THE LIFE AND LETTERS OF Floeenoe MacCaethy Reagh, TANIST OF CAEBESY, MacCapjiiy Mor. WITH S03IE POETION OP "THE HISTORY OF THE ANCIENT FAMILIES OF THE SOUTH OF IRELAND," COMPILED SOLELY FBOM UNPUBLISHED DOCUMENTS IN HER MAJESTY'S STATE PAPEE OFFICE. BY DANIEL MacCAHTHY (Glas), OF GLEAXN-A-CHROIM. ' LONDON: •LONGMANS, GREEN, READER, AND DYER. DUBLIN: HODGES AND SMITH. 1867. LOTfDON : PRINTED BY HAEETSON AND SONS, ST. MAETTN's LANE, a THAT SEPT OF THE RACE OP HEBER WHICH HAVING BEEN THE MOST EXALTED IS THE MOST HUMBLED, TO THE DESCENDANTS, KICH AND POOR, OP DERMOD MACCARTHY, KING OF DESMOND, (ZFolumc is; J3«Hicatct( AS A TRIBUTE OF LOYE AND REVERENCE, BY THE AUTHOR. Winsley Manor Souse, Wilts. 1576 INTRODUCTIOK " The Venerable Charles O'Conor (in a letter to Bryan O'Conor, Kerry, in 1755), describes this great Irish Sept (the MacCarthys) as the most eminent by far of all the noble families of the South, and Sovereigns of all that part of Ireland, including the greatest part of the county of Cork. " I am really anxious (wrote Mr. O'Conor,) for a good account of the celebrated Florence M<=Caii;hy, who assumed the title of More, by the unanimous suffrages of Tirone, the Clergy, and the people, and was kept prisoner eleven years in the Tower of London ; after which he escaped, and joined in the Tirone war." " Mr. O'Conor wished for a history of the ancient families of the South of Ireland ; but in that he was disappointed." Hardiman's Irish Minstrelsy. Vol. II, i^age 418. More than a century has elapsed since there was thus placed on record the declaration of one of the most eminent of our scholars, that " a Life of Florence MacCarthy was wanting to our Hterature, and that he greatly desired to see such a deficiency supplied :" this declaration, and this desire have been many times since repeated by scholars scarcely less eminent, whose lives have been dedicated, in other, and more important departments, to their country's literature. The vacancy, and the invitation to supply it, have remained a barren tradition till this day ! To accept what has been an open challenge for more than a hundred years would be presumptuous in the waiter — of no repute — who now assumes it, had the silence of our students proceeded from any difficulty, other than the remoteness of the materials from their homes, and the time necessary for their collection from amidst many thousands •oi letters and despatches, most of them utterly illegible without long, and ii'ksome study. In truth the documents A 2 vi INTRODUCTION. necessary for tliis work, as they exist only in Her Majesty's State Paper Office, in London, lay beyond the convenient reach of our Irish scholars, and none other have cared to concern themselves about them ; hence, the presumption that might seem to attach to such an undertaking, is the less, in that, at the very time Mr. O'Conor was lamenting this void in our national literature, "a good account of Florence MacCarthy " was already written, and needed but the time and toil requisite for compiling, and placing it before the reader ! It was written in alternate chapters by himself, by Sir Robert Cecyll, Sir George Carewe, by successive Deputies, and Presidents of Munster, and by countless cor- respondents of the English Ministers and the Privy Council, during the entire period of his career. It is the Life thus written that is now offered to the public, and with it so much of "the history of the ancient families of the South of Ireland," as comprised the great struggle with which ter- minated the Rights, Chiefries, and recognised succession of elective chiefs, and the separate existence of the mere Irish in Septs. It may with safety be affirmed that little is generally known of Florence MacCarthy beyond what is written in the Pacata Hibernia, and the histories of Cork, Kerry, and Waterford, by Smith ; even Mr. O'Conor, in part misled by the latter writer, has, in the few lines he has quoted, fallen into two inaccuracies ! Florence did not escape from the Tower of London ; nor can it be said that he joined in the Tirone war I The archives of Her Majesty's State Paper Office contain the Life, public and private, of this remarkable mere Irishman, from the age of 12 to 76 ; a period of 64 years, of which — for what reason the reader will eventually be well able to judge — 48 had been already, at the period when this biography closes, spent in state prisons; the Tower, the Gatehouse, the Marshalsea, and other jails ^ or on parole, under heavy recognizances, within a few miles of London. The same documents that were laid before Burgh- ley, Walsyngham, Cecyll, and Queen Elizabeth, and before every successive Mhiister, and the Privy Council, for a INTRODUCTION. vii fui'ther peiiod of 40 years, are now, for the first time printed, and offered to the favoui-able notice of the reader. i\Iention of distuict portions of the pedigrees of the numerous Sept of the MacCarthys will miavoidably be of frequent occurrence tln'oughout the folloT\dng pages ; for the descent, and great alliances of Florence were the incessant, and most hiu'tftd charges which his adversaries could make against him. Not only his personal enemies, but the English authoiities in Mmister, were at the pains of collecting, and sendhig home to the Privy Comicil, evidences of his descent from the ancient Kmgs of Ireland, and the minutest details of his alHances vdth the nobility of his own day, as proofs qf the danger to the State of alloicing lihevty to " a man of such greatness T It may be needful, and it will be sufficient, to render this descent, and these alliances intellig-ible to the reader, to state that the Sept of the M.C.s had for several centmies been divided mto tln-ee great stems, each subdivided into several minor, and dependent, but still powerful branches. The main line was known amongst the Irish, as that of M.C. Mor, the second as M.C. Reagh, and the thu'd, and probably the wealtliiest, as M.C. of Muskerry. In the middle of the 16th centmy, the head of the main line, and cliief of liis race, was Donal, Earl of Clancar ; the chief of Muskerry, was Su' Cormac McTeig, who had been declared by an English Lord Deputy, " the rarest man that was ever born of liis race ;" and the chieftain of Carbery, was Sir Donogh MacCarthy Reagh, the father of Florence, 9th in descent from Dermod of Cille-Bame (so called a loco occisionis) whom the Normans found King of Cork or Desmond, when they first set foot in Ireland. For several generations the descendants of Dermod, in the main line, w^ere styled " Kings of Desmond ;" and the MacCarthy Reaghs, " Princes of Carbeiy not only hi the Irish chroni- cles, but in letters, and patents from the Kings of England. One such instance, amongst many, occm-s in the close rolls, preserved in the Tower of London, amongst which is one exceedingly cmious ; it is an order, made in the first year of the reign of Hen. HI, A.D. 1217. to the Justiciary of vm INTRODUCTION. Ireland, " to cause payment to be made, without delay, to Petronilla de Bloet, a Norman Lady, of her dower, which had been given to her by her brother, Thomas de Bloet, on her marriage to Dermot MacCarthy, King of Cork!" Dermod was born A.D. 1098 I He was 73 years of age when " he defeated the Danes of Limerick, in a battle in which several of their bravest commanders were slain, including Torna, son of Giolla-Cainniah, and Torcar, son of Treni ; burned the market place, and demolished the greater part of the fortress." — (Cronnelly, Irish Fam. Hist.) The Normans arrived at this time; and in 1172, King Hen. II. himself landed in Ireland. If Petronilla accompanied him, Dermod may have been not more than 74 when he man*ied her; if she waited till Norman rule was established with