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Ormonde proposes to reform his country.

The O’Connors having been quieted for the moment, Ormonde, who had private as well as public reasons for his advice, proposed a temporising policy towards O’Neill and O’Reilly on the north, and towards O’Byrne and O’Toole on the south, side of the Pale. The Government might then easily subdue the Kavanaghs, who were surrounded by settled districts. Their chief, Cahir MacEncross, who has been called the last King of Leinster, had till lately been Constable, and his acceptance of the office seems to have been thought a condescension. Ormonde’s son Richard had now succeeded him, and with the aid of Saintloo and his Wexford men might hope to reduce the whole country. To strengthen Kilkenny against a possible counter attack from the O’Mores, Ormonde secured the services of Edmond MacSwiney, a powerful hereditary chief of gallowglasses, whom O’Connor had brought from Donegal. The Earl thought it cheaper to outbid O’Connor than to have MacSwiney’s band thrown into the scale of rebellion. Desmond and the rest excused their slowness to reform by saying that they waited for him to begin; and he was anxious to wipe out this reproach, regretting only that he had not the same powers in Kilkenny as in Tipperary. Though not disinterested, Ormonde’s was probably the best available plan, and his reforming zeal was certainly serious. ‘I have proclaimed,’ he said, ‘over all the county of Tipperary, that no caines, allyiegs, errikes, Irish Brehons, neither that law, rahowns, and many like exactions and extortions shall cease, with reformation for the grey merchants, and the Liberty court to be duly continued, as the King’s laws require.’ In Kilkenny he could only exhort; ‘howbeit,’ he added, ‘I have often persuaded many of them to be converted, which to do I can scarcely have their assents, for the lust they have to caines and other abuses, turning to their profit, as it doth to mine.’201

Grey goes to Ulster, 1538.

Taking advantage of O’Connor’s quiescent state, Grey cut passes on the borders of Offaly wide enough for several carts abreast. He then turned his eyes to the North, where the MacMahons of Ferney had for three years neglected to pay their tribute of 10l. The borderers of English race were opposed to Grey’s raid, and gave the MacMahons warning, but he managed to capture 500 cows, and as many pigs and goats. The expedition was as useless as it was inglorious, for Louth was invaded within a week, and O’Neill, who complained that his black-rent was unpaid, plundered the borders of the Pale and threatened to burn Drogheda. The men of that town and of Dundalk and Ardee rallied at the Lord Deputy’s summons, and O’Neill then became quieter in his behaviour. But nothing could keep Grey quiet. He lent soldiers to one Chamberlayne of Athboy, to revenge a private quarrel against O’Reilly. That chief had hitherto been at peace with the Pale; but he lost his brother in this aimless brawl, and a general alliance of the Northern chiefs was with difficulty averted. The MacMahons had done far more harm to Louth than Grey had done to them, and he could gain little reputation by enterprises which had no apparent object but plunder.202

The O’Tooles.

While the Lord Deputy was driving cattle in Ulster, the other side of the Pale was in a blaze. John Kelway, Constable of Rathmore, saw some servants of Tirlogh O’Toole eating meat, assumed that it was stolen, and incontinently hanged them. This seems to have been thought unusual even among borderers, and Kelway’s conduct found no defenders. But the O’Tooles were willing to consider the question of compensation in Irish fashion, and a meeting took place for the purpose. Kelway brought a considerable force, and, on the parley being dissolved without an agreement, he followed the Irish into their mountains. The mountaineers turned to bay on advantageous ground, and drove the English into a small tower. Its thatched roof burned readily, and the whole party had to surrender. The O’Tooles killed Kelway, who deserved nothing better, but held the gentlemen of the Pale to ransom. Chief Justice Aylmer’s son was present but escaped, while his brother, Richard Aylmer of Lyons, was taken prisoner. About sixty of the marchers, all householders, fell in this wretched business, and so great a panic followed that an Irishman in Judge Luttrell’s service was afraid to travel from Glendalough to Dublin. It is ever thus between races of different degrees of civilisation; if the backward people are beaten it is thought quite natural, but the slightest check is of importance when experienced by members of the higher organisation.203

Grey falls out with the Butlers.

The Lord Deputy and the Butlers had never been very good friends, and the dissension now reached such a height as to disturb the whole country. ‘I was never,’ exclaimed Brabazon, ‘in despair in Ireland until now,’ and others were not more hopeful. ‘My Lord Deputy,’ said Lord Butler, ‘is the Earl of Kildare born again?’ and Luttrell, a keen observer, thought Ormonde hated Grey worse than he had hated Kildare. The Butlers complained that the Lord Deputy systematically slighted their party and favoured the Geraldines; he retorted that they intrigued with Irishmen against his government. One or two of the matters in dispute call for more particular notice.204

Ormonde and the O’Carrolls.

After many struggles Fergananim O’Carroll was the acknowledged chief of Ely. His wife was daughter to Kildare and sister-in-law to O’Connor, and he was ready to submit to Grey as the best means of opposing Ormonde. He promised to hold his land of the King at a rent of twelvepence for every ploughland, to attend the Lord Deputy with a fixed contingent, and to give free quarters for a limited number of the gallowglasses in the royal service. He also undertook to open up his country by cutting passes. O’Carroll at first stipulated that Grey should help him to recover all his father’s strongholds; but all those castles were already vested legally in the Crown, and some of them had been granted to Ormonde. The Council therefore objected, and Fergananim seems to have waived his claim without demanding any corresponding concession. The prudence of the Council had prevented the Lord Deputy from concluding an offensive alliance; but he acted as if he had done so, and proceeded to take Birr and Modreeny, both of which Ormonde claimed under a royal grant, and to attack Ballynaclogh. The latter place was held by an O’Kennedy who paid rent to the Earl, and it is within the bounds of Tipperary. O’Carroll boasted that Nenagh and Roscrea would soon be his, and these castles, though long in Irish hands, were part of the old Ormonde inheritance, and had been lately confirmed to the Earl by a new grant.205

Grey and the O’Mores.

