Ireland under the Tudors, with a Succinct Account of the Earlier History. Vol. 1 (of 3)

St. Leger, Browne, and Dowdall

The above proceedings show that St. Leger was at least in general agreement with the Protestant party, but he had certainly no wish to force the reformed doctrines on the reluctant Irish. Browne complained that he had publicly offered the sacrifice of the Mass in Christ Church, ‘after the old sort, to the altar then of stone, to the comfort of his too many like Papists, and the discouragement of the professors of God’s Word.’ The Archbishop found it convenient to forget that this was strictly according to law; and that the royal order, even admitting that it had all the power claimed for it, had not yet gone forth to alter the state of things established under Henry VIII. Browne could not deny that the Lord Deputy had made due proclamation of ‘the King’s Majesty’s most godly proceeding;’ but alleged that it was only for show, ‘while massing, holy water, Candlemas candles, and such like, continued under the Primate and elsewhere,’ without let or hindrance from the chief governor. Dowdall, he said, was ‘the next father in word and deed of Popery;’ the Viceroy a Gallio who did not scruple to say, ‘Go to, your matters of religion will mar all.’ St. Leger seems in good truth to have been laughing at the ex-friar. ‘My Lord of Dublin,’ he said, ‘I have books for your Lordship.’ Browne found them on examination ‘so poisoned to maintain the Mass with Transubstantiation, and other naughtiness (as at no time I have seen such a summary of Scriptures collected to establish the idolatry), clean contrary the sincere meaning of the Word of God and the King’s most godly proceedings.’ The Archbishop had copies taken, which he sent to the Privy Council. St. Leger was angry at this, and Browne says he threatened to do him harm, even should it cost 1,000l. The Archbishop intimated that the 1,000l. would be nothing to him, for that he had enriched himself by peculation, and attributed to him a degree of vindictiveness which does not seem really to have belonged to his character. Browne admits that the Lord Deputy called Dowdall before the Council for practising the old ritual, ‘who came and disputed plainly the massing and other things, contrary the King’s proceedings; and that he would not embrace them: whereat the Deputy said nothing.’ Sir Ralph Bagenal called the Primate an arrant traitor. ‘No traitor, Mr. Bagenal,’ said Lord Chancellor Cusack, who was Dowdall’s cousin; and the Primate continued in his old ways as long as St. Leger held the reins of government. The Lord Deputy even recommended Tyrone to ‘follow the counsel of that good father, sage senator, and godly bishop, my Lord Primate, in everything, and so ye shall do well.’ He made indeed no secret of his regard for Dowdall, whose high character was admitted by all but fanatics. ‘He is,’ he declared openly before more than a dozen persons in the hall of Dublin Castle, ‘a good man, and I would that all the Irishmen in Ireland spake so good English as he, and if they do no worse than he the King had been the better served.’360

St. Leger has some idea of toleration

It was impossible that any secret policy could go on without Alen having a hand in it. St. Leger told him that the danger from both France and from the Emperor was much increased by the religious sympathies of the Irish, who, in civil matters, would like foreigners only in so far as they could profit by them. He ridiculed the notion of France annexing Ireland, though he thought it possible that Henry II. might make a diversion there to prevent England from interfering with him in Scotland or on the Continent. He thought the Emperor would be friendly for old acquaintance sake, but that he disliked the new fashions in religion; ‘and no wonder, seeing that in that matter daily at home among ourselves one of us is offended with another.’ St. Leger, in short, was a statesman who could admire moral excellence in men of different opinions; and Browne was a fanatic. ‘God help me!’ said the Deputy. ‘For my own part, knowing the manners and ignorance of the people, when my lords of the Council willed me to set forth the matters of religion here, which to my power I have done, I had rather they had called me into Spain or any other place where the King should have had cause to make war, than burdensome to sit further here. I told my lords no less before my coming away.’ Alen had refused to put this conversation in writing, though urged to do so by Browne; saying that he wished St. Leger no harm, though he had lost all through him. He said as little as might be against him even when questioned afterwards by the Council. After his interview with the Lord Deputy, Alen went to sup with Lockwood, Dean of Christ Church, and found there the Archbishop and Basnet, late Dean of St. Patrick’s. When the servants had gone the conversation turned upon St. Leger, whom Browne attacked on the grounds already mentioned, saying that he was but a ‘dissimular in religion.’ He was, in fact, a thoroughly secular politician, wise and resolute, and willing to carry out orders from the Government; but not pretending to like the plan of forcing an English-made religion upon the Irish, and administering it in practice as gently as possible. He was really in advance of his time, and had formed some notion of religious liberty. That he sympathised with the old creed there is not the smallest reason to suppose. ‘They name me a Papist,’ he said. ‘I would to God I were to try it with them that so nameth me;’ and he was accused in Mary’s reign of writing satirical verses against Transubstantiation, which shows that his opinions were not supposed to be anti-Protestant. He would have had things stay as they were under Henry VIII; the royal supremacy acknowledged, and doctrinal changes left to the action of time, persuasion, and increased enlightenment.361