some security in Ireland, she may have married him at any time between 1172 and 1185, at which period he was killed, as it is asserted, by treachery of the English, under Fitz Walter, with whom he was holding conference. He was at the time 87 years of age. It is surprising that the marriage of the old King with this young Norman damsel should have escaped mention by the chroniclers of Ireland! that they should not have attributed to the power of her charms his submission to Henry, the consequent rebellion of his subjects, his deposi- tion in favour of his son Cormac Liathanach, and his recovery of his kingdom by the aid of Norman troops, under Raymond le Gros. This close roll throws some suggestive twilight upon the tame submission of this warlike Prince, and upon the rebel- lion of his son, and of his subjects. Close EoUs, 302. Mandatu' est G. Marisc Justic Hi1bn qd sn dilone hre faciat Petronillse Bloet Maritagiu suu quod Thom : Bloet Fra^ ejus eide Petroiiillse dedit cu Dermot Magarthy Eege de Corke viro suo. " T. Com ut sup^. An. I. Hen. III. a.d. 1217. The maritagium, or dower, of this lady must have been withheld by her own people, or by Dermot's successors, for INTRODUCTION. ix at least 22, and probably not less than 30 years. Elsewhere in the same rolls, Thomas de Bloet is styled Lord of Thyver- nail. The family is frequently mentioned in the Rolls of Hen. III., dm'ing whose reign different members of it appear to have been attached to the Royal Household. Before committing the following pages to the benevolence of all who may condescend to peruse them, the author is desirous to avert the possible censure of those of his readers, who, happily for themselves, may know little of the men who were sent to rule and civilize Ireland in the 16th century, and who may think that he has written of them with undue severity ! He has done far otherwise ! he has again and again revised these pages, with the resolution to remove from them every word of reproach ; but he has found it impossible to write a single chapter of Anglo-Irish history on such terms : not only must he have suppressed every expression of detes- tation for treachery and rapacity, but he must have supressed also every official document containing the narrative written by the actors themselves, of the events he has had to record: on these documents — the real accusers — be the blame ! should the reader still feel disposed to attach any. There remains but one more object of solicitude with the writer of this biography, and it forces him to address a few earnest words to those of his countrymen who — however re- luctantly — have given credence to two severe accusations against the subject of this memoir, viz., 1st, that when hardest pressed by the English Government, and in a weak moment, when he thought that he could purchase his freedom by it, Florence had — to use the words of an eminent scholar of our own day and country — " boasted that he had caused the ruin of the Earl of Desmond,'' and — as implied — the failure of the great effort made in 1600, for the nation's "liberty, and religion ! " And secondly, that " he had advised the Govern- ment to bribe the bards to bring over the Gentlemen of Ireland to British interests^ These cruel reproaches have not only been made in print by writers who would willingly have overlooked much in a man who had suffered much for his race and nation, but they X INTRODUCTION. have been made subject of frequent remonstrance with this author, as if all that he could say to endear the memory of Florence to his countrymen must be vain words, in face of so unworthy an acknowledgment ! To these of his readers he would earnestly appeal to judge kindly, as well as justly ! Had Florence chosen to take the part that was taken by the Earl of Thomond, no price that Elizabeth could offer would have been thought. too great to purchase, or reward him. To make him merely a good subject Cecyll offered the Earldom that had been given to his father-in-law : what would have been denied to him if he had entered zealously into English interests when Norreys and Carewe were successively cooped up in Cork, and trembling for the loss of Munster ? These accusations had then- origin in a letter seen by few> read carelessly, and preserved where it is beyond reach of convenient reference. This author hopes he has for ever disposed of this cruel reproach against the fair fame of a dis- tinguished man, and justice authorizes him to claim, in re- paration for a great wrong, that henceforth at least, our writers cease to countenance so defamatory a tradition. Finally, the author of the following pages foresees that he can scarcely escape two objections to the manner in which he has accomplished his task. The first is that he has allowed this volume to grow into larger dimensions than he needed, by the introduction into it of much biography of other men ! and the second, that the insertion of so many contemporary documents is both tedious, and useless ! since the complement of the work itself has required the repetition of the narrative contained in them. In reply to the first objection he must request his reader's permission to refer to the wish of Mr. O'Conor, and to add that he knew no better way for furnishing some " history o^ the ancient families of the South of Ireland," for which that great national scholar was " so really anxious," and which this writer has considered within the scope and conditions of his undertaking. To the second, and graver charge, he must reply that our Irish scholars consider these State Papers as fountains imsullied of true history, and look upon such para- IXTRODUCTIOX. XI phrases as these of this author as tending but to trouble the clearness, and pm-ity of theii* waters ; and hence that they value more the pubhshing- of one such document than all that he has written, or could write ; but better favom- than either of these apologies may deserve, he trusts to receive from the benevolence of his reader. It is now several years since it was fii'st proposed to the writer to compile tliis biography of Florence ^MacCarthy. The late learned Dr. O'Donovan, who knew so well the abundance of the materials accessible for the illustration of our history, and the vacancies yet left in our biographical literatm-e, urged upon him the wish so long on record, of the venerable Charles O'Conor, and it was in compliance with this often repeated solicitation that the work was undertaken ; during its fii'st few pages the writer had the encom-agement of that ] earned scholar. Subsequently that of the late lamented John Windele, Esq., of ^Ir. Cronnelly, the author of " Irish family histories," and of Herbert F. Hore, Esq. All of these eminent Irish scholors are take;i ! and this author grieves that it has not been pennitted to him to offer his completed task to their kindly criticism. The earlier chapters of this Life were published in the Jom-nal of the Kilkenny and South of Ireland i\.rch£eological Society ; and for the great space that was allotted to it ui those pages — where the room could be ill spared — the wi-iter is much mdebted to the kuidness of the learned, and courteous Editor, the Rev. James Graves, M.A., &c. With names so respected, so warmly and justly cherished, it is a pleasing duty to associate that of one other gentleman, to whom, in the course of this work, the author has been under much obligation — John Maclean, Esquu'e, of the War Office, an accomplished genealogist and antiquarian, the learned and accurate editor of " The Life and Times of Sh- Peter Carewe," and " The Letters of Sir Robert Cecil," than which few works of our own time are more interesting, or more usefid to the student of Irish history. It would be