Connell O’More, chief of Leix, died in 1537, and the inevitable dispute followed between the tanist, his brother Peter, and his sons, Lysaght, Kedagh, and Rory. Grey espoused the cause of the sons, rather, as it seems, because Ormonde sided with Peter than from any preference for hereditary succession. Peter was, however, acknowledged as chief, and met Parry, Grey’s confidential man, at Athy. Rory, who was present, assaulted his uncle, and the latter was then seized by Parry and carried to Dublin. Nothing was proved against him, and he was restored on agreeing to pay an annual tribute of twenty marks, and to receive a certain number of soldiers at free quarters. The young O’Mores resisted the levying of the tribute, and Lysaght, the eldest, was killed in a fray. They had all taken part in the murder of Ormonde’s son Thomas five years before, and Kedagh and Rory now plundered one of his villages. Their party consisted of only eight men, but the neighbours pleaded that they dared not resist, because the assailants were aided and abetted by one of the Lord Deputy’s servants. The O’Mores pleaded that the Earl had first attacked them, and he rejoined that he had done so in self-defence. There was never a want of excuses for violence on any side. Grey forbade the Earl to retaliate, and it was even said that he shared the plunder. The young O’Mores then attacked Tullow, but the Lord Deputy still held Ormonde’s hand, and even sent guns to help his enemies. Hoping to make peace, the Council summoned both uncle and nephews to Dublin. The chief came on Ormonde’s advice and practically under his protection, and Kedagh also attended. O’More was at once sent handcuffed to Maynooth, though the whole Council protested, and Kedagh was suffered to depart unhurt. The blow to the Earl’s credit was serious, and was not deadened by Grey, who led his prisoner in chains about his own part of the country, much as the Thane of Fife threatened to lead Macbeth. Grey’s servants took the cue, and openly in the streets called the Butlers traitors. Lord Butler vowed that unless absolutely forced by his duty he would never wear armour under Grey until he had seen the King, and he cited the example of Count de Rœux, who had made a like vow when the Imperial lieutenant Van Buren had forced him to make peace with France. Even the old Earl meditated a journey to London, though he was so infirm that he could only be carried in a litter. The Irish Council condemned Grey’s treatment of O’More; and moreover, said they, ‘it is no good policy for the King our master, having no more obedient subjects in this land like unto the said Earl and his son, of reputation in honour, force, and strength, both to preserve and defend the parts where they dwell, and to succour other his subjects in all events, to suppress them which, with all their ancestors, have ever continued their truths to the Crown of England, either upon the accusation of those which for the most part have always done the contrary, or yet in hope to have them now from henceforth true, which hitherto were never true’—remarks which have their practical value in modern Irish politics, as they had in the days of Henry VIII.206

Sudden departure of Grey.

Though not too wise in council, Grey was prompt in action, and was never so happy as on horseback surrounded by armed men and free from interference. Perhaps he wished to show how much he could do without Ormonde’s help. He left Dublin suddenly, without warning the Council, and attended only by a small force, his companions being under the impression that he was bound only for an eight days’ journey into O’Carroll’s country. Among them was Lord Gormanston, a son of Lord Delvin, John D’Arcy, William Bermingham, O’Connor, Rory and Kedagh O’More, and several other Irishmen of note, with a due proportion of kerne and gallowglasses. Of English soldiers Grey had no more than one hundred, and of these the greater part were without armour. A hosting had been proclaimed against the O’Tooles, who still kept some of the prisoners taken in Kelway’s raid, and Grey promised to be back in time to lead the expedition. He failed to do so, and a truce was with much difficulty concluded with the mountaineers.207

