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

A prescription of 170 years against Carew

Sir Peter claimed a vast inheritance in Munster as heir to the conqueror Robert FitzStephen, whose only daughter was supposed to have married a Carew. Unfortunately for this theory Giraldus twice states in the plainest language that FitzStephen had no legitimate offspring, and it is hard to see how his testimony can possibly be shaken on such a point. Carew may perhaps have married his natural daughter, but that would give him no title at all under the grant of Henry II.; and his claims over the vast region between Lismore and St. Brandon’s Head in Kerry may therefore be dismissed. That the Carews did, however, by some means become possessed of much land in Munster is none the less clear. There was a Marquis Carew who, at some period before the accession of Henry IV., had a revenue of 2,200l. in the county of Cork, besides the possession and profits of Dursey and other havens there. The Carews seem to have left Ireland altogether in the time of Richard II., so that in any case there was a prescription of 170 years against Sir Peter. The English heralds manufactured a pedigree for him ‘in colours very orderly,’ bringing down his title from FitzStephen’s mythical daughter: and had not political considerations stood in the way, it is probable that his title would have been admitted by the Crown.149

Carew comes to Ireland and claims Idrone

Hooker took a house in Dublin for his principal, and warned him that most things would have to be brought from England, and that it was difficult to raise even 20l. in the Irish capital. The raw material of good housekeeping – fish, flesh, and fowl – was to be had; but sugar and spices, a steward, a cook, a physician, and a surgeon, would all have to be imported. These preparations being at last completed, Carew set sail from Ilfracombe, and landed at Waterford, whither Hooker lost no time in repairing. Thither also came two other men of Devon, Thomas Stukeley, at this time Constable of Leighlin, the stormy petrel of Elizabeth’s time, and Henry Davells, afterwards the victim of a frightful tragedy. Both professed themselves anxious to help their countryman in his attempt to recover the Barony of Idrone in Carlow, which had formerly belonged to his family, and which Hooker had already inspected. Davells and Stukeley accompanied Carew to Leighlin, where the latter entertained him, and where he received several chiefmen of the Kavanaghs, which clan had been in possession of Idrone since Richard II.’s day at least. Sir Peter informed them that he was their lord, and was come to claim his own, ‘which speeches were not so hard unto them but they more hardly digested them.’150

The Council allow Carew’s claim in the Cheevers case

Having so far advanced his claim to Idrone, Carew repaired to Dublin, where he kept open house pending Sidney’s arrival. His claim was naturally the general subject of conversation, and an old lady professed to see in his coming the fulfilment of a prophecy that the dead should rise again. He decided to make his first serious attack in Meath upon the manor of Maston, held by Sir Christopher Cheevers, a gentleman of old family, and connected with the principal people of the Pale and the principal lawyers in Dublin. But one Irish barrister could be got to take his brief, and it seems that he afterwards threw it up, for an Exeter man, William Peryam, of the Middle Temple, afterwards Chief Baron, was brought over specially for the occasion. A Bill was filed before the Lord Deputy and Council, but the common lawyers retained by Cheevers advised that the suit could not be maintained there. Peryam rested his case on naked prerogative, and the two Chief Justices gave a private opinion in his favour, on the ground that Carew could have no fair trial at law. Sir Christopher had no chance of a fair trial before the Council, and was therefore fain to compromise the case. The weight of documentary evidence, a prescription of at least 170 years being allowed no weight at all, seems to have been on Sir Peter’s side, and Cheevers offered him eighteen years’ purchase for the lands in dispute. Carew voluntarily offered them for fifteen, and he did not insist even on this. Cheevers seems to have worked on his generosity by talking of his wife and children, and in the end had ‘the whole land released unto him almost for nothing, saving a drinking nut of silver worth about 20l., and three or four horses worth about 30l.’ Carew’s adventurous nature may have been satisfied with the honours of war, or he may have thought it good policy to make friends in Dublin before embarking on the greater undertakings which he had in view.151