an ungracious act to place these numerous State Papers in the hands of his readers, and not express his INTRODUCTION. great admiration of the copious and accurate calendar of them by Hans Claude Hamilton, Esq. This author spent nearly twelve months in the State Paper Office ; and, but for the assistance he derived from Mr. Hamilton's great work, his labour would have been immense, and the result but little ! They only who have laboured to discover, in the staggering oghams of the hundreds of correspondents of the Ministers of Elizabeth, some acknowledged alphabetic form, can have an idea of the toil required to decipher them ; they only who have followed the track of Mr. Hamilton through these papers, and under his guidance, can duly appreciate the ability and truth- fulness of the analysis of the many thousand documents that have passed through his hands; "to this patient, learned, and accurate writer every student of Anglo-Irish history is under lasting obligations." These last few words were spoken years ago, by the late Dr. O'Donovan to this author, and he has much pleasure in repeating them. "The seal, of which a drawing is presented on the cover of this vohime, was exhibited to the Eoyal Irish Academy, by the late Dr. Petrie, about 30 years ago, upon occasion of his reading to that learned body an ' Essay on the Seals of Irish Chiefs.' ' This seal, — said that eminent antiquarian, — which is from my own cabinet, is, as the inscription shows, the seal of Donal Oge, the son of Donal Roe Mac Carthy, who, as appears from the notices in the Irish and English authorities, became King or Lord of Desmond, by the murder of his father, Donal Roe, in 1.306, or, as some accounts state, in 1302, and was himself killed in 1309. The legend runs thus : — S. Dovenaldi : Og : Fili : D : Roth Macarthy. " The name of this Prince appears in the pedigree of the MacCarthy family as 15th in ascent from the last Earl of Clancarty, and the thirtieth in descent from their great ancestor OlioU Olum." At the death of Dr. Petrie this seal passed to the Museum of the Eoyal Irish Academy. EERATUM. \Vlien too late for correction in its own place, the author discovered the error into which he was led by the mutilated passage at page 435 in the letter of Daniel MacCarthy to Lord Dorchester. The reader is requested to gather fi-om that passage that Donal did, for a small som of money, himself marry the daughter of Malcolm HamHton, then lately deceased, who had succeeded Miler McGrath as Archbishop of Cashel. LIFE AND LETTERS OP FLOEENCE MACCAETHY MOE. CHAPTER 1. In the autumn of the year 1575, a memorable Vice-regal pro- gress ^vas made through the accessible parfs of Ireland by Sir Henry Sidney, and the diary of that political excursion has been transmitted to us in a series of spirited, and ex- tremely curious letters, -written by the Lord Deputy himself to the Lords of the Privy Council in England. As he passed along from city to city, he collected and took with him in his train the great nobles of the land, as well "the commendable and orderly Lords of the Pale " as the native chieftains of countries into which neither the Queen's writ nor the Queen's Deputy might venture. The object of Sir Henry Sidney in traversing Ireland with so much display, was to overawe, to concihate, and to make personal acquaintance with the pro- vincial magnates, on whose behaviour must depend the suc- cess of his Government. The character and loyalty, as well as the condition of the vast estates of the men whom he visited, were keenly observed and graphically sketched for the information of the Queen and her ]\Iinisters. Two days before Christmas the stately train of the Deputy made its entry into the city of Cork. By this time it had collected every personage of note from the counties through which it had passed ; and never since the days of Henry II, had the land witnessed so large an assembly of English and Irish nobles on terms of amity. Sh' Henry and his company ** were received by the citizens of Cork with all joy fulness, tokens, and shows, the best they could express of their duti- ful thanksgiving to Her Majesty. He was for the time of his continuance there, very hoijourably attended, and accom- panied by the Earls of Desmond, Thomond, and Clancar, &c., &c. Besides the above mentioned, were divers of the Irishry not yet nobilitated. The Lord of Carbry, called V-f B 2 THE LIFE AND LETTERS OF [1575 Sir Donell (Donogh) MacCartliy, and the Lord of Muskery, called Sir Cormac MacTeig ; neither of these, but in respect of his territories, were able to be a viscount ; and truly I wish them both to be made barons ; for they be both gord subjects, and in especial the latter, who for his obedience to Her Majesty, and her laws, and disposition to civility, is the rarest man that ever was born of the Irish ; but of him I intend to write especially before it be long; for truly he is a special man . . . and the better to furnish out the beauty and filling of the city, all these principal lords had with them their wives during all the Christmas, who truly kept very honourable, at least very plentiful houses ; and, to be brief, many widow-ladies were there also, who erst had been wives to earls, and others of good note and account." It thus chanced that, in addition to the rival houses of Ormond and Desmond, with the choicest gentlemen of their blood, this visit of the Deputy assembled within the city of Cork the three great chiefs of the Sept of the MacCarthys, with their wives and families. The Earl of Clancar, by the Irish styled MacCarthy Mor, was accompanied by his countess, the sister of the Earl of Desmond, and his infant children, the Baron of Yalentia and the Lady Ellen. No less than fourteen lords of counties, most of them of his own race, attended him. The Lord of Muskery, the wealthiest chief- tain of the Sept, with a less attendance, and the Lord of the fertile lands of Carbery, Sir Donogh MacCarthy Reagh, both in especial favour with the Lord Deputy, were also there, the latter accompanied by his two sons, Florence and Dermod Moyle, and escorted by O'Mahone Finn of Evaghe, O'Driscoll More, O'Donovan, O'Daly, O'Crowly, and others of less note. During six weeks all was festivity in Cork ; and at the end of that time the Lord Deputy, and those nobles whose political feelings and interests were especially English, swept onward in imposing state to renew in Limerick the shows and tokens which had welcomed them to Waterford and Cork. Gradually the great lords and chieftains, whose countries were in the neighbourhood, took their departure also ; the Earl of Desmond to Dungarvan, the Earl of Clancar to the Palice, Sir Cormac MacTeige to Blarney, and Sir Donogh MacCarthy Reagh to Kilbrittain Castle. Of the 160 castles built in the county of Cork, says our greatest local antiquarian, the learned Mr. Windele, in his " South of Ireland," fifty-six were erected by Irish chieftains, twenty-six by the MacCarthys alone. Of these castles four, viz., the Palice, Castle-Logh, Ross-i-Donogho, and Killorgan, 1575] FLORENCE MACCARTHY ^lOR. 3 were described by Sir George Carewe as " built on the edge of Logh Lene, and the river of Lawne, and might stop all the passages of Desmond." " The Lawne," says Mr. Windele, " is a river abounding in salmon and white trout ; in it is also fi'equently found the pearl fish, some fine pearls from which have been repeatedly taken. The tract of coimtry lying along its banks, and at the mountain's foot, to some consider- able distance, is still called MacCarthy Mor's country, as con- taining the ancient residence of the chief of that name. The mensal demesne was, however, more extensive, extenduig southward over Inveragh, its western bomidary