His rash march into Western Munster,

Grey made his first halt at Monasteroris, where O’Connor entertained him in the Franciscan friary. Next day he took Eglish Castle near Birr from the O’Molloys, and was joined by Kedagh O’More, O’Molloy, MacGeohegan, and MacGillapatrick, each of whom brought a few men with him. On the third day he entered Ely, and received the adhesion of Fergananim O’Carroll, who bound himself by indenture on the usual terms, and gave his son into the Lord Deputy’s hands. Grey spent three days in reducing the lands of Birr and Modreeny, the latter of which had to be taken by assault. Ormonde had provided the garrison with arms; but, as he alleged, these were intended only for use against Irish enemies. Grey then entered Tipperary, and on three successive days received the submissions of Dermot O’Kennedy, chief of Ormonde, of MacBrien Arra, and of Dermot O’Mulryan, chief of Owny. Ulick de Burgh, captain of Clanricarde, and Theobald, head of the Clanwilliam Burkes, also submitted; and James Fitzjohn of Desmond, to whom Grey gives the title of Earl, though he was not acknowledged by the Crown, brought a large contingent to the Deputy’s help, but refused to enter the gates of Limerick. He had not only procured a safe-conduct, but had solemnly bound O’Connor and others in Grey’s train to take his part if any attempt were made against him. The Lord Deputy spent a week in Limerick, where the Mayor and Corporation and the Bishop took the oath of supremacy. Connor O’Brien, the chief of Thomond, met Grey on the Shannon, ten miles from Limerick, and agreed, after a long wrangle, to put his son Tirlogh into the Deputy’s hands. He also promised to do all in his power to promote the capture of the castles held by his brother Murrough, the tanist of Thomond. O’Brien’s Bridge was once more demolished, Connor led the army through the tanist’s district, and everything was destroyed as far as Clare Castle. Here Grey and Desmond had a quarrel about the custody of O’Mulryan’s hostages, and there was very near being a pitched battle; but Sir Thomas Butler of Cahir, Ormonde’s son-in-law, managed to patch up a truce. Grey was, in fact, quite at O’Brien’s mercy, but the family politics saved him. The chief had lately married a second wife, Lady Alice Fitzgerald of Desmond, and Tirlogh, the child of the marriage, was pledged to Grey; but Murrough the tanist and Donough, the chief’s eldest son, were both afraid that the issue of the second marriage would be preferred before them. O’Connor, in whom Grey now placed implicit confidence, ‘and all sage men of his band, both English and Irish,’ begged him not to venture among the O’Briens, and Edmund Sexton, a noted royalist of Limerick, even conjured him on his allegiance not to cast away the citizens’ company, on whom all depended. Grey refused to take advice, and escaped all dangers, chiefly through Donough O’Brien’s influence. Donough’s loyalty might not have been enough by itself, but he dreaded the aggrandisement of Murrough more than possible dangers from a half-brother who was still in his infancy. Guided by a single gallowglass, who bore a silver axe adorned with silken tassels, the army marched safely into Clanricarde. Ulick de Burgh blamed Grey for his rashness, but he pointed to the guide and said, ‘Lo! seest thou not yonder standing before me O’Brien’s axe for my protection?’ A modern traveller among Arabs must often be content with some such outward sign of invisible allies, but his trust in O’Brien’s axe was made an article in Grey’s impeachment.208

And into Connaught, 1538.

Ulick was fully acknowledged as chief of Clanricarde, to the prejudice of his uncle Richard. He was believed to be illegitimate, and the De Burghs, however much Hibernicised, had hitherto preserved the English law of succession. The precedent was therefore thought bad by many experienced men, but the relationships of this family are so inextricably confused that it is very hard to say who was legitimate and who was not. The citizens of Galway remembered their origin, and would take no money from the Lord Deputy, and Ulick, who was knighted, took hospitable care of his Irish allies. As at Limerick, the Mayor and Corporation took the oath of supremacy, and so did the Archbishop of Tuam. Grey made several forays into Clanricarde, with the apparent object of strengthening Ulick; and O’Flaherty, two O’Maddens, and Bermingham of Athenry, made their submissions. The Lord Deputy then went towards the Suck in O’Kelly’s country, and met O’Connor Roe, who rode with him to Aughrim. Fording the Shannon at Banagher, the army passed through the countries of O’Melaghlin and MacCoghlan, from whom securities were exacted, and returned unmolested to Maynooth, after an absence of thirty-eight days.209

Effects of this journey.

As a military exploit Grey’s journey was by no means contemptible, but his critics seem to have been right in thinking it useless. The settled policy had long been to reduce the tribes bordering on the Pale, and not to overrun districts which there was no hope of holding. Many chiefs had come to the Lord Deputy with loyal professions, but they had required safe-conducts, had refused to enter walled towns, and had given children for hostages. They had thus saved their harvest, and the Government could scarcely take vengeance on infants. Grey’s supposed partiality for the Geraldines was probably the chief reason that he got back safely. He had no sooner turned his back than James Fitzjohn of Desmond seized Croom and Adare and threatened Ormonde’s country. No difficulty had been lessened by an exploit which was obviously open to the reproach of extreme rashness.210

Grey’s dispute with the Butlers.

Having got back their chief governor, the first care of the Council was to reconcile him with the Butlers. The old Earl’s appearance plainly foretold his approaching end, but he came to Dublin and left his son to front the Desmonds and O’Carrolls. Grey wrote to the latter to keep the peace, and Lord Butler at once came to Dublin; but both father and son refused to go to Maynooth, where they would be in the Lord Deputy’s power. Kilmainham was at last fixed on as the place of meeting, and Grey took the chair of state, but shook hands with none of the Council, and smiled on no one. The two Butlers offered to abide by the Council’s decision, but Grey had already produced a paper reflecting on them for receiving O’Connor after his defeat in the summer of 1537. A Latin confession said to have been made by O’Connor in the presence of Paulet and Berners was relied on, but the chief was secretly cross-examined by the Council, and so modified his statement as to exonerate the Butlers completely. It was said, for instance, that O’Connor had hired Edmond MacSwiney and his free axes immediately after a conference with Ormonde. O’Connor admitted the hiring, but explained that the gallowglasses were not bound to levy war against the King, and that Ormonde knew nothing at all about the matter. Again, he was charged with retaining Scotch mercenaries, who were allowed a fortnight’s free quarters in Ormonde’s country. He admitted having brought in the Scots; but the Earl had known nothing of it, and the free quarters had not been given. Ormonde allowed that he had harboured O’Connor, but pleaded the instructions of Grey, who waited for orders from the King, and who was afraid of driving the chief into fresh combinations with Irish enemies. The probability is that O’Connor had at first been ready to confess anything, because absolution was sure to follow, and he is not likely to have been overflowing with Latin, which was his only means of communicating with the English officials.211

They accuse each other.

