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

‘Your Holiness and your Catholic Majesty must know that it has long been, and now is, the highest desire of the nobility and all the people of that kingdom to come absolutely under the patronage and protection of his Holiness, and of the most clement and Catholic King of Spain, to whom all men of position and property in that island look directly for the means of avoiding the affliction and danger of the heresy and schism in the ever-changing kingdom of England. They have, therefore, deliberately resolved, with God’s help and the favour of the most clement Catholic King, to accept the person of any active Catholic Prince of his Catholic Majesty’s blood, whether of the Spanish or Burgundian branch, specially appointed by him for the purpose, and to receive him and crown him as their true, legitimate, and natural King, and thus to re-establish in perpetuity the royal throne of that island,199 and to venerate the presence of one King, one faith, and one kingdom, the donation of that island having been first obtained from and confirmed by the Apostolic See. Thus they hope to remain henceforth for ever in their accustomed obedience and devotion to the supreme Pontiff, and in union with the Holy Catholic Mother Church of Christ, and in their pristine friendship and alliance with the Royal House of Spain, from which nation the whole nobility of that kingdom derived its origin.

‘Not without cause do all the states of that island most strongly desire this, since that kingdom in extent, in its temperate climate, in its fertility, and in its wealth, might well vie with the kingdom of England, if only it were ruled justly and piously by a religious resident Catholic Prince or royal head. They all in general detest the tyrannous and inconstant yoke of the English State, and still more its heresies, with which they desire to have nothing in common, except neighbourliness and Christian love.

‘Underwritten are the names of those prelates, chiefs, barons, and nobles who are thus well-disposed towards the Holy Apostolic See, and that most potent prince the Lord Philip, King of all the Spains.’ Then follows a list of all the nobles, prelates, chiefs, and towns in Ireland who were prepared to promote Spanish interests in their country, ‘together with those of many English residents in the island.’ The Archbishop urged Philip to seize at once all Irish forts and harbours, a proceeding which the English were in no condition to prevent. ‘Success,’ he said, ‘altogether depends on celerity, for your Majesty will be able to do with 10,000 men and a little expense what you will not afterwards be able to accomplish with 100,000 men and all available power.’ We know from other sources how weak the English Government was at this time, and how difficult it would have been to dislodge even 5,000 Spaniards; but to ask Philip to do anything quickly was as vain as speaking to the winds or writing upon the running water.200

Fitzgibbon too sanguine. Philip II. hesitates

Yet Fitzgibbon certainly did not underrate the importance to Spain of an Irish alliance. Few will think that the resources of Ireland were at any time equal to those of England. Of the twelve prelates whom he enumerates not more than three or four were in a condition to give an invader material help. Among the six Earls whom he mentions Desmond was a prisoner in England, Ormonde a loyal subject of Queen Elizabeth, and Clanricarde at least not actively disloyal. There was no Earl of Tyrone. Thomond and Clancare were ready enough both to rebel and to submit when pressed. The Irish chiefs were all Catholics no doubt, but nothing like continuous combined action could be expected from clans who had from time immemorial been fighting against each other. From the chartered towns a Catholic prince might expect much sympathy, but very little open aid; England had always been strong enough to punish them. Forty years before, Charles V., after a careful investigation, had made up his mind that the Desmonds could not be maintained against the Tudors, and the more he learned about the matter the less likely was Philip to disagree with his father’s opinions.

Thomas Stukeley

Some account must now be given of one of the most extraordinary adventurers which even the England of the sixteenth century produced. Thomas Stukeley, a gentleman belonging to an old English family in North Devon, having run through his younger brother’s portion by riotous living while in the Duke of Suffolk’s retinue, sought after his patron’s death to enrich himself at the expense of others. Claiming a legacy from another West-countryman, Serjeant Prideaux, he broke into the testator’s house and searched his coffers in spite of an injunction to the contrary. He tried piracy for a while, and was imprisoned in the Tower at the suit of an Irish gentleman whom he had robbed. His friends managed to procure his enlargement, and he soon persuaded the only daughter and heiress of Alderman Curtis to marry him. When his father-in-law died he spent his money in every kind of dissipation. If a balladmonger of the day may be believed, he squandered 100l. a day, selling at last the blocks of tin with which the Alderman, probably a Cornishman or Devonian, had paved the yard of his London house. When all was gone he deserted his wife.

‘Make much of me, dear husband,’ she did say.