being the ocean. The Castle of Palice, otherwise Caislean-Va-Cartha, stood, a naked ruin, on an eminence, a little to the north of the lake, and in view of Lawne Bridge ; a few scattered trees point out its site. The green field in fr'ont is still called Park-an-Croh, the gallows-field, that bemg the place where MacCarthy executed his justice on delinquents." Kelative to Kilbrittain, the chief residence of the Mac- Carthy Reaghs, Smith, in his history of Cork, writes — " When this castle was up, it was a stately buildmg, environed with a large bawn, fortified mth six tm-rets on the walls. It was pleasantly situated on a mount, between greater hills ; the sea flows (almost up to it) through the harbom* of Court Mac- Sherry." Not far fi-om it, on the sea-coast, lies Coolmain, another castle of MacCarthy Reagh. To this chieftain be- longed also the castles of Kilgobhan, Cariganass, and Dun Daniel. "Blarney," says Mr. Windele, "is a well-known village, castle, and demesne, five miles west of Cork, near the junc- tion of several rivulets. It was, until the Revolution of 1688, the principal residence of that branch of the Royal house of MacCarthy, ennobled under English rule by the titles of Lords of Muskerry and Earls of Clan Carthy, &c." Its wonder-working " stone" enjoys an, universal reputation, and has been kissed and sung " a thousand times repeated !" The enormous wealth of this branch of the MacCarthys may be supposed fi-om a passage of Mr. Windele's account of the last Earl of Clancarthy. "With the fortunes of King James (he says) fell those of Clancarthy. His property, which, upon a loose calculation made in the middle of the last century, was supposed to be worth £150,000 per annum, and in 1796 about £200,000, was confiscated !" He was taken prisoner on the sm-render of Cork, and exiled ; he subsequently received his pardon fr-om the Government of William, and would have been restored to his estates but, it is alleged, for the interfer- B 2 4 THE LIFE AND LEri J!.KS OF [1575 ence of Sir R. Cox. A pension of £300 was all he could obtain I and with this he retired to Altona ; he died at Hamburgh in 1734." A brief period of tranquillity succeeded the Yice-regal visit to Munster. A great danger was supposed to have been averted by the policy of Sir Henry Sidney ; the citizens of Cork resumed their commercial occupations with renewed confidence, and the native chieftains returned to rule their vast territories with laws of their own, and as unquestioned a supremacy as if Deputy or Queen had never been heard of in Ireland. Finin or Florence, the subject of this biography, the eldest son of Sir E>onogh MacCarthy, was at this time about 12 years of age. How he is likely to have spent the years of his boyhood ; at what time and from what sources he derived the education, that made him the accomplished man, the astute politician, the fair scholar that he afterwards became, is matter for interestmg inquiry. That his early years were passed in the seclusion of Carbery, chiefly in companionship with the sons of his uncle, Sir Owen, and the youths of the various minor chieftains subordinate to his father, all of whom in after life became stubborn and daring rebels, there can be no doubt. The pursuits of these young wild lads it is not difficult to imagine ; their days would be spent upon the waves that beat against the walls of Kilbrittain Castle ; in the woods, or on the mountains with hound and hawk, for which their country was celebrated. Pursuits of a more ex- citing nature, however, occasionally gave variety to these recreations, and brought them into some slight collision with laws which they neither recognised nor respected. Amongst the many devices of the English authorities by which they strove to place some limits to the power of the native lords over their followers, and, if possible, to win from them to themselves some portion of the attachment Avhich constituted their strength, was an attempt to extend to the tenant pro- tection against the payment of duties, which English law looked upon as extortions, but which, in fact, were the con- ditions by which, in lieu of rent, the follower held his lands. Scores of duties and rights, of which few English knew even the names, were exacted by the Irish chiefs, and had been paid by their dependants time out of mind without a mm'mur. Against some of these customs, such, for example, as coyne and livery, the English loudly protested ; they made it punish- able in the lords to exact them, and promised protection and redi'ess to the tenant who would have the coiu-age to 1575] FLORENCE MACCARTHY MOR. 5 refuse to pay them. From that moment these rights were claimed with tenfold rigour, usually paid as a grievance, and sometimes resisted. Woe to the man who replied to his chief or his chief's officer with an allusion to English law ! Yet occasionally such men were found ; and the two presentments foUoTvdng, made by Cork juries in the time of Sir William Drury, will show how the Irish chiefs dealt, and taught their children to deal with men thus ill advised; and give us, moreover, some insight mto the training which led the youth of Ireland to look to themselves for redress, and to consider English law as an English enemy. " We present that Owen MacCartliy and Donell MacCarthy, brethren to MacCarthy Eeagh, and Finin (Florence) MacCarthy, son to the said MacCarthy Eeagh, daily at their pleasure, take meat and drink, with force and extortion for themselves, and their train of horsemen, galloglass and kerne, of the freeholders and inhabitants of Carbry; and besides, they take of the same fi-eeholders, and inhabitants, a sum of money called cowe, (cwa, flesh-meat, a tax raised by the Lord's son to buy meat for his feasts), to the number of five marks of half -face money yearly in every people [Sept] within Carbry, against the will of the freeholders, and inhabitants, and also of the cessor of the county." " We present that Donel-na-pipie, and MacCarthy Reagh's young son Finin, the 15th of May last, in the year of the reign of our Sovereign Lady Queen Eliziibeth that now is the 18th, wongfuUy came with force of arms, &c., to Erdyrie Lemerarie in Carbry in the county of Cork, and then and there have forcibly taken and rereii the sum of £8 17 9 s*s of the proper goods and chattels of Finin Mac Dermodie of le Cl}Tiyne-Crymmyne, and their poor tenants in the name of the said extortion called Cowe." Smith, in his history of Cork, thus explains the origin of this nick-name fixed upon Donal, and borne by him through Hfe, " This Donal ni-Pipy was so called, because in his time some pipes of ^\4ne were cast on shore at Burrin ; and consequently were his right, being a wi'eck, and accordingly he had them, which in those superstitious thnes was reckoned very fortunate, the wreck being esteemed (as the Cornish men's phrase is) God's goods." That this designation was in some way connected w4th pipes of wine thi'own on shore as wreck, would seem very probable ; but the above presenta- tion of the Cork jurors proves that Smith's account is not absolutely accm-ate ; for there we see Donal bearing the name durmg the chieftainship of his uncle, Su' Donogh, who, and not he, would have had right to these pipes of wine if tin-own on shore as wreck. Donal may perhaps have been the first to discover them, and for this reason have re- ceived the designation, or they may have been cast ashore on such lands as were assigned to him by his uncle, but not on that account his property. 