Both Grey and Ormonde gave in long written statements. The Council desired to consider them in the Deputy’s absence, and to this he with some hesitation consented. They found that Grey’s charges contained nothing new, but only general accusations of slackness; while Ormonde plainly accused Grey of treasonable practices, of shaping his policy to suit young Gerald of Kildare, and of systematically depressing all who opposed the Geraldine faction. The indictment is summed up in the comprehensive statement that ‘My Lord Deputy cannot find in his heart to love or favour any man that is preferred, favoured, or put in trust by his Majesty within this his land, and would have none of them, though they be all ready at his commandment, to be toward, or about him, be they never so trusty nor so well meaning; but wholly adhereth to those that were the counsellors, servants, and followers of the disloyal Geraldines, and no men so nigh about him as they, which either of his own prepensed mind, or being seducted by them, is like to bring this land to perdition again.’ On being pressed for proof, Ormonde said that the facts were too notorious to require any.212

The Council patch up a reconciliation.

The Council prudently resolved not to let either litigant see the other’s charges, and Mr. Justice St. Lawrence having been called in, the originals were burned in his presence. Copies already taken were transmitted to London. Ormonde and his son then swore to serve the Lord Deputy loyally. Grey swore not to use them spitefully nor ask them to perform impossibilities, to deliver Modreeny to the Earl unless O’Carroll could show a better title, and to cause the young O’Mores to restore the plunder of Ormonde’s villages, or at least to refer all to the Council. The Council did not believe the agreement would be lasting. ‘Neither,’ they added, ‘can we perceive (whereof we be sorry) that my Lord Deputy is meet to make long abode here, for he is so haughty and chafing that men be afeard to speak to him, doubting his bravish lightness. Nevertheless, it is much pity of him, for he is an active gentleman.’213

The Kavanaghs. The O’Reillys.

It was not long before the Butlers had an opportunity of co-operating with Grey. The Kavanaghs threatened the Wexford colony, negotiations failed, and it became necessary to chastise them. Grey entered Carlow in person, and was joined by Saintloo, who, whatever his shortcomings as a governor, was not a bad soldier, and who brought 800 men. After fourteen days’ burning and plundering, MacMurrough and his clansmen sued for peace, and agreed to hold their lands of the King. Grey then moved northwards, and provisions for eight days were prepared for a raid against O’Reilly, to be used otherwise by the Deputy in case O’Reilly should make timely submission. O’Reilly did submit, and Grey went to Dundalk with a view of meeting O’Neill, who was now young Gerald Fitzgerald’s protector. O’Neill broke his appointment, and he did wisely, for Grey says he was determined to take Gerald if possible, ‘and if not, by the oath that I have made to my sovereign lord and master, I would have taken the said O’Neill and a kept him till he had caused the said Gerald to be delivered to my hands.’214

The Savages in Down.

Foiled in this attempt, which can hardly be described as otherwise than treacherous, Grey determined to chastise the Savages, who had refused to pay rent to Brabazon, the King’s tenant in Lecale. This old English family had become quite Hibernicised, and were now bringing Scotch mercenaries into the country. Various castles were taken and delivered to Brabazon, who also took charge of Dundrum, an important stronghold belonging to Magennis, which commanded the entry to Lecale on the land side. The Scots fled, leaving corn, butter, and other rural plunder behind. Grey was much struck by the fertility of the district, which is still famous. ‘I never,’ he said, ‘saw a pleasanter plot than Lecale for commodity of the land, and divers islands in the same environed in the sea, which were soon reclaimed and inhabited, the King’s pleasure known.’215

Labours of St. Leger’s Commission.

Sir Anthony St. Leger and his brother Commissioners arrived in Ireland early in September 1537, and lost no time in endeavouring to carry out the King’s plan. By November they had surveyed most of the King’s lands in Carlow, Kilkenny, Tipperary, Waterford, Dublin, and Kildare. The general result of their observations was that they had seen ‘divers goodly manors and castles, the more part of them ruinous, and in great decay, the towns and lands about them depopulate, wasted, and not manured; whereby hath ensued great dearth and scarcity of all manner victuals.’ But few applications were made for leases, because there was no security, and they saw the necessity of placing a few castles in a defensible state. Within reach of the walls there was no difficulty in getting tenants. By Christmas the survey was finished, and an increased desire to take leases was quickly manifested; but some lands were still unlet. Two thousand marks in money and securities had been collected for the King, ‘and much more,’ the Commissioners reported, ‘would have been levied, in case that men had not of late been sore charged with service doing to his Highness here, whereby we be constrained to look on them with more favourable eye.’216

The public accounts.

