Part 37 (1/2)
About the time of the new Lord Deputy's arrival, the Kavanaghs made a raid into the neighbourhood of Dublin. Sir George Stanley took command of the citizens, and drove 140 of the a.s.sailants into Powerscourt, where they had to surrender at discretion. Seventy-four were hanged. John Challoner, who was Mayor of Dublin at the time, provided the civic force with arms, which he had brought at his own expense from Spain. This martial magistrate was offered knighthood, but he excused himself. 'My Lord,' he said, 'it will be more to my credit and my posterity's to have it said that John Challoner served the Queen upon occasion, than to say that Sir John Challoner did it.'[404]
[Sidenote: Suss.e.x makes a journey into Ulster, 1556.]
Suss.e.x landed at Dublin towards the end of May, and received the sword from St. Leger's willing hands. The religious ceremonies were of a kind entirely satisfactory to the Queen. After a month's stay in the capital he set out for the North, and appeared in church both at Drogheda and Dundalk. The force mustered on this occasion was very considerable, for besides the regular soldiers and Ormonde's followers, the gentlemen of the Pale were called on to serve with from one to six hors.e.m.e.n each. The Plunkets contributed twenty-four horse, the Nugents eighteen horse and twenty-four foot. Dublin sent sixty hors.e.m.e.n and gunners, and Drogheda forty men well appointed. 'The Byrnes and the Tooles' wastes' in Wicklow were expected to send twelve horse each, and other Irish contingents joined on the march. The first Sunday was spent at a mill beyond Newry, where Dowdall said Ma.s.s, and where O'Hanlon, whose chiefry seems to have been disputed, was solemnly proclaimed. Mention is made of a great hill of stones, which was, perhaps, the traditional spot for the election of an O'Hanlon. Pa.s.sing along the right bank of the Newry river, which he crossed near Tanderagee, Suss.e.x reached the Laggan valley near Moira, and pa.s.sing Belfast, reached Carrickfergus on the ninth day after leaving Dublin. From this the army marched across the central districts of Antrim, and, at last, on the twenty-fourth day from Dublin, Suss.e.x reached Glenarm, and found that James MacDonnell had fled before him into Scotland. The fugitive sent to France for help, but his envoy's proceedings were counteracted by Paget's vigilance. A quant.i.ty of cattle were captured, besides b.u.t.ter and other produce hid in a cave. This seems to have been the only result of an expedition which lasted thirty-seven days. Suss.e.x dismissed his allies at their old rendezvous near Newry, and on the very next day, as if in ridicule of his efforts, a messenger arrived to say that the Scots had attacked the rear guard. Sidney afterwards said that he had slain James MacConnell, a mighty Scots captain, during this expedition. Some Scots of name were certainly killed, and one of them may have been called James; but the real James MacDonnell was back at Glenarm before the end of the year.[405]
[Sidenote: His failure.]
The moral which Suss.e.x drew from this inglorious expedition was that the North could only be held by a chain of forts along the coast from Dundalk to Lough Foyle. Some part at least of the expense would be paid by the salmon fisheries of the Foyle, the Bann, and the Bush; and by the herring, cod, ling, and hake fisheries, of which Carlingford was the chief seat. A good English bishop would also, he thought, be a means to civilise the country. It had not yet been discovered that making the Church a badge of conquest only served to make religion itself odious.
The dislike of the Irish to English ecclesiastics had been marked throughout the middle ages, and even if England had remained in communion with Rome, bishops who were Government officials first and chief pastors afterwards, could scarcely have ministered successfully to the wants of O'Neills and O'Donnells.[406]
[Sidenote: The King's and Queen's Counties.]
[Sidenote: The natives.]
The settlement of Leix was in outward form completed, and Suss.e.x received the Queen's thanks for it. The arrangements were not without a show of equity; but the old inhabitants could not reconcile themselves to the intrusion of a colony, and their pertinacious opposition forced the Government to treat them with far more rigour than had been at first intended. The western half of the new Queen's County was originally reserved for the O'Mores, each head of a sept becoming a landlord holding an estate in tail by knight-service. The chiefs were prohibited from keeping any idlemen except of their own sept, or more than one for every 100 acres. They were to attend the constable of the fort when required, to repair bridges, and at all times to keep the pa.s.ses open between their districts and those occupied by the English. They were to dress like Englishmen, except when riding, and to teach their children to speak English, to attend the Deputy annually, and to use only the Common Law.