Carew is adjudged entitled to Idrone

The ruling in the Cheevers case governed the others, and, Sidney having returned to his government, the Council assumed the power of dealing with Idrone. Three of the Kavanaghs appeared, but they had, of course, no documentary evidence to advance against Sir Peter, who was adjudged the heir of Dygon, Baron of Idrone in the early part of the fourteenth century. Prescription being again altogether ignored, it was assumed as incontestable that Eva’s marriage with Strongbow had carried the fee of Leinster with it. The Kavanaghs, descendants of the royal tribe, and by Irish law rightful owners of the land, were held common rebels and trespassers, and were strictly enjoined to allow Carew quiet possession. That the Crown had over and over again negotiated with the Kavanaghs, and had twice created baronies in their blood, was passed over as of no consequence. Most of the Kavanaghs bowed to fate, and accepted Carew as their landlord. The earth tillers had to pay him rent, but were not otherwise dissatisfied with him, for he maintained order in the district, and by the establishment of courts baron provided for the due course of local justice. But his name stank in the nostrils of those who had been accustomed to fish in troubled waters, the kernes and idlemen of Wexford and Carlow; and they watched for an opportunity to rid themselves of this old man of the sea. They were not long in finding a leader.152

James Fitzmaurice supreme in the Desmond country

About the time that Desmond was making his submission in London, James Fitzmaurice broke out in Kerry, having strengthened his usual band by enlisting malcontents from Limerick, Tipperary, and Cork. He began by taking 200 cows from Lord Fitzmaurice, wasting his country, and sitting down before his castle of Lixnaw, though straightly charged by the Lord Justice not to enter Clanmaurice. The cattle, he said, were but security for rent, the other damages were in return for those which the Lord of Lixnaw had previously committed in Desmond. Causes of quarrel were sure to be plentiful enough, and Lord Fitzmaurice had brought his wild Irish friends from beyond the Shannon, so that perhaps there was not much to choose between them. A battle followed, in which James Fitzmaurice was defeated. At least 300 lives were lost, and the sons of O’Callaghan, the White Knight, and others of his followers were taken. Finding himself too weak to do much without help, the Desmond leader sought allies both in and out of Ireland, living by plunder in the meantime, and totally disregarding all letters from the Government.153

The Butlers oppose Carew. MacBrien Arra

On the very day that Sidney landed the Lords Justices wrote most gloomily of the political prospect. Tirlogh Luineach was in open rebellion; he had spoiled part of Louth, and it was thought fortunate that he had escaped, for he was in such force that had he turned upon Lord Louth and his party he would probably have beaten them. On all sides troubles were brewing; the Exchequer was empty, the army weak, and the dark nights which the Irish loved were coming on fast. But the greatest danger of all came from a quarter whence governors were accustomed to look for support only. The House of Ormonde itself seemed to have changed its nature; the rod upon which every Viceroy had leaned threatened to pierce the hand at last. Edward Butler, the Earl’s younger brother, was a turbulent and hot-headed youth. In the chief’s absence another brother, Sir Edmund, had the care of his country, but he was unable, and perhaps unwilling, to keep Edward properly in check. MacBrien Arra, the chief of a clan which in the later Middle Ages had wrested part of Tipperary from the Butlers, appears to have been at this time peaceable and loyal, looking only to the Government for protection against his greater neighbours. Edward Butler probably thought him fair game, and invaded Arra with 1,000 men, horse, foot, and camp followers – desperadoes apparently of the worst character. According to ancient Irish custom all movable property was stored in two churches, and thither the frightened women fled in the vain hope of sanctuary. The country was harried far and wide. The churches were broken open, and for forty-eight hours the invaders plundered and ravished, sparing neither age nor condition. The lately gathered corn was destroyed, and famine stared the whole population in the face. ‘As for me, my good lords, I do not a little marvel of such deeds and facts,’ said MacBrien, ‘true subjects robbed and spoiled daily, and poor tenants driven to beg their bread, banished from their dwellings, and notable malefactors succoured and maintained, contrary to the Queen’s Majesty’s good laws; assuring your honours, since Shane O’Neill died, there is not the like maintainer of rebels as Mr. Edward is; and although Sir Edmund doth say that he cannot rule Mr. Edward of his riotous doings, it is but a saying, and not true.’ He desired redress, or leave to revenge himself, and he went to Dublin to urge his suit. The result was not altogether encouraging; for in his absence Edward Butler visited his country a second time, killed his uncle, drove off his cattle, and burned a house full of women and children. Wearied with continual outrages, his wife wrote to beg that he would take a farm in the Pale, where there might be some chance of a quiet life. ‘When men go to England,’ she said, ‘or to Dublin, where the law is ministered, those who remain behind spoil them the more.’154