6 THE LIFE AND LETTERS OP [1575 At the time of these raids npon his father's freeholders, Florence was but twelve years of age ; they were his first exploits on his return to his home after taking leave of Sir Henry Sidney in Cork. What came of these presentments of the Cork jurors it is easy to guess ; simply nothing ! for a quarrel with the Lord of Carbery, so especial and rare a man, one of the few native chieftains who supported the English Government, was too serious a matter to be encountered for the sake of Finin MacDermodie, his own follower, the chief of a small Sept of the MacCarthys, called Mac-Ineen-Cro- meen. What was the natural effect of such stern discipline upon the minds of boys purposely trained to enforce it, the rebellion which shortly followed, amply reveals to us ; that it left no trace upon the character of Florence is to be attri- buted to his subsequent, and a far dijQTerent discipline. Let it not be supposed that an Irish chieftain possessed no means of providing for his children better employment than the pursuits complained of. He might, as many of them did, send his sons to the English Universities, or to schools of good repute in Dublin, or the provincial towns, or he might, if it so pleased him, maintain, as did " the commendable lords of the Pale," a domestic tutor ; but the Irish chieftain well knew that in sending his son from him, he gave a host- age to his rulers, and that in domesticating a tutor within his family he maintained a spy. There were other resources, viz., the bards or rhymers, and the priests ; and to them it is evident that Sir Donogh trusted for the tuition of his son. Florence has sufficiently proved by his letters, and by a very remarkable treatise on the history of his country, the only work of a literary kind which, as far as we know, he ever wrote, that he possessed a rare and intimate acquaintance with the ancient language, written history, traditions, poems, and pedigrees of his country, precisely the kind of lore which O'Daly, the hereditary bard of MacCarthy Keagh, perhaps as well as any man living, could have taught him ; but shrewder and abler teachers than the Munster bard were to be found constantly flitting between Ireland and every Catholic court in Europe ; from such masters as Father Archer, Edmund Campion, and MacEggan, Cecyll himself might have learned something. From these men, or men like them, Florence may have derived the intimate knowledge which, beyond all men of his day, he possessed of the state of his own country, its strength and weakness, the alliances and power of its chiefs, the personal character of every man of note sent out from England, the jealousies, the contentions, the dishonesty 1575] FLORENCE MACCARTHY MOR. 7 that prevailed amongst the Lords Justices — many of them men whose fingers crept as instinctively towards the unlaw- fid half-face coin current beyond the Pale, as towards the fresh-minted money imported by the imdertaker. Much of this his own sagacity might in time have enabled him to ar- rive at ; but it needed able tuition, and the keenest wit that ever issued from Rome or Rheims, to indoctiinate him in the mysteries of a sublime dissimulation that should bear him harmless thi'ough all perils, safe fr'om all adversaries, save the mere ruffian of politics, the man who could pledge the honour and word of his Sovereign, and \4olate both ! Such a man had not yet been met with in Spain or Rome ; no such man appeared even in Ireland, till Florence had foiled the last re- sources of Carewe, and when fom*teen days more of his free- dom, it was thought, would imperil English rule in Munster. The sketch of the education of Florence is not yet com- plete. He appeared before the world a linguist, a scholar, a subtile politician; fortunately for himself he was also a lawyer ! From his father's brehon he might have learned, he probably did, Irish law sufficient to have enabled him to rule Carbery, or Ireland itself, m the days of Donal Reagh, his ancestor ; but it was to be his lot for fifty long years, to fight for his patrimony in English courts of law ; and but for one of the cmious presentments made by the Cork juries, it must have remained a mystery to us how his familiarity with EngHsh law had been acquired. Amongst many grievances of these worthy men appeared the following : — " We present tliat all the lords of this county, to colour and maintain their own extortions, have wrought such a policy to entertain all the lawyers of the province, whereby no freeholder, nor poor man, can have a lawyer to speak in his cause, be it never no just." The most striking circiunstance attending the career of Florence Mac Carthy is the personal influence which he ac- quired over every one to whom he could gain access. Not a single great personage whose good will was of importance to him, fr'om Her Majesty downwards, including Burghley and Cecyl, Ormond, Raleigh, Stanhope, Fitzwilliams, St. Leger, Norreys, nay Carewe himself, but acknowledged in their turns the power of this influence. They each and all knew him to be ambitious ; they believed him to be false ; they could judge harshly of him in his absence ; they could confiscate his pro- perty ; seize his person ; write upon paper excellent reasons for prosecuting him to the uttermost ; but when all was done, when in a paroxpsm of wrath the Queen had desired Sir Thomas Norreys, then Vice-President of Mimster, to appre- 8 THE LIFE AND LETTERS OF [1575 hend him, we see first his captor, after a few weeks' inter- course with him, writing letters to the Minister in his favour ; then Lord Burghley throv/ing open the doors of the Tower for his exit, and presenting him to the Queen ; next, Ehzabeth showering upon him " great gifts and graces ;" and finally, the Lords of the Privy Council more zealous m the restitution than they had been in the confiscation of his property! Superadded to all that he had learned from priest, and bard, and lawyer, Florence derived from early association with the young eaglets of England — those majestic birds of prey which, early jostled by elder brothers out of the maternal nest, winged with unerring instinct their flight from every province of their native land, to seek their fortunes at Court, and find them in Ireland — the knowledge which they alone could teach him. From them he learned to keep the impulses of his Irish blood in subjection, and to mask with a serene brow, and polished ease of manner, whatever passions might be in commotion within. He was quick to perceive the pecu- liarities of the English mind ; to appreciate and appropriate to himself the calm courtesy of demeanour which distin- guished the cadets of the noble families who flocked to Ireland as to an El Dorado. In them he was enabled to study thoroughly the character of the rival race, and by com- parison to estimate the strength and weakness of his own. Little that was good was he likely to learn from those young courtiers and adventurers ; personal bravery he had no cause to seek exclusively from them, for the meanest of his father's followers would have been as able a teacher ; but cruelty and rapacity, haughtiness and contempt for the people whose lands they coveted, hollow loyalty, peculation, and craft scarcely covered by an exterior of seeming frankness and good fellowship — all this he might have learned; and if the taint of any one of these vices had blotted his character, it would have been fair to remember who, at the early age of 15, had been his associates. Scarcely had the Cork festivities terminated, and the Lord Deputy returned to Dublin, when ominous sounds betokened the reawakening of the volcano in Munster, the pleasant light paled, and presently passed away altogether from Sir Henry Sidney's despatches, and he was compelled to write in the style of his predecessors : — " The Earl of Desmond did not a little sturr, and fall into disallowable heats and passions, blowing out words of evil