Brabazon reported that the Commissioners had done their work well. The passing of his own three years’ account was a yet more difficult matter. They found it tedious and intricate, both from its nature and from the fact that there were no records of the King’s ancient inheritance, or of escheats. Brabazon’s own arrangements were good, but all before his time was chaos. ‘Every keeper,’ said the Master of the Rolls, ‘for his time, as he favoured, so did either embezzle, or suffer to be embezzled, such muniments as should make against them and their friends, so that we have little to show for any of the King’s lands or profits in these parts: it is therefore necessary that from henceforth all the rolls and muniments to be had be put in good order in Bermingham’s Tower, and the door thereof to have two locks, and the keys thereof one to be with the Constable, and the other with the Under-Treasurer, which likewise it is necessary to be an Englishman born; and that no man be suffered to have loan of any of the said muniments, nor to search, view, or read any of them there, but in the presence of one of the keepers aforesaid.’ The accounts were nevertheless put in order by March; and having received very gracious thanks from the King, St. Leger and his colleagues returned to England, ‘not,’ as they were careful to note, ‘for that we be weary to serve his Grace, but for because we be very loth to spend any more of his treasure, than we see time to serve him.’ Aylmer and Alen, by the King’s especial orders, accompanied the High Commissioners to England.217

Cromwell and the Irish service.

The official politicians of Ireland generally took care to be on good terms with the virtual ruler of England, and to watch for every sign of change in the distribution of royal favours. Cromwell was therefore well bespattered with flattery; but there were murmurs, some at least of which reached his ears. St. Leger the discreet may or may not have glanced obliquely at the Lord Privy Seal when he said of himself that ‘he had too long abstained from bribery to begin now.’ But his colleague George Paulet was more outspoken, and declared openly that ‘the Lord Privy Seal drew every day towards his death, and that he escaped very hardly at the last insurrection, and that he was the greatest briber in England, and that he was espied well enough.’ Cromwell had given orders that the Commissioners should not interfere with castles in Lord Butler’s possession, and to this Paulet objected, hinting that Butler’s head as well as Cromwell’s might easily be disposed of. His reading of Henry’s character was exactly the same as Wolsey’s. ‘I will,’ he said, ‘so work matters that the King shall be informed of every penny that he hath spent here; and when that great expense is once in his head, it shall never be forgotten; there is one good point. And then I will inform him how he hath given away to one man 700 marks by year, and then will the King swear “By God’s Body, have I spent so much money and have given away my land.” I will find the means to put the matter in the King’s head, after that wise as shall be to his displeasure; and yet shall he not know which way it came.’ Paulet gave Alen a most amusing description of the fashion in which Henry treated the minister to whom he gave such power. ‘The King beknaveth him twice a week and sometimes knocks him well about the pate; and yet when he hath been well pommelled about the head, and shaken up as it were a dog, he will come out into the great chamber shaking of his bush with as merry a countenance as though he might rule all the roast.’ The appointment of the High Commissioners was a ‘flym flawe to stop the imagination of the King and Council’ as to Cromwell’s object in promoting great grants to Lord Butler. The suggestion of course is that Cromwell was bribed by Butler, and the fact that Paulet was not punished shows that there were limitations to the minister’s power. Paulet said as much, or nearly as much, to Grey as to Alen and Aylmer, and Grey repeated it to the King with some softening of the words. Paulet was evidently hostile to the Butlers; so was Grey, and the fact that they had been on friendly terms was thought evidence of their conspiring in the Geraldine interest.218

Charges against Grey. Circuit of the Council in the South, 1539.

Aylmer and Alen were less than two months in London, but they left behind them a mass of accusations against Grey which in time brought forth fruit. Alen soon afterwards received the Great Seal, and during the last days of 1538 proceeded on a tour in the South with the general view of establishing the King’s supremacy, of improving the revenue, and of providing for the administration of justice. Archbishop Browne, Brabazon, and Aylmer accompanied the new Chancellor. At Carlow the party enjoyed Lord Butler’s Christmas hospitalities, and the old Earl treated them well at Kilkenny, where they spent New Year’s day, and where Browne preached to a large congregation. English translations of the Pater Noster, Ave Maria, Articles, and Ten Commandments were published, and copies given to the Bishop and other dignitaries, who were ordered to promulgate them wherever they had jurisdiction. Next morning several felons were hanged, and certain concealed lands sequestrated to the King’s use; neither of which proceedings were calculated to increase his Majesty’s popularity. The councillors then went to Ross, which they found much decayed through the rivalry of Waterford and the disorders of the Kavanaghs. Here the Archbishop preached again. At Wexford there was another sermon, and the Kilkenny ceremonies were repeated, including the execution of divers malefactors. The Councillors were dissatisfied with Saintloo’s conduct as seneschal, and accused him of converting fines and forfeited recognizances to his own use. Badly armed and badly horsed, the soldiers appeared to do the people less good by their protection than they did harm by their extortion. The evils inherent to all palatinate jurisdictions were greatly aggravated by the seneschal’s lax administration. It was doubtful whether he had the right to appoint a deputy at all. He had nevertheless made such an appointment by parole and without any formal record, and his irregular substitute had arrogated all the powers of a Judge of Assize.219

The royal supremacy. The Munster Bishops.

From Wexford Alen and his companions went to Waterford, where Browne preached to a great audience, and where the new formularies were again published. The usual hangings followed. Four felons suffered, ‘accompanied with another thief, a friar, whom, among the residue, we commanded to be hanged in his habit, and so to remain upon the gallows, for a mirror to all other his brethren to live truly.’ The assizes or sessions were attended only by the inhabitants of Lord Power’s portion of the county of Waterford. The other and larger division of the shire belonged to Gerald MacShane of Decies, who pretended to hold of the Desmonds, and altogether ignored his tenure of the royal honour of Dungarvan. The Lord of Decies, James Fitzjohn of Desmond, the White Knight, and Sir Thomas Butler of Cahir were summoned with several others. Butler came to Clonmel and made a favourable impression, but the Geraldines sent only ‘frivolous, false, feigned excuses, not consonant to their allegiance.’ Browne preached again at Clonmel in the presence of two archbishops and eight bishops, all of whom afterwards, before the whole congregation, took the oath of supremacy, and swore to maintain the succession as established by law.220

Taxation of southern counties.