Butlers and O’Carrolls

After his first attack on MacBrien, Edward Butler wandered away into the King’s County. There was a standing dispute between the O’Carrolls and the Butlers, the latter alleging that Ely was part of Tipperary, the former that it belonged to the more lately formed shire and was consequently outside Ormonde’s palatinate jurisdiction. Thady O’Carroll, one of the chief’s three sons, had married a Galway lady, and on his way towards the Shannon to visit his father-in-law was unlucky enough to come across Edward Butler’s band. O’Carroll had but a few men with him, and it is therefore not at all likely that he was the assailant in the skirmish which followed, and in which he was taken prisoner. As to the previous quarrels, which Butler alleged as a reason for keeping armed men, the Lords Justices seem to have thought there was much to be said on both sides, but they charged Butler to appear before them at once, and warned him of the danger of taking the law into his own hands. Sir William O’Carroll was also summoned, but neither were in any hurry to obey, and the matter was quite unsettled when Sidney landed at Carrickfergus.155

CHAPTER XXVI.

FROM 1568 TO 1570

Sidney’s plans for Ulster

Sidney lost no time in trying to realise his idea of bridling the North with forts and bridges. He surveyed Clandeboye and Ards, and declared them the shire of Carrickfergus – an arrangement afterwards departed from. He met Tirlogh Luineach at the Bann, and thought him inclined to obey. The various castles already garrisoned he found in good order, the people readily selling the soldiers a fat cow for 6s. 8d. and twenty-four eggs for 1d. In Carrickfergus a good market was kept twice a week, to which commodities were brought from the Pale, from Scotland and Man, and even from France. Three 40-ton cargoes of claret were sold at nine cowskins a hogshead. ‘The Archbishop of Armagh and the Bishop of Meath, with divers noblemen and gentlemen as well of England as the English Pale, lawyers, merchants, and others came from Dublin to Carrickfergus, only for visitation sake, the Bishops riding in their rochets, and the rest unarmed.’ A treaty was made with Sir Brian MacPhelim to build a proper carriage bridge over the Laggan at Belfast, to cut passes through the woods, to supply fuel for making bricks, and to protect men building or repairing ships in the Lough. On his road to Dublin most of the chiefs and gentlemen came to pay their respects to the Lord Deputy.156

The Scots

Sidney believed that all Ulster difficulties originated in Scotland. Argyle did not pretend to be guided by any rule but the good of his own country, and he had 5,000 men always ready to invade Ireland if he did not approve of Elizabeth’s policy. He loved Sidney, he said, better than any other Viceroy, and for that reason would rather see him anywhere than in Ulster. Sir Francis Knollys was Scotland’s bitterest enemy, but he would willingly put him in Sidney’s place, where he could do far less harm than at Court. Lord Herries was not even careful to use civil language. James MacDonnell’s widow professed herself friendly, but said the clan would never forego its Irish claims until it was quite extinct. Donnell Gorm, born in Ireland and friendly to England, claimed the lordship of the Isles, and was in alliance with the Campbells – a reluctant tie which might easily be cut. His ancestors had a pension of 200l. from England, and its renewal would be money well spent. Rathlin Island, which was full of cattle – the very stable and baiting-place of the Scots – should be fortified and held, and this might be done for 300l. a year. A regular military occupation of the whole province would be intolerably costly, but half a dozen strong places on the coast might be provided for 2,000l. yearly. A town at Armagh and a bridge at Blackwater were quite necessary. In the meantime Dundalk Bridge might be repaired, and Bagenal’s unfurnished castles at Newry, Carlingford, and Greencastle might be made tenable for 2,000l. If the Scots were once disposed of, it would be easy to govern Ireland; the O’Neills would then be shut up in their own province, and would have to work or to starve.157

