Ireland under the Tudors, with a Succinct Account of the Earlier History. Vol. 2 (of 3)

Massacre at Mullaghmast. Perhaps in 1567

Under the year 1567 may perhaps be placed the massacre at Mullaghmast, near Athy, where Cosby and Hartpole, assisted by many English and Irish, of whom the majority were Catholics, slaughtered certain of the O’Mores who had been summoned on pretence of being required for service. The defence offered by an annotator of the annalist Dowling is that ‘Hartpole excused it that Moris O’More had given villainous words to the breach of his protection.’ The received story is that the O’Mores were first enticed into the fort, and there, as the ‘Four Masters’ put it, ‘surrounded on every side by four lines of soldiers and cavalry, who proceeded to shoot and slaughter them without mercy, so that not a single individual escaped by flight or force.’ Dowling, who is followed by the ‘Four Masters’ in giving the date 1577, has been thought the earliest writer to mention this massacre; but the Irish chronicle, now called the ‘Annals of Lough Cé,’ is more strictly contemporary, and places it under 1567. Dowling, as appears from internal evidence, wrote in or after the year 1600, when Sir George Carew was Lord President of Munster. He was only twenty-three in 1567, while Brian MacDermot, under whose auspices the ‘Annals of Lough Cé’ were indisputably compiled, was certainly taking an interest in the book as early as 1580. Yet Dowling was Chancellor of Leighlin, little more than twenty miles from Mullaghmast, while MacDermot and the poor scholars whom he employed lived in distant Connaught. Dowling’s dates are often wrong, but perhaps his authority is the best for the circumstances, while the others may be right as to the year. The former says forty were killed, the latter seventy-four. Philip O’Sullivan, who published his ‘Catholic History’ in 1621, makes the number of victims 180, and Dr. Curry, apparently without contemporary authority, calmly raises it to some hundreds. Traditional accounts say the families of Cosby, Piggott, Bowers, Hartpole, Fitzgerald, and Dempsey, of whom the last five were Catholic, were engaged in the massacre; but that little blame attaches in popular estimation to any but the last, who alone were of Celtic race and whose insignificance in later times has been considered a judgment. For us it may suffice to say, with the Lough Cé annalists, ‘that no uglier deed than that was ever committed in Erin.’139

Munster disturbed in Desmond’s absence

As soon as Desmond and his brother were gone fresh troubles sprung up in Munster. Lady Desmond reported that the county was so impoverished by rapine and by the irregular exactions of the Earl’s people, that it was impossible to raise even the smallest sum for her husband’s necessities. No one was safe, and she herself was continually on the move, trying to ‘appease the foolish fury of their lewd attempts.’ The Earl’s cousin, James Fitzmaurice, and Thomas Roe, his illegitimate brother, were competitors for the leadership. Fitzmaurice claimed to have been appointed by Desmond, though no writing could be produced, and both the Countess and the Commissioners thought him the fittest person. But the Lords Justices ordered the lady to govern with the Bishop of Limerick’s help.

James Fitzmaurice

Fitzmaurice and Thomas Roe were apprehended in their name, but released on the arrival of a commission to the former under the seals of the Earl and Sir John. The country people would not allow him to go before the Commissioners, saying that Desmond and his brother were hostages enough. Thomas Roe was released on Lords Roche and Power giving their word for him. Fitzmaurice kept very quiet for some time, waiting until he saw how his cousin’s affairs sped in London.140

Little can be done in Sidney’s absence

In the meantime there was little peace in the North, though the truce with the Scots gave some breathing time. The well affected, wrote Maltby, gaped for Sidney’s return; the ill affected were ready to break out if once assured that he would return no more. While the coast lay open to the invader, the Queen’s troops languished in poverty and sickness, their horses died for want of provender, and Maltby complained that he had to feed the men at the cost of his own carcass. Lord Louth and his fellow-commissioners kept pouring water into the sieve, but they had neither power nor authority to cure abuses. They gave no satisfaction to the natives, and Tirlogh Luineach steadily declined to come near them.