After much pressing, the inhabitants of Wexford, Waterford, Kilkenny, and Tipperary consented to pay a yearly subsidy to the King; 100 marks for Wexford, and 50l. for each of the other three. This source of revenue was quite new, and the Council were very proud of inventing it; but they confessed to doubts as to its substantial value, especially in Waterford, where Sir Gerald MacShane had power to pay or to withhold. From Clonmel the councillors returned to Dublin by Kilkenny, where they hanged one man more and levied some further fines. They had been absent from the capital five weeks.221

Grey in Ulster. The Scots, 1539.

About the time that the Chancellor and his companions were turning homewards, Grey undertook another expedition against O’Neill. Again the ostensible object was to catch young Gerald of Kildare, and in this the Lord Deputy failed. But he very nearly caught O’Neill himself, actually carried off his ‘housewife,’ and ravaged much of his country. O’Donnell was present, or at least some of his people, for the horse which his standard-bearer rode was taken. James Fitzjohn of Desmond was in alliance with the two great northern chiefs to protect the ‘naughty boy,’ as Alen called Gerald, and if possible to force the King to restore him. The bastard Geraldines of the Pale were ready to help their natural leader, who grew more dangerous as he grew older. The Antrim Scots were always available for service against the English Government, and Brabazon wished to cripple them by a naval expedition. O’Neill and O’Donnell now sent Roderick O’Donnell, Bishop of Derry, to Scotland for 6,000 Redshanks. In the meantime they professed themselves ready to treat with Grey, and promised to bring young Gerald to meet him on the last day of April at Carrick Bradagh, near Dundalk. They never came, and Grey penetrated to Armagh in spite of bad weather and foul ways. O’Neill still refused to show himself or to give any hostage, but he professed peaceable intentions. The weather made it impossible to advance further, and Aylmer was sent to Blackwater, where he succeeded in making a truce. Again, Grey says that he had intended to seize his nephew by fair means or foul. ‘If they had kept pointment with me having young Gerald with them, howsoever the thing had chanced by the oath that I have made unto your Grace, they should have left the young Gerald behind them quick or dead. If it were the pleasure of God I would that I might once have a sight of him whom as yet I never saw with my eyes.’222

The O’Tooles.

The O’Tooles had never been punished for their victory over Kelway, and Grey, who had for the moment no worse enemy than a gouty foot, resolved to chastise them. They proposed to parley near Ballymore Eustace, but did not come. Though in great pain, Grey rode to Powerscourt in a day, entered the mountains and penetrated to Glenmalure, cutting the woods on both sides as he went. ‘Before my coming thither,’ he said, ‘I think there never was Deputy with carts there.’ He had some skirmishing with the natives, but took no man of importance, and returned to Maynooth without having improved his gout.223

Intrigues concerning Gerald of Kildare.

A confederacy had at this time been formed in favour of young Gerald. His own claims might not have been enough, in spite of Lady Eleanor O’Donnell’s efforts, but Henry’s ecclesiastical policy was beginning to bear its natural fruit. Priests passed from chief to chief, and communications with Rome were frequent. The Irish said all Englishmen were heretics, and the King the ‘most heretic and worst man in the world,’ in which perhaps they were not far wrong. They considered Henry a disobedient Papal vassal, and a mere usurper in Ireland. ‘When Dr. Nangle, my suffragan,’ says Archbishop Browne, ‘showed the King’s broad seal for justifying of his authority, MacWilliam little esteemed it, but threw it away and vilipended the same.’ The plan was that O’Toole, to whom Gerald promised to restore Powerscourt, should harass the Pale from the south, while James Fitzjohn of Desmond, with some Scotch mercenaries, attacked it from the west and O’Neill from the north. If Tara could be reached O’Neill might be proclaimed King of Ireland, and Gerald restored to his own in Kildare. Besides her own friends, Lady Eleanor commanded the services of a Bristol captain named Kate, or Cappys, who spoke Irish fluently and owned his own ship. John Lynch, a Galway merchant, met him at Assaroe, on the Donegal coast, and warned some of the confederates that Grey would be too strong for them, and that he was active enough to surprise them when they thought he was amusing himself. But Delahide, Leverous, and others, answered that they had perfect intelligence, that Grey could not ride twenty miles in the Pale without their knowledge, that his army consisted chiefly of churls and ploughmen, of which 300 might easily be vanquished by 100, and that he had no good officers under him. These are the arguments with which the foes of order in Ireland have always deluded their adherents, and sometimes themselves.224

Catholic movement.