These views not in favour in England

But these ideas did not recommend themselves to the English Council, which had now come under Warwick’s influence. Neither the bishopric of Leighlin nor that of Ossory was granted to St. Leger’s chaplain, James Bicton; though his patron strenuously defended him against the charge of Papal leanings, declaring that there was no more competent man in Ireland, nor one who had better set forth God’s Word. Bicton, who had been formerly chaplain to the Earl of Ormonde, was of Irish birth, though educated at Oxford, and was at all events not one of the very ignorant priests whom St. Leger cast up against his friend the Primate. He became Dean of Ossory, and had a large chest of books at Kilkenny, besides a wine cask full at Bristol, for which he had paid 40l.; and he seems to have supported a poor Irish scholar at Oxford. It would be difficult to say anything so good of Travers, who was preferred before him at Leighlin. Travers owed his promotion to his cousin the Master of the Ordnance, whose chaplain he had been; but he did no credit to his blood, scarcely anything being recorded of him but that he oppressed his clergy and made money out of his see.362

Sir James Croft succeeds St. Leger, 1551

Whatever was the exact cause of St. Leger’s recall, it is likely that he was glad to escape from the thankless Irish service. Sir James Croft, his successor-designate, was already in Ireland, and he handed him the reins without waiting for his patent. Croft was directed to put the seaports of Munster and Ulster into a defensible state; but the English Government showed a bad example, for though Argyle was plotting in the North and MacCarthy in the South, the artillery was sent over in charge of a clerk only. MacCarthy was to be apprehended if possible, and also George Paris, who was ‘a common post between Ireland and France,’ sailing in French ships which were to be overhauled in search of him. When the thousand men who had been promised arrived at Cork there was no money to pay them. Croft and his advisers begged and borrowed till both credit and provisions were well-nigh exhausted in the barren wilds of West Cork. Soldiers unpunctually paid could not but be dangerous, and there was no sort of justice to be obtained in the country districts. ‘If in England,’ said Crofts, using an apt illustration, ‘the place of justice were appointed only at Dover, I think no man doubts but the people would soon grow out of order.’ A thorough reform in the official circle, head and members, was necessary before any great improvement could be expected in the people. Before leaving Cork, Croft did what he could to secure local justice by drawing up regulations for maintaining the peace of the district under Desmond’s general superintendence, not greatly differing from those already supposed to be in force, but with a clause which shows how the Puritan spirit was working. The Earl and those joined in authority with him were to have a special care to ‘set forth divine service according to the King’s proceeding, and diligently to look for the punishment of harlots, for which purposes they may call for the bishops and ministers within their circuit, giving them warning of their duties to see them punished according to the orders taken in that behalf.’ MacCarthy More, who had submitted, was required with his clansmen to swear allegiance to Edward VI. as King, and also as ‘supreme head of the Church in England and Ireland, and clearly to renounce the Bishop of Rome and all his authority,’ and take his ‘oath on the Bible’ to obey all laws, civil and ecclesiastical, set forth by the King and his successors.

Croft proposes to colonise in West Munster

Archbishop Browne, having got rid of St. Leger, was loud in praise of his successor’s activity, who was the first governor to visit Baltimore (Ballagheyntymore). Crofts proposed to the Council that a colony of married Englishmen with their wives and families should be planted in this remote place, who, after serving as soldiers for a time, would be able to protect themselves as others had done at Calais. But the King blamed Croft for visiting Baltimore at all, since he had not the power to do anything there. In August the time for fortifying was already past; and there was a danger that Spanish fishermen might discover the Lord Deputy’s intentions, and even find means to forestall them.363