Starving soldiers

Captain Cheston, who held the post at Glenarm, said his men were faint from want of food. Four pairs of querns in the church were the only means of converting raw corn into meal. There were no women to work them, and the men said they had no skill in grinding. The necessary repairs to the church were done at the captain’s own expense. It was dangerous to venture alone even a short way afield; but the monotony of garrison life was occasionally varied by a little cattle driving, which had no tendency to impress the advantages of civilisation on the Celtic barbarians. It had been decided that Tirlogh Luineach should marry James MacDonnell’s widow, and that O’Donnell, who was a somewhat younger man, should have the daughter. Captain Thornton with his cruiser failed to intercept the ladies, but succeeded for a time in delaying the weddings. In Maltby’s opinion it needed only to fortify the coast, and the conquest of the wicked Irish nation would be but a summer’s work. The long period during which Tirlogh Luineach was obliged to pay his Scots impoverished him greatly, and his plundering expeditions among the neighbours were not very successful, but it was Sir Brian MacPhelim and not the English captains who really kept him in check.141

Miserable state of the North

Fitzwilliam had blamed Piers and Maltby for not lying in the fields during the winter, but in spite of the Queen’s order he delayed his own journey to Ulster till the end of March. Tirlogh Luineach, who could not repress his pride of race, took the highest possible ground, styling himself prince, and declaring that he had only chastised those who were his own subjects. He expected soon to be at the head of 3,000 or 4,000 men, and the English companies were very weak. Fitzwilliam found he could trust no nominal muster, and resolved to count heads himself. A general hosting would be necessary, but for this it would be wiser to wait till Sidney came. So miserable were the arrangements that Fitzwilliam had to leave Carrickfergus for want of victuals. To hasten his departure he was told that his life was in danger, and the monstrous suggestion was made that Maltby, than whom the Queen had no better officer, was in the plot. And thus the early summer passed away, the Lord Justice suffering from dysentery, the soldiers half starving, the captains afraid to trust each other, and the Irish killing and plundering as if there had been no Queen in England. The chiefs who had hitherto remained faithful still protested their loyalty, but fled before Fitzwilliam, in the belief that he had come to spoil them. The local Commissioners had denied that he was coming. Finding themselves deceived, they had been forced to make a precipitous retreat in order to place their cattle in safety. The approach of the Governor was a signal for loyal subjects to conceal their property.142

Schemes of reform. Weston and Sutton

The general course of government during Sidney’s absence was not much more successful than that of the outlying provinces. The chief weight of it, especially when Fitzwilliam was in the North, fell upon the Lord Chancellor, an excellent man, and universally respected. His fee of 100l. was, as Cecil confessed, notoriously insufficient, and he was expected to eke it out by the revenues of the Deanery of St. Patrick’s. His conscience rebelled against this, for no one knew better how little religion and education could afford to lose any part of their endowment. ‘Attend at least,’ he besought Cecil, ‘to the perfectly obedient districts, the less they feel their degradation the more it moveth me to bewail and to name some remedy.’ The Archbishop of Dublin had made some stir, but as yet any fruits of the reformation were confined to his cathedrals. Financial matters were in no better case. Vice-Treasurer Fitzwilliam’s accounts had not been audited for more than nine years, and the unchecked balance amounted to near 400,000l. The soldiers’ pay was in arrears, and means were wanting to pay even the most pressing creditors. The ignorance of the common and statute law was as great as that of the Gospel. The old complaints of family alliances among the lawyers were repeated. When we consider that there were no published Acts of Parliament, it is easy to understand how great may have been the power of this privileged class. It was said, and probably with truth, that the Irish nobility often had the judges practically in their pay; and there was little justice to be had by the Crown on the one hand, or by the poor subjects on the other.143

Desmond in London. Examination of Irish witnesses

It does not appear whether Desmond was committed to the Tower on his arrival in London; but he found himself in close confinement there within six weeks, and complained that he was not treated as became his rank. The Queen may have felt doubts about his promise of repayment being fulfilled, but there were better reasons than that for treating him somewhat sternly. Two sons of old O’Connor Faly, who had given so much trouble in past reigns, had been some time prisoners in London. Both were proclaimed traitors, and both admitted that the Earl had harboured them and others in the same legal position. The sworn examination of Cahir throws so much light on the way of life in Ireland that it may well be given entire: —

