and some to es- cape the punishment due to their crimes and perfidy. To maintain and support them in their pursuits, certain places called semina- ries have been established in Spain and at Rome, where they become instructed, and after they are made conversant in the arts of sedition, arc secretly sent back into our kingdom, well supplied with money from the pope, to influence all with whom they treat, to renounce their allegiance to us, under a hope of being assisted by the Spaniards, who would load them with the riches and spoils of our faithful subjects. '' For these objects the priests oblige, by 502 HISTORY OF IRELAND. an oath, our people with whom they hold intercourse, to renounce their allegiance to us and transfer it to the king of Spain ; like- wise, to aid his army on tlioir landing, and the more efl'ectually to accomplish their pur- pose, they impose on a credulous people, by saving that bulls have been obtained from the pope, whereby indulgences and a promise of heaven are held out to those who will range themselves under their standard, and that those who will act in opposition, are loaded with curses, with threats of hell, and condemnation. " And although such attempts of the pope have been long practised in some countries, we have saved our kingdoms from their in- fluence by the efficacy of the laws enacted against rebels and those guilty of high trea- son, and not against religion, as has been falsely advanced by the favorers of these base views ; which is the more flagrant from criminal suits having been instituted, in which none were condemned or put to death except for treason, and for their avowal, that they would aid and assist the pope and his army if sent to invade our realms. " It is a matter also of notoriety, that none of our subjects have been put to death for their religion, inasmuch as many pos- sessed of riches, and possessing a contrary belief to ours, are punished neither in their properties, their lives, nor their freedom, and are subject only to pay a certain fine for their refusal to frequent our churches ; which is on our part a clear refutation of the aspersions and calumnies that have been propagated in foreign countries, by those who have fled from their own. " Notwithstanding all this, we know for truth, that some leaders in these receptacles called seminaries, or Jesuitical colleges, have again endeavored to influence the king of Spain to make new attempts upon Ireland, by promising to assist his army on their land- ing, with many thousand men, although his fleet had met with signal disasters in its first attempts at invasion. Though prudence and experience of the past should show this king how inefficient his plans against Eng- land must ever be ; still he has been solicited to renew his eflx)rts, under similar false promises and misrepresentations. " The king of Spain's particular adviser is a theologian named Person, who endeavors by such means to gain the Catholic king's favor, and succeed in becoming his confes- sor ; similar information has been conveyed to the pope through another theologian called Alan, the reward of whose trea- chery towards us has been a cardinal's hat : these men have provided their patrons with a list of names of those who have espoused, or would espouse their cause, particularly in the maritime parts of our kingdom, and would join the standard of the Spaniards on their landing. Although the pope and king of Spain must be aware that the advices and opinions of these men are frivolous and false, still they are looked upon as fit instru- ments to keep the people attached to their wicked designs, and many of them have been, within the last ten or twelve months, secretly dispatched into England, to assure their adherents, (as has been made known to us through some wlio have been lately arrested,) that in the ensuing year, the entire forces of Spain will be directed against Eng- land. Some, however, of the Spanish coun- cil, more prudent than the rest, seeing that no important advantages would attend such an enterprise, think that France or the Low Countries, Scotland or Ireland, whither some seminarians have been sent for this object, would afl'ord better hopes and prospects of success to the Spanish arms. " Though convinced now of the inten- tions and designs of Spain against us, still we doubt not but God, who is the pro- tector of the just cause, will, as he has already done, defeat them. It is the duty of us, therefore, who have received the throne from the hands of the Almighty, to use all the means within our power, under the di- vine protection, and with the help of our faithful subjects, to make the laws available against rebels, so that by increasing our forces, we may crush the power of our ene- mies. " First, we require that the clergy of our church take care, by their doctrine and ex- ample, to instruct the people in the gospel, and in their duties to God and to us, particu- larly as some rebels, with their chiefs, are continually endeavoring, by means of their seminaries, to seduce the simple and unsus- pecting. " Secondly, with respect to our armies by sea and land, intended to suppress those ex- traordinary forces which are to come from Spain, we hope, that by the good orders we have given, we shall resist our enemies more efl'ectually than we ttave yet done : still we earnestly entreat our subjects to assist us with their resources in men and money, and with their advice, and to pray that God will protect our cause, which is that of nature, honor, and necessity, and which we have undertaken for the safety of our country, for the safety of your wives and children, your properties and freedom, against those cruel and avaricious despoilers. CHRISTIAN IRELAND. 503 " Thirdly, in order to defeat the secret machinations of these seminarians, Jesuits, and other traitors, who are m-ging the king of Spain to his present designs, and under a garb of sanctity, insinuate themselves into the minds of our subjects, and encourage them to rebel ; we have determined to send commissioners immediately to all the coun- ties, provinces, towns, villages, and seaports of our kingdom, with orders to make every necessary effort for the discovery of such characters as think that any obedience what- soever is due to the pope or to the king of Spain. " Being aware that several of these semi- narians, disguised in female attire, enter our kingdom, and by assuming the name of for- eigners, gain admittance into the universi- ties, courts of princes, and the families of noblemen, we expressly command each and every one, of what rank, sex, condition, or dignity soever they be, even the officers of ourhousehold, the ministers and magistrates, the heads of families, and pastors, to search carefully for all who, within the last fourteen months, have frequented their houses, and have lived, slept, eaten wdth, or labored for them, or may labor for them in future ; also to give a return of their names, rank, and quality, their birthplace, and where they have lived for a whole year before they came to their houses, on what they subsist, how they have been employed, what places they frequented, and those with whom they keep intercourse, and if, at the periods pre- scribed by law, they have attended divine service in our churches. " We likewise command that these inqui- ries, with the answers given them, be com- mitted to writing by the heads of each family, and that they be carefully preserved, in order that they may be resorted to by our commis- sioners as they may think proper, both for the discovery of doubtful characters, and to convince them of the correctness and loyalty of the fathers of families. " Should any hesitate to answer, or appear to waver in their testimony, it is our will that they be forthwith arrested, and brought under a strong guard to the nearest com- missioner ; and, that the same measure be enforced against the heads of families, who will manifest omission or lenity in their in- vestigations : and that our commissioners shall punish, according to the degree of their offences, such as may be known to have favored suspected persons, or to have neg- lected giving them up within twenty days after the publication of this decree. They shall be subject to the same penalty as trai- tors and rebels, and likewise will be deemed their abettors and accomplices, in faith of which we ordain, expressly and firmly, that no favor or respect be shovvn to either rank or dignity ; and finally, that no neglect be tolerated in those who have not discovered traitors, or used their exertions for the dis- covery of them ; which so far from being contrary to law, are in accordance with the most ancient laws and customs of our king- dom, for the maintenance of that obedience which is due to us and to the stability of our government. Given at our palace of Rich- mond, on the 18th of October, 1591, in the thirty-third year of our reign." The above declaration is founded on false reasoning. Elizabeth alleges that high trea- son alone was punishable by death : still, she condemned those who refused to take the oath of supremacy, to death, and deprived them of their estates, their refusal being considered as an act of high treason. She conceals her venom and bad faith under an appearance of justice, resting the proofs of her innocence on the cases of some of her rich Catholic subjects, who were condemned to pay a fine only when they omitted attend- ing the churches of the reformers ; but she has neverbeen accused of having condemned all her Catholic subjects to death on account of their religion. Her fury was levelled in particular against the clergy who were op- posed to the reformation, while the rich compounded matters by suffering in secret, and escaping her tyranny, by paying a sum of money. About the year 1592, eleven priests and Jesuits were arrested in Connaught and Munster, among whom was Michael Fitz- simon, a priest, and son of an alderman of Dublin.* They were brought to Dublin, and accused, in presence of the deputy, of having been concerned in the rebellion of Baltinglass. This was the pretext made use of, but their real crime was, that they preached against the reformation, and the supposed supremacy of Elizabeth, which was then high treason. Michael Fitzsimon was hanged in the public market-place. The horrid fate of Hugh MacMahon, chief of the ancient tribe of the MacMahons of Monaghan, which has been already men- tioned, alarmed the neighboring noblemen, who, each in turn, expected the same treat- ment.f Hugh MacGuire, prince of Ferma- nagh, was particularly affected by Mac- Mahon's untimely end. The deputy having sent a sheriff to his district without his con- * Ware, ibid. t Peter Lombard, ibid. cap. 24, pages 243, 244. 504 HISTORY OF IRELAND. sent, he collected his forces and prepared to defend himself. This English magistrate was called Willis, and was followed by two Imndred men, women, and children ;* and instead of discharging the duties of his of- fice, he pillaged the country, and raised con- tributions everywhere. Maguire marched against him, and forced him and his follow- ers to seek safety in a church, where he would have put them all to the sword, had it not been for the interference of Tyrone, who saved their lives, on condition that they would quit the province. ThomasJones, Protestant bishop of Meath, sent a minister of his church, about this time, to the abbey of Cluaincois, or Clunes, in the territory of Monaghan, to preach the refor- mation.! The zeal of this minister was not confined to the people in the neighborhood of the abbey. He proceeded to the districts of Fermanagh, where he gave the Catholics considerable uneasiness about their religion, by endeavoring to force them to embrace the reformation. He intimidated those who persevered in their faith, by accusing them of high treason, and thus became master of their estates. However, his tyranny was of short duration, as he was burned in his house, with all his retinue. The suspicion of the government immediately fell on Maguire. He was summoned to appear before the English judges, but as he would not acknow- ledge their authority, he refused to obey, and had recourse to arms, whereon he was proclaimed a traitor. In the mean time, Hugh O'Donnel, Daniel MacS^veeny, surnamed Gorm, and Fluan O'Gallachur, were arrested by stratagem, as we have already observed, and imprisoned in the castle of Dublin, a. d. 1594.| After a close confinement of nearly seven years, they found means to escape with Henry and Art, sons of Shane O'Neill, and Philip O'Reilly. Fiach O'Birne, the implacable enemy of the English, and young Edward Eustace, of the illustrious house of Baltin- glass, contributed greatly to their escape. These noblemen having gained over the jailers, sent the illustrious captives a piece of linen, as if for clothing. O'Donnel cut it into strips, which he tied together, by means of which they all descended at midnight, safely into the trench, except Art O'Neill, who was dangerously wounded by a stone that fell from the wall, and of which he shortly afterwards died. Thus delivered from prison, they left the city before day- * AVare, ibid. cap. 36. t Hisl. Cathol. Ibern. vol. 3, lib. 2, cap. 6. t Hist. Cathol. ibid. cap. 4. break. It was then the depth of winter, the roads were bad, and they were obliged to take by-paths, in order to escape the pur- suit of their enemies, so that they suffered great fatigue and hardships before they ar- rived in Ulster. Hugh O'Donnel, prince of Tyrconnel, called by the Irish Bal Deargue O'DonnaiU, j from a red spot on his body, was next to | O'Neill in point of power. Though not twenty years of age, he was remarkable for his prudence and other virtues, particularly for his zeal in the Catholic cause. On his arrival in Tyrconnel, his father being far advanced in years, gave him up his own right ; whereupon he was unanimously elected, and crowned prince of Tyrconnel, by O'Pheile, who was the minister of that ceremony in the family of O'Donnel. As soon as O'Donnel was in possession of the principality, he generously determined to use all his power against the enemies of his religion and country.* The first time he signalized himself in their cause was when Captain Willis made some inroads on the estates of Tyrconnel. This officer having entered the district with a few troops, en- deavored to raise contributions. The prince, however, marched against him, and forced him to seek safety in an old monastery, where he was immediately surrounded by the troops of Tyrconnel. The Englishman finding him- self hemmed in, and without any hope of succor, implored the clemency of the prince ; who generously gave him his freedom, on condition of his telling those who had sent him that the queen and her lieutenants treated the Irish unworthily ; that they im- piously profaned the Catholic religion, and were cruelly persecuting the ministers of Jesus Christ ; that they were degrading the Catholic nobility, and that, instead of admin- istering justice, they were continually com- mitting abuses, and usurping the estates of others ; and lastly, that he would not allow his people to pay tribute any longer to the English. O'Donnel having dismissed the j English captain and his men, thought of se- I curing allies to defend the common cause. j He took care to conciliate the principal no- blemen of the country towards him, all of whom were branches of the house of Tyr- connel ;t namely, Eugenius MacSweenyof Tueth, Donat MacS weeny of Banach, Daniel MacSweeny of Fanid, John O'Dogherty of Inisowen, the 0'J5Mi7fZA«76',or Boyles, of Boy- lagh, and many others. O'Rourke of Brefny, * Pet. Lombard, ibid. p. 348. Ibid. p. 351. + Hist. Cathol. ibid. cap. 6. Pet. Lombard, ibid, page 345, et seq. CHRISTIAN IRELAND. 505 who sought an opportunity to revenge the death of his father who had been executed in London, was among the allies of Tyrconnel. Maguire, prince of Fermanagh,was already in arms against the English, when Edmond MacGowran, archbishop of Armagh, and primate of all Ireland, arrived. He was sent by the pope to encourage the Catholic no- bility of Ireland to defend their religion : and also brought promises of assistance from Philip II., king of Spain. In order to fulfil his commission, the archbishop visited the princes and lords of Ulster, but generally resided with the prince of Fermanagh. Maguire, accompanied by the primate, entered Connaught sword in hand. Bingham, governor of that province, sent a detachment against him, under William Guelfert. Both armies having met in a place called Skiethna- Fheart, a brisk engagement ensued between the cavalry, but Maguire having forced his way through the ranks, killed Guelfert with his lance ; and the English seeing their chief fallen, took to flight, leaving the field of battle to Maguire. This nobleman's joy for his victory, was, however, changed into sor- row by the death of the primate, who was killed by some English that were retreating. The Irish of the Catholic party, determined to treat not only the English Protestants as enemies, but also the Irish Catholics who assisted them. On this principle, O'Rourke and Maguire marched together to Annaly, at present the county of Longford, belonging to the O'Ferrals ; where they destroyed every thing by fire and sword, and carried away immense booty. William O'Ferral, lord of that country,advancing with a body of cavalry to wrest the spoils from his enemy, was killed by Maguire, and his men put to flight. Fitzwilliam, lord-deputy of Ireland, was recalled in August, and succeeded by Sir William Russel, youngest son of the earl of Bedford ; who, on his arrival in Dublin, was sworn into office, and was informed by the council, of the state of aflairs in Ireland. The disturbances continued in Ulster, where the Catholic party were gaining strength by the union of the lords of the province.* The English governmentbecame alarmed, and dispatched an army against Maguire, who kept the field. The earl of Tyrone and the marshal B agnail were ap- pointed to head this expedition. The policy of Tyrone still prevented him from declaring against the queen, or even remaining neutral. Maguire seeing the preparations that were making against him, and the danger with * Hist. Cathol. ibid. cap. 7. which he was threatened, sent to O'Donnel for assistance, who granted him a small body of Irish and Scotch, the former being armed with axes, and the latter with arrows ; but j even with this reinforcement, the prince of Fermanagh's army was inferior in num- bers to the enemy. The English having reached the banks of the river Earne, began to cannonade the Catholic army, which was posted on the opposite side, from which the latter suffered severely, having but their ar- rows to oppose the enemy's artillery — at length, Tyrone having discovered a ford, crossed the river at the head of his cavalry, and broke Maguire's infantry ; but this ad- vantage was not important, in consequence of his being wounded by the arrow of an Irish archer in the thigh. Maguire having then rallied his cavalry and infantry, forced the enemy to cross the river. The old ani- mosities between Tyrone and Bagnall broke out anew on this occasion. Bagnall, as com- mander-in-chief, claimed the glory of the action, while the only advantage that was gained over the Catholics, was chiefly due to the bravery of the earl. O'Donnel having arrived in Maguire's camp with a fresh rein- forcement, the night after the battle, was desirous of attacking the English ; but was prevented by a secret express from Tyrone, who begged of him not to undertake any thing against the English army while he remained among them, as his liberty would be endangered. Tyrone left the camp shortly afterwards, and went to Dungannon to get cured of his wounds. In the mean time, Richard Bingham, gov- ernor of Connaught, laid siege to Inniskil- len, a fortress belonging to Maguire.* He took possession of it much less by his valor, than by the treachery of one MacCraine, which implies films scrophm — who was an officer of the garrison, and a favorite with Maguire. The disposition of this man cor- responded with his face, which was hideous. Being bribed by Bingham, he opened the gates of the castle to him, and was the only person that was spared by this general, who had every man, woman, and child (except the traitor) put to the sword. After this expedition, Bingham garrisoned the castle of Enniskillen, and returned immediately to his province, to avoid meeting with O'Donnel and Maguire who were superior to him in strength. The Catholics of Leinster having been already persecuted under the government of John Perrott, the deputy, many of them were * Hist. Cathol. ibid. 506 HISTORY OF IRELAND. forced to abandon llicir dwellings and take up arms to defend themselves against the rigor of the laws that were enacted against them.* Sir Walter Fitzgerald, of the house of Kildare, was among the number. This knight was called Vater Kiach, or the Brown, from the darkness of his complexion. He withdrew to Gloran, in the county of Wick- low, to Fiach Mac-Hugh O'Birne, whose daughter he had married. Fiach was a powerful nobleman, and always opposed to the English. He was one of the most im- portant allies of the celebrated Viscount Bal- tinglass, when that nobleman took up arms against Elizabeth ; but after the fall of the viscount, he was restored to favor with the government, and his house was an asylum for the persecuted Catholics. Several young gentlemen followed the fortune of Walter Fitzgerald, with whom he made war against the English. He defeated Dudley Bagnall, brother to the lord-marshal, who attacked him with the troops of the garrison at lieigh- lin, Dudley himself being found among the slain. He also made incursions into Ormond, where he defeated the Butlers and their chief, Peter Butler, nephew to the earl Or- mond ; and afterwards made inroads on Lein- ster and Meath, and became the terror of the English Protestants. In order to prevent the consequences of his rapid victories, the dep- uty proposed terms of peace, and a general amnesty, wliich he thought prudent to accept. Walter Fitzgerald lived in peace for some years ; but the war in Ulster giving rise to fresh persecution in Leinster, he again flew to arms,with Fiach 0'Byrne,Terence Feilim, and his son Raymond, George O'Morra, and others. These confederates had many skir- mishes with the Protestants, in which they were sometimes the conquerors, and were sometimes defeated ; but being at length overcome by the superior number of their enemies, some of their chiefs, among whom was Walter Fitzgerald, fell into the hands of the English, and gave a glorious testimony of faith, by shedding their blood in its de- fence. The war still continued to rage in Ulster. O'Donnel surrounded the castle of Enniskil- len which had been surprised some time be- fore by the English ; but had not the artillery necessary for carrying on the siege in form. The deputy received intelligence of this, and marching to the assistance of the town, had provisions conveyed to the besieged, and after losing a great number of his men, re- turned to Dublin. In the mean time the * HLst. Cathol. Ibern. ibid. cap. 2. prince of Tyrconnel deputed James OTIealy, rchbishop of Tuam, to Philip IL, king of Spain, to inform that prince of the state of aflairs in Ireland, and remind him of the promises he made to the primate MacGau- ran, of assisting the Catholics in Ireland.* The prelate was kindly received by his Catholic majesty, who gave fresh assu- rances of aid, and dismissed him with presents ; but he had not the happiness to bring back the answer to O'Donnel, as he was lost on his passage to Ireland. O'Donnel still kept up the blockade of the castle of Enniskillen ;t his design being to reduce the place by famine. The garrison seeing themselves hard pressed, dispatched MacCraine, who had lately betrayed the place, with five others, to apprize the Eng- lish of their distressing situation. These emissaries having crossed the river in a small boat, fell into the hands of a party of the Irish, and were cut to pieces. The English government was well acquainted with the state of the garrison of Enniskillen, and re- solved to relieve it. Stores of biscuit, salt meatjcheese, and every thing necessary, were provided ; the number of the troops raised for its relief amounted to two thousand five hundred infantry, and four hundred cavalry, coiximanded by Sir Henry Duke, governor and lord-marshal of O'Faly, who received orders to force the prince of Tyrconnel from his intrenchments. O'Donnel received in- telligence of the preparations that were ma- king against him, and being determined to meet the enemy, he dispatched a courier to the earl of Tyrone, with a letter, informing him of the danger to which he was exposed, and that he was resolved to shed the last drop of his blood in defence of his country's cause, against the English, adding, that he would consider him as his enemy, if he re- fused to assist him in so pressing an emer- gency. O'Neill convened his council, in order to examine the dispatches of the courier. He hesitated at first, from fear that O'Donnel had engaged too hastily in this war, and that he calculated on doubtful aid from the king of Spain ; on the other hand, he thought it wrong to forsake the prince of Tyrconnel in his dilemma, who was his ally, relative, and friend ; though he dreaded that if he were de- feated it would prove fatal to the cause of religion, in favor of which he intended im- mediately to declare himself. Tyrone there- fore dispatched Cormac O'Neill, his brother, at the head of one hundred horse, and three * War. ibid. c. 37. Hist. Cathol. c. 8. t Hist. Cathol. cap. 11. CHRISTIAN IRELAND. 507 hundred foot, to Tyrconnel. The latter im- mediately sent a detachment of a thousand foot, under the command of Maguire and Cormac O'Neill, to meet the English, who were approaching his camp with rapid strides. Maguire and O'Neill set out on their march, and arrived in the evening on the banks of the river Farna, where they saw the English army under Sir Duke, posted on the opposite side. Both armies passed the night in firing on each other. At break of day, the English general having discovered a ford, made his. army cross the river, and marched towards the enemy in battle array. The battle began at eleven in the morning, and lasted till night, with great slaughter on both sides ; but the English were at length completely routed by the superior skill of the Irish generals, and the bravery of the soldiers under their command. Those who escaped the carnage, endeavored to repass the river, but being pursued by the Irish, sev- eral were drowned in endeavoring to escape. According even to their authors, the loss of the English was immense, which avowal from Englishmen is worthy of remark.* From O'Sullivan we learn that they lost four hundred men. He even mentions the place where the battle was fought — vadiim biscoc- torum paniun, or the ford of biscuits ; the confusion of the English being so great, that they were obliged to throw the biscuit which had been intended for the garrison of Innis- killen, into the river. This garrison having now lost all hopes of succor, from the defeat of their countrymen, opened the gates to O'Donnel. That prince restored it to Ma- guire, to whom it belonged. After the reduction of Enniskillen, Tyr- connel marched to Connaught to revenge the tyranny which had been practised in that province by Bingham, the governor. He carried terror wherever he passed, put- ting every English Protestant, from the age of fifteen to sixty, who could not speak Irish, to the sword. Tyrconnel afterwards entered Annaly, and burned the district of Longford, which belonged to the O'Ferrals. It had been usurped by an English Protestant named Brown ; so that the English in Con- naught who escaped the sword of the con- queror, being deprived of all they had amassed, except those who were under the protection of the garrisons and fortresses, were obliged to return to England, highly indignant with those who had induced them to seek their fortunes in Ireland. Theobald Burke, a powerful lord of Con- * Cambd. Elizab. ad an. 1594, page 658. CHAPTER XLIV The frequent victories which the Catho- lics of Ireland gained over the English, alarm- ed the court of England. The queen was so * Pet. Lombard, ibid, page 352. naught, of the house of Mac William, was deprived about this time by the Engli-sh, of the estates of his ancestors, and confined in ' a dungeon at Athlone. Being rescued from his captivity, he had recourse to O'Donnel, who gave him a body of men to assist him in recovering his patrimony. Burke thereon returned to his province, laid siege to Beal- like, one of his fortresses, which was in pos- session of the English, and defeated George Bingham and other chiefs, who were ad- vancing, at the head of an English army, to the relief of the besieged. Such was the state of affairs in Ulster. War was raging between the principal nobles of the province and the English. Disturbances also began to break out in the provinces of Leinster | and Connaught. Hugh O'Neill, earl of Tyrone, had acted his part ably. He had spent seven years in organizing his forces, and in providing pro- visions and all sorts of warlike stores. He always appeared to act in the queen's inter- ests ; still the English distrusted him, while the Irish blamed his inactivity. He only waited a favorable moment to avow himself. Until this year, (a. d. 1595,) he had been thwarted by Tirlogh Linogh, cousin to Corm O'Neill, first earl of the name, and son of the brother of Con More O'Neill, who was father of the earl. Tirlogh assumed the name of O'Neill ; disputed the principality of Tyrone with Hugh, and was supported by the greater part of the tribe, who despised English titles, and considered the name alone to be much more honorable. On the death of his rival, he was acknowledged as the 0''Neill. He then renounced the title of earl, removed the mask, and declared against the queen. He was afterwards nominated com- mander-in-chief of the league, which con- sisted of several branches of the O'Neills, Maguires, MacMahons, Magennises, Mac Doimels, 0'Cahans,0'Flannagans, and many other powerful nobles of the province, with their vassals.* O'Donnel, on his side, com- manded the Tyrconnel faction. These princes sometimes acted separately, but al- ways for the good of the common cause, which was that of their religion and their country. 508 HISTORY OP IRELAND. alllicted by these disasters, that she deter- mined to put an end to them by subduing the Catholics. For tliis purpose, she sent for the oUl troops wlio were serving in the Nether- hmds against Philip II., and dispatched three thousand of them over to Ireland, un- der the orders of Sir John Norris, with the title of captain-general.* This diversion was highly favorable to Spain. Philip II. had given^ the command of the Netherlands to Cardinal Albert, archduke of Austria ; he collected the Spanish forces, under the pre- tence of raising the siege of Fere, in Picardy, by which means he took the towns of Calais and Ardres, leaving to Henry IV. the oppor- tunity of taking the town of Fere.f Norris having landed with his forces in Ireland, was joined by the deputy, and the troops under his command, in all amounting to about ten thousand men. The deputy requested that Baskervile should have the command of this reinforcement ; but the court thought proper to confer it on Norris, as being more experienced. He had already served in Ireland, as governor of Munster ; and having afterwards commanded the Eng- lish army in Brittany and the Low Countries, against the king of Spain, he was considered to be the ablest captain in England, and ca- pable of opposing Tyrone. J He was so fully persuaded of this himself, that, in taking leave of the queen, he said he would reduce O'Neill to obey her majesty, or force him to leave Ireland. He did not, however, accom- plish his promise. O'Neill having heard that Norris was marching towards Ulster, collected his forces, and began hostilities, by taking a fort called Portmor, on the Blackwater, near the district of Tyrone, where there was an English garrison, the fortifications of which he destroyed. He then marched to lay siege to Monaghan. In the mean time, in order to vindicate his conduct, O'Neill wrote let- ters in the form of manifestoes, to the earl of Ormond, Wallop, and Russel the deputy, declaring to them that it was not his wish to make war, but to live in peace with the I queen, provided he and his followers were allowed to profess the religion of their ances- tors, on which condition he was ready to lay down his arms.§ He wrote in the same terms to the queen and Captain Norris ; but the two last letters were intercepted and * Hist. Cathol. vol. 3, lib. 3, c. 1. Pet. Lombard, p. 389, et seq. Baker's Chron. cap. 383. t Abridg. Chron. of the Hist. France, by Presid. Hayn. on the year 1596. t Cambd. Elizab. part 4, ad an. 1597, pawe 701 § Cambd. Elizabeth, ad an. 1595. suppressed by Marshal Bagnal, who, though O'Neill's brother-in-law, was his avowed enemy. However, instead of receiving fa- vorable answers to his letters, he was pro- claimed a rebel and a traitor to his country, with O'Donnel, O'Rourke, Maguire, and MacMahon. English writers, who turn every thing to the advantage of their own nation, allege that O'Neill became alarmed at the preparations that w^ere getting up against him, and also at Norris's marching towards Ulster at the head of a veteran army. According to them, he wrote respectful and submissive letters to the English commander, and to other English chiefs, imploring their intercession with the queen, to procure him a general pardon for the past. The English policy required that this falsehood should be made public, in order to break ofl' the treaty of alliance which the prince of Tyrone had concluded with the king of Spain, and to prevent him sending over the succors he had promised.* The plan was well laid. A messenger was sent to Brussels to publish the pretended letters patent of the queen of England, containing O'Neill's pardon, in order that the governor of the Low Countries might make known to his master, the king of Spain, the supposed peace between Elizabeth and Tyrone ; but the imposture was soon afterwards discov- ered, by the seal of England being affixed to them instead of Ireland, which was al- ways used to authenticate any act respecting that nation. It is probable that the report of O'Neill's reconciliation made some im- pression on the court of Spain, as they put off sending the succors which had been promised to O'Neill, and as the latter sus- pended for a while his warlike operations, and kept himself on the defensive. The English government was still desi- rous of treating with O'Neill and the other Catholic confederates ; for which purpose they agreed upon a truce of two months, from the 27th October till the beginning of January. In the mean time, the castle of Monaghan surrendered to the besiegers, commanded by Conn son of O'Neill, O'Don- nel, and MacMahon. The truce ended on the 1st January. On the 8th, the govern- ment sent a commission to Sir Robert Gar- diner and Sir Henry Wallop, with full power to conclude a treaty with the Catholics of Ulster. The commissioners repaired to Dundalk ; but the Irish, through distrust of the English, refused to meet them, so that they Avere obliged to hold the conference in * Peter Lombard, ibid, page 391, et seq. CHRISTIAN IRELAND. 509 a plain, in presence of the two armies. The CathoUcs demanded three things to be grant- ed : 1st, a general liberty of conscience; 2d, a full pardon for the past ; and lastly, the entire removal of their garrisons, their sheriffs, and other officers of justice from the province, except the towns of Newry and Carrickfergus. The English commissioners not approving of these articles, the confer- ence ended without coming to any decision, except that of renewing the truce till the first of April. At the expiration of this, Russel the dep- uty, and General Norris, led their army to Dundalk. The jealousy between these two noblemen about the command, was the cause of much disunion. The deputy left Dundalk with his army, to possess himself of Ar- magh ; but O'Neill, accompanied by Ma- guire, O'Cahan, the two sons of O'Hanlon, and other nobles, met him on his march. The action began at Killcluona Avith great fury on both sides, but the English were forced to retreat to Newry, leaving six hundred men dead on the field of battle. O'Neill's loss did not exceed two hundred men.* The ill success of the deputy in Ulster made him quit the province and return to Dublin. He gave up his command of the troops to Norris. The Catholics of Leinster were in arms ; Fiach, son of Hugh, chief of the O'Byrnes of Wicklow, and Donal Spaniagh, or the Spaniard, chief of the Ca- vanaghs, having united their forces, ravaged the whole country from Dublin to Wexford. The O'Connors acted in the same manner in Offaly. Connaught was disturbed, and the inhabitants being joined by a body of Scotch, carried terror wherever they march- ed. The deputy led his army to this pro- vince, and besieged Losmage castle, belong- ing to O'Madden. He summoned the gar- rison to surrender ; but was answered by the besieged, that were his army composed of deputies, they would hold out to the last. However, as it was not fortified, he made himself master of it, the besieged having lost about forty-six men. The deputy left the affairs of Ulster to Norris, who marched towards Monaghan, in which there had been a garrison since it was abandoned by the Irish. O'Neill, on receiv- ing intelligence of the march of Norris, in- tercepted him at Cluoin Tiburuid, in a plain at a short distance from Monaghan. Both armies were divided by a rivulet. The English general endeavored to force his passage, but was twice repulsed by the Irish * Hist. Cathol. ibid. cap. 4. Peter Lombard, ibid, page 393. fusiliers ; he had a horse killed under him, and he, with his brother Thomas Norris, was wounded ; after which the action of an individual decided the victory. An officer called Segrave, belonging to the army of Norris, and a native of the county Meath, led on a detachment of cavalry to attack the quarter where O'Neill fought. In the midst of the engagement, Segrave forced his way to the earl of Tyrone, and engaged him in ' single combat. The two heroes having bro- ken two lances each on the shield of his adversary, fell. At this moment, O'Neill attacking his adversary with his sword, slew him, and by his defeat completed the defeat of the English, who left seven hundred men dead upon the field of battle. The loss of the Catholics was inconsiderable. The day following, Norris wishing to return to the charge, was repulsed with some loss at Bea- lach-Finnuis ; Monaghan surrendered to the Catholics, and the garrison marched out with the honors of war. While O'Neill was supporting the cause of religion so gloriously in Ulster, O'Don- nel marched to the relief of the Catholics in Connaught. Young George Bingham oc- cupied the castle of Sligo at that time, with a garrison of two hundred men, both Eng- lish and Irish. Bingham, who had an in- satiable thirst for wealth, left the command of the castle of Sligo to Ulick Burke, and sailed, with part of the garrison on board two boats, for Tyrconnel. After coasting for some days, he landed at RathmuUin, a municipal town belonging to MacSweeny Fanid, in the territory of Kilmacrenan ; this English pirate taking advantage of Mac- Sweeny's absence, who was in O'Donnel's j army, pillaged the town, and the Carmelite convent,* and carried off considerable booty. On his return to Sligo, he divided part of these sacred spoils among his soldiers who had assisted him in the sacrilege. Ulick Burke observing this Englishman's partiali- ty, from his having withheld from the Irish any share in these favors, determined to be revenged. Having formed his plan, he ap- pointed a day for carrying it into execution ; the Irish belonging to the garrison attacked the English, slew Bingham, and gave up the castle to O'Donnel, who appointed Burke to the government of it. About the same time * Tills mention of the convent of RathmuUin is not an anachronism, though the suppression of monasteries is considered to have been completed in the time of Elizabeth. As the English had at that time no power in Ulster, it is not surprising that a few of its convents escaped the rage of the reformers. 510 HISTORY OP IRELAND. the castle of Baile-an-Mliota, or Balliinot, in the same coiiiity, (Slijio,) was torn from the eUler Binoluun by Tunuiltacli and Cahal Mac-Donagh, to whom it belonged. After the taking of these two places, the affairs of the English in Connaught were in a very unprontising state. The army of O'Donnel kept them in check. In order to remedy this, the depntyscnt a reinforcement of men to Sir George Bingham, governor of the pro- vince, to enable him to act.* Bingham's first care was to surround the castle of Sligo, both on account of the importance of the place, and to revenge the death of his rela- tives and friends, whom Ulick Burke had caused to be massacred. The garrison was in want of provisions, and Burke was fre- quently obliged to sally forth to procure them, which caused frequent skirmishes be- tween him and the besiegers ; but the arrival of O'Donnel at the head of sixteen hundred men, forced them to raise the siege. This prince encamped within view of the enemy, and sent his brother Roderick, Felim Mac- Davet, and another officer, to reconnoitre their strength. They were pursued by an Englishman called Martin, at the head of a detachment of cavalry ; MacDavct stopped in the middle of a stream which they were crossing, and struck Captain Martin dead with a blow of his lance. This action was followed by the raising of the siege of Sligo, and the retreat of the English army. CHAPTER XLV. As the queen and her council were par- ticularly desirous of making peace with O'Neill, commissioners were frequently ap- pointed to propose terms to him. General Norris and Geoffrey Fenton, secretary of state, were appointed to make overtures in 1596. They repaired to Dundalk, where they had an interview with O'Neill. He had not confidence enough in the English to treat with them ; besides, the principal condition he required was a freedom of religion, so that this conference was not more successful than the preceding ones. Sir Edward Moor was soon afterwards intrusted to carry the queen's pardon to Tyrone, which he' per- emptorily refused. Three small vessels, laden with powder, arrived about this time from Spain, for O'Donnel. They brought two hundred men also, and promises of more efficient aid. * Hist. Cathol. ibid. O'Neill wrote letters on the common cause to Fiach, chief of the O'Byrncs, and other noblemen of Leinster, his allies, to which he received favorable answers. He kept up a correspondence, also, with the best-disposed characters in Munster, by means of the i;lan Shyhyes, whom he sent thither for that pur- pose with confidential letters from himself. Ij His letters to many of the lords of Lein- ! ster had the desired effect. Fiach O'Byrne renewed hostilities, by taking the fort of Balli-ne-cor, the fortifications of which he de- stroyed. The O'Morras, O'Connors, O'Tools, j Cavanaghs, and Butlers, took up arms like- wise, and demanded the restoration of their confiscated estates. The deputy marched against O'Byrne ; the Butlers were pursued by the earl of Ormond, who, after renouncing his religion, persecuted his relatives ; the O'Morras and O'Coimors were exposed to the attacks of Sir Anthony St. Leger. Con- naught was in as great a ferment as Lein- ster ; Richard Bingham, governor of that province, having taken up arms against the Burkes and O'Rourkes. The king of Spain was aware that Eliza- [ beth had made frequent proposals of peace j to O'Neill, O'Donnel, and the other Irish lords who were fighting for their religion.* His Catholic Majesty sent an agent to en- courage these princes to persevere, and to renew the promises he had already made to them. In the mean time, the English took Armagh by surprise, and placed a garrison in it. O'Neill beheld with sorrow this holy city, that was founded by St. Patrick, pro- faned by the reformers, to whom nothing was sacred. The garri.son was strong, and protected by the army which was encamped near it, under General Norris. Tyrone not deeming it prudent to undertake a siege, brought Norris to an engagement near the church of Killoter. The English being con- fident in their strength, were eager to en- gage, but were vigorously repulsed and put to fiight by O'Neill's forces, who pursued them as far as Armagh, and killed several of their men. After this, Norris left five hundred troops in the garrison, under the command of Francis Stafibrd, and withdrew with the remainder of his army towards Dun- dalk. O'Neill being master of the field, was enabled to intercept the provisions that were intended for Armagh, so that famine was the consequence. This was succeeded by a plague, which carried off their men in great numbers. The English of Dundalk hearing of the sad condition of their garrison in Ar- * Hist. Cathol. ibid. cap. 5, 6, 7. CHRISTIAN IRELAND. 511 magh, sent a supply of provisions, under an escort of three companies of infantry and a troop of horse. O'Neill surprised the convoy, and put the troops that were guarding it to the sword. The penetrating mind of Tyrone guided him in turning everything to advan- tage. He now bethought of a stratagem in which he was most successful : he got some of his men, both foot and horse, to assume the uniform of the English who were killed, and ordered them to march with English banners towards a ruined monastery that was within a gunshot of Armagh. The prince pursued these supposed English with the rest of his troops, within view of the garri- son ; both parties began a discharge of their musketry, loaded only with powder, where- upon the men, as instructed, fell on every side, without sustaining any injury. This sham battle soon drew the attention of the garrison of Armagh ; Stafford, the comman- der, gave orders that half of the garrison should take up arms and advance rapidly to the field of battle, to the relief of their sup- posed countrymen. The English found not only O'Neill's troops, but those to whose succor they came, drawn up in order of bat- tle, and ready to charge them ; while Conn, son of O'Neill, who lay in ambush with some infantry in the neighboring monastery, at- tacked them in the rear. The English being now between two fires, were cut to pieces, within view of the garrison. Stafford, who was in Armagh, finding himself without any resource, submitted to Tyrone, who permit- ted him to join, with the rest of the garrison, the English army at Dundalk. O'Neill after this made an attempt on the castle of Car- lingford, in which he was unsuccessful ; however, he sent his son-in-law, Henry Ogue, with some troops, to make incursions on the English province, and to create a di- version in favor of the Catholics of Leinster, Avho had taken up arms. The continued complaints that were made against Sir Richard Bingham, governor of Connaught, for his cruelty and tyranny, hav- ing reached the throne, that infamous minis- ter was recalled, and replaced by Sir Conyers Clifford.* The Irish were but little skilled in the art of defending towns and fortifica- tions, and were obliged to remedy their un- skilfulness by a greater number of men. For this purpose O'Neill evacuated Armagh and PorUnore, which were immediately taken possession of by Norris, who garrisoned them, and gave the command of the former to Sir Henry Davers. The English general » War. ibid. cap. 39. endeavoring to extend his conquests further was stopped by O'Neill, who lay encamped on his way. Norris then set his men to build a fort or intrenchment, since called Mount Norris, in the barony of Fews, between Armagh and Newry. They were frequently interrupted by the attacks of O'Neill's men ; but having at length completed it, Norris placed a garrison in it, under the command of Williams. He then returned to Dundalk with his army ; and Mount Norris, Armagh, and Portmore, which had been taken but lately by the English, surrendered to O'Neill, who sent the garrisons home. In vain did Norris return to attack him with his whole force ; he was completely defeated atMolach Breac by O'Neill, in the district of Orior, after having rallied his men three times. Maguire, the general of O'Neill's cavalry, contributed to the gaining of this battle. Norris himself was dangerously wounded in the action, which was his last against O'Neill. O'Donnel, accompanied by the Mac- Sweenys, O'Dogharty, the brave Maguire, O'Rourke, Mac William, O'Kelly, MacDer- mot, O'Connor Roe, and O'Dowd, entered Connaught with their troops.* He was also joined by Murrogh MacSweeny at the head of three hundred men, whom he assisted in a petty war with the English during two years in Munster. Clifford, who was ap- pointed the new governor of Connaught, had not yet arrived. General Norris was weary of serving in Ulster, where, instead of gather- ing fresh laurels, he was losing those which he had gained in foreign countries. Being desirous of trying his fortune in other parts, he undertook an expedition against O'Donnel into Connaught, either to make terms with him, or reduce him by force. For this pur- pose he repaired to Athlone, where he was joined by the earls of Thuomond and Clan- riccard, Theobald Burke, surnamed Na- Ltiing, or the Naval, from the trade he carried on by sea, and several lords of the English faction, with the Anglo-Irish of Munster, Leinster, and Meath. He also received a re- inforcement from England, which increased his army to ten thousand men. Norris knew that O'Donnel was in the neighborhood of Ballinroab, near lake Mask, at the head of five hundred men ; and having set out upon his march, he soon found himself in view of the enemy, from whom he was divided by a small river. The night was spent in firing, and at break of day Norris demanded a conference with O'Donnel, in which peace Hist, Cathol. ibid. cap. 512 HISTORy OF IRELAND. was proposed between the general of the queen and the Catholic chiefs. The terms ottered to O'Donncl were advantageous, but were not accepted. The conference lasted for some days, during which both armies kept up hostilities, and fought in detached bodies, without coming to a general engage- ment. Theobald the Naval, having attacked the right wing of the Catholic army at the head of a heavy detachment, was repulsed with the loss of three hundred men. The negotiation lasted for a month between the prince of Tyrconnel and Norris, without any thing being settled upon. The latter suf- fered heavy losses, both in skirmishing, and by the desertion of some nobles who joined the standard of the Catholics. After being harassed in his retreat by the troops of O'Donnel, he lost several of his men, and was forced to quit the province in disgrace.* The deputy undertook an expedition in May, into the county of Wicklow, where he surprised and killed Fiach MacHugh, chief of the illustrious tribe of the O'Byrnes, and the champion of the Catholic cause in Lein- ster.f Fiach left two sons, Felim and Ray- mond, who inherited his bravery and zeal for religion. Felim left the command to his brother, and w^ent to visit O'Neill in Ulster, to ask him for assistance. The prince of Tyrone expressed great friendship for the young nobleman, and having condoled with him on the death of his father, gave him about three hundred and fifty men, under the command of Brian Riach 6'Morra, a noble- man of Leinster. On returning with this reinforcement, Felim fought some skirmishes with the English, and took possession of his father's patrimony, which had been seized upon by these foreigners. After this expe- dition, Brian O'Morra marched with the same troops towards Loughgarme, (Wexford,) pil- laged all the English he met with on his march, and cut a large body of them to pieces, besides four hundred Irish auxilia- ries. After the death of the celebrated Rory O'Morra, who was killed in a battle against the English, as we have already observed, his sons Uoine, or Owen, and Edmond, were placed under the protection of Fiach O'Byrne, from whom they received an education suit- able to their rank. When Owen attained the age of manhood, Felim, son of Fiach, gave him a suitable retinue, and sent him to lay claim to his patrimony. This young nobleman having made himself known, was * Peter Lombard, ibid, page 395 t Hist. Cathol. ibid. 6, 10. acknowledged and proclaimed by his father's vassals the O'Morra, or lawful heir to the principality of Leix. Warham St. Leger, the English governor of that district, alarmed at these occurrences, marched his army to put them down ; but the inhabitants of Leix ranging themselves under the banners of their chief, O'Morra, gave battle to St. Leger, who, after an obstinate resistance, was forced to retreat, leaving five hundred men dead on the field. Some step was necessary to be taken, in order torestore the English power in Ireland. The queen recalled Russel,the deputy, and appointed Lord Burrough to succeed him. This new deputy received the sword in May, in St. Patrick's cathedral, and was invested with the supreme authority both in civil and military affairs.* He first exercised his power over General Norris, whom he sent back to his office of governor in Munster, forbidding him to leave it without his per- mission. Norris was too proud to brook this insult ; he had been already disgraced by O'Neill, who had deprived him of the high military reputation he had acquired abroad, and at length died, loaded with ignominy, in the country which had given birth to St. Rumold, first bishop and patron of Malines, whose relics he had profaned when com- manding the English army in the Nether- lands. Burrough was haughty and determined ; he commanded for a long time in Holland, against Philip II., whereby he became ex- pert in the art of war. A truce was made by this deputy, for one month, with O'Don- nel, O'Neill, and other Catholic chiefs, and terms of peace were offered to them, but in vain. The month being expired, the Eng- lish general marched to IJlster at the head of a powerful army. Besides the troops which served under Russel and Norris, a large re- inforcement was sent to him from England. The x\nglo-Irish of Meath were zealous to signalize themselves in the cause of Eliza- beth : they assembled at Mullingar to the number of a thousand men, under the com- mand of Barnewall, baron of Trimlestown, and marched after the deputy. In their route, however, they met with a signal defeat. Richard Tirrell, who was of English de- scent, and lord of Fertullagh, in West Meath, served at that time in the army of O'Neill. He was a nobleman by birth, and strongly attached to the Catholic religion. His talents peculiarly fitted him to command a flying camp. From the rapidity of his expeditions, * Ware, ibid. cap. 40 CHRISTIAN IRELAND. 513 and capability of sustaining fatigue, he had already become formidable to the English, and his memory is still respected by the true Irish. The prince of Tyrone saw with calm re- flection the preparations that were in pro- gress against him ; the march of the deputy was known to him ; he therefore prepared to oppose him, and to cause a diversion. Cap- tain Tirrell was dispatched at the head of four hundred infantry, with orders to act in either Meath or Leinster, according to emer- gencies. Tirrell marched through the Avhole of Meath without meeting an enemy, and having reached Fertullagh, he encamped, in order to give his army some repose. The troops which had been assembled at Mullin- gar, as has been already observed, being ap- prized of Tirrell's march, determined to take him by surprise. The baron who command- ed them looked upon this expedition as un- worthy of himself, on account of the small number of the enemy he had to fight, and therefore commissioned his son to undertake it, thinking it a good opportunity for him to signalize himself, and thereby to make his court to the deputy. At the dawn of day Tirrell received information, through his spies, that the enemy were in full march to surprise him. Without losing a moment, he put himself in a state of defence, but made a feint of flying before them as they ap- proached ; by which movement he gained a defile covered with trees, which has been since called Tirrell's pass. He then de- tached half of his little army, and posted them in a hollow adjoining the road, giving the command to his lieutenant, O'Connor, a brave and intrepid man like himself. He then, in order to influence his enemy to pursue him, marched on with his division. While the English were passing the place where O'Connor lay in ambuscade, this oflicer sallied forth with his troops, and caused the drums and fifes to play Captain Tirrell's march. This was the signal agreed upon for an attack ; the English army hav- ing got between two fires, were cut to pieces ; and so general was the slaughter, that one soldier only escaped, through a neighboring bog, to carry the news to Mul- lingar, from whence the army had set out three days before. Tirrell had suflicient generosity to spare the life of the young nobleman who commanded his enemy, but brought him a prisoner to O'Neill. During the action, O'Connor's hand became so swol- len, that it became necessary to cut ofl' the handle of his sword with a file, before it could be disen Burrough, the deputy, having reached Ulster with all his forces, his first step was to take possession of Armagh and Portmor, which O'Neill had abandoned after destroy- ing the fortifications.* The English gene- ral being afraid to proceed further, repaired Portmor, where he left a garrison of five hundred men, and drew off" the remainder of his army. He boasted highly of this act of prowess, proclaiming everywhere that he held the key of Ulster, which he could enter at his pleasure. This boast was truly cha- racteristic of his countrymen, who considered the most trifling advantage a complete vic- tory. It was carefully circulated in foreign countries, where it was reported that the Irish had lost all their towns, and that they were obliged to escape into the woods and inaccessible places. A similar falsehood had been already published at Brussels, on the supposed reduction of O'Neill, the folly of which we will discover in the sequel. The deputy was on his way to Dublin, when he learned that Tirrell was besieging Portmor ; so he immediately returned, col- lected his forces, and crossed the Black- water, but was prevented from advancing by O'Neill, who divided his army and formed two camps, sufficiently near to assist each other. t The command of the first division he gave to his brothers Cormac and Art O'Neill, and MacMahon, at Droum-Fluich, on the road to Beaun-Bhoruib, at present Binburb, on the left bank of the river. The prince himself commanded the second camp at Tobuir-Masain, and was assisted by James Mac-Donnel, prince of the Glynns. The deputy endeavored, in spite of Tyrone's position, to force a passage ; but O'Neill's two divisions having united, they made a desperate attack. In the onset, Burrough was mortally wounded, and was carried to Newry, where he died in a few days. This battle was renewed several times. The earl of Kildare, on whom the command of the English army devolved after Burrough's re- treat, suffered the same fate : having been wounded, and twice thrown from his horse, his two foster-brothers were killed in endea- voring to put him again on horseback ; he fled from the field of battle, and died of his wounds a few days after. The carnage was dreadful ; numbers of the English lay dead upon the field ; many were drowned in the river, and very many wounded. The per- sons of note who fell upon this occasion, besides the deputy and the earl of Kildare, * Hist. Cathol. ibid. Pet. Lombard, ibid, pages 398, 399. t Hist. Cathol. ibid. Pet. Lombard, ibid. 514 HISTORY OP IRELAND. were Francis Waghan, tTie deputy's brother- in-law, Thomas Walcn, and Turner. Clifford, governor of Connaught, received orders to niarcli with liis troops-tothe relief of the deputy in Ulster. lie accordingly set out at the head of seven hundred men, but having the misfortune to meet with O'Don- nel, he was completely defeated. Clifford lost several men of rank on this occasion, among whom was the baron of Ineschete.* The queen saw her forces greatly dimin- ished in Ireland by the frequent advantages gained over them by the Catholics, and could not find persons qualified to succeed Burrough and Norris. She, however, nomi- nated provisional magistrates and officers for the administration of affairs. Sir Thomas Norris, president of Munster, was appointed lord-justice ; but his grief ior the death of his brother caused him to resign in a month. The government then conferred that office jointly on Loftus, archbishop of Dublin and chancellor of Ireland, and chief-justice Sir Robert Gardiner, who were sworn in on the 15th of November. On the same day they received an account of the state of affairs from the council, who infonned them that the war was a general revolt of the Irish, with an intent to shake off the English yoke. Thomas Duff' Butler, earl of Ormond, ac- cepted the commission of lieutenant-general. Ambition being the guide of this nobleman's acts, he was drawn into a faction that was opposed to religion and his country, but he never enjoyed the reputation of being a great captain. Among other instructions which the earl of Ormond received from the court of England, he was enjoined to endeavor to bring about a peace with O'Neill, for which purpose a truce for two months was agreed upon. They met at Dundalk, and O'Neill proposed the terms ; the first and principal one being the free exercise of the Catholic religion throughout the kingdom. The other conditions proposed by this prince, regarded the grievances of the Irish, and the repara- tion of the injustice which was practised towards them. These overtures were sub- mitted to the English coui\cil, and acceded to in every thing except the free exercise of reHgion ; whereon the truce was broken off and hostilities resumed. About the end of the summer, 1598, O'Neill collected all his troops and laid siege to the fort of Blackwater, called also Portmor. At the same time he sent fifteen hundred chosen men to assist his ally, O'Moore of Leix, who was then besien-int^ * Pet. Lombard, ibid. p. 400. Porteloise, at present Maryborough, where there was an English garrison.* These movements produced a diversion, and com- pelled the earl of Ormond to divide his forces. He first dispatched three thousand men against O'Morra, commanded by James But- ler, nephew to the earl. Five thousand men were then sent against O'Neill of Ul- ster, commanded by Bagnal the marshal. The earl's object was the relief of Portmor and Porteloise, by throwing provisions and warlike stores into them ; but the result was not equal to his hopes. Brian Riach O'Morra defeated the three thousand English that were sent against him , fifteen hundred, be- sides the commander, being slain, and Por- teloise was taken. O'Morra died in a few days after from his wounds, and the com- mand devolved upon Owen O'Morra. During these transactions in Leinster, Marshal Bagnal, having the command of the army in Ulster, repaired to Newry, which was a general place of meeting for the Eng- lish.! Tyrone Avas then encamped with his army at Mollach-Ban, on the road to Ar- magh, and wishing to cut off all communi- cation between that place and the enemy, he sent his brother Cormac, with a body of five hundred men, to defend the passes. Bagnal was considered an able general ; he knew that O'Neill was waiting to give him battle, on his march to Armagh, which city he wished to relieve,but he deceived the prince. In order to avoid an engagement, which would probably have deranged his plans, he marched circuitously from Newry to Ar- magh, and supplied the garrison with pro- visions, in spite of the brave resistance of Cormac O'Neill, who maintained his ground for some time, but was at length forced to yield to superior numbers. Flushed a't this trifling advantage, Bagnal determined to take O'Neill's camp by surprise ; and setting out by night, he put the enemy's advance-guard, consisting of twenty-four horsemen, to the sword. They then surrounded O'Neill's tent, who had escaped in his shirt, with some of his attendants ; but some servants that were ! left to guard it and the baggage, were killed. As soon as day appeared, O'Neill collected i the forces that were near him, and having forced the English to abandon their booty, he then put them to flight. Both sides lost ] some men in this action. The English were masters of some towns in Ulster, which were favorable for their depredations, and afforded them a secure « Pet. Lomb. p. 402. Hist. Cathol. ibid. vol. 3, lib. 4, cap.'], et seq. t Hist. Cathol. ibid. CHRISTIAN IRELAND. 515 retreat ; the principal of them were Newry, Dundrura, and Carrickfergus. Sir John Chichester, the governor, marched about the same time, at the head of live hundred in- fantry and a troop of horse, to plunder the neighborhood. Coming up at Alfracha with James Mac-Donnel, prince of Antrim, who had with him about four hundred foot and sixty horse, to oppose those robbers, they came to an engagement which was fatal to the English. Their captain having fallen, they were cut to pieces, so that scarcely one remained to bring the intelligence to Car- rickfergus. About the same time, the baron of Trimlestown made some inroads on Mo- naghan, with the Anglo-Irish of Meath, and a few English troops, but was defeated by the Mac-Mahons.