All above twelve were required to take the oath of allegiance. Forfeiture was prescribed for a persistent refusal to keep the pa.s.ses open; for retaining superfluous idlemen; for keeping more than one set of harness; for interrupting communication with the English; for making a private way; for marrying and fostering with the Irish, and for absenteeism. The Deputy's licence removed the penalty in all these cases. For keeping unlicensed firearms the first offence was to be punished by forfeiture, and the second by death.
[Sidenote: The settlers.]
The eastern district was a.s.signed to the English, to hold on similar terms, and twelve places, among which Stradbally and Abbeyleix are the best known, were to be kept in a defensible state as satellites to the royal fort of Maryborough. The duties of the settlers were in general the same as those a.s.signed to the O'Mores; but whereas the latter were restrained in the matter of arms, the possession of them was made obligatory on the former. A good bow and sheaf of arrows, or one hand-gun at least, was to be kept in every house. Forfeiture was to be incurred in the same way as by the Irish, and in addition for falling away from the use of the English tongue, for holding more than 300 acres in demesne, or for entertaining Irishmen, except so far as they were necessary for husbandry. A few natives, whose services as captains of kerne had deserved special recognition, were to have grants in the English territory, and it was suggested that a large territory should be offered to the Earl of Kildare. A constable, resident at the fort, was to have the same powers locally as the Lord Deputy had generally. Stringent rules were made as to free quarters and purveyance. The constable or president on his annual circuit was to have his own expenses and those of four men and five horses borne for one night only by each town; and each sept of the O'Mores was to bear the like burden, and no more. Finally, a church was to be built in each of the twelve settlements within three years, and a parson, of English birth, was to have the t.i.the.[407]
[Sidenote: The natives cling to their land.]
Whatever the intentions of the Queen or her Deputy might be towards Leix and Offaly, there was sure to be plenty of opposition on the part of the natives, who were, however, as usual, divided among themselves. The old chief, Brian O'Connor, was still alive, and his son Donough carried on the old feud and killed his cousin, the son of Cahir Roe. Both Donough and Connell O'More, the chief of Leix, fell into the hands of Suss.e.x in the course of the year, but to the surprise of the Irish in general were released in deference to Kildare and Ormonde, who had become in some measure responsible for them. The O'Mores remained quiet for a time on the lands reserved to them. Donough and others of the O'Connors afterward came to Suss.e.x at Philipstown, as the fort of Offaly must henceforth be called, and made their submission, giving promises of good behaviour, which they immediately broke.[408]
[Sidenote: They are again attacked, 1557.]
After the meeting at Philipstown, Suss.e.x and his Council repaired to Leighlin, where the princ.i.p.al O'Connors neglected to appear as they had promised. A leader of the Kavanaghs, who had not taken warning by the recent fate of his clansmen, was executed, and Connel O'More, who had once more broken into rebellion, was hanged in chains at Leighlin about the same time. Offaly was next invaded and hostages taken, who were executed on a further outbreak taking place, with the exception of O'Connor himself, who was detained prisoner in Dublin.[409]
[Sidenote: Parliament of 1557. The monastic lands are not restored.]