James Fitzmaurice. The Butlers

When James Fitzmaurice found that Sidney had not brought either the Earl or Sir John of Desmond with him, he called a meeting of Geraldines, and informed them that their chief and his brother were condemned to death, or at least to perpetual imprisonment. He reminded them that when the good Earl Thomas had been murdered by the tyrant Earl of Worcester his followers had chosen a captain for themselves, and he advised a like course. He was immediately chosen by acclamation, and unhesitatingly accepted the position in spite of Sidney’s threats. He was soon afterwards proclaimed a traitor. The wise Earl of Clancare, as Shane O’Neill had in derision called him, placed himself about the same time at the head of a Celtic confederacy, plundered Lord Roche’s country, drove off the cattle, burned the sheep and the corn, and killed men, women, and children. Neither wheat nor oats were to be had for love or money west of Youghal: the combined result of drought from heaven and heat from the Earl of Clancare. Spanish ships supplied the MacCarthies with arms. Edward Butler told Sidney’s messenger, who found him at Thurles with 1,000 men, that no man of Irish birth could be safe since Sir John of Desmond had been sent to the Tower for little or nothing. He knew that he himself had deeply offended his brother the Earl, and was therefore afraid of Sir Edmund, who had also 1,000 men with him. ‘Your secret conference, brother,’ he said in the messenger’s presence, ‘hath brought me to this mischief.’ To Dublin he refused to go without pardon or protection, and Shane O’Neill hardly claimed more, even in his proudest days.

Ormonde’s presence declared indispensable

The presence of Ormonde alone could settle his country, and he, in Sidney’s opinion, ‘politicly kept himself in England, as well for duty’s sake to the Queen as ancient and innate malice to the Earl of Desmond and all Desmondians.’ Sir Edmund could not brook the notion of dismissing his armed followers, and, as he himself expressed it, ‘riding up and down the country like a priest.’ No brother or lieutenant was of any use, and if Ormonde would not come Sidney would have to go himself; and he begged for a strongly-worded letter to show to the people. The report was that he was not allowed to interfere with the Butler districts, and indeed he was loth to do so, knowing that the Earl bore him little goodwill, and that he had the Queen’s ear. ‘Though never so upright,’ he said, ‘I shall not escape slander.’158

Lawless conduct of Ormonde’s brethren

Both Butlers continued their lawless practices; indeed, Lady Dunboyne, who was a chief sufferer, declared that Edward was ‘but a patch to Sir Edmund in extortion and spoil.’ He threatened her with yet worse things for having brought Sidney’s letters to him; and in the meantime seized her cattle, nominally for the purpose of maintaining himself against the White Knight, with whom he had picked a quarrel to give an excuse for keeping his ragged battalion together. Ormonde still lingering in England, the Lord Deputy was obliged to go to Kilkenny himself, where he hanged several of Edward Butler’s men, not by martial law, as Sir Peter Carew proudly pointed out, but ‘by the verdict of twelve men orderly.’ A similar example was made at Waterford, and Sidney returned to Dublin to make preparations for holding a Parliament, in which he secured a majority by interfering in elections.159