* The vanity and bad faith of the English will not suffer them to admit the victories the Irish Catholics gained over them. Their historians either pass them over in silence, or obscure them so as that the advantage may appear to be in favor of their country- men. Invectives are poured out against a generous people who fought for their reli- gion and their freedom, and the epithets of traitor, rebel, and barbarian, are heaped upon the Irish for not calmly yielding to a hate- ful yoke. An Englishman must be well beaten before he will admit of it. A bril- liant victory was gained this year over those foreigners, by O'lNeill. The truth of this is not questioned even by the English them- selves, since they acknowledge that it was the bloodiest defeat they met with since their arrival in the island. O'Neill endeavored to bring the English marshal to an engagement, and being joined by O'Donnel, Maguire, the general of the cavalry, and other noblemen of the province, he laid siege to Portmor, having in this a double object in view ; first, to reduce the place by famine, by cutting off the supplies ; and secondly, to compel the English to fight, by forcing them to relieve it. The hopes of the prince of Tyrone were equalled by his success. In the beginning of August, Bagnal marched with the flower of his army to the relief of Portmor, and when arrived within a mile of Ardmach, he met with O'Neill, at a place called Beal-an-ath-a-buidh, between two plains, bordered by a bog on one side, and on the other by a thick wood. The battle commenced, and the rout was terrible. Marshal Bagnal, with twenty-four of his prin- cipal officers, and two thousand of his army, were killed upon the spot ; and the remain- * Hist. Cathol. ibid. cap. 2. der of his forces put to flight. The loss of the English was heightened by an accident that happened in the beginning of the action, in the quarter where the reserve forces lay. The powder magazine having taken fire, five hundx'ed men at least, who were guarding the baggage, were blown up. The spoils that were wrested from them also were very con- siderable. Twelve thousand pieces of gold — their warlike stores — thirty-four stand of colors — all their instruments of war — all their artillery, and provisions of every kind, fell into the hands of the Irish. In the army of Bagnal there were several Irishmen who ranged themselves under him from motives of self-interest ; among the number of whom was Maolmora, surnamed the Fair, a son of O'Reilly. This young nobleman had lately returned from England, where he surrendered into the hands of the queen all his estates, which she restored to him by letters patent. Through gratitude, he unhappily espoused her cause against O'Neill, and lost his life at the head of a troop, while he endeavored to rally them again to the charge. The Eng- lish who had the good fortune to escape, took the road to Ardmach. Several were slain in the pursuit, and both horsemen, and about fifteen hundred foot-soldiers, sought safety in the churches of that city. This victory cost O'Neill about two hundred men killed, and six hundred wounded, and was followed by the surrender of Portmor. These brilliant campaigns of Tyrone, and of the other princes and noblemen of Ulster, had opposite influences on the English and Irish Catholics ; the alarm of the former was great, while the joy of the latter was univer- sal. They looked upon O'Neill as the liber- ator of his country, the avenger of their freedom, and the protector of the Irish nobles who were persecuted by the English, or op- pressed by their own chiefs. In fact, Ray- mond, son of John Burke, baron of Leitrim, whose property the earl of Clanriccard in- vaded after he had put him to death, threw himself on the protection of O'Neill : and Dermod O'Connor, and his brothers Cairbre and Conn, having been dispossessed by the English, sought an asylum with him also ; but Tyrone being busily employed in de- fending his own province, and unable there- fore to afford them effectual aid, sent them to Owen O'Morra in Leinster, to assist in the war of that province. The queen's officers sent letters to her majesty, complaining of the sad state of things in Ireland, and saying, that so far from being able to maintain an offensive war in that country, they could not defend them- 516 HISTORY OF IRELAND. selves against the enemy withont speedy as- sistance, and more powerful resources than any that had been previously sent. The queen was averse to abandoning the cause of her English province in Ireland. She attached heavy blame to the earl of Ormond for not having gone in person against O'Neill ; and conunandcd Bingham, who had been lately removed from the government of Connaught for his cruelty, to repair to Ireland, and suc- ceed Bagnal in the office of marshal. Two thousand foot, and a hundred horse were, at the same time, dispatched thither, under the ! orders of Sir Samuel Bagnal. These troops landed at Wexford, and were harassed in their march to Dublin by the Catholics, who killed a great number of them. Bingham arrived in Dublin with great difficulty, where he died soon after. The example of the men of Ulster roused the fallen courage of the Catholics in other provinces of Ireland, particularly in Munster, where the bravery of the celebrated earl of Desmond was still fresh among his illustrious allies. ■ This feeling it was necessary to en- courage, and to effijct that object, Sir Peter de Lacy, a powerful nobleman in the county of Limerick, wrote to Owen, or Owny Mac- Kory-Ogue O'Morra, who had 5n army on foot ; and invited him, in the name of the Irish Catholics in Munster, to come to their relief. O'Morra, having consulted with O'Neill, undertook the expedition. He com- mitted the government of Leix to his brother Edmond, and, at the head of eight hundred infantry and some horsemen, set out on his march for Munster. Raymond Burke, baron of Leitrim, and his brother William, as also Dermod O'Connor, and his brothers Cairbre and Conn, with Richard Tirrel of Fertullagh, accompanied O'Morra in this expedition. The earl of Ormond, who had still the title of general of the English army, made a show of interceptnig O'Morra, but whether by the rapidity of that chieftain's march, or the earl's fear for the result of a battle, he and his army arrived without interruption in the county of Limerick. Thomas Norris, who was then governor of Munster, was greatly alarmed by this invasion. His duty impelled him to attempt driving the enemy out of his province, and for that object he collected his forces and marched to "Kilmallock, with a design of fighting O'xMorra ; but dreading the result of an engagement with him, he placed a strong garrison there, after which he marched for Cork . He, however, hud the mortification to witness his rearguard pur- sued by the light troops of O'Morra, through the whole of his march. The success of O'Morra produced an al- most universal rising of the noblemen in Munster against the queen. MacCarty More, the head of his illustrious tribe, was pre vented by death from being of the mmiber of the confederates. He left a legitimate daughter, named Helena, that was married to MacCarty Riagh, and a natural son called Daniel, who aspired to inherit the title and estates of his father. The earls of Thuomond and Ormond, and the baron of Inchiquin, inclined always to the side that gave hopes to their ambition ; and the desire of titles of honor and court favors prevented them from joining in any league against Elizabeth. The extensive in- fluence of these noblemen marred the good intentions of the MacMahons, MacNamaras, O'Connors, O'Loghlins of Thomond, O'D wy- ers,0'Fogartys,0'Meaghers,0'Moel-Ryans, O'Kennedys, and other noblemen of Tippe- rary, and withheld them from uniting against the queen of England. The other great men of the province being more liberally disposed, looked with con- tempt upon dignities which interfered with their religion and freedom, and took up arms in defence of both. The chief men that formed a league against the queen, were Fitzmaurice, baron of Lixnaw ; William Fitz- gerald, knight of Kerry and lord of Kafinnin ; Edmond Fitzgerald, knight of the Glinn ; Sir Edmond Fitzgerald, called the white knight, with many other branches of that illustrious house ; Dermod and Donogh Mac Carty, rival candidates for the principality of Alia ; Daniel, son of MacCarty More ; Patrick Condon ; O'Donohoe More of On- achte ; O'Donoghoe of the Glinn ; Roche, viscount Fermoy ; Richard Butler, viscount of INIontgarret, who had married the daughter of O'Neill ; and Thomas Butler, baron of Cahir. The same disposition animated the several tribes of the O'SuUivans, the O'Dris- cols, the O'Donnevans, and the O'Mahonys of Carbry,who signalized themselves in the common cause of their country. The con- federates appointed for their leader, James, son of Thomas Fitzgerald, surnamedthe Red, and acknowledged him as earl of Desmond. Thomas the Red was brother to Garret, last count-palatine of that illustrious family. He left a son named James, who had been given by the countess his mother as a hostage to the English, and who had been kept prisoner in the tower of London for seventeen years. James was lawful heir of the earl, and to his title of Desmond ; but so long an absence rendered him forgotten, and caused the title to be conferred upon James, son of his cousin Thomas ; who was therefore chosen as the CHRISTIAN IRELAND. 517 leader of the Catholics in that province, where the memory of the earls of Desmond was still dear and respected. Religion was not the sole cause of the above alliance. The tyranny of the English governors, and the intolerable insolence of the adventurers who had been sent to occupy the estates of Desmond and other noblemen, contributed greatly to the undertaking. These adventurers became the first victims to the rage of the confederates. They were driven from their ill-gained possessions, and their castles razed to the ground. Finding them- selves now unprotected by the governor Norris, who was scarcely able to defend himself, they fled to Waterford, and em- barked for their own country. It was disgraceful in Norris to shut him- self up in Cork, and remain inactive while the war was blazing in the province, to the command of which he had been appointed. He felt heavily the shame of it, and in order to screen his character, he formed the reso- lution of attacking the Catholics. For this purpose all his forces, amounting to two thousand five hundred men, were mustered by him in Cork ; some nobles also in Mun- ster, attached to the court party, v/ere com- manded by him to meet, and with these troops, which were formed into three col- umns — he marched upon Kilmallock. His plan was to draw from the garrison the vet- eran troops, and replace them with the new levies that were less experienced. He met many difficulties on his march. His rear- guard was attacked at a place called Bear- rach Abharrah, by William Burke, at the head of three hundred infantry, who killed several of the English, and made themselves masters of part of their baggage. Norris, however, effected his object concerning the garrison of Kilmallock, but was attacked on his return at Ard-Scieth, by the earl of Desmond, Viscount Montgarret, the barons of Cahir and Luochne, William Burke, and Richard Tirrell. It was rather a disordered retreat than a battle. The above chiefs pursued him the entire day for eight miles of his march. Many fell in the several skir- mishes, but the heaviest loss was sustained by the fugitives, who, being favored by the night, were at length fortunate enough to get back into Kilmallock. Norris undertook a second expedition, which had no better success than the first ; he marched with two thousand four hundred foot, and three hundred horse, against Lord Roche, Viscount Fermoy. At first the vis- count abandoned Baile Androhid, a place not fortified, and withdrew to Bailean Cais- lean, which was stronger. His allies did not forsake him ; he was quickly joined by Daniel MacCarty, to whom the principality of Clan- carrha was given by the earl of Desmond. Dermod and William O'Connor also joined, with two thousand five hundred infantry, and nearly a hundred cavalry. This army en- camped to advantage for the Viscount Fer- moy : the place he occupied being made secure by it against an attack from the English. The two armies continued for twelve days in view of each other, and had frequent skirmishes, in which some soldiers were killed on both sides. Norris at length sent away some of his baggage by night, and took the route for Cork. He was pursued by the Irish, who killed two hundred of his men at Mainister-na-Mona. Some months after the expedition of Nor- ris, Thomas Burke, brother to the baron of Castleconnel, left the queen's party, and sought to be admitted into the Catholic army. For this purpose he applied to Raymond Burke, baron of Leitrim, and to his brother William ; and they appointed him to the command of two hundred men. With this little band Thomas wished to surprise some places belonging to the English in Muskerry Burke. He met with General Norris at Kill- tili, at the head of twelve hundred men. To avoid fighting was impossible ; and notwith- standing the disproportion of their numbers, he acted intrepidly, and by one bold stroke decided the affair. A young man named John Burke, having forced his way into the ranks, struck Norris with his lance and dis- abled him ; and the English army seeing their leader fall, dispersed. The English general was brought to Mallow, where he died in fifteen days of his wounds. This Thomas Burke being reconciled afterwards to the English, met with the same fate as Norris ; he and his brother, earl of Castle- connel, were killed by Dermod O'Connor in an engagement wherein these noblemen, who were much superior to him in force, i refused him quarter, so true is it, that de- { spair in an enemy is always to be feared. i Donogh O'Connor having been dispos- sessed by the English of his principality of Sligo, went over to England to conciliate ' the protection of the queen. His affairs were j kept for a long time in suspense at court ; but at length, Elizabeth, in order to lessen ! her enemies in Ireland, when almost the ' whole country were up in arms against her, sent him back with permission to repossess himself of his estates. On his arrival in Connaught, he found Cliftbrd, the governor of the province, preparing an expedition 518 HISTORY OF IRELAND. against O'Donnel ; and through gratitude he joined him in his enterprise. CHfford, intending to besiege Ballyshannon, a strong place belonging to O'Donnel, marched with lour thousand men, and some Irish auxilia- ries, the principal of whom were O'Brien, earl of Thuomoiul, Burke, earl of Clanriccard, and JMorrough O'Brien, baron of Inchiquin. The army having arrived on the banks of the river Earne, Inchiquin was the first who sacrificed himself to the royal cause ; wish- ing to take the lead, he put spurs to his horse and plunged into the water, but being thrown in the middle of the river from his horse, he sunk and perished miserably before he could reach the opposite bank. Clifford having discovered a place that was fordable, crossed with his army, in spite of a detachment sent by O'Donnel to dispute his passage. He then laid siege to the castle of Ballyshannon with four pieces of cannon. Owen Craw- ford, a Scotchman, commanded the place, having eighty men under him, six of whom were Spaniards, and the rest Irish. The attack was a powerful one, and the defence equally determined. The troops of O'Don- nel were not assembled so as to be able to raise the siege. While this prince waited an attack from the enemy's cavalry, (in which O'Connor Sligo, who fought for the English, was dangerouslywounded,) the cannon inces- santly played upon the castle, and the be- siegers, as often as they mounted the breach, were beaten back by the besieged. O'Don- nel caused frequent alarm to the enemy's camp ; so that Clifford being informed that O'Rorke was marching with his army on one side, and O'Neill upon another, to re- lieve the castle of Ballyshannon, that general decamped so precipitately tha:; he left be- hind him three pieces of cannon. He re- passed the river indeed in such disorder, that the place was called after him, "the route of heroes." He was pursued by O'Donnel, and it is said that he lost in the one day three hundred men in killed and drowned. O'Donnel drove his conquests still further ; he penetrated, sword in hand, into the estates of Clanriccard ; scaled the walls of Athenry, and put the English gar- rison to the sword. After this, he devastated the lands of the baron of Inchiquin, of Tur- lough O'Brien, and the O'Shaughnessys. O'Neill beheld with pleasure the league that was formed in Munster, and the advan- tages already gained over the English, a. d. 1599.* This prince, desirous of strengthen- ing the alliance which he had made with his * Peter Lombard, ibid, page 208. confederates, granted their demands for assistance, by sending them his brother Conn O'Neill, at the head of three thousand men, well provided with arms and ammunition. The English lay in ambush to dispute his passage, but Conn escaped their snares, by opening his way, sword in hand, through the enemy. After leaving two thousand of them dead upon the field of battle, he continued his march to Munster, where he acquired a high reputation for his military exploits. CHAPTER XLVI. The state of affairs at this time in Ireland, says Carabden, was deplorable, the rebellion having become general through the kingdom. The sway of the English in Ulster was con- fined to a few strong fortresses. The greater part of the nobility in Munster were up in arms against them. The O'Morras, the O'Connors, the O'Byrnes, the O'Tools, the Cavanaghs, the Eustaces, and other chiefs of Leinster ; with the O'Molloys, the Ma- geoghegans, and the Tirrellsof Meath, were leagued to revenge their freedom. The O'Rorkes, and some branches of the Burkes, besides some other chiefs in Connaught,took up arms for the same cause, so that Elizabeth saw herself, by this general revolt, on the eve of losing all her authority in Ireland. She had no person in that country capable of governing it. Marshal Bagnal was killed ; Richard Bingham, who had been sent by the court to succeed that general, died on his arrival in Dublin ; Norris, who governed Munster, and St. Leger, the president of Leix, perished by the sword of the Catholics. The earl of Ormond commanded the army ; his name, however, only, and not his capa- bility, was suited to his zeal in the cause of his mistress. In this position of her affairs, the queen consulted with her council on the choice of a man capable to remedy the dis- orders that prevailed in Ireland. Her ma- jesty, and most of her counsellors, cast their eyes on Charles Blunt, lord-baron Mountjoy. Robert d'Evereux, earl of Essex, whose am- bition knew no bounds, insinuated secretly, that Mountjoy was not fit for the undertaking, that he had not sufficient experience in the art of war, and that he was too devoted to literature to be a good commander. This nobleman sought to make it appear, that some one of the highest nobility, who was rich, and dear to the army, and who had been commander-in-chief, ought to be sent to Ireland, by which qualifications he seemed to intimate his own claims. CHRISTIAN IRELAND. M9 Opinions were divided as to the choice of the earl of Essex to fill the office of lord-lieutenant of Ireland. His friends wished for an opportunity to satisfy his insatiable thirst for fame, of which he was the slave ; while others thought that it would not be prudent to give the command of the army in Ireland to a nobleman who Ij was flattered by his creatures with the idea of being descended from the royal blood of Scotland and England, and consequently with having a higher claim to the crown than any of his predecessors. The ene- mies of Essex sought for a long time an opportunity of supplanting him at court, and the present appeared the most favora- ble that offered, through that very absence which he himself was eager to obtain. Essex, indeed, seemed to merit the ap- pointment : he had already established a reputation in his expeditions against the Spaniards, and being the favorite of the queen, the way to the vice-royalty was open to him : but instead of meeting in it the hap- piness he looked for, it proved fatal to him in the end. He was at length appointed lord- lieutenant, and with privileges more exten- sive than those of any of his predecessors. Her majesty invested him with the preroga- tive of pardoning any crime, even that of high treason ; besides the power of appointing to offices of trust ; of removing those who en- joyed them without a patent ; of suspending others from exercising them ; also of making military laws, and carrying them into execu- tion ; of conferring in fief, according to his pleasure, the confiscated estates of the Cath- olics, reserving a moderate and yearly reve- nue from them for the crown ; and in absence of the high-admiral of England, he had the command of the fleet, and the privilege of applying the money in the exchequer to any purposes without Ijeing accountable for it. A powerful and well-provided army was given to him ; it consisted of seventeen thousand foot, and thirteen hundred horse, which was the most powerful that had, up to that period, been sent to Ireland. All matters being arranged, the earl of Essex, accompanied by three young noble- men who wished to be partakers of his glory in the expedition, set out for Ireland from London, at the end of March, amidst the acclamations of the people . The fleet having sailed, they were overtaken and dispersed by a violent storm, by which many lives were lost. Notwithstanding this misfortune, he landed on the 15th of April in Dublin, where he took the usual oath, and received the sword of justice as lord-lieutenant. The principal instructions given to Essex were, first, not to confer the honor of knight- hood on any but subjects of acknowledged merit ; secondly, to block up Tyrone with ull his forces, by placing strong garrisons in the forts of Loughfoyle and Ballyshannon.* He had scarcely landed in Ireland when his creatures began to publish in foreign coun- tries false accoxmts of his wonderful exploits ; at one time, that his arrival had filled the confederate Catholics with terror, causing them to conceal themselves in woods, and other inaccessible places ; at another, that almost every one of them were accepting the offers of pardon offered by him. f The false- hood of these vain boastings was, however, proved by the ill-success of his expedition. The first act of the jurisdiction of Essex in Ireland was to publish a proclamation in the queen's name, excluding the ancient Irish, her majesty's inveterate enemies, from all hopes of pardon. | As to the modern Irish, who had been forced by the tyranny of Eng- lish governors to have recourse to arms, they were declared capable of receiving forgive- ness, provided they would surrender without delay. In other respects, he began his ad- ministration with mildness ; he knew the difficulty of bringing back to obedience those who had declared against the queen on ac- count of religion, and of preserving the alle- giance of those who still adhered to her. The exercise of the Catholic doctrine became less restricted ; the holy sacrifice of the mass was celebrated in private families, and the other sacraments administered with more freedom ; his policy even induced him to set at liberty some priests who had been confined in dun- geons, and to confer the grade of knights of the golden spur on some Catholics with whose opinions he was acquainted. After making some regulations respecting the civil administration, Essex turned his thoughts to the campaign ; but did not fol- low the plan that was laid down for him in London. The first thing he did was to give the command of the cavalry to the earl of Southampton. Instead of marching with all his forces against O'Neill, and the con- federates in Ulster, according to his instruc- tions, he divided them by giving three thou- sand foot and five hundred horse to Henry Harrington, to watch the movements of the O'Morras, the O'Birnes, and other confed- erates of Leinster ; and sent three thousand more to Clifford, governor -of Connaught, to keep the nobles of that province in check. * Cambd. ibid. pp. 734, 735. t Peter Lombard, ibid. pp. 411, 412. t Peter Lombard, ibid, page 413. 520 HISTORY OF IRELAND. These detachments reduced considerably the forces of the viceroy. Accompanied by three hundred gentlemen, who volunteered in London to accompany him, he set out from Dublin, on the 20th of May, with the re- mainder of his army, and marched towards Munster. In passing through Leinster, the rear guard of the English was severely han- dled in a dcfde, by Owen O'Morra, at the head of live hundred men, who killed several officers and privates ; the place where they fought was called after this, " Bearna na Gleti," which signilies the Pass of Plumes, on account of the quantity of them which the English lost in it. This check did not prevent Essex from continuing his march into Munster. He laid siege to the castle of Cahir, situate on the river Suire, in the county of Tipperary ; the place which gave the title of lord-baron to Thomas Butler. The confederate Catholics had in it but a garrison of seven or eight soldiers, without artillery, so that they were unable to maintain a siege against the army of Essex. The earl of Desmond, however, assisted by Raymond Burke, baron of Lei- trim, and his brother William, having ap- peared in view of the English, fought several skirmishes with them, and by this means af- forded to William Burke an opportunity of driving off a detachment that was guarding the bridge, and of throwing into the castle about fifty men, under the command of James Butler, brother to the baron of Cahir. This small force contributed only to prolong the siege ; Essex played upon the castle with his artillery ; several English nobles wishing to mount the breach, were killed by the mus- ketry of the besieged ; but James Butler, finding himself unable to defend the castle, surrendered it to the English general.* Essex had the castle of Cahir repaired, and leaving a strong garrison in it, with cannon and ammunition, he marched to the relief of Askeaton. His army received a considerable reinforcement by the junction of some nation- al troops, under the earls of Thuomond and Clanriccard, Mac-Pieris, baron, and Henry Norris. On his way back from Askeaton, he was pursued by Daniel Mac-Carty More and the earl of Desmond, at the head of two thousand five hundred men. These chiefs having attacked his rear guard, at a place called Bade en Finitere, the action was very bloody ; it lasted from nine in the morning till five in the afternoon : a great number of the English were killed, and Henry Norris, one of their leaders, was found among the * Pet. Lombard, p. 415. Hist. Cathol. ibid. slain. The loss on the side of the Catholics was not so great. After this battle, Essex encamped for a few days at Cruomui, to re- fresh his triops ; he then marched to Water- ford, and was pursued and harassed during six days by the'Catholic army. General Harrington, in the mean time, received a heavy check in the principality of Leix. This general, who was appointed to restore peace to that district, having sur- rounded the troops of O'Morra, flattered himself that he would be able to reduce them with little loss to himself ; but the bravery of the Catholics snatched the victory from him. He lost in this engagement twelve hundred men, with all their officers, and, among the rest, Adam Loftus, son of the Protestant archbishop of Dublin, who was ibund among the slain. The remainder of his army was put to flight. Ware, Cox, and others, mistake the cir- cumstances of this victory, or confound them with a similar one gained over Harrington by the O'Birnes, in the glinns of the county of Wicklow ; after which, the viceroy, to punish the want of courage among the Eng- lish, had them decimated. They, however, are all agreed that the English were defeated by the Irish Catholics. Christopher Blanche was sent over at this time to Ireland as lord- marshal. Wishing to distinguish himself by some brilliant achievement, he marched to Offaly, where his army was defeated by the O'Connors, with the loss of five hundred horse, and he himself escaped with difficulty, having had a leg broken in the action. In the mean time the earl of Essex confined himself to the city of Cork. He was deeply aflected by the ill-success of his arms, which is ingenuously acknowledged in his letter to the English council ; it was intercepted by the Catholics, and contains the following w^ords : " I am confined in Cork, where there is an abundance of warlike stores ; but still I have been unsuccessful : my undertakings have been attended with misfortune ; I do not know to what this can be attributed, ex- cept to an evil star that has led me here." The grief of Essex proceeded from two causes ; first, the queen expressed herself displeased with him ; secondly, she had conferred the office of master of the court of warden,* to which Essex had aspired, on Robert Cecil the secretary. He, however, concealed his displeasure for the present. Finding the forces diminished, he left Mun- * This court was instituted in the reign of Henry VIII., for the defence and protection of the persons and properties of those who embraced the reformed religion. CHRISTIAN IRELAND. 521 ster, without performing one deed worthy of his reputation. Towards the end of July, he returned with the wrecks of his army to Dub- lin, where he learned that James Butler, brother to the baron, had retaken the castle of Cahir, and put the English garrison to the sword.* Essex endeavored to remove the impres- sions which the queen had formed of his ad- ministration in Ireland ; for which purpose he wrote her a long letter, and informed her of the state of affairs in that country, and the character of its inhabitants. " The Irish," says he, " are stronger, and handle their arms with more skill than our people ; they differ from us also in point of discipline. They likewise avoid pitched battles where order must be observed, and prefer skirmishes and petty warfare ; they are not adapted either to defend or attack fortified places ; and are obstinately opposed to the English govern- ment ; they endeavor to shake off the yoke, and would efface every vestige of it ; they rely confidently on the promises of Spain, and hope that the Spaniards will make a descent upon England, to create a diversion in their favor, or send them assistance, to enable them to oppose your majesty's troops, and retake those places which they possess." The earl then laid down a plan to prevent the loss of Ireland. He proposed " that there should be provision stores along the coasts of England, and ships in readiness to carry them to Ireland in cases of need, and to serve as a check against the Spaniards ; the priests and Jesuits," continued he, " must be expell- ed, and strong garrisons maintained, in or- der that they might make occasional attacks on the country, and deprive the inhabitants of all means of subsistence." He added, that besides the expense, much time, care, and perseverance, would be required to bring the nation under complete subjection. Essex now turned his thoughts to Ulster ; but as his march to Munster had greatly di- minished his numbers, he wrote to the queen, in conjunction with the council, to ask for fresh reinforcements. At the same time, he sent for Clifford, governor of Connaught, to march with the troops under him towards the frontiers of Ulster, in order to create a diversion. t In compliance, Clifford assem- bled his army at Athlone, on the Shannon ; their destination being Belick on the river Erne, between the lake of that name and Ballyshannon, whither they desired to draw O'Neill. I The governor thought it necessary * Cox, Hist, of Ireland. + Cambd. Reg. Elizab. part 4, Hist. p. 73G t Hist. Cathol. ibid. c. 10. to keep the places in the rear free, for the security of his march ; and with that object, he determined to rebuild the castle of Sligo, which had been destroyed some time before by O'Donnel, and to give battle to him, if he endeavored to prevent its reconstruction. Clifford sent orders to Theobald Burke, sur- named the Naval, to have cannon and every thing necessary for the execution of his plans brought by sea from Galway to Sligo, while he would lead the army by land. In the mqan time, O'Connor Sligo, who supported the queen's cause against his country,scoured the county of Sligo with a body of cavalry, to force the inhabitants to abandon O'Don- nel, whose cause they had espoused from a spirit of patriotism and religion, and to favor the designs of Clifford ; but meeting with some of O'Donnel's army, they were compelled to take refuge in Killmuiny, at a short distance from Sligo, where they were besieged by O'Donnel. Clifford being aware of the danger in whichO'Connor was of falling into the power of the enemy, reviewed all his troops. His army amounted to two thousand five hundred infantry, both English and their Irish auxi- liaries, and a few squadrons of cavalry. The principal chiefs of the auxiliary Irish were O'Connor Don, prince of Magherry Con- noght,MelmorMac-Sweeny,princeofTueth, who througlr some displeasure had abandoned O'Donnel, and gone over to the English, and Richard Burke, son of the earlof Clanriccard and baron of Dunkillin. Matters being thus arranged, Clifford set out from Athlone, by forced marches for Boyle. O'Donnel pur- posed to oppose the enemy : he put a strong- garrison of four hundred infantry under the command of Mac-Sweeny Fanid and Mac- william Burke, into Sligo, and left two hun- dred cavalry to hold on the blockade of Kill- muiny; after which he'marched with O'Dogh- arty, prince of Inisowen, and the remainder of the army to Corslieve mountain, where Clifford had to pass into the county of Sligo. Tirconnel possessed himself of the defiles of this mountain, and had trees cut down to obstruct Clifford's passage ; he then en- camped with his army in an adjoining plain. In the mean time, Theobald Burke ap- peared with his little fleet before Sligo, but dared not enter. He thought prudent to await the arrival of Clifford's army. This governor being arrived at Boyle, he left his cavalry under the command of Sir Markham Griffin, since in passing the defiles of Cor- slieve they could not act. On the eve of Lady-day, O'Donnel was apprized of the movement of the English army. As the cause 522 HISTORY OF IRELAND. of this pious prince was that of religion, he coninianded, with the approbation of the ecclesiastics who were in his camp, that a fast should be kept on the eve of this festival, and that they should approach the tribunal of penance, in order to be worthy of receiving the communion ou the next day, to implore the protection of the mother of God. Scarcely had the Catholics ended their devotion on the day of the assumption, when the English appeared to reconnoitre the plain. The prince of Tirconnel then ordered refreshments to his troops, and addressed them in the follow- ing words : " As we have already often de- feated the reformers through the intercession of the blessed Virgin Mary, we have reason to hope for similar success this day ; yester- day we fasted in honor of the Virgin ; this day we celebrate her festival, and thus let us combat her enemies, and we will be the con- querors." The Catholics were greatly ani- mated by this discourse. O'Donnel then sent Owen Mac-Sweeny with Giolla and Tulli O'Gallagher, at the head of six hundred in- fantry, to stop the enemy, while he himself was preparing to attack them in order of bat- tle. The engagement commenced at eleven o'clock in the morning, and continued for some time with equal slaughter and success, till O'Rorke appeared at the head of a body of infantry, and turned the scale of victory. The terror of the English was so great, that they threw their arms on the ground and fled. The rout now became general ; the Catholic troops pursued the fugitives for three miles : Markham, who continued at Boyle with the cavalry, came out to the relief of the Eng- lish ; he attacked and killed some of those who were engaged in the pursuit, but O'Rorke coming up drove him back, and though badly wounded, he got into Boyle. The English lost in this battle fourteen hundred men in killed, with Clifford, the governor of Con- naught, and Henry Ratcliffe, a young Eng- lish nobleman, who were found among the slain. One hundred and forty of the Catholic army were killed and wounded. After this defeat of the English, a great booty was found : and the conquerors became masters of a vast quantity of arms, colors, cannon, dress, and other warlike apparatus. O'Neill, who was on his march to the assistance of O'Donnel, arrived too late, by two days, to share in the glory of this victory. The news of the defeat of tire English, and the death of Clifford, being spread, Burke the Naval set sail im- mediately from Siigo to return to Galway. O'Connor surrendered to O'Donnel, who put him into the possession of his demesne at Sligo, on his promising to assist thereafter against theEnglish. English writersacknow- ledge that their countrymen were defeated in the Curlew mountains, by the Catholics, whom they style rebels, commanded by O'Rorke. They have candor enough also to allow, that Clifford, Ratcliffe, and others were killed in this action, but they strive to smooth the disaster, by giving mutilated accounts of it. " Though the rebels," say they, " were superior in numbers, still they were repulsed by the English ; but for the want of powder, the English were put to the rout."* The earl of Essex was greatly disconcerted by the defeat of Clifford's army. He waited with anxiety for the arrival of a reinforcement from England ; a thousand foot-soldiers at length arrived in Dublin, in September, and all the forces then marched for the frontiers of Ulster. As soon as O'Neill heard of the movement of the viceroy, he put his own army in motion, and proceeded to the town of Louth, where he encamped on the banks of a small river which separated the two armies. The English, says Peter Lombard, seeing the Catholics so well prepared and eager to engage, were so panic-struck, (ac- cording to the words of some who were present,) that they were covered with shame, and afraid to hold up their heads. f The viceroy immediately dispatched a herald to O'Neill, to declare to him that he had not come as an enemy into his province ; on the contrary, that he came to offer him terms of peace, or at least a truce, and that he would send commissioners for that pur- pose, if he would accede to his doing so.J The prince of Tyrone having agreed to the proposal, two knights and a counsellor of state were dispatched for that purpose by the earl of Essex. These commissioners being ad- mitted to an audience with O'Neill, they explained to him the purport of their mission. The prince replied, that he would not agree to any truce, nor engage in any treaty in which three specific conditions were not ad- mitted ; first, " that there should be no other religion but the Catholic, Apostolic, and Roman, throughout the kingdom of Ireland ;" second, " that the church properties which since the commencement of schism and here- sy had been annexed to the king's dominions, should be restored to the church, as well by the queen herself, as by the individuals who possessed them ;" third, " that the heirs of the original proprietors, who had been un- justly despoiled of their estates within the * Cambden, Reign of Elizabeth, p. 736. t Pet. Lombard, p. 419. t Pet. Lombard, p. 420. CHRISTIAN IRELAND. 523 last forty years, should be re-established, to the utter exclusion of the usurpers." This reply of Tyrone being communicated to the viceroy, the earl dispatched a second herald to the prince, and proposed to meet him at a short distance from their respective armies. The prince accepted the proposal of meeting him, but not apart from his army. Essex, who was eager for an interview on any terms, gave up his stipulation : he sent away the greater part of his army to Drogheda, and proceeded towards the camp of O'Neill, accompanied by a few nobles and a small number of horsemen. The two chiefs being come, went down the river, where they might confer together. The conference lasted for some hours ; the viceroy looked for a truce till the month of May ; Tyrone an- swered, that his honor, which was pledged not only to foreign princes, but to the gran- dees of his own nation, would not allow him to accede to it. Essex reminded O'Neill of the ancient friendship that subsisted between the earl his father, and him, and consequently that he ought to feel some sympathy towards the humbled position of his son. The heart of O'Neill could not resist any longer the repeated solicitations of Essex, and the prince consented to a truce of six weeks, on condi- tion that each should be at liberty to break ofl' by giving a notice of fourteen days. The truce being thus settled on, the two noblemen passed a few hours in mutual compliments and politeness.* The salutary admonitions of O'Neill to Essex merit the attention of the reader, as they were prophetic of the disasters which subsequently befell him. They were as fol- lows : " Permit me, earl, to obtrude the ad- vice of one advanced in years, upon you who are young, and to forewarn you, for your own safety and peace of mind, of things that may arise in your course. I am not ignorant of the power you possess in your own coun- try, how dear you are to the queen, how pleasing to the English, and how honored and beloved by the army. The instability and fickleness of these advantages in Eng- land, are known to you ; and you are aware how intolerable is the tyranny of your queen, since no person has as yet lived secure under her power, except such as from their obscu- rity in life have escaped her attention, or those who are the instruments of her cruelty. Experience proves, how few of those that have been raised by her to the highest offices of trust, have escaped the abyss of ignominy and disgrace. You know likewise (as O'Neill » Pet. Lombard, pp. 421, 422, 423, 424. speaks it) that the state of your nation is very vacillating, and that if your old queen were dead, the strongest would be master. Under all these circumstances, it behooves you to take heed against your enemies. Be cautious too, lest the favor, the honor, and authority with which you are invested, be not yet the cause of your ruin. Accommo- date yourself to the times, and attach yourself to such as may render you services in the hour of need." The viceroy knew that the reasoning of the prince of Tyrone was true, but the means which he prescribed to avoid the danger, he found impracticable. Essex, pleased with his negotiations with Tyrone, took leave of that prince, and re- turned to Dublin, where he received a letter from the queen, dated the 14th of September. Her majesty reproached him and the council with mal-administration, and a contempt for her commands. This reproach was morti- fying to Essex. He placed the government of affairs in the hands of Adam Loftus, the chancellor, and George Carey, treasurer of war ; committed the command of the troops to the earl of Ormond, and departed for London, September 28th, accompanied by some of his friends ; among others, by South- ampton, (who resigned his command of the cavalry,) the baron of Dunkell, Christopher St. Laurence, son of the baron of Howth, Henry Danvers, Henry Docwray, and others. The day following he presented himself be- fore the queen, who received him coldly, and ordered him to keep his chamber till he would hear from her ; after this he was committed and detained in prison, according to Peter Lombard,* who was a cotemporary writer. The heads of the accusation against Essex were, neglect of the instructions given him respecting the war in Ireland ; the fa- vorable truce that he had" granted the Irish rebels ; and his having left Ireland in despite of the orders of the queen. The history of the tragic end of that nobleman is sufficiently known : it will suffice to observe, that though one of Elizabeth's chief favorites, he was beheaded soon afterwards. After Essex had left Ulster, a Spanish captain arrived in that province with two ships laden with warlike stores, which his Catholic majesty had sent to the prince of Tyrone. He received the officer, and asked why the king had omitted so long to send the succors which he had promised, and why he did not send all at the same time. The officer answered, that his majesty in- tended it, but that the report of peace having * Hib. Comment, cap. 426, 427. 524 HISTORY OF IRELAND. been made between the prince of Tyrone and Queen Elizabeth, was tlie cause ; and added, that the king of Spain sent him for the express purpose (with these two ships) of bringing him an account of how affairs stood in Irehmd. This reply did not satisfy OWeill ; however, he concealed his disap- pointment with his accustomed prudence. Philip II., king of Spain, having died in the month of September of the preceding year, Philip III. succeeded to the throne. This prince, interested in following the plans of his brother in regard to the war in Ireland, sent over two legates, Matthew d' Oviedo, whom the pope appointed to the archbishopric of Dublin, and Don Martin de la Cerda, a Spanish knight. The legates were empower- ed to grant indulgences to the Irish who fought against the English in defence of their religion.* The sovereign pontiff also sent by the same opportunity, a crown of phoenix feathers to the prince of Tyrone, chief of the league, in imitation of Urban III., who had sent, in the twelfth century, a crown of peacock's plumes to John, son of Henry II., who was styled lord of Ireland. The legates brought twenty-two thousand pieces of gold from the king of Spain, for the payment of the troops. Encouraged even by this moderate assist ance, and hoping for greater from the Span- iards, Tyrone resumed hostilities, after a notice of fourteen days, in pursuance of the truce made with Essex, a. d. 1600. f Hav- ing provided for the security of the princi- pality of Tyrone, he marched through the whole of Leinster, at the head of seven thousand men : his motive for doing which was, according to some writers, his devo tiou for a particle of the true cross, which was preserved in the abbey of Holy-Cross county of Tipperary. However this was, he advanced towards Cork, where he en- camped, and consulted with the earl of Des- mond, Florence Mac Carty Reagh, and other chiefs of the province, about the means of supporting the war.| He sent deputies to those whose sincerity he doubted, to so licit them to join in the confederacy against the enemies of God, their religion, and their country. As a stronger inducement, he sent them an authentic copy of the sentence of excommunication which Pius V. had pro- nounced against the queen of England and * Hist. Cathol. ibid. cap. 12. Ware, de Annal. cap. 42. Cambd. ibid. p. 743. t Pet. Lombard, ibid, page 430. Cambd. ibid, page 748. I Peter Lombard, ibid, page 431. Hist. Cathol. ibid. her adherents. Several were brought over by the reasoning of Tyrone ; particularly Finian Mac Carty, a powerful nobleman of the illustrious tribe of the Mac Carthys, who was always remarkable lor his attach- ment to the religion of his ancestors.* Others, influenced by a diflerent policy, though strongly' attached to the Catholic faith, re- plied, that a subject of such moment ought to be suspended for a while, as the opinion of the see of Rome was not well known ;t adding, that though excommunication had been pronounced by Pius V. against the ad- herents of the queen of England, the miti- gation of the sentence by his successor, Clement XIII., in favor of Catholic sub- jects, was well understood, and that they might, with perfect security of conscience, adopt a course of moderation, till the pon- tiff who then governed the church would lay down other rules for them to follow, in which case they would be ready to obey. This brought forth a bull from Clement XIII., which was addressed to the spiritual and temporal lords and people of Ireland. Prince O'Neill, who deemed their policy injurious to religion, and their delay hurtful to the Catholic cause, expressed his displea- sure at the replies of these noblemen. Some of them he treated with severity, and de- vastated their lands, in order to deprive the enemy of subsistence ; others he compelled to give hostages for their future conduct. | During Tyrone's stay in Munster, the queen's troops kept in their garrisons and strong places, not daring to take the field, so that the time passed over without hos- tilities, except an affair between Hugh Ma- guire, prince of Fermanagh, who command- ed O'Neill's cavalry, and St. Leger, presi- dent of Munster, in which both noblemen fell.^ Maguire attended only by Edmond Mac Caflry, his standard-bearer, Niall O'Dur- nin, and a priest, left the camp one day, either to take an airing or to reconnoitre the country ; having advanced too far, he met with St. Leger, at the head of sixty cavalry ; notwithstanding this difterence in numbers, Maguire's spirit would not permit him to avoid fighting ; putting spurs to his horse, he forced his way through the enemy to their commander, who sliot him through the body. Though Maguire's wound was mortal, he determined to be revenged ; struck St. Leger such a blow with his lance that he cleft his head through the helmet, * Pet. Lombard, ibid. p. 432. t Ibid. p. 433. t Petr. Lombard, p. 434. § Hist. Catliol. ibid. cap. 12. CHRISTIAN IRELAND. 525 and then opened a passage for himself, sword in hand. Both generals died of their wounds a few days after, greatly regretted by their respective corps.* The Prince O'Neill, before he left Mun- ster, took the necessary measures for the defence of the province, and the security of the confederates. He placed some veteran troops among them, and returning through Leinster, he left a reinforcement with O'Mor- ra of Leix. Before this, he passed in view of Ormond, who commanded the English army. He arrived safe in Ulster, having honorably fulfilled the designs he had in view. The earl of Essex having given up the government of Ireland, it was of importance to appoint a successor to him, and a governor of Munster to succeed St. Leger, who was killed by Maguire. Charles Blunt, baron of Mountjoy, was therefore appointed viceroy, and Sir George CarcAV was named president of Munster. These two noblemen repaired to Dublin about the end of February. Ca- rew waited for his commission to undertake the duties of his appointment. In the mean time, the viceroy and supreme council of Ireland! had regulations drawn up for the guidance of the president and council of that province. The members of it were, the earls of Kildare, Ormond, and Thuomond, Viscount Barry, Lord Audley, the Protestant bishops of Cork and Limerick, Sir Nicholas Walsh, the chief-justice Saxey, Sir Francis Barkley, Sir George Thornton, Justice Goold, the queen's advocate-general. Sir Charles Wilmott, Garret Comerford, Esq., Ulick Cufle, Esq., the bishops of Dublin and Meath, George Cary, Richard Wing- field, Anthony St. Leger, George Bourchier, Geoffry Fenton, and Francis Stafford. The president of Munster left Dublin on tlie 7th of April, and took the road that led to his province. The earl of Thuomond, who always sought for opportunities of displaying his zeal for the royal cause, with Lord Aud- ley, Captains Harvey, Browne, Dillon, and a force of seven hundred foot and a hundred horse, accompanied the president on his route. On the first day they arrived at Naas, on the next at Carlow, and on the third at Kilkenny, where they visited the earl of Ormond. Ormond had promised to meet Owen, son of Rory O'Morra, on the borders of Idough, at present the barony of Fessadining, in the county of Kilkenny, at a place called Corronnedufle, and the presi dent proposed to accompany the earl, with * Pet. Lomb. p. 435. t Pacat. Hib. cap. 1, book 1, page 6. his attendants. All arrived, according to appointment, at the place of meeting. The troops of both parties were at a distance, when the conference began between Or- mond and O'Morra, Avhich lasted for an hour without any thing being concluded. O'Morra had a Jesuit with him named Ar- cher, who was zealously opposed to the Re- formation,* with whom Ormond began a controversy on the score of religion, in the course of which he called the Jesuit a traitor ; saying, that under a semblance of religion he was seducing her majesty's subjects from their allegiance, after which he proceeded to abuse the pope and Church of Rome. O'Morra, no longer able to bear with lan- guage so indecent, and so foreign to the subject before them, seized the earl, dragged him from his horse, and made him prisoner. The president and Thuomond, with his other friends who were at hand, being alarmed, ran to his assistance and commenced fight- ing. Some of the English were killed, sev- eral wounded, and more made prisoners ; while the president and Thuomond took to flight, and owed their safety only to the swiftness of their horses. Thuomond was wounded in the back with a pike, as he com- plained in a letter to the council of England, wherein the circumstances of his misfortune in this affray are described. As soon as the two noblemen had got out of danger, they talked of revenge ; their drums and trumpets were ordered to rally the troops, and renew the fight ; but the terror of the English was so great that none but Captains Harvey, Browne, Comerford, and some ser- vants, had the courage to move forward ; and consequently, they had no alternative but to submit to their misfortune. They then re- turned to Kilkenny, where they found the countess of Ormond inconsolable for her husband's capture. The deputy was in Dublin Avhen he heard of this unhappy occurrence, and likewise that the sons of Montgarret and several other noblemen of the Butlers were up in arms. He at once dispatched Sir George Bour- chier and Christopher St. Laurence to Kil- kenny, with orders to collect the troops, and keep the peace of the city and its neighbor- hood. The president of Munster, on the arrival of these officers, set out with Thuo- mond for Waterford, where they arrived on the 16th of April. The O'Connors Faly laid siege at this time to the castle of Crouchan, which was situated in the principality of Oflaly,t at the * Hist. Cathol. cap. 8. t Ibid. 526 HISTORY OF IRELAND. foot of a hill called Knock-Crouchan. Tho- mas jNIoor, a kiu<>ht of the golden spur, and Gifi'ard, both Kuglishinen, commanded the garrison. The besiegers having no artillery, scaled the walls with a hundred foot soldiers, and having entered, put the garrison, which consisted of Englishmen, to the sword, and became masters of the fortress. O'Neill,* who had begun the war only in consequence of repeated assurances of suc- cor both from the pope and the king of Spain, continued to apply to them for assist- ance, and sent his son Henry, who was still young, on a mission to his Catholic majesty. lie wrote some urgent letters to the pope, representing to his holiness that the- war in Ireland was the cause of God, and beseech- ing him to have public prayers offered in Rome for its success. He also prayed that the holy father would give his decision on the efficacy that the sentence of excommuni- cation pronoimced by Pius V. against Eliza- beth and her partisans, ought to have, which might serve as a guide to the Catholics of Ireland for the conduct they should observe in the present war. In fine, he besought the pope that his holiness would be pleased to send a nuncio to Ireland, who would be ac- tive in supporting the Catholics in their i faith, and who might allay their uneasiness in the present posture of affairs. f Clement VIII., who was then head of the church, an- swered his requests with the following bull, dated Rome, April, 1600.| " Pope Clement VIII., to all and each of our venerable breth- ren, the archbishops, bishops, and prelates ; also to our dearly beloved sons, the princes, counts, barons, and the people of Ireland : greeting, health and apostolical benediction. " Having learned that, through the ex- hortations of the Roman pontiffs our prede- cessors, and those of the holy see, and ours, you have been encouraged to recover your freedom, and to defend and maintain it against the reformers ; also, that you have been, and are united to second and support, with all your means, first, James Fitzgerald of happy memory, who, as long as he lived, made generous efforts to shake off the cruel yoke of slavery which the English, who have deserted the holy Roman church, have imposed upon you ; subsequently, John Fitz- gerald, cousin-german of the said James, and latterly, our dear and illustrious son, Prince Hugh O'Nedl, earl of Tyrone, baron of Dungannon, and captain-general of the Cathohc army ; and that these generals * Peter Lombard, p. 25. t Peter Lombard, p. 465 I Cambd. ad ami. 1600. and their troops, aided by the God of ar- mies, have performed many heroic deeds, in fighting valiantly against their enemies, and arc determined to persevere in opposing them ; in order, therefore, to secure your attachment, and that of your general, and of the said troops to this cause, it is our desire to bestow on you our spiritual favors, as our predecessors have done. Trusting in the mercies of God, and by the author- ity of his apostles Peter and Paul, we grant to each and every one of yon, who follow the said General O'Neill, and his army, for the defence and support of the Catholic faith, to those who furnish him with their aid, in provisions, arms, or other warlike stores, or assist him in any manner whatever, provided you have confessed your sins, and if it be possible, have received the holy communion, the full remission of your sins ; and we likewise grant all the indul- gences which the Roman pontiffs have been accustomed to bestow on those who fight against the Turks for the recovery of the Holy Land, &c. " Given at St. Peter's, Rome, under the fisherman's ring, on the IGth of April, 1600, in the ninth year of our pontificate." CHAPTER XLVII. The Catholics of Ulster were still in pos- session of that province, with the exception of a few forts which the English kept, and gari'isoned. The deputy was commanded to reduce this province, but a want of energy in his operations excited the suspicions of the court. It was therefore deliberated in council whether he should be recalled, and another deputy appointed, or whether supplies should be sent to continue the war against O'Neill and his allies more vigorously, if he should refuse to make peace.* The latter plan was adopted, and a fresh reinforcement of troops was ordered to Ireland. In consequence of this, the deputy wTote to Tyrone, in April, proposing terms of peace in the name of the queen and council, which, so far as related to religion, and the reparation of the injuries that the Irish Catholics had sustained, ap- peared reasonable. The prince of Tyrone, however, knew too well the disposition of the English, to place any confidence in their promises ; he knew that nothing but the in- ability of acting otherwise, would influence them to keep faith with him ; and besides, * Pet. Lombard, ibid. p. 445, et seq. CHRISTIAN IRELAND. 527 he expected daily the assistance that had been promised to him by the king of Spain; so that he rejected the overtures of the deputy. Mountjoy feh the necessity of removing the suspicionswhich were entertained against him by the court ; and finding the prince of Tyrone deaf to the proposals he had made, he saw that his only resource to redeem his honor lay in force. He therefore collected his troops to attack Tyrone by sea and land ; and in the month of March, a fleet of sixty- seven ships, under Sir Henry Dockwra, was ordered to take possession of a lake in the north of Ireland, called Loughfoyle, between thepeninsidaoflnisowenandArachtyCahan, to cause in that quarter a diversion favor- able to the expedition of his forces by land. Five thousand infantry and three hundred horse were on board this fleet, well provided with ammunhion and warlike stores. The English commander also had constructed, on the borders of Loughfoyle, four forts, from whence he made frequent incursions on the lands of O'Dogharty, and other noblemen. O'Neill, when informed of the movements of the English, assembled a council of the chief men of the province, to adopt measures against the enemy. It was determined, that prince O'Donnel should oppose the attempts of the garrisons on Loughfoyle, while O'Neill himself would march against the deputy. A detachment of the Catholic army having met a party of the English who were guarding the baggage, attacked and killed a great number of them, and became masters of considerable booty. The deputy, alarmed at this event, returned immediately to Dub- lin, where he remained for some time. The earl of Ormond was still a prisoner with O'Morra. His countess applied with eagerness for his liberation ; for which pur- pose she addressed letters to the queen, and to the prince of Tyrone ; she reminded the latter of the friendship that subsisted between him and the earl, and begged, that in con- sideration of the services he had rendered him, he would procure him his freedom. Tyrone paid regard to the entreaties of the countess, and procured her husband's liberty, on condition that he would no longer act against his religion or his country, and that he should give hostages for his fidelity. Mountjoy, who remained in Dublin since his last expedition to Ulster, proceeded to Kilkenny to visit the earl of Ormond after his liberation. He then marched at the head of some troops into Leix, and brought labor- ers with him to cut down the corn before it was ripe, in order to deprive the inhabitants of subsistence for the next winter,and thereby prolong the war. The Catholics of Leix ran to arms, and attacked both the reapers and the troops who were guarding them ; the lord-deputy was dismounted, and his horse killed under him, so that he saved himself with difllculty, on foot, through a neighbor- ing bog. The advantages to the Catholics from this victory, were not equal to the heavy loss that they sustained by the death of Owen O'Morra, who was killed in the action. This nobleman, illustrious by birth, was still more so from his virtue, and his attachment to the cause of God and his country ; he was the soul of the confederacy in Leinster, and his death produced such consternation through- out the province, that the principal leaders, except Raymond O'Morra who succeeded him, were obliged to beg peace from their enemies. The deputy being now freed from this formidable opponent, continued his de- vastations in Leinster ; the estates of Daniel Cavanagh, surnamed the Spaniard, suffered greatly ; and the O'Lalors, Redmond Keat- ing, and others, were forced to submit ; after which the deputy returned to Dublin. O'Donnel, who was appointed to watch the motions of the garrisons on Loughfoyle, acted with a prudence and valor worthy of the illustrious house of Tirconnel, of which he was the chief. He pursued several de- tachments from those places, and killed a great many of them. The forts were also surrounded by O'Neill's army. In the month of August this pxince surprised fifteen hun- dred of their men Avho were foraging, and put the whole of them to the sword ; but the English being masters by sea, and the Irish having no fleet to oppose them, their losses were quickly repaired by fresh arrivals of men and arms from England. The successes of the English in Munster Avere more rapid, in consequence of the divi- sions that prevailed in that province. A kingdom divided must fall. Some of their chiefs had already embraced the reformed religion through interest and an ambition to please Elizabeth; the rest continued attached to the Roman church. Among the latter, however, were some political temporizers who would run no risk, and whose principle was to accommodate themselves to the times. The English government omitted nothing to excite disunion : they strove to reduce the Irish to the most abject Avretchedness, by destroying their flocks, and the crops ne- cessary for their support ; and also by draw- ing out of Ireland all its gold and silver, and sending from England in lieu of it a new copper coin which would not pass in any other country, and which soon lost its value there. 528 HISTORY OF IRELAND. Such was the situation of afHiirs and the position of the people in Munster, when C'arow began his campaigns in that province. The president, who was witness to the inter- view between O'Morra and Ormond, when the latter was made prisoner, as has been observed, arrived at Waterford on the 16th of April.