‘He saith that understanding his brother Cormac to be with the Earl of Desmond, he came into the said Earl’s country to Adare. There he met a boy of his said brother’s who told him he was departed that morning and followed Lysaght MacMorogh O’Connor and his company, with a guide of the Earl’s appointment. Said Cahir forthwith followed, and about four or five miles from Adare met Lysaght and the Earl’s man, and the next morning met his brother Cormac. They all continued with the Earl’s man for a fortnight, resorting to every place within a certain precinct of the country for that time to eat and drink. The names of the places where they were so entertained he remembereth as ensueth. First, from the place where they met they went to a town wherein there is a castle called Ballyvolane, where dwelleth one of the said Desmond’s household, and there they continued two nights. Thence they went to MacAulliffe’s castle, where they remained two days, and from thence, by appointment of the said Earl’s man, they came to Drishane castle, and there continued one night. Thence they went to Pobble O’Keefe, and there continued one night, and thence to MacDonogh’s country, where they stayed two days. Thence they went to the old prior O’Callaghan’s, where they rested one night. And for that the time was expected which was assigned and appointed by the Earl to his man and the said Lysaght to resort to those places as aforesaid, and that the said man, called Teig MacDonnell, durst not resort with them to any place before he had further instructions as commanded from the said Earl, and for that the said Lysaght was the said Earl’s near kinsman, they thought good to send him, with another of their company called Shane O’Moony, to the said Earl’s being at Connigse, Shane MacCragh’s house, to obtain of the said Earl further instructions and licence to spend on the country by way of coyne or other succour. So after the said Lysaght departed, the said Cormac and Cahir, with the residue of their said company, went to a castle called Carrignavar, where they remained a night. Next morning they went to a place where they and the said Lysaght O’Connor did appoint to meet at his return from the said Earl, at which place they met the said Shane O’Moony. But the said Lysaght stayed with the said Earl, and the said Shane then told them that the Earl’s pleasure was that Cormac and Cahir should go with the foresaid Teige MacDonnell, the said Earl’s man, to Donogh MacCarthy, and there to remain until after his return from Waterford; and said further that the said Earl of Desmond willed him to tell the said Cormac and Cahir that, if at Waterford he did agree with the Governor he would be a mean for them; and then willed the residue of the said company to resort unto him to attend with the said Lysaght MacMorogh, or the said Desmond. And so they continued with the said Earl until he went into Sir Maurice Fitzgerald’s country, where then, at the conflict between the Earls of Ormonde and Desmond, the said Lysaght MacMorogh O’Connor was slain. Art O’Connor, brother to Gerot MacShane, was killed also. Connor MacCormac O’Connor was hurt and escaped, and divers others slain. During which time the said Cormac and Cahir continued at Donogh MacCarthy’s aforesaid, as they were willed to do until such time as they heard of the overthrow given to the said Earl of Desmond, and then they departed the said Donogh MacCarthy’s house and also gave over the said Earl’s man. Thence they went to MacCarthy More’s country, where Cahir departed from his brother Cormac and returned to O’Sullivan’s country, the said Cahir having occasion there to speak with some of his kindred. And from thence the said Cahir followed his brother Cormac to O’Connor Kerry’s country, where it was told Cahir by O’Connor Kerry that his said brother Cormac was departed towards John of Desmond. Two nights after Cahir, in company with Teige MacMorogh, the chiefest of the proclaimed traitors of the O’Briens, went from the said O’Connor’s house to John of Desmond to meet his said brother Cormac, which was then, as he learned, gone to Thomond. Afterwards he returned to the Earl of Desmond’s country, and at Askeaton the said Cahir sent one Teige Roe O’Meagher, then attendant about the said John, to the said John to show him the said Cahir’s brother was gone to Thomond, and that the said Cahir was willing and desirous to tarry in Sir John’s company until his brother returned from Thomond, which would not be for a sevennight. The said Sir John sent word by Teige O’Meagher that Cahir was welcome, and willed him to continue in his company and keep his name secret and private. The said Cahir willed the messenger to tell Sir John that he named himself by a contrary name, that is to say, MacQuillin’s son of the Route, who was banished by the Scots. And so in the said Sir John’s company he continued for a week or thereabouts, and for that the said Cormac came not, the foresaid Cahir followed him into Thomond.’144