The Ulster Scots attacked. Failure at Rathlin, 1551

The affairs of Ulster next engaged the attention of Croft. The Scots had lately made themselves supreme from the Giant’s Causeway to Belfast; and it was determined to attack them there, and, if possible, to capture the island stronghold of Rathlin, whither the MacDonnells had transported all the cattle and horses taken by them in their late raid. A hosting was accordingly proclaimed for thirty-one days, and the army mustered at Carrickfergus. The roads being impassable for carts, everything had to be carried on pack horses or by sea. The Lord Deputy himself went by land through the country of several Irish chiefs, of whose intelligence Chancellor Cusack, who tells the story, formed a favourable opinion. Some of them joined the expedition. Meat was abundant throughout the four days’ journey, at the rate of 10s. a beef and 16d. a mutton; much less than the prices of the Pale. Leaving the heavy baggage at Carrickfergus, Croft advanced to Glenarm, where he encamped. No Scots appeared, and but few cattle; but immense stores of corn were found. There lay at Ballycastle four small vessels which the English men-of-war had captured, and some of the prisoners from the Scots were brought before the Lord Deputy. The result of their examination was a resolution at once to attack Rathlin, where James MacDonnell and his brethren were. It was found that the captured boats would only carry 200 men, and it was therefore resolved not to risk a landing unless some more of the Scots vessels could be taken, or unless the men in the island yielded to the fear of the cannon upon the English ships. Sir Ralph Bagenal and Captain Cuffe approached the island with about 100 men, but the galleys which they wished to seize were at once driven in shore, and a threatening crowd of Scots hung about the landing-place, and took no notice of the fire from the ships, which was probably too vague to endanger them much. The tide was ebbing, and the invaders seemed to run no great risk; but the Race of Rathlin, even in the finest weather, is never quite calm, and a sudden reflux wave lifted Cuffe’s boat high and dry on to the rocks. The men, about twenty-five, were slain on the spot, the officers taken and held by James MacDonnell as pledges for the return of the goods taken from him about Glenarm, and for the release of his brother Sorley Boy, who was a prisoner in Dublin. Croft was obliged to yield on both points, and the whole expedition ended in failure. The threat of complaining to the Scots Government was not likely to weigh much with MacDonnell, who was on good terms with the anti-English party.364

Disturbed state of UlsterThe O’Neills consider wheat a dangerous innovation

Most of the chiefs of Ulster, who feared the Scots more than they hated the English, paid their respects to Croft at Carrickfergus, and were glad to submit their grievances to his arbitration. Tyrone, O’Donnell – with his two rebellious sons, Calvagh and Hugh – Maguire, the Baron of Dungannon, MacQuillin, O’Neill of Clandeboye, MacCartan, the Savages, Magennis, and others, had complaints to make, and the Lord Deputy patched up their differences for a time; most of them agreeing to pay some rent or tribute to the King for their lands, and not to employ Scots mercenaries. Maguire was declared independent both of O’Neill and O’Donnell, and sheriffs were appointed both in Ards and Clandeboye, which, being part of the Earldom of Ulster, had once had a feudal organisation. A garrison was left in Carrickfergus, and a commission charged with abolishing the Irish laws, ‘so as by God’s grace,’ says the sanguine Cusack, ‘that country since the time of the Earl of March was not so like to prosper and do well as now.’ A garrison was also left at Armagh, under command of the Marshal Nicholas Bagenal, who was joined in commission with the Baron of Dungannon for the purpose of re-establishing order in Tyrone, which was utterly wasted through the dissensions of the Earl and his sons. There were not ten ploughs in the whole country. Hundreds had died of hunger in the fields. The Baron’s lands were better off; for he felt that he owed his position to King Henry’s patent, and to please the English Government he had caused wheat to be largely sown. Tyrone did his best to burn the Saxon crop, and the people declared that they would grow it no more; ‘for that was the chief cause (as they said) that the Earl did destroy their corn, for bringing new things to his country other than hath been used before. And what the Earl will promise now, within two hours after he will not abide by the same.’ Most of this unstable chief’s fighting men had gone over to his son Shane, who abused his powers dreadfully. Cusack thought the people would prefer to have the Baron over them, ‘for that he is indifferent, sober, and discreet, and is a hardy gentleman of honest conversation and towardness,’ whose country was as well ordered as the Pale. Tyrone had no capacity for government, and was ruled by his wife; but he so far yielded to the Deputy’s persuasion as to accept a garrison for Armagh, and to go first to Drogheda and then to Dublin. Having been once enticed into the Pale, Tyrone was detained there against his will. This was done by Cecil’s advice, who agreed with Cusack that Tyrone was quite useless in his own country, and quite unable to control Shane.365