* The army which the conncil of England intended for Munster, consisted of three thousand infantry, and one hundred and fifty cavalry. The demonstrations for the war began to spread terror among the inhabitants.! Some noblemen of the county of Waterford dreading the consequences, made their submission to the president ; among the number of whom were Thomas, natural son of Sir James Fitzgerald, lord of Desie, and Thomas Power, the near relation of Lord Power. Carew foresaw two important advantages that must arise to him from the submission of these two nobles ; first, it was so much taken from the force of Desmond ; secondly, the communication was rendered free be- tweenWaterford and Youghal, to which their power extended, and near which their estates lay. The president Carew set out fromWater- ford, April 20, attended by the earl of Thuo- mond. Lords Audley and Power, the lord of Desie, Sir Nicholas Walsh, Sir Anthony Cook, Sir Richard Masterson ; Captains Ro- ger Harvie, William Taaffe, Richard Greame, Fleming, Giflfard, Dillon, O'Reilly, and several nobles, with nine hundred foot, and one hundred horse, and arrived the same day at Dungarvan, where he was joined by Sir George Gary's company. The day following he marched for Youghal, from which he set out on the 24th for Cork. Here he learned that Florence Mac-Carty, prince of Carbry, with the O'Driscols, O'Mahonys O'Donna- vans, and several of the principal nobility of the country, had taken up arms ; he imme- diately dispatched twelve hundred foot and one hundred horse against them, under Cap- tain Flower, who pillaged and burned the whole country as far as the neighborhood of Ross, without meeting an enemy ; on his return, however, he was attacked by Florence Mac-CartyandDermod O'Connor-Don. The former headed the provincial troops, the latter the Bownoghs, that is, the mercenary forces of Connaught. These chiefs having placed themselves in ambush on the road the enemy had to pass, attacked them so vigor- ously, that they forced Captain Flower and his men to seek safety in an old castle, at the distance of half a league. The Eno-Ush * Hist. Pac. cap. 3. t War. cap. 43. sustained a heavy loss on this occasion, and had it not been for the skill of Flower, they would all have perished. To protect them, this ofiicer sent Lieutenant Lane with a body of men to conceal themselves in an old ruin, and attack the Catholics in fiank, while he himself attacked them in front with the rest of his forces ; being thus placed between two fires, they defended themselves bravely for some time, but Carbry O'Connor, Dermod's brother, and some of their other chiefs hav- ing fallen, and finding themselves overpow- ered by the enemy's cavalry, they took flight, and withdrew to the territory of Kinel-Meaky, where they encamped near the bridge of Bally ne Courcie. While the president was employed in holding a council in Cork, to deliberate on the affairs of the province, several skirmishes took place between the Catholics and the court party. Captain Francis Slingsby,who connnanded the English garrison at Kilmal- lock, laid waste the country as far as the castle of Bruff, three miles from Kilmallock, and carried away large herds of cattle. He was, however, attacked by Peter Lacy, lord of the district, at the head of three hundred foot, and fifty horse. They fought for six hours with equal success, except that Conn O'Neill, natural son of Tyrone, was wound- ed on the side of the Catholics. About the same time, April 25, John Mac-Thomas, brother to the earl of Desmond, had the commandof a small detachment of Catholics, and in order to punish Lord Barry, who had abandoned the cause of his country, he en- tered upon his estates, where he pillaged his vassals as far as Castle Lyons, and carried away large herds of cattle. Redmond Burke was not so successful in the barony of Kil- nemanna ; he marched some troops into that quarter against John O'Dwyer, to whom it belonged, and who had received protection from the English ; but was repulsed by O'Dwyer, who killed one hundred and twenty of his men. Burke returning soon after with fresh forces, burned and destroy- ed every thing in the district of Kilnemanna. On the 29th of the same month. Captain Slingsby left Kilmallock, at the head of a detachment, devastating the neighborhood of Loghguire, where he took possession of the castle ; a place in itself inconsiderable, but the situation of which on the road ren- dered it of importance to the English. Carew, the president, meeting with diffi- culties in the conquest of Munster, had to resort to stratagem to supply the want of force.* In order to gain over to him some of * Pac. Hib. cap. 5. CHRISTIAN IRELAND. 529 the confederates, and thus diminish the num- ber of his enemies, he pretended to prepare an expedition against Limerick, tlireatcning to give up to his soldiers the property of the Catholics on his march ; in consequence of which, some lords whose landi? lay along the route he was to take, to obviate the threat- ened calamity, made their submission. The president saw how important it would be to bring about a peace with Florence Mac-Carty of Carbry, who was a powerful prince of the province ; knowing that his submission would be followed by that of many others. He was aware that Mac-Carty had, in opposition to Daniel Mac-Carty, natural son to Mac- Carty More, earl of Clancar, applied for the estates of the latter, whose daughter and heiress he had married, in which he obtained the sanction of the queen. To accomplish his purpose, in effecting a reconciliation with the prince of Carbry, the president appointed the earl of Thuomond, Sir Nicholas Walsh, and John Fitz-Edmonds to treat with him. An express was forwarded to Mac-Carty, that they wished to confer with him on mat- ters of great moment. He agreed willingly to a conference, and appointed a certain day and place to meet them. Their present ob- ject was to prevail on the prince to come before the president. In this they succeeded ; and after a conference of two hours, he con- sented, under a solemn promise and an oath from Thuomond and Walsh for his safe re- turn ; he then accompanied them to Cork, and, on the 3d of May, arrived at the castle of Shandon w^here the president resided. Carew reproached Mac-Carty for his treason and ingratitude to the queen for all her fa- vors. Thuomond also played his part, and joined with the president to influence the prince to submit. He consented, finally, to observe a strict neutrality on the follow- ing conditions : first, that the queen should grant him the territories of Desmond to the same extent as she had done to his father- in-law the earl of Clancar. Second, that she would grant him the title of Mac-Carty More, or earl of Clancar ; and lastly, that she would furnish him with three hundred soldiers for his defence. To all these con- ditions the president refused his assent, and Mac-Carty returned home. The submission of the white knight, of Barret, Condon, and some others, and the visit that Florence Mac-Carty paid to the president,created jealousy and distrust among the confederates. These were still further heightened by the news of Carew's intended expedition, which made many consult their own safety. Peter Lacy, despairing of being able to defend his castle of BruflT against the president's army, caused it to be demolished ; Redmond Burke, who was at the head of five hundred men in the district of Connillo, upon the promise of the president that he would support him in his pretensions to the barony of Leitrim, withdrew from the confederacy, and retired to the district of Ormond. These defections did not, however, prevent the other confederates from meeting in the wood of Kilmore, between Mallow and Kilmallock, to oppose the English army on its route through Ballyhawry ; but instead of march- ing on the 6th, the president remained in Cork until the 21st of May, in order to de- ceive them ; want of provisions, therefore, forced them to decamp and return to their different quarters. The president being informed of their re- treat, set out from Cork on the 2Lst of May, and passing through Mallow, arrived the next day at Kilmallock ; on the 24th he reached Bruff, and on the 25th arrived in Limerick. In the mean time James Butler, brother of Lord Cahir, made himself master of Cahir castle, where there was an English garrison. On the 28th of May the president entered the district of Clanwilliam, burning and destroying all before him. He ibrced John and Theobald Burke to surrender ; after which he became master of the castle of Ballytrasny, which the Catholics had left, and found in it a quantity of corn and other provisions. He next sent five hundred soldiers to attack the patrimony of the O'Moel Ryans, which they pillaged and burned without mercy, and committed unheard-of cruelties. After these expeditions he placed garrisons in Kilmallock, Askeaton, and Likadowne,on the frontiers of Connillo, and returned with the remainder of his army to Limerick. Cap- tain Harvy arrived at the same time with a ship laden with money, warlike stores, pro- visions, and clothing, to the great joy of the president, who was beginning to be in want of every thing. The president was not yet satisfied ; to get James Fitzthomas, earl of Desmond, into his power, was a feat to be yet accomplished. Promises of reward appeared to him to be the surest means of effecting this, and by means of them he succeeded. James was betrayed by some of his own soldiers into the hands of the president, who confined him under a strong guard in the castle of Connillo, call- ed Castleishin, but he was soon rescued from his imprisonment by Maurice, baron of Lix- naw, Dermod Mac-Carty Reagh, the knight of Kerry, William Burke, Bernard O'Kelly,. Peter Lacy, and other chiefs of the con- 530 HISTORY OF IRELAND. federacy, at the head of eight hundred men. The princes of Ulster were too busy in defendin*r their own province to be able to alford any help to the .Munstcrmen. O'Don- nel, prince of Tirconnel, had to watch the garrisons of Loughibyle, commanded by Dockwra, with whom he had frequent skir- mishes. The English having got the city of Derry into their possession, made a vig- orous sortie, but were repulsed with less. Dockwra, their commander, was danger- ously wounded in the head with a pike, l^y young Hugh O'Donnel, who cut his helmet through. After this battle the English re- laxed in their attacks, so that O'Donnel de- termined to cause a diversion in favor of Munster. To effect this, he left the defence of Tirconnel to John O'Dogherty, prince of Inis-Owen, Niall O'Donnel, surnamed Garve, and Daniel O'Gallagher ; after which he marched through Connaught, and in the month of June entered the country of Thuo- mond. The earl, who was then at Limer- ick, alarmed at the news of his approach, applied to the president for help to defend his district against him. Captain Flower was immediately dispatched with eight hun- dred infantry and sixty cavalry, to join the earl in repelling Tirconnel ; the two armies had frequent skirmishing, but O'Donnel plundered the country of Thuomond as far as Loophead, and, after taking great booty in cattle, he retired -without meeting any disaster.* The expedition of O'Donnel to Thuomond had no greater effect than to retard the operations of the English in Munster, but it produced a serious change in his own affairs. The lieutenant of General Dockwra, having sailed out of Derry in the absence of the prince of Tirconnel, was killed by O'Dogh- arty, so that the English would have cause to repent of their conquest of Loughfoyle, if the Catholics had been more united. Ar- thur O'Neill, following the policy of his father, Turlough Linnagh, left the Catholic party and declared for the English. His example was soon followed by Niall Garve O'Doimel, though otherwise strongly at- tached to the religion of his ancestors. This nobleman gave up Lifford to the English, the command of which he had been appoint- ed to by the prince of Tirconnel. His trea- chery caused a divorce between him and his wife Nolla, the sister of Tirconnel. Niall Garve was brave and expert in war ; his ambition made him desire to obtain the » Hist. Cathol. cap. 5. title of the O'Donnel, or chief of the tribe, and he had cause to expect it if the English were victorious. They began indeed already to give him the title, and to make him great promises of reward if he would join in their interests. These foreigners knew well how to turn the affairs of this nobleman to their own profit. Niall had formed a private en- mity against his chief, O'Donnel, on the ground of his having taken from him, as he said, unjustly, the estate of Lifford, which belonged to his family, and did not feel suf- ficiently requited by the castle of Caislean- na-Finni, which the prince had given him by way of remuneration. This was the only plea that Niall Garve could advance to palliate his revolt and his attachment to the English. O'Donnel, who was projecting a second expedition against the earl of Thuomond, abandoned his design on hearing of the re- volt of Niall Garve,* and immediately post- ed his army near Lifford, in order to watch the enemy's motions. He frequently fought with success both against Niall Garve, who had gained over many adherents, and against the garrisons of Lifford and Derry, which often sallied forth against him. He sustained a heavy loss in the death of O'Dogharty, who was killed in one of these engagements. O'Dogharty having left only an infant son, O'Donnel, according to the custom of the country, created Felim O'Dogharty, his near- est relative, prince of Inisowen ; this act, by increasing the number of the discontented in Inisowen, diminished his allies there, and the principal town in the district was given up to the English. All "O'Donnel's efforts against the rebels of Inisowen were ineffec- tual : he besieged them in Binnin, a fort to which they had withdrawn ; but from the inactivity of the Connaughtmen whom he had in pay, he was obliged to abandon the ! undertaking. In the mean time, Niall Garve, having collected all the natives belonging to his faction, and some English soldiers be- longing to the garrison, seized upon the Franciscan convent of Donegal, and having driven out the friars, made an arsenal of their house, in order to be able to hold out against O'Donnel. This prince surrounded him with his army, and kept him hemmed in for three months ; after which, the for- tress having taken fire during the night, about one thousand men perished by the flames, the swords of the besiegers, and the falling in of the building, among the number of whom was Conn O'Donnel, brother of * Hist. Catliol. Hib. ibid. I CHRISTIAN IRELAND. 531 Nial Garve. The prince of Tirconnel after marched his troops to Connaught ; he was attacked at Elphin by the earl of Clanric- card, at the head of an English corps, and after some skirmishing the earl withdrew, but little satisfied with the success of his arms. Mountjoy marched in July, at the head of his forces, towards the frontiers of Ulster ;* but this expedition was equally unsuccessful as the former. He reconciled the Magen- nises, O'Hanlon, Ever, son of Colla Mac- Mahon, lord of Fearna, and others, who were subjected to the incursions of the Eng- lish, from the contiguity of their frontiers — this was a kind of neutrality approved of by O'Neill in favor of these noblemen. The deputy then advanced towards Armagh and Portmor, the garrisons of which he re- lieved, but was deterred from proceeding farther, as he dreaded O'Neill, who was strongly intrenched, which caused him to return to Dublin. f The deputy set out from Dublin in the month of August, with live hundred and sixty infantry, sixty horsemen, and some volunteers. He marched first to Naas, in or- der to join Oliver Lambert, who command- ed a body of troops at Philipstown in OfFaly. The two commanders having united their forces, carried fire and sword everywhere as they passed, so that every step in their march was marked with cruelty and ty- ranny. Mountjoy, wishing to create a diversion in favor of his friends at Loughfoyle, march- ed in October for Ulster, at the head of six thousand fighting men. He did not proceed far into the province when he met with the prince of Tyrone. The two armies con- tinued in sight of each other for fifteen days without attempting any thing, after which two battles were fought; one near Dundalk, and the other in the neighborhood of Car- lingford. These proved fatal to the Eng- lish ; they lost upwards of four thousand men, the deputy was dangerously wounded, and carried to Newry to be cured of his wounds. It was now that the English government set a price upon the head of O'Neill. A proclamation was issued, ofTer- ing a reward of two thousand pounds ster- ling to any one who would deliver him up alive, or one thousand pounds for his head. Carew, the president, who was still in Limerick, marched with his troops in the month of June into the district of Connillo, where he made himself master of the castle * Hist. Cathol. ibid. cap. 4. t Hist. Cathol. cap. 4. of Groom, which the garrison had abandoned. After this he marched towards the castle of Glynn, situate on the banks of the Shan- non. This castle was the chief place belong- ing to the knight of the Glynn, a branch of the illustrious house of the Fitzgeralds of Desmond, and one of the principal confed- erate Catholic chiefs. The president laid siege to it, and having effected a breach, it was taken by assault, notwithstanding the most obstinate defence. The president, hav- ing placed a garrison in Glynn Castle, under Captain Mordant, determined to lay siege to Carrigofoyle, in Iraghticonnor, but was prevented by the voluntary submission of O'Connor Kerry, to whom it belonged. In the mean time, the president, in order to occupy the confederates in different places at once, sent fifty men into the county of Kerry, commanded by Maurice Stack, a na- tive of that district, a man of middle stature, but of tried courage.* He surprised the castle of Liscaghan, scaled the walls, and put the garrison to the sword ; he also burned Adare, and devastated the neighboring country, where he remained till the arrival of Sir Charles Wilmot, who came to his assistance. War is the scourge of a country which unfortunately becomes the theatre of it. The scarcity of provisions was so severe in Kerry, that thf president was constrained to change his quarters ; he took possession of the castle of Corgrage, which had been abandoned, and gave the command of it to Oliver Stephenson, whose descendants, says Cox, have degenerated into real Irish ; he received the castle of Rathmore by capitu- lation, and having reinforced the garrisons of Askeaton and Kilmallock, he arrived in Limerick the 16th of July. During the absence of the president, the confederates made an attempt upon the castle of Liscaghan, of which Maurice Stack was the commander ; but their efforts were defeated by the garrison, who killed twenty- seven of their men in a sally. The president being informed at Limerick of the state of things in Kerry, marched on July the 23d, with his troops, amounting to a thousand and fifty infantry, and seventy-five cavalry — whether to avoid the badness of the roads, or the enemy, he took the route for the coimty Clare, and proceeded to Kilrush, on the right bank of the Shannon, opposite to Carrigofoyle, where the earl of Thuomond took care to have a number of boats con- structed to carry the troops and their bag- gage to the opposite side of the river. * Pacat. Hib. ibid. cap. 10 532 HISTORY OF IRELAND. The army having reached Carrigofoyle, the president on the 20th July dispatched Wihnot with six hundred infantry, and fifty cavalry, on an expedition into Clanmorris. He took the castles of Lixnaw and Rathowen by surprise, and put garrisons into them, though Lord Fitzmaurice,to whom the cattle of Lixnaw belonged, had it undermined some time before, and planks of wood placed so as to set fire to it on the approach of the Eng- lish army. After this Wihnot advanced upon Tralee, where he surprised a hundred and fifty laborers who were employed by the earl of Desmond to destroy the castle of Sir Edward Denny, in order to prevent the English from taking shelter in it. Wil- mot had no great difficulty in defeating these men, whom he took by surprise ; after kill- ing some, and dispersing the rest, he re- turned victorious to Carrigofoyle. The president received an account, that the provisions which he was expecting would be sent to Cork, had arrived at Carrigofoyle, in the county of Clare, opposite the river Cashin. The boats belonging to the earl of Thuomond served to carry them to Lixnaw. Patrick Fitzmaurice,who was truly zealous in the Catholic cause, dreading the conti- guity of the English, demolished his castle of Beaulieu, situate on the banks of the Shan- non, and within two miles»of Carrigofoyle. He died soon afterwards, and was succeeded by his son, Thomas Fitzmaurice, who in- herited not only his title, but also his attach- ment to religion.* He married Honora-ni- Brien, sister of the earl of Thuomond. Of these two illustrious personages, English writers give a story equally revolting to humanity, and to the religion which they pretend was the cause of it. Honora-ni- Brien, according to their account, having invited Maurice Stack to dinner at her castle of Beaulieu, had him murdered ; and his brother, whom her husband, the baron of Lixnaw, had held as a prisoner for some time, hanged the day following. Florence MacCarty, who had hoped for some time to be able to remain neuter, be- gan now to appear upon the stage. He con- templated bringing about a marriage between James Fitz-Thomars, earl of Desmond, and the sister of Cormac MacCarty, lord of Muskerry, in order to unite all the branches of the MacCartys, who formed a numerous and powerful tribe. The president, appre- hending the consequences of such an alliance, left the government of Kerry to Wilmot, and marched straight to Cork, to counteract * Pacat. Hib. cap. 1.3. the intended connection between Desmond and the chief of Muskerry. To punish Florence MacCarty, he granted protection to Daniel MacCarty, and gave him the title of MacCarty More, to the exclusion of Florence, who had a prior claim to the title, as has been observed. Wilmot having besieged the castle of Ar- dart, in the county of Kerry, became master of it, after it had been defended for nine days by a feeble garrison. He strove to estrange several noblemen from the cause of their country, and succeeded with the knight of Kerry, who surrendered to him his castle of Dingle, the October following. The pre- sident, on his part, received the submission of the MaCxMahons and the O'Crowleys of Carbry. MacDonough, MacAuliff, and O'Keefe, also put themselves under his pro- tection, and the castle of Cahir was surren- dered by James Butler to the English. The earl of Desmond caused Castle island, and several strong places in the county of Kerry, to be demolished, in order to prevent the English from increasing the number of their garrisons. This nobleman had but six hundred infantry and a few cavalry, so that he was not able to attack the enemy openly, their numbers being much greater than his. He wrote pressing letters to Florence Mac- Carty to join him ; but being disappointed in this, he left Kerry and marched through Connillo to gain the woods of Arlogh, near Kilmallock, where there was an English gar- rison, commanded by Sir George Thornton. The officers under Thornton were Slingsby and Arundle ; Captains Dillon and O'Reilly commanded the foot, and Greame the horse. Desmond's intended march being known to the English, they made every prepara- tion in their neighborhood to attack him. Greame first, with his cavalry, prevented the earl from getting into the wood, and made himself master of the baggage, while Thorn- ton attacked him with the infantry. The action was briskly fought, but proved fatal to Desmond ; he lost two hundred of his men in killed and wounded. Teague and Hugh O'Kelly, who commanded the Con- naught troops, were among the slain, and their heads sent the day following to the president. There remained now with Des- mond but four hundred men, who got into the wood in spite of the enemy ; after which they dispersed. The earl finding himself abandoned, withdrew into the country of Ormond, accompanied by Dermod Mac- Carty, bishop of Cork and Cloyne, who labored for twenty years to preserve the re- ligion of the country. CHRISTIAN IRELAND. 533 After the defeat of Desmond, religion be- gan to lose ground in Munster. Fitzmaurice, John Fitzthomas, brother to the earl, Peter Lacy, and other leaders, proceeded to Ul- ster to join O'Neill.* Several were par- doned, and among the number, MacCarty Riagh, O'SuUevan Beare, John O'Dvvyer, James Fitzgerald, Teugue O'Brien, O'Moel- ryan, O'SuUivan More, the people of Mo- gelly, and the inhabitants of Kerry and Muskerry. By the defections the whole of the province was opened to the English, the places that had opposed them previously having surrendered ; among others, Castle- mayn, Clancoyne, and Listoel, opened their gates. Sir Richard Pearcy sent, in the month of December, a detachment from Kin- sale into Carbry, to plunder the districts of Kilco and Kinelmeaky. Dermod Moyle MacCarty, brother of Florence, and Moysmo O'Mahony, prince of the O'Mahonys of Ki- nalmeaky, being infomucd of the enemy's designs, assembled their vassals, and fought the English for two hours ; after which both armies withdrew, and the English returned greatly disconcerted in their designs. About this time some differences sprang up between the MacCartys of Carbry, and the O'Learys of Muskerry ;t they led to an action at Ahakery, in the district of Carbry, in which O'Leary, chief of his tribe, and ten of his men were killed on the spot. On the other side, the brother of Finin MacOwen Mac- Carty was dangerously wounded, and some of his people slain. The conquest of Munster was not secure while James Fitz-Thomas bore the name of earl of Desmond. | It was of the first im- portance to the English to destroy his influ- ence among the people ; to effect which they raised a rival to him, who in fact possessed a higher claim to the title. This rival was James, son of Garret the last earl, who had been detained during a great many years prisoner in the tower of London. The queen now prepared and equipped him for Ireland, with the empty title of "earl of Desmond. "t^ The name was imposing on the Irish, among whom it was still dear. They received him with a respect becoming his illustrious ances- tors, but, linding that he had conformed to the religion of the court, their admiration towards him was abated. Young Desmond was conducted to Ireland by Captain Price ; he landed at Youghall the 14th of October, * Cox, Hist, of Ireland, page 435. t Pacat. Hib. cao. In. Pacat. Hib. cap. 11 t Hist. Girald. cap. 21 ^ Hist. Cathol. cap. 3. and arrived at Mallow on the 18th,* where he presented a letter from the queen to the president Carew, with her patent, restoring him to the dignity of his ancestors. The young earl expressing a desire to visit Lime- rick, was indulged by Carew, in order to sound the disposition of the people towards him ; he was accompanied by the Protestant archbishop of Cashel, and Boyle, secretary to the council. Having returned to Kilmal- lock on a Saturday evening, he was received with the acclamations of the people, who were collected in such crowds that he could scarcely get to the governor's house, whither he was going to sup, though the streets through which he passed were lined with troops. Their joy was, however, soon changed into sadness. The earl went the next da)', Sunday, to hear the service in the Protestant church. On his return, the people who, the evening before, loaded him with blessings, heaped their imprecations and insults upon him, and even proceeded so far as to spit in his face. Abandoned now by the Catholics and the admirers of his ancestors, he was seen to walk in the streets like any private individual, without one to accompany him. " I give," says an English writer, " this nar- rative, that the world may perceive how our religion, and the professors of it, are abomi- nated by the rude and ignorant people of Ireland." The deputy Mountjoy marched in the month of December into the county of Wick- low, to chastise the O'Birnes and O'Tooles, who made frequent attacks upon the lands near Dublin. Having attempted, in vain, to get Felim, son of Fiach, into his power, he carried away with him as prisoners, his wife and eldest son ; after which he laid the whole country waste, burning the houses and their haggards as he passed along. He put garrisons into Tullow and Wicklow'; then marched to Monastereven, and after- wards visited Trim, MuUingar, Athlone, and Drogheda ; from which place he set out for Dublin, on the 26th of April, after distri- buting the troops among the different garri- sons. An order was at this time sent to the deputy by the court of England, to confer on Nial Garve O'Donnel the principality of Tirconnel ; and that of Fermanagh, on Con- nor Roe Maguire, to the exclusion of the lawful princes. It was thus that Maguire was recompensed for having made Cormoc O'Neill, nephew and Tanist of O'Neill, a prisoner. By such means the queen dimin- ished the number of her enemies in Ireland. * Pacat. Hib. cap. 14. 534 HISTORY OF IRELAND. She supported the collateral branches against their chiefs; she caused divisions amongthem by exciting a thirst for riches, and found many degenerate enough to answer her pur- poses. Those who were so, were called her " protegi's," and designated as the quceii's O'Donnel, the queen's Maguire, to distin- guish them from the lawful chiefs. Morrison, governor of Dundalk, made some attempts upon the territory of Fews, whence he carried oil" as prisoner Turlogh, son of Henry O'Neill, chief of the Fews, and brother to Tyrone. The submission of Tur- logh procured him the protection of the deputy, and a similar favor was granted to EverMac-Colla, to Mac-Mahon, lord of Fearny, to Hanlon, and the inhabitants of Brenny. The forces of the Irish were continually diminished by their frequent battles, and by their having no succors sent them from abroad, while those of the English were re- ceiving constant reinforcements from their own country. Information was sent by the lords of the English council, to Carew, that six hundred infantry had embarked for Cork. A complaint was also forwarded that several soldiers were passing from Ireland to England on a mere leave from their cap- tains. The president was therefore enjoined to send his orders to the seaports to permit no soldier to embark for England without a passport signed by himself. Dermod O'Connor Don, prince of Con- naught, learned that the young earl of Des- mond had arrived in Munster by orders of the court of England.* He wished greatly to see this young nobleman whose sister he had married, and to manifest to the queen by his services, how grateful he was for the favors conferred upon his brother-in-law. The president being informed of the wishes of O'Connor, sent him a guard to escort him and his attendants ; one from Sir Arthur Savage, a commissioner of Connaught, and another from the earl of Clanriccard, being likewise appointed to protect him in his march through their estates. The president sent a hundred men to the frontiers of Thuo- mond to receive and conduct him safe to his destination. But all these precautions were not able to save O'Connor's life. Having passed through Clanriccard without meeting any opposition, he was attacked upon the estate of O'Seaghnassy, by Theobald Burke, the Naval, who commanded a hundred men in the pay of the queen. Theobald, having killed forty of O'Connor's men, made that * Pacat. Hib. cap. 17. prince prisoner, and had his head cut off the day following, without any trial. This act of hostility drew upon Burke the censures of his friends at court, and he was in conse- quence of it deprived of his company. " Theo- bald Burke," says an English author, " did no injury to O'Connor while he was a rebel, but seeing him attach himself to the English government and likely to become very useful, he caused him to be shamefully murdered." The earl of Ormond had continued inactive since he got his liberty from O'Morra. To ingratiate himself with the president, he now offered his services against Redmond Burke and his companions who had retired into the territory of Ormond. The earl frequently, but in vain, endeavored to drive them from it ; at length, he employed Lord Dunboyne, Sir Walter Butler his nephew, and Captain Marberry, to undertake it with all the troops they could muster. They accordingly made great preparations against a handful of men scattered in the woods, and bereft of every thing; a victory over whom could not be very glorious to the earl, nor add much to the laurels of his house. They fell upon the unhappy wanderers, and killed forty of them, among whom was Thomas Burke, brother of Redmond ; the rest were chased into the river Nore, which at that time, it being the month of January, overflowed its banks : many of them perished with their arms and baggage, and several were made prisoners ; among the rest, .John Burke, also brother of Redmond, who was immediately afterwards put to death in Kilkenny. The president Carew, wishing to put the laws in operation, and let justice (which had been suspended on account of the war) take its course, held the assizes at Limerick, Cashel, and Clonmel ; the members who composed the tribunals in question were commanded to punish all those who were denominated rebels. When an enemy sits in judgment, innocence will not escape. The president also gave orders to the sheriffs to visit the counties, both to discover the male- factors who disturbed the government, and to procure provisions for the garrisons.* In compliance with this mandate, John Barry, sheriff of the county of Cork, attended by his retinue, entered that part of Desmond which belonged to Florence Mac-Carty, but was immediately repulsed by that nobleman's vassals, and forced to fly, leaving several of his attendants dead upon the spot. A de- tachment from the garrison of Kerry, intent upon plunder, crossed the river Mang, and * Pacat. Hib. ibid. cap. 18. Ibidem, cap. 19. CHRISTIAN IRELAND. 535 entered that district sword in hand, where they shared the fate of the sheriff's followers. I These acts of violence rendered the conduct of Florence suspicious in the eyes of the president, but finding it necessary to dissem- ble for a while, he passed over all that noble- man's acts in silence. CHAPTER XLVIII. The Catholics of Ireland had, to the close of this campaign, made the most noble exer- tions in defence of their religion and country. They had to contend, not only against the English, but also against domestic enemies, without any hope of assistance, so that the country was devastated and exhausted of men and provisions, particularly Munster, which had been for a long time the theatre of the war. Most of the noblemen in that province were obliged to submit to their enemies. Florence Mac-Carty seeing the necessity of yielding to the times, followed the example of the rest. Their submission, however, was but a sort of truce, while waiting for the arrival of the Spaniards. Don Martin Lerda was sent to Ireland by the king of Spain, in the beginning of the I year 1601. He brought two vessels laden with arms, ammunition, and money.* This small succor, which seemed to give omen of greater, was sent to O'Neill ; and his Catholic majesty sent word to this prince, that he would immediately furnish him with troops, and every thing necessary to carry on the war. The vessels being arrived in the bay of Kilbeg, near Donegal, O'Neill divided the resources he received with the confede- rates, particularly with those of Munster. A gleam of hope seemed to revive the fallen spirits of the Catholics. They met, and de- liberated together ; and the earl of Clanric- card, who was at that time the only nobleman in Connaught attached to the queen's cause, began to espouse the interest of the confede- rates. That which caused such joy to the Catho- lics of Ireland, produced great alarm in the minds of the English Protestants. The pres- ident of Munster wrote urgent letters to the lords of the English council, informing them that Ireland would be soon invaded by the Spaniards, of which he received positive assurances from every quarter. " Many priests and monks of the Roman church," added he, " have already arrived in this * Pet. Lombard, ibid. pp. 452, 453. country, who are precursors of misfortune to Ireland, by their endeavors to estrange her majesty's subjects from their allegiance." After thus apprizing the court of the danger, he demanded the means of averting it. The council attended to his representations, and gave orders how he should act ; lenient mea- sures were adopted, at the! same time, to conciliate the Catholics of Munster. As a specimen of the queen's disposition at the time, she wrote to the president, authorizing him to grant a general amnesty to all who would seek his clemency ; from it, however, James Fitz-Thomas, having the title of earl of Desmond, his brother John, Peter LacyJ knight of the Glynn, Thomas Fitz-Maurice, baron of Lixnaw, the O'Morras, and O'Con- nors Faly, were exempted. The English still kept up hostilities in Ulster ; Dockwra, governor of Lough Foyle, made himself master of Inisowen, the patri- mony of O'Dogharty ; and also pillaged the lands of Mac-Hugh Duff, from which he carried away a thousand head of cattle. He devastated too the possessions of the Mac- Sweenys, O'Boyle, Shane, son of Manus Ogue, O'Donnel, andO'Cahan, leaving every- where traces of his cruelty. In this conduct he was ably seconded by Nial Garve O'Don- nel, who forced feigned submission from most of those noblemen, who wished to escape his tyranny. The deputy left Dublin in May, for Drogheda, where he arrived on the 23d of that month ; on the 25th he proceeded to Dundalk, and on the 8th of June, passed through Moyri, where he had a fort built, which he garrisoned ; having left his camp at Fagher, on the 14th, he passed through j Newry, and on the 15th entered Iveagh, the- 1 country of the Magennises. While Sir Rich- I ard Morrison was taking the city of Down, the deputy entered Dundrum, which was given up to him by Felim Mac-Evir, to whom it belonged. This nobleman having made his submission, his example was followed by Mac-Cartane of Dufferin, and Mac-Roy of Killiwarlin. The deputy having ended his tour through Iveagh, where he took some castles without meeting any resistance, re- turned to Newry, from whence he sent orders to Sir Henry Danvers, commander of Mount j Norris, to seize upon the abbey of Armagh, and put an English garrison into it; but Danvers failed in the attempt. He was re- pulsed by the garrison, and forced to abandon his enterprise. On hearing of Danvers' ill-success in his expedition against Armagh, the deputy marched towards Mount Norris, where he 536 HISTORY OF IRELAND. was joined by the garrison. He then directed his march towards the river Blackwater, leaving Arnuigh on the right ; visited the neighborhood of that river, particularly the spot in which marshal Bagnal's army had been defeated a few years before by O'Neill, and proceeded towards Armagh, whicli was abandoned by its feeble garrison on the ap- proach of his powerful army. He therefore became master of it without opposition. The deputy left an English force in Armagh, consisting of one hundred horse and seven hundred and fifty foot, under Danvers ; he then returned with the remainder of his army to .Mount Norris, and encamped between that place and Newry, in expectation of a rein- forcement from the English province. The garrison of Armagh committed dread- ful excesses through the surrounding coun- try.* The detachments which sallied from it, pillaged and laid waste the lands of Brian Mac-Art, Magennis, Patrick Mac-Mahon, carrying away their cattle, forcing these noblemen to submit, in order to save their pro- perties. The deputy having abandoned the neighborhood of Newry, marched his army towards Armagh. On the 13th July he arrived on the banks of the Blackwater ,which he crossed the day following, unopposed by Tyrone, who had his army posted in a wood near the river. It was his design to avoid an engagement, and remain on the defensive, till the succors which he expected from Spain would arrive. On the 16th of the same month, the deputy sent Sir Christopher St. Laurence's regiment to the castle of Ben- burb, where it was attacked by the advanced guard of O'Neill ; they fought briskly for three hours, within view of the English camp, though St. Laurence having received fresh assistance from that quarter, was superior in force. According to Cox, the English lost nearly a hundred men, and the Irish about two hundred ; he adds, that it cannot be cause of wonder that the loss sustained by both was so unequal, as the English being better provided with ammunition, the fire of their musketry was more closely kept up than that of the Irish. After this combat, the deputy had a new fort built on the river Blackvvater, near the old one which was de- stroyed, and garrisoned it with a company commanded by Captain Williams. At this time, the deputy issued a proclamation from the queen that her majesty would not grant any terms to O'Neill, and that whosoever would take him alive should receive two thousand pounds reward, or one thousand for his head. * Cox, Hist, of Ireland, ibid. p. 438. In the beginning of April, eight hundred Catholics collected in Connaught, with the intention of marching into Munster, to raise a diversion in that quarter. They were headed by a portion of the Burkes, Hugh Mostian, and Peter Lacy ; and the lord of Kerry, Teugue Reagh MacMahon, and others, prepared to join them by sea. Carew, the president of Munster, was greatly alarm- ed at this. He knew that Sir John Barkly, governor of Connaught, in the absence of Sir Arthur Savage, was not able to oppose the enemy ; to avert, therefore, the danger which threatened his province, he dispatched Major-general Flower at the head of a thou- sand infantry, to dispute the passage with the Connaught troops. Flower marched into the county of Clare, where he was joined I by the company of the earl of Thuomond ; he next proceeded towards Quinn, and hav- ing met the enemy, who were marching carelessly and in separate bodies, he fought them with success, killed some of their lead- ers, and dispersed the remainder. Teugue, son of Torlogh O'Brien, a near relative to the earl of Thuomond, who had joined the Catholic army a few days before, fell on this occasion by the sword of the English, fight- ing nobly for his country's cause. Ware and Cox, by whom this revolt of the Catho- lics of Connaught is mentioned, says they had fifteen hundred fighting men, including seven hundred from the north of Ireland, who were to act with them in the intended expedition. It is true the princes of Ulster, O'Neill and O'Donnel, at the request of Donagh Mac- Carty, prince of Alia, had sent seven hun- dred men towards Munster, under Teugue O'Rourke, and Raymond Burke, baron of Leitrim, to renew hostilities in that province, and revive the fallen courage of Desmond ; but it does not, however, appear that they joined tlie Connaught forces. The Ulstermen having lost the prince of Alia on their march, who was killed by a ball from some English that lay in ambush, and having heard that the Connaught army was defeated, and that Desmond was taken prisoner, returned to- wards their own province. They were ha- rassed on their march by the earl of Clan- riccard, who received a wound in a skirmish with them, of which he died a fortnight afterwards. The Catholic cause sufTered considerably at this time, by the arrest of James, son of Thomas Fitzgerald, commonly called earl of Desmond, and Florence MacCarty, of the illustrious house of MacCarty Riagh, who had married the daughter and heiress of MacCarty More, baron of Valentia, and earl CHRISTIAN IRELAND. 537 of Clancar. Desmond was taken about the end of May, in a cavern in the mountain of Slevegrot, by Fitzgibbon, chief of the Clan- gibbons, generally known as the White Knight, who gave him up to Carew in Cork. The knight had the baseness to accept of a thousand pounds from the president, as a re- ward for this infamous act. Florence Mac- Carty, who had become MacCarty More by the death of his father-in-law, in which digni- ty he had been confirmed by O'Neill, was ar- rested in Cork by orders of the president. These noblemen were sent, in the August following, under a strong guard, to the tower of London, where Desmond died after a con- finement of seven years.* His brother John Fitzthomas fled to Spain after the battle of Kinsale, where he died, leaving a son called Garret, or Gerald, on whom his Catholic majesty conferred the title of count. James, son of Garret, the real heir to the title and estates of Desmond, remained for some time in Ireland, but not finding that his aff"airs were making much progress, he returned to England, where he died soon afterwards, not without suspicion of his having been poi- soned. Thus ended the illustrious family of Desmond, who fell a sacrifice to their zeal in the cause of religion. There remain, how- ever, still in Munster, many noble families of the nameof Fitzgerald, who are descended from that house. The apprehensions of the president of Munster were not removed by the imprisonment of Desmond and Florence MacCarty ; he knew that several noblemen of the province only waited the arrival of the Spaniards, to declare openly against the government. In order to defeat them in their hopes, he appointed the assizes to be held in Cork on the 28th of July, under pretence of trying civil and criminal causes, and clearing the prisons. In the mean time he sent circulars to all the nobility and land- holders, requesting their attendance:! those whom he had principally in view, and whose allegiance he doubted, were, Dermod, son of Owen MacCarty, otherwise MacDonagh, Teugue, son of Dermod MacCarty, and brother to Cormac MacCarty, lord of Mus- kerry, MoilmoO'Maghon,(0'Mahony,) chief of the tribe of the O'Mahonys of Kinel- j Meaky,and Dermod Moil MacCarty, brother I to Florence MacCarty, already mentioned. The three first having repaired to the as- ! sizes, were immediately arrested and thrown I into prison by orders of the president ; the fourth, Dermod Moil MacCarty, more cau- j * Pacat. Hib. lib. 2, cap. 3, page 135. Relat. ! Girald. cap 25. j t Pacat. Hib. cap. 7. tious than the others, refused to enter the city ; his brother's fate was still present to his mind, and distrusting the English, he resolved to preserve his liberty, whatever might be the result. On hearing of the fate of his countrymen, he withdrew to his i friends in Ulster. The deputy crossed the Blackwater in the beginning of August, and proceeded towards Dungannon ; but the badness of the road, and the frequent skirmishes he had to main- tain against the troops of O'Neill, forced him to direct his march towards Armagh. Danvers was ordered with three hundred men to burn a village that lay in their march, but was driven back by O'Neill's troops, and pursued to the English camp in spite of the succors that were sent to him. Some days after this, the Irish advanced with a design of attacking the enemy in their camp, but the deputy being apprized of it, placed four hundred men in ambush, who falling on them in flank killed several of them, and among the number, Peter Lacy, lord of Bruft', in the county of Limerick. This noble- man was descended from a noble family who had come over under Henry II., in the twelfth century, and settled in Ireland ; he was equally illustrious by his virtue as by his birth, and was, in the troubles of Ireland, one of the most zealous defenders of Catho- licity. His memory ought to be dear to the Irish church, and the loss it sustained from his death was most severe. After this expe- dition, the deputy placed his troops in gar- rison, and returned to Newry. During the stay of the deputy at Newry, Lord Plunket of Dunsany,who commanded a company in the queen's pay, set out from the fort of Liscannon, and proceeded to attack the estates of MacMahon, from which he was driving away sixteen himdred head of cattle, but MacMahon pursued him with a hundred and forty men, and obliged him to give up his booty, after a loss of about fifty men on each side.* Dockwra pushed his conquests into Ulster ;t retook the castle of Derry, and made himself master of Donegal. He maintained a siege for some days against O'Donnel, who, however, raised it to relieve Kinsale. Edward Digges, who commanded two companies at Asherow, took Ballyshan- non by surprise. The deputy came at the end of August to Trim, in the county of Meath, and brought the privy council from Dublin, to deliberate together on the general * The Count de Lacy in the service of the em- press queen, and so well known for his military exploits, is descended from this illustrious house. t Cambd. Elizab. part 4, page 826. 538 HISTORY OP IRELAND. Slate of afluirs ; particularly in order to coun- teract the intentions of Captain Tirrell, who was planning an attack upon iVlunster. Such was the state of things about the end of August, IGOl, between the Catholics of Ireland and the English. Munster had no longer any leaders after the imprisonment of Florence "MacCarty and James FitzTliomas, who were the centre of their union and were now banished. The people of Lcinster were broken down ; Connaught was unable to attempt anything, and the only resources of the country lay in O'Neill and O'Donnel, whose forces were too (ew to stand against the English, and the unfaithful sons of Ire- land. In a word, the country was exhausted of men and means, from having sustained for many years the burden of a war while waiting for assistance that came too late, while she herself was too weak to succeed. Reports were spread at this time, that a Spanish fleet, with troops for Ireland, was at sea ; which becoming known to the council of England,* reinlbrccments Avere imme- diately ordered for Ireland, and two thousand men were in consequence sent and landed, in September, at Cork and Waterford, while others were expected from England. The lord-deputy of Ireland and president of Munster, were not less alarmed than the council of England. On the 19th of Sep- tember they met together at Leighlin, to de- liberate on what measures they should adopt. From that they went to Kilkenny, and on the 23d they received an express from Sir Charles Wilmot at Cork, that the Spaniards had landed at Kinsale. Upon this news, Wingfield,the lord-marshal, was commanded to collect the troops in Leinster, and prepare ammunition and provisions for the army. Sir Henry Danvers and Sir Berkly, were sent to Navan and Armagh, to lead the gar- risons of these two places to Munster : and the deputy and president set out for Cork, which was the rendezvous. They arrived there on the 27th, and made the necessary preparations to besiege the Spaniards in Kinsale. Philip III., king of Spain, was eager to perform the promises that Avere held out to the princes O'Neill and O'Donnel,! to re- lieve the oppressed Catholics of Ireland. For this object, he assembled what troops were necessary for the expedition, and gave the command of them to Dom Juan Del Aquila, a man well experienced in war. The fleet intended to convey the troops, was sent in the mean time to the islands of Terceira * Pacat. Hlb. cap. 10. t Hist. Cathol. a'oI. 3, book 6, cap. 7. for the protection of the galleons from America, which it Avas feared might be taken by an English fleet which had sailed for these islands also. This circumstance retarded the expedition to Ireland, and lessened both by desertion and sickness the army of Dom Juan. The fleet which was commanded by Dom Diego de Brochero, having returned from Terceira, the rest of the army em- barked, and set sail for Ireland. As soon as the fleet had got into the open sea, it Avas dispersed and separated by a violent storm. One part of it, consisting of seven ships, laden principally with artillery and other warlike stores and provisions, was forced Avith the vice-admiral, Dom Pedro de Zu- biaur, to take shelter in the port of Corunna, in Gallicia. The other portion, with Dom Juan and two thousand Ave hundred infantry, (a small force for so great an enterprise,) arrived Avith difficulty in the harbor of Kinsale, on the 23d of September. As soon as the Spaniards had landed, Captain Wil- liam Saxeys, Avho commanded the English troops, withdrew to Cork. The inhabitants of Kinsale immediately after opened their gates to Dom Juan, who entered and took possession of the town. Kinsale is a seaport situated in the county of Cork, on the shores of the river Bandon. It is not a place of much strength ; the en- trance to the harbor is protected by two castles ; that upon the left is called Casian- ne-Park, and on the right the castle of Rin- charrain which signifies the point of a scythe, from its being built on the extremity of a tongue of land similar in form to that instru- ment. The Spanish general put a garrison into it with cannon taken from one of the ships, since the artillery intended for the in- vasion Avas on board that part of the fleet that had taken shelter at Corunna with Zubiaur. Dom Juan was not secure at Kinsale, where he was, in fact, in need of everything: so he wrote to Spain by the fleet that was returning, and gave an account to the king, his master, of his voyage, and of the supplies he Avanted. The Spanish general found none (except O'SuUevan) among the Catho- lics of Munster inclined to assist him. Some had been imprisoned, others gave hostages as a guarantee for their loyalty, and others opposed the cause of their country ; so that there was none but O'Sullevan, prince of Bearre and Bantry, who could make any attempt in favor of the Spaniards. This prince sent an express to Dom Juan, that he and his friends would furnish him Avith a thousand armed men, and that they would procure further aid if that general could CHRISTIAN IRELAND. 539 supply them with arms ; with which force he would be able to prevent the English from besieging Kinsale, while waiting for the aid from O'Neill and O'Donnel. The Span- iard answered prince O'SuUevan, that he could not supply them with arms, in conse- quence of his artillery being on board the vessels which Zubiaur had with him at Corunna, and that he was expecting to hear from the princes of Ulster. The general and Fra Matheo, titular archbishop of Dub- lin, who accompanied him from Spain, wrote to the princes of Ulster many letters after their arrival at Kinsale. The latter were eagerly solicited by the archbishop and the general, to march to their assistance with all expedition, and to bring horses, of which they were in extreme need. The deputy waited in Cork for the return of the officers who had been sent to Leinster, Connaught, and the garrisons in Ulster, to collect the government forces ; and at length Sir Benjamin Berry, Richard Wingfield, John Barkly, and Henry Danvers, arrived with their divisions. These troops amounted to about seven thousand six hundred men, comprising those of Munster. The English general marched with his army towards Kin- sale, having changed his camp two or three times. The third time he encamped on Spittle hill, where he intrenched himself, within a musket-shot of that place ; while at the same time. Button, the captain of a man-of-war, who had just escorted a vessel from Dublin laden with provisions, received orders to prevent any succors by sea from entering Kinsale. Every thing being prepared, the English laid siege to Rinncharrain and Caslan-ne- Park successively; the former of which castles surrendered on the 1st, and the other on the 20th of November. The months of October and November were spent in skir- mishing, the Spaniards making frequent sal- lies, and the English driving them back ; the latter, if we can credit their historians, being always successful. The account, however, of acotemporary writer is different.* According to him, the Spaniards fought valiantly during the day, in defending their walls, and by night they sallied forth, killing the sentinels and advanced guards of the English, and carrying of}' their cannon ; by which means, continues he, the loss of the English always exceeded that of the Spaniards. Even could we suppose that the English had the advan- tage, the great disproportion in numbers be- tween the besieged and besiegers would tend « Hist. Cathol. ibid. to lessen their boasted advantages consid- erably. There were but two thousand five hundred Spaniards in Kinsale, but we will admit even that there were four thousand ; the principal strength of the place was from a wall with towers at certain distances ; they had but three pieces of cannon, one which had been brought from one of their own j vessels, and two were already in the town. The English appeared before Kinsale with seven thousand six hundred men ; their army was increased soon after to eight thousand, a reinforcement having been brought from England by the loyal earl of Thuomond.* The English artillery was numerous, and skilfully worked ; their camp abounded with provisions ; Captain Button guarded the mouth of the harbor till the arrival of an English squadron of ten vessels under Ad- miral Richard Levison and Sir Amias Pres- ton, vice-admiral, who were incessantly pouring broadsides on the town, while the army attacked it by land ; and still the siege of Kinsale lasted from the 17th October, to the 9th of January following. Vice-Admiral Dom Pedro Zubiaur, who was forced by a storm to touch with his seven ships at Corunna, in Gallicia, arrived on the coast of Ireland, December 3d. This officer entered a harbor called Cuan-an-caislan, in English Castle Haven, in Carbry, about twenty miles from Kinsale, where they were kindly received by five brothers of the , O'Driscols, to whom the country belonged, | and who gave him up one of their castles. f The news of the Spaniards having arrived at Castle Haven being spread, the deputy commanded Admiral Levison to engage them. Without losing a moment he sailed with six ships and some troops on board ; having reached Castle Haven he found the Spanish vessels unguarded by their crews, who were sleeping, and fatigued after a long voyage. | The Spaniards being roused by the cannon | of the English, which began to play upon their ships and upon the castle, returned, though in a confused manner, the fire with their artillery, and supported an engagement during two days, in which the English lost five hundred and seventy-five men. I The English admiral not succeeding to his wishes in his attack upon their vessels, was about to land his troops and attack the Span- iards who were on shore ; but from this he was deterred by seeing them reinforced by the prince of Bearre with five hundred men, air ready to oppose him. He immediately sailed from Castle Haven, for Kinsale, where * Hist. Cathol. Hib. ibid. t Hist. Cathol. Hib. ibid, c. 8. 540 HISTORY OF IRELAND. he vainly boasted of having been successful in his expedition. Many of the surrounding nobility took up arms to join the Spaniards ; the principal among whom were Finin O'Driscol and several others of the same name : the Mac- Cartys of Carbry ; Domnal O'SuUevan Bearre ; the eldest son of O'SuUevan More ; Domnal Mac-Carty,son of the carl of Glan- car, and other branches of the Mac-Cartys of Desmond ; the O'Donavans and O'xMa- honys of Carbry ; John O'Connor Kierry ; the kinght of Kerry, and others. The number of Spanish troops that landed at Castle Haven did not exceed seven hun- dred men, but a hqie of further aid sustained the Catholics and made them anticipate the moments of their freedom. To convince the Spaniards of their sincerity, the Irish de- livered up to them the strong places along the coast for garrisons. Donagh O'Driscol had already given them his castle of Castle Haven ; Finin O'Driscol gave them the castle of Donneshed at Baltimore, and that of Donnelong on the island of Innisherkan, which commanded the entrance to the har- bor. Domnal O'SuUevan surrendered them the strong castle of Duin Buith, otherwise Dunboy, which protected the harbor of Beerhaven. Among these castles were dis- tributed, by orders of Dom Juan Del Aquila, the artillery and the seven hundred Spaniards who had landed at Castle Haven. During the expedition of Levison at Castle Haven, a Scotch vessel entered the harbor of Kinsale ; this ship was separated at sea from the Spanish fleet, and had eighty Spanish soldiers on board. The commander, who was a Scotchman, informed Vice-Ad- miral Preston and treacherously surrendered to him his cargo. The princes of Ulster did not forget their promises to Dom Juan Del Aquila. They used every exertion to march to the relief of Kinsale. The distance was about eighty leagues, and the roads very bad from the continued rains. O'Donnel marched first with his army, amounting to two thousand six hundred infantry and four hundred cavalry- The leaders of this force were* O'Rourke, Mac-Sweeny Tueth, O'Dogharty, O'Boyle, Mac-Dermot,the two Mac-Donaghs,0'Kelly, the two sons of O'Connor Roe, Domnal, brother of O'Connor Sligoe, Raymond Burke, baron, and his brother\Villiam,'the two broth- ers of O'Donnel, the two O'Flahertys, Hugh Moystian, Fitz-Maurice, lord of Lixnaw, John Fitz-Thomas, brother to the pre- « Hist. Cathol. cap. 9. tended earl of Desmond, Fitz-Gerald, knight of the Glynn, Dermod Moyle Mac-Carty, brother of Laurence, who was sent prisoner to the tower, and several others. The news of O'Donnel's march alarmed the English. The lord-deputy summoned a council to deliberate on measures for inter- cepting this prince's communication with Monster: and the president Carew was ap- pointed to this trust. He set out accordingly with four thousand five hundred infantry and five hundred cavalry, and advanced towards Ormond, where O'Donnel was to pass. After a march of a few days he stopped at Ardmail, to the north of Cashel. O'Donnel had already entered the county of Tipperary, through Ikeriii, the country of the O'Meaghers, and encamped at Holy-Cross, not far from Ard- mail, where the president was stationed . The prince of Tirconnel wi.shed to avoid fighting, and to deceive the enemy, he lighted a num- ber of fires in the camp, and began his march before day. He took his route through Slieve Phelim, along the side of the Shannon, and got into the county of Limerick thi-ough the defiles of the abbey of Owney, and from thence to the districts of the O'Moel Ryans, and reached the castle of Crome, which was twelve miles farther on, so that, on a calcu- lation, he marched in one day thirty-two miles, a very arduous exploit for an army followed by their baggage. The president being informed of O'Donnel's movement, marched with his forces the same day, and crossed the country as far as the abbey of Owney, for the purpose of intercepting him, but understanding that he had passed the defiles of Connillo, he gave up the pursuit and returned to the camp at Kinsale, taking a shorter route, in order to be before O'Don- nel, to prevent any communication between whom and the Spanish garrison he likewise drew to the camp the earls of Clanriccard andThuomond,who were sent by the deputy, one with his regiment, the other with a troop of horse, to his assistance. Prince O'Neill set out from Tyrone, in the month of November, at the head of about three thousand men, to assist the Spaniards. The nobles who accompanied him were Mac-Mahon of Monaghan ; Coconaght Ma- guire of Fermanagh, whose eldest brother had been killed some time before in the countyof Cork,in a skirmish with St. Leger; Raynald Mac-Donnel, prince of Gline, Cap- tain Richard Tirrell, Magennis of Iveagh, and some others. O'Neill, on his march through the county of Meath, met some op- position from the Anglo-Irish ; Darcy, the lord of Plattin, being killed in the skirmish. CHRISTIAN IRELAND. 541 He continued his march, however, and on the 8th of December he arrived in the county of Cork, within a few leagues of the English camp. O'Donnel was expecting him in the district of Kinel Meaky, and these two princes encamped together on the 21st, between Cork and Kinsale, within a league of the English army. The united forces of O'Neill and O'Don- nel amounted to six thousand Irish, besides three hundred Spaniards, who had come from Castle Haven, imder the command of O'SuUevan of Bearre and Dom Alphonso de la Campo. Their object was not to attack the English army, who were fifteen or six- teen thousand strong, a disproportion in numbers far too great ; they only proposed to themselves to throw in succor to the Spaniards, and enable them to hold out till the inclemency of the season must of course force the English to raise the siege, whereby the Spanish general would have the oppor- tunity to await further reinforcements from Spain. This was the subject of several let- ters from Dom Juan to the princes O'Neill and O'Donnel. They were advised by him to draw near the English camp, the Spanish general proposing to make a sortie on a day appointed, and by this means facilitate the above plan. Some of the letters, however, being intercepted by the English, the deputy ordered the guards to be doubled, and every thing to be put into a more secure state of defence. O'Neill, according to the plans fixed upon, made a movement on the night of the 23d of December. On approaching the part occupied by the English, he heard a noise of arms and warlike instruments, as if a battle were going on ; and proceeding immediately to the place that had been named by Dom Juan for making his sally against the Eng- lish, he found to his surprise that the enemy had returned into camp. At break of day he advanced a little to view their position more closely, but discovered that all was quiet, and no attack made by the garrison. Judg- ing from this that what he heard was for the purpose of inducing him to an assault, he or- dered his men to return, postponing his plans to another day. O'Donnel was engaged at the same time with a body of English horse that had crossed the river ; he forced them to retreat, but intending to surround them, he left the pass unguarded, and the English pretending to give way, returned quickly to charge his infantry, which threw them into a sudden panic ; so that their ranks being broken and beginning to fly, their leader found it impossible to rally them. The English horse pursued those that were fly- i ing ; but an apprehension of falling into an ambuscade, prevented them from continuing the pursuit. They, however, boasted having gained a complete victory over the rebels ; but the only advantage that they obtained was that they prevented the Irish from join- ing with the Spanish garrison, which, in- deed, arose not from English valor, but a want of order among the Irish troops. O'Neill lost in the expedition about two hundred men. According to the English historians his loss amounted to twelve hun- dred in killed, eight hundred wounded, and a number of prisoners, among whom was Alfonso del Campo, who commanded the Spaniards. The prince of Tyrone having failed in his plans, and seeing the season too advanced to continue the campaign, returned to his own province to await a more favora- ble opportunity. Roderick, to whom his bro- ther O'Donnel gave the command of his army, marched for Tirconnel. He was attacked in West Meath by the English of Ballimore Loch-Sindil, who thought to prevent him passing ; but this militia of citizens was cut to pieces, and two hundred of them slain by O'Donnel's cavalry. O'Rourke being in- formed that his brother Thadeus intended, in his absence, to make himself master of Brefny, hastened to support his right against the usurper. Other chiefs of the Irish forces following the example, the Catholic army in Munster was reduced to a small body of Munstermen and Spaniards, commanded by O'Sullevan prince of Bearre, who kept with him Captain Richard Tirrell, William Burke, and a few other officers. The English having nothing more to fear from the Catholic army, returned to their camp before Kinsale, and made great re- joicings for their victory. The noise of their firing induced Dom Juan to march a part of the garrison to assist (as he thought) the reinforcement he was expecting, and which he imagined was engaged with the English. Seeing his error, however, he marched back into the town. It is worthy of remark, that the Spanish commander of Kinsale, whether from his having a knowledge of an action being fought near the town, or not, did not lead out his troops as had been previously agreed upon between him and O'Neill. The author of the " P acuta Hibernia^''* mentions, on the authority of the earl of Thuomond, a singular prophecy respecting the battle of Kinsale. " There is no one less credulous than I am in this sort of prediction, which * Book 2, cap. 21, p. 235. 