‘I’ll make much more of thee,’ said he,

‘Than any one shall, verily:’

And so he sold her clothes, and went his way.

His magnificent patronage had been extended to travellers, one of whom dedicated to him a description of the countries bordering on the Baltic, and, like other Devon men, he looked to the sea as to his native element. The Queen licensed him to found a colony in Florida, and he promised in his usual vein of braggadocio to write to her ‘in the style of princes, to our dearest sister.’

Stukeley’s adventures. He goes to Spain

The Queen directed Sussex to give his flotilla shelter in the Irish ports, and from that time he is connected more or less closely with the history of Ireland. He had made friends with Shane O’Neill during his residence in London. Stukeley never went to Florida, but with a ship of 400 tons, containing 100 tall soldiers besides mariners, he appeared upon the coast of Munster in his true character of pirate. ‘I fear,’ said Sir Thomas Wrothe, ‘he will make the sea his Florida. He hath been reached at to be catched, but it will not be yet.’ Caught he was at last, and in great danger of hanging, for Elizabeth was very angry at his piracies; but Shane O’Neill wrote on behalf of his old acquaintance, professing to believe it quite impossible that he could have done anything against Queen or laws. Even Arnold was captivated, or perhaps was determined to see things in the same light as Shane. At all events, Stukeley found some favour, for he was allowed to enter into recognisances as to the charges of piracy, and to go back to Ireland with recommendations from Cecil, Leicester, and Pembroke. Sidney not only showed him favour, but at Shane’s own request employed the desperate adventurer as a go-between, and the success of the negotiations was such as might have been expected from the diplomatist’s character. Stukeley next persuaded Sir N. Bagenal to sell him his office of Marshal and his lands in Ireland for 3,000l. Irish. Sidney was inclined to sanction the bargain, but the notion of Stukeley being employed in such an office was much disliked in England. Cecil did not approve of it, and the Lord Deputy had gently to remind him that he had himself written in Stukeley’s favour. Elizabeth, who seems to have correctly judged the adventurer’s character, railed at him in good set terms, would not hear of his appointment, and ordered him to be sent home to answer the charges made against him in the Admiralty Court. Those who love to depreciate Elizabeth should remember how well she saw through the specious villain who deceived Burghley, Sidney, and Philip. It is likely enough that Stukeley would never have paid Bagenal. Had he found the 3,000l. it would probably have been either the profits of piracy or a bribe from Shane O’Neill. He neither returned to England nor gave up his evil courses, being soon afterwards in trouble for buying stolen goods from pirates. Sidney remained his friend, and placed him in temporary possession of the seneschalship of Wexford, vacant first by the absence and then by the death of Sir Nicholas Heron; but the Queen was obdurate, and the coveted office was given to Nicholas White, against whom Stukeley immediately began to intrigue, representing the successful candidate as a creature of Ormonde and an enemy to the Lord Deputy. He was rash enough to say that he did not care a straw for the Queen or her office, and finding his powers for mischief too limited in Ireland, and himself in danger of arrest, he went to Spain and offered his services to Philip. Mendoza assured Cecil that he knew nothing about this journey, but of course his statement was not believed.201

Stukeley and Fitzgibbon in Spain

Knowing Stukeley’s antecedents, it is extraordinary that Sidney should have taken no pains to stop him, and should have believed that he and his motley following were going to London to see the Queen. Stukeley had already been some time in communication with Spain, and it is impossible to believe that Sidney was privy to his designs; but it is hard to understand the treatment he received.