Shane O’Neill and his brother Matthew

Tyrone had, or might have had, a son by Alison Kelly, the wife of a smith in Dundalk. The mother brought her boy Matthew at the age of sixteen to the chief, who acknowledged him as his own, and thus, according to the ancient Irish law, made him equal with his children of less doubtful origin. Shane, on the other hand, was the offspring of an undisputed marriage. Matthew was certainly acknowledged as an O’Neill when he was made Baron of Dungannon and heir to the earldom, but Shane explained the difficulty by saying that his father was a gentleman, and never denied any son that was sworn on him, and that he had plenty of them. Whether there was any election to the chieftainship we do not know, but Shane was, by the practical adhesion of the clansmen, in a better position than most Irish tanists. Thus it strangely happened that Matthew, who was confessedly born in adultery, was heir to the feudal title, while Shane, who was certainly legitimate, claimed the reversion of the tribal sovereignty. The influence of the clergy had probably weakened or destroyed the old Irish principle that an adulterine bastard could be brought into the real father’s lawful family by acknowledgment, nor could English law have been altogether without effect; but it is strange to see one in such a position as Matthew O’Neill, or Kelly, maintained by statesmen and lawyers against Shane and his brothers.366

Invasion of Tyrone

Whether O’Neill or Kelly, the Baron of Dungannon was a man of resolution and ability. He accompanied Bagenal on an expedition against Shane, which the Dean of Armagh, Terence Daniel, or O’Donnell, tried to prevent by exaggerated accounts of the distance. The bridge over the Blackwater was broken down, and the castles at Dungannon were also dismantled. This became a regular practice in Irish warfare, in order to prevent the English from placing permanent garrisons in strong places; and any disposition on their part to repair such a building was generally frustrated by the length of time necessary, the difficulty of obtaining labour, and the want of provisions. When the danger was past the chief would re-occupy his stronghold, and soon made it serviceable for raising a revenue, or resisting sudden attacks of neighbouring tribes. Bagenal met with little resistance during his raid. Shane appeared on a hill with eighteen horsemen and sixty kerne, and the Baron of Dungannon advanced against him with only four followers. ‘An the King were there where thou art,’ said Shane, ‘he were mine.’ The Baron, nothing daunted, answered, ‘I am here but the King’s man, and that thou shalt well know,’ and spurred his horse forward. Shane, who was never remarkable for dashing courage, retired into the wood closely followed by his brother, who was prevented by the thick covert from using spear or sword, and who tried to close, but was caught by a branch at the critical moment, and nearly lost his own seat. Shane escaped on foot, leaving his horse and arms to the Baron, and afterwards came to Bagenal on parole, when a truce was patched up.367

The Scots attempt a settlement in Down

Emboldened by success, the Scots extended their operations to the south of Belfast, slew John White, landlord of Dufferin, and proposed to make a settlement on the western shores of Lough Strangford. Hugh MacNeill Oge, who held the district between that inlet and Belfast Lough, took their part, and the Prior Magennis and his kinsman, the Bishop of Dromore, were authorised to make large offers with a view of detaching him from his allies; but he refused to come to Bagenal. The Baron of Dungannon had some trifling success against the Scots, and another officer drove some of their cattle through Ards to Strangford, apparently crossing the ferry there, and thence into the Pale. One thousand cows were also taken from Hugh MacNeill Oge; but he promptly recouped himself from the herds of his neighbours on every side, so that the balance was soon again in his favour. The expedition was evidently a failure, and the ‘Four Masters’ represent it as a disastrous one; the English and their allies losing 200 men.368

Another doctrinal conference

The general directions to Croft for his conduct in ecclesiastical matters was much the same as those given to St. Leger. Public worship in English was to be made general, and a translation to be made into Irish for use in such places as required it. He was sworn in on May 23, and on June 16 he wrote to Dowdall, who was at St. Mary’s Abbey, inviting him to take part in a conference concerning the disputed points in religion. The Lord Deputy said much about what was due to Cæsar, hinted that he should be sorry to see the Primate removed from his great office, and entreated an answer by the hands of the Bishop of Meath, who, as chief of his suffragan, seemed the fittest intermediary. Dowdall answered very truly that no discussion could bring about agreement between those who differed as to fundamentals, and excused himself from waiting on his lordship, as he had for some time withdrawn from public affairs. Mohammed decided to go to the mountain, and the discussion took place in the hall of St. Mary’s Abbey, Croft being supported by two bishops, Staples of Meath, who conducted the case for the Crown, and Lancaster of Kildare. The debate first turned on the new liturgy, Dowdall treating it as an innovation, and his opponent as the Mass purified from gross corruptions. The following is the most remarkable part of what was said: —

Dowdall. Was not the Mass from the Apostles’ days? How can it be proved that the Church of Rome has altered it?

Staples. It is easily proved by our records of England. For Celestinus, Bishop of Rome, in the fourth century after Christ, gave the first introit of the Mass which the clergy were to use for preparation, even the psalm, Judica me, Deus, &c., Rome not owning the word Mass till then.