542 HISTORY OP IRELAND. is generally forged after things alluded to occur ; but as this has been verified by the event, I think tlie mention of it may be ad mitted. 1 have frequently heard the carl of Thuomond say to \\io lord-deputy and others, that he read, in an okl Irish l)Ook, a prophecy which marked the day and place, near Kin- sale, where a battle would be fought between the English and Irish, in which the former would be victorious." If this prophecy were not forged by the earl of Thuomond, it proved at least to be in accordance with his desires, and he cannot be reproached with any en- deavor to counteract its fulfilment. While the English were vigorously push ing forward the siege of Kinsale, Hugh O'Donnel, after giving the command of his troops to his brother Roderick, embarked for Spain with Redmond Burke, Hugh Mostian, and others. Dom Juan not finding himself equal to hold out any longer, sent, on the last day of December, a letter, by his drum- major, offering to capitulate, which proposal was accepted by the English general, who immediately dispatched Sir William Godol- phin to treat with the Spanish commander upon the articles of surrender ; the principal of which were, that Dom Juan should give up to the deputy every place which he was in possession of in the province of Munster, viz., Kinsale, Castle Haven, Baltimore, Bearehaven, and Dunboy, and that the dep- uty should furnish transport vessels to convey Dom Juan to Spain, together with his forces, arms, ammunition, artillery, money, &c., and with colors flying. This capitulatior. was signed on one part by Dom Juan, and on the other by the deputy, the president of Mun- ster, the earls of Thuomond and Clanriccard, Richard Wingfield, Robert Gardiner, George Bourchier, and Richard Levison. The surrender of Kinsale had different effects on the Irish Catholics and the Eng- lish. The latter were disgusted with the siege ; independently of the inclemency of the season, it being the month of January, they had provisions for only six days ; their treasury was exhausted, their warlike stores worn out, and their artillery not fit for effect- ing a breach.* Nearly half of the English army — which, in the beginning of the siege, amounted to sixteen thousand men — had fallen, either by the sword of the enemy, or disease. The Enghsh fleet m the bay had suffered as much as the army on land. The deputy, therefore, having consulted with his council, considered the capitulation proposed by the Spanish general as the only means * Pacat. Hib. ibid. cap. 23, p. 244. Hist. Cathol. ibid. of saving the remainder of his army, and avoiding the disgrace of raising a siege which had been already so fatal to him. On the other hand, the possession of Kin- sale was of the first importance to the Cath- olic cause in Ireland ; the garrison under Dom Juan amounted to two thousand five hundred men, well provided with ammunition and provisions, and supported by the garri- sons of Baltimore, Castle Haven, and Bear- haven ; so that from the state of the English, he might have held out till the arrival of suc- cors from Spain, which would also have given time to O'Neill and the other Irish princes to assemble in the spring. The surrender, there- fore, of Kinsale and its dependencies, by shutting out all foreign aid, would necessa- rily injure the cause they wished to defend. O'SuUevan Bearre, apprehensive of these consequences, took possession of the castle of Dunboy, which belonged to him, but which he had given up as a garrison for the Span- iards on their arrival in the country. Being determined, therefore, that this fortress should not be surrendered to the enemy, he got Thomas Fitzmaurice,lord of Lixnaw, Dom- nal Mac-Carty, Captain Richard Tirrell, and William Burke, with some troops, into the castle by night, and took possession of the gates, without committing any hostility to- wards the Spaniards. He immediately dis- patched Dermod O'Driscol to the king of Spain, entreating of his majesty to be con- vinced that his motives were honorable in the taking of Dunboy ; and complained vehe- mently in his letter of the capitulation which Dom Juan had entered into with the English, calling it wretched, execrable, and inhuman. O'Donnel, who had sailed for Spain after the battle of Kinsale, was received on his arrival at Corunna, in Gallicia, with every mark of distinction, by the Count de Caracena, governor of the province, who brought him to his palace, and gave him precedence at all his assemblies, an honor he would not con- cede in his governorship, to any duke or peer of the realm.* The king of Spain, when in- formed of O'Donnel's arrival, wrote instruc- tions to the Count de Caracena, respecting the reception he was to receive ; and alluded, in the same letter, to the affairs of Ireland, affirming that he would support the Catholics of that country at the risk even of his crown. O'Donnel having recovered from his fatigues, took leave of his host, who presented him with a thousand ducats ; he then continued his route for Compostella, where he was honorably received by the archbishop and * Pac. Hib. ibid. cap. 28, p. 268, et seq. Pacat. Hib ibid. c. 27, p. 266. CHRISTIAN IRELAND. 543 citizens ; on the 29th of January, the prelate offered up a solemn high mass, at which the prince of Tirconnel was present, and received the holy communion, after which the prelate entertained him at a magnificent banquet, and gave him a thousand ducats to continue his journey. O'Donnel having arrived at court, was received by the king and all his cour- tiers ; his majesty gave the necessary orders for an expedition to Ireland, and the troops intended for it began to march towards Co- runna. Dom Juan de Aqui]a,the Spanish general, was still in Ireland ;* he sailed, however, with the remainder of his forces from Kin- sale for Spain, on the 16th of March, with a fair wind. On arriving at Corunna, being suspected of having acted dishonorably in Ireland, he was arrested by order of the king, and confined to his own house, where he soon afterwards died of grief. The suspicions formed against Dom Juan were founded on the facility with which he surrendered to the English Kinsale, and the other towns in which the Spaniards were : also on the friend- liness of a correspondence which he kept up with the deputy and Carew, and the reci- procal presents that were made between them, and finally, upon his having furnished passports to the English, who went from Ireland to Spain under pretence of trading, but who, in reality, were spies that brought home an account of all that was passing in Spain, relative to the affairs of Ireland : on proof of which an English officer, called Walter Edney, was arrested at Corunna. He had freighted a vessel at Cork, for Spain, and was provided with a letter of introduc- tion and presents from the deputy to Dom Juan ; but the latter having already fallen into disgrace, the deputy's plan was defeated ; the Count de Caraceua profited by the pre- sents that were sent, and his letters, pass- ports, and papers were forwarded to the Spanish court. CHAPTER XLIX. Pope Clement VIII. wrote a letter at this time to Hugh O'Neill, prince of Tyrone, complimenting him on the confederacy which he had established among the Irish princes, for the defence of the Catholic religion against the reformers. The lord-deputy having ended his cam- paign in Munster, set out for Dublin, having » Pacat. HLb. ibid. c. 30. p. 278. appointed Sir Richard Percy counsellor for that province. He left Cork on the 9th of March, accompanied by the president Carew, slept at Clone with John FitzEdmonds, on whom he conferred the order of knighthood ; and then proceeded to Waterford, where he created Edward Gough and Richard Ayl- ward knights ; both of whom were noble, and old inhabitants of that city. The deputy arrived at Kilkenny on the 24th of March, (which at that time was the last day of the year,) slept at the earl of Ormond's, and arranged matters of government with the president. He fell sick here, and had him- self carried to Dublin in a litter, in which city he arrived on the 28th of the same month. The English troops in Ireland, a. d. 1602, amounted, notwithstanding their losses in the late campaign, to sixteen thousand nine hundred and fifty infantry, and a thousand four hundred and eighty-seven cavalry. The deputy, after having reviewed them, put them into convenient garrisons till the next cam- paign. In the beginning of June the deputy as- sembled his forces and marched into Ulster, where he got a bridge built over the Black- water, with a fort which he called Charle- mont, after his own name, and in which he placed Captain Caulfield with a garrison of a hundred and fifty men. He sent the regi- ment of Sir Richard Morison to make them- selves masters of Dungannon, but the inhab- itants of the place, on the approach of the English, set fire to it and reduced it to ashes, together with the beautiful castle of Tyrone. The deputy repaired thither with the re- mainder of his army, where he was joined by Dockwra. The prince of Tyrone withdrew to Castle Roe, on the river Bann. The English laid the whole country waste as far as Innis- killen ; they made themselves masters of Magherlowny isle, where O'Neill had a magazine, and took another island, in which they found three pieces of English cannon. Dockwra, who commanded a garrison at Ony, received orders to harass O'Neill in Dungeven in Araghty Cahan ; while Chi- chester, who led the troops from the garrison of Carrickfergus, brought the regiment of Morrison to occupy Toome, and the deputy himself guarded the road to Killetro ; but in spite of these plans, and the great superiority of the enemy, O'Neill, with six himdred foot and sixty horse, marched from Castle Roe, and reached Lough Earne unmolested. Being incapable of resisting the enemy openly, he remained on the defensive ; for which pur- 544 HISTORY OF IRELAND. pose he chose an inaccessible spot, called Gleannchonkcin, near Lough Earne, where he intrrm-hed himself in a manner that left him nothing to fear. The deputy hearing of this, contented himself with ravaging the surrounding country, and with breaking, at Talloghoge, the stone which was used as the inauguration scat of O'Neill.* The lord-deputy, satisfied with his exploits in the north, repaired to Newry on the 11th September, whence he set out for Dublin, leaving Ulster to the care of Dockwra, Dan- vers, and Chichester.f In November he undertook an expedition to Connaught, to quell the disturbances that agitated that province. Sir Oliver Lambert had already expelled the Burkes, with MacWilliam, their chief, from the county of Mayo. | The dep- uty now granted protection to O'Connor Sligoe, Rory O'Donnel, the O'Flahertys, MacDermots, O'Connor Roe, and others. The only chieftains that remained steadfastly attached to the cause of Tyrone, were O'Rourke, Maguire, and Captain Tirrell. The deputy had the fort of Galway com- pleted, and gave orders to send three differ- ent bodies of troops in pursuit of O'Rourke ; he then returned to Dublin, whence he dis- patched succor to Chichester, to enable him to oppose Brian MacArt, who had en- tered Killulta at the head of five hundred men. Chichester executed his commission with such cruelty, that a famine was the con- sequence. Cox says, '' children were seen to feed upon the flesh and entrails of their mothers, who died of hunger," and adds, that " the famine in Jerusalem w'as not more severe than what the rebels suffered on this occasion."^ Notwithstanding that Dom Juan Del Aquila surrendered to the English the towns which he held in Munster, the inhabhants did not give up their arms, holding still the hope of receiving new succors from Spain. Those English authors who never let pass any opportunity of inspiring their readers with contempt for a people that wish to escape from their tyranny, have filled their writings with such injurious and insulting statements as should destroy, in the mind of the discerning and impartial reader, all re- spect for them. II Their language on this occasion is as follows: "the rebels spread themselves everywhere, particularly throuo-h the districts of Carbry, Bearre, Desmond, * Hist. Cathoi. ibid. cap. 12 X Ware, ibid. cap. 45. t Cox, ibid, page 448. § Cox, page 449. II Pacat. Hib. book 3, cap. 1. and Kerry. No place escapes them ; they have become desperate from their crimes ; they look upon themselves as children of perdition, and unworthy of her majesty's pardon." These are phrases in accordance with the imperious character of the English, who imagine that the world should obey them. The Irish whom they thus describe as rebels and children of perdition, did not seek the clemency of Elizabeth ; they, on the contrary, took up arms to defend their country against her tyranny and usurpation. Daniel O'Sullevan, prince of Bearre, be- came chief of the Catholic league in Mun- ster after the surrender of Kinsale and the retreat of the princes of Ulster. This prince, illustrious for his virtue and his birth, was in possession of Dunboy, and omitted noth- ing to put that fortress into a state of de- fence. The nobles who espoused with him the common cause, were Daniel MacCarty, son of the earl of Clancar ; Daniel, son of O'Sullevan More ; Cornelius and Dermod O'Driscol ; Dermod O'Sullevan ; Dermod, Donagh, and Florence MacCarty, of the family of MacCarty Riagh ; MacSweeny ; Donagh O'Driscol, and his brothers. The prince of Bearre was also joined by O'Con- nor Kerry, MacMaurice, baron of Lixnaw, the knight of Kerry, the knight of Glynn, John Fitzgerald, brother of the earl; James Butler, brother to the baron of Cahir, Wil- liam Burke, Captains Richard MacGeoghe- gan and Richard Tirrell. The former was appointed to command the fortress of Dun- boy, the latter to lead the army of observa- tion. This confederacy caused great alarm to the English ; the president Carew ordered her majesty's troops to assemble at Cork ; and the old and modern Irish who were loyal to the court party, were also commanded to meet. The principal among these were O'Brien, earl of Thuomond ; MacCarty Riagh, prince of Carbry; MacCarty of Mus- kerry ; Barry, Viscount Buttevant ; O'Do- novan ; Fitzgibbon, called the Whhe Knight ; Owen O'Sullevan, the cousin, but inveterate enemy of O'Sullevan, prince of Bearre ; Dermod, brother of O'Sullevan More ; and Donagh and Florence MacCarty, who de- serted O'Sullevan Bearre. These auxiliaries and the English troops amounted to more than four thousand men. In March a de- tachment of two thousand five hundred infan- try and fifty cavalry, was sent under the command of the earl of Thuomond, who was commanded by the deputy to scour the countries of Carbry, Bearre, and Bantry ; to burn all the corn, to take away the cattle, CHRISTIAN IRELAND. 545 and 'commit every species of hostility upon the rebellious inhabitants, but to spare those who surrendered, among whom were O'Dris- col, O'Donovan, and the sons of Sir Owen MacCarty. The earl likewise had orders to attack the castle of Dunboy ; to reinforce the corps of Captains Flower and Harvy, and to pursue O'SuUevan Bearre, Tirrell, Dermod Moyle MacCarty, and the O'Crow- lies. Thuomond being unable to act against Dunboy, in consequence of Captain Tirrell's liglit troops having possession of the moun- tains of Bearre, took post temporarily with Captain Flower, in an island called Fuidi or Whiddy, in the bay of Bantry. He left with him his own company, and those of Sir John Dowdal,Lord Barry, and Captains Kingsmill, Bostock, and Bradbury, making in the whole seven hundred men ; after which he returned to Cork, to give the president an account of his expedition. After Thuomond's departure, Captain Flower intrenched himself in Whiddy Island, but fearing an attack from O'Sullevan, who cut off the communication, the English captain withdrew from it, after guarding it for two months. In his retreat he was pursued by O'Sullevan, who killed several of his men. The lord-president determined to besiege Dunboy, and set out the 23d of April from Cork, with more than 5000 men, besides the body of troops that was under Wilmot, in the county of Kerry. He arrived on the last day of the month, near Bantry, and encamped for a while on the plain of Gurtin-Rua, both to keep the enemy in check, and to await the arrival of eighteen ships of war and some transport vessels that were expected from Cork and England, and were to meet in Bantry bay. These were destined to carry troops and artillery to the island of Bearre, where Dunboy was situated, and which the English general intended to besiege . Richard MacGeoghegan, descended from the ancient and noble house of Moycashel,was appointed by the prince of Bearre to the command of this castle ; he had under him but one hun- dred and twenty infantry. The English assert that the garrison consisted of one hun- dred and forty chosen men . By their valiant defence of Dunboy, they have well merited the name and character of heroes. In the mean time Wilmot was successful in Kerry ; after Kinsale had surrendered, he was sent with seventeen hundred infantry and a troop of horse, into that part of the country, and surprised, between Askeaton and Glynn, Hugh MacSweeny with two hundred men, of whom he killed twelve, and put the rest to flight. He advanced towards Carrygfoyle, which he found deserted, and took possession, giving the command of it to Captain Collum. Wilmot afterwards crossed the river Cashin, in spite of John, son of Thomas Fitzgerald, the young Captain Tir- rell, Hugh MacSweeny, Owen O'Maily, Rory and Phelim O'Connor, and Gerald Fitzmaurice, brother of the baron. They assembled at Lixnaw with five hundred in- fantry and some horse, to dispute his pas- sage. The English captain laid siege to the castle of Lixnaw, which was garrisoned by forty-five men, who were determined to de- fend it, but want of water obliged them to capitulate. The forts of Ballyhow, castle Gregory, and Rahane, which belonged to the knight of Kerry, surrendered to Wilmot ; after which he marched into Desmond, as far as the castle of Listre, where he encamped, being unable to proceed from the badness of the roads. Wilmot received an order here, to arrange his affairs in Kerry, and march to join the president on a certain day. The fleet which was expected from Cork, arrived on the 11th of May,* in the bay of Bantry, freighted with all kinds of ammu- nition and provisions. This event caused universal joy to the English, who were be- ginning to be in need of everything. Wil- mot's corps joined the grand army on the same day. On the 14th, the president as- sembled his principal officers, to concert measures for leading the army to Beerha- ven ;t when it was unanimously determined to carry the troops first to the great island in the bay, and from thence to Bearre. In consequence of this decision of the council, they struck their tents on the 31st May, and after putting their sick, who were numerous, into hospital, the army marched to Kilnamenoghe upon the sea-shore, in the district of Muintirvarry, where they en- camped. On the 1st of June, the earl of Thuomond and General Wilmot embarked with their regiments for the great island ; on the 2d, the regiment of Piercy embarked, which was followed by the president and the rest of the army ; after which the artillery was sent. The president proceeded with caution, and before he began the siege of Dunboy, resolved to secure the places in his rear. The Catholics had left some soldiers in the castle of Dunmanus, whom it was deemed prudent for this purpose to dislodge. Owen O'Sullevan was appointed by the English general to effect the dislodgment, * Pacat. Hib. cap. 4. t Pacat. Hib. cap. 5. 546 HISTORY OP IRELAND. and the two brothers, traitors to their coun- try, marched with a detachment to Dun- manus, surprised the eastic, and after killing four of the garrison, and making themselves masters of it, gave it up to plunder. Richard MacGeoghegan, commander of the castle of Dunboy, is represented by an English writer as having had an interview on the great island where the English troops were then posted, with the earlof Thuomond. After speaking on the subject in a mysterious manner, he has this passage, " But of this I am sure, that the earl's meeting with him was not without the president's knowledge and allowance ; all the eloquence and arti- fice which the earl could use, however, availed nothing, for MacGeoghegan was re- solved to persevere in his conduct." It appears that the president was in the habit of resorting to dishonorable means for seducing those whom he had to fear most among his enemies. He met among the Irish themselves agents obsequious to his wishes. He had already sent, through Owen O'Sullevan, a pressing letter to the can- noniers of Dunboy. These were three in number, two Spaniards and an Italian, whom O'Sullevan Bearre, when he became master of the castle, took into his pay. The deputy proposed to reward them liberally if they would spike the cannon and break the car- riages when the siege would have com- menced ; but they proved themselves honor- able to their trust, and incapable of being influenced by his bribes. The president having failed in the over- tures made to the governor of Dunboy, sent his troops from the great to the lesser island, which was within about a hvmdred paces of Bearre, a position that afforded him the opportunity of viewing more closely the movements of the enemy. The Catholics were too few to be able to guard the entire coast ; they therefore confined themselves to one point, and intrenched themselves where they thought the landing would be attempted. To deceive them as to the place where this would be tried, the president en- camped on the opposite side to them, with his own regiment and that of the earl of Thuomond. At the same time the regiments of Percy and Wilmot were sent to the ex- treme end of the island, and landed between two rocks near Castledermot ; having done which, they formed themselves in order of battle. The Catholics having discovered their error, immediately left their intrench- ment, and proceeded to where the landing was effected ; but being retarded by the winding of the coast, the English had time to pass over their artillery. The Catholics charged the enemy with great bravery ; the battle lasted for some time, but being over- powered with numbers, and galled by the enemy's cannon, they lost twenty-eight of their men killed, while Captain Tirrell and a few more were wounded. The English rested upon their arms that night in the field of battle. A vessel was sent in the mean time by the court of Spain, to Kilmokillock, near Ardea, to discover if the castle of Dunboy still held out for his Catholic majesty. There were some passengers on board ; among whom was a friar named James Nelanus, and Owen MacEggan, who was appointed by the pope, bishop of Ross and apostolical vicar of Ire- land. This friar brought with him twelve thousand pounds sterling, to be distributed among the chiefs of the confederacy, and some warlike stores. He was sent by the Spanish court to assure the Qatholics that the reinforcements intended for Ireland would be speedily forwarded, and that two thousand troops had already assembled at Corunna for that purpose. The confederates, trusting to the promises given them, formed the reso- lution of supporting the siege of Dunboy against the English, and forwarded dis- patches to the king of Spain, to assure his majesty of their determinatioQ. Brien O'Kelly, and Donogh, son of Mahon O'Brien, sailed on the 15t,h of June, 1603, for Spain, with these dispatches of the confederates. After this O'Sullevan Bearre sent part of the ammunition that had come from Spain, to strengthen the garrison of Dunboy. Owen MacEggan, the apostolical vicar, at this time wrote a letter to Richard Mac- Geoghegan, commander of the castle of Dunboy, couched in the following words : — " The high character which you sustain gives me delight, and I have great confidence, with the assistance of the Lord, in the just cause which you defend. I would be particularly anxious to confer with you and your com- panions, and inform you of the state of things in Spain. Be assured, that nothing in this world is more acceptable to the king than your proceedings ; you know how pleasing they are to God, and how important to our country. You will have, in a few days, fresh succors from Spain — the grand army, con- sisting of fourteen thousand men, is ready to march. You all will be well rewarded by his Catholic majesty, while waiting the re- ward which God prepares for you in heaven. I came from Rome to the court of Spain with a father of the society, who has been appointed the pope's nuncio ; and who will CHRISTIAN IRELAND. r^4T arrive in that quality with the Spanish army." The deputy knew how important it would be to reduce the castle of Dunboy. It was the only place of moment which the Catho- lics of Munster still retained : it served them as an arsenal and a depot, and secured the means of holding a communication with Spain.* He marched, therefore, to within a mile of Dunboy, where his army encamped. Accompanied by Wilmot and a corps of in- fantry, he proceeded to reconnoitre the castle, and to seek a platform on which to erect a battery ; but the musketry of the castle forced him and his attendants to return to their camp. The English general, anxious to shelter his troops, and to make the artillery advance against the castle, caused a trench to be opened. The work was frequently interrupt- ed by the besieged, Avho continually sallied out and kept up a constant fire from the castle. The English at length established their trench within a hundred and forty paces of the place. A battery of five pieces of cannon was then raised, which played upon the castle, while two falconets, placed on a point of land, de- stroyed the outworks. The president, in the mean time, sent Captain John Bostock, Owen O'SuUevan, and Lieutenant Downings, with a hundred and sixty men, to attack Dorsies Island. There was a small »^ort in it belong- ing to the Catholics, and garrisoned by forty men. After a vigorous defence from the be- sieged, the English made themselves masters of this fort, and found in it a kw barrels of powder, three pieces of cannon, and some warlike stores. Four of the besieged were killed in the action, two were wounded, and the rest made prisoners. These latter were executed immediately afterwards, though they had surrendered. The cruelty of the English was not confined to the defenders of the castle ; they massacred, without dis- tinction, all the inhabitants of the island. A mother and the infant on her breast were murdered ; the children were barbarously stabbed, and raised half dead on pikes, for a spectacle ; others were tied, hand and foot, and thrown from the top of lofty rocks into the sea. This is but a fanit description of the cruelties exercised by the English upon the inhabitants of Ireland — a specimen of the way in which they reformed the morals of the people. The English battery played incessantly upon the castle of Dunboy. Part of it had already fallen, and the besiegers supposing « Pac. Hib. cap. 8. that the breach was effected, an attack was ordered. They were repulsed, however, with vigor; several were killed on both sides, and the English were forced to retire. The fire from the battery was still kept up, by which a part of the vault fell in, and drew those that surrounded it into the ruins. The besiegers entered in crowds upon the breach, and re- newed the battle, but, as before, without suc- cess ; they were driven off with heavy loss, and hurled from the top'of the breach : a third attack was equally unsuccessful as the two first ; for after gaining the hall of the castle, the English were forced to abandon it. It will be admitted that the garrison of Dunboy, which consisted of but one hundred and forty- three fighting men, must have been considera- bly weakened from the continued assaults of the enemy. It might, indeed, be supposed, that they v/ould easily have been crushed by the overwhelming force of five thousand men with a powerful artillery ; and though the efforts of the brave Captain Tirrell, with his flying camp, frequently alarmed the English, they were not sufficient to save the garrison from the unhappy lot that awaited them. The president, Carew, seeing the obstinate and determined defence the castle of Dunboy maintained, ordered a fourth attack, better planned than the preceding ones. For this purpose a body of fresh troops was chosen, taken by lot from the regiment of the lord- president ; this body was to be supported by the remainder of the same regiment, and that oftheearlof Thuomond, while those of Percy and Wilmot had orders to hold themselves in readiness to march, both to protect the camp, and to act with the others if necessary. The English artillery continued to play upon the castle from five in the morning until nine, when a turret of the castle, in which there was a falconet which greatly annoyed the English battery, was seen to fall. However, the firing was kept up still against one of the fronts of the castle till one in the afternoon, when the breach being effected, and the plan of assault fixed upon, the detachment which was to begin the attack advanced ; the Catho- lics disputed the entrance by the breach for a long time, but were at length forced to yield to the overwhelming numbers of the English, who planted their standards on one of the turrets. Roused by despair, the besieged renewed the battle, and fought with despera- tion until night, sometimes in the vaults of the castle, sometimes in the great hall, the cellars, and on the stairs, so that blood flowed in every quarter : several of the besieged fell during the attack, among whom was Mac-Geoghegan, their commander, whose 548 HISTORY OF IRELAND. A'alor equalled the greatness of his mind and high birth.* The eastle was not yet in the possession of the KngUsh ; they returned to the assault the day following, and preteiiding a desire to spare the further edusion of blood, terms were proposed to the besieged. The few belonging to the garrison who escaped the preceding day having lost their chief, and being unequal to defend the castle, ac- cepted the proposed conditions of having their lives spared. Richard Mac-Geoghegan, the commander, however, although mortally wounded, would not listen to any terlhs ;-f- and seeing the English enter in crowds, he rose up, though already struggling with death, and snatching a lighted match, made an eflbrt to fire a barrel of powder which was placed near him ; his intention being to blow up both himself and the enemy, rather than surrender. He was prevented, however, by a Captain Power, in whose arms he was basely and inhumanly stabbed by the Eng- lish soldiers. Mac-Geoghegan knew that no confidence could be placed in any treaty with the English, and preferred to die fighting, rather than surrender to men in whose honor he could repose no trust. " The lohole num- ber of the ward consisting of one hundred and forty-three chosen fghting men, being the best of all their forces, of the which no man escaped, but were either slain, executed, or buried in the ruins." This garrison was not composed of mere mercenary soldiers, taken by lot, but of men of honor and principle, who willingly laid down their lives in defence of their re- ligion and country : the English themselves admit, that so obstinate and resolved a defence hath not been seen within this kingdom.\ They were worthy to have been citizens of ancient Sparta, from the mode in which they sacrificed themselves for the good of their country ; and if their example has not been followed by others, it will be at least a sub- ject of reproach and self-confusion to those of their countrymen who took up arms against them. The siege of Dunboy lasted for fifteen days. It cost the English, according to some authors, a loss of six hundred men, more or less. Authors differ on it, and also respect- ing the time of this event ; some say it was in June, others in September ; the castle, how- ever, was, by orders of the president, razed to the ground after four days, and not a ves- tige of it suffered to remain.'^ * Hist. Cathol. ibid. t Pacat. Hib. ibid. p. 316. Hist. Cathol. ibid, page 184. \ Pacat. Hib. ibid. Cox, Hist, of Ireland, pp. 450, 451. I § Hist. Cathol. ibid. I The Spanish army which was intended for the expedition to Ireland, amounted to fourteen thousand men ; they had assembled at Coruima, and were ready to sail, when in- telligence was receivedof the fall of Dunboy ; on which the Spanish court sent orders to the Count de Caracena, governor of Corunna, to countermand for the present the sailing of the troops.* The queen of England had her emissaries in Spain, who informed her of all that had occurred : she therefore ordered her fleets that were cruising on the coasts of Spain to be revictualled, and to continue to watch the motions of the Spaniards till the end of September ; she also sent two thou- sand more troops to Ireland, to reinforce the president's army in Munster. CHAPTER L. The fall of Dunboy did not prevent the prince of Bearre from still acting a brave and noble part.f Dermod O'Driscol having returned from Spain, Cornelius, son of O'Dris- col More, was sent in his stead to solicit speedy assistance. In the mean time the prince and Captain Tirrell marched with a thousand men into Muskerry, and made them- j selves masters of Carraig-na-Chori, Duin j Dearaire, and Macrumpe, where they placed j a garrison ; after which he prevailed upon j O'Donoghoe of the Glinne to join in the confederacy. He then made incursions into the district of Cork, and returned laden with booty. Cormack, son of Diarmuid Mac-Carty, prince of Muskerry, had adopted the base policy of the earls of Ormond, Thuomond, and others. He was descended from Heber by OilioU-Olum, king of Munster^ in the second century, and by Diarmuid More Mac-Carty, prince of Muskerry, who was killed in 1367 by the O'Mahonys of Carbry, who were from the same stock of ancestors. The politic conduct of Cormac did not secure him against suspicions of his loyalty, and he was accused of holding secret intrigues with O'Neill, O'Donnel, Florence Mac-Carty, James Fitz- Thomas, O'Sullevan Bearre, and other ene- mies of the English. His accuser wasTegue, son of Cormac Mac-Teugue Mac-Carty, his near relative. This man was first in the ser- vice of the queen's troops ; but he left this service during the siege of Kinsale, and joined the Catholic cause. After receiving part of * Pacat. Hib. ibid. cap. 11 t Hist. Cathol. cap. 4. \ Keat. Genealogy. CHRISTIAN IRELAND. 549 the money that was sent from Spain for the Catholics of Ireland, he changed sides again and sought to be reconciled to the president ; while to make his submission the more im- portant, he turned informer against his own relation, in whose conduct he had been pre- viously a partaker. The president, after consulting with the council, caused Cormac Mac-Carty of Mus- kerry to be arrested. He wished also to take , possession of his castle of Blarney, which design Wilmot and Harvey were appointed to carry into effect. While proceedings were going on against Cormac Mac-Carty, Captain Taaffe, who possessed his confidence, was sent to propose to him to surrender the castle to the English. The proposal was a critical one : Mac-Carty was a prisoner ; his wife and children were also arrested, and his eldest son was pursuing his studies at Ox- ford. He was of course averse to surrender his castle, which was an asylum in cases of emergency, and the sacrifice seemed great, but his circumstances appeared to make it imperative. Every thing being maturely weighed, he sent a communication to the governor of the castle, to surrender it to Captain Taaffe. The abbey of Kilcrey and the castle were given up, at the same time, to the president, of which he gaye the com- mand to Captain F. Slingsby. Macrumpe was a strong place hi the centre of Muskerry, and maintained a siege against Captain Flower, and subsequently against Wilmot. O'Donnel continued still in Spain, where he was actively employed at court in behalf of his country. He wrote at this time the following letter, dated Corunna, to O'Connor Kerry : " The doctor and Dermod O'Driscol will give you an account of every thing that is passing here. The king sends you money and stores. Believe me, that his majesty will omit no opportunity to gain Ireland, were it to cost him even the greatest part of his kingdom. Endeavor to secure this monarch's good opinion by your services. I beg that you will inform me of the news in Ireland, and against whom the queen's forces are now employed."* Cormac Mac-Carty was still a prisoner in Cork. The witnesses against him were ex- i amined, and his life was in danger. It was of course natural that he should have wished to recover his liberty. His design was com- municated by several to the deputy ; the Protestant bishop of Cork, and Dominick Sarsfield, the queen's advocate in Munster, being ihe leading hitbrmers. The president * Pacat. Hib. cap. 13. caused the keeper of the prison, who had Mac-Carty in his charge, to be brought to him, and gave him fresh instructions for se- curing him : his precautions, however, were disappointed. The prince of Muskerry was rescued by a young nobleman named Owen Mac-Sweeny, who got in by night to his chamber, and having cut with a file the irons that bound his legs, let him down through a window, while six companions received him with their mantles before he touched the ground. The conspirators then got him over the wall of the city, notwithstanding that the sentinels went in pursuit of him. He very soon after this arrived in Muskerry, where he met O'SuUevan Bearre at the head of a small detachment, and both princes entered immediately into an alliance against the com- mon enemy. O'Sullevan then besieged Car- rig-an-phouca, which was guarded by the sons of Teugue Mac-Carty, who obtained terms from the English by his treachery against the prince of Muskerry, whose rela- tive he was. O'Sullevan reduced it, and two more places in Muskerry, which he gave up to be garrisoned by his ally, and returned to his own country of Bearre. The escape of Cormac Mac-Carty greatly alarmed the president Carew. He knew that he was very dear to the inhabitants of Muskerry, most of whom were his vassals and ready to follow his fortune, and that, if an alliance were made between him, O'Sul- levan Bearre, and Captain Tirrell, it might cause Wilmot's communication with Cork (who was then besieging Macrumpe) to be cut off. The president, therefore, imme- diately forwarded an express to Wilmot, saying, that if he should not be master of Macrumpe castle in twenty-four hours, he must raise the siege, and withdraw the troops from before it ; orders being sent likewise to Lords Barry and Roche, to keep a close watch in their districts, which were strongly at- tached to the cause of Cormac Mac-Carty. The president's letter brought sad news to Wilmot ; that general being eager to reduce Macrumpe, and thinking it dishonorable to raise the siege. An unforeseen occurrence, however, proved favorable to his views. The castle having taken fire, and it being impos- sible to subdue the flames, the garrison was obliged for their safety to rush into an ad- joining yard, which exposed them to the fire of the besiegers. Their twofold danger now roused the besieged into despair, and opening a way through the enemy, sword in hand, they effected their escape with a small loss on their side. The fire of the castle being extinguished, Wilmot left a few com- 550 HISTORY OF IRELAND. panics in it in garrison, and took, the day- following, the road to Cork, with the re- maiiulor of his army. The liberty which Mac-Carty enjoyed since his escape from prison, was not suffi- cient to allay his apprehensions ; his eldest son was imprisoned in England ; his wife and younger son were prisoners in Cork ; his castles of Blarney, of Kilcrey, and Ma- criimpe, were in the hands of the English, and the whole of Muskerry was laid waste ; so that he had in his favor at least the ap- pearance of necessity for surrendering to the English, notwithstanding the alliance con- cluded between him and O'Sullevan Bearre. If the submission of Mac-Carty of Mus- kerry was fatal to the Catholic cause in Munster, the news of the death of Hugh O'Donnel, prince of Tirconnel, was still more disastrous. After the battle of Kin- sale, that prince passed into Spain, where he attended ably to the interests of his country, arrived at high favor at court, and was (on the eve of his death) about to reap the fruits of his zeal. The confederates of Munster, upon receiving the sad news, saw themselves deprived of all hope on the side of Spain ; their courage was broken down ; Daniel Mac-Carty the knight of Kerry, Daniel, son of O'Sullevan More, and others, sought to be reconciled to the English government. Cap- tain Tirrell led his troops into Connaught, which raised the courage of the English ; five thousand of whom were collected, and the command given to Wilmot, with the title of governor of Bearre. He accordingly led the army to that part of the province, and encamped at Gort-na-cailli, in a valley called Gleaunn Garaibh, where he published a proclamation in the queen's name, promising pardon to all who would abandon O'Sullevan Bearre's standard. This prince was now forsaken by his allies ; and his Connaught troops having left him, with their commander Thomas Burke, to return to their province, he deemed it more prudent to follow them with the few that remained, than yield to an inhuman enemy.* On the last day of December, O'Sullevan Bearre, with O'Connor Kerry, and a few other noblemen, having joined his troops I with those of Connaught, the whole amount- I ing to scarcely four hundred men, set out j upon their march,! intending to take refuge j whh Hugh O'Neill, prince of Tyrone. j Though his shortest route would have been through Leinster, still, that province being in the power of the English, who had their I * Hist. Cathol. ibid. cap. 6. Pacat. Hib. cap. 26 j t Hist. Cathol. cap. 8. garrisons in every quarter, he determined to gain the Shannon, in order to reach O'Rourke, prince of Brefny, through Connaught. The badness of the roads, and scarcity of provis- ions, were not the only difficulties the prince of Bearre had to encounter. He was con- tinually obliged to fight his way with the enemy ; on the frontiers of Muskerry he was pursued by the Mac-Cartys ; after this by the people of Duhallow ; again at Slieve Louchra by the garrison of Captain Cuff, the Barrys, and Clan-Gibbons ; and lastly, at Slieve Feilim, in the country of the O'Car- rols, by a detachment sent by the earl of Ormond. We read nothing in history which more resembles the expedition of young Cyrus and the ten thousand Greeks, than this retreat of O'Sullevan Bearre.* The prince having overcome the difficul- ties of a long and painful march, arrived on the 7th of January in the forest of Brosnach, above Limerick, near the Shannon, where he encamped with his little army. He here convened a council of war, to deliberate on the means of crossing the river ; in which it was decided that a number of boats made of osier and the branches of trees, should be constructed for the troops ; while in order to prevent them from sinking, they were covered with skins of horses, provided for the purpose. These boats were used by the ancient Irish, and were called Curraghs, or Nevogues. The boats being completed, they were brought during the night to Portlaughan, on the banks of the Shannon, opposite to Portumny, and commenced crossing the river. O'Maily, who went by the tirst, was upset with ten soldiers, but the rest reached the opposite shore in safety. On reviewing his men, O'Sullevan found them reduced to two hundred. He marched, however, through Galway to Mainech, the country of the O'Kellys, where he had to contend with fresh enemies.! Having met Captain Malby, an Englishman, Sir Thomas Burke, brother to the earl of Clanriccard, and other chiefs, near Aughrim, at the head of a body of troops superior in number to his own, a battle began between them with equal ani- mosity ; but Malby, the English general, having been killed, victory declared in favor of the Catholics. O'Sullevan continued his march to Brefny, where he was honorably received by O'Rourke. Wilmot commanded the Munster troops in the absence of the president, who had been called on affairs of business to Galway. Immediately after the retreat of O'Sullevan, * Hist. Cathol. cap. 9. t Hist. Cathol. ibid. cap. 10, 11, 12. CHRISTIAN IRELAND. 551 he sent four hundred men from Cork, under the White Knight and Captain TaafTe, to lay waste the districts of Bearre and Bantry. They took possession of the castles of Ardea and Caraignesse. Captain Fleming was dis- patched with his vessel and a few soldiers to the isle of Dorsie, where he pillaged O'SuUevan's magazines, and put the inhab- itants to the sword. The people of Carbry, alarmed by the cruelties which the English were committing in their neighborhood, took up arms, headed by the MacCartys of that district, Dermod, son of O'Driscol, Thadeus, son of O'Mahony of Carbry, and the MacSweenys. They set out on their march, and meeting the English army at Cladach, several days were spent in skirmishing, with equal success. Teugue O'Mahony, who had the glory of beginning the action, repulsed those who opposed him ; the cavalry of MacCarty and MacSwecny performed a distinguished part ; but a de- tachment of MacCarty's infantry was sur- rounded by a body of English horse, and cut to pieces. Teugue O'Howley, who com- manded part of the Catholic army, signalized himself in a combat with the White Knight. Owen MacEggan, apostolical vicar from the pope, who had been appointed bishop of Ross by his holiness, was shot in the skir- mishing. He was particularly zealous in the Catholic cause, which was considered a crime by the English. In order to disparage his character, their writers allege that he was killed fighting at the head of a body of troops, with a sword in one hand and a bre- viary in the other : less prejudiced authors mention his having a breviary and beads. A holy priest called Dermod MacCarty, en- deavoring, through charity, to exercise the duties of his ministry, by exhorting and pre- paring the wounded for death, was taken by the English and brought to Cork. Great rewards were offered him to embrace the re- formed religion ; but his refusal gained him the glory of martyrdom. He was tied to the tail of a mad horse, and after being dragged through the city, was hung on a gibbet ; when half dead, he was quartered, his entrails were torn out, and his limbs ex- posed in the public streets. It was thus these reformers preached their gospel This struggle of the inhabitants of Carbry was the last during this reign that was made in the province of Munster, in favor of re- ligion and liberty. It was too weak to have succeeded. The MacCartys having failed, solicited pardon from the president, through Captain Taaffe, and obtained it ; but Tegue O'Mahony, less politic, was surprised by the English, and beheaded. Fitzmaurice, with a body of light troops, defended himself for a long time in Slieve-Luachra against the English ; and was afterwards so fortunate as to redeem his property and title of baron of Lixnaw, by his surrender. Thus ended the war in Munster. O'Sullevan was not the only unfortunate prince who sought safety with O'Rourke ;* on his arrival there he met the son of Wil- liam Burke, chief of the noble family of the MacWilliams of Connaught, and Connanacht Maguire, prince of Fermanagh, who had been dispossessed by the English. In order to justify their conduct, they raised a rival against him, in his cousin, Connor Rua Ma- guire, who had espoused their cause and was under their protection, and placed gar- risons in the neighborhood of lake Erne, to favor his pretensions. On account of his attachment to the interests of the court, the Irish called this chief Maguire Galda, or English Maguire. The same fate having brought O'Sullevan Bearre and Maguire to- gether, they determined to have recourse to O'Neill, and induce him to renew the war against the English. Having, therefore, taken leave of the prince of Brefny, they set out, attended by Captain Tirrell and a few cohorts of armed men, and notwithstanding the severity of the season, and the badness of the roads, they proceeded as far as the banks of lake Erne. They were then obliged to force the several posts belonging to the English, in which they were successful. Maguire afterwards got possession of his principality of Fermanagh. While the princes of Bearre and Ferma- nagh continued victorious on the banks of lake Erne, Lord Mountjoy, the deputy, re- ceived intelligence from England, of the queen's approaching dissolution.! The depu- ty was alarmed ; he knew the instability of human affairs, particularly among a haughty and seditious people like the English ; and apprehending a change of government, he wished particularly to put an end to the war in Ireland. Hugh O'Neill, prince of Tyrone, was the great obstacle to a general peace : he still kept up his troops in Ulster, and con- tinued on the defensive for some time, ex- pecting foreign aid ; the deputy, therefore, considered it of importance to gain him over, and made, through his friends, proposals to him. The terms were flattering ; a general amnesty was offered to him, and to his allies, with the free exercise of their religion, and the peaceful enjoyment of their estates, on * Hist. Cathol. vol. 3, lib. 8, cap. 1, 2, 3, 4. t Hist. Cathol. Hib. ibid. cap. 5. 552 HISTOBY OF IRELAND. condition that they would lay down their the court of England, they received an order arms. Tyrone and his friends having ac- cepted the terms that were offered, entered again into the possession of their inheritances, and enjoyed them for some years in peace. A cchjbrated patent of Queen Elizabeth, addressed to Rory O'Donnel, prince of Tir- connel, is stated to have been granted about this time : from the tenor of it, it appears to have been given by the advice of the lord- deputy Mountjoy, and the council of Ireland. It was written in the Latin tongue, and in Gothic characters. In this patent the queen oflers to O'Donnel, and a great many noble- men, proprietors of estates which were held under that prince, a general amnesty and forgiveness of their crimes. After the dif- ferent branches of the Donnels, the chief noblemen who are named in the act are, the O'Boyles, the O'Cahans, the O'Kellys, the O'Galtowes, the O'Crinanes, the O'Carwels, the MacNenys, the O'Kennidies, the O'Mul- renins, the O'Rowartys, the O'Tiernans, the 0'Creanes,the 0'Dwyers,lhe 0'Kierans,the O'Moyleganes, the O'Ruddies, the Mac- Awardes, the O'Dunneganes, the O'Meal- lanes, the O'Murrys, the O'Doghartys, the O'xMiaghans, the 6'Clerys, the MacGlagh- lins, the O'Sheridans, the O'Cassidys, the O'Cashedians, and many others. This patent, which is in my possession, is dated Dublin, I 26th February, about a month before the death of the queen — it is sealed with the I great seal of England, and signed Philip. O'Neill, O'Donnel, O'Sullevan Bcarre, and I some other Irish chiefs, went the next sum- i mer to England, to make their submission to I James I., who had just succeeded Elizabeth, I and to compliment him upon his accession to the throne of England. O'Sullevan being j! unable to obtain his pardon, sailed for Spain, !l and was well received by Philip III., who ! created him knight of the military order of Ij St. Jago, and afterwards earl of Beerhaven. !j There is at present in Spain a count of I I Beerhaven, heir to the name and title of that prince. The king of England confirmed to O'Neill the thle of earl of Tyrone.* Rory, or Rod- erick, who had become head of the illus- trious house of O'Donnel, by the death of his brother Hugh, which occurred some time jj before in Spain, was created earl of Tircon- j| nel.f Niall Garve O'Donnel, the near rela- tion of O'Donnel and his rival for the prin- cipality of Tirconnel, was one of those who went to pay homage to the new king. While he and some other Irish "noblemen were at * Cox's Reign of James I., page 8. t Hist. Cathol. Hib. book 3, cap. 11, book to return to Ireland and to be content with their ancient patrimonies and titles of baron ; this title Niall indignantly refused, and on his return to Dublin, he presented himself before the council, and inveighed against the perfidy of the English who requited him thus for his services.* The whole of Ireland became subject to the sway of the English, a. d. 1603. They boast of the conquest of Ireland after a war of four hundred years, while they will not admit that England was conquered in a single day at Hastings, by William the Conqueror. The Irish fought for their freedom till the end of Queen Elizabeth's reign — some of their chiefs still kept troops on foot ; new succors from Spain were expected ; and the people did not lay down their arms un- til they received terms which were favora- ble. f Such was the conquest of Ireland of which the English vainly boast. Queen Elizabeth died on the 24th of March, the last day of the year, old style .| She lived sixty-nine years, six months, and seven days ; and reigned forty-four years, four months, and seven days. Symptoms of rage and heavy affliction,^ preceded her death. English writers represent the infirmities which accompaniedthe last daysof Elizabeth, as the effects of melancholy and sadness. || The winter of life had already come upon her ; she saw herself abandoned by her cour- tiers, who were proceeding by crowds into Scotland to worship the rising sun ; nothing more was neces.sary to afflict an aged woman whose ruling principle was, to her last sigh, ambition. She now looked upon herself as abandoned, and was heard to say with an- guish, " they have bound me by the neck, there is none in whom I can any longer con- fide ; how sad is the change in my aff'airs !" Robert Naughton, an English writer, gives in his " Regalia Fragmenta," a true picture of EHzabeth, and ascribes her last afflictions to the ill-success of her arms in Ireland. This Englishman was created Sir Robert Naugh- ton, secretary of state, and master of the court of wardens, under James I. He lived about the period of her reign, and was deeply conversant in political secrets. " The war in Ireland, which he says may be styled the distemper of the reign of Eliza- * Ibid, book 8, cap. 5. t English writers, according to their usual tone, represent the terms entered into between Prince O'Neill and the deputy, as a conquest. I Baker's Chronicles on Elizabeth. § Hist. Cathol. vol. 3, book 8, cap. 4. II Cambd. part 4, Hist, of Elizab. ad an. 1603. CHRISTIAN IRELAND. 553 beth, having continued to the end of her life, proved such an expenditure, as affected and disorganized the heahh and constitution of the princess, for, in her last days, she became sorrowful, melancholy, and depressed. Her arms which had been accustomed to conquer, meeting with opposition from the Irish, and the success of the war for so long a time be- coming not only doubtful but unfortunate, afflicted her to distraction. On her accession to the crown of England, she encouraged, for the purpose of causing a diversion in her own favor, the rebellion of the states of Holland against the king of Spain, who, by way of reprisal, favored and encouraged the Irish to oppose Elizabeth. " It may be imagined that England was at the time equal to undertake and maintain by her resources the war against the Irish. If we take a close view of the state of things in her education she was well cultivated and had a knowledge of several languages, par- ticularly the Latin, which she spoke fluently : she was fond of reading the Scriptures, which she frequently quoted in controversy, in accordance with her principles. Convers- ing one day in Latin, it is said that she hastily made use o{ faminilem sexum, instead o{ foemineimi, and perceiving her mistake, she added, " we have made, by our royal authority, Latin of this unusual word."* Elizabeth had able ministers, who shared her cares in government, and contributed to render her reign brilliant. These were, Lei- cester, Sussex, Burleigh, .Sidney, Walsing- ham, Willoughby, Bacon, Norris, Knowles, Perrot, Effingham, Packington, Hunsdon, Rawleigh, Crevil, Essex, Sackvil, Blunt, Cecil, Vere, Worcester, &c. The court of this princess was a theatre in which each at the period, and the number of troops in j played his part with skill ; and though their object appeared to be the public welfare, and the glory of their nation, there never was a court more devoted to intrigue, so that Higgins, an impartial writer, says it was the most wicked ministry that ever loas knoivn in any reign.\ The talents of Elizabeth were obscured by the wickedness of her disposition, which was a compound of ingratitude, jealousy, cruelty, and duplicity, of which her treatment towards Essex and some other favorites affords am- ple proofs. . The desire of being admired by men, was her predominant passion, which was heightened by the flattery of her cour- tiers. Mary Stuart, queen of Scots, and dowager of France, (whom she considered a rival,) gave her most uneasiness ; Mary was witty and accomplished, and surpassed Eli- zabeth in beauty, which was the cause of her tragical end. Melvin and Higgins mention an absurd trait of Elizabeth, which will les- sen the notions that English historians put forward concerning the magnanimity and strength of mind of this princess. Melvin being asked one day by EHzabeth, if her sister of Scotland danced well, replied, "ex- cept your majesty, the queen of Scots is the best dancer in the world." Elizabeth feeling how untrue the compliment was, changed countenance, and withdrew to her closet, where she wept bitterly for two hours. An extract from the tragical history of the queen of Scots, will suffice to expose the jealous and cruel heart of Elizabeth. On the death of Francis II., his queen, Mary Stuart, returned from France to Scot- Ireland, as also the defeat at Black Water,* and the expenditure attending the attempts of the earl of Essex, the reduction of Kinsale under General Mountjoy, and of a short time subsequently, we will discover, that in horse and foot the troops amounted to twenty thousand men ; independently of the naval armaments connected with them. The queen was obliged to keep up a constant and pow- erful fleet, to watch the coasts of Spain and blockade its harbors, in order to prevent the succors which were intended for Ireland from being forwarded. The expenses there- fore attending the wars of Elizabeth against the Irish, amounted at least to three hundred j thousand pounds sterling a year, which was not half her expenditure in other quarters ; an expense which could not be longer sup- ported without the aid of the public. The frequent letters of the queen, and the con- stant requests to General Mountjoy to dis- band the forces as speedily as possible, fur- nish an irrefragable proof to what an extre- mity this princess saw herself reduced." Opinion is divided upon the character of Elizabeth ; every writer speaks as he feels aflected. The partisans of the reformation consider her the founder of their religion, and call her the divine Elizabeth ; the king of Scotland himself, son of Mary Stuart, has published her praises ; what a subject of j edification ; what a triumph to the queen's ! party! I As to political government, it cannot be denied that Elizabeth possessed great talents; * This is a river in Ulster : by the defeat of Black Water is understood a signal victory gained by Hugh O'Neill, prince of Tyrone, over the Eng- lish at Benburb, on the borders of that river. * Relat. Girald. cap. 26, p. 197. t Short View, p. 218. 554 HISTORY OF IRELAND. land. After having been brought up at the most polished court in Europe, she was forced to live among her fanatic subjects. The Scotch Puritans wishing to alter the reformation of the churcli of England, af- forded by their religious disputes an oppor- tunity to Elizabeth of exciting a faction against Mary, and fomenting a rebellion against legal authority. " We leave it to casuists and lawyers," says Higgins, " to decide whether a prince ought to assist the rebellious subjects of a neighboring power, with whom he is at war ; but exciting those subjects to rebel, at a time he is on good terms with their king, is a violation of the laws of nations and all that is sacred among men."* !j The queen of Scotland being too young I to remain a widow, chose Henry Darnly I from among the many matches that were I proposed for her. He was son of Matthew j Steward or Stuart, earl of Lenox, and Mar- 1 garet Dowglas, niece of Henry VIII., by j Margaret, that monarch's eldest sister, who ! was first married to James IV., king of I Scotland, by whom she had James V., and secondly, to Archibald Dowglas, earl of Angus, by whom she became mother to the countess of Lenox.f Mary had sound motives for marrying Lord Darnly; as her near rela- tive, she considered him heir to the crown of England, after herself, and thought an alliance with him necessary to render her claim to that throne incontestable. Elizabeth was opposed to this marriage, as she wished Mary to marry the earl of Leicester. The queen of Scots persevering in her first reso- lution, created Darnly a knight, and confer- red on him successively, the titles of Lord Armanack, earl of Rosse, and duke of Roth- say, (this was the title of the eldest son of the kings of Scotland ;) she then married him, and had him declared king, with the consent of most of the peers of Scotland. The earl of Murray, the queen's natural brother, was the first to rebel against that princess. Having collected his adherents, he I proposed the following seditious questions : j " Whether a popish king could be chosen ? whether the queen of Scots might choose a husband, according to her own will ? and whether the lords ought not to nominate one for her, by their own authority ?" At last he took up arms against his sovereign ; but the rebels being soon put down by the roy- alists, and having taken refuge in England, * Ibid. p. 210. t Cambd. Elizab. part 1, Hist, ad an. 1564. Baker, Chron. of England on the reij^n of Elizab. p. .334, et seq. Cambd. ibid, ad an. 1565. received protection from Elizabeth. The queen of Scots had a son by her second mar- riage, who was afterwards James VI. of Scotland, and I. of England. Murray not being able to succeed by open force, endeavored to sow discord between the king and his queen.* He attacked the queen's fidelity, of which accusation David Rizzio, an Italian, and secretary to that prin- cess, was the victim, being stabbed by the king himself. Darnly repented afterwards of his rashness, and resolved to take revenge on Murray, who had instigated him to com- mit the horrid act. Murray, however, having discovered his design,t averted the blow, by having the king strangled in his bed, and the body being thrown into the garden, the house was immediately blown up. The news of the king's murder having spread, the public ascribed it to the earls of Murray, Morton, and their associates ; while they, in order to exculpate themselves, laid it to the charge of the queen. Buchanan, to ingratiate himself with Murray, wrote a dialogue, entitled " De jure regni apud Scotos," in which he sounded the alarm-bell of sedition. By this he endeavored to prove that the people have a power to choose or to depose their sovereign, and then launched into scandalous attacks upon the queen, which he afterwards, when dying, retracted. Mary finding her situation precarious, mar- ried Hepburn, earl of Bothwell, at the soli- citations of Murray, Morton, and their friends, who rose up in arms afterwards against her. Bothwell was forced to fly into Denmark, where he died of grief ; the queen was then seized by the fanatics, and thrown into prison at Lochlevin. The mother of Murray was appointed her keeper — this woman called herself the wife of James V., though she was but his concubine, and re- presented her son as heir to the crown of Scotland. The cruel policy of Elizabeth was the cause of Mary Stuart's misfortunes •,% she secretly and often openly abetted Murray and his adherents in their rebellion. To con- ceal, however, her wicked intentions under the veil of kindness and pity, she sent Sir Nicholas Throgmortoni^ into Scotland, to upbraid the confederates with the cruelty they exercised against their sovereign, and to devise means of restoring her to liberty. The knight witnessed the fury of the fanatics, who were divided in their opinions, as to the * Cambd. ibid, ad an. 1567. t Cambd. ibid. t Higgins' Short View, page 210. § Cambd. ibid. CHRISTIAN IRELAND. 