Wherever Lynch went he found the priests preaching daily ‘that every man ought for the salvation of his soul fight and make war against our sovereign lord the King’s Majesty and his true subjects; and if any of them which so shall fight against his said Majesty or his subjects, die in the quarrel, his soul that so shall be dead shall go to heaven as the soul of St. Peter, Paul, and others, which suffered death and martyrdom for God’s sake.’ ‘And forasmuch,’ Lynch adds, ‘as I did traverse somewhat of such words, I was cast out of church and from their masses during a certain time of days for an heretic; and I was greatly afraid.’ The result of all this preaching was an invasion of the Pale in the month of August. Lord Butler’s policy had kept the O’Briens quiet, and nothing was done on that side. But O’Donnell and O’Neill entered Meath with the greatest army, as some thought, that had ever been seen in Ireland. There was a large contingent of Scots, both from the mainland and the islands, and most of the Northern chiefs added their quotas to the host. O’Neill of Clandeboye, O’Rourke, Maguire, MacQuillin, O’Cahan, Magennis, and MacDermot are among those mentioned. Tara was reached, but no restoration of the ancient kingdom followed. Much damage was done to the modern kingdom, including the burning of Ardee and of Navan, which was the best market town in the county. The invaders set fire to the standing corn, carried off every portable article of value, and, sweeping all the cattle before them, turned in high spirits northwards. They had met with no enemy, and had probably attained their object of providing funds for a general rising, which was fixed for September 1, and which James of Desmond was expected to join.225

Grey routs the O’Neills at Bellahoe, 1539.

Grey summoned the men of Dublin and Drogheda, those citizen soldiers whom the Irish dreaded so much, and hurried after O’Neill. Out of a nominal 350 he could muster no more than 140 of his own men, but he had some help from the gentlemen of the Pale. The marchers, like Rob Roy at Sheriffmuir, waited to see which was the winning side. ‘I must help the King,’ said Fitzgerald of Osbertstown, to Gerald’s messenger, ‘but if ye be the strongest we must go with you.’ Without waiting for such Laodiceans, the Lord Deputy dashed forward, and, as Lynch had foreseen, caught the Ulstermen quite unprepared. They were encamped at Bellahoe, the ford which divides Meath from Monaghan, on the Farney side of the water, and he routed them before they had time to form. The Irish leaders who knew the country escaped, with the exception of Magennis, whose post was near the ford. He fell into the hands of the Louth men, who were bribed by some of his own clan to kill him, and did so. The only person of note killed on the English side was a gentleman named Mape, who charged up the river bank by Lord Slane’s side, and who was carried by his runaway horse into the midst of the Irish. According to Stanihurst, whose account of this affair is at least highly coloured, the mayors of Dublin and Drogheda and Thomas Talbot of Malahide were dubbed knights on the field by the Lord Deputy. He also says that Black James Fleming, Baron of Slane, led the attack, and called on his hereditary standard-bearer to do his duty in the front. But the standard-bearer, whose name was Robert Halpin or Halfpenny, thought the service desperate, and refused to advance his banner, preferring ‘to sleep in an whole sheepskin his pelt, than to walk in a torn lion his skin.’ Calling him a dastardly coward, the Baron ordered Robert Betagh to supply his place, which he cheerfully did: Mape, though he had refused to lead, was fain to follow, and fell fighting in the first rank.226

Grey is accused of favouring the Geraldines.

After this great success, which shattered the Irish or Catholic confederacy for a time, Grey remained in the North. A fleet had been collected at Carlingford to chastise the Scots, and the crews had taken part in the fight or pursuit at Bellahoe; but not much could be done against the islanders. The old Earl of Ormonde had just died, and his son was too busy to visit Ulster. He had incurred vast expense in subsidising the O’Briens and the Clanricarde Burkes, who were ready to serve the King with 800 gallowglasses, 800 kerne, and some horse. James Fitzjohn of Desmond was growing daily stronger, while his rival was basking in Court sunshine; and Ormonde attributed this state of affairs to the Lord Deputy, who favoured all Geraldines and depressed all who owed their promotion to Cromwell. James Fitzjohn had seen the Earl’s brother, the Archbishop of Cashel, and had promised to meet Ormonde also, but he failed in his appointment, and threatened at every moment to attack Tipperary.227

The Desmond heritage. Grey goes to Munster, 1539.

The English Government had in the meantime declared that James FitzMaurice was right heir to the earldom of Desmond. He had been a royal page, and was provided with a force sufficient to guard against any sudden attack. He landed at Cork or Youghal in August, but three months elapsed before any serious effort was made to put him in possession of his own. Leaving Dublin early in November, Grey joined Ormonde near Roscrea, about which there had been fierce dissensions. The castle was now in the hands of the O’Meaghers, but they gave it up peaceably to the Lord Deputy, and he handed it over to Ormonde. Modreeny, which the Earl now acknowledged as O’Carroll’s, was also surrendered. Taking hostages from O’Carroll, MacBrien Arra, O’Kennedy, O’Mulryan, and O’Dwyer to be faithful and pay the King tribute, Grey and Ormonde cut passes through the woods near the Shannon, the inhabitants of which had guided the O’Briens in their raids. They halted two days at Thurles, where Sir Gerald MacShane and the White Knight thought it prudent to submit themselves, and victualled their troops about Cashel and Clonmel. At Youghal they delivered all the castles of Imokilly to the young Earl of Desmond, and two nephews of former Earls accepted him as the head of their House. At Cork Lord Barry, who had held aloof for years, came in and gave security. Hither also came the sons of Cormac Oge, and it was probably on this occasion that their sister Mary MacCarthy married the young Earl. The union was not fated to last long, nor to give an heir to the House of Desmond. The barony of Kerrycurrihy was taken possession of at Kinsale, and MacCarthy Reagh, in whose castle of Kilbrittain Gerald of Kildare had lately found a home, consented to come to Cork and to give his brother as a hostage. He hesitated to sacrifice his cattle, and was easily persuaded by Ormonde, who was now on unusually good terms with Grey. Barry Roe and Barry Oge also gave security. The army then shifted to O’Callaghan’s country, and near Dromaneen James Fitzjohn came to the other side of the flooded Blackwater and defied Grey. He would, he said, conclude nothing without the advice of O’Brien, who could dispose of all the Irishry of Ireland. Grey could not pass the river, and returned to Cork. John Travers, a native of Ireland who had learned the art of war elsewhere, had lately been appointed Master of the Ordnance, and accompanied this expedition, in which only 800 men were employed. Travers said that he would go anywhere in Ireland with 2,000 men, and Grey’s exploits, no less than Sidney’s later, show that he was right: the difficulty was not to take but to keep. ‘Six thousand good men,’ Travers added, ‘divided in three places as I could give instruction, with certain craftsmen to inhabit the places they win, might make a general reformation in one summer.’ The advice was sound, but the Crown could not afford to take it.228