The Parliament, from which Mary expected much for the Church of which she was so faithful a daughter, met at last and enacted all the laws made in England against the Protestants. The old statutes against Lollardry, which prescribed death by fire as the punishment for obstinate or relapsed heretics, were declared to be in full force. A communication from Pole was read by Curwin as Chancellor, kneeling down in open session, in which the Cardinal urged the a.s.sembly to restore Ireland to full communion with the Church. All Acts derogatory to the Pope which had been pa.s.sed since the twentieth year of Henry VIII. were accordingly repealed. The Queen was declared a legitimate, absolute sovereign, and all laws and sentences to the contrary were abrogated. On the other hand, grants of monastic land were confirmed. There could be no doubt of Mary's wish to restore the religious houses, but this does not appear to have been done except in the single case of Kilmainham. Oswald Ma.s.singberd, who during the Puritan ascendency had led a wandering life in the woods, was appointed Prior by Pole, and the nomination was confirmed by the Queen. Ma.s.singberd was sworn of the Council, and a.s.sumed the position of his predecessors; but he seems to have had no belief in the stability of the new system. He gave long leases and sold all that was saleable, and he took no thought for the morrow. There appears to have been no intention of specially favouring the obsolete order of St. John, for no attempt was made to restore it in England; but in Ireland it happened that the Crown had not parted with the house and lands. In the same way, since it could be done without offending vested interests, Mary re-established the Benedictines at Westminster, the Carthusians at Sheen, and the Observants at Greenwich. There are indications that she wished to examine t.i.tles closely, and to restore the monks where defects appeared; but she granted and confirmed grants of abbey lands as freely as her father and brother. Ninety years later, when the confederate Catholics had military possession of the greater part of Ireland, and the Nuncio Rinuccini was apparently all-powerful, the claim of the regulars to their old possessions was met by the n.o.bility and gentry with anger and scorn.[410]
[Sidenote: Suss.e.x makes an abortive expedition westward;]
When released from his Parliamentary duties, Suss.e.x marched westward against the O'Connors, who, under Donough, had possessed themselves of Meelick Castle, on the Shannon. The line of march lay through Offaly, by Killeigh, Ballyboy, and Cloghan, no opposition being offered by the O'Molloys or O'Maddens. The Shannon was reached on the third day.
Clanricarde must have been in a tolerably peaceful state, for Athlone pursuivant seems to have had no difficulty in going to Galway to seek ammunition and provisions. Cannon were brought by water from Athlone and planted in the grounds of the friary, on an island or peninsula on the Galway side of the stream. The castle was summoned, and a cautionary shot fired without effect. Next day the cannonade began, and at the sixteenth shot a large piece of the courtyard wall fell down. The O'Connors escaped by a postern gate, and were proclaimed traitors. Clanricarde, Th.o.m.ond, O'Carroll, and other chiefs, came to pay their respects to Suss.e.x, and may well have laughed at the small results achieved by the display of irresistible force. A garrison was placed in the castle, and, hostages having been taken from the neighbouring clans, the army returned through MacCoghlan's country, led by the chief himself. The Lord Deputy had the pleasure of seeing the night lit up by fires which the rebels kindled within a mile of his camp. The outlying buildings at Philipstown were all burnt, and arrows shot into the fort itself. Such was the practical outcome of a nine days' expedition, during which, as the annalists say, it is not easy to state or enumerate all that was destroyed.[411]
[Sidenote: and another into Ulster.]
An expedition into Ulster, undertaken three months later, had the same lame and impotent conclusion. The annalists say compendiously that Armagh was burned twice in one month by Thomas Suss.e.x. His hors.e.m.e.n encamped in the cathedral, and no enemy opposed the destroyer, who returned after a week to Dundalk only to hear that Shane O'Neill was burning and plundering within four miles of the town. Being pursued, Shane retreated to his woods, whither those who knew the country declined to follow him.
Suss.e.x then returned to Dublin; the Queen being richer by a few cows, and Sir James Garland poorer by the village which O'Neill had burned.[412]
[Sidenote: The central districts still disturbed.]
Not much impressed by the late invasion, the O'Connors who had escaped from Meelick stationed themselves at Leap Castle, about which there had been so much fighting in bygone days. Suss.e.x took the castle without trouble, but Donough again escaped by the speed of his horse, and the stronghold was seized by O'Carroll as soon as the army had left. Sidney afterwards made two separate inroads into the same district. O'Molloy was proclaimed a traitor, and everything destroyed. It is not easy to see how there could be anything combustible left in the devoted country. The O'Carrolls were also engaged about this time in opposition to the Government, and in support of the O'Mores and O'Connors, and the annalists are again at a loss to enumerate the preys and slaughter which were made from the Shannon to the Nore.[413]
[Sidenote: War between the O'Neills and O'Donnells.]