555 treatment of Mary Stuart. Some were dis- posed to have her banished for life ; others wished to have her brought and examined before the judges, that she might be con- demned to perpetual imprisonment, and to have her son proclaimed king ; others, still more inhuman, were eager to have her stripped of all royal authority, and put to death. The celebrated Knox, a violent enthusiast, was for adopting this last mode of punishment : he was eager to evince his gratitude for the protection which Murray afforded him in his efforts to establish the doctrine of the Puri- tans on the ruin of the old religion : for which purpose he preached in public against the authority of princes and the hierarchy of the church, and maintained that the nobles possessed the power to suppress idolatry, and to compel the prince to observe what the laws prescribed. Throgmorton applied his eloquence in vain to bring these fanatics to reason. He quoted passages from Scripture in support of the obedience due to princes, and ob- served, " the queen is subject to no tribunal but God ; she is not accountable to any power on earth ; on the contrary, all au- thority in Scotland has emanated from her, and could be revoked at her will." These remonstrances tended only to make her persecutors more furious ; her imprison- ment was more rigidly enforced, and she would not be permitted to see her child. An accusation containing three heads,viz., incon- tinence, tyranny, and the murder of the king, was threatened against her, if she did not abdicate the crown. The fear of death made Mary sign the act of abdication in favor of her son, who was scarcely thirteen months old, constituting, at the same time, her opponent Murray regent during the minority. Five days after this compulsory measure against Mary Stuart, her son James VI. was crowned, and Murray put into pos- session of the regency. The regent's first care was to have some persons who were attached to the earl of Bothwell put to death, under pretence that they had been concerned in the murder of the king, but they asserted to the last moment, that Mor- ton and Murray were the authors of it, and that the queen was perfectly innocent.* After a confinement of eleven months in the castle of Lochlevin, the queen of Scots recovered her liberty, by the contrivance of George Dowglas.f Several of the nobles then met, and published a manifesto, de- claring that the abdication which had been * Baker, ibid, page 337 t Ibid. 338. forced from her during her imprisonment was null and void. Six thousand of her faith- ful subjects crowded to the standard of their sovereign, but were soon defeated by the superior forces of the regent. Mary Stuart no longer found herself se- cure in her native land, and determined to seek an asylum in another quarter.* Eng- land seemed to her the most secure retreat, as she believed that honor, conscience, and consanguinity would induce Elizabeth to protect her ; but in this she was mistaken. The unfortunate princess, after escaping from her faithless subjects, gave herself up to an ungenerous and implacable enemy; she sailed with Lord Heris and Fleming, for England, and arrived on 17th May at Wickinton, in Cumberland, from which she immediately wrote to Elizabeth, and sent her a diamond ring which she had formerly given her as a pledge of nuUual friendship, imploring her protection against her rebellious subjects ; while at the same time she solicited an au- dience, in order to clear herself of the calumnies of her adversaries. Elizabeth re- turned an apparently kind and consolatory answer to the queen of Scots, promising to assist her against her enemies ; but refusing her permission to appear at court. She was jealous of the beauty of so illustrious a rival, and feared it would make her appear to still more advantage if they were seen together. These base and unworthy sentiments made her condemn Mary Stuart to be imprisoned in the castle of Carlisle, under pretence of securing her from the insults of her enemies. Though Elizabeth expressed compassion for Mary Stuart, she still kept her in con- finement, and concealed her malice under an appearance of clemency. She frequently appointed commissioners to try the unhappy princess, and often held assemblies, hoping to have her found guilty. Elizabeth at length demanded from the most determined of the Scotch malecontents, why they had deposed their sovereign .f Murray, the regent, having been assassinated some time before, the fanatics were now headed by James Dowglas, earl of Morton, Pernare, abbot of Dumfermelin, and James Mac Grey, who sent a long document, by way of answer, to the queen of England, to the purport, that " according to the ancient liberties of Scotland, the people were above the king ; that the magistrates of the people were, according to Calvin, intended as a check upon princes, and that they possessed not only the power of imprisoning bad kings, * Higgins' Slioit View, page 212. t Cainbd. Elizabeth, part 2. Hist, ad an. 1571. 556 HISTORY OF IRELAND. but likewise of dethroning them." An appeal to the magistrates was the general resource of these Scotch fanatics against legal au- thority, knowing, that when corruption reached that body, it was perpetuated by the same spirit wliich united the members. Elizabeth received the remonstrances of the rebels with a show of indignation. These proceedings,however,forboded evil to the queen of Scots, as it had been already determined that she should perish. Matthew, earl of Lenox, who succeeded Murray in the regency, had been likewise murdered ; he was succeeded by John Erskine, earl of Mar, who lived but thirteen months. This office having remained vacant for some time, was filled through the interference of Queen Eli- zabeth, by James Dowglas, earl of Morton, Mary's avowed enemy, and who was sus- pected of havingbeen concerned in the death of Lord Darnly, the young king's father.* It seems that this suspicion was well founded ; he was accused soon afterwards of high treason, at the instigation of the earlof Arran, put into confinement, convicted of having been an accomplice in the murder of Darnly, and condemned to be beheaded ; when he avowed his crime on the scaffold. Elizabeth exerted her influence to save this nobleman's liie, and the interest she took to preserve from the scaffold a man who had been con- demned for so heinous an offence, gave rise to an opinion that she was not innocent of participating in the crime for which he was condemned.! At all events, from the con- cern she manifested for the murderers of the king, she shared in the infamy of their conduct. Mary Stuart was continually soliciting her liberty from Elizabeth, and was supported in her solicitations by the French and Spanish ambassadors, but in vain. Truth, however, prevailed over calumny, in favor of Mary's innocence, through the declarations made by Morton, Bothwell, and many others, in their last moments, when every man is believed to speak truly. There wasnolonger any ground of accusation against this innocent victim in Scotland, but conspiracies were plotted in England against Elizabeth, of which, though in prison, she was accused.^ Walsingham succeeded by his emissaries in engaging a few Catholics in a plot to rescue the queen of Scots by open force, of which Babington and a few nobles became the victims. Com- missioners havingbeen appointed to examine * Higgins, pages 219, 220. Cainbd.ad an. 1580. t Baker, ibid, page 358. Higgins, ibid. t Higgins, ibid. pp. 220, 221. Baker, ibid, pages 367, 368. into tlie affair, they repaired in October to Fotheringay castle, in Northamptonshire, where Mary was confined : that princess appealed against their authority, as being a sovereign, and independent of any earthly tribunal : but, on the threat that she would be condemned for contumacy, she submitted, declaring, at the same time, "that despairing of her freedom, she had endeavored to es- cape, in doing which she considered herself justified by the laws of nature and self-pre- servation ; but, that as to any attempts against the person of the queen, or her authority, she was wholly innocent." Nevertheless the commissioners assembled, who having put the questions, and read to Queen Mary the charges which had been brought against her, she still maintained that she was a sovereign, and not subject to a law made in England for her destruction ; and demanded to be heard in open parliament, in presence of Elizabeth. The commissioners' had not 'sufficient au- thority to concede this request, and repaired immediately to Westminster, when an infa- mous verdict was pronounced in the Star Chamber against the unhappy princess. In the decision which was signed and sealed by the commissioners, it was set forth, that since the 1st of June, Anthony Babington and others had, with the consent of Mary queen of Scots, heiress to the crown of England, engaged in a conspiracy tending to the ruin and death of Queen Elizabeth. To give the efiicacy of law to the sentence passed by the commissioners, it was neces- sary to convene the parliament ;* the whole nation was to be made partaker of this great and infamous crime,! and Elizabeth was to be appealed to by the parliament to consent to the death of Mary Stuart. The peers distinguished themselves on this occasion ; they presented a petition to Elizabeth to cause the sentence of the commissioners to be car- ried into effect against the queen of Scotland, and to strengthen their appeal, they instanced the judgments of God against Saul and Ahab,:}: for having spared Agag and Benha- dad. It was thus they perverted the Scrip- tures to the destruction of an innocent wo- man. This extraordinary appeal, which was more suited to fanatics than to men of honor and principle, must give us a strange opinion of English nobility at the time.§ j Elizabeth eagerly sought for the death of ' Mary, without wishing it to appear that she was the cause of it. She was ashamed to * Can)bd. ad ann. 1586. t Baker, page 360. I Higgins, page 222. § Higgins, ibid, page 222, et seq. CHRISTIAN IRELAND. 557 admit in public Avhat she secretly desired. She appeared at one time to reject the me- morial of the peers ; at another to suspend her decision ; but she was too wicked to be sincere, and inherited too much of the cruel and ferocious temper of her father, Henry VIII., to show either humanity or feeling. Wearied, as she said, by the repeated solici- tations of her people, she consented to the death of Mary, queen of Scots. Having thus acted her part, she gave Davison, the secre- tary, a letter signed with her own hand, and sealed with her seal, authorizing the death of that princess :* the commission was sent to the earls of Shrewsbury, Kent, Derby, and Cumberland, with orders to have the sen- tence of the law executed on the unfortu- nate queen. The earl of Leicester was not more con- scientious than the others, but was more prudent ; he besought Elizabeth not to com- mit so barbarous a deed, which would even- tually recoil upon herself, and which was unworthy the majesty of a monarch.! The queen then asked him how she ought to act. " Send an apothecary, madam, rather than an executioner ; if she must die, let decency be regarded." We have now arrived at the close of the tragedy of the queen of Scots.;}: The noble- men who had been appointed by the court to attend to her execution, arrived at Fotherin- gay ; on appearing before the princess they informed her of the object of their journey, and having read the warrant, told her that she should be prepared to die on the follow- ing day. Without any appearance of dis- may, she returned the following reply : " I did not think that my sister of England would have consented to the death of a person who was not amenable to her laws ; but since it is her pleasure, death will be welcome to me." She then asked for permission to converse with her spiritual father, and Melvin, her steward, but the commissioners carried their barbarous cruelty so far as to deny her what would have been granted to the meanest criminal, " which was looked upon," says Baker, '' as a species of tyranny unheard of." The noblemen having retired, the queen of Scots gave orders to prepare supper, of which she partook moderately, as usual. She then retired to rest at the accustomed time ; and after taking a few hours repose, she spent the remainder of the night in prayer. On the 8th of February, the fatal day of her ex- ecution being arrived, the princess dressed * Baker, ibid, page 371. t Higgins, ibid. 223. t Baker, ibid, pages 370, 371. herself and withdrew to her closet, where she continued to implore with abundant tears the mercies of God, until the sheriff, Thomas Andrews, came to announce to her that the fatal moment was arrived. She left her closet, and advanced with a majestic and sprightly step, having a veil upon her head, and in her hand an ivory crucifix. She was received in a gallery by the nobles who had been ap- pointed to superintend her execution ; and who led her into a hall where the sad instru- ments for her death — namely, an arm-chair, cushion, and block covered with black cloth, were prepared. The princess having recited a prayer, and the psalm, " In te, Domine, speravi," her head was cut off in a most barbarous and indecent manner ; and even after her death, her maids of honor were not suffered to attend in order to take charge of her body. Such was the melancholy fate of Mary Stuart, queen of Scots, and dowager of France, at the age of forty-six years ; nine- teen of which she spent in prison.* If the manner of the death of this princess, her greatness of soul, and resignation to the will of God, have filled the world with vene- ration for her memory, so are the authors of her barbarous and cruel death covered with infamy and disgrace. " It was reserved," says Higgins, " for the English nation to give this example of cruelty. "f " Queen Mary," says Baker, " possessed in an emi- nent degree all the fine qualities of mind and body, so that were she a private woman, or the queen of Scotland only, she would, perhaps, have been happy ; biit her right as heiress to the crown of England, and a jealousy towards her person, were the fatal causes of her destruction. "I As soon as the news of Mary Stuart's ex- ecution aad death was known, Elizabeth fell into a state of alarming melancholy ;«5» she appeared inconsolable, and avoided all society. This, however, was mere pretence. She wrote also to James VI. of Scotland, in order to remove the stigma of having borne a part in the murder of the princess his mother. Every artifice and deceit was made use of to remove from herself, and to fix upon her ministers, the odium of the foul deed, as if they could have effected it without her approval. II The king of Scotland was justly and deeply affected for the execution and death of his mother ; at first he refused * Higgins, pages 224, 225. t Baker, page 372. t Baker, ibid. § Cambd. page 494. II Higgins, pages 225, 226. 558 HISTORY OP IRELAND. to admit into his presence the messenger who brought the letter from Elizabeth. He, how- ever, relaxed in his determination, and from a weakness of principle inherent in his fami- ly, and which afterwards proved fatal to his posterity, he even formed a sincere and solid friendship for the queen of England. The subversion of the ancient religion, and establishment of the reformation in her states, formed the most remarkable feature in the reign of Elizabeth. The character of this princess will be more or less affected by the impression which that change produces in different minds. The incredulous, no doubt, look upon the pretended reformation in religion as a matter of indifference, since they do not believe in any creed ; the re- formers give to the event a pre-eminent place among the virtues of Elizabeth ; while others, after weighing well the nature and circum- stances of the enterprise, tell us, that the memory of this queen will be for ever, from that occurrence alone, covered with infamy. It is not the part of our history to decide this controversy, nor to give an opinion whether religion required to be reformed, or whether the reformation were a meritorious act. The character of Elizabeth is the matter now before us ; according to that, therefore, our opinion must be shaped. The means which she made use of to effect that refor- mation, must be weighed with those of honor conscience, and other qualities which render us pleasing before God and man. If we review closely the opinions of Eliza- beth, an indifference will be discovered in her as to the choice of a religion. Brought up in her first years in the court of her father, Henry VHI., of which debauchery, sacri- lege, and tyranny formed the prevailing characteristics, nothing less than a miracle could have saved the young princess from the contagion. Whatever was in conformity with her interest, constituted the religion of Eliza- beth. In the reign of her brother Edward, she was a Calvinist ; during the reign of her sister Mary, the mass, confession, and other tenets of the Catholic doctrine accorded with her ideas. Such was her conduct until she ascended the throne. She then began by declaring herself favorable to the reforma tion — the motives for which choice can be inferred from circumstances. She was formed, that an attachment to the ancient religion would be a ground to dispute her right to the crown ; as the nobles who had accumulated fortunes at the expense of church property, feared for their posses- sions, while others dreaded the ancient and rigid discipline of the church. These, united to other human motives, caused the balance toin(dine in favor of the reformation. Upon the topic of religion, the necessity of tem- porizing and of managing the two parties, was plain to Elizabeth : her grand principle was, that " to know how to reign, she must know how to dissemble ;" " Qui nescit dis- simulare, nescit regnare." For this object, her privy council was a mixed body.; at the same time that she had her cabinet council, which consisted of men who were partial to reformation, and who sapped, imperceptibly, the foundations of the Catholic faith. To conceal more efficiently her double motives, she amused Spain, France, and other powers, with entertaining the overtures of marriage which were made to her ; by which mode she succeeded in having the cause of reli- gion neglected for the prospects of so flat- tering an alliance. An attempt to make men change their manner of thinking, under pain of death or confiscation of property, gives a true idea of tyranny ; for no power upon earth can ac- complish such a change. The will, say the philosophers, cannot be coerced in its acts : of this the greatest conquerors have been so convinced, that they were content with the submission of those whom they conquered, without seeking to interfere with their right of conscience. Elizabeth thinking herself competent to undertake any thing, began the great work of reform. She abolished a religion that had subsisted since the first ages of Christianity, and substituted in its place one of a new fab- ric. The dogmas of the latter received their shape from a parliament which refused to the bishops that power which was given them by Jesus Christ to guide his church in its doctrine and spiritual concerns.* Collier,! in his Ecclesiastical History, says, " When secular men prescribe to the church, when those who are strangers to antiquity give laws for discipline, 'tis no ivonder if they mistake in their devotion."X Queen Elizabeth caused, by the authority of parliament, some volumes of penal laws to be published against those who refused to submit to the reformation. Under these laws no one was secure in his life or freedom ; it was in the power of any profligate to accuse his neighbor before a judge, when the in- former was certain of being attended to, and the innocent party oppressed. To these were * Baker's Cliron. Reign of Elizabeth. t He was an English Protestant. Collier's Hist. Ecelesiast. vol. 2, 538. I Dodd's Hist, of the Church of England, vol. 2, part 4, book 1, art. 6. Dodd, ibid. CHRISTIAN IRELAND. 559 added other laws equally barbarous aad in- human : to refuse to acknowledge Eliza- beth's ecclesiastical supremacy, to take holy orders in a foreign country, to afford an asy- lum to the clergy, to be reconciled to the old religion, or to be present at such reconcilia- tion of another, was deemed high treason ; while, at the same time, every method was resorted to to bring the unhappy Catholics within the range of this sentence. The prisons were continually crowded with sup- posed culprits, many of whom suffered upon the scaffold. According to the most correct calculations, the number, even of the Eng- lish, that were put to death, amounted to two hundred and twenty-seven ; among whom were one hundred and ninety-seven ecclesi- astics, comprising four Jesuits and a Fran- ciscan friar.* The preceding reign, indeed, affords ex- amples of the same kind ; several partisans of the opposite sect having been put to death during it, who are considered martyrs of the reformation. The case, however, was very different : he who defends his own right is less criminal than he who encroaches upon that of his neighbor : the English had, for many centuries, professed the Catholic doc- trine, which Queen Mary wished to uphold ; for which purpose she was constrained to have some innovators, who were disturbing the old religion and everywhere publishing new doctrines, put to death. f Elizabeth, on the contrary, was desirous of abolishing the ancient religion, the profession of which had been authorized by so many kings her prede- cessors, and substituting one that flattered her ambition. On Mary's accession to the throne, she rejected the absurd title of head of the church, which had been usurped by her father, Henry VIII. Elizabeth con- sidered this title as the brightest gem in her crown, and had several condemned to death for having denied her that dignity. If, there- fore, we judge of the merits of an act by the * Dodd, ibid. lib. 3, art. 7. t Tliis position is certainly bad. If the persecu- tions under Mary had been dictated by a determi- nation to suppress the doctrine of the reformation, they would be just as culpable as those of Eliza- beth. Interference with freedom of conscience is, in all cases, unjustifiable ; and quite as much so when the object is to coerce people to retain an old religion, as when it is to make them adopt a new one. The recent researches of historians seem to show, that the executions in the reign of Mary arose wholly from political causes, and can be defended on this ground. Had they been the result of reli- gious bigotry, they would have fully merited for her the title of " Bloody Mary," so frequently (but, as it now appears, improperly) bestowed on her. — Note 1 1 hij Editor. motives that produce it, we will discover a great diff'erence between Mary and Eliza- beth. The reformers in Ireland did not yield to their brethren in England, in cruelty ; they caused as many to suffer martyrdom, besides the thousands of men, women, and children, who suffered death for their religion, either by war or famine.* To judge of the dispo- sition of Elizabeth by her propensities and caprices, she was violent in the extreme ; the ferocity of her father, who could not bear to be controlled, was discoverable in the daughter : when any thing went con- trary to her wishes, she gave vent to her rage in transports of phrensy, and swore in a manner little suited to her sex — her gene- ral oath being " GoiFs death."^ If political motives prevented Elizabeth from marrying, the occurrences of her life are far from sustaining a predilection for vir- ginity : she had many favorites whom she selected from their appearance, and with whom her familiarity furnished cause for doubting her A'irtue ; her inconstancy proved sometimes fatal to them. It was thus Eliza- beth amused the nobles of her court, while she was forwarding the reformation : she had always the advantage of skilful ministers to guide her government ; but as to religion, and the general rights of mankind, Dodd says, " never was a nation more unfortunate than England during her reign." The praises which panegyrists have be- stowed upon Elizabeth, with respect to her pretended wisdom in government, and which have been implicitly believed by foreigners, are known to us. It is true that the length of her reign was favorable to great under- takings ; she participated largely in the for- mation of the republic of Holland, and was persevering in her efforts to succor the Hu- guenots in France ; but the civil war which she fomented in Scotland, and the murder of the queen of that country, tarnished the glory of her reign. She gained many advantages '. over the Spaniards in the war which she carried on against them ; this, however, was j a war of plunder, by which a few individuals j were enriched, but from which England reap- | ed no solid advantages. The war in Ire- | land cost her, for some years, half of her | revenues, without her witnessing the Irish | people reduced to obedience. ] From the above slight sketches of mat- ters which characterized Queen Elizabeth's i reign, we leave it for the impartial reader to j * Analecta Sacra de Process. Mart, part 3. j t Nauton fragment. Regalia, Dodde, ibid. lib. I, j art. 6. Dodde, ibid. I 560 HISTORY OP IRELAND. determine whether an advantageous opinion of her morit can be entertained, or whether the means which she made use of for the attainment of her designs were conformable to honorable and upright principles. She ended her career in despair ; and God, in his justice, allowed her who had caused so much sorrow to others, to die without one to console her. CHAPTER LI. ! On the death of Queen Elizabeth, a. d. 1 603, James VI ., king of Scotland, inherited the throne of England, as descendant of Mar- garet, eldest daughter of Henry VII. He was son of Mary Stuart, who was beheaded under Elizabeth ; her father, James V., was son of James IV., king of Scotland, and Margaret of England above mentioned. The father of James VI. was Lord Darnly, son of the earl of Lenox, who was descended from Robert Stuart, the successor of David Bruce, king of Scotland, about the middle of the fourteenth century. We have given, in our account of the preceding reign, the misfortunes and tragical end of Lord Darnly, who had married Mary Stuart. The right of all the British kings, de- scended either from the Saxons, Danes, or Normans, was united in the person of James I., so that no prince in Europe had a more incontestable claim to royalty, than this prince had to the crown of England. By the accession of James to the throne of England, the two rival nations, England and Scotland, which had been divided for so many centuries, became united under one king, and from that period the English mon- archs took the title of kings of Great Bri- tain and Ireland. Clement VIII. filled the papal chair at the time of James's accession ; Rodolphus II. was emperor of Germany; Henry the Great ruled in France, and Philip III. wks king of Spain. James was proclaimed in London on the 14th March, with every demonstration of joy. The same ceremony took place in Dublin on the 6th April, by order of Lord Mountjoy, deputy of Ireland, in obedience to letters which he had received from the council in England to that effect. The same loyalty was not manifested in other cities and towns of Ireland ; as many wished to understand the king's disposition towards the Catholic religion, before they would acknowledge him for their sovereign. Captain Morgan was sent to Cork to have him proclaimed in that city as in Dublin, under the title of James I . Morgan was joined in Cork by Sir George Thornton, one of the commissioners for Mun- ster, who presented his orders to Thomas Sarsfield, who was then mayor. That magis- trate answered, that " according to the char- ters of the city, time was permitted to delib- erate on the subject." Thornton answered, that " as the king's right was incontestable, and as he had been already proclaimed in Dublin, the smallest hesitation on their part might be displeasing." " Perkin Warbeck," said Sarsfield, " was proclaimed in Dublin, and the country suffered by its precipitancy." Saxy, chief-justice for Munster, being pre- sent, desired to support Thornton, and said, " that whosoever would refuse to have the king proclaimed, ought to be arrested." To this Mead, the constable, replied, " that none present possessed an authority to arrest them." The example of Cork was followed by Waterford, Clonmel, Wexford, Limerick, and Kilkenny. The Catholics began by taking possession of the churches, and by having the divine mysteries performed in them ; but these attempts could not be sup- ported — the law of the strongest prevailed. The lord-deputy marched some troops, and subdued the commotions, by having some of the most turbulent put to death. In the mean time Thornton and Lord Roche, at the head of eight hundred soldiers, proclaimed the king in the vicinity of Cork. The ancient Irish revered the Milesian blood which ran in the veins of James VI., and looked upon him as a prince descended from themselves ; they knew, likewise, that Edward Bruce, brother to Robert Bruce, king of Scotland, from whom James was descended, had been chosen in the 14th cen- tury, by their ancestors, to be their sovereign; it was well known, too, that Edward had been actually crowned king of Ireland. These things, added to their submission to James, appeared to them to be a good title to the crown of Ireland ; at least it was equal to the right he derived through the kings of Eng- land, his predecessors, who were never uni- versally acknowledged by the ancient Irish.* The modern Irislx looked upon James as rightful heir to the crown of England, and consequently to that of Ireland, in virtue of his descent from Margaret, eldest daughter of Henry VII. ; so that the two races who inhabited Ireland at this time, forgetting their former animosities, submitted with one * Analect. Sacra, de reb. Cathol. in Hib. pp. 220, 276. Ogyg. epist. dedicat. Walsh, prosp. epist. I dedicat. Kennedy on the house of Stuart. CHRISTIAN IRELAND. 561 accord to the new king. These were the causes of the general submission of the Irish at this time to the crown of England. Hugh O'Neill, earl of Tyrone, who had destroyed so many of the English, went to England the summer following to make his submission to James. The king received him with honor, and issued a proclama- tion that all his subjects should treat him with reverence and respect. Rory O'Don- nel, brother to Hugh, who died in Spain after the siege of Kinsale,as we have already mentioned, accompanied O'Neill to Eng- land ; he was received with distinction at court, and created earl of Tirconnel by the king.* The Latin patent of this creation is written in Gothic characters, dated Dublin, February 10th, in the first year of the reign of James I. of England, and has the great seal of Ireland affixed to it. Modesty pre- vents Count O'Donnel, an officer in the ser- vice of her Imperial Majesty, from assuming the title of earl of Tirconnel ; but he is the direct heir of the title and extensive posses- sions of the house of Tirconnel. Mountjoy, the deputy, was appointed at this time lord-lieutenant of Ireland, and member of the privy council in England. His deputies in Ireland were. Sir George Carey, treasurer at war, and afterwards Sir Francis Chichester, who was sworn in, February, 1604. The Irish were sanguine in their hopes that the king would protect them in their religion and liberty. Previous to his ascend- ing the throne of England, he gave cause to the Catholics of the three kingdoms to expect special protection ; he had written a letter, signed with his ow,n hand, and sealed with his seal, to Clement VIII., assuring that pontiff of his intentions on that head, and his wish of embracing the Catholic re- ligion, as soon as he would be established on the British throne ; however, all this proved to be of no avail, through the arti- fice of Cecil, secretary of state,f which minister found means to withdraw the letter from the pope, and to estrange the king from his Catholic subjects. From the moment the inhabitants of Eng- land and Scotland separated from that unity which characterizes the true church, every sort of sectarians found partisans in those countries, and became formed into societies. There were, however, two principal sects, denominated Protestant and Episcopalian. * Baker, Chron. of Eng. Reign of James I., p. 404. Ireland's Case briefly stated, p. 9, et seq. Cox, Hist, of Ireland, Reign of James I. t Ireland's Case, ibid. The first constituted the Church of Eng- land, and formed a compound of all the errors that appeared in the reign of Eliza- beth. That princess took something from every innovator of her day, to construct this new religion, in which she still allowed the authority of bishops, and the hierarchy which belonged to the Catholic church to remain. From thence arose the name of Episcopalian. The latter, namely, the Presbyterians, are so called from their having no bishops, and being governed in religious matters by the elders of their sect, who have no mis- sion »but the choice which is made among them for this duty ; they are also called Pu- ritans, either from the affected purity of their manners and morality, or from having, as they say, purified Christianity from the superstition which they ascribed to the Roman Church. James had been brought up in Presby- terian principles, which he professed in Scotland, but on coming to England he adopted the Episcopalian. He had some inclination to embrace the Catholic tenets, but the fancied consequences of adopting that religion alarmed this weak prince.* His repose, however, was disturbed by two con- spiracies. The object of the first was the total overthrow of the government, and the placing of Arabella Stuart, the king's near relative, and, like him, descended from Henry VII., upon the throne. t Two priests, namely, William Watson and William Clerk, Lord Cobham, and his brother George Brook, Lord Grey, Sir William Rawleigh, Sir Griffith Markham, Sir Edward Parham, Bartholomew Brookesby, and Anthony Cop- ley, were accused of being the leading con- spirators. The plot being soon discovered, the Catholics were immediately accused of it. If any were concerned they were priests, whose only share in it was an accusation (without any proof) of their having known it by means of confession ; the others, it is believed, were but a few who had been bribed by Cecil and his emissaries. There were also Episcopalians and Puritans en- gaged in this conspiracy. In general, con- spirators are of the same mind, but we have here an odd mixture of clergy, laity. Catho- lics, Protestants, Puritans, and nobles of every rank. The world beheld with surprise men of such opposite interests united in the same cause. Several members of the con- * Ireland's Case, ibid. t Baker's Chron. Reign of James I., p. 404, 562 HISTORY OP IRELAND. spinicy were arrested, and some of them put to' death ; amon himself conform to all these matters in his private and domestic habits ; fourth, he , should admit all civil causes to be decided | by the parliament of Scotland, and all eccle- siastical affairs by the kirk.^ Charles was placed in an embarrassing dilemma. His friends were divided in opin- ion what plan would be most prudent for him to pursue ; some being opposed to such hard and disgraceful terms, while others, who had suffered banishment in his cause, and were desirous of returning to their country, urged him to accept of the condi- tions. The queen-dowager and prince of Orange were of this opinion ; he therefore adopted their advice, which was in accord- ance with bis own wishes, and submitted to the terms proposed by the commissioners. A frigate commanded by Van Tromp the | younger, was ready to receive him at Ter- heyden, near the Hague. Van Tromp him- self accompanied the prince on board, and enjoined his son to use all skill in his voyage * Life of Montrose, pages 178, 179. t Those wlio had exposed their lives in defence of the king were excommunicated. t The covenant signified a solemn compact made by the Puritans or Scotch fanatics for their mutual defence : its object was the extirpation of popery and prelacy. § This was an assembly of ministers of the Presbyterian Church. 584 HISTORY OP IRELAND. with the prince ; there were but two men-of- war to escort the frigate, and the English fleet was at sea ready to oppose tlicin. The able coinnvandor, however, surmounted every obstacle ; and after encountering a heavy gale, which cast them on the coast of Den- mark, the prince was landed safe on the 16th of June, 1650, in a place called the Spey, in the north of Scotland. Charles was received by his unkind sub- jects of Scotland with much show, but little sincerity : he was obliged to sign the cove- nant, and dismiss his faithful followers ; he submitted, however, in every thing to these fanatics, without security for either his life or freedom. In either spiritual or temporal matters the king was not consulted, so that he was treated more like a school-boy who feared the authority of his master, than as a king Avho was to govern his subjects. The news of the arrival of prince Charles soon reached England. The republicans being alarmed, collected an army, the com- mand of which devolved on Lord Fairfax ; but he refused it, under the plea of infirmity, and thus laid the foundation of Cromwell's greatness. On this general's return from Ireland, where he left the command to Ireton, his son-in-law, he was appointed commander- in-chief of the army intended for Scotland, and about the end of June he marched towards Berwick, in order to be near the frontiers. The people of Scotland determined to raise an army to oppose Cromwell, and having but a small regular force, ten thousand foot and twenty-seven troops of cavalry were ordered to be levied.* Generals were ap- pointed ; the earl of Levan was to command the infantry ; Holborn was to act under him as major-general ; David Lesley was nomi- nated lieutenant-general of the cavalry, and Montgomery major-general ; the chief com- mand was reserved for Prince Charles, who was proclaimed king of Scotland on the 15th July, at the cross of Edinburgh. Cromwell entered Scotland towards the end of July, at the head of sixteen thousand men, and marched through Mordington, as far as Haddington ; the Scotch army, con- sisting of six thousand horse, and fifteen thousand foot, being encamped between Edinburgh and Leith. Cromwell saw, that besides their superiority in numbers, the Scotch were advantageously posted ; he marched therefore towards Musslebouro-h, and from thence to Dunbar, closely pursued by the Scotch army. The English forces, to * Mem. Hist. ibid. Baker's Cliron. Reign of Charles II. the number of twelve thousand, arrived at Dunbar on Sunday the 1st of September; the Scotch, amounting to twenty-four thou- sand men, encamped the same day on a height near the town. The English were at first dismayed, but as despair often inspires courage, they drew up in order of battle, and spent that and the next night under arms ; on Tuesday morning the attack began ; the engagement was bloody, and the ground bravely disputed ; the English remained masters of the field of battle ; and the loss of the Scotch amounted to four thousand slain, nine thousand prisoners, with all their arms and baggage. In consequence of this signal victory, Cromwell took possession of Edinburgh, Leith, and other places, but was prevented from continuing his conquests by the approach of winter. The portion of the Scotch army that es- caped withdrew to Stirling. Having deter- mined to crown their king, the ceremony was performed on the 1st of January follow- ing, at Scone, with the approbation of all the royalists. Charles supposed he ought to be then his own master, but he soon discov- ered that he was subject to the most rigid covenanters and capricious fanatics. Weary, therefore, of his subjection, he determined to return to the continent, preferring his freedom to the empty title of king.* For this purpose he withdrew secretly to Middle- ton, who commanded some royalists in the mountains, but he was persuaded by Mont- gomery and other friends, to abandon an enterprise which might injure his cause. The royalist army was still encamped at Torwood, near Stirling, which was an ad- vantageous post, and from which Cromvv'ell strove in vain to dislodge them.f He made different movements, all tending to straiten the royal troops. The prince, in conse- quence, resolved to carry into effect a pro- ject he had contemplated for some time. He relied much upon his friends in England, but the tyranny of the parliament entirely obstructed their interference. While, therefore, Cromwell was besieging Johnston and some places north of Stirling, the king decamped on the last day of July, with his army, amounting to fourteen thou- sand men, and advanced by forced marches towards England. Having arrived at Car- lisle, he was proclaimed king of Great Brit- ain ;:|: he then published manifestoes grant- ing a general amnesty to his English sub- * Higgins' Short View, p. 270. Baker, Cliron. ibid. t Heath's Chron. ibid. p. 292. Baker, ibid. t Heath's Chron. ibid. p. 294. CHRISTIAN IRELAND. 585 jects, except Cromwell, Bradshaw, and Cook, being the most criminal in the mur- der of the king his father. Among the Eng- lish who accompanied the prince in this expedition were, the duke of Buckingham, the earl of Cleveland, Lords Wentworth and Wilinot, Colonels Wogan and Bointon, Major-general Massey, and some others. The king continued his march to Worces- ter. He was pursued by detachments com- manded by Lambert and Harrison, who also proceeded by forced marches from Scotland. They were joined by the militia and some troops newly raised by orders of the parlia- ment. Cromwell having left General Monk and seven thousand men to -complete the conquest of the Scotch, marched likewise in pursuit of the king. Worcester was speedily reduced by him, and on September 3d the royal troops were defeated near that city. The king escaped and fled, and hav- ing encountered in disguise a variety of adventures, he found a vessel ready to sail, and by this means got safe to France. The Irish royalists, among whom were Catholics as well as Protestants, still kept themselves under arms. The marquis of Ormond, who was commander-in-chief, be- sides being lord-lieutenant, always mani- fested a distrust of the former, and was dis- pleased that the king had granted them any freedom in their religion. Finding himself unable to oppose Ireton, he surrendered the command of the army to the earl of Clan- riccard, and embarked for France, A. d. 1650. Ireton, in the mean time, laid siege to Limerick,* but was obliged to abandon it on account of the winter. The English general resumed the siege soon after, but the noble defence made by Hugh O'Neill, who had previously caused a heavy loss to Cromwell's army before Clonmel, made him feel dearly the taking of Limerick. The parliament of England saw how im- portant it would be to their object to detach the Irish from the cause of the king ;t they therefore made them such ofl'ers as appeared fair and reasonable ; but these zealous roy- alists rejected them unanimously, at a meet- ing which was held at Loughreagh. It was debated whether the war should be pro- longed, in order to favor the king's march into England.^ Under this hope, the Irish continued under arms till 1653, when it was found impracticable to protract the war any longer. Most of the Irish army then pre- * Heath's Chron. part 2, an. 1651, p. 305. t Memoirs of Castlehaven, p. 164. I Ireland's Case, part 1, pp. 57, 58, 59, 60 ; part 2, pp. 68, 69. ferred to leave their country, rather than to live beneath the rule of regicides who had stained their hands in the blood of their prince. They therefore sought permission to depart from the kingdom, being deter- mined to render those services to their king in a foreign country that they could not at home. Circumstances favored their pro- posal, Cromwell being busily employed in forming a new mode of government called the protectorship. By his own authority he granted the Irish army their request, and in consequence, many of them embarked for France and Spain ; those, however, whom age and infirmities rendered unable to ac- company their countrymen, and share in the fortunes of the prince, were treated with the most savage barbarity ; from fourteen to twenty thousand, both soldiers and country people, were sold as slaves and transported to America, as had been previously done with the Scotch prisoners taken at the battle of Worcester. The Catholic officers and nobility were forced to abandon their estates in the other provinces and cross the Shan- non into Conn aught and the county Clare, where Cromwell enjoined them to remain, under pain of death, without express per- mission to leave them. Here they were sub- jected to the insolence, oppression, and cru- elty of the tyrants who ruled over them. Cromwell, in the mean time, either wish- ing to conciliate the Irish by kindness, or give them a favorable opinion of his be- nevolence, established at Athlone a court of claims, by which it was decreed to grant in those parts of the kingdom, to the pro- scribed proprietors of lands, (who would be found not to have been implicated in the rebellion.) a portion of land sufficient for their subsistence, and befitting their quality and pretensions. By this regulation it hap- pened that some of these noblemen enjoyed in Connaught and the county of Clare a fourth, others a third, and some one-half of the revenues they possessed at home. Such grants, though moderate, excited the enmity of their persecutors.* They often determined to cut off at a blow the wretched remains of the unhappy Irish, and it was by a peculiar favor of Providence that they escaped their wicked designs. The Catholics of Ireland groaned for many years beneath the yoke of tyranny. Their only consolation was in a hope of seeing their prince restored. They anticipated from * The soldiers of Cromwell, who were put into the possession of the estates and properties of the Catholics, felt, while seeing them exist, self-con- demnation and reproach. 7-1 580 HISTORY OF IRELAND. SO happy an event the end of thoir suflcr- injjs ; and calcnlaling npon his jurilice, they calcuhitod also upon a restitution of property, so jienerally sacriliced in his cansc ; but, ludiappily, the event produced a sorrowful reverse in their hopes.* Oliver (^roniwell, who had been the in- strunieut of abolishing monarchy in the three kingdouis, now turned liis arms against his masters. He suppressed, by his own au- thority, the parliament to which he was in- debted for his power : attended by armed men he entered the hall, and after expatia- ting upon its necessity, and his motives for dissolving them, they were ordered to with- draw, and the doors of the house were closed — guards being stationed, at the same time, to cut off all communication with the ave- nues that led to the house. He ordered the mace to be taken away as a mere bauble, and forbade it to be used at any of their ceremonies. The only sensation which this unexpected event produced among the Eng- lish, was one of raillery ; it became a sub- ject of amusement at their meetings, and songs were composed, accompanied with the chorus of '• Twelve parliament men for a penny." Cromwell after this assumed the thle of Protector. The English, who would not bear the mild and peaceful government of their lawful king, submitted to the despot- ism of a tyrant, which continued till his death, September 3d, 1 658 — a day memorable in his history for the victories he obtained over the king's forces at Dunbar and Worcester. After the death of the usurper, the pro- ceedings of General Monk seemed to por- tend the speedy restoration of the prince. Public aflairs were in too desperate a state to continue as they stood : at such a crisis, some of course had their fears, some their hopes, according to their respective interests. Among the former were the Cromwellians in Ireland. Broghil and Coote, their lead- ers, dispatched emissaries to England to sound the disposition of the people, in order that they might act as would best suit their own views. Having found that they were for the most part in favor of General Monk, and inclining towards the restoration, they repaired to Dublin, where they called a meet- ing of the parliament, which was composed of their own creatures and united by the same niterest— they being all usurpers of the goods of others. They deliberated on the means of sustaining their usurpation, and preventing the Irish nobility from regaining their estates, so liberally bestowed upon themselves by Cromwell'. They foresaw * Ireland's Case, p. 60. that as soon as the king would ascend the throne of his ancestors, he would, or at least ought, to reinstate the ancient propri(!tors in thtiir rights ; they resolved, therefore, to counteract this by putting in confinement all the Irish who had any claims, with the view of preventing them from aflbrding succor to their prince in the event of the parliamenta- rians forcing him to recur to arms. To give a color of justice to their proceedings. Sir .John Clotworthy, an intriguing character, and very influential among the Presbyteri- ans, was sent to England to excite alarm among the English by insinuating how dan- gerous it would be to restore the Irish to their ancient possessions to the prejudice of the English Protestants already settled in the country. Clotworthy, who was an ar- dent persecutor of the Catholics, and op- posed to the monarch, acquitted himself ably of his commission. On his arrival in Lon- don a report was spread that a rebellion had broken out in Ireland, in confirmation of which, letters of the same import were sent to merchants at the exchange, and copies of them circulated in every quarter of the city. This imposture gave rise to a proclamation against the Irish papists, which the parlia- ment presented to Charles II. on his restora- tion, though it was well understood that the report of an insurrection was founded only on the eagerness which some Catholics evinced in taking possession oftheir estates without any formality of law, which they considered as useless in resuming what they had been despoiled of a few years before, by a tyrant who acknowledged no law but that of the strongest. The writers of this party boast of the ex- ertions which Broghil, Coote, Clotworthy, and other Cromwellians in Ireland, made in favor of the restoration. They' sent com- missioners to the king at Breda, to assure his majesty of their allegiance and devoted- ness to his cause. He received them with apparent kindness, but afterwards manifested displeasure towards Broghil, when he went to congratulate him on his restoration. The submission of those traitors was caused by the determination of the English to restore their lawful prince, and was made at a time when they could not oppose his return. Cox, and other writers of his party, speak in a difTerent tone. " The convention," says Cox, " published a decree on the r2th of March for a free parliament to assemble on the 14th of May ; they consented to the declaration made by the king at Breda on April 14, and joyfully agreed to his restora- tion. The Irish papists had no part in this CHRISTIAN IRELAND. 587 great revolution, but wishing to enjoy the fruit of the labors of other people, many of them took possession of their patrimonies. The evil became so general that the conven- tion was obliged to issue a proclamation on -the 20th of May, 1660, for the security of peace and property." May not we ask these writers, what was the nature of the posses- sions which the convention was obliged to secure by a decree, and what were the titles of those who held them ? The length of pos- session did not exceed ten or twelve years, and they had been given by Cromwell as a reward to the accomplices of his crimes. The right of the possessors was the same as that which had authorized the tyrant to have his lawful sovereign beheaded. We leave the reader to decide on the right which could be derived from such a title and possession. As to the Irish who resunied their estates, the complaint of Cox is both unjust and absurd ; he allows that they were the ancient patri- monies of those Irish papists. According to Carte, they were generally Irish noblemen who had been dispossessed by Cromwell, notwithstanding their acquittal by the tri- bunal which that tyrant established at Ath- lone, to investigate the crimes of those who had been concerned in the rebellion.* Having been banished to Connaught, and the county of Clare, continues Carte, they considered themselves authorized to take possession of their estates and expel the usurpers on the death of the tyrant. The only claim of these men on the properties of the Irish was founded on rebellion : they all served against their king under Cromwell, from whom they held their commissions. Broghil was a member of parliament for the county of Cork. He continued the faithful servant of the tyrant, and after his death became a firm supporter of his son Richard Cromwell ; he was like- wise member of the privy council of the new protector, till the extinction of his power. f No longer supported by the power of the Cromwells, and viewing the dispositions of the English towards their king, he then re- turned to Ireland, and in union with others of his faction, went over to the strongest side. The prejudice of Cox makes him ascribe the resumption of their properties by the Irish, to the labors of other people. In the month of ]May, 1660, Charles, eldest son of Charles I., ascended, by the wise and disinterested conduct of General Monk, the throne of his ancestors, under the name of Charles II. He was received by all states as * Life of tli£ duke of Ormond, vol. 2, lib. 6, p. 205. t Harris's History of Ireland. lawful heir to the crown of Great Britain. In gratitude Charles restored the house of lords, and had a general amnesty passed which was received with universal applause. The monarch gave his consent that the par- liament alone should punish the murderers of his father, and out of so many who had contributed to the catastrophe of Charles I., ten only were executed, the rest being judged worthy of the king's pardon. Although the majority of the Scotch peo- ple were guilty of disloyalty to Charles,* the marquis of Argyle, Guthry, a celebrated minister, and Captain Giffan, were the only victims. The marquis sold the king to the English, and consented to the usurpation ; Guthry was a preacher of sedition, and known to have been violently opposed to Montrose and the royalist party, and Giffan was entirely devoted to Cromwell. The two last were hanged at Edinburgh. Charles ascended the throne under very flattering auspices. The people, struck with a conviction of their barbarous treatment to the late king, thought they could not praise the son too much foj his clem.ency ; they had groaned also for many years under the sway of tyranny, while now peace, liberty, order, and the laws, were re-established in Eng- land and Scotland, so that no prince ever enjoyed more fully the affections of his subjects than Charles II. The restoration of a legitimate sovereign would seem likely to terminate the misfor- tunes oflrelandtoo. Many of her people nobly participated in the sufferings of their prince. From twenty-five to thirty thousand of his faithful Irish subjects having crossed the seas to escape from the tyranny of their rulers, crowded to receive his orders. While the prince remained in France, they signalized themselves in the service of that crown. When it became necessary for the English monarch to seek an asylum among the Span- iards, his command to all his Irish regiments to follow him to the Low Countries was in- stantly obeyed, at a time when all his other subjects had abandoned him. Their fidelity drew upon them, in his exile, the admiration and esteem of strangers. The words of the I prince himself, in his address to both houses, I after his restoration, sufliciently attest these \ truths, so praiseworthy in the Irish people, j On the 27th of July, 1660, King Charles ! II. thus expressed himself: " I think it is | not necessary to observe, that the people of Ireland deserve to be partakers of our cle- mency ; they have displayed their affection * Heath's Chron. p. 4, ad an. 1661, p. 497. 588 HISTORY OP IRELAND. for US in foreign countries : you will there- fore pay a regard to our honor and the prom- ises which we have made to them." On the 30th of November, in the same year, the king's remarks on the aflairs of Ireland were as follows : "lastly we are mindful, and shall alwavs remember the deep afTcction which a great part of that nation had manifested for us during our sojourn beyond the seas : the Irish troops have always received our com- mands with alacrity and obedience, submit- ting to the services which have been pointed out to them as beneficial for our interests, which conduct on their part is most worthy of our protection, favor, and justice." It is right now to investigate what was the extent of that protection, justice, and/cvor, which the Irish had merited from the prince's own acknowledgment, and what were the benefits which accompanied their merit. Charles, when in possession of the throne, resolved to compensate by his pleasures for the years of his exile. For this end, he reposed all his confidence in a wicked ministry, which had its own interests more deeply at heart than the honor and glory of so good a master. The matter to be decided was, whether the Cromwellians who brought Charles I. to the scaffold, and compelled Charles II. to pass twelve years in sorrowful exile, ought to be supported in peaceful enjoyment of those estates conferred upon them for their hos- tility to the crown ; or Avhether the ancient proprietors, who had proved their loyalty to the king, ought to have their estates restored to them, which they had lost for their zeal in the royal cause. The right of the former to properties which they had been in possession of but about twelve years, was founded on regicide ; that of the latter, on an uninter- rupted possession of many centuries, which was confirmed by the public sanction of a solemn treaty with Charles I., called the peace of 1648, and the repeated promises of Charles II. during his exile ; no question therefore could be more easily determined. In the beginning, the king seemed disposed to be just, but through the influence of Cla- rendon, the prime minister, and a few nobles of the court, his opinions became biased by degrees in favor of the opposite party, who made him gradually abandon to theii enemies, those who had been the faithful adherents of his misfortune. Not content with ibrgiving his sworn enemies, the mur- derers of his father, the cruel persecutors of all the royal family, from whom he himself had a miraculous escape, he granted them favors, and loaded them with the estates, honors, and dignities of his most loyal sub- jects, many of whom had lost both their lives and fortunes in supporting his interests against these new favorites. Such were the protection, justice, and favor, with which the zeal and loyalty of the Irish were re- warded, by the king's proclamation for the settlement or regulation of Ireland, at White- hall, on the 30th of November, 1660. The declaration of the king for the settle- ment of Ireland, was, in reality, the settle- ment of rebels and traitors, and consequently the ruin of his majesty's most faithful sub- jects :* it was followed by orders to have it put into force ; then came the commentary of the parliament, and to crown the whole, the famous explanation act, which was well calculated to complete the destruction of those whose right appeared to be incon- testable. The Irish Catholics who should have been reinstated in their inheritance, were distin- guished into three classes ;f the first was called innocent, signifying those who had never joined the confederates before the peace of 1648 ; the second comprised what were called ensignmen, implying such as had served beyond the seas, under his majesty's standard during his exile ; the third was composed of the confederates, whom the faith of a solemn treaty authorized to recover their patrimonies. The king appeared deter- mined to do justice to the three classes. With respect to the innocent, even their enemies could not oppose the restitution of their properties. The claims of those who had distinguished themselves in a military capa- city in the services of their prince, were so recent and present to the mind, that none would dare to demand their exclusion from his majesty's favors. There remained, there- fore, but a third class, viz., the confederates, whose pretensions were founded on the peace of 1648,| that could not seek in- dulgence. The king felt the injustice that would be caused by a dereliction of his en- gagements to fulfil a peace in which his con- science and his honor were concerned, as he himself had expressed in his declaration. " We cannot," said the prince, " forget the peace which we were ourselves necessitated to make with our Irish subjects, at a time when those who wickedly usurped the gov- ernment of this country had erected the odious tribunal which took away the life of our dear father. We cannot therefore but consider ourselves bound to the fulfilment of peace towards those who have honorably * Ireland's Ca.se, ibid, page 85. t Ireland's Case, ibid, page 87. t Ireland's Case, page 88. CHRISTIAN IRELAND. 589 and faithfully performed what they pro- mised," &c. The Cromwellians, on the other hand, and the partisans whom they purchased at court, seeing the king so decided on this point, and not daring to oppose in a direct way such generous and worthy motives, pretend- ed to enter into the opinions of the prince, being convinced that their unjust policy would not fail in the moment of need, and that this would furnish them with the oppor- tunity of bringing the prince into their views. It was first affirmed by his wicked ministers that there were more confiscated lands in Ireland than ought to satisfy all those whose pretensions were just. It was next ad- vanced, that the Protestant adventurers (which implied those recently established in the country) should be preferred to the other pretenders, or, at least, that they were entitled to the next place after the innocent papists. On the faith of these two articles, which were granted as the foundation of the whole edifice, these sectarians, the most savage and decided fanatics of the three kingdoms, whose principles were always equally fatal to the true religion and monar- chical government, became, all of a sudden, beneath the mantle of Protestantism, the minions of the church and state — a conver- sion far too sudden to be sincere. The Protestants who were to be made secure in their possessions in Ireland,* were also of three sorts : the first consisted of adventurers, t who had been merchants and citizens of London, and, relying on acts made in the 17th and 18th years of the reign of Charles I. for the reduction of Ireland, had advanced considerable sums upon the lands of that country, the acquirement of which cost themselves very little. The money thus obtained was never sent to Ire- land, but was applied by the rebellious par- liament to the raising of an army, which defeated the king's forces at Edgehill ; and the application of the money in that way was approved of by the adventurers them- selves, assembled at Grocers' Hall, in Lon- don. This was no secret; Charles I. was not ignorant of it, since he reproached the commissioners of the parliament with the treaty of Uxbridge, and their perfidy was the reason why the prince never mentioned, in his difi'erent projects for pacifying the Irish confederates, any title which the con- federates could advance to the said lands, and that he took care to make no provision for them. Charles II. was equally convinced * Ireland's Case, ibid, page 90. t Recit. exacte et fiddle, p. 39, «fec suiv. of the defect of their titles. His declaration is illustrative of his notions on that head : " In the first place, if, to satisfy those who have advanced their money, we examine into the titles by which they enjoy their possessions, they would be found defective and invalid, not being in conformity with the acts of parliament on which they rest ; still, as we are strongly inclined to provide,'' &c. Notwithstanding, however, the enor- mity of their crimes, and the invalidity of their titles, they were to be upheld in their unjust possessions. The claims of these first adventurers being so unfounded, what opinion can we form of those who afterwards advanced their money to excite rebellion, without any other authority than that of the lower house, which usurped the government? According to the laws of the state, the com- mons had neither the power of effecting loans in the name of the nation, nor of governing without the consent of the king and the other house ; the king was in exile at the time, and the upper house suppressed, still the latter class was placed on an equal footing with the former, and both parties (viz., the ad- venturers and those who lent their money to excite rebellion) made secure in their pos- sessions, acquired in the manner described. Thus have these persecutors of their king been liberally rewarded at the expense of the faithful Irish. Cromwell's soldiers were the next to re- ceive rewards. The tyrant was, it is true, deeply indebted to them, since, with the assistance of their brethren in England, they had raised him from obscurity to abso- lute power over the three kingdoms.