digestion:" — "The Earl of Desmond was again becoming troiiblesome ; he was committing many murders, making grievous spoils, taking the Queen's castles, 1575] FLORENCE JilACCARTHY MOR. 9 and had burned a church !" The validity of the professions so recently made to the Deputy was at once put to the proof ; and few indeed of the men whose loyal intentions he had extolled, stood by the Government in the struggle that fol- lowed — a struggle that was to endure for eight years ; for so long it took the whole power of Elizabeth to conquer this single rebel. Amongst the few, however, w^ere two men, respecting whom Sh Henry Sidney had not erred when he called them " especial and rare men they were not nobili- tated when he mentioned them, nor were they when they brought the whole force of then* countries to assist the Government in its horn* of need. One of these was Sir Cor- mack MacCarthy, Lord of Muskerry, the other, Sk Donogh MacCarthy Reagh, Lord of Carbery. In the long and gloomy struggle that ensued these two men were found faithful. Sh* Donogh well knew that the sympathies of his people were not with the Queen's cause ; and as the strongest pledge he could offer of his own earnestness and loyalty, he came him- self, and brought his eldest son Florence, then scarcely more than twelve years of age, to do service with the English army. In after life, when borne down by a multitude of evil wishers, and when his own loyalty was a subject of much ambiguity, Florence found it important to appeal to his father's services, and his own ; and to the words of that appeal, which will appear in its time, we are indebted for our knowledge of the part acted by Sir Donogh in this long and sanguinary struggle. How important it was to the English Government to secure the services of the great Sept of the MacCarthys and their dependents, may be judged from the following list of then* forces left us by Su' George Carewe : — List of the Irish Forces in Desmond. Horse. Galloglas. Kerne. MacCarthy More, Prince of that portion 40 160 2000 MacCarthy Eeagh, Lord of Carbry Donogh MacCarthy of Dowallie Teig MacCormac of Muskry . . . O'Keefe ... M<=Awliffe O'Donovan O'Driscols of CoHimore and Baltimore O'Mahon of Ivaghe O'Sullevan Beare and Bantry . . . O'Donough More of Lough Lene O'Mahoni of Brin O'Dwyre of Kil-na-managhe . . . M*=Teig M'^Philip of Kilnaloghengarty ... 6 40 The last two were not followers of MacCarthy. .60 80 2000 24 80 200 40 80 200 12 100 80 60 6 60 6 200 26 120 10 200 12 200 46 100 12 100 10 THE LIFE AND LETTERS OF [1576 In tlie third year of the great Desmond rebellion Sir Donogh MacCartliy died. In what terms Sir Henry Sidney had spoken of him the reader has seen, and that he had re- commended him to be " nobilitated." Had this recommenda- tion been complied with, it is doubtful whether, beyond a change of designation when in contact with the English, any effect would have been produced in the circumstances of the heir of Sir Donogh. A few years earlier the Earl of Clan- car had been nobilitated ; O'Neill himself had been nobilitated, with no perceptible advantage to any one save the Heralds who registered their patents. The titles imposed upon these Irish chiefs had not added a man to their followers, and the Government that bestowed them might have estimated the ef&cacy of their gift by the fact that the acceptance of them had not made their recipients the less trusted by their own people ; indeed, amongst the mere Irish these titles were simply ignored; for the Earl of Clancar remained still MacCarthy Mor, the Earl of Tyrone was still O'Neill, and Sir Donogh would have remained MacCarthy Eeagh to the end of his days. Any English title must have descended lineally ; whereas the Captaincies of the Irish Septs passed, by Tanistry, collaterally, to " the eldest cousin of the blood." Florence did not succeed to his father's country ; and had the Queen created him Baron or Earl of Carbery, his uncle Sir Owen, would have been his Lord none the less ; and, but for the prudent management of his private possessions by his father, he might have been left dependent for subsistence on the caprice of his Chief The value which tic e Earl of Tyrone set upon his English title we may conjecture from a passage in a letter from Carewe to Cecyll, in which he writes : — " Whicli humour hath long smothered in his breast, having evermore had a thirsty desire to be called O'JVeill, a name more in price with him than to be entituled Ctesar." The Irish chroniclers have not allowed Sir Donogh MacCarthy to pass away without the eulogy that was his due. Under the date of 1576 his demise is thus noticed in the " Annals of the Four Masters :" " MacCarthy Eeagh (Donogh, son of Donell, son of Finin) died. . A cause of lamentation to the chiefs, of sadness to the husbandmen, and of sorrow to the farmers of his own territory; a man who outshone his seniors, and who was not excelled by his juniors. He was interred in the burial- place of his father and grandfather at Timoleague, and his brother Owen MacCarthy was inaugurated as his successor." On the 1st of the following June an inauisition was held 1576] FLORENCE MACCAKTHY MOR. 11 at Cork, in the presence of Sir William Dmry and others, from which we learn the extent of the private possessions of Sir Donogh MacCarthy, and the fact that Florence was at the time but fifteen years of age. (Lambeth M.S., vol. 613, page 6L) 1576. June \st. An Inquisition taken upon the Death of Sir Donogh MacCarty in Anno 19 Eliz. " Inquisito capta apud civitatem Cork in le Guildhall ejiisdem civitatis in com' Corke, die Veneris pxime post festu Penticostes viz. primo die mensis Junii anno Eegni Regine nfe invict' Elizabethe decimo nono, cora Willmo Drury milit' Dno presidente totiiis provincios Momoniae, et uno de Privato concilio diet' Diiae Eeginse in regno suo Hibernite, et sociis snis commissionariis prsedict' Diiae Eegine p totam provinciam pdictam, tarn infra libertates qua extra, ad inquii-end de omnibus et singulis ter tene- ment' reddit' proficuis coihoditatibus emolumentis wardiis marritagiis re- le"vais escaetis juribus forisfacturis et aliis hereditamentis quibuscumque eidem Dnte Eeginae, vel aliquibus progenitorum suorum ratione concessionis donationis attinctur' forisfactur', actSs parliamenti, escaeti mortis alicujus personfe vel aliter qualitercunque spectantibus, vel pertinent', et ad alia faciend' et inquirend' prout in Iteris patentibus dictse Diiae Eeginae inde eis confecte gerentes dat' apud Wexford nono die Aprilis ano Eegni ^dictse Duse Eeginae decimo nono magis liquett per sacramentimi juratorum sub- scriptorum, viz. " David MarteU de Martellston Gen. Jch^ Barrj^ de Donboige Gen. WiUme Mallefunte de Courteston Gen. David M<=Shane de Midestowne Gen. Jacobi Hoare de Money Gen. Florentii OMaho^^^ly de OMahowne- castle Gen. Joh^^ Skiddi e de Frissellcastle Gen. Donaldi M<^Owen de Drisshane Geu. Daniell O'Herlihie de Bally\\^orny Gen. Jacobi Oge Eooch de KuvAi-e Gen. Petri Cogan de BaUenecourtey Gen. Fynen M<=Cormac de Bellem^lashy Gen. " Qui jurat' dicunt p sacium suum quod Donatus al^ Donogh MacCarty, nup de Kilbirtane in com Corke Miles Seisitus fuit in Dominico suo ut de Feodo, de una carucata terr{e in Knock-ne-gaple in com Corke, de duabus carucat' terrse et dimid' carucat' in Eatliharowe in coin pdict', de una carucat' vocat' Ballenveny in com prsed', de una carucat' terrag vocat' Cun-jTnvir in com praed', de una carucat' terrae vocat' Langestowne in com praed', de duabus carucat' terrse vocat' Kildare in coin prsed', de una carucat' terrse vocat' Cloghane in com prsed', de duabus carucat' terrse vocat' Eath- droughtie in com prsed', de una carucat' terrse- vocat' Killinstie in com prsed', de