Grey’s last raid into Ulster.

Once more before young Gerald had left Ireland did Grey turn his attention to the North. For the third time O’Neill promised to meet him, and for the third time he failed to appear. Without victuals, and trusting to plunder for the support of his men, the Lord Deputy then rode ‘thirty-four miles of ill way’ to Dungannon, and again nearly caught the troublesome chief. But the guides, perhaps intentionally, delayed the soldiers on their night march, and daybreak found them still five miles from Dungannon. O’Neill had time to escape. Six days were spent in promiscuous burnings, during which the soldiers had no bread and lived on freshly killed beef: it is no wonder that disease was rife in the ranks. This was Grey’s last warlike expedition; successful in a certain sense, but quite useless as a matter of policy.229

Recall of Grey. Consequent confusion.

Grey had often asked leave to go to Court and lay the state of Ireland before the King, begging that his adversaries might not be allowed to ruin him behind his back. His request was now to be granted in an unexpected manner. One of his last acts in Ireland was a quarrel with the Council, in spite of whose remonstrances he sent over Travers, the Master of the Ordnance, with despatches, though he seems to have agreed with them that a man who could be better spared would have done the business just as well. Sir William Brereton, Marshal of the Army, had lately broken his leg, an accident from which he seems never to have fully recovered; Edward Griffiths, another useful officer, was dying of diarrhœa; Travers was the only available officer, and his own department was in bad order. Yet Grey sent him, perhaps because he thought his talk would be favourable to him. The immediate result of Travers’s journey was that the King sent for Grey, professing his anxiety to see him and to send him back to Ireland in time for the fighting season at the end of May. Brereton was to act as Lord Justice during his absence. Henry declared himself willing to raise the wages of soldiers in Ireland, which had been fixed three years before at 5l. 6s. 8d. a year for horsemen and half that sum for footmen, and which had been found quite inadequate. Deplorable disorders had resulted from the necessities of the men. Henry expressed his intention of keeping the troops on the Irish borders instead of in Dublin. Coming events cast their accustomed shadow before, and Grey’s recall, for recall it was understood to be, was known to the public sooner than to the officials. It was of course suggested that Grey purposely concealed the truth in order to embarrass the Council; and he refused their prayer to stay until arrangements had been made for the defence of the Pale. His activity had evidently inspired respect, for he had no sooner crossed the Channel than the O’Tooles made a raid towards Dublin. O’Byrne warned the citizens, and they had time to make ready. The Kavanaghs attacked the Wexford settlers. The O’Connors burned Kildare. Alen and Brabazon had also been called to England, but they were obliged to wait for a fitter time. ‘The country,’ wrote Brereton in excusing their absence, ‘is in very ill case, being assured of no Irishman’s peace.’230

Trial and execution of Grey.

An enormous number of charges were brought against Grey. He was accused of maintaining the King’s enemies and depressing the King’s friends, of injustice to Irishmen and others, of violence towards Councillors and others, and of extortion. There is no reason to suppose that he could have taken young Gerald, with whom, in Stanihurst’s quaint language, he was accused of ‘playing bo-peep;’ but no doubt he had been guilty of much injustice, as his unprovoked invasion of Ferney and his treatment of O’More sufficiently prove. He cannot be called a man of scrupulous honour, or he would not have arrested the Geraldines at dinner, or professed his intention to capture his nephew by fair means or foul. But Henry VIII. knew how to pardon such conduct, though he could punish his instruments when it suited him. The Irish chiefs felt that they could not trust Grey, and therefore kept no faith with him. He was accused on all sides of greed, and especially of making useless expeditions for the sake of plunder. The usual inquisition made after his arrest shows that he had some private hoards. He was violent in Council, and no doubt it was often hard for a Viceroy, especially for one who suffered from gout, to deal with the Dublin officials, who were independent of him and sometimes spies on his conduct. ‘I think,’ says Walter Cowley, ‘there is not one of the King’s Council there but my Lord Deputy successively have sore fallen out with them.’ But he was rude and tyrannical to others also, as to Lord Delvin, whose life he was accused of shortening by insults, and especially by calling him traitor, ‘which,’ says the old Earl of Ormonde, ‘shall never be proved.’ In any case and whatever his actual guilt, a cloud of witnesses appeared to denounce Grey.231 He pleaded guilty, rather in hopes of mercy than acknowledging his faults; but no pardon followed. That he had any treasonable intention is more than doubtful, but there was more against him than against Buckingham; he suffered a year’s imprisonment in the Tower, and then underwent the fate to which his treacherous compliance with a tyrant’s wishes had condemned his Geraldine kinsmen.