* His gratitude was equal to their zeal ; he divided twelve entire counties between these fana- tics, the cruel ministers of his tyranny, and the avowed enemies of the king. It would seem, however, that it was by mortgages he settled with those mercenary miscreants, in payment of arrears due to them, and that he would never grant patents to confirm their possessions. These precarious tenures in- duced several of the new nobility to sell their titles to estates for a trifle, whenever an op- portunity occurred ; and in the sequel the purchasers were confirmed for ever in pos- session of the rewards of their infamy by the king's declaration ! It can scarcely be con- ceived how Charles II., on being restored to the throne of his ancestors, could bring him- self, as he did, (unfortunately for his family,) to reward the murderers of his father by an unbounded donation of lands, while he per- * Ireland's Case, ibid, pages 92, 93. A correct account, page 48, et seq. 590 HISTORY OF IRELAND. mitted their true and lawful owners (of whose fuUdity lie boasted) to die in want and misery. AHusion is next made to the oflicers who had served the king before June 5th, 1G19, and whose arrears, according to their own calculations, aniountcul to one million eight hundred thousand pounds sterling. Thou'gh this appears to have been an unfair and an enormous demand, still it was admitted by the adventurers, whose maxim was, " Do us a kindness and ire will do you another.'' Un- der pretence of repaying these arrears, all the confiscated lands in four counties border- ing the Shannon were bestowed upon forty- nine officers, besides houses and other privi- leges in every town and city of the kingdom. These kindnesses are the more surprising, as they were conferred on men who were, during and antecedent to the summer of 1649, in actual rebellion against their king : among them were the earls of Orrery, Moun- trath, Lords Kingston and Coloony, Sirs Jones, Saint George, Coles, &c., who de- serted the king's standard to join the usurper. Those who were principally instrumental in surrendering the towns and fortresses to Cromwell, were singularly included in the act of settlement as entitled to have their arrears allowed. No distinction was made between the forty-nine officers and the Cath- olics, in the king's declaration for the pay- ment of arrears ; with the exception, how- ever, of the marquis of Clanriccard and Sir George Hamilton, the Catholics (who never deserted the standard of their king, and who were always opposed to the usurper) were excluded by subsequent acts of parliament from all favor. Thus these ministers of iniquity found means to lead the king to commit, against his will, the most crying acts of injustice. He himself, so far from wishing to despoil the Catholics of Ireland of their patrimonies, evinced from the beginning an inclination to do them justice ; but he suffered himself to be deceived by those in whom he reposed confidence, and who, under the specious show of loyalty, always preferred their own interests to the glory of their prince. A court of claims was established in Dub- lin, after the same plan as that which Crom- well established at Athlone in 1645, in favor of the Catholics transplanted into Connaught and the county of Clare, with this difference, that the court of the usurper was the less partial of the two ; for, whether from want of money to suborn false witnesses, or being unacquainted with the art of employing mis- creants who live by perjury, it is well known that few or none of such characters were made use of at Cromwell's court, and that they were seen in crowds, and employed by the court of claims in Dublin. The court at Atldoiie was not limited as to time, while that of Dublin had but from February 15, 1663, till the August following, allowed to any claimant from any part of the kingdom to make his appearance. During that short interval almost a thousand Catholics were examined, of whom at least one half were declared innocent, notwithstanding the rigor of the qualifications required, and the unbri-, dledlicenseof false witnesses. One example out of a hundred will be sufficient to develop the profligacy of both witnesses and judges. Mr. Francis Betagh of Moynalty, who lived in 1663 at the court of St. Germain- en-Laye,* and whose ancestors possessed considerable landed property in the county of Meath during many centuries, was ac- cused of having, at the head of a company of foot, sacked and pillaged in 1641 his Pro- testant neighbors ;t although '\\\ the month of October of the same year it was well known that he was but nine years old, an age at which he was very unlikely to be concerned in a crime of that nature. Besides this, one of the witnesses produced against him was but three years old in 1641. Neither this obvious perjury, nor the innocence of the gentleman, of which the nobles of the coun- try were witnesses, could make any impres- sion upon the judges ; and though Sir Rainsford, one of the commissioners of the court, expressed his conviction of the pro- ceedings being unjust, the marquis of Antrim, the earl of Limerick, and others who were present, restrained him by their rebukes from making reparation. By such abominable proceedings some hundreds of ancient fami- lies, equally eminent for their noble extraction as for their loyalty to their king, have been robbed of their patrimonies, and reduced to the dire necessity of either begging or em- bracing occupations unsuited to their birth. The time tor examining those interested having expired, Rainsford, the chief com- missioner, thought to continue the court till further prorogation would be obtained, to do justice to all whose rights could not have been discussed within the time prescribed. There were seven thousand to be still heard, whose claims deserved to be attended to equally with the others, since " every man should be looked upon as innocent till the contrary be proved," particularly when he * His son is major in the Irish regiment of the chevalier Fitz-James, in the service of France. t Ireland's Case, pages 102, 103. CHRISTIAN IRELAND. 591 submits to so severe a tribunal. However, Clarendon, the prime minister, refused any further length of time to the court, which was thus forced to cease its functions and to separate. Clarendon then instituted another tribunal, whose members were all usurpers, from whom the lawful proprietors were to seek restitution. When the judges and the party consist of such characters, what hope could there be for a claimant ? To shut against him the doors of justice altogether, the parliament next made a law to interdict for the future every appeal for the restora- tion of property or the recovery of estates. The Cromwellians having gained their point, and secured to the adventurers and soldiers the enjoyment of their possession of the estates of the Catholics, began to bestow the confiscated lands upon the earls of Or- mond, Anglesy, Orrery, and upon Lords Coote, Kingston, and other favorites, Avho had been bad servants to the crown. To create more friends by the mammon of ini- quity, large donations of land were appro- priated to pious uses ; the revenues of the university of Dublin were increased, and free schools established. Some bishops and ministers were enriched, and extensive hold- ing conferred on many, though they derived no titles from the king's declaration. The estates that were possessed for some time by Miles Corbet and other regicides, were given to the king's brother, the duke of York. Thus vere the lands wasted by pro- fuse largesses, whereby resumptions were defeated, and consequently the Cromwel- lians continued in the enjoyment of their usurpations. Fifty-four persons, called the denominated, were not better treated than others, for want of lands to be given them. They were called denominated, because a clause was inserted in the explanation act, (specifying the names,) which entitled them to repossess their baronial houses and two thousand acres of land adjoining. The earl of Orrery sarcastically remarked, that they had a name but not the reality. In or- der to defeat every future prospect, a law was made, " that when any doubt should arise upon the clauses of said act, it should be explained in favor of Protestants, who it was intended should remain secure and undisturbed."* It is incredible to think how the king was influenced to act contrary, not only to jus- lice, but even to the interests of his house. f Princes have been often known, from mo- tives of policy, to pardon rebellious subjects, » Statutes of Ireland, p. 38. t Ireland's Case, pp. 73, 74. after returning to their duty and submis- sion ; but to heap upon them the rich patri- monies of faithful subjects, by Avhich the latter are reduced to the extreme of indi- gence, is unexampled in history. Policy, it will be said, precluded Charles from acting otherwise, on account of the great number of parliamentarians wickedly disposed towards him, and whom, being at the time possessed of new properties, it might be dangerous to irritate with arms in their hands. This mode of reasoning was often urged in council by the chancellor Clarendon. Might we not ask the earl, why he did not observe the same conduct towards England and Scotland ? Was the party less formi- dable in these countries than in Ireland ? The minister forgot that his political reason- ing gave the same ground for confirming the Cromwellians in their usurpations in England. They had usurped the royal au- thority ; they were in possession of the lands of the crown, of the church, and of those of many English nobles and gentlemen ; they appropriated to themselves, by crime, rebellion, and parricide, the properties of others ; and notwithstanding all this, were they not put down without danger or oppo- sition, though they at the time had arms ixv their hands, possessed likewise all the for- tresses of the kingdom, were superior in numbers, well provided with eveiy thing, and consequently more formidable than their brethren in Ireland ? If the king, before his departure from Breda, had promised to pay the arrears of the ofllcers and soldiers of General Monk, could they not have satisfied them in Ireland by public taxes as they did in England, without depriving so many widows and orphans of subsistence, and so many gentlemen of their inheritance, who by signal services merited rewards, instead of being stripped of their patrimonies ? So crying an injustice could not be the result of a sound policy, nor even of common pru- dence, which frequently made Clarendon say before the king, " do good to your ene mies, your friends will not i?ijure you." To proceed in this way was contrary to sound policy, honor, and justice. The king, how- ever, acted in all this according to the ad- vice of his council and his courtiers. We cannot find in history the example of a king so generous and beneficent to infa- mous rebels, as Charles 11. has been to the Cromwellians of Ireland — but so far from their gratitude being proportioned to the goodness of their prince, they were con- thiually plotting against him. Conspiracies 592 HISTORY OF IRELAND. were got up against his person, one in 1663, another in 1671 ; these were put down in their l)irth, and three of the meanest of the conspirators put to death, while the princi- pal were pardoned, who were always full of the spirit of republicanism, and Avere avow- ed enemies to monarchical government. Such was the fruit of Clarendon's policy, " do good to rjour cncmicsy The injustice, or rather the indolence of Charles II., was felt not only in Ireland, but also in England, where the cavaliers were treated with deep ingratitude. " The foulest stain," says Hume, " attached to the character of Charles II. in the opinion of judges, was his neglect of the cavaliers, whose zeal and sufferings in his cause knew no bounds. Poverty, to which the most zealous royalists were reduced, dimin- ishing their respectability, rendered them less fit to support the measures of the king, and made him look on them as a useless burden. The greatest number of the royal- ists were still laboring under distress and disappointment, aggravated by the loss of their lawful hopes, and the torment of see- ing favors and influence heaped upon their deadly enemies. With respect to the acts of indemnity and oblivion, the first was in- tended for the enemies of the king, the lat- ter for his friends."* Our author discovers in the character of Charles the cause of his conduct towards his faithful subjects. Some people of penetratior^, he says, began to re- mark that his virtues, by which he had at first dazzled and almost enchanted the na- tion, possessed less solidity than splendor ; that his judgment lost much of its power from want of application ; that his goodness appeared rather the effect of an easy dispo- sition than true generosity of character ; that although he displayed good-will to all who approached him, his heart was incapa- ble of sincere friendship, and that he se- cretly nurtured a wicked opinion of, and distrust in mankind. The English cavaliers had less to complain of than the Irish royal- ists. Some of the principal of them receiv- ed pensions, and the parliament distributed sixty thousand pounds among the rest, while the Irish were excluded from all favor or consideration. The reign of Charles II. was moderately long. Though the Catholics of Ireland were loaded with severe oppression, they were always faithful to that prince. Charles in order to allay somewhat of their suf- ferings, undertook to indemnify them on * Hist, of Great Britain. Charles II., chan. ]. n 158. ^ ^' the score of religion, as far as circumstances would permit. During his reign he had the administration of the penal laws suspended, which the parliaments renewed from time to time in all their rigor. The Catholic peers were allowed to sit in parliament ; ecclesi- astics instructed in public, and taught the youth the principles of their religion, which all were allowed to practise, though the penal laws had not been repealed. Charles II., after a few days illness, died the 6th of February, 1685. li is said that he manifested great indifference for the bish- ops of the English Church, who displayed their zeal about him by their intense ex- hortations. Some Catholic priests were brought to him, from whom he received the sacraments according to the rites of the Ro- man Church ; thus making it appear that he dared not to die in that religion which he professed upon the throne. As soon as Charles II. breathed his last, his brother, the duke of York, received the homage of the lords. He was proclaimed king in Lon- don and all the provinces, under the name of James II. Public rejoicings were made in all the towns, in which inclination and duty seemed to combine. The news of James II. 's accession to the British throne having reached Ireland, the duke of Ormond, being lord-lieutenant, assembled the council in Dublin, and the day following the king was proclaimed with great solemnity in the city. The new sovereign convened his council in England ; he made a speech to them which delighted all his subjects, and in- creased their attachment to his person. " I will endeavor," he said, " to preserve the government of church and state, in the man- ner by law established : I know that the Church of England is favorable to mon- archy, and those who are members of it have made it appear on various occasions that they were faithful subjects : I will take particular care to defend and support it. I know, likewise, that the laws of the. king- dom are sufficient to make the king as great as I could wish. As I am determined to preserve the prerogatives of my crown, so I will never deprive others of what belongs to them. I have often hazarded my life in de- fence of the nation : I am still ready to ex- pose it to preserve its rights." These prom- ises were preceded by bitter complaints against the malice of his enemies, who were the authors of impressions that were spread concerning the principles of despotic power with which they asserted him to be imbued. This address of the king was received with pleasure ; it was universally considered CHRISTIAli IRELAND. 593 condescending, noble, and sublime. Soon after this, addresses poured in from every quarter, filled with assurances of loyalty and gratitude for his solicitude respecting the Church of England and the liberty of the people. Cities, corporations, and imi- versities, were all lavish in their praises and congratulations. The parliament of England and Scotland met at the same time, to the great satisfac- tion of both nations. That of Scotland, of which the duke of Queensbury was presi- dent, having confirmed the acts that had been passed in the preceding reign for the security of the Protestant religion, granted to his majesty the same revenues which his brother had enjoyed : it was enacted, that the duty on all domestic and foreign goods should be annexed to the crown of Scotland. In the same session, the sum of two hundred and sixty thousand pounds a year, for life, was voted to his majesty. England vied with Scotland in generosity ; the parliament secured to the king, during life, the revenues which his brother had en- joyed at his death, together with the funds which were allowed him while duke of York. It was proposed to take down the names of those who, in the pai'liaments of the pre- ceding reign, had voted to exclude him from succeeding to the throne ; but one of the secretaries having declared that the king pardoned all who had been opposed to him, the declaration elicited new praises. On receipt of the intelligence of the rebellion of Argyle, and the invasion of the duke of Monmouth, they were both declared guilty of high treason ; and being taken in arms, the earl of Argyle was put to death in Edinburgh, and Monmouth in England. The parliament renewed the trial of Gates, who had been brought to justice in the pre- ceding reign on charge of perjury, and never was a culprit more clearly convicted. He was condemned to pay an exorbitant fine, to be flogged, to stand in the pillory, and to be imprisoned for life. This auspicious beginning seemed to promise to the king a happy sway. His ene- mies defeated, a powerful army on foot, his subjects submissive and kind, and foreign princes seeking his alliance, these were happy omens of a peaceful and glorious reign. During the first six months he reigned in the hearts of his people, but the aspect of his affairs was soon changed. James was a Catholic, and protected that religion ; he was very partial to those who professed it, and caused mass to be said in the palace. This zeal for the true religion was contrary to his worldly policy ; but his real imprudence was the unbounded confi- dence he reposed in some members of his council, who secretly betrayed him. He considered it an imperative duty to protect his own faith, and he also considered that the Catholics ought to take advantage of his reign to rescue themselves from the oppres- sion to which they had been so long exposed. James had two objects in view : first, to grant the Catholics freedom in the exercise of their religion ; and secondly, to enable them to hold public oflices, from which they had been unjustly excluded. The English became alarmed, and the last step the king took in favor of his religion was considered by the Protestants as the destruction of their own. Some noblemen busied themselves in fomenting discontent among the people, and James was ruined by a plot which Lord Shaftsbury had projected under Charles II. The duke of Ormond, lord-lieutenant of Ireland, having confided the government to the primate and the earl of Granard, set out for London in March, 1685. Shortly after- wards the court sent over to Ireland the earl of Clarendon, the king's brother-in-law, as lord-lieutenant, and Sir Charles Porter as chancellor. Clarendon was recalled in February, 1686, and Richard Talbot, earl of Tirconnel, who already commanded as lieutenant-general, was appointed lord-dep- uty of Ireland. The Catholic religion began to be openly professed, the priests and friars appeared in public in the dress of their or- der, the ancient proprietors took possession of their estates, which had been usurped by the Cromwellian soldiers, and Catholics as well as Protestants were appointed to public offices. The league against the king gained strength every day in England. The Eng- lish nobles belonging to the faction had al- ready crowded to Holland, to the prince of Orange, the king's son-in-law ; and the con- spirators solicited him to come to their as- sistance for the defence of their religion and liberty. Henry Sidney, and Sir Pey- ton, and Sir Gwyn, arrived secretly at the Hague, where they were favorably received. The intercourse being free, other noblemen proceeded to Holland under vari- ous pretexts. The prince of Orange, well convinced of his finding partisans in England, and con- spirators to favor his views; commanded an armament to be got ready, and gave the necessary orders for an expedition to Eng- land. Before he embarked he published a manifesto, dated October 1st, specifying his 594 HrSTORY OF IRELAND. motives, and what induced him to undertake it. The complaints of the EngHsh Protest- ants against thoir Iving were enumerated ; the means that were taken, but in A-ain, to remedy the disorder, were pointed out, and the object of the present enterprise set Ibrth. Many charges were artfully embodied, in order to prove that the king intended to destroy the religion, laws, and liberty of the nation. France saw the misfortunes that threaten- ed the king of England. Louis XIV., of glo- rious memory, apprized him of them often. The French'monarch loved dearly the un- happy king of England, and gave proofs of it by offering to assist him. M. Bonrepos was commissioned to propose to send thirty thousand troops, and vessels to carry them to England. This offer was rejected by the advice of the earl of Sunderland, who point- ed out that to introduce a foreign army into England would destroy the confidence of the people ; but this was already lost, inasmuch as bribery and a spirit of revolt pervaded both the troops and other portions of them. Though Sunderland was secretary of state and president of the king's privy council, he was not loyal. He was a determined foe to the policy of his master, and had urged more anxiously than any other the exclusion of that prince from the throne, when that ques- tion was debated in the preceding parliament. He was, however, resolved to follow the ruling power while it would be his interest, and under James H. he professed himself a Catholic, to be enabled to serve the Protest- ants by betraying his master. All things being prepared for the expedition to Eng- land, the prince of Orange took leave of his states, and put to sea with a favorable wind, about the end of October. Fifty ships of war, followed by four hundred transport vessels, besides twenty frigates and some smaller craft, composed the fleet ; from twelve to thirteen thousand troops, and arms for twenty thousand men, were on board. Admiral Herbert, an Englishman, com- manded the van ; in the rear was vice-ad- miral Evertzen, and the prince was in the centre. All these vessels bore the English flag with the arms of the prince of Orange, around which were these words, "For reli- gion and liberty," and at bottom was the de- vice of the house of Nassau, " I will main- tain." A great number of English noblemen were on board the fleet. Among the gen- eral officers was Count Schomberg, marshal of France,* accompanied by his son Count ■* Marihal Sclioinbtrg left France on account of his religion, and catered tlie service of tlie elector of Brand'.'nburgh, in the country of Cleves. Charles Schomberg, Monsieur Caillemolte, son of the marquis of Ruvigny, and about three hundred French officers who were refugees in Holland. The fleet had pro- ceeded to sea, when a violent storm, which lasted for twelve hours, dispersed the ships, and forced them to take shelter in their own ports ; several foundered with their cargoes ; one man only, however, and five hundred horses, perished. This loss being soon re- paired, and the wind favorable, they put to sea a second time, on the 1 1th of November. Admiral Dartmouth, an Englishman, assured the king that he would intercept the enemy, instead of which he did not appear against them, and the prince of Orange having gained Torbay road, landed without opposition. Immediately after landing, the prince be- gan his march ; but on arriving at Exeter, he discovered the tardiness of the people to j declare for him. The bishop and dean of 1 Exeter, with the inferior clergy, had fled ; ! the magistrates kept aloof; and after the reading of the manifestoes few of the people offered him their aid ; and the commissions, too, that had been given for the raising of troops, produced but a moderate efl'ect. The appearance of things, however, soon changed. The prince marched to Salis- bury, where several noblemen, distinguished for their birth, riches, and the oflices they held, flocked to his standard. Among them were Lords Colchester and Wharton, Colonel Godfrey, and others, together with some troops. The earl of Abuigdon, Captain Clar- ges, and several others, soon followed their example ; but that which produced most sur- prise, was the conduct of Lord Cornbury, the earl of Clarendon's eldest son, who havingleft the royal camp with his regiment of dragoons and three others, under pretence of driving the enemy from an outpost, joined the prince. The king being determined to oppose the prince of Orange, marched at the head of thir- ty thousand men towards Salisbury, where his presence was much needed. Here his principal officers sent him a communication l3y their general. Lord Feversham, that their conscience would not permit them to serve in opposition to the prince of Orange, since the security of religion and the national privi- leges were his objects. By this conduct of the officers, James lost his principal sup- port. Lord Churchill, (afterwards duke of Marlborough,) lieutenant-general and captain of the guards, and one of his most intimate favorites, deserted him. He was follow- ed by the duke of Grafton,* Colonel Bar- * One of the natural sons of Charles II. and the duchess of Cleveland. CHRISTIAN IRELAND. 595 clay, and other officers. Their example was soon imitated by the prince of Denmark, the king's son-in-law, the duke of Ormond, Lord Drumlanerick, the duke of Queensbury's eldest son, and many others, who joined the prince of Orange at Sherburn. So general a desertion made the king look to his own safety ; he returned to London, and in order to secure an asylum for himself, the queen, and his son, the prince of Wales, he prevailed on the Count de Lausun, who was then negotiating some affairs iii England, to conduct his family to France. The queen, attended by the earl and countess of Powis, the Countesses de Dalmon and Montecucully, and several other persons of distinction, left Whitehall in the night of December 19 ; got on board a vessel on the Thames, and having escaped the notice of the English, reached Gravesend, where a ship was in readiness to receive them. After a few hours the queen landed at Calais, from whence she proceeded to Versailles. The king continued for some time longer in England ; but reflecting on the deplorable state of his affairs, he found it impossible to improve them by force, and saw that he would be compelled either to resign the sceptre, or retain it under severe and disgraceful terms. The English nobility were undecided respecting the treatment they should adopt towards him ; some insist- ed that he had no longer any right to the throne, and ought to be removed from the capital ; others were for securing his person and sending him a prisoner to Breda. Protestant historians boast of the generous sentiments of the Prince of Orange on this subject ; according to them, he evinced the greatest horror for any attempt against the person of his father-in-law. In the mean time, the guards of the prince of Orange took possession of the palaces of Whitehall and St. James, after which some noblemen were deputed to the king to recom- mend to him to retire to Ham. The king preferring to go to Rochester, was obliged to wait for the permission of William, which arrived at eight o'clock in the morning. He left Rochester for France, in the beginning of January, 1689 ; and arrived at the port of Ambleteuse, attended by the duke of Ber- wick, and Messrs. Sheldon and Abbadie. He then proceeded to St. Germain-en-Laye, to join the queen and prince of Wales, where he' was received by King Louis with that beneficence and greatness of mind which so eminently characterized that mbnarch. Ac- I cording to Latrey, bishop of Salisbury, and j other English writers, the reign of James II. ended with his flight. They allege that the king had deserted his kingdom, and thereby had in reality abdicated his crown. Two documents, written by the king of England, copies of which are given, will sufficiently vindicate his retreat : the first was dated Rochester, 22d December, 1688, and contains the cause and motives of his going. The second is a letter to the mem- bers of his privy council in England, dated St. Germain-en-Laye, January, 1689. The motives which obliged the king of Eng- land to withdraw to Rochester, as written by himself, and published by his order. "It cannot be a matter of surprise that I have retired from my country a second time. I might have expected that the Prince of Orange would have acted otherwise, from the letter which I wrote to him by Lord Fe- versham. But instead of answering me, he not only had ihe earl arrested, contrary to the rights of men, but sent his guards at eleven o'clock at night, to seize on all the avenues leading to Whitehall, and without giving me any notice, sent three noblemen, after midnight, when I was in bed, with an order to leave my palace before twelve the next day. How could I think myself secure in the power of a man who could treat me in this manner ? He seized upon my kingdom, and in his first proclamation has published the most malicious observations respecting the birth of my son. I appeal to those who know me, and to himself, if in conscience, they could suspect me of such baseness, or j that I were so simple as to be imposed upon in a matter of such moment. What then could be expected from a man who has used every means to make me appear to my sub- jects and the whole world, the most wicked of men, in which he has so well succeeded as to corrupt my army, and stir up my sub- jects to rebellion ? " I was born free, and I wish to preserve my freedom ; as I have willingly risked my life on many occasions, for the welfare and honor of my country, I am still ready to do the same, with the hope, though advanced in years, to deliver England from the slavery which threatens it, convinced that it would be imprudent to subject myself to a prison, which would prevent me from carrying my plans into execution. I have been therefore induced to withdraw, but shall remain near enough to return, when the nation will have discovered that it has been deceived, under the specious pretext of religion and liberty. I hope that God will, in his mercy, move the hearts of my people to perceive their unhappy condition, and dispose them to consent to the 596 HISTORY OF IRELAND. the people began to reflect and return to their duty ; and anticipating, likewise, that if the parliament met at the time specified, they would in all probability adopt measures necessary for the safety of church and state, which would tend to destroy his ambitious and unjust designs, resolved to prevent by every means the assembling of parliament. To effect this, he considered nothing would be better than to seize our royal person, and deprive us of our liberty. For as a parlia- ment cannot be termed free when either house suffers violence, neither can it be said that it can act if the sovereign, by whose authority it has been assembled, and whose sanction alone imparts validity to the laws, be actually a prisoner. " You need not be reminded with what haste the prince of Orange obliged us by his guards to leave London, when he discovered the city to be returning to its duty, and that he could not confide in the inhabitants : with what indignity he has insulted us in the per- son of Earl Feversham, whom we deputed to that we formed the resolution of retiring for [ him, and how inhumanly he caused us to be some time, our motives for thus acting were arrested. We doubt not but these matters left to be communicated to you and to our j are already too well known ; we hope like- other subjects. It was also our intention to wise, that when it is seen how the laws and leave you our commands respecting what i liberties of England, which he has pretended would be best adapted to the present state of] to secure by his invasion, have been violated, affairs. As this, however, could not have ' nothing more will be wanting to open the been done without danger, we deem it right; eyes of our subjects, and let them see what to inform you now, although it be obvious j each one has to expect, and what treatment that since our accession to the crown all care they will receive from him, who, to carry his has been applied to govern our people with designs into execution, has treated with such, such moderation and justice as to remove indignity a sovereign prince, an uncle, and a every pretext for complaint, that- we had ' father. However, the resentment which we given to these matters a greater regard since ' feel for these outrages, and our apprehensions the last invasion. We know that conspiracies ; that he would drive matters still further, as \.„..^ been plotted, and we fear that our i well as the atrocious calumnies with which convening of a free parliament, in which, among other things, liberty of conscience to all sects will be granted ; that those of my religion may be permitted to live in peace, as becomes' all good Englishmen, and true Christians; and that they will not be com- pelleil to leave their country, to which they are so strongly attached. " Those who have a knowledge of the pre- sent state of things, will admit, that nothing would contribute more to make England prosper, than freedom of conscience, which causes some of our neighbors to fear it would be granted. "If time would permit, many things could be added in vindication of what I have said. " Rochester, Uecembcr 22d, 1688." Letter of the King of England to the mem- bers of the Privy Council. " James R. " My Lords, — So soon as we discovered that there was no longer any security for us to remain in our kingdom of England, and hav( subjects, Avho could not be destroyed but through themselves, may be drawn, under light and imaginary pretexts, into certain and inevitable ruin. To obviate this evil, we removed not only every cause of complaint, but even the smallest pretext for it. For these purposes, and to bring to light any thing that could justify this invasion, it had been determined by us to convene a free parliament, wherein the advice and opinion of our subjects can be obtained, and causes for the measures that have been taken as- signed. To attain these objects, we granted to the city of London, and to other bodies and communities, their ancient charters and privileges, and our letters were issued for the assembling of a parliament to be held from the 15th to the 25th of January. But the Prince of Orange, finding that the ends of his declaration had been attained, and that he asperses our reputation, bring to our re- collection the words of our dear father, that ' the way from the prison of a prince to his tomb is short,' and convince us that we ought to recover that freedom which the laws of nature allow, even to our meanest subject ; besides, our person being in safety, it will be in our power thereby to contribute our efforts to the peace and tranquillity of our kingdom. As adverse fortune never will influence us to act in any way derogatory to the royal dig- nity, to which God has raised us by the legitimate succession, neither shall the re- bellion nor the ingratitude of our subjects ever make us act contrary to the true inter- ests of the English nation, which have been and ever will be equally dear to us as our ov/n. It is therefore our wall, that you, our privy council, take very special care to make known our favorable intentions to all the CHRISTIAN IRELAND 597 spiritual and temporal lords in our cities of London and Westminster, to the lord-mayor and commonalty of London, and to all our subjects generally, and to assure them that we desire most eagerly to return to our king- dom, and to convene a free parliament, where we may be able to undeceive our people, and convince them of the sincerity of our decla- rations which have been so often renewed by our avowal to preserve the liberties and properties of our subjects inviolate ; to pre- serve the Protestant religion and church of England, as established by law ; and at the same time to obtain for nonconformists, and all our subjects, all the indulgence which justice and a care for the general good of our people oblige us to require. At the same lime, you of our privy council will communi- cate to us your opinions and advice respect- ing the means you will consider best and most prudent to pursue to promote our return and the success of our good intentions, which you, from being in the country, have in your power to perform. We moreover command you to prevent, in our name and by our royal authority, all disorders and commotions which might arise, and to endeavor to preserve the nation and all our subjects against any losses from the present revolution. As we entertain no doubt of your loyalty and obedience to our commands, we bid you farewell. Given at St. Germain-en-Laye, the 4th of January, 1689, and the fourth of our reign. " By command of his Majesty, " MEELFORT. " To the Lords and others of our Privy ) Council of our kingdom of England." ^ In the height of this astonishing revolu- tion, the prince of Orange being informed of the state of things in Scotland, commanded the peers of that country, several of who: were in London, to repair to St. James's. Thirty peers and eighty gentlemen met ac- cordingly. William made them the same offers he had done to the English, and sought their advice in the present conjuncture of affairs, and the means necessary for the pro- tection of religion and the laws. They then withdrew to AVhitehall, where, after appoint- ing the duke of Hamilton president of the meeting, they began to discuss the terms they had to propose to the prince. The proposal of the earl of Arran was unani- mously rejected ; he was son to the duke of Hamilton, and proposed to invite the king to return to Scotland, and laid down terms for him to submit to. It was arranged instead, at the meeting, to surrender the government of their kingdom to the prince of Orange, and to pray that he would appoint the 14th March for the states of Scotland to meet. In consequence, their address was present- ed, and a favorable answer received ; not- withstanding which, some highland lords continued still devoted to the king. Ireland was the only part of the three kingdoms that continued faithful to the sove- reign, and opposed to usurpation. The earl of Tirconnel was the lord-lieutenant. There was, however, a number of wicked characters in Ireland ; namely, the English and Scotch fanatics whom the king's grandfather, James I., established in the north of Ireland, and on whom he bestowed the estates of the an- cient proprietors ; and also the parricides and soldiers to whom Cromwell gave the lands of those who supported the royal cause, and whom Charles II., brother to the present king, confirmed in their unjust possessions. These men, incapable of gratitude, on the first news of the prince of Orange having landed in England, ran to arms and declared in his favor against the grandson and broth- er of the benefactors to whom they were indebted for their fortunes. This conduct was diflerent from what the king expected ; it was in direct opposition to every sentiment of gratitude which a generous mind ought to manifest for benefits received, and falsified the detestable maxim of Clarendon, " Do good to your enemies to gain them," &c., a maxim which that minister of iniquity often applied to Charles II. to secure his protec- tion for the nefarious usurpers of the proper- ties of his faithful subjects. The proteges of Clarendon were the first to raise the standard of rebellion in Ireland,* and favor the usurpation of the prince of Orange. Major Pooe, an officer of Cromwell, opened the scene and began hostilities. He was commander of two companies of cavalry, and wishing to levy contributions on the country, he applied to the tenants of Lord Bellew. Under pain of military law, he ordered them to have five hundred pounds sterling made up for him. Lord Bellew, apprized of what was going on, sent his second son, aged eighteen years, to assist the farmers, with a company of dragoons of which he was lieu- tenant. The two corps having met, they fought with determined bravery, till young * In our history of this war we made use, among other memoirs that are in our possession, of a jour- iial which the late Edmond Butler of Kilcop, mar- shal-general of the Irish cavalry, left after him. He is the more worthy of belief as he was an eye-wit- ness of what he sets forth. He died in 17^5, at St. Germain-en-Laye, quarter-master of cavalry in the service of France. 598 HISTORY OP IRELAND. Bellew having killed Major Pooe with a blow of his pistol on the head, his two troops were clefoatod ; several of whom fell in the action, and the rest were put to flight. Soon after this occurrence. Lord Blancy* made an attempt to surprise the town and castle of Ardce. A troop of cavalry which Dominick Sheldon commanded, and which belonged to the regiment of Tirconnel, was in the place, and the grenadiers of the earl of Antrim's regiment, which was command- ed by Henry Fleming, was stationed in the castle. Blaney finding his project discov- ered, and the little garrison determined to defend themselves, desisted from the attack. The remainder of the year 1689 was spent in raising troops and preparing for the en- suing campaign. It was then that the nobility of Ireland raised, clothed, equipped, and armed, partly at their own expense, thirty thousand men for the king's service. There were already some old corps in Ireland, viz., the regiments of Mountcashel, Tirconnel, Clancarty, An- trim, and of some others. The viceroy gave the commissions of colonels to several of the nobles. The country gentlemen raised some companies, which, when united with those of the colonels, were formed into regiments. The regiments of Inniskillen, of HughMac- Mahon, Edward Boy O'Reilly, Mac-Donnel, Magennis, Cormac O'Neill, Gordon O'Neill, Felix O'Neill, Brian O'Neill, Connact Ma- guire, O'Donnell, Nugent, Lutterell, Fitz- Gerald, Galmoy, O'Morra, and Clare, &c., soon appeared in the field. There was no want of soldiers, but the soldiers were in Avant of almost every thing except courage and good will ; and the nobles, who under- went the first expense, were not able to sup- port it long. There were also but few ofli- cers who knew military tactics, and who had time to train and discipline the new levies. In the month of March, the earl of Tirconnel sent Richard Hamilton, lieutenant-general of the king's army, at the head of 2000 men, against Hugh Montgomery, Lord Mount Alexander, who had raised a regiment for the prince of Orange, and was at the head of 8000 rebels in Ulster. Hamilton set out from Drogheda on the 8th of March with the * Edward, father of Lord Blaney, was one of I those adventurers to whom James "l. gave estates j in the county of Monaghan ; this monarch created ' him afterwards lord-baron. His son, who is intro- duced here, was one of James II. 's greatest ene- mies, who was the grandson of his benefactor. He commanded a body of troops in Ulster against his king. He proclaimed everywhere William king of Great Britain, in opposition to his legitimate sove- reign. above force. Having passed Dimdalk and Newry, he stopped at Lough Bricklan, from whence he dispatched Butler of Kilcop, a cornet, to reconnoitre the enemy. This officer performed his commission valiantly. He brought an account to his general, that Lord Montgomery was within three miles, at the head of 8000 men, at a place called Dromore-Iveagh. Hamilton set out on his march, and came up with the enemy, who were boldly drawn up in order of battle, at Cladyfort. Notwithstanding the superior number of the rebels, the royalists attacked them so vigorously that they took to flight, and retreated in disorder towards Hillsbo- rough, where Montgomery left two compa- nies of infantry in garrison. He sent the remainder of his forces to Coleraine under Sir Arthur Rydon, and sailed for England from Donaghadee. In order to iollow up his victory, General Hamilton went in pursuit of the rebels ; pass- ing through Hillsborough, and taking the troops Montgomery had left there, at their own request he dismissed them. He still followed the rebels through Belfast and An- trim, as far as Coleraine, on the river Bann, but without being able to come up with them. Having encamped at Ballimony, near Cole- raine, he remained there three days, to re- fresh his troops after their long march ; he then examined into the situation and strength of the town, which in those times was con- sidered to be strongly fortified. Having neither artillery nor ammunition to carry on a siege, he returned to Ballimony. The day following, which was Good Friday, a strong body of rebels sallied forth to make booty of the cattle in the neighborhood, and take provisions necessary for a place threatened with a siege ; but Hamilton, with his cav- alry, drove them back to the gates of the town. The king was still in France, and saw how favorably disposed his Irish subjects were towards him, the greater part of whom had continued faithful ; oidy three small town.s — Londonderry, Coleraine, and Cul- mor — having rebelled in favor of the prince of Orange. The English pressed him strong- ly to send the necessary succors to support these towns. The royalists thought his pres- ence might be a check to the enemy ; and being encouraged and assisted by France, he set sail with the celebrated Gabaret, and landed at Kinsale in March. At Cork he was joined by the earl of Tirconnel, whom he created duke, and proceeded to Dublin. The duke of Berwick, accompanied by several officers, arrived in the camp of Ham- CHRISTIAN IRELAND. 599 ilton before Coleraine, and the same night the general was informed that the enemy had abandoned the place, after having bro- ken the bridge. The day following he en- tered Coleraine, and having repaired the bridge and given the command of the place to Colonel O'Morra, who commanded a regi- ment of infantry, he marched to Strabane, where he refreshed his troops and held a council of war. Here it was understood, through a letter, that the troops of Innis- killen and Derry, making in the whole about 10,000 men, were collected at Clodybridge, on the river Finn, under the orders of Major- General Lundee, for the purpose of oppo- sing the royal army. After the contents of t.his letter were communicated, the council determined to march and attack the rebels. Hamilton set out with his army, and found on his arrival that the first arch of the bridge was broken, and a fort built on the other side, defended by 2,000 men drawn out in order of battle upon an eminence near the fort. To surmount these difficul- ties. General Hamilton posted six companies of musketeers, with orders to fire on those who were guarding the fort, for the purpose of covering some workmen sent to repair the bridge. Every thing was done with the greatest order ; the arch being repaired with planks and pieces of wood, the infantry I passed over without difficulty, while the j cavalry was crossing the river in view of the I enemy. This intrepid act disconcerted the rebels ; not only those who were guarding the fort, but the whole army took to flight, some of whom retreated to Derry, and some to Inniskillen. They were pursued to Ra- phoe by the royalist troops, who killed many of them without any loss on their own side except that of Robert Nangle, major in the regiment of Tirconnel. Afterthis advantage over the rebels, Colonel Dundee, who com- manded them, surrendered at Culmor and embarked for England. Hamilton found abundance of provisions at Raphoe where he stopped, and was joined by Lord Galmoy at the head of eight hun- dred men from the garrison of Trim. During his stay there, he received some deputies from Derry, who offered to capitulate. This garrison consisted of 6,000 men ; and the I general, who knew the importance of the place, promised them their lives, properties, and protection, on condition that the city would surrender at twelve o'clock next day, which terms were accepted and ratified on both sides. The king, who had stopped in Dublin, wishing to benefit by the first moments of ardor which his presence excited among those of his own communion, marched to- wards the north. The rebels were not a little alarmed at this, having previously given up Coleraine and Culmor. The prince, ac- companied by M. Rose,* Lord Melford, and some troops, arrived at Saint- Johnstown, between Raphoe and Derry, the same day Hamilton was in treaty with the deputies. The eagerness of the general to compliment the king on his arrival, made him likewise eager to give him an account of the cam- paign. The monarch signified to General Hamilton his displeasure at the terms he was about to grant to the rebels of Derry, and marched himself directly for that town with the fresh troops he had with him, and immediately summoned it to surrender at discretion. This change made by the king from the terms previously agreed upon, gave great alarm to tne garrison. It had been stipulated that the king's troops should not advance till the place would be evacuated, and now they began to doubt his sincerity. It was determined therefore to defend the town to the last extremity, while waiting for succors that were expected from Eng- land, and a Protestant minister named Walker took the command of the garrison. The king ordered Hamilton to begin the siege. Artillery was accordingly sent for in April, and did not arrive till June ; it con- sisted of two bad pieces of cannon, and two mortars, with which came some powder. The insurgents, in the mean time, collected in bodies in the county of Down ; but they were dispersed by some troops under Major- General Bohan. During the siege of Derry the besieged made several sallies against the besiegers, of which the first remarkable one occurred on a Sunday, with 5,000 men. King James's army, who were but 2,000 in number, re- ceived them with such firmness that they were forced to retreat with loss. The be- sieged made two more sallies, but they were unsuccessful as before. The royal army was reinforced a few days afterwards by some newly-raised troops, who were as yet undisciplined. The whole then amounted to 10,000 men. The trenches were opened before the place, and the gar- rison was so straitened for provisions that they were forced to eat dogs, cats, and leath- er. To lighten their numbers, six companies belonging to Lord Mountjoy's regiment of infantry were embarked and sent away. It was well provided with warlike stores of * Deputy-Marshal of France. 600 HISTORY OP IRELAND. every kind, and it had forty pieces of cannon planted upon the walls, which annoyed the besiegers considerably. 'I'lic succors by whicii the prince of Orange intended to re- lieve l^crry, soon made their appearance. An English fleet of twenty ships of war, and three hundred transport vessels laden with provisions, warlike stores, and six thou- sand troops, luuler the command of Major- General l\.irke, appeared in Loughfoyle in the beginning of August ; but as some days were requisite to enter the town with safety, one Roche was dispatched to inform the garrison that succors were at hand. Afraid to venture by land, he swam a distance of two miles, and fulfilled his commission to the satisfaction of his employers ; for which he was afterwards amply rewarded with the estate of Glinn, within two miles of Carrig- nashure, which belonged to a gentleman named Everard. Two days after Roche's exploit, Captain James Hamilton entered Deny with two vessels laden with provi- sions, which enabled it to hold out till the arrival of the aid they were expecting with Major-General Kirke. This officer succeed- ed, in a few days, in breaking through the obstacles which had been placed in the har- bor by the royalists to prevent him from entering. Having relieved the besieged, just as they were on the point of surrender- ing, the royalists were forced to withdraw on the tenth of August, after a siege of sev- enty-three days. The king then ordered Hamilton to lead the army towards Dublin, in order to oppose Marshal Schomberg, who was expected to laud with an army in the neighborhood of that city. Hamilton obey- ed the king's orders, after placing a garri- son in Charlemont, under Captain O'Regan, an officer of high repute. M. Rose not thinking the king's troops sufficient to oppose Schomberg, advised him to collect his forces about the centre of the kingdom, and invite all his faithful subjects to join him. Inconsequence of this, he soon had an army of twenty thousand men as- sembled at Drogheda. In the mean time, Schomberg landed be- tween Carrickfergus and Belfast, and be- sieged the former town, which was under the command of Mac-Carty More, nephew to the earl of Antrim, and Ueutenant-colonel of his regiment which was in the town. Mac-Carty having but one barrel of powder, was forced to surrender the castle after a feeble defence. Schomberg then proceeded to wards Dundalk . The king being arrived at Drogheda, sent two lieutenants, Butler of Kilcop, and Gar- land, each at the head of a detachment, to reconnoitre the enemy. One took the route to Slane, and advanced through the moun- tains towards Ardee, the other proceeded on the side of Lurgan Race. They brought back word to the king that Schomberg was en- camped ; that his right wing was stretched along Castle-Bellew, his centre extended towards Dundalk, and his left towards the sea. Upon this the king marched towards Ardee, where he stopped ; and the day fol- lowing sent General Hamilton with the whole of the cavalry to the village of Aphene, where he was separated from the enemy by a bog and a small river. The king arrived after a few hours with the infantry, and en- camped, for some days, in presence of the enemy. The duke of Tirconnel, M. Rose, and other general officers of the army, were for attacking the enemy. The opportunity was a favorable one, as sickness had got in among Schomberg's troops, and out of twelve thousand men, of whom his ai-my was at first composed, there were not more than three thousand remaining, so that if the proposed attack had been undertaken, Schom- berg would have been forced to decamp, and return to his ships, three of which were in the harbor of Dundalk. The king, by the advice of his general officers, put his army in order of battle, and marched with a design of turning the enemy, on the side of the morass. This proved only an ostentatious parade ; as scarcely had they marched a league, when the prince ordered the troops to return to their camp, where they continued till October, without making any attempt against the enemy. If it were per- mitted to censure the conduct of a wise and virtuous king, James 11. mightbe reproached with having committed two egregious over- sights, which deeply affected his cause, and eventually caused the loss of Irel-and. At Derry he rejected, contrary to sound policy, a capitulation entered into between General Hamilton and the garrison of that city. This would have put into his hands that important place. It was the magazine of the north, and besides being an arsenal, it afforded to his enemies, by its situation, an easy entrance into the kingdom. At Dundalk he showed a weak compassion for the English, and an imprudent clemency towards subjects armed against their sovereign, and ready to tear the sceptre from his hands, after they had vio- lated all the respect due to royalty. It was in these circumstances that Monsieur Rose, according to Larrey, observed to the king : " Sire, if you possessed a hundred kingdoms, you would lose them." The royal army at Aphene decamped the CHRISTIAN IRELAND. 601 lOth October, in view of Schomberg. They marched to Ardee, where they remained till the 25th of the month, after which they went into winter quarters. The infantry was di- vided among the garrisons, and the cavalry stopped in the vicinity of Tara and Killeen, in the county of Meath. Schomberg also took up his winter quarters with the small portion of his troops that had escaped the contagion. In the month of February, 1690, the king being informed that a body of insurgents had assembled near Cavan, sent the duke of Berwick with troops to disperse them. The duke found them much superior to him in numbers — being in fact three to one. A brisk battle was fought between some Eng- lish cavalry and the king's infantry, the latter of whom retired with loss. Colonel William Nugent* had a leg broken, and died of his wounds after a few days. Coidy Mac-Geo- ghegan,t who was a colonel, and several others, were killed ; after this engagement the duke of Berwick returned to Dublin. Louis XIV. sent, at this time, seven French battalions to Ireland, under the com- mand of Count Lausun, who was to act as general under King James. Six Irish bat- talions, forming the brigade of Mountcashel were sent to France in exchange ; they embarked on board the fleet of Monsieur Chateaurenaud, and arrived at Brest in the beginning of May. The prince of Orange landed in spring in the north of Ireland, with a formidable army. King James marched in June to Dundalk. The enemy's forces amoimted to forty-five thousand men, well provided with every thing, and well trained, and had with them sixty pieces of heavy cannon. The troops of King James amounted to only twenty-three thousand men, lately raised ; * He was brother to the earl of Westmeath ; he was an intrepid soldier, but rash. t He was son of Charles Mac-Geoghegan of Sionan, a branch of the Mac-Geoghegans of Kin- alj-agh, in the county of Westmeath. Conly studied the military art in France, where he served for some time, and passed as a good officer. The father and seven sons, of whom Conly was the eldest, served underKing James with distinction in his war against the Prince of Orange. Of the ^ven brothers, five were killed in this war ; the other two followed the fortunes of their king into France, the eldest of whom, named Anthony, was created a chevalier, or knight. Charles, the youngest, died while captain of grena- diers in the regiment of Berwick ; he left three sons : there is still living one named Alexander, in the regiment of Lally ; he distinguished himself in the Indies, September .30th, 1759, at the battle of Van- davichi, where he commanded in the absence of Lally, and had the honor of defeating the English army, much superior to his in number. they were badly provided with arms, and not well disciplined ; their artillery consisted of but twelve field-pieces that were brought from France. This great disproportion of numbers induced the ro}^al army to endeavor to take some posts and prevent the prince of Orange from advancing, or at least to fight him, under disadvantage. It was therefore proposed to encamp on the. heights adjoining Dundalk, which it would be difiicult for him to pass. The enemy, however, by making a small circuitous movement, woidd be able to gain the flat country at the rear of the royal army ; and therefore, in order to cut off* the communication, it was resolved that they should encamp beyond the Boyne river, near Drogheda. The prince of Orange followed, and en- camped opposite King James on the 29th June. On the day following, the enemy di- vided their army. The prince of Orange with one half marched along the river as far as Slane, where he was opposed by two regi- ments of dragoons, commanded by Sir Neale O'Neill, who guarded the pass, but these being forced to give way, he advanced to- wards the royal army. The king, who wit- nessed this manoeuvre, marched also on the same side, with the greatest part of his army, and left eight battalions commanded by Lieu- tenant-general Hamilton, to guard the pass at Oldbridge ; .he cavalry, which forsned the right wing, was commanded by the duke of Berwick. Schomberg, who continued on the opposite site, attacked Oldbridge, and meeting a feeble resistance from some newly raised and inexperienced corps, particularly two regiments of Clare dragoons, commanded by Charles O'Brien, second son of Lord Clare, he made himself master of the place. Upon this, Hamilton proceeded down with seven other battalions to drive away the enemy : but their cavalry having discovered another ford which they crossed, advanced upon the infantry with the hope of cutting the royal army into two, whereupon the duke of Berwick moved his cavalry to cover the retreat of the battalions ; but he had to begin a very unequal attack, both from the number of their squadrons, and the disadvantage of the ground, which was greatly intersected, and made more embarrassing by the enemy's having slipped some infantry into it. The charge was renewed ten times, and at length the infantry making an obstinate stand, the cavalry halted ; after which they formed again and marched at a slow pace to join the king. The king in the mean time having re- formed his troops, in order to attack the 76 602 HISTORY OP IRELAND. prince of Orange, found himself embarrass- ed by a bog' that separated the two armies ; whereupon, fearing that lie would be sur- rounded by the army that had succeeded in j taking the pass at Oldbridge, he wheeled to I the left, to gain tlie river at Duleek, called the Nanny Water. The duke of Berwick arrived with the cavalry at the moment the king had crossed the stream with the troops ; but those of the prince of Orange, who were continually advancing, arrived at the same time, which obliged the duke of Berwick to pass a defde, in full gallop and in disorder. The whole army having rallied on the other side of the river, put themselves in order of battle. The enemy did the same opposite to them, but did not dare to attack them. After some pause they began to march, and were followed by a part of the enemy. Upon their reaching a defile, and halting, even the enemy did the same. This inactivity of the latter might have been caused by the death of Schomberg, who was killed at the passage of Oldbridge ; he was the best general in the army of the prince of Orange. Whatever might have been the cause, the enemy suf- fered the king's army to withdraw, who were now ordered (the night having come on) to march to Dublin. This they effected the following morning, and thence the duke of Tirconnel led his troops to Limerick. Each colonel received orders to lead his regiment by whatever route he thought best, which they executed in good order. Brigadier Surlauben formed the rear-guard with his brigade, and the French whom Monsieur Lausun brought to Ireland the year before, marched through Cork for Kinsale, and em- barked for France. The king seeing, from the ill-success he had in the battle of the Boyne, that he could not save Dublin, thought it best to give the command to Tirconnel and return to France. After this he stopped in the city but one night ; he then proceeded direct to Water- ford, where he was received by Sir Nicholas Porter, the mayor, and embarked for France. The dukes of Tirconnel and Lausun ar- rived in Limerick. They were pursued by the prince of Orange, which obliged Tir- connel to send most of his cavalry across the Shannon, and quarter them in the county of Clare. The infantry he placed in the gar- risons of Limerick, Athlone, Cork, and Kin- sale. It was then that Lausun said, with an oath, while viewing the fortifications of Limerick, " that his master would take it with roast apples." The prince of Orange, in the mean time, having collected his forces, encamped within cannon shot of Limerick, on the 19th of August. The duke of Tir- connel having given the necessary orders for its defence, appointed Monsieur Boissc- leau, a captain of the French guards, and four Irish officers to act as brigadiers under him, to command the garrison. M. do Lau- sun proceeded to Galway with the remainder of the French troops, to embark for France. The prince of Orange summoned the com- mander of Limerick to surrender the city, but the answer of this brave ofiicer soon led him to believe that the siege would be long and obstinate. Heavy artillery, therefore, was then ordered for carrying it on. Colonel Sarsfield, who commanded a body of 500 cavalry, being informed that the enemy were bringing a part of the artillery by land, crossed the Shannon at Killaloe, and by forced marches arrived before day at Cul- lin, where he surprised the convoy. He put the soldiers who were guarding it to the sword, and having then spiked the cannon and broken the copper boats that were in- tended for the construction of a bridge across the Shannon, to facilitate the crossing of troops, he blew up the remaining part of the artillery with the powder taken with the convoy. The explosion was so great that it was heard at the distance of fifteen miles around. Sarsfield, after making a great booty in horses and other things, marched through Banaghir, where he crossed the Shannon and returned to his camp. The expedition of Sarsfield amazed the prince of Orange, and considerably deranged his operations ; he was heard to say, that he did not imagine that Sarsfield was capa- ble of so able a manoeuvre. The prince, however, still continued the siege. The besiegers and the besieged were brave in their attacks and defence. A breach being at length effected by the English airtillery, six thousand men, supported by an equal number, having mounted to the assault, were immediately hurled back, attended with a loss of many lives. Thirty pieces of cannon played incessantly upon the place, and the breach being increased, the enemy returned to the assault, but with less success than at first. They were pursued to their very camp, to the heavy disappointment of the prince of Orange, who rebuked his sol- diers with bitterness. Boisseleau, the com- mander of the place, made the English feel what the Irish when well disciplined and conmianded were able to do. The prince of Orange raised the siege after fourteen days ; the army decamped under General Giiikle in great disorder, after setting fire to the houses in which the sick and wounded CHRISTIAN IRELAND. 