D. Yes, long before that time; for there was a mass called St. Ambrose’s Mass.

S. St. Ambrose was before Celestinus; but the two prayers, which the Church of Rome had foisted and added unto St. Ambrose’s works, are not in his general works; which hath caused a wise and a learned man lately to write that these two prayers were forged, and not to be really St. Ambrose’s.

D. What writer dares write or doth say so?

S. Erasmus, a man who may well be compared to either of us, or the standers by. Nay, my lord, no disparagement if I say so to yourself; for he was a wise and a judicious man, otherwise I would not have been so bold as to parallel your lordship with him.

Lord Deputy. As for Erasmus’s parts, would I were such another: for his parts may parallel him a companion for a prince.

D. Pray, my lord, do not hinder our discourse; for I have a question or two to ask Mr. Staples.

L. D. By all means, reverend father, proceed.

D. Is Erasmus’s writings more powerful than the precepts of the Mother Church?

S. Not more than the Holy Catholic one, yet more than the Church of Rome, as that Church hath run into several errors since St. Ambrose’s days.

D. How hath the Church erred since St. Ambrose’s days? Take heed lest you be not excommunicated.

S. I have excommunicated myself already from thence.

Opposite opinions were then given about the Virgin and her power to mediate; and the Primate finally appealed to the consecration oath, which Staples had taken as well as he. The Bishop of Meath said he held it safer for his conscience to break it than to keep it, and he praised the oath of supremacy. And thus, without any approach to an understanding, but with many mutual expressions of courtesy and goodwill, the champions of Rome and of England measured swords and parted.369

Dowdall goes away. The Primacy removed to Dublin

A few days after this the Primate disappeared, and it was understood that he had gone abroad like a traitor, as Browne said, who with indecent haste demanded that the old contest between Armagh and Dublin should be finally decided in his favour. Dowdall, he said, claimed by the ‘Bishop of Rome’s bulls and I by the King’s majesty and his most noble progenitors’ grants and gifts.’ He recounted the services of his predecessors in supporting the Government of the Pale, and asked not only for the empty title and honours of Primate of all Ireland, but for ‘all and every the spiritual profits, living, and commodities,’ belonging to Armagh. The King granted the chief place to Browne, who in the Anglican succession remained Primate of all Ireland till deprived by Queen Mary. Those who adhere to Rome of course ignore the interruption in Dowdall’s primacy, but his withdrawal beyond seas was considered as a resignation by the English Government.370

Church patronage. Bale

The sees of Armagh, Cashel, and Ossory being vacant, Croft recommended that they should be filled with peculiar care. The negligence of the Bishops and other ministers allowed the old ceremonies to remain in many places. It was necessary to send over good, zealous men to fill up the bishoprics as they fell vacant. If this could not be done, Croft begged that at least he might have a competent adviser in ecclesiastical matters to enable him to direct the bishops, who were blind, obstinate, negligent, and very seldom learned. For Armagh it would be well to choose a divine with some property in England, who might act as a commissioner for deciding the daily quarrels arising in the North. For the bishopric of Ossory, Croft, Protestant as he was, ventured to recommend Leverous, Gerald of Kildare’s old tutor, who had been pardoned for his offence in carrying him out of the realm. For learning, discretion, and decorous life there was no one superior in Ireland, and Croft had heard him ‘preach such a sermon, as in his simple opinion he heard not many years.’ Personally unobjectionable, Leverous was known to be attached to the old doctrines, and Croft’s advocacy failed, as he himself expected. The see of Ossory was conferred after some delay upon John Bale, a Carmelite friar, born in Suffolk and educated at Jesus College, Cambridge. The arguments of a layman, Lord Wentworth, according to his own account, enforced by the charms of a young lady, according to the account of his enemies, converted Bale to the Reformation. He married a wife, who was his companion in all his wanderings and vicissitudes, and became a professed Protestant. It was not in his nature to hide his light under a bushel; he preached openly against the Roman doctrine, and suffered imprisonment in consequence. Having been released through Cromwell’s intercession, he spent eight years in Germany. Returning to England on Edward’s accession, he became Poynet’s chaplain, and obtained the living of Bishopstoke. The King happening to see and hear him at Southampton, of his own accord promoted him to Ossory. Bale was a multifarious writer, a man of learning and eloquence, and unquestionably sincere; but coarse and violent, with no respect whatever for the feelings of others, and remarkably unfit for the task of persuading an unwilling people to embrace the Reformation.