medietate unius carucat' terrse in Ballerviellen in com prsed', de duabus carucat' terrse in Killinvarra in com prsed', de medietate unius carucat' terr in Knockbro"«Tie in com pned', de una carucat' terrse in Barra- liegh in coiii prsed', de medietate unius carucat' terrse in Martlesknocke in com prsed', de tertia parte unius carucat' terr in Gortinenige in com prsed', de duabus partibus unius carucat' terrse in Garan Eieugh in com prsed', de una carucat' terrse in Ardgehan in coin prsed', de medietate unius carucat' terrse in Ballenagornagh in coin prsed', de medietate unius carucat' terrse in Castle Iwer in com prted', et de una carucat' terrse vocat' Curry-I-CruwoUey in eodem com Corke, et quod omnia et singta prsed' ten^as et tenementa tenuit de prsed' Diia Eegina p que servitia penitus ignorant. Ac etiam dictus Donatus sit seisitus de omnibus et singulis ;pmissis 24 die Januarii anno Eegni dictae Dnse Eeginse, decimo nono obiit sic inde seisitus, Et qd 12 THE LIFE AND LETTERS OF [1576 omnia et singula prEemissa valent per annum quinq Libr' Et quod Floren- tius al^ Fynen Mac Carty est Filius et Heres dicti Donati, et infra etatem viz* de etate quinq decern annorem. " In cujus rei testimon tarn prd' commissionarii quam juratores predict! huic Inquisitioni sigilla sua apposuerunt, die et anno prius supra script'. Ex^ p W"^ Marwood, " Dept^ E. E." The character of Sir Owen MacCarthy has been sketched in few words by a shrewd observer of men, the veteran St. Leger, whose business it was to watch, and report upon his conduct. He informed his Government that, "though specious in shew, he was a very hypocrite, being badly bent, and a notorious Papist, and who would be in rebellion if he dared." We shall find, when death transferred the white rod of his chieftainship to other, feebler, and far worse hands, that the chroniclers of Carbery spoke of him in very dif- ferent language. Such as he was, however, Sir Owen suc- ceeded his brother, and his very first act, viz., that of his Inauguration, brought upon him a scowl of ill-humour from the authorities of Munster. Succession by Tanistry was a custom in especial disfavour with the English Government ; and the ceremonies attending the election of the chiefs, like many of the rights inherent in their office, were pronounced illegal, and an usurpation of the Queen's authority, " to whom alone it belonged to appoint to any dignity or office within the realm." But by the Septs themselves these ceremonies were considered of as much importance as the election ; in- deed, without them the election was ineffective. In a note to the pedigree of the O'Mahonys at Lambeth, Carewe writes : — " O'Mahon's country doeth follow the ancient Tanist law of Ireland; and unto whom Mac Car thy Eeagh shall give a white rod, he is O'Mahon, or Lord of the Country; but the giving of the rod avails nothing except he be chosen by the followers, nor yet the election without the rod." The MacCarthy Keagh was inaugurated with the same ceremonial with which he inaugurated the O'Mahon and other dependent chiefs. There was a grievance attached to this, and it did not escape the keen eyes of the Cork juries, who presented — " That when any Lord or Gentleman of the Irishi-y within this county, is made Lord or Captain of his name or kindredtie, he taketh of every in- habitant, freeholder, and tenant under him, a cow to be paid for erecting a rod in that name." Could Sir Owen have followed his own inclinations, there is little doubt but that he would have at once transferred 1576] FLORENCE MACCARTHY MOR. 13 every soldier he maintained, every follower he possessed, from the Queen to the rebel Earl of Desmond ; but his castles were garrisoned, his country filled T^dth English soldiers, so that he had little choice left him of the part he must take, or at least coimtenance, till the troubles should be ended; hence, he contented himself with taking careful note of the charges for *' cess, and mamtenance of the Queen's troops," to which his country was subjected, to be presented for payment, or compensation, when opportunity should be fitting; and allowed his young nephew, a boy of fifteen, to take the command of the followers that had been his father's. As a minor, Florence legally fell under the guardianship of Su' William Drury. In ordmary chcumstances, a ward of his condition would either have been domesticated in the family of his guardian, or sent to Dublm, or England, or else- where, under the eyes of the Government, for his education ; and it is not a little remarkable that so young a lad should have been permitted to live amongst his own people, by whom many essentials of English education were held in slight esteem. It was, perhaps, thought that his association with English officers would be the surest means of attaching him to the cause in which his father had endeavoured to tram him. His whole life was certainly affected by this early companionship. Amongst these young soldiers were some, who, by their own conduct in after life, added renowai to names aheady illustrious ; there were others so deeply tainted with the vices of the detestable school which sent them to Ireland to enrich or distinguish themselves by any means, that they became men of intrigue, loose in their loyalty, and made wreck of name and fame alike. How Florence served the Queen during the whole of the rebellion that was raging at the time when he assumed the command of the Carbery forces, we shall eventually see in his OT\ai words. The last desperate struggles of the Earl of Desmond tested his activity and fidelity, and, in all probability, his diplomatic ingenuity also : for the Earl of Clancar, the head of his hoiise, was drifting on to ruin almost as " certainly as his brother-in-law of Desmond. Justly an object of suspicion to the Govern- ment, his wife and only son had long since been seized as pledges for his behaviour ; nothing could be more deplorable than his own position, and that of the coimtry which he so ill governed. Desmond had become a vast wilderness ; the tenants and freeholders, harassed alike by friend and foe, were disgusted with the indecision of their Lord, which de- prived them of the excitement of open action, whilst it left 14 THE LIFE AND LETTERS OF [1583 tliem a prey to the fugitives who took shelter amongst them, and to the troops who pursued them ; yet it is not to be sup- posed that they, or their kinsmen of Carbery, could wish to see the head of their race involved in the destruction which was coming swiftly over the Earl of Desmond ; nor can it be imagined that there were wanting amongst the Irish allies of the Government, men willing to offer him a word of counsel in season. So utterly hopeless had become, at last, the con- dition of the unfortunate Desmond, that a man of greater courage, of higher principles than Donal Earl of Clancar, might have thought it time to take steps to sever himself from his falling relative, and abandon him to his evil fortunes. With this object, and, doubtless, under the guidance of a head shrewder than his own, he wrote in plaintive wise a letter to the Queen, which is not without dignity and pathos : — "1583. May2Sth. The Earl of Clancar to Queen Elizabeth. "After moste humble diietie remembred, may yt please your most Excellent Matie, whereas I Daniell (whom your Princely goodnes created Erie of Clancarthie) considering how farr I am bounde to y^ Highnes (whose long life, prosperous raigne, and happie estate I have alwayes, and doe most humbly and hartely wishe and pray for) unfainedly served against the unnaturall traitors, to the uttermoste of my power, ptely wth Sir John Parrott (then Lord President of Mounster) at the taking of Castlemaing, and all times els when