603 lay. They marched from thence to Birr, while in the mean time the prince of Orange had himself escorted to Waterford, and embarked for England. As soon as the prince of Orange landed in England, Lord Churchill, afterwards duke of Marlborough, was sent to Ireland with a reinforcement of troops and artillery, to lay siege to Kinsale and afterwards to Cork. Both towns capitulated. The former was commanded by Colonel Scot, the latter by Brigadier Mac-Elligot ; they and their gar- risons surrendered prisoners of war, and the officers were sent to England. The duke of Tirconnel, the count of Lausun, and Mon- sieur Boisseleau,went at this time to France, having confided the affairs of the kingdom to the duke of Berwick. A misunderstanding began now to break out between the Catho- lic leaders of the royal army and the duke of Tirconnel. Without consulting him, agents were deputed to France where King James was residing, to solicit aid, and to know from the prince himself in whom they were to confide. The agents were, Colonels Purcell, baron of Luoghne, Lutterel, and Macclesfield. In consequence of this depu- tation, M. de Saint Ruth* was sent in the spring to take the command, and the Chev- alier do Tesse in quality of field-marshal, with warlike stores and provisions. The campaign began about the end of June, 1691, by besieging Ballymore and Athlone. Colonel Ulick Burke was com- mander of the former of these two places : the Marquis d'Usson, and the Chevalier Tesse commanded Athlone. Baron Ginkle, who was commander of the Protestant army, left Mullingar the 6th of June. He march- ed towards Ballymore, which he summoned to surrender, and having received a doubt- ful answer from the governor, he ordered an attack. A breach being effected, and the garrison finding themselves unequal to de- fend the place, surrendered at discretion. The general after this put it into a state of defence, and marched towards Athlone. This place, one of the most important in the kingdom, is situated on the river Shannon, which divides it into two, forming thereby two towns, separated by a bridge ; that on the east is called the English ; that on the west, the Irish town. The English town, being the weaker, was attacked first — the fire of the cannon and musketry was so w^ell kept up that it surrendered 29th June. Be- fore the attack, the duke of Tirconnel ad- * He was after returning from Savoy, where he commanded with distinction the troops of his mas- ter. vised Saint Ruth to destroy the fortifications of the Irish town, and to lead the army to oppose and prevent Ginkle from crossing the bridge over the Shannon, as by this means he would be able to arrest his pro- gress. But his advice being neglected by Saint Ruth, Ginkle had time to erect bat- teries against the Irish town, and his army having crossed by a ford, in presence of St. Ruth, who was encamped near the place, a general assault was made the 10th of July. The place was immediately carried, after a vigorous defence. More than a thousand of the Irish were killed, and three hundred taken prisoners. After Athlone was taken the army of King James marched to Ballinasloe, where they stopped the day following. It was here that Tirconnel gave up the command. He surrendered it to the Marquis de Saint Ruth. This general marched his army the day fol- lowing, and having crossed the river Suck, he encamped at Aughrim, which was a very advantageous position. The castle of Augh- rim, situate at the head of a causeway, being the only place through which the enemy could pass, protected its front ; on the other side it was surrounded by a bog of great ex- tent. The enemy, who were in pursuit of the Irish array, appeared on Monday the 22d, within view of the camp, and began to defile through the causeway. Colonel Walter Burke was posted with his regiment in the castle to oppose their passage, but, through some error fatal to the cause he was engaged in, he was prevented from ac- complishing his object. Having ordered the necessary ammunition to be sent for to the camp, four barrels of powder, and as many of ammunition were forwarded ; but instead of musket he found cannon balls, which were of no use. In consequence of this, the ene- my's cavalry passed safely through the cause- way, while the infantry were crossing the bog, and were drawn up in order of battle before the Irish army. Saint Ruth, like a skilful general, omitted nothing to resist them with effect. The battle began at one o'clock with equal fury on both sides, and lasted till night. James's infantry perform- ed prodigies of valor, driving the enemy three times back to their cannon. It is said that at the third repulse Saint Ruth threw his hat into the air with joy ; but imme- diately after he unfortunately fell by a can- non-ball. His death soon changed the for- tune of the day ; dreadful disorder followed ; the soldiers being left without a commander, the infantry, unsupported by the cavalry, were crushed by the enemy's horse, and the 604 HISTORY OF IRELAND. rout became general. The flower of the Irish army perished on this unhappy day, and liad it not been for the presence of mind of the ahnonorof a rcgiinent, called O'Reilly, who made a drum-major beat to the charge on a hill near the bog through which James's army was to march, the loss would have been still greater. By this stratagem the vanquished gained sufficient time to take the road for Limerick. After the defeat of James's armyat Augh- rim, Galway and Sligo surrendered to the English, and Ginkle laid siege to Limerick on the 5th of September. Monsieur D'Us- son had connnanded the garrison since the death of Tirconnel, which took place on the 24th of August, from excessive grief for the late reverses in the affairs of the king. D'Us- son defended himself with a bravery equal to that of Boisseleau, but not with the same success. General Sarsfield attempted in vain to get four thousand horses into the town : the cannon and bombs of the enemy played day and night upon the place, and after a siege of five weeks, the money and provi- sions of the garrison being exhausted, D'Us- son thought it more prudent to accept the conditions proposed by the enemy, and to save what troops he had remaining, than to let all perish by an obstinate resistance. The treaty was entered into, and the capitu- lation signed on the 13th of October, on terms which could not be more honorable or advantageous to the vanquished. The treaty of Limerick contained forty- two articles, twenty -nine of which had refer- ence to the military. By this treaty the partisans of James had permission not only to leave Limerick, but also the kingdom, with the most glorious testimony which can be accorded to the brave, that of having made a gallant defence. They were permitted to take with them all they possessed, viz., chattels, plate, jewels, &c. The like privi- leges were granted to other garrisons, and to every Irish family who wished to go to France. Vessels were also to be provided for the removal of their persons and proper ties, and nothing was omitted from the stip ulation which could contribute to the safety and convenience of their voyage. After the treaty was concluded, the Irish army collected near Quine Abbey, in the county of Clare, where it was resolved, that, in conformity with the articles of capitula- tion, those who wished to go to France should send in their names to Monsieur Ta- meron, who had been sent to Ireland by the French court. The English generals thought that very (ew would willingly go into exile, but they were surprised to wit- ness the mmibers who signed for their re- moval, preferring to share the fate of their king, and enter the service of a foreign prince who had favored their cause," rather than submit to the laws of a usurper at home. Then it was that these generals regretted havingconsented to their emigration. Four ! thousand five hundred men marched direct I to Cork, under Sarsfield, Lord Lucan, and j other general officers, where, after remaining | about a month, they sailed for France, and landed at Brest on the 3d of December. At the same time, D'Usson and Tesse arrived from Limerick on board the squadron of M. de Chateau Renaud, with four thousand seven hundred and thirty-six Irish soldiers, besides officers. Major-General Wachop sailed soon afterwards with about three thousand men on board English vessels, and these were followed by two companies of the king's body gnards. According to the report of the commissioners, the whole of the Irish troops, including the officers, who followed James to France, amounted to nineteen thousand and fifty-nine men. Louis XIV. received them with kindness, and of- fered them honorable terms, which they ac- cepted. They frequently received the most flattering praises from this great monarch for their zeal and attachment. Lord Mount- cashel always commanded the Irish brigade, which bore his name. Louis XIV. having sent seven French battalions to Ireland in the beginning of the year 1690, whether that he required the same number of Irish troops in return, or that James IL, who was at that time in the country, thought proper to send them, three Irish regiments arrived at Brest in the be- ginning of May, on board French ships, under the command of Justin Mac-Carty, Viscount Mountcashel, a lieutenant-general in England, and who still retained his rank in France. The regiments composing this brigade were, Mountcashel's — an old regi- ment of long standing — O'Brien's, and Dil- lon's, each consisting of two battalions, con- taining one thousand six hundred men, di- vided into sixteen companies. On their ar- rival in France, Mountcashel entered into an arrangement for this corps, by which the officers were to be paid as they are at pre- sent :* and the soldiers a penny a-day more than the French. This corps was sent to Savoy, where they distinguished themselves under Marshal de Catinat, in the reduction of that province ; * A. D. 1754. CHRISTIAN IRELAND. 605 particularly at the battle of Marseilles, gain- ed by the French on the 4th of November, 1693. Daniel O'Brien, colonel of the regi- ment that bore his name, having inherited liis father's title, who had lately died, called it the Clare regiment. He died at Pignerol ; Monsiem* de Lee succeeded to his command. Having quarrelled with Squiddy, the major of the regiment, he had him confined in the castle of Brianyon, and expelled the year following, and the majority given to Mur- rough O'Brien, who, after serving first in Hamilton's regiment, entered that of Greder, a German. He had the rank of captain in Greder's, from which he exchanged into the ; Clare regiment, still retaining his rank. I Lord Mountcashel having died at Barege, j from a wound in the chest which he received I in Savoy the year he went to France, his regiment was given to De Lee, and after- j wards called Bulkley's regiment. Talbot, brigadier-colonel of the Limerick regiment, I was appointed to the one De Lee had left. j Talbot was natural son of the duke of Tir- ; connel ; he had served in France from his ! youth, and was deemed an able officer ; he i went to court in the March following his : appointment, where he was arrested and sent j to the Bastille, for some inconsiderate ob- servations which were communicated to the king. He remained a year in prison, and his regiment was given to Charles O'Brien, Viscount Clare, brother to him who died at Pignerol after the battle of Marseilles. Charles O'Brien went to France in 1691, I after the surrender of Limerick, as captain I of James II. 's body-guard. It is probable that his regiment of dragoons, which he j commanded at the battle of the Boyne, had I been disbanded in Ireland. After the battle i of Marseilles, he was appointed to the queen I of England's regiment'of dragoons ; O'Car- ! rol, the colonel, having been killed. He re- I vived the name of the Clare regiment ; he I was killed in 1706, at the battle of Ramillies, ! and his regiment given to Lieutenant-colonel Murrough O'Brien, who was descended from '- the house of Carrigogoiniol, a branch of the i O'Brien family. When lieutenant-colonel, ! he distinguished himself at the battle of Ra- millies by taking two stand of colors from I the enemy, which were deposited in the I house of the Irish Benedictines at Ypres. j His skilful manoeuvre at Pallue, by which jhe saved Cambray, is still greater proof of j his talents ; after it he received the rank ! of field-marshal of the king's army. " If the i Marshal de Montesquieu had done him the I justice due to him for the affair at Pallue," says Thuomond, " he would have had a greater share in the king's favor than he possessed."* Murrough O'Brien retained the command of this regiment, under the name of O'Brien's regiment, till his death, which took place in 1720. He left a son called Daniel, a colonel of foot in the ser- vice of King Louis, who was created a knight of St. Lazarus in 1716, a peer of Ireland, under the title of earl of Lismore, in 1747, and received the grand cross of the royal and military order of St. Louis in 1750. He died at Rome in 1759. Dillon's was the only regiment of Lord Mountcashel's brigade that retained its name. It was raised in Ireland by Lord Dillon's grandfather, and commanded by Arthur Dil- lon, his second son, lieutenant-general of the king's army. He died at St. Germain- en-Laye, in 1734. This nobleman added to his illustrious birth superior skill in the art of war, and his exploits have been cele- brated in the annals of France. He left several sons, the eldest of whom succeeded his uncle. Lord Dillon. Two were killed at the head of their regiments, at the battles of Fontenoy and Lawfeld ; and the last has been lately translated from the archbishopric of Toulouse to that of Narbonne. The troops which had lately arrived in France, after the treaty of Limerick, were new-modelled in 1 695, and reduced to twelve regiments, the command of which was given to those who had most influence at the court of St. Germain. These regiments, called the troops of the king of England, were, The king's regiment of cavalry : — Domi- nick Sheldon, colonel ; Edmond Prendergast, lieutenant-colonel ; Edmond Butler, major; 4 captains, 6 lieutenants, 6 cornets. The queen's regiment of cavalry : — Lord Galmoy, colonel ; Rene de Carne, a French- man, lieutenant-colonel ; James Tobin, ma- jor ; 4 captains, 6 lieutenants, 6 cornets. The king's regiment of dragoons : — Lord- viscount Kilmallock, (Sarsfield,) colonel ; Turenne O'Carroll, lieutenant-colonel ; De Salles, a Frenchman, major ; 5 captains, 14 lieutenants, 14 cornets. The queen's regiment of dragoons : — Charles Viscount Clare, colonel ; Alexander Barnewal, lieutenant-colonel; Charles Max- well, major ; 5 captains, 14 lieutenants, 14 cornets. The king's infantry regiment of guards : — William Dorington, colonel ; Oliver O'Gara, lieutenant-colonel ; John Rothe, major ; 12 captains, 28 lieutenants, 28 sub-lieutenants, 14 ensigns. The queen's regiment of infantry : — * Memoirs of Thuomond, on the year 1712. 606 HISTORY OF IRELAND. Simon Luttrel, colonel ; Francis Wachop, lieutenant colonel ; James O'Brien, major ; 12 captains, 28 lieutenants, 28 sub-lieuten- ants. It ensigns. An infantry regiment of marines : — The Lord Grand-prior, colonel ; Nicholas Fitz- gerald, lieutenant-colonel ; Richard Nugent, second lieutenant-colonel ; Edmond O'Mad- den, major ; 11 captains, 28 lieutenants, 28 sub-lieutenants, 14 ensigns. The Limerick regiment of infantry : — Sir John Fitzgerald, colonel ; Jeremiah O'Ma- hony, lieutenant -colonel ; William Thessy, major ; 12 captains, 28 lieutenants, 28 sub- lieutenants, 14 ensigns. The Charlemont regiment of infantry : — Gordon O'Neill, colonel ; Hugh Mac-Mahon, lieutenant-colonel ; Edmond Murphy, major; 12 captains, 28 lieutenants, 28 sub-lieuten- ants, 14 ensigns. Dublin regiment of infantry : — John Pow- er, colonel : John Power, lieutenant-colonel ; Theobald Burke, major ; 12 captains, 28 lieutenants, 28 sub-lieutenants, 14 ensigns. The Athlone regiment of infantry : — Walter Burke, colonel ; Owen Mac-Carty, lieutenant-colonel ; Edmond Cantwell, ma- jor ; 12 captains, 28 lieutenants, 28 sub- lieutenants, 14 ensigns. Clancarty regiment of infantry : — Roger Mac-Elligot, colonel ; Edward Scott, lieu- tenant-colonel ; Cornelius Murphy, major ; 6 captains, 16 lieutenants, 16 sub-lieuten- ants, 8 ensigns. Out of the regiments which the Irish no- bility had raised in 1689, for the service of James IL, several were disbanded in Ire- land. Most of those who went to France, were embodied with those we have just been enumerating ; the colonels descending to the rank of captain, and the captains to that of lieutenants. The regiments of O'Neill, O'Donnel, Mac-Donnel, Maguire, Mac-Mahon, Magennis, were formed into one ; Edmond (Bouy) O'Reilly's (chief of the ancient tribe of the O'Reillys of Cavan) shared the same fate. He had raised two regiments in Ireland for the king's service — one of dragoons, the other of infantry : the former was disbanded in Ireland, and the latter, which he brought to France, was embodied with others ; consequently this nobleman remained without any regiment. His grandson, a captain in the regiment of Dillon, was considered chief of the O'Reillys. The first change made in the Irish troops continued till the peace of Ryswick in 1697. In 1698, James II.'s body-guard and Gal- moy's regiment were disbanded. Sheldon's, which was afterwards known as Nug-ent's, and then as Fitzjames's, was reduced to two squadrons. The infantry regiments and foot dragoons, consisting of seventeen battalions, were reduced to live, of one battalion each, and the companies which had previously consisted of one hundred men, were reduced to fifty. These regiments were known by the names of Dorington, (who had belonged to the foot-guards,) Rothe, Burke, Albemarle, Fitzgerald, Berwick, and Galmoy, their com- manders. The regiments of Lee, Clare, and Dillon, underwent a similar change, in which state they continued till 1701, when a sub- lieutenant was added to each company. From 1705 to 1711, each company of fifty men had a foot-captain, a second captain, a lieutenant, two second lieutenants, a sub- lieutenant, and ensign. In 1712 each com- pany was restored, with respect to officers, to the footing on which it had been in 1701 , and a brigade formed of the half-pay oflicers. The regiments of Burke and Dillon were engaged at the battle of Cremona, February, 1702, in which they particularly distinguish- ed themselves, and contributed mainly to the defeat of the enemy. As a mark of his satis- faction, the king increased the pay of the foot-captains, not only of these regiments, but of three others which were on a footing with the French, to twenty-five pence a day, and the lieutenants to twelve pence. The pay of the second captains and lieutenants was increased in proportion. The soldiers also received one penny a-day additional. Dillon's regiment received their reward in hand, as they already had high pay. Sheldon's regiment of cavalry, to which a squadron was added, consisted of three squadrons in the war of 1700. They dis- tinguished themselves at the battle of Spire, on the 24th November, 1703 ; and the half- pav captains and lieutenants who served with it, received an increase of pay. In 1708, the king of Spain began to raise two regiments of dragoons, and three Irish battalions, consisting of the prisoners taken from the English army in the battle of Al- manza. These corps were officered by the half-pay officers who had served with the Irish regiments in France. Peace having been concluded at Radstadt, on the 6th of March, 1714, between France and the emperor, the regiments of Lee, Clare, Dillon, Rothe, and Berwick, were increased from twelve to fifteen companies, consisting each of forty men. In order to make up the three new companies, the regiments of O'Donnel, which had previously belonged to Fitzgerald and Galmoy, and a second bat- talion which was added to Berwick's, were CHRISTIAN IRELAND. 607 disbanded. O'Donnel's was divided between the regiments of Lee and Clare ; Galmoy's and Berwick's second battalions were joined to those of Dillon, Rothe, and Berwick. From calculations and researches that have been made at the war-office, it has been ascertained, that, from the arrival of the Irish troops in France, in 1691, to 1745, the year of the battle of Fontenoy, more than four hundred and fifty thousand Irish- men died in the service of France. Burke applied for, and obtained permission for his regiment, which had often served in Spain, (in order to avoid shifting,) to offer its services to the king of Spain. This being granted, he proceeded to that country, and subsequently served with distinction in Sicily, Africa, and Italy, during the war of 1733, under the king of the two Sicilies, to whom his father, the king of Spain, had sent him in 1758. Burke's regiment remained in Naples ; it was called the king's corps, and received an addition of two battalions. Through the changes which took place among the Irish troops in France, the king of Spain was enabled to increase his three Irish regiments of foot by a battalion each, so that he had six made up of the supernu- merary men Avho remained unemployed in France. They served at Oran in Sicily, and in Italy in 1733, 1734, with the highest dis- tinction — four of these battalions, with the Walloon guards, Avere successful in 1713, in repulsing the enemy at Veletry, and in saving Don Philip, who was in danger of being taken prisoner. ARTICLES AGREED UPON THE THIRD DAY OF OCTOBER, ONE THOUSAND SIX HUN- DRED AND NINETY-ONE. Between the Right Honorable Sir Charles Porter Knight, and Tbomas Coningsby, Esq., lords-justices of Ireland ; and his Excellency the Baron de Ginklc, lieu- tenant-general, and commander-in-chief of the English army ; on the one part And the Right Honorable Patrick Earl of Lucan, Piercy Viscount Galmoy, Colonel Nicholas Purcel, Colonel Nicholas Cu sack. Sir Toby Butler, Colonel Garret Dillon, and Colonel John Brown ; on the other part : In the behalf of the Irish inhabitants in the city and county of Limerick, the counties of Clare, Kerry, Cork, Sligo, and Mayo. In consideration of the surrender of the city of Limerick, and other agreements made between the said Lieutenant-General Giiikle, the governor of the city of Lim- [I erick, and the generals of the Irish ar- my, bearing date with these presents, for the surrender of the said city, and sub- mission of the said army : it is agreed, That, I. The Roman Catholics of this kingdom shall enjoy such privileges in the exercise of their religion, as are consistent with the laws of Ireland ; or as they did enjoy in the reign of King Charles the Second : and their majesties, as soon as their affairs will permit them to summon a parliament in this king- dom, will endeavor to procure the said Ro- man Catholics such farther security in that particular, as may preserve them from any disturbance upon the account of their said religion. II. All the inhabitants or residents of Lim- erick, or any other garrison now in the possession of the Irish, and all officers and soldiers, now in arms, under any commis- sion of King James, or those authorized by him to grant the same in the several coun- ties of Limerick, Clare, Kerry, Cork, and Mayo, or any of them ; and all the commis- sioned officers in their majesties' quarters that belong to the Irish regiments now in being, that are treated with, and who are not prisoners of war, or have taken protec- tion, and who shall return and submit to their majesties' obedience ; and their and every of their heirs, shall hold, possess, and enjoy, all and every their estates of free- hold and inheritance ; and all the rights, titles, and interests, privileges and immuni- ties, which they, and every or any of them held, enjoyed, or were rightly and lawfully entitled to in the reign of King Charles II., or at any time since, by the laws and stat- utes that were in force in the said reign of King Charles II., and shall be put in posses- sion, by order of the government, of such of them as are in the king's hands, or the hands of his tenants, without being put to any suit or trouble therein ; and all such estates shall be freed and discharged from all arrears of crown-rents, quit-rents, and other public charges, incurred and become due since Mi- chaelmas, 1 688, to the day of the date hereof: and all persons comprehended in this article shall have, hold, and enjoy all their goods and chattels, real and personal, to them, or any of them belonging, and remaining either in their own hands, or the hands of any per- sons whatsoever, in trust for, or for the use of them, or any of them : and all, and every the said persons, of what profession, trade, or calling soever they be, shall and may use, exercise, and practise their several and re- spective professions, trades, and callings, as freely as they did use, exercise, and enjoy the 608 HISTORY OF IRELAND. same in the reign of King Charles II . , provided that nothing in this article contained be con- strued to extend to, or restore any forfeiting person now out of the kingdom, except what are hereafter comprised : provided also, that no person whatsoever shall have or enjoy the benefit of this article, that shall neglect or refuse to take the oath of allegiance made by act of parliament in England, in the first year of the reign of their present majesties, when thereunto required. III. All merchants, or reputed merchants of the city of Limerick, or of any other gar- rison now possessed by the Irish, or of any town or place in the counties of Clare or Kerry, who are absent beyond the seas, that have not borne arms since their majesties' de- claration in February, 1688, shall have the benefit of the second article, in the same manner as if they were present ; provided such merchants, and reputed merchants, do repair into this kingdom within the space of eight months from the date hereof. IV. The following officers, viz.. Colonel Simon Lutterel, Captain Rowland White, Maurice Eustace of Yermanstown, Chievers of Maystown, commonly called Mount-Lein- ster, now belonging to the regiments in the aforesaid garrisons and quarters of the Irish army, who were beyond the seas, and sent thither upon affairs of their respective regi- ments, or the army in general, shall have the benefit and advantage of the second article, provided they return hither within the space of eight months from the date of these pres- ents, and submit to their majesties' govern- ment, and take the above-mentioned oath. V. That all and singular the said persons comprised in the second and third articles, shall have a general pardon of all attainders, outlawries, treasons, misprisions of treason, premunires, felonies, trespasses, and other crimes and misdemeanors whatsoever, by them, or any of them, committed since the beginning of the reign of King James II . ; and if any of them are attainted by parliament, the lords-justices, and general, will use their best endeavors to get the same repealed by parliament, and the outlawries to be reversed gratis, all but writing-clerks' fees. VI. And whereas these present wars have drawn on great violences on both parts ; and that if leave were given to the bringing all sorts of private actions, the animosities would probably continue, that have been too Ion"- on foot, and the public disturbances last : for the quieting and settling therefore of this kingdom, and avoiding those inconveniences which would be the necessary consequence of the contrary, no person or persons what- soever, comprised in the foregoing articles, shall be sued, molested, or impleaded at the suit of any party or parties whatsoever, for any trespasses by them connnitted,or for any arms, horses, money, goods, chattels, mer- chandises, or provisions whatsoever, by them seized or taken during the time of the war. And no person or persons whatsoever, in the second or third articles comprised, shall be sued, impleaded, or made accountable for the rents or mesne rates of any lands, tene- ments, or houses, by him or them received, or enjoyed in this kingdom, since the begin- ning of the present war, to the day of the date hereof, nor for any waste or trespass by him or them committed in any such lands, tenements, or houses : and it is also agreed, that this article shall be mutual and reciprocal on both sides. VII. Every nobleman and gentleman com- prised in the said second and third articles, shall have liberty to ride with a sword, and case of pistols, if they think fit ; and keep a gun in their houses, for the defence of the same, or for fowling. VIII. The inhabitants and residents in the city of Limerick, and other garrisons, shall be permitted to remove their goods, chattels, and provisions, out of the same, without be- ing viewed and searched, or paying any manner of duties, and shall not be com- pelled to leave the houses or lodgings they now have, for the space of six weeks next ensuing the date hereof. IX. The oath to be administered to such Roman Catholics as submit to their majesties' government, shall be the oath abovesaid, and no other. X. No person or persons who shall at any time hereafter break these articles, or any of them, shall thereby make, or cause any other person or persons to forfeit or lose the benefit of the same. XI. The lords-justices and general do promise to use their utmost endeavors, that all the persons comprehended in the above- mentioned articles, shall be protected and defended from all arrests and executions for debt or damage, for the space of eight months next ensuing the date hereof. XII. Lastly, the lords-justices and general do undertake, that their majesties will ratify these articles within the space of eight months, or sooner, and use their utmost en- deavors that the same shall be ratified and confirmed in parliament. XIII. And Avhereas Colonel .Tohn Brown stood indebted to several Protestants, by judgments of record, which appearing to the late government, the Lord Tyrconnel, and FAT SiS c m --B A :ii ■:) i^' i z^ iiu EARL or LUCATir-, ^^eA^- CHRISTIAN IRELAND. 609 Lord Lucan, took away the effects the said John Brown had to answer the said debts, and promised to clear the said John Brown of the said debts ; which effects were taken for the pubUc use of the Irish and their army, for freeing the said Lord Lucan of his said engagement, passed on their public ac- count, for payment of the said Protestants, and for preventing the ruin of the said John Brown, and for satisfaction of his creditors, at the instance of the Lord Lucan, and the rest of the persons aforesaid — it is agreed, that the said lord-justices, and the said Baron de Ginkle, shall intercede with the king and parliament, to have the estates secured to Roman Catholics, by articles and capitulation in this kingdom, charged with, and equally liable to the payment of so much of the same debts as the said Lord Lucan, upon stating accounts with the said John Brown, shall certify under his hand, that the effects taken from the said Brown amount unto ; which account is to be stated, and the balance certified by the said Lord Lucan in one-and- twenty days after the date hereof. For the true performance hereof, we have hereunto set our hands, Char. Porter, Tho. Coningsby, Bar. De Ginkle, Present — Scravenmore, H. Maccay, T. Talmash. And whereas the said city of Limerick hath been since, in pursuance of the said articles, surrendered unto us. Now know ye, that we having considered of the said arti- cles, are graciously pleased hereby to de- clare, that we do, for us, our heirs, and suc- cessors, as far as in us lies, ratify and confirm the same, and every clause, matter, and thing therein contained. And as to such parts thereof for which an act of parliament shall be found to be necessary, we shall recom- mend the same to be made good by parlia- ment, and shall give our royal assent to any bill or bills that shall be passed by our two houses of parliament to that purpose. And whereas it appears unto us, that it was agreed between the parties to the said articles, that after the words Limerick, Clare, Kerry, Cork, Mayo, or any of them, in the second of the said articles, the words following, viz., " And all such as are under their protection in the said counties," should be inserted, and be part of the said articles. Which words hav- ing been casually omitted by the writer, the omission was not discovered till after the said articles were signed, but was taken notice of before the second town was sur- rendered ; and that our said justices, and general, or one of them, did promise that the said clause should be made good, it being within the intention of the capitulation, and inserted in the foul draught thereof. Our further will and pleasure is, and we do here- by ratify and confirm the said omitted words. Adz., " And all such as are under their pro- tection in the said counties," hereby for us, our heirs and successors, ordaining and de- claring, that all and every person and per- sons therein concerned, shall and may have, receive, and enjoy the benefit thereof, in such and the same manner as if the said words had been inserted in their proper place in the said second article ; any omission, de- fect, or mistake in the said second article, in any wise notwithstanding. Provided al- ways, and our will and pleasure is, that these our letters patent shall be enrolled in our court of chancery in our said kingdom of Ireland, within the space of one year next ensuing. In witness, &c., witness ourself at Westminster, the twenty-fourth day of Feb- ruary, anno regni regis & reginse Gulielmi & Mariae quarto per breve de privato sigillo. Nos autem tenorem premissor. predict. Ad requisitionem attornat. general, domini regis &, dominae reginae pro regno Hiberniae. Duximus exemplificand. per presentes. In cujus rei testimonium has literas nostras fieri fecimus patentes. Testibus nobis ipsis apud Westmon. quinto die Aprilis annoq. regni eorum quarto. Bridges. Examinat. per nos S. Keck, > In Cancel. Lacon Wm. Childe. J Magistros. Military Articles agreed upon between the Baron de Ginkle, lieutenant-general and commander-in-chief of the English army, on the one side, And the Lieutenant-generals DeUssoon and De Tesse, com.manders-in-chief of the Irish army, on the other ; and the general officers hereunto subscribing. I. That all persons without any excep- tions, of what quality or condition soever, that are willing to leave the kingdom of Ire- land, shall have free liberty to go to any coun- try beyond the seas (England and Scotland excepted) where they think fit, with their families, household-stuff, plate, and jewels. II. That all general officers, colonels, and generally all other officers of horse, dragoons, and foot-guards, troopers, dragooners, soldiers of all kinds, that are in any garrison, place, or post, now in the hands of the Irish, or encamped in the counties of Cork, Clare, and Kerry, as also those called Rapparees, or 610 HISTORY OF IRELAND. volunteers, that are willing to go beyonil seas as aforesaid, sliall have free leave to embark themselves wherever tlie ships are that are appointed to transport them, and to come in ■whole bodies as they are now composed, or in parties, companies, or otherwise, without having any impediment, directly or indirectly. III. That all persons above-mentioned, that are willing to leave Ireland and go into France, shall have leave to declare it at the times and places hereafter mentioned, viz.: the troops in Limerick, on Tuesday next in Limerick ; the horse at their camp on Wednesday ; and the other forces that are dispersed in the counties of Clare, Kerry, and Cork, on the 8th instant, and on none other, before Monsieur Tameron, the French in- tendant, and Colonel Withers ; and after such declaration is made, the troops that will go into France must remain under the command and discipline of their officers that are to con- duct them thither ; and deserters of each side shall be given up, and punished accordingly. IV. That all English and Scotch officers that serve now in Ireland, shall be included in this capitulation, as well for the security of their estates and goods in England, Scot- land, and Ireland, (if they are willing to re- main here,) as for passing freely into France, or any other country to serve. V. That all the general French officers, the intendant, the engineers, the commissa- ries at war, and of the artillery, ihe treas- urer, and other French officers, strangers, and all others whatsoever, that are in Sligo,Ross, Clare, or in the army, or that do trade or commerce, or are otherwise employed in any kind of station or condition, shall have free leave to pass into France, or any other country, and shall have leave to ship them- selves, with all their horses, equipage, plate, papers, and all their effects whatever ; and that General Ginkle will order passports for them, convoys, and carriages by land and water, to carry them safe from Limerick to the ships where they shall be embarked, without paying any thing for the siid car- riages, or to those that are employed therein, with their horses, cars, boats, and shallops. VI. That if any of the aforesaid equi- pages, merchandise, horses, money, plate, or other moveables, or household-stuff' belong- ing to the said Irish troops, or to the French officers, or other particular persons whatso- ever, be robbed, destroyed, or taken away by the troops of the said general, the said general will order it to be restored, or pay- ment to be made according to the value that is given in upon oath by the person so robbed ■or plundered ; and the said Irish troops to be transported as aforesaid ; and all other per- sons belonging to them, are to observe good order in their march and quarters, and shall restore whatever they shall take from the country, or make restitution for the same. VII. That to facilitate the transporting the said troops, the general will furnish fifty ships, each ship's burden two hundred tons ; for which the persons to be transported shall not be obliged to pay ; and twenty more, if there shall be occasion, without their paying for them ; and if any of the said ships shall be of lesser burden, he will furnish more in number to countervail ; and also give two men-of-war to embark the principal officers, and serve for a convoy to the vessels of burden. VIII. That a commissary shall be imme- diately sent to Cork to visit the transport ships, and what condition they are in for sailing ; and that as soon as they are ready, the troops to be transported shall march with all convenient speed, the nearest way in order to embark there ; and if there shall be any more men to be transported than can be car- ried off in the said fifty ships, the rest shall quit the English town of Limerick, and march to such quarters as shall be appointed for them, convenient for their transporta- tion ; Avhere they shall remain till the other twenty ships be ready, which are to be in a month ; and may embark on any French ship that may come in the mean time. IX. That the said ships shall be furnished with forage for horse, and all necessary pro- visions to subsist the officers, troops, dra- goons, and soldiers, and all other persons that are shipped to be transported into France ; which provisions shall be paid for as soon as all are disembarked at Brest or Nants, upon the coast of Brittany, or any other port of France they can make. X. And to secure the return of the said ships, (the danger of the seas excepted,) and payment for the said provisions, sufficient hostages shall be given. XI. That the garrisons of Clare-castle, Ross, and all other foot that are in garrisons in the counties of Clare, Cork, and Kerry, shall have the advantage of this present ca- pitulation ; and such part of those garrisons as design to go beyond seas, shall march out with their arms, baggage, drums beating, ball in mouth, match lighted at both ends, and colors flying, with all the provisions, and half the ammunition that is in the said garrisons, and join the horse that march to be transported ; or if then there is not ship- ping enough for the body of foot that is to be next transported after the horse, General CHRISTIAN IRELAND. 611 Ginkle will order that they be furnished with carriages for that purpose, and what provisions they shall want in their inarch, they paying for the said provisions, or else that they may take it out of their own maga- zines. XII. That all the Voops of horse and dragoons that are in the counties of Cork, Kerry, and Clare, shall also have the bene- fit of this capitulation ; and that such as will pass into France, shall have quarters given them in the counties of Clare and Kerry, apart from the troops that are commanded by General Ginkle, until they can be ship- ped ; and within their quarters they shall pay for every thing, except forage and pas- ture for their horses, which shall be fur- nished gratis. XIII. Those of the garrison of Sligo that are joined to the Irish army, shall have the benefit of this capitulation ; and orders shall be sent to them that are to convey them up, to bring them hither to Limerick the shortest way. XIV. The Irish may have liberty to trans- port nine hundred horse, including horses for the officers, which shall be transported gratis ; and as for the troopers that stay behind, they shall dispose of themselves as they shall think fit, giving up their horses and arms to such persons as the general shall appoint. XV. It shall be permitted to those that are appointed to take care for the subsist- ence of the horse that are willing to go into France, to buy hay and corn at the king's rates wherever they can find it, in the quar- ters that are assigned for them, without any let or molestation, and to carry all necessary provisions out of the city of Limerick ; and for this purpose, the general will furnish convenient carriages for them to the places where they shall be embarked. XVI. It shall be lawful to make use of the hay preserved in the stores of the county of Kerry, for the horses that shall be em- barked ; and if there be not enough, it shall be lawful to buy hay and oats wherever it shall be found, at the king's rates. XVII. That all prisoners of war, that were in Ireland the 28th of September, shall be set at liberty on both sides ; and the general promises to use his endeavors that those that are in England and Flanders shall be set at liberty also. XVIII. The general will cause provisions and medicines to be furnished to the sick and wounded officers, troopers, dragoons, and soldiers of the Irish army that cannot pass into France at the first embarkment ; and after they are cured, will order them ships to pass into France, if they are willing to go. XIX. That at the signing hereof, the eneral will send a ship express to France ; and that besides, he will furnish two small ships of those that are now in the river of Limerick, to transport two persons into France that are to be sent to give notice of this treaty ; and that the commanders of the said ships shall have orders to put ashore at the next port of France where they shall make . XX. That all those of the said troops, officers, and others, of what character so- ever, that would pass into France, shall not be stopped upon the account of debt, or any other pretext. XXI. If after signing this present treaty, and before the arrival of the fleet, a French packet-boat, or other transport-ship, shall arrive from France in any other part of Ire- land, the general will order a passport, not only for such as must go on board the said ships, but to the ships to come to the near- est port to the place where the troops to be transported shall be quartered. XXII. That after the arrival of the said fleet, there shall be free communication and passage between it and the quarters of the above said troops ; and especially for all those that have passes from the chief com- manders of the said fleet, or from Monsieur Tameron, the intendant. XXIII. In consideration of the present capitulation, the two towns of Limerick shall be delivered and put into the hands of the general, or any other person he shall appoint, at the time and days hereafter specified, viz : the Irish town, except the magazines and hospital, on the day of the signing of these present articles ; and as for the Eng- lish town, it shall remain, together with the island, and the free passage of Thuomond- bridge, in the hands of those of the Irish army that are now in the garrison, or that shall hereafter come from the counties of Cork, Clare, Kerry, Sligo, and other places above mentioned, until there shall be con- venience found for their transportation. XXIV. And to prevent all disorders that may happen between the garrison that the general shall place in the Irish town, which shall be delivered to him, and the Irish troopers that shall remain in the English town and the island, (which they may do until the troops to be embarked on the first fifty ships shall be gone Xor France, and no longer,) they shall intrench themselves on both sides, to hinder the communication of the said garrisons ; and it shall be prohibit- 612 HISTORY OF IRELAND. ed on both sides, to offer any thing that is offensive ; and the parties offending shall be jiiuusIkhI on eitlun- side. XXV. That it sliali l)e lawful for the said garrison to march out all at once, or at dif- ferent times, as they can be embarked, with arms, baggage, drums beating, match lighted at both ends, bullet in mouth, colors dying, six brass guns, such as the besieged will choose, two mortar-pieces, and half the am- munition that is now in the magazines of the said place ; and for this purpose, an in- ventory of all the ammunition in the garrison shall be made, in the presence of any person that the general shall appoint, the next day after these present articles shall be signed. XXVI. All the magazines of provisions shall remain in the hands of those that are now employed to take care of the same, for the subsistence of those of the Irish army that will pass into France ; and if there shall not be sufficient in the stores for the support of the said troops while they stay in this kingdom, and are crossing the seas, that, upon giving up an account of their numbers, the general will furnish them with sufficient provisions at the king's rates ; and that there shall be a free market at Limerick, and other quarters where the said troops shall be ; and in case any provisions shall remain in the magazines of Limerick when the town shall be given up, it shall be valued, and the price deducted out of what is to be paid for the provisions to be furnished to the troops on ship-board. XXVII. That there shall be a cessation of arms at land, as also at sea, with respect to the ships, whether English, Dutch, or French, designed for the transportation of the said troops, until they shall be returned to their respective harbors ; and that, on both sides, they shall be furnished with suf- ficient passports both for ships and men ; and if any sea-commander, or captain of a ship, or any officer, trooper, dragoon, soldier, or any other person, shall act contrary to this cessation, the persons so acting shall be pun- ished on either side, and satisfaction shall be made for the wrong that is done ; and officers shall be sent to the mouth of the river of Limerick, to give notice to the com- manders of the English and French fleets of the present conjuncture, that they may observe the cessation of arms accordingly. XXVIII. That for the security of the execution of this present capitulation, and of each article therein contained, the besieo-ed j shall give the following hostages I And the general shall give I XXIX. If before this capitulation is fully executed, there happens any change in the government, or command of the army, which is now commanded by General Ginkle ; all those that shall be appointed to command the same, shall be obliged to observe and execute what is specified in these articles, or cause it to be executed punctually, and shall not act contrary on any account. In faith of which we have subscribed our names, the 13th of October, 1691. Signed — Dussen, le chevalier De Tesse, Lucan, Wachop, and La Tour-Montfort. Charles Porter, Thomas Coningsby, Baron Ginkle. However willing the prince of Orange might have been to support the Irish Catho- lics in the enjoyment of the privileges which were granted to them by the treaty of Lim- erick, it is certain that the English govern- ment did not fulfil the articles of capitulation. After a disastrous war, in which their chief objects were the interest of their religion and the inviolable fidelity which they thought due to their king, they, however, had at least the satisfaction of having the freedom of conscience conceded by this celebrated treaty. The honor and good faith of the I prince of Orange were the only guarantees of this compact ; he had affixed the great seal of England to it ; he ratified in the most solemn manner the agreement of his ! generals with the chiefs of the Irish army, I and bound himself and his successors to use every effort to have all the articles of the treaty fulfilled and ratified by the parliament. According to the first of these articles — The Roman Catholics of this kingdom shall enjoy such privileges in the exercise of their religion as are consistent with the laws of Ireland, or as they did enjoy in the reign of King Charles the Second ; and their majes- ties, as soon as their affairs will permit them to summon a parliament in this kingdom, will endeavor to procure the said Roman Catho- lics such farther security in that particular, as may preserve them from any disturbance upon the account of their said religion. However, numerous acts of parliament were passed, by which this article was annul- led. By the provisions of the statute called, An act to prevent the increase of Popery, it was prohibited, under pain of prcEmunire* to convert or be converted to the Catholic re- ligion ; and also to give children a foreign * Tliis is a species of law that strips the crimi- nal of all his goods, deprives him of his liberty and the protection of the laws, exposes him to every insult and bad treatment, without any remedy ; it renders him infamous, and, in fine, leaves him noth- ing but the life he is to lose. CHRISTIAN IRELAND. 613 education, while the Catholics had neither schools nor colleges to have them instructed at home, and Catholics were prohibited from teaching under the most rigorous penalties. At almost every meeting of parliament, the Catholics experienced some new proofs of its severity. In 1697, all archbishops, bishops, vicars-general, deans, and other ecclesiastics, as also all monks, of whatso- ever order they were, were commanded to quit the kingdom before the first of May, 1698 ; it being ordained that those who should be discovered after the expiration of that time, should be closely imprisoned in the public jail of the place in which they would be taken, till they could be sent beyond the seas, and that if any who had been thus transported had the boldness to return, they should be punished as guilty of high treason. By other acts the Irish nobility were de- prived of their arms and horses ; they were debarred from purchasing land, from be- coming members of the bar, or filling any public office ; and, contrary to the ninth ar- ticle of the treaty, they were made subject to infamous oaths. Thus were the Irish Catholics treated, in violation of a solemn compact, rendered sa- cred by every necessary formality. But, to the disgrace of mankind, experience proves that power has more influence in the fulfil- ment of treaties than the good faith of those by whom they are signed. After the celebrated treaty of Riswick, in 1697, by which peace was restored to all Europe, the greater part of the standing army in England was to have been dis- banded, but money was wanting to pay the arrears due to the officers, provision-con- tractors, &.C. The English, however, soon discovered means for these purposes, with- out any cost to themselves. A supply of one million sterling was granted by parlia- ment, to be raised by the confiscation of the estates of the Irish Catholics who had taken up arms for James II. after the year 1688 ; commissioners being appointed to inquire into the nature of these estates, and to as- certain what they would produce for the above-mentioned purposes. The reports of the commissioners to the house of commons on the affairs for which they had been nominated, are subjoined. They were printed in London in 1700, by order of parliament. They contain in all ninety paragraphs ; but we pass over here, | those from the first to the twelfth, the rest being only accounts of the difficulties which the commissioners had to contend with in the fulfilment of their trust. By these reports it will be seen that three thousand nine hundred and twenty-one Irish- men, and fifty-seven Englishmen were pro- scribed. If the sacrifices made by both were the same, how different has been the number of victims. It will also appear from them, how much those who followed the fortunes of James II. had lost ; how their estates were plundered and laid waste ; what abuses were commilted in the confiscations, by men of the highest rank ; what immense fortunes were unjustly acquired at that time by the most obscure characters ; and lastly, what inconsiderable advantages accrued to William, and to the crown of England, by these confiscations. We will also discover the manner in which these proceedings were conducted, and get some knowledge of the forms and customs of the inferior courts of law in Great Britain. An idea, also, may be arrived at of English and Irish parlia- ments at the time, and of the nature of their deliberations. Report of the commissioners appointed by the parliament of England to take cognizance of the properties that were confiscated upon the Irish who were concerned in the rebellion of IQSS* to the honorable house of com- mons, December 15, 1699. 1st. Gentlemen, — In virtue of the power granted to us by a late act of parliament, made in the tenth and the eleventh years of his majesty's reign, styled. An act for the granting to his majesty the sum of one mil- lion four hundred and eighty-four thousand and fifteen pounds one shilling and eleven i pence three farthings, to enable him to dis- band the troops, and provide for the main- tenance of the fleet, and other necessary expenses, we have inquired into the state of the properties which have been confiscated in Ireland. 12. — On account of the late rebellion, fifty-seven persons have been proscribed in England, since the 13th February, 1688, and three thousand nine hundred and twen- ty-one in Ireland. The aggregate, with the names of the counties in which they were attainted, is inserted in a book presented with this report. No. 1. 13. — The lands which belonged to the said persons since the 13th February, 1688, with the name of the owners, the number of acres confiscated, the names of the coun- ties and baronies in which they are situated, the annual revenue, and the value of capital, * They stifrmatize with the name of rebellion the efforts of the Catholics of Ireland in favor of their legitimate king. 614 HISTORY OP IRELAND. are contained in a book* presented with this report, No. 2. 14. — We calculate that the confiscated lands in the following counties are of the value and extent as subjoined : Antrim . . . Armagh . . Cork .... Carlovv . . . Clare .... Cavan . . . Dublin . . . Down .... Fermanagh . Galway . . . Kildare . . . King's Co. . Kilkenny . . Kerry .... Limerick . . Longford . . Louth and ) Drogheda ^ Meath . . . Mayo .... Monaghan . Queen's Co. Roscommon Sligo .... Tipperary . Wicklow . . Westmeath Wexford . . Waterford . A. AnnualViihie. Real Value, 1010.3 49 G2 2443:20 2G.3()3 72246 3830 34546 9079 1945 60825 44281 30459 30152 90116 14882 2067 92452 19294 3832 22657 28933 5562 31960 18164 58083 55882 21343 £ 1944 588 .321.33 7913 12060 478 16061 1016 389 10225 16551 6870 5243 3652 4728 348 s. d. 18 6 12 6 11 6 17 12 6 6 6 6 4 18 6 18 3 6 11 9 10 9 9 £ 25284 7644 417737 95872 156791 6222 208796 1.3212 5057 83528 215175 89321 68161 47483 61470 4530 s. d. 6 2 6 2 6 1 o 18 4 6 18 6 14 5 6 12 9 10 6 9 22508 6331 11 82310 3 3 8888 2719 014633 2| 7551 0| 4190 31.546 3186 558 5002 5808 998 4 6410100 5 0, 37598 16 7264 8 9 65031 15 O' 69767 17 6 12985 12 6115552 3 35348 12 6 190237 10 6 98169 54476 19 2 6 16 6 10 According to this calculation there were one million and sixty thousand seven hundred and ninety-two acres, producing an annual income of two hundred and eleven thousand six hundred and twenty-three pounds six shillings and three pence sterling ; the real value of which amounts to two millions six hundred and eighty-five thousand one hun- dred and thirty pounds sterling, independ- ently of several other estates confiscated, of which v>'Q cannot undertake to give a valua- tion, from their not having been accurately surveyed. We consider the above to be the value of the estates confiscated since the 13th February, 1688. 15. — We deem it our duty now to inform you of the number of acres that have been restored to their former owners, in virtue of the treaties of Limerick and Galway, or through the particular favor of his majesty. * Every effort has been used by us to discover that book in which are contained the names of the proprietors, in order to introduce them here in favor of their descendants, many of whom are still living ; but our efforts to find it have been in vain. — J. M'Geoghegan. 16. — Three letters — one from the late Queen Mary, dated March 15th, to Lord Sid- ney, Sir Charles Porter, and Mr. Thomas Coningsby, lords-justices and governors of the kingdom of Ireland ; another from the same queen, dated 6th May, 1693, to the same Lord-viscount Sidney, then viceroy and governor-general of that kingdom, and to the privy council ; and a third letter from the king, April 24, 1694, to Lord Henry Capel, Sir Cyrillwick, and Mr. Duncombe, then lord-justice of Ireland, and to the privy council, authorizing them to attend to the representations of those who considered themselves entitled to take advantage of the treaties of Limerick and Galway, and to do them justice. It was therefore decided that four hundred and ninety-one persons should have the benefit of the above-named treaties. Their names, rank, the lime they were put into possession of what they had lost, are contained in the book presented to you, gen- tlemen, endorsed No. 3. 17. — Further, a commission dated Feb- ruary 25, in the eighth year of his majesty's reign, with the great seal of Ireland affixed to it, empowering the judges of the several courts, or five of them, to inquire into the claims of the proscribed ; in consequence of which, seven hundred and ninety-two per- sons were found entitled to the benefit of the above-named articles. The names of those persons, their rank, and the nature of the estates which have been restored to them, and the periods, are specified in a book added to the report. No. 4. 18. — The estates thus restored, contain two hundred and thirty-three thousand one hundred and six acres, producing an annual income of fifty-five thousand seven hundred and sixty-three pounds six shillings and six pence sterling, and are valued at seven hun- dred and twenty-four thousand nine hundred^ and twenty-three pounds and four pence sterling. An account of the rent and value of each, the names of the counties or baro- nies in which the above-named estates lie, with the names and rank of the owners, are specified in No. 4. 19. — We do not presume to question, if their majesties' letters above named, to the lords-justices and council, or the commission to which the great seal has been affixed, could invest any person with a power neces- sary for summoning his majesty's subjects, and oblige them to come from any part of the kingdom, to take an oath and try them without any judicial form, and raise money under the name and pretext of a salary, &c., ! without any act of parliament to authorize [ CHRISTIAN IRELAND. 61J sucli proceedings. We humbly submit this observation to your Avisdom. 20. — We consider it our duty, gentlemen, to inform you, that in these courts, establish- ed in the extraordinary manner we have named, exorbitant salaries were required : that Palmer, Avho held the office of register under Mr. Poultney, with whom he shared the profits, demanded from Mr. Luke Dil- lon, when his father's property was restored to him, the sum of eighty-six pounds ster- ling ; and Mr. Steel, the crier of the same court, fifteen pounds, besides ten pounds he had given to Palmer at different periods while the trial was pending for two years. This is not an individual instance ; many others have paid large sums in similar cases. Previously to our being appointed commis- sioners, nearly five pounds was paid on pre- senting the first petition, though it was for- mally declared, in the articles of the treaty of Limerick, that none but clerks were to receive payment for their writings. 21. — We may add, that complaints be- came general, and we can say with justice, against the last court that was established for receiving petitions. Many have been tried without their petitions being heard ; others, a day or two after they had been received, before the king's counsel or the witnesses had been heard, which is contrary to the rules of the court itself, according to which there should be fourteen days between the admission of the claim and the trial. In general, it appears that many abuses have been committed, and that the articles of Limerick and Galway have often been too favorably interpreted towards the proscri- bed ; so that one witness has been often sufficient to determine in their favor; we are, therefore, of opinion, that many have been reinstated in the possession of property, which, if matters were well investigated, should belong to his majesty ; for this pur- pose we sent to Palmer for his minutes, but as he had only written them in notes, wc could not obtain sufficient information to lay before you. We will observe one thing which seems singular to us, that, since we received our commission, the court has re- stored more persons to their properties than they had previously done since the treaty of Limerick. 22. — We have also to inform you, gen- tlemen, that many ancient proprietors have been reinstated, by the repeal of their sen- tence, or by a pardon from his majesty. 23. — This is of two kinds ; that which has been the result of trial is specified in the books marked 3 and 4, and in separate columns. 24.--The other, granted as favors by his majesty, or letters from the late queen, or by orders, subsequently to the battle of the Boyne, are in a book joined to tliis report. No. 5. — The number of these persons is sixty-five. The estates thus restored con- tain seventy-four thousand seven hundred and thirty-three acres, producing an annual income of twenty thousand and sixty-six pounds eight pence three farthings, sterling, and worth two hundred and sixty thousand eight hundred and sixty-three pounds seven pence three farthings, sterling. The names of the counties, baronies, persons, and rank, are specified in a book. No. 2. 25. — We now think it necessary to in- form you of what we have discovered in the different provinces, and which appears very probable, that many have obtained favors from his majesty, by giving money, who had enjoyed, and have abused his confidence ; but in our endeavors to investigate this matter, we were unable to overcome the difficulty ; these arrangements had been made in the most private manner, and be- tween those who are not at present in the kingdom. We shall, nevertheless, lay proofs before you, gentlemen, of money having been the means of restoring many persons to their properties. 26. — Lord Belle w gave Lord Raby* one thousand pounds, besides seven or eight hundred pounds which were due to him, on condition that he would use his influence with the king to obtain his pardon, which he received in consequence. The same Lord Bellew gave up to Lord Romney the rent of his estate, amounting to about three thousand pounds, which he had enjoyed for nearly three years, on condition that he would not be opposed to him in applying for his pardon. 27. — John Kerdiff, a gentleman of the county of Dublin, gave Mrs. Margaret Uni- ack two hundred pounds, to induce her to prevail on Lord Romney to obtain a letter annulling his proscription, which was grant- ed. However, the particular circumstances of this man merited, in our opinion, the greatest compassion. 28. — Sir John Morris gave two hundred pounds to Mr. Richard Uniack, and three hundred to Mrs. Margaret Uniack, for his pardop, which she obtained through the in- fluence of Lord Romney. 29. — Harvey Morris, Esq., gave Mrs. M. Uniack, one hundred pounds, for having procured him his majesty's pardon. * He was called Wciitworth. 616 HISTORY OP IRELAND. 30. — John Hussey, of Leixlip, being in- formed by Messrs. Bray and Briscoe, agents to Lord Athlone, who had the confiscation of Lord Limerick's estate, that he could not succeed in having his sentence removed, if he did not give the present owner a mort- gage of three hundred pounds which he owed on the property of Lord Limerick, was obliged to do so in order to get his pardon. 3L — Edmond Roche gave Richard Dar- ling, Lord Romney's steward, five hundred pounds for having procured him his pardon. This gentleman, who had been proscribed by virtue of the law enacted against those who were guilty of treason in foreign coun- tries, was proved never to have left the kingdom. 32. — John Bourk, commonly called Lord Bophin, agreed to pay seven thousand five hundred pounds sterling to Andrew Card, for the use of Lord Albemarle, on condition that he would procure a letter from the king to remove his sentence of proscription and restore him to his property ; three thousand pounds were to be paid on taking posses- sion, and the rest soon afterwards. His majesty therefore wrote a letter to the lords- justices in favor of Lord Bophin, to be communicated to the commissioners and court of claims ; a decree was accordingly passed, which made it appear that it was to enable this nobleman to bring up his children in the Protestant religion, and to secure his property to Protestants. The decree specified also, that nine thousand pounds sterling should be raised on the whole estate, for the payment of his debts and the maintenance and education of his children ; but, in truth, to pay the seven thousand five hundred pounds to Lord Albe- marle, and the remainder was to be divided among others concerned in this iniquitous transaction. This decree was presented to the Irish House of Commons, to have it passed into a law, but the secret purposes for the money having transpired, the hou determined that their power should not be made use of to authorize such clandestine and unjust proceedings, and, therefore, re- jected it. This failure produced another settlement, by which the estates of Lord Bophin were mortgaged to Lord Ross ; the money which was to be given for this should first be raised upon the property, and the rents applied to the payment of debts, and to the wants of the house of Clanriccard. In consequence of this new arrangement, a letter was given by his majesty, confirmin it, and three thousand pounds were paid to John Broderick on account of Lord Albe- marle. 