Desmond’s own case

Desmond did not deny that he had given meat and drink to some proclaimed traitors, but pleaded that Irish hospitality could scarcely do less, and that he had never helped them to do any harm. He maintained stiffly that he had authority to rule all Munster Geraldines, and to decide their causes without any regard to sheriffs. Sir Maurice Fitzgerald, evidence of whose tenure from the Crown was recorded in the Exchequer, protested energetically against this theory. A long list of outrages in Munster was charged against the Earl, and mention was made of a little friar who had been a messenger between him and the O’Neills, and who had been found begging in their camp after Shane’s death. Finding that the case was likely to go against them, and feeling that they were in the lion’s mouth, the Earl and his brother thought it wise to make a general surrender of all their lands into her Majesty’s hands; and Desmond even brought himself to beg that she would place a President and Council in Munster. So far as law went, Elizabeth now had Munster at her mercy, but she kept fast hold on her prisoners until time should declare how far the law coincided with the facts.145

Kildare. Oliver Sutton

The leader of the Northern Geraldines, who had, perhaps, no fancy either for the Tower or for a renewed exile, had his accusers at this time, and later events tend to prove that they were not without justification. In 1534 it had been David Sutton, a Kildare gentleman of ancient race, who had led the attack on the ninth Earl of Kildare, and laid bare the many abuses of his rule. ‘The office of belling the cat,’ says a modern writer, ‘descended hereditarily to Oliver Sutton,’ who attacked his grandson and namesake. In 1565 he presented to the Queen articles containing matters of the gravest importance against Kildare. He had previously complained to Arnold, but that despotic proconsul was submissive to the Earl, and imprisoned the unfortunate reformer for sixteen weeks. In fear of his life, Sutton was obliged to quit his lands and to hide from the local tyrant’s rage in Dublin or England. Arnold was confessedly a reformer himself, and, except from partiality to Kildare, it is hard to see why he treated Sutton so harshly, while listening with excessive credulity to all Bermingham’s representations. Coyne and livery in their most oppressive forms and every kindred exaction were charged against the Earl. The bastard Geraldines and Keatings were supported by him, even when openly resisting the Queen’s troops. They boasted that the Earl, and not the English power, really defended the country, and that there would be no quiet until he became chief Governor. Pride of blood made them wish to enslave all others, and ‘the daily exclamations of the poor were right sorrowful to hear.’ The Queen, having heard Sutton herself and read his reports, sent him back to Ireland, of which Sidney had assumed the government, observing that they touched Kildare too directly, and that she was loth to believe evil of her cousin until it could be proved. Yet she was evidently strongly impressed, and gave orders for Sutton’s personal protection. The inquiry dragged on for more than two years, Sutton reiterating his charges and Kildare thwarting him in various ways. The Earl’s service, he said, had all been at the Queen’s expense, for he received the pay of 300 men, which he made the country support. Jobbing was universal, and no one was more concerned in maintaining the system than Kildare. Yet Sutton’s heart began to sink: he complained that he was too poor to strive with the powerful Earl, and that all his exertions had but served to excite his vengeance. He probably failed to prove his whole case, but Sidney was directed to make particular inquiry, and not to discourage Sutton. Yet he too was evidently prejudiced in the Earl’s favour, and recommended him for a garter. In this he relied on the authority of Henry VII., ‘who made his grandfather knight and wist full well what he did’ – an ominous precedent and an argument unworthy of Sidney. Cecil evidently believed in Sutton, and begged Sidney to befriend him, even if in some degree deserving of blame. That he was not altogether ruined is shown by his appearance in 1571 as plaintiff in a successful Chancery suit; but he failed in making any serious impression on Kildare’s position.146

Sir Peter Carew

It was at this critical period that the English Government thought fit to allow an enterprise, the success of which was enough to make the great mass of Irish and Anglo-Irish landlords shake in their shoes. The adventurer was Sir Peter Carew, of Mohuns Ottery in Devon, who, at the age of fifty-four, set himself a task more arduous than any which had yet occupied his stormy and eventful life.