English and Irish parties there

He was allowed to purchase the ‘Trinity,’ of Bridgewater, and to spend five weeks at Waterford waiting for a wind and lading a cargo of malt, wheat, beans, and fourteen horses. The crew consisted of twenty-eight men, English and Irish except one Italian named Alessandro Fideli: only Fideli and the pilot knew the ship’s destination. A run of five days brought them to Vivero, in Galicia, whence Stukeley sent Fideli and Raymond Digby to the King at Seville. Archbishop Fitzgibbon afterwards informed Philip that many of Stukeley’s company were in despair when they found themselves in Spain, not daring to go back to England or Ireland, and destitute of resources. ‘He threatens them in case they attempt to return to their country or go elsewhere to put them in prison or something worse – that is, to throw them into the sea, for they are in his ship, as he treated others on a former occasion. Your Majesty can be well informed of all this by the same Irishmen who are here or in Galicia on this condition, that the same Thomas Stukeley be never told who gave the information; for on other terms they will never tell the truth, fearing this man, who has always been most singularly revengeful in his wickedness.’ Stukeley’s messengers returned with 200 ducats, and Philip afterwards sent a pursuivant with 1,000 more to bring their leader to Madrid, where he or his son received a further sum of 3,000 ducats. Stukeley was lodged at the King’s cost, a Catalonian knight of Calatrava, Don Francis de Merles, being assigned to him as companion. An emissary of Cecil’s was from the first at work to sow dissension between Stukeley and Archbishop Fitzgibbon, who was already disliked by the Duke of Feria. De Silva, the late ambassador in England, was consulted as to the nature of the Irish and Scotch, and he reported that both nations were beggarly, proud, and traitorous. Whatever value Philip may have attached to this opinion, he lavished favours on Stukeley, knighted him, and gave him sums amounting to 21,000 ducats within a few months; 500 reals a day were allowed him for table money, and the King sent his son to Alcala to be educated in the Prince of Orange’s company. Stukeley now called himself Duke of Ireland, and made more show than any two dukes at the Spanish Court. The Duke of Feria gave him horses and armour, he lived splendidly in his village near Madrid, and he was allowed to hope for a force of 10,000 men and the twenty-six ships which had brought Philip’s queen to Spain. Some said that an expedition under the Duke of Medina Celi was intended for Ireland, and that the whole island would rise as soon as his flag appeared on the coast.202

Rumours of invasion

In France, too, the stir among the exiles was great. Emissaries from Alva spread a report at Paris that the Duke was going to do something in Scotland or Ireland about March 1571. Malicorne, who had represented France at the marriage of the King of Spain, returned with news that Julian Romero, an old soldier who had been wounded at St. Quentin, had actually been despatched to Ireland with 3,000 men. Francis Walsingham, who was beginning his great career as ambassador at Paris, had a conversation with Charles IX., who told him that he hated the Guise faction and that he supposed Queen Elizabeth did so too. Walsingham could only repeat what he heard, but he must have been reassured by the magnificent contempt with which his mistress treated all these rumours. She informed him that certain savage Irish rebels of no value had gone to Spain nominally for conscience sake, whereas they were of no religion, but wholly given to bestiality. Stukeley had joined them, and tried to make himself important by superfluously spending of other men’s goods, he being in fact not worth a ‘marmaduc.’ She marvelled that king or minister should be taken in by such a fellow, and could not believe in Julian Romero and his invasion. It had never been her practice to employ Protestant refugees, of which there were plenty in England, in intrigues against their lawful sovereign, the King of Spain. Walsingham was instructed to complain about the French captain who brought away Fitzmaurice’s son, and he was not to be put off with evasive answers either from the French king or from the Spanish ambassador at Paris. The Spanish ambassador, with a proud and disdainful countenance, denied all knowledge of Stukeley or Romero. ‘They were no Spaniards who had that enterprise in hand.’ The French King promised to punish Mons. De la Roche and the other officers who had meddled in Irish plots; but Walsingham believed neither of them, and advised the Queen to revenge herself by giving trouble in Flanders. The Netherlanders indeed tied Philip’s hands; for France was not yet a Spanish province with Guise for viceroy, and it was impossible to break conclusively with England until French influence in Flanders should be no longer feared.203

Philip II.’s ideas

When Stukeley arrived in Spain Archbishop Fitzgibbon recommended him to Philip without knowing much about him. He said he was daring and clever, that he had a knowledge of Irish harbours and was accompanied by Irish mariners, and that he bitterly hated his own country, to which he could never hope to return. But Fitzgibbon, like Rinuccini in later times, found that there was an irreconcilable difference between English and Irish refugees. The former were quite ready to get rid of Elizabeth, and not to be too particular about the means; but then Mary Stuart must be their queen. Their Catholic England once established, they had no more idea than Mary Tudor had of suffering an independent Ireland, or an Ireland under foreign sovereignty. Philip knew enough about his late wife’s dominions to see that the lesser island would be a most burdensome possession, and that no possible England would ever allow him to hold it quietly. He lavished favours on Stukeley, who was no doubt amusing and might annoy his dear sister-in-law; but he professed ignorance as to the projector’s plans, and perhaps never had any serious notion of employing him against Ireland. The island was poor and the people barbarous, and no revenue could be expected. He had trouble enough already with the Flemings, who had long been pouring across the Channel rather than submit to Alva’s tyranny, enriching England and draining his own exchequer. To invade Ireland would be to add an English fleet to his other troubles, and very possibly to cause a French occupation of Flanders. He is said to have contemplated seizing the Scilly Islands, which might have been valuable as a protection to Spanish trade; but this idea, if ever entertained, was abandoned for similar reasons. The Irish had offered their country to Philip to escape from England, in the belief, perhaps, that it might be left to themselves. Fitzgibbon saw clearly that this could never be. Had England remained Catholic he would have preferred her rule; now that Catholicism was proscribed he was perforce for the Spaniard.