33. — Thus, gentlemen, have we given you an account of the estates which have been confiscated since February 13, 1688, and those that have been restored to the proprietors, either by the treaties of Lim- erick and Galway, or by the king. We shall now introduce those to whom his ma- jesty has given these confiscated lands, or to whom they have been mortgaged. 34. — Since the battle of the Boyne, sixty patents have been given, sealed with the great seal of Ireland, to sixty persons, as grants or mortgages of estates confiscated in Ireland. The dates of the above patents, and the causes that produced them, are contained in a book marked No. 6. The following is a list of the most considerable of these grants, the number of acres they contain, and the motives for giving them. 35. — Lord Romney received three grants, of which he is in possession, containing forty-nine thousand five hundred and seven- teen acres, on account of his services. 36. — Two grants to Lord Albermarle, of one hundred and eight thousand six hundred and thirty-three acres, on account of his services. 37. — William Bentick, commonly called Lord Woodstock, received one hundred and thirty-five thousand eight hundred and twenty acres, for which no motive is assigned in the letters patent. 38. — To Lord Athlone, twenty-six thou- sand four hundred and eighty acres, as a reward for his services in the reduction of Ireland ; these grants were afterwards con- firmed by an act of the Irish parliament. 39. — 'To Lord Galway, thirty-six thou- sand one hundred and forty-eight acres, on account of his faithful services. 40. — To Lord Rochford, two grants of thirty-nine thousand eight hundred and sev- enty-one acres, as a reward for his services. 41. — To the marquis of Puizar, three thousand five hundred and twelve acres, f^r his services. 42. — To Lord Coningsby, five thousand nine hundred and sixty-six acres, with the rights of lord-ships, titles, and houses in Dublin, and a mortgage of one thousand pounds sterling, as a reward for his services. 43. — To Lord Mountjoy, eleven thousand and seventy acres, for twenty-one years, on account of his services during the war in Ireland, the losses he had sustained in property, the imprisonment of his father in the Bastille, and his having been killed at the battle of Steinkerque. CHRISTIAN IRELAND. 617 44. — -To Mr. Thomas Keightly, for ninety- nine years, two grants, containing tweh'e thousand three hundred and eighty-one acres, as a portion for his daughter, Cathe- rine Keightly, who had been an attendant on the late Queen Mary, after whose death she lost a pension of four hundred pounds, and in consideration of her father's losses during the war. 45. — To Colonel Gustavus Hamilton, five thousand three hundred and eighty-two acres, (nineteen hundred of which were not confiscated lands,) as a reward for his valua- ble services during the war in Ireland, for having forded the river Shannon, and mounted the breach in the taking of Ath- lone, at the head of the English grenadiers. 46. — To Doctor John Lesly, sixteen thousand and seventy-seven acres, on ac- count of his active and diligent services in the commencement of the war in Ire- land, the expenses he had incurred in arm- ing a numerous body of men, and having fought at their head on many occasions. 47. — To Sir Thomas Pendergast, two grants of seven thousand and eighty-two acres, for having discovered a conspiracy to assassinate the king, to destroy the liberties of Great Britain, and consequently the Pro- testant religion throughout Europe. 48. — To Mr. John Baker, sixteen hun- dred and forty-seven acres, as a reward for the memorable services of his father in his defence of Londonderry. 49. — To Mr. James Corry, two grants, one a mortgage of two thousand pounds sterling on several landed properties in the county of Wicklow, due to Sir Edward Scott by the earl of Tyrone : the other con- taining seventeen hundred and twenty-five acres, for which the following causes are given, viz., the burning of his house ; his having provided the garrison of Inniskillen with provisions and ammunition, to the amount of three thousand pounds sterling, at his own expense ; however, it has been proved that, so far from having assisted the garrison of Inniskillen in any manner, he said in public that he hoped to see all those who had taken up arms in favor of the prince of Orange, hanged. His house was burned by the garrison for this observation. 50. — The remainder of these grants are inserted in book No. 6. 51. — It should be observed that all the lands mentioned in this report are plantation measure, two hundred and sixty-four of which are equal to four hundred and forty- one English acres. 52. — We shall also observe that those es- tates are not of so much value to the per- sons to whom they have been granted as we have estimated them : whereas impositions have been practised upon his majesty, by underrating them, from selfish considera- tions ; and their agents, who sold or rented those lands below their value, have prac- tised similar deceptions towards their em- ployers. 53. — The greater part of these estates has been conceded under the seal of the Exche- quer, for a limited number of years, or du- ring the king's pleasure, from which his ma- jesty has derived but little profit. Most of the terms have expired ; those that have not are contained in book No. 6. 54. — We shall now humbly inform you of the costs that have been incurred on the confiscated lands, which have not been re- stored to the proprietors ; we will point out those only that have been discovered from researches made in his majesty's court of Exchequer. This has been done in conse- quence of his majesty's letter to the lords- justices of Ireland, ordering all the Protest- ants to prove, in the most expeditious man- ner, the extent of the costs to which they have been subjected. 55. — All statutes, judgments, mortgages, or other debts on the above-named estates, which have not been restored to the ancient proprietors, amount to one hundred and sixty-one thousand nine hundred and thirty- six pounds sterling, an account of which is annexed to this report in book No. 7. It is probable that since our investigation many of these costs have been removed by various arrangements ; but we have had neither time nor aid in forming a correct estimate ; therefore, we think that sufficient money can be deducted from the latter for the fol- lowing purposes. 56. — We have mentioned only the first and real sum of costs, not having been able to discover how much interest might have been due by each individual. 57. — We have often thought it probable that the judgment and mortgage were one and the same debt. 58. — It is likewise probable, that many of these judgments were issued only for the execution of private contracts. 59. — la many instances, the Protestants and Papists were equally concerned ; how- ever, the whole debt was laid on the lands of the proscribed. 60. — It appears that several contracts and copies of judgments have been issued by in- ferior courts of law, and no proofs afforded 6]8 HISTORY OF IRELAND. of their execution, or the roasous why they were griinteil. 61. — On the other hand, it is obvious, that in many instances, the statutes and judg- ments have been carried into execution ; but there is no proof of it upon record. G2. — Many of those debts have been pur- chased, either by the donors or their stew- ards, or small farmers at very low prices, while they allowed them to exist nominally, to cover the profits which the possession of such lands produced. 63. — Several persons who got possession of these encumbered estates, in consequence of his majesty's letters, have received the whole, or at least the greatest portion of the debts. 64. — It is probable that many of these debts are imaginary, and in 'favor of the proscribed, for which purpose there have been many secret arrangements entered into. 65.— It is our opinion that nothing has been omitted by the donors and their stewards to make the debts on their estates appear heavy, although we think, that if a correct investigation were made, it would appear they are very inconsiderable, and that several are liquidated by the profits ; but it is our opinion, that they will be more than re- munerated by other confiscations, of which the following is an account. 66. — Soon after the battle of the Boyne, as we have already had the honor of in- forming you, a patent, to which the great seal of Ireland was affixed, was issued, es- tablishing commissioners, with authority to seize upon and dispose of the estates and flocks which were confiscated for his ma- jesty's use. These commissioners appointed deputies in the different counties, subject to the king, who took possession of immense tract's of land and cattle, which they valued at one hundred and thirty-five thousand five hundred and fifty -two pounds sterling ; but the valuation of each article forming the above total was so moderate, that a horse was valued at twenty shillings, a sheep two shillings and sixpence, and the rest in pro- portion ; we are therefore of opinion, that if thhigs had been sold at a fair value, they would have produced between two and three hundred thousand pounds sterling ; but be- fore this could be effected, the clerks ap- pointed for the collection of his majesty's revenues, furnished accounts, Avhich prO' duced a letter from the king, suspending the power of the commissioners, nine days after they had entered into office, and investing the clerks with power of the revenues ; by these means, some time elapsed before the money, effects, property that had been seized upon by the deputies, could come into the hands of the clerks of the revenue ; the accounts also became so complex, added to the plunder made among the small farmers by the troops when going into winter quar- ters, that from all the above-naiued spoils, the king received only about forty-four thou- sand pounds. We have likewise discovered, that several properties have been confiscated, by which the king has gained nothing, and which have been seized upon by many indi- viduals for their own account. It is true, that robbery and plunder were so frequent at that time, men inihe highest offices have not escaped the censure of being implicated, which may perhaps have prevented such abuses from being properly inquired into : as an example. Lord Coningsby took three hundred head of horned cattle, and several horses, that were left on the field after the battle of the Boyne, and we do not find that any account of them was given to his majesty. He also seized upon the plate and chattels of Sir Michael Creagh, lord- mayor of Dublin, in 1689 : these were con- sidered to have been of great value ; it is in- deed affirmed, that they were given to him by the king. The clerks of the revenue gave up to the lords-justices. Lords Sidney and Coningsby, many effects of great value, for which his majesty has received no return, nor have any of them been discovered in the castle of Dublin, where they were deposited. 67. — We have likewise discovered, that the clerks of the revenues have delivered great quantities of valuable effects to Sir Charles Porter, Major-General Kirk, and several others, who have given no account whatever of them to the king. The officers of the army have likewise pillaged ; it is said that his majesty has conferred upon them the fruits of their plunder. 68. — If we can believe general opinion in the country, many persons have derived con- siderable profits from these confiscations ; but as some time has now elapsed, it would be very difficult to bring proofs against them, and even in such case, it is probable we would find it impossible to procure the resti- tution of what was seized upon so long since ; we therefore thought it more prudent to apply ourselves to examine matters of more importance, and confine ourselves to remarks necessary on that head. 69. — From the impossibility of forming a just estimate of the value of these chattels, flocks, and other effects, we shall point out at present some debts which were decreed by the courts, and some mortgages belonging CHRISTIAN IRELAND. 619 to the proscribed, to whom restitution of their properties has not been made, which amounted to one hundred and twenty thou- sand and thirteen pounds, as appears in a book annexed to this report, No. 8. 70. — We take the liberty to remark here, that those debts are subject to the aboA^e- named objections — as to the circumstances, there is this difference only, that on one side they have been, as we think, liquidated by the profits of the receipts, while several of the creditors were, by his majesty's letters, in possession of the encumbered estates ; on the other, the principal sum is still due on the estates in question, as it does not appear that any of the interest has been paid since the confiscations ; we calculate, there- fore, that this would bring the accounts to a balance. 71. — Permit us, gentlemen, to observe, that the cases adjudged in these matters, have been found only in the court of ex- chequer ; and that we have been unable to procure them in the other courts of law, as a clause has been omitted in the patent of our commission, to einpower us to obtain them ; from this we are of opinion that there is much more due to the proscribed, whose properties have not been restored, than we have been able to discover. 72. — We should also calculate, among the confiscated property, two hundred and nine- ty-seven houses in the city of Dublin, thirty- six in Cork, two hundred and twenty-six in different towns and villages of the kingdom, sixty-one mills, twenty-eight fairs and mar- kets, seventy-two rectorships, with tithes and rents, six ferries, and a great number of fisheries, producing in the whole two thou- sand and thirty-eight pounds sterling per annum, and valued to be worth fifty thousand pounds. If, as we have observed, we add to these the moneys due to the proscribed whose properties have not been restored, we are persuaded that there would be suffi- cient to liquidate the debts, particularly if we count the flocks and chattels of those who have benefited by the treaty of Limerick, who, according to these articles, had no claim, after having been at first deprived of them. 73. — According to our observations throughout the country, it appears to us that several estates marked down fallow-lands, are now, with the exception of those in the county of Kerry, as highly cultivated, and equal in value to any lands in the kingdom ; nevertheless, we have not comprised them in our valuations, though there are many of them to be met with. 74. — We have valued the confiscated properties according to what they would be let for in farms, if such were the intention. 75. — We think that the trees at present on the confiscated estates which have not been restored, may be estimated at sixty thousand pounds sterling. 76. — There were several small portions of land, each under an acre, and of different qualities, according to situation, of which we could form no correct estimate, not finding any thing to guide us, either in the leases of the families, the papers of the commis- sioners who preceded us, or the rolls of the surveyors ; we consider that these scattered portions of land may contain about seventy or eighty thousand acres, amounting in value to a very considerable sum. 77. — We shall remark in this place, that dreadful havoc has been committed upon the w^oods of the proscribed, particularly on those of Sir Valentine Brown, in the county of Kerry, in which trees to the value of twenty thousand pounds have been cut down or de- stroyed. The loss on the estates of Lord Clancarty, now in possession of Lord Wood- stock, is estimated at twenty-seven thousand pounds. Those on whom the confiscated lands have been bestowed, or their agents, have been so greedy to seize upon the most trifling profits, that several large trees have been cut down and sold for sixpence each. This destruction is still carried on in many parts of the country ; at the present moment. Sir John Hely, chief-justice of the common pleas, and Peter Goodwin, who together purchased from Lord Coningsby the estate of Feltrim, within six miles of Dublin, are cutting down all the avenues and groves around the castle. Great destruction and waste has been, and is still committed in the forest of Oshogness, in the county of Galway, which has been purchased by Mr. Toby Butler for two thousand five hundred pounds, which, it is said, was worth twelve thousand. We sent persons to survey and value this forest ; but Toby Butler had them summoned and brought to trial for executing the com- mission with which we had intrusted them. 78. — Besides the above-mentioned confis- cations, there are several persons concerned in the last rebellion who have not been pro- ceeded against, and who are debarred from all benefit of any treaty or article : several of them were summoned to answer for their crimes, and have given bail, which is still in force ; a few have been tried at the as- sizes of last summer, but were acquitted. 79. — The death of several of the accused, whose trials and condemnation were de- 620 HISTORY OP IRELAND. layed, has deprived the king of many ex- tensive estates. 80. — Nevertheless, we think it likely, from the informations which several persons offer- ed to give if they were encouraged, and the necessary measures adopted, that a large sum might be derived from the lands subject to confiscation, which are carefully concealed. 81. — The king's interest has been so much neglected, that no research has been made into the number of estates which might : or ought to be liable to confiscation in Con- 1 naught before the year 1695, by which every I indulgence was allowed for the security of such property. There are fifty Catholics for I one Protestant in this province, so that it is impossible for the latter to obtain justice, and scarcely does that province seem to be subject to the king, of which the following is a proof. At the last assizes in the county of Galway, nearly forty persons were accused of having been concerned in the late rebel- lion ; but as most of the judges had been officers in the army of James II., and had taken advantage of the treaty of Limerick, it is needless to add that they were all ac- quitted. 82. — The house of Clanriccard has an extensive estate in this district, on which there are very few Protestant farmers. This property fell into the king's hands, by the proscription of Lord Bophin, to whom his majesty has allowed the proceeds for his life only. We are of opinion, that were these lands sold or rented to Protestants, it would tend greatly to favor the interest of the Protestant religion. 83. — We must also observe, gentlemen, that many of those on whom the confiscated lands have been bestowed, have received im- mense sums for several estates comprised in these grants. The whole of the money thus received amounts to sixty-eight thousand one hundred and fifty-five pounds three pence farthing : for instance, Lord iVthlone, whose grant was confirmed to him by an act of the Irish parliament, has sold land to the amount of seventeen thousand six hundred and eighty-four pounds twelve shillings sterling. Lord Romney has sold some for thirty thousand one hundred and forty-seven pounds eleven shillings ; Lord Albemarle for thir teen thousand pounds ; Lord Coningsby for two thousand two hundred pounds ; Mr. Thomas Keightly, for five thousand one hun- dred and twenty-three pounds ten shillings 84. — Several proclamations have been is- sued, offering a quarter of the lands liable to confiscation, to those who would point them out. Some informers have been thus re- warded, as appears in the book No. 6 ; others say they have not been paid their quarter for having informed, which amount, in the whole, to about two thousand pounds per aimum. 85. — We must observe here, that the con- fiscations, however considerable they may appear, have been rather an injury than an advantage to his majesty. This might appear extraordinary, were we not to remark, that several obscure persons, who possessed no property at the time that Ireland was reduced, are at present masters of large estates. It is impossible that they could have acquired them without seizing on confiscated lands, either by intrigue or collusion, from which they have derived considerable advantage, while the king was defrauded. His majesty has been frequently deceived in the value of the grants which he has bestowed. 86. — Nothing seems to have contributed more to this abuse, than the sale of confis- cated lands by auction in the city of Dublin exclusively, instead of in the chief towns of the counties in which they were situate. Few people took the trouble of coming to the capital from the provinces, at a heavy expense, and of neglecting their domestic affairs, when they felt persuaded that the agents of men in office would prevail against them, and knowing that these would have the countenance of his majesty. 87. — When they had succeeded- by their haughtiness and power in removing all com- petition, they placed their rates on the estates they were desirous of having, and gave what- ever price they pleased, by an understanding not to oppose each other, of which the fol- lowing fact is a proof. Thomas Broderick and William Connelly, who acquired vast es- tates, and were partly masters of these auc- tions, no one having confidence to enter into competition with them, have been partners in all the lands they obtained, during 1695 and the following years. They have since set them in farms to greater advantage than they had been before. It must be observed, that their conduct appeared very extraordi- nary, particularly that of Mr. Broderick, who was a privy counsellor, and put in nomina- tion by Lord Capel for the office of inspector of the auctions, though he was well aware of the abuses Avhich he had been guilty of. 88. — It was impossible that matters could have been described more correctly, whereas several of these estates were purchased by the receivers and commissioners of the reve- nues of the crown, under borrowed names. Mr. CuHiford, under the name of Fernley, seized upon several estates for the king, which I he appropriated afterwards to his own use. CHRISTIAN IRELAND. 621 89. — ^Besides these abuses, we shall take the liberty of observing, that an extensive estate has been let in farms, without being put up for sale, by order of the lords-justices, for at least one thousand pounds a year under its value : the lease was drawn for sixty-one years, though by a letter from his majesty, dated March 8th, 1698, it was prohibited to give leases for more than twenty-one years. The above lands belonged to Sir Valentine Brown, and Nicholas Brown, commonly called Lord Kenmare, situate in the coun- ties of Kerry and Limerick, and let to John Blenerhasset and George Rogers, members of the Irish parliament. 90. — Having now given an account of the most essential points of our commission, we beg leave, gentlemen, to lay before you an abridgment of our estimates, before we con- clude our report. The whole of the lands confiscated since February 13th, 1688, amount in real value, according to our calculation, to two millions six hundred and eighty-five thousand one hundred and thirty-five pounds five shillings and ninepence, sterling. The estates restored, in consequence of the treaties of Limerick and Gal way, amount to seven hundred and twenty-four thousand nine hundred and twenty-three pounds four shillings and sixpence. Those restored by favor, are worth two hundred and sixty thousand eight hundred sixty-three pounds seven shillings and three- pence. The debts on the confiscated estates, dis- covered by researches, or acknowledged as legal by the court of Exchequer, amount to one hundred and sixty-one thousand nine hundred and thirty-six pounds fifteen shil- lings and sixpence. To the credit of the above debts, we place what is due to the proscribed, amounting to one hundred and twenty thousand and thir- teen pounds thirteen shillings and tenpence, sterling ; as also the houses, thhes, mills, fairs, markets, rights of lordship, ferries, &c., which we estimate at fifty thousand pounds. To counterbalance the proceeds of the leases made as large presents, we put down the fal- low lands and forests on the confiscated es- tates, which we estimate at about sixty thou- sand pounds, to which we add the flocks of those who have had the benefit of the articles of the capitulation of Limerick, but from whom no accounts have been required. In order to bring matters to a balance, we shall add those lands (of which the number of acres is not known) according to the valua- tion of the other estates : these amount to, at least, one hundred and forty thousand pounds. If it were known how many estates are subject to confiscation, it would be of con- siderable importance ; but it is impossible to form a correct account of them. The money received for lands sold by those on whom the confiscated estates were conferred, amounts to sixty-eight thousand one hundred and fifty-five pounds three shil- lings and a penny. We have made no men- tion of what is due to the proscribed whose properties have been restored, nor to the encumbrances which affect their estates. After all that has been observed, there remain still one million six hundred and ninety-nine thousand three hundred and forty-three pounds fourteen shillings, which we deem to be the gross value of the estates confiscated and not restored, since February 13, 1688. We shall conclude this report by laying be- fore you another very valuable grant, though it may not immediately come within our com- mission ; but as it contains some of the con- fiscated lands, we think it prudent to mention the extent of it, lest we should incur the re- proach of having been negligent in the dis- charge of our duty, or in any part of what you and the public expect from us. All the personal property of King James II., with the exception of a small part given to Lord Athlone, was granted by letters patent, under the great seal of Ireland, on the 30th May, 1695, to Mrs. Elizabeth Vil- liers, at present countess of Orkney ; this property consisted of ninety-five thousand six hundred and forty-nine acres, producing an annual rent of twenty-five thousand nine hundred and ninety-five pounds eighteen shillings ; the real value of which amounts to three hundred and thirty-seven thousand nine hundred and forty-three pounds nine shillings. An exact account of this prop- erty, with the number of acres in each county and barony, is given in a book join- ed to this report, marked No. 9. The same property pays an annuity for life of two thousand pounds, to Lady Susanna Bellasis, and one thousand yearly to Mrs. Godfrey : all the leases of these estates ex- pire in May, 1701, when they are to be re- newed, and will bring, at least, the rents at which we have estimated them. Francis Annesley, James Hamilton, John Trenchard, Henry Longford, Dublin. The complaints of the commissioners about the innumerable abuses committed at G22 HISTORY OP IRELAND the time the lands of the Irish Catholics were confiscated, and the injuries sustained by the king and crown, were not now, as will ap- pear by extracts from the proceedings of the English parliaineut, in which serious remon- strances were made to William upon the manner in which these confiscations were squandered and applied ; his majesty's an- swers, and the replies of parliament, are sub- joined, by which it will be seen that these altercations were carried on with acrimony. Extract from the proceedings of the English parliament, Friday, April 4, 1690. Resolved, — That a bill be drawn up to banish all those who have been guilty of re- bellion in Ireland or elsewhere, against their majesties King William and Queen Mary; and their estates shall be confiscated, sold, and applied to the reduction of Ireland. The attorney-general, Trenchard the chief reg- ister, Sir Richard Reynell, Sir Thomas Charges, Sir William Poultney, Colonel Birch, or any three of them, shall see that this decree of parliament be carried into execution. Extract from the sitting of parliament, Jan- uary 5th, 1690. The king''s speech to both houses. My Lords and Gentlemen, — Having in formed you lately that it would be necessary for me to pass into Holland about this time, I must express myself pleased at the suce ful issue of those things that have en your time, and to find that you are now at liberty to separate, and that it is possible for us to undertake our voyage. I thank you with all my heart for the sup- plies which you have granted for continuing the war. I shall take care that they be fitly applied to the purposes for which they have been intended. I think it meet to assure you, that none of the confiscated estates, either in England or in Ireland, shall be dis- posed of, until this affair be regulated by the parliament in such manner as will be ap- proved of by them. Sitting of Ath March, 1692. The very humble address of the house of commons to his majesty. We, your majesty's very humble and very faithful subjects, and commons in parliament assembled, having taken into our most serious consideration the state of your kingdom of Ireland, think that it is a duty we owe to your majesty, to place, with all possible re- spect and zeal, before your eyes the great abuses to which the evil administration of afijxirs in that kingdom has given birth. Your Protestant subjects are exposed in it to every species of distress that a licentious soldiery and free quarters can produce. In our opinion, the withholding payment from the troops, for which we hoped and calcu- lated that ample provisions had been made, has been the cause of these disorders and oppression. Your majesty's troops have been re- cruited and made up from among the Irish Papists and others, who have been engaged in rebellion against your majesty ; which circumstance has not only discouraged your good and loyal Protestant subjects, but has likewise exposed them to many imminent dangers. Your protection has been extended to the Papists, which has debarred the Protestants from resorting to those laws which were favorable to them, and which has suspended the course of justice. The banishment of many rebels out of the kingdom, who were excluded from benefiting by the articles of the capitulation of Limerick, has been revoked, to the great dissatisfaction of your majesty's Protestant subjects. The confiscated estates have been farmed considerably under their value, to the heavy loss of your majesty's revenue. The stores and chattels that have be^n left by King James II. in the garrisons and towns of the kingdom, have been wasted. The same is to be observed of the confiscated lands, chattels, and other effects which they contained, that might have been applied to the security and better preservation of your majesty's kingdom. We also beg leave very humbly to repre- sent to your majesty, that the clauses in favor of the Catholics, which have been added to the treaty of Limerick after it had been definitively concluded, signed, and the city surrendered, have given great en- couragement to them, and have tended to weaken the Protestant interest. Having with the most humble submission and ardent zeal for your majesty's service, laid open the abuses and illegal practices which have been carried on in your kingdom of Ireland, we submit our representations to your great wisdom, and beseech you with profound respect, to put a stop to them. Let every soldier be paid the arrears due to him, and let the provinces be reimbursed for what they have suffered, and no Papists be admitted into the army. And as the reduction of Ireland has cost CHRISTIAN IRELAND. 623 England a great deal, we humbly beseech your majesty, which you have had the good- ness to promise, to allow none of the confis- cated properties in Ireland to be disposed of, until this matter be regulated by parliament in the best manner. We beseech of you to order a statement of the confiscated estates, stores, and effects, that have been left by James II., to be laid before your house of commons, that the abuses which have been committed, and the waste which has occurred, may be investi- gated. We beseech, likewise, that in future none of the proscribed Papists shall be suffered to return without the advice of parliament, and that no protection be given to Irish Papists, which might impede the course of justice. As to the article added to the treaty of Limerick, which gives so great an oppor- tunity to Irish papists to resume possession of the estates which formerly belonged to them, and which they forfeited by their re- bellion, we humbly beg of your majesty to have the articles of the treaty of Limerick, and those that have been added, laid before us, in order that we may learn by what means, and under what pretext, they have been granted, and why the said articles have been extended, and the value of the proper- ties to which they are entitled to lay claim. As your majesty has most graciously as- sured us, with that goodness with which you always join in every thing tending to the peace and welfare of the kingdom, we make no doubt of your acting in the same manner towards Ireland, the safety and preservation of which are so important to England. The King^s answer, March 10th, 1692. Gentlemen, — I have always paid particu- lar regard to any communication from the House of Commons, and shall take care that all abuses shall be reformed. Sitting of Thursday, 18th January, 1699. Resolved, — That those by whose advice the confiscated estates in Ireland have been given to individuals, and who have been the cause of granting these gifts, have involved the nation in heavy debts, and made it necessary to lay heavy taxes on the people. That they have been guilty of a crime which reflects considerable disgrace upon the king ; that the officers, or those who had been instrumental in the conferring of these grants, are guilty in the highest de- gree of having betrayed the confidence that was reposed in them. Sitting of February 15th, 1699. Resolved, — That a very humble address be presented to the king, containing the resolutions of the house of the 18th of January last, respecting the confiscated lands in Ireland. His Majesty^ s answer, February 26th, 1699. Gentlemen — I have been induced, not only by inclination, but through a love of justice, to reward faithful services, (particu- larly in those who assisted in the reduction of Ireland,) out of the properties in that country, the confiscation of which has de- volved upon me. The length of the war which we have maintained has obliged us to levy taxes, and has involved the nation in debt. The just and efficacious measures that shall be adopt- ed to lighten the national burden and sup- port the public credit, will, in my opinion, be more beneficial than any other thing, to the honor, interests, and safety of this king- dom. Resolved, — That whoever hath advised the king to give the above reply to the ad- dress of the House of Commons, has done every thing to create a disunion and jealousy between the king and his people. We now conclude the history of Ireland with an obvious and convincing remark from a modern author. " The prince of Orange would have thought himself but half king, were he not to rule over Ireland, as well as over England and Scotland ; or, rather, he looked upon Ireland as belonging to him by right, and the loyalty of the Irish to James II. as an act of high treason that he should not leave unpunished. Still, what right had this prince to a country which had not called him to her aid ? It is admitted that he reigned lawfully over England and Scotland, because these kingdoms had transferred their crown to him, but of which they had no right to dispose ; however, could they make an agreement for a distinct people, and against the will of that people ? Let William III. govern those parts of Great Bj;itain that no longer acknowledge their king ; but if Ireland do not wish to change her sovereign, is this first sovereign to for- feit his claim, and are his faithful subjects to be dealt with like traitors and rebels to their country ? It will be said that James II. sapped the foundation of the monarchy by obstinately favoring the papists, and by an arbitrary sway of power. However false this accusation may be, I shall pass it 624 HISTORY OP IRELAND. over in silence ; it only concerns England i' and Scotland, which have taken ample ad- 1 vantage of it. Was Ireland in the same I situation ? And if then this people wished i to continue Papists, if they desired to invest I I their king with an absolute authority, who 'has a right to prevent them ? The world ! has seen that England and Scotland de- |; throned .lames II., and that Ireland refused ji to follow their example ; Ireland would have ii erred in her allegiance, if the whole of Great ■ Britain had belonged to William III. pre- viously to the revolution. On the contrary, I William could not lawfully ascend the throne n without an express law calling him to the ]'• succession and declaring James to be de- throned : William III., therefore, had no right or claim upon the Irish, who neither sent for him nor dethroned their own king. But, as we have already observed, he did not consider his kingdom complete without Ireland, where James II. still held out ; but it- has been the will of Providence that he should succeed in expelling him." We discover, nevertheless, by the man- ner in which the Irish are and have been treated, that it is contrary to the principles of Magna Charta, that celebrated code in which the English nation glories, and of which they boast : the Irish are deprived of that liberty which, according even to their oppressors, should be the portion of all man- kind. They are forced to submit to a hate- ful yoke ; they have exerted themselves in favor of their lawful prince ; their resistance to usurpation is considered as rebellion, and the confiscation of their estates and proper- ties is the consequence. THE END OF MAC-GEOGHEGAN S HISTORY OF IRELAND. INDEX. PAGE Abercromby, a Scotch historian, refuted . 223 Abbe de Fleury speaks of Scotia and Ireland 125 Abbey of Achmacart founded by the O'Demp- scys 309 Athlone 145 Aughrim 309 Baltinglass 243 Beanbee, county Meath . . . 305 Bangor 156 Boyle 243 Carrick-on-Suir . . . .309 Cluan Dolchain, near Dublin . . 183 Dunbrady 294 Eunach 241 Fennoy ...... 245 Founded by O'Moore, Queen's County 294 Jerpoint, county Kilkenny . . 290 Innis Phadruig 237 St. Suirbarry, Cork Kilconnell, county Tipperary — Kilrush .... — Kirie Eleison, county Kerry — Lake Erne — Meliifont .... — Moiiaster-Oie, county Antrim Navan .... Nenagh, county Limerick Shroule .... Tintern, county Wexford . Abbeys built founded in Conn aught 242 302 245 170 242 291 299 245 245 302 300 307 595 47 55G Abdication of James II Absurdities of English criticism Accusation against Mary Queen of Scots Accordance of the Irish and Scotch language 110 Acts of Queen Elizabeth concerning the church 458 Act of confiscation against the adherents of the earl of Kildare 508 . 329 . 289 . 18 Adam de Nangle hanged Adam de Rupe de la Roche . Adrian, Pope .... Adjective Mac and Fitz used by the Irish and Saxons .... Advice of O'Neill to the earl of Essex . . 523 Advice of the earl of Kildare to his son . .412 Aghavoe in Ossory ..... 105 Agilbert, bishop of Paris .... 205 Agricola sailed round Britain . Airtre, king of Munster, defeats these Normans 215 Airgiod Stone, a tax imposed on the Irish . 224 Alfred, king of the Northumbrians . . 70 Alfred, Edward, and their mother sent off to avoid the fury of the Danes . . • 233 Alfred the Great sent to Ireland . . . 205 Alliance between Scotland and France . 223 Allen, John, ch' :plain to Cardinal Wolsey . 399 Allen, chancellor 441 Alliance between Charlemagne and the Irish kings 220 Allicia Pierce 349 PAOB Ahcia, daughter of the carl of Kildare, sent on a secret embassy to Ireland . . . 399 Alexander McDonnell the murderer of Shane O'Neill killed . . . . . .469 Alphabet of the Irish 40 Annals of Ulster, Ambition of Wolsey . , 43 Annals written by an English priest . . 361 Ancestors of the Scotch .... 223 Andrew McBrady, his descent, &c. . . 379 Ann BuUen, created marchioness of Pem- broke 411 Ancestors of the Milesians . . . .57 Ancestors of the Irish instructed by the Egyptians 58 Anglo-Irish at Mullingar .... 512 Anglo-Saxons, their education in Ireland . 204 Anthony St. Leger sent by Queen Mary as lord deputy 448 Anointing at the coronation . . . .75 Ante-Milesian history . . . . .37 Antiquaries appointed by 011am Fodhia . . 43 Antiquity of the Scoto-Mllesians . . .34 Antiquity of the Scotch doubted . . . 114 Aongus on the arrival of St. Patrick . . 154 Apostacy and treachery of Ormond . . 486 Arcadians and Silicians, boast of their an- tiquity 34 Archbishop of Dublin enlarged the church of the Holy Trinity 345 Archbishops of Armagh and Dublin, con- cerning the Primacy 337 Archbishop of Dublin appointed lord justice . 359 Arbogast, St., bishop of Strausburgh . . 201 Archbishopric of Canterbury refused to Bur- nett 22 Archbishops and bishoprics established . . 240 Archives put into the library of St. Patrick . 444 Armagh plundered ..... 215 Ardpatrick castle built 301 Argonauts ....... 42 Armada to invade Ireland .... 498 Arms taken from the Protestants in Ulster in 1641 573 Army under Cromwell 584 Army of 12,000 Scotchmen landed in Ulster . 579 Arms of the Queen torn down . . . 476 Army of O'Neill 466 Army raised to attack Dcrmod and his English adventurers 360 Arrest of the earl of Kildare . . . 358 Arrest of several English noblemen . . 336 Arrest of Anglo-Irish noblemen . . . 360 Arthur, prince of Wales .... 379 Articles and treaty of Limerick . . • 607 Athlone, its situation, &c. .... 603 Assassination of O'Neill and his followers by the Scotch .468 Assurances held out to the Irish of having succors from Spain 546 Aughrim, battle of 603 TO 626 INI PAGE Bale preached against tlie Catholic doctrine . 448 Bailynamoney belonging to the Knights of Malta 393 Bangor Abbey — when fo muled . • • ^J"^ Banners of the Gadeliuns . . . .76 Bards of Irehuul 35 Baron of Slane, Fleming .... 348 Basilia, sister of Strongbow .... 283 Battle of Allen, county Kildare . . . 185 Battle of Bannockburn 322 Battle of Clontarf 232 Battle near Castlcdermod .... 359 Battle fought near Athenry . . . .91 Battle of Dnnn-Conla with the Normans . 210 Battle between the English and Irish . . 266 Battle of Shannon-harbor .... 170 Battle of Hastings 239 Battle of Kill Omack, county Carlow . . 160 Battle between the O'Neills . . . .450 Battle at Northampton 367 Battle at Stamford 238 Battle between the O'Neills and Scotch . 384 Battle of Waterford 263 Ballintubcr Abbey 307 Baron of Athenry ... ... 326 Barons and bishops interfere for the carl of Kildare 376 Barony of Forth, county Wexford . .261 Bede, on the Scots, Britons, and Picts . .221 Bernard, St HO Becknor consecrated bishop of Dublin . . 341 Bellingham, commander of an expedition to Ireland 438 Bishop, king of Cashel 225 Bishopric of Kilfenora, county Clare . . 179 Bishopric of Lismore . . . . .181 Bishopric of Meath 305 Bishop of Hereford carries away booty from county Carlow ...... 337 Bishops fined for non-attendance in parliament 365 Bishop Fisher 396 Bishop Cranmer, and his character . . 409 Bishops and priests maintained by the king of Cashel 154 Birr besieged by the earl of Kildare . • 409 Birth and death of our Saviour foretold by a Druid 102 Blasphemies of Henry II. - . . . .279 Blarney Castle taken by the English . . 549 Boats used by the ancient Irish . . .69 Book of Common Prayer printed in Irish, by order of Queen Elizabetii .... 473 Body-guards first appointed by Henry VII. . 375 Booty taken from tlie Scotch by O'Neill . 580 Boyne river . . . . . . .601 Bribery practised by Henry VIII. . . .107 Brien Boroimhe declared monarch of Ireland . 231 Bridget, St., of Kildare 165 Bridges built 242 Bridges built in KilcuUen and Leighlin . . 326 Britain, why so called 55 Britons apply to the Romans for aid . . 107 Brown, Thomas, appointed by Cranmer bish- op of Dublin 420 Brown, Archbishop, obliged to surrender his see 448 Brown, family of, county Kerry . . . 450 Brunchant, queen of Burgundy . . .196 Buchanan, the Scottish historian . . .221 Burkes of Connauglit ..... 446 Butler, the name derived from being butler to Henry II 302 FAnE I Caher Castle attacked by the earl of Essex . 520 Cain Phadruic, a tax paid to St. Patrick . 146 Calumnies of Abcrcromby .... 117 Calvin, and Calvinism ..... 439 Cambrensis stops in Ireland .... 295 Camden refuted . . . . . . 473 Canterbury, bishop of, apostatized . . . 446 Captivity of St. Patrick .... 153 Carlow besieged and taken . . . .419 Carrickfergus — why so called . . .112 Carroll, prince and general .... 226 Cashel suffered by the tyranny of Inchiquin . 578 Cashel, the Psalter of 43 Castle Carberry, county Kildare . . . 346 Castle Connell 304 Castle of Dublin built 307 Castle of Temaghs, Queen's county . . 292 Castle of Ferns destroyed .... 260 Castlehavcn on Irish sufferings . . . 571 Castlchaven on the rebellion of 1641 . . 574 Castle of Sligo built ..... 314 Cataldus, St., educated at Lismore .• . 146 Cathedral church founded .... 156 Cathedral church of St. Patrick . . .451 Cathedral church of Cashel burned by the earl of Kildare 428 Catherine Boren, who had been a nun, mar- ried to M. Luther 394 Catholic clergymen persecuted . . . 470 Catholic schools suppressed .... 470 Causes of the death of Mary Stuart . . 557 Cavanagh's party treacherously put to death . 451 Cecil, secretary of state . .... 561 Change of language in the celebration of the mass ........ 443 Character of Dermod, king of Leinster . . 264 Character of Queen Elizabeth . . . 553 Charles I., beheaded 581 Charles II. lands in Scotland . . . 584 Character of Charles II 592 Christ's church, Dublin, founded . . . 235 Clement, an Irishman ..... 209 Clergy of Ireland, their chastity . . . 255 Cluan Mac Noisk 171 Colgan, on the Annals of the Four Masters . 235 Colleges on the continent for the education of Irish youth ...... 487 Columbanus, St. ..... • 186 Columb-Kill, death of 195 Commerce introduced by the Normans . . 220 Commission issued for the death of Queen Mary 557 Conditions between Richard III., and some Irish chiefs ...... 353 Confiscation of Desmond's estate . . . 487 Confiscation of six counties in Ulster -. . 563 Cong abbey 182 Connelly the traitor 571 Conspiracy against James I. . . . . 561 Contempt displayed towards the pope, by Henry IL 251 Contributions of the faithful to build churches 160 Conquest of Ireland disputed .... 552 Coote's orders to his soldiers to massacre man, woman, and child ..... 574 Convents of the Dominican order . . . 310 Conversion of the Danes .... 229 Convent of St. Augustine, founded in Dubhn 315 Council held at Usneach, Westmeath . . 240 Cranmer supports the reformation . Cromwell lands in Ireland . . . .581 Crown of Ireland presented to the pope . 237 627 PAGE Cruelties of Fitz-Adelin . . . .304 Cullenswood, massacre of the English . . 305 Culhbert, St., born at Kells . . . .201 Danes stripped of their spoils .... 229 Dathy, monarch of Ireland, killed . . . 101 Davis accuses the English and justifies the Irish 567 David Rizzio stabbed by Darnley . . . 554 Death of Charles II 592 Death of the earl of Desmond . . . 370 Death of James 1 568 Death of Queen Elizabeth .... 552 Debaucheries of Henry VIII. . . .403 Defeat of De Courcy 302 Defeat of the Danes 226 Defeat of the Scotch islanders . . . 452 Defeat of the Normans 215 Deicol, St., memoirs of . . . . . 197 De Lacy appointed to the government of Dub- lin 289 Departure of St. Patrick from Ulster . . 147 Descent of the Fitzgeralds .... 324 Deserters to the cause of James II. . . 595 Desmond repairs to England .... 425 Desmond, John, commands the Catholic army 479 Desmond taken prisoner and belieaded . . 483 Desolating strifes between O'Neill and O'Don- nell 396 Derry garrisoned against O'Neill . , . 466 Derry, siyrendcr of .... . 599 Destruction of property in the county Wicklow 533 Devastations in Leix, Queen's county . . 527 Devastations committed by the Scotch . . 317 Difference between the sees of Armagh and Dublin terminated ..... Different divisions of Ireland . . . .124 Di.spute on the validity of Baptism . . 203 Disputes between O'Brien and Sir Pierce Butler 383 Disunion of the pope and cardinals on the conduct of Henry VIII. .... 415 Division of districts between the O'Neills . 451 Divorce between Henry and Catherine . . 408 Doctrine of Martiu Luther spreads widely . 395 Dominican order ...... 313 Dom Juan at Xinsale 543 Dominicnn and Franciscan convents, Cork . 311 Donald McMurrough 329 Donations to the church of Mellifont . . 237 Donations of land given to English soldiers . 474 DowdaJ, George, opposed the language of the mass ........ 443 Drogheda attacked by the insurgents . . 572 Drogheda garrison and citizens massacred by Cromwell .... . . 582 Drogheda tiireatened by O'Neill . . . 466 Dublin, Cashcl, and Tuam . . .427 Dublin taken by assault . . . 264 Duleek a bishopric 141 Dukes of Richmond and Somerset . . 400 Duke of York defeated and slain . . . 367 Dundalk besieged by O'xXcill . . . .466 Dynasties formed ...... 125 Earthquake in England and Ireland . .313 Easter observed by the Scots . . . .122 Ecclesiastics arrested for debt . . . 443 Ecclesiastical supremacy of Queen Elizabeth 470 \ Edam O'Reilly, bishop 243 1 Edgar, king, powerful at Lea Edward the Confessor . . . . .238 438 446 123 57 106 223 450 226 1.^)8 29 233 543 317 262 261 210 476 325 Edward VI., proclaimed . Edward VI., death of ... . Eigfoid, king of Northumberland . Egyptians drowned in tlie Red Sea Eliph, St., son to (he king of Ireland Embassy from Ireland to France . Embassy to Rome from Queen Mary . Emly near Cashel Emly united to Cashel .... Emperor Lothaire ..... England under the Danes English army in Ireland English laws prevailed only within the Eng. lish pale English force with Dermod march for Dublin English abhorred in Ireland . Englishmen act treacherously in favor of Cromwell ..... English, the enemies of the Irish . Eugena, John .... Essex, earl of, his death Estates of De Lacy confiscated Europa, Princess of Tyre Examples of treachery to be found in the Histories of France and England . . 220 Excesses committed by the Danes in Wa ford 263 Excesses committed by the Danes . . 228 Execution of 28 Welsh children by King John 307 Excommunication against the king of Meath 244 Excommunication of Queen Elizabeth . .471' Expedition of the Prince of Orange to England 594 Exports of Ireland ...... 29 Eyes of O'Brien's son put out . . .301 Fabius PiCTOR 48 Fabulous history of the Gadelians . . .54 Families, Anglo-Irish ..... 276 Famine in Ireland 91 Famine, dreadful, in 1552 .... 445 Fasting observed by the Scots . . . 124 Fatal end of Darnley ..... 554 Fate and end of the house of Desmond . . 487 Father de Orleans ...... 22 Feargus, first king of Dalriads, Scotland . 56 Fcdlim converted ...... 149 Felix O'Buodan, archbishop of Tuam . . 312 Fergus and his brother slain in battle . . 93 Fergus chosen king of Scotland . . . 108 Ferinus, first king of the Scythians . . 56 Fermoy, county Cork 305 Fiech, 'disciple of St. Patrick . . . .39 Fiech, bishop of Sletty, Queen's county • . 141 Findan, St., made prisoner .... 204 Firbolgs in Coimaught ..... 60 Fire kindled before the tent of St. Patrick . 148 Fitzgeralds reinstated ..... 444 Fitz- Henry Meyler 309 Fitzmaurice sailed from Portugal . . . 478 Fitzmaurice of Kerry ..... 268 Fitzpatrick, baron of Upper Ossory . . 441 Fitz and 3Inr, Irish adjectives . . .346 Fleet of the Milesians dispersed . . .59 Flocks and crops destroyed by the English . 527 Fomorians and Firbolgs . . . .54 Fox, Parker, and Burnett . . . .408 France sends a fleet against the Scotch . . 442 Franciscan convents taken by the English 530 Francis Cosby, of Stradbally . . . .478 Francis Porter, Irish historian . . .53 French kindness towards the Irish . . 487 Fridolinus, son of an Irish king . . . 194 628 Fulk, archbishop of Dublin Funerals of the Milesians PAOE 317 , 72 Gadeuans fly out of Egypt . . • .57 Game, the various kinds of . . . .28 Garrison of Athlone pillages a church . . 445 Garrison of CI uanroad 445 Garrison of Enniskillen attacked by O'Donnell 506 Gall, St., sets fire to a temple . . -196 Gall, St., death of 197 General peace in Leinster and Munster . . 384 Geoffry McMorris 305 GeofTry of Monmouth, an English monk . 35 Gerald, earl of Kildare ..... 357 Germain, St., master to St. Patrick . . 145 Gertrude, St 202 Giant's Causeway ...... 32 Gilbert, bishop of Limerick, on the mass . 187 Gilbert, Urgale 335 Gildas quoted by Abercromby . . . 115 Gold and silver mines 28 Golden calf worshipped by the Pagan Irish . 65 Golden chain an order of distinction . . 80 Golden Vale on the river Suir , . . 148 Gormanstown, Viscount, true to the Catholic cause and to Desmond .... 481 Gospel preached in Ireland before St. Patrick 104 Grants made to the Irish by Cromwell . . 585 Gratianus Lucius ...... 353 Graves first used for the dead . . .73 Great men have their defects . . . 257 Gregory O'Maghan, archbishop of Tuam . 352 Gregory, bishop of Elphin .... 352 Grey, Lady Jane, proclaimed queen . . 447 Grey, lord deputy, defeated .... 484 Haruis, the Irish historian . . . .53 Hebrew and Irish languages . . . .40 Herman lands in Ireland . . . .59 Henry VIII. proclaimed king . . . 387 causes many of the nobility to be executed 429 Henry II., of France 442 Heptarchy of the Saxons . . • .74 Hermes, first inventor of letters . . .34 Hibernians and Scots . . . . .113 Higgins, the historian, his probity . Holy Cross, prior of . . . .172 Honors paid to St. Bridget . . . .165 Hospitality of the ancient Irish . . .71 Houses founded for Franciscans . . . 366 Howth, formerly called Benneadair . • 54 Hugh Wood, Irish historian . . . .51 Human victims offered in sacrifice . • 67 Hume, the historian, refuted by MacGeoghe- gan 567 to 576 Idolatry introduced into Ireland . . .63 Inhabitants of Ireland, first . . . .54 Innes, a Scotch priest ..... 22 Innisfail, an early name for Ireland . . 55 Innisfail, annals of ..... 43 Ireland afflicted by domestic wars . . . 318 Ireland called the Island of Saints . . 251 Irish divide into tribes ..... 68 Irish, and the Welsh, oppressed by England . 356 Irish language, why called the Gaelic . . 37 Jkalousies of the Fitzgeralds and Butlers . 388 Jesuits introduced into Ireland . . . 431 John de Courcy 272 John Cummin, archbishop of Dublin . . 296 Joseph us, the Jewish historian . . .19 PAGE Keallacuan, king of Cashcl .... 227 Keating, the Irish historian .... 304 Kieran, St., meets St. Patrick in Rome . . 105 Kelisoncc a city . . . . . .167 Kcrmeda — his prime minister . . .277 Kenneth, king of the Scots .... 221 Kerry visited by St. Patrick . . . .155 Kilcarbain convent 363 Kilcrea convent, Cork 369 Kildare — why so called . . . . .161 Kildare — its priory ...... 304 Kildare, earl of, killed at the battle of Benburb 513 Kilda-Luana, at present Killaloe . . . 182 Kilfeacle, garrison of .... . 301 Killian, St., bishop, &c 202 Kilkenny, parliament of .... 325 Kilkenny made a noble stand against Cromwell 582 Kilkenny — its religious houses , . . 307 Killarney, lakes, &c .32 Kilmallock rebuilt 475 Kilmichael, Westmeath . . . .366 Kilmore, bishopric of .... . 378 King Ciiarles sold by tlie Scotch . . . 578 Kings deposed and put to death . . . 79 Kirkpatrick, and St. Patrick . . . .143 Labors of St. Patrick 160 Ladies of Wexford butchered by Cromwell . 585 Lake on Mount Mangerton . . . .32 Lancaster and York, the houses of , . 355 Lancaster arrests Kildare .... 358 Lands conferred on the bards . . .77 Lands near the Shannon conferred upon Cromwellian officers . , . . 590 Lands bestowed on soldiers . . . 473 Languages of Europe . . . . 38 Laogare II., king of Ireland . . . .64 Laogare — Scots and Picts invade Britain . 107 Latin language introduced by St. Patrick . 153 Laurence, St., baron of Howth . . . 369 Laurence, St., baron of Howth, endeavors to entrap the Catholics '..... 562 Laws respecting the bards . . . .36 Laws sanctioning the murder of Irishmen . 567 Laws regarding hospitality . . . .71 Legate from the pope ..... 288 Leo X., pope ....... 394 Lerha, near Granard ..... 305 Lettftr of James II. from France to his privy council . . . . . . . 596 Letter of Pope Urban VIII. to Mary O'Donnell 565 Liberator of iiis country .... 515 Limerick defended against the English . . 24 Limerick, siege of . . . . . . 602 Limerick surrendered 604 Lionel, duke of Clarence . . . 345 Literature revived 94 Liturgy of the Irish Church taken from Saint Mark . 187 Livery and coin ...... 371 Lombard, Peter 50 Longford, district of, burned by O'Donnel . 507 Lord Stanley 374 Lough Derg ....... 356 Loughs and likes . . . . . .31 Louis XI. of France 402 Louis XIV. established houses for the educa- tion of the Irish ...... 488 Louis XIV. favorable to James II. . . . 594 Louth once a city ...... 153 Loyalty of the Irish ..... 168 Lugadius, son of Ith . . . ' .58 PAGE Mac-Mahons persecuted .... 500 MacGepghegan killed in defending Dunboy . 548 MagLiire defeats an English force . . . 505 Malahide, Talbots of 278 Malachi II 230 Malachi O-Relly 384 Malachi, archbishop of Armagh . . . 283. Malta, the order of 28G March of O'Donnel for Kinsale . . .540 March of the French after the battle of the Boyne 24 Mardulphus, an Irish monk .... 201 Marriages arranged ..... 71 Marian O'Laghnan . . . . .315 Martin betrayed to Cromwell the town of Car- rick 582 Martyrdom of Dermod Mac-Carty, priest . 551 Mary O'Donnel, a heroine, princess of Tyrone 565 Mary, Queen of Scots Massacres by the English in several counties Massacre of the nobility by the plebeians Massacre at luniskillen by Bingham Massacre of the Irish in the villages of Santry, &c. Matthew Stewart, earl of Lennox . Maurice Regan, interpreter, &c. . Maurice Fitzgerald Meath visited^ by St. Patrick .... Mechanics formed into bodies Men, women, and priests murdered in Newry Merchants of London obtain confiscated lands belonging to the Irish ..... Messingham, an Irish historian Michael O'Clery, an Irish historian Milesians known to the ancient Greeks . Milesius's sons divide Ireland Milicho, St. Patrick's old master, burned Miracle by St. Patrick Missionaries to St. Patrick .... Monaghan castle surrendered to O'Donnel, . Monaster Eoris ...... Monstrous corpulency of Henry VIII. . Montrose, marquis of, put to death Mountjoy acts vigorously against O'Neill . . Munster visited by St. Patrick Munster, names of families portrayed Munster in rebellion Murchard. son of O'Brien .... Murray appointed regent of Scotland Music of the ancient Irish .... Naas, a parliament held at . Naas once a city ...... Names of the old proprietors .... Nathi opposed to St. Patrick .... Natural history of Ireland .... Naval combat at Dundalk .... Nemedius succeeds Partholan Netterville family Nial Garve O'Donnel Nial Glandulph . . . • • Nice, council of, on the celebration of Easter . Nicholas V., pope . . • • Nicholas Maguire, bishop of Leighlin Nicholas Fleming, archbishop Noah and the Ark Nobles who declared in favor of the prince of Orange . • • • • Noblemen, Irish, several hanged in Connaught Oath taken by the Catholic confederates of Kilkenny . . .... 577 50 50 23 125 147 161 145 508 327 436 583 527 154 278 315 238 555 71 367 154 126 146 25 228 54 274 552 226 189 378 385 357 35 594 491 EX. 620 PAGE O'Birnes and O'TooIes 358 O'Birnes rebel against the English . . 438 O'Briens, O'Connors, &c 231 O'Connors descended from Duach . . . 150 O'Connor, Sligo, traitor to his countrymen . 521 Occupations of the Irish .... 212 O'Doghertv takes some castles, and defeats the Engfish 563 O'Donnels, princes of Tyrconnell . . . 185 O'Donnel marches to the relief of Kinsale . 540 O'Donnel at the court of Spain . . .549 O'Hurly, archbishop of Cashel, hanged . . 489 O'Kelly attacked, and effected his escape . 491 O'Kelly's note upon De Wale . . . 276 O'Morras, O'TooIes, and O'Connor . . 438 O'Morra successful in Wexford . . . 512 O'Ferral is defeated by Maurice . . . 505 O'Neill forms his plans against Queen Eliza- beth O'Neill proclaimed to be an enemy and ; tor O'Neill marched through Leinster at the head of 7,000 men .... Opposition of the Scotch to regal power Opposition to St. Patrick by the Pagans O'Reillys O'Rourke, prince of Brefny . O'Rourke, and Mac-Sweeny . O'Sullivan unable to obtain his pardon O'Toole, archbishop of Dublin Overtures for a peace with O'Neill Palladius, first missionary to Ireland . Parentage of St. Bridget .... Pardon to manj' of the Irish chiefs Parliament decreed that the Catholics should be extirpated Partiality of English historians Patrick, St., consecrated at Rome . preached at Slane and Tara assists at the council of Laoaraire Pearls found in Lake Lene .... Peculiarity of the Irish language . Pedigree of King James, successor to Queen Elizabeth Penance of St. Columb-Kill .... Pepin, king of France Perkin, Warbeck Perjury obvious, in depriving some Catholics of their properties Persecution of the Irish clergy Petty, Sir William, on the numbers massacred in 1641 Philip de Barry Philip of Spain assisted the Irish Catholics . Phcenicians trade with Ireland Plans of Essex to subjugate Ireland Plantagenet, Edward Plunket's cruel fate . . . . . Policy of Camden ...... Pope Pascal II Pope Clement writes to O'Neill PrendergHst, Maurice Presbyterianlsm ...... Preston, Robert President Carcw commits great devastations in Munster Priests, Irish, particularly favored in France . Princes of Ulster combine and declare war against Queen Elizabeth .... Prince Charles escapes to France . Prince of Orange lands with a powerful army 497 508 524 569 146 320 244 499 552 264 514 138 165 552 575 515 145 148 155 32 40 560 167 220 375 590 489 575 289 498 213 521 374 484 21 240 526 261 395 274 529 488 507 585 6ul 630 IN) PAOK Properties of the Irish conferred upon the Eng- lish 281 Protestants, when so called .... 394 Psalter of Teamor examined by St. Patrick . 76 Puritans in Ireland intended to exterminate the Catholics 570 Qualification for admission into the Milesian militia 81 Quarrels between the Scots and Picts . .112 Queen's county formerly called Leix . . 512 Queen and other nobles, converted at Tara . 148 Queen Elizabeth's interference foments discord in other nations . . . . . . 559 Quincy, Robert de 280 RATnEsofthe Danes 217 Ratli-Hugh in Westmeath . . . .220 ' Reformation, its causes and effects . . 558 Re^riments of the Irish brigade . . . 605 Rejjistries of Tara . ..... 155 Religion of the Pagan Irish . . . .63 Religion nobly adhered to by O'Rourke, who was martyred for exercising hospitality . 499 Reply of Ailmer to Henry VIII, . . .421 Retreat of O'SulIivan Bearre .... 550 Retreat of the English army from before Sligo 512 Reward offered for the head of O'Neill . .531 Rewards offered for the head of Desmond . 475 Roscrea, battle of 228 Rivers of Ireland 26 Richard Creagh, archbishop of Armagh . . 494 Salamanca College for Irish priests . . 488 Sacrilegious oath of Queen Elizabeth . . 559 Saxons 190 Shannon river 19 Siege of Inniskillen ..... 506 Siege of Kinsale ...... 539 Sisters of St. Eliph put to death . . .106 Sitrick, chief of the Danes of Dublin . . 235 Sixtus v., pope 388 Slings made use of ..... 68 Stafford betrayed to Cromwell . . . 582 Stanihurst 304 Statutes of Kilkenny ..... 357 Strafford viceroy ...... 276 Stukely betrayed the cause of Ireland .• . 478 Spaniards treacherously put to death by the English 498, 499 Submission of O'Neill to the deputy . . 552 Swords, abbey of . . . . .173 Teamor ...... Thuomond, Ormond, &c. Throgmorton defends Mary Stuart'.s authori Tin and other mines near Lake Lone Titles unknown among the Milesians Tonsure introduced by St. Patrick . Tarriiigton, archbishop of Cashel . Transportation of the Irish to America . Treachery of Bingham .... Treachery towards hostages . Tribes choose their own chiefs Trimlestown, baron .... Trinity College, Dublin, founded . Troops raised for James II. . Tuam plundered and burned . Tuatha de Danains .... Tuathal defeats the plebeians Tuathal killed Tumult of the Scotch fanatics Turgesius ...... Tyranny in establishing the reformation Tyrconnell ...... Tyrrell's pass, victory gained at PAOE , 60 , 516 55.5 , 32 , 74 188 , 350 , 585 492 482 126 , 515 501 598 345 , 55 87 170 569 216 559 387 513 301 Ulster ...... Ulick Burke slew Bingham in the castle of Sligo 510 Usher 48 University of Dublin, its revenues increased . 591 Uriel 289 Vesey, William de Victories of O'Neill Victories obtained by the French Viscount Gormanstown . Virtues of the Irish clergy Vision of St. Patrick 315 509 47 389 213 145 Ware, the historian 52 Wars of the Milesians 17 Walker, Rev. Mr., at Derry . . . .599 Well of St. Patrick 153 Willis's robberies in Fermanagh . . . 504 Wogan and Warren ..... 325 Woolscy, cardinal 328 Wolves in Ireland ...... 28 York, duke of .... . Youghal taken by O'SulIivan Zeal of the primitive Christians of Ireland Zouch pursues Desmond 366 481 155 485 Date Due fer-^ UM- BOS' or. • uilEGE 3 9031 61212106 7 Library Bureau Cat. no. 1137 /u BOSTON COLLEGE LIBRARY UNIVERSITY HEIGHTS CHESTNUT HILL. MASS. Books may be kept for two weeks unless other- wise specified by the Librarian. Two cents a day is charged for each book kept overtime. 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