His early life

In his case it was more than commonly true that the boy was the father of the man. When only twelve the citizen of Exeter, with whom he lodged, pursued him during one of his many absences from school, and found him on the city walls. ‘Running to take him, the boy climbed upon the top of one of the highest garrets of a turret of the said wall, and would not for any request come down, saying, moreover, to his host that if he did press too fast upon him he would surely cast himself down headlong over the wall, "and then," saith he, "I shall break my neck, and thou shalt be hanged because thou makest me to leap down."’ His father was sent for, and ordered the boy to be led home in a leash. Afterwards he coupled him for some time to a hound. Further endeavours failed to make ‘young Peter to smell to a book, or to like of any schooling,’ and he was allowed to accompany a friend who had a post about the embassy at Paris, and who neglected him shamefully. He afterwards lived as a horse-boy in a French nobleman’s train, without any inquiry being made by his affectionate parents. While yet a boy he fought at the siege of Pavia, changed sides opportunely, and served Philibert of Orange till that prince’s death. The Princess, after a time, gave him a letter of recommendation to Henry VIII. ‘The young gentleman,’ says his biographer, ‘… rode to Mohuns Ottery, where his father dwelled, and understanding his father and mother to be within, went into the house without further delay, and finding them sitting together in a parlour, forthwith in most humble manner kneeled before them and asked their blessing, and therewith presented the Princess of Orange’s letters… They were much astounded, … but Sir William having read the Princess’s letters, and being persuaded that he was his son Peter, were not a little joyful, but received him with all gladness, and also welcomed the gentlemen, whom he and his wife entertained in the best manner they could.’

His adventures

After this Carew was employed on every kind of service, in Scotland, Turkey, Italy, Flanders, France; his admirable mastery of the French language and his skill on horseback with the sword and with the lance making him everywhere remarkable. Henry VIII. helped him to a rich wife, but died before the marriage, which was celebrated on Edward VI.’s coronation day, when the bridegroom, as one of the six challengers, ‘like Ulysses in honour of his Penelope, wore her sleeve upon his head-piece, and acquitted himself very honourably.’ Like Ulysses, too, when he had gained his Penelope, Carew ‘could not rest from travel.’ He helped to put down the anti-Protestant rising in the West, and on the King’s death hastened to proclaim his Catholic sister. But life, either at Mohuns Ottery or at his wife’s place in Lincolnshire, was too safe and too dull for the old campaigner. He became involved in Wyatt’s conspiracy, and had to fly to Antwerp, where he was seized by Philip’s myrmidons, and had the adventure in Sir John Cheke’s company which has already been mentioned.

Carew in favour with Elizabeth

At Elizabeth’s accession Carew was received into favour, but that peculiar Court did not suit his humour, and he offended Gloriana by joining the ranks of those who urged her to marry. Her resentment was not very long or deep, and she ‘gave him very good things, which were as liberally, if not wastefully, consumed.’ In 1560 he was sent on a confidential mission to Scotland, where the dissensions of Norfolk and Grey, and her Majesty’s own double dealing, threatened disaster to the English arms. Fearing to trust anyone, he was obliged to write his own letters with a hand more used to the sword than the pen. On his return Elizabeth acknowledged his good service, and ‘being somewhat pleasant with him, thanked him for his letters of his own penning, commending him to be a very good secretary, for indeed he wrote them with no more pain than she had labour to read them, for as he spent a night in writing, so she spent a whole night in reading.’147

Carew’s claims to property in Ireland

A country life can seldom satisfy a man of action, even though he be reckoned ‘the wisest justice on the banks of Trent,’ and Carew found it very dull in Devonshire. To beguile the time, and having some vague inkling of castles in Ireland, he ransacked the archives at Mohuns Ottery, and found many parchments which he was unable to read. His curiosity increasing daily, he sought the aid of John Hooker, Chamberlain of Exeter, who loved records as much as Mr. Welbore Ellis loved Blue-books. This eminent antiquary had for his nephew the famous Richard Hooker, and to his learned uncle the great author of the ‘Ecclesiastical Polity’ owed his University education and the patronage of Bishop Jewell. To Hooker’s eye the value of Carew’s parchments was at once apparent, and he succeeded in making a fair transcript, though the oldest document had been trodden under foot and nearly obliterated. Sir Peter, being satisfied of his descent from men who had held great possessions in Ireland, went to the Queen and asked leave to recover his own. This was but too readily granted, and orders were sent from her Majesty in Council requiring the help of all royal officers in Ireland. Hooker was straightway despatched thither, and his arrival caused a commotion which might have disheartened anyone less determined than his employer. He obtained leave to search the Dublin archives, and proved to his own satisfaction that Sir Peter was entitled to the Barony of Idrone in Leinster, to certain great seignories in Munster, and to Duleek and other manors in Meath, ‘and that nothing could be found to prejudice or impeach his title, but only prescription, which in that land holdeth not.’148