Fitzgibbon thwarts Stukeley. The Pope discourages Fitzgibbon

Fitzgibbon told Philip Stukeley’s very unedifying history. At first he had recommended him as likely to be useful, but was now convinced that he was an impostor. ‘I cannot,’ he said, ‘believe that the Irish princes would wish that a private English gentleman should have command in the slightest degree in their kingdom, while they with such obstinacy resist the Queen of England, who has so often offered them peace on good conditions. Therefore, I consider his coming as an act of deception, or an act devoid of common sense, for, as far as I can understand, he has received no commission from the princes of Ireland for your Majesty or any one else.’ The adventurer retorted with charges against the prelate’s private character, which, whether true or false, had certainly some weight with Philip. Stukeley may have cherished some mad idea of ruling Ireland as a Spanish viceroy. In any case, it is likely that he ill-treated the Irishmen who followed him, for they deserted to the Archbishop of Cashel, who refused to give them up. The Court were divided into two parties – Ruy Gomez, favouring the Archbishop, and the Duke of Feria, with his English wife, siding with Stukeley. There was a further difficulty with the Pope, who considered Ireland his own property, and thought Philip but a lukewarm son of the Church. It was not so very long since Tivoli and Ostia had been occupied by Spanish troops, and the city saved by a sort of accident. Did not the Catholic King, the great-nephew of Catherine of Arragon, the grandson of the great Isabella, keep the peace with his sister-in-law, and bear patiently the many insults of that excommunicated heretic, Anne Boleyn’s bastard daughter? The cardinal secretary informed the zealous Irish priest that the Pope was much surprised at his presumption in moving in such matters without special license. He might easily have remembered that Ireland was a fief of the Church, and inalienable without the will of the lord. His Holiness would do nothing unless Philip would sue to him for a grant, and the cardinal secretary would merely venture to guess that such a suit would not be denied. He might, with at least equal probability, have guessed that it never would be made.204

Fitzgibbon’s excuses to the Pope

Fitzgibbon was horrified at meeting opposition from Rome. He was a fugitive, and his flock was at the mercy of wolves. His pall had been carried off by the English heretics, and he besought the Pope to send him another. If Ireland thought his Holiness alone could have delivered her ‘from the jaws of the English,’ she would have asked no other master. But other help was clearly necessary; France had none to give, and no State was more orthodox than Spain, which could alone relieve Irish Catholics. Only prompt help could avail, for the power of England increased daily, not only in Ireland, but in France, Flanders, Scotland, and Germany; Catholic interests, indeed, were threatened all over Europe.205

Stukeley in Spain. Rumours

While Pius V. hesitated and procrastinated, Stukeley swaggered about in Spain, and affected to take the interests of English Catholicism under his protection. A certain Oliver King, a soldier of fortune, was at Madrid, and was accused by Stukeley of heresy; but his daily attendance at Mass, where he ‘knocked his breast’ devoutly, obtained for King the advocacy of Don Francesco de Merles, and his persecutor was unable to bring him before the Inquisition. He was, however, stripped and banished, and was fain to pass the Pyrenees in the snow, eluding the bravoes whom Stukeley had sent after him. When in safety he wrote to Cecil, giving an account of Stukeley’s proceedings, and praying God that he might not see England as he had seen France, the land waste, and the women at the mercy of foreign hirelings. Traitors, he said, abounded, who gaped for Queen Elizabeth’s death, and Stukeley boasted that he would give Ireland to Philip. Some 4,000 desperadoes had been got together; rascally ill-armed Bezonians, but officered by old beaten men of war, such as Julian Romero. An expedition was expected to sail almost immediately from Vigo, and King, who had a knowledge of military matters and mining, eagerly offered his services, provided the Queen would pardon him. Another Englishman, who had been in regular correspondence with Norris and Walsingham, was imprisoned for forty-seven days on suspicion, and nearly died of ill-treatment. On being released he was ordered to quit the kingdom. He agreed with King that a descent on Ireland would take place in March or April 1571, and added that Alva had a plan to occupy Caistor and Yarmouth.206