occasion was given, nevertheles I (being suspected wthout cause, uppon the countrys enormities) was driven, not only to maintaine my wife twoe yeares at Cork as a pledge, but also to send my sonn from scoole to the Castle of Dublin, remaining there nowe the space of three yeares, without learning, to my intoUerable grief and hindrance. Besides that I sustained many wrongs by the late Capteine Zouche, Cap- teine Smithe, and others (ptely mencioned in a note here inclosed) by meanes whereof I am greivouslie combred on every side; for the traitors doe not not spare me; the soldiers in like case doe take what they can finde ; alleadging that it is better for them so to doe then to leave it for the traytors : but Moste Gracious and Soveraigne Lady, I am sure it happeneth farr contrary to your Highnes upright pleasure, and moste myld disposition, that they (under culloure of Desmond), shoulde seeke my destruction, as yf they had bene mortall enemyes; which imboldeth me the rather moste humblie to beseche your Excellent Matie (of your pity towardes the op- pressed) to have compassion of me in reforming these wrongfuU abuses, and uppon continuance of my trueth, (w'^h alwayes hitherto hath bene per- formed) to vouchesafe thenlardgement of my sonn, that the cliilde may be the better reduced in his tender yeares to acknowledge his duty to- wardes God, and loyalty to your Highnes, whom I beseche thAlmighty to prosper in all wisdom and understanding, to the comeforte of your true and faithfuU subjects, and suppression of your enemies. Thus (beseeching your Highness to perdon the necessity of my boldnes) I moste humbly take leave. " From ClonmeU the 28th of Maij 1583. Your Highnes moste loyall subiect " Danyell Clancarthye." 1583] FLOREXCE MACCARTHY MOR. 15 The Earl -wrote at the same time to Ormond, then Lieu- tenant-General of her Majesty's forces, to explam his helpless condition, and to request that troops might be sent into his comitry to expel his unfortunate brother-in-law, and to rescue from final ruin the followers whom his own misrule had brought to extremity. These letters were mitten not a day too soon; they were, however, effective, and he had the affliction to see English captains take possession of his coimtry, and the consolation of knoAving that he had saved himself by his timely abandonment of his relative ! The last throes of the death-struggle of the Earl of Desmond, the "Ingens rebellibus Exemplar," are best described in the words of the stern man whose perseverance at last hunted him, and a single faithful follower, to the cabin beside the Maing, where the sword of a wi'etched kerne spilled the blood of this great Geraldine. 1583. April 42th. Orhoxd to the Queen. " There have been six score traitors put to the sword, and executed since my coming. Desmond being long since fled over the monntaine into Kerrye, is nowe gon to seke relife by suche spoiles as he can take from the Erie of Clancartie (his brother-in-law), Capt^° Barkley having followed him thether to ayde thErle of Clancartie. I have sent Sir Cormok M*^Teig and Sir William Stanley towards Castlemaing, to lye for him therabout (if, in the mean tyme, they mete him not). Myself w*^ my horsemen intend to lye out, this side the mountaine, for him. I finde your Majestie's opinion provethe true, for sins I kept him from the counties of Waterford and Tipprary his men have bene forced many tjTnes to eat horses and caren ; and being nowe kept from cowes in the mountains of Desmond, famyn will destroy them, as daily hit dothe. God send them all the plague I wish them, and blesse your Majesty w*^ a moste happy raigne." " Cork 24th April, 1583. "Tho« Ormond & Oss." 1583. jS^ov. loth. Ormond to the Pri'vy Council. " In my way nowe from Dublin I receved of the killing of the traitors Gorehe, M'^Swiny (Capten of Galloglass) the onely man that relived thErle of Desmond in his extreme misery; and the next day after my com- ing hither to Kilkenny, I receved certaine word that Donill M'^Imorier- taghe (of whom, at my last being in Kerry, I toke assuraunce to sarve against Desmond), being accompanied with 25 kerne of his owne sept, and 6 of the ward of Castlemaigne, the 11*^^ of this moneth at night, assaulted thErle in his cabban, in a place called Glaneguicntye nere the river of the Maigne, and slew him, whose heade I have sent for, and appointed his boddv to be hanged up in chaines at Cork. " From Kilkenny 15 Nov^ 1583. "Tho" Ormond et Oss." 16 THE LIFE AND LETTERS OF [1583 Within a fortnight from the date of this letter the great rebellion which had wasted Munster for eight years, was con- cluded ; its chief had fallen ; and Ormond, as if the simple tidings would be too good to be credible in England, dis- covered a means of removing all doubt from the mind of the Queen ; he wrote — Ormond to Walsingham. " I do send Her Higlines (for profe of the good successe of the service, and the happy ende thereof) by this berrer, the principall traitor Desmond's heade, as the best token of the same, and profe of my faithful! service and travaile ; whearby her charges may be deminished, as to her princelie pleasure shalbe thought meete "Nov^28^ 1583. "Thomas Ormod et Oss." Never since the time of Miles de Cogan, Robert Fitz- stephen, and Philip de Braos, — the undertakers of their day, ■ — had there been such a feast for the vultures, such spoil for the undertakers of Elizabeth ! Half a million and more of acres lapsed, by English law, to the Crown, by the death of a rebel to whom, by law, they had never belonged ! There was, indeed, a feeble voice raised, a cry that had been heard years before, from a man urging, what everybody knew, that the Palatinate of the Geral dines was by inheritance his ; that the dainty token sent by Ormond to the Queen had worn a coronet usurped from an elder brother ! but that voice was drowned amidst the slirieks, and the clangour of wings of the ravenous birds that v^ere fighting over their prey. Had the claimant, Sir Thomas of Desmond, been himself a mart of land, he would assuredly have fallen to the lot of Raleigh or Barkely, Phyton or Courtney, Popliam or Herbert, or others of that fortunate company 1 A few years after the division of the lands forfeited by the Earl of Desmond, a return was called for by the Government, of the various Seignories in the hands of these undertakers, with the amount of rent paid for them to the Queen, and the number of people they had placed upon their lands. The list was made by Sir Edward Phyton, himself a fortunate possessor of a large tract of country, and by the Attorney-General, Sir John Popham, who, with his son-in-law, had imported labourers and farm implements he fore securmg his grant, and then had the morti- fication to find that "there was no room for him," and had been compelled to send back his yeomen to Wiltshire and Somersetshire. We shall meet with him again hereafter, making another attempt to introduce his Penates and rural 1583] FLORENCE MACCARTHY MOR. 17 deities into Minister, invading certain carucates of Carbery belonging to Florence MacCarthy, and exerting liis powerful legal influence to ruin the man whom he failed to plunder. " Tliis was the relation and state of English in Munster given to Her Majesty's Attorney-General (Sir J ohn Popham) and Sir Edward Phyton the last summer, and sithence — Table of Undertakers in Febr^., 1589. In Kerry and Desmond at Eight Pence an Acre. Acres. 6000 6000 18000 Sir Valentine Browne.... Sir EdT\- 150 Acre. 12000 74 66 13 4 6000 24 23 6 8 12000 12 66 13 4 12000 » 66 13 4 12000 33 6 8 4000 22 4 5 4000 12 22 4 5 .3000 J) 16 14 4 Limerick at 2^. oh. (2^). Tipperary and Waterfcyrd at q^. (1^). Sir Edward Phyton, and Rich^ ) Bould, and Tho^ Preston J Eich