Parliament of 1569. Opposition to Government

No list has been preserved of the members who sat in either House of Elizabeth’s second Irish Parliament. Many Englishmen had, by Government influence, been returned for remote places. Sidney, who had a taste for heraldic pomp, was in some anxiety as to what dress he ought to wear. He was told to do as St. Leger had done. If he could not find whether St. Leger had used a garter or a Parliament robe, he might do as he pleased. Princely robes of crimson velvet lined with ermine were provided in due course, and the Lord Deputy took his seat under the cloth of estate. Lord Chancellor Weston made an eloquent speech on the advantages of law and order. The House then separated, and James Stanihurst, Recorder of Dublin, was again chosen Speaker of the House of Commons by a large majority over Sir Christopher Barnewall, who was also a lawyer and the candidate favoured by the gentlemen of the Pale. After the usual protestations of unfitness, Stanihurst was accepted by Sidney, and made a speech in which he claimed personal inviolability for the members, freedom of speech, and power for the House to punish breaches of its own orders. The Lord Deputy, having granted these suits, addressed the whole Parliament at great length. None knew better, he said, than those in Ireland the advantages of law and order; let them act according to that knowledge, and be careful lest in defending their own privileges they should tread upon her Majesty’s prerogative. On the following day business began, and it soon appeared that the House of Commons was divided into two parties bitterly hostile to each other. The Court, or English party, consisted chiefly of officials and of the Lord Deputy’s nominees, men who might be trusted not to exhibit too much independence. On the other side were the gentry of the Pale, the burgesses returned by the old corporate towns, and the common lawyers generally, who had been roughly handled by Sidney in Sir Peter Carew’s case, and who asserted that some of the English members were returned for towns not incorporated, that sheriffs and mayors had returned themselves, and that others were ignorant of their constituencies and non-resident. The Judges held that the first and second objections were good, but that there was nothing in the third. The Attorney-General having reported this decision, which still left the Government a majority, the Irish party professed not to believe him, and demanded that the Judges themselves should come down. The Speaker called for the orders of the day, but the malcontents refused to listen to the first readings of any bills. Next day the Judges came and confirmed their former decision, but the Irish party, headed by Sir Edmund Butler, still obstructed the business, and opposed the introduction of a Bill for suspending Poyning’s Law and allowing Bills to proceed without being first certified under the Great Seal of England. This Bill was obviously for the enlargement of their own jurisdiction, and passed in the end, as did another which provided that the Great Seal of Ireland should not be affixed to any further Suspension Bill until it had been passed by the majority of both Irish Houses. After some days spent in these bickerings, Hooker, who sat for Athenry – an ancient borough certainly, but at this time containing only four freeholders – made a long prerogative speech. He had formerly represented Exeter and had a taste for antiquities, and he proved to his own entire satisfaction that Moses and Pythagoras, Camillus and Mithridates, had created precedents on his side of the question. ‘The minority,’ he says, ‘did not hear the same so attentively as they did digest it most unquietly.’ The debate was adjourned, and Hooker had to be escorted by his friends to Sir Peter Carew’s house. The next day Sir Christopher Barnewall and other lawyers inveighed against Hooker, but the Speaker silenced them, and desired them to put their complaints into writing. Hooker, who says that the proceedings were more like bear-baiting than the deliberations of a Senate, then presented a treatise on the Order of Parliament, which closely followed English precedents, and asserted the power of the Speaker to hold members to the question, and to reform, correct, and punish disorder with the advice of the House. The contest was not renewed, and after the first fortnight matters settled down considerably.160

Legislation. Attainder of Shane O’Neill

Sir Edmund Butler was openly censured by Sidney in the Council Chamber, and withdrew in high dudgeon to his own country. The House of Lords showed a mutinous spirit as well as the Commons. The Gentleman Usher seems to have occupied a position within the bar, and this being objected to, Sidney withdrew the cloth of State, but it does not appear that the punishment weighed very heavily on the delinquents. Several Acts of great political importance were passed. A subsidy of 13s. 4d. on every plough land was granted for ten years in consideration of the abolition of coyne and livery. This was for the public benefit, but was very unpleasing to many noblemen. The five principal men of each shire were made responsible for the rest, Shane O’Neill was attainted, the name of O’Neill extinguished, and the Queen entitled to Tyrone. Irish captainries were abolished unless established by patent. For the infringement of this law death without benefit of clergy was provided by the draftsman in England, but the House of Lords substituted a fine of 100 l. for each offence by a peer, and 100 marks for men of lesser degree. Even after this amendment there was much opposition, which, as the Chancellor observed, argued that ‘the matter misliked them more than the pain.’ An Act was also passed to enable the chief Governor, on certain conditions, to make the remaining Irish countries into shire ground.161

Wine duties

A Bill for imposing a heavy import duty on wines borne in foreign bottoms was thrown out by the Commons, the members for the port towns declaring that it would beggar them utterly. The Bill was afterwards passed in a modified form for ten years, Sidney having refused the enormous bribe of 2,000l. in gold offered him to procure its withdrawal.

Schools

A Bill for the erection and maintenance of schools with English masters by a charge on ecclesiastical property was thrown out by the Bishops, who thought that they and not the Lord Deputy should have the patronage in their own hands, and with better reason demurred to the exemption of impropriated lands, which were often the richest part of what had belonged to the Church. A Bill for repairing churches was thrown out by the Commons, the Catholics not caring to provide for the Establishment, and no one wishing to bear taxation. ‘Churches and schools,’ said Weston, ‘still find no favour among us, yet, in my opinion, the reformation of Ireland must come from churches and schools.’162