Fitzgibbon goes to France, and negotiates with England

Finding that no expedition left Vigo, and that the King trusted Stukeley more than him, Fitzgibbon determined to see what he could do in France. At Bordeaux he was received with honour by the bishop, who gave him a horse to ride during his stay. On arriving at Paris he was at once waited on by Captain Thomas, a native of the Pale in the French service, who offered him such courtesies as were in the English Ambassador’s power. He asked and received an introduction to the Cardinal of Lorraine, to whom he manifested his own importance and the weakness of Ireland. Thomas, who had access to the Cardinal, let him know that Ireland was strong enough to resist a multitude – a statement which would have been hardly borne out by Sidney or Fitzwilliam. With better reason the captain reminded his Eminence that Fitzgibbon was a Geraldine, and that the heads of that House were in prison. The Cardinal’s demeanour then became cool, and the poor Archbishop began to think that after all Queen Elizabeth might be his best card. A second Irish soldier was appointed to watch him, and to report anything of importance that he might let fall. The Queen would not promise to restore him to his see, but was willing to pardon him, and to give him as good a living in Ireland. If Walsingham thought him insincere, he was to pump every possible secret out of him, and then try to get him given up by the French King as a rebel. The Archbishop’s terms were a pardon under the Great Seal, restoration to his see, and license to go back to Ireland with eight companions; in consideration of which he was ready to be a loyal subject, and to let her Majesty have all ‘news.’ Being pressed to substitute ‘secrets’ for ‘news,’ he said he was very unwilling to do anything which might deprive him of a future asylum in Spain or elsewhere. Should the Queen think fit to restore him to his country and place – he said nothing about the lost pall – he would show to Walsingham in writing ‘both the names of the conspiracy, and also the remedy.’ But Elizabeth would not hear of his returning to Ireland except by way of England, and he was far too wary for that.

Later movements of Fitzgibbon

He sought an interview with Anjou, but here Captain Thomas was before him, and told the French prince that Ireland was poor, and only an expense to the Queen, and that the Archbishop was of small credit, having been banished for brawling. Monsieur then sent the exiled prelate two hundred crowns, and said he was afraid he should not have time to see him. Fitzgibbon seemed for a moment inclined to go to England, and sue for pardon; but ‘sinister practices’ prevented this, if it had ever been seriously intended. The Archbishop went off to Nantes and afterwards found his way to Scotland, where he suffered imprisonment. Returning again to the Continent, he continued to intrigue against Elizabeth, and died at Oporto in 1578 without having effected anything of importance. Captain Thomas continued to draw his sixteen crowns per month from the French Government, and received thanks from Queen Elizabeth, but she does not seem to have conferred those substantial rewards at which Walsingham hinted. She had conveniently discovered in the course of the intrigue that the Archbishop was not of much importance, and that he was no relation to the Earl of Devon.207

CHAPTER XXIX.

1571 and 1572

Fitzwilliam cannot govern without money, 1571

Sidney was looked upon as the proper Viceroy for stormy times, and to him money and troops were given grudgingly and of necessity, for he would not go to Ireland without them. Fitzwilliam was but a stop-gap, thrown into the place to serve a turn, as he bitterly expressed it. ‘For God’s sake,’ he cried, ‘let me be rid of Ireland or I perish.’ Arthur Lord Grey was chosen for the perilous post, but the appointment did not then take place, because the Queen differed from him as to a sum of 2,000l. It would all, said Fitzwilliam, have been spent in her service, and she would lose ten times the sum by denying it. Of money, indeed, there was a most grievous want. The magazines were empty. The captains were almost openly mutinous. The men were in rags and ready to desert, being forced in the meantime to sell their arms for sheer want. The victuallers were unpaid and had struck work. The Lord Chancellor’s salary was at least two years in arrears. Grey was taken seriously ill at the thought of being forced to go to Ireland on the Queen’s terms, and Sidney positively refused to return. Fitzwilliam had therefore to remain, and to make the best of it. He received the title of Lord Deputy, but neither more men nor more money than when he held the less exalted post of Lord Justice.208